Rodborough Chronicles July 2014

RODBOROUGH CHRONICLES VOLUME 10 ISSUE 6 PAGE 1 OF 24

Inside this Edition Leavers’ Prom 3 Space Link 4 Eco Week 5-7 Slow Worms 8 Languages at Surrey 9 Berlin – part 2 10 Great Exhibition 11 Charlie & the

Chocolate Factory 12

Poetry Slam 13 Little Shop of Horrors 14-15 Activities Week 16-19 Staff Farewells 18 Bronze D of E 20-21 Junior District Sports 22 Individual Sports 22 Surrey Youth Games 23 Sports Day 24 Dates for your diary

20 Aug Uniform Sale 10-12am

21 Aug Results Day 10-11:30

2 Sep INSET day

3 Sep ALL students back in school

4 Sep Photos for all Year Groups

9 Sep Rodborough Friends meeting 7-8pm at The Star, Witley.

Our thanks to Hall Hunter for the delicious strawberries

10 Sep Silver DofE Parents even 6:30

17 Sep Year7 Teaching & Learning evening 7-8pm

18 Sep Y10 Parents’ GCSE Info evening 7-8pm

19 – 26 Sep German Exchange here

24 Sep Awards Evening 7pm

30 Sep Sustainable School meeting

1 Oct FRIENDS AGM (provisional)

2 Oct Y11 Road Users Awareness Day

9 October Open Evening 6-8:15pm School closes at 1pm to prepare

11 Oct FRIENDS quiz night 7pm

16 Oct Y7 parents meet form tutors 16:30 – 19-00

Results from Sports Day will be published in the 17-19 Oct Silver D of E Practice Expedition

October edition of Chronicles 24 Oct INSET day

27-31 Oct HALF TERM BREAK

Fabulous Prom Photos now available from

www.surreyphotoportraits.co.uk


Adult and Community Learning Courses Rodborough School Autumn 2014

Italian – Level 1 – Term 1 Course No GTP2000G

Monday Evenings 15/09/2014 to 01/12/2014

11 Weeks Time: 7.30 pm – 9.00 pm

Italian – Level 3+ – Term 1 Course No GTP1001G



Italian – Level 5+ – Term 1 Course No GTP1000G



Please note that ALL courses STOP during half term week from

27 OCT 2014

Soft Furnishing Curtains/Blinds & Home Textiles

Course No GTP2400G Tuesday Evenings

23/09/14 to 102/12/14 10 Weeks

Time: 7.00 pm – 9.00 pm

Please note that ALL courses STOP during half term week from

27 OCT 2014

For more information please contact Centre Manager, Surrey Adult Education, 25 West Street, Farnham, GU9 7DR

Tel 01483 518558 Email: [email protected]

Web: www.surreycc.gov.uk/adultlearning

Charity Fundraising Concert

“It’s a Kind of Magic”

Featuring…

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/adultlearning


Leavers’ Prom Reporter Miss Morgan

Style, sophistication and a tractor for pupils’ big night

Glitz & glamour came to a Haslemere hotel at the end of June as Rodborough’s ‘Class of 2014’ celebrated their end of year prom. Over 140 students attended the event, having recently completed their GCSEs. With a dress code of ‘black tie’, the transformation and effort made was clear to see. The girls turned out in array of colours, sporting long and short dresses, while the boys all wore suits with varying ties/bow ties. Arrival is always important at school proms. Limousines were in abundance, along with Minis, Land Rovers and even a few Rolls Royces, delivering the teenagers in style. More novel modes of transport (something of a Rodborough tradition) included being driven by ‘The Stig’, arriving in an ice-cream van (which stayed to provide very popular ice-creams), a vintage fire engine and a red tractor. Friend of Rodborough, Glenn Harvey (of Surrey Photo Portraits) was on hand to photograph every special moment. He has generously released these photos for Chronicles. Please do take time to browse his website to see other fabulous reminders of this happy event where photos can be purchased and downloaded: www.surreyphotoportraits.co.uk

Check out the discounts on the Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/surreyphotoportraits

http://www.surreyphotoportraits.co.uk/


Free half hour taster session on offer

at new Godalming music school.

Do you know someone who wants to learn to play

bass, acoustic or electric guitar or the drums?

Or who is desperate to learn to sing?

A brand new music school has been opened in

Godalming by a team of people who have made it

their life – and now they’re ready to help teach

others to become the best musicians they can be.

DK Music Academy at 140 High Street,

Godalming, has been started by Damian Keyes, a

former teacher at The Academy of Contemporary

Music in Guildford and founder of the Brighton

Institute of Modern Music. He has pulled together

a team of top tutors who have played alongside

the likes of Dizzie Rascal, Feeder and Jessie J

to teach children and young people to be the best

musicians they can be.

The team are offering a FREE half hour taster

session to people on whatever instrument they

like.

Visit www.dkmusicacademy.co.uk for more information or

call 07415 610055 to book your session.

Cuckoo Communications www.cuckoocommunications.co.uk

@CuckooComms

Students meet Astronaut A group of lucky Year 7s and Year 8s travelled to Broadwater at the end of June to take part in a Space Link Activity Day. The day was great fun and I was pleased to be included. We met the very first British Astronaut, Helen Sharman, who travelled into space on 18 May 1991 on the Russian Soyuz TM-12/11 mission as member of Project Juno. Helen shared her experiences of the mission with us all and it was fascinating to learn fun facts like, “If you tried to drink a mug of coffee in space it wouldn’t come out of the mug – even if you turned it upside-down!” There were also many activities to take part in. For instance we used paper, string, bubble wrap and sellotape to make parachutes capable of safely landing eggs to simulate the difficulties of the Mars landing. There were wonderful talks as well as a question panel where we could find out many new and interesting facts, which was great fun. We also watched satellite videos and were able to take home many posters, leaflets and magazines as souvenirs of our memorable day.

Reporter Maddy Vince

http://www.dkmusicacademy.co.uk/

http://www.cuckoocommunications.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/CuckooComms


Eco Week 2014 – a Vintage Year Reporter Mr D Ewing

Eco week has become an annual institution here at Rodborough. Over the week students are asked to think about environmental themes and eco lessons are run by most departments across the school, making it a truly cross curricular experience. As well as the cross curricular lessons, each year group has their own special eco event. Here is a run-down of what each year group got up to in 2014:

Year 7: Cycle training day and picnic. Every year we challenge Year 7 to try and get as many as possible to bring their bikes into school for Cycle Day. This year 50 students took up the challenge! Each student had a lesson off during the day to do some intensive risk based training with Mr Edwards and Mrs Fjord-Roberts – both very keen cyclists. This went down well and there were some great skills on display as well as some pretty cool bikes! Lunchtime we all lined up along the Rake Lane drive. The convoy of cyclists took us from the gate to the roundabout. With Mr Edwards leading the way, our two wheeled caravan set off for a picnic on Rodborough Common. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time.

Year 8: thinking differently to solve tomorrow’s problems. Year 8 had a different sort of Tuesday morning in Eco Week. There were three activities running across the morning and the students rotated between them. One was the aptly named Happy Puzzle Company, whose aim was to get everyone to start thinking a little differently. This was achieved by trying to solve the puzzle challenges. The students really engaged in the activity and soon discovered that you needed imagination to think round problems.

Another activity was a wind crane challenge. Students were given some recycled equipment begged from round the school- some old pulleys from the tech department, old cardboard from the recycling bins and some old fishing line from Mr Ewing’s tackle shed. The challenge was to build a wind powered crane that could lift as many jelly babies as possible off the ground. This got fiercely competitive as groups were able to test their models at any time and improve their designs to carry even more jelly babies. Some groups were lifting 12 and 13 jelly babies off the ground using a simple bicycle pump as a power source! Sadly none of the jelly babies survived the ordeal.


The third activity of the morning was a talk

about the future of our planet from environmentalist Phil Williams. Phil is an old friend of the school and has inspired many classes in the past with his tales of the rainforest and what we are doing to it. It was great to see him back at Rodborough and he was on top form. The whole morning came together in a special assembly at the end where Phil explained that we simply cannot go on using resources and living the way we do. The challenge for the next generation is to think differently, look for different solutions and look after the planet we live in. It was a great morning and one that got Year 8 engaged, motivated and thinking!

Year 9: Are we loving our commons to death? This activity has been running for several years now. Between Monday and Wednesday afternoon Year 9 were sent off to Milford and Mare Hill commons to survey the extent of erosion caused by human activity. They had to work as teams, independently navigate their way around the common to find all the survey points and try not to get too lost. This worked perfectly bar for one group on Monday who managed to get themselves off Milford common and onto Rodborough common. After a few phone calls we managed to work out where the group were and arrange for them to be picked up.

They promised to improve their map reading skills before starting D of E! This year the survey results showed the

increasing impact of illegal bike jumping on our commons. Many groups commented on the areas being used for dirt jumping. The school has been involved for the last 4 or 5 years with the local action group set up to try to get a permanent and legal bike jumping area on the old Lovell farm site. Hopefully the project will be up and running by next year and we should start to see less evidence of illegal jumps over the coming years.


Year 10: SweatRod This activity challenges Year 10 students to think about how the many consumer electronics they have come to take for granted are made. We look at the role of companies like Foxconn in manufacturing many of the highly prized gadgets that are part of modern life. In particular, we look at the manual production line aspects of electronics and some of the living conditions and wages offered to employees.

Most students think that mobile phones are made in some sort of robotic assembly line; the reality is that they are mostly put together by hand. To illustrate what assembly line work is like under harsh management we then organised a challenge where students had to make fortune tellers to a very precise specification and were paid 1 sweet each for every 10 perfect tellers they produced. The English department, aided by Mr Perkins and Mrs Hines proved to be demanding task masters and happy to bin any tellers that were not up to scratch. Slave labour, child labour, unreasonable management expectations, and pressure to produce… all were in evidence (albeit only for 25 minutes).

The sponsored event The week ended with a fun run to raise money for students at Awutu-Winton school in Ghana. These students are only able to go to school because of the support of a charity called the EDP trust. Without their help many of the students would be forced to leave education. The reason? Secon dary education is not free for all young people in Ghana. Poor parents cannot afford school fees so their children have to leave education and work. Without qualifications these children stay poor as they cannot access better paid jobs. This is called the “poverty trap”. The EDP trust provide funding to ensure that students can stay on at school, get qualifications and work their way out of poverty.

Our lower school set about raising over £5,000 of sponsor money pledged for the event and had a great time running for an hour round our Fun Run circuit. The atmosphere was fantastic and all the students and staff really got into the task of making the event a success and raising a fantastic amount of money to help young people in Ghana who are a lot less fortunate than we are. If you haven’t managed to send in your sponsor money yet PLEASE DO IT NOW! So as you can see… Eco week 2014 was an excellent vintage. One to be savoured for years to come! Thanks must go to all the staff who helped out during the week and all the students who really got involved and stuck in to all their activities.


Slowly Does It On Our Local Commons Reporter Polly Grant

People instantly think “Argh, snake!” when they see anything that’s either long, slimy, scaled or just… snake-like. So down goes your foot on that long, slimy, scaled or snake-like thing. Most of the time it’s just a stick. But unfortunately sometimes it isn't something that is almost certainly dead. No. Sometimes it is something that is well and truly living, just like you. And in most cases, it isn’t even a snake. No, in very rare cases, that miniature python-like reptile is a slow worm.

Slow worms are now a protected species in Britain. A big problem for slow worms is that often people do just as described, and mistake them for snakes. True, people will not always stomp on them, but they are still persecuted and are often killed if found in gardens. But it shouldn't be so. Slow worms are actually a gardeners’ best friend, as they prey on common garden pests, such as slugs, snails, and other slow-moving pests that eat our growing plants. And so this is why Mr Ewing, Mr Sandy and a bunch of

determined volunteers got the difficult task of removing all of the slow worms from an area of Rodborough Common on which they propose to build the new, legal, bike jumps. By law, now that they've got the planning permission, they are only allowed to make the ramps when ALL the slow worms have been removed from the area. The land, donated by an anonymous benefactor, has appeared to be a slow worm haven. That’s great news for the slow worms, they’ve found a good place to live and breed, but… not such good news for the group of people who want to build bike jumps here! An ecologist, from Thomson Habitats of Guildford, has been employed to try to resettle the slow worms to an equally suitable haven – which is not as easy as you might think!

As brilliant as it would be, unfortunately there is no such thing as slow worm charming, therefore, they need to be encouraged to settle in places where they can be collected. The ecologist has set up slow worm traps which are harmless mats made from the same material as roofing felt; these are the perfect cover and home for the slow worms and are scattered around the area. The slow worms move underneath them, get warm and do slow wormy stuff until someone comes along and checks underneath all the mats in the small field. Any slow worms found are removed and taken to their new, safe home. Sounds easy? No, it’s not. There are over 300 mats on the small piece of land, and each one has to be checked daily, with no exceptions, come rain, come shine! If there are no slow worms found for 5 consecutive days under any mat, then the operation for building the cycle jumps is good to go. To investigate, a group of girls from the Year 8 Magazine Club, Mrs Chambers, Mr Ewing, Mr Sandy and Mrs Doyle went over to the cycle jump/ slow worm zone to find out more. We were given a talk on what’s happening with the slow worms and were lucky enough to hold a female slow worm and she was actually very friendly. We had a go at checking traps before returning to school, talking about how we were all going to make slow worm traps when we got home. So that’s slow worms covered. The bike jump project has been completely run by volunteers who want legal ramps in the local woods. Plans and surveys have been made and when all the slow worms have been removed, the project will begin in earnest. And there you have it, an article about slow worms and why they are so awesome. Check that thing you’re stepping on next time and you may just save one!


“Mi chiamo Sadie e ho tredici anni e sono britannica!

So un poco

d’italiano!”

Languages at Surrey University Reporters: Sadie, Moli, Jacob, Patrick,

Henry Zara, Eleanor, Sae and Polly

We spent the day at the languages department of Surrey University finding out more about learning languages.

We were met by the Head of English and Language, who told us about the different learning schemes and language courses and opportunities on offer at Surrey, before taking a quiz. We then attended a lecture by a freelance translator. Did you know that interpreters help with spoken language and translators deal with written language? We learned the advantages and disadvantages of freelance translating including:

No fixed working hours

You can work anywhere (even in your pyjamas)!

You are your own boss and need to set up your own business – making sure you get enough work and managing your accounts

Working to tight deadlines She demonstrated how computer generated translation tools can miss the point whilst translating e.g. McDonalds slogan, “I’m lovin’ it” is translated by Google Translate as, “Je suis lovin’ it”, whilst a translator would capture the essence of the slogan, “C’est tout que j’aime” (It is everything that I love) – the actual slogan used in France.

The second presentation, by a translator who worked for the EU parliament was about how translating is vital for businesses. He showed us lots of clips. We learnt that people who speak French and German are in demand and that speaking a language really makes your CV stand out.

We really enjoyed the humorous aspect of this first presentation. Inaccurate translation can have catastrophic consequences, for example when the Pope visited America, T-shirts were sold. They were supposed to say, “I saw the Pope” in Spanish. “The Pope” in Spanish is “el papa” however the T-Shirts said “la papa”, so they read, “I saw the potato”.

During the remainder of the day we attended tutorials to learn a little Hindi and Italian. These were very interesting and we found out many items of Hindi and Italian trivia e.g. did you know that Lady Gaga was born in Italy? Practical phrases included advice for supporting England in the World Cup (sadly no longer necessary) by cheering, “Forza Inghilterra”! We all had a great day, which made us think more deeply about studying languages after Rodborough. Thank you to all the lecturers and translators at Surrey University and to the Rodborough teachers for organising the day for us.


Berlin Trip – Part 2 Reporter Laura Gill

The first part of this report was published in our May 2014 edition of Chronicles…

Our excitement levels rose again as the iconic Olympic rings on top of the arch at the entrance to the 1934 stadium came into view. After our traumatic morning at Sachsenhausen, we loved sitting inside the stadium (now used as a football ground). It was odd to see Hitler’s box – where he had viewed the sports designed to demonstrate the supremacy of the German race to the watching world. We also saw Jesse Owen’s name inscribed for ever on the list of winners – a terrible blow to Hitler’s dream. It was interesting to see all the Olympic buildings, including the swimming pool too.

On leaving the Olympic stadium we visited a memorial to the Berliners who had been deported because of ethnicity, politics or race. It was rather surreal to be allowed to relax and find our own lunch in a modern shopping centre! Our day ended with a magical night tour up into the new glass dome of the Reichstag. From this vantage point we were able to watch over the skyline of Berlin as the sun set and think over all that we had seen and discovered during our varied day. Our final day was Wednesday. Hotel breakfast eaten and bags packed onto the coach there was no escaping the knowledge that we would soon be heading home. There was still time, however, to visit a preserved section of the iconic Berlin Wall as well as the beautiful east side gallery where we were told endless stories of those who had dared to attempt to cross from East to West. We also visited the mysterious Church of Reconciliation.

With our time almost gone we visited the incredible Soviet Memorial – constructed with eight beautifully carved pieces of marble depicting the story of World War 2 from the Soviet perspective. There was a huge statue of a Soviet soldier holding a child and housing an eternal flame which burned brightly despite the wet weather. We then visited ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ where we had lunch and engaged in vital souvenir hunting before travelling to the Berlin Museum for a tour of an unused nuclear bomb shelter! A quick curryworst later and it was time to bid a sad farewell to our fantastic guide Ian before boarding the plane home.

We need to send a massive, “Thank you,” to our teachers and to Ian who spent 3 days putting up with overexcited Year 10s and giving them the trip of a lifetime – one we will NEVER forget!


Year 8 Great Exhibition Reported by members of Year 8

Year 8 have been learning about the Great Exhibition staged by the Victorians in 1851 in the newly constructed Crystal Palace. At the end of their unit of work they put on their very own exhibition as a tribute …

“Learning about the Great

Exhibition was really interesting as I didn’t know much about it beforehand. The exhibition we held in class was good fun and helped us to learn new facts.”

GW

“It was important for us to experience the Great Exhibition

and discover what new technologies were available at that time as it gave us a better

understanding of life in Victorian times.” PC

“I thought the Great Exhibition was fun to learn about and we had a

great time researching the facts before putting on our own exhibition and seeing others’ stalls.” AS

“Our History lesson was interesting and everyone got involved and

had fun! It also helped me to realise just how great the ‘Great Exhibition’ was!” JWR


Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Reporters Kirah Chenall & Miss Webb

On 14th May, 49 beautifully behaved Year 7 and 8 students (and a couple of lovely Year 9s) took a jaunt up to London to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. These lucky students were primarily our top STAR Reader programme users who deserved to be treated after the reading progress they have made! And what better way than to see the musical version of Roald Dahl's famous novel?

A truly magical time was had by all. The staging was phenomenally clever - the Oompa Loompas have to be seen to be believed and, if you go, watch out for the television scene: captivating! Well done to all those STAR Reader superSTARs who were offered a place. Could you be one of the lucky ones next year? Get quizzing!

A plea from Godalming FOOD BANK:

We are in need of squash, crackers and spreads like jam, peanut butter, paste etc. The Food Bank have certainly seen a rise in requests for assistance this past year and wanted to pass on their gratitude and appreciation for all your thoughtful donations. Find your local Food Bank online or deliver donations via Rodborough. Items should be non-perishable and in date!

Parent Governor election result

Thank you for voting in the recent Parent Governor Election. The successful candidate was Mr Steve Bartley. We look forward to working with Mr Bartley over the next four years.

"Seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a

great experience. The show itself was wonderful and very similar to the book. The actors were

incredible and the whole show took you into Willy

Wonka's magical world of chocolate! I think it's the best show I've ever seen.

Thank you so much to the teachers who were

brilliant. I felt so lucky to be able to go on this trip. It just goes to show: reading lots of books

can lead to treats and prizes!"


Rodborough Slam out all Competition! Reporter Miss E Mills

Rodborough was invited this year to compete at the prestigious Haslemere Fringe Festival Slam Poetry contest. This involved a group of students both writing their own poetry and performing it to a large festival audience. We were to perform against the strong Bohunt team who were defending their title as well as the equally impressive Woolmer Hill team, making for a tense contest.

After each performance the poet received three scores from the independent judges. Our first poet, Hannah Moore, set the bar high with her score of 22 with an impressive performance of her poem arguing against war. Rodborough provided the only group performance where Poppy Cowell sang a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace whilst Molly Cowell, Sae Koyama and Polly Grant delivered a passionate poetic plea against poor treatment of animals. As each team member from the different schools delivered brilliant performances we began to feel more nervous until Georgina Smith took to the stage and blew both the judges and audience away with her poem about self- image. To our delight and pride she was the only student to receive a perfect 10 not only from one judge but two!

Polly Chapman was our final poet and the points were incredibly close as she took to the stage in a confident and determined manner. Her poem about the Pakistani school girl Malala was inspirational, giving Polly the second highest score of the day and ensuring a Rodborough win.

Congratulations to the team for the win and also to Georgina Smith for winning Best Poet of the day. We would also like to thank the fantastic slam poet Joelle Taylor for being the best mentor we could have asked for. Our Slam Poets were: Poppy Cowell, Molly Cowell, Polly Chapman, Polly Grant, Sae Koyama, Hannah Moore Ella Page and Georgina Smith.


Little Shop of Talent Reviewer Miss E Mills

This year the Drama and Music departments joined forces once again to stage the annual musical but this time the main character was not human, instead it was a green man-eating plant set on taking over the world, one song at a time. Little Shop of Horrors, written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, is the story of a socially awkward florist worker Seymour and how he spirals into murder and lyrical violence all in the name of love.

Promotional material made by the Print It Team for the musical encouraged the audience to consider how the plant might be presented; it had to be large enough to engulf several

victims, so this could be no tiny ornament. The props department didn’t disappoint; the three different versions of Audrey II were all horrible and frightening in their own ways and the three puppeteers, working tirelessly inside them, were successful in ensuring Audrey II appeared alive and monstrous. A rock and roll musical with catchy songs such as ‘Skid Row’, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and ‘Don’t Feed the Plants’, all delivered beautifully by the cast who once again demonstrated their talent and attention to detail imparted by musical coaches, Mrs Yeadon and Miss Moyler.

The show opened powerfully with the seven sassy Ronettes, three of whom were performing in Rodborough’s musical for the first time with experienced ‘old timers’ Bella Sulit Tarry, Maya Flew, Laura Gill and Katie Collins to lead them with confidence.

Their dances oozed co-ordinated confidence, their harmonies were breath-taking and their solo lines were delivered with aplomb. Leading actors Tom Burbidge, playing the grumpy shop-keeper Mushnik, and Kyle Dollerson, playing the nervous and sweet Seymour followed the girls onstage. Tom’s transformation into character was remarkable and his voice perfectly counterbalanced the Ronnettes. Kyle embodied Seymour’s anxious character and showed just how his acting skills have improved from show to show.

Gabriel Penny, in his first major role, brought to life the cruel dentist, Orin Scrivello, whose obsession with laughing gas made us laugh even as he died in a fit of giggles. Audrey II was voiced by the surprisingly deep tones of Andrew Hurley who, despite never appearing on stage, gave the plant a dangerous personality and his song ‘Git It’ sent chills across the audience.


Leading lady, Kristina Bodman-Smith, playing the high-pitched American Audrey, at times simply stole the show with her incredible solos such as ‘Somewhere That’s Green’ and ‘Suddenly Seymour’, which left this reviewer with goose bumps. It was wonderful to see the band out in full musical force, particularly as three of them were the leads from last year’s performance. As usual, past pupils are always keen to rush back to school to be conducted under Mrs Yeadon’s tutelage and the sound produced was an incredibly professional performance.

Make-up and hair styles really brought the ensemble to life and the team, led by Mrs Fjord-Roberts, did a fantastic job in creating believable Skid Row characters. The imaginative and precise choreography brought another dimension, showcasing the depth of dance talent present on stage. It is the superb standard of acting and attention to detail, however, that sets Rodborough productions apart. Skills are carefully teased out by Mrs Bearman to produce a confident professional show.

Actors to watch out for in future productions include Kezia Denne, Lily Ruddick, Caroline Miller, David Carter and Max Culver, all of whom performed their roles with focus, enthusiasm and skill. Once again, costumes were at their expert high standard and Mrs Willis and her team must be congratulated. Their time spent stitching and sewing, evident by the three costume changes of the Ronettes and Audrey plus each of the ensemble’s hand-made outfits, was well spent. More skills were evident in the creation of the set. The backdrop brought Skid Row to life and Miss Willis and her team of Year 10 artists proved the breadth & depth of Rodborough’s artistic talent.

The back stage crew were so effective that they appeared invisible and stage manager, Mrs Lashmar, made great use of her helpful team to set the scenes, ready the cast and ensure all ran without hitch. The lighting crew created tension and atmosphere through their wild lighting states and effective use of the follow spot to draw attention to the grimness of Skid Row as well as the oddness of the plant. Efficient and calm front of house is always crucial to any performance, professional or amateur, and Miss Morgan once again delivered faultlessly. Aided by Mrs Doyle, members of staff and Friends of Rodborough, refreshments were served during the interval. Of course, all this hard work would have been in vain without the brilliant support of our great audiences and the many parents, families, friends and neighbours who turned out in their droves to enjoy and celebrate the acting and musical skills on show. Another year, another success, congratulations to the whole team for giving up their lives for months and let’s hope Mrs Bearman and her wonderful crew are back next year with something special again.


Activities Week 2014 Reporter Mrs Howick and Students

Regular lessons were suspended last week for our hugely popular Activities Week – the opportunity for our students to try out new ways of learning. There were a host of different activities on offer. Year 7s could choose between spending the week in France and taking part in a varied school-based programme of events including Wild Learning in Rodborough’s woodland classroom, Clay workshops in the Art Block, a day of challenging puzzles, a creative day themed on Africa and a coach trip to the Globe Theatre. Year 8s chose between their residential, the exciting Bushcraft week under canvas, and the in-school programme of Forensic Workshops, Circus Skills, Street Dance, Wind Power Engineering and a coach trip to the world-famous Farnborough Airshow. Year 9s choices were even wider – students needed to decide between their residential to Calshot Water Sports Centre and a huge pick & mix of more local activities including: Art, High Ropes, Climbing, Cycling, Fishing, Golf, Film Making, Beauty, Masterchef, Winter Sports, Wakeboarding and running a farm for the day! Year 10s could choose between a residential French Language School at Montpellier or a week of Work Experience. Additionally, they will ALL spend the final Monday of term engaged in a Business Simulation experience. It is not possible to publish something about every activity as our print deadline is almost here but we hope that you will enjoy these tasters and images of the week so far … Up to 37o are being experienced by 34 Year 10 pupils in Montpellier this week as they attend morning Language School with many other international pupils. Lessons thus far have included lots of mime, competitions and role-play. At break time our boys are a force to be reckoned with on the football pitch! Afternoons are lesson-free leaving the Rodborough cohort time to visit: Les Palavas-Flots; the local Mediterranean beach - laden with parasols, rounders bats and volleyballs Historic Nimes, where there is a beautiful Roman amphitheatre and more. There will be plenty of time on Friday, before returning home, for souvenir shopping in Montpellier’s pedestrianized and young person friendly town centre. Pupils are staying with local families, who are all involved in the LSF language school’s exchange scheme, so they are all experiencing unique cultural experiences: some have seen the Bastille Day fireworks, others have had individual town tours but all have said how friendly their host families have been.

Firstly, we hear from Miss Morgan in Montpellier… “Cest tres chaud en France!”

Joe Hryzyszyn "I can't give you a quote- it's

too hot to think"

Becca O’Mara "The firework display was

amazing!"

Bella Perry "it's very peaceful here

and the lessons are really

interactive"

James Lyons "Fantastique! I think this will be good for my year 11 assessments - I just

wish my shorts fitted properly!"


Now to Jed and Ben from Year 8 … Circus Skills

The day has been great so far! We’ve learned lots of cool skills – from juggling to diablos to tightrope walking to plate spinning! Some skills have been very challenging – e.g. attempting to ride a ‘reverse bike’ which is engineered to do the exact opposite of what a normal bike will do! By comparison, juggling and diablo are pretty easy but, to keep things interesting, we have learned lots of cool tricks! There has been lots of treat help too – whenever we found something to be difficult our instructor would help until, eventually, we succeeded!

Year 7 visited The Globe with Miss Webb …

On Monday, 120 year 7s descended on Shakespeare's Globe Theatre for a tour and workshop with an actor. Audible gasps escaped from students as they entered the impressive theatre, which was shown off to full advantage in the beautiful sunshine. While questioned by the actors, students showed remarkable knowledge of the play, Twelfth Night as well as a sound understanding of life in Shakespeare's time, impressing our guides to the point where one said he hoped his children could go to school with students as intelligent and polite as Rodborough's!

In the workshops, students had the opportunity to mould their partners "like clay" to demonstrate specific Shakespeare quotes simply, through body language, gesture and facial expression; this was a clever way to get students to closely engage with Tudor language. They also performed short scenes between Malvolio and Olivia leading to some lovely - and dramatic - performances as you can see in these pictures.


Year 9s have been sheltering from the sun whilst painting the Art Block …

… and have been fishing down at Marsh Farm … Special thanks to Apollo Angling at Marsh Farm. Apollo have sponsored Year 9s Activities Week fishing at Marsh Farm. All the bait and tackle we have used has been kindly provided by the shop! Rodborough would like to thank Steve Moore and his friendly staff for this great gesture. All the Year 9 fishermen had a great time!

Our residential trips have been using our @Rod_Trips twitter line to keep in touch … Year 7 have posted, “D-Day museum, Picnic avec vue historique and gun battery today. BBQ to follow! #Y7France.”

Year 8 Bushcraft have tweeted, “Today’s fire talk is keeping the students very quiet”

Staff farewells

A number of staff are leaving us this term and we would like you to join us in wishing them well. Many of them are moving on to exciting new career opportunities; some are relocating or going on maternity leave. We would like to thank them for all they have done for the school.

Maternity leave: Miss J Rojas (Head of Geography) Mrs H Piper (Science)

Other staff leaving: Miss A Glaister (Science) Mr K Gray (Site Assistant) Mrs N Hales (Science) Mrs S Hatherall-Good (Maths) Mrs I Hermie (Science)

Mr M Homan (English) Mrs S Lewis (English) Mrs C May (Science) Mr M Walker (Head of Computer Science) Mrs J Watson (Maths) Miss E Webb (Acting Head of English) Miss P Willis (Art/Graphics)

https://twitter.com/Rod_Tweet


Aspiring and budding Year 9 chefs gathered to take part in 4 days of Masterchef for Activities Week. Pastry skills were learnt in the morning for preparation of the afternoon’s competition; when students went on to make their group’s lunch consisting of burgers in home-made rolls, kebabs and various salad items including home-made coleslaw. The afternoon came to competition time where students filled, coated and decorated their pastry to create a croque en bouche hoping to win the 1st prize. As you can see standards were very high but everyone did brilliantly. A big thank you to Secrets Garden Shop for supplying us with their delicious strawberries again.

More Year 9s used their creative flair to produce painted glass and greetings cards in the Arts & Crafts option whilst others visited Watts Gallery for inspiration on Mary Watts’ work before settling down in the workshops to create their own items from clay.

Year 8s put their scientific knowledge to good use solving crime during a Forensics Workshop and let their hair down at the Street Dance workshop!

Year 7’s ‘Africa Day’ saw them enjoying their African Drumming workshop and making African animals from junk (see the elephant made from a milk bottle).

We’ve run out of space to tell you of other activities but some more photos can be found on the front page!


Bronzed Duke of Edinburgh Reporter Laura Gill

Imagine the scene: it’s a hot sunny Saturday; a day of quiet rest for all. Except for those 95 intrepid Year 10s setting out on their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award qualifying expedition. Our group arrived at Shalford Scout Hut happy and ready to go. We had everything: all our emergency rations, lots of food, an emergency phone and a couple of tiaras! After a dodgy start (it takes a while to get your eye in when it comes to map reading!) we headed off in the right direction. Spirits were high; we were singing, laughing and playing games.

Our expedition continued in this fashion until we reached Puttenham Common. We all stopped and stared at the sea of trees and tiny, winding paths which were not on the map. “Which way does the bearing say?” I asked as we stared at two paths heading in opposite directions. There was a pause. “Straight down the middle,” Bella sighed. It was 50:50, and of course we got it wrong and soon found ourselves back at the same junction. However, this time we knew which path to take!

After a while I said, poring over the map, “Guys, what would be great, would be if you could spot a landmark or something”. There was another pause, then a voice from behind me said “Laura, there is a tree on the left!” I laughed. “You are going to have to be a little more specific than that!” Another pause… “It’s a big tree!” You could probably have heard us laughing from the other side of the common, which funnily enough, was where we needed to be! You will all be pleased to hear that we made it out of Puttenham Common alive, eventually staggering through the gates into our campsite.

We put up our tents without much of a hitch and then proceeded to talk to all the other exhausted Year 10s about their interesting experiences, while comparing mosquito bites and blisters. For dinner we succeeded in making sweet and sour fajitas which didn’t actually taste that bad! We then drank hot chocolate, accompanied by marshmallows, toasted over our portable cooking stove before we all crawling into our tents for a surprisingly good night’s sleep.


A deafening chorus of birds from the nearby forest, including an especially loud cockerel (presumably from a nearby farm rather than the forest) woke us at 5 am. We got up, cooked our bacon and pancakes and got away from the campsite nice and early. We were very happy and pleased with ourselves until ... we got lost! We struggled onwards making our way slowly from one checkpoint to the next, with Nina insisting on stopping to talk to every single horse.

Eventually, after what seemed like several hours spent on Bagmoor Common, we rounded a corner and saw a sign for Rodborough Common. We knew we were nearly home! Katie was so relieved that she knelt down and hugged the signpost. Luckily no one came round the corner at that moment. Finally we reached checkpoint 8 at Rodborough underpass. Next stop school. Relief, however, was short-lived as Mr Drew informed us that we only had 13 minutes to arrive! With a cry of determination, we heaved some of our group up from the ground and bolted for home. On our way we powered past Mrs Howick, calling “Sorry, can’t stop”. She responded with an understanding laugh and, as we hurried onwards, we heard her encouraging call of “Keep going, girls!”

After two days of exhaustion, hilarity and discovery, hand in hand we rounded the corner into the Rake Lane bus shelter to the sound of cheering from the groups who had already returned. Our emergency rations were checked, and we were debriefed. We had passed! Thank you to all the staff who gave up their weekend to help us complete this adventure. I am sure there are many things they would rather have been doing on such a hot weekend.

Did we enjoy every minute of it? No! Are we pleased and proud we did it? Yes! Did we get through the weekend without a cross word? No! Are we still friends? Yes! Would we recommend it? Definitely! Will we sign up for Silver? Maybe.....

p.s. Note to current Year 9s: Do not arrive at the starting point too far ahead of your meeting time. In the space of a 3 minute conversation with Miss Mackay, I found I had agreed to write this article and run the 1500m at District Sports. After all, 1500m doesn’t sound very far when you’re about to start a two day trek with a tent on your back!


Junior District Sports Reporter Charlie Jones

Ten Year 9 students travelled to Charterhouse Running Track on Tuesday 24 June to help organise the Junior Schools’ District Sports. It was an opportunity for us to gain good leadership experience and to learn the organisation that it takes to put together a sports event like these games. As the day progressed we rotated around different jobs, such as taking measurements, raking the long jump pits, judging on the finishing line and many more.

I felt lucky to have been offered this great opportunity as it gave us good grounding and experience as we head towards next year’s Sports Leaders Course. My fellow pupils and I feel it was a really useful day out for us to learn new skills to push us forward and we were and still are very grateful for this opportunity. It was good to work with the younger athletes and I am now looking forward to the Sports Leaders Course.

Individual Sporting Success Stories …

National Judo

Congratulations to 2013 National Champion Jamie Mansfield, who has recently been selected to represent the Southern Area at the National Teams competition. Older brother Leigh returned from his D of E expedition to hear that he is now officially ranked no. 2 nationally in the u42Kg class and has a place on the England Squad. He then won Bronze in the prestigious Ippon Trophy competition at Antwerp in May – one of only a few England medals at that event. We have a number of keen Judo competitors here at Rodborough and we wish you all well for the future.

Rowing is a new sport for Rodborough … Ben Hart and Adam Webb (both in 7SKE) competed at Weybridge Regatta over the weekend of 8th June 2014 and were in the quad that won the Junior 12 competition. This is only their 2nd Regatta and the first time that they had actually rowed 900m in a race. They were awarded their medals by Sir Matthew Pinsent.

Cadet Sailing Best wishes to Ben Shorrock (10BP) who will compete for team GB at the Vlaanderedn Nieuwpoortweek in July and in the World Championships in August.


Surrey Youth Games

The Surrey Youth Games is a multi-sports competition, spread over two days, in which all eleven districts and boroughs in Surrey enter teams into fifteen different sporting events. There are events for all ages, including events for young people with disabilities. Young people attend local coaching sessions in the two months prior to the Games. For many of the players selected, the event is their first experience of countywide competition. 25 Rodborough students participated in this year’s event and were engaged in a number of different sports including Table Tennis, Squash, Basketball, Netball (see photo), Swimming, Lacrosse and Badminton. They all benefitted enormously from the free coaching and thoroughly enjoyed the competition. Many also made new friends through the games. Check out the www.activesurrey.com/SYG website for information if you fancy taking part next year.

Ellie, Katie and Millie represented Waverley in the Netball tournament.

Millie takes up the story … On Saturday 21st June Katie Dibb, Ellie Butler and I (Millie Puddephatt) represented Waverley in the Surrey Youth Games Netball Tournament. We were delighted to be selected after 6 weeks of training leading up to the tournament. The matches took place on a very hot day at the Surrey Sports Park with 12 teams competing fiercely for the title. By the end of the day our team, Waverley, had finished in 5th place and we had all really enjoyed ourselves!

Year 10 Rounders County Finals Reporters Gemma Heslop & Elsie Petherbridge

Despite our two injured players, communication within the group was brilliant and this led us to beat Reigate School 6 :2½. This gave us motivation in our next match allowing us to narrowly beat Mathew Arnold School 3½:3 with some great catches and fielding! Next we played Sir William Perkins School and only just lost 5½:4½. They eventually won through to become County winners! As the afternoon wore on, the opposition got tougher and we played at a great standard battling our way into the semi-final where we lost to Howard of Effingham.

Even with two injured players we still managed 4th overall and, although we were disappointed not to win, the team had played exceptionally well. It was time well spent and we had fun playing our last tournament together.

Netball Selection

Huge congratulations to Emily Porter (9PWI) who has recently been selected to train with the Regional Netball Academy and has since been selected onto the long squad for the Surrey Storm Netball National Performance League!


SPORTS DAY

It was lovely to welcome so many parents to this year’s Sports Day – it was a bit of an experiment and we hope that you enjoyed the experience. It is difficult to strike the right balance between ensuring that each parent gets a good view of the field event of interest to them, whilst also verifying the credentials of every additional adult on the school site. Please let us know of any improvements that we might be able to make for next year.

The day followed our now popular formula of Year Group rotations in the morning, which ensures sporting opportunities for EVERY student. This year we were pleased also to offer Boccia as an alternative for those students for whom main stream sports are not possible.

The entire school gathered in their House areas to watch the elite sports – the 100m, 200m and relays. They were also able to join the ever-popular fun run before enjoying their barbecue lunch and the strawberries and ice-cream sold by Senior Six in aid of School Council Funds. Hall Hunter Group has kindly donated the strawberries for this event for a number of years and we remain very grateful to them for this and other acts of generosity towards Rodborough.

A number of our students acted as official photographers on the day and we hope that you enjoy their pictures. Results will be summarised in October’s Chronicles.

Rodborough Chronicles July 2014

Documents

Transcript of Rodborough Chronicles July 2014