News at Ralph Allen - Ralph Allen School

Ralph Allen School
News at Ralph Allen
Issue: 05
31 January 2013
SCHOOL NEWS—FACULTY OF INNOVATION
LEGO ROBOTICS UK CHAMPIONS
In this issue….
Following their win at the Lego Robotics
Finals at Loughborough University five
Ralph Allen students will be heading for St
Louis, Missouri, USA to represent the UK at
the World Championships in April.
A team of seven boys and girls, aged 11
to 15, fought off fierce competition from
21 other teams to become the UK Lego
Robotics champions, in a competition
designed to test young people’s engineering, programming, design and teamwork skills.
The winning team were presented with
the trophy and their winners’ medals by
Yewande Akinola, the UK’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2012, at the UK finals
held on Saturday 26 January at Loughborough University.
A fingerprint-recognition doorbell
The team also invented an intelligent doorbell for elderly people which recognises visitors by scanning their fingerprints and informs the elderly resident who is at their front
door via a screen display. The team carried out extensive research with a number of
elderly people as well as experts from organisations including Bath Institute of Medical
Engineering, Rolls Royce and Age UK.
Looking forward to the World Championships in St Louis, USA
The team are now preparing to take on other national teams including the USA, China
and Japan at the World Championships, which will be held in St Louis, Missouri, in April.
The UK finals included 22 teams who had each won a regional final.
Find out more
Please contact Mandy Gaskin or Doug
Mason (parents) on 01225 461926 or
07963 461123, or email douglas.mason@hp.com.
The boys and girls
Tom Mason, Freya Alder, Danielle Workman, Max Workman and Joe Mason
from Ralph Allen School; Claudia Moorhouse, Rafi Borries Gruber from King Edward's School.
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School News
Lego Robotics UK
Champions
Maths Challenge
STEM Parents’ Evening
Youth Speaks Competition Winners
Linguists of Term 2
Year 9 Options—why
study languages?
Gift of Books to Learning Resource Centre
B&NES Young Chef
Competition
Drama News
Duke of Edinburgh
Award 2013-14
General Information
Applied Learning
Centre
Parking at Sulis Club
Student Absence
Student Sickness
Clubs
Severe weather
thanks
STOP PRESS
We are collecting
Sainsbury’s Active Kids
2013 Vouchers—
please send in to Main
Reception or
Attendance Office
SEE THE SCHOOL
WEBSITE FOR THE
LATEST NEWS
FROM THE
SCHOOL
—IT’S
UPDATED DAILY
INSPIRATION
School News —Faculties of Innovation &
Communications and Culture
MATHS CHALLENGE
Ralph Allen School hosted the first regional heat of the Year 10 Team Mathematics Competition run by ‘The Further
Mathematics Support Programme’ on Wednesday 23 rd January. There were nine teams of enthusiastic year 10 students competing, including two from Ralph Allen School. Many schools coach their pupils rigorously and practice
every past question. However despite the serious competition our teams finished a very creditable 3rd and 5 th place.
The teams comprised: Team A: Freya Alder, Tom Mason, Danielle Workman, Bart Scattergood
Team B: Guy Dunford, Patrick Knight-Gaynor, Elia De Matteis, Solstice Wilson-Garner
Well done to our two teams who are shaping up to become the next generation of Maths ambassadors.
STEM PARENTS’ EVENING
Thanks to all the parents, students, governors and
members of the Science community who came to
the inspiring STEM presentation evening for year 7
and 8 pupils and their parents on Tues 15/01/2013.
An exciting array of STEM subjects were showcased by Ralph Allen staff and external organisations such as Rolls Royce and the Institute of Physics. Students and parents were able to discover
the opportunities STEM subjects provide in terms of
future careers. You could experience STEM with
hands-on experiments and activities, as well as
meeting ambassadors from a wide range
of organisations with STEM career links. The intrepid braved the cold to stargaze with the school's
telescope, very kindly loaned by a benefactor
from the Herschel Museum.
STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics
Photograph: Lego Robot being put through its paces at
the STEM evening
YOUTH SPEAKS COMPETITION WINNERS
Two teams from Ralph Allen School took part in the first round of the Youth Speaks competition on Wednesday
16/01/2013. This public-speaking competition for young people is arranged by the Rotary Club and this is the third
year running that Ralph Allen have entered. Teams consist of 3 members with one pupil chairing the event, one
speaking and one proposing the vote of thanks. There was a
very strong field with 2 teams from King Edwards and a team
from St Gregory's who have won this round for the last two
years running. One Ralph Allen team, consisting of Louis Dejeu
-Castang, Chris Hughes and Will Penkethman-Carr won the
competition with a very impressive speech on the concept of
freedom, and will now compete in the district round next
month. Our other team, Venu Upadhyay, Louis Campbell and
Manny Campion-Dye, were awarded runners up and Manny
also won the best speaker prize for his impressive speech on
artificial photosynthesis.
Photo: Youth Speaks teams with Bartholomew Scattergood,
Year 10
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School News —Faculties of Communications
and Culture & Creative and Performing Arts
LINGUIST OF THE TERM—TERM 2
Well done to all the students below, who have been awarded Linguist of the Term for their hard work and
involvement in language lessons. Very well done! Ms Pérez, Modern Foreign Languages
German
Yr 8 Manny Campion-Dye (SG)
Yr 9 Jack Kendall (SG)
Yr 10 Anna Cooper (SG)
Yr 11 Sammy Hayward (SG)
French
Yr 7 Patrick Fountain (VS)
Yr 8 Matilda Cross (JWP)
Yr 9 Hannah Garlington (VS)
Yr 10 Katie Dunn (JWP)
Yr 11 Gabrielle Kear (VS)
Spanish
Yr 7 Indie Baigent Wright (YP)
Yr 9 Elena Guglielmi (YP)
Yr 8 Daniel Richards (MB)
Yr 10 Natalya Browne (YP)
YEAR 9 OPTIONS - WHY STUDY LANGUAGES?
Last term Astrid Forsyth from the University of Bath Language Department gave a talk
about the usefulness of languages in the workplace and possible career and study
options.
Astrid delivered a presentation to current Year 9 students, who are currently making
their choices for GCSE courses.
With great enthusiasm she gave examples of her own experience as a learner of languages. and pointed out the importance of learning languages in Britain in order to
be well prepared to enter the job market. It was a really interesting and informative
session and we are looking forward to having similar events in the future. Students’
and teachers’ feedback included:
‘Well thought out and very helpful’.
‘The event has made me think about learning a 3 rd language at home’.
‘Good to have a person from outside school & some shock statistics about how poor
at languages we are ...’
‘Experience video: good. Good to include cars and football to appeal to boys’.
‘Great that she made clear you don’t have to be perfect in a language’.
‘Statistics and examples of people using language in business, eg BMW, good’.
Astrid - Danke schön! Merci beaucoup! Muchas gracias! Thank you! Ms Pérez
GIFT OF BOOKS TO THE LIBRARY
Congratulations to Hannah Sackett, the mother of Josh Sackett in Phoenix 1 (Year 7) who has just won a writing competition run by Orion Books/ Salisbury Cathedral/ Cornelia Funke in order to launch Cornelia’s new book Ghost Knight.
Part of the prize was the donation of books to chosen schools, and Ms Sackett has asked to give £80 worth of the
prize books to Ralph Allen's school library, for which the school is extremely grateful. She works as a primary school
librarian, so the other half of the money is going on books for primary schools. Ms Sackett, who has written other nonfiction works and is a trained archaeologist, has kindly agreed to come in to school to read her story to a class and
discuss the process of writing. The books are donated by Orion publishers, and Ms Sackett’s story is on the Orion website: http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/Search.page?SearchText=sackett
B&NES Young Chef Competition
Christian Hughes (year 9) was runner up in the B&NES Young Chef Competition, held as Ston Easton Park on Tuesday
22nd January. Christian and Lara Taylor (year 8) had won the second round, hosted at Ralph Allen in December so
both represented the school.
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School News —Faculty of
Communications & Culture
The 11 students from six different B&NES schools had 1 hour to prepare their dish in the kitchens at Ston Easton
Park. The pressure was enormous - working against the clock, in an unfamiliar kitchen, and ! Students had to cook a
main meal dish which they had created or adapted from an original recipe. Christian chose to make a Greek meat
cobbler and used lamb and vegetables in the base, thyme in the scones then decorated the plates with olives and
feta cheese. Lara chose to do a colourful Thai Seafood Curry. Both dishes looked and tasted truly stunning.
Christian won an ipod and all the entrants received a goody bag containing several recipe books.
Mrs S Rogers, Teacher i/c Food Technology
DRAMA NEWS
‘96’: Year 13 A level Final Production
Cast: Eden Coffey-Cockram, Anya Gilbert, Jamie Hammond, Harry Kimberley-Bowen, Taro Sherabayani, Lauren
Stewart
Year 13 Drama students presented their final group performance on Wednesday 23/01/2013 in a combined showcase
with Hayesfield School. The outstanding piece of devised work explored the tragic events that occurred in Hillsborough in 1989 and examined the disaster from a range of perspectives. The six students began working on original
ideas for their piece back in September and created a piece of theatre that was sensitive, thought provoking and
highly theatrical— an example of ensemble work at its best. They should be very proud of their performances and we
now wish them all the best for their forthcoming exams.
Due to the snowy conditions on the evening of their performance some of their friends, family and staff were unable to
attend. There will be a repeat performance on Thursday
07/02/2013 at 3.30pm in the Drama studio to provide an opportunity for this performance to be seen again. If you would like
to attend please contact Laura Hobbs
(laura.hobbs@ralphallen.bathnes.org.uk).
Theatre Trips
‘The Woman in Black’, Theatre Royal, Bath
On 03/12/2013 all 45 Year 10 GCSE Drama students saw this
popular and long running play. The original director of the
piece, Robin Herford, performed in one of the main roles and
we also experienced a post-production talk in the theatre afterwards, led by the director and his fellow actor. Year 10 enjoyed being thrilled by this excellent production, which
they have used to write up part of their coursework.
‘The Rover’, Bath Spa University
Drama Students in Year 12 and Year 13 were given the opportunity to see Third Year undergraduate Drama students
in action at Bath Spa. The university is keen to create links and we were invited to view work in their lovely new theatre
space. Our students witnessed Drama in an alternative environment and we had much to analyse following this trip.
‘Deadkidsongs’ and ‘The Double’, The Ustinov
A level students experienced some very different pieces as part of the Ustinov’s stunning programme of plays as part
of their Drama from Literature season. These were plays that have kept us talking.
‘Richard III’, The Tobacco factory
We are looking forward to this forthcoming event in February as part of The Tobacco Factory’s Shakespeare season.
Drama Students in Year 13 will use it to prepare for their final written exam.
Extra- Curricular Drama
Drama Club
Drama Club for Years 8 & 9 ran successfully in Terms 1 & 2 on Tuesdays between 3-4pm. It is currently on Thursday eve-
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School News —Faculty of
Communications & Culture
nings from 3-4pm—newcomers welcome. Year 7 Drama club will run in the summer terms—details to follow.
Visiting workshop leader
Paolo Baigent, who runs regular workshops at The Rondo Theatre, offered a free workshop for students from Years 7- 9
in December. Many students took up this offer and experienced Drama from a different perspective.
Touring production of ‘Doomed’
Year 10 Drama students will be experiencing a Theatre in Education production of a new play, ‘Doomed’ which is
touring to the school in February. The play will be followed by a workshop on the theme of communication between
young people and their parents. It will hopefully offer them experience of the power of Theatre and how it can be
used as a tool to educate.
Other Events to look out for:
The GCSE practical exam will take place on the Evening of Thursday 01/05/2013. Parents and relatives of students involved in this exam will be sent invites to the event closer to the date. The Year 12 Practical exam will take place on
the evening of Thursday 16/05/2013. Again, parents and friends of students involved will be issued invites nearer to the
date.
Laura Hobbs & Claire O’Leary
Duke of Edinburgh Award 2013 - 2014
We are relaunching the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme this term. The Bronze Award will be offered to students in Year 9 and the Silver Award to Year 10 students that have already completed their Bronze Award.
This well established Award provides invaluable experiences and activities for young people. It helps to develop their
confidence and discover talents through challenging projects and adventures. The programme is well and known
and respected by employers and further education institutes alike for providing young people with numerous life skills.
The letters are in the Information section/Letters, forms and documents on the school website.
Costs
To cover the costs of transport, some outdoor kit, log books, campsites and classroom based resources the cost of the
Bronze Award is £160 and for the Silver Award £240. We aim to offer the Awards to as many students as possible in accordance with the regulations regarding staff to student ratios in the outdoors.
For more information see the school website or email jane.fox@ralphallen.bathnes.org.uk.
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INSPIRATION
School News—General Information
England v Australia Netball Series
Parking at Sulis Club
Please park considerately and safely when using the Sulis
Club. We have had complaints from people parked
there who are unable exit the car park because of parents’ blocking it at pick up time. Apparently this is becoming increasingly common. Please take note and park
more carefully. Thank you.
Student absence
World Number 1 Netball Team, Australia have been over
in the UK playing a series of games against England. On
Sunday 19th January one of these fixtures was played at
Bath University, so we took 25 Year 7, 8 and 9 students to
see Netball at its highest level. It was also great for the girls
to see ex-Ralph Allen student Serena Guthrie who is pictured with some of our students. England won the 1 st
game of the series 58-53. It was a great for the girls to see
such a competitive game to aspire towards. Mrs E Brown
GENERAL NEWS AND
INFORMATION
Applied Learning Centre building
continues
The second storey is in place and the spectacular
rammed-earth wall is being constructed, despite last
week’s snowy weather. Work on the all-weather pitch is
also steaming ahead. Mrs Jo Marsh, Business Manager
Our Attendance and Communications Officer, Mrs Ali
Vermeeren would like to remind all parents that they
should contact the school on the first day of a student
absence, and on every subsequent day that their child is
off school. You can phone at any time early in the morning as the answerphone will be on. Please give the date
on which you are calling. Mrs Vermeeren is spending a lot
of time chasing parents who have not phoned, and as a
result this is impacting on her daily work. Please note that
registering attendance at school—including authorised
and unauthorised absence - is a legal requirement. Currently parents/carers are phoning about fewer than 50%
of student absences. We want your help in improving this
figure! Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Student sickness
Please do not send your child to school if they are unwell,
but phone Mrs Vermeeren to register their absence. Currently Mrs Vermeeren is dealing with approx. 8 children
every day who request being sent home because they do
not feel well. If your child is unwell, please keep them at
home until they are ready to return to school. Children at
school should be prepared to learn.
Support for the school during severe weather
Thanks to all parents for their support during the recent
severe weather. We were pleased that the school remained open apart from when the conditions were at
their worst, Friday 18/01/2013. Special thanks to all the
school staff who enabled the school to stay open.
Hands-up Transport Survey for students
This will take place over the next few days as part of our
sustainable travel ambition and school travel plan. We
are encouraging all students to travel to school in the
most sustainable way possible, including by bike. Vivo
points to the first house to return their questionnaires.
Don’t forget—INSET DAYS FRI
08/02/2013 & FRI 08/03/2013
See the school website for more details and
photographs of articles in this newsletter
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