Dear Parents and Friends,

At the start of this week we heard from Mr Rocca and his team of students who will be visiting Two Bridges School in Kampala, Uganda this summer, following a successful project in Tiribogo School in 2012. This partnership provides great opportunities for our own students and for those they visit and I wish them well as they continue their preparations and fundraising for this trip.

On Monday evening, parents and students gathered for the briefing on their music tour trip to Paris in the summer where, amongst the highlights, there will be a performance from the swing band at Disneyland Paris.

On Tuesday morning I was delighted to welcome Year 4 Parents to discuss the transfer process from our Junior to our Senior School. I would like to thank the Year 7 guides who gave these Parents such an enthusiastic and detailed tour.

On Wednesday afternoon, we welcomed 80 pupils from 20 local schools to our Year 5 Maths Challenge. The competition was organised by Mrs Smith and the Maths Department, ably assisted by some of our Year 12 and Year 13 maths students. At the end of the afternoon, I was delighted to award certificates to all the participants and the Maths Challenge Cup to St David’s School in Purley, who were the top performing team. On Wednesday evening, the Theatre Society enjoyed a trip to see "The Play That Goes Wrong”.

Year 10 students attended a Careers Fair on Thursday afternoon where a number of Parents, Governors and local professionals had volunteered their time to come and give short presentations in their areas of expertise. There was a great variety from accountancy and banking to medicine, engineering, cyber security, design and architecture. Year 10 students had the opportunity to ask about future careers and also heard from four Old Russellians about their experiences moving from Royal Russell, through university and into the world of work. Thank you to Mrs Culbert and all those who helped make this a successful inaugural event and particularly to the Year 12 and 13 Prefects who escorted the House groups around the Fair.

This morning, Year 11 pupils started the day with a croissant and hot chocolate breakfast in the Dining Hall which was followed by their exam briefing as they start the study leave. I was able to take a few moments during this briefing to thank them for their enthusiastic participation in all areas of school life over the last five years and to wish them every success through the examination season ahead. I left them with two thoughts; firstly ‘work hard and be nice to people. Secondly; to ‘be yourself’. Later in the morning, Year 12 gathered for a similar briefing ahead of their study leave which also starts today.

I was very pleased to welcome four of our Governors this morning to spend time observing lessons and vis-iting the Operations Department to gain a greater understanding of the day to day workings of our busy School.

After a very wet start to the week, which has affected many of our tennis and athletics fixtures, we are looking forward to cricket matches this weekend against Wallington. Our Chapel on Sunday is an informal service starting at 6.00pm.

With best wishes,

Headmaster’s Weekly

Newsletter

13 May 2016

Chris Hutchinson Headmaster

From the Chapel

School Services Mr Rocca and the 11 pupils who will be going to Uganda in the summer holidays explained how they will be helping the pupils and staff of a primary school there.

This Sunday there will be a Chapel service at 6.00 p.m. to celebrate Pentecost.

All are welcome. Dress for pupils is smart casual. For 10 days after Christ’s Ascension, his disciples prayed for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. On the Day of Pentecost the Spirit dramatically gave them power [symbolized by a sound like the rush of wind] to speak of God’s love [represented by what looked like tongues of fire on their heads], which enabled them to go forth as apostles, proclaiming the good news of Christ crucified, risen and ascended.

Answer to Chapel Quiz 74 The Eastern and Western Christian churches calculate the date of Easter using two different calendars (the Julian and Gregorian, respectively); hence in most years Easter is celebrated on a different date in the East and the West. This year the Eastern Easter was 5 weeks after the Western. Next year East and West both celebrate Easter on April 16th.

Pentecost (1600) by El Greco

Chapel Quiz 75 Why is Pentecost also known as Whitsun(day) in Britain and Ireland ? Prizes for pupils.

Poem of the week This excerpt from Four Quartets T.S. Eliot combines both the Holy Spirit and images of the German bombing of London.

. . . The dove descending breaks the air

With flame of incandescent terror

Of which the tongues declare

The one dischage from sin and error.

The only hope, or else despair

Lies in the choice of pyre of pyre

To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Who then devised the torment? Love.

Love is the unfamiliar Name

Behind the hands that wove

The intolerable shirt of flame

Which human power cannot remove.

We only live, only suspire

Consumed by either fire or fire . . .

Quote of the week When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator. Mahatma Gandhi

Not in the Bible Two lions alone on the deck of the Ark; one says, ‘You’re not still hungry?’

Royal Russell in Space! This is a project I have been thinking about for the last 3 years now, and have been working on since the start of this academic year, this week it finally came to fruition. Mr Stathopoulos, Pavlo and I went to Elsworth last Sunday to launch a helium balloon into near space. A Raspberry Pi computer with a camera and a GPS tracker was attached to the balloon. The aim was to take some aerial photos from space and recover the box. We had already prepared the payload, while we were there we had to make the aerial so that it could send its coordinates and altitude back down to us, as well as some images. We had also prepared a ground station, a laptop and aerial that could receive the data sent by the rpi, decode it and then upload it to the Internet so that we could track the balloon on a map. After a long wait at the field, the balloon (Callsign RUSSELL) lifted off at 1300 hours. The group then immediately jumped back into the minibus and chased down the balloon along the A15 as it tracked towards north. The Raspberry Pi on board takes one picture every six seconds and uploads one photo every half an hour. The first photo was received just before the group arrived at Huntingdon. The photo was taken from 27000 feet and the disused air force airfield was clearly in sight.

The day went on and at 1430 hours, the balloon burst at 72000 feet, almost twice the altitude that an A380 would cruise at. The little computer was doing a great job, working on the ground at 37 degrees to -57 degrees in nearspace! Then the payload was descending at 60 mph initially as the parachute would not open where there was no air. The payload eventually slowed down to 20 mph as the parachute successfully deployed.

Unfortunately, the batteries went flat when it was at 7800 feet, just 7 minutes before touchdown. It was estimated that it landed in a field just south of Twenty, just outside Peterborough. Despite the group searching for it around the fields for about 2 hours, the Raspberry Pi was unable to be recovered and only 6 aerial photos were received, it does have the school address and Mr Stathopoulos’s number on it, so if you see a box with an orange parachute attached to it in a field in Lincolnshire, please get in touch!

Duncan Hui

Sixth Form Assemblies

On Wednesday 3rd May the Sixth Form Assembly slot was taken by Dave Smith, a comedian, writer and journalist. As well as his lively presentation he challenged three of our students to each write up the event for the newsletter in their own style.

Skanda Subramani

Last Wednesday the Sixth Form were treated to an impromptu stand-up gig by Dave Smith, writer and comedian. Everyone deserved a well needed laugh just before our final exams. Dave spoke about his experiences when he decided to leave his day job as a law recruiter to pursue his passion for comedy. He came to understand that good writing and prior planning are vital in stand-up comedy. After making his debut at the Montreal Comedy Festival, Dave became a regular at the Comedy Store, and worked nationwide alongside Rich Hall, Lee Evans, Harry Hill and Peter Kay. This soon led to writing whimsical and humorous columns for The Sunday Times and The Boston Herald. He even used the experiences he had with his wife when she was pregnant to write columns for women’s magazines! Dave gave us an insight on the life of a writer and that how it gives you many benefits. Not only was the assembly filled with a lot of jokes but it was very informative.

Scott Stephens

Following last week’s girl band, the Sixth Form were treated to another entertainer – Dave Smith the stand-up comedian. After being made redundant from a job in recruitment, Dave made the big decision to swap careers to do stand-up comedy. He explained the mechanics of comedy and his realization that it is mainly about a comedian’s writing skills. After he completed his aim of performing at the Comedy Store Dave decided to focus on writing as a freelance journalist – or free lunch journalist as one of the Sixth Form misheard to much friendly laughter! He has written in women’s magazines on his opinions on topics such as parenting when expecting a child and the differences between men and women in pram stores – women looking at specifications and utility and men pushing them around to see how fast they go. He also talked about the differences in deadlines, workload and lifestyle of freelance writing. For aspiring writers, he recommended just getting out there and ringing up magazines to write articles as you may be surprised at how often they say yes. The biggest advice he gave was to give your writing a unique flair so that anybody reading the text could recognize your work before reading the name. The students enjoyed this different but still incredibly useful talk especially his advice for prospective writers.

Eve Braid-Lewis Dave Smith, a stand-up comedian and writer, reveals the secrets of comedy, the three keys to writing and why he occasionally scares kids at the supermarket. Dave Smith’s youthful attitude of “we only have one life, so I want it to be fun” was presented as an opportunity for expression, which I think us teenagers need more of. Smith’s positive outlook shone as he explained the three main elements of writing. Firstly, to “be brave” and secondly to retain your own idiolect no matter who the audience is and keep your own individual style. Without meaning to sound like a character from Glee, I think this is a pretty good rule for life. Finally the most important part of writing is “the rewrite”. Smith hands in his pieces a few days before the deadline. As much as I admire this, I can’t imagine doing the same for homework, can you? The free holidays that come with travel writing and the regular columnist work which grant freedom to the writer to do a piece on anything they find interesting, particularly appealed to me. For instance Smith did a piece on his experience of wearing an empathy belly, and like a true performer, this was re-enacted to great comic effect. Obstacles such as writers block, Smith overcomes in a truly British way; by making a cup of tea! As he says “Sometimes I’m just boiling the kettle and pop, I’ll get an idea“. This is because ideas are more likely to spring into your head if you’re not trying. Smith revealed the best part of being a freelance journalist is “that I don’t have a boss, there’s my wife but that’s a different story!” A story he does tell is the secrets of comedy. During his televisual work, Smith discovered that most television shows like Mock the Week are more or less scripted, as the key to comedy is preparation through written material. This rule also applies to stand-ups as they too follow a script, but the most successful ones make it relatable. For example Michael McIntyre doesn’t talk about being a multi-millionaire; he talks about things everyone can relate to… the humour is in the recognition of the observation, which can be something very simple. Not only is it difficult not to warm to Smith’s sense of humour and humility “I always knew I was one of the funny ones, but not the funniest”, but also his natural ability to connect with an audience. This is best illustrated by the following comment: “Do you ever get it when you have an odd thought that makes you giggle? I can be in the supermarket and just start laughing to myself. Smith does an impression of a concerned mother grabbing her two children to save them from the horror of the “mad, giggling man”!

Interview Buddy This week Year 12 received a presentation from Ian Morgan, the owner of ‘Interview Buddy’, a company set up to help people perform well in a job or university interview. Ian spoke about the importance that an interview plays in a successful job application, informing us that it was not only about the grades we get (although they are important), but about what kind of a person we are. Ian covered much of the interview process, from how to answer the most common questions well to how to prepare before the interview, even going so far as telling us the body language we should use.

Speaking from his experience from both sides of the interview table, Ian brought a fresh perspective, telling us what the interviewer is looking for and how to stand out from the other candidates. With university interviews not far in the future, Ian’s presentation helped quell a few doubts in people’s minds.

Boarders to Brighton On Sunday, the hottest day of this year, our Boarders travelled to Brighton. A trip down the

pier, a walk on the beach and a stroll around The Lanes made for a perfect sunny day, enjoyed

by all.

House Drama Competition By Chloe Woolfe Thursday 27th April saw the annual Royal Russell School Drama Competition. Though only Junior Drama students are permitted to act, Senior Drama students were also encouraged to help and get involved.

Students were given a choice of three stimuli: the song 'Love Yourself' by Justin Bieber, the phrase 'The Refugee' and a picture that read 'If you could give a message to a large group of people, what would that message be?'.

'The Refugee' was the most popular stimulus, with four out of nine of the houses picking this title.

We were very impressed that all nine houses put a piece together and a lot of effort was shown across the board, using techniques they had been taught in class by Ms Cripps and Miss Davenport.

Costumes were also taken into consideration, as well as lighting and sound effects which helped enhance the quality of the pieces greatly. The groups had also clearly thought about the use of the space, which was very evident in their high quality performances.

The pieces were judged by a very experienced actor and director Theo Price. The winners in the end were Reade House, closely followed by Buchanan and St Andrew’s. Reade devised a heart wrenching piece about two children -one a refugee and one from an upper class family -and how despite the fact they were from two very different worlds, they could still be friends. Well done Reade!

The competition was very close however and we would like to say congratulations to all who got involved in the event. Students received their certificates and badges in Assembly on Friday. Many pupils now have the full ‘set’ having taken part in the last three years of the competition. New designs to follow next year. There was such an enthusiastic response that Ms Cripps had to order extra badges to ensure all participants were able to sport their badge with pride!

Bravo everyone!

Year 5 Primary Mathematics Challenge On Wednesday afternoon, the School hosted the annual Year 5 Primary Mathematics Challenge, involving twenty local independent and state schools. The young pupils from across the Borough and beyond were enthusiastic and worked hard on the competition. Congratulations to overall winners St David’s School, with Croydon High runners up, and our own Royal Russell Junior School in fourth place. The pupils were rewarded with some welcome refreshments and enjoyed a mathematics show from an invited speaker, Douglas Buchanan, who entertained the pupils with a variety of maths puzzles. A huge thank you to Mrs Smith for coordinating the competition part of this successful event.

From the CCF The presentation of the new Guidon to the Royal Yeomanry

On Saturday 7th May, Wing Commander Leggatt, Second Lieutenant Fisher, Underofficer Greenwood, Sergeant Tambini and myself made our way up to Buckingham Palace.

Spending the day being roasted alive in our uniforms was not too pleasant, and I felt particularly sorry for the officers, as they were in No.2 dress (i.e. thick woollen suits). However, being able to witness such a significant moment for our regiment was amazing.

You may be wondering what a “Guidon” is – well nowadays it’s basically a type of banner (flag) that all regiments have, and it bears the names of all the battles that that specific regiment has been a part of. It originates from back in the days where a battle consisted of one group of people charging at another group of people in an open field; leaders would carry a banner which would be used to rally the troops together and guide them. Hence, “Guide-man” became “Guidon”.

The Royal Yeomanry (RY) is the regiment that we, the RRS CCF, are affiliated to. However, the RY is the combination of 6 former regiments (each of whom had their own Guidon). The ceremony on Saturday was the formal marching off of the 6 Old Guidons and the marching on of the single new Guidon. Attending the ceremony was HRH Princess Alexandra, who is the Honorary Colonel for the RY, and the highest rank present was Lieutenant General Sir Barney White-Spunner.

After the ceremony, we were invited for tea outside, followed by a stroll around the immaculately kept and extensive palace gardens (very sophisticated). Overall, it was a very memorable occasion, filled with history and grandeur, and I count myself lucky to have been able to attend it. After all, it’s not every day that you can park on the Mall and walk up through the gates of Buckingham Palace.

Sgt. Castro

Cavalry Sunday 2016

Cavalry Sunday takes place annually in Hyde Park on the second Sunday in May, and takes the form of a march past by former and serving members of many cavalry regiments, followed by a short service to commemorate those who were killed on active service.

Royal Russell CCF was again invited to take part in the Parade, and on Sunday 8 May a contingent from the Army section attended Hyde Park. Their duties, as usual, took the form of helping veterans, handing out programmes and generally providing assistance to the Regular Army deployed to the event.

Once all contingents had mustered, the Royal Russell contingent joined cadets from the Hammersmith and Fulham ACF, with which they have a close association, and took part in the march past.

Cpl Will Wright said “This is the 4th Cavalry Parade I have been involved in. It is a great opportunity to

speak to the veterans who always have a story to share and a great honour to be allowed to march and to remember those who gave their lives for our freedom.”

Reverse Rett 50x50 Challenge

Last Sunday, Ms Pepperdine, Mr Rocca and Mrs Johnsson completed the 5x50 Challenge in aid of Reverse Rett, a charity which funds research into treatments and a cure for Rett Syndrome. The event involved walking, running or cycling 5kms a day every day for 50 consecutive days, and is enormously challenging not only physically but also in terms of simply finding the time to cover the distance every day, in-between marking, planning, lessons, meetings and children! Mrs Johnsson and Ms Pepperdine both completed the challenge 2 years ago, and this year were joined by Mr Rocca as well as 21 other dedicated team members across the country.

Rett Syndrome is a neurological condition which affects 1 in 10,000 girls, striking at around 18 months of age after seemingly healthy development. Girls typically lose their abilities to walk, talk, use their hands purposefully, breath regularly or digest normally, and also develop symptoms such as epilepsy, scoliosis, anxiety disorders and heart conditions. Mrs Johnsson’s daughter, Hannah, was diagnosed with the condition aged 3, and their family and friends have been fundraising to help speed treatments ever since. This latest challenge has so far raised over £20,000, and it’s not too late to make a donation! https://www.justgiving.com/teams/5x50ReverseRett

If you would like to find out more about Rett Syndrome or the work of the charity, please go to www.reverserett.org.uk or read Mrs Johnsson’s Huffington Post blogs at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beth-whitley/

Year 9 ‘What London Means to Me’ Video As part of Year 9’s current topic of ‘London’, through which they are exploring how London has been portrayed through various forms of media and literature and how perspectives on London change throughout time, Aiesha Ljewere created a video in response to the title ‘What London Means to Me’

Please watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa_JPuFz8LY&feature=youtu.be

From the Sport Department

House Sport

In an exciting Junior House cricket match, Cambridge set St Andrew’s a worthy 114 to make next week’s final. Harry Lloyd-Jones scoring 30 and David Kawa, 28. In reply, Tom Smith made 39 before being caught off the bowling of Lloyd-Jones who then took another wicket. Cambridge won by 2 despite a mighty 6 off the final ball, hit by Hamzah Mughal.

So they play the winners of Madden vs Keable, on Thursday 19th May. That other semi-final is now rearranged for next week. Final details TBC.

In the Year 9 and 10 intra softball league, some good hitting by Robbie and Nick allowed their team to take a strong lead. New teams next week!

Tennis

The last 2 weeks has been a busy one for tennis at the school.

Last Tuesday, 11 children from Year 10 embarked on the LTA tennis leaders course and I am pleased to say all passed and performed well. They all helped umpire matches on Friday and put into practise what they had learnt. They were a real credit to the school as we hosted the Croydon Schools qualifiers which saw 44 children participating. Royal Russell had 2 teams entered into this Year 3 and 4 event. I am pleased to say that they both topped their respective groups and qualified for the Croydon Schools Final on 25th May. If they win this they will represent Croydon in the Sainsbury's youth games later this term. A big thank you to all those who helped out on the day.

In other tennis news our Girls U15 and U13 teams are doing well with some girls playing up an age group. So far they have won one and lost one but are starting to gel as a team.

Our U13 boys team narrowly lost their 2nd match v Wallington Boys, but still have a chance to win the group if they win their last 2 matches, as they got off to a commanding win v Cedars. Our U15 boys team have a decider next Tuesday against Wilson's school and if they win this they will win the League and will represent the school at the Surrey Schools festival. So far they are undefeated.

Any pupils wishing to represent the School in the U13 or U15 team should come along to lunchtime tennis club or come and see Mark Love (Head of Tennis) on a Tuesday after school and introduce themselves to him.

On a personal note for Mr Love he was nominated Surrey Coach of the Year 2015 about 6 weeks ago and has now been awarded Regional Coach of the Year for the whole of the South East and is now in the running for National Coach of the year. The tennis programme is in safe hands and we hope to keep developing it for the future.

The Patron’s Lunch Street Party - Saturday 2 July 2016

As one of the Queen’s Patron Organisations, we have been officially invited to celebrate the occasion of Her Majesty's 90th Birthday.

You are warmly invited to a traditional ‘street party’ event to be held on Lime Tree Quad on the afternoon of Saturday 2 July 2016, following our Royal Russell Day celebrations. The event will begin at 1.00pm and conclude at 5.00pm. This will be a ticketed event and all attendees, including children, will require tickets. There is no charge for tickets which are available to Parents, Staff, Governors and Old Russellians and their children. Tickets will be issued on a first-come first served basis, with allocated table seats or the option of using a designated picnic area. Once all the table seats have been filled, only the picnic area will be available, until all tickets have been allocated. Guests are invited to bring their own family picnic. Additional refreshments including soft drinks, Pimms, cakes and ice cream will be on sale throughout the event. Tickets for the Royal Russell Patron’s Lunch event are available to book now at www.royalrussell.co.uk/PatronsLunch. We look forward to seeing you!

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Library News - Stationery Shop Popular with students is our stationery shop which is open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday

lunchtimes and stocks exam essentials at cheaper than high street prices. You can see the stock

and price list here. Please note we only take cash – change is available.

For all our latest news……. Follow us

Diary Dates

Sunday 15 May Pentecost Chapel Service 6.00pm All Welcome

Monday 16 May Year 7-10 Netball Tour Sept 2016 Presentation Library 6.00pm

Summer Term Key Dates

Monday 6 June Internal Exam Week Begins

Wednesday 22 June New Pupils’ Welcome Day

Saturday 2 July Royal Russell Day followed by The Patron’s Lunch Street Party

Thursday 7 July Summer Term Ends

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We welcome your feedback. Please send to Ciara Campbell, Marketing and Communications Manager

email: ccampbell@royalrussell.co.uk

Royal Russell School

Coombe Lane : Croydon : Surrey : CR0 5RF

www.royalrussell.co.uk Patron: Her Majesty The Queen