October 2010 Term 1 edition

This sUMMer We had CaUse TO CeleBraTe as all gCse sTUdeNTs aChieVed The eQUiValeNT OF NiNe gCses While The a leVel resUlT FOr a* - B grades hiT 61 Per CeNT!

continues on page 8

Best-eVer gCses 100% of students achieved nine or more GCSEs graded A* - C

38% of all exams graded at A* or A grade

Two top performing students achieved 15 A* or A graded passes

35 students (from a year group of 78) obtained 10 or more A* /A grades

7 students gained the equivalent of 17 GCSEs at A* - C

Seventh year running that a 100% GCSE pass rate (for at least fi ve good GCSEs) has been achieved

Best-eVer a leVels 61% of all exams awarded an A* - B grade

100% of students passed all the A Levels they sat

Average point score increased to 334 (equivalent of 2 A and 1 B graded qualifi cation each)

145 students sat A Levels this year (up from 106 last year)

Top performing student achieved 2A* and 2A grades

32 subjects off ered including 23 A Levels and 9 BTEC/OCR courses

First year Brooke Weston Diploma awarded

Scores improve on all measures from last year

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4. PrIZe gIVIng

5. PartnersHIP news

6. tate BrItaIn

7. MatHs sUCCess

8-9. eXaM resUlts

10. trIPs and VIsIts

11. aCHIeVeMents

12. worKIng world

13. leICester trIPs

14. CHarItY FUnd-raIsIng

15. restaUrant news

16. sPortIng aCHIeVeMents

co

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s

Brooke Weston welcomed ten new teachers and a member of support staff this year. Richard Mackel, Kerrie Liston, Jennifer Phillips and Mark Rowell joined the maths department. English was boosted by the arrival of Bettina Downing and Emily Mason. Karen Harrison joined the PE staff , Sean Houghton joined Humanities while Samantha Letchet became the new Food Technology teacher and Science welcomed Emily Whiting. Finally Karen Dunn joined the staff in the General Offi ce.

Mr Houghton said: ‘I’m getting involved with Duke of Edinburgh Award and chess club.’

Mr Mackel said: ‘People at Brooke Weston really do care about what they are doing and are willing to give any help they can.’

Miss Letchet said: ‘We managed to make 1000 scones during week four, 100 cottage pies in week fi ve and 600 Chelsea buns in week six!’

Ms Whiting added: ‘There have been a few highlights; unleash-ing the Van der Graaf generator on Year 10 is defi nitely high up there along with making crash machines for Berty the Egg! On the whole I’ve had a great time getting to know some fabulous students and colleagues.’

Jen to PlaY at tHe roadMender

Singer songwriter Jen Dobson is prepar-ing for a 40-minute slot at Northamp-ton’s Roadmender venue. She will be one of a variety of acts appearing on Sunday 28 November at the open mic event and was successful after sending organisers a link to her Youtube channel so they could see her in action.

Jen, who is in Year 10, self taught herself the guitar just three years ago, and has only been writing songs for the past two years. She was crowned BW Factor winner at a talent show earlier this year for her rendition of her own composition ‘Are You Ready?’ and took part in another show, the K Factor at the Masque Theatre, in front of an audience of hundreds.

She likes acoustic rock and writes songs that mean something to her, either emotionally or politically: ‘People tend to be quite surprised because my songs often contain a political stance because I feel quite strongly about some issues so they come out in my writing.

‘I tend to write songs that I feel quite emotional about. It’s like a therapy. I am constantly trying to improve, no-one can ever be at a point where they are not improving with guitar and I fi nd myself getting better and fi nding new chords and techniques.’

Jen is already working out her playlist for the Roadmender gig: ‘I am defi nitely going to start and fi nish with an upbeat song because it tends to get people liking what you are doing. I get really nervous before I go on, but once I’m up there I love doing it and, as long as you can believe what you are singing about, you can always do a performance. It is something I would love to do as a career. I am going to do music at university and if I don’t make it as a songwriter I would like to become a music teacher or a worship leader. My favourite song is one that I have recently written called Light, there is a lot of messed up stuff going on in the media about sexism so I thought I would do a song about it.’

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Phil Harris-Bridge has been a governor at Brooke Weston for around six years, and is also on the governing body at our two sister schools with a special interest in the financial aspects of all three Academies.

He is Responsible Officer, whose role is to provide the governing body of each Acad-emy with on-going assurance that financial responsibilities are being discharged properly. Phil is an experienced governor, a role he first undertook at his daughters’ infants and junior schools in Kettering. He has been very familiar with Brooke Weston over many years, as both his daughters, one now a junior doctor and the other an undergraduate, were students here.

In Phil’s ‘day-job’, he is responsible for customer service for the European and UK businesses at RS Components. He has a keen interest in politics and economics and finds his role as governor fascinating: ‘I love it, it is just the ability to understand how schools work, particularly with the situation with the Brooke Weston partnership, looking at the different financial structures of the three schools helps you to understand what the challenges are; what the focus of the governing bodies should be and where they should look to spend their money to deliver continuous improvement.’

‘So for me it is asking what are the individual school’s strengths and weaknesses, what is their position as expressed though their finan-cial statement and where should the governors and school management be focusing, where should we be investing? That is the thing that really sparks my interest, it is something that I just love to do.’

Brooke Weston’s governors are immensely proud of the school, not least its academic achievements which, this year, have out-stripped all previous results. Phil takes an active role in school life, attending celebra-tions such as Prize Giving and other events.

‘The first challenge for Brooke Weston is how do you take an absolutely excellent institution and continue to improve on excellence? The second challenge is very much the changing nature of the educational world. I think that the new coalition government will have to rein back not only spending but an awful lot of the social engineering that the previous govern-ment was trying to infuse into the education system, hopefully getting back to the core of what we are here for…delivering excellent edu-cation for our young people. We will strive to maintain excellence in a changeable economic environment by minimising the impacts of any financial challenges that the education sector may face over the next few years.’

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Dates term 2October 2010

25 Oct Start of Term 2

30 Oct Masterclass

November 2010

04 Nov GCSE Exam Period Begins06 Nov Masterclass08 Nov Year 11 Parents’ Consultation Week09 Nov Year 11 Parents’ Consultation Evening12 Nov Governors’ and New Staff Residential 13 Nov Masterclass18 Nov Parents in Partnership Meeting Year 10 Super Speed Study Skills Staff Training19 Nov GCSE Exam Period Ends20 Nov Masterclass25 Nov Year 11 Mastering Student Motivation Staff Training27 Nov Masterclass29 Nov Year 12 Parents’ Consultation Week30 Nov Year 12 Parents’ Consultation Evening

December 2010

04 Dec Masterclass09 Dec Christmas Concert11 Dec New Intake Tests14 Dec Lower School Christmas Celebrations15 Dec Upper School Christmas Celebrations16 Dec Staff Christmas Celebrations

17 Dec End of Term 2

24 Dec Christmas Eve25 Dec Christmas Day26 Dec Boxing Day31 Dec New Year’s Eve

January 2011

01 Jan New Year’s Day

PrinciPal’s eDitorial

Bloggers wantedIs there a burning issue you wish to address? Do you want to share your views with the rest of the Brooke Weston community?

We are looking for student and teacher bloggers to write about any aspect of Brooke Weston life.

Blogs took off last year when a small group of Sixth Formers wanted to write about different facets of life here at Brooke Weston. Subjects included general Sixth Form life, applying to universities, the camaraderie of the choir and the annual task of putting together the Year 13 commemorative yearbook. This year we are looking for further willing writers to take part on a regular basis.

Take a look at last year’s submissions which can be accessed via the Student tab on the website. Blogging is a fun, fast way to get your views across and hone your writing skills.

If it is something you may be interested in then email your details and a sample submis-sion to: cfreeman@brookeweston.org

This is traditionally the time of year when my editorial is full of praise for our young people who celebrated their GCSE and A Level examination results this summer. For the past six years all GCSE students have secured five or more examination passes but this year’s cohort excelled themselves: 100% of students awarded nine or more GCSEs!

This was an exceptional feat and came hard on the heels of our phenomenal A Level results which were our best ever, with 61% of all exams being awarded a top grade. So, to say that I am proud of our students and staff is an understatement. These results testify to their hard work and determination. Congratulations to you all.

This term we welcomed our new Year 7 students and 11 new staff members. I hope you have all enjoyed your first term, have experienced

team-building and adventures at Fairthorne Manor and are settling into the busy life we all lead here at Brooke Weston.

During this term we welcomed well over one thousand visitors to our Open Week, which gives prospective Year 7s and Sixth Formers the chance to look around during a typical working day. We also had one special visitor, business entrepreneur Claire Young who was a finalist on The Apprentice. She gave a talk and handed out hundreds of awards at our Annual Prize Giving when we celebrated the achievements of students from all Year Groups who had won prizes for their aptitude in subject areas, examinations or individuals achievements. We have certainly had much to be proud of this term at Brooke Weston!

Trish Stringer - Principal

Governor’s profile:

PhiliP harris-Bridge

Photograph of Phil Harris-Bridge at RS Components by Monique Cleaver.

Business entrepreneur and fi nalist in televi-sion’s The Apprentice, Claire Young, was guest of honour at this year’s Brooke Weston Prize Giving. Ms Young spoke about her background, career and aspirations, before handing out prizes to hundreds of students.

The evening started with a video review of the year and students, George Robinson, Joanna Newton and Rebecca Savage provided the musi-cal interludes with piano, fl ute and a singing solo respectively.

Ms Young gave a 15-minute address and Execu-tive Principal, Mr Peter Simpson, spoke about the progress of both Brooke Weston and the other two partnership schools.

Prizes were awarded to students who had per-formed well in individual subject areas and there was an overall ‘Student of the Year Award’ for each year group. Prizes were also given for those

who had exceptional attainment in examinations with 19 students gaining 13 or more A* or A grades at GCSE and 18 A Level students attaining a minimum of 440 UCAS points, equivalent to two A and two B grades at A Level.

Students who had achieved Gold Awards in the BA Crest and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award schemes received prizes and special awards were given to six students who had excelled in business, achievement, sports and entrepreneurship.

Ms Young completed an equine studies degree before embarking on a business career and applying for The Apprentice beating 20,000 other people for a chance to prove herself with Lord Alan Sugar:

‘I worked for three large companies, I was proba-bly the youngest one in the boardroom, and pos-sibly the only woman and I learned everything I

could. So why walk away from it all for the Apprentice? I’m a great believer that you put your money where your mouth is. If you want to do something, don’t talk about it, do it.’

Claire, who was given the nickname of ‘The Rottweiller’ by Lord Sugar, reached the fi nal of the 2008 series. She now has several business projects working with young people including ‘Girls Out Loud’ aimed at raising the aspirations of young women.

She said: ‘You have got to be passionate about what you do. If you fi nd what you are passionate about and fi nd a job and career to match it, put the two together and you will really fl ow. There will be absolutely no stopping you, the sky is the limit. Most of all don’t quit, you’ve got to think of yourselves like rubber bands, be fl exible, resistant and just not give up.’

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PriZe giViNg 2010

A photo gallery is available on the website: www.brookeweston.org/home/galleries

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Sixth Former Lottie Rand has done catwalk and hair modelling after being scouted at the Clothes Show. She was fi rst approached to enter the Miss Fresh Teen competition. The photo-shoot for that led to further work, as a hair model for Martin Gold’s salon and in a catwalk show for Wella hair products.

Lottie, who had planned to become a PE teacher, now hopes to get more modelling work. As part of her contract with Wella she is not allowed to have her hair coloured or

styled at any other salon. The photos from her sessions may appear in industry magazines or on billboards in salons.

She said: ‘As part of the contract I don’t get a say in what they do to my hair. It was blonde originally but they made it whiter and put some pink through my fringe, softening it for the catwalk show. When I went on the catwalk we had rehearsals all day with top professional models and they were really nice.

‘It was an absolutely amazing experience. I have never done anything like it before but it was a bit diff erent. I’m hoping to get some more jobs with Wella and do a bit more modelling and I’m even considering taking a gap year and trying for Britain’s Next Top Model!’

eXeCUTiVe PriNCiPal’s aNNUal reCePTiONHundreds of staff from the three Academies in the Brooke Weston Partnership met up at the Executive Principal’s fi rst Annual Reception. It was a chance for those from Brooke Weston, Corby Business Academy and Kettering Science Academy to forge closer professional links with colleagues from their sister schools.

The event, which took place at Corby Business Academy, was attended by the heads of all four educational phases in the partnership, as well as senior management, teachers and support staff . Each group had the chance to meet others with their specifi c specialism to share ideas in

an informal setting. Executive Principal Mr Peter Simpson spoke of the achievements and results of each of the schools individually, refl ected on the progress made so far, and the need to be constantly aspirational in order to provide the best education possible for young people in Corby and Kettering.

This year has seen Kettering Science Academy achieve the best ever results at GCSE and A Level and 36% of students at Corby Business Academy attained fi ve or more good GCSEs including English and maths. This year Brooke Weston also saw its exam results rocket.

Mr Simpson said: ‘I am so delighted with the achievements of every one of our schools. Students will go to the expectations that we have of them … if you believe they are going to achieve, then basically they do. We start this year from a terrifi c position, excellent results, terrifi c success and in three years’ time we will have a new school in Kettering and Corby Business Academy will have the exam results

from its very fi rst cohort of Academy students.

‘When I look around this room I see so much expertise concentrated in one place. Within this partnership the expertise in almost any facet of education is remarkable; early years education, special needs education across the spectrum, experts in Sixth Form, experts in GCSE, experts in subjects. When we want to learn something new, or take something forward or want to professionally develop, the fi rst place to look is to ourselves.’

CaTWalK MOdelliNg FOr siXTh FOrMer

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Year 10 and 12 students saw works by great British artists during a visit to Tate Britain. The trip, organised as part of their course syllabus, meant they saw canvases by Ben Nicholson and Patrick Heron among others, as well as a Henry Moore retrospective.

The students made sketches, notes and brought back resources to inspire further work in the classroom as the visit gave them the chance to see a range of work by infl uential artists.

Mr Procter said: ‘Tate Britain was really good, they have a great deal of mid-20th century abstract art and a room on Damien Hirst which has all sorts of strange things in it. There was a Henry Moore show that was really instructive for the students as it gave a complete overview of his work with lots of sketches and notebooks.

‘At the beginning of his career he created quite realistic, quite particular studies then was infl uenced by South American art and it got bigger and bigger. You could see what he was infl uenced by and how that developed, so it becomes logical that his sculptures then have holes and look so distinctive. The exhibition was like a lesson in how to develop an idea.’

arT sTUdeNTs VisiT TaTe BriTaiN

Mrs Hibberd’s Year 7 French class marked the end of the academic year by making a signature dish of crepes with chocolate sauce. She demonstrated the method before students split into small groups to create their own mouth-watering versions.

Student Oscar Hawkley explained: ‘It was decided that, as it was the fi nal two weeks of Year 7, to go for a creative angle and we thought food would be a good option. We decided to look at a French dish and tried to make it.’

Mrs Hibberd added: ‘The students worked really well in teams and all did something that they have never done before; it was brilliant.’

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Better youth policies and overseas aid were two of the manifesto pledges of the Plainview Party that won this year’s student election. Plainview, headed by Kapil Tyagi, polled 142 votes, which equated to nearly 30 per cent of all votes cast.

It is the second year that the project, which in-volves all the Year 8 tutor groups, has taken place. Each tutor group had to agree on their own leader, formulate manifestos, produce promotional

literature and videos and then present their policies in an assembly before voting took place. Voters from Years 7, 8, 9, 12 and all staff were eligible to cast votes in the ballot box and the results were announced by the ‘returning offi cer’ in the following day’s assembly. There were 505 votes cast and a nearly 90% turnout from the lower school electorate.

Dr Fiona Rowe, who co-ordinated the project,

said: ‘It went really well because the students really do seem to have enjoyed it. They have produced some incredible videos and speeches. The campaign stalls and display boards have been amazing. They have really put their hearts and souls into this and have a better understanding of the democratic process. There has been quite a focus on education, Afghanistan, abortion, and some questions on the economy and animal rights.’

Kapil and his fellow students from 8S adopted a transparency policy that obviously appealed to voters. He said: ‘We didn’t keep secrets or tell lies; we let the public know what they wanted. Our two main policies were on youth; the future of the country rests in their hands and the overseas aid was to show we are a caring nation. We believe that youth need three things; good education, good health and a focus. We are planning on providing that focus by establishing youth centres across the country where they can partake in activities and courses or just relax.

‘A lot of my tutor group were working on the advertising. Everyone was just amazing, Sophie Ellis came up with a great badge, Ryan Panter came up with a great slogan ‘your dream a reality’ and I worked that into my speech as much as I could. I thought about how I could really sell our party and show the voters that we were the party they want. I think I would enjoy a career in politics because it is a chance to make a change, at least a little bit, and it could be good fun as well.’

eleCTiON 2010

geOrge’s MaThs ChalleNge sUCCess George Robinson was awarded a bronze medal and certifi cate for his success in a national maths challenge. George, from Year 9, along with fellow students from the top maths set, entered the Junior Maths Challenge earlier this year. George scored over 100 points and was eligible to go through to the next round, the Junior Maths Olympiad, along with 1200 other young mathematicians from around the country.

They each sat a question paper under exam conditions and, when the results were marked, George’s score meant he was in the top 300 nationally and was awarded a medal and certifi cate, both of which were presented to him in assembly.

George said: ‘I spent hours on the paper and didn’t have a calculator. They were applied maths questions like ratios, many of them had multiple questions within one, a lot of number questions and a few shape ones using theorems. There were 16 questions overall. The last six were a problem because you have to prove the questions, not just solve them so it would be a page of working out with each question.’

George will probably try for the intermediate competition next year. Being a good mathematician runs in the family as his brother, Edward, a former Brooke Weston student, is studying maths at Manchester University. George said ‘He is basically where I get maths from because he will say “guess what, this happens when you do this to numbers?” and show me something and I just go and look it up on the internet. They were very impressed at home, they were surprised, they knew I’d got into the next round but when I came back with a medal they were a bit lost for words!’

Students and staff had plenty to celebrate over the summer after unprecedented success in both A Level and GCSE examinations. The A-Level results were the best ever with 61 per cent of all exams awarded an A* to B grade while every student achieved nine or more GCSEs graded A* to C.

The A Level students were the fi rst to get their results and scores improved on all measures from last year with the average point score per student rocketing. Each student gained an average of almost two A and one B grade A Level equivalent qualifi cations. The top performing student, Felicity Macro, achieved 2 A* and 2 A grades, while Scott Balchin achieved six A Levels. Many others were awarded exceptional individual results and all students passed every exam they sat.

Boys and girls performed equally as well across the board in the 32 subjects off ered which in-cluded 23 A Level courses and nine BTEC or OCR Level 3 qualifi cations. This is also the fi rst year that students have received the ‘Brooke Weston Diploma’. It is awarded to students who have completed two years of vocational and higher

educational courses alongside their core Sixth Form studies. We had 29 students who achieved the Diploma, two passing with Distinction while 17 earned Merits.

A few days later it was the turn of the GCSE students to celebrate as every student achieved nine or more GCSEs graded at A* to C.

Of all exams taken, 38 per cent were graded at A* or A and two top performing students achieved 15 A* or A graded passes. A total of 35 students (from a year group of 178) obtained 10 or more A* /A grades while seven students gained the equivalent of 17 GCSEs at grades A* to C.

It is the seventh year running that a 100 per cent pass rate has been achieved, but previous year groups have secured fi ve good GCSE passes; the level that students scaled this year is unprec-edented in Brooke Weston’s history.

Core skills were crucial with 98 per cent of all students achieving English Language, 97 per cent gaining two or more good science GCSEs and 87 per cent securing their maths GCSE. The percent-age of those awarded a combination of English, maths and three other good passes stood at 85, a

four per cent improvement on last year’s fi gures.

Language and ICT skills were also well repre-sented with 78 students gaining a language GCSE, 70 per cent graded at A* or A. In addition 20 students achieved a distinction in their Level 3 eBusiness course, which is equivalent to an A grade at A Level.

Principal, Trish Stringer, said: ‘I am always amazed at our students’ performances, but this year’s fi gures, both at A Level and GCSE, are so impres-sive that they simply speak for themselves. For all students to gain nine or more good GCSEs and for our A* to B grades awarded at A Level to hit 61 per cent is an unprecedented feat. These students have raised the level of attainment for future generations of students to aspire to; an accom-plishment they couldn’t have achieved without the dedication and support of the exceptional staff who have yet again demonstrated that excellent teaching yields stunning results.’

A photo gallery is available on the website: www.brookeweston.org/home/galleries

all smiles on Gcse results Day!

a level success storiesMany of our students gained fantastic A Level results and lots of their stories are featured on our website. Here’s what a few of them are going to do post-Brooke Weston:

Felicity Macro achieved outstanding results with two A* grades in chemistry and Maths and As in Spanish and French. She is now going to Durham University to study languages. She said: My advice to other students is don’t leave revision to the last minute; at the end of the day you have to try and learn the facts, know what to expect in

the exams and just do your best.’

Ilse Lee has secured a place at St Anne’s College, Oxford to study experimental psychology after gaining an A* in biology and A grades in maths, art and physics and for her extended project on psychology.

Anchal Vashist is celebrating her five A Levels, one at A grade and four B grades, an achievement that is all the more remarkable given that English is her second language. She moved to the UK when she was 14 and has spent the last two

years in the Sixth Form at Brooke Weston. She now plans to go to Nottingham Trent to study law.

Laura Taylor got four A grades in maths, history, chemistry and biology and is now going to study chemistry at York.

Scott Balchin gained a phenomenal six A Levels. He is now going to study a four year Masters degree in mathematics at the University of Leicester. Congratulations to all our students; we wish you all the best as you go on to the next stage in your lives.

Our four top performing GCSE students had cause to celebrate after clinching an impressive total of 32A* and 23 A grades between them!

Antonia Qualey, Tristan Macro, Abby Wells and Ryan Feakin were left stunned by their string of A grades and all are coming back to study in the Sixth Form.

Antonia Qualey who achieved 12 A* and 3 A

grades said: ‘I didn’t think I could come out with these results, it’s amazing. I put in a lot of work revising and it will take a day at least to sink in!’

Abby Wells earned four A* and 11 A grades after putting in some serious revision: ‘My success is down to my mum making me revise really hard. I started my revision about three months earlier than everyone else and would like to study

medicine to be a doctor or surgeon.’

Tristan Macro was awarded 10 A* and three A grades: ‘I worked non-stop in the holiday weeks when we revised and again when we left school.’

Ryan Feakin was celebrating his ten A* and three A grades. He said: ‘I fast-tracked maths and science so there were fewer exams and more time for revision on the other subjects.’

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Students and staff completed a six-day hike in the Tatra mountains in Poland as part of their World Challenge trip this summer. It was just one phase of a three-part trip that also included teaching English to Polish children and enjoying the sights of Krakow, the second largest city in the country.

The 11 students, from Years 10, 12 and 13, fl ew to Poland via Munich and initially went to the Mountain Haven Centre, a children’s retreat set up by the Duchess of York. They spent four days there teaching the children basic English, songs and games.

Miss Gorey said: ‘Teaching the children English was quite a challenge; our students divided into two groups and we mentored and guided them pushing them in the right direction. They had lots of resources themselves and had prepared lesson plans beforehand.’

Then it was on to the mountain climbing with the party, led by their World Challenge organiser, hiking through the steep terrain. The longest day consisted of a ten and half mile walk and the party stayed in huts along the route, sometimes climb-ing thousands of metres in altitude in a single day. The highest peak they reached was 2,100m.

Student, Samantha Sime, said: ‘There was defi nitely so many high points! I don’t think there will ever be a greater feeling than when we all reached the top on our hardest day of trekking, and seeing the pride on everyone’s face. When you look down, it’s such a feeling of disbelief to see what you’ve done and how far you’ve come. I’ve never felt more part of a team.’

Miss Lincoln said: ‘A lot of the students didn’t know each other beforehand but they were

really supportive of each other. Everyone had a down time

when they were tired or had bites or sunburn but they all really worked together, even people who didn’t know each other. There were times when it was raining and we were all tired and they were pushing each other on and helping each other.’

The students had to raise £1,200 each to go to Poland. It is the second World Challenge trip that Brooke Weston students have embarked on. Last year a group spent a month exploring Peru and next year another party will leave for Namibia and Botswana.

Miss Lincoln said: ‘Every single one of them, at some point during the trekking part would think “I can’t do this, it’s not possible.” Yet they all managed to and they were all just beaming. They accomplished something they did not think they could. The other high point was just being with the students because they were just funny.’

WOrld ChalleNge TriP TO POlaNd

A group of 13 students visited Berlin to take part in a summer school over the recent holidays. The students, who are all studying German at A Level, stayed with host families and saw some of Berlin’s most famous sights, as well as having study sessions for three hours per day.

They were accompanied by Mr and Mrs Nicholls and German assistant Janina Boltze. In the evenings the group dined at a restaurant that was a former coffi n shop, visited the iconic Potsdamer Platz, had a three-hour boat trip around the city and rounded their visit off with a barbecue at Janina’s house on the fi nal night.

Mr Nicholls said: ‘They turned up faithfully each morning for three hours teaching. I wanted the language school to concentrate on speaking skills so they were doing role plays and acting things out, The rest of the time they were learning more about the history of Berlin and Germany. We went to the Stasi Museum, which showed all the surveillance devices such as

tree trunks with cameras in and a watering can which was used to snoop on people in cemeteries.’

Hannah Sneddon said: ‘It was the best experi-ence of my life! I was worried because I was not very confi dent speaking German and knew I was being thrown in at the deep end but once I got there it was a completely diff erent story. I stayed with a woman who spoke hardly any English so my only way to communicate was in German and on our fi rst night we sat and had a three hour conversation which really boosted my confi dence. Berlin is an amazing city, the people are so friendly and there is so much to see and absorb from the culture.’

Harpreet Bhelley said: ‘Berlin was the best trip I’ve ever been on! The language school we attended really improved our speaking and listening skills. You got a real confi dence boost from being able to communicate with someone in their language. The highlight of the trip was the barbecue at Janina’s house.’

Peter Duke said: ‘The highlight of my trip was the fi rst conversation I had unaided with a German person, explaining to them about a hidden microphone in the East Germany Museum. It was amazing fun and that one point where you realise ‘Hang on - I speak German,’ is the best feeling ever.

The students also visited the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures) and had their picture taken with Mr Nicholls. For him it was the fi fth time in 40 years that he has been pictured at the iconic building. He fi rst went there in 1970 as part of a student group. Since then he has been pictured there with students from his previous school in Brighton as well as three separate groups from Brooke Weston.

stUdents’ sUMMer sCHool In BerlIn

A photo gallery is available on the website: www.brookeweston.org/home/galleries

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Students Victoire Huchet, Chris Tew, Sophie Ellis and Hannah Loy all gained A-graded GCSEs after taking French or Spanish exams years earlier than usual.

Chris, Victoire, and Hannah were all in Year 7 when they gained their grades, Hannah was just one year older and, also celebrating GCSE success was Spanish assistant Celia Prats who was awarded an A* in her French GCSE.

Victoire and Chris each took French while Sophie and Hannah got their Spanish qualifi cations. Three of them are bilingual because they have parents who speak the language, while Sophie became profi cient as she spent fi ve years living in Spain.

Victoire said: ‘We did a lot of mock exams and Mrs Price used to help me after school and practice with Chris and I.’

Sophie said: ‘It was scary going into the exam room! We had to do some speaking exams so we practised with Mrs Navarro-Marin and Celia.’

Celia, who had studied French in her native Spain, was awarded the highest grade in her GCSE French exam. She said: ‘I thought it would be really useful and Mrs Navarro-Marin and Mrs Price were really encouraging me to achieve the A*.’

More than £1,000 raised during a mufti day at Brooke Weston will be used to enhance the garden at a local care home.

Lara Parekh-Downes, Sophie Ellis and Emily Harradine presented the cheque for £1,175 to residents at Sandalwood Court in Butland Road, watched by teacher Miss Bailey and staff from the home.

Residents voted on what to do with the money, which has been earmarked to build raised fl ower and

vegetable beds in the gardens.

Ms Paula Dutton, who manages Sandalwood Court, said: ‘We are hop-ing to work with Brooke Weston on designing the garden and providing the opportunity for students to come and work with some of our residents on parts of the garden that we want to establish like raised beds for veg-etables or fl owers. It is good to build relationships between the generation as our residents have a whole history of life to share.’

Care hOMe FUNd-raisiNg

Year 12 student James Barnes is mentoring younger students in German lessons as part of his Inspiration, Endeavour and Community course.

James, who got an A grade for his German GCSE, helps small groups or individuals in Mrs Hibberd’s class for two periods on Wednes-day afternoons. He is planning on becoming a secondary school language teacher and this gives him an insight into what the job entails.

He is going on the Berlin language school trip with other Sixth Formers next year and is studying

German at A Level spending as much time on the subject as possible.

He said: ‘I could be working with individuals or groups teach-ing new things or just helping students with their speech or individual class work. It is a way for me to gain more experience, by learning how to teach and keep the students interested and concentrated on the subject. I was originally going to have a pri-mary school placement but then switched to German mentoring as it is benefi cial for me to spend as much time as possible using the language.’

sTUdeNT laNgUage MeNTOriNg

gCses For YoUng lIngUIsts

Spanish assistant Celia Prats with Chris and Victoire.

- 12 -

Frederick Holt is considering a career in the media after he spent a fortnight working at a local newspaper and radio station. Frederick, who is in Year 11, fi rst went to the Harborough Mail where he got some of his stories in print with a byline.

He then spent at week at Harborough FM with the DJs, introducing records and reading out community news.

He said: ‘I learned a lot at the Harbor-ough Mail. On my fi rst day they gave me press releases and told me to write them up. I also went to the Magistrates’ Court where there was a case about

a breach in hunting law and a couple of other

cases. The court

was quite interesting. I wrote lots of stories, at least 20, and about fi ve of them have been published. I’m really impressed my name was in the paper, it is brilliant.’

Frederick also enjoyed his time at radio station Harborough FM: ‘I went to Robert Smyth school to see their GCSE results with newsreader Nick Shaw and also went to the police station to interview the sergeant, it was really good experience. I did enjoy Harborough FM because I was on air every day. I sat in on the shows, had a microphone, spoke, introduced songs and community read-outs. Radio is potentially something I would do but I feel I am more of a people person so I’d rather be out there doing maybe television presenting or acting. It was good work experience, I really enjoyed it and I hope it’s going to help me with my future which is hopefully within the media industry.’

worK eXPerIenCe In tHe MedIa

Around 20 students, with an interest in a teaching career, have signed up to undertake work placements at Oakley Vale Primary School. It is the second year that Sixth Formers have committed to complete at least an eight-week placement, and many enjoyed their time at the primary school so much they visited each week for up to three terms.

Mr Clasper, who co-ordinates the Brooke Weston students, said: ‘The Year 12 students normally have four study sessions free per week. This scheme means they can spend one of those sessions helping out

at Oakley Vale Primary School to get a real insight into teaching and see if it may be a viable career choice for them eventually.

‘They could teach anything from numeracy, literacy or ICT; some may work with two or three year groups while others stay with the same class. If they enjoy it and they are getting on well then they might continue longer than the initial term. Last year we started with 28 students signing up, 23 completed the course and about a dozen or so went up for three terms and only fi nished when exam pressure was becoming too much.’

teaCHIng PlaCeMents

groUnds For CeleBratIonCongratulations to groundsman Paul Twamley who has achieved a fi rst class honours degree in land management and was awarded the ‘Outstanding Student of the Year’ trophy. Paul studied for three years at Moulton College and completed his BSc (Hons) in land manage-ment by producing a 13,500 word dissertation.

He has already attended a cer-emony at Moulton Park where he was presented with the ‘outstanding student’ trophy and he has a further degree congregation from the University of Northampton to attend.

He worked full-time while studying and also became a father for the third time this year, so it has been a memorable few months for him. He is now considering a career change to become a primary school teacher.

Paul said: ‘I learned a great deal from the degree; how to organise work better and improve my time management skills. The last time I studied was in 1993 when I did an HND in amenity horticulture there-fore gaining my degree has been really fantastic and I was the only one from my cohort of students to gain a fi rst so I’m really pleased, all the hard work paid off !’

- 13 -

Year 9 students visited three temples during a recent humanities trip to Leicester. The group, comprising nearly 40 students, fi rst visited Hindu and Sikh temples near Clarendon Park Road, before fi nishing with a visit to the Mosque near the railway station.

They had a tour of each temple, removing their shoes to go into the Hindu one and removing shoes and covering their heads in the Sikh tradition.

In each they got to see the temple at work, with services being held and the students made to feel very welcome.

The remaining members of Year 9 will make the same trip later in the year.

Mr Roff e said: ‘This is the fi rst time they have been out to temples, the great value is not so much the religion, as that is easy to get information about, but it was the sense of respect. There was a lot of respect given towards the students which they gave back; that was the big lesson. The key thing was the people that they met. The students really did see that their faith was valuable to them and sat and listened with respect. That was a strong learning experience.’

Students had an action-packed visit when they visited the National Space Centre in Leicester. They looked around the exhibits, saw a fi lm; ‘We Are Astronomers’ and took part in a ‘space challenge’ to name and experiment on a comet.

The whole year group visited the centre on three, separate, day-long trips. There they split into groups of about 15 to tackle a task in the Challenger Learning Centre. Half of the team formed ground control while others were conducting experiments at a separate location in ‘space’, they were each given diff erent roles and tasks to fulfi l.

The trip linked directly to the curriculum at Brooke Weston as students undertook a space project back in the classroom so

the visit to the Space Centre gave them a greater insight and understanding.

Mrs Boyce said: ‘In the Challenger Centre it was vital for them to work collabora-tively. The person on communications had to co-ordinate and forward all the information to the medical person, the route planner and the person doing experiments. So each individual had to feed information from their task back to communica-tions who relayed it to the right person at the right time. They had to work closely together and usually had an “emergency” to tackle, like low oxygen levels, and they had to work out how to deal with it.’

OUT OF This WOrld TriP TO sPaCe CeNTre

Sixth Former Kira Ogden has just received her Grand Prior award, the highest accolade in the St John Ambulance organisation.

In order to earn the Grand Prior Award, cadets have to study 24 dif-ferent subjects and carry out independent projects. Kira said: ‘It’s not just fi rst aid, we also do fund-raising, general events, extra-curricular projects like the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, and media and entertainment. We also do fun subjects like arts and crafts or entertainment as well as more knowledgeable ones.’

Now Kira has achieved her Grand Prior Award, which is transferable to the adult division of the organisation, she is focusing on her youth fi rst aider qualifi cation to pass her skills on to younger cadets.

She said: ‘I am just so relieved and happy that I have got the award. I’m happy to know I can help other people and I know what to do, I don’t have to panic. It has made me confi dent and more knowledgeable.’

st JoHn’s HIgHest award

Yr 9 TriP TO leiCesTer TeMPles

- 14 -

cHarity JeeP PusH Brooke Weston’s building manager, Shaun Houghton was part of a team that raised over £2,000 after pushing a Jeep for eight miles, 26 years after performing a similar stunt for charity.

Mr Houghton, who is a member of a World War Two military preservation group, took part in the earlier Jeep push. That netted nearly £500 for the British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association in 1984. The total from this year’s charity eff ort is still to be fi nalised but more than £2,000 will be donated to Help for Heroes. Funds were raised from sponsorship and on the day when motorists slowed down to drop money into collecting buckets.

The route took them from Wellingborough war memorial through Irchester and Rushden fi nally reaching the war memorial in Higham Ferrers just three hours later, no mean feat considering they were pushing a 1943 Ford Jeep weighing one and a half tons!

The Mayors of Wellingborough and Higham Ferrers both turned out in regalia to support the charity push at the beginning and end of the event, and the group was accompanied by four motorcycle outriders from the Royal British Legion to halt traffi c and make the route safer. Afterwards they were all were invited to the Mayor’s Parlour in Wellingborough for a reception.

It is likely that the group, Trucks, Troops and Stores, will embark on further fund-raising eff orts and there is already talk of them carrying a war-time Jeep body around Silverstone. Mr Houghton and around 42 other members preserve and display military vehicles.

Mr Houghton is the proud owner of a World War Two Dodge weapons carrier that was shipped from Detroit to the UK, then on to France as part of the D-Day landing convoy. After the war it was retained by the French government and fi nally sold to its fi rst civilian owner in 1970. Since then

it has been shipped to Australia before fi nally coming back to the UK where Mr Houghton bought it eight years ago!

Mr Houghton said: ‘As a group we do fund-raising like poppy appeals for the Royal British Legion but one of the club members came up with the idea that we could recreate the Jeep push. We had to take a slight detour due to construction work but, apart from that, we followed exactly the same route with six of the 11 taking part being those who did the original Jeep push, one of whom is now aged 68!’

iNTrOdUCiNg OUr NeW Year 7 rUgBY PlaYers!‘The Year 7 rugby team may only just have started at Brooke Weston but, after only a couple of weeks’ practice they looked the part as they faced Northampton School

for Boys. Their coach Mr Clasper said: ‘They are already showing enthusiasm, pride and spirit and I’m confi dent that they will made a really formidable squad.’

A photo gallery is available on the website: www.brookeweston.org/home/galleries

- 15 -

UPdaTiNg OUr FaCiliTiesBuilding work has started to extend the restaurant, creating seating space for a further 100 diners. The new extension will measure 114 square metres and has been designed with the same materials and fi xtures to blend seamlessly into the existing area.

The architects are Kettering-based Gotch, Saunders and Surridge and the trainee quantity surveyor working on the project is former Brooke Weston student, Richard Faller. The 12-week build phase is being carried out by Kettering contractors, SAC Construction and the fi nal fi xtures will be put into place by our buildings manage-ment team, in time for the start of the new term in January 2011.

Finance and Business Manager, Mrs Christine Stewart said: ‘The new extension will be a major improvement to our restaurant which was becoming very busy at peak times. This is due to all of our year groups being over-subscribed. The new space will alleviate this entirely and it has been designed to be a light and pleasant environ-ment for our students and staff .’

The extension is the latest in a series of improvements around the site including resurfacing and renewing of road markings in the car park, repainting and carpeting of the science corridor and new carpeting laid in the link blocks.

Brooke Weston has been given the Healthy Schools Award after it met criteria in four diff erent areas of school life. The scheme, which is a joint initiative between the Govern-ment and National Health Service, aims to improve student health, raise achievement and encour-age social inclusion and liaison between schools and health-care professionals.

Brooke Weston demonstrated that it was hitting targets in the four key areas of personal health and social education, healthy eating, physical activity and emotional health and wellbeing. The process, which took about two years to complete was initi-ated by Mrs Huchet and completed by Miss Feeley and a commemorative plaque will be presented at an awards ceremony in December.

Teacher, Miss Feeley, said: ‘It is a combination of things; healthy food in the restaurant, students getting ample time and opportunity to be active especially with extra-curricular activities. We had to prove we have a good base for emotional wellbeing so we take into consideration each child as an individual and are doing everything that we can to make them rounded individuals.’

Brooke Weston has said a fond farewell to assistant chef, Debbie McCardie, a pudding specialist responsi-ble for creating thousands of cakes and desserts over the past 12 years.

Debbie, who has always had a career in catering, is now head chef at a private school, after making hundreds of portions of loaves, crispy cakes, jelly, mousses, fl apjacks and cheesecakes daily.

She said: ‘I have seen some changes over the years; fi rstly, the amount of children we feed and also the redevelopment of the kitchen and restaurant. I shall miss the girls; we have had some really good laughs and tears and it is like a home from home here. My most popular puddings were always the hedgehog slice and cheesecake so I’ve left the recipes for those!’

a sweet goodBYe to deBBIe

- 16 -

Year 8 student Alicia Keen took part in the British Junior Championships show-jumping event in Wales recently where she came 13th out of 93 competitors in her class. Alicia completed a clear round, jumping a set series of fences on her pony, Rebel, before then having to compete against the top riders in a ‘jump-off ’, riding around a reduced course in the best possible time.

Alicia, who has been riding for three years, said: ‘In Wales I got on really well because it was the biggest competition I had been in to date, and all weekend I went clear which means I didn’t have a pole down in the two-foot nine class and got a rosette and certifi cate.’

Alicia rides ten-year-old Rebel most nights after school and she also has a foal, Remi. Although he is

just four-months-old he will grow into a large chestnut or bay horse that Alicia will be able to ride when she is an adult.

Alicia’s other recent successes have included winning the Walsgrave Open and West Haddon Show Jumping Championships. She has also been chosen to represent Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire in the British Show-Jumping Junior Team and has received a prestigious award from the Master Saddlers’ Guild in recognition of achievement and commitment within the Junior Academy.

national PoWerBoat comPetition

Tennis player Joe Tyler is ranked tenth in the country for his age group and has just represented England at the Under-12s Four Nations competition. Joe, who has been playing the sport for about fi ve years, was one of only two boys to represent England in their age category.

Joe, who is in Year 7, said: ‘It was the fi rst time I had represented England, it was really exciting and a great atmosphere. When you have won a match you feel really good, you feel like all the work has paid off .’

Joe trains four times a week at Corby’s Indoor Tennis Centre. Now he has his sights set on more competitions like the forthcoming grade one at the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton. His ultimate ambition is to be a professional tennis player:

‘As you get older if you are good enough you start to do European events and I am hoping to get to that level and maybe even turn professional. It is my goal to play at Wimbledon one day!’

Camille Redman Baber has come third in a national powerboat racing competition. Camille, who has been sailing RIB (rigid infl atable boats) for three years, qualifi ed for the 2010 Honda RYA Youth Rib Championship when she won the eastern regional heats of the competition.

The fi nals were held in the Solent at South-ampton where each of the 27 competitors, accompanied by an instructor, had to perform a series of tasks in the quickest time, with mistakes incurring time penalties.

Camille, from Year 8, fi nished the course in just one minute and 22 seconds, coming third in her age group, a fantastic result. She said: ‘I was pleased with how well I did. It is the best I have done so far and I would like to enter again next year. It was hard on the sea

because it was only the second time I have done that; it is a bit more choppy than racing on a lake.

‘My brother, my sister and my dad, who teaches us, all do power-boating at Paxton Lakes. My sister came third in the eastern region in her age group. During the fi nal at Southampton I had to do a slalom, a man overboard drill then reverse around a buoy. You go twice round the course, once to see what your time is, and then to gain your com-petitive time. As well as driving powerboats I also sail and windsurf.’

Camille received a certifi cate, commemorative T-shirt and medal at the Southampton fi nals, and the overall winners in each age category of 8 to 12 and 13 to 16 age groups won boats for their respective sailing clubs.

shOW-JUMP sUCCess FOr aliCia

JOe rePreseNTs eNglaNd iN COMPeTiTiON