BOURNE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BULLETIN Week ending Friday 8 January 2016 From Jonathan Maddox, Headteacher NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST One of the School s parent governors has been awarded an OBE in the 2016 New Year Honours List. Air Commodore Lincoln Taylor is one of 123 service personnel to have been granted state honours by Her Majesty The Queen, in connection with his work in the Royal Air Force. Our warmest congratulations to him. AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY FOR MUSIC AT BGS Hard on the heels of the splendid Christmas Concert which was led by our Director of Music Miss Coggin, I am pleased to report that Miss Coggin has been invited to join the writing group for an important new project, which will involve working with the Royal Opera House. The Lincolnshire Music, Arts and Education hub is working closely with the ROH this year to set in motion a number of initiatives and projects. The ROH is putting together classroom singing resources for primary and secondary teachers across the UK which will include new material especially commissioned for children's voices and a sequence of lesson activities with digital support material. In addition to writing for the project, Miss Coggin will serve as an educational advisor. She is the only secondary school music teacher to have been asked to be involved. The project is expected to lead to a range of opportunities for our students, not least through involvement in a community project with the ROH to be based in Bourne. YOUNG WRITERS POETRY TRIALS - Report by Mr Brooker (English Department) After thousands of entries from all over the UK for the annual Young Writers Poetry Trials competition, a number of students from Bourne Grammar School has been selected to have work published in this year s edition of The Poetry Trials The East Midlands, copies of which will be sent to the British Library and further libraries across the UK and Republic of Ireland, providing a lasting record of the students achievement. Their poems have been selected for publication based on perception, imagination, expression, creativity and use of language. The BGS winners were: Bhumika Khadka, Antonio Brown, Chloe Williamson, "1
Jasmine Bista, Emma Dunleavy, Ilhem Betraoui, Millie Scarth, Charlotte Crolley-Waine, Molly Welling, Jenna Taylor, Tiya Bali, Sam Beaton, Lindsay Sharp and Sophie Bannister. Sophie Bannister s poem - a genuinely outstanding effort - is published below: The Butterfly Boat By Sophie Bannister 8B As the crystal ocean licked the limestone rocks And candyfloss clouds filled the sky Where the shore was lined with postcard yachts The butterfly boat paraded by. A carved maiden lay on the prow With sparkling, sea blue eyes Upon the masts of acacia bough Were a thousand butterflies. They were like a rainbow battalion Every beat of their wings in time Onwards they spurred the galleon Each individual butterfly sublime. As the butterfly boat sailed over the sea The candyfloss clouds turned to grey Thunder snapped through the tranquil scene: A tempest was on the way. Tossed upon the raging clashers Not one butterfly missed a beat Rather than let the boat be smashed to tatters They performed a remarkable feat. Up and away they lifted the boat Into the darkening sky Further and further it began to float As the coal coloured clouds marched by. The butterflies reached a place where rain could not A place which knew only light A shelter for the butterfly yacht Where it stayed long into the night. Once the storm had finally dispersed The butterflies descended again Safely the ship once more traversed Its stunning azure domain. As the crystal ocean licked the limestone rocks And candyfloss clouds filled the sky Where the shore was lined with postcard yachts The butterfly boat paraded by. A carved maiden lay on the prow With sparkling, sea blue eyes Upon the masts of acacia bough Were a thousand butterflies. Inspired by the Painting The Butterfly Ship by Salvador Dalí. HELP OTHERS WITH YOUR UNWANTED CHRISTMAS PRESENTS Mr Whitton (English Department) Following the success of last year s gift initiative, we will be collecting donations of unwanted Christmas presents for children in hospital. The teenage patients of Peterborough Hospital s Amazon Ward do not always receive age-appropriate gifts and the items we donated last year were received with sincere gratitude. Students should bring any surplus or unwanted gifts to E5 where the students from 11Y will coordinate the collection and distribution processes. "2
STUDENTS OF THE WEEK Name Year Staff Subject Jared Carroll 7 Mrs Durno English Abigail McCullough 7 Mr Graves PE Scott Merriman 7 Mr Hartley Geography James Watling 7 Mr Wackett Systems & Control Charlotte Broxup 8 Mrs Mohan PE Julia Smalova 8 Miss Osborn English Fabio Valerio 8 Mr Tighe English Rebecca Earth 9 Mr Mitchell Chemistry Carrington Young 9 Mrs Addison English Lucas Carlton 10 Miss Smallshaw Chemistry Abigail Cooper 10 Mr Dennis PE Amelia Gardner 10 Miss Hempstead PE Finley Overland 10 Mrs Woolf Chemistry Lucy Southerden 10 Mr Ray PE Wiktoria Obarska 11 Miss Hurrell Spanish Lauren Wisker 11 Miss Walters English Michaela Wray 13 Mrs Shales Mathematics ARTWORK I feature for the first issue of 2016 two pieces; the first is by Ellie Harwood (Year 13). It has been made in response to her own theme - The influence my family and friends have had on me and on who I will continue to be. The second is by Jade Dodwell (Year 12). This was made in response to her interest in the variety of shapes, surfaces and structures in nature, especially leaves. Ellie Harwood "3
Jade Dodwell HOMEWORK CLUB Parents and carers should by now have received a letter from Mrs Faux, Assistant Headteacher (Pastoral) in which details of a proposal to introduce an after-school Homework Club are set out. Please do respond to this if the proposal is of interest. Regrettably, the Club is possible only if it is able to pay its way - there is a staffing cost - so a financial commitment by parents whose sons and daughters are to make use of the service is required. From time to time I have been asked if the School could consider a Homework Club; the proposal is a response to that. EMERGENCY CLOSURE OF THE SCHOOL DUE TO BAD WEATHER Snow is forecast for next week so I am re-issuing the following guidance It is my habit at this time of year to brief parents and carers by means of the Bulletin on the possibility that the School might have to close - quite possibly at very short notice - should there be extremes of weather over the coming winter. I hasten to reassure parents that closures of our School for this reason are exceptionally rare. The circumstances and catchment areas of the other local schools are, increasingly, very different from our own so in recent years we have tended to make any decisions in this area alone. Our record in the past decade or so is of no closure at all due to weather and we are proud of that. If we have to close then you can be certain that a difficult decision has been made with the safety of our students, and staff, uppermost, and after extremely careful consideration. "4
The easy situation is when the School does not open at all on a given day and it is possible to make the decision very early on. When it snows, I can be certain that Delaines will telephone me long before any student will have begun to prepare for School. I have an excellent relationship with Delaines and the view from my bedroom window takes in one of their routes, so we are able to form an opinion on the conditions quickly and efficiently. If the decision is taken to close then a new system will operate this year for contacting you and you will receive a closure message by text. The website will also be updated quickly. The much more difficult situation is where it is decided to open the School but heavy snow falls once the morning commute to School has happened and parents have set out on their daily business. Only one such closure has been declared since I joined BGS in 2005. Should I have to close the School other than first thing in the morning then the same methods of communication will be used to let you know. Please do not attempt to telephone the School as your call will not be answered; a recorded message will repeat the information which has been conveyed by text and by means of the website. INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS Rugby - Year 12 student Adam Castle has been selected to join the U18 Midland Counties Training Squad. There will be a training session on 24 January and then a training match on 7 February against The Lambs (Independent Schools representative team) and the final match against The North is on 21 February, which is when the England selectors will pick their players for a series of International matches. The Squad is picked from the RFU s Midlands region which consists of players from Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Greater Birmingham, Herefordshire, and Staffordshire. Adam s selection came as a result of his involvement in the RFU Midlands Championship playing for the NLD U18 squad, where the Midlands selectors observed and graded Adam over three matches. As a result, they invited 56 players to a first Midlands trial at Uppingham School in December. After this trial he was selected for a second trial of 40 players held in January at Broadstreet RFC in Coventry, where England selectors were also in attendance. Adam had a good day playing on the wing for two games and at fullback for one. He scored a nice try from 30 metres out, made all his tackles and had no mistakes. On the basis of this trial he was selected for the Midlands Squad. Adam is a Year 12 student and therefore still only an under-17 player, making his selection for a Midlands U18 squad even more impressive. Whatever the outcome this year, Adam will have another opportunity next year to represent the Midlands and to impress the England selectors. Music - Year 8 student Peter Reid has passed his Grade 2 bass guitar examination with distinction, after only nine weeks of lessons. Well done to Peter. "5