The Barometer Week 9

BAROMETER THE

WETHERBY SENIOR SCHOOL WEEKLY NOVEMBER 12th 2018 | WEEK 9

FROM THE ACROPOLIS TO THE CLASSROOM: CLASSICS AT WETHERBY

FROM THE HEADMASTER

Dear Parents, Yesterday saw the first interTrib Maths relay, with thanks to Mr Astbury for writing the questions and organising the events. Eight boys from each Trib took part solving maths problems of varying difficulties to enable them to break a code.

60 boys in a room may not appear like much of a spectator sport, but there was an atmosphere of real excitement and friendly competition between the Tribs and an awful lot of cheering as each Trib finished. Indoor rowing is up next, followed by the end of term inter-Trib matches and I am looking forward to all of those.

The featured department this week is Classics who, along with the Geography department, ran a very successful trip to Greece over the half term. As someone who still claims a small toehold in the department, as I am teaching a little Latin in the Sixth Form (although I am sure Cicero would not be happy to hear his second Philippic

Philippic described as a little Latin), I always enjoy seeing all the activities that are done with the younger pupils to encourage an interest in the ancient world. However, those of you who, like me, grew up with the Cambridge Latin Course will be pleased to hear that Caecilius is still very much in horto.

The Community Service group went to visit one of our charity partners, the West London Mission last week to learn more about how they support the local community. As in previous years, we will shortly be launching the Christmas shoebox campaign. The response from the community has grown as the School has grown and I hope every family will feel able to donate a box full of items that can help a homeless person.

A final congratulations to Oscar Tracey in Year 8 whose short film, The Penguin, won his age group category in the Independent Schools Association’s Film and Digital

Art Competition. The film was shared with me shortly before it was submitted to the competition and not only is it incredibly well shot and edited, the story of a boy terrorised by a toy penguin is compelling and funny. I hope we will be able to share it with the community soon.

Enjoy the weekend,

WEEK B MONDAY

WEEKLY DIARY 19.11.18

Deadline for all 13+ 2021 Applications Talk for Sixth Form boys and Sixth Form parents - Positive Voice, Hannah House 15:00 Year 11 GCSE Science in Action Lecture, Emmanuel Centre Artist in Residence Event (Afternoon Club)

TUESDAY

20.11.18 Year 10 Parents’ Evening: Surnames A-K, Hannah House 17:30-19:30 Football U15A v Hurstmere School (A) 14:30 Football U14A v Fulham School (H) 14:30

WEDNESDAY 21.11.18

Football U12/13 WSS A/B vs Notting Hill Prep (A) 14:30 Rugby WSS 1st XV vs KCS (H) 14:40 Football U16A v Radnor House (A) 14:30

THURSDAY

22.11.18

Rugby WSS U15A XV vs Tiffin (H) 14:30 Football U15A v Radnor House (H) 214:30 Year 10 Parents’ Evening: Surnames L-Z, Hannah House 17:30-19:30

FRIDAY

23.11.18

SATURDAY

24.11.17

SUNDAY

25.11.17

HM Assembly at Hinde Street Methodist Church 15:15-15:45 Year 10 & 11 IGCSE trip to ‘Macbeth’, Barbican Theatre 18:30-22:00

Dropping off and Picking up after School

WETHERBY SENIOR SCHOOL WATER BOTTLE

Dear Parents,

Help reduce our school's plastic consumption by using this personalised Active Bottle, emblazoned with the Wetherby Senior School logo and your own name. Made from highly durable materials, your Active Bottle is easy to open and close, won't leak and will keep your drinks hot or cold throughout the school day.

We have been asked to kindly request that you support Westminster’s bid to improve air quality in the city by remembering not to leave engines idling whilst parked at the kerbside. Here is the link to the campaign: https://www.westminster.gov.uk/dont-beidle I would be very grateful if we can all do our bit to make the air that bit cleaner for our boys, staff, parents and everyone in the community.

With best wishes David Lawrence

Active Bottle supports our planet by donating 10% of all their proceeds to Clean Ocean and what's more, all remaining profits from selling the bottle will go straight to support your school's PTA and their selective charities.

Can't get better!

You can order online at:

School Entry Cards Dear Parents, As you know we are currently introducing a card reader system for boys to register in and out of the two buildings. Every boy has a card and they bleep in and out as they arrive and leave. There are some further developments planned to improve the reliability and quantity of readers but it is very important that boys bring their cards to School every day. Lanyards and card holders have been made available to them so that they can know that in spite of a change of uniform from day-to-day they still have their card with them each morning. I would be very grateful if you could encourage boys to build in a ‘card check’ into their morning routines.

Many thanks and with best wishes David Lawrence

IMPORTANT NOTICES

https://activebottle.co.uk/collections/wetherby

Uniform Dear Parents, Just a quick reminder that it is expected that all boys should wear full uniform every day except for the two days per week on which they have games. Boys who have a sporting activity on another day should change into sports kit and luchtime on that day.

Many thanks David Lawrence

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

Soup: Tomato and vegetable

Soup: Carrot

Soup: Pea and Ham

Main: Beef tacos

Main: Thai chicken curry

Main: Roasted British chicken

Meat Free: Bean burritos

Meat Free: Potato, cauliflower & chickpea curry

Meat Free: Mushroom wellington

To Go With: Cajun spiced potato wedges,vegetable rice, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, steamed broccoli Dessert: Carrot cake

To Go With: Lemon Rice, garlic & coriander naan, creamed spinach with paneer, raita yogurt Dessert: Pineapple coconut dream

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Soup: Beetroot

Soup: Sweet Potato

Main: Steamed fish fillets or fish cakes

Main: Beef or chicken burgers with a choice of cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, jalapenos & gherkins

Meat Free: Macaroni with fresh tomato sauce & basil To Go With: Oven baked vegetables, curried fried potatoes, roasted tomatoes with chimichurri sauce Dessert: Strawberry cream jelly bowls

Meat Free: Falafel and spinach veggie burgers To Go With: Ratatouille,chips, steamed mixed vegetables Dessert: Vanilla sponge cake

To Go With: Roasted Potatoes, cauliflower cheese, yorkshire Pudding, spring greens, gravy Dessert: Rice Krispie squares

EVERY DAY Freshly Made Bread Homemade Salads Vegetable CruditĂŠs With Hummus Sandwich & Wrap Selection Meat & Cheese Platters Fresh Fruit

MENU

GREECE TRIP Tommaso S. in Year 10 writes...

On 16th October, 29 boys from Years 10, 11 and 12 departed from Heathrow in the early morning for the sunny and cultural environment of Greece. They were eager to experience its history, archaeological sites, steep mountain ranges... and most importantly the delicious pork souvlaki!

On a tour of Greece’s highlights, we travelled to the prison fortress of General Kolokotronis, pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence as well as the secluded temple of Poseidon, the Acropolis of Athens, the detached island of Aegina.

We then ended the trip with a relaxing visit to the garra rufa-infested waters of Lake Vouliagmeni. A particular highlight for me was the Greek-style inn with traditional Greek dancing as well as the excellent Greek cuisine from souvlakis to saganakis.

I also enjoyed meeting Miss Maroudi’s family who joined us for a celebratory dinner.

The Classics and Geography departments have hosted trips before, and will host trips again but I think it will be quite difficult to top this one.

GREECE TRIP PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION At the beginning of the Greece trip, Miss Maroudi, Miss Nash, Miss Smith and Ms Woods announced that there would be a photography competition. We decided on three categories: Best Classical Photo, Best Geographical Photo and Best Overall Photo.

We were really pleased with the enthusiasm the boys showed towards this competition and we were stunned by the quality of the photos the boys entered.

After tense deliberation, we decided the winners were as follows: Best Classical Photo: Antonio d B. for his panoramic of the Theatre of Epidauros Best Geographical Photo: Leo P-B for his photo of the Corinth Canal Best Overall Photo: Tommaso S. for his close-up of a dragon fly The boys received a rather stylish “Greece� visor each as their prize which they proudly wore on the flight home. Well done boys!

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSICS CLASSROOM When people think of Latin lessons, I imagine they often think of students translating stories out of dusty old textbooks. Whilst there is nothing wrong with this (I am a big fan of the Cambridge Latin Course textbooks!), I think many would be surprised to know that technology can play a big part in how the boys at Wetherby learn the subject.

They are encouraged to use the Wetherby section of the “Memrise” website to learn their vocabulary and also to use the online interactive versions of the Cambridge Latin Course textbook stories.

Another favourite website of the Classics department is “Quizlet”. The boys really enjoy taking part in the “Quizlet Live” competition which sees them placed into random groups (with the groups all being allocated the names of animals – in Latin, of course!). They then compete with each other to see which group can complete the vocabulary challenge the fastest.

Recently, Years 7 and 9 have used “Quizlet Live” as part of their revision for vocabulary tests.

Miss Woods’ Year 9 Latin class has been using Plickers to test themselves on their vocab this week. The highest score was Santiago E. with 93%.

DRAMA IN THE CLASSICS CLASSROOM A number of the stories which the boys read in their Latin lessons provide them with a great opportunity to combine their translation skills with acting! One such story is “in apodyterio” (meaning “in the changing rooms”) which Year 8s recently studied. The story involves a thief sneaking into the changing rooms at the local baths: no-one’s toga is safe!

First of all, the boys worked in their groups to translate the story. They then had time to practise and perfect their play. I was very impressed with both the accuracy of the boys’ translations and how enthusiastic their performances were!

YEAR 10 CLASSICAL CIVILISATION Classical Civilisation is the only new subject to be offered at GCSE and so some boys can be a little nervous about choosing a subject they have never formally studied before in Senior School. Therefore, we thought it might be a good idea to ask one of our current Year 10 Classical Civilisation students to give his personal insight into the subject.

Henry B. writes…

What is Classical Civilisation?

Classical Civilisation at GCSE consists of a broad outlook of both myth & religion as well as lifestyle in both Greek and Roman societies.

What have you enjoyed studying so far?

Recently, Year 10 have been looking at Heracles’/Hercules’ twelve labours. It has been fascinating to recognise the similarities and differences between the Greek Heracles and the Roman Hercules and distinguish how various accounts of the stories differ from each other and, more importantly, why they do so.

The Daily Hermes THE

The obnoxious oaf Hercules massacres the amazons The strong Hercules destroys a tribe of women known as the “amazons” just for a belt. Witnesses claim that their queens’ belt held immense power.

“They seemed to get along but rumor has it that he was planning to kidnap the queen so all we could do is retaliate”

“I could see Hercules steal her belt after killing our queen with a sword” another survivor said.

“Suddenly the Greeks arrived and finished us all, I am part of a minority that survived the bloody battle, thank Zeus”. Hercules claims that these rumors were false and he killed the queen, Hippolyte out of self-defense, as he saw armored soldiers approaching him.

Rumors are being spread that Eurysthesu, the king of Tiryns, had ordered this genocide of the amazons. Are they true?

Only Zeus knows. Eagle eyed citizens of Tiryns spotted Hercules going into Eurystheus’ palace with multiple strange objects such as the fabled golden hind. A murder of his own family with a belt made

by Ares could be dangerous to say the least. “He could unleash destruction over Greece with such a possession” officials claim. All citizens who read this paper, look out for a strong, hulking behemoth of a man carry strange objects such as: a lions hide, any sort of animal, large amounts of weaponry, illegal resources or anything abnormal. If you were to encounter such a threat, call the guards as soon as possible. They will b e outfitted with the most resilient of armor and powerful weapons.

Mythological meme of the day mymy

THE NICK NEWS Published: Oct 2018

The best newspaper there is

Since 2018

Hercules and the Nemean lion What happened? Hercules was seen earlier today travelling towards Nemea. It has been rumored that there is a lion there which is taking woman as hostages into its cave.

Here is a depiction of Hercules on a pot and it shows him wrestling the lion as his first labour.

Hercules had to strangle the lion to death as there was no other way to defeat it.

The Nemean lion was tormenting the district of Nemea in Argolis. As one of Hercules’ twelve labours he was commanded by king Eurystheus to hunt down the lion and to kill it but this task would prove much harder than Hercules had originally believed.

What is the Nemean lion? the Nemean lion is a beast that resides inside a cave near Nemea and it is yet to have been defeated. It is very large, and its hide is impervious to weapons.

This means that it cannot be killed by any weapon. The lion had been tormenting Nemea for quite some time and it was time to put an end to this torment

"By these arms [of Herakles] giant Moles Nemeaea [the Nemean Lion] lay destroyed." Ovid

An insight from the warrior himself: It was early morning and I had to complete 12 labors, this being the first one. I headed over to meet the king Eurystheus and he described what my task was with a devilish look on his face. I began to journey to Nemea to find this lion that he spoke of and on the way, I fletched a few arrows in case they proved useful in my task of defeating the lion.

I had then arrived at the cave which he spoke of and carefully crept in. There he was, the Nemean lion and he lay there on the cave floor in front of me. Slowly I drew out an arrow from my quiver and carefully set it in the bow, I then carefully stretched the bow and aimed it at the lion, I was sure it would kill him or at least knock him out. But to my disappointment and amazement it did neither of these things, the arrow bounced of the lion’s fur like a leaf falling to the floor. Although I had not done any damage, I had now alerted the lion to the position. So, I did what I do best, and I began to fight.

After a few blows I had discovered that his fur was impervious to weapons, so I decided to tire it out and strangle it which worked. I had to bring some form of proof back to Eurystheus or he would not count the labour. I took one of the lion’s fangs and slowly began to skin the lion. Once I had done this I took the lions fur and draped it over my back, this was now enough evidence to prove that I had completed the task and it was also a very good armor.

Another account: As Hercules made his way toward Nemea he had come across the town of Cleonae. I went up to him and said that if he managed to return alive in 30 days then my town would sacrifice a lion to Zeus but if he did not return in 30 days or died, I would sacrifice myself to Zeus.

Surely enough, the mighty Hercules had completed this labour and had managed to kill the Nemean lion in under thirty days which meant that I no longer had to sacrifice myself to Zeus, but we would instead sacrifice a lion.

An eyewitness: I work as a slave for the king Eurystheus who is the cousin of Hercules. I overheard the king instructing Hercules to defeat the mighty beast and then Hercules left. A few days later the handsome Hercules returned and on his back, he wore what was clearly the fur from the lion which he had just slayed.

What is Hercules going to do next? We asked Hercules what he was planning to do next, but he declined to comment.

There have been rumors that Hercules has to complete twelve labors and that defeating the lion was the first of many immense tasks to come.

YEAR 10 LATIN Year 10 Latinists have been taking a weekly vocabulary test in order to prepare themselves for their GCSE. Across both classes, the boys who have achieved full marks in all the weekly tests so far are as follows: Beau B., Akshay B., Max H., Seb L., Max P., Patrick Q., Nico S., Stefano A., Adam A-M., Rani G., Leo M. and William PN. Congratulations to all the boys for making such a fantastic start to their GCSE Latin course!

YEAR 7 VIEW OF LATIN Latin is one of the languages boys can choose when they first join Wetherby in Year 7. Miss Nash decided to find out from one of her Year 7 students how he was finding his Latin studies so far!

Jacobo D P (7 Whitestone)

had never studied Latin before coming to Wetherby.

Why did you decide to choose Latin?

I speak Spanish and I know Latin has links with it so I thought it would be interesting to learn.

What did you think Latin would be like?

I thought it would be more like History!

How have you found Latin so far?

It's now my favourite language because it’s fun!

YEAR 7 ROMAN DINNER PARTY As well as learning the language, our Year 7 boys have also been studying various aspects of Roman culture within their Latin lessons this half-term. Take a look at some of the dinner party menus and invitations the boys have produced:

YEAR 8 GREEKS VS ROMANS Year 8 Latin have been learning about the different achievements of the Romans and the Greeks, and have analysed who they thought achieved more. We settled this with a well-structured debate, in which the boys had to research their own opinions and pre-empt the other team’s points. The winners were Andreas M and Edward H, arguing for the Greeks!

OEDIPUS REX

Calling all Year 10 and above Latin and Classical Civilisation students!

On Thursday 7th February 2019, UCL will be putting on a student production of Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” at the Bloomsbury Theatre. This is one of the most famous Greek tragedies, with its plot still able to shock modern audiences today.

Wetherby Classicists have been to the UCL Greek play for the past two years and have always thoroughly enjoyed the productions they have seen.

If you would like more information about this trip, please see Miss Nash.

COMMUNITY SERVICE VISIT WEST LONDON MISSION On Monday 12th November, Year 10 Community Service boys visited West London Mission to find out more about the work that they do. The boys were spoken to by Natalie Reid, the Fundraising Officer at WLM, and then given a tour of the building. Natalie spoke about how Seymour Place Day Centre had assisted 241 people into housing last year and helped over 2,000 clients to receive individual advice and support. The boys also learned about the services WLM offers at the Seymour Place site such as the chance to see dental and medical professionals.

It was interesting to hear about their future plans which involve turning Seymour Place into more of a community centre where both homeless people and locals can mix together as Natalie told us that one issue homeless people are affected by in Marylebone is the fact that they feel very isolated from the community itself.

Very soon, we will be launching our annual Christmas Shoebox appeal in support of WLM. Watch this space for more details!

Last year we assisted 241 people into housing, and over 2,000 clients received individual advice and support.

Last month we assisted 35 people into accommodation and 6 people into work.

YEAR 9 FRENCH PAINTBALLING

Year 9 Francophones have been learning about parts of the body in a different way to normal! The current module being studied is all about health and fitness so the body is an important part of this. Students learnt the body parts as part of a paintball scenario.

Students invented dialogues about where they had been hit, acted them out and then wrote up the dialogues with pictures.

Some great French skills and drama skills! TouchĂŠ!

YEAR 10 FRENCH IN THE CLASSROOM

Tommaso S, Year 10 writes...

Bonjour, mes amis! Bienvenue sur WSS Y10 French.

10LFR1 have so far studied with Monsieur Pattison several essential aspects to include in future GCSEs. One of these topics is “Là Où Habite”, where we have learned how to describe our home whether it’s near the centre of the city (“au centre-ville”), in an industrial district (“dans un quartier industriel”) etc. In this topic, we also learned how to describe Wetherby Senior School (both Marylebone, Bulstrode and Hannah House).

You can find my description of Hannah House at the bottom of the page*.

Our second topic has been “L’École” where we have learned several school subjects from Geography (“La Géographie”) to Art (“Le

Dessin”) with the occasional regular verb list to memorise.

Finally, the topic we are studying as we speak is “La Nourriture et Les Boissons” where we are writing about our usual diet and food choices for our breakfast (“Le Petit-Déjeuner”), lunch (“Le Déjeuner”), snack (“Le Repas”) and dinner (“Le Dîner”) accompanied with negative and positive opinions.

In my opinion, the MFL department is carrying out an excellent job educating and having fun with their masses of students in their French and other language lessons.

I look forward to the further development of WSS’s MFL department and I wish them all good luck on their current topics. Keep it up! * “L’autre bâtiment de mon école c’est Hannah House. Sur le rez-de-chauseé, il y a

la réception près de la porte.

Dans le couloir, il y a les classes d’anglais. Après les classes, c’est la salle de jeux où mes amis peuvent jouer. Pour aller sur les autres étages, il y a un escalier. Sous le rez- dechauseé, il y a la bibliothèque avec des ordinateurs pour les étudiants et la salle à manger c’est près les autres classes d’anglais. Au premier étage, il y a les classes de maths et de la musique où les étudiants peuvent jouer des instruments.

Le deuxième étage a les classes de langues modernes, de latin et de philosophie.

Finalement, au troisième étage, il y a les autres classes de langues modernes mais il y a aussi la classe de le laboratoire de design graphique.

C’est Hannah House, mon école formidable!

ACTIVITIES BULLETIN: CHESS CLUB Mrs Hall wites...

Malcolm Pein British chess international master came to visit in September to launch the Thursday chess activities group. The boys learnt lots of new things including how to castle, the shortest game of chess possible, and hints and tips on improving their game. Since then the boys have made lots of progress and are currently taking part in a class knock out, it is proving very tough with quite a lot of rematches due to stalemates. We are also currently eagerly awaiting our first class presentation

from Isaac on what he has found out about one of our many hotly debated chess rules.

Mr Astbury-Palmer writes...

The boys have enjoyed a wide range of coaching so far this year. This has been made possible by the technology available in the classroom.

The boys are being taught with, and learning to use for themselves the software called Fritz 16. The software allows students to analyse their games and to spot any errors or missed opportunities.

SPORTS NEWS Football U15A WSS vs KCS 1-3 U13A WSS vs Fulham Prep 1-6 U13B WSS vs Fulham Prep 0-3 U13C WSS vs Fulham Prep 0-3 U13D WSS vs Fulham Prep 0-10

Rugby U17A vs Tiffin 33-29 Men of the Match: Tobi A, Pip E

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