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WETHERBY SENIOR SCHOOL WEEKLY JANUARY 22nd 2018 | WEEK 3

Forensics and Dissections in the Science Department

HEADMASTER’S NEWSLETTER NEXT WEEK’S DIARY IMPORTANT NOTICES SPORTS NEWS

FROM THE HEADMASTER

Dear Parents, To begin, a big thank you to all the mums who came along on Tuesday night and also to the PTA for organising the event. The staff and I all enjoyed the chance to talk with you away from school and it it is always helpful to hear your thoughts on the School and updates on your sons. The dad’s night on 8th February is at the same venue, The Marylebone, 93 Marylebone High Street and we are looking forward to seeing you all there.

I spent the afternoon of the next day at the Park Club watching the U15 football team playing LeAF Studio School in the quarter finals of the ESFA small schools cup. The boys battled hard in the cold and rain but, in the end, the visitors went away victorious by the narrowest of margins. After the game, I received compliments from the opposition both on the way the boys played and the way they conducted themselves; the referee even wrote to me the next morning to say how impressed he was with the way they played the

game and to offer his services for future matches. To make the quarter finals was an impressive achievement and this is in no small part down to the boys’ fantastic team spirit and the way they support each other.

The start of this week also saw the return of the Year 11 to school after two weeks of examination leave. The completion of the mock exams signals the start of the countdown to the real thing in the summer and, by now, the boys should have all their results. The mocks are important for two reasons: firstly, they enable the boys to sit exams in the environment and under the conditions in which they will have to take them in the summer and secondly, they provide an opportunity for the boys and staff to identify areas that need attention.

For some boys, these mock results will provide a welcome boost to their confidence, but for others they will prove a wake up call that they need to redouble their efforts in the run up to the real examinations. The key to success in the GCSEs, as

in almost all areas of life, is effort. Success in these examinations is down to careful preparation and I have spoken to all the boys in assembly today about the importance of setting goals for themselves, the need to prioritise and minimise distractions but also the need to keep the balance by finding time for the things that they enjoy to keep them fresh whilst revising. Please encourage your sons to be proactive, ask for help where they need it and attend the extra sessions that staff are putting on (I was very impressed to come across a full classroom of Year 10 and 11 boys doing extra English at 8.00am last Wednesday).

With all the changes that have been made to A Levels, the GCSEs continue to be a currency that universities understand and will be important evidence of your son’s academic potential.

WEEKLY DIARY MONDAY

29.01.18

Artist in Residence Event 16:35-17:20 Games Years 7, 10 & 11 14:00-16:00

TUESDAY

30.01.18 Year 11 Parents’ and boys’ talk: UK University Admissions by Dr Will McMorran of Queen Mary, University of London 18:30 Games Year 8 & 9 14:00-16:0 Football U14 WSS A/B vs Kingston Grammar A (H) 14:30

WEDNESDAY

31.01.18

Games Years 7, 10 & 11 14:00-16:00 Rugby U12 WSS vs Falcon Prep (H) 14:30

THURSDAY

01.02.18

FRIDAY

02.03.18

SATURDAY

27.11.17

SUNDAY

28.11.17

Games Year 8 & 9 Football U14 WSS A/B vs Highgate (H) 14:30 Agora presents: ‘Get Lost - The Weird World of Psychogeography’ 16:30-17:30 UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge

HM Assembly at Hinde Street Methodist Church

15:00-15:30

IMPORTANT NOTICES

Next Tuesday the kitchen will be having a Mexican day with the dining room decorated to create an authentic experience!

Burns Night Haggis Tasting on Thursday at breaktime!

The next Agora Lecture is taking place on Thursday from 16:30-17:30. Mr Hartley presents ‘Get Lost - The Weird World of Psychogeography’.

‘Dads’ Drinks’ will take place at 7pm on Thursday 8th February at The Marylebone, 93 Marylebone High Street.

MENU

MONDAY

TUESDAY

Soup: Tomato

Soup: Parsnip and Ginger

Main: Shepherd’s Pie

Main: Chicken Fajitas

Meat Free: Baked Potatoes served with: Baked Beans Grated Cheese Tuna Mayonnaise Sweetcorn

Meat Free: Vegetable and Cheese Quesadillas

To Go With: Steamed Mixed Vegetables Broccoli

Main: Haddock Fish Cakes Meat Free: Spinach and Feta Pie

Meat Free: Baked Gnocchi with Tomato and Mozzarella

To Go With: Steamed Rice, Jalapenos Salsa, Sour Cream, Guacamole Steamed Sweetcorn

To Go With: Steamed Green Beans Mashed potatoes Dessert: Apple Pie

To Go With: Oven Roasted Vegetables Sautéed Courgette Caramelised Carrots Dessert: Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Freshly Made Bread To Go With: Butter and Parsley Mashed Potatoes Pasta with pesto Garlic Mushrooms with Parsley Dessert: Sticky toffee pudding

Homemade Salads Vegetable Crudités With Hummus Sandwich & Wrap Selection Meat & Cheese Platters Fresh Fruit Yogurt Pots

EVERY DAY

FRIDAY

Meat Free: Ratatouille

Main: Beef and Winter Vegetable Stew

THURSDAY

Soup: Tomato

Main: Minute Steaks

Soup: Pumpkin

Dessert: Lemon Sponge Cake

Dessert: Carrot Cake with Cream

Soup: Vegetable and Barley

WEDNESDAY

BIOLOGY IN LESSONS: YEAR 9 This half term in Biology, the Year 9 boys have been studying the levels of organisation in living organisms. To help them see the different organ systems and organs that make up an entire organism, the boys carried out their own frog dissection.

We were really impressed with the way the boys handled the frogs and their ability to distinguish between the different organs, some of which are rather difficult to identify.

BIOLOGY IN LESSONS: YEAR 10

The year 10 boys have been learning about transport in animals and plants, including the role of the circulatory system. To understand the structure of the heart, the boys dissected a lamb’s heart to try and identify the different chambers, blood vessels and valves.

BIOLOGY BLOOD STORIES The boys in Year 8 have been using the creative writing skills to produce some brilliant short stories about the journey of blood through the circulatory system.

Here are two stories written by Ben W and Ahmed A which the boys in 8.1 particularly enjoyed!

CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT: FORENSICS Ms Lindsay writes: On the 11th of January, Y10 Wetherby Senior boys were given a fantastic insight into the world of Forensics. The outreach team at the physical science department, University of Kent arrived at Wetherby in the early hours armed with everything needed for an informative and interesting day. Some of the leading experts in Forensics and Chemistry who joined us included Mr Bob Green OBE, Dr. Laura Vera Stimpson and Melisa Sampson, former CSI (Crime Scene Investigator).

Bob introduced the boys to some of the first ideas of Forensics, coming from none other than our local Baker Street resident, Sherlock Holmes. Here is an extract from “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” a short Sherlock Holmes stories written by the British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. An extract reads…

“... A search of the damp marshy ground revealed that the murder was committed with a piece of wood, and that the murderer was a tall man, left handed, who limped with his right leg, wore thick soled shooting boots and a grey cloak; smoked Indian cigars, used a cigar holder and carried a blunt pen knife in his pocket”.

How could this be known from only a brief search of the area? Bob prompted a discussion with the boys to find out. This produced a vast array of ideas and hypotheses: very impressive work!

Melisa gave a fascinating glimpse into the ‘non-TVdramatized’ life of a CSI – including pulling bodies out of the sea, wearing skin palms to lift prints, and spending chunks of her time in a freezer scanning in samples. To say this was not what we expected would be an understatement.

The boys got stuck into some hands-on lab experiments learning skills for identifying fingerprint patterns, angles of impact from blood spatter and handwriting analysis. The boys enjoyed this informative and occasionally slightly gory day, and it is now sure to become an annual fixture in the Wetherby Senior calendar.

We would like to thank the outreach team at the University of Kent for putting on an amazing show, the science staff for giving up their free time to help out, as well as all the boys who made a great impression. Well done team Science!

CONGRATULATIONS

We would like to say a huge well done to: Oliver L, Vadim M, Talal H and Manuel C, or the ‘All Stars Boys’. All these boys have been working impressively hard and have each achieved an incredible A* grade in all three of their science mock exams.

ROBOTICS CLUB Mr Dawson writes...

On Wednesday the Wetherby Robotics Club took part in a First Lego League competition in Bristol.

The competition required the boys to design and construct a Lego Mindstorms robot to complete several different missions all based on this year's theme: hydrodynamics. Each mission had to be individually coded and meticulously rehearsed and on top of this the boys had to prepare a presentation based on a water supply related issue of their choosing.

Our boys managed an impressive 8th place out of 20 teams - an impressive feat for our first year at the competition.

However, the team didn't come home empty handed, as the Wetherbots were awarded 2nd place for their assessed presentation and received a brilliant Lego trophy, which will shortly be on display in the school.

Well done, boys!

Wetherby Senior celebrated Burns Night with haggis tasting at breaktime!

The boys were treated to a visit from our butcher at I.M.S. Smithfield, who gave them a talk on the history of the burger and helped them pick ingredients for the next Wetherby signature burger!

MATCH REPORT

Football U15 WSS A v LeAF Studio 1-2 Man of the Match: Monty C U14 WSS B v Kingston Grammar School 5-3 Man of the Match: David T U14 WSS C v Kingston Grammar School 4-2 Man of the Match: George B-R

THE WEIRD WORLD OF PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY Thursday 1st February @ 16:30 Years 10 and 11 Common Room An AGORA talk by Mr Hartley

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