This is an exciting time for the school, as we embark on a new, creative curriculum for Parklands Year 7 pupils. These students are benefiting from a new style of teaching. The 'Learning at Parklands' initiative, known as LAP, is a new curriculum for all Year 7 pupils, which commenced in September 2005. The students work on six projects over their first year in the school, each project lasting half a term.

A core team of teachers, who have all been trained in Mind-Friendly Learning techniques, take the year 7 students for over half of their weekly timetable. This creates a secure and stable environment, perfect for learning.

The first project, entitled ' Livin' Hear and Lovin' It', sees their local environment and encourages them to learn more about themselves.

It is a really wonderful initiative focusing on how our young people learn best. We have taken the best practice of our primary schools to change our Year 7 curriculum. It promises to be an exciting future for all our students and staff.

The school received three awards this year: -

• Inclusion Chartermark
• FA Chartermark
• Healthy Schools Award (redesignation)

These awards are testament to the work and effort that staff are making in meeting the aims of the Government agenda, Every Child Matters.

Alan Smithies
Head Teacher
Parklands High

Staff and pupils at Parklands have really made a difference to Breast Cancer Awareness Month of October this year.

On Wednesday 19th October, a concert was staged at Parklands City Learning Centre, in which Parklands Performing Arts students performed their singing and dancing acts. Even staff performed on the night, really getting into the spirit of things! All proceeds of the event will go to the Breast Cancer Awareness Month Campaign.

Parklands fundraising did not stop there though. Friday 21st October saw the whole school taking part in the "Wear it Pink!" Day, to help raise funds for breast cancer research. Several raffles were drawn, all proceeds of which will go to the campaign. Some of the prizes included cuddly toys, Breast Cancer Campaign official CD, fluffy pencil cases, sweets, Reebok T-shirt and many more. Eli Lilly, Speke Operations, also very kindly donated £100.00 in W.H. Smith vouchers as a raffle prize. It is not yet known the sum of money raised; we will let you know as soon as we do!

Year 9 Windermere Trip
Windermere, at 12 miles long, one mile wide and 220 feet deep, is the largest natural lake in England, and is fed by numerous rivers. In June, as part of the English Curriculum, a group of Y9 pupils, with teachers and parents, explored the old Cumbrian town.

Lakeland's most popular holiday resort - is an excellent centre for boating activities, with over 10,000 boats registered. Sailing, canoeing, windsurfing and water-skiing are all evident. Steamers and boats operate from Bowness Bay to Waterhead at Ambleside, and Lakeside at the southern end. The group enjoyed a trip on a steamer and journeyed to Ambleside and finished the day by sampling home-made ice cream.

Excellence in Cities: Motivation Day
Pupils from years 7,8,and 9 from Parklands and Saint Francis Xavier College came together on Monday 14th June in the CLC for a 'motivation day' to improve ways of learning.

The day started with an introduction outlining four aspects of pupils' attitudes towards school. - energy, confidence, a positive attitude and respect for the school and each other. A team building exercise formed a fun activity which combined the power of looking and remembering when learning. Pupils had to look at a drawing of a 'healthy brain' and describe it to their respective groups.

'Brain Gym' activities were designed to stimulate different parts of the brain in order to focus on exams. Pupils learned how moods can affect the brain and how different methods such as drinking water and using music can help to stimulate the brain to revise successfully. Positive attitudes in thinking can increase learning which was shown in the team building exercise where everyone helped in producing quality work. In 'helicopter', groups of pupils had to build a paper tower that was capable of standing on its own. With only one piece of cellotape for each group, this task required perseverance and creativity together with a healthy attitude towards a team ethos.

All in all, the 'motivation' day engaged pupils from the three year bands to give them a feeling of 'can do' attitudes when working or revising for their exams.

Enterprise Education
Enterprise Education is really taking off at Parklands High School this year. All Year 10 G band took part in an Enterprise Pathfinders Challenge last June and twelve 'Champions' were selected to take part in a regional competition. Those same twelve are to take part in the National Enterprise Week (14th - 18th November) challenge.

Last year's Year 10 have taken part in the National Enterprise Springboard Project along with Young Managers Scheme at Jaguar, and Choice is Yours from our EBP, Liverpool Compact. The current Year 10 will all take part in an Enterprise Day on November 1st and are the first year group to be involved in the Prince's Trust XL Club.

In March 2006 the whole school will be involved in a Fair Trade Week, whereby the entire curriculum will be looking at this aspect of Economic Understanding.

Design Technology
The Design Technology Department has enjoyed exam success this year, particularly in Graphics and Textiles. As part of the Textiles curriculum, a group of students have visited a pottery-making workshop where they made their own creations. Year 11 Textiles group went to 'knitting and stitching' show. This year Year 11 students will be going to The Clothes Show.

Schools Parliament
Five students took part in Liverpool Schools' Parliament elected members elections. To participate they had to choose a Ministry in which they were interested, and deliver a speech to over seventy students form schools across the city. All our students took part in the proceedings and applied for various ministries. They conducted themselves with aplomb and were a credit to the school and to themselves. Two of the group are now Ministers for the Parliament: Dawn Findlay, Minister for Fair Trade and Jennifer Dunning, Minister for Health. These issues are high on both the Government and School Agendas this year; we wish them every success with their political careers.

PE News
At Parklands High School we aim to encourage all pupils to develop their sporting skills through a variety of activities in which they can all participate and enjoy.

Work in PE contributes towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle and a lifelong commitment to sport.

In Years 7,8,9 pupils receive 2 hours of high quality PE and participate in a variety of activities including football, rugby, cricket, fitness, swimming, athletics, rounders, netball and outdoor and adventures activities.

In Years 10 and 11 we operate an options system and pupils can participate in a variety of activities including swimming, multi gym, trampolining and badminton, alongside more traditional PE activities as above.

In Year 10 pupils can choose BTEC Sports Studies which is an award equivalent to 2 GCSE grades A*-C. Pupils can also choose GCSE PE Full or Short Course. All these qualifications are widely accepted for higher and further education and employment. They illustrate a variety of skills including communication, teamwork, determination, commitment and an in depth subject knowledge.

Parklands are also involved in the School Sports Partnership and is the hub school and host for the Partnership Development Manager. The School Sports Co-ordinator is also based at Parklands and is responsible for liaison between the partnership primary schools to further develop PE and school sport.

In addition to curriculum PE there are a variety of extra curricular activities available for all pupils at lunchtime and after school. Teams compete in a variety of Liverpool Schools Competitions and Tournaments. These include: -

Girls:

• Hockey
• Football
• Trampolining
• Athletics
• Rounders
• Badminton
• Table Tennis
• Cross Country
• BTEC / GCSE PE Revision
• Swimathon

Boys:

• Football
• Cricket
• Rugby
• Basketball
• Fitness
• Circuit Training
• BTEC / GCSE PE Revision
• Swimathon

Additional opportunities for Parklands students have included a football competition, whereby sixteen girls also won tickets to see the England v Scotland game last summer (women's football); trip to Liverpool Tennis tournament to see professional players (40 pupils last year and will happen again next year too!); Laura Russell, Year 11 student, is football coaching at Liverpool John Moores University.

As part of our ongoing recognition of sports success in school, we will be holding a Sports Presentation Evening in the new year. The school is also participating in the Tesco 'Sports for Schools ' voucher scheme - so please let us have your vouchers now!

Transforming Youth Work
Youth Workers from Liverpool Youth Service have been working with Y7 pupils and Extended Schools at Parklands.

A group of ten pupils have been taking part in a variety of activities such as swimming, indoor climbing, team games, team building, Cookery Trail, indoor sports, all encouraging confidence, self-esteem, learning new skills and generally having fun!

Parklands High School reaches out to parents
As Liverpool's first "Full Service Extended School", Parklands High School in Speke is enthusiastic about involving parents and carers in their children's' learning, by providing information, help and advice in a variety of ways, and by linking them with specialist support when it's needed.

As part of the new Learning at Parklands initiative for Year 7 pupils, parents and families are invited to weekly assemblies on Friday afternoons, to find out more about what their children have been working on, and to celebrate their success.

The school has a new Parents' Room, where regular coffee mornings are held for parents and carers to meet informally, and talk to staff about issues that matter to them, such as how to support learning, behaviour, special needs, etc. The school also hosts weekly coffee mornings run by the Liverpool ADHD Foundation, for parents with children already diagnosed, or awaiting diagnosis, of ADHD. Plans are underway to develop the Parents room as a resource and information space for parents and teachers alike, including computers for Internet and interactive CD-Rom access.

Duke Of Edinburgh's Award
The Award is a programme of personal and social development. The value to young people is dependent on personal commitment, the learning process and the quality of the experience.

Parklands Extended Schools project is in partnership with Liverpool Youth Service, Catholic Youth Service, Parklands School and Youthpoint. In addition, Liverpool Youth Service will be running An Open Award Centre at the Community Centre in the near future. The Primary Care Trust, and The Youth Initiative Fund have donated additional Funding.

Currently there are 25 young people aged 14 - 16 yrs who are participating in the Bronze Award, which is made up of four sections:

• Service - to encourage service to individuals and the Community
• Skills - to encourage the discovery and development of personal interests and social and practical skills
• Physical Recreation - to encourage participation and improvement in Physical activity
• Expeditions - to encourage a spirit of adventure and discovery!

Hopefully the young people will progress onto Silver and Gold awards with tangible evidence of success, effort and enjoyment!

Pantomime Time
Parklands High School has a new Head of Performing Arts, Miss Williamson. The next production will be "The Grinch of Garston", a pantomime to be staged on 14th and 15th December at 7.00 p.m. at Parklands City Learning Centre. The students will also perform a 'matinee' production for primary pupils on Monday 19th December.

Music at Parklands
Success for the Liverpool Music Service in local primary schools has led to a Year 7 big Band directed by Mr Matt Horner, the Head of Music at Parklands High School and Dom Starkey, the brass peripatetic teacher.

The Band made their first public performance at the school's Year 5 & 6 Open Evening in October. Further developments include a Primary Liaison project, taking the pupils back to their primary schools to help inspire more young people into music.

After School Youth Club
This takes place from 3.30 pm to 5.00 pm every Monday and Wednesday with the Learning Mentors and includes games and various activities such as pool, football, remote-controlled cars and dance, amongst others.

Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club is run by the Safer Schools Partnership and Learning Mentors and is open to all lower school pupils who have the opportunity to start the day on a positive note with cereal, fruit juice, toast and a friendly chat.

Children can also choose to go the Sunrise Club at Parklands CLC, where they can have breakfast and then log on to do their homework, coursework, or simply just surf the net!

Lunch Bunch Club
"Lunch Bunch" is a club run every lunchtime except Friday, aimed towards the lower School. Here pupils play Board Games, Arts and Crafts and much more.

The setting is informal, and gives the younger pupil's the opportunity to meet new friends, build self-confidence. The Club provides a safe supportive environment with a friendly atmosphere.

Girls I.T.
This is a very popular after school activity, as many as 25 pupils per evening attend this club. Here they are given the opportunity to learn new skills such as surfing the net, using scanners and digital cameras.

As well as the girls learning social skills and team building skills, it gives them an opportunity to make new friends.

Textile Club
"Textile Club" meets after school every Wednesday. The main aim of the club is to encourage pupils with an interest in the subject and to develop new skills in a friendly environment.

Family Learning
We are developing family learning within school for children in Years 7 and 8 and their parents. It is run by Angela Howard from LEA and Mary McKean, Literacy Coordinator for Parklands HS. Each Monday afternoon, parents are given ideas on how they can help their children to learn. They are later joined by their children where they will participate in activities together.

In November 2002 Parklands High School moved into its brand new purpose built building with state of the art facilities. The school has access to superb resources at the Parklands City Learning Centre, which include a theatre/auditorium, recording facilities and three ICT suites.

We also have shared access to the fantastic Austin Rawlinson Sports Centre, complete with swimming pool, sports hall and astro turf. The Youth and Community Centre is also situated on the campus, where the Parklands Youth Club takes place on Mondays and Wednesdays.