English - Go Team Hamlet!: Page 22

ENGLISH DEPT NEWS

SCIENCE ENRICHMENT

The Science Faculty has had a busy couple of terms with a variety of activities aimed at enriching the student science experience, including participation in various clubs and attendance at extracurricular lectures. Selected highlights from the last two terms are detailed below.

KS3 Science Club

We have been spy-writing, building spaghetti towers, making lava lamps and looking at specimens under microscopes

SCIENCE ENRICHMENT

Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize for 2022

We were delighted to be chosen again to be on the judging panel for the Royal Society’s Young People Book Prize. A group of Year 7 judges have been meeting fortnightly to discuss their insightful reviews of the six shortlisted books. We look forward to submitting our final scores and judgement on our winning choice in January 2023!

Year 7 States of Matter Show

All of our Year 7 classes have been treated to an exciting interactive show demonstrating the properties of the three different states of matter - a fun way of cementing key chemistry curriculum content!

SCIENCE ENRICHMENT

Year 7 States of Matter Show

Sixth Form Science Talks

Once again, we have been exceptionally lucky in being able to offer an exciting and rich series of weekly talks for our Sixth Formers. Ever popular and well attended, it is great to see so many of our Year 12s and 13s take advantage of the academic excellence and scientific knowledge at our doorstep. Some highlights for this year have been:

• Darragh Ennis on RNA - Life's forgotten molecule • Ben Goldacre on Bad Science and Big Data • Mark Lynas on SEVEN MINUTES: Nuclear war and how to avoid it

SCIENCE ENRICHMENT

Oxfordshire Young Scientists of the Year

Congratulations to Rowan Hector-Turnbull who was nominated as Our Young Biologist of the Year!

Year 9 Christmas STEM Lectures

An annual event for December, we were delighted to take some 50 of our Year 9s to the University Natural History Museum for a morning of films on conservation success stories, and a lecture on the ecological services provided by insects. The students also had an opportunity to have a look at some of the museum’s wonderful exhibits and take part in various hands-on activities, including live animal handling!

From Ms Ghaffar, Science Enrichment Coordinator; follow us on twitter: Cherwell School Science @Cherwell_Sci

CHERWELL GIVES BACK

By Ms Dorn

Year 12 worked on creating some donation boxes for Oxford Mutual Aid and a local organisation called Providers. This year was the fifth anniversary of hosting our Cherwell Gives Back Event for our Sixth Form students and this year was better than ever. We made over 90 boxes of donations for people across our local community, with donations, ranging from toiletries and essential items, to guests and treats for some of our most vulnerable community members. It was brilliant to see Sixth Formers arriving with their boxes, donations and wrapping paper. The Social Wellbeing teachers were so impressed with the thoughtfulness in which they prepared their donations and how they had written some lovely sentiments. Year 7 were involved too, making a tutor group box of donations, led by their peer mentors and members of staff also gave generously. We are looking to do more work like this over the coming year with our Cherwell Changemakers as a way to give back to our local community. Thanks to all people involved and Merry Christmas!

From Katie at Providers:

Thank you so much all at Cherwell School for collecting and wrapping donations for Providers, supplying the Warneford Mental Health Hospital in Oxford! A bumper crop this year, we have sorted your donations and are ready to wrap them up ready to deliver to the patients in hospital and spread some Christmas joy. We really couldn't do this without you so a big round of applause, have a wonderful Christmas knowing you have made a big difference!

Katie at Providers takes delivery of the donations.

GEOGRAPHY NEWS:

By Mr Littlewood

During the first week of September the Year 13 Geographers, accompanied by Ms Alexander, Ms Pearson, Mr Harrison and Mr Littlewood embarked on the first residential field trip that has taken place since restrictions were eased. The venue was a new one for the school - East Sussex and the town of Seaford. After a first evening scaling Seaford Head and exploring the local coastal formations, which provided valuable insights for the A Level course, the party retired to the YHA South Downs. The following two days were spent planning and gathering fieldwork data for the students’ independent investigations, all of which have to be individual. This led us to investigate Cuckmere Haven and the Seven Sisters Cliffs at Birling Gap. We were very lucky to dodge the awful weather, and had an excellent time, with the students representing the school brilliantly. A great deal of excellent data was collected for a wide range of projects, and we are looking forward to going back next year. Thank you to all the staff who accompanied the trip, and to all the colleagues who supported us from school.

Mr Littlewood

YEAR 8 GEOGRAPHY NEWS:

By Mr C Huck

Studying Geography at The Cherwell School, we endeavour to give students an inspiring diet of both physical and human geography, to set them up as the best global citizens they can be, even if they don't choose to pursue GCSE Geography with us. The overall premise of the Year 8 Written Composition was to evaluate whether or not humans should use natural environments. Throughout Year 8 students look at two natural environments in particular: Polar Environments and Tropical Rainforests, and balance this with a unit on Population and Migration. Within these units, students develop their understanding of how humans interact with the world around them, and the impact this can have on natural/ fragile environments. The key focus of their writing was the strength of evaluation, and we feel these three students produced truly exceptional work. Enjoy!

Extracts from the Year 8 Writing Competition Geography Summer 2022

Should humans use natural environments?

Carys P - 9BF

There are significant benefits of using other natural environments, such as the Amazon rainforest. Development in the Amazon, such as farming, has both social and economic benefits. Commercial farming, for example, can provide jobs for people in Brazil (which has a 8.9% unemployment rate) and a better income. The average income in Brazil has increased from $10,251 to $15,679 and poverty rates have decreased since development in the Amazon began. This money can be spent on local services and trade. The produce of this farming can be sold to city workers, who can then have secondary and tertiary sector jobs rather than having to subsistence farm (or produce can be exported to other countries, generating money and growing the Brazilian economy). With people earning more money, the government can take more from tax, which can be spent to further develop Brazil, like on housing (which can be built on land in the Amazon rainforest), schools and infrastructure. Since development began, the literacy rate in Brazil has increased from 84.3% to 93.2%, doctors per 100,000 people have increased from 109 to 216, causing the life expectancy to go from 66.3 to 75.9 years old. These benefits clearly reach not only the rich but also ordinary citizens, it can be argued that taking advantage of natural resources is essential for the development of Brazil.