2010

The Tettenhallian

Governors and Staff

Tettenhall CollegeChairman Vice ChairmanJ Woolridge, CBE, BSc Rev Preb G Wynne, CMTh, BSc, BD,AKC

Council of Governors

Headmaster Deputy Head Head of Lower SchoolP C Bodkin, BSc, PhD H R J Trump, BA P J Kay, BA

Assistant Staff

Clerk to the Governors Bursar Medical OfficersM J Kilvert Esq S P Howard, FCMI, FIH Dr J J Bright Dr A Williams

School NursesMrs C Wagstaff, RGN Mrs S Philpott, RGN

O T Liaison Officer Headmaster’s PA LibrarianL N Chown, MA Miss A Addison Mrs N Phelps Mrs D Liddle, BA

Visiting Teachers

Mrs C BaughP Brough, BAMrs L Cooke, BAP H Creed EsqMrs C Hammond BA

Mrs H L Hawkins, FCIPD,MScMrs V JonesMrs D MargettsMrs J Parker, SRP, MCSP, JPJ Rice Esq

Prof R E Smallman,CBE, BSc, PhD, DSc, F Eng, FRS

G Sower, BAM J Whild, BA, Dip Arch RIBA

J Bullock, BScP J Bullough, BAMrs C Cooper, BScMrs H Compain-Holt, MAJ T Dyer, BEdR J Ellmore, BScP G Evans, BScT Foster, BAMrs E J Gwilt, BScJ D Higgs, BAMs C Hope, BEdM T Jackson, BEd

Mrs A Y J Jarman, BAMrs P Jones, CertEd, Dip RSA SpLDMiss J Kendle, BAS L Lawrence, BScR M Leighton, BAMrs M Lofting, BA MAA R Mottershead, BEd, PhDMrs A Nash, ACIBMrs V M O'Neill, BScR Parry, BSc, MAG J Raine, BAMrs A A Ridyard, BA

Mrs R K Samra, BScMrs D E Spencer, BEdMrs C A Squire, BAMrs D Stone, BA, Dip TEFL, MEdMrs K Stone, BAMrs J L Taylor, C in EMs L Teulé, BAMiss M D Uttley, BAI F Wass, BEdMrs C E Whiting, BSc, BEdMrs G O Whitmore, BScC Woodward, BA, SpLD

Dr R Anderson (Oboe)Mrs E Coleman, C in EMrs L Cooper, C in E, Dip SpLDMrs S J Daniel, BA, CT, ABRSMMrs I Fowell, BEdMrs J M Hislop, BEd, Dip.SpLD,CPSE, CELTA

J Hood, (Percussion)Mrs J Lewis, BEd (Strings)Mrs D Manasseh, BA LRAM (Flute)W D Peacock,ISTC, MSTA, Dip Sp,Psyc. (Swimming)

A Powis, LTCM (Clarinet/Sax)

Mrs K Priest, (Dance)Mrs V Sumner, ARCM (Piano)J Taylor, BMus, FRCO (CHM), GRSM,LRAM, ARCM (Piano/Organ)

Miss S Thomas (Voice)J Westwood (Guitar)

Tettenhall College

Contents

3

Headmaster’s Foreword 4

Tribute to Peter Bodkin 5

Comings and Goings 6

The Drive SchoolHead of Drive School Report 8

A Year in the Life of The Drive School:Highlights from the Autumn Term 9Highlights from the Spring Term 13Highlights from the Summer Term 16

Lower SchoolHead of Lower School Report 26Art, Design & Technology 27French Cafe 29Harvest Festival 29Half Term Concert 29Reading Week 30House Themed Week 30Cranedale Field Trip 32

Sport:Athletics 33Cricket 33Cross Country 33Football 34

School Council 34The Musical: The Book 35Chess Club 37Alton Towers 37Charities 38

Upper SchoolAcademic:

Art, Design & Technology 40Business Studies & Economics 44Drama & Performing Arts 45Geography 50English as a Foreign Language 51History 52Mathematics 58Modern Foreign Languages 58Music 59Science 63Science: Visit to NASA 64

Sport:Athletics 65Cricket 66Football 67Hockey 68Netball 69Rounders 73Rugby 74Swimming 75Tennis 75

Cross Curricular Days:Berlin Wall 76Thinking & Learning Day 77

Sixth Form 79House Reports 81School Council 82

Extra Curricular Activities:Students get ahead in Engineering 83Visit to Thorpe Park & The Globe Theatre 83

Boarding Houses 84The Musical : The Drowsy Chaperone 88A Year in the Library 93Charities 95Around the School Grounds 95Parents' Association 96

Old Tettenhallians ClubLetter from the President 98Message from the Chairman of Committee 99Where are they now? 100Letters from O.T.s 104The Headmasters of Tettenhall College 106O.T. Club Functions 109Golf Society 111O.T. Club in Hong Kong 112O.T.s in the Local Press 113Lives Remembered 114

Headmaster’s Foreword

4

In the name of educational reform, government has oftenconfused structure with purpose, measurement withaccomplishment and compliance with commitment.Fortunately, at Tettenhall, we have a broader vision for whatmakes a great school and these characteristics wereapplauded by the inspectors who visited us in March.These include: a distinctive ethos, a clear statement of theaims that define the ethos, strong governance andmanagement, skilled and committed staff, teaching thatfosters learning and enjoyment, pupils who are engagedwith energy and enthusiasm and high quality outcomesinside and outside the classroom.

I congratulate everyone associated with the school on theexcellent report which can be read in full on the school’swebsite www.tettenhallcollege.co.uk

The following pages of this magazine provide a flavour ofthe wide range of opportunities that the inspectorsenjoyed and that encourage our pupils to become life-long learners with the capacity for creative andindependent thought. Many of the activities complementthe application of these skills by promoting self-belief,character and encouraging pupils to make a positivecontribution and to show leadership. Also, they helpindividuals understand how to be happy and to recognisethe importance of the spiritual, moral and culturaldimensions of life.

News of the achievements of former pupils in the O.T. section of the magazine illustrates that an education at Tettenhallis not just a temporary phase along life’s long road. The attributes embedded at school do not fade away. They growfurther and provide the foundations that enable previous generations to continue to make a contribution and to make areal difference.

A new team has been responsible for the design and production of this year’s publication. I thank all members of theteam and all the contributors from the school and the O.T. Club. My special thanks go to the Editor for her outstandingwork in co-ordinating and presenting the story of a school year in such an imaginative manner.

By the time that you read this, my successor Martyn Long will have his feet under the table. It has been my privilege tobe Head at Tettenhall these past 16 years. I have enjoyed every minute and I am hugely grateful for the warm supportthat I have received from pupils, parents, staff, governors, Old Tettenhallians and many other friends of the school. Forall the wonderful facilities and surrounding environment, there is nothing more important to the success of a school thanthe quality of the relationships. It is the people involved that make Tettenhall a very happy and special school.

I wish everyone at Tettenhall every happiness and success in the future.

P C Bodkin, BSc, Phd

5

Nothing can be more daunting than interviews for a new head at Tettenhall. So much hangs on the tale which will laterbe told. I speak, not of the candidates, but of the Governors who interview. Yet when Dr Bodkin applied for the positionof Head, his presentation - of the vision he had for Tettenhall - was comforting to us, and he was the obvious choice in agood field of applicants.

He sketched out a development plan which would see later the building of Lower School, the arrival of The Drive onCollege grounds, and then additions to Jack’s block and new science labs.

And Peter is a builder. Tettenhall College has grown under his guidance, in confidence and achievements. A naturalprincipal he developed a cohesive staff, giving delivery of an excellent product.

Jane and Headmaster were parents of pupils at the College, and the relationship with our parents was further enhancedby Peter’s direction – firm, yet caring, fair but reasoned.

His marketing skills will be sorely missed, and his many other attributes will no doubt be put to further use as he travelsthe country helping other heads in their varying difficult tasks.

Peter is a natural teacher. Some heads spend much time in the class room; that was not his way. Knowing every pupil,from the nursery to the leavers, (and beyond), his concern for their development is palpable. He teaches by example,the best sort of teacher there is.

We wish him and Jane well in his new role.

Rev. Preb. Geoffrey Wynne (Vice Chairman Tettenhall College Governors)

Tribute to Peter Bodkin

6

Miss N MinakerMiss Minaker, agraduate from theUniversity of Walesjoins us to teachPsychology in theSixth-Form. She willalso assist in the

teaching of English as an AdditionalLanguage to our international students.Her extra-curricular interests centre ondrama.

Mr D GroomMr Groom movesfrom LudlowCollege where hewas Head ofDepartment toteach BusinessStudies and

Economics. He has also held pastoraland teaching roles in two other Sixth-Form Colleges. His extra-curricularactivities include badminton andcoaching and refereeing football.

Mrs D KaneMrs Kane joins theteam at The DriveSchool where shewill initially teach inYear 1. A graduatein English from theUniversity ofLiverpool, Mrs

Kane’s teaching career to date hascentred on The Dower House Schoolwhere she has also had managerialexperience.

Dr M LawleyDr Lawley hastaught Mathematicsat Tettenhall sinceJanuary 2010 ascover for amaternity leave. Hejoins the permanentstaff this

September. He has a first classhonours degree in Theoretical Physicsand Applied Mathematics fromBirmingham University. Recently, hehas been awarded a PhD in TheoreticalPhysics. He also enjoys playing andwatching a wide range of sport.We welcome these new members ofstaff and their families to Tettenhall.

Dr A Mottershead1974 ~ 2010Dr Mottersheadretired at the end ofthe Summer Termon the completionof 36 years’distinguished

service to the School. His expertise inthe classroom has been appreciated bygenerations of Tettenhallians. Initially,he taught some Geography in parallelwith Economics but it was in theBusiness Studies and EconomicsDepartment that he really made hismark. These subjects have been, yearin year out, two of the most popularoptions and the department has gonefrom strength to strength under hisleadership. As the author of books andas a leading examiner, his academicinfluence has also extended waybeyond the boundaries of the School.His contribution to the wider aspects ofschool life and his energy andenthusiasm have been immense. Hispupils have been grateful for hissupport as their personal tutor or whenhe was a Form Teacher. He heldvarious positions on the SeniorManagement Team where hiscolleagues valued his advice. Hecoached both the 1st XI football andcricket teams, built sets for numerousschool productions and contributed inmany other fields outside of theclassroom.Former pupils always ask after him andthe O.T. Club honoured him with therole as their President in 2009. We wishhim and his wife, Sheila everyhappiness and success for theirretirement in Somerset.

Mr A Dyer 2006 ~2010Mr Dyer wasappointed to teachMathematics inUpper School inSeptember 2006.He has proved to

be a skilful practitioner and aknowledgeable and enthusiastic coachof Rugby. His pastoral work has beenappreciated by the sixth-form and hehas risen to new challenges during histime with us. These include running inthe London Marathon and making amemorable debut in a leading role onstage in “Midsummer Night’s Dream”last Christmas. He moves to be Headof Mathematics at Yarlet PreparatorySchool.

Miss A Dickinson2002 ~ 2010Miss Dickinsonworked with Year 1throughout hercareer at Tettenhall.Her expertise in PEand Swimming in

Key Stage 1 was also muchappreciated. The children’s responseto the Sports Days and Holiday Clubactivities that she organised for TheDrive School always indicated howmuch they enjoyed them. We wish herwell in completing her Masters degreeand for her forthcoming marriage toMark Davies, an Old Tettenhallian.

Miss J Kendle2008 ~ 2010Miss Kendle taughtPsychology at ASLevel to the LowerSixth. A mark of hersuccess is that thecourse is beingextended to include

A2 for the Upper Sixth with effect fromSeptember 2010. She moves to a full-time post at Wolverhampton Girls’ HighSchool.

We thank these colleagues for theirwork and wish them all everyhappiness and success in their newchallenges.

Comings and Goings

The Drive School

The Drive School

8

Members of staff

HeadMrs S. Fisher, B.Ed (Hons)

StaffMiss C. Belcher, FDE, Level 5Miss S. Jassal, NVQ 3 (Childcare)Mrs N. Claxton , BtecMrs H Mann NNEB.Mrs F. Dalby, NVQ 3 (Childcare)Miss N. Parkes, BtecMiss A Dickinson BSc, PGCEMiss K. Searle, BtecMiss R Harrison BtecMrs C. Squire BA,PGCEMiss C. Hope B. Ed (Hons)Miss J. Turner, NNEB

Visiting TeachersMrs L. Cooper, C in E, Dip SPLD(Learning Support)Mrs. S. Daniel (Piano)Mr J. Hood (Percussion)Mrs J. Lewis, C in E (Strings)W. B. Peacock, ISTC, MSTA, Dip. Sp.Psyc. (Swimming)Mrs. K. Priest (MA SD) – (Dance)Miss S. Thomas (Voice)Mr J. Westwood (Guitar)

Head of The Drive School Report

This year The Drive School Report takes on the theme ‘A Year in The Life ofThe Drive School’ with our activities shown through a series of monthlyphotographs. 'A picture can say a thousand words'; clichéd, but true. Themonthly ‘montages’ of photographs go some way to reflect the level ofactivity that takes place in The Drive School – every minute of every day!The photographs reflect the provision we make for the young children inour care, from two years old to the age of seven, and show how the earlychildhood curriculum we provide is underpinned by sound educationalprinciples and values whilst allowing for creativity, communication and playin the children’s learning.

Above all, it is the people involved in The Drive School who make it aspecial place. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone whohas contributed to the life of The Drive School in any way during thisacademic year, but especially the children, their parents, the staff and theGovernors. It is because we all work together towards the same goals thatwe have created a friendly, family atmosphere where every child is uniquelyvalued and cared for. It is this ethos that makes The Drive School such aspecial place to be!

Sarah Fisher

Report for Academic year: September 2009 – July 2010

Autumn Term

9

French Themed WeekIn the week commencing 28thSeptember The Drive School held a‘French’ week. The teaching stafforganised many French- basedactivities, including making models ofthe Eiffel Tower, studying French artists,and language learning activities. SoniaHumphries, the Catering manager forSodexo, our in-house caterers,organised a French menu at lunch timethroughout the week and decorated thedining room for us. She also provided aFrench Café each day with hotchocolate, croissants, pain auchocolate and pain au raisin. Mrs.Compain-Holt, from the Upper SchoolModern Languages Department cameto read stories in French to Reception,Year 1 and Year 2. Mrs. Whiting fromLower School came to teach thechildren some French songs: ‘HeadsShoulders, Knees and Toes’ in Frenchwas a firm favourite amongst thechildren. During French Week, thechildren in Year 2 particularly enjoyedparticipating in a variety of activities.They learned about the life of LouisBraille and focused on colours,numbers, my family and parts of thebody, through songs and games. Theyalso produced drawings of the EiffelTower on the computer and a version ofMonet’s ‘Water Lilies’ using pastels andtissue paper. Year 2 presented anassembly on the Friday morning, whichreflected the diverse nature of theactivities that had taken place. On theFriday evening, we finished the weekwith a themed French party organised

by the Parents' Association. We wereoverwhelmed by the response! Wehosted 43 three adults and 46 children.Everyone was filled with enthusiasmduring that week and this created sucha fun atmosphere for our enrichedcurriculum.

Harvest ThanksgivingOn Thursday 1st October we held ourHarvest Thanksgiving Service in thenewly refurbished chapel. There was alovely family feel to the service. MrParry, the new school chaplain, led theservice and Miss Hope taught thechildren a new harvest Hymn whichthey performed beautifully for thecongregation. We raised over £130 forWater-Aid.

A Year in the Life of The Drive SchoolHighlights from the Autumn Term

Charlotte Bouzar’s mother reads a story inFrench to Reception

Theodore Bailey places his order in theFrench cafe

Karam Mahal - building the Eiffel Tower

Nursey’s Eiffel Tower

Reception in French fancy dress

Autumn Term

10

Scholastic Book ClubWe are always encouraging children toenjoy reading for pleasure. The DriveSchool now participates in a Book Clubrun by Scholastic. The club offers awide range of books to suit all tastesand abilities. Parents purchasing booksare also supporting our school as wereceive free extra books for ourclassrooms and the library with everyorder placed.

Author VisitThe Author Shoo Rayner came intoschool to share some of his books withYear 1 and 2. All the pupils enjoyedlistening to him read extracts from hisspooky stories. He also talked abouthow he thinks of ideas for his storiesand creates the characters.

Year 1 GeographyIn Year 1 geography lessons thechildren looked at the localenvironment. On Friday 16th October,they walked around Tettenhall villageidentifying the main features andchanges that are occurring.

High Street VisitOn Monday 30th November, as part oftheir topic ‘My Neighbourhood’, thechildren in Reception went for a walkalong Tettenhall High Street. During thewalk the children discussed theimportance of road safety. They alsolooked for specific landmarks such aspost boxes, zebra crossings, roadsigns and buildings of interest. Thiswas also an opportunity for the childrento wear the new high visibility jackets

that have been purchased with Parents'Association funds.

Extreme TennisThe children in Reception, Year 1 andYear 2 participated in a taster session.They had great fun practising basicracket and ball control skills. We nowhave a number of children whoparticipate in individual coachingsessions or in the Extreme Tennis extra-curricular club which runs on a Mondayafter school.

Berlin Wall DayMr Leighton in Upper School organiseda ‘whole school’ event recreating theevents surrounding the demolition ofthe Berlin Wall. The whole school raised£316.75 for the charity ‘Children ofPeace’, £62 of which was donated byThe Drive School. Children decoratedboxes which then formed bricks tobuild a wall which represented theBerlin wall. The boxes were paintedgrey on one side to represent the ‘East’and were brightly coloured on theopposite side representing the ‘West’.The children were issued with identitycards and passed through a check-point, complete with guards and dogs,before passing through the wall. Thiswas a fantastic way of bringing historyto life for children of all ages.

Kindergarten harvest sunflower seeds

Year 1 and 2 author visit

Joseph Brookes (Reception) holds his BerlinWall brick box

Macy Bailey holding her pass that gives herfreedom to the West

Autumn Term

11

'P' Day for Children in NeedFor Children in Need day, the children came to school in ‘P’for ‘Pudsey’ outfits! There were some amazingly creativeoutfits: pirates, princesses, police, professional footballers,Peter Pans, Power Rangers, Pudseys, pink outfits, pyjamaoutfits, pussy cats, P.E. kits, a penguin, a parrot, a physician,a pumpkin, a pilot, a person and even Paddington Bear!Members of staff were also equally creative and camedressed as pirates, pixies, pink ladies and Penelope Pitstop,whilst others were seen still in their pyjamas! Thank you toMiss Belcher for organising the activities throughout the day,including the 5p Pudsey Collage, Pudsey scratch cards andGuess the Sweets in the jar.

Year 2 queue to pass through the wall from East to West

Kindergarten dressed for ‘P’ Day!

Nursery dressed for‘P’ Day!

Year 1 dressed for ‘P’ Day! 5p Pudsey

Autumn Term

12

their Christmas Production of‘Babushka’. Babushka is a Russianlady who cleans her house all day longto stop herself from noticing how sadand lonely she is. She is so busycleaning that she fails to noticebeautiful things going on around her –a new shiny star, an angel in the skyand an exciting message spread bythree kings. She then travels on ajourney meeting people in need and bythe time she reaches Bethlehem, shehas learned a valuable lesson as wellas filling an empty place in her heart. Iwould like to express my thanks to TheDrive School staff whose hard workwas evident in the quality of theperformances that were seen fromchildren as young as 2 years oldthrough to 7 years old. It is so easy toforget just how young the children arewhen they are standing on the stageperforming and singing with suchconfidence and enjoyment! The self-esteem demonstrated by the children isa reflection of the caring way in whichthe members of staff of The DriveSchool support and encourageconfidence in the children.

Christmas Shoe Box CharityAppeal: Samaritan's PurseThank you to parents and children forthe response to The ChristmasShoebox Appeal. We totalled 103shoeboxes; well over half of these werekindly donated by Drive Schoolparents/children. These boxes werecollected by the charity to be deliveredto children across the world who FatherChristmas can’t find!

Dear SantaYear 1 wrote letters to Father Christmasand visited the local Post Office onFriday 27th November. They eachbrought along 30p, in the correctchange, so that they could purchasetheir own stamp independently.

Theatre VisitOn Friday 11th December, Reception,Year 1 and Year 2 visited The PlaceTheatre in Oakengates to watch thestage production of 'Snow White'. Onthe same day, Nursery andKindergarten had Santa come to havebreakfast with them and they alldressed as fairies and elves. A veryhappy end to the term! (Thank you toPeter Thwaite – he knows why!)

Christmas PerformancesThe Drive School Christmasperformances took place on Friday, 4thDecember. Nursery’s performance wasa Christmas Sing-a-long. Kindergartenand Reception performed ‘Shine StarShine’. Reception children took on themain roles whilst Kindergarten girlsdressed as angels and the boys asstars. Year 1 and 2 pupils performed

Samaritan’s Purse ‘Love in a Box’ Appeal

Charles Thomas posts his letter to FatherChristmas

Penelope Poole (Reception) as Mary

Early Years Christmas performance

Kindergarten Pixie and Fairy Christmas Extravaganza

Spring Term

13

Animal man visits NurseryOn Wednesday 13th January Nurserywere visited by the Animal Man tosupport the term’s theme, ‘Stamp,Slither and Splash’. Mr. Pearsonbrought in a variety of smallanimals/reptiles, i.e., owls, frogs, foxesand snakes for the children to learnabout and explore.

Year 1 visit Weston ParkAs part of a History topic ‘Toys from thePast’, Year 1 visited Weston Park onFriday 8th January to take part in an‘Old Toys’ activity day. The childrendressed up in ‘posh’ Victorian

children’s clothing and played with bothindoor and outdoor Victorian toys –interesting in the snow! They visited aVictorian Nursery and participated in acraft workshop making a Victorian stylespoon puppet.

Year 1 R.E. : BaptismReverend Millichamp came to visit Year1 to demonstrate how babies arebaptised.

Year 1 Shugborough HallAs part of their History topic ‘What werehomes like long ago?’, Year 1 visitedShugborough Hall on Friday 29thJanuary to take part in a ‘Washing andCooking’ activity day.

Let’s make a noiseKindergarten topic for the first half ofterm was ‘Let’s make a Noise’. Thechildren made lots of musicalinstruments and also experienced lotsof the school's instruments. Thechildren thought about different soundsand the music that they like to hear.Their role play corner was a recordingstudio where they made up their ownsongs as well as singing the ones thatthey were already familiar with.

Highlights from the Spring Term

Oliver Lloyd holds a giant spider

Benjamin Lloyd tries ironing Victorian style

Alexander Matchett tries out a Victorianrocking horse

Kenya White using a Victorian mangle

Harry Evans and Samual Gregory(Kindergarten) making music

Samaritan’s Purse ‘Love in a Box’ Appeal

Year 1 in the Victorian nursery

Spring Term

14

Year 2 Clay WorkshopOn Friday 12th February Year 2 workedin clay with Paul Gooderham on the Artproject called 'Can Buildings Speak?'which is linked to the identity of theschool and its buildings. PaulGooderham has been an artist/potterfor 30 years. As well as running asuccessful internationally recognisedstudio pottery business at Gailey inSouth Staffordshire, he also visits localschools in his capacity as 'artist inresidence'. The work produced iscreated entirely by the childrenthemselves; each child produced aclay tile based on relief textures.

Years 1 – 6 Kinetic TheatreCompany VisitOn Wednesday, 3rd February theKinetic Theatre Group visited theschool to perform an exciting science -based show called ‘Down to Earth’ inthe Towers Theatre.

Barnado'sThe children had a visit from theBarnardo’s charity representative forthe area, who explained to the childrenthe type of work carried out by thecharity. During the week commencing22nd February the children took part ina fund raising activity called‘Barnardo’s Big Bounce’ as part of theirP.E. session.

Sports Relief DayEvery child in The Drive School, evenour 2 year olds, participated in a onemile walk for this year’s Sports Relief onFriday, 19th March.

Harry Gordan (Y2) with Paul Gooderham ofGailey Pottery

Pilot Joseph Peakman flies Kindergarten’srole play plane

Jorgah Herbert (Reception) a scientist in themaking

Jungle explorer - Nursery Another Reception scientist at work

Y2 cake sale

Around The World in KindergartenKindergarten’s topic in the second half term of term was entitled ‘Around ourWorld’. They set up the role play corner as an airport and made passports forwhen they visited different countries. On their travels they visited Spain, India,Africa, Australia and the Netherlands as well as Great Britain. Mrs Pahal (Priya’smummy) made samosas and talked about India, bringing in clothes andphotographs for Kindergarten to see. Finley Boss’s mummy came in to talk aboutThe Netherlands. She read familiar stories to the children in Dutch. Later,Kindergarten turned the role play corner into a London bus and travelled aroundLondon visiting places of interest. To end their topic the staff set up Kindergartenas The Ritz and had a tea dance, serving the children tea in china cups!

Drive School Council Cake SaleYear 2 School Council organised a cake sale on Friday, 5th February for the charityof their choice: Haiti. The children organized this event themselves and all thechildren in The Drive had the opportunity to buy a cake during the morning. Year2’s cake sale raised over £77 for the children of the Haiti earthquake disaster.

Spring Term

15

World Book Day: Themed WeekThe week commencing Monday 1st - Friday 5th March was‘Book Week' in The Drive School. Throughout the week eachyear group focused on a picture book, took part in libraryactivities and dressed up as a book character. Members ofstaff, governors, parents and grandparents read picturebooks to groups of children throughout the week. I must firstexpress my thanks to the number of people who gave uptheir time to come to read to the children in The DriveSchool:• Mrs Taylor (Girls PE) read to Reception• Mrs Hawkins (Parent Governor) read to Reception• Mrs Jackson (The Housemaster’s wife) read to Nursery• Mr Howard (Bursar) read to Kindergarten and Year 1• Mrs Hall (Morgan’s mummy) read to Year 1• Mrs Ridyard (Head of English) read to Reception• Mrs Whiting (Year 3) read to Year 2• Mrs Lloyd (Oscar and Ben’s mummy) read to Nursery and

Year 1• Mr Parry (Chaplain) read to Year 1• Mr Trump (Deputy Headmaster) read to Nursery•Mr Bullock (Head of PE) read to Kindergarten• Mrs Spencer (Head of ICT) read to Reception and

donated some Winnie the Pooh books to The Drive• Mrs Stone (EFL) read to Year 2• Mr Dyer (Upper School Maths) read to Crèche• Mrs Jones (Director of Studies) read to Kindergarten• Mr White (Kenya’s daddy) read to Year 1.• Mr Leighton (Head of Art) read to Year 2• Amelie Holland’s granddad read to Nursery• Dr Bodkin read to the Lower and Drive School during joint

assembly in Chapel.Thank you to all of these volunteers who so willingly sharedstories with the children and in doing so promoted thedevelopment of good language and listening skills. A specialthank you to the men amongst them, who also promotedpositive male role models; research has shown the

Nursery dressed as book characters

Nursery dressed as book characters

Year 1 dressed as book characters

Year 2 dressed as book characters

Year 2 at the Black Country Museum

Year 2 visit the Black Country MuseumYear 2 visited The Black Country Museum on Wednesday24th March as part of their History Topic on VictorianChildren. During their visit they experienced differentlessons in a Victorian classroom. The children also wentdown a mine to find out what it was like for Victorianworking children. They also focused on life in Victoriantimes through visiting different types of shops and homes.The pupils also had the opportunity to play with someVictorian games and toys, which they discovered requireda lot of skill!

importance of male role models on children’s attitudes tolearning, most especially the positive impact upon boys.A Scholastic book fair was also open before and after schoolthroughout the week. On World Book Day children inKindergarten and Reception received book packs from‘Book Start’ and ‘Booktime’.

Summer Term

16

Highlights from the Summer Term

Angus Hamilton (Y2) in the Indian cookeryworskshop

Libby Hawkins and Rhia Kulair (Reception) inthe Indian dance workshop

Making Rangoli patterns in Kindergarten

Punjabitots - KindergartenSerina Basra and Amrit Aujlay (Y2)

Rajan Matharu (Reception) serving in theIndian restaurant

Indian Themed WeekIn the week commencing Monday 24thMay we held our third themed week ofthe year on ‘India’. During the week thechildren participated in a number ofschool-based activities led by parents,teachers and Mrs Liddle, the SchoolLibrarian. This included an assemblyled by two parents, Mr and Mrs Basi, inwhich they demonstrated Indianmusical instruments. Sodexo, theschool catering company prepared aspecial ‘Indian’ menu on Wednesday26th May. In Nursery the childrendressed up in saris. Parents came inand made chapattis and rangolipatterns.The children also participated in twoworkshops:Punjabitots - A language skillsenhancement class teaching basicPunjabi words, the Punjabi alphabet,numbers and Punjabi songs in a fun-filled environment. They incorporatebasic yoga stretches and movementsfrom which children can benefit.Indian Culture Workshop – Aworkshop, run by WolverhamptonEquality LA and Diversity Service,involved Bhangra dancing, stickdancing, clothing demonstrations anda cookery class making chapattis.

Summer Term

17

Year 2 - Coalport China MuseumYears 2 and Year 3 went to see the richcolours, bright glazes and exquisitedecoration of The National Collectionsof Caughley and Coalport china in themagnificent old Coalport China works.They experienced demonstrations oftraditional ceramic techniques whichrevealed the secrets of ceramicproduction. They took part in a creativeworkshop and had a go at a range ofceramic techniques, decorating a potwith their own design.

Year 2 PrizegivingYear 2 Prizegiving was held at 4.00 pmin the Chapel on Thursday 27th May .Thank you to Mrs Margetts forpresenting the prizes. The childrenperformed songs, poetry, recorders aswell as instrumental and vocal solos.

Bring a Bear to School DayOn Tuesday 8th June, the children brought in their bears and a £1 donation toraise money for Action Research. Mrs Liddle organised a range of activities for thechildren.

Coalport China Museum visit - Y2 and Y3

Reception at the Sealife Centre

Y2 Prizegiving - David Naylor receives hisprize from Mrs D Margetts

Y2 Prizegiving recorder group

Bring a Bear to School Day - competition winners

From Favourite Stories to the WorldCup!Kindergarten’s topic in the first half ofterm was ‘Favourite stories andRhymes’, which involved dressing astheir favourite book character. Theywent down onto the sports field andcricket pavilion for the morning and hada picnic lunch.In the second half of term, Kindergartenfocused on the World Cup in SouthAfrica and made up their own footballteams. They followed the matchesplayed and kept a wall chart with all theresults.

Reception visit the Sealife CentreReception children visited the Sea lifeCentre in Birmingham where they tookan amazing marine voyage beneath thewaves. They held a crab and touched a

starfish in the Rock Pool Experience!They saw over 60 spectacular displaysand over 1,000 creatures includingsharks, seahorses, otters and rays.They enjoyed a visit to the 4-D cinemawith films that they could feel and evensmell; this proved so popular, a secondviewing was essential! The highlight atthe end of the visit was watching thechildren walk through a 1million litreunderwater tunnel full of sharks andtropical fish. The ‘awe and wonder’ ofthe visit was evident on their faceswhen they saw the UK's firsthammerhead sharks and met thelargest residents, two enormous giantsea turtles - Molokai and Gulliver.

Summer Term

18

Summer Concert – Humpty DumptyAll of the children in The Drive School,including the Butterfly Group from theNursery, performed brilliantly in our endof year Summer Production of ‘HumptyDumpty: was he pushed or did he fall?’.The musical took an enjoyable judiciallook at how Mister Dumpty fell off thewall. The musical was set in acourtroom, where we met the Plaintiff,Judge, Jury and Witnesses. Thechildren sang eight catchy songs andperformed several dances.

Key Stage 1 - Sports Day dribbling event

Y2 Jackfield Tile Museum visit

Organic sheep - in Humpty Dumpty, our Summer Concert

Sports DayAll the pupils in The Drive Schoolenjoyed taking part in our sports day.The weather was lovely and everyonetook part in a running race and noveltyrace. Even our two year olds bravelycompleted the ‘toddle to a parent’ race.It was all good fun in the sunshineracing against our peers – happysmiling faces were seen throughout theafternoon!

Year 2 visit Jackfield Tile MuseumAt the Jackfield Tile Museum the Year 2children wandered through the originalgas-lit trade show room, galleries andperiod room setting. They could see,touch and even walk on magnificentBritish tiles. The galleries showed themexquisite examples of individual tilesand period room settings depictingvarious locations that would have beendecorated with tiles. They walkedthrough an Edwardian Tube Station, thebar of a hotel, a children's hospital wardand a 1930s 'front room'. In a specialworkshop, the Year 2 children learntabout the tile decorating techniqueknown as ‘tube lining’ or ‘slip-trailing’.By the end of the experience they hadproduced a 6 x 6 inch tile featuring theirown flower design and choice of colour.

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The Missing Teddies of Tettenhall:Thinking and Learning DayThinking and learning Day was set upto provide a safe, creative environmentand play situation where thinking couldbe sustained. It was about encouragingchildren to learn to think for themselves,learning through real situations in ahighly motivating environment. We wereencouraging the children to use ‘criticalthinking’ in the form of enquiry,information processing, reasoning,evaluation, problem-solving andcreative thinking.The Day was called ‘The MissingTeddies of Tettenhall’.Every day a teddy bear haddisappeared from the village ofTettenhall. No one knew what hadhappened to the missing teddies.When Mrs Liddle (The CollegeLibrarian) came to the Drive School fora story time she saw footprints in TheDrive School Garden. She asked thechildren if they felt brave enough tofollow the footprints…The children acted out travelling on along and dangerous journey – crossinga huge pond, walking through a spookyforest, climbing a mountain beforecoming to a house where they found acreature with …

• terrible tusks• terrible claws• terrible teeth• terrible jaws• knobbly knees• turned out toes• a poisonous wart on the end of his

nose• orange eyes•black tongue; and• purple prickles on his back!It was the GRUFFALO!! He wassurrounded by the missing teddies!At first the children ran away from theGruffalo until they realised that the

Picnic with the Gruffalo!

Kindergarten meets the Gruffalo!

Nursery brave the Spooky Forest

Gruffalo was crying. They bravelyasked him why and he explained thathe wanted to go to a teddy bears’picnic with the children. The childreninvited the Gruffalo to their picnic andthe Gruffalo said ‘Sorry’ ! The bravechildren of The Drive School had madesure that the teddies of Tettenhall weresafe once more!!!The children and the Gruffalo walkedthrough the woods together andenjoyed a lovely picnic in the sunshine!This was a very exciting way to end theterm. Thank you to Mrs Liddle and MrsGallant for organising the day and aspecial ‘Thank you’ to RichardWilliamson (He knows why!).

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Nursery

Picture Ga

llery

Louis Brookes

Tiffany Poole - self portrait

Olivia Tomlinson - gloop play!

Nathaniel Robinson pl

anting

Nursery on a Spring walk

CharlesWynne handpainting

MarcHobieka enjoying free

flow play

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Harry Brookes -Kindergarten graduation

IslaMemeie

Autumn walk

Kindergarten tea party

Creative activity

Karac Oldman andAlexanderHiggs

Let’s go flya kite!

Kindergarten

Picture Ga

llery

Reception

Picture Ga

llery

Big block building

DavidMorris-Wynter - physical activity

DavidMorris -Wynter vetinerary surgeon!

Happy Diwali!

RyanHamad and his pebblepet

Makinghealthychoices

Aoibheann O’Neill and Joseph Brookesmud testing

KateWoodman -3D shape wor

k

Easter egg hunt

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Rock climbing

Toy Swap Shoporganised by Y2

Mia Price Design & Technology

Y2 with their Easter puppets

Measuring class

MaxWard (Y1) mask painting

Year1 and

2

Picture Ga

llery

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Year1 and

2

Picture Ga

llery

Y2School Council sorting

the Christmas post

Y1 Victorian boys

Y2 French artwork

GurnamHallaith (Y2)ClayWorkshop

Y1 Victorian girls24

Lower School

Lower School

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Head of Lower School Report

Another very busy, but ultimately extremely successful year has been and gone and once again I find myself with thenear impossible task of trying to sum up these successes and thank everybody involved in just a few paragraphs.

In this day and age of celebrity culture, where children are more than ever exposed to the dream of becoming‘famous,’ it is important that as providers of education we ensure that each pupil receives a good academicfoundation on which to build in later life. In addition we must also continue to offer opportunities for children toexperience and develop in ways beyond the classroom.

As such I was delighted that the Team of Inspectors who visited us in the Spring Term confirmed that we are fulfillingboth of these requirements to a high standard. Children’s academic progress is good and the opportunities for extra-curricular development are excellent. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my staff personally for theprofessionalism and dedication they have shown over the last academic year. In particular Mr Wass deserves aspecial mention for the magnificent musical and drama events he has organised throughout the year.

Once again I am indebted to the Parents' Association for their continued efforts to support the school through a varietyof fund raising events. This is never better illustrated than by the huge team effort that is the Lower School Musical.Many parents spent hours building sets and making costumes, for, what was arguably, one of the finest productionsfor many years.

The following reports will remind some of you of the events that your children participated in this year and also providea guide to others who are maybe not so aware of all that goes on in Lower School. I hope you enjoy reading thevaried reports, many written by the children themselves.

I continue to be extremely proud to be associated with such a successful school and such hard working and friendlypupils. There are certainly challenges ahead, but we are fit and ready to face them.

Philip Kay

Report for Academic year: September 2009 – July 2010

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Autumn TermThe year got off to a musical start asLower School prepared for their annualconcert. This year the theme wasMichael Jackson. Lower School artistsgot the job of painting huge images ofthe pop hero to be put on displayduring the concert. Large portraits andsong titles were carefully completedcreating a dramatic backdrop to thesinging.

Book WeekBook week was another highlight of thefirst term. In Art pupils created bookcovers and illustrations inspired by theirfavourite authors. Year 3 created somedetailed bird illustrations to support thetopic work they were doing in class.

ChristmasAs Christmas drew near Year 3 gotbusy drawing toys and Christmaswrapping paper. They created printsand paintings of toys in Christmasstockings which, along with the Year 4glittery clay baubles, made theentrance foyer look very festive. In

Design and Technology Year 5 madesome real working toys using a cammechanism. These varied in themefrom guitar players to moving boatsand flying Santas ! Year 6 enjoyedmaking Animal Shelters from wood andcard, using Pets Corner as aninspiration.

Spring TermAs Spring Term got underway Year 6turned their hand to sewing, creatingsome great novelty slippers . Pupilsattending Art Club on Mondaylunchtimes made some kites. Usingpen and ink they illustrated each kitewith images of dragons, before addinga long tail made from string and tissuepaper. These were displayed in thefoyer complementing the colourfulYear 6 bird sculptures.Year 5 made some expressive masksand Year 6 Spring hats were ofexcellent quality this year; JordanJoiner’s was particularly worthy of note,towering high above his head andincluding a clever drink bottleattachment – very inventive! GracePugh’s show - winning horse hat wasanother technical marvel ! In Designand Technology Year 5 created someequally impressive musical instrumentsranging from simple percussioninstruments to five string guitars.

Art club portrait of Michael Jackson for theLower School concert

Edward Beech creating his animal shelter

Y4 Art Club pupils creating kites

Shanel Johnson and Mollie Laight (Y5)mythological animal masks

Jordan Joiner’sSpring hat

Millie Gambon and Ellie Rhodes -Williams(Y5) Flying Santa Cam toy

Rosie Whiting and Maddie Baugh (Y3) design a bird book cover for Book Week

Art, Design and Technology

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'The Book' MusicalThe Spring term once again broughtthe Lower School Musical. Volunteersflocked to Art Club to help paint Vikingshields and large bushes for the rompthrough history that was “The Book”.Lower School artists even rose to thechallenge of creating two severedViking heads, achieving an effective, ifgory result.

Jasvir Hayer and Mitchell Porter hold props(severed heads!) for the Musical Jordan Joiner and Edward Beech helped with the scenery by making bushes

Spring TermSummer BeachesIn the Summer term Year 3’s thoughtsturned to summer beaches. Theycreated some beautiful directobservational studies of shells andseaweed, as well as completing somesensitive wax resist paintings on thesame theme. In Design and TechnologyYear 6 made some working fun fairrides, including traditional merry-go-rounds and futuristic Ferris wheels.

Art ClubArt Club pupils got painting this term aspart of this year's Royal Academy 'YoungPainter of the Year Competition'. Thetheme was 'Visions of the Future', soafter much planning and preparationLower School painters created imagesinfluenced by themes as diverse asglobal warming and alien visitations.Finished masterpieces will be sent off toThe Royal Academy -so watch this space!

Coalport China MuseumThe Year 2 and Year 3 joint Art trip thisyear was to Coalport China Museum,Ironbridge. Pupils had a guided tour ofthe museum before embarking on aclay decorating workshop. During the

workshop they used coloured slip todecorate hand made bowls and thenused a technique called scraffito toengrave in pictures and patterns. Thepupils worked really hard and createdsome very individual final bowls.

House WeekHouse week took place in the secondhalf of the Summer Term. Havingcreated some impressive Houseshields last year we continued thetheme by creating House bunting.Pupils were able to use the UpperSchool Design and Technologyfacilities to cut and sew rows of flags.They used sewing machines to stitchthe fabric and bonda web to attach thename of each House to each length ofbunting. Some successful final resultswere achieved and should look greatwhen displayed at House events suchas Sports Day.As the year closes I continue to beimpressed by the enthusiasm andcommitment of the Lower School artistsand designers.Mrs K StoneY5 sketching in the Carding Mill Valley

Decorating pots at Coalport China Museum

Y2 & 3 decoarting pots

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French Café Year 6On Friday the 23rd October we had aFrench café in Mrs Stone’s Year 6classroom. All of Mrs Compain Holt'sFrench group had to bring in cakes,chocolate or any other treat and MrsCompain Holt organised a French café.Some people from Upper School cameand helped out too! It was an extremelyfun break time. If you wanted anythingyou would have to ask for it in French.Everything was very delicious and therewas plenty for everyone. Year 6 invitedsome teachers to come too. We reallyenjoyed it! My favourite bit was eatingthe treats! We really enjoyed the caféand we think it’s really good.By Anisha Aujilay (Y6 KS)

Harvest ThanksgivingHarvest Thanksgiving is when peoplegrow crops. It is around autumn time.Our Harvest assembly was onThursday 1st October. It was for theDrive and Lower School. Some of thechildren’s parents came. It started at9:30am and ended at 10:00am.First, Lower School, the parents andthe Drive School sang a hymn whichwas All Things Bright and Beautiful.This Harvest thanksgiving Mr Parryspoke about this year's harvest andhow good it had been. The theme wassaying thank you to the people whohelped with the harvest who were thefarmers, the engineers, the doctors andthe scientists.

Mr Parry brought in some apples andseeds, which would turn into wheat,and potatoes to tell us about harvestand how important it is. Next, he told usabout a farmer who sowed seedsrandomly. The farmer threw seeds onthe road but some birds ate them. Thenhe threw the seeds on rock but theydidn’t grow and burned up. After thatthe farmer threw the seeds on somebrambles but the brambles choked theseeds. Finally, he threw the seeds ongood soil and they grew into wheatperfectly. Mr Parry told us that weshould all be like the seeds that grewon the good soil.Next Mr Parry asked for four volunteers.He brought Liam up to be the farmer.He brought Tilley up to be the engineer.He brought Jasvir up to be the doctorand he brought Shanel up to be thescientist. He said you should thank allthese people for giving us the harvest.Finally, The Drive sang 'Bring up theHarvest' to Lower School. After that theparents, The Drive School and LowerSchool all sang 'Sing Hosanna'together. At the end we raised £127 forWater Aid.By Jasvir Hayer and Mark Saul (Year 5)

Half Term ConcertThe first half term was brought to amusical end thanks to the concertgiven by Lower School. This year weperformed in Chapel as Towers Theatrewas having the finishing touches doneto its chandeliers. This meant we had afull house and even had to seat peopleup on the organ stool to fit everyone in.The theme of the concert was MichaelJackson and the Chapel wasdecorated by large pictures created bythe pupils under the guidance of MrsStone. The pupils who had helped outat Open Day painted some fantasticlarger than life size pictures.We heard a variety of superperformances on the piano, violin,voice and flute. There were also fourHarvest Festival volunteers Michael Jackson themed half term concert

A packed Harvest Festival assembly A full Chapel for the half term concert

impressive piano duets which requirednerves of steel and good timing fromthe performers.Mrs Taylor had prepared two danceroutines with her Radcliffe PE Groups.The first was performed by Years 3 and4 who danced to Billie Jean. Year 5 and6 thrilled us with their dance routine toThriller. Well done to all the dancersand Mrs Taylor for their hard work!The concert climaxed with the whole ofLower School and the audience joiningin a Michael Jackson megamixincluding Man in the Mirror, ABC, BillieJean and Thriller. Lewis Spencerfinished the show with his best VincentPrice impersonation. Well done toeveryone who performed and we hopeyou enjoyed the show!Mrs C. Whiting

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House Week bunting

Reading WeekIn November, there was a themed weekon reading and there were variousevents organised including a bookTreasure Hunt and a series of authorvisits.The first visitor was Tom Palmer, whowrites football fiction. He spoke abouttravelling the world interviewing footballplayers and researching his books. Heheld a football related quiz with theteam with the most points winning aplace in the penalty shoot out. This wasgreat fun with Mrs Lofting and MrFoster taking their place between theposts as T.C.’s goalkeepers!Shoo Rayner, who writes and illustrateschildren's books gave a talk on writingstories and creating illustrations. He didlots of funny voices and faces whilsttelling Viking stories and turning a babystory into a Hollywood blockbuster.Pete Johnson explained who hisinspiration was for writing stories andhow he had written to Dodie Smith(author of '101 Dalamatians') when hewas at school. He also answered lots ofquestions on what it was like to be anauthor, including how much authors getpaid and when he met Tom Cruise!There were lots of other activities tocelebrate the week including, achallenge of writing a story in 366words or less, a book related quiz, avisit from the Scholastic Book Fair andthe transformation of the ReadingRoom into Starbooks Coffee Shop,which was open for pupils to come inand relax with a book.

Our House Themed Week was brilliant.The House colours are:

Bantock: GreenHaydon: YellowNicholson: BluePearson: Red

My house is Nicholson and here is myreport on the fantastic week!

MondayDear Diary what a fantastic day todayhas been. Firstly we had our,(Nicholson’s), House Assembly, whichwas all about Pets. Sabian Lawley andEdward Beech actually brought in theirlizards, Edward brought in a BeardedDragon and a Lizard and I was a bitfrightened of the dragon.Secondly, we had a Swimming Galaand we had to swim in four races, Icame last in every single race I was in.The best swimmer overall in the Galawas Hardeep Bhamra from Haydonbecause she won two races and camethird in one and second in another.After break most people went to ameeting about the Activity Challengebut some people went to House Art as Idid. At House Art I was asked to drawand cut out fabric into triangularshapes with William Fletcher-Taylor. Ithink in our House Molly Laight fromYear 5 was the best because she hadto learn a new sewing technique. Afterlunch some people went to House Artbut most people did the Zone Balltournament as I did. Nicholson lostboth their games but this was still one

of my favourite things that we did. Inour House Harveer from Year 4 was thebest because he was very good atcatching the ball.Next we had the preparation forWednesday’s Cooking Challenge and itwas really good fun because we gotthe choice of what to make. I made amenu and finished it at home that night.Our last lesson was House Germanand Mrs Compain-Holt put us into ourHouse teams. She put a quiz up on theboard and we had to do the quiz andwe got 12.5 out of 15. I think that thebest person in House German wasCameron Isbister because he told usnearly all the answers! As you can seeDear Diary Monday has been anamazing day and I am so lookingforward to tomorrow.

TuesdayDear Diary, all I can say about today isWOW!Firstly, we had Haydon’s HouseAssembly which I think was reallyinteresting. It was about Sports Day

A visiting author works with Y6 duringReading Week

House Week - making the bunting

Summer Term - House Themed WeekThe Lower School House Themed week, introduced for the first time last year, is fastbecoming one of the highlights of the year for the children of Lower School.Francesca Woodman’s prize winning report describes the week’s events and whatthey mean to the children involved.

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and then about everyone’s favouriteachievement. Then we had anotherpreparation for the Activity Challengeduring which I helped Rosie Whiting todo a jigsaw puzzle and then I did aplace mat for the Cooking Challenge.After break we did Mr Raine’sChallenge down on the bottom fieldsand it was really good fun. We had tofind as many things as we could, andwe found at least 10 of them. I thinkthe best group overall in Mr Raine’sChallenge was Emily, Anisha andGrace because they found one of thethings in the bottom fields which noneof the other groups found!After lunch we had a Workshop aboutJungle Book where we learned all thesongs so we could sing along withthem. They chose four girls, who were:Maddie Baugh, Porcia Bailey-Perrin,Poppy O’Hara and Priya Kumar andfour boys, who were, JoshuaOgunnaike, Ryan Boyd, MasonHawkins and Chris Cox. Nearlyeveryone wanted to be chosen so theywere lucky! After a 10 minute break theshow began and it was brilliant! It wasabout the story of Jungle Book and thebest Tettenhall College pupil whoperformed was Maddie Baugh. Shejust looked so cute up there!After Jungle Book we did follow upwork from it. Our task was to write anextra scene and the best in this wasMadison Jones because she was reallyfunny at being the Mum.So Dear Diary can’t you see how ‘fab’today has been? Looking forward totomorrow.

WednesdayDear Diary I had so much fun today atschool.

Firstly, it was Pearson’s HouseAssembly about South Africa which totell the truth was fabulous.

Our first lesson was the ActivityChallenge preparation which was reallygood fun because we got to find wherewe were standing for the proper ActivityChallenge. In our next lesson I sadlyhad a singing lesson so I couldn’tcompete in it. After break we playedtable tennis and we won both ourmatches and I felt really, really proud ofNicholson.

Then after lunch we went to the climbingwall and I made it half way up! I thinkthat the best climber was Jordan Joinerbecause he made it to the top twice.For me the climbing wall was really hardbecause I got stuck and my handsbegan to ache but I was really pleased

with myself for getting half way.

After break we did a game called ‘Namethat Tune’ with Mrs Whiting and

Mr Foster. We had to guess how manynotes it would take us to name a tune. Iwas on a team with Maddie, Cameron,Sabian, Beatrice and Edward. I wasn’tvery good at the game but I reallyenjoyed it! After that we had to go tothe Drive School Dining Hall for the‘Cook Off’ final. Di, Mr Kay and theCatering Manager sampled our foodand judged it and we came jointsecond. I think our food was reallygood and we should have won.

Dear Diary I hope that you understandhow brilliant today has been.

ThursdayWell Diary this is the second last day ofmy wonderful week and it certainly wasa busy one!Firstly, it was Bantock’s HouseAssembly about Help the Heroes whichwas very good and I could tell that theyhad done lots of research about it.After that we had the Egghead Quizand we were very close to winning butthen at the last minute we were beatenby Haydon. I managed to answer onequestion on Strictly Come Dancingwhich was quite a simple question forme as I am a big fan. Mr Fostercheated because he saw our answerand copied it which I think means heshould have been disqualified!The next three lessons were taken upby the Activity Challenge. It wasextremely close because Pearson werereally fast until the last minute whentheir two House Captains, Grace andHarrison went off to find the treasureand they had loads of time but theytook at least 15 minutes to try and findit and we thought that they had got lost!So in the end Haydon won our gameand we won Pearson’s game with 12flags.The second but last lesson we playedrounders and Bea played really welland got two half rounders. I was not so

good at it, but I thoroughly enjoyed itand we came second which was great.The last lesson was Tours de Tettenhall.It was a sort of relay race on scootersand was great fun. Alexandria is quitea tall girl and it was quite a smallscooter as they came from the DriveSchool so it was difficult for her to rideon it but she still did her best.Dear Diary this has been a fantasticweek and I still have got one more dayto go!

FridayDear Diary today was a very excitingday because it was House Music and Iwas doing a solo!In the competition I was second toperform and I felt very nervousespecially as it was the last time I wouldget to sing in front of all my LowerSchool friends and teachers. I sang‘Feed the Birds’ and Mummy thought Iwas great but I didn’t get a certificate. Ithink that Maddie deserved to get acertificate because she was really,really funny. I think that everyone didreally well but overall Jabari was thebest!! After this we spent the rest of theday rehearsing for ‘Whistle Down theWind’ but that is another story!Oh Diary, I so wish this wasn’t over.This is my last House Week ever inLower School and I have had a reallyfabulous time. I am going to missLower School and all my friends andteachers but I will always remember thebrilliant times I have had and bringsome very happy memories with meinto Upper School.Francesca Woodman

House rounders

Climbing wall

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Year 6 Residential Trip to CranedaleIntroductionThe Cranedale Centre is a residential Field Studies Centre,providing tutored courses in environmental subjects andoutdoor education.

Below are a sample ofsome of the articles that thechildren wrote as part of thepost Cranedale project toproduce a group magazineabout the trip. Hopefullythey help to demonstratejust how enjoyable this tripis for the Year 6 children.

The Food MenuAt Cranedale, we had some marvellous food and kind dinnerladies to make our tea time perfect. When we arrived we hadfor starters some minestrone soup. It was like heaven. For ourmain meal we had cheese and onion pie…mmmmmmm! Andfor puddings we had pear turn- over.We had a great selection for breakfast...English breakfast, toastand cereal and so much more. For our lunch we had packedlunches which were nice.We had been playing games in the cold but the dinner ladieswarmed us up with their beautiful tomato and basil soup. Forthe main course we had roast turkey which was cookedperfectly. And for our puds we had some fresh apple pie.I have one thing to say so if you ever feel hungry, come toCranedale dinner ladies and they will sort you out with somedelicious food.I have asked Year 6 girls for their comments of the food.Madison: The food was great, especially the pies!Kenny: It was amazing!!!Marihah: It was awesome!Emily: It was good.Amber: I thought it was very nice. The dinner ladies were nice!

By Gracie Pugh.

Survival in The Wild - The Survival GameThe survival game is what we played on the Sunday. It is allabout types of animals' habitat and its food chain.We had to divide up into different categories:16 herbivores,1 top carnivore, three carnivores,1 disease and 2 humans.The herbivores had 6 lives and they had to feed on trees. Inorder not to be caught they had to hide from the topcarnivore, carnivores, disease and the humans.The top carnivore had 2 lives and had to feed on thecarnivores and the herbivores.The Humans had no lives as they are the top beings, so theyhad to find the lower beings and have their lives.The disease had 1 life and had to collect a life from everybeing and only got to do it once.It was the best game ever, although we were all exhausted bythe end.By Alexandria Clarke

Cranedale OscarsMost effort for the weekend: Cameron, Frankie and PeterMost helpful pupil: PriyaMost cheerful pupil: Anisha, Edward and EmilyBest team player: Jordan, Madison, MarihahBest eater: ChrisBest behaved pupil: Mason and AlexandriaBest dressed: Mason and BeatriceBest wellies: Priya or OliverSilliest service station purchase: Chris (ski gloves)Best table tennis player: Luke, Beatrice and HarrisonBest table football: AmberUntidiest pupil: Kenny and RyanFunniest moment: Ryan upside down on rope swing.Best wall climber: AmberBest cuddly toy: Grace’s monkeys.By Cerys Hyde

Cranedale Diaries—Day 1Today was really exciting. The classroom was buzzing withexcitement. I couldn’t wait to set off in the Shires TravelInternational coach. I was really excited as I hurriedly threw onmy clothes. I gobbled down my breakfast, ran to the car,jumped in and got ready for the day I’d been anticipating for solong.

When I got to school I wheeled in my suitcase and left it inreception. I went into the classroom and everyone waschatting and listening to their iPods, it was the build up to abrilliant day. Eventually we got to the time when we boardedthe coach. Nan came to wave us off. We turned the cornerround the gate and we were on our way. We were all listeningto our iPods it was really fun. When we got to the servicestation we all loaded with sweets and made ourselves full.

When we got there Johnny greeted us and told us the rooms. Iwas with Maddie, Anisha and Alex. We all went to our roomsand unpacked, then we ran downstairs for a tour. Then wewere introduced to the dining room….mmmmm! It smeltgorgeous. We had a 3 course meal of Minestrone soupfollowed by cheese and onion pie with chips and salad, thenfor pudding it was pear turnover - I was too full to havethis!!!!!!!! Then we went to the evening games whichconsisted of: Matrix, Big foot and The Swamp. I was extremelytired after this and fell asleep straight away…….. Wink wink…….not!!!!!By Emily Rogers

Interview with teachersDid you enjoy it?Mrs Lofting: Yes, very much!Mr Kay: Yes, it was brilliant! Best trip I’ve ever been on!

What was the best part?Mrs Lofting: Seeing everyone joining in, trying new things andchallenging themselves.Mr Kay: The survival game and when Frankie got to the top ofthe climbing wall.

How did you feel on the way there?Mrs Lofting: Excited to be going back. It is such a beautiful place.Mr Kay: Very excited and curious because it was my first timevisiting Cranedale.

How did you feel coming back on the coach?Mrs Lofting: Very proud, a bit tired and already lookingforward to next year.Mr Kay: Tired but a bit sad that we were leaving, but happy weall had such a good time and really proud of all the children.

What was your room called?Mrs Lofting: Sledmere. It was very luxurious.Mr Kay: Samgrass and it was very comfortable and very cosy.

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SportAthleticsThe Prep Schools AthleticsChampionships took place at RadleyCollege near Oxford on Thursday 24thJune. This is known as the ‘Mercia’area as there is no Midlands venue orcompetition at the moment. BeatricePemberton took part in the 100m and200m for the Under 11 age-group.Beatrice performed extremely wellagainst other prep schools qualifyingfor both finals. We congratulate her onher performances. Well done Beatrice.

CricketThroughout the term the pupils in Years3-6 have made a tremendous effort todevelop their skills with bat and ball.Their level of enthusiasm has beenexceptional and this has resulted inthem all being able to make greatstrides in developing the moretechnical aspects of the games.Years 3 and 4, under the watchful eyeof Mr Jackson, have made significantprogress. With the bat their shotselection has improved greatly and allreally enjoyed their Diamond Cricketand Kwick Cricket practices.Furthermore with regards to bowlingeveryone has made very pleasingprogress on improving their basicaction. In the field their basicawareness of positions and theimportance of throwing accurately andcatching efficiently have seen manyuseful contributions, especially in thegame scenarios.Years 5 and 6 under Mr Trump and MrBullock have further developed theirskills and looked closely at matchpractice in preparation for competitivematches when they move up intoUpper School. Close attention andanalysis in the nets of the coretechnical skills have seen all improve inthis area and many have begun tomore carefully choose the right ball toput away to the boundary and whichone to be more defensive against. Inthe bowling department there has beena further development of their basicactions and grips which has seen amore consistent line and length beingbowled. In the field their efforts havebeen admirable, as all have workedhard to make a positive contributionwhen close catching or chasing andretrieving the ball in the outfield.The only match against the GrammarSchool saw a few Year 6s (combinedwith some Year 7s in an U12 team)

Girls Cross Country team

Boys Cross Country team

narrowly lose a most enjoyable game.Everyone contributed and I hope manyenjoyed their first taste of competitivecricket. For those who didn’t haveopportunity this term I hope they willlook forward to, or aspire to,representing the College in futureterms.Well done to all of you.Mr Trump / Mr Jackson

Cross Country RelaysOn Saturday 30th of January LowerSchool pupils participated in the CrossCountry Relays.It was a bitterly cold day but over 50schools turned up to compete.Our girls' team were: Kennedy Gee,Emily Rogers, Madi Jones, ShanelJohnson.The boys' team were: Cameron Bagry,Sachin Basra, Mitchell Porter andAdam Inglett. None of these boys wereYear 6 and this suggests a bright futurein the next few years.Both teams did extremely well with thegirls coming in the top 10 schools andthe boys coming in the top 20.

Lower School Cross CountryIt has been a very busy year again forthe Lower School Cross Country Team,with both boys and girls competing inteam and individual events.Area Schools Cross Country ResultsThe girls performed admirably against avery competitive field.Madison Jones 13thKennedy Gee 20thEmily Rogers 22ndAlexandria Clarke 28thShanel Johnson 30thBeatrice Love-Lowe 35thThe boys also found their opponentsvery competitive, however, there weresome very good performancesespecially by the Year 4 runners whowere competing against Year 6. JordanJoiner deserves a special mention, forhis consistently outstandingperformances over the last few years inCross Country for Lower School.Jordan Joiner 12thOliver Thompson 40thAdam Inglett 42ndJabari Douglas 45thLuke Jones 46thMitchell Porter Keele 50thSachin Basra 55thHarry Porter 56th

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Lower School Council Emily Rogers, Sabian Lawley, Chris Cox, Kennedy Gee, AliceHolden, Sam Hawkins, Rosie Whiting, Zoe Oakley, Cameron Bagry and Liam Tang

Sport (continued)RoundersThe girls in Year 5 and 6 had beenpractising hard in their games lessons.Everyone was making progress but ateam had to be selected to play amatch against St Dominic’s. It wasimportant that the correct combinationwas selected and that players feltconfident in their positions. Catching,throwing and batting skills wereimportant. There will be lots morechances for matches next year. Theteam had a great game. Both schoolsplayed extremely well with somefantastic rounders scored by StDominic’s and Tettenhall. However theend was a win for Tettenhall 10-5.Players in the team were: KennedyGee, Madison Jones, Priya Kumar,Amber Mir, Marihah Mir, Lisa Obi,Beatrice Pemberton, Grace Pugh andEmily Rogers

Football Under 11Thursday 4th March versus St. Mary andSt. John Result 4-1 LossFor a first game of the season, the boysperformed well. The effort from all theplayers was faultless.The start of the game saw Tettenhallwith all the possession, players weresticking to their positions and workinghard for each other. A number ofchances by Tettenhall were gained, anear miss from a shot, the goalkeeperbeing forced to make a number ofsaves, hitting the post once and havingnumerous corners still did not bring agoal. The opposition then jumped on amistake went through and scored withtheir first shot at Goal. This was quicklyfollowed by another goal, again after anindividual error. From then on we werechasing the game, again with most ofthe possession. The half time whistleblew; Tettenhall did not deserve to betwo goals down.The team rallied around for the secondhalf. Three changes were made and theteam then tried to work on passing theball quicker and stretching theopposition defence. A verycontroversial goal gave the oppositionthe ascendancy. We again worked hardto battle back; with good passing andspeed up front we managed to get agoal from Cameron Bagry or did Petersteal it on the line? From then on it wasall about Tettenhall, the opposition werechasing shadows and making last ditchtackles everywhere. Unfortunately withall the possession gained we could notmanage to score anymore goals.

Well done to all the players. The workeffort was excellent, the passing attimes was very slick. But we need totransfer the possession into goals.Mr M Jackson

Football Under 11s end of year reportThe Under 11s entered the local leagueplaying four matches. Most of the Year5 and 6 were used in the squad. Theirperformances improved with everymatch.Their first match was played withpassion but lacked some shape to theside. The second match was again ahard battle but the team looked better,players were more confident andunderstood their position andresponsibility. The third game saw oneof our best performances. However, theopposition were very strong, narrowly

beating us with some late goals nearthe end of the match.The boys did not get disheartened fromsome close and undeserved losses,they bounced back with an excellentwin in their final match. Winning 4-0.Tettenhall looked composed andconfident on the ball, some greatattacking play was matched by somestrong defence. The well deserved wincompleted a difficult but rewardingseason. The squad have progresseddramatically in such a short period oftime. The whole squad deserve praisefor their enthusiasm and determination.Luke Jones and Jordan Joiner deservespecial mention for their consistentlyhigh performances as does CameronBagry who is only in Year 4 but stillplayed to a standard much above hisage.

School CouncilA busy year for the School Council in Lower School has seen a charity eventleading to the sponsorship of a hen from the British Hen Welfare Trust and asuggestion about supporting Help For Heroes resulting in a special guest fromthe charity who came to speak to the whole school.The School Council representatives were:Year 3 – Liam Tang and Rosie WhitingYear 4 – Cameron Bagry and Zoe OakleyYear 5 – Sam Hawkins and Alice HoldenYear 6 – Christopher Cox, Kennedy Gee, Sabian Lawley and Emily RogersThe School Council met regularly throughout the year and Mrs Liddle took overfrom Mr Kay in the Summer Term, meaning that the School Council continued torun smoothly. Suggestions from the pupils included fundraising ideas, charitiesto be supported, equipment required and recycling schemes. Not all thesuggestions were taken on board like throwing sponges at the teachers, comingto school dressed as a chicken and having no homework for the rest of the year!Sam Hawkins was the force behind raising an amazing amount of money forHelp for Heroes. He wrote to the Headmaster asking if the school would helpwith fundraising and this led to MUFTI days, cake sales, competitions and Helpfor Heroes merchandise being sold all around the school. Sam received aspecial mention in the letter of thanks sent by the charity.It is nice to see the democratic process is working well in Lower School and allof the representatives have worked hard on all projects; a special mention toChris and Sabian who proved themselves to be excellent door security at themany cake and sweet sales throughout the year!

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Costumes and PropsAll too soon March approached and aswell as an Inspection, my mind was fullof Vikings, Romans and dancingVictorians. The parents had slavedaway to create over 180 costumes,ranging from a large woolly mammothto a John Paul Gautier catwalk design.Mrs Laight took over the role ofwardrobe mistress for us this year andwas fantastic at organising such acomplicated challenge…especiallywhen she broke her leg skiing a fewweeks before the show.We spent many hours after school andat the weekend painting and sawingand hammering to create wonderfulscenery and props. My favourite everprop had to be the fantastic Vikinglongship, complete with glowing eye. Iwas so grateful for the hours peoplespent painting polystyrene (highdensity of course) to look like StoneAge boulders or blitz bricks. Thanks tothe internet we managed to trace ourfantastic gates from last year’s show.They had turned up in Sheffield.Obviously our props are so good theyeven go on tour!

LightingThe next crisis was a lack of lighting.The lights which had been in Towers foryears returned to their rightful owners 2weeks before our show and I imaginedwe would have to perform in the dark!

Fortunately Mrs Fisher knew a theatrecompany who had just had to removeall of their lights from the hall they hired.The Bursar agreed that we could buythem for the benefit of all futureproductions. Hooray! We would be ableto see!

World PremiereFinally it was time for the WorldPremiere! After lots of disasters duringthe dress rehearsal the finalperformances were smooth andprofessional. The band sounded greatand the backstage crew were in tip topform to make sure that each time thecurtain opened we were transported to

a different age of history. The parentsas ever were fabulous backstage and Iwould like to thank Mrs Stoneespecially for the hours of make-up andcostume changing she helped with thisyear.The three stars of the show were GracePugh, Oliver Thompson and PriyaKumar. They had masses of lines tolearn as well as every single danceroutine and song! Mrs Lofting was alsokept busy as she reappeared in 14different outfits to offer historical factsto the three time travellers. The woollymammoth was a shock to the audiencebut they were soon bopping along tothe Stone Age Samba.

Saxons and Vile VikingsJoseph McKaig wanted to convince usall about the future of tools but WilliamFletcher-Taylor was only interested inpots. Harrison Maddox and EmilyRogers were our whinging Romans andJasvir Hayer gave a super performanceas Sutton Hoo. The Year 5 girls werevicious, violent and vile Vikings…perhaps that’s enough alliteration.The arrival of the Normans had theaudience in fits of laughter as MrJones, on his speaking debut, thrilledus all with his dodgy French accent. Heknows how to work the catwalk too!Sam Hawkins played Robin Hood whostill believed he was on a secret servicemission to rob the rich and give to thepoor. His merry men were not so sure.

Dicky 3, Tudors and StuartsAct 2 began with Dicky 3 and bootsthat were rather tricky to walk in! It wasa good job Cameron Isbister was ableto swap for comfy pink slippers beforehis big dance routine which involvedeveryone on stage dying! MasonHawkins gave a brilliant performanceas Henry VIII, a man who couldn’t stop

The Musical: ‘The Book’Time Travel through HistoryLast year I finished my article on 'The Wiz' for The Tettenhallian by stating I wassure I could persuade Miss Hope to do another musical. Little did I know shewould be moving to work in the Drive School and I would have the challenge ofworking alone on this year's show.Fortunately I was not alone! The fantastic parents we have in Lower Schoolwere enthusiastic about the idea of a new and original script and score when Isuggested the concept. I thought it would be a great idea to travel through timeand visit important events in British history. Mrs Helen Woodman (parent ofFrancesca and Kate) offered to help with the script and subsequently wrote afantastic, witty and virtually historically accurate play. She named it 'The Book'.My own efforts were meagre in comparison! I knew when I saw the script that ithad to have original music to compliment it so I sat down and startedcomposing; some songs were easier than others. They would pop into myhead at the strangest of moments. Others took a little more effort.The Lower School pupils are always enthusiastic when auditions take place inthe Autumn Term and because we had written the show with our school inmind, it meant there were lots of speaking roles to be filled. This gave everyonewho wanted a part the opportunity and I believe it is a great opportunity for allour pupils to perform on stage and build their confidence.So the casting was in place and I was able to persuade many members of staffto tread the boards. Some of them would regret this when their costumesarrived! Rehearsals began and the main characters slaved away to learn theirlines. Meanwhile singing lessons were utilised to learn songs and danceroutines. Mrs C Whiting

Harrison Maddocks and Emily Rogers (Y6) sing about the good old Roman days

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‘The Book’ (continued)

shouting. He was troubled by his wiveswho danced beautifully in theBollywood song, 'Calling Henry'.Kennedy Gee was a pink girlie QueenElizabeth 1st , alongside her three pinkfairy maids. Harrison Maddoxreappeared again as King John andKing Charles – just before he manageda tango and a beheading.

The VictoriansMr Bullock played the bumbling fool,Prince Regent and Mrs Taylor gracedthe stage once more as the regalQueen Victoria. She had to remember

Mrs Taylor and Mr Foster as Victoria and Albert

Y4 ribbon dancers

Finale - ‘The Book’

Queen Elizabeth’s fairies

Cameron Isbister as Dicky 3

Francesca Woodman (Y6) brings theaudience to tears

Sam Hawkins as Robin Hood

the names of all her children, quite ajob as they seemed to change everynight! Mr Foster was her consort,Prince Albert and what a fine pair theymade. Miss Uttley joined them on stageas Bertie. She was so happy to bethere!

SuffragettesWe were then on the streets of Londonas Zoe Oakley and Alice Holdenchained themselves to the famousgates for the suffragette cause. NiallHamad and Rajan Basi did a fine job ofcarting them off to prison!When the curtain opened on the nextscene the audience were transported to

the blitz as the air raid sirens andsearchlight went off. FrancescaWoodman moved the audience somuch with her rendition of 'We CanChange the World' that many were intears. Finally the three weary timetravellers returned to their classroom toreflect on the lessons of history.

Do we ever learn from the past? Iremember thinking after the show that itwas far too much hard work and stressand I would definitely just use someoneelse’s script and score next time. Twomonths later and Mrs Woodman and Ihave a plan for next year…Watch thisspace!

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Chess ReportCity CompetitionsThe Chess season opened in theSpring Term with the now customaryFebruary Jamboree. More teams thanever entered, 17 altogether, made upfrom a total of 7 different schools.Lower School took three teams andafter a very tight finish it was actuallyour B team that won the trophy,narrowly beating our A team intosecond place.This early success was continuedthroughout the season with victories inall our League matches to win the CityLeague trophy for the third yearrunning. This was also complimentedby a successful City Cup campaignwhen we were victorious in the finaldefeating Lanesfield 5 – 0.Our team throughout the season wasmade up of a mixture of pupils fromYear 6, 5 and 4. They should all becongratulated on another verysuccessful season which is largelydown to the effort and enthusiasm thatall members of the Chess Clubcontinue to show.Individual SuccessThis year we were unable to match theprevious year’s remarkable success ofwinning both the Under 9 and Under 11Individual City Championships.However, after playing some incrediblyhard fought matches Marihah Mir did

House chess

Fun at Alton Towers

manage to successfully defend theUnder 11 trophy, which provided afitting climax to all the hard work shehas put into her chess over the fouryears she has been attending chessclub. Marihah, her sister Amber andMason Hawkins also deserverecognition for reaching the ‘Gigafinal’stage of the national tournament thatwe enter each year.Internal TournamentsThis year’s House Chess tournamentformed part of our exciting HouseThemed week with Haydon eventuallyrunning out winners in a closelycontested competition.

Alton Towers Tripby Christiana LloydI think you will enjoy reading my reportabout our trip to Alton Towers ThemePark. I would like to thank Mr Wass fortaking us to the theme park and also toall the teachers and parents who cameand looked after some children.A German choir came over to visitTettenhall College. The special choirsang with them in a special concert inthe chapel and for a reward we got togo to Alton Towers with the GermanChoir.First I travelled on the monorail from thecar park to the coach park because Iused a car. When I got off at the mainentrance I met up with my friends andwe went in. Then I got a map and wenton lots of rides.My favourite rides were Rita (the queenof speed), runaway mine train andberry bish bosh bash; even though Igot hit in the head it was so much fun Ihardly cared! My worst ride was storybook boat ride.Thank you for reading my report onAlton Towers !

The annual Lower School OpenIndividual Knockout Tournament wasparticularly exciting this year. Many ofthe favourite seeds were knocked outearly on by younger players includingvictories by Tomoya Suganuma (Year 5)that took him all the way to the semi-finals. He was, however, eventuallydefeated by a ‘veteran’ of Chess Club,Chris Cox (Year 6). This set up a veryevenly matched final between himselfand Mason Hawkins (Year 6). Chris,however, proved just too strong forMason in the end to become theIndividual Knockout Champion for2009-10. Mr Kay

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Lower School

Charity UpdateDespite the recession, it has beenanother amazing year for fundraising bythe pupils and staff at T.C. Manycharities have been supportedthroughout the year and a total of£5205.05 has been raised.Fundraising events include cake sales,MUFTI days, Guess the Weight of aSoldier’s Kit Bag, Name the Teddy Bearand Bring Your Bear to School Day; allof which were a great success.One of the donations to WWF, camefrom the EFL pupils 'EndangeredSpecies' project. The chosen animalwas an Orang Utan and TettenhallCollege now sponsors one through theWWF scheme. The pupils of LowerSchool have also adopted a hen fromthe British Hen Welfare organisation, aspart of their fundraising appeal in July.

Help for Heroes Fund Raising Day £5,205.05

The EFL students support the WWF

Our eggsellent eggshibition of eggs for the Barnado's Charity fund raiser

The charities supported this yearinclude:Macmillan Cancer Support (Sept), £250Royal British Legion £154.31(Nov)Breast Cancer £50 (Oct)Help the Heroes £537.61(Nov)Children of Peace (Berlin Wall Day)£332.75Compton Hospice £75 (Dec)Haiti Earthquake £1000 (Whole School)Unicef (Nov LS) £61.60Water Aid £128.54 (Oct LS)Jeans for Genes (Oct LS & Drive)£118.24Children in Need (Whole) £323.00Barnardo’s (LS & Drive )£1100Help for Heroes (Lower School)£215.40South Staffs First Responders (UpperSchool) £500.00World Wildlife Fund £50.00Walk the Walk (Breast Cancer) £100.00Touching Tiny Lives Appeal (Bring YourBear to School Day) £150.00British Hen Welfare Trust £100.00Compton Hospice (O.T.s’ Collection)£58.60The Drive and Lower School collectedshoeboxes full of goodies for theSamaritan’s Purse Shoebox Appeal atChristmas.There has also been continued supportof Guide Dogs for the Blind through theSponsor A Puppy scheme and theAction Aid charity sponsorship of twochildren.

Upper School

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Academic: Art, Design and TechnologyThose of you who visited the studiosand exhibitions in June will haverecognised the enormous creativetalent that we draw out of our pupilshere at Tettenhall College. I have neveradvocated, or pursued, a House stylepassed down from teacher to pupil, butinstead, strive to prise open the veryspecial qualities of each student whopasses through our doors. This way ofteaching is far more challenging; oneneeds to keep track of all the differentexpressions inherent in each of theprojects being explored. It is throughthe skills of listening, guiding andcoaching the individual to find the mostappropriate solution. It is immenselyrewarding accessing the hearts andminds of individuals as they strive torecord and express their own journeythrough the projects. The Departmentachieved 94% A* - C pass at GCSE inArt and 100% pass at A level.Field Trips this year have taken the Year7s to Wedgwood Pottery where theyproduced PowerPoint presentations ontheir investigations in response to setthemes. They also attendedcelebrations on Eid and Islamic cultureat The Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent.

Alica Lau, Y11 GCSE, 'work, rest and play'.

Amanda Hughson, year 10 GCSE, self-portrait

Y7 at Wedgwood Museum

Year 8 were taken to The BotanicalGardens, Birmingham Museum of Artand The Watershed Gallery.The exam groups visited Number 9 TheGallery, The Ikon and The BarberInstitute.Mrs. K. Stone joined myself to teachKS3 Design Technology. To meet theneeds of the curriculum the Departmenthas purchased additional computers,sewing machines and a CNC cutter.

Year 9 Visit WolverhamptonUniversity's School of ArtOn Tuesday the 8th June Year 9went on a school trip toWolverhampton University’s Schoolof Art. The art college is a 7 floorbuilding full of inspirational artwork. Out of all the floors ofcolourful and imaginative artdisplays, the one which impressedme the most was the graphicdesign. On this floor there weremany computers in which therewere PC game designs installed.The design which caught myattention was called ‘Unreal

tournament III’. Liking the design, I played the game to see for myselfwhether it was enjoyable or not. To my surprise the game was of a very highstandard and was far better than many other PC games which I’ve playedbefore. I was surprised again to hear it was made by a degree student at thecollege.Also the other aspect which got my attention was the variety of art there wason show. There was Fine Arts to Graphic Design, marble sculptures tocinemas, creative furniture design to photography. Overall it showed me thatart isn’t just a specific thing. Art can be anything you wish it to be. It’s a wayof expression, whichever emotion you have it can be portrayed through ART.Saatvik Malikireddy, Year 9.

Prisca Ho during our visit to WolverhamptonUniversity School of Art & Design

Workshop to celebrate festival of Eid. IsabelProfitt having Mehndi patterns put on herhand at The Stoke Pottery Museum

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The pupils have continued to explore a broader range ofmaterials and experience more design related challengesusing computers and CNC machines. The Year 7 pupilsexplored human rights issues and in response to thisproduced T-shirt designs; other projects have includedtheatre masks, fashion labels and charity collection boxes.Year 8 produced drawstring sports bags, tie-dyed quiltedwallets, ceramic mugs with logos and presentation boxes. Inthe Year 9 rotation pupils have designed and made metresquare painted silk scarves.Art and Design prizes this year went to Natsumi Suganuma(Yr 8) for her consistently high performance andpresentation; Alex McCreath (Yr 11) for his achievementsdoing spot welding and Emily So (Yr 13) for her highstandards.Mr. Leighton

Arisa Onitake, Y9 painted silk scarf.

Aimee Fisher, Y10 GCSE,'Grandad'

Alex Kibble, Y11 GCSE ' Work,rest and play'

Emily So, Y13. 'Discarded', pencil study.

Sketching at The Botanical Gardens, Birmingham

Alex McCreathe spot welding his GCSE artwork.

Academic: Art, Design and Technology Gallery

Visiting professional artist PascalisMichalis

Stephanie Williams, Y10 GCSE - Cubist Still life

Prisca Ho, Y11 GCSE, 'Work, Rest and Play'.

Harry Westwood Y11 GCSE, collage of himself

George Harvey and Max Porter, Y8. Bricollagesculpture.

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Academic: Art, Design and Technology Gallery

43

Harry Westwood, Y11 GCSE 'Work, Rest and Play'.

Stephanie Williams GCSEart based upon theme of'Movement'

Courtney Hawkins, Y9. Ceramic Shield.

Eloise Hammond, Y10 GCSE. Self-portrait.

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In 1974, there were 3 pupils taking A level Economicsin the Upper 6th and 4 in the Lower 6th. BusinessStudies did not feature at Tettenhall College until 1986.Last academic year we had a total of 54 pupilsstudying Economics or Business Studies in the SixthForm. I would like to think that this might have meantthat we as a department were doing something rightand the subjects were worthy of taking!I leave the department in the capable hands ofAmanda Nash, who has been at the school for the lastseven years.I shall miss much about the school, but particularly, thedepartment. The teaching was and always will be whatthe job is really all about. Policies for this that and theother, pieces of paper adding to the decline in thenumber of trees, were no substitute for engaging withthe pupils and attempting to instil some sort ofenthusiasm for and knowledge of either Economics orBusiness Studies. I enjoyed the rapport with the pupils,their willingness to go along with my sense of humourand their wonderful comments that would be made,some intentionally, others just gems that will I willsavour for years!I felt privileged that several pupils chose me as theirpersonal tutor; a role I have always taken very seriouslyand always tried to do my best to look after ‘my flock’.All pupils have various hiccups along the way and if Ihave managed to help in some small way to theirsurvival and indeed in many instances, success, thenthat is gratifying. I will miss the knocking on my studydoor, whether it was pupils or staff. I never consciouslyturned anyone away.The role of a teacher is not just in the classroom. I will

miss the playing fields; rugby teams, including forseveral years, matches against the pupils, until theywere stopped on the grounds of H&S (howuncomplicated life was then). The staff team only lostonce in my memory and we had a similar track recordwhen playing the pupils at cricket. We only played acouple of staff matches versus the pupils at soccer,sadly without much success, unless it was at 5-a-sidewhen our most recent prowess led us to the final of aknock-out competition organised by the GCSEBusiness Studies enterprise groups. Sadly I ended upin hospital (again) having a double dislocation of thefinger when saving a penalty!I thoroughly enjoyed attempting to raise money for thethen new sports hall. I was determined to get a bowlingmachine, which we did, by myself and the then Headprefect, one William Edwards, undertaking a 24 hoursponsored snooker marathon. We did play for the fullperiod of time on an almost full size table which was in‘Big School as it was then called (now the library). Wemanaged to raise over £3,000 which in the early 1980swas a significant sum. It is a pity I have failed to raiseas much for a scholarship for pupils who could not

afford the opportunities that T.C. provides, when asPresident of the Old Tettenhallians, (which was such anhonour).The school musicals were a delight! Managing topersuade several pupils for many a year to give upendless amounts of their time to build this that and theother, move them all about here there and everywhereremains a mystery! But we did have fun!Meeting the wishes and deadlines of the directors wasalways a challenge, but one I would always lookforward to and will undoubtedly miss more than I canput into words. I fear the theatre company in Tauntonmay be in for a shock!Exam results have always and will remain so, the mostimportant aspect of school life. Without the passport ofqualifications, many of the routes to success are sadlyclosed. Consequently, come August I am there eagerlyawaiting the results of pupils’ work and ever hopeful ofsmiling faces as their envelopes are opened. Theresults within the department have been, I thinkimpressive. We have always adopted a policy ofallowing pupils a ‘bash’ at our subjects, a policy that isnot universal! Consequently with no one failing oursubjects for the last 10 years is my reward. Seeing asmiling face of a pupil who has now got the rightgrades for a particular university or simply passed isvery special. We try to ensure that each year somepupils gain full marks within a module; this has beenmanaged in recent years.The tours abroad are always a highlight and recenttrips have proved to be no exception. It is always ofinterest that the pupils are keen to see who will bementioned in my last night review of the tour speech. Ihope I have managed to ensure most find some partsof the speeches amusing- I do try! However this yearunbeknown to me, Amanda Nash decided to add hervery kind words to the occasion, which was very muchappreciated; 36years is a long time, but time goesquickly when you are enjoying yourself. And enjoy Ihave.Finally may I take this opportunity to thank, mostsincerely, pupils, staff and parents who have been sokind and generous in their comments and gifts. My lastfew days at T.C. were so memorable and occasionallyvery nearly overwhelming. As I told my colleagues atone particular leaving occasion, I have commuted over160,000 miles during my time at the College. Each milehas given me time to think and reflect on the day goneand the day to come. Such a journey is no more, butthe thinking and reflections will continue for manyyears. I wish the College and all associated with it asafe passage on the rest of your life's journey.Dr Andy Mottershead, August 2010

Business Studies and Economics Departmentand a few other aspects of life at TC

ra aer or

r

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Drama and Performing Arts

This has been an extremely successful and diverse year for the DramaDepartment both in and out of the classroom. The 2009 GCSE examinationresults were very pleasing and Year 12 set an excellent benchmark for the new ALevel exam achieving 100% A-C and 80% A-B grades in their AS examinations!Congratulations to all of the candidates on their outstanding achievements.Towers Theatre has once again played host to a wide variety of examination andextra curricular performances, ranging from Shakespeare to musical theatre,circus clowns to historical tragedy. As always, the staff and pupils have beenbusy both on stage and behind the scenes and pupils from Year 10 through toYear 13 have worked extremely hard to prepare practical work for examinationwith huge success.

Sixth Form'Freak Show'We have continued to open up theexamination performances toaudiences of parents, teachers andpupils in order to create a realistictheatrical experience and showcase thepupils’ excellent work. This wasparticularly vital for Year 13’s finalexamination performance entitled‘Freak Show’. This pupil-devised pieceexplored Hitler’s rise to power and theatrocities of the Holocaust and aimedto put the audience through anextremely emotional experience.Having decided that a realistic portrayalof such events could not do justice to

the horrors of the factual truth, thepupils decided to explore thesehistorical facts in a more expressionisticmanner. They used the ideas of avant-garde practitioner, Antonin Artaud,combining visual and aural elements topresent a controlled sense of dangerwhich both unsettled and shocked theaudience and as a result made themconfront the horror, confusion andridiculousness of what happened.The piece begins in a circus inhabitedby pierrots and, via a series ofgrotesque ‘circus acts’ including TheFire Eaters (Reichstag fire and Trial)and The Disappearing Act (The Nightof Broken Glass), looks at Hitler’s

mercurial rise to power. As the clownsrealise their true identity as Jewsthemselves, they rebel, turn on theirmaker and the piece culminates in anexploration of the events of holocaust.The performance was highly energeticand extremely emotionally charged;audience members revealed they feltbreathless, uneasy and enormouslyupset – especially by the closingmoments which depicted theexperience of the Jews in the campsand finally in the gas chambers.A vast amount of research andrehearsal went into this final devisedperformance and the pupils committedthemselves wholeheartedly to what wasa physically and emotionally exhaustingproject. Having worked together sinceYear 10, the five-strong cast of JoeHayward, Ben Passmore, FayePaterson, Kelly Paterson and MeganSchubert opted to work in an ensemblestyle. This involved highly stylised andchoreographed action and also meantthat no cast member ever left the stage.Rigorous rehearsal and detailed workon voice and movement created acomplex and highly polished finalperformance.

Freak Show

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Year 11The Year 11 Realisation test cleverlycombined both comedy and tragedy asthe pupils explored the dangers offame and fortune using a variety oftheatrical styles to great effect. EllieNash took on the role of a girl caughtup in the celebrity trap and the piececharted her life from a young child withdreams and ambitions to the uglyreality of excess. Robin Barrow, HenryDalby and Harriet Hommers played avariety of ensemble roles includingfriends, male models, theatrical agents,teachers, reporters and drug dealers tohighlight and act as a catalyst to theevents as they spiralled out of control.An interesting structure and effectivepace kept the audience on a knife edgebetween laughter and tears.

Year 10Year 10 embarked on the new GCSEDrama course in September with somevery pleasing results. Although the finalpractical examination remains verysimilar to last year, the coursework haschanged greatly and the pupils arerequired to complete their twocoursework units under controlledconditions. As a result, careful planningis needed to ensure that all elements ofa production are completed within thetimescale allowed. After an introductoryterm of theatrical concepts and dramaskills, the pupils took on the role of aworking company – their brief to put ona production of a section from apublished play to a live audience.

Live TheatreThis year’s busy and varied calendar oftheatre visits inspired pupils, givingthem further insight into different stylesand genres whilst providing thenecessary performance analysismaterial for written examinations. Inearly September we enjoyed a thrillingperformance of Bernstein’s ‘West SideStory’ starring ex-T.C. drama student,Stacey Powell. This highly energeticand superbly choreographedproduction by Wolverhampton YouthMusic Theatre inspired even more ofour pupils to get involved.In order to complete their synopticexamination, A level pupils are requiredto analyse a live theatre performancefrom the Elizabethan and Jacobeanperiod. Luckily there was a wealth ofpossible productions to choose from,including an avant-garde performanceof ‘The Revenger’s Tragedy’, and a hattrick of Shakespearian comedy andtragedy.

'The Roses of Eyam' - Year 10 CourseworkDon Taylor’s ‘The Roses of Eyam’ was our selected coursework text. This play,based on true events that took place during the plague years, tells of aDerbyshire village that lost three quarters of its population to the plague. Acommunal decision to quarantine themselves from the outside worldeventually helped stopped the spread of the plague further north and wonEyam a place in the annals of history. Taylor’s script enabled the pupils toselect from a variety of both comic and tragic scenes and also experimentwith different styles from naturalism to more abstract and stylised action. Thepupils were required to rehearse and direct themselves during theassessment period and design their set, sound, lighting and costume from abank of resources available. The result was three very contrastingperformances on a connecting theme.Bella Fisher and Harry Jones took on the roles of Emmot and Rowland, anewly engaged couple based on real people from the village. Their movingperformance followed their journey – from joyous engagement party to themoment of tragic recognition as Emmot sacrifices her happiness withRowland in order to prevent him from falling ill. Max Walker teamed up withAmanda Hughson to explore the unusual and ever changing relationshipbetween Marshall Howe and ‘The Bedlam’. The Bedlam is a challenging roleto play - a childlike creature whose nonsensical prattle holds grains offoresight and truth - but Amanda tackled it with real energy creating anexcellent foil for Max’s down to earth Lancashire man, Howe. The underlyingreligious conflict of old and new was effectively brought out by MatthewWickens as Puritan Thomas Stanley and his ‘enemy’, Church of England vicarWilliam Mompesson, played by Oliver Rudge. This highly chargedperformance combined the conflict of the two men with the domestic tragedywhich unfurled around them – starting with Mrs Cooper’s (Rachel Lawton)fatal collection of the plague ridden garments from London and CatherineMompesson’s (Aimee Fisher)struggle to reconcile the role of mother with thatof Mompesson’s wife. The themes of self-sacrifice, reconciliation and faithwere clear in this very moving performance.

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Live Theatre (continued)A modern staging of ‘Romeo and Juliet’set in an inner-city park translated theyoung lovers into petulant teenagerswhile a visually stunning version ofOthello by the Icarus Theatre Collectiveenabled the pupils to really analysehow staging conventions havechanged and developed sinceElizabethan England. A highlyentertaining adaptation of ‘The TwoGentlemen of Verona’ told the storyfrom a Zimbabwean perspective withtwo actors playing fifteen characters –including a dog! Using minimal props,a few items of clothing and a setconsisting of a single trunk, the actorsreally pulled the audience into the worldof the play, at times literally, asaudience members were invited to jointhem onstage and play a part in theperformance. Perhaps the mostunusual theatrical experience enjoyedby both A level and GCSE pupils wasprovided by Hoof SpontaneousTheatre. Two 30 minute ‘performances’,100% improvised, took us on a strangejourney into the world of fish, suicide,computer games and madness. This

was an exhilarating, exciting andexhausting experience – much enjoyedand bewildered at by all!

House Performing ArtsIn addition to viewing live theatre asaudience members, the HousePerforming Arts Competition againgave pupils the opportunity toshowcase their own individual andgroup talents before a highlyappreciative and enthusiastic liveaudience. Every year existing talentgoes from strength to strength and newtalent suddenly emerges ensuring thatthis competition is as fresh and excitingas it is accomplished and entertaining.

The Musical (see feature page 88)'Music, mayhem and a gay wedding’provided the backdrop for this year’sannual musical production ‘The DrowsyChaperone.’ Fun with a capital ‘F’ prettymuch summed up this show as acombination of pantomime, farce,melodrama and music hall combinedto create four nights of hilarity. The storyis pretty simple: a musical springs tolife in a man’s apartment...at the start of

this musical within a musical there isgoing to be a wedding... then thereisn’t...then there is again...but adifferent couple...then a bi-planecrashes on stage...then there is apower cut...then one couple turns intofour and the finale sees a quadruplewedding – yeehah – beat that!Confused? So you should be! It wasmadness and mayhem – just what wehave come to love at T.C.!After an exhausting but satisfyingacademic year it is clear that Dramacontinues to be a vital and lively part ofthe school curriculum. Thanks to thehard work and immense talents of thepupils and the support and involvementof a whole host of staff and parents weare able to produce live performancesof exceptional quality but perhaps,more importantly, encourageleadership, teamwork and creativity ona school-wide scale. All of theseventures create lasting memories forthose involved. What more could ateacher ask for?M.D. Uttley

'A Midsummer Night's Dream'In December, Towers played host to a visually stunning production ofShakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. A myriad of twinkling fairy lights,armfuls of festive foliage and metres of shimmering fabric transformed theauditorium into Titania and Oberon’s topsy-turvy fairy kingdom. As Midwinterand Midsummer magically combined, the audience were treated to stellarperformances from both staff and pupils. Kelly Paterson and Megan Schubertskilfully tackled the role of the argumentative best friends Hermia and Helenawhile James Isbister and Robin Barrow provided the roles of their malecounterparts, Lysander and Demetruis. Mr Raine and Mrs Ridyard dominatedthe stage with their commanding performances as the sumptuously-attiredAthenians, Hippolyta and Theseus, an excellent foil for the melodramatic magicof the Fairy King and Queen, Oberon (Joe Hayward) and Titania (Ellie Nash).Jacob Elcock superbly portrayed the highly energetic and somewhatmischievous Puck and who can forget Mr Dyer’s Bottom – a real comic tour deforce? A whole host of fairies, mechanicals and Athenians provided an amazingsupporting cast adding colour, energy and fun to the production and werounded off the term in fantastic spirits.

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‘Three things are needed for a goodlife; good friends, good food and

good song.’Jason Zebehazy

This year’s House Performing Artsand Talent Show provided two of theabove in bucket loads. The food side ofthe equation was most definitely takencare of by the kitchen staff since it wasFriday and therefore fish and chip day!Due to the extremely busy and livelyextracurricular calendar at school, thisyear we decided on a slight change intactics. 2010’s competition became amore informal affair and took place inthe Ager Room - one ‘unassuming’Friday lunchtime. The audience wereinvited from amongst the performers’friends, teachers and peers. Havingsaid that, what started as quite ahumble affair soon snowballed intoanother huge display of Tettenhalltalent. Possibly the greatest of allspectacles being the sight of some 70audience members squeezedmiraculously into the Ager Room inorder to support the acts and theHouses; some feat!Bantock’s Harriet Hommers began theproceedings with an extremely chillingrendition of – ‘Your Daddy’s Son’ – fromthe musical ‘Ragtime’. Fellow‘Bantockonian’ Rachel Lawton wowedthe audience with her first performanceto date in this competition in the shapeof a very melodious version of PixieLott’s ‘Use Somebody.’A tantalising display of further musicaltalent was on offer from across all fourHouses. For Haydon the doublewhammy of Faye and Kelly Patersoncrooned their way into the top 5 withtwo very contrasting pieces frommusical theatre. Faye’s performance of‘See I’m Smiling’ – from ‘The Last 5Years’ took us on a real emotionalrollercoaster of love, hate and despairwhile Kelly’s portrayal of Audrey in’Somewhere That’s Green’ from ‘TheLittle Shop of Horrors’ perfectlyportrayed the American housewife’sdream of an idyllic future – completewith ‘washer, dryer and ironingmachine’... what more could a girlwant?Not to be outdone, Haydon’s supersiblings, Chloe and Aimee Fisher, wonvaluable points for their two soloperformances. Congratulations toChloe on her first performance at a T.C.Talent show with a charming

performance of ‘There You’ll Be’ byFaith Hill. Aimee Fisher’s interpretationof the ‘Ragtime’ classic ‘Your Daddy’sSon’ – gained a chart topping 10 out of10, winning the accolade of ‘Mosthaunting performance’ of thecompetition – without any help from theColonel himself!Nicholson’s musical giants did notdisappoint with two fantasticperformances from Olivia Nash andAmanda Hughson. The smash hitmusical ‘Wicked’ provided theinspiration for Olivia’s spellbindingperformance of ‘I’m Not That Girl’followed hot on its heels by Amanda’sbeautiful version of ‘Somewhere Overthe Rainbow’ which won the title of‘Most magical performance’.The second set of full marks in thecompetition went to another Nicholsonhero, Oliver Rudge, whose originalcomposition for voice and guitar, ‘TheWorld We Live In’, proved an excellentexample of the phenomenal talents thatstalk the corridors of the Jack’s Block,often unbeknown to the rest of theworld!Perhaps the most unexpected musicaloffering this year came from Haydon’svery own Maisy-Kay Kendrick. Provingwhole-heartedly that good things canmost definitely come in smallpackages, Maisy-Kay’s voice wasanything but tiny as she belted out thejoyful notes of ‘Hairspray’s’ ‘Baltimore’to a gobsmacked audience. Herfabulous performance crowned her as‘Best newcomer’ and helped putHaydon firmly on the map.

‘Acting deals with very delicateemotions.

It is not putting up a mask.Each time an actor acts he does nothide; he makes himself vulnerable.’

Jeanne Moreau

There is no doubt that performing infront of one’s peers in such an intimatevenue is an extremely challenging task.This year’s acting contributionssensitively tackled a wide range ofcomplex emotions and were extremelywell received by an appreciativeaudience who clearly respected thenerve, talent and focus of theperformers. The acting kicked off withthe comic paring of Scott Place andZach Oakley who earned marks forboth Nicholson and Pearson with theirduologue from ‘Blood Brothers’ whichsuperbly captured the contrast between

two boys from opposite sides of thetracks.On a more serious note, Olivia Nashprovided us with a real tear jerker in therole of ‘Eva’ from a play entitled‘Treehouses’. This emotionalmonologue looked at Eva’s feelingssurrounding the funeral of her fatherand Olivia’s highly moving performancetruly captured the character’s sense ofloss and grief.Haydon’s Isabella Fisher skilfullybrought to life the role of Emmott Sydallin her monologue from ‘The Roses ofEyam’ a play based on the true eventsof the Derbyshire village of Eyam. Thevillagers’ self-imposed quarantinefamously halted the spread of the BlackDeath but at great cost to themselves.Amanda Hughson’s secondperformance of the day for Nicholsonwas the poetically moving monologue,‘Adult Child/ Dead Child’, which lookedat the father/son relationship, startingwith happy memories of childhood‘Cowboys and Indians’ to fear of amore violent and destructive father inlater years.Bantock brightened the mood with twohilarious offerings. First from MatthewWickens and his edited version of aludicrous speech from Tom Stoppard’s‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern areDead’ where the speaker contemplateswhat it would feel like to wake up ‘dead,in a box.’ Good comic timing and awell-cultivated actor-audiencerelationship made this piece of trueblack comedy highly entertaining andwon Michael the esteemed competitiontitle of ‘Oddest character.’The hopes and dreams of a youngcocktail waitress formed the basis ofHarriet Hommers’ second contributionto Bantock’s coffers with an endearingperformance of a monologue from‘Shakers Restirred.’ Faye Patersontackled the bard with true aplomb anda cracking West Country accent as sheplayed ‘extremely hard to get’ with herportrayal of shepherdess Phebe from‘As You Like It’.So, with the acts acted, theperformances performed and thesongs sung, it was time to turn to theserious business of the day and thewinner of the House Cup. Eighteen actshad run the gauntlet but only oneHouse could walk away with the prize.With only 4½ marks between all theplacings, I don’t mind risking a clichéwhen I say wholeheartedly that it really

House Performing Arts and Talent Show

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is the taking part that counts. I think thefact that most of us forgot that this wasa competition with marks to be awardedhighlight the point that this event is aTalent Show – and show our talent wecertainly did!However, there were engravings to bedone – so.... with all marks tallied andverified, it was my duty to announce thatthis year’s cup would sport the proudname of Nicholson – who narrowlyscooped the prize with an impressive

36.5 out of a maximum of 40, just onemark ahead of Haydon who came insecond with Bantock and Pearsoncoming in third and fourth respectively.As always, heartfelt congratulations toeveryone who braved the boards andwho this year had to contend with therather intimidating proximity of a veryappreciative audience in this year’s newvenue. As the audience steadily grew,so the stage space steadily shrank!So for one less-than-ordinary Friday

lunchtime, T.C. again went on to provethat ‘All the world's (or at least onehighly populated corner of Towers was)a stage’ and that the super talentedpupils of this incredibly talented schooltook their place as players ‘with theirexits and their entrances’ and withmany of them paying many parts to anexceptionally high standard! Bravo!MD Uttley

GeographyField trips play an integral part of the GeographyDepartment. We had Year 7 pupils visiting the Wrekin.Year 8s visited Ironbridge power station and Epson as partof an industrial unit of work.GCSE students visited Carding Mill valley in order to collectdata for their coursework.

The Geography department has also gone online now andour Year 7 pupils entered a competition to design their ownon line pages. Michael Broome and Luke Habgood won£25 of itune vouchers.

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Our international pupils are a mostpositive and enriching aspect of life atTettenhall College. Pupils come from awide variety of countries and culturesincluding Russia, Germany, Portugal,France, India, Vietnam, Hong Kong,mainland China, South Korea andJapan.It is the aim of the department tosupport these pupils in small groupsand on an individual basis, in order tohelp them achieve their academicgoals towards good GCSE and A levelresults. Some of our pupils win prizesfor excellence in their academic work,such as Dat Duc Nguyen in Year 12,who won the Ely House Trophy thisyear. In addition, external Englishlanguage exams are regularly taken bymost year groups. These include theCambridge suite of exams (KET andPET for schools), the InternationalGCSE in ESOL and the IELTS exam forsixth formers. Success in the latterexams enables pupils to enter a Britishuniversity. Excellent results are obtainedthrough hard work and high motivation.Cultural trips enhance the learningexperience, such as a visit to CoventryTransport Museum and a theatre trip tothe Pantomime 'Cinderella', givingauthentic practice in listening skills.Cross curricular projects, such as thoseon Chocolate, London, EndangeredAnimals and Teenage Problems,reinforce learning. A Year 9 project onTettenhall village, for example, helpedpupils to understand the location inwhich they live and work. It includedresearch on local facilities andbusinesses, as well as interviewing

John Rice (Governor) with Yr 9 pupils

members of the retail community andlocal families. John Rice, one of ourgovernors, kindly came in to beinterviewed. To use all four languageskills in such an authentic environmentwas very valuable. One group wasinvited to a Japanese home for atypical Japanese lunch andsubsequently researched recipes fromdifferent nations. Our librarian is mostsupportive and gives of her time toread interactive stories, such as onValentine’s Day and Hallowe’en,holding the pupils’ attention as shebrings stories to life.Oral presentations by Year 12 pupils ona variety of topics broaden outlook anddevelop understanding. Learning aboutthe Loch Ness Monster, the Nobel PrizeWinners and Vietnamese food wereinformative and lively. In addition,lunchtime discussions for Year 12 and13 pupils were held weekly in the staffdining room. A different member ofstaff kindly joined Ms Stone each weekto facilitate the engaging chat anddiscussions!Life is not all unremitting toil. RegularYear 11, 12 and 13 outings to thecinema were popular, as was the visit toOxford. This latter visit included anOpen Top Bus Tour of the city, puntingon the river and visiting places ofinterest. At a Chinese buffet meal, wesaid farewell to one of our Japanesepupils, who has been at the schoolsince Year 7. Pupils learn as muchthrough these events of interest andactivities. My thanks to my colleagueMr Higgs for his help and support.D. Stone

English as a Foreign Language

Dat Duc Nguyen - top academic scholarLower Sixth

Japanese meal, Grace Gao, Arisa Onitake, Y9

Farewell meal for Shoya Abe

Tony Wong, Head of Boys' Boarding Houseon EFL trip to Oxford

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Upper School

I was in Lower School setting up workfor my Year 6 history class as I wasgoing to be away the next day.‘Where are you going sir?’ (The usualquestion from the children.)‘Poland,' I replied.‘What are you going there for sir?’‘To visit a place called Auschwitz,’ I dulyresponded.‘What’s Auschwitz sir?’And there in that one inquiry was thereason for my journey the next day andalso the problem that teachers of theHolocaust have. When should the topicbe introduced and how do you teachyoung children about such events inhistory? Six million individuals werebrutally murdered in the death campsbetween 1939 and 1945, 1.2 million atAuschwitz alone. The murders werecommitted by people living in adeveloped Western European countryless than 75 years ago. Theperpetrators were often the victim’sfellow citizens, neighbours, friends andcolleagues of 10 years before. Did Ihave an answer that would beappropriate for an enquiring Year 6mind?In order to help answer these questionsthe Holocaust Education Trust exists toeducate teachers about the best waysto teach the Holocaust and to show thecontemporary relevance. In an age thathas seen a marked increase in anti-

History - Lessons from Auschwitz

Semitism, racism, prejudice and in thenumber of people who would deny thatsuch events ever happened, their workseems even more important.The Trust provides educationalprogrammes for teachers and studentsto foster debate among its contributorson the lessons to be learned, and thendelivered to students following its 3 daycourse, that includes a one day visit tothe Auschwitz I and Auschwitz Birkenausites in Poland, testimony from aholocaust survivor and discussions ondevising practical ideas for deliveringmeaningful lessons in school.This year myself and Mrs Taylorrepresented Tettenhall College inattending the course. ( Mrs Taylor’svaluable personal recollections andfeelings as a lay historian are givenelsewhere in the magazine.)At Tettenhall College students of historycover the period in Year 9 as part oftheir Modern History modules onDictators and World War II. The HistoryDepartment has always seen theinclusion of the Holocaust topic as anessential part of a curriculum thatshould educate and inform studentsthrough the interpretation andevaluation of contemporary evidence.The 27th January each year isdesignated as World HolocaustMemorial Day which is noted in collegeassemblies and there is a permanentdisplay of some of the issues in my

classroom to provoke pupil reactionand comment.It is a common belief that younger

children think that teachers inhabit therooms that they occupy and at 4.15they get into their cupboard and arethen wheeled out at 9.20 the next day,word perfect, to perform again!Thankfully we do have lives outside thecupboards and we still do want to learnand improve our teaching methods .I have taught History for almost 30years and my knowledge of theHolocaust has been built up frombooks and the numerous excellentdocumentaries to be found on the TV.However, to be able to convey thisevent to the 13 year olds in Year 9, tobe able to give an answer to the Year 6question given at the beginning of thisarticle or to give a whole schoolassembly on January 27th raises realdifficulties. The complexity of thesubject matter and the importance ofthe lessons to be learned, coupled withthe abstract nature of the events, whencompared to most of our lives today,means that we as teachers have toconsider the method used carefully ifwe are not just to bombard our chargeswith cold facts and military photos thatreduce the victims to the way in whichthe perpetrators wanted us to viewthem; as dehumanized units to beexterminated for the ‘benefit’ ofmankind rather than real people withfamilies, history, hopes and aspirations.

‘Hearing is not like seeing’(Rabbi Barry Marcus - United

Synagogue)

(Rabbi Marcus is a practising rabbi andteacher who accompanied Mrs Taylorand I to Poland and led the memorialservice outside the remains of GasChamber & Crematoria II)It is possible today to visit numerousweb sites that deny that The Holocaustever happened. In fact there is oneMiddle Eastern country whose leaderpublicly subscribes to the view thatsuch events are a western conspiracy.Our young pupils are open to the

same theories and mass media hypebut lack the knowledge to adequatelyfilter the truth from the propaganda.It is the teacher’s role to act as theirguide and present the evidence toprevent the stereotyping of people andthe airbrushing of historical events fromthe collective memory. How to do this?

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The British HolocaustMemorial is locatedat Newark inNottinghamshire.

In April all of Year 9 attended apresentation given by RudiOppenheimer. Rudi, a German Jew,was 14 in 1945 when the British troopsliberated Bergen Belsen ConcentrationCamp and the world saw for the firsttime the results of the Nazi’s ‘FinalSolution’For 90 minutes Rudi talked andanswered questions about his lifebefore the war and the experiences ofhis family during the period of theHolocaust. His grandparents weregassed at Sobivor and his parents diedof typhus in Belsen. The power of suchtestimony was clear. I watched everyone of Year 9 as they listened and sawa man who had lived through whatothers would deny.All were affected by what they saw andheard and I was impressed with theway that the children seemed to knowthat this was important and worthwhile.It was this visit that inspired me toattend the' Lessons from Auschwitz'training scheme which would include avisit to Auschwitz itself.Time then to ask the question;‘Where are you going sir?’‘To visit a death camp.’Taken at face value, to undertake sucha journey would appear odd andquestionable.As Rabbi Barry Marcus goes on to say

there are many more reasons not to go:

Over 60 years have elapsed – is it timeto move on ?

Time to forgive and forget?Life is complicated enough withouthaving to face the past.It is too difficult a subject to face in theplace where it happened.‘Those who do not learn from the pastare condemned to repeat it’

The visit to Auschwitz caused me noproblems beforehand. I had alwayswanted to go and in some ways itseemed like a duty. If I could not takeeach of my students personally I owedit to them to record my feelings andreport back to them in the hope that mytestimony could be more tangible thanthe text book and DVD versions back in‘safe’ 21st century Wolverhampton.There have been 85 recorded incidentsof genocide in the world since 1945. Itwould appear that we have not learned

our lessons.Some 200 teachers would make thejourney on 23rd June 2010. They werefrom many different disciplines but allexpressed in the pre-visit seminar thatthey had a need to visit the place toenhance understanding in the hopethat their teaching of the subject wouldimprove. We were all warned that theeffect of the visit on us would bedifferent and some may suffer adelayed action or even feel guilty thatthey did not feel shocked or moved bythe experience.One of the key discussions waswhether it was appropriate to takephotos, and if so, what photos shouldwe take when there were so manycontemporary photos of thepersecution in existence? One pointwas made: most photos from the1940s were taken by the Germanperpetrators and therefore portrayedtheir victims as just that, victims.Should we ever show such images tostudents at all because we would beperpetuating the Nazi ideological view

that these people were‘untermenschen’?‘ (sub humans).It is possible to reduce the teaching ofthe Holocaust to lists of numbers taken,processed and exterminated just to tickthe curriculum boxes and to state jobdone!

Contemporary German SS photos of a Jewish transport arrival and then subsequent selectionprocess for gas chambers set in front of my modern image of the same place at Birkenau.

The railway ramp at Auschwitz Birkenau. Built to handle the influx of some 400,000 HungarianJews arriving in the summer of 1944. Over 75% of those leaving the trains here were ‘selected‘ then walked to the ‘showers’ and were dead within 2 hours of their arrival.

Mirga Amela - One face among 1,200,000but a real person. She reminded me of my Yr9 girls. The dates below her name state shedied after 5 months in the forced labourcamp in 1942.

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To do so is to condemn the victims tothe same dehumanizing and statisticalexercise practised under the extremerational thinking of the Nazi regime. The

event is more relevant and importanttoday when racism, religious bigotry,political intolerance and terror have notbeen banished from human society.This makes the need to learn about theNazi ‘Final Solution’ and how it wasmade possible essential mail.There is one area of Auschwitz wherethe numbers can be transformed intoreal lives and people. ‘Kanada’ sectiondealt with the personal possessions ofthe thousands of people ‘processed’by the camp between 1942 and 45.Here are the thousands of neatlynamed and labelled suitcases left bytheir owners as they undressed to taketheir ‘showers’. Here too are the pairsof shoes also dutifully left at the sametime and the personal artefacts packedhurriedly into suitcases, their ownershaving been given 5 minutes warning toleave home. No photographs areallowed of these and none are needed.To stand close to these objects is toplace names to the numbers and tosee the real people again, as portrayedin the displays of family photos found inevery suitcase.On my return to T.C. the next day manycolleagues came to me and began toask ‘Did you have a good dayyesterday?’ They then stopped

themselves and said that ‘good’ wasperhaps not the most appropriate wordto use. There are few words toadequately describe such a place, but Iwas glad to have made the trip and forthe next 2 days gave presentations toall my Upper School classes at theirrequest.I still did not feel able to do this for Year

6 but was pleased that many had seenor read ‘The Boy in the StripedPyjamas’ - perhaps the best startingpoint for those so young.G J Raine Tettenhall College HistoryDepartment July 2010

Memorial tablet at gas chamber II

Cutlery collected from luggage in ‘Kanada’

Pre war Polish photo found in ‘Kanada’ Few ifany of the these people survived

One of life’s wishesIn life there are some things that youhope to do, see, experience, visit,achieve, call it what you will, for somereason or other. I count myself lucky thatI have been able to do some of thesethings.

As a young 14 year old, in my third yearof secondary school, I sat in my Historyclass and listened to my teacher. I wascaptivated by what she was telling meand was fascinated by her accent whichwas so different to mine. She was quitenew to the school and I remember likingher from the moment she started takingthe class. Her lessons were always sointeresting. Maybe it was because of theway she got the facts across throughstories or her broken English, but I wouldhang on every word and always listenedattentively.

She was from Poland; her parents wereJewish and were originally fromCzechoslovakia but had moved toWarsaw.

Her stories of the Second World Warfascinated me. The details and factswere told quite so because she hadexperienced it. I remember howpassionately she spoke. Sometimes shecried. It was quite strange for a teacherto cry but somehow I knew that it was

alright for her to do so and when thathappened we were all very quiet andinwardly moved. During this time shetaught us about the Holocaust and theextermination of the Jews at deathcamps all over Poland and Germany.

She was a young girl during the war andwhen Warsaw was invaded andoccupied by the Germans, her motherand father paid to have her smuggledaway. They gave away all their valuables,jewellery, paintings in fact anything thatwas worthy of a good price. They paid forher safety. She went to live with relativesin Belgium who were actually Catholics.Here she stayed throughout the war,forced to take on a different identity incase of capture. I remember vividly hertelling us how her parents had beenrounded up and made to wear the‘yellow stars’. They had to live in theghetto and found life very different therefrom what they had been used to. Hermother, father and grandparents wereeventually transported to ‘Auschwitz -Birkenau’ where they stayed and for atime worked in the camp, but alas like somany others eventually perished. I wasso moved by this story that I vowed thatone day I would go there to see formyself.

On the 20th June, 2010, Gary Raine and Iwere able to do just that. There is an

educational programme open to schoolscalled the ‘Lessons from AuschwitzProject’. Pupils from Tettenhall have beeninvolved in this project in the past and itis ongoing. We flew from Manchesterairport at 7.15am and arrived at Krakowjust after 10.30. It was a short coachdrive to our first stop, a Jewish cemeteryon the out skirts of ‘Oshwiecim’, wherethe World Heritage site of the Auschwitzcamp is situated. Unfortunately, due tothe unexpected traffic we didn’t havetime to visit the cemetery so it wasstraight onto the first part of the camp afew kilometres down the road.

As we drove into the car park, to say Iwas a little shocked, would be anunderstatement. It wasn’t what Iexpected at all. Coaches, guides, touristshops and ice-cream kiosks; I feltdisappointed that this place of suchmisery had been commercialised to thisextent.

The education programme has the mostwell-informed tutors. Our first meetingwith the party was the week before inManchester where we spent the dayspeaking to the tutors, watchingpresentations and having groupdiscussions. They filled our head withinformation and ideas which made usthink and question why we wanted toknow more about this subject and how it

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could be presented to children inlessons. It was good to meet otherteachers who had decided to come onthis trip, all for a variety of reasons.

One of the highlights of the day wasmeeting a survivor of the Birkenau camp.He was a polish Jew who now lived inLondon with his own family. He was wellover 80 and was called Zigi Shipper. Hetravels around schools, in support of theproject, to inform his listeners and toteach lessons on how this should neverbe forgotten. To listen to his stories wasunbelievable. He gave us a full accountof how he got there, what happened andhow he managed to survive.

The ‘Auschwitz’ camp was brick builtbecause it was formally a barracks forPolish soldiers. It had been taken over bythe Germans on their occupation and thefirst prisoners who were housed therewere doctors, lawyers and men andwomen who were well educated. It wasrun by a man called Reichsfuhrer SSHeinrich Himmler.

I walked under the famous gates ‘ArbeitMacht Frei’ (work makes one free) andpaused for a second wondering howmany poor suffering souls had marchedunder here thinking those words weregoing to be true!

The tour of the museum was very wellorganised. We had a Polish guide whowas extremely knowledgeable. We werewell equipped with earphones and apersonal recorder so that we could beanywhere and could hear the guide. Thatwas extremely useful as I was to find out.I wanted to immerse myself in the historyand Gary felt the same. Each blockcontained authentic documents,photographs, clothes and personalbelongings of the prisoners. I rememberone block we went into: there were atleast four rows of framed photographson each side, women on the left andmen on the right. Some of the pictureshad flowers attached where people hadplaced them out of respect. I couldn’thelp thinking they all looked the same.The frames were exactly the same, theuniform they were wearing, even thebackground of the photograph. All thepictures had dates listed underneath, theentry date and their departure. Some ofthe dates were only a few days apartmeaning that they had only survivedthere for just a short time.

The torture block was horrific. Why couldanyone make another human beingsuffer so much? To make six grown menstand in a square metre of space, in thedark with no food, for as much as threedays. Tiny spaces for one man crouchedup and dark rooms with just a small holefor air, kept there for days on end! Oneroom was for undressing before beingmarched and executed against a stone

wall. This wall is now a shrine lit bycandles and covered in flags andflowers. One block contained suitcaseswhich had been emptied of personalbelongings. Hundreds stacked highupon each other, all with their names anddates of birth written on the outside sothey could be found again by theirowners. Another part of this blockcontained shoes, hundreds of thembehind the glass. Other cabinets were fullof tiny clothes, toys, baskets, shawls,glasses and human hair. They used thehair to make blankets. Apart from thecommentary, everyone in our group wasvery quiet. We had been warned thatthese scenes may affect us in differentways.

The stones beneath our feet, barbed wireand sentry boxes still remain, even thegallows where Heinrich Himmler wasexecuted. If you imagined hard, youcould hear the boots marching and withthe signs of ‘Halt’ it all made the placefeel quite terrifying. How brave thesepeople were but how abused andhumiliated. No words in the world are fitto describe the horror.

A few minutes down the road wetravelled by coach to ‘Birkenau’, whichwas the death camp. The road ranparallel to the train tracks and both led tothe same place. The tracks were rustyand overgrown with weeds and grassnow but still looked frightening. Therewere some houses but they must havebeen built since the war. This placelooked quite different from our previousstop. To me this was the place Iremembered from pictures. This waswhat I had seen so many times in thebooks that I had read. The main sentryhouse stood on top of the brick entranceand we climbed to take a look out. What Isaw surprised me! I was not ready for thesheer size of this place. Each way youlooked, forward to the left or to the rightyour view was the same.

Sixty-five years on and you could makeout where the buildings had been. Therewas grass here, long and tufted and theditches were still visible that had beendug by the prisoners for drainage. Therewas no grass before, only dirt and mud;the grass has grown since. The two rustyrails continued their journey forward asfar as the eye could see; each rail linkedby wooden sleepers and surrounded bybroken stones.

It was a sunny day. It was warm but it feltcold. There was a strange silence. Wewalked into a barrack which had beenpreserved. The bunks were made ofwood. Three or four men or women,depending on which part of the campyou were assigned to, would sleep in thebunks and there could be up to athousand humans in one barrack. There

were no blankets, just straw. On entryeach person was given a metal bowl.This was for food, for washing, for toiletuse. If you lost the bowl you didn’t getanother. If you wanted to eat in themorning you wouldn’t wash becausethere was only water for so long forwashing and this was available whenfood was shared out. This was onereason why so many died in the camp.They caught typhus from lice andbecame very ill. Not many survivedtyphus and if you were known to havetyphus you were shot or sent to thechambers.

We walked on alongside the tracks.There were no paths. I didn’t walk alongthe iron tracks themselves, no one did atthis time. It was as if they were sacred orsomething and it seemed to bedisrespectful to do so. We walked. Wecame across the platform that was usedfor selection. A small area in fact, not thatlong! Here the captives would disembarkthe cattle trucks and be told to go eitherto the right or the left. If it was the leftthey had only a short time before their lifecame to an end. If it was the right thenthey worked in the camp.

We continued to walk on until the tracksran out. We could see the remains on theleft and the right of the two crematoria.These had been destroyed by theGermans before the Russians arrived.Our guide showed us the steps downwhich the victims would walk beforeundressing and going into the chambers.A gas known as Zyklon-B was used to killhundreds of thousands of Jews, gypsies,homosexuals, the disabled, the elderly,small children. It was in pellet form andwould be dropped through openings inthe top of the roof. I had read about thisbut couldn’t believe what I was nowseeing. Was this how my teacher’s familymet their deaths? How could anyone notbelieve it had happened?

The shrine at the end of the camp, madeof marble and granite, is flat withmonuments engraved in every language.These were draped with flags, flowersand piles of stones. It was quiet here. Wewalked on through some trees. We sawbirds and it reminded me of something Ihad read somewhere that no birds singin ‘Birkenau’. We heard birds singing andit was peaceful. We walked on and weretaken into a building which was like alarge shed. Now, this was the furthestmost building away from the main camp.There were no others. It was where thesuitcases came to be opened and wherethe belongings were sorted out. Anythingvaluable was sent back to Germany tobe sold for the ‘Reich’. This place wascalled ‘Kanada’. Prisoners who got towork in here were lucky. They were warm,fed and, if they were careful, managed to

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find extra food in the case. The stonefloor was cold and there were stonebenches all around the inside. However,in the middle of the room there were nowlarge display boards all completelycovered with photographs which hadbeen recovered and restored. Thesephotographs told stories. They were realfamilies showing real family life. As youread about each family it was just likereading about a neighbour or someonethat you know well. You couldn’t help butfeel that you knew these people. Thatwas quite difficult to take in!

I think one of the saddest moments waswhen our guide stopped us to look atwhat appeared to be some sort ofsquare glass container quite close to thebuilding. Work is ongoing to restore andpreserve this site so archaeologists arealways discovering new ‘finds’. Thiscontainer was full of very personal itemsthat must have been in the suitcases:metal spoons, combs, hair brushes,buttons – hundreds of buttons andcufflinks and shirt buttons. Gary and Ipicked a couple of them up to examinemore closely. As we turned them round inour fingers our thoughts were of theirhistory; where did they come from, whodid they belong to? We both felt veryhumble.

Finally as early evening approached, wegathered together with the rest of ourparty and stood by the remains of thecrematoria. On each of these trips aRabbi from London travels with the groupin order to take a final service. He hadselected some of the group to read apoem or an extract from a book. Thesewere all very moving. He then said thathe was going to sing a prayer which issung at Jewish funerals. This was a veryemotional time for a lot of the party. Hischanting was done with the greatest ofrespect and all other visitors who wereclose by stood and listened in silence. Itwas beautiful but full of sadness. Mythoughts at that time were with the poorvictims who had perished on this veryspot on which I was standing. I imaginedthat they may have sung like this too intheir barracks in order to comfort thoseamongst them who were frightened orsick.

Our last task was to light candles andplace them anywhere you wanted to. Alot of the group put their candles on theremains of the crematoria, some placedtheirs on the shrine, many were put onthe tracks themselves. I lit a candle forthe both of us (one candle came home toschool to show the children) and we putit near to the selection platform. It

flickered for a while and then was a‘calm’ light.

We were heading back and both Garyand I walked alone. Both of us were deepin thought. Gary walked along theplatform and the grassy path, I walkedalong the track, touching every sleeperwith everyone of my steps. It was if I hadto make my mark on every sleeper. Icould not miss one, just like a childishgame. For a few minutes I was a childagain. I had imagined myself doing thisone day and I was very grateful that I hadbeen given the chance.

It had been a long and emotional day,one that we both will remember. A daythat brought home to us actual storiesand happenings that took place there.

On returning to school, Gary was somoved by the whole day that he told hisclasses all about the trip and what hadhappened at this time in History to theJews at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

How life goes round! Once when I was achild I sat and listened to a gifted teacherwho made the stories real. I hope oneday when those children, who listened toa gifted teacher, they too will travel andsee it for themselves.

Mrs Jan Taylor

Blocks at the camp The execution wall

Perimeter electric fence The gates to Auschwitz

Auschwitz

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Birkenau camp Memorial service

Place of service Remains of gas chambers

Selection process

Walking back

Wooden barracks

Birkenau

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FrenchYear 11 students enjoyed some extraconversation classes after school in theSpring Term. Indeed, they had theopportunity to meet Mlle Marion Norek,a French native speaker, who kindlyoffered to work with our students,helping them to develop theirconversation skills in her after-schoolKS4 club. The club was well-attendedand our students were very positiveabout this experience and were gratefulfor the extra help Mlle Norek gavethem.In February, our Year 10 and 11 Frenchstudents had the opportunity to attenda French play, titled ‘La Chambre deJean-Paul’, performed by OnattiProductions. This visit proved to be aninvaluable boost to those students whosaw the play, only a few months beforetheir exams, as it allowed them torevise key GCSE vocabulary andtopics. We all enjoyed the experienceand we were lucky enough to havebeen able to meet and talk with the twoFrench actors after the performance.The whole afternoon was a success

and we are looking forward torepeating a similar experience next yearand also finding a performance for ourSpanish and German students toattend with equally positive outcomes.

German connectionWe were fortunate to host two teachersfrom Germany in the Autumn Term.

The year commenced with excellent2009 results.At GCSE 33% gained A or A* inMathematics and there was 100%pass rate in statistics.In ‘A’ level Mathematics 71%achieved grades A or B and all pupilspassed the ‘A’ level.In Further Mathematics 100%achieved grade ‘C’ or better with 60%achieving grade A.In November a team of senior pupils

really enjoyed taking part in the SeniorMaths Team Challenge and are verykeen to participate in the event nextyear.At the end of the Autumn Term Mrs.Cooper started her maternity leave,and I am pleased to report that babyAdam was born during the SpringTerm. Mother and baby are both verywell. Dr. Lawley was appointed to theMathematics Department and hasmade a very positive start to hiscareer at Tettenhall College.

Mr. Dyer has been appointed to aschool nearer to his home. He hasmade an excellent contribution duringhis 4 years at Tettenhall and he will bemissed. I would like to thank him forhis help, support and friendship andwish him well for the future.In September 2010 the Maths GCSEchanges and this will prove to be aninteresting time for the developmentand future of the MathematicsDepartment.S Lawrence

Mathematics

Modern Foreign Languages

La Chambre de Jean-Paul

T.C. welcomes a German visitor

They did add a flair of authenticity asthey both came from Thueringen in theformer Eastern part of Germany andcontributed to our preparations andcelebrations of the 20th anniversary ofthe fall of the wall. Pupils enjoyed tootheir support in the classroom as theywere able to practice the speaking skillin pairs.Frau Elsner, pictured above, cameback on a private visit after coming viathe British-German connection schemelast year. Knowing the school enabledher to settle down quickly. Both visitorstook back a lot of material andphotographs of Tettenhall, somewherein Thueringen Tettenhall College hasbecome a familiar reference for manyGerman pupils!We shall host another colleague againnext year.Helene Compain-Holt (German)Laure Teulé – Head of MFL

MusicThis has been one of the busiestmusical years we have had, withsome fantastic opportunities for thechildren. As well as the normalannual programme of events, (theCarol Service, termly concerts,House music competitions, theLower and Upper School musicals),there have been several notableextra experiences – the visit of theEschersheim Youth Choir fromGermany, singing in the Royal AlbertHall, a Frankfurt Choir Tour, and theprofessional productions of ‘WhistleDown the Wind’ and Agatha Christe’s‘Witness to the Prosecution’.

Four of these events (Albert Hall,Frankfurt, Whistle and the UpperSchool show) all happened in theSummer Term. Two were planned wellin advance (Frankfurt and the show),the other two opportunities arrived lastminute but were too good opportunitiesto be missed, but it did mean that wehad to rehearse for four big events atthe same time which pushed us to thelimit. However, the rewards were soworth it.

Autumn TermDuring the Autumn Term, quite a fewnew pupils started to have individualinstrumental tuition, and along withthose already having lessons, our teamof nine visiting teachers taught 145lessons each week. This is anencouraging number, and I thank the

visiting music staff for their enthusiasmand dedication. The exam results thisyear have been outstanding again, with100% pass rate; 52 pupils took exams,23 gaining merits and 16 gettingdistinctions.

German VisitorsIn October, after many months ofplanning, we hosted a choir fromFrankfurt. The Eschersheim Youth Choirare used to travelling abroad, they doso most years. This year it was their45th anniversary and they stayed withus for four days, before going toCanterbury. Some stayed with ourfamilies and some stayed in the YorkHotel. We organised two concerts forthem, the first in Codsall church and ajoint concert with our choirs at theCollege, and then we enjoyed a daywith them at Alton Towers. The concertat school had to be held in the chapeldue to renovation of the Theatre. With55 in the visiting choir and over 70 inour combined choirs, I knew that, withthe audience expected, it was going tobe rather full in chapel.

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I had organised our choirs to rotatesitting down, and to wait on the stairsbefore they sang! I have never seenchapel so full – there wasn’t a singlespare seat, and there were even threepeople sitting on the organ stool. Thevisiting choir, a community based choirwith a wide age range, sang first andtheir conductor, who formed the choir45 years ago, has not lost any of hisyouthful energy. Singing Spiritualsongs, he soon had our (Englishreserved) audience joining in and itwasn’t long before the whole chapelwas on its feet, waving and singingalong. I have never experiencedanything quite like it. Our choirsfollowed and they were already warmedup and totally relaxed. We sang in atotally different style to their choir, andwe performed with a beautiful quality ofsound and gave a disciplinedperformance.

Charity ConcertIn November, we took part in a charityconcert in Brewood church, arrangedthrough our violin teacher, of manyyears, Mrs Lewis. The Brewoodorganist, Mrs Jean Martin, who is a wellknown theatre organist and ColetteTodd, an opera singer, joined us for amost enjoyable evening of musicmaking. Over £1000 was raised forCancer Research.

Carol ServiceThe annual Carol Service followed theformat used for many years, atraditional service of lessons andcarols in which all the school choirstook part, the Drive School, the twoLower School choirs and the SeniorChoir, supplemented by staff, parentsand friends. There was a mixture oftraditional and modern carols and thestandard again was very high.

Spring TermIn the Spring Term, the highlight wasthe Lower School Musical. Since 1992the Lower School has put on a fullscale musical with all the childreninvolved. This year, the musical was‘home grown’ with the libretto written bya Year 6 parent, Mrs Helen Woodmanand the music written by our ownAssistant Director of Music, Mrs CarinaWhiting. A full report is in the LowerSchool section. The children and staffworked so hard and ‘The Book’ was agreat success. My congratulations to allthe performers, but in particular to thethree lead roles who had so much tolearn, and they performed with amaturity beyond their age.

'Witness to the Prosecution'For many years we have provided thechildren for Bill Kenwright’sprofessional shows, and last year wealso had to provide some adult extrasfor the show ‘Evita’ at the GrandTheatre. Several staff and parentsenjoyed this experience. In March wewere asked to provide some extras forthe Agatha Christie play, ‘Witness to theProsecution’. Again, staff and parentstook part as jurors, barristers andmembers of the public.

Summer TermThe Summer Term programme wascongested, to say the least. The firstevent on May 15th was a concert in theRoyal Albert Hall. The event was tocelebrate the 90th birthday of Sir DavidWillcocks, the celebrated Englishcomposer. I had seen the concertadvertised and applied for our choir totake part. The music for the concertwas standard large choir repertoire(Viavldi ‘Gloria’, Handel ‘Zadok thePriest’ amongst others) which we would

not normally attempt, but I felt that theopportunity to sing in such a fantasticconcert hall was not to be missed.Having learnt the music (the Vivaldi inLatin!) we headed for the Royal AlbertHall, taking two coaches and cars, 60singers and 118 parents in total. Wewere part of a choir of nearly 2000, andvery few of these were from schools,most were adults. The rehearsal in theafternoon, taken by Sir David, was longand we were very high up in the DressCircle, so it was very difficult to hearand very difficult to sing in time with theorchestra and conductor. However, wemanaged. The evening concert wasexciting. It was a great experiencesinging in one of the most famousconcert halls in the world, one whichmost children will not get again.

Choirs visit FrankfurtTwo weeks after this concert, weheaded off to Frankfurt; 28 singers and21 parents left T.C. for a six-day tour.The Eschersheim Youth Choir werecelebrating their 45th anniversary andtheir present conductor and founder ofthe choir invited us over to join in theircelebrations. The basic itinerary wastwo joint concerts and 2 days sight-seeing. The journey by coach andEurotunnel was long. Having set off at5.30 am from T.C., we arrived inFrankfurt at 9.20 pm. Half of the choirand parents were staying at a motel,the rest with German families. Theywere all there to meet us and gave us afantastic welcome with flag waving,cheering etc. On our first day, we had abig concert with the Eschersheim YouthChoir. This choir is supported byFrankfurt City council and many localbusinesses and it does a lot in the local

German choir at Tettenhall

Ian Wass and the German Visitors

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community. There were manypoliticians, local dignitaries andbusiness leaders in attendance. After alot of speeches, the concert startedwith the two national anthems, and theEuropean Anthem with much flagwaving.The Eschersheim Choir sang first andwe followed. We were well rehearsed,but I have not seen the choir so wellfocused and we sang the best I haveheard them and we received arapturous applause. After the concert,we enjoyed a buffet and disco andthere was a great party atmosphere.On day two, we enjoyed a tram ridearound Frankfurt before everyone wentto a German family for Sunday lunchand the afternoon. In the evening, weperformed in our second concert inSaint Catherine’s Church in the centreof Frankfurt. I was worried that after thefantastic party atmosphere of theSaturday concert and having sung sowell, we would not be able toreproduce the same standard. Wesang with such focus, the acoustics ofthe church were good and we soundedangelic-like. At the end of our lastpiece, the applause was loud and as Iturned around to acknowledge this, thewhole audience were on their feetgiving us a standing ovation. It wasvery moving and for the choir, welldeserved.On the third day, we had an earlyreception (10.30 am) with the Mayorand important members of the Citycouncil. This was held in the EmperorsHall in the centre of Frankfurt, a placewhere public are not allowed.A huge Union Jack had been hungoutside to welcome us. We weregreeted by the Mayor’s representativeand invited to sing, before a long

speech (thankfully translated for us)and then I was invited to ‘reply’, whichagain was translated (giving me time tothink what I was going to say next!).After this, they provided drinks andpretzels whilst we talked to our hosts.We then enjoyed a boat trip and atraditional frankfurter lunch and thenvisited the Cathedral for a short time,and whilst we had not arranged to givea concert there, we did sing one item.The acoustics of the Cathedral wereamazing, about a six second echo. Wesang a slow piece called ‘The Prayer’and the sound was incredible, aftereach line of music we paused and youcould hear what we had just sung,going around the building. After wefinished, I joined my host who hadbeen listening and he was in tears, verymoved by what he had just heard. Afterthis, we all had time to exploreshopping and seeing the sights inFrankfurt.On the final day of the tour, we had aday out in the Rhinegau area, about anhour’s drive from Frankfurt. We were

lucky with the weather, glorioussunshine. We visited a mechanicalmusic museum which houses thelargest private collection of instrumentsranging from very small musical boxesto big fairground organs. Following this,we went on a cable car ride up to avery impressive monument built for theunification of Germany with a fantasticview down to the river Rhine. (photo 7,03443) After a photo shoot and a quickimpromptu sing (we had quite anaudience), we then walked throughsome delightful woods and made ourway down via a very steep ski lift to theRhine, where we got on a boat andheaded back to where we had started.The tour was a wonderful experience.Several parents who came with uswrote to me afterwards:‘Our stay with our hosts was a big part ofour stay in Frankfurt. The family were sokind to us, they had moved out of theirbedroom to allow us to stay and couldn’thave done more to make us feelwelcome. The food was lovely and weenjoyed being part of a family and findingout more about the culture of living inGermany’‘When the choir sang in front of theenormous monument – an unrehearsedmoment, all the tourists from all aroundthe world just stopped, listened andapplauded – it was great’.‘The most fantastic moment for me waswhen they sang in the cathedral. Theacoustics made the choir sound seemso pure – I will remember that for a longtime’‘The reception from the audience in thechurch was extremely moving. I did feelvery emotional but kept it together. Tohave everyone stand up and applaud youwas a highlight of the tour for me. To bepart of this group made me very proud’

Flag waving before the Celebration Concert

Emperors Hall Reception

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‘The opportunities for the choir to singin so many different and beautifullocations was so wonderful’.

'Whistle Down the Wind'Bill Kenwright’s national tour of ‘WhistleDown the Wind’ came to the GrandTheatre in June for a week. We havedone the show twice before (2004 and2006) and I was delighted to be askedto do this show again, one of myfavourites. The children not only get tosing on stage but have to act and arevery much part of the show. Our twoteams of 20 children rehearsed themusic in advance and then the dancecaptain from the show arrived on theFriday before we started and spent theday teaching the children thechoreography. He was excellent and

made sure that all of the children had asolo part in the show. We also had toprovide 16 adults for each show andthis gave another opportunity for staffand parents to appear on stage. Thefirst day of a new show is always long,with a lot of hanging around. We hadour costumes fitted in the morning andthen the children’s first rehearsal onstage with the company was in theafternoon, with the first show being thatevening!. All that they had rehearsed onthe Friday had to be done withprecision timing and rememberingwhere they should be on stage so as tomix in and not get in the way of theprofessional actors.It was a new experience for somepupils and they coped well with theirnerves. Over the week of the show,confidence grew and they performed

really well. The press reports we gotwere outstanding:‘When children rule the world, theyoungsters sang to the packedaudience and they certainly ruled theshow. Jonathan Ansell (X-factor runnerup G4) may have been billed as thestar, but he took second best to theteam of young ones who thrilled andenchanted the audience’Jonathan Ansell gives a stunningperformance but he is given a real runfor his money by the children fromTettenhall College whose singing andacting is top-notch’.‘This is musical theatre at its very best’

'The Drowsy Chaperone'Our final event of the term was ourschool production of ‘The DrowsyChaperone’. A full report on this can befound elsewhere, but every year, wekeep getting told that this is the bestshow yet and it will be difficult to match.It was a very different show, and wechose it to match the characters wehave at school. It was a mostmemorable week, particularly theemotional last night when several of ourpupils who are leaving gave their lastperformance. The standing ovationwhen the lead character came on forhis bow and the atmosphere whichcontinued afterwards I shall rememberfor a long time.Over the years the music departmenthas been involved in more and moremusical theatre and I have seen thechildren grow in confidence because ofthis. Acting and singing go hand inhand and the ability to express yourselfbecomes so much easier through thismedium. This confidence has beenseen many times this year. Those whohave singing lessons showed off theirskills in the concert at the end of termwith performances from Year 2 pupilsright through to Year 13. In ‘Whistle’ weheard many comments from theaudience over the week about how thechildren looked so much part of theprofessional group. In Frankfurt, thepupils and staff ‘raised their game’and performed at the top of their levelevery time they sang. In 'Drowsy', thereal ‘Tettenhall teamwork’ shonethrough with the youngest taking greatconfidence from those more senior.This has been a successful andmemorable musical year.Ian Wass

Ski Lift in Rhinegau

The ‘Whistle Down the Wind’ choir

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“A Giant Leap for Mankind!!”

On Friday 26th March 2010 a team of24 students took the chance of alifetime to undertake an astronauttraining experience at the KennedySpace Centre in Florida.

The opportunity, brought about by MrsVanessa O’Neill, having previouslytrained with the International SpaceSchool, was given to students in Years9-13. Largely based at Cape CanaveralNASA headquarters students weregiven a wide range of activities, lecturesand classroom studies that helped givea wider understanding of how muchspace investigation has affectedmodern day science and indeed oureveryday lives and believe me it affectseverything you can think of!!

We were given the opportunity to learnabout the Space Race and previousSpace missions, up to and includingbeing the only UK students to havestood on the loaded launch pad 39B ofthe Shuttle Discovery. Sadly Discoverywas launched three days after ourreturn to England. As the US Presidenthas now frozen funding for any furtherspace missions you could say that thiswas perhaps the last chance for anycivilians to experience the immense

power needed to successfully launchan orbiter into Space.

Not only were our students educated inSpace travel by NASA teaching Staffand real life astronauts, they were giventhe chance to train for a daythemselves. This unique experienceincluded a zero gravity wall, Cross axistrainers, orbital training and finally, inteams, had to prepare their own spacemission to repair damaged solar panelson the moon. Whilst five of the team ranmission control the rest of the teamdealt with the launch of the shuttle,space flight and the actual repair on themoon. The nail biting landing, carriedout like a professional by AlexanderMcCreath, was met with a sigh of relieffrom us all, that this was only asimulator, as Nicola Smith hit theground like a dart. Not something youdo every day!

Other activities on the expeditioninvolved a day behind the scenes atSea World guided by the Park's MarineBiologists. We were given talks onecology and Marine life preservation aswell as seeing the day to day running ofone of the largest marine lifeconservation programmes that there is.Of course we also went on Kraken andManta; you have to have some time off.

There is also always one messy bit toany school trip and Mrs O’Neill is aBiologist after all, so an ecologicalsurvey was carried out in the swampsof the Indian River. Here we saw firsthand what lived in and around us, aswe all plunged into the lagoon with ournets. We discovered all sorts asFernando demonstrates in thephotograph.

With other once in a lifetimeopportunities like Ross Pickstock andSam Muellar tidying their room, themass exodus to Abercrombie and Fitchlead by Jamie Robinson (we shouldhave been on commission) and myselfcooking a barbeque for 30 you reallycan say it was an action packed week.

I would like to take this opportunity tothank the 24 students who came withus to Florida for their exceptionalconduct. Travelling through twointernational airports, twice, was adaunting prospect, which was carriedout to perfection.

Well done guys, I am very proud of youall; you are a credit to our school.

Your teacher for a week, Chaperoneand friend

Desmond O’Neill.

Science

Bronya O'Neill (Kindergarten), Aoibheann O'Neill (Reception), Zach Oakley, Harriet Dodd, Michael Bacon (Year 9), Eloise Hammond, JadeSahni, Faye Bradley, Amanda Hughson, Rachel Lawton, Lauren Lovell (Year 10), Jamie Martin, Sam Muellar, Ross Pickstock, Jack Sheldon,Alexander McCreath, Nicola Smith, Georgina Ball, Jamie Robinson, Harry Westwood, Jack Briggs, Harriet Hommers, Billy Taylor (Year 11),Fernando Alves, Rebecca Martin, Stuart Jones (Year 13).

ScienceNASA visit

Under NASA logo Fernando Alves,RebeccaMartin,Jamie Martin,Stuart Jones

NASA Education Suite

NASA Education Suite

Harry Westwood atthe flight deck

Fernando Alveswith a Horse ShoeCrab on his head

Faye Bradley,Jamie Martin,Ross Pickstock, JadeSahni Mission Control

Discovery on the launch pad

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Summer BallThe highlight of this year’s social calendar was the long awaited Sixth Form Summer Ball which took place at the Connaught Hotel. This was an excellent opportunity to say ‘bon voyage’ to the leavers and to wind down after the challenges of AS and A2 examinations. Needless to say the ball was a huge success, it was an extremely happy occasion full of dancing, a plentiful hot and cold buffet and more dancing. A huge thank you to Mr Dyer for his hard work in organising such an enjoyable event and also to Joe Tanton and Holly Winwood for helping to set up beforehand. So with the passing of another academic year it was necessary of course to say farewell to various people – both pupils and teachers. This year several pupils leave us after being at school for most, if not all, of their school careers and the end of term marked both a happy and a very sad milestone. However, as one unknown author once said ‘If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies’, so we therefore wish Year 13 all the very best in the challenges that lie ahead of them next year and beyond. Farewell also to Dr. Bodkin and to Dr. Mottershead, who has been a record holding personal tutor for many years, and a special thank you to the prefects, the Leadership Team, Head Prefect - Joshua Thornton, and Deputy Head Prefect - Faye Paterson, for their help and support throughout the year.It is au revoir also to Mr Andrew Dyer who leaves Tettenhall College for a new position in September. As assistant head of year, personal tutor, teacher of maths, compère extraordinaire, chief ball co–coordinator, master of the clipboard and Shakespearian Bottom, Mr Dyer has devoted much time and energy to helping make the Sixth Form and the School as a whole an exciting and challenging place to be and I am extremely grateful for all his support, his sense of humour and his three dimensional approach to tackling problems!So, as we look forward to a year of change with the new cohort of Year Twelve pupils, a new leadership team and head prefects, a new headmaster and several new faces amongst the staff and pupils, we wish ‘Good Luck’ to all of our leavers in whatever the future holds. M. D. Uttley

The Tettenhallian 2010Editorial TeamMargaret Johnson: me.johnson@tiscali.co.ukAnnabelle Addison: AA@tettcoll.co.ukSimon Whild: simonwhild@aol.comDesigned and Printed byGeorge Street Press Ltd Fancy Walk Stafford ST16 3BATel: 01785 258226 www.georgestreetpress.co.uk

Front cover: Painted silk scarf based upon the grounds of Tettenhall College by Grace Gao Year 9

Tettenhall College, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV6 8Tel 01002 751110 Fax 01002 7 10 0 Web www.tettenhallcollege.co.uk