Welcome to Maryhill High Media Arts College Events and News Archive Feb-June 2009
June
Y7 Stanley head Trip
On the first day back after half term, Year 7 spent a week at Stanley Head outdoor centre. The brave youngsters and staff experienced activities such as rock climbing and archery whilst also learning how to make camp and set up a tent. A great time was had by all. To take a look at how they went on, click on the link below.
Images
Liam Highfield Achieves Winning Status
Ex- student, Liam Highfield has won the under-19 Snooker Championship in Sheffield. He won 8 - 3 against Stuart Carrington from Grimsby. Liam has met Stuart before though this is his first major title. Liam has gone from strength to strength since he started playing ages 8 and is hoping to next conquer the adult snooker circuit. Good luck and well done Liam.
Prostate Cancer Website - update
Students from Maryhill are continuing with the efforts to build a website for the Prostate Cancer Support Group and have been cheered on by a huge message of thanks this month from their chairman Ken Smedley. Mr Smedley has now confirmed that the group has achieved registered charity status. Mr Smedley said "On behalf of all our members may I thank you for your support and assistance that you have given to our group. I would also like to express our thanks to Dr Alan Jones, the staff and students for the continued support that they give to us." This is a fantastic step as the website nears completion and a launch date. See right box for more details.
May
Keele Trip
Year 7 are involved in a project 
which can span the next 5 years. The students are in the “AimHigher” programme and in the section called “Seeing is Believing”. The local authority wants to inspire all young people to use their talents and fulfill their potential. In particular it is keen to encourage young people who have no background of higher education in their family to consider this pathway as a real alternative post 18.
Therefore Maryhill Y7 have taken part in a 3 site trip to allow them to see first hand what goes on locally in terms of education. They visited Keele University(above picture), Newcastle College of Further Education and Port Vale in the Community scheme.They had different experiences at the venues and it is hoped that as the programme develops in subsequent years there will be further opportunities to explore higher education in our area.
Port Vale Visit
On 20th May, the students of 8M3 were invited by Mr Chris Taylor to visit Port Vale. The students were given the opportunity to do some life skills exercises and learn a little more about how the football club operates in the community. The students went on a tour of the ground and even sat on the team benches and the students learned that the man who cuts the grass at the Vale walks 5miles every time. The students had a look at the unique feature at the Club which is the nursery group. It was possible to see mums with their babies and toddlers. PVFC is the only Club in the football league to have this kind of facility. After lunch we had a training session led by Steve who used to be at Man United as a coach and fitness trainer. Then it was back in the classroom for another exercise which involved the Vale match day programme. At the end of the session the students all received certificates recording their achievements on the day.
Escape to Safety
Maryhill students had the chance to explore how it feels to be a refugee with the Escape to Safety mobile. This is a touring educational experience that recreates some of the things faced by refugees. Using a mixture of visual, audio and in situ resources, students were shown how diffucult life can be and how fortunate we are in comparison.
The Fears win LMHR competition.
Local band, The Fears, have won the final of a Love Music Hate Racism competiton to be the first band on stage at an upcoming festival at Brittania Stadium. The event on Saturday 30th May will have acts like Pete Doherty, Asian Dub Foundation and Kelly Rowland. The Fears, all ex-Maryhill students recently played at Maryhill in aid of Marie Steel. What a fantstic achievement, going from strength to strength.
Comic Relief, Red Clothes Day Cheque
Father Pat came on 11th May to 
collect the cheque for monies raised on and around Red Clothes Day, including a concert by Presuming Ed, a Red Clothes Day and fancy dress for the 6th form. The series of charity events took place in aid of the flavalas of Sao Paolo, with which Father Pat works closely. A fantastic £1512.00 was raised towards making life better for the street children. Well done to all those involved!
Highlights from The Fears
The Fears concert at Maryhill went down well with the audience. A mixture of atudents, parents and teachers attended the charity concert in aid of Marie Steel. Several students enjoyed the opportunity to take pictures of the event for this website too. The money raised will go to the continued charity efforts for Marie and her family.
Marie Steel Update
Maryhill High plays host to local band The Fears to raise money for Marie Steel. The concert on 7th May along with a 'wear something bright day on Friday 8th May is intended to raise extra funds for Marie, a previous Maryhill student and her family. More details of Marie's plight can be seen in our preveious news feature below.
April
Fire fighters return to collect Big Sing Cheque
Maryhill students enjoyed a visit from the local fire department last week when they returned to collect their cheque from the Big Sing. An excellant £206.76 was raised by the school in the live event. Students also took the opportunity to learn more about the job of a fire fighter and to take a close look at the engine.
March
A Cheque for Kayleigh
After a range of fundraising events starting back in Novemeber 2008, a total was reached towards Kayleigh's wheelchair. As you may remember, students were raising money for a 'Child in need' to enable Kayliegh to buy a custom built wheel chair to allow her to compete in professional Gymnastics later this year. The total raises was an excellant £662.24. Well done to all those who took part!
Community Partnership Citizenship Day
On the 19th March, Maryhill held their school review day and community partnership citizenship day. This provided a chance for parents to meet teachers and discuss their child’s education in a one to one scenario. The review day, moving away from the traditional parents evening style interviews, had a range of things on offer throughout the day. Parents were invited to walk around school and enjoy some of the wonderful displays of students’ work and achievements exhibited in the display boards situated around school. The notice boards, arranged by Mrs L. Bell, show examples of KS3 and KS4 student work, charity events and general achievements.
Read more | Images
Local Lady, Marie Steel, in Cancer Battle
A local woman and previous student of Maryhill High School has been diagnosed with secondary liver cancer. Marie Steel, 28, is battling the disease whilst continuing to look after her two children, aged 3 and 5. She has also previously lost her mother to breast cancer. Marie, of Kidsgrove is undergoing a new treatment called selective internal radiotherapy, which entails a keyhole surgery style operation which delivers tiny microspheres of radiation directly to the tumour. The process uses the hepatic artery, which supplies the tumour with oxygen and nutrients. As the liver is supplied by the portal vein, the treatment causes minimal damage to the liver whilst damaging and hopefully shrinking the tumour. It is hoped that this will prolong Marie’s life with while maintaining the best possible standard of life for her and her family. Sadly this may still mean that Marie has merely months to live....
Read more | Images
February
Holland ‘09 - Sixth Form Educational Visit to Holland
From February 9 th to the 12 th members of the combined sixth forms of Clough Hall and Maryhill along with a select group of younger students travelled to Holland in order to further their studies in History and Ethics. We were to visit a number of historically significant sites and for many of us it proved to be a profoundly moving experience with lasting impact on our views of humanity and the world we live in.
Read more | Images
Year 9 Media days 27th Feb / 2nd March
This was the second time the department had run media days for Key stage 3 students.
In groups of six or seven students had 4 hours to produce an item for a topical tv magazine show – like BBC’s ‘the one show’. The broad topic was ‘how green is your school?’ and interpretations varied from carbon footprints to food waste and litter.
All students involved had a go at filming and presenting; all students worked hard to meet the tight deadlines!
As media is currently not taught at Key Stage 3 it was a terrific opportunity for students to experience what the subject offers in advance of choosing their options.
Read more |Images
Prostate Cancer Website; ongoing
February
Year 11 students have been taking part in the design of a Prostate Cancer awareness website. The first of many meetings took place, where several people from the North Staffs Prostate Cancer Support Group were able to come into school and give a talk on Prostate Cancer. The students were able to learn more about both the condition and the work that the charity does. This will be a progressive design project for the charity and the Year 11 students, so watch this space for more details and updates in the near future!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March
The North Staffs Prostate Cancer Support Group made a return visit to Maryhill on 19th March for the Community Parnership Citizenship Day. They were here to spread awareness to all the visitors about Prostate Cancer and also allowed parents the chance to ask questions about the students' involvement with the website. Since their first visit, they were also able to show off a list of new sponsors, which can now be seen on their new banner
Additional links
Click here to view the finished Prostate Cancer website!
