School Life

Music

The Music department at AGS

never sleeps. Whatever time of year it is, there is always another event for students to be working towards, whether it’s a huge event like Cabaret Night or a small soloists’ evening. Throughout the year, students from all years have stepped up to the mark and performed to an extremely high level, with styles ranging from choral music to big band jazz to psychedelic rock.

The variety of events we have performed at this year has once again been commendable, performing at venues such as the AGS Hall, Pitstone Green, St Mary’s Church, Tyringham Hall, and the Waterside Theatre. One event it was a particular pleasure to perform at again was the Stocklake Park School Christmas Party, helping to establish a great connection between our two schools. The AGS Jazz Band did another excellent job at the Malawi Party in the last week of the summer term, saying goodbye and thank you to our friends from Malawi who had spent two weeks with us. Other events such as the PTA Ball and a private 60th birthday function have helped expand the positive reputation of the Jazz Band and the wider music department.

One event that always outshines all others in the AGS musical calendar is Cabaret Night. Every year on the first May Bank Holiday weekend, students, parents, and teachers alike gather to enjoy the incredible display that Aylesburians of all ages and standards have to offer. Kicking off at 7 o’clock with some quiet background music and a few drinks, the evening built through student-led bands to Junior Jazz Band, reaching a huge climax of the evening in the form of the Jazz and Funktion Bands. Two hours of great music, dancing, singing, and drinks later and all became quiet once more in the halls and corridors of AGS as everyone made their way home in the early hours of Saturday morning. Huge congratulations and thanks to all musicians, teachers, and prefects who made it such an incredible night once again.

The other primary musical highlight every year is House Music: without a doubt one of the most competitive house events on the school calendar. There was not a free practice room in sight from November 2016 all the way through to February 2017 as the houses prepared for the big day. It was an honour this year to have Old Aylesburian Jules Buckley as our adjudicator, a very well-respected musician, composer, arranger, and conductor. Some students were lucky enough to talk musical careers with him face-to-face, an incredible opportunity to get professional advice on the industry. The competition was incredibly tight, as always, but ultimately Paterson House came out on top, with Joe Kearney and Ayush Rodriguez heading up the side. From Blues Brothers to Madness to One Direction, House Music 2017 was certainly a night to remember.

Many thanks to all the music staff, particularly to Mr Nathan and Mr Dallas, for all the time and effort they put into producing the great standard of music here at AGS.

Tom Roberston – Hampden 12

Chess Club Origami Club

The AGS chess club is open to all AGS students of any playing ability and students from AHS

are equally welcome. It has been another year of success for the AGS chess club with numbers remaining buoyant with typically 30 to 50 players turning up to enjoy an hour of chess on a Friday lunchtime. As always we have been massively supported by the more senior players including Matt, Simon, Richard and Callum and I was pleased to recommend School Honours to all our top players who did not already have them this year.

Our rooming move to Hi3, with overspill into Hi2, has massively improved the club giving us more space than ever before. It is good to see large numbers of players of all abilities enjoying games each Friday. The display of live international matches from the Chess24 website has also enhanced the experience for all. Over the year, I have been pleased to sign off a number of students’ Duke of Edinburgh Award skills sections and hope this will continue.

Once more, we were able to enter our team into the National Schools’ Chess Championship. On 16th November we took part in the qualifying congress at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Boys in Elstree where the team enjoyed excellent hospitality and the opportunity to play three games in a match that involved eight schools. In an excellent and often nail biting competition we were triumphant and qualified for the knockout which we hosted against Reading school on 27th January. Our team of Simon, Matt, Richard, Elliot Josh and Callum fought hard in all their games but succumbed 6-0 to a very strong Reading School team. The result was understandable as Reading were last year’s national champions but nevertheless it was an excellent experience for the whole team. The Spring term provided competitive fun with our inter school Chess Challenge and Oscar did well to qualify for the mega final in High Wycombe. I would like to end by thanking Simon Chappell for all his support and effort over the years and wish him all the best as he takes on new challenges at university.

Mr M Goodchild Throughout the course of the 2016-2017 school year paper origami club has run for Year

7s as a new club. It has been a very successful year seeing the creation of many different models from miniature chickens to a full sized swan. We have had a steady number of students attending on Tuesday lunchtimes to enhance their inner Origami skills. As mentioned previously in the Spring Term a team of students put together a full sized swan which was taken to be congratulated by the Headmaster. Next year, we are hoping to grab more of the new Year 7s to join and current attenders to hold higher roles in helping the new students. I am overall very pleased with the boys and their effort leading to outstanding results and look forward to see what is to come in future years of Origami club.

Sanjay Jaikumar – Denson 10

This year in origami club I have developed my origami skills, learnt how to teach others and overall enjoyed it immensely. We have made various group projects, including chicks and a giant swan. I think that Origami club has been a great success and that future year sevens will enjoy it as well.

Morgan Billings – Ridley 7

This year at origami club, Sanjay enabled us to improve and enhance our origami skills. We learnt an immense amount, but the club was still fun. We have made individual projects and group projects at origami club. Individually, we made chicks with pieces of yellow paper, which were great despite being small. As a group, we made a giant swan, which we gave to the headmaster. This year origami club was a great success and we learnt many skills that we can always use when given paper! In the future, I would be happy to help with origami club for the new Year 7s. Thanks to Sanjay, we were able to learn a lot from origami club whilst also having fun. I would most definitely recommend origami club to other people 2017.

Aadhav Sakthivel – Ridley 7

In Origami club I have learnt many things. One point I learnt is to fold paper in a specific way, having to be precise so each individual part slots together perfectly. My second point which I learnt was a way at which I need to slot the paper together to make it flow and to give our work shape and individuality. I was part of the penguin project. We all made pieces to contribute to our big ideal. I started folding yellow pieces of paper and Morgan blue pieces of paper and so on.

If you have noticed, I have used the word ‘our’ a lot. In this club, everybody is a contributing factor and nobody works alone. In the future, I hope we will be able to create more ambitious projects as our experience increases with every lesson. We will be able to pass this knowledge on to any Year 7s or newcomers who decide to join this great club. This is a great experience and I urge all to join this laid back and enjoyable club.

Joseph Galliers - Ridley 7

Art Masks Project

MASKS stands for ‘Make a Special Kid Smile’ and is a local charity supported by Booker Park Primary School in

Aylesbury. The charity organised an art exhibition whereby schools were invited to produce a piece of art within a frame that could ‘Make a Special Kid Smile’. The resulting pieces were then displayed in the Gateway Centre, Aylesbury in order to raise awareness of Children with Special needs and disabilities who attend mainstream and special schools in the Aylesbury region.

With a little bit of help from Mr Dallas we assembled a team of six Year 7 and 8 students to create the artwork over a period of six weeks, working during lunchtime slots. The students were myself, Harry Wyatt, Thomas Roberts, Ashwin Aggarwal, Torsten Hansen, Freddie Kelly-Greaves and Tom Lloyd. We separated our frame into 6 sections all drawn towards a mirror in the centre.

Every section had a theme, and these themes were: Sports, Space, Animals, Emojis, Random Art and the sixth section contained the name of the project, MASKS. To view the piece correctly you simply line your face up with the mirror and smile. Our piece was well received at the exhibition and we were proud to take part in an event supporting such a worthwhile charity.

The piece has now been displayed along the main corridor here at school so do please have a look if and when you are passing.

Thomas Roberts – Phillips 7

Geology

I believe my interest for Geology originated when I

was five. I was exploring in a pool of rocks on my holiday to Canada and the first few rocks that I ever found interesting were always pink, and had speckles of black and white. I remember 3 years later, going to Pakistan and seeing those massive valleys and thinking how beautiful they were. I decided to take GCSE Geology due to those memories in the hope that I could find out more about them. Now that I have finished my first year of the course, I am knowledgeable enough to determine that those pink rocks were actually pieces of granite, and that those black and white speckles were a mixture of mica, feldspar and quartz. I have also learned that those valleys may have been formed starting millions upon millions of years ago from fluvio-glacial processes. If you don’t know what any of that meant, don’t worry - at one point, that’s exactly how I felt too. Though, I am not the most skilled geologist, I always enjoy the study of the earth and my interest for rocks still remains.

Shoheb Hassan – Phillips 10

The Geology course is a fantastic fusion of Science and Geography and would appeal to any who are interested in understanding the workings of the Earth that isn’t covered by Geography. In the course we cover a wide variety of topics

that cater to all interests and give an interesting opportunity to learn new skills and theories. There are plenty of practical lessons with chemicals to accompany the more traditionally structured lessons. Some of my favourite topics so far include, Volcanoes and Igneous rocks, as well as Minerals and Fossils, and with Year 11 still to come I expect that list will be getting far longer. One of the highlights of this year in Geology was the opportunity to take part in the extracurricular BGS Geology challenge, in which we achieved a fantastic 3rd place nationally, a brilliant performance and an excellent opportunity to show off our geological knowledge. I would definitely recommend Geology as a GCSE.

To accompany the exciting course, there are multiple visits that complement the classroom work. The first visit was to the area around Buckingham, to look at depositional environments and this includes a site with an excellent opportunity to hunt for fossils - that is once you have braved the near vertical ascent on the cliff side, which didn’t fail to produce laughs for the class. The second visit was to Bradgate Park to look at some of the oldest rocks in Britain, and some of the oldest fossils. This day, like the first was another excellent day out, with plenty of opportunities to apply the ideas learnt in the classroom, in wonderful weather!

Tom Ward – Denson 10

AGS MedSoc

Throughout this academic year, the Medical Society has experienced huge successes;

providing students with opportunities that best prepare them for the challenges they will face in future months and years. For students to have a place where they can receive specific advice on how to apply for medical, dental, and veterinary courses will undoubtedly have a lasting affect on all those who attend the society every Tuesday lunchtime.

With the hour being filled with a range of areas, including personal statements, work experience, and the qualities of a successful Doctor, we have all gained greater awareness of these careers. By far the most captivating and interesting sessions have been those taken by guest speakers, all of which have been Old Aylesburians. We have heard from first to fifth year medical students, a Clinical Dental technician, a Vet, and a Paediatric Consultant. With every varied stage of the process covered at some point in a session, we have all managed to gain a true insight into the careers ahead of us. Whether you have always wanted a career in Medicine, or are just considering it as an option, the Medical Society will help you really decide if it’s for you.

Aside from all this though, the Medical Society has become much more than just informative sessions, with many of the students running sessions of their own, and the appointment of a Student Leader and Deputy Leader of the society. The demand from the younger years became so great that a separate society was formed in response; the Junior MedSoc, run by the MedSoc leaders and Mrs Wilson.

The aim of MedSoc was always to prepare and to open the minds of the students hoping for a career in Medical related subjects, and this has been achieved ten-fold. I am now even more excited by the challenges of a career in Medicine and I hope that the Medical Society has had that same effect on everyone else, and will continue to do so.

Charlie Sellar - Paterson 12

Maths Challenge

The Maths Department entered 310 students for Maths

Challenges this year. Altogether, they achieved 112 Gold certificates, 87 Silver and 81 Bronze, a fantastic achievement all round. The top scoring boys from each of the Senior, Intermediate and Junior challenges are put through to the next round - The Olympiad Round.

Junior Challenge

Best in School Nathan Curry (Pa 8)

Best in Year John Davie (Ph 7)

Junior Olympiad follow-on round: Oliver Gunton (Ph8), Aarav Tribhuvan (R8), David Wusu (Ph7), and Ayaan Mather (L7)

Intermediate Maths Challenge

Best in School Richard Chappell (D11), Fred Phillips (D11)

Best in Year Fitz Steger-Lewis (D10), Karan Elangovan (L9)

Intermediate Olympiad follow-on round Richard Chappell (Distinction), Fred Phillips (Merit), Michael Roach (Merit), Fitz Steger-Lewis (Merit), Karan Elangovan (Merit), Aidan Manley (Merit), Jeffrey Tan (Distinction)

Senior Maths Challenge

Best in School Michael Ng (R13)

Best in Year George Wyatt (R12), Fred Phillips (D11)

25 students from Year 11, 12 and 13 got through to the Olympiad rounds.

Michael Ng was also chosen to take part in the UKMT Winter training Camp which took place in Hungary during the Christmas holidays and the Trinity Camp which took place at Cambridge University during the Easter holidays. Michael thoroughly enjoyed both experiences and is looking forward to continuing his maths journey at University next year.

The achievement of all these students is really not to be underestimated - the first round questions are hard enough, but the following rounds are very tricky and require superb mathematical knowledge, as well as welldeveloped thinking and logic skills. Thank you to Mr Datta who hosted pre-challenge preparation sessions for those who took part in all rounds of the challenge. Well done to all who competed.

Mrs J M Smith

Maths STMC National Final 2017

On Tuesday 7 February, having won the Buckinghamshire

heat in November, four students travelled to the magnificent Royal Horticultural Halls in London to proudly represent Aylesbury Grammar School once more in the Senior Team Maths Challenge, this time in the second and last round - the National Final 2017. The team of four comprised Daniel Barlow (Pa13), Richard Chappell (D11), Fred Phillips (D11) and myself.

Travelling via various modes of transport, we arrived at the venue promptly in the morning at 10.00am. The hall was immense, complete with an ornate glass ceiling, setting the stage for the important annual event that was about to commence. There were some familiar faces, including a former member of my form. With a total of 88 schools participating from all across the UK, all of whom had won heats in their respective regions, we knew that the competition would be fierce. The doors closed and one of the organisers began to speak. The National Final of 2017 had commenced.

The first round was the Poster Round, in which each team had to create an A1 poster displaying the wonderful properties of ‘Cellular Automata’ (a rich topic involving updating a grid of cells based on a rule). Having done a substantial

amount of organisation and preparation beforehand (with the classic last day rush!), we began to formulate and stick our poster together. However presentation and mathematical content were not all that was required. Indeed, there were also three maths problems for us to solve, incorporating their proofs into our work as well. The process was thankfully very smooth for us with all three problems answered and after forty minutes, we had finished our artistic ‘masterpiece’.

The Group Round followed, and we did well, answering nine out of the ten questions correctly. The third round was the Cross-number round. Having memorised all the three digit palindromic triangle numbers beforehand, we were delighted to see one appear as a clue, and we scored full marks in about half of the time. Refreshments were then provided for the lunch break, and as the suspense increased, we moved onto the two final rounds - the Shuttle and Relay. Ploughing through, we solved over thirty problems under extreme time pressure and after this the competition was finally completed.

The results were announced. The Poster Round was a separate competition, and we were delighted to achieve second place in the country, but the organiser said that it was extremely close (a committee draw) between first and second place, so in a way we were a little unlucky. (Reminds me of a certain house…ahem…Ridley… in House Music this year!) In the main competition, we achieved a superb result of seventh place in the UK. We each won a dodecahedron shaped Rubik’s ‘Cube’ and also took home other memorabilia in a goodie bag. I would like to thank my fellow team members for making my final Team Maths Challenge such a wonderful and memorable experience, and I hope that AGS will continue to have success in the competition. And most of all, we are all extremely grateful to Mrs Smith for her fantastic preparation sessions and continued support throughout the year; once again thank you also to the AGS Mathematics Department for providing such a wonderful opportunity.

Michael Ng – Ridley 13

Maths - Year 10 Maths Feast

On February 23 the AGS Year

10 Maths Team (Fitz StegerLewis, Aman Sadiq, Anish Kumar and Aidan Purchase) took part in the Maths Feast at John Hampden Grammar School. The Feast consisted of five rounds – True or False, Countdown, Comprehension, Problems and Four in a Row.

In the True or False section we were given eight questions, each with four answers. Each question covered a different aspect of Mathematics. In the Countdown round we were given six numbers and were told to make a larger number using the operations +, -, ÷ and x. There were a total of four of these. If we got the exact number we received 3 points, within three was 2 and within 6 was 1. We got two correct, one within three, and didn’t manage to write one answer. We won this round!

For the Comprehension round a poster was given, explaining a table of squares. We then had to answer two pages of questions relating to the poster. The questions also extended into square rooting, and squaring numbers in the hundreds (the table only went to 9.99) We were given 6 problems that we had to solve, these had to include a small paragraph explaining how we got to our answer. The answer itself only counted for 1 out 5 marks. However, we only needed to answer 4 of them. The problems were real life situations.

This is when we had to split into two pairs. Each pair got 10 questions. Each pair wrote their answer on a large table, the answer from the other pair’s previous answer was needed for your answer. This meant one mistake could be fatal. There were a total of 24 marks, as a run of four correct gave you an extra point. It was a great event, I would like to attend similar events in the future. The new mathematical concepts and short time restrictions meant that the event was very exhilarating.

Aidan Purchase – Paterson 10

Young Enterprise Report

We have had an incredibly successful year for Young Enterprise, with three companies successfully completing the programme.

For the second year in a row, we have reached the South Central Regional Final of the competition.

Miss K Chalk

Lacuna – Company Review

Managing Director Charlie Dunne (Denson 12)

Team members: Ollie Scorey, Zac Vaughan, Toby Simon, Brad Irving, Cameron Teague, Oliver Shearer, Matthew Chew

The first product we were going to sell was SnapStraps – a device that attaches to a mobile phone to offer extra security. The idea behind our SnapStraps came from the fact that as a team we realised there was a problem in people our age regarding clumsiness with their phones, which end up costing extortionate prices for a replacement or excess as part of an insurance policy. We realised that our SnapStraps supplied an extra layer of protection which helps ensure that your phone is safely attached to your hand when in use, therefore protecting it from falling and theft. Our product came in numerous colours including red, blue, black, white, gold, silver, pink and rose gold. After moving on from SnapStraps, we went back to the drawing board and as a team tried to come up with a product that required hard

work on our part but would benefit us in the long run. It was with these criteria that we set ourselves the task of writing an essential Uni guide. This guide is designed for year 12 and 13 students who are planning on going to university. It designed to answer any potential questions you could have about going to Uni, from cooking to applying abroad. The book also contains sections on physical fitness, mental health, personal safety, open day checklists, application process, useful tips and information and city profiles.

Overall, I feel that this process has been a great learning experience for everyone involved. For some members, they have realised that operating within a business requires much more work than they first thought whereas for others it has only enhanced the passion within them to work in the business world in the future. I personally have found this journey challenging, yet inconceivably rewarding. It seemed like there was another challenge to tackle every week, and as so many of our initial members dropped out, at times, the work seemed overbearing – but with the help of my team, we have managed to overcome these challenges and build a brand and product that we are proud to call our own. All of us here at Lacuna would like to thank Young Enterprise for providing us with this fantastic opportunity; we have all come a long way in the past year and it has been an amazing journey. We would especially like to thank Andy May, Michael Sayce (Ridley 13) and Christian Peploe-Williams (Ridley 13) for the time and support they have given us in their role of Business Advisors.

Awards

Aylesbury Vale Final Runner Up Best Presentation

Finesse – Company Review

Managing Director Adi Roy (Hampden 12)

Team members: Tomas Barbosa, Oliver Howard, Daniel Hawkes, Robert Hawkins, Jack Draper, Christian Walker, Rex Germanier, Leo Blackman, Tom Maloney, Max Rees, Tom Bull, Louis Foster

Our product was the Ergo – Grip, a comfortable, custom moulded ergonomic grip for pens or pencils. Each Ergo – Grip is sold as a kit with instructions on how to fit the

grip to the user’s needs. The kit also includes a free pen alongside the Siligum, which is the material that the grip is made of. It is a simple and easy process, making it customer friendly and allowing them to have a permanent, personalised pen grip to use.

At Finesse, we strive to put emphasis on the term ergonomics: ‘The study of people’s efficiency in their working environment’. Especially in schools, ergonomics is not stressed upon and instead, students end up with finger cramp and fatigue when writing essays or undergoing the burden of tests. We aim to eliminate this by educating future generations on the importance of ergonomics through our Ergo – Grip, brand identity and social media use.

From the start of this year, Finesse has had several setbacks such as organisational issues, which hindered our performance. However, through perseverance and coordination as a team and not as a group of individuals, we have managed to turn the tables in our favour.

Throughout our 6 months of trading, we overcame every negative aspect that we came across as a company. From the mistakes that we made, we learned and perfected our strategy for the next market; allowing us to grow stronger as a team and work together collectively. All 14 members of our company have flourished in their specific field, but it was not until we worked as a singular entity that we achieved to our fullest. Since the formation of our company, we have undergone activities which we would never have thought possible such as creating and presenting a quiz to an audience, selling hand crafted Christmas decorations to the public and designing, creating, marketing and selling our unique product; the Ergo-Grip. We would also like to thank Kerrie Brindle and Jake Hinton (Lee 13) for their excellent advice that has aided our performance as our company and their support.

Awards Aylesbury Vale Final Best Customer Service, Runner Up Best Company Report

Tyvo – Company Review

Managing Director Tanmay Mahesh (Denson 12)

Team members: Yosron Hassan, Kymir Ibragimov, Ryan Donaghue, Ayaan Ashraf, Will Liggett, Ameya Tekale, Chris Harty, Sam RayChaudhuri, Jeff Jacob, James Young, Dylan Bhopal, Rhitik Raja, Vithujan Sivapalen, Tom Wells, Lewis Ball, Adam Munir

Tyvo is the first seller of handmade Tyvek® wallets made in the UK. Tyvek® is a tear resistant, water resistant, stain resistant and recyclable material which is also as light as paper. This makes it ideal for making wallets as Tyvek® is strong and durable, like all wallets need to be, but also lightweight and easy to customise, allowing us to have a competitive advantage over the leather wallet. The fundamental objective of our product is to make carrying money more convenient for our customers, whether they are using the wallets on holiday or when going out on a run.

From the very beginning, we have designed, printed and folded our Tyvek® wallets ourselves, giving us the flexibility to adapt our product to suit the needs of our wide customer base in the most effective way possible. During the process, we have been committed to establishing a clear and coherent brand image throughout social media, trade stands and on the product itself. Customer satisfaction has always been at the forefront of all business decisions, even if it has meant hand delivering wallets to our customers. The combination of these factors has allowed us to establish ourselves as a reliable organisation and this has been recognised by external investors who have expressed interest in purchasing share capital. Successful trade fairs have been a testament to the popularity of our wallets amongst the general public, reinforced through our continued efforts in raising awareness through other mediums, including an education pack which has been developed in order to supplement the wallets and increase recognition of the importance of financial responsibility. Being in a position where we can make a positive return to our shareholders, all of whom are members of the company itself, reflects our success and this would not have been possible without our Centre Lead, Miss Chalk, or our business advisors, Rob Nichols and Sarah Saint-Ruth.

Awards

Aylesbury Final Runner Up Best Trade Stand, Best Company Report, Best Business Plan, Best Presentation, Overall Best Company Winner.

Bucks and MK County Final Best Presentation, Runner Up Best Trade Stand, Overall Runner-Up.

South Central Regional Final Best Presentation Award.

Warhammer Club & The National Finals

Warhammer is a hobby that involves building, painting and gaming with miniature models, set in the grim darkness of the

far future. This year, we once again had a chance to compete in the Schools League, an annual tournament run by Games Workshop, the creators of Warhammer. To have a chance to travel to the semi-finals, and the finals in Nottingham, we first had to qualify in local heats.

In the Schools League, players face off in one on one matches against an opponent, contributing to their team’s point total. Four players make up a team, our first team being comprised of Dan Hardman, Joseph ‘Teckers’ Teckman, Ollie Sampson and team captain, Ross Buchanan. The local November heats at the Aylesbury Games Workshop store proved no problem for our veteran-filled first team, their experience clearly shown with only a single loss out of the twelve matches played. The second team, in their first attempt at competitive play, lost out in a hardfought result of 5 wins and 7 losses. Hopefully the experience will lead to