1Issue 24 • Spring 2012 • Park House School & Sports College Magazine

Inspiring Creativity!A striking image for the front cover of an equally striking celebration ofthis term’s inspirational achievements and opportunities at Park House!

With London 2012 now less than four months away, this latestedition of Personal Best reflects just how creatively our work withthe Olympic and Paralympic Values is shaping so many of theseachievements and opportunities in many new and different waysboth within and beyond the curriculum. And it really does start onthe front page.

This stunning photomontage interpretation of the classicOlympic Rings was created in response to a London 2012 ‘GetSet to get creative!’ competition. Overleaf the team of studentartists and photographers explain how they produced what we arethrilled to announce as one of the national winning entries, whichwe hope will soon appear on an official 2012 poster!

From Art, Design and Photography we move to English andMedia, with ‘Letters to the World’ in 2012 and a BBC SchoolReport feature on the second of our ‘Values Days’. This in turn

brought together brilliantly-themed creative learning in ICT, English,History, Geography and PE based around a central focus providedby the Paralympic Values of Equality and Respect.

Underlying all of these opportunities and achievements is ofcourse an emphasis on student leadership and voice. From aneducational perspective, the power of young people to make apositive difference to their local and wider community is perhapsthe most exciting element of the vision for an Olympic andParalympic Legacy. We can already see it here in updates on thework of our Games Makers, local community projects such as‘Gardening for the Games’ and international learning.

Adding to the mix of fantastic learning and achievementshowcased in this edition are also reports on trips and visits,House and national competition successes and charity work,together with special features on our current and former students’wide-ranging interests and accolades. Please read on to becreatively inspired! I’m sure you will be. • Derek Peaple, Headteacher

2

Our ‘golden’ start to the Olympicand Paralympic year hascontinued with news that wehave been assessed by the YouthSport Trust as a Gold PartnerSchool. We are one of the first

schools in the country to receivethis award, which is onlyachieved by those judgedcapable of leading best practicelocally, regionally and nationally.

The Gold Award recognisesthat we have achieved – andare committed to continuingto develop: the very highestoutcomes for PE and SchoolSport. It confirms not only theoutstanding provision forstudents within the curriculum,but also the wideropportunities for them to beinvolved in leadershipdevelopment and the role that

PE and sport plays in wholeschool improvement and ourexcellent relationship with thelocal community.

This fantastic achievement,which of course follows ourAviva Daily Telegraph SportsCollege of the Year Awardback in November (as featuredin Issue 23), reflects the hardwork and dedication ofstudents and staff on a dailybasis, and the amazingsupport of parents. I amextremely proud of all whodevelop and support ourextra-curricular activities,

engage so positively in theleadership opportunities and‘live the values’ through ourOlympic- and Paralympic-inspired learning programmes.

It is also wonderful to berecognised in this way by theYouth Sport Trust, which doesso much to enable youngpeople to fulfil their potentialthrough sport and sports-related learning opportunitiesand has been such a valuedsupporter of Park House sincewe became a Sports Collegeback in 1998. • Derek Peaple,Headteacher

Berkshire School Games StickerDesign Winner 2012‘Respect’ to Gemma Maynard in Year 8 who has had her stickerdesign for participants in the Berkshire School Games chosen as the‘Respect’ category winner from over 2,000 entries as part of acounty-wide ‘Living the Values’ competition. Gemma’s original designidea has been developed so that it can be professionally reproduced, with 5,000 stickers now available to all Berkshire Schools for their use in recognising their students’ achievements. Gemmacertainly deserved to receive the first off the press!

Gemma said: “My design was influenced by myunderstanding of how respect can be demonstrated, forexample, when adults meet they shake hands or when a footballmatch begins the players each shake hands at the beginning ofthe match. I also enjoy art and have chosen it as a GCSEoption. I was really pleased when during assembly Mr Peaplepresented me with my original design which had been framed. I feel proud that my design will now be presented to students atother schools in recognition of their achievements.” •

Park House Strikes Gold... Again!

Making the cover image Students were given the challenge of redesigning the Olympicrings, and had loads of amazing ideas – like five coloured stuntkites flying in rings; students with coloured hula hoops; circles oftulip bulbs being planted… but because of a tight timescale wedecided that a photographic solution would be the best.

Photography students had been investigating long shutterspeeds and light trails, so we decided that this would be anexciting technique to make our image. Coloured torches weremoved in circles to create the rings exposed on long shutterspeeds, then different students were asked to pose withsporting equipment and a second batch of photographs weretaken. These images were then combined in Photoshop togive this amazing result. • Mrs Waddell

“It was great fun being involved in the photographs for the Olympicrings.” Ana Marques

“I got really tired doing all the skipping to try and get the right shotfor the Olympic rings photograph.” Steph Tu

“I was really interested in the technical processes involved intaking the photographs and have used this idea of sequences inmy current AS photography work.” Adam Musitano

3

Equality Day – Living the Paralympic Values

On Friday 2 March Years 7, 8 and 9 all took partin Values Day. This was a day full of cross-curricular activities all linked into the keyParalympic Value of Equality. This includedlearning about the issues of bullying, writingpoetry in English and devising plays in drama.This was the second of our series of specialdays in which learning is themed around oneor more the Olympic and Paralympic Values.Our focus this term was on the Value ofEquality, following on from Courage andRespect as featured in last edition of PersonalBest (The Day We Remembered on page 3).

The day was in part organised by students andwas somewhat inspired by our meetingParalympic Athlete Tim Prendergast who spoke tous about how he became involved in sport againafter losing 95% of his sight and the courage ittook him to do this. The whole day was veryenjoyable for both the Change Team and thestudents and was an exciting look at how a newblock of work, revolving around Paralympic sports,could be introduced in September.

In PE, students took part in a lesson of SittingVolleyball, a Paralympic Sport, led by the PEChange Team (Sam Archibald, Heather Barr,Courtney Burnett, Julia Etheridge, Tesni Fakes,Sean Osterritter and with the help of SarahDugmore and Michael Randall). During thesession, students learnt about the challenges thatParalympic Athletes face by trying out SittingVolleyball with the rule that they weren’t allowedto use their legs at any point in the session! Thismeant that they had to work as a team, showingfriendship and respect for their teammates, inorder to win their games. The aim of this was tomake them appreciate the immense determinationof the athletes and to inspire them to develop agreater understanding of the Paralympic Gamesand the importance of equality.

Our Values Days are a superb way of creativelydeveloping students thinking across a number ofdifferent subject areas. This one has beenparticularly powerful in challenging attitudestowards what constitutes disability and positivelypromoting the amazing achievements ofParalympic athletes. The students have been reallyinspired by what they have learnt and directlyexperienced. • Heather Barr, Julia Etheridge and Mr Peaple

4

Park House School studentsundertook a news report of epicproportions for BBC SchoolsReport 2012. March 15 saw thereturn of BBC Schools Report, anannual action packed event where

budding young journalists could report on the news and events mostimportant to them. According to the BBC more than 1,000 schools tookpart in their biggest ever School Report News Day.

This year our focus was on the Olympic and ParalympicGames – how could it not be with July fast approaching and somany truly inspirational stories to be told?

This year’s team (Grace Towey, Heather Barr, Harriet Gray,Mary Nash, Anna Neary, Katie Pryor, Julia Etheridge, EmilyDunford, Sam Forrest and Tom Davis) were set the challenge ofcreating a detailed ten-minute news programme complete withnews anchors and reporters ‘in the field’, whilst creating two fullnewspaper articles.

Our main story featured none other than Park House regular,ex-Paralympic athlete Danny Crates. Danny, as some of youmay know, was the Flag Bearer for Team GB at the Beijing2008 Opening Ceremony, and won 800m Gold at the AthensParalympic Games in 2004 among many other notablesuccesses. Danny gave us insights to the ‘real-world’ ofParalympic athletes.

He then kickstarted our 2012 Gold Challenge project bycycling the first of many kilometres in the school’s WellnessCentre. This challenge will see the completion of 2012kilometres before the start of the Olympic Games in June.Collectively students and staff alike will be running, cyclingand rowing the distance raising money for the charityParalympics GB.

The excitement reached fever pitch after the BBC tweetedabout Danny’s visit. Our BBC liaison (Heather Barr) managed to send messages, shout-outs and pictures as the daydeveloped, many of which were posted on the BBC SchoolsReport web page: www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport

Other stories included a recent whole school focus day on theOlympic and Paralympic value of Equality which saw studentscompeting in Paralympic games and challenges. This was thensupported with a detailed investigation into the Olympic andParalympic Values and their meaning to both students and theschool as a whole.

The full news broadcast and accompanying news articles canbe seen on the school website and look for BBC YoungReporters within ‘Latest News and Prospectuses’.

“This was a really exciting opportunity as we wereable to experience what it is like to be in a newsreporting situation. We interviewed Danny Crates,which was the highlight of the event.” Heather Barr

“Mr Crates kick-started our 2012km ActivityChallenge by cycling the first kilometre. We are nowall looking forward to completing the remainingdistance.” Grace Towey

And our main headlines tonight...

5

Young Games MakersIt’s lunchtime at Park House onWednesday 6 July 2005. The littleTV is on in PE1 with its dodgyanalogue picture, the word“London!” emanates fromJacques Rogge’s mouth and MissMumford, Miss Billington, MissGibbs, Mr Cook, Mr Jones and I alljump up and down and hug eachother with joy, knowing that thegreatest sporting event in theWorld will be on our doorsteps injust seven years time. It hasn’tworked out that way for Mr Jonesand Miss Mumford who are bothnow on different sides of the

World but thanks to eleven of ourawesome students I will have aview that money cannot buy!

This is because George Stirland(Olympics only), Josh Danielli(Paralympics only), Elliot Laker, FranPinder, Alex Craninx, Michaela Day,Katharine Smith, Codie Burnett, JakeRowell, Joel Shelton and BethanyBurkitt were all absolutely fantasticat the selection interview held atLOCOG HQ on 11 December. Theirperformance at this event meantthat three days before Christmasthey, Mr Mandry and myselfreceived an awesome early

Christmas present when we wereinformed that our team had beenselected to be Kit Carriers at theAthletics events in the OlympicStadium during not just the OlympicGames, but also the ParalympicGames. Yes, one of us could becarrying Usain Bolt’s kit as he linesup for the 100m final and bereturning it to him straight after hecompletes a new World Record time!

We have a lot of work to do betweennow and the games with us needingto attend many training sessions,including five days in the OlympicStadium at the test event in May,

before then. We also find out ourroster in April that will tell us theshifts that we will be working duringthe Games. In addition to the timewe will spend on this we will needto be doing some fundraising as we will finally be able to bookaccommodation in East London inAugust and September which is atsomewhat of a premium this year!

For me, the scariest thing is not thatwe will be in front of 80,000 pluspeople in the stadium and hundredsof millions through the media. No,the scariest thing is that on that dayseven years ago that I remember sovividly, George Stirland was a fresh-faced Year 7 pupil and the rest of theteam were all still at PrimarySchool… that can’t be right! • Mr Tree

If anyone has any ideas forfundraising / accommodationoptions during the OlympicGames please contact me at:dtree@westberks.org

As previewed in the last issue of Personal Best a group of Park House ICT students iscelebrating the once in a lifetimeopportunity to help out at the2012 Olympics following theirsuccess at a national selectionevent held at the Olympic Park.

The students are now ‘GamesMakers’ and will work at theAquatics Centre to manage and

analyse performance data from theSwimming, Diving, SynchronisedSwimming and Water Polo events.

The role is considered to beamongst the most prestigious andprivileged of all the unique GamesMaker opportunities and willinvolve direct access to thepoolside area. The group (KerynOsterritter, Liam Sheppard, LaraJones, Laura Stafford and Thomas

Graves) were initially selected by the school on the basis of acombination of their team-working,ICT and communication andpresentation skills. All of thesewere tested at the selection eventattended by teams from across the country.

The group’s selection nowfollows the success of a further tenstudents from the school who were

similarly selected from a nationalfield to act as Games Makers forthe Athletics events (see below).

Mr Peaple said: “Both the ICT team’s and PE team’sachievements in gaining selectionas Games Makers from a nationalcompetition are truly remarkable.This once in a lifetime opportunityis a thoroughly deserved reflectionof their outstanding all-round skillsand ability and we are obviouslythrilled for them.”

Mr Norwood said: ‘I’m veryexcited that our students have onceagain proven their determinationand commitment to beingsuccessful. I am really lookingforward to our participation in the2012 Olympics and showing howoutstanding our students can be.”

Keryn Osterritter spoke onbehalf of the team to say:“Working as an ICT Technician inthe Aquatic Centre will be such anhonour and to be poolside willsimply be an amazing experience.We are all very proud to have been selected and to berepresenting our school at such a historical event.” •

6

The establishment of a Ministry of CommonSense! What could make more, well…common sense!

This was just one of many amazingly originalideas developed this term by a group of studentsfrom Years 8, 9 and 10. And they have had themsent to Microsoft founder Bill Gates by the BBC incall to change the world for the better in 2012!

Students were invited to share their imaginativeideas for change and innovation in 200 wordletters with other schools from around the worldas part of the BBC’s 2012 ‘World Class’programme.

This is the programme which links us withSchool No.79 in Mongolia as one of 40international partnerships based on the Olympic

and Paralympic Values. Our letters have now beenselected to appear on the BBC World Classwebsite and contributed to the background for adebate with Bill Gates on Radio 4’s ‘World HaveYour Say’ at the end of January.

In addition to the ‘Ministry for Common Sense’,other ideas for improvement included thedevelopment of ‘hologram teachers’ to spreadshared learning across the developing world andthe introduction of global petrol passes to monitorconsumption!

I launched the invitation to write the letters forchange in our first assemblies of the New Year aspart of a series of 2012 challenges and have wasabsolutely delighted by the response. Ourstudents’ ideas are amazingly original andcreative. I’m really proud to see them featured onthe BBC website.

With such obvious drive and creativity, its reallyno surprise that our students go on to achieve thereally amazing things featured in so many of theother articles in this edition of Personal Best. • Derek Peaple, Headteacher

You can read extracts from the letters belowand on the BBC World Class website:www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass/16491296

Students’ ideas to Change the World in 2012

Penny, Emma, Karolina and Josh write:

Hey World, You still friendswith the moon? I hope so.Anyway, we have come upwith a genius plan...

People who buy petrol arealready paying expensivepetrol prices.

Therefore, if we charge themjust £1 a month to buy apetrol pass, when the pass hasexpired after a month it mustbe renewed as those without apass cannot buy petrol.

The card will track petrolconsumption rates andmonthly expenditureenabling the user to monitorit. When people realise howmuch petrol they are using itwill be simple to avoidunnecessary usage thereforesaving themselves money andcutting down greenhouse gasemissions.

So World, what do you think then? Earning threegigabazzillion dollarswithout people noticing andcutting down on greenhousegasses seems a pretty goodidea…

Imogen and Kate write:

Dear World, To change the world we

would like to encourage learning in less

developed countries.

We believe that there is a lack of

qualified teachers in developing

countries, however there is a

demanding need for better education in

economically advancing countries.

Our idea is to produce a portable

system - similar to over-head projectors

used currently in Britain - to generate

holograms of qualified teachers for

transportation to countries without

the facilities capable of schooling.

The programme would consist of a

series of discs, each containing five

hours of learning, for five days a week,

including holidays. The system will be

easily operated... The hologram-

projector will be solar powered to

ensure a long lifespan.

One of the most prominent courses

would be health and survival, educating

children with basic life skills.

This would provide young, deprived

people with a range of available

qualifications to give them more job

opportunities all over the world, and

allow them to escape poverty.

Gareth & Marcus write:

Common sense is the basis for allintelligence; the basis for allhumanity and its advancement andevolution. History, however, teachesus that the human race is somewhatlacking in this aspect. For what otherspecies is seemingly obsessed withdestroying itself in every waypossible?

A solution, then? The first stepwould be to educate people incommon sense. This would take theform of a subject taught in schools,perhaps using historical examplesand a set of ‘guidelines’, almost, tomaking a decision.

A further step would be to make itobligatory for any organisation,including governments, to have a‘Department of Common Sense’,which would ultimately beresponsible for allowing or vetoing any decision made, based on its logic.

Imagine a world where thepoliticians with the ability to startwar possessed the common sense tochoose instead to spend the time andmoney on developing medicalresearch.

People would come out of asophisticated education with theability to make rational decisions in life.

7

Last October, a group of students had anamazing opportunity to experience the uniqueculture of South Africa without having to travelthe 6,000 miles to our long-term partner,Sithengile High School in Durban.

The inspirational visit to South AfricaHouse, the South African HighCommission in London, was organised byformer Park House student and nowHonorary Vice Consul, Professor ChrisMullard CBE (see Personal Best Issue 21p.10). Phindile Xaba, the First SecretaryPolitical, hosted the delegation for a tour ofthe magnificent building and also gave afascinating presentation on South Africanhistory. As the students describe below thevisit has had a major impact.

And, as the students indicate, ProfessorMullard additionally arranged for the groupto take advantage of their trip to London topay a visit later that day to the nearbyBritish Council. This offered a great

opportunity to discuss the importance ofglobal learning and internationalism inunderstanding the cultural diversity ofmodern society. • Derek Peaple, Headteacher

The whole experience was an inspirationfrom our welcoming guide, ex Park Housestudent, Professor Mullard, through to thebeautiful building of the South AfricanEmbassy, which incorporates so manyaspects of South African art and culture.This, together with the cultural relationactivities of the British Council, hasstrengthened my ambition to explore the Foreign Office as a career. • George Biggs, Year 9

The trip to the South African Embassywas really interesting and an amazingexperience. I also found the trip to theBritish Council a real eye opener into theway we are trying to forge and encouragenew relationships across the world. • Annabel Chaffey, Year 9

I was born in Durban, South Africa so the visit was really interesting to learn aboutthe culture and the different provinces. I thought it was a really good opportunity to learn more about my home country. We saw numerous inscriptions on the wallgoing down into the theatre from NelsonMandela, FW De Klerk and ArchbishopDesmond Tutu.

Our tour guide then took us to watch avideo about South Africa and how it ismade up of nine provinces and has elevenofficial languages which I never knewabout. After we watched the video we allreceived a gift of a scarf in the colours ofthe South African Flag. We went across toBritish Council and had a nice lunch witheveryone, Then we heard all aboutopportunities for students in lots of differentcountries. • Kendra-Lyn Bruce, Year 9

I thought that the visit was veryinspirational, to learn about the country’shistory as well as the significant role ofSouth Africa House to the South Africancommunity in England and the work thatthe staff at the embassy do for therelationship between South Africa andEngland. I not only learned about thegeographical aspects of South Africa butalso the wildlife, history, important historicalpeople linked with South Africa and theindustry that comes out of the beautifulcountry. • Julia Etheridge, Year 10

A world of experience at the South African High Commission and British Council

8

Creating a 2012 Community Conversation...that (we hope) will go on and on!

We love every moment of our work on the 2012 Get Set Olympic andParalympic Values and the positive impact it has on learning.

As a result we also wanted to explore informal ways to extendour students’ existing engagement with 2012 beyond theclassroom and to use the growing sense of excitement to inspirethe local community which we serve to come together and ‘joinin’ around the Games.

Back in September 2011 we therefore began to plan for a‘2012 Community Conversation’, initially bringing together theclubs and community organisations that use our site outside ofhours to share ideas and opportunities that can stimulate andsustain continued participation in a wide range of activities aspart of a local Legacy programme.

The original ‘Community Conversation’ concept has nowevolved into a wider festival-style event which will celebrate thefirst full day of Olympic action on 28 July, based around fivethemes – or ‘Rings’ – reflecting both local skills and the globaldiversity of the Games. The themes are World Food, includingdemonstrations and tasting opportunities; Sporting Festival, inwhich local clubs will provide taster sessions matching many ofthe first day’s events; Watching Together with live competitionbeing shown on big screens in a picnic area; Community Crafts,where local artists and crafts people will demonstrate their skillsand offer opportunities for visitors to learn new skills; andCelebration, a programme of live entertainment from local bandsand the school. The event will therefore bring people togetheraround the excitement of the first day of Games, enabling them

to try something different and create sustainable community linksas part of a lasting Olympic and Paralympic Legacy in the area.I’m delighted and proud that its now been selected as ‘LocalLeaders’ case study number three on the 2012 websitewww.london2012.com/get-involved/local-leaders/index.php

The PHSA have been fantastic in their support and so haveour students, with ideas already beginning to develop aroundthe idea of a 2012 Community Garden that will be showcasedon the day, and may even provide some of the food for theoccasion! In the article opposite, Mrs Robinson-Slater and Josh Stephens explain more about ‘Gardening for the Games’. • Derek Peaple, Headteacher

9

Digging for Olympic Victory!I began my gardening adventure by developingthe school allotment, along with fellow schoolfriends. As part of this project, we prepared thearea by tidying and removing roots andbrambles. We then started to construct raisedbeds and constructed a poly tunnel. Afterbeing donated a greenhouse we then plantedseeds and grew pumpkins, tomatoes, lettuceamong other vegetables. Our products werethen sold to school staff to raise funds forfurther gardening projects. This was under thesupervision of parent volunteer, Miss Finch.

I was then head hunted by The WillowsPrimary School to maintain their vegetablebeds and pond area ready for acompetition! This has further developed myskills and prepared me to progress tofurther education studies at SparsholtCollege where I will study Agriculture nextyear. I really enjoy working outside and I amlooking forward to learning how to growlarge crops. I hope to work on a farm whenI finish my studies.

In addition to this, I am now excited to beinvolved with a local leaders initiative called‘Garden for the Games’. This is anopportunity to celebrate the London 2012Olympic Games through gardening. Alongwith my Year 11 peers Jack Prout, LukeAngell, Chris Drake, Drew Ponsford-Hitchand Kyle Blanchard, we have been holdingassemblies to invite students from other

year groups and teachers to becomeinvolved. We have advertised for adultvolunteers from the community to workwith us so that this becomes a communitybased project. We have approached localhorticultural businesses for sponsorship.We are now really looking forward todesigning and constructing the schoolallotment with an Olympic Theme. We aremeeting with students to come up withideas and to start planning and preparingthe area. • Josh Stephens

Josh was always very keen to learn andprogressed well. He is very suited to anoutdoor career and I wish him all the bestin his future. Miss Finch (parent volunteer)

Josh has been working every Friday hereat The Willows Primary School sinceOctober 2011, helping us keep ourgrounds tidy. We have noticed a hugedifference since Josh's arrival. He hastended to all our flower beds and the raisedvegetable beds and has put a lot of hisefforts into recreating a small pond area forour Foundation Stage children.

His next project is the school’s entry inthe Dorothy Morley Conservation Award.Josh will be working with our children,transforming their plans for ourenvironmental area into a natural habitat forwildlife. This will involve submitting aportfolio of work demonstrating how the

project was carried out, plus lots of diggingand planting with our children. Josh hasproved himself to be self motivated,courteous and extremely hard working. Wewill miss him in July. • Mrs Jill Bellingham,School Business Manager, The Willows

Josh has always had a passion for theoutdoors and the allotment project enabledhim to build on his skills and demonstratehis keen interest to follow a career inAgriculture. He attended taster days andinterviews at Sparsholt College resulting inthe offer of a place in September 2012.The wider opportunities through theplacement at The Willows and ‘Gardeningfor the Games’ has given Joshresponsibility and he has become a mentorto other students to ensure the communitygarden at Park House continues to flourish.

We would welcome any support fromparents and community members to helpdevelop this project especially if you canhelp regarding tools and plants. Pleasecontact Mrs Robinson-Slater for furtherinformation.

I will keep you informed of progress viaour school website and future editions ofPersonal Best. • Mrs Robinson-Slater

A Combined Arts,Family Learning ProjectThe Olympic DreamFive Year 9 Art and Photography students from ParkHouse, along with their mums, dads and evengranddad, recently joined forces with five pupilsfrom The Willows Primary School and theiraccompanying family members on a three-dayproject called ‘The Olympic Dream’. We worked withthree fantastic artists: Tim Godwin, theatre artist;Nick Garnett, sculptor and Roland Bodenham, filmmaker. The project was devised particularly foryoung people to share an exciting learningexperience with a member of their family.

The project’s aim was to look at the Trojan Horse, as‘Experience-ologists’. We visited the Ashmoleanmuseum in Oxford on our first day to ‘collect ourexperiences’ and had an amazing time, exploring thegallery, planting red toy soldiers secretly amongst theexhibits, handling ancient artefacts (and trying to guesswhat they were), sketching, counting images of horsesin the galleries, filming and even gathering discardedthings that shouldn’t have been there to fill our samplebags and create our own ‘Museum of Stuff’.

The next two days involved everyone creating playsand films and constructing a giant horse out of ‘rubbish’.Students worked in family pairs, and collaboratively withtheir fellow ‘Experience-ologists’.

On the last day we shared our creations. The Willowspupils were invited to explore our ‘Museum of Stuff’.We’d created different exhibits – sellotape cast hands ofathletes throwing javelins and discuses, a living exhibitof Mikos our Greek god of stuff, a museum shop and ofcourse our amazing moving horse. Our ‘Museum ofStuff’ was further brought to life with our images andfilms from the previous days along with lots ofstorytelling and singing.

This really was something way outside of ourexperience and hopefully it has given students newskills to take away: confidence; creativity; working withpeople of different age groups; acting and using ourexperiences to inspire our work.

Park House students and family members:

Alice Philpott and her mum, Jenny.

Becci Pearce and her dad, Richard.

George Stacey and his granddad, David.

Laura Hill and her mum, Emma.

Rebekah Cussen and her dad, Jim.

Special thanks should be given to Pat Eastop, TheWillows for hosting the event, the artists themselves andOpen Studios, who devised this project – now in its 24thyear. The ‘Olympic Dream’ is part of Newbury’s OpenStudio scheme involving 121 artists – look out for thebrochure listing them all which comes out in April.

Meanwhile, Open Studios is one of this month’sNewbury Waitrose’s ‘good causes’. Please put yourgreen token in for it if you are there in time. Thank you!• Mrs Waddell

10

11

The Write StuffBritish author and screenwriter, Andy Briggs visited Park House School this term to talk toYear 7 & Year 8 students about the craft of writing.

Students were enthralled as they were taken on an exciting journey from ParkHouse and plunged in to the dangers of the African jungle via the glittering studios of Hollywood. Andy created the Hero.com series and the Villain.net anti-series for

Oxford University Publishing, which have now been published around the world. His career began as anuncredited writer working on story development forHighlander: The Series in 1991.

Since then he has worked alone and with brother PeterBriggs on a number of projects, including the Stan Lee andRobert Evans Paramount Pictures project Foreverman.More recent television work has included storydevelopment for the Sci-Fi Channel, BKN Kids and DisneyXD. In the mid-2000s he did some writing for comics, andbegan to develop his Hero.com/Villain net series of youngadult novels. This led to new series of young adult Tarzannovels. Mrs Ellard said: “A wonderful time was had by all!” •

Year 9 ArtistsStudents from Year 9 have been developing their thinking skillsthrough abstract art. First they created abstract shapes inspired bythe artist Elizabeth Murray focusing on creating expressive, texturalmarks. They applied the paint using objects such as old creditcards, lollipop sticks, plastic knives and forks – anything apart froma paintbrush! Then they worked in groups to create their abstractcompositions in response to music. Through this process they havestarted thinking about how abstract artists communicate feelingsand ideas by using a visual language. They will then use these skillsto develop their own paintings. • Zoe Coughlan (Art PGCE)

SheepdroveOrganic Farm TripEarlier this term, Park House’s Cookery School went to SheepdroveOrganic Farm in Lambourn. The Cookery School is run by some lovelypeople associated with Sheepdrove Farm, and takes place once aterm in Food Technology. Cookery School provide us with ouringredients for free, and they come from the farm and are usually dugup the same morning.

Sheepdrove is an organic farm which means they don’t useany harmful chemicals on their produce. We went on this tripwith Cooking School to learn about the sorts of crops that growthere. On arrival to Sheepdrove after a 40 minute mini busjourney (listening to Luke’s wonderful singing!) we had awelcome talk and then went into the centre.

We were invited onto the back of a trailer and given a tour ofsome of the farm’s best features. We started by visiting the cowsand learning about the beef that is produced there and howdifferent organic beef tastes to normal beef. We then walkeddown to where they get their water from and they showed ustheir drainage system which takes over a year to get the cleanwater out of – they told us water that gathers is so clean youcould swim in it! We learnt that the ground around there has lotsof friendly bacteria which attacks the bad bacteria.

After this, we carried on our tour around the farm. It was socold that the guide said that is was the coldest tour he had everdone! We learnt from the tour what cereals they grow there andthe other produce they make on the farm. We also learnt thatthey have exclusive shops in London and Bristol.

After we got back tothe centre, we were gladto warm up in the diningroom where we ate adelicious beef stew withparsnips, carrots andpotatoes and had alovely chocolate puddingfor dessert! The beefthat we were servedtasted a lot better thanthe standard non-organicbeef they sell in the supermarkets! • Hannah McNaghten, Year 9

Cookery School is basically an opportunity for Year 9 studentsto have some fun with cooking, the Cookery School staff comeinto school at the end of each term. At the last session beforewe went to Sheep Drove Farm we made pumpkin/vegetablesoup, we had a variety of vegetables and we could choose whatones we used. It was fun because we had the opportunity touse totally organic vegetables.

While we were at Sheepdrove Farm we saw all the animalsand where the vegetables grow and how they grow. We had atractor ride around the farm which was really fun. The bad partof the tractor ride was the weather! It was really cold. If we hadthe opportunity to go to sheep drove farm again, I’m sure wewould because it was fun.

The best part of the day was that we got to eat a perfectlycooked beef stew which contained things like carrots, parsnip,and potatoes and to top it all off we had a luscious chocolatepudding. We also tried some bread called sour dough which thefarm made itself. • Sian Richards, Year 9

London Marathon Training Update…The final countdown has truly begun since my report in the last issue ofPersonal Best. My mileage has been increasing weekly, with the scariestthought coming at the end of a 13/14 mile run and thinking I’ve got to do thesame again on top and not really knowing how! Fundraising for The StrokeAssociation is going well with over £1000 raised but I am still looking formore sponsorship to reach my £2000 target. I have some local businesses

donating prizes so please keep your eye out for various events and if you would like to sponsor me you can at www.virginmoneygiving.com/hrichards2 Thank you to everyone for their support so far! • Miss Richards

12

Hardcore cyclingEx Park House student Charlotte

Upton is planning to cycle 1300miles from Newbury to Rome thissummer in aid of the NationalOsteoporosis Society. Herinspiration for the trip came from her grandparents, both having beenkeen cyclists when they were younger and she is dedicating her tripto them – particularly her Grandmother who had a fall a few monthsago, resulting in a back injury due to bone weakness.

She will set off on Saturday 11 August and aims to cycle 80miles a day in order to complete the trip in just under threeweeks. Charlotte said: “Not only do I need to cover a hugedistance but I’ll need to plan my route and navigate to Rome onmy own. It isn’t going to be as straightforward as following alarge group on an organised charity cycle trip. It will be a difficultphysical and tough mental challenge. I will have to cast my mindback to my school French lessons and learn at least some basicItalian. I complete between three and four heavy fitness sessionsa week. I cycle at least five times a week at the moment. In amonth’s time my fitness sessions will be more cycling specific.Time in the saddle is going to be extremely important forpreparation. I would like to not only raise money for osteoporosisbut I would like to raise awareness. I think it is something thatyoung people tend to overlook because in the main, it affectsthe older generation. By bringing awareness to younger people,I am hoping they will make life style changes to help preventthem from potentially developing osteoporosis later on in life.”

By way of a further link to Park House, TV and radio presenterMaggie Philbin (who was our Prize Giving speaker a couple ofyears ago and a great supporter of the school) is one of theCharity’s patrons. Maggie said of Charlotte’s venture: “What anamazing thing to do! I’m in awe of Charlotte. It’s an enormouschallenge and I’m sure her grandmother would be very proud ofher. It’s a powerful way to draw attention to osteoporosis whichaffects the lives of so many men and women across the world.One in three women and one in five men will break a bone dueto osteoporosis and there’s still a huge amount of ignoranceabout the disease. Charlotte is raising funds for a charity whichworks tirelessly to research treatment and increase awareness.I’ve been a patron for over twenty years and have seen thedifference their work has made. I know the NOS will beimmensely grateful to Charlotte and I wish her all the very bestfor her incredible trip.”

The NOS are following Charlotte on Twitter and have offeredvests, T-shirts, collection boxes, sponsorship forms and logos.

Donations can be made online through uk.virginmoneygiving.comand typing Charlotte Upton into ‘sponsor your friend’.

Charlotte may want to take inspiration from the late Tommy Godwin (1912–1975) who, in 1939, set a record

(which still stands) of 75,065 miles cycled in one year at an average of over 200 miles a day!

Charlotte and her 89 year old Grandfather before a recent bike ride

Osteoporosis: The word osteoporosis literally means “porous bones”.It occurs when bones lose an excessive amount of their protein andmineral content, particularly calcium. Over time, bone mass, andtherefore bone strength, is decreased. As a result, bones become fragileand break easily. Even a sneeze or a sudden movement may be enoughto break a bone in someone with severe osteoporosis!

Building healthy bones: Stay fit especially through weight-bearingexercise such as running, walking or aerobics improves not only musclestrength but also bone strength. (People with existing osteoporosis willneed to be careful of vigorous high-impact exercise but can still benefitfrom low-impact weight bearing exercises.

Vitamin D: vitamin D is important for the body to absorb calcium.

Alcohol: too much alcohol can weaken the skeleton!

For more information visit: www.nos.org.uk

13

An Opportunity to InspireWe were proud and privileged towelcome Phil Packer to ParkHouse in February as he inspiredand enthused young people bywalking three miles in the schoolgrounds as part of the BritishInspirational Trust Challenge 2012.

Phil and his team joined us for lunch where our student PEChange Team gave him an overview of their role in developing

the PE Curriculum andhow the Olympic andParalympic Values play asignificant role in thedesign and delivery of thewhole of the schoolcurriculum. Phil was thenjoined by a large groupsof students, that includedamong others, ourOlympic/ParalympicGame Makers and WorldChallenge Team.Together they continuedto walk the three milesaround the schoolgrounds.

Phil was an inspiration toall students and further

supports the Values of Courage and Determination, particularlyin the face of adversity. We now look forward to supporting hischarity as we aim to complete 2012 miles as a whole school. • Miss Hayes

For more information visit: www.britishinspirationtrust.org.ukor: www.philpacker.com

Fulfilling an AmbitionGrowing up, I had always watched the London Marathon on televisionand I made it an ambition of mine to one day complete it.

I started running back in the winter of 2009, just through thewoods and roads of my local village and this was when I firstapplied to run the London marathon but failed to get a place, so Ientered the Reading Half Marathon instead.

I trained hard and slowly increased the miles with each runbefore getting to my target of 10 miles before the event. (ThanksMr Toner for the advice!) I also went to a specialist running shop inReading and brought myself a good quality pair of running shoes,the price of which my wife still doesn’t know! Thanks to Mr Cookfor that advice. (That’s the shop, not keeping a secret from mywife!)

When the day of the Reading Half Marathon arrived theatmosphere was amazing with many people along the streets andin their gardens cheering us on.

The first six to eigtht miles was pretty much just a blur as Isoaked up the atmosphere before I realised how much further Ihad to go. But, as it started getting tough and with a couple ofmiles to go, I could see the top of the Madejski Stadium in thedistance, where we were due to finish the race and my flagginglegs then got an extra boost!

As I entered the stadium the cheering and noise from the crowdwas amazing! (I believe that a professional football player must getthe same feeling every time they step onto a pitch before a biggame.)

Just as I crossed the finish line I spotted my family in the crowdand suddenly I became all emotional (and I have to admit there

were tears in my eyes!) –what an experience!

Since then I have run inother local half marathonsincluding Henley, Eton,Maidenhead and Readingagain last year, When Icrossed the line last year Iwondered to myself howanyone could ever runanother 13.1 miles on top of that!

So I applied again for theLondon Marathon, andfinally I got a fundraisingplace in the best streetmarathon in the world, butafter the joy of being

accepted, came the reality ofthe miles and miles of training and the ‘small’ amount of £2000target set for my fundraising for CLIC Sargent!

Both training and fundraising are going well, many thanks to myfamily, friends and colleagues who are supporting me through this.

My first target for the day is just to get to the finish line in onepiece and the second is to complete it in less than five hours.

Many thanks to Mrs Howard and Mrs Cookfor their fundraising support, and to Mr Peaplefor his knowledge, experience and advicehaving been there and done it. I will let youknow how I get on! • Mr Hayes

Photograph courtesy Giles Penfound

In February half term four students from our French class went toMetz in north east France for a work experience trip. In total therewere 37 of us from different schools on the trip, all working indifferent parts of Metz.

The experience was unforgettable. I worked in a gym anddid a range of activities such as assisting with classes. Myfriends (Brodie Wood, Sadie Matthew and Elliot Laker) workedin other areas such as a cinema where they got to watch StarWars 3D in French (La Guerre des Étoiles), a restaurant and ina museum.

My employers were very friendly and really helped me toimprove my spoken French. At the end of the trip we were allextremely tired but happy with how the trip had gone.

Overall the trip was a very beneficial experience as we allimproved our spoken French and made new friends. I wouldthoroughly recommend the trip for those studying French in thefuture as it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. • Alex Oubridge Egan

“C’était vachement chouette!” Sadie Matthew ‘On s’est très bien amuses. Le stage valait la peine.” Brodie Wood

In January a group of Year 10 students had the pleasure ofwelcoming a group of French students from Collège Paul Eluard toPark House School (pictured here). Collège Paul Eluard is in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.

Some of the students had prepared a presentation about Park House, in French, for the French students to learn moreabout the school before we gave them a tour around the site.When we had finished the presentation we hosted a smallquestion and answer session and then split ourselves into pairs.

Each of the pairs took four students around the schoolshowing them the varied facilities we have to offer and let themexperience some of the lessons we have here in England. Thevisiting students were very impressed with Park House and inparticular the Drama studio, the 3G pitch and the ICT classrooms.

All of the groups then congregated in ML7 where there wererefreshments available and Year 10 heard the French studentsopinions about Park House, answered a few more questionsfrom our visitors and asked a few ourselves.

In the afternoon, the same day, we hosted a second group ofFrench students. In the same pairs, we took another group offour students around the school and they were equally amazedwith it.

We eventually waved goodbye to the second group just intime for lunch!

The experience offered to us was great. It gave all of thestudents, French and British, a chance to make new friendsand discuss the differences between the French and Britisheducation system and our different cultures. I think we allwalked away from that day with a greater understanding of oneanother’s culture. • Tom Davis, Year 10

C’était vachement chouette!

Making and understanding new friends...

14

15

Back in September, I travelled down to the London Film Museum withthree other girls who volunteer within the Berkshire area, for a ‘SaySomething Event’ run by Clubs for Young People (CYP).

We went with our Youth Support Worker - Richard Jenningsfrom Berkshire Youth (previously BACYP). It was a great day outfull of activities and different explanations of how youth clubswork and people’s perceptions of them. During the day therewas a competition running to design an application whichwould benefit the local community. I came up with, on the offchance, the idea of an application which locates the closesttoilets to your current location. Yes this may sound silly, but justthink of the real life implications. I have been in situations whenout with the children at the Autistic Youth clubs where Ivolunteer, where one of them has needed the loo, and then all ofa sudden they all do. This can be a nightmare when you are in alocation that you do not know very well, and with twenty or soyoungsters needing the loo!

This application will use realtime, which means that youalways know where the closest toilets are, if they are public, orwithin a shop, or if they have baby changing facilities ordisabled ones. Then the best feature is that it will have a ratingsystem so that you know which toilets are the best in that area!So if there is a five-star toilet you really want to go there! It willdisplay the route necessary to get to the toilet that you haveselected.

On February 27 my mother, Alex Osterritter, and I travelledback down to London, to the HQ of ITV, for a ‘Dragons’ Den’event. There had been over 300 hundred applications enteredfor the competition, and I had been finalised into the final 3 inmy age category (17-19). I knew some of the applications that Iwas up against as they had been at the “Say Something Event”in September, so it was hard competition. After having a varietyof workshops about working in a very competitive industry wewere all grilled by the judges.

It was a great day out, which has ended up with me comingsecond in my age category, and winning £1000 fordevelopment, and the help of a development manager for ayear.

So keep your eyes peeled for ‘LooCation’ in your favouriteapp-store soon! • Keryn Osterritter, Year 12

LooCation, LooCation, LooCation...

Designs for the FutureFollowing a visit to class from Ms Howard the Community Manager, agroup of Year 10 students have been considering how to improve theoutdoor area for Years 10 and 11.

The students each designed an area of seating to enhancethe outside experience for students by utilising an area currentlyunused alongside the dining hall entrance.

Developing their public speaking skills they delivered aninspirational presentation of their designs to Mr Peaple, MsHoward and Mr Bruce. They excelled and made an impressivecase for their ideas. Mr Peaple felt that this could be a lastinglegacy for the school in the Olympic and Diamond Jubilee year.With this in mind they now have lots of work to do developingtheir designs and making costings to make the plans reality.This will be considered for development with the support of, and in conjunction with, the site team.• Mrs Beadle and Mr Columbro

16

A Review of the Revue...Every year around Christmas time, something strange starts tohappen at Park House. Teachers start disappearing at lunchtimes intolocked rooms and weird, muffled music can be heard through thecorridors. When these teachers finally emerge on the last day of termthey are hardly recognisable in crazy sparkly costumes and over thetop make up (and that’s just Mr Norwood)! Yes, I am of course talkingabout the Park House Staff Revue. Every year it gets bigger and betterand with the unexpected return of the legendary Mr Miles, this yearwas no exception!

As always the Art Department wowed audiences with their creative(and perhaps a little scary) alien costumes, the technologydepartment shocked us with their synchronised seventies’ dancemoves and Mr Norwood proved to us once and for all that ICTteachers can be sexy (and they know it!).

Particularly hilarious this year, was Mr Lewis’ fabulous rendition ofJake the Peg, which had our audiences in stitches from start to finish.And of course an extremely impressive PE department who showedAshley Banjo how it should really be done, with their version of thestreet dance crew Diversity. We even got see the nation’s sweetheartCheryl Cole strut her stuff across the stage, although I think her beingdropped from the US X Factor is starting to get to her, as she lookedremarkably like our old maths teacher Mr Turze…

A big thank you to Mr Mackrory for hosting again and to Mr Poad,Will Etheridge and Nick Green for all their technical support. Withoutthem there is no way I could handle such a crowd of teacher-divas(you know who you are) year in and year out! So until December, I’llleave you to reminisce… and get over the nightmares of Park HouseSchool Revue 2011. • Miss Baron

1717

18

The school’s international profile,and the leadership pathwaysfollowed by our students, wasconfirmed in amazing fashionback in January when we wereprivileged to host a visit from DrSafeen Dizayee, the Minister forEducation in Kurdistan. As youmay recall from the last edition of‘Personal Best’, I first met DrDizayee during my recent visit toKurdistan as part of ourinvolvement in the EU/BritishCouncil Iraqi educationreconstruction programme (issue23 page 12), when he revealedthat he had been a Park Housestudent in the late-1970s!

We were therefore thrilledthat he took time out from aninternational conference forEducation Ministers in Londonto accept an invitation to visithis former school and enjoy avery special – and nostalgic –tour with his former teachers,Mr Doug Cook and Mr RayHopgood. Perhaps his most

telling observation was that,despite the obvioustechnological advances thathave occurred since leavingPark House’s classrooms in1979, the sense of purpose inlearning and very specialcommunity feeling at the schoolremained unchanged.

Mr Dizayee, who lived inSpeen when he was studyingat Park House, couldremember his first day at theschool. He said: “It was adifficult experience because wecame from a different cultureand there were no foreigncommunities in Newbury at thetime so it was hard.

“I could only speak a fewwords of English so it wasn’teasy to understand or to beunderstood but the teachersgave me time and helped me tofit into the environment.”

I was touched and movedthat Dr Dizayee brought a gift

for the school with him; abeautiful book entitled‘Kurdistan: In the Shadow ofHistory’, which powerfullyreflects the proud history andidentity of the Kurdish people.In it, he has written a dedicationto Park House ‘a place thatguided me onto the path ofleadership for the service of

education. Always appreciateand cherish old memories’

It’s a message which I’m sure will inspire our current studentsto show and live by similar values of courage and determination asthey aspire to become futureleaders in their chosen fields. • Mr Peaple

Photograph courtesy Newbury Weekly News

Left: Dr Dizayee, during his time at ParkHouse, displaying his coffee making skillsat a student hobbies exhibition. (Photograph courtesy Doug Cook/Jim Irving)

Bottom left: A book on the history ofKurdistan – one of Dr Dizayee’s gifts to theschool from his recent visit.

Bottom right: The lovely inscription by Dr Dizayee within the book expressing hisappreciation for Park House.

“To Park HouseSchool, my school, a place that guidedme onto the path ofleadership for theservice of education.Always appreciateand cherish oldmemories.”

A Leading School – Kurdish Minister for Education drops in on his old school

During February half term, I was lucky enough to be one of fourteachers from West Berkshire to visit India as part of the BritishCouncil’s Connecting Classrooms project co-ordinated locally by ParkHouse. I was accompanied by Mrs Marshall, Headteacher of ThealeGreen School, Mrs Booth, Assistant Head of The Castle School andMiss Slatter, Teacher from St Nicolas Junior School.

During the six days we spent in India, we split into twogroups, with Miss Slatter and I visiting five partner schools andMrs Marshall and Mrs Booth visiting four partner schools inRajastan, India. The schools we visited are all government-runboarding schools (known as JNVs) for secondary-aged studentsfrom rural backgrounds. When children start at these schoolsthey have very little English (their second language). However, bythe time they leave, their written and spoken English is fantastic.

The idea behind Connecting Classrooms is to create apartnership between clusters of schools in the UK and othersaround the world. These partnerships bring an internationaldimension to young people’s learning, to improve theirknowledge and understanding of other cultures and preparethem for life and work as global citizens. Park House is linked

with two schools in India JNV Jalore and JNV Pali. We havealready exchanged students’ work with these schools, but hopethat through the visit, it will strengthen our links and our studentscan learn more about the Indian culture.

The hospitality we were shown whilst we were out there wasamazing. There was a welcome party at each school rangingfrom a marching band, to a cannon firing petals, to singing anddancing! We were genuinely treated like royalty, with bouquets offlowers presented at each school and the children wantingphoto’s with us and our autographs. It was a real privilege to visitthese schools and very overwhelming at times.

One of the main highlights for me was the pride that thechildren have for their school and their desire to learn. They allhave extremely high aspirations to be doctors, engineers andlawyers. For them, school is transformational and is their way toget a better life for themselves and their families. They truly arean inspiration.

The whole trip was an incredible experience, exhausting butincredible, and one that I will never forget! • Miss H Richards

Connecting Classrooms – India

19

20

Future-proofing

Auriel Sumner is studying at Sparsholt College taking a ExtendedDiploma in Animal Management: “Since starting Sparsholt I havemade many new friends. I have already received elevendistinctions and five merits for course work. I recently attendedCrufts and I am learning about the health and care of animals,specialising in nutrition, behaviour and rehabilitation. Following mystudies I hope to continue at Sparsholt to gain a degree in AnimalManagement (Exotic), which means that I can go into Veterinarywork or become a Zoo Curator. ”

Myles Billinge-Jones: “Sinceleaving Park House I have joinedthe Post 16 class at the new CastleSchool facility located on theNewbury College campus. I enjoy it very much and amincreasing my life skills, especiallycooking. They are going to open upa café soon and I will be serving inthere one morning per week. Sincecompleting work experience whilstat Park House, I have continued to work at YMCA in Newbury mostSunday mornings. I also helped them move to bigger premisesopposite Camp Hopson last year’

Abigail Freemantle is studyingBTEC Business and Finance atNewbury College: “The course isgreat in developing my knowledgeof business and for preparing mefor my future. I may decide toprogress to Level 3 althoughideally I would like to do anapprenticeship in Business andAdministration. I have applied for avacancy as an HR Administratorapprentice. The next step is my interview – wish me luck!”

Ali Jasim is studying Computing,Business Studies, Media andFinance at Park House: “I reallyenjoy Park House Sixth Form,especially the independence. I am very interested in my chosen subjects and enjoy them all equally. I hope to go on to university to study abusiness related degree.”

Stephany Head is studying Healthand Social Care Single and DoubleAward and Photography at ParkHouse Sixth Form: “Sixth Form is really enjoyable and I amparticularly pleased with the depth of knowledge gained fromstudying A Levels. My ambition is to run my own business andbecome an entrepreneur.”

With record levels of youth unemployment young people have neverbefore had a greater need to be fully equipped with the knowledge andskills to be able to plan their futures in learning and work and to be ableto gain and maintain employment. High quality careers education, alongwith work-related learning and careers guidance, has ensured that ourlearners make a successful transition into further education, trainingand employment.

Each year Park House receives data which is collated by an independentorganisation and illustrates students’ actual destinations after leaving school.The findings are based on research conducted during the Autumn Term totrack where students have progressed to, for example, sixth forms, colleges,apprenticeships and employment. One figure of particular interest to theGovernment, schools and parents is the NEET percentage (those Not inEducation, Employment and Training).

The term NEET is defined as ‘a temporary outcome as students movebetween different education and training options’ (DFE, 2012). Thecharacteristics of young people who are not participating are diverse,although there are some groups that are at greater risk of becoming NEET.This includes, for example, those with few or no qualifications and those witha health problem, disability or low aspirations.

For a number of years Park House has sustained a very low NEETpercentage and we are delighted to inform parents that despite the currenteconomic climate and the rising unemployment of young people, we have yetagain achieved fantastic results. Our NEET figure for Year 11 leavers in2010-11 stands at a remarkable 2.5% (the Berkshire average is 4.2%).

This figure highlights the effectiveness of our careers educationprogramme and that information, advice and guidance received by ourstudents leads to them making the right decision, but above all, this is afantastic reflection of our aspirational students, who despite the pressure ofexams, continue to demonstrate commitment and determination to theirprogress and development.

The majority of students remained at Park House Sixth Form, othersenrolled at colleges and on apprenticeships schemes with a few entering theworkplace.

Our current Year 11 students are proving to be equally ambitious and arewell on their way taking the next step in their careers – I have yet again beenthrilled with student attitudes towards making the most of themselves. Theyhave shown a real eagerness to explore opportunities and have taken actionto reach their goals. They should feel very proud of their achievements. I wishthem all the best in their future. We feature a few of our students’ successstories on the right. • Miss Bestwick

The new Year 11 Careers Conference which took place in October 2011,provided students with an opportunity to attend a number of engagingseminars and presentations provided by employers and education andtraining providers. It ensured that students received independent,impartial information, advice and guidance.

21

I was recently elected Deputy Junior Mayor of Newbury. I had served onthe Youth Council for over three and half years, and I felt that the timehad come to take on more responsibility within the organisation.

In my election speech to local councillors, the Mayor, Mayoressand Deputy Mayor in the Newbury Town Council chamber, Istated that my work for the Council had given me manyopportunities to experience new things and represent the views ofyoung members of the Newbury area. For instance, I advised onplans for the skate park and I have been working on a campaignto reduce train fares for under 18s in education, about which I amdue to meet and present to First Great Western. Being DeputyJunior Mayor will help with public speaking, as I will be networkingwith many dignitaries at events.

Newbury Young Peoples’ Council are currently organising a“Battle of the Bands” event to help raise money for charity thissummer, and are keen to encourage people to help. We are also participating in the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee and Olympiccelebrations in Newbury. I will be meeting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The NYPC has helped me improve youth facilities and I feel very privileged to be able to take partin this organisation. If you would like to come, meetings are held fortnightly in the town hall on aThursday. Please find me and I will give you more details – also contact me if you would like to sign the petition for reduced train fares for under 18s in education. • Frances Miller, Year 11

A team of sixteen of our budding barristerstriumphed over competition from nine otherBerkshire Schools recently to win the LocalHeat of the National Magistrates’ Mock TrialCompetition.

The prestigious national competition forstudents aged 12-14 requires teammembers to take on roles such as lawyerand witness and to prosecute and defendtheir cases against other school teams.The teams are judged by local Magistratesnot only on the outcome of their cases, but

the quality of their legal and presentationskills. The Park House team won both oftheir cases at Reading Magistrates’ Courton March 3 and was judged the outrightwinners of the Competition.

Louise Rysiecki from Year 9 (who was aMagistrate for the day) said, “I reallyenjoyed the day – it allowed us toexperience the workings of a realcourtroom. I’m so glad I got to be a part ofthis amazing experience because it is avery educational competition and I learnt a

lot from it, but it was also really fun’.

Mr Peaple said, “The Mock TrialCompetition is a fantastic test of students’all-round skills, their ability to think andreact quickly and their ability to work as ateam. Our students resounding success isa reflection of all of those skills. We are veryproud of them.’

A further victory in the regional final in Maywill see the team travel to the national finalin Nottingham later this year. • Mr Slevin

Winners of Local Mock Trial Competition

Frances Miller becomes Deputy Junior Mayor

Cameron Smith (Junior Mayor), Councillor Arthur Johnson (Deputy Mayor ofNewbury), Alma and Councillor Jeff Beck (Mayoress and Mayor of Newbury)

and Frances Miller (Deputy Junior Mayor)

Students run another successful Bands WeekTraditionally Bands Week is run and organised by the Sixth Form, and Omega, thetutor group containing our A Level Music and Music Technology students yetagain came up with a full week of entertainment. Bands from all years battled itout in the hall at lunch times, but the overall winner was ‘Don't Shoot theMessenger’. As all the members of the band are in Year 13, we wish them well intheir chosen pathways, many of them in music, for next year. Their finalperformance was at the School Concert, on 29 March. The proceeds from thelunchtime concerts will go towards technical equipment for Music Technology. • Mrs Simpson

22

Two chamber concerts in the Finzi Music Suite have taken place overthe year. The first of these in October, also celebrated the 10thAnniversary of the opening of the music suite. A wide range of soloistsand ensembles played, featuring performances mainly from the GCSEMusic groups. However, Emma Pontin, from Year 8 played a piano solo.

More recently, in March, the chamber concert highlighted the work of theGCSE students playing either their solo or group performance. The stringensemble started the evening, including Abbey Barr and Katie Part on cellofrom Year 7. We were delighted to hear contributions from Sam Palmer Year 8,

playing Sehuidilla on the clarinet and Charles Matthews in Year 7 play Reverieon the recorder, both to a very high standard. The evening includedperformances that Year 10 and 11 had rehearsed themselves includingCalifornia Dreaming, The Importance of Being Idle and concluded with TheNutcracker Surprise by the woodwind trio. With 25 performances it is notpossible to mention them all, but well done to all those who took part andmade the evening such a success. • Mrs Simpson

We were delighted to be invited toperform at the GCSE MusicConcert on 8th March. From ourpoint of view, the concert wasquit daunting because we werethe only students younger thanYear 9, but it is thrilling and amajor stepping stone for ustowards more and bigger concerts.

The other performers were extremely talented and gave us an insight into thelevel that we should aim for. There was a large variety of music from heavyrock to classical. It was good experience for us as it showed us the differentstyle to aspire to. • Sam Palmer, Year 8 and Charles Matthews Year 7

Student fundraising for new pianoYou will have seen George Chaffey and Lara Jones fronting our schoolconcerts over the past year, as they worked for the Arts Mark Gold.Alex Stevens has also been very active on persuading audiences topart with their money at the door! And now, the culmination of all theirefforts, as well as the hundreds of performers, is proudly sitting inMusic 3, a new Korg Digital Piano which has been chosen for itsversatility and portability. It will be turning out for concerts both in andout of school, so by the time you read this edition, it will already havehad its premierer performance. Thank you to all of you who havehelped us achieve this. • Mrs Simpson

A concerted effort by allIn December, the Park House School Choir led by Mrs Simpson took partin the Christmas Concert. For the Year 7’s that have recently joined us, itwas their first concert, which they all seemed to enjoy along with theolder members of choir!

The choir sang a variety of festive songs including ‘The HeavenlyAeroplane’, ‘Diamond Bright’, ‘Tell out the News’ and ‘That First Noel’ whereDaniela (Year 9) and Craig (Sixth Form), sang a duet, and Saskia preformed asolo accompaniment on her violin. It was a memorable experience, especiallywhen the male choir was made up with teachers! It was fantastic to be up onthe stage singing knowing that all our weeks of hard work had paid off.

The programme also included performances from the Band, BrassEnsemble, ‘Seven Singers’, Lara Jones, The String Ensemble, Brass andWoodwind Ensembles, George Chaffey, ‘Don’t Shoot the Messenger’ (oursuccessful school band), and Year 7 singing Sheik, Rattle and Roll. Theensembles were a new edition to the school and included a variety of agesand abilities.

We thought this concert was a great experience and much fun. We would liketo thank all involved from those preforming to the technical helpers, withoutyou, it wouldn’t have been such a fantastic success! • Daniella Ings andBethany Lee, Year 9

23

Since the Wellness Centre opened its doors to schoolcommunity members at the start of January, we haveseen many remarkable results and are thrilled to beoffering both staff and parents an opportunity toimprove their quality of life through increased fitnessand wellbeing.

Many of our members are now using the state-of-the-art Technogym equipment and appeardelighted with the results. By using thecomputerised key system, they can continuouslytrack and evaluate their progress to ensure theyreach their personal goals. Each member hastheir own reasons for taking part, so here are acouple of success stories so far:

Mrs Brown, Examinations Manager at school,has been using the Wellness Centre and said: “Ihave been using the gym a couple of times aweek and feel so much better for it. I have moreenergy in and out of work which means that Ican really make the most of time spent withfriends and family.”

Mrs Castell, School Receptionist said: “I amnow using the gym twice per week, my clothesare certainly fitting better and I get a real ‘feelgood’ feeling after using it. I have recentlystarted using the key system and have a newpersonal programme which is very motivational.”

Qualified fitness instructor Mrs Bestwick said:“Both Mr Froom and I are delighted with thefeedback received. We are particularly impressedby how our members have been so committed.In addition, we have enjoyed the social aspect ofmeeting parents in an informal, fun and friendlyenvironment. We are very pleased with theresults so far – so well done to all! We are nowstarting to carry out reviews to make furthermodifications to exercise programs, ensuring ourmembers continue to achieve set goals.”

If you are keen to try out our Wellness Centre callMrs Bestwick on 01635 573911 to book your freeinduction. Now is the perfect time to start shapingup for summer! •

Parents springin to action!

PA

RK H

OUSE SCHO

OL

WE

LL

N E S S C E N

TR

EWhen the opportunity came up to train atthe Wellness Centre, given the closeproximity to home and relaxed dress codeI was delighted to find a gym that wasfriendly and non-competitive – it was theatmosphere that really appealed to me.Given it is Olympic year and with mydaughter’s encouragement (Michaela Daywho is the School Sports Ambassador), Isigned up in January and I have trained onaverage three times per week. My goal isto get fitter and lose weight.

I have so far lost half a stone and myresting heart rate, which is a fitnessindicator, has reduced from 93 beats perminute to an amazing average of 76! As aresult I feel more energised and lesslethargic. I have gained knowledge aboutexercise theory from Mrs Bestwick and MrFroom and have applied this to mytraining. I am very pleased and remaincommitted and motivated to my training.

• Alison Day

Fantastic! Superb! Five star! It’stransformed my life! I decided to join dueto lack of fitness with the aim of improvingmy health and general fitness levels. Mylong-term goal is to take part in a nationalrunning event. Having training instructorscombined with state-of-the-art equipment,has allowed me to effortlessly seeperformance improvements automatically.I feel generally more energised and fitterand have seen visible weight loss. Initiallychallenged with twenty minutes on thetreadmill, I am now completing regularpower walks of 7km moving towardsrunning the same distance. Theenvironment is very motivational and Iwould encourage parents to join.

• Ian Kennedy-Compston

24

IBM – for real apprentices!Sadie Hawkins: A two-year IBM Apprenticeship offers a unique andchallenging career path. It involves a range of education, training andpersonal development. We all start with a two-week course to gain anunderstanding of IBM, business conduct, essential skills and productknowledge.

After the initial course everyone is assigned to a project andlocation. We are thrown in at the deep end in real-life projectenvironments. My first project was working on a billing system fortwo of the country’s largest utility companies, providing supportand some minor enhancements to the system. I was thenreposted onto Telefonica (o2) working with the Technical DesignAuthority (TDA) in Management and Infrastructure Support. TDAManagement mainly revolves around resourcing Architect’s hoursand working with off-shore, sometimes resulting in workingunsociable hours but gives me a good experience in peoplemanagement for the future. In Infrastructure Support I monitorserver activity, software compatibility and ensure the software thatwe use from third parties is fully supported and licensed.

IBM encourages its employees to get involved in ‘Giveback’ –opportunities are what you make of them here – I’m currently ViceChair of The Foundation Technical Community, and a part of theApprenticeship Spokesperson and Ambassador, Park HouseMentor, Cyber Champion and involved with Women in Technologyand Connecting Women. This gives me lots of exposure within thebusiness amongst other IBMers and with external clients which isfantastic for my future career!

I’ve been made to feel like a true IBMer, receiving a great deal ofhelp and guidance throughout. I’m very grateful for the all thesupport my managers provide, the opportunities and the uniquestart to my career. I encourage anyone to explore all their options –be it further education at university, a full time job or even anapprenticeship. Eighteen months from now I will have completedmy Apprenticeship, continue my employment at IBM and be on

the same salary as a graduate (in less time and with no debts!). It’s a no brainer really! •

Annabel Owsley: After a fantastic seven years at Park House I have nowbeen working at IBM for ten months on the Futures gap year schemebefore starting at Bristol University to study Psychology next September.The scheme involves working in a real business or technical role beforefurthering education. My role at IBM is to look after graduates,apprentices, futures and industrial placement students. I giveadministrative support to a team of managers, run finance reports forFoundation and have a lead role in looking after IBM Apprentices’education. I have also taken on further responsibilities on such asorganising our futures’ quarterly meeting and orchestrating shadowingopportunities for other students.

One of the main reasons why I applied for the scheme was toboost my CV and to help me get a job after university. I realise nowthat there is a reason why companies value work placements sohighly – I am learning so much this year both about business andthe world of work.

I travel around the country for graduate and apprenticeinductions and recently co-organised an event to kick off nationalapprentice week with over 130 attendees and included talks from the UK General Manager and a Government Minister –exciting and stressful but all the hard work paid off as it was acomplete success!

In December, Sadie and I were lucky enough to have afternoontea with Katherine Watson (the granddaughter of the founder ofIBM). She told us stories about her grandfather’s work ethic andattitudes towards life that you can clearly see are still very much apart of what IBM is today. It was so inspiring to hear how hispersonality and his message of “All the problems of the worldcould be settled easily if men were only willing to think” are soingrained within the business.

Overall, it is such a brilliant experience of the world of work andthe skills I am gaining are utterly invaluable to me as I progress withmy education, giving me a clear view of why you need to workhard in order to get a job you’ll enjoy and be challenged in. •

If anyone wants to have a chat about the schemes IBM have available please don’t hesitate to get in touch, my email address isannabelo@uk.ibm.com

While Alan Sugar’s reality TV show starts up yet again,

Ex-Park House students Sadie and Annabel

update us on…

I am delighted to have been asked to write an article for Personal Bestregarding my progress since leaving Park House in 2008.

After studying Theatre Studies, English Language and History A-Levels I made the all important decision to study a degree inFilm and Television at Westminster University. During my time atPark House there wasn’t the opportunity to attend the fantasticmedia course the school now operates but Theatre Studies stillprovided me with relevant experience in performance, atmosphereand lighting. My only previous media experience therefore hadbeen shooting nonsensical movies with my friends! When I found Westminster University based in Harrow I immediately knew that this was the one for me. Thankfully those nonsensicalmovies starring my friends were useful showreel pieces in theinterview process.

When applying for courses I had no idea that I wanted tobecome a Camera Assistant but attending University helped mediscover these opportunities. I have done my fair share ofchallenging productions, often involving dragging myself half wayacross London at five in the morning for an ‘expenses only’ job. Butultimately one credit on your resume leads to the next and with a bitof perseverance you begin to meet some very worthwhile contacts.My first professional job was on a Sony Playstation Movecommercial. From there I have gone on to work on a number ofother commercials, music videos, BBC projects, and even held aclapper board in front of Keanu Reeves. Some of the mostchallenging work however, has been training on feature films. Lastyear I undertook a two month stretch as a Clapper Loader on a lowbudget short film called ‘The Power.’ In this role you assist theFocus Puller and Director of Photography by keeping cameranotes, organising equipment, fetching batteries, maintaining thecamera, loading film or cards into the camera and operating theclapper board itself. It’s a particularly underappreciated job, but canstill be immensely rewarding.

In my final year of University I pitched successfully for all threemajor student projects, including my graduation film ‘Red Letter’which we decided to shoot on 16mm film on location in North

Wales. It was a logistical nightmare but an incredible experience Iwill never forget. The film has since been nominated for ten awardsat five separate festivals including ‘Best Drama’ at the RoyalTelevision Society Student Awards.

During my last year of University I was also lucky enough to begiven the opportunity to take part in the Olympic Broadcast Trainingprogramme. Following the training I was selected as a CameraAssistant for the Aquatics centre specialising in 3D production.Since then I have also been offered a Camera Assistant role withITV in their London television studios. Although I seem to havetransitioned somewhat accidently into television I am extremelyexcited about what the future holds and cannot wait to see wherethis next job leads me.

On the surface, the film and television industry appears daunting.You need to cope with long unsociable hours, low or no pay for thefirst few years and occasionally being ignored completely. In short,you probably need to be insane, but the rewards for this dedicationand passion are astonishing! You get to work in one of the mostexciting and challenging industries, with some truly remarkable andfascinating people. The sense of teamwork and camaraderie on ajob is second to none and the pride from seeing your work on thebig screen is unbeatable. I urge anyone to consider the Film andTelevision industry as a career choice, from makeup artists toscriptwriters, there truly is a role for every interest. Lastly, don’t bedisheartened by a challenge because the people who succeed arethe people who fight for it. I believe it’s not about who you know, it’sabout who you are! • James Neal

25

A career on the right trackSetting up a tracking shot for James’s graduation film ‘Red Letter’

Top right: Setting up a body-rig shot on the set of ‘Killing Simon Cowell’ and also another dolly tracking shot.

Right: James squashed into an estate car for a shot of a bicycle rider on ‘Red Letter’

Every year thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer,and more than one in three people will develop some formof it during their lifetime. Harry Moseley was one of thesepeople who, at the age of seven, was told he had aninoperable brain tumour. Despite being ill himself, he starteda campaign to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Sadly, Harry passed away in October 2011 but hislegacy lives on through ‘Help Harry Help Others’ (whichsells Harry Moseley bracelets). It is this cause thatinspired the students of 12 Beta to begin fundraising.

In November 2011, we held our first cake sale where wemanaged to raise £90 for Cancer Research UK. This successprompted us to hold another in February 2012 which helped usraise another £100. Our plans for the future are to hold a cake saleevery half term and run the ‘Race for Life’ as a group. We want totake this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported thiscause so far by buying cakes, and would like you to know that

Fundraising for good ’elfBack in December, BenYearwood and I dressed upas Santa and his Elf to raisemoney for Cancer Research

UK. At first I chose our House charity, British Heart Foundation,but later found out that I could choose my own charity and so Ichose Cancer Research UK… and then I had to choose my Elf! I thought it was obvious to choose the Elf from my form and soI asked Ben, although he was taller than me and I had my Elf.Then came the costumes. It was rather easy to find a Santaoutfit but it took some time for Ben to find one that suits hisheight. We started the day by meeting by our form line up andwent off to change in the changing room. Then we were readyto collect. We started off rather slowly and only raised about£2.50, but as we went through the day and started going toForms of all years and collecting after the Christmas Revue bythe final hour of term we had raised £56.10, at the end of theday we were proud and amazed at what we had achieved in solittle time. We were both happy to have this opportunity. • Daniel Hayden

I was pleased to be invited by Daniel to help him in the charityevent and we were both very enthusiastic and excited. Ourhardest challenge was not actually collecting the funds butfinding the costumes to wear. At the start of the day, I didn’thave high hopes that we would collect much more than about£20.00. However, after the Christmas Revue and break time,business began to pick up speed. As we went from form-roomto form-room, we were pleased with the charitable giving fromstudents of all ages and we were astounded at the amount wehad raised in only half a day. We owe our success to the givinghearts of the students of Park House. • Ben Yearwood

Students inspired to support Cancer Research

every penny you donate is making a huge difference. If anyonewould like to order Harry Moseley bracelets, please see one of usand we can arrange this for you. They ask for a minimum donationof £2 plus P&P. Thank you again. • Peggy Slater, Claire Whitworth, Jade Digweed, Emma Naylor,Francesca Pinder, Gemma Pryor, Sam Metcalfe & Miss Lewis – 12 Beta

26

Who needs Vinnie Jones?Several of our staff have successfully completed defibrillator trainingthrough an initiative by SADS UK (the Ashley Jolly Foundation) to installtwo defibrillators at Park House.

Whilst it is unlikely that staff should ever need to use it, it shouldbe seen as reassuring that we now have this facility on-site tosupport our many sporting activities and now the increased publicuse of The Wellness Centre.

Anne Jolly, founder of SADS UK, said: “We are pleased thatPark House has a defibrillator on the premises to restart the heart ifsomeone suffers a cardiac arrest. The sooner defibrillation isadministered the better the chance is of the person surviving.”

The qualified staff pictured are: Mrs Kennedy-Compston, MissMorgan, Mr Miller, Mr Hayes, Miss Jacobs, Miss Howard and MrFroom. • For more information visit: www.sadsuk.org.uk

Having spent Christmas in 44˚c heat inAustralia I then packed my suitcase andtravelled to Burma which was a culture shockfrom the moment I walked outside the airport.In Burma, people should drive on the right butthis does not stop them from changing to theleft whenever they feel like it! Drivers swervethrough the traffic and pedestrians have to runout the way!

I went to Burma with an organisationcalled Graceworks, which mainly runs outof Australia but includes English people,such as myself, who can still be a part ofthe organisation.

I was in Burma to work in an orphanagecalled Garden Home which was situated inthe outskirts of Yangon city. It homed 52orphans aged from three to fifteen. I spentevery day with the children playing withthem all, teaching them dances and justgiving them attention as they are allparentless.

I managed to raise £500 before I left so Iwas able to spend the money on thechildren whilst I was there. I spent most ofthe money paying for transport to get thechildren into the city to teach them toswim. For many of children it was their firstever experience in water and some of thechildren were very scared at the beginningof the first session.

I spent a lot of time working with thechildren trying to boost their confidencewhich was a challenge at times due to thelanguage barrier. I also treated the childrento their first ever restaurant meal allowingthem to choose food other than rice andwater which they were very excited about.

The money also covered paying for thechildren to be fully kitted out with football kitand boots. I have never seen boys fussover shoes like they did. They kicked theirflip-flops off as quick as a flash and thenonce their feet were measured, spent the

next 45 minutes trying on all the differentboot designs.

Afterwards we had a trial football game(in new kit) back at the orphanage beforethe competition and once the children hadhad their kick about they spent the nexthour picking out the stones in their bootsand wiping off the dust to make the bootsshine again. They then placed the kit backin the plastic packaging folded up neatly. Iturned to look at my top which was justchucked in my bag and it hit me how theyvalue something so small. I was told thenext day by the staff that they slept with thekit under their pillows to protect them.

Another special memory from my time inBurma was my last night when I boughttwo giant cakes to say goodbye to thechildren with. I had bought a vanilla and achocolate cake. Aaron one of the boyswho I became close friends to, smearedchocolate cake on my face and said “you,like me,” meaning I was now similar in skincolour. So I did the same thing to him withthe vanilla cake and within a few minutes,all 52 children and six staff members wereinvolved in a huge cake fight!

It was very hard to leave the children as Ihad spent the whole month with them.There are a few things that are hard toforget about my time in Burma, thememories and the friendships I made there,the lack of safety and hygiene, the smell ofsewage and the look on the children’sfaces when they realised I was leaving.

Once I had left Burma, I continued mytravelling to Perth, Western Australia. Istayed in Kingsley which is near the beachand had four surfing lessons which wasbrilliant fun. The waves in Australia are hugeand intimidating but once you get the hangof surfing they don’t then seem bigenough.

I also went on a tour to see the pinnacleswhich is Perth’s equivalent of England’sStonehenge. I also tried sand duning whichis like snowboarding down sand mountainswhich great fun until you fall on your faceand scream like I did and end up with amouth full of sand. Whilst I was in Perth Ihad a few encounters with red backspiders and huntsman spiders but they areeasy to deal with as long as you stay clear.I was in Perth for snake season so certainwalks were closed off due to the risk ofsnake bites.

On my fourth surfing lesson I returnedback to the house I was staying at to seeon the news that just up from where I wassurfing, the beach had been closed due tofive tiger sharks being on the shore whichwas quite a scary thought so I was pleasedto have finished my surfing lessons! I spenta whole month in Perth and the weatherstayed mainly between ˚35’c-38˚c so whenI eventually returned home I was freezing.

I am sad to say I have returned homefrom my travels now. Taking a gap year forme has been a life changing experience. Ifeel I have grown up more, learnt to cope innew situations better and have made somegreat life long friends. I would recommenda gap year to anyone. • Giverny Barrett

Giverny Barrett’s gap year update

27

28

Back in December 35 Year 10’s and five staffventured to Windermere in the beautiful LakeDistrict. Following many years of goodweather on previous trips this year proved tobe no exception. Waking up to sunny skiesand crisp frost on the ground gave us afantastic week filled with climbing, caving,canoeing, mountain walking, high ropesclimbing, orienteering and lots of good food!At the end of the week, students enjoyedstaying in mountain huts, building fires,mountain walking, and preparing for the finalleg of their journey, the homing exercise. Thisyear’s group was fantastic yet again – theireffort and support for one another was trulyinspirational. The students comments whichfollow here show just how much they enjoyedthe trip!

Thank you to all of the members of staff: Mr Brown, Mr Barber and Mr Froom. Thankyou also to Michael Randall, Year 13, whocame along to help. • Mrs A Whyatt

Even now, months after Tower Woodwe’re still laughing at memories of thetrip. There isn’t one word to describehow eventful and fantastic Tower Woodwas, but we all have fond memories.Every moment of Tower Wood was anew experience and the we each builtnew friendships. The huts were a newand unusual experience which wethought that we’d hate at the time, butended up loving. Even though we werealways in a small space, we ended upcreating such an amazing atmospherethat we would all love to repeat.

Whenever we think about TowerWood, we always remember good timesfrom either inside or outside in thebeautiful surroundings. The food wasdelicious every day as we came in fromtough adventures. We all became closerto the teachers and the instructors andwe still have many moments of laughterwhich will always remain some of ourfondest memories.

We highly recommend Tower Wood forall, even if you are the adventurous

type, or not. If you go,we hope that

your minibuses don’t go off of the trackand get stuck in the mud at night. Even ifyou were wet, dirty or tired, you wouldn’tcare because you were with your peerswho also would become some of ourbest friends. It was just lovely!

Thank you to the teachers and theinstructors for making this trip the bestthat we have ever been on, you areamazing and we all hope that you knowit! • Grace Towey, Katie Pryor, Julia Etheridge,Year 10

The only way I can describe the 2011trip to Tower Wood is unforgettable.Almost everything, from staying inmountain huts to building and sailingrafts on Lake Windermere was a newexperience and certainly never boring. I think we all learned a lot about eachother and ourselves, along with someuseful lessons for life.

Though it might seem odd that thefood was a highlight, there was nothingquite like coming back from a day’sactivities, tired, hungry and (usually) wet,to the feasts that were served for dinner.

All in all, an amazing experience, and I’d like to thank all of the teachersinvolved. • Gareth Carless, Year 10

Tower Wood Adventures

2929

30

The coach journey to Switzerland felt like a life time as theexcitement of us getting there was overwhelming. On the ferry therewere many other schools all with their ski trip hoodies on – we wereproudly wearing ours too!

The trip really started when we got into France. We stoppedfor breakfast in a café where we ate croissants and got reallyexcited about arriving in Switzerland.

Eighteen hours later we arrived at our hotel in InterlakenSwitzerland. It was quite a modern hotel and we had our ownlounge area which was great. After getting our skiing equipmentwe had our first Swiss dinner – vegetable soup, curry and afrozen yoghurt for desert.

After a typical continental breakfast buffet, we made packedlunches and got on the coach to the ski lift. The first resort wewent to was Grindelwald. It was amazing to put our skis on forthe first time. The beginners learnt how to go down a slope forthe first time, while the other groups went straight down themountain and got their ‘ski legs’ back! On the first day therewere many funny incidents where people fell over! We all got onthe coach after five hours of skiing, shattered. Everyone found itamazing though! In the evening we went to a local snooker clubwhere everyone played darts and played pool or snooker. It wasreally relaxed and everyone had a blast!

The next day we went by train to a resort called KleineSchnedigg – amazing – it had a huge tepee and an outdoorpizza stand. It was so sunny that day and the conditions werereally nice. We went back and went shopping in a massivesupermarket, where everyone bought loads of food.

On the third day we went to another resort called Wengen.This was a really good resort for the advanced as there wereloads of jumps and an enormous half pipe.

The next day we skied in a mountain called ‘First’. Thebeginners had quite a few falls but they were improving. Theadvanced went on a famous downhill ski track called theLauberhorn and in the evening we watched a movie!!

The next day we went back to Kleine Schlnedigg. This day thesnow was really heavy and it was really hard to see. Thebeginners went down a route called Narnia, it was called thisbecause there were loads of trees and it was really beautiful.

In the evening we went bowling. This was really fun and MissViney beat everyone as she had 131 points!

On our last day skiing, we were all really tired but we didn’twant to finish skiing. We went back to Kleine Schneidigg. It wasa nice day to finish the week and everyone skied/snowboardeddown the mountain to the coach.

We got on the coach for the journey home, most people fellasleep for most of the journey. We had an amazing week! Andwe are hopefully going again next year! • Carys Cox and Courtney Lewington-Metcalfe

Skiing trip 2012 –Jungfrau, Switzerland

High AmbitionsYear 7 student Luke Kimble (inset and right)started snowboarding at the age of 8 withsnowtrax in Christchurch. After beingadvised by coach Darren Schmidt (Chair ofSRSA) to join the Southern Freestyle squadtraining sessions Luke has continued toprogress to competition level.

The last two years has seen Luke taking aplace in the Southern Freestyle Competition andthis year winning the U14s category.

Luke has dedicated himself to snowboarding training every weekat Bracknell’s John Nike Grom Camps with Pat Sharples from theSalomon Freeski team as well as extra freestyle coaching sessions atHemel Hempstead.

His level of commitment has been noticed by his coach Paul Webbfrom Southern Freestyle: “Luke is one of our keenest Snowboarders,he constantly strives to improve the range of his tricks and to addmore style; he is now making very good shapes in the air. The keyelement of freestyle after learning the basics is overcoming the fearof trying new obstacles without being reckless but Luke will take on anew jump or rail in a very mature way. Recently that has includedembracing the new air bag.”

Luke’s progression has been inspired after watching the Winter X-Games and now with slopestyle being awarded recognition for thenext Winter Olympics his ambition would be to one day train for GBteam and we feel he has good prospects of a place. •

Luke Kimble makingshapes mid-air.

31

Park House hosted the Newbury District Trampolining Competition onMonday 12th March 2012. It was yet another highly successfulevening for all Gymnasts involved.

With five schools taking part, the competition was tough. Thiswas made even more challenging with two qualified officialsjudging the competition. Top individual performances came fromAlex Ross, Floella Piddington, Chloe Thurston, Daisy Benson,Pascale Barrett, Grace Towey and Tesni Fakes. All either camefirst or second in their category. Our top team performancescame from:

PHS 1Aimee Dyson, Courtney Lewington-Metcalf, Chloe Thurston

PHS3Floella Piddington, Daisy Benson, Jack Hardiman

PHS5Grace Towey, Katie Pryor, Katie Morton, Tesni Fakes

All these students won their categories. Overall it was a fantasticevening filled with excellent routines. A particular mention mustgo to Tesni Fakes, whose overall combined score was 34.8 –the top mark for both routines in the whole competition of 52entries. • Mrs A Whyatt

Trampolining

Matt hopes to turn tables on brother SamReflecting on recent sibling rivalry at the Newbury Table Tennis Championship MattGoodyer had the following to say:

We started playing table tennis in our living room when I was 9 and Sam was10. We would open a half-size table and start playing. We started going toclub every Saturday at Richard Aldworth school in Basingstoke and fromthere we started to improve under our coach Terry White. That club has seenmany country and regional champions come out of it, Sam and I hope toachieve that kind of level one day.

The person that has inspired the most was our dad who is a top division 1player. Our goal last year was to come 1st and 2nd in the Under 15s whichwe achieved. Our goal this year is to come in 1st and 2nd in the Under 17sbut my personal goal is to beat my brother Sam! • Matt Goodyer

Luke Angell – throwing in confidence...Year 10 Student Luke Angell joined Team Kennet twoyears ago. With little confidence but a clear vision ofwhat he wanted to do, Luke was placed in the handsof Throws Coach Stan Chambers who has sinceworked continuously with Luke to achieve some greatmoments in Javelin.

With continued guidance, Luke has achieved some greatthrowing moments during the last twelve months – the mostmemorable coming at the last meet of the season atGuildford throwing an amazing 50.47m. This took Luke toNumber 30 in the UK standings for 2011. He has brokenrecords time and time again, improving constantly whencompeting either for Park House at Palmer Park or for TeamKennet. He has grown in confidence so much so that he nowleads a group of youngsters on Junior nights at Team Kennet.

Park House staff have been so impressed with Luke thathe has not only shown others how the Javelin event can befun but how it has become a big part in his life by leadingafter-school sessions in athletics.

Luke also competes in the men’s senior league forTeam Kennet, throwing the heavier javelin. He has wonmany open competitions and, as an Under 15, competedfor Berkshire in the South of England SEAA in Barnet in2010 coming sixth out of 15 with his first throw over40m, a huge achievement for a 14 year old.

Luke is an outstanding athlete, and standing at 6' 5"he’s instantly recogniseable on the Athletics circuitbecause of his long blonde hair and bandana! So next time you’re watching athletics, watch out for flyingjavelins! • Cheryl Angell

Luke Angell is a much-valued, well-liked athlete. Lastsummer he threw over 50m for the first time and to seethe delight in his face brought most of the coaches tearsto their eyes. He competes as much as he can against hisown age group and in the men’s league. He is also nowhelps coach younger athletes before his own training. He’sone in a million and gives back 110% if you give him thetime. Well done, Luke! • Nick Bull, Chair, Team Kennet

Des

igne

d an

d pr

oduc

ed b

y W

adde

ll D

igita

l Lim

ited:

017

93 5

7458

9 w

adde

ll@gl

obal

net.c

o.uk

Park House School & Sports CollegeA Leading Academy for the Whole Community

Andover Road, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 6NQT 01635 573911 W www.parkhouse.westberks.org

We need the help of staffand students to produce

Personal Best – thank you again to all those who have

contributed to this issue and we’re sorry if your

story couldn’t be includedthis time.

Do you wish to say somethingpositive about school life?

Please submit ideas and storiesfor future issues to Headteacher,

Derek Peaple.

Don’t worry if you’re not surewhat to provide, the productionteam can help you make thebest of what you have to say

and any photos that you supply.

The part A challenge consists of arelatively simple cryptogram that isintended for beginning cryptographers. Inlater challenges the cryptograms becomeharder to break. In the past, part Acryptograms have been encrypted withthe Caesar cipher, the Affine cipher, theKeyword cipher, the Transposition cipherand the Vigenère cipher.

The part B challenges are intended to beharder. These begin with relatively simplesubstitution ciphers, including the Baconcipher and Polybius square, beforemoving on to transposition ciphers,Playfair ciphers and polyalphabeticciphers such as the Vigenère cipher, theAuto key cipher and the Alberti cipher. Inthe later stages of the competition, theADFGVX cipher, the Solitaire cipher, theDouble Playfair cipher, the Hill cipher, theBook cipher and versions of the Enigmaand Fialkia cipher machines have allbeen used.

The final cipher was encoded in amusical score; this took a little time tocrack as I don’t read music! I really enjoyworking out how these ciphers work andrecognizing the patterns created by theinformation. I hope to go to thepresentation day at Bletchley Park and goon a guided tour of the buildings used inWW2 by the code breakers and meetsome of today’s cryptographers. • Evie Evans, Year 8

Alex Storey and Jack Thomas (Year 7) with Carys Cox and Maddy Lever (Year 8) from Oak House picturedabove are the Winning Team of this year’s Year 7 and 8 House Maths Competition.

With each house entering six teams of four students there were 96 students who took part in several rounds ofchallenging maths problems:

Round one – the sitting relay – sets of four questions where the answer to one question was used in the next.

Round two – the group round – ten problems for the team to answer together

Round three – the puzzle round – a word search, some dingbats and some sequences

Round four – the (chaotic but brilliant) running relay race – answer a question, run the answer to the SixthFormer at the front of the room in charge of your team, collect the next question

The overall winning House was Cedar so congratulations to Miss Atkinson and her students. They are now theholders of the Eves Shield which was designed and made by former Park House Maths teacher, Mrs Eves. A hugethank you to the Sixth Formers that helped, they were the best ever! The year 9 and 10 event will be taking place

in the summer term. • Mrs Gainall

Cipher Challenge

Years 7 & 8 House Maths Competition

This year I decided to take part again in the National Cipherchallenge run by University of Southampton, GCHQ, and IBM. Thecompetition is organized into eight challenges, which are furthersubdivided into parts A and B. Each year communications buildparts of a story. This time it related to the code breaker AlanTurin and his war time work on “Tempest”. Approximately 1500teams entered the competition, involving 11 to 18 year olds.Overall I came first in part A and 65th in part B.