The Lion - Issue 64

theLion www.bablake.com

News and views from Bablake School

Issue 64 | Summer 2014

Bablake celebrates “Bablake School fully meets its aims of developing character, intellect and physical well-being within a happy, scholarly and caring community.”

Headmasters John Watson and Neil Price with School Captains

Bablake has been celebrating the Independent School Inspectors’ recent exceptional report on the School.

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ablake School ‘fully meets its aims of developing character, intellect and physical well-being within a happy, scholarly and caring community’, according to a report published by independent school inspectors.

They judge that ‘the school has made significant progress since the previous inspection, underpinned by a culture of

self-reflection and the desire for continuous improvement, and that pupils are very well educated in accordance with the school’s ambitious aims.’ They recognise that ‘pupils’ excellent achievement and learning are supported by a wide-ranging curriculum and excellent pastoral care’; that ‘the extensive range of extra-curricular activities is a key factor in the development of pupils’

outstanding personal qualities’; and that ‘the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent’, as are systems in place to ensure the pupils’ safeguarding, welfare, health and safety.

Headmaster, Mr John Watson, wrote in his letter to parents: “As a team inspector, I have been involved in the inspection of seven other highly successful independent schools, and I am delighted to say that none of them has received a report with such positive outcomes as our own! It is especially difficult to achieve an overall ‘excellent’ grade for teaching, so we are particularly proud of this judgement in Bablake’s case.” He also commented on inspectors’ references to the excellent rapport between teachers and pupils, the extreme pride that pupils have in their school, and the extremely high levels of parental satisfaction.

He paid tribute to pupils, staff, governors and parents, and said that the inspection would be a spring-board for further improvement, as the school aimed to give its young people the best possible start in life.

The full inspection report is available on the school website (www.bablake.com)

In this issue: Artsmark Gold Success 2 Literally fantastic! 3 Of Christmas crackers and axolotls! 4 The monk and the bishop 5 The Bablake-Harrismith Partnership 6 News update 7 Getting all physicool 8 House Photography 2014 10 Classical moments 11 Into the Crucible for Bablake 12 Creative shorts 13 Sport 14

Bablake News

Enrichment speakers

Mrs Scott-Burt celebrates with pupils

Artsmark Gold success We are thrilled to announce that Bablake has been awarded Artsmark Gold for the first time!

Artsmark is Arts Council England’s flagship programme to enable schools to evaluate, strengthen and celebrate their arts and cultural provision and in the latest round, we are proud to say we have been recognised as an outstanding school for our commitment to music, art, drama and dance. Only around 15% of schools nationally gain this recognition from the Arts Council, and we are excited to be recognised as one of those schools, with the top level Gold award.

To achieve Artsmark, we had to undergo a rigorous application process, followed by a validation visit from a professional arts consultant. We were assessed on many areas of our provision including arts in the curriculum, extra-curricular arts activities, how we work with artists and arts organisations and how our arts provision impacts on staff development and the wider community. Mrs Cathy Scott-Burt, who put together the application for the Artsmark said, “We hope parents and pupils will share our pride in being nationally recognised for our arts and cultural provision. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff and pupils who helped me with the application process, and who give so freely of their time and talent in order to build the wonderful provision we offer here at Bablake in our arts subjects and activities.”

To round off a busy year of Enrichment activities for the Upper Sixth, we were immensely privileged to host visits from Olympian David Moorcroft and Laura Bates, founder of The Everyday Sexism Project.

David Moorcroft, known to many for his world record-breaking and medal-winning exploits on the track in the 1970s and 80s, then for his athletics punditry on BBC TV, was a fascinating speaker; pupils were treated to the story of his breaking the 5,000m world record, as well as his coming second to last in an Olympic race; his talk referred to a number of his great achievements, but mostly centred on his motivation, values and the determination that is required to succeed.

David mentioned many famous names in sport, past and present, and impressed our pupils with his close relationships with many whom we only read about in headlines, examples mentioned to support his belief that the values we hold define us. His reflections on important turning points in life, and the pivotal point in our Upper Sixth pupils’ lives - as many of them begin university this autumn - were also thought-provoking and inspiring for many.

Laura Bates, who, since visiting us last year, has been nominated by CNN as one of the world's Top 10 Visionary women, been placed on a Female Power List by The Times and named the Ultimate New Feminist of 2013 by Cosmopolitan magazine, was an inspiring and challenging speaker, who really got to the heart of how gender imbalance can impact on everyone’s lives. Reflecting on her day at Bablake, Laura said: “It was a pleasure to have the chance to speak to pupils at Bablake about Everyday Sexism again and the impact gender imbalance can have on all of us. Speaking to the younger classes about career aspirations and ways to overcome stereotypes and restrictions was particularly fascinating and I hope the pupils will take away some new ideas about the world and their own potential!” School Captain Jess Betts said: “The talk completely changed our view on feminism. Laura definitely made us think twice about what is posted online and what we might be exposed to at university. Just because ‘everyday sexism’ is considered ‘normal’ doesn't mean that it's something that we should’t stand up against.”

Rotary Youth speaks Congratulations to Megan Rose (2M), Mehreen Kazmi (2M) and Maryam Kazmi (Shell C), who successfully competed in the Rotary Youth Speaks competition, qualifying for the District final. Whilst they didn’t make it through to the final round, they spoke eloquently and with conviction about their chosen topic - ‘He who follows fashion is its slave’.

Megan, Mehreen and Maryam with their certificates © www.lens-art-ltd.co.uk

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Bablake News

Literally fantastic!

The last few months have seen some exciting developments in the Library.

Earlier this year we acquired 25 Kindles, thanks to the generosity of the Parents’ Association. They are initially being made available to Book Club members. Our very first Kindle was issued to Senior Book Club member Annie Honess by Sixth Form Pupil Librarian Lisha Parekh.

Our Library Book Clubs continue to go from strength to strength. The Junior Book Club, run by Sixth Form Pupil Librarians Kalika Puri and Kathryn Jones, meets every two weeks and has a core of members drawn from the Shells. Senior Book Club meets twice termly and is made up of pupils from the Fifth Form. At the end of the Spring Term, both clubs celebrated with book quizzes and chocolate!

In April, we ran our annual ‘Design a Bookmark’ competition. The three winners, all in the Shells, impressed the judges with their creative writing and artwork. Fiona Chung’s winning design included the following words of wisdom: “Books are the key to the door of imagination only you can unlock”.

In second and third place were Angel Ma and Kelly Turnbull respectively.

Congratulations to all who entered.

Connor Putnam, also a Sixth Form Pupil Librarian, has designed a fabulous new website for the Library at www.bablakeschoollibrary.co.uk. We are grateful to Connor for his time and technical expertise! The website is updated regularly to show our latest news. It also includes: reading lists; Book Club session details; Power Readers and general Library information. Take a peek!

In May, Kalika Puri rallied friend Kathryn Jones and fellow pupils Ellie Griffin and Ruth Jones in support of a social media campaign (#WeNeedDiverseBooks) to support and promote more diversity in children’s literature. They designed their own posters to raise awareness of this worthy cause, which are now displayed in the Library.

The School Librarians, Mrs Needham and myself, are very grateful to the large team of dedicated and enthusiastic Pupil Librarians. They provide invaluable support to the smooth running of the Library and it wouldn’t be the vibrant and stimulating place it is without them!

Mrs Lucy Ryan

Engineering pupils impress and achieve

The Lower Sixth EES team

Making Maths fun!

Fiona Chung with her winning design

“Books are the key to the door of imagination only you can unlock.”

The Engineering Education Scheme came to a successful climax recently when this year’s team exhibited its work at the Midlands Celebration and Assessment day in Solihull.

The team, comprising Lower Sixth pupils Jonathan Porter, Sivarjuen Ravichandran, Jake Dolphin and Jake O’Sullivan, had been working on its project since October under the guidance of their link engineers from civil engineering company Arup.

The team tackled the problem of designing the Southern Connection Viaduct section of the Tuen Mun – Chek Lap Kok Link that will connect the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities and North Lantau, a real life problem in which Arup is involved.

The assessors were impressed with their novel solutions for improving sustainability and making use of local resources in their chosen solution. The team was also successful in being awarded Gold CREST awards.

“This year, a group of Sixth Form pupils has spent time at Bablake Junior School helping Year 3 and Year 4 pupils. This took the form of twice-weekly sessions before school focussing on enjoyable Maths games with the aim of improving overall Maths skills.

Throughout the year, both the younger pupils and the Sixth Formers have really enjoyed these sessions, with the Junior School pupils trying to beat each other’s best scores. This element of competition has led to great improvement in times tables skills, with one pupil commenting: “I like making patterns with the numbers that I didn’t see before”.

When the time came to say goodbye, everyone was disappointed that these fun sessions had to come to an end and the Junior pupils gave hand-made thank you cards to the Sixth Form. In return, there was the promise that the Lower Sixth would return next year to continue the Maths fun!”

George Esworthy and Amy Kuner

Bablake School

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Bablake News

“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.” Flora Lewis

Third Years show their German Christmas treats

Of Christmas crackers and axolotls!

by Miss Johanna Raue

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eing a foreign language assistant at Bablake has given me the wonderful and inspiring opportunity to experience my own language in another country. I have learned what makes German difficult but also what makes it enjoyable for pupils. Language isn’t just about grammar, vocabulary (“Miss, what is ‘dog poo’ in German?”) and pronunciation (“Miss, why do you sound so angry when you speak German?”); it is about culture and it is about understanding people.

So when the UK-German-Connection, an organisation funded both by the British council and the German government, admitted me into their FLA-Ambassador programme, I was very happy to accept.

Within the programme, there are pairs of German FLAs working in England and English ELAs (English language assistants) working in Germany who carry out projects to enhance cultural exchange and fuel pupils’ interest in the respective cultures. With the support of my wonderful mentor, Helen Billings, I enthusiastically started planning the exchange project.

My ELA project partner, Oliver Cross (a Warwick University student when he’s not busy teaching German students English), and I decided to start with a Christmas parcel exchange in order to make pupils familiar with festive traditions in each country. One of our Third Year German groups collected typical British Christmas items such as crackers, mince pies, Christmas puddings, a stocking and much more

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and soon our two parcels were on their way to the Friedrich-DessauerGymansium, a grammar school in Aschaffenburg in Bavaria. Two weeks later we opened the parcel that the German group had sent and spent a wonderful lesson eating biscuits and gingerbread, reading Christmas cards and getting into German Christmas mood.

After the holidays we wanted to continue our cultural exchange and planned a video exchange about schools and school life. In small groups, we filmed different parts of the school and explained what happens in each area, mostly in German! The pupils did a fantastic job in presenting the school and when we received the German video just after Easter, we watched the German pupils present their school; they took us on a trip around their classrooms and canteen and introduced us to the school pets (two axolotls!).

The exchange has been good fun and we have all learned something new. Not only can everybody in the group say “Hauswirtschaftsabteilung” (HE department) in perfect German, but they have also seen a real German school from the inside. My project partner and I are eager to keep the link between our two schools going by establishing a letter exchange in the future. Oliver will visit Bablake next year and I will visit the school in Aschaffenburg to strengthen the contact between the schools. We hope that this will help everybody to learn more about the other country, and also more about our own culture.

Bablake News

Ready, Steady Cook!

A superb standard has been set by the Shells in this year’s House competition. Their task sounded simple – “produce an interesting salad which supports the 5 a day campaign” – but we had an amazing selection of ideas, from a salad designed to represent the European Flag, to a flower-shaped dish with a wonderful dressing, and the winning recipe of herbed, home-reared chicken salad. The winners were Georgia White and Kelly Turnbull of Crow House and this is their recipe if you should want to have a go!

The Right Reverend Dr Christopher Cocksworth with Fourth Year pupils

The monk and the bishop Towards the end of last term, the R.S. department had the privilege of being visited by two very interesting men of faith: the Venerable Manapo and the Right Reverend Dr. Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop of Coventry, writes Dr Toby Smith.

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he Venerable Manapo is a Buddhist monk in the Thai Forest tradition.

He lives in a hermitage (a small monastery) in Sherbourne, near Stratford. His is a life of renunciation: he only eats one meal per day, has very few possessions, does not handle money, and is celibate. He was visiting a Fourth Year GCSE class who are studying Buddhism. He began by explaining to the class how and why he became a monk. He made this enormous decision aged 19 and has now been a monk for over thirteen years. He also told us about the 18 months he recently spent in the forests of Thailand, where he was once greeted by a four foot long cobra outside his hut at the end of one of his meditation sessions! He then took questions from a very curious class concerning the kind of life he leads.

This involved him explaining basic Buddhist teachings on the relationship between craving and suffering. He then led the class in a five minute session of the ‘mindfulness of breathing’ meditation, to which they responded well. All in all, it was a very interesting visit which gave the pupils an insight into a life vastly removed from their own.

Later in the month of April, we were visited by Bishop Christopher Cocksworth and his assistant, Amy Taylor. The Bishop engaged Sixth Formers in discussions of religious experiences and what they tell us about God, and the problem of evil. His responses to questions were extremely honest and erudite, and gave students a sense that these questions are of ultimate concern to human beings, and not just hoops which the exam board is asking them to jump through! The Bishop also spoke to a Fourth Year class on issues surrounding the sanctity of life, a Second Year class about life as a Bishop, and had lunch with the Christian Union and Mr Mellers.

In Religious Studies we – rather obviously – study religion! The danger with treating religion purely as something to be studied in the classroom, however, is that you can lose sight of the fact that, first and foremost, it is something to be lived. Both of our recent visitors gave our pupils a strong sense of this, demonstrating through their words and through their kind and gentle demeanours what a Buddhist and Christian life might look like. We are grateful to them for giving up their time – entirely voluntarily – to do this, and hope that they might visit us again.

Herbed Chicken Salad à la Crow Ingredients 2 Organic chicken breasts 1 Small bunch of herbs 1 Tomato cut into a flower 4 Lettuce leaves 1 Tomato Dressing 2 tablespoons of Mayonnaise 1 tablespoon of honey 2 teaspoons of Dijon Mustard Method 1. Wash your hands 2. Make dressing 3. Get your chicken breast and hit with a mallet to create a smooth, flat surface.

4. Get some herbs and de-stem them (we used lavender, parsley and thyme). Add some oil and blend with blender or a pestle and mortar.

5. After blending the herbs, place them on a plate and rub both sides of your chicken in the herb mixture (try to get the same amount on both sides).

6. Cut the herby chicken into small slices.

7. Place the chicken in a frying a pan with some oil.

8. Fry for about 3 minutes then turn the chicken.

When the meat inside is white with no pink you can then take it out of the frying pan and place on top of salad and drizzle on dressing.

Ready, Steady, Eat ... Mr Burns judges the salads Bablake School

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Charity News

The Bablake Rainbow Zithobile Mphuthi

The Bablake-Harrismith Partnership We are delighted to announce that over £4000 has been raised this year to fund our partnership with Harrismith School, thanks to the generosity of Bablake staff, pupils and parents.

The two most recent fund-raising activities were a highly successful quiz night organised by Miss Ormsby, which raised over £500, and our ‘Rainbow Nation’ non-uniform day, which raised £700. The inspiration for this event came from the words of Nelson Mandela after he first took office as President of South Africa in 1994: “Each of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.”

To form our own rainbow, each year group dressed in one of the colours of the rainbow, starting with the Shells in red and ending with the Upper Sixth in indigo. The whole school converged on the school field at lunchtime to form a human rainbow, ably directed by Mr Nicholson on the ground and Mrs Skilton from the tower. As you can see from the photograph, the results were highly impressive!

We are delighted that the money raised has allowed us to invite two teachers and two pupil ambassadors from Harrismith to visit us for two weeks next academic year. They will arrive on 3rd October 2014, just in time to attend our Open Morning on Saturday 4th October, which we hope will provide an exciting and informative introduction to Bablake.

In anticipation of the visit, each of our visitors tells us a little bit about themselves: “I am Zithobile Mphuthi. I am an English Teacher at Harrismith Secondary School. I am also a Netball Coach and train girls in the Drum Majorettes. I enjoy working with pupils especially in debates. I assist the school in counselling the pupils.”

McDonald Khanye

Sifezile Mbatha

“My name is McDonald Khanye. I am a Geography and Life Orientation Teacher at Harrismith Secondary School. I help the pupils with Career Guidance and I also coach athletics. I serve as a Provincial Membership Secretary for the South African Association of Science and Technology Educators (SAASTE).”

“I am Sifezile Mbatha and I will be 17 in August. I am in Grade 11 at Harrismith Secondary School. I am doing the following subjects: Life Sciences, Mathematics, Physical Science, Geography, English, Isizulu and Life Orientation. I am a soccer player and basketball player. I like hip hop, socialising and sharing ideas.”

“Sanibonani! I am Busi Amanda Nkomo. I am a 17 year old South African teenager. Currently I am in Grade 11 studying the following subjects: History, Geography, Isizulu, English, Life Sciences, Life Orientation and Mathematical Literacy. I enjoy talking, debating and presenting my written speeches.

I like socializing. My hobbies are listening to music, watching television, reading short stories and playing ladies soccer. I am also a member of the Arts and Cultural Production which focuses on Poetry, Drama, Music and Dance.”

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Busi Amanda Nkomo

Bablake News

Shorts

www.bablake.com/newsroom

Choir for hire!

On a typical April day of sunshine and showers, two former Bablake pupils got married in Kenilworth. Ross and Kayleigh first noticed each other in the Second Year, and the importance of the school to them and to their relationship - both with each other and with many of their friends was reflected at the wedding.

Kayleigh walked down the aisle to a faultless performance of Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major played by Helena and Rachel Worthington and Ben Powell (violins) accompanied by Aron Sood on the piano. During the signing of the register, members of the Bablake Chorale, under the direction of choirmaster Bradley Gill, performed two anthems: The Lord Bless You and Keep You and Be Still for the Presence of the Lord.

It was lovely to be a part of Ross and Kayleigh’s special day; like many former pupils, they have kept in touch with Bablake over the years and it was good to renew relationships with former pupils and parents on such a happy day.

Mrs O’Neill, Mrs Scott-Burt and Miss Simmons

Outreach 2014

5C at the Ball

Crystal Ball Our Fifth Year ended the spring term in fine style with its traditional Crystal Ball. Arriving in a tremendous array of vehicles - and this year, the range was more inventive than ever- our elegantly dressed pupils thoroughly enjoyed the chance to relax after two terms of very intense GCSE preparation.

The Crystal Ball was excellently organised by our Sixth Form Senior Prefects, in conjunction with Mrs Alison Tumber and Mrs Sue Smith.

This year, several staff have been taking part in Outreach teaching in primary schools in and around Coventry. Our Outreach Coordinator, Mrs Cathy Scott-Burt, has been teaching some topic-related music lessons to Year 5 classes, and has been joined by Mrs Maria O'Neill (Head of Spanish) and Miss Jayne Simmons (Physics) to present Year 5 workshops in various schools around the city. The most recent music sessions have been preparing classes for an exciting day of music theatre, to be held in the EDM on Friday 13th June. Mrs Scott-Burt commented: “I really enjoy teaching younger children and this has been a great opportunity for Bablake to reach into our local community, share some skills with other teachers and see some of the great work going on in our feeder primary schools at first hand. It is very rewarding, as we have received very positive feedback from the schools we visit.”

Upper Sixth Beach Party!

Flight Simulator Club

The official opening of Number 57

Number 57 The new Coventry School Foundation school shop is now officially open for business in Barker Butts Lane, Coundon. On the eve of the first day of trading, Mrs Helen Zgraja and Mr Andy Blair, who have set up the shop, spoke proudly about the new business to a gathering of representatives from all the schools in the Coventry School Foundation and its governing body.

The opening hours for Number 57 are 9am - 5pm (Monday to Friday) and 10am - 2pm (Saturday). It is closed on Sundays and Bank Holidays. For further information, please telephone 024 7659 7876.

We wish Number 57 all the best for the future and look forward to an excellent partnership.

Flight Simulator Club was set up in 2010 as part of a Third Year Geography-related immersive experience to explore the Nepalese mountains. It began on a single computer and has since grown significantly in terms of both members and numbers of licences.

We currently have 12 computers running in Flight Simulator Club and have licences for 10 more. The club is run by Richard Coton (L6SCRT), who has enjoyed producing material in the form of booklets and certificates, basing his structure on the already built-in mission system. Although the club is primarily for Shells and Second Years, it has received interest from every year group and even teachers! Formerly, it formed the basis of RAF training in the CCF and is still as functional now as it was then.

The club always welcomes new people wanting to learn the art of aircraft control, which requires a steady hand, patience, determination to succeed and skill. Come along if you’d like a challenge, and if you’re good, you may even have the opportunity to take it over in a year’s time!

Richard Coton

Our 2014 Upper Sixth leavers marked the end of their timetabled career at Bablake with a fun-filled Beach Party on the field complete with waterslide, ‘beach’ volley ball and ice cream van.

Aaran Patel (U6HS) commented: “It was the perfect way to end my brilliant seven year school career at Bablake, years that have flown by! I could never have hoped to have learned from a better, more encouraging group of teachers or to have been in a year group with more fun, lively and supportive people. I will always treasure Bablake; the friendships I have made and the memories created will remain with me for the rest of my life.”

The Upper Sixth bid farewell Bablake School

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Out and About

Taking it to The City

Members of the Upper Sixth in Geneva

Getting all physicool!

Kate French describes the recent Bablake physics trip to Switzerland to visit CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Having booked plane tickets and accommodation and finally receiving Harry Gao’s visa, we were ready to go! Our trip began with a great view of the snowy Alps and we soon found ourselves in Geneva. The city is crammed with different attractions such as the UN, the broken chair and the flower clock, all within walking distance or a short (free) tram ride away using the brilliant Geneva transport cards. Unfortunately, the UN was closed to the public but we managed to squeeze in a trip to Musée Ariana, a very interesting museum of ceramic and glass artwork.

On the way back, admiring the Jet d'Eau and being a geeky group of physicists, we calculated the velocity of the water needed to propel it 140m into the air. So cool!

The last day of the trip was what we had

all been waiting for. We arrived at CERN to be taken on a tour by a resident physicist working on ATLAS (a particle accelerator and detector).

We were all amazed at the remarkable equipment which is used all around CERN and were lucky enough to meet up with Becky Lane (an Oxford Physicist and former Bablake pupil), who was able to show us the ginormous room filled with a massive data storage system, where all data from experiments is stored.

Becky is currently working on CMS, a particle detector designed to see a wide range of particles and phenomena produced in highenergy collisions in the Large Hadron Collider.

We were delighted to find ourselves in the cafeteria on a table next to Maria and Giuseppe Fidecaro, two of the first scientists to work at CERN.

“We set off for London with our first train journey of twelve in two days and began our visits amazed and slightly confused by the handgestures of the traders of the London Metal Exchange, buying and selling millions of pounds worth of metal.

The Bank of England was our next stop, reinforcing and building on much of the Economics we’ve learnt in school, giving the Lower Sixth a greater taste of what is in store for them next year. The private talk was interesting as it explained the Bank’s main functions in securing financial and monetary security for the UK. We couldn’t quite believe that just a few metres below us were hundreds of gold bars worth nearly £200billion!

The Alternative Street Art and Economic History tour was a real hit. It was fascinating to learn about the history of the East End and its development from the slum it once was to the thriving melting pot of today.

That evening we enjoyed a meal out, a rotation in the London Eye, and hilarious group dodgems at the Namco Arcade. The day finished with a midnight feast of six large Domino pizzas!

The following day, we headed to Canary Wharf to marvel at the suited and booted highflyers and the impressive skyscrapers of London’s financial district. The tour around the surprisingly large London Docklands Museum showed us how the area had started as the West India Companies docks and developed into a centre for banks and professional service firms. We then ventured to Stratford, where we marvelled at the enormity of the Olympic Park and watched a group of people in armbands learning how to swim in the Aquatic Centre.

The sunny weather added to the fantastic atmosphere as we finished our trip with a bit of retail therapy at Westfield.

The trip brought to life the Economics and Business Studies that we learn in school, and also served as a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days with a great group of people!”

Jess Betts

Nottingham get-together Following the successful get-togethers with former Bablake pupils in Oxford and Birmingham, Mr Watson and Mrs Tumber recently headed off to Nottingham to see how First Year students were faring and to treat them to a meal at Zizzi’s. It was a very enjoyable evening reminiscing about Bablake and discussing all that had been achieved in their First Year, academically and socially.

It was a privilege for Mrs Tumber and Mr Watson to spend time with these articulate, engaging, intelligent and humorous young people, knowing that Bablake had, and continues to have, an important part to play in their lives.

In Nottingham with former pupils

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Out and About

Spectacular Snowdonia “Our first stop was the town of Llanrwst so that we could learn about the flood defences in and around the town. Llanrwst, near Bewts-ycoed, is rather unfortunate in that it seems to flood more and more frequently every decade.

The source of the problem is the Afon Conwy River, and as a result of the frequent flooding, the Environment Agency has finally stepped in. Since the flood alleviation scheme was implemented and the storm water overflow culvert put in, the millions of pounds spent on defences seem to have been justified.

The Rhyd-y-creuau Field Studies Centre in Bewts-y-coed is an Eco-centre and once we had been shown how things worked, we soon settled in and were pleased that the canteen was good!

On the first day, we headed for the Llanberis Valley for fieldwork studies on the Afon Nant Peris, but it was very wet and incredibly muddy and a few of us trod in sinkholes, which was hilarious for all but the poor victims! The second day was much better in terms of weather and we enjoyed a nice sunny day admiring the stunning glaciated landscape of Snowdonia National Park. We walked into Cwm Idwal, over perilous ledges, uneven rocky footpaths and a waterfall, then climbed halfway up the backwall to enjoy breath-taking views across the Ogwen and Nant Ffrancon valleys, even spotting a couple of RAF Hawk jets thundering down the valley below us. The views were spectacular and well worth the effort we had made to get there.

Finally, after a hearty breakfast on the third day, we packed up and headed home.”

Richard Coton

D of E in the Peak District “An eager group of Fifth Formers gathered on a gloomy morning during the Easter holidays for the D of E silver practice expedition.

As the coach travelled further north, the weather deteriorated and it was clear that our intrepid explorers were in for some foul weather and tricky navigational conditions. Arriving in Hathersage, we were greeted by staff who gathered the groups for briefings and distribution of maps and routes. As we check-pointed them throughout the day, pupils were eager to know their position against other groups, how far to the finish, who was at their “Glacier skiing was required this year with Easter being so late; therefore, Les campsite and if there were showers!

Deux Alpes seemed like an obvious choice. After a short flight to Grenoble and a Groups arrived in a steady stream at the campsites, coach transfer to the resort, 21 pupils and 3 members of staff arrived at Hôtel le pitching tents and helping the later groups with theirs. After a day Pied Moutet, ready for an exciting week on the slopes. coping with the Peaks weather, morale was still high and groups Snow was plentiful and the sun shone throughout the week with settled down for their evening meal, sharing stories of temperatures reaching 25 degrees most days. Pupils benefitted from 5 hours’ their adventures. The next two days saw more favourable weather tuition each day with the excellent ESF instructors. Sammy and Prabhjote conditions and groups were able to enjoy the views and the enjoyed an unplanned après-ski activity - a helicopter ride off the mountain landscape of the Peaks. after taking a tumble (fortunately no damage done!). Despite some weary bodies, The pupils behaved impeccably throughout the three days we enjoyed evening activities of swimming, ice-skating, bowling and exploring and, apart from the odd navigational hiccup, impressed the staff the very picturesque town. As well as improving their skiing, many pupils with their skills. Meeting back at Hathersage to await the coach, worked hard on their cue skills, fully utilising the pool table at the hotel. Look pupils bathed in the sunshine dreaming of a hot shower and soft out for John Warren at the Snooker World Championships in the near future! bed at home.

The week drew to an end with Miss Ormsby on first name terms with the And the staff? A well-deserved coffee and cake was the insurance company, and the lost property office at the resort filled to capacity. order of the day, with a few opting for a chip butty to celebrate We enjoyed a fantastic week in Les Deux Alpes and boarded the plane back to a successful practice expedition. We look forward to the next Gatwick looking forward to the next snowy adventure!” expedition in July.”

On the slippery slope

Mr Andrew Phillips

Mr Peter Nicholson Bablake School

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Bablake Arts

In this year’s competition, each House presented two photographs in each category to the judges (Mrs Alison Tumber & Mrs Tracy Mair) and the overall result was: Wheatley first, Bayley second and Crow/Fairfax joint third. here are some of the entries that impressed the judges.

“We would like to congratulate all the participants; there is great potential here and all of you should carry on taking photographs and enjoying this great hobby. In our opinion the best image of the competition was the kitten in the nature category, but we were very impressed with all the entrants and hope that you will continue to capture images of the world around you and enter the many photographic competitions that are out there, especially for the under 16s.” Judges’ comment

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The Lion Summer 2014

Bablake Arts

Classical moments “My wife brutally stabbed me and my mistress.” So says a rather glum Agamemnon (played by James Lawrenson) in Marriage Counselling, an amusing one-act drama by Laura Weaver (left Bablake 2012). This was one of the highlights of the recent Classics Evening, at which writers and actors across the age range celebrated classical heritage and entertained an enthusiastic audience. The rocky relationships of Zeus (Aron Sood) and Hera (Kirat Johal), and Hades (Alex Murray) and Persephone (Beth Carter) were given a helping hand by marriage counsellor Elle Shaw, though she had less success with Jason (Charles Taylor) and Medea (Simran Vim).

Many items were written by the pupils themselves, such as How to Make a Roman Sacrifice, which was written by Kirat Johal and featured Troy Gahrs and Alesha Robinson explaining the basics to Athenians Joel White and Ruth Jones.

The theme of family and relationships continued with two extracts from Antigone, directed by Ms Caroline Farmer, in which Haimon (Alex Murray) remonstrated with his father Creon (Rory Dulku), and messenger Sam Griffiths gave us the “no-holds-barred” version of what happened to the unfortunate Haimon at his own hand. Alongside this we were glad to have the delightful light relief of Mr Stuart Norman’s Years 5 and 6 pupils introducing themselves in Latin.

In a dramatic edition of Wife Swap, Spartan woman Baht-Ammi Francis changed places with Athenian housewife Kathryn Jones with disturbing and violent consequences, as Spartan warrior Oliver Murdy took exception to Athenian playwright Ovraj Sidhu and his outrageously democratic voting proposal.

The night’s curiosity item consisted of a song encompassing Roman history highlights (sung by Katie Carlson) as part of a Classics lesson taught by Kalika Puri in which Lawson Moore and Rory Kenney-Herbert (in a semi-reprise from their role two years ago) appeared trapped (in the same costume) as Head and Deputy Head.

This scene was written by Kalika herself, and benefitted greatly from the performances of Deepra Sinha, Ria Patel, Lucy Linley and Eleanor Faulkner as the pupils.

In the grand finale, the show was stolen by a 7 ft. tall wooden rabbit, expertly constructed by the DT department. Odysseus (Jake Morton) was conned by super-slick salesman Raajan Nagra and took delivery of a flatpack Trojan bunny, which he decided to use anyway in his one man personal assault on the city. Jake deserves congratulations for his lively and entertaining script.

A group of Third Year pupils enacted a scene from the Cambridge Latin Course, in which Metella (Mehreen Kazmi) reassures Melissa (Tess Lillicrap) that despite criticism from Clemens (Christopher Johnson) she does an amazing job. This scene was performed in Latin, as too was the premiere of a four-part song written by Dr Nicholas Scott-Burt, entitled Oportet Ministros Manus Lavare (‘Staff should wash their hands... before leaving the lavatory’) and sung by a specially chosen choral group.

The whole show was stitched together by Artemis (Amy Kuner) and Aphrodite (Paige Hudson), who bickered and teased their way through the evening with a script they had devised themselves with both glamour and humour.

Many pupils lent a hand backstage ensuring a slick delivery, and we are indebted to Theatre Technician Malcolm Wyatt for original ideas, directorial help, sound effects, lighting, and other kinds of technical wizardry, and not least the voice of Zeus.

Mr Julian Bunce

Tim Threlfall 1940-1999 Mrs Brenda Wood with a selection of the Threlfall sculptures at Bablake

Work by Tim Threlfall, currently on display in the Language Block, was celebrated at a formal opening earlier in the term. The work spans his whole career, with drawings from the 1960s through to the 90s. It also displays maquettes and a colour study for the reliefs (entitled Looking Back), which have been permanently installed in the Language Block. The work has been gifted to the school by Mrs Brenda Wood, who for a number of years worked in the Art department at Bablake.

Tim was senior lecturer in the Fine Art Department at Coventry University and also lectured in Art History at Warwick University. He was a passionate advocate for the arts, sitting on many local and national committees, including The Arts Council of Great Britain. Tim’s career in the arts spanned the period 1964 - 1999, and during this period his work was collected and shown both nationally and internationally.

The evening was well-attended by Tim's former colleagues, both artistic and educational, as well as a number of his friends and former students. Representatives from the Herbert Art Gallery were also present and some of the work on display will go into the gallery’s permanent collection when it leaves Bablake, to complement the work by Tim which is already held by them. The work will be on display until the autumn and can be viewed by appointment.

Manderley dreams After a truly successful year in Edinburgh last year, Bablake Theatre Company builds on the buzz that was created when it adapted Dorian Gray. Recognised as a young company focussed on producing strong ensemble work that brings a fresh look to classic works, they are currently adapting Rebecca for their 28th consecutive performance at The Fringe.

Daphne du Maurier’s tale of desire, obsession and treachery will be retold by a vibrant young cast. Discover the devastating secret that threatens the Manderley household. A classic psychological thriller that will keep you guessing to the last. This adaptation is sure to impress.

“Very roughly, the book will be about the influence of a first wife on a second,” noted Daphne du Maurier. “Until wife 2 is haunted day and night… a tragedy is looming very close and crash! Bang! Something happens.”

The company this year is made up of five old hands who performed there last year, and seven newbies. All are looking forward to an exhausting week of performing and seeing shows!

Bablake School

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Bablake Arts

Easter Concert

Into the Crucible for Bablake ...

Rehearsals for The Crucible

Actus, the Middle School Dramatic Society is working on Arthur Miller’s classic re-telling of this true historical event.

The Salem Witch Trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practising witchcraft—the Devil's magic—and 20 were executed.

Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later.

A cast and crew of over 30 will present their version on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th June at 7pm in the Theatre.

Bablake pupils enjoy the day

The National Festival of Music for Youth 12

The Lion Summer 2014

On Saturday 5th April, the Junior School Choir, the Junior Choir and the Brass Ensemble attended the National Festival of Music for Youth, held in the Adrian Boult Hall at Birmingham Conservatoire. It was a fantastic morning of music-making and all schools and groups who took part gave excellent and entertaining performances. The Junior School Choir was especially praised for the lovely tone and part singing in African lullaby Souallé and Harry Scott-Burt got a special mention for his obligato cello part.

Our Easter concert took place in the main school hall on Tuesday 8th April. It was a splendid evening that really showed off the musical talents and achievements of many of our pupils, from Shells to Upper Sixth leavers. Some of the highlights were the Brass Ensemble and Junior Choir, fresh from their performances at the National Festival of Music for Youth, as well as a solo from Bradley Gill, who leaves us to continue his singing and music studies at university in October. Pupil contributions were very impressive; as well as performing, Bradley conducted the Chamber Choir and accompanied the Junior Choir, and Aron Sood directed the Swing Band. Our emerging chamber musicians, the string quartet (Ben Powell, Darya Sutton, Chris Tuttle and Anna White) performed a movement by Haydn and the cello quartet (Anna White, Hilary Schum, Harry Scott-Burt and Charlotte Park) performed an arrangement from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Mrs Cathy Scott-Burt and Mr Stephen Cooper introduced the evening, and presented gratefully received Easter eggs to our departing Upper Sixth pupils, in recognition of all their hard work for the department over the last few years.

The Junior Choir delivered a splendid performance, with a varied programme and excellent sound; this was especially apparent in their opening Spiritual Wayfarin’ Stranger. Caragh Shaw, Anna White, Fiona Chung and Charlotte Merry sang lovely solos in the Monsters Inc theme song, ably choreographed by Emma Blackett and Enya Bowe. The Brass Ensemble was praised for its variety of tone and dynamics and for changes of mood in the selection of pieces. I was so pleased with of all the pupils who took part; whether 8 or 18 years old, their performances were delivered with an enthusiasm that really caught everyone’s attention and their superb behaviour during a long, hot and action-packed morning made me so proud to tell everyone we were from Bablake. The adjudicator’s comment that “Bablake must have a really busy Music department” made us all smile.

Mrs Cathy Scott-Burt

Bablake Arts

Creative shorts

Festival win for Charlotte Charlotte Merry (Shell L) is to be congratulated on achieving first place at the Nuneaton Festival of Arts in the Original Writing (stories) category. Her piece, entitled A Sweet Story, had originally been written for a school English assignment. The adjudicator described it as “an imaginative story, written with great care and super imaginative vocabulary.” Her work is now on show in Nuneaton library, along with other winners’ work.

Shell Drama is a circus !

Shells have been working on skills to produce an entire show themselves this year and forms were charged with the task of creating a circus. They focussed on mime skills to convey the height of the high-wire, the weight of the dumbbell, and the comedy of the clowns.

Pupils have taken responsibility for devising their act, with others providing sound and lighting support.

Shell G in rehearsals

Crafty Textiles Club Crafty Textiles Club is open to all years and meets on a Wednesday at lunchtime. This year the Shell group made cushions, first dyeing their fabric using either tie-dye or dip dyeing methods and then decorating it by printing on top using wooden Indian blocks and fabric paint. The design was then further embellished using beads or sequins. The final result was a very effective looking cushion with a frilled border which most pupils gave to family members as presents.

Mrs Alyson Heath

Shells at Crafty Textiles Club

Creative Stitches Show In March, the Fourth Year Textiles group visited the annual Creative Stitches Show held at the NEC. This is a popular event showcasing different art and textiles techniques and individuals’ work. Needle-felting, screenprinting, patchwork and embroidery were amongst the most popular stands, along with displays of work from artists such as Kerry Mosely, Lisa Earley and Elizabeth Saunders.

We started the day booking into workshops including experimental textiles, reclaimed papers, miniature notebooks, bead-making, acetate butterflies and patch-working using the new Sizzix cutting machine. The trip was not only about expanding our knowledge and skills, but making links within the industry.

Local colleges, such as Banbury and Bicester were represented, displaying students’ portfolios and further areas of Textiles study post-GCSE. One of the highlights for me was watching the fashion show, showcasing work including rugs knitted on giant needles and garments made from pattern pieces.

Tired but inspired, we headed back to school after a successful day collecting ideas for our coursework.

Helena Farren

Fourth Years enjoy the Creative Stitches Show

St. John’s Concert In March, the Music department once again visited St. John’s Church to give a lunchtime concert. The programme, given by our woodwind group and the senior string ensemble, included a solo from Ben Powell, as well as two ensemble performances. Mr Tim Crompton conducted Bablake’s woodwind group, which played a chirpy English folk song suite, while Mrs Cathy Scott-Burt led our string players in a performance of Elgar’s famous Serenade for Strings. It was wonderful to see parents, current and former members of staff, and the general public in attendance.

The welcome at St John's is always very warm and we look forward to returning for another concert mid-September.

Founder members’ farewell Monday saw the last ever Funky Knitting Club for two of its founder members – Kalika Puri and Kathryn Jones. Both started the club in Shells, unable to knit, and have returned each year, getting better and better. When they entered the Sixth Form I thought I would lose them to other activities or more important A level study classes, but no! Both returned for their Lower and Upper Sixth years and took on more of a supporting role, helping to teach the new Shell pupils how to knit. I have really appreciated their loyal support during the last seven years and I will miss them. The Funky Knitting Club presented them with a small gift to say thank you and we wish them all the very best for their future at university.

Mrs Carol Davey

Mrs Davey with Kathryn and Kalika Bablake School

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Bablake Sport

Boys’ sport Cricket Follow @bablakecricket for all the latest news, fixtures, results and individual achievements from Bablake Cricket!

Tweeting highlights Pleased to announce that @bablakeschool cricket fixtures for 2014 have been finalised and posted on bablakesport.com #newwebsite @bablakeschool Cricket Scholars 2014: Matthew Clements, Matthew Payne, Ross Parnell, Dan Smith & Daniel Mousley. Congratulations! #prideinourpupils #futurestars Congratulations to Daniel Mousley & Ross Parnell – selected for Warwickshire’s Emerging Players Programme @bablakeschool @CricketingBears Well done to Matthew Clements, Ross Parnell, Daniel Smith, Daniel Mousley, Alex Mousley (Bablake JS) and Jamie Parnell (Bablake JS) who have been selected for Warwickshire @ CricketingBears #futurestars Well done to Cameron Park who has been selected for Leicestershire U15s #futurestars Our new cricket pro Alex Phillips oversaw a fine 6 wicket 1st XI win v KES today @CompleteCricket @ cricketcovwarks Wet at BVGS on the 2nd XI square…(photo for illustrative purposes only!) #niceforducks #quackquack #soggy @dom_rae I presume you mean queue #snookerworldchampionship #prideinourpupils HUGE!! Parnell sticks it over the 6th form block for 6! #spareball #boomboom #1stXIBablakevsSolihull One in the car park required… #1stXIBablakevsSolihull 2nd XI was at Camp Hill this afternoon for a T20.

End of a rainbow on @bablakeschool junior cricket pitch. Groundsmen are currently searching for a pot of gold…

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The Lion Summer 2014

We’d heard, @bablakecricket, Mr Benfield’s bowling had gained pace, accuracy & swing over the winter. Secret’s out!

Time to call it off when there are ducks on the outfield #wet #quackquack Fantastic bowling from Tom Rouse in the U13s who returned figures of 6-7 against BVGS in their 27 run victory! #talent @WarwickSchlCrkt has a great tour – pictures look great! We’re looking forward to our tour to Sri Lanka in July! @bablakehockey Top maiden half-century for #OldWheat Mark Best v #Sussex for @lboroMCCU, @bablakecricket, after first innings duck #prideinourformerpupils Great to see #OldWheat & former @bablakecricket captain Paul Best in a @CricketingBears T20 photo in @CovTelSport We have been chosen as a selected school by Newbery. All students can receive 20% off at newbery.co.uk. See Mr Phillips for code #discount

Rugby The end of the rugby season saw great success for Bablake teams. In the Coventry Cups, both the U14 and U15 team won finals against King Henry VIII to become champions. The U14s won their final 38-14 in a dominant display whilst the U15s won 34-16.

The U12 and U13 teams also reached the Coventry final and showed huge promise despite finishing runners up. Overall, this provided a memorable end to the season for our junior teams.

For the seniors, the annual Bablake v King

The Old Wheatleyans’ Captains

Henry VIII 1st XV match was, unusually, played on Mothers’ Day on a balmy spring afternoon.

Despite not having played since January, the 1st XV controlled the match, though the winning score of 22-0 did not really reflect their dominance.

In previous weeks, the focus had been very much on preparing the senior 7s squad for the national Schools’ 7s at Rosslyn Park. Here, the squad excelled in the first match, drawing with Brayanston. They went on to record convincing wins against UCS London and Rossall but a narrow loss to Greshams (17-12) meant that they just failed to qualify for the second day.

All of the boys who have represented Bablake at rugby this year should be congratulated on their effort and conduct and we look forward to their continued development when the new season begins in September.

Bablake 1st XV v Captains Match The Old Wheatleyans’ Captains v the current Bablake 1st XV (with a little help from former Bablake pupils) on Easter Saturday proved to be quite a challenge for the many Bablake and former Bablake spectators that had turned up for the occasion, as the usual chant of ‘Come on Bablake’ applied to both teams! There was some healthy rivalry between the teams, with Daniel Rowlands leading the Captains XV, while his brother Matthew, a current Fifth Former, played for the Bablake XV. Paul Gascoigne came back from Sedburgh to help out on the School team, whereas Jack Webber, also from Sedburgh, found himself on the Old Wheatleyans’ team playing against his former team mates who were enjoying their final outing of the season. With a number of the 1st XV being unavailable, Sid Saje, Bablake’s Football Captain was loaned a pair of rugby boots and the team was very grateful for the support of Dan Nolan (leaver 2009) and Richard Lowe (leaver 2005) in their team. It was Richard Lowe who scored the first try, and the exciting match finished with Dan Rowland’s team victors, just, at 41 - 38.

An occasion like this proves that when you leave Bablake, you do not really leave Bablake! If there is an event, there is an internal compass, whether you are a player or supporter that is activated that draws you back into the ‘family’.

Bablake Sport

Girls’ sport Netball With the winter season coming to a close, we had some very promising results with the girls’ sports teams. The U12 A and B netball teams were both crowned runners up in the Coventry Schools Tournament and the U13 A team went one better; after a strong victory over Princethorpe leading up to the event, the team won its Coventry Schools competition.

The 1st VII netball team were runners up in the West Midlands Tournament and the 2nd VII was victorious in the B team competition. Both the 1st and 2nd VII won the Dominique Matthews Tournament after league wins over King Edward’s Nuneaton and King’s High. The 3rd VII also finished well, beating close rivals King’s High and Princethorpe.

All the junior teams ended on a high with the U12, U13 and U14 squads all beating NewcastleUnder-Lyme in the final games of the season.

Hockey The 1st XI hockey team won its final battle 4-1 against Solihull. The U14 team saved its best performance until last and won, after playing some excellent hockey against Nottingham High School. The U12s were runners up in the Warwickshire Tournament which qualified them for the Midlands competition: a great achievement in their first year. The indoor hockey team was brought back together for the final fixture of the season and they beat Princethorpe 4-2.

Girls’ U12 hockey team

Shell Girls’ Swimming Team

Second Year Boys’ Swimming Team

Swimming

Kare on winning ...

After winning the Coventry City Championship, five of the six age groups qualified for the regional School Games competition. The Shell girls’ team performed well to achieve silver medals in a hard fought competition against eight other area teams. Similarly, the Third Year boys’ team was rewarded with bronze medals after some great individual and team performances. The team looked very smart in their Bablake swimming t-shirts and racing hats!

Congratulations to Second Year pupil, Kare Adenegan, for winning the 2014 U14 Mini London Marathon in April this year. Finishing the race in a personal best time of 15m 22s (unofficial), Kare was almost 2 minutes ahead of her next opponent.

Kare proudly received her trophy from Team GB athlete Tom Daley - the latter's ‘selfie’ of the presentation posted on his Instagram page, at the moment of reporting, has been liked by almost 58,000 people!

We are also delighted to confirm that Kare will be participating in the IAAF Diamond League in Glasgow on the 12th July in GB Kit. She has recently received an invitation to participate in the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games, which she had to decline as it will occur on the same day as the Godiva Classic Games (to be held at the Warwick University Track on 21st July).

Kare and others have also been invited to Nike Headquarters for a media campaign for the new GB team kit. Exciting times indeed!

Kare's ultimate ambition is to race for Team GB in the Rio Paralympics and win a medal. We wish her all the best with training and preparation for this aim.

Summer Sports The summer term has started with the usual British winter weather and caused a number of fixtures to be postponed. The first event of the athletics calendar was the Coventry City Championships. The team performed well, despite the rainfall making the surfaces less favourable.

We saw exceptional performances from Olivia Kelly, Ellie Faulkner, Hannah Sweeney and Alex Hamilton in the junior competition and similarly from Anna Price, Hannah Mordey, Georgia Gunson and Lucy Farrington in the intermediate age group. We are hopeful that many of these girls will be selected to represent Coventry in the West Midlands athletics event.

The U13 tennis team has had a promising start to the season with a 7-1 victory over KHVIII.

Photograph by kind permission of Jamie Gray, freelance photographer and videographer, and the Coventry Telegraph.

Bablake School

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Bablake Update

Headmaster’s notes Our community has been recognised in several ways this year for what inspectors termed: “a culture of self-reflection and the desire for continuous improvement.”

The inspection itself amply celebrated the many and diverse ways in which we seek to give our pupils simply the best possible all-round education. We were delighted with the report, which you can find on our website.

Earlier in the year we were granted ICON (International Cross of Nails) status by Coventry Cathedral for our commitment to peace and reconciliation, both within our school community and in the city and world in which we live.

We are the first independent school nationally to reach a social authority score of 50! This recognises our use of social media and our interactive online presence. It also reflects our aspiration to vary and improve the ways in which we communicate with parents and with former and current pupils.

Most recently, we have been granted Artsmark Gold status by Arts Council England for our outstanding contribution to arts and cultural education – notably in our provision of high-quality art and design, music, drama and dance.

Apart from the inspection (over which we had no choice!), all these initiatives have been driven by both staff and pupils, working together in an area of special interest, for the benefit of others within and beyond our school. Our pupils and staff have abundant and unique talents, and their joint ambition underpins the vibrant dynamism of Bablake, best communicated by these two mottoes: ‘Excellence through Care’ and ‘Spirit of Opportunity’.

Staff news We bid a fond farewell to the following staff and thank them for their outstanding service to the Bablake community: Mr Mark Taylor, Mr Andrew Solomon, Miss Dionne Crosdale, Mr Allan Mansfield, Mrs Sarah Hodgkinson, Miss Hannah Moseley, Mrs Suzanne Webley. We wish the following happy and healthy retirements: Mr Steve Jackson, Mr Simon Timothy, Mrs Chris Scott, Mr Chris Mellers, and Mrs Gail Timothy. Full and fitting tributes to these colleagues will be paid in the HM’s end-of-term letter and in The Wheatleyan.

These new appointments have been made since publication of the last newsletter: Miss Jade Payne, Teacher of Girls’ P.E.: Miss Payne is a former pupil and is a very strong allround sportswoman. She proceeded from Bablake to the University of Leeds, where she studied Sports and Exercise Science. She is currently at The Whitby High School in Cheshire, where she has been Head of Girls’ P.E. and Dance since 2012.

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The Lion Summer 2014

Miss Lauren Mullan, Teacher of Girls’ P.E.: Miss Mullan was educated at Coleraine High School and is a graduate of the University of Ulster, where she studied Sports and Exercise Science with a Diploma in Business Studies. She has played hockey to a high level, and has also represented Ulster in badminton. She is currently training as a teacher at the University of Bath.

Mrs Jennie May, Head of Modern Languages: Mrs May studied French, Spanish and Russian at the University of Nottingham, and has an MAEd in Teaching and Learning from the University of Leicester. She is currently Director of Learning for Modern Foreign Languages (including EAL) at Kingsthorpe College, where she also has wholeschool responsibility for Gifted and Talented pupils.

She has worked in several schools, including two years as Deputy Head of Modern Languages at Rugby School. She is keen to become involved in the wider life of the school, including the Duke of Edinburgh Award and netball.

Miss Rebecca Priest, Teacher of Geography (maternity cover): Miss Priest is currently training as a teacher via the University of Oxford. Prior to this she was educated in Worcestershire and gained her degree in Human Geography at Aberystwyth University. She would like to support dance, crosscountry and the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Revd Sacha Slavic, Teacher of Religious Studies and Chaplain: Revd Slavic was educated in France, where he studied Law and Russian at Nancy University. Having qualified as a teacher in this country, he has worked at President Kennedy School and the Westwood Academy. In the latter context, he has been Head of Modern Languages and is currently Head of Religious Education and Philosophy, as well as a Pastoral Director. He was ordained as a Minister in Secular Employment in 2012. Whilst his main role will be to teach Religious Studies in the Senior School, Revd Slavic will also teach in the Junior School, co-ordinate Community Service, organise Law extension classes and make a significant contribution to the pastoral and spiritual welfare of our school community.

Mr Michael Bull, Director of ICT: Mr Bull attended Bablake School before studying for his Masters in Information Systems Engineering at the University of Surrey and training as a teacher via the University of Warwick. He has taught ICT and Computing at Coundon Court since 2003, as an Advanced Skills Teacher and with responsibility for E-learning and training. His current post is Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for Teaching and Learning, but he is keen to spend more time in the classroom, whilst also leading the development of whole-school ICT. He enjoys sport (especially cricket), singing and drama, and will play a full role in the co-curricular life of the school.

Diary dates Friday 4 July Summer Term ends 12 noon Thursday 14 August A level Results Day Sunday 17 – 24 August Bablake at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Thursday 21 August GCSE Results Day Wednesday 3 September New Shells in School 9.00am – 1.00pm Thursday 4 September Autumn Term begins Saturday 6 September Shell Olympics Morning 9.30am – 12 noon Thursday 11 September Prize Giving at Coventry Central Hall 7.00pm Saturday 4 October Open Morning 9.30am – 12.30pm

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