The Lion - Issue 73

theLion www.bablake.com

News and Views from Bablake School

Issue 73 |Summer 2017

Bablake Invades Belgium

L

ong before dawn on 26th May, 22 of this year’s Third Year pupils and three staff went on a three-day sortie to visit the battlefields of Waterloo and Ypres.

Our mission was to analyse continuity and change by comparing warfare in the Napoleonic conflict and the Great War. Commanding the Bablake Pals Battalion was Captain Grantham, ably assisted

by Sergeant- Majors Skilton and Rees.

We arrived in Calais having extended our chain of command to include Andrew Lock, from Anglia Tours. He was a larger than life figure, literally, measuring in at an imposing 6’ 7½”.We quickly over-ran the meagre resistance offered by the local authorities and continued our progress towards the battlefront.

During our deployment we explored trenches, the last remnants of a system of fortifications that stretched from the North Sea to Switzerland.

We examined artefacts, visited museums and cemeteries.The photograph is of our Battalion climbing the Lion Mound at Waterloo.

Once the ascent was complete we had a panoramic view of the battlefield that witnessed Napoleon’s demise.

Our campaign, unlike World War One, was over well before Christmas, as promised.We returned to Blighty on Sunday 28th May. Unlike Field Marshall Haig’s troops from the Great War, we all made it back fighting fit.

We sustained no casualties. No-one went A.W.O.L. and a good time was had by all.

Bablake News

Bablake News

A Virtual World

Earlier in the term, Sam Holyman, Junior Science Coordinator, arranged for Google Expeditions to come into school to allow pupils to unlock the potential of the virtual reality experience to enhance their learning.

Biology Challenge 2017

Of some 40,000+ entries from across the UK, five Bablake pupils achieved the Gold award, placing them in the top 5.4% of participants; they also received an invitation to attend the RSB’s Award Ceremony in London in July. Many congratulations go to Sathvika Krishnan, who also achieved best in school, Meredith Womble-Lancaster, Rhys Hayden, Angel Ma and Sophie Arora on their Gold Awards. Another nine pupils received Silver Awards, twelve Bronze and many more were Highly Commended or Commended.

This represents a superb performance by the Fourth Year and the Biology Department is immensely proud of them.Well done to all!

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By Sadie Aspinall

In May, members of the Shells visited Warwick University with Mrs O’Neill and Mr Nicholson to learn about internet safety and we really benefited from this great opportunity.

This year, for the first time, Bablake pupils were given the opportunity to take the Royal Society of Biology’s “Biology Challenge” which is open to Year 9 and Year 10 pupils across the UK. Virtually half of our Fourth Year took on the Challenge and gave up lunchtimes to sit two online exam papers which assessed their curriculum and wider biological knowledge.

As a cohort they performed fantastically well!

Internet Safety Firstly, we visited the Oculus building where we were taught about basic internet safety.We were encouraged to give our views on what we do to keep ourselves and others safe online. It was really interesting to learn about the five internet rights, ways to stay safe online and how to use these in real life.We also did some drama exercises to show what we can do to prevent people being bullied or hacked online.

Mathematics Success Bablake pupils are celebrating after performing admirably in the 2017 UK Mathematics Trust Intermediate Kangaroo Challenge.

Dominic Reeves, Ben Sawyer (both Third Year pupils) and Shell Former Erin Keeling all achieved an excellent ‘Merit’ in the Grey Kangaroo, whilst Fourth Former Kogulan Vipulan gained the same in the Pink Kangaroo. Rebecca Asbury (Third Year) and Nicholas Buckley (Fourth Year) both qualified for the Grey and Pink Kangaroo status respectively. Congratulations to all six pupils on their outstanding achievements.

Congratulations should also go to pupils Ewan Collar (2SEW) and again to Erin Keeling (Shell HES) for their achievements in the recent Southampton University Maths Challenge.We are delighted to report that Ewan was awarded a First Prize and Erin a Second Prize and both pupils travelled to Southampton at the beginning of June to collect their prizes.

We also had a tour of the university campus, which gave us an insight into life at the university and the facilities available.We visited many of the buildings, including Sports, Social Sciences and Computer Science. In Computer Science, we completed a survey about our own use of the internet and the results will be used to help research how young people use the internet today.

The day really helped us to understand online dangers and how to stay safe when using the internet.The things we learned have influenced us and we have thought more about how we act online.

This is a new app developed by Google to open up the classroom for an immersive learning experience.The team brought 60 phones, 60 Google headsets and 2 tablets to run the Expeditions. Using a tablet, Bablake staff led over 300 pupils on a virtual reality field trip linked to current learning.

Miss Holyman said: “I took my own family to Thinktank and we experienced a Google Expedition around our solar system. I knew that I just had to get them to come to school and share it with my pupils. So, after getting my own headset and trying it out with my form, I went ahead and arranged the visit from the Google Pioneer Programme. It was lovely to see so many pupils enjoying discovering the world, ourselves and space.

The buzz was amazing!”

Amelia Henderson of 2TH said: “This was one of the coolest things I’ve done at school – kudos to Google for making such amazing technology!” and Olivia Gosling penned the tweet: “Saw amazing landmarks doing VR today! VR is cool like school #2kool4skool #googlevr”

Mock Interview Morning for Lower Sixth students Saturday 1st July 8.45am – 1.00pm Please email mgw@bablake.coventry.sch.uk if you are keen to help our current Lower Sixth students develop their interview technique by acting as an interviewer. More information is available via www.2morrow-2day.com/mock-interview.html Bablake School

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Bablake News

Bablake News

Crystal Ball At the end of the Spring Term the Fifth Year had a lovely evening at the Crystal Ball organised by the Senior Prefect Team.

All the students looked fabulous in their attire and thoroughly enjoyed themselves before going back to studying over the Easter break for their GCSEs. A big ‘Thank You’ to the Senior Prefects for making this a special occasion.

F1

Engineering Education Scheme The Engineering Education Scheme team comprising Lower Sixth formers Lucie Barnes, Abilan Vijayaratnam, Luke Barnes and Tommy Knight made its final presentation to judges at the recent assessment day.

After working in conjunction with sponsors Arup and engineers Phil Brunson and Chirag Morjaria since October, they impressed the judges with details of their flood alleviation scheme and combined by-pass for the village of Little Hadham.Team members were also awarded Gold CREST Awards acknowledging their hard work and creativity.The team has also recently found out that it has been selected amongst six out of 80 teams to represent the Midlands area at the Future Industry Leaders Awards in July, where it hopes to progress to the National finals.

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in Schools

In March, our F1 in Schools Team, Liberty, attended the UK National Final, which took place over two days in the famous Wing Building at Silverstone racing circuit.

Charity

A huge thank you from PETA...

In the run up to the event the team, comprising Fifth Formers Harry Loud, George Evans, Max Harrison, Amrit Gill and Ellis Cutler, spent many hours designing and manufacturing an improved version of the car that had won the Central Regional Final, wrote two new engineering and enterprise portfolios, and produced a bigger and better pit display.

The first day consisted of portfolio and pit judging, a 10 minute verbal presentation to a panel of experts, and time trial racing. Day two involved more racing, this time in the form of a knock-out competition, as well as a media interview streamed live on YouTube.The team handled all aspects of the competition with confidence and professionalism, and received some very positive feedback from the judges.The competition ended with a lap of the circuit in the Bablake minibus following ex-Top Gear Stig Ben Collins. Our overall position of 21st out of the 30 best teams in the country was a great result for a rookie team, and the boys are already making plans to re-enter next season.

Bablake School

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Bablake News

Bablake Arts & Music

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

The Felicity Chapman

Poetry Prize

(this year’s theme was ‘Games People Play’)

Winner: Zaina Dhanani 2BGW

Teenager Love Sonnet

A teenage girl’s first crush is . . . well, crushing.

Her body isn’t hers, nor is her mind.

She finds herself shivering, shaking, blushing, Weak, tormented, sick, and going blind.

And why? Because some guy might look her way, Then cast his eyes as quickly to the ground; Some special one, for reasons she can’t say, Whose voice makes her feel faint when he’s around.

But now my crush on you has been returned, And so the two of us stand on some brink: It can’t be love so young, and yet we’ve learned Love does its will, no matter what we think.

Slowly, slowly now-we mustn’t rush: Let’s enjoy this first sweet teenage crush.

Runner-up: Joshua Sangster Shell PN

Toy Soldiers

Plastic soldiers green and brown shoot them with a marble all fall down Dens in the woods green and brown trip on a tree root all fall down Wet muddy rugby pitch green and brown take a hard tackle all fall down Crossing through mountains green and brown tired and hungry all fall down Convoys of tanks green and brown shells drop ahead all fall down Grey and green normal men shoot them with a rifle all dead then.

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Study Abroad

By Olivia Lee

We studied The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time at school and acted the scenes out in drama lessons before we went to see the production.

We went to Nottingham and got to see what life was like for Christopher who has Asperger’s syndrome.They presented this very well through the use of technology and simple movements around the stage. It taught me a lot about how different people think and how we should treat people.

Bablake’s Careers Department was delighted to support 2017’s ‘International Education’ week by hosting its third Study Abroad Fair.

Prestigious universities from Europe, Australia, Canada and the US enjoyed discussing the advantages of higher education outside the UK with students and parents from our Fourth Year and above.

Head of Careers, Mr Mark Woodward, commented: ‘Studying abroad for the whole or part of a degree increases employability opportunities for future graduates and, in the age of ever-increasing tuition fees in the UK, can offer a very viable alternative route.’

Technicians’ Conference Bablake recently hosted its fourth annual Science Technician conference entitled ‘Sweet Science’, with over 30 delegates from schools, universities and theatres attending an afternoon of learning and networking.

Sam Holyman, Co-ordinator of Junior Science, designed the conference to focus on using sweets to model scientific concepts and how chocolate and candy can be used in scientific investigations to illustrate key science concepts such as rate of diffusion.

Miss Holyman said: “It was wonderful to share ideas and skills at the conference. One big change in the National Curriculum is that the structure of DNA has moved to Key Stage 3 Science and A-level Chemistry. DNA can be found in the nucleus of most cells and can even be extracted from fruit such as kiwi in your own home! We used strawberry laces and other sweets with cocktail sticks and wire to make our own models and the concentration on people’s faces was immense!

If you would like to make your own DNA sweet model, go to https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/apr/25/dnadouble-helix-jelly-babies-liquorice.”

The event was made possible with the excellent support from our senior technician, Miss Amy Hardie, and Breckland Chemical Suppliers.We were also able to welcome, for the first time, Dr Ruth Patchett who is the Royal Society of Chemistry Education Co-coordinator based at Warwick University.

String Quartet The senior string quartet (Dasha Sutton and Ellie Aitchison on violin, Mrs Scott-Burt on viola and Harry Scott-Burt on ‘cello) gave their inaugural lunchtime recital at St John’s Church on Friday 5th May. A varied programme was performed to an audience of parents, staff, members of the Church and Old Wheatleyans who had attended the morning reunion. Highlights of the programme included the famous ‘Nocturne’ from Borodin’s second quartet, as well as an entertaining performance of Strauss’ Pizzicato Polka.The quartet is looking forward to performing at the forthcoming Open Evening as well as at the summer Prize Giving event.

New Organist

for the Meth odist Central Hall

Congratulations to Fourth Year pupil A lex Hyde, who has been appointed organist at the Methodist Cen tral Hall in Coventr y.

Alex, who has been learning the organ with Dr ScottBurt here at Bablake , has made fantastic progress on the instrument in the las t few years and we are very proud to have another wo rking professional m usician in the Music Department!

Bablake School

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Bablake Arts & Music

House

Easter Concert The Easter concert, held this year in the Theatre, was a splendid evening of music with a wide variety of performances. Many of the school ensembles performed, as well as both junior and chamber choirs and there was some excellent music on offer.

Mr Crompton, Mr Cooper and Mrs Scott-Burt would like to thank all the pupils involved in the evening, as they worked really hard and gave a great account of themselves.We also had an opportunity to say farewell to our musical Upper Sixth pupils before they left for study leave.

Bablake Arts & Music

Photography

Royal Academy of Music Junior Department The annual trip to Morgan Cars in Malvern took place during halfterm in February.Twelve enthusiastic pupils spent an interesting couple of hours on a guided tour of the factory, seeing a range of skills used to produce these luxury and iconic sports cars to support work done in the examination syllabuses. A further group of petrol heads and car fanatics is looking forward to the next Design Technology trip in October, when we will head to Italy to see car production at Ferrari, Lamborghini and Pagani.

ABRSM results

Winner of ‘Nature’ category Deepra Sinha

The Music Department was delighted with a very good set of ABRSM exam results this session, with the vast majority of our candidates gaining merits for their results and three pupils gaining a distinction.

Shell pupil Ben Aitchison achieved a distinction for his grade 1 percussion exam, Fourth Year pupil Alex Hyde received a high distinction mark of 139 for his grade 4 jazz piano and Upper Sixth Former Beth Carter rounded off an excellent seven years of contribution to Bablake Music with a distinction for her grade 8 flute.Well done to all pupils (and our wonderful visiting Music teachers) for all their hard work!

Diploma Distinction Fifth Form Music Scholar Anna White has been one of the first young people in the country to take the ABRSM’s new ARSM Music Performance Diploma and she gained a very high distinction.The ARSM (Associate of the Royal Schools of Music) is designed to bridge the gap between grade 8 and advanced diplomas and is a new qualification this year.Very well done to Anna!

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Second in ‘Nature’ category Rhea Upadhyay

Winner of ‘Light’ category Ellie Edmiston

The House Photography Competition once again proved to be very popular with pupils and the judges were extremely impressed by the quality of the photography in both categories.Well done to everyone who entered.

Second in ‘Light’ category Tom Taylor

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Bablake Out & About

Bablake Out & About

Bath

As part of our Expedition Day this year,Third Year Classicists travelled to Bath to visit the Roman Baths.

On arrival, pupils were given a talk on the history of the baths and learned how to decipher Roman inscriptions, then used this information to help work out the history of the site.We were then given the opportunity to handle genuine Roman artefacts from the site.

After lunch we toured the bath and temple area, and saw some of the famous sculptures, tombstones and metalwork, as well as the baths themselves. Many took the opportunity to sit on the benches beside the baths and listen to the audio guides.

All too soon we were on our way back home, but had found out a lot of information about one of the most important towns and sites of Roman Britain.

RAF COSFORD

A LEVEL GEOGRAPHY FIELD COURSE

to Yorkshire Last term Lower Sixth Geographers accompanied by Mr Enstone and Mrs MacGibbon ventured to North Yorkshire for their annual field course.

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As we are now teaching the exciting new ‘Cambridge International’ specification, the time was right for a change of location (we have traditionally gone to Snowdonia).We stayed at the superbly appointed ‘Cranedale Centre’ in the village of Malton and enjoyed hotel standard meals and accommodation.

Our work involved river and coastal studies, including seeing for ourselves the impacts of living on one of Europe’s fastest

eroding stretches of coastline (Holderness) where 30 villages have been lost to the sea since Roman times! Pupils considered the various costs and benefits of approaches to managing erosion and were amazed to discover just how much money is being spent on defending this corner of England.

The weather was excellent and as always our pupils were a credit to both the school and the Geography Department.

As part of our Expedition Day, Second Year pupils travelled to Staffordshire to learn more about the RAF and the science of flight by visiting a live RAF base.

Our work involved river and coastal studies, including seeing for ourselves the impacts of living on one of Europe’s fastest eroding stretches of coastline.

Over 100 pupils visited RAF Cosford and were put into four teams, each with an action-packed day of activities, ranging from making a pneumatic rocket and firing it in an aircraft hangar to having a go at being a Red Arrows pilot in a simulator, from enjoying hand-on science experiments to even getting a selfie in a Jet Provost cockpit!

Miss Holyman said: “It is always a brilliant annual trip and each year we have evaluated the trip and made a few changes so that it gets better every time that we go.The staff at RAF Cosford are amazing and I love to bring the world of Science and Engineering to life in a bid to ignite the imagination of our pupils to hopefully consider a career in this field”.

Bablake School

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Bablake Out & About

Shell Trip to the Opal Coast

Bablake Out & About

Day 3

Mardi

May 2017 Day 2

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The Lion | Summer 2017

Lundi

Bablake School

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Bablake Out & About

Bablake Out & About

Shell Trip to the Black Country Museum

2017 SKI TRIP

By Kiera James and Lara Pennell Shell HES

Passo Tonale, Italy

When we arrived at the Black Country Museum, we met our tour guide, Roger, who was dressed in the type of clothes he would have worn if he had lived in the Black Country during the Industrial Revolution.

He took us to an old replica of the first ever steam engine and explained to us how it was used to get water from the mines to prevent flooding. He also told us about the dangers in the mines and how we would all probably have a full-time job as children during that time! After that we went to an old house that was suffering from subsidence as it was built over a mine shaft. A lady in costume, who was the “owner” of the house, explained to us that if you wanted to show you were rich, you would have to get expensive wall paper and hang up a pig from a hook in your ceiling, where everyone could see it!

Next, we were taken down to the mines, where we learnt all about the types of chores the miners would have had to perform in the dark in what would be considered to be very dangerous conditions by today’s standards. Again, children worked down the mines from a very young age. Many of us thought it was scary! A highlight of our morning was to try the rides at the fun fair! We tried the helter-skelter and a really fast carousel type ride and bought some traditional sweets.The last event before lunch was a Maths lesson in a Victorian classroom where we were taught the three “Rs” (even though they are reading,

writing and arithmetic!).We wrote on slates with chalk as we chanted out times tables and learnt about imperial measures and the money system before it became decimal. Dr Smith behaved badly so was caned on his hand a few times!

At lunch time, we could choose where we wanted to go. Many of us looked in some of the shops then went into the park and sat on a hill to eat our lunch. Others queued to buy the highly recommended fish and chips that fortunately they were happy to share with the rest of us! At the end of lunch we met at the bridge over the canal and headed off to a traditional hardware shop.The shop owner told us all about the items for sale in his shop, which was really interesting.Then we were taught about the toys children would have played with, for example a stick and hoop, and we had a chance to play with them ourselves!

The day was great fun and we got to try many new things that most of us had never done before. Our form really enjoyed the experience and we hope to go back again in the future.

Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition Once again we had an excellent turnout for this year’s Bronze Duke of Edinburgh assessed expedition.

It was a stunningly hot and sunny morning on 26th May, as 83 pupils and 12 members of staff made their way to the Peak District/Staffordshire border for two challenging days of hiking and camping.Throughout the year, Fourth Year pupils have been working towards the ‘Physical’, ‘Skill’ and ‘Volunteering’ sections of their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award and, having

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successfully completed their practice weekend in April, they were ready for the final expedition.

Trekking safely in the heat was one of the biggest challenges for our intrepid explorers, and it required a good deal of team work, forward planning, water and sun cream. Despite sore feet, a major campsite midge attack and the odd member of staff having a ‘Bear Grylls’ moment, everyone made it to the finish point on the second day before the rain hit. Overall, a great team effort was made by all involved.

Bablake School

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Bablake Sport

Bablake Sport

Boys’ PE

CRICKET After months of hard work indoors over the winter, our cricketers are finally displaying their skills out in the middle.

Tennis & badminton

Although most of time it has still felt like winter at the Playing Fields, our teams have put it some good performances and results have been excellent.The U12s remain unbeaten after fine performances against Stratford (friendly & Warwickshire Cup), Princethorpe and Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School.The U13s have won four of their five games and the U14s remained unbeaten in the first half of term.The U15s continue to improve and this was rewarded with a well-deserved win over Queen Mary’s Grammar School.The 1st XI look forward to their ‘cricket fortnight’ at the end of the summer term, which will include the Bablake T20, Lions XI and MCC.They have put in encouraging performances against Malvern College, RGS Worcester, KES Birmingham and QMGS. More detailed results and full fixture lists can be found at www.bablakesport.com

There have been some fantastic tennis and badminton matches so far this term, giving both boys and girls the chance to enjoy representing the school.

Recent boys’ tennis matches against Warwick were hard fought, and the U12s enjoyed a wonderful afternoon playing at Warwick Boat Club.There is certainly huge enthusiasm for the sport and we look forward to further matches versus KES Stratford and Princethorpe in coming weeks. U14 and U16 badminton matches versus Westwood also offered a great evening and this hopefully marks the first of many matches to come.

Bablake’s Football Team’s topsy-turvy season

by Josh Thind It has been another season of ups and downs for Bablake’s 1st (and only) Football XI.

Athletics Victory in the Coventry Round of the English School Athletics Association saw both the Boys’ Junior and Inter teams reach the Midlands B Final.This great achievement, combined with a great deal of individual success in the Coventry Schools’ Events, is just reward for the hard work the boys and staff have put into all training and events so far.With many more matches to come this term, athletics is thriving.

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After a couple of good early results against Lawrence Sheriff and Bilton, we seemed on our way to topping what was a great campaign last year. However, in the game that would have given us an unbeaten record for the year, Camp Hill stood in our way … and beat us 4-1.This shock result left its mark on the squad and led to a drop in performance and a

disappointing reliance on long-ball tactics.

We needed to get our momentum back and did so by thrashing the Bablake Rugby team in an obvious, yet important win.This much needed lift proved vital in rejuvenating our team for the fixture versus King Henry’s. This was an emphatic display that saw us put six goals

past them, with the performance proving to be the high point of the season.

Moving forward it will be up to the Fifth Formers to step up and be counted.They will have some serious training to do following a post-season friendly which saw the Upper Sixth team score five goals against a makeshift GCSE squad!

Bablake School

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Bablake Sport

Bablake Sport

Girls’ PE

Rounders

Athletics

There has been some great success on the athletics track for our girls so far this season.

The inter (Fourth & Fifth Year) and junior (Second & Third Year) championship was the first competition to be held.The girls came up against some tough opposition from around the city, but both age groups were victorious in scoring more points than the other 14 schools attending. Congratulations should go to the following girls and boys for being selected from this competition to represent Coventry at the West Midlands final: Lilly Allison, Freya Bennett, Emma Allroggen, Farah Al-Dabbagh, Grace Cox, Jasmine Marajh, Oliver Ward and Tim Henderson.

The English Schools Track and Field Cup was just as successful as the last.The girls competed with grit and determination, once again coming first in the city in both age groups, with more than a 100 points combined difference over other schools.

Congratulations to both teams on qualifying for the regional finals.

The Shells showed great enthusiasm when it was their turn to shine, and there were once again some excellent performances from all.Well done to the following pupils on being selected alongside the inters and juniors, to represent Coventry at the West Midlands finals: Temi Lawal, Katie Hart, Erin Keeling, Lauren Matkin, Jaya Minhas.

We wish all our pupils the very best of luck in their regional rounds.

Despite some unfortunate weather, the girls have managed to play some exciting and challenging fixtures so far this term.The U12 B team got off to a great start, winning all of their played matches, with an especially nail-biting finish against KEHS, final score 9-8.

The 12 A team has had an equally exceptional start, with some wins finishing with a 10 rounder difference.

The U13s and 14s have had a mixed start, but have been persistent in their effort to improve at training, in preparation for what their next matches may bring.

The U15 team’s best win of the season to date was against King’s High.

Although evenly matched, the girls found ‘a little extra’ to win 20.5 - 13.5.

The senior 1st and 2nd teams left for study leave in style, with both defeating our city rivals KHVIII comfortably. All age groups will have their Coventry School tournaments over the next few weeks.We hope for as much success as we achieved last summer!

Sports

Social On Thursday 25th May, the annual sports social was enjoyed once again by pupils, parents and staff.

Congratulations to the U13 rounders team on regaining its title in the Coventry School Championships.They played four group games and won all of them convincingly.

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They then went on to beat Blue Coat in the semi-finals by three rounders, to face KHVIII in the finals.The display of fielding was excellent by the girls, holding

KHVIII to only half a rounder going in to bat second, in the knowledge that they only had to get a rounder to win.Well done to all of the team!

With a mini heat wave for the day, the atmosphere could not have been better, and all enjoyed the hog roast and sweet treats on offer. Pupils played some competitive rounders matches against their peers, which soon turned into girls v boys! The male staff even enjoyed inventing a few new rounders rules of their own.We thank all pupils and parents for their commitment to school sport over the last year, and look forward to celebrating with you again next summer.

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Bablake Update

Headmaster’s Notes All of us have been shocked by the mindless acts of terrorism in Manchester and London, and especially upset by the loss of young lives, full of such promise.

Those of us who work in education do so because we can see the enormous potential of young people and because we want to make a difference to their future and consequently to the future of our world.

Parents too share a similar sentiment, as their greatest gift to their child and to society must be the provision of the best possible upbringing, so that the young adult who leaves the family home is prepared for a life of fulfilment and adventure.There can be no harder loss for a parent than the death of a beloved son or daughter.

We believe in the fundamental goodness of humanity, even if none of us is perfect.

As our children grow up, they learn the expected norms of civilised society, and look to us as adults to model moral behaviour and to set them consistent parameters.They are not always kind to each other and they do make mistakes; some take longer to learn than others and some have to learn through the removal of privileges or through sanctions – but always with the possibility of redemption. Our Life Choices programme presents pupils with the information and considerations they need to make their own choices and, we hope, to develop a moral compass.

Proud to be a school in the city of Coventry, we have espoused the values of Peace and Reconciliation within our own set of school values, not only in the attitudes we hope to develop, but also in the curriculum. In my own lifetime I believe that there has been no greater need for these values than today. In a fast-moving world, we want our pupils and

staff to be at peace within themselves; we want children to respect and care for each other and to be reconciled when they have differences; and we want to be an outwardlooking community which is a power for good in our local, national and global communities.

Ultimately we believe that children can become the adults who will live at peace with each other - whatever their social, cultural or faith backgrounds - and that, as leaders of the future, they can be the architects of a better world.

Diary

Dates Saturday 1 July - 8.45am – 2.00pm Lower Sixth Mock Interview Morning, EDM & Languages Monday 3 July - 9.00am – 2.15pm Sports Day, The Pingles, Nuneaton

At Bablake, we are committed to promoting the values of peace and reconciliation: • in our own lives, as we seek to be at peace with ourselves.

• in our attitude to others, as we seek to live at peace with our neighbours.

• in our life as a school community, as we seek to resolve conflict and reconcile our differences.

• in our curriculum, as we seek to deepen our awareness and understanding of the world beyond school.

• in our service to the local and national community, as we seek to build links and work in partnership with others.

• in our commitment to social justice and peace, as we seek to eradicate injustice and conflict.

• in our international links, as we seek to promote mutual support and understanding which transcends boundaries of faith, culture, race and gender.

These values are underpinned by our school aim to “promote an awareness of the world beyond school, a generosity of spirit, and a sense of service to the wider community”, and form part of our mission as an International Cross of Nails School.

In making this commitment, we believe that each of us can play a significant part in bringing peace and reconciliation to our world.

Wednesday 5 July - 7.00pm Prize Giving, Coventry Methodist Central Hall Thursday 6 July Term ends 12.00 noon Leavers’ Ball, Nailcote Hall 7.30pm Thursday 17 August A level Results Day Thursday 24 August GCSE Results Day Wednesday 6 September Autumn Term begins Saturday 9 September 9.30am – 12 noon Shell Olympics Morning Saturday 23 September 9.30am – 12.30pm Open Morning

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