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Friday 1

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2011

Fun and serious stuff at Thorpe Park with STEMAs part of a joint project between Science, Technology and Maths, all Year 7 pupils went to Thorpe Park to study Design andEngineering up close and personal! As well as having a brilliant time, the pupils werelearning about energy conversion and structures, and experiencing first hand somenegative G forces! Back in the classroom pupils were learning how to calculate velocityin Science and in Maths they were using the data that they had collected from the park,to plot graphs and charts. In DT the visit generated a whole raft of learning activitiesincluding designing and developing a new ride for Thorpe Park along with all themerchandising involved, and also creating their own miniature theme park ridefor a marble!

As far as we know Sheldon is the only secondary school to organise a collaborativeproject in this way which spans three weeks in all three subjects areas. It is partof a national initiative called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering andMaths) to encourage pupils to consider these subjects as a possible career in the future. I’m sure the Year 7 pupils will agreethat learning has never been such fun!

Ex-England Rugby Star, Matt DawsonOpens Sheldon’s New RefectoryMatt Dawson came to Sheldon on Thursday 3rd November to officially open our new refec-tory. Matt has only just returned from New Zealand after the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He isfirst and foremost a rugby player and was part of the World Cup winning team in 2003. Hehas enjoyed even wider fame since his retirement from rugby. Matt is a team captain on theBBC’s Question of Sport and won Celebrity Master Chef in 2006. He was runner up in the 2006 Strictly Come Dancing.

Met by Bronte Jones and Rob Moore, Matt’s first stop was the Head’s office, shortly followed by a visit to The Refectoryeating lunch with last year’s Student Council, a group which helped us design the space and Conor Longley-Brown explained howthey used pictures and designs to help describe their likes and dislikes to the architects. Absari Choudury told how the theytrialled tables and chairs for their durability. Other members of the group were Connor Wright, Jennifer Davidson, HarryKershaw and Emily Gurr. Matt tried an assortment of food from the extensive menu, settling for meat balls, pork loin,vegetables and salad followed by apple crumble and custard.

The Refectory is always a vibrant, pleasant place to be at lunchtime and the presence of Matt made this lunchtime even morespecial. He served food to some of the pupils and signed Master Chef menus, rugby balls, rugby shirts and caps before beingwhisked away to the sixth form centre where the A level PE, Dance and Food pupils eagerly awaited his arrival. Our residenthost, Mr MacMahon led ‘Question Time’ and A level Media pupils did a grand job of recording the event for DVD and RadioSheldon. Matt talked about his role models, early rugby career, lows and highs, training and diet regimes, injuries and how toavoid them. Answers about who ‘benched’ the most in the 2003 World Cup squad, Johnny Wilkinson’s drop goal and thebehaviour of the 2011 England rugby squad, gave us a real insight into professional rugby. On a lighter note, he talked aboutcooking disasters, his time on Master Chef and his captaincy on Question of Sport. Animated stories about Phil Tufnell andGeorge Foreman’s fight with Mohammed Ali in what was then Zaire (capital Kinshasha) made us all laugh. Matt finished bysaying that he thinks Harry might win Strictly, but rates ‘twinkletoes’ Russell very highly!

A quick kit change and Matt’s next stop was a half back coaching clinic. He led our budding scrumhalf and outside half playersthrough their paces. Being coached by someone at this level is something these boys will remember for the rest of their lives.The highlight for me was the re-enactment of the 2003 World Cup winning drop goal. Matt spent time making sure Year 12’svery own Sam Wild (aka Johnny Wilkinson) was in exactly the same position. Matt passed the ball and off Sam’s wrong foot,put the ball straight between the posts – brilliant!

Another kit change and Matt was judging the final of Sheldon’s Year 11 Master Chef competition. Thorough and professionalto the last, Matt spent time analysing the dishes and questioning the contestants, Sophie Cameron, Lucy Haesloop, MacaulayGibbs, Adam Dent, Flo Davies, Bethany Matthews, Alice Dean and Joe Oxley. After much deliberation, he declared the winnersto be Sophie and Lucy. Both received signed copies of his Master Chef book.

Staff, governors and pupils later attended the official opening and enjoyed a very tasty, good old fashioned English tea.Speeches done, plaque unveiled, and more autographed rugby shirts later, Matt left but not before Pia Tiley and PatrickGrieshaber presented him with a Sheldon mug, water bottle and First 1V rugby tie. He doesn’t usually wear a tie on Question ofSport but he said he’d put it on his TV tie rack - if you see him wearing it, let us know!

Mrs N McElwee

Maria Lewis, Assistant Headteacher

THE REFECTORYOpened by Matt Dawson

3rd November 2011

School will be closed for a Staff Development Day on Friday 25 November - pupils should not attend!MUSIC CONCERT - Tuesday 6 December GREASE production - Monday 12, Tuesday 13

and Wednesday 14 December - tickets will be available soon

Get your Standard by e mail. Contact Carolyn Wakefield at cwakefield@sheldonschool.co.uk and a copy will be sent to you eachtime the Standard is issued. Items for possible inclusion should also be sent to the same email address

HEAD-ITORIAL

on these fantastic music results:

Congratulations to the following winners of theFanfare competition. In their music lessons all Year8 pupils had to compose a Fanfare for the opening ofthe 2012 Olympic Games:

8AMB - John Lenton-Jinks8VHM - Callum Gunner and Grace Goodall8BAU - Emily Gurr and Shannon Mansell8BAC - William Bish and Sanam Rai8CAM - Alice Tedds and Charlotte Carter8KJT - Ariana Harding and Elizabeth Sims8PJT - Jack Cheeseborough8CAT - Samantha Anscombe and

Marsha Burgess-Omelchenko8JXB - Elizabeth Arnold and Yasmin Jiwa8HEW - Jake Shepherd and Nick Pasi

Sheldon Chess ClubThere have been rumours that someonehas won a game in only four moves!!!!Come along and learn how to do this atChess Club - open to everyone -Wednesday lunchtimes in the Library.

FIRE WRITING - write anddraw using fire! Years 7, 8 and9 - come along to KS3 ScienceClub in S9 every Tuesday from3-4pm

Year 12 and 13 Photography students are takingpart in the Specialist Schools and AcademiesTrust National Photography Competition 2011.The theme is “One School, Many Talents”. Thereis a prize with a total value of £3000. Wewould like to wish them all good luck!

Year 12 and 13 students are vonunteering to work at the HistoryCentre in Chippenham. The students will be trained up as archavistsand will write local histories for the community history website.Look out for updates on the school’s website.

With the dark mornings and evenings fast approaching,Sheldon School, along with Wiltshire Police, are holdinga free bicycle check at the school on Tuesday 15November.

The checks will be carried out before school from7.30am and will involve testing brakes, lights, tyresetc. Wiltshire Police will ensure that every bike thatis being ridden to school is in a safe and road worthycondition. If any problems are found with the bikes,parents will be informed.

Please support this initiative and encourage yourchildren to bring their bikes into school on this day totake advantage of this very valuable check.

Will Taylor, PSCO

FREE BIKESAFETYCHECKS FORALL PUPILS

Family Science ClubTuesday 15th Nov

3:45 - 5:00pmS5

CHEMICAL REACTIONSHands-on activities - with lots ofdifferent chemical reactions and seehow you can learn to recognise them!Plenty of opportunity for you to takepart and get reactions going.

Pupils must be accompanied by an adultand may bring brothers or sisters (Age6+). Places are limited so please callreception to book.

Thomas Jacques and Caroline Hiornswere elected recently to serve asParent Governors on the GoverningBody. Dominic Corrywright was re-

elected for a second term.

Congratulations to the successfulcandidates and thank you to all parents

who put their names forward.

Loads of events going around schoolon Friday 18 November for

Children in Need -show your spots and let’s raise lots!

Never again?It is Armistice Day, 11/11/11. Today we will have a school two-minute silence at 11am. Teachers willintroduce the silence to remind pupils why we take the time to contemplate and remember.

It seems that remembrance has a higher profile than at any time I can remember. Everyone ontelevision has been sporting poppies for a fortnight. The contestants on “X Factor”, for example, have beenwearing massive poppies as part of their costumes. We’ve had a big argument about the England football team’s desire to havepoppies on their shirts. I hope these are all signs of a society that is keen to show its gratitude to the young men and women thatwe ask to risk life and limb on our behalf. I also hope it represents our society’s desire to avoid future conflict if we can. That’swhy so many memorials focus on two simple words: never again.

I fear that for some, remembrance has become mixed with a general celebration of all things martial. This fear was reinforcedthis week when I heard that many pupils, especially boys, had missed after-school activities and had late nights in order to playthe newly released “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3”, which has an 18 certificate and features, according to the BBFC, “strong,bloody battle violence”. Does that reflect a society that is really honouring the true spirit of remembrance?

Gerard MacMahon, Headteacher