Showcasing a wealth of talent at St Helens

Students from De La Salle School St Helens have been displaying their talents in many ways over the past few weeks as they have taken part in a theatre production, Scholars Programme and a Science Fair, among many other activities.

A Stunning Performance by De La Salle Students

An awe inspiring and powerful evening was had by all as students from years 9, 10 and 11 performed their mental health awareness play, Tiny Fragments.

The play, which was also written and directed by the students, focussed on the polarised world we live in and the impact it can have. It was created as part of The Now Festival run by Merseyside Youth Association (MYA Raise Team).

The students performed alongside other schools form across Merseyside at The Black-E Theatre in Liverpool. 

Success for De La Salle Scholars

The Scholars Programme, run by registered charity The Brilliant Club, aims to give young people who have the potential to go to a good university in the future a genuine experience of university life and work.  

The selection process is also weighted to favour those who, despite their potential, may not have a clear route to getting to a top university. The whole of Y10 at De La Salle was given the chance to apply for the programme and, from the many excellent applications we received, we selected thirteen pupils.

Our programme ran from October 2021 until February 2022 and included activities such as virtual tours of top universities and access to the experiences of current university students, through presentations and Q and A sessions.  

The central element of the programme, however, involved our pupils attending a series of small-group seminars and one-to-one tutorials, leading to the production of a 2000-word final essay. 

Under the guidance of Rachel White, a PHD graduate who lectures at Durham University, pupils were given an authentic taste of what it means to study within a university framework, developing skills such as independent learning, extended writing, research methods, time-management and the meeting of deadlines. 

Pupils’ final assessment pieces were graded using university criteria and the results were as follows:

6 students:  1st

4 students: 2:1

3 students: 2.2

The Scholars Programme was extremely challenging for our pupils and involved an awful lot of extra work - work which was deliberately pitched at a level above GCSE.  But, as the results clearly show, it was a challenge that they met superbly, making us extremely proud in the process.

Overall, the programme was a great success and we are already arranging to run it again in the next academic year.

Year 8 Science Fair

Pupils in Year 8 were invited to make 'Space' associated models at home and bring them into school to exhibit at the Science Fair on February 8th. Pupils in Year 8 viewed the models at lunchtime, with Mr Rannard awarding 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes.

Eloise and her team won first prize with a scale model of the solar system. Polystyrene balls of different sizes were painted and expertly arranged with an array of planetary facts and distances in standard form.

Jasmine came a close second with her 3D printed NASA space rocket. This is on display in the school reception.