THE
V AUGHAN I DENTITY JANUARY 2016
ISSUE ONE
JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
THE
V AUGHAN I DENTITY JANUARY 2 0 1 6 Pages:
ISSUE ONE
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A BRIEF INTRODUCTION EDITORIAL REPORTAGE The True Meaning of Christmas — CONOR QUINN 4M
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The Decline of the Liberal Democrats — STEPHEN RABEY 4M
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The War Against Terrorism—THOMAS PIETRZYCKI 4M
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Refugee Crisis—KEVIN PAULRAJ 4M
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THE CRITICS We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves — MISS MUHAMMAD
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Apple Technology Review —THE EDITORS
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The Flash — CONOR CAHILL 3MA
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Call of Duty: Black Ops III — EDWARD REAMER 3C
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SCHOOL NEWS U12A’s Last Match of the Season — CALLUM LARKAM 1ME
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St Cecilia Concert — LUKE WARREN 4F
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INTERVIEWS 14
An Interview with Miss Kelly— THE EDITORS
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An Interview with Mr Spence-Hill — THE EDITORS MISC
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Powerful Images
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Puzzles Key Dates: January 2016
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Competitions
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Quotes of the Month
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2015 Biographies
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COMIC Prince Pearl — PETER STRZALEK-STANECKI 4M
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The Vaughan Identity : THE FINEST NEWSPAPER YOUR FORM TUTOR WILL EVER GIVE YOU. 2
JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
KEVIN PAULRAJ 4M is an editor of the newspaper.12paulrajk@cvms.co.uk THOMAS PIETRZYCKI 4M is an editor of the newspaper. 12pietrzyckit@cvms.co.uk CONOR QUINN 4M is an editor of the newspaper. 12quinnc@cvms.co.uk PETER STRZALEK-STANECKI 4M is The Vaughan Identity’s own artist, specialising in comics and cartoons.
With a special thanks to: Miss Muhammad, Mr Spence-Hill, Miss Kelly, Luke Warren, Stephen Rabey, Edward Reamer, Conor Cahill, Callum Larkam
All submissions are welcomed to this e-mail address: TheVaughanIdentity2016@gmail.com EDITORIAL
news, and keeping you updated All appropriate articles that you send to us to the above email with upcoming events. We have articles ranging from will be published, so don’t be the true meaning of Christmas afraid to send in any article that to the Refugee Crisis. For the you have written of your choice, graphic novel lovers out there, whether it is a review or somewe have our own comic artist thing you feel passionate about bringing his new series Prince writing.
Welcome to the first issue of The Vaughan Identity in 2016, carried on from Jean and Jack’s Vaughan Identity in 2015. Building on the solid foundations that they have left us, we have come back stronger than ever. Our hope is that this newspaper Pearl to The Vaughan Identity. appeals to as wide an audience as Remember that all submissions possible. of articles, puzzles and competiWe have included more interac- tions will gain house points. If tive features such as the puzzle you have any puzzles that you page and competitions, as well as would like to submit, please very entertaining things such as hand them into the box in the interviews with teachers and library’s main desk. Any submisquotations of the month. Addi- sions of creative writing and tionally, the biography section photographs must be emailed has returned in 2016 and we are using the email above. covering all the latest school 3
Please come to the library on Thursday during form period if you would like to contribute to the paper, or contact The Editors. — The Editors JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
Reportage
The True Meaning of Christmas Conor Quinn 4M Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together is a success. Christmas is the time for people to bond together and form a community. We are so obsessed with expensive gifts and the latest gadgets nowadays that the whole point of Christmas has been lost. The true meaning of Christmas is much simpler than it has become: it should be a time of joining together and time to reside with others to enjoy each other's company - a time of goodwill and friendship.
This true meaning of Christmas was demonstrated by hundreds of residents of Haslington, Cheshire, over the past weeks. The people living in the area celebrated the festive day early for a villager described as being "very, very poorly".
Connie was hoping to accomplish a turnout of 50 people and was blown away by the “hordes of people” who had turned up to join her in spreading some festive cheer to the man in need. Connie managed to gain this high turnout of people because of her great organisation skills through Facebook. However Connie had never even organised an event before; she was so moved by Andy's story that she orchestrated this mammoth Christmas party due to her human goodwill and understanding of the true meaning of Christmas. Next Christmas, we should all take Connie's example of fraternity and philanthropy to take a break away from the modern day pressure of buying expensive gifts and our extremely high expectations of presents. We should not see Christmas as a time for personal gain, but a time to celebrate the birth of
Jesus and make sure that everyone shares in our festivities - evident in Ms Davis's preparations for Andy's party. I think that Connie should be seen as an inspiration to us all because she gained nothing out of organising this party. Her charitable action shows that charity is not giving something so that you get something in return; rather, it is simply giving through free choice. Connie has simply restored my faith in humanity.
The organiser of the event, Connie Davis, did not even know Andy (the man who was unwell). This shows how the community of Haslington came together to ensure that this “poorly” man enjoyed the Christmas that he deserved.
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JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
Reportage
The Decline of the Liberal Democrats Stephen Rabey 4M Five years and a few months ago, the Liberal Democrats were at their peak in popularity. It was approaching the 2010 election and through a mixture of tactical voting and a lack of faith in Labour, many left-wing voters had chosen the Lib Dems. However, in the present, the Lib Dems are highly unpopular, and their lack of popularity is likely to continue for a few years. The question is, where did it all go wrong? The fact of the matter is that the Lib Dems were always more left wing than right. This means that the issue begun when they chose to form a coalition with the Conservative party. Therefore, where there were areas where there is little chance of a Labour candidate getting in, many Labour supporters voted Lib Dem. An example of this tactical voting is the case of singer/songwriter Billy Bragg, who voted for the Lib Dems to keep the Conservatives out of his constituency. However, in 2005, after the Iraq war, many thought that Labour were more conservative than left-wing, and consequently put their trust in Labour. This trust was consequently lost after the coalition. The second issue was their leader. Nick Clegg was, in 2010, a great prospect. He blew away the first televised leader’s debate in 2010 and consequently won major support. However, in just months, this inspirational leader was back 5
slapping David Cameron at Number 10. This, as well as relishing his ‘Deputy Prime-Minister’ role, led to even pure Lib Dem supporters losing faith. This role was, arguably, simply of self-serving benefit and gave nothing back to his voters.
He dropped his opposition to cutting the deficit, and converted to the Conservative frame of mind instead. Whilst this is not necessarily a bad thing, many voters had put faith in his opposition to austerity. This is, as almost everything was with Clegg, a simple loss of faith.
again, and their number of seats dropped from 57 to 8. Amongst the 49 who lost their seats were Charles Kennedy and Cable. For Kennedy, it was a great shame. The man who had been devoted to his party died less than a month later. Another question is whether, with Corbyn taking the Labour party to the far left, this creates the middleleft ground for the Lib Dems to flourish once again. With many Labour voters not interested in Corbyn’s far-left ideas, this could see another increase in the Lib Dems’ popularity.
The nail in the coffin was the rise in tuition-fees, which completely flopped. Many younger voters had chosen the Lib Dems as they offered a cut in student fees. The ‘Vote for Students’ pledge was signed by all 57 Lib Dem MPs and promised a vote against the rise in tuition-fees. However, when the vote came, only 21 members of the Lib Dems voted against the movement. Clegg and Vince Cable were amongst those voting for the motion. This, for almost every voter, was the final straw. The decision was mutually made that the Lib Dems would not be voted for JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
Reportage
The War Against Terrorism Thomas Pietrzycki 4M Terrorism is defined as the unofficial or unauthorised use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. One such organisation, that seeks to make a worldwide Islamic government known as a caliphate, is the jihadist extremist group Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS or ISIL. On the 13th of November 2015, a sequence of co-ordinated attacks took place in Paris which shocked and horrified the world, making day-to-day activity stop with everybody mourning the 130 deaths. The response on the next day was the sudden vigilance of people from all around the world in the face of terrorism. Each and every government were agreed as to the heinousness of these crimes, and spoke as if united in their desire to stop these terrorist groups. Nobody will accept such behaviour, with the Prime Minister affirming that, “together we will destroy this evil threat”.
These attacks happened 10 months after the Charlie Hebdo shootings, which saw 18 people killed and started a long-term high terror alert in the whole of France. At 21:20 it all started with bombings outside the Stade de France, where François Hollande, the French President, and a crowd of 80,000 were 6
watching a France-Germany football match. By 22:00, following the almost simultaneous explosions and shootings, there had been a total of three bombings, and the terrorism ended with a hostage situation at the Bataclan Theatre that ended with the deaths of 89 innocent people. On the next day, François Hollande declared three days of national mourning. Fortunately, the Parisians’ response was a compassionate and striking one in a time of such shock and fear. IS did not create chaos in the lives of Parisians, but instead created an opportunity for countries to stand together against terrorism and stop this kind of thing from happening again. The hashtag #portesouvertes, meaning ‘open doors’, quickly went viral. At a time of adversity, people were not losing hope and rejecting those in need from fear but, in contrast, many people opened their doors so that those afraid to travel home could take shelter. On a global scale, many countries’ landmarks were lit up in the colours of the French flag, symbolising unity and paying respect to those killed; each nation was affected as badly as each other, each person moved by these atrocities. For decades, every country has experienced some form of terror from Islamist extremists, so what have the governments been doing to prevent and intercept such acts of aggression? It appears, now more than ever, that IS is not something to be dismissed: it takes innocent people’s lives and is getting more
out of control every month, especially in the Middle East where people are forced to live under the deeply inhumane laws of this organisation. Many countries, such as Russia and the UK, have now approved airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq and Syria. With each action of terrorism, each country seems to be becoming more belligerent. Despite the fact that these extremists are categorized as Islamic, it is important to know that their ideology is not truly guided by the Islamic religion, as Islam is not a religion hostile to others, nor does it promote violence of any kind. Both David Cameron and Barack Obama have described this group as “unIslamic”, and almost all Muslims have expressed their outrage at these atrocities, stating clearly that they do not support these terrorists. All religions can have extremists; it depends on how you practice your beliefs, and what exactly those beliefs are. Unfortunately, events like these are becoming almost normal because they happen so often. Almost everyday there is some kind of terrorist attack in some part of the world. Hopefully the only good that will come out of them a new determination to defeat terrorism. JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
Reportage
Refugee Crisis Kevin Paulraj 4M
Imagine having to flee from an inescapable terror….. The refugee crisis is a global problem. It is different from migration, where people move from one place to another to find work or better living conditions. A refugee is someone who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution or a natural disaster.
Having to dwell amongst their fears is one of the many adversities the Syrian refugees face on a daily basis. Given the attraction of living in the safety of the west and the asylum that it provides for its residents, it is no surprise that they would seek this safe haven. However, the Syrian refugees have to go on a treacherous journey to reach the shores of the EU. Due to its geographical location, and their inability to travel by air, their only option is to travel by sea. However, this has not been successful numerous times; to pick a typical day, 22 refugees drowned in the Aegean Sea (in between Greece and Turkey) on the 28th October alone, 12 of whom were children. There isn’t a safer option, as for them to travel to European countries lawfully, a visa is needed. However, they don’t have access to visas. Hence the perilous journeys. The conflict in Syria started in 2011 when there was a great political 7
struggle to overthrow the Assad family, who rule as dictators. However, the Assads did not back down and this led to a civil war in Syria between different ethnic and religious groups. Unfortunately for the Syrians they were caught in this cross-fire, and 1807 refugees have been killed as a result. As a result, 4 million Syrians have been forced to flee from war and persecution to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. However, Saudi Arabia, who are allies with Syria, have not accepted a single refugee Turkey have the largest number of refugees, holding 2.5 million people. Many of the refugees in Turkey have fled through their homeland to Europe. The refugees struggle with the current financial difficulties in Turkey; since they don’t have visas, it’s particularly difficult for them to get jobs. One refugee said, “they felt like animals in Turkey.” The EU is not sure whether to offer money to Turkey to tighten its borders and to control the number of refugees that are leaving Turkey. Many of the Syrian refugees have given up hope, as they are stuck in refugee camps in these countries, in the cold, where many starve, become infected and die. So they seek out asylum in the west, attractive for its economic, social and political structures. Since 2014, more than 600,000 refugees fled to the EU. However, they weren’t prepared for the influx of people, as they tightened up their security and border patrol. The way we view the Syrian refugees, who are not different from us, affects whether
we are willing to help them. Some believe if we let refugees into our country then the crime rate will increase. Wrong! Most of them are trained professionals who will be looking for work, and will be covering the ageing population workforce. Many will will start their own businesses, thus bringing further prosperity to the EU. The world’s response to the global problem that is the refugee crisis is critical in order to solve this traumatic problem. The most direct course of action is eradicating the threat that is ISIS in Syria, so the citizens can live freely. On the 3rd December 2015, 390 votes to 211 led to British war planes bombing Syria. RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus is home to the Tornados – counterpart to RAF Marham in the UK. They have already successfully completed several raids against ISIS, recently targeting an Omar oilfield held by ISIS. The world needs to unite in order
to solve the refugee crisis. One way you can help is by giving to charity, as the public have done more than multilateral governments have in the past years. NGOs such as Techfugees have fundraised money via the internet for those in the Calais refugee camps. JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
The Critics
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler Miss Muhammad The trick with reviewing this novel successfully, given all the commentary out there about it already, is to get you intrigued without giving the twist in the tail away. The savviest readers amongst you can piece together the clues, which lie ahead, (and behind) and guess what lies at the heart of Karen Joy Fowler’s brilliantly quirky plot. The rest of you will have to read it; at least up to page seventy-seven, where all is revealed. Not every book grabs a casual shelf browser by accident, but this one does. The protagonist, Rosemary, is funny and irreverent. As the novel opens, she is a student at the University of California, but without ambition and confused about why. It becomes clear to the reader, before it does so to her, that Rosemary is still grieving the loss of her simian sister, Fern. The story very much charts our protagonist’s journey of selfdiscovery, but the only way she can plan for her future is by understanding her past. The characters are deftly sketched, even if they don’t play a major part. Rosemary’s father is an experimental psychologist and obsessed with this work to the detriment of his children’s development. Fern, Rosemary’s sister, is sometimes sweet and cuddly, sometimes savage and vicious. At one point, she leaves the family home and Rosemary spends years trying to figure out why. Their brother, Lowell, leaves home too. The reader is given a mystery to solve about this idiosyncratic family,
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and they’re all interesting enough to compel you to do just that. But it’s actually the novel’s title that first grabs one’s eye. Madness was fascinating to Shakespeare and to be ‘beside oneself’ is how madness was perceived by the Elizabethans. Othello is driven to madness by jealousy and self-hatred, Lear by selfrealisation and remorse, or possibly Lewy-body dementia, little understood at the time. Rosemary’s is a modern kind of madness; she’s destroyed by the misguided good intentions of her attentive parents. See Larkin if you’d like to learn more about that. Fowler deftly captures the way that an adult’s hindsight perspective rewrites childhood memories; Rose- We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler is available in the ‘contemporary mary realises that her father used to fiction’ bookshelf in the library. drink all the time, but only when she grows up and knows what daily drunkenness looks like. So a reader shares his or her sorrow with Rosemary the child, when Rosemary the adult is harder to like. Ultimately, Rosemary comes to terms with her unusual past, faces up to memories she has been trying to bury, and learns why her family is a broken one. This is a cleverly written book. It amounts to so much more than the oft talked about twist. It’s a story of love, family and bittersweet nostalgia. The twist is only an attentiongrabbing selling point: have you worked it out yet?
JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
The Critics
The Latest Apple Technology The Editors
We’re all notified when all the latest Apple tech comes out. However, why do we care so much about this brand? Apple are always innovating existing technologies to a quality never seen before, so it’s no surprise when Apple decided to dwell in the $30 billion market that is Wearable Technology. The Apple Watch came out in April 24th 2015; you may have seen queues outside Apple shops on that day. However, what makes it special enough to pay £200 more than a regular smart watch? Well, it’s the brand: Apple has become a symbolic brand across the world. Try to imagine the 21st Century without Apple. Apple Watch is the most personal product that Apple has made. The Apple Watch has a very stylish design and comes in two sizes, and it has a very clever interface. It has a wide price range, from £479.00 to £949.00 and upwards, and its battery lasts one day. This watch is designed to be used alongside the iPhone to create a personal and unique experience in day-to-day life. The iPad Pro is not a breakthrough in technology but certainly is bigger and better than previous Apple tablets, and is a serious contender across the whole of the tablet world. It is very powerful, having 4 GB of memory, and is 12.9 inches diagonally, expanding the potential uses. Apple has also introduced a new accessory to partner this iPad, and that is the new Apple Pencil. The new iPad also has great speakers that allow great songs to sound crystal clear. With a starting price of £679, could it become as popular as a laptop?
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The Critics
The Flash Conor Cahill 3MA The Flash is an American TV series. It is based on the DC Comics character Barry Allen / Flash, a costumed superhero crimefighter with the power to move at superhuman speeds. As the second season started many people began to question the quality of it as it had a very poor first episode. But with a decent second episode
getting slightly slower as the seasons go on. Arrow is on its fourth series, while The Flash is only on its second and Supergirl only started its first. To be blunt, Supergirl does not deserve to be where it is; it is quite poor.
and an excellent third episode, normal service was resumed.
say that it can’t be improved with the director Greg Berlanti. The Flash still deserves to be where it is and is well worth watching. It is on Sky at 20:00 every week.
It kicked off its dodgy campaign on the 6th of October and was widely anticipated. Now going into its eighth episode, with an amazing crossover with the Arrow to come, it has gone back on the IMDB Action TV Series Top 5. It has now overtaken Arrow in the charts, even though Arrow had a solid start, but the episodes are 10
The CGI is nothing compared to The Flash and the stunts are very slow and mistimed. That is not to
Flash. Now with a new speed demon in town, Zoom, flash will have a mountain to climb to defeat him. The last time they fought, he broke Flash’s back. Zoom is from the other universe, because Barry created a black hole allowing other dangers to come in from the other world. Will Flash race to
the top of the charts? Or race to defeat the latest speed demon in this iconic series?
With a two month Christmas season for The Flash and Arrow, there will be a big cliff-hanger at the end of each episode; last season Arrow was (half) killed while we found out the identity of Barry’s (Flash’s) arch nemesis : Reverse– JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
Misc
Powerful Images
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JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
School News
U12A’s Last Match of the Season Callum Larkam 1ME On Saturday 28th of November the U12A rugby team played Enfield Grammar School. It was a close and intense match that will be remembered by all that were involved. The game started off with a kick off from Vaughan. Barnaby Stewart booted the ball straight down the middle with the rest of us following in hot pursuit. We came as a strong line putting pressure on them and shutting them down leaving them with no options. Enfield started to knock the ball forward. Suddenly Terry Gallagher picked the ball up from where they had knocked it on and scored a try. It was a great start for the
Vaughan. Play started again after Enfield kicked off. It was now our turn to attack! We sent lots of players towards them trying everything to break their defence, but it was no use: they had an unbreakable defence. Now we were under pressure and as a mistake we knocked the ball in our half! The scrums were uncontested (only the hooker could contest for the ball). We were unlucky and they won the ball from the scrum. They ran at us, pushing us back, until we were five meters from our try line. Out of the blue came a very tall player from Enfield. Could we stop him? 12
We managed to get him down but it was too late, his momentum carried him over for a try. They had scored! The score was now even, standing as five-all. Could the Vaughan score again?
Enfield ran at us hard and fast; nevertheless, we had learnt from our mistake and tackled them. Luckily, our forwards managed to counter-ruck and win the ball for Vaughan. It was our chance for glory. Terry passed the ball out to Joseph Jones, who then gave the ball to Barnaby and next to Anthony Bautista. Antony got tackled and popped the ball up to Harry who ran through Enfield’s team. We then thought Harry had scored, but it was a double movement and one of their players got injured. When play re-started there was not much time left to score. After a few minutes hard-core rugby it was the last play. We put all our efforts into it but sadly we ended up with a tie! We would like to say a big thank you to the parents who cheered us on and most importantly Mr Lee, who is our main coach, and Mr Brett, the referee.
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School News
St Cecilia Concert Luke Warren 4F On Friday, 20th November 2015 at 7:15 the Concert in Honour of St Cecilia took place at St Paulʼs Church, Hammersmith. This concert, which takes place every year, is in honour of St. Cecilia, who is the patron saint of music, and often depicted with a musical instrument in hand. The programme of the concert this year was extremely varied in repertoire and performers. The concert opened with the First Orchestra playing the first movement of Franz Schubertʼs 8th symphony. What is interesting about this popular piece is that it was unfinished. Most concertos have three or four movements, however this concerto has only two movements. This has been attributed to Schubertʼs poor level of health which he sustained right up until his death in 1828, aged only 31. However, Schubert wrote one more symphony (his 9th) which has four movements and is in C major. The 1st orchestra was conducted by the aspiring musician Thomas Fetherstonhaugh in the Upper Sixth Form of Cardinal Vaughan. The leader of the orchestra was another talented young musician, Alex Yeghiazarian. The first piece of the concert ended with tumultuous applauds before moving on to the next piece. The Sixth Form choir of the Cardinal Vaughan school sung Wachet Auf, Ruft uns Die Stimme, meaning ʻAwake, the voice is calling us’ by legendary Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach. It was conducted by Mr Jackson who teaches music at our school. Sixth Formers Greta Thompson (soprano), Alfredo Smart (tenor), Fillippo Turkheimer (baritone) and Luciano Cusack (baritone) sung the solos. The Senior String ensemble played Bachʼs concerto for oboe, violin and strings in D Minor. The Senior strings 13
ensemble is directed by Mr Manoras who has done great service to our school and encouraged young string players to meet their full potential. Talented oboe player Jonathan Abrunho played the Oboe in this piece, which was a delightful surprise and stuck out amongst the strings. The violin solo was played by Thomas Fetherstonhaugh, who played a large role in organising and playing in this memorable concert. The senior strings ensemble was led by Alexander Yeghiazarian. The next thing on the programme was the Chamber Orchestra which was once again directed by Mr Jackson and led by Thomas Fetherstonhaugh. The Chamber Orchestra played Le Tombeau de Couperin meaning the ‘Tomb of Couperin’. The piece was composed by French composer Maurice Ravel, who is remembered for his daring impressionist music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. To finish the first half, Miss Wilby conducted the Concert Band in an unusual but successful arrangement of SaintSaëns’ organ symphonies. The organ symphony, which was originally composed for orchestra, organ and piano, was adapted so that the concert band
could play with the organ with added saxophones but minus the strings. The saxophones gave the piece a different colour, but it was a touch that I personally enjoyed. The second half of the concert was opened by the Second Orchestra conducted by Fillippo Turkheimer and led by Timothy McGarry in Third Form. They played the overture to The Barber Of Seville, an opera composed by the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. This overture is played every year at this time of year by the second orchestra of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School. Finally, the Grand Finale of the concert was extracts from Carmina Burana written by German composer Carl Orff. The piece was sung by the school choir and conducted by Mr Price, the Director of Music at Cardinal Vaughan. This piece is highly operatic and the piece is orientated around the Wheel of Fortune and mentions a variety of topics such as spring, drinking, gluttony, gambling and lust. The text is in both Old German and Latin. The piece had many notable solos sung by Sixth Formers: Luciano Cusack (baritone); Filippo Turkheimer (baritone) and Second Formers: Isaac London (treble); Alessandro Mackinnon (treble) and the very high and notoriously difficult Dulcissime solo sung by Fourth Former Karol Jozwik. Karol sung the highest note in the piece and amazed the audience with his note-perfect rendition. Overall, the concert was unforgettable and inspiring. A lot of preparation goes into these concerts. And what would the concert be without the wonderful, well-staffed music department? A special thanks goes to Mr Manoras, Mr Jackson, Miss Wilby, Mr Brennan, Mr Evans and of course Mr Price. JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
Interviews
An Interview with Miss Kelly The Editors Kevin: What inspired you to Oh goodness, maybe maths? Yes, Oh, definitely metallic bonding as I become a teacher? probably maths or business. find it quite dull and boring. Well, I was a tutor before I became a teacher and I loved the fact that I could teach something to someone and then the next time they came back they could tell me it. So that I would actually help someone to learn and to understand things; I loved that.
Conor: What has been your fa- Thomas: What is your favourite vourite moment in your time experiment? here at the Vaughan? My favourite experiment would I loved the Royal Albert Hall, that probably be elephant’s toothpaste; I was brilliant! I also enjoyed the musi- love that experiment as I find it really cals and I love hearing the orchestra exciting! Or exploding hydrogen balat Monday morning assembly, espe- loons or methane bubbles. I would cially when they played the overture like to do that experiment with my Kevin: What stirred your pas- for the Barber of Seville, that was fan- fourth year classes, but I’m not sure sion for chemistry? tastic! Mr Skinner would be very happy as it The colours, the explosions, the very Kevin: What advice would you does leave burn marks on the ceiling! fun practicals that we can do, de- give to the Fourth Year students Conor: When you were in your pending on behaviour… participating in this year’s D of school years, who was your inspiration to become a teacher? Conor: What did you do before E?
you became a chemistry teach- Wear comfortable shoes, bring blister er? plasters and bring lots of water. I I was a microbiologist for Glax- would encourage everyone to do it as oSmithKline. On a daily basis I it is a great experience and lots of worked in a skin care plant where we fun! I will be participating in the manufactured sun lotions and moist- fourth year bronze D of E this year.
My chemistry teacher, she was by far my favourite teacher and she was also my form tutor. She inspired me to love chemistry and I would probably not be here teaching you today if it was not for her. Still, when I meet urisers, so I would check the product Thomas: What advice would her, I cannot call her Mary; it is still to make sure that the microbial limit you give to someone wanting to Mrs Bensen. was within the specification. We also be a chemist? used to make antibiotic products, so I Good question! Stop talking in class, was responsible for checking that they do all of your homework and lots of had the correct amount of antibiotic revision. You should also read around in them. and look at the Royal Society of Thomas: Where did you go to Chemistry’s website, as this is very University? useful for people interested in chemI went to the National University of istry, and watch their videos of differIreland, in Galway, and my first de- ent experiments. gree there was in Biochemistry and Microbiology. I then did my second degree in Pharmaceutical Science at Sligo IT.
Kevin: What is your favourite type of bonding?
I quite like covalent bonding, as I find it very fair as the atoms share out Conor: If you weren’t a chemis- their electrons equally. try teacher what other subject Thomas: And your least favourwould you teach, apart from the ite? other sciences? 14
Miss Kelly’s Chemis—tree
JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
Interviews
An Interview with Mr Spence-Hill The Editors Kevin: What got you interested in with these kind of skills. I agree that Computer Science should be taught to Computer Science? Studying ICT at A-level (we didn’t have students and that they should have more it at GCSE back then). I was also the only opportunity to study this subject. Teachperson in my family that could work the ing is also very different to working in an PC we had in our home – back then it office. It can also feel a lot more rewardwas Windows 95 with a dial-up modem ing, especially when your students that literally took about 5-7 minutes to achieve grades that are higher than exconnect to the Internet. I was also mad pected. about computer games.
My own version of Helicopter in Scratch. It's amazing and just like the real version… kind of.
Kevin: What is your favourite computer programming language? JavaScript because you can use it on websites, and it's one of the first languages that I learnt at university. Thomas: What is your favourite Operating System? Great question! Windows 8, although I've heard Windows 10 is even better. I prefer Android on Mobile devices.
Kevin: What was your inspiration for becoming a teacher of computing? The need for Computer Science to be taught in schools was emerging; however, there were not very many teachers 15
Thomas: Which subject would you teach if you could not teach Computer Science? DT, particularly engineering, and History.
Kevin: You went on the Duke of Edinburgh expeditions last year. Kevin: What did you do before be- What do you like about Duke of Edinburgh? coming a teacher?
Thomas: What was your first computer? I was a software developer using MiMy first computer was the Spectrum ZX. crosoft .NET C# and Visual Basic languages. I mainly developed large database The first game I had was Paperboy. driven websites for 4 years. I worked for companies such as a large banking group and some well-known retailers. It is a great career to get into – there is no shortage of jobs in this industry and they pay quite well.
Kevin: What is your own program that you are most proud of?
could never be accessed/displayed again?
Getting out of the city and experiencing the countryside – it feels completely different. It's challenging for the students trying to navigate but they have great time being with their friends. Setting up tents can be also be interesting – especially for those that have not done that before. It is also fun learning how to cook basic meals in the outdoors.
Thomas: Who is your inspiration in Thomas: What is your best experience at CVMS so far? terms of Computer Science? Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World The Tokyo trip of July 2014, and also the Wide Web, because he created a hugely 2015 GCSE results day last year as our successful information system and gave it departments’ results were amazing! to the world for free. He helped many Kevin: You also organise PSHE & businesses to progress very quickly. Citizenship, why do you have such Kevin: What do you think of wear- a passion for this subject? able technology? I think it is really important to promote I don’t mind them but I think they're a bit and raise awareness of different aspects of of a fad at the moment. I think people a young person’s wellbeing and to make should avoid relying too much on these sure they are prepared for all areas of life types of devices because you can spend inside and outside of school, and also pretoo much time being reactive – reactive paring them for life after school. Grades to messages, notifications, calls etc. They and qualifications are very important, but can also be very distracting and addictive. skills related to your wellbeing are equalTherefore, you can spend less time being ly important, if not more. creative and focusing on work / studies. Kevin: What has been your favourPeople should also be aware of the dan- ite PSHE & Citizenship session so gers of having access to social media and far? the Internet so easily. Remember: what you post on the internet may be there The study skills session is very engaging forever – e.g. if you delete a tweet on and motivating and quite popular with twitter, it doesn’t actually get deleted our students. I also like the sessions we from their database. They just hide the run in March on Careers & Citizenship, record from the users. Twitter will al- which include enterprise and political ways have a copy of that message/image debating. that was posted. Who’s to say that record JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE
Misc
Puzzles notes page
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Puzzles Sudoku:
Dingbats:
Each number 1 to 9 must be placed in each column and row so that no row or column contains the same number more than once.
Say what you see!
Difficulty:
___________ ___________ ___________ Difficulty:
Number Cruncher: Use the clues to fill in the grid below, however, some answers rely on other answers.
Difficulty:
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Word search:
2. Mary’s height increased by 30% between her 5th birthday and her 10th birthday. It increased by 20% between her 10th birthday and her 15th birthday. By how much did her height increase between her 5th birthday and her 15th birthday? 3. A painting job can be completed by 3 painters in 36 days. If 12 more painters join the team 6 days after starting work on the job, then how many more days are required to complete the job? 4. Three days ago, yesterday was the day before Sunday. What day will it be tomorrow? 5. You have two straight lengths of wood. How can you cut one of them so that one of the three pieces is the average length of the other two.
Mathematical and Logical Thinking: 1. Bob has twelve black socks and twelve white socks in his drawer.
6. Sam takes the underground train to work and uses an escalator at the railway station. If Sam runs up 7 steps of the escalator, then it takes him 39.0 seconds to reach the top of the escalator. If he runs up 13 steps of the escalator, then it takes him only 30.0 seconds to reach the top. How many seconds would it take Sam to reach the top if he did not run up any steps of the escalator at all?
In complete darkness, and without looking, how many socks must he take from the drawer in order to be sure to get a pair that match?
Name:______________ Form:_____ Submit as much or as little of the completed puzzle as you want into the box in the library for up to 5 house points’ reward. Any queries or interesting solutions can be submitted to this email for house points:
TheVaughanIdentity2016@gmail.com 18
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Key Dates: January 2016 Important dates to remember for January 2016: Wednesday 20 January
Wednesday 27 January 5.00 pm – 8.00 pm
Annual Music Competition (Strings)
Third Form Staff & Parents’ Meeting
Saturday 23 January 6.00 pm
Thursday 28 January 6.00 pm
Schola Cantorum Vigil Mass, Westminster Cathedral
Annual Music Competition (Woodwind)
Tuesday 26 January
Friday 29 January 12.30 pm – 1.30 pm
Southbank Sinfonia Composing Workshop
School Outfitters
Competitions
Creative Writing Competition The Editors would like you to submit a piece of creative writing for the chance to win 5 house points and to have your work featured in the next issue of The Vaughan Identity. It can be a short story, poem, speech, song lyrics or whatever you want to do!
Photography Competition Are you a photo fanatic? The Editors need you to send in your winterthemed photos to the email address below. Winner’s pictures will feature in the next issue of The Vaughan Identity and will earn a place in the library wall of fame.
Please submit any entries to the box in the library or to: TheVaughanIdentity2016@gmail.com 19
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Quotes of the Month
~ Miss Kelly
Winston Churchill
~ Mr Ugoala
~ Mr Godwin 20
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2015 Biographies Cilla Black OBE : 27th MAY 1943 — 1st AUGUST 2015 Cilla Black, born Priscilla White, was a well known English singer, actress and television presenter. She reached the top of the charts in the 1960s. In 1968, Cilla started a TV variety show called Cilla. In the 1980s and 1990s she started to present shows like Blind Date and Surprise Surprise, which is now back on television, and became one of the most prominent presenters in those decades. Cilla died after an unfortunate fall at her home in Spain, and soon after gained her first number one album, The Very Best of Cilla Black.
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee CBE : 27th of May 1922 – 7th June 2015 Sir Christopher Lee was a national treasure and was most well known for his established acting career. He was born in 1922 and joined the military in 1939 to fight in World War II and other allied battles. His acting career lasted nearly 70 years and the roles that he is most well known for are "Count Dracula" in Hammer Horror, "Francisco Scaramanga" in the James Bond film The Man with The Golden Gun, "Count Dooku" in the Star Wars prequel series and "Saruman" in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and in The Hobbit trilogy. Lee Died aged 93.
Yvonne Joyce Craig : 16th MAY 1937 — 17th AUGUST 2015 Yvonne Joyce Craig was born on May 16th 1937. She trained at Denham’s Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as a ballet dancer. She has appeared in small roles in movies such as Gidget and Drum Crazy. She has also dated Elvis Presley. She was a professional actress and was well known from the TV series Batman in 1966. She played Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, while her secret identity was “Batgirl”. She fought crime in Gotham City. She was part of the 1967-69 season of Batman. She’s also known for her TV series such as Star Trek (1966) and The Six Million Dollar Man (1974). Yvonne died at the age of 78 after a two year battle with breast cancer.
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Mankind’s most powerful weapon: Comic not a nuclear bomb, nor a militaristic arm, but the powThe power of controlling er of thought. The power what does and what does that is breaking away not happen in our lives. from one’s primal inThe power of imagination. stincts...
KING CLAM (MASCOT OF Mc’ Shell’s)
Dammit, I hate seafood...
Wait, how did I even get here? Never mind, questions for later.
With that imagination, mankind creates strange, beautiful, terrifying worlds– Dreams.
I am handsomeness incarnate! Power beyond power! The ultimate pearl!
PRINCE PEARL (MASCOT OF PPFB*) *Pearl Prince Fish Burgers
Behold, I have risen!
Bonk 22
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P‌ Prince Pearl..?
What, am I too fabulous?!?
Comic
...FOR.. Your insults towards my fellow brethren have raged me! PREPARE YOURSELF!
Oh no!
Fine! Punch me to space for all I care! This is a terrible restaurant even for fast food restaurant standards!
Oh.. Who is the mysterious boy? Will he be strong enough to defeat the impossibly powerful Prince Pearl? 23
Find out next JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE month!
THE
V AUGHAN I DENTITY DECEMBER 2015, ISSUE ONE CARDINAL VAUGHAN MEMORIAL SCHOOL 24
JANUARY 2016 // ISSUE ONE