The Lion - Issue 75

Spring 2018

News from Bablake School

The Magic of Music!

W

hen asked by Mrs Skilton if I would organise a charity concert in aid of Harrismith School, I really couldn’t say no - quite literally - as she had already announced it to the entire school in assembly!

I quickly warmed to the idea, especially when we settled on a Disney theme. Emma Blackett and I then began the daunting task of trying to get people involved and deciding on a running order. With the concert only a couple of months away, I feared that people would be reluctant to commit; instead, the response I received from everyone I asked was incredibly enthusiastic. It was wonderful that so many pupils and teachers agreed to take part.

Finally, after a few weeks of rehearsal, the day of the performance arrived. So much planning had gone into it and I was fully expecting it to be an extremely busy and stressful

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day. However, thanks to everyone who participated, everything ran very smoothly. The highlight for me was just before the start of the concert, when seating downstairs in the Theatre quickly filled and remaining audience members had to head to the balcony. I was so glad that we had such a large audience to enjoy the show and to see how hard everyone had worked to put the show together. It was a fantastic evening full of song and dance and best of all, we raised ÂŁ1,560 for our partnership school in Harrismith.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who contributed by participating, buying tickets or making donations and I am delighted that the money is going to such a worthy cause.

Enya Bowe

News

BABLAKE SCHOOL

Young Writers at Warwick University

By Namuun Batkhishig, Zara Richards and Bryony Camwell

Back in November, a group of Fourth Year pupils visited the University of Warwick, which was playing host to six schools for a day of English and Drama oriented workshops. We were extremely fortunate to secure tickets to this popular event.

We started with a workshop centred around videogame design and narratives of successful stories, both virtual and within classical literature. This was delivered by a group of PhD students who are studying to become professional designers and writers, all of whom gave us a crash course in the popular videogame package software called ‘Twine’. Following this, our group divided into separate workshops - one exploring journalism and the other discussing classical literature of the ancient worlds.

After a break, we had a delightful talk from professional Shakespearean actor and writer, Ben Crystal, who was accompanied by his applause-loving dog! He spoke passionately about the importance of keeping Shakespeare alive and relevant. Our favourite part, however, was the insightful talk by author Patrice Lawrence (writer of ‘Orangeboy’ and ‘Indigo Donut’) who showed us how to climb the career ladder and become impactful and perceptive writers. She really opened our eyes to the little stories of everyday life, and explained how all mundane things can bloom into something truly extraordinary. We were all extremely grateful for the opportunity to build our understanding of the importance of literature in our ever-evolving world.

Let’s Vote!

Congratulations to Aaran Bhatti, on winning the recent mock election as part of our Enrichment programme.

In a bid to examine how the ‘first past the post’ system works, students were asked to prepare a concise speech to persuade fellow students to vote for them.

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Representing the Labour Party, Aaran was returned as the hypothetical Member of Parliament for the Bablake constituency.

He described the experience as ‘liberating’ and his political career may well flourish as he intends to study Politics at university.

Politics The most influential leader?

By Tess Lillicrapp Choosing the most influential leader of the past 20 years was no easy task.

The choice of three leaders who have been portrayed rather negatively in the press made the debate a battle for the ages. Between Kim Jong Un, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the most influential leader was chosen after a series of speeches by their Sixth Form representatives, with the winner being determined by votes from 20 willing audience members.

Anish Jaspal argued for Kim Jong Un, with an effective PowerPoint presentation and the use of some interesting facts about the leader’s impressive past, such as the ‘fact’ that he invented the hamburger.

Daniel McCarthy fought Vladimir Putin’s corner, arguing that he puts his country first and enjoys great popularity there. However, my choice of Donald Trump resulted in a narrow victory, due to his many inflammatory comments, his sensational tweets and his undeniable influence across the world, garnering enough votes from the audience to lead to Donald Trump being named as the most influential leader of the last 20 years!

Cyrenians Back in December, Mr Sewell presented us with his idea of arranging a sleep out in school grounds to raise money for Cyrenians, the Coventry based homeless charity.

Cyrenians provide individualised support to promote and enhance the life chances of people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and empower them to live as independently as possible. At first, being young adults who love being at home, we thought it was a challenge that we couldn’t face. “I can’t do it, I need my WIFI”, “It will be too cold for me” were some of the excuses people gave, including myself. A few people, however, were strangely keen to take on the challenge and the rest of the class finally agreed to join them. It is shocking to hear that more than 75,000 young people become homeless every year in the UK and with this in mind, the date was set - Friday 8 December. Yes, you could

call us all mad for choosing the coldest time of the year, but how better to fully appreciate what it’s like to live alone, outside in the cold?

On the evening of the Friday 8 December, nine students and two teachers set out to survive one night in temperatures of -1˚C. It was a very cold night, even lying in our sleeping bags, wrapped up in four or more layers. To try keep ourselves warm, we even played hide and seek around the school. We only spent one night outside and although I managed it, I couldn’t imagine spending my life on the streets. What struck home the most was the lack of safety homeless people must suffer. We were secure in the

school grounds, but this is a luxury people living on the streets simply do not have.

They are at the mercy of the cruel nature of some individuals who consider it fun to verbally and physically abuse them.

Spending one night outside makes you realise just how difficult it is to survive in the harshest conditions, in the thinnest of clothes. The class was happy when we collected all the sponsorship money, as we managed to raise an impressive £810.00 (cheque photo taken before total amount reached).

So, next time you see a homeless person, why not buy them a hot drink, or give them your gloves. A small act of kindness will go a long way.

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Duke of Edinburgh Award Undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh Award has, for more than two decades, been a well-loved rite of passage for Bablake pupils from Fourth Year upwards.

Completion of the award is not an easy task, and pupils require a good deal of independence, commitment and resilience. In recognition of their achievements, pupils who had recently completed their Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards were, at the beginning of February, invited to join other Coventry schools for the second annual ‘D of E Awards Presentation Evening’ at Coventry Cathedral. Pupils and their parents were able to hear from other young participants about the positive impact that the D of E has had on their lives, and all enjoyed the lively atmosphere of celebration. Many thanks to Sarah Ramsey and Coventry City Council Outdoor Education Service for organising such a successful event.

Chemistry Lecture

A group of Lower Sixth students recently attended a Chemistry lecture held at the University of Birmingham entitled ‘Chirality and its effect upon properties such as smell and drug action’, delivered by Dr Simon Cotton.

The students were educated on optical isomers and their different properties and having been given a handout with organic structures such as cholesterol and

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testosterone, were asked to do a series of activities to get them thinking about optical isomers.

Dr Simon Cotton also talked about the role of drugs in sport. It was a very well presented lecture with lots of interesting chemistry.

Languages Club Following on from the Christmas extravaganza, in which we made our own crackers and gift labels, the fun (and mess!) has continued in Languages Club, with pupils decorating their own beautiful biscuits.

Artistic skills were put to good use to create the most attractive selection of designs, but they didn’t last long, as the vast majority were eaten within minutes of completion.

Good job we managed to get a quick photo!

Senior Rotary Competition Congratulations to Fifth Formers Abinaya Muraleetharan, Dasha Sutton and Sathvika Krishnan, who all took part in the Senior Rotary Youth Speaks competition in early February at Sidney Stringer School. They spoke very eloquently about the stigmatisation of intelligence, which earned them second place in the Coventry Area final.

Peace & Reconciliation On Saturday 24 February, our new Peace and Reconciliation Ambassadors attended The Rotary Peacebuilding Conference 2018 at the Ricoh Arena.

The highlight was being able to meet 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate, Dr Shirin Ebadi. Dr Ebadi became the first female judge in Iranian history and has lived in exile in the UK since 2009 because of death threats from the Iranian government.

Despite such threats, she continues to work for human rights around the world.

Pupils Manjote Sahota, Maya Senghera, Jiska Bharaj and Daniel Baden took part in workshops and listened attentively to speakers from around the world.

The Peacebuilding Conference was a very rewarding and memorable day for all involved.

BABLAKE SCHOOL

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Excellence in Geography This term Second Year pupils have been studying the impact of plastic on the environment.

This included a ‘taste challenge’ to determine if tap water was better or worse than bottled water and if we could actually tell the difference. Pupils were then asked to write a response to the question ‘Is it time to admit that bottled water is a fad and that we should go back to the tap?’. We received many excellent examples of extended writing but the work of Niamh Cafferty was considered to be truly outstanding and a great example to other pupils of what they should be aspiring to. Niamh was subsequently awarded a Head of Department Award for Excellence in Geography.

Big Bang

This year, the Competition Final took place at the NEC in Birmingham between 13-15 March, and offered opportunities for

more young people than ever to showcase their STEM projects and recognise and reward their achievements. On the first day, 22,000 people attended the Big Bang Fair at the NEC and there were many companies such as GSK, Siemens, etc. who were there to promote STEM. One of our CREST groups was selected for the final and worked incredibly hard to produce a display to showcase the students’ work. The group consisted of Upper Sixth

students Jakevir Shoker, Daniel Smith, Lewis Coleman and Leshanth Uthayanan and their project was titled ‘Investigating RAFT and CROP Polymerisation and their applications’. Unfortunately, the group did not receive any prizes, but all finalists were awarded a medal. The group also managed a photo with TV presenter Maddie Moate and with members of The Royal Institution, which is an independent charity dedicated to connecting people with the world of science.

“ One of our CREST groups was selected for the final and worked incredibly hard

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“

The Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Competition aims to recognise and reward young people’s achievements in all areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and provide them with the opportunity to build their skills and confidence in projectbased work.

Junior Science Slime Time

Junior Science Club decided to give slime another go, but with the added excitement of putting iron filings in it to make it magnetic.

In a packed lab, pupils carefully mixed borax solution with PVA glue and then added iron filings to it. We then tested the magnetic properties of the slime using a bar magnet. Much to the delight of the pupils, the slime was indeed magnetic and was attracted to the bar magnet. Some pupils decided to use stronger neodymium magnets to great effect.

Another Junior Science Club session focused on simple experiments involving Physics. We started by asking the pupils if it was possible to stand on paper cups. The immediate reply was ‘No, they would collapse!’. So we arranged pupils in groups and gave them a plastic tray and six paper cups. They placed the paper cups on the floor and the plastic tray on top. A brave volunteer decided to step on the plastic tray and to their surprise the paper cups did not collapse! As more layers were added, pupils braved it out and learned about the relationship between pressure and surface area.

Finally, we made ‘rockets’. This involved adding vitamin C or AlkaSeltzer tablets to water in a plastic container, then quickly placing on a lid and standing well back. A gas is produced which eventually causes the top of the lid to fly high in the air accompanied by a loud pop!

Glider Competition Four teams from the Shells and Second Years have decided to enter RAF Cosford’s glider competition, in which they have to research gliders, name their team, design a logo and experiment with card to make models of gliders before building the final product.

All teams now have a name and a logo. Mr Spencer gave a detailed talk to the pupils on wing design and key features of gliders which will enable them to travel further. He used a range of exciting demonstrations to help pupils understand the physics behind gliders.

Each team has now begun to experiment with card and make models of gliders: the final glider will be made out of 5mm thick foam board.

One team will then be selected to enter the competition at RAF Cosford in April where they will test their gliders against other schools and prizes will be given for the furthest flight and best design. For the time being, pupils will continue to develop and modify their gliders and we look forward to hearing about the final gliders and the competition at RAF Cosford in the near future.

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One team will then be selected to enter the competition at RAF Cosford in April where they will test their gliders against other schools

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Mrs Sharkey also demonstrated Ferrofluid to the pupils, which is an amazing liquid that reacts to the influence of a magnetic field. Once within the magnetic field of a magnet, the previously runny liquid suddenly started to grow spikes, which was very impressive!

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Art & Music

BABLAKE SCHOOL

ABRSM Exams The Music Department hosted ABRSM examinations at the end of January, and as ever had a wide range of ages and different stages, from Prep tests to Sam Lowe’s grade 8 on the saxophone. Congratulations to Sam for gaining his final exam with Merit, and to Shell pupil Beth Akinkoye who gained her grade 3 flute exam with a Distinction.

Informal Concerts We had a very busy concert programme during the Spring term this year, with eight school concerts in the 12-week term, as well as CSV performances from our older pupils.

The department has begun a successful programme of informal twilight concerts this year; so far we have had guitar, piano and woodwind concerts and the string players will perform after the Easter break. These concerts give all our students who are learning instruments a chance to perform in a supportive environment and develop their performance skills, before playing in some of the larger school performances.

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Gamelan We were very pleased to once again host a visit from a Javanese Gamelan, a beautiful collection of Indonesian percussion instruments, which joined us in the Rehearsal Room for the two weeks before February half term. Our Second Year classes, who are studying different areas of World Music this term, enjoyed practical lessons playing the Gamelan and took some great photos for their World Music projects too.

CBSO Youth Orchestra Lower Sixth Music Scholar Anna White took part in the CBSO Youth Orchestra course during February half term; although very intensive, she thoroughly enjoyed the course, which culminated in

a wonderful concert at Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

House Music Our first House Music soloist competition was held on Wednesday 14 February and was a great new occasion for our younger musicians.

The competition was open to Shell, Second and Third Year pupils, without music scholars, so was a fine opportunity to hear solos from some musicians who haven’t had a platform before. All four Houses took part, with performers participating in piano, guitar, drums, woodwind, brass, stings and voice categories.

The final winner was Second Year pupil Lara Pennell of Bailey House, with a fine performance of Purcell’s ‘Music for a While’ on her cello. Runners up were Ben Harrison (drums – Fairfax), Erin Keeling (clarinet – Crow) and Anna Shirley (voice – Wheatley). Well done to all who took part!

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The Magic of Music!

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Cello Prize Congratulations to Second Year Music Scholar Harry Scott-Burt, who won the Junior Section of the Junior Royal Academy Cello Prize this term.This is a great achievement for a first year Academy student and Harry follows in some very exciting footsteps, as previous winners include Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the latest winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.

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BABLAKE SCHOOL

Out & About

Warwickshire Academy Trip to Barbados

By Daniel Mousley

On Thursday 15 February we departed from Gatwick Airport for our annual overseas tour, all looking forward to the weather and the cricket we would play.

In total, 12 players and three coaches travelled to Barbados. This was my second tour with the Warwickshire Academy; we enjoyed a successful trip to Sri Lanka last year.

We had four training sessions at the Wanderers Cricket Club, Franklyn Stevenson Academy and the Police Ground. We played three games during our tour at some outstanding venues: Winward, Police Ground, and the Three W’s Oval. The latter of these has held several first class cricket games.

The first of our games was played at Winward Cricket Club against Barbados U19s, which we won by one wicket with numbers 10 and 11 putting on a thirty run stand! In our second game, we played Barbados U18 Schools, which was an amalgamation of the best school players in the country. This game was hindered by the

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weather and was reduced to 27 overs per side, but as in the first game, we came out victorious, winning by 39 runs. In our third and final game against the West Indies University side, we narrowly lost with an over to spare.

On our one day off, we had a tour around the island and took in the beautiful beaches. We enjoyed a few local and traditional delicacies such as Macaroni Pie! The tour was a fantastic opportunity to represent the county alongside other elite players, to train and play in different conditions and to get a better understanding of touring as a professional sportsperson. I now look forward to the English summer and the start of the cricket season here!

Sport

BABLAKE SCHOOL

Stunning Junior Rugby Season The future of Bablake Rugby looks extremely bright!

This season the U12 and U13 teams have simply excelled, with the U12A, U12B and U13A teams each losing just one of their matches. The U13B team won five of eight played. The hard work of both the players and the coaches has ensured that the boys have made outstanding progress and greatly enjoyed the season. The U14s have also made great progress, though injuries have often left them short of key players. We should also congratulate the U15 team; their total of six wins to date represents a record season for this group. Their positivity, determination and improvement, under the expert guidance of Mr Wilson, have been simply outstanding. We look forward to building on this success next season.

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points for

Points against

Points difference

U12A

14

13

0

1

420

142

278

U12B

10

7

2

1

298

173

125

U13A

14

13

0

1

545

155

390

U13B

8

5

0

3

220

210

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Badminton The selection process for choosing the senior badminton team is always rigorous and incredibly difficult due to the vast array of talent. Credit should go to everyone who was selected, regardless of how high they were seeded in the fixture, as well as to those who just missed out on selection this time around.

Against Solihull, Team A (Jakevir and Alex) was unable to defeat the top pair, losing 16-21, 21-10, 15-21, but Team B (Shivani and Anish) was victorious, winning 21-14, 21-14 as was Team C (Sachin, Mollie and Daiwik), which

won 21-13, 21-14. Team D added another win to the collection, seeing Ellie, Ashleigh and Lucie winning 21-16, 21-7. Ultimately, this left the final score as a 7-2 victory to Bablake, ensuring the team maintained their 100% win rate.

Despite initial concerns about key players such as Bablake Singles Championship winner Ravi Bodalia and semi-finalist Rajen Parekh being unable to attend, the Bablake squad shone and looks to continue this strong performance into next term. We would like to thank Mr Kalsi and Mr Burdett for helping

to organise the fixture and Solihull for hosting; we hope this will be the start of many.

We had beaten Princethorpe before and the fixture at the David Lloyd Centre was our second match against them.

The badminton team had been carefully selected and was close to full strength.

We played lots of doubles games and beat Princethorpe 20-2, another big victory for Bablake; Ravi Bodalia, our top seed remains undefeated in all competitions.

Well done to Bablake on another splendid victory!

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Boys’ Sport BABLAKE SCHOOL

Boys’ 1st XI Hockey

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The end of the hockey season looms and our Upper Sixth 1st XI players are preparing to put on their yellow, maroon and black shirts for the final time.

2nd Year: Huge progress over the year with victories against Princethorpe and Loughborough Grammar School!

I am always incredibly grateful for the commitment and dedication of all the boys who play for our hockey teams, and especially those who have represented the school at the highest level. This year we bid farewell to a group of 1st XI players who have optimised what we expect from students who represent Bablake. Special mention should go to Julian Wreford who has captained the 1st XI for the last two seasons with great maturity, leadership and pragmatism. Returning from Rossall School after our National Plate fixture, the Upper Sixth started to reminisce about their Bablake hockey careers. Here were some of the highlights of their seven years at the Senior School:

4th Year: A run of good results placed us third in the Warwickshire League, our highest position as a team whilst at Bablake.

Shells: 30 boys at training picking up a hockey stick for the first time and our first fixture representing the school.

I wish them every success in the future and hope their enjoyment of hockey at Bablake results in a lifelong passion for the sport.

3rd Year: Victory against the girls’ team in the annual charity hockey match!

5th Year: Finishing in the last eight nationally in the U18 England Hockey Plate.

Lower 6th: The meteoric rise of Liam McSorley from the 3rd XI bench to 1st XI starter!

Upper 6th: An incredible tour to Sri Lanka in the summer.

The 1st XI remained unbeaten after four close games against local schools.

Girls’ Sport BABLAKE SCHOOL

U12 & U13 Hockey Success The U12 and U13 hockey teams have had a great end to the season, and recently demonstrated good performances and teamwork at their Warwickshire 7s tournament.

The U13s defeated King’s High and Stratford, losing only to a talented Princethorpe team. The girls finished in second place, qualifying them for the regional finals. The U12s went one better, coming first, with an excellent win against Princethorpe, to whom they had lost earlier in the season, and convincing wins against KHVIII 2-0 and Stratford 7-0; they also qualified for the regional finals.

Congratulations to both teams.

U13 Netball Congratulations must go to the girls’ netball teams at the lower end of school for their achievements this season.

Both the U12 A and B teams were winners in their Coventry Schools netball tournament. It was an exceptional performance by the teams, with them conceding just one goal during the whole tournament between them! It was an equally impressive performance from the U13 A and B teams, who also won their Coventry Schools tournament, regaining their title from last year. Well done to all who played.

The U12 hockey team has gone from strength to strength this season, and fully deserved to finish winners at their Warwickshire hockey tournament; they fought off some tough opposition from Princethorpe and King’s High, which takes them through to the Midlands zonal round after the Easter Holidays. Congratulations!

Elite Training Programme

Wasps Masterclass The U14 netballers were lucky this season to have a visit from South African Wasps player Renske Stolz. She gave them a masterclass on attacking play and encouraged effective movement on court.

The girls thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and gained a great deal from the session.We are delighted with the growing link with Wasps Netball, as it encourages not only participation, but also elitism in our players.

Our elite group of U15s were taken to Birmingham University this term to explore and understand what it takes to train like an elite athlete.

It was exciting for them to see how elite athletes are tested using world class technology in the field of sports and exercise science, and to understand not only the importance of training, but also recovery.

The head coach of strength and conditioning then led a session with the pupils, offering them a wealth of knowledge and ideas that they could take away and use for their individual training.

This half term, we are aiming to create an opportunity for pupils to receive coaching and pitch time at Birmingham University with top coaches and international players, which is very exciting for all!

Good luck to all teams competing in forthcoming tournaments.

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Headmaster’s Notes BABLAKE SCHOOL

after children, that will generally be on the basis of a day’s holiday whilst their workplaces remain open. On 12 December, when many schools were unable to open for a second day, we could open (thanks to our groundstaff), and we were able to continue with lessons whilst also creating special memories with friends through lunchtime snowballing on the main field!

As I write, it has been a tricky week weather-wise, and I have been amazed by some of the footage of Herefordshire snow drifts, the likes of which I doubt we have seen in this country for decades.

Even in Coventry, temperatures plummeted and it looked like we might have to close. However, we deferred making the decision until Friday morning, and, with Coventry main roads much emptier than normal, people’s journeys within the city were generally straightforward. Two-thirds of pupils were able to attend, as were the vast majority of staff. I am no doubt far less popular amongst the pupils than I was when we did close on 11 December!

One of my colleagues in the South actually encouraged parents to keep their children off to enjoy the snowy conditions, to make snowmen and go sledging. This would be the stuff of their best memories. And, when we closed several years ago, that’s exactly what I did with my own children – frolic in the snow. It is indeed a happy memory! At the same time, I am very mindful of the fact that most of our parents work outside the home; if they need to stay at home to look

We all want pupils to cherish many happy memories of their childhood, and these often stem from a break from routine. I doubt pupils will in years to come remember my Latin lesson last Wednesday – although they might have done if something funny or highly unusual had occurred! They actually tend to remember days out of school, on expeditions or visits, in the company of friends. Or special opportunities or competitions, epic games fixtures won against the odds, their part in a drama competition or a concert.

Shared memories and anecdotes from school days drew about a hundred of our former pupils to an evening gathering above a pub in Belgravia just before half-term. It was a very happy occasion, and I really enjoyed hearing of where a Bablake education had taken these fine people – aged between 19 and almost 90! Memories of their teachers also featured prominently, memories of those they had admired as role-models who had helped to form not only their minds, but also their souls.

Open Evening

Friday 22 June 2018 5.00pm - 8.00pm

In 2019, Bablake will celebrate its 675th anniversary and we intend to publish a revised history of the school – full, I am sure, of some very special memories!

John Watson

Bablake School Coundon Road, Coventry CV1 4AU

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024 7627 1290

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