Clarion summer edition 2017 by Barton Court Academy Trust

Barton Court Grammar School

CLARION!

SUMMER EDITIONâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;2017

Contents Page Contents Page 3

Notes from the Editors

Art Gallery

Executive Head teacher's Report

Art Enrichment Day

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Head Boy and Girl report Student Drive Report

Art Competitions

Sumo Parents evening

Biochemistry Antibiotic Project

Dream Team and G+T evening

University of Oxford Award

Holocaust survivor webcast

‘Prisoners of Geography’ Review

Enrichment Day 31/01/17

The VAUD Experience

A Week in the Life of A Student Paramedic

Spanish Exchange

A Lecture in Stylistics

French Exchange

The UK Mathematics Trust

La Galette des Rois

Girls Sports Achievements

Kings School Speedy Challenge

Boys Sports Achievements

Advice from Sixth Form ers

Year 9 Rugby

Fundraising for Alzheimer's

Davis Cup Tennis Tour

Equestrian Club

Athletics

Martial Arts Article

Sports Awards

Bee Keeping Club

My Fair Lady Set Design

My Fair Lady Rehearsals

Art Exhibition

Research 66

Year 11 Prom

Year 13

Forthcoming Events

Note from the Editors Note from Mr Nelson Hello, ‘Clarion!’ Readers! There has been so much happening in Barton Court, outside Barton Court and beyond, that it is no small amazement to me that this summer edition of ‘Clarion!’ contains articles from so many students with such varied interests and achievements. The student writers included in this edition have taken up pursuits both within and without the school curriculum. It is pleasing to learn how energetic and determined people are, trying new challenges and visiting new places. The cultural domain of these students is international and frequently attuned to the changing landscapes therein. Encouragingly, charity totals have surpassed previous years and the participation from all year groups demonstrates a desire to give something back to the community and the world at large. The enrichment exchange visits to France and Spain present these destinations as culturally exciting and thought-provoking; the disparate sporting attainments as impressive as the art exhibitions, and cultural trips and visits. Our current editorial team, led by Ruby Wood, has to be praised for their commitment in drawing it all together. And to remind all potential and active writers out there, ‘Clarion!’ is looking for new writers with each and every edition. Step up and have your say.

Note from the editor — Ruby Wood It has been such a pleasure to read such an array of interesting articles, that have demonstrated both academic and extra-curriculum achievements. This edition of ‘Clarion!’ is full of articles ranging from maths competitions to general advice from students. Clearly, the students from Barton Court are dynamic, talented and successful and I hope this edition of ’Clarion!’ portrays them in such a way. I would like to thank the editorial team for helping make this edition of ‘Clarion!’ happen, their determination and commitment played a key role in the completion of this edition. Of course, ‘Clarion!’ would not exist without the variation of student writers, and they have to be commended for their superb effort. Good luck to the year 11’s and 13’s awaiting examination results. Here’s to another great academic year!

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ExecutiveReport Headteacher’s Headteacher’s Report It’s been an exciting year for Barton Court Grammar School. We are now the Lead School of the Multi-Academy Trust called Barton Court Academy Trust (BCAT) and we have sponsored The Charles Dickens School, in Broadstairs, who joined BCAT on 1 March 2017. We have also been given permission to open a non-selective secondary Free School, 11-18 years on the former Chaucer site. This school will open to Year 7, after demolition and rebuild, in either September 2019 or 2020. It is planned for this new Free School to be a centre of excellence in vocational studies along with Barton Court a centre of excellence for academic studies, providing students across both schools, and the wider community, access to a great range of courses Post-16. Our new build is progressing well and is due to be completed by Christmas. I have been inside the new block twice now as the build progresses, with my hard hat and wellies!, and each time I have been overwhelmed by its size. It is an impressive building and one which I am sure all students and staff will enjoy when it is ready. Exciting times ahead! We appointed Mr Macaulay who joined us on 1 June 2017 as our new Head of School at Barton Court. We are fortunate to secure such an excellent senior member of staff to help us move into the next phase of development as the Lead School of Barton Court Academy Trust (BCAT). Mr Macaulay is a very experienced leader and previously worked in one of the highest performing selective schools, not only in Kent, but in the country. He will be an excellent addition to our senior leadership team,

helping us, not only maintain, but continue to further improve the educational provision being offered by the School for all its students. As Executive Headteacher of BCAT and Barton Court Grammar School I will still be very much involved with the School focussing on strategic leadership, personnel and financial matters and Mr Macaulay will be responsible for the day-to-day leadership and management. The students, staff and parents have made Mr Macaulay feel very welcome already and he is settling in really well with some excellent ideas for the future. This is an exciting time to be a member of our School community. I would like to thank all staff for all their hard work, dedication and commitment this year. I would also like to thank all students for their hard work and for making Barton Court such a special place to teach and work and, lastly, thank you to parents/carers and Governors for their continual support of the School. I wish everyone all the best for the summer and in particular Y11 and Y13 students who will be hoping for success in their examination results in August. Ms K Cardus Executive Headteacher

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Headteacher’s Welcome from the Report Head Boy and Girl I guess that it’s high time that we introduced ourselves to the school community, so if you don’t know us already, we are Jack and Ella and we are Barton Court’s Head Boy and Girl for the coming year. And hopefully, with your help, we can improve the school community for the better this year! Firstly we’d like to say a huge thank you to all the students for their continued support for the projects that we (the Senior Prefect Team and Barton Court’s Dream Team) are attempting to implement this year, which includes the new and improved Gifted and Talented programme and a much more direct and inclusive Student Voice Team. Without all of you we wouldn’t be able to put these projects into action and it’s really amazing to see all of the hard work you have contributed as well. This year there are several aims we, as a Senior Prefect Team, want to achieve and we’d like your support when we come to putting them into action as without it, our objectives are pointless;

To start with we believe that a much broader enrichment programme could benefit everybody as we can all share our interests with one another and become much more well-rounded people. This is beginning to take place with the new and improved Renaissance Projects, where lower school Gifted and Talented students have filled large folding boards with projects of their own interests, whether that be inside or outside of the curriculum. These were then shown to parents and students at the Gifted and Talented Celebration Evening, who we can assure you, were amazed by the high quality and complexity of the projects. Next year we hope to create a Renaissance Society, in which anybody, whether Gifted and Talented or not, can make a project and

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share their interests with others. So we hope to see many of you there when we launch the society in September! Furthermore it has been noted that many students feel as if they aren’t supported to the extent they want when it comes to choosing GCSE, A-level or post-Sixth Form choices. Therefore the Senior Prefect Team and the Student Drive Team are going to try to implement an academic buddying system for these stages of school life, pairing older students with younger years to guide them through the process. Coupling this with a booklet of student opinions of each subject should give everybody the assistance they need to progress through their school life. Finally it is just left to say that if you want to speak to any of us about anything we are doing this year or want to give us suggestions please stop us in the corridor, not matter how scary we may look! Alternatively you can email us on:

11WellardJ@bartoncourt.org—Jack Wellard 11WilliamsE@bartoncourt.org—Ella Williams

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The Student Woman Drive in Black—Theatre Team Report Student Drive Team Report Trip in November

Mrs Brown Emily Allison BybyJuliette Adams

As part of my role as senior Student Drive Team member, I was asked to participate in a primary school visit to Herne Jr Primary school; with the aim to promote thinking tools within the wider community. This visit was organised by Mr Perks who taught the lesson along with Amelia Coleman, a year 8 student.

The lesson was taught to a Year 5 class using the main characters from the film “Inside Out” to make it more appealing. We separated the children into 5 groups of six and gave each group one of the main characters (Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear) to reflect and write down words, pictures or experiences of this emotion. This was all done on a A3 page using a circle map, to demonstrate how we, at Barton Court implement thinking maps within learning and teaching. We then made them evaluate using two of the thinking hats, yellow (positive) and black (negative). This allowed the children to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of each emotion, making the children think laterally. After this we let the children alternate between groups so that each group had a chance to add their own ideas and experiences of the different feelings. This was to highlight that many people have different experiences with different emotions, and that it is important to understand this.

We hope that through the lessons activities the children were able to experience how effective thinking tools can be used through teaching and learning.

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SUMO Parents Evening By Amelia Coleman

On the 29th of June, a SUMO parents evening was held within school. Not only was it an informative event for parents, it allowed the Student and Teacher Drive Team to have an influence upon the wider community. The evening (which was held by Mr Perks, Mr Duran and myself) consolidated the six main SUMO principals, which are taught to year sevens as an aspect of the enrichment programme. The evening was engaging for the parents and a great opportunity for the school to show the significance of its’ thinking school status, which continues to develop a creative learning ideology at Barton Court. Both parents and students participated in an interactive presentation, which we hope they found thought-provoking and beneficial. Overall, I believe it was a very positive evening which enforced Barton Court’s thinking school ethos to another audience, who are not always aware of thinking tools and schemes that support our unique education system within school. I enjoyed being part of such an influential event and I hope the evening will inspire other opportunities that will allow the promotion of the Drive Teams’ hard work within the school community.

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The Student Woman Drive in Black—Theatre Team Report ‘Barton Court Dream Team’ Trip in November and G&T evening

Mrs Brown by Ella EmilyWilliams Allison By

On the 27th June the second Gifted and Talent evening was held within the school, which allowed all the students who had created Renaissance projects to display their creative and well-researched projects to parents and students. Art, PE, drama, music and leadership awards were also given out to recognise the outstanding achievements that students have made this year.

The G&T evening itself was a huge success, all thanks to the hard work and planning put in by Ms Harding. It started with a presentation and awards ceremony, where some the most hard-working and talented students had their achievements recognised. Then parents and carers took advantage of the Pimm’s and shortbread on offer and took a glass to view the work and Renaissance projects on display throughout the (beautifully decorated) school. The students who created the projects were able to display all their hard work and also talk and discuss their creative process with parents and teachers, and this celebration of their enthusiasm for learning and their subject really shone through, with all the projects being incredibly displayed and researched. As well as the projects, subject teachers also displayed some of their Gifted and Talented work. For MFL, where I was supervising, Mr Luret had prepared different Spanish, French and German boards that allowed parents to see the G&T work and the extra and super curricular work that is always happening in the department.

The evening was also the first big event for the newly formed ‘Barton Court Dream Team.’ The new team is formed of six students (Ellie Giles, Harry Fox, Freya Stephenson, Jack Wellard, Robert Abbott and Ella Williams) and we have come together to make positive changes within all of the school, not just Gifted

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and Talented, and also to promote extra-curricular and student leadership throughout all years. Our team’s main goal is working to provide a more inclusive environment for all students. Our first port of call was to take over the former Gifted and Talent project, which is now the Renaissance Project and to become student mentors to those completing the project, who have creative and original Ideas they explore in detail. We ourselves have a huge amount of interest and enthusiasm in helping the students, and that is what fuels the goals in which we are working towards. With our support, we want each student to feel passionate about school and develop an interest in extracurricular activities and further enrichment, and have more options that suit their needs and interests. We still have many more plans for the future and the next academic year, and so if you have any suggestions or contributions please feel free to contact us at any point, or alternatively you will find us in Ms Harding’s room every Tuesday B lunchtime. Hopefully you will be seeing a lot more of the ‘BCDT’ soon as we are eager to make changes that will make the school a more inclusive and better place for all students

The Holocaust Educational Trust’s Holocaust survivor webcast Holocaust Memorial Day is marked each year on 27th January – the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau. To commemorate the occasion this year, the Holocaust Educational Trust organised a live survivor webcast at 10am. Mala Tribich, MBE, shared her testimony at a school in London, but people everywhere, including Year 9 History students at BCGS, were part of the experience through a special webcast.

In the past, many Holocaust survivors travelled to schools around the country to share their experiences, but this is becoming increasingly difficult as survivors advance in years. They will not be around forever, so webcasts allow survivors such as Mala to reach as large an audience as possible, whilst there is still time left. The students who participated in the live webcast felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to hear the personal testimony of a Holocaust survivor.

Survivor testimony is very important because statistics are impersonal and difficult to grasp and we cannot truly comprehend the magnitude of the Holocaust. One way of helping us to connect with the victims of the Holocaust is by focusing on the experiences of individuals. By being given the opportunity to participate in the live survivor webcast, students were able to put a human face to history and engage with one survivor’s personal experiences during the Holocaust. The personal testimony Mala Tribich shared during the webcast can be summarised as follows:

Mala Tribich was born in 1930 in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland. When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, Mala’s family had to move into the ghetto which was established in her hometown, the first in Poland. Life in the ghetto was terrible

with families living in overcrowded, unhygienic conditions. The family decided that it would be safer for Mala to be taken to the city of Częstochowa to try to pass as a Christian child and stay there until the deportations were over. Life was at times uncertain for Mala and she often felt vulnerable.

Mala was eventually taken back to Piotrków where her father was waiting for her in the attic of a flour mill. Shortly after Mala’s return to the ghetto, there were further round ups during which her mother and eight-year-old sister were taken. All of these people were murdered in the local forest. Soon afterwards Mala had to take responsibility for caring for her five-year-old cousin Ann Helfgott, whose mother had been deported. When the ghetto was liquidated, Mala became a slave labourer until November 1944, when the remaining Jews were deported. Mala was separated from her father and brother and together with Ann was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp.

After about 10 weeks they were transported in cattle trucks to Bergen-Belsen where conditions were appalling and Mala contracted typhus. At the time of the liberation by the British army, Mala was very ill. She was transferred to a hospital and it was many weeks before she recovered. Three months later she was sent, with a large group of children, to Sweden where she spent nearly two years. Not expecting any of her family to be alive, Mala was surprised to receive a letter from her brother Ben in Britain, the only other member of her close family to have survived. In March 1947, Mala came to Britain to be reunited with Ben. Her testimony can also be found in the book, ‘The Boys’ by Sir Martin Gilbert.

Book Review: ‘Prisoners of Geography’ - Tim Marshall By Alex Willis

If you’re someone like me, and know very little about global politics and how the world outside of your home country operates, then Tim Marshall’s novel ‘Prisoners of Geography’ is a go-to. The novel itself has been described by critics as ‘one of the best books about geopolitics you could imagine’ which is not at all an over-exaggeration. Marshall shines a light on a number of regions throughout the book, including Russia, China, the USA and Western Europe, providing an insight into the importance, and mainly the underestimation, of both physical and human geography in major historical and present-day conflicts, as well as the everyday struggles and strains that come with having to deal with the natural elements of our existence. Even if you’re someone who’s not massively into politics, or geography for that matter, Marshall and his writing provides you with an experience that, in my opinion, allows you to improve your understanding of global events, whilst allowing you to have a chuckle every now and then, which makes you far more comfortable with topics that would otherwise be considerably hard-hitting and a challenge to completely understand. For me personally, the chapter of the book that stood out the most was that surrounding the geographical issues in Africa, that have led to the political isolation of a number of countries within the continent (chapter 5). Upon introduction to the African continent, Marshall takes us on a mentally-visual tour of the countries it is made up of, as well as clarifying a number of misconceptions surrounding the continent itself. Throughout the chapter, he tackles a number of controversial concepts, including the slave trade, poverty and disease, and the civil wars that took place across the continent, but the main focus Marshall takes in his exploration of Africa is the issues that came with European colonisation; particularly the lack of consideration and understanding of the geography of the continent held by the colonisers, leading to a vast number of social, economic and environmental issues, on a significantly large scale. The careless behaviour of such colonisers is explored significantly, as these were people who believed forming new territory with the aims of benefitting from the resource-rich landscapes of Africa was as simple as drawing some lines over a map. (I know, ridiculous.) But as Marshall explains, this didn’t only cause issues with the geographical landscape of the country and its topography (which by making new borders created issues surrounding use and accessibility to natural

resources) but resulted in a multitude of ethnic conflicts and political failures, that in some cases, led to complete isolation of countries within the continent, preventing them from having any form of positive global recognition or influence. This meant the only recognition many countries did receive, only came about as a result of the emergency states many were forced into, as pleas for peace and financial aid began to become more common. A key illustration of this expressed by Marshall is the situation experienced in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) in which the division of artificial borders by Europeans caused a weak and segregated state, that was a substantial victim of exploitation. We are informed of the horrific and extensive atrocities that took place in the country, with everything from wide-spread poverty and malnutrition that caused the death of almost 6 million people, to experiencing the aftershocks of one of the worst genocides in history; Rwanda, 1994. The DRC is one of the countries that has suffered the most from the effects of not just colonisation, but an inconsiderate and careless attitude towards the natural world, that has left long-lasting damage to the country, leaving it with what appears to be very little chance for future progression. Despite many of the brutalities that have taken place on the continent, both towards the environment and its inhabitants, Marshall gives us some hope for Africa to cope with living in the modern world. It is beginning to make the most of many geographical features that once held back its progress, through turning many of their once useless river systems into excellent hydroelectric dam schemes, and is learning to use its resources to its advantage, by improving its trade relationships with key global players, particularly China. For me, Marshall’s analysis of the various conflicts and issues that have arisen across Africa are prime examples of the ways in which the power of the geography of a region can have a monumental impact on the way in which a country or region functions socially, as well as politically. The way in which Marshall has attempted to centre his focus on just how much we need to consider geography in all aspects of life, could be a potential movement for change in the ways we approach trying to improve the stability and co-operation of both people and places around the world. Therefore, the chapter in which Marshall explores the physical and human geography of Africa that contributes to the continents’ political organisation, leaves us as the reader, potentially feeling an element of anger or upset over the actions carried out by our ancestors, that led to a number of Africa’s problems, but at the same time creates a sense of optimism for the future, leaving us with some hope that the poor decision making and behaviours of the past will be learned from, holding the potential for Africa to become a considerable global power in the years to come. Despite the fact I have only covered one of the many chapters, and regions, that Marshall discusses within his book, the vital message that runs throughout, and is seen in the cases of all the regions he explores, is that geography will always remain one of the fundamental factors that influences global decision making, even though it is an aspect that is often failed to be considered enough. Geography is not something we can escape from, or change in one place and not expect a consequence somewhere else, yet it is one of the aspects of life that we as humans can have the most influence over. In fact, geography is what defines who we are, so to not consider it when making some of the most substantial political decisions that will affect the way we all live our lives, would be nothing other than an injustice. In the words of Tim Marshall, “If you don’t know geography, you’ll never have the full picture.”

A Week in the Life of A Student Paramedic By Tyla-Mae Chatfeild

For a week during this term I went to Surrey University in Guilford to study Paramedic Practice. When I first arrived at the University I was the only student looking at studying Paramedic Practice! I thought it was going to be really daunting being the only student there for my subject. After a while we were all ushered in to a lecture theatre to have our first lecturer, we were asked to sit in subject strands, this was the first time I met Holly who is a second year Paramedic Student at the University. After the lecture which was about getting to know you and the rest of your group, all of the health science students (Paramedics, Nurses, Midwifes and Operating Department Practitioners) went to the DK Building (The Duke of Kent Building), this is the main building on campus for the health sciences. Once there we played some ice breakers that allowed us to get to know the others I our subject strands, there turned out to be 11 Paramedic Practice Students there which was a relief. After the ice breakers we when to our flats for the week, we were all mixed up for the flats and the ambassadors for the one I was staying in were Criminology and Biomedical students. As a flat every night we had to complete flat challenges, the first one was to complete door signs with our names on.

On Tuesday we were split in to our subject strands again and went to our first subject specific lecture – Reflective Practice. This was all about how as a Paramedic you will have to take the time to reflect of what has happened during your shift or training and how, if possible, it could have had a better outcome. The second lecture was about research and presentational skills. We were split in to a team of 5 and a team of 6 and given the research title “How is the Ambulance Service dealing with the increase in urgent care calls?” I was given the task of researching all of the different roles within SECAmb (South East Coast Ambulance Service). There are 7 main roles! After lunch, we regrouped and took part in some skills set workshops. The first one was looking around a Simbulance. A Simbulance is a normal, fully kitted out ambulance except that the patient inside is a dummy. This dummy is capable of talking, screaming, crying,

bleeding, going to the toilet, throwing up and passing out on you so is a great tool for teaching the future generation of Paramedics. The second session was on midwifery and we got to have ago at delivering a baby! The third was about drugs and alcohol, were we tried intoxication glasses which make it seem as though you are drunk. The last session of the day was on pulses. We went to the training ward and had to find the Carotid, Brachial, Radial, Femoral, Popedal and the Pedal pulse on the dummy. The Student nurse then got us to take our own pulses to see how high they were.

Wednesday we looked at the theory of resuscitation. Discussing when it would be needed and how to do it. We then put it in to practice in the afternoon. The dummies that we used registered how far you were compressing and how for you were releasing between each chest compression, as well as measuring the speed of your chest compressions and the effectiveness of your rescue breaths. Lots of people struggled with how forceful you have to be when giving CPR to someone, they were all afraid of braking ribs! After the CPR practical session we had a session on hand hygiene, treating and distracting children and finally on scrubbing up of theatre.

On Thursday we had a lecture on the application process for university and how Paramedic Practice/Science is no longer funded by the NHS. We then had an hour to complete our research project which was given to us on Tuesday. After the research time we then had another lecture on the History of the Paramedic Profession, which was really interesting and showed how the profession had moved on since the 1940â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when it was first founded. After lunch we took part in some Paramedic Simulations out by the lake. We covered slings ad bandaging this was the first time Holly twigged that I had previous first aid knowledge so she made me demonstrate to the rest of the students how to do an arm sling. Holly and I then partnered off and did some move advanced bandaging before re-joining the group. Holly then got the vacuum splints out, which are basically giant beanbags that rap around the affected part of the body and when you remove all the air from them they go rock solid.

Friday saw the end of the summer school we all presented our research project to the rest of the health science students. We then took part in a quiz were the questions were based on the lectures that we had had during the week. We then filled out an evaluation sheet and said good bye to our ambassadors and thanked them for a great week!

A Lecture in Stylistics By Alex Willis

On the 4th of July, the Year 12 A-level English students were lucky enough to experience a lecture on the concept of stylistics from Dr Jeremy Scott, a Senior Lecturer from the English department of the University of Kent. For anyone who doesn’t know, stylistics is a discipline usually studied in University modules of an English degree, and involves the interpretation of literary texts based on their use of language and tonal style. Effectively, it founds its literary criticism on the study of linguistics. Those who study stylistics attempt to explain textual meaning based on a writer’s use of language, and unlike literary criticism, chooses not to focus on the writer and their background as a way of determining what is being portrayed in their writing: the words are at the heart of it. In order to help us understand how to analyse a text from a stylistic perspective, Dr Jeremy Scott chose a single poem for his focus: ‘Here’ by Philip Larkin. This is a poem the Year 12 English students had already studied in preparation to start their coursework. I think this was a really helpful and illustrative way of introducing us to the idea of stylistics, as by applying this concept to a poem that we had already analysed and developed an understanding of, it showed students that there is always more than one way of looking at a text: its meanings are myriad. Some of the more common aspects that are looked at from the perspective of someone studying stylistics include use of dialogue, exploration of regional accents or individual dialects or idiolects (which is something Dr Scott himself informed us that he closely studied in his own University dissertation, analysing a novel written entirely in the Scottish dialect and determining what effect this had on the readers’ understanding), the specific use of grammar and lexical patterns. However, in this lecture, the focus that was applied to our poem

included: a look at the proportions of nouns to verbs; and nouns to adjectives; the effect of the sentence lengths on the pace of the poem and an overall analysis of how the use of grammar shapes an understanding of a poem. None of which could be established through the application of a literary criticism alone. Despite the fact these are challenging, higher level skills that may be a little unfamiliar, many students, including myself, were definitely able to establish the basis of a new discipline, which can be applied to our own coursework, in order to display another level of understanding towards a literary text. I believe that being given the chance to experience lectures or talks from outside speakers like this are excellent opportunities to not only develop our understanding and skill within our subject areas, but also provides Year 12â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s with an insight into the level of study that they will soon be moving onto, if the decision is made to attend University. For this reason, lectures like this one have provided many of the students in Year 12 with an idea of what studying English at a University level will be like, as well as developing another way of improving and sharpening our analytic abilities. On behalf of the rest of Year 12, I would just like to say a massive thankyou to Mrs Blyth for taking the time to organise this lecture, as it has definitely been a beneficial and enjoyable experience for a number of us.

The UK Mathematics Trust The UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) is a registered charity whose aim is to advance the education of young people in mathematics. They organise national mathematics competitions for 11-18 year old UK school pupils and last academic year over 600,000 pupils from 4,000 schools took part in the three individual challenges (Senior, Intermediate and Junior) making it the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest national maths competitions. The top scoring students go on to sit a follow-on Olympiad round.

A big number of students from Barton Court Grammar school has taken part in the various Team and Individual competitions at all levels, with very encouraging results. 40% of pupils are awarded certificates with the top 6% awarded a gold certificate, the next 13% silver, and the next 21% bronze nationally.

In the recent Junior Maths Challenge, 65 Year 8 Barton Court students took part and achieved outstanding results, the best we have had the last years. In particular, eight students achieved gold medal, 20 students achieved silver medal and 17 students bronze. Congratulations to all student who took part and had to tackle intriguing and challenging questions. Congratulations to Daniel Vousden and Zach Mollatt for an exceptional score and achieving the top score in the Year group.

A huge well done to everyone who took part! This demonstrates clearly the ability of the students at Barton Court and it is exciting to see what they will do next.

Girls Sport Achievements Mrs Nuttall

Girls Basketball

The under 16 girls basketball team had a strong season, with victories over QE and Spires in their pre-tournament warm up games. The team competed well at the district tournament with wins over the Spires and Abbey as well as a credible draw with Simon Langton girls. Unfortunately, Herne Bay High and QE proved too strong on the day and we were beaten in these games. Well done to all girls who played throughout the season.

The under 14 team also played in the local district league, showing a good team spirit and commitment to improving. The team had two friendlies before the district tournament, beating Spires and losing to a very strong Canterbury. The team performed well in the district tournament beating St Anselms, Herne Bay High and Abbey before finally losing out in the final to Simon Langton Girls. 2nd place was a very good result, and bodes well for fighting for the championship next year.

Girls netball The spring term saw the girls netball teams battle it out in the district tournaments. The year 7 and 8 teams performed well, with a number of good results but unfortunately finishing outside the top 3. The year 8 team should be commended for excellent attendance at training and a high level of commitment to improving their performances. Through continued dedication I am sure they will continue to improve next year. The strongest performances this year came from a very talented year 10 team who showed a dynamic and exciting style of play. The year 10 team won 4 out of their 6 games at the tournament, losing only to Simon Langton and Kent College. This resulted in an excellent 3rd place finish. Well done the all netballers!

Girls Sport Achievements Mrs Nuttall

Netball The girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; netball teams continued their district fixtures in term 4, to include participating at the district tournaments. Year 7 went in to the District tournament as the in-form team with wins the week before against St Anselms and Simon Langton Girls. The teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment throughout the season (including training all winter) paid off as they did extremely well to reach the final, unfortunately losing out to Kent College at the final hurdle. The team did exceptionally well and now have a target to go on and win the tournament as they progress in to year 8. Despite year 7 being the stand out team this year we also fielded teams from year 8-10 and competed well in the district tournaments, finishing in the middle of the standings across the age ranges. Basketball Basketball proved a popular activity again for the girls this year, with successes both at under 14 and under 16 level. The under 16 team went in to the district tournament having a 50:50 record in league fixtures. The team were able to up their game when it came to the tournament, finishing a respectable 4th place. The under 14 team had a strong season, despite having many players from year 7. The group developed as a team throughout the league fixtures, allowing them

Rounders This season has seen mixed results for the schools rounders team, but matches have been well attended and enjoyed by all students involved. The year 7 team had a tough time at the district tournament, finishing 7th out of 8 teams. However, they did gradually improve as the games went on, so again this suggests promise for next year. Player of the tournament was Anna Hopkins, who performed consistently well and showed good leadership skills. The year 8 team have been the most consistent team this year, with a number of good wins in the local friendlies. The district tournament saw some exceptional performances, with the team winning their three groups games comprehensively to top the group and qualify for the final. The final was a very high quality game against Simon Langton. Langton batted first and we restricted them to 9.5 rounders. Our batting started off strongly, with 5 roundes at the half way point of the innings. Unfortunately, some excellent fielding from Langton saw our scoring rate slow and we ended up on 8.5, so losing out by one rounder. 2nd place in the district tournament is still a fantastic result and the girls are excited to try and go one better next year.

Boys Sports Achievements Mr Lintott

Softball-Year 7 Boys The year 7 Softball team played 4 fixtures against local schools in the summer term. Each game played was highly competitive with some great skills on show in batting and fielding. The boys played games against the Abbey school, Herne Bay High, St Anselms and Archbishops. Although the boys had a record of three defeats and one draw, the games were very closely contested and only decided in the 5th innings on each of the games. Year 7 Boys Rugby The boys finished their school games unbeaten with an impressive run of victories starting with an outstanding tournament performance at Canterbury Rugby club. The boys won every game against five local schools in a 9-a-side tournament. Convincing victories against Canterbury Academy, St Anselms, Archbishops and Spires were well deserved. The games were played at a high intensity throughout, with not only good attacking play, but with an unbreakable defensive line! The boys managed to not only maintain a 100% winning record , but amazingly the team did not concede a try in any of the games played! In the league campaign, the boys played the same teams yet again in the normal 15-a-side format and again, the team blitzed the opposition again with some dazzling rugby. Barton Court again won every game and recorded a huge 50 point or more margin of victory against all teams played. These results are testament to the boyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sense of team work and dedication to training and representing the school in a very positive way. These performances are very encouraging for next year and I am looking forward to seeing how the boys perform for the school and building on the success that the team have had.

Boys Football Year 7 Football Year 7 boys continued their seasons with the District cup competition and were drawn against Community College Whitstable School in their first round game. On the back of a confident display against Langton before Christmas, we started the game strongly, putting pressure on the CCW defence in the early stages. The pressure paid off and we took an early lead. Unfortunately, this was short lived and CCW replied quickly. The second half was a close affair and the sides were unable to be separated. With light fading, there was no time for the extra time and the game went straight to the lottery of penalties! With three penalties each, the most confident players from each team stepped up to the spot .The first two penalties were both excellently taken and the score was 2-2. It came down to the last penalty, we took our first and it was well saved. CCW then took their last penalty and scored! We were out but not down and we go again next year. Well done boys!

Boys Sports Achievements Mr Lintott

Year 8 Football Year 8 were drawn away against St Anselms in the first round. We approached this game in a very positive way, where we clearly wanted to make up for some disappointing results in the league competition, where our performance had not deserved this. We scored early and continued to be dominant in possession and create a host of chances that were well taken. Goals from Max Halliday, Harvey Lintott, Will Moses and Kosh Rai gave us a convincing victory of 8-1 and put us in a confident mood for the second round. Our second round opponents put us up against Simon Langton again, after our defeat to them in the league encounter, we were highly motivated to progress into the next round. The game was played at a high tempo, with lots of good passages of play from both sides. Langton were well organised and hard to break down, but Barton Court had the best of the early goal mouth action. These chances led to our first goal from Max Halliday and then further goals from Harvey Lintott, Jake Goodman and Ollie Dodds giving Barton Court an excellent 4-0 Win! A great result, with the boys showing a lot of character to comeback from the first defeat against Langton earlier in the season. In the Semi-Final, we were pitched against QE, who were a very strong side. With illness and injuries to several members of the squad, we had to change our formation and some players needed to change positions. We started brightly and the teams were well matched in a tight first 20 mins, with Barton Court having some good chances to go ahead. Against the run of play and on the break, we conceded to a good counter attacking goal. QE then gained confidence from this and scored two more goals in quick succession and took a three goal lead into half-time. We rallied well in the second half and pulled an early goal back through a well taken free kick by Harvey Lintott(3-1). As we continued to attack

QE in the second half, pushing players forward, inevitably, we left gaps in defence and we conceded a further two goals, making the final result 5-1 to QE. QE went on to the final and won the district cup against Herne Bay High, which proved that they were a very good side. We hope we can go one better next year and reach the final!

From in PE lessons and the experience of club players that they played against proved too strong. Each game we showed great character, team spirit and bravery. We showed that we have the potential to do very well next year, where we dominated some spells in games, but were not able to convert our possession into tries. With continued commitment in training next year, I am confident we can build on this positive approach by the boys. Well done all.

Boys Sports Achievements Mr Lintott

Boys Basketball Year 8 Basketball Barton Court had a very successful season of Basketball this year, recording victories against Spires Academy, Abbey School, St Anselms and Herne Bay! We were only defeated once by Canterbury High, who are current Kent Champions!. The boys in the team showed great commitment to the team throughout the season and have made great progress, which really bodes well for next season. Excellent work boys!

Basketball Squad: Ben Matthews, Kosh Rai, Harvey Lintott, Ben Carpenter Friend, Harry Brundle, Harry Doy, Will Moses, James Traske

Year 9 Basketball Year 9 had a more difficult season this year, with some tough games against some well organised and experienced opposition. In each game we were not outplayed, but we did not take our chances when they were given to us, narrowly losing each game. We finished the season on a high with a good result with a close victory against the Abbey school. Basketball Squad: Jos Fielder Guerts, George Pipkin,Cos Mandis,Jake Deakins,Seb Sincliar, Harvey Cheesman, Cole Gibbens,Joe Berry, Kyran Turner.

Year 7 Rugby Year 7 boys played rugby against the following schools: St Anselms, Archbishops & Canterbury High. This was a season where the boys learnt a lot but had a very steep learning curve! Several boys in the team had not played the game before, apart from in PE lessons and the experience of club players that they played against proved too strong. Each game we showed great character, team spirit and bravery. We showed that we have the potential to do very well next year, where we dominated some spells in games, but were not able to convert our possession into tries. With continued commitment in training next year, I am confident we can build on this positive approach by the boys. Well done all.

Year 8 Softball With Softball being introduced for the first time the district this year, the boys in the team were the first to be part of this exciting extra-curricular activities. Unfortunately, the weather took control of proceedings and several games were postponed due to rain. Barton Court played two games against Archbishops and Herne Bay high, with narrow defeats against both. Hopefully, weather permitting, we can play some more games next year! Softball Squad: Daniel Whittaker, James Traske, Tom Barry, Finn Bobb, Fred Harvey, Olly Dodds, Ben Carpenter Friends, Dennis Koshi,Elijah Meenan

Year 9 Rugby It has been a great season for the year 9 rugby team, playing in competitive fixtures against year 10 team, finishing the season unbeaten; winning the Canterbury 10 a side tournament; and also finishing as runners up in the under 14s Kent Sevens. The team finished the season with a comprehensive 75-15 win over St Anselm’s, putting the squad in a fantastic position for next season where they will be hoping to go one step further in the Kent Sevens and will also be competing in school rugby’s biggest competition, the Natwest Schools Cup.

Kent Sevens Tournament On Tuesday 14th March, 10x Year 9 students were selected to represent the School at the under 14s Kent Sevens Tournament. Throughout the day, the students played against some of the top selective and private schools in the County, finishing as runners up after a full day of intense rugby.

The team left at 7.30am, ensuring they arrived in plenty of time for their first fixture of the day against Ravensbourne. Barton Court conceded the first try, but regrouped well to comfortably win their first game 19-5. The boys then had a two hour break before their next match against St Dunstan’s School. However, this didn’t affect their performance as they came away with an exceptional 31-5 win, scoring 5 tries in total. The next group match pitched Barton Court against Norton Knatchbull School from Ashford, with both teams knowing the winner from this match would probably go on to top the group. After a tight first half, the game was tied at 5-5. Barton Court then displayed an excellent second half defensive effort, keeping out Norton Knatchbull for the full 5 minutes and then scoring a length of the pitch try with the last play of the game to win 12-5. This left Barton Court knowing a win against Hayes School in their final game would see them top the group. The boys started slowly, conceding two quick tries leaving them 12-7 down at half time. A quick team talk resulted in a much improved second half performance, with Barton Court winning the game 31-12 meaning they topped the group.

The semi-final match saw Barton Court play against tournament hosts Dartford Grammar

School. Again, a slow start by Barton Court saw them go 7-0 down. A try before half time meant the teams went into the break level at 7-7. Barton Court took control in the second half, with a try of the tournament and Dartford Grammar having a player sent off for dissent and poor sportsmanship. Barton Court scored 4 further tries in the second half to give them a 29-7 win and a place in the final. The final match of the day was, therefore, the final against Kings Rochester. This was, by far, the biggest challenge for Barton Court, with the half time score showing a 12-5 lead to the opposition after a very close fought encounter. Barton Court were the much more dominant team in the second half, scoring an unconverted try to take the score to 12-10, and continuing to attack against a very well drilled Kings Rochester team. Unfortunately, Barton Court were unable to break down the defence and, with the ball spilled during the final play, Kings Rochester kicked the ball out of play to win the match 12-10.

The 10 students selected performed exceptionally well throughout the day and represented the School extremely well. Despite not winning the final, the team can take lots of positives from this tournament which will prepare them well for future seasons.

Davis Cup Tennis Tour 28 students from years 7-12 took part in a legacy event celebrating Britain’s success in this year’s Tennis Davis Cup. Students were welcomed to the event by Polo Farm Tennis club who had organised a range of great activities. Students were put through their paces with a 30 minute coaching session, as well as being able to test the serve speed and playing on the outdoor courts. In addition to these playing opportunities, students were able to watch a demonstration from the clubs satellite team, as well as having the chance to watch a wheelchair exhibition match and a university level match. Students were amazed at the sheer size of the Davis Cup and were keen to get a selfie with it. The students had a great experience from start to finish, with one student asking ‘Can we come up again next year?’….that I am afraid is up to Andy Murray and co!

Equestrian Club A team of 4 pupils and their horses travelled up to Felbridge on the 18 June to compete in the National schools NSEA show jumping qualifiers in order to qualify for the National School Championships 2017 held in October. This is a first for Barton Court and the pupils smashed it coming home with 2nd place in their class which automatically qualifies them! It was very close with only half a second separating us from Cranleigh who top the tables for the South East Region this year. Even though it was extremely hot the pupils and horses enjoyed every moment representing their school and look forward to competing again soon.

Barton Courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Equestrian team qualify for National finals!

Athletics This season has brought great success for Barton Court in athletics, both on an individual and team level. Students have committed well to athletics with good attendance at practice and fixtures. The year 7 team have had an excellent season, with a strong performance at the Super 8â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s festival preparing them well for a winning team performance at the year 7 festival on 27th June. There were some outstanding performances, with the boys team finishing 2nd and the girls 3rd. This was enough to give us overall victory and the team were delighted to be able to collect the shield as team winners for 2017 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; well done to all athletes involved!

We also had a good performance at the district athletics. This event sees 11 schools battle it out to see who is crowned the best overall athletics team in the local area. Our strongest performance came from the intermediate boys who were able to finish 2nd in their competition. This was a result of standout performances, with Max Halliday (100m) and George Pipkin (discus) crowned district champions in their respective events. This strong display coupled with solid performances from junior boys and the girls teams resulting in a 3rd place finish. Again, this is a very strong performance. In addition to our strong team performances with have also had some excellent individual performances. Four students were selected to represent the Canterbury district at Kent School Chamionships at the Julie Rose stadium on Saturday 10th June. Scarlett Thomas-Wright performed well in the year 7 girls high jump, finishing a very respectable 4th place. Scarlett is a true all-rounder and we expect to see

many great things in the coming years. Cole Gibbens qualified for the intermediate boys 800m final and finished just outside the podium places in 4th. This was the second year running for Cole at the county championships as we are excited to see where his athletics takes him next. Jake Goodman came 2nd in the junior boys 100m race gaining qualification to the South East Championships a week later, where he also secured a podium finish (3rd). This is testament to Jakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extra training with Invicta athletics club. The most remarkable success this year has come from year 11 Roseanna Temple who has turned to the track following superb results in the cross country in the autumn. Roseanna ran her first race over 3000m at the Kent Championships, winning the title at a canter. Roseanna also went on to win her 2nd race over the distance with another win at the South East Counties Inter-schools competition, clocking an impressive time of 10m48.05s. We wish Roseanna the best of luck for her continuing performances at this distance.

Martial Arts By Charlie Hinder I began Martial Arts in October 2006 after my parents read about the Matt Fiddes Martial Arts club in a newspaper. Little did I know that I would remain in this club for what is now over ten years, reach the 3rd degree black belt and go on to teach others who recently joined the club like I once did. First lessons were always fun, I was 4 years old when I had my first and it was no exception, I met my instructor, Master Finch, who still teaches me today after 10 years, I made some friends, learnt my first punches and kicks and wanted to go again and again. After a couple of months of training as a white belt I reached my first grading, where different instructors from around the UK come to judge whether you have the correct skills to receive your new belt or not by watching you perform your current belts moves and hand drills. I arrived at the grading, did everything id learnt in my classes and managed to pass, although I don’t remember exactly what happened or what I said and did, I will always remember the way it made me feel. After reaching purple belt I was keen to keep pursuing and upgrading my belts to yellow, then orange, then green,

then brown, then brown stripe, then blue, and then red stripe. After several years of hard work, coming into my lessons twice a week and moving up an age group (from the little ones to the juniors) I eventually achieved my red stripe belt at the age of 8, which had been my initial goal, but I wasn’t going to stop there. Since white belt the grading’s had got much harder, I’d learnt plenty of new kicks and punches as well as new hand drills and the kick boxing drill but now after reaching red stripe, they were going to get much, much harder. I’d reached what was known as panel grading territory, a normal grading tends to lasts between 45 minutes and an hour and you have to do all the moves from your belt, your belts hand drill and other things such as one step and kick boxing drills depending on your belt colour. However, panel grading’s normally last over 3 hours, you have to show the judges every move you’ve ever learnt, every hand drill you’ve ever learnt, literally show them everything you’ve ever done in

the years you’ve been training as well as plenty of the fitness elements, it wasn’t going to be easy… I trained for months, I thought of the grading as like an exam, I had to revise everything I’d learnt over the years I’d been in the club in order to pass. After my first panel grading and reaching red belt, they just kept on getting harder and harder, I would have to do more moves, learn more drills and increase the amount of exercise. Then, one of if not the most important grading I will ever go to took place, my first degree grading. You may be able to reach far higher degree belts however, the rewards are nothing like the one for a first degree, when you first become a real black belt. This happened to me on the 19th May 2012 and although I was just under 12 years old, I still had to work just as hard as adults did. I had to practise at home, at the club and even in the garden to prepare for the grading, and I was rewarded greatly with my new belt. However, between the grading training gaps I would train for championships. Once a year at the British championships all the clubs from around Great Britain come together for one huge competition to perform drills, forms, and finally spar (fight). When I first came to the championships I thought there would be maybe 100 people, but when I stepped into the huge sports hall I saw that there were nearly a thousand, and being as young as I was I found that a little daunting. When

I returned home from my first championships I may not have been holding any trophies or wearing any medals, but I felt amazed that I had been a part of something so big! So I kept on going to championships, learning more and then in the 2013 British championships on my twelfth birthday, my greatest martial arts moment took place. I had just turned twelve (it was my birthday), so I had moved up into the twelves and above group, so I was against adults, yet somehow whenever I came face to face with the judges, I kept going through rounds, to the semi-final, and then to the final where I was put against one of my own club members from Canterbury who had beaten me several times in competitions before. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to come home with the first place trophy but somehow, after a lot of training, I’d managed to. That trophy still sits on a shelf in my bedroom, a reminder of that great moment. As a lot of my friends know I recently hit a huge milestone for my martial arts journey, my third degree black belt which I graded for in July 2016. Once again I had trained for months, mostly for the fitness elements as this was what the grading would concentrate on, however, even after all this hard work the grading was still harder than I had expected. The intensity never stopped, constant exercise, drills or moves for 3 hours, towards the end of the grading I was so tired I was near the point of crying. By the time I sat down at the end of the grading to be told weather I had past or not 90 percent of the souls of my feet were covered in blisters. Before I was told the results the examiners told me it was one of if not the hardest third degree black belt grading they’d ever given. Although this probably annoyed me quite a bit at the time, when I think about that now I wouldn’t have had it any other way, because even though it had been so difficult, I had passed. Now I wear that belt to every martial arts lesson I go to, and if it hasn’t fallen off by the end of it, I look at it and remember what I have achieved as a result of my parents reading a newspaper. Shortly after the grading I was asked to judge in the 2016 British championships as well as compete in some new categories. I arrived at the competition which was yet again bigger than ever and prepared to do some judging. It was harder than expected, the people I judged may have been training for weeks, months, and may return home with nothing due to my decisions. However, to my relief I was told I had made all the right decisions and I went on to compete in the championships. After competing in some of my normal categories I went on to compete in some of the new ones, synchronised forms and instructor forms. In synchronised forms my partner and I had been training more than ever, we used a hall to practise in our free time, we came to our lessons early practising and also did nothing but championship practise in our normal lessons. We got through our first couple of rounds and had reached the final, the battle for third, second and first. One of the pair in the final were also training for the world championships and so my

partner and I were expecting a third or second. But somehow, they had called our names up for first place, had there been some sort of mistake? Apparently not, we had won, but before I could start celebrating I immediately had to go and take part in the instructor’s and junior instructor’s forms, I was one of the junior instructors. Watching the instructors do forms I had never heard of or seen before and then competing against them was amazing, but I wasn’t surprised when I left the category empty handed, as the other instructors, some of which were ‘masters’, were incredible. This competition is the reason I have written all this in the first place. In order to get to the championships on time I had to leave school an hour early so my parents emailed Mr Lintott (my head of year) for permission. He was keen to hear about what I did in my martial arts club and was surprised at the fact very few people knew about it, and so I was asked to write this for the school article. Now I Can think about my next belt grading, the fourth degree which I will most likely take in 2018. Apparently it is much, much, much harder than my third degree grading, a one and a half hour warm up, and a total grading time of over 7 hours. Sure, martial arts can be hard work, but I wouldn’t change it for a thing.

Sports Award The PE department took part in the school’s first Gifted and Talented awards evening on 28th June. The event gave the PE department the opportunity prize winners in key stage 3 and 4. KS3 Sports Personality Girl – Faye Batty KS3 Sports Personality Boy – Daniel Whittaker KS3 Commitment Award – Laura Temple KS4 Sports Personality Girl – Mollie Harding KS4 Sports Personality Boy – Cole Gibbens KS4 Commitment Award – George Pipkin

Well done to all of our prize winners as well as all other students who have attended extra-curricular clubs and performed for school teams this year. In addition to celebrating our sporting successes we were also able to have stalls for our talented athletes. Students who are performing at a high level across a range of sports were able to show off their talents through talking to parents and staff about their journey’s in sport so far. Students were also lucky enough to be able to talk to elite runner Bobby Clay who was our special guest for the evening. Bobby was able to give out nutritional advice to one of our runners, as well as sharing her experiences and advice. It was a truly excellent evening enjoyed by all.

Bee Keeping club By Kai Longden

Many people will know Barton court as a grammar school, but little know of its budding beekeeping club. Run by Mr Tsafaras, a beekeeper disguised as a maths teacher, the club was founded in September to try and teach students about beekeeping, bees and how to build and manage an apiary using skills that were taught to them. I was lucky enough to be accepted to the club, and so I intended to utilise ever opportunity given to me by the club to get involved. These days, bees are less common, and often people do not know different bee species apart. All species of bees are endangered, and this because of: habitat loss (due to human habitation), lack of food (due to deforestation) and the migration of Asian hornets to Europe. The most common types of bees are listed below: the honeybee, the buff-tailed bumble bee and the carder bee. In beekeeping club, students have visited the Barton Court Grammar School apiary in Tyler hill, which has around 4 hives, with enough room for expansion. After, students attended regular meetings with information. In the spring term, Mr Tsafaras used the DT department to build supers and frames for the hives. Students enjoyed the activities available this year.

My Fair Lady Set Design By Eden Wood

In preparation for the My Fair Lady production, students from various years within the school have been helping out designing and painting the backdrop for the show, run by members of year 12 and Mr Ashmore. As you can see, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve dedicated hours after school and during free periods to date. Designing, drawing and planning what to put on the three blank boards and have now accomplished an almost-finished historical London skyline background. Painted in acrylic and outlined with dark paint-pens, in hope of making the My Fair Lady performance as visually bold and successful as they can. It was done by projecting designs onto the boards and tracing around them before painting, with additional help from year 7 and 8 artists, in colours that would be bold enough to make an effective and interesting background while keeping with a colour scheme. The wardrobe from last years Beauty and the Beast performance is also in the process of being transformed into a ticket booth for the Royal Ascot races scene. The girly pink and white design has been covered in a more urban, London brown and will be decorated with red a gold patters and text.

Thank you to the dedicated year 12 helpers: Louise Ben Tyla-Mae Jasmine Charlee Alasdair

My Fair Lady Rehearsals By Sinclair Perry 10G (Freddy Eynsford-Hill)

This year, our school production is the musical, My Fair Lady. For anyone who knows the musical, it is very exciting to perform such a classic. For anyone who doesn’t know the musical, it is based on the play Pygmalion which you may know, by George Bernard Shaw. The music is written by Frederick Loewe, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. The show centres on Miss Eliza Doolittle, a cockney flower girl and the Professor Henry Higgins’ battle to make her speak properly. Over the course of six months he tutors her, until the climax at the Annual Embassy Ball and the following events…

As always Miss Fenn has pulled together an excellent band as well as Mrs Baker directing to create the spectacle (which you should come and see) of a meticulously blocked production accompanied by live exhilarating music!

The rehearsal process began over 5 months ago with auditions, taking place at the end of January; from these we’ve gained our strong central cast, with Petros Papa-Adams playing Higgins and Freya Stephenson as Eliza Doolittle promising to be terribly exciting. All the scenes have been creatively considered and filled with a healthy serving of song and dance.

In addition to these rehearsals, the chorus have been enthusiastic in blocking the pivotal songs in the production such as ‘Wouldn’t It Be

Loverly’ and ‘Get Me To The Church On Time’. As we have approached the opening night, design elements have appeared, and slowly but surely uniformed children have been transformed to cockneys and gentry, showing a great deal of versatility. There is a multi-functioning set, complete with the infamous wing chair; there is spectacular lighting; there are microphones and therefore it is a production well worth seeing.

The performance dates are from the 11th-13th July each taking place at 7pm. Tickets are £5 for children and concessions on the first two nights (£7 for adults) with £7 and £10 respectively on the 13th when tickets will be more in demand due to the Food Technology department kindly providing delicious, themed food. So come and see the production, from the totally unbiased viewpoint of a member of the principal cast!

Art Exhibition Mrs Hodge

Our hard working and creative A-Level artists put on a fantastic show of work on Wednesday 5th July. The private view was well attended by staff, students, families and friends. The exhibition is the highlight of the year for the art department and is an excellent opportunity to showcase the talents of our older students. One parent even commented it was ‘better than a degree show’. Between them, our eight A-Level artists produced a diverse range of artworks spanning a broad range of disciplines. Kezia Knight’s ballet costumes were stunning and the choreographed dance was a beautiful and imaginative way to showcase her work. Saskia Verwijs’ exam portfolio which focused on the theme of fish was imaginative and beautifully created. She has even sold some of her pieces. The politically driven work of Ben Laing inspired and interested everyone. His written element was one of the most interesting I have ever read. The photographic pieces by James Grove were exceptional and his film well conceived and sophisticated. The conceptual thinking and understanding of Sophie Eastburn was truly beyond that expected of an A Level student and the deeply personal auto biographical work of Jordan Cook was courageous and expressive. One of my favourite pieces was the series of stunning fairy tale themed mixed-media photos created by Rachael Pettet. Tom Mills showcased a beautiful collection of paintings for his final exhibition. Not only did Tom join the course late, towards the end of year 12 but, he also hadn’t studied GCSE art. His development and progression on the course is remarkable.

The standard of work this year was of a very high quality throughout and the students showed brilliant teamwork in helping each other to hang the exhibition. The exhibition was a great success and I am very proud of them all.

Art Gallery By Eden Wood

Charlotte Kale

Anna Goodwin

Claudia Nugent-Gormley

Bethan Isaacs

Benjamin Laing

Lowenna Hayter

Excellence throughout the school Jacob Tann

Saskia Verwijis

Art Enrichment Day The art department were thrilled to be given the opportunity to invite a visiting artist to the school on the final enrichment day of the year. This was an exciting opportunity for students, who have been identified as TALENTED in art, to experience working with a visiting practitioner, learning new skills and techniques. The Director of Claydayz Richard Gibson MA has over 20 years experience as a practising ceramicist, sculptor, project manager, lecturer, teacher, workshop designer and events leader. He has gained national exposure for his work and exhibited internationally. You can find out more about the company at www.claydayz.co.uk. The workshop was practical based and encouraged each student to create their own sculptures using clay. The workshops were inspired by nature and the Fibonacci sequence. Students found the day enjoyable and engaging. It was a fully interactive educational experience for all those taking part. Some of the outcomes are absolutely stunning and for many this was their first proper experience of working with clay.

Art Competitions Portfolio Art Competition Portfolio is Turner Contemporary’s annual art competition for pupils, students and education professionals. A panel of judges select winners and shortlisted entries will then be exhibited in the gallery. The artwork could be any medium and of any size, for example you may choose to use photography, painting, drawing, digital design, film, sculpture or collage. The theme for 2016-2017 was Making a Change. Many of our talented art students made entries and we had two students, Alex Quested and Jack White, shortlisted for prizes from over 1000 entries. We are thrilled to announce that one of our students, Jack White in Year 8, won a highly commended award for key stage 3. His work was creative, imaginative and extremely original. He is a real talent. To all our budding artists, keep your eyes open for next year’s competition.

John Downton Awards The art department would like to invite all of our creative, imaginative and talented art students to get involved in an excellent art competition, the John Downton Awards. The John Downton Awards are open for submissions from Kent pupils aged 11 – 18 years. Don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your talent. The annual John Downton Awards for Young Artists encourages and celebrates the diverse talent of a new generation of Kent’s young artists. It is our hope to send a very strong collection of exciting artwork from Barton Court Grammar School. We enjoyed enormous success this academic year at the awards ceremony. The standard of work is always incredibly high and we had six students shortlisted for prizes. Jacob Tann won the drawing prize for his age category and Claudia Nugent Gormley won the painting prize. The deadline for receipt of applications in noon on 15 September 2017. Please send a digital image of your image to Mrs N A Hodge. Email: nhodge@bartoncourt.org.

Biochemistry Antibiotic Project By Harry Fox, Robert Abbott and Ellie Giles

At the beginning of the year this started as a regular after school club developing our skills in biochemistry with thing such as pouring agar plates, and creating streak plates of bacteria but then we found a direction. The microbiology society began to run something called the antibiotics unearthed project, an initiative where 4 schools out of the applicants are picked and receive ÂŁ2,000 funding to try and discover a microorganism that displays antibiotic properties from soil. When we found out the school had received this we were ecstatic. As well as this, we are also teaming up with the University of Kent, they are letting us schedule time to go up to them and use their facilities which is an amazing opportunity as they have some pretty amazing stuff there. Here comes the more science bit. The way we are hoping to discover this antibiotic is to create lawn plates of various gram positive and gram negative bacteria such as E.coli and S.albus and put a drop of soil solution from the bottom of the pond on there. We will then incubate them for a suitable amount of time and identify if there are any zones of inhibition. A zone of inhibition would mean there is something antibiotic preventing the growth of bacterium around that area and this would then allow us to carry out our further research into it, analysing what it is, how effective it is, and the active compound it produces. This is a very exciting time for us and in the future we hope we can allow more students to join in with such projects!

Ella Williams University of Oxford Award The judges of the 2017 French Film Competition, run by the University of Oxfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Faculty of Medieval & Modern Languages have awarded Ella Williams a commendation in the Years 12-13 category. Ella was required to write an alternative ending for one of two films, choosing Paris Nous Appartient by Jacques Rivette, a famous film form the French Nouvelle Vague. Ella, who is also the Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Head Girl, said "although initially it was difficult to think of a different ending to such an acclaimed film, I decided to focus on the more philosophical questions raised in the film which was very interesting to research. I won a commendation from Oxford for my ending, which is very exciting and something I can use with my university applications next year. I am very pleased with this and have learnt a lot from this experience!" The University thanked Ella for teaching and promoting French in school and Mr Luret, Head of MFL, said it was fantastic recognition for such a hard working student.

Enrichment Day 31/01/17 By Year 7

Cross-curricular project with Art, Design & Technology and Modern Foreign Languages “One of our most inspirational enrichment day by studying Salvador Dali and other amazing French and Spanish artists. I think it was very interesting and fun because everyone in the class took part in creating a wonderful painting that was displayed to the other year 7 classes. We learnt many different things about some of the artists and also filled in in a sheet that was describing all of Salvador Dali’s life and some of his extraordinary paintings. I hope that we can explore some other interesting things in future enrichment days because I think that everyone enjoyed it!” By Robert Culleton

“Our enrichment day was very interesting. I especially enjoyed doing the art part. We did it about Salvador Dali and his types of art part. We did it about Salvador Dali and his types of art were very complex with lots of details which made it hard to recreate. I learnt many new foreign words that will be very useful and I really enjoyed it!” By Holly Duggan

The VAUD Experience By Lucie Amrein

Since September 2015, Barton Court is in a partnership with the department for secondary education of the “county of Vaud” in Switzerland. This means that each year, ten students or so are coming for a year in year 12. So now it's been almost a year that nine of us are here and it's time for a little review! When we arrived in September, we didn't know much about the English school system and our understanding of English was limited, not to mention the trouble to be understood but after a couple of weeks of adaptation to our new environment (host families, new school, other specification of our subjects…), we were living almost as every other English teenager. In Switzerland, everyone has to do a sort of EPQ during that year, so we all did one in English on a topic that we like. I'm sure that we will all go home with different new experiences (good and bad) and of course we’ll come back with another fluent language but I think that it brought to everyone to live away of our family and friends and have to deal more independently with our everyday life. There are more differences between Switzerland and England than it seems. At school for example everyone is doing a kind of International Baccalaureate (if we are doing the equivalent to

sixth form because about half of the people are doing an apprenticeship, due to the high standards of apprenticeship). The culture is also quite different, even though we are both Western Europe. For example the public transports in Switzerland are known to be on time, whereas here in England it is much less reliable or ordering online takes longer too, here we can order and be delivered the same day or the day after, it's awesome! I pretty much sure everyone heard before coming in England that the food doesn't follow the same standards, in general I would say that it isn't as bad as people were saying but I still believe that we are generally eating healthier and slightly more refined. A difference can also be seen in the types of sports practise here, for example rugby, hockey and cricket are a lot more popular here but there are other sports less played as volleyball, ski or ice hockey. The mixture of the different cultures is greater here, the effects can be felt on different levels, such as the restaurant, the shops, the services, the people, we find it nice in comparison to our more uniform society but it may be because we're young and less attached to one point.

Spanish Exchange On March 2017, 19 students ranging from Year 8 to Year 13 travelled to Canterbury from Madrid, as part of a Spanish Exchange. This was the sixth time this successful partnership between Barton Court Grammar School and Institute Las Rozas took place. During the trip, each student stayed with an English student and their families which enabled them to live the English lifestyle and obviously practice their English. It was fantastic!

Benefits of exchange visits were tremendous since students benefited both linguistically and culturally from this experience. Students are forming lifelong friendships with their exchange partner that provides further opportunities in future years. Students attended lessons in both schools, as well as had the opportunity to practise their language skills with their partnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family. There was also a wide programme of cultural visits to local places of interest in England.

The Canterbury trip was a beautiful experience for the Spanish contingent. They had the chance to explore Canterburyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s landmarks, including the Cathedral, the Roman Museum or the riverside, and they all enjoyed the break that English weather gave us that week. The vast majority of the students felt sad of having to leave such a gorgeous place! Throughout the week they went to school with the English students and experienced classes such as Science, Business, English or Food technology. Here they could see a clear difference between both schools.

They also explored other places nearby, such as Dover and its castle, but the most important day for the Spanish exchange was, without doubt, the day trip to London. Arriving early in the morning to Greenwich, sailing up the Thames to central London, and discovering the joys of such a diverse and exciting place was the best thing in the whole week for many of them, as they recalled on their last day. They came back home charged with â&#x20AC;&#x153;I Love Englandâ&#x20AC;? t-shirts, football memorabilia (Chelsea and Arsenal seem to be the most popular teams among Spaniards) and great memories of a week they will never forget. We are now preparing the new Exchange for next year which will have 60 students involved! Really looking forward to it!

French Exchange This year, the French department has started a partnership between Barton Court Grammar School and Collège Théodore Monod in the outskirts of Paris. Our Year 7 have changed letters with their French penfriends, Christmas cards and Easter cards.

“We have really enjoyed this opportunity because it helps us understand French more and learn from our mistakes. We found it great that we could interact with students from a foreign country”. By Joseph Warner

Following this very successful year, we are hoping to further develop this partnership by offering an exchange next year. This exchange is open to Year 7 and 8 but also students studying French at GCSE in Year 9. There are up to 30 places available. It is an excellent opportunity for students to extend their speaking skills and to increase their awareness of French

culture. The French students will visit us from Monday 5th to Sunday 11th March 2018 and we will be visiting them in the autumn term 2018 (dates to be confirmed). The benefits of exchange visits are tremendous since students benefit both linguistically and culturally from this experience which would certainly be an advantage for GCSE as this examination now requires the students to be more independent and be able to manipulate the language with confidence. Furthermore, often students form lifelong friendships with their exchange partner that provides further opportunities in future years. Students will attend lessons in both schools, as well as have the opportunity to be immersed in their partnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family. If you are interested in this exchange, it is never too late to apply. Please ask a member of the languages department or contact Mr Luret.

La Galette des Rois By Jack Wellard

La Galette des Rois is a traditional French pastry eaten on the sixth of January (Epiphany) in Francophone countries around the world. Legend has it that it brings the kings to the Epiphany, but it seems as if the kings got lost on the way up to Food Tech because we had no crown! When the five of us got to our lesson in food tech, Mr Luret had already put the galette in the oven, and I think it’s appropriate to let you all know that, no, we did not make the galette! As we waited for it to cook we looked inside the oven and we could see the flaky puff pastry layers of the tart and the thick layer of frangipane running through it. The anticipation in the room was growing very quickly! Once it came out of the oven, Mr Luret asked Ella to get under the table, and I can tell you that I don’t think that I ever seen four people look so confused in my life! As it turns out, the youngest member of the group sits under the table and randomly assigns a piece of galette to everyone sat at said table. The reason for this is that there is a small prize hidden somewhere in the galette, a fève, and whoever receives it, becomes the king or queen for the day. Therefore Ella was under the table to assign pieces of galette so that the fève was given by chance. And of course it was Mr Luret who won the fève, a small plastic figurine of Marie Antoinette, I’m pretty sure it was a fix! Bitterness aside, we all had a brilliant lesson and it is always fun to engage with an unfamiliar culture, something I would encourage any linguist to do as often as they can.

Kings School Speedy Challenge Once again the design technology department at Barton Court Grammar School competed in the Kings school Speedy Car Challenge, this year taking a record of 11 students over 4 teams, the most teams from any visiting school. Students from years 7 and 8 attended the CAD/CAM club for 6 weeks and spent much of their own time after school to build, test and perfect their vehicles. We were thrilled to have our first ever all female team, whose imaginatively named vehicle â&#x20AC;&#x153;leaf Leafâ&#x20AC;? was a hot favourite with organisers to take home a prize. Sadly it was not to be, but 3 of the 4 teams reached the semi-final, before being too badly damaged to go on and having to be withdrawn.

Mrs Parker would like to thank Graham Swindley and all the wonderful staff and students at the Kings School for making the day such as success, and also to our own future engineers for their perseverance, dedication and can do attitude.

Advice from Sixth Form Students Students from Barton Court Sixth form have reflected on their time at this school. Sixth form students have experienced every part of an academic life.

“Be friendly to everyone in the corridors, it makes the school environment a much nicer place.” - Eleanor Howland Year 12 “Respect your teachers, because their help is valuable. They will support you through your academic life.” - Ellie Giles Year 12 “Always keep to deadlines otherwise all your work will get on top of you.” - Bethany Old Year 12 “Make revision notes as you go along. It will reduce the amount of stress you have during exam session as you'll have a great set of notes to revise from!” - Ruby Wood Year 12 “Stay Organised” - George Bonny Year 12 “Apply for prefect roles because they can help you grow your confidence and are also really helpful when apply for university” - Tom Dixon Year 12 (Deputy Head Boy)

Fundraising for Alzheimer's Research Students from all year groups enjoyed cake at break time in aid of Alzheimer's Research. Parents and students kindly donated cakes of all designs and flavours and nearly ÂŁ80 was raised just in this one 20 minute break!

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. The word dementia describes a set of symptoms that can include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language. The students were dedicated to help fund research into curing Alzheimer's and put in so much effort into their successful bake sale!

Year 11 Prom The Year 11â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s have finished their GCSE examinations and, in order to celebrate their hard efforts, they were rewarded with a prom. Here are the photos that hopefully show how amazing the evening was!

Year 13 Prom After taking their A-Levels the Year 13â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s were invited to have a prom in which aimed to celebrate their commitment and energy throughout their time at Barton Court. Here are the photos that hopefully portray the amazing evening in the best way possible!

Forthcoming Events

12th July School Production

13th July School Production 17th July The Start Of Enrichment Week 21st July The End of enrichment week

Ellie Giles and Harry Fox would like to say a big congratulations to Turing House for winning the house cup for this year. Well done!