June 2010 Issue 1

BerlinGCSE HISTORY STUDENTS VISIT THE HISTORIC CITY

Student CouncilTHE ELECTION PROCESS FOR HEAD BOY/GIRL BEGINS

PressureTHE LATEST PRODUCTION FROM THE ALNS THEATRE Co

CLOSE RESULT AS YEAR 7 BOYS PLAY AT

FrattonPark!

Read the full match report inside

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PLUS: SURVIVING THE SMILING COAST - ONE STUDENTS ACCOUNT OF THE VOLCANIC ASH CLOUD!

Welcome to Latitude, the new half termly magazine from ALNS. Latitude aims to be as innovative as Innov8 and as informative as ALNewS and will keep you updated with all of the latest news and events happening both in and out of school. We will use it as a vehicle to celebrate our successes as well as let you know what is coming up.

Zoe SampsonEditor

PS: For those of you wondering what will happen to the last part of the competition in the old Innov8 magazine, don’t worry!! There is still the chance for you to look for the buckets and spades in this edition of Latitude.

Welcome

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Well done to Ella Minker, from year 9 who has just received ‘exceptional performance’ for one of her KS3 music compositions using music technology. The composition is an extended dance remix of ‘Logical Song’ by Supertramp which Ella created in audio editing software. Ella’s remix demonstrates a coherent development of musical ideas in an individual style which is consistent throughout the piece.

Congratulations to Martin Legg, Luke Mitchell & Jonathon Hewitt who have all qualified to represent the school at this year’s Celebrity Chef Competition. This year’s brief is to design and create a two course menu suitable for a lunch menu at the Hilton Hotel. The dishes must be a twist on traditional English cuisine. If they win their dishes will be added to the Hilton’s lunchtime menu for a month in Summer and they will win a master class with a celebrity chef. Good luck boys!

We have 3 girls, Kirsty Collins 8L, Ella Minker 9A & Bethany Morrison 9N who represented the school in Schools’ Synchronised Swimming Championships held in Telford on May 15th 2010. They won a Bronze Medal in the school team category, even though there were only 3 of them in the team!

Anyone interested in finding out more about the Portsmouth Victoria Synchronised Swimming Club, the girls belong to, please speak to the girls. It would be good to have a slightly bigger team for 2011 Schools Championships!

Celebrations and CongratulationsExceptional Music Performance Celebrity Chef Competition Synchronised Swimming Championships

Dates for the diary: Summer termTuesday 8th June PSSA MeetingFriday 11th June Year 7 reports to parentsMonday 14th June BTEC Drama production weekThursday 17th June Year 7 parents eveningWednesday 23rd June Year 10 college dayWednesday 23rd June Humanities field tripsThursday 24th June BTEC Music eveningWednesday 30th June Gambia project celebration eveningWednesday 30th June Year 11 BBQThursday 1st July Year 11 promMonday 5th July Year 10 work experience week one Year 8 camp week Year 6 induction day oneTuesday 6th July Year 6 induction day twoTuesday 6th July PSSA MeetingThursday 8th July Year 6 parents eveningMonday 12th July Year 10 work experience week twoWednesday 14th July Full Governors meetingFriday 16th July Year 8 reports to parents Personal Development Days Year 7 Bolougne Year 8 Environmental Day Year 9 Design DayMonday 19th July Personal Development Days Year 7 Summer Sports Day Year 8 Summer Sports Day Year 9 Summer Sports Day Year 10 Post Work Experience ConferenceWednesday 21st July Performing Arts eveningThursday 22nd July Personal Development Days Year 7 Performing Arts Year 8 Languages Day Year 9 Healthy Relationships Year 10 Africa DayFriday 23rd July Celebration Assemblies and end of term

Mr Fallick, Mr Morgan and Mr Stubbs enjoy the facilities at Fratton Park

Caught on Camera...

A BTEC student stars in the 2009 performance of Hard to Swallow. Catch the 2010 BTEC Drama production of ‘Pressure’ in the week commencing 14th June

The Parent, Staff and Student Association works closely with the school to offer support to various curriculum areas and to raise funds wherever possible.

We support the school in many different ways

- helping at Personal Development Days - supporting the reading scheme - providing refreshments at Parents’ Evenings - supporting the student council - fundraising which include quiz nights - ALNS Community Fair

Our quiz nights are very popular and half of the income generated is donated to attending school department. Our most recent quiz night generated in the region of £400, the winners of the £200 prize draw were the English Department, so congratulations to them.

We are always on the look our for interested parents, who have new ideas and more importantly, enthusiasm to join our friendly group, so if you would like to be involved in the PSSA or take part in the next quiz, please contact Steve Johnson on 02392 369133 or email sjohnson@alns.co.uk

Is your child eligible for

Free School Meals?If you are in receipt of benefits, you may be able to claim Free School Meals, School Uniform Grant and get assistance with travel to school. Application forms are available to download from the school website or alternatively, contact Julie Sabiston - Entitlement Officer at Portsmouth City Council on 02392 834962.

Eligible benefits include;

• Income support• Income based job seekers allowance• Income related employment and support allowance• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999• Child Tax Credit• State Pension Credit

Spinal Injuries AssociationALNS is taking part in the Spinal Injuries Association foreign coin challenge 2010. There will be a box located at main reception where you can donate your unwanted foreign coins. Once the box is full, it will be collected and calculated and the school with the most money will win an award!! The money raised will help the Spinal Injuries Association offer support to individuals who become paralysed and their families, which aims to enable and encourage paralysed people to lead independent lives. For more information please visit www.spinal.co.uk.

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PSSA

PARENTS

My wife and I attended the recent Quiz with our team “One over the eight” (there were nine of us). We were impressed with the way the quiz was conducted - Oliver made an effective quiz-master with confidence: his questions struck a good level of knowledge - not too obscure, nor too simple - and we look forward to a repeat perfomance in the not too distant future. Oliver`s sister, Abby, ran the raffle very well, again with confidence and maturity. The refreshments at half-time were well presented, and the whole evening was a credit to the organisers. Thank you. David Meek

We very much enjoyed the recent Quiz Evening. The questions were varied and imaginative with a range that suited everyone. It was original to use anagrams of the round titles and we enjoyed deciphering them.

Congratulations are due to all those who helped organise the quiz and the meal. Special thanks to Oliver for the hard work he put into his research, the impressive display of computer skills and the way he took charge on the evening. We look forward to next time! Regards,John and Marilyn Leete

The quiz night was an enjoyable fun filled event that was enjoyed by everyone. We thought Oliver did a great job. Karen Cole

Gardening ClubSupported by Mrs Bartlett and Ms Pridham our gardening grows fruit, plants and vegetables in our allotment area and Katrinas garden. The gardening club is in desperate need of donations, so if you have any spare plants, please bring them in to school.

We’re collecting!hand your vouchers in at reception

The quiz night was an enjoyable fun filled event

The 21st of April 2010 will hold many memories for 16 year 7 boys. For it was this day that Admiral Lord Nelson took it’s under 12’s to Fratton Park for the U12 Hibbs Cup final.

The team was:George Wilson (GK), Harry Walberton, Jake Green, Chris Pharoah, Harry Wilks, Tom Sandy, Lewis McKerr, Luke Newham (C), Bailey Winning, Adam Linn, Kieran Clark, Tarmin Ahmed, Liam Kilford, Ash Lister, Jordan Reed and George Parker.

At 6pm the team arrived and were shown around the ground. All the boys enjoyed the experience of walking through the tunnel and getting changed in the home changing room, as many of their hero’s play here week in week out. There was an excellent turn out from staff and parents who provided Fratton Park with a perfect atmosphere suited to a cup final.

ALNS were up against a well organised Springfield side. After a brisk warm up, the players walked out from the tunnel and lined up facing the crowd, it was clear that some of the players were extremely nervous to be playing on such a historic ground. The game started well and it was a close game, with end to end action. Luke made his presence felt with perfectly timed tackles and dominating headers from centre back. Tom dealt with the early threat well and helped to steady the boys down after a shaky start. However when Springfield did manage to break through early in the first half, George’s excellent reflexes helped to keep ALNS in it with a series of superb saves.

After the initial 10 Minutes, ALNS started to move the ball around well. Jake made crisp passes out wide to Harry and Chris who both played well on the wings, however the final ball was missing and often Bailey was left isolated on his own up front. Springfield pounced on this and halfway through the first half they took an early lead, only after George made three excellent saves in succession and Harry Walberton with some last ditch tackles. There was nothing they could do about the goal - a simple tap in for a very happy Springfield player.

After this blow, it would have been easy for heads to drop and confidence to be lost. However this was not the case and the boys came together and showed their excellent qualities. Lewis and Jake had a significant influence in the game, and their battling nearly gave ALNS an equaliser after playing Kieran through on goal, only for the Springfield keeper to make an easy save.

During half time, the boys were reminded about the simple things that they had forgotten to do in the first half and they almost made the perfect

start to the second half when Ash replacing Kieran had his shot saved by the keeper. As the game went on, it was clear that the boys were getting tired and the game became stretched. Adam showed class and hard work in the right back position where he stopped attacks and linked well with the midfield.

However football can be such a cruel game, and this was the case mid way through the second half when ALNS gave away a free kick 30 yards from goal. It was clear that it would have to be something special to beat George, and this was it, a top corner strike something David James would have struggled to get to!

So 2 – 0 down, with 20 minutes to play, changes were made and Liam, Jordan and Tarmin came on try to change the outcome of the game. The boys battled well and began to win the tackles and used the space well along the channels of the pitch. ALNS had the best of chances when a counter attack opened up Springfield’s defence with Ash needing to test the keeper - he managed to bend his shot wide of the post, not to the delight of his dad!

With less then 10 minutes remaining and 11 tired boys on the pitch, ALNS had one change left and George came on to replace Bailey. With a changed set up, it eventually paid off when Jake interlocked well with Harry and Jordan managed to pass the ball to Luke who managed to smash a shot past the keeper and in the goal. 2-1 with less then 4 minutes left, was it too late?

The game finished 2-1 to a well-deserved Springfield side. After reflecting on their loss, the players responded well and shook hands with the opposition and referees. Every boy collected a player’s medal and celebrated the success of Springfield in an extremely well behaved way.

Even though the boys didn’t manage to win the game, it was clear to staff and parents that they were all winners and they should be extremely proud to have made it to the final.

Mr C Fallick

ON Thursday 29th April, ALNS year 9 boys football team competed for the U14 Portsmouth Schools Cup vs Mayfield at Moneyfields FC.

The game started off slowly with Mayfield having most of the possession and some good early chances, but ALNS defended well and George Davis made some excellent saves.

After 15 minutes ALNS started to apply some pressure, and were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. Connor Hoare floated in a lovely cross which troubled Mayfields’ defence and keeper resulting in a goal line scramble and the ball hit the back of the net.

After this goal went in ALNS seemed to step off the gas and allowed Mayfield to attack. Communication and team spirit seemed to lack and it showed on the pitch. Mayfield began to have more chances and capitalised, managing to score and put them ahead 2-1.

Half time and Mr Hough and Mr Morgan’s team talk seemed to inspire the team, as the boys came out fighting, and began to play some good football.

Johnny Longmore started to pick up the ball and played some lovely passes which cut open the Mayfield defence.

With all this pressure, the Mayfield goalkeeper made the mistake of stepping out of his area whilst holding the ball resulting in a free kick on the edge of the box.

Conner Haore stepped up to take the free kick and drilled the ball into the top corner, making the score 2-2. with 10 minutes remaining.

ALNS made some changes, bringing on Aiden Hutchins for Conner Messenbird, Kieron Massey for James Corsar, Jackson Perry for Harry Gregory and George Greentree for Josh Harris. These changes saw some extra fitness and an injection of pace into the game and ALNS began to dominate. ALNS played some forward football searching for the winning goal which allowed Mayfield to counter attack and created some excellent chances. Jay Johnson, Nathan Gondell and Matt Farrell defended superbly, but there were 2 last ditch sliding tackles from Kieron Massey and Jackson Perry that stood out.

With full time edging closer, ALNS continued to apply pressure and an excellent cross from the left wing was met by a divine header that looped up and over the Mayfield goal keeper. With 5 minutes to play, Admiral managed to hold out and defended well to gain the win and the cup!!!!

Final Score: Admiral Lord Nelson School 3 Mayfield 2

Student Football

CUP FINALS

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Well, there I was, sitting at Paradise Beach when I suddenly heard Ms Lucas say

the words ‘volcano’ Iceland and ‘Not going home’ all in the same sentence. Tears sprang to my eyes and when I rang my mum, she thought a bomb

had gone off in Iceland in North End! I know….

Anyway, we returned back to the hotel and basically spent the next few days in the pool not knowing when we would be

going home. There were bets on weeks and even months. Optimistic. Not!

Luckily, we were allowed to stay at the hotel but unluckily, Thomas Cook made us full board so we were forced to live off chips, omelette and bread. After two days of being

stuck the novelty was beginning to wear off and moods were starting to fall. We were running out of malarone tablets and had to rely on a local chemist to keep the mosquitoes at bay. Teachers from our Gambia school kindly gave up their time and travelled a long way to teach us Science, but other than that, we basically just went to the supermarket in the morning, swam in the

pool, ate lunch and then did school work at the hottest part of the day. On the Tuesday, five days after we were

meant to go home, we went on a trip where some people got their fortune told and I had to get a man to shoo away a baboon so that I

could go to the toilet.

Then, on Wednesday morning, just as the only four girls on the trip were starting to fall out, Ms Lucas came running to our room to tell us we had one hour until we had to leave. Now, being as the psychic that I am, I had started packing before breakfast as I had wanted to tempt fate. Within an hour we were all packed and sitting in reception. Some of us were upset to leave and return to reality whilst others were glad to leave omelette, chips and bread behind.

Once we had arrived at the airport it was 11am and our bags were checked in. Looking at the board, our flight did not leave until 6pm. That meant 7 hours in an airport with the same ten people I’d just spent two weeks with. Joy!! However, we all had an expensive lunch and played good ole charades which seemed to pass the time.

By 6.30pm we were in the air and on our way back to England only to find that there were no paparazzi waiting for us and that the temperature was 30oC cooler than Gambia.

An uneventful end to a very eventful and unforgettable trip!!

Lauren Carr Year 11

Throughout June our Year 7 students will be virtually transported to the Gambia through their lessons. To support Kabafita (our Gambia link school) every year 7 lesson during June will have a Gambian theme, culminating in a Celebration event on Wednesday 30th June, where parents/governors and friends of the school will be invited to celebrate the work that the students have done during this time. The Celebration will be a feast of everything Gambian, including drama and music performances, sampling Gambian food (made by the students), certificates of achievement and displays of work.

After a busy term, Winter Sports Day was a well attended and competitive affair for staff and students alike.

House assemblies ran well as lead teachers – Miss Brander, Mr Stubbs, Mr Morgan and Mr Fallick set out their expectations and explained the afternoons activities available to the students.

The students proved to be effective team workers and identified each others strengths to field their strongest teams possible and the PE department would like to thank those students who did not get to participate in their preferred activity for the benefit of their house.

The afternoon ran smoothly with nearly 800 students participating in a range of sporting activities which included gym, dance, table tennis, basketball, hockey, football and cross country.

Haifa regained their 2007 status as winter house champions, in what proved to be a very close result for all houses. Sydney who have dominated the last 4 years of titles came 3rd, allowing Caen to move up into second place. Duisburg, again, came 4th and were let down by a poor kit score.

Winter Sports Day

As we go into the summer term, we continue our work with Creative Partnerships. We have various projects running that include many of our students. Within this section, we will keep you up to date with the projects’ progress.

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On Thursday 22nd April the BTEC Acting groups from both Years 10 and 11 performed as part of the schools showcase at the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth.

The showcase started as a small event last year and has grown into an evening event full of fantastic performances of KS4

work from lots of schools and colleges in the city. Our Yr10 students performed an anti-bullying piece that they put together for an assembly earlier in the year. The Yr11s performed their amazing mask piece once again. Both groups provided excellent examples of some of the innovative work that students produce at ALNS.

All of the work we saw that evening was outstanding and it was exciting to see some of the amazing work going on within schools in the city and the wealth of talent out there. The evening was really well attended and the theatre plan to provide even more opportunities for our students to perform next year! Julia Firth

ALNS Theatre Company presents “PRESSURE” on the 15th & 16th June at 7.30pm in the Drama Studio. ‘Pressure’ is the 4th production presented by the company which is run totally by students as part of their BTEC Acting Diploma course. This years production is about a group of young people who are all experiencing different types of teenage pressures. Once again the company are working exceptionally hard to create a dynamic and challenging piece of theatre. Tickets will be on sale in the mall soon. £4.00 adults, £3.00 concs.

creative partnerships

Our working party have made an excellent start with this area and the basic structures are in place. Within the recycled tyre planters, students are growing a variety of vegetables, including potatoes, peas and onions as well as slightly exotic garlic! The team have been keen to expand their willow ideas and so, within this area have built a wigloo – a dome shaped structure built from willow. This wigloo has live willow threaded through it, which will eventually cover it, to provide a shaded quiet area for students to sit.

Our existing nature area was redeveloped thanks to a grant from the Big Lottery Breathing Places funding in 2008. Working with Creative Partnership’s the students plan to make further changes to this area. Their first job was to plant their very own willow crop, which, when ready will be used to build structures throughout the school grounds. To kick start this part of the project, Creative Partnerships brought some of their own willow which students used to make a willow arch over the entrance to the nature area. Further plans include, adding seating to the bird watching hide, installing additional pathways and ensuring the pergola is used as an outdoor teaching space.

In conjunction with Portsmouth University, Creative Partnership, a group of Key Stage 3 students worked on a designing an outdoor activity centre. Using the exisiting school grounds as a starting point, the students brainstormed their ides and made models of their ideal outdoor space.

Working with a group of year 9 students, the Creative Partnerships team have a mini project running, which looks at the art of paper and book making. Firstly, students were shown how to make their own paper, adding scrap paper and water to a food blender the students had to plan what colour paper to put in to the mix to determine which colour would come out. Whilst their paper was drying, the students developed their ideas for their book, based on a theme of their choice, they used various materials to fill the pages and once the paper was dry, used Japanese stab stitching to bind it all together.

Year 8 students are currently looking at areas within the school. So far, they have looked at an ‘open information space’. The idea being that often, there is lots of information posted around the school and often items get missed. The ‘open information space’ will be located outside of the information centre and will be a central point for any leaflets, flyers of posters to be displayed. The group are also coming up with ideas to redevelop Katrina’s Garden area. Watch this space for further updates…

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Day OneAfter getting to school at 3am and flying to Berlin, our Tour Guide (Nigel) introduced himself in our hotel. We then walked to a part of the Berlin Wall, where we could see it all from a lookout, and also visited the museum underneath. After lunch, which ranged from Burger King, to Fish and Chips, to actual German food, we took the tube to Checkpoint Charlie – the old crossing point between East and West Germany. The museum was full of stories about the successes failures and consequences of crossing the Berlin wall: some adults who tried to cross the wall were forced to put their children up for adoption. Back to the hotel for dinner, and then free time.

Day TwoBreakfast, and then straight out for the day. We got the tube to go and see The Brandenburg Gate (which was stunning), followed by a Russian war memorial and then straight to the Reichstag. It is a beautiful building from the outside, but the huge cues meant that unfortunately we couldn’t go inside. Our next stop was the Holocaust memorial for the Jewish deaths, where Nigel gave us time to explore. It was only a memorial for the Jews in the Holocaust, but there are memorials for other groups who were victims of the Holocaust too. Next, we went to the Topography of Terror, an outdoor museum, giving details about many parts of the Nazi regime, such as the Gestapo and SS. We also saw Goring’s Air ministry buildings, but again, only from the outside.

We had lunch at Potsdamer Platz, which is a popular shopping centre full of different places to eat, including a potato cafe! Finally, we went to the bunker systems to find out about how people lived during the bombing raids and although no one is able to visit

Hitler’s bunker, the commonly used ones were fascinating. Our tour guide told us all about the underground systems in the war, how they lived and rules that were set – there were hundreds of people in the bunkers at one time, so the conditions were very harsh. Once again, back to the hotel for the evening.

Day ThreeThere were three main stops on the third day: Sachsenhausen concentration camp, the Olympic Stadium and Wansee Villa. Nigel gave us a full tour of the concentration camp, which was hard but extremely informative. We found out about the way the prisoners were treated and how they lived, and there were specific cases of different people everywhere – it was an extremely eye opening experience for everyone to say the least. The Olympic Stadium was huge and very impressive, we were left to our own devices to wander, but Nigel told us about its history and more specifically about the 1936 Olympics that took place there. In Wannsee Villa, we were given a talk about the final solution, as this was where it was made. The man giving the talk told us shocking things about the Nazi’s plans for the Jews, and then let us looks around the museum. We then headed home for a disco in the hotel to celebrate our last night.

Day FourWe all managed to get pictures with Nigel, and then off to the airport, after the best trip ever! Thank you so much Mrs Copeland!

Student Voice/School CouncilWelcome from Cameron Duffus Head Boy and Olivia Abdul Head Girl

The development of Latitude has enabled us, the students to have a voice and talk about things that are relevant to us.

So, if you want to make your voice heard and have your ideas, opinions or information added to this section, just tell your Student

Council Representative and they will let us

know. Or you could hand any written ‘copy’ to reception for the attention of Zoe Sampson.

As year 11 students, Olivia and I will shortly be leaving the safety of ALNS and going on to other things, but we know that there are other students keen to take over where we will be leaving off.

There are now 17 Year 10 Prefects working alongside of us and at the last school council meeting each one was interviewed for the

posts of Head Boy, Head Girl or Leaders of the School Council by school council tutor reps. The feedback from these interviews, alongside teacher testimonials and an interview with Mr Labedz will result in the new head boy/girl and Leaders of the School Council being appointed.

Look out for the new team in the next edition of Latitude…

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BERLIN TRIP6 - 9th April 2010

For this year’s history trip, a group of Year 10 and 11 students were taken to Berlin by Mrs Copeland, Mrs Easson, Miss Brown, Mr Fenner and Mr Payne.

ALNS is very much a community school and we

strive to ensure our facilities are accessible to all.

North Island Community Improvement Partnership;

Brings together schools, the police, health and youth services, voluntary organisations, the council and others to run activities for our local community..

We cover Hilsea, A nchorage Park, Stamshaw, Tipner, North End, Copnor, Baffins, Fratton

and part of Buckland.

Based at the Broadside Centre in ALNS, we deliver a variety of projects under the three priorities of Parental Engagement, Healthy

Lifestyles and Youth. We also run the Boost! holiday programme every school holiday.

So, if you are interested in;

• Parenting courses

• Cooking with your children

• Learning to cook healthy meals on a budget

• Spending time reading with your child

• Involving your child in youth clubs and positive behaviour projects

• Accessing free, fun activities for your child during half terms and holidays

• Volunteering with the NICIP

Please contact the NICIP team on 02392 364536 ext 348 or email cip@alns.co.uk

Did you know that our facilities are open to hire until 10pm 7 days a week.

Sports facilities include;

• Fully equipped indoor sports hall

• Full size, flood-lit astro-turf pitch

• Full size, flood-lit multi-use games area

• Large fitness suite with mirrors

• Fully licensed bar area with sky sports

• Own dedicated entrance

Facilities available to hire within the main school include;

• Two dance studios

• Two drama studios

• Large main hall which can be separated

• Various classrooms

• Licensed for live music and sporting activities

Broadside Business and Enterprise Centre is a fully equipped meeting and conference facility which;

• Is suitable for meetings, small conferences, team away-days

• Can hold up to 40 delegates

• Has 50” plasma screen with laptop and DVD available

• Can provide catering and refreshment facilities

Hamilton’s Caterers are our in house catering team, who can provide catering for any event held on school premises. Hamilton’s menu ranges from a simple buffet lunch for 30 people to a hog roast or BBQ for 500.

For more details or to hire our facilities, please contact Steve Johnson on 023 92 369133 or email sjohnson@alns.co.uk

For information regarding Hamilton’s please contact Gaye Bartlett on 02392 364536 or email gbartlett@alns.co.uk