Top 10% Nationally - Bishop Thomas Grant School

Outstanding contributionsHolocaust RemembranceStudents from this school represented Afghanistan, Haiti and Germany in the Lambeth Model United NationsConference, which took place in April at Elm Green School. They also made, in the words of the organizers, “outstandingcontributions in the debates that tackled some tough issues…”Most of the delegates were from Year 10, but twofrom Year 9 distinguished themselves: OliverPerales was awarded First Prize as delegate forHaiti, debating the resolution on natural hazards,and Constantino Christou was awarded SecondPrize, again as a delegate for Haiti, debating theresolution on humanitarian aid. Both of them(pictured) spoke to our reporter.OLIVER: The countries were chosen at randomby the organizers. We chose Haiti becauseBishop Thomas Grant School has alreadybeen involved in raising money to alleviate theconsequences of the terrible earthquake there.We felt we knew something about it.I had to read out a speech, then when all ofthe other speeches had been heard, we wentinto separate rooms to debate the issues. Icontributed to a discussion on natural disasters– the tsunami in Japan for example – and we alltried to find ways of solving difficult problems.CONSTANTINO: I chose Haiti as well, becauseI had data at my fingertips on what happenedthere in 2010. The main point I was trying tomake was that, unfortunately, not enough haschanged since the earthquake.The main organizer was in the ‘humanitarianaid room’ and this was to our advantage. Weall decided that Haiti needs better housing, thatmore advantage should be taken ofnatural resources, that the supply ofclean water should improve and thatmore workers should be sent who canteach necessary skills.OLIVER: The whole event was fun,and it gave me a good chance topractise public speaking skills. I am veryinterested in doing that.CONSTANTINO: The conference wasuseful because it opened my eyesto what might be out therefor me. It was verygood for buildingconfidence, mineand other people’s.You can watchpeople grow!“We should bevery proud ofour delegates’contribution,”added MsTurvey, whoorganized theevent for theschool.Agesaand NorahThe aims of the Commonwealth Countries League (CCL) are topromote the education and advancement of women throughoutthe Commonwealth as a contributory factor in the alleviation ofworld poverty.In April, the following email arrived about two girls in Kenya whose plight wasspotlighted at school earlier in the year:Dear Mr Desa,My team and I have no words to thank you and your wonderfulschool for the opportunity to speak at your assembly about ourwork and the difference their gift of education will make to Agesaand Norah… we were amazed and impressed by the conduct of yourstudents and it is a huge credit to you and your staff. Your dedicationand ‘hands on’ approach is something I will carry with me always…Thank you so much and God Bless You.Kind regards,Ladi DariyaMSc, ACMIFundraiserCCL Education FundAgesa Lyne: is an orphan who wasbrought up by her grandmotherafter both parents died. She gaineda place at secondary school but hasno-one to support her.Here is her appeal: “I will appreciateyour sponsorship to enable me toachieve a secondary education. Mygrandmother is unable to feed uslet alone educate me. My dream isto become an artist or a banker andmake a difference to my community.I promise to work hard to attainmy goal.”Norah Nanfuka: accrued so muchdebt in school fees, examinationsand other school expenses thatdespite being a star student, theschool board asked her to leave. Shehas missed one full year of school.She told the Education Fund: “Dueto poverty, my parents are unableto take care of us (five children)let alone pay for my schooling.The school listened to my parents’endless promises to pay my feeswhich they are unable to fulfil… Ipromise to prove to everyone herethat despite my poverty, I am apotential doctor.”Mr Parchot writes:It is a testimony toour school’s policy ofinclusion that eachyear we remember thecrimes against humanitycommitted by the Nazis inEurope during the SecondWorld War.Here at Bishop Thomas GrantSchool the headmaster isemphatic that discrimination ofany kind against others on thebasis of religion, race, cultureor sexual orientation will not betolerated; this helps to createa community base on love andtolerance in keeping with thecharitable injunctions of Christ -love thy neighbour.This year students from Year 7presented a moving performanceto remind us of the victims of theevil Nazi philosophy of so-called‘racial purity’ and its belief thatone ‘Master Race’ should dominateand enslave all other races.The purpose of the assemblywas to draw attention to theNo revenge,just peaceplight of the Jews as well asother groups of people identifiedfor extermination, such as thedisabled and mentally ill, politicalopposition, Roma gypsies, blackpeople, gay people and so on.At the start of the assembly, actorsrepresenting people from all walksof life arrived at the front of thestage in an attitude of prayer,clasping objects dear to themand looking up at images of theDuring the 100 day period, Margaret Mizen and GraceIdowu, who both lost their sons to violent crime in 2008,will be addressing audiences of young people all overLondon, the aim being to increase awareness of thepotential outcomes of actions to help make the city safer.Margaret Mizen will visit BTG in September.Six Year 10 students from this school attended the launch– Arun Butler, Jordan Desa, Ellen Hickey, Mary Kelegher,Kadejah Richardson and Stefano Trombetta. Kadejah(in the picture) spoke about our involvement:“We listened to the two mothers at a conference at CityHall in the spring, and they told us what had happened,saying that they were Christians and that they did notwant revenge, just peace.They explained about how one moment of anger canaffect so many people’s lives, and that there is just toomuch violence. They want us to grow up in a stableenvironment.The project is connected with Kids Taskforce, which is aboutchildren knowing how to keep themselves safe and beingaware of people in the community who could help them.We have been thinking about what we can do at school,and so far we have come up with the idea of a peacechain around the school made up of special notices, andabout writing a play.We would like to hear as many ideas as possible.”concentration camps projectedonto a screen. Ascending thestage, they placed their objectsin a pile, recalling the mountainsof suitcases, glasses, shoes,children’s toys and so-forth leftbehind by the victims of the deathcamps. The actors sounded outthe names of the camps likea prayer or mantra as an actof remembrance: “Auschwitz,Dachau, Treblinka, Belsen… “A project called 100 Days of PeacefulEvents was launched in June at CityHall, part of a larger initiative calledRelease the Peace organized by theJimmy Mizen Foundation in partnershipwith Youth United, London Citizens andKids Company.Of course the main purpose ofHolocaust Memorial Day is toprevent such a tragedy beingerased from collective memory andwe consciously tried to establishlinks with other genocides:Cambodia in the 1970s, Rwandain 1994 and Bosnia in the 1990s,lending added poignancy to theslogan ‘Never again, never again’.Students also mimed theexpression ‘Hear no evil, see noevil, speak no evil’ to the lyricsof a song from the musical SouthPacific, “You’ve got to be taughtto fear and hate / Before you aresix or seven or eight / To hate allthe people your relatives hate, /You’ve got to be carefully taught”.Only when we understand thatsuch terrible evil is not an accidentbut wrought by mankind can wehope to prevent such tragediesin the future. As William Blakewrote, ‘Mankind makes thechains/ Mankind can break thechains’ - but only with God’s helpof course.MathematicsChampionsMs John writes:Eight of the topMathematicians fromYear 10 took part in theannual mathematicschallenge held on 20 Juneat St Francis Xavier SixthForm College.The teams went head tohead against each other, andin the final round we facedour archnemesis Dunraven.After twenty questions, thescores were tied, and ourgallant maths wizards foundthemselves in a tie break.Arun and Kamil stepped up tosave the day and, unlike AshleyCole and Ashley Young, wereable to snatch victory from thejaws of defeat.Our team was Arun Butler,Kamil Dreczkowski, JordanDesa, Natalie Flores, NathanDos Santos Marquez, StefanoTrombetta, Mamus Otuguor andJohn-Paul Ennis.6 7