Rodborough Chronicles July 2015

Farewell Mr Smith Fabulous prom photos now available from www.surreyphotoportraits.co.uk

Inside this Edition Jazz Tour MasterChef German Exchange Activities Week The Mikado Science Silver D of E Languages Day Carnegie Quiz Leavers’ Prom Green Notes Eco Week Writing Competitions Singing at Wembley Rounders Champs Junior Football Judo Catch-Up Top Athletes Sports Day

3 4 5 6-7 8-9 10 11 12 13 14-15 16 17-21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1&28

Dates for your Diary

Please use our website calendar to check all events as this calendar reflects any date changes.

2 Sep INSET 3 Sep ALL students in school 4 Sep Photos for Years 7,9,11 9 Sep Info Even for Silver DofE 16 Sep Teaching & Learning Evening for Y7 parents 24 Sep GCSE Info Evening for Y10 parents 25 Sep to 2 Oct German Exchange 30 Sep Road User Awareness Day for Y11 8 Oct Open Evening 1pm close School open 6 pm to 8.15 pm 16-18 Oct Silver DofE Practice 21 Oct Friends AGM 22 Oct Awards Evening 26-30 Oct HALF TERM

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Adult and Community Learning Courses Rodborough School Autumn 2015

Italian – Stage 4 – Term 1 Course No GTS1001G Monday Evenings 21/09/2015 to 07/12/2015 11 Weeks Time: 7.30 pm – 9.00 pm

Italian – Stage 6 – Term 1 Course No GTS1000G Monday Evenings 21/09/2015 to 23/11/2015 9 Weeks Time: 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm

Please note that BOTH courses STOP during half term week from 26 OCT 2015 For more information please contact the team at Surrey Adult Learning, 25 West Street, Farnham, GU9 7DR Tel 0300 200 1044 Email: farnham.aec@surreycc.gov.uk Web: www.surreycc.gov.uk/adultlearning

Sports Day Results Year 7 Girls Webb 209 Wells 220 Owen 258

Boys Owen 205 Wells 214 Webb 235

Grand Totals: Wells 1939 Web 1958 Owen 1971

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Year 8

Year 9

Girls Wells 222 Owen 242 Webb 251

Girls Webb 226 Owen 228 Wells 255

Boys Wells 192 Owen 200 Webb 214

3rd 2nd 1st

This was the closest Sports Day for very many years. The final result was undecided right up to the relays!

Congratulations for such a competitive and well supported day.

Full story on pages 27-28.

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Boys Webb 228 Owen 233 Wells 253

Year 10

Girls Wells 198 Webb 214 Owen 256

Boys Owen 226 Wells 232 Webb 233

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Jazz Tour to Holland with Woolmer Hill

Reporter Ms Moyler

I could not think of a better way to start the first day of half term: 32 students, a coach full of heavy equipment and a 7:30am departure! Welcome to a Jazz band tour!

We were soon off to catch our ferry from Dover and, despite traffic delays on the outskirts of Dover, arrived in time for our crossing. Whilst staff enjoyed on-board fish and chips, most students scoured ‘duty free’ for vast quantities of Haribo. The crossing was smooth and the time passed quickly leaving us a four hour coach journey to Valkenburg, which would be our base in Holland.

Our hotel was situated right in the centre of Valkenburg, a very pretty typically Dutch town with lots of cafes and well-maintained streets. There was free time to unpack and explore the hotel before we all met for dinner and settled in for the night.

After breakfast the next morning we set off to the Three Countries Maze in Vaals. This maze has been constructed near the borders of Holland, Belgium and Germany. On a clear day it is possible to see all three countries from the top of the tower. We all made our way round the labyrinth running the gauntlet of timed water fountains. Some were better (and less wet) than others! Soon it was time to re-board the coach for Maastricht – our first concert venue.

Maastricht is a beautiful town, well known for its lively squares, narrow streets and historical buildings, but incredibly difficult to gain access to our performance area in the centre with a coach owing to numerous road restrictions and vast numbers of cyclists! We luckily managed to find a way in and were able to unload all our equipment from the coach right opposite the band stand. Students then had a little time to sample local delicacies (Mac Donald’s) before our concert began at 3pm. We played in the sunshine to a large and appreciative audience. There was time for an ice-cream before reloading the bus and heading back to Valkenburg for dinner and an evening of bowling.

Day three was about visiting three different countries. We started by making our way to a chocolate factory called Charlemagne near Liege in Belgium. We were greeted by the owner, given a tour of the factory and then, most importantly, enjoyed the tasting! After about two hours and clearing most the chocolate from the shop we were on our way yet again, to picturesque Monschau, in Germany for our second concert. Monschau’s historic town centre has many preserved half-timbered houses, and the narrow streets have remained nearly unchanged for 300 years, making the town very popular with tourists.

This time we weren’t so lucky in getting the coach so close to our venue but everyone pitched in shuttling back and forward with equipment and we were soon set up in the market square and ready to play to a packed audience. During our first number the sky blackened and the heavens opened with torrential rain. The safety implications of all the water on our electrical equipment sadly caused us to abandon the concert and we were soon lugging the soggy instruments and equipment back to the coach.

After checking out of our hotel there was time for our final activity, tobogganing!

We walked through the town and headed in the direction of a two man chair lift which took us up to the start of the tracks. I must admit it did seem rather strange not having a pair of skis on the lift! There were two tracks and everyone enjoyed four rides - great fun! The trip was now complete and we were soon safely back to the UK. Thank you to all the pupils that made this trip a success and, of course, the staff that made this possible: Mr Nash, Mr Yeadon, Mrs Yeadon and Ms Moyler.

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Waverley MasterChef – Heats and Final

Reporter Hannah Moore

Eight teams gathered with all our ingredients to cook threecourse themed meals for ‘Royals at Wimbledon’. We were cooking for the opportunity to represent Rodborough in the Waverley Federation MasterChef Final.

We had two hours to cook, decorate our table and plate up our meal. After we had finished and presented our meals, the judges sampled all the dishes and marked them for presentation and flavour,

whilst the contenders were outside the kitchen.

Once the judges had done their work we were summoned back into the kitchen to hear the announcement of the winners. Kate Cameron and Emily Grazier took third place.

In second place were Miya Halsey and Freya Bowden.

Polly Chapman and I were delighted to take first place.

The pairs who had been placed first and second travelled to Glebelands to compete against the other schools Waverley Federation entrants: two pairs from Broadwater, two from Glebelands and the two from Rodborough. The final round was tough, yet exciting and a great experience.

After the cooking and judging Polly Chapman and I learned that we had won! Everybody was awarded with a certificate and the third, second and first places were rewarded with cooking books. Rodborough School now have the trophy, well done everyone!

Mrs Smith would like to give a special mention to Maisie Rowan and Maddie Ball, whose seasonally inspired Nettle soup starter, with handpicked local ingredients and wonderful dessert of Elderflower Fritters served with lemon syllabub and rhubarb compote was delightfully seasonal and a sustainable choice.

Also deserving a mention has to be Peppa Pig the mascot of our Federation winning team – she must have made a real difference hiding in her teapot.

Well done to all who took part.

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German Exchange to Mayen Year 10s hosted their German Exchange students back in the cold weather of January.

Mrs Reynolds, Miss Morgan and the 27 Year 10s enjoyed very different weather for their return trip to Mayen, which was basking in warm sunshine for the entire week.

It was a very busy week as our partner school also had their Czech exchange students visiting at the same time!

Here are some interesting cultural facts / myths that we picked up on our exchange:



 Germans only drink fizzy water!  Germans find English people too polite and our partners laughed because we say, “Thank you” all the time! Well done Rodborough - politeness! Miss Morgan  Germans eat fewer vegetables than us (we did eat a lot of salad though)!

Germans have two lunches (only because we had breakfast, were given huge lunchboxes for our day out and then were fed another lunch upon returning home, then dinner; we were all well looked after by our host families - nobody went hungry and lots of people tried new things).  Despite being concerned about the early rising, most of us really enjoyed finishing school at 13:00.  Many spent their afternoons playing sport, swimming at the local lido or lake and hiking in the local area.

Current Year 9 pupils who have opted to study German will be offered the chance to become involved with the 2015-16 exchange.

Our German partners will visit here in September 2015.

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Activities Week 2015

Reported by Mrs Howick As Chronicles goes to print we are right in the middle of Activities Week.

Our students are spread from Montpellier, France (Y10 French Language) via numerous other locations to the deep dark woods of Oxfordshire (Y8 Bushcraft). The variety of activities is mindboggling and thanks must go to the admin team who spend the year making it all possible.

We hope that you have been enjoying our greater use of our Trips and Visits twitter feed this year: @Rod_Trips . I will try to show you different images on these pages so it is well worth taking a look at the Twitter feed if you haven’t yet done so! If you are not a user of Twitter please remember that you can view all our feeds from our website too – Activities Week feed is embedded on www.rodborough.surrey.sch.uk/Activities-Week . Unfortunately, the Year 8 Bushcraft trip is truly ‘off grid’ so we will have to wait until their return to the modern world to hear about their return to nature!

Pressures of time and space prevent justice being done to all the great experiences from the week so please look at the twitter feed and we hope you enjoy these few snippets from early in the week …

Year 7s have spent a very creative day immersed in all things African.

Numerous activities have included making African animals from recycled rubbish, creating African textiles and letting their hair down with African drumming, singing and dancing workshops … Other Year 7s have pitched their wits together in teams to crack the huge range of puzzles designed to encourage teamwork, different thinking techniques and resilience.

Everybody had their favourites but many loved the fiendishly difficult ‘penguin’ game.

Year 8s also put their team working skills to the test when they were tasked with designing and building a wind turbine using a finite selection of resources. When I called in they had split their teams into tower-builders and rotorbuilders and many teams were busy testing the electrical output of their particular rotors – one team made an improvement of 50% to their electrical output just by adjusting the angle of their rotor blades!

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Mr Toombs and around 20 Year 9s have been creating their own video games using Kodu, Scratch and Sploder software to create a narrative coupled with compulsive game-play.

Marketing is an important part of any game producer’s business so our games makers have also created websites, posters, packaging and TV adverts. Unsurprisingly, they have also spent quite a bit of time testing their games!

More Year 8s were working on individual skills in the Circus workshop.

I witnessed very fast learning curves as students got to grips with throwing and catching diabolos and even, towards the end of the session, launching them at the moving target of the box held above the head of a brave student!

A number of throwers proved surprisingly accurate!

The Year 9 programme is the most varied of all years.

A select few spent their time creatively as they decorated the outer panels of the Art block. Others turned their creativity to food production and animal husbandry on their ‘Run a Farm for the day’ experience at Allotmore.

Everybody I spoke to who had been there had a fabulous day and the photos on twitter speak for themselves!

Another favourite for Year 9s is fishing at Marsh Farm. This year is no exception and the fish don’t seem to learn from last year – I heard that Rory’s total alone was 18 fish caught in the day!

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The Mikado 9/10/11 July 2015

Reviewer Steve Flook

What a triumph!

Having tackled 'The Pirates' a few years back, Rodborough might have been forgiven had they decided to tackle another shorter Gilbert and Sullivan operetta such as 'Pinafore'; to take on the challenge of 'The Mikado' could have been seen as risky but last week their decision proved absolutely correct.

It may seem perverse to begin by praising the costumes but, dressed by a team led by Mrs Willis, this production was a visual delight which repaid the many hours of hard work.

In spite of the sneering of classical opera devotees, the delight of G & S is that it is so silly and such great fun.

Director, Mrs Yeadon, admirably instilled her love and understanding of the genre into the company.

They understood the text, knew exactly where the laughs were and, most importantly, had excellent articulation.

There is no point in performing the work of one of the wittiest of English dramatists if the audience cannot hear what you are saying. Ko-Ko's patter song, admirably re-written by Ms Moyler was cleverly delivered

by George Macland, who showed an admirable sense of comic timing throughout the performance.

The sheer joy of Rodborough’s production was the high standard of singing and acting throughout the cast: Max Culver's Nanki-Poo captured the pathos and manipulative cunning of the character as he managed to prise Yum-Yum out of Ko-Ko's grasp, while Holly Giles, as the female lead, rose ably to the vocal challenges presented by the role. Oliver Sleap's Mikado punctuated his opening number with terrifying sound effects which provided a distinct air of menace. Stilts elevated him above the rest of the Company, adding to his physical presence.

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The depth of talent in this production was a joy to hear: among the male characters Henry Cook as Pish Tush and David Carter as Go-To were excellent, while the other 'Little Maids' Francesca Brosnahan as Pitti Sing and Megan Taylor as Peep Bo provided wonderful support, especially in their first two numbers, while mention must also be made of Megan Allen as Ti-ara and Molly Cowell as Hi-Jinx.

The role of Katisha is a demanding one and would tax many operatic voices. It also demonstrates the nasty side of Gilbert: any woman who ceases to be sexually attractive automatically becomes a figure of fun. Melody August gave us a subtle mix of the predatory side of Katisha's nature but also a sense of the playful, in the Tit-Willow song.

Perhaps the find of the evening though was Harry Richard's Pooh-Bah. As well as a voice which coped admirably with the demands of the score, Harry convincingly conveyed the pomposity and grasping nature of his character.

As always with Rodborough productions, the Chorus was excellent and, as with the entire Company, they seemed to be enjoying themselves enormously.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

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Science Taster Day at Godalming College Twenty Year 10 ‘Triple Science’ students spent a day at Godalming College finding out about A-Level Science courses.

The ‘hands-on’ day was truly inspiring and has prompted many to sign up for Science (especially Physics) A-levels there.

In Chemistry, we made mini-rockets; in Biology we immobilised yeast into spheres and in Physics we played ‘Angry Birds’ with catapults to investigate trajectories before going on to make bigger rockets!

The day was huge fun but also gave us a superb insight into what studying Sciences at A level could be like.

Cutting-Edge Science in the News

Reporters Lois Sewell & Grace McDade

Reporter George Rowley

Three classes of Year 10 scientists were graced with a visit from Fergus Walsh, the BBC’s medical correspondent on Wednesday 8th July. It may be surprising to hear, but the medical correspondent for the BBC actually disliked Science at school; in fact he dropped it after his GCSEs. Despite this, Fergus’ 30 year career at the BBC has led him through many positions to his current position of medical correspondent, which gives him the opportunity to see many leading-edge scientific events.

For example, he was recently present to witness brain surgery during which the patient was fully conscious and singing. The avid opera performer needed to be sure the surgery would not damage his voice, so was kept awake throughout his surgery.

Fergus has been the subject of many medical trials including experiencing an MRI scan used to communicate with patients in a vegetative state. By asking them to think about moving their limbs as if they were playing tennis to indicate “Yes”, and to think about lying completely flat and not moving to indicate “No”, patients were able communicate, despite their condition.

An extremely knowledgeable and talented communicator, Fergus is an English graduate and recommends that those who wish to work in journalism or at the BBC become involved with student newspapers and take a wide range of subjects. His twitter page is @BBCFerguswalsh.

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Successful Silvers

36 intrepid Year 11s returned to Rodborough after their GCSEs to complete their final Duke of Edinburgh Silver Expedition.

The beautiful New Forest formed the backdrop for the miles and miles of walking spread over three days.

Navigation in the New Forest demands additional precision if the bogs are to be avoided!

Despite blisters, everyone managed to find their way and to have a great time, making friends with the varied wildlife (ponies, cows, pigs, ducks and varied insect species to name a few) along the way.

Congratulations to all the participants and thanks to all the helpers for making D of E such a memorable part of life at Rodborough.

Taking a wellearned break at a checkpoint.

Making friends with the locals ‌

Evening relaxation ‌

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Olá, boa tarde

15 linguists from Year 8 visited Surrey University for a Languages enrichment day.

They learned why it is useful to be able to speak a number of languages and took part in lessons in Portuguese and Chinese.

“It was really beneficial and a great experience.

We also met some students who told us about their courses.”

“Going to University was a great experience and I loved every minute of it!”

“The day convinced me to strive to become fluent in German. I’m pretty sure it will help me with future careers.”

“I really enjoyed the trip, which showed me just how much we need languages. I will take away the Portuguese lessons as I have Portuguese relatives.”

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“I really enjoyed the trip as we learnt not only the languages, but facts about the cultures. We also discovered benefits of speaking more than one language.”

“I discovered that it is possible to pair a University degree with a language – something I have decided I will definitely do!.”

“It was fascinating to see how different two languages can be from each other.”

“I learnt about the great opportunities you can get from learning languages, such as studying abroad in a university, which I think would be really interesting.”

“My favourite part of the day was learning Chinese, which I had never tried before.”

“I will definitely keep learning languages as they could help me a great deal in the future.”

“I loved the Chinese lesson because it was something completely new to me and doesn’t even use the Latin alphabet! Wo xie huan zhong guo.”

“The day certainly opened up career paths in translating and interpreting that I hadn’t previously considered. I would love to be fluent in another language.”

Facts:  9 countries speak Portuguese  75% of the world’s population does NOT speak English  Chinese is the language spoken most  There are more than 6,500 languages throughout the world

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Carnegie Book Quiz Keen book lovers travelled to Broadwater School to take part in the Carnegie Quiz, a competition between Waverley Federation Schools.

Reporter Polly Grant Sae’s turn in the ‘hot seat’

We were up against Broadwater, Glebelands and Woolmer Hill this year. The objective of the competition is to read as many of the 8 books shortlisted for this year’s Carnegie Medal as we can.

Everybody had their favourites but mine was, ‘More Than This’ by Patrick Ness. After reading them, we had to answer questions about them, and the winning team were awarded the Waverley Federation Carnegie Cup. We have won this cup for four years in a succession, so it was time to give another school a chance! Who better than the host school themselves? Congratulations Broadwater! It was a wonderful experience with cake, hard questions and lovely people.

Although only six of us were needed for the team, EVERYONE who had taken part reading the books received a medal and enjoyed the fantastic experience of supporting our team and watching the competition. Here are a few comments from team members and supporters: "It was a great day - the questions really made us think and it was a great end to our reading adventure."

"Although I wasn't on the team I still felt involved and I enjoyed reading the books."

"It was great to support the team."

"I loved the books, especially 'Apple and Rain' by Sarah Crossan, which was intriguing."

“Thank you for the cake!”

"I liked the event and reading 'More Than This', which is a Science Fiction adventure."

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"I'm really proud of the team who made a great effort."

"A brilliant afternoon it's lovely to take part in a reading event as big as the Carnegie Shadowing Scheme."

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“The Carnegie Challenge was entertaining. The books were fantastic and fun to read. The quiz itself was very tense. I highly recommend Carnegie for all readers next year.

Thank you Mrs Armstrong-Harris and everyone who participated.”

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Class of 2015 Leavers’ Prom

Thank you Miss Spencer for these lovely photos from Class of 2015 Leavers’ Prom.

Please visit Surrey Photo Portraits website to purchase the official photos. http://t.co/mAdBjkLgu2

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The Prom was attended by our largest ever number of Year 11 students celebrating the fact that they had finished their GCSE exams. We were treated to so many top quality methods of arrival from some very special cars, to a horse drawn carriage and even a tandem! The dresses and suits were a best ever too and made for a stunning collection. They all looked so fantastic and grown up!

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Green Notes

Reporter Mr Ewing

As we approach summer I usually end the year with a report on the highlights from Eco Week - and I will this year too but first a little update on projects and plans around the school site.

The solar swimming pool heating project seems to go on and on but we have finally managed to roll the black irrigation hosepiping into a snail and will be ready to test the new prototype soon. I never realised just how tricky it can be to roll rigid hose-piping around without it twisting or kinking. It took weeks of effort and a few botched attempts before we The front lawn is still very much a managed something like a snail! Thanks to all building site at the moment. the prefects for their help with this project.

Thanks also to Mr Toombs and the IT wizards from Year 10 who are programming the monitoring software.

On a bigger scale, the front lawn community garden is hitting its critical stage. New plans are being drawn up and we hope that the contractors will leave the site with the skeleton of the new garden installed for us. The new garden will include a rain garden, fed by the run-off from the Cullum Centre roof. This is an innovative plan more usually seen on the likes of Grand Designs.

The spuds are growing well in their temporary position away from the building work.

The rain garden will be planted with moisture-loving plants and special moisture retentive soil will be used. The centre of the garden will be the community allotment area and this is where the contractors can help us most. There is a lot of sub-base material already on the site but it is in the wrong place. We hope that we can move this material and create the base for wheelchair accessible paths around the raised beds of the allotment garden.

The final section – the Sensory garden - will be closest to the new Cullum centre and act as a break between the centre and the other gardens. By September/October the garden project will leave the planning phase and enter the DOING stage. Be ready for a few requests for help with plants and work parties once we get started!

Finally, our new Senior Six have some new benches and have decided to place them around the quad area between Music and Languages.

It would be good to get more students using this part of the school as it is a good social space and has plenty of shade for when the weather just gets too hot!

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Eco Week 2015

This brings me nicely to Eco Week 2015. This was a successful and busy week of events where once again each year group had a theme. Let me give you a flavour of what happened: Year 7 – Pedal Power!

Year 7 proved to be a record breaking year group! Over 70 students signed up for the cycling challenge and they all received training on bike skills and road awareness and took part in our annual Cyclists Picnic event at Rodborough Common. The spectacle of almost half a year group on bikes cycling through Milford was spectacular! A few chains came off and the odd unscheduled dismount but, overall, a great time (and lunch) was had by all. And my forecast of drizzle turned out to be way off the mark – it was a glorious day!

Year 8 – Our use of resources and their impact Year 8 were treated to a day working with Phil Williams, a passionate environmental activist and long-term friend of Rodborough. He talked about our use of resources and the impact of this use on the planet. Year 8 were inspired to design posters, write letters to David Cameron and even compose raps!

See over for Raph’s story in his own words…

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Reporter Raph Sulit-Tarry

Phil Williams – Eco Legend

Ecologist Phil Williams addresses and inspires the Year 8 students

Our whole year group (Year 8) were lucky enough to take part in Eco-Week. This year we met Phil Williams, the environmental legend, and spent two periods with him.

During the first period, before lunch, we heard him talk passionately about the Rainforest, Pollution and Extinction.

During our second lesson, after lunch, we split into groups of about six students to make posters and write letters to David Cameron, Prime Minister, about the environmental pressures of the world we live in today.

Group members also did their own research into the effects that we humans are inflicting on our home planet (Earth). Here are a few shocking facts:  The Amazon Rainforest is currently home to over 10,000,000 different species including plants, insects and animals.  The Amazon Rainforest creates more than 20% of the oxygen we all need to live.  Every second we lose rainforest the size of two football pitches.  Rainforests are home to two thirds of the world’s birds.  Between 2025 and 2060 there will be NO MORE rainforests (unless something is done urgently to prevent their destruction).

Phil Williams is an inspirational speaker and everyone was shocked by different aspects of what we were told. I hope that David Cameron responds to our letters and tells us what his government proposes to do to ensure that we still have rainforests when we are Phil Williams’ age!

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Alex & Abigail were inspired to write raps . . .

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Year 9 – Are we loving our commons to death?

Every student in Year 9 had the chance to visit either Milford or Mare Hill Common to take part in a data-gathering exercise looking at the impact of human activities on these areas.

This year the students looked at the impact of illegal bike jumping, as well as general footpath erosion on our commons.

They found quite a bit of evidence of bike jumping on these commons and we will now able to see if this reduces over the next few years as a result of the new bike jumps park at Rodborough Common.

This is the new Milford bike jumps park, as seen from above.

Each group received a briefing before setting off to measure their particular area.

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Year 10 – Ethical purchasing - and why banana pickers are treated better than Apple workers!

Images Courtesy: TheVerge Year 10 were challenged to think about where the “stuff” we find so essential to our modern lives comes from.

16% of the world’s population uses 80% of the world’s resources and we are all part of the lucky 16%. For the other 84% of people on Earth, life is very much harder than it is for us.

They were asked where their smartphones and electronic games were made and, amazingly, none knew that Apple products are made by FOXCONN – a company employing over a million workers to produce electronic devices for many of the leading brands. Conditions for FOXCONN workers are not always great - the work is monotonous and repetitive, suicide nets circle manufacturing buildings to prevent workers from jumping in stress related suicides, pay is low and workers’ accommodation very poor.

To give Year 10 a tiny taste of exploitation, they took part in a halfhour sweatshop experience (on a very sweaty Friday afternoon) where they struggled, even for this short time to stay focused and productive. Half an hour spent doing a repetitive assembly line task was more than enough for Year 10 but very long days on production lines are reality for millions of young workers across the world.

Fair trade guarantees that workers picking bananas get paid fairly for their products, that no children are exploited on fair trade farms and that farmers’ villages get a premium to spend on improving quality of life. Workers in FOXCONN’s Apple plant get no such protection.

Mr Ewing has conducted a feasibility So, which is the more ethical product? test for his new mobile communication Personally, I put my money into bananas product… “It does everything I could You can always pretend they are phones ever need from a mobile phone. It is and talk like a minion whilst eating one! fully compostable and can be used as emergency fishing rations (or even bait). Nobody can find or disturb me; it is wonderful!

Buy yours today – from 40p!

Also available in green and brown.”

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Writing Competition Success Stories We are delighted to be able to celebrate the success of three members of the Rodborough community who have been successful in national writing competitions.

Two Year 7 students heard that their entries to the Radio 2 500 Words Short Story Competition had been selected (from over 120,000 entries) to go through to the second round.

Congratulations to Amber (7NRE) and Ellie (7SHO). Ellie’s story is featured below:

The Hunt by Ellie Patterson The birds are flying high this morning.

From branch to branch and tree to tree.

They perch up there, way up high.

Yet when the cat comes they flee.

It is a peaceful and quiet morning. Aha! I shall lie upon this wall and bathe in the cradle of the sun’s rays. What a beautiful sky. The clouds like flowers, blossoming upon a tree of blue silk.

Wait! What is this trespasser that dares disturb my peace? Look! There’s another one. I shall follow them and chase them out of my kingdom. Ha! Look at them shivering from fear upon my arrival. That smothering safety net of branches and leaves cannot hide you forever. I shall find a way to feast on that tasty flesh of yours.

The birds are singing loud at noon.

Their voices full of pride.

Yet when the cat crawls closer, they fly away and hide.

Ahhh! What is that piercing cacophony I hear? Grrrrrr! It’s those pesky vermin. Will they ever stop that deafening screeching? I shall go over there and give them a piece of my mind. I shall tell them that they are intruding on my property and until I find a way to trap them they follow under my rules and my orders. Come back here, you fools. Stop being such cowards and get your succulent little bodies over here. I have a command for you. Pah! They shall never come close to me. I am more fierce than I thought.

The birds are feasting well this evening.

Off seeds by the garden shed.

Yet when the cat begins to pounce, they fly away to bed.

I can smell them. They are close. Aha! I have tracked them down. How mad they must be to believe they can approach so dangerously close without my knowledge. I almost feel sorry for them. They must be hungry indeed. Oh well. One must feed oneself somehow. I shall creep as close as possible to leap on my unsuspecting prey. They have no idea what’s coming for them, poor souls. Here I go! One… two… three! Now! Hah! Finally, I have captured you. Now I can feast in peace. What?! Where is it?! Blast! It got away, the devil.

The birds are sleeping deeply tonight.

One by one they close their eyes.

Yet the hungry cat lies watching still, waiting for the sun to rise.

There they are! Back in the safety of that wretched tree. That good-for-nothing twig may be a shield to them but all it’s ever been to me is in the way. They think the game is over but I still have a few cards to play. I shall keep watch all night and as soon as the sun wakes and the moon falls asleep, I shall make my next move. I shall never rest until I bring peace to my kingdom again. Until I am hungry no more and I am picking feathers from my teeth. It won’t be long now.

Our third winner is Assistant Head Teacher, Mr Honeysett…

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Singing at Wembley

Reporter Mr Honeysett

Having watched the FA Cup final for many years on television, it is quite hard to describe the feeling of standing on the pitch knowing that what you are about to part of will be watched by 90,000 people in the stadium and 6 billion people globally!

Back in January, I heard about this intriguing competition; the BBC was looking to assemble a choir of 64 football fans to sing the iconic hymn “Abide with Me” before the FA Cup final. Strangely, the competition would not be based on singing ability but creative writing! We were asked to write about our memories of FA Cup matches involving the club we supported. As a Brighton fan, memories of this competition aren’t usually positive although the club did reach the final in 1983. Obviously, I am way too young to remember this... However, we have played and narrowly lost to Arsenal in the last two years so this formed the basis of my writing.

Obviously, I am way too young to remember this... however, we have played and narrowly lost to Arsenal in the last two years so this formed the basis of my writing.

As often happens when you enter a competition, you forget all about it so when the BBC called me on the last day of the Easter term to say that I was a winner, I was very surprised to say the least. As time went on, more and more information about the day emerged, including an online choir tutorial for us to practise individually in a soundproofed room!

The choir met for the first time on the Friday before the cup final! 64 strangers assembled at Wembley and soon got talking to each other, sharing our excitement and footballing memories. The choir included a 100 year-old Newcastle fan, a survivor of the Hillsborough disaster, who has only recently started watching football again and two Elvis impersonators!

We were taken into the team changing rooms initially before moving to Wembley’s press room, our base for the next two days. After rehearsing for a few hours and practising our entrance onto the pitch, we were taken to a local hotel for the night.

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The next morning I had to be up early for an interview on Radio Sussex and Surrey before meeting the choir for breakfast and travelling back to Wembley. More rehearsals followed, BBC breakfast filmed us, we met and sang with our lead singer Alfie Boe, Aled Jones and the Songs of Praise team monitored our progress for that week’s programme and about an hour before performing, England manager Roy Hodgson gave us an inspiring team talk.

Before lining up in the tunnel to walk onto the pitch, we were warned that the noise and atmosphere would affect our nerves and deep breathing was vital!

It was useful advice as when you enter the stadium the fans’ chants and the noise of the pyrotechnics impacts your whole body. We were soon in formation and singing the two verses of the hymn that has been sung at every FA cup final since 1927. The end result? Well, you may have seen it. If not, there are plenty of clips on BBC and Youtube (I’m wearing blue and white stripes!). www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32946162 - the singing www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/2JyK10BzsXjpgN2cW4FvYsR/winners-stories - the story

Drama Exam Congratulations

Whilst we are celebrating the achievements of our writers, we also need to congratulate Kezia Denne and Isobel Dalton, who recently gained Distinction in their ESB Senior Proficiency.

This exam is usually taken in Year 12 and their distinctions bring them each a welcome 40 UCAS points to boost their entries to University!

The ESB Senior Proficiency examines spoken English. Candidates present a talk, perform an excerpt from a play and give a critical review of a book, film, TV series or theatre production.

Year 9 District Champions

Congratulations to Year 9s who beat Woolmer Hill, Broadwater and Glebelands to become District Rounders Champions.

The victorious team comprised:  Ella Page  Lucy Wood  Kate Fraser  Chloe Welch  Roma Szczepanski  Polly Downes  Millie Puddephatt  Maya Halsey

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Junior Football Festivals

Reporter Miss Mackay

On Monday 18th May 2015 we welcomed local Year 3 & 4 footballers to Rodborough to take part in their football event. The standard of play was brilliant and, after a nervous start, goals galore were scored! The final was a tense affair and St James’ nipped in to score two last gasp goals to snatch the title from Chandler!

A massive well done to all who took part and a special thank you to Jackson Brooks and Reece Bennett for ably refereeing all the games!

The following day, 30 of our Year 10 Sports Leaders welcomed Year 1 & 2 from Milford Infants and St. Edmunds Schools to a Football Festival on Tuesday 19th May. Over 120 pupils attended the festival, where they were coached to practise shooting, dribbling and playing matches.

Despite some impressive grey skies and a few rumbles of thunder the event went brilliantly and everyone had a great time!

Well done to all involved and all the pupils were delighted with their certificates at the end!

“Just a line to say a big, “Thank you” for a really wonderful afternoon. Everyone was so impressed with the organisation of the event and the young Rodborough students helping to run it.”

St Edmund’s Year 1 & 2 Class Teachers

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Judo Catch-Up We would like to thank Waverley Judo Team managers, Peter Swettenahm and Leigh Mansfield, for this update of success for Rodborough boys …

Reporters Mr Swettenham and Mr Mansfield (Waverley Team Managers) Congratulations to the Waverley Gold Medal Winning Judo Squad

“I am writing to you as Waverley Team Manager to let you know that Waverley Borough has won the Senior Boys Judo event at this year’s Surrey Youth Games for the first time. The Waverley Team was made up from Witley Judo Club members and featured several Rodborough students.

So HUGE congratulations to Jack Harvey (individual Gold), Tom Middleton (individual Gold), and Jacob Jones (individual Bronze), for their amazing performances helping the team towards overall Gold.”

We have also received a catch-up on the progress of the Mansfield brothers: Jamie Mansfield has been very dominant in British Judo this year remaining unbeaten at every ranking event so far throughout the country and both Jamie and Leigh Mansfield have retained their County titles by recently winning the Surrey Championships.

Jamie has also recently travelled to two major European competitions. The first was the Ippon Trophy in Antwerp, Belgium, where he took a great Bronze medal (one of only two medals won by GB). The second was to the Venray International event in The Netherlands where, after a gruelling day, he took a 5th place after narrowly losing his first fight against the eventual Gold medallist then winning 5 fights in a row to earn a spot in the Bronze medal match which, despite dominating the fight, he lost to a Dutch boy.

Jamie and Leigh have both been selected to fight for the South of England in the prestigious British Teams Championships in July to defend the British title that the South won last year for the first time defeating Scotland in a very exciting and close final so good luck to them!

Jamie receives his Bronze Medal in Antwerp

Congratulations too to Arianna East, from 7LEV, who represented the United Kingdom in the JSKA European Championships earlier this week. We look forward to hearing more about it in our next edition.

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Top Athletes!

Reporter Mr Lee

Congratulations to the following athletes who, following District trials at Charterhouse, were selected to represent Waverley in the Surrey Schools Athletics Championships: Y9 Y9 Y9 Y9

Archie McCreachran Charlie Beswick Mia Halsey Ollie Phillips

200m Discus High Jump High Jump

Y10 Y11 Y11

Emily Porter Aggie Farlow-Hoare Megan Hildrew

Javelin 300m 80m Hurdles

As a result of her second place in the hurdles Megan was selected to represent Surrey in the SE Inter Counties Championships where she also came second. Next stop is the English Schools Athletics Championships in Gateshead where she will represent the county in both the hurdles and as part of the 4 x 100m relay team.

Sports Day 2015

Another excellent day when we were blessed with perfect weather. The morning team sports: Netball/Basketball, Football, Rounders and Boccia ensured opportunities for everybody to take an active part. Thank you to our Year 11 Sports Leaders who returned to help these events run so smoothly. Hopefully everybody, competitors and spectators alike, enjoyed the day.

On the athletics field particular congratulations should go to our record breakers: Ben Blamey Y7 boys 400m Tom Goddard Y7 boys Shot Katie Holloway Y7 girls Triple Jump and Maisie Page and Bea Cookman who jointly set a new Y7 girls High Jump record.

When these records are added to those already broken at District and County events, Rodborough athletes have set a phenomenal 16 new records during this athletics season!

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The Rodborough Fun Run has become a very popular feature of Sports Day. This year it was more popular than ever, necessitating staggered starts for the different year groups.

Another very popular tradition followed the Fun Run – Senior Six selling mountains of strawberries and ice cream to swell the School Council coffers. Thank you Hall Hunter for your continued support in providing us with the delicious strawberries.

Sports Leaders were in evidence again – helping throughout the day.

Thanks also to the students who helped Mr Toombs with record-keeping, allowing Mr Ewing to keep everybody up to date with House Totals as the day progressed, and allowing Mr Toombs to keep interested families up to date with the action by updating our @Rod_Sport twitter feed throughout the day.

Our able photographers gather at the line

Sport and atmosphere was captured for posterity by our able team of student photographers.

The appearance of Alex’s drone, hovering above the Fun Run provided a novel angle and we look forward to receiving the footage soon. Thank you to all our student helpers for your professionalism – we hope you enjoy this selection of our photographers’ shots.

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