Linguistics Olympiad

A Linguistics Olympiad is a language-analysis competition in which pupils solve language puzzles. A typical puzzle is based on data from an unfamiliar language and requires competitors to work out some part of the system illustrated by the data. The intellectual experiences provided by the Olympiad competitions are not part of the normal school curriculum, but many pupils greatly enjoy the challenge and the competitions promise a number of important educational benefits. Senior School pupils competed in the event this year and the following students from Years 13 and 12 obtained an award: Gold award: Agnes, Niklaus and Dylan; Silver award: Karolina, made regarding the high standard of the presentations. Well done to all the pupils!

Sulayman, Radek and Gosia; Bronze award: Zaara, Dan, Justina and Dariia

Well done to everyone who participated.

Drama

Since half term, the drama department has performed A level devised pieces and the GCSE scripted extracts. The devised pieces were inspired by practitioners Artaud and Brecht, and were original pieces of drama lasting twenty minutes each covering a range of topics relating to mental health, relationships and sexism. Pupils offered acting, light, sound and set design for assessment and produced three very high quality performances.

The GCSE scripted pieces were taken from a range of playwrights including Sophocles, Euripides and Shakespeare as well as more modern writers. Students made a total of twenty-two performances to a visiting examiner and offered acting, costume, light and sound. It was a tough challenge to produce all these extracts on one day to a large audience. It was marvellous to see the students rise to the occasion so well.