Harrogate Grammar School Magazine

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the magazine of Harrogate Grammar School

H ARROGATE G RAMMAR S CHOOL

issue 17 July 2011

Poet Laureate

visits HGS

the link is available online at www.harrogategrammar.co.uk

An Evening with the What the Head thought...

Mr Sheriff on Carol Ann Duffy

Front cover & above: Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy speaks to The Forum audience

On Monday 23rd May Carol Ann Duffy performed in front of a sell out audience in The Forum. It was to be an evening of poetry and music, as she read a selection of her work and was accompanied by the charismatic multi-instrumentalist, John Sampson.

The Poet Laureate is appointed by the Government and is expected to promote poetry and the arts as well as write poems for national or state occasions. Carol Ann Duffy is the first female poet and the first Scottish poet to be made Poet Laureate. Historically the position has been held by the poet until his/her death, but recently it was changed to a ten year term. She follows in a long line of distinguished poets to have held the position: William Wordsworth, Lord Tennyson, Ben Jonson and Ted Hughes.

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The Poet Laureate entertained the audience with her wit and warmth, talking about her poetry and reading from her books The World’s Wife and Rapture before reading from her forthcoming new collection.

John Sampson played a variety of wind instruments, and his accomplished performance was an extremely effective foil to the poetry.

When we were discussing plans for the new Sixth Form centre we decided that we wanted a venue for learning ‘events’ and experiences that would enrich the school community. Bringing Carol Ann Duffy to the school was the latest in a series of events that have showcased the potential of this superb new building by bringing together students, teachers, parents and members of the community to enjoy guest speakers and performers. The Poet Laureate’s performance in front of a packed audience really showed The Forum to its full potential as a new centre for the arts, and much more, within the Harrogate area. There can be no doubt that for those lucky enough to be there this was a wonderful evening in which the humour, pathos and accessibility of the poet’s work won over a hugely appreciative audience.

This was the second such literary evening, after Joanne Harris visited last September, and it is planned to be an ongoing series of literary themed events. With over 300 people packing the new Forum theatre, the atmosphere was fantastic.

An impromptu standing ovation was a fitting end to a magical evening.

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Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy What the teacher thought...

What the student thought...

Mrs Maguire on Carol Ann Duffy

Jonathan Fisk on Carol Ann Duffy

Arriving in The Forum for the poetry evening, it was surprising to notice a Mozart-style wig and several old-fashioned musical instruments on a table! Was Sampson’s accompanying music to Duffy’s poetry going to be dreary and high-brow? Wrong!

John Sampson used his music and comedy skills to great effect, making the audience laugh, sing and generally feel fully receptive. Carol Ann’s delivery of her poetry was masterly, ranging from knowing over-the-spectacles glances in her rendition of The World’s Wife poems, to the humour of poems about pub names, to the poignancy of her elegiac lines about the death of her mother.

At 7pm on Monday the 23rd of May, HGS displayed a packed forum as the poetic side of Harrogate waited for an audience with Carol Anne Duffy.

For almost 2 hours, there was silence as the Poet Laureate read, punctuated only by applause and laughter. The poems ranged in subjects from Darwin to bees and from Faust to football and each was fantastically written and extremely witty.

Entertainment was also present in the form of John Sampson who played odd wind instruments, each more obscure than the last, but each complementing and enhancing the tone of the poems wonderfully.

Overall, a great night was had by everyone, and made even better by the use of The Forum, demonstrating what a perfect facility it is to have.

Well-organised students provided refreshments and Waterstones provided the audience with the opportunity to purchase Ms Duffy’s poems.

At the end Carol Ann was delighted to receive a standing ovation from the HGS audience. She said to John Sampson, ‘This never happens!’

A magical evening.

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A Samurai visit to Harrogate Grammar School Pictured: Phoebe Hewick, Lauryn Askey, James Boughton & Author; Chris Bradford

Chris Bradford author of the series Young Samurai came to HGS and did a presentation about his books and how the reader could also be the hero of the story. This is because his books are based on actual facts so YOU could learn to be a samurai or a ninja from his book the Ring of the Earth (Book 4). His speech was very inspiring and it made you want to buy his books and read them all just to know what happens to young Jack who is the main character in the story.

Chris Bradford got the students involved in his presentation by first demonstrating how easily he could use his sword to cut in half a piece of paper with a ninja drawn on it. There was also a contest to find out who

was the best ninja when he asked seven students to come to the front and try to steal a book from him when his back was turned. I would say that Chris Bradford is one of the friendliest and best writers I have come across. Here is what some other students thought of him: “It was wonderful! I loved it and can’t wait to borrow his books” – Hannah Middleton “The presentation was so exciting” – Eleanor Watkin The afternoon also inspired Callum Rainey to join a local martial arts club!

Jordan Schulde Year 7

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Primary School Music Day On Thursday 16th June over 100 students from Pannal, St Peters, Weston and Oatlands primary schools met at Harrogate Grammar School for a day of music making with Harrogate Grammar students.

The day’s focus was singing and the students had all prepared 5 songs. Alongside this, each school sent along some of their most gifted instrumentalists to form a band with the HGS students to accompany two of the songs. The day begun with a mass vocal warm up before the group split into instrumentalists

and singers to rehearse the songs. After break, spent running around on the field, the groups got together for more hard work rehearsing. At 2.30 the concert in the wonderful new performance space, The Forum, begun in front of parents, teachers and friends.

The primary students sang and played their hearts out and there were more than a few watery eyes amongst the audience! This was an inspiring day of music, bringing together young people from 9 to 18 from within the community.

Cabaret Evening On Wednesday 25th March the Music Department held A Kind of Cabaret evening showcasing much of the extra-curricular work that the department had been facilitating throughout the year against a chilled out backdrop of candles, cabaret club seating and flowing wine!

Three ensembles performed the repertoire that they had been working on during their recent residential trip to Myddleton Lodge in Ilkley.

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Celebration of Music Evening For the majority of the evening, the entertainment was provided by the Show Band and the MGM Voices. Highlights from the evening also included performances from Lucy Borgen and Leah Buckle, who both presented their own GCSE music compositions, revealing an incredibly high standard of writing skill and musicianship.

The night was a massively successful evening in terms of atmosphere, performance, quality and fund raising.

On the 12th May our annual Celebration of Music and Awards was held in the School Hall. This is a time for the music department to recognise some of the musical achievements of our students over the year and say goodbye to those students who are leaving us. The evening begun with a wonderful performance by our String group. Other high points

included Izzy Phillpotts singing a Corinne Bailey Rae song (which left hardly a dry eye in the house) the amazing MGM Singers giving their farewell performance, a recording of Music Tech student, Ben Brindle, superb A2 coursework and members of our first Music BTEC class showing us why they have all obtained places at the UK’s finest Music Colleges.

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Left to right: Carolyn Rothwell, Max Cameron-Jones & Jeanne Tasker

Sustainability HGS is keen to promote sustainable activities and to educate staff and students on how to reduce their carbon footprint

Left to right: Rachael Lumley, Oliver Rivett-Jones, Archie GriďŹƒths, Max Cameron-Jones, Robert Brooks, Ben Summer & Richard Worsnop

The school has planted many trees over the past few years and, as well as the vast grassed and sports areas, there are four internal garden areas. One is a quiet place for reflection; one is for learning support and has raised beds, flower beds, a lawn and six new hens; one is a modern paved cloister area for use by the Sixth Form, and now there is the Wildlife Friendly Home Grown Garden.

Recently we have worked hard to reduce our energy consumption by investing in

clever devices to minimise electricity use, and properly insulating our roof spaces and boiler room to cut down on gas.

We are looking carefully at the possibility of generating our own power using solar panels.

Water is also a scarce resource and we have worked closely with Yorkshire Water to cut back on our usage in various ways such as reducing the flow of water to our taps.

We want the food we use in our catering to be as local as possible and the school allotments and of course our chickens mean a small amount of our ingredients comes from our own site.

Finally we are trying to further improve our recycling.

All this makes sense from the environmental perspective and also helps our budget – a sustainable combination.

For more information about our sustainability including our home grown garden please visit our website www.harrogategrammar.co.uk

New Head Girl & Head Boy Appointments “One of the most challenging tasks we face in school every year is selecting our new Head Boy and Girl and their Deputies. This year was no different and even with the student vote, Senate panel and feedback from staff across the school to guide us it was a very tough call.

The standard of applications is just so high it is truly inspiring to interview these terrific young people.”

Mr R E Sheriff - Headteacher

Left to right (bottom row): Annie Chawla and Jonathan Tullett. (top row): Sam Goakes, Georgina Letts, Martha Selwyn & Ravi Patel

Physics for fun A short series of Physics talks aimed at a general audience was a massive success. “I was delighted and surprised that each talk attracted an audience of one hundred for a wide range of physics topics,” said Phil Verhees who organised the events, ably assisted by Max Cameron-Jones of Year 12 and Amy Griffiths of Year 13.

There were 3 lectures; on the 24th March, Dr Jim Wild from Lancaster University

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explored our planet’s intimate relationship with the Sun to explain the facts and folklore behind the northern lights.

In April, a fascinating talk was presented by Dr Pete Edwards of Durham University who not only explained Earthlikeplanet research, put showed us the latest results of space observations which almost conclusively show that we are not alone in the universe.

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The final visit was on 26th May when Professor Peter Watkins, discoverer of some particles called bosons explained what happens inside the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The fantastic attendance and positive feedback have given encouragement for a possible repeat next school year; watch for details.

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German Exchange visit to Tübingen 2011 8

At the end of March, 12 students from Years 10-12 travelled to Tübingen in the South-West of Germany to take part in the exchange visit with our partner school, WildermuthGymnasium. After a break of three years between visits to this beautiful town on the edge of the Black Forest, we were all extremely excited to revive our long-established the link with HGS’ German friends.

After getting to know their exchange partners via email during the previous weeks, everyone was eager to meet their partners in the flesh. There was lots of last minute German practice during the short flight to Stuttgart, as well as comparing gifts that had been bought for partners and their families.

During their time at the German school, HGS students went to several lessons together with their German partners and experienced the differences and similarities between the German and English school systems. HGS students were somewhat perturbed to discover that the school day started at 8am, although they were much happier to learn of the 1pm finish!

Highlights of the week included a visit to a local bakery, where students and staff thoroughly enjoyed making, baking and eating the traditional German speciality ‘Brezen’ (pretzels). We were also surprised to discover that pasta is a local speciality and we all enjoyed a visit to the organic pasta factory nearly 1000m up in the Swabian hills. Our joint excursion with the German students and staff to Stuttgart included a visit to the Mercedes-Benz museum, where we learnt about the history and future of this prestigious German car manufacturer.

Some of the HGS students were involved in a visit to the site of the former concentration camp at Dachau. During the day, they showed maturity and great respect at this harrowing location.

Close friendships were made during the week and we are now very much looking forward to the return visit of the exchange, when the German staff and students travel to Harrogate at the end of June. We look forward to showing them what a typical English school day is like, as well as showing them the sights of our town and the best of what North Yorkshire has to offer.

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Although we were all quite nervous, after having spent the night with our new families everyone seemed settled. The first day was quite surreal. We were able to see the contrast between English and Italian ways of life. The most obvious for us was going to school on a Saturday - we weren’t impressed!

One of the most memorable events of the trip was our visit to Florence. Despite the rain, we were able to see some of the city’s most impressive attractions, including the famous bridge the Ponte Vecchio, the markets , and most impressively Michelangelo’s sculpture, David. Some energetic students also climbed the bell tower of the cathedral and enjoyed a view of the whole of Florence.

As well as visiting the artistic centre of Florence, we also visited the fashion capital of Italy and perhaps the world, Milan. Although we had been warned of the high prices, we still weren’t prepared for the €7 ice creams – they must have known we were tourists!

Our last day in Italy was met with mixed reactions, many were worried they would never eat so well again, and some were looking forward to an early night. What was clear, though, was that the exchange partners would be thoroughly missed.

Overall, the experience was something none of us will ever forget. Not only did it improve our confidence and aid our learning, many of us also made friends for life.

Emily Guthrie & Lilli Driffill

Italian exchange Piacenza 2011

This February, over 30 students participated in our biggest ever exchange.

After a gruelling 9 hours of travelling, we finally arrived in the town of Piacenza, just 40 miles from the famous Italian city of Milan. We each then went off with our new family on our own.

Why are exchanges so important? please visit the website to find out more www.harrogategrammar.co.uk

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Battlefields Trip Students also visited the ruined city of Ypres, which has been completely rebuilt since the end of WWI. Opportunities were taken to purchase no small amount of Belgian chocolates (I assume these got home to parents...)

The History Department and eighty-eight Year 9 students have recently returned from an educational trip to the battlefields of Belgium and Northern France. The four day trip took pupils to the First World War battlefields around Ypres and the Somme, the location of some of the fiercest and most bloody fighting of the Twentieth Century. Students had the opportunity to visit the remains of trench systems and begin to appreciate the terrible conditions faced by all soldiers who fought during the Great War of 1914-18.

As well as visiting the battlefields themselves, students were also engaged in some more quiet reflection at some of the main cemeteries and memorials to the fallen.

Respects were paid at Thiepval (a memorial to the 70,000 missing of the Somme), Essex Farm (where In Flanders

Fields was written), Tyne Cott (largest British cemetery in Europe) and Langemarck (a mass cemetery for German soldiers). Students were able to choose a grave for remembrance which they marked with a poppy.

Students also took part in the Menin Gate ceremony and were able to lay a wreath to the fallen soldiers during a very moving service. Finally, a wreath was laid at the grave of HGS “old boy”, Donald Bell.

The exhortation was read and two minutes of silence were observed.

We were exceptionally proud of the behavior and conduct of all students on the trip and all the feedback we have received from students has been extremely positive.

We will be running a similar trip for the current Year 8 next year. More details will arrive shortly through History teachers.

Iby Knill

Visits Harrogate Grammar School Left to right (Year 9 students): Ailsa Gray, Joe Keane, Joe Hare, Laura Whiteley, Emily Lamb & Matt Cliff are pictured with Iby Knill

Guest speaker, Iby Knill, visited Harrogate Grammar School last week to speak to 275 Year 9 students about her experience of the Holocaust. She told an inspirational story of her survival against seemingly insurmountable odds.

It was a huge privilege to hear Iby’s fascinating story first hand, and students made the most of the opportunity to ask questions about her experiences and were extremely grateful to Iby for sharing her story with them.

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Since Easter, Year 9 students at Harrogate Grammar have been investigating the nature and impact of the Holocaust on the lives of the millions of people affected. Iby’s visit has been invaluable to students in understanding the significance of the Nazi programme of genocide.

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An Enterprising Year at HGS Student Investor 2011

Tenner Tycoon Tenner Tycoon is a nationwide competition to promote enterprise in schools run by Enterprise UK and fronted by Peter Jones.

The competition was launched back in March and students formed teams to use a single £10 note to go forth and multiply.

They were then able to divide their takings between personal profit and community/charitable projects.

Left to right: Tom Sheriff, George Robertson, Sam Webb & Jamie Robson Inspired by the ‘The Apprentice’ and with a keen interest in Business, students have made making money a game. The self titled ‘Bad Men Team’ from Year 9 propelled their way to the Regional Finals with some savvy purchases of FTSE company shares. George Robertson, Jamie Robson, Sam Webb and Tom Sheriff were all delighted to represent Harrogate Grammar at the regional finals, held at St James Park, Newcastle on 22nd March 2011. They were quite literally the youngest team at the finals which deserves much credit when one realises that only 0.84% of the 10,000 teams nationwide actually make it this far.

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The boys were asked at the event for their Top 5 Tips for Next Year

Most profitable Key Stage 3 team was Chloe Leatham and Hannah Atkins, raising a grand total of £63.90 car washing in their local area. Other notable achievements were a £40 profit from the ‘Weeton Dog Walkers’ Heather Wilson and Allegra Thomas-Sanders. As a sole trader, Isabella Shortman made an impressive £50 through some fantastic marketing of her ironing business in her local area.

Year 10 BTEC group put their Tenners to good use by selling easter eggs on the last day of spring term. They raised £76.20 marketing their eggs outside the hub. The key team members were Oliver Thomlinson and Hannah Lyons.

Lastly, much credit must also go to the most profitable Year 11 entry. Through some clever marketing and the use of the schools payment website, Matthew Pallister and Laura Anderson were incredibly successful at selling ‘personalised leavers hoodies’ to an easily accessible target market.

The huge success of the event in terms of giving hands on business experience to students means that the challenge will hopefully run next year.

“There is such a thing on TV as ‘Business News’ watch it!”

“Don’t be afraid of taking a calculated risk.”

“Keep an eye on the weather forecast... this can affect certain businesses.”

“Keep your eyes fixed on your portfolio... know when to sell.”

“Have a good team name.”

Oliver Thomlinson & Hannah Lyons

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Allegra Thomas-Sanders & Heather Wilson

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Harrogate Grammar Schools’

Year 11 Leavers’ Ball Not even the heavy rain could dampen the spirits of the 233 students and staff as they arrived to celebrate in style at the Old Swan Hotel. It was an evening to remember for all involved – stunning dresses, incredible shoes, smart dinner suits – our students became film stars for the occasion.We even had our own Michael Buble, alias Josh Kirk who was our after-dinner soloist. Alas midnight came all too soon. What a wonderful year group who celebrated in style!

Photographs courtesy of www.doubletake-eventphotography.co.uk

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Upper Sixth

Leavers’ Ball 2011 The Upper Sixth were excited and fully embraced the black tie opportunity for the Leavers’ Ball at the Pavilions, looking tres elegant as they rolled up in their finery and fake tan.

A photographer was on hand to record the young and the beautiful on their red carpet evening. After dinner the DJ revved up the pace by setting the volume on “Youthfully Loud” and playing everything at three times the normal speed whilst students (and some staff ) jumped up and down on the spot. Thus another Sixth Form Ball passed by in a splendid whirl and the girls changed from long to short frocks as they headed into town...

Photographs courtesy of www.yorkshireeventsphotography.com

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New York Trip April 2011

A late night trip to the Empire State building was a personal favourite. Seeing the infamous New York skyline lit up was simply stunning! We also included a trip to Liberty and Ellis Island to learn about its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States, as well as to visit the Statue of Liberty.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (M.E.T) The Guggenheim and the superb Museum of Modern Art (MoMa).

Being able to see some of the most famous pieces of art hung in front of our eyes was overwhelming.

During the first week of the Easter holidays the Art and Design department were lucky enough to visit New York City.

We departed school at 1:30am all excited to arrive at Heathrow airport to catch the early flight out to ‘The Big Apple’. Once we finally arrived the sheer buzz of the city made us ready to explore and possibly try capture a part of one of the most unique and historic places in the world.

A fascinating tour guide led us through the landmarks of the City. The impressive Times Square, views of the Brooklyn Bridge and to Ground Zero. Here we witnessed the progress of the World Trade Center rebuilding efforts and a visit around the 9/11 Museum.

We later grabbed a bite to eat in the buzzing China Town.

The impressive architecture of Ground Central Station led down to the very electric atmosphere of the busy Subway, where we were able to spend the remaining time souvenir shopping in Bloomingdales and Time Square, before having dinner at The Hard Rock Café.

Towards the end of the trip everyone was exhausted and there were lots of sore feet from the walking! However it was a fantastic experience and I’m sure lots will want to go back and explore more!

Helena Sandles Year 12

The 4-day schedule consisted of jam-packed sight-seeing and visits to famous Art Galleries, including the 21

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Monk(ey) Business at Fountains Abbey!

Some Year 9 and 10 students have embarked on a journey of guided learning in a collaborative venture with learning support and staff at Fountains Education Centre.

Skills experienced by our students have been mainly art and crafts based. In the 12th century brothers at the Abbey worked as craftsmen in the workshops behind the abbey and supplied the monks with all the materials and tools they needed to survive.

Making felt pictures from pure sheeps’ wool and crafting mosaics are just two of the skills learned.

Additionally they have also made gargoyles, kites and bird boxes, set a nature trail and walked with the deer ranger.

RHIO Schools ‘A’ Level

Summer Design Exhibition at Harewood House For the past two years HGS has exhibited A-Level Design students’ work over the summer holiday.

This year we are expanding this to include work from our RHIO partners. (Rosset, Ilkley Grammar, Prince Henry’s Otley). The work on show will cover many of the Art & Design disciplines we teach across the schools, including painting and drawing, textiles, product design, photography and graphic design.

We hope you manage to visit Harewood House over the summer to enjoy the fantastic talent on show.

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Half Term Maths Challenge Prize giving HGS prize-winners were invited to the School of Mathematics at the University of Leeds to receive their certificate and a prize. Parents and teachers were also welcome to attend and all of us were entertained beforehand with puzzles and challenges from MEM (Mathematical Education on Merseyside) who had provided the questions for the half term Challenge. The problems had us having to think in different ways as well as working together.

Here is one for you to try!

What single digit repeated 3 times can be used in a simple addition sum to make 12?

4 can’t be used!

HGS was very well represented in all categories, Matthew MacGregor was awarded first prize, Hollie Pilkington 2nd prize and Leona Strauss, Louis Maurice, Jack London and Alice Lavender Merits. Also, in the senior competition, Alexander Stephanides and Jamie Robson gained Merits – a very proud moment for them all!

Hugo Strauss Medal winner from Harrogate Grammar School Hugo Strauss, a Year 10 student, took part in the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Olympiad and achieved 16th place in his age group from 12,000 of the best mathematicians in the country, out-performing students from the most prestigious public schools. Hugo, along with a very select group of students, has now been invited to attend the Summer school for top mathematicians at Queen’s College Birmingham in July, from which the British Mathematics team contestants will be chosen.

Hugo Strauss with Deputy Headteacher Patrick Horne

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Sicily trip On the first couple of days we visited the spectacular Monreale Cathedral, a museum of Mount Etna and the active volcano itself. We took a cable car and then 4x4 buses through high banks of snow right to the 3000m summit to see the active craters close up.

Sun, summits and sea – we experienced it all in Sicily!

Blessed with perfect weather and a great tour guide to show us around, we visited some amazing places over the course of five days.

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We spent a day visiting the island of Vulcano – a small volcanic island with a population of only 400 residents. We climbed one of the larger volcanoes and ate lunch at the top, with a spectacular view over the town and surrounded by Fumaroles emitting hot sulphur vapours.

We bathed in the natural mud baths and had a great tour of the different geographical features of the island on the ferry back

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to Sicily. Our final day was spent looking at the impacts of tourism in Giardini-Naxos and then studying the spectacular features of the Alcantara River Gorge.

On the journey back to the airport we stopped off at Cefalu, one of the oldest settlements in Sicily where we were allowed to go off and explore. Most of us found ourselves in Pizzerias and Gelaterias before meeting up again on the beach to enjoy the last of the hot Sicilian weather. It was a great trip, and a fantastic opportunity to see and experience what we have learnt in Geography.

Kat Boye Year 10

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Duke of Edinburgh Awards Duke of Edinburgh – Gold Practice, Lake District At the beginning of April eight students left school, heading for the Lake District for the first DofE Gold practice weekend. After pitching tents at Braithwaite, a quick trip was made to Keswick to sample some fish and chips. From then on it would be down to the students to cook all their own, high carbohydrate meals.

Left to right: Ravi Patel, Daniel Banwell, Hannah Bowman, John Somerton, Katie Petty, Nicole Morgan, Georgina Letts & Louise Whitton

Over the following four days the students walked 80km, developed their map reading skills, and gelled well as a team.

A highly enjoyable and active trip was had, and students are looking forward to the second practice later in the term.

Duke of Edinburgh – Bronze, Wensleydale Twenty seven Year 10 students recently completed their practice expedition for the Bronze Award in Wensleydale.

They had to walk about 30-35km over two days with full back packs, carrying everything they needed to be fully self sufficient. Despite an overnight thunder storm spirits were high and they are now busy preparing for the assessed expedition in July, which will take place in Nidderdale.

Left to right: Elisse Weat, Amy Matthews (on wall), Louise McLeman, Miss Grant, Lauren Dean, Freya Dickson, Josh Manby & Ben Weiss

For more Dof E news please visit our website. www.harrogategrammar.co.uk

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Facilities for hire The completion of a £2 million building programme has provided us with facilities that are simply outstanding, including a 300-seat auditorium, hospitality suite, media suite and boardroom as well as our traditional spaces including the main hall and sports hall. We now have the platform to cater

for a variety of events including meetings, conferences, fairs, sporting events and music/ drama performances. If you know of any friends, colleagues, business contacts or others in our community who may have an interest in booking our facilities, please ask them to get in touch with John Mungovin

on 01423 535225 or events@ harrogategrammar.co.uk Please be reassured that our students’ educational needs will not be affected in any way by this venture; all bookings other than educational will take place out of school hours.

We hope that by enhancing this income stream we will be able to further improve what we can offer to our students and your assistance with spreading the word about this opportunity would be much appreciated.

Debating Debating this year at HGS has gone from strength to strength with students progressing to Regional Finals in 2 major events and the school becoming the host for major national competitions such as the 2nd Round of the ESU MACE and the ESU Public Speaking Competition.

Throughout the year students from all year groups have been participating in a series of Local Area Debating events which follow the Parliamentary format. HGS hosted one of these events in the Sixth Form which was attended by around 80 students from across the 5 schools.

The year began with HGS fielding a team in the Northern Junior Debating Competition.

Joel Flynn, Josh Manby, Harry Brook-Dobson, Jack Sheriff, Jamaal Mens and Lucy Atkinson represented the school in this event and many valuable lessons were learnt by this group of talented students. Interesting to note perhaps that HGS was the only State School attending the event.

During enrichment a group of Year 11’s prepared for the ESU Public Speaking Competition.

The team of Rosaline Moyle, Jake Parkin and David Winckles did superbly well to beat Leeds Grammar and to proceed to the Regional Final.

This year there has been a committed group of senior debaters who, as well as gaining valuable experience of

debating during enrichment and in the Local Area events have also competed in National Competitions. Alyssa Middleton, Maxine Webster, Theo Guthrie and Sean Ketteringham represented the school in the Debating Matters competition whilst Jonathan Tullett and Max Cameron-Jones took part in the Cambridge Schools Competition. In the ESU MACE Rosie Ball and Millie Ngaage were narrowly beaten in the first round but then went through when another school was unable to field a team. They performed very well in the Regional Final of the ESU MACE which was hosted at HGS.

HGS also competed again in the Bar Mock Trial fielding a strong team of Year 10 students who, again, gained valuable experience being the youngest students taking part in the competition.

Surely it is only a matter of time before some of our students really start to make an impact on the regional and national stage as the talent is certainly out there. Watch this space...

Left to right: Jake Parkin, Rosaline Moyle & David Winckles

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Charities

at HGS 2010 – 2011

Below: Stayawake

This year Harrogate Grammar School has been raising funds for Harrogate Hospital and Community Friends. The group supports the local hospital in a variety of ways on a day-to-day basis and by raising money to purchase items of equipment for the hospital that the NHS does not supply. We are hoping to buy equipment for Woodlands Ward, which is the children’s ward.

This year, for the first time, Year 12 and 13 students on the Charities Committee organised a Fashion Show in March. The evening was a great success both in the way it was received and in the money it raised for the charity.

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Later that month the annual StayAwake was held. About 200 students from Years 7 and 8, along with about 18 members of staff, returned to school at 9pm on the Friday night and they spent the night doing a variety of activities. The students were sponsored to stay awake all night and the amount promised was over £4000.

Charities Week was as busy as ever. Each House had a Bizarre Break Bazaar – 15 minutes of cake selling, games, chocolate fountains and throwing wet sponges at willing teachers.

Each lunchtime was filled with an event organised by students on the Charities Committee – singing, dancing and band competitions and the annual Teachers’ Clothes Show with the final lunchtime taken by a gig performed by a group of teachers.

Throughout the year there have been many ‘Tackle Taylor’ events. Students, and several teachers, have paid to tackle Mr Taylor in their choice of competition – arm wrestling, shooting baskets etc.

Members of staff have continued to raise money since the end of Charities Week. Eleven took part in the Leeds Half Marathon and seven took part in the Grand Nidderdale Walk organised by the local Rotary group. All the sponsorship money from these events will go towards our final total, which will be announced to the students on the last day of term in July.

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Pictures are courtesy of www.yorkshireeventsphotography.com

Ground Breaking for Grounds4Success!

Huge excitement at Harrogate Grammar School! Following two severe winters which have taken their toll on the condition of the existing shale pitch, the Governing body took the decision to go ahead with the construction of the new all weather sports pitch. The first ground was broken to strip away the old surface on 4th July and, with construction due to be completed by November, students will not have to endure another winter season on a facility no longer fit for purpose.

In order to deliver this now urgently needed facility, the project will be funded from the academy budget and then ‘paid back’ via the Grounds4Success campaign. This means of course that fundraising must continue, but with construction of the pitch now underway, there has never been a better time to support Grounds4Success.

www.harrogategrammar.co.uk

Campaign funds received a welcome boost this summer with an award from local trust fund, The George Moore Foundation, of £10,000. In today’s difficult economic climate, competition for awards such as this is fierce so we are delighted that the Foundation Trustees decided Harrogate Grammar School’s Grounds4Success campaign was worthy of their support.

Two other events in June also increased the campaign total significantly. Firstly, the Weeton Pirates – captained by parent Duncan Petty and ably assisted

by Year 8 student Lucy Petty and Mr Mackay, ran in the Knaresborough Bed Race on behalf of Grounds4Success. The Pirates completed the race in 18 minutes and 6 seconds and all sponsorship raised will be donated to Grounds4Success.

On 24th June, the second Grounds4Success Summer Ball took place at The Old Swan Hotel.

It was a fun packed evening with guests enjoying a candid and funny behind the scenes glimpse into the world of premiership football from guest speaker and Sky Sports Commentator, Craig

Short. Before guests danced the night away, auctioneer, Richard Smailes ensured that bidding was fast and furious for lots as diverse as a week in a luxury holiday home to an aerobatic flight in a stunt plane!

Generous sponsorship from Emblazon Outfitters, The Harrogate Brasserie and Lunns Blinds helped maximise profits, whilst Harrogate’s finest retailers including Jigsaw, Hoopers and James Brindley, restaurants including The Fat Badger and Bar and Grille and beauty salons including Westminster Beauty and Charrity donated a glittering array of prizes.

The evening raised a fabulous £8,500 for Harrogate Grammar School’s campaign to build a new all weather sports pitch.

There are many ways to get involved with Grounds4Success and donating is now even easier. You can donate at www.

JustGiving.co.uk by logging on and searching for Harrogate Grammar School, when you pay online for a school trip or by making a monthly pledge.

Sponsor a Seat Scheme ‘The Forum’ the new learning theatre at HGS Interested in having a name plaque on a seat in ‘The Forum’?

You are invited to become a patron of the theatre by donating £50 per seat. The plaque will state your name and designation and be secured to the back of the seat. We would be delighted to have personal sponsors and also equally grateful to companies and businesses wishing to offer their patronage. Funds raised will enable the school to invest in state-of-the-art audio visual equipment to make this new learning theatre a fantastic place for our students, now and in the future...

Please contact Fiona Hernandez on 01423 535235 or fah@harrogategrammar.co.uk for further details.

Grounds4Success Total £195,000

the link issue 17 | July 2011

21

Sport U15 Rugby Team reach Daily Mail Vase Final at Twickenham

Football

Swimming

The Year 7 football team played some very spirited football this season and were finalists in the Area Cup. A great team effort for their first competitive season together. Along with this both the senior and Year 8 football teams reached the final of the Area Cup.

Swimming has begun with success as both the junior (Year 7/8) and intermediate (Year 9/10) mixed teams won their Harrogate round and are through to the North Yorkshire finals.

Tennis Summer sports at Harrogate Grammar School have already taken off and girls’ tennis has produced some stunning results. The U15 girls are undefeated so far this season, with the U13s closely behind, having lost only one match.

Congratulations to Martha Gibson and Imi Hall who won the U13 Tennis Tournament held at Harrogate Ladies College on Wednesday 18th May. Rose Appleyard and Harriet Hogg also performed well on the day reaching the semi-finals of the U13 competition. The U15 competition was a close fought event with Gemma White and Georgie Simister competing well in some close matches.

Ellie Henderson and Jenna Shackleton narrowly lost out on a semi-final place in the U15 competition in a games count back.

Rugby The Rugby season has also come to a close, with fantastic performances and results from all Years including the 1st XV who reached the quarter-finals of the Daily Mail Vase and the Year 7s who reached the final of the Yorkshire Cup. The U15 team were also Yorkshire finalists but declined to play the final as it was only four days before their final of the Daily Mail Vase at Twickenham. Taking it a step further, the Year 10 boys put in a grand display at Twickenham and, despite a superb team try finished by captain Toby Hall and a stunning solo effort from James Finney they were defeated 32-14.

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the link issue 17 | July 2011

Athletics

Swimmers

The North Yorkshire Schools Athletic Championships produced some wonderful results with Ellen Brown Year 9 and Sam Bentley Year 12 winning their groups and qualifying for the English Schools. Sam set a new school record of 13.99 in the triple jump, qualifying for the English Schools finals. Ellen has also been selected for the county team as a Junior Girl in the Discus.

Cricket The Cricket season at HGS is also underway with the Year 9 boys performing exceptionally well to beat St Aidans by 60 runs, qualifying for the next round of the County Cup.

James Finney

The Year 7 cricket team also qualified for the next round of the Area Cup, winning by 6 wickets.

Sam Bentley Karl Hassan also took part and finished third in the North Yorkshire Championships competing against boys a year older whilst James Finney Year 10 set a new high jump record of 1.83.

www.harrogategrammar.co.uk

Harrogate Grammar School Sporting Success Individual success Callum Irvine Year 12 has been selected to train with Scotland U18 Rugby squad and also has two trial matches for Yorkshire U18 squad, where he will join school friends Callum Roberts and Oliver Rosillo who have also been selected.

Another talent is Molly Mayhew Year 10, who represented North Yorkshire at Hockey this year. Despite sustaining a knee injury, Molly played in all the games across three tournaments at either right wing or centre forward and contributed significantly to a successful season for the U15 girls. Molly has been further selected from North Yorkshire to attend the Leeds Junior Regional Performance Centre ( JRPC).

Biathlon has also produced successes for Ollie Watson, Angus Lister, Year 7 and Kai Lawson Tovey, Year 8.

They recently competed in the National Biathlon Championships which they qualified for at the recent Yorkshire Championships.

Jordon Probst Year 12 has recently become the National Champion of Karate and is now ranked Number 1 in the British Karate U18’s. He also won the silver medal for competing in the Adult team competition.

Cricketer George Hampson of Year 7 has been selected to represent both North Yorkshire Cricket Club and Yorkshire U12s. He has displayed some fabulous cricket already in school and will now go on to compete at county level.

Mika Brown Year 12 has qualified for 18-19 year olds Great Britain Triathlon Team and will now go to the World Championships in Beijing this September. He has also qualified for the European Championships which will take place in Israel next year.

Molly Mayhew

Mika Brown

Jack Barnard Harrogate Grammar School is delighted to have another of its rugby players recognised at international level. Jack Barnard has been selected for England U16s. There are 3 teams at this level, Elite, A and B; Jack was selected for the Elite Squad. During the Easter break he played two international

www.harrogategrammar.co.uk

the link issue 17 | July 2011

matches against Italy U17s at Macclesfield on Wed 20th April and Wales U16s at Fylde on Sun 24th April, both resulting in wins for the English team.

Jack has worked extremely hard, showing total commitment, and we wish him all the very best, in his future rugby development.

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News

at HGS

A Partnership for Success

Burn’s Night £3,000 boost for Grounds4Success Campaign The PTA agreed in its May meeting to donate £3,000, raised at the Burn’s Night supper, to the Grounds4Success Campaign. The PTA has donated a total of £24,000 to the project to date.

£1,000 for reading scheme

Hard working dads who support the PTA. Left to right: Ian Brindle, Julian Tatlow, David Wilton, Steven Webb, David Mearns & Tim Clough

Diary Dates

Once again, the PTA has contributed £1,000 towards the annual licence fee for Accelerated Reader software for the English Department. Head of English Faculty, Richard Robinson, is delighted with the success of the reading scheme which has seen the reading skills of students advance considerably.

A-Level results

18th Aug 2011

GCSE results

25th Aug 2011

Staff Training Day - School closed to students

1st Sept 2011

Staff Training Day - School closed to students

2nd Sept 2011

Holocaust donation

Term begins for students

5th Sept 2011 9th Sept 2011

On behalf of the History Department, the PTA gave a £200 charitable donation to the Holocaust Survivors Friendship Group after one of its members came in to school to speak to Year 9 students.

Lightwater Valley - Years 8-13 Super Learning Day for students not attending Year 6 Prospective Parents’ Open Morning

14th Sept 2011

Lower Sixth Welcome Evening , Sixth Form, 7pm

14th Sept 2011

Forthcoming PTA Events

School Photos - Years 7, 10 & Lower Sixth

16th Sept 2011

New Year 7 Parents’ Social Evening, 7:15pm

22nd Sept 2011

Dates for your diaries next term:

Governors’ Full Board Meeting, 6:30pm

22nd Sept 2011

Thursday 22 September 7.15pm Main Hall – New Year 7 Parents Social Evening An opportunity for staff and PTA members to welcome new parents to the school, and for parents with children in the same form to meet each other.

Drinks and nibbles along with light hearted entertainment and lots of useful information will hopefully help to ease parents into the school community and provide a strong foundation for future social events at HGS.

Friday 14th October 7.30pm Main Hall – PTA Fish and Chip Quiz Night

Staff Training Day - School closed to students

5th Oct 2011

Year 6 Prospective Parents’ & Students Evening 7pm 5th Oct 2011 PTA Fish & Chips Quiz Night, Hall, 7:30pm

14th Oct 2011

Why not get involved?

Back by popular demand! Watch out for tickets coming out early in the autumn term.

Saturday 26th November PTA Christmas Fair

Year 6 Prospective Parents’ & Students Evening, 7pm 4th Oct 2011

If you are interested in getting involved and want to find out how you can contribute to the invaluable work of the PTA, please contact Ruth Lewis at:

lewis6@ntlworld.com

Further details to be announced early in the autumn term.

more information and further articles can be found on our website: www.harrogategrammar.co.uk

H ARROGATE G RAMMAR S CHOOL

CONTACT US: The Link is published each term.

Please contact the school if you would like to make any comments or suggestions for future editions.

EMAIL: thelink@harrogategrammar.co.uk PHONE: 01423 531127 Recent additions of the Link can be found on the WEBSITE: www.harrogategrammar.co.uk

HARROGATE GRAMMAR SCHOOL Arthurs Avenue Harrogate HG2 0DZ Next Link copy deadline Friday 11th November 2011