BOURNE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BULLETIN

BOURNE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BULLETIN Week ending Friday 4 September 2015

From Jonathan Maddox, Headteacher

________________________________________ WELCOMES
 It is always a great delight to welcome the students back to School and to see those in Year 7 and Year 12 who are joining us for the first time arrive and settle in. Yesterday’s Year 7 intake is our second of eight forms - 240 students - and all 240 arrived looking excited and ready to get to work after their long summer break. Recruitment to the Sixth Form this year has been quite exceptional so our Sixth Form is now the biggest it has ever been. I welcome too all parents who are now, for the first time, parents of students on roll here. It is a personal priority to ensure that the Bulletin is sent out every Friday - usually in the afternoon - and it will, in my own words, keep you up-to-date with School life. Do please take a few moments to read it each week. In addition to news and reports, including items written by students, I will sometimes include items briefing parents on developments in education which will affect our School and the weekly list of Students of the Week is included once term gets under way. Do please let me have news of your sons’ and daughters’ successes and achievements out of School, ideally with a photograph, as my wish is for the Bulletin to be a full record of everything that is achieved in the School community. 
 TRIP TO ECUADOR AND THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS - Report by Mr J Marsden
 In the (very) small hours of the morning on Tuesday 13 July, fourteen BGS students, accompanied by myself and Mr Perez, set out on our expedition to Ecuador. After over a year of fundraising, spirits and hopes were high for the month to come. The expedition was split between project work to help local communities, cultural exchanges and some once-in-a-lifetime tourist experiences on the Galápagos Islands. After a 30-hour journey to Quito and some time to get used to the 2,850m altitude, the group headed into the Cloud Forest to Camp Maqui, where they undertook reforestation, building work and conservation of rare orchids. The mornings were started by milking a cow and the evening was rounded off by a cold shower and a game of cards. Here a night-hike afforded us a very close look at some rather

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creepy creepy-crawlies! The Galápagos came next and students were excited to see the famous giant tortoises - they weren’t disappointed. On the first day on the islands, we snorkelled with sea lions, parrot fish and turtles – some within touching distance. The following day took us to the giant tortoise sanctuary to get up-close and personal – Harry especially so - with these amazing creatures. Students learned about the conservation projects being carried out on San Cristobal Island before heading down to the beach to see the marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies and yet more sea lions as we cooled off in the clear blue waters. Our final experience on San Cristobal was a trip out to Kicker Rock for a few hours’ snorkelling in the Pacific Ocean – there we saw eagle rays, sharks, Pacific Rim turtles, sea lions, blue-footed boobies, pelicans, frigate birds, parrot fish, angel fish, flying fish and even a humpback whale. After a rather bumpy boat ride - not enjoyed by Mr Perez - more giant tortoises and some pierjumping to round off our stay on the islands, we came back to reality in Camp Amazonia. Here we were thrown back into work, re-introduced to rain and tested with the heat, humidity and sheer number of biting creatures. Conditions were tough and our students showed impressive resilience as they continued to work hard and contribute. It wasn’t all tough though – the food was awesome and for the final day we ate chocolate that had been picked, roasted, ground, cooked and served right before our eyes. After 8 long days, we said farewell to the Amazon and headed up into the Andes to the town of Otavalo for some retail therapy in Ecuador’s largest artisanal market. From here, loaded down with their own body weight in alpaca wool – all haggled down to a bargain price, especially by Becky – we travelled to Camp Kuri Kucho. Wind was the order of the day at this camp and the pace slowed as we got used to the 3,500m altitude. Work here included painting the local school ready for its inspection – with Ed and Harry getting artistic with the desks and chairs – building a roof garden and some toilets (fittingly enough made out of bricks held together with animal poo!). The camp and locals were lovely – and very keen to share their culture and traditions with us – the food was filling, the hot chocolate was just the thing for a cold evening and the views of the volcano across the valley made this the perfect place to end our trip. On the final day, we squeezed in a bit more retail therapy, showered (several times) and braced ourselves for a 37-hour return journey. Apart from a slight delay at Houston (where we had a problem) all went smoothly and fourteen very tired, quite smelly students were returned safely… just in time for their A Level results. The students were Adam Moulds, Andy Noble, Ed Schwarz, Harry Kirk, Scott Hardwick, Scott Taylor, Tom Francis, Lloyd Pares, Becky Stanley, Richard Gandeborn, Billy Mugnier, Shannon Cartmell, Eleanor Smith and Sophie Luckett.



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BOURNE GRAMMAR RETURNS TO THE EDINBURGH FRINGE 
 Report by Mr N Moxley - Subject Leader: Drama & Theatre Studies
 In August we took twelve Theatre Studies students to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They performed a daily children’s show and enjoyed the wealth of theatrical and wider cultural experiences that the Fringe has to offer. This was our sixth visit since 2008 and this year we performed the show that we premiered on our first time at the Fringe. ‘Far, Far Away’, a mash-up of nursery-rhyme and fairytale characters in a piece written by an ex-student, Richard O’Brien, who also this year had a show elsewhere in Edinburgh. Indeed, we encountered three BGS former students with separate shows at the Fringe - how many schools can boast of that? The students who participated (Jesse Aldred, Meg Anderson, Beth Brewster, Tamsin Flowers, Ellie Harwood, Harry Hawkins, Vicky Kong, Meghan Lynch, Poppy Phipps-Lewis, Jesse Roberts, Alice Stephan-Rowlatt and Matt Smith) along with Mrs Pignatiello and Miss Ellis, all had a wonderful experience. For the week we lived in Edinburgh University halls of residence, therefore coping with

shopping and cooking, as well as performing daily, publicising the show and seeing a very wide and eclectic range of live performance work. Amongst the highlights seen were Paul Merton’s ‘Improv Chums’ show, Nina Conti’s ventriloquism act and Jethro Compton’s immersive traverse theatre piece ‘Blood Red Moon’. The week in Edinburgh encourages the students to sell their show to complete strangers, competing with thousands of other performers for that precious audience. Although nervous initially, by the end of the week the students were seasoned veterans at this! They return to Bourne having performed in

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a professional environment, often to complete strangers (and a few kind family members) and soon learned the discipline that is required to perform daily at a consistently high standard. Taking students away on residential trips is always a challenge, particularly in terms of their chemistry and energy levels. This group was outstanding; enthusiastic, mature and fantastic company. I hope that this experience stays with them for years – they made it very memorable for myself and the other staff. 
 BOURNE GRAMMAR SCHOOL’S SUMMER CAMP
 I am very grateful to the staff, augmented by eleven students from Year 10 (now Year 11) who ran our annual Summer Camp here at School at the beginning of the holiday. Over the course of the camp an astonishing 80% of the students about to join our Year 7 attended, thereby greatly easing their transition into Bourne Grammar School. Miss Hempstead (Head of Year 11) writes: Eleven Year 10 students gave up part of their summer holidays to volunteer on our annual BGS Summer Camp for the new Year 7 students. They welcomed the students and worked with the staff to deliver a wide range of sessions: lacrosse, cake-decorating, tower-building, physical theatre, music and art to name just a few. The students’ attitude and work ethic were wonderful, and I was extremely proud of the way they presented themselves. A number of students went above and beyond, moving out of their comfort zone and taking the lead in some of the warm-ups and sessions. All of the staff were very grateful for their efforts during the week, and we hope that they too enjoyed the experience. The students were: Ben Moss, Florence Ashton, Chloe Prentice, Alice Callcut, Shanie Young, Iyanu Abioye, Charlie Dalton, Eleni Papaioannou, Adam Hawkins, Olly Goode and Lauren Shearman-Smith. 
 MORE ARKWRIGHT SCHOLARS
 Mr S Brown, Subject Leader: Systems & Control and Computing
 The Arkwright Scholarship programme invites the best and brightest prospective future engineering leaders to apply for a Scholarship which is backed by world leaders such as BAe and JCB. 410 places were available last year, with students from over 800 schools and colleges competing for these highly sought-after places. Last year, we celebrated the unprecedented achievement of two BGS students (Campbell Pollock and Angus Mellor) being awarded Scholarships. I am delighted to report that this year we have broken our School record again: Harry Kirk, Sam Lane and Robert Ward have managed to pass both the Scholarship examination and panel interview to qualify as Arkwright scholars. Unfortunately, due to a reduced number of commercial sponsors backing the Arkwright scheme this year, one student has not been matched with a commercial partner. The Systems & Control team wish all the qualifying students the very best with their engineering studies, and the opportunities these Scholarships will yield in the future. 
 CONGRATULATIONS TO MR BROWN
 Following on from the report above I am pleased to announce that Mr Stephen Brown has joined the School’s Leadership Team as an Assistant Headteacher. Mr Brown will continue in his existing roles in S&C and Computing but will also take on a whole-School role, leading the School’s Digital Strategy which encompasses all digital matters, and their introduction and development, going forward.
 
 IMPORTANT HEALTH & SAFETY MATTERS
 The zebra crossing - parents are urged to encourage their sons and daughters, should they need to cross the A15, to do so by means of the zebra crossing which was installed chiefly to provide a

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means of safe crossing for students at this School. The A15 - South Road - is a very busy road with a high volume of traffic including lorries. At the end of the School day, in particular, there is considerable congestion in and around the School as no fewer than thirteen buses collect students and numerous private cars do the same. There have been some dangerous incidents when students have, in the past, crossed other than at the zebra crossing. The School can do little to ensure that students cross by the crossing other than by giving periodical reminders in the Bulletin and elsewhere. Please help to avoid a tragedy - please discuss the matter with your sons and daughters today. Parents’ cars in the School yard - there is no change this year: parents are free to bring their private cars onto the site in the morning, in order to drop off students, but they must not bring vehicles onto the site in the evening until the buses have departed, which is usually by about 15:45. During the morning drop-off period the yard can get very busy as a continuous stream of cars enters and leaves the site, students are dropped off and others - in great numbers - arrive by bus or on foot. It is critical, if you choose to drive onto the site, that you leave promptly once you have dropped off your son or daughter. Please do not linger and please do not leave your car in the yard, causing an obstruction, for any reason.

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