Website and ELE News

The school blog and Facebook pages have undergone a major transformation this month to celebrate four years of digital news, with new themes, logo and page image created using Microsoft’s AutoCollage software. The new image features a photography student’s time lapse photo of breaking glass, photos of R Block and the entrance to S Block, Head Teacher spray graffiti in the style of Banksy, Girl with a Pearl Earring, by a Year 10 student in the style of Vermeer, Geography Home Site animation, 6th Form leaving party with Common Room in the background and the student ELE animation, from a picture by Leonardo Da Vinci. The Blog has also been moved onto a new domain to make it easier to find on the web. You can now type in thecorshamschoolblog.com and you will be redirected to the new site.

The School’s Facebook page has undergone a cosmetic overhaul,  due to the introduction of Facebook’s new Timeline Page and the logo has been reshaped to fit Facebook’s standard size.

There is a new student page on ELE, called Learning Skills, which has lots of useful information about improving the skills needed for learning. The page includes documents and videos, created by students, and also incorporates a spinning woman, to test out if students are left or right brain dominant. Why not have a go yourself?

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

Our five intrepid explorers set out on a cold March morning to complete their practice expedition, walking a distance of 60km over four days, in preparation for the gold award in the Brecon Beacons in July.  Off to Exmoor they went, rucksacks brimming, with great enthusiasm and humour.  Little were they to know at that stage that the elements were not on their side. During the Saturday and Sunday they battled through high winds, rain and hail storms. Did this dent their enthusiasm?  I think not!  As we tracked their progress we were always able to hear their arrival long before we saw their approach, as the witty banter, lively chatter and cheery singing heralded their appearance.  It was not all plain sailing, and there were times when the route they walked was not entirely consistent with the one they had planned.  Our bubbly quintet did not let this get them down and the motto of the excursion soon became “When it’s boring you know you’re going the right way”.

The bitter cold lingered and Monday morning saw our group emerging from frost covered tents into a world of white.  However, it turned into four seasons in one trip, and by the end of Tuesday more than one member of the expedition was sporting a healthy glow from the sun.  The debriefing highlighted the memories of the trip that will feature in many a reminiscence, and the wild pig horse of Exmoor, the green bath and the bog are amongst the many – a wonderful trip which heralds a glorious success for the main expedition in July.  Well done to Tabatha Craig, Meg Thorne, Ellie Daniels, Georgina Rawlings and Harry Rawlings.

GCSE Drama Students perform for Corsham Regis

This term Year 10 GCSE students have been busy working on their Theatre-in-Education Project. They have been rehearsing extracts from two plays- ‘Gargling with Jelly’ and ‘Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations’ for their Primary School audience.
The project included our students visiting Corsham Regis Primary School and performing for Year 3 & 4 students and their Year 6 students visiting our Drama Studios for a performance. The experience was enjoyed thoroughly by students from both schools.

Exams Office Notice

The summer written exam period runs from 14 May to 28 June. All exam students will have received their individual exam timetables from their tutors.  Students must keep their timetables in a safe place as they will need to refer to them throughout the exam period.  Any queries regarding the timetables should be directed to the Exams Office as soon as possible.  Students must arrive for their exams no later than 10 minutes before the start time indicated on their timetables. 

Results can be collected from school from 10:00am on the following dates:

GCE A Level: 16 August  

GCSE:           23 August      Any uncollected results will be sent out on Results Day by first-class post

 National Cross Country Championships.  Ilton, Somerset 17 March

Jacob Payne and Kirsty Stanley both qualified for this huge event. Each age group attracts fields of over 300 of the best runners from each county in England and the standard is very high.
Jacob finished 173rd out of 291 finishers and Kirsty was 100th out of 330 who crossed the line. Kirsty was a year younger than most of the runners, so will be looking forward to next year ! Congratulations to both!

Sport Relief

Year 8 students have raised approximately £650 for Sports Relief.

Elliot Wilson and Jacob Bacon raised £450 of this with a sponsored Bath to Bristol unicycle ride and Tom Branagh raised £35.

Very well done

The Pig & Jig

Due to unforeseen circumstances the Date for the ‘Pig and Jig’ has now been changed to Saturday 14 July 2012 at 7pm,
The committee are still looking for volunteers for the event.  Anyone interested in helping out or who would like more information about the event are very welcome to attend a committee meeting on Tuesday 1 May at 7.30, in The Quarrymans pub, Box.
All proceeds raised from this event go to teams within The Corsham School and local charities.

February in the Making Room

The build up to summer has started with a design project for Corsham in Bloom. The council have requested crown shape planters, so our ‘Crafty Saturday’ produced a series of designs that went on display in the ES Electrical shop in town.

Local artist Clare Baker judged the best and the best for purpose (they can be seen at The Pound currently). We will begin the making process in earnest, very soon!

Also on display at The Pound is a scene reminiscent of The Little Shop of Horrors. Some truly amazing plants were made at the weekend, well worth a look.

Mazy Bartlett, the Outreach artist, has a group of Year 7 students designing new flags for our flagpoles. We are hoping to re-create something along the lines of Angus Watt’s silk flags, very abstract and colourful.

Manga club has moved into the Making Room for this term. Some really beautiful artwork is appearing. The school has been offered use of a publishing company’s facilities – this is an amazing opportunity and if anyone has an interest or an idea, please email Chris or Mazy in the Making Room.MBartlett@corsham.wilts.sch.uk

This is a good time to remind all that Art Surgery will recommence after the Easter holidays, but this time on the second Wednesday back (25 April).

We have our first 3 applications for Vivo reward sessions here in The Making Room.

I can’t wait to see what appears!

Maths

On 20 March, 15 top Year 10 mathematicians went to an enrichment day at Hardenhuish School. They learnt about the history of numbers and had a group competition with students from other schools. Corsham students were in the top three teams!

Well done to Isaac Sellens and Will Hughes (1st place), Dan Dipper and Joe Stone (2nd place) and Bobbi Lang and Molly Iacano (3rd place).

 May Day Jazz

Wiltshire Music Service is running a Jazz Workshop on 7 May 2012 (Bank Holiday Monday).  It will take place at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon and is open to any young musicians (age 10 – 18, Grade 3 and over) who would like to attend.  The cost of the course is £15 and will end with a concert at 4pm.  If you like further information, please contact Lesley Meredith on 01225 713871, or collect an application form from the music department.

 Instrumental Practice Platform

We heard a variety of performances on Wednesday, 29 February in our Instrumental Practice Platform.  This was an informal opportunity for anyone who plays an instrument or sings to come and play a piece of music that they have been learning.  Well done to Kira Wrintmore (Y7), Darcy Thomas (Y8), Jess Maggs (Y8), Abi Grylls (Y8), Charlie Basley (Y8) and Dan Reed (Y13). 

The next Practice Platform will take place on Wednesday 13 June.  Look out for details. 

GCSE /A Level Recital Evening

All of our GCSE and A Level musicians performed to a small audience on Wednesday 14 March.  All of the performances were recorded as part of their Performance Coursework.  Many congratulations to all involved – it was a super evening!

The Corsham School Young Musician of the Year      

The Music team are on the lookout for this year’s most talented performer from

Years 9-13 in a competition to find our Young Musician of the Year 2012.  Have you got what it takes? If there is anyone still wanting to audition please email us as soon as possible with your name and instrument.  Auditions will be held as follows

Vocal                                                                                                         Monday 20 April 3pm

Strings including acoustic / electric guitar and brass          Monday 23 April 3pm

Woodwind                                                                                               Wednesday 25 April 3pm

Piano / keyboard                                                                                 Thursday 26 April 3pm

Percussion                                                                                              Friday 27 April 1pm

Successful preliminary auditions will result in the opportunity to perform in the final on Thursday 5 July, 7.30pm in S Block Hall.  The final will be judged by Mrs Bond, Mrs Francis plus an independent visiting professional musician.  Will it be your name on the first ‘The Corsham School Young Musician of the Year’ trophy?  Further details to follow. 

 VIVO News

We have now launched direct parent access to students’ Vivo accounts so that you can keep a close eye on your child’s account and join in with this fantastic motivational tool. You will have received your introduction letter and log in details via your child.

We are always coming up with new ways to earn and redeem Vivos for example by choosing the Healthy Eating option of the day in the dining hall students can earn 10 Vivos and for purchasing a piece of fruit 2 Vivos. Students can now redeem Vivos to spend either at the snack shack or in the dining hall and purchase 2012 Olympic Goodies in the VShop!

Vivo charity donations
So far students have donated 7670 Vivos to their nominated year group charities. We have also added Sport relief for all year groups to donate to so a big thank you to everyone who has already made a Vivo donation to Sport Relief.

500 Vivos could buy new clothes for a child living and working on the streets of Nepal.

1000 Vivos will help give expert advice and guidance to a person living with dementia in the UK and their carer to improve their quality of life.

2000 Vivos would cover the cost of vital medicine for 16 children in Uganda who have severe malaria. The medicine would help them survive the long journey to hospital..

Dates for the Diary

March 30                   Term 4 ends

March 30-April 13      School Holiday

March 31-April 7        Ski trip

April 16                      Term 5 begins

April 16                       7.00pm Y10 & Y11 Focus evening

Staff Stars in their Eyes

The Staff once again impressed it’s audience with their impressive range of performance skills at the end of last term. We were lucky enough to have band such as JLS and One Direction, soloists such as Ed Sheeran , Christina Perri and Lady Gaga grace the Corsham School Stage. It was a fantastic evening of entertainment enjoyed by all. The proceeds raised of just under £500 went to Dorothy House.

Link to article in The Gazette and Herald

Thank you to all the staff involved both on and off stage and to all the students and parents that came to support.

Photography

The work of 9 Photography and Textiles A level students has been selected to be part of an exhibition at the Corsham Pound Arts Centre. The students are: Emily Long, Felicity Lynden, Audrey Tietz, Amy Greenman, Sam Coombs, Rosie Scott, Sammie Wiltshire, Andrew Stott and Polly Vigus.

The exhibition is called ‘Connecting Cultures’ and showcases the work of an award winning photographer and fim-maker, Lou Hamilton. She was very keen to include the students’ work, which supports her work very effectively; highlighting the many different aspects of various cultures and societies.

The exhibition runs from 2nd February to 21st April.

Maths

Maths Team (Miss Calvert)

Students with Full marks in Problem of the Term (Term 2 2011/12) are:

Year 7: Holly Trippe (O7), Ellie McDonald (H7), Jack Liddiard (H7), Ben Tanner (H7), Kit Mascall (H7),

Year 8: Michael Harsley (S8), Nat Holt (W8), James Phillips (W8), Holly Reid (A8), Jack Chapman (O8), Katie James (O8), Tom Plowright (R8), Graham Christmas (R8), Charlotte Organ (W8)

Year 9: Ruth Moger (M9), Kes Krishnamma-Hillier (9), Oscar Wilson (O9), Chloe Lintern (A9)

Well done to all, look out for Vivo prizes in assemblies and lessons!

Intermediate UKMC Team challenge

On Tuesday, 31st January, four of our top KS4 mathematicians represented the school at the UKMC team challenge held at Abbeyfield School. The team included Bobbi Lang and Isaac Sellens from year 10, and Amelia Lias and Joe Ross from year 11. They trained hard (in preparation for this event) and the team, plus a number of other KS4 students had put in extra time to attend lunch time sessions to brush up on their understanding of the binomial expansion and its use in solving probability questions. The team made a promising start despite some very taxing countdown puzzles and were strong contenders all the way through. However, they couldn’t quite hold on to a medal position, finishing fourth out of a field of 11 teams.

Well done to the team and all other Year 10 and 11 students who attended the lunchtime sessions in support of this event!

English

‘The English Department is working with Mr Norman, to use animation as a creative tool for exploring Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. Other subjects using animation include Science, Geography and Philosophy.’

Girls’ Animation Club

‘The girls animation club has started really well, and runs parallel with the boys club. The girls are making 2 projects on the theme of pollution and sustainability. The boys are close to completing their interactive animation, ‘Journey through the Weird Forest’.

Berlin Exchange

From the 20th to the 27th of January a group of 22 students from Years 9 and 10 flew out to Berlin on the first leg of the exchange. As ever they were warmly welcomed by their German hosts. During the seven day visit the students spent some time attending lessons in the partner school, the “Schiller Oberschule”, in the centre of Berlin. They also visited many of the well known sites of Berlin. These included a guided tour of The Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate and the site of the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial and the TV tower. For many, one of the highlights of the trip was the visit to the world famous Berlin Zoo where the weather was very suitable for the polar bears and penguins as it was well below zero! There was of course also time for shopping and a visit to a well known chocolate shop! The weekend was spent with the families. The exchange will be completed when the German students return in March. A selection of photos of Berlin and the trip is now available to view on ELE. If you are interested in finding out more about the “Schiller Oberschule” please look at www.schiller-gymnasium-berlin.de

Geography

What has knitting got to do with Geography?

Good question. Well, at Corsham School a knitting club has recently started. Every Thursday lunchtime, a group of children meet in the Geography Department in R22. Almost as many boys as girls gather for an informal session over their sandwiches. Out in the community Knitting Graffiti, an inoffensive form of guerrilla art, is springing up in unlikely places. Let Mrs Gathercole know if you see any. Vivos wiil be awarded for photos of any sightings. Come and join us; we have plenty of free wool etc. to get you started. More information from Mrs Gathercole.

A grey day at Diamond Hill in Ireland’s Connemara National Park is lit up by this whimsical pile of knitted cairns.

Geography website revamped

The Geography website has had a makeover, with lots of images from around the world and popular film clips such as ‘Shift Happens’ and ‘Time Bomb.’ Take a look.

Dates for the Diary

March 6 7.00pm Full Governors Meeting

March 12- 17 Exchange to France

March 15 5.00pm Y12 Parents Evening

March 16 Y9 Interim reports

March 21 Y7 Parents Evening

March 23 Y11 7 Y13 Interim reports

March 30-7 April Ski trip

March 30 Term 4 Ends

Christmas Hampers

Thank you to everyone who donated to this year’s Christmas hampers. It was a great success. We were able to deliver a hamper to everyone on our list, all 21 of them! It was a great experience for everyone involved. And an extra big thank you to all the year 7 tutor reps that helped us deliver the hampers.

Maths Team

Students with Full marks in Problem of the Term (Term 2 2011/12) are:

Year 7: Holly Trippe (O7), Beth Ross (M7), Ellie McDonald (H7), Jack Liddiard (H7), Ben Tanner (H7), Kit Mascall (H7), Luke Curtis (A7)

Year 8: Michael Harsley (S8), Nat Holt (W8), James Phillips (W8), Holly Reid (A8)

Year 9: Joy Wingrave (W9), Syrie Gregory-Wood (A8)

Well done to all, look out for Vivo prizes in assembly’s and lessons!

Outreach

Reindeers come home to roost! Christmas reindeer sculptures are now to be seen grazing in our school gardens.

The Making Room’s doors have been transformed by Art Surgery members, using paint kindly donated by Mrs Everson’s husband, they painted a patchwork design which really brightens up the area.

So far this term, approximately 100 primary school children have been making Monarch butterflies that will be displayed in our school eventually. We think there is a nice correlation between the butterflies migratory journey and the children’s moving up and on.

Year 12 students have been beavering away at two art pieces for outside, which will finish off the series.  The students themselves initiated the work and we were happy to accommodate them. They have produced two very eye-catching pieces,each with a strong ecological message.They should be installed after Easter.

Screenprint artist Adam Calkin came into school early in the term, to help our textiles students learn, and produce a screenprint. Adam gave his time voluntarily, for which we thank him, as the process is a complicated and time- consuming one. The results were really sophisticated prints that will help the students in their A level exams.

It is worth taking a look at Adam’s website, to marvel at his beautiful hand-painted wallpapers that are his trade.

ICT team

Type and Test

Despite the continued rise of touch enabled device such as smart phones and tablets, the keyboard still remains the main method to enter data into a computer.  Touch typing is an essential skill in the modern day workplace and in school.  The ability to be able to type and enter data quickly allows students to concentrate on the work at hand without being slowed by a ‘hunt and peck’ technique.  It gives student greater confidence at the keyboard and allows them to focus on the main learning tasks.

To help improve their keyboard skills, all pupils in Years 7-9 will shortly receive a login and password to type & test via their school email.  This specialist website provides dedicated software that helps children, students and adults learn touch typing online, at home or at school. The type quick program leads the field in training to learn touch typing. Over 6 million people of all ages around the world have used type quick to learn to touch type. 

I hope that you will be able to encourage your child to login into the type & test website at http://kbdlessons.appspot.com/tfs.html and start improve their keyboard skills.  On the site they will find a range of activities and games that take them through the practice needed to improve their typing skills.  It is recommended that pupils practices ‘little but often’.  Short bursts of 10-15 minutes are ideal.  In addition to improving an important skill pupils will also be rewarded with Vivos for regular participation and improvement.

If you have any question please contact Mr Bodey-Jones at school.

PE Team

Rugby

The Yr 9 rugby team won the final of the Dorset & Wilts  Schools Cup. They defeated Wootton Basett  24-17 at Supermarine Rugby Club. Corsham started well with two early tries from Simon Emery and Jack Utton. Jack converted one try aswell.  Wooton Bassett replied with a try to leave the score 12 -7 at half time.  Jack Utton scored a try early in the second half and converted it to make the score 19-7. Wootton Basset then stepped up gear to put Corsham under pressure . They scored again. With 10 minutes to go it was 19-12. Corsham scored again through Jake Golledge which meant Wootton Bassett had to score two trie to win. They scored another which made the last 5 minutes quite tense. In the end Corsham held on to win.
Both teams put on a really good show for the crowd of parents watching.

Girls Cricket

Wednesday 18 January Charlotte Edwards,the England ladies cricket captain was at the The Dome, Chippenham Sports Club watching the Ladys Taverners tournament Under 15 girls indoor cricket team. The girls played 3 games and won 2, beating Hardenhuish and Kingdown.They have now qualified for the County final and will play again Wednesday 1 February. The girls were: Year 10 – Becky Davidson-Smith, Ella Scott-Humphries, Kirsty Stanley, Amy Leask, Ciara Smiddy, Tonicha Cottle and from Year 9 – Lucy Stanley, Lucy Hyde, Anya Taylor.

Dates for the diary

February 1       5.00pm Y11 Parents Evening

February 6       Y10 Diphtheria, Tetanus & Polio immunizations

February 6       7.00pm Y10,11 Focus evening

February 9       Y12 reports to parents

February 9       Staff Stars in their Eyes – tickets on sale now

February 10      Teacher Development day -Term 3 ends

February 10-17 School Holiday

February 20      Term 4 begins

February 20-24 Y9 Pencelli trip

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Operation Christmas Child

Thank you for all 253 Christmas boxes we donated to ‘Operation Christmas Child’. You have made 253 children very happy at Christmas time.

Children in Need

Friday 17 November saw a host of superheroes, cartoon characters and movie stars descend on the school. The 6^th formers arranged their own fancy dress charity auction for ‘Children in Need’. Students volunteered to collect donations from local retailers who were very generous in their offerings. Staff and students alike donated cakes, books and prizes to auction.

A fantastic amount of money was raised, so far totalling £1,111.00 – and there are IOUs still to pay of just over £900.  The IOU money is expected over the next few weeks, which will mean a final total of over £2,000 will be raised.

Link to view Children in Need photo gallery

Vivo!

Our new ‘Vivo’ reward system is proving to be a great success with students across the school enjoying this exciting way of receiving praise and encouragement from their teachers. Even Year 11 students are getting involved as they try to reach the magic 70 Vivo target to be allowed to attend the Leavers’ Ball! Younger students have started spending in the virtual shop and have bought swimming sessions at The Springfield Centre. The animal shaped key rings are also quite popular. The highest value item purchased is a Dolphin notebook and pen set for 210 Vivos. Students have also been donating Vivos to their chosen charities with a healthy figure already being reached. The total amount of Vivos rewarded, since the start of the school year, is an amazing 68,272.Congratulations to Martha Benedict, Holly Trippe, Benjamin Candlin, Courtney Du Toit and Duncan Wilson who all received a 200 Vivo prize for collecting the most Vivos last term. We are shortly going to launch direct parent access to students’ Vivo accounts so that you can keep a close eye on your child’s account and join in with this fantastic motivational tool – details to follow soon.

Duke of Edinburgh Award

Congratulations to Eleanor Daniel, Georgina Rawlings and Tabatha Craig who all received their Silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards this month. They were presented with their certificates by Mike Large, who is one of our new elected Parent Governors, during their assembly.

The school has also heard from ex-student Octavia Moules, who was presented with her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, at St James’s Palace, where she met HRH Prince Philip and John Blashford-Snell. More information on Octavia can be found on the Corsham Inspirations page of the website.

Business team

10 Business and Economics students worked with Oracle UK LTD on a project to develop a new marketing strategy for the company. This involved students visiting their site in Reading to research the company. On their return visit they gave presentations in groups on their ideas for the business. The judges were very impressed by their presentations skills and creativity, and are keen to work with our students again next year. Three students have also been offered the opportunity of work experience with this company.

Christmas Carol Service

Join us for an evening of Christmas Celebrations on Thursday 15th December, 7.30pm at St. Bartholomew’s Church. A variety of musical performances and readings will get you into the Christmas spirit. Tickets are available from school, but numbers are limited.

 1001 Nights

6^th formers from across subjects will be welcoming-in the festive period by performing ‘1001 Nights’ in the Drama Studios on Tuesday 13 – Wednesday 14December 2011 starting at 7.00pm.  This follows a making process involving students from all year groups and combines lighting and shadows, acting and nonsense!  All are most welcome to attend and tickets are available via the Drama department at £3.50 for adults and£2.50

for concessions.  Please contact Miss Stephens or Mrs Armsby for further information.  To whet your appetite, in the meantime check out some of the work-in-progress on our performance blog at:  http://corshamschoolperformance.wordpress.com/

Art, Photography & Textiles team

On Monday 28 Nov Katrina Shillaker and Claire Elmer took 20 Art, Photography and Textiles students to Creative Process Lectures at the London Institute of Education.
We listened to lectures from prominent printmakers, animators, designers and photographers who discussed their diverse work and their career paths. It was a really informative and inspiring day and well worth the early start!

Languages Team

On Monday 14 November and Wed 23 November, Year 9 students, during their languages classes had some people come to speak to them about why languages are important and why they should seriously consider taking a Modern Foreign Language at GCSE.

We found out that having the knowledge of one language can help you abroad. For example, French can help you in Spain. We also learnt that you may need a language to get into a university; you may also need a language to get a job abroad or one in the UK that does business abroad.  Mrs Luff explained how she uses her languages for a Swiss company that deals with carbon footprint and that her brother is a physicist who works in Austria using his four languages!

We really enjoyed it when the three ladies came in and spoke to us; it changed my mind about taking a language. Overall it was very helpful and we would like to thank the speakers for giving up their time and coming to speak to us about languages. Thank you!

French Exchange 2012 Ms Hawkins

Thank you to everyone who has applied to go on the French Exchange.  There has been an excellent response.  However, there are fewer students on the French side so unfortunately not everyone will be paired.  All forms have been sent to France and the teachers there will select the most appropriate matches for their students. Anyone in Year 8 or Year 9 who has applied this year but who does not get a place will have priority next year so long as the trip goes ahead. 

French Exchange 2011

There is a refund from last year’s French Exchange and cheques will be with you shortly.  Thanks to all parents who were involved in this.

30^th Anniversary of Twinning between Corsham and Jargeau

Students from The Corsham School and their families visited Jargeau, in France, over the October holiday  to celebrate the twinning of our two towns. The students are all members of the Corsham Youth Council who meet regularly to discuss issues relevant to the children of Corsham. In Jargeau, everyone was treated to a celebration dinner with the ‘Frou Frou’ show (the Can Can and other dances!). The Corsham Wind Band played in the town and at the dinner. There were visits to Sancerre and Guedelon Fort (a medieval fort in the making). Joy Wingrave in Year 9 (chair of the Corsham Youth Council) gave two speeches in French and English during the hectic weekend. Families from both Corsham and Jargeau played archery and darts to compete in the annual town competition. Corsham managed to win both the Henderson and Junior trophies. Everyone had a really great time with their families and practising their French. Please visit the Foreign languages Home Page, on the Parent Portal, to find out more.

Drama team

Year 7 Drama students have been in the making Room creating  A Midsummer Night’s Dream masks. Last term they were introduced to the play and its characters. This term we looked more closely at the world of the fairies. We explored the characters of The Fairy King Oberon and Fairy Queen Titania along with the mischievous fairy Puck. Each student then had the opportunity to create a mask for their character of choice. At the end of term they will perform a short monologue in role with their mask. Huge thanks to Mr.Peecock in the Making Room for all his support. 

A Level Drama & Theatre Studies ‘Afternoon of Theatre’ by Izzy Taylor 

On Thursday 24^th November we were lucky enough to experience an afternoon and evening of theatre. This included two reimaginings of Shakespeare’s plays, an exclusive post show talk with the actors from Filter Theatre Company and treats of pizza and hot chocolate!

The first performance, a dynamic interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed by Filter Theatre Company at Bristol’s renowned Tobacco Factory Theatre, was outstanding. The performance included live music and dance, and much audience interaction. This included Puck offering around fish and chips to the audience and allowing us to join in on a huge food fight when Hermia and Helena’s argument gets out of hand.  Seeing such a unique version of one of Shakespeare’s classics has given us much inspiration for our Unit 3 devised work.

After the performance we were given the opportunity to have a Question & Answer session with the actors. This was exclusive for the students for our school so we felt very lucky and found the experience very interesting.

To add to an already brilliant evening, the A level drama students and their two dedicated teachers were treated to some tasty pizza in-between performances. This was a great opportunity to chat and review the production we had already seen and prepare for the next.

We then moved across town to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre. Here we watched, no-experienced- Tim Crouch’s one man show, I, Malvolio. Crouch wrote and carried out an hour’s worth of incredible theatre which not only gave a different outlook on Twelfth Night but also tackled controversial subjects. His interaction with the audience kept us all on edge – especially when two of our own group members were brought on stage and thrust into the action!

Many thanks to Mrs.Armsby and Miss. Stephens for a wonderful trip.

Outreach Team

November in the Making Room has seen the run up to Christmas commence. Local primary schools and Corsham Youth Council have come in after hours to help create a herd of reindeer that will light up Corsham town centre throughout December.  Mazy Bartlett has been working in Broadwood Avenue primary school’s community room where she and local volunteers have created a sparkling forest for the Town hall.
Crafty Saturday Session at the Pound was responsible for the partridge made out of recycled metals and Art surgery members not only made a deer but also the golden pears that will finish off  the display.
All of this sculpture has been run through with fairy lights and presented throughout Corsham to make the season twinkle!
Dan Reed achieved a certain amount of fame when his photo of the Royal Crescent was displayed during a TED talk that took place in Bath’s Egg Theatre. This was a series of inspirational lectures that will go on YouTube, the internet, and hopefully BBC TV.
Displayed alongside his work were the poppies made earlier this year by students, and a photo by Sophie Cruse of a neon-outlined figure. The day itself was written up really favourably in a half page article in The Guardian, and proved truly inspirational to all who attended.
A series of ‘stars’ invented by pupils out of school materials; paperclips, pencils, scissors, glitter etc. have been photographed and turned into school Christmas cards.
They will be in packs of 8 and cost £3, and available at break time from the Art Office. Watch the blog for further details.

Senior UK Maths Challenge

On Tuesday, 22 November the Maths department sent a brainy crew of 4 sixth formers along to compete in the Senior Maths Challenge at Hardenhuish school.  The team comprised two Y13 students, Kirsty Evans and Harry Allen, and two Y12 students, George Parsons and Jarno Wolf.  The team battled hard but were up against some stiff opposition.  They found the first round hard going but clawed their way back to contention in round two.  Despite their best efforts and perseverance they ended the day with a respectable 9^th position out of 20 teams.  Well done to the team!

Pig and Jig Event

The Pig and Jig team would like to thank everyone who helped and/or supported their event this year. We raised a staggering £3,060, which has been given both to individual departments within the school and local charities. Charities supported this year are St Johns Ambulance, Swift medics and Dorothy House. 
Dates for your diary: volunteer/committee meeting on 6th March 7.30pm at the Quarrymans Arms (new volunteers always welcome)
The Pig and Jig  Event, Box Common 7th July 2012 at 7.00pm

Pupil Reception

A reminder to parents and carers that children feeling unwell at school must report to Pupil Reception, who will contact parents/carers to arrange for the child to go home, if necessary.

Students should not contact home themselves to make arrangements to go home. 

TEDx Youth Conference in Bath

25 Sixth Form students, accompanied by Ms Beaven, Ms Bartlett and Mr Bolter, went to an inspiring conference in Bath at the Egg Theatre on Thursday 17 November. The Conference was organised by Charlotte Calkin based on the structure of TED conferences.  TED stands for Technology Entertainment and Design, and inspirational speakers are invited to talk about subjects relevant to global and cultural development.

The day was structured into 3 sessions:

• Breaking Boundaries – where speakers talked about unconventional career choices and what inspired them to choose them.
• Entrepreneurship – critical in the current economic climate.
• Fresh Fields – how volunteering and determination can inspire social change.

All the speakers were excellent.  One of my favourites was Midge Ure OBE, who talked about how he and Bob Geldof wrote the Band Aid song Do They Know It’s Christmas.  We also heard Jamie Fielden, who has set up a working farm in Box to develop the self-esteem of young people from challenging backgrounds. The Sixth Formers from Corsham loved participating in the event.  Ria McBarrons’ (Y12) favourite speaker was Deena Gornick, a life coach who engaged the students and got them to think about the challenges they face.  “’Without Fear You Can’t Have Courage’ was a quote from Deena’s workshop that will help me face up to the decisions I will need to make in my life.” It was an excellent day and the Sixth Formers represented the School very well.  Also, Mazy Bartlett showed off the fantastic artwork and photography students do here in a display that was on the stage.

Link to article in the Guardian

PE Team

Area Cross Country Championships at Grittleton on 9th November 2011.

Competing Schools: Abbeyfield, Brandon Forest, Corsham, Grittleton,  Hardenhuish, John Bentley (Calne), Malmesbury, St Mary’s, Sheldon, Wootten Bassett.

(Minor- Year 7, Junior-Years 8 & 9, Inter- Years 10 & 11)

Year 7 Girls:
3^rd Sasha Nugara, 4^th Nancy Hayday, 7^th Emily Dee, 14^th Issy Hawkins,17^th Emma James,24^th Niamh Godley,25^th Martin Stringer,43^rd Molly Griffin.

The Year 7 Girls Team won overall by 22 points.

Year 7 Boys:
1^st Luke Curtis

Junior Girls:
4^th Lucy Hyde, 11^th Lucy Stanley, 21^st Lucy Cotton

Junior Boys:
6^th Jacob Payne, 9^th James Angell, 13^th Aiden Daniel

Inter Girls:
2^nd Kirsty Stanley, 20^th Tonisha Cottle

Inter Boys:
11^th Louise McCarran, 25^th Max Shackleford

Athletics selected for the Wiltshire Championships on January 21^st at Grittleton School 

(Top 10 runners selected)

Sasha Nugara, Nancy Hayday, Emily Dee, Luke Curtis, Lucy Hyde, Jacob Payne, James Angell, Kirsty Stanley & Issy Hawkins,Lucy Stanley,Aidan Daniel, Louis Mc Carren are reserves.

Congratulations to all who took part and good luck to above in the County Championships.

Rugby
The Year 9 team beat St.Laurence School,Bradford on Avon 52-7 in the semi -final of the Dorset and Wilts Cup.They will now play Wootten Bassett in the final. Congratulations to Georgia Phillips in Year 9 (check) who has just been selected for the South-West squad

Dates for the diary

December 1-15           Y11 Mock Exams
December 13,14         7.00pm Staff/6^th form production 1001 Nights – Drama Studios
December 15              7.00pm Christmas Concert at St Bartholomew’s Church
December 16              Carol Services, Term 2 ends
December 16-24         6^th Form Ski Trip

Operation Christmas Child Reminder

At the Corsham School we are well known for our charitable giving to a Christmas charity we’ve done every year. It’s called Operation Christmas Child and it’s all about giving children presents at Christmas who otherwise wouldn’t receive any presents.

In 2009 we got 200 boxes and this year Miss Fairbairn has set a target of 300, so if you could all go home, get a shoebox and make your own filled box, it would be highly appreciated by us.

So please do whatever you can to help us and them this Christmas. All boxes should be given to your tutor or Miss Fairbairn. If you need any more leaflets or information, please go to Miss Fairbairn in H17. The deadline for receiving boxes is Monday 7^th November

Fund Raising

Last year’s year 9 donated £500 to the East African Famine Appeal, £500 to the RUH appeal, £200 to the African appeal suggested by one of students and £100 to the Indian family we support.

Maths Team
Students with Full marks in Problem of the Term (Term 1 2011/12) are:
Year 7: Holly Trippe (O7), Beth Ross (M7), Martha Stringer (M7), Anna Ross (W7), Ellie McDonald (H7), Jack Liddiard (H7), Ben Tanner (H7) 
Year 8: Nat Holt (W8), Oliver Padfield (C8)
Year 9: Joy Wingrave (W9), Lucy Watts (H9)
Well done to all, look out for Vivo prizes in assembly’s and lessons!

English Team

There were lots of activities around the school for National Poetry Day on the 6^th October.  The theme this year was ‘Games’ and this was explored in poems displayed around the school.  In Maths, students tried their hand at writing Fibonacci poems.  In Modern Foreign Languages, students studied a poem by Jacques Prevert and produced their own responses.  In English, students wrote poems about their favourite sports.  In tutor times students wrote acrostic poems and poems inspired by the Olympic Games. Many thanks to all those who got involved!           

Paired Reading

This year’s Paired Reading Scheme is now up and running. Over 60 wonderful Year 12s have volunteered to be Paired Readers, which means that over 60 pupils in Year 7 now have the opportunity to meet with their partner once a week during afternoon registration and get a bit more reading practice. As well as the obvious benefits for the Year 7s, the Scheme gives the Year 12s something valuable and worthwhile to get involved in, and will look great on their CVs/UCAS forms! So thanks to all the Year 12 volunteers, and Happy Reading to all the lucky Year 7s involved

Geography Team

AS Geography Fieldtrip to South Coast

Eight students visited Christchurch, Studland, Swanage and Chesil over four days.
They looked at coastal erosion, dune succession and management, coastal flooding, landform evolution and the provision of rural services.

Music Team

Instrumental Practice Platform – Wednesday 9th November 4pm in H29

This is a friendly, informal opportunity for instrumentalists to play pieces they are currently learning.  It is also the perfect chance to test out examination pieces prior to a practical Associated/Trinity Board exam.  If you have an exam coming up and would like a practice-run of your pieces in a non-critical and supportive environment or would simply like to play something you are working on, please let Mrs Bond or Mrs Francis by Friday 4^th November. 

Anyone fancy learning the Clarinet; Trumpet; French Horn or Trombone?

Wiltshire Music Service, who provides most of our instrumental lessons to pupils, has the above instruments that can be loaned out to pupils.  Details of instrumental lessons along with the costs can be found on the ‘music pages’ of the website or see Mrs Bond or Mrs Francis for more details.  There may also be space and / or instruments to loan in other areas.  Speak to us and we will see what we can do!

Year 9 Music Inspiration Day – Saturday 19^th November, 9.30am-4.30pm

A unique day of music making for year 9 pupils of all abilities and to come and experience a variety of musical activities by some of the country’s leading musicians.  Workshops to include: African Drumming; Games and Gospel; Rhythm, Drums and Rock School and Instrumental Inspiration.  An opportunity not to be missed!All year 9s have been given a letter.  Reply slips along with £3.00 (This is a bargain considering the amount of expert tuition you will receive) must be handed to the Music Department by Friday 11^th November. 

STOMP

This term year 9s will embark on a project which has been inspired by the international smash hit show STOMP.  From plastic bags, bin lids and even the kitchen sink STOMP mesmerises its audience through a combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy.  ‘Junk’ Donations please….The music department would love to take your ‘junk’ off your hands to help us create our very own STOMP orchestra!  If you can donate any household objects that you no longer require please get in touch with the music department.  The sorts of objects that we are looking for are: brooms; dustpan and brushes; wooden and metal spoons; bins (ideally with a lid!); empty paint tins; paint brushes; wheel barrows; garden pots; large containers; buckets; guttering; shower/hose pipe; saucepans; baking trays.

Diary Dates

November 2        Y8 girls HPV 1/3 (S Block Gym)

November 2        7.00pm ESafety evening for Y8 & Y9 parents

November 3-4     Y9 CORS History trip to Ypres

November 4        Y12 Geography river study

November 8        7.00pm December Ski Trip information evening

November 9        4.00pm Musical Instrumental Practice Platform H29

November 9        Area Cross Country Championships

November 10-11 Y9 HAMW History trip to Ypres

November 15      5.00pm Y10 Parents Evening

November 16    7.00pm April Ski Trip information evening

November 18    Y12 interim reports

November 19    10.00am-4.00pm Y9 Music Inspiration day

November 21    7.00pm Y9 Focus evening

November 23    7.00pm Introduction to 6^th Form evening for parents     

Please note: You should have received the latest school magazine by Wednesday 9 November.

Website and ELE update

The Mathematics Home Site has had a major update during the Summer with a whole new look and feel. The Home Page now boasts a three dimensional gallery of images and new menu bar known as a ‘Frog Dock’ along the bottom. Many thanks go to Jamie Elms, who produced the outstanding three dimensional icons during his week-long work experience with Mr Parsons, ELE Manager.

The Subject Home Site page has been completely redone with new reflective icons and standardised icon size, to give them a more modern feel, with a new logo to complement the redesigned site.

The website Virtual Gallery has been updated for 2011 with all the latest Student work from Art and Photography. The standard is excellent, as ever, and I am sure you will enjoy looking through the 20 best pieces of work from years 7 to 13.

The School’s Facebook page is gaining in popularity with 302 ‘likes’ and nearly 40000 post views since its launch at the end of February.

VIVO

Vivo Miles have arrived! One of the most exciting aspects of the new school year is the introduction of our new Vivo Rewards system. Students gain automatic Vivos for attendance and punctuality plus additional ones from their teachers, in a variety of categories, in line with the school values. Students can then purchase real rewards from the online shop giving them the opportunity to save up for something of their choice.

Language team

European Day of Languages
As part of the imminent celebrations for the European day of Languages, all Year 9 classes learnt a different language (or possibly more than one) during their Languages lessons for a fortnight beginning 26 September.  For Year 7 tutor groups there was an inter-tutor group international music quiz during this period. As ever, staff and students of The Corsham School approached the challenge with relish.  On Monday PE students visited the “piscine” instead of “swimming pool,” Drama students incorporated foreign dialogue into their pieces, Science students investigated the Latin or Greek origins of element names, English students listened to German, while Language classes learnt new languages and about Language in general.  Many thanks to all those involved.

Geography Team

Open Evening was busy in the Geography area as we handed out samples of Fair Trade & non Fair Trade chocolate for visitors to taste.  In  KS3 some students have been trying out the Worldwise website produced by the Geographical Association, www.worldwise.geography.org.uk   The site has activities such as online Geography quizzes.  Anyone can try this website, just speak to a member of the Geography team.  Year 8 are learning about football as an industry this term.  Due to the popularity of rugby at this school, and the current Rugby World Cup, we have taken a slight detour from football to look at the countries which are taking part in the World Cup in New Zealand.  Details of the countries taking part at  www.rugbyworldcup.com  In the next few weeks Year 10 will be doing field work in Bristol, and Year 12 in Swanage, Dorset.

ICT Team

Young Game Designers Workshop

As part of the Young Games Designers competition, organised by BAFTA and EA Games, 15 students from Years 9 to 11 where lucky enough to be able to attend a special workshop at Earls Court London on 23 September. During the workshop, industry insiders discussed key aspects of computer game design, including Genres, Characterisation, Environments, Level design and Marketing. In teams of three, students had to create a concept for a new game. Each team was then able to pitch their idea to a panel which included Nintendo’s Head of Marketing and a lead designer from UbiSoft. Each of the five teams performed admirably, presenting their ideas to an audience of adults and students from other schools. At the end of their presentation, they received some valuable feedback and insights into a growing and complex process.  

Drama Team

Year 10 GCSE Drama Students present A Museum of Monologues

Each of our Year 10 GCSE Drama students has been given a monologue from a well loved children’s play to perform at our annual Museum of Monologues event.
Come and join us to see our ‘statues’ come to life sharing their adventures from popular plays including- The Secret Garden, The Railway Children, The Witches,  The Lion the Witch & The Wardrobe and  A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Thursday 13 October, 7pm in S Block Hall £2 entry (on the door).

We look forward to seeing you there!

Music Team

Well done to the following students who passed Instrumental Music Exams during the Summer term:
Barnaby Armitage  Grade 1 Violin
Georgia Bozas Grade 3 Flute
Emily Laing Grade 4 Clarinet
Anya Taylor Grade 3 Flute
Stephen Ward Grade 8 Saxophone with distinction

Congratulations must also go to those who have recently passed an instrumental exam outside of school.  Please let us know who you are!

 The Making Room

Art Surgery starts up again in The Making Room, every Wednesday from 3-5pm. Everyone in our school and surrounding community is welcome, including primary school age and adults.

Art Surgery is run by Mazy Bartlett and is a drop in session in which we like you to bring your own projects/ideas/homework and Mazy will help you to make them a reality. If you are really stuck for inspiration but still would like to come, drop in anyway and see if our piles of junk get you started!

We have already conducted a Family Learning session at The Pound. These go under the title Crafty Saturdays and can be found in the Pound Art Centre’s programme (look online). They tend to  happen in the middle of the month and run from 11.30am until 2.30pm.

Mazy Bartlett runs various different creative projects which often end up on display at the Centre. These are free sessions with all materials provided and are designed to give families basic groundings in various art techniques. The most recent session was all about wire and wire sculpture. We took our inspiration from Jean Cocteau’s beautiful line drawings and the figures will hopefully be installed in the Pound’s Café.

The Making Room has been approached by the Town Council with two different Christmas projects. One is to create lighting up reindeers for the flat roofs throughout Corsham town, project that will be done out of school hours with Corsham primary school children.  Also there are plans to make the central display over the Town Hall entrance for which we will handpick some of our most skilled and creative students. It is quite an honour to be invited to do this, so let’s hope we do a good job! 

Within the school, there has been a transformation in the 6^th Form Common Room, as well as re-decoration.  We have put up stunning examples of students’ photography, and the most fabulous series of photos taken by the brilliant Mr Rogers of the Art & Photography department. It depicts our Year 13 leaping through the air, and it is definitely worth a look !

Dates for the Diary

3 October       7.00pm Year 9 Curriculum Information Evening

4 October       7.00pm Year 8 Curriculum and Focus Evening

5 October       9.00am Open Working Morning

6 October       7.00pm Focus Evening

10 October     7.00pm Year 10 & Year 11 Focus Evening

12 October     5.00pm Y13 Parents Evening

13 October     6.30pm GCSE Drama Evening

 18 October    7.00pm Awards Evening

19 October    Teacher Development  Day  – Term 1 ends

PE
Area Athletics Championships at Bath University on Wednesday June 15. We took boys and girls teams from years 7-10 to compete against 8 other local schools. Notable performances were as follows;
1sts
Elena Bateman            Y7 girls high jump
Jack Burcombe           Y7 boys 100m
Harrison Reynolds      Y7 boys800m
Ross Gaisford             Y7 boys high jump
Jack Utton                   Y8 boys 400m
Liam Harris                 Y9 boys long jump
Aaron Ward-Baptiste  Y10 boys 400m
Milo Pearson               Y10 boys triple jump
Jordan Dick                 Y10 boys Javelin
2nds
Lucy Hyde                   Y8 girls 1500m
Joe Tricki                     Y8 boys high jump
Kirsty Stanley              Y9 girls 1500m
Ella Scott-Humphries  Y9 girls javelin
Harry Smith                 Y9 boys 80m hurdles
Jake Munford               Y10 boys long jump

Also we took some girls from years 8,9 and 10 to a Tag Rugby Festival at Bath Rugby club. We met members of the England Saxons team before hand then played several matches against other schools. The girls played some fantastic rugby and both teams finished runners up. Well done to all who took part; Year 8 team – Hannah Bilton, Milly Brown, Jasmine Adams, Ella Bunting, Megan Gallagher, Olivia Murray, Anna Sellens, Lucy Stanley. Year 9/10 team – Becky Davison-Smith, Milly Webb, Amy Leask, Tonicha Cottle, Ciara Smiddy, Kirsty Stanley, Bobbi Lang, Becky Anstee, Megan Gibson, Sam Hobbs.

Girls PE: 12 girls from year 7, 8 and 9 swam on the  June 22 against St Mary’s, Sheldon, Devizes and John Bentley and did extremely well. The year 7′s came 2nd, year 8′s were1st and so were the year 9′s!! 

Corsham School came first overall and big congratulations to all the girls who swam!

Charlotte Stubbs in C8, swam at the weekend in the South West Regional Championships and did extremely well. She won two gold and one  Silver. She was also part of the 4 x 100m medlay relay team, whose time was 2nd in the whole country and therefore will hopefully compete at Nationals!

A fantastic achievement, well done Charlotte!

After winning the North Wilts area competition both the Under 13 and Under 15 girls cricket teams qualified for the Wiltshire final of the Lady’s Taverners competition. Both teams played very well, the U15 team narrowly missed out on a place in the final losing to South Wilts Grammar by 16 runs. They finished third overall after beating Bradon Forest School in the third/fourth play off. Well done to all those who took part.

Pupil Reception

Immunisation dates 2011/2012

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) for Year 8 Girls – 3 doses needed

2 November 2011 / 7 December 2011 / 9 May 2012

Diphtheria Tetanus & Polio for Year 10 students 6 Feb 12

Lost Property

We shall be clearing the huge pile of unclaimed uniform, coats, PE kits and other items we have, before the end of term.  Please encourage your child to visit us if they have lost anything!

Lockers

Students in Years 7 – 11, who have lockers, will shortly be asked to empty them before the end of term.  A £5.00 refund will be given.  The locker codes will be changed during the summer holiday and any items remaining in the lockers will be taken to Pupil Reception.  In September, Year 7 will be given priority to hire a locker before students in Years 8 – 11

Language Team

Starting on the 9 September 2011, our school has been invited to take part in the largest online languages competition on the planet, the Language Perfect World Championships. This competition will run for one week.

Students compete for their class, school and country against other students from around the world, by earning points in a range of foreign languages on Language Perfect. Points count towards earning certificates, entry into prize draws (prizes include laptops, iPod Touch’s, iPod Shuffles & iTunes vouchers) and winning the competition!

The goal is to motivate students to get excited about languages, learning, and having fun at the same time.

Last year we finished 8th in the world!  Students reported a great deal of enjoyment as well as finding this an excellent aid to learning.  This year, we are aiming to do even better and are urging all language students to take part.  In order to be ready for kick-off on 9th September, we are asking students to enrol early!  Registration costs £3 per student through your child’s language teacher from 4th July.

You are welcome to visit their website for more information – www.languageperfect.com. We hope that you can see the value for your child, and are prepared to invest in this excellent resource.

Sue Hawkins (Languages Team)

Music

KS3 Summer Music Concert will be held in S-Block Hall on Thursday 7 July at  7:30pm. 

Tickets are available from the music department or on the door

Exhibition

The A level art exhibition is on Tuesday 12 July in the S block gym. The viewing will be from 7.00pm till 8.30pm everyone is welcome. Work will include Fine Art Photography and Textiles.

Dance Team

As part of the GCSE Dance qualification, students are required to choreograph a solo as part of a controlled assessment. Our current and very enthusiastic Year 10 class took part in a workshop earlier in June to learn three dance motifs from Shobana Jeyasingh’s  ’Faultline’. (A style combining contemporary and bharata natyam dance. See www.shobanajeyasingh.co.uk)

These motifs must be developed by the pupils to create a short dance with clear form and structure. Marks will be given for imaginative development of this material as well as successful integration and linking of the motifs into the composition. Pupils must analyse and evaluate their improvemnet of the piece during the process.

The whole of the Year 10 class took part and worked hard throughout the session to learn the motifs, and we successfully filmed the outcomes and with the support of the ICT Department were quickly able to present a DVD of the session for the pupils to learn from at home independently.

We all look forward to seeing the final solo’s in Year 11.

“An Evening of Dance Performance” was held on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 May in the Dance Studio.
Over 200 people attended and watched dance work performed by 60 pupils. The evening showed examples of AS, A2 and GCSE work as well as performances by years 7, 8 and 9 Dance Club members.
Both evenings were a huge success and were thoroughly enjoyed by the audience and performers. A big thank you to all the parents who wrote or rang in to congratulate everybody. 

Link to view the Dance photo gallery

A number of the year 10 GCSE Dance class and year 8 Dance Club members attended a dance performance in the Pound Arts Centre on Tuesday 21 June as part of the Corsham Festival week. It was an enjoyable evening watching a mix of Indian Kathak dancing and Hip-Hop.

Website and ELE update

The school’s Facebook page has proved to be very popular with 22,508 post views since it went live and 225 active ‘likes’. We have had contact from ex-students who are now living abroad as well. Current highlights include a stop frame animated video, made by Hayley Jordan called ‘Spinster’, and a film on the School’s World Challenge Trip to Peru by Stefan Hunt. Both are worth checking out.

The My Books page on ELE has had an upgrade with additional tabs and a new interactive Word Search game.

KS5 Chemistry Wilts Network launch

Mr Robards ( Head of Chemistry) together with Wiltshire’s advanced skills teacher Emma Baker are to launch the first meeting of a new Wiltshire schools network for Chemistry teachers
Corsham school science team are hosting the meeting on July 8 which will involve the demonstration of the best creative and innovative methods of teaching chemistry. So far 15 Wiltshire schools have signed up for the launch

Maths Team (Mr & Mrs Cole)

Students with full marks in the final problem of the Term 2010/2011 are:

Year 7:  Nat Holt 7W, Michael Harsley S7
Year 8: Joy Wingrvae W8, Syrie Gregory-Wood A8
Year 9: Isaac Sellens W9, Lauren Merrett A9, Hannah Lias M9

The overall winners for the year are:
Year 7: Nat Holt
Year 8: Joy Wingrave
Year 9: Hannah Lias          Very well done to all!  

Hog Roast

Pig & Jig, Box Hill Common July 2 7-11pm

Entrance fee £3.00, free for under 12’s with an adult, £1.00 for 12-16 year old

Dates for the Diary   

July 4-8         Y10 Work Experience
July 7             7.30pm Summer Concert SBH
July 15             Y7 Trip to Boulogne
July 12            7-8.30pm Art/Photography/Textiles Exhibition in S Block Gym
July 12-15      Y12 Geography field trip
July 19-20      7.00pm School production
July 22            Term 6 ends

Corsham students on West End stage by Amy Charlesworth M10

On the 27 March my theatre school ‘Stagecoach’ travelled up to London. After weeks and weeks of rehearsing (also preparing for our yearly show FAME) and a long journey up there, we got into ‘Her Majesty’s’ theatre. We watched the first run through and when it was our turn we got to try on our radio microphones. We then had another 10-minute rehearsal in the dance studio and then went for lunch. At last it was the dress rehearsal. We had about 2 hours to get all our makeup on then we watched Act 1. In the last few scenes before the interval we went and put our costumes back on, retouched our makeup and went down and 6 of us had to go and get our microphones on. We performed an extract leading into a song/dance called ‘Da Beat’. There were 18 of us performing in ‘The West End’. This included me, Nancy Lewendon, Laura Manners and Tayla Vanson from The Corsham School. It was one of the best days of my life and I really enjoyed it.

Science

On April 6 Mr Robards (Team Leader for Science) arranged curriculum enrichment sessions for Y11 Triple award GCSE and Y12 Chemistry AS students.
Dr Delcan Fleming from the University of Bath Chemistry Dept visited the school and presented an Outreach session entitled ‘Spectroscopy in a Suitcase ’.This involved setting up a portable Infra Red Spectrometer in the classroom (worth £25,000).Students were learning about how a variety of analytical methods are used to detect unknown chemicals with special reference to drug use in sport. As part of the session students were invited to provide their own samples of chemicals to test which included some lip salve, deodorant and even the oil particles on one student’s thumb!

Food

The Food Technology team would like to say a huge thank you to Barry Pocock of Pocock Poultry for supplying us with colour coded chopping boards. We have enough sets for each work station in both food rooms. His support is greatly appreciated.

The Food Team has acquired numerous tubs and containers left behind after practical lessons. Is your kitchen missing some?
Students can collect them from the department at break or lunch time, otherwise they will be disposed of.

Drama by Mrs Armsby

Congratulations to the Yr 12 Drama and Theatre Students for a fantastic evening of entertainment on 17 May. Students performed a collection of monologues and duologues to a visiting examiner followed by four group performances of a range of theatrical styles from Mark Ravenhill’s ‘Pool No Water’ to Edward Albee’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Parents and friends thoroughly enjoyed the performances and gave well deserved high praise to all involved. Well Done.

Mathematics

This term the students with full marks are:

Year 7 - James Phillips W7
Year 8 - Joy WingraveW8, Syrie Gregory Wood A8
Year 9 – Jethro Large A9, Hannah Lias M9, Isaac Sellens A9  Lauren Merrett W9
Next term we hand out the trophies and there is a tie for first place in Year 7 and in Year 9 at the moment.  We can only have one winner per year group so we may need to set a challenge here at school if the situation does not change! watch this space!

PE

Football By winning the North Wilts League this season the Year 10 team qualified for the play- off final with winners of the South League, Kingsdown School,Warminster.

In the final the Corsham Team played really well and with 2 goals from Connor McCarron, 1 from Tom Bew and 1 from Kyle Krishnamma-Hillier they won 4-2

Cricket Congratulations to Tom Foley and Gabriel Field who have both been selected to play for Wiltshire.

French Exchange by Ms Hawkins

From 2-9 April 40 Corsham students and 3 teachers went to our partner school in Montendre, France, for our biggest French Exchange ever!  We had a great time in Collège Samuel Dumenieu attending English, Music, Art and PE lessons (frisbee and handball!) and we were impressed with the 3-course school lunches.  We also enjoyed the France-Angleterre football matches, particularly the fact that the French students were cheering for our team.  We visited the market and the town hall where we met the mayor, and we enjoyed days out in Futuroscope, Poitiers and also in Bordeaux.

We have just said goodbye to our French partners who stayed from 14-21 May. They enjoyed an art project in the making room and a cricket lesson with Mr Evans.  They met Corsham students in French lessons where they joined in with activities and games.  They also completed two treasure hunts around the town, superbly created by some of our Year 10 students.  They had trips to Bath, Lacock and London, where they experienced the perils of The London Dungeons with some of their partners.  We were very sad to say goodbye to them last Saturday, and parents, too, will miss them.

Well done to all of our students who took part in this.  It was lovely to see such positive, friendly attitudes not to mention some fantastic French!  Thanks, too, to all the parents who made this so successful.

A vey sad goodbye to Samantha Hobbs and Calum Johnstone, both in Y10.  They have completed their third and last French Exchange and have done superbly on each.  It won’t be the same without you! Au revoir!

Y7 CORS Boulogne Trip 15 July
There are still a few places left!  If you are interested, you must have your own valid passport.  You should bring a valid EHIC card and £52 cash or cheque to H9 at break on Monday 6th June.  For all details, please refer to the original letter on ELE.

AGAT Language day by Becky Schofield

On Friday May 13, Hannah Lias, Bobbi Lang, Sam Starkes, Elinor Wood, Ben Candlin and Becky Schofield (me) set out to St Johns in Marlborough for AGAT languages and technology day. Our task was to create a celebration meal and do a presentation. The theme was colour and communication and we chose to base our meal on World Peace. We then has to present our meal to the ‘dragons’ (one of whom was a Michelin star chef) and out of several schools, we won!

Music

INSTRUMENTAL DONATIONS
Do you, any of your friends or family members have a musical instrument at home that is not getting played, taking up valuable space and simply gathering dust?  Would you consider donating it to the music team at The Corsham School?  We are particularly keen to acquire good quality and working woodwind, brass and string instruments.  Please do contact us if you have something you would like to contribute – we need to be certain we can accommodate and will make use of it!  Whilst we will be keen to receive most orchestral instruments, we are especially keen to gain the following:  Oboe, Bassoon, Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet, Trombone, Violin, Viola, Cello, DoubleBass. Thankyou!

Informal Practice Platform Come and play!
Wednesday 22 June 6pm, Music Department, Room H29.

This is a friendly, informal opportunity for instrumentalists to play pieces they are currently learning.  It is also the perfect chance to test out examination pieces prior to a practical Associated/Trinity Board exam.  If you have an exam coming up and would like a practice-run of your pieces in a non-critical and supportive environment or would simply like to play something you are working on, please see Mrs Francis or Mrs Bond as soon as possible.  Performing places are limited and are offered on a first come first served basis.

Dates for the Diary

June 6     Term 6 begins
June 11   County Athletics championships
June 13   Y12 return – A2’s begin
June 14   Y8 Geography to Studland
June 15   Area Athletics championships
June 15   KS3 Music Festival Day
June 16   Y8 Geography to Studland
June 18   South West Athletics Studland
June 22   Y12 Citizenship day/sports day pm
June 24   Y10 History to Bath
June 28   7.00pm Y8 Focus Evening
June 30    Y11 Leavers’ Ball

Academy Status

Dear Parents/ Carers,

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that The Corsham School has today (April 1st 2011) been granted academy status. Please visit the school website (www.corsham.wilts.sch.uk) to read the letter received from Michael Gove.

Apart from the financial benefits, the freedoms and possibilities given to academies will ensure that our school further enhances its position in the forefront of the British education system. I would like to thank Mrs Chapman-Richardson, the school’s Business Manager, and Nick Davies, the Chair of the school’s governing body, for their tireless efforts that were needed in order to meet the April 1st conversion deadline. I would also like to thank everyone who gave such support to the school during the consultation period.

Yours faithfully,
Best wishes.

Martin Williams

Exams office – important information

Individual exam timetables for the summer written exams were issued to all students in Years 11, 12 and 13 on 23 March via their tutor groups.  Students are requested to bring their timetable to every scheduled exam.

NB: Year 11 students who need to be entered for Core Science resits following release of the March exam results will receive an amended timetable after Easter.  These exams are scheduled to take place on 28 June.

If any students had not received their timetable by the end of March or if they have a query regarding the timetable they should contact the exams office immediately.

Year 10

GCSE external exams involving students in year 10 are scheduled on:

23 May (Religious Studies)
7 June (History)
10 June (English)
21 June (Maths)
28 June (Science)

Year 10 students have been issued with a Statement of Entry detailing the exams they are entered for and the scheduled dates of those exams.  They will receive individual timetables via their tutor groups after Easter.

A copy of the complete written exam timetable for the summer is available on ELE. 

A GCSE only timetable and practical exam timetable is also available.

French Exchange – Final Reminder

Please be at Bristol Airport at 10am on Saturday 2 April.  We will meet just inside the entrance.  Please pick up your child at 15.45 on Saturday 9 April.  Please provide a packed lunch and drink for the outward journey.

Please remember not to put any liquids, makeup, etc. in hand luggage.

Please remember to bring: Passport, EHIC card, money (we recommend about £10 per day, but obviously this is a personal choice – please change into euros).  Students only need money for drinks, etc. as everything else (entrance fees, lunches, etc) is paid for.  We will, however, have Friday afternoon shopping in Bordeaux, so your child will probably wish to buy some presents to bring home. They will need to keep money aside for this.

Also, don’t forget: diary, pens, sportswear, swimwear, a jacket/coat and comfortable shoes.     Lastly….a present for your hosts!

We are sure that everyone will have a wonderful time.  Bon voyage!

Maths International Pi Day

Pi – the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of any circle.
Pi – an irrational number(non repeating never ending decimal number)

Key Stage 3 pupils have been practising for weeks to memorise as many places of pi as possible.

Year 9- Matthew Lines is the year 9 winner with 176 places!!

Year 8-Courtney Du Toit manage to thrash the school record this year by memorizing a staggering 300 places of pi, Ruth Moger came second with a phenomenal 220 places.

Year 7- John Secara with 140 places won the year 7 competiton

 How many can I remember as a teacher……..?  3 . 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 5 3 5 …… pretty dismal really!!

Well done to all who took part.

Joy Wingrave, Kes Krishnamma-Hillier, Bobbi Lang and Isaac Sellens were selected to represent The Corsham School at this years regional finals of the UKMT Team Maths Challenge. The competition was tough and required some logical thinking. A sound knowledge of Maths was definitely the order of the day!

For example…

The lock of Claire’s locker has a three-digit code such as 5, 2, 4. She has forgotten the code but she knows that all three digits are different. She also knows that if she divides the first digit by the second digit and then squares the result she gets the third digit. Find all possible three-digit codes for her lock. They did us proud and managed to finish in the top half of the competition. Well done to all of you.

  
Handwriting Workshop

On Wednesday 16 March, 22 students from Years 7-10 went off-timetable for the day and took part in a Handwriting Workshop organised by Miss Terry and led by Handwriting Consultant, Mrs Cali Norton. The students learned to spot problems with their own writing and were then shown different strategies to make their handwriting better. There was also time for lots of games and activities that got them out of their seats and moving around! In the afternoon, the students even tried calligraphy – the art of beautiful writing. They each took away with them a folder of their best work, an activity book to practise what they learned on the day, and the confidence to make their own handwriting better in future.

The Geography Department has been responding to world news and current events, looking at both the recent earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, and also the 2011 census.

First undertaken in1801, the UK census can be completed online for the first time this year.  Pupils in KS3 have enjoyed a one-off lesson about the census, a once in every ten years event.  They have discussed why the population of Corsham has increased about five fold since 1801.  Key facts emerged: the building of the Box tunnel opened in 1841, and MoD employment, significant during the WWII era.  We also looked at anomalies in the data, such as when the village of Imber near Westbury was abandoned, again due to MoD activities.

7S were asked to think about whether the census is a good idea.  This is what Michael Harsley had to say on the subject:

“A census is a good idea because it can give the government, or whoever is in power, a good idea of how to prioritize the money gained from tax in a way that will increase the well-being of the subsequent tax payer.  This means they can have the required schools, hospitals, sports centers etc, without overspending on luxuries that are not necessarily needed.

The only really bad point of a census is the money that must be spent on the paper, postmen, collectors, computers etc, that must be used to consolidate the data and make the statistics from the data.  But even that can be sold to companies that want to use the statistics, therefore getting some, if not all of the money used.

People who may object to the census might be campaigning for privacy rights, although the information won’t be used for any other use other than statistics.  Overall, I think it is a beneficial and useful source of information in order to help most people.”

The class agreed that Michael has some very good views, and would like the people in government to take note!

Corsham, the U13 county schools rugby champions 

Recently, we played Bishop’s Wordsworth School from Salisbury, a renowned rugby playing school. The Corsham team were up for the challenge and stung Bishop’s with a try in the first few minutes. Ollie Swanson received a pass in his own 22m area and ran the length of the field to score. Jack Utton did very much the same a few minutes later. Another try followed quickly and by half time Corsham were 19-0 up with Bishop’s struggling to gain any decent possession. The tackling was immense which put pressure on the opposition. The forwards continued to battle to win possession for the devastating and destructive backs. Bishop’s pulled a score back but soon afterwards Jake Golledge charged down a kick and subsequently scored a try. Corsham were worthy winners 24-7

Swimming

Charlotte Stubbs in Year 8 competed in the Wiltshire County Swimming event this weekend, and came first in her age group. This means that she is now the number one 12 year old swimmer in the county of Wiltshire. She set some fantastic personal best times and also gained a competition record in the 50m backstroke!

Well done Charlotte. 

Outreach

Regis Arts Week was a big success, with children of all ages taking part in the building of a magnificent crown, which now hangs in the entrance hall of the School. Take a look if you get the opportunity, it’s really splendid, as were the children that took part, who were a focused, talented and an industrious bunch.