TURN TO THE BACK PAGE FOR CALENDAR INFORMATION

NewsletterNewsletterNewsletterNewsletter July 2011

Issue 3Issue 3Issue 3Issue 3

‘Aiming for Excellence’Aiming for Excellence’Aiming for Excellence’Aiming for Excellence’

Awards Assembly Winners

Congratulations to all pupils from Years 7 to 9 who received prizes in the Awards Assemblies held on Wednesday 20th July (Year 7), Tuesday 19th July (Year 8) and Thursday 21st July (Year 9). Photos and a full list of names are featured on the school website: www.springfield.uk.net Mr Wallace—Rewards Coordinator

Fashion Show

On 13th June 2011 students from all year groups joined together to create an extravagant spectacle, show-casing fashion through the decades (from the 1940s through to a vision of the future). The evening began with a display of 1940s clothing from vintage shops around Portsmouth and Southsea, which provided an excellent introduction. Next, came the amazing dresses created by members of the Year 9 Textiles Club, with pupils modelling 1950s dresses that they had created themselves. The ‘swinging 60s’ followed. Year 7s displayed their tie-dyed clothes, which produced a kaleidoscope of colours. They were followed by Year 10s showing off a selection of fashions from the ‘70s that they had made themselves during lessons. A collection of iconic ‘80s fashions came next, displayed by pupils from all year groups. The Year 10 dance group then “wowed” the audience with their fabulous routine, featuring music from all the eras represented in the show. For the current fashions’ section, Year 7 pupils modelled clothing bor-rowed from ‘New Look’ with further Year 7s following them to show off ‘Fair Trade’ fashions from around the world. Adinkra symbols were also used—to reflect how African culture uses images to portray messages on Fair Trade products that they create. To finish the show, pupils displayed clothing and accessories to reflect ideas for futuristic fashions. Year 7s paraded down the catwalk in outfits made from recycled material and everyday rubbish—a real ‘show stopper’. In between the final displays, we were musically entertained and en-thralled by Year 8 students performing on their ukuleles. Throughout the evening, the backstage area was packed full of people getting ready to make an entrance. The smell of hairspray filled the room as the hairdressers and make-up artists from Highbury College created the catwalk looks. The atmosphere was buzzing—full of excitement and nervousness. Overall, it was an amazing night that ran smoothly. All concerned are looking forward to next year and the chance to make that show even better!

Rachel Payne, Sophia Babbage and Megan Ford (9F)

Pupils pictured on the catwalk at the recent Springfield Fashion Show—see article left (Top to bottom, left to right): Simone Morgan (9L), Kelan Wilby-Denham (7P), Lauren Willis (10S), Erin James (7L) and Bradley Hansford (7R)

Springfield pupils say ‘thank you and goodbye’ with a special luncheon Three of our much-loved and admired local Headteachers

have retired during this academic year: Mrs Sylvia Hunter of Solent Infant School (centre) who retired at Christmas 2010, Mrs Julia Knowles of Solent Junior School (left) and Mrs Sue Egglestone of Court Lane Junior School (right) - who both retire at the end of this term. All three Head-teachers were invited to a farewell lunch at Springfield School on Wednesday 6th July, hosted by Mrs Evans. A delicious lunch (see below) was prepared by pupils who are all following the Hospitality & Catering GCSE course.

Home-made rolls Poached salmon with crushed potatoes, wilted spinach

and roasted vine tomatoes

Strawberry cheesecake and strawberry ice cream Ollie Hedges (10S) commented: “It was a really good experience to cook for our guests”. “We were pleased with the results,” added Sam Penn (10N).

Mrs McFarlane—Assistant Headteacher

Due to a lack of space in the last edition we were unable to include this article, which we are glad to feature now: It was an early start and (as the coach left for the ferry port at 6.30am) everyone was excited but tired. The ferry journey took six hours so we were glad of the games room and cinema on board. On the first evening of our stay, we took part in some team building activities and got to know our PGL reps. The following two days were jam-packed with action! On Saturday morning, we got into small groups and each group was given fifteen Euros. Our challenge was to go to the market and ask, in French, for items that we would use to prepare our lunch for that day. When we returned to the château, we prepared our food and were judged on how well we had done—both in terms of acquiring the ingredients and using them. In the afternoon, we watched croissants being made—and even had a go ourselves! On Sunday morning, we went to Domfront where we were to interview some French people, which made us quite nervous, though it went well. After lunch that day, we visited the Mont St Michel. This was really impressive. There were lots of shops selling mer-chandise and we had a competition to find the tackiest souvenir! That evening, there was a disco and, after the girls had all fought over Lauren’s hair straighteners and the boys had spent ages trying to make themselves look cool, we had great fun and were presented with certificates. On Monday, we visited a cider factory and afterwards a hypermarché and shopping centre, which was brilliant because there were some good clothes shops there. Everyone was really tired on the ferry home but all agreed that they had had a really worthwhile, educational and enjoyable experience. Thank you to Mrs Clements for organising it. India Warren (8D) and Joe Walton (8F)

Portsmouth Schools’ Music Festival On 28th and 29th June, pupils from Springfield took part in the annual Portsmouth Schools’ Music Festival, held at Portsmouth Guildhall. Pupils from Years 7-9 joined around two hundred other voices from schools in the city to perform five songs from well-known movies. They were accompanied by the Portsmouth Youth Orchestra; which also contains pupils from Springfield. On Wednesday night, we saw a group of dancers from Year 8 and Year 10 perform two pieces including a dance with pop music from the 1950s to the present day. In the second half, pupils from the Year 10 GCSE music class performed two songs as a band called ‘School of Rock’. This included an original song that they had written themselves during some after school sessions with a professional songwriter. On Friday 1st July, the Guildhall also gave Alex Judd, a Year 10 music student, the opportunity to set up and operate the sound desk for the final day’s rehearsals and concert. As the festival goes from strength to strength each year, we hope we can continue to offer Springfield pupils the opportunity to take part and show their talents. For more information please visit www.schoolsmusic.org Mrs Stevenson—Music

In the spotlight: Ben Sharley (10F) and Kallum Shore (10L) from the ‘School of Rock’ band perform to an appreciative audience (see article left)

Year 8 students at Domfront in France—see article below

A passion for Geography The Geography Department aims to create a passion for the subject and

enable pupils to discover their role as a global citizen. As Link

Governor, in the past year I have learnt more about the wider role of

Geography. For this article, I sought pupil feedback - in particular how

current geographers would encourage others to study the subject at GCSE.

All pupils who participated unanimously enjoy studying Geography at Spring-

field, saying that it is: “amazing”, “enjoyable”, “interesting” and “fun”. The

parts of the subject they enjoy the most include: Talking about the news all

the time as Geography is everywhere; the field trips, especially Naples, as it

gives the pupils a chance to see other parts of the world (see article above);

dealing with real life problems - the cause and effect; its relevance to real

life and how it helps to develop skills for later life; helping pupils to relate

to what is happening in the world around us.

Pupils said that they had gained many skills from studying Geography

including analysing and problem solving, research, report writing, teamwork

and presentation. All these skills will be invaluable for the future,

particularly at college and university.

Many pupils felt that Geography was perfect as it was; some thought

Geography at Springfield could be made even better if there were more of

the following: Geography games; fieldwork; work about Portsmouth; crea-

tive activities. Food for thought for Miss Searle and her team!

Current geographers would like to tell other pupils to choose Geography

because: You gain a lot as it is relevant to the world we live in and links to

everything; employers like Geography degrees; you increase your knowledge

of the changing world around you; it gives you skills for the future; it helps

you to see things through other people’s eyes and learn how their lives com-

pare with yours.

Thank you to Year 9 and 10 pupils for their help in creating this article,

which I hope will encourage other pupils to consider Geography when choos-

ing their options.

Jo Derham - Geography Link Governor

Year 10 Geography Trip to ‘Napoli’, Italy Friday 3rd June (arrival): The journey to Naples began with a 5.30am start for the Year 10 “geoggers”, raring to go on their journey to Naples, Italy. Saturday 4th June (Mount Vesuvius): We made our way to the active volcano, Mount Vesuvius, by coach, to explore what it’s like to live with hazards. The majority of the group purchased an ‘I love ITALIA’ or ‘I love VESUVIUS’ hoody or top to take home. With the help of Italian ‘Prata’ water and a wooden stick, we reached the top, where we experienced the gorgeous view over the Bay of Naples, which Hanieh Majidi compared to Portsdown Hill! Not only did we see some amazing views, but also built on our knowledge of Mount Vesuvius. Later in the day, in the city of Pompeii, we could see the effects of the natural disaster and learned about the catastrophic eruption which took place in 79AD. Sunday 5th June (Island of Capri): Another early start led us to an interesting experience of Italy’s boats and the island of Capri. On arrival, our tour guide, Claudio, gave us some background information and facts about the island, which were very interesting and helpful. Monday 6th June (Pozzuoli): The Bay of Naples tour, guided by Claudio, took us to Sofatara, an area filled with the overpowering smell of sulphur. Here we saw the 700m diameter crater of a dormant volcano, which still emits jets of steam with sulphurous fumes. Tuesday 7th June (return home): As much as we didn’t want to, we made our way by coach to the airport, where we handed in our suitcases and all waited for the plane. We took a long, last breath of Italian air and we were on the plane back to England. Thank you to the four teachers who helped out on the trip: Miss Pledger, Mr Lomas, Mr Evans and Miss Young. Our amazing ‘working field trip’ to Napoli, Italia was sadly over. Olivia Williams (10E) Photos: Left: The group returning with a real sense of achievement from the crater at Mount Vesuvius. Right: The view from Capri town over the island and towards the Sorrento peninsula.

Music Trip—South Downs College The Year 9 trip began at 12 noon on 29th June 2011. We departed on a minibus for the destination of the Music Department at South Downs College, where we were going to learn about ‘Logic’, a computer program for working with music. When we arrived we were greeted and shown where we would be working. We used a computer room in the north-west building and worked using the Apple Macs. As we logged on to the Macs we were taught the basics in terms of how to use this type of com-puter. Then we went straight onto ‘Logic’ and got started. First, we learnt how to find different types of beats and instruments within the program; then how to loop the music (make it repeat). After that we started creating our own mix of songs. After a short lunch break, we went back to the Macs to finish our work and perfect our pieces. Later, after most of us had finished, we burned our music onto a CD so that we could listen to it any-where and at any time. After a short tour of the main Music Department, our time at South Downs College was over, but I feel that every member of the Year 9 music group benefitted from the experience and will hopefully remember it for future reference. Maisy Head (9P)

Your Holiday Villa in the Algarve

Situated on the Western Algarve near

Lagos, close to golf courses and numerous sandy beaches. Features 3 twin bedrooms,

2 bathrooms, private pool, sun terrace, maid service, semi-rural location.

Call on 023 9257 0001 or go to

www.villasinalgarve.net Mention Springfield School for

special discount

An end to official Specialist status

One element of the education spending cuts is the removal of funding for secondary schools with a specialism, such as our Technology specialism. We have invested this funding wisely over the last nine years to improve the infrastructure, equip the science laboratories, refurbish the technology rooms and enhance ICT provision. This has benefitted pupils at Springfield, those in our partner and feeder schools and the local community groups who take part in events and activities which we run. This newsletter reports regularly on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) activities and these will continue to run us-ing the final funding allocation. STEM staff will also continue to spread good practice across city schools and beyond. Our monitoring board, comprising volunteers from local industry, governors and staff from partner schools held its final meeting this term. We were able to look back with great pride on the progress made and the enhanced provision as a result of this period of spe-cialist school status. We hope to maintain contact with our busi-ness and industrial partners and continue to offer rich STEM provi-sion which excites and engages our pupils. Chris Batstone Specialist Board Link Governor

Uniform Price Increase with effect from 5 th September 2011 As advised in the February edition of our newsletter, uniform prices will be increasing for the new academic year. Please see table below for full details.

School V Neck Sweatshirt with school crest (official uni-form)

32”,

34” 36” 38”

£12.00

40” Medium

£12.50

42” Large

44” X Large

£13.00

XX Large

£14.00

Springfield Polo Shirt (boys and girls)

X Small

£10.00

Small

£10.00

Medium

£10.00

Large

£10.00

Springfield Microfleece (girls)

32/34

£12.50

34/36

£17.00

38/40

£17.00

42/44

£17.00

46/48

£17.00

Rugby Shirt (boys)

30/32

£14.00

34/36

£14.00

38/40

£18.00

42/44

£18.00

46/48

£19.00

50/52

£19.00

Girls/Boys Football Shorts

26

£4.50

28/30

£4.75

32 £5.25

34

£5.50

36

£5.75

38

£6.00

Girls/Boys Socks

Small (2-5)

£3.50

Large (6-13)

£4.50

Swimming Hat (Essential for all)

£1.00

School Tie (Essential for all)

£4.00

Springfield school digs deep for local air ambulanc e 20th - 26th June was National Recycling Week. In the UK, over 1.5 million tonnes of textile waste is generated each year and left in landfill sites. On average, only 2kg per house-hold is recycled through state facilities. Textiles landfill is a problem because man-made materials do not decompose and some emit methane gas; damaging the environment and causing global warming and climate change. The World Heath Organisation estimates that almost 150,000 people die as a result of climate change every year. During National Recycling Week, Springfield pupils were asked to bring in all their old or unused textiles, which were to be sold to raise funds for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance; a charity that relies heavily on donations. The organisation is dedicated to offering a quick response to road traffic collisions, sporting accidents and other serious incidents around the Hampshire and Isle of Wight area. Their planes have made 2,997 take-offs since the organisation was founded in 2007. The textiles from Springfield were collected by the company ‘Bag It Up’, who take un-wanted clothes, shoes, textiles and mobile ‘phones to sell in the UK and abroad. Textiles from Western developed countries are in high demand in the developing world and pro-vide an economical and environmentally friendly solution to recycling and disposing of old or unwanted items. The proceeds from sales are given to charities. These include: the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, Francis House, The Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance, ‘The Keep It Up Campaign’, Wigan Warriors Community Foundation and, of course, The Hamp-shire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. £2,757,754.74 has been raised to date. If Springfield has collected the largest amount of textiles amongst all those schools taking part in the scheme, the pupils will win the chance to meet personnel from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance and a top London designer who specialises in recycling materials and using them to make clothes. The school will also receive a bench made from recycled bottles.

We hope that Springfield will make the strongest contribution - and that there will be more opportunities for charitable events like this in the future.

Adam Boxall (8N) and Tom Guy (8N)

Photo right: part of the pile of textiles collected by

Springfield pupils

PRIVATE TUITION

Physics graduate willing to give private tuition, either in groups or individually, for Maths and Science up to ‘A’ level. In 2008 I passed ‘A’ level Maths with a grade A. I can also teach French up to ‘A’ Level as I have the D.E.L.F. Levels I-IV certificates. CRB checked. £12.50 per hour or £8 per pupil for group lessons. Call David on: 023 92811454

Springfield’s ‘Young Leaders’ inspire dreams On Monday 27th June, eight talented, sporty pupils from Year 9 participated in an event called ‘Inspiring Dreams’. This is an event in which pupils from different schools tried out a range of 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sports. Schools in-volved were: Northern Parade, Corpus Christi, Mary Rose and St Johns. The pupils were chosen by the PE staff to be young leaders and help out with events for pupils around the city. This meant that the students had to lead warm-ups and generally be around young people to give help and support. Charley Casey (9P), Georgia Clifton (9R), Mia Finnigan (9G) and Demi Osborne (9D) were in the dance department, working with the young children from Year 6. These girls created a warm-up and performed in front of the young pupils. They encouraged them to join in with the fun activities available. Roni, the dance cap-tain, taught and involved the children in a street dance, which they would then teach to the other pupils. The two words on which the day focused were ‘friendship’ and ‘courage’ and these are the words on which the dance was based. Joe Eves (9S), Lewis Sudbury (9D), Emily Windsor (9L) and Lauren Wortley (9L) helped out in the main hall where several sporting activities took place: fencing, football and ultimate Frisbee. The young leaders led warm-ups and played sup-porting roles. Emily, alongside Lewis, helped to run a football/blind football course to enable the young children to experience what it’s like to be blind and play foot-ball. Joe and Lauren lent a hand with the fencing and then moved to work with those children using Frisbees in the afternoon. These were new sports to both of them so they, as well as the Year 6 children, learned something new! In summary, the day was a success. All the ‘Young Leaders’ enjoyed the occa-sion and felt that they had inspired young children to follow their dreams. The pupils would like to thank the PE staff for giving them this brilliant opportunity. Charley Casey, Georgia Clifton, Mia Finnigan, Demi Osborne, Joe Eves, Lewis Sudbury, Emily Windosr and Lauren Wortley

Photo above (left to right, front to back): Lewis Sudbury, Emily Win-dsor, Lauren Wortley, Joe Eves, Georgia Clifton, Charley Casey, Mia Finnigan, Demi Osborne

South Downs Poetry Competition We were delighted that Lewis Hazzard’s (10E) entry for the South Downs Poetry Competition won second prize and would like to share his winning entry by publishing it in this edition of the newsletter. The theme for the competition was ‘Dreams’. Mrs Courtney—Assistant Subject Leader English

Dreams What is a dream? It’s not a person and it’s not an object, It’s not an animal and it doesn’t live, It doesn’t breathe and it doesn’t eat, It doesn’t drink and it doesn’t sleep. A dream is not real, it doesn’t exist It is merely a story created in the mind, A story so rare it is mostly left behind. It can be absurd, or so logical A hope for the future, a past memory A dream which existed that returned so rarely. You can experience a dream for many hours But once awake it’s lost instantly You remember parts so vividly And can sometimes be confused with a memory A dream can be so random that you question your mind But can be so detailed, you think it’s reality. However after time something goes wrong Instead of positive, the mind turns negative A dream is lost and nightmare created It is a story built by many things, influenced so easily With the intention of fear always present. However you never know how a dream begins, Only the main part of a dream is imprinted thor-oughly The beginning is unknown along with the end? So how does it start? How does it end? Does a dream begin or is it merely pretend? A dream is not real, it doesn’t exist It is merely a story created in the mind, A story so rare it is mostly left behind. It can be absurd, or so logical A hope for the future, a past memory A dream which existed that returned so rarely. Lewis Hazzard (10E)

Girls’ Under 14 Football—County Cup Final After a great season, the U-14 girls’ football team were just “pipped to the post” in the final game. They lost 4-1 in a match in which Springfield could have scored at least four goals them-selves. However, it was not to be and the girls really tried hard in hot conditions, eventually ending up as County runners-up.

Mr Snook—Subject Leader PE

Left and below: Pupils working in the

laboratories at the Mary Rose Museum—see

article left

YEAR 8 VISIT TO THE MARY ROSE MUSEUM

On 12th May a group of Year 8 Springfield pupils visited the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth dockyard. During the trip, we had the opportunity to study the methods used to preserve various artefacts from the wreck. After cleaning a real musket ball and producing a replica coin, we were able to view some arte-facts that are not on public display, as well as one of the high tech electron microscopes in the lab. We also used micro pipettes to show how objects float and sink and made Cartesian Divers to demonstrate the principles involved. The morning was fun and we learned a lot. Rob Panter (8S)

Mobile Planetarium Visit On Friday 17th June, twenty-eight Year 7s went to Gun-wharf Quays to visit a mobile planetarium. It was a rainy day, but luckily for us ASTRIUM (a local com-pany which makes satellites and space probes) had a tent on site. This contained a model of the Mars Rover. We were given a demonstration of how the Rover worked and the problems that might be encountered on Mars (see photo below). The planetarium was very interesting. Inside it was like being in a dark bubble. The projector showed us the night sky, including features such as Saturn and the Milky Way. Then we were taken on a trip through the solar system. The pupils enjoyed it greatly—some even lying down to get the best possible angle from which to see the panoramic views! (Right: pupil comments) Miss Bryant—Science

“I enjoyed the video and the robot ‘Sparky’ who greeted us outside the planetarium!” Connor Johannes (7N)

“I enjoyed the whole thing. I didn’t know that the universe could hold so much or that we knew so much.” Lois Halbert-Pearce (7E)

“I learned a lot. It was an experience I will never forget.” Nicole Sandilands (7N)

Photo: Pupils listen intently as the workings of the Mars Rover are ex-plained on their recent visit to the mobile planetarium in Portsmouth (see

article above)

STEM Activities Day—Tuesday 12th July

Firstly, we were in A block investigating the murder of a famous athlete. We had powders, ink and hair and we had to match them up to samples of people to see if we could find the murderer. This investigation included using chromatography, unknown solutes and microscopes, reinforcing the knowledge of Science topics we had covered this year. (I discovered who the murderer was!)

Our second activity involved building a motor propelled trike. We had different parts of the vehicle provided to us and had to follow instructions in order to make it. We also had to do some soldering to connect the battery holder, switch and motor together. It was good fun to do, but frustrating at times when things did not work out as we expected. After completing the trikes, we took them to the tennis courts for testing; most of them went round in circles.

Constructing Olympic event sculptures was our third activity. We had to create these using mainly tripods made from sticks and elastic bands. People made sculptures depicting all sorts of Olympic events including archery, horse jumping, pole vaulting, gymnastics and boxing. I enjoyed this activity, although it was a challenge to get the sculptures to stand up!

Lewis Smith (7P)

Mr K Elliott—STEM Coordinator

Photo below: The winning Year 9 team from Springfield, pictured with staff from the Marines’ Museum and a

representative from the Education Business Partnership — see article below

Marines’ Museum Make-over A team of Year 9 pupils competed against Year 10 students from Brune Park Community College in Gosport in a challenge set by Portsmouth’s Education Business Partner-ship (EBP). Their task was to reinvent the Quartermaster’s Kitchen restaurant at the Royal Marines Museum. Each team had to form its own company and put together ideas to spruce-up the famous eatery, create a new menu and increase custom and profitability. The Springfield team won the day with their ‘sea breeze’ themed proposal, which in-cluded recipes from countries with a coastline, including Greece, Italy, India and the UK. They also devised a children’s menu, called ‘Peter the Pirate’, suggested reorgan-ising the seating area to create ten extra places, painting the walls blue and green and sourcing all the food locally. John Lomas, Assistant Headteacher, said: “I am very im-pressed with what our students came up with and am particularly pleased with their sustainability theme, which the school is always aware of”. Team members took on roles including: chef, kitchen and restaurant designers and marketing managers. They were supported with advice from professionals from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). Springfield was awarded an FSB Enterprise Challenge trophy, vouchers and given a date later this year on which they will take over the restaurant and cook for family and friends. Extract from article by Aline Nassif of “The News”

Team members included: Lara Jones, Rosie Hall, Megan Ford, Katy Honour, Eloise Downer, Hollie Manning, Chloe Ward, Liam Morgan, Elliot Prowting, Will Stanhope, Lewis Sudbury, Sam Harris, Ben Pickup and Saul Barrett Smallpeice Trust Engineering Ex-

perience In the Easter holidays, we went on a Smallpeice Trust residential trip, which was an ‘engineering experience’. On the first day we set off early to get to the university (Harper Adams). When we got there we were greeted in the main hall and were given our room keys. After assembling in the main hall, we met the other pupils taking part and were given an activity to do so that we could get to know others in our group. This activity was called the ice-breaker and it was a lot of fun. Our challenge was to build the strongest shelter that could shelter two people. When this was com-pleted we had to build the tallest tower. We were given paper, masking-tape, nuts and bolts. During the evening we had a choice of activities: we could play sports or watch a film. The first night we chose to do sports and it was really good fun. The next day (after we had enjoyed a very good full English break-fast!) we were given different companies to work with such as Jaguar Land Rover, National Nuclear Lab and Rolls Royce. We were taken into a lecture hall which was a big hall with lots of seats and a big screen. We went there every day to learn the programme for the day and to be told where we were going. Once the organisers had given us our instructions, we went to the classrooms. These were very neat and had lots of computers. This was where we did all our practi-cal work. The Jaguar Land Rover Company made a model car which went over any terrain and Rolls Royce made a model wind turbine. Once we were all in our classrooms the company we were working with gave us a briefing. We had lunch and were then given an hour to ourselves, when we chose to carry on with our projects. After our amazing day spent working on these, we headed back to the halls of residence and got ready for dinner. After dinner we had the opportunity to choose an activity again, as we had done on the first night. After burning off some energy, we said goodnight and fell asleep in a comfortable room. The next day we worked to finish our projects and started to test out our “brilliant” ideas! They were judged and each group made a PowerPoint presentation. There were prizes for the best presenta-tions and the best designs. We were praised for our work. After this we got dressed into formal clothes and had a formal dinner and a disco and that was the end of our trip. Overall, the experience was one of the best we have ever had. We would definitely do this again.

Liam Jeal, Ben Goble, Sam Harris and

Simon Edwards

The National Nuclear Lab task challenged pupils to simulate driving a train into a nuclear container whilst managing to keep the cargo (an egg in this

case!) in one piece—see article below

The Smallpeice Trust: The Smallpeice Trust organises various excellent four day residential engineering based courses, which can be booked on-line. These not only give pupils the chance to work with engineers currently based in industry but are also great for encouraging team work, develop-ing and improving social skills and providing a “feel” for univer-sity life. Courses include Year 9 ‘Physics with Engineering’ at the end of October and—an extremely popular option—the Year 10 ‘Motor Sport Engineering’ course. Please check the Smallpeice Trust website for further details of available courses: www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

LAST DAY OF TERM—W EDNESDAY 27TH JULY - FINISH AT 2.00PM ON THAT DAY FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN TERM FOR PUPILS—TUESDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER

NEW YEAR 7 AND YEAR 10 TGAS ONLY—8.40AM ALL OTHER PUPILS IN AT 11.25AM FOR P3

CALENDAR *

Please mark these dates on your calendar NOW!

SEPTEMBER

MONDAY 5TH PROFESSIONAL CLOSURE DAY—SCHOOL CLOSED

TUESDAY 6TH YEAR 7 AND TGAS IN AT NORMAL TIME ALL OTHER PUPILS IN AT 11.25AM FOR P3

TUESDAY 27TH YEAR 10 FOCUS DAY—THEME: ’MOTIVATION’

THURSDAY 29TH 6.00PM YEAR 10 GCSE PARENTS’ INFORMATION EVENING

OCTOBER

TUESDAY 4TH MORNING YEAR 7 FOCUS DAY: THEME: ‘TEAM BUILDING’

THURSDAY 13TH 6.30PM OPEN EVENING FOR YEAR 6 PARENTS (SCHOOL CLOSES AT 2.20PM)

FRIDAY 14TH PROFESSIONAL CLOSURE DAY—SCHOOL CLOSED

WEDNESDAY 19TH 7.00PM WEX (WORK EXPERIENCE) ONLINE—PARENTS’ INFORMATION EVENING (‘X’ HALF OF YEAR GROUP)

THURSDAY 20TH 7.00PM WEX (WORK EXPERIENCE) ONLINE—PARENTS’ INFORMATION EVENING (‘Y’ HALF OF YEAR GROUP)

SATURDAY 22ND OCTOBER TO SUNDAY 30TH OCTOBER—HALF TERM

NOVEMBER

WEDNESDAY 2ND 4.30PM—6.30PM CERTIFICATE EVENING FOR EX YEAR 11 PUPILS

TUESDAY 8TH YEAR 11 MODULAR MATHS EXAM

‘THE TROJAN WOMEN’ - SCHOOL PRODUCTION

WEDNESDAY 9TH YEAR 9 FOCUS DAY—’MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY’

MONDAY 14TH YEAR 11 MODULAR MATHS EXAM

TUESDAY 15TH YEAR 11 MODULAR SCIENCE RE-SITS

WEDNESDAY 23RD 4.30PM YEAR 11 PARENTS’ EVENING

FRIDAY 25TH YEAR 7 PROGRESS REVIEW ISSUED

DECEMBER

THURSDAY 1ST STAKEHOLDERS’ LUNCH

MONDAY 5TH 7.00PM YEAR 11 STUDY SKILLS—PARENTS’ INFORMATION EVENING

THURSDAY 8TH 4.30PM YEAR 7 PARENT/TUTOR EVENING

FRIDAY 9TH NON UNIFORM DAY

MONDAY 12TH—FRI 16TH YEAR 11 MOCK EXAMINATIONS WEEK

TUESDAY 13TH 2.00PM—4.00PM ELDERLY NEIGHBOURS’ CHRISTMAS PARTY

FRIDAY 16TH YEAR 8 PROGRESS REVIEWS ISSUED

SATURDAY 17TH DECEMBER TO MONDAY 2ND JANUARY—CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

TUES 8TH—THURS 10TH *Please note these dates are correct at publication, but could be subject to change. Please check the website, future newsletters and your child’s study planner

Portsmouth Beekeepers’ Association gets pupils buzz ing in ‘Food Week’

Did you know that a beekeeper is traditionally known as an apiarist? 7X4 and 7X5 were lucky enough to be given an opportunity to visit the school library (during ‘Food Week’) and listen to a talk on honey bees given by Mr David Nield of ‘The Portsmouth Beekeepers’ Association’. I found out that the females are the workers and the males are called drones. In the winter the drones get pushed out of the hive and are left outside to die because they just sit indoors all day and do nothing! The worker bees go from flower to flower collecting the pollen with their long, furry tongues and then carry it back to their home to store it in the honeycombs. At different times of the year - and depending on which plants they have been feed-ing from - the colour of the honey can vary. The Queen bee mates with up to fifteen drones and she can cleverly tell, by the size of the honeycomb cells that she lays her eggs in, whether to lay a worker egg or a drone egg. She pops the right one in each cell and it is safely capped with wax. If you would like to know more about the work that the association does go to www.portsmouthbeekeepers.co.uk

Amber Bellord (7N)