Summer Supplement 2012 Rodborough Chronicles

Inside this Edition Queen of Teen Wizard of Oz District Sports Farewells Activities Week Bushcraft High Ropes Music Sports Day Rounders

P2 P3 P4 P4 P5 - 7 P8 P9 P9 P10 P11

Thank you, Hall Hunter, for our strawberries!

RODBOROUGH CHRONICLES

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Queen of Teen

Reporter Isobel Dalton 7EM

28 excited Year 7 girls took up the opportunity of a lifetime when they were selected to attend the prestigious Queen of Teen Awards Ceremony at Catteshall Manor, home of The Book People.

The girls were invited to compete for a place at the ceremony by writing a few lines to persuade us to include them. Here is Isobel’s account …

Mrs Howick “I think you should take me to Queen of Teens, as I love reading and would love to meet some of the authors that have written the books I have read!

I have always been a bookworm and always find time in the day to just sit down and read!

Meeting authors would basically be my dream come true, as it has always been one of the things I have always wished to be able to do.” Tia Tia commented after the event, “It was an experience I will never forget!”

A lucky bunch of Year 7 girls won the chance to attend the Queen of Teen Awards.

These awards, said to be “the most glitzy and glamorous awards in the world of books”, have been running every 2 years since 2008.

After watching the arrival of the nominated authors in their limousines, we were able to chat to each of the authors and get free books signed.

This was followed by a very pink afternoon tea and the awards ceremony.

Every author was introduced by a teen ‘champion’ before making their own speeches. Finally the winner, American author Maureen Johnson was crowned.

Every single girl had great fun and was thrilled with their afternoon. Many struggled under the weight of their signed books as parents arrived to collect them!

It was a great experience and I would heartily recommend it to any future Year 7s who are fortunate enough to attend.

Thank you, The Book People, for inviting us and to Mrs Howick for organising the outing and to Miss Mills and Miss Thompson for accompanying us.

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The Wizard of Oz

Reviewer Steve Flook

The MGM version of L Frank Baum’s version of the American Dream is so hot-wired into all our brains that the only way to stage ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is to try to copy the experience of watching the film. The problems that this presents for an amateur company are enormous: the number of set changes, mood changes and costume changes are a logistical nightmare.

This year Rodborough rose to and met this challenge. They were fortunate in finding a suitably whimsical Dorothy in Kiera Ranger, who managed delightfully to maintain the perpetual optimism which the part demands, admirably abetted by C.J, as her faithful companion Toto.

Chris Waters followed up his masterly performance in last year’s production with a sensitive portrayal of the Cowardly Lion and mention must also be made of Caleb Rowan’s Tin Man and Freddie Blagdon’s Scarecrow. All three managed to bring their characters to life and to involve the audience in their physical antics.

The two witches, Annie Simons as Glinda and Karen Calverley as the Wicked Witch of the West provided, quite literally, light and shade to the production with their frequent appearances.

In his first appearance on the Rodborough stage Ted Hayes, as the Emerald City Doorman, showed the timing and poise one would expect from someone of his breadth of acting experience and when on stage, brought out the best in the actors around him.

The Orchestra, made up largely of Rodborough students under the baton of Mrs Yeadon, continues to be an ever-improving feature of school productions and once again the ensemble singing was a joy to hear: the encore of ‘Over the Rainbow’ was particularly impressive.

The costumes and set designs were of the high standards we have come to expect: the imagination shown in the design of individual costumes and the blaze of colour on stage was remarkable.

The choreography is always one of the trickiest elements to get right on a stage as small as this but the space was used admirably, with actors and dancers, as in the Jitterbug sequences, interweaving brilliantly.

All in all, the Rodborough team under the excellent direction of Mrs Bearman and Mrs Fjord-Roberts can be justly proud of their efforts this year.

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District Sports

Reporter Mr Lee

On a day when, thankfully, the rain stayed away, Rodborough’s athletes won 13 out of the 17 trophies on offer at the District Athletics Championships held at Charterhouse School this week, including the coveted Champion School Shield.

This was a great effort by all 100 or so athletes who attended.

A special mention, however, must go to the following students who broke school records on the day …

Team trophies were won in the following categories: Year 7 Girls Track (joint winners with Year 7 Boys Track Glebelands) Year 7 Girls Field Year 7 Boys Field Year 8 Boys track (joint winners with Year 8 Girls Field Glebelands) Aggie is first to the line in Y7 Year 8 Boys Field Year 9 Girls Track 100m on Sports Day Year 9 Girls Field Year 10 Girls Track Year 10 Boys Track Year 10 Boys Field … and, of course, the Champion School Trophy, won by a margin of 151 points.

Our Record Breakers: Emily Porter Year 7 Javelin (incidentally, Emily threw further than any other girl in attendance on the day, a remarkable achievement for a Year 7 pupil), Aggie Farlow-Hoare Year 8 Girls’ 300m Kirsten Hunter Year 8 Girls’ Relay Aggie Farlow-Hoare (who knocked over a second off the previous record set in 2006) Megan Hildrew Laura Neuhaus Congratulations to you all!

Farewells This term we have said a fond farewell to the following staff and hope you will join us in wishing them well: Miss T Adams (History) – maternity cover for Mrs Rushmere who returns in September Mr O Brown – continuing social worker training Mrs R Bethell (Teaching Assistant) - retirement Miss L Chapman (Geography) – maternity cover for Miss Rojas who returned in June Mrs C Clarke (Teaching Assistant) – teacher training Mrs C Dockar (Maths) – promotion to Head of Department Miss K Flynn (Teaching Assistant) – temporary post prior to teacher training Mrs J Grace (Food Technology) – new post in Sussex Mrs S Hatherall-Good – teacher training Mrs J Leigh (Bursar) - retirement Mrs S Marshall (Laboratory Technician) – returning to Industry Mrs H Piper (Science) – maternity leave Mr G Sturdy (Science) – promotion to Head of Department Miss K Thompson (Teaching Assistant) – temporary one year post prior to teacher training Miss K Tully (English) – relocating to Suffolk Mrs S Westhead (Art and Head of Year) – sabbatical for one term (returns Jan 2013) RODBOROUGH CHRONICLES

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Activities Week

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Photo Feature

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Bushcraft It was worth the long bus ride. The walk in was seriously muddy, which was amazing help when you tried to be camouflaged!

The group leaders were hilarious and entertained us all day. My classmates found the week amazing – definitely an experience we will always remember.

ALL the activities were terrific but my favourite was the freezing swim and the high tree climb.

Gemma Heslop

Cooking on our own fires was brilliant

I loved playing Predator The food was AMAZING! I think the game casserole was my favourite.

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High Ropes

Reporter Mrs Pellett The High Ropes course at Brooklands College proved a real hit with some of our intrepid Year 9s. Blessed with fine weather and kitted out with hard hats and harnesses, the pupils were split into four random groups by Mr Perry. They moved around five different trials with their instructors, realising very quickly that team work was definitely the key to success.

Excited shrieking gave way to an unnatural quietness as students concentrated as never before to balance on the “Tower of Death” – a tiny platform atop a telegraph pole, where

four of them had to huddle before swinging down on their ropes. The milk crate skyscraper required total team work, not only for the two building but also for their comrades on the ground who had to provide “more rope” as the tower got higher.

The climbing wall proved a challenge for Miss Martin who gamely gave it a go, likewise Mrs Warren who took a turn on Jacob’s ladder. The low ropes activity, scorned at first by groups who had started on the apparently more daring trials, soon had the students exasperated as every foot to the floor secured a ten point penalty.

All students on the trip came away with a sense of pride and achievement as well as a few new friendships.

Musical Miscellany Congratulations to Imogen Bland, Year 8, for passing her Grade 3 Piano Exam with Distinction!

Congratulations too to Maddie McConnell, also from Year 8, who has been promoted to deputy head chorister at Guildford Cathedral.

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Sports Day

Reporter Mrs Howick Staging Sports Day on the penultimate day of term was always risky but the sun shone (or the rain held off) all day. Every pupil took an active part in the day, with house competitions augmenting the athletics programme.

Competition between houses was fierce and Mr Ewing’s regular score announcements prompted cheers and groans as the houses jockeyed for the lead. Webb (Green) edged into the lead to win the team games.

The whole school then gathered to watch the blue ribbon events - 100m, 200m and Relays.

We took a break between the 100m and 200m for lunch and for two of our most popular Rodborough traditions – the annual Fun Run and Strawberries and ice-cream bonanza!

The Fun Run seems to get more popular each year and 2012 saw the majority of our students, together with school staff and members of the catering team following our pacemakers, Andrew and Liam on the circuit of the school fields.

Special commemorative Olympic Year medals were available to those who had signed up in advance.

Hall Hunter have supported School Council for several years now by providing strawberries for them to sell to raise funds.

This has become a very popular tradition!

Our fastest boy was Jack Wilson (Y10) with a time of 11.72 over 100m and our fastest girl over the same distance was Helena Sharp (Y10) in a time of 14.09.

The best overall performance on Sports Day was Aggie Farlow-Hoare (Y8) who won all four of her events.

Harry Johnson (Y8) equalled the Year 8 High Jump record of 1m45.

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Rounders Round-up

Reporter Miss Sheppard

The Year 10 Rounders Team played to regain their District Champions title. Poor weather and other commitments hindered training but we were lucky that the majority of the team were GCSE PE students, who had been assessed in Rounders this term.

They managed to overcome their first hurdle by winning the Waverley tournament with relative ease, qualifying for the final against new opposition Guildford County. This game started tight with half time scores Rodborough 6½ to County’s 9.

Rodborough needed to tighten up their fielding for the second innings to close the gap and take victory. Sloppy play saw a couple of our batters out early, putting strain on the fielding and allowing County to run away with the game, winning 12½ : 10½.

The Year 10 teams will have to step up their game next year in Netball, Football and Rounders to end their time at Rodborough on a high and demonstrate their excellent sporting ability.

The Year 7s have had an excellent sporting year and made an impressive impact across all sports. This summer they have been working hard on their Rounders skills and are showing early potential of becoming a good team.

Wins in their early friendly matches allowed them to enter the Waverley tournament quietly confident. An early upset against Woolmer Hill was quickly overcome and they went on to win the tournament, progressing through to the District Final vs.

Howard of Effingham.

Early nerves showed as they underperformed in their first innings, leaving the half-time scores close Rodborough 3 ½ Howard 3.

A half-time team chat focussed Rodborough for their second innings, which they took by storm, adding 7½ rounders to their score.

Tight fielding was needed to keep the lead, a few flustered ½ rounders were given away as Howard pressed to score but excellent fielding continued and Rodborough held out winning the game and the District title 10½ to 7. Well done to all the Year 7 girls who have represented the school this year - let’s make sure we continue to make progress next year!

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