STRATTON SIREN

‘NEWS TO SHOUT ABOUT’! July 2019 Summer

Term—Issue 4

Dear Parents, Carers and Pupils

Welcome to the Summer edition of the school newsletter, which can only mean the end of the academic year. As with any year, it has been a roller coaster of a year with high points and the occasional low points, but we have almost reached our final destination: a well-earned break for everyone. First off, Year 11 have left us. Following a challenging set of GCSE exams, both their leaving ceremony and prom were an excellent opportunity to celebrate the last five years. We wish them all the luck for the future and look forward to seeing them one last time to collect their exam results on Thursday 22

nd August.

Year 10 have also completed their summer exam series. This was an intense period, with pu-pils either sitting exams or undertaking independent study. However, they rose to the chal-lenge well and this experience will set them in good stead for the future. Years 7-9 had another amazing enrichment week. Our twitter feed @lshsnews will give you a sense of what they were all up to. Although this week passes very quickly and, usually, with-out an issue, there is a huge amount of planning and coordination by the staff. So, thank you to everyone involved in making this happen. In April, I made parents aware that we had volunteered to be a pilot school for Ofsted’s new framework. Although we were not provided with any written feedback or a judgement, I must let you know that I was immensely proud of how well both staff and pupils did during the visit. The inspectors (one of whom was a regional lead for the East) were very complimentary about the school and our direction of travel. They did, of course, give us some suggestions of things we could make even better, and we have taken those on board for the future. Also, this year’s parent survey has provided a few ideas of ways we can move the school for-ward, but it was lovely to see that 94% of parents would recommend us to others. As such, I'd like to thank all our parents for their continued support, encouragement and positive contribu-tions to the school. I'd also like to thank our pupils. Each year, our pupils are growing from strength to strength both academically and as young responsible adults. We even receive communications from members of the public saying what fine pupils we have in our school. They are capable of so much and we want to help them achieve their maximum potential. Finally, I'd like to thank the staff of the school for their continued effort to try and get the best out of all our pupils. Without these excellent people (both in the classroom and around the school) we wouldn’t be able to achieve what we do! With that I would also like to acknowledge one of our site team Mike Gant who is retiring after 32 years of service to Long Stratton High School. It is rare that anyone gives that commitment and on behalf of everyone I would like to wish him well for the future. I hope you all have an excellent, safe and enjoyable summer break and we look forward to seeing you all in September #LSHSExcellence. Roger L Harris Headteacher

Page 2

Best Costumes

A magical time was had by all students who attended the

Harry Potter Event in May.

We started off the magic when students came through our

Platform Nine and 3/4. As they came through into Hog-

warts the ’Sorting Hat’ decided who would be in which

house.

Students had a game of Quidditch, took part in activities

and a quiz and of course sampled Butterbeer and

Honeydukes sweets which went down a storm!

Harry Potter Event for

Year 7 & 8

Winning House Hufflepuff

Pupils’ Achievements

Page 3

On Tuesday 18th June, we visited Neatherd High School for the Carnegie and Greenaway

event where Litcham High School joined us in the final stage of the shadowing scheme.

This was in conjunction with The Norfolk Education Library Service.

The morning was full of excitement as students took part in quizzes, discussions and shared

their own reviews of the books we had shadowed. At midday, the announcement was made

and the Carnegie Medal went to Elizabeth Acevedo for ‘The Poet X’ and the Greenaway

Medal for illustration went to Jackie Morris for ‘The Lost Words’.

We can’t wait for next spring for more fantastic books to shadow!

Library News

Page 4 Pupils’ Achievements

Festival of Literature for Young People

Fly Festival is a celebration of literature with a selection of different themes through the

week; this year the school attended the history day. The authors that attended were Sally

Nichols, Greg Jenner, and Catherine Johnson. Greg Jenner is best known for his work on

the BBC’s multi-award winning comedy: ‘Horrible Histories’. All of the students that attended

Fly were very excited to be shown a premiere of the new series and hear about how he

came up with the ideas of the show. Sally Nicholls is the author of ‘Things A Bright Girl Can

Do’ which was nominated for the Carnegie prize (a prestigious literature award). Sally talked

about the importance of the Suffragettes to the women of the current world and read us a

chapter of her book. Catherine Johnson has written many books that are all based around

Jamaican history and the effects this has had on the world. Catherine also read us a chapter

of her one of her books and talked about its importance. All the students were then split into

groups for a creative writing workshop (the one I attended was you created a town and had

to give the town all of its characteristics, both positive and negative).

The students that attended Fly thoroughly enjoyed it this year and if the school decides to

run the trip again, I would most certainly recommend it to any English loving students of

Long Stratton High School.

By Hanna Haynes

Page 5

Pupils’ Achievements

Year 11 Prom

Dunston Hall made an idyllic setting for our Year 11 prom held on 4th July. It was well attend-

ed with almost the entire year group coming together to celebrate five years of LSHS. Most

arrived on a stylish double decker red bus while others chose less traditional methods. Every-

one looked amazing and I’d like to thank parents for all the effort and expense they went to.

Thank you to all Year 11s for making it a memorable evening and to those staff who supported it. I hope you are all pleased with your photos and they serve as a reminder of an enjoyable evening for many years to come.

Page 6

Pupils’ Achievements

RAF STEM Final

Normally, when people think of STEM, they think of boring lab coats and multi-coloured liquids

in test tubes. However, after my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with Camouflage Learning and

the RAF, I will never think of STEM the same way again!

On 9th May, fifty girls from Years Seven to Eight were chosen to participate in a competition to

choose only four girls for the final. However, nobody knew about the competition! The activities

and challenges we took part in were such a refreshing change from the usual school day, es-

pecially the final, most important challenge - we were given only a few minutes to create a de-

vice out of literally a few straws and tape to protect a rotten egg after it was flung onto the floor!

I’d never thought it was possible, but our egg survived! This day taught me so much and I'm so

happy that I was chosen.

Two months later, on 5th July, the other finalists and I, accompanied by Mrs Ryan and Mrs

Ames, drove to an actual RAF base to compete in the STEM day final. Our activities were all

around the theme of being stuck on a desert island. From random items, our team (Clayre-

Louise Dyke, Ruby Nolan, Jessica Land and me) managed to create a tent that was completely

waterproof! With the same battered materials, we were challenged to create a fishing device to

catch floating vegetables and avoid ducks. This was very difficult, but we worked together as a

team and even though we didn’t collect the most food, we had so much fun!

Finally, the winners were announced, and Clayre and I won £50! It was so incredible, and I

loved every moment of this amazing experience. This event really made me realise how amaz-

ing STEM is!

By Lola Brooke

Page 7 Pupils’ Achievements

English

EXCITING ENGLISH EXPERIENCES

English is one of the best subjects at this school. We have learnt absolutely tons this past

year, and it’s all thanks to the amazing Mr. Hutson. He keeps his classes up and running like

clockwork. We’ve written stories with him, discussed books with him, exchanged theories with

him, had quizzes with him, and much, much more. Some of the most exciting things we’ve

read have been “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and “Millions” by Frank Cottrell

Boyce. We have written our own fantasy stories based on different myths. We’ve learnt skills

such as P.E.T.E.R. paragraphs, Inference, Imagery, and so many other amazing things. We

even got to write our own Room 101 Speeches!

All in all, English is by far a fabulous subject. It has endless things to learn and discover, and

its teachers are great.

By Cameron Hyde-Smith

My first enjoyable year at Long Stratton in English

This year I have learnt a lot about loads of different subjects with the help of great teachers. I

have learnt so many new phrases and terms that I now use to expand my writing and

knowledge. I learnt that pathos is something that is appealing to the readers’ emotions to

make them feel/think/react in a desired way. I have also gained some extra knowledge from

knock reading: it has helped me, when I’m reading, with some tricky to understand words.

I plan to use my knowledge so that I can do well in my GCSE English to move on to a great

college or university. My main choice would be to get into Oxford University and get a Mas-

ter’s degree in English. I want to inspire kids around the world to get involved with English and

writing. I would love to be an author or help kids who are need help learning and understand-

ing work.

By Natasha Bysouth

Maths

I would say Maths is my favourite subject by far. From the first ever lesson of Maths, I’ve had

an amazing time and it’s exceptional. It is a very enjoyable subject. From the first to the latest

lesson it has been easy to understand the methods as Mr Worrall explains them very clearly

and won’t give up until you finally understand. Also, every Friday, me and my Maths class go

to Mrs Nicholls’ classroom and learn additional methods to also work out answers. Algebra

was a struggle at the start of the year but through many lessons I’ve improved my skills and

knowledge. Through the months of teaching I learnt loads more maths equations and different

ways to explain fractions, decimals and how to figure out the percentage of shapes in deci-

mals. I love Maths and I would never choose any subject over it. This year was good for my

first year at LSHS.

By Lewis Bright

Maths

Page 8

Pupils’ Achievements

A YEAR OF SCIENCE

Do you ever look back and wonder who you were yesterday? Or even a month ago? Or a

year?

What feels like a decade ago, I joined LSHS: anxious, but so excited to learn all about every-

thing. On my first Science lesson, I was so nervous - Science had barely been covered at

primary school: just a few odd lessons every Friday about random pieces of grass on the

field. But the wonderful LSHS Science department has encouraged the scientist inside of all

of us to strive for answers.

This year, we covered the three main subjects: Chemistry, Physics and my favourite, Biolo-

gy. Chemistry (our first subject) was amazing - we learnt about everything from the periodic

table to atoms. Look at this letter, the floor, and my hands typing this sentence - all atoms!

This seems mind bending, but somehow, the teachers (also atoms) explained this concept

so everyone understood. The teachers also put a ‘light’ on electricity in Physics- who doesn’t

want to learn how YouTube works? Finally, Biology was incredible. Did you know every liv-

ing thing is an organism? Neither did I! All of the lessons about the body made me realise

how amazing we all are inside. This knowledge has made me care for my insides much

more.

Now, time to return to my original question: do you ever look back and wonder who you were

last year? I did so today, and realised how much my scientific knowledge and attitude to-

wards it have transformed. Thank you, Long Stratton High School, for teaching me every-

thing I know today. And, a note to everyone who thinks they won’t succeed in Science: we all

have a scientist inside of us.

By Lola Brooke

Science

I’d say that ICT is definitely my favourite subject: from my first lesson to now it has been an

exceptional experience, doing written work but mainly practical tasks on the computers.

From our first topic, Scratch the block coding software, I knew straight away that ICT was

my thing. I was ahead of some people when we started doing Scratch and some people

were ahead of me, but then our amazing teacher, Mr. Oxford, got people who were behind

up to speed. We designed our own games using a worksheet that we did on the computer

then we started making our own games in Scratch which took about three lessons. During

this time many of us shared our projects with each other in order to reflect and improve. I

well and truly loved this topic, it is probably the best I’ve done in Year 7.

Another topic we did in ICT was flowcharts using the program Flowol. We typed this in with

algorithms, which are the things you have to program into a computer to tell it how to do

something. I found it difficult but it didn’t stop me from enjoying myself with solving and mak-

ing our own flowchart systems on Flowol. I also enjoyed learning about computer misuse

laws and ethics which interested me as well. I highly recommend getting involved in ICT as

much as you can in lessons and out of curriculum activities.

By Henry Plume

ICT

History

In History this year, we have covered the most interesting topics. The Tudors was the best so far, where we learnt about the transitions between the Tudor monarchs through quizzes, vide-os, and even drawing rollercoasters! As Elizabeth I is a Tudor monarch, this information was extremely useful as you study her for GCSE History. We learnt about the Black Death by sort-ing cards into columns which really helped us in preparation for our assessment to give us the top grades and I am sure lots of us still remember key facts, like 25 million people died from the Plague in Europe alone! This led nicely into looking at the Great Fire of London because it helped stop the 1666 outbreak. When we learnt about the Middle Ages, we drew implements of torture from that period like the rack (which stretched your limbs out of their sockets) which was frequently used for interrogation! We looked at the Battle of Hastings and the lead up and aftermath of it which was incredibly interesting. We are looking at the Spanish Armada current-ly and learning useful facts on why Philip of Spain’s invasion plan failed, and that the Spanish admiral suffered from seasickness. I found the result surprising but the Top Trump cards made it all make sense.

By Isobel Groom

Page 9 Pupils’ Achievements

Art

Art This year we have learned about the creative, interesting and challenging subject called Art.

Some children believe they can’t achieve in this subject but the teachers encourage even the

most pessimistic students and, in many cases, the students are blown away by the outcome that

they create.

We learnt about several types of art through the ages and different styles of this subject. We

studied talented artists and tried to create our own original pieces. I especially enjoyed drawing

our shoes; we spent several lessons on this and all came out with great pieces. I believe many

of my classmates could take the knowledge they have learnt and create a bright future for them-

selves in this department.

Ella Yates During year 7 we have tried several mediums in art, using multiple techniques. We drew a lot of

landscapes and traditional pieces; I think it is quite different to what most of the year sevens

draw in their free time, so it gave us a good chance to experiment. Some of the things we have

been studying in art are: Ancient Greece, Vincent Van Gogh, water colours and mosaics.

We have learned useful painting techniques and easy ways to create interesting looking tex-

tures. Also, students have experimented with tones and learning how to shade and sketch im-

pressive looking pieces. I personally found the textures the most fun and interesting because I

normally don’t incorporate a wide range of texture into my artworks. Going forward I will try to

add more depth and realistic elements into my pieces by putting what I have learned into prac-

tice for visual interest.

Millie Jones

In Geography we have been learning about directions and also 6- and 4-figure grid references. We have learnt how to work out how long a journey is on a map and we have been using good directions while using the grid references to say whereabouts something is on a map. We have looked at symbols from a map and we know a lot of them off by heart now such as: campsite, coniferous forest, footpath, golf course and lots of others.

Now we are learning about how Norwich has changed, such as when Chapelfield used to be a really big place which was old and rusty, but now it’s a big business which earns lots and there’s thousands of people there eve-ry day. We also learned about when Riverside used to be a row of old worn down factories but now there’s fan-cy restaurants, bowling, Gravity, a cinema, a few bars and quite a lot of good attractions.

Geography has been really good and I have found it very fun!

By Flynn Jermy and Luke Barrett

Geography

Page 10

Pupils’ Achievements

Strangely, in Year 7 we don’t work with wood. Instead we use coloured acrylic. In case you

don’t know, this is a hard plastic that you can melt, re-shape and imprint on. In woodworks

there is machinery that we used to make a keychain out of acrylic. In Year 7 you can use the

electric sander, the polishing/shining machine, the portable oven and the pillar drill. First you

design your keychain, choose the colour and pattern, then you do the basic outline with a

small saw and the sander machine. The way you make the pattern is you shape the wire into it

and then melt it into the acrylic.

Lilly Gall

In textiles we made cushion covers. I enjoyed it because we got to learn how to use different

types of stitches and how to use and thread a sewing machine. We also did finger painting on

some fabric in the shape of little squares. When it came to making our actual cushion cover

we cut out the shape and on either the sewing machine or by hand we sewed it all together.

Esme Goodall

In graphics we started off by drawing 3D shapes and vehicles, which we got to design our-

selves. We then moved on to creating 3d shapes; you get to use a craft knife and create

things, from an angel to a house. And you are also able to create 3D images on the comput-

ers!

Millie Branwhite and Olivia Saul

Our lessons in food tech, included a variety of theory-based and practical activities. First we

learned the basics: washing up, names for utensils, (our favourite name was the ‘dippy dip-

pies,’ which were cloths and a white plastic spoon.) We also covered chopping techniques,

how to keep our work space hygienic and cleaning up afterwards. For our practical lessons we

cooked pasta and couscous salad, then designed our own which we were assessed on. We

learnt about the wonderful world of eggs, (coagulation,) and how to safely cook one. After

these theory lessons we cooked scrambled eggs on toast and pancakes, which we ate at

school. As well as the practical lessons, we did mastery quizzes in every theory lesson to help

us learn the material. We most enjoyed the practical side of cooking as it let us practice new

skills and learn how to cook amazing meals safely.

Millie Smith and Leah Watkins

DT

Page 11 Pupils’ Achievements

Modern Foreign Languages

Languages In Spanish this year we have learnt loads of different things such as: the alphabet, numbers, subjects, clothes, colours, descriptions, classroom objects, greetings, months, time and loads more. I have learnt that in Spanish you say things very oddly like, “I have 12 years,” and, “I wear a shirt red.” The alphabet sounds are also very different, for example “ll” is pronounced as “elyeh.” The thing I enjoyed most about Spanish is that we have 2 different teachers who teach us in different ways so makes it more interesting and my favourite thing we have learnt is about clothes, food and drink.

Rachael Adcock

This year French has been educational and very fun. We started off learning the alphabet and the numbers from 0-100; we remembered everything by using some hilarious videos. After that, we moved onto the days of the week and the months; we all knew them at the end of the year because we had to write our dates in French. At the end of the year all of the class can now speak about what they did before and after school in French. We also learned about clothes and colours, and to enjoy our last few lessons of French for the year we had a very fun fashion show which let us show off our knowledge in an experience which the whole class will remember.

Shannon Holland

PE is a very loved subject at our school. Our wonderful teachers help to work to the very best of our ability. So far through the year we have been learning: football, cricket, rugby, athletics, gymnastics, hockey, netball, yoga and badminton. I have thoroughly enjoyed my PE experi-ence this year and I can’t wait for next year! I would like to study this awesome subject for my GCSE’s. My favourite part of this year’s PE was athletics as I absolutely love running and we ran 1500m – (nearly four laps of the track!!) These lessons have also helped me with my sports day practice, and my swimming outside of school.

Jodi Brown In PE you do a lot of physical activities, but your tests are in written format. In theory lessons there are loads of interesting things to learn about, such as the bones, your muscles and your breathing. You don’t have to be amazing at sports when you start doing PE, but you will do well in the lessons if you focus and persevere.

Jacob George Year seven PE has made me and my fellow classmates love it more than ever. There are also many after school clubs that, from personal experience, I know are very exciting and fun, es-pecially rounders club where other schools compete against the LSHS team.

Poppy Dean

Physical Education

Page 12 Pupils’ Achievements

Music

Around Christmas time, we had our first proper practical where we made Christmas-themed

songs. The best and most fun part was that we had to make them ourselves, using the key-

boards. We had our own different ideas and our ever-praising teacher Mrs Ames gave us

great compliments - even if the songs needed some improvement! We also had the choice to

perform in the Christmas concert together in our group.

Chloe: We also had to make a ‘leitmotif,’ which is a piece of music that goes really well with a

film clip. Mrs Ames said that our performance really suited the clip which was really nice to

hear; we used a small version of a glockenspiel, which fitted in really well.

Imogen: In spring, we learned to play the Ukulele. Once we mastered cords A, G, D and C we

went off in our choice of groups and learnt a song, which we could choose and customise.

With my knowledge from this year I am going to hopefully do GCSE music and I can’t wait to

discover more about it throughout high school.

Chloe High and Imogen Ryan

Term 1 (autumn term) leads into term 2 because we wrote Christmas songs. We also learnt to

play the keyboard with what we wrote the songs melody with. It was really good fun because

Mrs Ames let us pick our groups because good songs don’t come from people who dislike

each other. At the end of the 1st module the teacher assessed us then we had the choice to

perform in the Christmas concert together in our group.

The second module we did was ukuleles. Once we mastered cord a g d and c we went off in

our choice of groups and learnt a song off our choice. Then like the end of every term/topic we

played our final piece to the class and were assessed by Mrs Ames.

The last topic we did was taking a clip from a film of our choice (in our group) and making

score, which is what the background music is in a film. My group did the pink panther.

With my knowledge from this year I am going to hopefully do GCSE music and I can’t wait to

discover more throughout high school.

By Chloe High

Pupils’ Achievements

Page 13

Scratch Competition

Scratch: an amazing program which allows anyone to be creative, imaginative and design the

program of their dreams which is accessible to all ages.

Thursday 20th June came closer as a group of enthusiastic students in Years 7 and 9 pre-

pared for the finals of the Scratch competition. For months, we had been preparing our game

to compete against other pupils from schools in the area. Hard work, dedication and resilience

had been put into these games to make them the best they could possibly be.

After the success of the Scratch competition last year where our school came first place, the

stakes were high this year.

Once we arrived at the UEA, we were all put into 6 groups, with me and Louella Sarahs-Tottle

in the gold group. After we settled to our computer and had set up our game ready to be

judged later in the day, we were given the surprise task. Every year, each team is given a

challenge for everyone to complete by 12:15pm. This year's task was to create a digital and

analogue stopwatch. Silence filled the room except for the sound of the mice quickly clicking

in the background creating the best task possible. During our time creating the analogue and

digital stopwatches, we had our games judged by the designated judges for each group.

After a delicious lunch of pizza, the raring coders all piled into the lecture hall to find out

whether we had got into the next round. Each pair of judges from each group picked the best

game and task to present in front of the schools. Congratulations to Daniel and Thomas for

getting their digital and analogue stopwatch into the next round. Unfortunately, our school was

unsuccessful at winning the competition but well done to Norwich High School for coming first

and well done to everyone who was involved.

By Sophie Rice

Page 14 Pupils’ Achievements

Enrichment Week

Murder Mystery Week As the minutes turn to hours, hours to days, and days to months, summer has arrived! Now that Enrichment Week has run its course, this article offers a brief insight into one of the most popular activities chosen by students; Mrs. Banham’s Murder Mystery Week. The week be-gan with a very laid-back start for the lucky 30 students, as we started the Monday with a Cluedo tournament between our 6 teams. Many of us had little – if any – idea of how to play, but it didn’t take long for us all to get going. After Cluedo was a train-based murder mystery roleplaying game, where we had to investigate suspicious activity between a cast of charac-ters. The week really began to pick up steam on Tuesday, which was our first of two trips to Nor-wich. When we arrived, we headed down to the Cryptic Escape rooms. As the name implies, these were all very challenging, especially the most popular choice of the three room options, which was The Haunting. Me and my group got to experience The Ballad of Green Beard, where we had to figure out the path to the aforementioned pirate’s prized amulet. Wednesday had our second trip to Norwich, this time on the murder mystery trail around the cathedral dis-trict. This walk really let us experience all of the fine city’s rich history, as well as some fantas-tic sightseeing. Both of these trips were followed with some free time for shopping – which for some was the highlight of the week! Personally, the highlight for me was the Thursday trip to Covent Garden in London. After spending some time enjoying the fantastic sunshine beaming down on Trafalgar Square, we headed down for some free time to explore. We then enjoyed a trip to the theatre to watch Agatha Christie’s famous West-End show The Mousetrap. The week ended in school, where we became CSI investigators for the day, taking part in The Killing which was run by Ellie from Rightangle events. We learned how to take our fingerprints, then we dusted for prints in a crime scene, which was set up in Miss Eaglestone’s room, (no students were harmed!) Af-ter collecting other evidence, including checking hair samples under microscopes and prac-tising forensic dentistry, groups were allowed to identify which suspect they thought was the killer, and had the chance to re-create their suspect’s face using real FBI software. It was a truly phenomenal week which everyone really enjoyed.

By Liam Pochin

Page 15

I love Canterbury

32 pupils embarked on a delightful 3 hour coach journey

on July 1st to the popular tourist city of Canterbury. Ac-

commodation consisted of the local Premier Inn hotel and

with the company of 3 per room, everyone seemed to en-

joy their time away equally (as much as they enjoyed

their sleep at the end of the busy days we had).

Our first stop was the famous Warner Bros Studios where

they filmed the Harry Potter movies (1-8). The sheer

amazement of the original set pieces displayed all around

seemed to catch the eye of everyone visiting.

On the next day we thankfully had good weather and we

had a congenial outing to a safari park where we had the

pleasure to greet some new animal friends. From giraffes

to parrots, there was no disappointment for anyone.

For day three we were given the opportunity to explore

the stunning cathedral that makes Canterbury so special.

Sadly we didn't get a chance to look everywhere as they were refurbishing it, but this was

done so it could stand tall for longer than before.

Our final day was given to us by our imaginations; we had an opportunity to look around and

buy souvenirs from any of the shops nearby.

Our food consisted of McDonalds on Monday, Pizza Hut the day after and KFC for the final

day. For lunch we all choose our own meal deals from the Tesco Express around the corner

of the hotel.

I think I speak for all when I say that it was a trip that won't be forgotten in a rush. Thank you

to Mrs Gardiner, Mrs Pauley, and Mr Davies for not losing any of us while being out and

about and putting up with our loud voices for the whole week!

By Darcy Davison

Pupils’ Achievements

Enrichment Week

Page 16 Pupils’ Achievements

Enrichment Week

Walking and Camping 2019 When I woke up on Monday morning, I wasn't sure what to expect in the coming week. Walking? I hear you ask. Sure, I knew I was going to be hiking and camping and all that but the furthest I'd walked prior to this trip (that I known the distance of - I don't have a FitBit or some other counting device sadly) had been 8 miles... my legs had almost fallen off! Never the less I got ready and caught my bus to school. Meeting my Walking and Camping friends at the gates (“Hi guys!”), we went to Mrs Brown's room. I had never been taught by her before - although I saw her at Yr 7 camp, where during raft building we were almost drowned by our clumsy raft! - however everyone said she was really nice (which she was) so I was looking forward to the trip. We spent the morning becoming familiar with the tents by putting them up and down twice, which was annoy-ing at the time but I later realised it was quite sensible! After lunch came a vigorous workout of rounders and French cricket which was fun but tiring. I think they were prepping us for the walk to come! Tuesday dawned bright and promising. My bag sat expectantly by my desk, a (rather stuffed) dog waiting for its walk. My mum drove me in as my bag was too unwieldy to take on the bus. I felt like an idiot walking through the corridors - hiking rucksack, massive bag and my clunky hiking boots - but everyone had the grace not to laugh: at least not until I was safely out of earshot! Once the bus had arrived we loaded it up and set off, starting our jour-ney to the Wild (AKA the North Norfolk Coastline and the two campsites we would be boarding at). The bus dropped us off at the Norwich train station and we wandered the shops there for 15 minutes - I bought a packet of fruit - and then promptly got on the wrong train! We'd sat down and got comfortable when the guard came and told us we were on the line to Great Yarmouth instead of Sheringham! We scrambled off and a minute later it squealed away from the station. Luckily a few minutes later our train came and we hopped on. That trip could have ended as quickly as it had begun! When we arrived in Sheringham, we crossed the road to the station of the North Norfolk Railway (NNR) where my dad was firing a steam train. Because of this, we were allowed to go up onto the footplate and take a look round. Mrs Gallant took a picture for Twitter. Smile! We walked down the high street and ate lunch on a wall overlooking the beach. Those who wanted to (including me) went down to the sea and explored the beach. One boy even found a crab! Once everyone was ready, we started our walk to our first campsite: Kelling Heath Campsite. Because my dad volunteers up the NNR we go there quite a lot, so I know it very well. After following a cliff path for some of the way, we took a route that led us through woods for the remainder of the way, stopping to scale the gazebo and admire the view from the top. When we reached the site, and our pitches, we met the van with the tents and the luggage and put our lodging up. That morning at the school proved to come in handy! Once everyone was more or less “unpacked” (I say this in this way as I just mean sleeping bags and mats etc were out) we wandered down to the Square to have a grand dinner of... pizza! It was ok but unfortunately I think that because the pizza restau-rant had to make so many so quickly for all 23 of us, they got a bit carried away with the cheese and tomato pu-ree! Never mind. After a quick game of table tennis and some waiting, we walked to the playground they had (don't laugh!) and everyone climbed trees, played It and enjoyed the equipment. When we went to leave, some of the adults took a couple of people with them to the Forge & Terrace pub/restaurant onsite to watch an important game of football (I can't for the life of me remember who played who!). The rest, including me, retired back to the campsite, where everyone separated out and did their own thing for a bit. It soon became apparent there was a pigeon in the boys' toilets, trapped, pooping and vomiting everywhere! The boys came running in and out, yelling “There's a pigeon! There's a pigeon!” I felt sorry for the poor thing. I think it was either removed or it died in there. Please now have a minute's silence in respect. Me being me, I decided to get ready a little earlier than the others (What? I get self-conscious washing my face) which meant I avoided the rush hour, which is always a good thing. Lots of other people were running high as they'd been eating sweets all day - this proved to be true the whole week - but I was the only one who purposely didn't bring sweets, so I was able to calm down easily. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten my pillow, so I had to use a few folded clothes instead. Although this was uncomfortable, I fell asleep quickly. Much to my anguish, though, I didn't stay asleep. I woke up three times for around an hour each time; the worst being at 4:30, when the crows were cawing loud enough to wake the devil! I was also freezing, and in the end I had 2 pairs of socks, two leggings, a top and two jumpers on, and I still could not get warm! Nevertheless the day dawned warm and sunny and I was one of the first up, showered and dressed. It was so funny, I felt like the only human in a swarm of zombies! After breakfast and a nice mug of tea, we packed everything up and began our 13 mile hike.

Year 7 Camp—Trip to Eaton Vale

Last week I went on the Year 7 camp at Eaton Vale and it was the best camping trip I have done with Long

Stratton High School (though it is the only camping trip I have been on with the school!).

On the first exciting day my favourite activity was of course rock climbing as I was higher than everybody

around me.

The next day one of the best activities, as on this day we did trapeze. I could see across Norwich which

was breath-taking. Before bed we visited the tuck shop which led to the teachers fearing we would never

ever go to bed after all that sugar. Finally, we went to sleep, and it felt like it was all a dream.

One of the highlights of the trip was raft building. One of the instructors suggested we re-enact scenes from

the Titanic, but surprisingly unlike the Titanic, most of us manage to stay afloat.

I would like to thank all the teacher for taking us on such a lovely trip: Mrs Brand, Mr Oxford, Mrs Nhamo

and Mrs Nugent. It was truly an experience I will never want to forget.

By Peter Cakebread

Page 17

First, we followed a trail through a patch of wood and went the wrong way along some heathland (go back again!). We then picked up a track which took us to a shingle beach (a spit) with the sea on one side and salt marshes on the other. It was more work walking on the stones, so whenever we stepped back onto normal ground it felt really weird! We then carried on to Cley, where we stopped for a rest and ice cream. I had rum and raisin. Picking our-selves up we walked through several fields of barley - I ate a couple of grains as my dad says it's edible, and he ought to know, he's a farmer - and reached our lunch spot, outside a Wildlife conservation building with the poshest toilets! Lunch was a simple affair of a sandwich, fruit and crisps or party rings. I just had a sandwich with two pieces of fruit, as I like it. After using the facilities we began the next leg of our journey to Blakeney... and beyond! I love Blakeney as my uncle sometimes goes down there with the circus, so I used to go there a lot. After another rest and a second ice cream for some, we crossed alongside the salt marshes from Blakeney to Stiffkey. Again, we arrived at High Sands Creek campsite and put our tents up. Dinner was a delicious BBQ, with all the lettuce I could eat! That night, it became known that there was a nest of giant flying insects in the vent of a massive green barn which we had to pass in order to use the facilities! We all had to zip up our tents, making sure none had got in. They were later identified as Cockchafers. What a name! Again, despite my fatigue I failed to have a sound night's sleep. At least I was warm this time, as Mrs Brown had given me a cotton sleeping bag liner when she overheard me saying I was cold earlier. The birds here seemed to be even louder than the ones at Kelling; one landed on our tent roof and I actually had to cover my ears, they were so loud! Once everyone was up and breakfasted, we packed up again and started our last part of our journey, to Wells. We simply followed a trail along a built-up ridge until we came to it. There, we were meant to go crabbing before lunch but the van had broken down at the campsite with all our crabbing equipment so that plan went out the window! We stopped at a massive playground (with a massive amount of children, they were on a school trip or something, I just kept my distance!) and the teachers fetched our lunch of fish and chips. My cod was delicious but I didn't eat any of the batter or the chips. Instead I had an oatcake and water while the others had Sprite. Once we'd finished we caught a bus back to the school, watching the distance that had taken us so long to walk disap-pear within minutes. Sigh. Mum took me home and that night my bed felt like the most comfortable one in the world! On Friday, everyone was annoyed that we had to come into school as we were all a bit drained, but at least we didn't do much as we redecorated Mrs Brown's noticeboard outside her classroom to show what we'd been doing that week. We plastered pictures, snippets of information, our route and decorative things we'd made onto it and although it was a bit of a rush to get everything on by the end of the day, we managed it and it looked great! Go have a look if you're ever passing through the music block. I really enjoyed the week and want to say a big thank you to Mrs Brown, Mr McGrath, Mrs Gallant and Mrs Riches for giving up their time and making it so enjoyable. By Peri Taylor

Pupils’ Achievements

Enrichment Week

Page 18

Venture Week

The week commencing Monday 1st of July, I spent my Enrichment Week doing the Venture

Week activities.

To start the week off, on Monday we travelled up to Whitlingham Adventure to try a variety of

activities including kayaking, kata-canoeing, stand up paddle boarding and sailing fun boats.

My group’s first activity was sailing fun boats, which was great because there was a strong

wind. We sailed all the way up the river in pairs on the boats and then were brought back

tied to the leader’s boat.

After a quick lunch, we separated into our groups again before going to our next activity,

mine of which was stand up paddle boarding. We started by learning how to paddle whilst

kneeling, but when we became more confident, we were able to stand up and have races.

Later, we travelled up the river on our boards to play games and jump into the river from the

paddleboards.

The next day we set off up to Riverside in the city to go to Gravity Trampoline Parks. We

spent an hour at the trampoline park, playing dodgeball and other games until it was time to

go.

Once we had cooled off, we were allowed to set off in groups around Norwich. My friends

and I had lunch at Bella Italia before continuing shopping.

On Wednesday, we travelled up to Thetford to go to Combat Paintballing. We started with a

video of the rules, and got into camouflage overalls (which looked incredible!) and went out

to battle. The first two rounds were fun because we shot at the opposing team with “low im-

pact paintballs”. We had two games like this, and then in the final game we had unlimited

lives, but had “high impact paintballs”. This was just pure pain! But, during the break, we got

a BBQ so all was great.

The next day, we went to Go Ape in Thetford and spent the day climbing around the

treetops. Although I am terrified of heights, I really enjoyed it! We went around the course

first and then were able to explore the woods. This was the hottest day of the week, so we

were glad to have the shade of the trees.

Finally, on Friday we went to the UEA and enjoyed a range of activities. We started the day

with rock climbing, which was very difficult, but fun. Next, we did Bubble Football (which is

literally you in a bubble trying to play football), but it was extremely claustrophobic so a few

of us sat out for some of the games. We had a quick lunch break, followed by archery. In ar-

chery, we learnt how to shoot first and then played games.

The best activity of the week was stand up paddle boarding by far, but it was a great week

overall!

By Tasha Vrinten

Pupils’ Achievements

Enrichment Week

Page 19 Pupils’ Achievements

Members of the Year 7 Enterprise Scheme

Long Stratton High School were honoured to be visited by Norwich City Football Club and the Championship Trophy today. Earlier this year a group of Year 7s formed The Enterprise Scheme and did a sterling job of fundraising for the Club's charity, Community Sports Foun-dation. Today we were delighted to be thanked by them with a chance to get up close to this special trophy. Representing the pupils, Mrs Daniels said "We were already proud of what our students managed to raise for this worthy cause, but to get to have their pictures taken and spend time with the trophy was a real honour and one I'm sure they will remember for a long time."

Nearing the end of the academic year, with the exam season finished and Year 11s having

left, the roles of Student Captains have also been passed down to the next team of young

people. From shortly before the holidays until right the way up until next spring, the new Junior

Leadership team consists of Alana Martin, Evie Cotton, Sam Briggs and myself, Ross Stewart:

a well-selected and mature group of individuals.

Thus far, the school captains have been attending meetings and learning from their predeces-

sors, however we have many new strategies and plans we are eager to implement now our

very important mock examinations are done. After the holidays, the team will immediately

begin working within their roles. This will entail being not only school role models as a whole,

but also having the responsibility of the entire student leadership scheme. We will be oversee-

ing things going on in that area, such as the upcoming car wash and campaign to bring recy-

cling bins to the school. The Captains also as a group have the year to organise prom be-

tween themselves for the following summer.

By Ross Stewart

Student Captains

Near to the beginning of this academic year, I and 4 others (Ross Stewart, Harry McIlroy, El-liott Fulcher and Kate Baczkowska) were selected to take part in the Peace Project. Since then we have been attending weekly lessons on what it means to be a peace advocate. The Peace Project is a training programme for young people on how to deal with situations of con-flict and how to be an effective mediator, with a positive and diverse outlook on life. From this we have discussed how we can make these concepts an aim in our school: to make LSHS a place where everybody feels safe to be who they are, without worrying about conflict. We have, so far, presented a lesson to the Year Sevens about how to live your best life, and how perceptions of a best life may vary within individuals.

I feel that being a part of the Peace Project has taught me how to effectively resolve conflict, by possessing the attributes of an upstander. In the long term, I would like to have peace ad-vocacy available for all students, so that everybody has the opportunity to have Peace Train-ing, like the other peace advocates and I have.

By Carys Fisher

Pupils’ Achievements Page 20

Peace Project

The ABA group newspaper report

As a community we are proud to say that the school has and utilises a dedicated anti-bullying team. Composed

entirely of students, trained by the Diana Award Foundation, it’s a group capable of assisting and tackling issues

throughout the school community. It’s no longer uncommon for bullying to occur in this modern day, especially

in secondary school; this is no surprise, however using the group we aspire to prevent and combat the potential

bullying. With the aid of the Diana Award we have already made movement on the process:

We began by developing and passing on a survey for the students: this was used to identify the key points

of interest for the group to begin on. It provided a useful insight for how we go on to tackle future prob-

lems.

We then went on to develop an anti-bullying Instagram page (we identified Instagram as being the most

widely used social media platform in the school). Using this profile, we are able to efficiently communi-

cate with large masses of students and it provides an easy way for pupils to privately contact us. It erad-

icates the potential issue of students being too worried to come speak to us in person. Afterall, it can be

quite intimidating speaking to someone about what you’re struggling with.

We have also developed multiple ideas for the future:

We wish to train the bus drivers in anti-bullying skills - it’s become clear that the bus journey is a blind spot

for bullying prevention. There are no teachers, nor anyone with authority to intervene making it a vulner-

able area of the day for or pupils. This training would be run by us, taking the knowledge we gathered

from the Diana Award training days to them.

Furthermore, we wish to host a colour run to support the LGBTQ+ community for the whole school to join in

with. Using coloured powders and paints to have a fun, messy day full of awareness.

We hope that we can continue our efforts over the next couple of years and then hand our roles down to the

next generation of students to continue.

By Callum Blair

Anti-Bullying

Page 21

The Peace Advocates are 6 people each from a group of schools in the area. We work with

Archbishop Sancroft High School in Harleston and Diss High School. The Peace Advocates

for LSHS are Hannah Trim (myself), Sophie Rice, Chloe Wigg, Lucy Turner, Faye Meyer and

Jake Ellis.

We applied for the position following an assembly delivered by Mrs Gallant, explaining why

advocating for peace was important to us and why we think we’d be good for the job. Once

we’d been selected, we went to Archbishop Sancroft, along with Diss High School, to spend

the day learning about the cause, what we should and can do to be Peace Advocates, par-

taking in activities designed by last year’s Peace Advocates and brainstorming ideas of what

we could do within our school community to create and sustain peace.

Some of the ideas were more music rooms, conflict resolution and anonymous ‘confession’

booths, but after taking a survey of our students we agreed on a quiet room, with bean bags,

cushions and soft chairs. There will be charging ports but chargers will have to be brought in

(at your own risk!) and phones are permitted if headphones are used. You may also eat in

there unless there is a mess in which case we may have to tighten the rules. We want every-

one to be able to access and feel safe in this room. If you are too raucous and noisy howev-

er you will be asked to leave. We are attempting to put this in place as soon as we can.

By Hannah Trim

On the 28th of June, 2019, Long Stratton High School celebrated diversity in our school in a

number of ways: students and teachers came to school in bright clothing, each donating a

pound and receiving a rainbow badge in return; learning about LGBTQ+ issues during form

time through the week to raise awareness; and much more! We also had a school photo

where everyone went outside in form groups, holding up paper to create a rainbow flag. Mrs

Gallant is also making a banner and with Mr Hutson is attending Norwich Pride (27th July)

and anyone who wishes to join them is welcome to!

Aside from Diversity Week and the amazing, colourful day on the Friday, LSHS already has a

lot of awareness of LGBTQ+ issues (including and supporting all races), with posters up eve-

rywhere to support people within our community as well as the rest of the world, for example:

“Homophobia and transphobia has no place in our school.” With a whole board in A Block

showing celebrities who are LGBTQ+, we show any potential students that being a minority

will not stand in the way of an amazing career and life. This week was a success in educating

and supporting LGBTQ+ issues!

By Hannah Trim

Pupils’ Achievements

Peace Advocates

Diversity

Some issues raised in school which our pupils feel strongly about. Our reporters wanted to

share with you some of the reasons exactly why we discuss them.

Mental health: how long has it been an issue? When did we stop talking and telling people how we feel? When did

this become ‘not cool’? Mental health is one of many issues in modern day society, however, it is having the big-

gest and the most negative impact on people’s life and therefore stopping them enjoying a happy life.

But what is mental health? Mental health is the state of your emotional and mental wellbeing in your life. We prob-

ably all know someone who has a mental health issue or has had one in the past. Whether this be anxiety, de-

pression, OCD or PTSD, anyone can get a mental health issue.

Most of us know someone who have a mental health issue, but why aren’t they being stopped or at least made

better? People are scared to talk to someone about their mental health issue and then they let it boil up inside of

them which makes it worse for them. This can lead to them not taking part in everyday things and social tasks

because their mental health takes control of them. Peer pressure, the internet and social media are the biggest

offenders for why people don’t speak out because talking to someone about your emotions is deemed as ‘not

cool’. I want to change these people’s opinions because the more people speak out, the better. Our school is

great for supporting us students here and we have so many people we can talk to. Whether that be Nikki, Miss

Doyle, Mrs Gallant, your form tutor or any member of staff, there’s plenty of options. You could even talk to your

friends if you don’t feel comfortable enough to talk to a member of staff. The main message I want to get across it

that we are supportive and understanding at this school and more people need to understand that it ’s better out in

the open rather than bubbling up inside of you just becoming worse.

When I was younger, I used to suffer from extreme anxiety and would become panicky at the smallest situation.

My fear of death would become greater every day and my confidence used to lower. This was an awful and tough

time in my life, but it got better after a lot of hard work and resilience. I used to let it boil up inside of me because I

thought that was the best thing to do and it was the worst decision ever. I would feel more scared every day and

my family and friends started to notice. Even teachers at school started to notice something was up with me and

wanted to have a chat. I continued to not talk to anyone, and my panics continued to grow worse. One day I de-

cided enough was enough and spoke to my parents. They were really supportive, and I told them how I was really

confused as to what was wrong with me. We then went to the doctors to see if they could do anything and having

a chat with my doctor was amazing because she gave me such great advice and sent me to some counselling

sessions in Great Yarmouth. These sessions were one of the best things to help my mental health as I got to so-

cialise with people of all ages and met some nice people. People finally started to notice a difference in my confi-

dence for the better and I slowly became myself again. Believe me, this didn’t just happen overnight. This took a

long time to get me back to my normal self, but I knew this wasn’t going to go away with a blink of an eye. I still

get anxious sometimes now, but whenever it happens, I talk to my parents and I no longer feel as bad. If I hadn ’t

have talked to someone all those years ago, I would probably be in the worst state possible.

A great way to help a mental health issue apart from talking to someone about it, would be to play a sport and get

outside. Playing sport releases endorphins which make you feel happier about yourself and improves your mental

health. Joining a sports team will also help massively because you get to socialise with new people and get to

create new friends. This may put you out of your comfort zones, but if you never leave your comfort zone, you

may never realise how much fun you would have had. If joining a sports team is just slightly too much out of your

comfort zone, you could join the gym. It still makes you feel happy, but you don’t have to socialise as much. Take

advantage of the beautiful countryside around where we live and go for a run or walk on the fields and take in the

scenery. It will get you away from your glaring, addictive phone and make you feel better about yourself.

Social media is the devil of mental health. Monsters sit behind their computer screen, too afraid to do this in real

life and make disgusting comments to young, vulnerable people on the internet. This then makes the victims feel

awful about themselves, their body confidence drops, and it makes them feel negative. Just simply mute your

phone at bed so you don’t have these things keeping you up at night, block and report online bullies and unfollow

any accounts which make you feel awful or not good about yourself. Start to follow positive accounts on social

media and you will soon see the difference in your wellbeing.

In conclusion, talking to someone, unfollowing mean accounts and getting outside are all great ways to fight your mental health issue one step at a time.

Page 22

Mental Health by Sophie Rice

Page 23 Climate Change by Sophie Rice

There is one phrase in the world which can change someone’s expression in a flick of a switch and fill their

heads full of daunting and haunting images. Anyone will be affected by this phrase: politicians, the rich, the

poor, children, students, and adults. Climate Change.

We've all heard it before on the news as we turn the TV on in the morning and see it through our drowsy eyes,

blinded by the glare of the screen - climate change is affecting us all and we need to change now. But what do

we do when we see this not-so-lovely news first thing in the morning? Do we keep watching to see what we

can do to make a difference? No. We turn the channel over as quickly as you can say ‘BBC news’. What if

people ask us if we can make a difference? What do we do when we see tired, dedicated people who are try-

ing to make a difference, some even half the age of us? We simply just say ‘it won’t affect me; it’s not going to

happen tomorrow. I can think about it later’. I want to change these people’s attitudes. Climate change is hap-

pening now. We can’t stop it entirely, but we can slow it down, so we give our earth a longer future.

Palm oil: it’s everywhere. If you looked around your kitchen right now, you would easily find over 10 items

which contained palm oil in them. Why is it such a big deal, then? Palm oil is creating an extremely negative

effect on our environment. Millions of trees every year are being cut down to be replaced by palm oil planta-

tions and therefore destroying the environments of animals, especially orangutans. Ships are also allowed to

throw palm oil into the sea 10 miles off the coastline of Britain. When this reaches the water, it solidifies and

forms white blocks which rinses up onto the beaches of Britain. These blocks of palm oil are weathered down

by rocks and when they reach the beach can be little, tiny cubes or even massive chunks, some even bigger

than your head! These blocks of palm oil are extremely dangerous to dogs and can make them become ex-

tremely ill.

I was on a dog walk with my friends and family on the beaches of Waxham on the Norfolk coastline, when a

peaceful walk turned tense as we had to be extremely cautious about where to let our dogs walk in case they

picked up a piece themselves. Even the smallest piece could have an awful effect. Seeing all this palm oil

spread across the beauty of the coastline made me feel sick and so horrified. Beaches are meant to be places

where dog owners and parents should feel happy to let their dogs and children go for a day out with them, but

now a good day can be ruined for the fear of our loved dogs becoming ill.

However, some brands are reacting in the right way and making a difference. Last year, Iceland produced a

powerful and emotional advert at Christmas time about the orangutan in the little girl’s bedroom which was

guaranteed to provoke more tears than any John Lewis advert. However, this advert was pulled off the

screens of millions across the country, which I found and still find disgusting. Fortunately, this advert became

an overnight sensation as everyone was desperate to see the advert which was taken off the TV and therefore

millions of people saw it and demanded why this wasn’t on anymore.

Beautiful, majestic creatures which roam our planet causing no harm to us humans are becoming extinct be-

cause of us. Poor, undeveloped countries which have had no say in climate change and no contribution to it

are getting the worst results- drought and extreme natural disasters. We need to make a difference now. Stop

putting it off and make your difference for the better to our planet.

One message I want to leave you with: if you don’t make a difference now, what will you say when it gets too

late to make a difference anymore?

Where else can we go when we no longer have the Earth? Nowhere. I know this is petrifying news which will

scare everyone, but people need to be aware of what’s going to happen if we don’t make a change now. You

may believe you are too small or weak to make a big enough difference, but anything can help us on the jour-

ney to a better planet. Just one person making a small change to their lifestyle can have a massive impact.

Whether you are 9 years old or 90, anyone can help. Greta Thunberg is a fifteen-year-old student from Swe-

den who stayed off school to protest against climate change. She said that she shouldn’t go to school if she

isn’t going to be alive to use this knowledge in 10 years. This powerful message struck the hearts of millions

and caused thousands of people and students across the country to protest just like she did to create an im-

pact. This just goes to show how one person making a change can create an enormous effect on the world.

It may take us longer to persuade big brands and the main offenders of climate change to change their mind,

but we can still make little changes to our lifestyle which won’t change our entire day but will help climate

change massively. From switching off a lightbulb when we leave a room to retweeting a post on Twitter for

more trees to be planted, taking two minutes out of your day can help. We can also help in the fight for climate

change by flying less as planes release extreme amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, reducing the number

of products in our life which use unsustainable palm oil and using a reusable water bottle instead of using one-

life plastic.

Page 24

LSHS Alumni

I attended Long Stratton High School between 2003 and 2008 where I studied (among other

things), History, Double English, Triple Maths, Drama, German and ICT. I graduated with

6A*s, 4As and 2Bs and had a great time. I am still in contact with my closest friends from

school (Scott Smith and Jack Setford) and both of them attended my wedding celebration a

short while ago.

For my A-levels, I attended City of Norwich school where I studied History, Drama, Govern-

ment and Politics.

After A-Levels, then went to University in Dundee where I achieved a first class masters in His-

tory & Politics, with my dissertation covering “The Decline of Liberal Dundee; 1908 – 1922”

covering the tenure of Winston Churchill as MP for Dundee, prohibitionist movements, Irish

nationalism and the First World War.

After university I worked in legal costings, with specific responsibility for family civil legal aid

claims (from domestic abuse issues to international abduction cases). Through this I obtained

a job in Cambridge working for a construction law and property litigation team where I worked

for a year. During this time, I was responsible for consistency checking and proof reading pub-

lic sector building contracts, predominately transport infrastructure.

In September 2017, I was successful in gaining a place on the Civil Service Project Delivery

Fast Stream, a central government graduate scheme. I first worked at the Department for En-

vironment, Food and Rural Affairs in the governance team with responsibility for weekly re-

ports on EU Exit matters (translating front line staff issues into actionable policy decisions for

ministers and the Secretary of State). I moved to head up a newly formed team in Defra

tasked with ensuring delivery partner readiness both within Defra and across other govern-

ment departments – from local authorities to small businesses. I have since moved to the De-

partment of International Trade where I am currently working business readiness in the de-

volved administrations.

In my spare time I have an allotment (currently suffering due to the excessive rain!) and read

sci-fi/fantasy literature. I am currently involved with outreach work within Norfolk and Suffolk

for the central civil service and the project delivery profession specifically.

Samantha Best

Our school caretaker Mike Gant has decided to retire at the end of the Summer Term. He has been a valued member of our site team for 32 years. He started at LSHS on 1st August 1987 and prior to that worked 13 years at Avenue First and Middle School. His children and grandchildren have attended the school. We really appreciate his commitment to Long Stratton High School over this time and wish to publicly acknowledge his long service to education in the county. We would all like to wish Mike a long and happy retirement.

Page 25

Farewell to Mike Gant