Citizen 11th November 2011 - the City of London School

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10 thecitizen 11 November 2011 citizennews Debate: Should we have two weeks for the October half-term at the cost of losing a week in the Summer? Have you ever considered the possibility of having two weeks half term? Do most of your friends enjoy an extra week in October while you are working hard, locked up in classrooms for the day? Well this is what I thought: Of course every student’s dream is to have long lasting holidays and as little school as possible. There are, however, a few disadvantages of having two weeks in October. The first one is because we would most definitely lose a week in the summer. This would be a sacrifice which we would have to make; would we rather have a longer October break?The second disadvantage is that we would receive less learning time. The aspect which must be recognised is if a week off during October can be caught up later on in the year. The advantages which I have come across are in a greater number. Firstly, we already have a long summer and to lose one week would not be too dramatic. Secondly, the half term from the October half-term to the beginning of the Christmas holidays is the longest in our school calendar, seven weeks in total. I personally think that this term is a little long and to have an extra week in October would be well suited. My next point is that many other schools have the luxury of having two week half terms at every half term in their school calendar. Surely we can afford to have one extra week and be able to complete the syllabus that other schools with two-week half terms seem to be capable of doing. This leads me onto the next advantage which is that we might not need to loose a week in summer. I have come to this thought because when we approach the start of the Christmas and summer holidays, little work is done. I think that especially after the end of year exams, we have basically completed the course and that we wouldn’t even need to lose a week at summer and do the required amount of work in a school year, even with one week less. For obvious reasons my opinion doesn’t speak for all the nine hundred boys and all the members of staff so I have asked some people for their opinion. Lunch-time Concert String Orchestra Conductor: Julia Jones Leader: Samuel Alberman Dvořák Serenade for Strings Op.22 Beethoven Piano Trio Op.1 No.1 Allegro Astor Piazzolla Primavera Portena (Spring from the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires) Bartók Rumanian Dances Thursday 24 th November 2011, 1pm St Lawrence Jewry, Guildhall Yard, EC2V 5AA YES One student claimed that our minds need a rest after the large intake of work from the previous term. Another point made by this student is that the majority of other leading private secondary schools have two weeks in half-term and seem to still produce top quality students. Examples of these schools are St. Paul’s, Westminster, Kings College and Dulwich. St. Paul’s, despite having two week half terms all year round, beat us in GCSE and A level results! Another student said that we have so many weeks off in the summer and that it wouldn’t hurt to lose a week in exchange for an extra week in October. NO One pupil said that we have very long summer holidays which are longer than most other schools. He therefore says that we should be grateful for our long summer break. This pupil also says that to obtain good grades, we need as many weeks as possible to complete the course to ensure we receive the best grade possible. A member of staff says this would be a ‘trade-off’. We would definitely lose a week in summer if we gain a week in October. A couple more students came to the conclusion that they would rather have a longer summer and that one week in the October half term is sufficient. Citizen Poll Should we have a two-week October half-term? 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Yes No Don't know
Letters ... Sir, As someone who has no interest whatsoever in cars, I’ve been seriously annoyed by the constant publishing of car-related articles in The Citizen this year. You could even say it’s driven me round the bend. I’ve counted five in the last three weeks but it takes an intense interest in cars to wade through articles such as ‘Car Review: Lamborghini Gallardo vs. Audi R8’ and ‘Don’t mention the E-type’. The absurdity of a 14 year old writing about £150,000 sports cars defies belief – why would I take advice on cars from someone whose feet can’t even reach the pedals? It’s not as if I’m going to go out and buy the Jaguar CX16 over the weekend because a third former gave it 9/10! citizennews 11 I’m not fascinated by the ‘easy to drive’ Nissan GTR and neither are the rest of the sane human race. I had no idea Jeremy Clarkson had taken over as editor. Please do something to stop The Citizen drifting off course. Eddy Wax J6JBK Sir, The advocate of the death penalty in last week’s debate argued that ‘for murderers like…Raoul Moat…the death penalty would act as a major deterrent’. If this is true, why did Moat choose to inflict the death penalty upon himself, rather than endure a trial and prison? Ezra Cohen S6MJW Autumn Concert Come and hear CLS First Orchestra, Second Orchestra, Senior & Junior String Orchestras, Chamber Choir, Close Harmony, Big Band, Swing Band, Chamber Music and Junior Choir. Junior Choir involves ALL boys in 1 st form and OG. Tuesday 15 th November 2011, 6.30pm Great Hall, City of London School 301 Don’t leave me, Britain! Mrs Thatcher would have looked on with interest earlier this year when she saw that 81 Tory MPs, most of them only voted in last year, defied a three line whip and the possibility of being blacklisted from entering the cabinet for their (and her) Eurosceptic cause. Essentially, it seems, Britain wants out of the EU. In a recent poll (by the Guardian/ICM) 70% of all people in Britain want a referendum on membership of the EU and perhaps this points to the cause for a gradual, public led exit of Britain from the community. This cause is mistaken. Before you dismiss me as a wishy-washy Liberal and eschew the EU in favour of “real” British sovereignty, consider the numbers. As of 2008, 57% of British exports went to the EU, with 55% of all our imports came in from the Union. Perhaps more encouragingly, given the shaky state of our economy at the moment, the largest growth of export is to new, burgeoning eastern-European countries and this can only go up as the economy rises. But this is not the point, it would be wrong to exit entirely from the EU; rather it would be more prudent to push for reform. As Greece slips ever closer to absolute bankruptcy we can see the real deficiency of the Euro, namely that when in trouble, we in Britain can play about with the value of the pound, but the Eurozone has it fixed for all. I would perhaps support either the end of the Euro, or indeed the splitting of currencies into further zones - a country could “graduate” from the lower-value zones to the higher. We need to take the EU back to its origins, as a free trade area, rather than as a super state: it has huge economic benefits, which outweigh the slight sovereignty and bureaucracy issues. thecitizen 11 November 2011
Page 1 and 2: Issue 9 Friday 11 November 2011 the
Page 3 and 4: Geography trip to Iceland By JACK F
Page 5 and 6: Citizen Health Column Help me to he
Page 7 and 8: citizenschool 7 thecitizen 11 Novem
Page 9: Zizhou Zhang plays at Lord Mayor’
Page 13 and 14: citizennews 13 Genetically modified
Page 15 and 16: Let the sun shine!: Solar-powered E
Page 17 and 18: TV - what to watch: Frozen Planet B
Page 19 and 20: Cricket - test-playing nations in c

Citizen 11th November 2011 - the City of London School

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