News & Events

Sadly, we have learned that former Hillside teacher  Dave Mumberson has passed away at the age of 69.  Many parents and grandparents will remember Dave with great affection.  Dave taught  geography at Balliol School; from 1972 to 1995 he was at Hillside where he was also a head of year. An extremely popular teacher, he was a key member of the annual Summer Camp in Satterthwaite in the Lake District and every year he ran football (mainly on Saturday mornings!) and cricket teams .

He will be remembered with the greatest affection by many people throughout that community. Despite his illness, in January this year he insisted on attending the John Martin charity fundraising evening in Bootle. “Mumbo” never forgot the pupils  he taught nor the people of Bootle and Walton.

On Saturday 15th and 22nd May, Hillside is running Science revision sessions starting at 9.00am-12.00pm.

Saturday 15th -   Biology 2

                              Chemistry 2

                              Physics 2

Saturday 22nd - Chemistry 2

                              Physics 2

For more information, see Miss Patterson or Mrs Wardale.

Two local students have received national recognition for their educational achievements at the National Aimhigher Awards, which took place in London on October 6th.

To read more, click here:

http://www.ahgtm.ac.uk/news/?page_id=2011

On Monday 26^th April we enjoyed a visit by 44 pupils and a group of teachers from the College Pablo Picasso in Harfleur, Normandy.  They are spending a week in the UK, staying with families in Lladudno and visiting the whole area.

They spent the morning with us, and as they have a special interest in Music they all spent an hour with our Samba Band learning new skills and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Why not visit the website below for a brief movie clip?

http://colleges.ac-rouen.fr:80/picasso-harfleur/spip.php?article394

They also made a tour of the whole school, visiting classrooms and talking to pupils and teachers.

They enjoyed a lunch prepared by Mrs. Khan before moving on to an Anfield Stadium visit.

This visit has opened the way for us to share work in French and possibly even make a visit to their school in Normandy.

Justin Somper will be visiting school on Tuesday 23rd March to speak to Year 8 pupils during period 5, which is their English lesson.

Justin will be arriving in school at 12pm and will have lunch in the Food Tech rooms with JPs, JK, LH, ST and some pupils (possibly those that work in the library).

At 2pm, AC, CS, RO and NC will accompany their classes to the Drama Hall and will remain with them until 3pm for Justin’s presentation. ST, SF and KW will all remain in their usual lessons.

Towards the end of the session, there will be the opportunity for pupils who wish to purchase copies of Justine’s book and to have them signed. A letter has gone home informing pupils and parents of this.

ICT for families

James Soper participated in our recent Family Learning evening performing his show ‘The Real Science of the Circus. Being an ex circus performer he effectively and enthusastically combined his special skills; balancing and juggling with his science knowledge sharing it with his audiences in a very unique and entertaining way. Audience members were invited to participate, assisting James with demonstrating Newtons three laws (using a skateboard) and the importance of centres of gravity (unicycle support).

The show was then followed by Circus science introduced by the science team at Hillside. Pupils and parents were encouraged to develop their juggling skills and apply James’ ideas to balance objects on a tightrope.

Prizes were awarded for skill, creativity and initiative. Refreshments were provided and the feedback from parents and pupils was excellent everyone agreed that the event was interesting and enjoyable and they had learnt about the science behind the circus. This event was supported by three other performances of the show during the day allowing all of year 10 and some pupils from year 8 and 11 to enjoy the show. The pupils were captivated by the show and were an excellent audience.

If you would like more information about the shows please visit: http://www.ScienceShowsForSchools.com

Look out for details of a Language Family Learning evening during the summer term.

Maths modular exam - 2nd March am + pm

Science objective tests - 3rd March am

Spanish speaking - 4th, 5th, 6th May

Music intergrated assignment - 5th May

Written GCSE's 17th May - 30th June

Candidated will be given individual timetables soon.

A group of Year 10 pupils studying GCSE Graphics visited a local printers, ‘Newsprinter’, in Prescot. They had an opportunity to view the processes involved in printing daily newspapers and were very lucky to experience this tour of the multi-million pound factory. They learned about the interesting processes involved in producing newspapers that we read across the country on a daily basis. The machines were observed in action, from the operator designing the layout of the spread to the machine producing the paper at 50 copies a second! The group also had the privilege to view how the colossal rolls of newspaper are moved from one area and then loaded into the machines ready for printing. They also saw the tanks of ink which pump out to different parts of the factory, and learned about the need for recycling within the industry.

Following the tour, the group was invited to ask questions about the print industry over a drink and some biscuits. They were then all given a bag of “goodies” to take home. The pupils behaved excellently throughout the visit and we hope to make further visits in the future.

All pupils in Year 8 were recently given the opportunity to learn about culture in Taiwan as part of our successful ‘Asian Dialogues’ project.

During their English lessons they researched the sports played in Taiwan and some examples of their healthy lifestyles. To enable the pupils to have a full learning experience, the English and PE departments worked together to run an Asian Sports Day – and to great success!

Every pupil in Year 8 got to experience different sports played in Taiwan by completing a very exciting and enjoyable carousel of activities. Each pupil got to experience a lesson in Taekwondo, led successfully by two Year 10 qualified instructors; a quick-fire round robin in Table Tennis, a speedy game of skill; Diablo, a game of expertise and skill that many year 8 pupils mastered; and, finally, a lesson in how to be a Chinese Dragon Dancer, playing the music and dressing as the Dragon.

This was a fantastic day for Year 8 that all fully enjoyed – we have some budding circus skills experts and some wonderful dancers in this year group!

Due to the success of this day we hope that Year 8 will continue to experience this level of activity as part of the English and PE curriculum.

To see more pictures, go to the Asian Dialogues Gallery page, under International Links.

On the 10th December the RS GCSE group from Year 10 spent a day undertaking research for the section of their course that deals with life after death. They began with a “ghost walk” from Central station, up Bold Street past the bombed-out church, along Rodney Street and ending up in St.James’ Cemetary at the rear of the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. Here they heard the story of Little Grace and very quickly identified her unofficial burial place.

They then went with Mrs. Carless and their ghost walk guide, Mr. Phillips, to visit the Cathedral itself and enjoyed a two-elevator and 114 step climb to the roof for an amazing view of the city and the River Mersey.

Finally, the group walked on to the Albert Dock to carry on their research at the Maritime Museum. They were very lucky with the weather, but they deserved it for being such a pleasant and well-mannered group of representatives of our school. Well done to them!

This year the R.S department has again taken part in Operation Christmas Child. We realised the importance of this operation and felt Hillside High could help bring a smile to some young faces this Christmas. Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to needy children around the world through the provision of gift-filled shoe boxes. This programme provides an opportunity for people of all ages to be involved in a simple, hands-on project.

A number of activities took place in class during the autumn term, including the design of posters to encourage people to bring in “goodies” in order to fill the shoe boxes.

Thank you to pupils, parents, staff and anyone who was kind enough to take time to complete a shoe box. A shoe box may not change a child’s life, but it can ease some of their problems.

Teachers and pupils from Italy, Spain, France, Slovakia and Finland will join with pupils and teachers from Hillside on the week beginning Monday 23rd November to firm up ideas and make agreements for a new two-year Comenius Project entitled "2020 Vision". They will spend the first two days at the North Sefton CLC in Ainsdale, working on the details of this project which will be run through a specialy-designed website so that as many pupils as possible in each school may be involved. On the Tuesday, Ms McCabe will lead a group of 25 pupils (including 11 from Hillside) in creating a large wall banner to go on display in each school. The banner will outline the aims and themes of the project: environmental sustainability and healthy lifestyles, with the question of what will our community be like in 2020?

On the Wednesday, Hillside will host a visit by some of the project partners.

There was a full house in the Sports Hall at Hillside on Thursday 22nd October for the school's annual Presentation Evening.

Prizes were awarded to current pupils for both effort and achievement throughout last year. We also had the great joy of seeing so many pupils who left last year at the end of their final year coming back to be presented with subject prizes and special prizes. There was a sea of smiling faces all around, but the most emotional moment of the evening came when the Eco Award was presented posthumously to our wonderful Luke Eccleston, This award was accepted by his sister Keira and in future will be renamed the "Luke Eccleston Award".

Intermixed with all the presentations were some beautiful and exciting pieces of drama, music and dance, performed with grace and panache by a wide range of pupils.

The evening ended with a sumptous buffet prepared by Mrs.Khan so that all pupils, guests, parents, governors and Hillside staff could mingle together.

On Friday 17th October, Mrs. Shemilt attended the Ceremony in London to receive the DCSF International School Award for 2009-2012.

The award programme is run for the DCSF by the British Council and the award was given by the presenter of the BBC Six O'Clock News, George Allagiah.

The award is made for a period of three years, and Hillside has been the recipient of the ISA four consecutive times, one of only 16 schools in the country to have done so.

As part of Hillside’s Specialist Week which is based on the theme of ‘Sugar,’ Years 8 and 9 are being given the opportunity to see a production of Willy Russell’s ‘Our Day Out’ at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool. During Specialist Week, pupils will be looking at the socio-economic impact the closure of Tate and Lyle had on Liverpool in the 1980s. ‘Our Day Out’ is set in Liverpool in the 1980s and looks at poverty at this time and how hard life was for some people in Liverpool.

Mrs Shemilt was so keen for Year 8 and 9 to see the play, that she has very kindly agreed to allow the tickets and the bus to be paid for from school funds! So she is looking forward to seeing some really good English work based on the play.

We hope that everybody really enjoys the play and has a great afternoon.

The faces of pupils returning to Hillside in August to receive their exam results were tinted with justifiable pride as they celebrated another stunning success.

There was not one pupil in the whole year who did not have some examination success and the headline figure of 91% gaining a minimum of 5 grades at A* to C was not only the best in the history of the school but also placed Hillside at the top of the Sefton league table.

Hillside was also the Sefton school to earn the top figure for CVA (Contectual Value Added - the amount in which children make progress from entry to school in Year 7 to their external exams at the end of Year 11). In terms of achieving 5 grades at A* to C including English and Maths, 46% of the pupils were successful.

As Headteacher Mrs. Laetitia Shemilt said, " We are all so very proud of our wonderful pupils and now they have the opportunity to go on and succeed in whichever direction their dreams may lay."

Sefton Libraries are delighted to announce that former Children’s Laureate Jacqueline Wilson will be visiting Crosby Library and Civic Hall complex on 5th October.

During the evening event, which will begin at 5.30pm, Jacqueline will speak about what inspires her to write and why she thinks reading is so important to young people. She will also talk about her latest novel ‘Hetty Feather’, advanced copies of which will be on sale during the evening.

Upon arrival at the event a draw will take place, and 150 lucky people who select a golden voucher will get to meet Jacqueline and have any books purchased on the night signed.

Jacqueline Wilson is a multi-award winning author who has sold over 20 million books in the UK alone, including many firm favourites amongst young people including: Bad Girls, Double act, The Lottie Project, The Suitcase Kid, The Story of Tracy Beaker, The Illustrated Mum and a quartet for slightly older readers, which includes Girls in Love, Girls Under Pressure, Girls Out Late, and Girls in Tears.

In June 2002 Jacqueline was given an OBE for services to literacy in schools, and from 2005 to 2007 she was the fourth children’s laureate. In the New Year's Honours List for 2008, she was made a Dame of the British Empire.

Tickets for the evening event will go on sale at Sefton Libraries and Pritchard’s Bookshops week beginning 7th September, priced at £3 each. The ticket will entitle the bearer to £1 discount off any book purchased on the night or pre-ordered via Pritchard’s bookshops in Crosby or Formby.