Author: Helen Lyons

Celebrating creativity in schools with the Youth Open Awards Art Competition at St Helens Council. Showcasing some of our Willow Bank pupil entries and our Y11 winning entry.

KS4 pupils made Sweet and Sour Chicken as a part of their Home Cooking Skills BTEC. Pupils also explored cross curricular Science in relation to

• sense of taste 
• tongue receptors
• chemical reactions

Year 11 have been preparing their own microscope slides showing leaf cross sections in order to identify the plant cell organelles.

Staff team "Willow Bank Wanderers" completed their third 10K run of the season, on Saturday 9th September at Tatton Park in Knutsford. Unfortunately there was no chance of any PBs but a valiant effort by all not to collapse with heat exhaustion.

Before

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A snapshot of GCSE Fine Art Personal Responses from last year's Year 11 cohort. 

Year 10 pupil explored his own interest in the subject of "space and aliens" to create this mixed-media design during his AP Project session.

Year 9 pupils were hands on, building animal cell models using plasticine in Science, developing their knowledge of cell structure and their functions.

• Cytoplasm    
• Nucleus    
• Cell membrane  
• Mitochondria
• Ribosomes

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Staff football team's second match against Hope Academy.  A close fought match, result was a win 9-8 with Natalie Hughes receiving woman of the match - Dave you will need to fight for your position at the next outing. Thank you Hope Academy for hosting.

KS2 and the wider world in PSD - money and work. Pupil teams had to complete a loop by working out the money answer then find the card at the other end of the playground. Pupils worked out team roles - work out answer, pass on information then run to collect the answer.

Year 7 have been exploring the Aztecs, in particular the pictographs used. Here, they have designed their own symbols in the style of the Aztecs for varying themes, such as eyes, arrows and mountains.

Year 10 have been exploring the mosaic works of Antoni Gaudi. Here, they have created a silk painting and framed their work using the lines and shapes you would find in Gaudi's work.

Pupil led mindfulness with our Mental Health Lead during mental health awareness week focusing on individual calmness and relaxation. Chess using distraction to relax. reading lowering your heart rate and easing tension. play dough, squeezing and modelling relieving stress.