So much to celebrate - Bishop Thomas Grant School

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Something for all tastes One of the students commended by Mr Watkins at the St Cecilia’s celebration was Denise Acosta Rodriguez. She spoke to our reporter: “It was an excellent evening of music. There were a few soloists, Junior Choir and Chapel Choir, Barbershop Girls and Boys and African drumming – something for all tastes. The singing was in a variety of languages, but I sang only in English: it was A Foggy Day in London Town, and it was suggested by my singing teacher Ms Cyers I love ballads, and my favourite ones are Unbreak My Heart by Tony Braxton and I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston. I have been singing since I was four years old and I want to study Music at GCSE, then take it further. I am sure that all the parents really enjoyed St Cecilia’s Day. I know my own mother did, because she told me so. She especially liked the African drumming. Blessings from Sri Lanka Ms Macadam writes: Whilst on holiday in Sri Lanka, I called in to have lunch with Reverend Mother and Sister Laurenta at the Holy Angels School of Payagola. I was delighted to take with me the cheque for five hundred and eight pounds which Matthew House raised for the school and the orphanage. Reverend Mother was so grateful, and very moved that our students had given their time and energy to raise such a large amount. She sends her blessings and thanks to us all, and promises that the money will be put to good use. Since I last visited the school, the new classroom, to be used as a Science laboratory, has nearly been built. The school is hoping to add another floor, eventually, because it is better to go upward than use up more land. There is also a plan to buy more books for their new library shelves. A group of our Year 7 students are writing to their counterparts in Sri Lanka in a scheme which will strengthen our links and make it possible to learn a little more about each other’s lives. Look out for the Christmas Raffle to raise more funds. Merton Pisces Champion Ms Prime writes: Congratulations to Ewa Kunysz 7MP on her success in the recent Swimming Club Gala at Morden Baths on two Fridays - 20 and 27 November. She competed against other swimmers aged 11-14 and came first in all of her five events: 50m front crawl, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke and the medley. Ewa was awarded a medal for each win and an overall Champions Shield by her club, Merton Pisces Swimming Club with whom she has trained for the last four years. Ewa’s favourite discipline is backstroke but her personal best of 1:19 seconds for 100m is in the front crawl. We wish her all the best for her upcoming competition in the Open Championship Swimming Gala on 6 December. —4—
Tribute to the Fallen Mr Parchot writes: “They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old” Students from Year 10 presented a moving tribute to ‘the fallen’ of all wars through poetry readings, dramatic sketches and choreography. Whilst Armistice Day, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks specifically the end of the First World War 1914-1918, the main focus of the assembly was directed towards current and ongoing conflicts such as Afghanistan, where many of our own young men and women are facing grave danger on a daily basis and even laying down their lives in the service of our country. I was aware of people in the assembly, staff and pupils alike, who have loved ones caught up in that conflict, adding a special poignancy to our commemorations. A number of the performances during the assembly used the poetry of Wilfred Owen as their stimulus. His experience of Joshua Medine, Sam Woodman and Paul Brown enact the Wilfred Owen poem Dulce et Decorum Est, which formed part of an assembly on the horrors of war. War and close observations of its horrific impact on the lives of combatants is graphically depicted in Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori (It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country). Young men ‘Bent double…coughing like hags…all lame…all blind’ is anything but a sweet picture of war. War has destroyed their health and vitality for life and aged them prematurely. Similarly, in the poem Disabled we are presented with a young man who ‘gave his lie’ signing up for the First World War saying he was nineteen years old. In the poem we see him returned home, his legs blown off, not greeted as a hero, but a figure of pathos. He can no longer play football, the game he loved, and girls do not look at him anymore. Such tragic images are as true of war today as they were in 1914. The commemorative assembly also drew attention to the impact of war on loved ones left at home, shown in a dramatised extract from The Accrington Pals, a play by Peter Whelan. In the extract the women folk of Accrington, a town near Manchester, hear rumours that, of seven hundred of their men who marched off to fight in the First World War, only seven have returned alive. The extract was powerfully and movingly enacted by students from 10X1, depicting the women of Accrington clinging to each other, barely able to contain their grief at their terrible loss. The famous lines of Laurence Binyon’s poem For the Fallen were read, followed by ‘The Last Post’ and a minute’s silence. They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. —5—
Page 1 and 2: Volume 7 Issue 1 December 2009 ISSN
Page 3: Dear Parents, Staff and Students Th
Page 7 and 8: d to success Emmanuel Locord and St
Page 9 and 10: Chatroom Rehearsals have begun for
Page 11 and 12: SPORTS REPORT Mr Myton writes: Foot

So much to celebrate - Bishop Thomas Grant School

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