SWPS Magazine is published once a year. Articles are written by students and staff. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Sir William Perkins’s School.
Design and desktop publishing by Ian Russell and Kathryn Burton. Printing by G.H. Smith. School Information: Telephone: 01932 574900 www.swps.org.uk
A WINNING COMBINATION
For any Head it is always a pleasure and privilege to be able to contribute to the school magazine. Packed with the extraordinary achievements by the students throughout the year, one can never be too often reminded about the talents of these young people.
And what a year it has been! Our sport continues to grow and we have been thrilled by our successes in rowing, rounders (District Champions), netball, athletics, and badminton. We
have also partnered with Chelsea FC, trained with Harlequins Rugby Club and established elite programmes over the summer for hockey and netball.
Our dramatic performances were again stunning this year. Although ostensibly adaptations of children’s stories, the production of the Arabian Nights was vast in its range and complexity. Superb acting, subtle and sensitive, ensured that this wonderful range of stories were conveyed with excitement and pace. Junior Drama was not to be outdone. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was likewise thoughtfully and cleverly adapted. It was often hard to remember when one was in the audience that this mature production was directed by the Lower Sixth. The confidence and poise of the young actors was a pleasure to see.
On my last count up, there have been at least thirty to forty music concerts this year, every one
of which has been an absolute joy to attend. From those who have limited experience of playing an instrument, to students who spend hours per week practising their skills, the audience is regularly thrilled and amazed. The commitment to excellence that each of our musicians show in their performance can only come through determination and dedication. They are truly inspiring.
On the academic side, the school continues to thrive with success ranging from Oxbridge entry, Medicine or Veterinary Science, to Art Foundation and apprenticeships. In areas of study, SWPS students pursue their personal excellence to achieve their goals. It is always a pleasure to meet our alumnae, fresh out of university, to talk to them about their plans and prospective employment opportunities. Again, it appears the wider world of work is only too keen to snap up SWPS students.
Our constant theme at the school remains building confidence, integrity and excellence. We want our students to pursue personal excellence in what they do, but not perfection. As they move throughout the school, experiencing different activities, practising and applying their skills, they become more confident in themselves and in who they are, but never arrogant. And this is glued together by a strong sense of personal integrity, where they know to do the right thing, even when no one is looking. It is a winning combination at school, at work and in life.
Chris Muller
GANG OF FOUR
How much do you know about our Head Girls? Here’s what they have to say about each other
Lauren Younge by Ellie Mullins
When I think of a quintessential SWPS girl, I think of Lauren; she is a kind and dedicated member of the community, and the way she combines academia with extracurricular commitments, such as being the Editor of the Magazine, is truly impressive. Her friendly and warm attitude means she is a huge asset to this year’s Head Girls’ Team, and I can’t wait to work with her!
Shara Kothari by Ellie Down
w 8 8 w
I can honestly say that Shara is one of the nicest people I have ever met. She is incredibly kind, thoughtful and friendly, and her smile is immediately infectious. She throws herself wholeheartedly into everything she does and this is very clear in her approach to her studies and in the things she contributes to school life. Shara is a great addition to the Head Girls’ Team and will be amazing in the role.
Ellie Down by Lauren Younge
It was always going to be lovely working in a team with Ellie and I honestly couldn’t think of a better person to be Head Girl. Throughout the years we have been at SWPS, I have always known her to be kind, considerate and organised, as well as dedicated to her extra-curricular drama and dance. I wish her the best of luck for her future endeavours, including being our Head Girl!
Ellie Mullins by Shara Kothari
Ellie has always exuded confidence and intellect, never failing to have an articulate answer to any question thrown at her! It is clear to me that Ellie shows extraordinary capability in everything she attempts, and with her conscientious, focused outlook I feel sure she will be more than able to achieve her goal of becoming a lawyer and will excel at all that she does.
TALKING WITH ARTIFICIAL I NTELLIGENCE
Report by Tina Williams (Lower 6th). Picture by Zoe Munford (Year 11)
Artificial Intelligence (AI): ... intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans and other animals. Wikipedia (2018)
You might not realise it, but you are probably already incorporating artificial intelligence in your everyday life. Pestering Siri to treat you to a story, listening to a few suggestions recommended on Spotify, or bingewatching another television series on Netflix, all involve elements of artificial intelligence. However, compared to science fiction films such as Ex Machina or Ghost in the Shell that depict humanoid robots, the current algorithms for running these systems can seem fairly basic.
True AI systems are those that can learn on their own and run on powerful neural networks. Developments like Sophia, a social humanoid robot activated in 2015, represent a first key step towards creating a technological entity that can converse with humans on a sophisticated level.
So what does all this mean? We now have a robot that can tell us pretty much anything we want to know, and possibly complete small tasks at our command, but the impact of these machines on our lives is likely to be a lot more dramatic. I don’t mean in an apocalyptic sense. Hopefully, the next generation of AIs will not turn into an army of terminators, and if they are close to doing so, the plug will be pulled before it’s too late.
The main reason for creating the likes of Sophia and her successors is not just to entertain us, but to enable robots to eventually take over many of the undesirable jobs we humans currently have to do. That said, an aspect of AI technology that particularly interests me is the potential it offers us for conversing with machines.
You may have already discovered that asking Siri for the weather and trying to engage it in a genuine conversation are two quite different things, the latter being practically impossible. But what if we could do both? Software such as Cleverbot (an AI that you can message or talk to about anything and everything)
are becoming increasingly popular. Of course, at present there are limits: conversations can get sidetracked quite quickly, and it is more often than not a rather one-sided discussion. However, if you wanted to have some information about the latest news followed by a quick discussion about it, you probably could.
But why would we want to have conversations with machines?
Somebody who felt they lacked the confidence to make new friends might find that talking with an AI interface helped build their social skills and even improved their speech, as one has to be quite accurate in one’s pronunciations to be understood by software like Siri.
There is, though, likely to be a significant limit on where all this will lead. Humans are inherently social creatures. We both desire and require social interaction to lead productive and healthy lives. In fact, studies have shown that strong social ties are as predictive of longevity as whether or not you smoke cigerettes. Additionally, we mustn’t forget that people do things for both the intrinsic and extrinsic value of an activity. Sometimes, it’s one or the other, but most of the time it is a mix of the two. If we interact with another human, we are exchanging thoughts and feelings, thus enriching both our lives. Hence a conversation between two humans has a large intrinsic value and usually a high extrinsic value as well.
If you were to talk to a robot, you would be having thoughts and feelings but the robot wouldn’t. You wouldn’t be doing something that touched another soul. Of course, you might enjoy the experience, but it wouldn’t be like having a conversation with another human being; not emotionally, not cognitively. You would be using the robot as a tool, which is almost certainly not the approach you would take when talking to a person.
Conversations with artificially intelligent beings will probably never replace normal human interaction, but it might not be long before they become an essential part of our everyday lives.
modern languages
Idecided early on that to really learn about a country and its people, you have to understand their language and live with them. Studying in isolation will only get you so far; if you can live with people and share their family life, using the words and grammar you have learnt in school, you will learn much, much more.
So, at the end of 1980, I had the rather ambitious idea of organising a weekend exchange, for 13-yearolds, with a German gymnasium.
I knew that a school swap between families could be very successful, because I had already run much longer family exchanges with a German school where I had once taught. In Chertsey, I was initially restricted to just one long weekend, and finding a German school that we could get to, and back from, by ferry within that short time could have been impossible. Luckily, one of the senior administrators from the North Rhein educational service, Herr Wötzel from Dortmund, who knew me from the time I was teaching in Germany, set to work on finding me a German school willing to try this new kind of exchange, and Herr Feldheger and the St Georg Gymnasium decided they were up for it: they were already keen on school exchanges, and the chance of trips to London while living with English families clinched the deal.
Six staff from his school arrived; the two negotiating parties sized each other up, and to my great relief, concluded this was something the two schools should attempt.
Our first journey to Bocholt was nail-biting: the coach driver had never undertaken this kind of trip before, sat nav had not been invented, and by the time we reached the frontier between Holland and Germany, which had controlled borders, we were already three hours late. The Head sent out a fleet of family cars in an effort to intercept us on any of the German roads we might have managed to get lost on. At ten o’clock that night, escorted by a family that had found us, we finally reached base.
I have always felt that the whole tone of the exchange – an adventure to be engaged in, rather than a slice of school taken en bloc abroad – was set on that first trip by our young teacher of German, Anne Müller, who made the whole experience come alive, while I was doing the “discipline and organisation” bit. Once in Bocholt, the pupils were treated as famous guests: greeted in a reception by the mayor and photographed by the local newspaper, which of course they loved. That the exchange has lasted so long delights me, but the real thanks are due to the tireless efforts of the staff and families in both countries who have kept it going. It is a real slog!
When we started the exchange, Germany was still divided, the Berlin Wall had not come down, there were no mobile phones, and there was no Channel Tunnel. Germany no longer seems so far away, but the need for this sort of contact, between young people and their families, has probably become all the more necessary. In a country faced with Brexit, and perhaps unaware of the courage and resolution of the generation that was determined to overcome the terrible experience of the last world war, the exchange is as vital as ever.
2018 marks the 35th anniversary of the Bocholt exchange. Joan Richmond, who founded it, remembers how it all began
MAKING AN EXCHANGE
modern languages
What’s been the most surprising thing you have learned while you’ve been here?
En cuanto a mi experiencia personal, diría que lo más sorprendente es lo bien que me he enterado en la cultura inglesa, y que no siento que estoy en un país extranjero, sino que es parte, es como si fuera mi hogar.
Die Züge in England sind sogar noch unzuverlässiger als die in Deutschland. Vor allem im Winter.
Je pense que c’est le fait que je me suis habituée très facilement à la vie en Angleterre et je ne m’attendais pas du tout ça et comme je pensais repartir à la fin de l’année et bien ça fait bizarre.
Did you ever imagine that you would be studying languages?
Sí, porque es lo que siempre he querido estudiar. Sobre todo, inglés. Siempre que estudiar inglés.
Um ehrlich zu sein, nein! Ich bin schon seit meiner frühen Kindheit leidenschaftlicher Musiker. Auf der anderen Seite liebe ich es Menschen zu erklären wie etwas funktioniert. Deshalb entschied ich mich, Musiklehrer zu werden. Da man in Deutschland jedoch mindestens zwei Fächer studieren muss, um am Gymnasium unterrichten zu können, fiel meine Wahl für mein zweites Fach aus eher praktischen Gründen auf Englisch. Später dann habe ich gemerkt, wie wunderschön die englische Sprache ist und dass das Lernen einer neuen Sprache das Lernen eines neuen Verständnisses für die Welt bedeutet. Seitdem brenne ich für mein Studium der Anglistik.
Absolument pas, parce que quand j’ai fait mon baccalauréat, je voulais travailler avec les animaux et c’est tout à fait par hasard que je me suis retrouvée en licence d’anglais et ensuite ici.
What is your favourite word in any language?
¡Es difícil! Pero diría ‘horizon’.
Contenance...
Je pense que c’est écureuil (squirrel) en anglais et je suis toujours incapable de le prononcer.
Who would play you in a film of your life?
¿Una actriz famosa? Creo que sería Emma Watson. Patrick Stewart.
C’est une question compliquée parce que je ne vois pas la raison de faire un film sur ma vie, mais une actrice que j’adore est Anne Hathaway et je pense qu’elle est une actrice pour jouer mon rôle.
Where would you most like to travel to in the world?
Me gustaría ir a Estados Unidos y recorrer todo
TALKING IT OVER
Before their time at SWPS came to an end, Andrea CalderónMárquez, Adriano Tirenni, and Cécile Dorget our Spanish, German, and French Assistants, met up with with Lauren Younge and Ellie Mullins (Lower 6th) for a bit of conversation
Estados Unidos en coche.
Es gibt so viele schöne Orte und jeder Ort bietet ganz besondere Anreize und Eindrücke, da fallen mir keine Ausnahmen ein. Ich würde aber gerne mal nach Nepal reisen.
Mon plus grand rêve c’est d’aller en Corée du Sud et je vais réaliser ce rêve avec trois amis en août.
If you were ever famous, what would you most likely be famous for?
¡Eso es difícil, no lo sé! Me gustaría pensar que podría llegar a ser cantante o algo así, pero es imposible, yo canto súper mal.
Ich wäre wahrscheinlich berühmt für mein Klavierspiel oder ein Rockstar. Oder ich wäre berühmt für meinen Sonnenbrand, haha.
Je n’ai pas de raisons précises mais peut-être quelques choses pour aider l’environnement et je pense une solution pour améliorer les conditions.
What do you miss most about your country?
Diría que poder salir a las ocho de la tarde y que las tiendas están abiertas que hay mucha gente en la calle, que hay vida en las calles a las ocho o las nueve de la noche.
Einen anständigen Laib Brot aus der Bäckerei um die Ecke! Das ist doch kein Brot hier, das muss frisch und knusprig sein!
talking it over
En premier, c’est ma famille, sans aucun doute.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Sinceramente no lo sé. Es difícil pensar incluso el año que viene o en dos años, así que no sé.
Entweder auf einer Bergwanderung in den Alpen, im Unterricht mit meinen Schülern oder auf der Bühne mit meiner Band.
Je n’ai pas de projets particuliers mais être enseignante est le but que je souhaite atteindre alors j’espère que dans dix ans, je le serai enfin.
If you could be anyone in the world for a day, from the past or the present, who would you be?
Aunque suene típico, me gustaría ser una persona con mucho dinero. Primero, es a experiencia de tener dinero y poder hacer todo lo que quiera, y además donar mucho dinero a una buena causa, a un ONG (Organismo No Gubernamental).
Auch wenn ich hier jetzt Jimi Hendrix oder Ghandi oder sowas schriebe – der Logik nach wäre ich doch immer noch ich selbst, daher erübrigt sich die Frage.
Compliqué, compliqué. Je pense que le Dalaï-lama parce qu’il est quelqu’un qui est une figure assez emblématique et très appréciée.
modern languages
SPANISH STUDIES
Words
by
Anna Sheridan, Anushka Patel, Seren Roff, and Lily Porter (Lower 6th)
El papel de la mujer durante el franquismo
Por Anna Sheridan (Año 12)
Mi información viene de los artículos “La mujer durante el franquismo” del sitio web vallenajerilla y “La mujer en la familia” por Rocio Rivaz Martínez. Elegí este tema porque me apasiona la igualdad y quería descubrir cuánto ha progresado España, o no, desde el franquismo.
El artículo detalla los puntos de vista de Franco que las mujeres estaban destinadas a ser una esposa, quedarse en casa y proteger a la familia. Además dice que Franco creía que las mujeres eran almas naturales, solo importantes para dar nueva vida al mundo.
Mi segunda fuente ofrece la opinión del régimen de Franco que los hombres tenían que trabajar muy duro y obtener dinero, y el papel de la mujer era dar hijos a los hombres, preferiblemente herederos, y asegurar que el hogar sea perfecto para el regreso del esposo.
Por supuesto, creo que estas opiniones son anticuadas e injustas porque ambos géneros deberían ser tratados por igual. Desafortunadamente, estos puntos de vista eran ampliamente acordados en la época de Franco.
La frontera entre México y los Estados Unidos
Por Anushka Patel (Año 12)
Mi información proviene de dos artículos: “Cincos datos sobre la inmigración ilegal en los Estados Unidos” por Ruy Alonso Rebolledo, y “Drogas,
contrabando y miles de personas” por Jim Benning. Rebolledo escribe sobre los efectos de Trump en la inmigración ilegal. Describe que los mexicanos aún ocupan el cincuenta y dos por ciento de los inmigrantes ilegales, pero el número creciente de deportaciones ha resultado en una disminución de inmigrantes ilegales que se mudan a Estados Unidos. El artículo por Benning detalla una cuenta de un agente fronterizo que trabaja en la frontera más concurrida del mundo. Describe su asombro ante los treinta y tres mil arrestos de inmigración y las setenta y seis toneladas de narcóticos incautadas por los agentes fronterizos cada año.
En general, encuentro ambos artículos muy intrigantes pero creo que los dos escritores tienen una visión demasiado unilateral de la inmigración. Benning podría mostrar también las luchas de los mexicanos que intentan crear una vida mejor para ellos mismos. Mientras que Rebolledo debería incluir algunos motivos posteriores para cruzar la frontera, tales como las drogas y las pandillas.
Las causas y la ideología de la Revolución Mexicana
Por Seren Roff (Año 12)
Mi información viene de los artículos: “Dos opiniones heterodoxas sobre la Revolución mexicana” por Jesús Silva Herzog y, “La ideología de la Revolución Mexicana” por Moisés Gonzales Navarro. Navarro sugiere que la Revolución Mexicana no terminó cuando la violencia concluyó en 1917,
spanish studies
y que puede ser referida como “una revolución permanente” debido a la fuerza de su ideología. También, llama a la revolución ‘un fenómeno social unitario.
Herzog también describe la Revolución como “inmortal”, pero además habla de las ideas que llevaron a la redacción de la Constitución de 1917; es decir, el liberalismo social mexicano de la Constitución de 1857, la literatura revolucionaria desde comienzos del siglo, y la mala calidad de la vida de los mexicanos.
El artículo escrito por Navarro es interesante, dado que implica que, aunque la lucha armada concluyó en 1917, los principios y creencias
revolucionarios persistían en la segunda mitad del siglo XX. No obstante, pienso que es necesario preguntarnos si una ideología puede ser referida como una revolución si no va acompañada por acción física. En cuanto a las razones propuestas para la creación de la Constitución en el artículo de Herzog, opino que la explotación y la opresión de la clase obrera mexicana fue la causa más significante.
Pedro Almodóvar Por Lily Porter (Año 12)
He recogido información de dos artículos “El reflejo de los sentimientos” por Pablo Soudry y “Los discursos del género como lengua extranjera” por Juan Guijarro-Ojeda y Raúl Ruiz-Cecilia, un artículo en “Hispania”.
Soudry explica que en algunas películas, Almodóvar usa los colores saturados y señala que los rasgos de su obra tienen influencias claras. Opina que a Almodóvar le encantan los años cincuenta y como consecuencia su estilo visual se influyó por Hollywood y Norteamérica.
El artículo de Hispania declara que las obras de Almodóvar culpan a las madres de hombres machistas por su opresión y comportamiento, especialmente visto que en el pasado las madres estaban a cargo de los estudios de sus hijos.
Encontré que el artículo por Guijarro-Ojeda y Ruiz-Cecilia es muy fascinante, no obstante, opino que las madres no pueden controlar las acciones de sus hijos adultos. Además, es importante que tengamos en cuenta las influencias del estilo visual abordadas en el artículo de Soudry si queremos entender las intenciones de Almodóvar.
modern languages
PICARDIE
Bethan Williams and Imaan Siddiqui (Year 8) report on this year’s French trip
This year, we visited Picardie for four days, where we saw everything from a bakery, to a secret underground village, to the battlefields at the Somme.
The trip began early at 6.00am on Friday 1st June 2018. We took a coach to Dover, where we boarded a ferry, and from there we headed to our first stop: The Sweet Factory. The confectioner allowed us to help make both hard-boiled and jelly sweets, and he also let us try a few before we bought some of our own. We then went to the bakery where we learned how to make croissants. At the bakery, we learnt a lot of new French vocabulary; our instructor was very funny too and everyone had a great time.
After the bakery, we arrived at our accommodation, Château du Broutel, where we stayed for three nights. Every evening, we participated in different activities such as team-building, a scavenger hunt, games of dodgeball, and a campfire,
along with our instructors. There was a variety of food at the Château and one day, we even had the opportunity to try escargot (snails) and cuisses de grenouilles (frog’s legs).
After a great night’s sleep, we were taught how to make mayonnaise by Ludo, the cook at the château. The lesson took place in French, and helped us continue to boost our knowledge of the language. Next, we visited a French market, where a whole range of items could be bought: there was roasted chicken, French flags, clothes, jewellery and a lot of sweets! We went through the market in groups for an hour and then walked back to the château. After lunch, we went on a long coach journey, and to pass the time we watched Disney movies… in French of course! Our final visit that day was to Naours where we explored the underground caves. Inside the cave was a secret underground village, built during one of the many wars France went through. We later had ice cream and met a donkey too!
The third day was a history themed day. To start off, we visited a huge crater where a bomb had exploded in the mines in 1916. This is where the British tried to kill the Germans but luckily for them, they had been warned and evacuated beforehand. Then, we travelled to Thiepval, the Memorial of the Missing where 72,000 missing or unidentified soldiers are remembered for their service. Next, we stopped at the trenches of the Somme and tried to imagine what it was like to be a soldier running through them in the war. We saw the German and English trenches and then we stood in the middle of No-Man’s Land where no bodies were found. Lastly, we went to see Le Musée Somme in Albert which displayed scenes and artefacts from World War One.
On the final day, we said our goodbyes to the château and stopped off at the local shopping centre for some shopping in Sephora and more. We then made our way to the port where, unfortunately, we missed our ferry, however everyone was happy to entertain themselves until the next ferry arrived. After a long day of travelling, we arrived back at SWPS, where we were glad to be greeted by our families.
Tell us about your role at SWPS I’ve been working at the school for ten years; I started as the SWPS Matron, based in the Medical Room, but now I run the Wellbeing Room.
I’m in school from 8.30am to 5.00pm every day to see students or assist with the Heads of Year, Mrs O’Connor, or Mr McCormick on any pastoral matters. I am one of the Deputy Safeguarding Leads in school, and I am a Youth Mental Health First Aider. I also assist with some of the medical issues that arise in the course of a day.
Lately, mental wellbeing has rightly been presented in the media as one of the most important elements in everyone’s lives. Kate Middleton is the patron of Place2Be, and this year Heads Together was the charity supported by the London Marathon.
What is mental health and does everybody have it?
A definition of mental health is, “The emotional and spiritual resilience which allows us to enjoy life and survive pain, disappointment and sadness. It is a positive sense of wellbeing and an underlying belief in our own, and others, dignity and worth”. Everyone has mental health whether it be good or bad. Just because we cannot see anxiety, depression or stress like we can a broken leg, it doesn’t mean someone isn’t suffering from it.
How does poor mental health impact our educational performance?
In order for students to perform well, they need to have clear heads, and this is part of good mental health. Without good mental health, everything else is hard to achieve. If our minds are full of bad thoughts and anxieties, we are sometimes unable to even sit in a lesson, never mind take notes or participate. It is all about achieving a balance of a good diet, exercise, sleep, and taking time to care for ourselves.
What services do the pastoral team offer our students?
A huge range! From Office and First Aid Room staff, to tutors, heads of year, teachers and me, there is always someone to talk to. I can make appointments to see students at break, lunchtime, after school, and
in free periods for older students. I am here to chat, offer tea, or counselling sessions, but most of all to listen. We also have two external counsellors who come to school to see students on a Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those sessions are arranged privately between parents and counsellors.
What is the Wellbeing Room for?
Anyone who needs some time and space to breathe, talk or just collect their thoughts. They could spend five minutes there or a whole day, depending on how they are feeling at the time. They can work, talk to someone, or just have time out. People who have Exit Cards are encouraged to go there rather than the Medical Room.
What are the first steps to recovery for someone who’s experiencing poor mental health?
To talk! It sometimes only takes a chat to alleviate a problem. It could be something that has been bottled up inside for weeks or months and just needs to be said. Or it could be a more serious issue for which it could take a while to find a solution that is manageable for the individual.
Frances Blyther talks to Kitty Gahir (Lower 6th). Picture by Lizzie Williams (Year 11)
W ELL B EING
PHOTOGRAPHY TRAVEL
The standard of entries for our competition this year was again extremely high. 1st Prize went to Merle Mowbray (Year 9) for the beautifully composed and highly creative pictures that she shot in the American state of Utah. The other students’ photographs featured on these pages were all Highly Commended.
Top & bottom left: Paris. Centre: Le Mans. All by Alexia Fletton (Year 9). Above: Utah, USA by Merle Mowbray.
Above centre: Le Mans by Alexia Fletton
The rest on this page: Utah by Merle Mowbray (Year 9).
This page, bottom left: Oia, Santorini, Greece by Annabel Nichols (Year 10).
The rest on this page: Kariega Game Reserve, South Africa by Amrit Bath (Year 10).
Opposite page: Bottom and top left: New York by Abigail Adrian (Year 9).
Top right: Montefegatesi, Italy by Annabel Nichols Centre right: Nevada, USA by Grace Docherty (Year 9).
The deadline for submitting entries for our next travel photography competition is: Friday 28th September For more details, talk to Mr Russell, Head of Art & Design.
Opposite page, bottom right: Defford, Worcestershire. The rest: St Ives, Cornwall. All by Mia Revill (Year 9).
This page, top left: Oia, Greece by Annabel Nichols Top right: Yosemite, USA by Grace Docherty Directly above: Scotland by Madison Fordyce (Year 7).
CUMBRIA
Report by Amrita Johal and Charlotte Kirby (Lower 6th)
As part of our A Level coursework, we needed to participate in a residential trip that would allow us to develop our fieldwork skills. So, Mrs Lynch, Head of Geography, decided that during October half-term we would venture up to Cumbria.
On a very sleepy Friday morning, eleven enthusiastic geographers, including our two teachers, gathered at school at 6.00am, ready to begin our five-hour coach trip north. Our journey consisted mostly of sleeping but, of course, our pit stop had to include a much yearned for Starbucks.
We arrived at what would be our home for the next three days, the Castle Head Field Centre, situated at the beautiful Grange-over-Sands, against the stunning backdrop of the Lake District. We hurriedly found our room, where we dropped off our bags and prepared ourselves for a Human Geography afternoon in the town, where we would collect data on the noise and litter of the area. When we started work, each of our groups was based in a different location along the beach promenade. The afternoon proved extremely useful; we were able to talk to locals and gather factual data that we could use in a later investigation.
At the start of Day Two we were treated to a full English breakfast, after which we prepared ourselves by collecting our equipment for a day at the beach. A rainy 45-minute bus journey later, we arrived at Furness Peninsula. We walked along the pebbled beach and at various points stopped and took a beach profile gradient using a clinometer, gradient pole, tape measure, quadrat and calliper. This enabled us to evaluate how the profile of the beach changed along its distance. We all hopped back onto the coach, exhausted from our long day’s work, eagerly anticipating the hot dinner that was awaiting us. The night concluded with a lesson to summarise and evaluate what we had learnt.
The next day, we were greeted with beautiful sunshine to accompany our walk up the post-glacial landscape at Coniston. On our walk, our first stop was to look at striation marks in the rocks. Striation
marks are scratches on the rock’s surface that show the direction of previous ice flow. We learnt how to measure striations and gathered some data from the site. We continued our hike and then stopped once more to investigate how rocks were imbedded in the ground. The surface was a little unstable and aided us in some rather comedic falls. We stopped at a dam to eat lunch and admire the scenery.
After lunch we had a two-hour hike up the mountain until we reached our destination: a tarn (the name for a mountain lake or pool), situated high up in the mountain. Here we learnt about the formation of a corrie, an armchair-like feature in the landscape that has a steep back wall due to erosion by glacier ice, which can sometimes cause a tarn to form at its base. Our guide taught us a song about the formation of corries and other landforms that can be found in glacial landscapes!
A hike down the mountain concluded with us happily getting on the bus that took us back to the field centre where our eagerly anticipated dinner was awaiting us.
Our final day started with us packing bags and loading them onto the bus. We then all boarded for our trip to Morecombe where we would gather our last pieces of human geography data. Morecombe, a town which has for some time been perceived as being run down, has undergone a lot of regeneration over recent years. We managed to see positive changes from the photos we had studied of the area; we did this by walking through planned routes where we could collect new data to support our research, such as the beach, residential areas, and the town centre.
We sadly bid farewell to our guide who had been very supportive and had taught us a lot of valuable research techniques. We then took our long coach journey back to school, where we were greeted by our parents.
The trip was thoroughly enjoyable and we learnt so much from it. Geography is a fascinating area of study. It teaches you how the land is shaped and how it can impact on people, their perceptions, and their quality of life; it can open your mind to learning so much about the world around you.
Ana Pilar Ravanne (Year 11)
Emma Falkentoft Hansen (Year 11)
Left: Harriet Jordan (Year 11)
Stephanie Sheldon (Year 11)
Lauren Christian (Year 11)
Nicole Dunnett Best (Year 11)
Lizzie Williams (Year 11)
Dani Bae (Year 11)
Emily Peyton (Year 11)
Right: Caitlin Pittol-Neville (Year 11)
physical education
FIGHTING TALK
Watch out. Maddie Jones (Year 9) has a sporting passion and a plan for fulfilling her dreams
Istarted karate when I was seven years old. I had recently watched Karate Kid and felt inspired to give karate a go for myself (despite the fact the film was actually based on Kung Fu!). Around that time, a karate club started at my primary school, using a style called Seiki Juku; to say I was enthusiastic to join would be an understatement! I loved it and continued to do it once a week for the four years I went to that school. When I moved to SWPS I couldn’t get from school to that club in time for the class, so I changed karate clubs. Little did I know that this change would get me into a lot more than just another once-a-week class.
The new club’s karate style was Go Kan Ryu (GKR), which I did for two years, becoming part of their national team. During this time, I competed in my first major competitions, such as the Salento Cup and the Caduti Di Nassirya in Italy, the European Championships in Dublin, the GKR World Cup in Australia, and the GKR Nationals. I also took part in a lot of regional competitions. I managed to secure several National titles and a few International ones as well.
I was even lucky enough to attend training camps in Belgium with one of the people who first inspired me: former-World Champion Junior Lefevre.
My dream has always been to compete in the Olympics one day, so when karate was finally accepted as an Olympic sport, for Tokyo 2020, I was determined to do all that I could to become an Olympic competitor, as well as take part in other large-scale competitions. Unfortunately, GKR wasn’t originally accepted by the English Karate Federation (EKF), from which the GB team would be selected, so I decided I’d have to change karate style again.
The style that I changed to, and am currently a proud member of, is Khalsa Karate. Since joining in November, I’ve become English Champion in my individual kumite (fighting) event and in the team event at the Kyu Grade Nationals. I also became
English Champion in my individual and team event at the Senior Nationals and British Champion in my team event.
Since starting training, I’ve been doing six to fourteen hours of training a week, depending on competitions at the time. Leading up to major competitions I do up to sixteen hours of training a week. As my training isn’t local – a five hour round trip on school nights – it makes keeping up with school work very difficult at times; thankfully my family has always been very supportive of me and helped me every step of the way. I am currently part of EKF’s regional team and train with the National A-Squad, where I’ll get a chance to fight for my place on the English Team in the annual selections this October.
I want to become European, and World, Champion one day, and compete in the Youth Olympics, and then hopefully the Olympics in Paris in 2024. I am so grateful for all of my amazing coaches who have enabled me to follow this dream and who continue to help me every day. However, I am most grateful to my parents and my sister who have supported me from day one. They do everything they can to give me the best possible chances to achieve my dreams, reminding me every day that I can accomplish anything if I believe I can!
I absolutely love karate and am so thankful for the amazing opportunities it has given me.
physical education
R OWING
Report by Annabelle Taylor and Louise Wax (Lower 6th). Pictures by Paul Daniels
In the senior squad we have a gruelling training regime consisting each week of two sessions on ergos (rowing machines), three with weights, and five on the water. On top of this we spend most of our weekends rowing at various locations around the country ranging from the banks of the Tideway (the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race course) to the River Witham in Lincolnshire (the venue for the GB winter time trials). Although we spend the majority of our winter feeling cold, wet and exhausted, there is nowhere else we would rather be. We train hard in the winter to get results in the summer.
The promise of big racing paired with the guarantee of a warm-weather camp drives us on. This gives our boat club an upbeat and energetic atmosphere that is only added to each time a team member returns with a win. As most athletes know, the feeling of working towards a goal with a team is like nothing else.
Over Easter, more than fifty of us travelled to the Sabaudia Lake, in the Lazio region of Italy (about 60 miles south of Rome), for a brilliantly successful, exhausting, rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable rowing camp.
Once summer racing begins we can see that the winter months have been worthwhile as we push on to events like the regattas at Dorney Lake and Henley. Here are just a few of our achievements from this year:
In May, at the Junior Sculling Regatta (remember sculling means rowing with two oars) at Dorney Lake, Windsor, Eve Linney and Denise Martin won Gold Medals in the Junior 16 Double Sculls. Olivia Garnham and Ella Ayoade also won Gold, in the Junior 18 Double Sculls. Emily Keen represented GB at the Munich Regatta and won a Gold Medal in the Junior 18 Double Sculls
In June, our quad of Emily Keen, Annabelle Taylor, Olivia Garnham and Ella Ayoade became the first ever SWPS rowers to race at the Henley Royal Regatta, where they put in a courageous performance against a strong Australian crew from the Sydney Rowing Club.
In July, at the British Rowing Junior Championships at Nottingham, Isabella Daniels, Ella Ayoade, Lerin Adetola, and Louise Wax won Gold Medals in the Junior 18 Quads. Eve Linney and Denise Martin won
Gold in the Junior 16 Doubles. And Harriet Jordan and Sikemi Adetola won Bronze in the Junior 16 Pairs
And, at the end of July, Emily Keen was selected to race for Great Britain at the Coupe de la Jeunesse (a 14-nation European regatta) in County Cork, Ireland. Emily competed in a double scull with a rower from Gloucester. Emily and her partner won Bronze Medals.
physical education SPORTS DAY T
his year, SWPS Sports Day took place on a scorching summer’s day in July and was once again a great success. There were some excellent performances across all year groups, particularly considering the sweltering heat! Furthermore, the house spirit was in abundance and the competitive side of students and staff certainly showed! It was great to see the banners, posters, coloured ribbons and face paint supporting each of the four houses. The competitiveness culminated in the staff versus sixth form relay, in which the staff unfortunately came home victorious!
A special thank you must also go to FOSWPS
for providing some delicious food and refreshing drinks for students and spectators. Additionally, 7M organised a charity event for Cancer Research, which involved a few brave teachers who courageously volunteered to be soaked with wet sponges or even buckets of water! In total, 7M raised an impressive sum of over £160 for Cancer Research.
The sporting results were gathered and calculated by Mr Tilling and his team of sixth formers, whilst Mr Peel eloquently announced the greatest achievements of the day. Congratulations to all the winners on Sports Day 2018, well done to everyone who took part, and a big thank you to the staff and sixth formers who assisted with events to ensure that everything ran smoothly!
religious studies
HOW RELIABLE IS THE NEW TESTAMENT?
Words by Ruth Cheung (Senior 6th). Picture by Sarah Appleton
This question surrounding the authenticity of the New Testament as a historical document has long been ferociously debated. Whilst almost all scholars agree that Jesus certainly existed, strong objections have been raised about the historicity and reliability of some of the events described in the text.
On the one hand, it seems that texts from the New Testament have a substantial amount of proof for their reliability as a historical document. For instance, there exists approximately 5,800 Greek and 8,000 Latin manuscripts which contain all or at least part of the New Testament. This large number of manuscripts seems to confirm the integrity of the New Testament as a historical document, as the greater the number of manuscripts of an ancient document, the easier it is to ascertain the meaning of the original text. Therefore, it appears that to a certain extent, the New Testament texts that we currently have in our possession are a good representation of the original documents.
It seems to me that the debate surrounding the reliability and authenticity of the New Testament is, in reality, not a religious debate but rather a scholastic debate. Indeed, if we evaluate the New Testament on this academic level, who is to say that the current texts whole-heartedly and accurately express what the Evangelists intended in their original texts which were destroyed almost 2000 years ago? Errors and mistakes are unavoidable when something is passed on orally given that each person can have a different interpretation of what they think they have heard (somewhat similar to the children’s game of ‘Chinese whispers’). Therefore, it could be argued that, after 2000 years of this oral tradition, the original text has been lost in translation. For instance, there are several New Testament verses that appear in the King James Version but are non-existent in other modern translations. In the words of R. Joseph Hoffmann, “What we possess are copies of copies, so far removed from anything that might be called a ‘primary’ account that it is useless to speculate about what an original version of the gospel would have included.”
Moreover, some scholars have argued that the Bible isn’t really a ‘document’ but rather a ‘collection
of documents’, comprising of different languages and genres which in turn also make it very difficult to assess the historical reliability of the New Testament. Indeed, authors such as Raymond Brown have pointed to the inconsistencies and contradictions in the New Testament gospels during important passages. For example, the gospels differ on their opinion of which women found the empty tomb, thus making it difficult to know what actually happened. In summary, despite the convincing arguments against the claim that the New Testament is a reliable historical document, perhaps the best solution to the debate is the Biblical minimalism viewpoint. This viewpoint essentially argues that the Bible is a theological and apologetic work; the original stories have been updated so that, nowadays, the text only possesses at most fleeting snippets of genuine historical reliability.
Nanotechnology is the study and use of structures between 1nm (nanometre) and 100nm in size (i.e. very small!). It deals with things 1000 times smaller than in microtechnology, and uses the electrical and optical properties of matter that occur at these incredibly small scales.
Microtechnology has already miniaturised mobile phones and laptops, cramming more computing power into smaller and smaller devices. Nanotechnology, however, could lead to “robots” as small as blood cells being used in surgery.
One of my favourite nanotechnology developments is the possibility of virtual reality contact lenses, replacing the current rather heavy headsets. Projected images would be viewed on top of normal images through projecting the images directly into the eye’s retina; a setup that would rather resemble Iron Man’s augmented reality projections.
Harvard university researchers have worked out how to 3D print miniature batteries, about 1mm across. The batteries are created using inks that can be stacked up in layers during printing. The batteries could be used in medicine to power tiny biomedical sensors, skin-based monitors and internal hearing aids.
Tiny microbots have been developed that can be embedded in the eye to aid surgery. While this might sound rather disturbing, it enables very precise amounts of medication to be released into the eye. The robot is so small that it could fit into blood vessels, helping for instance, to dissolve clots in the eye.
In step with the increasing popularity of wearable devices, nanotech-based electronic chips that are so flexible they can be wrapped around a hair strand whilst still functioning, have been developed. This opens up a broad range of possible applications on virtually any surface, curved or flat.
The concept of eating electronics may seem outlandish but apparently not too strange for the scientists who studied the biology of cuttlefish and
found that their ink can power tiny ingested electronic devices. They have created edible power sources using materials from our daily diet. In addition to this, they are also investigating the possibility of sensors in pills that could indicate if you’ve taken a particular drug, telling doctors whether you have followed their prescription. The battery is initiated by stomach acid starting a signal.
In the future, circuit boards could be drawn by hand using special pens, enabling paper electronics, disposable antennas and a wide range of other items. A drawn circuit can already power a small LED display. The pen allows circuits to be embedded on uneven surfaces, providing new possibilities for uses.
Developed by Swiss Scientists, a robot, much less than a millimetre in size, has played football in the USA’s Robocup football tournament. The robot had to push a ball into the goals of a 1mm long playing field. Miniature robot football matches, while exciting, were not the main focus of the researchers who hope that one day the robot could be used to deliver drugs or perform microscopic surgery. They are also using the technology developed in the competition to create robots that would work autonomously (by themselves) inside the human body making repairs that were needed.
The world of science is ever-changing and nanotechnology is no exception. Paradoxically the development of the smallest things is one of the biggest areas of change. There is exciting potential for all of these nano-based products and I am looking forward to experiencing the new developments as they become publicly available.
Report by Sophie Hawken (Year 10). Picture by Nicole Dunnett Best and Ana Pilar Ravanne (Year 11)
THE WORLD OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
D IFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
Extraordinary photography from two SWPS students – on this page, Milly Staveley (Year 9), and opposite, Brooke Griffith (Year 11)
different perspectives
mathematics
Pi is the circumference of any circle, divided by its diameter. Nobody knows its exact value…
Math Open Reference (2011, USA)
The number π is a mathematical constant. (It was) originally defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter… It is approximately equal to 3.14159
Wikipedia (2018, UK)
World Pi Day is the annual celebration of π. It was established by an American physicist and artist called Larry Shaw. It’s commemorated on the 14th of March; in America that would be expressed as March 14 or 3/14. Shaw chose that date because the first three digits of π are 3.14.
World Pi Day was first celebrated in 1988, but there are references to pi that are much older.
In the Old Testament (in 1 Kings 7 and 2 Chronicles 4), a large basin known as the Molten Sea is described as being thirty cubits round and ten cubits across. “Wait a minute!” I hear you say, “Thirty divided by ten doesn’t equal π!” You make a fair point. However, if you factor in the probable thickness of the bowl (about 10 centimetres) and the likelihood that its diameter was measured from the outside edge of the bowl’s rim, while its circumference was probably measured with a cord wrapped around the bowl under its rim (the easiest way of doing it), you get a figure very close to π.
There has been some debate among historians over whether pi was used when the pyramids were designed, because of their near-perfect geometry. This idea was originally proposed by John Taylor in 1859. He analysed the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza (built around 2560 BC) and discovered that if you divide its perimeter by its height, the answer is approximately 2π. His analysis led him to suggest that the Great Pyramid was intended to be a representation of the Earth, with its height corresponding to the radius joining the centre of the Earth to the North Pole, and its perimeter corresponding to the Earth’s circumference at the Equator.
Pi is also known as Archimedes’ Constant. One
of the very first methods of approximating the value of pi appeared around 250 BC and was developed by the Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse (considered by many to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time). In his essay Measurement of a Circle, Archimedes outlines three approaches to calculating the dimensions of a circle; π features in the third of these.
Archimedes used as his starting point a drawing he made of a circle and two hexagons. In the drawing, one of the hexagons circumscribed (fitted tightly around) the circle; the other hexagon inscribed (fitted snugly inside) it. Taking measurements from his drawing and using an existing theorem (developed by another mathematician called Euclid) combined with his own formula, Archimedes calculated the lower and upper bounds of π to be 3.1408 and 3.1429.
Exploring pi is like exploring the universe
The symbol for pi (the Greek lower case letter π) was first used in 1706 by Welsh mathematician William Jones. Its use became well established after it was taken up by the influential Swiss mathematician, Leonhard Euler, in 1737.
At SWPS, we celebrated Pi Day with various activities around the school: we made a long pi paper chain, in which each π digit was represented by a different coloured link, and hung it up in the maths department; the Year 7s numbered paper plates with pi’s digits and placed them in order along the maths corridor; and a History of Pi trail was set up around the school, which students and teachers could follow to learn more about pi’s intriguing story.
But why is pi so important? Pi is used practically every day in a range of fields including thermodynamics, mechanics, cosmology and electromagnetism. It can be used to help measure things like ocean waves, circular velocity, light waves, voltage, and radioactive particle distribution.
Pi is such a fundamental building block, there’s really no telling where it will crop up next.
Words by Sahar Khatib (Year 10) and Ian Russell (Head of Art & Design). Painting by Eden Plaistowe (Lower 6th)
EXPLORING PI
1.
David
Chudnovsky , mathematician and engineer (1992, USA)
MALACOLOGY
Issy
Barton (Year 7) talks to us about the subject of her latest research
Which animal have you recently been researching?
The chambered nautilus. This animal is a mollusc –it’s part of the cephalopod class. It can grow to about 25 centimetres. The species is around five million years old, older than the dinosaurs! It’s thought that they survived whatever killed the dinosaurs (e.g. a meteorite hitting the Earth) because they live deep in the oceans. Because they’re so old, they are sometimes referred to as living fossils.
Where do they live?
They come from the Indo-Pacific region; they’re typically found in the warm waters around the Philippines. The shells can vary in size, depending on which area they’re from.
What interests you about this creature?
It’s not like the other cephalopods, such as octopus or cuttlefish. For example, it’s got quite a poor memory and very limited eyesight, whereas octopus and cuttlefish both have good memory and eyesight. It also differs in that its life spans around 16 years or more; octopus will typically live for around three to five years, and die after they reproduce.
What is the day-to-day life of a chambered nautilus like?
During the day they go quite deep underwater to avoid sunlight, although they can’t go too deep because their shells would implode from the pressure. To alter their depth, they use what’s called a hyponome. It has chambers in its shell which it fills with water or air. It can change the levels in each chamber depending on whether it wants to go up or down. It uses jet propulsion to move, propelling air from its shell to swim. They tend to live independently, only interacting with other nautilus’ to breed. They aren’t an aggressive species – they will pass each other without fighting.
How does it feed?
It uses its tentacles to feed. This is another way in which it differs from the octopus: octopi have eight tentacles with suckers; the chambered nautilus can have up to 90 tentacles and they are sucker-less. They tend to feed on plankton and small crustaceans such as shrimps.
How did it get its name?
Nautilus is a Greek word; it means sailor. The chambered part comes from its shell, because of the chambers that fill with the air and water that propel it. Its beautiful shell is also, sadly, why it is so frequently caught and, as a result, has become endangered.
Who is catching them and why?
They are being caught by fishermen using nets with bait in them. Because they’re so beautiful, in America and China their shells are often made into jewellery.
In some places, such as China, they will also use the nautilus to make a type of soup. Because these animals mature late – at around 15 years old – they can’t keep up with the rate at which they are being taken; they could die out in less than 50 years.
Do you think you’ll ever see this creature in its natural habitat?
My Dad used to be a scuba diving instructor, so I think he is keen to get me into diving. I would love to dive so I could see a chambered nautilus first hand.
How do you think zoology will feature in your future?
I hope to go to university to study biology. I would love, one day, to be a malacologist – someone who studies molluscs.
Issy
with a model of a chambered nautilus
THE FUTURE OF FOOD
Report by Ellen Parry (Senior 6th)
842 million people suffer from hunger worldwide, that’s 12% of the global population. 98% of the 842 million that are undernourished, children being the most vulnerable, live in developing countries. Undernutrition amplifies the impact of every disease, including measles and malaria.
The Golden Ticket to Prevent Child Blindness UNICEF estimates that 1.15 million child deaths are influenced by vitamin A deficiency each year, which can cause blindness and severely weakens the immune system. Golden Rice is just one among the hundreds of new products that points to the contributions of biotechnology to society. Rice is a staple food crop for over half of the world’s population, making up 30-72% of the energy intake for people in Asian countries, making it the perfect crop for targeting vitamin deficiencies.
Scientists genetically engineered a strain of rice via the addition of three new genes (beta-carotene biosynthesis genes) which allow the rice to generate beta-carotene in its endosperm region. Normally, the plant only produces beta-carotene in its leaves where photosynthesis can occur. So by generating betacarotene in the edible parts of the rice plant, it allows it to be transformed into Vitamin A when consumed by humans.
reach ten billion, meaning we will have to produce twice as much food as we currently do. 70% of agricultural land is used to raise livestock, fish stocks are depleting and climate change threatens crop production. Although it sounds revolting, the act of eating insects, entomophagy, is quite common as around two billion people regularly eat insects as part of their diets.
Insects are cold-blooded so require little energy to maintain their internal body temperature. This means they are very efficient at converting feed into edible body mass. Crickets require around two kg of feed to produce 1 kg of meat, and around 80% is edible. On the other hand, Cattle, require 8 kg to produce the same amount of meat, but only 40% can be consumed. This means that less land needs to be dedicated to growing feed for insects than for livestock, reducing irrigation and pesticide use. There are more benefits too, insects reproduce very fast and have short life spans, so they can be grown quickly and farmed in large quantities in small areas.
the future of food
Just One Drink?
In developed countries, the food crisis is the complete opposite of what we see in developing countries. In the UK, 30% of all food is thrown away but if all the nutrients we needed were combined in a single drink, we could eliminate food waste and curb obesity, as overindulgence would be minimised. Soylent was created by a software developer in the U.S. and contains every substance a human needs to survive (30 to be precise). The carbohydrate complex in the Soylent drink is called isomaltulose, a very slow-metabolising disaccharide sugar that is great for slow and sustained energy release, meaning we wouldn’t experience sudden spikes in blood glucose concentration. After this sugar has been ingested, enzymes break it down in the small intestine 4.5 times slower than they break down sucrose. Another benefit of isomaltulose is that it doesn’t act as a substrate for oral bacteria or produce enough acid to promote tooth decay.
If all the nutrients we needed were combined in a single drink, we could eliminate food waste
High Tech Foods
We control heating from our phones, cars park themselves, more shopping happens online and Alexa tells us the weather. But do we still eat low-tech food? The world’s first lab-grown burger was eaten in London in 2013, and food critics said that the taste of it was comparable to that of a traditional burger. The researchers started with stem cells (master cells that develop into specialised body cells) extracted from cow muscle tissue and cultured them with nutrients to help them develop and multiply. However, at the moment, scientists are only able to produce small pieces of meat; larger pieces would require a huge investment – the single burger had a funding of £215,000. Despite this there is a huge incentive to get lab-grown meat on the market due to the environmental benefits. Lab-grown beef results in only 4% of the greenhouse gases being emitted to the atmosphere of conventionally farmed beef. However, the issue is much deeper than meets the eye: an estimated 11% of the world live in absolute poverty so if a proportion of the population cannot afford food, then how will we ever solve global hunger by simply producing different foods to improve our health? Furthermore, 60% of the world’s malnourished are women; if we don’t solve gender inequality, hunger will continue.
PREVIOUS LIVES
Eden Plaistowe (Lower 6th) asked four members of our science team to tell us about what they did before they came to SWPS
ASHLEY TILLING
I am not sure why, but in my early teens I suddenly decided that I would like to join the Royal Navy. There was no history of serving in the navy in my family, but I did enjoy being in one of the other uniformed services: the Scouts! I applied for a scholarship as an engineering officer as soon as I was fifteen, and I was invited to a rather demanding three-day set of tests at the Admiralty interview board in Gosport. This included intelligence tests, group scenario problem solving, practical leadership tests (like devising a way of getting your team across a pool using a few ropes and planks) and interviews. I passed and was
awarded a scholarship to join after A Levels.
I trained at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, learning amongst other things how to march, salute with a sword, sail, and how drive motor boats. I then spent time on the training ship which travelled across the Atlantic to the West Indies and back – we had great fun jumping off the ship mid-Atlantic for a swim, although a couple of sailors with rifles were on lookout to guard against shark attacks.
The scholarship included being paid as a junior officer while doing my degree, which meant I had no student loan debt.
After my degree I qualified as a Weapons and Electrical Engineering Officer. My first job was being in charge of radars, sonars, gunnery, and missile systems on HMS London which had just come out of an extensive refit. We had to test the accuracy of the guns on a large target being towed about a kilometre behind a tug, some 12 kilometres away from the ship. After firing two rounds we received an urgent message from the tug: “Stop firing!” The shells had landed about twenty metres behind the tug, splashing the photographer positioned to take pictures of the point of impact, which was supposed to be a kilometre away. The subsequent Board of Inquiry found that it wasn’t my fault, but a problem within the new electro-mechanical computer system designed to point the guns in the right direction.
FLEUR THOMAS
When I was really young I wanted to be a ballet dancer; I enjoyed taking classes until I was about 14. During secondary school I had an interest in computers and art so at some stage wanted to be a graphic designer; I would still like to do this.
Later on I briefly thought it would be a good idea to become an Airline Pilot so I made sure I studied physics and maths at A Level. I found I was really interested in physics so took it as a degree at Birmingham University. The practical options, such as geophysics and medical physics were my favourites.
This was when the world wide web was making its first appearance, after being invented three years previously, and when I got my first email address!
After my degree I did an MSc at Imperial College in Computer Science; this was when I got my first mobile phone!
I got my first job as a programmer in central
London, programming games for Apple computers alongside, incidentally, a lot of graphic designers. I think that was my most memorable job in industry.
I was a software engineer for ten years in various companies, before having children and deciding to look after them full-time for a while.
When my youngest started Reception, I decided to take the opportunity to change career and become a teacher, rather than go back to a desk job. I decided on physics, rather than computer science, as that was my first passion, but luckily I can do both at the moment!
JACQUIE HOLLOWAY
At school my two favourite subjects were biology and English literature. I chose biology for a career but I’m still an avid reader and love all the old classic novels.
previous lives
cell culture facility, growing and maintaining cell lines for investigation and analysis.
RACHEL SUMERAY
When I was young I was always interested in photography and had the idea that I would work in the glamorous world of movies, behind the camera. However, my sixth form physics teacher somehow encouraged me to go on a Women in Engineering course in London, which I enjoyed so much I changed direction. I went on to study mechanical engineering at Imperial College London for three years.
I went to university in Plymouth and studied applied biology. I specialised in microbiology and parasitology but have particularly fond memories of ecology field trips out on Dartmoor or down on Looe beach.
My first job straight from University was with Glaxo Smith Kline in Welwyn. I worked in research and development in the drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics department; this involved running preclinical absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion studies in laboratory animals. I was there for four years, during which time I collected a huge number of blood, urine and faeces samples for analysis; I was very pleased to move away from this in the end!
My next job was for a biotechnology company called Xenova, who specialised in the discovery of pharmacologically active compounds in microorganisms, particularly fungi and actinomycetes. I was involved in developing and running primary and secondary screening in microplates (flat plates with multiple tiny wells used like small test tubes). Near the end of my time at Xenova I worked in the
I found my first job from a newspaper advert, rather than a big jobs fair, and became a risk engineer, paid what seemed like a staggering £11,000 per year. I worked on structures such as oil rigs and nuclear power stations, in my hard hat and sturdy boots, assessing safety and hazards. One of the most memorable projects was designing a prison in Wales; I got to go around it, just before it opened, and I can still remember the sound of the doors slamming shut on my way out.
I went on to teach science, after ten years in industry, as I hoped to persuade students of the usefulness of physics, and to try and make it seem less daunting to girls, as there just aren’t enough of us out there!
by
BLUE SUNSET
Report by Charlotte Lambert (Lower 6th)
If I asked you to close your eyes and picture a sunset here on earth, I’m fairly certain that you’d imagine the familiar, red streaked, yellowing sky with a low sun which we are all so accustomed to. Have you ever wondered what sunsets look like across our solar system?
The science behind sunsets is fairly simple, it is all due to a phenomenon known as scattering. At midday, light from the sun is reaching earth at a right angle and, whilst the light of all colours (white light) is still being scattered by particles in our atmosphere, certain colours scatter much more than others due to their wavelengths. Because blue and violet have the shortest wavelengths within the visible light spectrum, they are scattered more. However, our eyes are less perceptive of violet light, which is why we see the sky as blue for most of the day. If we say that the distance the light has to travel from the sun to you is the light wave’s path length, then the relative position of the earth to your location on earth is constantly changing and so is the path length of the light.
Later in the evening, when the sun is lower in the sky, the light it emits reaches earth at a different angle and some basic trigonometry will tell you that the
light’s path length has increased compared to earlier in the day, effectively scattering more light, and at different angles. At the right angle, and when the path length is long enough, the blue and violet light is completely scattered away from your eyes, and other colours in the visible light spectrum - mainly red, orange, and yellow - can be seen easily as they have longer wavelengths and aren’t scattered as much as violet, blue, and green light.
What about sunsets on other planets?
But what about sunsets on other planets? Mars is one of the closest planets to ours and has the most similar day cycle, with one day lasting an average of 24 hours and 39 minutes. However, there are numerous differences, such as the light intensity being only 590 W/m² which is just over half of the light intensity on earth – this is similar to light levels on a particularly overcast day – and the dust clouds which swarm it daily, including the most recent dust storm which encircled the entirety of the planet and is only just beginning to calm.
The relevance of these dust clouds is due to their effect on Mars’ atmosphere. Because there are many particles suspended in the air, the light from the sun is scattered differently. During the day, the blue light is scattered completely away from your eyes and the red light is what reaches the planet’s surface, making the ‘sky’ red during the day. At night, as on earth, the light is approaching from a different angle and therefore the red light is scattered instead, meaning that blue and violet light is then prominent, thus creating a beautiful, blue sunset as pictured by the mastcam of the Curiosity Rover on Mars.
This phenomenon has more significance than just being an aesthetically pleasing experience. Researchers can use data collected from the observations of these sunsets to assess the vertical distribution of the dust in Mars’ atmosphere, enabling NASA to track the dust storms and the permeability of the dust clouds at varying times. This allows us to determine the habitability of the planet, as it may one day be a second home to the human race.
You attend the Saturday school at the Royal College of Music; what’s it like?
To me it doesn’t really feel like school, it’s a completely different world. My weekends are similar to going to orchestra on Wednesdays after school, but for about nine hours on a Saturday instead! I’ve found a lot of like-minded people and made some very close friendships at the college. It’s a hectic, busy day; unlike in sixth form there aren’t really any free periods, but I really enjoy it.
What instruments do you play?
At the Royal College you do first study and second study, which are the instruments you take lessons in. My first study, and main instrument, is flute, and my second study is piano. I also play alto saxophone, although I don’t study that at the college. I also occasionally play the piccolo (a small, higher-pitched flute).
Do you prefer to play solos, in small ensembles, or in a full orchestra?
I like all three for different reasons. I really enjoy playing in small groups because I feel you get a connection with the other players and you can express the music better. I find those rehearsals really fun; you can’t play in a group with people you don’t talk to! You’ve got to interact with people, not only through talking but also through the music itself. I love orchestras as well; the volume and harmonies you can produce playing together in concert makes incredible moments.
What’s more important – technique or expression?
It would be great if you had both, but I think expression is more important. Hearing emotion and expression in the piece is what makes an audience listen. When I have a performance and I’ve learned the piece but want to go further with it, I’ll actually research the composer and the story behind it, and I’ll think of it while I play. If it’s a piece written for no specific reason, then I try to make up my own story to bring more depth to a performance. Musicianship can carry a piece if the technique isn’t perfect, but of course you need to have a good degree of accuracy as well as expression.
How have you developed as a musician since joing the Royal College?
I joined in Year 11, so this is my third year. I never expected this much of a change; when I joined, I didn’t think I was very good. Although SWPS has given me lots of fantastic opportunities, there were areas of music, like wind quintets, that I had never experienced before. In RC you have to adapt to playing all kinds of music, with all kinds of people. I’ve taken Grade 8 and the Performance diploma; my tone colours have changed, and I understand music better.
And, my passion for music has grown!
Do you have any advice for students applying for a place at the Royal College?
Just go for it! Don’t be disheartened if you don’t get in. Generally, they’re looking for potential in people who may not be of as high a level as other students when they apply. Be confident in your skill, and don’t compare yourself to others. Even if you don’t get in, you will gain valuable experience from the audition process.
Emma Brown (Senior 6th) talks to Hannah Burrows (Lower 6th) about her passion for making music
TAKING NOTES
design and technology
Lamp by Emily Traylen (Year 9)
Lamp by Mary O’Donnell (Year 9)
Bookends by Phoebe Norman-Kench (Year 8)
Bookends by Ellie Monk (Year 8)
Bookends by Lauren Mansey (Year 8)
Lamp by Natalie Newell (Year 9)
Lamp by Maddie Jones (Year 9)
Lamps by Year 9 students
design and technology
Amrit Bath (Year 10)
Felicity Cunliffe (Year 10)
Millie Lawlor (Year 10)
Sophie Owen-Hughes (Year 10)
Sriya Roy (Lower 6th)
Daisy Slater (Year 10)
Brooke Griffith (Year 11)
Bella Daniels (Senior 6th)
Denise Martin (Year 11)
PESSIMISM IS FOR LIGHTWEIGHTS
Report by Hannah Burrows (Lower 6th)
As we trudged through the drizzle in temperatures that hadn’t improved much since the recent snow, I started to feel slightly apprehensive about the decision my friend, India Dillon, and I had made to join a women’s march in London. As we neared Parliament Square, however, I began to realise that, despite hearing about the event via Facebook, this was going to be more than just a loosely internetorganised protest march. Railings to guide marchers began to appear along the pavements, policemen on foot and on horses patrolled the slippery pavements, and there were increasingly large groups of people appearing - some already chanting and bearing banners - as the slate-grey roof and gothic towers of the Houses of Parliament came into view. The atmosphere of excitement and anticipation was palpable.
This year’s March for Women was the sixth annual march organised by CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere). It’s held as close as possible to International Women’s Day (8th March), so this year it took place on Sunday 4th March.
It seemed a little ironic that, as we assembled in Parliament Square for the start of the march, we were surrounded by statues of nothing but men. Here we were, standing with thousands of women, some of them celebrities and prominent politicians, and yet as we prepared to retrace the route the Suffragette marches took around a century ago, it was the faces of men like Oliver Cromwell and Winston Churchill who were staring impassively down at us from their pedestals. They were looking down on 21st century feminists, demanding to be heard by a system that is, still, too often deaf to the voices of marginalised groups such as women, the LGBT community, and people of colour.
At the march, there was a strong undertone
of intersectionality (the idea that the issues of marginalised groups are crucially linked) that gave extra power to the event. The day provided the opportunity to be heard, as we walked chanting through the streets of central London, while professional news teams, and confused tourists using iPhones, filmed and photographed what was happening.
21st century feminists, demanding to be heard
Sue Perkins, who hosted the Trafalgar Square rally at the end of the march, continued this theme of intersectionality during her touching and hilarious interaction with the sign language interpreter, who became a focus in his own right as he sportingly translated the innuendos Sue Perkins made about him.
Everyone at the rally, regardless of race, age, sexuality, or gender, seemed genuinely supportive of the women who took to the stage to tell their stories, recite poetry, or sing. My personal favourite was a spoken word poem by Salena Godden entitled Pessimism is for Lightweights.
After the rally had begun to disperse, India and I saw a group of women holding a sign saying “Blackburn sisters march together”. Intrigued, we approached the group and discovered that they were waiting to talk to Sue Perkins. And suddenly, there she was: the undisputed queen of baking-related
innuendos who has been a role model of mine for years. After she had chatted and posed for photos with the Blackburn Sisters, she talked to me. I thanked her for her positive influence in general and her work that day in particular, and she turned out to be one of the sweetest and most genuine adults I have ever met.
Throughout the march we were surrounded by female politicians from a range of parties including the SNP and the Greens, whose co-leader, Caroline Lucas, gave an excellent speech. Apparently Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, marched beside India and me for a few minutes, although we didn’t recognise her. Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, announced in his speech that a statue of Millicent Fawcett, created by the artist Gillian Wearing, was going to be placed in Parliament Square, among the statues of all those powerful men, where we’d been standing in the
freezing sleet just a few hours earlier. The statue has since been unveiled; it holds a banner that reads “Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”, a quote from one of Fawcett’s inspiring speeches.
For me, Fawcett’s statue represents the spirit of the March for Women in 2018. The courage of the Suffragettes, who a century ago successfully fought for women’s right to vote, continues to be shown by the countless women who aspire to achieve, and inspire, greatness.
I would urge any students who are able to take part in next year’s march to seize the opportunity. My suffragette rosette and protest sign from the Women’s Equality Party, reading “We’ve been marching for 100 years”, hang proudly on my bedroom wall. The Women’s March left me with admiration for the impressive legacy of feminism’s past as well as, in this era of #timesup and #metoo, hope for its future.
THE LAST WORD
Alex Cooke (Lower 6th) considers some carefully chosen words. Illustrations by Ellie Foreman-Peck (www.elliefp.co.uk)
“ “
A chance to reflect on the words that have defined the last twelve months
In 1971, a German magazine created an annual publication to name the Wort des Jahres or Word of the Year. The purpose of this publication was to announce, each December, a particular word or phrase that had had a significant cultural, linguistic or political impact during that year and to explore the etymology behind it. This idea has been adopted by many
contemporary publishing houses, with the most notable in the UK being the Collins Dictionary Word of the Year.
Each year, since I have been aware of this event, I have been getting increasingly excited for the word to be announced. It often provokes an amusing look back at the year’s events and is usually an interesting indicator of the social and political climate of that time. Decided on annually by a panel of lexicographers, Collins describes the Word of the Year as, “A chance to reflect on the words that have defined the last twelve months”. The award has been popularised on Twitter which, given that Twitter is a platform that heralds popular culture and news, seems particularly appropriate for the 2017 Words of the Year: fake news
The phrase fake news became, without a doubt, part of the zeitgeist in 2017, notably brought into the public consciousness by Donald Trump, who often used it to combat antagonistic news stories created to criticise him. Subsequently, fake news has become something of a cultural phenomenon with thousands of books published on the topic and with Collins reporting a 365% increase in the use of the phrase since 2016.
Trump initially used fake news in a tweet describing articles that suggested a collusion between himself and the Russian government as “FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT”. Ironically, Trump’s use of the word has caused fake news to lose its original meaning; it’s often used erroneously to describe any tabloid journalism that has little factual evidence to support it. However, the phrase was originally created to describe fictitious articles deliberately created as
propaganda and published on the Facebook News Feed to spread misinformation, notably during the 2016 presidential election in America.
The Word of the Year for 2016 was, of course, Brexit. It is a word that we have all become very familiar with, and even now in 2018 not a day goes by without hearing or reading about the potential impact the decision to leave the European Union could have for our country. It was coined in 2012 by Peter Wilding, in a tweet that read, “Stumbling towards the Brexit-Britain, a referendum and an ever-closer reckoning”.
Peter Wilding is the director and founder of the British Influence think tank and is a prominent remain supporter.
The word Brexit was probably inspired by the portmanteau Grexit, which is how Greece’s proposed exit from the European Union was hailed, as Wilding’s tweet was published in May 2012, a few months after Greece’s financial crisis was at the top of the public consciousness.
between each episode.
Some say this has caused television to lose some of its charm - watching a series used to be more of a communal experience, as everyone watched an episode at the same time, as it was aired. As I started watching (or should I say binge-watching) Twin Peaks last summer, my mother reminisced about when it was first shown; she remembered the buzz and
Linguistically, Brexit has had a similar evolution to Facebook. Just as that well known social networking website started off as the Facebook, Wilding’s original tweet referred to the Brexit, but the preposition was dropped for a snappier end product, giving birth to the frankly unforgettable phrase “Brexit means Brexit”. But what does Brexit actually mean? I can only describe it as relating to a pivotal moment in British politics, a decision that has the potential to irrevocably dictate the future of our country. The outcome of the referendum and the Brexit process highlight the divisions that had been growing in our society. It was launched, in part, as a bid to heal a chasm in the Conservative Party, but in fact has only deepened it.
On a lighter note, binge-watch was the Word of the Year for 2015. Collins reported usage of the word increased by 200% from 2014, indicating a cultural shift in how television is consumed. The word binge-watch was first used in the nineties to describe watching DVD box sets in a short amount of time, but since the rise in popularity of streaming services, its original meaning has been replaced. Websites such as Netflix have created a completely different experience for watching television, as shows are often released as complete series. This gives them an addictive quality, as there isn’t an enforced wait
excitement of watching the series finale, as the world together found out who murdered Laura Palmer. I worry that in our current culture of binge-watching, moments like this will be lost; instead of gathering round a television together, each member of a family will be shut away watching a different programme on the phone or laptop. However, the convenience and endless choice these subscription services bring, mean that they are undeniably here to stay.
The phenomenon of the Word of the Year can be viewed in different ways. It has been described as a cynical, commercial campaign for Collins and other publishing houses to take advantage of the intrigue created by highlighting how language evolves over time. Some say its choices are off the pulse, embarrassingly out of touch with modern slang. I think it has an incredible ability to show key changes in our society – evident, for example, in the difference in tone in binge-watch and Brexit, reminding us of how increasingly political the world has become. However, I also think that the award is simply a bit of fun, which has the ability to highlight the absurdity of popular culture, with previous Words of the Year including photobomb and twerking
Any guesses what the next Word of the Year will be?
PAGE TURNERS
THIS MORTAL COIL
By Emily Suvada Review by Cicely Tam (Yr
10)
Adeadly virus rips through the world leaving millions dead and the survivors searching desperately for a permanent vaccine. Temporary immunity is difficult to achieve but not impossible. For the survivors it means losing themselves to The Wrath – the hunter’s instinct that allows them to prey on the infected.
Catarina has been surviving alone after her father, Lachlan Agatta, and his assistant, Dax, were abducted by the shadowy organisation, Cartaxus. Until Cole, a lone soldier programmed
to protect her, turns up on Catarina’s doorstep with news of her father’s death. Lachlan was the world’s leading geneticist, and humanity’s best hope at beating the virus. But hidden beneath Cole’s gene-hacked enhancements Catarina finds a message: Lachlan created a vaccine. Only she can find and decrypt it, if she can survive herself.
The closer she gets, the more she finds herself in danger from Cartaxus, but there are three billion lives at stake so she’s prepared to risk it all to succeed. To save everyone Cat must unlock one final secret; a secret that could change everything.
This book is the first of the series and is a must-read for anyone who enjoys novels that combine adventure, science and threat. It explores the concept of genetic advancements in a world where a device attached to your arm can change the colour of your eyes, or heal an open wound, through simple programming. The author develops the characters’ personalities throughout the book and expands on their mysterious and intriguing backstories making the novel an exciting and thrilling read.
NOT IF I SAVE YOU FIRST
By Ally Carter
Review by Erin Bambury (Yr 8)
Not If I Save You First is a brilliant continuation of Ally Carter’s strong and powerful young women idea. As in her previous books, Ally Carter uses a teenage girl as her main character who is always
accompanied by a mysterious male companion. Not If I Save You First is about a girl called Maddie Manchester, who is the best and only friend of the President’s son, Logan. One life-changing night, Maddie moves to the middle of Alaska to live in a hut. After six lonely years apart, Logan turns up to endure a long hard-working week, but they have changed so much in the intervening years that they don’t really know each other anymore.
The story gets its name from what happens when Logan turns up in Alaska. After six years of Logan not answering her letters, Maddie initially feels that she wants to kill him. However, an assassin turns up, kidnaps Logan and throws Maddie off a cliff in order to take Logan to a secret rendezvous. Maddie has to save Logan before the assassin kills him. In the extreme winter wildness of Alaska, Maddie has to save Logan from man, animal and landscape.
The main theme of this book is how a girl can do anything. Instead of the prince saving the princess, the princess and the prince work together to be the heroes of the day. Ally Carter once again shows us that we can be about more than we realise.
THE YOUNG ELITES
By Marie Lu
Review by Madeleine White (Yr 9)
This fantasy novel is the first in a breath-taking trilogy about a group of young adults with extraordinary gifts, known as Young Elites.
Adelina Amouteru is known as a malfetto (the name for a person who has survived the blood fever but has been left with some kind of physical mark), due to the horrifying scar that lies where her left eye should be. After surviving a deadly plague, she finds that it has left her with more than just a scar. Adelina now possess a dark and dangerous power; she has become a Young Elite. She has the powerful gift of being able to conjure up intricate illusions and is more powerful than any other Elite before her. But Adelina, who has been cast aside and hurt all her life, is seeking revenge.
The story takes us on a gripping journey with Adelina as she tries to find the other Young Elites and control the darkness stirring inside her. As Adelina seeks to deliver vengeance on those who have wronged her, the Young Elites must stop her before she hurts not only others, but also herself.
This amazing book is about the battle between dark and light, but not in the way you might expect. As the darkness in Adelina threatens to consume her, she must decide whether she wants to follow the light and be the person she always wanted to be, or use her deadly gift for her own gain and become the most feared villain that the world has ever seen. This dilemma plagues Adelina throughout the trilogy as she struggles to cling to what is
right; to give in to the darkness could cost her everything.
The Young Elites is a fantastic book that I couldn’t put down. It is a fascinating story that’s definitely worth reading, with twists and turns at every corner.
CITY OF BONES
By Cassandra Clare Review by Tabitha Inglis (Yr 10)
The book I have enjoyed the most this year is the first book in Cassandra Clare’s series The Mortal Instruments. It is a gripping fantasy novel that perfectly starts a thrilling series, as well as keeping you constantly on the edge of your seat.
The story takes place in the buzzing city of New York, focusing on the main protagonist Clary Fray, your average teenage girl. I know it doesn’t sound very interesting yet, but stay with me. Clary’s world is suddenly turned upside down when she discovers she has the Sight, which enables her to see the mysterious world of demons, vampires and werewolves, which is otherwise hidden from the human eye. After her mother is kidnapped by
the tyrannical radicalistic Valentine, who wants to kill all Downworlders (vampires, werewolves, warlocks etc) she teams up with the half angel/ half human race of demon killers called Shadowhunters in order to save her. In the course of the story, Clary has to accept her parentage, as she comes to terms with the realisation that she is also a Shadowhunter. Cassandra Clare expertly crafts a variety of complex characters which are both realistic and relatable. My favourites are the eccentric warlock Magnus Bane and Clary’s geeky best friend Simon Lewis. Both characters add a comical dimension to the story, as well as playing significant parts in the plot as a whole. Although the book contains a variety of enthralling scenes, my favourite is the climax of the novel where the main characters are locked in battle. The intensity of the ending perfectly finishes this truly riveting read.
FALLING
A new short story by Caitlin Costello (Year 7). Artwork by Emily Peyton (Year 11)
Down, down, down, like a meteor shooting down to the ground, I went with my stomach lurching after my limp, falling body. One footstep out of place and the grassy earth beneath me had begun to crumble, sending me down into this deep, neverending vortex; I watched as the bright glow of the world above became a tiny spec encased in this dark enclosing hole. I thought of Alice in Wonderland and all the magical realms it would transport me to when I would pore over it as a child; why, I was no different to Alice; tumbling into a different world of fantasies, magic and mysterious men who wear top hats infested with red and black playing cards, have orange hair that bursts out of it like a fireball and will dance a special dance for me when I slay a big, malicious dragon. However, unlike Alice, I would never ever find my Wonderland if I carried on falling down this darkened nothingness forever, even something never-ending ends up having an ending after all; like the never-ending story and big neverending holes to somewhere magical: it is simply a figure of speech. But just as I was imagining a grand entrance to a palace of hearts, I had reached the bottom of the bottomless pit.
Just like when something disgusting or horrifying happens, something that you could never have prepared yourself for, I didn’t react straight away to the fact that I was sitting in a pile of sticky, green fluid that felt as if it were creeping up my sides - I mellowed in it for a while. I held my hands up to see what colour the liquid was but the area was so dark
that they were just smudged blurs, my nails seeped into my fingertips and then into my palms, making the distinction between each unrecognisable. It smelt of rotting…something with traces of animal stench and a spreading sweat which I found was coming from the perfectly formed beads trickling down my forehead. The surrounding area was so silent that even my panting breath made me feel as if I were offensive to it. The silence didn’t last long though, as I felt a scuttle of tiny, cold feet across the tips of my shoes. I let out a bloodcurdling shriek that echoed along the dark horizon and whatever lay beyond. There was something strange about how the aura seemed less old and dead after that, as if my scream had awoken some sleeping spirit, for it seemed like the area hadn’t had much of an abundance of life before I had fallen into it. Therefore, when I heard hollowed footsteps emerging from in front, I shot off as fast as my stick legs could carry or drag me. But it was almost as if I were stationary, either the tunnel was so long that I would never reach the end or I was really running on the spot; like a glitching video game character, bumping into the invisible boundaries of its game. The earth was then suddenly crumbling around me. I saw a bright light…was I dead? I couldn’t think of a worse way to die…wait, no, heaven isn’t mossy and green and it certainly doesn’t smell like a sewer. No, I was still alive, and the light…was an opening! A beautiful, green, overgrown opening waiting for me in the slanted, curves of the roof. I reached up, desperate for those first breaths of clean, delicious air…
THEORY OF MIND
Telling lies, bullying, and understanding jokes; Dr Ingrid Harris (Head of Psychology) discusses the complex inner workings of the human psyche. Artwork by Zoe Munford (Year 11)
Have you ever not done your homework but told your teacher you’ve done it, but left it at home, expecting her or him to believe you? Did you know that doing so demonstrates a key aspect of mental development called Theory of Mind?
Theory of Mind is the ability to recognise that other people have different thoughts, beliefs and feelings to oneself. In telling your teacher that you have left your homework at home, you demonstrate an understanding that she or he has a different mental state to your own – you know the real truth but the teacher believes what you have told them, as this is the only information you have provided. In telling your teacher this lie, you have demonstrated first order Theory of Mind, which is the ability to appreciate and reflect on the contents of another person’s mind.
As children mature, their Theory of Mind skills develop too, with second order Theory of Mind skills developing between the ages of 6 and 8 years. Higher order Theory of Mind skills are necessary to be able to distinguish lies from jokes. This makes sense, because the difference between a lie and a joke lies in terms of the different knowledge of the listener and the speaker. With jokes, the speaker knows that the listener also knows the truth; for example, the child, seeing they have left muddy footprints on the clean floor jokingly says to his mother, “I did a really good job of wiping the mud off my feet” – this is funny only if both the speaker and listener know the truth.
With a lie, however, the speaker and the listener have different knowledge and the speaker is aware of the difference.
Understanding the nature and development of Theory of Mind is important in psychology for several reasons; the development of these skills appears to be universal, therefore, if a child fails to acquire these skills, this may be an indication of a developmental problem. Lack of Theory of Mind is one of the most persuasive explanations for autism.
Theory of Mind skills are necessary to understand complex plot lines in books and plays – one reason good writers like Shakespeare are so rare is because the complexity of some of his plots can only be understood with fifth order Theory of Mind, which is beyond the mental capacity of many humans.
There is, however, also a dark side to Theory of Mind – it brings with it an improved capacity to lie, deceive and bully. By being able to interpret other people’s mental states, a bully becomes more adept at identifying their victim’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities and using this understanding to refine their bullying strategies.
Theory of Mind is one example of a human capability that can be used for positive or for negative purposes – the same is true for numerous other human skills. This raises important questions in psychology: is development of the individual inseparable from the potential for negative behaviour? To what extent does an individual’s behaviour reflect their own free will? What do you think?
MEMORY OF WATER
Words by Sophie Park (Senior 6th). Pictures by Eden Plaistowe (Lower 6th)
Shelagh Stevenson’s The Memory of Water poignantly blends comedy and tragedy. It was written in 1996 and is set around this time. The play tells the story of three sisters, gathered at their late mother’s house, preparing for her funeral. We see how each sister deals with her mother’s death, each responding very differently to this profound event.
We were challenged to study and perform an extract from this thought-provoking play for our drama A Level, with each of us taking on the character of one of the very contrasting sisters. We spent several weeks choosing set and costumes, learning lines and rehearsing, before performing in front of an audience and a Visiting Examiner. Alongside our rehearsals, we put together a written portfolio about the process of creating the performance.
The sisters in The Memory of Water behave extraordinarily in extraordinary circumstances. Their emotions are understandably heightened because each is trying to deal with her feelings about her mother’s death. For the daughters, like any daughter or son, the loss of their mother is a new experience and none of them is entirely in control of her emotions, which is what makes the play so interesting.
I took on the role of Mary, the middle sister. She is the most intellectual of the sisters and is a doctor, specialising in neurology. Throughout the play, she spends a lot of time lying in her late mother’s bed; she is extremely tired after apparently talking with her mother’s ghost during the night. Mary, we discover, had a child at fourteen, which she gave up for adoption. She is obsessed with the idea of having a baby; however, her boyfriend Mike is completely uninterested and has even had a vasectomy, unbeknown to her.
To develop our characters and performance, we
applied the techniques of Konstantin Stanislavski, a Russian theatre practitioner who specialised in naturalism. He believed that actors should really inhabit the roles they are playing. One of Stanislavski’s techniques is given circumstances. The given circumstances are the details about the character and their life you are provided with in the play and perhaps also any inferences that can be made. For example, a given circumstance of my character, Mary, is that she is physically exhausted
memory of water
due to her lack of sleep the previous night. This given circumstance in particular has a huge effect on Mary’s actions in the play and encouraged me to use performance techniques that would help convey Mary’s tiredness to the audience.
Another technique we used was units and objectives. Stanislavski believed that an actor should determine a motive for every action they perform. He believed actions are outward signals to a psychological objective. Breaking down the extract into units and objectives helped me to decide on the
motive behind each line, meaning I could develop the character of Mary and deliver my lines naturalistically. It seems to me that the death of their mother is, frankly, the only reason why the three grownup sisters, Teresa, Mary and Catherine return to their family home. The ghost of their mother, rather literally for Mary, pervades the atmosphere of the play and, because she provided the means for her three daughters’ entry into the world, they gather together to make the necessary arrangements for their mother’s exit.
VIVA L’ITALIA
Victoria James (Year 9) remembers the Italy trip
Our journey to Italy began just outside the school gates with a crowd of overly excited young people and increasingly alarmed-looking adults. After several head counts and luggage checks, a grand total of 102 students and teachers swarmed onto the coaches, emitting a wave of enthusiastic chatter. An hour later, inside Gatwick Airport, that chatter had not died down a single bit.
Upon arrival at the hotel, it was evident from the echoing of yawns that the day’s exertions were starting to take their toll. But that didn’t last long! Once we had all found our rooms, any thought of sleep seemed to vanish. Laughter could be heard all along the corridor, along with the occasional sound of something banging or falling. I felt some sympathy for the other hotel guests who had been unlucky enough to pick this particular week for their stay. It wasn’t until 2.00am that my head hit the pillow.
The next morning, we headed straight for Pompeii.
Pompeii was simply beautiful. Every so often, as I walked passed the crumbling remains and stones, I found myself hit by the realisation that 2,000 years ago real people lived here and walked on the same stones we walked on now; that 2,000 years ago, it would have been a town full of life, the streets crowded with people amid a buzz of constant chatter; that 2,000 years ago, such a carefully constructed world suddenly fell victim to a volcano’s mighty eruption.
Our next stop was Herculaneum. After a quick tour of its virtual reality museum and lunch – pizza for one hundred please – we found ourselves standing right before Vesuvius’ destruction. As pretty as Herculaneum was, the same could hardly be said for the skeletons; dozens of them were piled up together, each one preserved, as though frozen in time.
The following day, before our five-hour train journey to Venice began, we visited the Villa Poppaea, thought to have been home to Poppaea Sabina, second wife to the Emperor Nero. It was incredible to see how much of it had been preserved; the olympic-
sized swimming pool was a clear sign of wealth, not to mention the dozens of rooms and remains of paintings still intact within it.
Getting through Naples Train Station became the next task. Mr Peel had meticulously prepared us for the upcoming warzone. Each and every member of our group – teachers included – strapped their bags tight in front of them and gathered like a swarm of penguins in the midst of the giant station. Onlookers stared at us; I suppose nothing screams “foreign visitors” quite like a huge huddle of chattering girls with a patrolling group of anxious teachers.
By the time our train had slowed to a screechy stop in Venice station, excitement levels were dangerously high. The moment the doors sprung open, one hundred eager students leapt onto the platform. When we stepped out of the station we were greeted by the most astonishing view: water, a deep aqua blue, crowded with boat after boat.
The next day we explored the beautiful town of Sirmione. We had a boat ride across the waters of Lake Garda. As we ventured out across the seemingly
viva l’italia
endless lake, Sirmione’s fortress-like architecture began to slip from view.
We visited the famous “fair Verona”, home to Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. We saw what is thought to be the very balcony described in the play. Juliet’s statue stood just underneath it, with a queue of visitors, desperate to take photos, snaking far down the street. Lovers had scrawled their names all over the walls, and padlocks shaped as hearts were attached to anything they could be latched onto.
However beautiful the streets of Verona were, nothing compared to the wonders of Venice. After a visit to a famous glass factory, we found ourselves cruising down the narrow canals in our very own gondolas, along the twists and turns of the water’s path and under the stone bridges that pieced the islands of Venice together.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Before we knew it, we were headed back to Venice airport. Five days had passed in the blink of an eye. It had been a truly memorable trip.
MUSIC MATTERS
Lauren Christian (Year 11) reflects on the importance of music
From a young age, I have been lucky enough to be involved in music, through music lessons, orchestras and choirs. At the age of nine, I picked up the oboe, which at first was very challenging to even get a note out of! The idea sprung to my head when I was listening to Peter and the Wolf with my grandma, who has always loved listening to music. In particular, I thought the oboe, representing the duck, sounded different and intriguing. With a little encouragement
from my grandma, I gave it a try.
There are lots of benefits in learning to play an instrument. One such benefit is that it can encourage brain plasticity, meaning the brain can form new neural connections, helping it to develop. Results show that children who have had early music lessons do better in subjects like reading, maths and language. Music is also highly beneficial to elderly people who suffer from conditions like dementia. It can trigger memories helping them to reconnect with the world, and it provides stimuli that creates new pathways, so the brain can rewire itself. In addition to this, people on the autistic spectrum, and those with mental health issues, can use music to relax or express themselves, again helping both the old and the young.
At Christmas, I performed Handel’s Messiah with a choir organised by school, at the Royal Albert Hall. As we sung the first words: Glory to God, the choir certainly felt glorious. It was exhilarating being able to perform the Messiah after many exhausting hours of rehearsing. Of course I was nervous beforehand, with roughly 5,000 people watching in the audience, but as soon as I was hit by the huge, uplifting sound of the whole choir, a sense of relief rushed over me and the feeling was indescribable!
Research indicates that playing and listening to music stimulates chemicals like oxytocin and dopamine, making you feel happy, which is what I experience when singing with the choir. Music has the potential to shift atmospheres and mood as well as evoke emotions, reaching places where no ordinary mode of speech can travel. For example: listening to an upbeat tune while exercising may make you feel energised and listening to a slow song in a minor key may make you feel gloomy. Film music often imitates the mood of the scene, giving a greater impact on the viewers while also dramatizing it.
Sadly, in lots of schools across the world, music has been cut from the school curriculum due to lack of funds and teachers. This is a shame not only because music is an enjoyable, creative subject, but it helps to improve skills in other areas too. It also allows young people to broaden their horizons and get to know other people by participating in bands and orchestras in and outside of school.
Over the past few years at SWPS, I have been able to enjoy music even more than before. Recently I have started learning the saxophone and I’m very grateful to the school for giving me all these music opportunities. With lots of music commitments and practising, I am incredibly busy, but also very happy doing what I love and improving all the time.
Two reports from students in Year 10: Madeline Tanner on working for her Bronze Award; Megan Southall & friends on their experience of going for Silver
AWARD DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S
Iset off for Purbeck with the rest of my group on a cold, cloudy Saturday in September, anxiously waiting to start my Bronze Qualifying Expedition. We started in a tiny car park just off the Dorset coast and began our 30-kilometre trek across the fields and hills of Purbeck. Looking back, it was an amazing experience; however, there were highs and lows, with lessons to be learnt.
The first thing everyone realised is that when the assessors and supervisors tell you to bring just the essentials, they mean just the essentials. With our bags weighing between 8 to 17kg, everyone was regretting that extra hot chocolate sachet that seemed imperative to bring. Another mistake that many people made, including myself, was to have failed to make sure their walking boots were waterproof. Sadly, on the Saturday afternoon, it rained incessantly, the countryside became extremely wet, and many peoples’ boots didn’t hold up against the long, wet grass of Purbeck, leading to some very soggy feet. The main thing on everyone’s mind, however, was food. The lesson I have learnt from this is that there is no such thing as too much food – even if my bag did weigh as much as a baby elephant!
One of the highs of my Bronze experience was the sense of camaraderie that I had with my group while we were completing the walk. It is draining, both physically and emotionally, doing DofE, so it is very easy to get irritated while you are standing in the middle of a field soaking wet, not having a clue where you are or which way you should be heading. However, my group laughed and chatted its way from the west to east of Purbeck. Another high was the sense of achievement when we reached Ye Old Harry and knew we had completed the expedition walk. After spending months focussing on the volunteering, skill and physical sections of the award, and the weeks of preparation before the qualifier, finally finishing our DofE Bronze felt like a massive achievement.
Admittedly, there were some parts of DofE that we could have done without. One of these was the rather unpredictable weather. From torrential rain to blazing sun, it brought a whole new meaning to being prepared for British weather. I feel I speak on behalf of all the Year 10s who took part in the expedition when I say: the rain wasn’t necessary! Another thing
that proved harder than most of us expected was navigating our way across country using a map and compass. Even though we’d had a theoretical training day, training walk and practice expedition to practise our navigation skills, we’d always had our lovely supervisors with us to point us in the right direction. Having to figure out on our own which way we had to go every 100m turned out to be quite a challenge. Nevertheless, we all managed to finish our walks, even if we did get a little lost every now and then.
I have now started the Silver DofE and recently completed my training walk. I have learnt some lessons from my Bronze, such as to use my compass more often and to double-check that my boots are waterproof. I am looking forward to my Silver expeditions and to creating more DofE memories, hopefully this time without the soggy feet!
duke of edinburgh’s award
The Silver DofE qualifier took place on one of the hottest weekends of the year. It was an interesting tribulation to face but we managed it by drinking plenty of water and singing every Disney song ever written.
Our DofE group was called Not fast, Just Furious with Scrambled Legs.
Our adventure began at school when we set off at six o’clock to travel to the Peak District. It took about four-and-a-half hours to get there and the journey was filled with games, dodgy accents and rushed lastminute mapping, which we are sure our assessor was not very impressed with.
A big issue on DofE, particularly for our group, was sleeping. On the first night Kiera and Annabel had an unusual neighbouring tent. This tent contained a man who set the world record for the loudest snoring, so they didn’t sleep at all that night.
Part way into our journey, we encountered a field of cows. When faced with some aggressive-looking cows twice your size, the smart thing to do would be to take another path and not walk straight through them, like we did.
On our second day we attempted to walk across a moor – a task we completely underestimated. Halfway across, we almost lost Sophie when she fell into a bush and we carried on walking, oblivious to her screams for help. After this experience we took an extra-long lunch break to let Sophie recover from the trauma. During our break we decided to cheer Sophie up by performing an improvised dance routine, which we now think has great potential as a possible audition piece.
As classic SWPS girls from Surrey, we were
obviously not going to go to the toilet in the wild if we could possibly help it. Annabel somehow managed to only go to the loo in restaurants and hotels as we passed through towns. There was one point, on our third day, when Poppy was so bursting that she briefly considered going in a graveyard, but she was persuaded not to, for obvious reasons.
When we arrived at the campsite on the last night, we discovered that three other DofE groups from SWPS were also staying there. We were incredibly happy to be reunited with them and spent the rest of the evening taking photos, playing cards and chasing noisy peacocks around the campsite. To our surprise, a group of university students appeared, fresh, we suspected, from an evening down the pub, and challenged us to a game of rounders. At that moment, we knew it was our duty to all of Surrey to accept the challenge. We beat them, obviously, and had loads of fun in the process. Just another typical evening on DofE.
Throughout the whole of the qualifier we did not get lost at all, apart from once. On the last day we managed to end up in a disused mine that looked alarmingly post-apocalyptic. We walked around aimlessly for half-an-hour before coming to the conclusion that we were on private land and most definitely in the wrong place. Despite that small diversion, we managed to successfully navigate our way to the end. We all had, undeniably, a brilliant and funny weekend.
Silver DofE was certainly a tough challenge. However, once we’d completed it, the enormous feeling of achievement we gained made all the hard work seem worthwhile.
Left: Grace Bradshaw (Lower 6th)
Left: Eden Plaistowe (Lower 6th)
Kitty Gahir (Lower 6th)
Emily Clarke (Lower 6th)
Bea Ross (Lower 6th)
Alexandra Seuren (Senior 6th)
Anais Patten (Senior 6th)
Right: Catherine Trelawny (Senior 6th)
Rachel Anstey (Senior 6th)
Alice Sutton (Senior 6th)
OBJECT LESSON
Tara Hanley (Academic Deputy Head) talks to Luke Mills (Lower 6th) about a few of her favourite things
Great Expectations
Being an English teacher, narrowing my choices down to just one book is hard. I could probably pick a top ten, but it would still be difficult. Shakespeare’s King Lear and Othello would be up there, as I love a good tragedy. On a different day, I might have picked a different book as my number one, but today I have chosen Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. This was my first classic, “grown up” text. I read it at the end of primary school for a sponsored read; I had to get through six books in a fortnight. I’d never read
any Dickens before and although I finished it in time, I didn’t fully understand it. Expectations now feels like a faithful old friend, and I’ve come back to it time and again. I read it for GCSE and A Level, and I have taught lessons on it in a number of different schools because it is such a brilliant example of good story telling. I love Victorian literature, and I believe that Dickens is one of the most amazing writers we’ve ever produced.
Prelude in Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major
For as long as I can remember, music has been very important in my life and in my family. My mother often tells a story about how she held a radio to her stomach when she was pregnant. As I grew older, it became a way of defining my identity and shocking my parents; I liked that the new music I was listening to meant that I was having a different cultural experience from them. My family has always had a wide taste in music: my dad likes classical and punk. There are so many different types of music I could have chosen, for a million different reasons. Sometimes what I listen to has to be classical, sometimes jazz; it depends on my mood. I’m choosing Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1, the Prelude in particular, because when I was young, it was the first piece of classical music I listened to. It stopped me in my tracks. There is something so beautiful about the way it builds, and the emotions it evokes. It feels like it gets into my soul. Even now, if I catch a strain of it, I have to stop what I’m doing and devote a few minutes to listening.
Pearl Necklace
I inherited this necklace from my nan, on my mum’s side of the family. Her name was Doris – they don’t call people Doris anymore but I think they should! My nan came from the East End, and she was quite terrifying, but I loved her and I’m quite similar to her in many ways. The necklace is not worth a huge amount but I like the idea that we can be both physically and emotionally connected with people we’ve known. A piece of jewellery is a good example of that. When I wear the necklace I think about my nan.
I like that I can recognise my family or friends in some of my speech patterns, and in certain phrases or jokes. I think the people who are important to us become a part of who we are.
object lesson
Red Wine
It’s my favourite drink. One of my mother’s favourite stories about me is that I have a red wine stain down my christening dress because at the age of six months I was helped by an 18-year-old aunt to drain some glasses. Apparently I quite liked it and it has stuck with me! Red wine is symbolic for me of relaxation, of eating and drinking with people I care about. Good food and wine are two great pleasures in life; I love cooking, I love eating out, and I love sharing with people.
Autumn
There’s something about autumn that I think is pretty magical. It feels to me like a new year, probably because I’m used to teaching and for us September is the new year. I’m a September baby as well but there’s something else about autumn: it’s the colours, the smells, and the shift from the lethargy of summer into the more sensuous season where everything is about a bit of excess. The food gets deeper and richer, the colours and the smells do too, and then you’ve got Halloween with its strange pagan rituals, which I also find quite appealing. Finally, it builds into Bonfire Night and then it’s basically the merry dance up to Christmas!
Autumn makes me incredibly happy; it’s wonderful to wear jumpers after the irritations of summer clothing, and it brings the beginning of the school year. I get to throw leaves and jump in them and run in cold, crisp autumn days when there are leaves falling and everything is orange, red and yellow. There is nothing more beautiful; it’s unbeatable.
ARABIAN NIGHTS
Report by India Dillon (Lower 6th)
There are probably a 1001 ways to reinvent the classic stories of the Arabian Nights but nothing could beat the way the SWPS production team, led by Sara Sweeney and Patsi Bucknall, brought these magical folk tales to life.
The starting point, or framing device, for all the tales is the action of the Arabian King, Shahryar, whose heart has been blackened by the infidelity of his wife. In his rage, he orders her execution and vows to keep on marrying but stay married to each new bride for just one night, killing her the following morning. However, his next bride, Shahrazad, comes up with a survival plan. Shahrazad decides that if she tells the King an enchanting story each night, without revealing the ending, he will be so intrigued that he will have to spare her life until the next night, to hear how the story
concludes. Straight after bringing a tale to its end, Shahrazad starts a new one. Rather impressively, she keeps this up for 1001 nights.
After what felt like innumerable rehearsals and months of dancing in circles, the cast and crew pulled together to make this production a magical night for everyone. The striking and immersive set created by the Art Department’s students and staff, and the extraordinary and atmospheric music created by Craig Rickards and his amazing band, helped bring the production to life, convincingly transporting the audience back to medieval Arabia.
Of course, the success the production enjoyed would not have been possible were it not for the tireless efforts of those working behind the scenes on choreography, costumes, stage management, props, hair and make up. We owe all of you a huge debt of thanks.
PROTEST IN SPORT
Words by Lauren Younge (Lower 6th). Painting by Emily Peyton (Year 11)
Following the multiple movements traversing both the real and online world, protest is an extremely important and powerful right to exercise, inextricably linked to the right to freedom of speech, thought, conscience and religion. But where did it start and where does it end?
Sporting events have always been a way to assert and display power, dominance and ability, earning sportsmen and women great respect. They have also been attended by all varieties of people of different genders, social classes, religions and races and have brought people together due to their accessibility. This is why protests at these events are able to be a potent and spectacular tool, as it is quickly and widely received. In the ancient world, it was normal for athletes to use their platform in great sports arenas like the Colosseum and Circus Maximus for political protest, which Cicero affirms. However, it was not just athletes who could stage a protest in front of the large crowds attracted to these events: in AD165, a civilian and old man, Peregrinus Proteus, threw himself onto a burning pyre at the end of the Olympic Games. This rather histrionic death was not necessarily due to a quest for notoriety but instead was a form of protest, all the more effective considering the crowds of people at Olympia who witnessed his death. By emulating the death of Heracles, Peregrinus acted as a strong, godly martyr for his cause and could draw more attention to his objection to the corrupt nature of the world, especially with regard to wealth.
One thousand seven hundred and forty-one years later and some three hundred kilometres away, there were more political protests, this time at the 1906 intermediate Games in Athens where Peter O’Connor objected to a British flag being raised during his medal ceremony. As an Irishman, O’Connor was adamant that he should represent an independent Ireland, even if he technically resided in the United Kingdom. To protest, he wore green to the opening ceremony, climbed the flagpole to fly the Irish flag instead of the Union Jack, which celebrated his podium position, and even refused a gold medal as he believed that the British and American adjudicators had been biased towards him. Although he didn’t turn to self-immolation for his cause, O’Connor made a sacrifice, as his political, nationalistic antics would prevent him from competing in the next Olympics.
However, sixty-two years after that at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, it wasn’t national pride that led American athletes to protest, but racial pride. These games were perhaps one of the most iconic in history for such a display of protest in sport, understandable considering the shocking assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the consequent race riots just months earlier. After winning gold and bronze medals in the 200m, Tommie Smith and John Carlos performed the clenched fist black power salute during the medal ceremony, an image that caught the attention of the world through the media. Although they were expelled from the games and sabotaged their own careers similar to O’Connor, their symbolic and unified objection to racial inequality was perhaps an equally stark and puissant way of drawing attention to a cause as Peregrinus’ melodramatic suicide had been.
Throughout history, protest has cost athletes their careers
However, in our decade with the augmented use of the internet and social media in particular, people need not go to such drastic methods to protest. One tweet could be shared millions of times and spark a massive online call to arms. Still, sporting events are so revered and ingrained in culture that a protest, such as that started by Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2016, was a cultural, political and social phenomenon that the whole world witnessed through social media. By sitting down or kneeling when the national anthem is played at major American sporting events, athletes to this day are protesting against police brutality and the continued practice of racial inequality in the USA. Only now, their efforts are being officially lauded.
April 21st 2018 marked the day Kaepernick gained the accolade of the 2018 ambassador of conscience award from Amnesty International for his peaceful protests, even if his career was damaged like many others before him as he wasn’t signed for another season in 2017. Throughout history, there appears to be a conspicuous trend that protest costs athletes their careers. Despite the vigilant upholding of human rights, including the right of free speech, and therefore protest, some prominent global leaders still oppose this. Kaepernick’s actions have garnered praise and been effective, with the NFL promising $90 million to improve social rights. President Trump however demanded that protesters, including Kaepernick, should be fired for their actions, demonstrating the divisions that continue to plague the USA.
Nevertheless, as in the past, there is great efficacy in the protestation of athletes. They have always been considered famous, but as they now have a global following, any protest will be broadcast worldwide via internet platforms, not just as a stand in one venue. In that sense, the effectiveness of protests is not restricted by location, meaning they are just as influential as ever before, if not more so.
KITTY NOT KIRTAN
Kitty Gahir (Lower 6th) explores her cultural identity
Where are you from?
This is a question that not all, but certainly many, have faced at some point in their lives. For most it is an easy matter that can be answered absentmindedly and with a casual ‘I’m British’, or ‘I’m from the UK’. In fact, the BBC reported that from a poll of 700 citizens born in the state, 73% of people that claimed to be British were Caucasian. However, there are many whose answers would perhaps compel the next question: ‘where are you really from?’.
This tired old question can garner confusion, because the answers fall into a grey area of merged ethno-nationalities. According to recent statistics, the current population of Britain is approximately 66 million, and around a third of all citizens are people of colour. So why is it that British ethnic minorities don’t connect with being labelled as British?
After scouring Google some more, I found that only 59% of British Asians specifically identified themselves with being British, despite being born in this country, speaking English as their first language, and following a British education system. Surely, a Britain that is renowned for being rich in its diversity and multiculturalism should equate to having a larger group of people identifying as British?
On turning seventeen this year, I started to apply for local jobs. Waitrose especially beckoned with juicy promises of £10.07 per hour. The countless applications I completed asked me to define my ethnicity and nationality. At first those were filled out with my usual answers; a routine of convenience that I worked through as quickly as possible so that I could move onto the trickier parts of the process. Every time I had to fill out the forms, I would write my ethnicity as Indian and nationality as British and there was no doubt in my mind that this was the case, until one day when filling in a new form, I crossed British Asian as my nationality instead. The extra word ‘Asian’ threw me, and I began to question myself. Then it occurred to me that I’d never actively assumed I was anything other than British. Each question raised another, as I had no linguistic or cultural ties to a community I felt I ought to belong to. According to popular slang, I was
taking the first steps in my journey of self-discovery. My initial grandiose plans were scuppered when ancestry.com denied my request for a free DNA test even although I explained to them that my crisis was of the utmost importance. Alas, I decided to retreat back to Google, a utopia of comfort and knowledge, for all my questions. Consequently, I found that the first Asians, mostly from the Punjab region and South India, who migrated to the UK had to put up a tough fight in order to be treated with respect and fairness. Gradually, the hard work of these migrants was recognised with favourable government reforms. This generation faced obstacles that I could not dream of tackling in today’s world, as fortunately a lot of stigma surrounding ethnic minorities has since been eradicated, and subsequent generations have grown up to become integrated with British culture.
In spite of some statistics, I believe that being British Asian is a little niche because of the blurred line between both respective nationalities. Initially, I desperately tried to find Indian celebrities to identify with. I spent many hours of stalking the only Indian woman western media deems acceptable, Priyanka Chopra, to try and find meaning in our shared ‘brownness’. I realised that my personal struggle with my cultural identity was completely different to their experiences; in hindsight, I’m not sure why I thought I would be remotely similar, as I have never been to India, my ancestral home, and in fact I’ve never ventured further east than Spain! I had naively thought that I would find some comfort or similarity between myself and literally anyone from India. My investigation led me to rethink a few things. Firstly, an exasperation that my parents didn’t encourage a strong kinship and an awareness of a culture I felt I belonged to, and secondly, my abiding need to fit in and conclude that perhaps my place in society stems from a completely British place.
After completing my gruelling virtual adventure, my conclusion surprised me. I can’t be defined by statistics, activist groups or a tick in the relevant box on a form. Not only am I shaped by my upbringing, my environment, and my loyalties, but also by my singular and personal experiences. So the next time somebody asks me where I’m from, I’ll take back control. I am 100% British and totally Asian.
RIOTS NOT DIETS
Words and artwork by Bea Ross (Lower 6th)
The beauty industry has such an impact on us in our day to day lives.
Due to the progression and development of social media, large and influential companies and magazines have been able to reach out to the younger generations through digital methods, thus allowing readers to access content anywhere, at any time. Although this progression is impressive, and there is no denying the convenience, it is also becoming increasingly more destructive to young people who are able to access this content so easily. The covers of such magazines are plastered with fluorescent titles dictating what you should wear to enhance your body type, tips on how to lose weight, and how to please your partner; it only ever seems to be about how to make yourself desirable.
I decided to reach out to people via social media and present them with the opportunity to speak openly and anonymously about their opinions on the industry in order to publicize the views of our generation as much as possible. Every response mentions the way the industry presents us with ideal appearances and certain qualities that we must have in order to be deemed attractive or beautiful by those around us. It’s clear to see (whether you are an avid user of social media or not) the impact that the media’s depiction of beauty is having on our society and especially on the younger generation. It’s embedded in our routines to scroll through Instagram at any opportunity; in the process we become overwhelmed by the number of flawless looking individuals on our feeds, yet we’re compelled
to read the numerous comments which are usually, if not always, centred on someone’s appearance in a picture. One conclusion to be drawn from a platform such as Instagram is quite simply that the more a user fulfils society’s idea of beauty, the more followers they have. It all goes to show that there is a shared opinion on the definition of beauty in this day and age. As a result, there has been an increase in young people struggling with their mental health, as those of us who do not receive the same amount of recognition for our looks, often feel significantly inadequate in comparison to those that receive masses of online validation.
Although there is no escape from the constant bombardment of beautiful people, we are slowly beginning to combat the stereotypes and expectations that society lays down on our generation in terms of beauty. For example, British Vogue’s May 2018 cover shoot (photo by Craig McDean and styled by Edward Enninful) marked yet another turning point in high fashion, as the cover features models of multiple ethnicities who are ‘changing the face of fashion’. The models also speak about their beliefs and what empowers them in the magazine itself, thus making the cover a piece which celebrates a diverse Britain in terms of beauty and culture.
The beauty industry may have recently dominated social media, but we mustn’t forget that these platforms present us with the opportunity to represent ourselves as individuals - not just as one of the crowd that surges towards ideals.
If companies are able to make such an impact via a platform - we should be able to as well. We are the ones who will define beauty for the next generation, so it’s up to us to prove that beauty is not limited purely to appearance. Beauty is what we believe in, what we stand for and how we treat those around us. It’s time we start a riot, not a diet, and have our voices heard.
SMART COOKING home economics
We asked some young people with PhDs (so, people who had been students for quite a long time), who we knew to be excellent cooks, to give us some simple and delicious recipes likely to be useful to young people living away from home. These, from Dr Thom Cuschieri, are two of our favourites
ITALIAN CARBONARA
Serves 2
Enough linguine for 2
2 medium eggs
3 rashers of streaky bacon (or pancetta cubes)
A bit of butter
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
And definitely no cream!
Carefully crack one of the eggs into a cup or small bowl, making sure you don’t break the yoke, and separate the yolk from the white. There are several ways of doing this; our preferred method is:
Wash your hands thoroughly (of course). Put an extra bowl next to your bowl with the egg. Reach into the first bowl, gently slide your fingers under the yoke and carefully lift it up. Keep holding it over the bowl and separate your fingers slightly, letting the white drip through. Use your other hand to gently pull down thick strands of white if they don’t fall on their own. Slide the yoke into the clean, empty bowl. You can then discard the white.
Wash your hands again as they will now be feeling quite slimy.
Chop the bacon up into small (approximately 1cm) squares. Put the linguine on to cook according to the packet’s instructions. Add the bacon to a cold frying pan. Heat the pan and fry until the bacon (or pancetta) starts to crisp.
Meanwhile, crack the whole of the other egg into the bowl with the yoke. Beat the eggs together.
Drain the linguine when it’s done. Put the butter in the empty pasta pot, throw the linguine back in and toss over a low heat. Add the bacon and any bacon fat from the frying pan. Mix well.
Pour in the eggs, mixing well all the time, and take off the heat. You want the eggs to coat the linguine and to be cooked by the heat of the pasta. If you don’t mix well, you will get a load of scrambled eggs at the bottom of the pot!
Serve immediately with a good crack of pepper and some Parmigiano-Reggiano grated over it.
EVE’S PUDDING
6-8 helpings
500g cooking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
50g soft light brown sugar
125g butter (plus extra for greasing)
125g caster sugar
125g self raising flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon hot water
This is so easy, we regularly make it late at night when we really fancy something but the shops are closed! It’s easy to remember because all the quantities are very similar.
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees (gas 4). Grease and line (with baking parchment) a 1.2 litre, shallow oven-proof dish. Put the apples in the dish and sprinkle with the brown sugar.
Beat the sugar and butter together in a bowl until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing as you go. Fold in the flour, and then add the hot water. Spread the mixture over the apples and bake for about 40 minutes. Serve with custard.
smart cooking
L IFE B EYOND SWPS
BELLA HILL
As the third of three sisters to attend SWPS, the school has played a big part of my life for a long time and I must admit I was sad to leave it all behind in 2017. I have many fond memories of my time at SWPS, including multiple DofE expeditions, helping to direct the Variety Show and the Pop-Up Production, as well as singing in many school concerts over the years. However, moving to Exeter to study biology this year has started a wonderful, if sometimes challenging, new chapter for me.
Rhiannon Beddoe and friend
life beyond swps
When choosing what course to read, I thought about many different options ranging from combined honours chemistry and Spanish to natural sciences before finally deciding on biological sciences (with the chance to study abroad). I attended an open day at Exeter about studying biology there. It inspired me because the course seemed very flexible and covered a broad range within the subject, which was ideal as I didn’t know exactly what I was interested in. I was also very drawn to the Study Abroad programme at Exeter; I hope to spend my third year at a partner university in Australia.
When I first moved to Exeter in September, I have to admit I found it very difficult. I was in a completely new environment – living with strangers in a city I didn’t know – and was very much out of my comfort zone. I retreated into my shell to start with, instead of throwing myself into the experience. However, as time went on, I began to adjust and find my confidence; by the time I came back from the Christmas break I was loving the independence and freedom that came with living on my own. Something else I found challenging was adapting to the different way of teaching. All of my lectures had a minimum of 100 students, which was the polar opposite of the teaching style I had become accustomed to at SWPS. This meant I had to carry out a lot of independent study. I am happy to be continuing into my second year having passed this year with a first.
In hindsight, I think I should have joined more societies to allow me to meet more people from different courses and places. The main thing I wish I had known before I went to uni is that at the beginning it will almost certainly be tough, but that the best way to overcome this is to throw yourself into all the activities available and don’t let fear or nerves hold you back.
I don’t know where my degree will take me as I still have another three years to go, but I look forward to the new challenges and experiences the coming years will bring.
KIRSTIN HAY
After leaving SWPS in 2010, I went to Imperial College London and started my undergraduate degree in physics.
I didn’t really know what I might do after my degree until I got to my final year project. The final year was very different from going to lectures and following prescriptive lab exercises; we got to do real research. I chose astrophysics, partly because I liked the lecturer I would get to work with, and once I got started, I was hooked.
I had found what I wanted to do next: astrophysics research. And that meant a PhD. Finding a PhD is difficult; you have to find a project you would want to work on for three or four years, a supervisor who you’d want to work with, and a university that wants you. I was lucky enough to have some choices, and I
went for St Andrews in Scotland and a project on the detection of exoplanets (planets orbiting a star other than the sun).
The PhD itself was a great source of new experiences – I had never used a telescope properly before, and at St Andrews we had one of the largest operational optical telescopes in the UK. I spent many a night controlling the telescope and collecting images for my research. And, since I was so far north, there was often the chance to watch the Aurora.
A big part of academic research is attending conferences – it’s where you hear about what everyone else in your field is working on, build collaborations, and do a bit of socialising. I was lucky enough to be able to travel to several conferences; LA was probably the most exciting, although managing to combine a conference near Naples with a trip to Pompeii was a close second.
The research itself was challenging; you are doing something that nobody has ever done before, and there are usually many dead ends to investigate before you get to something that works. This can be frustrating and leave you feeling like you’re not making any progress.
There is no cramming for a final exam; you complete the PhD by writing up your work into a thesis, usually several tens of thousands of words
life beyond swps
long, and then defending it to a panel of two or more experts in your field at an event know as a viva. I passed my viva in May; this is traditionally celebrated at St Andrews, I discovered, by the rest of your department throwing buckets of cold water over your head.
I considered staying in academia and looking for a research contract, which could have taken me almost anywhere in the world. But I was enjoying living in Scotland again. I met my partner at St Andrews, and we both decided that we wanted to stay in Scotland and get permanent jobs outside of academia. It was a great decision. We are both still working in science – her in engineering and me as a data scientist. I am applying all the statistical and analytical knowledge that I gained during my PhD to business data instead of data from space, but the work is remarkably similar, and it’s something I couldn’t have done without doing the PhD first.
ANAHITA PRADHAN
Age: 25. Left SWPS: 2011. Degree: Manufacturing Engineering. Uni: Selwyn College, University of Cambridge. Currently: Business Analyst, McKinsey & Company.
Future plans: to train as a designer at the Royal College of Art; I will be studying there in the autumn, for an MA in Service Design.
Even though the years keep clocking by, I remember the days of SWPS so well: clapping to Shine On Me in assembly; laughing at the antics in Christmas panto; being the first into lunch with my laminated lunch pass and, as a slow eater, being the last to leave; doing the crossword with Mrs Malcolm in the library, and so on.
After my time at SWPS, four years at university,
and over two years working, I have had several realisations on my journey.
You will find your people – I didn’t really fit into one single group at SWPS. My friends were many but scattered and I didn’t quite know what I was doing wrong to not have a home group. I wasn’t alone. If your journey is anything like mine, university and beyond will be when you stumble upon people who are so similar to you that life will seem beautifully serendipitous.
Everything you do counts – I have found that many of my experiences at SWPS, however random they seemed at the time, have benefited me in all kinds of ways. For example: being on the Head Girls’ Team, studying Frida Kahlo for GCSE Art, workexperience at the McLaren Technology Centre, visiting Paris on Art trips… I could go on. Get involved with random things – they could help you later.
Find something you love and get close to it –there is no better time to get closer to one’s passion than early on. The older you get, the more life stuff kicks in. The more you do related to your passion early on, the easier it will be to delve deeper when the time is right.
Look beneath the superficial – whether it’s the girl who has the most gorgeous boyfriend, or the one who buys impressive designer clothes, you should be able to distinguish between what is material (and hence temporary) and what is longer-lasting and more meaningful. Work hard on building the latter.
Keep going – I know life can seem like a series of tick-boxes right now, but keep going. The process will build your character in unforeseen ways, and make the joys of getting to the other side seem sweeter.
I hope these musings will strike a chord with some of you, and spur you on to achieve the things you wish for at SWPS and beyond. Feel free to get in touch if you feel like a chat!
anahitapradhan@yahoo.com
RHIANNON BEDDOE
After waitressing for around ten months to save up, during sixth form last year, I was extremely excited to finally begin my gap year. My first trip was two weeks of Interrailing through Europe with some good friends from school. We travelled through France, Italy and Slovenia before managing to arrive in one piece at our final stop in Split, Croatia.
Next was three weeks in Argentina, with my Grandma who had grown up there. The highlights were taking internal flights to both the Iguazú Falls at the top of the country and the Perito Moreno Glacier at the bottom, both of which were among the most stunning sights I’ve ever seen.
In October I travelled to Nepal on my own for a month, which I was nervous about initially. On arrival, though, I found that it was incredibly easy to meet like-minded travellers; I soon met a group of
life beyond swps
four friends that I ended up trekking with. We did the Annapurna Circuit trek, which lasted 12 days, and reached an altitude of 5416m. Although extremely challenging, it was one of the best experiences of my life, and the diverse scenery we passed through was incredible.
After a month back at home relaxing and road tripping around the UK to visit friends at their universities, I flew out to Alpe D’Huez in France for the ski season. I worked in a hotel for four months waitressing and housekeeping. Although the pay wasn’t great and I had to scrub toilets most days, the fantastic skiing and the people I met made everything worth it.
My plans for the rest of the year are to travel to Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia for a few months and then fly to Morocco at the end of the summer, if my money hasn’t run out by then!
At the end of September I start at Imperial College London, studying Design Engineering.
life beyond swps
EMMA WARD
Where has the time gone? Five years have passed since I left Sir William Perkins’s School. After receiving my A Level results in the summer of 2013, I secured a place to study architecture at the University of Bath. I chose this course because it combined problem solving with creative thinking and design work. The course gave architecture students the opportunity to work alongside civil engineering students throughout their four years of study, creating a programme that was similar to the professional working environment. The course also included two six-month work placements, allowing students to gain hands-on experience of the job.
University was a fantastic experience. My first time living away from home, a chance to continue my hobbies and the opportunity to study a subject that I was passionate about. I worked hard at school, but the workload of an architecture degree was still a bit of a shock to the system, and trying to achieve a good work/life balance proved difficult at times. However, the constructive critical teaching methods of architecture school have definitely given me a thick skin. The course’s, sometimes brutally challenging, critiques have not only given me the ability to justify my own ideas with logical reasoning but also suggest or accept alternative solutions to design briefs. These skills have proven to be incredibly useful in the working environment.
My first six-month placement during my degree was at the Permasteelisa Group, a company that is world renowned for its architectural cladding systems. Working alongside a project manager, I gained invaluable site experience on the Battersea Power Station project.
For my second placement I worked as an architectural assistant for Initiatives in Design Architects. IID is the practice that designed the new SWPS sixth form centre. In fact, it was the industrious Mr Russell who organised work experience for me
at IID back in 2012 and I was delighted to return to them in 2016. I had a great six months there in Richmond, learning new digital modelling software and assisting in design work for Tiffin’s Girls School’s new library and Haberdasher’s Askes Girls School’s architectural master plan.
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I’m sitting in a hostel in the north of Peru, attempting to write this on my smartphone
When it came to finding a job after graduation, my previous work experience helped immensely. In 2017, I secured a position at Murphy Philipps Architects, who specialise in architecture for the healthcare and education sectors. My employment there was for ten months, with the aim of gaining experience and saving some money in order to travel.
life beyond swps
Speaking of which, I’m currently sitting in a hostel in the north of Peru, attempting to write this article on my smartphone. I’ve been following the Andes up the West side of South America for the past five weeks and am having the time of my life! Highlights, to name but a few, have included exploring the colourful port side town of Valparaiso in Chile, learning about the fascinating history of Bolivia whilst in one of the world’s highest cities, La Paz and visiting the incredibly constructed floating reed island – Uros on Lake Titicaca in Peru.
My favourite sights so far, however, have to be Machu Picchu and Rainbow Mountain, in the south of Peru. It was a breath taking five-day trek up mountains and through jungles to reach the summit of Machu Picchu. This incredible Inca city did not disappoint – not even my architectural side! Built in the peaks of the mountains, in order to be closer to the sun god, the backdrop to the city is jaw dropping.
Rainbow Mountain is a natural wonder. The colourful stripes in the rock have been created by the different minerals present. It was no mean feat climbing to the viewpoint. At an altitude of 5000m, trekking to the top was a slow and difficult process. The lack of oxygen meant that I became breathless quickly and my feet tended to drag. The view from the top, however, will stay with me forever!
I’m excited to be continuing my trip through South America with an Amazon Jungle adventure in Ecuador and some construction volunteer work in Colombia. I hope this volunteer work will aid the local community of Bogota and be both rewarding and relevant to my future career plans.
In September, I will begin a graduate scheme in construction management with the contractors Lendlease. Whilst I have enjoyed my architectural
jobs I’m itching to get out of the office and gain some hands-on site experience. I will be based at the new Google Headquarters project in Kings Cross. This large-scale commercial scheme will eventually accommodate 7000 Google employees and will include several innovative work-place features such as sleeping pods, sports pitches and even a roof top running track. I’m looking forward to learning about the logistics and technical detailing involved with constructing an eleven-storey high, 300m long landscraper located in the centre of the City.
There is, clearly, much living to be done after leaving SWPS, but our school has certainly equipped me with the tools and experience to meet it head on.
