Contents

Features School Council 5-7 Opening Minds 8 Eco Schools 9 Primary Links 10 National Art 11 Careers Fair 12-13

Regulars

Message From the Head 3 The Bespoke Team 4 Special Visitor 14 International Pages 15-18 Creative Pages (includes Peter Pan) 19-27 Sports Pages 28-29 School Clubs 30-31

Message From the Head

T he Spring term is one of my favourites. As

we move from short, cold, wet days to longer

warmer days, it improves our sense of wellbe-

ing. Spring is the season of rebirth, of start-

ing afresh. As the leaves appear in our hedgerows

and the blaze of daffodils lines many roads, so it gives

us hope ad heralds the glory of an English Summer.

In school, spring is a time to re-double our efforts as

examinations get closer. Wherever I look, students are

working hard, guided by staff who tirelessly search for

new ways to help them achieve their best. Our track-

ing suggests that the results this summer are going to

be very pleasing, with more students than ever before

achieving the headline figures.

Spring is also “Show time” and the show this year was

another fantastic spectacle, enjoyed by 300 Primary

school children from Morville, Castlefields, St John’s, St

Leonards, St Mary’s, Alveley, Brown Clee, Claverley,

Worfield and Beckbury and over 1000 parents,

friends and students of the Endowed School. The

show involved over 150 students from the school and

more than half the staff. A real triumph and our

thanks and congratulations go to Mr Lewis, Miss

Bradford and everyone involved.

I wish you a fabulous Easter break and look forward

to welcoming students back on Monday 28th April at

8.40am for a very short half-term, totalling 19

days. A short, sharp, focused spirit to the winning

line for many doing exams.

Very best wishes

Phil Loveday.

The Bespoke Team

Alex Daly Executive Editor

Ben Spicer Executive Editor

Sam Leather Graphics Editor

Ben Leather Graphics Editor

Ewan Poole-Gleed Photographer

Mr Davies Publisher

bespokemagaz i ne@l i ve . co .uk

Bespoke in the Future

Having taken over Bespoke at a similar time last year, we feel we have brought it a long way. From pesky word-

art to professional printing, our school magazine has risen to become a presentable publication that can both inter-

est current students and attract new blood to Bridgnorth Endowed.

So, why should our departure mean the end of Bespoke’s success? We need somebody to take up the mantel and

continue where we are leaving off, making Bespoke an integral part of the school community.

You don’t have to be a writer to get involved, graphics editors and photographers are essential if Bespoke is to

look the part. If you are interested, even a little bit, speak to one of the team (don’t worry, we don’t bite!) or email

the address above. All ages and backgrounds are welcome. However, if there is a lot of interest, there is no guar-

antee that you will get a top job!

Please get back to us as soon as you can, don’t wait until all of the positions are filled. Let’s make Bespoke the best

it can be!

Ben Spicer and Alex Daly, Executive Editors

School Council

A room full of the Endowed’s finest

minds. Pioneers in the development of our

school as a place for both learning and

fun.

No, not the staff room on any given lunchtime, but the

new and improved Student Council, participating in

one of their fortnightly meetings.

‘What’s changed?’ You ask. Well, not only have we

now got an all-new team of motivated individuals who

volunteered for the position, but the Council is now

entirely student-led and operates with a new mindset:

let’s not just moan; let’s make a difference.

This transformation was supported by the School

Council Training Day on Tuesday 18th March, which

taught all of us how to maximise our effect on the

school without any monetary expense.

Enjoyable and engaging, management expert Jason

used techniques ranging from comedy to optical illu-

sions, role-play to press-ups, all of which brought us

closer as a group and showed us what we could

achieve.

Of course, there was hard work too, the results of

which are displayed over the next two pages. With

time and effort, we, as a Council, hope to complete at

least one of our ideas over the summer term, and any

help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Furthermore, if you have any ideas that would benefit

the school, let any Council member know (we span

across 7 years and 20 tutor groups, so all of you

should know at least one of us). Applications for next

year’s School Council will be open soon, so look out

for opportunities to get involved!

Ben Spicer—Headboy

Do you just go with your instinct or can you see

the big picture?

School Council

Celebrate different cultures throughout the school year such as Black History Month, Refuge Week and Anti-

Bullying Day.

WHO: Whichever subject area that the cultures apply to and anybody who is interested

WHAT: Raising awareness of culture to broaden students’ horizons

WHY: Important to understand different peoples’ beliefs and national days and its histories help

integration

WHEN: The day that the culture falls on and national festivals

HOW: Hold activities that are historical to the day. Could be lead by students, teachers, sixth

form and special speakers

Questionnaire seeing whether the students have learnt anything.

Make them aware of issues which could affect them like bullying or abuse.

Yes, with volunteers.

Yes, mix ethnic school which should teach students about culture.

Have to motivate students to join in; small cost– fundraise from the event e.g. 50p entry.

All year round—hope to raise awareness of certain issues (e.g. anti-bullying)

Here are the full plans for our two main ideas this term: the culture weeks and the stationary shop.

In our training, we learnt the acronym SMART, which stands for Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Scales to

help us run through all the possible problems with an idea.

School Council Stationary Shop

HOW: Using thumb prints.

WHY: So that students can get equipment in or out of lessons.

WHERE: Student Services, Snack Shack, Vending Machine, Library with Mrs Peeler

WHAT: Place to buy stationary

WHEN: Before school / Break / Lunch

Success Criteria: Asking for equipment

Profit

Work with a local business or supplier.

Realistic.

Next term.

Year 7 opening minds

C hildren from all over Year 7 were tak-

en on a trip through time on Monday

27th Janaury. Mrs Jones Opening Minds

group took Year 7 on an exciting jour-

ney to a museum where history came alive as part

of our module on Time. Naomi, the tour guide

gave our family a journey through the ages, start-

ing with the prehistoric times. She conveniently left

just before the exhibits came to life. They encoun-

tered two courageous and brave explorers who

were trying to capture the stegosaurus and baby

T-Rex whilst Paddy, a professor, explains the

structure of the food chain. As the family finally

were reunited with their host, they were terrified

after seeing dinosaurs in real life. They moved on

to the sandal clad Egyptians where they met the

powerful Queen Cleopatra and her two loyal

servants, Dan and Ben. Ben was a special em-

balmer who was mummifying a pharaoh. After

that, the Ancient Greeks came along with a rush, a

death and a scowling. Will, Harry, Owen and Lu-

cy acted as the Gods of the realm, debating the

results of the Athens/Sparta war. Owen very

clearly states his superiority. The distinctive Victori-

ans were magnificently staged by Jamie, Camer-

on, Theo and Sophie, recreating the well known

streets of London. Poor Jamie was a chimney

sweep and got covered in more soot than you’d

find on a bonfire. Up next, bullets were flying

around and gunfire

cracked in to the air as Joe

gave a brief lecture on

World War 1’s horrific

Battle of the Somme, 1916

(a handmade German

blimp, otherwise known as

a Zeppelin, hung from the

upstairs bannister). The

family led my Dan, Beth

and Will were “guided”

into the

exhibit by Joe to “take cover”. Once again bul-

lets were flying around as World War 2 started!

Arlie played Adolf Hitler with Evie as a Nazi sol-

dier while Ellie was a British soldier at Dunkirk.

Meanwhile, I played the amazing Winston

Churchill smoking in my office receiving a call for

more recruits. Every time the tour guide returned

the exhibits froze leaving the family confused

about what had just happened. The assembly

was an excellent experience for all of us and we

developed a number of skills including effective

team workers and thinking creatively. We were

responsible for the whole assembly, splitting in to

sub groups to prepare our own role plays……

luckily it all fitted together like a jig saw.

Jude Sweeney, Owen Francis, Lucy Crump,

Elishia Wade and Beth Charnell

Eco Schools

A s a school, we were recently granted

a Silver Eco Schools award.

This is a great achievement for the school and was only possible following the efforts of our

Eco Schools committee and everyone in school.

We had three key areas to work on in the lead up to

Christmas in order to achieve our award.

1. Energy

2. Litter

3. Travel

To address each of these key areas we developed three

targets to work on as a school.

Target 1: Eco Pledge

Just before Christmas an "Eco Contract" appeared in every classroom in school. This was an opportunity for tutor groups to work together to make our day-to-day activities more energy and carbon efficient. The contract included a pledge to put all rubbish in bins, only use the water you need to, turn off unused light, close classroom doors to keep the heat in and to try to cycle or walk to work where possible. All members of the tutor group had to agree to this pledge before signing, including the Tu-

tor themselves!

Target 2: Lightswitch Competition

Our Year 7 Opening Minds groups all took part in a competition over the Christmas holidays to design a lightswitch surround which will creatively remind stu-

dents and staff to switch off.

Target 3: Energy Monitors

Each tutor group also assigned an Energy Monitor. Someone to take on the responsibility of ensuring that paper in the room is recycled, that no energy was being wasted and all members of the group were, where pos-

sible, keeping to the Eco Pledge.

The culmination of these three strategies help to ensure that our Silver Award was granted. Our next target is

Gold!

Students and all staff are so important in trying to be-come a more eco friendly school, so please keep thinking about the way you use energy! If you have any advice

or ideas for activities then we would love to hear them!

The Eco-Club meets every Tuesday lunchtime in Mrs

Jones' room.

The Eco Schools Team

Primary Links

O n 17th and 18th March we invited our feeder primary schools Year 5 students from St John's and Claverly to attend a Primary Links day. The aim of the day

was to provide them with a fantastic opportunity to see the school, experience the types of activities we do here and most of all have fun. The day started off with a mini problem solving and orient-eering session. After break they were whisked off in small groups with a year 7 guide. They had to find their way around the school to four different locations where another group of Year 7's were waiting to give them the instructions for a problem solving activity which ranged from Square dance to the Marshmallow/Spaghetti tower challenge. All

students left excited and wanting more.

National Art and Design

F or 5 lucky Bridgnorth Endowed School pu-pils a brilliant opportunity offered by Wol-verhampton University became reality at the beginning of this year. Aiming to nurture their

artistic talents and build up their confidence and self-esteem the 5 pupils became part of a National Art

and Design Saturday Club.

On 5th October – the girls started to attend a 30 week course on Saturday mornings at Wolverhamp-ton University. A Sorell Foundation initiative, the club gives young people aged 14-16 a unique oppor-tunity to study art and design at their local University

completely free of charge.

The girls have taken part in inspiring classes intro-ducing a range of disciplines using specialist facili-ties. They have received expert tuition in practices that include Digital Media, Fine Art and Photog-raphy, Visual Communications and applied arts as well as attending master classes with some of the

Uk’s foremost designers and artists.

Not only has it given them an insight into college life but it has given them an understanding of new op-portunities that further and higher education can of-

fer.

The girls have visited some of London’s best museums and art galleries and will exhibit their own work in a

summer show at Somerset House, pictured above.

Careers Fair

T he 5th March 2014 was a momentous oc-

casion for Bridgnorth Endowed School, for

the Sports Hall was host to the Bridgnorth

Careers Fair. The first of its kind in the

Bridgnorth area, a large spectrum of employers and

institutions were invited in to showcase opportunities

for 950 Year 8-13 students of BES and the general

public. Armed forces organisations such as the RAF,

Army and Navy complimented the wide range of

employers, both national and local to the area.

These included Grainger and Worrell, Lloyds bank,

Sainsburys and the NHS. Also included on the stalls

were surrounding universities and institutions, such as

Shrewsbury College and the University of Wolver-

hampton. The concept for the event had been drawn

up in summer 2013, with the preparation amongst

students for the event spearheaded by Mrs Mitchell

and Miss Nicklin. The sports hall was packed

throughout the school day, with the general public

being invited in from 3 o’clock onwards. The initial

response from both students and employers was ex-

tremely positive. Armed with questions and confi-

dence, the students were sure to keep the employers

satisfied and engaged throughout the event. As a

Year 13 student, who had an understanding of his

plans for the future, I was doubtful the event could

be useful to me. However the feedback and advice

from employers and universities provided me with an

excellent wealth of information, which I’m sure did

wonders for many students and my peers alike who

aren’t certain about shaping their future. University

of Wolverhampton commented:

“The students were polite and interested. Lots of in-

terest in the NHS areas offered. The student Ambas-

sadors were outstanding”

The exhibitor from Mondelez International observed

that:

“There were a variety of employers, universities and

other options and good support from staff and stu-

dents.”

Careers Fair Dominic, a Year 11 House Captain said:

“The day was very successful. I found it very informative

and I think it was good to see all the years even the

year 8’s getting involved. Granger and Worrel were

very helpful they had an interesting display and they

gave me lots of information about apprenticeships and

work experience. Dr Carvell was very interesting as he

explained the many ways to get into medicine. Also Mul-

ler was good as they had a vast range of products on

show. I will use the information I collected to get some

work experience with some other businesses. And I can

look into detail about the university courses.”

Alice, a Year 11 student also commented:

“I found the people in the universities, Army, Navy and

Air force very helpful as they knew a lot and could help

me choose a path. I can use the information to help plan

out my career. I got to find out information about busi-

ness that I didn’t know and that one thing doesn’t just do

what you think. There is a wide range of jobs out there.”

Sam, a Year 11 student considered the feedback he had

been given:

“It was useful information from a variety of organisa-

tions including all of the options you could want to go

work for after school and beyond. The Army, RAF,

Lloyds, Navy, Sainsbury’s and the universities and

colleges were also good. The employees were good

because they back you through all of the possible

jobs within that company. The Universities were good

because they gave detailed and helpful descriptions

of the courses on offer. I could use it to look on web-

sites and look further into the companies and unis

available.”

Overall the event was very informative and reminded

everyone at such a crucial stage not to underestimate

the importance of making these decisions about the

future, starting now!

“Before you make a decision, ask yourself this ques-

tion: will you regret the results or rejoice in them?”

― Rob Liano

Sam Leather

Special Visitor:

Comic Illustrator John McCrea

O n Monday 24th March our school was

fortunate enough to play host to profes-

sional comics illustrator, John McCrea.

John is famous for drawing a variety of famous titles including Spider-Man, The

Hulk, Superman and Judge Dredd. He joined our year 7s and 8s to help us create our own comic hero and villain and to talk to us about be-coming an artist. He also gave us a few handy tips for drawing our own superheroes - particularly those tricky hands and feet!

After his presentation, he condensed all his advice into three key tips: John's Top Tips for breaking into Comics: 1. Draw - all the time. I started when I was very young, inspired by my first comic Avengers #4 and I never stopped. 2. Find something that inspires you - for me it was Spi-der-Man. I love drawing Spider-Man. I would do it every day if they let me! 3. Don't give up! You might send your artwork to a hundred companies, a hundred publishers, and you might hear back from only one of them...and even that will be a rejection letter. It can be pretty heartbreak-ing to read nothing but rejection letters, but if they've rejected it, they've looked at it. Keep getting them to look at your art, keep sending it to them, make it im-possible to ignore. We really enjoyed having John in school, as our year 7s will agree: I really enjoyed John McCrea's visit. It was interesting to learn of the hard work and effort put into the com-ics he draws, and how he came into the industry of comics. It is not often we get a chance to look behind the scenes, but John told us how he became a top comic artist. He was very inspiring and I really en-joyed it.

James Denny I really enjoyed the Illustrator John McCrea's visit to-day (not to mention because it allowed me and my class to miss English - Sir said we'd get some big homework!) I also enjoyed it because I used to draw some DC and Marvel comic heroes myself, but mainly Batman. This also was an opportunity to use creativity in many ways.

Jude Sweeney

Indonesia

S tudents from the Bridgnorth Sixth Form

Partnership are this year going to Indonesia

on a trip organized through Operation

Wallacea. They will be leaving mid-July

and will be away for two weeks.

Our goals

Alfred Russel Wallace spent time in the Malay Archi-pelago, where he identified a divide in the types of animals present. This is now termed the Wallace Line, which separates the Indonesian archipelago into two distinct parts: a western portion in which the animals are largely of Asian origin and an eastern portion where the fauna reflect Australasian lineage. This makes for interesting ecosystems and is one reason the school chose to take their trip to this part of the world.

There is a lot of research into biodiversity in

the more remote eastern part of Indonesia. This is

perfect for students who wish to see new things, far

beyond what can be found close to home. Opera-

tion Wallacea could not suit us better. They are a

network of academics from European and North

American universities, who design and implement bio-

diversity and conservation management research

programmes. Their research is supported by students

who join the programme to collect data which bene-

fits the academics in many ways.

This means everyone will be contributing to conservation in the habitats that they are experienc-

ing first hand.

A map of Indonesia showing the Wallace Line

A picture from Buton, one of the islands that we will

be visiting

Fundraising

Fundraising for big trips such as these is a significant

task. Last year a group went on World Challenge

and although this trip was through a different organ-

isation with different goals; the fundraising aspects

of such trips are almost identical.

A number of students partook in the Bridgnorth walk

last year, raising significant funds. More recently a

sponsored 24 hour lock-in in the old hall at the en-

dowed was held, sponsorship for this event is still be-

ing collected.

Various sweet and cake sales have been effective

fund raisers and we will continue to do these in the

run up to setting off.

A big event for two of the students, Will Bloomer and

Thor Preston will be a 173 mile sponsored bike ride

to the coast at Barmouth in north Wales and back.

Preparation

Everyone going on the trip will be scuba diving in the

reefs. In preparation, a number of students based at

Oldbury will be doing a PADI open water diving

course, everyone else will do theirs on site.

Indonesia

A picture of a coral reef in Indonesia

A map showing Hoga Island and Buton Island

There is a practice scuba diving session at the lei-sure centre pool in early April, giving people a chance to acclimatise to the way of breathing when

using scuba gear.

Additionally, there will be significant trekking in-

volved in the terrestrial projects, including going out

into the forest at night to look for nocturnal animals.

This means that, much like for World Challenge and

Duke of Edinburgh all participants will need to be

fit to cope with the physical demands of explorative

expeditions such as this one.

Locations

The trip doesn’t truly start till everyone arrives at

Buton Island. However, this is a long way and there

are multiple stages to the journey.

There is a base camp on Buton where we will stay for a short time. From here we will move into the forest and stay in a jungle camp. This means living

completely off grid.

Some people will also be going up into the forest

canopy, high up in the trees, and survey the wild-

life up there. This will be an interesting new expe-

rience, especially as the forest canopy is relatively

unexplored.

Thor Preston

Sport Relief

T he rematch to end all rematches, the

ultimate Sport Relief event. With a rec-

ord attendance at The Astroturf (Home

stadium of Bridgnorth Endowed 6th

Form), the Year 13s kicked-off, rewarding the

cheers of the crowd with skills and tricks as they

made an early visit to the teacher’s box. Howev-

er, despite their possession and artful offense,

they were unable to create a clear-cut chance,

and at the half-time whistle, neither side had

drawn blood. This 0-0 scoreline did not last long,

though, as the teachers, with the wind now literal-

ly at their backs, showed some attacking prowess

of their own and won a crucial corner. From the

ensuing set piece, Mr Lewis broke free from his

marker and was able to drive a powerful header

into the back of the net. After this critical strike,

the teachers defended hard, and Year 13 were

unable to level the scores before the final whistle.

And so, the teachers regained boasting rights af-

ter their 3-2 defeat last term, and the aggregate

score stands at 3-3. Will there be a final decid-

ing match in the weeks to come? After the success

of these first two, the whole school will be hoping

so.

Ben Spicer

To further raise money, these Year 8 girls completed their mile swim in good spirits on

Sports Relief Friday

Creative

Corner

Peter Pan

Peter Pan

Peter Pan

W ith exclusive access behind the

scenes of Bridgnorth Endowed’s new

show, Bespoke is able to bring you

full coverage of the production. How-

ever, to spice things up a little, and to test the skills

of the actors, we decided to interview them in char-

acter...

Peter Pan—Harry Lowbridge:

Why do you have such a hatred for Captain

Hook?

His kind are not welcome is such a happy place as

Neverland.

Do you love Wendy?

I love her like I would love a mother.

How would you describe your relationship with

Tinkerbell?

My Best Friend

How do you feel about the fairies?

Tinker is mistreated by them, I took her in cause she

had no friends.

What’s your favourite hobby?

Hunting Pirates.

What do you think of yourself?

I’m amazing. People, when they see me, are just like

wow.

Do you believe in fairies?

The Lost Boys:

Who would you say is the leader of your group?

Tootles or Nibbs. They fight for dominance.

Who’s the most mischievous?

Curly—he’s always asking questions. He has a mind

of his own.

How do you feel about Peter Pan? Is he a good

father?

He’s very handsome. I like his gear, he looks well

hard. He’s like a brother not a good father.

Do you wish Wendy was your real mother?

No, she always makes us go to bed early

Do you believe in fairies?

Yea, we love Tinkerbell, she’s well fit.

Peter Pan

Tiger Lily—Lydia Jackson:

How would you describe your relationship

with Peter Pan?

We are very close allies, but I want more.

What do you value most in a member of

your tribe?

Bravery.

What one word would you use to describe

yourself?

Adventurous.

What’s your favourite hobby?

Chopping pirates’ heads off.

Do you believe in fairies?

Of course.

A New Take...

Having taken leading roles in Oliver!, The Wizard of Oz and Narnia,

Ewan Poole-Gleed has been a stalwart of the drama department. This

time, he is in the assistant directors chair, so Bespoke caught up to him

to see how Peter Pan fairs with the previous Endowed shows.

How does this show compare to the previous School Productions?

I’ve been much more creatively involved this time round. I’ve still had a

lot of fun though, and make some friends, which is good.

Who’s your favourite character and why?

I’m very tempted to say pirate Steve, but I love the comedic element

that Smee brings to the show

Having worked alongside Mr Lewis for the duration of the rehearsal

process, how do you feel he’s helped develop the characters?

Mr Lewis is a very hands on director. He doesn’t just sit back and

watch, he gets involved and shows the actors how he wants everything

to be done which is a very positive way of working.

Would you say you are confident about the outcome of the show?

This has been the most difficult script since I’ve been here as there are

so many scenes and different characters, but I think it has the potential

to be the best production the School has ever put on.

Peter Pan Captain Hook—Owen Wilson-Brown:

Where did your hatred for Peter Pan

stem from?

Well, we were in Kindergarten and he

stole my sandbox and we’ve hated… just

kidding… he cut my hand off and it’s

been pretty ropey since then really…

What’s your relationship with your

crew like?

Well they do most of the cleaning and

pirating, I’m mainly the looks of the ship.

Although me and Smee have a good

laugh.

How do you entertain yourself?

Afternoons are spent hunting Peter Pan!

That’s my life ambition!

Do you believe in fairies?

Yes, they are disgusting beasts that un-

fortunately exist. I hear Pan keeps one as

a pet.

Mrs Darling—Jessica Knowles:

How did it feel when you realised your

children were missing?

I don’t even know where to begin, it felt

like a piece of me was missing.

Use one word to describe how you felt

when you saw your darling children

again.

Complete

Do you believe in fairies?

I think there’s magic everywhere, you

just have to look hard enough for it.

Peter Pan Costume Interview with Miss Humphries:

What was your inspiration behind Peter Pan’s cos-

tume?

We got the idea from the new NEC tour of Peter Pan:

A Never Ending Story, we wanted to avoid Disney as

much as possible and thought it was a bit different.

Why did you choose to make the fairy costumes so

modern?

The setting of the whole show is modern and so we

thought it would fit well. It was also easier for the girls

to find their costumes as they would already have a lot

of the stuff at home.

What Era and class did you base the Darling family

costume’s around?

Middle/Upper class, they are modern and rich.

Makeup Interview with Miss Colley

What inspired you to make the savages have sugar

skulls?

We wanted them to look ethereal. We thought it was a

good mixture of animal and other worldly themes.

How is the character of the mermaid shown through its

makeup?

We used cold colours with a scale stenzil to show how they

entice creatures with their beauty then show their evil. We

wanted to go for the ‘sexy fish’ look.

Why did you choose to make Peter Pan’s makeup so

simplistic?

We wanted him to look like the lost boys, un-kept and

natural.

How does the pirate’s makeup reflect their characters?

They have dark eyes which make them look mean and

their tattoos make them look like they’re in a gang.

Rounders Superstars

Sports

Bella Crampton

In a rounders pitch there are 9 positions, and I play backstop. Rounders is a summer sport so we tend to train more in this

season; however we still train in the winter. The winter training is extremely challenging because of the cold weather con-

ditions, which can make your hands cold!

I never intended on rounders to be my primary sport, but when I sampled it, I found that I really enjoyed the sport and,

fortunately, I was able to progress through my performance career after a selection for England rounders.

Like most 13 year old girls, mornings are not really my thing, but one morning really was different to any other morning.

My trial for the England squad was on a sunny September day in 2013 from 10 am to 4 pm in Corby. We all did 2 hours

of skills and drills, then split into two groups; triangle players (bowler, backstop, first base) and fielders. As I found out

that day, my strengths in rounders are in fielding, rather than batting. On the day, my team was the strongest team which

meant all of us, except two, made it through the selection process. I was in a team with some really good players, one of

them, a regional tennis player who is able to hit the ball perfectly and another had made it into the squad from the previ-

ous year! However, I was fortunate enough to be selected for the England rounders U14 girls team as a backstop.

In order to improve my weakness, I have begun to play tennis in order to help transfer the skills I have learnt to rounders.

I played tennis when I was young and was always encouraged to do it by my family.

The kit I had from England rounders was brilliant! But it is also expensive. Rounders isn’t a common sport so most players

struggle to source additional funding and sponsorship to help them progress through further training.

Most of us at England rounders have applied for a fund to help with this, and I recently received some money from my

local village charity to help. Now I am currently waiting to see if I have been successful in a grant, specialising in players

developing through national stages.

All of you should go out your comfort zone and do something that you never thought you could. You never know, you

could represent your country!

Jordi Matthews

My name is Jordi Matthews and I have recently been selected for the England Rounders squad for a second season. I train for the game as a deep fielder, generally covering first or second post, and I am also a high order batsman. Over the first season in which I participated the team were unbeaten. When we played against wales, I was awarded the title of ‘Most Valued Player’. This season our tournament takes us to Guernsey and I am really looking forward to the competition. I have been improving my coaching skills as we are now helping players from schools throughout the country to improve their techniques. Being selected to play for England is great honour and I am immensely proud to represent my country.

Pages The year 9 softball team who won the partnership competition and have qualified for the 2014 Summer Youth

Games.

They are:

PAT SMALLMAN (CAPT) JOE BARCLAY FREDDIE HARRIS WILL GRAINGER JACOB CHAINEY MORGAN PENNY JACK DENTON BEN REYNOLDS JACK PARDOE MIKE HARRIMAN

JAMES RILEY

The year 8 rugby team beat Lacon Childe School in the semi-final of the county-cup rugby competition. They

will be playing the final next Tues 1st April at Shrewsbury School. They are:

Felix Nelson, Harry, Morgan, Harry Kent-Simpson, Niall Price, James Varney-hook, Harvey Sage, Marcus Wain, Reilly Stallard-

Gorton, Tyler Evans, Kieron Beech, Joel Harman, Harry Walker, Scott Hall, Sam Walters, Ollie Turner, Jack Downing, Tyler

Cadwallader, Liam Hill

Both teams played their games in absolutely miserable conditions but battled through amazingly well.

School Clubs

Monday:

Table Tennis—Sports Hall 3:15-4:15

Cheerleading—Dinner Hall 3:30-4:30

Beginner’s Hockey—Astroturf 3:15-4:30

Recreational Swimming 3:05-4:00

GCSE Art Club—Art Room After School

Homework Club—Library After School

Gym Sessions—Gym

Indoor Athletics

Tuesday:

Badminton—Sports Hall 3:15-4:15

Netball Club (year 10/11) - New Courts 3:15-4:15

Football Practice (year 8/10) 3:15-4:30

Cross Country Club 3:15-4:15

Recreational Swimming 3:05-4:00

GCSE Art Club—Art Room After School

Homework Club—Library After School

Gym Sessions—Gym

Choir 3:15-4:30

Ensnared—for all drummers Lunchtime

Wednesday:

Rugby Club (year 7/8) - Friars 3:15-5:00

Netball Club (year 7/8/9) - New Courts 3:15-4:15

Football Practice (year 9/11) 3:15-4:15

Staff Swimming 3:05-4:00

Squash—Squash Courts 3:15-4:15

GCSE Art Club—Art Room After School

Homework Club—Library After School

Year 7 Choir—Music Room Lunchtime

Orchestra—Music Room 3:15-4:30

School Clubs

Thursday:

Badminton—Sports Hall 3:15-4:15

Girls Gym—Fitness Suite 3:15-4:15

Recreation Swimming 3:05-4:00

GCSE Art Club—Art Room After School

Homework Club—Library After School

Craft Club After School

Flute Choir—Music Room Lunchtime

Friday:

Football (year 7/8 girls, year 7 boys) 3:15-4:30

Volleyball / Basketball—Sports Hall 3-15:4-15

Squash Club—Squash Courts 3:15-4:15

Girls Gym—Fitness Suite 3:15-4:15

Recreational Swimming 3:05-4:00

GCSE Art Club—Art Room After School

Homework Club—Library After School

Yoga—Dining Hall 3:05-3:45

Strategy Club—Mr Clayton’s Room 3:05-6:00

Club of the month…

CRAFT CLUB

Craft club is now in its fifth year and during this time we have attempted and mastered a variety of different crafts. We have done patchwork, decoupage, card mak-

ing, origami, applique and a medley of gift creations.

The group meet weekly and is open to students of all

year groups and abilities.

It's a time to get together reflect on the week, sharing

good news and supporting each other.

Our latest project has been to design and create a sew-

ing needle box which the students are still working on.

Previously they made their own dolly bags, which was

with the aid of our newly purchased sewing machine.