Autumn - Dame Allans

DAME ALLAN’S SCHOOLS
2012 AUTUMN NEWS
Message from the Principal
It has been a spectacular half term at Dame Allan’s.
The new Junior School and Nursery is now open and
already there is a waiting list for some classes.
Our speaker at Speech Day, former pupil, Mrs Janice
Murray, now director of the National Army
Museum, was impressed by the Schools’ record
breaking A level results. These results led to
the Daily Telegraph recording Dame Allan’s
as the top performing girls’ school in the
north east in their A level tables.
Our sporting teams have made an
excellent start in this year’s
competitive fixtures and a
team of entrepreneurial girls
have reached the last eight in the
final of a national competition.
These are just some of the events and
achievements you can read about
elsewhere in this newsletter. It has been a
typically busy and varied term, with an abundance
of opportunities for pupils to try new activities and
skills to decide where their interests and talents lie.
It is vital that our students and staff set themselves high
targets, but it is equally important that they are encouraged
and supported to develop as thinking and caring individuals
within a wider community.
One of the things we value about our students is the fact that
they are rarely arrogant or self important. One of the many
great things I inherited from my predecessor eight and a half
years ago was a line I have shamelessly plagiarised on every
Open Day since; it says that Allanians are ‘confident but not
overbearing young people’. It is right and proper that our
students are like that; no-one should think that being at Dame
Allan’s of its own offers them advantages denied to others.
Sometimes, though, our lack of arrogance can mean that we
are a little too understated, that we make too little of our own
achievements. This year we are bucking the trend of falling
numbers in northern independent schools, bucking the trend of
falling A Level grades with our best ever results and celebrating
our fabulous new junior school, so there can be no excuse for
underplaying our strengths.
The Schools are in excellent health and we should all be proud
to be part of them.
w w w.dameallans .co .uk
Bishop blesses
new school
The Bishop of Newcastle, The Right Reverend
Martin Wharton, has visited Dame Allan’s to
bless the new Junior School and Nursery.
Bishop Martin said: "Dame Allan's
Schools have been serving the City of
Newcastle for more than twice as
long as there have been Bishops of
Newcastle and it's a privilege to be invited
to bless these wonderful and exciting new
buildings and grounds. Nurturing children in
mind, body and spirit is a God-given task - Dame
Allan's has been blessed and been a blessing to many
over three centuries, and I pray today that its work will
continue far into the future."
Record
breaking
A level results
Our A level students produced the Schools’ best ever A level
results in the summer, with 30 students achieving all A*A grades.
Over half the papers were marked A*A and 82 per cent were A* B grades. Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard, and
to staff and parents who guided, supported and encouraged them.
Bishop
blesses new
school
The Bishop was met by 10 year old Ria Barber and Charlie Newton
who presented the Bishop with the official history of the Schools.
The Bishop led a blessing service for the older children in the main Hall,
accompanied by Elliott Ward, chair of the governors, Dr Hind, Mr Edge
and the Revd Nick Darby, Schools’ chaplain.
The Bishop toured the new school and grounds, meeting the younger
boys and girls in the dedicated area for the Early Years, before chatting
with more pupils in the classrooms on the first floor and in the
distinctive, open library area. Two Reception pupils saw at close hand
the carving, 'Made in Bethlehem' on the Bishop's crook which the
Bishop had talked about during the service.
His visit concluded with a formal blessing of the School, attended by
governors, staff and invited guests.
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juniors
The Man on
the Moon lands
in Newcastle
Junior pupils were among the first to read the latest book by Newcastle
based author, Simon Bartram.
The award-winning illustrator and author ran a day of workshops introducing
the boys and girls to the latest adventures of Bob, the Man on the Moon.
They were entranced by the story of Bob, how a strange seed grew
overnight to be the first ever Moontree and the mystery of the aliens.
Smiley faces for
charity
Josh Trewhitt has raised over £300 for The Tiny Lives Fund that supports
the neonatal service at the RVI in Newcastle.
Josh chose the charity after his twin cousins were born four months
premature.
He wanted this to be entirely his own effort, choosing to raise the
money by asking family, friends and neighbours to draw a smiley face on
him in exchange for cash.
Josh presented the cheque to Matron Eve Collingwood and was given a
guided tour of the special care baby unit on Tuesday 11th September.
Josh said, “It was fun raising the money, but I did look a bit silly for a
while. The baby unit is great and I want to work there one day.”
Simon Bartram explained to the older children how he sets about creating
Bob’s world, blending his bold, colourful illustrations with the words. The
children were mesmerised by his detailed illustrations and inspired to create
their own colourful stories.
Gold for Amy
Panel puzzle
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The architect of the new school has set a puzzle for
pupils - and parents.
The multicoloured decorative rainscreen panels on
the entrance walls have a secret message.
“Rather than create an attractive but abstract pattern
of tiles I have concealed a secret message which I
hope will amuse pupils and parents alike,” explained
project architect Andrew Mills from Ian Belsham
Associates.
juniors
Dame Allan’s Junior School had one Olympic winner even before the
games began.
Amy Shanks Morgan won the ‘Science of the Olympics Poster
Competition’ run by Northumbria University’s School of Life Sciences.
Amy’s design in the years 5 - 6 category won her an Olympic goodie
bag and book vouchers, while the school won £100.
Beethoven from
memory
Sixteen year old Alastair Matthews gave a memorable piano recital literally.
He played the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in G
from memory at the Schools’ concert. He was accompanied by Mr
Dutton, on a second piano, playing the accompanying orchestra
score - with music.
Alastair has been playing the piano since he was nine and
enthusiastically admits that Beethoven is one of his favourite
composers. “I first heard the concerto when I was ten and have
wanted to play the piece for ages, but I haven’t been able to play it
until now.”
Top marks
Despite the well publicised anomalies in this year’s GCSE results,
Dame Allan’s pupils performed well, with 23 pupils securing straight
A* and A grades in their GCSEs.
Four girls achieved the astonishing results of being awarded full marks
in some subjects, not just individual modules.
Aoife Norton scored full marks in geography and chemistry GCSEs as
well as maths IGCSE, while Rachel Crowder gained full marks in art
and physics and Karol Basta scored 100 per cent in both physics and
Spanish. Holly O’Brien was awarded full marks in her GCSE Biology.
Getting to know you
The Year 7 girls left Fenham a little anxious, on 14 September, as they
headed over to Derwent Hill in the Lake District.
They returned two days later, tired but with new friends and enthusiasms,
ready to face the start of their time in the Girls’ School. The fantastic
weather on Friday and Saturday was perfect for their varied outdoor
challenges and activities. The special ‘Derwent Hill’ spirit was not
dampened by the very heavy rain on the final day, as the girls, their
teachers and Ruby Lawson, head girl, and Anna Phillips, games captain
began the journey back to Fenham.
It was the boys’ turn to head west the following weekend when 61 Year 7
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boys and four Year 13 students made the journey to Derwent Hill, enjoying
two days of wonderful weather. They were undeterred by the challenges of
canoeing and using high level ropes, with the gorge scrambling being voted
the most popular activity.
This Dame Allan’s tradition is wonderful way for the pupils to make friends
and settle in to their new community. The members of the Sixth Form who
accompany the younger pupils are outstanding role models, supporting and
encouraging them in their endeavours to help them settle in to the
community of their new School.
Ahead of the game
Team Tenacious from Dame Allan’s GIrls’ School has battled through two
challenging rounds to earn one of the eight places in the national final of
‘Ahead of the Game’, which will be held at Blackberry’s headquarters in
Slough at the end of November.
The girls, Natalie Cook,15, Rafchana Khanam, 16, Fiona Mansfield,15,
Katie Metcalf, 15, and Nanxi Wang 16, are now perfecting their business
plan to convince the judges they have a viable business. They have to
persuade them with the depth of their research and the robustness of their
financial planning, with a chilling warning from the organisers, the GSA
(Girls’ Schools Association) to treat the final “like a ‘Dragon’s Den’
experience!”
Three members of Team Tenacious are enthusiastic members of Dame
Allan’s Eco-Panel, so the plan is influenced by their green principles. The
girls devised the concept of “Bee-Green” activity centres where parents
and young children can have fun and, crucially, make a mess, while learning
about the environment and producing eco-friendly products.
The enterprising girls earned over £500 before they broke up for summer.
They held a cake and sweet stall in school, making their own cakes to
maximise the profit and designing T-shirts for sports day. Finally, showing
shrewd business acumen, they ran an activity afternoon in a local church
hall, which not only made a handsome profit, but also gave them valuable
market research into their business idea.
Classic
performances
Mark Carver (9Y), Aidan Phillips (9Z), Elspeth Cunningham and Jess
Dudley (both 9M) represented Dame Allan's in the Northumberland
and Durham Classical Association Schools Reading Competition held
in October.
In the classical literature in translation competition, competitors were
asked to perform from memory a section from Plautus' "The
Swaggering Soldier" in pairs. All the Dame Allan’s teams performed
very well, remembered all their lines and acted with gusto. Elspeth
and Jess were placed second in the competition, losing narrowly to a
pair of sixth formers. They received book tokens as prizes.
Mark and Aidan also took part in the Beginners’ Latin reading
competition. They both read extremely well, causing the judges to
recall them both for a second reading since the result was so close. In
the end, Mark was placed third and received a book token as a prize.
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Dame Allan’s
torchbearer at
sports day
Olympic torchbearer Lauren Wales led out the competitors at her
own school’s junior sports day.
Lauren had carried the Olympic torch through Loanhead in Scotland
before returning with her torch to school.
Former Dame Allan’s pupil Chris Ferry was also an Olympic torchbearer,
carrying the flame through the Leeds stage of the relay.
Choir tour
The music department marked the end of a successful year with a
tour to Northern Italy, begininning with a fantastic opportunity to
perform in Venice.
Their first concert was at the magnificent Chiesa Anastasia in Verona.
The next day they spent time touring Venice before performing in the
city’s Basilica dei Santii Giovanni e Paolo.
Their final performance in San Zeno was memorable for the delay
at the request of local hotels to allow their guests to attend. The
students received glowing praise from the local mayor for both their
performance and their behaviour.
When I grow up
The popularity of this annual competition continues to grow, providing
a way for current pupils to meet inspirational Allanians and have a
valuable insight into potential careers.
This year’s competition was no exception.
The Girls’ School winner, Georgia Lambert met Allanian and former
governor Julia Weatherall, who is a barrister in Newcastle’s Cathedral
chambers.
Stargazing
30 students spent the night at the Kielder Observatory for a breathtaking
night of stargazing. They saw shooting stars, Jupiter and four of its moons,
the Pleiades and a dying star against the clear dark sky. During the night
they took part in workshops run by Mr Sharp on supporting life on board
a spaceship and modelling the solar system. The trip was organised by
the RS department to support the students’ understanding of the
Cosmological Argument and the relationship between Science
and Religion.
The winner of the Junior Boys’ category also learned that it was
important to watch how people behave and what they say. Robbie
Hayes, Year 6, met Allanian Keith Brumpton, children’s author and
illustrator. As well as writing and illustrating series such as the Dino
FC books, Keith has also written for children’s television programmes
including MI High and 64 Zoo Lane.
The Boys’ School winner was Matthew Hutton who would like to be
a vet.
The Junior girl winner, Olivia Treanor, is also drawn to the creative
aspects of television and would like to be a make-up artist. Olivia was
lucky enough to meet Michael Birtley who has worked as a make-up
artist for the BBC on Tracey Beaker Returns, Danny’s House,
Hollyoaks, Casualty, and also on films like Billy Elliot and on adverts and
with with newsreaders and politicians.
Employability award
Staff from the construction firm Esh, the contractors for the new
Junior School, have worked with Year 11 students on their
Employability Award programe.
All Year 11’s wrote their CV, letter of application, applied for Work
Experience, researched a Job Profile on Careerscape and also
completed a Rights and Responsibilities Quiz on Moodle.
Darush Dodds from Esh Group short-listed 30 students out of 117 to
go forward for interview. He was extremely impressed with the
quality of applications and true to real life and the competitive business
world, his selections were made on the most complete and accurate
folders and top presentation. All these students were invited to
interviews with Darush, Celeste Armitage, Ian Belsham, the Junior
School architect and Mrs Whitehouse at the end of the summer term.
The 10 most employable students in Year 11 in 2012 are: Alex
Dawson, Katie Kilner, Abigail Watson, Holly O’Brien,Tom Boyle,
Daniel Hallowell, Ben Hutton, Daniel Robson, Callum Rutherford and
Will Stevens. These students performed extremely well in interview
and were really enthusiastic about their future dreams.
Best ever A levels
2012 was a record breaking year for A level results, with 30 pupils
achieving all A*A grades in what was a memorable year for
the School.
Over half the papers were marked A*A, with 82 per cent of all papers
marked as A*-B.
Youngseo Yoon achieved an outstanding five A* grades in Maths,
Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology has gone on to
Edinburgh University to study medicine.
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Three other students were also award all A* grades at A level: Martha
Averley, Gurpreet Hayer and Diljeet Gill.
Diljeet Gill achieved straight As in all his A levels Maths, Biology and
Chemistry and plans to study medicine. Martha, whose successes were in
History, English and Religious Studies, is now at the London School of
Economics studying Law. Gurpreet meanwhile is studying Dentistry in
Sheffield after being awarded A*s in Maths, Chemistry and Biology.
ixth form
Fellow student Harry Cunningham was encouraged by some spectacular
good news in the autumn when he was offered a place to read PPE at
Brasenose College, Oxford after being placed 5th out of 1,726 candidates
in the pre-assessment testing.
PPE is a hugely competitive subject and the tutors were impressed with
Harry’s outstanding performance in the Thinking Skills Assessment. No
doubt they will continue to be impressed with his undergraduate studies.
This summer’s best ever A level results from our Sixth Form students are
reflected in the broadsheet newspapers’ A level League Tables.
In the Daily Telegraph, the Girls’ School was the top performing girls
school in the north east, with 56.8 per cent of students achieving an A*
or A grade.
The Boys’ School was not far behind with 46.6 per cent achieving the top
grades, with the top student coming from the Boys’ School.
The results in the Independent newspaper were presented differently.
They used the average A level point score for each student, and took
the Sixth Form as a whole, in keeping with our diamond structure.
This time the top school in Newcastle had 960.3 points, with Dame
Allan’s in second place, with an average point score of 956.4.
League tables can only ever give a snapshot of a school’s performance
using the data they are given. The league tables published in the
broadsheet newspapers this summer use the results issued by the
exam boards in August.
The Department for Education’s Performance tables, published each
January, incorporate regraded results and appeals so provide a more
accurate record of the results.
For the last five years Dame Allan’s has been either top or second in
the A level table for Newcastle schools.
Dates for your diary
10 am Friday 14 December
10 am Friday 15 February
Schools’ Carol Service
Founder’s Day Service
St Nicholas Cathedral
St Nicholas Cathedral
1 pm Friday 14 December
6.30 pm Saturday 23 March
Allanian Society Christmas Lunch
Allanian Society Spring Dinner
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continued overleaf...
Double gold
Lizzy Mansfield has achieved an unprecedented two separate Gold CREST
awards from the British Science Association. The first is for the Engineering
Education Scheme and the second is a Nuffield Bursary which she carried
out at Newcastle University over the summer.
This is a magnificent achievement and a testament to Lizzy’s talent and
commitment to these subjects.
The CREST awards are designed to inspire and challenge young people to
explore science, technology, engineering and maths subjects. The Gold
Awards are aimed at talented students, giving them the opportunity to
undertake around 70 hours of real research.
Relais de la
mémoire
Mrs Fletcher, the new head of modern foreign languages, led a party of
sixth formers to the final meeting of Relais this year, in Poland. The
meeting took place at the end of September and work has already begun
on planning the next conference.
Dame Allan’s is the UK representative in Relais, an international
organisation established by survivors of the Second World War, including
Stephan Hessel, a joint author of the Declaration of Human Rights, and an
honorary Allanian.
Lizzy is the first person at Dame Allan’s to achieve two awards.
Royal Opera
House debut
Ellis Saul made her London debut as a choreographer at the Royal
Opera House!
She was the only person from the north to be chosen for the prestigious
Young Dance England (YDE) Young Creatives programme, after a
rigorous selection process.
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She was also chosen as one of only two choreographers to be
interviewed on stage by Wayne McGregor, as part of the introduction to
the evening, because she had been articulate and thoughtful about her
work throughout the project.
Wayne McGregor is the Resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet and a hero of Ellis.
ixth form
Work experience
A record 88 Year 11 students went out on placement in June/July and
even more took part in placements over summer. 23 Year 12 students
also went on placement in June and planned their summer to ensure
that they boost their Sixth Form Personal Profiles ready for UCAS
applications.
The placements ranged from retail to research, from medicine to
sport. These are just two of the enthusiastic reports:
“I spent a week in the Northern Institute of Cancer Research. The staff
at the institute are aligned to one of four research groups, and my
week was spent in the Paediatric Oncology group - focusing on cancer
in children.
Over my first day, I was given a crash course in genetics by Dr
Partington -the doctor I was supervised by. Nine hours and a throbbing
headache later, I had been taught about different bases and codons in
DNA, along with the amino acids they relate to. Throughout the week
I attended several talks on varying topics, from drug design to
computing, and got to meet the writers of some of the papers I had
read.”
Police hustings
“I was delighted to be offered this chance to further my journalistic skills
(At Newcastle United Press Office) and pick up some important tips
which will help my writing to develop in the future. During the week, I
worked closely with Dan King, who has responsibility for Newcastle
United’s official website (nufc.co.uk).
Head of Politics Mr Oliver has arranged for each of the candidates for the
role of Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner to come to
present their arguments to first time voters in the Sixth Form.
What topped it all for me was seeing my accreditation on a publication
that is viewed day-in day-out across the globe, by hundreds and
thousands of people, and a comment made by Dan that the Club
rarely allows work shadowing students to put their name to articles,
gave me a great sense of pride.”
He urged the students to vote: “This is a incredibly serious, important
election. Think of today as a job interview, a bit like Lord Sugar’s
Apprentice: who will you hire, who will you fire?”
Chairman Elliott Ward has welcomed three new members to Dame Allan’s
Schools’ governing body.
Deborah Cunningham is originally from Scotland, but has lived in the north east
for over 20 years. She and husband Andrew have four children - all of whom
have attended or are attending Dame Allan's. Her career was spent in Human
Resources in a wide range of organisations across the UK from the BBC to one
of the big four accountancy firms.
Michael Davison was Director of Finance at the Port of Tyne for fifteen years
and his son Jack was a pupil at Dame Allan’s. He is a non-Executive Director at
Sunderland’s City Hospital and a lay-member of Newcastle University Council.
He is also a Trustee and Hon Treasurer of Newcastle University Development
Trust.
The third new governor is Professor Ruth Plummer. Ruth is Professor of
Experimental Cancer Medicine at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research,
Newcastle University and an honorary consultant medical oncologist in
Newcastle Hospitals’ Foundation Trust. She is Director of the Sir Bobby Robson
Cancer Trials Research Centre within the Northern Centre for Cancer Care.
Her twin sons attend Dame Allan’s Sixth Form.
Elliott Ward is enthusiastic about the Schools’ future: “The undoubted talent and
experience these new governors bring will add to the existing strengths of the
governing body and ensure Dame Allan’s continues to build on its strengths of
academic rigour within a caring and supportive environment.
“They are joining the Schools at an exciting time in their 300 year history and I
am sure they will provide wise guidance and ambitious targets for the coming
years.”
First in the spotlight was the conservative candidate Phil Butler, who
confessed that the questions were searching and tough!
Obituaries
We regret to record the death of the following Allanians:
Don Walker
Don, a graduate of St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, joined the
geography department in 1946 and remained at Dame Allan’s for his entire
teaching career. He was Deputy Headmaster for seven years before his
retirement in 1978.
Don was a highly respected member of staff who helped to shape the
careers of generations of boys. Former pupil Professor J A Allan recalled:
“Don was an exceptional educator who inspired generations at Dame
Allan’s. He put in place the intellectual foundations of myself and countless
others so that we could cope with very diverse professional careers.”
Ruth Etchells
Dr Ruth Etchells was a governor of Dame Allan’s. Ruth, an eminent
theologian, had the distinction of being the first lay person and the first
woman to lead a Church of England college for ordinands - St John's
College, Durham. In 2010 she was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal
of Durham University for her outstanding contribution to the life of
the university.
Ernest Wright
Ernest Wright OA, received the the first George Medal to be awarded by
Queen Elizabeth II for his leadership under fire in Kenya while an officer in
the Kenya Police. The citation read: “Wright commanded his men with
gallantry of the highest order...courting extreme danger in order to rescue
a section which had been cut off and surrounded.” The obituary in The
Times recorded: “His son Thomas inherited the hat Wright was wearing
during the action: it has a neat bullet hole through its crown.”
Emma Jeffrey née Shaw
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The kitchen in the refurbished hall at St Mary's church in
Longframlington has been named after Emma, to recognise her
contributions as a fundraiser and baker for the church. An official
service and blessing for 'Emma's Kitchen' was held in September.
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port
Squad Girls athletics
selections
• James Orritt has begun training
with the North England Rugby
Academy.
• Katie Bohill and Olivia Bohill
have been selected for the
Northumberland County
netball squad.
• Helen Matthews and Katie
Jones are in the Tyne and Wear
County netball squad.
Dame Allan’s has five City Athletics champions who also qualified for
the county championships:
Keisha Oborka-Letman
Sophie Johnstone
Abbie Saul
Suzie Barwise-Munro
Charlotte Cooper
Shot
200m
100m
1500m
Discus
In all, eleven girls were selected for the county championships. Keisha
went on to take the county title and was selected to represent
Northumberland at the National Schools Athletics Final.
Rugby
Boys athletics
Six boys emerged as city champions:
James Murray
Intermediate long jump
Miles McGrady
Junior hurdles
Nathan Linsley
Junior 400m
Jack Netts
yr7 200m
Edward Gilchrist
yr7 300m
Harry Fitton
yr7 discus
The First XV made a good start to the season beating Newcastle School for
Boys 88 - 0 and Austin Friars 43 - 29. Jirka Lacina was man of the match for
the first game, with Frantisek Vohanka taking the award in the second.
Cross country
Five girls were chosen to represent Northumberland with three –
Florence McPate, Helen Warburton and Suzie Barwise-Munro – going on
to qualify to run in the national schools’ championship.
Cricket
The cricket season was badly affected by the weather this summer, but the
under 15s did manage to win through to the Tyneside cup finals day,
although they had to wait until this term to play their final match.
Netball
The Under 14 squad has qualified for the regional round of the National
Schools Netball competition after the County tournament held in October.
And finally...
Mr Hopper and Mrs McPhillips won the staff doubles tennis
competition. Strangely no photo was available.
Sarah Keith, below left, met her fencing hero Valentina Vezzali when
she was a GamesMaker at the 2012 Olympics, working in the fencing
warm up area at the ExCeL arena. Vezzali, who carried the Italian flag
at the opening ceremony, is the Italian equivalent of Sir Steve Redgrave,
winning her sixth Olympic gold medal in London.