Senior Newsletter 6th May 2011

    Issue 27                                   6^th May 2011 

Welcome Back!

Once again, we’re back in school after a delightful Easter break, with many interesting adventures had by staff and pupils alike over the past two weeks. Some members of the school went on the PE Department’s sport tour to Lake Garda in Italy (report and photographs next week!), while others may have gone on holidays with friends or family. As usual, we are straight into work and exam preparation, with GCSE and A-Level students preparing for final exams.  We hope that everyone had a lovely Easter holiday and is ready for some hard work in the coming term.  (Sebastian Ward)

Climbing to success

On Sunday 17^th April Jonathan Burgon (Y7) competed in a climbing competition against twelve other climbers, who were all at least three years older than him.  The competition was tough.  It consisted of fourteen different climbs: a warm up, ten small walls and three large walls.  After the warm up, the climbers went straight onto the smaller walls, otherwise known as bouldering walls. Every climber had three attempts at each wall. If you completed it on your first attempt you got three points; if it was the second attempt you got two points;  and for a successful third attempt you got one point.Jonathan got off to a good start, completing many walls on his first attempt, but on the sixth wall there was one move that he couldn’t manage. His overall score for the bouldering was 21/30. After the bouldering there were three more walls.  Each was worth 100 points if you completed them, with 3 points for each successful hold.  Jonathan managed to complete the first wall easily.  The second wall was quite hard but he still managed to complete it.The scores were all equal, and it all came down to the last wall. Jonathan was the last person to climb it.  The average score for this wall was 50-55 points. It was a hard climb and Jonathan  just managed to get the move that everyone else couldn’t.  He pulled in a massive 75 points for the wall – as he accidently touched the wrong coloured hold, he had to stop.  The final scores were close: third place had 350 points; second place had 375 points; and  Jonathan won the whole competition with an amazing score of 425 points!  Jonathan would like to thank Kris Woods, Leader of Tonstall House Scout Group, for arranging the competition.

PTA Race Night

Race Night is always a popular evening for parents and this year’s event will be held on Thursday 12^th May in Langham Tower from 7pm onwards.  Race nights are an opportunity to bet on a race projected onto a large screen. Apart from being great fun, they are a way of helping to support projects for the pupils at SHS. Included in the £4 entry ticket price will be a buffet.  Bets on each horse are only £1 per go.  If you have never been to one of these fun evenings before, then please do come along.

Glorious Golf

The annual Schools Golf Championship took place on Tuesday 2^nd May at Beamish Golf Club, where it has been hosted for the last 60 years.Rhys Thompson (Y11) and Natasha Martin (Y10) represented Sunderland High School.  After a long round of 18 holes, they both came in with excellent scores.  Rhys Thompson achieved a net score of 70 and Natasha Martin achieved net 69.  With his score, Rhys was able to secure a place to represent North England Under 18’s, along with 5 other boys.  Natasha achieved both best net and best gross scores for the Under 16 Girls category. All school teams played really well and contributed to a challenging competition.  St Leonard’s ended up overall winners - well done to them!‘Beamish is a really hilly course’ (writes Rhys Thompson).  ‘It was a bit windy and cold but the sun was shining so it was a pleasant day.  The competition was tough – there were some very good players there.  I was surprised, shocked and happy to hear that I had been selected to play for the North of England and look forward to the competition.’ 

The Pupil News Team             Sebastian Ward, Alex Embley and Mark Thompson are always looking for new news, so if anything interesting happens, let us know!

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