The Landau Forte College Newsletter

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The BaronessBrigstocke, CBE

1929-2004

Baroness Brigstocke, Chairman of Governors, at the official opening of Landau ForteCollege, along with the first Chairman of Governors, Mr Jonathan Sieff, theFounding Sponsor, Mr Martin Landau, the first Principal, Mr Peter Shackleton andhis successor, Mr Stephen Whiteley

L I N K

Summer 2004

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Mark KayCurriculum LeaderFrench Relocation

Nigel MaddockCurriculumLeader Physical Relocating and furtherEducation promotion

Karma PalmerMathematics Career change

Julia Priestnall Taking up anotherScience appointment

Marie Rooney Promoted to Head Science of Science

David SearleHistory Joining 6th Form College

Keely Smith Promoted to Head ofPhysical Education Department

Maurice WebbTechnology Retiring

We have successfully recruited and have alsotaken the opportunity to reshape our tutorialstaff team to meet the curriculum demandsfor the coming year. There are excitingdevelopments planned; BTEC First Diplomacourses will be studied by approximately 50students in Year 10 in the areas of Engineering,Design and Business. The College will installdigital data projectors in almost all of thelearning bases. The wireless ICT network will beupgraded and tutorial staff will have laptopcomputers available to them to enhanceteaching and learning. Additionally, routineplanned maintenance will take place to ensurethat the learning environment is maintained tothe highest standard.

Please accept my sincere thanks for yourcontinued help and support. I hope you enjoyreading about recent events at the College.

Stephen WhiteleyPrincipal

As we approach the end of another busy andsuccessful year we have, of course, beendeeply saddened by the sudden death of ourChairman, the Baroness Brigstocke. A tributeto her is included in this edition of Newslink.The Deputy Chairman of Governors, Mr PeterAshworth, former senior partner of EdwardsGeldard and HM Coroner for Derby, has beenappointed by the Board of Governors asActing Chairman for an interim period.

This news was further compounded when weheard of the untimely death of former ParentGovernor, Mr Ghazi Asif, who died following along illness. Mr Asif served the Governing Bodywell, bringing in his experience from the worldof engineering. He had been a long servingemployee of Rolls Royce. Three of his childrenhave been students at the College, covering aperiod of almost ten years and we send oursincere condolences to his family.

During the year there has been much tocelebrate and we are hopeful that the comingexamination results will reflect the effort anddetermination of all concerned.

We have a number of staff leaving this summer,most of who have been at the College forseveral years. I would like to thank all of themfor their contribution to the College and wishthem well for the future. Special mention mustbe made of Joy Holmes, who has been at theCollege for ten years, Joanne Fagan for sixyears, and Maurice Webb for almost eight, andhe has the distinction of retiring for the secondtime in his career! Those leaving include:

Alison Barton ICT Taking up another appointment

Ian CottrillBusiness Studies Relocation

Joanne FaganCurriculum LeaderGerman Leaving teaching

Joy HolmesGerman and Taking up anotherSpanish appointment

On March 25th 2004, 25 of the College’sbrainiest students participated in thequalifying round of the second UK SchoolsQuiz Championship. They were required toanswer a series of multiple choice questionson a vast array of subject areas.

Before you decide that this was an overly easyundertaking, there was one small catch: if thestudents guessed at an answer and gave anincorrect response they lost a mark. Therefore itwas entirely possible to get a negative score atthe end. Fortunately, many of our students soonwised up to the idea that if they were unsurethey should make no response and gain nothingrather than risk losing a mark.

As a result of this successful strategy, LandauForte College has qualified to participate in the

final, both in the team and individual event. Thefinals will take place on Saturday 10th July atUMIST. The following students have beeninvited to attend: Carolyn McCrone, WilliamEsposito, Christopher Arran, Elliot Baker,Alexander Fletcher, David Holmes, SimonLeonard and Steven Hanson. These were thehighest eight scorers in the College.

Special congratulations should go toChristopher Arran, from Year 7, who isconsiderably younger than the rest of thefinalists. I’m sure you will join me in wishingthem all the best of luck for the finals.

D Fawcett

Schools Quiz Championship

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Bob Laxton MP VisitsThe College

Last term, the College received a visit fromthe Rt Hon Bob Laxton, Labour MP for DerbyNorth. His visit was based around the Backto School scheme, which involves leadingpublic figures returning to schools to raisepublic awareness of the Global Campaign forEducation.

The Global Campaign for Education seeks tohighlight the problems concerning learning. Inthe world today there are 115 million childrenout of schooling, of which two thirds are girls.

Mr Laxton was present to promote thecampaign, but he was also grilled by the presentYear 13s on such hot topics as the recent war inIraq and university fees. He also spoke to KeyStage 3 Student Council members about hiswork in politics. We thank Mr. Laxton for hisvisit and for promoting the scheme. As thecampaign notes state: “Education is the singlemost powerful weapon against poverty. It givespeople a voice.”

David Holmes, Year 13 Bob Laxton MP addressing our students

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The Baroness (Heather) Brigstocke was theinspirational Chairman of Landau ForteCollege until her untimely and tragic death inApril of this year. She joined the Board ofGovernors in 1993 at the invitation of MartinLandau (Prime Sponsor) accepting theAppointment of Chairman shortly afterwards.

She brought to the Board a wealth of knowledgeand expertise gained from within botheducation and her experience of the widerworld. She had successfully led two schools,firstly as Headmistress of Francis HollandSchool, London and then the pinnacle of hercareer as High Mistress of St Paul’s Girls’ School.She had also lived and worked internationally,developing a wide range of contacts, many ofwhom she engaged to the benefit of the College.

Her passion for educationremained strong and she was apowerful advocate for theCollege, committing fully to theconcept of giving each individualchild the best possibleopportunity. Her extensiveexperience in the independentsector of education was thefoundation upon which shebroadened her knowledge andunderstanding of the state sector,fully committing to it. Herstrength was her over-ridingpassion for teaching and learningand her personal unquenchablethirst for knowledge. She had thevision to see beyond structuresand systems and focus upon theneeds of the child. She was notmotivated by organisationaldetail but championed theimportance of high qualityteaching and learning. Shebelieved that children should bechallenged and stretched, thatthey should be guided andencouraged but not led by thehand. Her position as a life peer

in the House of Lords enabled her to questioneducational thinking on both sides of the Houseand she was an independent spirit who stood byher principles.

Lady Brigstocke presented those around her withformidable challenges and high expectations butshe was also a source of inspiration. Acourageous and formidable character, you were

left in little doubt as to her views. She did notsuffer fools but equally was a great source ofprivate support to those in need and, in hercapacity as Chairman, this included from time totime members of staff, governors and parents.

As Chairman, she led a distinguished Board ofGovernors with great distinction and style. Hervast experience as Chairman of the GeffryeMuseum and the English Speaking Union, alongwith her ability to utilise the expertise of herfellow Board members, brought great benefits tothe College. An active member of both theGovernor’s Education and Finance and GeneralPurposes Committees she worked tirelessly,maintaining a firm grasp of the challenges andopportunities facing the College. As Chairmanshe was looking to the future with a great senseof purpose.

A Personal ViewFor those who became fortunate enough toknow her well, the Baroness Brigstocke was aclear thinker but also a lady with a mischievoussense of humour and fun. She had thatimportant ability to detach the personal fromthe professional and therefore you were able tothoroughly enjoy her company but equallyconduct business with her. There are manypersonal memories that I have of her. When inprofessional discussions, I was always struck byher capacity to consider and introduce thealternative point of view. Often she would say...‘Ah! Yes but on the other hand....’ and you simplyknew that you were about to hear an interestingor provocative idea. She would play Devil’sAdvocate to test your mettle and she neverstopped being a teacher! At times she could beimpatient with her pupil, if he did not takeparticular care where the written word wasconcerned. A stickler for grammar andpunctuation, I often gained from the benefit ofher experience!

Over the years that I worked with her, she was agreat source of wisdom and strength. Firstly asActing Principal for the College and then as anewly appointed Principal, she gave guidanceand advice but with this came support andspace in which to grow professionally.We shared our ambitions for the College, as wellas our thoughts and aspirations for theeducation of young people in this country. Themany people who have passed through theCollege have benefited immensely, both directlyand indirectly from her presence and influence.

Lady Brigstocke, Mrs Coffey, Mr Whiteleyand Mr Collins at the 10th anniversarycelebrations

Our Inspiratio

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It was a privilege to have known HeatherBrigstocke, not only was she my boss - she alsobecame a friend. In our lives we meet manypeople – Heather Brigstocke will never beforgotten.

S Whiteley

Lady Brigstocke giving her welcoming speech at the official opening of LandauForte College

Enjoying a lighter moment with Hazel Moore of the DfES and Arthur Burns,Project Director for the College extension

Lady Brigstocke with Sir Cyril Taylor, Chairman of the SpecialistSchools Trust, and Clare Baker, Chairman of the Student Council,following the Post-16 Presentation Awards Evening in 1999

Profile

• Heather Renwick Brown, teacher and public servant born Reading, Berkshire,2 September 1929

• Read Classics at Girton College, Cambridge

• Married in 1952, Geoffrey Brigstocke(died 1974, three sons, one daughter)

• Headmistress Francis Holland School1965 - 1974

•High Mistress, St Paul’s Girls’ School1974 - 89

• President, Girls School Association1980-81

• Appointed Life Peer Baroness Brigstockein 1990

• Chairman of Trustees, Geffrye Museum1990 -2000

• Chairman English Speaking Union of the Commonwealth 1993 - 99

• Chairman of Landau Forte College1993 -2004

• An independent national director ofTimes Newspaper Holdings

• A trustee of the HSBC Educational Trust

• Appointed CBE 2000

• Married in 2000, Lord Griffiths; died Athens 30 April 2004

onal Chairman

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On the 5th February 2004, 160 Year 7students and three post-16 sub-editorsdevoted themselves to emulating thetrials and tribulations of an ordinary dayin a newspaper production office. TheInformation Centre closed for the day andwas converted into a newsroom, repletewith computers, scanners, digital camerasand publishing software. All that was leftwas for the reporters and editors to dotheir job, and make the newspaper by thedeadline.

A huge amount of credit should be given tothe Year 7 students, who, with a smart headand strong heart, went out in search ofbreaking news. The students wrote somefantastic articles and many were of astandard quite beyond their years. Aftersome swift editing and thoughtfulre-formatting, each of the individual articles

were ready and waitingto be inserted into thenewspaper template.

If any lesson waslearned from NewspaperDay, it was the importanceof deadlines. Producing anewspaper is a challengebut producing a newspaperwithin a fixed time-scalemakes the task a lot moredifficult. Towards the endof the day, brows werebeginning to perspire, asthe time grew closer andcloser to the final printdeadline. It was time to pulltogether as a team andtime to concentrate ourefforts. The work ethic

and team spirit between reporters and editorswas brilliant, and our joint efforts eventuallysaw six high-quality newspapers produced.

Newspaper Day proved to be fun, challengingand rewarding. Everybody involved should beproud not only of their success in the productionof the finished newspapers, but, moreimportantly, take away the memories of anengaging, enlightening experience.

Kris Vernon, Year 12

Hot Off The Press!

Breaking news is covered by our Year 7s

The students’ newspapers looked veryprofessional

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The Formula Schools competition has beenheld annually for the last eight years, but thisyear Landau Forte College entered its ownteam of Year 10 engineers. This is a nationalcompetition involving over 29,000 pupilsfrom schools across the country; thereforeour Year 10s faced some serious competition!The project was intended to promoteengineering innovation amongst studentsby involving them in the designand manufacture of petrol-powered

radio-controlled cars.Teamwork was definitely akey element, and ourengineers certainly provedthis, eventually creatingtheir own Batman-esquecar to race againstthe other entrants atSilverstone!

Teams are judged on thechic chassis, the dynamicdrive-train, the build of thebody and the aerodynamicsof their car, culminatingeventually at the ‘raceday’ at the circuit in

Northamptonshire. Here the many hundreds ofstudent-constructed cars compete against eachother in a series of exciting heats. Students areencouraged to develop partnerships with localtechnology-based companies and the LandauForte team has been fortunate enough to workwith Graham Mulholland and his company,EPM Technology. EPM design and manufacturecarbon fibre components for the motorsportindustry, including professional Formula Oneteams such as Toyota and BAR, so our team ofengineers were definitely in safe hands!

The team has produced an innovative car designbased on a carbon fibre chassis, developed withEPM, with a rear suspension system and drivetrain, which was designed and built fromscratch by our own team. A carbon fibre bodyshell, designed by the young engineers andmanufactured by EPM, together with aluminiumwheels, both designed and manufactured bythe students, make the car complete. The teamwould like to thank EPM Technology for their aidin manufacturing the car, and governor, TerryOusley, who sponsored the team with a verygenerous contribution.

C Bugg and Nisha Nath, Year 12

Formula Schools

Primary School CADCAMAs part of our drive to develop closer linkswith some of the primary schools in the localarea, I was lucky enough to get involved witha Computer Aided Design and Manufactureproject with students from Cherry Tree HillJunior School and Dale Primary School.The project involved the Year 6 studentsdesigning some large novelty plastic paperclips.

I was fairly apprehensivebefore my first lesson with thestudents, not really knowingwhat to expect. However, Ineed not have worried, as thestudents very quickly startedgetting to grips with thesoftware. By the end of thefirst lesson they had all drawnout a standard design for apaper clip and added their own

name to the design. With all of the students’ideas saved onto floppy disks, their work wasbrought back to College and manufactured onthe college CNC Milling Machine. The studentswere overjoyed when on my next visit they allreceived the clips that they had designed.

The students’ enthusiasm was overwhelmingand over the next few weeks they very quicklydrew out their next design and made cardboardprototypes. All that remained was for them todraw out their final design onto the computers,ready for them to be manufactured back atLandau Forte College. I was very impressed withthe students’ creativity and enthusiasm, and itwas a real pleasure working with them on thisproject. I would like to thank both the staff andstudents of Cherry Tree Hill Juniorschool for their work in making thisproject such a success.

K Bellamy

Our Year 10 engineers with theirpetrol-powered car

Mr Bellamy with the students from Cherry TreeHill Junior School and Dale Primary School

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Drugs Awareness WeekAt Landau Forte College

The College’s first “Drugs Awareness Week”ran from Monday 21st June to Friday 25thJune and a variety of talks and activities wereorganised for the staff and students, chieflyby Dr Delbridge, a Science tutor at theCollege. The aim of the week was togive us the facts about drugs. Instead

of lecturing orenforcing moralcodes, the Collegewanted to providea c c e s s i b l ei n f o r m a t i o n ,enabling students tocome to their owndecisions.

A key aspect of theweek was the seriesof special Gatheringsorganised for eachyear group. SpeakersPC Coupe and formerdrug-abuser, Mr KevJohnson, gave talkson both thelegal and personalconsequences of

taking drugs to Years 8, 9, 10 and 12. KevJohnson’s testimony was a shocking, yetrealistic, portrayal of how damaging drugs canbe. Another presentation to Year 10 by MrsFiona Coope, a Forensic Scientist, includedinformation about pre-employment drugscreening. In other Gatherings, the College’sJunior Youth Theatre performed a dramaticpiece, posing the question: “Why take drugs?” tobring the issue to life. The Gatherings weredesigned to give students a direct, personal andinteresting slant on the real truth about drugs.

As well as various activities in many learningsessions, tutor groups were given a variety ofquizzes and activities. Many tutor groups alsohad discussions about various issuessurrounding drug use, including a review of theCollege’s Drug Policy. It gave the students amuch more hands-on approach, and provided uswith the chance to share views with otherstudents and tutors. Throughout the Collegethere were several colourful display boards, witheye-catching designs as well as importantinformation. The display boards also had webaddresses, emails and telephone numbers of theplaces that people can contact to get furtherhelp and information about drugs.

Everyone appreciated the advice andinformation that they were given during theweek, and the students’ response was verypositive. People could obtain a few more truthsabout drugs and some of the myths weredispelled. The facts were presented in anaccessible and honest way, leaving each personready to make their own informed choices.

Ruth Shepherd, Year 12

PC Coupe and our students raising drugs awarenessat the College

Students from the Junior Youth Theatre put the spotlighton drugs awareness

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Calling all snakel o v e r s !On Wednesday 31stMarch, Mr SteveRowland from theProteus Reptile Trustbrought in a varietyof rescued reptiles(not to mentionCharlie the parrot!),to give a series oftalks to all of theYear 7 students, aspart of their ZooProject study.

Excitement mounted as each student had theopportunity to touch the reptiles and ask Steveabout their housing, habitat and adaptations.Meeting the reptiles gave all a chance to learnabout these fascinating creatures and toappreciate the importance of providing theproper care and attention these animals need.

All of the students thoroughly enjoyed theexperience and many letters were written laterin English sessions, making the event trulycross-curricular, to Steve in Birminghamthanking him for the visit. At three we packedthe squirming bags of livestock (we think theywere the snakes!) back into Steve’s car and saidgoodbye for another year.

The students met a Bosch’s Monitor Lizard

Meet The Reptiles

JUNIOR MATHS CHALLENGEWhich of these fractions is nearest to 1?

A 12 B 23 C 34 D 45 E 56

23 34 45 56 67

Is it A B C D E? Answer on page 21

Maths ChallengeChristopher Woods, Year 10, made a name forhimself this term by becoming the firstLandau Forte student ever to get a Merit inthe National Intermediate Maths Challenge.Chris has always had a talent for Maths andhe also really enjoys the subject. To get tothe national level is an achievement in itself,but to get a merit is outstanding.

Firstly, Chris was selected from Year 10, to take

part in the Intermediate Maths Challenge. He

did extremely well and he, along with a few

more students from Landau Forte, took part in

the National Challenge.

The test was an hour long and involved some

pretty tricky questions. Chris, however, breezed

through it, getting the highest mark ever

achieved by a Landau student.

Chris wants to take Maths at A-level and is set

to do really well in his GCSEs next year. He’s set

a new standard for the lower years and has

created the benchmark for all the other

mathematicians in the College.

Ruth Shepherd, Year 12

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On the 19th of April this year, our Year 9students visited the Beth Shalom HolocaustCentre near Nottingham. They looked atmany exhibits of artefacts found during theliberation of the concentration camps, forexample a small child’s shoe, clothing withyellow stars pinned onto them and also manyphotographs of adults and children massacredby the Nazis.

Students were also invited to listen to a survivorof the Holocaust and discuss his experienceswith him. They were fascinated by what he hadto say and were able to ask him questions aboutwhat it was like for the victims.

Later in the day, the students toured a garden,which had plants and plaques showing names ofthose killed. There was another garden wherestudents were allowed to throw a stone onto ahuge pile of stones, each of which symbolises achild killed. We found out that it would takemany years to represent every child if we were tothrow just one per day...

Finally, the students watched some videofootage of the Rwandan crises and drewcomparisons between those tragedies and thatof the Holocaust. It was a moving and eventfulday, and hopefully the experience will havetaught our students a very important lessonindeed.

A Hopper

A Visit To Beth Shalom

Laura Thompson adds a stone to the memorial

During May, Year 6 students from primaryfeeder schools across the city of Derby werewelcomed into Landau Forte College to takepart in a variety of tasks and activities. Theevent was organised by Mr Holmes in order tocreate a stronger link with local primaryschools and to give their students a taste ofsecondary education.

The students were met by our staff in themorning and then were divided up into variousgroups. That member of staff, accompanied bythe students’ normal teacher, put the students towork on their activities. These tasks ranged fromshort story writing and web page designto Maths games and artistic designing.

Some students even learned about Chineselanguages and culture from our resident Chineseteacher, Jianqing Luo.

Five students, who created their own newspaperto cover the event, recorded the whole day withjournalistic aplomb. At the end of it all, everystudent was given a copy of the newspaper toremind them of their experiences. The Year 6day was immensely enjoyable and everyoneinvolved must be thanked for their hard work inmaking it a great success.

G Davies

Year 6s Get A Taste OfLandau Forte College

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On two different days in June 2004, Year 7students from the College went on a visit toThe Roaches in the Peak District NationalPark. Here is a report from a selection of thestudents, telling us what it was like:

The coach journey was one hour long but itseemed much shorter because the coach driverslet us listen to the radio. When we arrived wehad a short walk to the site that we werestudying and when some people arrived there,they were already worn out.

We were split up into groups and did eitherScience or Geography in the morning.The Science activity was to use a quadrate,which is a ten by ten squared grid. You drop iton the ground and then you study the species ineach section. During the morning it rained andall of our work looked like we had left it in thebath for 2 days. We then had a lot of soggysandwiches. In the afternoon we swappedactivities. Half of us did Geography and theother half did Science.

The Geography activity was to climb a hill anddraw the view of the surrounding area, whichwe really enjoyed. At the end of the day wehiked back down the hill to where the coach waswaiting to bring us back to Derby. If you like thegreat outdoors, spectacular surroundings anddon’t mind precipitation, then this is the placefor you.

Cadell Barker, Sam Elliott, Peter Evans, AmyJones and Fiona Rudge, Year 7

Our Day Out At The Roaches

For the seventh year in a row,Landau Forte College hasenjoyed success in the YoungWriters’ annual poetrycompetition. 48 students,from across the Key Stage 3learning groups, have hadtheir work published in thePoetry in Motion Anthologyfor Derbyshire as a rewardfor their efforts.

The competition’s judgesdescribe the task of selectingpoems as ‘a difficultbut nevertheless enjoyableexperience’, which reflectsthe stiff competition ourstudents faced from otherschools across Derbyshire.

Receiving recognition for their ideas andcreativity elicited happy responses from thestudents, who were pleased to see their hardwork in print. ‘It was a great moment,’ said MarkWood, one of the Year 9 students to achievesuccess, ‘and it has given me a lot of confidencein my literary abilities.’

The competition will be run again in Term 1, soget your thinking caps on and your pens out ifyou see yourself as another budding BenjaminZephaniah or William Wordsworth.

B Wright

Students enjoying the countryside at the Roaches

Poetry In Motion

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On the 22nd ofFebruary 2004,Year 12 Geographystudents took partin a three daytrip to Norfolk.Although thejourney and theweather did notgo as planned,the views ande x p e r i e n c e sallowed the

students and the teachers a chance to witnessand learn new things, and also to have funtogether.

On the first day, we took a 6 mile walk along ashingle beach near Blakeney to study sand dunesuccession, which was tiring but really interesting.Then on the second day, our activities consistedmainly of land-use mapping of Norwich citycentre, in the rain. Needless to say, we gotdrenched.

On the third and final day, we were able to make ashort study of coastal erosion before departingback to Derby. We had a really great time, despitethe weather taking sides against us. Next time, Iwill remember to pack my umbrella!

Holly Barlow, Year 12

Braving The Elements

Maintaining HighEngineering Standards

The success of the EngineeringEducation Scheme at Landau ForteCollege has continued to grow over thelast three years and working, once again,with AEA Technology Rail, this year wasno exception. The relationship betweenAEA and Landau Forte College hascontinued to remain strong and this isdown to the success of the students. So

impressed have AEA been with some of ourstudents, that Joel Sainsbury of last year’s teamhas been offered sponsorship by the company forhis Engineering degree course, commencing thisautumn.

This year’s team had to live up to high standards setby their predecessors. The team, Adrian Bradley,Martin Counter, Graham Holland and Sean Smith,were given the task of developing a prototype whichmeasures defects in train wheels and was designedand built by Saphia Hashim, Timothy Keely, JoelSainsbury and Jimmy Wang last year. They were toimprove the design, build a new prototype and presenta design which could be mass produced.

The project began back in October, with the launchbeing at the National Space Centre. The team weregiven the brief by the company and the developmentbegan. By early December the final design was agreedupon and the design was presented in the form of 3DComputer Aided Design models and detailed drawings,expertly prepared by Graham.

It was then off to Loughborough University, to takeadvantage of the workshop facilities and lectures byleading Engineers, and also to have a taste ofuniversity life for three days. Having made bigimprovements to the original circuit board design,Martin locked himself away in the electronics labwith electronics engineer James Hardy from AEA andcarefully set about producing the new board.Mechanical Engineer Martin Bone from AEA andmyself, oversaw the production of the mechanicalcomponents, with Graham and Sean taking theresponsibility of machining most of the aluminiumcomponents, with a little help from the other twoteam members. Prior to going to LoughboroughUniversity, Adrian had little experience of engineeringprocesses, but by the end of the three days haddeveloped skills that would make any engineeringapprentice jealous.

With the prototype now complete, the team preparedthe report and the presentation that would be givento a panel of engineers at the regional assessmentday in March. For the third year running, our studentswere very impressive and they achieved higher scoresin all the assessment categories than the regionalaverage of around fifty teams.

On top of their achievements on the day, the teamwere also awarded Gold Crest Awards and have beeninvited to attend the regional final of the YoungEngineers for Britain. Good luck team and well done!

C Wright

The Engineering EducationTeam receive their certificates

CAD model of the newprototype

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In February 2004, five Year12 German students fromthe College headed off toOsnabrück for our workplacements. The journeywas straightforward, eventhough we had to brave theGerman and Dutch trainsystems after our flight toAmsterdam.

Once in Osnabrück, wenervously greeted our hostfamilies and settled into ournew environment. At our

work placements, lots of people spoke to us inEnglish but at home we had to speak German.

This boosted our self-confidence in speakingGerman, ready for our AS speaking exams! Wewent to a football match, went ice skating,visited Bremen with its attractive old town,sampled the highlights of Osnabrück nightlifeand went on a float in the carnival!

After 15 days, we managed the long journeyhome despite getting lost in Holland and havinga near miss with a lost bag! All in all, if you arein Year 12, study German and are looking for afun time, a boost to your self-confidence and animprovement in your German speaking skills,then this is for you.

Mark Blundell, Laura Branniganand Yousif Siddiqi, Year 12

Year 12 German students at acarnival in Osnabrück

Osnabrück WorkPlacement 2004

¿Habla Español?This year for our work placement, seven of ourAS Level Spanish group spent ten days inGranada, Spain. The idea was to stay with aSpanish family and attend a bilingual schoolduring the week. This gave us the opportunityto practice our Spanish, as the parents of the

children we were stayingwith could not speak English.We had a great time and ouradopted families made usfeel very welcome.

We were there for ten daysworking with a range ofstudents but mainly Year 9sand Year 10s. Whilst there, wewere able to undertake arange of different activities,including marking grammarexercises, setting examquestions for classes, beinginvolved with and supporting

class discussions, helping with reading activities,playground duties at break times, filing and ICTwork.

As well as attending the schools, we also had thechance to explore the region. Some of us wentall over Granada and also to Malaga for a day.This gave us a chance to shop and to top up oursun tans! Staying with our surrogate familiesalso gave us the opportunity to try a lot of thetypical Spanish dishes, such as paella andSpanish omelette, and we got to see whatSpanish life is really like.

Going to Spain for work placement was a greatexperience for us and built our confidence inspeaking the language. We recommend workexperience abroad if ever you have the chancebecause we now have friends in Spain and someof us have even been invited back for thesummer.

Laura Abbott and Bianca Hayes,Year 12

Bianca Hayes and Laura Abbottwith some of the students theysupported in Spain

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The Gallery is a showcase of artworkby Landau Forte’s own talented GCSE,AS and A2 students. In this edition,The Gallery presents its mostinnovative collection so far, from oilpaints to chalks, from Realism toCubism. All of the featured piecesbelow are by students in Year 12.

The Gallery

Danielle Taylor, Year 12

Ruth Shepherd, Year 12

Laura Ryan, Year 12

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Extract From Chocolate Cake

It’s the middle of the night,

And I can’t see a speck of light.

I’m hungry,

I’m thirsty,

I’m licking my lips.

Food, I need some food,

How about that lollipop I chewed?

No, the chocolate cake,

With the icing on top and coconut shake.

I could go downstairs and eat all of it,

No maybe just a bit.

That way nobody will guess,

And I won’t have to confess,

That it was me,

See!

Arjmand Kokab, Year 8

Poetry CornerEvery issue of Newslink we publish pieces ofstudents’ writing. This edition we have apoem by Arjmand Kokab, Year 8, which wasnominated for inclusion by Mr Collins.

Unfortunately, we are unable to include thefull poem, which was more than three pageslong, so here is a slice of Chocolate Cakefor you to sample...

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Following their award-winning performance inHolland last November at the European Scienceon Stage Festival, the next stop for Landau ForteYouth Theatre was The Symphony Hall in

Landau Forte YouthTheatre - Busy As Usual!

Birmingham and the Music for Youth PrimaryProms. Two performances to a total of 5000Birmingham School children confirmed thatscientists and children have the same sense ofhumour. LFYT were invited by Music for Youth,along with four other groups from the Midlands,to present MUT to children who may not havethe opportunity to visit such a prestigious venueto experience live music.

Currently, the group is working in the PulseProject sponsored by the Wellcome Trust. Thisinvolved giving a workshop at ManchesterUniversity about their new piece ‘Cell Out’ inJune to students, lecturers and teachers.Following the Pulse Project we have beeninvited to celebrate Easter at Derby Cathedral inour own version of a selection of mystery plays.Phew!

A Coffey

The students in the middle of their performance of MUT

A huge audience came to see LFYT perform

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Musical Performer AndDramatic Monologue

0f The Year 2004It takes a lot of determination, hard work, confidence andpride before you find the courage to get up in front of anaudience and perform. This is especially true of the MusicalPerformer of the Year and the Dramatic MonologueCompetition. Every performer in the competition deserved tobe on stage in front of friends and family. Each one has shownreal talent, real energy and real courage.

The Musical Performer of the Year was judged by Kevin Holdgate,one of our peripatetic teachers. Lisa Webster, a former PerformingArts student at Landau Forte College, judged the DramaticMonologue Competition. The judges were both impressed with theperformances and commented on how hard it was to decide.Thank you to all of our judges for their time and expertise.

Rebecca Wilson: Junior Dramatic Monologue WinnerRebecca, Year 8, wrote her own monologue this year entitled ‘AreWe There Yet?’ The character in this piece was a girl on a trip withher parents. It was set in the car on the way to their campsite andRebecca portrayed to us a bored and frustrated teenager who wasclearly jealous of her friends who were going on better holidays.Rebecca’s piece ended with a sequence of slow-motion movesshowing that her car had been involved in an accident.

Esther Gunn: Senior Dramatic Monologue WinnerEsther’s monologue was Macavity, The Mystery Cat by T. S. Eliot.This piece is one of Eliots’ poems which has become famousthrough the musical ‘Cats’. Macavity is a very physical piece whichdemands an understanding of movement as well as character, achallenge which clearly appealed to Esther, who is in Year 10.

Sophie Beer: Junior Musical Performer of the YearSophie, a Year 8 student at Landau Forte College, has been playingthe Violin for a number of years. Her piece for Musical Performerof the Year was Concertino, a mature composition which requirestechnical accuracy and confidence. In addition to her excellentperformance of this piece, Sophie showed a confidence andenjoyment in playing for her audience.

Katy Appleby: Senior Musical Performer of the YearThis year Katy Appleby, Year 11, sang Everything I Do by BryanAdams. This is a song which many people hold close to theirhearts and therefore an ambitious piece for anyone to attempt.As this piece was written for a male voice, Katy showed her vocalrange and sang beautifully and confidently throughout.

Matthew Arran: Honker of the YearIn addition to our traditional awards, this year we introduced theHonker of the Year. This trophy was awarded to the Honker whichshowed the most dynamic performance during their piece. So, thefirst ever winner of Honker of the Year goes to Matthew Arran,Year 7. Well Done!

During the adjudication the audience was entertained by JuniorDance Club, Honkers, Singers and B Flat Posse. Congratulations toeveryone who took part in the Musical Performer of the Year andthe Dramatic Monologue Competition 2004.

S Aherne

Esther Gunn, Katy Appleby,Matthew Arran, Rebecca Wilsonand Sophie Beerare awarded with theirprizes byMr Whiteley

18

Year 11 GCSE PE studentsrecently visited the outdoorpursuits centre in Longtown,Herefordshire. Lucy Bryanand Saphia Kharaz tell uswhat they got up to...

On Saturday we had to get upat 7 am as we were to be cavingall day. After a big breakfast,we were given our massivewetsuits that made us look like

Teletubbies. Once we got to the site we had to abseildown a small crevice into the cave. This wentsurprisingly smoothly even though it was pitch black,apart from Jon Robinson arriving at the bottom withonly one welly, as the other was stuck in the wall.After returning to Longtown we quickly ate dinnerbefore setting off for our evening’s entertainment,orienteering, which was on a mountain called theCat’s Back overlooking Hereford. It was pitch blackexcept for the light from our head torches and therewas a massive waterfall. Some parts of the mountainwere so steep, it was just like a slide.

Sunday was our last day. After packing most of ourthings in the morning we went on the challenge wall.The aim of this is to get all seven members of thegroup over the wall; the catch being that the wall wasmade up of smooth planks of wood placed side byside. Each time you completed that height of the wallanother plank was added. With everyone standing oneach others head and shoulders and being pushed andpulled in all directions, we all ended up covered inmud. Between the two groups, the winning numberof planks was 15. We won’t mention which groupwon, except that it wasn’t Mr Rowe’s.

We then went on to smaller team challenges, likeswinging on ropes, down poles, climbing over andunder nets and pipes. In the afternoon we went onthe climbing wall that was approximately 40 feethigh. The whole trip was an amazing experiencebecause it was a good place to have fun with ourfriends and to have an adventure too. We wouldrecommend it to anyone.

Lucy Bryan and Saphia Kharaz, Year 11

Adventure Weekend

Miss Smith and Year 11 all setfor adventure

This year, we returned tothe slopes of Pila, followingour positive experiences in2002. Luckily, we wereblessed with one of the bestsnow seasons on record,with regular falls occurringin the Alps from Decemberonwards. Yes, I did checkthe resort snow falls - atleast weekly! Prior to ourdeparture, I learned thatour accommodation wasbeing upgraded to 4-star

and that we would be residing in the Class Hotel -lucky us!

Mr M Rowe, Miss C Thackrah, Mr M Kay, parent Mr SHarris and myself accompanied the 31 students thisyear. We had four visits to Swadlincote Ski Centreduring December and January and all students werethoroughly engaged in their ski lessons. They strivedto improve their skiing ability, well before we took tothe snowy slopes of Pila and therefore I knew we weregoing to have a very successful Ski Visit.

Once we arrived in Pila, we were met by our InterskiCo-ordinator, Simon, who supported the staff andstudents so well throughout the week. We were alsovery lucky with the quality of our Ski tutors. All of thestudents made excellent progress and by the end ofthe week, both tutors and students were verycomplimentary about one another at the SkiPresentation Evening. In addition to organising ourfinal evening, Simon put together an excellent aprèsski programme comprising of bowling, swimming,disco and games evenings.

Thanks must go to our group and the staff of theHotel Class, as they nominated us the best group ofthe season in their hotel. In return, College has justreceived an entire team set of football kit includingkit bag; so look out for the smart kit in operation nextseason!

My thanks to everyone for making our visit to Pilasuch an enjoyable one and I look forward to returningthere next season, when we will have somesnowboarders as well as skiers. Obviously Mr S Harris(extreme snowboarder) has inspired some of our skiersto take up a new challenge!

A Holland

Landau Forte Return ToThe Slopes Of Pila

Back on the slopes:The Landau Forte Skiers

19

Salou Or BustIt might have taken 26 hours to get to Salouin southern Spain but it was well worth thetrouble. A group of 26 students, along withMiss Holden, Mr Dobson and Mr Rowe wenton a football coaching visit to the CostaDorada. The group set off from College onSaturday 29th May, leaving at 10.00am andtravelled right across France to Spain, takingin the magnificent scenery of the Pyrenees.

The first day wastaken up with gettingacclimatised and walkingaround the town,including the beach.On Monday morning,however, after anenormous breakfast, wewere at the trainingground for 9am whereour New Zealander coachAndre put the childrenthrough a rigorous

programme of training. The afternoon consistedof a series of “round robin” matches againststudents from other British schools also usingthe facilities.

Tuesday was taken up with more training in themorning, followed by matches and then a choiceof activities in the afternoon. Some studentsopted for Football and others for Cricket. Atcricket, I managed to get out to both Mr Roweand Miss Holden and also managed (with GaryKang as my partner) to achieve the lowest scorein a pairs cricket game. On Tuesday night we

went ten pin bowling where again Miss Holdenwas the star performer, bowling over 120, whichwas far and away the highest score of theevening.

On Wednesday we visited the Nou CampStadium in Barcelona. This was very impressiveand the 120,000 seater stadium is magnificent.We toured all of the stadium, including themuseum and the changing rooms. It wasamazing seeing the names of all the stars, pastand present, who have played at Barcelonadisplayed on the lockers. These include suchluminaries as Edgar Davids, Gary Lineker andJohann Cruyff, but sadly also included DiegoMarradona. We toured Barcelona in theafternoon, reaching the dizzying heights to lookdown on the city and then made a brief tour ofthe famous Ramblas.

On Wednesday evening we played a crunchgame against our Spanish opposition. They werea very well-organised and skilled side and,whilst the final scoreline did not flatter theCollege, the individual performances wereexcellent. Jack Barker and Steven Leeson wereboth outstanding.

Thursday was a more relaxed day, when thestudents visited the Port Aventura Theme Park.This was a stunning place, full of exciting,vertiginous rides. The children had an excellenttime and conducted themselves superbly. Infact, one thing that characterised the childrenwas their endless good humour and excellentbehaviour. One student who truly stands out,though, is Steven Leeson (or The Legend as hewas nicknamed). His exploits were many, bothon and off the pitch, but my abiding memorywill be of regaling our students, and the youngladies from another school, with an imprompturendition of Evergreen by Will Young. Can Top ofthe Pops be far off, I wonder?

N Dobson

With Steven Leeson drivingand Jack Barker navigatingit’s no wonder the journeytook forever!

The Year 8 Footballers in Salou

20

Newslink is proud to report that a Year 11student from Landau Forte College, LauraHarris, has become the first female referee toofficiate the Derby City League ChallengeTrophy final. She oversaw the action betweenAllestree Juniors and Darley Sports in anexciting match at Moorways Stadium.

Laura has been eager to take charge of a cupfinal and, because of her involvement in theDuke of Edinburgh Award scheme at the College,she has now realised her dream. Students whoare part of the award scheme must take part inactivities that involve the community, so sheused her refereeing skills to great effect.

The training and fitness required of a youngreferee can be easily underestimated and Laurahad to work hard to reach the standard requiredof a football official. She has also had to put upwith abuse from the spectators but she dealswith this in a mature way, accepting the factthat it comes with the territory. We wish her allthe best for the future, and maybe one day wewill see her blowing the whistle at a World Cupfinal.

G Davies

Laura Harris AchievesRefereeing Ambition

Sun Continues to Shine forDuke of Edinburgh Unit

Once again it has been a successful year forthe Duke of Edinburgh Award Unit. Manystudents in Year 10 have received Bronzeawards and around ten students in Year

11 received Silverawards at theDuke of Edinburghp r e s e n t a t i o nevening at theGuild Hall inMarch.

This year the Bronzeaward trainingr e s p o n s i b i l i t i e shave been taken onby Miss Aherne andMr Needham and,since the launch inNovember, theyhave been trainingapproximately fiftyYear 9s everyMonday afternoon.

The Bronze outdoor calendar for this yearstarted with a very successful day at CarsingtonWater, with the weather being unusually kind tous in February. With a practice expedition inApril, followed by an assessed expedition in May,the Year 9s have really enjoyed life in thecountryside.

The Silver unit have been active as well andenjoyed some great weather for three days atthe end of March on their practice expedition.They are now studying maps and planning routesand campsites in preparation for their assessedexpedition in September. Let’s hope the goodweather that we have enjoyed so far this yearstays with us for the rest of the season.

C Wright

Time to relax after a hard day’s walking

Year 7 Day At The ZooIt was just 10 am when we arrived atTwycross Zoo, during April. It was very quiet.Few visitors had yet arrived and thedisruption from visiting Landau Forte CollegeYear 7 students was not welcomed by some ofthe residents. One smart and agitatedchimpanzee stood at the top of his cage anddirected an early morning urine stream atpassing students. No one will own up tointerrupting his aim, but I know who it waswho received a spraying! Furthermore, anOrang-Utan displayed his discontentment bysmashing the glass of his enclosure with hisfist!

We had a superb day. The weather waswonderful and the students thoroughly enjoyedtheir outing, which included an informativepresentation by the zoo staff. All of thestudents worked very hard on their chosenanimal projects by collecting species lists andinformation about the animals.

We were sad to find that the tigers and sandcats had been moved to alternativeaccommodation. However, the lions had bredsuccessfully and looked very proud of their lioncub. The penguins really seemed to be enjoyingtheir new pool and on a hot day it would betempting to join them. The dogs had beenprovided with new enclosures since last yearand there was a lot of building work going on,so I am sure that next year there will be somenew animals to see.

Landau Forte College students behavedimpeccably. Which is more than can be said forthe zoo’s residents!

M Rooney

Even the Sea Lions show off in front of our Year 7s

21Answer to Junior Maths Challenge: E

22

The library club that takes place in theInformation Centre is now steadilyunderway. It is held on Mondayafternoons from 4 to 5.15 pm on aweekly basis. Chaired by the ICLearning Support Assistant, Ms SChambers, a variety of topics arecovered that appeal to the students inCollege. There are reading and writingexercises with group discussions andICT projects to complete. Selections ofbooks are used for research in eachsession, alongside Internetopportunities for extension work. Allcompleted work is visually displayedon the boards in the IC on a term timebasis, accompanied by advertisementposters and supplementary materialproved by the IC LSA.

Topics covered so far have been: “A dayin the Life of...”, where students used a diaryformat to describe the events of the day throughthe eyes of a person of their choice; “A journeythrough space and time”, which involveddevising a time line back to a historical periodand a current affairs discussion on war andterrorism.

Two sessions on British Sign Language attracteda lot of attention, both from the students andstaff. This will be introduced again in theacademic year 2004-05 for the new intake,because of the positive feedback we received.Students have also been encouraged tocontribute a book review to be placed on the ICALICE system for other students’ futurereference, with the latest session being “Petswin Prizes”, where the students candiscuss their pets’ characteristics, gainmore awareness ofanimal welfare andbe awarded a smallprize from theCollege shop forany accompanyingphotos thatcompliment theirwritten work.

S Chambers

LFC Library Club

Connexions is the new title for the CareersService and our local representatives fromConnexions Derbyshire regularly visit Collegeto give advice and help with careers andfuture choices. However, Connexions goes farbeyond this and includes advice on familyproblems, relationships, money matters,training and even health and transport. Ifyou are aged between 13 and 19 and needsomeone to talk to about any problem, youcan get in touch with Connexions by phone,e-mail or even arrange to chat to an adviserat College.

Having explained Connexions’ role, this bringsme to the Information Centre resources relatingto Connexions. We have now re-organised all ofthe old careers section to reflect the new

Connexions system and have included manytypes of materials to support your choices oncareers, university, GCSEs, A Levels, employmentand personal issues. The resources includebooks, journals, pamphlets, hanging folders andmuch, much more. You can browse through allof the sections and photocopy any items.

If you have a problem that you need help with,have a quiet word with Mrs Hewitt for aConnexions interview or the IC staff, and we willtry to find the best way to help you. Pleaseremember - you are not alone and there isalways a way to solve a problem. GetConnected!

C Holme

Get connected withConnexions!

23

Wales In A Week On A Bike In April 2004, as part of the preparations formy Uganda Expedition in August, I took partin a sponsored cycle across Wales, fromHolyhead to the capital, Cardiff. This was inorder to help raise funds through the College,

for a trip to renovate anexisting primary school inLukotaime, Uganda, and builda further block where teacherscan stay whilst they work atthe school.

On first hearing of thislong-distance cycle, I looked atthe route with some trepidation.The aim was to cover the 220miles between Holyhead andCardiff, through the roughterrain of Snowdonia and theBrecon Beacons, as well asreaching the summit ofSnowdon (the highest mountainin Wales) in under a week.However, after someencouragement, and with theadded pressure of having toreach my expedition target of£1500, I decided to go for it. So

on a dreary Saturday morning, I met up with myWelsh friend, and fellow cyclist, Martyn, atHolyhead docks. During the expedition, we

carried all of the equipment we would need enroute and we were well-prepared for the sixdays of cycling ahead.

The first leg of our trip took us across the isle ofAnglesey, past the famed railway station withthe longest name in Europe, over BritanniaBridge, and into the heart of SnowdoniaNational Park, finishing the first day stayingnear to Llanberis, perfectly placed to go for thesummit of Mount Snowdon. The next day wecycled up to Pen-y-Pass, left our bikes in theYouth Hostel, and started to climb themountain. The weather, however, was not onour side, and, at about three quarters of the wayup, high wind speeds and hail made the finalpush for the summit dangerous. We wereadvised against going along the ridge to the top,so, disappointed but relieved, we made our waydown.

Having retired early from Snowdon, we then hadtime to get in a bit more cycling and followedour route southwest through Dolgellau toTrawsfynedd. On day three, we woke early, forthe longest day of cycling, 47 miles souththrough the Cambrian Mountains to Rhayaderand on to Llanidloes. The next day we continuedthrough the mountainous countryside to BuilthWells and then to Boughrood on the edge of theBrecon Beacons.

Day five was spent in the National Park, makingour way to Martyn’s home village of Llangynidr.Once there, we set out on the final push forthe capital: 40 miles out of the National Park,through Merthyr Tydfil and down the valleys toCardiff. We finished on Thursday eveningoutside of the Millennium Stadium in CardiffBay. All in all, it was a fantastic experience,whereby I got to see a lot of a country that I hadrarely visited before. At times, the cyclingbecame difficult and our target seemed a longway off, but we took care not to lose focus onachieving our goal, not only for ourselves, butfor the villagers of Lukotaime.

Shaun Maskrey, Year 13

Shaun and Martyn take abreather from their gruellingjourney

The route that Shaun took across Wales in a week

For further information please contact:John Cox, Director of Finance and Administration on

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The Landau Forte CollegeShop opened on Tuesday2nd April, 2002 and ishere to meet all studentneeds.We have a range of bothfiction and text books,alongside a large rangeof stationery, birthdaycards, computerequipment, art suppliesand maths equipment.We have new stockarriving regularly so comeand visit us and see whatwe have to offer!

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CreditsEDITOR

G Davies

PRINCIPALS Whiteley

STUDENT JOURNALISTSDavid HolmesNisha NathRuth ShepherdKris Vernon

STUDENT CONTRIBUTORSLaura AbbottCadell BarkerHolly BarlowLucy BryanSam ElliottPeter EvansBianca HayesAmy JonesSaphia KharazArjmand KokabShaun MaskreyFiona Rudge

STAFF CONTRIBUTORSS AherneK BellamyC BuggS ChambersA CoffeyH ColemanD CredaliA DelbridgeN DobsonD FawcettJ GrantA HollandC HolmeA HopperE O’MaraR PioliM RooneyJ Rolley-ParnellS WhiteleyB WrightC Wright

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTD Slater

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