Clarion Spring 2014

Barton Court Grammar School

CLARION! Summer 2014

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Contents Articles

4-5

Headteacher’s Report

49

Design Technology

6-7

New Head Boy and Head Girl

50-51 Literature Quiz

8-9

OFSTED

10-11 We Rocked You!

Barton Court Students have their say...

13

12

World War I—Countries United?

14-15 Photography Competition

16

Are we Computer Addicts?

17

Thinking Schools

18

19

Biochemistry

Government and Our Freedom

20

Year 10 Debating Day

21

Benefits Street

22

Tate Modern Art Trip

23

Technology-Obsessed Generation

26

Prisoners’ Right to Vote?

30-31 Sports Round-Up

28

Fur in Fashion

34

It’s Time To Cook!

29

Jeju Ferry Disaster

35

Spanish Exchange

33

In Defence of Communism

37

Maths Gifted and Talented

36

Fracking in the UK

38

Swimming the Channel

39

Wayne’s Gain

Science and Engineering Week

24-25 Films and Books 27

Abbie Wyver: Gymnastics

42-43 Italian Ski Trip

40-41 Everyday Sexism

44

Short Story Reading Group

46-47 Brand’s Revolution

45

Canterbury Music Scene

47

48

STEM Festival

Superiority of Human Life?

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Notes from the Editors Dear Students, Teachers, Governors and other readers, Welcome to the latest edition of Clarion! I hope that you enjoy it.

With this issue we have deliberately tried to include articles that are more thought-provoking and stimulating.

We cover a diverse range of topics and offer some opinionated views which will hopefully be provocative.

If these articles make you think and also make you want to comment, then please get involved on the relevant discussion board which you will find under "Clarion!" in Student SharePoint.

So, whether we're talking about Fur, the Internet, Voting, Russell Brand or any of our other topics, you can rely upon Barton Court students to be forthright, opinionated and engaged. Why not join them and comment on the articles? Why not write an article of your own and e-mail it to me? I will then circulate to the editorial team and we will discuss it at our weekly meetings.

Hope you enjoy the magazine, Mr Hodgkins Head of English

Dear Readers, In this edition of Clarion!, the focus is on more controversial, hard-hitting topics that have been relevant over the past few months. From the centenary of World War I to the over-popularisation of social media, this edition features many debatable topics.

You can join in with the discussion at on the student SharePoint to put your opinion forward and get your voice heard. We encourage all students to join in with this new feature and really get involved with the issues raised in this term’s Clarion!

But we know that you want to read about other relevant things like books, films and cooking, so we have put together some suggestions of what you could do with your friends or make with your family. Trips and events have also been included, so you could be featured!

We hope you enjoy reading and joining in with the discussions, Clarion! Editors Megan Jones

Emma Sharrad

Lois Bebbington

Isabel Johns

Jennifer Richards

Claire Merritt

Scarlett Dyson

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Headteacher's Report

By Ms Cardus Welcome to our School magazine, the Clarion! I hope you will enjoy reading the Summer Term edition, produced by Mr Hodgkins and the student editors: Megan Jones, Lois Bebbington, Emma Sharrad, Isabel Johns, Jennifer Richards, Claire Merritt and Scarlett Dyson.

This edition provides a mix of articles about Barton Court, student successes and thought-provoking articles written by the students. We hope you enjoy this new style to the magazine and we welcome your feedback or if you wish to submit an article for the next edition then please contact the editors directly.

It has been another busy term at Barton Court Grammar School with a wide range of activities from Ski Trips, to Exchange visits to some personal success for individual students. Abbie Wyver, Yr 10, was crowned both British Junior Overall Rhythmic Gymnastics Champion and British Individual Champion in all four routines - the hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon. Having made a clean sweep of all the British Junior titles she returned to school to sit her English Literature and English languages GCSEs a year early too! What an amazing achievement and an inspiration to us all.

The School was hugely successful in a recent full Ofsted inspection achieving “Outstanding” in all categories and “Outstanding” overall. This is a fantastic achievement for the school and we would like to thank all students, staff, parents and Governors for all their hard work and contributions to making Barton Court such a special place to learn. The School however, whilst celebrating such success must not become complacent, the criteria to meet outstanding is as challenging as ever and the bar is constantly being raised by Ofsted. We seek to continually improve for the benefit of all current and future students who join our community.

We have also experienced a very busy consultation process this term, about a possible relocation of the School to a site in Herne Bay. Following numerous consultation meetings for the public, meetings with parents and staff, and student assemblies and form group question and answer sessions the response rate to the consultation was much lower than expected.

The student responses are available to view in the Student Portal, and where these were completed in Computing lessons, for years 7 and 8, the response rate was high but in other year groups this has been much lower. The parent response rate was much lower than expected from a total of 1691 parents in our school community and 777 families, only 87 responses were received with a significant minority of these provided by both parents who were representing the same family. The summary is available to view on our School website.

The Governors are looking at various options at this stage including what can be achieved on our current site with a decision expected in the Autumn Term.

It is so important that students have access to the best facilities and resources the School can offer and it is for this reason, as the Governors continue to plan for the future of Barton Court over the next 5-25 years, that we look strategically ahead at how the School can continue to develop and improve for future generations. Recently we informed you of the Governors expression/notification of intent to:  

improve the facilities for current and future students expand to meet the increasing parental demand

In the last three years we have renovated over 28 classrooms as part of our rolling programme of school improvement, creating a 21st Century learning environment with the latest technology, allowing us to deliver outstanding teaching and learning. We now have Interactive Whiteboards in every classroom and over 185 new computers across the school site for student use. The Sixth Form Learning Resource Centre is proving very popular with students, as they appreciate the best resources we can offer them. We have developed our own Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) with Student and Parent

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portals now up and running for 24/7 learning and improved communication. The music room was renovated last summer and this summer we plan to renovate the two Art rooms, Rm 19 and the PA studio for Drama/Music.

This summer we also plan to replace the school wireless system to enable us to support the ever increasing need for mobile technology. We hope to be able to offer to our Sixth Form in September the option of “bringing your own device” to School with full access to our wireless system.

We have managed to do all this with very little extra funding received from additional external sources, grants or funds. It is exciting to think what could be achieved if the school was successful in securing additional funds to improve the facilities for all students now and in the future.

Last year we were able to offer an additional form of entry to our current Year 7 and with 90 appeals this was welcome news to prospective parents. However, this year we have been unable to accommodate an additional form. With 75 appeals lodged and heard in May 2014 we are as popular as ever and it would be fantastic to be able to provide an opportunity for more students to have access to the high quality educational provision we are able to provide.

We continue to work hard to implement the “Thinking Schools” philosophy, launching the Thinking Hats this academic year to compliment the learning and thinking tools of the Thinking Maps introduced last year. We are due to launch the “Habits of Mind” which we will call the “Attributes for success” which encourages us all to develop and use habits/skills that have been proven in ensuring success in life as well as within educational study. We have placed thinking at the heart of our learning and teaching and we are developing a common visual language of Thinking Tools to enable our students to become independent, confident, thoughtful, life-long learners. We believe that thinking students will be successful in their learning and life beyond Barton Court. We are working with Exeter University towards accreditation as a Thinking School and we hope to gain this in Dec 2014/Jan 2015 The summer term is a very important time in all secondary schools, as students and staff are working hard towards success in the final examinations. We wish all our students success in these examinations and we look forward to celebrating with each of them their individual achievements on results days.

Whilst examination results are important and provide students with a strong base upon which to build their future careers, examination results alone are not sufficient for success in today’s society and we are committed to providing a quality education that prepares students for learning and work in the 21st century. Students are actively encouraged to be involved in as many extra-curricular opportunities as possible; exchanges, trips, community work, enrichment, work experience, clubs, sports, creative arts, to name just a few.

I have no doubt that when you read this edition of the Clarion! you will be left wondering how the students find the time to be such fantastic young people making positive contributions to the life of the School and the wider community and still find the time to complete their studies successfully.

It is such a privilege and pleasure to be Headteacher at Barton Court Grammar School where the students, staff, Governors and parents work together for the benefit of our community. The wide range of activities offered and the fundraising events organised by the students is testament to the hard work and commitment of all staff and students in making Barton Court such a special place to learn and develop.

Ms K Cardus Headteacher

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Meet Our New Head Boy and Head Girl The leadership system within Barton Court enables students to have a vital say in how their school is run, as well as teaching them important leadership skills for the wider world of work. We are very pleased to announce that our new Head Boy is Jack Grieve, and our new Head Girl is Elizabeth Leahy.

Here’s what they have to say about their new positions: "Firstly, we would like to introduce ourselves as your new Head Boy and Head Girl. We would like to thank all students and staff who participated in the voting process and say how privileged we are to be in this position.

As your new Head Girl and Head Boy, we will be bringing many new, exciting opportunities to Barton Court.

Some of these include: teaching valuable life skills in form time, such as first aid and financing, improving the School's complaint and suggestion system, so pupils go directly to the Senior Prefect Team, as well as the use of a suggestion box, and improving the rewards system for outstanding achievement as well as more support for struggling students.

We both feel honoured to be representing the School and we hope the enthusiasm and commitment we bring to this role will help us strive for the success of Barton Court. Also, we very much look forward to working with our new Senior Prefect Team, as well as the Student Voice Representatives and members of staff throughout the new academic year.

Finally, we would like to thank you all for giving us this fantastic opportunity and we are truly proud to be able to give something back to the School.

We are looking forward to working with both Jack and Elizabeth, as well as our new Senior Prefect Team.

Elizabeth and Jack with Pierre Anderson, previous head boy

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Meet the Senior Prefect Team

Above photograph: From left: James Burford, Micol Merlin, Kieran Kejiou, Emma Sharrad, Larry Wang, Jasmine Quinney, Jack Grieve, Elizabeth Leahy, Oliver Andrews, Jessica Lamb

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OFSTED REPORT—Highlights At the end of March, Barton Court Grammar School was visited by OFSTED. It was the School’s first full inspection since March 2009. Although the full report has been made available to parents, staff ,and students we felt it would be appropriate to share some of the highlights here, at the beginning of our school magazine. The report deemed the school to be “Outstanding” in ALL areas and we are all very proud of its findings.

Here are a few highlights from the Report itself...

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OFSTED REPORT—Highlights

These are just some of the highlights in the Report, which proved what we all know: Barton Court Grammar School is an outstanding school, and a great place to study and to teach!

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We Rocked You!

By Gemma Davies When I first found out that Barton Court’s next school production was going to be the jukebox musical ‘We Will Rock You’ written by Ben Elton, the comedic author behind Blackadder, I was absolutely buzzing because I am a huge Queen fan and it’s also one of my favourite shows, so to actually get the chance to perform it alongside over 40 students from all year groups was amazing!

Since January, we had been learning the songs of Queen, such as Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are the Champions and Radio Gaga. That part wasn’t too difficult because, come on, who doesn’t know Queen songs?! Choreographers had the job of coming up with numerous dances which the cast rehearsed for almost three hours after school every day in preparation for the final performances. It was an absolute blast!

Performers in past musicals have made lots of new friends with people from other year groups while producing a great show, and this year was no exception. Killer Queen, who was played by Micol Merlin in Year 12, was certainly able to show the audience that her character meant business. The same can be said about her second-in-command, Commander Khashoggi, who was played by Elliott Killeen, who gave a brilliant comical excellence to the show. Now, I find myself saying hello in the corridor to many friends I made on the musical, and I’m sure many other cast members will say the same.

The leading man, James Burford, is no stranger to performing, having won Battle of the Bands last year as part of Gospel Oaks. Even though the dynamics of theatre are very new to him, we all think he was brilliant as Galileo Figaro, the hero of our story. Alongside him was Charlotte Swain as Scaramouche, whose beautiful voice left the audience stunned, whilst she portrayed her character’s rebellious attitude perfectly.

Jade Elsden was a newcomer to the school musical, but the cast made her very welcome and she too managed to pull off a fantastic performance as Meat alongside a regular performer in the school musical, Kiyia Velasco-Mills, as Brit. Nearly all of us actually thought he was better than the actual West End actor! Just don’t tell the London company…

Thomas Peacock wowed the congregation in the carol service when he was in Year 7 singing the first verse of ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ solo, and he did the same this year in his first principal musical role, Pop.

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He provided many laughs both for the audience and the cast with his light-hearted charm.

As part of the chorus, I feel we were able to show a very clear contrast between the robotic GaGa Kids who all follow the same rules and the rebellious Bohemians who aren’t afraid to break those rules. We believe that the chorus this year was the strongest we’ve had for many years. Performing in the musical has raised many students’ self-confidence and many have been inspired to perform more. Maybe Barton Court has found some future West End stars!

The band, consisting of Oliver Kennett on piano, Jacob Glass on the synth, Luke Brealey on guitar, Michael Farbrace on drums and Mr Archer on bass, did the songs much justice. Credit must also go to the technical team on the lights as well as Lois Bebbington and her backstage team, without whom the show could not have taken place.

I think that we raised our game with the production this year and, as a result, have put on the best Barton Court musical yet! Thank you to everyone who made it so special, especially Miss Fenn and Miss Brown, who put enormous amounts of effort and time in, including an entire enrichment day. If you didn’t get involved this year, I encourage you to go for it in “Grease” next year!

A short review from Mr Hodgkins Having been at Barton Court for a while I have had the pleasure to see many splendid productions, from "Oliver" to "Guys and Dolls" to "Wizard of Oz" and last year's "Bugsy Malone" .

However, for sheer glamour, exuberance and pizzazz it would be hard to beat this year's production of "We Will Rock You!" Let's be honest: the story is not the most vital thing here. What we wanted were the songs, delivered with aplomb, and they certainly were. Micol Merlin cut a dashing figure as the wicked "Killer Queen". Certainly someone you would not want to upset. Aided by the villainous Elliot Killeen, we had a lively pair of evil doers.

Kiyia Velasco Mills strutted his stuff with passion and skill as "Brit", aided by Jade Elsden as the feisty "Meat".

Tom Peacock threatened to steal the show with his quirky old hippie, "Pop".

Special mention must go to Charlotte Swain as the unconventional heroine, "Scaramouche". Her blistering vocals lit up the stage, particularly when shared with James Burford's " Figaro", who delivered a powerful and compelling lead character.

Costumes were vibrant, amusing and engaging, and the musical roared along with no dull moments. Lighting was also very impressive, emphasised by some lively moments where the cast worked their way through the audience. Overall, the dance routines were excellent, too.

A final mention must go to the musicians who provided a great atmosphere and some fantastic musical backing.

Overall, the play offered great entertainment and well done to all involved. All the hard work was worth it ! Well done! You were the champions!

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The First World War - Countries United?

By Jennifer Richards The anniversary of the First World War has welcomed new investigations and reflections on the events that happened a hundred years ago. This year is being spent remembering those that served, and lost their lives in the war, as well as asking new questions, with historian Niall Ferguson even arguing that Britain’s involvement in the war was a mistake. But amongst the death tolls, weapon descriptions and harrowing stories of soldiers in the trenches, the moments of humanity shown in the First War World soon became forgotten. Yet, I feel that these moments where people united are perhaps the most important of them all. When I think of these moments of humanity, my mind automatically goes to the Christmas Truce of 1914, an event that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described as ‘one human episode amid all the atrocities’. But whilst researching this event, I discovered the ‘Open Christmas Letter’ of 1914, which was such a fascinating story that I felt appalled I hadn’t heard about it previously.

The First World War occurred during 1914-1918, when the suffrage movement was prominent, with women in both Europe and America trying to secure the vote. This universal cause became the reason for a moment of peace and love amongst all the suffering. A group of German women’s rights activists wrote to Carrie Chapman Catt, who was the president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) about the importance of war not dividing them, and how they should remain united to achieve their goal of “political freedom”. In response to this letter, which was published in ‘Jus Suffragii’, the journal of the IWSA, Emily Hobhouse, a British suffragist, wrote what became known as the ‘Open Christmas Letter.’ This was a letter signed by Hobhouse and 101 other suffragists, which was then sent to the US, as the British suffragists weren’t allowed to communicate directly with the German suffragists. The letter was headed ‘On Earth Peace, Goodwill towards Men’, and called for peace amongst the nations. This was answered two months later by a group of 155 German and Austrian suffragists, sharing their desire for peace.

The wish of universal suffrage inspired the hope for peace amongst these women, leading to the IWSA holding an international peace conference of women in The Hague. At this meeting, Julia Grace Wales, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, put forward her ideas on achieving peace in what was called the ‘Wisconsin Plan’. The 1,150 women who attended the conference supported this plan unanimously, and agreed to select a delegate to travel to neutral countries to present the plan, including the United States, which was a neutral country at the time.

This shared goal of achieving the vote for women helped unify people who otherwise would never have communicated. This display of humanity stands Emily Hobhouse, author of the ‘Open Christmas Letter’ out for me as a significant moment in history, with many ideas from the Wisconsin Plan being used by President Woodrow Wilson when creating his Fourteen Points, showing the role of these women in bringing about peace. Perhaps when we discuss the legacy of the First World War, we should not just remember those who are heroes for fighting for their country, but also those who are heroes for fighting for what they believed in, and united against all odds.

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Science and Engineering Week

By Joseph Moon National Science Engineering Week (NESW) is an annual event that allows students and scientists to come together and learn about science and engineering.

Therefore, we spent a week at school focusing on science and making things in honour of the event.

Monday was the first day of the event, so we started by creating water rockets out of half-full bottles of water and bicycle pumps. After learning about how they worked, we went outside onto the field to set them off. They worked very well and it was really fun!

The following day was time to make strong glue out of completely organically sourced materials. We learnt about how it was a better adhesive than a Pritt Stick, for example, and it was very interesting.

We took it up a notch on Wednesday by conducting our own investigation about who stole the cookies.

We put different coloured DNA prints in water with an electrical field around them to do our detective work.

Thursday had a special focus on engineering, so we made speaker systems out of nyodinium magnet, a roll of thin paper, a plastic cup, a lot of wound up wire and some sellotape.

On the final day, we found out a lot about the chemistry of everyday objects like hair gel and train rails. Overall, I had a lot of fun at NEWD and all of the sessions were very interesting. I can’t wait for next year!

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Photography Competition I am pleased to announce that Barton Court Grammar School students were extremely successful in a local photography competition run by the Rotary Club of Herne Bay. Students were asked to submit three photographs on the theme of 'People'.

Letizia Fraternali, Year 13, was overall winner of the senior category and in the intermediate category, Katie Toms, Year 7, came first and Cos Mandis, Year 8, second.

All three students with their families attended the exhibition launch on Wednesday 19 March when winners and runners-up received their certificates and prizes. The exhibition was formally opened by her Worship the Lord Mayor and prizes were presented by Joe Walker, News Editor of the Herne Bay Gazette, who was also one of the judges. The winning students' photographs will now be submitted to the next level and if successful they will be put forward to the national competition. All of the photographs submitted were on display at Beach House, Herne Bay, from 20 to 25 March.

Letizia Fraternali, Year 13

Letizia Fraternali, Year 13

Katie Toms, Year 7

Letizia Fraternali, Year 13

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Cos Mandis, Year 8

Katie Toms, Year 7 Cos Mandis, Year 8

Cos Mandis, Year 8

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Are we all Computer Addicts?

By Alexander Pullen Isolation. Fatigue. Tiredness. These are all symptoms that studies have proven are related to heavy usage of the internet.

As the world is becoming increasingly more reliant on technology, more and more people are becoming addicted to computer screens. How many hours do you spend on social network sites such as Facebook each day?

Probably more than you think.

According to infographic labs, the average Facebook user spends over 11 and a half hours per month on the site and each day, 55 million status updates are made. Does this not suggest a problem?

Only 0.4% of the world population used the internet in December 1995 compared to 38.8% in March 2013. That is an increase from 16 million users to 2749 million users in less than 18 years.

In that time, the internet has been used to achieve great things. It is an easy way to contact someone quickly. It can be used to find information without going to a library. You can watch ‘Gangnam Style’ on YouTube, which has nearly 2 billion views. But do we actually need this? We coped without it for thousands of years, didn’t we? So why are we so dependent on it now?

People use it to get out of face-to-face conversations; to avoid having to walk to a library to look up something in a book, and to stay at home, isolated, instead of going out to see the real world.

Think about it. Instead of going to the shops, you go on eBay or Amazon. Instead of going to a library, you purchase an eBook on your Kindle. Instead of meeting a group of friends in town, you go on Facebook or Skype.

Instead of playing football in the park with your friends, you play FIFA on the Xbox, because it’s still football, isn’t it?

What do

YOU think?

Robert Freedman, editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry, advised, “'A self-help group might be a place to start. Maybe replace an online group with a real one’ as a way to beat the addiction.

So, to avoid becoming fatigued, tired and isolated you should limit the time that you go on a computer or phone, meet friends in real life rather than on the internet and stop wasting away hours of life in a virtual world.

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Thinking Schools Over the last two terms, Barton Court has embraced its status as a Thinking School and we have seen a number of excellent Thinking Maps situated around the School. With exam period looming, the use of Thinking Maps is vital in revision as it recognises the relevant information.

Thinking Schools also offers a Thinking is Fun Club, available for all years on Friday lunchtimes! Thinking Schools isn’t solely about hats or maps but it’s also about the fun and enjoyable aspects of learning which the club offers in the form of stimulating games.

At the Year 7 and Year 8 Parents Evenings, we have set up a 20 second game that encompasses the values behind Thinking Schools. We used Dingbats and allowed 20 seconds for pupils and parents alike to have a go at guessing as many as possible. Evidently we underestimate them as we were soon allowing only 15 seconds!

Here are a few examples of Dingbats for you to have a guess at:

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Is the Government Controlling our Freedom?

By Anonymous

In a day and age when Governments feel that they are in the right when deciding to censor and hide the truth away from the people, we need to act against it. Internet Censorship is a topic which has been heavily debated over the last 10 years with political activist group like Anonymous, which I support, and the recent whistleblowing on Edward Snowden which led him to be nominated for Time Person of the Year.

Internet censorship is the control of access to information on the internet. Now this may be by governments or corporations. The problem with it is that it may be used to keep the public from really knowing the truth on critical issues like politics in a dictatorship government or the financial position of a bankrupt company. Assuming you wanted to make the decision to vote or buy shares in a company, if this information is internet censored then you wouldn't make a smart choice, hence the disadvantage of internet censorship.

China is one of the 25 countries found to systematically filter its citizens’ internet content. In the dot-com heyday of the ’90s and early 2000s…there was a myth that the Internet can’t be controlled,” says Ronald Deibert, a researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. ”There was some mysterious, magical property associated with it that will route around censorship.”

Another main issue for those who are against censorship is a history of censorship abuse. Those who argue against censorship can point to a number of examples of dictators who used censorship to create flattering yet untrue images of themselves for the purpose of maintaining control over a society. They argue that people should control the government instead of the government controlling its people.

Although some people may argue that we need to censor our internet to protect young children from seeing things they shouldn't, there is an alternative solution that doesn't require censorship. Simply don't let your 6 year old son or daughter, who you care for so much, scurry off onto the internet, browsing freely. There are many programs that can be installed to block any website deemed 'bad' or 'unknown' and instead of violating people's freedom, why not try using that instead?

The unintended consequences of censoring information such as spamming or places where identity theft can occur may also be hindering websites that offer positive, helpful information that can be of great benefit. Because censorship laws operate much like a net rather than a surgical knife, it means that sites which provide something useful and relevant may be swept into the same area of other sites that deserve censorship.

So next time you sit down to have a coffee and 'surf the web', just remember, if the Edward Snowden government gets what they want and censor the internet, even through the courageous attempts of Edward Snowden and other political activists, we may no longer be able to 'surf the web', our children will not be able to share their art and ideas – our children's children won't be able to engage in a community and develop skills that can be used for later What do life – and most importantly, both will grow up in a world full of sweets and sugar, think? where everything is good, with no knowledge of what's going on elsewhere. Is this really what you want to happen?

YOU

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Biochemistry

By Keiran Kejiou Biochemistry. The word alone sounds tedious, like something that balding, middle-aged men do with steady hands and sweaty brows, as they stand for hours in a dull, monochrome lab. For us, the non-Sciencey folk of this world, it’s one of those fields that other people go into.

And so it fell to Dr Klappa, our esteemed chair of governors, to do away with this unfortunate preconception. Yes, Mrs Hayles and our lab technician Ms Gladstone were also present, but really, it was Dr Klappa’s show.

In this writer’s humble opinion, we could not have been in better hands. Dr Klappa’s enthusiasm was infectious (Bacteria pun!) and his depth of knowledge coupled with his jovial patience truly made every session worth attending. He began by outlining his research into useful plasmids (loops of DNA) present in bacteria. These plasmids, if found and used, could potentially lead to treatment for common diseases such as cystitis.

Over the course of several weeks, we were exposed to several techniques.

Some were rather tame, such as the preparation of nutrient agar plates and plates with antibiotics to screen for bacteria with useful plasmids.

These were useful skills, and they allowed us to practice our previous knowledge, but their excitement value paled in comparison to everything else we did. We used PCR to replicate DNA, we used DNA fingerprinting and we put things in centrifuges! Centrifuges never fail to excite me.

But the highlight was the isolation of DNA from bacteria. If you cannot yet grasp the gravity of that activity: we (figuratively) reached inside organisms invisible to the naked eye, and pulled out the molecules which contained the very essence of their being.

In this little act, we found something. We found a portion of human science dedicated to reaching into the chaos of life to discover hidden structure and order. We found biochemistry as it truly was.

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Year 10 Debating Day

By Mr Hodgkins March saw the Annual Year 10 Debating Enrichment Day. Students spent the whole day working in teams, as they researched a variety of different topics. Forms had play-offs to select their best pair, and then the four forms did battle in Room 19 during Period 4, in order to select the two winning forms who would contest the Grand Final in the Sports Hall in period 5.

Mr Hodgkins selected the Motions which were designed to be controversial and thought-provoking. Students had access to room 36 all day in order to gather research. The English Department were very impressed with the way teams allocated different roles and worked together. It was very pleasing to see students who, although they might have been knocked out in an early play-off, still rallied round others in their form and acted like team players. All of these skills will be very useful in later life. Students also took on the role of judges with gusto and maturity, which was highly commendable. Their comments were incisive and perceptive.

The Motions were: 

The internet and social networks are more of a curse than a blessing—people are now more isolated and exposed to dangerous and damaging materials than ever before



People on benefits are generally lazy and work shy. They have themselves to blame for their problems



Fracking is the only option for our long term energy needs. We must embrace this new technology and not reject it



There is not enough discipline in schools. Corporal punishment should be brought back in the schools of the UK



Top sports people are paid obscene amounts of money— nobody is worth £300,000 per week



The EU is corrupt, inefficient and a massive drain on our resources. The UK should leave the European Union immediately.

Particularly strong student performers were Adam Reid and Maddy Muscat arguing FOR Motion 4 in the semi – final, and George Steadman-Gay and Sam Robertson arguing FOR Motion 5 in the semi – final However, in the end, the final was contested by 10C and 10G who dealt with Motion 6 in a passionate, articulate manner.

Harry Harris and Toby Youngman debated in favour of the EU. They used a range of rhetorical devices and argued passionately without notes. Both students had real presence and authority and held the attention of their year group in the Sports Hall. Sam Harlow and Joe Baker – Roberts criticised the EU with a range of statistics and some impassioned delivery. Both pairs represented their form, their year group, and indeed the school itself with honour. In the end 10C’s Sam and Joe just edged it on a split decision. Prizes were also given to those who contributed the best questions on the day; Rhys Mackenzie, Alice Scharmeli and Maddy Muscat.

Overall, Year 10 excelled themselves on the day and learned some important lessons in the art of persuasion.

Hopefully, some of the students will go on to represent the school in Sixth Form debating in the future. Their efforts bode well for the future. Well done, Year 10!

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Benefits Street: Fair or False?

By Alex Windsor Although widely popular, some of you may not have yet had the chance to view Channel 4’s highly controversial, insightful television programme regarding the benefit claiming population of “James Turner Street” in Birmingham. To put it short, the show is conflicting. It gives a mesmerising, yet confusing look at the characters’ lives and how the benefits system is helping and restricting them. The street itself is situated in the Winson Green area of Birmingham and contains ninety nine houses; the street is renowned for having such a large percentage of benefit claimants, with only 5% of the street working.

From the point of view of a person that pays tax and has never experienced life on benefits, the programme can be quite antagonising and angering, especially due to the way it is edited. It shows us footage of people who supposedly are on low income, living a relatively enjoyable life, at the expense of the British taxpayer. It is designed to enrage us and it gets people sitting on the edge of their seat, shouting and despairing as they watch the lack of discipline unravel before their eyes. The program depicts its characters as lazy, whether this is fair or not. In one episode, we see Mark, a young unemployed man with 2 children, venture to the job centre in search of some form of employment. However he leaves rather abruptly. After a short meeting with an employment consultant, he gives up, still unemployed, for the simple reason that they wanted to speak to his partner, Becky. We never saw Becky or him return to the job centre.

“James Turner Street” is the filming location of the popular channel 4 program.

One of the main characters that we encounter during the series is Fungi who has spent a large proportion of his life on the streets due to bad decisions he has made. He is a heroin addict and lives in a house that is poorly maintained. We do however feel sorry for him as he has lost touch with his son, and despite having set up a meeting he has been denied permission to see his son by his adoptive parents. Many children on the street relate to Fungi as a friend; this makes us further sympathise with him for having had his son taken away. Although he is portrayed as a failure who is more pathetic than dangerous, we discover that Fungi is really just a normal person who has made bad decisions.

However, many of us may ask when watching Benefits Street, why are the people on benefits? Was it solely their fault or is it due to their upbringing? Studies have shown that people that grow up in unstable households are much more likely to become unemployed in the long run. In some cases the government and the financial strain it puts on people may be responsible for people claiming benefits. If people are brought up in an unstable household with no rules, go to a bad school and are even encouraged by their parents to claim benefits, what else can we expect?

In a sense the programme is one-sided. It shows only British members of the street and doesn’t show any people that have a job. The editors of the show have meticulously selected different clips of footage, taken over a year, to portray the residents in the way they selected. It is true to say that the show is purely for entertainment and shouldn’t be taken as fact; the show is made in a way that makes people want to watch it, by making it funny to some members of the public and angering to others.

In conclusion, the show ‘Benefits street’ is constructed in a manner that provides an entertaining, but perhaps not insightful view of those on benefits; it invites us to take an angry stance at those on benefits while incorporating some elements of sympathy. This makes the show very controversial because noWhat do one really knows where the producer stands on the argument. The narrator is ambiguous as he think? may say that someone has “been to the job centre” but the sarcastic tone may indicate a lack of effort. Benefits Street is a confusing yet entertaining show, designed to be controversial.

YOU

22

London Tate Modern Art Trip

By Miss Hodge On Monday 3rd of February Sixth Form students visited the permanent galleries at the Tate Modern in London.

The purpose of the trip was to inspire and enrich students’ thinking as they begin to consider various starting points for their next project, the externally set assignment. It was a rewarding day and whilst some students struggled to understand some of the more abstract and conceptual artwork, everyone gained from the experience and it provided an exciting opportunity to see artwork first hand.

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Is our Technology obsessed Generation Out of control?

By Paije Bennett

Everywhere you look nowadays, there's technology, in one form or another. From iPhones and iPads to iPods and kindles; we are the generation of technology. Many people these days aren’t able to function properly without some kind of technological device stuck to them all day.

But the question is: Are we out of control?

Some would say we are.

Mark Bauerlein, an American writer of How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or ‘Don't Trust Anyone Under 30’), swears that this generation is the 'dumbest' due to the fact that nowadays most teenagers are more likely to check their Facebook accounts than read an actual book in their free time. He claims that our generation have lost the ability to communicate: "It closes people off from a wider engagement with the world."

And it seems he's not the only one to believe that. MTV has coined the phrase 'connected cocooning' to refer to our generation.

However, others disagree. This generation is the most technologically advanced, and surely it is a good thing that we don’t have to work so hard for a bit of information, or to stay connected with people all over the world. In the world of work, it is a basic necessity to be able to use a computer. Is the new Apple generation just the first to understand the true need for technology? Or do we all just make too many excuses for these obsessions with computer screens? Do we need to intervene before it becomes too much? Or has it already reached that level?

Personally, I think that it has. I don’t have a Facebook or Twitter account, or any other addictive social media site available for anyone. Even though I don’t deny that the use of such sites is a good idea, I think that the sheer amount of overdocumentation is getting out of control. The sites aren’t being used for simple communication with one’s friends as they were intended anymore; there appears to be a need of documentation; everything from Starbucks drinks to the more common ‘selfie’. I don't get obsessed with checking people's status' and I spend most of my time online doing school work. I do use the internet for other things like listening to music, but I haven't become obsessed and I don't plan to anytime soon.

The internet is a wonderful thing. Technology is a fabulous thing. Over use of technology is the problem. If we can find a happy medium, the world will be completely dominated with ‘zombified’ teenagers who can’t function in ‘normal’ society.

What do

YOU think?

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Upcoming Films and Books

By Megan Jones 2014 has been a great year so far, with many new releases of books and films. Read on for a selection of highlyanticipated upcoming books and films...

More Than This by Patrick Ness By best-selling author of the Chaos Walking Trilogy, Patrick Ness, this story is of a boy named Seth who drowns, only to wake up in the old English town where he lived as a child. Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone. This is bound to be good for younger and older readers, judging by Ness’s other works.

The Maze Runner series by James Dashner Also a highly-anticipated upcoming film, The Maze Runner series has taken the fantasy world by storm. Thomas remembers nothing but his name as he steps into a new world; the terrifying stone maze. All he knows is that every morning when the walls slide back, he will risk everything with his two companions to try and find a way out. Look out for this The Fault in Our Stars by John Green Despite the tumour-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal. However, when Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heart-breaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love. This contemporary tale is suitable for older students.

A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin You will undoubtedly have heard of this, being the basis of HBO’s widely successful TV show, A Game of Thrones.

This coincidentally, is also the name of the first book, which older readers should try. An absorbing (and somewhat heavy) story from the first page, lovers of fantasy and historical fiction would greatly enjoy the adventures and misadventures of Lord Stark and Jon Snow.

“Electric… filled with staccato bursts of humor and tragedy” Jodi Picoult on The Fault in Our Stars

“These novels are triumphant.” - Jimmy Fallon on the A Song of Ice and Fire series

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Pompeii

Godzilla

A slave-turned-gladiator finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman Senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him. Starring new faces Kit Harrington and Carrie-Ann Moss, this modern retelling of one of the biggest human travesties in history will be one to look out for. Released 30th April 2014 as 12A.

A remake of the film classic, the world's most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten the existence of humans. This promises to be a magnificent, action-packed adventure-scifi production, anticipated by many. Releases 15th May 2014 as 12A.

Tarzan Another remake of a Disney classic comes Tarzan. Tarzan and Jane Porter face a mercenary army dispatched by the evil CEO of Greystoke Energies, a man who took over the company from Tarzan's parents, after they died in a plane crash. Suitable for younger viewers who enjoy fantastic graphics and fastmoving plotlines. Released 2nd May 2014 as a PG.

Transcendence For fans of Johnny Depp comes Transcendence, a new sci-fi film.

As Dr. Will Caster works toward his goal of creating an omniscient, sentient machine, a radical antitechnology organization fights to prevent him from establishing a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain. Released 25th April 2014 as 12A.

“The CGI in this film just blows my mind. I have never seen it done as well as this; it was like Pacific Rim times five.” - John Cox on Godzilla “It is streets ahead of most of what we get that is labelled science fiction. It's intelligent.” - Ken Hanke on Transcendence “A masterpiece” - Daniel Carey on Pompeii

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Should Prisoners have the Right to Vote?

By Amber Duffy

There is a lot of controversy over whether or not prisoners should or should not have the right to vote. Many people may argue that whilst these people may be living in custody, they are still fundamentally British citizens and therefore should have the right to have some say in who runs the country. However, many others may believe that the minute somebody commits a serious crime they hereby surrender any rights that could be considered a privilege, such as the right to vote.

In recent news, it has come to the attention of many MPs that if all 85,000 prisoners in Britain are denied access to the ballot box they could sue, potentially costing taxpayers a large total of £60 million.

This is due to the fact that the UK’s ban on prisoners voting completely goes again European law which states that EU countries should allow inmates to vote. The Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, warned that if the Government ignores an EU ruling on giving prisoners the vote, it risks provoking international "anarchy." Grieve said that sticking to international rules can be "irksome" but the country cannot "cherry pick" the legal obligations to which it adheres. David Cameron himself has previously said that the idea of overturning the ban on inmates voting makes him feel "physically sick" and has made his views clear that he is strongly against it.

A main reason for banning prisoners voting is that their circumstance may cause then to be biased when voting.

For example, someone who has been sentenced for life may be more inclined to vote for someone with softer views on sentencing or prison conditions. It is possible that the central idea behind not allowing criminals to vote is the assumption that they are all fundamentally bad people with a lack of morals and therefore should not have the vote, as they are more likely to perhaps vote for parties with extremist views and may not have the public’s best interest at heart. This type of thinking does however present the obvious problem that not all offenders are as bad as each other.

I personally feel that not all prisoners should be denied the same rights. I think that their individual circumstance, sentence and the nature of their crime should be taken into account and then the prisoner as an individual can be assessed and told whether or not they have the right to vote. Whilst I feel that people convicted of rape and murder should not have any say in how the country is run, I think perhaps people who are convicted of, say, theft or fraud should be able to, as they may be people who acted out of desperation or who never intended to commit any crime.

Another possible action would be to decide how much the election would be affecting the inmates. For example, if an election takes place 1 month or so before a prisoner’s release date then they should be able to vote as it will be relevant to their life as a free citizen.

What do

YOU think?

In conclusion, I feel that whilst bad people who intend to commit evil crimes should by no means be able to cast a vote, it is unfair to treat all prisoners as evil people and strip them of their rights without taking into account their personal circumstance and conviction.

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Abbie Wyver: Rhythmic Gymnastics

By Abbie Wyver

My name is Abbie Wyver (Year 10) and I am a rhythmic gymnast. Rhythmic gymnastics is the discipline combining grace, coordination, agility and artistry, where the gymnast uses small hand apparatus such as a hoop, ball, ribbon or clubs to perform a routine to music.

I belong to Canterbury City Rhythmic Gymnastics Club and I have been training there for 8 years training up to 24 hours a week after school and on Saturdays.

Recently I was asked to attend a Great Britain squad selection and after performing my clubs, ribbon, hoop and ball routines to the top technical committee of British Gymnastics, I was the only junior to meet the required standard and was therefore invited to join The Great Britain squad.

Since being selected I have been to Lilleshall National Sports Centre for training and I have competed in my first international as a GB squad member in Estonia. At the competition I performed my clubs and ribbon routines and competed against gymnasts from many other countries, including the top gymnasts from Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria. I did not medal but I was happy with my performances.

At the end of February I took part in the British Open competition with my hoop, clubs and ribbon routines. I performed two good routines with my hoop and ribbon and achieved first place in both, but made two minor mistakes in the clubs routine, giving me second place.

I was very proud to take part in the British Championships in May and I was thrilled to win Gold, and be crowned both English and British Champion !

Headteacher, Kirstin Cardus, said: “Abbie shows true discipline and dedication for her sport and this is now shining through in her achievements. We are very proud of her and will continue to support her efforts.

Abbie also manages to keep up with her school work as well as travelling nationally and internationally for competitions and everyone at Barton Court wishes her well and continues to celebrate in her success�.

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Faux Fur in Fashion

By Emily Woolford Recently, model of the moment, Cara Delevingne, stepped out on Fendi's Autumn/Winter 2014 catwalk and shocked the world by wearing pelt. Delevingne is a well known, British model made famous by her bold eyebrows. However, being seen to support this awful trend has both disappointed and angered her fans. Fur nowadays is seen as neither morally nor aesthetically fashionable. Fendi could just have produced these clothes to spark a reaction and get major publication for the designer brand, or because he agrees with this awful trade.

Whatever the reasons; innocent animals were killed just so models can strut around looking controversial.

Research has shown that 95% of British women refuse to wear fur. This statistic should surely prove to extravagant brands such as Fendi and high street brands such as Topshop, that fur is not wanted by the consumer. Despite this, nearly 70% of fashion designers used fur in their 2013 Autumn/Winter collections. Most people you would speak to in the street would express momentous disgust in the use of animals for clothing, yet the fur industry still managed to receive over £9.2 billion pounds in 2012!

Some people might wonder what all of the fuss is about. Don't we have milk on our cereal every morning and meat in our meals (for the non-vegetarians that is) and even leather on our belts or shoes. Where do these things come from?

Animals. Killed for meat and leather yet as soon as fur is mentioned the World erupts in condemnation and contradictory hatred in the fashion industry. Why? Food is a necessity to live; fur clothing is not.

God taught his children to look after the Earth and be resourceful and kind to all creatures. Animals have been eaten for many years. Cavemen used every part of their slaughtered animals which shows some respect and gratitude to the animal. Caging a creature in a prison-like box they cannot even stand in, underfeeding and inhumanely murdering them once their fur has been taken is not respectful! It is evil.

Recently another shocking headline broke out regarding cheap-as-chips brand Matalan. The chain ordered staff to remove tags and advertising from all of their angora clothing. Angora refers to the fur of certain animals. In this case, bouncing white bunny rabbits were cruelly fully plucked while they were still alive. All these poor creatures knew was a small, smelly cage with limited food and a painful, torturous life.

So, if you’re reading this article today and agree with 95% of this country’s female population, then we need to do something together.

We need to educate people about these poor animals suffering and stop buying fur. Once these companies realise their cruel merchandise is not selling, it will stop. All these fashion houses care about is a profit. Stop giving them that and we get our animals’ rights back.

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Jeju Ferry Disaster - was it handled correctly?

By Megan Jones

Many students were travelling on the ferry to the resort island of Jeju for a field trip on 26 th April 2014, before it capsized, leaving 300 people dead or missing, with only 162 survivors found to date. The situation was mishandled on the day when passengers were told to stay where they were, despite the fact that the ferry was quickly filling up with water. Several breaches of maritime law were made, including the Captain, being one of the first to get off of the sinking ferry.

The tragedy was immediately fed to the media, and stories of school children caught in the disaster emerged. Text messages from students to parents filled the media with sorrow. The aftermath provided the public with statements from survivors: "If people had jumped into the water ... they could have been rescued. But we were told not to go out."

However, it remains questionable as to whether this tragedy was reported correctly across the whole world. In the UK, we heard about it for a few days, but nothing much more was said. It was not on the front page of UK news after just one day, despite the apparent extremity of the situation. This is in great contrast to South Korea, which completely shut down, the whole country in mourning. Many misreports were published, many assuring that the situation was not dire. Even North Korea, known for its collectivist culture, paid tribute to the victims of the disaster. Asian news was full of stories of the disaster, but why wasn’t it broadcast more in the west?

There seems to be a culture in the modern media to give every story its ’15 minutes of fame’, then move on to other, more exciting, new stories. However, should this be the case? Should we only have to read about news of the UK; leaving out the most potent and tragic stories of other countries? Even if we don’t, the media forces us to respond to crises almost exclusive to the UK, with the odd predicament of another country thrown in there for good measure.

It is rarely the case that foreign disasters are front page news, despite the immediate urgency for more exposure.

This is not to say that the media doesn’t have a medium for worldwide news - numerous What do journalistic volumes and online sites present us with it - but should we specifically have to look for it? Shouldn’t the media provide us with a wide variety of news all over the think? world, rather than giving a purely one –sided view of things?

YOU

30

Sports Round-Up

By Miss Poole and Mr Lintott Years 7 and 8 Indoor Athletics-Kent School Games We took two strong teams of boys to this big event at Herne Bay High where competitors took part in a range of indoor athletics events. Events included speed bounce, indoor shot, standing long jump and relay obstacle and included 14 schools from the Canterbury District and all the schools had strong teams. We performed well across all the events and were usually in the top three for each event, which showed strength and consistency across track and field events. The top two schools from each age group would qualify for the next round and represent the Canterbury district against the other districts. The final results were close and the Year 7 boys only missed out on the top two places by a few points! We came third from 14, which was an excellent result.

The Year 8 team also did well, finishing a respectable 5th place. Well done to both teams - maybe next year we can break into the top two!

Year 7 Boys’ Basketball Year 7 boys took part in a 6 team tournament at Canterbury High. The tournament was played in two groups and we were drawn against QE and Simon Langton. We started well in our first game v Langton and we soon took a four point lead. Langton finished the game strongly though, and two lapses of concentration when defending led to Langton scoring two late baskets and drawing the game level; this is how it stayed. Our second game was against QE and this was another close affair, but we eventually came out on top and won the game by two points. This result meant that we won our group and played the runner up of the second group, Spires Academy. Spires played very well and we were unable to cope with their pace and movement. We were also very unlucky with some of our shots and Spires eventually won the match by 6 points. This meant that we finished a respectable third in the tournament, with some good experience under our belts.

Year 8 Boys’ Basketball After some good results in their round of friendly matches, the Year 8 boys travelled to Canterbury High for the local basketball tournament. We were drawn in to a tough group, with two of the ‘local basketball schools’ to contend with. However, the boys did not let this distract them, as they battled hard in every group game, playing with every ounce of energy they had! We started well, frustrating Canterbury High, and registering some baskets ourselves. However, they were just too strong over the full 12 minutes. After this loss, the boys then drew with Spires Academy. Many felt this was a game we should have won, but we failed to take our chances. As a result, the final game vs QE was a must-win fixture. The boys were nervous, since they lost to QE in their January friendly, and were determined for history not to repeat itself. For 8 minutes they battled valiantly, and were within 4 points of winning the game, but it was not to be. QE scored three baskets late in the game to seal victory. The boys were a good example of Barton Court students working hard and showing respect to the opposition and officials, representing the school well.

Year 9 Boys’ Basketball Year 9 also took part in a 6 team tournament, we were drawn against the Spires Academy and a very strong Canterbury Academy team, who had county level players in their squad. We put together a great performance

31

with a fantastic work ethic and we did not let ourselves down. We eventually lost the game, but we were not outplayed and pushed Canterbury all the way. Our next game was against Spires, this game was very close and both teams were pushing each other all the way. Spires were leading the game with 1 minute to go and we needed only one basket to win the game, being only a point behind. We got the decisive basket with 30 seconds left on the clock - a dramatic finish! We finished runner-up in the group and then we had to play Herne Bay High in the next game. We matched them with creating chances and shots and basket, but unfortunately we could not take our chances and they took theirs. We narrowly lost the game, but eventually achieved 4th place overall.

Year 10 Boys’ Basketball Year 10 boys journeyed to Canterbury High for a six-team tournament in early February. With only one substitute, they knew it would require a maximal physical effort. The boys started outstandingly, competing shoulder-to-shoulder with the tournament favourites, narrowly losing by only four points. The next game seemed like an easy win, but became a tough battle with BCGS missing some simple baskets. Narrowly winning, the team then focussed on their final game, the play-off for third/fourth place. The game was neck and neck, with only two points in it either way. The Barton boys fought extremely hard, fighting against fatigue, and narrowly lost by four points as St Anselms sunk a few late baskets. We walked away with heads held high after a really positive tournament, with the School represented extremely well.

Under-15 Handball On Wednesday 12th March the Barton Court Girls Under 15 team competed in a Handball Kent School Games Qualifier at the Isle of Sheppey Academy. The girls showed excellent skill, team spirit and desire to be crowned the winners of the competition. They will now go on to represent the district at the Kent School Finals in May. The team were Mercedes Broomfield, Kate Maclean, Bonny Mason, Leah Rolls, Kezia Knights, Sabrina Matthew, Rosie Davis, Anna Burns, Ellie Warner, Alanna Forwood and Alice Scharmeli.

Netball The girls’ netball teams have continued to train hard throughout the term and teams from Years 7-10 were all very competitive in the district tournaments. The Year 7 and 10 teams were most successful, placing 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The Year 7 team, coached by Year 11 students Holly Robson and Lauren Hyland have showed great promise all season.

This was rewarded in the tournament as the girls played some exceptional netball, only losing to one game to eventual winners Kent College. The team also beat Simon Langton Girls, but unfortunately drew a couple of the later games as tiredness kicked in.

The Year 7 team have shown great commitment and enthusiasm throughout the year. The team were; Alice Thompson, Robyn Thompson, Isabel James (player of the tournament), Maddie Welch, Courtney Cope, Hannah Dickson, Katie Ford, Ella Woodin, Jodie Finnis

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The Year 10s also had a very successful tournament, finishing 2nd from 5 teams. Coached by Charlotte Butler, the girls have shown excellent progress this year. The team played some outstanding netball throughout the tournament, especially in a well-deserved victory over Simon Langton. District colours for commitment to netball were awarded to Alanna Forwood and Alice Scharmeli.

The team were; Alanna Forwood, Alice Scharmeli, Jess Grynfeld, Maya Thyssen, Holly Robson, Annie Green, Bathsheba Wignall, Jodie Carter, Ellen King, Darcy Martin and Kate Maclean.

Basketball This season saw strong performances in girls’ basketball at both under 14 and under 16 level. The under 16 team were particularly successful at the district tournament, finishing in a credible 3rd place. This bodes particularly well for next season as the large majority of the team were picked from Year 10 students. The team finished 3rd overall, finishing behind Chaucer and Herne Bay High.

YEAR 10 ARMY DAY On Tuesday 4th February the PE department organised a day of team building and problem solving activities led by the Army.

Corporel Catt and his team of six soldiers put students through their paces both physically and mentally.

Students were split into 6 groups and completed six different tasks on a rota. The day was enjoyed by all and the students seemed to relish the opportunity to speak to serving officers about their experiences in the Army.

33

Biology Challenge In Defence of Communism

By Francesca Quinn

By Sam Ozaktanlar “Communism is a threat to our freedom. It is oppressive, dictatorial and impractical. Just look at history’s examples! China, Russia, Cambodia, Vietnam. All end with the subjugation of the people they claim to fight for!

No good can come from an invasive state that controls the thoughts of its people. Communism screams 1984.”

While I am not myself a communist, I can empathise with them. It is a misunderstood, if sometimes radical ideology that can in no way be marginalized from political and pluralistic thought due to atrocities committed in its name. To understand why such criticisms associated with Communism are inaccurate, we need to clearly set out a definition of Communism. What better way is there to understand an ideology then to refer to its founding father? Marx saw Communism as an inevitable and radical paradigm shift to a gregarious, egalitarian collective, in which we would work “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”. Such criticisms run amok in the field of ideological debate. They are unfounded assumptions deducted from the fallacious yet, widespread view that all examples of Marxist Communism have been reduced to a totalitarian subjugation of the people.

Working with this idea of Communism in mind, all examples ‘in practice’ used to criticise Communism are not in fact consistent with the writings of Marx. After all there is a reason the dictators in power in these states have their own ideologies named after them. Stalinism and Maoism increasingly differed from Marx’s writings as their states become mere perversions of what Marx had envisioned. Even the establishment of a permanent postrevolutionary state conflicts with Marx’s ideas on the state. Marx saw the state as a temporary necessity after a revolution to ensure stability but one which would promptly dissolve as the people took more control over industry, services and institutes Moreover, it is inaccurate to describe the initial circumstance of these examples from history as communist since they differ from Marx’s vision of the situation in which the revolution occurs. According to Marx, the communist revolution is a sudden, unanimous rising up of the proletariat, in which they realise their political power and achieve class consciousness. Yet this could only come about once capitalism had run its course and its violent instability was made apparent to all. In Russia and China on the other hand, there was a political elite dubbed by Lenin as the “vanguard party”, which instigated and led the revolution. This establishment of an elite or leading tier contradicts a fundamental principle of Communism; that of equality. Additionally, these vanguard parties used in history consciously prompted a revolution with the intent of socialism during times of national instability, often in countries which had not yet even experienced an industrialist capitalist period.

While a communist society is not appealing to all, it doesn’t strike me as a particularly dystopic future. Instead it appears to be a utopian view of society that would celebrate all of Humanity’s more noble attributes. To use states such as China, Russia and North Korea as examples would be akin to likening the UK with the United Arab Emirates. Both take influence from western capitalism, but each approach this by stark contrast to the other.

There are no real examples of Communism round the world, so we should not judge Communism by the aberrations of Stalin and Mao, but by the pure ideology of Marx. One could infer that Communism is nothing more than an unworkable daydream, a utopian society unattainable to anyone except this wise and omniscient Marx. Maybe, this clash of principle and practice is only reconcilable after society as we know it either drastically adapts or falls.

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It’s Time To Cook!

By Isabel Johns

BEAN CHILLI SANDWICHES As someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy sandwiches, I’m always looking out for fillings that have a little more flavour than the average ham and cheese. This is a 100% vegetarian, 100% delicious filling that can be used with both potatoes and rice for dinner then used as a sandwich filler for the next day. I present to you..Bean Chilli sandwiches!

4. Add the pulses, chopped tomato, tomato puree and chilli powder and cook for 20-30 minutes.

5. Add the peppers and mushroom and cook until soft.

SANDWICH ASSEMBLING

1x tin of mixed pulses

Now that the chilli has been cooked, you can use it as a filling for your sandwich. Any type of bread can be used, however Pitta Bread is perfect as it creates a pocket that holds all the ingredients in place.

1x tin of chickpeas

1.

Get your bread of choice and on it, spread a thick layer of mayonnaise, as if it is butter.

2.

Place the bean chilli all over the sandwich , covering the mayonnaise.

3.

Finally, sprinkle grated cheese over the chilli and it’s good to go!

INGREDIENTS FOR CHILLI:

1x tin of red kidney beans 1x tin of chopped tomatoes 1 teaspoon of chilli powder 1/2 red pepper 1/2 green pepper 1 onion 6-8 mushrooms 1 tablespoon of tomato puree 1/2 pint of vegetable stock 1 clove of garlic METHOD: 1.

Drain and rinse all pulses. Don’t worry if you don’t have exactly the same pulses as the recipe suggests, just a good variation.

2.

Chop the onion, peppers, mushrooms and garlic into small pieces.

3.

Soften the garlic and onion with 2 tablespoons of olive oil over a low heat in a large saucepan.

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Barton Court Bake-Off Spanish Exchange MrsLickman Parker

By Carla McIntyre and By Elena On the 20th March, our Spanish exchange partners arrived. For some of them it was their first visit to the UK and how were they welcomed …rain! Throughout the week, they attended our lessons (the corridor rush came as quite a shock to many of them) and had the opportunity to go to well known places in England.

The outing we all enjoyed the most was our trip to London. Despite the early start, we managed to stay awake while we viewed famous sites such as Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square. We found the Spanish students fascination for red telephone boxes particularly amusing!

Everybody who participated in the exchange had a different experience of having someone new become part of their family for a week. We all learnt something; whether it was a new Spanish word or a fact about one of the places we visited. We’re looking forward to going over to Spain in October and finding out more about our exchange partners and their culture.

All the students left Canterbury having loved this new experience and here’s what they had to say: "Our visit to Canterbury and Barton Court Grammar School has been a very nice and interesting experience. I have learnt lots of English, I have met different and nice people, I have visited another school – so big, but good I have gone to great places such as Cambridge and London, I have learnt how to skate, I have lived with an amazing family and I have experienced another culture and way of life. It has been an exciting week and a highly recommendable experience" Pablo Blanco "The exchange is a very positive experience. It helps you a lot with the language and you get to meet a lot of new people. At the beginning you find it difficult to communicate in English, but after a few days you start to feel more and more comfortable. In addition, you have the opportunity to visit many cities such as Cambridge, London and Canterbury. But for me the most important part is the good times you spend with your English family. You become a part of their daily lives so you can learn about their traditions and customs. All in all, this is one of the best experiences I have ever had" María Gutiérrez "My personal opinion about the exchange is that it is the best thing I have ever done. I have really enjoyed it. The first day I felt lost, but my partner was so nice that I felt so comfortable in just a few days. I had a great time with my host family and I was never bored; my English mum was a good chef, so the food was delicious! Also, the United Kingdom is such a beautiful country. I love it.

When I travel to a new country I always think people are going to be very different, but I have discovered this is not true. English people are not that different. The culture may be a little different but we are basically the same.

Actually, I do not want to return to Spain!"

Alicia Palazuelo

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Fracking in the UK

By Lewis Marshall Recently there has been much debate about fracking in the UK, as many believe it to be dangerous, opposing the views of others, who think that it would be a very useful resource for the country.

Fracking is the process of releasing trapped gas below the surface by drilling down into the soil, then pumping a high pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals into the rock. Many companies who carry out fracking suggest that trillions of cubic feet of shale gas could be accessible under much of northern England.

However, fracking is a controversial topic, despite the fact that, in the US, it has revolutionised the energy industry. Many in the UK believe it to be a bad idea because of several reasons. Firstly, it takes huge amounts of water. This must be transported to the site, which could cause significant environment problems; this is counterproductive. However, as we are a country surrounded by water and fire engines that use litres of water every day, is this really going to be a big problem? Also, people have argued that sometimes, the potentially carcinogenic chemicals used may escape to contaminate groundwater. However industry experts say that incidents of reported pollution are only a result of bad workmanship rather than anything risky with the process.

The main worry in England, however, is that the process of fracking causes small ‘earth tremors’ in areas that it takes place. Two small earthquakes were reported in the area of Blackpool after a fracking exploratory drilling in 2011. The earthquakes, at 1.5 and 2.2 on the Richter Scale, were miner and caused little to no damage.

Professor Ernie Rutter from the University of Manchester said "It's always recognised as a potential hazard of the technique, but they're unlikely to be felt by many people and very unlikely to cause any damage." Finally, environmental campaigners say that fracking is distracting energy firms and governments from investing in renewable sources energy and encouraging continued reliance on fossil fuels, even though some may argue that the government is equally interested in all options it has for future energy production in the UK. The key advantages to fracking is that it allows drilling firms to access difficult-to-reach resources of oil or gas which have been previously unreachable in other methods of extraction. In the US, it has significantly boosted domestic oil production and driven down gas prices. Also in the US and Canada it has estimated to have offered gas security for the next 100 years.

Fracking may be the solution to the major energy crisis in the developed world, but due to the major opposition it is facing, only small bits of the UK have licences were drilling can take place.

Therefore, fracking is a very good idea as it offers the security the UK requires in the energy line for at least 50 years longer.

What do

YOU think?

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Maths Gifted and Talented Trip

By Tom Harris and Jasmine Quinney On the 13th of March, four of the Maths Gifted and Talented Programme were allowed to participate in the UKMT Team Junior Maths Challenge at Hartsdown Technology College. These four were Jack Wellard, Connor Way, Cole Gibbons and Tom Harris. The Team Maths challenge consists of “The Group Competition”, “The Head to Head”, the “Crossnumber” and the “The Relay Race”.

The first round we partook in was the Group Competition, in which we were presented with a series of ten questions which we had to calculate the answer out to within an hour. Some of the questions were quite simple with just simple probability and some were quite challenging as they required extraordinarily long calculations. We didn’t perform particularly well in this round, only scoring six out of ten.

The second round we participated in was the Crossnumber, in which half of the team were presented with the “Down” set of questions and the other half were given the “Across” section. However, the two sections were not entirely independent, as some questions required an answer from the alternate half. We did extremely well in this round as we collected 51 points out of a possible 60 marks, thrashing our previous record of 36.

The next round was the Head to Head in which one half of the team would calculate one answer and then, using that answer, the other half would have to work out their answer and then pass their answer on the other team.

This continued on and on for four rounds and then the scores would be counted. We didn’t do particularly well in this round, either.

The final round was the Relay race in which we had to calculate an answer then run to an adjudicator to get the answer checked and then deliver the next question to the other half and then on and on. We managed to answer 24 questions in an hour which was just above par for the other schools.

In the end we managed to come 7th out of 20 schools, which beat our previous place of 9th.

Another event that some Sixth Form maths students have attended this year was the “Maths Inspiration” talk at the Marlowe Theatre. This was where we heard talks from 3 speakers, who all applied maths to different and interesting situations, showing that it can be used where you least expect it. We had a talk from Simon Singh, who talked about his latest book “The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets”, where we learnt how the mathematical writers at the Simpsons have incorporated all sorts of interesting numbers and formulae in the TV show, and also David Acheson gave an exciting lecture called “Proof, Pizza and the Electric Guitar”. But for most of us the most entertaining talk was from Colin Wright, who told us about the maths of juggling, with some demonstrations where he juggled up to 5 balls in many interesting ways.

Finally, students from all Years of the School have been taking part in the Gifted and Talented club that takes place on Fridays after school. Over the year so far we have been involved in many different activities such as training students up for their maths challenges, students carrying out individual investigations, watching videos of maths talks and learning about all areas of maths beyond the scope of our courses. It has been a lot of fun doing these activities, especially with pupils of all ages being there.

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Swimming the Channel

By Camille Anderson Swimming the channel, what’s the big deal?

Some of you may be thinking: “what’s the big deal? It’s only swimming! Loads of people have done it! It’s not that far!” so here are a few of the facts: 

Yes it is 21 miles, but because of the tides you have to swim in an “S” shape which on average doubles the distance.



It is only 2hrs by boat and even less by train, but when swimming, the average is about 20hrs.



You can wear a wetsuit, but with the Channel Swimming Association your swim cannot be registered and “doesn’t count” if you do.



You can cover yourself in fat, but it doesn’t keep you warm: it is to avoid friction and help your joints.

Swimming the Channel requires huge amounts of dedication and training which takes a lot of time. This is not just a physical commitment, it is also a temporal and financial commitment. The hiring of boat and pilot alone costs £2500, whether or not you make it across, and has to be booked a minimum of 18 months in advance. On top of this substantial amount you have all the training costs and the sea wears out your equipment (I’ve gone through a lot of goggles and swimming costumes!).

But it is not just about the costs. More people have climbed Everest than swam the Channel as it is an extreme sport, not only because of the distance, but also the cold and high risk of hypothermia. Before your training, you need to see your GP to make sure you are fit enough to attempt the swim, which is very unpredictable; no matter how much training you do, the sea can go against you.

Additionally, the Channel is the busiest shipping lane in the world. Many of you will have seen the huge container vessels which use it; the waves created by these ships can reach 20 meters high… and you have to swim through it. Imagine doing that in the dark; that is a distinct possibility as virtually all Channel crossings involve night swimming. And how many of you trust the weather? A Find out more: good forecast can rapidly change the Channel from a http://www.channelswimmingassociation.com/ Mediterranean blue into a heaving, menacing, grey whirl pool. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/theswimming-blog/2013/aug/09/how-i-swam-englishThe National Association of Swimming Clubs for the channel Handicapped (NASCH) is an incredible charity which provides vital support for swimming clubs for the https://www.dover.uk.com/channelswimming/ handicapped across the UK. The charity raises money for these clubs to help disabled children and adults access swimming pools and learn how to swim.

In September I will be attempting to swim the Channel in hope of raising money for this fantastic charity. I shall hopefully be doing some fundraising around school and 100% of money raised will be going to NASCH.

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Wayne’s Gain - No wonder he’s smiling!

By Adam Whyte The general viewpoint from the British public is that those in the world’s most important jobs – such as world leaders, doctors and teachers – should be paid the greatest amount. On a scale of importance, it’s fair to conclude that footballers would not necessarily be the first job on people’s minds for the biggest pay cheque.

And yet, with the recent wage increase for Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, the realism of today’s pay doesn’t match what many British citizens feel is the logic in deserved pay.

Barack Obama – leader of the wealthiest country in the world – is earning a mere £5,075 per week. I use the term mere, as Mr. Rooney will now earn £57,325 more than the President of the United States in a single day. I struggle to find any justifiable reason for this extortionate amount of money to be bequeathed to a seemingly ordinary man.

Don’t get me wrong: I am a keen football fanatic myself. However, like many fans across the country, this recent wage increase for Wayne Rooney has highlighted a key issue in our ‘beautiful’ game. Brave men and women serving our country earn on average £1,000 a month whilst in action. That’s less than 0.01% of the amount Wayne Rooney will now earn in a single day. Think of it this way…

Who deserves the most money? That’s the biggest issue from this debate. The people in this world who work the hardest and are most important to our country are simply not earning what they are owed, while others are living the high life and taking money like it grows on trees. The majority of the British population is planting these seeds and nurturing them until money starts to sprout, only to see it all taken away in an instant by people like Rooney.

They are left to feed off the scraps left behind.

Is this justified? Is this fair? With just a week of his new salary, Rooney could buy the world’s most expensive motorbike, 30 season tickets at Manchester United, 5,000 first class stamps, 680 IPhone 5Cs and 154,639 copies of Of Mice and Men. Madness!

In an ideal world, the people with the best paid jobs would be those who worked in hospitals or in the army.

These people are saving lives and, despite my deep passion for football, that is far more important. The high pay for these sectors would not only create justice in the community but would also encourage young adults to take up these jobs.

In conclusion, whilst football is loved by this country a great deal, it should not be deemed the most important job out there, and therefore the wages for people involved in this job should represent that. What Rooney is being paid is senseless, and whilst there are other unnecessarily high paid jobs out there, I feel the Football Association is in a strong position to deal with this issue in their sector; to act as the first stepping stone in our road to justice.

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Everyday Sexism

By Isabel Johns It’s often the little things in life that get overlooked. The battle of the sexes is a conflict well fought and nowadays, in our society, we tend to judge that women and men receive equal treatment. In 1928, women received the vote on the same terms as men (over the age of 21) as a result of the Representation of the People Act ; the foundations left by the early suffragettes have since resulted in a rise in prospects for women. This is Britain, where women receive equal opportunities and have equal say in societies affairs.

Yet currently, the United Kingdom is only joint 57th in the world for parliamentary gender equality. The 2011 census stated that there were 31 million men and 32.2 million women in the UK, yet in parliament, where the policies that affect us all are implemented, the number of men outstrips women 4 to 1. The chasm between equal opportunities may have been bridged, but with it, we as a society have become inclined to ignore any lingering sexism, in fear of emerging as a “Militant Feminist”, overlooking blatant sexism in fear of disturbing the fledging balance of rights between men and women.

In 2012, Laura Bates launched the ‘Everyday Sexism’ campaign after receiving sexual and lewd comments from strangers on public transport and in busy public areas, and she describes how in these incidents, she was labelled as a thing, an object to be degraded and superficially judged. But don’t be fooled into thinking these events surprised her; Bates, like many women and men, has been subjected to the explicitly sexual comments that have silently become one of society’s accepted norms. The campaign was launched with little promotion yet over the past two years, it has since received over 50 thousand accounts of personal experiences from people, both men and women, all over the world. The “tamest” of the statements talk about whistling on the street; however, these incidents are encircled by other experiences where lewd comments have advanced into sexual assault and rape.

Perhaps you, like many, believe that the act of whistling at someone as they go by doesn’t really count as sexism- it was only meant it as a compliment!

Don’t get so worked up about it! What are you, some kind of feminist? Yet the response highlighted in the accounts on the ‘Everyday Sexism’ page illustrate that being treated as a dog that will heel at your whistle is exceedingly far from any compliment wishing to flatter or aiming to admire the person

What do YOU think?

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as an individual, rather than an external surface, void of inner substance.

Perhaps, some people do appreciate these compliments, if you could deign a whistle and a quick “hot bod” remark as a “compliment”. Except what about the people who don’t want this unwanted attention, this attention that has stirred a number of thoughts, which surprisingly, don’t include reciprocated feelings. Possibly they’ll blush and ignore the remark, willing to overlook the soundless gazes from the surrounding individuals. But… what if it’s more than that? What if that person that you, so kindly, “paid a compliment to” now feels apprehensive and anxious? A flippant comment here and there can’t do any mischief- but what if it does? That person may spend the remainder of their journey with their head down and clenched fists, because, as the stories on the ‘Everyday Sexism’ page suggest, these situations can shift from an offhand comment to sexual assault in a disconcerting amount of time.

Why should these victims feel the need to keep their heads down, avoiding the gaze of others? The power of a disapproving society, a society where a victim of sexual assault is told to accept that they, in part, are to blame, has led to a national silence over an aspect of our culture that is not the over-exaggerated imaginations of feminists, but the refusal to accept the catcalled or the date-raped as legitimate victims.

Since Laura Bates created the campaign, she has received remarks specifying how she “needed to go back to the kitchen” but also in-depth accounts detailing that she “must be raped” with inclusions of how and the choice of weapons needed to silence her. It’s statements like this that highlight the importance for a campaign such as Everyday Sexism; although these are the comments of people fuelled by the anonymity of the Internet, worldwide, 1 in 3 women will be raped or abused in their lifetime. Citizens all over the world have shared their stories and in doing so, found the courage to stand up to future incidents. The trepidation of being rebuffed by society, by friends, by family as a “prude who can’t take a joke” is diminishing as people recognize that they didn’t provoke these incidences and that the responsibility lies solely with the perpetrators; people do not incite rape or sexual assault, rapists incite rape. Whilst the fear of consequences still dominates the thoughts of many victims, if society refuses to keep its head down and fists clenched, then individuals will be able to stand up, together, to the offenders, not as victims, but as fighters.

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The Italian Skiing Trip

By Lois Mitchell Fourteen students (13 boys and 1 girl) went to Chiesa Valmalenco, Sondrio during half term from the 14th to the 21st February skiing on the beautiful snowy Italian Alps, along with students from a school in Lincoln. The teachers from Barton Court who accompanied the students were Mr Morgan, Mr Millward and Ms Heppeler who, as well as keeping everyone in check , also showed their skiing skills on the slopes.

The journey didn’t start out great with the notorious English weather making the ferry ride across the channel particularly uncomfortable and dangerous, proven by the fact that the ferry crossing after ours was closed due to the choppy waves.

Luckily, Mr Millward was there to hand his ginger nut biscuits which he assured would help with the sea sickness.

Afterwards, the coach went through France, Switzerland and eventually Italy with most people getting a good couple hours of sleep in the night.

The town was surrounded by tall beautiful snowy mountains with tall pine trees covering the sides. Hotel Pigna D’oro was simply for sleeping, eating breakfast and dinner and for drying all the wet items of clothing, which caused fights for radiator space.

The day started with breakfast at 7.30 and ended with bed at 21.30.

With all of the exercise and things done during the day if you went to bed any later than that then you seriously struggled to get up in the morning.

The week went quickly with 4 or 5½ hours of skiing per day along with an activity in the evening.

The activities included a snow sculpture making competition, pizza night, shopping, quiz night and a table football competition.

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Of course a snowball fight was inevitable where the 2 schools went up against each other with quite a lot of, possibly accidental, friendly fire.

Everyone was put into groups of how experienced they were at skiing with different instructors including the amazing Davide, nicknamed DVD, who wasn’t afraid to tell the younger ones to be quiet when they wouldn’t stop talking.

Skiing started on the nursery slopes for the beginner groups but they quickly advanced onto harder runs and going up to the top of one of the mountains. In comparison the experienced group started on the harder slopes and went more off piste, ruining the perfect, untouched snow. Everyone fell over at some point and that includes the teachers but the most falls went to a girl from the other school who fell over 37 times in total. A slalom course was set up on one of the slopes and each group had a separate competition but overall, out of everyone, the fastest person was Gösta Reißmann, who even beat the teachers. This didn’t make Mr Millward or Mr Morgan happy.

One of the highlights was watching Will Pearson and Will Cox getting their skis stuck in the net fencing marking the path of the cable car as they were on it and dragging it up all the way to the top of the mountain, where they then had to be untangled before the cable car could carry on moving.

The week went quickly and even though the journey was long, the mornings were early, and the beds were rock hard, the trip was completely worth it and was one hell of an experience.

Thank you for a great trip!

23 44

GCSE, IB and A Level Short Story Reading Group Results

By Miss Mandis

By Megan Jones

The Student Librarians and I would like to organise a short story reading group as well as set up a book and film review club, this later to be used in the Clarion! magazine and student portal. Both activities will be run in the LRC after school mainly by the Student Librarians, overseen by me.

1)

The reading group:

Starting next term, running weekly, each Tuesday, periods 3-4. Stories will be chosen according to genre or subgenres ie. science fiction, young adult, detective stories etc.

In conjunction with this, every month, a short story writing competition will be held: The story to be written should reflect the reading, inspired by the themes, genre, and style of the stories proposed by the reading group.

The winning short story will be read and discussed in the reading group.

In order to have the reading group up and running, we will need: 

Suggestions of short stories we should include: the aim is that the reading material resonates with the curriculum, without repeating it.



A panel of students with representatives of all year groups from 7 to 11 who will be in charge of setting up the programme of the reading group and also taking turns in chairing the events to be ultimately overseen by me and also the Student Librarians.



‘Jury’ members (staff and students) for the writing competition.

2)

The Book and Film Review Club:

The idea is to compare a book with its film adaptation and coming up with a review to be periodically published in the Clarion! magazine.

We welcome suggestions to further explore this idea and eventually set up a fortnightly club or an activity of a similar nature.

Posters will be up around the school with the details. The student librarians and I will be happy to come and speak to students willing to get involved.

Get involved and join the group!

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The Canterbury Music Scene The Crystal Veins

CoCo and the butterfields

The five piece blues/rock band from Canterbury is currently taking the Canterbury scene by storm, with their individual and original songs that cater to a number of music tastes. The band has a number of influences, such as The Doors, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Neil Young.

The band includes Sam Hutson as lead singer, Tom McGhie and Ryan Debling on guitar, Harry Hayes on the bass and Harry Bowden on the drums.

CoCo and the Butterfields formed in September 2011 as a humble folk trio. Nowadays they’re more accurately described as a “five-strong major kick on the South East music scene- a truly colourful, energetic & crowd-stamping act to be reckoned with”, performing their own personal fusion of Folk, Pop and Hip Hop, or “Fip Fok”. The band began by busking in Canterbury but have since earned the title of the UK’s best unsigned act.

https://www.facebook.com/TheCrystalVeins Bajah Fires Bajah Fires is a two piece band made up of James Burford and Harvey Dent, current Year 12 Barton Court students.

Their music is a thrilling mix of classics and original songs, dubbed as Contemporary Folk. After performing at a number of places around Canterbury, they have had the chance to release a summery EP called ‘Beaches’ . https://www.facebook.com/BajahFires Old Logic A punk rock band based in Canterbury and currently working on their first EP. Influenced by blues, punk, rock and coffee, they hope that when they bring out their material later this year, people will enjoy their music as much as they do! https://www.facebook.com/OldLogicband

The band consists of Tom Twyman on the guitar & vocals, Dulcima Showan on the violin & vocals, Jamie Smith as a beatbox, Micah Hyson on the double bass and Rob Wicks on the banjo. http://www.cocoandthebutterfields.com/ Rudy Warman and the Heavy Weather Original folk and blues band made up of a trio from Folkestone. A recent review stated their set “touched on blue grass and bluesy vibes as well as a more energetic energy and a little rock and roll.” The band are known to busk around Kent and have released a number of popular songs such as ‘Air’, ‘Heaven in Your Eyes’ and the more upbeat ‘Ayesha’ which can all be found on YouTube. http://www.rudywarman.co.uk/

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Brand’s Revolution In this article sixth former Tom McGhie puts forward an impassioned view on the ideas of Russell Brand.

By Tom McGhie

I hope Russell Brand’s urging for a ‘spiritual revolution’ does not go unheeded. At times this auto-didact’s tone can enter into the realms of the smug, but overall his summoning of the masses is something that any rational minded human should be able to come to terms with.

Brand quotes the Indian teacher Yonoganda and tells us that ‘It doesn’t matter if a cave has been in darkness for 10,000 years or half an hour, once you light a match it is illuminated’. This is something with which I wholeheartedly concur with. What needs to be decided on, however, is what the ‘match’ is going to be in today’s society, and who’s going to have the guts to light it. Brand’s article caused, without the risk of sounding too clichéd, a stir. It seemed a great deal of people took issue with his views, some because they did not agree with him, others because they didn’t like hearing some ‘jumped up ponce from Essex’ telling them they shouldn’t vote. However, when Brand appeared on Newsnight, pitted against Jeremy Paxman, the comedian’s scorching diatribe against the current state of politics quickly went viral, which inspired countless internet users to voice their agreement with Brand. The man went toe-to-toe with Paxman, and came out the better, whilst articulating what millions of people were thinking. This huge surge of concurrence cannot be taken lightly, and shows just how much people want this proposed change.

The one thing that I take issue with Brand on, however, is when he implored us, the public, not to vote. In this prescriptive, narrow paradigm, the one outlet we have to express our discontent with the current system (bar all that street protesting malarkey) is to vote. Not voting by demurely x-ing a little box – Christ no, I’m seventeen and the thought of being complicit in this warped system makes me physically sick – but going and spoiling your ballot, thus making it clear that you are unhappy with the way proceedings are going. Imagine if the thousands of apathetic young people in this country who don’t vote made the effort to go out that ballot box and voiced their opinions on that tiny slip of paper. Yes, there will be marches, demonstrations and the like, but first let’s try beating the establishment on their own level. If thousands of people are spoiling the ballots come next general election, then perhaps the folks on the hill would take the street protesting with more significance than with the usual weary, highbrow disdain they usually display.

Bar this minor criticism the fact is that, as Brand said, things are beginning to happen. It’s an exciting time to be alive, people are waking up to the real issues that face our society; the huge economic disparity, the state of the environment and the needs and welfare of the people. Russell Brand is right; the current system totally ignores these real concerns and instead functions only to serve its own deformed purpose. We, the people, are unable to change anything because of the narrow, prescriptive way that the system is set out. Yes, if we vote in Miliband’s team next election, instead of Dave’s cronies, perhaps the NHS will get better, maybe the horrific cuts will cease slightly – things won’t get better unless we accept that things are wrong and need changing. It isn’t right to have a despondent, disenfranchised, disillusioned underclass whose needs aren’t represented in the current system

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that’s only interested in servicing the needs of huge corporations.

We’ve seen the London Riots in 2011 – a spontaneous eruption from the youth, arguably born not out of a student’s desire for a new TV, but out of apathy and frustration towards the current system that has turned them into an undeserved underclass. We’ve seen the Occupy Movement, who drew attention to the absurd truth which is that 300 Americans control the same amount of wealth as the 85 million poorest Americans. The speed with which that protest in New York’s Zuccotti Park turned into a global movement is testimony to the yearning that people feel for change. All that needs to happen is for that yearning (which we know exists behind the self-conscious, ‘you do something about it then’ curtain) to be set into action. If this realisation occurs then who knows what can be achieved. Accept the faults of the current system and turn yourself on to the ideas of those that are different from the people now in power who are merely placating the What do population, not trying to solve the real problems that we’re facing. Our generation has been stuck in the mire of complicit ignorance for too long. Time waits for no man…the think? time is now.

YOU

Is Human Life more Important than Other Species’?

By Francesca Quinn

This topic will always be controversial in the opinion of others. I believe human life is more important than other species; and a great deal more important in fact. Human life is sacred and special, and must be regarded as more important as we as humans eat other species therefore; showing a hierarchy in the species. We as humans are the dominant species as we are more independent and intelligent. However, I do have caring feelings towards animals, and I believe they should be treated with respect and not exploited or abused.

In the food industry certain animals are purposely ‘fattened up’ to meet demand and supplied as food for the public. This can be seen as animal cruelty by many people, including myself. I believe that certain animals are meant to be consumed by humans and are a natural food source and by taking away this trend would destroy the livelihood of farmers. However, when animals are purposely fattened up for consumer needs, it is wrong.

An example of this type of animal cruelty is battery chicken farming; where chickens are cooped up in pens where they are force fed food and are disallowed exercise to fatten them up to meet the need of supermarkets. An upsetting fact is that in some case it has been known that if the chicken doesn’t meet the credentials of the consumers’ needs it is meaninglessly killed. This way of farming is unethical and morally wrong. Killing a helpless animal is beyond wrong and is a form of animal cruelty.

We as humans have been known to drive animals to near extinction by over eating and unsustainably farming. If we truly are the most intelligent species how could we have let this happen? We are instinct-driven creators, and like many animals depend on the ‘survival of the fittest.’ This has led to many issues in the past and undeniably continuous issues for the future.

What do I am not a vegetarian or a vegan and I probably never will be, but animal cruelty in the think? food industry needs to stop, it is unnecessary and just plain cruel.

YOU

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STEM Festival

By Jamie Powell On the 19th of March 2014, I went with five other Year 8 pupils and Mrs Parker to East Kent College to take part in a STEM challenge: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

STEM is an organisation that strives to deliver further knowledge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by working with thousands of schools, colleges and STEM employers, to enable young people of all backgrounds and abilities to meet inspiring role models, understand real world applications of STEM subjects and experience hands-on STEM activities that motivate, inspire and bring learning and career opportunities to life.

Our challenge was to build a crane out of K’nex modelling kit. We built a strong sturdy but small crane which lifted it above the required height for it to pass (75mm). K’nex is a modelling kit made from little sticks of plastic and connectors and all of the parts had different prices, so we had to try and make the crane as economical and as cheap as possible. Compared to the other cranes, ours was quite cheap.

Also, compared to the others, ours was sturdy, but cheap, whereas everyone else went with either expensive and really unnecessarily strong or cheap and not so cheerful (being really weak.) Also compared to others ours was compact and mobile, unlike St Georges School!

At the results we unfortunately didn’t win any prizes but we did manage to achieve fourth place overall.

We all had a really good time on the trip and learned a lot.

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Design Technology—Year 11 products on display

By Miss Parker

Students of Product Design in Year 11 have had a very busy few terms improving and developing their controlled assessment projects. The outcomes have been really pleasing and demonstrate the care taken and attention to detail paid to them by their designer-makers. Candidates have enhanced their work by making excellent use of the new CAD/CAM facilities including the sublimation printing system, the laser cutter and the 3D printer. The project briefed students to design and make low-voltage lighting products which take inspiration from a 20 th century art or design movement. The finished pieces are now on display around the school and in the DT department.

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Literature quiz

By Mr Hodgkins We thought we would finish the magazine with a Quiz!

Students, Staff, Parents and Governors are all invited to participate. There are no prizes—only the sense of satisfaction of getting a good score .

There are 30 questions and the answers are printed at the end (no peeking, now!) Scores over 25 are considered to be very creditable ! Good luck !

1 What word, extended from a more popular term, refers to a fictional book of between 20,000 and 50,000 words?

2 Who wrote the famous 1855 poem The Charge of the Light Brigade?

3 In 1960 the UK publishing ban was lifted on what 1928 book?

4 Who was the youngest of the three Brontë writing sisters?

5 What is the Old English heroic poem, surviving in a single copy dated around the year 1000, featuring its eponymous 6th century warrior from Geatland in Sweden?

6 What relatively modern school of philosophy, popular in literature since the mid 1900s, broadly embodies the notion of individual freedom of choice within a disordered and inexplicable universe?

7 What term and type of comedy is derived from the French word for stuffing?

8 What term originally meaning 'storehouse' referred, and still refers, to a periodical of various content and imaginative writing?

9 Who wrote the significant scientific book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687?

10 The period between 1450 and 1600 in European development is known by what term, initially used by Italian scholars to express the rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture?

11 What significant law relating to literary and artistic works was first introduced in 1709?

12 What word, meaning 'measure' in Greek, refers to the rhythm of a line of verse?

13 Japanese three-line verses called Haiku contain how many syllables?

14 Stanley Kubrick successfully requested the UK ban of his own film based on what Anthony Burgess book?

15 What famous 1818 novel had the sub-title 'The Modern Prometheus'?

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16 Which pioneering American poet and story-teller wrote The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell Tale Heart?

17 What were the respective family names of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?

18 Which Russian writer wrote the 1866 book Crime and Punishment?

19 "Reader, I married him," appears in the conclusion of what Charlotte Bronte novel?

20 The ancient Greek concept of the 'three unities' advocated that a literary work should use a single plotline, single location, and what other single aspect?

21 Who wrote Brighton Rock (1938) and Our Man in Havana (1958)?

22 "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice which I've been turning over in my mind ever since," is the start of which novel?

23 In the early 1900s a thriller was instead more commonly referred to as what sort of book?

24 Which novel begins "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife..."?

25 Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima committed what extreme act in 1970 while campaigning for Japan to restore its nationalistic principles?

26 Jonathan Harker's Journal and Dr Seward's Diary feature in what famous 1897 novel?

27 What is the technical name for a fourteen-lined poem in rhymed iambic pentameters?

28 "Make then laugh; make them cry; make them wait..." was a personal maxim of which novelist?

29 What term for a short, usually witty, poem or saying derives from the Greek words 'write' and 'on'?

30 What was the original title of the book on which the film Schindler's List was based?

Mark out of 30 ?

Answers窶馬o peeking before you have finished!

1 Novella, 2 Lord Alfred Tennyson , 3 Lady Chatterley's Lover, 4 Anne Brontﾃｫ, 5 Beowulf, 6 Existentialism, 7 Farce or farcical , 8 Magazine, 9 Isaac Newton , 10 Renaissance, 11 Copyright, 12 Metre, 13 Seventeen, 14 A Clockwork Orange, 15 Frankenstein, 16 Edgar Allen Poe , 17 Montague and Capulet, 18 Fyodor Dostoevsky , 19 Jane Eyre , 20 Time , 21 Graham Greene, 22 The Great Gatsby , 23 Shocker , 24 Pride and Prejudice , 25 Suicide, 26 Dracula , 27 Sonnet, 28 Charles Dickens, 29 Epigram , 30 Schindler's Ark

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