The Barometer Week 5

BAROMETER THE

WETHERBY SENIOR SCHOOL WEEKLY OCTOBER 2nd 2017 | WEEK 5

Year 8 visit Bletchley Park!

HEADMASTER’S NEWSLETTER NEXT WEEK’S DIARY IMPORTANT NOTICES SPORTS NEWS

FROM THE HEADMASTER

Dear Parents, Another busy week at Wetherby Senior draws to a close with Open Day on Saturday morning. I am very grateful to all the boys who have volunteered as tour guides or to help in departments. The community’s pride in the School, the boys’ enthusiasm and the strength of the teaching departments is a powerful combination and the School is looking forward to opening its doors to prospective families.

My time at school has always made me a little wary of mathematics departments.

A never ending series of booklets on mathematical topics to be worked through in silence made for a pretty dry and uninspiring experience for me as a boy and the maths department

and I parted company by mutual agreement as soon as possible. I am delighted that the mathematics department at Wetherby Senior School is a different proposition. The boys here receive challenging teaching and I have been pleased to hear from the boys that they enjoy their lessons.

The fact that a large number of Year 11 wish to take it as one of their A Level subjects is a testament to its popularity here.

The department’s approach is one that teaches the boys to solve problems and tries to ground their mathematical work, where possible, in the real world, as demonstrated by the trip to Bletchley Park for the Year 8 on Field Day… but more of that next week.

Best wishes,

WEEKLY DIARY MONDAY

09.10.17

Football U12 WSS A/B vs Hill House (H) 2:30pm Football U15 A vs Holloway School (A) 2:15pm Football U15 A vs Highgate School (H) 3:30pm

TUESDAY

10.10.17 Year 9 Parents Evening - Surnames A-K 5:30pm

WEDNESDAY

11.10.17

Rugby U15/16 A/B WSS vs St James (H) 2:30pm Year 9 Parents Evening - Surnames L-Z 5:30pm

THURSDAY

12.10.17

Football U13 A/B vs Hill House (H) 2:30pm Rugby U14 A/B vs UCS (H) 2:30pm Year 10 & 11 Theatre Trip (People, Places and Things) Oxford Playhouse 1:00pm Parents Art Evening 6:00pm

FRIDAY

13.10.17

HM Assembly at Hinde Street Methodist Church 3:00pm Half Term: Monday 16th- Friday 27th October (French IGCSE Reading, Thursday 26th October)

SATURDAY

14.10.17

Residential - French Department Science Revolution (Paris) 12:00pm

SUNDAY

15.10.17

IMPORTANT NOTICES

The Agora talk ‘Harry Potter and the Message of Christ’ will take place on 12th October at 4:35pm in the Year 10/11 Common room. Muggles, squibs and wizards welcome!

A message to Open Day Volunteers!

Volunteers for Open Day on Saturday 7th must meet at school in full school uniform at 10:45 and will be free by 14:00.

This is a great opportunity to show leadership and a great opportunity to earn some gold notes!

MONDAY

MENU

TUESDAY

Soup: Tomato & Vegetable

Soup: Carrot

WEDNESDAY

Main: Spinach Mac & Cheese, Gluten Free 4 Cheese Bake

Main: Thai Chicken Curry

Meat Free: Stuffed Aubergine

Meat Free: Potato, Cauliflower & Chickpea Curry

To Go With: Cajun Spiced Potato Wedges, Baby Carrots, Steamed Broccoli

To Go With: Lemon Rice, Garlic & Coriander Naan, Creamed Spinach

Dessert: Carrot Cake

Dessert: Pineapple Coconut Dream

Soup: Pea and Ham Main: Sliced Roast Beef Meat Free: Mushroom Wellington To Go With: Roasted Potatoes, Cauliflower Cheese, Yorkshire Pudding, Gravy Dessert: Rice Krispie Squares

THURSDAY

To Go With: Oven Baked Vegetables, Curried Fried Potatoes, Roasted Tomatoes With Chimichurri Sauce

Soup: Beetroot

Main: Steamed Fish Fillets Meat Free: Macaroni With Fresh Tomato Sauce & Basil

Dessert: Strawberry Cream Jelly Bowls

Freshly Made Bread

Soup: Sweet Potato

Meat Free Veggie Burgers

Main: Beef Burgers With A Choice Of Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, Jalapenos & Gherkins

To Go With: Ratatouille, Chips, Steamed Mixed Vegetables Dessert: Raspberry Cranachan

Homemade Salads Vegetable Crudités With Hummus Sandwich & Wrap Selection Meat & Cheese Platters Fresh Fruit Yogurt Pots

EVERY DAY

FRIDAY

MATHS DEPARTMENT: A CHALLENGE Over the past couple of weeks some of the Year 9 boys have been trying out some UKMT Maths Challenge questions. Here are some tricky ones on angles, see if you can work them out...

Visit the links under each question or keep reading for the solutions!

MATHS DEPARTMENT: CALCULATORS Boys have been reminded that they should have their own scientific calculators. For Years 7 to 9, if boys already own the fx-85GT PLUS – this is the most readily available model in stationary shops – it will be more than adequate. For Year 10 boys, we recommend the fx-991ES PLUS, which has extra functionality that is useful at this stage; any Year 9 boys currently without a scientific calculator, should buy the 991 model. There is also a newer version, fx-991 EX, with extra statistics tables, which is required for A Level.

Although we spend many lessons without a calculator so that boys practise their mental numerical skills, calculator skills are equally as important; when solving mathematical problems in real life, we are often armed with a smartphone or computer, so the process of formulating the calculation is key. Modern calculators have a ‘natural display’, which helps boys understand how to present their written work.

It is therefore important that they get to know their own calculators.

For some topics, calculators are essential, including trigonometry, which the Year 9 boys will be studying next week. Year 10 boys have also found a calculator invaluable this week when solving quadratic equations that do not factorise.

Years 7-9 fx-85GT PLUS

Years 10-11 fx-991ES PLUS

A Level fx-991EX

MATHS DEPARTMENT: CODING USING MIT SCRATCH

This year, all Year 9 boys have had a go at using Scratch, a free visual programming language developed by the MIT Media Lab. The Scratch website allows you to select instructions in Blockly, a type of code that uses visual blocks that link together to make writing code easier. Depending on the commands you select and the distances and degrees you choose to enter, you can create different geometric shapes.

Have a go at: https://scratch. mit.edu/projects/editor

MATHS DEPARTMENT: BLETCHLEY PARK

Bletchley Park was used during World War II as a central site for British codebreakers. It housed members of MI6, and the Government Code and Cypher School who worked together to decrypt the Axis’ coded communications.

The work carried out at Bletchley provided the Allied military with vital information which informed operations on land, at sea and in the air. Bletchley Park also revolutionised the codebreaking process by developing machines such as the Turing/Welchman Bombe and Colossus, the first electronic computer.

It is thought that the work carried out by codebreakers at Bletchley Park shortened the war by two to four years.

The Year 8 field day trip provided the boys with the opportunity to see for themselves the huts where this vital work took plave, they were also able to see a real Enigma machine and the Bombe machine that was used during the Second World War.

‘My favourite part of th walking in the beautifu - Danny S

There are 159 quintillion possibilities for the settings of the enigma machine.

Today, a working enigma machine is worth about £300,000.

‘I was amazed that if one possibl enigma combination was tested every second it would take about 304 times longer than the amoun time since the universe began to them all!’ - Ahmed A

he day was ul grounds.’

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t nt of o test

One of the highlights of the trip was that all boys got to have a go at typing on a real enigma machine.

‘My favourite part of the day was getting to type on a real enigma machine.’ - Matteus S

9 TYBURN: MACMILLAN CAKE SALE

Last Friday, 9 Tyburn held their annual cake sale for Macmillan Cancer Care.

It was a fantastic event and they collected a huge ÂŁ280.30, which is the highest total they have raised so far!

We would like to say a huge thank you to all the boys who bought cakes and an even bigger thank you to those who kindly donated for our cause.

At the end of the day, I took the leftover cake to the Marylebone Project, who run a day centre and night shelter for vulnerable women. They were very grateful for our offerings.

Thank you again for your support!

MATHS DEPARTMENT: CHALLENGE ANSWERS

MATCH REPORT

Football WSS U12 A v Kingston Grammar U13A 3-2 Man of the Match: Edward H WSS U12 B v Kingston Grammar U13B 3-3 Man of the Match: Michael F

Rugby WSS U14 A v St Paul’s School U14 C 42-5 Man of the Match: Haotong X WSS U16 A vs UCS 15-17 Man of the Match: Nour H

Please visit the school sports website to see goal scorers: http://www.wetherbyseniorsport.co.uk/

http://www.wetherbysenior.co.uk