Shipston High School has had another active year, with students and staff involved in a varied range of activities. As the school community enjoys the summer break, it is an ideal opportunity to reflect on the year.
In August 2018 the school celebrated a really successful set of GCSE results for our Year 11 students. Individual grades were really pleasing, allowing many students to fulfil their ambitions for the next stage of their education. Results day was especially hot, as was the whole of last summer, and the school enjoyed favourable local press coverage as we celebrated in the sunshine. We are already looking forward to this years’ results being announced.
In November the whole school joined with the British Legion to commemorate Remembrance Day in the school and the community. This year students wrote personal messages on our own wall of poppies; a very moving installation. Remembrance was also a focus for Year 9 students on our history department’s trip to the battlefields of World War I, where students laid a wreath at the Menin Gate and researched local and family connections.
Student participation in the extracurricular opportunities at the school is always impressive. Students show real enjoyment of these activities, and attend regularly. Even when winter weather may deter some, Shipston students are still to be found on the playing fields after school. There are many activities to list across a range of disciplines but students should be proud of their participation. Public speaking continues to be a strength of the school, with impressive involvement and extremely high standards. Thank you to everyone who makes these activities so successful.
Creative arts thrive in the school, and The Shipston Proms concert at the school was, as always, well attended. It was our pleasure to welcome visitors from the Prom committee and wider community. Students of all ages played a rich variety of music in what was a hugely entertaining evening. The musicians also perform in local venues across the Proms season, and I am sure many people across the community share our pride in these young talents. I am grateful to our music team for the work they do with the students and community performances throughout the year.
Students enjoyed working with a range of visitors this years, including authors, artists, and Olympic athletes. Students also engaged with numerous charity events, raising money for good causes including Macmillan Cancer Support and Warwickshire Air Ambulance.
The final day of the school year was an opportunity to celebrate success, including presenting our Shipston/Pixl Edge award. This national programme enables students to demonstrate their independence, maturity and resilience across a range of criteria. I am grateful for the continued support of the Rotary Club for our awards programme.
All of us should be very proud of the work of the whole school community this year, and of the continued achievement of our young people; well done to everyone involved. Shipston High School’s reputation is strong, and is built on the achievements of the young people who make the school such a positive place to be. I wish everyone a relaxing and refreshing summer.

Many congratulations to Madison Davies in 7CL who has obtained the highest number of merit awards this year!  Madison was presented with her certificate and trophy in the end of term celebration assembly on Friday 19th July.  Well done Madison!

A special meeting at breaktime enabled staff to say a fond farewell to Judith Jackson who retired from her post of Teaching Assistant after 33 years service to the school. She was presented with gifts, cards and a memory book from staff and students all wanting to wish her well. After an address from Mr Saunders, staff heard from Mr White just how much Judith has done not only for Shipston High School but also for the wider community of Shipston on Stour since starting work here in 1986.

We will very much miss seeing Judith in school and would all like to wish her a long and happy retirement.

On Thursday 18th July after school over 40 girls took to the field to take part in the end of season Rounders tournament.

There was some very competitive play, showing how enthusiastically the girls take advantage of the many sporting opportunities available to them.
Thanks to Miss Rhodes for organising the event.

Students in years 7, 8 and 9 are encouraged to take involve themselves in the Pixl programme. Pixl is a series of awards at three levels which are designed to empower students with the attitudes and attributes essential for employability and life. During the course of the academic year, students follow an online platform through a series of accredited tasks and activities (including target-setting and self-reflection) enabling them to gradually enhance their skills and abilities and we have been amazed and impressed by the huge range of activities our students undertake alongside their academic curriculum.

Apprentice, Pioneer and Graduate level awards were presented to 169 students who completed one – and sometimes two – of the levels during the 2018-2019 academic year during the end of term celebration assemblies on Friday 19th July. We were very fortunate to welcome into school Mrs Fay Ivens representing the Shipston on Stour Rotary Club who very kindly sponsor the award in school to present the certificates and badges to the students. Once again the school would like to express its thanks and gratitude to the members of the Shipston on Stour Rotary Club for their very generous sponsorship of this annual event.

A very busy and successful netball year was brought to a close for this academic year with a trip to the Netball World Cup in Liverpool on Wednesday 17th July. A 6.00 a.m. start from school and a 6.00 p.m arrival home meant a long and tiring day for 20 key stage 3 girls and 2 members of staff, but students had the opportunity to watch some top class netball including Singapore v Samoa (49-63). Thanks to Mr Lockwood for organising the trip.

45 Year 9 and 10 students attended the matinee of The Woman in Black at The Fortune Theatre in London on 18th July. The Womain in Black has been running for 32 years in the West End, it is a perfect example of theatre using only three actors and a few lighting/sound effects to maximize the terror. It also uses the Brechtian technique of breaking the fourth wall when the ghost comes through the audience …..

The record number of scared students will now be tasked with writing up the play as part of their final GCSE Drama examination!

During the early part of the summer we were contacted by Richard Gray of the Stour Valley Wildlife Action Group who told us about a Butterfly Walk and nature trail taking place during the four Saturdays in July at a farm between Honington and Halford. Proceeds from the Walk were to be donated to local charity Shipston Home Nursing. The school was asked if the Art department would be willing to produce some butterfly artwork for a display to showcase some of the species of butterfly that can be seen on the walk and Ms Costello and her art students were delighted to take up the challenge. Some amazing pieces of artwork were produced which are now proudly displayed for all to see.

The “Dragons Den” has nothing on the Shipston High School senior prefect interview process. Students had to submit a letter of application, pass through a shortlisting process and then undergo a tough interview with Mr Harris, Ms. Westbrook and Governor Mr Punt. The quality of the applications was very high. After long debate and discussion it was decided that, due to the growing school and the genuine variety of skills and ideas discussed in interview, the senior prefect team would be expanded to five for the next school year. Minnie Thomas and Ashish Shylesh were appointed Head Prefects with Matthew Barrett, Amy West and James Barrett being appointed Deputy Head Prefects.

It is hoped that some of the unsuccessful candidates will take on House roles at the start of next term and congratulations are due to all the interview candidates for some very impressive performances.

After school on Tuesday 16th July saw a brilliant evening of hockey at the annual Hawaiian hockey tournament. Hockey is increasing in popularity across the school with in excess of 40 boys and girls turning up regularly for after school practice and fixtures. An exceptionally successful hockey tour to the Netherlands earlier this year helped to raise its profile even more. The Hawaiian tournament was the culmination of a very successful hockey year and congratulations go to winning team “Panamas”. This season’s hockey awards were: Player of the season – Year 7 – Tom Pinnock; Year 8 – Ellie-May Watkins; Year 9 – Izzy Allford, Morgan Cooke, Emily Savidge; Year 10 – Josh Goodman, Louise Plank; Year 11 – Alex Bradley, Sammy King, Max Morris. Congratulations to all.

Shipston High School has won a prestigious road safety award for the second year running for our work in raising the awareness of road safety in our school and community as part of the Driving Ambitions programme. The programme, sponsored by the Ocado Foundation in conjunction with Warwickshire County Council’s Road Safety Team aims to highlight schools that go the extra mile to promote road safety to children, teachers and the wider community. This year, our Year 7s produced a series of road safety raps and poems inspired by Mrs Lucy Baker and road safety school mentor John Squires.

The school will hold the Road Safety Trophy for one year and was awarded a prize to the value of £500 donated by Ocado, to spend on road safety initiatives over the coming year.

Isabella Benfield in Year 10 is a serious horsewoman! During the weekend of 12th/13th July Isabella competed for the second year running in the RDA National Championships held at Hartpury College. Once again Isabella shone and took the Gold medal for showjumping (finishing only two points away from the senior scores) and was placed second in the dressage. We are immensely proud of Isabella’s achievements and the example she sets to those around her. Congratulations Isabella!

Our leavers Prom took place on Friday 6th July at Heythrop Park Country Hotel.  What an amazing sight to see all our Year 11s back, dressed to impress to spend a special evening with their peers and teachers before going their separate ways.  Once again, the modes of transport didn’t fail to impress and provided much enjoyment for other visitors to the hotel.  Big thanks to Mrs Peebles for her unwavering support for the Prom and the tireless work she put it to make it such a success.

Sports Day is always a popular event in the school calendar and last Monday was no exception!  During the course of the day students enjoyed all the activities on offer and all kinds of records were broken across track and field events.  The winner of the Sports Day trophy was Sheldon House who were also awarded the overall house trophy for all the additional house events that had taken place during the school year 2018-2019.

During a hot and busy day students were grateful to be able to buy ice lollies and sweets from the sweet stall, with all proceeds being donated to charity.

The finals of the English Schools Athletics Championships took place in Birmingham during the weekend of 14/15^th July.

We would like to extend our congratulations to Year 9 student Freddie Clemons who achieved first place in the 80m hurdles event.  It is thrilling for the school and the P.E. department to be able to say that England’s number one hurdler is part of Shipston High School.  Well done Freddie, keep thinking big and go bigger!

Congratulations also to Caitlyn Buckley, also Year 9, who also represented Warwickshire in the 100m event.

On Friday 5th July Ms Whitworth and Mr Harris took 28 students from Year 7,8 and 9 down to London to visit a variety of places of worship. First stop was the Buddhapadipa Temple where students were splashed with some holy water to wake them up after the journey down and to prepare them to learn about the Buddhist way of life. This stop also included a brief meditation and an act of bowing towards the teachers as a thank you and sign of respect (Ms Whitworth is now considering incorporating this into her daily classroom routine).

They then headed to the East London Mosque to learn about the five pillars and how the mosque stands as a community centre too, welcoming people from all over the world (as well as London!). The evening was then topped off with a visit to the theatre to watch Wicked, a musical which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

On Saturday morning the group heading over to the beautiful Neasden mandir where students were lucky enough to witness the Aarti ceremony.

All of the students were an absolute credit to the school, and we very proud of the conduct of each and every one of them.

Forty-two year 10 geography pupils made the trip up to the picturesque Borrowdale valley in the Lake District to conduct field studies on the River Derwent and the impact of tourism around the busy town of Keswick.

Students enjoyed getting their feet wet to take measurements at three different sites to investigate whether there is a relationship between bedload shape/size and velocity in the river.  The students used a basic dog biscuit test for velocity first before advancing to a more reliable measure using flowmeters.

The impact of tourism was measured through bi-polar charts, questionnaires and through observation at the Honister Slate Mine, the village of Grange, around the climb to Cat Bells and in Keswick itself.

The weather largely held good and the students enjoyed some excellent conditions for walking on the Fells and seeing the very best of the National Park.  The students were a credit to the School and many passers-by commented on their mature and considerate behaviour.

Once again, we are delighted to be involved with the annual Shipston Proms event.

Proms excitement began at school with the arrival of BBC Coventry and Warwickshire presenter Keith Wedgebury who brought his radio car to conduct a live interview with Mr Hunt and some of the students involved in the Shipston Proms and to hear members of the Jazz Band and Year 10 Music group during rehearsals.

The school’s Summer Concert took place on the evening of Thursday 20th June when a packed hall was treated to an incredibly diverse range of musical entertainment performed by students from Year 7 up to our Year 11 Leavers. In a school of just over 500 students, it is amazing to see the many opportunities there are to celebrate music in school and the group performances from the Brass group, Jazz Band, Year 10 Music Group, Year 11 Music Group and Wind Band as well as the Flute, Violin, Piano and Vocal soloists showed just how much talent there is in the department. The evening was ably compered by Head of Music, Mr David Hunt, who also found time to join in with his musicians, showing the mutual respect existing between staff and students.

The school would like to extend its thanks to Mr Hunt and his students together with the members of the Shipston Proms Committee for providing the opportunity to stage this event. A thoroughly enjoyable Summer evening to celebrate music in the school.