AROUND THE PALACE It has been a fabulous time at Old Palace this week as students have travelled back in time as part of History Week. Activities have been hosted throughout the week and enjoyed by all.

We were also delighted to welcome families from China to Old Palace this week. They were immensely impressed by the beauty of our ancient site and delighted by our outstanding academic reputation.

Tomorrow we welcome new families to Old Palace who are visiting us during our Open afternoon between 14.00-16.00

Carol Jewell - Head

Summer term26 April

Welcome

Science magazine shortlisted

A number of Old Palace students spent the Easter weekend in Barcelona.

After a very pleasant flight with BA, they landed at Barcelona airport on Thursday 28 March where a coach was waiting to take them to our hotel in Calella.

The weather in Barcelona was much more clement than that of Croydon: the sun was shining and the temperature was in the twenties. The party finally arrived at the hotel where a buffet supper greeted everyone.

The following day started with an exploration of Barcelona: a visit to el Parc Guell, followed by the Picasso Museum. This itinerary allowed an exploration of the little side streets of the town and soak-up the atmosphere. After some more culture students were tempted by some local delicacies: chocolate con churros, before enjoying a spot of shopping in their spare time.

The following day started by exploring the little sea-side resort of Calella, before heading off towards Barcelona where they visited la Sagrada Familia and the Olympic Museum.

The evening ended in the Maremagnum Shopping centre. Sunday was unfortunately the last day and the airport beckoned. It was a fabulous trip peppered with laughter and anecdotes! Students did not say ¡Adios Barcelona! but a more ¡Hasta la vista Barcelona!

Easter in Barcelona

Old Palace Marathon women

On 14 April Miss Hobbs, Year 2 teacher at Preparatory, participated in the Brighton Marathon and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was her first marathon and she completed the hilly course in a fantastic time of three hours 45 minutes. The support of the crowd was fantastic and she thanks all her lovely colleagues at the Preparatory for their encouragement and sponsoring her for the charity SCOPE. Congratulations also go to Mrs Lankester, Mathematics teacher at Seniors, who

completed the London Marathon in five hours and 20 minutes. She raised money on behalf of MacMillan nurses. Congratulations to both teachers for their incredible achievement.

This year’s edition of ‘Free Radical’ magazine, the annual Science publication written and edited solely by students, has been shortlisted in five categories in this year’s Shine 2013 Media Awards. Over 200 schools entered the competition, and of those only 41 have made it through to the final on 21 May in London. A copy of the magazine is available to read in the school library. A huge congratulations to the team for all their hard work, and we wish them well in the final judging.

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Nursery on display Year 2 trip to London

On Thursday 25 April, Year 2 enjoyed a really interesting day out in London. They spent the morning at the Fire Brigade Museum where students found out about the very first fire engines. Students had great fun dressing up as firemen from different eras and closely examined some Victorian engines. They learnt about the devastating effects of the Great Fire of 1666 and what measures had to be taken to save London. After a picnic lunch in the sun, students walked over the Thames and saw some of the major sites

such as the Shard, Tower Bridge and The Monument. This was a fantastic day, made all the more enjoyable by the beautiful sunny weather and the impeccable behaviour of the students.

Late last term, Old Palace Nursery celebrated World Book Day with a visit from Sue Cowley from Croydon Central Library. Sue spent the morning reading some lovely stories to all the classes, and at the end of her visit Sue was kind enough to judge a competition at the Nursery for the best decorated classroom door. The theme was ‘your favourite book’. There were six amazing entries, the winner being the Transition class with ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ complete with a tub of tiger food and a plate of cakes. All six entries are now on display at Croydon Central children’s Library for four weeks.

Last Friday, Year 10 and 11 Classics students enjoyed an exciting trip to the British Museum to see the brilliant ‘Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum’ exhibition. This rare opportunity to see the Italian artefacts of Pompeii and Herculaneum on display in our very city was much enjoyed. Standing only inches away from 2000 year-old relics, both students and teachers alike experienced and viewed the everyday lives of those captured and frozen in time by Vesuvius. It was a most excellent exhibition!

Classics visit to British Museum by Abigael Bamgboye, 10W

Following on from the hugely enjoyable Big Sing with all Years 6 and 7 and members of The Sixteen at the end of last term, eight students were given the exciting opportunity to work with four members of the choir to compose a brand new piece of music. Last Thursday, a group of 24 students including students from Atwood School and Parish Church School, worked with project leader, Sam Glazer, to write their own words, melody and harmony for the piece, entitled Mother Nature. These are their words:

Mother Nature gives all the colours that we see, from the radiant dawn to the glistening sea. A silver waterfall, the darling buds of May, the glistening blue sea, the luminous moon. Less than 24 hours later, the song was performed as part of The Sixteen schools’ matinee concert to an audience of Croydon schools. Our Year 6 and 7 classes were also in the audience, and we were able to join in with The Sixteen singing some of the music they had been working on during music lessons over the last few weeks. It was a fantastic opportunity to work with a world famous choir on music from the sixteenth century right up to present day.

The Sixteen Composition Workshop

On Tuesday, 26 March 2013, Mrs Smith and Year 6 House Prefects organised a Lunchtime Easter Egg Hunt for Year 6.

The task was to find clues around the school to help win the Easter Egg Hunt. There was a lot of excitement as Year 6s were running around with their team leaders following a trail of clues. At the end, everyone was a winner and we all received a small chocolate egg. Then the Team Leader had to nominate who they thought was the best member of their team and they received an extra chocolate egg for their efforts. It was a fantastic activity which everyone enjoyed.

Easter Egg Hunt by Jada Lydgate, 6J

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On Wednesday 17 March, the Schools’ Analyst Competition, run by the RSC, took place at King’s College with around twenty schools competing for a place in the South East regional final. The three of us were selected to participate in the contest. After the introductions, we were ushered into the labs to start the competition. We had four hours to complete three experiments. The main challenge was to complete the experiments in time and to a great level of accuracy, which we learnt was one of the main pressures that analytical chemists face. At first, it was quite daunting because we were in a new environment and there was a lot of information to take in, such as how to use various bits of equipment, what colour changes we should be able to see in our solutions and other precautions we should take. Once we’d settled in, the task at hand seemed much more manageable. The experiments themselves were very interesting. Some involved learning new techniques such as UV chromatography while other experiments required skills we had mastered at GCSE such as titrations. However, we now had to perform to a much more advanced and accurate level. One thing we all noticed was the calibre and delicacy

of the equipment which was unlike anything we’d ever used before. The environment in which we were working, was amazing. Being there gave us a flavour of what lab sessions would be like at university and exceeded all our expectations. In the end, four hours went quite quickly, but we still finished with half an hour to spare. While the judges, who had been walking around with clipboards during the practical, deliberated, we were treated to a fascinating lecture on “Why Chocolate Tastes So Good”, given by Dr Paul Royall whose team had once done some research with Cadbury’s on analysing chocolate. We learnt that at least 50% of a chocolate bar contains sucrose, whether it be white, dark or milk; why chocolate starts to go white and dusty when you leave it out for too long, as well as looking at infrared spectroscopy for samples of different types of chocolate. Overall, we had a great day. We all had a lot of fun and the experience definitely inspired us to pursue a scientific degree at university.

Schools Analyst competition by Megan, Na-ima, and Zhelini, Year 12

On Tuesday 23 April, the Rotary Club of Croydon South presented the prizes for their 2013 Photography competition, The Living World. Three students from Old Palace entered this popular competition, Aamera Year 13, Katrina Year 12, and Jaida, Year 7. The photographs have been on display for the past five weeks in the Clock Tower Café and the competition was fierce.

The prizes were presented by the worshipful Mayor of Croydon and whilst the students did not win; it was a lovely opportunity to meet with the judges and discuss photography and getting that perfect shot. The event was well attended and hopefully next year we will have some more budding photographers to take part.

Photography competition

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There are a few forthcoming events that may be of interest to students and parents alike. The V&A Museum: 9 March – 14 July Treasures of the Royal Courts; from Tudors and Stuarts to Russian Tsars. Cross curricular: DT and Art & History The V&A Museum - 23 March – 11 August David Bowie is - featuring lyrics, fashion, costume, photography, film and instruments Cross curricular: DT, Art, Music

The Design Museum - 30 January 2013 - 4 Jan 2015 Permanent exhibition, with changing elements from year to year: Extraordinary stories about ordinary things! Exploration of 150 everyday objects such as the telephone box, road signs etc and the use and dominance of plastics in our lives, including fashion. Cross curricular: DT and Art.

“Made in Brunel” - 13 - 16 June 2013, at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, Southbank.Exhibition of work from professional design graduates at Brunel University. Register free to attend exhibition - particularly of interest to current GCSE and A-Level students studying Product design.

Exhibitions for all

During the Easter holidays, a group of students who study Italian went on a trip to Italy for six days. For most of the stay, we were in a town called Sessa Aurunca, which is a few hours by coach from Rome. We stayed with girls from the village, some of whom we had hosted in March. When we first arrived at Rome Airport on 6 April, it was quite warm, nothing like the weather in England earlier that day! Everyone was so excited to be in Italy, especially some of the students who had never been on a trip before.

After a coach journey to Sessa Aurunca, the students and teachers separated and the students departed with their host families. Some of the students had activities in the evening with their family, as Italians make the most of their evenings. The next day was spent with the host families. The atmosphere was amazing in the villages; everyone knew each other and people always greeted each other warmly whenever they met up. Even staying with the family for only two nights, I was amazed at how much of what they said I understood and managed to learn.

The next day, we went to school with our Italian partners where we had a welcome reception. After that, we went to Pompeii with our teachers on the first of our excursions. We walked around this stunning and beautiful ancient town and we were all quite moved by its tragic past; the ominous Vesuvius loomed over us in the distance and

reminded us constantly of its cruelty and power. When we left Pompeii, we went to Naples where we visited the Royal Palace of the Kings of Naples and the Galleria Shopping Salons. We then returned to Sessa and checked into our lovely four star hotel in the heart of the Centro Storico and went out for a meal at Taverna Da Nicola. The next day was spent at the lovely seaside town of Sperlonga where we spent time at the beach and visited the Grotta di Tiberio; the ancient Villa and seaside cave (used to entertain guests) of the Emperor Tiberius. Some of us went paddling in the sea and jumped over the waves. We then went to Gelateria Fiorelli where we had lovely Italian ice-cream and enjoyed the view of

Sperlonga’s centro storico in the background. It was then back to the hotel where we went for a meal at Taverna dei Baroni in the Market Square then back to the hotel for our dancing and karaoke night. Quite a few of our Italian partners joined us for this and sang traditional Italian songs.

On Wednesday morning, we left Sessa Aurunca and returned by coach to Rome, where we visited the Collosseum and walked around

the spectacular city. Later on, we had dinner at a little restaurant opposite the hotel and then went to bed. The next day, we went to the Vatican. This was an incredible experience and everyone was so excited to be there. We could not believe we were there especially so soon after the election of a new Pope. After this, we had our final Italian meal in a little Taverna a short walk from St Peter’s, but still in the Vatican State (which is not actually part of Italy). After lunch, we got back on to the coach and went to the airport where we caught a flight to Heathrow.

This trip was an amazing experience for us all and I will never forget it. I have improved my knowledge of Italian so much and everyone had an incredible time.

Arrivederci Roma by Catherine, Year 8

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