At the beginning of December five Fakenham College students were invited to attended interviews at Oxbridge (Cambridge / Oxford university). This is an immense achievement as only students with the potential to achieve the highest grades are considered and Anna, Isabelle, Abbie, Maddie and Katherine should fell justifiably proud to have progressed this far. Three students have been offered places: Isabelle Burroughes – English at Cambridge University, Abbie Currington – Natural Science at Cambridge University and Maddie Hancock – French and Spanish at Oxford University. In addition a further four students have been called for medicine and veterinary medicine interviews. Archie Bonham, Abigail Dickens, Ellis Meehan, Conny Poynter are all in the process of attending interviews for these high demand disciplines. Fakenham Students have already received offers of university places for September 2016 from a number of prestigious universities including York, Durham, Imperial, Kings College London, Liverpool, Bath and Surrey.

January 2016

www.fakenhamcollege.org.uk

Fakenham College

News

Fakenham College students achieve offers from

Oxford and Cambridge Universities

Students raise vital funds for lifeboat crew

Fakenham College students have raised more than £1,000 for Wells lifeboat by holding bake sales, dressing up and sponsored walks. The money was presented to coxswain Alan Frary at the College Christmas lunch. College council

chairman Luke Morgan said students voted for which charity should receive the money from their year of fund raising activities. Wells RNLI has raised the money it needs to buy a new Shannon Class lifeboat for its station. Mr Frary said money raised by the students would go towards the new boathouse which will need to be built before the new vessel, which is now due to arrive in late 2017, can enter service. He added: “Raising £1,000 is a huge achievement. Without people doing what they have been doing the RNLI would find it very difficult to operate.” Plans for the new boathouse include accommodation for both the lifeboat and its powerful launching tractor and trailer.

Ex Student has her

Essay Published

Fakenham College News

Cambridge Chemistry Challenge

2015 English Language In the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge 2015 Abbie Currington achieved a Gold Award Alex Bird achieved a Silver Award Katherine Wood achieved a Copper Award There were a total of 8535 entries into this year's competition. A total of 71 students won Roentgenium awards (mark over 46), 650 students won Gold awards (mark between 33 and 46), 1348 students won Silver awards (mark between 26 and 33) and 2916 students won Copper awards (mark between 17 and 26).

Recently an article by a former student at

Fakenham College, Daniella Meehan, was

published by ‘Vox’, a student run academic

journal of Politics, Philosophy and

Economics which has affiliations to the

University of York where Daniella is

studying. Her article asks an important

philosophical question; ‘Are we born into

our identity or can we change it?’. She

considers factors such as parental

upbringing, religion, social class, gender,

and appearance and the effect that they

have on our identity. She suggests that

although these are important factors, we

have the ability to become the person that

we want to be. This important philosophical

question will be the focus of our opening

sessions of Philosophical Questions Club

(PQC) on a Thursday lunchtime in F51 led

by the Philosophy and Ethics ambassadors,

and supervised by Mr. Eaves.

http://voxjournal.co.uk/portfolio-item/issue-

xxvi-identities/

Catherine Thorpe, a former A Level

Geography student from Fakenham College,

came back to join the Geography Department

for one week of work experience prior to the

Christmas break. Catherine is presently

studying Geography and Archaeology at the

University of Southampton, with her intention

of completing her undergraduate dissertation

on coastal processes operating on the north

Norfolk coast. As part of this, Catherine

intends to use the survey locations used for

her A level Geography studies as the basis

for her dissertation. Catherine completed

extensive data processing of detailed data

sets which have been collected over the past

three years, in order to examine pre and post

2013 storm surge beach changes. This will

now be used by both A Level Geography

students at Fakenham College and as a

starting point for Catherine's dissertation.

Alumni News

Four former Fakenham College Sixth Form students returned to take part in a geography conference. Chloe Holland, Rebecca Morgan, Will Gorrod and Richard Woodhouse, gave talks to 140 current students aged 13 to 18. Students were treated to stories from far reaching corners of the globe. Outdoor activities coordinator Richard flew in from Switzerland the night before and is off again in less than two weeks. Chloe is one of a select few on her degree course to be chosen to travel to Northern India and Nepal in April. Rebecca is working on her PhD in Earth Science at Oxford University based on the tectonics of Namibia, while Will has recently returned from Australia, via Singapore to complete a Masters degree in renewable energy. Will said “It was a pleasure to come and share my experiences; studying geography at Fakenham inspired me to widen my horizons through study, travel and experiencing different cultures”. Sally Hirst, conference organiser said: “The speakers were able to enthuse students about world issues and enabled them to recognise that they could make a difference, however small their actions”. A Year 12 participant said: “I appreciated the opportunity to meet, question and interact with people who sat in my very place just a few years ago. I really enjoyed the morning.” The event was sponsored by the Friends of

Fakenham Academy.

Ex-students return for Conference

U19 Badminton vs Reepham

The U19 Team was Jordan Richardson, Peter Bridges, Louis Shergold, Luke Osborn, Aaron Burton and Tom Hamilton. The matches were won,

other than against their first team pair that had a County player playing for them. Overall it was a 6-3 victory to Fakenham and is a positive start to the badminton season. By Tom Hamilton

www.fakenhamcollege.org.uk

Election of New College Council

Every year the student body elects a new

College Council made up of Year 12 students

to represent them and organise events. This

year we had 13 candidates campaigning to be

elected onto the council. All the candidates

were very enthusiastic about their campaign

to join the council, and many posters were put

up around college to encourage others to vote

for them. We would like thank everybody who

stood for election. The election took place

during assembly on 24th November where

each student was given an opportunity to vote

for the eight people they would like to be part

of the College Council. After counting the

election results, we surprisingly had a three

way tie between students for the eighth spot

on the council. We decided the fairest way to

choose a new member was a random card

draw, and the person who picked the highest

card would get a spot on the council. The new

members of Fakenham College Council who

were voted for by the students are Luke

Osborn, Josh Creasy, Heather Kerr, Ellie

Buck, Tim Wayland, Josh Cunningham,

Georgia Bottomley and Morgana Welch. We

are sure they will all do an excellent job at

organising events, representing the student

body and raising money for their chosen

charity.

During the October half term, Year 11 and Year 12 Drama students went to the Theatre

Royal in Norwich to see the touring production of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’.

We were greeted with a sign on the auditorium door warning us of “bad language”,

“violence” and most astonishingly “nudity”.

We all had great expectations - knowing the film and book well, this was going to be a

brilliant evening. We weren’t disappointed. Starring Ian Kelsey and Patrick Robertson

who were familiar faces to us from ‘Casualty’ and ‘Doctors’, this famous cast led up a

strong all male ensemble. With outstanding transitions and movement sequences that

had us all on the edge of our seats, we felt inspired and motivated by this thought

provoking production. One of the highlights was the colour scheme. Imagine everything

being taken from a grey, blue, brown and black pallet. Denim costumes which absorbed

the blue and white lighting created a drab and dismal effect visually. In stark contrast the

final scene found us in awe as the enormous fixed set flew out revealing a huge

cyclorama projection of the beach, with Andy Dufresne (the protagonist) in view wearing

a bright red Hawaiian shirt. It was quite the awesome sight that was intended! If you know the story you’ll understand

that this was a tricky piece to recreate live on the stage. Tackling uncomfortable and highly controversial themes I

was a little concerned that this would not be an easy performance to enjoy. However, these scenes were not omitted,

but taken on with subtlety and care.

Shawshank Redemption Trip

Well done to the A-level mathematicians who pitted their wits against the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge this year. Over 100,000 students take part in this every year. Gold certificates are awarded to the top 10%, Silver to the next 20% and Bronze to the next 30%. This year our highest score was from Tim Wayland, who was awarded a Gold certificate. Silver certificates went to Abbie Currington, Katie Wood, Charlie Sopp and Will Feneley. Bronze certificates went to Joe Withers, Matthew Sims, Euan Edwards, Cydney Notcutt, Joe Vertigan, Ellis Meehan and Joel Tann. Well done to them, and everyone who took part.

Senior Maths Challenge

Team Maths Challenge

Four crack maths students from the College

travelled to City of Norwich School in Norwich

to take part in the Team Maths Challenge,

competing against other schools from Norfolk

and Suffolk. They were Katie Wood, Abbie

Currington, Will Feneley and Tim Wayland.

The competition consists of three gruelling

rounds - a team round, a cross number round

and a shuttle round - all filled with

mathematical riddles that one of the team

could only describe as... 'annoying'. Still, the

team attacked them with ferocious

concentration, muttering mysterious

incantations to one another filled with words

like 'prime factors', 'integer solutions' and

other apparent gibberish. Despite their best

efforts, and a stellar performance on the

cross number puzzle, the team did not

manage to secure a place in the top three

this year. However a good time was had, and

Fakenham College will return next year in

another attempt to wrest the prize from the

county's finest schools. Well done!

Fakenham College News

Christmas Lunch and Quiz

National Citizen Service

National Citizen Service is a government-

funded initiative that supports community

engagement, social action and social mixing

among young people. NCS aims to bring

together young people from all different

backgrounds in a common purpose. Offering

new experiences it gives them the chance to

take on new challenges, learn new skills and

meet new people. This helps them to discover

their own talents and realise their potential

whilst having fun. Year 12 students were

offered the opportunity to participate in a four

day outdoor activity residential, three days of

team building followed by community service

which raised funds for a children’s charity.

Jonathan James and Calum Higgins took up

the challenge at October half term through to

Christmas and have successfully completed all

stages of the award.

College students enjoyed their annual Christmas lunch at the end of the autumn term. This was followed by a team quiz which included a range of topics from geography to music Christmas top hit songs. Thanks must go to the college council and Miss Ladds for organising the meal and Mr Wilkes, Mr Tosdevin and Mr Halfpenny for their enthusiastic quiz adjudication.

"I felt very inspired (yet also very disappointed) by the result of the 2015 general election, something I had learnt about at College, including at our question time with the parliamentary candidates for our constituency of Broadland. Therefore, I decided that joining a political party would be a good way of being able to impact policy decisions made in parliament and maybe even impact the outcome of the next general election. I hadn’t been old enough to vote in the election, but I knew that if I were, I would have voted for the Labour Party. I felt that this was the party which I really connected with; I encourage everybody who feels strongly about any political party to join one, it was simple to do and you can contribute to many decisions made for the party and the country! I was then able to vote in the election for the leader of the Labour Party, a contest for which I personally felt an emotional and political investment in, as did clearly many others to judge by the enormous turnout for this election. It was very interesting for me to watch and engage in the contest about topics I feel passionately about and to listen to four different politicians discuss their vision for the country’s future; I could see that like me, they all felt extremely strongly about their personal views. Whilst I was glad at the result for the election, more importantly I felt proud to have taken part in such a large and inspiring exercise in democracy."

Gemma Viner

Politics, elections and joining

political parties

www.fakenhamcollege.org.uk

First Aid Course HEFA

Fakenham Presentation Evening took place on 17th December. Students were awarded with GCSE and A Level certificates. A number of students received their certificates for the English Baccalaureate which awards those students who achieved a GCSE grade C or above in English, Maths, Science, Foreign Language and Humanities subject. Further awards were presented within each faculty. A number of College students received an honorary Norfolk Scholar award which identifies students who achieved a high standard at A Level. The Principals’ Award for Excellence was presented to Jonathan James (GCSE) and Ben Johnson (A Level).

On Monday 23rd November 2015 thirty of our Year 12 students attended a three hour Essential First Aid course. This covered emergency life support procedures for adults, children and infants and included the following: Communication and casualty care Looking after yourself and the casualty Adult, child and infant resuscitation Treatment of severe bleeding and chest

pain Treatment of choking in adults, children

and infants Treatment of an unconscious casualty. Students spent the three hours learning from a qualified First Aider from St Johns Ambulance and have now obtained a certificate which qualifies them in Essential First Aid, which is valid for three years. We believe that these types of extracurricular activities are essential for our students. They help them to understand their wider community and to take an active part in supporting the people within it.

Presentation Evening Camouflaged Learning

Camouflaged Learning provided an after-noon of team-building, resilience training and problem solving for Year 12 students. A really successful and enjoyable session.

The Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) programme aims to raise the aspirations, enthusiasm and attainment of 14-17 year-olds with regard to higher education by making a valuable contribution to current academic research at the University of

Cambridge. Participants are actively engaged by carrying out their own hands-on practical investigations in the form of an archaeological dig, which has a positive impact on their attitudes and aspirations and helps develop transferable cognitive and personal skills. HEFA is aimed at learners capable of applying to top-level universities and helps them to raise their educational confidence and aspirations. Liberty Hull and Isabelle Burroughes acted as pit supervisors for Year 9 students and can be seen here receiving their certificates which acknowledge their highly skilled report writing.

What’s On? 5th February Year 12 Reports issued

11th February Year 13 Reports issued

11th February Year 12 Parents Evening

15 to 19 February Half Term

1st to 8th March Spanish trip

3rd March Y12 HE Progression Evening

10th to 13th March Krakow trip

25th March to 8th April Easter Holiday

15th April Year 12 Full Reports issued

29th April Year 13 Final Report issued

16th May to 29th June Exam period

Fakenham College Cryptic Wordsearch

#1 by Red Dragon … it’s what you wanted!

H T M Z M A T H S

H E O A B C E H C

I A R S R A I I A

S M G O D D C G F

T R A P D E I H F

O O N E R M V F E

R P N E R Y A I I

Y O V E R T T E N

P O P E B O Y L E

M L E A G E N D A

A P F O H C Y S P

CLUES

This subject's so yesterday.

Academy group is where

'Dave' lives.

Tuesday on the Frenchman's

gras(s).

Anthony was short with

pitch, I hear!

This subject always adds up.

Wine-tasting Geographer

in our midst.

This secretary's in a state about

education. Rat was Boomtown's snare.

No shaker but won't keep still. 20% of your bill initially.

5th Emperor of the Roman

type.

A modern-day school?

This gain won't gross you out.

Meeting? I must run to

this!

Six balls and you're not under.

Single target setting moun-

tain range.

Lording it up with a friend.

This 'small' Welshman is

composed.

Pick any 6 from 49 at a hair-

dresser

100 degrees art teacher.

Typing or swimming, or per-

haps Black.

Drug that's a has-been, I

hear

VAT? I can head this church. Old fashioned principal.

Talking Heads killer is crazy.

Roman client king of Judea

- he's great!

Bundle this paper in 500s.

Might be reason I can't find

it!

There's no "I" in this word, said

captain.

This house is Collegiate.

Fakenham College News

Battle of the Ballots trip "On the 15th December, Year 13 Politics and Sociology students attended a conference at the UEA about the nature of elections in both the UK and the USA. We listened to three different lectures from university lecturers about how democratic elections in the UK and the USA actually are. Considering the fact that both countries are generally regarded as democracies, we were shocked to learn about how undemocratic certain aspects of the elections are. We then had a question and answer session with the three speakers which provided us with a lot of knowledge and a range of opinions, both from students and the speakers. During our lunch, we had to plan a presentation to give to four panellists and other students from other colleges. The Fakenham College group decided to conduct their debate on whether the UK electoral system needed reform. We had to present both sides of the argument, and in the end came to the conclusion that the electoral system should be changed to the Additional Members System, then panellists asked us questions about our views. We also heard presentations from groups about reforming the USA electoral system, and whether the voting age should be lowered to 16, which were very interesting. Overall, the day was extremely informative and we all found it very enjoyable to consider the opinions of people that we listened to. The information we learnt will be of great use to us in our exams in June."