After the fun of Activities Day on Monday and the sporting combat of Sports Day on Tuesday, which are reported on earlier blogs, the last week of term ended with Lower School Prize Giving on Thursday and the traditional Communions, Rewards Assembly and Staff Farewells.
We were delighted to welcome Mr Steve Hill, MBE, to our LOWER SCHOOL PRIZE GIVING. As well as being the Deputy Head of St Paul’s Primary School in Shaw, he is also a great extreme sportsman and charity fund-raiser. He gave an inspirational illustrated talk about his latest Amazon challenge. The vote of thanks was given by two of Steve’s ex-pupils, Abby Brown of Yr 7, and Jacob Shanker of Year 9. Many thanks to two of our younger music groups, the Training Band and Guitar Group who played so well during the event.
The last day of term started with our END OF TERM COMMUNION SERVICES. The services were led by Rev David Halford and Rev Tony Ford and the music was provided by our very accomplished Communion Orchestra. We are pleased that a number of governors also attended the services.
The REWARDS ASSEMBLY in the Sports Hall was a wonderfully up-beat occasion with many awards given out for Vivos, Attendance, Sporting Achievements, and much more. The photos above show just some of the pupils who were recognised for their achievements. It was a great, noisy, and very pleasant occasion, finishing with the announcement that the overall winner of the inter-house competition was Crompton,(see below) for the third year running!
At the end of the Rewards Assembly the school said its farewells to a small number of staff, pictured below. They were presented with gifts from the staff and processed out of the Sports Hall to much applause from the pupils.
The longest serving was MR STEVE SMITH, who has worked at Crompton House for 3 periods of time since 1979. He has taught Maths, ICT and Economics at Crompton House full-time and part-time, and is also a keen cyclist and triathlon coach. He will be taking up a full-time post as a Maths teacher at Waterhead Academy.
MR PHIL TRAYNOR has taught French and Spanish at Crompton House for the past three years and been very active on trips across Europe. His lessons were always interesting and entertaining and he will be missed by all. He is moving up the career ladder at Kingsway School.
MRS STEPH ASHTON-SMITH has been at Crompton House since January 2015, and in the time she has been with us, she has built up Girls Football to a very successful level. In addition to her PE teaching and sports coaching she has directed two brilliant dance shows. We thank her for all the time she has put into sport both in school and extra-curricular. Steph is moving to a very different climate and will be taking up a teaching post in Abu Dhabi.
MRS KATE MILNES started as Deputy Head of Sixth Form in April 2015 coming from Saddleworth School. As well as working with the Sixth Form team as a Head of Year, she was also responsible for the Aspire Scheme and the Extended Project Qualification. She was a well-respected member of the Maths teacher and has appeared on a number of TV quiz shows! Kate is taking up a post as Assistant Head at St Wilfred’s Academy in Blackburn.
Also leaving are Mr Shabaz, who has helped considerably in the Science Department over the past 6 months, Miss Jacinta McComb, who has worked very hard teaching History for the past year, and Mr Paul Grady who has been very busy as a Teaching Assistant for the past year.
All these staff will be missed by pupils and staff alike, and we sincerely wish them all the very best for the future in their new jobs.
As can be seen from this blog the last week of term was a very busy and hugely enjoyable thanks to the excellent behaviour of the pupils and the tireless energy of the teachers and support staff at all the events reported above. We wish all pupils and staff a very enjoyable summer holiday.
