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NORTHGATE REVIEWNORTHGATE REVIEW

Autumn 2006

Northgate Completes the Hat Trick

Photograph courtesy of Ray Schram

Northgate High School made it asuccessful triple in 2006 as the school

recorded excellent Key Stage 3, GCSE andA Level exam results.

A record-breaking 88% of pupils in Year 9achieved level 5 or above in English, Mathsand Science.

In a year group of 225, 73% of Year 11pupils gained five A* to C grades at GCSElevel, a rise on last year's recordbenchmark, with 25% of all grades at A* orA. Results in English, Maths and Sciencecontinued to be strong and far exceededthe national average.

Suffolk's largest sixth form continued its richvein of success with another excellent set ofA level results, providing the 236 students

with a platform for future success. Each student gained the point equivalent of over three A grades. The 99% pass ratehas risen from last year's record-breaking results and is above the national average. Over 52% of the grades awarded tostudents were at A or B, reflecting the hard work and preparation that both students and staff have made during thetwo-year courses.

Mr Watts, Headteacher, was pleased with the excellent results across all subjects and particularly highlighted thecombined effort of pupils, teachers and parents in achieving these results. ‘It has been a great summer of results for all ofus at Northgate and reflects the hard work of the whole school community. We should be proud of all these youngsters - welldone to all concerned.’

Sixth Form Art Exhibit ion

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The AS and A level Art Exhibition produced some stunning work this year and a record number of visitors.

Congratulations to all the students involved in one of the strongest exhibitions in recent years.

Language Col lege

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In July, more than 40 Year 8 pupils spent a weekaway from Ipswich, and took in the delights of the

historic city of Koblenz and the surrounding area.They enjoyed views of the Rhine from a chair lift anda luxury cruise, plus the fun of a theme park. On thepenultimate day, the group was taken up toEhrenbreitstein, an old fort at the top of Koblenzwhich was used as a prisoner of war camp for Britishofficers during the Second World War. Unfortunatelyany hope of giving our pupils a history lesson wasundone by the fact that the fortress was being used tohouse an exhibition - all about Nintendo. The studentsthen spent a very 'educational' afternoon coming togrips with the story of Super Mario! In Koblenz itself,our intrepid travellers got out and about, and we hada lovely final evening at the famous 'Deutsches Eck'monument presenting the awards to those who hadcontributed to such a fun week.

The European Day of Languages is a day set asideto celebrate the diversity and importance that

different languages play in our lives. Northgate fullyembraced the event and organised a number of

different activities to bring this day to the attention ofthe pupils and students. Ravi Mistry in Year 9 spent alesson teaching his classmates the basics of Gujarati,and Vicky Ho in Year 12 taught the rest of her A LevelFrench class how to count in Cantonese. Tahaar

Robbani in Year 8 demonstrated the complex nature of writing in Arabic, and Lauren Landen in Year 9 taught Miss Patten'sclass the basics of Swedish. Mr Eggleton spent his day teaching the pupils Russian, whilst Mr Blagona went Dutch.Supported by the IT resources in the language centre, students also had experience of a vast range of other languages,ranging from Finnish via Polish to Portuguese! The pupils making the best contributions were awarded prizes - andMr Wade's croissants were certainly a success with Year 7.

The Year 11 French exchange has recently taken place. Sixteen pupils from our partner school, the Lycée Delambre inAmiens, spent a week with their Northgate exchange partners and took part in a number of activities both in and out

of school. They visited Dunwich and Cambridge, and worked on a cultural media project with Mr Ruscoe-Price. Part oftheir time was spent on a project which contrasted the different school systems in France and the UK. With the nextexchange only a matter of months away, Year 10 students who are interested in going should see their French teacher soon.

Students had experience of avast range of languages

Enthusiast ic Pupi ls

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Northgate went the extra mile in July as part of thenationwide Sport Relief fundraising event to provide

assistance to underprivileged young people, both at homeand abroad.

On a scorching day, the whole of Years 7, 8 and 9 coveredjust over four laps of the athletics track in PE lessons andmany Year 12 students took part during their free periods.Others covered the mile on horseback, unicycle, and evenduring a Duke of Edinburgh expedition! Pupils were proudof their red socks, given on completion of the distance.

Over 75 staff from all areas of the school community joinedin before or after lessons and many enjoyed a breakfastprovided by the headteacher. Over £1500 was raised forthe charity on a very successful day.

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Enthusiast ic Staf f

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Induct ion Day 2006

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On Tuesday 13th June over 230 Year 6 pupils from 19 different primary schools enjoyed a fun-filled Induction Day at Northgate. The day beganwith a real buzz of excitement as pupils from Rushmere, Sidegate, St Helen’s, St Margaret’s, St Matthews, St John’s, Dale Hall, Clifford Road,

Springfield Junior and a host of other primary schools all gathered together in the Lower School eagerly waiting to hear who their form tutorwould be and which of their friends they would be with. Once form groups had been allocated, the Year 6’s were then whisked off by their newtutors to take part in a variety of ‘taster’ lessons to give a ‘flavour’ of what learning at Northgate will be like.

The teachers who delivered the lessons did not disappoint and pupils enjoyed a wealth of activities which, among many others, included foodtasting and making key-rings in Technology, designing the front page of a newspaper in English, learning how to introduce yourself in French orGerman, plotting the World Cup countries in an atlas in Geography, printing cards in Art and shaking and weighing fizzy drinks in Science!

In addition to lessons, the Year 6 pupils also had the opportunity to try out food at the school canteen and, despite the initial burst of rain in themorning, the sunshine meant that at break and lunchtime the pupils could mix with current Year 7 and 8 pupils in the Lower School Playground.

The day was a great success and was enjoyed by all - the only tears shed were those by a few parents in the morning as they dropped their sonor daughter off. At the end of the day a number of the Year 6 pupils thanked the Lower School Team for the fun they had had and voted ReligiousEducation, Science and History among their favourite lessons of the day. The pupils left happy and relieved and very much looking forward tostarting Year 7 in September.

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Naomi Shaw

Naomi Shaw, 2 April 1989 - 11 June 2006

Naomi tragically died in the Summer Term following a long battle with illness. She was a truly remarkable student who will bemissed by students and staff. Her courage and positivity were an inspiration to us all.Miss Bird, Head of Sixth Form

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Sports Day

Tuesday 11 July saw one of the big events in the Sporting Calendar at Northgate – Sports Day. It was a fine day, nottoo hot, and rain free. The morning saw each year group competing on the track and in a variety of field events. The

afternoon saw the whole school enjoying the competition. The 1500m was a closely contested affair in all age groups. Dueto increasing numbers of pupils wishing to run, heats were held in the week prior to Sports Day itself and the top 12runners in each group raced on the day. The winners each received a trophy.

The event was very successful with many comments made about the pleasant and sporting atmosphere created by allinvolved. It was really pleasing to see so many pupils taking an active part. Even those who did not represent their tutorgroup had made flags and banners in support. Miss Gibson, Head of PE, would like to thank all staff who helped with therunning of the event and the Year 11 and 12 PE students who gave their assistance so freely and played a big part in thesmooth running of the day.

The athletics season has seen many exceptional performances from individuals in inter-school, county and sports daycompetitions; as a result 27 new school records have been set this year.

Political Debate

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On Friday 14 July Northgate sixth form students werevery privileged to be visited by two MPs. They spoke

to Politics, Media and Sociology students from Year 12 aswell as some new Government & Politics students.

Speaking in the morning was Chris Mole, Labour MP for theIpswich constituency. He covered a broad range of issues,including social matters such as the problem of bingedrinking. The students responded positively to his speechand once finished he was faced with scrutinising questions.His answers proved very useful to the students as much ofthe content was relevant to the school curriculum, and, asa bonus, he also made very interesting comments about thefuture of the Chinese economy.

In the afternoon David Gauke, MP for South WestHertfordshire, and previous pupil at Northgate, provided a

Conservative Party perspective of key political issues andcurrent affairs. He spoke of his recent visit to India andDubai as a member of the Treasury Select Committee.Once again many enthusiastic questions were asked andMr Gauke answered them all; his opinions on the role of thefamily within society would not easily be forgotten by thestudents, and will be very useful to them as they continueinto A2 studies. Mr Gauke later complimented the studentson their enthusiasm and interest in British politics.

Year 12 Chemistry students have done fantastically wellin a national chemistry analysis competition. Five

teams of students were sent samples of ethanoic acid(vinegar) and had to find out its exact concentration towithin a drop.

Over 120 schools took part, and each team sent a writtenreport to the Nuffield Foundation, who organised thecompetition.

Our teams' results were the best in the five years that wehave been taking part in the competition; one team gaineda certificate of merit, and four achieved a certificate ofdistinction for their excellent work!

Mr Gauke complimented the students on their enthusiasm and interest

Sweet Taste of Success

Army Day

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At 8am on a bright sunny morning in July six teams ofsoldiers from units across the country arrived on the

Northgate playing fields and started to construct variousassault courses and pieces of equipment.

At 9am more than 200 Year 9 pupils arrived to participatein a day of team-building activities and physical tasks. Somewere apprehensive about what was in store for them as

they were sorted into six groups but within minutes all theirnerves were gone. It helped that the 25 soldiers were soenthusiastic and their love of the activities shone through.Charlotte Rose said, ‘First of all I didn’t want to do it, but theyencouraged me in a jokey way. I really enjoyed it.’

During the day pupils tried all six of the available activities.These included blindfold ‘trust’ walks, moving equipmentfrom A to B with ropes and wooden poles, tasks of balancewhere no verbal communication was allowed, and activitiesusing a parachute. All day the soldiers encouraged thepupils, and as Marcus Liburd said afterwards, ‘I loved all theactivities I did, and it was the soldiers’ personalities that madeit all such fun.’ No one was left out and it was a real pleasureto watch the fun that was going on. David Woodhall said, ‘I loved being outside all day on the field and it was reallyinteresting to see all the different activites.’

By the end of the day pupils had made new friends in theyear group and had certainly thrived under the wonderfulguidance of the soldiers. The day was given an enthusiasticthumbs-up from Year 9 and will hopefully be appearing onthe Northgate calendar in future years.

‘I loved all the activities I did, and it was the soldiers’ personalities

that it made it such fun’

Google Br ita in

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Last year Google, the world’s most popular online search engine, ran a competition for London schools to design a logofor their website with the theme ‘My World’. The competition was extended nationwide this year with the theme ‘My

Britain’. Northgate pupils from Years 9 and 10 were encouraged to take part and 40 outstanding entries were received.The staff in the Design and Technology Department had the difficult task of selecting the top 20 logos to go forward to theschool’s final.

On Thursday 6 July they were put on display and a highly experienced graphic designer, Peter Hilton from Yellobelly Design,was asked to choose the best six to be sent off to Google. His favourite, by Kayleigh Marshall, is shown above and two ofthe other winning designs are shown below. All six pupils received professional technical drawing equipment and Kayleighalso won a digital camera.

Google users can vote for their favourite logo at www.google.co.uk during October and the overall winner will beannounced in November.