Farewell to <strong>The</strong> Class of 2012 Last half-term <strong>The</strong> <strong>John</strong> <strong>Roan</strong> said goodbye to Year 11 students as they went on study leave. This year students are predicted to produce some of the best results <strong>The</strong> <strong>John</strong> <strong>Roan</strong> has ever seen. This is due to the sustained hard work that students have shown, especially in this final year. On their last day, students signed t-shirts and attended the leavers’ assembly in the afternoon. <strong>The</strong> assembly included photos of Year 11 when they first started school – very cute! Also, a number of ‘silly awards’ were given out. <strong>The</strong> Class of 2012 will be sadly missed, although we hope to see the majority of students back next year in the Sixth Form. Ms Sumner (Head of Year 11)
On Your Marks <strong>The</strong> On Your Marks Maths Challenge was a special onetime event held by Mathletics to celebrate the 2012 London Olympics. Students were assigned a challengespecific course of 50 different mathematics activities that test their knowledge and ability. Over 32,000 students entered the competition in the UK from almost 2,000 schools. Kabita Kandel (8AM) achieved a score that gave her a place in the top 100 pupils score board. Kabita received her award from Mr Mayther, Head of Mathematics. Ms A McCarthy A final Farewell from Post-16 Whilst most students break up for the summer knowing that they’ll be back again in six weeks, for one group July marks the end of an era. For the majority of Year 13s this will have been their seventh and final year at <strong>The</strong> <strong>John</strong> <strong>Roan</strong> before they prepare to leave, not just the school but also the homes that they’ve grown up in over the last 18 years, in order to move to university. I recall reading the Year 13 leavers’ article when I was in Year 8 and thinking how far into the future that time was for me. How wrong I was! <strong>The</strong> last seven years at <strong>The</strong> <strong>John</strong> <strong>Roan</strong>, particularly the final two, have elapsed at a phenomenal pace, and it would be wrong to say that I’ve fully acknowledged that we won’t be returning there. Though our year group has seen people join and leave, most of the faces that could be seen every day in the sixth form block were the same faces that greeted me on our first day at <strong>The</strong> <strong>John</strong> <strong>Roan</strong>, albeit with more flattering hairstyles now. Seeing the masses of students and daunting teachers when I entered the immense, aged Maze Hill hall, I admit I was tempted to run back to my mum just outside and ask to be taken back to primary school. When considering that day, I realise how much we’ve all experienced and achieved over these past few years. That same hall has seen concerts, dance performances, speeches, presentations, parents’ evenings and countless assemblies all made by, or aimed to help, our year group. <strong>The</strong> <strong>John</strong> <strong>Roan</strong> has gone from being the place that in Year 6 I feared I would never find a place in to a school where I can frantically stride around, heavy folders in hand, greeting students and teachers as I go. Undeniably for most of us, whether we wished for it or not, <strong>The</strong> <strong>John</strong> <strong>Roan</strong> became a second home. As ever, we owe our unending thanks to those teachers and our headteacher who have thrown themselves into shaping our futures. After years of us being evaluated by you, it’s only fair that we turn the tables (though maybe not literally this time) and offer our own opinion. I hope it means something to you that, though you are increasingly History trip to <strong>The</strong> Wallace Collection On a pouring Wednesday in late April, our Year 8 History class went to visit the Wallace Collection in central London to take part in a workshop on the French revolution (which handily we had just been studying!). When we arrived, we were split into two groups and each group had a tour around the very elegant house where we saw many beautiful and intriguing artefacts – many dating from the time of the revolution itself. After the tour, we were allowed to explore the house for ourselves. Our task was to find an object that inspired us and to then create a poster advertising the sale of all the possessions of the nobles of France that had been confiscated by the Third Estate. Unfortunately, before we knew it, it was once more time to brave the rain but, it was a wonderful experience and we all learnt a lot from it. Thank you Mr Wilson for organising the trip for us! Anh Hoang Year 8 undervalued in one of the most challenging careers, those who you ultimately set out to help, us, believe that most of you do an exemplary job. Your contributions have gone far beyond the letters on our results form in August, and instead have shaped the way we think and act. <strong>The</strong> terrifying critics that we saw you as on that first day have in many respects transformed into our friends. You have honestly been a continual source of inspiration to us and it is hard to exaggerate the impact that you will have on our futures. I hope that in spite of education facing some of the most radical reforms in years and the ever-increasing push to ‘improve’, teachers will keep this thought close to them in the future. Though we have seen massive improvements in our time, <strong>The</strong> <strong>John</strong> <strong>Roan</strong> is arguably not the completely perfect and pristine school that parents of prospective students may seek. Now, however, a part of me wishes it never will be - what we’ve grasped from our time is so much more than what we would have gained from the ‘ideal’. For all the disputes over homework, teacher reprimands and derailed lessons; all the petty arguments, short-lived relationships and fights between students; and in our last three years every work-induced moment of (“I-CAN’T-TAKE-THIS- ANYMORE!”) angst, there have been a far larger number of moments that have been hilarious, exciting and delightful in equal measure. I would argue that those moments, both good and bad, have been far more valuable in shaping us into the well-rounded adults that we’ve become. I hope I have gone some way in doing justice to our time at <strong>The</strong> <strong>John</strong> <strong>Roan</strong>. Of course, there are countless memories that couldn’t be contained in a page of writing, and I would be happy if many of you felt the experience could be described better in your own words, as this would just go to display how varied we are as a year group, and consequently just how brilliant it is that we now all feel so close to each other. Regardless of whether we feel joy or disappointment in August, you’ve been a fantastic group to share such a significant part of my life with and I wish you all the very best of luck in the future. Daniel Morris Year 13
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