TWGSB School Magazine: Eclectics 2016-2017

Eclectics 2013-14

ECLECTICS 2016-17

Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys

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Open Day

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Eclectics 2011-12

Eclectics 2016-17

Head Student’s Report Sixth Form Transition ISSET Mission Discovery Sixth Form Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Music Media Studies History Geology Geography Drama English Art Physical Education Ski Trip Argentina Exchange Activities Week Year 12 English Literature - Paris Year 12 Philosophy and Ethics - Athens Year 10 MFL - Madrid Year 8 Outward Bound - Devon Year 7 MFL - Paris Library School Awards Sports Day

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Front Cover Artwork: Filip Talar 7D, James Heath 9M, Lily Morley 12C, Felix Brooks 10F, Thomas Morgan 11C (top left clockwise)

TWGSB, St John’s Road, Tunbridge Wells, TN4 9XB www.twgsb.org.uk l facebook.com/twgsb l twitter.com/twgsb

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Head Student’s Report Having spent six wonderful years at TWGSB, during my 7th and final year I was honoured to be given the role of Head Student and the chance to represent the student body. I have been able to work with a team of Senior Prefects and the Senior Staff to improve both the upper and lower school. It has been a challenging, yet highly rewarding year and one that I will look back on with great fondness.

The class of 2017 has had great success, much like its predecessors. This has come in many fields; academia, sport, music and other extra- curricular activities. The 1st XI claimed yet another league title, with the 2nd XI also putting in an impressive effort. Creativity thrived too, as Jon Bourne, Mishaal Memon and Taran Knight had their EPQ film screened in the local Trinity theatre. Another notable achievement was from Xander Effingham, with his rocket design built and sent to space by NASA, which is no mean feat. As a year group we proved that TWGSB provides a platform for all types of people, from those who have received offers from Oxbridge, to those who plan to take a more practical approach as they leave the school. The Sixth Form students at TWGSB have certainly shown how there is no measure for success and have embodied the school motto of “ Respect, Excellence and Determination”.

A major part of being a Senior Prefect or part of the Head Student team, is to raise money for charity.

As Head Student, my selected charity was Demelza Hospice for Children. They offer end of life care to terminally ill children, as well as bereavement and family support. As our student body is very privileged with the support it receives, I felt that supporting other teenagers who had less bright futures was a great cause. I am very pleased to say that we raised a sum total of £5303.85, all of which will go directly to the Charity. This was achieved through a number of fundraising events, including a Christmas jumper day, a fun run and a quiz night which were great fun to be a part of.

None of this would have been possible without the Senior Prefect Team or the Head Student Team, namely Tom Connolly, Natalie Waller, Chris Boxley, Chris Pruce and Josh Rapley, who put in countless hours to assist the school and raise money.

Additionally, Natalie was key in organising the Sixth Form Christmas Party and the Leaver’s Prom, which gave us something to look forward to after studying. We got on very well as a team and used each other’s strengths to be as efficient as possible. I wish George Rutt and his team the very best of luck for the forthcoming year. I hope they can identify areas where we weren’t perhaps as strong and look to build on them.

Adam Sturgeon, Head Student 2016-2017 Senior Prefects: Fleur Adderley, Kieran Armstrong, Rory Baker, Max Borland, Chris Boxley*, Tom Connolly*, Connor FlashmanWells, Jack Greener, Robert Marsden, Sam Murrell-Jones, Tom Nichol, Toby Osbourn, Chris Pruce*, Josh Rapley*, Oliver Ricketts, Joshua Smith, Yinka Sobamiwa, Adam Sturgeon, Tyron Surmon and Natalie Waller*.

* Deputy Headstudents

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Transition to Sixth Form A Level Taster day - July 2017

Sixth Form Induction at Bewl Water - Team building

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STEM Winners - ISSET Mission Discovery 2017 International Space School Educational Trust’s (ISSET) Mission Discovery During the summer break in 2015 following a managing the development of the project along with recommendation to sign up by Mr.Goddard several of the organization of the team as well as the public us from his Electronics class as well as a handful of speaking responsibilities. Matt and I were in Team others from the year below entered to take part in the 12 - Icarus, which consisted of myself as the team The International Space School Educational Trust’s leader, Matthew and a local girl Francesca and an (ISSET) Mission Discovery. Mission Discovery is the Italian called Federico who had flown in specially name given to ISSET’s summer school competition from Milan in order to take part in the competition. program in which students, in teams, propose an idea for their own scientific experiment; the best The design brief we were presented with was to idea will be launched into space and carried out by create an experiment of any kind that did not include Astronauts aboard the International Space Station. bio-hazardous products that would fit inside a 4” During the schooling participants received lectures cube (10cmx10cmx5cm), with a mass no greater from NASA Astronauts, Astronaut trainers, NASA than 0.6kg, drawing no more than 5 watts provided personnel, scientists, from 3.3,5, and 12 volt astrophysics professors Having had a lecture from Astronaut Mike Foale on the power rails, and transand engineers power management system of the ISS it occurred to us mitting no more than concerning a wide range that there was an obvious problem to be solved.

250mb of data per day. of subjects within the From that point the field of space faring project was entirely open including: the cardiological and osteological effects to us, and following a lecture concerning the growth of prolonged spaceflight, the psychological effects patterns of microbes in micro gravity one of the team of space, the behaviour of microorganisms in micro members suggested we research so called “metalgravity, and basic astronomy in space (as well as breathers”. “Metal-breathers” are in fact microbes many others). that release electrons when they respire, rather than carbon dioxide like mammals.

Aside from the lectures we were placed into teams of 4, with a team leader given the responsibility of Having had a lecture from Astronaut Mike Foale on the power management system of the ISS it occurred to us that there was an obvious problem to be solved; the space station runs entirely on solar power but is only in sunlight for 45 minutes of it’s 90 minute orbits (“day”). Given the extreme and danger cost of shipping any other form of power sources to space e.g. nuclear, we had already decided that finding an auxiliary power source would be an ideal project to present to NASA.

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STEM The crux of the lecture concerning microbes was that without the constraints of gravity they can grow up to 1000 times the size of their Earthling counterparts. Not only do they grow larger but they become more virile, reproducing at a faster rate. Combined we decided that a reasonable hypothesis would be that in micro gravity the metal-breathers may grow to 1000 times the size and therefor produce 1000 times more electrons, boosting their respiration output up to a low level current that could theoretically be harnessed for human need through quantity of scale. However the most exciting part of this fact is that these same metal-breathers are prominently in the majority of faeces, so it could also prove to be a form of recycling on the space station.

Throughout the competition we developed the idea of what we called “Microbial Fuel Cells” with Matt developing a 3D model in order to provide further evidence for our hypothesis.

Through out each round my presentation skills were deemed to be the highest and my team’s idea was consistently voted the most promising. The two other teams in the final speaking against me were presenting a more ecologically sound way of cleaning the inside of the ISS, and a new concept for Carbon Scrubbing being used to clean spacesuits.

After having finish my presentation and fielded questions from the NASA board there was a long rest The final day of the competition was devoted to the period in which they decided a winner, which was unpresentation of the ideas. The dedicated speaker derstandably quite tense. Then we were announced of each team was given the task of presenting their as the winners, presented with various certificates team’s idea, with the and posed for photo-ops support of their team It has been quite a long time since you won Mission with the Board. I received for scientific accuracy, Discovery at King’s in 2015, but we have been an extra award for public in a knock out competiworking hard behind the scenes and your winning speaking prowess, all the tion of public speaking. biofuel cell experiment is soon to be launched on awards were signed by Each round consisted of SpaceX10 from Cape Canaveral in February 2017. the various judges. a 15-20 minute presenta- Dr Julie Keeble, Kings College London tion and a question and Following all of that there answer session. The first round was in front of 20 was a long period without communication. I was students and a lecturer from UCL. The second to 50 invited back by ISSET to join a trip to Russia in order fellow competitors with 4 lecturers. The third round to visit Moscow and Star City (where they were trainwas to 100 competitors and a board of 4 professors ing Tim Peake at the time), however there was no and 1 former Astronaut (Mark Kelly of NASA), and communication about the project. But as it turns out a the Final was to all 250 others on the summer school team of scientists had been working hard in order to and a board of NASA scientists including Sarah realize our idea, and it will be launching on SpaceX Murray (Chief of EVA for NASA) and astronaut Mike 10 from Cape Canavral on February 8th 2017.

Foale, as well as Camille Wardrop (NASA assistant Program Scientist).

Xander Effingham, 13B and Matthew Franklin, 13A

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Sixth Form Mock United Nations General Assembly

Today was the day and I was hastily going through my speech for the upteenth time. Today being MUNGA day: The Model United Nations General Assembly, is an annual inter-school competition, involving schools across Kent sending delegates to a mock General Assembly meeting, each institution representing three very different countries: I was to head the South Korean delegation. We had to get inside the psyche of our country and understand fully their domestic and global interests. There was no time for our sensibilities to cloud our judgement. I was going to be a good Korean.

We gathered outside Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Offices as students from other schools pitched up wearing berets, hijabs, sombreros and African tunics. We filtered into the council chamber, an impressive space and somewhat daunting. The mayor entered dressed in his finery and made a brief speech. Suddenly it was my time to get up and address my fellow delegates: all eyes were on me. I started to feel a little anxious that I had sneaked into my speech a Korean swear word, aimed at my North Korean neighbours. One of them smiled

wryly after I uttered the ‘word’, whoops I’d been rumbled. I was starting to enjoy myself as the day progressed. At lunchtime there was frenetic activity as between mouthfuls of sandwich we were busy making deals and alliances with fellow nations. The tall lad with the stars and stripes bow tie and matching braces was a very popular figure, with a scrum of delegates around him, ‘plus ca change’. This was a great way to see how politics works in action on a global scale.

We were then set an emergency debate for the afternoon on the prescient issue of climate change. There was more heated debate in the side offices, that were physically getting hotter due to the fact that it was an unseasonably sunny day for November: perhaps there’s something in this climate change debate. Finally, there were closing speeches and awards and hurrah we, (well not me) but our delegates for Japan won first prize. I’ve enjoyed the MUNGA experience and would recommend it to anyone about to enter the sixth form, especially if they are planning to study history or politics.

Lillie Anderson, 12J

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Sixth Form Gold Duke of Edinburgh

This photo was taken on a very wet and low cloud day on the gold assessed in October 2016 in the Dark Peak, Peak District National Park.

The students found shelter in this workmans hut up on the moor just near the Snake Pass.

This group had a hard week, generally poor weather and one student had the previous evening been suffering from hypothermia and was vomiting but managed to finish the final day.

Well done to all of them: Yinka Sobimawa, Sam Murrell-Jones, Jack Greener, Doug McCoy, Dan Eddy, Tom Foster. All July 2016 leavers.

Year 13 Religion and Philosophy Trip - The Shri Swaminarayan Mandir During the Easter holidays, on the 10th April, we met Mrs Hawkes and Mr Coen at Charing Cross station. From there, we travelled to the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir where we experienced the beauty, peace and tranquillity of the ornate Hindu temple, learning about their traditions and enriching our knowledge on the concept of life after death. This was especially useful as it slots in perfectly to our A2 curriculum and thus proved to be a great way to prepare us for our exam in June. The trip was augmented by a very knowledgeable Hindu Oxford undergraduate who gave us a talk on the variations between the different schools of thought, and was able to quell any queries we had on the topic.

Fleur Adderley, 13E and Chris Boxley, 13C

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Sixth Form St Hugh’s College, Oxford - Julia Wood Essay Prize Near the end of the summer term we discovered the Julia Wood essay prize, a competition for Year 12 Historians run by St Hugh’s College Oxford.

Over the last few weeks before we had both been doing research for our EPQ essays anyway, and we thought we may as well write our essays for the end of July deadline. We thought we had a good chance of doing well and the worst case scenario was us finishing the majority of our EPQ, a no brainer.

I (Tyron) had spent the last year teaching myself Esperanto, and decided to base my essay on that topic, writing on whether or not it ever had a viable chance of becoming a lingua franca for the whole world (long story short, it didn’t).

I (Ollie) wrote mine on the fall of the Byzantine Empire, blaming society for the collapse. When

A Level Spanish Exchange On Friday the 3rd of February, standing in the school car park at 2 AM getting on the coach to Heathrow, i had no idea how the next week was going to turn out. I could not have anticipated how nervous I was going to be when i stepped out of the minibus in Jerez De La Frontera, but it turned out to be one of the best experiences i have had.

The fact that it was an exchange meant that we had full immersion, giving us the unique opportunity to sample the culture and lifestyle of Spanish teenagers. Not only did I make a lot of new friends, but in doing so I also significantly improved my ability to converse naturally in Spanish. On top of this, we got to see amazing sites such as the cathedral of Sevilla, Cadiz’s camera obscura and monkeys on top of Gibraltar’s rock. I could not have asked for a more well organised, rewarding trip.

Chris Boxley, 13C

explaining this, I spend most of my time telling people who the Byzantines were as no one seems to know.

Although neither of us won we both got invited to a lunch at the college on the back of our essays, joining around 15 others out of the 234 who applied.

Initially being the first to arrive, and then realising we were the only state school pupils there was a bit daunting, but we really enjoyed it and got a lot out of the event.

Outside of the lunch being very nice we both were able to spend time talking to the history professors and lecturers at the college, which was very valuable.

It was a really good experience and we would recommend anyone in Year 12 to consider entering the competition when it runs again next year.

Tyron Surmon, 13A and Ollie Gill, 13I

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Sixth Form Head Student Charity

Adam Sturgeon presents a cheque to Demelza Hospice for Children.

A Level Art Students visit the Courtauld Gallery

A Level WWI Poetry World War One poetry is a topic that we look into at great depth in A level English Literature.

Some jubilant but so many tragic, the poetry has brought to light the harsh realities and the futility of war, whilst reminding us how truly fortunate we are today. On November 21st we had the opportunity to travel to a conference in Bloomsbury, London, where we heard experts in the field of World War One poetry enthusiastically convey their thoughts and feelings on some of the most iconic poems and poets of the era. For instance, Professor John McRae of the University of Nottingham spoke about the effects of war on the individual, the society, on the present and how we perceive the war today. He also explored the resulting

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Sixth Form progress and revolutionary approach to mental health, more specifically in the treatment of the many soldiers who came away from the battle fields suffering from what we now know is PTSD. We also considered the apparent disconnect between the perception of warfare between those fighting on the Front Line and those at Home.

We appreciate the time and effort that our teachers gave to make this trip possible, it was a fantastic opportunity to consolidate our learning and experience University style lectures.

Ethen Allen, 12C

A Level History Trip to Royal Academy Exhibition We went on a history trip to the Royal Academy in London to visit the Russian Revolution exhibition with Mr Rockell. We are studying the USSR for A Level. It was perhaps fitting we went in March this year, which according the Gregorian calendar, is when the first revolution took place a hundred years ago (of course you may see October 1917 as a coup – it’s complicated). This was a remarkable visualisation of what we had been studying such as the Civil War, Stalin’s Five Year Plans and the drive to collectivise and mechanise Soviet agriculture: paintings of tractors being produced at Putilov, photographs of so-called ‘Lenin’s lamps’ (electric bulbs) being installed in a peasants’ house, film footage of collectivised farms and designs for ration books. I also study art so the free booklet on the exhibition has been a wonderful resource. It certainly helped bring aspects of the course to life, especially the photographs.

The clever aspect of this exhibition was to show that the more traditional types of art were current after October 1917, as much as the more avant-garde style of painting, gradually expunged by Stalin in favour of the former.

There were many paintings I was familiar with such as those by Kandinsky, Chagall and Malevich and some surprises, such as Alexander Deineka. The ending of the exhibition was very powerful, with projections of ‘mug shots’ of those who had once taken up arms to try to secure a fairer society alongside fellow Bolsheviks and then found themselves persecuted by Stalin either

condemned to a death or exile in a gulag: it was a sobering message amongst the bright colours of some of the paintings, textiles and even porcelain.

It was a field trip that really did help breathe life into a fascinating subject.

Alex Quinn, 12I

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STEM CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) Despite a couple of gruelling plane journeys I really enjoyed this trip. The plateau near Geneva is a beautiful setting for the worlds largest particle accelerator. The morning visits to the public displays were fantastic, I can now proudly say that I have stuck my head in the Gargamelle chamber (which famously proved the existence of a neutral-charge-current in 1974). The display gives a real sense of the dynamic of the staff and research there, one of the exhibits being a live feed of the collision readouts, CERN is all about sharing their information with everyone (I believe a taxpayer pays CERN’s annual bill by buying a cup of coffee). Of course the real treat was our visit to one of CERN’s experiments. I didn’t dare get my hopes up too much but I had my finger crossed for CAST or CLOUD. But to everyone, including the staff’s, surprise we were lucky enough to be chosen to visit the Compact Muon Solenoid 100m underground, one of the LHC’s multi purpose and most famous detectors.

It was a bit of a physicist’s Disneyland to stand so close to such a significant machine, and of course Mr Beard had plenty to point out about it. Overpriced airport water aside it was an absolutely fantastic trip, (and Mr Hamilton is a fantastic teacher for organising it).

Alec Walsh, 13B

Year 8/9 Invicta Maths Challenge On the 21st February 2017 Tonbridge Girls Grammar School hosted a Regional Maths Challenge. 27 different schools sent teams of four compromised of Year 8 and 9 students. The day started with 10 problem solving questions which were to be answered over 45 minutes. This was immediately followed by the cross number challenge (a crossword with numbers). We were one of the top three highest scoring schools in this challenge. We then had a pause for lunch and to relax. The last challenge was a relay race (we split into twos and could only answer our next question once the other

team had got the correct answer to their question – there was a lot of running involved!). After the scores were totalled up we found out we had come 7th out of 27 teams. We then all received free pencil cases and the winners, runners-up and third-placed teams received playing cards and bookmarks. The winners (The Judd School) will progress to the national finals.

Overall, we had an enjoyable and eventful day. Next year we hope to improve on our 7th place result with new year 8 students on the team as well.

Ollie Brooks, 8M and Elliot Cadell, 9H

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STEM Invicta Maths Finals On Monday 13th March, four students from Year 11 attended the Invicta Maths Games finals at Invicta Grammar School after success in the previous heat.

On arrival, it became immediately apparent that a strong sense competition was in the air especially as we hoped to beat the surrounding grammar schools in Kent.

The day was based around four rounds of complex and puzzling questions which not only tested ability but speed. It required us to work effectively as a team and in pairs. For the first two rounds, we were confident in our answers and felt pleased with our performance. However, as the day progressed, the questions got harder and the head scratching became much more frequent!

Promisingly, surrounding teams were getting similar scores and so it seemed that the victory was going to be a close battle. Despite our best efforts, Judd’s team came first, followed closely by The Skinners’ school who gained second place in their first year in the competition. Overall, the Boys’ Grammar team were placed seventh out of more than 30 teams who initially entered.

All in all, we had a great day and the puzzles kept us entertained; we were so grateful to have the opportunity to participate in the competition and many thanks to Mrs Peadon who organised the trip as well as providing moral support and training.

Team members: Ben Austin, Sam Barker and George Wakely.

Will Shoosmith, 11D

Jaguar Cars Maths in Motion The Jaguar Christmas Grand Prix is the most important and competitive of the stand-alone races sponsored by Jaguar. Our car, produced by Matthew Greenwood and Liam Coppendale (both Year 9), won by 14 seconds, with Glasgow Academy and Watford Grammar finishing second and third.

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STEM Eagles win Year 7 Inter-House Maths Competition

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STEM

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STEM Resistant Materials

Dominic Heron, 11A: Garden Table

Edward Shamwana, 11A: Multi-use BBQ

Rowan Woolley, 13H: Interactive Exercise Equipment for Dogs

Thomas Briggs, 11C: Bird House

Remy Brooks-Johnson, 12G: Product Manufacture

Tim Rowe, 13C: Water Bottle Holder

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STEM Graphics

Finn Mulligan, 11G: School Band Promotion

Jack Owens, 11F: School Band Promotion

Seb Gamble, 12H: American Diner

Oliver Manser, 12E: American Diner

Franco di Nola, 13A: Sevenoaks CafĂŠ

Niall Greenstreet, 13J: Skate Board Park

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STEM Food and Nutrition

Year 7 Christmas Cakes

Year 8 Soup Kitchen boys with Dr Sturley

Food Preparation

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Music Lodge-Hill Music Trip When I filled in the form for the Lodge Hill trip in October I thought it was going to be 24 hours of music non-stop, but you did lots of fun activities as well. There was plenty of chances to make new friends there. The people in my room were a singer (Jake) and a trumpet player (George). The songs we did as a whole group were ‘Don’t stop believing’ and ‘Go your own way’. These were rehearsed for the Christmas concert.

We also did improvising, as well as split into groups of about seven musicians and did some well-known songs. My group performed ‘Shine’

by Years and Years. In our break some played football on a basketball court but others like me decided to do other ball games beside the court.

Over all I really enjoyed this trip. Next year I am going to go on it again.

Daniel Claydon, 7D

Battle of the Bands

On Thursday the 22nd of June, Battle of the Bands happened which included many bands across the years. These fabulous performances played a wide variety of songs, even with a little interview at the end of each songs.

Many people turned up to watch (we had a full house!). it was a lovely evening with an award ceremony at the end. We would never have been able to do it without our four sponsors: Abbey Music, Rotosound, Brittens and DJMusic. Also a special thanks to the backstage crew, Mr Pearce, Mr Lorentzen and Mr Joris.

Alexander Bentley, 7A

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Christmas Concert

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Media Studies

GCSE work by Finn Waring 11C

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Media Studies

Field Trip Brighton

Field Trip Wilderness Wood

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History

Year 9 Ypres

After a smooth journey, including boarder control, sooner than expected we arrived to our first stop.

The first destination was Birr Cross Roads Cemetery where we got our first taste of Ypres. The cemetery was to commemorate the advancement of the Allied units away from the town centre. The cemetery was particularly special as it consisted of a two-time Victoria Cross holder Harold Ackroyd; who sacrificed his life to attend to the aid of the wounded on the battle field. The cemetery was in fantastic condition and it had a log of all the soldiers who were buried in the cemetery. We stopped off for our lunch at the Hooge Crater Museum which was literally packed from top to bottom with artefacts from the war. After lunch, we went across the road to the Hooge Crater Cemetery which was much larger compared to the Birr Cross Roads Cemetery. We spent a while in the cemetery paying our respects to those who sacrificed their lives and noting how many grave stones were dedicated to soldiers who were so badly wounded, that they were unidentifiable.

Next on our trip, we travelled to Sanctuary Wood Museum and Trench System at Hill 62. We entered another museum that was packed with items from the battle that took place there at Hill 62. We saw all manor of things in the museum such as body armour, clothes from both the allies and German empire and numerous guns. We went through the museum rather quickly as it was only small; and later

onto the main part of Hill 62 which was the Trench System. The trench system was very long and deep and we were astonished with the very narrow trenches. Most people enjoyed the tunnels under the site that seemed to stretch and turn forever, apart from those who were very tall. After the visit to the trench system, we visited the memorial at the top of the Hill where we looked over the fields that surrounded the site. We were lectured on the events that happened at the site. Next, we visited a neighbouring cemetery and we payed our respects briefly as we ventured to Hill 40 to see a crater of a huge mine set off in 1917. Soon, we set off to our hotel and checked in. After dinner, we travelled to the Menin Gate to attend the ceremony which was like our 11/11 ceremony in the UK. After the wreath was laid, we took time to take in the number of names that were written on the walls of the gate. Returning to the hotel worn out, we all turned in for the night.

The next morning came with the gentle tapping on the door and then after a good breakfast, we left the hotel for a great day ahead. We first visited the In Flanders Field Museum. We first noticed that this museum had lots more information compared to the others we had previously visited. I think I enjoyed it the most. Leading on, we visited Tyne Cot Cemetery. The bulk of us did not expect to see so many graves and we took plenty of time to look around. The Cemetery was unique as it had the original German bunkers that were used in the battle near Passchendaele. The cemetery was all allied forces with several German graves that were there because of their deaths on the site before the cemetery was built. Lastly, we visited Langemark German Cemetery which was completely dedicated to the German soldiers on the front. This cemetery was much different compared to the style of the graves. Some graves were in the style of plaques, some were stone crosses and few were in a tomb like structure. In the centre of the cemetery was a massive mass grave that we were told contains 24,917 soldiers of whom 7,977 remain unknown.

Over all, I personally thought it was a lifetime experience with lots of information given to us.

Everybody knew how to behave, making the trip more enjoyable.

Christian Barker, 9M

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History

Battle Abbey At the start of 2016, Year 7 went on a trip to Battle Abbey following up their topic on William The Conquer and The Norman Conquest.

We approached Battle Abbey on foot from the car park. The keep was impressively big. The outside was still original although later we discovered that most of the inside has been refurbished. During this day we experienced what it was like for the knights who fought at the Battle of Hastings, as there was an opportunity to try on parts of Norman armour. It was surprisingly heavy and would have been hard to march in, and even harder to fight in .

The abbey was previously destroyed by Henry VIII in the 16th century and as we walked through we could

explore the ruins of the once religious building. As we approached the end of the abbey in the distance there was a strange lump inset in the hill. Inside there was a cone shaped hole reaching down tens of metres below. This was their medieval equivalent of an ice storage: in winter the snow was collected and thrown in there for the hot summer months to come so their food stays cool and fresh.

Finally, on the far side of the Abbey stood the leftovers of a demolished chapel with just its foundations, subterranean walls and pillars remaining. It was interesting as most chapels are not partially underground.

Nick Kotlarczyk, 7G

Year 9 Normandy - July

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History The Royal Engineers Museum Trip On Monday the 3rd of July, 24 boys from history club went on an optional trip to the Royal Engineers Museum. We were very fortunate that the museum opened especially for our visit as it is usually closed on Mondays, this means we had the museum to ourselves. The museum is located in Chatham directly adjacent to the Royal Engineer’s barracks.

On this trip we visited a wide variety of artifacts varying from a full sized V2 Rocket to one small section of a Bailey Bridge. One of the most impressive exhibits was a full size Harrier Jet. As well as visiting these objects we took part in a couple of activities. These included working together in groups to build the strongest bridge, which could withstand the most weight. Also we took part in a rocket making competition, which tested our knowledge of aerodynamics by challenging us to

make the correct shape of fins to enable the rocket to glide through the air. The rockets we made were then tested, by being forced up by a pressure tube.

The museum shows artifacts from the past World Wars and from the current day. The objects in the museum were retrieved (stolen) from other countries

by The Royal Engineers such as pieces of the Berlin Wall and a German Nazi Statue. There are also many exhibits from our own armed forces, for example The V2 rocket, which crashed and didn’t explode. Many families have donated their ancestor’s great medals, which can also be seen including the Victoria Cross and the George Cross.

Overall this trip was a fantastic insight in to what the Royal Engineers and other armed forces have done historically and also a glimpse into the future.

Joseph Tickner 7G

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Geology

Pett Level

Osmington Bay

Our time on the residential trip was very insightful as the main purpose of the trip was to gain experience in the field. This helped as it was leading up to our coursework analysis of a future trip.

We went to the Jurassic Coast to see examples of the geology we had learnt in class and to put into practice geological techniques such as dip and strike to analyse rock layers. We also looked at the effect of quarrying. The trip helped reinforce our knowledge of the three S’s and C’s used to formalise the recording of rock faces and how to measure the dip and strike of different beds of rock. The most exciting part of the trip was finding a fossil in the cliff.

I enjoyed seeing real-life examples of all the things we had learnt.

On the trip we studied the ‘Man o’ War’ Cove which is an enormous outcrop of rock and had significant relevance to our coursework, as it was formed immediately preceding the Wealeden Sandstones that we studied at Pett Level so it gave lots of context to the coursework investigation.

We were guided by an incredibly helpful team of geologists who helped our investigation. I learnt a lot about the correlated sequence of events when the landforms in Britain were formed.

Arthur Halsall, 11A

Alex Boullé, 11A

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Geography Year 11 Coursework visit to Greenwich On the 6th and 7th February, the GCSE Geography classes embarked on a trip to Greenwich to study sustainable development in the area. The day started at the renovated Cutty Sark. Its impressive and innovative new museum design acts as a beacon for the nearby area which has been developed to look modern, open and spacious whilst being accessible and sustainable. We continued our way down the Thames, where we completed Environmental Quality Assessments, and answered a multitude of questions which allowed us to appreciate the heritage of the area.

As the tour continued, the focus changed from historic design to sustainable redevelopment as we passed the new Combined Heat and Power Station (CHP) which not only generates electricity

but, also reuses the excess heat to warm nearby homes. Our journey next took us to the Greenwich Millennium Village. Here we could witness a live example of a brownfield site redevelopment, with not only the original village but also the sections which are currently being built. It helped us to appreciate the need for open spaces for social well-being, communal areas for a good sense of community and fantastic transport links.

The trip concluded at the O2; here we could analysis the land use and geometric architecture as well as judging how the area has been designed for leisure activities and as an entertainment hub. Overall, the day was very insightful and has significantly helped to develop our understanding of sustainable development.

Will Shoosmith, 11D

Year 7 visit Romshed Farm: Woodland and Livestock Environmental Quality Assessments are carried out and the welfare benefits of organic farming are examined

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Geography Year 8 Beach Surveys In geography, all Year 8 students went to Easbourne as part of our coasts topic. We visited two different sites on the day. Holywell and Sovereign Harbour, to make a comparison between the two beaches. We split off into groups of 4/5 to complete the tasks in our workbook.

Firstly, we measured the beach profile (how long and high the beach was) with specialist equipment (a clinometer). Other members of the group measured the shape and size pebbles which we picked randomly from different parts of the beach. Afterwards we then completed the coastal

management task – locating the different beach defences. Finally, we measured the size of the groynes and completed a field sketch. We completed these tasks on both beaches for the comparison.

I learnt that the Holywell beach was longer whereas the Sovereign beach was steeper. I also learnt that the pebbles became smaller the further down the beach we went. Also we noticed that the groynes were longer and more effective on the east side.

Overall, it was a fun and educational trip.

Ben Savill, 8F

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Drama GCSE Music At the very beginning of the production it starts with a very loud and continuous string of notes that engaged the audience by making them wonder what’s going on and keeping a tense feel on them. The characters at the beginning attempted to speak over the music to introduce the story.

Throughout the production the same type of musical notes was played to attempt to make the audience engaged again, normally with a change of light, mostly red. This was to depict a flashback or a thought of Gregor’s as the whole family would join together and Gregor would be standing up.

Metamorphosis

Jackson Chalk, 10O Sound Sound was used for a number of different things. One of the most notable of these was the sound effects that the actors made to portray certain actions. For example, when time was passing, the father would make an inhaling/kissing sound to represent him smoking a cigar. The mother also did this with a spraying sound for the sound of a spray cleaning bottle. These two sounds convey the conventional nature of this family as a stereotypical smoking father and cleaning mother.

Marcus Veneziani, 10K Actors The actors used their phenomenal confidence to really express and portray the surreal - not realistic at all - style.

This confidence really impacted the audience as it made their actions believable in such an unrealistic play. The actors used over exaggerated movements extremely well and therefore adopted the choice of movement work. The father in the play used his skills of Ventriloquism to create the voice, he used a very whiney and obscure accent and pitch in order to present to the audience just who this man is and what he is about.

Fin Clark, 10M Costume The costume engages and communicates to the audience in many different ways. Firstly, the costumes were very modern which showed that the play was set in the present day. Gregor’s original costume, before he transformed into a beetle, was a suit, tie and smart black trousers.

This conveyed to the audience that he was a hardworking

man who potentially commuted to London every day. When Gregor transformed into a beetle, his costume was very basic which gave away little information about what he had transformed into.

He had only stripped down into a pale t-shirt. It was the prop of a beetle which showed what he had turned into. Gradually throughput the play, his costume was ripped to show that he had been stripped of his identity.

Jonathan Chick 10K

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A general wash was used to create the lighting throughout the play, when a flashback was shown the lighting changed to a darker orange. This helped create a surreal feeling and added to the authenticity of the play as the orange clearly shows the audience that this is in Gregor’s head. To portray the inspector, a light was shone down, through his hat, over his bow tie and gloves, to give the impression that there was a person there and to show his inhumanity as there was no person playing him. This helps engage the audience as the lighting makes it easy to loathe this character.

Russell Sullivan, 10M Props The props are used as a key element in character development and they are used to convey stereotypes in order to show the audience what this family is like and create Steven Berkoff’s total theatre within this production. Each character had their own individual prop, this assists the actors in their attempt to communicate each character’s individual personalities, while sticking to the style. For example, the mother, had a cleaning spray and an apron, this creates the overused ‘stay-at-home’ mother, who does the cooking and the cleaning. When this play was written that would have been the norm for the majority of women at that time.

Leon Depreli, 10O

Lighting In Metamorphosis, a play in which a businessman transforms into a dung beetle, and how his family compromises with this modification, the lighting helps to engross the audience in a multitude of different ways. For instance, there were no blackouts during the whole production which kept the flow of the piece running smoothly. The lighting also made the play felt like there was no escape as it would just retain the audience’s attention.

Set The set was designed as a minimalistic set, with only a few objects actually being used to set each scene.

These objects were a revolving panel which had a window on one side and acted as a wall/ceiling on the other side. This was used to show the outside world for most of the performance, but at one part when it changed into the ceiling it was used to show Gregor climbing on the walls.

There was another piece of set which was used by Gregor. This was a small platform which he would stay on all of the time which literally was showing his bed, but figuratively was used in order to show the confinement that he lived in now he was stuck in his room.

Marcus Allen, 10H

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English

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English Anti-Bullying Week: winning poem The Bystander I can see you watching me, As he smacks me on the knee.

But the problem won’t be solved, Because you won’t get involved.

Please come over and be strong This has gone on far too long.

I am afraid to go outside, Cowering, I want to hide.

Don’t turn the other cheek Happy to be mild and meek.

Observing all from afar, You won’t have to bear the scar.

Bullies must not win the day, Let’s make sure they go away.

Who’s to blame I hear them sigh, Is it you for standing by?

Harry Peat, 9K

“An Inspector Calls” review: On the January 18th, years 10 and 11 travelled to London to see Steven Daldry’s production of “An Inspector Calls”, at the Playhouse Theatre, next to Charring Cross Station.

The production of “An Inspector Calls” was easily the best theatre production I’ve seen, so good in fact that I persuaded my family to take me back and see it a second time - primarily because my dad never read the book but I’ve digressed.

Daldry made fantastic use of the venue and used it to its full theatrical capability, which is just one reason why this was quite easily one of the best theatre productions I’ve seen. The cast took on the roles very professionally on both nights as well.

I found the production very beneficial to my understanding of the book, ideas, and themes because it allowed me to think more about the individual characters in a physical manner and use that to greater develop my knowledge and understanding of the text.

Ashdon Mellor, 10H

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Art

GCSE Moderation Day Display

Henry Patten, 10F

Isaac Raynor, 9H Filip Talar, 7D

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Art Visiting Sevenoaks Contemporary Art Fair I was selected to have a piece of my work exhibited at Sevenoaks international contemporary art fair along with a few other peers. A wide range of exhibits by pupils at different schools of all ages were shown, all at a good standard but only a few really stood out and probably ended up winning the competition. It was good to see the variety of art done by children and young adults all around the county and see their talent and what some have been doing in art lessons.

The adult exhibit showed a wide range of art from acrylic sculptures to aboriginal art on canvases. I was especially interested by the acrylic sculpture of dogs made to look like they were balloon models.

There were amazing animal sculptures made from car parts, which really showed creativity. It was interesting to talk to the artists and exhibitors about their designs and the ideas they have, when painting and creating their exhibits.

Ruben Dascombe, 9F

Michael Farley, 11F George Palmer, 9M

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Art Year 10 - Tate Modern Trip Shortly after returning back to school from the Christmas break, we were given the opportunity to go on a trip to Tate Modern in London with the schools’ Art Department.

On arrival, we were sat in our ‘homeroom’ and were briefed on what we were going to be doing. Firstly, in a small group, we made our way around the museum creating quick sketches of pieces of artwork that connected to the topics we had been basing our coursework around. We have been working on the ‘inside’ topic which predominantly consists of observational drawings of bones and other features inside the human body. We made annotations around our sketches to get a better understanding of our pieces, this included notes on the following: the artist, when the piece was finished, the medium used (what materials the artist used to make the piece), context of the piece (what inspired the piece) and what we felt the message was the artist was trying to apply through the piece. I found this task particularly interesting as I found many artistic techniques that I could apply to my own art.

After our lunch in the ‘homeroom’, we then met our workshop guide, Travis. Travis explained that during his workshop we would be doing things around the museum that would hopefully take us out of our comfort zone. With that he took us out to the main entrance hall, we then became a piece of art in motion ourselves! The entrance hall is built with a slight incline and our first task was to roll down the slight slope, in full view of where members of the public were walking to and from the museum! After this, we were taken around the museum and given permission to make loud noises whilst passing each art piece. The noises we made were supposed to be the ‘sound’ of the piece and what noise we thought the artwork would be expressing. We became very enthusiastic about this task as it allowed us to be as creative as we wanted and express how we feel about certain pieces of art.

I walked away from this enriching trip with a new perspective of how people viewed art and expressed it through sound and movement of the body which I can now try and interpret into my work. I also walked away with a very nice pen from the gift shop!

Harvey Wood, 10F

Miguel Mellinger, 7G

Fynn Goodhew, 8E

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Art The John Downton Award The John Downton Award for Young Artists is an annual exhibition which encourages and celebrates the creativity of Kent’s young artists. It is open to students, aged 11 - 18, from schools and colleges across Kent.

Rowan Crouch and I were selected for this award and our pieces displayed on the walls at County Hall in Maidstone. It was a great opportunity and having now been in a competition it makes me want to enter more.

Rowan commented that “being at The John Downton Awards was a great eye-opener for me as I got to see other young artists work and the different styles they have. It was really interesting being able to wander around the exhibition and take in some of the best artwork under 18s in Kent have to offer. I especially enjoyed meeting and interacting with the other people my age and talking to them about their work. Finding out that some of these students work

was simply done during their spare time surprised me but also made me want to try things I usually wouldn’t get to do in school. Once the awards started there was a real sense of excitement in the air, I was unsure who was more deserving to win so finding out there were more than one category was almost a relief. As the young artists went up to collect their awards it was clear that they were all the most deserving. After the awards were over I went to look around the exhibition one last time so I could look at the chosen artwork which was going on tour to the Turner Contemporary as well as meeting the selected artists.”.

We may not have won, but looking at all of the pieces that were chosen to be displayed was enough for me, all of them had such variety and depth. In the end I may not have agreed with some of the judges decisions, however it is art, so there will always be opposing opinions.

Josh Treadgold, 13B and Rowan Crouch, 13A

Joshua Treadgold, 13B

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Physical Education TWGSB 1st XI Football team won the Kent Premier League They beat Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School 2-0 in the final.

The league is for Kent Grammar Schools.

U16 Kent Cup Winners The school U16 Football won the Kent cup (67 teams entry), defeating Harvey Grammar School 3-0 In the final. In early rounds we beat Charles Darwin 6-2 (Harry Forster hat trick), Leigh academy 6-1 (Louis Collins hat trick) and Hayesbrook 1-0 (Collins).

In the quarter final the team produced a fine creative attacking display the highlight of which was Louis Collins sublime flick behind his body which he deflected off a shot into the top right hand corner.

The new formation, 4-23-1 worked well and made us much more solid as a defensive unit.

The semi-final was a hard fought, dramatic victory. Jack Gallagher equalised with 30 seconds left of normal time.

In extra time another fine left

foot finish from Collins defeated a goalkeeper who played exceptionally well.

In the final a fine team performance was rewarded with our first clean sheet of the season.

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Physical Education Harvey GS were forced to play on the counterattacks, something which suited their style of play.

However, we were resolute and calm snuffing out their quick-fire raids with by strong, sensible cover tackling. Our ability to pass it round the back was giving us more room to manoeuvre up front and was a pleasing aspect of play.

accelerated like a whippet and was upended in the box by their goalkeeper and landed heavily. Penalty.

The deadlock was finally broken by my man of the match Louis Collins’ fine reverse pass, finding skipper Jeffrey who steadied himself, before picking out his spot into the left-hand corner. Henry Jones had the technique, vision and finesse to play an inch perfect half-volleyed through pass. Collins

Thanks to Mr Price and Mr Menzies co-coach for their help throughout the season in what was a memorable and ultimately successful cup run.

An assured Gallagher dispatched the penalty. 2-0.

Collins latched onto good build up play and caught Harvey for a third goal, finishing high and powerfully into the left hand top corner.

Henry Jones, 11G

U12 Kent Cup Runners-up It was a hugely successful season for the Year 7 Football Team, having reached the last 16 of the National Schools Cup and finishing runners-up of the Kent Schools Cup. In the National Cup we were lucky enough to get to the last 16 beating teams by many goals but unfortunately got knocked out

by Riddlesdown (2-1), in a very intense match. The highlight of our National Cup run was a fierce battle in beating the current holders Whitgift on their home soil and we really enjoyed the fantastic facilities and the electronic scoreboard.

The Kent cup was not as much as a challenge as the nationals but we still continued our team spirit and teamwork and it payed off getting us to the final of the cup. We all felt this was a colossal achievement so we gave it our best shot on the day.

Over 100 teams entered the Kent Cup and in the final we played Hurstmere at The Gallagher Stadium which is home to Maidstone Utd, on a cold Friday

evening. It was a very tense first half with virtually no chances for either team and we went in at 0-0. Dylan Bran put us 1-0 up in the second half following great interplay down the left between George Theis and Ben Graham. Unfortunately, despite some heroic defending we were unable to stop a very strong Hurstmere team who went on to win 2-1.

Dyland Alden, 7F and Sam Gale, 7G

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Physical Education TWGSB U14 Rugby Team win the Kent Shield TWGSB U14 rugby team beat Harris Academy in the Kent Shield 54-5. TWGSB reached the final after successive wins against the following schools:

The Towers School, Dover Grammar School, Sir Roger Manwood and Norton Knatchtbull Grammar School.

The British Rowing World Class Start Programme scouts for potential future olympic athletes at TWGSB

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Physical Education

Year 7 Kent Cup Cricket Winners Year 7 TWGSB defeated Simon Langton Grammar School in the final of the Kent U12 T20 at Rodmersham CC. Jacob Webb ably led the team in

wins against St Olave’s, Judd, Ashford Preparatory and Rochester Mathematical School, scoring a fine 65 runs in the final.

Year 10 Cricket reached the Kent Plate Final The Year 10 team played well to get into the Kent Plate final defeating Harvey Grammar and King’s College Canterbury en route. Unfortunately two Kent

County players in prime form wrecked our batting in the final against St Edmund’s Canterbury.

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Physical Education

Year 8 enjoying rugby on the grass pitches in early autumn

Lower School at an Athletics Meet

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TWGSB Ski Trip February Half Term Ski Trip It kicked off outside the school at promptly 6 am on Friday the 10th of February; we managed to miss a day of school. Mr Strongman, Mr Smith and Dr Sturley (unfortunately Mr Downing could not go) were leading the trip and it all went extremely smoothly. We also had Alan from IBT Travel to guide us. We took off from Gatwick and landed in Verona, Italy. Two hours later we were in the town of Tesero, nestled in the Italian Alps. We got settled in on the first day.

After an early rise at 7 am we had breakfast in the hotel and fitted our ski boots to catch the bus to the resort, Val de Fiemme. The other slopes

we skied on were at Bellamonte, where we spent one day, and Cermis. After the day skiing with our instructors, Diego, Loris and Flavio in three different groups, Expert, Intermediate and Beginners we relaxed in the hotel and went round the town.

Over the week we did many evening activities like buying ice cream, pizza night and watching the England v Wales game in a pub. However, we had to be back in the hotel by 10 pm and in bed by 10:30 pm. Overall it was a great trip which went very efficiently with everything being planned.

Jamie Austin, 9M

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Argentina Exchange The cultural exchange trip to Argentina was a wonderful opportunity to meet new people, practise speaking Spanish and experience different cultures and ways of life. I write these in the plural because we visited four different areas of the vast landmass where we encountered what seemed to us to be four different countries, so diverse were the terrains, the people, the food and the customs. Even language was noticeably different, with quite particular accents and dialects in each of the areas.

We arrived in Argentina at 6:00am and were taken straight to Bede’s Grammar School in Tortuguitas where we were warmly met by Bertie, the Headmaster and founder of the school and his team of prefects. Our time in school was really well organised. Many of us needed to study for exams so we were given a classroom and had around 3 hours to revise every morning. We sometimes went to their classes in Spanish but more often joined them for their lessons in English in the afternoon. There were other occasions when we visited the primary section and took lessons, played games or did reading and speaking with the younger pupils. It was impressive to see how well six and seven year olds could speak and understand English.

We all stayed in host families and we had such a brilliant time – the families were so welcoming and kind and we all felt very at home.

Our first excursion was by 24 hour coach journey to Salta in the far North-West of the country – an extremely dry terrain with stunning views of rock formations. Temperatures reached about 39 degrees centigrade and we must have been quite a sight as we ‘shadow hopped’ from tree to tree when out looking at Inca or Quilmes ruins. Learning about these cultures was fascinating and having the opportunity to see their settlements was amazing.

Especially interesting was how the Quilmes were thriving until the Incas invaded, made them walk the thousands of kilometres to Buenos Aires which then caused them all to die of cold, exhaustion and unfamiliar illnesses! We actually saw the mummy of an Incan five year old girl who had been sacrificed by being buried alive at the top of a 6000m mountain. Whilst in Salta we went to a Peña – a

restaurant which performances of typical dancing and music from the region and which served us a typical Argentine asado (barbeque) with a variety of meats including intestines and udders (which were particularly revolting!) Something that we all agreed were delicious was empanadas – and while we ate many of them around the country the best ones were definitely in Salta.

Our arrival back in Buenos Aires gave us the opportunity to sitesee some of the city – the Casa Rosada or ‘Pink House’ is the Argentine equivalent of the White House and looked beautiful at night all lit up and surrounded by palm trees. The Plaza 25 de Mayo is just outside and has been barricaded off due to protests that take place there on a regular basis – not least the weekly meeting of the mothers of the ‘desparacidos’ or the ‘disappeared’ who vanished during the 1970s and 80s during the military Junta.

We crossed the widest avenue in the world, the Avenida 9 de Julio and went to the Boca area of the city, where immigrants at the beginning of the 20th century arrived from Europe, and painted their rather ramshackle corrugated iron buildings in bright and cheerful colours. We had a great lunch there and were treated to a brilliant display of tango.

From Buenos Aires we flew south to Rio Gallegos to see some breathtaking glaciers in the Parque Nacional de Perito Moreno. Experiencing the fall of the ice as the glacier carves is so exciting and we were able to see this spectacular show of nature both from a boat, 300m away, and from some impressive walkways. The Glacarium museum taught all about the process of glaciation and explained little known facts, such as telling us that the insect Andiperla Willinki manages to live in such a hostile environment because it has a form of glycerol in its body and lives off bacteria that are blown in on the wind. We visited the ice bar at the Glaciarium where everything is made of ice, even the glasses, and you have to wear special protective clothing as the temperature is about minus10 degrees! As well as the Perito Moreno Glacier we saw the Upsala Glacier where a crazy English man took his family to live in 1916 and created an Estancia which is now a museum and hotel. Even today it is only accessible by walking, horseback or a 3 hour boat trip. In El Calafate itself

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Argentina Exchange we stayed in some great little Alpine houses, Ms Lovera cooked us choripans (sausage sandwiches) on the parrilla (BBQ).

Our last trip away from Buenos Aires was to Cataratas de Iguazu to see the spectacular waterfalls made famous by the film ‘The Mission’. On the first day we were able to visit the Brazilian side which gave us a good view of the falls from a distance but it was the second day on the Argentine side that really took our breath away. It was another scorchingly hot day, although unlike Salta this was a very humid heat, so the relief at being able to stand in the spray of the tonnes of water pouring over precipices was incredible. We also saw some amazing wildlife – toucans, iguanas, lizards, and coatis which look really cute but are vicious and greedy.

Our final few days back at school gave us the opportunity to visit a typical ranch in the Pampas. We spent the day sampling the pleasures of a well-made yerba mate, watching typical gaucho games on horseback, eating yet another phenomenal asado, and seeing music and dancing from all the different regions of Argentina. We even had the chance to join in a tango lesson which most of us did!

We ended our trip by attending an assembly for the secondary pupils which we thought was fantastic.

If they achieved a certain number of credits in their assessments over the year they were exempt from final year exams – the ‘winners’ were announced at this assembly and there was much excitement at the idea of being able to lounge by the pool while their peers came into school to sit final year exams in the sweltering heat! Conversely though, the school had a system where if you did not reach minimum credits in the assessments, you were asked to leave, unless you could get at least three separate teachers to vouch for you – not an easy job apparently if you had misbehaved and failed to work all year!

Our cultural exchange trip to Argentina was incredible on so many different levels – seeing a different system of schooling, trying new food and drink, seeing how different people live in different environments, experiencing landscapes that made you feel like you were with David Attenborough on Planet Earth, and making new and hopefully long lasting friends.

Claudio Peyrel Hadfeg and Sebastian Martin, 9H

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Activities Week A Visit to the National Gallery The National Gallery in London has one of the greatest collections of paintings in the world. These pictures belong to the public and entrance to them is free. Our visit was in July 2017.

Before I started this piece I decided to look at the gallery website to remind myself of the visit. I was surprised to find out that I could take a virtual visit from the comfort of my home without the need to catch the busy train to the station and battle my way through the tourists.

figures working in the fields. I would not have been able to see those so clearly in the real painting.

As there is so much to see, do and learn on the website, what is the point of visiting the gallery at all? Well the images on the computer screen cannot show the bump of the paint on the canvas.

A look at the website reminded me that I thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

Josh Ready, 7G

I was amazed at the amount of information about each picture that was available at the click of my finger. In the section called “learn about art” I could find out about the lives of artists, how paintings are cared for and in some cases look at different paintings by one artist and see what differences there were. I had a look at two paintings of Vincent van Gogh and although the subjects were the same there were many differences.

When we were at the gallery we listened to a talk about about The Haywain, an important painting by an artist called John Constable. I looked up that painting on the website and found that the same talk was available. I could also highlight any part of the painting and take a much closer look. For example, in the far distance I spotted some tiny

Thorpe Park, 2017 On the 4th day of Activities Week last year, Year 8 and Year 9 went to Thorpe Park. I really enjoyed the visit because before I had never gone on a rollercoaster with a loop in it. By the end of the day I had been on the World’s first 10 looping rollercoaster!

A meeting point established, we were allowed to go off in groups. The first ride I was going to go on was a wet ride where you sit in a dingy as it goes round turns and slides but I left the queue as it was too long and bought some doughnuts instead.

After that, I went on a ride that continuously goes

round in loops tilting almost 90 degrees but not quite. I then went on a huge rollercoaster. I got really excited before but I felt a bit nervous once strapped in, but after it had finished I was happy I had done it. During the ride, I found out how loud I could scream! Finally, after that I felt like I needed a break so I spent my last change in an Arcade. We won a total of 3 tickets but we couldn’t exchange it for anything. Lastly, I went on a children’s banana swing ride as it had a five-minute queue before leaving to go back to school. I really enjoyed my visit to Thorpe Park and I hope I do something similar with the school again in the future.

Felix Rattray 9F

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‘In-School’ Activities Week STEM workshops - designed to provide an interactive and engaging experience to support classroom based science, technology, engineering and maths.

Students build paper rockets and flight test them.

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Year 12 English Students visit Paris

Two Kids and a Dog The heavens opened as soon as we left the Dali exhibition. Tourists fled from cover to cover, running as though hail was cutting their skin. We sat under the trees, back to back on a typically Parisian bench; coats on, hoods up, cowering. The fog covered the vast view, clouds resting on the skyline of Paris, diminishing any appearance of the Eiffel Tower. The heavy sound of rain bounced off the trees above our heads – we were silenced, waiting for it to stop.

The air was then filled with laughter and singing as a boy, around 7 and a girl, around 13 skipped down the cobbled streets. She was wearing a yellow rain-mac and wellies and the boy in a hat and boots. Their dog, a small black and white Jack Russell ran in-between them, free in every sense of the word. As they sung the dog yapped, joining in on their chorus, jumping at their legs. The whole succession of sounds lifted our spirits.

As we, typically British tourists - being used to the rain, sat miserably under a tree, a young boy and girl and their dog rejoiced in the open air. “We’re singing in the rain, just singing in the rain. What a glorious feeling we’re happy again”.

They twirled around the streetlamps, throwing their arms in the air, their voices slowly fading. One minute of joy, one minute of youthful happiness. That’s all it took to lift our spirits: two kids and a dog.

Mollie Rich, 12C

Year 12 English trip to Paris aimed to explore the city of love and the city of light; students wrote and sketched and reflected on Paris as well as visiting museums, galleries, the opera house and eating fine food.

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Year 12 Philosophy and Ethics Athens The Athens trip was such a great week where we all created many long-lasting memories. Our experience of Athens was incredible as the itinerary was filled with lots of amazing and interesting sites where we all got to learn a multitude of educational facts and walked in the steps of our fellow philosophers Socrates and Plato. However, the fun didn’t end once the day came to a close, the evenings were just as enjoyable as the teachers prepared a range of activities from theme parks to bowling.

Michael Davidson, 12C and Lillie Fuller, 12H

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Year 10 Madrid Madrid was an amazing trip which I am sure everyone else who went thoroughly enjoyed. SeĂąora Mason organised everything very well and the itinerary was packed with fun and interesting things to do. One day we were having a tour of the Bernabeu football stadium and the next we were having Spanish cooking lessons and being taught how to fight a bull! Our hotel was only a 10-minute walk from an outdoor sports centre which was really useful to have nearby as we would go and play football there in the evenings.

Not only was there plenty of great things to do each day but the trip was also extremely educational and we learnt a lot about culture in Spain. I noticed a significant improvement in my Spanish speaking ability after Madid as I was constantly speaking the language, be it to the waiters in the restaurants or to the cashiers in shops.

Rory Sturgeon, 10F

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Year 8 Outward Bound The trip to Knapp House was an exciting experience for us all, especially the water sports. The water skiing and surfing were my two favourites. The instructors were extremely helpful and useful so we could ask them for any help we needed. Many of the activities that we did were not ones that I would personally consider to do, but I enjoyed them so much. It was great opportunity to try all of the activities. The activities involving height are ones that I was a little nervous to do, but it felt good to overcome these worries, especially the abseiling.

Not only were the instructors helpful, they made us feel safe and secure for the activities so I felt that it was more fun knowing that we were safe.

Furthermore, they were very reassuring. This helped us to try again.

Elliot Cadell, 8H

The Activities were very enjoyable, it was clear that much money had been put into the activities like the surfing and water-skiing. I was generally very impressed at the quality of the activities they had on offer, the safety was good and the instructors were very fun and nice. A tuck shop was on sight. And the disco was surprisingly enjoyable. My favourite activity was probably the surfing because there was no waiting and you were constantly surfing and catching waves. The abseiling and other ground activities were also very fun.

Will Patten, 8H

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Year 7 Paris On the 10th of July 2017, Year 7 started their journey to Paris. In total, the trip was about 7 hours on the coach and 2 hours on the Ferry due to the heavy traffic on the French roads. When we arrived at ‘Le Châteaux de Grande Romaine’ we went to our rooms and then had dinner. After that we had free time where you could do anything you wanted around the site like football, basketball, table tennis, tennis and some other things. After our free time, we did activities around a campfire, including singing, storytelling and dancing.

The next day, most of us did activities in the morning like abseiling, climbing, archery and team-building which were all extremely fun. The smaller half of the group then went to a market and visited a French palace called ‘Châteaux de Fontainebleau’. This is where French kings lived, from King Louis XIII through to King Louis XVI. Interestingly, Napoleon also stayed there. It was really cool to be able to walk around inside and to be able to see all the rooms in the house. In the afternoon, we visited a Jousting show which was about a battle between two tribes. It was a really exciting show because all the people were really talented, especially at horse

riding where they performed miraculous tricks like riding a horse upside down, doing a summersault on a horse and much more. The next day we swapped round so that the smaller half could do the activities and the other groups went to the palace and markets. That night we had a special treat, due to the fact that we were not allowed to go to the centre of Paris. We had a coach tour of the city’s famous attractions, where we saw the Eiffel Tower, l’Arc de Triomphe and even Jonny Depp’s house!

The day after that, everybody was excited because we were going to Disneyland. It was about a 30 minute drive away from the place where we were staying. We split up into groups and went on lots of rides but we did even more queuing. There were so many queues it was ridiculous! We also got a special dinner pass to spend, so that we could have any dinner we wanted in the whole park! Then the next day we had our long journey home again. In the end, I had a brilliant week, I spent time with my friends but also got to see places and things that I had never seen before. It was an amazing end to my first year at Tunbridge Wells Grammar school for Boys!

Jamie Macdonald, 7H2

Eclectics 2016-17

Library Carnegie Shadowing Carnegie Shadowing is an organised book club and debating event, in which students from all over the country compare and judge eight shortlisted books from the nation’s most promising authors.

At TWGSB we met once a week to discuss the books, play themed games, upload reviews on to the Carnegie Shadowing website, and just generally become more accustomed to the idea of organised reading and debating.

All types of books are shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Some books have already won many awards, and each is set to appeal to a different age group. Some can be very adult, for example Beck by Mal Peet, the book I wrote my final review on, and some are intended for younger children.

The final event in the Carnegie Shadowing process for us was a large balloon debate between four local schools, at the end of which a Carnegie Shadowing winner is chosen by four judges. There are also competitions for the best alternative book cover and book review by the students. TWGSB students worked in teams with TWGGS, Skinners and Skinners Kent Academy students. The teams

South East Schools’ Themed Book Awards (SEBSTA) – Celebration Evening Around 10-20 students per school (15 schools) gathered at Kent College, Pembury for the celebration evening - a culmination of six months of weekly book club meetings.

The majority of the votes for the best teen book went to ‘harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ by JK Rowling; whereas the award for the best young adult book went to ‘Dorothy Must Die’ by Danielle Paige.

Trailers from the participating schools were displayed on the big screen. Our trailer for ‘Dorothy Must Die’ was thoroughly enjoyable to make and the audience clearly liked it too.

TWGSB students from Years 7 to 11 eagerly readied themselves to meet the two guest authors who spoke

had to give a short presentation explaining why their chosen book should be the winner. This year it was Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys.

I would recommend this experience to everyone who is interested in books and reading. It has really helped my ‘public speaking’.

Tom West, 9K about childhood memories and answered questions about their books. The two authors were Natasha Farrant, author of the Pride and Prejudice based book ‘Lydia’ and Steve Cole, author of the fast-paced espionage book ‘Young Bond: Shoot to Kill’.

Steve Cole showed us a presentation about his youth and interest in novels concerning Doctor Who and his many adventures to alien planets and universes. Natasha Farrant expressed her views on the personality of her character ‘Lydia’ and why she decided to construct a novel solely based upon one of the Bennet sisters.

Following this, we had a break to consume a free dinner and purchase books that were signed by the guest authors.

James Brazil, 7E

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Sports Day The atmosphere and occasion did not disappoint again this year and the sun was shining which always makes the day special.

Many thanks to all participants, staff and parents who helped make the event run smoothly.

Congratulations to Falcons who won the overall trophy and to the following houses who won the individual Year trophies: Year 7- Eagles, Year 8 Hawks, Year - 9 Hawks and Year 10 - Falcons.

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Eclectics 2013-14

Sports Day

Eclectics 2013-14

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Eclectics 2013-14

Leavers’ Prom May 2017

Alumni Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TWGSBAlumni/ https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8345018 alumni@twgsboys.kent.sch.uk

thegrammarschool@twgsboys.kent.sch.uk www.twgsb.org.uk