News & Events

Mr Mark Upton is looking forward to sharing his knowledge from around the world with Westholme School during his role as Interim Principal. 

Mr Upton, who took over the role in March, comes to the school on the back of a distinguished career of over 40 years in the independent sector, both in the UK and China. 

He said Westholme has made a wonderful first impression. 

“When I came to look around Westholme, it was clear to me, even from day one, the quality of the offer here. There is a clear purpose and positive culture in the school, with incredibly hard-working and devoted staff and engaged, lively students.” 

He said he has enjoyed talking with parents, students, staff and the Governors while settling in. 

Mr Upton added: “All of my initial feelings have certainly been endorsed, and I feel even more confident that there is a unique atmosphere in Westholme. 

“There's something very special about all-through schools, where you can see the tangible benefits of the extended family concept. 

“Westholme has all the facilities, advantages and structures in place to give the children here every opportunity, delivered by deeply committed staff.” 

Mr Upton will provide stability and vision until a new Principal is appointed.  

He said: “I have the opportunity to help fine tune Westholme and use my experience over many years in a wide variety of schools. In the wake of Westholme’s Centenary year, I feel very honoured to be part of the School’s journey.” 

On Thursday 29 February, a very excited Prep 5 embarked on an amazing day at Jodrell Bank to complement their science topic about space.

 

On arrival, we headed straight to the Space Dome, for a fascinating interactive talk and video tour of the stars, planets, Milky Way and universe! Professor Brian Cox narrated a film which told us about the history of Jodrell Bank, which was highly insightful.

 

We next visited the Space Pavilion, where we were able to enjoy a variety of hands-on activities, before enjoying a walk along the Telescope Pathway to see the enormity of the famous Lovell Telescope!

 

Following this, we headed to the Planet Pavilion to learn more amazing facts about our solar system. The ceiling contained a clockwork model of the Milky Way, an orrery, which required the children to turn a handle for the model to move.

 

What an excellent day igniting our interest in this topic. Thank you, Jodrell Bank, from Prep 5 for a very memorable day.

 

Westholme Prep celebrated World Book Day 2024, with all children making it a special occasion by dressing up as a character from their favourite book. A fantastic effort was made by all and everyone really looked the part!

To celebrate World Book Day, our Year 5 librarians encouraged all children across the school to take part in a ‘Get Caught Reading’ competition. A huge congratulations to our five winners who received a book voucher to spend!

It was delightful seeing children across the school share the activities they completed from our Reading Bingo. We had children building and reading in blanket forts, designing front covers for books and even reading to friends and relatives on the phone. Everyone was very creative!

Our book hunt in Upper Prep was also a great hit! The children had to find the books that were hidden in William’s Wood. Not only did they have to find the book, but they also had to work out what the book was because the title was covered up. The children showed fantastic teamwork and resilience!

As part of our World Book Day celebrations, Lower Prep were delighted to have a visit from children’s author, Jake Hope. He visited the Lower Prep children and asked them about their favourite stories. He then shared his own favourite stories from when he was a child.

Jake discussed how the books he writes all have funny stories about animals.  The children thought of popular animal characters from the books that they have read such as Mog, Elmer, Hairy McClary, Paddington Bear and Mr Big.  Jake shared the first book that he wrote with the children which is called, ‘Cheesed Off!’ and is all about mice. Lower Prep enjoyed joining in with a reading of the book, complete with actions.

Next, Jake shared his brand new book, which is not yet available to buy and is called, ‘Lola loves walkies’.  It is all about the adventures of a  rabbit called Lola as she goes on her daily walks.  Her favourite place to walk is in the park where she meets lots of her doggy friends! Everyone was very surprised to read about a rabbit going for a walk with her owner on a lead!

Jake finished off his visit by answering questions from the children and signing copies of his book, ‘Cheesed Off!’.

 

Prep R arrived at school last week and found a basket of potatoes! The children investigated the potatoes and used their senses to describe how they looked, felt and smelt. Following this a very special potato was introduced to the class and the children described the differences between the basket potatoes and the very special potato.

The children noticed that the special potato was in fact Supertato! A discussion followed about superheroes and superpowers and the children worked collaboratively to think of words that could describe superheroes. A superhero control centre was set up in the classroom and the children, in various superhero guises, set off on a variety of special missions. The children listened to the story ‘Supertato’ and learnt about the villainous Evil Pea who created mayhem in the supermarkets.

On Monday morning this week Mrs Dixon found a letter in the classroom addressed to the children of Prep R.  The letter was from Supertato warning the children in Prep R that the Evil Pea herself was on her way to Westholme with her army of evil peas. She was planning to switch all the freezers off in the Westholme kitchen, stopping the Thomas Franks catering team from making the Chinese New Year celebratory lunch! Supertato asked Prep R to help him capture Evil Pea and her army of peas. It was a resounding ‘Yes! Let’s do this!’.

Straight away the children got to work designing superhero bubble wands. Mr Walker and Mr Lyle helped the children design their bubblewands, using Tinkercad, in the Tech rooms at Seniors.  Their designs were then brought to life on the 3D printers and delivered to the classroom ready for their mission on Thursday. The children designed their own superhero capes and together with their superhero masks made last week, were ready for their special mission.

Thursday morning arrived and so did the Evil Pea and her army of peas who stationed themselves around the Westholme School buildings. Following a map and a set of clues, Prep R, dressed as superheroes, set off to capture each of the peas and the Evil Pea, herself! The mission was going well until the children realised that one of the peas was keeping Mrs Davenport hostage! The children tried their best to free Mrs Davenport and on their third attempt were successful in their quest!

The Evil Pea stood guard over the entrance into the kitchens, waiting to make her move to turn off the freezers but Prep R superheroes arrived just in time to capture her, much to the relief and delight of Mr Llewelyn, our catering manager. The whole of the Westholme family can now enjoy a Chinese New Year lunch thanks to Prep R and their superpowers.

This week, children in Upper Prep have taken part in the annual House Music Festival. Throughout this week, the corridors and classrooms have been filled with wonderful sounds and melodic tunes.

 It has been a fabulous opportunity for pupils to showcase their musical abilities, often performing pieces that they have been working hard on during their instrumental lessons. For some children who have only recently begun learning an instrument, the festival was their first experience of a solo performance in front of an audience.

It has been a pleasure for all involved to see the children confidently standing in front of their peers and expressing themselves through their performances.

On Friday 15th March we celebrated Comic Relief 2024!

 

Mrs Oracz and members of the INSPIRED Sixth Form Charity Team were responsible for organising the fundraising attempts to donate to charity and had organised an 'Ice Bucket Challenge' for members of staff to take part in on the stage in The Croston Theatre.

 

Leading up to the event, there was a fundraising point in the corridor, where Mrs Oracz and her charity team were selling confectionary to raise money for the cause amongst students.

 

Students and staff alike gathered in the theatre this morning to watch the challenge take place. There was a sense of excitement and nervousness amongst the staff who had agreed to take part in the challenge, as names were drawn out of a hat to decide which members of staff were due to take part. The stage was set with a paddling pool, seat and ice bucket...with Mr Cornwall in charge of pouring the bucket.

 

Mrs Oracz called out the names of the staff who were due to take part, with Mr Scorah up first! Needless to say, it was a chilly start to the morning for those staff members involved! But it was good fun and all for a great cause, and they were interviewed for their thoughts shortly after having been soaked by members of the INSPIRED Sixth Form Charity Team who had helped to organise proceedings.

 

Finally, after 5 out of the agreed 6 members of staff had been 'iced' there was one final name to be drawn...and to everyone's surprise it was Mrs Cowan! Who, we weren't sure if she was aware that she may be involved beforehand! Fair play to Mrs Cowan for taking part and fortunately she was seen in a spare set of clothes afterwards.

 

Thank you to Mrs Oracz for organising the event, and the fundraising efforts which will go to a great cause. Big thank you to all those who donated also. So far there has been £796.50 raised!

At the beginning of March we saw our spectacular Les Misérables showcase taking place on the Croston Theatre stage, with our talented students performing to the very best of their abilities! Organised by Director of Performing Arts Mrs Holland, the show was the school edition of the much loved musical, adapted from the original historical novel written by Victor Hugo in 1862.

Things started at the beginning of the week with a production put on specially for visiting schools in the morning. Needless the say our visitors were impressed by the level of performance that was on show and it was a great opportunity for the cast to warm themselves up for the main event in the evening, the first of a five-night extravaganza, with the finale taking place on Saturday evening.

Set in early 19th century France, the cast played out Jean Valjean’s story to perfection – bringing his story of redemption to life. Throughout the week audiences were wowed with the spectacular sets, characters and songs that were performed. It was obvious that each and every student involved deserved to be there as a result of their hard work in rehearsals. The live band in the orchestra pit, led by Director of Music Mr Holt, supported the cast brilliantly throughout – it was great to see some OWs coming back to help out as well.

We also held a special reception for VIP guests before the Thursday production, with delicious canapes and drinks laid out in the INSPIRED Sixth Form common room by our catering partners Thomas Franks. Guests then made their way over to the Theatre for the main event which was a resounding success.

Overall, it was a fantastic week of entertainment, with students and members of staff alike pulling off a brilliant week of musical theatre. Congratulations to the cast and to the members of staff involved in the organising of the programme, as well as the members of the technical and costume staff who worked tirelessly to pull off a great event.

It was definitely a week to remember!

Celebrating Science!

 

British Science Week is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering, and maths that has taken place between the 8th and 17th March. Coordinated by the British Science Association, the aim of the event is to raise awareness, spark enthusiasm and celebrate science.

 

As such, the Westholme science department was busy throughout the week and invited all students to take part in several activities to help mark the occasion. There was a biology ‘sensory circus’ where students had to use all of their senses to identify objects, smells and tastes, as well as an opportunity to try braille and explore how sound works. This even involved putting their hands into boxes and trying the identify the objects that were inside, such as jelly and even bones.

 

Physics also had some amazing demonstrations using the Van de Graaff generator and Ruben’s Tube. Students eagerly got involved and under the supervision of Dr Watson there really were some hair-raising, illuminating and sparkling results!

 

Over in chemistry, every form carried out a fun periodic table quiz in the morning before lessons began for the day. Head of Chemistry Mr Charnock also led a practical for INSPIRED Sixth Form A Level students in the labs where they were trying to replicate week killer solutions and analysing their results. Whilst this activity was not specific to science week as such, it was great to see activities and experiments taking place across the whole department.

 

It was a great way to celebrate science across all departments, and it was great to see so many students actively involved.

 

Students can find out more by visiting britishscienceweek.org – this includes an opportunity to take part in a poster competition on the theme of time!

 

On Friday 15th March, we were pleased to welcome Claire Moule to Westholme, who is the Talent Manager for Marriot Hotels for the North West. She came in to speak with Year 10 and INSPIRED Sixth Form Business and Economics students on her experiences in the HR market for Hospitality. She gave a presentation to the students in the LRC and imparted words of advice and knowledge throughout.

 

She took the students through apprenticeship opportunities within the industry including Level 7 apprenticeships and hints and tips with interviews and applications. Claire also went into detail on the challenges her industry is facing and how HR is tackling these problems. 

 

At the end of her presentation she met with members of the INSPIRED Sixth Form student executive, answering any questions that they had before posing for a photograph.

 

Thank you, Claire, for coming in and sharing your wisdom and to Mr Zourmand, Head of Business & Economics, for organising the event.