rodborough chronicles may 2014

RODBOROUGH CHRONICLES VOLUME 10 ISSUE 5 PAGE 1 OF 20

Inside this Edition Past Pupil Published 2 Little Shop of Horrors 3 Green Notes 4-5 Sewing Bee 6 German Exchange 7 Merrist Wood Fair 8-9 Motor Vehicle Studies 10 Equestrian Update 10 Year 7 Stars 10 Year 10 D of E 11 Year 11 D of E 12-13 Berlin Trip 14 Biathlon 15 Boccia 16 Year 9 Netball 17 David Dein 17 Inter-House Rounders 18-19 Hockey Champs 19 District Athletes 19 Coaching at Chandler 20


Dates for your Diary

6 June ‘Friends’ vs Pumas Cricket Match 6pm 5/6 July Production Rehearsal weekend 11 June Y8 Bushcraft Meeting 6pm Dining Hall 9 July Godalming College Open Even 4 to 8:30 12 June Y9 MasterChef Cook-Off 10-12 July Summer Production - Main Hall

Little Shop of Horrors 16 June Y8 Languages trip Surrey University 16 June Uniform Sale 3:30-5:00 11 July SPORTS DAY 21/22 June Y10 D of E Qualifying Expedition 11 July Queen of Teen Awards 23-27 June ECO WEEK (details in this edition) 13-19 July Y10 Montpellier Language Trip 23 June Uniform Sale 3:30-5:00 14-18 July Activities Week (Y7-9) 24 June Y11 PROM 14-18 July Work Experience Week (Y10) 26 June MasterChef Federation Final 21 July Year 10 Business Day 27 June Sponsored Event 22 July RESERVE Sports Day 28/29 June Production Rehearsal weekend 22 July Arts Award Moderation Day 30 June INTAKE evening for Y6 & parents 7pm 23 July Last day of Term 1pm finish 1 July DISTRICT SPORTS 20 August Uniform Sale 10:00-12:00 1 July Theatre Trip Y10 21 August GCSE Results Day 2 July INTAKE DAY for Y6 2 Sept INSET day 2 July Godalming College Careers Fair 3 Sept ALL PUPILS in school 5-7 July Y11 Silver D of E Qualifying Expedition

Former Rodborough Pupil Publishes his first Book

We continue our series looking at past Rodborough students with Matthew’s story …

Keen history student, Matthew Pellett, who left Rodborough in 2006, was greatly inspired by the World War Two mini-series, ‘Band of Brothers’.

After completing A levels at Godalming College, Matthew decided to turn his attentions to researching the deployment of the USA’s 101st Airborne Division and to telling the fascinating story of their influential 10 months spent in England during 1943-1944. His aim was:

“… not only to tell the history of this famous division during an often overlooked part of their service but to give an insight into how their relatively short period of time in England has left its mark 70 years later.”

Fitting research around his ‘day job’, working late into the evenings and using holiday periods for location visits, the project has taken three years to complete.

His investigations led him to different locations including America and Europe, and Matthew befriended many ex-servicemen and friends of the 101st Airborne, who were keen to tell their stories and provide him with information, photographs and contemporary documents and were delighted that Matthew was collating these important memories and preserving them for posterity.

All Matthew’s hard work has paid off as he has met his target of publishing in time for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings on 6 June 2014.

You can preview parts of Matthew’s book online.


Little Shop of Horrors – Summer Production Mrs Bearman & Mrs Yeadon

Much excitement has been generated by the announcement that this summer’s production will be Little Shop of Horrors, the stage version of the well-known cult classic film. A hapless orphan Seymour and his dream girl, the beautiful yet emotionally battered Audrey, work at Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists. While the two secretly love each other, Audrey is trapped in an abusive relationship with the sadistic Dentist Orin Scrivello, and Seymour believes he’ll never be good enough for her.

Their fortunes change when Seymour finds a mysterious plant during a solar eclipse. Seymour names the plant Audrey II and, after many attempts to feed the plant, Seymour eventually discovers it thirsts for blood. After nursing it with a little of his own blood, the plant begins to grow wildly out of control. Eventually, Mushnik’s flower shop and Seymour become famous because of the growing plant. The plant’s insatiable hunger for more and more blood leads Seymour to murder Audrey’s abusive boyfriend to satisfy its cravings. Reluctantly, Seymour follows through with Audrey II’s insidious plan but becomes bound by the monster he has created, with disastrous consequences.

Auditions have taken place, the show is cast and, in all, over 100 students will be involved both on stage and behind the scenes. This promises to be a great show, and rehearsals and planning are well underway.

The show includes many toe-tapping and exciting numbers and great characters (including the enormous, man-eating plant)! We have a mammoth task ahead of us and it would be wonderful if you could help us in some way.

We particularly need your help with:

Set Building

Costume Making

Make Up / Hair Prop Finding and Making

Lighting and Special Effects

Publicity Props Requests – can you help us with:

Metal watering cans

Old fashioned looking buckets & plant sprayers

Artificial (fabric) plants and flower arrangements to dress the shop

Real plants to dress the shop during performances

If you feel that you can help in any way, no matter how small, please contact Mrs Bearman (via reception) as soon as possible. All offers will be very gratefully received! Performances will be on Thurs 10th, Fri 11th, Sat 12th July at 7.30 p.m. in the Main Hall. Please reserve the dates in your diary. Details of ticket sales will follow soon.


Green Notes Reporter Mr Ewing

Tales of snails, slabs and spuds …

This half term has passed really quickly but we have managed to get quite a bit done round the school. Let’s start with snails. No, not the slimy snails that eat vegetables, the round black tubing “snails” that we will be using to partially heat the new swimming pool! Our team of intrepid Year 10 students have built a ‘solar heating snail’ and Mr Hunter (from the Science department) has been instrumental in sourcing the technology required to test the efficiency of said snail. Equipped with a bilge pump, a 45 gallon water tank and some hose adaptors, we are ready to start assembling a prototype heater and finding out how well it works. As a side note, if any parent has a small shed or potting shed they are looking to get rid of, we need a small shed to house the pump and the monitoring equipment.

Our Prototype ‘Snail’

constructed by Year 10 students

And so to slabs. Slabs come in many different shapes and sizes but our slabs were kindly donated to the school by the Phillips family and have now been installed as the first phase of an installation of squares between the cycle shed and the bus stop. I must thank Mr Ross (of Ross Property Maintenance and Year 8 parent) for his valuable help and enthusiasm with this project. We have built concrete plinths and cut and laid the slabs on our squares.

The idea is to create features that students can sit on or play on whilst waiting for their bus. We also want to create something interesting to catch your eye as you drive into the school. They may not be art but they are modern! Spuds next! Year 8’s spuds are now fully leafed up and romping away! Each Year 8 form’s “Wellie Warriors” have planted potatoes in raised bags as the first stage of a bigger gardening project to transform the Year 7 area at the front of school. The potatoes we have planted are Red Duke of York’s. These are tasty early spuds, which should be gracing the dinner plates of Year 8 families before the summer holidays.

Spud Planting Day – 3rd April


… and all matters Eco!

Spud Progress - 20th May

I would also like to mention Rodborough’s Eco Committee. We meet once a term to discuss all the projects going on around the school and look to plan ahead. We cover a variety of issues from planting projects and garden maintenance to more technical projects like the solar heating of the swimming pool as well as local transport and safety issues. The committee includes senior staff, our Eco Prefects, and members of our local community. If you would like to attend our meetings please contact either myself, Mrs Ward or Mr Edwards, our Eco Governor.

Finally, I’d like to look ahead to Eco Week which runs this year from Monday 23rd June to Friday 27th June. This year we will be covering:

Cycling and safe cycling with Year 7

Energy and resources with Year 8

Our local environment with Year 9

Ethical purchasing with Year 10. We will also be running a special fundraising afternoon on Friday 27th June to raise, hopefully, £10,000 to support free education for the students of Awutu-Winton School in Ghana.

More details of this event will follow but it is great to be able to galvanise the whole school into helping our partner school in Ghana develop and provide facilities for their children in circumstances that are much more difficult than we face here in Surrey.

Can YOU help please? Our gardeners are looking to upcycle your unwanted items to enhance their garden. Do you have any of the following items to spare?

Unwanted planters (the larger the better)

Car tyres (not on wheels) that we can stack and use as planters

Garden canes

Spare seedlings e.g. runners or French beans

Herbs – maybe yours have seeded out of control?

Seeds that you no longer need? If you can help with any of these items please contact Mrs Fjord-Roberts or Mr Ewing first (we can only handle a finite number of car tyres, for instance). Thank you in advance for your help.

Mural at Awutu School


The Rodborough Sewing Bee Reporter Mrs C Knatt This spring, all Year 11 GCSE Textiles

candidates took part in Rodborough’s very own ‘Sewing Bee’ competition.

The ‘Design and Make Challenge’ involved creating a textile product from two ‘pre-loved’ T-shirts. The completed product had to incorporate a pocket as well as a zip. After several ‘buzzing’ lessons the items were complete. They included a poncho, a waistcoat, some stylish bunting, assorted cushions, re-engineered clothing, a ‘bum-bag’ and a phone protector.

The winning entry was a Lorna Bowyer’s dress, which featured gathering and lace detailing as well as a patch pocket.

Lorna was awarded the unique Rodborough Sewing Bee Trophy. Well done to everyone – May and Grant would be proud of you all!


Hallo aus Deutschland Reporter Miss Morgan by e-mail

31 intrepid Year 10 travellers ventured across Northern Europe to spend the last week of last half term with their German Exchange partners in the beautiful town of Mayen (Godalming’s ‘twin’ town). This was the return leg of the long-standing Rodborough-Megina exchange partnership; a tradition where our German GCSE students tour Koblenz and the Rheine-Mosel valley, buy their body-weight in sweets in the Haribo outlet in Bonn (formally the capital city of West Germany) and visit the fascinating, modern Haus der Geschichte Museum showing Germany from 1945 to the present day. So far (Wednesday) the weather has been ‘FANTASTISCH’.

We’ve enjoyed lots of ice-cream, been swimming and our students have arrived in school each morning reporting the great time they have been having with their partner families. We are already sad that we’ll have to return on Friday but it won’t be long before we start planning next year’s visit – let’s hope that the 2015 trip will be as fun and emotion-filled as this one! So that’s the 2014 report from Mayen. I’m off now to return to my currywurst, spaghetti, eis and glorious German sunshine! Auf wiedersehen!


Careers Fair at Merrist Wood

All members of Year 10 joined with cohorts from our Federation schools to spend a couple of sunny hours exploring the numerous hands-on stalls at the Merrist Wood Careers / Post-16 Course Fair. A vast number of courses were represented, from A-levels to Arboriculture. Students were encouraged to take part in the activities and to find out about as many courses as possible to broaden their knowledge of the skills required for different occupations as well as to find a suitable course for them. This is what some of them thought:

“It was really informative – I learned

a lot about all sorts of jobs!”

“It was a fantastic experience allowing us to explore a huge number of different occupations but the best part was holding the snake!”

“I found it useful to help me decide

what I want to do in the future.” “We weren’t as good at

team-work as we thought!”

“I had a go at lots of things I’d

never even thought about!”


“I enjoyed soldering a pipe at the plumbing stall. It was really

hands-on and fun to do!”

“I enjoyed making a bird box, finding out about different careers

and learning many new skills!”

“There was a massive variation in the types of courses and careers,

which really opened my eyes!”

“I enjoyed mixing with students from the other schools and joining in the activities. It was great fun!”

“I learned that arboriculture is about

tree-care!”


Accolade for Motor Vehicle Students Reporter Miss Spencer

Megan and Tom had the honour of being awarded ‘Learner of the term’ for their final weeks at MIT Skills West Byfleet. They have completed their Motor Vehicle qualification to a very high standard. Well done to them both and all our learners on that course!

Horse Trials Update

We have been following Bella Perry’s eventing journey in recent Chronicles. Her first Horse Trials of 2014 were held very locally at Munstead and Bella’s terrific cross-country and show jumping sections compensated for a disappointing dressage score to bring her placing up to 16th – a good solid start to the season. Well done Bella.

Music Update …

Congratulations to Alex Smith for passing his Grade 4 Piano examination.

Congratulations to last term’s Year 7 STARS of the week: AGL - Charlotte Cranfield, Emily Hazlerigg, Amy McRae, Tom Hitchcock KGU - Tilda Hughes, Caroline Miller, Ella Boulter, Billy Hannant SKE - Esme Byrne , Tabitha Grazier NRE - Louis Vorley, Niall Rayner, Beth Nash LSM - Jack Sheppard, Emily Silvester, Louis Pockett, Lola Wright EWE - Charlotte Duke, Ben Bryan, Emma Tayler-Stephens, Jenny O'Mara, Tom Moulds


Duke of Edinburgh Awards Ceremony Reporter Eloise Page

More than 100 of our current Year 11s have spent many hours

completing their Bronze D of E.

All the time, energy and sanity spent completing the award paid off when many of us attended the regional D of E awards ceremony at All Hallows School on 28 April.

We received our certificates with pride and all the candidates (whether Bronze, Silver or Gold) were praised for their accomplishments.

Students from each school were asked to speak about their experiences of the different D of E challenges. These ranged from talks about military history to photography and some hilarious anecdotes outlining what had happened to some tired teens on their expeditions!

We also heard from Tess Burrows, a grandmother who has taken the Duke of Edinburgh principles further – a LOT further.

We learned how Tess, with her husband Pete, has climbed six of the world’s highest peaks and journeyed to the North Pole.

Everywhere she goes, Tess asks people to write ‘pacts’ on pieces of paper about anything they like. It could be about helping the environment, or promising to help other people. She then takes these pieces of paper with her and puts them at the top of each of the peaks she has climbed.

She was recently part of a team who dragged a tyre full of peace messages up Mount Kilimanjaro on UN Peace Day.

We soon realised that completing our D of E, whether at Bronze, Silver or even Gold level was not the end of the story. It should be the beginning – as it opens up a world of possibilities. Tess showed us that you can do anything if you are sufficiently determined. She challenged us never to give up.

The entire D of E experience (so far) has been a huge success and we would like to thank Miss Mackay and her team as, without them, this fantastic opportunity would not have been opened up to us.

You can find out more about Tess’s climb for Tibet challenges at http://climbfortibet.org

http://climbfortibet.org/


Bronze Practice D of E Expedition Year 10 Reporter Rebecca O’Mara

Cue Indiana Jones theme music …

Hannah, Lizzie, Becca and Lottie, accompanied by brave Miss Mills, began their intrepid adventure called their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh practice expedition.

Along their journey they encountered: pain, hills, scorching sunshine, more hills, pouring rain, more pain and even more hills.

The positive attitudes of the start were knocked back just 10 minutes into the walk when we got lost and had to back-track a bit. Encountering a rather overgrown path, Hannah was convinced that she would get attacked by man-eating slugs … so she walked backwards to save her ‘beautiful face’ from malicious attack!

We were making progress, in the right direction; eating LOADS of trail mix (yummy Percy Pigs!) to keep up strength and morale and chatting about…Ron Weasley (there was a lot of “I hate Ron Weasley” going on in that conversation)!

Things went pretty smoothly after we climbed St Martha’s ‘hill’ (I still think it was a mountain, at the very least - that was what it felt like with REALLY heavy rucksacks on our backs).

After missing a couple of checkpoints we finally arrived at the Bentley Copse campsite. Our tents were up in record time, just in time for the heavens to open. On a plus side, we were the only group with…BUNTING! Yes, we were amazing and brought bunting to hang across our tents, very cool, I know!

I wish I could report that our dinner was delicious but it really wasn’t. Boiled pasta with pre-cooked chicken and pesto is not my idea of gourmet dining even if it was, technically, edible!


Now, I know it was D of E and no one expects to get a lot of sleep cramped into uncomfortable tents in the rain but, surprisingly, our group fell asleep quite quickly except for Lizzie who claims not to have slept at all! This lasted until a girl from another group (I will mention no names) came looking for a torch AT 3 O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING! Well, no-one in our group went back to sleep after that!

Day two of this amazing adventure eventually dawned. We were out of the tents at 7 o’clock (Hannah, less enthusiastically), breakfast was on the go and eaten pretty quickly, we packed up and were soon ready for the home run. Once we had left the campsite, we walked and walked for miles as we discussed how sparkly vampires made no sense.

After ‘misinterpreting’ (we are sure they were wrong) directions from a D of E leader (again mentioning no names) and (maybe) getting a bit lost on our map, we ended up missing all the checkpoints and arriving later than anticipated at our destination; the scout hut where our adventure had started the previous day.

Although our entire group and most of our friends from other groups came home with blisters, bruised hips and extreme tiredness, we have all later gone on to say that despite the pain (and those hills), it was an AMAZING EXPERIENCE and we are all looking forward to completing our qualifier. Some of us are even considering doing Silver D of E – we must be crazy!

If anybody reading this is considering joining D of E, DO IT, it is amazing! Thank you Miss Mills for walking with us, putting up with our steep learning curve in map-reading and for contributing to our high-brow literary discussions!

Thank you Miss Mackay and all the other members of the D of E team (even the one giving ‘dodgy’ directions) for running the scheme and giving up so much valuable time helping us.


Berlin Trip – Part 1 Reporter Laura Gill At 03:30 am on Monday 7th April, a group of sleepy Year 10s stumbled onto a coach – destination, Berlin. On arrival we were taken aback by how similar it was to back home. To be honest I don’t know what we had expected to be different!

Our trip started with a walking tour of Berlin with our knowledgeable tour guide Ian. We visited places such as the Reichstag, memorials to many of the groups of people affected by the holocaust and the huge Jewish memorial, which consisted of hundreds of blocks of grey concrete. They were all different shapes and sizes and were randomly scattered around the plot. We then proceeded to walk through the memorial as the architect intended. The feeling of disorientation and confusion when surrounded by large blocks of concrete is indescribable and powerful.

Our tour continued after lunch (we were set loose to practise our German and source our own) with a visit to Hitler’s final bunker before moving on to the Jewish museum.

This was the most amazing place, with an Axis of Continuity, an Axis of Exile and an Axis of Extermination. We learned what happened to the Jews who made different decisions about how to deal with the persecution of their race.

The following morning, after enjoying a traditional German breakfast of cold meats, cheeses and breads, we headed out to one of the most challenging destinations, Sachsenhausen, one of the original Nazi ‘work camps’. It started out as a camp for political prisoners, but soon expanded to take all types of prisoners.

We saw the outlines of tiny accommodation huts, medical rooms and, worst of all, the gas chambers. The feeling in that place, I can’t even try to explain and it was a subdued group that boarded the coach taking us to the Berlin Olympic Stadium.

Watch out for the second part of this account in the July edition of Chronicles…

“Our tour guide was very enthusiastic about the tour and made our group enjoy the

experience. The new things we learnt were really interesting and I would recommend

the trip to future students.”

“Sachesnhausen was really interesting and gave us more information about things we couldn’t learn in a

classroom. Also, the Jewish museum was really clever and shocking and was my personal favourite

part of the trip.”


National Schools’ Biathlon Finalist 2014 Reporter Lola Wright 7LSM

The British Schools’ Modern Biathlon competition is run to encourage as many children as possible across the country to become involved in an exciting multi-discipline sporting environment. The Modern Biathlon consists of a separate swim and run, with the distances varying according to the age of the competitors. Lola competed in the Under 12 event, swimming 50m and running 800m. Next year, in the Under 13 event, she will swim 100m and run 1600m. Lola takes up her story …

In October 2013 hundreds of state and private school students gathered to compete in the Surrey heats of the National Schools’ Biathlon competition. The fastest competitors from the regional heats would be rewarded with places in the Nationals at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in April 2014. I finished the Surrey heats in 3rd place, winning the opportunity to compete against the very best biathletes from all over Britain at London’s Olympic Park. It was amazing to qualify and compete in this historic setting. We swam in the inspirational setting of the Olympic Pool at the London Aquatics Centre and ran around a course at Olympic Park.

https://www.pentathlongb.org/schools/

I was delighted to run a personal best time of 2:46:08 for my 800m and to swim the 50m (long course pool) in 34.25. My overall result was a very respectable 24th from over 120 finalists in my age group. I was very pleased with this result and hope to compete again this autumn as part of a Rodborough Biathlete team.


Active Surrey Boccia Tournament Reporters Katherine & Ellie

On Monday 28th April, four Rodborough students took part in the first ever Active Surrey Boccia Competition. The team comprised Nick Brine, Rory Hyde, Katherine Brine and Ellie Butler. It was amazing! First we played a round-robin. Our first game was against Sunbury Manor B and we lost to them - not by much but then we won the next 3 matches against Sunbury A, The Park and Broadwater. After the round-robin we played a semi-final against Sunbury B again.

Despite playing an excellent game, the Sunbury Bs beat us into the final and went on to win the tournament. We had a very exciting play off against Warlingham for 3rd & 4th places. Everyone played their best and tried really hard! Katherine was the only one of our team to play using a chute and her chute assistant, Ellie, wasn’t permitted to look at the game play so spent the entire games sitting with her back to action. The only bonus was that she could see Miss Mackay, Mrs Wythe, Mrs Herring & Mr Drew cheering the team on (even though they weren’t supposed to)! Katherine played an amazing shot setting us up for 5 points in one end. Nick and Rory also played some excellent shots but it wasn’t quite enough to stop Warlingham taking the final medal and squeezing Rodborough into 4th place. We had an amazing day thanks to Miss Mackay; all of us had such a wonderful experience, playing with people of different abilities and seeing them all enjoying themselves and taking an active part!


Year 9 Netball Tournament Reporter Jessica Cross

At the end of March, we took part in the District Tournament. Ellie Holloway played at centre, Emily Porter was our goal shooter, Katie Hudson our goal attack, Jess Seabrook wing attack, Grace da Costa wing defence, Nicole Curtis played goal defence and I was the goal keeper. Our first match was against Howard of Effingham; we were quite nervous because they are one of the best teams in the district, however we managed a 6:6 draw, which we were happy with.

As the tournament progressed we managed to beat four of the six teams, including Christ College and Guildford County. When it came to playing against St Peters, we were worried and didn't think we had much chance of winning. They took full advantage of our nerves and lack of confidence to beat us 15:0, which wasn't the best result! This didn't, however, stop us playing our other matches well and, by the end of the tournament, we managed to come second after St Peters; this showed progress seeing as we came third last year but we're hoping for first place next year!

Premier League Reporter Mr Honeysett

David Dein, who was vice-chairman of both Arsenal and the FA for many years, came to Rodborough recently to speak to GCSE PE students in Years 9 and 10. He spoke to students about his influential role in creating the Premier League, his appointment of Arsene Wenger to Arsenal (following a chance meeting and a game of charades!) and his hands-on approach to managing the signings of Thierry Henry, Patrick Viera and Dennis Bergkamp among others. He described how football had evolved since the "dark days" of the 1980s and how the game is more accessible for people of all ages and families.

One of the highlights of his talk was a demonstration of a new foam spray that referees will be using in this year's World Cup to prevent a defensive wall encroaching closer than the permitted 10 yards - something that he has promoted to FIFA. Look out for it this summer! Students that attended the talk were inspired to take opportunities that are offered in life, to work hard (talent is nothing without commitment) and to persevere with the study of foreign languages. He would never have dreamt that the French he learned at school would turn out to be so useful when communicating with many of the Arsenal team!

photo: standard.co.uk


Inter-House Rounders

During the week of 12 May, Inter-House Rounders matches were held after school for Years 7, 8 & 9. These matches were great fun and the weather was helpfully warm and dry. Each form was determined to beat its rivals, making for a competition full of drama and emotion.

Year 9 Tournament Reporters Abigail Sheppard & Melody August

Monday 12 May saw an event that will go down in history – the first EVER Inter-House Rounders competition! And guess what? Our team, 9EEX, were the champions! Our brilliant team included: Ella, Tabitha, Lindsey, Ryan, Tyler, Edward, Walter, Alfie, Charlie, Abigail and Melody. The competition was a great success with lots of enthusiasm and effort put in by all players. We all had fun and it was definitely a great idea!

Year 8 Tournament Reporters: The victorious 8CST Champions

This term saw the Year 8 House Rounders tournament take place on the field after school. We were lucky to have beautiful sun and a good turn-out from most forms! Six tutor groups took part and played five games each. The competition was on. Each form had their own challenges and the presence of Mr Smith fuelled the ambition to win and bring the ‘A game’ to the tournament.

8HAL contributed phenomenally, despite lacking in players. 8FLA were consistently great batters; 8PCR thrived in catching poor souls out; 8EDA brought speed and pace to the game; 8LKE were the main rivals to beat as they smashed the ball well and it flew quite the distance. 8CST, however, were simply unbeatable, drawing one match and winning all their other games. The teamwork was outstanding and sportsmanship was seen like never before. Miss Strange and Miss Allsop would like to believe that their participation in the games boosted the performance of their forms, however they were more of a hindrance and perhaps a handicap! Thank you to all form tutors that came to support us and to Miss Mackay for arranging the tournament, Miss Kempson and Mr Williams for refereeing and Year 11 for their score keeping. A great afternoon was had by all.


Year 7 Tournament Reporter Kezia Cook

Wednesday was Year 7 day. All the teams gathered after school and there were some very close matches between the six form groups. Teamwork was good across all the matches and everyone played really well.

Each class played against all the other classes to find a winner and, despite the tough competition, 7 SKE won the tournament.

Thank you Miss Mackay for organising it as we all had fun!

National Hockey Champions! Reporter Gary Smith

For the second year in a row two Rodborough school pupils were crowned Hockey Champions of England at the England National Hockey Championships at Wakefield, Yorkshire on Saturday 10th May 2014. Alexander Smith (8CST) and Max Greenhalgh (8EDA) are members of the successful Guildford Hockey Club’s U14 team who won the Surrey County Championships and South of England Regional Championships to qualify for their place in the National Finals at Wakefield.

At the National Championships on Saturday the Guildford team (representing the South of England) faced teams from all other regions including sides from Manchester, Cambridge and Rugby. They finished top of their group and went forward into the National Final against Leicester which they won convincingly, 2-0. This is the first time that the Guildford Hockey Club U14 side have won the National Championships (this team’s former success was at U13). Alexander plays as the team’s goalkeeper (in orange) and Max (in maroon) plays attacking winger. Both boys have worked hard to achieve this success and train two to three times each week. They have also been chosen to represent their county this year.

District Athletics Trials STOP-PRESS! The following students have been selected to represent Waverley

in the County Athletics Championships: Y9 Girls - Emily Porter Y9 Boys - Fraser Cotterill, Max Holland Y10 Girls - Megan Hildrew, Agatha Farlow-Hoare Y10 Boys Nat Barbato, Kyle Dollerson

Also well done to Megan, who set new Rodborough records in Hurdles and Long Jump.

Photo Guildford Hockey Club

Photo Guildford Gary Smith


Year 10 Sports Leaders Coach at Chandler Reporters Camilla & Isobel

All Year 10 Sports Leaders have put together a three-week training programme for Year 4 students at Chandler on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this half term.

Our aim was to get every Year 4 to learn new sports skills and have an enjoyable time with the Rodborough students. We ran three different events: Rounders, Tennis and Athletics. The Year 4s rotated around the activities, sampling a different one each week.

We designed the sessions to include

short, memorable skills activities to help the Year 4s discover which sports suited them best. The children were very enthusiastic and seemed to thoroughly enjoy their break from normal routine. We hope that they will remember the skills that we taught them and that it will help them become good sports enthusiasts in the future.

We enjoyed ourselves as much as the Year 4s! The experience has benefited everyone as all the Sports Leaders now feel considerably more confident in our leadership roles.

rodborough chronicles may 2014

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