Bablakenews
Up for debate It has been a very successful year so far for public speakers and debaters at Bablake. Both our Intermediate and Senior trios won the local round of the Rotary Club Youthspeaks competition, held in our own theatre at the end of January. In the younger age group Maddy Baskerville 2K, Emily Poole 3H and Sonia Dhillon 3H were triumphant, speaking about the unusual subject of shark cage diving. Their counterparts in the 14-19 category – Karan Pankhania, Sam Paplauskas and Simeon Blake-Hall – spoke about vegetarianism. In the ESU Schools Public Speaking competition Bablake were eliminated in the first round but came away with two individual prizes: Keisha Simms for ‘Most Outstanding Personality’ and Kate Edmiston for best Chairperson. Our debaters also advance through the first round of the ESU Mace Schools competition, with Thomas Ryan-Moulder and Ollie Adebisi representing the school.
Cresting a wave of success Upper Sixth pupil Jacob Low, who was awarded a prestigious STEM Nuffield bursary for Physics earlier this year, to facilitate a research project over the summer, recently received his Gold Crest certificate. Before the awards ceremony which was held at Coventry University, Jacob, together with the other bursary holders, gave a poster presentation of his work. The Gold Crest certificates were awarded by Professor Ivey, Dean of Engineering and Computing at Coventry University. After this, Dr Matt Parker delivered a talk on ‘Adventures in the Fourth Dimension’. Chandni Patel's excellent progress with her Silver Crest Award project has been recognised by the Coventry Telegraph, our local daily newspaper. She has successfully negotiated the regional rounds of a competition reaching the national event that will conclude in March 2012 at the Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineering Fair. Aaran Patel, Jacob Williams, Marcus Judge and Marco Ciao were runners up and have also been invited to the National Science and Engineering Event at the NEC, while Upper Sixth pupils Beth Evans, Helen Porter, Smriti Aojula, Anuriti Aojula, Jonathan Wellings, and Kurt Ibberson will be taking their Gold Crest projects to the event. We wish them all the very best of luck.
Philippa Chowne RIP 14/04/1996 – 14/12/2011
Pippa Chowne in our Fifth Year collapsed suddenly and died at home on the evening of 14 December. She was the daughter of Andrew Chowne, who teaches Maths at Bablake, and Lisa, who used to teach here. Pippa’s brother, Robert, left Bablake just over a year ago. We remember Pippa as a bright, positive and talented girl, with a beautiful, gentle personality, and a very promising future. She was involved in numerous aspects of school life, and brought an inner determination and cheerful commitment to all she did. Fellow pupils and teachers only ever spoke warmly of her, and expressed their grief in heart-felt tributes posted on a dedicated Facebook page, Twitter and the school’s own online book of condolence. A funeral service in Pippa’s home village of Kineton enabled a large congregation to give thanks for Pippa, and for how she graciously touched our own lives for the better. Megan Evans, fellow Fifth Former, has recorded a CD (4Pip), and other friends will be performing in a concert (4Pip) in aid of CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) and Cancer Research UK on 14 March. Staff and pupils are also warming up for Race for Life in the summer. Pippa’s family remain very grateful for the support and prayers of the Bablake community. bablake school
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