William Brookes School Blog

In our PSHE class, 9N, we are working on the giving nation project. We have decided to help raise money and awareness in aid of 3 charities; they are Cancer Research, Breast Cancer and Teenage Cancer Trust. To help raise the money we are doing a dance competition. The auditions have now passed and the finalists have been decided. The final is at lunchtime on Friday 6th of November.
Tickets are currently on sale and students are coming around forms in tutor time, they are being sold for £1.50. We hope you come along to watch the final, it will be a great show!

A number of current Year 9 students will be embarking on a new project in September, as part of their Citizenship studies. They will be aiming to qualify for a Safe Road User Award by understanding how to use the roads and developing positive road user attitude.

William Brookes has qualified as one of just three practitioners in England for the new award, teaching the importance of road safety to students aged 14 to 17.

Malcolm Farrar, Shropshire Council’s road safety officer, said: “A great deal of hard work and commitment has gone into qualifying as one of the first practitioners in the country to deliver this award. Credit must go to William Brookes School for taking the challenge of introducing and developing a new course into their school timetable.”

Mrs Turner commented: “At William Brookes School we believe this is a valuable and important skill to develop in tandem with academic qualifications. Our students are very keen to start this course and we are looking forward to working in partnership with others to implement a Pre-Driver Qualification which will harness young people’s enthusiasm and, at the same time, give them a qualification.”

Students successfully completing the award will gain a partial credit for the theory test, allowing learner car drivers to take an abridged test.

Four of our Year 12 students took part in a public speaking venture in the middle of February, against six other schools. Dan Thomas, Tom Pooler, James Eccles and Christina Law attended the Blessed Robert Johnson School and delivered a six minute speech on the subject of ‘violence in sport’.

The team had to research the subject, rehearse the speech, develop presentation skills and perform in front of a large audience, including judges.

 

Their speech was fine tuned in front of a number of classes and staff members, where the feedback helped the students improve delivery, pace, projection and posture.

They developed successful relaxation techniques to help them stay calm and cope with the inevitable nerves on the big night.

 

After the event, our team concluded that the audience were ‘impressed with our delivery and style’.

 

Did they gain from the challenge? ‘Yes, UCAS points, a certificate, a £10 voucher and increased confidence all round’.  The team would definitely like to do it all again next year.

 

 

 

You’d be forgiven for not recognizing this tumbleweed-tangled trio. These beehive-bonced students are just a small part of the greater effort to raise money for a variety of charities as part of their PSHE studies.

If ‘wackifying’ your hair appeals to you, bring in your £1 donation on Friday, 21^st November and feel free to freestyle your follicles!

Mrs Turner and Mrs Horsley explain a little more.

The Giving Nation Challenge is an initiative by the Citizenship Foundation, open to any school in England.

Here at William Brookes School, each Year 9 class followed the GN guidance on their website and used their resources to plan, check, carry out and evaluate their activity.

Each class chose a cause and made a decision on what they would like to do for their chosen cause.

All the classes have chosen different charities and are raising money for and awareness about their particular issues. Some of the activities have been completed and some are yet to be done. The list includes:

9T - Sponsored walk for Help the Aged;

9S - Fashion show and Wacky Hair Day for NSPCC and Childline;

9R - Obstacle course and 5-a-side football;

9M - Car Washing and Scrufts obstacle course challenge for RSPCA;

9N - ‘WBS Factor’ talent show for prevention of child abuse;

9L - Sponsored walk, arm wrestling, cake selling, checkout packing and football tournament.

The classes have worked in small groups to do various things, such as: contacting outside speakers; talking to the leadership team to support their activities; liaising with ICT staff to help promote their causes and asking staff for support. Students also have to plan and organise their events, from risk assessment to advertising and running a budget.