Rodborough Chronicles December 2014

We wish all our families a very happy Christmas, a rejuvenating break and good fortune for the New Year.

We have been celebrating Christmas in many different ways during the past couple of weeks …

Firstly, thank you to those who sent food items into school for our local St Mark’s food bank. Your generosity will have improved the lives of local pensioners and families.

We do collect all year so please feel free to bring nonperishables to Reception at any time – we will pass them on for you.

Miss Gubbels took 44 students to the Christmas Market at Cologne – story inside.

Friends created great excitement with their popular Chocolate Tombola. Friends’ Christmas Market was bigger than ever, providing many of us with unique gifts as well as superb refreshments.

Our two Christmas concerts are always eagerly anticipated and the less formal Christmas music concert in the Dining Hall on Wed 10 December showcased a large number of our musical groups, from clarinet group to staff choir and Mrs Yeadon’s mulled wine lent a very Christmassy aroma to the event.

Two groups of carol singers serenaded The Harbour (with Mrs Yeadon) and The Clockhouse (with Trinity Trust Team) on Thursday 11th and our Deputy Head Girl, Laura Gill, will represent Rodborough at Witley Church’s service of 9 lessons and carols on 21st by reading one of the lessons.

As we go to print we are looking forward to our formal Carol Service in Milford Church on Wed 17th. Joining in with the carols at this service is always a pleasure with the end of term and start of the Christmas holidays just a day or two away.

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Inside this Edition Christmas Food Bank Emergency Proc.

War Horse School Council Enquiry Question Remembering Friends’ Market Gingerbread Houses Young Orchestra Day Musical Achievements Christmas in Germany Shakespeare in Love Photography Comp Young Musician 2014 Science in Action Day at the Races Animation Day Dan Eley Foundation Silver D of E Synchronised Success Treasure Island Homework Hat Project Ability Judo District XC Trials Sports Leaders

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Dates for your Diary

5 Jan First day of term 6 Jan German Exchange Meeting 6:30 Dining Hall 14 Jan D of E Meeting for Y9 parents 6:30 Main Hall 15 Jan Y11 Parents’ Even 4:30 16-23 Jan German Exchange Students at Rodborough 21 Jan RS Factor Semis 5pm 29 Jan Y8 Parents’ Even 4:30 30 Jan INSET 4 Feb RS Factor Finals 7pm 5 Feb GCSE Revision Even 7pm 6 Feb Y9 Surrey Skills Day 11 Feb Y9 1st Aid Day 12 Feb Sexual Expl. Eve 7pm 14-22 Feb Ski Trip 16-20 Feb HALF TERM PAGE 1 OF 24

Adult and Community Learning Courses Rodborough School Spring 2015 Italian – Level 1 – Term 1 Course No GTQ2000G Tuesday Evenings 20/01/2015 – 24/03/2015 9 Weeks Time: 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm

Italian – Level 3+ – Term 2 Course No GTQ1001G Monday Evenings 19/01/2015 – 23/03/2015 9 Weeks Time: 7.30 pm – 9.00 pm

Italian – Level 5+ – Term 2 Course No GTQ1000G Monday Evenings 19/01/2015 – 23/03/2015 9 Weeks Time: 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm

Please note

Please note that ALL courses STOP during half term week from 16 Feb 2015

Soft Furnishing that ALL courses Curtains/Blinds STOP during half & Home Textiles term week from Course No GTQ2400G Tuesday Evenings 16 Feb 2015 20/01/2015 – 24/03/2015 9 Weeks Time: 7.00 pm – 9.00 pm For more information please contact Centre Manager, Surrey Adult Education, 25 West Street, Farnham, GU9 7DR Tel 01483 518558 Email: farnham.aec@surreycc.gov.uk Web: www.surreycc.gov.uk/adultlearning

Jessica Pilates

Your No.1 New Year Resolution for 2015!

Dear Mrs Furlong

NEW! Pilates matwork classes starting in Chiddingfold & Dunsfold in January 2015

First taster session FREE! Monday evenings 6.15pm – 7.15pm The Winn Hall, The Common, Dunsfold, GU8 4LE Starting Monday 12th January 2015

Wednesday mornings 9.30am – 10.30am St Mary’s Church Hall, Coxcombe Lane, Chiddingfold, GU8 4SH Starting Wednesday 7th January 2015

Mixed Ability classes suitable for all levels and ages

Spaces limited so book NOW to avoid disappointment!

Contact Jess Curnier on 07789 176416 or email jess@jessicapilates.co.uk for more details Jess Curnier W: www.jessicapilates.co.uk T: 07789 176416 E: jess@jessicapilates.co.uk

RODBOROUGH CHRONICLES

Godalming Food Bank staff and volunteers would like to thank all those at Rodborough who have kindly donated to the Food Bank over the last few years, especially the Year 11 Prefects who have worked hard and recently been responsible for collecting and donating a large amount of food.

As a direct result of this we were able to make up 26 parcels in readiness for our Christmas donations for families in crisis.

Your continued support is very much appreciated.

Karen Milton Food Bank coordinator

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Emergency Closure Procedures

Reproduced from our website With the worst of the winter weather ahead of us, we would like to take the opportunity to remind our readers of our emergency closure procedures.

These are easy to find from our website – under the News/Events tab (when we have electricity, broadband and 3G signals).

You may wish to keep this page somewhere safe for when we do not!

In the rare event of severe weather or other emergency it may be necessary to close the school.

These decisions are not made lightly and we are very aware of the difficulties this causes for our families and of the disruption to our pupils’ education. We may, at our discretion, decide to close the school to some year groups and keep it open for others.

Decisions are made on the basis of pupil safety – both from the perspective of physical site safety Athletics Field January 2013 and on the basis of sufficient staff being able to reach school to ensure safe supervision of our students.

We will do everything in our power to make and publish our decision by 7:30 am on the day in question; however, it must be appreciated that some circumstances may not give us enough notice to do so!

If you think there may be a possibility of the school closing, we ask that you check using the following methods: 1. We will use the Rodborough WEBSITE www.rodborough.surrey.sch.uk for an alert.

This will pop up over the website in a very obvious way!

2. We will use our school trips recorded information line to record a concise message …

01483 411150 … Please note that it is NOT POSSIBLE for you to leave us a message from this number.

3. We will use the Surrey Alert website www.surreyalert.info/ 4. We will send a message via Twitter to our @Rod_Tweet followers 5. Local Radio Stations will be advised (Eagle, Delta and BBC Surrey) 6. We will use our automated email system to advise parents (please be aware that bulk emails of this nature can take a very long time to arrive).

Please DO NOT telephone Reception as this blocks our telephone lines that are needed for urgent outgoing calls.

Thank you for your help in this matter.

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Year 9 ‘Up-Close and Personal’ at War Horse

Reporters Jacob Jones and James Rocha-Leite

Year 9s had the opportunity to see War Horse at the New London Theatre on 25 November. Jacob and James take up the story … www.thestage.co.uk

Our seats were the very best possible – just three rows from touching the stage! This meant that we could see everything happening on stage in great detail – allowing us to become totally immersed in the acting.

Sometimes some actors ran directly behind us making us feel part of the action.

One of my favourite parts of the play was when Joey (the principle horse) and his new rider were about to join the cavalry charge against the Germans. As the charge of these life-sized puppets begins, the characters realise that the Germans have machine-guns. The acting and sound effects of this scene were incredibly effective and I will remember it for a long time.

James Rocha-Leite We couldn’t believe our eyes when we were shown to the best seats in the house – being ardvreckschool.co.uk so close allowed us to see the actors really well and marvel at the amazing puppetry – seeing how the equine movements and sounds were created. We were all amazed at how lifelike it all was!

When Joey reared up he was right over some of the Rodborough students – adding to the atmosphere.

Jacob Jones Thank you Miss Strange for organising such a brilliant trip!

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School Council News

Reporter Laura Neuhaus, Head Girl

This term the Senior Six and members of School Council have focussed on choosing our School Charity. We were keen to support a local charity as well as continuing our support for Awutu Winton School in Ghana.

The Meath Epilepsy Trust in Godalming was the most favoured of our options because of the school’s connection to this charity.

Already, pupils have volunteered their services to organise fund-raising events including, potentially, a Rodborough talent show. In addition to this, December’s Mufti Day money will be shared between Awutu and the Meath Epilepsy Trust.

The Meath Epilepsy Trust offers accommodation and support to people suffering from complex epilepsy and works towards giving them more independent lives. The trust is entirely reliant on donations to maintain and improve the living conditions at the home. You can find more information about the work they do from their website www.meath.org.uk/ .

School Council have also been looking at some general improvements to the Rodborough site and have discussed installing a digital clock for the Sports Hall, an exterior clock for the Rodborough tower and purchasing some more benches. We are hopeful to follow through with as many of these improvements as possible during our term of office.

Reporter Miss Morgan Why Can’t Everyone just Speak English?

"Why can't everyone just speak English?" was the starting enquiry question for Year 7 French and German students this year.

Classes became very involved in answering this question and produced well-researched projects stating their opinions, boasting many interesting facts and showing some great flair and creativity.

There was also food. Lots of yummy food! Nancy Cohen (7KGU) did some great research into European foods and brought in a selection of samples for her classmates to try.

Did you know doughnuts were a British invention?

Lucy Budd and Jess Oliphant 7SHO also followed a food theme. They filmed their own Euro-Cooking Show, demonstrating how to make croissants and a very German frankfurter-y surprise. The show was hilarious and had the whole class in stiches- two budding TV presenters in the making we are sure. Lucy and Jess then brought in their products for a taste test and the class had to vote on their favourites- were they German or French food lovers? I think the vote was an even draw even after staff had scoffed all the left overs to be 100% sure of quality and a fair test.

Well done everyone, some excellent work!

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Rodborough Remembers The Centenary of Armistice has been marked with three events at Rodborough.

On Sunday 9 November Rodborough’s Head Girl and Head Boy joined Milford community to show their respect for Milford’s war dead by laying a wreath on behalf of the students and staff of Rodborough School.

The sun shone on Milford War Memorial as Laura and Tom laid the Rodborough wreath, followed by representatives of other local institutions including Waverley Council and the Police Force.

It was a particularly poignant occasion, marking 100 years since the start of the Great War and also 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and Rodborough’s participation was widely appreciated.

The whole school showed their respect by observing 2 minutes of silence on Tuesday 11 November - 100 years since World War 1 and 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In the afternoon of Tuesday 11 November, a number of our Year 9 artists travelled to Haslemere in the rain for the official unveiling of the Armistice Memorial Mural – a project they have been working towards for months.

Molly expands on this story …

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Murals for Remembrance In September Mr Cross asked a few students to work on the Haslemere Murals Project.

Reporter Molly Cowell

The theme was to be World War 1 – The ‘Great War’ to mark 100 years since the conflict began.

As soon as we had our brief we were keen to get started on our boards – we had half a term to complete them.

After working long and hard they were finally finished and everyone was happy with the results. Each board was very different – varying from very colourful to black and white, words to images. But all were equally brilliant!

On Armistice day in the afternoon four of us were invited to the unveiling ceremony in Haslemere.

The nerves really kicked in as we drove past the murals! How would ours compare to the others? Looking at each of the murals (there were many others contributed by students from other local schools too) it was good to see how each was unique and a beautiful piece of art in its own right.

To our surprise, our own murals seemed to stand out and, in the context of the entire mural, looked better than any of us could have hoped. If you have the opportunity to go to see them please do. You won’t be disappointed. They are between Haslemere Town and Wey Hill – near Majestic Wine. I am sure you will find them as breath-taking as we did!

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Christmas Market Our local community flocked to Friends of Rodborough’s Christmas Market, on Thursday 20 November.

The event was a great success with more stalls than ever offering a magical range of Christmas gifts and mouthwatering refreshments.

A number of stalls were run by students: Mrs Smith’s Year 10 and 11 GCSE Food Technology students enjoyed themselves by helping to make, decorate and sell biscuits and sweets, which raised £97.

Members of the ‘Print-it’ Team sold handcrafted cards, gift tags and ephemera.

This year’s stock has included imaginative and particularly effective cut-out-cards using the laser cutter.

Another popular student-led stall sold jewellery, whilst other students moved amongst the crowds selling this year’s musthave product, the Rodborough Recipe Book.

Thank you to Friends of Rodborough for all your hard work organising this event.

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Gingerbread House Competition

Inter-House competitive spirit ran high as teams clamoured to enter this year’s Gingerbread House making/decorating competition. Organiser, Mrs Culbert was inundated and had to cap the entries at 30 teams (more than 120 students). As the 3:25 bell sounded, eager teams converged on the Dining Hall to begin their masterpieces. Before long the room was a sea of fevered activity and icing sugar!

Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time and the houses were each unique – with many teams demonstrating considerable imagination and flair!

Everyone was a winner in the enjoyment stakes: house points and prizes were awarded to: Lower School (Pre-Built Houses) Upper School (Build-it Yourself Houses) 7SHO – Cassie, Lizzie and Illy 10EMI – Beth R, Grace R, Heidi A and AJ 8SAN – Ella Boulter, Tilda, Emily B and Maddie 10MSH – Max, Fred and Harry 8SKE - Jess, Poppy and Piper 10KCO – Reece, Finn, Fraser and Joe LP 8SKE - Sam D, Alex B and Ben Smart

… and congratulations to the overall competition winners from 8SKE: Ruby, Stella Sarah and Elizabeth

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Young Orchestra Day At the end of November, Rodborough hosted a Young Orchestra Day where young aspiring musicians from our local primary schools came to experience what it is like to play in a full orchestra.

Reporter Holly Giles

There were over 45 junior participants who played flute, saxophone, trumpet, cornet, recorder, guitar, cello and many more instruments. Throughout the day they learned three pieces from scratch with the help of Mrs Yeadon, Miss Moyler and the Rodborough musicians, who were a great help as they provided experience and guidance for the aspiring musicians.

The day culminated in a mini concert, where the participants could show their parents what they had learnt during the day. It was great to experience the progress throughout the day from sectional rehearsals to the complete concert.

Everyone had a great time; they learnt new pieces, expanded their skills, gained in confidence and had lots of fun! It was a very memorable day for all.

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International Award for Elizabeth

In October we reported the extraordinary progress of Year 11 student Elizabeth Knatt when she was awarded dipABRSM for Recorder.

Never one to let the grass grow beneath her feet Elizabeth travelled to the Birmingham International Recorder and Early Music Festival in November where she played a 15 minute recital in the Young Recorder Soloist Class. This was performed from memory against competitors from around the world.

Elizabeth won the competition and a magnificent prize of an Alto Recorder – hand-made by Tim Cranmore.

Congratulations Elizabeth.

Busking for Musical Instruments

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Violinist, Eleanor Choi (10KCO) joined with her violin group to busk in Guildford.

Braving the cold they raised the magnificent sum of ÂŁ180 towards the purchase of musical nstruments for students at Awutu Winton School.

Well done, Eleanor!

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Magical Christmas Year 9 had a fabulous time at the German Christmas Market in Cologne. This is what they had to say about the trip:

Reported by Year 9s

"I really enjoyed this trip.

My favourite parts were the Chocolate Factory and the Christmas Market." JK

“My favourite was the Cathedral,

“My favourite was the market .

because we discovered many interesting facts on our tour.”

Southan

The lights and stands put me in a very festive mood.”

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An Evening of Magic

50 lucky theatre-goers had a fabulous pre-Christmas night out at the Noel Coward Theatre's magical production of Shakespeare in Love.

"Shakespeare in Love was a funny comedic play. The performance was brilliant and I would 100% go to see it again!"

Charlotte Lee

"Shakespeare in Love was a fantastically funny play, although some parts were serious it was a really good performance with comedy, love and a bit with a dog!"

Hannah Brittain

"The performance was magical, the set amazing and the music added real atmosphere and transformed us back to Elizabethan times."

House Photography Competition A very popular House Photography Competition was held in the run up to Christmas. Students could enter photographs in up to three categories:  Landscape  Close-up  Selfie Mr Honeysett had the difficult job of choosing winners.

1st place was awarded to Rebecca Price 7NRE for her atmospheric sunset behind a tower.

Polly Chapman’s beautifully observed dew on a spider’s web secured 2nd place for 9HAL. Finn Culver and Matt Gill from 8SKE took 3rd place with their close-up shot of road surface.

This term’s House competitions have really got students buzzing. Thank you Miss Mills for organising the competitions.

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Rodborough Young Musician 2014

Reporter Miss Mills

When you sit before a group of teenagers nervously holding musical instruments you can be forgiven for expecting faltering notes, shaky hands and simple mistakes. Rodborough musicians, however, performed superbly and if you missed it, you missed out. The audience for Rodborough’s Young Musician 2014 competition was treated to a truly exceptional evening.

Congratulations to ALL entrants for their inspired playing of an impressive range of instruments from bassoon to trumpet, recorder to the oboe and, my personal favourite, the cello.

Our current musicians are especially talented and the level was so high that any of our students could have been winners in other years!

The lower school were well represented - particularly by Year 7s whose confidence was simply impressive. Cassie Ebel accompanied herself as she sang Hey Ho by the Lumineers whilst Vicki Sachs’ confident and well projected interpretation of Congratulations to the Bridegroom and the Bride earned her second place in the lower school category.

Ben Ford, veteran of 2 Summer Productions in the orchestra pit, displayed his solo prowess on trumpet. As an English teacher I thoroughly enjoyed Zoe Owlett’s beautifully articulated performance of The Montagues and Capulets by Prokofiev on the Bassoon, which earned her first place in the Lower School section.

I had great sympathy for adjudicator Matthew Nash when it came to selecting winners from upper school contestants as the breadth of talent was simply extraordinary!

Newcomers Francesca Brosnahan and Megan Allen stamped their authority on the competition with exquisite performances. Megan’s warm and passionate performance of Faure’s Elegie for Cello earned her second place. Holly Giles, fresh from last summer’s musical, sang an impressive and emotionally charged Italian aria by Caldara.

Eleanor Choi’s rhythmic and sensitively ornamented performance of Vivaldi’s E major Violin Concerto 1st mvt was judged to be of a quality that could earn Eleanor a place in a professional symphony orchestra, securing Eleanor the Upper School title.

Elizabeth Knatt’s breathtakingly mature and stylistic rendition of Sonata Prima by Castello on Descant Recorder, took the overall Young Musician 2014 title and reminded us that the this instrument can be used to exceptional effect and her accolade of ‘virtuoso’ is richly deserved.

The ensembles were so different in style that they must have been hard to judge too. Harry Richards juggled playing both the guitar and the drums with the latter being reminiscent of Animal from the Muppets! His contagious enthusiasm prompting the audience’s loudest cheer!

Peter Roche’s composition skills are worthy of mention – this was the only self-composed performance of the evening and won the boys second place in the ensemble class. We look forward to hearing more from Peter in the future. Elizabeth Knatt and Eleanor Choi took to the stage once again, this time as a duo with their polished performance of Gottfried Finger’s Sonata II on violin and recorder. Their sensitive and balanced musicality winning them the ensemble class. We will certainly miss Elizabeth next year!

I will leave you with the adjudicator, Matthew Nash's comment that he wished he could teach at Rodborough due to the talent that both Mrs Yeadon and Ms Moyler have inspired and developed.

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Science in Action

Reporter Holly Giles

Year 10 students were invited to take part in a Science in Action day, where world famous scientists demonstrated different principles of science.

The first lecture was delivered by Dr Michael de Podesta MBE on the topic, We are Amazing.

Michael de Podesta is a world renowned chemistry specialist who has created the most accurate thermometer in the world. He spoke to us about the skills we humans possess, both in the power of our senses and also in our power to create machines to further extend these senses.

We were then addressed by Tom Sheldon about Hope, Hype and Headlines: Science in the Media. He combined humour at the media’s unrealistic (yet true) statements about science with hard core facts. He told us how news reporters often report that 2+2=5 as they find a pattern or correlation where one doesn't really exist. We learnt from this to read between the lines in news stories, never just read the headlines and, most importantly, question what you are being told. It really is true that you shouldn't believe everything you read!

The next speaker caused much excitement within the audiences, and many of our parents were very jealous they couldn't hear this man speak - Professor Lord Robert Winston. The world class biologist spoke to us about The History, Progress and Prospects of In-Vitro-Fertilisation.

We learned that less than 18% of human fertilised eggs actually survive to full term, the reasons why is a mystery. As the only person ever to have videoed ovulation, we were given a full tour on the menstrual cycle that left all much the wiser!

Later we met Karen Vernon-Parry, who spoke about the elements used in our mobile phones - What’s in My Stuff?

Over sixty elements are in our mobiles, including over £1 worth of gold. She told us how there are over ninety million phones 'hibernating' in our homes across the UK. This wastage of materials needs to stop. Many factories have been set up across Europe to remove the elements from used mobiles so they can be reused.

We then found out about the Quantum Mechanics, The Trouble with Atoms … from famous physicist, Nick Harrigan. QM is a subject that baffles even professional scientists, however his use of giant Lego bricks to demonstrate the movements of atoms had us all laughing, questioning and, above all, thinking! Nick told us that the true art of physics is working out puzzles, however this was one that neither we nor any other scientist has fully understood to date.

We all had a great day filled with lectures that made us question the world around us. It was great to hear such passionate scientists and it gave us all something to aspire to.

Thank you Miss Winn for organising the trip.

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A Day at the Races

Reported by Jessica and Sisi (Year 9)

12 members of Year 9 were given the opportunity of spending a day at the races – all in the name of Maths!

Mr Perry and Mrs Gaff accompanied us in the minibus to Kempton Park for an actionpacked and fascinating day.

We were treated to a behindthe-scenes tour of the race course, with mathematical challenges to complete in our booklets along the way.

It was real jockeys who were showing us around so they were really interesting and knowledgeable.

We were surprised to learn that the horse industry is the UK’s second largest employer!

We started in the Jockey’s changing rooms, where we were each issued with Jockey’s Silks to wear for the day. Jessica’s was blue with dark blue sleeves and Sisi’s was pink with black hoops.

Our next port of call was the weighing room. We were asked to estimate our weight and to convert it into stones and pounds. We then stepped onto the jockey’s scales to see whether we were right. Surprisingly, nobody was very far out! We learned that flat-racing jockeys must weigh between 8 – 10 stone including the saddle and all their equipment. Jump jockeys weigh between 10 – 12 stone.

We also learned that the better horses have to carry more weight to make the racing fairer. This is called a handicap.

We then went out onto the race course to look at the jumps. We had to measure the arc of the jump to work out where the horses would take off and where they would land. The jockeys explained what could happen when the horses got this wrong – and told us about the injuries they had sustained and showed us their scars!

We then visited the Royal Box where we were shown the race cards and studied the form of the different horses. We had lots of different information to help us decide who might win, including how they got on in their last race.

We each picked our favourites and watched three races. It was really exciting – especially for those who have never watched horse racing before. Sisi picked a winner in the last race.

We then used trundle wheels to measure the perimeter of the parade paddock and, using the average length of a horse plus a safety distance, worked out how many horses that it would be safe to have in the parade paddock at any one time.

All too soon it was time to give our silks back and return to school. It was a highly enjoyable day – really interesting and showed us how maths is really relevant to everyday life.

Thank you to Mr Perry and to Mrs Gaff for taking us. We would recommend this trip to anyone lucky enough to be invited next year!

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Animation Workshop at Hampton Court Palace Mr Toombs took 35 lucky animators to Hampton Court Palace for a workshop hosted

by Aardman. Owen and Adam take up the story ‌ We started our trip by taking a walk around some of the more recent parts (and by recent we mean a few hundred years old) of Hampton Court Palace, escorted by the Duke of Norfolk. We learned all about how the palace was used in the late 1600s and early 1700s and about King William III.

Reporters Owen Crucefix and Adam Pink

We were surprised to see a Quentin Blake picture of Hitler on display in one of the rooms!

Then we came into a room and we were introduced to some animators from Aardman, which is the animation studio that created Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep.

They talked us about what our animation would be about and what we needed to do.

We were asked to create some characters, scenery or props for the animation based on particular areas of the Palace.

Our group, for example, concentrated on the gardens.

Part way through the session we were taken to record voices for the animation. This was the moment that we discovered that students would be making all the voices and all the characters for the film!

Aardman animation studio would just be animating it for us!

Overall we found it a fun and interesting day and we look forward to the film’s release in 2015!

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The Dan Eley Foundation We were privileged to welcome Dan Eley to our Certificate Evening on 13 November 2014, as we celebrated the success of Class of 2014.

To describe Dan’s address as ‘inspirational’ would be an understatement.

Everyone was kept on the edge of their seats listening to every word. Speaking without visual aids or notes, Dan’s powerful, off the cuff address left staff, parents and former students both humbled and uplifted. His depth of character and triumph over adversity came across wonderfully - truly inspiring every person in the room in the fullest sense.

A measure of impact is often found in reactions after an address. Families have been contacting Rodborough to thank us for organising such a motivational speaker and the staffroom is still buzzing. If you ever have the opportunity to hear Dan speak then we would heartily recommend it. If you would like to support Dan’s work please visit his foundation website: www.daneleyfoundation.org/ .

Here is some further information about Dan and the Dan Eley Foundation and connection to Rodborough…

Dan Eley, a young man from Surrey, worked as a charity worker with impoverished children in Latin America for two years before a diving accident in the Colombian Amazon left him paralysed from the chest down.

Dan visits Skillway to present new equipment and meet students.

Dan spent the next year in hospital, fighting for his life and facing up to the enormous emotional and physical challenges of being so severely paralysed. During these difficult times he had the opportunity to meet other people with similar disabilities who had overcome extreme adversity to go on and achieve great things in life. This inspired him to pursue his dream of starting apprenticeship-style training schemes for children living in poverty in Colombia and Latin America. The Dan Eley Foundation is the realisation of that dream.

“Our aim is to help young people help themselves so that they can achieve true independence.”

The core of Dan’s vision is the belief that all children have unique potential which, if nurtured and developed will enable them to lead productive and fulfilling lives as adults. However, in order to do so, it is vital that they can count on people who will show them unconditional compassion, consistent support and the importance of humanitarian values. Only under such conditions will they discover the self-belief to flourish and succeed in their aspirations and escape the ever present lure of criminal activity.

The goal of The Dan Eley Foundation is to create a supportive environment where disadvantaged young children are given the opportunity to try a range of technical and vocational skills and to provide them with the professional training they need to obtain legitimate employment.

Dan realises that there are disadvantaged young people in our own county of Surrey. It is often a different kind of deprivation - poverty of hope and aspiration. He is now a trustee of Surrey Youth Focus and is working towards helping local young people realise their true potential.

The Dan Eley Foundation directly supports Rodborough students following an alternative curriculum through Skillway in Godalming (pictured above), which received Dan Eley Foundation funding for new equipment and for a bursary for one of our students.

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Silver Duke of Edinburgh Practice Expedition

Reporter Emily Wagner

D of E Silver was a big step up from Bronze, with another full day’s walk and one extra night of camping. However, the positive attitude of our walking group made the trek bearable.

One tip I have come out with is; remember to keep your shoes dry. Wet shoes cause severe blisters – as Tallulah and I learned to our cost, requiring at least two blister plaster packets on our feet after the second day!

Despite the pain of the weekend, the best thing was the feeling of satisfaction at the end - and I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the qualifier next year!

Note from Miss Mackay: “Despite appearances, we were not sponsored by Compeed!”

Synchronised Silver 14 year-old Pippa Schulp is a member of Rushmore Under 19s Synchronised Swimming Team who travelled to Gloucester on Friday 4 December to compete in the National Age Group Synchronised Swimming Championships.

Pippa and her team, who won Gold in their Regional Competition in October, were delighted with a Silver medal at National level.

Well done Pippa!

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Treasure Island

Reporters Poppy Cowell and Ella Boulter

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On 6 December fourteen students from Year 8 who had achieved the highest star reader quizzes set off to go and witness the brand new show, Treasure Island. The pupils were given the book to read a few weeks before and were excited to see how the National Theatre (which had recently had the huge success with their other show, War Horse) would transform the beautifully written words by Robert Louis Stevenson into a play.

The play did not disappoint and it was absolutely phenomenal! Although it wasn’t exactly like the book, the students still found it entertaining with an amazing, professional cast. What most impressed students was how the stage was formatted with hidden sets that would emerge from the floor. We all thoroughly enjoyed the performance and were extremely grateful to all the teachers who went; I would definitely recommend going to see Treasure Island! Poppy Cowell After reading the book Treasure Island, it was such a wonderful opportunity to watch the play. I thought that the staging was amazing! All the 14 students from Year 8 made it even more special and seeing the London lights as we walked across the bridge over the Thames summed it all up.

Thank you for letting us go!

Ella Boulter I loved going on the trip and seeing how words in a book can be transformed into a full London show. I thought the staging was really cool, especially the way they used the stage to create a range of different scenes just like the book. I am enjoying reading the book and now I have seen the show, I am keen to read it all so I can compare the two. I was really happy I got to go on this trip and read a new book that I wouldn't have read otherwise; this will also be part of my Arts Award project.

Emily Hazlerigg

Year 8 Homework Hat Year 8s have been focusing on being rewarded for excellent homework this half term.

Each week, members of staff nominate students whose homework has been excellent by placing their name (and subject) into the ‘Homework Hat’.

Names are then drawn out in assembly and the students rewarded.

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Project Ability Festival 2014

Reporters Lucy Wood and Ella Page

In November, 20 Rodborough Sports Leaders joined England Paralympic Rugby Captain Steve Brown to help run a number of inclusive sporting events.

Students from all over Surrey converged on Surrey Sports Park and all seemed to enjoy taking part in the team events, which included cricket and hockey. We helped Surrey Cricket and Haslemere Flyerz deliver a competition for all the students.

It was great fun helping at the event and watching the students enjoying taking part in team sports.

We would like to thank Miss Mackay for putting the event together and for giving us such a rewarding opportunity.

Year 8 students Owen and Samantha take up the story: Mrs Doyle drove a group of Year 8 and Year 9 students (including me) to Surrey Sports Park where we met Mr Poppy from Nativity and Steve Brown – the famous Team GB Wheelchair Rugby Captain from the Paralympics.

We students were split into two groups, Gold (my group) and Green. Gold started with a game of hockey and Green started with cricket and then we changed over. We all had a great time even though my team didn’t win any medals!

Reporter Owen Godsall The day at Surrey Sports Park was great fun – even though we didn’t win a medal. We were all awarded certificates for taking part. It was fun playing the hockey and cricket too.

Reporter Samantha Fulbrook

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Judo Round-Up Jamie Mansfield (8SKE) represented the Southern Area at the British Teams Judo Championships 2014 this autumn, when he and his team had a great day winning their pool, beating the Midlands area in the semi-finals and going on to win the National title in the Junior Section by beating Scotland in a tight final.

Older brother Leigh (11LYE) narrowly missed out on the British Teams Championships – he is ranked no 2 and his team-mate (no1) represented the Southern Area on this occasion.

At the end of November both Mansfield brothers were invited to attend the Sport Godalming Annual Sports Awards Ceremony 2014. Both had been nominated and short-listed for the Youth Sports Personality of the Year category, which was subsequently awarded to both Mansfield boys as joint winners.

Kieran Masters (10MSH), who fights in a different weight category to Leigh, recently won a place on the Southern Area Judo Squad - this covers the counties of Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Kent.

Following this, Kieran also competed at the British Judo National Championships and in the under 42kg section he won a Bronze medal.

Congratulations to all our Judo stars.

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Reporter Mr Lee District XC Trials Well done to all of our runners who ran in the District Cross Country Trials on a cold, blustery November afternoon at Charterhouse.

Our Year 7 boys did particularly well taking the first four places in their age group event. Full results are as follows: Place Year 7 Boys Place Year 7 Girls st 1 Ben Blamey 6th Grace Sleap nd th 2 Tom Blamey 8 Cassie Ebel rd th 3 Olly Shephard 17 Rebecca Miller th th 4 Henry Downes 18 Katie Holloway th 7 Reece Ferris th 10 Ben Wickens

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10 12th

Junior Boys (Y8 & Y9) Ben Wagner Noah Robertson

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7 8th

Junior Girls (Y8 & Y9) Lola Wright Polly Downes

Waverley will take 10 runners from each category to the County Championships in January, with the first six runners in the trials automatically being selected, so Rodborough will be well represented at the event.

House Football news will be held over until February edition of Chronicles.

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Sports Leaders

Reporter Holly Giles Over 60 Year 10s have been undergoing training to become sports leaders. This has included running multi-skills festivals for various age groups. During the Autumn term various multi-skills events have taken place with between 60 & 100 children from various local junior schools visiting at a time.

We needed to work hard to produce a variety of activities to feature at these events. The activities focused around the ABC system; five minute games aimed at developing agility, balance and/or coordination with a variety of sports equipment. These games were a huge success and were challenging, yet exciting - fun for all participants.

Each event gave aspiring Sports Leaders their own challenges and difficulties to overcome.

Whilst we were helped by the PE staff, the event was entirely our own - from the first moment when they arrived until the last when they left the school site. We were fully responsible for them; a rather daunting prospect! We gained real hands-on Sports Leader experience with these real life challenges, which got us to think on our feet and to adapt plans and tactics whilst interacting with those around us.

Over the term we have learnt a great deal about what it takes to be a great Sports Leader, what you have to do and also the skills you need to do it! We have learnt not only the theoretical skills of planning sessions, but also delivery skills. The events have been hugely successful and all Year 10’s hard work has really paid off!

Thank you to PE Teachers for your help and encouragement.

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