The Barometer Week 7

BAROMETER THE

WETHERBY SENIOR SCHOOL WEEKLY JUNE 10th 2019 | WEEK 7

FROM THE HEADMASTER

Dear Parents, There has been much to celebrate this week with the Art exhibition for the younger years on Monday at the Saatchi Gallery and then the concert last night.

I know both the Art & Graphic Design and Music departments have been very pleased with the support they received at these events and, as ever, they were great experiences for the boys.

There is another Art & Graphic Design exhibition, in the Drama studio, on Thursday next week where you will be able to see the work produced by the boys for their GCSEs. Any budding artists or graphic designers should go along and see what it is they could be doing in a few years’ time.

I have been pleased this week to receive notifications of boys’ success in competitions: sporting, artistic and academic.

Thomas P in Year 9 took part in the ‘Wales and West Event’ in a competition that attracted riders from all

over the South and West of England and Wales. He won his class (for riders up to age 21). This is his second significant show jumping success of the year.

Aidan U in Year 10 has been selected for the first Young Artists’ Summer Show at the Royal Academy of Arts. His artwork ‘Coil Pot’ was one of only 139 artworks chosen out of over 6,200 artworks. Well done Aidan!

Finally, Tom Z in Year 12 has been highly commended in the first Winston Churchill Sixth Form Economics Prize run

by Churchill College, Cambridge. To have been chosen from a field of over 200 is excellent as it was a very challenging competition. Entrants were required to predict to four decimal places what the daily spot nominal EuroSterling exchange rate would be on 1 June 2019 and justify their prediction with a commentary of no more than 400 words, focusing both on economic

analysis and interpreting political decisions. No mean feat!

To have success in such a diverse range of competitions shows what a range of boys we have in our Wetherby Senior community and I congratulate them all on their success.

I hope you all enjoy the weekend.

WEEK A MONDAY

WEEKLY DIARY 17.06.19

Year 10 examinations (all week), Hannah House GCSEs and IGCSEs end this week Year 9 Parents’ Evening (Surnames A-K), Hannah House 17:30-19:30

TUESDAY

18.06.19

WEDNESDAY

19.06.19

INTERTRIB TENNIS (Finals) Year 7 & 8 INTERTRIB CRICKET Years 7 & 8 INTER TRIB YAD Cricket U12/U13 WSS vs UCS (A) 14:30 Cricket 1st XI WSS vs UCS (A) 14:30 UCAS conference for all Lower Sixth Boys (boys in school in the monring as usual), University of East London, E16 2RD 11:00-14:30 INTERTRIB TENNIS (Finals) Year 12 INTERTRIB CRICKET Year 12 Year 9 Parents’ Evening (Surnames L-Z), Hannah House 17:13-19:30

THURSDAY

20.06.19

Cricket U14/15 WSS vs UCS (H) 14:30 Year 11 Art and Graphic Design Exhibition, Drama Studio 18:30-20:30

FRIDAY

21.06.19

SATURDAY

21.06.19

SUNDAY

22.06.19

Friday Lunchtime Clubs Programme HM Whole School Assembly at Hinde Street Methodist Church 15:15-15:45 GCSE PE Boys Table Tennis, Drama Studio 16:00-17:00

Follow the Wetherby Senior Twitter and Instagram accounts to stay up to date with the latest news...

Twitter:

SECOND HAND UNIFORM SALE! The next PTA second hand uniform sale will be: Friday 21 June 0800-0900 WSS Bulstrode Street -Reception

@WSSHead @WetherbySenior @WetherbySSports @Mrmeyerart @WSSGeography Instagram: Wssmusic Wetherbysixthform Wsssports

All proceeds go towards the PTA and nominated school charities.

2019 charities are: Marcos, Will and Maria Bursary, The Walkabout Foundation and The West London Mission - more details please check Wetherby Senior School website.

IMPORTANT NOTICES

Congratulations to Adin D, Armand S and Jack H-G who took part in a sponsored fun run Cancer Research. They managed to raise ÂŁ1390!

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

Main: Grilled chicken breast with tarragon and mushroom cream sauce

Main: Spaghetti Bolognese

Main: Beef rice bowls

Meat Free: Summer vegetable casserole To Go With: Creamed polenta, steamed carrot rounds, herbed dumplings Dessert: Strawberry mousse

Meat Free: Falafel pittas With tzatziki and pickled cabbage To Go With: Herbed couscous, carrots and peas, onion bhaji Dessert: Banana chocolate custard

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Main: Coastal fish pie

Main: Beef or chicken burgers

Meat Free: Tomato, mozzarella, basil, pasta bake

Meat Free: Beetroot and feta burgers

To Go With: Ratatouille tian, French beans, cauliflower and broccoli florets Dessert: Raspberry mirror

To Go With: String potato fries, burger garnish, corn on the cob, Boston baked beans, burger buns

Meat Free: Vegetable and edamame bean noodle stir-fry To Go With: Vegetable nuggets, miso aubergine, steamed pak choi Dessert: Carrot cake

EVERY DAY

Homemade Bread Freshly made yogurt pots Fresh Fruit

Dessert: Chocolate sweet potato brownie

MENU

ECONOMICS A LEVEL Mr Wingrove writes….

With the Year 12’s having just finished their end of year exams demonstrating all they’ve learnt in the subject through the year it would be easy temptation to put one’s feet up and watch ‘The Big Short’ for the remainder of the year (although this is an excellent film and well worth a watch to gain a better understanding of the Global Financial Crisis). However with the new A level we still have more content to cover and an opportunity to go beyond the specification and allow the boys to explore different areas of Economics that are of interest to them.

Over the last two weeks of school all boys are going to be supported in completing an entry to the

Young Economist of the Year Competition which is being jointly run by the Royal Economic Society and the Financial Times. The top prize is £1000 and the opportunity to be published in the FT. There are five prizes of £200 for the best essay for each title. To enter the boys have to write a 1500 word essay on one of the below titles: 1.“HS2 is a political vanity project that makes little economic sense.” Do you agree? Could better economic decisions have been taken about HS2?

2.Should the government introduce a cap on unarranged bank overdraft fees? Explain your answer.

3.“Money would be better spent in the UK instead of

on overseas development.”

Do you agree? Explain your answer.

4.“The Universal Basic Income is the best solution to handle the large scale displacement of labour due to automation in the coming years.” Do you agree?

5.“A carbon tax is insufficient to deal with the challenge of climate change and instead we should invest in new technologies.” Do you agree?

WINSTON CHURCHILL SIXTH FORM ECONOMICS PRIZE

CAN YOU PREDICT THE EURO-STERLING EXCHANGE RATE AS OF 1 JUNE 2019?

Closing date for entries 30 April 2019 WWW.CHU.CAM.AC.UK/ECONOMICS-PRIZE

Earlier in the year Tom Z entered the Winston Churchill Sixth Form Economics Prize being run by Churchill College Cambridge where he had to predict what the daily spot nominal Euro-Sterling exchange rate would be on 1 June 2019 to four decimal places. A very difficult feat, made more difficult that he was only allowed 400 words for justification. Tom’s entry was highly commended by the judging panel – an excellent achievement, well done Tom! His entry and reflection on his prediction are below:

Tom Z, Year 12 writes...

Daily spot nominal EuroSterling exchange rate to four decimal places for the 1 June 2019 0.8699 The reasoning for this decrease would disregard the greatest current political event: Brexit.

At the time of this report, a delay to the end of October has been negotiated a week ago which should prevent mass panic on the markets as a direct result at least until after June.

This will mean that the primary ways for the exchange rate to change will be the current and capital accounts as well as purchasing power parity.

In terms of capital account, the higher base rate of the Bank of England at 0.75% compared to the European

Central Bank at 0% would imply, at the very least, a capital flow from the Eurozone to the UK of 0.75% which would cause a depreciation of the Euro-Sterling exchange rate of at least 0.75% per annum (assuming ceteris parabis).

Using the exchange rate today (closing at 0.8652) we can see that in roughly 1.3 months' time, the exchange rate with this change would be around 0.8645. But of course, this isn't all that affects exchange rate. From now until June, the Monetary Policy Committee is meeting once whilst the Executive Board of the European Central Bank isn’t meeting to discuss monetary policy until after.

The likelihood of there being a change to the base rate is low as the inflation target is being met and thus no change is needed.

For current account, the Eurozone has a current monthly surplus over the UK of around 3.9%. As the current account is positively correlated to the exchange rate, we can calculate that the exchange rate with this alone would appreciate to 0.8989. However, the capital account is much more important in determining the exchange rate and so this will be represented more heavily in the final exchange rate average.

Using the law of one price, we assume that goods which are the same in two countries or in this case areas, should have the same prices. Using purchasing power parity, we can try and predict the exchange rate as a result of inflation. In March 2019, the Eurozone had a

power parity, we can try and predict the exchange rate as a result of inflation. In March 2019, the Eurozone had an inflation rate of 1.4% whilst the UK had one of 1.9%. Thus, using the inflation differential of 0.5%, then the PPP would predict the exchange rate to be: (1 + 0.005) x (0.8652) = 0.8695 Despite this, the PPP approach is normally only evident in the long-term and as such may not be as relevant for the exchange rate in just over a month’s time.

As such it will be weighted far less in the average.

Whilst this is a very inaccurate measure of predicting the exchange rate, it incorporates the various factors of the exchange rate and may give an indication as where the exchange rate may end up. The final calculation is a weighted average using a ratio of 80:15:5 for the capital account, current account and PPP respectively.

This totals to the predicted exchange rate.

Key Distinctions in Hindsight: Overall the exchange rate on June 1 was 0.8844 giving me an error of 1.67%.

A notable incorrect assumption that I made was assuming that Brexit and the Conservative Party wouldn’t affect the markets much. This was of course proven wrong with Theresa May’s resignation and the leadership contest that has since ensued. Since then there has been a gradual appreciation in the exchange rate as the Euro becomes stronger against the Pound as a result of the populated field of candidates causing high uncertainty as to the future of Brexit.

COMPUTING Mr Avroutine writes...

The Computing department has had a busy term! Year 11 went through a few rounds of revision, before writing their public exams. Year 10s have stepped into their place, picking up new skills in Python programming and acquiring exam techniques in the hope of achieving top grades in their summer exam, and gaining valuable experience for their real GCSEs which will take place a year from now. They have also concentrated on flowcharts and algorithm creation.

Year 9 got a taste of GCSE by going through an algorithm module, becoming very proficient in flowcharts and control structures, before moving on to actual coding in Python which is the standard language of computing education around the world.

In their recent assessment, the Year 9 boys have been programming an interactive emoji in Python.

Ali J

Christian M

Maani N

Druan S

Christan R-L

Gabriel T

Year 8 have done some graphical Python coding as well, learning how to create different windows and make them move around. They built a program that tests the speed of a user’s reflexes and then tried to improve their own.

Year 7 have been doing a lot of media work with video and sound editing, with a view to becoming YouTube stars or hip hop producers!

Edward H

Callum H

Max K

Harry S V and Julius V

In Video Editing club, boys have been working on a fun video about a hipster beard competition, while the Digital Animation club has been creating video game characters.

FREDDIE W. AT THE SCHOOL OF COMEDY

Freddie W, Year 9 writes...

On Friday last week I was part of the opening act with School of Comedy (SOC) for the Chiswick Proms. This is a new open air festival at Chiswick House and Gardens. Friday night was ‘comedy night’ . I have been part of The School Of Comedy since I was 10 years old, It is a fantastic club in Turnham Green where you can pretty much say anything you want as long as it is funny. The tag line for SOC is ‘Children should be obscene and heard’ .We had to get to the venue at 4.30 to walk the stage, do a technical rehearsal, where you practice all the sound and light cues and get ready. We were on at 6.45. It was raining as we came on and our audience looked at us from under their umbrellas with heavy hearts. But as our set started the rain stopped and the audience started laughing. It was amazing to be on such an enormous stage with mics and with such a large crowd watching us. We got a huge applause at the end and then the professionals came on. We were able to stay and watch them which was hilarious and ended with a set by the riotous Jason Manford.

OUR TOWN THEATRE TRIP Miss Twomey writes…

On Wednesday 6th June a small group of students attended an optional theatre trip to the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Once the rain cleared, we were thrilled to see blue skies as, true to it’s name, the theatre was fully exposed. We knew that if rain appeared, the play wouldn’t stop and that we’d get wet, so we kept our fingers crossed! After walking to the theatre (what a luxury) we enjoyed some time in the park to eat on the grass and eat some sweets and fruit, before the play began. The play itself was a lovely storytelling of how life used to be and what advice they had for the audience about how we should reflect on our own lives.

Comments from the boys included: ‘Very entertaining, and sombre towards the end’Robert B ‘It was very eye opening about the way we live our lives’- Dan R Thank you to those who attended for a fantastic trip, and I look forward to seeing lots of you at the next optional theatre trip in the Autumn Term.

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