SWPS Magazine is published once a year. Articles are written by students and staf The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Sir William Perkins’s School.
Design and desktop publishing by Ian Russell. Printing by G.H. Smith. A big thank you to Amanda Stebbings and Pippa Marriott. School Information: Telephone: 01932 574900 www.swps.org.uk
INSPIRATIONAL LEARNING FOR LIFE
“Inspirational Learning for Life” has been the banner headline on our School Development Plan this year, reflecting our desire to equip our students to take on the world. Good education is surely about inspiring learning, encouraging educational passions and preparing students for life. At Senior Awards in November where we celebrated the successes of last year’s Senior Sixth, I applauded them on their involvement in so many aspects of SWPS life. I encouraged them to believe in themselves and continue to pursue their areas of passion as they headed out of the SWPS nest. I urged them not be thrown of course by setbacks, referring to a comment made at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics, “Today you win, tomorrow you don’t, life continues”. Our fantastic girls must not hang back; they must nurture the confidence and
determination to really go for it, developing the resilience to cope with the inevitable ups and downs along the way.
In my final emotional assembly with the current Senior Sixth, who joined SWPS at the same time as I did, where together we faced our imminent departure from this wonderful school, I implored them to hang on to their integrity, believe in themselves, take opportunities, and to remember that the most important thing of all is their well-being. Recent national economic pressures have rebounded onto teenagers across the country and increased their concerns about their futures. We must work together to protect our young people from the undue pressure they put on themselves. Thank goodness that the education system in this country is beginning to wake up to the fact that exam success is only a tiny part of
learning for life. As I said in my talk at our third TEDxSWPS event, good education should encourage each student with their own unique beginning, to develop their capacity to become who they want to become, giving them the best possible chance of leading a happy and successful life, emerging as the hero of their own life story.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my seven years at SWPS and it will be a huge wrench to leave. Reaching 17th position in The Telegraph’s table of independent girls’ schools nationally last August was testament to the girls’ everincreasing achievements, but SWPS is about so very much more than just that. We have enjoyed inspirational art, drama and music as well as sporting success, universities and careers fairs, and an amazing array of trips, expeditions and other opportunities. Inspirational learning is about building confidence, integrity and excellence and enabling each individual to develop as a person, equipping them to take on the world. The School is thriving in every way and I am delighted to be able to hand it over with record numbers on roll for September. It is an extremely special school with a fantastic ethos, a wonderfully caring community full of amazing staf and inspirational young people. It has been a privilege and a joy to play a part in its history. SWPS - I wish you well. You will always have a special corner of my heart.
Del Cooke
BOWING OUT
How much did you know about our Head Girls? Here’s what they had to say about each other
Luxia Broadbent
8
By Phoebe Lewis
I first met Luxia when she was an eager Year 7 with a bounce in her step. Her ridiculously contagious enthusiasm for practically everything is something that has only grown stronger as she has gotten older. Her role in the team has been fulfilled with an air of efortless grace. I know that these characteristics will take her far in life. Luxia has turned into a brilliant young woman and I wish her all the best.
Phoebe Lewis
8
By Anna Ball
Phoebe’s defining characteristics have always been kindness and enthusiasm, as well as a love of chocolate and tea. Those former qualities have made her an invaluable member of the team, tackling school council meetings diplomatically, and volunteering for practically anything. Phoebe has always strived to do her best, and I have no doubt she’ll continue to do so studying psychology next year.
w w
Ellen Clarke
By Luxia Broadbent
Over the time I have known Ellen, she has always been a loyal friend and a model student. Ellen has led the school by example; she was always keen to help and continually came up with witty and novel suggestions at our meetings. She has taken part in numerous school plays and been a much valued school musician. I wish her every success for the future and know that she will overcome any obstacles in her way.
Anna
Ball
By Ellen Clarke
Anna and I first bonded while getting the train to school each morning, doing the daily platform dash together. Out of this shared experience, I made a valuable friend - one who has always been extremely supportive. Anna is always willing to help; her contributions to discussions are always creative and full of enthusiasm. The university she attends will be very lucky to have such a dynamic individual joining them.
information technology
CYBER CRIME
How safe are we? Alice Brown (Lower 6th) refects on the current state of cyber weaponry and the fight against cybercrime
To be told that a black hat had penetrated your firewall, been phishing and released a network of zombie drones, is most likely to produce a perplexed frown, least likely to elicit any sense of foreboding. For those unaware, this means that a criminal has hacked past your defence software to gain access into your computer system, has been gathering sensitive information about you and has remotely taken control of your system. Your bank details, address, computer history and personal information are now firmly in the hacker’s hands. The consequence of such an attack on any scale, personal to global, has the potential to be devastating. In the technology-driven world we live in, it is almost inevitable that, at some moment, we will fail to prevent the persistent attempts of hackers, organised criminal corporations and fraudsters from reaching our personal information. The ever-increasing sophistication of these attacks means that it is no longer a simple case of deleting spam email, or closing web pages. Cyber-crime is evolving with new forms of media and technology. A taste of this can be seen in the number of phishing sites imitating social networks increasing by 125% in 2013. Given that the British government is being targeted by up to 1,000 cyber-attacks every hour, the probability of just one penetrating our defences is greater than perhaps anyone would like to
Artwork by Rosie Allen and Zoë Hiscock
“ ” It is the great irony of our Information Age: the very technologies that empower us to create and to build also empower those who would disrupt and destroy
Barack Obama
admit. In light of this, it may not be surprising to know that Cyber-crime is estimated to cost the UK on average £27 billion annually.
Whilst most can accept that we must protect our intellectual property from the ‘bad guys’, is it just as necessary to protect it from those we trust? The social media giant Facebook, for example, is currently being sued $17 billion for violation of privacy laws, yet millions worldwide continue to willingly share personal information on it and believe it to be a reputable incorporation. At what cost? It is possible for a Facebook update to be used against you in court, particularly in divorce courts, because you may believe your account to be private, but signing up to Facebook means you are willing to share with friends, the judge and the jury.
The words cyber war are more prevalent in the media now than ever before; but what evidence is there to suggest that this is a realistic eventuality as opposed to a sensationalist Daily Mail headline? If we consider all the areas of our society reliant on the internet, including the emergency services, communications, water pipelines and weapons systems; it is easy to see that control of our computer systems means control of our country. However, some believe that cyber war is not an event in its own right, but that computer based attacks will increasingly play a significant part in any conflict. The efects of this are already evident in the USA’s use of cyber warfare strategies on Iran with the computer worm, Stuxnet; which was known last year to have been inserted into the Iranian nuclear operation, causing its programme to be delayed.
Simple solutions to the problems of cyber-crime targeted at individuals are relatively easy to obtain. These include installing and regularly updating anti-virus software and avoiding clicking on anything remotely suspicious such as pop-ups and emails. However, even these methods are by no means fool proof. New viruses, known as “zero-day vulnerabilities”, are designed to be undetectable by anti-virus software. It is known that there were 14 of such viruses created in 2013. The most difcult challenge is finding enough people to defend the millions of computer systems from attack. Contrary to the common misconception that the world of Information Technology is behind the scenes and less rewarding than perhaps a career in biological or physical science, cyber-security specialists are credited with keeping the internetrelated market, valued at £82 billion, afloat. With the age of a cyber-security specialist averaging at 43, it is vital that more young people, who are fully capable of adapting quickly to new technology (having never known a time without widespread use of the internet, smart phones and laptops) become involved and join the cyber army.
modern languages
STRICTLY FLAMENCO
Khadisha Caldwell-Parris (Lower 6th) investigates the historic influences behind Spain’s most famous dance
One evening back in March, six excited students of Spanish piled into a mini van and headed over to London to see world-renowned Flamenco dancer Sara Baras at Sadler’s Wells. After seeing Baras’ spellbinding performance in the Flamenco ballet, I decided to look further into the dance’s unique history.
When you think of Spanish Flamenco, you probably think of strumming guitars, melodic singing or maybe even the dancing lady with the red dress on emoji; but Flamenco dance, what it represents and its origin is so much more than just an incredibly captivating show but a journey through the history of Spain.
Flamenco originated in the region of Andalucía in the south of Spain and incorporates singing, guitar playing, dance and handclaps. The dance itself encompasses and truly portrays
the diversity of Spanish history; drawing influences from North African, Romani and Jewish cultures. 1425 saw the introduction of Gypsies enter Spain. Spain was under Arab rule at the time, which was an advanced civilization that was also harmonious with the Jewish population. It wasn’t until 1502 that these groups were persecuted by the Catholic Church as part of the Spanish Inquisition, which saw the Moors, Jews and Gypsy communities being forced to convert to Catholism or face exile from Spain. The restrictions and laws passed against these groups of people began to limit and suppress their identity. This resulted in many North Africans, Jews and Gypsies fleeing the main towns to more rural areas in order to avoid persecution. The harmonious living of these cultures in a time of austerity and the fusion of their styles of music and dance is what we recognize today as Flamenco.
Although its roots are ancient, Flamenco really began to flourish at the beginning of the 18th century. This was almost a blessing and a curse as the increased popularity meant there was higher demand for scheduled performances. However, this ultimately went against the feeling and spirit of true Flamenco- the idea that it’s a form of self-expression and means spontaneously dancing according
to your feelings at the time and the way in which the music afects you. This lent itself to the decline of true performers and the increase of non-gypsy performers who would perform a lighter and milder version of the unique dance style. The introduction of Flamenco Festivals in 1922 re-instated the fiery and passionate Flamenco and truly rivalled the more refined New Flamenco, which had ultimately taken over.
The 1930s right through to the 50s saw a troublesome and unstable time for Spain. Not only had they sufered the horrors of a civil war but also the Second World War had struck the Andalusian region with poverty and starvation. Flamenco was used as an escape during these times, just like it was originally for the early settlers, and the Flamenco Opera was keeping the spirits of the people and this quintessentially Spanish dance style alive.
Since 1950, Flamenco has gained worldwide popularity and authentic shows can be found inside and outside of Spain. In fact, Japan has more Flamenco academies than Spain does! So the next time you use the dancing lady on emoji, just remember her origins and what she represents. She is really the embodiment of diversity, history and uniqueness that is the true definition of Flamenco and a huge part of Spanish culture.
Picture by Carmen Romero
Picture by Santana de Yepes
modern languages
A COLLEGIATE APPROACH
Emily Cunningham, who left SWPS in the summer of 2013, talks to us about her current experience of studying French and German at Brasenose College, Oxford
What’s it like studying languages at university?
At degree level there’s much more to studying languages than learning to translate and interpret; it’s about understanding other cultures and developing a new mind set so that you think in the language, like a native speaker would. I find now that I think diferently in French and
German from the way I think in English; the languages complement diferent facets of my character. Literature is an important part of studying a language, and at Oxford there is a significant focus on this aspect, in contrast to other universities. I love the literature side as it gives an insight into the cultural heritage of the countries that pure language work can never achieve. In the first year, students have to follow a prescribed literature course, but after this we can build the course from the literature and time periods we want to study.
Which subjects did you study at A-level?
German, French, English Literature, and Latin. I also did an EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) on aspects of the work of Flaubert and Fontane.
What’s the best way to prepare for studying modern languages at university level?
Try to be proactive about improving your spoken and written skills by keeping a vocabulary notebook and regularly reading articles in the language.
A solid foundation in grammar is really useful, so make sure that you understand the way the languages are constructed, as this will make you more confident in manipulating them. Part of the application process is a short grammar test, which shows that a grasp of the basic linguistic structure is important.
I think diferently, now, in French and German from the way I think in English “ ”
a collegiate approach
Watching films in the language is a good way to pick up intonation and thus improve your accent. Read as much as you can in the language, but don’t worry if you sometimes feel the need to turn to translations of the texts when you don’t understand something; at this stage the tutors are interested in your ideas about the literature more than anything. There is no reading list for interviews; just read what appeals to you and mention it in your personal statement to give the tutors something to use as a springboard for starting a discussion.
Is the work difcult?
Yes! Oxford has built its reputation for academic excellence by challenging its students and pushing them to fulfil the best of their potential. We have a lot of assignments and tutorials each week, so efective time management is key. We also do a lot of independent work rather than always having a strict framework stipulated for us, and so doing an EPQ at SWPS was really helpful for developing my approach to autonomous research.
While the work is difcult, it is also stimulating. Oxford students might complain about the heavy workload, and the intensity of the eight-week terms, but no one would ever change what they do because they genuinely love their subject and enjoy the challenges presented to them by the course
and their tutors.
Is there a secret formula for getting into Oxford?
Love your subject! Try to show in your personal statement and extra-curricular activities that you have a passion for your studies without explicitly stating it. Comment on the wider reading that you’ve done, find a specific area of the subject that you are really interested in and research it in depth, and try to gather experiences that will support your future studies.
For modern languages, the best thing to do is to familiarise yourself with the literature of the cultures you want to study – this does not mean trying to read absolutely everything you can think of, but looking in detail at a few aspects and trying to get to grips with them in their complexity.
Don’t try to be what you think the tutors are looking for; they want to see the real you and the way you think. I think the tutors are looking, above all, for enthusiasm and teach-ability.
Is Oxford University big on tradition?
Students at Oxford often joke that they live in the Oxford Bubble. We have lots of traditions and sayings that no one outside of the university really understands. Our terms have special names (Michaelmas, Hilary and Trinity), we wear our gowns for formal meals, and for going to exams we wear a special form of academic dress called sub fusc, which includes a mortarboard. We celebrate just about everything, with themed dinners and specialist societies, including a sports club dedicated to Quidditch!
What would be your main piece of advice to a prospective Oxbridge applicant?
If you want to go to Oxford or Cambridge, set your heart on it and let yourself get excited about it. Don’t try to protect yourself from disappointment and constantly hedge your bets. Make it your goal and if for some reason it shouldn’t happen for you, be prepared to deal with the fall-out later. Have confidence in your abilities and be proud of your achievements. In my experience, a little self-belief goes a long way.
modern languages
What do you like most about SWPS?
Dass alle Mädchen so höflich und freundlich sind.
C’est une école surprenante, avec des gens très accueillants, des salles bien équipées, des élèves motivées et une école située
dans un environnement très agréable.
What do you miss most about home?
Also im materiellen Sinne das Brot, weil ich so dunkles Vollkornbrot mit Kürbiskernen liebe. Aber natürlich auch meine Freunde und Familie.
Il n’y a pas de choses qui me manquent particulièrement, mais si je devais choisir une chose, je dirais les amis et la famille. Je suis habituée à voyager donc je n’ai pas vraiment de manque en particulier, merci Skype.
Who do you most admire?
Meine Mama, weil sie uns allein großgezogen hat. Sie war immer für uns da, und weil ich immer mit ihr so gut reden konnte.
C’est une question difcile car je n’ai pas une seule source d’inspiration. En général, ce sont des personnes joviales de mon entourage. J’essaie par exemple de m’inspirer de l’ouverture d’esprit de l’une
TALKING IT OVER
Before their time at SWPS came to an end, Ricarda Froh and Anaëlle Fer, our German and French Assistants, exchanged words with Hanako McInerney and Ellie Markham (Lower 6th)
de mes amies qui a vécu sur presque tous les continents ainsi que de sa capacité à rebondir face aux diférents obstacles.
What are your most treasured possessions?
Meine wichtigsten Besitze sind meine Andenken. Sachen wie zum Beispiel Fotos von meiner Kindheit, mein erster Teddybär und meine ersten Laufschuhe habe ich behalten.
La montre que mon père m’a oferte pour mes vingtans.
What would your superpower be?
Manchmal glaube ich, dass es cool wäre Gedanken lesen zu können, aber vielleicht würde es auch nicht so toll sein alles wissen zu können.
Ce serait de pouvoir me déplacer d’un claquement de doigts – je claque les doigts et je suis en Australie, par exemple.
What makes you happy?
Das fragen mich immer so viele Leute, weil ja mein
Name Froh ist. Wenn ich mit meiner Schwester oder Freunden spreche, dann fühle ich mich immer besser. Oder Musik zu hören klappt auch für mich.
Plein de choses – voyager,
découvrir de nouveaux pays, rencontrer de nouvelles personnes, mes amis, ma famille.
How do you relax?
Ich quatsche gern mit Freunden nach einem langen Tag oder gehe gern spazieren im Wald.
Ça dépend, mais en général
je cuisine.
Tell us a joke
Kommen zwei Flöhe zur Bibliothek. Sagt der eine Floh zum anderen gehen wir zu Fuß oder nehmen wir einen Hund?
Pourquoi Michael ouvre la porte ? Parce que Jack sonne.
AN IMPERFECT PARADISE
A short story by Sarah Menezes (Year 11)
Iwas falling faster and faster when suddenly I woke with a jolt, banging my head on the hard cold window. My head and ears throbbed as the piercing overhead announcement began to make my head spin. I stood up swaying to and fro, with a sickening feeling in my throat after being asleep for so long. I dragged my feet and my luggage to the end of the plane and after a drowsy nod to the air hostess, I followed my parents further into the crowded swarming airport.
The first thing I noticed was the air around me, it tasted diferent, odd, and I found it harder to breathe. It felt hot and made my headache deepen. I noticed my reflection in the pristine marble floor. I looked terrible and heavyeyed so I took a deep breath of the dense air and carried on through Customs.
My mind was a haze until I reached the arrival lounge. The bright midday sun shone brightly, flooding the open space with light. The closer I came to the doors, the lighter the surrounding air became. I strolled out and saw a mini paradise that I would never have imagined to be India. The palm trees stood tall and majestic, hoarding magnificent birds and ripe fruits. The warm breeze stroked my face as the radiant sun made me strip of my jumper. Compared to the dreary bleak skies of England and the
uncomfortable silence I have grown accustomed to; the crowds of people and the heat on my skin made the city welcoming, alive and exciting. As I took in the rich scented air, I knew then, I never wanted to leave.
The road was overflowing with tourists who were followed by their willing taxi drivers waiting on them hand and foot. My mum ushered me along to the road where we were met by an old man grinning with a few stained teeth and pink gums. He spat on the ground before walking up to me, grabbing my luggage like a thief, throwing it on the roof of his taxi and wrapping it carelessly with rope. My parents saw my face fall on seeing the state of the scrap metal box that was our taxi. They apologetically told me that the next
decent cab with air conditioning would not be available for hours and we would have to make do with the taxi we were given. It’s only half an hour they said, it wouldn’t make a diference. Determined not to let that ruin the paradise I had walked into, I forced the stif door open and sat in the backseat, feeling the whole car bounce and lower with my weight. After three failed attempts I slammed the door shut and rolled down the window to let some air into the sufocating car. I lay back on the hard and uncomfortable seat and closed my eyes. I felt the pathetic taxi spring up and down as the rest of my family clambered in after me.
The engine started with a roar,
not the roar you hear with high model cars but a rough cough and splutter. I was flung back as the car jerked forward; instinctively I grabbed for the seatbelt but couldn’t find one. I dug my nails deep inside the ripped leather of the seats and into the disintegrating sponge underneath, while flying past the towering palm trees either side of the road. The deeper we drove into the city, the more the bright colours faded and the foggier and smoke-filled the air became. The speed of the car reduced dramatically, until we eventually slowed from crawl into a complete stop, gridlocked in the never ending trafc. My headache reappeared as the deafening horns of the cars competed with the swearing from people in the trafc and loud music from the nearby shops. Above all this I was shocked to see that, woven through the trafc people walked with ease, without thinking twice about the main roads they were crossing.
Sweat dripped down my back and neck as the intense sweltering heat beat down on the city. I rolled my sleeves up and peered out of the window; my head and shoulders moving further out of the car as I looked up at the dull, polluted sky. Never had I seen a blue sky in Mumbai, and I was thinking I probably never would when suddenly a rough hand
grabbed my wrist. An old woman in ripped clothing tugged at my arm. She stroked my hair and face as I screamed and shot back inside the taxi. My parents started shouting in a language I couldn’t understand. Her eyes were yellow and weary. I could tell she was weak, ill and homeless. She reached out a hand begging for money and food, her tears rolled endlessly onto the stained cloth she wrapped around herself as a
dress. As I wound up the window in a hurry, I saw a small girl appear from behind her, clutching onto the woman closely. She should have been around eight at least but was half the height and half the size with each bone jutting out of her paper thin skin. She had massive dark eyes that stared at me as her mother weakly tapped repeatedly on my window.
The sick feeling grew in my throat and my stomach as the trafc started to move again. Horrified, I turned to my parents but they had already dismissed the scene from their minds. I looked back out of the window frowning, wondering if I had imagined it; but the hand print was still there, small, insignificant but etched in my mind.
KILLING LANGUAGE?
Ellie Markham (Lower 6th) investigates whether our love of texting means we’re saying TTFN to our literacy. Painting by Helen Berg
With the number of people who text exceeding the total world population of 40 years ago, texting has been cited as the most popular vehicle for communication amongst teenagers, surpassing even face-to-face conversation. Notorious for its bad spelling and overuse of acronyms, texting is often criticised as being the root of all grammar-related evil amongst the younger generation. With increasing numbers of students using text language
in exams, and its short-lived acceptance by exam boards in both Australia and Scotland, texting can be seen as a negative influence on our English language skills. Texting’s rapidfire nature means that the use of complex words and sentence structures is completely defunct, perhaps reflected in the decline of vocabulary levels. As the aim of texting is to convey a message as rapidly and succinctly as possible, the use of shortcuts has bled over into written language. This leads to omissions of nonessential letters and the incorrect use of homophones, degrading our ability to write efectively.
The influence of texting on the English language is omnipresent, with OMG added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011 as an informal exclamation ‘used to express surprise, excitement of disbelief’. Even the disappearance of hyphens in 16,000 words has been attributed to the inconvenience of the punctuation mark when texting at high speed.
Yet, it cannot be denied that language has dramatically changed since it was first recorded
over 5,000 years ago, and texting is just a new facet of the English language that is evolving with our society. Text language is a product of the development of technology and the acceleration of our daily lives and allows us to write in the way that we talk, at a fast pace with nearly immediate response. Texting has been called by some as speaking with our fingers – if we aren’t concerned with hyphenation and capital letters in casual conversation, why should we be so worried when they can’t be found in text messages?
“ ”
The influence of texting on the English language is omnipresent
Contrary to popular opinion, the use of dreaded text abbreviations like LOL and ROFL have been proven to be improving literacy skills, as the brain is forced to reconcile text language with its real meaning. A study published by the British Journal of Developmental Psychology noted that “Children’s use of textisms is not only positively associated
with word reading ability, but it may be contributing to reading development”. And these ‘textisms’ did not originate in the recesses of a teenager’s NOKIA: the first recorded use of OMG was in 1917 in a letter from Admiral John Fisher to none other than Winston Churchill.
Text abbreviations are also greatly improving our phonological awareness –our awareness of the sound structure of spoken words, which is an accurate and reliable indicator
killing language
of the later reading ability of children. As text language often resembles the phonetic spelling of words, it has been shown that it requires the same phonological ability needed to correct spellings. However, textisms often stay separate from ‘proper’ English, and even then, they are used far more infrequently than is thought. ‘Please’ and ‘thank you’ are reportedly used three times more often than their shortened forms ‘pls’ and ‘thx’.
Texting is not destroying
the English language: it is transforming it. Texting inspires people to innovate new language and ways to communicate with each other, whilst giving us practice in reading and writing. English is even being taught to non-native speakers using text language, and still educates us in the bilingualism of our abbreviated speech, with a noted positive influence on language skills. It’s clear to see that texting isn’t a scourge upon our grammar, but is making it better than b4.
An exhibition entitled Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum may not sound like the perfect cup of tea for anyone who did not get on very well with Caecilius and his dog. Yet the exhibition, showcasing over 250 artefacts excavated from the destruction caused by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79, attracted thousands of visitors in its six month run at the British Museum, including a group of SWPS’ own. Surely this is evidence that not only classicists can find the Roman era interesting?
Hugh Walker, our DT techniciian, worked on the exhibition as part of his job as a Heavy Objects Handler at the British Museum. Working outside of museum hours from midnight to six in the morning, he spent three weeks putting into place the “most awkward objects” that formed the exhibition; his favourite of which was the metal chest which could be seen in the atrium space.
For those who are passionate about Classics and the ancient world, Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum was so significant in that it gave us the ability to better understand the lives of the Roman people, and the context of their society. With artefacts ranging from shop signs to marble reliefs, the exhibition revealed the domestic minutiae of life nearly two thousand years ago.
Yet, even though he freely admits to not being classically inclined, the exhibition still held great importance for Mr Walker, due to the fact that it gave the general public the opportunity to experience and encounter these artefacts. He pointed out that “some people never get the opportunity to go to Pompeii, so the exhibition is a way to educate them and for them to encounter an entire world’s culture for free”. With the majority of the artefacts in the exhibition having never been outside of Italy before, Mr Walker was able to bring the widely inaccessible to the public sphere;
Hugh
one of the reasons he enjoyed his work at the British Museum so much.
And even though the artefacts are well over a thousand years old, they can still hold relevance for all of us, classicists or not. For Mr Walker, their poignancy lies in his belief that “we don’t realise how similar we are to our ancestors; in some ways they were just like you or me.” Even though technology has evolved and our society has developed, through exhibitions such as this one, it can be revealed to us “that we haven’t changed that much”. Indeed, the plaster casts of the victims of Vesuvius that featured in the exhibition, movingly displayed the last emotions of the people killed in the eruption, their fear and pain so poignantly human.
Mr Walker is just one voice in the discussion of Classics and the exhibition of Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, but he makes it clear that you don’t have to be a classicist to appreciate the cultural heritage bestowed upon us by antiquity.
Walker (Design & Technology) talks to Ellie Markham (Lower 6th) about his involvement with the Pompeii and Herculaneum show at the British Museum
CLASSICISTS ONLY?
GETTING A HEAD
Excellence
is not the same as perfection; this is a key focal point for Chris Muller’s philosophy on education. Alana John and Ellie Markham (Lower 6th) discuss this, and other issues, with SWPS’ new Head
When Mr Muller joined the school as Deputy Head in 2009, did he envisage becoming Head in just five years? “Not at this school, but I always wanted to be a Head at some point in my career,” he explains. He tells us how he felt when he learnt that he’d been chosen for the job: “Thrilled, elated, with a growing sense of responsibility.”
Mr Muller is confident that there will be very few obstacles in moving the school forward under his new leadership. As he reflects on his team and their approach to the school, he tells us, “The staf are so committed to the girls’ welfare; everyone in this place is always thinking of what is in the best interest of their students. I am very lucky to be leading such a community of extraordinary professionals.” Mr Muller also implies that much about SWPS will stay the same, as his years as Deputy Head have already given him opportunity to be a part of the school’s journey. He plans to continue working on “ building confidence, developing and strengthening cultural literacy, while providing even greater opportunities for girls to be leaders.”
Mr Muller’s idea of success for the school revolves around our ability to balance our achievements with our happiness; “SWPS girls succeed in many areas of school life, but they do so with a smile on their faces.” He believes
that this is one of SWPS’ best characteristics. For him, success in life is about doing what you enjoy, and being able to make a living out of it.
He believes his mantra of excellence is not perfection is “such an importance message to get out” in a world where the struggle to be perfect can dominate.
We move on to more serious subjects: Mr Muller tells us that his miniature TARDIS will be making the move into the Head’s ofce with him but, contrary to speculation in some quarters, he won’t be redecorating the entire school around the theme of Doctor Who (his favourite television programme). A question on his dream dinner party guests initially leads to far too many suggestions, but his passion for politics and political debate clearly shows. We narrow it down to four 18th century writers - Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Edward Gibbon and Tom Paine - plus Plato, Emmeline Pankhurst and Richard Feynman. Euripides is axed in favour of Mary Wollstonecraft, to add to the mix of political ideologies present at the table. “I would love to hear the clashing of political and intellectual ideas combined with a good measure of wit and wisdom.”
When asked about his inspiration, Mr Muller identifies two individuals who have particularly interested him: Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela. He is fascinated by Thatcher because, “She become the first female leader of the Conservative Party,
indeed of any British political party, which, given the notoriously male-dominated institution 1970s politics, was an extraordinary achievement.” He thinks that Mandela is a compelling figure because, “He had a choice of taking revenge on those who wronged him or pursuing the path of reconciliation for the greater good.” Mr Muller believes that Mandela’s decision to forgive shows us that we are capable of choosing to give ourselves control, and that kindness and compassion are always the better options.
Will being a male Head Teacher, in a girls’ school, have a discernable efect on his leadership? After a pause, he replies to our final question: “I don’t think that it matters; all that matters is that whoever runs this school puts the interests of the girls, and the school, first,” and, he adds, that they have “an absolute passion for, and belief in, education. Those are important things.”
DISTORTING THE TRUTH?
Mia Stoop (Lower 6th) investigates how statistics can sometimes be used to disguise and mislead
Whether you are a mathematician or not, statistics plays a huge role in our everyday lives. A statistic is a fact or quantity calculated from a sample of data, which can be used to give us information. They are all around us and are very useful because they present findings in a clear and objective manner. However, it is very easy to manipulate statistics in order to disguise the truth and deceive the reader.
The reliability of a statistic is immediately compromised if the sample is biased. This could be if the sample size is too small or if the data is not collected from a random sample of the population. The efect of the sample size being too small can be demonstrated
through the flipping of a coin. Statistically, you should get heads 50% of the time and tails 50% of the time; but if you flip a coin ten times in a row, the chances of this happening are very slim. You could end up with seven heads and three tails - so is it now correct to say that you get heads 70% of the time and tails 30% of the time? Is the coin biased? However, if you were to flip the coin 100 or 1000 times in a row, you are far more likely to gain a result with is closer to 50% heads and 50% tails. This proves that the sample size has to be large to begin with. Statistics can also be manipulated through a carefully selected average. There are three types of averages: the mode (the most common value in a set of data), the median (the middle value in a set of data) and the mean (the mathematical average of a set of data). They all describe the set of data truthfully, but it is highly likely that they will all be diferent and this is where an average can be selected that best fits in with our aims. For example, it could be stated that the average mark in a mathematics test was 67%; but you do not know whether this was the mean, median or mode. This could be the median mark, demonstrating that half of the class got better marks and half of the class got worse marks, or it could be the mean mark. Simply stating that something is an average could be very misleading and averages are often used in this
way in the media to select the most convenient data in an argument.
Statistics can be manipulated
Graphs can be a very powerful tool for displaying large quantities of complex data as they display data visually. However, it is very easy to make graphs which are deceiving or misleading; which can make a situation seem much better, or far worse than it actually is. For example, a bar chart could appear to show that house prices have doubled over two years, but when you actually look at the axes, the price has increased from £100,000 to £110,000.
A graph can also be used to examine the relationship between two variables and from it you may be able to conclude that there is a relationship between these two variables because, for example, as one of them increases, the other variable increases as well. This is correlation. However, this does not mean that one of the variables causes the other variable to occur; correlation does not necessarily mean causation.
So next time you see a newspaper headline claiming that eating too many apples causes your hair to turn green, question it!
Elizabeth Jamieson (Year 11)
Amy Saunders (Year 11)
Juliette Wright (Year 11)
Lottie Levy (Year 11)
Natasha Yuen (Year 11)
Lissy Carter (Year 11)
Rachel Simpson (Year 11)
Rebecca Ackroyd (Year 11)
Lauren Ahm (Year 11)
Sarah Menezes (Year 11)
Janelle Xiao (Year 11)
Molly Sharps (Year 11)
physical education SPORTS DAY
Words by Natasha Atkinson; pictures by Sammie Thompson
(Lower 6th)
This year’s Sports Day was a brilliant event with all the girls fiercely competing to win those all-important house points. The beautiful weather meant that the spectators were able to relax in the sun, with a glass of Pimm’s, and enjoy a day of competition in which many girls achieved personal bests. Nicola Bell (Year 8) broke the school javelin record with an impressive throw of over 34 metres. The relays concluded the day’s events and as always they were a highlight, with the whole school cheering their house along.
The winners of each year were: 7P, 8M, 9Q, 10P and 12M. When the overall results were finally announced, there were only a few points in it but Quant were the winners. They have now held the title for three consecutive years.
Pictures also by Georgina Ferns & Ian Russell
physical education
Success may be defined as many things. In the modern world, we often focus on the end result rather than the journey to the end, when actually it’s the process which determines the final outcome. Since the second half of the twentieth century, the status of sport and physical education within society has increased massively.
With this increased interest, characteristics of elite athletes have become more of a focus: the factors which lead to success and in particular, the mental skills or psychology required. Firstly, the most important thing to understand is that psychological preparation needs to be developed over a prolonged period of time in the same way that skills and physical ability cannot be
developed overnight. For athletes to make any kind of progress they must have a growth mind set, which efectively means that they understand that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work, and that brains and talent are just the starting point. This creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all “great” people have had these qualities.
The opposite of a growth mind set is a fixed mind set and people who adopt this kind of attitude are usually unable to take on feedback or criticism and ultimately, cannot develop. Instead, they fall into a rut and – in many cases – fail to succeed.
However, it is essential that you retain a sense of balance and perspective between sport and the rest of your life. In particular, when facing a setback or failure, it’s important to realise that it’s not the end of the world and in reality, there are lots of other positives to focus on. Part of having a growth mind set is the ability to take on feedback and work on elements of you or your game which will in turn make you better.
Similarly, keeping things in perspective links with time management; to be successful you need to be disciplined and
WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL ATHLETE?
Words by Alana John (Lower 6th). Pictures by Sammie
Thompson (Lower 6th)
a successful athlete?
3 the achievement of an endeavour. “ ”
Success noun 1 the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. 2 having the desired effect or outcome.
organised. Whilst it might seem a good idea to work hard and train hard all the time, very soon you’ll find yourself feeling more and more run down and exhausted. This in turn could lead to a lack of focus, fatigue and possible injury. Thus, it is important that when training at an elite level, you continue to eat a healthy balanced diet and rest fully after a heavily loaded week. In managing your loads, you avoid the risk of injury and therefore can be active for longer and therefore improve.
This is difcult when you’re young and juggling multiple things. When you get home from a long training session, for example, the last thing you want to do is begin an essay in for the next day. Therefore, whilst it’s important to commit yourself to your training, you must also remain proactive in completing other tasks in regards to school work and other commitments. This is imperative, in fact, when you consider that unlike most male footballers in the Premier League, females in sport are unlikely to earn £25,000 to £30,000 a week. And so, whilst you must remain committed to your sport, you must also remain committed to your education. Moreover, one of the most important skills – both in sport and in everyday life – is the ability to communicate and work with others. A well-known saying is that “a problem shared is a problem halved” and indeed, this rings true in sport. The ability to develop strong and healthy relationships with those around you can be the diference between success and failure. A support system can ofer advice and a diferent perspective, even some constructive criticismwhich you need to be able to deal with efectively (alienating people does nothing but cause problems).
If you ever come across an obstacle or a setback, whilst you may not have an immediate solution, with the right mind set and the appropriate level of commitment then, in essence, anything is possible.
Three minutes left. The beating of the St Lucian sun seemed in sync with the distant beating of music. Two minutes left. The swaying of the palm trees in the breeze echoed the motion of the netball. One minute left. The panoramic view of green hills that directed our eyes down to the turquoise sea, cheered us on.
We’d won! To our surprise, we were not the only ones celebrating; directly to our right, a street party was in full swing, with massive speakers on buses, men parading in costumes, and locals dancing. Even our guide, Vision, who’d come to support us, was now balancing on the fence-line, grooving to the Caribbean music.
Last July, two under-16 netball
teams, led by Mrs Searle and Miss Mason, embarked on a trip-ofa-lifetime to the tropical island of Saint Lucia. Our hotel, equipped with swimming pool, netball courts, spa, and picture-perfect beach just down the road, seemed like the ideal place to house two teams of 15 to 16 year old girls!
Situated in Rodney Bay, we were able to take an excursion to the nearby Pigeon Island. Our Rastafarian guide, Vision, distracted us with the great history of the island and of Fort Rodney, while we hiked up Signal Hillironically named, as for most of us, in the relentless heat, the 319ft hill seemed far more like a mountain. However, the breathtaking views of the ocean and the island from the top, made the climb worthwhile.
The tour was filled with inspirational moments, such as being given the opportunity to coach young girls and boys in a local school. For many of us, this was an eye-opening and rewarding experience as we were able to get to know the individual children and impart some of our sporting knowledge. By the time we had to leave, we had made such a bond with these children that
they were clinging onto our backs, begging us not to go.
Our separation didn’t last long though, as these children came and supported us in some of our matches.
The obvious highlight for the majority of our team was being able to play against the fierce and talented Saint Lucian Netball teams. The matches were difcult and exhausting, but most of all they were exhilarating, and absolutely amazing to see. Against us, we encountered women nearly four times our age as well as girls much younger than us, all equipped with exciting new tactics we had never witnessed before. It quickly became apparent to us that if we wanted to win, we would have to jump as high as them, run as fast, and want victory more; but none of that was easy. Each game was not only a competition against our opponents, but also a battle with stamina, fitness and strength, to push ourselves through the searing heat of the afternoon sun. We played through the most torrential of tropical showers, and the most happening of street parties, all in this beautiful Caribbean setting.
Taking us even closer to our Caribbean surroundings was the Tranopy Spectacular excursion, which was a thrilling zip-wire ride through the island’s rainforest canopy. Not for the faint-hearted, this day out included racing ziplines into the unknown, sudden drops to the forest floor, and a cable car ride to the highest point on the island with incredible views.
After being tempted by the sea throughout our visit, we were eventually able to take a closer
Words by Sarah Farago (Lower 6th). Pictures by Elaine Searle (Head of PE) and Sammie Thompson (Lower 6th)
physical education SAINT LUCIA
look at the wildlife that lives in the warm Caribbean waters. Mid-way through an efortless catamaran cruise along the west coast, we plunged into the bright blue waters and began to snorkel, only to be dazzled by the electric blues and purples of the corals and fish.
The bold colours of the sea life were reflected beautifully in the island’s nightlife. Mrs Searle and Miss Mason, under the experienced and watchful eye of Vision, showed us what a real street-party meant to the people of Saint Lucia. Our senses were bombarded with vivid carnival costumes, booming reggae music, and the smell of mouth-watering Creole food. We danced most of
the night away. And then all safely returned to the hotel! By the end of the tour, we’d also had a master class in Caribbean cooking, seen botanical gardens, a volcano, and the capital city’s main market.
The Under-16 B Team played the hardest they had ever played, and the A team won all but one of their matches. The whole trip was something we will never forget.
physical education
Istarted rowing last September because Miss Farmer inspired me to give it a try. My brother is 15 and has been rowing for four years now and admittedly is very good. I went to a Regatta with him last year, and ran into Miss Farmer, the Head of Rowing, and she convinced me that rowing was the right sport for me, but also was just a bit of fun. Before I started rowing, I was into ball sports, mostly tennis and netball, but I was definitely not as committed to them as I am now to rowing.
At the beginning of Year 8, I convinced some of my best friends to start rowing with me and now they love it! We started out just having fun and getting some exercise, but then I began to realise I was actually quite good. The rowing teachers also realised that, and suggested I get tested to take it on further. I was quite intimidated by this, however, I was also very grateful that they realised that I had the potential.
As I had only just started and hadn’t really a clue about what I was getting myself into, I said to myself: is this really what I want? After conferring with my close friends and family, they thought
there would be no harm in trying and if I didn’t get anywhere then no damage would be done.
Just before Christmas I went to a school for the trials. That was where I met my coach, Dan Cooper. He’s been rowing for a long time and now is coaching me and five other girls in the GB Rowing Start Program. A few weeks after testing, I received a letter with information asking if I would meet again to talk more. At the meeting we talked about the potential I had and that he was then going to spend his time training me, and helping me to find a future in rowing. After Dan had spoken to the other girls in the squad, it was time to start training. Every rowing session is diferent. I row at Twickenham
Boat Club on a Monday morning at 5.00 am and Thursday after school with my squad. In the squad are five girls who are quite a lot older than me and a lot bigger. I have grown up always being seen as the really tall girl, but now I have starting rowing with girls bigger and taller, I feel so much more comfortable, as if I don’t stand out anymore. Although they are older than me, it doesn’t feel like it; we get along and each session we find something to laugh about. At the moment, most sessions consist of a big warm up and spinning, followed by either weights or technique on the rowing machines. One of the biggest things that we work on is our core and I have learnt that it’s one of the most important things in rowing and in most sports.
Last March, Year 8 rowers took part in the National Junior Indoor Rowing Competition. This was my first ever competition and I had been excited about it for weeks. While I was there, I realised that rowing was something I had never thought I would be able to do. However, when I achieved First Place, it really helped me to see that this is what I want to do, and will continue to do for as long as I possibly can.
R OWING
HELPING OUT IN CAMBODIA
Words by Zoe Laferty (Lower 6th)
Last summer, I travelled alone to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, to volunteer for two weeks in the Home of Hope orphanage. It’s home to boys and adults aged 4 to 25, many of whom have HIV/AIDS; many are also disabled. My main reasons for volunteering were that I wanted to do something worthwhile, to work with children less fortunate than me, to stretch myself, and to be immersed in a diferent culture.
As we drove to Heathrow airport, all I could think about was the 12-hour flight to Bangkok, followed by a short flight to Phnom Penh. I was nervous I would get lost between airports. Somehow, though, I managed to arrive in the right place!
I was met at the airport by a member of the orphanage staf, and we set of to the apartment building where I would be living along with 28 other volunteers, all aged 16 to 19.
As I stepped out of the airport, I was immediately hit by the high humidity and 30-degree heat. During our short journey to the apartment, I was amazed by the sights, sounds and smells of the streets. I was also surprised to see the most exquisite and beautiful mansions sitting directly next to shanty town houses.
I was one of the first volunteers to arrive; I got settled into my room and met my roommate, a Japanese girl called Mako. Throughout the two weeks, she taught me a lot about Japanese traditions and culture, which was
fascinating. Gradually, others started arriving. They came from Belgium, France, Norway, Saudi Arabia, China, Canada, America and Australia. The majority of them were French speaking, which initially made it tricky for me. We soon became comfortable with each other, though. I made an immediate connection with Grace, a girl my age from Belgium, and we have subsequently become great friends.
Our weekday mornings started around 6.30am with a fight for the showers and a breakfast of noodles, rice and fruit. The fruit was delicious, and wonderfully fresh, consisting of pineapple, watermelon and lychees. Lychees were a new food for me but I quickly became addicted to them.
The bus picked us up at 7.15am every morning to take us to the orphanage on the outskirts of town. I was excited and nervous when we first arrived but the staf were very welcoming. Our work involved playing with the children and helping them with their studies, although we also did other jobs like painting the outside of the building and completing a mural.
I enjoyed working with all the children, and several now have a special place in my heart.
Tao, for example. He was paralysed and was very thin. I tried to teach him how to hold a pen so that he could draw and, while he got frustrated at the start, eventually he put it in his mouth and started to draw really well. When we played together, I took videos of us on my iPhone and played them back to him. He was
fascinated by the video and it made us both laugh.
In the evenings, we returned to the apartment and were free to go into the town. Most of the time this involved shopping in the markets and visiting Cambodia’s equivalent of Pizza Hut. At the time we were there, local elections were being held. Thousands of people filled the streets chanting ‘Four’ or ‘Seven’, which we discovered were the names of the most popular political parties. Trafc was in chaos, night after night, as everyone rode round the streets in their cars or tuk-tuks, supporting their party.
I have plans to return to the Home of Hope orphanage next summer with Grace and a few of the other volunteers. I have made many friends from around the world and have managed to stay in touch with some of the older orphans, through Facebook. They keep me updated on how all the boys are getting on.
I hope we made a diference during our time there. I think I’ve fallen in love with the children at the orphanage, and with Cambodia.
MAKING NOTES
Rising, young composer Harry Davidson talks to Nicole Abela (Lower 6th Music Scholar)
Last November, I was given a once in a lifetime opportunity to lead the Berkshire Youth Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall during the School’s Proms. This event, which was run by an organisation called Music for Youth, was a fantastic experience for all the players concerned and for me in particular, given that I’d never be part of a public performance at
the Albert Hall before. The piece of music we played was written by Harry Davidson, an A-level student from Reading School. I feel certain that he’s going to be a name to remember, as will his piece entitled Type II I had the privilege of working with Harry and leading the orchestra, which was pretty stressful as he has very high standards. This didn’t stop me from sneaking in a few questions though!
In relation to your music, what are your most memorable moments so far?
Aside from conducting at the Albert Hall, I’d say playing bassoon there with the National Youth Orchestra in the 2012 BBC Proms was an incredible experience.
Touring Beijing with my bassoon quartet back in 2010 stands out as being another unforgettable memory, as well as being one of the most bizarre weeks of my life!
How did you got to perform your own music at the Royal Albert Hall?
I decided to write a piece for full orchestra for my final A-level composition, and assembled an orchestra from musicians at school, and elsewhere, to record it in concert. Catherine Millar from Berkshire Maestros happened to be in the audience and ofered me the opportunity to have it played by Berkshire Youth Orchestra at the Music For Youth National Festival in Birmingham. I couldn’t believe it when a couple of weeks later I got a call telling me that the MFY organisers wanted it to be performed in their annual Schools Prom concerts at the Albert Hall.
Where does your interest in composing come from?
I think it comes from a background of messing around on as many instruments as I could get my hands on and learning that I love to create music!
Something else that really captivated me from a young age was film music and the way it gives you a really striking emotional response to the visuals on screen.
Who is your main inspiration in the film music industry?
I have several, but I think the main ones are: John Williams, who can just adapt his writing style to virtually anything he puts his mind to (as well as being able to craft the most incredible melodies time and time again), Erich Korngold, John Powell, and Michael Giacchino, among many others!
How long have you been composing?
I’ve been writing music for a long time but I only seriously started to think about producing and finishing work in the last couple of years.
Tell us about your latest composition I’m currently working on two pieces, one for voice and piano, which will be based on a traditional American poem, and one electroacoustic
composition, which will be interesting as it’s something I have slightly less experience with!
What are your dreams for the future; where would you like to see yourself in 10 years’ time?
I’m keeping an open mind but I’d absolutely love to be writing music for film, performing, and generally
making music in some way or other!
You’re studying music at the moment; tell us about that I’m currently in my first year studying for a BA in music at New College, Oxford. It’s a good mix between academic work, where I’m studying the history of music and analysing scores, and creative work where I’m taking modules in composition, performance and keyboard skills.
What else interests you?
Aside from my musical interests, I’m a big fan of film and theatre in general, as well as keeping up with sport and fitness. I try and pack out my schedule with as much other stuf as I can, as music tends to take over your life if you’re not careful.
Which instruments to you play?
I play the bassoon, piano, guitar, and bass guitar. And I sing. I picked up the bassoon when I was nine years old at a ‘try an instrument’ day at the local music centre and never really looked back. As to why I chose it, I have no idea. It was just a bit diferent!
extra curricular
THE SOUND OF CONVERSATION
Sara Sweeney (Head of Drama) talks to Katie Piercy (Lower 6th) about her experience of directing this year’s major school production
As Director of The Sound of Music, what did your role entail?
My main role, of course, was to direct each scene. I also had to make decisions on casting, while taking the students’ musical abilities into account, as this was a musical production. Aisling Taylor provided a lot of help with the choreography; she choreographed the ballroom dance scene. I discussed the set design in depth with Patsi Bucknall, which allowed us to pull everything together as a whole.
Every year seems to bring about a very diferent production from the last. How do you make your choices?
When choosing the next play, I usually go for one that I think the students will enjoy being a part of and performing. With the junior production, I usually work with the students and their ideas when deciding on which play to do.
Why did you choose The Sound of Music as the production for this year?
We hadn’t done a musical for a few years and they can involve so many students; we thought The Sound of Music would be a good choice as it allows for a very large cast. The majority of the characters are female, which suited our school, and everyone seems to enjoy this show, so we knew it would be enjoyable to work on. The music in the show is also very
likeable, and was played brilliantly by our Orchestra.
What were your main challenges with this show?
When we’re working on a production, we nearly always think we have more time than we actually have. The entire cast had to learn the songs, with the diferent harmonies, and none of the choreography could be done until that had happened. Initially, there was a lack of coherence as a result of this, and all of the scenes needed to be pulled together in the later stages.
The puppet scene looked very complex; was it a particular challenge?
The scene did take a long time to coordinate; however, all of the students were very patient during the process and they also provided some ideas for what we could do. During the first rehearsal, when the students had already been allocated their roles in the scene, the choreography was mainly trial and error. Diferent mixes of students’ and teachers’ ideas were experimented with, and changes were made right up to the last minute. In the end, I think the puppets in that scene worked brilliantly.
Were there points in the rehearsal process when you felt daunted?
There are always moments like that in the process of putting on a
production. Halfway through this one, I realised how big the Sound of Music actually is and, as usual, there were moments of self-doubt. It is very difcult, in a show like this, to pull together all the music, singing and acting, as that usually only happens about two weeks prior to the performances.
In previous years, you have often worked on separate junior and senior school productions. This show was for juniors and seniors. What was it like directing such a big cast? This production allowed each student’s strengths to come out and develop, which was a delight to see. Working with students in non-lesson time is always a pleasure as it allows me to interact closer with each individual. It’s always a joy to watch each individual cast member’s confidence grow throughout the rehearsal processes.
SHOW TIME extra curricular / drama
Scenes from the making and performing of two more of this year’s SWPS productions
Top 3 pictures: Bugsy Malone
Bottom 3 pictures: Boxed (A-level Drama performance)
OUT OF DISORDER
Katie Piercy (Lower 6th) discusses her AS drama group’s powerful production of the unsettling play Nut
Our adaptation of Debbie Tucker-Green’s Nut was influenced by the work of a theatre company called Jammy Voo, who are known for using their bodies in a highly physical and dynamic way in their productions. They also use music and singing. We used some of their practices in our play; for example, in order to fully engage our audiance, we wanted our movements to be as fluid as possible.
Nut is about a woman, Elayne, who has dissociative identity disorder (also known as multiple personality disorder, or split personality). The play explores what’s going on inside her mind as her contrasting identities come to life through a collection of characters played by difernet members of the cast. Arguments begin to surface between the characters, which underlines how at war Elayne is with herself. This causes increasing concern in her sister, the only other ‘real’ person in the play, as she tries to clean up the mess that each of Elayne’s identities have created.
We experimented with multiple texts before choosing Nut, as we wanted to be sure that we were making the right choice. We worked on scenes from a range of plays, including 4:48 Psychosis and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet However, none of them felt quite right, until we found Nut
We went to see a production of the play in The Shed (the new temporary performance space at the National Theatre) which allowed us to see how it could be staged and what ideas we could transfer from that production to ours.
As Jammy Voo were the practitioners we
had chosen as the starting point for our work, we wanted to use some of their techniques in our performance. Our production included moments when the cast shared audible breaths, to a regular beat, as a way of separating scenes. We found this a challenge in rehearsals as at first we were all performing the breaths at diferent times. To resolve this problem, we all sat on the floor with our eyes closed and practised making the breaths together. Eventually we were able to initiate the breaths, in sync, without looking at each other.
The play depicts a disorder that is real; we felt we had to make the imagined characters in our production appear extremely convincing, as this is how they would seem in a real life situation. I feel a strength of our performance was that we were able to convey a sense of naturalism with all the characters. We carefully observed people’s reactions and behaviour in real-life situations, and transfered this into our performances.
Since its inception almost 70 years ago, the NHS has undergone numerous reforms under 14 successive governments; some enforced by political calculation, some as a necessity to curb spending and others as utopic ideology of a fair, free and efcient healthcare system. The NHS is crucial to maintaining the health of the population and the current reforms suggested by David Cameron and the coalition has significant implications, both in terms of finances and patient management. These factors eventually determine the standard of care and patient health in England and Wales.
In the United Kingdom, we have a universal, tax-funded healthcare system. Only about 11% of the population has private healthcare, and private GP services are small. But recent, highly publicised shortfalls have begged the question- is public healthcare better? Patients facing long waiting lists and spending cuts mean these shortfalls could increase and the quality of care could worsen. On the other hand, private medical insurance is expensive and would mean that good quality healthcare would not be accessible to all.
We need to ask ourselves whether it is ethical to make money from someone’s illness
In the UK, the system is a service that is fully funded by the public. This has many advantages. In terms of equity and access,
services are available to people with low income and vulnerable populations. The system also takes geographic disparities into account; for example, a polluted and busy city will need more hospitals than a rural area. However, in a privatised system, individuals who can pay for the service are favoured and services are usually only found in city centres and afuent areas, where the cost of the services can be recovered. We therefore need to ask ourselves whether it is really ethical to make money from someone’s illness.
The NHS has also been criticised for inefcient treatment. The system is reactive rather than preventative, with patients more often prescribed tablets than instructed to change their lifestyle. For example; treatment of anaemia is usually with a pill rather than a simple change of diet to include more iron. This leads to high costs and also significant long term costs, as the underlying cause of the problem is not treated. The NHS has also been widely criticised for its approach to treating mental illness, which is on the rise. The NHS responded by reallocating resources, from spending £8.7 billion on mental illness in 2004 to £13 billion in 2013.This could be seen as an advantage to a public system - since it is centrally controlled by a single government,
Pragya Chaturvedi (Lower 6th) considers the future of the NHS
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? “ ”
the NHS is able to respond to epidemiological findings, and is able to provide care for what is necessary in the UK at any given point in time. However, this has also been a criticism of private systems; as companies tend to focus on curative care, which essentially means treating the symptoms of the disease.
a stronger voice for the patient
Private companies can also be selective about the treatments they ofer, and even which patients they accept (possibly depending on the profit they could make); meaning some people or illnesses are
neglected.
The private healthcare system also pays more attention to individual comfort and convenience. They see patients as customers, and are ultimately responsible for ‘customer’ satisfaction in all aspects of their treatment. However, public systems pay less attention to convenience, because budget constraints and much longer waiting lists make it impossible to do otherwise. The Health and Social Care Act of 2012 introduced changes that promised a ‘stronger voice for the patient’, which should mean the patient satisfaction has increased and the patient is more informed about their treatment and will have the power to make an informed decision.
The real issue here is not which system is better, but why. Many people seem to be under the impression that private healthcare is inherently ‘better’ than public, that the care and treatment provided by a private surgeon is somehow of a higher standard than that provided at government hospitals.
Perhaps there is no definitive answer, and the best for both the public and the government would be a mixture of the two. If the system were partly socialised, and subsequently supported by individuals where possible, this might provide a happy medium that seems to solve the problems faced by public and private systems- it ensures that basic healthcare is available to all, and also provides greater flexibility for individuals to choose how and where they are treated.
The NHS is quintessentially British, much like the royal family or fish and chips.
The NHS has been subject to constant reform, but has stayed true to its core value of comprehensive care, universality and accessibility to all. It has been said that the past is the key to the present, and it is important for politicians and health care professionals alike to keep this in mind when suggesting reforms, so that the NHS stays a competent medical provider, rather than a poker chip in the game of politics.
design & technology
Bedside cabinet by Artemis Contopoulos (Year 11)
Storage unit by Harriet Cook (Year 11)
Wall display unit by Claudia Spencer (Year 11)
Lounge chair by Claire Hopkins (Year 11)
Ballet bar by Beth Greaves (Year 11)
Corner storage unit by Lucy Jarman (Lower 6th)
Solar illuminated cabinet by Frances Dawson (Year 11)
Bird table with camera by Sandra Clement (Lower 6th)
(Below)
Bamboo water feature by Natalie Porter (Lower 6th)
A BRIGHT FUTURE?
Daphne Bugler and Shivani Kaul (Lower 6th) consider how the labour market might look around the time people their age are leaving university. Picture by Juliette Wright (Year 11)
The majority of us will finish university in the next 5-15 years (depending on course lengths), with the expectation of making an easy transition into the workforce. But with the state of the current economy, recent policy changes and the reform of universities, how easy will it actually be to get a job when we graduate?
The Labour Market encompasses the interactions between employees and employers, where employees compete for the best jobs, and employers compete for the most capable workers. The state of the Labour Market is crucial in examining job prospects as it can show the availability of positions, as well as the amount of workers that will be competing for the same jobs.
In 2012 the government introduced a new and controversial policy which has
led to an increase in university tuition fees to approximately £9000 per year. This is meant to provide students with better quality teaching and learning facilities, however, what will happen to those unable to pay the crippling fees? Inevitably, this will lead to a drop in the amount of people attending university as it will be too expensive, leaving them with low qualifications when entering the central job market. Moreover, it is estimated that students will be left with debts up to £40,000 after graduating, even with student loans available. What efect will this have on the economy? Fewer students in higher education will cause a decrease in the amount of highly qualified labour, as well as an increase in unemployment rates, as potential employees will be less capable of fulfilling the requirements of many jobs, and thus cause a possible drop in the standard of living as people will have lower incomes. Furthermore, with a recent increase in the retirement age, it is said that within the next 5-10 years, there will be a vast surge in the number of people in the labour market. This in turn means that wages may fall if there are less available posts, thus allowing employers to pay lower wages as workers will be more desperate for jobs. The increased
supply of labour also means that competition for jobs will rise, making it much harder for younger and less experienced people to gain high-paid jobs. The Bureau of Labour Statistics estimates that occupations requiring at least a master’s degree will grow 21.7% by the end of the decade. This increase will have a major efect on current students, increasing pressure on the young people of today as they are required to get the highest qualifications in order to earn respect from employers and secure a position.
With this overly competitive labour market, our future seems rather intimidating. However, there will also be a growth in new types of jobs such as technology based and research based positions. The Baby Boom generation will also be nearing retirement age, meaning that a large number of posts should become available.
It has been identified that jobs requiring higher levels of education, as well as those based around new technology, are expected to open up a significant amount of new positions within the next 5-10 years, each with the highest average annual income- at least £36100.
It is becoming apparent that in many ways and in many traditional occupations, the labour market is looking to become a much more competitive place. However, these and many other occupations are expected to increase the number of placements ofered, so when you next consider what future career path you want to take, remember to consider the state of the future job market.
Amuch-debated topic, in this new-media age of video gaming, is whether violent video games have an efect on the behaviour of teenagers and children. According to recent statistics, around 10% of today’s children, aged two to seventeen, play video games for at least one hour a day. Despite the fact that video games emerged during the 1970s, it is only fairly recently that a new type of video game has emerged, in which the aim is to kill your opponents. Games such as Mortal Kombat, Wolfenstein 3D and, more recently, Grand Theft Auto, have introduced a new gaming experience in which the sensory experience is heightened by the advanced graphics, and which incorporates elements such as bloodied screens and the sound of screams. Some people argue that these developments are having an efect on the type of audience the games are intended to attract: youth.
A theory that many psychologists refer to in discussing the efects of violent video games is Social Learning Theory, developed by Albert Bandura. The theory focuses on how the environment around children afects their cognitive development (the way they obtain knowledge through their thoughts, senses and experiences). Bandura argues that
what a child experiences, or what they are exposed to, afects their actions and emotions in real life situations.
Bandura conducted a series of tests involving groups of children and a Bobo Doll - a life-sized doll which, when you hit it, falls over and then immediately bounces back to a upright position.
In Bandura’s experiment, groups of children were exposed to diferent scenarios involving the doll. One group witnessed an adult behaving peacefully while interacting with the Bobo Doll. When individual children from this group were left to play on their own, believing they were unobserved, they continued playing peacefully. However, when another group were exposed to a diferent situation, in which an adult treated the doll violently, the result was that the children, when left on their own, mirrored the behaviour they had observed and played in an aggressive way with the doll.
Bandura argued that his experiment proved that children who are exposed to aggressive behaviour, will imitate that behaviour when left to their own devices. This theory can be used to support the view that there is a correlation between violent video game playing and aggressive behaviour.
However, some believe that there is not such a straightforward link. It can be argued that when
children, or teenagers, play aggressively, either with Bobo Dolls or violent video games, it can act as a substitute for committing violent acts in the real world.
I believe there are elements of truth on both sides of this argument. In my view, a lot depends on the issue of excess Consider this: if someone drinks alcohol to excess, it is likely to cause severe problems. Surely the same is true of excessive video game playing. The $25-billiona-year video game industry can aford to continue spending large amounts of money on developing its technology and on attracting even more of the youth market. This could generate a new breed of excessive playing and addiction. The result could be a major influence on how children perceive violence and respond to real-life situations.
Do violent video games encourage aggressive behaviour in children? Ramneek Chana (Lower 6th) takes a closer look.
Pictures by Rachel Simpson & Molly Sharps
(Year 11)
VIOLENT TENDENCIES
geography ICELAND
Charlotte Ainslie and Phoebe Lewis (Senior 6th) report on this year’s Geography trip. Pictures by Charlotte Ainslie
Having just landed in Iceland, changing into our swimwear wasn’t our first intention. However, we were soon tempted by the steaming, icy-blue coloured water of the Blue Lagoon and within two hours of landing we were bathing in its geothermally heated waters with silica mud all over our faces.
That night, we began to adjust to some Icelandic diferences. Getting the balance between cold showers and hot water that left a distinct egg smell due to the sulphur used to heat it was a challenge. We also realised benefits of good quality blinds as it was light all night due to Iceland’s proximity to the North Pole.
Over the next few days we explored the incredible landforms Iceland had to ofer. At Thingvellir National Park we were able to see
the ground splitting apart at a rift valley, marking the Mid Atlantic Ridge, where the Eurasian and North American plates are moving away from each other. We felt as if we were in a waterpark as we watched crashing waterfalls and erupting geysers.
During the many trips to various, but equally impressive, waterfalls, our tour guide led us to a hidden cascade through a gap in the rocks. Feeling like Indiana Jones, we jumped over streams to take photos of its spray caught in the sunlight.
After a long and bumpy coach ride through a U-shaped valley, past piles of recessional moraine, we explored the end of a glacier and saw the efects of rising temperatures as droplets of water formed, marking its melting.
One of the week’s highlights was the iceberg lagoon. We became even more excited when we heard it had been used for
a James Bond film. As we took a boat ride around the lagoon, snaking around icebergs, praying that there wouldn’t be a reenactment of Titanic, we eagerly watched for seals, seeing a few on the ice and the water. The lake was fed by the end of a glacier and we had the chance to try pieces of ice that had calved of from the glacier. These were millions of years old!
We all complained at the idea of climbing a volcano on Heimaey Island, however the thrill of being up an active volcano (and not wanting to be the last one up) soon got us to the top. Here we had breath taking views over the lush green landscape, brick red volcanic rock and the clear blue water of the coastline. Back on mainland we stopped at a shopping centre where we could see the real efects of earthquakes. TV screens played CCTV footage of quakes striking and a large
glass panel in the floor allowed us to see a fissure that had formed in the rocks below. We also tried an earthquake simulator which left us feeling somewhat unsettled, but not for long enough to put us of huge ice creams with multiple toppings, courtesy of Mr Budd!
Our last night was spent in an amazingly atmospheric Viking hotel. Each room had wooden beams in the style of Viking ships and buildings and we ate dinner to the accompaniment of guitar
playing, singing Viking. Having sourced ourselves some Viking helmets to buy, we continued to enjoy the atmosphere, making beards and singing along to the music. On a high, we retired to our double storey rooms ready for our flight home the following day.
GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS
Nestled in the Himalayas between India and Tibet, directly north of Bangladesh, lies the remote and impoverished Kingdom of Bhutan. Jenny Carter (Lower 6th) finds that the country is full of surprises
Culturally and socially, Bhutan could be described as a bit of an upside down place. The country considers the number 13 to be lucky, children greet you with “Bye, bye” and the King wanted to abolish himself - so he did! The capital Thimphu is the only city in the world without trafc lights, the nation has more monks than soldiers, and you can post your mail using a stamp bearing your own photo. Bhutan is a country with a very low GDP per capita - 15 times lower than the UK -
but ranked among the happiest nations in the world.
Bhutan sets an example to the modern world
In 2012, the UN declared the 20th March to be celebrated annually as an International Day of Happiness. The initiative was a big idea that came from the tiny state of Bhutan. Back in 1971, this country of ancient monasteries, fluttering prayer flags and staggering natural beauty rejected using GDP as the only way to measure progress. In its place, it has adopted a new approach to development that measures prosperity through Gross National Happiness (GNH) and the spiritual, physical, social and environmental health of its citizens and natural environment. Unlike the series of
development indicators typically used by geographers (including political, social, demographic and economic factors), GNH is a measure of development that is not just a statistically based term with, seemingly, no application in everyday life.
Cultural promotion and preserving the wisdom of an ancient and cherished society is a huge part of GNH. Many countries have lost much of their cultural heritage over time but the Bhutanese have realised that there is a strong correlation between well-being (or happiness) and your sense of identity. Culture can be considered a crucial unifying characteristic of identity; thus the distinct architecture, cultural events, traditions, and rituals are all emphasised as important aspects of the Bhutanese way of life.
Another pillar of GNH is environmental conservationcaring for nature and others.
gross national happiness
Bhutan is committed to “maintain at least 60% of the country under forest cover at all times.” Currently, 72% of Bhutan is forested and more than a third of the country is under a protected area network so its biodiversity is efectively conserved. In comparison, only 12% of the UK is forested and the protection once ofered by ‘Green’ and ‘Brown’ belts is frequently over-ridden. Bhutan is carbonnegative (the country removes more CO2 from the air than it releases) but is increasingly being afected by global climate change so the Bhutan Foundation was set up to help prepare and adapt. On an international level, Bhutan has demonstrated how countries can prepare for global climate change.
Social and economic
development is the core of Bhutan’s development policy so that the people may enjoy
higher standards of health care, education, and social services, and less hardship. It is designed to be equitable and sustainable - qualities that are fundamental to the concept of GNH. And it is employed across all parts of the country so that the benefits of development will reach everyone, including the poorest and the weakest, in both present and future generations.
The final pillar of GNH in Bhutan is good governance, leading to active and responsible citizenship. The impressive levels of contentment and economic progress, based on sustainable energy such as hydro-electric power, can be attributed to the dynamic leadership of the Fourth King who aided the transition of the national government to a democracy committed to reforming the nation’s unemployment, poverty and corruption.
Bhutan sets an example to the modern world. While some people today may be considered the wealthiest people to have ever lived, they are by no means the happiest. Bhutan advocates the view that success in life does not just involve the acquisition of wealth. The country leads the way in living mindfully, sustainably and humbly on this planet, rather than pillaging the earth for economic success. They really seem to have found a recipe for happiness.
PHOTOGRAPHY TRAVEL
Brown
travel photography
The standard of entries for our travel photography competition this year was, as usual, extremely high. 1st Prize went to Charlotte Ainslie (Senior 6th) for her beautiful and atmospheric pictures of Peru. The other students’ photographs featured on these pages were all Highly Commended. We also have pictures from a SWPS teacher.
Bottom right: Californian, USA by Alice Brown (Lower 6th) Rest on this page: Isle of Mull, Scotland by Rachel Simpson (Year 11)
Bottom right: Rome, Italy by Alice Sutton (Year 9) The rest on this page: Peru by Charlotte Ainslie (Senior 6th)
The deadline for submitting entries for our next travel photography competition is: Tuesday 30th September For more details, talk to Mr Russell, Head of Art & Design.
Top left: Tuscany, Italy by Alice Sutton (Year 9)
Above left: Peru by Charlotte Ainslie (Senior 6th)
Above & top right: Australia east coast by Caroline Hewlett
Bottom right: Californian, USA by Alice Brown (Lower 6th)
OUR WORLD WAR
To mark the Great War’s centenary, Daphne Bugler (Lower 6th) asked members of the SWPS community to share some of their families’ memories and stories of World War One “ ”
KATY BREWSTER
(Year 7)
My mother’s great-grandfather (my great-great-grandfather) was a German immigrant living in the UK married to an English woman. When the First World War broke out, he was interned in a camp for German prisoners, leaving his three children with their mother. He was so unimpressed by this treatment, that when he was released at the end of the War he immediately uprooted his English family and returned to Germany. Later his wife decided she didn’t like it in Germany and left my great-grandfather with his brother in Germany while she came home to London.
like many other soldiers, he struggled with haunting memories for the rest of his life
SUE BOLTON (English Dept)
ANABEL LEE-WRAGG (Year 7)
My great-great uncle died in a massive ‘push’ by the British army during the Battle of Loos in September 1915. 8,500 British soldiers died on the day that he was killed, the most that had died on a single day since the war started.
HEATHER O’CONNOR (Head of Upper School)
My great grandfather, James Smith, was a sniper in the trenches. He survived the whole war despite getting gassed – was at Galipoli – got captured twice and escaped by just walking back to British lines amid the chaos.
My grandfather, George Robinson Charlton, was a Lewis gunner in the Manchester Regiment. He was shot through the shoulder at Passchendaele on the same day his first daughter was born. He later returned to the trenches and survived the war, but, like many other soldiers, struggled with haunting memories for the rest of his life.
KAY EGGLETON (Administrator)
My grandfather was in the Signals regiment attached to the Royal Engineers. Gumpy’s job was to send and receive signals via flags and mirrors. When in Mesapotamia and in tents, the local tribesmen used to sneak under flaps and steal the weapons
which were leant against the centre pole. He remembers being asked to volunteer to train troops to use the message flags as he was the only one who knew how to use them.
ELLY
BOLTON (Year 11)
My great-great-uncle Harry Clark was in the Royal Scotts Regiment. He fought and was eventually killed in what was then Palestine.
ANNA REVELL (Bursary)
From letters in which my great-grandfather Albert Smith wrote to his wife Alice, he describes the lovely weather and the good health he experienced yet also the overwhelming isolation and how he would have to negotiate in order to receive his letters. In another letter he discusses the constant sounds of gunshots and the fear that this brought the men, yet also the sense of comradeship that they all felt. He was on service in Romsey-Hants but like most soldiers was transferred regularly creating a sense of unrest.
our world war
OLIVIA HARTLEY (Year 9)
My great-great grandad was a solider in the Royal Essex rifles. One evening he was guarding a bridge over the River Somme with one other soldier. They became tired at their post and went down to the local inn for a drink where they were found an arrested for shirking their duties. He was to be sentenced to death by the firing squad but was pardoned because he
Background artwork
by Zoë Hiscock
Photos from Ian Russell
Ifirst started diving in 2012, in Mexico, although I have been snorkelling most of my life!
My parents are both advanced scuba divers and it was them who encouraged me to try it. I began with pool tests and doing underwater exercises such as taking of my mask and putting it back on, removing my BCD
experience.
Four more dives and a final exam later, I became a qualified open water scuba diver! I did two more dives in Mexico, with my parents, where we dived in Cozumel, which was beautiful - this also happens to be where I saw my first shark! We then returned to Mexico the next year where I was doing three dives a day and seeing some extraordinary underwater creatures.
(buoyancy jacket), and having my air turned of to simulate running out of air. There were a few theory tests in between, but then it was on to my first open water dive!
Before my first dive in the ocean I was extremely nervous, as I wasn’t sure I could transfer all the skills I’d learnt in the pool to being 60 feet underwater. When I was on the boat, setting up my BCD and tank ,I was hesitant about getting in the water, but as soon as I jumped in I relaxed and loved every second of the surreal
Last May, I went to Sharm el Sheik in Egypt where I completed my advanced open water and nitrox scuba diver training. For my advanced course, I again had to do five dives but this time no pool practices. I had to pick five diferent areas for my five dives so I chose: deep diving, underwater navigator, underwater naturalist, night diving, and drift diving. My scariest dive by far was the night dive. We arrived at the beach around dusk, got our wet suits on and set up our equipment. As we were walking along the jetty it quickly got dark and by the time we entered the water, the only light we could see came from our little torches. I was pretty scared at first but soon got settled into the dive when I started seeing all the beautiful nocturnal creatures. We
Words by Tallulah George (Year 8)
saw two big Spanish dancers (sea slugs), a turtle, lots of lionfish and some huge eels. At the end of the dive we turned of our torches and saw the amazing dinoflagellates (tiny creatures that fluoresce).
On night dives it is easy to get disorientated and become unsure which way is up - you have to watch which way the bubbles float - so it is important that you remain calm and close to your buddy. This night dive also happened to be the first time I dived with nitrox, or enriched air. Instead of using normal air (21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen) I had slightly more oxygen (around 34% oxygen). This meant longer ‘bottom time’, a reduced risk of nitrogen narcosis, and it didn’t use up as much energy.
This summer I want to complete my Rescue Diver, which would mean I’d be one step closer to becoming a diving instructor and being able to teach diving all over the world!
IN DEEP
ABIOGENESIS
Iman Shah (Lower 6th) examines a particular scientific theory on the origins of life. Artwork by Megan Black (Lower 6th)
The term abiogenesis refers the natural process through which life on Earth could have arisen from nonliving matter. It is the theory that naturally occurring conditions on early Earth created a complex mixture of chemicals, sometimes referred to as the ‘primordial soup’, in such a way that living things may have developed out of it.
Abiogenesis was first known as ‘spontaneous generation’ and was suggested by Anaximander, a Milesian scientist, around 611BC. He proposed the idea that all living creatures randomly came to existence when the Sun acted on water and generated fish-like creatures, which have evolved and matured over time to become the Homo Sapiens of today. This idea was developed further by scientists
who suggested that humans were formed when land and sea met, forming a slime from which humans have evolved.
It was an attempt to recreate the
conditions on
Earth
3.5
billion years ago
Aristotle suggested that the four elements (air, fire, water, and earth) along with a ‘quintessence’ or ‘ether’, created a mixture, which led to the creation of living things when combined with a ‘pneuma’ (a soul or animating force).
The theory that human beings developed due to the propensities of the Earth, which gave rise to simple bodies and organisms, became widely accepted in the 19th century. Yet Louis Pasteur challenged this notion in the 1864, by apparently disproving the work of influential scientist Felix Pouchet and his essays purporting to prove spontaneous generation. Pouchet had conducted experiments to show that eggs, from which he believed all life arose, were created by spontaneous generation. However, Pasteur found errors in Pouchet’s experiments, thus rendering them moot, and argued that life was actually too complex to develop from nonliving material.
Experiments conducted by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey in 1952, showed that very simple amino acids may be formed in laboratory conditions. The experiment was an attempt to recreate the conditions on Earth approximately 3.5 billion years ago, in order to see if any kind of new life could be generated. Miller believed that the primordial hydrogen-rich atmosphere would
provide the optimal conditions for the creation of organic molecules. Therefore he placed a concoction of gases (hydrogen, methane, ammonia, and water vapour) in a sealed glass retort, which were passed over a simulated ocean, while being exposed to heat, electricity, and cold temperatures. After two days, glycine was found, which is a component of our DNA.
“ ”
These simple molecules reacted with each
other and began to replicate
After a week, several amino acids were detected (glycine, anine, and aspartic acids), which are all present in humans and the experiment was thought to verify that the natural formation of amino acids was possible under the conditions of Primordial Earth.
More recent studies have been conducted, that mimic and improve on the original experiments conducted by Miller and Urey, which have produced a larger number of amino acids. Nevertheless, these amino acids are thought to be too simple to give rise to such large, complex beings such as humans. Moreover, it is unlikely that the conditions that would have allowed these molecules to be yielded actually existed. The amino acids would not have survived the destructive ultraviolet atmosphere of primitive earth and reached the ocean to form a primordial soup
and, furthermore, the chemical reactions would not have been possible as water is not conducive to the condensation reaction for protein synthesis.
The overall idea of abiogenesis is that various chemical reactions occurred on Earth, caused by the Sun and the optimal primordial conditions, which led to the formation of organic molecules. These extraordinarily simple molecules reacted with each other and began to replicate and proliferate. Some molecules reacted more successfully than others, and produced ‘better’ molecules, which began to compete with the others. Over time, these molecules evolved and combined with other molecules
in order to create large systems, which further evolved to become living organisms.
Abiogenesis is an appealing scientific theory. However the greatest issue with it is that, as yet, there is no conclusive evidence to support it. There have been no observations, in either a natural or artificial environment, of life developing in such a way; nor have any controlled experiments rendered a life form. This is, therefore, a greatly disputed topic and there is currently a significant amount of skepticism towards the theory among the scientific community. But if not by like this, how did life come into being?
OBJECT LESSON
Ian Peel (Head of Classics) talks to Iman Shah (Lower 6th) about a few of his favourite things
Photo of my wife and me
In this picture, there is no particular reason why I am next to this girl. We were not involved in any particular way, we were just in the same college in the same year and we were at a party in someone’s garden. I don’t know why I am lying talking to Catherine Hughes, though I did think that she was very attractive. The picture was
taken in 1985. That was 28 years ago, and next year we will have been married for 25 years. This picture is very important to me, because I didn’t particularly know who she was, yet it transpired that she was going to be very, very special. And there I am lying right next to her, with no idea that she is the one.
I know this is an old-fashioned view, but there is nothing more important in life than love.
Sport at Oxford
I was the captain of my college hockey team when I was at Oxford. I went to an all-boys school where sport was everything. I now think it was too emphasised as, in my case, I was in the first XI for cricket, hockey, and rugby, and there just was no time to do any other stuf. So, for example, I never did drama - something I would really like to have tried.
In fact, after Oxford I didn’t read for a bit, as Oxford was a pretty intense experience and I needed a break. Yet, this book is what got me back into reading. The book is amazing as it combines two of my favourite things: social commentary with humour. As a classicist, it is obvious to me that Charles Dickens
Despite that, I have had a lot of good times arising out of sport. The lessons that you learn from being in a team are really important, as are those that you learn from being captain of a team. If you like sport, this is definitely one of the joys of university.
A Tale of Two Cities
This is the first English novel I ever wanted to read more than once.
must have been influenced by classics because he writes in a very rhetorical, balanced style. The book is about the French Revolution in 1789, which was a hugely significant event. People will generally accept that the French Revolution ushered in socialism and had a large impact on Western thought. It caused this shock wave in America and incited the American War of Independence, as they were deeply moved by what the French Revolution achieved.
Just like Classics, the book is not about the everyday and the humdrum, but it is about hugely important life-changing events.
Land Rover
I have always loved cars. When I was small I used to sit on my granddad’s front step and I was able to tell what car was coming just by the sound of it. In my last life, I had some really expensive cars; this Land Rover is the cheapest car I have ever owned. Yet, out of all the fancy cars I have ever owned, this is the one my children love the most and is the car that has attracted the most attention. The paint job is not mine, it was done by a film company who were making a programme about dinosaurs, and it had been owned by the army before that.
When I became a teacher, I got rid of all my expensive cars and I thought I could just use my motorbike. But we got to the winter in my first term of teaching, and it was freezing. Therefore on the first Monday of half term, I searched on eBay for a Land Rover, and this car was on the screen. Obviously,
it was quite an arresting sight, so I summoned my beloved and we decided that I must buy it. I flew up to Newcastle Airport, where this seller lived, had a quick look at the car, gave him £4000 in cash, and got in to drive home. This is absolutely not the way to buy a car, but here we are nearly five years later and it’s been great.
Photo of my family
My family must be in this list because I really am a family man. I didn’t have a particularly normal upbringing myself, so I never really had a proper family life. This means that now I have a chance to have one a second time and it is very precious to me. My family has a big impact on my teaching. I see each of my students as someone’s daughter, as I have a daughter who is very special to
me. That is why I try to treat them with the utmost respect; why I try to encourage and motivate them. Another thing about this picture is that it is in France, which is where my family and I go to be ‘us’. We love the sea and we love France, and this was a lovely evening.
Virgil’s Bees
This is from a passage of Virgil’s fourth Georgic, in which Virgil is purporting to tell the reader how to keep bees. The passage that I love most is where there is trouble amongst the bees as they go to war. This gives Virgil the chance to play with the genre and content.
The genre describing the war between the bees is epic, so it is a very grand, high tone of epic. The tension is that the content is about tiny, insignificant bees. Virgil inflates this magnificent, giant epic balloon of this warfare, but he deadens it by reminding us that the poem is about bees. I like this as I find that in diferent times in your life some things are seen to be of massive importance. People can take things very seriously, but if you take a step back, although everything may seem like a big, grand, epic war now, maybe in the grand scheme of things, it is only a thing which a handful of dust may disperse. It is very important to remember in life that what seems so huge to us, may be just like a bee war. When things get too hot or intense, remember that.
You land in that place and it’s in-your-face, The smells and the sounds that are all around, The mill of the crowds and the shout-out-louds.
On the truck we’re the load as we bounce down the roadMind the whip of the leaves, but at least there’s a breeze!
Hear the noise of the calls from the market stalls, See the smiles and the waves and the “Jesus Saves”.
Feel the wet of the sweat as you sleep beneath the net, Hear the calls of the doves in the morn at dawn:
bu du-du-du woo woo
bu du-du-du woo woo.
The drums and the beat and dancing on the beach, The crabs on the sand and the children take your hand, The smiles of joy of the girls and boys, and the size of their eyes as they win a prize.
There’s the heat and the DEET and the sand in your feet, and the rot and the rust and the endless dust, the lizards that skitter and the constant litter, the pigs in the street and the goats that bleat and the chicks “Aren’t they sweet?”
Then a drink in the bar and take your ease just sitting watching the seas.
You come of the plane and you’re home again but you still feel the thrum of the African drum.
Poem by Alice Meechan (Maths Department). Pictures by the students and staf who visited Bantuma School in Ghana this year
GHANA
religious studies
A CREATOR?
Helena Mackie and Vera Brown (Year 10) ofer us possible answers to the big question, from two distinct perspectives. Artwork by Sarah Menezes and Amy Saunders (Year 11) based on the Golden Ratio and the work of Leonardo da Vinci
A Secular Perspective
There is no way that God can logically exist. The ‘inconsistent triad’ illustrates this: God is believed to be simultaneously omnipotent (all-powerful) and omnibenevolent (morally perfect), yet at the same time, evil exists. Logically, this statement cannot be true as the third part of it contradicts the other two. God cannot be omnibenevolent if He allows evil and sufering to happen in the world, and punishes people by condemning them to hell if they choose not to believe in Him. His characteristics cannot be proved with either logic or evidence.
A Religious Perspective
God is the ultimate explanation for everything, and scientific proof for his existence is not necessary. Christians take the Bible as the true word of God and an account of how the world was created. No object can create itself; something else must have caused it to be created. As Saint Thomas Aquinas points out in The Cosmological Argument, there must be an original, uncaused creator at the start of the chain of creation: God.
Confirmation Bias
The idea of an ‘uncaused creator’ being the Christian deity stems from the assumption that there can be no equivalent, at the start of the chain of creation, in science - an assumption that may be disproved with further research.
Most of the religious viewpoints that have prevailed are the result of a lack of information, causing people to attribute the unexplainable to a deity. Known as the God of the Gaps theorem, this idea fits appropriately with the Cosmological Argument. Psychologists have shown that from a young age, we are willing to attribute everything unknown to whatever immediate explanation we are given first, and that this explanation is what sticks with us. ‘Confirmation bias’ - the idea that we twist new information to support our pre-existing viewsoften means that those who have been exposed to religion from a young age consequently respond to all scientific evidence and theories with the idea that God
must have been the creator or instigator of them.
Evidence of Intelligent Design
A divine being is the answer to many unknown questions, such as how the universe was created and how life on earth began. While science argues that the Big Bang theory might show how the universe came into existence, it doesn’t explain what made this happen.
Christians believe that the world was created by God, and that the intricacy of its design is strong evidence of this. For example, the human body works so well that it has enabled us to survive and thrive; it could, therefore, only have been designed by an omnibenevolent creator.
home economics
After school, on a Monday in March, eight pairs of teachers from across all departments descended upon the HE room to compete in the much-anticipated staf bake-of
Faced with five previously unseen ingredients, including orzo (tiny pasta), a large mushroom, frozen raspberries, dark chocolate and quorn, along with several optional ingredients, no recipe and only five minutes to plan, all pairs successfully prepared a two-course meal in under half an hour.
The judges were extremely impressed with the quality of all of the dishes, as were the many spectators who eagerly devoured the leftovers.
Each pair was given a score out of seventy, based on the taste, presentation and creativity of each dish.
The winning team turned out to be Miss Sear and Miss Hewlett with their Stufed Peppers, and Chocolate and Raspberry Cupcakes. We are featuring one of their winning recipes on these pages, although like our chefs, you’ll have to trust your instincts over the quantities. The pair chose to donate the money raised to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Thank you and well done to all the teams that took part: Mr Montgomery & Mrs Husselbury, Mr Budd & Mr Schofield, Mr Jones & Dr Harris, Ms Gomez & Ms Marriott, Miss Singleton (Chemistry) & Mrs White (Physics), Mrs Bolton & Mrs Woods, Mrs Stebbings & Miss Singleton (Maths). Thank you, as well, to our judges: Mr Muller, Chef Matt Burton, and Pragya Chaturvedi (Lower 6th). And a huge thank you to Mrs Eldridge for all her help in planning the event.
Report, and event organisation, by Beth Lambert (Lower 6th)
THE STAFF BAKE-OFF
STUFFED PEPPERS
Orzo
Vegetable stock
Onion
Quorn chunks
Mushroom
2 peppers (green and red)
Cheese
Preheat the oven to a medium temperature. Cook the orzo in vegetable stock. Chop the mushrooms, onion and half a green pepper.
Fry the onion in a frying pan until golden, then add the quorn, mushroom and chopped pepper. Season to taste with mixed herbs. Stir the orzo into the other ingredients in the pan.
Slice in half and hollow out a red pepper. Place about half of the cooked mixture inside the two halves. Sprinkle with cheese and cook in the oven until the cheese is golden and the pepper is soft.
Serve on a bed of the remaining cooked mixture with a garnish of green pepper slice.
the staff bake-off
What do you remember about your D of E expedition? A bunch of our intrepid SWPS adventurers share some of their tales.
Compiled by Alana John (Lower
6th)
AWARD DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S
KATIE DUGGAN (Lower 6th)
During our Bronze D of E, we accidentally ended up in a bull field. I think our laughter and rather-too-loud voices must have spooked them because, suddenly, the herd began to chase us and the next minute we were running through the field screaming. The only way out was over a barbed wire fence and everyone made it over except for one girl; the bulls were just five seconds away, her trousers got caught on the wire and we had to rip her of. She ended up safe but with a massive hole in her trousers for the rest of the expedition.
On a really cold and rainy day Nina was swinging on a big metal farm gate. As it swung to close, I jumped on and then she and I fell of, face first, into a giant patch of mud. As I stood up to help her, I then splashed more mud into her face. We had to clean ourselves in the cows’ drinking trough.
SARAH FARAGO (Lower 6th)
Once my friend, Frankie, and I pitched our tent in an irrigation flow and woke up practically in a river.
SAIRA MASOOD (Year 10)
During the night there was this weird sound that really scared us. We heard some sort of animal dragging things on the ground and going into bags. The next morning we all realised it was a fox. This fox had grabbed my friend’s jacket and taken it into the woods. He had also taken lots of our food, but luckily we had enough to keep us going for the rest of the day.
ELLA BOLSTER
(Lower 6th)
On our last expedition, I was shocked to see Amy Sheridan
rolling down a clif. But then I realised it was just her rucksack.
IMAN SHAH (Lower 6th)
We came to a river, and our Assessor told us it was too wide to cross, so he said that we’d have to take a longer route around it. Instead of heeding his advice, I tried to prove that it was not too wide - I jumped and fell in. It was then that I discovered that my waterproof jacket and boots were not in fact waterproof. They stayed wet for the next 3 days.
While we were walking through a field, I happened to look right and saw a cow giving
birth. There was blood and placenta everywhere and flies were swarming the cow – very emotionally scarring and not something I’ll forget soon!
ELLIE
MARKHAM (Lower 6th)
One group washed their tent in the washing-machine and dewaterproofed it, so when it rained in the night they all got wet.
On our Silver practice walk, the only food we only brought was Super Noodles, so we had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
SHIVANI
KAUL (Lower 6th)
We got lost and had to walk through a creepy, deserted farm –it was like a scene from a horror film!
SAMMIE THOMPSON (Lower 6th)
We were walking down a valley in single file, trying to dodge the cows. I was walking at the front in my bright orange trousers and
accidently made eye contact with one of the cows. It started to walk towards me, making me go of to the side. The cow continued to approach me, until I could feel it’s breath on my face. I started to panic. I picked up my trusty map case, which was hanging round my neck, to cover up my
face. However, this led Sarah, Robyn and Frankie to think the cow had bitten my face. Then as I start to sob, a man came running down the valley waving his sticks frantically for the cow to move out the way. He was my hero!
Tip for new D of E people: don’t wear bright orange trousers!
PARTING THOUGHTS
With her headship at SWPS drawing to a close, and her new post at Henrietta Barnett School about to start, Del Cooke talks to Alice Brown and Ellie Markham (Lower 6th)
It was now or never for moving on
On the daty of her departure, Mrs Cooke will have spent seven years as Head at SWPS. So what have we achieved in seven years?
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Our academic achievement is certainly worthy of pride. In the summer that Mrs Cooke joined SWPS, we were 137th in the Telegraph’s independent school league table. Last summer, we came 30th in the Telegraph and 17th in the Times. Such a dramatic improvement is testimony to the excellence of the SWPS community, which has been enhanced and encouraged by an inspiring and
successful leader.
Our interview with Mrs Cooke starts only a few minutes late following a minor panic over a technical malfunction (always test microphones before putting them to use!). Prepared with a set of questions designed (we hope) to elicit previously undisclosed information about Mrs Cooke, we open our conversation by asking her what inspiration she has drawn from others. A key figure early on in Mrs Cooke’s life was her father, who had to supress his own passion for literature and the Classics for a career in medical research. This has caused her to appreciate the freedom we have today to explore our own interests; to be your own person.
With a laugh Mrs Cooke confesses that the message to “aim high and get involved” was never intended to become the school motto, but ultimately she considers it an apt phrase to embody the “stick of rock, which is at the heart of everything that we do.” She believes it to have always existed within the SWPS community, and that all she has done is to recognise it and encouraged girls to be proud of themselves and their achievements.
When asked what has been one of the biggest obstacles she
had to face, Mrs Cooke earnestly claims that it has been “helping the girls to realise how special they are” in order to “be willing to put themselves forward and take intellectual risks.”
to consider oneself to have made it is to have missed the goal
Mrs Cooke also reveals that a slightly less inspiring obstacle she faced at the beginning of her career at SWPS was ensuring that the school was in line with the many new regulatory requirements
put in place by the government. This, she regrets to say, took up a considerable amount of her time, but was no doubt an important and necessary task.
Concerning her role as a leader, Mrs Cooke believes that she has developed her own style through close observation of others’ techniques, some of which she then aimed to emulate. She holds the belief that we should see ourselves as a work in progress, as to consider oneself to have “made it” is to have missed the goal. In light of this, we were compelled to ask why Mrs Cooke feels now is the right time to move on from SWPS. In response, she reasons that, “If I had stayed I would have been here a very long time and I am not sure that would have been good for the school.” She confesses to finding “leaving places very difcult, so I apologise now if I get emotional when the time comes!”
Interested to find out about Mrs Cooke’s new post as Head at Henrietta Barnett School, we ask her about her ambitions for the role. The thing drew her to the school, Mrs Cooke replies, was the similarity to SWPS in that extremely high academic standards are achieved and the girls have a similar spirit and warmth. The similarities do not stop there, however, because they too are in need of encouragement to “step out and really go for it” which Mrs Cooke acknowledges to be “a message that all SWPS girls will recognise and, I hope, keep in their hearts too.”
“League tables are very frustrating” was Mrs Cooke’s response when we asked what impact they had on the running of the school, to which she accepts that they cannot indicate the full picture because you “don’t know what is underneath them.” Unfortunately, we still have to take them into account, because parents of prospective students use them to help decide on whether to enrol their daughter at the school. As SWPS has a relatively
broad intake compared to the selective schools around us, it is even more impressive that we have achieved 30th position in the Telegraph’s table. However, Mrs Cooke confirms to us that it’s not all about As and A*s: “Very often the grades I feel most proud of are the C grades because what is important is people doing their best.”
Our final questions regard political involvement (or interference, depending on your outlook) in education. Mrs Cooke maintains that politicians push changes to the education system through Parliament, which afects both the public and private sector, as a consequence of their key motivation to please voters and win the next election. As a result, schools and teachers are forced to spend time rewriting courses and getting to grips with
new specifications which detracts from essential activities such as “supporting students who need help and exploring areas beyond the syllabus.” This means that new girls coming into the school have no idea what GCSE syllabus (if it even is GCSEs they will be taking) let alone A-levels. Mrs Cooke tells us she believes “education is too important for this approach and young people deserve better.” Mrs Cooke responds to this dilemma with the suggestion that “education should be taken out of the political sphere as it is in many other countries.”
Mrs Cooke’s influence in developing a true “SWPS community” will last far beyond her leadership here. We wish her the greatest success in her new position and hope that she remains connected to the school in any way she can.
Picture by Grant Pritchard
BEHIND THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF DUBAI
Words by Shivani Kaul (Lower 6th)
With its eclectic skyline, five star hotels and mega malls, it is not a surprise that Dubai welcomes millions of tourists a year to experience a glimpse into a world where luxury is a lifestyle. Having had the opportunity to live there for two years, I was fortunate enough to experience the high life. However, somewhere beneath the layer of designer shops and towering buildings lay a reality far from this seemingly pure and prosperous society. There was, it seemed to me, a much darker reality - a murky world of exploitation with an immigrant work force living on the breadline. Dubai is home to thousands of immigrant labourers from the Indian subcontinent, many of whom leave their home towns in the hope of a new beginning.
Whilst living in Dubai, I was interested to find out whether the lives of these workers had truly changed for the better. Within 30 years, Dubai has grown from a bare and baron desert to modernday metropolises. Yet, forced to live in its shadow are the men who helped make this happen.
THEIR STORY
Once in Dubai, many labourers have their passports taken from them, preventing them from leaving the country. They then join thousands of other workers in the same position, marking the beginning of their new lives.
Away from the unsuspecting eyes of tourists lie ghetto-like neighbourhoods, home to thousands of labourers. Although many workers were hesitant to reveal too much, the research I conducted revealed very poor living conditions: a worker might have to live in a small room with several other men, a couple of beds and no air-conditioning. Outside there might be one bathroom, a stack of wood and the most basic of food.
As I visit Dubai frequently, I decided to interview Ashraf Husain, a 33-year-old worker from Pakistan, about his life:
Why did you move to Dubai?
My family and I were struggling and when I found out about a job opportunity in Dubai, I took it right away. It seemed perfect but it isn’t. I feel like I was lied to.
What kind on conditions do you live in?
I live in a room with ten other people. Most of us have to sleep on the floor. There is one bathroom outside that we all have to share. There are two old mattresses we all have to sleep on. It is horrible in the heat. It is so hot in the summer, we sleep on the roof sometimes - anywhere we can get a breeze. The only shower we have is outdoors.
When is the last time you saw your family?
I can only see them once a year. But even that is difcult. It doesn’t happen. My company said I could see them when I wanted, but I can’t. It’s very hard - I miss them a lot. But I have to be here.
What is the daily routine of a labourer like?
We get up at 5am and are driven to our assigned construction sites. We work throughout the day, with only one short break. We have to lift 50kg bricks and blocks of cement. We finish at 9pm. It is exhausting work.
Do you regret moving to Dubai?
I can’t regret it. What diference will regret make? I am stuck here. I have no choice.
I believe these men deserve some sort of recognition for their input into developing one of the world’s fastest growing cities. And the conditions that many of them live and work in is something we should all reflect on.
L IFE B EYOND SWPS
NIKKI GRAHAM
I left SWPS in 2009, having taken A-levels in art, maths and English. Out of my three chosen subjects, English was the one I was worst at, by far, but it remained one of my favourites! I think it was my love of English literature, combined with a fascination for the United States, that made me apply to the University of Leicester to do a degree in English and American Studies. Before I knew it, I was enrolled as a student at Leicester and having what I thought were the best two years of my life. Until I went to study abroad in my third year.
I was ofered the chance to spend a year studying at The University of Texas in Arlington, just outside of Dallas. This seemed an incredible opportunity, far too good to miss, and yet I did begin to get cold feet the week before I was due to leave. Although I had already been to the States a number of times, I had never visited Texas; would it be filled with gun wielding cowboys? I was also worried about leaving all my friends in Leicester. They would continue partying without me; they would graduate and go their separate ways, probably leaving me behind. At the time, this seemed like a lot to be missing out on.
Texas turned out to be a whole new experience for me. In general, people across all of the States are ridiculously friendly, but I think this is taken to a whole new level in Texas, because of what they call their southern hospitality. A lady I met on the flight over, ofered to have me stay for Thanksgiving and Christmas; I politely declined, believing that I had found myself sitting next to a madwoman. A year on, having made numerous lifelong friends out there, I now realise this is actually just the custom in the southern states. Texans in general are probably the most welcoming and friendly people I have ever met.
That’s not to say that absolutely everything in Texas is friendly. I did find myself emerged in some heated political debates with some of the most extreme Republicans known to man, and uncomfortably close to two shoot outs that occurred in my student halls. These were both aspects of the local culture that I found very hard to adapt to and understand!
I think I did struggle to settle in initially, not because I was unable to make friends, or because guns were being fired on my doorstep, but because I was worried I was missing out on all the fun my English friends were having back home. Although the guns were a harder issue to resolve, I found the way to overcome this Fear of Missing Out was to keep myself
ridiculously busy. Which is exactly what I did.
During my year abroad, I visited Dallas, Austin and San Antonio in Texas, but also somehow managed to see Oklahoma, ski in Colorado, and visit San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Chicago, Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, New York, Washington DC and Boston.
Despite the occasional setbacks, and the hefty overdraft I accrued, I wouldn’t change a single thing about my year abroad. I think a lot of people consider the States to be very similar to the UK and don’t appreciate the significant diferences in culture. I think experiencing these diferences has led me to become a far more
understanding person, but also someone who isn’t afraid to leave a crowd and stand out on her own. I feel a lot more independent and fearless as a result; it feels like I know myself far more than I ever did before.
I’ve realised that what my friends do with their lives shouldn’t dictate what I do. I wish I had known this at 16: that you should never be afraid to break the mould. I think finding the courage to leave, for a time, those dearest to me, has turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.
BECKY LANE
At the various university open days I went to four years ago, I was particularly drawn to the Architecture Department at the University of Nottingham, as it promoted an opportunity to help design and build a school in Africa in the second year of the course. This really appealed to me as I was already planning a gap year in which I was going to help build houses in Zambia (which you may have read about in the SWPS Magazine last year!).
So, this last September when it came to selecting my units for the year, it was pretty obvious that I was going to choose the South Africa unit. The unit’s brief was to design a new classroom and ofce for Khomotso Crèche in Calais, which is in the north east of South Africa. The University had already sent teams of people to this crèche, over the previous
two years, building three smaller classrooms, toilets, and a kitchen block.
“ ”
I’ve learnt an incredible amount
Last year’s group left a pentagon shaped concrete slab with four unfinished trusses, which we had to use as the basis for our design. For a whole semester we researched and designed in groups, in contrast to the rest of the students in our year who worked individually on other projects. This was challenging at first but a great learning
experience and closer to how we will be working after University. It also helped everyone to get to know each other before we set of.
Over Easter 2014, 37 students, along with some tutors and technicians, travelled to South Africa in two phases, to build what ended up being a combination of a several groups’ design work. I went out for the first fortnight, which for a while proved frustrating as work was slow, due to poor tools and deliveries not arriving for days. We spent the first day fixing the tables so that we had something to work on! We discovered that the existing framework for the build needed a lot of remedial treatment, which took us most of the first week, but
life beyond swps
it was critically important that this foundation work was done well.
The second week felt incredibly productive; we built three sandbag walls, a straw bale wall, a blockwork wall, added purlins (on top of the trusses, for laying the roof on) to the existing structure and almost completed the four new trusses - something I was particularly involved with. The other half of the group did a great job finishing everything of with a final wall and a completed roof with a complicated gutter to collect rainwater.
We are all extremely pleased with the final result and I was very moved to hear from the Head Teacher, Sophie, about how much this will help them. The new classroom will provide the crèche with more funding from the government, which is crucial because, as I write this, the teachers have not been paid for several months.
the land that she had bought herself. This was the final year the University would be working there, so it was very emotional for everyone!
I had an amazing time being part of this project and I’ve learnt an incredible amount. Meeting all the children and seeing how much they loved what we had done will be a special memory, worth every
blister and bruise.
The University of Nottingham has been building at Khomotso Crèche for three years now, and has helped Sophie realise her dream of building a crèche on
We all found that building work is much harder than we had realised, and we’ve learnt the importance of thinking about the practicalities of construction while designing - something which is often forgotten and which many architecture students don’t appreciate, having never been on the other side of the design process.
SARAH BROWNING
preparation for life in the big, wide world. I learnt how to manage my time, focus my research efciently, debate and argue, be quiet and simply listen and learn, work together with classmates and work entirely independently, create my own timetable and meet deadlines. It’s these kinds of life skills that you need most.
life beyond swps
When I left SWPS in 2008, I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to do career-wise. I’d studied biology, history, religious studies and art at A-level, and I was lucky enough to have received a place at Trinity College, Oxford, to read theology. I was excited to be able to take my love of religious studies and history to a higher level, and I’d chosen to read theology because I felt it blended these two academic subjects brilliantly.
Would I become a priest? Or worse, a nun? Those were the questions people asked me when I told them what I was going to study. And to be honest, it scared me – did the choice of my degree condemn me to maybe two or three (if I was lucky), future career paths? I’m pleased to say, it didn’t. Instead, I graduated in 2011 feeling as though I was faced with a world of opportunity and the realisation that not knowing exactly what you want to do can be a rather liberating way to be.
All through my degree, I loved immersing myself in theology. I studied everything from archaeology and feminist church history to classical Islam and ancient Greek. And while I increasingly realised that my ability to translate ancient Greek to English was perhaps a rather niche skill to have, my essaybased course did give me plenty of
During my first year of university, I travelled to Cape Town, South Africa, funded by a generous donor from SWPS, and embarked on a three-month social training internship. It was perhaps the most difcult, yet most rewarding experiences of my life. I had actually been toying with the idea of becoming a priest, and I wanted to find out if I could cope with the ins and outs of the job. So I went and shadowed a few people in Cape Town: a priest, a prison chaplain and a youth worker. It was incredible: I got to help run funerals, counsel murderers and rapists in Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, visit the sick and dying, help ofciate at community weddings, join think-tanks and local social groups in trying to decrease youth crime and unemployment, and engage in debates on church theology. It was a wonderful experience – but I came home and back to my second year of university knowing for sure that I did not want to be a priest. And certainly not a nun!
realised that I loved writing, I loved interviewing people, I loved coming up with story ideas, I loved communicating, I loved editing. I was pulled back to Cape Town after I graduated by a rather handsome man... I’d met him during my internship and we’d been doing long-distance ever since. So instead of following my peers in their job hunts in London, I began my job hunt in Cape Town, in a bid to be closer to him. At the time, Condé Nast South Africa didn’t have a single vacancy advertised, so I took a shot in the dark. I cold-emailed the Condé Nast South Africa HR Manager and introduced myself and my CV. I didn’t ask for a specific position, nor did I even think I would even get a response, but within a week I was invited to apply for the position of Junior Copy Editor for Glamour magazine, South Africa. After about seven months, I moved to become the Features Writer. I found myself having
Work experience pointed me in the right career direction, as did joining student societies at university. I got involved, almost entirely by mistake, in a student newspaper called The Broadsheet. It wasn’t so much a newspaper as an extremely long gossip column, but it gave me my first experience of publishing – and I was hooked. Even at this very basic level, I
to pitch story ideas weekly to the Editor, plan content for the magazine, find sources for features and write stories daily.
After six months as Features Writer, the position for Senior Copy Editor became available, and I jumped at the opportunity to become a head of department at Glamour. This time I found myself managing a team and
coordinating deadlines.
Now I am Glamour’s Managing Editor – a position I’ve only recently taken up. It’s an even bigger challenge, but it’s also even more rewarding. I still work closely with all the departments and the Editor to plan and perfect each page of the magazine before it goes to print, but now I’m also overseeing the magazine’s budget, freelance commissions, negotiations with photographers and models, and working with our advertisers to ensure they are happy with content we produce for them.
If you asked me how I got where I am today, I’d tell you through a lot of luck, a little boldness, an ability to build good relationships with the people I’ve come in contact with, a close eye for detail and passion for perfection. Does it matter what you choose to study at university? My example seems to suggest not. What matters is applying yourself studiously to whatever it is you end up doing, and getting involved in as many societies and work experience opportunities as you can.
And what’s awesome is that is exactly what SWPS taught me to do!
RACHEL KING
I was a student at SWPS from 1990 to 1997; I was Rachel Fentem then. I was recently married, to Simon, and we live in a small village in West Sussex. When I left school, I had no real idea where my life was going. My teenage years had been clouded by my parents’ divorce and anorexia nervosa, and it was a couple of years after leaving SWPS when I eventually felt ready to take up my place at Clare College, Cambridge, to read classics.
I had broad interests at school, and classics appealed to me as it meant I didn’t need to choose between languages, literature and history. In fact, it was archaeology and art history that really captured
my imagination at university, and I continued my studies through a Master’s degree and then a doctorate at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
I loved my Master’s year, but by the second or third year of my doctorate I was fairly miserable. I found the experience of running my own research project quite lonely, and I wanted to do something that felt more relevant to the world around me.
I settled on joining the Civil Service, which I believed (correctly!) would provide plenty of variety, interest and challenge. My first job was in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, but I soon moved to a role in the Cabinet Ofce, working on immigration policy. When this became a priority for the Labour government, I ended up spending a lot of time in Number 10 – which led to a job working for Sir Jeremy Heywood, now Cabinet Secretary, but then in charge of the Prime Minister’s Ofce.
I spent two years at Number 10, and was lucky enough to be there for the 2010 election. Particular memories include clapping Gordon Brown and his family out in May 2010, and welcoming David
Cameron and his family in just a couple of hours later. I will also never forget shaking hands with Barack Obama, during his state visit to the UK.
I now work at HM Treasury as the Programme Manager for the Budget. I’m responsible for making sure that the Chancellor gets all the help he needs in deciding what should go in the Budget, that it is ready on time, and that it is communicated efectively to specialists and the public after the Chancellor has announced it in Parliament. It’s a difcult but exciting job, which requires careful planning and preparation, and then a cool head and plenty of energy to make sure everything runs smoothly. I spend a lot of my time managing other people, which I really enjoy – and my ambition for the future is to lead bigger and even more complex projects.
If I could go back in time, I would have two pieces of advice for my teenage self. First, I’d tell her that it was okay to change direction, and much better than continuing on the wrong path. And then I’d tell her not to worry so much, though she would of course ignore me on that one.
senior sixth 2014
Alicia Gumpert Anna Ball
Josie Dent Harriet West Abby Smith
Gabriella Hatfield Imogen Pike
Luxia Broadbent
Phoebe Lewis Imogen Bufton
Sophie Rawlins
Charlotte Ainslie Gabrielle Atkinson
Hannah Harrison Alanis Shaylor
Abigail Elliston Phoebe Hopwood
Marija Nonkovic
Lorna Fjortoft
Abby Garnham Jenika Pankhania
Kathryn Coxon
Paulina Wieczerza
senior sixth 2014
Beatrice Johnston
Ellen Clarke Olivia Moore
Amina Masood
Emily Terry Ambareen Syed
Olivia Mackie Julia Mulliez
Ellie Townsend-Brown
Lexi Kerr
Samantha Husselbury
Molly Harrison
Emily Anieko
Dervla Hynes Claudia James Ella Partington Emma Warnants
Kate Lawrence Jessica Mullett
Charlotte Cook Victoria Hoare
Emily Turner Sarah Oommen
Karishma Patel
Stef Watkins
GOVERNOR’S Q & A
As well as being a SWPS Governor, Susie Dadlani works to provide facilities within the community for people struggling with drug misuse; she is also a local Magistrate. Alice Brown and Ellie Markham (Lower 6th) talk to Dr Dadlani about her work with SWPS
What made you decide to be a Governor and what role do you play within the Board?
My involvement with Sir William Perkins’s School has spanned over 16 years because I’ve had two daughters come through the school. They both had a fantastic experience here so I thought it would be nice to give something back and so I became a Governor in July last year, just as my youngest daughter Alicia was leaving school.
I now sit on the Education and Personnel Committee giving my expertise which covers things like development of staf and curriculum issues. I also have
a PHD and my doctorate is in biochemistry. My background is in scientific research for all sorts of things, from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy to looking at fast and accurate methods of cancer markers. That’s why I think that it is a good fit that I sit within the Education Committee because my expertise is in research and education.
What are your priorities as a Governor?
My priority is to solve issues that arise within the curriculum and stafng area. More generally I like to see good management of the school, which is what our job
is all about. When big decisions come up or a new policy is made, we ratify those decisions and policies to make sure they are fit for purpose, whilst also ensuring that we are making some positive changes to the school.
What are the most fulfilling aspects of the role?
It’s when you have been involved in planning something and then you see the really positive impact that has on the daily lives and the education of the girls here. I’m quite a new Governor so that is something I am looking forward to as well. Another part that I really enjoy is before our board meetings, when we often have presentations from teachers of the various departments. This gives us a real insight into parts of the curriculum, what students are learning and how they are taught.
What progress would you like to see SWPS make over the next few years?
I think I’d like to see the school continuing to evolve and progress, and for me to have some influence over the direction of the path the school takes. I think we are very lucky as a school to have a huge wealth of expertise across the Board of Governors; I think that will really benefit the school. However, I’m not sure it’s for a particular Governor to be too specific about which direction the school takes, because I think we’re there as a kind of steering group to monitor and to bring our expertise to decision making.
