Perkin Post Sixth Edition

14/07/15

Intelligent engagement with the wider world.

For this edition we decided to spend time getting to know some of your teachers even better!

Mr Djogo:

What did you eat to grow so tall?

“Porridge and blueberries”

What’s your favourite singer/song?

“The Eye of the Tiger”

What’s your favourite part of Maths?

“There’s always a right answer”

If you had to choose another job, what would you be?

“An investment banker”

Do you know any Maths riddles?

“The Monty Hall problem: suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors:

Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows

what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you

want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?”

Warm Words

Teacher Interviews!

Welcome to the final edition of Perkin Post! We hope that this

edition will sum up this amazing year! We would like to thank all the

people that took part in creating this newspaper.

Enjoy reading it!

Miss Alvis:

Where would you like to go back in time to?

“The Regency period (1811-1820)”

What’s your favourite singer/song?

“Embrace”

If you had to choose a historic figure to invite for tea, who would it be?

“Queen Victoria, she seems cool”

What do you do in your free time?

“Explore new places with my friends”

Who’s your celebrity crush?

“James McAvoy, I think he’s quite beautiful!”

Sport this year!

This year has been jam-packed with lots of sporting events and activities. There have been P.E. lessons,

interforms, competitions and tournaments where we have studied a variety of different sports.

In our P.E. lessons we have studied: gymnastics, rugby, football,

netball, athletics and rounders. The interforms that have taken place

this year are: football, netball, rounders, handball and basketball.

The competitions and tournaments that our school have participated

in this year are: football, netball, rounders, cross country, cricket and

athletics.

This year, in one of our P.E. lessons we ran two laps around the

school field. We had to see how long it took us to complete the two

laps and the best then participated in a Cross country competition.

In year seven the two girls who finished the course first were Dante

(7N) and Emilia (7I) who both achieved the same time in the school cross country. After school we were

given the opportunity to redo our cross country to see if we could improve our time. This helped us with

our Sponsored Walk later on in the year.

In April, there was a school Dodgeball tournament where we were able

to choose our own teams to play dodgeball against other teams within

the school. There were prizes for best team name, the best team outfit

and the overall winner. The winner of the best outfit was ‘This name is

so original’ who wore onesies with their P.E. shorts over them.

The most recent competition was athletics which took place at the

Perivale Running Track on Wednesday 24th June 2015. The students

who participated in the event were: Kamiah (7E), Dunja (7P), Julia (7W),

Dante (7N), Lily (7P), Ameer (7K), Dylan (7W) Noble (7W), Josh (7N), Khayan (7I), Kai-Ern (7R), Nathanial

(7P), Kane (8P), Olimade (8K), Melisenda (8I), Ali (8R), Dimitra (8P), Ajani (8W), Petya (8K), Chloe (8N),

Elliot (8E), Miriam (8P) and Kayelle (8R). The events that took place were: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m,

1500m, 4x100m Relay, Javelin, Shot Put, High Jump, Long Jump and Triple Jump. Olimade (8K) and Kane

(8P) both achieved first place in the Year 8 Girls 100m heats and the Year 8 Boys High Jump.

This year our school has been very helpful towards our community, particularly when it comes to sporting

events. One example of this was when a group of Year 8 students went to Oldfield Primary School to help

them with their Sports Day. After this, members of the public

wrote to Mr Smith to say how impressed they were with the help-

ers from William Perkin!

On Wednesday 15th June 2015, we will have our own Sports Day

where all seven forms (in both years) will be competing against

one another in a series of events. The events taking place on the

day are: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 4x100m Relay, Javelin, Discus,

Shot Put, Long Jump and Triple Jump. Who will win?

Here is an account from Nathaniel who took part in the Athletics borough

competition:

We started our 3 mile trek at 9am. We were all buzzing with extreme excitement

and we could not wait to enter the athletics track. We were all amazed by the

number of people present. The incredible crowd made it almost impossible to

count the number of schools on the track.

After we got over the shock of how many schools were present, we warmed up for our upcoming

events and without hesitation the games were on. For the next 40 minutes we were burning away our

energy and were sweating intensely...100m...200m...800... And next it was me. My event was high

jump. My body was trembling with fear and nervousness. My heart was throbbing like an elephant

storming around in my chest.

Then the whistle blew...

Athletics Champions

If women are so successful in sport, why are they not recognised in

the same way as men? For example, if it was the men’s world cup all

the games would have tens of thousands of fans flooding into the

stadium, where as the majority of stadia have only been half full

during the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Don’t get me started on the

atmosphere around the country! World Cup fever? I think not!

Luckily, the WP ladies proved the world wrong! Throughout the year,

the girls in sports teams (especially netball) have shone like stars,

annihilating all schools that dare come their way and becoming

victorious all the way through.

Well done girls! Don’t let anyone put you down!

William Perkin Girls Show the World How it’s Done!

I stepped into the illuminating, exuberant and sensational air, with lots of light-hearted people dancing

disastrously. Everyone smiling and laughing randomly with each other. They were laughing like cows

“MOO-ING”!

The jubilant students started to dance strangely, to the deafening music blasting everyone’s ears off.

Some started to do the ‘Bedford’ dance, whilst others were a little confused as to what they were doing.

But they still joined in, trying to copy what dance they were doing. Jovial.

Lastly, it was the water fight (the event everyone was waiting for). The best event of the day. Boisterous.

Competitive. Commoving. When we began – everyone was very eager- to get the water, we ran as fast as

a cheetah to the buckets. Then we chucked the cup full of water on our friends and teachers as is it went

flying rapidly into the air and onto them!

Eventful. Exhilarating. Energetic.

On Friday, 26 June, Einstein’s enterprise day took place, with many mind-blowing activities and sweet

stalls. At lunchtime, Mr Martin made us delicious burgers and hot dogs to quiet our tummies of their

shrieks and screams. Hasti commented: ‘’It was fun.’’ And he was right!

Everyone made an effort to wear summer clothes and looked like they were on the beach. It was a

colourful day.

Also during lunchtime, thunderous music blasted across the playground at break time and lunchtime,

playing the students’ favourite songs and jams which they merrily danced to. Mr Santos seemed to be

an expert at dancing and gladly taught Mr Martin some moves.

After school, on the brightest evening, the water fight took place. It

was a brutal battle; the water was a tidal wave that flooded everything

in sight. Cups were tossed, and like birds in the sky, they soared. Most

students stayed back after school for this momentous event. Soon

after, staff and students had changed from energetic to exhausted, yet

their contentment remained throughout.

Overall, they managed to raise £716.08 Well done Einstein!

Einsterprise Exhiliration

Euphoria on Enterprise Day!

The Sponsored Walk

On Friday 22nd June 2015 William Perkin went on their first ever sponsored walk without Twyford School.

It is going to be a tradition for William Perkin for generations. The spectacular event took place in

Northala Fields, and everyone had mixed emotions. Unfortunately, there were a few injuries along the

way. Mr Bhardwaj was meant to run the lap (which everyone else was walking) with Mr Martin but he

sprained his ankle so he was not able to do so. The Science department had a barbecue on the second

hill of the course. They also played a prank on the children, they tricked them into thinking that a

random word was the password to het an ice cream from Miss Newman and Miss Waspe on the next hill.

Here are a few of the student’s opinions on how they thought the sponsored walk went.

Anaya Shah 7E:

“The sponsored walk was amazing because while raising money for charity we were able to bond with

our peers. It was a well-planned event. It was exhausting though!!!!”

She also said:

“I think it went very well! As we raised so much money, which is helpful for people. I would definitely do

it again! I would recommend it to everyone.”

Shaan Jassal 7N:

“I enjoyed the sponsored walk. This is because it was a very enjoyable way to raise money as you are

with your friends and it was very fun. It was also a way to keep fit and healthy, we tried our best to

complete most of the laps. I would most definitely do it again.”

After the exhilarating day the students began to collect the money some people had promised them. The

two charities we raised money for were the Nepal earthquake and our link school in Mozambique. After

the holidays Elliot (8E) raised an amazing £230 on his own! The whole school raised around £2100!!

Therefore, around £1050 is going to both Nepal and our link school. Well done to Isambard, who raised

the most amount of money!

Did you know every £40 that was given to the link school would have helped one orphan able to attend

the school? This would mean that every child has the opportunity to go to school and learn.

World Issues Welcome to the ‘World Issues’ column featured in the Perkin Post. This brief article will discuss the main

world dilemmas that are affecting our school.

Our first issue is the disaster earthquake that struck Nepal on 25th April 2015. This gigantic quake reached

a magnitude of 7.8 and over 8,800 people were confirmed dead. It left 14,000 injured and over three

quarters of them were in critical condition, with thousands still unaccounted for.

As you can understand, this would be an extremely distressing and difficult time

if you were of Nepalese descent- as it was for Ethan (8N). Therefore, he decided

to do something to help those less fortunate than himself in Nepal. Ethan held a

successful fundraising day, where cakes and sweets were on sale at break and

lunch time. All money raised was immediately donated to the Nepal disaster

fund, and we are sure all money was accepted with gratitude.

Thousands of villages have been destroyed and up to 90% of clinics and schools

in a majority of regions were confirmed unusable. The Nepalese Prime Minister,

Mr Sushil Koirala, has stated that “$2

billion (£1.3 billion) will be needed

to help Rebuild homes, government offices, schools, hospitals,

historic monuments and churches.”

Evidently, this issue is very upsetting, and if this topic is

something you feel very strongly about- don’t hesitate to

donate!

Another main issue that affects the school greatly is our

partner school in Mozambique. Our partner school,

positioned in Maciene, is a poor school and children have to pay £40 per day to attend. Imagine that…

£40! We are lucky here that our education is free, so we joined with the Maciene School to raise money

for them.

The money raised helps them to supply children with basic school equipment like textbooks and

desks- things we take for granted. We know that all students and teachers at Maciene are very grateful

for all the money we raised, along with Twyford C of E

Secondary School.

Some of the students attending Maciene School are living in

very poor conditions with no running, safe water to drink, and

the money we raise will also contribute to sanitising the

children’s living conditions.

Ofsted STRIKES!

On the 10th and 11th of June Ofsted came knocking on the door, letting us acknowledge that

they had arrived. For the two days they had not once let go of their pens- writing notes,

asking questions, then writing notes again.

Teachers and students would be walking around with them, telling them about our school.

They had been visiting classes, and asking students about how they felt around the school.

The 10th and 11th had been very tense, but thankfully went

by very quickly.

Ofsted said their goodbyes on Thursday 11th June 2015 at

3:45pm. The day was over. Although they had said they

were very impressed by William Perkin students, everyone

wiped the sweat off their brows, hoping for the best results.

Well done everyone for being your usual outstanding

selves! You really made the teachers proud!

Q4 Memories

The colossal hall was dimly lit. We walked in - nervous and

tense - as Mr Martin handed out the maths exams. I

tenaciously opened the test and… it hit me- hit me like a brick

wall. I don’t know anything. I sat there tediously staring at the

question in front of me, it was like this was the first exam I’ve

ever done. Trepidation. It felt like hours passed as I stared at

the same question. The first question. My mind filled with

dark thoughts. The thoughts of me failing…of me not hitting my target. I looked

at the ticking clock and the world around me slowed down as I realised that I

had 10 minutes left…

This was how many students felt in Year 8 and Year 7. However, as it turned

out over 80% of the students in year 8 hit or exceeded their target! Overall,

Year 8 had a very successful Quarter 4.

Well done!

Beanbag Bloggers

Every Tuesday, the participants of Beanbag Bloggers get

together to discuss the book they are reading with Miss

Neelands. They have been reading ‘Lord of the Flies’ by

William Golding. From time to time, bloggers lead the

discussions which help their teaching skills. This is an

interview with Samah Choudhury in 8N who is a

participant of the Beanbag Bloggers team:

What is Lord of the Flies about?

“The book is about four young boys who crash on a

deserted island with very little hope of being rescued.

There are no adults which is why they find it difficult to

survive. This is why their behaviour starts to turn savage

because they have been away from civilisation for a long time. At night, their dreams have

been haunted by a terrifying beast.”

What do you usually do in Beanbag Bloggers?

“We usually talk about what happens in the chapter that we were supposed to read for

the week and we had a debate on whether nature or nurture shapes us the most. It was

very intriguing and Chloe and I were a bit too ecstatic about it!“

Have you enjoyed the book?

“Yes because it gives us an insight into how our personalities adapt into our environment.”

What do you do in the blog?

“Well Miss Neelands puts up a new discussion every week for us to answer and when we

are in the session, we discuss what others have said.”

What is your overview of the sessions?

“I find Beanbag Bloggers very obliging because when it comes to our reading exams we

can use Lord of the Flies to help us with our links in our PEERPALZ. It is also useful for our

writing exams because we can apply the sophisticated vocabulary that they use.”

So to conclude, the Beanbag Bloggers team have been discussing a book that can lead

onto further debates and discussions. It has been a sensational term for them!