© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page

© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page

Dear Parents and CarersI am delighted to share with you our latest newsletter. We aim to useour newsletters to paint something of a picture of our vibrant, busy communityand once again this one highlights the wide range of successes we have tocelebrate.It is hard to capture the wealth of activities that go on in and aroundthe school, involving a wide range of students and staff. Even in just the lastfew weeks of term we have seen: the Sports Awards evening, Music and Artsevening, Sports Day, Oxfordshire Schools Games, Year 6 Science andHealth days, German Exchange, French Trip, Spanish Trip, Duke of Edinburghaward challenges, Gospel Choir Trip, Business and Enterprise Day,KS3 Music Evening, Kilvrough Outdoor Education Trip, and packed ActivityDay programme. Students are continuing to make the most of the opportunitiesavailable to them and I am confident we can build on this with even moresuccess next year.The summer is a great time to rest and also to reflect, as a schooland as individuals, and I hope that every student can look back on the yearand be pleased with what they have achieved. As I reflect on the school yearas a whole I can see that in addition to all the activities that you can readabout in newsletter there is much more which makes The Cherwell Schoolspecial. At the heart of our school are our people; the relationships and interactionsthat we all share, and the learning that takes place every day bothwithin and beyond our classrooms.We aim to celebrate success and to develop independent learnersand these themes will continue to develop in the coming year as we focus onthe importance of learning in our community. We will have more opportunitiesfor students to take on leadership roles, we will focus on learning withdetermination and recognising that all of us can learn and develop, and wewill build on our strong staff-student and student-student relationships to enhancelearning.During this year, on 1 st April, we became an Academy and membersof the school community will have seen very few, if any, changes to theschool. This is as we planned, as our change in status allows us to continueto provide and develop the best educational opportunities rather than tochange what The Cherwell School is and aims to be. We are pleased that wehave been able to plan for the year ahead without reducing our educationalopportunities.Finally, I hope you enjoying reading this newsletter which is packedwith reports and pictures. I would also like to thank all of the staff and studentsfor their hard work and commitment and thank parents and carers fortheir support; I wish everyone a very enjoyable summer holiday.Paul JamesHeadteacherInside this issue:Art:-Year 8 G&TYear 7 Art ClubArts EveningProduct Design:-Year 13 Design SuccessBase News:-Working Outside the ClassroomBusiness Studies:-Olympics Enterprise DayScience:-Primary PhysicsForensics of the Future/CSIInvestigatesScience clubsMusic:-Gospel ChoirEnglish:-A question of WordsAnthologiseActivities Day:-Sports Day:-Other News:-Cycling NewsPhoenix SremcevicUK Radio Youth Journalist TrainingCherwell EarthChicken ProjectKilvroughPE and Sports News:-Oxfordshire School GamesSports Awards EveningTag Rugby ShowcaseSchool reopens on Wednesday 5th September 2012Page 2 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

Year 8 Gifted and TalentedArt students were involved in astained glass window workshopwith local artist Naomi Goldsmith.Students were asked tocreate stained glass window designsunder the theme of ‘Saints,Angels and People of GoodWorks’ They created someamazing designs in the time theywere at the church and their workwas displayed alongside workfrom other local school duringthe church in Art Weeks.Students who participated were:Samu Patten, Cinderella Lingwood,Meriel Colnut, Lucien O’Hanian, HannahVinluan, Maria Juszczak, IsobelLandell-Mills, Amy Coombs, MiriamPritchard, Alfie Stanbury, TaliaWoodin, Philip Barron, AmeliaMacbryan, Frank Conefrey, Tia Warner,Rosa Hinds, Hannah Jennings,Lydia Dupre, Dailki Yamamoto, ChrisZubekOlympic Fact: Part of the supporting structure of the roof is formed from 2,500 tonnes of steeltubing that was actually recycled from old gas pipelines© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 3

Dr Simon Benjamin, who is leading a researchteam in the Materials Dept at the Universityof Oxford, contacted the art dpt. The weekof 2nd July, his team will be running an exhibitat a major science show in London, The RoyalSociety Summer Science Exhibition. He askedus if we would decorate his promotion manikinfor him. We were more than happy to help, soLucy, Rou, Michaela and the art team workedtirelessly with very difficult equations.We started the year 7 ArtClub in September and ithas grown so much in popularitywe are now carrying onwith a year 8 Art club as wellas a year 7 next year. Ourwonderfully creative year 7’shave produced some amazingwork and used many differentmediums includingclay, wire sculptures, screenprinting, papier mache andof course lots of paint! Welook forward to continuingwith the year 8’s and meetingthe year 7’s next year.Olympic Fact: There are 8000 holes punched in the Olympic torches, to represent the 8000torch bearersPage 4 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

Year 7 Art club: Hockney-inspired art work.Photograph: Mrs CohenFantasticCreativearts evening. This yearwe had the opportunity ofasking Cherwellians Oldand New and it was agreat turnout. Thank youespecially to everyonewho made that specialeffort to come backand show their work. Andfinally a big thank you to allthe teachers brave enoughto show all their amazinglycreative pieces of work.Excellent A As GCSE andBtec work both 2d and 3das usual and congratulationsto all you artists.Did you know? The numbers of foreign visitors expected are: 350,000 per day!!© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 5

Year 13 Product Design success.75% achieve A* in their courseworkLewis Whitehouse - BMXstyle bike trailerDid you know? Mario And Sonic At The London 2012 Olympics is the only game licensedPage 6 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

Ted Bennett -fully adjustablelaptop supportHarry Goode -storage unitDid you know? More than 8,250 London buses have been fitted with high-tech displays for theGames© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 7

The Alternative Curriculum Programme has continuedsuccessfully enriching the Education of the students who havebeen participating in Outdoor Education Activities at Path Hill,The Building Project, Bike Project and Carpentry.PATH HILL—The focusthis term for both Y8 and Y9has been ‘Water’. Studentshave investigated the ecologyof the river Thames andGreenmore Pond by collectinga range of animal speciesand testing the waterfor oxygen and PH levels.The students have gainedvaluable scientific researchskills and investigativeknowledge. Students havealso studied the cycle of ourdrinking water and how itreaches our taps. Otherhighlights of the term haveincluded the creation of animprovised water filter andan enjoyable day out fishing.Here the students learnt tocatch, kill, gut and cook fish,deepening their understandingof where their foodcomes from and valuablefood preparation skills.The Y8 and Y9 groups havebeen awarded a number ofAQA qualifications for theirhard work over the past fewterms. Both groups look forwardto gaining more in time.The Y8 group completed anovernight canoeing expeditionon the river Thames,with beautiful weather thegroup canoed 14 miles of theriver. The group successfullyworked well as a team andalso put into use all the skillsthey had gained over the lastyear.BIKES—The Y9 grouphave been continuing theirbike project. They havelooked further into dismantling,servicing and reassemblingdifferent parts of abike which have includedthe brakes, gears and rearmechanism. They have alsohad the opportunity to testtheir skills at bike polo.Did you know? Charities will be given the sports equipment used in the Games for freePage 8 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

CARPENTRY—The Y9group have been workingon independent projects.They have had to plan anddesign their own piece usingall the skills they havepreviously gained. Therehave been some exceptionalresults including coffeetables, chairs, treasureboxes, a rocking chair andpicture frames.The Y8 group have beenworking on creating 1:20scale model flats that theyhave designed during thebuilding project. Under thesupervision of Mr Lang thestudents have expandedtheir knowledge of measurement,design and construction.They have alsomade the furniture as wellas decorated the flats.PLANTER PROJECT—Since the last newsletter theY8 group have enthusiasticallycompleted the planterproject. The students havemade a planter, personalisingit by using stencils and colour.After completing the planterthe students took a trip toYarnton Nurseries and withgenerous funding from thePTA were able to purchaseplants resulting in some outstandingfloral arrangements.This project taught the studentsabout design processesand following constructionplans. The students havealso learnt how to planand budget.Olympic Fact: One of the London 2012 mascots is called Wenlock in recognition of the MuchWenlock Olympian Games© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 9

Cherwell hosted an EnterpriseDay with OxfordBusiness X to establish student-ledbusinesses with alink to the values of theOlympics. Oxford Business Xis a youth enterprisescheme, initially set up forschoolchildren in Oxfordshire.The charity is thebrainchild of Martin Chilcott,an Oxford based social andenvironmental entrepreneurwith a successful track record. Itprovides funding for them toset up their own companies,which are legally owned bytheir school, and then expectsthem to make a profitto put into the fund for othersto use. Martin spoke to thestudents along with membersof Band it an OBX companyselling Olympic wrist bands.Nine of our Year 11scompleted their two-yearday release courses atOCVC (Hospitality, Childcare, Motor Vehicle andConstruction), Bicester Campus (Motorsports) andOxford Spires (Business and Administration) andare on course to gain their vocational qualifications.This picture shows Cherwell student MaxNewsham-Ford who was named Level 1 Student ofThe Year in Hospitality.Did you know? The Games are projected to generate 12,000 new jobs in the Olympic ParkPage 10 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

Primary PhysicsAs part of our links with our feeder primary schools Mrs Gregory takesphysics lessons to primary classes. This year, 10 classes in fiveschools, from all the years in KS2 have been answeringimportant questions. How does lighttravel? Can we make a dance mat switch? Whatis a force? How well do solids and gases transmitsound?Lessons with Years 3 and 4 have been a newventure this year, finding out how we can useshadows to tell the time.A workshop has also been held for primary teachers to explore some of the conceptualdifficulties that students have with the ideas of forces and what they do. Mrs GregoryA Creepy-Crawley experienceThis year the Museum of Natural History, Oxford offered a sciencebased transition project: ‘Metamorphosis’, in conjunctionwith The Cherwell School and primary schools in The Cherwellpartnership. Metamorphosis was a skills-based project involvingpractical work and used the Museum’s world-class entomologycollection, a keen team of educators, curatorial staff and scientists.This project gave students a common experience beforestarting their first year at secondaryschool and went towards helping witha smooth transition.MissBlack,KS3 ScienceCoordinatorFace-to-face with a slow wormForensic Scientists of the FutureMiss Black and Miss Shakespeare have been out and about this term visitingthe year 6’s in our link primary schools. At each school a 2 hour session wasdelivered where students had to investigate evidence found at a fictional murderscene using scientific approaches. The students had a go at a range ofdifferent experiments to work out whodunit and created some extremely intricateexplanations based on their evidence! Miss ShakespeareOlympic Fact: When London hosts the Olympic Games in 2012 they will become the first city toofficially stage the event for the third time© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 11

CSI Investigates.................... The Cherwell School!In May 2012 Year 8 took part in the exciting and interactive forensic workshop “A Case of Conspiracy”.They expertly used observation and deductive reasoning combined with the science that they are learningin the laboratory to solve a fictitious crime.Taking a journey into the world of the Forensic Scientists they discovered how forensic evidence is gathered,how it is analysed and how the results of these analyses are compiled to provide a detailed pictureof the events leading up to the crime and of the criminal.As evidence was received, theories were developed, tested and rejected or accepted as the informationbecame clearer, to eventually determine each characters role in thecrime.They learnt that, as a result of the work carried out by Forensic Scientists,suspects can be eliminated or the case against themstrengthened. In court, it is often the forensicevidence that results in the conviction of acriminal and as a result forensic science isalways at the cutting edge of science, however,it is still based on simple techniques and principles that are learned in theschool laboratory.This was a fantastic experience for students and staff involved and the Year 8’swere impressive in how they conducted themselves throughout the sessions andthe discoveries they independently made.Miss Black, KS3 Science CoordinatorRobot ClubRobot Club has been another new venture this year, after wereceived a very generous donation of LEGO Mindstorms kitsfrom Wolvercote Primary school. We have added this to existingkits, to give us enough for eight groups of enthusiasticrobotiers to use their imaginations to the full. By popular demandRobot Wars will occur in a grand Summer finale.Mrs GregoryThe most amazing Lego kit EVER!!Cherwell students demonstrating their engineeringskills with a self-built solar-powered vehicleOlympic Fact: One of the Mascots being used for the 2012 London Games has been namedMandeville in recognition of the Stoke Mandeville games for the disabled.Page 12 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

Science Club explores life in a bubbleHow do our bodies work? How much DNA is in an onion? What makes a really good paper aeroplane?Why are bubbles round? These are just a small selection of exciting experiments and investigations carriedout by Cherwell’s Year 7 and 8 students. Here is what they have to say about Science Club:I like looking down the microscopes.Everything looks amazingdown there!I loved dissecting the fishhead the most. It was reallysmelly but I found the brainand got the lens out of theeye.I like burning thingsand watching whathappens.The giant bubbles werecool!Our Science Club bubble scientists braved the elementsto investigate how to make the biggest bubble.As you can see the results are pretty impressive!Miss Green, Science Club LeaderMiss Green: What was it like to beinside the giant bubble?Year 7 scientist: Everything lookedlike normal, just a bit coloured.Did you know? Approximately 260,000 loaves of bread are expected to be consumed at theLondon 2012 Olympic Games© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 13

Eggs-citing Chicken Hatching ProjectThe Cherwell School welcomed the arrival of 10 ‘living’ chicken eggs in June. A specialised team of Year7’s and 8’s watched as 9 of the eggs hatched out into adorable cheeping balls of fluff; 4 males and 4 females,who this year were named after Greek Gods and Goddesses. The chicken hatching project givesall students the experience of looking after an animal and to see how quickly they develop—not just physically,but in their behaviour too.To this.......From this..........To this!During their2 week stayat Cherwell,the chicksalso went ona visit to seesome humanbabiesat The OxfordNursery, adjacent to the s c h o o l ,where toddlers could have their first experiences of stroking an animal.We are pleased to announce that our female chicks (Medusa, Aphrodite, Persephone and Athena) arenow living happily at home with 2 of our Year 7 students where they will produce lots of delicious eggs!Miss Green, Science Club LeaderUp-and-coming Summer Science events—JulyYear 6 Science & Health Days— a taste of secondary school science for next year’sYear 7s; July 12th & 13thYear 9 Explorer Dome—a chance for them to experience life in a rainforest! July 3rd& 4thYear 10 Girls Oxford University ‘Dragonfly Day’ - Physics event ; July 6thYear 12 Girls Oxford University Physics Degree taster day—July 6thYear 12 Physicists Farnborough International Air Show Futures Day—July 13thWith thanks to The Cherwell School Science department for helping run these events which inspire our students; inparticular the Science enrichment team: Dr Riddell, Mrs Gregory, Mrs Burdett & Miss Green.Did you know? 2000 newts will be relocated from the Olympic Park to the Waterworks NatureReservePage 14 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

The Arts Evening, held on 6th July 2012, was a memorableoccasion comprising of art work from the upper school and musiciansfrom across the school. The evening started with stringorchestra, (repertoire included St Paul Suite by Holst, SentimentalSarabande by Britten and a string arrangement of the popularsong Viva la Vida). This was then followed by many fantasticsolos and duets including two year 10 jazz bands; this displayedthe wealth of talent from across the school. We were also fortunateto welcome back some previous talented Cherwellians inboth the Art and Music departments who performed .Another attraction of course was the art work itself. This includedGCSE and A-Level Art, Photographyand Media work. There was a wide variety ofwork on show from sculptures to videos. Thework displayed was at an extremely highstandard, and some were very thought provoking.Well done and thank you to everyone whoparticipated and contributed to the fantasticevening!FrancescaI Ingall and Anna Czepiel Year 12As many of you will know, theCherwell school gospel choir will begoing on tour to Barcelona on the18 th July. On the 11 th July we performedseveral of our best songs atthe school’s mid-summer concert.Earlier that day a professional recorderfrom the BBC came to recordthese songs. They will be put into aCD which will be out by Christmas.A professional photographer wasalso there to take photos of thechoir. We sung for two hours with ashort break, so by the end of thesession we were all exhausted!However,every member of thechoir had enjoyed themselves andsaid it was a great experience. Itwas very exciting yet slightly nervewrackingto be recorded professionally.Later that day, we performedsongs at the concert that rangedfrom well-known gospel songs toversions of pop songs. We also performeda traditional South Africansong and one in Irish Gaelic. One ofthe songs was even accompaniedby ukuleles played by members ofthe choir, which was great fun! Wereally enjoyed the concert, and itwas good practice for Barcelona.We are all looking forward to theCD coming out and can’t wait forour tour next week!Last week Cherwell hosted ‘Themid-summer music evening’ whichwas very well attended by family andfriends. The first half featured: the welllovedConcert Band, the cool, newSwing band, two outstanding quartets,and some brave emerging soloistswho wowed the audience. The secondhalf was taken up entirely by the internationallyrenowned Gospel choir whosang some of their new repertoire, aswell as old favourites. The concert alsoserved as a warm up gig ahead oftheir tour this week to Spain. Manythanks to all the teachers involved inputting on such a great night!Naomi Getzler- 9KDDid you know? Blind Paralympic swimmers are required to wear blackened goggles to ensurea fair contest. Their goggles are removed at the end of the race and checked by an official© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 15

Some of The Cherwell’swordsmiths were on fineform at the annual literarycompetition ‘A Question ofWords’. Following a seriesof word-based challengeswithin schools, studentsfrom across Oxford werechosen to write and performtheir own pieces at theNorth Wall Arts Centre inJune. All our teams werebrilliant, but particular mentionmust go to the Year 8team – Hannah McNally, IndiaMarsden and TheodoraLonsdale – who won firstprize for two outstanding poems.Year 12 Cherwell studentshave been shortlistedfor a prestigious national poetrycompetition spearheadedby Poet Laureate Carol AnnDuffy. ‘Anthologise’ waslaunched by HRH The Duchessof Cornwall in September2011and invited school studentsaged 11-18 to createtheir own anthologies of poetry.The judges comprised CarolAnn Duffy; National Poet forWales, Gillian Clarke; poetJohn Agard; poet Grace Nichols;and Cambridge Professorof Children’s Poetry, MoragStyles. Carol Ann Duffy comments,“The judges were unanimousin their admiration – the bestanthologies show that theculture of the school, communityand family allow the pupilsto see their own lives insidetheir chosen poems andtheir own experience spokenin the words of great poetry.”It is a testament to our studentsthat two Cherwellgroups part of a final shortlistof seven entries.The winning school, whoseanthology will be publishedby Picador in 2013, will beannounced on 31 July. Fulldetails of participants and resultswill be given in the nextnewsletter.Jeremy Kennard (Sci),Hannah Swaffield (Sci),Rebecca Herbert(Maths), Nick Jamieson(Maths), Rosemary Woodbury (Maths), Benjamin Savours(Maths), Jon Lawes (RSPSHCE), Rae Hancock (RSPSHCE),Paul Battye (Business Development Manager), Anna Bryant(TA), Phillipa Smith (TA), Rachel Wallace (Eng), Helen Jackman(Eng), Eric Strickland (Eng), Simon Parker (ADTE),Simeon Beardall-Richards (ADTE), Shey Vincenzie (ADTE),Stephen Nicholls (ADTE), Defne Boya (Span), Rachel Ott(Sci), Simon Davies (His), Chloe Tiley (PE), Melanie Monks(PE), Kay Webb (School Administration and HR manager)Lindsey Alexander(Geog, Maternity)Kirsty Davies (Sci,Maternity), JebalinAnand (Technician, Maternity), Antonio Rego, Laura MayTiling, Jack Adams (TAs), Jake Cooper, Roseanne Young(Apprentices), Patricia England (HT PA), Monika Proklesova(Technician), Dorothy Smith (Support Services Manager),Mary Glynn (GTP – Eng), Corinne Vernan (MFL),Tom Anderson (PArts), Nick Lowson (ADTE), StephanieMurrell (ADTE), James Gurung (Maths), Christine Leigh(Maths), Gillian Stubbings (Eng), Rob Simpson (MFL),Rheanna Hesp (PE), Adam Walton (RSPSHCE), LindsayJenkins (Eng), Tim Selwood (RSPSHCE), MarcellaMcCarthy (Eng)Tim SelwoodDorothy SmithWith a particular mention to Tim Selwood (at The Cherwellsince 2003, but teaching in Oxfordshire Schools for 37years), and Dorothy Smith (at The Cherwell since 2003,having been at Marston Middle school, a Cherwell predecessorschool, since 1989 and working in schools since1977).Did you know? The design of the Olympic logo costs £400,000Page 16 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

July 18 th was our fourth Activity Day and students participated in a range of trips and activities.As always the day was a huge success full of wonderful opportunities for students and staffto work together in a completely different environment. As well as being tremendous fun, thisday always serves to strengthen relationships, and build confidence - and has also inspiredsome to take up a new hobby.Arranging activities for 1300 students is a mammoth task and thanks must go to Marion Routhfor her months of planning as well as to the colleagues who created, ran and supported suchunique and imaginative events.Thanks everyone!!Olympic Fact: The Olympic flame was lit at Olympia using the sun and a curved mirror© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 17

Did you Know? The Paralympics originated from the Stoke Mandeville Games, held torehabilitate injured soldiers after World War IIPage 18 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

Olympic Fact: The Olympic motto is Citius, altius, fortius – Latin for Faster, higher, stronger© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 19

Olympic Fact: The Torch Relay song has been recorded by rapper Tinchy StryderPage 20 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

Ianto Cannon, Peter Pedersen and Mizu Nishakawa-toomey,achieved a Silver Crest Award with their project on the optimumrunning speed of motorsFour Students, Isabelle Naylor, Claire Baker,Sarah Pang and Lily Watson, presented their projecton Laser Mode Hopping to achieve their GoldCrest Award.Olympic Fact: The beach volleyball venue will be checked with three metal detectors© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 21

Six students were involvedin the British CyclingHalfords Road raceat St Giles in Oxford last May.The students had a chance to race onthe circuit before the Varsity race andthe professional races afterwards.Well done to Oliver Stone from 8RWwho won the Cherwell race and came4th overall. Cherwell Cycling Club inpartnership with Zappi’s is hosting GoRide races on 16 July at 5.30pm and onSunday 16 th September at 10am; formore information go to the British Cyclingevents page.Many congratulations to Phoenix Sremcevic,Year 7, who was awarded third prize in theUniversity of Oxford Astrophysics Departmentcompetition for KS3 students with his essay on’The Last Transit of Venus’. Phoenix was presentedwith his prize by Professor Roger Davies,Head of Astrophysics at Oxford University. Welldone, Phoenix!!!!!Olympic Fact: The Velodrome ‘Cable – net’ roof is made from 17 km of steel cables. That’sover 10 miles of steel cable, twice the height of Mount EverestPage 22 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

The Team of Young Journalists………..At the end of May we were approachedby the Children’s RadioFoundation with the offer of givingthree Yr12 students the opportunity tobe radio journalists covering a conferencecalled “20//20 Education” whichfocused on how the youth of the UKwere tackling both local and internationalproblems.The three students were EdithBannister (12SC), Sam Lockwood(12EC), and, Rosie Parry (12FJ) allof whom were nominated by theEnglish & Media Faculty. The threestudents worked alongside 3 studentsfrom Magdalen CollegeSchool.The 3 day project consisted of oneday of training in radio journalism;one day of covering the conferenceand interviewing delegates; and oneday on the production of their radiopiece that was subsequently broadcaston 1/6/12 on BBC Radio Oxford.The article can be accessed via theBBC iPlayer. They even got to workwith the former BBC JournalistRageh Omar.All three students thoroughly enjoyedthe conference and gained a greatdeal of experience and insight onhow to be a radio journalist.Rosie said “Having never consideredradio journalism working with CRF hasactually inspired me to continue in thefield. I really enjoyed the experience andI am hoping to get further work experiencewith BBC Radio Oxford and BillHeine over the summer.”Edith said “It was a great opportunityto look at a work with a different mediaas at school we focus mainly onFilm, TV and print. It was also fun tobe interviewed for the most popularradio programme in Zimbabwe”Sam said "The three day course wasa fantastic experience where I met alot of great people and learned somerelevant skills in approaching Radiojournalismfrom both a technical andanalytical perspective.Even more surprisingly, I came out ofthe training having felt like a true professionaland fully confident in myown abilities."Sam on the laptopEdith at the conferencethe final piece for broadcastwith the MCS studentsDid you know?: The International Broadcast Centre will be a 24 hour media hub for around 20,000 broadcasters,photographers and journalists who will bring the Games to an estimated four billion people worldwide© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 23

First flowers of a new project—Cherwell Earth have beenbusy preparing and seeding two test beds, one on North Sitethe other on South Site, in order to raise nectar rich plants.The small test beds have been sown in order to try and providefood supplies for pollinating insects that have sufferedserious population declines over recent years. CherwellEarth hopes to learnhow the experimentmight be extendedacross other areas ofthe school next year ina way that can be sustainablymaintained byground staff as an alternativeto areas of closecut grass that providelittle nourishment forhungry insects.The team has finished astrong year by yet again reachingthe finals of the Skills Factor2012, run by the Young Chamberorganisation, encouragingyoung people with enterpriseskills. This year the event washeld at Wembley Stadium. Wehave yet to crack winning one ofthe top prizes but there is alwaysnext year. The team had a fantasticday, competing and listeningto two inspirational and entertainingguest speakers –Steve Backshall and TimMinchin. We also took the opportunityto network with otherbusiness people attending.The team are currently workingon a major project – to producea CD containing music from twoof our link schools. We have ondisc the Gcato choir singing severalgospel songs, recorded byour BEFSA links, Keith and CathBorien. The Cherwell choirs andensembles will have been recordedby the end of term andthis is kindly being sponsored bya friend of the Chicken Project,Tim Stevenson, the Lord Lieu-Olympic Fact: The water from the swimming pools will be re-used to flush the toilets at thevenuePage 24 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

tenant of Oxfordshire . OurMichigan link school are sendingus a selection of interestingpieces including one beingsung in Cherokee – a truly internationalproject.Our schools in the EasternCape are working hard to maketheir projects work. Gcato stillhave their egg-laying chickens.Umzomomhle have nowmoved on to Phase 2 of theoriginal project aims, they havepurchased 100 chicks to bringup as meat birds, providing anothersource of food in their localarea, whilst being a learningexperience for their studentsand potentially making a profitto plough into other school projects.In the next few monthsthey should receive both a cameraand an incubator so theycan hatch their own eggs –phase 3 of the project. All this ismade possible by the continuedsupport of Cherwell students/parents/friends.In the Cameroon – the original10 households who were givenchicks and feed are all beingvery successful. Potentially thisis the village where phase 4 ofthe project ideas – having achicken business employing localpeople being run for thebenefit of the local area, justmight happen.In the Autumn term, the currentteam will be looking to recruitnew members from KS4/5 with arange of skills.During the weekend 6 thJuly to 8 th July 2012 somestudents in the CherwellSchool were selected to goon a reward trip to the KilvroughManor in Wales.On the Friday, at 10 am, weset off by a Double Deckerbus. There were about 40 ofus. (Including staff) The journeytook roughly 3 hours, buton the way, we stopped at anoutlet (mini-Bicester Villagecopy) for lunch for an hour.There, we were allowed tobuy anything we wanted to!Once we arrived in Wales, wewent straight to the beachnext to Kilvrough Manor. Althoughthe weather was appalling,everybody just got onwith it, making the time muchmore enjoyable!For the next two days, we diddifferent activities for differentgroups, as one of Group A,we did outdoor rock climbingand abseiling for Saturday,and went on to kayaking onSunday, (this was meant toMr Yeates drowned me andMatin while kayaking morethan once!) all in all it was extremelyenjoyable!This was a great opportunityfor people to bond with eachother, and to take the chanceto try new things that we hadnever done before. I think thatthe year 8s, (who will be yearbe surf, but because of thelack of waves, we changed tokayaking which was amazing),and the other group,surfing, then rock climbing/abseiling.The activities were very funand exciting, at the sametime as being challenging.We had a really good time,and the teachers joined in aswell, (although Mr Jarvis and9 next year) should take thisopportunity to go out and usethe chance to improve theirexperiences for future , becausewe are part of theschool that offers us amazingopportunities. ☺I recommend this great trip foreveryone at Cherwell if theyare lucky enough to get invited!Did you know? The Olympics site will have 525 bird boxes and 150 bat boxes© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 25

Miss Murrell looks on as Mr Hield discovertechnology for the first time!Soaked but happyYear 8’s and 9’s above Three CliffsRock Climbing TeamSea Kayaking TeamKilvrough 2012 team just about to departback to OxfordOlympic Fact: The gold medal is made mostly of silver, with just 6g of goldPage 26 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

It is with amazement that I sit here writing the last Year 7 newsletter of the year and realise that it onlyfeels like yesterday that I was planning Year 6 Transfer Day. This year has flown by, and Year 7 is nowwell and truly settled into school life here at Cherwell.This term has been very busy. We have ‘Zumba-d’, made cakes, counted sweets, and looked afterchickens all in the name of charity. Year 7 have been excellent at thinking of the needs of others andhave demonstrated great maturity and empathy. I hope that we can build on this success next year andsupport our link school in Gcato with more fundraising activities.We have also had many other opportunities too and it has been good to see so many contributing to thewider school life of the school; being ambassadors, members of school council, taking part in varioussporting events, including sports day, Olympic Enterprise and Activities Day to name just a few. We arevery lucky to have such diverse opportunities offered here at Cherwell and I would encourage all of ourstudents to participate in the opportunities that they are presented with next year.We need to say a massive thank you and farewell to Miss Styles who will be working as Deputy YearLeader with the New Year 7s next September, and welcome to Mrs Goble who will be our new DeputyYear Leader forthwith.It has been an absolute pleasure to be their Year Leader this year; they are proving to be a stunningyear group and should be very proud of their achievements thus far. Have a fantastic summer breakand we look forward to seeing you all back and raring to go in September.Mrs Archer, Mrs McCann and Miss Styles–Year 7 Year LeadersAs you will know, a big Year 8 focus has been on raising money for a charity in Goa, India which runsan orphanage and school to try to give children a start in life. In late June we had a whole Year Groupdressing up day. A large majority of the Year 8 joined in the ‘fun’ and paid for the privilege. We raised agood amount of money. What was really special was that all of our Year 8 tutors joined in and also gotdressed up. This is typical of thededication, caring attitude and supportof the Year 8 team and goes along way to demonstrate that yourchildren are in good hands.Year 8 is excellent cohort who, onthe whole, is fully engaged in the lifeof the school. The amount of rewardsfor excellent work in lessonsis amazing and the support for extracurricularactivities from the gospelchoir to art clubs to sports clubsis fantastic.As always, the support the studentsreceive from their tutors and MrsKnight is excellent and so a bigthanks to them. Enjoy the summer.Mr Hield, Mrs Knight–Year 8Year Leaders© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 27

I’m absolutely delighted with year 9 in the latter part of this year as they have shown maturity, perseveranceand determination in the challenges they’ve faced over this busy period. It has been such a busytwo terms for students with core examinations, options selections and transfer day, all preparing themfor key stage 4 life.We have had so many students in our year group achieve excellent results in their examinations. I wasvery pleased with the attitude and focus of the year group as well as their approach, for many studentsit has certainly paid off.For many weeks students were presented with various options choices and had to make some very difficultdecisions. I believe that the majority of students made accurate decisions on their options and Iwish them all the best with their choices.Transfer day was extremely successful with lots of students having an insight into Key Stage 4 life. Studentsthroughout the day became more familiar with their new surroundings, building their confidence inpreparation for next year.In addition to this busy period, 37 students were rewarded for their outstanding effort towards school,with a trip to Kilvrough outdoor activities centre. This trip was an amazing experience for all and I amvery proud of all thestudents for their utmostrespect, etiquetteand working ethosthroughout the trip.“Overall everyone fromCherwell really enjoyedtheir trip and allwould love to take thisopportunity to thankeveryone immenselyfor all the time and effortthat was put intoevery aspect of thetrip” - Cherwell year 9students.Mr J Jarvis and MsF Boland–Year 9Year LeadersWe have a huge amount of admiration for the year group on what has been a truly exhausting year ofexams and controlled assessments. They have responded in a fantastic fashion, challenging and pushingthemselves right through to the end of term. I believe that their experiences this year will stand themin great stead ready for a hugely impressive Year 11.There have been many individual and collective achievements; far too many to mention but I will attemptto list a few that spring to my mind.Within the sporting world we are pleased to celebrate:The Year 10 Basketball team winning our first ever National Schools Title.The year 10 Tennis team made up of Rosie Bradbury, Siofra Gillespie-Petersen, Joseph Clayton andJonah Stott performing superbly well to win the City Tennis Tournament and coming a very closesecond in the county Tournament.The Year 10 Tag Rugby Team achieving a gold medal winning performance in the recent CountySchool Games. We have also had some fantastic athletic performances across City and CountyCompetitions, Amy Busby being the pick of performers.Page 28 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

Year 10’s have gone above and beyond in order to support the music department in preparing for concerts.A special mention for Jake Halsey Jones, Lucy Britton, Miles Phelan and Bob Waters for theircontributions to recent concerts.The Year 10 Duke of Edinburgh groupwill have received their Bronze Awardat a presentation Evening at the end ofterm and should be commended ontheir expedition skills and communityservice towards the local community.I have really enjoyed getting to know theyear group and continue to look forward tothem growing up into fantastic young menand women and being ultimately highly successfulat the end of next year.A really pleasing year!Well done!Neil Busby and Jacqui Wells–Year 10Year LeadersIt was with great sadness that we waved goodbye to year 11as they completed their final exams. They have worked sohard this year, and were often to be found revising in odd cornersof the school during lunch breaks in recent months. Theyhave gained a well-deserved reputation for being a stunningyear group, and this was highlighted again and again duringour celebrationstomark theend of theircompulsoryschooling.The leavers’ assembly at the end of term 5 was awonderful celebration, reminding us of the qualitiesthat have characterised the group – their acceptanceand enjoyment of each other, their unique and quirkypersonalities, and their achievements both academicand extra-curricular. Their conduct during the examswas exemplary, and gained them positive feedbackfromallinvolved – and I am sure that their GCSE results in Augustwill reflect all the hard work they put in. The Promwas a spectacular event, a great celebration of theirtime at Cherwell and a chance to relax and enjoy eachothers’ company for the last time. I would like to thankonce again all the students who showed leadership inthe year group in different ways; they put so much energyand effort into fundraising, the Yearbook, Promand representing their peers. We wish all of year 11every success for the future!Martha Hawes and Coralie Goble–Year 11 Year Leaders© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 29

Year 12—Year 12 have returned after their exams, and Term 6 has been very busy for them as they prepare fornext year and life after Cherwell.The first week of term was spent on work experience. The feedback is still coming in but what we have seen so farindicates that most of the year had a very positive experience and did themselves credit at their placement.There have been two main opportunities for the year group to demonstrate their commitment to things beyond theclassroom. The peer support programme has continued for another year and there were enough volunteers toensure that the programme will get off to a good start on Transfer Day for the new Year 6. The extended projectqualification has proved to be very popular, with a record 50+ students starting their research now and continuingover the summer. Some of the topics chosen for study show a really good level of interest in things beyond thesyllabus, which is very encouraging.Finally, the higher education programme is in full swing. The first event was the Oxbridge afternoon in June,where students listened to the experiences of three of their teachers, followed by a presentation from staff from theadmissions offices at Trinity College, Oxford and Peterhouse, Cambridge, our link colleges. The programme continueson Friday mornings with sessions on choosing courses and universities, writing personal statements andfilling in the UCAS form. We have also organised two open day visits, with 31 students braving the rain at the Birminghamuniversity open day and 23 students spending a day in sunny Cambridge.We are looking to celebrating their success with good exam results on 16 th August.Year 13—The focus of the year group since Easter has clearly been on preparation for their A2 examinations. Weare proud to say they did themselves justice and they all responded to the challenge with dedication and focus. Wereally hope the outcomes are all that the students need and deserve following two years of dedicated hard work.Our fingers are firmly crossed for Results Day on 16 th August and we look forward to celebrating the students’achievements.We also spent time celebrating with Year 13 as they came to the end of their time at the Cherwell School. The firstopportunity was 11th May when Year 13 had their Leavers’ Ball at the Randolph Hotel. It was a truly grand affairand a wonderful venue. A good timewas had by all and a huge thank youmust go to Ms Bragg and the BallCommittee for organising such afabulous event. The photo booth waspacked all night and everyoneseemed to dance their socks off. Thefood was also well received as wellas the endless supply of iced water!Photo’s below – The Photo Boothand on the Dance floorThe other celebratory event wasthe Leavers’ Assembly that tookplace on 1 st June. This was theYear 13’s last day of school beforetheir study leave began. It was atrue celebration of the last twoyears and everyone was invited tocome in fancy dress with thetheme of fictional characters fromTV, films or books. It was a memorableway to say goodbye withsome very interesting costume. Mostdisturbing was David Taylor and AndrewBarker dressed in drag; however, TheTitanic outfit by Ellie Shorrock was awork of genius.Clark Lawfull–Head of SixthFormPage 30 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School

The Oxfordshire Schools events was heldon Thursday 5 th July at Iffley Rd. TheCherwell School qualified by winning theOxfordshire City level 2 sport events in arange of sports including tennis, athletics,touch rugby, squash, swimming, roundersand softball. The students had a fantasticday and we were very successful in allthe events we competed in. Congratulationsto all the students/teams that competedon the day.The results were:Year 7/8 Girls Rounders 3 rdYear 7/8 Boys Softball: 4 thYear 7 Girls Athletics: 2 ndYear 7 Boys Athletics: 2 ndSquash:7 thYear 7 Swimming: Oxfordshire SchoolGames ChampionsYear 8/9 Swimming: Oxfordshire SchoolGames ChampionsYear 10 Swimming: 2 ndYear 10 Mixed Tennis: 2 ndYear 9/10 Mixed Rugby: OxfordshireSchool Games ChampionsYear 7 AthletesYear 7’s George Hext finishing his RaceCherwell Swimming Champions with their City Schools Team matesMr Maudsley instructing the CherwellMassiveDid you know?: In football only three pro players aged over 23 are allowed per team© The Cherwell School Summer Newsletter, July 2012 Page 31

The Cherwell School Sports Awards Evening was held on Wednesday 4thJuly 2012 at Roman Way Sports Club and Complex. The night was wellattended by parents and students and we would like to congratulate allstudents on the successful year in sport we have had. The following studentswere awarded sportman/sportswoman for their respective years.Year 7 Sportswoman of the Year:Year 7 Sportsman of the Year:Year 8 Sportswoman of the Year:Year 8 Sportsman of the Year:Year 9 Sportswoman of the Year:Year 9 Sportsman of the Year:Year 10 Sportswoman of the Year:Year 10 Sportsman of the Year:Year 11 Sportswoman of the Year:Year 11 Sportsman of the Year:Flora KemptonGeorge HextMiriam PritchardCanice CarrollJess WrightJordi MulvanyAlice FinchAJ GeorgeMegan Gold BlythChristian LawrenceYear 8’s Miriam Pritchard with herSportswoman of the Year TrophyCherwell Girl’s Basketball TeamStudents sat waiting for their awards atthe 2012 Cherwell School Sports AwardsBritain's strongest man, Ben Kelsey demonstratinghis strength in the intervalUnder 13s Girls Rugby Team,Captained by Elizabeth DoreyOn Saturday 28th April, theYear 8 girls represented theschool and the region in aNational Tag Rugby ShowcaseEvent at TwickenhamStadium. In order to qualifyfor such an event theteam had to win the city,county and regional tournaments.The girls had the opportunityto play at half timeof the Army Vs Navy Matchin front of 67 000 people atTwickenham Stadium. Thegirls had a really enjoyableday and I am sure it is somethingthey will never forget.The U15 Boys conference finals saw The Cherwell School from Oxforddefeat Danum Academy from Doncaster 59-57 in the closest and tensestfinal of the last two weekends. The game looked to be headed intoovertime until Calvin Tse from The Cherwell School scored a basket in the final seconds. Adriel George fromThe Cherwell School was named as the MVP for his contribution of 18 points and his end to end efforts inensuring his school took their first championship.Team from:- Idris Ahmed, Max Alinat-Thomas, Canice Carroll, Adriel George, Jasper Mendiola, Daniel Novakovic,Isaac Perry (C), Donald Proko, Peter Soukup, Calvin Tse, Raheem Williams.Page 32 Summer Newsletter, July 2012 © The Cherwell School