17 February Weekly Buzz

The Weekly Buzz Portland Place School 17 February 2020

Reading Challenge pizza parties!

Computer Science trip to Design Museum

Revision workshop

Noticeboard Tanzania Expedition For the next 10 weeks, team members will be interviewed here to tell readers a bit more about their fundraising, share their excitement or worries and let you know about how to support them in reaching

An interview with…. Daisy Lewell 1. Why do you want to go on the Tanzania Expedition?

I want to help the community in developing their education and building their school.

2. What are you looking forward to the most?

Probably going on Safari and exploring as well as helping people out.

3.What are you worried about?

I am worried about Malaria. (Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. It causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. The team will be taking tablets and strong mosquito repellent to prevent infection)

4. How much money have you raised so far and how can we help you?

I have raised about £100 so far, so I need another £200. I’m going to do a swim challenge soon, you can sponsor me by donating on our Expedition page, using “Daisy” as a reference. Thanks in advance!

Team Tanzania’s target is £5000 and so far they have raised £1119,70. Please help them reach their target by donating onto: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/portlandplaceschooltanzania Thanks for your support!

News Revision workshop Last Friday, 7th February, our Year 11 students took part in a Revision Workshop during their Enrichment session that was put together with the aim of getting them involved and allowing them to try a wide

range of revision techniques they could use straight away. All of the students were absolutely superb and I was really impressed with their can-do attitude and perseverance through the challenging tasks.

Special thanks go to Mrs Zalesny for her huge support, creativity and determination to provide our Year 11 students with effective materials to help them get the best results during their GCSE exams. Also, thank you to Mrs Pieri, Mrs Bignell and Miss Magniez for their enthusiasm, help and dedication.

Also, a massive thank you to the Science, Maths and English departments for their huge contribution with materials and revision techniques.

Thank you.

Miss Florea

News Computer Science Exhibition: DISCOVER!

Year 9s visited the “Moving to Mars” exhibition at the Design Museum on Friday 7th February. A great opportunity for our students to immerse themselves in the untouched beauty of the landscape and learn more about the technology used to explore the Red Planet. The exhibition features immersive environments, about 200 objects including contributions from NASA, the European Space Agency and SpaceX; NASA's 3D-Printed Mars Habitat Challenge winners, AI SpaceFactory; robotic builders by Foster & Partners; the first sustainable urban design for Mars, Mars City Design; the first spacesuit designed for the Mars surface, and much more.

This exhibition is open until 23rd February and the Computer Science department would like to recommend it to every student interested in exploring outside the curriculum.

News Python-Micro:Bit programming course: CREATE! This has been a fantastic 6 week course where our students had the opportunity to learn about Python, text games and the Micro:Bit. Congratulations to those students who have successfully completed the Python-Micro:Bit programming course. Their hard work deserves to be recognised by the Computer Science department. We are extremely pleased with the progress made and hope that their interest in programming continues in the future.

News English This week saw Year 7 hand in their incredible Shakespeare projects. An annual occurrence at Portland Place, Year 7 have been studying different aspects of Shakespeare’s life and work, and were invited to

produce an independent research project on any relevant topic. We have had models of the Globe Theatre in almost every medium, including in Minecraft and cake form, witches’ cauldrons, posters, games, presentations and drawings. Once again Year 7 have outdone themselves and demonstrated their outstanding initiative and creativity - congratulations everyone!

- Miss Hubner, KS3 Coordinator of English

News Library Back in October last year, we kicked off the Year 7 & 8 Reading Challenges. They were set the task of writing as many book reviews as they could, and uploading them to our review pages so that everyone can find a book recommendation.

On Thursday, Miss O’Donnell’s Year 8s celebrated their victory with a pizza party. This class wrote a number of strong reviews worth lots of points.

On Friday , it was Miss Hubner’s Year 7’s turn to party. This class really shone this year, writing a whopping 84 book reviews worth 140 points. Special mentions go to Josh Liu, Maxim Mydlar and Sam Osborne for their efforts in review-writing!

Sports results Under 13s Football Ibstock Place - 2

Portland Place - 2 It was a great contest at Ibstock when the boys met for the second time this season. In the first match PPS ran out winners with a 2-1 victory. This was a similar game between two very even teams. PPS started the better and were getting lots of success down the left flank with Jessy Fryer-Jacobs who was ensuring the Ibstock right back was having a difficult afternoon with his outstanding speed and ball control. PPS took the lead through an indirect free kick in the box. A cleaver combination of two quick passes before a longer pass to Lloyd Day who fired into the bottom corner. In the second half PPS were coming under more pressure as Ibstock played down the slight slope. A couple of good saves from Lawton Ballbach kept the lead for PPS but momentum had changed and Ibstock had their tails up. However, a little breathing space was restored when Jessy Fryer-Jacobs spotted the Ibstock goalkeeper off the line and smashed the ball from 35 Yards over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net for 2-0. An unfortunate own goal with ten minutes to go provided an entertaining and frantic finish to the game. Ibstock were attacking in waves and found their equaliser with the final kick of the game. The boys were disappointed to relinquish a two goal lead, but Ibstock deserved the draw and were unlucky not to have scored more. Well done boys!

Sports results Under 12s House Rugby With the early stages of storm Ciara settling in; the 2020 year 7 house rugby was played in some difficult conditions. However, the boys were in great spirits and all played to an excellent level to provide another

great house sport contest. In house rugby the tournament is a straight league format with each house playing three games. In round one the opening match was a physical contest with some excellent tackling on display from Ali Abdul-Khaleq. It was also a close game and Langham secured a 3-2 victory over Cavendish when Isaac Mayer scored the winning try in the final play of the match. Wigmore sneaked the victory against Devonshire 2-1 with a great breakaway try from Sonny Shelton. In round two Cavendish got their first win with a 2-1 win over Wigmore; a win that provided great emphasis on round three. Also in round two, Langham beat Devonshire quite comfortably with a 3-0 win with tries from Albert Thompson, Charlie Wilson and Isaac Mayer. In round three Cavendish knew they needed to win to have a chance of the title. They did just that with a 3-1 victory over Devonshire which meant they were leading the tourna-

ment (on points scored) with one match to play. Langham who were also on six points were aware a win or draw would see them crowned champions. It was another close and physical contest and Wigmore were 2-0 up with a brace of tries from Sonny Shelton. Langham looked nervous but began to get into the game. Two quick tries from Danny Maclean and Egor Pertsev brought the score to 2-2 and a score line that would take the tournament win for Langham. However, Wigmore had the ball ten metres from the Langham try line and were working through several phases to try and create a winning opportunity. The defence was simply outstanding and Langham were quick to the ball and tackling hard. There was no way through for Wigmore and the game finished 2-2, and a famous title for Langham.

Results 1st - Langham 2nd - Cavendish 3rd - Wigmore 4th – Devonshire

Sports results Girls Under 15/16s Netball PPS – 16 St James – 17 It was an extremely close game against St James on Wednesday 12th February. Portland Place put in an heroic performance which was fast paced all the way to the end, fighting hard throughout all quarters of the match. The score was close which kept the game very intense and exciting to watch, unfortunately Portland Place narrowly lost by 1 point. Despite this, the girls were all very proud of themselves as they fought tiresomely and won the first three quarters. We had an amazing defensive team with Dasha Lebedeva, Ava Jones and Manuela Poquet Serna all working together to send the ball back up to the attacking end. There was exceptional teamwork between Ava Jones and Manuela Poquet Serna. In the circle, multiple interceptions were made and Ava Jones who managed to get 70% of the rebounds. Marielle Staunton was helping up and down the court and was on hand for every ball that was passed. She

worked extremely hard with Lulya Benyam and Dasha Lebedeva by her side to get the ball to the shooting circle and was successful the majority of the time. Dasha Lebedeva made multiple interceptions in the centre court which then lead to the ball going to Freya Francis-Baum and Orah Goldstein who worked well together in the shooting circle and made exceptional effort. The player of the match was Freya Francis-Baum who fought to maintain possession of the ball, scoring every pass that came her way. The girls were not fazed by the loss, but were happy with the effort they had made.

A huge well done to all those involved!!

Sports results Boys Cross Country Rankings 2020 After the first half term of cross country here are the fastest boys’ times for the lower school.

Sub 9 Minute Club 1 2 3 4 5

Tom Hallam (8) Nicolas Bartha (9) Cassius Swales (9) Benny Miller (8) Lawton Ballbach (8)

8.21 8.34 8.44 8.45 8.53

Sub 10 Minute Club 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Jessy Fryer-Jacobs (8) Edwin Hounkanli (8) Kieran McKintosh (9) Samuel Meyer (9) Teddy Upton (9) Teddy Scanlan (9) Jesse Francis-Baum (8) Josh Tucker (9) Leo Newberry (8) Ryder Nayak (8) Rudi Bigoni (8) Huxley Hayak (8) Ali Abdel-Khaleq (7) Remy BC (7)

9.05 9.06 9.06 9.09 9.13 9.15 9.41 9.56 9.44 9.46 9.5 9.51 9.53 9.54

Sports results Girls Cross Country Rankings 2020 After the first half term of cross country here are the fastest girls’ times for the lower school.

Sub 11 Minute Club 1 2

Sofia Diiorio (9) Isabella Calvert-Bull (7)

10.36 10.45

Sub 12 Minute Club 3

Azure Smith (7)

11.11

Sub 13 Minute Club 4 5 6

Emily Zhang (7) Irene Peleteiro Paniagua (9) Violet Brodie

12 12.25 12.26

Sub 14 Minute Club 7 8 9 10 11

Lucy Mainstone (9) Sumayyah Mahmoud (8) Ruhi Patel (9) Miyu Aikawa (7) Valery Vogel (7)

13.07 13.07 13.09 13.28 13.43

Sports results Westminster Schools Swimming Gala On Thursday 6th February PPS took a swim team to the Queen Mother Sports Centre in Victoria to compete in the annual Westminster Schools Swimming Gala. It was a thoroughly enjoyable competition with some excellent swimming on display from the PPS swimmers. The team worked hard and showed a positive energy throughout in their support of their team mates. Some of the races were highly entertaining, particularly the relay races which involved a number of close finishes. A special mention must go to Remy Brooke-Cowden and Rudy Bigoni who put in some excellent performances against very strong competition and came away with 4 medals each. A special mention must also go to Sofia Diiorio who came extremely close to winning a gold medal in the year 9 girls front crawl race in a tense nail biting finish. Sofia only joined us at PPS on Monday 3rd February so she deserves credit for putting herself forward to race at such an early stage! By the end of the Gala PPS came away with a very impressive 27 medals! Well done to all our brilliant swimmers! Please see all medallists below.

Bronze Sonny Shelton - Back Stroke Jessie Francis-Baum - Back Stroke Bosco Buonaguidi - Back Stroke Nico Blakemore - Breast Stroke Jude BC – Butterfly Stroke Isabella Calvert-Bull - Front Crawl Albert Thompson - Front Crawl Sam Meyer - Front Crawl Nico Blakemore - Front Crawl Marielle Staunton - Individual Medley Remy BC - Individual Medley Year 7 Boys Medley Relay Team Year 9 Boys Medley Relay Team Year 10-13 Boys Medley Relay Team Year 7 Boys Front Crawl Relay Team Year 10-13 Boys Front Crawl Relay Team

Silver Marielle Staunton - Backstroke Dylan Young – Back Stroke Lloyd Day – Breast Stroke Remy BC – Butterfly Stroke Leo Newberry – Butterfly Stroke Sofia Diiorio – Front Crawl Rudy Bigoni – Front Crawl Rudy Bigoni – Individual Medley Jude BC – Individual Medley Year 8 Boys Medley Relay Team Year 8 Boys Front Crawl Team

Calendar Monday 24 February Rock Band, Mr McCarthy, R41/44 12.45-1.30pm KS3 Cyber Security Club, Mr Whiteside, G34 12.45-1.30pm Year 7-11 Post 16 Drop In Sessions, Mr Flack, 12.45-1.30pm G24 Economics Club, G41 3:45-4:30pm LAMDA lessons, PPS Hall 4.00-6.00pm Chinese, Room 36 4.00-5.00pm Japanese, Room 35 4.00-5.00pm Tuesday 25 February Percussion Ensemble, Mr Jesson, R1 12.45-1.30pm Music Theory Club, Ms Bottrill, R42 12.45-1.30pm Weight Training Club, PPS boys’ changing 12.45 – 1.20pm rooms Student Voice Club, Ms Magniez, Room 22 1.00-1.30pm GCSE Science Support, H6 3.45-4.30pm Year 11 French GCSE Club, Ms Magniez, G32 4.00-4.45pm Year 10 Design Club, B1 4.00-5.00pm GCSE & A Level Film Club, Mr Flack, G31 4.00-5.00pm High School Musical rehearsal, GPS Hall 4.00-5.30pm Wednesday 26 February KS5 Statistics & Mechanics 2 extra help, G32 8.20-8.50am Boys Choir, Ms Boyle, R1 12.45-1.30pm Woodwind, Mr Slack, R2 12.45-1.30pm Vocal Ensemble, Ms Ryder, R44 12.45-1.30pm Years 7-9 Maths Club, R24 3.45-4.30pm Rubik’s Cube Club, Nick B & Egor P, Library 3.45-4.30pm Year 11 Design Club, B1 4.00-5.00pm Year 6-11, Photography Club, Mr Flack, G42 4.00-5.00pm High School Musical rehearsal, PPS Hall 4.00-5.00pm Thursday 27 February GCSE PE Revision Club G34 8:00-8:40am KS5 Pure 2 Extra Help, R10 8.20-8.50am PPS Choir , Mr Hill, R1 12.45-1.30pm Russian, Mr Burton, G32 1.05-1.30pm Year 10 & 11 Maths Club, G33 3.45-4.30pm Football Club, meet at PPS changing rooms 3.50-5.00pm KS3 Design Club, B1 4.00-5.00pm 3D Design Club, B1 4.00-5.00pm Arabic, R36 4.00-5.00pm Chamber Choir, Ms Boyle, R1 4.00-5.00pm Whole School Art Club, Art Studio 4.00-5.00pm High School Musical rehearsal, PPS Hall 4.00-5.30pm

Friday 28 February Russian Club, Mr Burton, Library 8:15-8:45am Brass Ensemble, Mr Bentley, R42 12.45-1.30pm Jazz Ensemble, Mr Hill, R2 12.45-1.30pm Vocal Group, Ms Ryder, R44 12.45-1.30pm Weight Training Club, PPS boys’ changing 12.45-1.20pm rooms Soul Band, Mr Bentley, R2 4.00-5.00pm LAMDA lessons, R11 4.00-6.00pm TERM DATES: AUTUMN TERM2019 Term Starts Wednesday 4 September Mon 21 Oct – Fri 1 Nov Half Term End of Term Friday 13 December SPRING TERM2020 Term Starts Monday 6 January Mon 17 Feb – Fri 21 Feb Half Term End of Term Friday 3 April SUMMER TERM2020 Term Starts Wednesday 22 April Bank Holiday Fri 8 May (school closed) Mon 25 May – Fri 29 May Half Term End of Term Friday 3 July CONTACT DETAILS: PPS MAIN BUILDING (Years 6-9) 58 Portland Place, London W1B 1NJ HARFORD HOUSE (Art/Drama/Science) 101-103 Great Portland Street W1W 6QE GPS BUILDING (Years 10-13) 143-149 Great Portland Street W1W 6QN E-mail: admin@portland-place.co.uk www.portland-place.co.uk Tel: 020 7307 8700 PPS TWITTER ACCOUNTS: https://twitter.com/PortlandPlaceHd @PortlandPlaceHd –Main PPS account @PPS_Sports – Sports Department @PPSDrama – Drama Department @PPSLibrary - Reading related news @PPSMusicDept – Music Department @PPS_KS2 – Year 6 @pps_film – Film and Media Department @MFLPPS – MFL Department @year7PPS – Year 7 @year8_pps – Year 8 @pps_maths – Maths Department @EnglishPPS – English Department @PPSBiology – Biology Department @PPS_SEN – SEN Department @PPSGrowth - Growth Mindset @PPSEAL – EAL Department

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