Geography News
London Trip 57 intrepid Year 10 geographers headed from a wet and dreary Poole on Wednesday 17th May bound for a slightly less damp London. A range of travel options were tried including coach, underground, light rail, water taxi and foot from Richmond to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park at Stratford, all linked to urban transport issues on the new specification. En-route it was possible to witness the regeneration of London from the River Thames as well as on land at Canary Wharf. Fieldwork data for the GCSE exam was collected at Stratford where students were also able to examine the regeneration of the area before and after the London 2012 Olympics.
The new addition of a visit to the Natural History museum allowed the opportunity to explore further the topic of tectonics via earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, which will be studied in Year 11, as well as experience the earthquake simulator! The boys were a credit to the school throughout the long day.
ECG HMS Hurworth
On Friday 19th May, a range of students from years 7 to 12 visited Ballast Quay opposite Poole Quay to visit HMS Hurworth – a Royal Navy Minesweeper after a kind last- minute offer from the Royal Navy careers office to have a one hour guided tour of the vessel. We received over 75 forms from students and parents to attend this for only 15 available places.
Students were told of the change from minesweeping in WW2 to mine hunting now, and shown a Seafox mine hunting remotely operated vehicle and model modern mine. They were shown how the old 1990s ship had been re-invented for current purpose. The contrast between officers’ quarters and ratings quarters’ (26 men in a very confined space with 3 up bunks) was stark. Students were told of the multidisciplinary functions of each person and how they all worked together in strict and co-ordinated harmony. During the tour they were shown how the ship could defend itself, with insight into the weapons on board.
After the tour, they were able to visit the rest of the Navy village part of the Festival, doing marine the marine
pull-up challenge, climbing the climbing wall, and going on board a Marines off shore powerboat. After all that, a rain shower stifled the visit and we visited the Marine Conservation Society on the Quay, as well as the tall ships, including the TS Royalist Sea Cadets’ ship. Whilst on board one tall ship we saw the jet packs from Jetski Safaris in action on the water. Before returning to school for period 5 we visited a few stands on the quay and met some old Grammarians in their current roles, whilst returning to sunnier conditions. Everyone found the day informative and useful for their plans.
MJH
Musical Activities
There are a few musical activities at the end of the Summer Term, including a Concert “Striking Chords” in collaboration with SoundStorm, our local Music Education Agency. Preparations are already underway for this concert which takes place in the walled garden of Upton House on Thursday 13th July.
Please follow the link to Soundstorm for their publicity and details of tickets – there will be limited availability, so please apply in good time.
http://soundstorm-music.org.uk/event/striking-chords/
Also, towards the end of term, the Senior Percussion Ensemble will be travelling to Birmingham to participate in National Festival of Music for Youth. It is a great privilege for our groups to be invited to this event which gathers together around 600 of the country’s most talented musicians.
http://www.mfy.org.uk/events/national-festival/
In addition, the annual Singing Competition takes place on Tuesday 4th July, with all Y7 students joining in the fun of singing a full form song and a smaller ensemble item. All of this is led by Ms Straw and a team of Music Mentors from Y11, 12 & 13.
DWB
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