Welcome from the Headteacher

October 2014

Term 1 2014/15

Welcome to our first Newsletter of 2014-15 and a special

welcome to parents/carers of new students to Kendrick.

We have had an excellent start to this academic year and

all our new students in Years 7, 12, and the three new stu-

dents in Year 9 and 10 appear to have settled in well and

are enjoying life at Kendrick. I have had conversations with

all Year 7 students and some Year 12 students and overall

they tell me they are very happy about being at Kendrick.

From the younger girls, they have told me how they feel

inspired by everything around them: their teachers, lessons

and most of all the older students. Students in Year 12 have

spoken of how welcoming and pleasant everyone has been

and how they have very much appreciated their teachers

and staff, as well as, their Buddies who have helped them

settle in. We have been joined by new staff this year: Mr

Michael Wilson in the Economics and Business Studies De-

partment, Mrs Yusra Malik in the Mathematics Depart-

ment, Mrs Cathy Johnson in the Biology Department, Miss

Katherine McDiarmid who is our Examinations Officer and

Data Manager. We also welcome back Dr David Wright in

the Chemistry Department.

Once again we were very pleased and proud of all our stu-

dents’ achievements in the summer examinations and con-

gratulate them for their outstanding results. We are looking

forward to Speech Day in December when we can welcome

back our former Year 13 students, most of whom have

started their university courses, as well as the students who

left in Year 11 and formally acknowledge and congratulate

them for their success.

It has been a busy term as you can see from the number

and variety of activities contained in this newsletter. The

usual Term 1 events have taken place including our now

annual School Birthday celebrations in September; charity

events, notably Year 9 Charity Week which raised an aston-

ishing £1270.50! There was also the SMILE Day event earli-

er in October. This week the House Music Competition took

place, which for the first time was performed in the even-

ing to a packed audience of parents and friends; we con-

gratulate Sidmouth House for winning the competition.

Outside of school, there have been a number of trips in-

cluding the very successful residential trips to France and

Germany that most of the Year 10 students were part of.

Another regular feature of this term has been the Year 11

Work Experience Week early in October, when students

went on placements, experiencing the world of work in a

wide range of work places and professions. The reports we

have received have shown us that not only did the girls

enjoy their placements but also the employers

were extremely happy to have them.

Also this term we have been continuing our

commemorations of the centenary of the start

of First World War which started with our

Battlefield Trip in March and the Reflections

Concert in July. This term, Mrs Carden, Head of

the Art Department, has been working with

Year 9 to produce our own poppies which we

will place in our grounds on 11/11 as part of our

Remembrance activities. Other Departments,

including Textiles, Food Technology, English,

History, Music, and Mathematics are also mak-

ing their preparations for that week.

I would like to once again ask parents to com-plete an online survey called Parent View. This survey is run by the government and is the first port of call for an Ofsted inspection team when they begin a school inspection. We feel that in the event of an inspection we would want pa-rental views to be a factor in that process. There is no restriction on who can view the results and the whole process is anonymous. The survey takes the form of a set of 12 statements to which there are responses ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. This is a potential source of parental feedback that we would like to use as we value your views on the school. The survey is limited as there is no space to make comments, but it is very quick to fill in; you have to register with Parent View prior to completing the survey. We would appreciate if you could complete this survey in the next few weeks. Please click here for a link. I would like to thank parents/carers for their

support and encouragement so far this term. It

has been a pleasure meeting new parents at the

Year 7 and 12 Information Evenings as well as

parents of Years 8 and 10. I would also like to

thank parents who have made a voluntary do-

nation to our School Fund; your support is vital

to us and very much appreciated.

Finally, my particular thanks to staff and stu-

dents for their tireless efforts and focused atti-

tude this term; I wish everyone a very happy

and restful break.

Best wishes

Ms Christine Kattirtzi, Headteacher

Contact

Kendrick School

London Road

Reading

RG1 5BN

www.kendrick.reading.

sch.uk

0118 9015859

admin@kendrick.

reading.sch.uk

Y9 Charity Week

Work Experience

School Birthday

National Poetry Day

Y10 MFL Residen-

tials

Science News

Classics News

Geography News

KPS Update

Valerie Hume Bur-

sary

PE News

Calendar

Kendrick News

Year 9 Charity

Week took

place from the

13th-17th Octo-

ber and it was

jam packed with fundraising events!

Each form in Year 9 organised a bake sale

and sold home-made cakes to staff and stu-

dents around the school. We also ran a

food fair on Wednesday lunchtime, where

we ran stalls, sold home-made smoothies

and organised games. The teachers also

supported the cause and on Tuesday lunchtime eight teachers com-

peted in an obstacle course in the Sports Hall! We ended the week

with an own clothes day and we also ran a relaxation spa on Fri-

day lunchtime: students and staff could pay 50p each to have

their nails painted or a henna design (or both!)

In addition to all of the events at school, we also organised spon-

sorship to raise more money. Each student chose a different way

to raise money, such as swimming lengths in the local pool, giving

up unhealthy snacks for a week, doing a sponsored skip and a

sponsored run!

The week was great fun and a great success! We raised

£1,270.50 for Cancer Research. We would like to

thank all of the staff and parents who supported us and helped us to raise so much money for a great

cause.

Year 9 Charity Week

World Smile Day World Smile Day was a huge success, with many girls throughout the school wearing an item of pink and buying a cupcake. £92.44 was raised from selling all the cakes at the cake sale and £770.66 was raised in total. All the money raised was donated to Breakthrough Breast Cancer, an in-credible charity that funds a quarter of all breast cancer re-

search facilities in the UK. We would like to thank all the girls, parents and staff for making World Smile Day possible and raising a huge amount of money for a great charity. Thanks Abigail Cairns 12AFH and Louise Rooker 12TW

Year 11 Work Experience… by Naysa Munga On the week commencing 6th October, I ventured into the world of work. Having been told that there was the possibility I would be bored when working 9-5 I wasn't apprehensive but I was a bit nervous about the type of work I would be doing. I envisaged my 40 hour week to be full of coffee making, filing and running errands. But, it was much more than that. My work placement was at an E-commerce company called Ad-vansys in Wokingham. I did my research before arriving so that I had an idea about the company and what they did, but to be honest I was still unclear about what they actually did. When I first arrived at the com-pany, a whole 20 minutes early, I was asked to sit in one of the meeting rooms until Sharon, the lady who would introduce us to the company, arrived. The meeting room was essentially a glass box, so I sat waiting surrounded by people who were probably wondering what I was doing there. Eventually Sharon arrived and I was given my induction to the company, which included the rules about the company. After that, we went and looked round the building and I was introduced to each of the 'groups'. It felt a bit like High School Musical with the cliques as each group of workers had their own area within the open-planned room. There was the 'techie' group, the 'sales' team and the copywriters. I spent my week with the copy-writers. Before work experience, I had no idea what copywriting was, but I was swiftly introduced to it and I found it really interesting. I really liked the fact that we were given our own desk space, with our own computer and login, so I felt as if I was part of the company. Copywriting not only enhanced my literary and research skills, I also learned how to collect relevant information and use it in either an article, blog or press release. I've always struggled with being concise, so this week really helped me to think constructive-ly about how much to write, what the business' needs and wants are as well as what is relevant. Whilst on work experience, I learned all about the Island of Rhodes in Greece particularly about a small resort called Pefkos as I had to write many a blog about the best places to visit as well as family guides for holidays in Greece, how to create the perfect habitat for hamsters as well as how to groom cats - one of Advansys' cli-ents was a pet supplier, how LED lights work and why you should switch from incandescent bulbs to save you money, electric bikes and their benefits for your health and the environment but most importantly I learned about the company. My favourite copywriting tasks were the ones on SEO Junkies, a subset of the company, who were responsible for SEO, Search Engine Optimization. Whenever I type into Google I'm now aware of the websites that are at the top and why they are lucky enough to be there as 75% of web users never click beyond the first page of search engine results. I also learned about Pay-Per-Click where companies pay to be either on the sides of search engines or at the top as advertisements to gain more sales. The most interesting part of SEO was Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO). Having chosen business studies for GCSE, this aspect really appealed to me as it was about how businesses online ensure that visi-tors convert (do what they want them to do which could be either purchase something or download an app, for example) as much as possible. Groups like SEO Junkies, work with businesses to optimise conver-sions, essentially make sales to increase revenue, by tweaking fonts, making the 'click to buy' button bigger or stand out more or even just make sure the customer's baskets are visible at all times. It's amazing how little tweaks statistically make a difference to conversions. As well as learning a lot from hours of research, I did have a fun time. I shared my work experience placement with Sakshi and during our lunch break, we created our own little routine of eating and then playing a game of table football. Yes, table football! There was also a ping pong table but we only got to play that on 'casual' Friday. I really enjoyed work experience and although when asked if I preferred work or school I did respond with school, I enjoyed learning some really new things, that I won't forget as I use the internet all the time, and also meeting some hilarious, lovely and new people that were always making jokes and laughing so they made my 40 hour week go much quicker. The one thing I won't forget was when on my last day, having baked some muffins as a 'thank you' and given them a card, at 5pm instead of the usual 5:30pm finish the phones were turned off and the music and disco ball was switched on and the table football and ping pong tournaments began! I was completely in awe and loved it and felt like I'd earned it after commuting and working all week. I was especially proud of only losing 10-2 to the Advansy champion of table football. I highly recommend work experience even if it's not in the field you're interested in as you can learn so much about the world of work from what you do and the people around you.

Page 4 Kendrick News

Kendrick School Birthday and KOGA Reunion September 2014

On Friday 19th September 2014 the school celebrated its 137th Birth-

day. This started with a whole school assembly written and led by stu-

dents from Year 10. Mr Richmond had looked back through school

magazines and other artefacts to find information about Kendrick at

War and the students had written the Assembly using these facts.

Chief writer was Warda Mansur, ably assisted by Vini Goyal, Harini

Suren and Atena Soltanian. It all started with the sirens and then the

‘all clear’ sounding on 11th February 1943 and four girls emerged from

one of the school’s three air raid shelters, ‘Dingley Dell’. Isobel Dyer,

Shefali Kelkar and Serene Thomas played three Kendrick girls and

Chloe Naylor played the part of an evacuee from East Sheen. They

talked about the bombing on Reading the previous day and also the

experiences of the evacuee and the Kendrick Knitting Klub (KKK). Mrs

Runnells played a teacher of the time, who reflected back over life at

Kendrick in WW1 and finished with a moving poem, written by a stu-

dent at the outbreak of War in 1939.. The assembled students and staff joined together in a rendition of the school

song ‘Floreat Kendricka’, which the students had been practising in their Music lessons with Miss Coad.

All tutor groups also prepared their cakes for the cake competition. Year 7 were tasked with making individual cup-

cakes and arranging them on a board, Years 8 and 9 decorated theirs with an Arts theme, Years 10 and 11 with a

subject of their choice and Years 12 and 13 with any aspect reflecting Kendrick life. All the cakes were displayed

for everyone to see at first break and were then judged to find the best in each

Year Group, the best in each Key Stage and also the overall best. The overall

winning cake was a clever representation of the English Department sitting on

books by 11S. Central to the cake display was the beautiful official cake created

by Sophie Weeden 11S. The students enjoyed an extended lunch time with a pic-

nic with their tutor groups. Unfortunately, this had to be indoors due to the un-

settled weather, with Years 7 and 8 in the School Hall and other Years in their

Form Rooms. At the end of the picnic, photographs were taken of the girls who

were actually celebrating their own birthdays on the day, with Ms Kattirtzi by the

official cake and everyone joined in singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to them and to their

school.

Following the Birthday celebrations with the current students, former students

and staff were invited back to attend a Reunion on Saturday 20th September

from 2.00pm to 4.00pm. They were able to enjoy tours around the school,

with guides from Year 8 and members of the Head Girl Team, an address by Ms

Kattirtzi, followed by refreshments and a taste of the celebration cake in the

Gym. Among the ‘old’ girls present were a number who were at Kendrick dur-

ing WWII, or just after and we were able to share their memories of the time,

which gave more meaning to the facts we had learnt from our assembly.

Many thanks to all who helped to make this day a success: Mr Colin Lewcock,

Mrs Dale Vaughan, Mrs Sam Jordan and Mrs Lesley Pearce. Also thanks to the

Year 8 guides: Emma Bannister, Orla Brown, Mya Coulter, Sophie Matthews,

Lauren Mentiply, Esha Mungale, Eunice and Kirsty Phillips, Zaynab Rashid and Wanqing Sun; and the Head Girl

Team: Simran Mann, Ellie Dodson, Sravani Royyuru, Sana Ali, Leah Ward, Faith Adikpe and Ka Yan Cheung, who also

played the piano as the ‘old girls’ assembled in the Hall and accompanied the school song.

Mrs Brunsdon and Mrs Griffiths, Cover Supervisors

Page 5

National Poetry Day -Thursday 2nd October

Journey’s End

On Thursday 18th September, Year 9 went to the Watermill Theatre, Newbury, to watch a play named Journey’s End. Journey’s End is a play by R.C Sheriff and is set in the trenches in 1918- towards the end of WW1. Here are some thoughts from various Year 9 students: “I found it very interesting how each of the characters had their own way of trying to ignore the violence.” “It was really interesting and gave us a really informative view into what the first world war was like and how much of a strain the soldiers experi ence.” “The play was shocking and eye-opening from beginning to end.” “Stanhope’s mood changing was really effective.” “The venue was great and the play gave a real, informal feel of the first world war.” “The actors, the venue and the set were great and it felt so real.” “It was an interesting experience to watch a play based around just one set.” “Although the end was so sad, it was definitely an effective reminder of the first world war and also an en joyable play.” “After a coach journey, we were all pretty excitable, but the play was so good that we were drawn in straight away.” Jess West and Yukina Partington, 9N

Thursday 2nd October was National Poetry Day.

The theme this year was REMEMBER which tied in nicely with thoughts of the First World War. Students were given the challenge of using their poetic talents to write a poem on the subject and the poems produced were extremely moving and thought-provoking.

This is the poem written by Mary Lobo 11S. All of the stu-dents who took part should be commended and their poems will remain on display in the Library for Remembrance Day.

Mrs Pearce, Librarian

Page 6 Kendrick News

We left for Germany on Sunday 5th October and returned on Friday 10th October. The trip was amazing! We stayed in pairs, threes or fours in the houses of German families and spoke to them in German in the evenings and in the daytime we did a variety of activities… Monday 6th October: We travelled to Rüdesheim where we got on a cable car to go up to the top of the mountains. The views were amazing .There were lots of vineyards below and we had excellent views of the river Rhine. When we got to the top, we walked to a huge monument called “Germania” that was built to remind visitors of the strength and courage of the German nation in wars of the past. Then we went to a place called “Die Zauberhöhle.” This is a cave which had a pitch-black passageway leading to a viewing-point at the end where hunting friends of Prince Wilhelm used to admire the stunning views in the 19th Century. We then visited some ruins of a castle that was built in the 19th century to encumber sailors below on the Rhine with melancholy thoughts and inspire poets. On the way back down the hill, we travelled by ski lift and got off in Assmannhausen where we stopped for lunch. After lunch we took a boat trip to the beautiful Rheinstein Castle with lovely views and a fascinating history. Tuesday 7th October: We visited the Mathematikum museum in Giessen which was very interesting. Then, we were given some questions to answer and things to find in Giessen town centre so that we could explore and discover things about the area. Later, we visited a huge Haribo shop which was a real thrill – so many new varieties!!. Wednesday 8th October: We visited the Hessenpark, an outdoor museum, where old buildings from various parts of the Federal State of Hessen had either collapsed or were about to collapse and had been rebuilt. We had a guided tour and discovered what the lives were like of common people in Ger-many hundreds of years ago. Afterwards, we went to the top of a hill (the Neroberg) in the centre of Wiesbaden, the capital of Hessen, and then travelled down it and back up it again by a funicular rail-way. The way in this train works is so clever and yet so simple. Does anyone know how it works? We then visited a cafe where we had hot chocolate to warm up after the wet weather. Then, to finish off the day, we visited a beautiful Russian Orthodox chapel. Thursday 8th October: We visited Wiesbaden which is a spa town and the capital of Hessen. We were given the chance to sample the thermal waters which allegedly have great healing powers, although we were not convinced on account of the extremely salty taste! We had a guided tour during which we wit-nessed the pathetic performance of the tired cuckoo of the largest cuckoo clock in the world! Then we were given time to go shopping. Then we went to Schloss Freudenberg which is castle that has lots of exhibits designed to test your senses, which was totally novel and very fascinating. On the way home

we visited a German supermarket which enabled us to make our last minute purchases for our families. The trip this year was amazing and so much fun. The activi-

ties were great and it was a great experience living in the

houses of German people. We would recommend this trip

to all future Year 10 classes as it benefitted us on many lev-

els: culturally, linguistically and also it gave our self-

confidence a massive boost too! We hope you have an

equally fun time when it is your turn. Viel Spaβ!

Orla McCoy and Sarah Hurden

Year 10 Residential to Wiesbaden, Germany

From the 5th to the 10th of October, 35 year 10 students went to Tours in France as an Educa-tional trip. Tours is the largest city in the central region of France and it is nicknamed ‘Garden of France (“Le Jardin de la France”)’ because of the many parks in the city. We visited many places such as the Clos Lucé and gardens, Chocolaterie Bigot and Grand Aquarium de Touraine, Underground Caves and Futuroscope. We also visited two of the many castles in Tours such as Château Villandry and Château Chenonceau. On the day we arrived, we met the families we were staying with. In the mornings each one of our families would drop us off at the meeting point, where we met all the others on the French trip, before we went off visiting places in and around Tours. After vis-iting places, we would return to the meeting point and meet our families who would then take us back to their house. We had dinner with them and went to sleep at their house. Staying with a French family was truly an interesting experience because we learnt more about the local French peoples’ lives , but more importantly our French improved greatly. On the first day, of visiting places, we visited Clos Lucé and gardens, Mini Châteaux, Chocolaterie Bigot and Grand Aquarium de Touraine. Clos Lucé was one of the many homes Leonardo Da Vinci lived in, however this house was the last house he stayed at. Clos Lucé was very beautiful and we all had an amazing time exploring the gardens.

The second day could have easily been one of the most inter-esting days of the trip. We visited Villandry Châteaux, Villandry caves and went on a very scenic boat trip along the river Loire. Villandry is known for its outstanding gardens and its very amusing maze. Some of us played hide and seek in the maze and had a great time! After the castle we visited the hand made caves, in the caves there were stalactites, stalagmites and amaz-ing items undergoing the process of limestone petrification. Some animal statues, plants and very detailed paintings that

took over 3 years to be completed. On our last day, before travelling back to England, we went to Fu-turoscope. Futuroscope is a theme park based upon the theme of multimedia, cinematographic and audiovisual techniques. There were many amazing simulations, most of us had never been on brilliant simulations like the ones at Futuroscope. One ride that all 35 of us loved was a ride called ‘dancing with the robots’. Some of us even went on the ride seven times in a row. We all enjoyed the trip very much as we visited some very beauti-ful castles and had an amazing time at Futuroscope. We could all say that it is one of the best trips we have ever been on so far. Thank you to Madame Hulley, Madame Cevera and Mrs Starkey for organising and accompanying us on the trip. We could not have done it without you! by Vidhushi Taduri and Simran Suden 10J

Year 10 Residential to Tours, France

Having a ‘Star Party’ Over the summer holidays, some of us borrowed the binoculars and a telescope from the

Physics department and had our own star party one night. We stayed out there for hours,

identifying constellations and enjoying the clear night, all wrapped up in our sleeping

bags. The equipment was also taken to Guide camp. The Guides thoroughly enjoyed their

time with the equipment and the evening even inspired a few of them to sleep under the

stars that night (however due to the temperature they were back in their tents half an

hour later).

Ruby Jones 13TC

The Physics dept now has binoculars, ‘backpack’ telescopes, and mini-

Dobsonian telescopes, all purchased with prize money won by last year’s stu-

dents from the AWE science challenge. These all provide an easy way of

‘getting started’ in observing the night sky (and can be used for wildlife!). They

are all easily portable and if you are interested in borrowing one, please see

the Physics department noticeboard.

Mrs Conlon, Head of Physics

Physics Coursework Trip On Monday 6th October 2014, the 41 Year 12 Physics students went on a trip to Thorpe Park as part of our AS Level coursework. The trip allowed us to ex-perience "Physics in Motion" and let us see, at first hand, how physics can be used in the "real world", namely in the design and creation of rollercoast-ers. We will use our experience of Conservation of Energy when we investi-gate a related practical in our AS Unit 3.

Since it was a weekday, the queues were short, allowing us to go on as many (or as few!) rides as we pleased. We experienced accelerating up to 80mph in under 2 seconds on Stealth, the 4.5 maximum G-force of Nemesis Inferno and the 100 degree drop of Saw: The Ride.

All of us had a lovely, albeit slightly wet day, and we would like to thank Mrs Conlon, Mrs Sheppard, Mr Walker and Mrs Shyam Prasad for accompanying us and organising the trip!

Ria Pandit 12 AFH

British Physics

Olympiad 2014 -15

A2 Challenge 12 A2 Physics students have just completed this preliminary round of challenging Physics questions. 5 students

achieved a MERIT award, Alicia Carrington, Naomi Pygott, Avishi Saxena, Chiara Sexton and Leah Ward who

achieved the highest mark. They will be going on to do the main BPHO competition in November.

AWE A Level Science Challenge Day Wednesday 10th September 2014 was a very ex-citing day for the Physics department - represent-atives from AWE visited, bringing a whole host of fun physics challenges for us to try out. All 30 A2 Physics students were involved, grouped into 5 teams of 6. We had 45 minutes per challenge - which was a lot less time than you'd think when you're working through the tasks; we had a go at launching ball bearings and predicting their land-ing

point, refracting a laser, code breaking and even did some chemistry. There was also a quiz section, with tough questions on different top-ics like Nuclear Fusion. Even as part of the winning team (we got a book each as a prize - it was great) the tasks really got us thinking and some parts completely stumped us, but the morning was really good fun and it'd be wonder-ful to have them back again another time. Bethany White 13TC

Biology Week Cake Competition In celebration of Biology Week 2014 (12th-18th October), and to raise awareness of all things physiological, the National Physio-logical Society challenged science-lovers to make and send in photographs of homemade biology-themed cakes, with the chance of winning their BioBakes competition.

After receiving nearly 300 entries, individuals from Imperial Col-lege London, the Academy of Medical Sciences, Science London and the Physiological Society compiled a shortlist of 11 cakes, of which my brain-inspired creation was one. I thoroughly enjoyed making my cake, as well as learning about all the parts of the brain while doing so! Mrs Kenward, Biology Department

River Chess Trip Report – Year 9 Geography Fieldtrip

Last week, Year 9 went to Amersham to collect data from the

River Chess. It took an hour in the coach, to reach the Field

Studies Council centre, so we entertained ourselves by taking

selfies! At the centre, we had a short lesson from the centre

staff to brief us on what to do and to teach us a bit about the

two sites on the River Chess that we would be collecting data

at. We then drove to our first site and got stuck in. We had to

measure width, depth, velocity, pebble length and pebble

smoothness. Unfortunately, during this process, many of us

found that our wellies didn’t quite reach above the surface of

the water and that, between us, we had probably taken half of

the River Chess away with us in our boots, along with some

tiddlers!

At our second site in the river, we took the same measure-

ments, before heading back to the centre, dripping wet and

laughing.

We are now going to use the data we collected to do a project

examining the down-

stream changes on

the River Chess.

The trip was really good fun; we were allowed to have a river

race which resulted, for those who chose to be involved, in

very high splashes and sopping wet Year 9 students. We

would all like to thank Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Holden, Mrs Bruns-

den, Mrs Cook and Mrs Moreland, for making the trip happen.

By Bethan Martin 9L

On Monday the 22nd of September, a group of year 10 and 11

GCSE Latin students enjoyed a long-anticipated daytrip to the

Roman bathing complex at Bath. Whilst there, we were treat-

ed to a truly fascinating workshop, during which we examined

many of the deeply religious to just plain odd messages un-

covered on dedications and tombstones around the site. If our

two-hour tour of the interactive museum had opened our

eyes to the rich tapestry of life at Roman Aquae Sulis, this, tru-

ly, propped up the lids. The small personal tags imprinted up-

on the carvings, having survived untold ages, were simply en-

thralling. Here was a dedication stone intended as an adver-

tisement, with ‘sculptor’ spelt incorrectly- could this be said to breed the slender possibility that the artist

was Roman British, with Latin as a second language? And there we had ‘haruspex’ (‘soothsayer’) with the

‘spex’ crammed in at the end of the line- perhaps the abbreviation ‘haru’ was somewhat less than well-

known outside Italy? Furthermore, to lay on with the morbid details, whoever knew that ‘dis manibus’

was the Latin for ‘to the spirits of the departed’? Or, for that matter, that ‘VSLM’ was a foreshortening of

‘votum solvit libens merito’- ‘willingly and deservedly ful-

filled his vow’? Then there was the sobering tale of the

adopted freedwoman who perished at the brutal age of

only one and a half years, her age recorded, lovingly, to

the very day.

We were also able to experience the thrill of our own de-

tective work as we peered, fruitlessly, at fiddly instru-

ments seemingly un-embracing of any purposeful defini-

tion and unfathomable bits of centuries-old broken cook-

ing pot. That strange twiggy thing with a flat bit at the

pointy end? Why, what else could it be but an earwax

scoop? All the Roman ladies of leisure have (or, rather, had) one at their easy disposal! Mixed in with gen-

uine artefacts, there existed a great deal of unrealistic- yet enthralling- replicas, giving a disparate sense

of the here and now to the antiquated display. This, truly,

was what the Romans would have searched for in the line

of suspiciously fresh- not to mention intact-looking- glass

perfume containers. Yet the truly ancient pieces held the

deepest poignancy. Of course, the people of long ago

would not have settled for mere chipped fragments of roof

tile, but seeing even the splinters gave, I believe, all of us a

deeper sense of the opulence of Roman high society and-

to be frank- the civilisation of this, I am afraid, civilisation

so far predating our own.

Classics Department

Year 10 and 11 Visit to Bath

The Kendrick Trust—Trust Grants Available Each year the Trustees are able to give grants to students and ex-students. Details of these grants are given to all

Year 11 and Year 13 students with their exam results in August each year, but are open to all students at the

school.

Current grants available are:

Travel scholarships of up to £500 each, to help with travel costs if a student is carrying out charity work

abroad. The amount Trustees can offer will depend upon the number of students requesting a grant in any

one year;

Maintenance allowances of up to £500 for former students of the school whilst training for a profession, or

similar advanced qualification, provided their application is made within 5 years of having left Kendrick. In

exceptional circumstances allowances may be extended to former students undertaking a course in higher

education;

Assistance with the cost of travel, course fees etc. to current students who may be studying Music, Drama,

Dance etc out of school hours;

Exhibitions to relieve hardship which may arise during the course of a student’s education at Kendrick

School.

Applications for grants for 2015 should be submitted to the Kendrick Trust no later than 31st January 2015. How-

ever, in exceptional circumstances applications may be considered at other times of the year. Students and former

students should send their applications to Mrs J Elliott (Trustee) via Ms Kattirtzi at Kendrick School. Ms Kattirtzi

has been requested to approve these applications before they are submitted to the Kendrick Trust.

These applications should indicate the total amount the student must find and how they are raising the money

themselves. The Trustees would also like to know how the student has contributed to school life.

The Trustees urge all students to consider applying for these grants and look forward to receiving your applica-

tions.

(Mrs) J Elliott, The Kendrick Trust Grants & Expenditure Committee

Whilst the majority of our students arrive at school well before the start time of 8.25am we do have a very small minority who are repeatedly arriving at school after this time. If a student arrives after the register has been taken either during morning or afternoon registration, they will be given an authorised late mark. If they arrive after 9am in the morning they will be given an unauthorised late mark which will count as an absence when calculating her attendance.

Obviously if there is a problem with public transport we will take this into ac-count, but if you drive your daughter into Reading and she is late we will not. Reading traffic is always busy in the morning and we ask that you leave in plenty of time to arrive in school so that your daughter is in her Form Room by 08.20am.

These late marks are then analysed by the Headteacher and the Attendance Officer who will decide on appropriate further action. Please ensure that your daughter arrives at school before 8.25am every morning.

It was entirely due to the kindness of others that I found myself on a flight to Marrakech this summer. As I stepped off the plane I was engulfed by a wave of heat and the faint scent of spice. Apparently on my first

day temperatures reached 48ᵒC. I spent it travelling via bus, motorbike and foot to a small village in the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains. For the next fortnight I stayed in a mud brick house with a family of tradi-tional Berbers. The irony was not lost on me that in the village I was the main attraction, whilst Marrakech was awash with gawping tourists. I spent my days fetching water from the well (sometimes with a donkey, sometimes without), baking a type of bread called khobz, making lentil

soup known as harira if I was lucky, otherwise semolina soup, which I was less fond of, picking and preparing cacti, herding sheep, hiking and learning to make mint tea,

all to varying levels of incompetence. I also made faltering attempts at speaking Amazigh, for which I was awarded the Berber name Tefawin.

For the remainder of my trip I travelled around Morocco, which provided a very interesting con-trast to the rural life I had been living. In Casa-blanca, I went out with the local skinny-jean-wearing, King-deriding, swearing, smoking liberal

youth; in Rabat I had cocktails with some American diplomats and journalists; in Fez I acquired a ‘fiancé’ and was given a carpet as a ‘wedding gift’ and in Marrakech I spent my time assuring many concerned Moroccans that na’am, I know this is not the way to the célèbre Dejmaa el Fna, but this is the way I want to go, no, I am not avec mon mari, but wahid, and that alt-hough I am sure your son is very charmant I am expected else-where for Iftar, but perhaps our paths will cross again, Insha’Allah. For the entirety my trip, it seemed to me that I was the only one

who did not think I was lost. Leonie Hutch

Valerie Hume Bursary In June 2014, Leonie Hutch was awarded the Valerie Hume Bursary for a Year 13 student in 2014 to pursue her

interest in Arabian cultures and dialects. Below is a report on her trip:

Wednesday 5th November House University Challenge

Y10 Art Trip, Watford

U14 County Hockey, all day

Thursday 6th November Oxbridge Evening, 6pm

Senior Maths Challenge, Y12&13

Monday 10th November KPS AGM, 7pm

KPS Meeting, 7.30pm

Tuesday 11th November Y13 Safe Drive Trip

Thursday 13th November L&T Committee, 6pm

Friday 14th November INSET Day, School closed to all students

Saturday 14th November Tanzania Training Weekend

Monday 17th November U16&U18 Indoor County Hockey

Y7 Study Skills Day

Tuesday 18th November Y11 Sixth Form Conference

Wednesday 19th November Sixth Form Open Evening, 6.15pm

Thursday 30th November Autumn Profiling Day

Y10 Enterprise Day

International Evening

Monday 24th November Y8 Charity Week

Y11 Interim Reports to Parents

Tuesday 25th November PSHCE Evening

Wednesday 26th November Y11 Parent’s Consultation, 3.45pm

Calendar for Term 2 2014/15

Thursday 27th November Food Show Trip, Y10&11

Resources Committee, 6pm

Friday 28th November Y13 Interim Reports to Parents

Maths Olympiad

Tuesday 2nd December Dance Enterprise Day

Thursday 4th December Y13 Parent’s Consultation, 3.45pm

Y11 GCSE Options Launch

Monday 8th December Y7-10 Interim Report to Parents

FGB Meeting, 4.30pm

Friday 12th December Aachen Trip departs

Christmas Jumper Day

Monday 15th December Speech Day (school finishes at

1.10pm)

Christmas Concert, 7pm

Tuesday 16th December Y11 GCSE Options deadline

Friday 19th December End of Term 2, finish at 1.10pm

Link to Full Calendar on our website via this link

U18 Hockey Tour Kit was packed, tiger socks given out and food replen-ished. The U18 team were ready to go. After a 62 mile an hour limited bus trip on the M4 we arrived in sunny Swindon for a team training session. We start-ed with a warm up and swiftly moved onto high paced passing exercise before learning a new box warm up for shots on goal. The most valuable exercise was the discussion and execution of "The Press" which was carried effective-ly into our later match. The training session was ex-tremely beneficial for working as a unit by taking indi-vidual players with unique skills and enabling them to work together. The next stop on our whistle-stop tour was Cheltenham where the team enjoyed a good few hours of retail therapy and the staff savoured a welcome cup of coffee. After a lot of ogling at the sheer size and grandiose of Cheltenham Ladies College we changed into our tiger socks and headbands and got ready to play. The match was a fantastic challenge for the team and everyone played really well. Every individual improved throughout the game and gave 100% for the whole of the 50 minutes. At half time the score was 2-1 to Cheltenham with Kendrick feeling confident that more goals would be scored. By the end of the match the score was 3-2 to Cheltenham however this was unimportant to the team who were thrilled at the fantastic level of hockey played. A celebratory dinner was had at the local Harvester which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Jovi Chendriah-Patel was voted player's player for strong tackling, passing down the wings and showing great improvement. Prina Sumaria was our donkey of the day for her own goal which involved busting some moves behind the goal line. The coaches' player was Stephanie Barnes for holding the back line, often under a great deal of pressure from opposing for-wards, and for finding ways out of defence drawing on the morning training session. After a long day the majority of the team fell asleep on the drive home which, to be fair, was well earned. PE Department