The GRIFFIN FRIDAY 6th FEBRUARY 2015 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER FROM SOUTHBOROUGH HIGH SCHOOL WORD FROM THE HEADTEACHER Niall Smith Department for Education Performance Tables 2014 I was very pleased with our position in the DfE Performance Tables, which were published last week. While I acknowledge that the totality of a school’s performance cannot be summed up in a few headline statistics, our figures clearly demonstrate the strength of our academic performance: School (RBK Comprehensives) 5 A*-C GCSE (including English & Maths) English Baccalaureate (A*-C in English, Maths, 2 Sciences, a Humanity and a Language) Total Points Score Holy Cross School 77% 53% 441 Coombe Girls’ School 76% 43% 450 Richard Challoner School 76% 55% 453 Southborough High School 63% 40% 400 Chessington Community College 62% 8% 349 Tolworth Girls’ School 61% 32% 434 Hollyfield School 58% 25% 383 Coombe Boys’ School 58% 22% 354 Kind regards, Mr N. Smith Headteacher FOSH CORNER CALENDAR Mon 9 Feb Y12 AS Geography Revision Workshop Tues 10 Feb Y11/12/13 Media and Journalism Trip to the News Building, Lessons from Auschwitz Seminar Wed 11 Feb Y12/13 Visit to Old Spitalfields Market Thur 12 Feb Y7-10 Kingston Literary Cup Quiz (pm), 6pm for a 6.15pm Start – Y11 Curriculum Evening (to 7pm) Fri 13 Feb 3.10pm Break up for Half Term 16-20 Feb Half Term Mon 23 Feb 8.40am School Starts, Y13 Visit to Wyndham’s Theatre A View from the Bridge (eve) Tues 24 Feb 6th Form Media Trip to St Mary’s University (pm) Thur 26 Feb 6pm for a 6.15pm Start – Y11 Study Skills Evening (to 7pm) Sun 1 Mar WW1 Centenary Programme Trip to France/Belgium (to 4/3) Mon 2 Mar P4 Whole School Reading, Y9/10/11/6th Form Drama & English Trip to Othello at The Globe (pm) Tues 3 Mar 2.20pm Pupils finish school – Staff Training Wed 4 Mar 6pm Y8 & 9 Options Evening Thur 5 Mar D of E Bronze Day Walk in Oxshott, Youth Service Drop In @ Lunchtime Fri 6 Mar GCSE/Y8 Drama Trip to Caucasian Chalk Circle Tues 10 Mar PSHCE Day, 6th Form Art/ History Trip to Paris (to 12/3) Fri 13 Mar DoE Silver Day Walk in Oxshott Thur 19 Mar 4-7pm Y10 Parents’ Consultation, Y10 Trip to The Orange Tree Theatre Fri 20 Mar Y7-10 School Exams (to 26/3) Mon 23 Mar 6th Form Rag Week (to 27/3), AS Geography Trip to Swanage (to 25/3) Tues 24 Mar 7pm Murder Mystery Fri 27 Mar Break Up at Lunchtime Mon 13 Apr Professional Learning Day – School Closed for Pupils Tues 14 Apr 8.40am School Starts FOSH will be having a cake/ hot chocolate sale later in the term, we shall also be providing an Easter hamper and a Licensed bar for the Murder Mystery (24th March). Our next major FOSH fund-raising event shall be a ‘pig racing evening’ on Friday 24th April – do keep this evening free in your diary. At this event: for each race there are 6 pigs competing, each complete with a knitted jockey. You can bet on which pig you think will win, and then watch the race on the big screen. It should be a fun evening with food and a Licensed bar available. Children are welcome too, and there will be burgers, sweets and J20’s for sale. 2 The GRIFFIN 6 February 6 February The GRIFFIN 3 L ast night, the Year 10 Drama team delivered what was perhaps the most successful dramatic production that Southborough has seen in a very long while. And given that the standard of all dramatic productions over the last couple of years here has been so very good, that’s high praise indeed! ‘Blood Brothers’ - a successful West End show originally written and presented as a school play in 1982 by Willy Russell - was played to a packed hall and received an encore of applause from the highly impressed audience of parents, students and Southborough staff. As many will know, Blood Brothers is a contemporary ‘nature versus nurture’ plot revolving around fraternal twins who were separated at birth. The twins different backgrounds take them to opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming a councillor and the other unemployed and in prison. They both fall in love with the same girl, causing a tear in their friendship which ultimately leads to the tragic death of both brothers. The play was both set and then originally debuted in Liverpool and mastering the ‘scouse’ accents of the characters in the play was one of the biggest challenges that our drama students had to face. But face it they certainly did, delivering perfect Liverpudlian accents that bowled over the admiring audience! The mix of rhyming dialogue and long soliloquies presented another big challenge, but through countless hours of rehearsals and many more Head of Drama Mr Melhuish, keeping an eagle eye on things hours of practice at home, our boys performed brilliantly on the night! A School Governor and parent commented the morning after the show: “Without slipping into hyperbole, last night’s performance was truly memorable with hugely impressive performances by all. My youngest son now wants to read the play for himself.” Another Southborough parent commented: “My son spent hours and hours practising his lines in a Liverpudlian accent and I feared that it was just going to be too much on the night. I was thrilled that his performance went so well – but also was incredibly impressed in how the entire cast had pulled such an amazing show together, giving wonderful performances. The show was superb!” Mr Cooper, Head of Year 10 added: “I feel so very proud of these guys. They clearly worked so hard and their performance was outstanding.” Of course, shows like this just don’t just ‘happen’ and a huge thank you must also go to the 6th form Production Arts Team and 6 form Music Technology Team for their fantastic hard work and input throughout – and to Mrs Furminger and Mrs Taylor for ‘Front of House’. The biggest thanks of all, though, must go to Head of Drama Mr Melhuish and Drama Teaching Assistant Miss Parsons for all their hard work, patience, commitment and drive in making this production such a success. WELL DONE AGAIN TO THE CAST AND CREW! TALENTED YEAR 10 DRAMA STUDENTS DELIVER OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE OF BLOOD BROTHERS YOU WERE AMAZING! Cast Act One: Narrator Mrs Johnstone Mrs Lyons Mr Lyons Mickey Eddie Linda Milkman Sammy Finance Man Catalogue Man Policeman George Povey James Salter Josh Baxter Bobby Hughes Charlie Conlon Charlie Pearce Adil Sahara Nikos Shine Joel Severino Kci Aboim Leo Haines Bilal Chattun Cast Act Two: Narrator Mickey Eddie Linda Conductor / Policeman Sammy Judge Perkins Seamus Hunter Nauris Melnbarzdis Declan Roberts Nikos Shine Darrel Hawes Kci Aboim Danial Siddiqi Zubair Bhatti Crew: Make Up Lily Rother, Aravint Chandrian Set Danny Cunnett, Sade Morris and Callum McGilvray Stage Manager Abivarman Jeevanthan Sound Technicians Gemma Kwon and Tim Nagamani Front of House Mrs Furminger, Mrs Taylor Filming Mr Milliken 4 The GRIFFIN 6 February BAY OF NAPLES TRIP A BLAST! Last week, a large group of Year 10, 11 and 12 Geography students found themselves at Gatwick, eagerly awaiting their flight to Naples International Airport in Italy. From there, they were to spend the next four days exploring the Bay of Naples, a place renowned for its cornucopia of environmental sites guaranteed to impress even the most discerning of Geographers. Staying in a village not far from Sorrento, the students began, on day one, by learning all about tectonic plates and volcanoes in the area, with Mount Vesuvius as the number one case study. Climbing up the volcano itself took quite a bit of effort on the part of both students and staff members Miss Bassnett-Barker, Mr Walker, Mr Cooper and Mr Dixon. However, once at the top, they marvelled at the amazing view, which went on for miles as the sky was clear and cloud-free that day. The red and black coloured igneous rock and pumice stone was interesting to see and hold (so light!) and the students were told that the fact that the volcano was smoking was a GOOD sign - as opposed to ‘not smoking’ equalling a very bad sign indeed! A trip to Pompei followed. The famous ancient city was completely annihilated in AD79 when Mount Vesuvius spectacularly erupted, killing thousands of people and animals and destroying towns and cities surrounding many miles in its path. After many years of careful excavation, large areas of the city can now be explored and experienced through the eyes of modern visitors – and our students were suitably in awe of such an amazing site. Geography ‘A’ level student Cameron Ritchie, who was inter- viewed for this piece, commented: “Pompei was absolutely surreal and its scale was truly mind blowing! We had the entire afternoon to explore the site, and yet we could have spent a whole week covering the area! We saw grooves made by the chariots in the streets and alleyways, remains of the main city centre, public baths - and even the local brothel! It was amazing!” A visit to the coast the following day gave the students an ideal opportunity to witness past and present day land movement caused by tectonic plates and they loved visiting an area packed with mini volcanoes with gas spurting out. The area looked - literally - out of this world, although the sulphur made it rather smelly! A trip to the Archaeological Museum in Naples city centre was extremely interesting. Packed with sculptures, marble and castes of Pompei victims, the museum was huge and stu- dents enjoyed spotting ‘lookalikes’ of their teachers amongst the many hundreds of ancient busts! A visit to the smaller town of Herculaneum, followed by some welcome shopping in Sorrento town centre was enjoyed by all. The students had such a lovely time, they even clubbed together and bought token gifts for their teachers. Year 12 student Cameron Ritchie summed up the experience as follows: “It was an amazing trip. However, one of the nicest surprises to come out of it was the fact that the different year groups mixed so well together, so we made new friends as well as saw some spectacular sites.” Many thanks must go to the teachers who took the time to both organise and run the trip, namely Miss Bassnett-Barker, Mr Walker, Mr Cooper and Mr Dixon. A fabulous Geography trip to remember! 6 February The GRIFFIN 5 EXTRACT FROM SEC ED: Shakespeare and drama across the school HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2015: YEAR 10 STUDENTS HEAR A BRAVE, LOCAL WOMAN’S STORY Imagine you are a very young boy or girl, going home to your parents after school one random day and being told that you were going to be sent away for an indefinite length of time. Imagine also the realisation that you were going to have to leave your parents, brothers and sisters, in fact anyone and everything that you loved and cherished in your young life, and travel alongside a group of strangers to somewhere unknown. Imagine then finding yourself in a different country, living with more strangers and having no way to ever contact your loved ones. And after several painfully lonely years, imagine finding out that all your family have perished and that you’ll never, ever see them again… and you’re still such a young child. Last week, a group of Year 10 History and Religious Studies students visited the Orthodox Synagogue in Surbiton last Wednesday afternoon in order to mark the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of Holocaust Memorial Day. Accompanied by Mr McMillan, Mr Needs, Mr Iles and Miss Pike, the students joined others in a special event designed to engage young people more fully with the Jewish community and to remember the millions of people who lost their lives during the Holocaust. Whilst there, our boys were privileged to get the chance to listen to a talk given by a woman called Bronia Snow, a brave lady who, over seventy years ago, lived through the living hell of being sent away from home in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to live amongst strangers in England, only to find some years later that her entire family had been killed in Auschwitz. After the talk, there was a question and answer session and the boys worked in small groups with other members from the synagogue. Our boys got the chance to find out more about the horrors of the Holocaust and think and reflect on how such an awful event could have ever occurred. Sonia spent time answering questions from the boys, who were eager to find out more. For their part, our well behaved students conducted themselves with immense dignity and were a real credit to the school. Many thanks to Mrs Bronia Snow – who has lived happily for many years in England since her personal ordeal – and to everyone at the Kingston Synagogue for their kind hospitality. Please use link below to see a very interesting article in the Sec Ed online with Mr Melhuish, our Head of Drama. http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/ best-practice/shakespeare-anddrama-across-the-school Y7 BOROUGH INDOOR ATHLETICS The Year 7 Borough Indoor athletics were held at CCC, the boys came second out of four. There were some outstanding performances from Charlie Whittaker and Jack Greig to name but two. U19 BASKETBALL The U19 basketball team achieved their first win of the season last week when we hosted Redbridge College in the Dynamik England Men's Conference (national competition). Winning 59-24, a great team performance and showing promise moving forward. WORD OF THE WEEK: ‘PROPITIOUS’ Our word this week is 'propitious'. The word 'propitious' means 'presenting favourable circumstances or showing signs of a favourable outcome'. As we await numbers for entry here next year and remain keenly hopeful that results in the summer will please, perhaps the word 'propitious' applies. 6 The GRIFFIN 6 February Book of the week! MUSIC CLUBS Blindness Imagine a world in which everyone inexplicably lost their sight. What might happen? How might you find your way home? How might you find your loved ones again? How would you be able to survive? José Saramago’s Blindness is a dystopian story of a sudden and terrifying mass epidemic of blindness that afflicts nearly everyone in an unnamed city. The social order unravels as the government attempts to contain the contagion and keep order by quarantining the ‘infected’ in an abandoned hospital. As panic sets in, the situation becomes more and more desperate. The infected find themselves in an ever increasingly dangerous situation as inmates begin to turn on each other to survive. Not only is this a white-knuckle read from start to finish, it will also make you think twice about just how lucky you really are to have your sight. Miss Pike SAINSBURY’S ACTIVE KIDS We are now collecting these vouchers in order to obtain free PE kit for the pupils. In previous years we have been able to send off for some fantastic equipment. So please do bring in /send in your vouchers to reception. Please ask neighbours, relatives and friends for their vouchers to help us get as many as possible. Many thanks in advance for your help. 7 CAN YOU HOST A STUDENT FROM OUR MADRID PARTNER SCHOOL COLEGIOS EL VALLE? SOUTHBOROUGH SCHOOL TRIP TO MADRID OCTOBER 2015 TUESDAY: 12.50 MUSIC 1 – JAZZ BAND At present we have 3 trumpets, 1 trombone and 1 baritone – any brass or woodwind players of at least Grade 3 standard would be very welcome! WEDNESDAY: 12.50 MUSIC 1 - UKULELE CLUB If you have already played or you would like to improve your skills, come along to make music! THURSDAY: 12.50 BANDITS Aimed at any KS3 pupil, the Bandits is a rock/pop band you are welcome to join. We need a decent keyboard player particularly! FRIDAY: 12.50 MUSIC 1 – SINGING CLUB Singing for everyone – all ages welcome! Wednesday Lunch All boys in Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9) are invited to take part in Southborough’s annual trip to Madrid which will take place from Tuesday 20th October – Monday October 26th 2015. Students spend the week with the family of a student from our Spanish partner school Colegios el Valle. The trip includes a visit to the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, the home of Real Madrid, and a trip to the historical city of Toledo, along with plenty of evening activities such as a night out watching a Spanish football match. The total cost for this trip is £350. WEEKLY FIXTURES LIST - W/C MONDAY 9th FEBRUARY Fixture Date Staff 9/2/15 Mr Jordan Y8 v Rutlish 11/2/15 Mr Colbert U19 B’ball v Barking - AWAY 3.45 TO 12/2/15 Mr Jordan Cricket – Indoor league @R. Challoner U15’s - 6pm and 7.10pm 13/2/15 TBC U19 B’ball v Coombe - AWAY 3.45 TO MENU w/c MONDAY 9th FEBRUARY The maths department offers help after school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Please come along. If you’d like to develop your thinking skills, why not join us at chess club or puzzle club? Tuesday Is your son in Years 9-12? We are looking for families to host students from our Madrid partner school, Colegios el Valle from Sunday June 21st – Sunday June 28th 2015. Trips planned for the week include a visit to Hampton Court, a day trip to London, evening activities such as bowling at the rotunda, and a barbecue event at the school. As a host family your son will be entitled to take part in the above activities for free. As a host family you will be expected to provide breakfast and an evening meal as well as a warm, inviting atmosphere for our guests. Interested families should contact Head of MFL Mr Johnson at [email protected] MUSIC 1 – YEAR 7 ‘PLAY TIME’ For those who would enjoy getting together with others on a variety of instruments and producing performances of various songs. MATHS CLUBS After School The GRIFFIN MONDAY: 12.50 by Jose Saramago Monday 6 February Thursday Friday Chess club (B7) Maths challenge club (B5) Maths help for Maths help Y11 for Y11 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Chicken Korma Pizza Roast Chicken Lasagne Battered Onion Bhajji Veggie Pizza Veggie Quiche Vegetarian Pollock Burgers Potato Wedges Roast Potatoes, Bolognaise Veggie Rice Peas & Carrots Yorkshire Garlic Bread Sausages Green Beans & Meringue Nests Pudding Sweetcorn Chips Angel Delight Baked Beans Maths help for Y7-10 Maths help for Y11 (B8) (B6) (B5) (B5) Carrots & Gravy Puzzle club Maths help for Y7-10 Maths help for Y7-10 Maths help for Y7-10 Fruit Crumble & Mixed Veg Custard Raspberry Jelly (B5) (B5) (B7) (B8) Rice Pudding Jacket Potatoes, paninis, bakes beans, salad, fresh fruit and a variety of sandwiches and rolls are also served every day. 8 The GRIFFIN 6 February Southborough High School / PE Department Key Stage 3 & 4 Extra Curricular Programme Spring Term 2015 Monday Lunchtime After School Gym - Table Tennis Club – No Clubs – Staff Meetings up to 20 participants JCO Astro –Y7 Tuesday Astro – Y8 Rugby Club - All Years CJO / ACO – School Field Football Club – Year 7 ADU / KSC - Astro Wednesday Astro – Y9 Football Club – Year 8 JCO - Astro Thursday Astro – Y10 Football Club – Year 9 Y 7/8 cricket bowling machine ACO – 6th formers Friday Astro – Y11 Badminton – Gym JCO Personalised training programs OPEN TO YEARS 10-13 THE WEIGHTS ROOM WEDNESDAYS 3:20-4:30PM THE MUSCLE PROJECT STRENGTH MUSCLE WEIGHT LOSS DIET ADVICE Weights room & Fitness suite Extra Curricular Programme Lunchtime After School Monday Year 11 Weights gym & Fitness suite JCO Staff Meetings Tuesday Year 10 weights gym & Fitness suite* CJO Years 10/11 & 6th form weights gym & Fitness suite* Wednesday 6th form weights gym & fitness suite* KSC Thursday Yr 10 Core PE The Muscle Project- MHA Years 10/11 & 6th form weights gym & Fitness suite* JCO Friday Yr 11 Core PE Years 10/11 & 6th form weights gym & fitness suite* MHA * Due to the popularity of this club there will be limited entry into the weights room & fitness suite.
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