Senior Newsletter Fri 11th February 2011

Issue 18                         11th February 2011 

Foiling the Competition

‘On Sunday 30^th January, I entered the North East Regional Qualifiers for the British Youth Fencing Championships, held at Gateshead Leisure Centre. There were not many in my category (Girls U18 Foil), so even though I lost my first two fights, I was still entered into the direct elimination fight for 2^nd place. I won the fight 15-12, and went on to fight Alex Craig, one of the best fencers in England, for 1^st place. Unfortunately, she beat me so I was awarded the silver medal and qualified for the British Youth Championship finals, which will be held in Sheffield on the 30^th April.’  (Harriet Robson)

Away with the Waymans

On Friday night the Malawi team travelled to Nine Banks in Hexham for their second training weekend in preparation for the expedition in the summer. Despite the dull weather, team spirits were high throughout the whole weekend. The team spent their weekend cooking on trangia stoves, getting to know each other and playing team games. The games included a blind food tasting, a blindfolded walk and other blindfolded games. A good time was had by all!  A special thank you goes to Mr. and Mrs. Wayman and Mr. Brotherton for making the weekend so enjoyable.    (Tessa Willoughby & Richard Logan)

Katy and Katie fundraise through Armah.Switchgear Ltd.

After another gruelling Malawi training weekend, Katie Hawkins and Katie Corner were off for more fundraising. This time at the HQ of Armah Switchgear – a local company engaged in design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of electrical systems for a multitude of companies supplying water, oil, pharmaceuticals and power. Armah Switchgear kindly enhanced their own celebrations of 20 years in the business by dedicating the proceeds from the raffle and auctions to the SHS Malawi Fund.  Katie and Katie themselves raised £1815.92 by selling raffle tickets and via the auctions which included prizes such as a private box to the Newcastle United v Wolves match and a holiday for two.  Including donations and proceeds from the sale of tables at the dinner, the grand total of £5,693.92 was raised. Well done to both!  The money will be going towards vital medical equipment and towards the materials needed to build a girls’ dormitory in Nkhotakhota.Thank you to Katie Hawkins and Katie Corner, and thank you to Mr Hawkins and everyone at Armah Switchgear for all your help and support towards the Malawi 2011 cause.  The following are a few words from Katie and Katie to describe their feelings about their upcoming trip to Malawi and the training weekend...

• “Nervous.”
• “Will be strange being away from home for such a long time, will miss my parents.”
• “Training was really good fun but tiring.”
• “We took part in some really interesting activities to bring out leadership skills.”
• We were told to walk, blindfolded, and were led along a track for what felt like ages.  We had to be really trusting”
• “Andrew Wilson and his over active imagination during the blind fold act amused us for ages.” (Katy Hawkins & Katie Corner)

 Open University at Sunderland High

As if its’ not enough to be studying for A Levels, the following students have completed an Open University course in their spare time: Jonathan Edwards, Alex Embley, Harry Eddowes, Rebecca Cohen, Abbey Devlin, Nadeem Choudhury, Matthew Birss, Amer Bashir, Rebecca Munslow, Mark Shearer, Sebastian Ward, Jessica Gilmour, Alec Jackson, Oliver James, Aritri Mandal, Alex Mensforth, Alex Moore, Richard Ord, James Parnell, Harriett Robson, Asif Sheikh, Mark Thompson, Lucy Turnbull, Andrew Wilson and Sarah Winn.  The Open University courses are funded by Sunderland High School’s Raising Standards and Stretch programme. This programme encourages pupils to engage with topics outside of the usual curriculum.  It aims to stretch them in their thinking, and to further develop both their independent study skills and the higher level thinking skills which they will need to be successful in higher education.  There are a multitude of courses available, ranging from forensic science to archaeology, and Sunderland High students covered most of them.  Mark Thompson, for example, chose “Introduction to Astronomy”.  He picked it due to his genuine interest in the topic as well as its link with Physics.  ‘There are online tutors who are available to answer questions pretty much at any time, and for just a couple of hours a week extra work, it’s helped me develop better thinking/study skills - and I get an impressive certificate at the end of it!’  (Newsletter Team)

Upcoming Events

This year’s long-awaited school production of ‘Tyke Tiler’ takes place next week.  There will be two performances, on Tuesday and Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.  Both will take place in Main School Hall.  Tickets are on sale in the school offices, priced £5 for adults and £3 for pupils/children.   Proceeds to be shared between Malawi and future Drama productions. 

The Pupil News Team needs your news!Sebastian Ward, Alex Embley and Mark Thompson are always looking for new news, so if anything interesting happens, do let us know. WHAT’S ON

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