HEDINGHAM SCHOOL & SIXTH FORM NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 2015HEDLIGHTS

REPORT AND PICTURES

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CHRISTINE LANGAN, HEAD OF BBC FILM OFFICIALLY OPENS THE NEW MEDIA SUITE

NEWMEDIASUITEOPENS

WE ARE NOW at the end of another term and the festive season is upon us. This half term is always hectic with so many different events happening. As you read through the pages of this issue of Hedlights you will get a flavour of what has been taking place. I list below a few of them.

The Sixth Form Open Evening was brilliant. Attendance was good and there was a very positive atmosphere throughout the Sixth Form area and Science and Art rooms. Staff and students provided excellent advice and guidance to potential students and encouraged them to think very seriously about returning to Hedingham to continue their studies post 16. Many thanks to our students who did so well in my presentation and throughout the evening in classes.

We continue to be successfully involved in The Jack Petchey Award scheme which recognises students’ effort, endeavour, achievement and contribution to the school community in a very positive way. Students are nominated each month by fellow students and staff. The nominations are considered by the School Council which makes recommendations to the

Headteacher who chooses the award winner. All of the Award Winners are mentioned within Hedlights. We have had nine winners of this award this year and on Wednesday 20 January 2016 at 7.30 pm at The Braintree Arts Theatre there’s to be an awards evening for all participating schools in the district of Braintree to celebrate Jack Petchey Award Winners’ achievements. Congratulations to all our winners. Look for the article about them inside.

The Whole School Dance Show held on 9 December was brilliant. The students excelled themselves; they were just amazing as were the lighting and costumes. Some lovely pictures of the events are inside Hedlights. Thank you to Nicola Cook, Gemma Brighton and Kara Challis for organising this very entertaining evening.

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without our traditional Christmas Celebration at the end of this term. This was a fantastic evening. Our students, as usual, performed enthusiastically and brilliantly and the community singing was amazing. The atmosphere was wonderful, just right to get everyone into the Christmas Spirit. Thank

you to Richard Cull for all the organising and planning.

Certificate Evening on 17 December was very successful. Miles Scrivens, our Chair of Governors, handed out the certificates and prizes, former students delivered very encouraging and motivating speeches and the musical interludes were brilliant. I would like to thank everyone who helped and supported the evening with particular mention to Cindy Matthews. My thanks also to Colin Johnston, John Raynor and Andy Harvison for their organisation and all staff who attended the evening. It was a lovely time and our students, as always, were very supportive of each other.

Monday 4 January 2016 is the first day back for all students. Finally, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

John Panayi, Headteacher

Head’s Lines

CONGRATULATIONS to the Summer Term Jack Petchey Award Winners:

Lewis Archer (September) - Lewis was nominated for taking part in the

paired numeracy scheme to support KS3 students with their basic Maths skills.

He has an excellent manner with students, encouraging them with their Maths and helping to build confidence. He has been patient with those who struggle significantly with their basic numeracy.

Charlotte Marman (October) - Charlotte was nominated because, having finished her GCSE Geography course, she then used her own time to support other students with their Geography revision. She was very pro-active and selfless in this and worked very hard to explain all about low pressure systems and cyclones.

Imogen Legrove (November) - Imogen was nominated for supporting and keeping students safe on the school bus when they faced difficulties, also for her work assisting as a student ambassador at Cressing Temple Barnes. She was nominated for helping out children with disabilities during the holidays.

She assists helpers in a Holiday Camp for severely disabled children, thereby giving their parents a rest for a short time. She has been doing this for some time now.

Charlotte Marman

Lewis Archer

Imogen Legrove

Jack Petchey Awards

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Best Uniform Winners for the second half of the Summer Term and first

half of Autumn Term are:

Kathryn Haylock • Harry Stock • Josh Wells

Sian Evans • Tom Greenhill • Hannah Smith

Callum Lilley • Elizabeth Halls

Amy Greer • Jake Markham • Elizabeth Perkins

Lucy Jarmin • William Bevan • Jess Mattock

Shane Halls • Alex Thurgood • Ben Pinnell • Jack Bowden

Hedingham SchoolPrint Department

Highly competitive prices for all your print requirementsDesign work undertaken

Photocopying and printing - colour and mono

Booklets • Tickets • Flyers • PostersInvitations • Business cards • Laminating

Printing on canvas & outdoor vinyl banners

Fast, friendly and professional serviceAll profits used for the benefit of our students

For further information and quotes please contact:01787 460470 ext 251 • reprographics@hedingham.essex.sch.uk

FOR THE LAST SEVEN years Hedingham School has been proud to take part in the nationwide Bookbuzz scheme. Bookbuzz, which is run by the Book Trust charity, offers all Year 7 students in England a book to keep and read. As you know, Hedingham School is keen to support all of our students with their literacy skills and we want them all to choose to keep on reading for pleasure and be life-long readers. Bookbuzz is about reading for pleasure. It is a brilliant opportunity to give our students the chance to discover a new

author or genre or to re-discover for themselves that reading is a fun and worthwhile pastime.

Our Year 7 students at Hedingham made their choices in September and when the books arrived came to collect them from the Learning Centre at the beginning of December.

The most popular choice by far this year was Cuckoo Song by Francis Hardinge, a spooky tale set in the 1920s about a girl called Triss who wakes up after an accident voraciously hungry, with big holes in her memory and her

little sister is really frightened of her. Oh, and when she cries her tears are like cobwebs.

As always, the choice of 12 books was excellent and varied. Something there for everyone. The Bookbuzz website (http://www.bookbuzz.org.uk/) has all of this year’s books on there and a lot more besides: quizzes and competitions as well as a ‘Bookfinder’ to help you look for your next book and a great suggestion area called ‘if you liked that, you’ll love this’, as well as this year’s author backlists.

HEDINGHAM SCHOOL was very privileged to have Christine Langan, the Head of BBC Film, in to school to officially open the new Media Suite which was installed over the summer. The suite is designed for use by Sixth Form students studying for A levels in Media and Photography. Both of these subjects are very popular with students with many choosing to go on to university to further their knowledge of this booming creative industry. Ms

Langan was able to speak to students about her experiences of the film industry and all the different TV programmes and films she has been involved in. Sixth Former Imogen Legrove from Halstead said, ‘The whole experience was utterly inspiring and students got the chance to ask searching questions and learn about Ms Langan’s background and her path into the world of film.’

The students were fascinated to learn that Ms Langan had met numerous famous individuals, including Kit Harington and Michael Fassbender, and has also won one of the very prestigious BAFTA awards. Ms Langan brought her award into school to show students and some of them were even lucky enough to hold it!

The day was an amazing experience and incredibly beneficial for students wanting to go into the film industry. Christine Langan was most impressed by the suite of 25 new iMacs complete with top of the range, industry standard, editing software, for use in both A level Media Studies and Photography. Leader of Media, Mr Rory Hyde, has already witnessed the positive impact the new equipment has had on the quality of work produced by the students. He commented, ‘With these new facilities our students are better prepared for a

future in the creative media industry. Overall it was a fantastic day which was enjoyed by students and teachers alike.’

Alfie Wyand- Brooks who studies Media and Photography at A level said, ‘The new Media Suite has greatly improved my quality of work. The Apple IMacs and software allow me to make and edit films and photos to a really professional standard. The suite also helps bring the students together because we are all in the same room creating and sharing ideas as we work which I think is very important in these subjects. I am really grateful for what the school has provided us with, as are the rest of the students.’

Hedingham Opens New Media Suite

IT WAS A WET and miserable Sunday in July when 43 students and their teachers were loaded on to a coach ready to head off to the south of France. The bad weather kept up until Dover but around 20 hours after departing Hedingham, they arrived at the gloriously sunny destination of Mimosa on the Mediterranean sea ready for a week of exciting water- based activities.

The next three days involved numerous activities on the beach and in the sea with the students taking full advantage of sea kayaking, banana boating, and sailing off in catamarans. Evenings at Mimosa were filled with fun and games, pizza on the beach and eating spectacularly delicious ice cream.

For the second half of the trip, the group set off to the amazing scenery of the Ardèche river. The excellent river team guided the students and their canoes through the stunning limestone gorge over numerous rapids, some of which were more gracefully manoeuvred than others with students enjoying the capsizing almost more than the canoeing!

After three days on the river, all of the students reached the end of the route exhausted but with huge smiles on their faces. Everyone agreed that the trip had been absolutely fantastic, with all of the children exhibiting excellent behaviour throughout.

Ardèche Antics

Scintillating Sanger

A LEVEL BIOLOGY students recently had the privilege of visiting the world renowned Sanger Institute at Hinxton near Cambridge. The Institute is a world leader in genome research and aims to deliver new insights into human and pathogen biology that will change the course of biology and medicine. During their visit the students had a fascinating tour of the state of the art facilities and an inspirational talk on cutting edge science relating to cancer treatments. The Sanger Institute played a huge role in the Human Genome Project, an international collaboration to sequence the whole human genome (the DNA in a cell). They are now involved in the 100K Genome Project which aims to track 100,000 patients over 5 years comparing their genomes with their NHS records to better understand

health risks.The 30 students are all in their

first year of studying Biology, but have a keen interest in extending their knowledge of science. The tour allowed them to see the work place of over 1000 people involved in learning more about the scientific world. Just over 20 years ago the site only had seven people working there but this has grown into one of the foremost scientific research institutes in the world. They were also able to see the world’s largest genome sequencing computers.

Dr Patrick Tarpey, Senior Research Scientist with the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, gave an inspirational talk about the work he is currently involved in. Dr Tarpey is the lead scientist for the International Cancer Genome

Consortium project investigating bone cancers. He also contributes to on-going genomic investigations of renal, breast and colorectal (bowel) cancers. Dr Tarpey explained how they have identified individual ‘signature mutations’ in the genome for different types of cancer. This will hopefully enable them to identify cancers that people have much earlier, which would mean treatment could start earlier and the patients would have a greater chance of survival.

Charlotte Connolly (seen holding the DNA model in the group photo) commented, ‘It was an amazing trip and I wasn’t expecting the Sanger Institute to be so huge! Dr Tarpey gave us such an intriguing insight into how cancers develop and the vast assortment of treatments available for different types of cancer.’

ON NOVEMBER 19th the Year 13 Business Studies students ventured into London to experience the hustle and bustle of Canary Wharf and the financial district.

We arrived in Canary Wharf, having passed the Olympic Stadium and Billingsgate Market. Students had time to explore Canary Wharf and to be inspired by the opportunities for work in the area.

We then left Canary Wharf and headed to the O2 in Greenwich to understand how this area has been regenerated and how the dome has become a profitable entertainment centre. It was hosting the ATP Tennis Championships and we were lucky enough to see Rafa Nadal, the former World Number 1 Tennis Player,

on the practice courts.We then headed by boat up the

Thames to Tower Bridge, where the students visited the Shard and City Hall. We headed back to Greenwich and saw the restored Cutty Sark before heading to Stratford and Westfield Shopping centre.Joe Collings: ‘I believe this trip was a very informative trip and it benefitted me greatly in seeing business works in London and all of the different opportunities that can arise. It also gave me an idea of what working in London is like.’Lewis Archer added, ‘I found the life around Canary Wharf fascinating, and it gave me an idea of seeking employment in this part of London’.

Year 13 Capital Experience

Spectacular Sunshine for Sponsored Walk

THE SPONSORED WALK day dawned chilly but gloriously sunny with the countryside looking stunning in the autumn sunshine. Excited children gathered in the bus park before they set off on the 10 mile walk along foot paths and bridle ways. Some brave (or maybe foolhardy!) students had donned shorts for the day and had to battle against nettles but nothing spoilt the fun of being in such lovely countryside with all their friends and lots of food to keep them going! The recent rain added to the enjoyment with students skidding on mud and jumping over puddles as they wended their way to Gestingthorpe, where one of biggest picnics seen in Essex took place. Hundreds of students gave their tired feet a rest and sat in the brilliant sunshine eating their well-deserved sandwiches. As 11 year old Chris Le Comber from Sible

Hedingham said, ‘I got very muddy because I walked through every puddle I could find!’ Dozens of them had decided to wear their bright green Smile of Arran Trust T shirts to show that their friend Arran, who tragically died over a year ago, is still very much in their minds and close to their hearts.

The sponsored walk takes place every two years with lessons abandoned for the day and all the students and staff at the school participating. There can’t be many schools in the country where over

1200 people go for a walk together! At Hedingham we are blessed with the beautiful scenery of the Essex/Suffolk border and local farmers and land owners are very kind to let us walk over their land. A very efficient team of school marshalls, clad in high visibility jackets, made sure that everyone crossed roads safely and ensured that no one got lost!. The police also came out to assist at some of the more awkward road junctions which was much appreciated by everyone.

Hedingham School has a close

community and it was good to see many older students, who have now done the walk 3 or 4 times, supporting Year 7 students who are 11 years old and have only been at their new school for 3 weeks. Year 7 student Aiden Pryke from Sible Hedingham commented, ‘I was proud to be one of the first to finish the walk but I did get quite a few blisters!’ By 3pm everyone was back at the school tired and happy, covered in mud and ready to catch their buses home for a very well-earned rest.

HAVING BEEN a number of years since Hedingham School’s Music Department last went on tour, it seemed fitting that students were given another opportunity to perform music to a live public audience. On Friday 20th November students embarked on a very special trip to London. It was a two-day visit and was packed with a range of interesting and exciting activities

for students.On the Friday, all 39 students

performed a wide range of music at the Actors’ Church in Covent Garden, an important London landmark. Music included Jason Sones performing a romantic piano piece by Grieg; performances on African Drums; the department ‘Rock School’ club performing an Ed Sheeran song; plus a whole host of brilliant solo and duet performances. Vocalize, the school choir, opened the show with a great performance of ‘My Favourite Things’ and closed with a Lion King Medley. There were a number of accolades given

Hedingham charms Covent Garden on London Trip

Vocalize, the school choir, performing in the Actors’ Church

Toby Halls and Joe Snell were amongst the many students who performed

superb solo or duet performances

Enjoying the delights of London after their Actors’ Church performance in Covent Garden

Year 7 TalentShow

ON WEDNESDAY 25th November, a group of Year 13 students ran a talent show for Year 7 students, and what a success it was!

These students — Max O’Sullivan, Josh Carter, Kerry Butcher, Abby Sells, Dylan Deeks and Ellie Baker, had been given a task in their Skills for Living course to plan and run an event.

Five Year 7s bravely performed in front of their audience. Holly Rosemoore sung the ‘Fight Song’ by Rachel Platton; Ruben Gould performed a dramatic piece about pain and sorrow; Jenson Ashworth sang ‘Air Guitar’ by McBusted; Tom Arnold sang ‘How deep is your love’ by Calvin Harris and Disciples; and Alex Irving showed some of his yo-yoing skills.

Money raised by the tickets sold, which amounted to £15, was given to the James D Simmons Music Fund. This allows three sets of drum sticks to be bought to support young musicians in the Braintree area.

from the public during and after the concert- we certainly do have musically talented students here at Hedingham!

It was fantastic to have the choir performing the Lion King as we were also fortunate enough to have Simon Morgan, the horn player from the West End show The Lion King, assisting our set-up at the church. After the show, students had a fantastic time eating food at Planet Hollywood with its film memorabilia and other novelties (let alone the food!) and then we took a good stroll down the Strand where we thoroughly enjoyed watching The Lion King musical. This was certainly another highlight for students! Afterwards students stayed in the rather lovely Safari Hotel, Chessington, and woke up excited to see a safari outside their windows, including deer and zebras!

Saturday saw students visiting the thought-provoking and, at times eccentric, Horniman Museum in South London, which boasts 7,000 musical instruments on display! After a walking tour around Westminster, and what with the wind and cold temperatures picking up, we then headed off back home.

Students had a brilliant time and were thankful for the trip; one student, Ciaran O’Hanlon, said the London trip was the best trip he’s ever been on in school! We hope to hold another trip in 2017-18, somewhere across the sea!

Probably much to the amusement of the armed police opposite, students took part in a brilliant marching competition outside

Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall

Students were also surprised to meet and greet some well-known film characters during their breakfast at the hotel!

Waiting to find their seats at The Lion King musical and also to get warmed up!

THE WHOLE SCHOOL Dance Show took place on Wednesday 9 December, involving over 70 students. The audience watched solo, duets and group pieces as students showcased their dance work, performing a range of styles from Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Ballet and much more!

GCSE Dance students performed coursework in Act Two, providing the audience with a complete range and contrast in styles and theme.

The evenings were a great success – well done to all students involved!

Dance Show

ON THURSDAY 3rd December, 43 Year 8 students and five members of staff met very early at school to get on their merry way to Cologne, Germany.

On Friday, we started by visiting the stunning cathedral where we had to walk up 548 steps! But it was all worth it when we got to the top as it was an amazing view and we saw the whole city of Cologne, including the massive river Rhine and all the famous landmarks from very high up. After that we went to the first Christmas market where we had lunch and went on a gigantic Ferris wheel where Connie and I got stuck on the top! Next we walked to the Lindt Chocolate Museum. Once inside, the smell was heavenly and we all tried a wafer dipped in a warm milk Lindt chocolate fountain. We saw how all the chocolate was made and prepared, ready to leave the factory! After spending some time (and money) in the shop, we walked along the Rhine,

back to the cathedral where we went to the biggest Christmas market and it was all beautifully lit up at night. Finally we went back to the hotel, ate

our lovely dinner (curry!), did a small speaking presentation in front of the group in German and packed, ready to leave the next day.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and, after about one hour drive, we stopped at another Christmas market, this time in Aachen. At 1pm, we went back on the coach and travelled for 4 hours until we got to Calais where we managed to get an earlier ferry but there was a 3-hour delay as it was very stormy. Eventually, the ferry came but because it was quite rocky, most people felt sick but Barnaby was dancing around the ferry making everyone laugh. We got back at 1.30 in the morning, we were all very tired but it was an amazing trip and all worth it.

Thank you to Miss Malaval, Mr Illingworth, Miss Page, Miss Martin and Miss Tarbet for taking us all on the trip. It was wonderful!

By Evie Fenner, Connie O’Brien & Barnaby Gough

Cologne Christmas Markets Trip

HAVING ACHIEVED EXCELLENT A level results this summer, ex- Hedingham School student Joe Nourse has gone on to make his August truly awesome by breaking 2 club records in 5 days. Joe lives in Halstead but trains regularly with Braintree Athletics Club. He took part in a BMC competition and beat the previous club record for the mile distance by over 5 seconds. The BMC is the Premier Middle Distance athletics club in the country and works in close partnership with British Athletics in the organisation of its fixtures and courses.Joe commented, ‘This was my first BMC and my aim was to break the club record of 4 minutes 40.3 seconds. I ran 4 minutes 35.13 seconds and I would

like to take this opportunity to thank my coach who also deserves a lot of credit for all of the hard work he puts in and the specific sessions he organises. Without him I would have not achieved this record. Thank you Simon!’ Joe’s coach, Simon Mennell, replied, ‘Thanks for the kind comments Joe but you deserved all you got as talent alone does not get rewards - you need hard work and dedication. I am lucky to coach athletes like you who tick all those boxes. You can achieve many things in this sport Joe. Well done!’

Joe also did extremely well in the South of England Inter County Championships held in August when he represented Essex and took part in the 2000m steeplechase, achieving a club record time of 6 minutes 28.93 seconds. He gained 3rd place in this competition even though he ran in the under -20 age group with a lot of athletes older than he was. Joe is now aiming to break the club 3000m steeplechase record before he heads off to university later this month to study physiotherapy.

SPORTSuperstar Joe

FIFTEEN YEAR OLD Sophie Rice from Great Maplestead came third in the Essex Level 3 Gymnastics competition, held in Colchester, meaning that she has now qualified for the regional final. Sophie excelled in the floor exercise gaining a silver medal. She commented, ‘I didn’t really

expect to do so well as I fell off the beam. But, everyone found that really difficult so I was still able to get a medal!’

Sophie trains with the Colchester School of Gymnastics and has been involved in the world of gymnastics since the age of 6. She says, ‘I was really flexible when I was young and kept doing the splits in the middle of the supermarket so my mum decided to send me to a gymnastics club!’ Sophie now trains after school 3 times a week, clocking up a total of 10 and a half hours a week, on top of studying for her GCSEs. Sophie is now preparing for the regional finals which will be held in Ipswich. Sophie says the competitions are really nerve wracking but great when you get going! We wish her success.

Sophie’s Spectacular Success

What’s up for Watson?OVER OCTOBER half- term, thirteen

year old Tom Watson, who is in Year 9, took part in trials for the England Development rugby team which were held at Millfield School in Somerset. He trained with the under -14 England team and is now excitedly waiting for further details of his training commitments. Tom has recently returned to Britain after living in Dubai with his family for 3 years due to his mother’s job. Whilst he was there, he really enjoyed playing ‘Rugby Sevens’ so as soon as he settled in Braintree, Tom joined Chelmsford Rugby Club where his skills and talents on the field were quickly recognised and he was put forward for Essex trials. His success there then led to him being put forward for the trial for the England

team.At six foot 2 inches tall, Tom is big

for his age and said, ‘I have always felt unusually tall at school but when I got to the England trials I just fitted in and was like all the others!’ He currently plays at fly-half or centre and his dream is to go professional in his chosen sport. Tom recently attended a rugby match in London between Saracens and London Irish which was arranged by Essex and at the end of the match he had the chance to practise place kicking with England fly- half Owen Farrell which he said was an amazing experience.

Tom is really happy to be living in Braintree and going to school at Hedingham because he says it is so much cooler than Dubai!

It’s a Bull’s Eye for ImogenIMOGEN NEWBY, took part in the Archery National Championships held at Stoneleigh Park in Coventry earlier this month.

As Imogen is eleven years old, this was her last chance to win a national title in the U12 age group and she did herself proud! She won by 40 points with a score of 545 and is now the UK Ladies U12 Recurve, Junior National Indoor Champion 2015.

The target face is 60cm diameter and

Imogen had 60 arrows to shoot in total and the maximum score achievable is 600. When you consider that Imogen had to hit the centre gold spot, which is the size of a ten pence, from 20 yards away, her success is even more remarkable. Imogen commented, ‘I wasn’t the favourite so I was really excited and shocked when I won!’

The school would like to congratulate Imogen on her fantastic performance and well deserved title.

YEAR 8 STUDENT, Tilly Turp, is only twelve years old but already she is a champion! Tilly, who lives in Gosfield, is currently Great Britain champion for Slalom Water Skiing in her age category and is also third in England for trick water skiing. She only started the trick water skiing this year and enjoys doing 180o and 360o spins. Next year Tilly will be allowed to do jumps as she will be able to compete in the Under- 14 category.

Tilly lives in Gosfield and trains on the lake 5 times a week in the season which runs from April to August. She wears a wet suit when skiing and a dry suit when the water is really cold during winter training. When asked how she copes with the hardship of cold water Tilly says, ‘You kind of get used to the cold but the thought of it is awful!’

Tilly has been water skiing since she was 5 years old and all her family are also involved in the sport. Her

father is her coach and either he or her brother drives the boat that tows her at speed across the lake. For the slalom race Tilly has to weave between 6 buoys with increasing speed and a shortening rope. Her aim now is to break the record for the Under- 14 event. We all wish her success for next season and are sure that with her determination she will achieve her dream!

Top Notch Tilly

Evie Jumps to the TopLast weekend, twelve year old Evie Stokes – Shinn from Hedingham School won the trampolining competition, held at the Copper Box in the Olympic Park at Stratford. This means that she is now the League 2 British National Trampolining Champion. Evie has also qualified to take part in the National Schools Trampolining Competition and has got through the first round and will be representing Hedingham School at the semi- finals which will be held in Cardiff in January 2016.Evie, who lives in Halstead, commented,

‘I am very happy with my win and I am proud to have my trophy at home. I am really looking forward to representing the school next month in Cardiff!’ She trains several nights a week after school in Brentwood and also devotes much of her weekend to trampolining practice. Evie spends a lot of time in the car, travelling back and forth to Brentwood to her training sessions, but her success makes the hours of training that she puts in every week all worthwhile. Hedingham School is very proud of Evie and her achievements so far.

Rousing RugbyFOURTEEN YEAR OLD students, Chloe Dain, Ellie Rogers, Sian Evans and Layla Goodchild, were recently selected, after successful trials, to play for the Eastern Counties U15’s girls in the London & South East Girls CB Division Festival 2015.

The girls, who also play rugby at Sudbury RUFC, played well and were great ambassadors for both the school and the rugby club. Chloe, Ellie and Sian were selected to represent Eastern Counties again on Saturday 29th November at Diss RUFC where they played Middlesex. Unfortunately, Layla was unable to take part due to other commitments.

The girls played a massive part in what was an enthralling and expansive game of rugby with Chloe and Sian playing out on the wings and Ellie at scrum half. Middlesex scored the first try to go 5-0 but a quick reply from Eastern Counties made it 5-5 and then by half- time Middlesex led 19-5. The girls from Eastern Counties were back at Middlesex to make it 19-10,

24-15, 29-15 with a final score of 29-22. It was a cracking game of rugby with the Hedingham contingent playing a major role within the team’s successful day, even though it was a narrow defeat. One of their tries came about after 17 phases of play which is remarkable in itself at any level of rugby!

The selection of the girls to play at such a high level is testament to the strong links between the school’s PE department and Sudbury RUFC over the last few years

TWELVE YEAR OLD STUDENT, Samuel Cook, recently achieved his Black Belt in Tang Soo Do, which is also known as Korean Karate. Sam achieved this extremely high standard in November 2015 by completing an 8 hour grading day where he had to demonstrate all his technical moves. He also had to take part in 10 fights, most of which were with youngsters a lot older than him or adults.

Tang Soo Do is a classical martial art and its purpose is to develop every aspect of the ‘self’, in order to produce a mature person who can totally integrate his intellect, emotions, body and spirit. The purpose of Tang Soo Do training is not to fight, but to perfect techniques which will enhance the total self. Sam has been involved in martial arts for nearly 8 years since he joined a primary school self-defence club in Cressing. He then progressed on to a bigger club in Great Leighs as he enjoyed it so much and since then there has been no stopping him!

Sam is very young to have achieved a Black Belt but Tang Soo Do is a family interest with his father also holding a Black Belt and his 2 younger sisters aiming to get theirs too. Sam’s ambition now is to gain stripes on his Black Belt by doing further training and competitions.

Sam the Karate Kid!