Summer 2012 Newsletter - St. Marylebone CE School
Summer 2012 Newsletter - St. Marylebone CE School
Summer 2012 Newsletter - St. Marylebone CE School
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The <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> <strong>CE</strong> <strong>School</strong><br />
Specialisms <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
A Specialist <strong>School</strong> in Performing Arts, Maths, Computing,<br />
Communication & Interaction<br />
PLUS all the details from...<br />
Year 9 Performing Arts<br />
Festival <strong>2012</strong><br />
<strong>Marylebone</strong> Jam<br />
...and much more!
This year’s Spring Concert took place on Thursday 22nd March<br />
at <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> Parish Church. There were performances from<br />
all of the school’s ensembles in the Olympic-themed event.<br />
Young Voices were joined by <strong>St</strong>. Vincent’s Primary <strong>School</strong><br />
Chamber Choir to perform ‘The Flame’; Shout Out! performed a<br />
specially arranged medley; Jazz Band played a John Coltrane<br />
classic; Pops Orchestra gave a great performance of the William<br />
Tell Overture; and Concert Band played the John Williams<br />
medley of Olympic anthems, ‘Olympics: A Centennial<br />
Celebration’.<br />
Additional performances came from the Year 10 GCSE Music<br />
students and the Year 11 Band who performed ‘Respect’,<br />
reminding us of this important Olympic value. The Community<br />
Choir came together again singing ‘We Are The Champions’,<br />
and the Symphony Orchestra supported the combined finale<br />
piece ‘PLAY!’ which involved every single performer!<br />
Interspersed amongst the musical performances were dance<br />
and movement pieces inspired by the Olympics, including the<br />
raising of an Olympic torch and a tableau of the iconic<br />
Olympic rings.<br />
All of the groups gave excellent performances and the Spring<br />
Concert <strong>2012</strong> was a fantastic success—well done to all<br />
involved!
Back in October, eleven Year 12 Drama and Theatre <strong>St</strong>udies students<br />
prepared and performed a modern dress abridged version of ‘Julius<br />
Caesar’ at the Unicorn Theatre alongside three other schools, marking<br />
the 10 th anniversary of the Shakespeare <strong>School</strong>s Festival and six years<br />
of involvement by <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> <strong>School</strong>. The piece was directed by Jack<br />
<strong>St</strong>igner in a total theatre style, using no set or props, creating locations<br />
and atmosphere with choral action, physical theatre and gestus.<br />
Following the performance the production received great acclaim—Festival Regional Manager Lydia<br />
Lewison had this to say:<br />
“It was an incredible performance. They were an exemplary ensemble cast: disciplined,<br />
professional, focused and supportive of one another. Every movement they made was<br />
purposeful and full of energy. It was such a dynamic and exciting production, and the<br />
pace and energy never dropped. The ensemble work was fantastic - I loved the crowd<br />
scenes where every individual had their own characterisation carried through in their voice<br />
and physicality. Also when the actors were washing their hands in blood, and that<br />
amazingly powerful assassination of Caesar - it was so clever to use the stage directions in<br />
that way, it gave the scene a whole new dimension.<br />
As well as that brilliant ensemble work the individual performances were very strong. Those<br />
long, difficult speeches were delivered thoughtfully and clearly and with great timing. You<br />
have an extremely talented group of young people there. They were also really lovely to<br />
the young cast of the Tempest. It was so nice to hear them give such thoughtful, positive<br />
feedback to the boys. That kind of interaction is such an important part of the Festival.”<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
Dominic Fitch, Artistic Producer for the festival, asked <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> to perform as part of The<br />
Shakespeare <strong>School</strong>s Festival Gala in May, at the prestigious West End venue, The Royal Court. <strong>St</strong><br />
<strong>Marylebone</strong> were asked to devise an introduction for the festival’s sponsorship event. Nine cast<br />
members worked tirelessly to create an opening to the event to fit the brief provided by the festival<br />
organisers, including lines from Shakespeare’s most revered works.<br />
On the day the cast met and shared the Royal Court stage with famous<br />
celebrity Shakespeare <strong>School</strong>s Festival patrons, Sue Perkins and Jenny<br />
Agutter, as well as using the Royal Court rehearsal spaces and facilities<br />
to prepare themselves for the evening performance.<br />
In response to their outstanding work, Emily Clarke from the festival<br />
had this to say:<br />
“On behalf of all of us at SSF, I just want to say a HUGE thank you<br />
for taking part in our Fundraising Gala. The introduction to SSF<br />
was just incredible. What a way to open the show! The<br />
choreography was slick and the students performed with<br />
confidence and maturity and really owned the space. Your<br />
students, with their powerful physicality, vocal confidence and<br />
strong ensemble work, set the bar for the other schools. They<br />
really are a talented bunch, and I think they will go very far.”
The <strong>Marylebone</strong> Jam<br />
Now in its 4th year, the <strong>Marylebone</strong> Jam once again showcased the plethora of popular<br />
music talent at SMS. With music chosen, arranged, rehearsed and performed by<br />
students, for students, The Jam is a superlative example of the music making that goes<br />
on independently in practise rooms, bedrooms and via Skype (so I'm informed!).<br />
Ranging from the loud masterclass of the Sixth Form Band to moving solo singersongwriting<br />
performances in Year 7, this event continues to be one of the most exciting<br />
music events in the calendar.
The Olympic stage<br />
Year 9 Performing Arts Festival <strong>2012</strong><br />
The Year 9 Performing Arts<br />
Festival took place on<br />
Wednesday 20th and Thursday<br />
21 st June. The theme for this<br />
year’s festival was The Olympic<br />
<strong>St</strong>age, and Year 9 had two days<br />
off timetable to prepare a<br />
montage of music, dance and<br />
drama. Each class produced an<br />
exciting, imaginative and<br />
creative response to their brief,<br />
and the sheer variety of ideas<br />
on display was wonderful to see.<br />
The Celebration Evening<br />
provided friends and family with<br />
the chance to celebrate with<br />
Year 9 as they marked the end<br />
of Key <strong>St</strong>age 3 and received<br />
their Year 9 award. Many<br />
students had worked on an<br />
Extended Project, and these<br />
were on show in the Maths<br />
Rooms after the celebration in<br />
Church, and highlighted the<br />
extraordinary talent of Year 9<br />
pupils at <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong>. It was a<br />
wonderful two days, and a<br />
fitting conclusion to an excellent<br />
year for Year 9 students.<br />
During the summer term, Choral Scholars from Key <strong>St</strong>age 3 have been taking part in the Songspace project<br />
organised by Wigmore Hall Learning. The project has involved over 100 students from five different London<br />
schools working with a composer, John Barber, and professional musicians, to create a new song cycle<br />
based on traditional French songs.<br />
The Songspace project has done much to inspire vocal and compositional creativity in our <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong><br />
students. Our students composed a response to a classic French song, ’Pourquoi?’ composed by Messian,<br />
which they also learnt to sing. Their composition is testament to their vocal talents, incorporating extended<br />
techniques and close harmony singing. At the culmination concert which took place at Wigmore Hall on<br />
Friday 6 th July, students performed alongside the other schools taking part in the project. Each school<br />
performed their chosen French song plus their newly composed response song, and also joined together to<br />
sing some traditional French children’s songs. The concert was added to with performances from famous<br />
musicians involved in the project, who also performed French works: Sophie Daneman (soprano), Eugene<br />
Asti (piano).<br />
<strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> would like to thank project leader John Barber, Julia Roderick, Head of Education at Wigmore<br />
Hall and all of the musicians involved in the project for creating such a successful initiative.
The annual Dance Company Tour commenced on Sunday 24 th June and lasted 9<br />
days. This was the most extensive tour to date, with students performing in a<br />
range of venues including a primary school, a secondary school and outside<br />
Westfield Shopping Centre. There were also two performances in the <strong>St</strong><br />
<strong>Marylebone</strong> Theatre; one for invited guests from local primary schools and the<br />
other for family and friends. The performances featured guest appearances by<br />
Westminster Junior Dance Company and Dance Scholars, and included works<br />
choreographed by teachers, students and a professional choreographer.<br />
Although I’ve always enjoyed dance, I had never really taken part in anything to do with dance since I had come<br />
to <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> but throughout Year 8, I have become so much more involved in dancing. When I participate in<br />
dance and commit to it, I feel like I am taking part in something I’m really passionate about. However, before<br />
doing dance in Year 8 I never had that strong feeling. It has really changed my experience of school as a whole<br />
because I now feel like there is something that I can really be a part of.<br />
The first thing that really got me involved in dance was being in the dance show in January. I really loved the long<br />
and sometimes very tiring rehearsals because I knew that I was committed and that it would be completely worth<br />
it in the end. And it was. The excitement and thrill that I got when performing on stage was something I had<br />
hardly experienced and the buzz was amazing! Since then I’ve been participating in so much more. Recently I was<br />
in the Hip-Hop Project where we had about 4-5 weeks to learn a routine choreographed by a really talented<br />
choreographer and dance teacher, Omar. It was really fun working with him and everyone else to create a really<br />
good hip-hop/street dance piece. After the competition, we came out winners! It was such an amazing experience<br />
to participate in and winning it was even better! At the moment I’m in the Sports Day Opening Ceremony which<br />
again takes a lot of practise and commitment but I am so sure that it will be worth it all after the performance! I<br />
really, really love taking part in these opportunities because they are always such a fantastic experience, and I love<br />
putting the effort in and then seeing the great outcomes.<br />
I would really recommend that people take part in whatever they love to do because when you have a passion for<br />
something you should seize any opportunities that come. Because at the end of it, it will always be another<br />
worthwhile experience, whatever happens.<br />
Ava Chowdhury-Turner 8W<br />
Having the opportunity to join Dance Company has really helped me to develop my dancing skills and techniques<br />
in many ways. I feel very confident in performing in front of an audience, not only at school but outside to other<br />
schools and venues.<br />
I particularly enjoyed my recent first outside performance with the Big Bus tour in Islington. The Dance Company<br />
has helped me to improve working as a team and has allowed me to share my ideas.<br />
I particularly enjoy Dance Company as I can express myself through dance, work with people of different ages. It<br />
keeps me physically fit and active. It is a great opportunity to improve my dancing and hopefully will help me<br />
work towards achieving an A- Level in Dance if I am good enough in my GCSE.<br />
Rosie Watson 8W
Jubilee Celebrations<br />
The Maths department took the opportunity to celebrate the Jubilee in<br />
style. The Year 7s took part in some excellent themed Maths activities,<br />
such as ‘Royal Top Trumps’, ‘Target 60’ and ‘Can Will and Kate get to<br />
the Church on time?’! One of the most enjoyable activities was the Royal<br />
Murder Mystery, where students had to solve Maths problems to<br />
discover who in the Queen’s family tree performed the murder.<br />
We also had some special visitors along to see that all the lessons were<br />
right and proper!<br />
Imperial War Museum Trip<br />
On Friday 22nd June, three classes of buzzing Maths students emerged from the train station of Lambeth<br />
North, filled with anticipation and excitement. They were off to the Imperial War Museum for a trip that was<br />
destined to be a day they would never forget.<br />
In Secret War Gallery they saw display cases lined with memorabilia and secrets,<br />
whispers from the past, objects, and pictures that reflected the work on ciphers<br />
completed in class and echoed with the cries of soldiers long gone. There was an<br />
‘Enigma’ machine used by the Germans in World War II, there were portable<br />
communication systems as big as suitcases and hidden listening devices inside<br />
brushes and pens.<br />
Historical events were linked to Maths lessons and everyone was fascinated by the<br />
knowledge and passion displayed by Mr McIvor regarding the “Little Boy” – a toscale<br />
representation of the Hiroshima bomb that devastated the lives of so many.<br />
In the Cold War Gallery students learned about the 25 megaton missile developed<br />
by the Russians – 1,500 times more powerful than Little Boy. This was the kind of<br />
weapon that brought fear to the world during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963.<br />
After all this death and destruction came lunch and an opportunity for pupils to explore the rest of the<br />
museum, climb inside planes and experience a virtual air raid. It was a great day that showed how maths can<br />
be applied to all aspects of life, the good, the bad and the ugly.<br />
LILY DOUGLAS, KITTY LOW, AMY LEUNG AND MILLIE O LIONSIGH BAILEY<br />
(YEAR 9 MI5 AGENTS)
Every year, our top students take part in the UK Mathematics Trust<br />
Individual Challenge. These involve 25 maths based problem solving<br />
questions. The results are in for the Junior Challenge (Years 7 and 8)<br />
where 37 of our students received awards.<br />
Particular congratulations go to Anglela Sun (Year 8) for getting the<br />
highest marks in her year group. Further to this, Kira Miller (Year 7)<br />
received the highest mark overall. Well done girls!<br />
Engineering at <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong><br />
The beginning of May saw the completion of the Engineering Education Scheme, with all of the teams<br />
from London schools attending the Celebration and Assessment Day at Halcrow in Hammersmith. Our<br />
<strong>Marylebone</strong> team submitted their report, delivered their presentation, and showed off their display stand to<br />
the assessors and other engineers.<br />
After six months of working after school every week, the team were rewarded with excellent feedback on<br />
their project about designing a dam in Burkina Faso. They gained especially high praise about their<br />
presentation and were rewarded with the highest mark for their presentation across the London schools.<br />
The students have also been awarded with the British Science Association Gold Crest Award, recognising<br />
that the students did over 100 hours work on this project. This achievement is equivalent to achieving an A<br />
at AS Level.<br />
Our team must be congratulated on their achievement this year. They have<br />
gained many new skills throughout the course of this project and will take it<br />
through to University and beyond.<br />
A video featuring <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> <strong>School</strong>’s Team can be found on the school<br />
website at http://intranet.stmarylebone.westminster.sch.uk/community/<br />
news.htm<br />
10 members of Year 7 and 8 had the opportunity to represent <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> <strong>School</strong> at a both enjoyable<br />
and educational workshop at Queen Mary’s University, to experience a day of engineering. When we first<br />
got there, we didn’t really see engineering as a job, but just something you do when your car breaks<br />
down! But a lecturer came to talk to us about his research, and how important engineering is every day.<br />
We then went on to the first workshop, a parachute building one! We were all in teams and we had to<br />
build a parachute out of bin liner, string, and sellotape, but we had very strict rules. We had to protect a<br />
cup of rice as it landed without spilling any. We then launched our parachute. Both our teams did well<br />
and managed to protect the rice and landed it as close as possible to the target.<br />
After lunch we had an amazing tour of the entire University, where we got to see the library and shops<br />
and even where the students live. It’s like a little village that has everything! Finally we had the bridge<br />
building workshop which was similar to the parachute one. We had to build out of straws that would hold<br />
as much weight as possible until they broke. Overall, it was an inspiring, educational trip that I would<br />
recommend any one who has the chance to go…to go!<br />
Luma Abbas Year 7
After our successful deployment of the <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> Video project last year, we secured funding to<br />
run the same project again this year. It was suggested that we run the project with just two schools this<br />
year, chosen as <strong>St</strong>. Luke’s Primary and <strong>St</strong>. Barnabas Primary <strong>School</strong>. Miss Parkes and Miss Shaikh<br />
decided to hold two insets at each of the primary schools, teaching them how to use the camcorders<br />
and video editing techniques. This was to enable the school to have more ownership of the project and<br />
the ability to train other staff in the school. Additionally, the project gained further support from the<br />
Year 9 ICT scholars who visited the schools to help with filming.<br />
At the end of the project both schools taking part in the project were invited to an afternoon in the <strong>St</strong><br />
<strong>Marylebone</strong> <strong>School</strong> Theatre where their work was shown on the big screen. The students were also<br />
each given a DVD of their work. After evaluating the project with both the teachers and students it was<br />
evident that it was successful and the skills learnt will be used again in the future by the schools - some<br />
of the students even commented on how they would help their parents make DVDs of holidays and use<br />
their new skills in after school clubs so the project will truly have a lasting impact.<br />
Church Choir<br />
Lilly Tyler and Mimosa Canneti<br />
<strong>St</strong>ephen Lawrence was a black British teenager from Eltham, south<br />
east London, who was murdered in a racist attack while waiting for a<br />
bus on the evening of 22 April 1993. A gang of white youths attacked<br />
<strong>St</strong>ephen chanting racist slogans.<br />
This term, <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> <strong>School</strong> Church Choir were invited to sing at a special memorial service for<br />
<strong>St</strong>ephen Lawrence. We were so proud to have the opportunity to sing at the <strong>St</strong>ephen Lawrence memorial<br />
service. We were all very respectful and understanding to the family members and friends of <strong>St</strong>ephen<br />
Lawrence.<br />
Whilst everyone entered the church, we sang a selection of songs from "A Little Jazz Mass" by Bob Chilcott.<br />
During the service we sang a South African arrangement of "Instruments of Peace". Family members and<br />
friends of <strong>St</strong>ephen Lawrence smiled at us singing and seemed to enjoy it very well. When the service began,<br />
<strong>St</strong>ephen's brother did a speech followed by a couple of other relatives. At the end of the service, we all put<br />
our hands together for a prayer about <strong>St</strong>ephen and any other young children that might have experienced<br />
the same death as <strong>St</strong>ephen. It was an event we will always remember.<br />
“Your voices were uplifting and brought warmth. Thank you for taking the time to<br />
support <strong>St</strong>ephen’s Memorial Service. Your attendance at the service made it very<br />
special.” Doreen Lawrence
Day Of Games<br />
Fifteen Year 9 students have been working with College Park students and practitioners<br />
from the Graeae Theatre Company on the ‘Day of Games’ project across six sessions this<br />
term. The project aimed to create five different accessible games (one from each school<br />
taking part in the project) which could then be played against other schools at the Day of<br />
Games event which took place on 10th July. The event included an opening ceremony, at<br />
which the students performed a piece of movement theatre work based on the Jubilee line<br />
(!) and sang a school anthem which had been specially composed for the event as part of<br />
the project.<br />
The <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> game was an accessible version of<br />
‘Wink Murder’ which had been cleverly adapted to use<br />
touch rather than sight for the ‘murders’ and gave<br />
additional support to the detective. Points were<br />
awarded for the most creative ‘death’ and for correctly<br />
guessing who was acting as the murderer.<br />
The girls took part in the Day of Games, competing in the newly<br />
created games for medals which were awarded in a medal ceremony<br />
at the close of the day. As you can see from the pictures, <strong>St</strong><br />
<strong>Marylebone</strong> students did very well and were awarded a variety of<br />
medals!<br />
Exam Results<br />
Last term a number of students were entered for external instrumental exams. Everyone<br />
worked really hard in the lead up to the exam and their dedication paid off with some<br />
impressive results. Congratulations to all the students named below who all passed their<br />
instrumental exams!<br />
JEHAN AKHTAR<br />
KATHLEEN CRANHAM<br />
ISABELLA DI STEFANO<br />
LILY DOUGLAS<br />
ZUZANNA GRZESKIEWICZ<br />
JESSICA HARE<br />
ROSIE HUBBARD<br />
ALICIA LAI<br />
JOVANA PEPIC<br />
FAZANA RATTA<br />
ALISHA WALTERS<br />
GENEVIEVE WILLIAMS<br />
SERENA YAGOUB
In The Next Issue...<br />
All the details and photographs from Key <strong>St</strong>age 3 Nomadic Theatre Company<br />
production of ‘The Trojan Women’<br />
Pictures from the <strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> <strong>School</strong> Symphony Orchestra <strong>2012</strong><br />
Concert Tour to Berlin<br />
The outcome of the Year 8 Maths Factor Challenge<br />
All the news from this year’s performances at the Edinburgh Festival<br />
Dates for your diary<br />
The Boyfriend and The Dream<br />
Edinburgh Festival Performance, Surgeon’s Hall, Edinburgh<br />
3rd—11th August <strong>2012</strong><br />
Prizegiving<br />
<strong>St</strong> <strong>Marylebone</strong> Parish Church, 7pm<br />
Thursday 25th October <strong>2012</strong><br />
Term Dates<br />
Term 1:<br />
Thursday 6th September <strong>2012</strong> Year 7 & Year 12 start<br />
Friday 7th September Year 11 & Year 13 start<br />
Monday 10th September <strong>2012</strong> Year 8, Year 9, & Year 10 start<br />
Inter-term break: Monday 29th October - Friday 2nd November <strong>2012</strong><br />
Term 2: Monday 5th November - Friday 21st December <strong>2012</strong>