Terms 1 & 2 2015

Issue 1 2015

RGS Newsletter

Autumn Edition

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Message from The Principal 1

NChant at the Royal Albert Hall 2

Senior Prize Giving 2015 Open Day 3

Historical Association Debate Harvest Festival 4

Rochester - Rochester 5

History Trip to Berlin & Krakow 6

Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Exhibition 8

Year 7 Trip to the Natural History Museum 9

Washington and Lee Salutes 10

Year 8 Trip to the National Portrait Gallery

Year 10 GCSE Trip to the Imperial War Museum 11

Year 11 - Tate Modern Review 12

Sports News - Terms 1 and 2 Fixture Information Madrid Trip 14

RGS Charity Fundraising

Yazmin's Great Lengths for Charity Library Launch 15

Tim Peake goes into Space

Hidden Consequences Video 16

STEM Club Senior Citizens' Christmas Party 17

Looking Ahead - Important Dates for Terms 3&4 2016 18

Dear Parents and Carers

We end the year with some wonderful news. As Tim Peake launches into space, RGS itself has continued to rocket up the league tables.

We have been recognised by the Sunday Times as the 32nd highest school in the country for our GCSE and A level/IB results combined.

For the IB, we have topped the national league tables. These outcomes are due to the hard work and determination of our students and the outstanding support they receive from their teachers. It is also the result of an effective partnership between home and school, so I

would like to thank all parents for their on‑going support.

This term, we are delighted to announce that we have gained a significant kite mark from the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors. RGS has been awarded the CIEA Excellence in Assessment award for achieving the necessary standard in assessment

governance, policy and processes. Quality marking and assessment leads to outstanding outcomes and this has now been formally

recognised by a professional body. We will be applying next for Cultural Diversity and Investors’ in Careers awards to celebrate the outstanding achievements in both of these areas.

It has been a packed start to the school year as we can see in this bumper edition of the newsletter. There have been numerous

opportunities for students to enrich their Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural learning both within and outside the school environment, including the very popular trip to Berlin and Krakow, the Duke of Edinburgh expedition, various museum visits and debates. You can

read all about these inside this edition of the newsletter which you can also find online on the school’s website.

A personal highlight was seeing N-Chant, our very own ‘super group’, singing at the Royal Albert Hall. To be amongst celebrities and

professional singers can be very daunting, but our girls outshone them all with their beautiful harmonies, confidence and poise. We were beaming with pride and the students were showered with congratulatory comments and e-mails following the event.

The Sixth Formers showed their outstanding skills of organisation with their planning of the annual Senior Citizens’ Christmas party. It

certainly impressed the audience and we have had numerous letters of praise for our students. One person commented, ‘Please be aware

how buoyed up we felt (two 85 year olds), homeward bound from the RGS social evening. The RGS mix of young performers was quite splendid and you have rejuvenated our faith in the young’.

Our exciting collaboration with Rochester, Michigan, USA, is going from strength to strength as we commence planning a Transatlantic

project to celebrate their 50th anniversary as a city and 200th year since the first settlers arrived. In September, the Executive Officers and myself engaged in a video conferencing call with their staff and student body to launch the link.

Finally, we all participated in launching Tim Peake into space on 15th December. With a live countdown in the Hall at break time, students literally waved him off on his journey to the International Space Station. As a school, we will be following Tim’s mission and

using the specially designed learning resources to enrich the teaching of Space within science lessons and across the curriculum.

I wish you all a joyous and peaceful Christmas and a happy new year.

Issue 1 2015 December 2015

Term 1&2

MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

RGS Newsletter

Yours sincerely

Mr Bassan

Principal

RGS Newsletter Page 2

NCHANT AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL

On Thursday 26th November I

made my first proper debut with NChant at the Royal Albert

Hall. We were invited to participate in a carol concert

‘Celebrating Christmas with The Salvation Army’ to

perform alongside The

Salvation Army’s International Staff Songsters (premier choir),

International Staff Band (premier band) as well as a

number of celebrity guests. The whole night was absolutely amazing and I’m so proud to have

been involved!

I only joined NChant about six months ago and I remember that

we were told about the Albert Hall invitation at my first rehearsal. Since I’d never been to the venue before and I knew about events

like the ‘Proms’ that took place there, I was both excited and fairly daunted by the prospect of performing there. Since that first

rehearsal, the whole choir and our Choral Director Mrs

Woodman have been working extremely hard to prepare three songs for the event: an arrangement of ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum

Fairy’, ‘There Is No Rose’ and ‘Tell Me, Tell Me’. After many rehearsals dedicated to the songs, countless car journeys singing

along to my part (whilst listening to our practice CD) and mastering some choreography to accompany the last song; it was

finally time to show it off to the audience of six thousand at The

Royal Albert Hall!

We left school at the beginning of lunchtime on the day of the concert, once we’d all changed into our matching NChant

hoodies. The atmosphere on the coach was excellent, with a real buzz of excitement from everybody. However, as we arrived in

London and began to get closer and closer to the venue, I started

to become more nervous than I’d been before. We knew that the experience was really starting when Mrs Woodman lead a warm

up on the coach in the middle of London. I don’t really know what I’d been expecting for the whole of the build-up, but when

we arrived all I remember is it being better and quite a lot bigger than I ever could have imagined. One of the most exciting parts of

the day was the sound check since it was the first time some of us

had ever seen the inside of the Albert Hall, let alone performed there. The high ceilings, lighting and sound team, and the

thousands of empty seats were our only surroundings for the sound check but we all knew that that once full, it would make for

a more nerve-wracking experience!

Back in our dressing room, with our own NChant door sign, we

ate our packed teas and changed into our dresses. I was nervous but also felt quite sad because after months of preparation what

we had been working towards would, within the space of a couple of hours, all be over. Despite this feeling, I knew that I

had to enjoy it, every second, because it would be one of the best experiences of my life so far. I wasn’t mistaken; it was everything

that I’d hoped it would be and more. The three pieces went really well, the other performers were all amazing. We were well

supported by staff members, friends and family who came to see

(and hear) the result of months of work and dedication.

Coming off the stage, we were in high spirits, smiling and laughing, due to the rush of adrenalin. We passed a few

celebrities on the way back to the dressing room and the whole atmosphere afterwards felt quite surreal. Changing back into our

hoodies was quite bittersweet since it marked the fact that the

experience was over; but I can tell you now we really did RGS proud! I am also proud of everyone in the choir and really

grateful for The Salvation Army’s invitation and all of Mrs Woodman’s hard work; without her none of it would have been

possible. I’m looking forward to everything that I have ahead of me with NChant, but it will take a lot to beat this amazing night.

The Royal Albert Hall- not a bad debut concert, even if I do say

so myself!

Alice Humphrys, Sv3

Issue 1 2015 Page 3

Once again, it was time for the Leadership Team to don their academic regalia and to celebrate the incredible achievement and progress

of Year 10, 11 and 12 students in their summer examinations.

Our guest speaker for the evening was Mrs Sue Foxley who is an Alumni of The Rochester Grammar School. Following her A’ levels, she completed a BSc in Rural Environmental Studies at Wye College, University of London. She received a Rotary Foundation

Scholarship to study for an MSc in Urban Planning & Policy Development at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She later completed a further MSc in Property Investment at City, now Cass Business School.

The musical interludes came from the String Quartet of Catherine Alsey, Annabel Beniston, Susanna Alsey and Emma Beniston who played Divertimento in D by Mozart. Euan Washbourn then went on to amazed us with polished and enticing piano rendition of

Nocturne No. 21 in E flat by Chopin. We would like to give a big congratulations to all of the prize winners.

SENIOR PRIZE GIVING 2015

OPEN DAY

Our Open Day in October gave prospective students the opportunity to

come and look around the school and gave them the opportunity to find out about life at RGS from the people who know it best: our students and

staff. We had over 550 students volunteer to act as guides and provide excellent advice and demonstrations in subject areas. During the morning

we had 412 families visit and feedback from them praised the professionalism and confidence of the students. The success of the morning

was due to the dedication and hard work of the staff and students.

RGS Newsletter Page 4

The Canterbury Historical Association

Sixth Form debate took place on 11th November and I am delighted to say

that Katharine Forbes, 13G won.

There were 13 speakers in all; each spoke

for a maximum of 5 minutes on the topic of 'the day which most changed the course

of history' and then answered a question

from each of the 3 judges.

Although a number of them spoke well,

Katharine was the only one to speak entirely without notes. She was fluent and

spoke confidently, without hesitation or repetition. Her argument was well

structured with very precise supporting

detail and her conclusion offered a reason

why her choice of date was more significant than others. She also gave

thoughtful answers to the questions posed by the judges.

Before making the presentation, the senior judge offered 3 key tips: speak

freely and engage with the audience

rather than reading; have some sort of criteria to justify your choice; be prepared

for questions - at that point I felt it likely that she had won.

Other students and several teachers in the audience made a point of coming to

congratulate her but one teacher in

HARVEST FESTIVAL

It is a tradition every year at RGS that all staff and pupils

contribute food for the harvest boxes but also helping to create some amazing, innovative and creative Harvest boxes.

Each year to start off Harvest, we hold an assembly for the whole

school to come together and realise for another year, how lucky we are and how thankful we should be about all that we have, not

just the food that we have but for the amazing opportunities that

we have and that are created by the school that not everyone gets to experience. This is a time for reflection and gratitude for

everyone in the school, staff and pupils alike. After the assembly the boxes are then judged, not just on their aesthetics but on the

food that has been collected by all of the students. The theme this year was ‘British nature’ and there were many amazing boxes from

giant trees to a variety of different animals.

For the fourth year running, Cassidy won the Harvest box

competition with their outside the box idea of recreating The Wind in The Willows, depicting each character through a harvest

box. The calling of the boxes was close as it is every year, however

Cassidy was able to tip the scales with their generosity due to the sheer amount of food that they had managed to collect and

donate. The Harvest festival brings everyone in the school closer, with students and staff alike giving up their lunch times to create

amazing boxes, as well as creating friendly competition between

Houses. The food is then given to the school’s charity of the

choice where the food will benefit those who are less fortunate.

Lillian Woolgar, 13D

particular and one of the judges explicitly

commented on her impressive command of detail and delivery.

Please note that she chose her own topic, researched it and wrote her speech

entirely unaided. The only help I gave was to read her speech and suggest she

think of a reason why her choice of a

significant date was more convincing than an alternative.

Mrs Warren

H ISTORICAL ASSOCIATION DEBATE

Issue 1 2015 Page 5

Rochester, Mich. and Rochester, Kent, England are nearly 4,000 miles apart. (Google Maps

Celebrating Rochester: Honors College collaborates with school

in England

From the cozy confines of Oak View Hall, students in Oakland University’s Honors College recently chatted

via video link with students at Rochester Grammar School in Rochester, Kent, England. The discussion

marked the beginning of a yearlong collaboration in

which students at both schools will share experiences of living and learning in two Rochester cities nearly

4,000 miles apart.

A tale of two cities

During the video discussion, students from both schools shared ideas for the collaboration, as well as

tidbits about their respective cities. Nestled near the base of the River Medway, about 30 miles east of

London, Rochester, Kent is closely tied to history and popular culture. Charles Dickens lived in the area and

set many of his novels there. Historic Leeds Castle,

located in Kent, is a popular tourist attraction and film location. A scene from “Harry Potter and the Deathly

Hallows: Part 1” was also filmed in Kent.

OU students shared some of the highlights of

Rochester, Michigan, including its Fire and Ice Festival and downtown attractions. The students were

joined in the video discussion by Honors College Dean

Graeme Harper, as well as the principal (Neil DeLuca) and assistant principals (Casey Wescott and Pasquale

Cusumano) of Rochester High School. The mayor of Rochester, Michigan, Jeffrey Cuthbertson, is also

supporting the collaboration. He visited Rochester Grammar School while overseas this month.

“During 2016, we'll be leading an international collaboration, involving high schools, where the two Rochesters will share stories through the experiences of students who have grown up in these two linked places in different parts of the world,” Dean Harper said.

Dean Harper said the collaboration will run through 2016 and culminate in 2017 as OU celebrates its 60th anniversary and the Honors

College marks 40 years in existence. At the same time, Rochester, Michigan will reach its 50th anniversary as a city and 200th year since settlers first arrived.

For more on OU’s Honors College, visit oakland.edu/hc.

Honors College Dean Graeme Harper (foreground) speaks via video link to students

and staff of Rochester Grammar School in Rochester, Kent, England. At right, Roch-

ester High School Principal Neil DeLuca (in blue), Assistant Principal Pasquale

Cusumano (in white), and Assistant Principal Casey Wescott (in blue) also took part

in the discussion.

Monday, September 28, 2015

We have been establishing an excellent link with two educational establishments in Rochester, Michigan, USA: Rochester High School

and Oakland University. In 2017, we will be collaborating with them to celebrate their 50th anniversary as a city and 200th year since the first settlers arrived. I will be working closely with our new Executive Officer team to plan this exciting project and we will keep you

updated with developments. Please find below the article that appeared on Oakland University’s website.

Mr Bassan

ROCHESTER UK ROCHESTER USA

RGS Newsletter Page 6

H ISTORY TRIP TO B ERLIN & K

The History trip to Berlin and Krakow

took place in the October holiday and was again extremely popular, with 116

students taking part. We repeated activities that had worked well in the past,

so we went to key sites such as the Reichstag building and the Brandenburg

Gate on the Friday night and the Olympic

Stadium on the Sunday. The Jewish Museum prepared us for our later visit to

Auschwitz while the Berlin Wall and Stasi Prison reminded us of Germany’s role in

the Cold War. However, we also added a new site and visited an underground

bunker from the Second World War and

we included a river trip to see the city

from a different angle. A trip to a bowling alley on Sunday

evening meant that we were all tired and we settled for sleep on the overnight coach

journey to Krakow. On the Monday we went to the site of the Jewish ghetto and

deportation and then followed in their

footsteps to Auschwitz. This is always an emotional experience, first of all seeing

the details of what was done at the labour camp and then seeing the scale of the

extermination camp at Birkenau. This year, the sun was setting while we were at

Birkenau and the scene was particularly

striking.

Tuesday was a more cheerful day, with a visit to Krakow castle and a final meal in a

Polish restaurant. Finally, we arrived back at school on Tuesday evening, exhausted

but exhilarated about the amount of things we had done.

My thanks to the 15 staff who accompanied us; the students, whose behaviour was

exemplary, prompting a number of compliments; and the parents for turning up

so promptly at 2am.

Mrs Warren

WAR

The consequence of when hate defies love

and power manipulates peace and family

When windows that should lead the way to prosperity and truth

Display cracks of greed and selfishness

The problem is we temporarily fill in those predicaments with excuses

Playing the blame game

When we should be building a new, clear window- starting afresh

We think we've built strong foundations, even learnt but have we?

The problem really for war starts at the end

When 'the cry of despair' and 'warning to humanity' doesn't sink... in When loved ones becomes numbers

Large numbers- one and a half million Jews massacred

Do numbers really show the heartache, the blood, the endless cries for freedom that were ignored?

Instead of us being a 'it's not my problem society' A 'I wish it would stop' people who send out more ammunition to prevent war-

Let's stop, think

It's not and never will be easy

We aren't going to get along all the time But if we can learn to tolerate each other and become a World one race

Maybe we can prevent the unnecessary fighting that is our catalyst of war Maybe we can truly teach little girls and boys to love one another instead of fake it as we do

Maybe we can show them that we are a community not just an individual

Maybe and only then will we appreciate one and half million Jews as a preventable number

A wake up call to the endless suffering that WE- not just war creates

By Shernorva Abiona-, By2

CONVERGENCE

In new and old converging, We found humanity conversing.

Common ties; threading Veins of yellowed leaves

Beneath our feet— Beat this heavy-heart hope

Silhouetting our reality,

Of insight veiling past.

By Lauryn Anderson, Hg5

Issue 1 2015 Page 7

& KRAKOW—OCTOBER 2015

JEWISH MUSEUM - BERLIN

I took this photo at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, in the exhibit of the fallen leaves, where there are over ten thousand metal faces

representing those who were killed in the war. I took this photo because I liked the perspective, or more the lack of it. It is hard to tell from what direction you are looking at the metal faces in the photo- Are you looking down? Are you looking up? I also liked

how there was half of the photo in the light, and half of the photo in the darkness. This could be a representation of the idea that although the killing of so many people was a terrible thing, and still is, we have been able to develop from this point and honour

those who died by creating a museum in remembrance of them. It almost looks as though the dark part of the photo is in black and white, as if it was taken many years ago, and the light part was taken in the modern day.

Amy Rennie, By4

Clink.

A body falls.

Clank.

A child calls.

Clink.

A mother screams.

Clank.

A father pleads.

Clink.

A lady prays.

Clank.

A man dismays.

Clink.

Don’t look back.

Clank.

Look ahead.

Clink.

If you don’t.

Clank.

You’ll see the dead.

Clink.

Those who screamed.

Clank.

Those who cried.

Clink.

A thousand faces.

Clank.

Frozen in time.

A THOUSAND FACES

By Rachel Holland, Hg1

RGS Newsletter Page 8

A brave, nervous but extremely loud

group of Year 10 students began the most painful, tiring, yet rewarding weekend on

the 16th October as Bexon Lane Scout Camp. We all were finally ready to start

the real Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award, after months of working on our

skills, volunteering for different

companies, projects and charities, preparing our physical strength, camping

on the school field and having a trial practice- the real expedition began. After

carefully setting up the tents on the Friday night, and after several groups having to

redo the tents due to the fact that they

nearly blew away, we met with our assessors to go through our routes. We all

battled with a rough night’s sleep,

wrapping up if various layers to keep the tiniest amount of warmth in. On the

Saturday morning we all began by eating our breakfast, as a kick start of energy that

we needed to get through the day, then we were off!

The journey began with high motivation

and the team spirits at the top level. We all trekked for a total of about 15 kilometres,

stopping at different parts to put out check points for our assessors. Walking this

distance caused a lot of pain to us all but using the persistence that we had used

already, we all saw the light at the end of

the tunnel and continued on. Being with

the group we were in was amazing as everyone supported each other and built

up everybody’s confidence. We pushed ourselves to new targets and at the end of

the day at around 4pm, we arrived at our destination of Wormshill Campsite, to

begin setting up for the night ahead.

It seemed like we were now experts at pitching tents even though there were still

a couple of palavers. Once the tents were up, we began to cook the dinner, a

ravenous and cold group all began to fill themselves with food that tasted like it

should belong in a Michelin Star

restaurant. The long day had tired us all out, yet all of the different groups still

supported one another and helped each other out. This was a highlight of taking

part in the Duke of Edinburgh award for me, seeing people who you may not have

been close with helping one another out.

This showed the skills of interdependence

as we understood the positions that everyone was in. The sleep seemed to go

very quickly and soon it was our final day and Sunday morning.

After packing everything into our extremely heavy bags, the journey began

for the last time that weekend. The walk

was shorter this time, yet it was a lot harder, due to the aches and pains that we

had from the following day. Songs were sung; jokes were told; motivational

messages were given, and every single group came back, and every single group

had passed the expedition.

The part of Duke of Edinburgh that I enjoyed the most was the skills of

teamwork that we all showed; we supported each other constantly, we didn’t

give up on anyone and we all reached new boundaries that we didn’t think we could

get to. The Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award has been one of the greatest

achievements as I have challenged myself

and have reached personal targets. It has been a memorable experience, with highs

and lows, but has ultimately been one of the most enjoyable journeys that we will

all definitely not forget.

Maddy Clarke, Hg4

B RONZE DUKE OF EDINBURGH EXPEDITION 2015

Issue 1 2015 Page 9

YEAR 7 TRIP TO THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

The day had come, the day I was so looking forward to. An

amazing adventure was heading my way.

I walked out of the school with my friend Foyin and the teacher gathered us all up. She gave us all a number so that she could

check if everyone was there by everyone saying their number. I was number 7! Whenever I called out my number, I did it in the

impression of Len Goodman (judge from Strictly Come

Dancing).

Happily, everyone jumped onto the coach and sat in their seats. Foyin and I saved a space for our other best friend Aish – who

was in a different group. When everyone was buckled up; the coach driver started the engine and off we went. My mind was

racing; I was getting really excited. I stared out of the window

and saw many cars racing past. Trees covered the motorway on the outside and before I knew it, there were no more trees but

instead tall, wide, massive buildings. We arrived in London. It was so busy; many cars and people were passing by. Then I saw

it! That massive, brilliant building! We had arrived at our

destination. The Natural History Museum.

As we made our way inside, I looked around with an open

mouth. In the middle of the room was a skeleton of a dinosaur and at the back were white stairs leading to a statue. Surrounding

the outside were passageways into different rooms with some models. We were all given a few pieces of paper which were

stapled together. Written on it were some questions about

different exhibits. We had to answer the questions, depending if we had visited those exhibits which were on the sheet. My group

saw many different displays, including: insects, The Vault (expensive jewellery) and human development. My favourite two

were the dinosaurs and the natural hazards.

Dinosaur exhibit

The second I took my step into the room, I knew I would love this display. Straight away I saw a model of a dinosaur. It was

amazing! But something even better was coming my way.

Everyone walked up some steps and we got a top view of some of the dinosaurs. Quickly, I tapped Foyin and pointed at a small

dinosaur. It was moving! It looked so real; luckily it wasn’t. We kept moving along the metal rail until we got to the best part. The

tyrannosaurus rex. It looked so real and it was huge. About as tall

as three full-grown men on top of each other. Also it was moving

like it was alive. I moved around the rail so that I was facing it; it looked like that the T rex was staring right at me with its beady,

little eyes. It was slightly creepy, if I am honest.

Natural Hazards exhibit

Slowly, everyone walked onto the escalator and stood there in amazement. We were going into a massive sphere (I think it was

supposed to be the sun). Inside it, the material that was used, looked like it was shining like a star since it looked golden. When

we came out of it we had arrived at natural hazards. Covering the

wall were pictures of environmental hazards (like volcanoes) and next to them were facts and writing about each one. There was

even a small model of the earth and its different layers and some fascinating stones. But my favourite part in this exhibit was the

experience of an earthquake. Everyone stepped onto a platform and stood there; some holding onto the rail. Shockingly, the floor

started to move from side to side. I nearly fell over. I held onto the rail and smiled with happiness. Who knew that an earthquake

could be such an exciting experience?

So that was the end of the trip. It all ended with the gift shop. The best part of the day! Something that I have learnt is that

earthquakes happen when tectonic plates crash against each other. Also I have learnt about the different layers of the earth:

the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core. I have loved this experience and I would love to go again!

Michaela Wyatt, Tm5

RGS Newsletter Page 10

Page 11 Issue 1 2015

On the 9th and 10th of November, students

from Year 8 visited the National Portrait Gallery. This was to help support the

topics we were learning about at the time. We were exploring portraiture and

creating our own self-portraits. In class we had already looked at Cubism and artists

such as Picasso and George Braque,

exploring fragmentation and capturing multiple viewpoints onto one piece of

artwork.

We left school promptly at 8:30 on the coach, it was a reasonably nice day. We

saw artwork dating back to the Tudor and

YEAR 8 TRIP TO THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Stuart times to the 21st Century. There was

a real range of different and creative artworks that we saw and discussed. From

Mark Quinn’s Blood Head to amazingly accurate pieces such as Jason Brooks ‘Sir

Paul Nurse’. Throughout the gallery we completed work on pieces of art that

inspired us. We got to explore the whole

gallery, chose our favourite piece, sketched it and then evaluated it.

A particular piece I was inspired by was of

ballerina, Darcey Bussel. I thought she was portrayed gracefully as a ballerina should

be. This inspired me to return to ballet.

The art was so realistic, some I couldn’t

believe were paintings rather than photographs. I really enjoyed this trip and I

learnt a lot on it as well. The things I learnt also helped me in lessons, giving me ideas

for my own work, it was very inspirational. I will try to visit again sometime.

Jessie McLean, 8Sv3

YEAR 10 GCSE TRIP TO THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

On Tuesday 24th of November GCSE art students visited the Imperial War Museum. This was an educational experience for our next

main project within our coursework, War and Conflict. We departed early for London to get the best experience possible with our sketchbooks and pencils, the coach journey was long but we got too see many of London’s aspects such as The Shard! Our main focus

for the day was the First World War section within the museum which contained many artefacts from the period. Sketching out a few of these objects helped myself personally to focus more mainly on some items that would link to my starting brainstorm. My classmates

found the trip also very beneficial and fun to explore the history through World War One, having the opportunity to draw from primary source and see things in real life was a great and it really helped you appreciate what it was like during the war, while having a further

understanding on the topic of War and Conflict.

While also sketching out some of the objects we took interest in, many of us took pictures as well for our future pieces based in this

project. There was so much to view and observe when we visited around this specific section such as the Soldiers uniforms, the weaponry, real World War One aeroplanes and much more. Some of the items we had hands on such as the soldiers uniforms although

it was easy to draw items from where we were positioned. Towards the middle of the school day we managed to also have a look at the World War Two exhibition which was filled with objects such as submarines which some took pictures of to sketch later in the project.

At around late lunch we left London in order to arrive home at the school’s ending period.

All together our trip to the Imperial War Museum was extremely beneficial. I managed to see some very interesting points of World

War One and Two I didn’t know before. I personally enjoyed the time to visit the museum and draw from its contents displayed. The expanse of the many pieces for us to draw was amazing and I would like to see the museum again for my work to observe some of the

other exhibitions that are placed there.

By Celestine Eastwood 10Hg3

RGS Newsletter Page 12

YEAR 11 - TATE MODERN REVIEW

By Lucy Godfrey, Sv2

The painting when looking close is

seen to have cracked, this is due to

the thick layers of oil paint. This

made me consider whether the

cracks in the painting were there to

summarise something a little deeper,

like a reveal of the truth or damage

to the so perfect marriage of life. The

black figure in the back right corner

presents his friend Ramon who died

whilst the piece was being painted.

The piece heralded a violence in art

that had been linked to the deteriora-

tion of his marriage with Olga pre-

senting conflict in 1925. Many peo-

ple were disgusted by the meaning

and message of this piece. In order

to prevent his wife understanding

the meaning of his piece by adopting

disguises.

This is a painting by the Spanish

artist Pablo Picasso and was painted in June 1925. It is originally oil on

canvas. Again, like the piece of the right this painting was completed

during the time period of Cubism. The piece is described to portray an

‘explosion of energy’ and is laden

with Picasso’s recollections of a triangle affair. This resulted in the

suicide of his friend Carols. Love, sex and death are linked within the

dance and the image. The dancer on the left, unlike the graceful others

seems to look possessed as well as

ugly and uncontrollable. The piece is seen to have (compared to the plan-

ning) changed and developed throughout, possibly suggesting and

hinting at Picasso’s anger over sui-cide.

I feel this piece doesn’t necessarily present conflict but a form of reality. The blue in the

chest of one dancer reveals the sky behind, almost like they’ve been shot suggested by their facial expressions.

How could I draw inspiration? I like the idea of disguise within a piece e.g. having a happy surface yet bringing in the idea of cracks as it all isn’t what it seems and the truth is being

revealed. Also, I like the idea of presenting emotion within the piece whether that’s through something like creating a perfect portrait of a wedding and them screwing it up or creating a

smashed glass look on the top as if all happiness has been lost. Finally, I’ve concluded I’d

like to present ideas through symbolism to gain many interpretations.

Picasso's Bust of a Woman in Tate Modern

Issue 1 2015 Page 13

By Erika Notarianni, Hg2

Page 14 RGS Newsletter

SPORTS NEWS

Football

The football league has been a tough one this year with all of our teams unfortunately losing their first matches. As the

football competition is a knockout format, this means that our footballers were only able to play one game each this year.

Hopefully we will be more successful next year.

Cross Country

The cross country event was much more successful. This event took place on a very wet and windy day at the Sir Joseph

Williamson Mathematical School where we entered teams and individuals into all year groups. The Year 7 team came first

with Emily Pearce running extremely well. The Year 8 team also came first where Lucy Morice-Jones had a good run. The

year 9 team came third and the Year 10/11 team and the sixth

form team came first. This resulted in RGS coming first overall. A huge congratulations to all the girls who competed!

Netball

The Year 7 teams have started their league off well with the 7B team winning their first match against Rainham Girls with 3-0

win. This is the only game the 7B team have played so far so

hopefully this will be the start of what is to come. The 7A team won their match against Chatham Girls with a score of 13-1 as

well as winning their next game against Rainham Girls. The year 8 team won their match against Fort Pitt as well as

winning against Walderslade with a whopping 25-1 score. They then went on to play against Rainham Girls where they

also won.

The Year 9 team started the season well with a win against Fort Pitt but unfortunately they lost against Rainham Girls. The

Year 9 team also attended the Kent Schools’ Netball Tournament where they placed well in their group.

The Year 10/11 team again started with a win against Fort Pitt

but unfortunately they lost against Rainham Girls with a score

TERMS 1 & 2 FIXTURE INFORMATION of 7-11. The game was well fought but unfortunately it was lost in

the end. The team also attended the Kent Schools’ Netball Tournament where they played a number of games and again

placed well in their group.

The U19 team attended the Kent Schools’ Netball Tournament. This was an eventful day where we were late due to traffic and then

one student fell and injured her ankle. This resulted in us playing

with 6 players for three games. The girls fought for every match resulting in us winning 3 out of 6 matches. Well done ladies!

Sports colours

Last week the sports colours for the 14/15 school year were handed out to students. The following students received the bronze award

for continually taking part in inter house events: Emily Wilde,

Yemi Ajelara, Chloe Reavell, Esther Oladele, Umi Mononga, Gabrielle Iyaniwura, Chianyiamaka Ogbue, Reah Basi, Eliesh

Keane, Emily Godfrey and Manteer Dhillon. The silver award was given to Mayong Tabe for her involvement in school Netball,

Football and Athletics and the gold awards were given to Joseph Thurgood, Sophie Green and Imogen Saunders for their sporting

achievements outside of school.

The Netball player of the Year awards were given to Chloe Payne

for Year 7, Mayong Tabe for Year 8, Zoe Iyaniwura for Year 9 and Maria Thoomkuzhiyil for Year 10/11. The Junior Footballer of the

Year was awarded to Maisie Parnell and the Senior award was given to Megan Bullivant.

The Junior Sportsperson on the year was awarded to Imogen Saunders and the Senior Sportsperson of the year was awarded to

Sian Keegan both for their continued involvement in sport both in and out of school.

Miss Clements

PE Department

I really enjoyed Madrid. I feel like it was a very good opportunity to not only have fun with friends but to gain a sense of independence.

The trip gave me an opportunity to learn about the Spanish culture and also to experience it- although I did not like the food.

The highlight of the Madrid trip for me was when we did a tour of Madrid and when I saw all of the statues of members of the royal family.

We also saw the parks and the old Spanish town centre.

Overall, both my friends and me loved it!

Daisy Crush, 10 Hg4

MADRID TRIP—26-30 OCTOBER 2015

Issue 1 2015 Page 15

RGS CHARITY FUNDRAISING

MONEY RAISED: SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2015

Date Details of Donation Charity name Funds raised

25 Sept Jordan Sanders and friends raised money by setting up a cake stall MacMillan Cancer Research 150.00

2 October Charity netball match—staff vs Year 12s Luke Hussy Terrain Wheelchair purchase 58.00

9 October Tag Day—whole school Student Council 1,186.27

w/c 9 October NChant cake sale NChant hoodies for Royal Albert Hall performance 326.78.

13 November Tag Day—whole school Children in Need 1,194.28

2,588.55

Chopping 12 inches off her hair led to a teenage girl raising £560 for charity.

Yazmin Sandhu, from Rochester, has donated the money and her hair to the Little Princess Trust which provides wigs for children who have lost their hair during cancer

treatments.

Yazmin’s gran Monhinder died of cancer 10 years ago and has wanted to do something to

mark the occasion.

The Rochester Grammar School pupil said: “I wanted to help a child that might not

understand why they have lost their hair and help them through a particularly traumatic

time in their life.

Me and my grandmother were really close. I will always remember going to the park with

her as well as staying round her house.”

Yazmin’s mother Sukhijt said: “She always loved her long air and she’s never wanted even

one inch cut off.

We’d like to thank Laura from Fresh Hair Design in Rocheter for cutting the hair for free”.

To make a donation you can still visit www.justgiving.com/Yazmin-Sandhu

Article from The Kent Messenger

YAZMIN’ S GREAT LENGTHS FOR CHARITY

Yazmin’s new hairstyle and inset:

Before the big cut

L IBRARY LAUNCH

On Wednesday 4th November, Year 8 took part in a day of library

celebration. Students participated in a range of fun activities that appealed to their literary and creative sides. Writing short stories,

storyboarding their favourite books, creating villains and even making their favourite character out of play-doh were just some of

the tasks that students undertook as they made full use of the large space and excellent resources that the library has to offer. The

students’ abilities to think on their feet, be creative, respond to

stimuli and investigate books were most impressive. Not only did the day celebrate the library, it also served to showcase the

enormous talent we have in Year 8.

Mr Dowling

Curriculum Leader of English

T IM PEAKE GOES INTO SPACE

On 15th December, Britain sent its first astronaut to the International Space Station. Tim Peake

was selected from thousands of candidates by the European Space Agency. His historic flight to the space station and subsequent six month research mission is the cause of much celebration.

To mark this occasion a number of activities were planned. First the students participated in a scavenger hunt. Around the school there were eight posters, one for each of the planets of the

solar system. Each poster had one letter of a code word. Students competed to find all eight letters of the code word in order to win House points. The code word, “TIMPEAKE” was

quickly found by many students who posted the answers on a specially created Edmodo group.

The RGS Space Edmodo group will help to keep students informed of the developments of Tim’s mission in space. As a way to further earn additional House points, there was a space

themed quiz that students completed in form time.

Retro-style posters of space exploration were posted around the school to capture the attention and imagination of the students. They were also treated to guest speakers from the European Space Education Resource Office who came and delivered a lunch time

presentation on the goals and mission of Tim’s journey to space. One of the speakers is a recent graduate of UCL and is working on the

detection of exo-planets (planets beyond our own solar system). Students queried the speakers with many insightful questions about space exploration.

On the day of the launch, students were able to watch a live broadcast

from the Hall. The official launch time from Kazakhstan happened to coincide with our break time. A projector was set up so that students

were able to watch the event live and share in the enthusiasm that

many others around the country felt. Later in the day, students participated in their own rocket launch by using high pressure air and

water to launch plastic bottle rockets in the back field of the school.

There are many more activities planned for next term related to Tim’s space mission. We were recently awarded a competitive placement

into the Tomorrow Engineer’s Robotics Challenge. Students will be

able to design, construct and then programme a Lego robot to undertake a variety of space related tasks. This competition awarded

us Lego robotic equipment worth £1800. The students will be learning how to use the robots in the after school STEM Club. The Lego

robots are very sophisticated but easy to use. They are Bluetooth enabled and can be programmed from a cell phone.

Additionally we have entered to be one of the schools to take part in a project by the Royal Horticulture Society to test seeds that were sent to space. Currently there are seeds aboard the International Space Station. They will be sent back to Earth and distributed to

schools to grow and compare to seeds that have stayed Earthbound to see if there is a difference in their growth rates.

Tim’s launch has the been the focal point of many events at the end of this term and will continue to be a source of inspiration and education and the solar system and the possibilities of human exploration.

Mr R Jackson Science Department

RGS Newsletter Page 16

Hidden Consequences is a video aiming to reduce disability

stigma within schools. Written and performed by young people, with aid and funding from physical folk and the MCCH, it follows

the story of 16 year William, who has a form of autism, and the torment and bullying that he faces because of it. It also addresses

how although some people would like to help they do not move forward and actually try and stop the bullying. We need a society

where 'different' is ok and we need a society where having a

disability is just another kind of 'different.' This video aims to achieve the 'acceptance' of people with disabilities because

'tolerance' is just not enough.

Robert Bitton, who starred as William in the piece actually has a

mild disability but fortunately he has not suffered bullying and has

been accepted by society just like any other person, but it was

important, not just for him, but for all of the people taking part, to make sure that no child or adult should face discrimination or

hatred just because they are a little different than us.

Having directed and acted in it alongside Shannon O'Donnell, I

was able to apply experience both through my performance but also the adapting of the piece itself and the message we aimed for

it to convey is an important one. The video is being shown in

schools around Medway as the Youth of the future need to stamp out any discrimination from the root and ensure no person suffers

because of the lack of disability awareness in society.

Rachel Holland, Hg1

H IDDEN CONSEQUENCES VIDEO

The STEM Club has had a roaring start to

this year. We worked on a variety of practical building challenges to start the

year. Students worked on designing and then constructing a tower of nothing more

than spaghetti sticks and marshmallows. It seemed an easy task at first but the

construction materials provided an

interesting challenge as they broke easily and did not stick together as anticipated.

We then worked on designing and

building a rollercoaster. Conduit tubing was used as a track and a marble was the

car that rolled through the course. The

goal was to design a course that could do a

loop. Many students were successful and

one group even managed to put two loops into their course.

STEM C LUB

The third designing project centred on the

design of a home that could withstand

flood water and heavy rain. As coastal flooding is becoming an increasing problem

in the UK and around the world, this was a timely and relevant project. Using simple

building materials student built model

houses and then tested them against heavy rain and flood water by pouring buckets of

water on them. Some unique designs proved to be very effective.

These building projects provided the

framework for looking at an engineering

problem and finding a solution. The students then applied these skills to entries

for the Talent 2030, National Engineering Competition for Girls. Our students have

spent many weeks selecting a real world

problem and then researching engineering

ideas to solve these challenges. Some of the areas included: designing a hospital for

young cancer patients, using stem cell technology to provide a more economical

food source, tackling global warming, and a variety of other topics. The students worked

to put their solutions into a suitable

presentation of either a PowerPoint, video, or by building a website. We are hopeful

that our entries will be very competitive.

The students are finishing this term by participating in a forensic science

investigation to determine who killed Santa

Claus. This engaging activity was prepared by Mehak Dhiman and Tia Arnold. It has

allowed students to use a variety of laboratory skills in order to find the truth.

There are many exciting opportunities coming up for the students of STEM club,

and students not currently involved can join

at any time. At the start of the New Year we will be holding a series of practicals in

Cosmetic Chemistry where students will learn about the chemistry and how to make

products that they can take home like: toothpaste, lip balm, mascara, bath bombs,

lipstick, shampoo, and perfumes.

Mr R Jackson Science Department

Issue 1 2015 Page 17

On Wednesday 9th December 2015, the Year 12’s at RGS organised the

Senior Citizens’ Christmas Party. Over 70 senior citizens attended from all over Medway including local care homes. The Year 12’s did a fantastic job

at organising the evening and the everyone had a fun night, laughing, chatting and singing along to the Christmas songs. We were lucky enough to have a raffle with some amazing

prizes; hampers, homemade Christmas cakes and many more. The event was a complete success and ran smoothly, with a range of acts to entertain the guests as students got into the

Christmas spirit. There were gymnasts, the RGS string quartet, solos and a dance group,

who entertained the whole party. Students put together a mouth-watering buffet with homemade food and desserts. When

chatting, all the guests said that they were enjoying the evening and agreed

that the students who did the entertainment showed a lot of talent,

and really represented the school well.

Talking with the guests and sitting with them really put a smile on my face, as

well as theirs, as everyone seemed in good spirits. All of the Year 12's hard

work really paid off, and we managed to make our guests have an enjoyable evening, with one saying that she felt like a celebrity as her night had been made

so special. We hope to see everyone again next year.

By Avneet Rangi, Lauren Dawson-Hazelwood and Clara-Mae Turrall

SENIOR CITIZENS’ CHRISTMAS PARTY

LOOKING AHEAD—

IMPORTANT DATES FOR TERMS 3&4 2016

Tuesday 5 January Start of Term 3

5-8 January 13 A2 Mocks

5-15 January Year 11 Exams

11/12 January Year 7 British Museum trip

13 January Year 12 Parents' Evening

20 January Year 11 into 12 Sixth Form Evening

27 January Year 13 Parents' Evening

29 January Year 11 into 12 Taster Day

29 January Year 12 and 13 Home Study Day

3-6 February Flair

10 February Year 10 Parents' Evening

12 Febrary Last Day of Term

15-19 February Mid Term Break

Monday 22 February Start of Term 4

24 February Year 7 Parents' Forum

26 February Year 8 Ypres Trip

26/27 February Duke of Edinburgh Practice

29 Feb - 2 March Year 12 Juniper Hall visit

2 March Year 8 Parents' Evening - Core subjects only

9 March Year 8 Parents' Evening - Foundation subjects

10-12 March School Production

16 March Year 8 Options evening

18 March Year 8 Kew Gardens trip

19-20 March Duke of Edinburgh Training Weekend

23 March Last Day of Term

Monday 11 April Start of term 5

The full newsletter can be downloaded from the RGS website.

RGS Newsletter Page 18