From strength to strength - Bishop Thomas Grant School

Volume 9 Issue 1 December 2011
ISSN 1742-2740
News Magazine of Bishop Thomas Grant School
From strength to strength
Mr Desa writes:
One of the most enjoyable events in the
school calendar is the annual prizegiving
evening, which took place this year on
Wednesday 23 November.
It was an opportunity to gather together
to celebrate the achievements and
contributions of all the members of our
school community, both past and present.
It gave me great pleasure, in my eleventh
year as Headmaster, to inform those
present that the school continues to go
from strength to strength in every area of
its performance.
In recent years we have become a hugely
over-subscribed school whose reputation
has been transformed in the local and
wider community. Parental confidence
is demonstrated by the fact we now
receive nearly 1,000 applications for just
180 places, but we still remain firmly
committed to being a fully inclusive school.
Given the context of the school, our
results this summer are all the more
remarkable. I would like to share with
you some headline figures from the 2011
GCSE results:
92% of students achieved 5 or more
Mr Desa with Head Boy Timothy Dalgado
GCSE between A* and C against a national
average of 79%.
The percentage of students achieving the
gold standard of 5 or more GCSE grades
at C or above, including both English
and Maths, was 70% against a national
average of 59%. We are confident that
we will take this figure to over 80% in the
near future.
The percentage of students achieving
A* - C in English was an outstanding
83.61% against a national average of
68.1% (25% of students at A/A* against
national average of 15.8%).
Continued on page 2
Vulnerable
bear
Committed
cellist
Proud
medallist
Fascinating
Language

Daniela Broci
Four days at
Juniper Hall
Juniper Hall, leased from the National
Trust, is a beautiful country house dating
from the seventeenth century, which is
situated in a quiet wooded valley in an
unspoilt area of the chalk North Downs.
Nowadays, it is a Field Studies Centre,
and at the end of last term Miss
Walburn, Mr Downton and the Year 12
(now Year 13) biology students spent
four days there. One of them, Daniela
Broci, spoke to Nuntius:
“We participated in a number of
activities which helped us to plan, carry
out, analyse, evaluate and write up our
A2 Biology coursework.
We learnt specific skills such as how to
collect valid and reliable data from both
woodland habitats using quadrats and
freshwater stream habitats using
kick sampling.
We also learnt lots of mathematical
statistical analysis methods and
techniques which we used to analyse
our results. We worked very hard but
despite this we all found the experience
very enjoyable and rewarding.
We had the chance to appreciate the
sights of Box Hill, which is nearby,
and the opportunity to spend time
working together as a group outside the
classroom. Thank you to Miss Walburn
and Mr Downton for giving up their time
to accompany us on the trip.”
Quadrats normally consist of a
square frame, the most frequently
used size being one square metre.
The purpose of using a quadrat is to
enable comparable samples to be
obtained from areas of consistent
size and shape.
Students using quadrats
Continued from the front page
The percentage of students achieving
A* - C in English Literature was 98%
against a national average of 74.9% (33%
of students at A/A* against a national
average of 21.3%).
The percentage of students achieving
A* - C in Maths was 73.2% against a
national average of 63.6% (20% of
students were awarded an A/A*).
Single Science, Additional Science,
Biology, Chemistry, Physics, French,
German, Spanish, Drama, History, ICT, PE,
Media Studies and… were all well above
national average.
There were a number of outstanding
individual performances. Thomas
Lamerton, Kiana Cummins, Jamil Dahoun,
Timothy Dalgado, James Higuita, Zach
Hunt, Busolu Ibitoye, Adam Judd, George
Kyriacou, Joshua Madine, Ella Ochugboju
and Anthony Pieri all achieved exceptional
results across the board, most of them
achieving 10 or more GCSEs at the top
grade of A/A*.
We have two hundred students in our
Sixth Form at the moment, and we expect
this number to rise over the next few
years. In order to cope with the increased
demand for places we submitted a bid to
the YPLA to build a new sixth form block,
which has been accepted: the school will
be receiving three-quarters of a million
pounds towards this new building.
We hope to have it ready for the start of
the next academic year. The new block
will contain an additional study area,
an additional common room, a multipurpose
hall for lectures, assemblies and
meetings, four new classrooms and a new
administration area with a suite of offices
and sixth form toilets.
I would like to congratulate the Year
13 students who left us in the summer.
Considering this was our first set of results
for our new Sixth Form, a pass rate of 98%
with nearly 70% of grades between A* and
C is to be highly commended.
We were very pleased that the vast
majority of students in last year’s Year 13
who applied for higher education through
UCAS obtained the grades they needed
for their conditional offers which included
universities from the Russell Group
and Oxbridge.
Besides the curricular and academic
developments in the school, first and
foremost we have continued to develop
the religious life of the school. As a
Catholic school we try to instil in the
pupils the importance of their faith
development.
—2—
We strongly believe at Bishop Thomas
Grant School that the first priority of any
Catholic school is to help and support all
its members to live their lives according
to the Gospel values. It is in this way that
we answer God’s call to seek perfection in
everything we do.
As the Headmaster, I can look back at
the last ten years and say with absolute
confidence that the school has progressed
very well. Our Ofsted Inspection, which
was due in 2009, was deferred because of
the high performance of the school.
However we are due to be inspected
this academic year. We are quietly
confident we will do very well, but we
need to be careful that we do not become
complacent.
I continue to look forward to the coming
years with the same excitement that I
had when I started my Headship in
September 2001.
I hope you all have a Happy Christmas,
Louis Desa

Science Live
I went with Ms Walburn and the 11x1
Biology class to the Dominion Theatre in
Central London to take part in the GCSE
Science Live conference in November.
We listened to talks by some of Britain’s
top scientists, including Professor
Richard Dawkins, who I believe is
one of the most thought – provoking
evolutionary biologists. He delivered an
interesting talk on whether evolution can
be predicted.
Dr Kate Lancaster also took part. Over
the years she has worked with people to
develop high powered lasers to generate
high fusion energy, which could be a
sustainable and clean energy source for
the future. During her talk, she taught us
the recipe for making artificial stars here
on Earth, which was exciting!
Professor Sir David King presented data
on our sources of energy, and on how
we are using up unsustainable amounts.
He is Director of the Smith School of
Enterprise and the Environment at the
University of Oxford, which looks to
embed environmental consideration
into every area of education, government
and business.
Professor Sir David King was for seven years the UK Government’s
Chief Scientific Advisor. His most recent publication is The Hot Topic,
co-written with Gabrielle Walker, which looks at what we can do to help
overcome climate change.
We were also delivered a fantastic
session by very experienced science
examiners on top tips for exam success.
This was extremely helpful, especially at
this time with mocks on the way.
By Eva Soliven
Wind turbines
generate clean
energy
Arduous selection process
All of the students wanting to become a
member of the Student Leadership Team
had to apply in writing.
Ten of the applicants were invited to
speak at a hustings in front of members
of the Sixth Form, and six of these
were chosen.
The next stage was an arduous and
demanding interview in front of
Ms Adam, Sister Ann, Ms Murray,
Mr Stapelberg and the School Council
before the following were accepted:
Timothy Dalgado (Head Boy), Jessica
Utit (Head Girl), Adam Judd (Leader of
Student Voice), Deborah Ibitoye
(Student Sports Leader) and James
Higuita (Leader of Philanthropy and the
World Challenge).
Jessica Utit was unable to be present for
the photograph.
“We were all so impressed with the
standard of their interview technique,”
commented Ms Murray. “It was an
agonising decision.
We argued for a long time, but eventually
the School Council made the final choice.
I am looking forward to working with
them in serving the school community.”
—3—

He speaks with passion
Paulina Katolska was still in Year 12 when she attended a
conference led by Lord Winston last July, just before the end of
Summer Term. She was interviewed by our reporter:
“I am most interested in Human Biology, and in our studies
we often address ethical issues, especially medical ones, for
example when we ask the question about whether we are right
or wrong to test on certain animals or tissues.
How do doctors make choices? I now know more about this
after listening to Lord Winston.
When he speaks you can hear the passion for the subject in his
voice, and see it in his face. He deals with all issues very fairly,
both general and specific.
He spoke in particular about decisions on which patients should
receive expensive drugs. Who should make them? Should it be
doctors, or patients or politicians?
Should the government set boundaries which can not be
crossed here? Who is the most in need?
I have watched his TV programmes on child development, so I
knew some his opinions before I came.
At the end of the conference, there were plenty of
opportunities for the students present, who were from various
sixth forms, to ask questions and to voice their thoughts.
My main focus at this moment is chemistry, especially
biochemistry.”
Lord Winston (Robert Winston) is
a professor, a surgeon, a scientist,
a politician and a well-known
television presenter.
He is Professor of Science and
Society at Imperial College, and
gives about thirty public lectures
each year on scientific subjects.
Among the television programmes
and series which he has presented
are The Human Body, The Story of
God and Walking with Cavemen.
He also took part in Jamie’s
Dream School.
LORENZO: ‘Blazing Star’ is about two
children who don’t know they are
brothers, who are put into an orphanage.
They are then adopted by people in two
different countries. When will
they meet?
DIOGO: ‘Spy Dog’ is about a medicine
that can cure dogs of their allergies. The
evildoers in it are kidnappers who want
people to become ill because of dogs. I
usually read comic stories.
JEMIMA: I have just read ‘Frankie Foster’
by Jean Ure, which is about a boy called
Frankie who likes to help others, but it is
not always the right kind of help. I often
read stories by Jackie Wilson.
I like stories like that
Pictured here are five of the Year 7
students who have been taking part in a
sponsored read, organised by Ms Scott-
Goodfellow – Adriana Paiva, Lorenzo
Lobo, Diogo Mendonca, Jemima Boka
and Taiwo Adenuga.
They told Nuntius about what they have
been reading:
ADRIANA: I am enjoying ‘The Name of
the Book is Secret’ because I am still
waiting for the name to be revealed. I
usually like stories about naughty girls.
TAIWO: I recommend ‘Beast Quest’
stories by Adam Blade. It’s a series.
The hero in most of the books is a boy
called Tom, who has a magic map. Along
with his horse, a jet-black stallion called
Storm and a wolf called Silver, he is on a
quest to fight evil wizards. I like stories
like that.
The charities supported are The Salesian
Sisters (Matthew), Special Care Baby
Unit at Mayday Hospital, Croydon,
(Mark), Spires charity for the homeless
(Luke) and Kids for Kids, which helps
children in Darfur, Sudan (John).
—4—

One man in this
country dies of
prostate cancer
every hour of every
day – more than
ten thousand each
year. Men do not
always display
symptoms and can
be faced with a
complex range of
treatment options.
Moustaches make a real difference
Movember (“the month formerly
known as November”) is a moustache
growing charity event held during
November each year that raises funds
and awareness for The Prostate Cancer
Charity and related initiatives.
Through the money raised, a number of
key programmes are being carried out
which are making a real difference to the
lives of affected men and their families.
Mr Melson spoke to Nuntius: “Having
seen my work colleagues in previous
jobs partake in moustache growing in
the month of November to raise money
for male health cancer charities, I made a
suggestion in the staffroom.
A number of staff members expressed
enthusiasm, and a BTG Movember team
was assembled.
We laid down the ground rules:
participants must begin November with
a clean shave, the moustache must not
join to the sideburns, and the moustache
must not have any beard or goatee
attachments.
With some teachers, the moustache
was immediately noticeable, whilst
with others (myself included), it took
until halfway through the month
before students realised that they were
involved in Movember at all!
At the moment, I have an itchy, blondish,
scraggly thing on my face, and my
wife is refusing to speak to me. The
Movember team of Mr Barrio, Mr Clare,
Mr Croucher, Mr Cussen, Mr Dier, Mr
Grehen, Mr McCarthy, Mr Melson, Mr
Moore, Mr Myton, Mr Porter and Mr
Stapelberg are doing a great job, and we
hope to raise as much money as possible
for the research.”
As a result of Movember funding, fourteen new research projects, the highest number ever, have been started. They deal with
prevention, diagnosis, treatment, awareness and quality of life.
Since its humble beginnings in Melbourne Australia, Movember has grown to become a truly global movement inspiring
more than 1.1 Million participants, with formal campaigns in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, the UK, Finland, the
Netherlands, Spain, South Africa and Ireland.
An extremely challenging course
The Extended Project Qualification is
currently in its third year in the Sixth
Form. With no overstatement, the course
is going from strength to strength.
Following on from the impressive start
in 2009, the 2010 students enjoyed
significant exam success with a diverse
range of independent projects ranging
from psychological laboratory studies
on the effectiveness of memory to a
zoological discussion on the viability of
introducing endangered polar bears to the
Siberian taiga.
The course is extremely challenging
for students as they have to come up
with all of their own ideas and conduct
experiments or gather data in their
own time.
Four of the students involved (pictured)
summed up their experiences with these
statements:
“It made me realise the importance of
time management as an indispensable and
transferable skill” (Mark Araujo)
“It was enjoyable to have the
independence to research something that
was of a significant interest to me beyond
my field of studies. (Michael Fidalgo)
“It provided me with a great insight into
the complexity of handling vast quantities
of data.” (Alexander Pearce)
“It gave me an opportunity to enhance
my current skills and also cultivate new
ones which have been indispensable in
their contribution to my A2 coursework
assignments.” (Nicholas Montebello)
EPQ Supervisor David McDonald added,
“What these students achieved this year
is truly astounding, I doubt I would have
been able to do what they have done this
year when I was eighteen.
They’ve set a very high standard for next
year’s students to aspire to.”
—5—
One project researched the possibilities of introducing
endangered polar bars to the Siberian taiga.

A day in the museum
In November, students from 9X2Science
visited the Science Museum in Kensington
to take part in various activities related
to the Outreach Climate Science Project.
The aim of the activities were to increase
the awareness about climate change, the
atmosphere and role of media in science.
Oliver Perales talked to Nuntius about
the trip:
“We went into a lecture theatre to
listen to a talk by two men who called
themselves ‘punk scientists’. In their
own special way, they taught us about
climate change.
They involved nine volunteers from
amongst the students present, most from
Bishop Thomas Grant, by getting them
to throw plastic balls at each other! I was
one who took part.
We were split into three groups of three.
One group was the Sun, another the Earth
and another the greenhouse gases. The
throwing game explained how the Sun’s
radiation hits the Earth and then bounces
back to be trapped by the gases.
Then there was another demonstration
of how atoms work, also involving plastic
balls, followed by one on nuclear fusion.
This was followed by a slide show on how
we can all recycle our waste materials, for
example paper, plastic and glass, and we
voted on what we thought was the best
way to reduce the carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere.
After a session with huge touch screens
in the atmosphere gallery, we returned to
the lecture theatre to plan the front page
of a newspaper or magazine in groups.
We had folders to dip into containing
facts and articles on nuclear power, giving
varying points of view. Our headline had
to consist of a catchy five words or less
which would draw readers in.
My group’s was STOP BUYING START
MAKING because we found out that this
country buys a large amount of electricity
from France, which uses nuclear power to
generate it. My opinion is that we should
make our own.
We found a comment by a Dr David
Weaver from the University of
Birmingham, who said that the UK safety
Oliver Perales
system is actually good, even though
it gets a hard hammering in the press.
France has not had many problems with its
nuclear power programme either.
Now I want to be a science journalist.”
Thanks to Laura Stephenson for her help
with this article.
Young Journalists
Congratulations to four students (pictured) who have been
accepted on to a scheme run by the Newsquest Group, which
prints the local Guardian and News Shopper titles.
This gives the chance to write articles for the Newsquest online
as part of the Young Journalist of the Year project.
The students, from Year 11 Media Studies, are given a deadline
– to produce one article each month. The website, which
receives 300,000 hits per month, is at www.newsquest.co.uk
Each made a comment for Nuntius.
“I really like taking the pictures for the articles, which is
something new for me.” (Izabella Johnson)
“I find it to be a wonderful opportunity to be able to report on
current events.” (Karina Sellars)
“The best part of my reporting was at the Sainsbury’s Super-
Saturday Concert in September, which was full of celebrities.”
(Chijioke Anosike)
“I am finding the project empowering because of the
opportunities to research and to express my thoughts. “
(Elsa Yohannes)
—6—

PLEASED TO MEET YOU!
These are three of our new members of staff
Ms Keville
“After finishing my PGCE at Oxford University, I spent a year
at Thomas Tallis School in Kidbrooke.
I love the caring ethos here – there’s a genuine sense of
community, and the students are so hard-working and
focused. I had an excellent first impression.
In the English department, where I am based, I like the way
the schemes of work challenge the students. My favourite is
one about how the English language has changed over the
centuries. I used to enjoy that at degree level.
I used to run dance workshops for young children in the past,
and I have many dramatic interests, especially when it comes
to musicals.
My favourite book is The Lovely Bones, a novel by Alice
Sebold.”
Mr Porter
“I am the new Co-ordinator for Special Educational Needs.
Last school year I was an advanced skills teacher in the English
department at Lilian Baylis Technology School in Kennington.
When I first came here, I noticed the atmosphere, which
was one of calm studiousness. There is a real happiness and
community feeling at BTG.
My job is to work with anyone who has any difficulty or barrier
to learning. We have systems in place to deal with a whole
range of needs from physical through to social, emotional and
behavioural.
This is the most interesting job in the school because I meet
lots of people. It is pure problem-solving.
I am a Chelsea supporter, and watch Match of the Day
regularly. My favourite film is Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.”
Mr Croucher
“I was Head of History at The Charter School in Dulwich, and
now I hold the same position here. This is the best school I
have ever worked in.
It is not just results-driven, but works on creating a whole
individual. That is just as important as academic success.
I am planning a number of trips for my subject, for example
one to the Imperial War Museum for Year 9 in February.
Then there will be a visit to Berlin in the autumn, which will be
very relevant to the Y11 students who are invited, because
they will be studying Germany 1918 – 1939. We will look at
Checkpoint Charlie, a concentration camp, the Reichstag and
the zoo.
I support Spurs, but I am particularly fond of Rugby, visiting
The Twickenham Stoop whenever possible to watch
Harlequins.”
—7—

Malaysia 2013
Mr Stapelberg writes:
Twelve Year 12 students have been given
the amazing opportunity of going to
Malaysia in July 2013 as part of the World
Challenge Programme.
The trip will incorporate three phases
- trekking in the Cameron highlands,
volunteering in a local community project
and finally a couple of days of well-earned
rest and relaxation to explore the sights of
Kuala Lumpur.
Kuala Lumpur
The emphasis is on the students having
to raise the necessary money themselves.
Our aim is to fundraise eighteen thousand
pounds to contribute to the cost of the
trip, so we need your help.
Students will be selling muffins every
day and running a Fifa Xbox session
at lunchtimes. The students are also
planning a sixth form variety night before
the end of the term and many more events
throughout the year.
Our students are very keen to experience
life outside their comfort zone and will
have to work very well together, not only
to raise the funds to go, but also to plan
and organise the trip under the guidance
of the World Challenge Team.
Marco Almeida, Helena Da Silva, Chanté Monfries, Janet Balchin, Jose Gouveia, Jordan Pisu-de-Barros, Eden John–
Baptiste, James Higuita, Sam Woodham, David Vargas-Garcia, Deborah Ibitoye, Damaris Bahamonde-Carrillo
I enjoy
working here
My name is Julia Rommelfangen and I
am the new German foreign language
assistant.
I come from the federal state of
Rheinlandfpalz in the southwest of
Germany. My hometown is called Trier,
which was founded by the Emperor
Constantine during the Roman Empire.
I really enjoy working here because the
staff and the students are all really nice
and friendly. I am very glad to work at a
Catholic school because I am studying
in Germany to become a teacher of
Catholic RE.
For the next seven months I will be
working predominately with Years 10
and 11. In addition, I will be responsible
for the Eurolab, a lunchtime language
club for Year 7 where you can play online
language games. You have the chance to
win a big chocolate bar.
I am running a blog (find it at
www.btgdaf.blogspot.com) during
the next seven months - my fabulous
Deutsch Blog!
—8—

A comic triumph
The school’s contribution to the annual Shakespeare Schools
Festival this year was Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.
The performance took place at the beginning of November in
Croydon’s Ashcroft Theatre.
Festival co-ordinator Lydia Lewison
was full of praise: here are extracts
from her letter to Ms Turvey.
“Marianna (director and actor at
the National Theatre) was full
of praise for your show. She
particularly mentioned the
opening and closing sequences,
which she said were
really strong.
She was very impressed by
your ensemble who worked
together brilliantly... it
sounds like you had a
wonderful cast and really
strong direction...
It is an extraordinary
thing you do to enable a
group of young people
to perform Shakespeare
on a professional stage, and
I am in awe of what teachers,
who are already so busy,
achieve in the Festival.”
Lydia Greentree and Sam Woodham as Katherine and Petruchio
Sam Woodham, who played the leading man, Petruchio, spoke
to our reporter:
“I gained in-depth knowledge of the play in
the three months I lived with it.
When I was getting into my character, I put
a focus on the harshness of his attitude to
women. I think a lot of male fantasy comes into it.
He believes that a wife should conform
to every whim of her husband – very
dated! Comedy was the first and
foremost motive because this
play contrasts strongly with
Shakespeare’s darker ones.
I tend to learn lines quickly, which
is useful, and I helped with the
organisation of the show as well.”
Petruchio is a difficult character to
interpret – a selfish, vain, materialistic
chauvinist who will go to any lengths
to dominate his wife Katherine, who
has a reputation as a sharp-tongued
shrew. Above all, he is a comic figure
whose exaggerated opinions make the
audience laugh.
Nathan Marquez Dos Santos in
Year 10 has been playing the cello
for six years:
“I am very pleased that I have just
been awarded a merit in
Grade Five for cello.
I am in a jazz band
as well as in
the school
orchestra, and
I also play for
Lambeth Senior
Strings. I sing with
the Chapel Choir.
I enjoyed taking part
recently in our St
Cecilia’s Day concert.
I think my favourite
piece in that was
Jupiter, from Holst’s
Planets Suite, but my
favourite composer is
Beethoven.
My other interests
include cricket.”
Chad St Louis in Year 8 won
first prize in the House Singing
Competition:
“I was surprised. It was
my first solo!
I am used to singing
in choirs, something I
love doing. The song
which got me the
prize was I’m Yours
by Jason Miraz. It is
so simple, with only
three verses.
Music is one of my
favourite subjects,
of course.”
—9—

Cross Country Team: Paulina Lisiecka, Viktoria Bukaczewska, Maria Grech,
Sammy Sulaiman, Joseph Nyame, John Paul Ennis, Yared Tesfaye
CROSS COUNTRY
Mr Shedwick
Congratulations to the boys who won the
Lambeth Cross Country Championships at
Brockwell Park.
Year 7/8 boys finished runners up in
their competition with Rasheed McKoy
gaining second place with an outstanding
run. Year 9/10 and 11/12 boys took their
races by storm with John Paul Innis, James
Odeleye and Sammy Sulliman finishing
second, third and fifth in the 9/10
category. However special mention
must go to the year 11/12 team who
finished with:
First - Charlie Bussetti
Second - Sean Moghal
Third - Louis Georgio
Also congratulations to Victoria
Bukaczewska who came third in the
year 7/8 girls competition. This was a
superb effort for a first time runner.
Thank you to all runners who participated
on the day. Your effort and attitude were
second to none!
What is the
number?
If you manage to work out the answer
to this logic puzzle, write it down on
a piece of paper together with your
name and form, and then seal it in an
envelope.
Take that to Mr Cuddy, who will award
a prize for the first correct answer.
I have twenty-five boxes stacked
in a square to form five rows of five
boxes. The boxes have been numbered
conventionally from the top left box to
the bottom right box.
Starting at one of the boxes and then
pointing to one box at a time, I moved
from one box to another as follows:
right, right, down, down, left, up, left,
down, left, left, up, right, up, left,
up, up, right, down, right, up, right,
right, down and left. Given that I have
pointed to each box once, what is the
number of the box I started at?
Gold for Kamil
Fourteen year-old Kamil Dreczkowski in
Year 10 is holding the gold medal he won
in the Karate England National Open
Championship.
“The medal is for the Kumite,” he said.
“The word is for individual fighting, which
is one of the three main sections of karate
training, along with kata and kihon.
I am a member of the Karate Federation,
which has its own squad. The championship
which I was in attracts competitors from all
over the world.
In the semi-final, I beat a representative of
England, and in the final I beat someone
from Romania.
I take part in other sports, like badminton,
and I develop my karate skills with other
martial arts like kick-boxing.
I am taking GCSE Physical Education in
school.”
Karate is a deeply philosophical practice for many of those involved with it.
Today karate is practiced for self-perfection, for cultural reasons, for self-defence
and as a sport.
—10—

SPORTS REPORT
FOOTBALL
Mr Blackburn
So far we have already played over twenty
fixtures with Year 10 still undefeated
this season. They have reached the fifth
round of the English Schools competition
and now face a tough away trip to regular
finalists St Bonaventures.
This is their reward for beating top football
grammar school Wilsons 2 - 1 in the previous
round. Across all year groups there have
already been a number of outstanding
displays but the following students have
really shown their class so far this season:
Kimathi Akoto (Year 8), Ryan Sullivan
(Year 9), Phillipos Kakoulli, Johnny Akoto
and Requaan Russell (Year 10).
Year 8 Rugby: Michael Martin, Kacper Giegel, Luke Fleet, Aidan Higgins, Bryce Botsoi, Ronan Joyce, Joshua Burke,
Carlos Rodriguez, Daniel Karim, Patrick O’Sullivan, Isaac Okeke, Marcos Spinola, Adeyemi Animashaun, Kimathi Akoto
RUGBY
Mr Blackburn
It has been another great start to the season
for BTG Rugby. A keen Year 7 side under
the guidance of RFU coach Paul Wilson have
played two fixtures, winning one and losing
one. Captain James Sheppard has led the side
with maturity and Terrence Holland has been
the player of the season so far with four tries
in one match.
Year 8 have picked up where they left
off last season, picking up some early
silverware by winning the annual Ernest
Bevin 10s tournament with ease and have
also won both their league games so far
this year.
The defeat of Carshalton Boys School
(51 – 0) was the stand-out league result,
but the result of the season so far was
beating Whitgift 46 – 0. All the players
have performed excellently so far with
Captain Ronan Joyce leading the side
superbly and Adeyemi Animashaun, Bryce
Botsoi and Marcos Spinola leading the
try scoring stakes as usual. Luke Fleet
has done well in his new role as hooker
and Carlos Rodriguez has been the find
of the season with his ‘Ritchie McCaw’
style of play. I look forward to yet another
successful season with both Years 7 and 8.
KS3 NETBALL
Miss Lomath
The girls have got off to a great start
beating St Martins in the Field 21-5 in their
first match of the season. The team played
well together showing good skill and team
spirit. With Ewa shooting, Alex in defence
and Ola our fantastic hard working centre
court player, there is no reason why we
shouldn’t continue to come out on top this
year! Keep it up girls!
Year 10 footballers Andre Bingham, Louis Boret, Requaan Russell, Matthew Asomaning-Bimpong, Ryan D’Souza,
Andreas Palmas, Pedro Jardim, Arun Butler-Kowlessar, Johnny Akoto, Philippos Kakoulli, Tarren Danquah,
Berli Ndombele
BASKETBALL
Mr Dier and Miss Keane
The senior boys basketball season started
well with three out of four wins in their
opening fixtures, meaning they finished
second in the Lambeth U16 league. They
will shortly begin their conference league
fixtures against the likes of Bacon’s
College and Alleyns School.
The U15s began their conference league
fixtures against academy side Lampton,
and despite losing there were some
promising performances from Abel Mussie
and James Odaleye.
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A fascinating language
Latin is now on the school curriculum,
taught to a class in Year 7 by
Ms Sini-Spencer, who was full of
enthusiasm when she spoke to us:
“We are following the Cambridge Latin
Course, which is excellent. Students learn
vocabulary and grammar through reading
Latin narratives, not through memorising
lists of words and reciting declensions.
It is a fascinating language for anyone who
likes people, ideas, words, the past or
studying the way society works.
Many English words are derived from
Latin, so you can improve your knowledge
of English – and learning Latin is
invaluable if you are studying a
Romance language.
We will learn a lot about the Roman
Empire, a key period in European history.
At the moment we are concentrating on
Pompeii (pictured below), the town which
was preserved for posterity after being
buried by volcanic ash from
Mount Vesuvius.
A basic knowledge of Latin is useful on
many degree courses, too. Think of all
those names in Biology.
Because I am Greek, I have an extra
interest in Latin. I know, for example, that
triclinium is the word for a formal dining
room. It comes from the Greek triklinion
( which means ‘three couches’.
Each couch was big enough for three
diners, who would eat food brought to
them by slaves while reclining on their left
sides. The word recline comes from the
Latin reclinare – which means ‘to
lean back’.
The subject has been introduced and is
catching on, so hopefully it will expand
in future.”
Samuel Abara (in the picture) commented:
“Through Latin we can learn about ancient
times. It is easy sometimes, because of
its connections with English, and our
teacher explains things so that we all
understand.”
Headteacher: Mr L Desa BSc
Bishop Thomas Grant School,
Belltrees Grove, London, SW16 2HY
Telephone 020 8769 3294 Fax 020 8769 4917
website: www.btg.ac
Email: headteacher@btg-secondary.lambeth.sch.uk
The six most widely-spoken
standardised languages which
descend from Latin – the Romance
languages – are Spanish (about 329
million), Portuguese (178 million),
French (68 million), Italian (62 million),
Romanian (23 million) and Catalan
(12 million), the numbers being for
native speakers. Two thirds of all
Romance speakers live
outside Europe.
Edited and produced by Richard Wilcocks. Enquiries to Meerkat Publications and Design 0845 9011 809
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