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One Big Prom Lockdown Photography Black Lives Matter @GryphonSchool
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SUMMER 2020: THE LOCKDOWN EDITION
2.
Reducing Vehicle Pollution at The Gryphon
WELCOME This has been a Summer term like no other! However we still have a vast amount to celebrate in this newsletter even though much of it has been undertaken “virtually” – from our virtual Prom, in partnership with the BBC’s One Show, to our virtual lessons, Sports Day, concert, art exhibition and Celebrations of Achievements to name but a few. Our staff and students have really risen to the challenges of coping with the lockdown caused by Covid-19, we continue to strive for life in all of its fullness by being creative and making the most of any opportunity no matter how it presents itself.
“Every minute, an idling car produces enough exhaust emissions to fill 150 balloons with harmful chemicals, including cyanide, NOx and PM2.5. The microscopic pollutants can result in a range of health problems - from heart and lung disease to strokes and cancer and have been shown to be particularly damaging to children.” (Gov.uk)
The end of the Summer term is always tinged with sadness as we say goodbye to staff and students who move on to new challenges and opportunities. We wish everyone well in their life beyond Gryphon. 2020 has already raised for us many questions and has ensured that we are truly focussing on what matters and what is at the heart of all that we do. As we look forwards to the new term in September, and what we hope will be more normal circumstances, we will be actively responding to the issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement by developing our curriculum in History, English and PSHRE in particular. It is important to us that everyone is valued in our community and that everyone’s heritage is acknowledged and celebrated; enabling us to learn personal lessons from history and those who have gone before us.
The Gryphon Watch podcast Gryphon Watch is the Gryphon lockdown podcast based on 'Potter Watch' as heard in the Harry Potter series. Kat Wilsher and Nat Wilsher recorded (at a social distance of course!) two weekly podcasts full of educational and interesting items including ‘Pod Positivity’, geographical facts and ‘Joke of the Pod’. Other members of staff joined in with Mrs Kelley's Word of the Week segment, and Mrs Rann's world customs. Each week a department would offer subject specialist items and the pod featured many special guests including Mr Unwin's mathematical puzzles, Miss Jensen’s discussion on the impact Covid-19 had on the textile industry, Mrs Oxford's top 5 films for lockdown and Miss Young and Miss Gabbidon's top online theatre productions to name but a few! Kat Wilsher from the History Department said "The podcast was meant to be a little ray of educational sunshine in the darkness that was Covid-19!". "We hope it brought a little smile and joy to the students who listened, we know it cheered us up!" said Nat Wilsher of the Music department "We are very grateful to all staff who contributed over the 18 week period!"
Nicki Edwards - Headteacher
Tune in for the last podcast on Monday 13th July, and previous episodes are all on our website.
Lockdown has reduced air pollution significantly in recent months. Maps showing concentrations of nitrous oxides in urban areas clearly show significant reductions as road traffic declined. Given that coronavirus is a respiratory disease, this can only have been beneficial for people’s health and well-being. As our nation has navigated it’s way out of lockdown, limitations on the number of passengers on public transport means that road traffic has increased to above pre-pandemic numbers. Here at The Gryphon School our commitment to becoming a ‘no-idling’ zone can make a localised difference to air pollution and safeguard our children’s lungs as they all return to school in September. From September, The Gryphon School is set to become a zone that actively discourages vehicle-users from leaving their engines running unnecessarily when stationary in the school car park and wider area. Eco Club students are taking this positive action with support from Headteacher, Nicki Edwards. As a school community we will reduce our carbon footprint, and will safeguard students from breathing in the dangerous fumes produced by vehicles leaving their engines running whilst stationary.
We were very proud to see Mrs McGreal’s article appear in the TES, talking about the difference nurture groups can make in secondary education!
The Gryphon School prioritises the health and well-being of young people and providing safe and clean air for children is vital in terms of the health and safety of all students. There are benefits for drivers too! Improved fuel economy and less wear and tear on your vehicle plus the feel good factor of doing the right thing for people and the environment. When on school site in a vehicle please turn off your engine if you are stationary for more than two minutes. After 10 seconds idling you use more fuel than you would do by restarting. Thank you for working with us to improve quality of life for our community.
3. Dance Live Winners! Congratulations to our Dance Live team, who have been crowned winners of the competition, following a virtual final! Obviously with the outbreak of Covid-19 the competition had to be redesigned. The Dance Live team created a virtual final in which all students involved could watch all the performances and vote for their favourite (no-one was allowed to vote for themselves) and from this vote, the Gryphon team placed first beating 9 other schools from across the south of England! Watch the performance below! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58ZaMu 56m6I
Year 11 students received a huge surprise at the end of term when it was announced that BBC’s The One Show was throwing them a virtual prom! The parents of Izzy F-B in Year 11 nominated the school after Izzy had spent a lot of her time in lockdown helping to home school her foster siblings. Head of Year 11 Steve Fox said: “When it was announced that schools were shutting on March 20th it was a really sad end to Year 11. I think we all sensed that it was coming but when it did it felt like the students had been cheated in some way, out of an important stage in their lives”.
to guess if they were true or false. Another student Paris, sang ‘The Climb’, whilst photos of the students’ years at The Gryphon School were shown on screen. There were also a number of celebrity appearances, with messages from singer Anne-Marie and DJ Scott Mills. Students voted in a number of categories for who they thought was most likely to become PM, save the world, start their own business, and become a teacher amongst other things. Celebrity guests then revealed the answers, including Tim Peake, Dr Ranj, Deborah Meaden, Ellie Goulding and Ed Balls.
Headteacher Nicki Edwards said: "I thought this was a brilliant opportunity as the students had been disappointed to miss out on their prom. It’s amazing that our school has gotten this privilege and has really been a silver lining to the pupils in all of this." Students were delighted, with Izzy saying ‘everyone enjoyed it so much’. Her tutor Charlotte Kelley said “This has been a really big boost for Year 11 in what has been a really trying end to their time at school. I thought the whole thing was brilliant, and we are so grateful to The One Show for making this happen”.
As soon as rumours of lockdown started, we realised that there was a need for students across the whole school to be able to express themselves, and so launched #gryphonphotographers on Instagram.
The One Show stepped in to organise an online prom for them on Zoom, giving many students the first chance to see each other in four months. Activities included ‘Would your teacher lie to you?’ where students were told stories about their tutors and had
Art, Creative Design & Textiles! Art, Creative Design and Textiles, across KS3, 4 and 5 have continued to flourish at home throughout the national lockdown, evidenced by a richly diverse range of work shared through iLearn and email. KS3 have covered a wide variety of art movements, referenced artists and topics. Our Year 10 students completed their Natural Forms Coursework and undertook a project revolving around the theme of ‘Journal’, whilst Year 12 have been working diligently on their Personal Investigations with awe-inspiring finesse. In Creative Design, Year 7 have stretched their imagination creating sculptural pieces of architecture inspired by Architects Frank
#Gryphon Photographers
Gehry, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Antoni Gaudi and the MVRDV Group while others have designed delicate and intricate insects inspired by mechanical parts and pond dwelling creatures modelled in paper mache and clay. Year 8 have taken to the skies with illustrators Charley Harper and Abby Diamond to create their own bird characters with the use of bold, striking shapes and colours. Costume Design with inspiration drawn from designers Morana Kranjec and Alexander McQueen has lead to innovative ideas and mixed media approaches. Year 9 has been no different embarking on a challenge to create a piece of architecture
for an extreme environment such as forests, mountains, desserts and even pot plants! Throughout home learning, KS3 Textiles students have continued to develop their skills working upon their design booklets, culminating in a wide range of outcomes, including producing designs for the charity ‘Little Dresses for Africa’. Year 10 3D Design students have continued to work on their project ‘Man vs Machine’ and have been dedicated to learning new skills with digital photo-manipulation. -Mike Fenton-Wilkinson and the Art & Design Department Team
The Instagram idea came from the need to show what life has been like for all our students across all of our year groups. As photography is only taught from Year 10 upwards, this felt to us to be the ideal opportunity to introduce the subject to students across every year. The initial theme for the competition was for students to send in pictures that showed their ‘Journey through Covid’ so that in time we could produce some form of book for the school to keep as a memory for the future. The quality and diversity of work from students has been amazing. At the start of lockdown, we set students challenges to look around their homes and see everyday things in a different way, then as lockdown levels of restriction were lifted, we saw students start to step further afield and produce and submit some outstanding results. We really hope that students now see the world around them slightly differently and realise that they have been a part of a piece of world history. Nigel White, Director of Photography
4.
Black Lives Matter : Finding the room and creating new rooms
Aristotle said “Man is a political animal” and History is the most political of subjects. There is always some pressure to fit more and more into the curriculum often with specific and even contrasting agendas. Some insist the positive qualities of Imperial Britain should be reinforced, while others insist the lesson of Britain’s Empire should be the evils of nationalism and colonialism. In recent months, the Black Lives Matter movement has correctly highlighted the lack of ethnic history within the current history curriculum - a lack of inclusiveness that could be extended to gender studies as well. While the modular exam structure can make KS4 and 5 inflexible, the KS3 curriculum can offer opportunities to teach a greater diversity of topics. However, this has to be carefully implemented, and it is not a matter of squeezing more history into a fixed allocation of time. It would be counterproductive to edit out one period, such as Medieval History, in order to include a more modern topic. Should Martin Luther give way to Martin Luther King? These are complex issues to discuss and overcome. The current KS3 curriculum is constructed thematically to inform the students about the development of Britain and the evolution of our values such as democracy and tolerance. This therefore dictates the pattern of lessons from Roman times to the Second World War. There are brief tangents, from the Islamic Empire to the American and French Revolutions, to promote the ideas of cultural transference and the growing pains inherent in political freedoms. Any further compression of lessons would only be detrimental to the issues involved. Therefore, new approaches need to be developed and encouraged. The history department is experimenting with two potential ideas to address some of the concepts raised by the movement. Firstly, there is the integration of figures from all ethnic backgrounds and cultures into the lessons. This could be done simply as a starter, by showing that Britain has a
long history of Black people living within the community. This could start with the very first lesson on History in Year 7 with an image of the first “Britain” – a man with dark skin. The principle is that by regular exposure, the students begin to see the “invisible history” of our nation. One that is actually far more diverse than they might realise. This can be extended into more traditional lessons. For example, the Dark Ages (the 500 years between the Romans leaving and the Normans arriving) is actually a period of constant movement of different peoples from the Anglo-Saxons, to Franks, Jutes and Vikings who all mixed with the Celtic and Romano-British already here. The culture which emerged was rich and sophisticated, and hardly a “Dark Age” but more an “Age of Immigration”. A new name provides a deeper way of examining the issues, and an opportunity to make parallels with more modern times. Tutor times could occasionally be used to show events the curriculum cannot cover, such as a comparison of the famous American 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott with the largely ignored British 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott. Bringing back these lost figures and events can help to see our history in a new light.
in lessons is to miss the very essence of education. The purpose of school is to inspire students to learn for themselves and to give students the skills to do so in an objective and analytical manner. If a teacher does not cover a subject that the student wants to study, such as the 1947 Independence of India, then the student should feel confident in finding out the information for themselves. This inevitably involves a willingness to read, and so it is the duty of all subjects to suggest starting places and interesting books to inspire the students. A reading list should not just take the topics of the lesson but open up new worlds. On every reading list we provide for all years, the first book is always Bill Bryson’s ‘Short History of Nearly Everything’. It is actually more of a science book but it brilliantly shows the evolution of ideas and is a great springboard for further study. From there, students could move to Yuval Noah Harari’s ‘Sapiens’ or Andrew Marr’s ‘History of the World’, or they could start deeper explorations of more specific topics of interest to them.
Year 8 The Year 8 Team as a whole, have been so incredibly proud of our year group, over the past few months. There have been so many examples of resilience, kindness and a huge sense of community spirit. When faced with this unprecedented situation, it forced us all to adapt our way of living and the way we complete everyday tasks. Through this challenging period, there have been so many rays of light, that have found their way through the darkness and that has filled us all with so much happiness, in a time when we needed it most. So, thank you Year 8! Below are some examples of student success, during the lockdown period: Amy C (8AAI): Amy has risen to the challenge during lockdown and has been extremely helpful around the house. She has been mastering her culinary skills, sending regular photos of her meals that she cooks for her Mum, who is a key worker.
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Secondly, it is vital for students to take control of the direction of their own learning. To expect everything to be taught
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Maxine P (8ZPG): Producing GCSE standard work for Art and receiving a Level 9 for her “Matisse” inspired work!
News from the Business Dept It has certainly been a strange term for the Business department – not one that could ever have been predicted at the start of the year. All had been running smoothly with our Year 11 and Year 13 students entering the final run in, when everything got thrown up in the air. I feel the disappointment that these students were not able to demonstrate their ability in an exam, or say ! goodbye properly, but I am sure that we will find some way of doing this in the future. In the meantime, the Years 10 and 12 have been continuing to work their way through the content of the GCSE and A-level Business and BTEC Enterprise courses, producing quality notes and completing a number of exam style questions to check their understanding. I have been hugely impressed with their attitude towards doing this, with students producing high quality answers despite the lack of face to face support. It has been nice to be able to run a number of ‘Teams’ meeting with the Year 12 students, who have then been able to ask questions to help their understanding. Returning to school after such a time was always going to be different, and the department will also be changing. After spending a couple of years with us, Miss Watson is moving on – she is taking the exciting option of travelling around the world (when time allows). I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank her for the tireless work that she has given to me and the students. Her commitment and energy has benefited the GCSE Business classes that she has been teaching (even if they were unable to take the exam). These students, and myself as a Head of Department, were lucky to have had Miss Watson for the period we did. Mr Crassweller
5. Duke of Edinburgh Scheme 2021 has launched
Year 9 Year 9 have been busy during lockdown! We are extremely proud of how well Year 9 have adapted to this challenging time. Not only are we so impressed with their mature approach to home learning, but we are amazed with the practical skills they have learnt. We have thoroughly enjoyed listening to their stories of places they have explored, seeing their incredible food creations and hearing how dedicated they are to supporting our local community. Below are just a few examples of what Year 9 have been up to over the last few months apart from sleeping! Liam S and Kai B (9LET) have been meeting up since lockdown lifted and cycling over 20km a ride to explore their local surroundings as well as keeping active. Their recent contribution to their tutor groups virtual sports day was a massive 72km bike ride! Liam H (9JAM) has been helping Miss Wilsher with the Gryphon Podcast by creating new songs on his guitar to be played for the listeners and suggesting content for the Gryphon community. Chloe J (9CJ) has learnt how to knit during this pandemic and has been knitting to help newborns in her local hospitals. Chloe has found a group called the ‘Warm Baby Project’ which helps premature babies and families in hospitals. Some of the items Chloe has made so far are for premature babies; hats, cannular sleeves to hide the cannular and wires - so the babies cannot pull them out and it is not so scary for the parents, and bonding squares for both mums and babies. Liv B (9JAM) has been non-stop! She has been in contact with our local MP about Period Poverty during this pandemic creating a solution which I am sure we will hear more about soon! Liv has also been writing cards to the most vulnerable in care homes which has stemmed from her DofE work she started in September. Mollie M (9HBY) created a small business in quarantine selling organic beeswax lip products, hand cream and candles. So far, she has had over 30 orders and recently went to a craft market where she sold more products than expected! Mollie now has her products in two shops in Sherborne and Bradford Abbas. Brandon G(9CJ) has been helping out in his local shop in Sherborne by unpacking food to help with the demand as well as learning how to lay patio!
DofE & Ten Tors Whilst this year’s Ten Tors Challenge was sadly cancelled, through it all the students on the Duke of Edinburgh’s scheme continued on their Awards. This year was the 60th anniversary of the first Ten Tors Challenge. The Gryphon School had seven teams training since September for the challenge when it was cancelled on 19 March 2020. As well as training, students had been interviewed by magazines and journals, and were preparing to enter a team dressed like the original teams in the 1960s. Soon after lockdown started, The Duke of Edinburgh’s programme issued ideas allowing students to continue under the banner ‘DofE with a Difference.’ Students were given ideas of how to volunteer, conduct physical activities and how to learn new skills whilst at home. Under this new direction, students from The Gryphon School changed their volunteering plans so they could for example, help others who were shielding, assist with home schooling siblings in maths, and mapping Africa on-line for Medecins Sans Frontieres. Many took the government’s advice and did an hour of walking or cycling each day as they could no longer attend football or netball clubs for their physical sections. For their skills section many took up cooking under their parents’ watchful eyes, with guidance from Mrs Baxter and Mrs Elsworth, whilst others continued learning to play a musical instrument, sometimes with Zoom lessons with their music teacher. Students encountered problems contacting assessors, so many tutors at The Gryphon took on this role, often at short notice for which the DofE programme and students are extremely grateful. This has allowed the vast majority to complete their three sections as normal. The lockdown meant this year’s expeditions had to be cancelled sadly. Whilst we haven’t been able to run expeditions, we have been looking at ideas to ensure students can complete these and we will run expeditions as soon as it is safe to do so with the relevant safety measures in place. All our volunteer leaders are champing at the bit to get out walking again and get the student’s award complete, but we will definitely need the help of parents to ensure we can complete everyone’s awards. We are confident that adults will help, so recruitment for Bronze, Silver and Gold 2021 has already started. Numbers are looking good so please dust off your walking boots! Geoff Cooke, DofE Manager
Students can now sign up for DofE for the 2020-21 academic year. The delivery model for the 2021 Duke of Edinburgh’s Award season is slightly different from previous years due to Covid-19, but we are adapting it to ensure our students can get started on some of the sections as soon as possible. When students enrol for 2021, parents are only being asked to pay an administration fee up front to cover costs of enrolment. This will give them an account with DofE and allow them to start work on their three sections, volunteering, physical and skills. These three sections make up the main body of the award and take time to complete. Starting on 1st August will allow students to complete their sections sooner. Once it is safe to do so we will resume face-to-face training and plan the expeditions. A further payment will be needed to cover the cost of campsites and equipment . In the interim we will hold some training via Microsoft teams.
Trig Point Challenge The DofE team challenged students (and their families) to visit Trig points for their daily exercise – we have been sent lots of photos from across the region and it’s been fantastic to see students keeping fit and getting outdoors!
Geography
Students have been busy during lockdown studying a range of topics, and the Geography department have been very impressed with all of their hard work! Year 7 have been studying China and rivers, while Year 8 have been learning about coasts and weather. We loved Richard’s coastal cake, and we’d like to give a special mention to Sophie K who wrote a great letter to the Prime Minister about sustainability. Year 9 have done some great home learning on tectonics and extreme weather! Imogen K and Jack B both produced fantastic exploding volcano models, and we loved Ilas’s earthquakeproof building design. Year 10 have continued their GCSE Edexcel course studying Ecosystems, with particular focus on sustainable management of tropical rainforests and temperate deciduous forests, and Year 12 have continued to practise skills, such as graphs work and statistical tests and past paper questions on the Year 13 content of
water cycles, water security and geopolitics. They’ve also enjoyed the live lessons that staff have been running over recent weeks.
History Like all departments, History has moved online and all work has been set on the various self-learn folders on ilesson. This has not been easy as history teachers tend to be natural luddites and far more at home with a board pen and books than keyboards and internet. However, the students have responded magnificently. By and large, the curriculum has carried on as normal. The Year 7s on the Tudors; Year 8 on the French Revolution; and Year 9 on the World Wars. Special praise must go to the Year 10s, who have completed an entire GCSE module on the Norman Conquest completely at home. It was a real privilege to see some of them over the last couple of weeks to experience just how well they have done. The A Level classes have displayed a mature attitude and just got on with the process of learning. We have always said in the History Department, that the true purpose of education is to promote a willingness and desire to learn independently, and to do so with appropriate skills of analysis. In this strange period of our lives, the vast majority of the students have risen to the challenge. Despite the lack of contact with their teachers, I honestly feel many will gain as they should be increasingly confident that they can achieve great success on their own. Our subject is mainly one that produces sophisticated writing rather than visual products but we have been setting optional tasks with KS3 such as model making. Below is a Year 8 representation of a famous French Cartoon showing the inequalities of society in 1780, along with the original. This is followed by amazing siege tower built out of a climbing frame, which is as good as anything seen in Lord of the Rings!
6.
MFL
RE This term has seen some outstanding RE work completed by students from all year groups. Year 7 have been looking at issues of ethics, including child labour and Fairtrade. We have seen some wonderful responses to these issues with many of our students thinking really carefully about the implications of these issues across the world. Year 8 meanwhile have been considering the question of why we should help others. Students have been researching the work of charities and some have even designed their own charity based on an issue that is important to them such as this example from Willow E. In Year 9 the focus has been on inspirational people and how we can inspire others. Students have been researching a wide range of inspirational people from Harriet Tubman and Oseola McCarty to Jane Goodall and Martin Luther King. From this they curated their own inspirational messages that they would want to share with world. Including these wonderful examples from Danielle R and Sophie L. In addition, our GCSE and A-level students have been superb during this time, with their hard work and excellent attitude demonstrated through the fantastic home learning tasks they have completed.
English Throughout the highs and lows of Coronavirus lockdown, our teachers and students have been enjoying all that English can offer during such a troubling time. From reading powerful myths and legends in Year 7, to researching the backgrounds of some of the writers we study in Year 8, to investigating World War One poetry in Year 9; our KS3 students have shown us time and again how brilliant they are! Reading is widely acknowledged to be a key to future success and we have been thrilled to see so many students using the Accelerated Reader system to push themselves whilst at home. Students already study a diverse set of voices from Years 7-9, but next year we are maximising this by adding a few texts what deal with issues that need more explicit teaching, for example the history of the slave trade in 19th Century USA, and living as a modern teenager in multi-cultural London. These new texts will allow us to talk about the ideas in a safe environment, addressing any misconceptions and discussing how we use language to talk about race and ‘otherness’. Higher up in Year 10, students have been finishing the study of set texts for GCSE English Literature and planning a spoken language presentation. During the last few weeks we have all started the ‘Power & Conflict’ poetry anthology and we are busy investigating wider themes of patriotism, colonial power and how conflict affects both civilians and soldiers. Empowering our students with knowledge about the world and empathy for others is one of our core moral duties. It was brilliant to see so many Year 10 students back in for face to face teaching in recent weeks – we hope to see them all back in September! Year 12 have been continuing their A Level courses remotely, participating in live Teams lessons, making copious notes on a huge range of topics and starting their coursework in English Language. The anxiety of not knowing how the rest of their A Levels will pan out has not diminished the motivation and determination of our fabulous students!
Throughout the last few weeks KS3 students have been working on a range of language and cultural tasks for their Modern Foreign Languages work. They have continued to impress us with their dedication and curiosity in investigating the cultures of French, Spanish and German speaking countries. Their commitment to their home learning has been outstanding and we have been blown away by the lengths that some of our students have gone to. We have had fantastic work uploaded ranging from students producing a piece of artwork in the style of a French artist, researching German Nobel Prize winners or cooking a traditional Spanish Paella. Our Key Stage 4 and 5 students have been working diligently to further their language skills and cover the content of their GCSE and A Level courses. We have been so proud of how they have adapted to and embraced this new way of working! The quality of the work that they have been producing is outstanding and it has been fantastic to see them back in school.
Food and Catering Gryphon pupils, like the rest of the country, have been baking their way through lockdown and have made some fabulous dishes! Mrs Elsworth and Mrs Baxter put together programmes that all the family could join in with, and enjoy the results of, including making mum a cup of tea and doing the washing up - two very important skills! We have also covered fast food nutritional analysis, devising an advertising campaign for the strawberry glut, and making works of art from Focaccia bread. The students have embraced the different challenges and we have been so impressed with their work.
Health & Social Care Update As with all subjects, the lockdown has affected the course this year in varying ways and across all year groups. A positive from the Covid-19 experience will be that we have new resources to use in the future of how this type of pandemic can affect the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development of people across all life stages. This is a major subject area at both Level 2 and Level 3 courses. Year 13 and 11 students are looking to their futures after a year of exams, as they came earlier in the course and had completed course work units. Many students are moving onto university courses, apprenticeships or taking a gap year; it is great to see a number are looking at health and social care career pathways. Year 10 have also been busy and currently self-learning at home and we look forward to welcoming them back as they move into Year 11 in the autumn term. As always, we rely on the community for work place visits and speakers to talk about their roles to aid the students’ knowledge and understanding of this sector. As a department, we say a big thank you to them and look forward to being able to work together again, when things begin to return to normality in the not too distant future.
Computing In Computing this term, we have seen a variety of truly excellent and original work from our students, who have been working hard in lockdown to learn new IT skills and to create some very interesting and creative projects. Student work has ranged from projects using arts and crafts, to digital presentations and posters, and to programming complex computer programs using Python. It has also been fantastic to see that so many students have been using the time to pursue their own personal computing projects at home. These have ranged from projects such as building computers using various hardware components from one project to build a homemade robot, using 3D printed parts, and moving arms all controlled by a Raspberry Pi. Finally, all students have been using their computing skills successfully on a
daily basis to access all of their home learning for all of their subjects using our online iLearn system. Charlotte T – Learning Cube Charlotte in Year 7, used her creative abilities to display her work in a very original and interesting format. She used card and various colours to create a learning cube, with 6 different sides, each one describing a different social media platform and how it affects our lives. George M – PC build George in Year 9, was able to build his own computer using various internal parts and had to solve various problems along the way. He first installed the CPU and applied a thermal compound and the heatsink. Secondly, he fitted
the RAM plus the GPU and the PCI-E network adapter. Finally, George fitted the motherboard in the case and connected the hard drive to the motherboard then connected all the parts to the power supply. Edward S – 3D Printed Robot controlled by a Raspberry Pi Edward in Year 10 used his time in lockdown to build an actual working robot. He made this in stages by first designing the body using CAD (Computer Aided Design) software and then used his 3D printer to create the parts. Next he fitted all the parts together and included electric motors to move the body and the arms. The motors are driven by an Arduino which is being controlled and told what to do by a Raspberry Pi.
Sixth Form
Indi shaves her head to raise money for the NHS Gryphon Sixth Form student Indi W shaved her head and raised more than £1500 for the NHS! Indi and her brother Albie both shaved their heads, and Indi said “As neither of us are able to help in any other way, we felt this was the best way of contributing – by raising money for the amazing NHS system. My hair was over 25 inches long, almost to my waist – I hope to donate the hair to a cancer wig making charity as hopefully there is enough for two wigs”.
Ten Marathons in Ten Weeks!
Farewell Year 13
Jasmine in Year 13 has just finished her A-levels and is now waiting for her grades in August (having not taken any exams!). Her subjects were English, History and Philosophy and Ethics and she has applied to Durham University to do Liberal Arts (fingers crossed..)
After what has been the most unexpected year, Friday 20th March turned out to be the last day Year 13 were together in education. A day of mixed emotions following Boris Johnson's abrupt announcement, it was with much pride that I witnessed them embracing the moment, pulling together and supporting each other through what would be quite a life changing few weeks to come. A fantastic group of young people who have been an honour to work with. They are bright, engaging, passionate and above all really nice. We have loved the tutor group challenges, the competitions and debates, the competitive nature of the quiz, and their general good nature. It is with much admiration that we celebrate their ambitious natures, their dedication to their own and others causes and to their humility and understanding in what have been some unprecedented times. Good luck in your endeavours wherever they may take you, always do your best, and remember, for whatever it may be, at whatever time it is...you will never know an answer if you never ask the question! We look forward to celebrating with you, at the Prom which we have rearranged for just before Christmas 2020!
Jasmine and her Dad came up with the idea of running 10 marathons in 10 weeks as it amounts to 260 miles (to fit in with the 2.6 challenge of a couple of months ago) and they chose the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) as their charity of choice because they felt that the refugee crisis in the Middle East is one of the most pressing issues worldwide at the moment. Even given the Covid19 pandemic, the refugee situation is on such an immense scale that it not only needs financial support but also needs to be kept in the public eye, as the news is (quite understandably) dominated by the Corona virus. Jasmine and her Dad said “Deciding to run ten marathons in ten weeks seemed relatively straightforward at the beginning, but it has certainly been tougher than expected, for me (Dad) especially rather than Jasmine. If you divide the mileage over each day it works out to be a manageable 6km a day (every day!), but if you miss a day then you have to make up for the lost distance and the runs have to be longer. We are due to finish our 10th marathon on July 11th.
Sixth Form Quiz Every Tuesday afternoon the Sixth Form, within their tutor groups, take part in a quiz. The format is very straightforward, its essentially dingbats with different images and a different theme each week. It’s a pretty competitive affair between both tutors and tutor groups. Despite the fact that Year 13 had effectively finished their courses by the start of lockdown we decided to keep the quiz going. The same timings, but this time individuals would compete, but contributing to their tutors overall scores. At the start of lockdown 4 tutor groups were in contention – PRB, LM, MFW and AMO. However, the dedication to the
Sixth Form Life Skills – Cooking videos now on YouTube During PSHE this year we have focused on life skills and we wanted to share the content and be sure that we can continue to support our students as they leave school. Part of our focus within the unit was to grow students’ experience and confidence in cooking so they can continue to prepare quick, cheap and nutritious meals for themselves and others. We’ve added videos of the delicious meals students have made to our YouTube channel – take your pick from Pizza, Thai Satay Stir Fry, Pasta Carbonara, Thai Green Curry and Tortilla Pizzas!
You can now foll ow The Gryphon Sixth Fo rm on In stagram @gryph onsixthfo rm
quiz from both Year 12 and Year 13 has been something to behold – filling my inbox with their answers at a superfast rate! And so… we decided to draw the quiz to a close, when Year 13 would have gone on study leave at May half term – and going into that week – it was all to play for. MFW and AMO were tied on 220 points each. The drama was tense, as the clock ticked to 2.15pm on Tuesday the 19th May, and both teams came flying out, not giving an inch. It was a high scoring affair, but in the final half hour, MFW stole away to claim the championship. Lockdown may stop football, but it can’t stop the Sixth Form quiz!
Home Learning Throughout these odd times Year 12 and their teachers have had to adapt massively to a new way of working. It is something that we always strongly encourage – a new level of independence and proactivity, but this has really been something else. A lot of these skills will undoubtedly be massively useful for students as they go onto university and further study, but they have done amazingly well. Teachers have also had to adapt and change – teaching through Microsoft Teams, marking work via email and regularly contacting home to support them. We are really looking forward to
getting back to some level of normality though, and getting students back into school. We look forward to welcoming Year 11 students into the Sixth Form. Our induction day on the 6th July will be run virtually for the first time ever, so students will still get to meet their tutor group, their teachers and have some taster lessons and we very much look forward to working with them in the Sixth Form. Paul O’Donnell
Laura Rowe and Paul O’Donnell
Fundraising during lockdown! We have had a number of students fundraising during their time in lockdown and as a PE department, we are so incredibly proud of these students using their love of exercise and sport to give back and help others in need! Lily Y in Year 7 decided to cycle 10km each day, for 10 days in a row to raise money for Chester Zoo and smashed her original target, helping to fund the Zoo to stay open. Josh W in Year 7 also wanted to raise money for a zoo - this time Dartmoor Zoo. He chose to repeatedly climb his stairs at home until he reached the same height as Mount Everest! To this date, he has raised over £20,000, as well as appearing on BBC news and radio!
Mental Health Support During this final term, we have put together mental health bulletins for families of young people at the school as well as a separate one for our students. If you have not read the first bulletin on anxiety, it is available on the Parent Intranet and the school website. It gives a range of information linked to Covid-19 and supporting young people, as well as links to current apps and websites. These bulletins will be fortnightly focusing on varying topics to support you and your family through these changing times. As this is being written, we are still unsure about how school will look in September and this uncertainty, can in itself, add to anxiety and worries about returning after such a long absence. Your youngster may have a range of questions, so here are some helpful pointers you may be able to use:
My child is scared to go back to school. How can I help them feel at ease? •
Have an open conversation about what it is that they are worried about and let them know it is natural to feel anxious
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Some may feel nervous or reluctant to return to school, especially if they have been learning at home for months
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Some may also find it difficult if they are physically distanced from friends and teachers while at school – you could encourage them to think about other ways to stay connected
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Reassure them about safety measures in place to keep students and teachers healthy - remind them about regular hand washing with soap, coughing or sneezing into their elbow or a tissue which must be put in a bin Focus on the positives – they will be able to see their friends and teachers (if they are physically returning to the classroom), meet new friends and teachers if starting with us in Year 7 and continue learning new things
What should I do if my child is struggling to get back into “school mode?” •
Create a supportive and nurturing environment; respond positively to questions and expressions of their feelings. Give support, let them know that it’s not only okay, but normal, to feel frustrated or anxious at times like this
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Encourage them to stick to their routines and complete on-line learning so they do not feel left behind
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Get uniform, bags and equipment ready so they are moving back in to school mode ready for the start of a new term and academic year
Is there anything I should look out for as my child starts back at school? •
In addition to checking on your child’s physical health and learning when they are back to school, keep an eye out for signs of stress and anxiety. COVID-19 may be affecting their mental health, it is important to remind them that it is normal and OK to feel overwhelmed at times
The small things you do make all the difference: Keep talking, texting, listening, hearing, hugging, sympathising, smiling, reassuring, checking, sharing, suggesting, encouraging, respecting - www.youngminds.org.uk
PE During this time, we have been overwhelmed by the creativity and commitment the students have shown to stay active! To accompany this, the PE department have set a range of social media challenges which have seen teachers, parents and the students themselves get involved in some fun activities, showing relentless positivity during this unprecedented period of their young lives!
The '20 and In' Bin Challenge The aim was to do 20 keepy-ups with a ball/equipment of your choice and then aim to get it into a bin! We had over 50 entries across all year groups and we were so impressed with the range of skills on display! Toby E in Year 10 is pictured here with his luminous green football!
The 'Spin and Win' Challenge The aim of this challenge was to spin around an object 10 times, trying to maintain your balance (and dignity!) and then try and hit a target! Once again, we were inundated with entries, including Hatty D in Year 7 who chose to take on a dizzy penalty and even ex-Gryphon student and professional rugby player Ollie Devoto!
The 'Gryphon to Groats' Challenge Potentially our toughest challenge yet, the students loved working as a team and combining their distances in order to achieve our goal: Travelling a
whopping 870 miles from Lands’ End to John O'Groats! As lockdown started to ease slightly and the sun started to appear more often, it was brilliant to see the Gryphon community being active and racking up some serious mileage, completing the challenge in under a week!
Teachers versus Students For this next challenge, we turned the tables and instead of working as a team, challenged the students to take us on! The rules were simple: A PE teacher would set a challenge of their choice and once a student had completed it, they sent us one back! For some strange reason, loads of students got involved and the week became extremely competitive, especially as Lily and Immy (pictured) in Year 7 met our challenges every step of the way! In the end, the teachers just came out on top!
Virtual Sports Day Our last challenge of the academic year and probably the most important! Unfortunately we were not able to carry out Sports Day as we usually do but that didn't stop our students working together in their tutor groups to become The Gryphon Games 2020 champs! With a range of skill based, fitness based and creative based events to take part in, we have been so impressed with the dedication of all our students (and tutors!) in order to gain as many points as possible! Pictured is Josh H in 9DJB who cycled 30km with his
Zimbabwe flag; the country that DJB have represented since Year 7! All the results will be revealed in the last week of term so stay tuned!"
Congratulations to Eleanor on achieving her black belt! Throughout lockdown Eleanor T in Year 8 has continued with her Kuk Sool Won Martial Arts training. She should have been attending the European Championship in Norwich at the end of May, where she would have undergone her final black belt testing. This was deferred to club level and at the weekend Eleanor completed and passed her final test with the team at Kuk Sool Won of Yeovil. She won’t have an official ceremony until 15th August (lockdown restrictions permitting). Her Head of Year Mr Wake said “We are incredibly proud of her achievement – a first degree black belt at only 13 years of age is incredibly impressive, and Eleanor has worked so hard over many years to achieve this”.
Jack wins national Streetdance competition! Well done Jack C. in Year 9 who has won a national Streetdance competition at the intermediate level for his age group! Jack has been really missing dancing with his crew in Bournemouth, but he’s dancing every day via Zoom with a new academy online as well as online classes and instagram live classes with his crew.
Rylands Farm ‘Future Roots’, founded by social worker, Julie Plumley in 2008 is based at Rylands Farm. Its ethos is to build the wellbeing and resilience of young people through outdoor social farming and animal assisted therapy. Every year, a group of KS4 students attend, and its success is perhaps best left for the Year 10 students to express in their own words… “Rylands is a farm in Sherborne and has 30 acres of land and I go every Tuesday with my classmates. Julie is the owner and I’m really glad that she opened the farm to students like me”. “Rylands has all kinds of animals. There are a lot of sheep and cows, a few pigs and goats, only one horse,
but they have a lot of ducks and chickens. They even have guinea pigs, which is not as common on a farm”. “Sometimes we drive a tractor. We have to take it in turns but we aren’t allowed to drive on our own, a member of staff sits with us” “From my point of view, the animals help my ADHD because stroking them calms me down and focusses me”. “At school we don’t always get along but at Rylands we do so it helps us be better at working together”. “From being at Rylands, it’s made me realise that when I leave school next year I would like to continue working with animals and do a course at Kingston
Maurward college”. “Rylands is good for students as it gives us confidence when we learn new skills . I think I’m lucky to go there. Rylands is a great opportunity for students to try something new and I’m sure that next year a new group will enjoy it as much as I did”.
The Gryphon School, Bristol Road, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 4EQ School and Sixth Form – T: 01935 813122 • F: 01935 816992 • E: office@gryphon.dorset.sch.uk • Conference Centre – T: 01935 810103 • F: 01935 816992 E: conference@gryphon.dorset.sch.uk Nursery – T: 01935 810112 • F: 01935 816992 • E: nursery@gryphon.dorset.sch.uk The Gryphon School is a member of the Sherborne Area Schools’ Trust, a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England with Company Number 08130468