Cowley International College nominated in seven categories for the National Operatic and Dramatic Association Awards
Cowley International College is delighted to have received news that the school has received seven nominations for the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA) North West District Awards 2023 for their whole school musical production, Evita.
The College’s production of Evita, which saw participation from students from each year group, ran for five nights and six performances during October 2023 and was a huge hit with sold out audiences as the College received fantastic feedback.
Representatives from NODA were invited into the rehearsal room before attending one of the evening performances to give them a full insight into the hard work that all the students and staff put into making the show.
This has led to the College receiving nominations in the following categories:
- Best Leading Male Character in a Youth Musical & Best Leading Male Character in a Youth Drama
- Best Leading Female Character in a Youth Musical & Best Leading Female Character in a Youth Drama
- Best Supporting Female Character in a Youth Musical
- Best Musical Director of a Youth Production
- Best Director of a Youth Musical & Best Director of a Youth Drama
- Best Youth Ensemble
- Best Youth Musical & Best Youth Drama.
Assistant Headteacher and Strategic Lead of Performing Arts at Cowley, Mr Watkins, said: “It is wonderful to receive such recognition from NODA as a lot of hard work was put in by both students and staff to make Evita as good a show as we could possibly put on.
“We have some fantastically talented students and staff at Cowley and it’s lovely for their talent and hard work to be acknowledged in this way. I’m extremely proud of them all.”
Cowley prides itself on their Performing Arts offering, with Cowley Sixth Form College running a BTEC Professional Musical Theatre course which is extremely popular amongst students, as well as their equally popular BTEC Music Performance course.
The NODA Awards ceremony is due to take place in April 2024 with Cowley competing against the best youth amateur dramatic productions from across the North West region.
Principal, Mr Cormack, added: “I am extremely proud of all the students and staff involved for the College to receive these nominations.
“It is brilliant news and well-deserved recognition for all the hard work that went into making such a professional-looking show.
“The whole school musical production is one of the highlights of the College calendar and I am always overwhelmed at how well our students perform with a live orchestra and in front of large audiences.”
One of the highlights in the college calendar is our Presentation Evening that looks to celebrate the achievements of students from the last academic year. Presentation Evening took place on Thursday, 11th January and saw over 175 awards given to students. The event was held in the sports hall with balloons, a stage, lighting and round tables really setting the scene for the celebration.
Professional Footballer, Conor Coady, was the prize presenter and our Guest Speaker. Conor delivered a powerful speech about the importance of having the right values and attitude – and how far these can take you.
The evening was a truly special event – with entertainment provided by our wonderful choir.
It was lovely to see all the returning faces of our Sixth Form students who were nominated for prizes and we wish them the best of luck in their futures.
Thank you to everyone involved in this wonderful event to celebrate the successes of our students from the 2022 – 2023 academic year.
Three aspiring mathematicians in Year 9 have been adding to their learning by attending the Mathematics Education on Merseyside (MEM) Masterclasses.
The students were nominated by the Maths department for their enthusiasm and ability in the subject and, over the past couple of months, have attended Masterclasses across the region to enhance their learning.
The sessions included activities on Roman Numerals, origami, bridge building, fun mathematical puzzles as well as a spot of maths juggling from guest speaker, Colin Wright.
All the students commented that the juggler was their favourite part of the experience.
During the final session, the students received a presentation in one of the university lecture theatres where they collected a certificate, pen and some maths books.
The College would like to thank the students’ parents for their fantastic support of this programme. In particular, we would also like to thank Mrs Lloyd for her continued support and organising of this superb event that is raising academic aspirations in our students.
About
Through the registered charity MEM (Mathematical Education on Merseyside), the University of Liverpool plays a significant role in organising and delivering a series of five Maths Masterclasses in Liverpool for able and enthusiastic pupils.
These take place on alternate Saturdays during the autumn term, and are hosted at the University of Liverpool, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool John Moores University and Ridgeway High School on the Wirral.
Students are invited to wear a Christmas Jumper on Friday 22nd December.
Please note that students must still wear a blazer and full uniform. The jumper must be appropriate or else they will be asked to remove it. Accessories are not allowed (e.g. no Christmas jewellery or headwear).
Students will be invited to make a non compulsory donation of £1 as they enter school on Friday.
All monies will be put directly into the School Fund so that the students themselves are benefitting. For example, these donations could go towards the Summer BBQ events.
Cowley is celebrating winning the award for ‘Outstanding Commitment to Sport in a Secondary School’ at the recent Educate Awards.
The Educate Awards, the North West’s biggest education awards for schools, academies, colleges, teachers and non teaching staff, took place at the beautiful Liverpool Cathedral on Friday, 17th November.
Cowley were up for one award – Outstanding Commitment to Sport in a Secondary School, and were up against some brilliant schools with fantastic sports provisions. As part of this award, judges look at how committed schools are to developing sporting skills and opportunities for students to be active and compete on a regular basis through the provisions of teaching, coaching, extracurricular activities, partnerships and more.
The judging panel was particularly impressed by our entry, which presented the partnerships the school has with local sporting institutes/clubs, such as Saints, and the facilities outside of school that students are able to benefit from because of this.
Cowley was also praised by the panel for its extensive curriculum, the variety of extra-curricular activities available, and sporting scholarship programme that is in place to enable students with the ability to pursue careers at an elite level. Recently, the college has added Fencing to its sports programme, once again demonstrating the breadth of activities available to students.
On the win, Mr Cormack, Principal said “We are absolutely delighted to have won at the prestigious Educate Awards.
“This award is testament to Cowley’s dedication in providing our students with the very best sporting opportunities. Our staff are constantly enhancing the sports enrichment on offer and I would like to thank them, our partners, parents and students for their part in this win.”
This award comes a year after the college was shortlisted in the Innovative & Creative Literacy category at the Educate Awards 2022.
On Wednesday 25th November, Miss Mitchell, Mr Chapple and Miss Meredith took 28 Year 11 and Cowley Sixth Form College A-level German students for a 3-night stay in Berlin.
From Miss Mitchel:
I cannot tell you how fantastic the trip was!!! It really was great for all involved.
We arrived late Wednesday evening and got our rooms. The hostel was bright and young person orientated and super close to the underground stations. The pupils were amazed by the Pizza baking machine outside our hostel which really did produce great pizzas for 10 euros.
Thursday morning cycle ride was just amazing. The guide took us out for 3 hours to the most prominent landmarks around Berlin. The history behind the city is immense and the guides were so informative. After a kebap and currywurst lunch break we headed off to the Bernauerstrasse exhibition. Here is an open air museum dedicated to the former Berlin wall. There is also an exhibition showing many pictures of the time when Berlin was divided and accounts form people who lived on both sides of the wall.
In the evening after a quick stop at the hostel we headed off to Alexanderplatz and an evening at the cinema. the film ‘A haunting in Venice’ was appropriate with it being near to Halloween and it was also shown in its original version – English.
On Friday we headed to the Brandenburg Gate and on to the Topography of Terror – a series of images form the time of the Nazis and the full history of the time when Hitler was in power. A quick stop to grab a currywurst and then off to Checkpoint Charlie – a former crossing point between the East and West of Berlin at the time after the war and the allies were in control.
In the afternoon we headed out to Hohenschonhausen Prison – a former Stasi (secret police) prison for those to be interrogated by the communist/socialist ruling east of Berlin leaders. It was just fascinating to listen to how they were treated and how psychology and not brutality was used on the prisoners to get information out of them. In fact we were extremely lucky as former inmates were the guides around the prison and could speak from first hand experience or second hand if their parents had been in the prison.
Friday evening – another highlight was a trip to the Mercedes–Benz museum to watch the ice hockey – pretty big in Germany. The Berlin Eisbaeren (Polar Bears) defeated their rivals from the south of the country. The kids all bought souvenir hats and scarfs and absolutely loved it. The walk back to the the hostel took us past the East Side Gallery – an open air exhibition of the Berlin wall and paintings/graffiti all over it.
Anti-Bullying Week kicks off on Monday with #OddSocksDay, where children and adults wear odd socks to celebrate what makes us all unique.
As proud members of the Anti-Bullying Alliance and to show our support of #AntiBullyingWeek, Cowley will be joining in with #OddSocksDay and students and staff are all invited to wear odd socks on Monday (13th November).
Anti-bullying assemblies will take place next week, where we will ask all students to make a pledge to become an anti-bullying ambassador. As well as this, there will be Team Time activities with some of the younger year groups.
About Odd Socks Day
Odd Socks Day is designed to be fun! It’s an opportunity to encourage people to express themselves and celebrate their individuality and what makes us all unique!
There is no pressure to wear the latest fashion or to buy expensive costumes. All you have to do to take part is wear odd socks to your school, at work of at home, it couldn’t be simpler! Odd Socks day will take place on the first day of Anti-Bullying Week each year to help raise awareness of bullying. We would like to invite participating schools and workplaces to ask participants to make a £1 donation – or any donation you think appropriate – to support us in continuing to coordinate the week every year.
You do not have to raise money to take part – the most important thing is the message of Odd Socks Day – and any money raised for us is a bonus!
Bonfire and Halloween schools letter – Pdf
- Letter to parents and guardians from Merseyside Police re. Halloween and Bonfire Night
We are writing to all parents and guardians to ask for your help over the upcoming Halloween and Bonfire Night period.We want everyone to have fun and we’ll be working hard to keep you safe, but we need your help:Know where your children are
• Encourage kids to go to local events that are being organised, or try a spooky film together
• If your children are going out (particularly on the 30th and 31st of October), make sure you know where they’re going. If possible, drop them off and pick them up
• Don’t let your children hang around the street
• If they’re going somewhere local – walk there with them
• Have an agreed time when they need to be home
• Don’t buy fireworks or eggs and flour for them, and don’t let them take it out of the house
Know the risks
• Throwing things at cars, buses, shops and houses can hurt people – drivers might swerve if they get distracted and cause a crash, or someone might get hurt by broken glass (and scratched paintwork can be very expensive to fix)
• Getting into trouble with the police can lead to a criminal record, which means not being able to go on holiday to countries like the USA, and not being able to do certain jobs
• Messing around with fireworks is dangerous – some burn as hot as 1,200 degrees – hot enough to melt glass and cause serious or fatal injuriesKnow the law
If a young person under the age of 16 commits any of the offences below, the parent/guardian will have to pay the fine.
• A person under the age of 16 can be arrested and fined if found with an unlit firework
• A person under the age of 16 can also be arrested and fined if they throw or light a firework or make a bonfire
• A person under the age of 16 can be arrested and fined for throwing things like eggs, flour, paint or other objects at people, vehicles or propertyThank you for your help and support. By working together, we can keep your children safe this Halloween and Bonfire Night.
Merseyside Police
Did you know that checking whether you qualify for Free School Meals and registering is really quick and easy?
You can do it online here: Online FSM Application (cloudforedu.org.uk)
