December 2009 - Prince Henrys Grammar School

Drama
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Year 9 stand up for peace
YEAR 9 History pupils
recently attended a
‘conflict resolution’
workshop at the
Royal Armouries.
Speakers included a
Holocaust survivor and
a peacekeeper who
served in Northern
Ireland and Bosnia.
The object of the day
was for pupils to gain
a greater appreciation
of the tragic nature of
conflict and to consider
ways in which it might
be avoided. The trip
was a great success,
with speakers and staff
saying how impressed
they were with the many
thoughtful contributions
made by our pupils.
We hope to organise
similar events in
the future.
YEAR 12 Applied Media students spent
the first few weeks of term making
promotional videos for the Sixth Form.
The films will make up part of their
A-level portfolio.
Students had to work to a brief and
conduct regular ‘client’ meetings
with the Head of Sixth Form, Trevor
Davidson. The work will be used to
show new students what life is like in
the Sixth Form at Prince Henry’s.
Meanwhile, Media Studies pupils on
the BTEC course achieved excellent
results last term with 50 per cent
gaining a pass (the equivalent of four
Cs at GCSE) and 50 per cent gaining a
merit (equivalent to four Bs).
A creative curriculum
AS and A2 Drama and Theatre
Studies students had the
opportunity to take part in
a workshop with the Shared
Experience Theatre Company
and their internationally
acclaimed director, Nancy
Meckler. The students then saw
the Company’s brilliant and
innovative production of Brecht’s
Entertaining, innovative and
professional: A2 devised plays.
Armed, but not dangerous! Sophie Hewitson,
James Drake and Alyssa Nicholson, Year 9.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the
West Yorkshire Playhouse.
A2 Drama and Theatre Studies
students presented their own
devised plays as part of their
A-level exam. All three plays
were thoroughly entertaining,
innovative and professional,
demonstrating the individual
talents and skills of the students
and their ability to work together
as a creative ensemble.
Rehearsals will be starting
soon for the next school
musical. This year, we hope to
perform the classic Rodgers
and Hammerstein musical South
Pacific at the end of March. With
a cast of 60, it promises to be a
spectacular production.
Sixth Form on video
THERE are more than
180 million German
speakers worldwide,
and a quarter of all
Europeans speak
German as their first
or second language.
Since the
introduction of
German this term
as the school’s new
second language,
Year 8 pupils have
Arts activities
Sprechen sie
Deutsch?
been listening to
bands Rammstein,
Tokio Hotel and
Cascada, as well as
well as eating Gummi
Bears, Milka chocolate
and Bavarian cheese.
Eighty pupils will be
visiting Cologne next
summer to learn more
about German culture
and to practise their
language skills.
A taste of
Germany:
Taylor
Townsend
and Daniel
Stone,
Year 8.
Community mural: BTEC First Diploma pupils.
THE School of Rock and
Pop recently ran a series of
workshops on performing
music by the Kings of Leon.
Pupils in Years 7 to 9 learned
to play riffs on electric guitar,
bass and drum kit, and were
encouraged to learn the vocals
to the band’s songs.
YEAR 9 pupils were also offered
the opportunity to take part in
an African drumming workshop
with Drums Agogo. They
learned to perform traditional
djembe rhythms and an African
tribal song.
THE talents of the Year 12
Music group are both diverse
and interesting. Moritz von
Zahn from Germany, who is
currently studying
at Prince Henry’s,
has enhanced PHOJO
and the Concert Band
with his trumpeting.
Oliver Wales, a Grade
8 violinist, plays with the City
of Leeds Youth Orchestra, and
Aimee Fisk, a Grade 8 pianist
and singer, plays with the
City of Leeds Youth Jazz Rock
Orchestra and sings with Leeds
Youth Opera.
Curtain up on the life of Henry VIII
IN History, Year 8 pupils have been exploring exciting new
ways of studying the life and times of Henry VIII by preparing
puppet shows detailing his many infamous exploits.
The pupils’ hard work resulted in some outstandingly
crafted puppets and detailed stagework. Ranging from
musical theatre to tragic soap opera, pupils re-enacted
the tribulations of Henry’s turbulent realm. The History
Department would like to congratulate pupils on their
outstanding work.
THE first community-based project of the new BTEC
First Diploma course in Art & Design involved producing
a mural for Otley police station. Staff worked with pupils
on the design stages, and the group visited the police
station and gathered ideas from their own photographs
in and around Otley.
Music maestros
The new ‘Kings of
Leon’: Courtney
Rycroft, Sarah
Skerratt, Katie
Broome and Lewis
Tucker, Year 8.
YEAR 9 pupil Rhiannon Hughes has designed a
sculpture to stand in front of local business Browns
of Bramhope. “They wanted a design that incorporated
the circles from their company logo. I had fun designing
it, and it’s exciting that my design is a real public
sculpture,” said Rhiannon.
HEAD of Art Shane Green has been busy chainsawcarving
a Sculpture Trail for Otley Chevin Forest Park.
The trail consists of nine large-scale wood carvings
documenting the history of this area from prehistoric
man through to Thomas Chippendale and the modern
day use of the Chevin by mountain bikers and walkers.
The trail is the first of its kind in the UK, and has been
supported by English Heritage.
Acting the part: Morag Hockey, Hannah
Patterson and Eva Harding, Year 8.
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