Newsletter No 557 – 10 October 2014 You would think that on a week where we had Open Evening, that would be our highlight but it was thrown into the shade by a visit on Thursday from Mark Lawson, ex-SJL student and now Red Arrows pilot! th He kept Yr 11 and 6 form students fascinated when he spoke to them about his career and the route he had taken since SJL and the message he gave about not being put off at the first hurdle was one that will surely prove very useful to them whatever future they choose. Even though Mark left SJL several years ago now, there were still a few familiar faces around the school to greet him and it was wonderful to see his success and to hear his memories of his time at school. On Thursday afternoon we had the pleasure of having a speech from a highly esteemed member of the SJL alumni: Flight Lieutenant Mark Lawson, otherwise known as Red 6 from the Red Arrows. We were first shown an exhilarating video, featuring Mark and the eight other Reds at work in perfect aerobatic formation. It was amazing to hear from someone with such enormous talent, being one of only very few people to meet the rigorous requirements for the RAF's flagship squadron, including having the minimum of 1500 hours flight time in military fast-jets. He made a compelling case for the Red Arrows' existence and has no doubt made many people dream of following his pursuits! Jack Richardson 13H We love to hear from our ex-students and the number of them we keep in contact with was one of the points I made in my Open Evening speech. Later in this newsletter you can read about Carly Watson, another ex-student who has gone on to great things using her SJL media studies and if any other alumni would like us to share their success stories with the rest of the SJL community then please do get in touch! Having mentioned Open Evening it seems only fair to say that I could not have been more proud of the students and staff on Tuesday evening. Luckily the weather held fair for a record number of visitors to the site and the range of activities and the enthusiasm of the participants cannot have failed to impress all our guests – well I know it did because of the number of compliments I received on behalf of the school! We will hopefully share some photos of the evening with you in a later newsletter and in our half-termly podcast but in the meantime thanks to everyone for their hard work. As always, if you have any comments or suggestions I would be pleased to hear from you, please contact me at [email protected]. Claire Robins LETTERS HOME THIS WEEK    Re the joint History and German trip to Berlin Re the year 12 Geography trip to Swanage Re the year 10 GCSE information evening A reminder that copies of all generic letters sent home can be found on our website at: http://www.sjl.herts.sch.uk/practical-information/letters-home.php CALENDAR REMINDER FOR YEAR 7: Year 7 Parents’ Evening Tuesday 25 November 2014. The evening runs from 5-8pm Schedules will be coming home via students the week before Parents Evening. If you require specific disability access arrangements to be made, please contact the school at [email protected] or 01582 760 043 and we will do our best to meet your needs. A reminder that the full academic calendar for parents from our website at: http://www.sjl.herts.sch.uk/practical-information/the-school-calendar.php FESTIVAL ON THE FIELD Festival on the Field has been nominated for the UK Festival Awards in the Small Festival and Family Festival categories. The winner is decided by a public vote. If you wish to take part and support this great event, please click on this link to submit your votes: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z85F2BB Voting is open until 27 October. Thank you for your support! RE DEPARTMENT SJL’s RE Department is now on Twitter! Please sign up to �@SJL_RE’ and have weekly Big Brain Questions, links to RE in the news and information about upcoming trips! MORE NEWS OF EX-SJL STUDENTS! Carly Watson, Deputy News Editor – ITN I was a student at Sir John Lawes from 1998 and left Sixth Form in 2005 after successfully achieving 11 GCSEs and 4 A levels. Two of my qualifications were in Media Studies which I went on to further study at Staffordshire University. I had a passion for journalism from a young age as my father was in the profession and SJL acknowledged this and helped me gain as much experience as I could while I was at school. I spent my Year 10 work experience placement at work with my dad and was then put forward for an additional work experience opportunity at The BBC by the Careers Department. I spent a day working at BBC Grandstand and spent the day in the shoes of Sue Barker which inspired me to become a journalist even more. I then went on to study Broadcast Journalism at university. I did work experience every summer I was away from university, which landed me with freelance contracts and ultimately the title I currently hold, as Deputy News Editor at ITV National News. My message to anybody who wants to succeed in the media, is not to give up. I work every hour under the sun, I've had doors slammed in my face, I've been told I'll never make it and I've sent my CV to more media executives than I knew existed... but … I can now say it was all worth it and I wouldn't want to do any other job in the world. I currently work for the biggest independent television news organisation in the UK... what more could an aspiring journalist want? I owe massive thanks to SJL for their support and guidance during my time there, particularly the Media Studies team who gave me a helping hand onto an increasingly competitive media ladder. Congratulations Carly and thanks for staying in touch! MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Just a polite reminder that musical instruments should not be left in school overnight and the school cannot be held responsible for any instruments left in the building out of school hours. Many thanks - The Music Department DRAMA NEWS Tuesday 14 October 3.45-6.00pm - Acting Master Class with George Dillon after school in the drama theatre. George has worked with Steven Berkoff and is a leading physical theatre practitioner touring his unique one man shows all over the country. The workshop is open to any drama student in years11, 12 or 13 who will be taking practical performance exams this year and the subsidised cost is £5.00. Letters available from the website and Drama office! Next Production News �They Shall Not Grow Old’ is a unique community theatre project that will feature voices from the Great War from poetry, plays and song. If anyone would like to contribute any costume, ideas and extracts then please contact me ASAP! The performance will be over two nights in Remembrance week on Thursday 13th and Friday 14th November; price £6.00 adults and £4.00 pupils/ concessions. Profits will go to the Royal British Legion and The Red Cross. DUKE OF EDINBURGH EXPEDITION Congratulations to all the year 11 students on their Bronze DofE expedition last weekend. It was a very wet start and a cold night but it brightened up on Sunday and a good time was had by all. I am delighted to say that all of the qualifying students passed their expedition and they proved to be fantastic role models for the practising students who have learnt a lot about campcraft, route planning and waterproofing kit! I would also like to say a big thank you to all the staff that volunteered their weekend so that the students can participate, so thank you to: Phil Evans, Emily Brown, Ollie Draine, Andrea O’Connor, Sarah Johnstone-Putt, Louise and Pete Ashman, Aaron Spink and Katie Gosling. Melody Britton, DofE Coordinator ZAMBIA FUNDRAISING CAKE SALE Over the summer, 9 of our current Year 11 students went on a �once-in-a-lifetime’ trip to our link school, Ndeke High in Zambia. The students had a fantastic two weeks both in Kitwe (where the school is located) and travelling around Zambia, experiencing the different education and rich culture. This year the students are raising money to bring some of the students over to the UK and experience a little bit of life at SJL and beyond. Students have set themselves the target of raising £4,500 before Christmas in order to get as many students over as possible! During Open Evening the students had set up a Cake Sale in the HUMS hallway and managed to raise an outstanding £170! A huge congratulations to the students who have worked tirelessly over the previous two years raising money and thank you to all prospective parents and students who bought cake on the night. Please keep your eye out during the rest of the term as the students will be carrying out various fundraising activities for you all to get involved in. Miss O’Connor & Miss Brown SPORTS NEWS Twitter The PE department would like to remind you we have a Twitter account for keeping students and parents up to date with fixture details, results and general sport and physical education news. Please follow us @SJLPhysEd. Fixtures for next week: Week 1 from 11/10/14 Saturday Monday Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Senior NO FIXTURES NO FIXTURES NO FIXTURES NO FIXTURES NO FIXTURES Netball Vs Sandringham (A and B Teams Away) Hockey Vs Beaumont (Clarence Park) Basketball Vs Nicholas Breakspear (Away) Tuesday Yr 11 Netball Tournament Vs St George’s (Away) Senior Netball Tournament Vs Roundwood (Away) Wednesday Rugby Vs St George’s (Away) Rugby Vs St George’s (Away) Rugby Vs St George’s (Away) Rugby Vs St George’s (Away) Thursday District XC Champs (Westminster Lodge) Netball Vs STAGS (Home) District XC Champs (Westminster Lodge) Netball Vs STAGS (Home) District XC Champs (Westminster Lodge) District XC Champs (Westminster Lodge) District XC Champs (Westminster Lodge) Trampette and Tumble Competition (STAHS 13.30) Trampette and Tumble Competition (STAHS 13.30) Trampette and Tumble Competition (STAHS 13.30) Trampette and Tumble Competition (STAHS 13.30) Trampette and Tumble Competition (STAHS 1-3.30) Rugby Vs Beaumont Rugby Vs Beaumont Rugby Vs Beaumont Rugby Vs Beaumont Friday Saturday Cross Country at Verulam We are very pleased that our runners are so committed to competing in the league fixtures. This is particularly the case for the junior section where SJL entered 3 teams in both the boys’ and girls’ races. This is significantly more than any other school competing. Our senior boys continue to dominate their race with the top four runners all finishing in the first 6. Well done to all runners. Full results from the Verulam fixture below: Junior Girls Sophie Gorman 8 Rosie Hall 10 Chloe Morrison 12 Meg Brookes 18 Emily Sutton 19 Maizy Bruce 26 Elizabeth Bratton 29 Charlotte Wilde 32 Izzy West 34 Charlotte Sweeny 43 Sophie Southwell 46 Junior Boys Adam Bahouss 4 Jake Watt 11 Angus Harrow 15 Jacob Jones 17 Toby Sutton 18 Will Chisholm 28 Billy Towns 31 Julian Smith 32 Ewan Totty 38 Henry O’Connor 39 Simeon James 40 Dan Kremer 47 Inter Girls Caitlin Eckley 6 Ella Hutson 10 Becky NT 16 Sarah Mc 18 Ellen Brookes 20 Amy Hartnup 21 Inter Boys Eddie Riddell 11 Alfie Reed 12 Matt Swan 16 Keegan Brown 18 Senior Boys Sam Jones 1 Adam Wilmshurst 3 Rory Glass 4 Jamie Jones 6 Sam Hartnup 20 Senior Girls Lauren Eckley 6 Year 8 Netball Vs Roundwood The Year 8 girls played Roundwood Park in very closely contested match. Scores were 3-3 at the end of the first quarter with Roundwood pulling ahead to 7-9 lead at half time. SJL fought back and played an excellent final quarter, scoring 5 goals to Roundwood's 3 in the final quarter. With the scores at 14-14 in the last minute of the game tensions were running high. Roundwood were awarded a penalty shot in the closing seconds which they scored from to win 15-14. Well done to all players. Year 7 Football (County Cup) vs Sherrardswood Score: 6 – 0 (Win) st The Year 7 team played and won in the County Cup 1 round to follow up their National Cup win a couple of weeks ago. Playing Sherrardswood from Welwyn Garden City, the team started very strongly and had put the game beyond doubt by halftime taking a 5-0 lead. They played some excellent attacking football and deserved to win the game comprehensively, the final score being 6-0. In the next round they play either Mount Grace or Simon Balle School. Development of Lacrosse Since the introduction of Lacrosse into the SJL curriculum three years ago we have seen a number of our students fall in love with the sport and seek avenues to play outside school and to continue after they leave. One such example is Steph Grimes who, having been introduced to the sport at SJL, has since continued to play, culminating in being selected to play for the University of Portsmouth in the English University Lacrosse League. This is a tremendous achievement especially considering that Portsmouth is one of the top rated Lacrosse Universities in the UK. Everyone at SJL congratulates Steph and wishes her the best for her future!  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------All sales made by the school will mean that 50% of the ticket price will be given as CASH BACK to the school! I would like to purchase the following tickets for the HRFC Fireworks: Quantity Contact Name: Adult @ £8 each Childs’s Name: Child @ £5 each (up to Child’s Class: 16 years) Family * @ £25 per Contact ticket Telephone: *(2 Adults & up to 4 children up to 16 Email: years ) Please make cheques payable to Sir John Lawes School and return in an envelope marked �FIREWORK EVENT’. I enclose a cheque to the value of £…………………………. Thank You for supporting Harpenden Rugby Football Club. Note: Please be a responsible parent and take advantage of the FREE BUSES from and to CHURCH GREEN (St Nicholas Church / Chef Peking) from 3pm onwards as Redbourn Lane is a dark and dangerous road! KEYSTONE WORKSHOPS Developing your child’s thinking skills: why it matters and how to �do’ it We all want our children to be able to think for themselves, innovate, argue effectively, and ultimately be able to develop their own points of view as a result. Being able to think �critically’ about what they see, hear or experience in the world around them is a highly valued skill. Just ask anyone working in a school, university or involved in employing young people today! Imaginative, innovate thinkers are sought after in every realm of modern life. How can parents help develop their child’s thinking skills? The answer lies in the art of questioning: one that has been practiced by philosophers and great teachers throughout history. Theory is one thing but parents need practical, everyday tips and techniques that they can use at home, or �out and about’ that can help facilitate and enrich their child’s thinking. Come and meet philosopher and educator, Peter Worley, who has a �hands on’ approach and believes philosophy is an activity rather than a spectator sport. Peter believes that questioning is at the heart of good philosophy, but also at the heart of good parenting! For a sneak peek at the amazing work Peter has done with primary school-aged children take a look here: http://vimeo.com/48603685 Wed 15th Oct. 2014 | 19.00-21.00 Main Hall, Verulam School, Brampton Road, St Albans To book go to this link: http://www.keystoneworkshops.co.uk/events/questioning-parents-aphilosophers-guide-to-developing-your-child-or-teenagers-thinking/
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