RGS Never Second Best Newspaper

From the Editor: Hello and welcome to our first Never Second Best newspaper. This term has been amazing and has gone incredibly fast. We have had highs and lows, from house wins to school wins, new people to make friends with and sadly some friends have left: this will be a term to remember.

During the course of the term, as the clocks slowly ticked into winter, there have been lots of birthdays and visits to Mr Fenton’s office for a ‘teenager tea’. Happy Birthday! This newspaper is all about the 2nd Year’s amazing talents. Before half term we had many events, house competitions and matches. There have been great extracurricular activities and amazing trips, but the best part has been the people and everyone I get to work with. Whether it’s teachers or friends, the atmosphere at RGS is buzzing. Everyone is proud to wear the school uniform emblazoned with the RGS logo.

Since half term we’ve had drama productions, more competitions and even more matches, but being in 2nd Year means we’re all making a choice very soon... which GCSEs we shall choose. The teachers have put us at ease and I’m sure everyone is going to do fantastically. This has been a great term and I hope you enjoy our newspaper.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

By Caitlyn Fraser

The Team:

Editor:

Caitlyn Fraser

Editing team:

Elenor AndrĂŠe Wiltens, Aurelia Nadal and Emma Tansley

Design team:

Matthew Hoskins, Nihal Shah, Tom Shepherd & Anush Upadhyay, Zabi Bharmal Lauren Bonniface EsmĂŠ Frith Jake Harper Cameron Harrington Grace Hodges Mehak Negi Sheara Mary-Nidhin

Krish Patel Grace Pederson Charlie Peterson-Jones Eva Picknell Isobel Roberts Zac Smith Charlotte Springett

Contents:

School Events Remembrance Day Reggie Dabbs Visit 2nd Form Sport - Boys 2nd Form Sport - Girls House Charities and Charity Events Book Reviews Guess the Teacher Music Drama Performances Art Agony Aunt Behind the Scenes Puzzles and Fun Puzzle Answers Upcoming Competitions

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School Events: Remembrance Day Remembrance Day is a service held every year for the whole school to remember our country’s heroes since WW1. As all of us entered the playground and lined up, the CCF corps of drums played war related music on various instruments.

Then Reverend Jackson gave a moving speech and quoted lines from the Bible.

An old Geography teacher and Head of PE came into school especially for us, to read our extracts from different pieces of writing. Anna P (2nd Year) and our Head Boy Sam A (Sixth Form) read out a poem called “A Single Bullet” written

by Rebecca B (3rd Year). This was all about the impact a single bullet can cause.

We then had a two minute silence for us to commemorate the millions of people that died in the war. The end was marked by two more members of CCF playing The Last Post. A song was sung by 5th and 6th form conducted by one of our very own singing teachers. Anna, Sam and some more members of CCF carried decorations like poppy wreaths made by junior members of CCF. As we left, CCF corps of drums played again and we left in silence, remembering those who died.

1a.

By Eva Picknell and Charlotte Springett

School Events: Rock ‘n’ Roll Reggie Dabbs On 31st October Reggie Dabbs, from America, came to the school. He talked about his struggles earlier in life, with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Years.

When we first came into the church, he was playing loud music and got all of us to sing along with him whilst he played the saxophone. Reggie had lots of volunteers who got us to dance to the music too which was fun!

Then he spoke to us about his experiences of when he was younger; having to cope with finding out that he was adopted and how he managed. It was a very powerful speech and the thing he told us to do, when you are going through hard times, is to never give up!

1b.

By Isobel Roberts

Second Form Sport - Boys: Boys U13A Rugby The penultimate game of the season was one of the best from the A team this term. It was an early start as the team we were playing, Colfe's School, was an hour's coach drive away. When we arrived it was cold, muddy and raining but despite all of this, the team played like they were playing for England! The handling was amazing and everyone played their best. The defence was great and the whole team was committed to their tackles. Overall our team won 35-5 (or 7 tries to 1). RGS won all round, our B team won 35-0 and the C team won 4520. So well done RGS! The first win of the term was another highlight of the season for the As. It was the game against RGS Guildford where we won 35-10 (or 7 tries to 2). This game was played in the afternoon so maybe the team had woken up by then and that is why they played better, or maybe it was the fact that the weather was sunny and warm, the perfect weather for a rugby match. We also won against St Bede's School 15-10 (3 tries to 2). This was a really close game with St Bede's coming back to score two tries in the second half of the game, leaving the parents on the sideline biting their fingernails. This match was also interesting because St Bede's is a local school so lots of people on the RGS team knew the players on the St Bede's team which meant it felt good to win and earn bragging rights!

However, the team's performance this season has been affected massively by injuries. There have been broken bones, concussion and muscle and soft tissue injuries. This has impacted the team and meant that the line-up has changed often and some people have had to change into positions they weren't used to.

The upside of this is that some B players had the chance to play in the A team for the first time. Luckily most of the people injured will be back for the hockey season. Let's hope that there will be fewer injuries then.

2.

Second Form Sport - Boys: There have been huge changes to the rules of the game this year: there was pushing in the scrums and an extra position, the number 8, which sits at the back of the scrum to support the second row, numbers 4 and 5. Next year we will see the addition of flankers (6 and 7) and lineouts. Also, we will be playing on a fullsized pitch and there will be kicking at penalties and conversions. Much to look forward to!

By Cameron Harrington

U13B team As a whole, the B Team has improved massively throughout the course of this rugby season. In a difficult start to the season, the team lost the first group of games. However throughout the season they have improved, and are now enjoying an unbeaten run of six games, five of those being victories. The team’s best match was the fixture against City of London Freemen’s, which ended in a 17-1 victory to RGS. Most importantly, the whole team played brilliantly, despite the uneven result. Team morale is high and everyone is looking forward to the two final fixtures of the season, which are against Colfe’s School and KCS Wimbledon. The season will be rounded off with House Rugby, which is eagerly anticipated due to its unfortunate cancellation last year because of poor weather. Special thanks must also be given to the fantastic coach, Mr Jones. The team have really enjoyed this season, and have improved massively due to Mr Jones’s coaching and hard work, which can be seen in the steadily improving results.

3.

By Jake Harper

Second Form Sport - Girls: Hockey

Congratulations to this term’s upcoming player, Aurelia Nadal, who was in the U12 C Team last year and successfully moved up two teams to the U13 A Team: Emily Burke (Capt) Sophia Vassou (Vice-Capt) Vicky Clark Lucy Dénecé Amelie Hartley Ellie Hemmings

A:

Aurelia Nadal Leila Nicholson Tabitha Stinton Sophia Clark Ellie Wootton Matches: U13 Hockey:

Cranleigh Preparatory School Lost 1-5 St George’s College, Weybridge Sevenoaks Tournament 6th of 14 Brighton College St Teresa’s Effingham Won 7-2 Lingfield College EGHA Tournament: 15th of 35 St Johns school, Leatherhead Kingston Grammar School Won 5-2 Bedes School (National Cup – Round 2) Sutton Valence School (National Cup – Round 3) Wimbledon High School (National Cup - Quarter final)

Lost 1-3 Won 9-0 Won 5-1 Won 1-0 Won 9-2 Won 12-1 Won 7-1

Good luck in the Surrey Cup, South Tournament and National Competition!

B:

Cranleigh Preparatory School St Teresa’s Effingham St Johns School, Leatherhead Kingston Grammar School

Lost 2-4 Won 10-0 Won 5-0 Drew 2-2

Brighton College Lingfield College St George’s College, Weybridge

Good luck in the Surrey & London Plate Competition!

4.

Won 4-2 Won 4-0 Drew 2-2

Second Form Sport: C:

Cranleigh Preparatory School Won 1-0 St Teresa’s Effingham Won 4-1 St Johns School, Leatherhead Won 3-1

Lingfield College St George’s College, Weybridge Kingston Grammar School

Won 8-0 Won 5-1 Won 5-1

Congratulations to this season’s U13 Cs who have remained undefeated over all 6 matches. Their greatest achievement was attaining an away win of 12-1 against Sutton Valence School in the 3rd round of the Independent School Hockey Cup. Compliments to the whole team: D:

Crainleigh Preparatory School Won 8-1 St Teresa’s Effingham Won 4-1 Kingston Grammar School Lost 2-3

Lingfield College St George’s College, Weybridge

Won 2-0 Won 6-1

Well done on progressing and improving your confidence throughout this term playing hockey!

House hockey: Well done to all the girls who participated in House Hockey on the 8th December; you all played extremely well. Especially well done to Cranston for coming first. The day over all was a great way to practice our hockey skills and enjoy some house spirit.

Overall scores: 1st—Cranston 2nd—Williamson 3rd—Hodgson 4th—Bird 5.

By Lauren Bonniface and Esmé Frith

House Charities : Loveworks Loveworks is the charity that the RGS have chosen to support. They are based in Reigate. This year has been a great success! We have been donating food items to them like oil, tinned salmon and much more!, They fight food poverty and teach confidence and resilience in young adults. Their website is: http://www.loveworks.org.uk/givefood/ They are currently looking for: 1. Tins of meat

2. Cereals 3. Jam

4. Pasta sauce

5. Tins of fruit 6. Sugar (small bags) 7. Rice Pudding

8. Tins of vegetables 9. Coffee 10. Smash

11. Rice

6.

By Grace Pederson

Book Reviews: Hope and a Hockey Stick I would like to refer back to the time when the female Great Britain hockey squad made history by winning a gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. They managed to stay in the final game against the Dutch (2008 & 2012 Olympic champions), before going into a penalty shoot-out and winning 2-0. The entire team showed grit, persistence and determination, as well as working well as a unit throughout all of their matches and taught everyone, whether they played hockey or not, what can happen when someone puts the time, preparation and effort into what they are doing.

As I have been playing hockey since the age of eight at my prep school, when one of my favourite players published a book this summer, I was incredibly eager to get my hands on a copy!

Samantha Quek MBE, published a book about her life and hockey story since she began playing when she was nine. It has taught me how to believe in myself and that I should never give up when times are tough or when I don’t achieve something at the first attempt. I could also see how much my story relates to hers (whether I become an Olympic champion or not) and how that has helped me ‘up my game’ mentally and physically when playing the sport.

Sam became part of the England and Great Britain senior side when she was twenty and played her first match soon after. However, soon after that it became a little more difficult for her. Sam wasn’t selected to go to Beijing in 2008 since she was relatively new to the squad and therefore felt discouraged. Instead, she went to play a tournament with the England U21s whilst also trying to complete her university degree at Leeds at the same time, which she refers to as ‘an extremely stressful time’. When the hockey season re-started again, she played with the Great Britain side and was determined to play in the 2012 London Olympics.

7.

Book Reviews: She then sadly suffered an injury and when coming back to the sport, she was not selected for the Olympics and was devastated. However, she continued to persevere and two years later was selected to represent England at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where the team earned a silver medal.

A year later, she was selected to represent England at the Euro Championships in London, where the team were crowned European Champions, by coming back from two goals down in the final against the Netherlands and winning on penalty shuffles. A year after, she was selected to play at the Olympics in Rio and was thrilled.

Sam says that she ‘had the most rollercoaster experience in reaching Rio’ and therefore soon after Rio, she felt that she was unable to defend her Olympic title and so announced her international retirement in 2017.

The chapter ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ is all about Sam becoming part of the show ‘I’m a Celebrity’ in October 2016. She attempted many challenges and her character trait of ‘never giving up’ was evident throughout her time on the show even when not playing hockey.

Sam earned two gold medals (Olympic gold and Euro Championship gold) and two silver medals (Commonwealth silver and Euro Championship silver), as well as earning 128 caps in her international career. Sam now presents sport on BT Sport and other sports channels on television. Her story has told me to never give up and that a sense of belief can be found, even in the darkest of times, and that is what I would like to encourage everyone to do and to have an open mindset, like Sam and always believe that ‘anything is possible’; even if you do not play or have a strong liking for hockey.

8.

By Aurelia Nadal

Guess the teacher: What is your favourite film?

Jurassic Park

What is your darkest secret?

I watch Glee: a show with lots of singing

What is your most embarrassing moment?

The moment when I poured salt onto a slug

What is your favourite radio station?

BBC Radio 4, Absolute, BBC Radio 6

What is your favourite song?

Purple Rain

What is your favourite moment as a teacher?

When students sang ‘Let It Go’ and the Italy trip

9.

By Krish Patel

Guess the teacher: He has been married for 3 months Supports Hartlepool United FC Plays football with the teachers every Friday Wears cool socks Has great fashion sense (basically has a wardrobe in his office) Been in 3 universities Taught in 5 schools Got shoved in a bath full of mud for his birthday If he got a million pounds he would travel through South America drinking the finest wines known to humanity His favourite f.r.i.e.n.d.s character is Chandler Bing He doesn’t have children Worked in a bar He took Music, Latin, French and Business Studies for GCSEs He is 1.86m tall He has an older sister and a younger brother He teaches Physics 10.

By Grace Pederson

Music: Second Formers have been heavily involved in music this term. The whole of the 2nd Year started the year in awesome style when they joined the rest of their houses in the Annual House Singing. Enormous congratulations go to Etalie C, Henry F, Josie W, Julia P, Jake H and Taylor S for singing and playing drums in the Harmony Category of the House competition. We then moved to the Unison Category and this was very competitive. Well done to the whole of the 2nd year for supporting their houses in the Unison Category. In the end, Bird came in 1st place, followed by Cranston and in Joint 3rd was Williamson and Hodgson. We were all very lucky to welcome Dominic Peckham as our adjudicator. He was very passionate and interacted with us very well. Well done to everybody!

11.

Choral Music is always special in the Autumn Term. Boys Choir have had a very busy term.

They sang at the RGS In Concert at Dorking Halls. After that, they prepared for Carols by Candlelight on Wednesday 12th December. They will also be joined in this concert by Junior Girls Voices.

One of the main concerts this term is the Dorking Halls Concert on Wednesday 28th November featuring Symphony Orchestra, Concert Band, the rebranded Sinfonia as well as Boys Choir. They will be performing an eclectic mix from Tchaikovsky to Wicked; this is promised to be a very exciting concert.

Zac Smith and Josie Wakefield have also had a very busy term. Zac has played with Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra and this term, Zac has played concerts with them at the Royal Albert Hall and Hammersmith Town Hall.

Music: Josie last year accepted a place into the Guildhall school of Music and Drama to study oboe. She has since played with the Guildhall Wind Orchestra at their ensembles concert.

Both Zac and Josie have also played in the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain London Seniors Orchestra and have played with them for their concert at Milton Hall, Guildhall.

To round off, well done to a few 2nd Year Students who took part in a NYJO workshop in Kent in November. We really want to know about your achievements. Please do keep sending your music achievements in.

Well done to all the 2nd Year for their efforts in music this year. After Christmas, all the choirs will be involved in the Choral Recital and preparation for the biggest RGS concert of the year at Cadogan Hall.

12.

By Zac Smith

Drama Performances: Molly and the Stardust Overview: Molly and the Stardust is this year’s Christmas show at RGS. It is the prequel to Peter Pan. It took place on 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th December 2018. The play is about a young orphan and his friends who are shipped off to an island ruled by King Zarboff from Victorian England. On that ship is a trunk that contains something mysterious, but the boys don’t know anything about it. They are discovered at sea by Molly, a 13 year old girl, who is a Starcatcher-in –training. She realises that the trunk contains Starstuff; which is very dangerous if it gets into the wrong hands. The ship is taken over by pirates that are led by the menacing Black Stache, who wants to take over the world. The journey has turned dangerous. Can the boys and Molly survive and keep everyone safe?

The play was a great success and was a great start to the drama year!

13.

By Sheara Mary Nidhin

Art: Art in the Second Form:

2018 was indeed a very busy and interesting year for the 2nd Year Artists! The young artists took part in many Competitions including one called the ‘Saatchi Schools Art Prize’ in which they drew about ‘Theme Identity’. The students learnt about different types of Art in their lessons as well. For example, some students learnt about Entomology and the close study of insects! Others, the intricate and well-known paintings of Van Gogh!

14.

By Mehak Negi

Agony Aunt: Dear MissKnowItAll, The other day, I was assigned an essay and was given two days to complete it.

I quickly worked out that my only free time to work on it was on the bus, afterschool. As the coach began to move, I pulled out my exercise book and scribbled down the sentence that had been on my mind all afternoon, but the ideas refused to come. Looking outside, the world was a blur, the traffic lights ahead created a sort of glitter by reflecting off the rain on the windscreen and my head was spinning whilst it struggled to conjure some inspiration. It was impossible to concentrate on just one certain thing and my brain was buzzing with numerous things to remember for the week ahead. Tiredness flooded through me like a tidal wave; stress encircled me, almost seeming predatory. As tears leaked out of my eyes, I couldn’t help but feel so disappointed in myself. In the future, what do you suggest I do? Where and when would I do it if I was on a strict timetable? Please can you help: I hate feeling like this, especially in front of others?

Thank you, Searching4sunshine

Dear Searching4sunshine, You shouldn’t be feeling like this at all and I’m so sorry you have been put in this position. We have all been in this situation. Your teacher will be understanding and should let you go just this once. If that’s not the case, tell someone. This is what adults tell us all our lives “A problem shared is a problem halved”. When I have been in this situation and spoken to teachers, my life has improved every time.

From Miss KnowItAll

15.

By Miss KnowItAll

Behind the scenes:

The newspaper you are reading now has had a lot of work put into it, with lunchtime meetings, emails, afternoon meetings and more. However, you don’t usually see all of that in the paper, do you?

In this article we will guide you through the process of making a newspaper.

Planning!

We have a session at the beginning of the term to allocate articles and research.

We also pick the main editor for the paper for the term, this year we decided to do a rota, swapping editors for each edition.

Writing!

Every week we meet on Wednesday to help write and to sort out queries. This is also used for socializing and getting ideas. We also have clubs on Monday evening for people who have a packed schedule which has the same structure, We have a communal OneNote in which we put our articles, and post questions and messages.

Publishing!

To publish, we have to have a finished template, full articles, pictures and a printer company. After half term, we have a finished piece which will be distributed by us in letters home. You should have it by the start of term!

The amount of hard work that goes into a newspaper is absolutely staggering!

Without our team, we wouldn’t have the edition we have today. I want to thank all of you for a great half term’s work!

16.

By Elenor Andrée Wiltens

17.

18.

By Matthew Hoskins, Nihal Shah and Anush Upadhayay

Puzzle answers:

19.

Guess the teacher answers: Mrs Brickley and Mr Boothroyd

Upcoming Events: The upcoming adventures for the 2nd Year include:

The language trip to Germany – 9th December.

The Drama production of Molly and the Stardust - Wednesday 5th to Saturday 8th December 2018, 7.30pm

House: Winter Sport Saturday 8 December 2018, RGS Hartswood

Carols by Candlelight Wednesday 12 December 2018, St Mary's Church, 7.00-9.00pm

RGS Christmas Lunch Ticket deadline: Friday 7 December 2018

20.

By Mehak Negi