The Cannon - February 2012 - Fort Pitt Grammar School

THE CANNONchance of getting through to round two.After a tiring but enjoyable day we finished fourthin our group. The whole team would like to say a bigthank you to Miss Lester, as we would not have beenable to do so well without her. Well done to everyone aswe look forward to doing well in more matches.Kerrie JohnsonSECONDARY SCHOOL MEDWAY FUTSALTOURNAMENTOn Thursday 19 th January, Natasha Munday, ChloeRoberts, Esme Conway, Eleanor Harrington, CourtneySmith, Megan Williams, Lauren Tucker and I went to theMedway Secondary School Futsal Tournament, andflying ahead in our first match with a 7-0 lead, we eachshowed determination and strong teamwork throughout.Out of seven games we only lost one but that didn’t putus down! Our teamwork and determination paid off andwe won the whole tournament!! It was a fun day and I’mso proud of our team, how well we worked together andwhat we’ve achieved from it.Charlotte Butler – Year 9.HISTORY CLUBPage 3The History Club has recently organised two exhibitionsof medieval castles and World War I trenches. Thecastles have been made by Year 7 who have beenstudying castle development and defences. Thetrenches were made by year 8 who have been studyingWorld War I. Everybody in the school was invited to visitthe exhibitions and vote for the castle and trench theythought the best. The winner in Year 7 was KatherineVerberne and the winners in Year 8 were Molly Abbot &Hollie Hart and Melissa Hutchison and ChloeHazell. The winning trenches and castle exhibits arepictured below.Mrs Wilson

THE CANNONPage 4AS GEOGRAPHY FIELD TRIPPAYING IT FORWARDAfter being told we wouldn’t be allowed to use hairstraighteners on this trip, we had mixed feelings abouthow much fun we would actually be able to have. Wewere pleasantly surprised to find we actually had a lot!We arrived at Flatford Mill mid afternoon on Wednesday18 January and got settled into our accommodation – ourlittle bungalow kitted out with a kettle in each room. MrsSewell was relieved to know she wouldn’t have to foregoher morning cup of tea! We spent Wednesday eveningdoing work and after an unexpectedly delicious dinner.After dinner our entertainment consisted of playing thebox game!Thursday morning we set off at 9.30am, afteranother amazing meal, to Walton on the Naze where wecollected our coastal data using complicated soundingequipment like ‘theodolites’. We then went back to thecenter to look at our data and learn about what we’ddone that day, which took the rest of the evening.On Friday, our last day, we visited a large towncalled Hadleigh, where we learned about regenerationand how to follow someone around without them noticing(all part of our research of course). We said ourgoodbyes that afternoon and left for home.The trip was very interesting and we all learnt a lot,thanks to our tutor Rachael, I would recommend doinggeography AS to any year 10 still choosing their optionsfor year 11.In January we held our first workshop for students whohave been identified as Gifted and Talented in Art andDesign. Students in the Sixth Form are planning andrunning the workshops so that we can show some of theyounger students, techniques that we have particularlyenjoyed during our AS and A2 courses. Laura and Idecided to demonstrate different techniques using phototransfer as we had both found it an exciting and creativemethod of developing photographic image when we hadtried it ourselves. We showed the girls how to transfer animage on to fabric and on to sellotape. Everyone had ago at both and produced some great results. We all hadfun and the girls learned a technique that they couldexperiment with themselves at home!Vanessa Crew and Laura AdamsAS Fine Art students.Ruby Parsons Year 11For details of forthcoming Enrichment Activities pleasesee the table at the back of this edition. If you areinterested in booking a place please email Mrs Payne atspayne@fortpitt.medway.sch.uk, please ensure youinclude course details and dates as well as your nameand year group. Please be aware that some courses willhave a limited number of places so early booking isadvisable. Failure to attend certain courses will result in asmall charge to cover our costs where materials havebeen provided. An email reminder will be sent to yourschool account one week before the course you havebooked takes place.

THE CANNONPage 5MEDIA CLUB NEWSSTEERING GROUP MEETINGSDuring the first week in February, members of MediaClub presented a short film they had made in assembly.This is what they told members of the audience beforeshowing the DVD they had made:We have been travelling to the Hundred of Hoo Schoolby minibus each Thursday after school for severalmonths, and we would like to share with you some of thethings we have been doing.Garage Band is the program we used to make thebackground music for our DVD. We could choose from awhole lot of snippets of different instruments and tempos.We also learned how to fade music in and out, and howto increase the volume. We made a great variety ofdifferent sounds!We experimented with bits of Lego and other toys tomake some short pieces of animation with a web cam.We took frame by frame pictures, at 10 pictures persecond, to create a short film like Wallace and Gromit.Once we finished our films we saved them in the iMoviesfolder, before adding excerpts of them to our finishedfilm.In order to make different shots for our film we wereinitially filmed in front of a special green screen, using avery expensive camera, which enabled us to change thebackground on the DVD to one of our own choice. Weused the Internet to search for and select pictures to beused as our own backgrounds and edited them inPhotoshop, before saving them to be put together withthe other elements of our DVD. A large duck can be seenfloating on the river in one scene and somehow MrBushell managed to get himself into one of the shots!Lastly we used iMovies to bring everything into oneplace. We linked the music, the pictures, the film and theanimation, and cut the clips so they ran smoothlytogether.If you are interested in joining us, there are a couple ofplaces available, so please talk to Mrs Gordon or seeMrs Payne in S14.Rebecca Tutt, Charley Gardner, Carmryn Williams,Daisy Stewart and Ellie RobertsThis meeting run by students and is open to everyone tocome along on give us some ideas about what could bedone to improve the Enrichment program at Fort Pitt andto give some feedback to the staff. In our last meeting wediscussed other methods as to how you could make yourideas and thoughts heard and have decided to have aGifted and Talented suggestion box which everyone canuse which we will be getting up and running very soon.Also, we want to let you know that there is an emailwhich you can use to give your ideas to the staff which isG&T@fortpitt.medway.sch.uk. Another topic we spokeabout was the possibility of having more clubs afterschool that give an insight into jobs, which would meanthat we will not go straight into a job without having anidea of what the job involves. If you have any suggestionon what clubs you would like to see on offer or anythingelse concerning Enrichment please come along to thenext meeting on Friday 2 nd of March. We would bepleased to see you and hear your ideas to improve ourschool.Emma CooperYear 11

THE CANNONPage 6CHARITY NEWS AND INFORMATIONFort Pitt students (ably supported by parents/carers, friends and families) have recently been baking andeating their way to fundraising for World Challenge! With House Charities looming the whole school isbuzzing with ideas for an exciting event.Many of you will be aware of the plea for stationery items for our link school in the Gambia, St JohnBoscoe some time back. The school is very appreciative of our continued support and involvement. Ifyou are, or know anyone who is involved in youth football or basketball and are thinking of changing orhave recently changed their kit please could we ask you consider donating the old one for us to send outto the students in Gambia?M A S HDid you know that if you shop online you can help raise money for Medway Asthma Self-Help? (Registered charitynumber 1058749)Please visit http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/medwayasthma/ to registeryour details and start shopping.There are over 2000 well known retailers like Amazon, Argos, eBay, John Lewis, M&S and manymore. Whenever you buy something, the retailer makes a donation to Medway Asthma Self-Help.Easyfundraising has raised over £2,000,000 for many causes, so it really does work.I'd be really grateful if you could use easyfundraising, too. It won't cost you a penny and you can even save moneywith special offers and voucher codes.So please make a difference to Medway Asthma Self-Help and take a look today - http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/medwayasthma/Calling all iPod Users……win a £25 iTunes voucher!Do you have an old iPod/iPhone or MP3 player (8 gb ormore) which you are no longer using?Please bring it to the library so that we can use it torecord some really handy revision pod casts. Studentswill then be able to borrow the donated devices to assistin their learning.Names of those who have donated iPods etc. will be putinto a raffle to win a £25 iTunes voucher.

THE CANNONPage 7Some thoughts from Mrs Hargreaves, Careers advisorCAREERS ADVICE ...on your futureTHE COST OF NOT GOING TO UNIVERSITYThere is much talk in the media about how expensive it is to go to University, which may be putting you off fromthinking about applying. But take a look at these figures and decide for yourself.All figures are at today’s prices. An average graduate will earn £1,611,551 over a working career of 45 years. Anaverage 18-year old (who does not take a degree) will earn £1,023,840 over a working career of 48 years. Thismeans a graduate earns £587,711 more than a non-graduate.The amount of money a graduate will repay for their student loan, of up to £48,750, will be far lower than £587,711.Unless a graduate starts earning £50,000 per year immediately after graduation, and continues to earn at least thismuch over the next 30 years, it’s likely that a significant amount of the student loan debt will be written off by theGovernment – meaning you won’t have to pay it. The average first year salary for a graduate is £19,653.So if you do decide to study for a degree you will have a lot more disposable income, to spend how you like, than ifyou don’t go to University. And remember you don’t need to go straight after school – many people do degrees aspart of their employment later in their adult life – but you do need to have studied for qualifications at furthereducation level that will allow you to study for a degree.(Figures provided by First Steps to Wealth by Skandia – report available on the school shared area.)CONSIDERING AN APPRENTICESHIPAn apprenticeship allows you to work and study for an industry standard qualification at the same time. But whichapprenticeships give you the best salary – at today’s prices? The two most promising sectors for apprenticeships interms of the amount of money you can earn over your working career are Construction (£1,503,726) and HealthCare, Public Services and Care (£1,494,547). The apprenticeships offering the least income are Retail andCommercial (£1,038,746), Engineering and Manufacturing (£1,194,448) and Arts, Media and Publishing(£1,196,147).This is in comparison to an average graduate’s salary of £1,611,551 – which is still £107,835 more than the topapprenticeship salary, and you are wont be spending all that extra money paying off your student loan. You canchoose to do an apprenticeship at 16, but if you complete A levels first you may find it easier to make a successfulapprenticeship application. This will also give you the opportunity to do a degree in a whole variety of subjects atany time during your adult life, to increase both your salary and your disposal income – the amount of money youhave to spend.Consider your further education options very carefully because they will affect how much you earn and can spend inthe future.(Figures provided by First Steps to Wealth by Skandia – report available on the school shared area.)MATERIAL DONATIONSDo you have any unwanted newspaper, tissue paper, black bags, cotton wool,cling film, tin foil, string, cardboard or bubble-wrap? If so, can you pleasedonate it for the Maths and Science Challenge Day. There is a box labelled"Material Donations" in Reception!Many thanksAston Brand

THE CANNONPage 8Dates for Your DiaryFriday 10 February End of Term 3FORT PITT GRAMMAR SCHOOLSCIENCE & MATHEMATICSCOLLEGEFORT PITT HILL CHATHAMTEL: 01634 84235901634 817386FAX:E-MAIL:OFFICE@FORTPITT.MEDWAY.SCH.UKHeadteacher: Mrs Julia M Bell, BA(Hons)Aiming for the FourExcellents:AcademicAppearanceEnvironmentCommunityWe’re on the Webwww.fortpitt.medway.sch.ukMonday 20 February Start of Term 4Thursday 23 February Master Class ‘Mexican Cooking’ 3:15pmSaturday 25 February CSI Day for Years 9-12 - 0930-12Monday 27 February Year 11 Parents’ Evening - 3.45-6.15pmTuesday 6 March Year 9 Macbeth - Young ShakespeareCompany visitWednesday 7 MarchMonday 12 March Science WeekYear 8 Romeo & Juliet - YoungShakespeare Company visitAdvanced Photoshop Master Class3:30-5pmThursday 15 March Card Making Master Class - 3.30-5pmFriday 30 March End of Term 4Monday 16 April Start of Term 5OUT OF HOURSWould all students please note that when staying for after-school clubs orprivate study, you MUST ensure that parents/carers know when and whereto collect you and you must be prompt in meeting them.Please be aware that Reception is not always manned after 4.00 p.m. andcaretakers and support staff cannot be expected to run around school lookingfor you.STUDENT CONTACTINFORMATIONIt is important that, in case we shouldneed to contact a parent or carer, wehave up to date contact information.Please could parents/carerstherefore provide us with any changeof circumstances (address/telephonenumber, email etc), either byemail/letter or telephone.Thank youMrs Parle, ReceptionSCHOOL ABSENCESPROCEDURE REMINDERShould your daughter unexpectedly be unable to attend school please would parents/carers remember to telephone the school on the first day of absence. The absencethen needs to be followed up with a letter addressed to the Form Tutor as soon asyour daughter returns to school. This also applies to students in sixth form.From September parents/carers will be able to submit their daughter’s absence via theschool website. You will find a link to the form on the Parent Portal. All submissionsmust be from the email address that is registered with the school. You will receive aconfirmation email and a follow up phone call from the attendance officer.If students are late for school and miss registration they should sign in the late book atreception.Thank you‘NEARLY NEW’ SCHOOL UNIFORMWe have several items of nearly new uniform available from 50p forPE shorts to £2.50 for blazers. Please check at reception foravailability and sizes.

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ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIESThere are still places See the Course Leader, Mrs Payne (in S14) or Mrs Gordon for further details.Day & Date Course Details Audience Leader Place TimeThursdays starting Media Club, working on Apple Macs. To include animation, comic design and short film All Years - Mrs Gordon HOH 3.00-5.3012.1.12making. This is held at Hundred of Hoo School, with transport provided by minibus from FP LimitedDates TBATuesdays Term 3and back again. Vacancies sometimes arise – see Mrs Gordon for info.‘The Josephus Problem’ For anyone who loves problem solving, the Josephus Problem is anideal opportunity to work in a team and solve one of mathematics greatest riddles. You willwork in teams of 2 or 3 alongside a Year 13 student and compete to win a prize.Film Club – a huge variety of films will be shown over the year, 12 in total, ranging from‘Bugsy Malone’, ‘The Social Network’ and ‘Amélie’ to ‘True Grit’ and ‘Shaun of the Dead’amongst others.numbersG&T Mathsstudents,yrs 8- 10All WelcomeMr Reader and SixthForm studentsMr SalmonFilm PrefectsS20 3.10-4.30Thursdays Term 3 Fitness Club All Welcome Mrs Bird Sports Hall 3.15-4.15Thursdays starting Dance Club – a small subsidised contribution of £10 per term is required All Years Outside speaker – but Old Hall 3.15-4.155.1.12 for one termsee Mrs BirdWednesdays starting24.1.12 for 8 weeksFootball Club in conjunction with Anchorians Football Club, a local Medway team. All Years Mrs Bird FP andAnchorians3.15-4.15Tuesdays, starting24.1.12Art and Design Workshops – a variety of fun activities.G&T Artstudents, yrs 7-9Mrs McGinnArt PrefectsThursdays, starting ‘Bang Goes Theory’ – These sessions exploring all 3 Sciences will start with DVD input, KS4Mr Gupta with19.1.12and then will be followed by practical, lab-based activities.Science PrefectsWeds 8.2.12 ‘Parliamo Italiano’ – Italian for beginners. Learn how to get by in Italy! KS3 Mrs SewellMrs MartinMs SpechtSat 25.2.12CSI Day – You will become a criminal psychologist. You will view a crime scene and haveto determine who committed the murder by doing crime scene analysis and interviewingsuspects – just like on TV!Weds 7.3.12Weds 14.3.12Thurs 15.3.12Photoshop Beginners and Advanced – a very useful course for artists, techno-whizzes andanyone else interested. Staff are welcome.Stone Age Medway Valley Model Making – learn allabout the Stone Circles in Medway and make your ownmodel. This activity combines History, Geography andArchitecture. Materials provided.Card Making Workshop – get ready for Easter! Materials provided. The last course wasextremely popular, so make sure you book soon.A2AfterschoolgroundArt Block 3.15-4.15ScienceLabsKS4 & 5 Miss Hillman 6 th FormBlockAll welcomeAll welcomeAll welcome –limited numbersMr Thompson(visiting teacher)Mr Barley(visiting teacher)1.15-1.559.30-12.30C9 3.30-5.00C1 3.30-5.00Mr Kilminster A6 3.30-5.00Thurs 23.2.12 andMon 19.3.12‘Let’s Cook Mexican’ Recipes, instructions and ingredients provided. Another chance tofollow this excellent course if you missed out before Christmas!All welcome –limited numbersMrs McGinnMr HawleyA1 3.15-5.00

ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIESDetails of forthcoming Enrichment Activities are shown ??????????? and if you are interested please email spayne@fortpitt.medway.sch.uk to reserve a place on any of the courses, stating thecourse details and dates, as well as your name and Year Group. Some courses will have a limited number of places, so early booking is advised. Failure to attend certain courses will result in asmall charge to cover our costs where materials have been provided. You will receive a reminder email on your school account one week before the course you have booked takes place.