Stoke Stories

Lying in State

Stoke Sixth student, Briton, visited London to pay his respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

I began my trip to London with an eerie atmosphere knowing everyone around me was likely to be going to the same place as me to mourn, with this I found a lot of respect for our monarchy. When I arrived in London after taking a tube train for the first time I realised how long the next 14 hours were going to be. I was pleasantly surprised with the absence of pushing in out of respect. Once I did what felt like a tour of London following the queue I arrived at the security checkpoint, here it was immediate how much importance she had, everyone making sure they are ready to say goodbye without causing a disturbance outside the hall. Once I passed the checkpoint I was faced with the door to the hall while being surrounded with a quiet and respectable atmosphere, this was a colossal contrast compared to the past 14 hours. Once walking through the door there was a tall hallway which would lead to the stairs down into the room where she lays. Once making it around the corner it instantly struck me how quiet the hall was despite it being an acoustic hall. The respect in there kept the atmosphere in a quiet state, the lack of pushing and over eagerness was like something I have never seen, especially after everyone waiting hours and hours. To really add to the atmosphere I witnessed the guards changing and the dutifulness that could be felt when they were still honouring the queen and laying their arms despite her passing. I didn’t regret queuing afterwards and neither did anyone else and I feel that says alot about our monarchy.

By Royal Appointment

Three Stoke Sixth Formers received the invitation of a lifetime to a service at Buckingham Palace, in the presence of His Majesty King Charles III.

On Wednesday 2nd November, Tom, Mia and I travelled up to London to attend a commemoration service at Buckingham Palace in the presence of His Majesty King Charles III. This unique invitation came as a result of the three of us volunteering earlier this year, assisting in historical oral interviews with refugees who were at Stradishall Camp, together with volunteers who worked there.

It was an absolute honour to be invited to such a prestigious event. The purpose of the Commemoration Service was to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the British Asian Ugandans coming to the UK after being expelled from Uganda. The service was both moving and informative, as well as having humorous moments, too. Alongside this, we met a former BBC producer/director and cameraman who taught us camera, lighting and directing skills and shared personal experiences and lessons which they had learnt.

This will be a day that we shall never forget and we were all so grateful for the opportunity.

Josh, Head Boy, Yr 13.

Stoke College Swimmers Make More Than a Splash

Four Stoke College students take medals at the prestigious ISA National Swimming Event.

We are extremely proud of our group of swimming students who recently took part in the ISA National Swimming Event.

The event took place at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in London on Saturday 3rd December. Each of our students took a place in the competition, helping East Anglia finish 3rd nationally.

Finlay, Yr 12 came 4th in Breaststoke. Yr 13 student, Sean, came 4th in the 50m Butterfly. Aiden, Yr 11, got a 5th place in the 100m freestyle - he was the youngest in this category too! A special congratulations goes to Corey Yr 10 who won the following medals:

Bronze- 100m Freestyle Silver- 4x50m Freestyle Relay Gold- 4x50m Medley Relay

“I am so impressed with the sporting drive and commitment of these boys. A fantastic achievement for all” Mr J Evans, Head of Stoke Sport.

Corey, Yr 10, won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals.

12 Days of Stokemas - The Stoke Christmas video

We had a lot of fun before, between and during lessons at the end of November, creating our 2022 Christmas video. Dr Lloyd jumped onto the piano and recorded his vocals and a host of students and staff donned Santa hats and sparkles to spread a little festive cheer.

What brilliant sports our Stoke College students and staff are! Not settling for a simple festive message, we made a Christmas video. With a twist on the traditional favourite carol, the ‘12 days of Stokemas’ features our own countdown of celebratory gifts, sent to Dr Lloyd.

Our Estates team donned tinsel and hats and pirouetted around the courtyard, our A Level History students became the ‘Six wives of Henry’ and our Business Team became the bespectacled ‘Four Typists Typing’. Special mention to Yr 13 superstar, Josh for taking the all important solo role of ‘Head Boy in an Old Tree’. If you haven’t yet seen this feast for the eyes, visit the link or scan the code to the right. >>>>>>>

View our video now

Scan the code below or click here: https://www.stokecollege. co.uk/12-days-of-christmas/

Stoke College Partners With Historial Theatre

Stoke College has become a partner of the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds. To mark this happy partnership, we went to see the panto!

On 1st December, Years 7, 8 and 9 took a long-awaited school trip to the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds to see the pantomime, The Legend of Robin Hood.

The trip marked the start of our new partnership with the Theatre Royal, that will see benefits for all members of the Stoke College community. See information to the right (>>) for exclusive 2-4-1 ticket offers for all Stoke College students and parents, for selected shows.

We asked some of our students to give a review of Robin Hood and were delighted to receive positive reviews and praise. It was the first time our Spanish students, Rodrigo and Javier had seen British pantomime and they both gave it the thumbs up.

Sasha’s Streak Plate Success in Y13 Biology

Y13 student and Mark Wang Scholar, Sasha, describes the moment she realised she had grown an E.coli colony in the Biology Lab.

In November, myself and the rest of the year 13 Biology class performed a practical in which we grew Staphylococcus and E.coli on petri dishes to learn the techniques of streak plating as well as how to differentiate between the two bacteria.

Our practical was successful as we were able to grow both bacteria between us. Due to the similarities in the appearance of the bacteria some of us only picked up one or the other on the second round of streak plating. This, however, allowed us to clearly distinguish between the two as once they grew more we saw that staphylococcus was round with fuzzy edges whereas the E.coli was just round. My results (as shown in the pictures) was that of only E.coli as I realised after growing the bacteria that I had only picked up an E.coli colony during the final streak plating process. Overall we found the practical very interesting as we were able to put into practice the theory that we had learnt during our lessons, and I know that, for me, it was a surprisingly proud moment when I saw that the streak plates were successful.

Where Has the Old Stoke Uniform Gone?

We are delighted to be able to update everyone on the exciting journey of the Stoke College retired uniform.

This term saw the launch of the new Stoke College uniform. With almost 50 years of the iconic stripey blazers, a new future set for Stoke College coupled with the ever-increasing difficulty to obtain the uniform, it was time for a brand new look for our school.

The arrival of the beautiful new blue tweed blazers and smart new Lion and Uniform sports kit left only one problem. What to do with the old uniform? School uniform cannot be sent to charity shops or easily recylced in this country, yet we were keen not to put good clothing into landfill.

We were delighted when Stoke family, the Mutswungumas, offered a solution. A new chapter for the stripey blazers in Zimbabwe, where the family have links with a charitable organisation.

We think they look wonderful on their new owners and are delighted to forge a bond with a very different school to our own. There will be one more shipment of uniform in the New Year. If you would like to donate your old Stoke Blazer or sports kit, please contact info@stokecollege.co.uk.