SSL Times December 2019

ISSUE 4

DECEMBER 2019

THE BRITISH SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS

The SSL Times STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Building Update

Activities Week

And much more!

What have the builders been up to with our new school construction? Â p. 04-05

Do you want a recap of activities week? Go ahead and read our article, all about the fabulous week! p.06-10

Read all about the history of NonViolence Day, what happened at the Rugby World Cup and many more surprises hidden within these pages...

Exclusive Coverage of the Tedx event!

The Tedx event happened on 4th of November at SSV. Two of our almighty students took part in the action. Read our full report on page 2.

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DECEMBER 2019

THE BRITISH SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS

BSN TEDx breaks the mould! by Paige, Carla and Abigail

An insider's view of the event:

BSN TEDx: a special event that has so

"On the morning of TEDx, I arrived at SSV to

far happened twice at the BSN.

receive my badge and prepare for the big moment. We had many students practising in

TEDx is an independently organised

the "Green Room" and eating the goodies there.

event set up so that the youth of the

I remember it being quite scary as we waited

BSN can share their ideas as well.

for our turn. Around 9.30am, I got called to get

This year the theme was 'breaking

my mic to help project my voice. Waiting in the

the mould' a topic that challenges

wings was brutal! My stomach twisted and

even the greatest of minds. This year

turned like the scariest ride in the Efteling. It

a brilliant school (maybe even the

was time. I went on stage and performed my

MOST brilliant ever) joined the

speech. It was wonderful. Once I was finished, I

program. The greatly esteemed, SSL.

was able to explore SSV and see some long lost friends. It was the best experience ever."

Many brave pupils tried their luck at speaking in front of one of the most respected audiences in the Netherlands. Despite all of the interesting speeches that were pitched, only a few could be selected to speak on the final day. Ten students were chosen to speak at this special event from across the five BSN schools. From SSL Abby was chosen to speak and Yi Ling was chosen to play an amazing piano solo.

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An outsider's view of the TEDx event: There was much anticipation on the Monday morning of the 4th of November 2019. All the teachers were ecstatic for the much awaited TEDx event.

During the morning lesson all the classes were practically bouncing in their seats.

Then the moment came (a little late, but still came). The one and only Abby! The crowds, small as they were, cheered unexpectedly loud for their peer.

At lunch the pupils gathered in either

In assembly, students who had pitched

the science or music room. The students

speeches but not made it through to the

who wished to attend the music-history

final event had a chance to perform their

lesson saw an informative video and

speeches. This included an inspiring speech

learned how music has changed

from Linda on inequality in education and

throughout the last decade.

a thought-provoking speech from Sofia on unconscious bias.

For the students who wanted to be enlightened by the science guest, they saw a Power-Point on the different pieces of equipment used to learn more about our brains. This was focused on how neuroscientists are researching the way the brain works in regards to rhythm in language. That was the ending to our perfect TEDx day.

All of the speeches and performances from the TEDx day (hosted at SSV) are now avaliable to view on Youtube.

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Building update On the 7th November four member of the newspaper team had an exclusive tour of the building site and captured the following photos.

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THE BRITISH SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS

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DECEMBER 2019

Year 7 October Activities Week

by Hermione and Lilas-May On morning of Monday 14th October, Year 7 had an

The bunker was a cover for an anti-aircraft gun that

educational trip to Ypenburg.

had been used in the Second World War. We all

After walking to the tram stop, we

sketched it with the help of Ms Moya. What was left of

got on a tram and headed

the old airport wasn’t far away, so we walked there.

towards Ypenburg. Once in

Once we arrived, Mr Sandeman read us a diary written

Ypenburg we learnt that it used to

by one of Mrs Kemmett’s relatives. It was about when

be an airport that the royal family

Mrs Kemmett’s relative found a crashed Nazi airplane.

frequently used. Many of the

We drew the abstract monument that stood there

streets there were named after

representing what had happened and moved on. The

famous pilots or aircraft

next geography task was to follow a map through

engineers. When we reached

Ypenburg and note down what the space was being

Ypenburg, we walked up a steep

used for on either side of the road. That was the end

hill to a collection of Strand

of our trip great trip to Ypenburg and we returned to

Beests. Strand Beests are moving

school.

sculptures created by Theo

In the afternoon, there was an ultimate frisbee

Jansen, a Dutch artist who has

competition. We were joined by the Year 8s and had a

created structures that move

great afternoon cheering each other on.

using the wind. He has focused a lot on how animals and birds use natural forces to move and has applied them in his work. We had a chance to move one of the structures. After a brief stop there, we walked a bit further and arrived at a WWII bunker.

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Tuesday 15th It was competition time for Y7!

Students had to write a pitch for a

Wednesday the 16th was a fun filled day that was

new eco-friendly product using

based around drama. We started the day off with

the same concept as the show the

some workshops that would help us for the task yet

“The Dragons Den�. The dragons

to come. There were four workshops: Music, Greek

den is when a couple of people

Chorus, Body language and Idea Forming. Once we

show their idea to 5 judges who

had completed those tasks, we moved on to creating

have a lot of MONEY, and are

our own piece of drama based around a trait of the

ready to spend it on someone's

character profile without using speech. We were all

idea. The judges have to decide

provided with masks to cover our faces so facial

who they are going to spend their

expressions were hard. Each house was split into two

money on.

groups which got different words from the character

There were 6 groups with totally

profile. As this was a team competition, the two

different ideas. The theme we had

groups in each house had to work together, not

to base it on was recycling,

against each other to achieve first place.

turning a product now seen as waste into an amazing new

Most of the day was filled with hard work and

product. We all had to present our

practise, but by the end of the day everyone was

ideas to the Dragons (Mr Cook, Mr

finished and ready for the competition. Mrs van Zoest

Sandeman and Mr Oxlade). They

and Mr Clarke visited us from JSL to judge the

then had to choose the one that

competition alongside Mr Oxlade, Mr Sandeman and

would sell the best. This was after

Mr Cook. All the houses drama pieces were great but

everyone had presented their

only one house could win. Congratulations to

ideas. The group that won was

Amsterdam for their stunning creations on the topics

Whizz. Their product was a battery

of Digital Responsibility and Curiosity.

pack charged by your bicycle. Well done to Whizz!

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Thursday 17th On Thursday, Year 7 did a ''Invest in you day" based on the theme of mindfulness.

We had lots of activities during the day.

One of the activities was to focus on eating a Malteser. We had to use all our senses to really enjoy the treat. The Malteser was really nice to feel melting on your tongue. The second activity was drawing our journey through secondary school in comic style, seeing our peers' journeys and the similarities between our experiences.

The third activity was about trust we had to follow a maze with our eyes closed.

One of us would get a pencil and the one with the pencil had to close their eyes.

The other person had to give directions to the person. The second to last one we did was different maths problems and you couldn't work together or even talk to anybody. We had to stay in silence and have a little play around with the puzzle.

Only some got onto the final challenge.

Friday 18th The last day of activities week was surely an exciting one for Year 7. They had to crack a murder mystery. Using their detective skills, they travelled around the school looking for clues on who committed the murder, where it was and what they used as a weapon. There were lots of codes to crack and puzzles to solve. Each group got very far but only a few got onto the extra challenge.

I think that everyone had an amazing week and enjoyed all the activities we did.

THE BRITISH SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS

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DECEMBER 2019

Year 8 October Activities Week

by Yuri and Ana On Monday, the Year 8s started with a computing morning. It was a murder mystery where we had to find clues to uncover the murderer. The Y8s showed a lot of skill, but eventually time ran out and not everyone managed to finish. The team with Archie, RaĂşl, Ben and Theo were the first to discover that the assassin was Mrs Black who killed the victim with a compass in room 112!

In the afternoon, the Y8s and Y7s joined to play ultimate frisbee. It was tough but eventually, Gouda and Delft won, Amsterdam came second and Leiden was third for the girls. For the boys, the winners were Delft; second was Amsterdam, third Leiden and fourth Gouda.

On Tuesday the Y8s went to the Openlucht Museum in Holland. When we were there, we were split into 3 groups: 1 of the groups got a tour guide that spoke in Dutch for them while the other groups had English tours. They visited several houses which were from different time periods (the 1990s, 1970s, WW2 era, etc.). Those houses were rebuilt in the museum, so the original materials and styles were from the time periods. The Y8s saw houses from the 18th century to the barbwire from WW2. We also saw oil pumpers, farms and the different machines and basic architecture that protects the inside of farms from storms.

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On Thursday the Y8s were split into two groups which swapped over after lunch time. One group went to the Gemeentemuseum where they explored different rooms in the Chamber of Wonders.

In the Halls of Wonder the Y8s were in pairs and were given devices which had an app telling us which room they were meant to go to next. The rooms had information on clothing that people wore in the past (fashion catwalk) as well as fake auctions where we could decide on how much you think antiques are worth. At the end of the Chamber of Wonders, we were allowed to go into a maze. Here we were able to scan 3 objects which we could add into our own “Chamber of Wonders” that was displayed in the green screen room along with the others.

The other group went to the geography trip at Zuiderstrand beach, with Mr. Sandeman, Ms. Cole and Mrs. Kemmett. The Y8s split into groups of three, and measured the gradient of the beach from the water to the sand dunes (using metre sticks and clinometers). Afterwards, we were given two oranges where they measured how fast the longshore drift was from one side of the metre stick to another. It was quite fun but since it was the afternoon it was colder than in the morning.

Friday was careers day for Year 8. We split into 4 groups: The first group went to Agri Experience and Royal Blue. First, they went to Agriculture experience where they learned all about the work outside. In Royal Blue, they learned all about patience and the role of the people working to make original pottery.

The second group went to Ikea and learnt all about working with furniture. They scanned items and designed rooms with pictures cut out from Ikea magazines. They had a tour of the whole office and learnt all about office jobs.

The third group visited Emerson’s and had a tour around where they explained the role of the company. They saw how they made valves and saw the valves.

The final group visited the Cheese Factory.

They made cheese and learnt a bit about how they made cheese.

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THE BRITISH SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS

Rugby World Cup

by Archie and Gabriel The Rugby World Cup is one of the major and most prestigious global rugby tournaments. It occurs every four years in a different nation every time. It consists of twenty different teams from all over the globe. The first match saw the host nation, Japan, beat Russia thirty points to ten in Pool A. Japan would go on to beat Ireland, one of the favourites to win. During the tournament, two matches were cancelled due to typhoon Hagibis, and 66 people died.

There are four pools in every world cup tournament and each contains five different teams. The first pool, pool A, comprised of one of the top contenders for the title: Ireland. It also included the host nation Japan, Scotland, Samoa and Russia.

Pool B included two more strong contestants for the cup: New Zealand, who won the previous world cup in 2015, and South Africa. The third pool, C, housed England, France and Argentina, all strong sides. It also had USA and Tonga, both rapidly developing teams.

Pool D accommodated Australia (one of the toughest squads in the competition), Georgia, Fiji, Uruguay and Wales (the winner of the six nations). All these teams battled it out over a period of twenty three days. The squads that ended up on top of the group stage were New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Japan, France, England, Australia and Wales.

The quarter finals were really tense and all the teams were evenly matched, but unlucky France, Japan, Australia and Ireland did not make it through to the semi-finals. However Japan beat their personal record, rising to eight on the world ranking. Their accomplishment of climbing to the quarters, beating several of the world’s best teams on the way, has never been achieved by the Japanese rugby team before.

The semi-finals were fast approaching and the teams were preparing for their pursuit of the highest honour in international rugby, the Webb Ellis Cup. With many a tense moment, England beat New Zealand against all odds, and South Africa beat Wales to make the third final they have ever reached, the other two they had won.

So the famous final that occurs every 4 years, hosted in Japan would be between England and South Africa.

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THE BRITISH SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS

Rugby World Cup

by Archie and Gabriel In Japan Yokohama stadium, Saturday 1st November at 10:00, the final kicked off between England and South Africa. After many close attempts at a try, the first half became a kicking game. Andre Pollard and Owen Farrell were the biggest play makers in that half, as they kicked the majority of the points. Through all this, South Africa came out on top, with twelve points to six. If England were going to win, they would have to do something that no finalist team has ever done, comeback. The second half was much the same as the first, with kicking for points winning the majority of the points. However, late in the second half, South Africa scored the first try of the game. Makazole Mapimpi scored a beautiful try including a kick and some excellent handling in the 66th minute. Cheslin Kolbe used his speed and fast footwork in the 74th minute to score a final try. The final score was South Africa 32, England 12 and resulted in South Africa raising the Webb Ellis Cup as victors for the third time.

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THE BRITISH SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS

Non-Violence Day

by Yi Ling and Lily

Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi was a famous Indian

What is Non-Violence Day?

lawyer who encouraged other to give peace for all and to be kind to one another. He

On Wednesday 2nd of October this year it

fought for India's independence from the

was the International Non Violence Day.

British. During this process, he was sent to

This is a world wide celebration where every

prison several times for the protests he

person spends a whole day without any

made for his own country. Gandhi made

form of violence. This includes physical and

everyone realise how important non-

verbal violence. We do this in honour of

violence was in the world. He has left

Mahatma Gandhi, who striked for peace in

behind an important legacy for all of us,

the past.

and so in his honour, we now celebrate his birthday each year, known as Non-Violence

Why do we celebrate Non-Violence Day?

Day.

We celebrate Non Violence day as a

Examples of Non-Violence

reminder of Mahatma Gandhi, who was born on 2nd of October, the day that it is

Everyone can show non-violence in daily

celebrated. We aim to complete his wishes

life, but just to give you some examples:

for peace and try to make the world a

you could help someone with their

better place. We also celebrate Non-

homework perhaps, or helping a new

Violence Day to show that not everything

student settle in the new school. There are

must be answered with wars and violence.

many more examples of non - violence not just in school, and everyone can be just like Gandhi.

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THE BRITISH SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS

Derek the Dinosaur: a comic by Archie

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THE BRITISH SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS

Introducing, a new comic: Otto the Seal by Lily

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THE BRITISH SCHOOL IN THE NETHERLANDS

Issue 4: Newspaper team Editor in chief - Raphael Sub-editors - Diya, Hermione Photo editor - Lily Layout editor - Neva Reporters - Archie, Paige, Yuri, Ana, Gabriel, Carla, Yi Ling, Lily, Abby, Lilas-May Photographers - All staff!

Cartoonists - Archie, Lily Layout - Neva, Yi Ling, Abby, Lilas-May

(not pictured: Hermione)