Winter 2016
The
Rutherford Review
Headlines This has been a very busy term especially with our Year 10, 11, 12 and 13 students focusing on Pre Public Exams (PPE). These exams will continue in January and all evidence indicates that attitude is everything - the better the student’s attitude to learning the better their results. We have also had our new Progress 8 data for GCSE and equivalents. This figure measures the progress students make from KS2 to GCSE. Our progress 8 score shows our students, whatever their ability, make above average progress and as a school we are in the top 25% of schools in England. This is down to the hard work of our students, staff and parents. Our Sixth Form data also shows that we add positive value to all our students.
Anti-Hate Crime Project Bedfordshire’s Anti-Hate Crime Schools’ project was launched in October at Mark Rutherford School. Students in Years 7 & 8 were trained as ambassadors and took those at the launch around the Anne Frank exhibition. They did a fantastic job – growing in confidence, developing leadership skills and learning more about Anne Frank’s story. This project is a collaboration between the Bedfordshire Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Anne Frank Trust UK. The guest speaker at the launch was Anne Frank’s step-sister and Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss.
Students in Year 11 this year will be the first cohort through the new GCSEs and their outcomes will be measured with numbers from 9 to 1; 9 is the highest possible outcome and 1 the lowest. A pass for this year will be a 4 and a good pass a 5. Staff and students are working hard to gain those 5 and above. By the time Year 7 and 8 students come to sit these exams we will have 3 years’ worth of experience - the advantage of being a well-established secondary school.
PCC Kathryn Holloway said: “When Holocaust survivor Eva spoke of her experiences in a concentration camp and of how she had known Anne as a little girl and seen her diary at first hand…you could genuinely have heard a pin drop…Immediately she finished she was surrounded by pupils shaking her hand and wanting to have a selfie with her which shows the huge impact her incredibly moving speech had on those who were listening…”
It is always good to hear from past students about their successes and this year we have a theme of performance: Kane Horn dancing on the X Factor; Josh Moore at Milton Keynes Theatre, on a national tour with Strictly and Candice Brown winning The Great British Bake Off. We also have one of our current students, Miles Harcombe (Year 8), performing in the West End in the musical Matilda.
In January six of our students will now go on to be ambassadors in other schools to spread the message and to support the training of their students. Well done to all of the students involved in the project.
We are working with one of our sporting Alumni, Andy Johnson, to set up the Crystal Palace Football Academy at Mark Rutherford and we are looking forward to the growth and development of our partnership with the Northampton Saints and our Rugby academy. Our STEAM focus (science, technology, engineering, arts and maths) continues to develop and has had a real impact on the life chances of our students. We now have Arkwright engineering scholars, working with Villiers Park and Network Rail, very successful Year 9 STEM days and we are now inviting our local schools to become more involved. This links into our collaborative work with 12 lower and primary schools to show the direct pathway from Year 1 through to Year 13 at MRS. Governors and Heads have agreed to develop this collaboration at a recent meeting and by September 2019 all the students at our local lower schools, which will become primary schools, will have a direct route through to our school. These schools will appear on our admissions criteria: • Putnoe Primary • Renhold Lower • Scott Lower • Roxton Lower
• Great Barford Lower • Beauchamp Middle • Willington Lower • Wilden VA Lower
• Alban Academy • Ravensden Lower • Cople Lower • Goldington Green Academy
There are also a number of other schools now showing an interest in joining us. Other exciting developments are digital days and programming clubs in ICT, Artsmark status supporting the strengthening of Arts, performing and visual, across the school and working in partnership with the Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre as one of our chosen charities this year. As you can see Mark Rutherford School is a vibrant place to be, with many opportunities to support the students in becoming well rounded individuals who will make an extremely positive contribution to society. Have a safe and happy holiday!
Mr Richard Millard, Headteacher
History Morning On Tuesday 12th July, all Year 7 students took part in a History morning which included designing medieval shields, playing a typical game from the Middle Ages called Nine Men’s Morris and taking part in a workshop. The workshop was delivered by Peter from a company called School History Days. As part of the workshop, students were able to make medieval coins, try on armour and study genuine artefacts such as swords and clothing. All students were able to take their coins home with them and they had an enjoyable and interesting morning.
Eva Schloss
Student Ambassador
Crystal Palace Football Academy Exciting news! We will be working with ex-student Andy Johnson to bring the Crystal Palace Football Academy to Mark Rutherford School. The course will start in September 2017 and there will be 20 places for students who meet both the academic criteria and also the football skills criteria. There will be more information to follow as the final arrangements are made.
Mark Rutherford Rugby Academy Following on from the announcement regarding the School becoming a Northampton Saints Partnership School, we can now confirm that the Rugby Academy will begin for Year 12 students in September 2017. Students will select Rugby as one of their four subject options and will be focusing on developing their skills in playing, coaching and officiating Rugby. They will complete a variety of courses which will include coaching and refereeing qualifications, Sports Leaders award and First Aid, to name a few. The Level 2 Sports Leader Qualification is nationally recognised and enables learners to lead a safe, purposeful and enjoyable physical activity. The partnership will also provide students with opportunities to visit Northampton Saints' playing and training facilities and to gain access to professional staff in fields such as diet and nutrition, fitness and exercise and data analysis. This opportunity is open to current Mark Rutherford School students and also those students attending other institutions and looking to move to Mark Rutherford School Sixth Form. Mr Snowdon is available for further information.
STEM SUCCESS VILLIERS PARK STEM CONFERENCE By Leonardo Buttice Year 12
Year 8 Micro:bits Year 8 Computing students have continued to make use of the BBC supported Micro:bits. The Micro:bit can support all sorts of cool creations, from controlling robots to turning them into musical instruments, with endless possibilities. Students use the Micro:bits to develop simple, or in some cases very complex, computer programs. Students are getting hands-on experience in programming the computer connected gadgets and can see the effects of changes made to their code. This gives them a feel for real life applications of computer programming. Other Key Stage 3 coding units lined up for later during the year include JavaScript, HTML and Python.
Our new Sixth Form STEM scholars, Leonardo Buttice, Marco Guarino and Celina Kingston-Neilson all had the opportunity to attend a student conference at Villiers Park in October which specialises in University style residential courses and to show programmes. The aim was to introduce the STEM programme that they were now part of, how they could benefit from it and show how they could transfer the skills they learnt into supporting students at Mark Rutherford School. This is Leo’s account of the day: “I found the meeting very useful as all the information was relevant to my chosen career path in STEM. I made some good friends on the day with students from other schools. The organisers made sure everyone was involved and had some good ice breaker activities. I was able to speak to a STEM ambassador and find out about their role as well as choose a residential course to attend. Overall I think it was a well organised and helpful experience providing STEM opportunities for students involved.”
Senior Maths Challenge The autumn term saw thirty Year 12 and 13 students entered for the UK Senior Maths Challenge. The UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) aims to advance the education of children and young people in mathematics. The UKMT organises national mathematics competitions and other mathematical enrichment activities for students aged 11-18 in the UK. Once past a certain mark entrants will be entered automatically into the European Mathematical Olympiad. The medallists from Mark Rutherford for this year’s Senior Maths Challenge were –
Year 12 Andrew Boost
Year 13 Gold
Oliver Langford
Gold
Marco Guarino
Silver
Elliot Cook
Gold
Karolina Cup
Bronze
Sam Thompson
Silver
Liam Fensom
Bronze
Oliver Beddall
Silver
Brandon Ruta
Bronze
Oliver Baxter
Silver
Alessandro Gramegna
Bronze
Joseph Lamey
Silver
Elizabeth Headley
Bronze
Anna Jama
Bronze
Kurtis Clements
Bronze
Matthew Darby
Bronze
Charlotte Anstee
Bronze
Well done to all the students who took part and congratulations to the certificate winners.
Digital Day 2016 On Tuesday 15th November eighteen Year 9 students took part in Digital Day. This was an exciting day sponsored by The British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) and was run by JB Cole, a Web Design Company. The students had to complete a series of challenges set by Cancer Research, Standard Life and Tata Communications. The School’s winning entries go forward to the National Competition, competing against over one hundred and twenty other schools. As well as taking part in the day, students achieved 30 points towards the The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award.
Have you ever asked yourself... Which packing material would be best after a nuclear war? How good are baked beans at absorbing radiation? Well, ask no longer, because Mark Rutherford has the answers. Over the past year we have successfully been part of the CERN@School project that has independently used the Jablotron MX-10 (this is the name of the detector we are using). Our students have designed their own experiments and safely carried them out. They have recently presented their findings at the CERN@School symposium held in the prestigious Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxford. An exciting event for all involved. All the other students attending were sixth formers but our Year 11 students did us proud; they were professional and mature. The organisers remarked upon how good their work was and were very surprised that our Year 11 students could outshine the older students from other schools. Ms Pinsent and Mr Little
Hunting the Higgs? On a cold, dark autumnal morning seventeen students, Mr Little and Ms Pinsent embarked upon a visit to The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN. Arriving at the centre at the forefront of Physics lived up to the hype the students expected. “This is the room where the World Wide Web was invented!” exclaimed one student when they realised the significance of the computer centre at CERN. Our students saw the very first computer server that Sir Tim Berners-Lee actually used. Towards the end of the day we had a tour of the Antimatter Factory and walked on top of the only Antimatter machine in existence, which was covered in what looked like kitchen tin foil! Arriving back at School late into the evening the students were delighted with their once in a lifetime chance to visit the crowning glory of cutting edge Physics research. They learnt so much and experienced a place like no other on Earth. Mr Little and Ms Pinsent
Arkwright Scholars Congratulations to Brandon Ruta and Samuel West in Year 12 who have both passed all the requirements for an Arkwright Engineering Scholarship including a rigorous exam and University interview. Both boys will now benefit from work experience opportunities, visits to potential employers and a bursary fund to help them with their studies.
Year 9 STEM day On 9th November, Year 9 students participated in an Engineering themed STEM day in which they carried out a number of exciting and motivating challenges supervised by engineering graduates from Network Rail. Working in teams of six, students built paper bridges designed to support heavy masses. They then designed and built a working model of a level crossing and finally helped plan a new train route. The winning team comprised James Duxbury, Sammy Harding, Magnuss Burmistrs, Jake Field, Owen Eaves and Ben Harding-Forbes and they gained themselves a day out at the Network Rail Headquarters in Milton Keynes.
ARTS UPDATE Mark Rutherford Performing Arts Tour of Belgium 2016 As the summer sun rose on the 15th July, fifty excited students and five members of staff packed the coach and waved goodbye to Mark Rutherford, bound for the coastal town of De Panne in western Belgium.
We launched Mark Rutherford’s own Blueprint Theatre Company this year and were very excited to be part of Bedford Modern’s Act!16 Drama Festival. As part of the festival, local schools were invited to participate in a workshop, taught by a leading practitioner in Dance-Theatre, and we were then tasked with creating an adaptation of a fairy-tale. We were given Jack the Giant Slayer and we quickly got to work, bringing the story to life. During the process we were very privileged to have the support of the Music, Art and Dance departments. Mrs Jones composed and played our eerie and atmospheric soundtrack, Ms Saunders' Big Art Club (students from Yrs7-10) created our magnificent Giant; Mrs Talbot helped the cast to create creepy trees! And Mr Doughty organised the production. Their involvement in the project had a huge impact on our piece, and we are very grateful for their contribution. As a result, the performance was a huge success and the students involved should be very proud of their achievements. Mrs Millington
The Giant created by the BIG ART Club.
Arts Week The Arts Faculty comprising Art, Music, Drama, Dance and Media departments undertook an Arts Week in October to raise funds to enable the School to renew its ArtsMark Gold status and to raise awareness of all the amazing activities that take place in school and the range of possibilities within the Arts subjects. Arts activities and workshops were delivered daily during lunchtime and after school. Students had the opportunity to learn a new skill such as a dance routine, create a folded book or participate in film making, drama games or to sing in a group. The week was very successful and raised more money than expected. The Arts departments have agreed that the week can be built upon and will be an annual event. Engagement in the arts is crucial for all students. Providing a rich and varied menu with regular access to see and actively take part in cultural activities, broadens and supports the whole learning experience. Participation in the arts empowers, enables exploration and raises aspirations. In addition to subject specific skills, students also develop resilience, problem solving and interpersonal team working skills, communication skills, self-esteem and independence. The joy of creativity is something that lasts beyond the school years providing a sense of purpose and well-being for all.
Fiddle Fiesta On Monday 11th July, Mark Rutherford hosted Bedfordshire’s annual Fiddle Fiesta, a concert which saw the string players from 15 local lower, middle, upper and secondary schools come together to perform a varied programme of music. David Knight and Caroline Waters, string teachers from the new Beds Cooperative, ran the event with over 150 students involved. The evening was attended by a large, very enthusiastic audience, who were delighted by the performances. It was an evening not to be missed; the audience left with ‘standing room only’ proved the large amount of support for our county strings players, well played everyone! We are very much looking forward to hosting this event again next year, string players watch out for information coming to you in the New Year!
You could be a part of this event next year; it’s not too late to get involved! If you would like to learn an instrument but for whatever reason have put it off, come and see one of the music teachers and we’ll be able to point you in the right direction. We have teachers for any instrument you’d like to play, all you have to do is ask!
The tour programme was based on the premise of who we are as people and our relationships with others, and was put together by the staff and students who attended after school rehearsals in their disciplines, coming together to rehearse the opening and finale songs; ‘Can you hear me’ by Bob Chilcott which featured sign language and ‘Viva la Vida’ by Coldplay, which was accompanied by the instrumentalists. Our first concert took place on the beach promenade in the nearby seaside town of De Hanne where we performed to delighted locals who sat in local cafes enjoying the music, sun and seaside air, children danced in the street as our students engaged with them and Mark Rutherford banners waved in the breeze. Our first concert was a triumph and we departed for an afternoon in Bruges, enjoying the culture, architecture and beautiful sunny weather and no doubt a chocolate or two! Our few hours of down time rushed by and before we knew it we were back on the coach and hotel bound for some dinner before our evening concert in Nieuwpoort. The sun was setting as we prepared our staging and a large crowd gathered. For an hour at sunset Mark Rutherford was centre stage and enchanted audience members took great interest in our school; a local lady boldly announcing at the end of the concert that ‘this was the best performance’ she had ever seen at the venue! Our final performance took us to Ypres via the two WW1 cemeteries where students and staff alike took part in some quiet reverie in realisation that although our trip was fun filled and centred on entertainment, the area had once been at the heart of war and some of the statistics and stories made for difficult listening. Our concert on Sunday was outside the Flanders Field museum in the centre square of Ypres. Exhausted from our triumphant tour, we set off for home and returned to Mark Rutherford on Monday 18th July, performing our final ‘farewell’ to the tour experience as a group at the end of year assembly. A wonderful experience for students and staff alike where sharing of creativity, music making and a love for performing culminated in ultimately being proud ambassadors of Mark Rutherford School. Student Emma Woodcock said: "Performing outside was a totally different experience from performing in a hall like I normally do! One of the challenging things was getting everything set up, but we got used to it and we all had our own jobs so we knew where things needed to be. I loved going with the drama and dance departments, it made our programme so varied with chair duets and dance pieces. We packed so much into the few days, it was an amazing experience, I would love to have the opportunity again!"
ALUMNI NEWS Interview with Kane Horn
Bronte Cordes
What does a typical day of training as a dancer involve?
Bronte has graduated with a First Class honours degree in Photography from Coventry University. Bronte studied both Art and Photography at A Level and was unusually accepted directly onto the degree course of her first choice university (most students are expected to complete a foundation year first). Her work has evolved since her time with us but her interest in nostalgia and memory are themes that have been a constant in her work.
I'm currently in my last year of full time theatre school where we cover a range of styles. I usually start around 8:30 with jazz or ballet, followed by acting or singing classes, then, often, another two dance classes. Our days usually run from 8:306/7pm so we are active all day.
What process did you have to go through to make it onto X Factor? The X Factor usually holds open auditions every year and they are open to dancers from anywhere; on the audition day there were around 400 girls and 150200 boys. You learn a short routine and then the panel start to make cuts, and then there was a recall later on where you learn more choreography and they make more cuts. Eventually it goes down to around twenty boys and twenty girls and then they choose different dancers out of the groups for the show on a weekly basis.
What has been harder than you expected it to be and what have been the main challenges of your career choice? Keeping yourself motivated and energised is really hard because you are constantly active and get little time to yourself or to rest, you can't really have off days in this industry because you are putting yourself in front of people 24/7. It can be really tiring but it's all worth it because I'm doing what I love.
What do you feel you gained from your time at Mark Rutherford and how has that helped you progress? During my time at Mark Rutherford I always felt comfortable expressing myself and was lucky to be given a lot of opportunities in the school which allowed me to develop my passion and love for dance.
What are your plans for the future? I graduate in June and want to work in commercial dance and then hopefully musical theatre; I'm just going to see what happens and take it from there - I don't want to plan too much as the industry is constantly changing.
Greenwell Graduations Claire Greenwell graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge, in 2011 with an MA in Natural Sciences. She now works for the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, West London, and recently visited the desert in Namibia to make measurements of light reflected off the sand, and a frozen artificial sea ice pool in Winnipeg, Canada, to measure light reflected off ice and snow. Natalie Greenwell graduated from Newcastle University in 2014 with an MEng in Civil Engineering. As part of her four-year course she spent the third year at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, under the EU Erasmus programme, and a month in Borneo during her final year constructing water supplies for rural communities. Natalie now works for global Civil Engineering Company AECOM.
Lydia Maddix Lydia Maddix gained her debut Junior Researcher credit working on ITVBe's Sam Faiers: The Mummy Diaries and her EP '93 has been doing well since its release. 'Too Cliché' recently got its first air play on BBC Radio Manchester and 'Walked All Over' another track from her EP is going to feature on an upcoming episode of Come Dine With Me! Lydia is now raising money in order to produce the music video for Too Cliché via Kickstarter in which Sam, Billie and Sue Faiers kindly featured! Visit this link to reach her kick starter page https://www.kickstarter.com/ projects/1693787601/too-cliche-the-music-video-lydiaMaddix If you would like to listen to 'Too Cliché' visit the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh_qITUwAt4
OTHER NEWS Careers and Business Partnership
1st XV Rugby V Biddenham Sports College
Law talk:
MARK RUTHERFORD 40 – 24 BIDDENHAM
The Sixth Form and Year 11 had a talk from local Barrister Araba Taylor who took them through the routes, qualities and demands of a career in Law. The students were interested to learn that a good grasp of Maths was important; that the pay wasn’t always brilliant and they need to have integrity. A student commented: “It gave me an idea of which A Level subjects I could take, in addition to a better perspective on the requirements of the profession.”
In a game that saw MRS 1st XV concede a try in the first few minutes, there were also many successful tries scored and conversions kicked. Congratulations to Eugene for a hat-trick and to Captain Leo Mortimer who successfully kicked 7 out of 8 conversions to leave the final score at 40 points to 24, in favour of the home side.
Dates for your Diary: OCC4U - Business Breakfast Events coming up next term: OCC4U which will have reps from local businesses and organisations so you can see what opportunities are available locally and the routes to get there. This is in the evening of Thursday February 2nd 2017. 8th February 2017 Business Breakfast Meeting with a focus on the hospitality sector. If you are involved in this field, why not give us a ring and get on board with the Partnership? Contact Kath.Unwin@mrus.co.uk or Sam.Baker@mrus.co.uk
Top Left to right: Kofi Linggood, Bradley Edwards, Eugene Holmes, Toby Belcher, Stephen Mabberley, Ben Tilson, Gregor Murray and James Thomson. Bottom left to right: Michael Czuba, Ollie Hymers, Taylor Lodge, Leo Mortimer, Jack Kermez, Luke Reynolds, Cameron Whiting, Oliver Weerasinghe.