As is so often the case at Schools up and down the country
it’s very easy to forget that teachers and other members of staff (like the students themselves of course) have lives and interests of their own outside of the classroom.  Sandbach School is no different.  In this series of articles we have a look at some of the hobbies, pastimes and passions of members of staff – things that you might not otherwise know they get up to when the school bell rings.

Jamie Huddleston studied for a BEd in Design & Technology at MMU after several years working as the Health, Safety and Quality Manager at Ceramic Gas Products in Longton.  His first teaching post was also in his native Stoke-on-Trent at Mitchell Business & Enterprise College and he joined the Design & Technology department here at Sandbach School in 2009.  When he’s not teaching students about food groups, smoked salmon canapés and how to scramble an egg he has another very interesting string to his bow.  Jamie is a budding entrepreneur hoping one day to make a big splash in the condiments market with his ‘Stokie’ chilli sauce!

“Obviously being a design and technology teacher I’ve always been interested in inventing things and as part of their studies I expect my students to come up with new food ideas which can be a really difficult challenge.  I’ve always thought I ought to have a go myself.  Practice what I preach.”

Jamie is a keen gardener and grows his own produce.  He decided to set himself the challenge of creating a new product a couple of years ago whilst on a visit to the Isle of Wight.

“I grow elephant garlic which I got from ‘The Garlic Farm’ there on a previous visit.  About three years ago when I was on the Island again I visited a place called ‘The House of Chilli’ where you can taste chilli sauces from all around the world. They explain all about the chilli content and the flavours, the heat values and the Scoville Scale and it’s all really quite interesting.  I thought I’d love to have a go at making a sauce myself.”

Returning to his current home in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Jamie started to experiment one weekend with chillies, ginger, coconut and a number of other ingredients and came up with a prototype. Born and bred as he was in the Potteries, Jamie was very keen to produce a sauce that would reflect his Stoke heritage.  The concept of a ‘Stokie Sauce’ to accompany the Staffordshire Oatcake was born and after making a batch with cheese he took them into school to canvas the opinions of teachers there.  He also produced some market research questionnaires (which is exactly what he’d expect his students to do) and armed with some constructive feedback tweaked the recipe over a period of about a year until he was happy with his new creation.

“But I didn’t know what to do next.  I didn’t know what the flowchart is when you start your own business.  What are the rules?  Do I have to have the sauce tested? Do I have to get it registered? Have I got to let the environment agency know? So I decided to do a bit of research.”

Jamie is secretary of his local cricket club and while the environmental health Inspector was there on a routine call he picked her brains on what he should do next. And he was very glad he did.

“She advised me that I should be heating the sauce to 75 degrees; to pasteurise it. Many of the dry ingredients come from places like Thailand so you can’t be sure they’re not carrying bacteria.”

The trouble was that once he heated it, the sauce split and separated resulting in a rather unattractive bottle of oil with some sludge at the bottom.  Not wanting to be defeated at this point however, Jamie persevered and changed the recipe again, using a combination of water and oil to better support the other ingredients in suspension.

“I was lucky I’d found the answer because I could so easily have given up at that point.”

The next step was to have the sauce tested to ascertain its shelf life.  Jamie took it to a local laboratory in Fegg Hayes.

“It was going to cost £400 but I thought it was money well spent if it prevented someone suing me.  But you see the sauce is full of natural preservatives – oil, vinegar, lime juice, salt, sugar – so as well as giving it a nice flavour they all contribute to keeping it safe.”

Environmental health visited his kitchen where he and his wife of fourteen years, Katy, actually make the sauce.  They were given a 5 star hygiene rating. So, with the sauce made, tasted, perfected and tested all Jamie needed to do now was launch it on the unsuspecting public and in the Summer of 2015 he did just that.

“A friend of mine in Stoke decided he’d like a change of career and he was due to open a cafe in July.  He had Neil ‘Nello’ Baldwin coming to do the honours and he suggested it could be a great opportunity for me too as he’d be stocking the sauce to have with his oatcakes.”

So it was all hands to the pumps.  Jamie had to quickly source two thousand bottles, have his labels professionally made, buy the ingredients in bulk and make as much sauce as he and Katy could.

“My wife’s a primary school teacher so has about as much spare time as I do and we’ve two young children so it was a struggle to get the sauce made in time.  Plus the chap making the labels didn’t get back from holiday till a couple of days before the launch so it was all a bit stressful.”

The local press loved the whole concept of a Potteries’ lad producing a ‘Spicy Oatcake Sauce’ to have with the local delicacy.  Radios Stoke, Signal and Six Towns all ran features, the Sentinel and the Chronicle covered the story but unfortunately for Jamie not in time for any of the cafes and shops he visited to know anything about it.

“I hadn’t told them I was coming so I was turning up on the Saturday morning (which is their busiest day), shoving a bottle in their faces and saying ‘do you want to take it?’. They didn’t have a clue what it was. They weren’t that interested and I was completely and utterly deflated. I really wanted to cry at that point. But that’s the thing with business.  People say you’ve just got to keep plugging away at it and it doesn’t come easily unless you’re really, really lucky.”

And plug away he did.  He circulated all the information by letter and took the sauce to various charity events, the Betley Show and the chilli festival at the Dorothy Clive Garden.

“That was brilliant because we came second in the chilli sauce competition there.  It’s the first real accolade we’ve had which was great.”

Now there are eighteen stockists in Staffordshire and South Cheshire including the artisan food shop and delicatessen at ‘Trentham Gardens’ and ‘Godfrey C Williams’ and ‘The Cheese Shop’ both in Sandbach. Jamie also has a website www.stokiesauce.co.uk where you can see all the stockists and buy online.

“I’m really proud of what Katy and I have achieved.  I was brought up in the town of Stoke on the outskirts of Fenton. I’ve a broad Stoke accent and my Grandad was very much a Stokie.  I’m passionate about the area and the people.  They’re really great and so are their oatcakes. I couldn’t live without either.”

Recipe for Cheesy Bacon Oatcakes

Serves 3

Ingredients

• 6 Staffordshire oatcakes
• 6 rashers of streaky bacon
• 1 bottle of ‘Spicy Oatcake Sauce’
• Tasty Lancashire cheese, grated

Method

Grill the bacon until crispy.  Warm the oatcakes under the grill for a couple of minutes.  Spread about a teaspoon of ‘Spicy Oatcake Sauce’ onto each oatcake, add a rasher of bacon and a sprinkling of cheese.  Grill for a couple of minutes until the cheese melts.  Roll up and serve with more sauce to dip. Delicious!

Jamie Huddleston’s ‘Spicy Oatcake Sauce’ is also being sold at School to raise money for the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital as part of the Year 9 Christmas charity event.  The bottles make great stocking filler presents and can be bought for £3 from Room 53 (£1 goes to the charity).

Mr Cornell and Mr Cooper and Year 9 are raising money for an incredible young man with an incredible story.

Jack Buddle in Mr Cornell’s form group was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, a form of cancer. He was in remission but sadly after a year he was diagnosed again. He has undergone treatment at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and has recently been given the all clear. However, it is his attitude that is what makes him such an inspiration. Throughout he has been determined to be in school at every opportunity, he is always positive, smiling and a role model student.

His form group decided to do a small fundraiser for him by organising a sponsored run. However, the whole year group wanted to be involved and want to raise as much money as possible in support of Jack. On Wednesday 9th December, his year group will be running for him and trying to gain as much sponsorship as possible. They are also selling #Jog4Jack wristbands to raise awareness and money. They are hoping to raise between £500-800 through that alone.
Also, Mr Cornell and Mr Cooper (also a Year 9 form tutor) are doing a 24 hour sporting challenge. The aim is to play as many sports as possible in 24 hours, it is a tough and physically demanding challenge but one they both want to do as a show of support for Jack.

Visit their fundraising page HERE.

Saturday 5^th December 2015: English Schools Athletics Association: National Cross Country Cup.

The Junior Boys Team (#GastonsGallopers)  travelled to Beauchamp School in Bedford early on Saturday morning having qualified for the English Schools Team Cross Country Finals via a tough set of County and Regional Rounds.

Year 7’s Wilf Dight, Luke Darlington and Ben Verbickas  together with Year 8  team-mates Ed Pettitt, Ollie Egerton, Sam Jones & James Clifton had reached the Final of the top team event in Schools Cross Country.

They would run in a Junior Boys Field of over 150 runners, against opposition from some of the top sporting and athletic schools in the country: including Whitgift School , Challoners Grammar School, The Coopers Company & Coburn School, The Grammar School, Leeds, Northampton Boys School & Millfield School to name a few.

The team ran exceptionally well to finish in 19^th place overall, with Captain Ed Pettitt running himself into 15^th position at this National Event.

All of the squad should be congratulated on their individual and team performances. They represented themselves, Sandbach School and Cross Country in excellent fashion.

Mr Gaston & Mr Evans their Team Managers and assistant Mr Pike are very proud of the boys achievement.

• Best Cheshire School in the age group (unofficial County Schools Champions).
• Best Regional Qualifier (unofficial Regional Schools Champions

As a school we are going to raise money by getting involved with the National Christmas Jumper appeal, Friday 18^th December 2015. This charity event is hoping to raise as much money as they can for three major charities, Macmillan Cancer Support, Make-A-Wish UK and Save the Children UK. Our proceeds will be divided between these charities mentioned and Levi Thomas of Year 7 and his charity. Levi has been growing his hair so that it can be cut off to raise money for a charity which supports cancer patients.

Please can you join in with this appeal as your money will make a difference to the lives of so many others? Even if you do not want to wear a Christmas Jumper you can still donate £1.

Instructions for 18^th December 2015:

1. Please donate £1 to this appeal even if you are not getting involved with wearing the Christmas Jumper
2. All Christmas jumpers can be redesigned and added to in order to make them extra special and “Christmasee”
3. There will be a few prizes awarded for the best jumpers in each of the year groups. This will be announced in the final assembly.
4. All other aspects of your uniform must still be worn on the final day:
   1. White shirt and school tie
   2. Normal black school trousers
   3. Normal black school shoes
   4. Blazer

Please find below the latest edition of the student e-newspaper, The Scholar.

Well done to all of the students involved.

Sandbach School Theatre are about to present an adaptation of the classic gothic novel, ‘Frankenstein’.
Mary Shelley’s masterpiece was first published anonymously in London in 1818, when she was just 20, only a few years older than the boys and girls involved in the school production. Legend has it that whilst journeying through Germany and Switzerland with her husband, the poet Percy Shelley, she entered into a competition with him and Lord Byron amongst others to see who could write the best horror story. ‘Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus’ was born out of a dream she is said to have had.  The school’s Andy Cargill was asked by David Anderson (Head of Performing Arts) to adapt the novel into a play; a commission he relished.

“It’s a lot easier than starting a play from scratch,” he said, quickly adding that he didn’t mean to appear flippant. “The story’s already done for you and you don’t have to worry about what the characters are called and whether the ending’s good enough because it’s already been proven that it is.”  Andy Cargill has been producing scripts for various productions at the school for some years now including a number of adaptations.  So how exactly does he start to adapt a classic?

“I try to forget about the original to a certain extent.  What interests me most are the characters and the timeless themes and motifs and how a modern audience might want to experience them.” The pursuit of knowledge, a sublime natural world, monstrosity, secrecy, texts (letters and books) are some of these themes.  The passivity of women and the destruction of a child, motifs. “Another is family,” Andy Cargill continues, “Victor Frankenstein has different traumatic experiences with members of his family and that’s something that, if done well, everyone can empathise with.”

The play is being co-directed by David Anderson and an old Sandbachian, Harry Mace, who left school last summer.  He hopes to go on to Drama School and a career in the Theatre and is currently finalising plans to attend the National Youth Theatre in New Zealand in April.  Andy Cargill says that the directors were very clear about their intentions when commissioning the play.

“They were very quick to emphasise the timeless quality and the freedom of the characters to feel the energy of that timelessness. Because everyone knows the story I suppose the challenge is to make it fresh – modernise the characters and not create a dusty relic – make something that is cleaned up and new and bright and interesting.”

The production itself uses modern technology to help give the story new life.  Teachers Lucy Greenwood and Joe Mace have been filming and editing ‘talking head’ monologues and video inserts that will be projected on various screens that complement the set.  The accompanying video features interviews with them, the directors and the three main cast members.  The play will be previewed on Monday December 14th with performances on Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th.  Tickets are available at Main Reception.

Alex Watson, in Year 12 has recently been selected for Cheshire Junior County Badminton Squad after attending trials in November  this year.

Congratulations Alex.

Matthew Brett entered into the Young Musician of The Year 2016 earlier in the term and after getting through two auditions on Saturday 12th December, he has been successful in reaching the Percussion Final in March which will be televised: details HERE.

If he gets through the percussion final then he is in the semi-final!

This is such an amazing accolade to get through 2 rounds of auditions for a student of his age when there is such a lot of competition nationally.

Congratulations Matthew and good luck in the next round.

All 3 hockey teams (U14, U16 and U18) are now in their respective County Cup Finals, this has never happened before and it is a credit to both the staff coaching the teams and the boys quality, hard work and commitment.

The U14 and U16s have also qualified for the North West Regional Tournaments which are a direct route to qualification for the National Finals. The U18s are still in the National Knockout Cup and play Wirral GS in the next round.

The county Cup finals will be as follows:

Sandbach School U18 v Kings Chester

Sandbach School U16 v Kings Macclesfield

Sandbach School U14 v Wilmslow

All 3 finals will take place in the new year (the U18 one will be hosted here) with the other 2 still to be organised.

The U16 indoor hockey team also won the North West Indoor Tournament where they were unbeaten and progressed to the North finals narrowly missing out on a place at the National Finals on penalty strokes.

We also have Andrew Bull – current Great Britain and England Senior international and professional player in Holland, coming in to do a gifted and talented coaching session with several students across years 7-10.

Senior Rugby Squad members (and members of Head Boy Team) Harry Richardson and Captain of Rugby Cameron Crampton both pictured representing Cheshire 18 Group against Lancashire recently.

Congratulations to both. Harry has also just been selected for  a North OF England Trial.

This year’s Christmas Concert was the usual celebration of all things great in the music department.

Bands, groups and individuals entertained the satisfyingly large audience with songs and carols and all to a very high standard as ever.  As is tradition, compering was handed over to three Sixth Form students who successfully explained the upcoming acts and told seasonal jokes to the amusement of parents, staff and friends of the School.

Highlights this year were the clarinet and saxophone ensembles led by Tracy Martin and the Big Band who sounded as strong as ever.  As is also tradition the Year 7s en masse performed three numbers; Take That’s ‘Shine’, the Lily Allen version of ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ and ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ with plenty of audience participation.

A great night was had by all and special thanks go to all the staff and friends of the School who helped with the organisation, the tickets and raffle.

The Royal Geological Society runs a national competition every year to find budding young geographers.  The topic this year is all about ‘Why does Antarctica matter?’ in recognition of it being 100 years since Sir Ernest Shakleton’s brave attempt at being the first to cross Antarctica. We had outstanding entries from over 50 students – well done to all that submitted posters that explored why Antarctica still matters today.

COMMENDATION CERTIFICATES

• Angus Walker 8E
• Harvey Finnegan 8E
• Macauley Taylor 8E
• Tom Smyth 8E
• Alex Withenshaw 8N
• Isaac Christian 8N
• David Naylor 8N
• Elliot Birch 8N
• Harry Hartley 8A
• Daniel Joy 9E
• Oliver Temporal 9E

RUNNERS UP

• Oliver Wilson 8N
• Jack Malpass 8N
• Sam Sheardown 8A
• Joe Berry 8D
• Max Rayner 8E
• Ryan Hancock 9E
• Mackenzie Lawton 9E

WINNER

Will Dale 8E

Congratulations!

In the final week of the Autumn term, Sandbach School Theatre presented Frankenstein. The play had been skilfully adapted by Andy Cargill into a timeless piece which captured the themes and morality of the original story written by Mary Shelley.

Will Bloor played ‘Creature’, the human created and abandoned by Victor Frankenstein played by Oliver Dernie. Both students captured the emotion and tension between the two characters who develop a bond of hatred and who vow to destroy each other.

The Theatre Space was transformed for the show to capture the grand scale of the story. Miss Greenwood directed a number of monologues on video to narrate the live action and physical theatre which took place on stage. The video was edited by Mr Mace into a seamless story which integrated with a musical underscore that drove the emotion of the piece. The set and stage represented the industrial revolution and the drive for scientific change with which Victor Frankenstein makes the creature.

Mr Davies was production manager and led the tech team in building and lighting a set which included four projectors, three smoke machines, two screens, a front gauze, live flame gel, a grave and live grass!

Mr Anderson, who directed the piece said ‘everybody worked incredibly hard to put this production together. The cast dedicated many hours of rehearsal to create an outstanding performance. Mrs Gaston again provided a wonderful fluid style of choreography which tied the whole piece and story together. The tech crew and creative team gave up many evenings in the week running up to the production to build and light the set and the results were amazing.’

It was a fitting end to a busy term which saw the department stage Henry V, a complex A Level performance based on the Enigma machine and the beginning of rehearsals for the Key Stage 3 Musical.

Stephen Hodgkinson, a founder member and leader at Congleton’s New Life Church,and a school Governor at Sandbach School for over 30 years was awarded an OBE for services to the community in Congleton, in the New Year’s Honours List.

Congratulations Steve from the Sandbach School community.

Four undergraduate Law students from the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and Nottingham came in to school to talk to to the A2 and AS Law groups about their university courses and other matters such as applications procedures, clearing, funding, tips for getting those all important grades and …. university social life . This was all delivered with great enthusiasm and humour.

Feedback from students was very positive – this was an invaluable opportunity to get real insight into university life. 

The school set off to Austria on Boxing Day, embarking on a 24 hour trip. The journey was as easy as could be expected and the boys arrived in Austria at around 5:00pm local time. After the boys had been fitted for ski boots and skis it was time for some well-deserved rest before the first days skiing in the resort of Eben. Although the snow was a little sparse the boys made a solid start to the trip with the more advanced groups heading to the top of the slopes and the beginners learning new techniques on the lower slopes.

The second and third days saw a visit to the resort of Zauchensee this had the best snow of the week and all the boys enjoyed the resort with the more advanced groups having the opportunity to ski down the world cup run from start to finish. All the beginners made excellent progress and all beginners managed to make it from the top of the piste to the bottom competently.

On the fourth day we skied in the resort of Wagrain, snow conditions were unfortunately not  as good as the previous days but this resort brings the opportunity to go on a “journey” through the slopes and enjoy a full day out skiing without queuing for lifts.

On the final day we visited the resort of Flachau. It had snowed overnight and so the snow was in great condition. The slopes were almost empty as the locals recovered from New Year’s celebrations and so the boys were excited to be the first skiers down the new snow.

Throughout the week the boys enjoyed a number of evening activities including swimming, bowling, indoor tennis, squash and a games night at the hotel.

Due to the Manchester Bridge closure in Crewe Town Centre, the four Routemaster Buses that pick up in Crewe / Haslington / Winterley and serve Sandbach Girls and Boys schools have been experiencing major problems (this is affecting Routemaster Buses more so than the other operators due to their depot location).

For the period of the bridge closure, the buses will be operating on a shared basis, so pupils getting on in Crewe, Haslington and Winterley will travel with boys and girls on the buses (they are usually single sex buses), both schools have agreed this as a measure to reduce delays.

From tomorrow morning Routemaster Buses have agreed to start their buses 20 minutes earlier (as the current shared arrangements alone haven’t reduced delays as hoped).

Please advise all children to wait at their designated bus stop at their normal pick up time.  They do not need to arrive any earlier, the operator is leaving their depot earlier to get through the increased town centre traffic, and will wait time at the first Haslington pick up point if they arrive early.

We are hopeful this will alleviate the current situation, and we are working closely with Routemaster to improve the services.

Please continue to forward concerns so we can monitor complaints. The bridge works started last week and could be on until April, so we will be monitoring things closely.

Jenni Edge | Transport Service Solutions
Operations Manager

We had a great assembly this morning by Britain’s Manliest Man
– RAF officer and testicular cancer survivor Flight Lieutenant Alun “Peps” Pepper 43, who visited the school to talk to the Year 10 students.

He was crowned “Britain’s Manliest Man” fighting off more than 1,000 fellow applicants to win the nationwide competition, which was organised by a men’s grooming brand, fitness magazine and cancer charity.

Alun, originally from Crewe, spoke to the students about how he became an RAF fighter pilot and the determination it took after several knock backs.  He also spoke to the boys about his testicular cancer and raised their awareness of the disease.

School tours for prospective parents and their sons.

Come and see the school in action.

Meet a senior member of staff.

Meet some senior students. 

An opportunity to ask any questions that you have.  

Refreshments are available following the tour.

Remaining tour dates for this term are as follows:

11^th February 2016, 3^rd March 2016, 17^th March 2016: 9.15 start.

To book click HERE.

To request a prospectus click HERE.

So far this academic year the students and staff at Sandbach School have raised over £6000 for various charities. The whole school community have taken part in Children in Need and the Text Santa Christmas Jumper day raising over £3000 on these events.  Activities included non-uniform days, fun runs and even a soak the teacher event.

Most recently Year 9 students and staff have been taking part in fund raising activities for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. This charity is close to the students’ hearts as one of their fellow year 9 students has been treated at Alder Hey.   Jack Buddle was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, a form of cancer. He was in remission but sadly after a year he was diagnosed again late last year. He has undergone treatment at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and has recently been given the all clear. However, it is his attitude that is what makes him such an inspiration. Throughout he has been determined to be in school at all opportunities, he is always positive, smiling and a role model student.

His form group decided to do a small fundraiser for him by organising a sponsored run. However, the whole year group wanted to be involved and wanted to raise as much money as possible in support of Jack. On Wednesday 9th December, his year group and staff members, undertook a sponsored run for him and trying to gain as much sponsorship as possible. They also sold #Jog4Jack wristbands to raise awareness and money.   The students raised £2150, with the cheque being presented to Cath Harding, Head of Community Fundraising at Alder Hey Children’s Charity, in assembly recently.

Alongside this, Mr Cornell and Mr Cooper undertook a 24 hour sporting challenge. They aimed to play as many sports as possible in 24 hours. The sports events included a staff versus students netball game, bowls, tennis, hockey and crazy golf around the school ending in a run. It was a tough and physically demanding challenge but one they were both keen to do to show support for Jack.  This part of the fund raising has so far raised £1,183 (with their Just Giving page still open for donations) making the total so far £3,333.

This is an amazing effort.  Congratulations to everyone involved.