Perkin Post Fifth Edition

22/05/14

Intelligent engagement with the wider world.

Hello again avid readers of the Perkin Post! This is our fifth

edition and there is only one more to go before our first year is

complete — how time flies when you’re having fun (and

learning lots)! Read on to find out about the highlights of our

summer term so far... Don’t forget to read this edition’s comic

strip; we have no doubt that it will, at the very least, make you

smile!

Strictly Comes to WP!

On Friday 28th April, William Perkin hosted its very own Strictly Come

Dancing competition. The event was put together to raise money for

Sport Relief.

Our host Mr Martin and hostess Mrs Salter introduced our judges (Mr

Smith, Mrs Bamping and Mrs Lloyd) and the fabulous dance partners (our

teachers)! We were impressed and surprised by how much thought and

energy went into each performance and the sparkly outfits. For the most

part all the students were applauding on their feet—we could not contain

our excitement!

It was Mr Barnsley and Miss Neelands who won the judges’ and students’

vote. They performed a terrific samba dance. Their choice of song, Hips

Don’t Lie by Shakira, was very popular with the crowd. It was an exciting,

fast paced performance. We didn’t know English teachers could dance so

well!

A huge thank you to Miss Lovell, who trained our teachers and

choreographed the dances. Join her dance extended elective on a

Tuesday to be infected with her passion for latin and modern dancing!

Warm Words from the Editors!

Easter Celebrations

William Perkin had its first ever Easter Concert on

Wednesday 2nd April 2014! In the afternoon, we per-

formed “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”

to three Primary schools and our senior citizens. It was a

great success! Our extremely talented singers and actors

performed from the

bottom of their hearts

and blew us away with

their passion and talent. A huge well done to Kiran Kanani (7I), who played Joseph!

In the evening, we performed “Joseph” and a recital from our music electives, organised

by our brilliant instrumental teachers, to our parents. The recital involved a brass group,

a violin group, a clarinet group and our William Perkin band performing “Valerie” by Amy

Winehouse. One parent commented: “The show was captivating because you all

performed with such passion”. The Art department put on a fantastic display of art

work relating to Easter. From them we could purchase handmade chicks made out of

decorative paper (these contained yummy mini eggs) and candy floss!

On Thursday 3rd April, we had our end of term assembly for our second exciting term. It

was led by Mrs McEwen. Together, we celebrated our achievements and were rewarded

with chocolate eggs! Each subject reflected on its success and once again our tutors had

the tough choice of awarding one member of their form the

Easter form prize. An impressive silver trophy was awarded to

the form with the most house points! Kelvin were the lucky

winners.

Rutherford came a close second. Can they steal the top spot

next time or will Kelvin stand firm?

On Monday 30th March and Tuesday 1st April, William Perkin students took

part in a Lent Labyrinth experience. There were several activities including

a bubble tube (which we used to thank God for something important to

us) and a mirror and quotes that helped us feel good about ourselves.

There was also a bowl in which we dropped an antacid tablet in water and

watched it dissolve (the tablet symbolised our sins and the water

symbolised Jesus). Ajani Sturge said: “It was a really supportive

experience that helped us learn more about ourselves. It also helped us

reflect on what we have and how some people are less fortunate than us”.

Shamima Islam reported that “The Labyrinth helped us reflect on our lives

and what we believe in, in a significant way”. Thank you to Father John for

organising this unique experience!

Lent Labyrinth!

On Wednesday 23rd April, Mrs Atille, Easha Vigneswaran, Krish Patel, Sebastian Markowski and I went to

the Salters’ Chemistry Festival at UCL (University College London.) The aim of the day was to complete

the challenging practicals, have fun and, most

importantly, beat Twyford!

After the introduction, all 23 schools went to the

chemistry labs. Once we got there, we were all

amazed as they were almost three times as big as

our normal labs! The five of us went to our row and

we then put on our lab coats, goggles and gloves.

Our task was to solve a crime as there had been a

stolen gnome incident earlier that morning. We tested ink and powder from eight suspects and

compared the results to the evidence left at the scene. Easha and I tested the powder and Sebastian

and Krish tested the ink. We then swapped over to make sure the results were accurate. We then wrote

up our predictions about the thief and the conclusion of our results.

After a short break, we went back to the labs to do a

competitive experiment — no teachers were allowed

inside. We had to create Sulphur using a base and an acid

(Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric Acid) in exactly

one minute. A judge tested our mixture and

(unfortunately) ours took 37 seconds to make.

We went back to the lecture room and received a quick

lesson from Dr. A. Sella. He made a bottle

explode with dry ice. We watched him set oxidized cotton

wool and digestive biscuits on fire, creating a flame that

was about 30cm in height.

We just missed the top three as we came fourth but, most

of all, we beat Twyford because they came tenth! It was

such a fantastic day and I hope other people will be able to

go on similar trips because it’s a great experience. On the

behalf of Easha, Krish and Sebastian, I’d like to thank to the

whole Science Department and especially Mrs Atille for

making this all possible.

By Albertina Abilio 7N

Chemistry Competition!

Kelvin’s Enterprise Day

On Friday 2nd May 2014, William Perkin had their fourth Enterprise

Day, organised by Kelvin who were raising money for Cancer Research

UK. On the day, all the teachers dressed up as characters from a book

and the students had to guess who they were and where they came

from. Mr Bedford was Sherlock Holmes, Mrs McEwen was Katniss

Everdeen from the “Hunger Games”, Mr Martin was Willy Wonka from

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, Mr Barnsley was Augustus Gloop

(“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”), Mrs Bamping was Violet

Beauregarde (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”), Miss Neelands was Bellatrix Lestrange from “Harry Potter”, Mr Miall

was Harry Potter, Mr Salter was Hagrid (also from “Harry Potter”), Mrs Easton was

Annabeth Chase from “Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus” and Miss Reid was

Aslan from “The Chronicles of Narnia”. Also ,on the day, students got to wear one

item of clothing that was baby blue or baby pink as they are Cancer Research

colours.

At break time, Kelvin set up a huge cake and sweet stall that everyone rushed to

get to. There was also a lucky dip and busking by very talented singers form Kelvin

and Karos (Rutherford), who was playing the guitar in support of Kelvin House.

During lunchtime, Kelvin continued to sell their delicious cakes and sweets and there was also an event called ‘Pie Miss

Neelands’. Students gave £2 to smack a cream pie on Miss Neelands’ face! It was a very hilarious and fun event to watch —

our teachers are clearly very dedicated to raising money for a good cause!

After school, we had a student verses teacher three-legged race in the Performance Centre. The teacher pairs were: Mr

Bedford and Mrs McEwen, Mr Barnsley and Miss Neelands, Mr Martin and Mrs Bamping and, finally, Mr Miall and Mr

Salter. The student pairs were: Oliwia and Paulina, Devante and Elliot, Karolina and Lia and Nicolas and Eliandro. It was a

very enjoyable and entertaining event with a very enthusiastic

audience. In the end, Mr Bedford and Mrs McEwen won the race

in the final and won a very large chocolate bar each

(unfortunately, they did not share their winnings with the stu-

dents).

Well done to Dumebi and Mohaiman who both guessed who

all the teachers were and won a massive chocolate egg! At the

end of the day, Kelvin raised £352! Well done Kelvin!

Accountability Assembly!

On the evening of 14th May, the Citizens Organising Group held an accountability

assembly in our school. Our local MP, Steve Pound came, as did Julian Bell and

David Millican. It was about ways to improve issues in our community such as

homelessness and road and bus safety. Several William Perkin students gave

impressive and thought provoking speeches in support of improving safety on

the buses. This successful event closed with our school anthem (“Each Day a

New Day”) which William Perkin students sung beautifully.

Netball Inter-form

An intense inter-form netball competition took place on Friday 16th

May. As usual, many came to support the passionate, talented teams.

The final was particularly thrilling

as it involved 7K and 7E working

their hardest for the pride of their

house. Initially, the outcome

seemed unpredictable. However,

7K did not quite manage to

prevent as many goals as they

would have liked. 7E therefore

triumphed and it is a well

deserved success!

It was Pascal’s enterprise day on Friday 16th May. There were many things to buy

including candy floss and cakes. We could pay to participate in Beat the Goalie (Mr

Barnsley had to work very hard to save Nathaniel’s powerful shots). During the

school day the tension was high with all the students pondering about which

teacher was going to get gunged at 4.00pm. Initially, it looked like it was going to

be Madame Bamping … but NO! It was Mr Miall; Madame Bamping came third. Mr

Miall made the gunge and it poured over his head with it by a member of his own

form (Fatma Al-Azawi). The word on the grape vine is that the gunge contained out

of date sprouts. Mr Miall must have

struggled to get the stench out of his

clothes.

Well done to Pascal for raising plenty

of money for MacMillan Cancer

Support!

Pascal’s Enterprise Day

Opening Ceremony

Perkin Post Team!

Thursday May 15th was an extremely special day for every member of our school and local community because William Perkin officially opened! We were lucky enough to be joined by some very special guests: Steve Pound (Local MP), Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Education) and even the famous scientist Lord Robert Winston. At the beginning of the day, about thirty students and several prefects showed guests around our beautiful and tranquil school building. They visited some lessons and discussed what it means to be a student at William Perkin. The tour guides very much enjoyed meeting our guests and getting to know them. After the tours, everyone gathered in the Performance Centre and the opening ceremony began. The William Perkin students (and some Twyford students) sung our trust anthem. Staff of this school, governors and Shivam said prayers and then William Perkin students sung "For the Beauty of the Earth". Sophia sung an amazing solo! Michael Gove spoke to us about how successful our school is and how it will blossom in the future. Then Lord Winston spoke to us about the im-portance of Science (we even breathed in each other’s DNA!) Ms Hudson then thanked the people who built the school and thanked everyone who has contrib-uted to its development. At the very end, everyone stood up and sung "Lean On Me". It was a lovely way to end the service and reinforce a strong sense of com-munity spirit. The singing even encouraged Steve Pound and Michael Gove to do a little dance!

Professor David Phillips, from Imperial Collage, gave us a lecture about colours and light; he also taught us some interesting facts about William Perkin. He demonstrated how dye can be used to help new born babies who suffer from Jaundice. It was an insightful experience. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves on Thursday and we would like to thank all our guests for coming.

Anisa Patel (7W) Emilija Deveikyte (7E) Sophia Antonini (7R)

Paayal Patel (7E) Karolina Bugajska (7E) Easha Vigneswaran (7E)

Shamima Islam (7I) Miriam Ramzi (7E)

Weronika Woronowicz (7R) Fatma Al-azawl (7P)

Jack Poyntz (7W) Saara Turner (7I) Adiba Sheikh (7K)

Karos Rauf (7R) Ajani Sturge (7W) Zulekha Powell (7W)

Samah Choudhury (7N) Sahar Ragragui (7N) Daniyal Nabi (7N)