My name is Nathan Smith and I will be the Head Boy of Highcliffe school for 2016-2017, alongside the newly appointed Head Girl Beth Allum. I am currently studying Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Music.

After finishing Sixth Form here at Highcliffe I hope to go on to study at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where I will start my journey into becoming an officer in the British army.

As Head Boy I look forward to starting up a Careers Festival together with the Head Girl and the extended Leader-ship Team in the Sixth Form. The Careers Festival will showcase a wide range of career pathways available to students post 16 and post 18. Beth and I also look forward to arranging the Freshers’ event for the new year 12s next year; many other sixth form events are in the pipeline already.

My name is Beth and I have been a part of Highcliffe School since I joined as a Year 7 student in 2010. Since I've been here I have had so many experiences that have made me who I am today; including being a part of the school's production of We Will Rock You, the French and Spanish Exchanges, 2015 Prom and even the dreaded

GCSE exams, just to name a few. Once I have finished my A Levels in Maths, Chemistry, Physics and French, I hope to go to university to study an engineering-based subject.

As Head Girl, I hope to work with Nathan, Chloe and Sami (the amazing deputies) and the rest of the school to ensure that the last two years of our school career meet the high standards of the last 5 years and also make sure that the rest of the school have the secondary school experience that they deserve.

‘A message from Nathan and Beth’

Edition 4: March 2016

Nathan Smith Head Boy

Beth Allum Head Girl

Congratulations to all 11 applicants who were successfully accepted onto the AUB Arts Foundation Course following

a day of interviewing. Their portfolios of work were exhibited in the Da Vinci building showcasing the exciting diversity

of talent and skills that our Sixth Form Art students have developed. The exhibition was on display for a month

culminating in a private view for teachers and parents who came to celebrate their successes!

Exams!

As the exam programme approaches, all the staff at Highcliffe School would like to wish students taking GCSEs, AS and A levels the very best of luck!

“

Challenge

University NewsUniversity NewsUniversity News

“

Aspirant ProgrammeAspirant ProgrammeAspirant Programme

History Year 12 and 13 have embarked on research projects as part of their studies. Year 12 have investigated why the US was unable to win in Vietnam. Year 13 focused on the end of the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and whether it was driven by the people or the Governments themselves. They then went on to present their findings to the class. Sam Baker and Jake Eastwood have been chosen to train as Holocaust Ambassadors by the Holocaust Educational Trust. As part of their training they have had the opportunity to travel to Poland and visit Auschwitz concentration camp.

Geography At the start of the academic year, Year 12 Geographers went to Beaulieu River to explore how it changes from source to mouth. Rather than doing this on foot, a more unusual mode of transport was adopted as students canoed. They got to know each other as well as noting the important geographical features of a river system. This was soon followed by a more conventional type of fieldwork where students completed a transect of Dockens Water. Recently we have been fortunate enough to complete a series lectures with Southampton University focusing on the topic of Health. Students received expert guidance on current health issues around the world including Zika, Ebola and Malaria. This provided the students with extended knowledge beyond what they would ordinarily experience at AS and a glimpse of Geography at university.

Religion, Philosophy and Ethics As part of our Philosophy and Ethics courses we regularly attend academic conferences with students from around the country. The speakers are some of the most well known in their fields and provide new perspectives on a range

of different topics. In the past, we have enjoyed lectures on a wide range of subjects from the origins of the universe to genetic engineering; from sexual ethics to Utilitarianism. Animated debates always form part of the day.

Other Programmes in our next edition...

Y12s attend Oxbridge Conference

As the university offer and interview season draws to a close, our current figures for the Class of 2016 are impressive; 368 offers have been received, 31% of which are from Russell Group Universities including 2 offers from Oxford and 1 from Cambridge. We have also seen an increase in specialised courses and universities high-lighting our students’ diverse talents and ambitions. These include: Music Journalism at the Tech Music School in London (the school is part of the BIMM Institute with notable Alumni including Sandy Beales and Dan Richards, Luke Harris, Phil Simmonds and Ed Drewett); Bioveterinary Science at the Harper Adams University (a specialist in agricultural studies, veterinary nursing and equine management) and Primary Education at St Mary’s (a university with a well-established reputation for excellence in the areas of Education, Sport and Theology).

Geographically, our students have traditionally opted for universities in the South and West of England and South Wales with this year showing similar trends. Most notable are Exeter at the top with 30 offers, Bournemouth (21 with 11 being Arts Foundation) Cardiff (19), Bath (19) and Southampton (18). However, 2016 is proving to be ground-breaking with many students setting their sights further afield, venturing to the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. There are 21 offers alone received from the Russell Group Universities of Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, York, Durham, Newcastle, Glasgow and Queen’s University Belfast.

All in all, a truly diverse, aspirational and exciting outlook for the Class of 2016! We wish our Y13s the best of luck in their A levels and securing a place at the university of their choice.

On 22nd

March 2016, ten Year 12 students attended the Oxbridge Conference at Epsom Downs racecourse. It was an excellent opportunity for the students to listen to expert advice on how to make a competitive application and attend talks throughout the day on a variety of subjects and student life. Students came away armed with lots of literature to read and food for thought.

Today provided a brilliant insight into the nature of specific courses at these universities, as well as to applying to Oxford and Cambridge.

Inspire

News BitesNews BitesNews Bites

Highcliffe Success in European Union Translation Competition Congratulations to Ella Scriven in Year 13 and Dana Stoffner-Kerschbaumer in Year 12 who have been selected for a Special Mention Award in the European Union Ju-venes Translatores Competition. This is the third year Highcliffe has been selected to take part in the European wide competition (only 70 schools in the UK are able to take part), but the first time that any of our students have been selected for this award.

What’s happening now and in the near future...What’s happening now and in the near future...What’s happening now and in the near future...

A Level History students travelled to London to attend an invaluable student conference that was specific to their course, ‘Superpower relations and the Cold War 1944-90’. The conference was organised by Keynote Educational and was delivered by 3 esteemed speakers: Mark Gosling (author for core Edexcel History textbooks and examiner for Edexcel), Martin McCauley (former senior lecturer at UCL and author of key Cold War books) and Piers Ludlow (Associate Professor at LSE).The conference resulted in the students gaining a comprehensive insight into all the key themes of the Cold War unit.

“

Dance Performance Excellence!

Yr 12 D&T students participated in the annual Rotarian, Design and Technology competition. They were challenged to design a bridge that could take a 1Kg weight as well as open up to accommodate a boat travelling underneath, in the style of Tower Bridge. The students devel-oped a design portfolio that evi-denced their progress and construct-ed a functioning outcome with very limited materials. They finished in 2nd place overall but have already been invited to attend the manufac-turing base of Marden Edwards who sponsored and helped to judge the event.

Languages Y12 Design and Technology Competition

Enrichment activities on offer...

Y13 Biology Animal behaviour trip to Monkey World

Y12 Child Care students visit Mudeford Juniors School

BTEC Expressive Arts trip to London

A level Economics revision day

‘Live Lounge’ 28th April. Year 12 & 13 music students perform live! Tickets available on Wisepay.

Y12 & 13 Drama students compete in National Theatre Connections at the Poole Lighthouse

A level History conference Many year 12 students who are currently stud-ying STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) were invited to a Robot-ics Workshop hosted by Student Ambassadors from Bournemouth Uni-

versity. In the morning they were given a robot that had been constructed out of Lego, a programmable remote control, and a laptop, and were told they had to customise their little robot and then program it to play a game of Ping Pong.

Overall it was a very fun and educa-tional day in which the students had the opportunity to learn more about what programming involves, what university courses and career options are available to those who are interest-ed in STEM subjects offered at Bournemouth University.

Year12 Robotics Day

The Rock Challenge performing arts competition tours nationally, providing an opportunity for schools to showcase an eight minute original performance. BTEC Dance students performed whilst other Sixth Form students supported the success of the per-formance by undertaking back-stage roles including hair & make-up, costume, scenery and stage crew. All areas of the performance were judged with Awards of Excel-lence given to those with a mini-mum score of eight marks out of ten; Highcliffe School excelled this year by achieving seven awards in the following catego-ries: Set Design & Function, Visual En-hancement, Lighting, Costuming Character, Stage Use, Choreogra-phy and Entertainment.

Congratulations to all year 12 and 13 music students who recently completed their solo performance evenings this term. Students worked over several months to pre-pare for a performance in front of family and friends, creating a won-derful evening of entertainment.

A level music solo performances

“ Today really helped me to understand how to achieve top grades in my exams.

News from our AlumniNews from our AlumniNews from our Alumni

Highcliffe School, Parkside, Highcliffe, Christchurch, Dorset. BH23 4QD Phone: 01425 282322 Email: sixth@highcliffeschool.com Visit: www.highcliffe6thform.com

Excel

In our next editions..

University

places gained in:

Expressive Arts

Art & Design

Technology

Our A Level students who went on to read courses related to the Humanities subjects in 2015Our A Level students who went on to read courses related to the Humanities subjects in 2015Our A Level students who went on to read courses related to the Humanities subjects in 2015

Mollie Aspley-Deadman Bristol University Ancient History

Maisy-Jane Cook Oxford Brookes University Law

Eleanor Cooper Royal Holloway University Geography

Matthew Goddard Brunel University London Sociology

Thomas Harvey Aberystwyth University Human Geography

Louis Helsby London School of Economics Government & History

Lucia Hopcraft Plymouth University Geography

Colm Kelly Manchester University Politics, Philosophy &

Economics

Georgia McWilliam Bristol Uni. of West England Law

Beren Miles Canterbury CC University Theology

Chloe-Jade Nethercott Plymouth University Criminology & Criminal

Justice with Law

Emily Ruzgys Plymouth University Geography

Emma Towler Winchester University History

After leaving Ballard in 2013 I went on to

Highcliffe Sixth Form where I studied

History, Religious Philosophy, Maths and

English Literature and I attained AAAB at A-

level. Since leaving Highcliffe last year I am now studying

Government and History at the LSE. I’ve sought to take full

advantage of being in London having been to see Paul

Mason, Channel 4 News’ and formerly Newsnights’

Economics correspondent, on a panel discussion talking

about his new book ‘Postcapitalism’ under the Dome in St.

Paul’s Cathedral. I’ve also seen Charles Moore, a Biographer

of Margaret Thatcher, lecturing on his second volume of the

biography. Furthermore, I’ve been involved in a few formal

debates, in as close a style as possible to the House of

Commons, on proposed topics such as Nuclear weapons

and Inheritance tax. I was awarded a trophy for being the

‘Best opposition speaker’ during the latter. These events are

just very small examples of the activities of a large and

vibrant academic community at LSE which I’m thoroughly

enjoying being a part of.

Louis Helsby

After leaving Highcliffe School in 2009 and Highcliffe Sixth Form in 2011, I went to

Cardiff University to study History. During my time at university I volunteered for the Pyramid Project which provided after school clubs for groups of 7 year olds, and also took part in the Classroom Experience Project which gave me more experience in a secondary school setting. After 3 years and goodness-knows how many hours spent in the library, this summer I received a first class honours degree from Cardiff. In September I start my PGCE at the University of Southampton, which will enable me to fulfil my ambition to become a History teacher. Without the support I received from Highcliffe School during my time there and beyond, I would not be so close to achieving my career goal.

Sarah Hemming 1st Class Honours

History

Wishing you and your family a very happy Easter Holiday!

Next edition: April & May combined