The Cannon - February 2013 - Fort Pitt Grammar School

THE CANNONFEBRUARY 2013Dear Parents and CarersThere was snow last weekend butfortunately it did not stay around longenough to disrupt travel or render theschool grounds unsafe. This, of course,had not been the case earlier thisterm; nevertheless our ‘bad weatherpyramids’ and notices on the school andlocal radio websites were effective incommunicating our forced closure.completed the parental questionnairewhich was circulated towards the endof last term? The responses have beenanalysed by the survey company andwere returned to me last week. Yourviews will be scrutinised closely by theSenior Leadership Team, shared withcolleagues, both teaching and nonteaching,and incorporated into futureimprovement plans.The decision not to open the school isnot made lightly; it is a decision that ismade with the safety of students andstaff paramount. Fort Pitt occupies anenvious location – on top of a hill withpanoramic views – but the school’slocation can be unsafe following coldtemperatures and heavy snow. Fort PittHill and our extensive, sloping car parkcan prove treacherous and, althoughour site staff are on-site by 5.30 a.m.,they can make relatively little impacton the car park and the many pathsaround the site by the time staff,students and parents normally arrive.Hopefully, we have seen the last of thewinter weather but should the snowreturn, may I ask that our website isyour first port of call when checkingthat the school is open. A notice on thewebsite and the ‘bad weather pyramid’will be generated as soon as thedecision to close has been made. With‘Sharepoint’ (our V.L.E.) students shouldbe able to access work from home so, ifthere are ‘snow days’ in the future (andI sincerely hope there are not), pleasedo not let your daughter tell you shehas nothing to do!May I thank those of you whoThe views of students are also beingsought: representative student groupsare looking at effective lessons andeffective learning at Fort Pitt. Wehave not been short of volunteers fromour School Council whose ideas oneffective lessons and learning will beshared with teachers as part of thefocus on outstanding learning andteaching. The outcomes of these ideaswill appear in next year’s StudentPlanners and be shared with the widerschool community.In recent months the school websitehas been undergoing a ‘facelift’. I havesuggested that our new Advisory Board(Governing Body) introduces an‘Advisory Board’ section so that thereis a link for parents. In the meantimewe would welcome any suggestions youmight have concerning the look andcontent of the new website.Finally, I’d like to congratulate lastyear’s Year 13 and Year 11 studentswhose examination results ensured thatFort Pitt continued to be one of the top-performing schools in Medway andKent at ‘A’ level and GCSE. Thoseresults, which enabled individuals tomove to their chosen ‘next stage’ wereonly possible with the support of bothhome and school. Thank you forcontinuing to work with us; thepartnership is very important.Carol WinnF O R T PITT GRAM M A R S C H O OLS CIE N CE & M A THE M ATICS CO LLE GEF O R T PITT HILL , C H A T H AMKE N TM E 4 6 TJTE L: 0 1 6 34 84 2 35 9 F A X : 0 1 63 4 81 7 38 6H TTP//:WWW .F O R TPITT .M E D WAY .S C H .U K

THE CANNONPage 3SWIMMINGOXFORD UNIVERSITY ENGLISH VISITOn Saturday 2 nd February, three year 11 students:Lauren Parmenter, Rebecca Tutt and Doyin Yahi, werelucky enough to visit Oxford University for the day. Theywere selected for the day due to their excellent GCSEresults and promising potential in their A level studies.Fort Pitt students took part in the Kent Secondaryswimming competition at Medway Park on Sat 19 thJanuary. Lauren Braddon (Yr 7) came third overallin the 100m Backstroke, competing against girls inyear 9 and the Individual medley team got into thefinals eventually finishing 6 th , gaining them their firstmedal as a team. The squad included DaisyStewart, Paige Thomas, Darcey Barham andLauren Braddon.TRIATHLONDarcey Barham came 4thin the National TriathlonChampionships on 16thNovember 2012The day began with a lecture entitled “Studying Englishat Oxford” where many of the myths were dispelledregarding Oxford admissions - they were not sointerested in what students knew, more their potential tolearn new things. After a fascinating lecture entitled“What is reading?” the girls were shown around theuniversity campus and the famous college system wasexplained. They had the opportunity to ask currentstudents what it is like to study at Oxford. Finally, theywitnessed a “mock interview” where a student wasinterviewed on stage, emphasising again how focussedthey were on finding students with potential to learn, notstudents who “knew it all” already!The Oxford Prospectus bears the slogan: “anything ispossible” and we certainly were given that impression bythem on the day.Rebecca Tutt found the trip really useful: “The tripto Oxford University was beautiful and insightful. The dayreally opened my eyes to what I could be studying atuniversity and in such a stunning city. I really enjoyed thelecture on ‘What is reading?’ followed by a tour aroundthe university’s vast campus. Everybody there was verynice and welcoming, making the day informative yetinteresting. Thank you to Mrs Page who kindly took us.”Lauren, Doyin and RebeccaTHE SSG INDOOR ATHLETICS COMPETITIONFort Pitt’s indoor athletic team travelled toGreenacre Academy for the Secondary SchoolsGames Indoor Athletic competition. We competedagainst seven other girls’ schools across Medway.Our team included four year 7s; Roli Enonuya,Holly McGowan, Kasey Clarke and EleanorHamblin and four year 8s; Morgan Smith, NadiaLee, Rhea Callaghan and Elise Sparks.There were a number of field and track events thatwere shared between us all. We all competed to thebest of our ability.In the final results Fort Pitt Grammar School camefirst. Well done to everyone who competed.Morgan Smith year 8.

THE CANNONPage 4SOUTHERN WATER REPORTWritten and compiled with contributions fromall members of 10Y Fine ArtOn Monday 10 th of December last year, theApplied Science class went to visit a SouthernWater treatment site in Burham. This was tohelp our coursework as we had to write areport about a local business that usedscience. To begin with, most of the class werenot too excited about the visit, but that soonchanged when we arrived. It was great; we gotto wear high visibility jackets and hard hats forhealth and safety. We were taken on a tour ofthe site and saw where the water treatmentprocesses took place- some of the places wevisited were definitely not suitable for peoplewith a fear of heights! I personally found thetrip very interesting and learnt a lot ofinteresting facts about water treatment, forexample over 40 million litres of water isprocessed at the site we went to each day! Weall found this trip very beneficial and woulddefinitely recommend visiting places similar tothis in the future.Claire Cooper Year 11YEAR 10 FINE ART GCSE TRIPTO KEW GARDENSJust before Christmas, on 13 th December our FineArt Class took the train to London to visit KewGardens. The cold weather left frost on the leaves,grass and tree branches making it look like a scenefrom Narnia. It was so cold that the lake had frozenover and the seagulls were standing on the ice,which was quite surreal!Our day was an enjoyable one, wediscovered many different types of plants and evensome fruit. We also saw the work of BritishSculptor David Nash in the gardens and amongstthe plants in the greenhouses. There were lots ofopportunities for photos and drawing, combiningthe plants, sculptures and greenhouse buildings,which helped us with our ideas for our unit themeof ‘Structures,’ From lying on the floor I discoveredthat you could get interesting shots of theunderside of plants against the roof of the greenhouse.The tree walk was high and scary,especially when the grid floor moved under yourfeet! But I conquered my fears, and was able tosee the gardens from a birds eye view. Overall itwas a really good day which benefitted the wholeclass, giving us lots of inspiration and ideas for ourfinal piece.

THE CANNONPage 6FORT PITT GRAMMAR SCHOOLYEAR 7 VISIT TO THE BRITISH MUSEUMOn Tuesday 5 th Jan 2013 thewhole of Year 7 visited the BritishMuseum in London. We alltravelled together on two coachesaccompanied by all the Art andDesign staff, Mr Courtness andMrs Ling as well as a very cheerfulcoach driver who was a big fan ofHeart FM!It was an exciting, and forsome a new experience, whichwas fun as well as educational as it taught us newthings about Africa and its culture, to support andgive us ideas for our work at school.Throughout the day wecompleted a booklet of manyactivities in response to theartefacts, textiles andsculptures we saw. Throughdrawing and writing about whatwe saw we learned lots of newthings and it certainly made uslook at Africa and its culture ina new light! The visit hasdefinitely benefitted Year 7students in improving ourknowledge and understandingof different cultures.Here are some thoughts fromothers about the day:“What I liked most was seeing all thedifferent sculptures, masks and patternsand learning new things.”“I enjoyed eating lunch in the undergroundlunch room! However the favourite thing Isaw was the Kikuyu dance shields fromKenya.”“I enjoyed drawing and finding out about allthe things I saw.”By Erin Woods, with the help of Sophie, Priyaand Frayah. M/FHMMUSIC EXAM SUCCESS!Congratulations to the following students on theirrecent music exam success. Well done!Nina AlexandrouMolly WinchCatherineSmith-DanceBrooke TurnerIzzy WoodcockMolly AbbottYr 9 Grade 1 Piano PassYr 9 Grade 1 Piano PassYr 9 Grade 2 Piano with MeritYr 9 Grade 2 Piano with MeritYr 8 Grade 2 Cello with MeritYr 9 Grade 1 Piano withDistinctionSINGERS NEEDED FOR VOICEWORKS!Do you enjoy singing? Why not come along toVoiceworks Choir on Friday lunch times nextterm? 1.25pm in the music house (M3).We sing a range of pop songs, and next term wewill be preparing for the Spring Concert when ourtheme will be Disney, cartoons and animation.Look forward to seeing (and hearing!) lots of newmembers next term!CHALLENGE 15 AWARD UPDATECongratulations to Chloe Harper and ChloeBrincoveanu on being the first Year 7s to completethe Bronze Challenge 15 Award.If your daughter is in Year 7 please find out whichchallenges she has completed and encourage herto make a plan of action to complete the BronzeAward by the end of the year. The forthcoming halfterm is an ideal time to complete the 'Good Citizen'Challenge, taking time to help someone in the localcommunity.Year 7s - please send in your Book Reviews andphotos of you at local tourist attractions, or photosof you completing any of the Challenges so we canshare you adventures on Sharepoint VLE.Miss LangfordHead of Music

Page 7Neosho River BasinJanuary 2009Impacts of Historic Mining ActivitiesGalena is a rural community located in southeast Kansas, within the Tri-State Mining District EPA SuperfundSite in Cherokee County. For over a century, lead and zinc were mined in the region and resulted inproduction of nearly 3,000 abandoned mine shafts in Cherokee County. Even though lead and zinc miningactivities subsided in the latter half of the 20th century, numerous environmental problems and other hazardsremain.Waste mine tailings, also known as chat, which are byproducts of the mining and milling processes for leadand zinc ore, cover 4,000 acres in southeastern Cherokee County according to the KGS. Chat hazardswere not limited to just the tailings piles because the wind blew fine metal-bearing dust from tailings piles,spreading the contamination. In addition, leaching from the waste mine tailings has contaminated wellsand ground water, with runoff moving contaminants into nearby streams and rivers.Another by-product of mining operations was highly acidic mine drainage (acidic water, containing metalsthat can contaminate streams). When the lead and zinc mines were abandoned, they filled with water, andbegan contaminating local aquifers and surface waters.Mining waste at Galena. Photo courtesy Kansas Geological Survey.