Contents - Birkenhead School

For All The School Community . Pupils . Staff . Parents . Old Birkonians . Friends . VisitorsContentsChester Cathedral ServiceOutdoor pursuits tripsNew StaffForthcoming EventsCCFSportKanti HospitalTalent CompetitionEmily Pankhurst (aka Mrs Skelly) plants the Sesquicentenary Tree...and everyone had such a good time dressing up.Continued on the next page

In Focus November/December 2010By Friday, 15 th October, the excitement in Prep had grown to epicproportions. The day of our Prep Pageant had finally dawned. Everyman, woman and child in Prep was to be afforded the once-in-alifetimeopportunity to dress up in celebration of our School‘s 150 thBirthday.We had a vibrant, spectacular and breath-taking array of costumeswith staff and children representing Romans, Egyptians, Normans,Tudors, Stuarts, Victorians, Edwardians, The Forties, The Fifties,The Sixties, The Seventies…..you name it, we had it!!With Nursery and Pre-Prep providing a delightful glimpse of theFuture,we were all ready for the off!!It was a truly magnificent parade around School Field with somelucky spectators from Overdale cheering us on as well as hundredsof mums, dads, grannies and grandpas. We eventually assembledfor a last rendition of ―Happy birthday to School ― followed by threeVERY loud cheers before a tree-planting ceremony on the lawn ofOld School House.The excitement did not end there as it was followed by bus ridesfor the boys and girls in Junior Prep on a 1948 BirkenheadCorporation double-decker. We had a whale of a time beingtransported around Claughton and Oxton with our very own busconductor providing tickets and ringing the bell for the excursion.There were then fun and games for all before the commencementof the Magic shows which were truly astounding.With special birthday cake and a party tea to follow, it proved to bea REALLY happy day and one which none of us who took part in itare ever likely to forget.J A SkellySue Williams, one of our Catering team, spend three days baking and icingsix magnificent birthday cakes, which the children (and the Editor) thoughtwere delicious!

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 3Touraid is a national charitywhich raises the funds andorganises rugby tours forchildren from deprivedbackgrounds all over the world.This year‘s tournament sawchildren from Thailand (whowere hosted by BirkenheadSchool and Caldy RUFC), SierraLeone, Swaziland andBotswana taking part.Organising our tour was by nomeans an easy task. In fact,for somebody who has neverplayed a lead role inorganising any event, it waspositively intimidating. It wasa steep learning curve; thereare things that never occur toyou until someone else asks ifyou‘ve done it and every time you think you are on top of thingssomething else comes up. However, the result was that tenorphans from Mahamek Children‘s home in Bangkok were ableto come to the UK and stay in the homes of some of our Year 8pupils (a huge thanks to their parents who looked after them).They enjoyed at least 4 games of rugby and in their free timewere treated to bowling, a trip to Liverpool FC stadium and spenttime doing activities in School, not least trying to scale theclimbing wall. It was an enriching experience for all thoseinvolved, despite the language barrier, and a testament to theadaptability and open mindedness that children can demonstratewhen adults give them the room to express themselves.The fundamental meaning of the tour was driven home to menear the end. As I was about to drive them to them back to theairport, the host parents and their children came to see off theirnew friends and there was not a dry eye to be seen. The bondthat had been formed between these people from completelydifferent backgrounds transcends the distance that nowseparates them. ―Tour for a week, friends for a lifetime‖ is theTouraid motto. I did not quite believe this could be true until thatThe School is pleased towelcome Mrs Lesley RendleBSc as its new Chaplain. MrsRendle is a Reader, licensedby the Diocese of Worcester in2002.Originally from the Wirral anda Birkenhead High School girl,she was first a Social Workerin Birkenhead before movingto Worcestershire in 1994 andinto teaching in a College ofFurther Education. In 1999she became Bishop‘sChildren‘s Advisor forWorcester Diocese. Thisinvolved supporting parishesin the work of the church withyoung people. Much of herwork was in schoolsparticularly Church Schools.At the same time, Mrs Rendle undertook the 2-year parttimecourse run by the Diocese to become a Reader. Itinvolved training led by both clergy and lay people and someCollege based residential weekends.Mrs Rendle believes that children have an innate spiritualitywhich represents the fundamental building blocks uponwhich faith can be nurtured and that one of the challengesis to help children and young people to develop appropriatelanguage with which they explore and express thatspirituality. This spiritual language is not something that isunique to Christianity and is of value to young people of allfaiths and to those who have none. An ability to recogniseand express the spiritual is what makes us uniquely human.As the School Chaplain she has a Chapel or Assembly dutyevery day and Evensong on Sunday during term time.Themes are based on the Church seasons, topical issuesand also National Days and Weeks e.g. Poetry Day andSpace Week. Following on from the UN Day of World Peace,the children in Prep spent the half term thinking and talkingabout peace and recently she has started looking with themat the saints depicted in the stained glass of the Chapelwindows and how they have influenced religion and ourfaith.The Chaplain is looking forward to getting a group ofstudents together to give their feedback on the ChapelServices and to encourage them to develop their own ideasfor services and assemblies in the future.moment. This School has done a very good thing. Everyonewho contributed should be very proud.A. SheldonMoney is still being collected to cover the costs ofTouraid’s 2010 joint venture between Caldy Rugby Cluband the School.

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 4TURTLES – the two yellow-bellied turtles in MrBritton‘s lab are waiting for someone toguess their names. If you think you knowwhat they might be email your answers to MrS Clark (swc@birkenheadschool.co.uk). Onlyone guess per pupil per term. The winner willreceive a small prize, House points and aninvitation to meet the turtles. Clues will beginto appear if nobody guesses the names byFriday 3 December.(Editor‘s tip: Mr Britton said you need to lookat their feet to find out what gender they are.)SQUASH LADDER & KNOCKOUTCOMPETITION – I will be starting aSchool squash ladder for anyone in Year 9 orabove interested in taking part. Please emailMr S Clark, if you would like to play squash aspart of the inter House competitions. Pleasegive an indication of your level of play (e.g.beginner, regular player, competition playeretc.). Elementary coaching will be availablefor anyone who is new to the game.S ClarkBoth books can also be purchased from the School Office in the LodgeBoys from Birkenhead School played an important part inthe Oxton Cricket and Sports Club Under 11 cricket squadfor the 2010 season. The team played in the Wirral JuniorCricket League and won the Under 11 League Cup aftercompleting the season undefeated.Photo L to R:Back Row: Tom Corran, Callum Andrews (holding the Cup),Christopher Ewart, Tom Wimpenny.Front Row: Jack Chapman, Callum Gorman, Harry Mills,Lewis Astbury, Charlie Robertson.

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 5Year 9 Outdoor Pursuits Trip to SnowdoniaDon‘t you just love Monday mornings? So, choosing a Monday lateSeptember maybe wasn‘t the best inducement for starting a highadrenaline, blood pumping adventure. Still, we dragged ourselves out ofbed and, half asleep, onto a coach.Once we reached the mountains of Snowdonia, our activities beganstraight away with an abseil down the sides of an old slate mine. Thebutterflies in our stomachs multiplied as we waited anxiously until itwas our turn to descend the cliff. It sounded simple to abseil down a 30foot cliff, but when you stand at the edge looking down below, 30 feetseems like 300 feet! Slowly but surely and before you know it, it is allover and you wish you could abseil down the quarry once more.After a good night‘s sleep, we began preparing for our hardestchallenge yet, climbing Mount Snowdon. Each of our groups tookdifferent routes up, some harder than others. After wrapping up warmly,we set off but, after just a few minutes, we had already built up a sweatand were stripping off our layers. After several hours of tiring climbing,we reached the peak. After all that effort, it seemed right that we werethe people standing in the highest position in all of England and Walesat 1085m above sea level. However, getting to the top was literally onlyhalf of it. Despite begging to be allowed to take the train back down, webegan our 2-footed descent and finally arrived back at ouraccommodation with blistered feet and sore legs.The final day of the trip was spent raft building in a local lake. We weregiven a few planks of wood, 4 barrels and some rope, and, with that, wewere expected to create something that wouldn‘t fall apart. Afterlearning the rope techniques, we were set the challenge of collect multicolouredballs set out on the lake and bring them back to shore. Thissounded simple, but rowing, collecting and fighting off nifty saboteurswas easier said than done.Overall, this was a couple of days that I won‘t forget for a long time. PlusI had the added privilege of climbing the tallest mountain in Englandand Wales, which is something that you don‘t get to do every day. Theexperiences brought the year group together and we learnt andexperienced new things. A highly enjoyable trip, even if I did returnhome with blisters!Lewis Tran

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 6volley ball. For those less adventurous, there was a walk.On one of the days the cadets were free and took the opportunityto visit the Eden Project which they thoroughly enjoyed. Theywere given an introductory talk about the project and thenallowed to wander around at leisure. They would have happilyspent more than a day there because there were many hands-onprojects to try. Although the cadets had to endure very inclementweather conditions on the last day, they all came home smiling!It seems that 1860 was an auspicious year. Not only didBirkenhead School open its doors for the first time but alsothe Army Cadet Force movement began in schools. Later itbecome known as the Officer Training Corps and in 1948changed its name to the Combined Cadet Force, which it hasremained to this day.As part of the CCF‘s 150 Year Anniversary celebrations, fivecadets from Birkenhead School and Upton Hall School wereselected from 28 North West contingents to take part in thecentral national celebration in London on 30th June. Thecadets were CSM John Walsby-Tickle, Sgt Alex Macaulay, CplCharlotte Langan, LCpl Stacey Dobbs and Cpl CharlotteMacaulay. With the Red Arrows flying overhead and alongside5,000 other cadets from all over the British Isles, theyparaded from Horse Guards down The Mall to finish atWellington Barracks, where they were placed in a mixed guardto be piped over to Buckingham Palace where they formed aguard of honour for Prince Charles and the Duchess ofCornwall.The day before, the cadets had been at RAF Uxbridge, home ofthe Queen‘s Colour Squadron, to rehearse with the bands toensure no one was ‗out of step‘ during the parade.Some of the parents and the Contingent Commander, Sqn LdrNeil Frowe, and his wife were invited as guests to the gardenparty at Buckingham Palace after the parade. Amazingly bothour cadets and their parents were selected to meet His RoyalHighness because Prince Charles is Colonel in Chief of theMercian Regiment, to which our CCF is affiliated, and hadspotted our cap badges.Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and one of the cadetswas even heard to say that this was the pinnacle of his Schoolcareer!Summer CampThis year‘s camp was held at St Maughan in Cornwall wheresome thirty cadets from Upton Hall and Birkenhead Schoolattended. Captain Alan Joseph led the trip and wasaccompanied by Sqn Leader Neil Frowe, Mr Paul Paxton fromUpton Hall and the School Staff Instructor, WO1 Lee Osborne.The journey down took some six hours but it was worth itbecause the programme was an interesting mix of militaryadventure training and culture. The military training wasmostly based on army tactics which included paint-balling,firing at targets inside and over buildings and section attacksin open fields. The cadets went onto ranges where they werefortunate enough to fire the Light Support Weapon and airrifles in a close quarter battle. On the adventure training,cadets were offered canoeing, kayaking, raft building andSt Maughan summer campCadets Small Arms Annual CompetitionThis was held from 18 – 20 September at Altcar Ranges. Thecadets performed magnificently, given the appalling weatherconditions over the weekend. Just up the road from us theSouthport Air Show was cancelled, but our cadets carried onand achieved a second in the Montgomery and third in theFalling Plate.Female Cadet trophy.Biennial InspectionPhotos: N FroweCharlotte Langan once again took the BestOur biennial inspection was on 3 November and held at HMSEaglet, Albert Dock, Liverpool as the Conducting Officer wasfrom the Navy this year. A report will follow in the next edition ofIF.Capn Alan Joseph, School Staff Instructor O C (Army)

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 7Our inaugural game of the season was against Merchant Taylors‘School where the team played together for the first time. After ashaky start, the half time score stood at 2-1 to Merchant Taylors‘.After ironing out some issues with our defensive play at half time,we managed to avoid conceding any more goals and, in fact,managed to score 4 more goals, to give a final score of 2-5. Theteam had worked better together in the second half, with animproved positioning of players on the field and sharper balltransfers. Post-match analysis highlighted the fact that the wholeteam needed to improve its core skills and fitness.The next match was against an Old Birkonian side. The team‘sattitude, despite the torrential rain, was professional and, after thewarm-up started the match off at a great pace. The opposition,wielding much stronger individuals, proved to be a toughencounter for the team. Periods of good play, however, were shortlivedbecause of a lack of overall fitness. Also, poor defending onthe pitch allowed the Old Birkonians numerous scoringopportunities. The final score stood at 6-3 but the team learnedsome good lessons from the match — a need to improve their coreskills and to build up their defensive strategy and teamwork.The next match was against local rivals Calday Grange GrammarSchool. After seeing the 2 nd team lose, the 1 st team were keen notto follow suit. During the first quarter, both teams were evenlymatched, with no shots on goal being converted. Then weconceded a scrappy goal because of a defensive error. In theremainder of the first half, we gave away two penalty corners fromwhich the opposition scored. This proved to us that our defensiveset pieces needed a lot of practice. At half time, our we discussedways to improve the team‘s ball transfers and leads. This resultedin a goal early into the second half. A final goal was conceded,again due to lack of fitness and poor core skills. Once again theteam will learn from the encounter.Tom Betts and Alex Catterall.Assessment Camp (HiPAC) (U15 & U17) or the EnglandHockey Futures Cup (EHFC) (U16 & U18)In Tier 1 competition the JRPCs are grouped into fourclusters of three. From Tier 1 activity, players will beselected to represent their cluster squad at Tier 2. Thesecluster squads are called the Saxon Tigers, the PenninePumas, the Wessex Leopards and the Mercia Lynx.The combination of training and competition allows playersto develop in a variety of situations and ensures that theyare assessed in more than just the competitionenvironment.We wish them every success in the tournament and hopethey can go on and gain further selection at representativelevel.Mark Bateman, Hockey CoachIn the summer Jessica Rooneyin Reception joined her AuntieNikki in Meols and walked thelast two miles with Nikki whowas completing a marathon240-milewalk from Bristol toMoreton, via Offa‘s Dyke andaround Liverpool Bay.Auntie Nikki had worked inUganda and whilst workingthere met John BoscoJoe Hillyer and Patrick Benc have recently gained selection to playfor the Pennine Pumas – the regional team of the North ofEngland. They took part in the England Hockey Futures Cup whichsaw the Pennine Pumas take on Mercia Lynx (Midlands), SaxonTigers (South West) and the Wessex Leopards (South East) withthe winner being crowned national champions. Although thePennine Pumas didn‘t win the Championship, it was a fantasticexperience. To be selected for the ―Pumas‖ is a greatachievement because the players have come through the NewEngland Hockey Single System. This is designed to improve thequality of coaching and thus create better players. It emphasisescore technical skills, fitness and conditioning.The players have been attending their local Junior RegionalPerformance Centre, a training centre for the U15, U16, U17 andU18 age groups. After the 2009-2010 season, the Centre will beopen to anyone who has successfully come through assessmentfrom a Junior Academy Centre (JAC) or who has previously beeninvolved in National Age Group Squads (NAGS) activities. Afterattending a JAC, a JRPC is the next step on the U18 Player‘sPathway.JRPCs provide regular training sessions during which players willreceive high level coaching on the core skills of hockey from JRPCcoaches, with additional input from England Hockey‘s CentrallyContracted Coaches (CCCs). There are two tiers of JRPC activity:Tier 1 – a phase of training followed by two days of competitionTier 2 – a phase of training followed by either a High PerformancePhoto above: John TusingwirePhoto below: Jessica and Nikki finish the walk onMoreton shore.Tusingwire, who comes from Bwindi where the mountaingorillas live. There he runs a successful project helping localpeople to learn how to grow crops both to provide forthemselves and to earn money by selling their produce to thetourist industry. John is also planting thousands of trees toregenerate the hillsides.Last year John was fortunate enough to gain a place atuniversity to study agriculture, a degree which will increasehis knowledge and enable him to help his local communityeven more. Alone, he was unable to pay the fees and hisfamily failed to sell their land to help him. Through Nikki‘sfundraising and the help of family and friends, they have gothim through the first year at Kampala University. Nikki isdetermined to see him through the rest of his degree.Donations to: nicola.rooney@bristol.ac.uk

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 8Following the unprecedented achievements of the 2008 1 st XIside and the subsequent departure of virtually a whole team topastures new, the 2009 season yielded only 3 victories.However, it enabled a number of youngsters to gain experienceof the standard required at first team level and thisundoubtedly contributed to the unexpected success of thisyear‘s squad. A record of 9 wins (60%) from 15 fixturesrepresents a significant improvement and bodes well for thefuture.James Hassall took over the Captaincy in the early part of theseason, and a young group of players responded positively tohis calm and encouraging manner. Opening the batting, he ledfrom the front, scoring over 500 runs at an average of nearly40. He was ably supported by wicket keeper William Lamb(next year‘s captain) who scored over 450 runs and talentedU16 all-rounders Ashley Davis and Oliver Hearn. Tom Bills, JoeHillyer and Alistair Stokoe all struck the ball well and madematch winning contributions at different times, though all threewould be disappointed with the manner of some of theirdismissals. Star U15 performers Patrick Benc, Harry Sturgessand Alex Watkins played in the majority of games and,although only Patrick performed to his true potential on aregular basis, all three are crucial to our future prospects.A strong start and finish (we won 4 of the first 6, and 4 of thelast 5 fixtures) to the season accounted for our success andthere were some fine performances during these periods,particularly our batting displays in posting big totals againstUlster champions Foyle and Londonderry, the MCC and UCS,London. However, against some of our traditional ‗SaturdayOpponents‘, the top order batsmen failed to make use of goodstarts and our bowling lacked penetration. Although two of ourdefeats were by a very narrow margin, we werecomprehensively outplayed in 4 others. In these games ourbatsemen lacked the patience, and sometimes the technique,to battle through spells of tight, skilful bowling. In turn, ourbowlers invariably produced too many loose deliveries,preventing us from exerting any sustained pressure onopposition batsmen.Although Nicholas Hearn (early season), Patrick Benc and MikeTalbot (in the latter part of the year) offered support atdifferent times, Ashley Davis was our only consistent seambowler and he will be hard to replace, having joined MillfieldSixth Form in September. In addition, we will need to developa second spin bowler to act in tandem with Oliver Hearn, as westruggled to take the pace off the ball on slow, unresponsivewickets. The loss of the destructive Alex Hind (due to a brokenthumb in early May) left a hole in the batting line-up and we willbenefit from his return next summer. However, there will bespots ‗up for grabs‘ at the top of the order and there should bea healthy competition for places.Greater consistency, a willingness to practise and the ability tolearn from mistakes will all be required if we are to challengethe stronger schools on our fixture list.A competitive 2 nd XI enjoyed a successful season, winning overhalf their matches. Captain George Sturgess scored the first2 nd XI century for a number of years, as well as two halfcenturies. Tom Harrison, Hugh Roberts and Tom Roden wereamongst other enthusiasts who made a significant contributionto the 2 nd team cause. I‘m sure the squad would like me tothank Mr Roden for all his efforts, particularly in ensuring thatthey always had a full team, in spite of any late call-ups to the1 st team.Season Highlights included:5 Hundreds – 2 for James Hassall (Captain) (100 n.o. v BlueCoat School, Liverpool and 121 v Foyle and Londonderry, withone each for William Lamb (102 v UC, Alex Hind (104 in 44balls v 40 Club) and Ashley Davis (101 n.o. v Blue Coat School,Liverpool).A swashbuckling 91 n.o. (off 43 balls) by Joe Hillyer to securevictory in the final match of the season against King Edward VIIand Queen Mary School, Lytham.A valiant hard-hitting 61 by Tom Bills in our narrow defeat toMerchant Taylors‘ School, Crosby.Composed and skilful batting from James Hassall (71) andAshley Davis (41 n.o.) to secure a victory against the MCC.Tom Bills‘s magnificent slip catch to turn the match againstThe King‘s School, Chester.Patrick Benc‘s 4 for 8 and assured middle order batting(helped by a hard-hitting innings from Alistair Stokoe) on his 1 stteam debut, to see us home against the King‘s School,Chester.Ashley Davis‘s opening spell against the MCC, in which hebowled 2 of their top 3 batsmen and had another dropped.Results SummaryP15 W9 L6 D0 1 match cancelled due to bad weatherPlease visit www.birkenheadschool.co.uk for match detailsFinally, on behalf of all the students and staff involved inSchool cricket, I would like to thank Graham Rickman for thetime and energy he put into coaching the teams of all agegroups this season.P LindbergMike Turner was born inStockport and has livedthere for the majority ofhis life. It becameimmediately obvious thathe was very musical,learning to play thepiano, guitar and bassbefore he had leftprimary school. Heattended Chetham‘sSchool of Music inManchester, and learntto play the accordion.That created a love offolk music that is asstrong as it ever was –he even wants to teach the accordion to willing pupils here. Hestudied Modern Languages and Language History at TrinityCollege, Cambridge after Chetham‘s. His favourite food is beefrendang (a curry-like dish with coconut milk and tamarind),and, in keeping with the Asian theme, he is currently learninghow to do poi (a Maori performance art in which balls of fire ona string are swung to form circular patterns). Finally, he notedthat in a fight between Chuck Norris and the Pope, the Popewould win thanks to hordes of heavenly hosts.James Green, Publicity Unit

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 9On Monday 13 th September 2010, Year 7 students travelled tothe Conway Centre, Anglesey. It was raining really hard and wewere all dreading what outdoor activities were in front of us.After a big assembly lead by Mr Clark, we gathered ourbelongings and we were away. I was feeling a bit miserablewith the rain coming down but I soon cheered up and joined inthe singing.At the Centre we got a warm welcome, had a look round andwere shown our rooms. I was sharing with Tom Gilding.When we eventually got stuck into our activities, we discoveredour first one was attacking the zip wire. Many people didn‘tlike it, but I thought it was one of the best activities. We allstrapped on our harnesses and my heart was in my mouth.When I finally jumped off the platform, it felt amazing. Soaringthrough the woods with the rain hitting my head - I wascruising! I also really enjoyed the art class on Tuesday evening.However, the worst bit was probably scrambling in Snowdonia.Although the walk was nice, my feet were covered in blisters.They hurt so much it was hard to bear. To make mattersworse, as I got halfway up the mountain, I fell in a heap ofmud! I was also nervous during the scrambling and inparticular when we got to the slopes that were very steep!The trip could have been improved by having more activitiesand the beds could have been a bit comfier. Still, we all madedo and had two good nights‘ sleep.Of course, I was happy to go home to see my family because itwas my birthday on the last day but I will definitely have to visitagain to see how everyone who works there is getting on. Theywere very nice and they should be proud of where they work.Ross WaringA cold, windy day was waiting for the Year 7 pupils in Anglesey.However, we were in high spirits and everyone eagerly waitedfor the action packed three days that lay ahead. Although itwas a few hours drive, it was definitely worth it and, as wecrossed over the Menai Bridge, we all admired the scenery andthe mountains that lay behind the lush green landscape.Finally, we arrived at our castle-like accommodation. Myroommates and I lugged our bags up the unforgiving stairs toour room. I was one of the unlucky ones and ended up with abed with a spring sticking out. Apart from that, however,everything else seemed fine.After we had all settled in, we went off to our first activity,Bushcraft. This is a survival activity where you learn to makeshelters, start a fire and cook marshmallows! Unfortunately,our shelter fell down and was voted a ‗die‘ by the rest of ourclassmates. The marshmallow roasting, however, went a lotbetter! Mmmm! The crisp golden outside and the soft, gooeyinside went down so well that I just had to have another! Thiswas followed by a warm drink around the blazing orangeyyellow fire.We left the woods on a high and went back to our dorms. Wethought that was it for the day but were surprised when wewere told that we had drama. This was not as good as Ithought it would be but we all loved the red, yellow and greengame!The next day was scrambling (mountain climbing,) which wasmore exerting. Climbing up and down the mountain was tiringand the heavy rain wasn‘t helping. When we got to the peak,we were all taken aback by the force of the 20 mph winds. Wethen made our way back down the rocky face of the mountainThankfully no one was injured and the rain had cleared.By the third day, I was starting to feel some discomfort roundmy ankles due to the blisters I had earned the day before.Despite this, I was ready to do our final activity - canoeing. Thecold sea water was a shock to us all. We canoed across astretch of sea and back. I jumped in at the end although I knewit was freezing! Yet, for me, it was probably the most excitingactivity of the trip.The journey home felt like a lifetime and when I did get home,all I did was slump on my bed. The trip was loads of fun andalthough the dormitories could have been better, it was a reallygood three days and I would definitely go again!Sebastian Mactaggart

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 10We were told stories about thechildren who used to live inthe house.Kaya enjoyed playing with theold toys.We harvested the vegetableswith Mr Dibb for Mr Marrow‘sshop.Then we harvested seeds withMr Grubb.Presentation of the Winning Project Prize byPhilip Lennard, Director - Education Outreach BT DesignIn the summer James Kewin (above left) took part in a 3-daycourse at the BT Adastral park, Ipswich. Joining a group ofnearly forty 15-18 year-olds, the students were introducedto how technical innovations can be produced, marketedand sold in the real world. They investigated the use ofSoftware Development Kits to build prototypes of productsand were then shown how to develop the right commercialmodel to market and sell their product. The course alsoinvolved a lot of teamwork, problem solving, communicationand time management. This entrepreneurial engineeringcourse is run by the independent educational charity TheSmallpeice Trust.James found the three days intensive but very worthwhileand rewarding. His team worked on programming homeelectrical appliances into the Software Development Kit sothat they could be monitored and powered on or offremotely. This would be useful, for example, to check fromwork whether an appliance had been left on at home orwhether there had been a power cut which would affect preprogrammedappliances such as cookers or security alarms.James was also nominated by his team to give the pitch inthe Dragons‘ Den finale of the course. For his presentationof their product, he and his team were each awarded aCertificate , a USB and a sub woofer.Mount Vesuvius has erupted many timesbut is best known for its eruption in AD 79that led to the destruction of the Romancities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. It ismainly thanks to the eye-witness accountof the younger Pliny (a Romanadministrator and poet, whose many vividletters have been preserved), that we havesome understanding of what happened.The date of its eruption has always beenheld to be 24 August but today archaeologists think it probably occurred acouple of months later - 24 October - because fruit being eaten at the timeand found preserved under the ash could not have been harvested untillater in the year; they have also found a probable mistranslation of thedate in one of the ancient accounts.In Latin lessons we have been learning about Mount Vesuvius andMr Smale asked us to make a volcano for our homework. Lots ofpeople in my Year 7 class made model volcanoes which Mr Smalethen put on display .However my Volcano was different from the rest because it was aactive volcano. I made it out of cardboard, coat hangers and paper. Ipainted it with lots of bright colours. Then I mixed togetherbicarbonate of soda, citric acid, red food colouring and distilledwater. I put the mixture in the volcano and it erupted with bubbleswhich trickled down the sides of the model. The class watched iterupt on Wednesday 13 th September.Rosie DurbandRosie Durband‘smodel Vesuviusabout to erupt

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 11On Thursday 12 th August the Nursery took part in what has becomeour annual fundraising event for Barnardo‘s Big Toddle. This is theUK‘s biggest sponsored walk for under 5‘s. The event helps raisefunds to support Barnardo‘s local projects, giving vulnerable childrena childhood to remember. The Nursery children and staff dressed upas pirates and princesses and successfully raised a total of over£388.Many thanks to those parents who participated on the day andhelped make their child‘s costume. Your contributions all helped tomake it a memorable day.Happy BirthdaysAged 1Rueben CalveleyPatrick FloodDaisy JonesCharles LampkinLloyd Owen-JonesImogen SmithAged 2Zack BarwickWilliam BellEmma ClarkDaniel GarrettEdward GoldingNathanael JamesLeonardo LastJoel LeonardPrem NagraLily-Mae SimpsonRosa WalklettRosa WashingtonAged 3Niall BarrowFreja Dejon StewartWilliam GibsonMya HibbertRohan KapoorEmily KeatingHugo RoperOscar SandowNaveen SharmaNiamh WalklettZachary WebsterOur Nursery and Fun Club staff havecontinued to update their professionalpractice. Kate attended her graduation ceremony on 4 th November atChester Cathedral. She has recently achieved an Early YearsFoundation Degree. Leanda has also graduated with a FoundationDegree in Working with Children and Young People.We would like to welcome Leanne Clare who hasrecently joined our Toddler room team in theafternoons. She is currently undertaking Early YearsProfessional Status. Welcome back to RachelleBarton who lived in Australia for 9 months and whois now our Fun Club Supervisor and Early YearsPractitioner working in the Toddler room in themornings. Sami Plant has also joined us on apermanent basis in the Tots room. Many of you mayhave remembered her from her training days in theBaby room. Sami is now in her second year of theFoundation Degree Working with Children andYoung People.Text: Jan Dorney, Nursery ManagerPhotos from the Big Toddle by KateBertram, Deputy Nursery Manager

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 12What a great couple of days we had in the homely grounds ofRock Centre UK from the 13 th to the 15 th of September for theYear 8 Outdoor Pursuits Trip. We took part in a whole array ofexciting and enjoyable activities, from fencing to high ropes,trading trainers to kayaking. As soon as we arrived at the centre,we headed off to the main building, dragging our oversizedsuitcases with enough clothing in each bag to last a week andI‘m not joking!My first activity was the high ropes. I couldn‘t wait because I loveto do things that are thrilling and give me an adrenaline rush.Once I had seen the height of the ropes that we would beclimbing on, I knew that this activity definitely fell into thatcategory. We were all harnessed up and the instructor (who was21 that day!) led us to the fenced area where we would climbnew heights. After the safety briefing, we were straight on upHigh ropesthere, with the cold wind battering against our faces. I enjoyedthe ‗Leap of Faith‘ which was the most exhilarating andfrightening at the same time! I was very proud that I reached thetrapeze as some of the boys tried, failed, missed or didn‘t evenget to the top as they said that it was too ‗wobbly‘! It was alsofunny watching people struggling to get out of their harnessesand getting into a real muddle. But that wasn‘t the only laughthat we had on the trip, we had hundreds!After dinner we walked to a place that was truly amazing….Mr Armstrong had told us to wear warm clothes and sensiblefootwear. To the girlsthis meant Uggboots, tracksuitsbottoms and ahoodie. Then he ledthe way along theriverbank until wesuddenly saw a hugepark in the distancethat was bigger thanSchool Field. At thismoment, our crosscountry skills cameSearching for Mr Armstrong? in handy because weran all the way there. There were slides, tyre swings, ropeswings and stepping stones in a small river. The park wasdivided into smaller areas; one had water running around andthrough it, another had climbing apparatus and another, thoughsmaller than the others, was still fun to play in. We all ended uptaking our shoes off and wading through the small river that wasfilled with mud so our feet looked like they had been very, verybadly fake tanned! Soon the sun began to set, and it was,unfortunately, time to leave. On the way, we sang many songsincluding ―If you‘re happy and you know it‖ which was funnybecause we were in Year 8 not Reception and not happybecause we had to leave the awesome park. The next morningbegan after a good night‘s sleep (most of us, anyway): my firstactivity was fencing. I wasn‘t looking forward to it because Ithought it was too boring for an exciting trip like this. However, Ifound myself having fun, though, thankfully, after an hour ofprodding each other with the sword, fencing was finally over.After lunch, I was particularly excited as my next challenge waskayaking! It was so much fun! I was in Mr Armstrong‘s group andI‘m glad that I was, otherwise I wouldn‘t have see him capsizetwice (both times totally by accident) and hear him shout forhelp, which was hilarious! Most of us at the end of kayakingjumped into the absolutely freezing river which made our lipsturn blue and our hands stiffen! Once we were acclimatised, wewere set the challenge of swimming from one side of the river tothe other which got our bodies moving so we warmed up.Afterwards we quickly showered and changed because then itwas time for the amazing, thrilling, hair blowing, eye watering,and mouth dropping… KING SWING! We had seen it on YouTubeand it looked great fun.I whizzed through the air at up to 40mph. I sat next to LucyRogers (Luc), who nearly burst my eardrum with her screams assoon as the instructor pulled the rope. It was exhilarating as youThe Great Escape IILow ropes?Continued on next page

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 13felt the blood rushing through your veins to your head. Then itstarted raining and, after dinner, we had been planning to go tothe park again but the weather was too bad. Instead we had freetime to watch films, play table tennis, make up a new dance withMrs Alford-Swift, play manhunt outside in the pitch black, messaround in the common rooms and watch other groups screamingat the tops of their voices as they had their turn on the giant KingSwing! The next day we had one last activity - Bushcraft - and Iwasn‘t looking forward to it at all. I thought it would be boring, wewould have to walk fora g e s a n d t h einstructor would talkon and on and on. But,once we startedbuilding shelters outof materials in theforest, it was actuallyquite fun. Our group(Alice, Vicky, Savi andme) also won thechallenge to build thebest shelter in thewild, which made iteven more enjoyable.We made a shelter fortwo people and ashelter for four peopleto sleep in. They wereOn the King SwingAt the awesome parkmade from logs, twigs, sticks (plus anything that we could find inthe area) and then they were covered in fir tree leaves to stopthe water from leaking through when it was wet. As we walkedback to the centre, we ate our handpicked wild blackberries.We ate our lunch with excitement because we knew that soon wewould be back at home with our families and able to sleep in ourown beds. We were also a little sad that we had to leave thisgreat place that offered us so many opportunities in the space ofjust three days.I would like to thank all of the teachers who helped arrange, tookpart in and cared for us on the trip.India WildLike Year 7, Year 10 and the Lower Sixth, Year 8 also went on anoutdoor pursuits trip at the beginning of the Michaelmas Term.For some reason, on our trip, one of the two buses had all theboys on it and the other all the girls! The boys left such a messon the bus that we were not allowed to eat or drink on the bus infuture. So, we were in trouble right at the start.After we arrived and had had some lunch, we were divided into 4groups and told which activities we would be doing for the rest ofthe day. I was doing Bushcraft which was quite good, because itwas so cold that I think the canoeing would have killed me. Onthe way to Bushcraft, we were told to collect berries. We foundsome blackberries which were ready to eat, then we wereticked off for picking more than we needed. In the woods, wewere shown how to build a shelter out of logs to protect youfrom rain and wind. It was fun but not exactly exciting, and Idecided that I would rather be in a hotel than in the shelterwe had built!!Later, after we had eaten, we were told that half the groupswould be doing an activity and the other half would have freetime. We went to the best playground I have ever been to! Itwas massive with lots of climbing apparatus and an assaultcourse.On day Two we did the High Ropes, which out of all theevents was the best!! We did two exercises; one wasswinging on ropes from one side to the other; the otherwas…… ―The Leap of Faith‖!!!! Here you climbed on top of ahigh, narrow post and then jumped off and tried to catch atrapeze in mid-air. That was the best thing ever!!After lunch my group did fencing. Well, I don‘t really likefencing because it takes about half an hour to actually startfighting each other. After dinner, it was raining, so we did theevening activity which was called ―Trading Trainers‖. Wewere put into groups and had to design and draw trainers tosell. It was, surprisingly, fun!BushcraftOn the morning of our final day, our last activity wascanoeing, but we thought we wouldn‘t able to return to ourrooms afterwards for a shower. Canoeing was great fun andwe played some games. Afterwards we did have showerswhich, I think, prevented hypothermia from setting in!!Then it was time to go home and that was the end of ouroutdoor pursuits. Can‘t wait for next year – camping!!Great!!!!Hugo Jackson

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 14As befits the beginning of the Sesquicentenary Yearcelebrations, the ingeniously named BirkenheadSchool‘s Got Talent kick-started the 150th events inSeptember. It was held in Birkenhead School‘s Big Top,also known as the Sports Hall Marquee. All kinds oftalent and showmanship from our very own pupils wason display, from attractive dance troupes to ‗guitarwieldingwould-be axe-murderers‘ (Mr Clark‘s descriptionof Oli Carins after his performance of ‗Enter Sandman‘ byMetallica).Notable performances included: Harry Smethurst andCallum Hepton‘s guitar duo; Elliot Kirkbride-Wright‘srendition of ‗Somewhere Only We Know‘ by Keane; and‗Tranmere: the Musical‘. The latter was a probing,intellectual treatise on the phenomenon of mass worshipof obscure personalities such as Les Parry and falsereligious veneration of football teams among modern,post-war working-class adolescent males. Of course,Sparsh Garg‘s ‗interesting‘ dance to ‗Jai Ho‘ by A RRahman is also worth a mention. What was very specialabout that evening was that the show was completelyorganised by two students, namely our Head of School,Ed Gibbs, and School Council regular, Andrew White. Asmembers of the committee for the 150 th yearcelebrations, they were tasked with coming up with anevent that would be accessible to everyone involved inSchool life. Following the success of a TV show that musthave stolen their idea, Ed and Andrew came up withBirkenhead School‘s Got Talent. Although they beganthinking about it in September 2009, so they had awhole year to organise the sports hall marquee and allthe other paraphernalia involved with staging the event,the actual list of performers came together at relativelythe last minute. Then, the most stressful thing, they say,was getting the acts to practise over the summer. Therewere also a number of acts who dropped out at the lastminute, including one Sixth-former who lost his firesticksover the summer and was unable to perform what hadpromised to be a spectacular juggling act, which causedextra stress and havoc. On top of this, the organiserswere trying to balance GCSE and A-Level work. Their ownsocial life became virtually non-existent.The judging panel consisted of Mr. Armstrong, MissBurns and our very own Alan J Blain. The criteria forpicking the judges was a sense of humour, fairmindednessand graciousness in their criticism. MissBurns and Mr Armstrong were perfect candidates,though why Mr Alan Blain was included is a mystery.Overall, they found it a fun and worthwhile experience,and even though it meant they had to work overtime,they said they would be happy to do something similaragain. When asked to name their favourites, they madespecial mention of ‗Tranmere: The Musical‘, but thoughtall the acts were very good, but especially James Green‘s(N.B. the co-author of this article). However, the judgesdeemed Elliot Kirkbride-Wright to be the overall winnerand Mr Clark presented him with a cheque for £150.The evening was a huge success on every front,including the barbecue. Birkenhead School‘s Got Talentdefinitely got 10/10.James Green and Gwilym Jones.Photos by Mr EdmundsWinner of BirkenheadSchool‘s Got Talent andPresident of the Pink PoloSociety, Elliot Kirkbride-Wright

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 15This year we are celebrating not only thebeginning of the Christmas season but alsoour School‘s 150th Year. We hope you will bethere to share in this double celebration and,in doing so, support a Birkenhead Schoolmusical tradition.Our Christmas concerts at the Phil are alwayssparkling evenings and puts both performersand audience in a jolly mood for the holiday.On 11th December the combined voices of ourfour School choirs - Birkenhead School ChoralSociety, Chapel Choir, Cantata Choir and PrepChoir - conducted by our Director of MusicGraham Ellis will be filling the PhilharmonicHall with festive cheer. Many schools muchlarger than ours cannot boast to having fourchoirs! Including the Liverpool Sinfonia, manyof whose musicians have associations with theSchool, the Hall‘s festive stage will be packed.In a varied programme, interspersed withpoignant and pithy Christmas readings by ourguest presenter and one of Liverpool‘streasures, Roger McGough, CBE, the choirs willsing a range of Christmas music, both ancientand modern. The audience will have theirchance to shine when they join orchestra andchoristers to sing some well-known carols.We hope to see you all on 11th December atthe Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Tickets areavailable from Michael Hudson, via the mainSchool Office or from the Philharmonic boxoffice—709 3789.Photos:Graham on stage atBirmingham Town HallGraham Williams belongs to the Wirral Schools‘ Orchestra and WirralSchools‘ Senior String Orchestra. Earlier this year they auditioned forthe National Festival of Music for Youth with a recording from one oftheir Friday evening rehearsals. As a result, they were chosen to play inthe Northern Regional Finals in Manchester and, against toughcompetition, were placed first. In July, Graham was delighted to bechosen to play lead cello in the National Finals in Birmingham. Thefeedback from the professional music mentors was excellent and,although the orchestra did not win, Graham was proud to have reachedthe final six of some of the best youth orchestras in the country and tohave had the opportunity to play at such a prestigious venues.The six finalists were:-Milton Keynes Youth Orchestra, Wirral Schools Orchestra, ISCALinea Senior Strings - Gwent, City of Hull Youth String OrchestraAylesbury Youth Orchestra, KMS Colne Valley Senior Strings -Huddersfield

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 16So the Child May Live is a Liverpool-based charitydedicated to helping sick children in Nepal. Health careservices in Nepal are poor by international standardsand many people have no access to any health care atall. Leading diseases and illnesses include diarrhoea,intestinal parasites, leprosy and tuberculosis. Nepal hashigh rates of child malnutrition and under-five mortality.Kanti Children‘s HospitalKanti Childrens Hospital, Kathmandu, is a large hospitalwith approximately 320 beds. It is the only governmentrun children‘s hospital in Nepal, a country with apopulation of over 29 million! The desperation ofpatients and their families, many of whom walk,sometimes for days, to reach help, is obvious.Birkenhead School has been supporting the charity fortwo years now and their magnificent contributions haveenabled us to help the Burns Unit at the Kanti Hospital.Burns are a particular problem for the children of Nepalbecause of the many open fires and kerosene stovesused for cooking and heating, especially in the winter.The School has enabled us to bring over a surgeon fromKanti to the UK for training and also to send out aAbove: Dr Ravi Chaudhary and Dr Siân FalderBelow: the inscription on the dermatone case (they hope wewill forgive them for the Liverpool, UK!)consultant plastic surgeon from the UK to train Kantistaff and run burns courses in situ. Birkenhead Schoolalso raised funds last year to buy Kanti a Dermatome,which is used for skin grafting, andto train their surgeons in its use.Hand gel has also been installed inthe ward to help to combatinfection. Hand washing facilitiesare woefully inadequate in Nepal;the water is unsafe and sinks, ifthey are working, attract flies.Siân Falder, a consultant PlasticSurgeon, who travelled once againto Nepal with a Burns Team fromAlder Hey in October 2010 says.―It was my pleasure to hand overthe dermatome to Dr RaviChaudhary on behalf of BirkenheadSchool. The dermatome is amachine which enables surgeons totake skin grafts quickly and easily,particularly in big cases. This makesthings much safer for patients andthe cosmetic result is better. DrChaudhary and his team used thedermatome twice whilst we werethere. The first patient was a 13year-old girl whose clothes hadcaught fire when she was cooking.The second was for a 2 month oldbaby who had fallen into a firewhen being cared for by an oldersibling. Both did much betterbecause of the dermatome. DrChaudhary sends his gratefulthanks to the School for the effortsyou have gone to, to help himimprove burns care (see his emailbelow).”Dear all,Thank you so much for your sincereeffort to provide us with an electricdermatome which will really help usto treat more efficiently the needychildren. It‘s highly appreciated.Sian, Remo and team are doingvarieties of works related to burnsthese days. Me and my surgicalservices are still looking forward toworking together in future also.Thanking you again.Best WishesDr.R.P.ChaudharyConsultant Paediatric Surgeon / UrologistKanti Children's HospitalGPO Box - 12455, Kathmandu, NepalRavi using the dermatome inKanti Hospital theatreAbove:The first patients to benefit from thedermatomeSo the Child May Live is one of the four charities chosen by the schoolin its Sesquicentenary year so once again thank you all. Your moneyreally is saving and improving the lives of the children in Nepal - abeautiful Himalayan Country but one in which the vast majority of thepopulation live harsh and poor lives. If you would like more informationabout the charity, please look at our website at:www.childrenshospitalnepal.co.ukJenni Pizer, School Nurse

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 17Ralph Reader started the Scout Gang Shows in London, so on thistheir 50th Anniversary, it is fitting that a Gang Show should returnto the West End. There have been no Gang Shows staged inLondon for the last 37 years but, from their beginnings 50 yearsago, Gang Shows have now spread all over the country and allover the globe. It is, therefore, a huge honour for Birkenhead‘sCub and Scout groups to be the ones to take a Gang Show back toLondon.Kelvin Britten is in the show, along with Adam Durband, AlexForbes, Daniel Gaskell, Findlay Gordon, Jordan Hayward, AlexHerod, Alex Mazhindu, Rohan Shenoy and Edward Tillyard - allfrom the 20th Birkenhead Cub and Scout Group. YvonneHazlehurst is looking after the Box Office.The Cub cast will perform a show within the show — CannibalIsland. The show will also include some original Ralph Readermaterial, songs from the West End musicals and other choralitems. As an added inducement to theatregoers, Mr Britten will beon stage wearing a beautiful 1920s flapper dress in an piececalled The Boyfriend and elsewhere in the show dressed as abumblebee. Sounds a riot and certainly fun for all the family.20th Birkenhead Cubs meet at 4pm on Wednesdays and Scoutsat 5pm on Thursdays in the Scout Hut at McAllester Field.Three years ago the School invested in a indoor marquee withinits sports hall. The white drapes (the marquee‘s walls andceiling) are hung inside the sports hall walls to give the illusionof walking into a large outside marquee. It is one of Wirral‘slargest function venues and has the advantage of not beingsusceptible to the vagaries of the weather .Keith thinks that the venue is a great asset to the School andgives it a new business dimension. The Marquee canaccommodate up to 400 people with a stage, dance floor andbar facility He is also pleased to announce the partnershipbetween the School and Heathcotes, one of the top outsidecatering companies in the country. They have looked after thecatering requirements for many high-profile events at, forexample, Liverpool FC, Manchester Utd, Chester Race Course.Mr Gary Bates, MD of Heathcotes, is pleased to support theSchool and looks forward to the joint venture.Early in July 2010 the marquee hosted its third WirralInvestment Awards dinner, presented by Roger Phillipsfrom Radio Merseyside. The Awards salute the success ofWirral businesses which are strengthening the Borough‘sand the wider economy. More than 380 key figures fromcommerce and industry attended the 2010 WirralInvestment Network (Win) Annual Awards ceremony.Mrs Sharon Stanton, one of the organisers commented,“Once again our 2010 WIN Business Awards was a hugesuccess. The hard work, attention to detail andprofessionalism of the team at Birkenhead School ensuredour event went smoothly and most importantly our guestshad an enjoyable evening. The venue is excellent and wewould like to thank Keith Watson and his team for theirsupport”.Over the next 12 months the marquee will have its mostproductive year yet. It will be the venue for severalWeddings, the WIN Awards for 2011 and many of theSchool‘s 150 th anniversary celebrations, including OldBirkonian reunion dinners and Perfect Pitch the grandfinale open air concert with Vasily Petrenko on 18 June.The School‘s catering manager, Keith Watson, whomanages Birkenhead School Indoor Marquee, welcomesany enquiries about company or private functions. Emailkeith.watson@birkenheadschool.co.uk

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 18Ben Berkson models the latest fashion: see-through waterproofsCumbria - land of mint cake and mountains. A normally quietlandscape, disturbed occasionally by a bearded rambler,bleating sheep or moaning teenager schlepping backpacks inthe rain on a D of E expedition. Until now.Panic set in, as, on the eve of their trip, the entire Lower Sixthhad a collective realisation that they actually had to packclothes suitable for rugged terrain. Considering that many hadopted for the infamous ghyll scrambling, which involvedsubmersion above the head in water, the panic was substantial.Our transport was a bus which was obviously designed forbabies or other small objects, and the legroom was as thin aspaper with a nasty bout of anorexia. Accompanied by teachersas diverse as Mrs McGoldrick and Mr Gary ‗Gandalf‘ Hopkins,we were sure to be entertained.The activities were surprisingly only restricted to ‗stuff you do inkayak on DerwentWater.The night before, theyouth hostel laid on asumptuous ‗Mexicanbuffet‘. After the hungrystudents had had theirfill, however, looks ofhorror descended whenMr Lindberg informedthem that they had toclear away their ownplates. Afterwards theyingested a play called‗Bus Stop‘ at the‗Keswick Theatre bythe Lake‘, which was,oddly enough, by thelake. The rumours havenot been confirmed,Will Robinson continues his missionto lick every member of the SixthFormbut it is thought Mr Lindberg closed his eyes for a long periodof time, presumably to reflect on the drama of the play ratherthan the coming trial of patrolling the corridors of a youthhostel full of Lower Sixth, trying to get them to be quiet and goto sleep.Overall, despite returning shivering and wet from GhyllScrambling or traumatised and swatting away imaginary fliesafter the High Ropes, the Lower Sixth could definitely be seento have immensely enjoyed themselves. Credit and thanks aredue to all the staff who sacrificed a quiet day or two in order toaccompany us on what proved to be a very memorable trip.James Green.Photography by Alex MacaulayGhyll scrambling is a lot of fun.the Lake District‘, so no Urdu or brick catching, but insteadcanoeing, ghyll scrambling, high ropes and climbing. First therewas a walk around a lake. After having taken a boat to the startof the walk, we then had to walk back to where the boat wasoriginally moored. Not that I‘m implying this was a pointlessexercise.In terms of comedy value, however, a certain Sparsh Gargprovided the most belly laughs because he kept on capsizing hisRosie Anderson, Year 8,a t t e n d e d t h ehomecoming parade ofthe 1st Battalion MercianRegiment (Cheshire) as itm a r c h e d t h r o u g hBirkenhead on 9thNovember.The event was incelebration of theregiment's return from asix-month tour of duty inAfghanistan.Hundreds of well wishers,including pupils fromlocal schools and Rosie,cheered the soldiers asthey marched fromBirkenhead Park toHamilton Square.Rosie had heard some local troops had died during their tourof duty and wanted to welcome the soldiers home. She hadno friends or relatives in the regiment; she just wanted toshow her support and was given permission from School toattend and duly went to wave her flag!!Our CCF is, of course, affiliated to the Mercian regiment andPrince Charles is its Colonel-in-Chief.

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 19Jack Watson in 11SMG spent half-term up to his waist in theriver Squamish and the river Birkenhead, which are north ofVancouver, Canada. He was trying to catch a Pacific ChumSalmon and was the first to do so in a fishing party of five.In total, he caught 15 salmon, all of which weresubsequently released unharmed so that they couldcontinue on the last leg of their journey from the PacificOcean up to their spawning grounds in the mountain creekswhere they were born 4 years earlier. Jack‘s total includedthe biggest fish of the week, weighing in at 11kg.The Squamish area of British Columbia is named after thelocal Indian tribe who still remain the governing body there.This part of Canada is also one of the most denselypopulated areas in the world for black bears, grizzly bearsand cougars. All members of the party took advice from thelocals on the safest places to fish but they still continued tolook over their shoulders whilst fishing. Wildlife was inabundance and black bear, otters, deer, sea lions, baldeagles and sea eagles were all spotted but, luckily, they onlycame across grizzly bear footprints.The fishing group stayed in Whistler Village where the 2010Winter Olympics were held, which is about 35 miles north ofSquamish. Jack has been fly fishing for the past three yearsmostly in Wales and now he‘s saving to return to Canada fora chance to catch another Chum.K. WatsonComing back from a refreshing halfterm,we welcomed the history trip asa chance to get yet another day offschool, but little did we know, aninteresting and informative Victorian experience was in store.Somewhere in Manchester, 50 dull-minded children stepped offthe coaches, shivering in the cold Wednesday morning.Clipboards in hand, we approached the Museum of Science andIndustry and began our first activity, exploring the Power Hall.Inside were many examples of power generation during theVictorian era, using gas, water and steam. Inside, the smell of gaswas dominant and many whirring machines spun around us.Water wheels, gas motors and steam engines were all on show.There was also a replica of the winner of the famous RainhillTrials of 1829, the Novelty locomotive as well as otherlocomotives.Next was the 1830s Warehouse, where we were shown into awalk-in cinema. Videos were projected on the walls of a replicatedVictorian warehouse. Each video described the life and work of aVictorian, including factory life and importing and exporting ofvarious goods.Then we were treated to a textile demonstration, in which wewere shown working machines - looms - that would have beenused in a textile factory in Manchester. This gave us a real insightinto the life of a factory worker. Cotton was transported from hotcountries such as India and brought to England, via the LiverpoolDocks. It was then transported to Manchester by train, where itwas spun into thin threads. These threads would then be loadedonto bobbins and shuttles and then woven into cloth on thelooms. A lot of the machines were incredibly noisy, and it washard to imagine dozens of these machines working at the sametime. Children were employed to clean the machines. They werecalled scavengers. The machines never stopped, and so this wasa very dangerous job with all the moving machinery to dodgepast.Then we all became hungry at this point, and so we went to dinein the luxurious setting of the Air and Space Hall. Many greatmachines, such as cars and planes were on show, and a flightsimulator, even if it did seem a bit pricy for a five minute ride.And to end the day, we had a guided tour around the Museum ofVictorian life. We experienced what it would be like living in the19 th century, the ups and downs (mainly downs) of being a childduring those times. There was even information on Victoriantoilets. We found out how crowded a Victorian home could be -families with many children lived in one room in which they had totry and carry out normal-day to-day tasks. Families often shareda supply of unhealthy water from a stand pipe, leading to horriblediseases such as cholera.I thought the trip was very informative and helpful in teaching usabout the Victorian era. And so we all went home, smiling that wemissed a whole day of school, before remembering thathomework was to write up the whole trip, a five hundred wordessay.Lewis Tran

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 20Three Birkenhead School HeadmastersL to R: John Gwilliam 1963-1988; Stuart Haggett 1988-2003;John Clark 2003- .Three generations of headmasters attended BirkenheadSchool‘s 150th anniversary Commemoration Service at ChesterCathedral . The service was one of a host of events to celebratethis key moment in the rich history of the School.Present Headmaster John Clark was joined by his predecessorsStuart Haggett (1988-2003) who was until recently Head of theBritish School in Cyprus and John Gwilliam (1963-1988), theformer Welsh Rugby Captain who led Wales to their grand slamvictories of 1950 and 1952. In 2005 he was inducted into theWelsh Sports Hall of Fame. During his time as headmaster ofBirkenhead School the Welsh Captain had a reputation as astrict disciplinarian but clearly had another side to him, as wasrevealed to the congregation of over 1200 by a former pupil ofhis, the Rev‘d Stephen Ridley. He told the story of HeadmasterGwilliam coming into School one day carrying a kitten which hehad rescued and asking his secretary to hide it in case the boyssaw him and thought he was ‗going soft‘!The School was also delighted to welcome Lord Nicholls ofBirkenhead, who is President of the School, and Old BirkonianAndreas Whittam-Smith, co-founder of The Independentnewspaper and former President of the British Board of FilmClassification. The service was attended by the Right Rev‘d DrPeter Forster, Bishop of Chester, who pronounced the blessing.Members of the congregation found the service both majesticand moving as they watched the choristers, clergy, pupils andHeadmaster and Headmistress of the Prep process up themagnificent aisle of the Cathedral to the hymn ‗All creatures ofour God and King‘.In a series of readings, the service reflected on the School‘spast, present and future and gave thanks for the traditions wehave inherited, the community we share today and the valueswe hold in trust for future generations. The quotation Mr Clarkused from T S Eliot‘s ‗Four Quartets‘ to open his reading ‗TheFuture‘ best sums it up - Time present and time past areperhaps both present in time future.In his reading, the Headmaster explained the principles whichwill guide our School in the future, ‗It will be a School whichshows its pupils that knowledge without wisdom is of littlevalue, that the pursuit of learning is unlikely to bring fulfilmentunless it is accompanied by the search for goodness. It will bea School in which selflessness rather than selfishness is valuedand a sense of community is created through a willingness toserve others rather than oneself.‘On an overcast Tuesdaymorning, a motorcade ofbuses left for Chester,carrying the youngestchildren from the Prep tothe oldest Sixth Former.This was not an averageBirkenhead School trip,but transport to theS e r v i c e o fCommemoration andThanksgiving for thesesquicentenary of thefoundation of ourSchool.The service was decidedlynot traditional andincluded three meditationsinviting all present toreflect on the Past, Present and Future of Birkenhead School.They were read by Mr Smale, Mrs Skelly and Mr Clarkrespectively. The Service included words taken from theSchool‘s Centenary held 50 years previously, with ‗100 th ‘replaced with ‗150 th ‘ in strategic places for The Bidding, readby our new chaplain Mrs Lesley Rendle. Pupils from all Yearsread short prayers which were delivered in authoritative, cleartones. This was very impressive considering the dauntingoccasion, the magnificent setting, the huge audience and theimportant guests – it was particularly impressive for a certainmember of the Lower Sixth.The Chapel Choir, led by Mr. Ellis, the Venice Brass band, ledby Miss Baker, the Prep Choir and the organist Mr G. Eccles,enhanced the wonderful atmosphere of the Service with theirmusic.There were readings from the The Rt Hon. The Lord Nicholls ofBirkenhead, who is School President, Dr Tony Mathie, theChairman of Governors and Harriet Feeny, representing OldBirkonians. The sermon was given by the Reverend StephenRidley, who is an OB and was chaplain from 1990-1996.Everyone was relieved that, after such formal proceedings, hechose a more informal tone and even slipped in a joke at theend. In case you want to know, it even raised a slight chucklefrom me.To conclude the proceedings, The Bishop of Chester himselfgave The Blessing, and, by the recessional hymn, it was clearthat this event was cemented in Birkenhead School‘s history.Proceeds from the collection were shared among the School‘ssesquicentenary charities: Charles Thompson Mission, Home-Start Wirral, So the Child May Live and Rock of Joy Trust.Contact details for these charities may be obtained from MaryButterworth at the School.James Green and Gwilym JonesIt was a lovely moment in the service when the sweet voices ofthe Prep Choir sang ‗A New Commandment‘, by Roy Crabtree:A new commandment I give unto you,That you love one another as I have loved you.By this shall all men know that you are My disciples,If you have love for one another.The full service is available on our website at:www.birkenheadschool.co.ukM E Butterworth

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 21From the road, Housesteads Fort (Roman Vercovicium) looked magnificent. However,as we climbed up to the fort, we hit a huge obstacle – an Arctic wind that wouldprobably have been strong enough to keep the Picts from invading Britain 2000years ago! The wind resistance made it feel as if we were walking through a thicksyrup. Eventually, somewhat battered, we arrived at this Valhalla in the Northernhills. Housesteads was a fort built close to Hadrian‘s Wall, in order to subdueenemies crossing over. It was, however, an unequal struggle – the Romans hadbetter weapons, tactics and training overall. They used the forts mainly as sheltersand alongside the forts were marketplaces, civilian houses, and even a bathhousecontaining a hypocaust like the ones we had seen in Wroxeter and Bath with underfloorheating. Even in peacetime, this fort would have contained 800 men. Soonhowever, we were back down the hill (with the wind behind us) and off to Vindolanda.After the visit to Vindolanda we stayed at the curiously named Once Brewed YHA. Thefood was good but, as Mr Allister ate the ice cream there, he seemed to get crosserthe more he ate.Kevin WongThe Latin trip in the October half-term took six Year 8s, five Year 10s and twoteachers to Hadrian’s Wall. One of the sites we visited was called Vindolanda. Wearrived at Vindolanda and immediately complained about the weather - raining, asI’m sure you guessed! It was cold, windy and wet, the perfect conditions to bestanding outside to be told about by an archaeologist about previous finds andongoing excavations!When a piece of pottery is found in the ground, it has usually been well preserved.The reasons for this are that there is no oxygen underground allowing bacteria toflourish, which would destroy the artefacts.When an archaeologist discovers a piece of pottery he uses dentist’s tools and paintbrushes to clear away the dust and mud, then he places the piece in a containerwhich is then shipped off to a laboratory. The people who work in the laboratory willfurther clean the piece with chemicals placing it inside another container of 60%metholated spirits and 40% water for as long as 6 weeks.Some inscribed plates are very hard to view with just the naked eye, so infraredlighting is used. These inscriptions are photographed under infrared light and thentranslated. Some of the most elegant letters are those which are birthday invitations.Many birthday invitations have been found and the most famous one was excavatedat Vindolanda. It was between two commanding officers wives; Claudia Severainvites her friend Sulpicia Lepidina, Cerialis’ wife, to her birthday party.The rest of the Latin trip was very interesting and highly enjoyable. Thanks go to MrsWashington and Mr Allister for giving up their free time.James O‘NeillKevin Wong, Sam Berkson, James O‘Neill,Maeve Black at Walltown Crags (section of the Wall)The group at Housesteads Roman FortThe School golf teamsh a v e b e e n v e r ysuccessful this term inboth the ISGA Singlesand HMC Foursomecompetitions.King William‘s Collegecame over from the Isleof Man and the team ofElliot Smith, AndrewCrosby and John-PaulRalph won 2 matches to1. Elliot had aparticularly convincingwin of 9 and 8. Thematch was played atCaldy Golf Club and the photograph above shows both teams, with Andrew,Elliot (l and r) and John-Paul (front) on the right. We go on to play BoltonSchool in the next round of the Northern region.Elliot, Andrew and John-Paul then teamed up with Chris Way, GeorginaSudderick and Jamie Russell to win 2-1 against a very strong team from theRoyal Grammar School, Newcastle. The decisive putts were made on thelast green at Royal Liverpool by Chris and John-paul in a very tense matchindeed. The reward is an away match at King‘s School, Macclesfield inRound 2.J McGrathArchaeologist‘s talk at VindolandaThe group inspecting the ―sacellum‖ (a strong roomwhere soldiers‘ pay was securely kept)

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 22Now in it‘s 4th year, the TwoRivers Festival 2011 offersa programme of wonderfullydiverse classical concertsfeaturing a wealth offabulous musicians whoappear regularly at theworld‘s top musical venues.We are fortunate to have theopportunity, through the TwoRivers Festival, to see themon our doorstep.The Tallis Scholars (4 March2011) were dubbed ‗therock stars of RenaissanceMusic‘ by the New YorkTimes and were a highlightof the Edinburgh Festival.Emily Beynon (28 March2011) is a Fellow of theRoyal Academy of Music,principal flautist of the RoyalConcertgebouw Orchestra,Amsterdam, and regularconcerto soloist performerwith many of the world‘sleading orchestras. As achamber musician, sheperforms regularly with hersister, the harpist CatherineBeynon. Like her sister,Catherine is a concertosoloist and has performedwith major orchestras and,as principal harp of the

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 23European Union Youth Orchestra, has worked with many eminentconductors including Haitink, Ashkenazy, Guillini and Rostropovich.Kathryn Rudge (29 April 2011) is a rising opera star from Liverpool. Atthe beginning of what seems set to be a fantastic career, Kathryn, amezzo-soprano, is still a student at the Royal Northern College of Musicbut has already performed at concerts with the RLPO and others. Shewill return to School on Saturday 18th June to sing with the RLPOconducted by Vasily Petrenko at our 150th grand finale concert PerfectPitch.Concert pianist, James Baillieu, was described by the Daily Telegraph as‗in a class of his own‘. South African born James studied at the RoyalAcademy and has already won many major awards, among them theWigmore Hall, Richard Tauber and Kathleen Ferrier Competitions. Hehas given recitals at many of the major concert venues and collaboratedwith many of the new generation of opera singers — baritones Jared Holtand Jacques Imbrailo, and sopranos Katherine Broderick, Sarah-JaneBrandon and Kishani Jayasingh.The Two Rivers Festival welcomes back Ensemble Epomeo (20 May2011) , the string trio who, last year, gave an enlightening concert in theevening and an enchanting, witty and fast-paced afternoon of musicalstorytelling for pupils from ours and local schools. Founded in 2008,their inaugural tours saw them performing to great acclaim in Italy, theUK and the USA . Whilst they are here, they have offered to do aworkshop with one of our students, Marco Galvani, Year 11, on a piecehe has composed.To receive your copy of the2011 Two Rivers Festival brochure,please call 0151 651 3007or email mary.butterworth@birkenheadschool.co.ukLucy Anne and Oliver George Barlow born on 31st August 2010 at16:40 and 16:42 weighing 2380g and 1900g respectively. TheBarlow family, which had suddenly doubled in size, wereoverwhelmed and touched by the good wishes and gifts fromBirkenhead School colleagues, pupils and parents. They also had agoodly number of offers of practical help and for these they areeternally grateful. After the ‗n‘th sleepless night, it was good toknow there was back up if they really, really needed it. Ralph andLiz would like to take this opportunity to say, ‗Thank you‘.On a pleasant September morning we drove toAberglaswyn, an old hall converted into an outdoorpursuits centre at the foot of Snowdon. Afterintroductions to our guides for the activities and afterwe had been shown our rooms which were verypleasant, we went to the mountain equipment store togather everything we needed for gorge walking,canoeing and bouldering.My first activity was gorge walking which I had done inyear 7, so I knew what to expect. We bussed andwalked to a massive chasm and, about 5 metres downwas a giant waterfall. We crossed the gorge by twomassive slabs of rocks which formed a bridge, thenwalked uphill, passing smaller waterfalls and pools untilwe came to a giant pool. Once we were standing in itsicy depths, our instructors explained we were going toslide down the waterfalls. They were all fun but myfavourite bit was watching Phyllida Frostick scream asshe did a 7 metre jump into one of the pools.Afterwards, we went to a campsite, which I wasdreading because the weather forecast was fortorrential rain. We cooked meatballs and rice, whichwe ate in our tents, and then went to sleep. The nextday, after breakfast back at the Centre, the activity wascanoeing. I was anxious about this because I wasafraid of the canoe tipping up and being submergedunder the water. It was actually good fun because Iwas in a canoe with my friends and, after the canoeing,we even dived off a rock.The next morning we went bouldering, our last activity,and I was not looking forward to it because I suffer fromvertigo. Bouldering is traversing horizontally across acliff. I was relieved to find we were doing it quite lowdown. My friends encouraged me to have a go and I didfind it quite enjoyable. After bouldering, we went ontothe Matrix Wall, a giant, steep rock which we had to runacross. I was amazed when I did it with ease.On our way home, we talked about how much fun wehad had in Aberglaswyn, what we had achieved andhow much we would miss that scenic place.Conor Ainsworth, Year 10

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 24I first remember meeting Ianwhen he was invited as Vicarof St Michael and All Angels,Newton, to preach in theBirkenhead School Chapel inFebruary 1997. Little did weknow that the day after he wasto be interviewed for theposition of Vicar of St SaviourOxton with St AndrewNoctorum. A few weeks latercame the announcement ofCanon Ian DavenportSchool Chaplain2004-2010his appointment and, from the very start, Ian saw the Schoolas part of the Parish and we quickly came to know andappreciate him.When I became Headmaster in 2003, one of the firstproblems I faced was the replacement of our Chaplain, HenryKirk, who was moving to Abingdon School. I was delightedwhen, in a casual conversation, Ian asked whether he andhis then curate, Peter Waddell, might be able to help. Thelink to the Parish goes back a long time. The firstHeadmaster in 1860, the Rev‘d JT Pearce, was also Curateat St Saviour‘s and appears in the 1866 painting of theinterior of the old St Saviour‘s which hangs beneath theorgan; furthermore, the choristers who can also be seen inthe painting were drawn from Birkenhead School. It seemedsomehow appropriate, therefore, when in January 2004 theVicar of St Saviour‘s became School Chaplain.Although I will never quite know how he managed it, over thepast six and a half years Ian successfully combined thiscrucial spiritual and pastoral role within the School with hisvery substantial duties in the Parish and later as Rural Deanof Birkenhead. He not only organised and led our dailyservices and weekly Sunday Evensong, but in so doing hadan important impact on many hundreds of young people, aswell as staff, parents and friends of the School. It is notunusual for former pupils to come back and ask specificallyto see Ian.If I had to identify one constant theme in his seven-yearchaplaincy it would be that of ‗community‘ and he very muchpractised what he preached. Despite his manycommitments, he always went out of his way to get to knowas many members of the School community as possible andto involve himself in the wider life of the School – not justthrough attendance at high profile events such as concerts,plays and prize-givings but also simply by being present inthe ordinary aspects of School life. The choristers and staffhave also greatly enjoyed his company when he has beenable to join us on the Chapel Choir‘s cathedral weeks, notleast thanks to his football skills!Evidence of his success can be seen in the enormousrespect and affection he engendered amongst pupils,parents and staff, irrespective of their religious point of view.All of us will miss him, but we wish him well in his new postas Rector of Malpas and thank him for his unstintingcommitment and much valued contribution to theBirkenhead School community. And finally, Ian, to use someof your own favourite words: HAPPY ADVENTURING!D J ClarkTom Brand, a local boy, is thelatest addition to the Prep staff,teaching Year 4. After leavingCalday Grange Grammar in 2004,he went on to study SportsScience and Physiology at Leedsand afterwards gained his PrimaryEducation Teaching Qualificationthere. When asked what the worstever thing he did at school was,we were greeted with the reply ‗Iprefer not to disclose that‘, sointerpret that as you wish!Mr Brand is quite the sportsman,having played hockey for NorthWest England and swum for theCity of Liverpool. It is therefore nogreat surprise that his all -time favourite dinner guest would beDavid Beckham. If not a teacher, Mr Brand would like to try hishand at being a Disc Jockey. In fact, he likes his music so muchthat the one thing he would take to a Desert Island would be hismusic collection.Mr Brand claims he looks forward to his time at BirkenheadSchool due, in part, to ‗the outstanding sports facilities‘ and ‗itseducational pedigree‘. With his relaxed attitude and ‗happiness‘at the top of the list of things to achieve in life, we are sure MrBrand will fit right in!Sarah Mason was born inLiverpool, the eldest, by a shorttime, of twins girls. After heryounger brother was born, thefamily moved to Cheshire. MsMason was very studious and didwell at school. She gained herdegree in English and AmericanStudies from the University ofManchester and came to BSfrom St John Plessington CatholicCollege.If she hadn‘t trained as ateacher, she would have like tohave been a vet – preferably in asunny resort (a Tahitian wild pigsurgeon perhaps?).For a time after leaving school, she worked in an office in themiddle of Soho and grew to love living in London. She has aparticular passion for visiting new places; her favourite city isBarcelona.She is writing a series of educational children‘s books with hersister called Cloud Cuckoo, featuring, funnily enough, birds. Shelikes Japanese food, especially sushi, and likes all styles ofmusic, depending on her mood. She especially likes the waybooks can transport people to other worlds and times. Shethinks that Macbeth would beat Hamlet in a fight, but notwithout the help of Lady Macbeth.James Green

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 25importance of conserving the Islands for future generations.Our work included painting an under-the-sea mural for aprimary school as well as creating a garden with endemicplants. Our appointed artistic directors did a fantastic job ofoverseeing the project and producing some high qualityartwork. Having finished our work at the school, Williamfrom the charity arranged for us to work with the NationalPark, planting cacti. For two nights we camped on abreathtakingly beautiful beach called Puerto Chino, with onlyhermit crabs, pelicans and a few friendly sea lions forcompany! It was a remarkable experience and the groupcoped well with the lack of facilities, washing up in the seaand trying but failing to keep sand out of the tents. Our lastfew days in the Galápagos were spent on a mini cruisewhich included a day‘s snorkelling. We were lucky enoughto see sea lions, a ray, a sea turtle and even black tippedA Galápagos Giant Tortoisein the Charles Darwin Research Centre.After 15 months of preparation and several fundraising events agroup of 15 students from Year 11 and Sixth Form finally left for a32 day expedition to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands at thestart of the Summer Holidays. Our adventure started with a fewdays in the Ecuadorian capital Quito before we travelled into theAndean Highlands. We slowly got to grips with the altitude andcompleted several acclimatisation day treks in preparation for ourmain trek up to a Crater Lake nestled in a mountain called El Altar.The trek was harder than any had imagined and really tested ourfitness and determination. Because of the thick mud there waslots of falling over and by the time we arrived at ouraccommodation we were all covered in mud! There was thankfullyno mud in sight on the second day to the Crater Lake and thegroup worked very well together, especially on the last stretchwhich involved climbing up a steep section with the help of a ropeand a few of the students in strategic places. The Lake wasunfortunately a rather muddy green rather than the crystal bluewe had seen on the Internet, but it was nevertheless worth theclimb up to 4100m. After our main trek, the group completed aone day summit of Volcán Rumiñahui up to 4613m. This was atough route with plenty of snow and fog to make it even harderbut, thanks to our fantastic guides, we kept our spirits up andmanaged to stay warm. The climb was worth it when, for a verybrief moment, the clouds parted and we were rewarded with aview of Volcán Cotopaxi, whose position on the equatorial bulgemeans that its summit is the furthest place on the planet from theearth‘s core. That day I was particularly impressed by how well thegroup worked together as a team, encouraging each other andhelping those who were struggling with the steep drops.Next came the Jungle phase with a very long and eventful coachjourney due to several of the group being struck down with astomach bug, but the less said about that the better! Our 4 daystay in a private camp alongside the Río Napo was wonderful. Wewere accompanied by a local guide, Livio, who taught us about theindigenous way of life, including jungle medicine and Shamanism.A highlight of the trip was a day white water rafting in Tena, where,despite the sunburn, we had a fantastic day, with plenty ofopportunity for pushing people overboard which was a blessing asmany had given up washing for the previous few days.After a wonderful 3 weeks in Ecuador we flew to San Cristóbal inthe Galápagos Islands to start our project. We worked for a localcharity New Era which aims to educate the local children on theThe group‘s project was painting a mural on the walls of alocal primary school.reef sharks in the deeper channel of Kicker Rock. Wecrossed over to the biggest Island, Santa Cruz, to visit theCharles Darwin Research Centre where we saw LonesomeGeorge, the last of his kind from Pinta Island, and manyother types of giant tortoises. These last few wonderful daysin the Galapagos Islands were the perfect way to end themonth and made the muddy, cold paths through the Andesseem a distant memory.I hope that it was an experience that the students involvedwill remember for many years to come and no doubt it hasCotopaxi which stands at 5897mContinued on next page

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 26Posing on a break during our jungle day treks.given them some valuable skills which will be useful during theirtime at university. Each student had the chance to be leader forthe day at least once during the trip and there were a wide varietyof leadership styles. Some went for the 5.30 am starts with whatcan only be described as Sergeant Major discipline and others weremore laid back. They should all be very proud of what theyachieved as individuals and what we achieved as a group. Thankyou to Claire Ault for accompanying the group and for her valuablecontribution to the trip.Jenny MooreSnorkelling at Kicker Rock during our R&R. The sea is around100m deep as this point. We saw a sea turtle and some whitetipped reef sharks here.The next World Challenge expedition will be to Mongolia in Summer2012. If you are interested in signing up and are in Years 10, 11 orL6th then come along to the Parents‘ Presentation Evening onWednesday 15 th December at 7:30pm in the Meeting Room. Thestudents who would like to take part are then required to come tothe Acclimatisation Meeting on Thursday 13 th January at 4pm tosign up. If you have any questions regarding World Challengeplease contact Miss Moore.Below: A Galápagos Finch taken whilst we were campingon the beach at Puerto Chino andhelping plant Cacti with the National ParkAbove: Summit photo at 4613 m after reaching our goal of climbingVolcán Rumiñahui.Right: The group on our lastday in Santa Cruz before the35-hour journey home.

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 27Rupert Rule is the new Head of Economics. He is also an Old Birkonian. He left in 2001 tostudy Economics at Durham University and his first teaching post, prior to BirkenheadSchool, was at King‘s School, Macclesfield, where he was an Economics teacher for 2 years.During his spare time he plays golf and used to be a very good rugby player. He is in chargeof the 2nd XV and , at the time of writing this, they hadn‘t lost a match. Fingers crossed forthe rest of the season. He enjoys golf so much that his clubs would be the one item that hewould take if he were to be shipped off to a desert island. Also, if he could have one specialpower, Mr Rule would like to have the ability to be amazing at every sport! His favouriteholiday destinations are Malaysia and New Zealand but the former is very special to himbecause it is where he proposed to and was accepted by his fiancée.One of his ambitions is to write a successful novel before too long. What about we wonder —a thriller about double dip recessions and GDP?When he was a pupil here, he had many inspiring teachers and sports coaches, many ofwhom are still here. He described himself as ‗a bit of an in-betweener‘ lower down theSchool but came into his own during Sixth Form. Already Mr Rule feels comfortable in hisold environment, though it may take some time to adjust to drinking coffee in the staffcommon room with those colleagues who were once his teachers!James Green and Gwilym Jones, Publicity UnitThe most common question I have been asked since starting at theschool in September has been, ‗Is it strange to be back?‘ My answerto this is usually the same, ‗Yes it is a little strange but it‘s excitingas well‘. I count myself very lucky to be teaching Economics at thistime, when government macroeconomic policy is on the front pagesof national newspapers every day, and an understanding of thefinancial, business and economic world is going to proveincreasingly important in the years to come.For my lessons students are asked to prepare, among other things,a weekly diary summarising the major economic activities of theweek. These are then discussed in more detail in class to broadenunderstanding. I have also entered some of the School‘s brightestEconomists into a national competition called ‗Target 2.0‘. This is acontest sponsored by the Bank of England and charges studentswith the task of setting and justifying UK monetary policy. They haveto present their findings in a 15 minute talk and are then subjectedto 10 minutes of questioning by representatives from the B of E. Notan easy task at all!I feel it is my role as the Head of Economics to try to nurture abroader understanding of financial issues in our pupils. With this inmind I have recently set up a Student Investor competition amongststudents in Years 10, 11 and 12. Teams are given a virtual£100,000 and are free to trade on the stock market to see howmuch they can make. The uptake of this has been tremendous and Icurrently have 60 pupils competing with each other and over20,000 others nationally. R RuleView of Mr Blain‘s eyesMr Rule — a new teacher‘s induction—the Leap of Faith

In Focus November/December 2010 Page 28The Headmaster writes: Our A level students this year achieveda stunning 84% of grades at A* to B, which represents an alltimerecord for the School. The previous record of 74% wasachieved in 2007. 12% of results this year were at the new,challenging A* grade, which requires students to reach Astandard overall and additionally an average of over 90% in themore difficult A2 modules. In my press release, I congratulatedstudents and staff : ―These results represent an outstandingachievement for individuals and the School as whole. With therest of the country worrying about university places, it is a joy tosee our candidates well ahead in securing places on their firstchoice university courses at top flight Russell Groupuniversities. Medicine, dentistry and veterinary science remainpopular and successful choices for both boys and girls atBirkenhead School, but it is pleasing to see many still opting forcompetitive non-vocational courses such as English, history,classics and philosophy.‖Very nearly a third of our A level candidates achieved A* or A inall of their A levels, which demands real commitment from boththem and their teachers. Particular stars, who achieved the newA* grade in all of their subjects were Ben White, JamesSherman and David Pennefather. David exceeded by some waythe grades he needed to secure his place to read ChemicalEngineering at Cambridge. Ben and James are now bothstudying Engineering at Durham. Amongst nine successfulmedical applicants were Emma Walshaw (Dentistry, Newcastle),Tom Ince (Medicine, Leeds) and Callum Hayward (VeterinaryMedicine, Nottingham), who all achieved 4 A grades. Off toOxford University are Nicholas Ramsbottom to read Chemistryand Michalis Migos, who is reading Biochemistry.This year‘s A*- B rate of 84% put the School way ahead of anyother local schools. The A* to B rate at the local grammarschools ranged from 68% to 49%. In my speech to the Class of2010 at the Leavers‘ Evening in September, I highlighted justhow impressive the results were, trying to embarrass a few ofthose present (although not naming them!) by pointing out that,in the Entrance Examination 7 years earlier, nine of the sixty orso leavers had not achieved VR scores good enough to pass the11+! Of those nine, there were students now leaving theSchool with 1 A* and 3 A grades, 4 A grades, 1 A* and 2As, 3Asand 1B, 2 As and 1B … and two heading to Medical School. Thismay say something about the validity of 11+ style tests; itcertainly says a lot about what these students and theirteachers have achieved over the past seven years!“The Joys of Statistics!‖ you might expect me, as a Mathsteacher, to exclaim. Averages, standard deviations and T-tests should allow us all to see deeper truths about the worldand the human condition. Sadly my enthusiasm will again thisyear be dampened by the obfuscation – some would saydeliberate deception – of the School League Tables. It‘s notthat our students haven‘t done well in them; The Times had us54 th in the country at A level (84% A*-B) with the next Wirralschool – a girls‘ grammar - in position 159 (68% A*-B) andsome of the others tailing a long way behind.The frustration is that picking another newspaper on adifferent day may tell a different story. Both the Telegraphand the BBC last year used the previous government‘sOFSTED-points system whereby a candidate with grades BCDEwill score more points than one with ABB. I understand why agovernment might peddle this line – it‘s easier and cheaper tocram in a few more qualifications and do badly in them than itis to do a sensible number of exams really well. But why anindependent newspaper and a public service broadcastershould follow this line I do not understand! It is just possiblethat, amongst their other cuts, the coalition government willcut out some of the deception and return to a more realisticmeasure of performance. Certainly the vision of universities isnot being dimmed by this smoke and mirrors and the UCASsystem rightly rates our student with ABB much higher thanher ‗lots-of-low-grades‘ friend down the road. In the end, ofcourse, we must ensure that students attain the best gradesthat they are capable of achieving and that they get places onthe university courses that they hope for.Fortunately, we need not take much notice of these spuriousmeasures; sadly some of our colleagues in maintainedschools are persuaded to skew their curriculum to ensure thatOFSTED-points remain high. ICT courses that are ‗worth‘ 4GCSEs and students being entered for General Studies examsfor which they have had little or no preparation are just someexamples. Universities and employers are not impressed and,as a colleague from a school not too far from here confided inme, the students don‘t think much of it either. I am delightedthat we are running courses including Drama, Philosophy, theEnvironment, Creative writing, Politics, Engineering,Community Science, Enterprise and Horse-riding this year, notone of which is examined and for which the school will earnnot one single OFSTED-point.If we were entering students for a GCSE in statistics, theremight be material for a piece of assessed coursework here – ifany of our readers wish to copy-and-paste this article intoWord, add some graphics from Google and pay the exam entryfee, we might even nudge ourselves one or two places up astatistical slippery pole!R A Barlow

For All The School Community . Pupils . Staff . Parents . Old Birkonians . Friends . VisitorsSupplementis proud to presentstarringand thewithSaturday 18th June 2011on the School Cricket FieldProgramme includes:Gustav Holst Jupiter from The Planets Suite,other orchestral favourites and a few surprises…Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture with fireworks6pm School performers8.15 RLPOTicketsAdvance booking: Adult £20, 5-18 £15, U5 Free, Family (2 adults & up to 4 children ) £65On gate: Adult £24, 5-18 £18, U5 Free, Family £80Book on line at the Birkenhead School Shop www.birkenheadschool.co.uk.Call 0151 651 3007 or email: perfectpitch@birkenheadschool.co.uk

In Focus November/December 2010Julie Mayers has been a teacher for 15 years.During that time, she has taught and lived inHameln in Germany, Ballymena in Northern Irelandand Lille in Northern France.She is now teaching in Reception in the Prep.Her hobbies include dancing, walking and sheenjoys going to the cinema and the theatre.Recently she went to see the Dr Who musical andBlood Brothers, both of which she enjoyed very much. Mrs Mayersalso likes to listen to pop music and some of her favourites are LadyGaga, Mica, Plan B and Take That. Her favourite types of food areItalian and Chinese dishes. She generally enjoys watching thrillermovies but one of her favourite films is ‗Lord of the Rings‘.Her first impressions of Birkenhead School are that it is warm andfriendly and set in a wonderful environment.Sue Keating says, ―I‘m really enjoying my role as thePrep Music Teacher and all the staff have made mefeel very welcome. I have taught for 15 years inboth state and private schools as a class teacherand Music Coordinator but it is great to have beengiven the opportunity to concentrate on purelymusic teaching at the Prep. I play the violin andpiano but my main interest is singing. There are alot of children in the Prep with a musical talent andI‘m looking forward to taking some of them who arein the Prep Choir to sing in the Christmas Crackers concert at thePhilharmonic Hall on Saturday 11 th December.‖Although Georgina Mudge was born in Liverpool at the Women‘sHospital, she grew up on the Wirral. Although she left for a time tostudy and work, she liked the Wirral so much, she returned here tobring up her family.Mrs Mudge has always been a teacher butduring her student days did voluntary work atBarnado‘s and worked at PGL (the UK's leadingprovider of school trips and children‘s adventureholidays) during her gap year and universityholidays.She loves spending time with her family but hasnever lost her love of travelling and learning aboutother cultures, ―I have visited many parts of theworld. My favourite places to visit are India and Malaysia. I was luckyenough to live and teach in Malaysia for a few years and whilst I wasthere I led a school exchange trip to India.‖Her favourite character is Tigger from Disney‘s animation of ‗Winniethe Pooh‘ and her favourite saying is ‗Everything happens for areason.‘Mrs Mudge enjoys being near the sea and beaches on the Wirralpeninsula and, in keeping with her liking for the outdoors, is a fan ofDavid Attenborough‘s programmes.She derives great satisfaction from her work, ―Every child is uniqueand each child has special talents. I learn so much from them!!Birkenhead reminds me of the school I was lucky enough to attendwhen I was young. A great family school where the students arenurtured so they can achieve their best in everything they do.‖Pat DaleI joined the School‘s Learning Support Team in September, havingpreviously taught at Mostyn House. I‘m based mainly in the Prep andam enjoying getting to know the staff, pupils and parents. I teach mostpupils individually and so get to know them quite well.It‘s taken me a while to find my way round the campus but things aregetting better. Although I‘ve lived in Willaston for 25 years, I used tolive in Oxton and love the area. I only work part-time now and so havetime to spend with my grandchildren. My husband and I also spend alot of time cultivating the weeds on our allotment...it‘s hard work butwe enjoy harvesting the produce. We‘ve travelled a bit since I stoppedfull time work and especially enjoyed a trip to Australia a few yearsago. Some ex-Mostyn pupils also transferred to BS and it‘s been goodwatching them settle in. Finally, thank you to all whohave made me feel so welcome here.InsertNicola Williams worked in Prep a number of years agoand is happy to be back, teaching Year 4. She says,‗There are familiar faces from the ‗old days‘ andpupils, parents and staff here now that I knew atMostyn House (where she taught for the last eightyears).‘Her hobbies include horse riding and spending timeat her caravan in Wales. She enjoys eating out andher favourite food is lobster. She enjoys watching‗The Apprentice‘ and listening to U2 and the KaiserChiefs.Elizabeth Kearney: I was born in Belfast, grew up inthe suburbs with my father, mother and youngerbrother and went to school and university therebefore coming to Exeter University to do my PGCE.Although since graduation I‘ve been a teacher, Ichanged direction from initially teaching Geographyand Geology, to becoming a learning supportteacher.If I weren‘t a teacher, I‘d be a lawyer. I‘ve always beenfascinated by the law, have a brother and a son whoare lawyers and have probably watched too manylegal dramas!My faith is very important to me and I am activelyinvolved in my church. I organise events and I ampart of a home group.I enjoy all sorts of music but currently love the sound of Michael Bublé - Iam dropping unsubtle hints in the hope of getting a Christmas present ofa ticket to one of his concerts. Depending on my mood, I love boththrillers like ‗Spooks‘ and costume dramas, recently ‗Downton Abbey‘ -quite a mix!As a learning support teacher, I get a buzz from seeing my pupils achievethe success they are capable of. Birkenhead School is much larger thanmy previous school but everyone has been friendly and welcoming. Thecampus is stunning!Gill Tooley: I teach English as an Additional Language (EAL) and alsowork with pupils who have a specific learning difficulty such asdyslexia. Prior to joining Birkenhead School, I wasHead of EAL at Mostyn House School, as well as beinga member of the Study Room team, delivering StudySkills and support to pupils with a SpLD. I also tutordyslexic students at Chester University. I love my work.It is very satisfying to see my pupils' confidenceincrease as they progress and becomemore independent learners. Earlier in my career,I lived in Germany and taught English tosome members of the German National FootballTeam.In my spare time I like to try out different activities and recently had a goat go-karting and I didn't come last! I also went 'Go Ape' at DelamereForest: scary but exhilarating. After experiencing a sailing trip around theScottish Islands, my next ambition is to sail on a Tall ship. My longstandinghobby is singing with 'A Handbag of Harmonies', a ladies‘ choir.It's great fun and we've performed in a variety of venues around thecountry and abroad, often to raise money for charity. We were the topall ladies choir on Last Choir Standing, a TV competition. I am a regularblood donor. My favourite children's book is ‗My Family and OtherAnimals‘, a gentle and amusing story about an eccentric English familyliving on the island of Corfu. My taste in music is rather eclectic but Ialways come back to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band; they doballads and rock equally well.I was mostly well behaved at school but sometimes got into trouble forday dreaming in Latin lessons and I remember having my knucklesrapped in maths for not having learned my times tables. Fortunately thatdoesn't happen at Birkenhead where I've found both staff and pupils tobe polite, pleasant and helpful.

In Focus November/December 2010InsertCongratulations to the following who took their Guildhall TrinityMusic examinations in:Tuba — Adam Ridges — Grade 6 — Passed with MeritCornet — Alex Davies — Grade 6 — Passed with MeritAlice Sherrard, Yr 8, won her Level 1 AAA (Amateur AthleticsAssociation) Award from Wirral AC for Shot Putt — a prestigiousaward in athletics circles! To gain this award you have to consistentlywin events throughout the season and continue improvingyour personal best.Annabel Saverimutto and Lucy Rogers, also in Year 8, haveboth been selected for Cheshire Lacrosse U15 ‗A‘ despite onlybeing U13 age level!Charlotte Lytollis, Alice Sherrard & Emily Subhedar, from Year11, have been selected for the North England U18 Lacrossesquad again.At the beginning of October, eleven Year 5 boys went to Mac Fieldto play rugby against Liverpool College. We started well andpressured the opposition relentlessly. In less than two minutes,Max Hatherly, scrum half, scored a magnificent try by sprintingalong the edge of the pitch and just avoiding the Liverpool Collegeboys attempting to take him down. Will Haydon-Wood, fly half,took the conversion. The ball soared between the posts, giving ustwo points. Liverpool College started play and tried to weavearound our defence but amazing tackles won the ball forBirkenhead and Matthew Walsh, prop, scored a fabulous try,despite the Liverpool boys trying to take him down. Again, Willtook the conversion and scored with an enormous kick making it14-0 to Birkenhead. Not long after that Sam Pilkington scored agreat try by manoeuvring past their players then spinning aroundtheir last defender and expertly sprinting into the touchdownarea. Will scored the conversion again. Just before the end of thefirst half, Lawrence Kehoe, prop, got into Liverpool‘s touchdownarea but had the ball taken off him before he could touch down.The first half ended 21-0 to Birkenhead.Liverpool started with the ball in the second half and tried toscore their first try but were stopped by great tackling fromBirkenhead. Max scored another good try by running along thewing to get the touchdown. Will stepped up to take theconversion. He kicked it inches outside the left bar and ball sailedwide. Liverpool started to attack hard but couldn‘t quite beat ourplayers. Dan Jones, sub, made a great interception on the leftwing and scored another try. This time Will scored the conversionmaking it 33-0 to Birkenhead. After a few minutes, Matthewscored a fantastic try, running through two or three Liverpool boysto score. Will scored the conversion again giving us another twopoints. Just before the end Orren Lee, winger, got tackled justyards away from a touchdown but Sam Pachter, hooker, pickedup the ball and scored a great try. Will scored the conversion. Thefinal whistle went. 47-0 to Birkenhead. We would like to thank MrHalpin for making this event possible. Also making theircontribution on the team were: Daniel Cooke, winger, andEdward O‘Mahoney, sub.Sean Carpenter, 5S and outside centreI occasionally receive complaints from our neighbours aboutinconsiderate parking in roads adjacent to the School. I canunderstand the annoyance of people who can‘t get out of theirdrive either because a car is parked across it or because carsare parked so close that their vision is blocked.I know that most parents park responsibly but a few arebringing us into disrepute. In Kingsmead Road in particular,please try to park on the School side or, better still, if possibledrop off and pick-up a little further away and encourage yourchild to walk the last stretch.D.J.Clark‗The Ultimate Plum Puddings‘ cost £9 for a 2lb pudding and£5 for a 1lb pudding. for those who want a special anddelicious gift and at the same time raise funds for the School,both sizes are available in limited numbers.Samples are available to look at (not taste!) in the mainSchool Office.Limited edition silver-plated cufflinks engraved with the Schoolcrest in gift box - £20 per pair. Refillable roller ball pens blackwith School crest, School name and dates in gold - £5.Available from the Prep and Senior School offices.

In Focus November/December 2010InsertEach class came in different colours to make a rainbow in Little School playground.Kazzi Evans and CharlieCriss wore lovely orangeclothes for 1WIsabella Heckstall-Smith in1B made her own Pudsy bearThe girls in Year 1 enjoyed dancingto some music before schoolIsabella Lornie RGM and Blythe MellorRJM looked great in their colourful clothes.After our rainbow and parade we had aspecial assembly about all the great work‗Children in Need‘ do.Zack Astbury RGMcustomised his jacketespecially for ‗Childrenin Need!‘Tiya Sharma in 1Hwore lovely yellowribbons in her hairRight: Louisa and BriaTitu, CharlotteRoettchen, GraceCarroll, Katie Bradburyand Olivia RossThe Prep raised thefantastic sum of justover £600 for‗Children in Need‘ -well done!