Robotics!

On Saturday 11th January the Spalding High School robotics team competed in the regional championship of the First Lego League.  They had worked during lunch times at school to design and develop their robot to solve various missions, such as to be able to operate a crane.
 
In our last round, having successfully scored all of the 285 points we had planned for, we dared to be great with a mad gamble to launch our robot onto the bridge, which in itself was successful.  Our robot had, however, a mind of it’s own when it came to repeating one of the previously reliable missions.  We missed out on a top place in the finals and scoring 315 points by mere mm.

In the end we came a valiant 5th. We won the cup for having the best strategy of all of the teams.

A big thank you to Park Air Systems in Market Deeping for buying our kit for us and for hosting the competition!
 
Abbie Gillespie 9N
Maisie Youngs 9N
Charlotte Pool 10S
Natalia Hulley 9S
Katelin Verrells 9C

Calling all Parents/Pupils

Please encourage your daughter/son to tune in and watch as Dr Hannah Fry presents the Royal Institution’s 2019 CHRISTMAS LECTURES – Secrets and lies: The hidden power of maths.  BBC 4 at 8pm.  Pupils please encourage your parents to the same! https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures

We have been selected to be able to take part in a very exciting opportunity where pupils will be able to talk to mathematicians via a live chat associated with the Christmas Lectures.

Years 7/8 Tuesday 28th January at 1pm
Years 9/10/11 Wednesday 29th January at 1pm
Years 12/13 Thursday 30th January at 1.30pm

More details to follow in the new year during your lessons. 
Merry Christmas and a Happy Mathematical New Year from everyone in the maths department here at SHS.

“Spalding High School – Winners of the Lincolnshire Free Press and Spalding Guardian Education Awards Secondary School of the Year 2019.”
We are humbled and proud to have been finalists in this category for the last four years and to have won this award for the second time.  It is a testament to the academic, sporting, creative and community achievements of everyone at the High School.  Well done and thank you to everyone who contributes to the High School and helped us to achieve this accolade.

Please click on the links below to view the letters

Minister of State for School Standards letter

Chair of Governors letter

On Thursday 7th March, four intrepid mathematicians from Year 8 represented Spalding High School in the “Team Maths Challenge, Regional Finals” at Kings School, Peterborough.
 
The day was made up of several rounds to test problem solving, mental maths and teamwork.  There was a warm-up round, a cross number, a relay race and the grand finale was a shuttle round whereby the team split into two pairs they had to run up and down the school hall to collect and pass answers, only being able to move on to the next problem once the last problem was solved, presented and passed on!  As it turns out, it is an exhausting business all this problem solving.

Examples of the warm-up problems are;

• The product of four consecutive positive integers is 24024.  What is their sum?
• Six years ago, Kavin was 3/5 of his current age.  How old is Kavin now?
• Luigi’s shirts are either white, green or red.  Six are not white; six are not green; six are not red.  How many shirts does Luigi have?
• I think of a number.  When I divide 72 by one more than my number, I get the same answer as when I divide 54 by one less than my number.  What is my number?
 
The team worked together exceptionally well, rising to the challenges presented during each and every round.  They were up against some very tough competition and finished in a very respectable 7th position out of 22 competing teams! 
 
Each pupil that competed gained a certificate of participation and a lovely UKMT pencil case.  Well done to everyone that took part!

Miss S. Chalcraft

Please click here for more information

The whole school sponsored walk took place on the afternoon of Friday 28th September and was about 5 miles. The weather was very kind to us and the atmosphere was really great on the walk, with almost the whole school taking part.  In total, pupils raised a fantastic £8,646; two pupils raised an amazing £190.00 each, they were Abigail Armstrong and Chloe Matthew.  The money will be used to improve the School environment and fund projects suggested by pupils through the School Council.  We also supported Macmillan Coffee Morning on the day and staff and pupils baked and bought cakes to share after the walk.  We have donated £1,000 to MacMillan Cancer Support.

Please find below some of the feedback from our recent Parental Survey 2017/18:

“Very happy with my daughter’s progress; thank you!”

“Our daughter is turning into a young lady thanks to the School’s influence.”

“Teachers go over and above expectations; encouraging and supportive to ensure students reach their full potential.”

“Thank you for the foundation in all areas of life SHS is providing”

“A strong community ethos.”

“We have been extremely happy with how our daughter has adjusted to the school and the support she has been given.”

My child enjoys school – 96% respondents strongly agree/agree

My child is safe and well cared for – 100% respondents strongly agree/agree

My child is making good progress – 98% respondents strongly agree/agree

Staff expect my child to work hard and do her/his best – 100% respondents strongly agree/agree

Staff encourage my child to become mature and independent – 97% respondents strongly agree/agree

I am happy with my child’s experience at this school – 98.5% respondents strongly agree/agree

Please click on the link below to read more!

https://www.musicalfutures.org/musical-futures-news/shareyourmfstory

Please click here for more information about Bag2School

Please click here to view the SHS Community Calendar

Thank you for your continued support – total raised this year £3,100!
Please click here to view the Spring Fayre Newsletter

Mr Martindale attended the International Women's day celebration conference at Park Air Systems and spoke about how important it was to encourage girls into engineering.  While Spalding High school has seen recent pupils entering a wide range of engineering courses at University it is still seen by many as an oily and physical job.  The sponsorship will be used to set up Spalding High School's all girls robotics team to compete in the First Lego league; a lego robotics competition which promotes engineering as a problem solving activity requiring teamwork and analysis skills.
"We are extremely grateful to Mr Goodall and Park Air systems for their sponsorship, especially in the present economic climate.  It will give our pupils both the opportunity to take part in such a wonderful competition, and will reinforce that engineering is a diverse world with  fantastic opportunities."
Park Air systems already sponsor teams at the Deeping school and in primary schools, but are particularly interested to see an all girls’ team take part.  "Since Mr Goodall first contacted me it has all been very exciting"

Mr Martindale (above) receiving £600 sponsorship from Mr Colin Goodall of Park-Air systems in Market Deeping.

On Friday the U16 football team won the Lincolnshire County Cup final. The match was played at Sleaford Town Football Club against Bourne Grammar School. The girls gave an outstanding performance on the day and were convincing winners, scoring 4 goals and also keeping a clean sheet.

Mr Farrell
Head of PE

All comments should be emailed/written and sent to school for the attention of the PTA. If you would like to view the PTA consultation document please click here

More success for the riding team! In the Easter holidays, 2 teams were entered into the jumping with style competition held at Codham Park in Essex with hope to qualify for the JWS championships held in October, but unfortunately the injury of Lucy's horse meant that the team had to withdraw from the classes.

Amy Whittington went to the competition as an individual and represented the school beautifully. Amy and her horse Vernon (Newmarket Adventure) rode a stylish clear round a technical course to finish 6th out of a large number of competitors in the 90cm class. They then went on to the 1m class and again rode a fantastic round, with an unfortunate pole dropping them to 5th place.

The final and biggest class of the day, the 1.10m evidently suited Amy and Vernon the best with them winning the class and gaining an individual championship qualification!

After the consultation, Ofqual have released their decision and a letter to parents and students explaining the results.

Click Here for Letter to Parents and Students

“This is our fourth annual “Bring a Tin” day in support of the Agape Care foodbank appeal and I am yet again humbled and so, so proud of our school for their commitment to this important local charity.  Today our students, parents and staff have donated over 1600 items of food to our appeal; the highest number of donations to date.  This means that in the last four years we have donated over 5000 items which enable Agape to help people within Spalding and the surrounds.  We know that today we have had a significant and positive impact within our local community and are glad to have made such a contribution and I would like to extend my gratitude to all those who have donated. Thank you ever so much for your generosity.”