DGS Life 2017-2018

DGS Life A review of the academic year 2017-2018 in words and pictures

The Four Yorkshiremen sketch at House Drama competition, January 2018.

What a fantastic year we have had at Derby Grammar School.

Looking through the pages of DGS Life makes me wonder how we fit it all in, from the opening of Rykneld Sports Centre back in September 2017 to House competitions, pantomimes and, more recently, rounding off the year with the Senior and Junior School Sports Days.

Our students never cease to amaze me with what they achieve inside and outside of the classroom. Our ambition for each and every one of them is that they develop in to confident, knowledgeable and considerate individuals who are ready, willing and more than able to take on life’s challenges – and succeed.

The opportunities they have, both in their academic studies and in extra-curricular activities, supports this development, and reading their end of term reports makes me very proud of their achievements.

Mrs Lesley Reynolds Acting Head

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Celebrating success

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Just a flavour of some of our students’ achievements this year. 1: Freddie Lamb was selected for the England CP team playing in the IFCPF Euro Para Youth Games in Italy. 2: Elliot Butterworth was named the Independent School Association’s Whitbread Memorial Prize Winner. 3: The Barbershop Choir triumphed again in the Derby Arts Festival. 4: Our physicists reached the final of the UK Space Design Competition. 5: We hosted and took part in the East Midlands Association Classical Teaching (EMACT) Latin Reading competition, coming first and third in the Junior competition. 6: Ben Masterson passed his Grade 8 trumpet exam with merit - a remarkable achievement at the age of 13.

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House competitions Our house system encourages a sense of unity, camaraderie and healthy competition.

2017-2018 House Captains

Led by Sixth Form House Captains, the four houses of Blackton, Atkinson, Derby and Bemrose accumulate points throughout the year during various House events.

At the end of the year, the coveted R. G. King Memorial Trophy is awarded to the House with the most points. It’s a hotly contested accolade which brings pupils of all ages together and which offers opportunities for all to contribute to their House’s overall success.

Tug of War

Cross Country

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Drama

Atkinson

Bemrose

Katrina Rai

Tom Rushman

Blackton

Derby

Kalvin Suddhi

Ollie Wilson

The results table Competition

Winner

Art

Atkinson

Carols

Bemrose

Chess

Bemrose

Cricket

Atkinson

Cross Country

Bemrose

Debating

Derby

Drama

Bemrose

Football

Atkinson

Hockey

Derby

Music

Atkinson

Rowing

Blackton

Rugby

Blackton

Sports Day

Blackton

Tug of War

Atkinson

Writing

Blackton

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Debating

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Chess

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Rowing

Writing

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Sports Day

Sports Day 5

Our work with charities We support local and overseas charities over the course of the year.

Our students, and often their families as well, support good causes by fundraising and volunteering, as well as giving their time and skills to benefit others.

Readathon Years 7, 8 and 9 took part in the Readathon, a sponsored read with all proceeds going to Read for Good, a charity that brings the power of stories to children in hospital through mobile bookcases and resident storytellers.

World Book Day What a wonderful array of costumes and characters we saw in Junior School on Friday 9 March.

The boys, and staff, all paid £1 to come to school dressed as their favourite character from a book, and there was a competition for the best character in each year group, judged by the School Council.

We raised £52 in total which was donated to the charity, International Book Aid.

Tug of War

Royal Derby Hospital Through the Jingle Jog and Christmas Jumper Day, we have raised an incredible £500. The money all went towards buying equipment and toys for the children’s ward to try and make life a little more bearable for children in hospital.

Cross Country

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Drama

YMCA We work closely with our friends at YMCA Derbyshire who support young people through difficult times with a wide range of services. Every Christmas our students and their families donate gifts so that we can give a ‘shoebox’ to every resident at the YMCA hostel on London Road, Derby.

At Easter, chocolate eggs are brought along to our Communion service, which are then donated to the residents. In the autumn we receive a staggering amount of harvest festival donations which are also distributed amongst the residents.

Ms Sellors has been taking part in the YMCA SleepEasy for a number of years now. This year she was joined by Mrs Baldwin and thanks to the generosity of friends, students and parents they raised £924. It was a wet night, so next year they are hoping for no rain!

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“I am overwhelmed by your donations and I thank you all on behalf of our YMCA residents. We all take having food for meals for granted, but for some people something as simple as receiving a tin of beans can mean such 3a huge amount.”

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David Finn, YMCA Derbyshire

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Sports Day

Sports Day 7

Charities Week We dedicate a week in the autumn term to Charities Week where morning assemblies, breaktimes and lunchtimes are packed full of activities all to raise money for our Tanzania project.

This year, activities included students pitted against teachers in the Lip Sync Battle, the Jenga Challenge, a Doughnut Eating Competition and The Big Quiz. There was also a cake stall, wet sponge stall and a golf challenge, as well as Wii and PS4 competitions, ‘Wear Your Team Shirt to School Day’ and ‘Non Uniform Day’.

The Bungee Run was as popular as ever, and Junior School created a copper trail from the lake to the back of School. The week finished with the pantomime, Snow White.

Mrs Cowgill with her backing singers in the Lip Sync Battle

Sixth Form Lip Sync Battle contestants

Tug of War

Students vs teachers in The Big Quiz Cross Country

A very tense Jenga Music competition 8

Drama

The ever-popular bungee run

Tanzania, 2017

We have been working with Gedeli B School in Tanzania since 2013. Located in Mwanza, it has around 1300 pupils aged 7 to 13 which it teaches in extremely basic conditions. In 2012 it had just five classrooms, no running water or electricity and just five toilets that were also shared with a neighbouring school.

Over £70000 has been raised since the project began. In 2017 the £12000 project money raised was spent on a new classroom, the installation of electricity in to four classrooms, levelling the playing field, providing stationery and desks and sanitary supplies for the girls.

We also supported the local community, providing clothing and monetary donations to Hisani Orphanage and Forever Angels Baby Home, as well as the Upendo Daima Street Children’s Centre.

21 Year 12 students travelled out to Mwanza in July 2017 to help with the projects and to teach the Gedeli B School children.

The 2018 team depart in July 2018.

Follow their story on the Tanzania Blog at https://dgstanzania.wordpress.com 3 9

Activities Week The last week of summer term is traditionally our Activities Week. It sees the whole school out and about on day trips, residentials, Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, or for Year 10, work experience. Here are just some of the things they’ve been up to in the sunshine this year.

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Silver expedition in the Lake District

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Gold expedition in the Lake District Year 7 limbering up for Mr Fletcher’s legendary morning run in Northumberland

Tug of War

Year 7 ready for tunnelling at Broomley Grange Cross Country

Drama

Year 8 at mission control, the National Space Centre, Leicester

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Year 8 abseiling in the Peak District

Tanzania, 2017 Overseas trips There’s no better way to learn a language than to spend time in the country. This year 16 of our Spanish students visited Barcelona in February, and 30 Year 8 and 10 students took part in the German exchange, spending a week in Lßneburg in March and then hosting the German pupils back in the UK in June.

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Music Music plays a big part in the life of Derby Grammar School. This year our students have enjoyed a trip to Guernsey for a week of workshops and concerts with Guernsey Grammar School musicians. Year 7 had a trip out to see the CBSO in Birmingham, and our bands and choirs have been performing at school events, in competitions, and even to raise money for Tanzania.

Derby Grammar School musicians in Guernsey

Taiko drumming lesson for Year 9

Senior Choir performs at the Summer Fete

Year 7 ready for tunnelling Cross Country

Jazz band performing at Groby Street Fair 12

Year 7 at the Birmingham Symphony Hall

Drama Our whole-school productions are glittering affairs and over the years have covered straight plays, musicals and pantomimes.

This year it was Snow White which ran for two nights and had the audience roaring with laughter.

Our students were involved in all elements of the production, from performing to lighting and sound, music, costume and make-up.

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Sport September 2017 saw the official opening of Rykneld Sports Centre by Derbyshire County Cricket Club’s Director of Cricket, Kim Barnett.

It was a proud day for all, and means as a School we now have our own dedicated sports complex where we can teach, train and play all our sport in one place.

The sporting ethos of the school is very much aligned to the principles promoted by England rugby U18 coach Russell Earnshaw through his Magic Academy, where personal development and growth is more important than the number of wins. Finding fixtures where both sides have equal chance of winning is crucial to develop a feeling of selfworth for both sides.

Earnshaw also refers to redefining ‘winning’ and setting personal challenges within a game that allow everyone to access sport and gain the virtues of teamwork, discipline and respect.

Having a dedicated team of qualified PE teachers who believe in these values is crucial to deliver our philosophy.

We have added to the breadth of coaching expertise with

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the use of an external hockey coach from the University of Nottingham and professional cricket coaches from Kaizen Cricket, as well as tapping into the wealth of knowledge from ex-Leicester Tigers and Scottish Exiles coach Jamie Smyth.

The fact we now have a permanent base for sport shows the school is dedicated to embed sport in the daily life of students at Derby Grammar.

“We want our students to be the best that they can be academically but it is also important that they have access to top class facilities that promote a fit and active lifestyle not for just when they are with us but for the rest of their lives.”

Mr Whitworth, Head of PE and Games

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Pictures - 1: Rugby 1st XV team, 2: Cricket masterclass with Steve Stubbings, 3: Hockey 1st XI, 4: Eight DGS pupils are selected for county and district cricket sides for the 2018 season, well done Jasper, Tomรกs, Ayaan, Saevuk, Jasgobind, Will, Daanish and Aryan.

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Junior School

There’s always something going on in Junior School, it’s a hive of activity!

Take a look at just some of the things that have taken place over the year, but for a more detailed view, visit www.derbygrammar.org/js-chronicle Pond dipping in Discovery Club

Year 6 weaselling at Hollowford

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Year 4 class assembly

Year 6 on the Tissington Trail

Year 3 exploring the local area in Geography

Year 4’s art lesson studying Picasso’s blue period

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Off to Meet the Author at Derby Book Festival 2

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Keeping in touch We love to hear from our old students and find out what they’ve been getting up to.

And it’s even better when they pop back to see us to catch up with teachers and speak to our current students about their experiences of life and study after DGS.

David Wray is now a teacher of Chemistry at Shrewsbury Grammar School, having studied his degree at Oxford. He came back to see teachers, especially Mrs Burton, his old Chemistry teacher, and to talk to students about Oxbridge applications.

This year we’ve welcomed Yusuf Karim and Jonathan Owen back to school. Yusuf is in his final year of studying MEng Aeronautical Engineering at Loughborough University. Jonathan studied MMath at Durham and is now completing his PhD.

Dan Geer left us in 2011 to study Medicine at Oxford and is now working at Ealing Hospital. He spoke to current students about Oxbridge applications and studying medicine.

Ravin Jain got in touch after he saw a social media post about our F24+ team. He is now working in his dream job as Race Strategy Engineer for the Ferrari Formula One team. He came back to School to talk to current students about his career path to Ferrari.

And hot off the press, congratulations to Oliver Mason and Tom Dring who have just graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, and to Chris Dickenson who has graduated with a first in Music from Liverpool University.

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Amazing events Our year has been marked by tremendous events which have enabled us to show off our School and all that we love about it.

Our Patron, Sir Nigel Rudd, visited us in April to announce our 2017-2018 Prefects and present Duke of Edinburgh’s Award certificates.

The annual David Walker Memorial Lecture was delivered

by Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles. Sir Sherard is Her Majesty’s former Ambassador to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

Sir Nigel’s generous donation, along with that of Lord Glendonbrook, enabled the post-purchase refurbishment of Rykneld Sports Centre, so he took the opportunity whilst in Derby to take a tour of our new sports complex.

He was then appointed as Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair’s, Personal Representative in Kabul for the remainder of the British involvement in the Taliban conflict. His talk was entitled What do the Jihadi’s Really 1 Want?

Sir Sherard with Mrs Reynolds and Ralph Holden of the Old Derbeian Society

In March our PTA hosted the Food Fayre. The Hall was full of delicious smells and tasty food, despite the snow and wind outside. Cooking demonstrations were held by Ben Peverall, Head Chef at The Cow, Dalbury Lees.

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Elizabeth Atkinson is one of our founder governors and this year, after many years service, retired from the governing body. Does her name sound familiar?

Atkinson House is named after her family who were integral in founding Derby Grammar School.

Elizabeth’s last ‘duty’ as a governor was to award 2 GCSE certificates to our pupils at an assembly in January.

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See what’s happening in 2018-2019 at www.derbygrammar.org/events

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