Happy New Year 2024

January 11, 2024January 11, 2024 / chrishildrew / 1 Comment

It has been great to welcome staff and students back for the new year this January. I have held assemblies in this first full week back, to remind students about our expectations, to provide a few updates, and to encourage students to reflect on the idea of self improvement.

I reminded students about our classroom and social time top 5 expectations, and our system for punctuality. It has been really encouraging to see so many students starting the new year so positively, with lots of Headteacher’s and Governors’ Commendations to hand out at the start of each assembly.

The Sports Centre

I also updated students on the work going on in the Sports Centre. Following a complete replacement of the roof, contractors are now hard at work inside the building. They are converting the old swimming pool into a multi-use hall, and are redecorating and refurbishing the internal spaces .Over the coming weeks, doors and windows will be replaced, to ensure that the building is ready for our use when it is handed over to us. We are very grateful to the Lighthouse Schools Partnership for their support in overseeing this work, which will greatly improve our facilities and enable PE and Performing Arts to continue to thrive – even during exam season!

Resolutions

I also talked about the idea of new year’s resolutions, offering four options for students to consider as they think about improving themselves over the course of 2024.

We know that regular reading not only improved literacy and cognitive skills, but helps us understand more about the world we live in, and the people who we share it with. I encouraged students to make the most of the regular reading time we provide to choose a book that interests and challenges them, and to push themselves to read more books. This is one I am constantly striving for myself!

I then spoke about the importance of a healthy relationship with technology. We know that reductions in screen time improve mental and physical health, reducing stress and anxiety and leading to better sleep patterns. I urged students to consider steps such as turning off notifications, setting time limits and down time, and ensuring that phones are charged outside of the bedroom so they don’t interfere with sleep. We ensure that students have time away from their devices during the school day – in line with government guidance – but outside of school, it’s up to them. Mobile devices are part of our lives, and will be part of our futures, so developing a healthy relationship with technology is essential for our students to be successful adults.

Thirdly, I asked students to consider monitoring their physical activity, in line with guidance from the World Health Organization. Replacing inactive “sedentary” time with physical activity has many health benefits – any activity is better than none, and more activity is better! So making sure that every move counts would be a great resolution for 2024.

Finally, I asked students to ensure that they made the most of the opportunities on offer to them in 2024. I don’t want any students to look back in twelve months’ time and think “if only…” We want our students to participate fully in their lessons and beyond, to get involved and take part, and to take control of their own self-improvement.

I concluded the assembly with the launch of the 2024 inter-house poetry competition – a great opportunity to get involved and join in straight away! All students have the opportunity to submit a poem in this year’s competition, in any form, under the theme of either “growth” or “solitude.” All entries to be handed in to the English Department by 9th February!

It’s been a great start to the year so far – I look forward to continuing to improve every day as we move through 2024.

The Future of Churchill Sports Centre

June 15, 2023June 15, 2023 / chrishildrew / 2 Comments

We are delighted this week to be able to publish the news that the future of the Sports Centre building has finally been secured.

The Sports Centre, as many of you know, sits within the Churchill Academy & Sixth Form site. When Churchill first became an Academy in 2011, all the land within the site boundary transferred over to the Academy trust – except for the Sports Centre, which remained in the ownership of North Somerset Council and operated as a leisure centre for the local community.

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, the leisure centre closed – and it has not reopened. For the past three years it has remained closed, whilst extensive discussions have taken place between the Academy, the council and the local community about its future. We have all been desperate to find a way to preserve the centre as an asset for the local community, and for the Academy. Since we joined the Lighthouse Schools Partnership on 1st April, the multi-academy trust has also been able to lend its expertise and resources to the discussions.

We are now able to confirm that the Council has agreed to transfer the sports centre building to the Lighthouse Schools Partnership (subject to approval by the executive member), along with a contribution of just over £600,000 towards repairs and building maintenance works that are essential to bring the building back into a fully usable condition. The full cost of these works is over a million pounds; the remainder of the money will come from the Lighthouse Schools Partnership, of which we are now a part.

In January, the council announced that the swimming pool would not reopen, and it has now been drained. This space will be turned into a multi-purpose hall, which we hope to be able to use flexibly for teaching, assemblies, and exams. This will mean that we will no longer have to shut the Academy’s own Sports Hall – and associated changing rooms – during exam seasons, reducing disruption to the PE curriculum and ensuring that we will have changing rooms available for students all year round!

The centre will also provide us with studio space for performing arts, and will become the new base for the PE department. We hope to use the additional space to free up existing Academy resources for much-needed student welfare facilities as well.

Community use has been at the heart of all our discussions over the past three years. An active and engaged group of local residents has been instrumental in campaigning and lobbying for the centre to remain a community resource, and we have been supportive of this ambition. Our Academy sits at the heart of our community, and we are keen to continue to play our part. Once the building is operational again, the facilities will be available to community groups just as our 3G pitch and sports hall have been throughout.

We are grateful to everyone involved in getting us to this point. Council officers have worked with us, as have the local community groups. Mrs Franklin and Mr Bigwood have spent hours locked in talks and discussions, and latterly Louise Malik, Chief Financial and Operating Officer for the Lighthouse Schools Partnership, has devoted many hours to delivering an agreement.

We now have quite a task ahead of us in planning the extensive building works required to repair, refurbish and redecorate the centre, to bring it up to standard for use by our staff, students and the community after three years of uncertainty. We are fortunate that the Lighthouse Schools Partnership will manage this project with us, freeing up valuable time for Academy staff to focus on our students. We anticipate that the centre will re-open in the early part of 2024. We will keep you posted!

International Women’s Day 2023: Inspirational Sportswomen

March 9, 2023March 12, 2023 / chrishildrew / Leave a comment

Wednesday of this week was International Women’s Day. The last time I celebrated this important day on the Headteacher’s Blog was back in 2017 – so it’s time I did so again, to celebrate some more of my inspirational female role models. This year, I’m focusing on women in sport – and four women who have really inspired me over the past few years.

Victoria Williamson

Victoria Williamson was a Team GB track cyclist, specialising in sprints. She won a bronze medal at the 2013 World Track Championships and was on her way to being a contender for the 2016 Rio Olympics squad. In January 2016 she suffered a horrific crash on the track in a competition in Rotterdam, suffering a broken neck and back, dislocating her pelvis and slipping a disc in her neck. She had to relearn how to walk, rebuilding her strength and condition. Incredibly, in 2019, she returned to the track, competing for Team GB in the Track World Championships. She then switched to winter sport, and is now a member of the Team GB women’s bobsleigh team.

I find Victoria’s story so inspiring: to come back from a devastating crash and life-changing injuries to compete again at world championship level is a tale of such courage, determination and bravery. A true inspiration.

Leah Williamson

I found the whole team of Lionesses an incredible inspiration last year, as they brought football home in style with their victory in the European Championships. Beth Mead, Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly, Keira Walsh, Millie Bright, Georgia Stanway…and the rest! They were all amazing. But Leah Williamson’s calm, determined captaincy; her leadership of the team on and off the field; and her superb, level-headed approach to the game just blew me away. She’s a truly inspiring role model. And, as far as I’m aware, she’s not related to Victoria Williamson…

Janja Garnbret

I loved watching the new Olympic sport of competitive climbing at the Tokyo Games. I found myself hooked by the disciplines of speed, lead and bouldering – learning all kinds of new terms along the way! In the women’s event, Janja Garnbret absolutely cleaned up.

Her athleticism, determination and skill was simply staggering – she blitzed every discipline. But it was when I watched the documentary The Wall: Climb for Gold on Netflix that I saw the struggle and difficulty behind the scenes of becoming the sports first ever Olympic gold medallist, and this made me admire her all the more. An amazing athlete!

Sky Brown

Sticking with the Olympic theme, I couldn’t complete this post without mentioning the youngest professional skateboarder in the world, who won a bronze medal for Team GB in Toyko at the age of just 13. Her ability to pick herself up when she was down, to keep going with a huge grin on her face, and to celebrate the achievements of her opponents as much as her own, won me over completely.

Who are your female sporting inspirations?

Celebrating student success: end of term 1

October 20, 2022October 21, 2022 / chrishildrew / Leave a comment

This week I have had the pleasure of attending two great events to celebrate our students’ achievements – the Future Chef Competition, and our annual Sports Awards Evening.

Future Chef 2022

In this competition, our Future Chefs had to plan and cook a main course dish for two people in under one hour, with a maximum budget of five pounds. The students, from Years 9 and 10, worked miracles with the brief, and produced plates of delicious food for the judging panel. Hot foot from our Senior Leadership Team meeting, myself and Deputy Head Mrs James, along with Assistant Heads Mrs Gill and Mr Davies, were joined by Director of PE Mr Hayne to assess the presentation and taste of the dishes, whilst Food specialist Mrs Coman judged the workmanship that went on behind the scenes.

The overall winner was Annabel Isgrove, whose guacamole was a triumph (I’d still like the recipe please, Annabel!), but every dish was delicious and really well presented. One of the real pleasures of Headship!

Sports Awards Evening

It was great to have Sports Awards Evening back in the calendar again! This fabulous, glamorous event is a great way to end term 1, celebrating the sporting successes of our students from the past year. The students scrubbed up well to join Team PE and a host of staff to eat well and enjoy the evening. Guests of honour Tom Stabbins (competitive climber and ex-Churchill student) and Bristol City striker Nakhi Wells helped hand out the awards, with the coveted Sportspeople of the Year trophies being awarded to Zoe Coombes and Benedict Skudder. A full report, with all the photos, is on the Academy website now.

What a great way to end term 1!

Lessons from the Champions League

May 9, 2019May 9, 2019 / chrishildrew / Leave a comment

What a week of football it’s been! Liverpool and Spurs both overturned seemingly overwhelming odds in the second legs of their semi-finals to set up an all-Premier League final.

There’s no doubt about it – Liverpool were immense on Tuesday night. Coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the first leg to defeat Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate and book their place in the Champions League final is the stuff of legend. When Trent Alexander-Arnold took the corner for Divock Origi to score the fourth Liverpool goal, he caught a team of legends and international superstars napping and dumped them out of the competition.

liverpool

It’s not the first time it’s happened, either. Last year, Barcelona were through to the quarter-finals and carrying a 4-1 lead into the second leg against Roma. They were defeated 3-0 in that second leg, and it was Roma that went through to the semi-finals (where they were beaten by Liverpool!)

This fact did not escape the Barcelona players in the painful aftermath of their defeat this week. Luis Suarez, ex-Liverpool striker now playing for Barcelona, summed it up in a post-match interview:

“We have to do a lot of self-criticism because this is the second time that the same thing has happened to us. We cannot commit the same mistake two years in a row. There are many things we need to consider and think about.”

What struck me about Barcelona is that they went out of the Champions League because the players weren’t concentrating. Liverpool, on the other hand, were completely switched on, focused on the task in hand, and playing every single second as though their lives depended on it. For Liverpool on Tuesday, the idea of “giving up” wasn’t even a possibility. The incredible support at Anfield certainly gave them the belief and the boost they needed.

moura

Then, the following night, Tottenham Hotspur pulled off a second incredible comeback – this time overturning a 3-0 deficit in just 45 minutes of football, away from home against a really strong Ajax side. Just like with Liverpool, the first-choice striker was unable to play, but the team showed in their battling determination that they just refused to be beaten. Lucas Moura was quicker, more focused, more switched on than the Ajax team, and poached the final goal as the final seconds of stoppage time ticked away.

These were two magical nights of football, even for a neutral like me. As a Watford supporter, I hope that my team can capture some of Spurs and Liverpool’s “never give up” fighting spirit in the forthcoming FA Cup Final against Manchester City. And as a Headteacher, I hope that our students can capture some of the same spirit in their endeavours. I hope that our students see that lapses in concentration can cost you, and remember to stay focused all the time. I hope they see that, whilst we all make mistakes, we have to learn from them – and that there’s really no excuse for making the same mistake twice. I hope they see that with hard work, effort and determination, nothing is impossible; and that, with the support of those around you in the community, you’ll never walk alone.

The importance of active lives

March 28, 2019 / chrishildrew / Leave a comment

This week saw the publication of Sport England’s annual Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, revealing the attitudes of school-aged children up and down the country towards sports, exercise and physical activity.

The five key findings are:

Physically literate children are more likely to be active. The more of the five elements of physical literacy – enjoyment, confidence, competence, understanding and knowledge – children have, the more active they are likely to be.
Enjoyment is the biggest driver of activity levels. While all of the reported attitudes make a difference, enjoying sport and physical activity makes the biggest difference to activity levels.
Physically literate children are happier, more resilient, and more trusting of others.The more elements of physical literacy are present, the higher the levels of happiness, resilience and social trust.
Physical literacy decreases with age. As children grow older, they report lower levels of enjoyment, confidence, competence, and understanding.
There are important inequalities that must be tackled. Girls and those children and young people form less affluent families are less likely to be active.

Churchill sports Day 29th June 2018

The report itself finds clear links between leading an active lifestyle and mental wellbeing, happiness and resilience. Interestingly, the studies found that having a positive attitude towards sport and physical activity was the strongest driver of happiness and resilience levels – more so than activity levels.

active5

These findings underline much of what we are trying to achieve with our Physical Education curriculum at Churchill. Especially in Core PE during Years 9, 10 and 11, our aim is to ensure that all our students have a secure grounding in physical literacy, but above all to ensure that they develop a positive attitude towards sport and physical activity – and they they enjoy it! It is so important to us that we equip our young people, when they leave us, to lead an active and healthy lifestyle independently, not because they know they ought to, but because they want to.

Churchill sports Day 29th June 2018

This year, thanks to the hard work of Mr Hayne and the PE team, supported by Assistant Headteacher Mrs Gill, we are proud to be working alongside Sport England to develop approaches to training teachers in PE which develop physical literacy to improve enjoyment of PE and Sport, and to ensure as many children and young people as possibe adopt an active lifestyle. Mr Hayne and his team are working across eight schools in North Somerset to develop these approaches, to introduce some new sports, and to work with experts from local gyms and fitness centres to train staff in new approaches. We’re already seeing some of the benefits, and we’re looking forward to more over the course of this year-long project.

We can all do more to ensure that we lead active and healthy lifestyles. Walking the dog, going for a run, a bike ride, taking the stairs instead of the lift…every little helps. Find something you enjoy, get up and go – the benefits are clear!

Click here to read more from Sport England about their Active Lives Children and Young People survey.

Sports Awards 2018

October 12, 2018October 12, 2018 / chrishildrew / 1 Comment

Our annual Sports Award dinner is always a great event, but the 2018 incarnation was, by general agreement, the best yet! 320 students attended the event at Cadbury House Hotel, looking very smart indeed, to be greeted by the Mendip Snowsports Yeti and a host of staff and special guests.

Guests of honour Tom Stabbins and Pat Lam with Director of PE Mr Hayne

The evening began with a speech from Churchill alumnus Tom Stabbins, who spoke movingly and powerfully about his experiences of school and where that has led him. Following a serious illness diagnosed in Year 8, Tom had part of his leg amputated. He spoke about how sport meant that this change – which could have been disabling – actually enabled him to take on more challenges, including becoming a prominent wheelchair basketball player. Tom is now a keen climber, and is trying out for the GB Paraclimbing squad. You can read more about Tom’s story here. His speech was incredibly inspiring, and many students took the opportunity to talk to him during the rest of the evening about how sport has the power to transform lives.

After a delicious meal, it was the turn of our second special guest, Bristol Bears Head Coach Pat Lam. The former Samoan international spoke about his childhood in New Zealand and the lessons he has learned over a lifetime in rugby – and teaching!

Pat Lam addressing Sports Awards Evening 2018

Pat’s first lesson was about balance: that keeping school work and extra-curricular activities in balance is vital. Too much on one or the other is harmful. It was reassuring to hear this, as this was exactly the message I gave to Year 11 students and their families at the start of this academic year!

Secondly, Pat shared the four “Ps” that he has used to find success in his personal and professional life:

Purpose: having a goal and driving towards that goal is the key to everything else. Don’t let others put you off: if you have a goal, go for it!
People: meeting people, working with others, and treating them well is the second key to success. Pat spoke about how each of us has the power – and the responsibility – to intervene when others are not being treated well. His message here really chimed with our value of Kindness.
Perseverance: Pat’s message in the third “P” tied in perfectly with our value of Determination – we all encounter difficulties and barriers, but our response to them is crucial. Every setback is an opportunity to learn and grow – this is a phrase straight out of the Academy’s learning values!
Performance: the fourth “P” is the end result – putting in the performance when it matters and doing the very best you can in any given situation.

The rugby star then went on to talk to students about the “Power Train” technique – how your thoughts, words, and actions can either undermine or improve your chances of achieving your dreams. If a team thinks like champions, they will talk like champions, and then they will act like champions – and this gives them a better chance of actually becoming champions. The same is true for every individual.

Pat had the entire room in the palm of his hand, even leading us all in a spontaneous dance routine to finish off!

Our guest of honour then joined me to help Team PE hand out this year’s awards. You can find a full list on the Academy website, but it was a special privilege as ever to hand over the Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year Award. This year’s deserving winners were Katie Mackay and Stan Irving.

Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year 2018

Above all, though, the depth and breadth of sport and PE at Churchill Academy & Sixth Form was breathtaking. Awards were given for rugby, football, netball, hockey, rounders, cricket, golf, swimming, and athletics, whilst students were inducted into the Hall of Fame for gymnastics, equestrianism, and archery. Team PE also introduced new awards for kindness, curiosity and determination this year.

Sports Awards 2018

Thanks must go to all the staff who attended and helped, especially Team PE; to our special guests; and above all to the fantastic students who make sport at Churchill such a success. Their participation, effort, and contribution makes it all worthwhile.

Bring on #SAE19!

FAQ: who was in the Yeti costume?!