18th May 2012

Year 12 student, Stephanie Gabbatt, has been named runner up in the Amnesty International Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year competition in her age group. A glitzy London awards ceremony was the culmination of the competition launched at the start of the year to produce an article no longer than 500 words highlighting a Human Rights abuse. There were three thousand entries overall from UK schools, and of the thousands of entries submitted, in the end Stephanie's entry on human trafficking earned her runner up in the Sixth Form category - an amazing achievement! And Sixth Form pupils Yasmin Ahmed, Olivia Davidson and Adam Woolley were invited by the Bolton Lads and Girls club to take part in Rolling Globe - a national campaign run by Oxfam, aimed at raising young people's awareness of international issues. The three students attended a series of youth led workshops and discussions with local MPs in Westminster, with the aim of creating more positive change.

The Year 9 Masterchef of 2012 has been crowned, and the winner is Kate Moss who won the judges over with her chocolate bread and butter pudding. The final live cook off between finalists Kate, and fellow pupil Iman Orths was a close fought battle with amazing food being produced by both girls, as each one cooked her 'signature dish'. Iman made a red thai curry, while Kate opted for the bread and butter pudding.

In sport, our International U18 Hockey player Hannah Pike took part in a national charity event for Wellchild called 'The Big Dribble'. The event, organised by England Hockey, involved a 100m obstacle course which was set up in cities throughout the UK, from Edinburgh to London. Hannah attended the Manchester leg of the tour in front of the town hall in Albert Square. She even ended up being interviewed for BBC Newsround as they turned up to film the event. And our Boys' Division U13 and U15 teams are off to a flying start in the AEGON Schools National Tennis Championships. Playing in the group stages, the boys beat schools such as Broughton College, Arnold and Kirkham grammar without dropping a set! Both teams hope to reach the knockout stages later in the year.

Also this week, Beech House’s Ugly Bug Ball saw the Reception class dress up as bugs and insects to celebrate the work they have been doing around exploring living things with dancing and playing games.