2012 53The Barnardian Magazine

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201252 The Barnardian Magazine

In my first year as the newlyappointed Director of Drama, I wasdetermined to make an impact withmoving and entertaining theatre,pushing the boundaries of schoolperformances. How better to start,then, with Peter Schaffer’s TheRoyal Hunt of the Sun. Schaffer is known for his ‘Total Theatre’,subversive and engaging theatrewhich grabs the audience, forcingthem to question their own morals,whilst bombarding them with soundand colour.

Essentially a tale of conflict within religion, it tells thestory of Francisco Pizarro, played to perfection byImogen Ridley, struggling to do the right thing in theface of a so-called God on Earth, Atahualpa,performed with superb restraint by Martha Moore.The bond which grows between these two conflictingcharacters, and their friendship in the face ofadversity is a truly moving piece, as the priests insistthat Atahualpa must die. The two priests, Valverdeand De Nizza, were portrayed by Sarah Perkins andKim Brolly with zeal, arguing that no man on Earthcould be a true God, despite the contradicting‘evidence’ in the Bible. The play is narrated by Old Martin (Will Barnes),

telling the story as he remembers it, as a young andimpressionable boy (Daniel Gilligan) embroiled in the action.The supporting cast of golden women and

embittered soldiers created a true sense of drama,as the greed of the men leads to the mistreatmentof the indigenous population.Music was created and supplied by Miss Jackson and

Alex Rowland-Jones, creating a haunt and immersive score. This was also the first time in which the students have

been actively involved in the technical team, with AndrewBussey and Ben Jeffrey leading the lighting and soundteams respectively, as tutored by Mr Butler.Arts ties were awarded to Martha Moore and Paige

Wilkinson for Dramatic Excellence.TSE

Autumn Term

Senior PlayThe Royal Hunt

of the Sun

201254 The Barnardian Magazine

As the Autumn Term got into fullswing, Wednesday afternoonactivity time was given over toHouse Singing rehearsals. Choicesof songs had been made andessential practice began to takeplace as each house prepared forthe first major house competitionof the year.

On the eve of half term Paul Harrison, currentlyDirector of Music at the City of London School, travellednorth to adjudicate the competition. Having beenDirector of Music at Barnard Castle from 1994-2002he was ideally placed to adjudicate the competition buthad to talk down any perceived bias towards DurhamHouse where he had previously been a tutor. The Junior Competition drew a large and excitable

audience in Big School with York House winning the

day with their performance of Rock around the clock.The runner-up place was shared between Dale whosang Dynamite and Tees with High hopes.The Senior Competition began with part songs

where a maximum score of 20 was possible.Marwood won through here with Beautiful girls scoring19, but were closely followed by Durham singing It’smy life and Bowes’ rendition of Happy ending eachgaining 18 points.The highlight of the evening was the senior unison

song where 30 marks are available. In spite of trailingwith a second place in the part song, Bowes versionof Bruno Mars’ Marry You gained 28 points givingthem the Coombs Cup for 2011 with a total of 46 outof 50. The excellent singing of York House with thetraditional Wild Rover brought them into second placewith a total of 44 points. The effort of all the housesand indeed the staff made this a memorable evening.Mr Bishop did a great job to rewrite words from MaryPoppins, and the staff entertained the school withSuper Pepper’s Barneyliscious. I am very grateful to Mr Paul Harrison for giving his

time and expertise to adjudicate a great HouseSinging Competition.

AMM

House Singing

Autumn Term

2012 57The Barnardian Magazine

Jarvais CupFour members of the School’s CCF represented the Contingent at the annual Jarvais Cup shooting competitionheld at Durham TA Centre in November. The team, consisting of Sergeant Chris Moore, Corporal Hugh Carterand Junior Corporals Jonny Wanless and Andrew Hutchon took part in the indoor shooting competition usingnumber 8 rifles. The competition was made up of three shoots which included a timed shoot, a deliberate shoot and a rapid

shoot. The cadets shot with accuracy and precision and at the end of the competition, Barnard Castle School werethe clear winners, with Corporal Carter also being awarded a medal for being runner up in the individual shoot.

RemembranceDayOn Sunday 13th November, 22 cadets and 4

Officers represented the Contingent by leading theBarnard Castle Remembrance Parade from theButtermarket to the cenotaph in the Bowes Museum.The cadets were smartly dressed and havingmarched through the town to the sound of BarnardCastle band, there was a short service at thecenotaph. Cadet RSM, Sam Hunter, our senior cadet,laid a wreath on behalf of the CCF.

Autumn Term

201256 The Barnardian Magazine

Cadet SAAMA team of 4 cadets were selected to represent theContingent in the annual Cadet SAAM, a shootingcompetition held at Strensall Camp in November.With so many CCF and ACF teams entering thispopular competition, it meant leaving School at0630am as the team needed to be ready for theirbrief at 8am. The cadets had the opportunity to zerotheir rifles on the practice range with theHeadmaster, our expert coach, before taking part inthe section, individual and pairs shoot, the buttmarker’s shoot and the falling plate shoot.Although we didn’t bring any medals home with us

that day, the cadets were a credit to the School andcertainly worked hard and gave each competitiontheir best.

Colts CanterAfter a wet and windy start, a strong team of 8 cadetsdeployed from school to take part in the annual ColtsCanter Competition held at Gandale Farm, onCatterick Training Area. This Brigade competitiontests the cadet’s knowledge in a number of militaryareas that they learn as part of the army proficiencycertificate that they are taught each Monday evening. The first stand of the day was the inspection. The

cadets had spent a number of hours ironing theiruniform, polishing their boots, cleaning theirweapons and ensuring their webbing contained allthe necessary kit. This hard work paid off, as theteam were awarded maximum points. The team were split into groups for the next stage.

Colour Sergeant Adam Miller and Corporal SteveWebster had to demonstrate their first aid skills in acalm and confident manner as they had toadminister the correct first aid to a casualty with agun shot wound to the chest and a young boy whowas coughing up blood. Naturally these casualties

Year 10 CCFField Day56 year 10 cadets enjoyed a day off timetable in theAutumn Term and spent the day learning thenecessary skills to both handle and use the cadet GPrifle safely. The cadets were split into 5 sections and the year

13 NCOs had the task of teaching the rest of the riflesyllabus to the cadets in a fun and enthusiasticmanner. The year 13 NCOs had all completed theirMethods of Instruction Cadre last year, so were fullyqualified to deliver well executed lessons to theirsections.Throughout the day, the year 10 cadets were put

through their paces as they had a revision lesson onwhat they had learned in the previous weeks, beforeembarking on new territory of the syllabus. Cadetslearned how to assemble and dissemble the rifle forcleaning and the drills for loading and unloading therifle using a blank magazine.After a quick lunch, the cadets spent the afternoon

in the School grounds confirming what they hadlearned in the morning. The year 13 NCOs did anexcellent job of delivering the lessons in a confidentand enthusiastic way which ensured that the year10s thoroughly enjoyed the day learning new skills.At the end of the day, all cadets were very confidentin using the rifle and were all ready to take theirweapon handling test.

Autumn Term

were acting, however with the aid of stage make-upand blood capsules, the casualties wounds lookedvery real indeed. Colour Sergeant James Dickinson and Lance

Corporal Jonny Coser had to complete the skill atarms stand. Both cadets did exceptionally well ingaining maximum points for this stand as they had tostrip and assemble their weapons, name certainparts of the weapon, fill a magazine and carry out thecorrect drills for a weapon stoppage. The field craftstand had two elements to it. Firstly SectionCommander, cadet RSM Sam Hunter had tocomplete a written paper which included questionson field signals, giving orders and badges of rank;and secondly Lance Corporal Guy Coser, aided with apair of binoculars, had to observe a field to his frontand identify 10 military items which had been partlyhidden by the undergrowth.Sergeant Emily Turner and Corporal Will Prior

completed the final map reading stand. A written teston grid references, parts of the compass andconventional signs were included on this paper whichthe team completed in a very quick time.After taking on plenty of water and a Mars bar, the

team mentally prepared themselves for thestrenuous part of the competition, which was the 4.5mile forced march carrying their webbing, bergan andweapon. The team, lead by Section Commander SamHunter put 100% effort into this element, as theynavigated their way around the hilly course and moralwas certainly lifted as they overtook another 3 teamsalong the way. As they finished the course, spiritswere lifted even further when the team found outthey had completed the route in the quickest time ofthe day.The final stand was the shoot. Cadets had to run

100m, before getting down into the prone positionand firing 10 rounds at the target which was situated200m away from the firing point. Although this standwasn’t our strongest, the cadets took on thechallenge, with some of them even surprisingthemselves at how well they had shot.As we all waited with anticipation as the scores

were collected and counted, the hard work certainlypaid off as we came second overall. The cadetsenjoyed the day and look forward to taking part in thecompetition next year.

2012 59The Barnardian Magazine

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Training Programme Overview The term got off to an excellent start with 191 cadets attending the first parade night of the term. During thisfirst parade, Major Hall was honoured to promote several cadets from their efforts at annual camp and SamHunter and Tori Richardson were presented with their rank slides for cadet RSM and cadet CSM respectively.The training programme was certainly very busy for all year groups this term. The year 10 cadets spent the

first 8 weeks completing their weapon handling training and then the rest of the term was spent completing acombat cadre where they learnt fieldcraft skills, for example, patrolling, duties of a sentry and basha building;the year 11 cadets completed their advanced map reading and first aid cadres, the year 12 cadets spent theterm working towards their BTEC Award in Public Services and the year 13 cadets, put into practice their skillsfrom the methods of instruction cadre by teaching the year 11 cadets the map reading and first aid lessons.As well cadets parading each Monday evening, they also had the opportunity to represent the contingent in

a number of competitions, including the Cadet SAAM, Colts Canter, the Jarvais Cup and the Remembrance Dayparade. All cadets also took part in the CCF Biennial Inspection.

The CCF was contacted before the summer holidaysby the McGuinness Gallery situated in BishopAuckland Town Hall regarding information about afamily who sent their sons to the School. They wereputting together a family history event exhibition andhad chosen to use the Dent family, a local family fromBishop Auckland in their 3 week exhibition. The Dentbrothers had been pupils of Barnard Castle Schooland had been members of the CCF (then called theOfficers’ Training Corps). Looking through the CCFarchives, we found some pictures of two of the Dent

BiennialInspectionWing Commander Richard Turner was invited to theSchool in October as the Reviewing Officer for theCCF’s Biennial Inspection. On arriving at School, hewas welcomed by the windband playing a variety ofsongs and an honour guard lead by cadet RSM SamHunter.Throughout the day, Wing Commander Richard

Turner was shown a number of activities that thecadets spend their weekly parade nights training for.In the morning, he listened to a couple of lecturetteson aircraft recognition, a flying scholarship and theweather, as well as watching a variety of commandedtasks, military swimming and he even had a go in theSchool’s indoor range.

After a hearty lunch, he saw the army sectiondemonstrating weapon handling skills, fieldcraft andfirst aid. He watched the some of the cadets takepart in a section attack across the School fields andthe day ended with a final parade, where he awardedsome cadets and officers promotions, medals andcertificates. A special moment for Wing CommanderTurner was when he promoted his daughter, Emily toColour Sergeant.In his inspection report, Wing Commander Richard

Turner made recognition that the Contingent is“extremely well led and motivated and is providedwith excellent support from the wider schoolcommunity”, that the CCF staff “certainly put in a lotof time over and above their primary teaching rolesand deserve great credit for this” and he describedthe cadets as “enthusiastic, motivated, cheerful,eager and disciplined”We are very grateful for Wing Commander Richard

Turner for giving up time in his busy schedule to takethe role of the Reviewing Officer.

The Wartime Memories Projectsons who were attending annual camp at GandaleFarm, Catterick (a base we still use today).We were invited to a private viewing of the

TimeSlides Exhibition which enabled the cadets toview artefacts of the Dent family and their familyhistory in the lead up to the outbreak of the GreatWar. 12 cadets from School listened to the exhibitionand enjoyed learning about the history of William andhis brothers and what they did in the 6th BattalionDurham Light Infantry in 1915.

Things never stand still in the Chemistry department:from our younger students competing in the finals ofnational competitions through to our sixth-formerstaking part in cutting-edge research at , we’ve enjoyedanother fun and successful year.Back in November a team made up of Hans Kukreja,

Hannah Roache, Kerin Borer and Jack Ellis took part inthe first regional heat of the ‘Top of the Bench’chemistry competition, which is organised by the RoyalSociety of Chemistry. They won this heat comfortably,and found themselves in pole position heading intothe regional final. Facing stiff competition from localschools, Hans, Hannah, Kerin and Jack romped hometo win by a record margin, which, for the second yearin a row, meant that had a place in the national final,held on 31 March at Imperial College London. Theteam took part in some gruelling quiz rounds andpractical challenges, before being treated to anexciting lecture by a research professor on the topic ofmobile phone technology (complete with the presenterliterally smashing apart his own smart phone so thatwe could get a peek at the materials inside). The teamcompeted brilliantly to finish a very respectable

thirteenth out of 30 schools, which was actually oneplace better than in 2011. All in all the teamthoroughly enjoyed their trip to the capital city, andrepresented the school exceedingly well. The aim in2013 must be to assemble another first-class team tomake it all the way to the national finals once again,which would make it an amazing three years in a row.Just around the same time as the Top of the Bench

were competing in the capital, Mr West and four Year8 pupils entered the Salters’ Chemistry Challenge at .We were competing against 15 other teams fromacross the North East and we had two challenges tocomplete during the day. The morning challenge wasspent undertaking analytical chemistry with the race tofind out who the murderer was in a ‘whodunnit’mystery. The afternoon was spent looking atacid–base chemistry and different indicators. Theteam of Lexy Dalton, Max Dalton, Kim Hodgson andKieran Lewis worked tremendously well togetherthroughout the day. Unfortunately they weren’trewarded for their efforts with a top three place in whatwas a very strong competition. The pupils were thentreated to a series of demonstrations that includedsetting fire to hydrogen and methane balloons, andsetting off a rocket with static electricity. Overall it wasa very enjoyable day!

EEM

Chemistry

Art

Barney students (right) listening intently to instructions.

Destruction of a mobile phone: a classic example ofthe sacrifices scientists must make from time to time.

6th form trip to LondonOn Thursday 3rd of November, 12 AS and A2 Art pupilsjoined their teachers on a day trip to London. The courserequires that pupils include primary sources in theirwork, and this is a fantastic, annual opportunity to seesome of the art they have studied first hand.We started at the Tate Modern, looking at the

permanent collections as a group. After a brief lunchbreak, the pupils were allowed to split into groups to goand see exhibitions relevant to their own particular areaof interest. Several made their way to the V&A to seetheir fantastic collection of fabric and furniture. A smallgroup went to Tate, and the rest to The Royal Academyto see the Degas exhibition. This was an excellentexhibition, showing works by Degas that have rarelybeen on public view, or seen together in sequence as hehad originally intended. It was particularly relevant totwo pupils who are basing their projects and personalstudies on dance and movement.

Next we dashed from gallery to gallery in , avoidingthe torrential rain. A great opportunity to see what isselling at the moment, and just how much art can gofor (even when the artist is still alive and well).After a well earned tea break, it was back on the

train. It was a great day. Pupils gained inspiration fortheir own work; all enjoyed the day and were apleasure to accompany.

A life drawing class atthe Bowes MuseumDuring the first half of term it became apparent thata few A level pupils would be using the human figurein their work, and would benefit from some lifedrawing lessons. Bowes Museum was able to offer a morning

workshop to 12 of our pupils. Although we all see thehuman figure every day and feel familiar with itsshapes and proportions, it is surprising how difficult itis to represent it in 2 dimensions. The pupils bravelysat around the model and did their best to draw 2

minute poses, 30 minute poses, and use a variety ofdifferent drawing media. It was an excellent opportunity to learn about

proportion and foreshortening. It was great to see thepupil’s drawings improve radically in just a morning. Itwas hard work, intense, but a very valuable exercise.A couple of pupils have gone on to attend local lifedrawing classes to continue to develop their skills.

Folder Designs 2011At the start of each academic year, all Key Stage 3pupils design a cover for their art folders, respondingto different briefs. The designs are marked by both pupils and staff,

and the very best folder designs from each yeargroup receive a prize. This year’s winners are:Molly Nixon – Year 8 Eve Wilby and Ben Roddam – Year 9

SLR

Autumn Term

201260 The Barnardian Magazine 2012 61The Barnardian Magazine

Autumn Term

This year saw the first of the newlyannual House Drama competitions.Each House was given the vaguestof outlines, ensuring the greatestfreedom and dramatic and artisticlicence. The groups had to producea short scene, as original aspossible, involving at least oneperson from the junior, inter andsenior contingent of the House.There was a maximum of tenmembers, and a minimum of four.Other than that, the pupils werefree to do whatever they wanted –leading to some outstandingpieces of original theatre.

It had been a rushed job for many Houses, who hadinvested so much time and effort into House Singingthat they were forced to spend a focussed threeweeks pulling together a script and rehearsing.The competition was judged as impartially as

possible, with one member of staff acting as arepresentative for each House – Mr Usher forDurham, Mrs Hewlett for Marwood, Mrs Shovlin forBowes, Mrs Waddington for Longfield, Mr Oakley forDale, Mr Pepper for Tees, Mr Wade for York and MrsBeatty for North. Each judge marked theperformances based on Acting (10) and Performance(10), looking for engagement, originality in theme,standards of performance and overall ‘enjoyability’. The evening was a huge success, thanks for the

most part to the pupils who came to cheer theirHouse on – particularly enjoying joining in during TeesHouse’s reality TV show audience. I would like tothank all of the staff who supported the event too,making it a very successful evening, and one whichwill continue in the years to come.In second place was Longfield, with the winning

team from Durham House scoring almost full points,adding yet another trophy to the bulging shelves ofMr Usher’s awards cabinet.

TSE

http://barnardcastleiceland2011.blogspot.com

October 26th 2011, 41 pupils andfour members of staff set out on anadventure to Iceland. The last Schooltrip to Iceland took place in 1992 andthe pupils not only sailed across theAtlantic to get there, but they alsocamped! Nineteen years later and for our group, it was an easy goingtransfer from School to Manchesterairport and then very good qualityIcelandic accommodation for the rest of the trip.

From the arrival lounge at Keflavik airport, we were takenby our coach driver and guide straight to the Blue Lagooncomplex. Nothing quite prepares you for the milky azureblue water flowing through the barren volcanic landscape. Over the period of our stay, the group enjoyed incredible

experiences, including; towering waterfalls, the mindboggling Pingvellir valley, sailing on a glacial lake, walkingacross a glacier and lava tubing.Many of the experiences and views were so overwhelming

at the time, that it has been during lessons since the tripthat the pupils have been very animated in relaying theirtimes in Iceland. The only slightly disappointing element was that we

were not fortunate enough to see the Northern Lightsduring our stay. However, this just means that we willhave to go there again!Whilst we were in Iceland we produced a daily blog of

the trip. This helped family and friends to see what washappening every day.

AGJ

HouseDrama

Iceland

Október