bourne grammar school bulletin

BOURNE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BULLETIN
Week ending Friday 18 December 2015
From Jonathan Maddox, Headteacher
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HABEAS CORPUS - THE SIXTH FORM PLAY
On Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of last week, Alan Bennett’s comedy Habeas Corpus was
performed in the Drama Studio. Under the direction of Mr Turnham, the cast of eleven Sixth Form
students entertained us with acting of deeply impressive, polished sophistication and remarkable
mastery of comic timing.
From start to finish, Bennett’s writing sparkles with wit and intelligence, mocking the traditionally
prudish attitudes - especially towards sex - of the British middle class of the 1970s. The cast was
without weak link. Revelations were Jack Taylor, in the lead role of Dr Wicksteed; having joined our
School from elsewhere at the start of Year 12, this was Jack’s first role here and he was
exceptional. Charlotte Patchett, playing his feisty wife, was astonishing in her first major role on the
BGS stage. Charlotte has a rare natural flair for acting which I hope she will continue to develop by
further involvement in our performances. Cam Braid took the major role of Constance Wicksteed
and was entirely convincing. The rest of the cast was formed from our finest, most mature actors
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and actresses, so we were treated to the best that BGS has to offer and the experience was quite
the equal of anything else that has been put on here. Jamie Morton, as Dr Wicksteed, has become
over the years a versatile and impressive actor and this was much in evidence, especially in his
delivery of the comic lines and quips.
After two large audiences on Wednesday and Friday it was disappointing that the studio was not
full on Saturday but this did not faze the cast; they performed as to a packed house. The reception
was warm and enthusiastic. I am glad that there is the confidence here to take on such
challenging, sophisticated drama even if there is a risk that full houses may not be pulled in. The
experience was precious for the cast and back-stage crew and for us, the audience, it was a treat.
A lady from the audience came up to me after the performance to say that she had seen a
professional performance of the play only last year and that ours was better - more authentic,
funnier and more enjoyable. It really was a tremendous achievement for everyone involved.
NEW HEAD STUDENTS, SENIOR PREFECTS AND AMBASSADORS APPOINTED
We find that it fits in best with students’ work towards their A-Levels to appoint the Head Students
and Prefect team for the calendar year, not the academic year. This means that the outgoing
Prefects are now free to devote all their energies to their studies. I am grateful to them for their
support and hard work throughout 2015.
I am delighted to announce the appointment of a very promising team of Head Students for 2016.
The team is:
Head Boy: Alistair Pitts
Head Girl: Lauren Brown
Deputy Head Boys: Ben Bristow, Alec Gray
Deputy Head Girls: Neve Crosby, Ellie McAllister
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The new Senior Prefects are:
Owen Bellamy
Eleanor Boothman
Ben Bristow
Lauren Brown
Cameron Everist
Olivia Corrick
Alec Gray
Neve Crosby
Yacoub Kamareddine*
Rebecca De Lima Araujo
Alistair Pitts
Jade Dodwell*
Adam Turner*
Ella Glover
Felix Wright
Ellie McAllister
Charlotte Patchett*
Rashmi Ramesh Shankar
Rachel Smithers
* School Ambassadors
Elani Taylor
CHRISTMAS CONCERT - Wednesday Evening
Our first Christmas Concert - replacing our longstanding but not terribly well-attended Family
Christmas Service at Bourne Abbey - was a really
special evening. Planned and hosted by our
Director of Music, Miss Coggin and ably supported
by Music Teacher Mr Stevenson, the evening
started with mince pies and mulled wine in the Chill,
whilst a quartet of brass players provided seasonal
background music. On moving up to the Main Hall
the large audience was greeted by a mass of
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students on and around the stage from our Concert
Band and Choirs. The programme consisted of
beautifully-performed items from the Concert Band,
Choir, Sixth Form Choir, Brass Band, Gospel Choir
and Jazz Band and amongst these items there
were traditional carols for the Choir and audience. I
was delighted
to receive a
great deal of
p o s i t i v e
feedback from
parents and
friends of the
School and I feel that we have a winning formula by which to
celebrate the start of the Christmas season with the School
community in the coming years.
FRANKFURT PRESENTS - German Department trip to Frankfurt-am-Main - 11-14 December
Report by Mr Smith, Subject Leader: German
‘Frankfurt Geschichte und Gegenwart’ (past and present) was the theme for the Upper School
four-day visit to Germany's financial centre. Twenty Germanists from Years 10, 11 and 13, together
with nineteen girls from Kesteven & Sleaford High School made the traditionally early start for a
school journey (01:20) in order to enable a full four-day visit.
The transfer to Heathrow was generously financed by the British German Association and the
German experience began with a Lufthansa flight into Frankfurt International Airport which is only a
nineteen-minute S-Bahn (suburban railway) ride from the city centre.
The Meininger hotel chain styles itself as the ‘home of the urban traveller’ and served our purpose
well being simple but smart and providing a generous continental breakfast and hearty evening
meal in the German tradition of meaty feasts.
After arrival, the first event was German tuition at the Frankfurt branch of the GoetheInstitut, concentrating on conversational language before an early night and a long
sleep to recover from the lost hours of Friday morning.
Everyone soon grew used to using the S-Bahn transport system and the Hauptwache station
became a familiar staging post en-route to the attractions and appointments we had planned. On
Saturday, a guided tour of the city centre traced Frankfurt's development from trading hub under
Charlemagne to its current status as headquarters of the European Central Bank. Among the
fragrant and glowing atmosphere of the Christmas market, spread through the several public
squares of Frankfurt, everyone took their lunch before an absolutely
charming and inspiring visit to the birthplace of Germany's greatest
poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The programme starts to sound intensive with the inclusion of an
evening film entitled ‘4 Könige’ (Four Kings) and all the day's
experiences being conducted in German.
Sunday morning was filled with a photo-scavenger hunt, requiring the
students to seek out features of the Frankfurt cityscape and
photograph them or, for example, ask for the autograph of a passer-by.
By this stage, the pupils were confident enough to navigate the
transport system unaided. Frankfurt's Historisches Museum filled in
more details of the city's development especially with some impressive
architectural models of the city's layout.
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The final stop of the programme was the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on
Monday - again with explanations in German.
I am grateful to the Leadership Team for their pragmatic approach to the
currently vexed question of running school trips, where other schools have
cancelled a variety of ventures. I am delighted that our judgement at BGS
was vindicated and an intensive, varied and thoroughly enjoyable trip could
take place.
Did the students enjoy it? I'll let you be the judge of that: our last day was,
coincidentally, the sunniest:
Timothy P: “The weather is trying to persuade us to stay in Germany."
Lara G: "No need, I was already convinced."
HUMAN RIGHTS DAY - Report by Isobel Kaufman (Year 9)
On Thursday, 10 December,
Bourne Grammar School’s
Amnesty International group
organised several activities to
celebrate the International Day of
Human Rights. Throughout the
week, we shared information
through the notices during form
time, showing three cases of
human rights abuse. These
consisted of a Greek man, Costas,
who was the victim of a
homophobic and racist attack;
Rania Alabassi, a Syrian lady who
was abducted by the authorities
along with her husband and
children, and Maria, a 13 year-old
girl in Burkina Faso who was
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forced to marry a 70 year-old man. On Thursday, every student in Years 8-11 was given the
opportunity to write letters of solidarity to these individuals or letters of appeal to the Greek Minister
of Justice, Syria’s President Assad or Burkina Faso’s Justice and Human Rights Minister. At breaktime we ran a stall and a ‘bake giveaway’ in order to raise the profile of Amnesty International in
School and, to gain a prize, students had to answer a question relating to Human Rights Day. We
hope that every student now knows a little more about Human Rights and understand the
devastating consequences of when they are abused or neglected.
INDOOR ROWING FESTIVAL - Report by Mr Adams, Subject Leader: Mathematics
Students from Years 8 and 10 took part in an Indoor Rowing Festival at Spalding High School on
Tuesday 15 December. Four schools took part: Sir John Gleed School, Bourne Academy, Spalding
High School and Bourne Grammar School. There were individual races of 3 minutes for Year 8 and
5 minutes for Year 10 in which rowers competed against each other to complete the greatest
distance. The indoor rowing machines were all linked to a computer which projected the progress
of each rower on to a large screen. This made the races very exciting as the rowers and
spectators could see the relative progress of their ‘boat’. There were some very good individual
performances but our best-placed rower was Rob McAndrew (Year 10) with a dead-heat second
place (a rare occurrence in rowing!). However, it was in the team relay races that Bourne Grammar
School shone; teams of four completed a distance of 2,016m swapping rowers every 250m or
500m. Our change-overs were slick, but it was the team effort and motivation which saw the three
teams we entered achieve two first places and a second place. First to go were the Year 8 boys
who romped home a minute ahead of second place. Then our Year 10 boys held off a strong
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challenge from third to come second. But perhaps the best performance was the girls who, having
led all the way, held off a late charge to come first by three seconds. The combined times of the
Year 10 boys and girls were enough to see them through in overall first place and they will have an
opportunity to represent our region in Grantham in March.
Year 8 Boys: Oliver Cook, Alfie Bennett, Archy Lewis, Joshua Milner
Year 8 Girl: Gemma Parker
Year 10 Boys: Lucas Carlton, Jack Fitch, Callum Scane, Thomas Parker, Robert McAndrew
Year 10 Girls: Molly Shaw, Erika Pond, Charlotte Crolley-Waine, Lucy Southerden.
HACK THE HOLIDAYS - Report by Emmalee Higgins (Year 11)
This coming weekend (19/20 December), months of planning will draw to a close as our
hackathon, Hack the Holidays, will invite over ninety students to learn about computer code and to
meet other young coders like themselves.
A hackathon is a period of time, typically overnight,
dedicated to creating unique products with code.
Participants have the chance to develop something
useful to them or just for fun, all in the spirit of
practising their digital skills. Even if they don’t have
advanced knowledge on the coding world they are
still welcome at hackathons, as many volunteers are
on-hand to help with any problems.
Hack the Holidays, taking place at the Future
Business Centre in Peterborough, encourages
students from age 14 to code for 24 hours. The event
is Christmas-themed and so the participants have the
choice to make an application or website centred
around the festivities, if they wish. During the event, the students not only have the opportunity to
code but are able to socialise and participate in different activities around the venue, such as
attending sponsors’ mini-games.
Working on the creations is, of
course, paused for the midnight
pizza; a hackathon tradition!
The Hack the Holidays team consists
of five Bourne Grammar School
students: James Brooks (the event
coordinator), Edward Digby, Chloe
Gutteridge, Elizabeth Hodnett and
Emmalee Higgins. We have also
received a wealth of mentoring from
representatives at Raspberry Pi and
Compare the Market. As students
ourselves, we felt that there were not
enough opportunities for young
people to interact with each other
whilst learning how to code - a skill
that is growing increasingly desirable
by employers in many career sectors. Hack the Holidays is our attempt at trying to change this.
To power the event, we contacted local and well-known businesses in the hope of raising some
sponsorship money. Amongst the sponsors are Opportunity Peterborough, Peterborough
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Enterprise Partnership, Rocket Apps, CityFibre and Zazzle Media, along with our biggest sponsor Braintree (a PayPal company). Furthermore, we are an event sanctioned by Major League
Hacking, the official student hackathon league operating in Europe, North America, Mexico and
Canada. Our partnership with MLH was something that was a great help to us as their reputation
boosted the profile of our event. As well as seeking participant sign-ups, Major League Hacking will
be bringing some of the latest technology to our event this weekend, as part of their Hardware Lab
scheme including Pebble smartwatches and Oculus Rift headsets - products that are exciting to
many students who share an interest in coding. Participants will be competing to win exciting
prizes such as Raspberry Pi computers, Chromecasts, Estimote Beacons and Kindle Fire tablets.
Hack the Holidays has drawn attention from many on social media as well as the BBC. Last week
we were visited by a BBC News Look East team who filmed an interview about the event which
was aired on television, radio and on-line this week. This was an exciting experience for us and it
was one we thoroughly enjoyed.
Situation Vacant - SCHOOL RECEPTIONIST
Following the internal promotion of Ms Sarah Baker, our present Receptionist, we wish to
recruit a new Receptionist. Please see the advertisement at the back of this issue.
STUDENTS OF THE WEEK
Name
Year
Staff
Subject
Flo Brill
7
Mr Ray
PE
Maisie Brownlow
7
Mr Hartley
Geography
Jared Carroll
7
Mr Topham
History
Harry Marriott
7
Mr Binns
PE
Sam Olverson
7
Miss Smallshaw
Science
Nina Ortiz-Jimenez
7
Mr Evans
History
Marcus Walker
7
Miss Creedon
Spanish
Ryan Collin
8
Mrs Somerville
Art
Samar Damani
8
Mr Tighe
EPR
Lewis Holbrook
8
Mr Graves
PE
Finn McCullough
8
Mr Dennis
PE
Jessica Pratt
8
Miss Cousins
History
Aaliyah Pudney
8
Miss Turton
English
Peter Reid
8
Miss Espin
Spanish
Bertie Cliffe
9
Mrs Russell
French
Ashley Hammond
9
Mrs Hall
Drama
Harvey Isitt
9
Miss Ellis
Art
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Name
Year
Staff
Subject
Chloe Laird
9
Miss Bowtell
PE
Harriet Laugharne
9
Mr Sheppard
Mathematics
Dylan Edwards
10
Mr Elliott
Mathematics
Kara Morton
10
Mrs Durno
English
Edward Digby
11
Mr Edwards
Spanish
Melody Parker
11
Mrs Faux
Biology
Laura Prill
11
Mr Smith
History
Bethany Ramsden
11
Miss Walters
English
Hannah Scott
11
Miss Hurst
Geography
Eshanee Aubeeluck
12
Ms Kemp
English Literature
Mikayla Bessent
12
Miss Hempstead
PE
Yacoub Kamareddine
12
Mrs Shales
Mathematics
Hayden Mackenzie
12
Mr Adamson
Mathematics
Harriet Smith
12
Mr Gilbert
Business Studies
Jack Taylor
12
Mrs Pignatiello
Theatre Studies
ARTWORK
For the final issue of 2015 I feature two Year 8 paintings. They are Scream Dreams, made in
response to Edvard Munch's The Scream.
Noah Harwood
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Anita Wong
SHOW-JUMPING - National Schools Equestrian Association – Regional Qualifiers at
Arena UK, Nottinghamshire Report by Georgie Dick (Year 8)
On Sunday Hollie Lewis and I represented Bourne Grammar School at
the National Schools’ Equestrian Association show-jumping
competition at Arena UK. There was some very strong competition
from a number of different schools, including Stamford High School,
KGGS and Kesteven and Sleaford High School. The day started very
early and, as classes were so large, there were long gaps between
classes. A big thank you to parental support!
Riding Cloud, I was first to go from BGS; we jumped a lovely clear
round. Hollie and Bonnie were the next to go. They also jumped a clear
round, and were very fast against the clock. We were all very excited
when the results were announced because Hollie had ridden so well –
and she was rewarded with 3rd place. This qualifies Hollie for the
Finals in April. Congratulations to Hollie and Bonnie.
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Power-Lifting Billy Osborn (Year 12) has qualified for the British Bench Championship at the
North West Power-Lifting championships in Liverpool.
Music Charlotte Rist (Year 9) has passed both her Grade 5 violin and her Grade 5 piano exams.
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SCHOOL RECEPTIONIST
Grade 4: £14,819 - £16,634 (actual salary)
We wish to appoint a full-time School Receptionist. The successful candidate will have a superb
telephone manner, the ability to communicate in a welcoming and professional manner,
excellent administration and organisational skills. The ability to multi-task is essential as is a
sense of humour.
The post will be 37 hours per week, 38 weeks per year (term-time) plus 5 training days and 1
week during the school holiday period as determined by the Director of Business and
Development.
The hours will be 08:00 to 16:00 Monday to Thursday and 08:00 to 15:30 on Friday.
For an information pack and application form, please contact:
Mrs Stella Chamberlain
Bourne Grammar School
South Road, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9JE
Tel: 01778 391648 Fax: 01778 394872
Email: [email protected]
Closing Date:
Friday 8 January 2016
Bourne Grammar School recruits from all sectors: Comprehensive, selective and independent
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all
who work here to share this commitment. The successful applicant will be subject to an enhanced DBS
disclosure and satisfactory references.
www.bourne-grammar.lincs.sch.uk
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Term 3 starts at 08:45 on Monday 4 January 2016 - WEEK 2
Very best wishes to everyone in the School Community for Christmas and the New Year
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