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NewsletterIssue No 4 / 2013-14 Friday 25 October 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools
Director of 6th form college - introductionDear Parents,
The news from Battersea that Pete had fulfilled the requirements of an MBA from a private university inLondon, following receipt of over £4,500 and a lengthy CV detailing his extensive work experience, hardly warrants a second glance. However, only when the Daily Telegraph revealed earlier this week that Pete in fact has four legs and resides at Battersea Dogs’ Home, does one start to reflect deeper on the value some place on education. Nothing could be in starker contrast to the principles of the remarkable Nobel Prize nominee, Malala Yousafzai and the importance she has placed on the value of education for girls.
Against this backdrop of the absurd and the profoundly admirable, it has been good to see so many examples of late of the true significance our students place on their own education, both inside and out of the class-room, a theme which has been so apparent as we conduct reference readings with the Upper Sixth and discuss their aspirations. A splendid Cabaret night at the College showcased the talents of students ranging from sing-ing to tap and even magic tricks. One applauds the skills of Mitsouko Anderson, Richard Bradley and Izzy Ray who brought the event to fruition, raising significant funds for a charity supporting young people.
On an academic front, a real desire to test mathematical understanding has been apparent in the number of students participating in the Girls’ British Maths Olympiad with such distinction and many more will take part in the Senior Maths Challenge next month.
Trips to Sicily and Berlin over half term will no doubt provide much stimulation and enrichment and I trust stu-dents will be able to enjoy something of a well-deserved break. It’s a crucial term but also a long one. Even at this early stage, Lower Sixth AS level students are a quarter of the way through their courses, whilst so many of their Upper sixth peers approach aptitude tests, interviews and hopefully much sought after offers in the weeks ahead. It’s certainly a time to recharge one’s batteries, but also enrich one’s education.
Unlike Battersea Pete, our students may not yet possess higher degrees, but they certainly have a healthier perspective on what education is really about.
With kind regards,
Mr Stuart JackDirector of Sixth Form
NewsletterIssue No 4 / 2013-14 Friday 25 October 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools
L6 Psychology students visit the Junior school & City pre-prep The L6 psychology students had a most successful visit to the pre-prep and years 1,2 and 3 in which they car-ried out Piagetian tasks with the children to observe whether conservation abilities change once children reach the age of 7.
Conservation is the ability to understand that simply because something has changed shape does not mean there is more of it. The results provided validation of Piaget’s theory in that the 7 year olds showed no hesita-tion in performing the tasks correctly while for the younger children it proved to be much more puzzling!
Some students were also able to carry out tasks on egocentrism with the older children and again Piaget proved to be right!
Both the students and children had a great time and enjoyed working with each other tremendously. We hope to make a return visit soon!
NewsletterIssue No 4 / 2013-14 Friday 25 October 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools
Engineering Festival at IWM DuxfordLast week Sixth formers visited the bi annual engineering festival at Duxford. The day consisted of scores of stands where companies invited students to look at products or systems and try some hands on activities. There were also many lectures to visit and of course they had the opportunity to view the planes in the hangers. One of the highlights of the day was the “graphene” workshop given by Cambridge University Engineering Depart-ment allowing students to access this Nobel prize winning technology. The students were able to separate lay-ers of graphite using sticky tape to reveal ultra-thin single hexagonal layers or grapheme; it was then possible to view these under a microscope. Larger scale engineering was in abundance as well as plenty of “cooking” with the Raspberry Pi.
This event was able to give students access to a wide range of STEM activities and I am sure it will help them make more informed choices about university courses and career paths.
History Society talkLast week, the sixth form History Society had its first meeting of term in the coffee shop of the college. Dr Murray presented a fascinating talk entitled ‘The History of Humour and the Politics of Resistance’ to a keen audience of budding historians. Prior to the talk everyone was intrigued as to how Dr Murray was going to link humour and political resistance. They seemed like two very separate topics.
Using references to Hillenbrand’s book ‘Underground Humour in Nazi Germany’ combined with her study of Tudor England, Dr Murray looked at how jokes can be a form of political resistance. During Henry VIII’s reign a jest aimed at the king was considered to be treason and therefore punishable by death, whilst in Nazi Germany, if you cracked a joke about Hitler the punishment was also death. However, these punishments did not stop people from opposing leaders through humour. As George Orwell once said, ‘every joke is a tiny revolution’, although humour could also reconcile people to a world of ‘second bests’. The talk gave all of us a brief look at one area of the history of humour and an insight into a form of resistance we had not touched upon in lessons. by Livi Woosey U6
SPF 1st Netball vs Hills Road Won 32-23On Monday 14th October, the Stephen Perse 1st Netball team took on Hills Road in their opening match of the season. There was dominant play by everyone in the team early on which meant that in the first quarter we had built a commanding 7 goal lead. Strong defence from Chloe Merrell and Tabby Downer meant that Hills Road only scored twice. The second quarter saw a comeback from the opposition but accurate shooting from Lucy Fell meant that Stephen Perse were very much still in the game. In the second half we pulled ahead again thanks to the defensive pressure applied to the centre court with Li An Cowley and Freya Watrasiewicz com-ing up with superb interceptions to deny Hills Road the flow they needed to come back into the game late on. Consistently good feeding into the circle from Chloe Frost-Smith helped us pull away to win 32-23. Against a very strong netball institution, the whole team gave a fantastic performance to start a promising season.by Anna Moscuzza (captain)
NewsletterIssue No 4 / 2013-14 Friday 25 October 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools
Careers in Biomedical ResearchOn the 1st of October a group of year 11 and L6 students went to a conference on Careers in Biomedical Re-search hosted at Cambridge Research Institute.
Angela Huang and Anna Wang (both L6) describe the evening:
During the evening, a range of speakers, including a nurse, radiographer, tissue bank manager, oncologist and paediatric researcher, talked about their respective jobs and how they aim to provide the best healthcare in the country.
An ongoing theme during the evening was the need, when working with patients, to be empathic but not personally involved. Samantha Whyte, a senior radiographer, mentioned that it was important to have some life experience to develop these skills. Other skills that the speakers thought necessary for Biomedical research included excellent communication skills, being able to work independently as well as in a team and being able to take roles of responsibility.
In their talks, the speakers also showed the vast range of opportunities available once in the field, ranging from obtaining a fellowship from Cancer Research UK to do a PhD, to working in academia, charities, and abroad. With new research being constantly developed, improving techniques, writing papers and working with commercial companies was a vital part of their job. However, the most prominent message that they gave to us was that it was crucial to be motivated and to engage your own brain in order to constantly ask questions about science.
Overall, it was a very interesting series of lectures; they were very informative and it opened our eyes to dif-ferent career paths and new possibilities that had not been considered before. The immense flexibility of a science-related degree or career sounded very appealing; for example, the potential to travel quite literally anywhere including abroad.
Another aspect that particularly stood out was the talk on radiotherapy. It was interesting to learn that com-munication was the most important skill that you could possibly need in this profession. It would seem that radiotherapists have a lot more contact time with each individual patient than doctors, and therefore less rigid emotional barriers. As the speaker noted, you get a real feeling of making a difference.
One of the real highlights of the evening was the fact that all of these unique career paths, despite their dif-ferences, all have the same benefit: job satisfaction. They were truly happy with the job they had chosen. In particular with the cases of the director of paediatric research and the clinical research fellow, it must seem that getting the feedback from the patients thanking the doctors for getting them on the road to recovery, as well as being provided with a unique insight into the personal aspects of other people’s lives, is what makes going into biomedical research a very rewarding career.
NewsletterIssue No 4 / 2013-14 Friday 25 October 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools
Parents & Friends Book Club
Sixth Form Cabaret
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 20th November, at 8pm (contact Dominie Walters, 01223 213961). We will discuss ‘An English Affair’ by Richard Davenport-Hines.
We always have a lively discussion and are keen to welcome new members. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Martha Crouch for details (020 7638 6983, [email protected])
On Friday 18 October, the Coffee Shop at the college was transformed for this year’s Sixth Form Cabaret even-ing into a cosy nightclub, complete with candles, silver backdrop and fairy lights. Organised by Izzy Ray, Mit-souko Anderson and Richard Bradley, the evening featured performances by talented members of the college – the audience were treated to a mix of singing, tap dancing, card tricks and live music, all introduced by a comedy duo of comperes. The evening raised a total of £336 for the charity Cut Cake Not Wrists.
News from the Visual Arts CentreArtist Jenny Walsh has just completed a series of glass sculpture workshops with the L6 IB and AS students - who learnt a variety of complex glass making and casting skills over two weeks. Students learnt about Glass as ‘the fourth state’ and experimented with fusing, inclusions, colour and fritt techniques before making a lost wax cast from a polystyrene shape, a process which would normally only be taught at degree level.
Jenny has also just had an article published in International Schools magazine on collaboration between art and science. Follow this link to read the article, on page 36: http://www.is-mag.co.uk
NewsletterIssue No 4 / 2013-14 Friday 25 October 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools
Inspire Me event – Entrepreneurship and InnovationOur programme for this year kicked off with a great event last week with over 200 guests coming to hear about entrepreneurship and innovation, so thank you to those of you who attended this event.
Our four speakers (including two alumni) all gave entertaining and interesting insights into how these skills have helped them in their journeys and careers – with surprising inspiration for one of our speakers coming from rock star Jonny Rotten! We have a full write up with photos on our website: click here.
Samata has two copies of her book about getting into the fashion industry available at a reduced price of £17.99 from the event – first-come, first served! Please pay (click here to go straight to PayPal to pay now) then take your receipt to reception for your copy. Or email [email protected] to reserve your copy.
From year 10 students to Inspire Me speakers - SPF students past and present. Sarah Boxall (centre left) and Samata (centre right) with current students.
Next event
We aim to engage and inspire our students, parents and alumni with these events, so do please let us know what you think to them.
Our next event is on Wednesday 27 November ‘Inspire Me: In the footsteps…’ the event will focus on exploration and pushing our boundaries. Please put the date in your diary.
Click the image to the right for more details.
NewsletterIssue No 4 / 2013-14 Friday 25 October 2013 Follow us on Twitter: @SPFSchools
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