Abraham Moss High Schoolmaking the most of your children

Newsletter

In this issuePage 2 - Ofsted Report Special“Students make outstanding progress”

Page 6 - Strengthening Primary LinksEco-Project Partnership with St Thomas’ Primary

Page 7 - Pupil SuccessBoys Win National Crime Beat Award

Su

mm

er 2

00

9

Pupils Make Outstanding Progress

As many of you know, the school was inspected on 16th January. The overall judgement was that, “Abraham Moss is a good school with a range of outstanding features, serving its community extremely well”.

The report says that pupils make outstanding progress in relation to their starting points as a consequence of teaching that is “consistently good and frequently outstanding”.

Very Positive Comments

We are very pleased with the many positive comments about the school. For example:

“The achievement of all groups, including those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, is outstanding.”

“This remarkable achieve-ment is due to teaching and learning that is of excellent quality, together with first-rate academic guidance.”

“The provision for social and emotional learning is particularly strong and supports students’ good personal development. Their social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is outstanding, supported by the richly diverse and highly inclusive nature of the school community.”

“A key strength of leadership and management is the corporate approach: all staff are valued and know that their contribution is important.”

“Improvement since the last inspection, together with a clear vision for ongoing development, means that the school has outstanding capacity to improve.”

Despite their very short visit, the inspection team recognised that, “this is an exceptionally inclusive school, where all students are valued, supported and motivated to achieve”. In the section on overall effectiveness they say, “Students know that staff genuinely care for them and an extremely effective support network ensures that all students receive any help

they may need”. An inspection report has to make judgements about the school, but hopefully the insight shown by the inspectors will be an inspiration for the future.

Staff and governors recognise that the school’s success is very much about the support and commitment which pupils and parents have shown over many years.

The ending of the Inspector’s letter to students sums things up: “The school leaders told us that they never set limits on what you can achieve and we know that with your help and hard work the school has the potential to improve even more.”

Thank YouA school is often only as good

as the pupils and parents want it to be, and we would therefore like to express our appreciation of the support which has been given, not just this year, but over many years.

Extracts from the report and the letter the inspectors wrote to the pupils can be found on the next page.

Abraham Moss High School is Good With Outstanding

Page 2

The Range of Outstanding Features...Learners’ achievement

Learners’ progress

Teaching and learning meets the full range of learners’ needs

The curriculum and other activities

The progress of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities

Working in partnership to promote learners’ well-being

Learners’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

Equal opportunities

Community cohesion

Learners’ positive contribution to the community

The capacity to make any necessary improvements

OfSTEDPage 2

Eco PartnershipPage 6

Reclaim AwardPage 7

JellyfishPage 8

Maker’s PalletPage 12

Poetry in ExperiencePage 13

A Y11 AlmanacPage 14

The Y11 PromPage 16

In Brief...Page 16

Survival SkillsPage 20

Mrs MankelowPage 21

SportsPage 22

Duke of EdinburghPage 24

Summer ShowPage 26

Invitation to No.10Page 29

Sports DayPage 30

Contents

Page 3

What The Inspectors Said...In their letter to pupils...

All the text on these pages is quoted verbatim from the OfSTED Report on Abraham Moss High School of January 2009. You can download a copy of the full report by going to www.ofsted.gov.uk and searching for Abraham Moss or searching Google using the following key words - Abraham Moss High School Ofsted

Dear Pupils,

On behalf of my colleague and myself, I would like to

thank you for making us feel so welcome and for sharing

your views with us when we came to inspect your school

recently. I would like to share our main findings with you.

We found Abraham Moss to be a good school, with many outstanding features. We were

delighted to see you making excellent progress in lessons, mainly due to the very high qual-

ity teaching that is widespread in your school. You told us that your teachers are very com-

mitted to helping you achieve as well as possible, and we could see that this is certainly the

case. It was very encouraging to see you helping and supporting each other in lessons. We

were very impressed that you can assess your own work and know exactly where you are

up to, as well as what you need to do to improve further. As a result, you make outstanding

progress at Abraham Moss, particularly in English, although standards in mathematics and

science are rising each year. Some subjects get fantastic results at GCSE – well above the

national average.

One of the real strengths of your school is th

e fact that everyone is valued and included

in everything the school has to offer. It is a thriving multicultural community and we could

see that you have respect for each other’s faiths and cultures. Your personal development is

good and the school ensures that you are well prepared for the world of work. It was good

to see the Year 11 students dressed smartly and looking forward to their mock interviews

when we were in school! Staff work very well with outside agencies to make sure that ev-

eryone’s needs are met. At the start of the inspection I found that the school had not ensured

that all safeguarding requirements for the checking and recording of information about

members of staff had been met. The school acted quickly to ensure full compliance with

those requirements.

In terms of improving your school even further we have asked for your governors to be

even more involved in evaluating the quality of the school’s work.

The school leaders told us that they never set limits on what you can achieve and we know

that with your help and hard work the school has the potential to improve even more. We

wish you every success for the future.

Yours Sincerely

J Grimshaw

J. Price Grimshaw (Reporting Inspector)

Page 4

Abraham Moss is a good school, with a range of outstanding features, serving its community extremely well.

Parents from all groups within the local community praise the school, through comments such as, ‘Abraham Moss is a very welcoming multicultural high school.’ and, ‘An excellent school – our children are so happy.’

This is an exceptionally inclusive school, where all students are valued, supported and motivated to achieve. Students with learning difficulties are provided with tailored support and those with physical disabilities thrive within the ‘barrier free’ environment. Skilled specialists in language development help to ensure that all of those students for whom English is an additional language achieve their full potential.

Students make outstanding progress across Key Stages 3 and 4. Achievement in English is a key strength.

Results in some subjects at GCSE are particularly impressive: for example, in Art and Design, and Design Technology, the proportion of students gaining higher grade passes is above the national average. In Media Studies and Information and Communication Technology, the proportion of students gaining the highest GCSE grades of A* and A is well above the national average. Many students are encouraged to take a GCSE examination in their home language and they achieve well.

In addition to GCSE examinations, students have the opportunity to take AS level examinations in religious education and Urdu. The achievement of all groups, including those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, is outstanding. Students of Pakistani heritage make particularly impressive progress.

This remarkable achievement is due to teaching and learning that is of excellent quality, together with first-rate academic guidance.

Teachers plan lessons very thoroughly, carefully considering the individual needs of all students within a group. As a result, tasks are very well matched to students’ ability levels. Superb working relationships between teachers and students are evident and students are very supportive of each other. The school’s work on assessment is exemplary.

Throughout the briskly paced lessons, there is a sharp focus on how students can build on their learning and what they need to do next, so no time is wasted. As a result, students make outstanding progress during lessons. They are fully aware of what standard they are working at and exactly what they need to do in order to improve. Use of peer assessment and self-assessment is very effective in supporting their understanding of this. The school is meticulous in tracking the progress of each student and this information is used successfully to set individual, group and whole school targets.

Dear Pupils,

On behalf of my colleague and myself, I would like to

thank you for making us feel so welcome and for sharing

your views with us when we came to inspect your school

recently. I would like to share our main findings with you.

We found Abraham Moss to be a good school, with many outstanding features. We were

delighted to see you making excellent progress in lessons, mainly due to the very high qual-

ity teaching that is widespread in your school. You told us that your teachers are very com-

mitted to helping you achieve as well as possible, and we could see that this is certainly the

case. It was very encouraging to see you helping and supporting each other in lessons. We

were very impressed that you can assess your own work and know exactly where you are

up to, as well as what you need to do to improve further. As a result, you make outstanding

progress at Abraham Moss, particularly in English, although standards in mathematics and

science are rising each year. Some subjects get fantastic results at GCSE – well above the

national average.

One of the real strengths of your school is th

e fact that everyone is valued and included

in everything the school has to offer. It is a thriving multicultural community and we could

see that you have respect for each other’s faiths and cultures. Your personal development is

good and the school ensures that you are well prepared for the world of work. It was good

to see the Year 11 students dressed smartly and looking forward to their mock interviews

when we were in school! Staff work very well with outside agencies to make sure that ev-

eryone’s needs are met. At the start of the inspection I found that the school had not ensured

that all safeguarding requirements for the checking and recording of information about

members of staff had been met. The school acted quickly to ensure full compliance with

those requirements.

In terms of improving your school even further we have asked for your governors to be

even more involved in evaluating the quality of the school’s work.

The school leaders told us that they never set limits on what you can achieve and we know

that with your help and hard work the school has the potential to improve even more. We

wish you every success for the future.

Yours Sincerely

J Grimshaw

J. Price Grimshaw (Reporting Inspector)

“An Excellent School, Our

Children Are So Happy”

Teaching and Learning is Excellent & Academic

Guidance is First Rate

Students Make Outstanding

Progress

Page 5

St Thomas’ Primary School are looking at how they can make the school not just an excellent facility for the pupils but a focal point for the local community. As part of this initiative they have commissioned “A Class of Their Own” to do some initial work on the development of the school as a high class environmental facility for education and the local community and Abraham Moss pupils are part of it.

Pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9 are taking part in this exciting

Eco-Project PartnershipWith St Thomas’ Primary

‘A Class Of Their Own’

competition to design a classroom to be used as an eco resource base and a wildlife garden. Pupils were divided into teams of 10 and given roles. Experts came into school to teach the pupils about the skills needed to become architects, landscapers, surveyors and marketing directors. They then set to work creating their designs!

At the end of the day each team made a presentation which was judged by Head of Lower School, Miss Robinson and Frank Atkinson. The winning team was

Eco-Friendly with the runners up being Eco-Dudes and the Environ-Mentalists!

All 3 teams will now form a company to work with pupils at St Thomas’ Primary School to design and build the eco-resource centre and wildlife garden for real.

This is a fantastic opportunity for the pupils of Abraham Moss High School and St Thomas’ to work together and we can’t wait to see the finished building and use it for real!

Page 6

Abdullalui, were among those invited to London to receive the top Award Certificate at the National Crime Beat Awards in London. Many of our pupils were part

of the Manchester team that won the first prize as part of the Reclaim Project

The team arrived at the Royal National Hall and heard speeches given by distinguished speakers including the Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police.

The award ceremony was followed by a celebration lunch and a tour of London on an open topped bus visiting Trafalgar Square, The Houses of Parliament, London Bridge and the London Eye. The last stop before leaving was a visit to a restaurant in central London for tea.

The visit was a memorable experience. It was a privilege to take part in the project and inspiring to take part in a prestigious award ceremony that recognised the achievements of the young people who took part.

Young people from Abraham Moss were among the team from Manchester which collected £1,000 and a Philip Lawrence Award at a prestigious London ceremony in recognition of their work in tackling youth crime and revitalising public attitudes towards young people.

Local Crimebeat schemes encourage groups of young people to develop their ideas on crime reduction and turn them into successful projects. A large number of young people have become involved in these projects and they in turn pass on benefits of their work to their peers and the wider community. Young people are solving problems that matter to them in their communities through Crimebeat initiatives.

Abraham Moss High School pupils Mohamed Ismail, Mukhtar Shire, Mustafa Ahmed, Mustafa Hashi, Mustafa Awed, Hassan

Mr Hassan in discussion with the Chief Constable of Manchester at the Award Ceremony.

Boys win National Crime Beat Award

Mr Hassan, Co-ordinator of the Project at Abraham Moss writes:

“The visit was a lasting experience and the impact it had on the boys was remarkable. It was inspiring for them to take part in a prestigious award ceremony where their qualities were recognised by important people in an important place.”

“The boys were successful, respected and valued. It encouraged them to stay focused on their education and continuously sustain their good behaviour and uphold their status as representatives of their families, cultures and Page 7

Jellyfish

The new National Curriculum for Key Stage 3 has given us the opportunity to introduce some exciting changes to our lower school projects.

Current Year 7 Art groups have been the first to complete an exciting project based on the vivid colours and unusual shapes of jellyfish.

This work was exhibited at the Year 7 and 8 Parents’ Evening.

Page 8

How we made our Jellyfish

First we looked at underwater photography of Jellyfish and talked about primary colours, complementary and colour harmonies. Then we drew jellyfish using what we had learned about colours to colour them in.

We made some marble paper and added jellyfish where we found them inside the shapes. Our drawings were colourful, and slightly abstract. We also wrote jellyfish poems which we will use at the end of the project in some ICT work in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Then we worked with the Artist-in-residence, Miss Williams, making the tentacles out of different materials and fabric.

Then we made the body of the jellyfish with Mrs Sliwa using tissue paper and art straws and glittery glue, buttons and shiny paper. We used different types of fabric to decorate it.

We put the tentacles and body together and photographed our work.

Other groups have made their own jellyfish, they have done some drawings in glue.

By Archange Mwangela

Artists that inspired usJason Hackenwerth

Jason, 38, spends £6,000 per year on Multi-coloured balloons for his incredible sculptures, which he displays around the world. They look like flowers and animals.

Ruth AsawaIn the 1950s, Asawa focused on experimenting with

crocheted wire sculptures. She made the sculptures at home while looking after her six young children. Her pictures reminded us of jellyfish.

Karen WhiterodNorfolk artist Karen Whiterod is known for her

work with recycled materials. Her latest pieces have been created from empty sparkling water bottles. She creates suspended kinetic forms made of recycled translucent and coloured plastics.

Miwa KoizumiMakes art from waste. In this artwork she has

made jellyfish from melting plastic bottles into the shapes of jellyfish.

Ernst HaeckelErnst Haeckel was a 19th century zoologist and

artist. His work includes the discovery of thousands of new species of sea creatures.

Page 9

Appreciative thanks and all best wishes go to Mr Brooke from all pupils, parents and

staff on his retirement. His contribution to school life during his 23 years at Abraham Moss has been outstanding. As Head of Science, form tutor and Science teacher he has affected the lives of thousands of young people for the better. His good humour and excellent relationship with pupils contributed to the high quality of his teaching. Staff and pupils will remember him fondly. May you have a long, happy and active retirement!

Mr Brooke writes...

I will miss my contact with the many fantastic young people I have met in the 23 years I have been here, and

the many laughs I have had in lessons. Some are parents now and I teach their

children. I will also miss the staff who I have worked with. Abraham Moss is so lucky to have such a talented, supportive and dedicated staff! Over the many years I have taught in the Science department I have constantly been in awe of the enthusiasm, ability and friendliness of my colleagues. I will leave behind a great team who I will miss very much.

I started teaching in 1971 in Nottingham as a Maths teacher but found I preferred science

so switched subjects and have never looked back. I taught in Nottingham for a further 10 years, then one dark, wet and cold night I saw an advert for teachers in The Bahamas.

Within 10 weeks I was there. After five years I returned to the UK. The contrast

was shocking! Straight into Abraham Moss, which I loved from the first moment.

Those who know me or have listened to some of my many stories will know that I love

the outdoors. I intend to walk and mountain bike a lot. My first target is to get to the top of all the peaks in the Lake District that I have never climbed. My wife and I will be buying a camper and getting away around Europe for a few months of every year. I also love cooking, so having done a Lebanese

cooking course last year, I want to do one on Italian cooking and get into the kitchen more often!

A New Beginning For Mr Brooke!

The Food Technology and Physical Education department hosted a joint event based on healthy eating and physical activity for the School Open Evening. The aim of the cross curricular event was to show both parents and pupils what the School does to support pupils in eating healthily and being physically active. They also wanted to give parents ideas to use at home. There were various stalls providing information about healthy recipes, food samples to try, fitness testing and examples of Y11 pupils GCSE PE and BTEC Sport work. There was also support from the local community, Abraham Moss Leisure Centre staff were on hand to offer advice on the services they can provide.

Healthy Lifestyles

Eleven Black went to Lyme Park in Derbyshire to do a sponsored walk. We went with our tutors Mrs Askew and Mr Brooke, Mr Smith and Miss Clarke also came along to help.

The purpose was to raise money for two charities, Breast Cancer Research, and Francis House Children’s Hospice. Citizenship is part of our PSHCE programme, in class we decided to adopt our two charities because some members of the group felt very involved with them. After a lot of discussion we decided to do a sponsored walk on our activities day, we all wanted to do something useful and productive on the day as well as going out to enjoy ourselves.

We travelled by tram and then train to Middlewood Station. We then started out on our walk. We walked, through Jackson’s Brickworks Country Park, along a canal, through some farm land and up a long tiring hill into Lyme Park. Luckily it was a warm, sunny day so we enjoyed the scenery and sampled some wild raspberries and strawberries on the way. We all sat on top of a gate and marvelled at the fantastic view all across Manchester. We could easily pick out the Beetham Tower.

In Lyme Park we had a picnic near the visitors’ centre, then we walked through the deer sanctuary, seeing two types of deer. We walked round the back of Lyme Hall, gazing at the lake where Mr Darcy swam in the film Pride and Prejudice. We walked past the big folly called The Cage then out of the other side of the park to Disley Station where we caught the

train home. We had walked seven miles and were pretty tired, but we recovered on the journey home.

We had a great day out, some of us had never been out in the countryside before and we saw things we will never ever forget. We raised over £600 for our two charities, and we all felt really good about ourselves as we had such a good time while helping others at the same time!

Sponsored Walk to Lyme Park

Page 11

z

Four pupils from Abraham Moss took part in three intensive days working alongside their teachers with students from the Three Dimensional Design Course at MMU.

During the end of last year and the start of this students and teachers

from Abraham Moss High School took part in a programme called the Maker’s Palette. The project was run by Manchester Metropolitan University and we were one of only three schools that was invited to take part. The participants that took place in the programme were Nida, Neelam, Marwa and Sikander and Miss White and Mr Jackson accompanied us.

On the morning of the first day we looked at an exhibition of artwork by contemporary artists such as Alice Kettle who is an embroiderer. Some of the work was strange to look at first but the tutors, Jane and Sharron, explained how the artists made their work and that helped us understand it more clearly. We used this exhibition as a starting point for making work of our own.

We were told what we were going to do during the project and what the tutors hoped we would get out of the three days. We were asked to choose from a number of small objects, and

draw from them. This helped us improve our observational drawing and helped us to decide what it was about the object that was interesting to us.

On the second day we were given words such as “spikey, rough, fragile” to help us with our drawing. We were given lots of recycled material and were able to develop our drawings into 3D drawing and small samples before making something more finished.

On the final day we worked with students from the other schools to curate our own exhibition using our own work. We did this ourselves with some advice from Jane and Sharon our course tutors. We included lots of drawings of the objects as well as our 3D experiments and some finished pieces.

The exhibition was in the Library Foyer at MMU and lots of people would have seen our work. Being invited to a “Private View” of our own exhibition was fantastic and we were all really proud of our achievements and thought that the course was a great opportunity.

Maker’s Pallet

Page 12

z

A group of pupils in Abraham Moss High School took part in an exciting writing project

working with nationally acclaimed poet Adisa. The project took place at Urbis in Manchester City Centre.

The project was jointly organised by Manchester Central Library and the Abraham Moss High School.

The pupils were given an opportunity to develop their literacy skills and explore their culture by working closely with a highly regarded writer in an out of school setting.

The group started out from school taking the tram to the Urbis Centre in Manchester city centre where the pupils met Adisa and were briefed

about the schedule of the project. After introductions the pupils performed a group poetry recitation which the pupils found very interesting.

We then headed to the Manchester Big Wheel on which we had a fantastic ride, the view above the city centre at night was amazing. This was not the only joyful surprise the pupils had that night. They also had a free meal from McDonalds, it couldn’t be better for the pupils.

The following day we resumed our activities at Urbis. We learned how to structure poetry and how to express our own experiences creatively. The pupils then worked in groups to create their own poems, based on what they

learned in their first session. The day concluded with all the pupils

who took part reading their work and feeling confidence in their creative writing.

Poetry In Experience @ Urbis

Page 13

The pupils’ poems are to be published in an illustrated book of poetry to be produced by Manchester Library

Service. Watch this space for details!

Three days. It started with a problem solving activity – working in

teams outdoors in harmony – the problem didn’t quite get solved but it broke the ice and was a fun way to start.

In the afternoon GCSE Mathematics – it was hard to tear ourselves away from the sunshine and beautiful views, but we did go there to work really. GCSE English – working on the “Poems from Other Cultures” from the GCSE Anthology. Everyone talked about their own culture, what is means to them. Why it is important. Many brought items from their culture to share with us. That night, a walk in the grounds in the dark again in teams and then to bed.

Next day, the GCSE English and Mathematics continued. In English pupils started to explore the poems looking in depth at the layers of meanings in the poems and the poet’s skill in using language to “paint” their ideas.

In Mathematics, valuable practice on exam technique working on past papers. Pupils began to show real insight, working together in groups, hearing ideas and practising their domestic skills.

The afternoon – a challenge of a different kind. Kayaking and Ghyll scrambling. The boys were incredibly chivalrous, taking care to make sure Mrs Griffies didn’t land in the cold water! They also took on and conquered quite a serious rock climb. Cold, wet but happy we returned to the Centre for a well earned shower and meal.

Not much sleep that night – what can you expect on the last night? Then the last day.

Barak Obama declared the new President of America that morning – his acceptance speech made us think about what we had achieved in our lives so far, and how much more we can still achieve. Our last chance to really explore those GCSE poems, teasing out some really profound ideas.

Homeward bound – happy, tired, keen to succeed. Amazing how much you can achieve in such a relatively short time.

Page 14

Team Building

Presentation Evening

A Year 11 Almanac

In the formal surroundings of Manchester City Council’s Great Hall forty-one smartly

dressed Year 11 pupils and their parents received their Awards for Excellence.Pupils who received this award had:

• A minimum of 96% attendance and punctuality.

• Completed a successful work experience within a business.

• Completed Active Citizenship tasks such as personal challenge - 12 months commitment to a group or activity and had done a minimum of 15 hours of unpaid work for the Community.

Pupils receiving the Award for excellence have demonstrated these skills and qualities, such as reliability, commitment and use of initiative, which employers, colleges and training providers are looking for when young people leave school.

The annual presentation of Year 11’s Record of Achievement was held in the Abraham Moss Theatre. Pupils and their parents gathered to

celebrate the occasion. Pupils take their Record of Achievement to college interviews. It shows the wide range of academic and extra curricular activities pupils have accomplished at Abraham Moss.

Page 15

EDUCATION

BUSINESS

SOLUTIONS

Award for Excellence 2009

Page 16

The Prom

Revision is over, exams are doneTime to relax and have some fun

Jewels and sparkles take me thereTransport me from a world of careTo that place all youth can shareDestination: what to wear?Dress me up can hardly waitAll dolled up can’t be lateJust as radient as can beFor a night of fantasyDazzling swirls of sparkling lightColours dancing in the nightSweetest dreams are coming true

Too soon it’s over, heading homeStanding at my door aloneOne sweet wave to say goodnightOne friendly smile; all is rightTomarrow plain and ordinaireBut with my memories fond and fair

Page 17

The Prom

This year the Ramadan charity was WaterAid. WaterAid is an organisation which helps people around the world to get access to clean drinking water and thus help eradicate the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera.

Ms Choudhury and Ms Torkamani arranged for collections to be made and for a speaker from WaterAid to give a talk to Year 9 about the work they do. They also held a samosa and bake sale. In total it raised over £160.

Books are low-tech, portable packages of the widest range of human experience, presented in a format which gives time to grasp complex ideas or to spend time in imaginative worlds. Young people who “get” the reading thing have the

best possible platform for “getting” the trick of school learning, as well as a resource for the rest of their lives.

This is why the English Department

launched the Reading Revolution. Over 100 Year 7 pupils signed up to the Reading Revolution at Open Evening and received their reading journal and first book to share at home with parents or family member.

The aim of the Reading Revolution is to encourage reading at home and

share reading opportunities within the home. Whether this is with a parent, brother, sister,guardian, older brother or sister, aunt or uncle.

Many Year 7 pupils have successfully been reading books and recording their thoughts in their reading journal.

Czech Group

Every week Miss Prchlikova runs classes for young people from the Czech Republic to help them improve their speaking and listening in preparation for their Czech GCSE.

She also helps pupils to develop their understanding and love for Czech culture, literature and art as well as helping them with Maths and English.

Have you heard of these famous Czech people?

Franz Kafka - Novelist

Gregor Mendel - Scientist

Vaclav Havel - Philosopher and Politician

Antonin Dvorak - Composer

Milan Kundera - Novelist

Reading Revolution

Page 18

In Brief...

WaterAid

The Year 10 GCSE Drama Group took part in the Shakespeare for Schools Festival at the Dance House Theatre in Manchester.

The production was an all male version set in a futuristic world with Kubrickian influences, devised by the GCSE Group. The pupils took on challenging roles and brought to life Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy with style and flair. The performance was well received by the audience and the festival director gave an outstanding appraisal. Particular attention was drawn to the roles created by Andrew Cull, Esmir Malaj, Sam Cane, Luke Kelly and Ebrahim Zeria.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and was totally engaged by everyone on stage. I thought that all the boys showed real focus and courage throughout”.

Zoe Little (SSA Trust) said:“All the pupils involved worked incredibly hard and produced an excellent piece of theatre. Thank you to

everyone involved and to those people who supported the final performance.”

Shakespeare for Schools Festival

MusicThe Junior rock band performed a piece that they had

written themselves (Lyrics by Patrick Okoth). This group are now performing at The Road House as part of the Music Service Showcase concert. The intermediate rock band included a debut performance by Summer Cooney joined by Thomas Bradly who has been singing with the band now for over a year. The senior rock band performed in their usual energetic style with the help of Music Service staff, John Rudden and Dave Thom and ex pupil Trevor. The Year 7 and 8 African drum group gave their first performance of singing and drumming traditional African Rhythms and song.

Expressive ArtsIt was also an opportunity for the Year 10 Expressive

Arts GCSE group to be assessed. They have been exploring the theme of “Conflict” through Music, Drama, Visual Art and Dance. Some members of the group looked at extracts from a play called “After Juliet” which explores how the characters deal with the difficulties of the story, after the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. They were inspired to create songs and art work as well as act out some of the scenes. The other half of the group looked at the kind of conflict that people who are Refugees or Asylum Seekers might face, as they try to make their home in a different country and community. Looking at these issues in an artistic and creative ways, allowed pupils to explore and clearly express how they felt about these areas of conflict.

The showcase concert was an opportunity for pupils to share with parents and friends the excellent work they have been doing in Music and Performing Arts this year.

Page 19

EPA Showcase

The Peak District National Park was the setting in which a group of Year 10 and 11 pupils discovered the joys of survival in the great outdoors. The challenge was unusual, they spent the day learning survival skills – they collected and sorted wood into the different types for fire-making: tinder, kindling, and then ordinary wood. They learnt how to tell if it would burn well –you need to use your ears and listen for a ‘snap’. Then they learnt to light a fire without using matches.

Now, you might think that that would be enough for your average Year 10 or 11 pupil – but not those seeking CoPE Awards, and certainly not this group. What this group did next was to make bread, peel sticks, yes sticks, wrap the dough around the sticks and cook it in the hot embers of the fire. Oh yes and it was delicious - we ate ours with honey.

Page 20

Survival Skills In

Many staff, parents and past pupils will remember Mrs Mankelow (Maggie to friends, family and colleauges) who

died in May. She was among the first to show that amazing results could be achieved at Abraham Moss High School. Her creative and challenging leadership and teaching proved that pupils could crash through any glass ceiling. There is a whole generation of families in Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall who have a better life today because of her.

Mrs Mankelow taught several generations of young people English at Abraham Moss. She was an inspirational

teacher, much loved and appreciated by staff and her pupils - some of whom are now teachers at Abraham Moss and elsewhere. She was determined to ensure that academic standards for pupils at Abraham Moss should be as high as possible. A tradition that continues to this day.

With Thanks and Appreciation for the Life and Work of Margaret Mankelow

A group of Year 7 pupils have been working with a choral conductor from Manchester Cathedral. The pupils had a weekly session in school to learn songs which had winter or Christmas themes. This was quite a challenge for the pupils as some of the sessions involved standing for 50minutes! However, the pupils rose to the challenge and at the end of November they went to the Cathedral to see the space in which they were going to perform.

The concert was on Tuesday 2nd December in the Cathedral and the pupils sang along with pupils from Crumpsall Lane Primary School and the Cathedral Choristers who attend Chethams School of Music. The concert was a great success and some of the pupils are now members of the school choir.

Manchester Cathedral Music Project

Pupils from Years 9, 10 and 11 have been rowing. The “wetbobs” of Abraham Moss were involved in a city wide indoor rowing competition.

We entered six teams. There were two races of eight minutes each.

Each person rowed continuously for 2 minutes in an attempt to cover the furthest distance. The competition was fierce as the teams raced against other schools.

The day was a success for Abraham Moss as every team broke records which had been set by other schools.

The day was tiring but extremely enjoyable and we would all be willing to do it again.

Matt Stocks, Senior Competition Manager for Greater Manchester said:

“The County is really excited about this new event. It was an incredible

Year 7 pupils were given the opportunity to mix with stars from the exciting worlds of television and football.

This fabulous event had a serious and relevant message as it was organised as part of the PFA’s continued efforts to “Kick Racism Out of Football”. The idea behind the event is to encourage more Asian young people to get involved in football.

Manchester United and England defender Wes. Brown answered questions from Year 7 pupils about the reasons why so few Asians play for the top clubs. Wes. is a charming

Indoor Rowing

‘Mingling With the Stars!’and level-headed young man who was thrilled to be in school supporting such a worthy cause. He answered the pupil’s questions thoughtfully and with honesty. He was a real hit with pupils and staff alike.

We were also joined on the day by Asian stars from the popular soap Coronation Street. In fact, Shobna Gulati (formally Sunita in the hit show) had one of her first tastes of thespian success in our very own Abraham Moss Theatre when she was a teenager! It was on emotional return for such a delightful actress!

We hope the event went some

way to ensure that the next crop of superstar footballers will contain a much fairer representation of players from all communities.

sight, huge screens showing rowers in action, and hundreds of children battling it out in individual and team races. Following the success of the Great Britain Rowing Team in Beijing, now is a great time to capture that energy and transfer the interest that young people have in rowing into action. We hope that this event will become a regular feature on the Greater Manchester sports calendar and we look forward to working in Partnership with Concept2 and the ARA in order to bring great sporting opportunities for children to life.”

Page 22

At Abraham Moss all pupils, whether they have a disability or not, are involved in planning PE lessons, adapting the equipment and rules while learning how to become team

Barrier Free leaders. There are many benefits for barrier free students, including:-

- Pupils gain self-esteem and achieve their personal goals;

- Pupils learn why they need to keep fit and healthy;

- Pupils show how they are working to ensure inclusion in a range of PE activities.

The Year 8 barrier free group have been working at gymnastics this half term.

Classrooms Without Walls!Year 10 and Year 11 geographers

have been experiencing ‘classrooms without walls’. We are, of course, talking about the GCSE field trips that all students have to take part in as part of their exam. It is one thing to read about places in text books and perhaps look at photographs, but it is a superb learning opportunity to visit a place and see at first hand how things are and how they relate to a specific question or idea.

Year 10 visit Salford Quays as part of their comparison with the Local area of Cheetham Hill. They tested the hypothesis that “residents of Salford Quays have better quality of life than residents of Cheetham Hill”. At first look it seems quite simple, but the problem is that you have to provide evidence to support your answer. Seeing both areas makes a huge difference to understand the issues.

Year 11had a much more complex set of issues to explore. They had to produce a Power Point presentation and talk about the ecosystem found

in pine woodlands and sand dunes in the Formby area. They also had to explain the issues surrounding global warming and its impact on Formby as well as giving their thoughts about sea defences. There is no substitute for standing on the seaward side of a sand dune in a raging gale explaining wind erosion and deposition and then walking to the edge of the sea and actually seeing longshore drift happening. “Sir it’s just like the text book without the red arrows.”

Page 23

Page 24

Page 25

Sum

mer

Exh

ibiti

on

Art.

..The quality and

range of creative art continues to delight

and amaze visitors to the annual Abraham Moss Summer Exhibition. This year parents, guests and distinguished visitors enjoyed a show that included 2D and 3D art, textiles, video, graphics, media, fashion and design technology. The range and quality of work was breathtaking! If only there were space to show more here.

Fash

ion.

..

DT.

..

Med

ia...

Page 27

International Slave MuseumYear 9 pupils took part in a trip to

Liverpool to the International Slave Museum. We went to learn about slavery and the Middle Passage, which was the journey made by the slaves from Africa to America. It was a great trip enjoyed by all pupils and provided a lot of information on the topic.

We learned that before slavery existed

What did the project aim to do?

CapeUK is an educational trust focusing on creativity and learning. In the North West it has a particular interest in identity and diversity, which it explores through a range of projects and courses. This project considered whether contemporary art could trigger different ways of thinking about ourselves and others, our own communities and communities very different from our own. The learning from the project has already influenced a training course for teachers and the development of a family learning programme with two primary schools in Cheetham Hill. Bringing together high schools located in two very different communities was fascinating for everyone involved.

the Africans lived freely in their own culture but their freedoms were taken away from them. We had the chance to look around the museum at all the exhibits and then we completed a workshop activity. We tried on the shackles used to capture and keep the slaves, these were heavy and cold and we realised how painful it must have been for the people forced to wear them.

We also did a music activity that involved using lots of African instruments such as drums and shakers and we wore special clothes which were brightly coloured. It was a fun day enjoyed by all the pupils at Abraham Moss and we learned a great deal more about slavery.

Abraham Moss students were described as “a pleasure to work with’” by the teachers from Helsby High School.

“It was lovely to see the pride

with which Abraham Moss students showed visitors

around their school.”

“The Abraham Moss students were very sociable. They quickly took up the idea of exploring their identity as

individuals and as a group.”

Cape UK Exhibition at MMUIn the last newsletter we introduced to you a project that Year 9 had been working on with

Helsby High School. The project is now completed, the Year 9 pupils have moved into Year 10 and their achievements are being shown as part of a teaching exhibition at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Page 28

An important part of citizenship is understanding and taking part in our democratic political systems. What better way to learn about democracy than voting for your own representitives! All the pupils in Abraham Moss turned out to vote recently. With the help of Manchester City Council pupils took part in the whole process, from receiving polling cards to voting in real Manchester voting booths. Everyone watched a film about voting which explained the process and importance of using our democratic right to vote.

Abraham Moss votes for democracy!

Page 29

Mr Watchorn, Ms Peel and Mr Brackenbury were invited to 10 Downing Street by the Prime Minister for a reception to celebrate the achievements of Teach First. Teach First is a charity that provides an innovative route into teaching for graduates from some of the country’s best universities. Participants are given 6 weeks training in the summer before their placement begins and are given additional on-the-job training throughout their first year. The charity has been in existence for 6 years now training thousands of teachers and having a positive impact on the lives of over 500,000 pupils at some of the most interesting urban schools in the UK.

Mr Brackenbury and Ms Peel were the first Teach First participants at Abraham Moss. The school played a fundamental part in the training through mentoring and professional development. Following the success of these initial participants the school has now taken on three more Teach First participants this year.

The Prime Minister invited Abraham Moss to the reception at Downing Street in recognition of

the outstanding contribution that the school had made in furthering the Teach First mission. During the reception the Prime Minister gave a speech in

which he praised the effort of all teachers in urban schools and gave his full support to innovation in education such as Teach First. Rhys Parry, the Participant President of Teach First, also gave a speech in which he mentioned the strong efforts of Abraham Moss to achieve collaboration with other institutions locally, nationally and internationally.

Also present at the event were Ed. Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families; Lord Adonis, former Minister in the Department of Children, Schools and Families; representatives from Teach First in the UK and EU and internationally renowned educational academics and policy makers.

Ms Peel said of the event “It was a great honour to be invited to number 10, not only to celebrate the achievements of Teach First but specifically the achievements of

Abraham Moss. It is wonderful to get such recognition from the Prime Minister and while we were the chosen representatives we felt that the whole staff of the school were being honoured for their unfailing hard work.”

An Invitation to 10 Downing

Welcome To Sports Day

T he annual sports day at Sport City, Manchester was a great success.

The sun shone and everyone was well prepared. It was good to see many parents enjoying this years’ events. The sun was outshone by the performances on the track and field!

The competition was well run and very organised. With

Ten records were broken across the events; the Year 10 4x100m relay being the outstanding result at 48.56 seconds, smashing the previous record by over 4 seconds. The team consisted of Tofunmi Aworinde, Ali Rahimi, Sam Akinyeye and Bukunmi Aworinde.

Page 30

all the school’s staff and pupils joining us at Sport City, it proved how well the school can co–operate and work together as a community. The PE Department would like to thank all that were involved and who participated in this year’s Sports Day.

Thanks and congratulations to all who made it a memorable day.

Welcome To Sports Day

Page 31

Other record breakers are as follows:

Year 7 Amal Awed – Javelin – 12.61mAdam Ang - 100m - 13.26s

Archange Mwangela - Long Jump - 3.60m

Year 8Jack Rix - Discus - 19.80m

Year 9Ryan Gweshe - High Jump - 1.42m

Year 10Bina Chibalabala - High Jump - 1.33m

Bukunmi Aworinde - 100m - 11.75sSam Akinyeye - 200m - 24.93sAli Rahimi - Long Jump - 5.05m

After a nationwide search of more than 2000 people, Karim, Year 8, was selected to represent England in this year’s Danone Nations Cup - the world’s top football tournament for youngsters.

The tournament was held in Paris against 40 other national teams and Karim, managed by football star Jamie Redknapp, helped Team England to their best finish in the competition for five years by beating 25 other teams to finish in 15th place.

Well-done Karim!

Following last year’s success, the year 8 rugby team were invited to a winners’ competition and had the opportunity to meet former England International player Jason Robinson. The team received coaching from the star as well as photographs and souvenirs and after playing extremely well against stiff competition they were unfortunate not to finish in the top three after conceding a last minute try in one of their group games. Despite this the boys still had a great day - Well Done.

Year 8’s meet rugby

Abraham Moss High School

Calendar 2009 / 2010

Visit AMHS WebsiteSearch for “Abraham Moss” in Google or enter

www.abrahammoss.manchester.sch.ukFor up to date information, Help and advice for parents and pupils

on “eSafety”, “How to Help My Child Learn” and more.

Autumn Term 20091 September - 18 December

Half Term Holiday 26 - 30 October

Spring Term 20104 January - 26 March

Half Term Holiday 15 - 19 February

Summer Term 201012 April - 20 July

May Day Holiday - 3 May

Half Term Holiday 31 May - 4 June

Page 32