SPRING 2017
The
Rutherford Review
Headlines As you would expect this has been a very busy term with many varied and exciting extracurricular opportunities. Thank you to all students and staff for all their hard work and also thank you for the incredible support we get from parents. Our Year 11 Students have been focused on their Pre Public Exams (PPE), especially in Maths and English, to ensure they are very well prepared for the new GCSE courses. They are the first cohort to go through nationally and staff are working hard to ensure they have every opportunity to succeed. An advantage of having been a secondary school for over seven years is that as each cohort goes through, they benefit from the teachers’ experience and delivery of these courses. Our present Year 7 students, when they come to take the new GCSEs, will have experienced staff who have taught the new specification for 4 years. There are a wide variety of opportunities for young people that enhance the curriculum. However, these are coming under threat from the continued cuts in national funding for education; this is a real threat to all schools as budgets shrink year on year. This means that many schools have cut or will be looking to cut many of these opportunities. The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) are campaigning vigorously to the Government about this and the recruitment crisis in teaching. As a school we have been very fortunate to recruit well and have a robust financial team but each year it is becoming harder and harder as budgets shrink and good quality teachers become rarer. We are now close to finishing the £1.5 million refurbishment of the roof and windows around the school to ensure we all stay warm and dry! This is a significant investment from the Government but unfortunately this is one of the few areas that money is available for. This newsletter celebrates successes, our partnerships within the community, a number of different trips and visits and is a snapshot of life at Mark Rutherford. With exams approaching it is still important for students to have a balance of preparation and revision but also relaxation and continuing to take part in activities that they enjoy. Have a relaxing and enjoyable Easter.
Mr Richard Millard, Headteacher
What a royally windy day! On the day of Storm Doris, six students, Mr Little and Ms Seaby travelled to the Royal Society in London. The Royal Society was formed in 1660 and overlooks Buckingham Palace and The Mall. Some of its more famous fellows include Sir Isaac Newton, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Travel was difficult due to the storm and we had to revert to contingency plans due to the trains not running. However, we arrived just in time to give our presentation to an eager crowd of students and Fellows of the Royal Society. After an amazing lunch we explained the details of our experiments to many VIPs and had the chance to see what other schools had been investigating. Despite the weather, the students had an awesome day and presented details of the experiments that they designed, carried out and wrote up; in the most famous and historic location in all of Science – a once in a lifetime opportunity!
Cambodia trip fundraising In the summer of 2018, thirty four students will be going to Cambodia for one month on a trip of a lifetime. They will be carrying out three weeks of volunteer work (manual labour) as well as completing a 5 day jungle trek. In order to go, each student needs to raise £3710 – that’s just over £126,000 altogether. The students have been raising money individually for the trip through various activities including cake sales, Christmas tree collections and selling old clothes. On 24th February, we held our first big group event; a pizza and quiz evening. It was a great evening and raised just over £1200. Thank you to everyone that came along and supported us. We hope to see you at our next event.
Coding competition winners In January, the British Computer Society Coding Competition Winners 2016 were awarded a FUZE programmable computer and workstation by representatives from BCS and Cranfield University at the Computing at School Hub Meeting, which took place here at Mark Rutherford. Each school that came either first, second or third in the Year 7 and Year 8 category received a FUZE for their coding clubs. The FUZE was specifically designed to make learning to code as easy and as accessible as possible. All students at our Markietex Coding Club and our High Tech Teens Girl’s Coding Club will be able to have a go at coding with it.
Youth speaks up… The Mark Rutherford Public speaking team once again competed in the district level semi-final of the Rotary Club’s prestigious Youth Speaks competition. It is the sixth year in succession that a team from the School has qualified for this stage of the nationally respected event. The trio of Lydia Geronikolos, Lina Dubbins and Matty Darby were competing for the first time as a team in the event. Their selected topic was “Why 16-year-olds should be allowed the vote” with the speaker Lydia delivering the main speech supported by Lina as Chair and Matty who gave the vote of thanks. They narrowly missed out on a place in the District Final where they had hoped to defend the title won by another team from Mark Rutherford last year. The team’s participation in the event at Leighton Buzzard was acknowledged with certificates at the end of the competition.
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Mark Rutherford School
Arts News Angels join the realms of glory! On Tuesday 13th December 2016, Markato Orchestra and Nova Voce, our advanced choir, performed for the Deputy Mayor, staff and council members at the Borough Council Christian Network’s Christmas service. An annual event, 2016’s Christmas service was the first ever to involve an orchestra in addition to a choir where in the past there have been either instrumental or vocal groups invited to attend. This was a wonderful opportunity to perform in the local area and for some prestigious members of our local community, who praised our students for their professionalism and excellent playing. Emma Romans, first violinist and pictured right second from right said: "It was a new experience to accompany people, especially such a big group of singers! It was really fun and it was lovely that they gave us lunch afterwards; I loved relaxing with my friends after all the hard work rehearsing!"
Rutherford musicians reach new heights! Nova Voce and Markato Orchestra reached new heights in Bedford on 16th December when they performed for the Christmas Soiree at local business venue, Bedford Heights on Brickhill Drive. Performing an eclectic programme which encompassed Christmas classics, current pop/rock favourites and a variety of pieces from film and TV, the group were highly praised by their audience. One employee said that she had, “come along to celebrate and support the hard work of a local school but had no idea that it was going to be such a professional performance!” It was an absolute pleasure to work with Tim Pain, Chief Executive of Bedford Heights and to build a partnership with this local business, who, we are delighted announce, has supported the Music Department with a donation of £1000 which will go towards helping to fund pupil premium students to attend school trips and tours. Our sincere thanks go to Bedford Heights and Tim Pain for their support of our department and we hope to be able to work together again soon.
Local community caroling On Thursday 8th December Nova Voce, our advanced choir, left school at lunch time laden with mince pies and shortbread for the residents of Crossways Nursing Home to enjoy with some Christmas songs. It was a thoroughly lovely afternoon where smiles and Christmas spirit filled residents, staff, students and teachers alike. Morgan Skyers, Year 10, was tasked by a member of staff at school to look out for a particular resident and speak to them if possible. Unfortunately the gentleman in question was unable to attend our mini concert but Morgan took it upon himself to deliver mince pies directly to his room, something that we were told made the gentleman’s day!
Bedford Festival 2017 On Saturday 5th March, we took the Rutherford Voices and Nova Voce to compete in the choral classes of Bedford Festival. We were incredibly proud of the performances given by both groups, who sang wonderfully and received lovely praise about the numbers of students involved, the challenge of the music and the energy levels in the performances. Ultimately, we were pipped to the post, however, were very proud to be placed in second for both classes. It was lovely to be able to hear other choirs perform and to be able to showcase our hard work. Both Mark Rutherford choirs demonstrated outstanding dedication and looked marvellous on the stage. Many thanks to the parents who came along to support.
MS Therapy Centre charity fundraising Christmas holidays started on Monday 19th December and our students were dressed in uniform and arriving at Tesco on Riverfield Drive at 10am to sing and play to raise money for the MS Therapy Centre in Bedford! What proud teachers we were! With two 45 minute slots, we were delighted to be able to raise £183.08; a fantastic amount to present to the charity at the beginning of the festive season. Congratulations to all the students who were so dedicated in turning up to play and sing in the cold for such a worthy cause. Mark Rutherford musicians, you rock!
www.markrutherford.beds.sch.uk
@Mark_Rutherford
Mark Rutherford School
Monologues Workshop In January, our Year 7 and 8 students participated in a workshop led by Lightbox Theatre Company on behalf of Sing London, where they wrote monologues to voice statues in Bedford. Sing London is an organisation that aims to ‘deliver high profile, participatory events to make cities feel happy’ and they are planning on bringing voices to the statues of Trevor Huddleston and William Harpur. The winning piece will be recorded by a well known actor and passers-by will be able to hear it on their smart phones in the spring. Sing London has already successfully delivered this project in London, Manchester, Leeds and Chicago, and we were thrilled to be able to take part. The students created some excellent monologues and we are currently waiting for the result!
Life Drawing Masterclass For some time Mark Rutherford and Bedford School Art Departments have been working collaboratively sharing ideas and opportunities. On 5th February, five of the 6th Form Art students attended a Life Drawing Masterclass with Bedford School students. The session was led by the internationally renown artist and educator Glenn Sujo whose own work reflects a commitment to the expressive, analytical, symbolic and imaginative possibilities of drawing. The model was Alice Mackenzie, a dancer and choreographer, who was also able to inform students of the history of some of the moves that she used. The students engaged in some quite challenging ideas and concepts and produced work based on the moving human form. The afternoon session was then devoted to the creating of a composition based on the Greek myth of the Death of Acteon referencing the painting by Titian. The students were totally absorbed by the session and worked exceedingly hard. The experience extended beyond the classroom and the students studying English Literature were able to make valuable connections between the subjects deepening their understanding.
Drawing of the Week To see more of our Drawing of the Week follow us on twitter: @Mark_Rutherford and Facebook: Mark Rutherford School
Student reception mural Some time ago, Mrs Donnelly who works in student reception, asked for a piece of student art work to liven it up. She was keen to have something colourful and inspiring. Bedford Creative Arts provided the funds to enable the Big Art Club to work with the artist Anne-Marie Stijelja and they produced a stunning piece combining multimedia. This collaboration is an excellent example of team working, problem solving and creativity. The Big Art Club is open for all years and is on Thursday after school 3-4.15pm in B20 and the focus is on large scale projects such as murals, set design and prop making.
www.markrutherford.beds.sch.uk
@Mark_Rutherford
Mark Rutherford School
Sixth Form Year 12 Speakers' Session
Oxbridge mock interview evening
The Sixth Form has had the pleasure of welcoming a range of guests to the regular Speakers' Session. First up was Mr David Russell, Chief Executive of the Harpur Trust who spoke about his naval career and the role of the charity.
In conjunction with other schools in the Borough, Mark Rutherford School participates in a mock interview evening to provide practice for students applying to Cambridge and Oxford Universities.
The following session saw Mr Richard Fuller inform students about the role of MPs and the some of the current issues affecting young people.
As well as helping the students, the evening allows members of staff to talk to colleagues from other schools and to meet Old Rutherfordians who are teaching in the area.
The third session was provided by the Unite trade union. David Condliffe gave a highly interactive talk about the role of trade unions and how people can engage with political change. On Friday 18th November, to correspond with the UN International Children’s Day, Nicola Walsh of Amnesty International visited to talk about the work of the organization in promoting legal and human rights across the world.
This year, the School provided four interviewers to assist. These were Mr Smith, Dr Prosper Grant, Mr Nicholls and in addition, a member of the business partnership, Tamsin Bromley Rahike also participated. Afterwards Tamsin said that she had thoroughly enjoyed the evening and wanted to participate again next year.
Pharmacy talk
Sanibonani!
On Tuesday 21st February, the School was pleased to welcome Dr Sudax Murdan of University College London School of Pharmacy. Dr Murdan’s interests include topical drug delivery to the nail to treat nail infections, topical drug delivery to the skin to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis, the formulation of heat-stable polysaccharide vaccine and targeted oral drug delivery.
The New Year began with Nancy Rimmer of Compassion in World Farming speaking about modern farming techniques and the ethical questions which arise. Our next session saw a return to his former school of Dave Hodgson, Mayor of Bedford. Mr Hodgson spoke about his aims for the town and the issues of managing the Borough. However the session really came alive when the Mayor began to talk about questions asked by the primary students he has met during his duties!
During her talk she spoke about the composition of drugs as well as the impact of combining medicines and how pharmacists aim to support medical treatment. Assisted by a broad display of medicines, Dr Murdan also explained about the types of packaging used as well as delivery mechanisms.
Our most recent speaker was Keith Fossey of the Bedford based Swaziland Schools Project (SSP) charity whose current president is The Most Revd Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. The charity was established by the Reverend Canon John Tibbs who had spent time working in southern Africa. Alongside the Very Revd Jack Dobson OBE he decided to improve education in a country accosted by poverty and the HIV Aids epidemic. The charity achieves this by providing bursaries for secondary students who have compulsory school fees to pay. It also helps to build and maintain buildings. Our students were able to see the impact this organisation has had alleviating a shortage of trained teachers, providing decent buildings and even ensuring school food is available. Pictured are some of the improvements brought about by SSP. Ube nelilanga lelihle!
The Sir Gavyn Arthur Family Mock Hearing Competition On Saturday 19th November, a team of Sixth Form students participated in a mock hearing competition at the Beckwith Moot Court Room in Cambridge University’s Faculty of Law. This year, it was also held as a tribute to Sir Gavyn Arthur, the Designated Family Judge in Bedfordshire, who passed away in May. The event consisted of a question time and also scenarios based upon family court cases. For these, students had to prepare to represent clients seeking or rejecting Child Arrangement Orders before real judges. Our thanks go to Her Honour Judge Lindsay Davies and Dr Wendi Momen JP who supported our students and to Stephen Eames for his legal advice. Congratulations go to the team: Sophia Cassan, Matt Darby, Sahara Malcolm-Smith, Maddison Dance, Hannah Stanyard, Erin McCaffray and Tommy Lozano.
Sports Update Indoor Athletics National Championships
Visit to Twickenham On Sunday 26th February, we took fifteen boys from Years 7 to 10 down to Twickenham to watch England take on Italy in the 6 Nations Rugby Championship.
Raphael Bouju recently competed at the UK Indoor Athletics National Championships in Sheffield following his win at the South of England competition.
It was far from the best of matches, but the boys loved the experience of being at a live international fixture and an England win made the day all the better. Lucas Martin had a particularly enjoyable day as he caught an England playing shirt thrown into the crowd at half time!
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Raph went into the competition as the favourite for the 60m and he did not disappoint. He ran 7.08s in his heat as he secured first place and then followed this up with a first placed finish in the semi-final in a time of 6.99s. Then the final saw him finish very strongly to overtake a strong start from the runner inside of him as he took first place in a time of 6.88s! This was the final event for Raphael of the indoor season as he now switches his focus to the Summer season.
Mark Rutherford School
County Swimming Finals On Friday 3rd March, we took four students to compete in the County Swimming Finals at the Inspire Centre in Luton. All students qualified through the district competitions before Christmas. Students swam really well and team placements for the students were as follows: Tia Wilson (Bedford Team 1) 1st, Tommy Wilson and Thomas Belcher (Bedford Team 2) 3rd and Morgan Allan (Bedford Team 2) 4th. Both Thomas and Morgan were competing with swimmers who were in Year 10 so they really held their own as younger swimmers from Year 9. Both Tommy and Tia swam well and finished in the top 3 for all of their races.