DIXIT
EDITION 50 5th April 2019
The weekly newsletter for the Holyport College family
Happy Easter! Who knew that the arrival of a few Easter chicks would cause such a stir in College? We all love the chicks! Some students were not aware of the proper function of an egg and others had never seen a chick hatching. Surprisingly the biggest fans are our Sixth Form students who have named and taken care of our babies. As one student put it they really do look like the chicks on the Easter cards. We have them until the end of term and have been monitoring growth and weight gain. Hopefully you have been following their progress on Twitter!
Thanks to the Science Techs for all their hard work and also to Chloe Smith and Kate Robbins for looking after the chicks so well.
The chicks will now have a new home with Mrs Axten, our Receptionist, apart from Wade the one legged chick who is going to live with Mr Parsons!
@holyportcollege
www.youtube.com/holyportal
1
DIXIT 5th April 2019
IN THIS EDITION
From the Science Department
P3.
Last week’s Health Careers Day
From the Art Department
P4.
Photography competition winners
From the Sports Fields
P5.
Inter-House sport report
From the College
P6.
News from around the College
From the Solent
P8.
Year 12 students take to the sea
From Assembly
P9.
Top achievers from our celebration assembly this morning
P10.
From the Sixth Form A recent Psychology trip
P11.
From Milton Fawcett Weekly news from MF
P12.
From the Boarding Houses News from boarding
P14.
From the Borough How you can help the College through your weekly recycling
P15.
From Channel 4 An exciting opportunity for young bakers!
P16.
From the Calendar A reminder of next year’s term dates and upcoming events
@holyportcollege www.youtube.com/holyportal 2
FROM THE SCIENCE DEPT
DIXIT 5th April 2019
Health Careers Day Last Wednesday all of Year 11 attended a Health Careers day. They found out about more unusual career options and participated in lots of interactive activities such as ultra sound, keyhole surgery (fake!) and taking blood from an arm. The leaders told us that our students were fabulous, asking excellent questions and generally doing the College proud. They also commented on the lovely lunch! Thanks to MedicalMavericks and to The Friends of Holyport for making the day possible.
3
FROM THE ART DEPT
DIXIT 5th April 2019
We are very proud to announce that the following students won prizes in the Rotary Photography Competition: In the Intermediate age group: 1st place went to Amelia Strachan 2nd place went to Silke Furbatto 3rd place to Remy Stannard In the Senior age group 2nd place Oscar Newman Their images are all displayed in the Art corridor, but here are a selection:
Silke Farbatto, Year 8 2nd Place Intermediate Dramatic Sky above Holyport College
Amelia Strachan, Year 9 1st Place Intermediate Beautiful American sky Remy Stannard, Year 8 3rd Place Intermediate A gaggle of geese on the Thames
Oscar Newman, 2nd Place, Senior Peaceful Reflection: Why do I call it peaceful reflection? Because there are two beings that are able to interact in harmony. They both experience a feel of peace and warmth regardless of what point of view you look at it from, the man or the camel. An incredible crossing between wild and tame, but which is which?
@HolyportExpArts
4
DIXIT
FROM THE SPORTS FIELD
5th April 2019
Inter-House Sports Last weekend showed the true Holyport Spirit with so many turning out for Inter-House sport. A special mention goes to the Holyport Dad’s Club and to all of the Seniors who came out to help, we’re ever so grateful for everything you did! Congratulations to Milton Year 9/10s winning all 3 of their house matches and topping the league! Herschel 2nd Fawcett 3rd Brunel 4th
Upcoming fixtures
2ND IN THE LEAGUE AND THEY REACHED 2 CUP FINALS! What a team this bunch have been! 2 unfortunate losses for our U19 Football team in their East Berks Schools Cup Finals saw them finish runners up this year. It’s the end of the road for our Year 13 footballers, we couldn’t be more proud of your efforts!
Wed 24th
1st day of term- No Fixtures
Thurs 25th
No Fixtures
Fri 26th
Dads vs Lads
Cricket
Sat 27th
Cricket Nets
Cricket
@Holy_Sport
All
HPCC
15:30
16:00
19:00
Eton
08:30
09:00
11:00
@HolyportExpArts
5
DIXIT
FROM THE COLLEGE
5th April 2019
Important dates for French and Spanish: GCSE - French and Spanish speaking exams are taking place between Wednesday 24th and Tuesday 30th April. Students have been informed of their times. This is 25% of their GCSE and we wish them the best of luck! A Level - French and Spanish speaking exams are taking place on Friday 3rd May. Students have been informed of their times. This is 30% of their A Level. Bonne chance + buena suerte!
Volunteers needed for a rowing regatta The Ball Cup South regatta organising committee have asked the College if there would be any students interested in helping them on Sunday May 12th at Dorney Lake. This rowing regatta is a really friendly event held for small schools and junior boatclubs, with various other activities happening around the lake. The committee are looking for students to help with manning the stake boat pontoons at the start - no experience or knowledge of rowing is necessary, although it is a great opportunity to learn more about rowing. The College will be taking a minibus of boarders to the event, so transport can be provided. Any interested students need to email/ speak to Miss Lunney f.lunney@holyportcollege.org.uk
ďƒ§ Young Enterprise has gone from strength to strength. Students have learned about supply and demand, marketing and production. Remy helped produce candy floss in the latest business venture. The club is looking into using some of the profit to buy various items that all students will benefit from. Egg Tempera Workshop On 25th March Miss Nicolaou introduced Year 12 students to egg tempera painting. An age old painting technique, egg tempera dates back to around the 1st Century AD. It became much less popular when oil painting was discovered in the 16th Century. The paint is basically made up of ground pigment, water and egg yolk. The students enjoyed this very different, specialised method of painting. They helped with making the egg mixture itself and then they made an illustrated list of pure pigments.
@HPCSixth
6
DIXIT 5th April 2019
FROM THE COLLEGE
Inter House Chess This week saw the finals of the inter-house chess competition. Herschel came in 4th place with the Milton teams taking 2nd and 3rd. Brunel’s team of Peter Yanev, Alan Ombewa, Ollie Clark and Cameron Mobley won the tournament, the team were very happy to have done one better than last year where they were runners up.
Brunel and Fawcet are inter-house Quiz Champions Tuesday co-curricular saw the finals of both the Junior and Senior inter-house quiz competition. Despite some initial confusion about team-members, all four competing houses did manage to muster up a full team for the final matches. In the Junior Final both Alec and Cameron were especially excellent for Brunel, managing to answer on subjects as wide as The Premier League, David Walliams’ charity swims and the collective noun for a group of crows (A Murder). In the end they won the match 260-140. At the Senior level, despite a spirted performance from Milton, with good answers from Chris and Olivia, it was really all about the Charlie Gowland show. With excellent answers on tricolour flag colours, Portugese History and Geography as well as Roman and Greek Gods. In the end Fawcett ended up with 500 to Milton’s 170. A great competition and well done to all the teams.
Brunel Triple Mighty Brunel House have ended the term on a high note! Despite the PE department once again teasing Brunel about achieving 4th place in the Inter House Sport (how quickly the memory of Year 9 rugby victory fades) - Brunel has achieved what Manchester City are only dreaming of, an unprecedented string of success. Congratulations to Junior House Quiz champions, to the Chess champions, and once again to the Pancake Race champions. These are glorious days to be in Brunel.
@HPCSixth
7
FROM THE SOLENT
DIXIT 5th April 2019
This week two lucky Year 12 students, Grace Allen and Megan Shakespeare, attended an Eton sailing course, along with Miss Oliver. They all had a fabulous time and learned some valuable sailing skills!
This week 3 from Holyport College went sailing round the Isle of Wight, Taking lots of layers, but packing needed to be light. Playing Uno down in the galley, With Eton boys the girls became pally. For dinner sometimes food came from a tin, Over the week teaching the boys how to use a bin. On Wednesday we sailed up Beaulieu River, Wind and rain did cause us to shiver. Grace kept us entertained with her Dad jokes, Whilst Met Office forecasts turned out to be a hoax. All the crew learnt how to tack, So tired we longed to be in our sleeping sacks. Megan and Grace looked took control of the helm, In the tough swell, they did well. With beautiful conditions requiring a cap, Miss Oliver enjoyed a mid-sail nap. In Cowes we found the best showers, Enjoying views across the Solent of the Spinnaker Tower. What a lot we have learnt it does seem, But most importantly, we worked well as a team. Grace, Megan and Miss Oliver
@Holy_Sport
8
DIXIT
FROM ASSEMBLY
5th April 2019
This morning we held a celebration assembly! Here are a few of our top achievers. Our Mathleters—prize winners of UK Maths Challenge Students with the most House Points in each House
Commendations in Science
Senior Sports Scholars—Year 13 awards for dedication to school sport
Winners of Inter-House chess—Brunel
9
FROM THE SIXTH FORM
DIXIT 5th April 2019
Experiencing Psychology at University On Tuesday 2nd April, Lower Sixth Psychology students participated in a taster day at the Royal Holloway University London. The day began with a short talk on careers in Psychology. This was interesting as we heard about options for undergraduate study on BPS accredited courses which are the first step to a pathway into a career in an applied area such as educational, clinical, forensic, health etc. It was then time for the first Keynote talk of the day, the topic of ‘Are eyewitness testimonies really as bad as they seem?’ This is a question which psychology students will most likely answer ‘yes, they are as bad as they seem’ having looked at the work of Loftus as part of our specification. However, this talk looked at levels of confidence when identifying criminals from a police line-up and we learned of an interesting correlation which is often overlooked; testimonies are often only inaccurate when low in confidence. This allowed us to gain insight and opinion not confined by the specification, a highly valuable experience. We also had the opportunity to watch and partake in some of the demonstrations and research projects being carried out: firstly, we heard about the development of a virtual reality lab, and the implementation of an eye tracker in the VR headset in which the virtual world they had designed was based on the work of artist Piet Mondrian. We also learnt how a magnetic current can help map and effect areas of the brain, and in doing so discovered that it’s pretty hard to drink water with a magnetic current applied to your motor cortex! Some of us participated in a study which tested whether adolescents are more likely to be risk-takers than adults, this was measured using a computerised hunter-gatherer task followed by a questionnaire afterwards. It was great to experience how research is conducted and learn about cuttingedge research projects. Over the lunch we made the most of the opportunity to go on a lab tour. One tour was about sleep tracking looking at the different stages of REM sleep and how different activities influenced our brain. The other tour looked at the effects of gravity on the brain with a tilting table, as well as an MRI lab. We found this particularly interesting, as the Professor working in the lab talked to us about a particular area of the brain he was interested in: the cingulate gyrus, responsible for tracking the movement and actions of those around us, as well as our interactions with others and their intentions. He went on to explain that for those on the autistic spectrum, this area of the brain does not develop, and that this is why many people with ASD experience difficulty with social interaction. The closing keynote was about ‘Delusions’ which was of interest to us for our topic on psychopathology and next year for schizophrenia. Thanks to Dr Malone, Mrs Harding and Mr Parsons for organising and supporting the trip. By Anna and Jemima (Yr 12)
@HPCSixth
10
FROM MILTON FAWCETT
DIXIT 5th April 2019
Another superb week in MF with this dynamic, exciting and wonderful group of young ladies. The chicks continue to be a delight with our Year 13 Alice being chief carer.
Last weekend was an amazing final weekend. Interhouse sport was superb - Fawcett cleaned up at the Netball - the team spirit dominated the courts to victory.
House celebrations
Boarder of the week Yemi Adedipe - Yemi has settled so well into Year 7 and is working really hard to get herself organised. We were so impressed with her netball in inter-house and her willingness to help any team that needed it.
Thandi competed in London for the UKMT regional team challenge - AND WON! Through to the Regional finals good luck Thandi and her partner in mathematical domination, Liam. Chloe, Liliana, Darcey, Teagan and Camilla were hosts to the Japanese students - thanks ladies! Chloe A and Thandi helped interview the new House Master for BH. Maria S and Nicole,Molly, Yemi, Rose, Victoria all played for other teams at interhouse. We had a birthday party for Miss Sillars last weekend and the dancing in house was amazing - check out Twitter for the videos.
The Easter Egg hunt was another great success too. A Year 13 team from BH won but the girls enjoyed finding the eggs and there were some mini supporters for all...
Inspiration for the week was lead by our Year 13 student Anya. Amelia Earhart
11
FROM THE BOARDING HOUSES
DIXIT 5th April 2019
Astronomy club March was astronomy month! First we used star walk 2 to find a range of start systems and planets, with the year eight team taking the win, even finding Mr Nosworthy’s favorite star system, the southern cross (unsurprisingly only seen in the southern hemisphere). One of the year eights had an existential crisis over the fact that actually there is nothing below us...except space as shown by the app, where you can see into the southern hemisphere. We then ventured outside on a mostly clear night, to find out which the bright stars we saw were, looking through our telescopes (courtesy of the Friends of Holyport College). We battle the winds and moving clouds to identify 4 different stars. Sadly the clocks changing this weekend makes the dark nights too late for young boarders, we’ll have to wait until the clocks change back to resume our stargazing!
Year 9 Boarders’ DofE Baking Club The Year 9s made Easter cornflake clusters last week and delicious scones this week. There were loads of them, and they were both very popular among the Year 13 students who were studying with Mr Alford.
Red Nose Day update You may remember that Jack Fulford in Year 10 asked people to sponsor him to have his top-knot cut off in morning assembly. We’ve just learned that, with sponsorship from family and friends as well as staff and fellow students, Jack raised in excess of £350! Well done Jack :-)
12
DIXIT 5th April 2019
FROM THE BOARDING HOUSES
Our boarders’ end of term dinner was on Wednesday night. Here are a few pics
13
FROM THE BOROUGH
DIXIT 5th April 2019
14
FROM CHANNEL 4
DIXIT 5th April 2019
The television production company Love Productions- the team behind the UK’s much loved baking show The Great British Bake Off and The Great British Sewing Bee are delighted to announce that a 5th Series of JUNIOR BAKE OFF IS COMING BACK and applications are now open for this new Channel 4 show! They are looking for talented young bakers between 9 -15 years old. Filming would take place from late July 2019 and applications close Monday 6th May 2019. If there are budding young bakers out there who would like to apply then please do visit the application website: WWW.APPLYFORJUNIORBAKEOFF.CO.UK
15
THE FROM THE DIXIT BOARDING HOUSES CALENDAR 5th April 2019
TERM DATES 2019/2020—a reminder (this is for next year) Staff Professional Development Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 Day 5 -
Monday 2nd September 2019 Tuesday 3rd September 2019 Monday 4th November 2019 Tuesday 5th May 2020 Monday 13th July 2020
AUTUMN TERM Monday 2nd September Inset day Tuesday 3rd September Inset day/Sixth form boarders arrive 5.00pm Wednesday 4th September Sixth form only. Year 7-11 boarders arrive 5.00pm Thursday 5th September Start of term Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd September Exeat weekend Friday 18th October Boarders leave for half term st Mon 21st October-Fri 1 November Half term th Monday 4 November Inset day/boarders return after half term Friday 15th to Sunday 17th November Exeat weekend Friday 13th December End of term (boarders leave at 2.30pm) Monday 16th Dec to Sunday 5th January Christmas holiday SPRING TERM Sunday 5th January Monday 6th January Friday 24th to Sunday 26th January Friday 14th February Monday 17th to Friday 21st February Sunday 23rd February Friday 13th to Sunday 15th March Friday 3rd April Monday 6th to Monday 20th April SUMMER TERM Sunday 19th April Monday 20th April Friday 1st May to Tuesday 5th May Friday 22nd May Monday 25th to Friday 29th May Sunday 31st May Friday 19th to Sunday 21st June Friday 10th July Monday 13th July
Boarders return at 6.00pm Start of term Exeat weekend Boarders leave for half term Half term Boarders return after half term Exeat weekend End of term (boarders leave at 2.30pm) Easter holidays
Boarders return at 6.00pm Start of term Exeat weekend (5th May is an Inset day, boarders should return Tuesday evening) Boarders leave for half term Half term Boarders return after half term Exeat weekend End of term Inset day 16
DIXIT
FROM THE CALENDAR
5th April 2019
Some Dates for Your Diaries Friday 5th April—end of term 2.15pm (FoHC Hop Hop event) Tuesday 23rd April—Inset day Wednesday 24th April—start of summer term Saturday 11th May—FoHC Quiz Night Wednesday 22nd May—Year 12 Higher Education evening
Lost property We have a box of valuables that haven't been collected - phones, watches, bracelets - Pandora etc Some were here when we started in September! If your child has lost any valuable items, please ask them to come to Reception to have a look!
The College is currently recruiting for the following position: Resident Fellow If you know anyone who may be interested please let them know—application information can be found on our website: www.holyportcollege.org.uk/news/job-vacancies
Parents’ Evening Dates 2018/19
Reporting Dates
Year 7 and 8 parents’ evening: Monday 5th November 2018
Year 7/8/10 interim reports—18th January 2019
Year 11 parents’ evening: Wednesday 5th December 2018
Year 9 full reports—25th January 2019
Year 10 parents’ evening: Wednesday 6th February 2019
Year 11 mock exam reports—30th January 2019
Upper Sixth parents’ evening: Monday 25th February 2019
Year 13 mock reports—15th February 2019
Year 9 parents’ evening and GCSE options presentation: Wednesday 24th April 2019
Year 7-10 interim reports—8th March 2019
Lower Sixth parents’ evening: Wednesday
1st
Year 11 full reports—29th March 2019
May 2019
17