Kaddy Lee-Preston meteorologist,

BBC weather reporter and local

celebrity officially opened Skinners‟

newly installed solar panels at 12

noon on the 8th October.

Skinners‟ School was awarded £62K

funding from Kent High Weald Unit,

KCC and 2 grants from Low Carbon

Building Fund, to install 60 panels of

photo-voltaic solar panels. They can

power the whole science block‟s labs,

the computer suite, sixth form common room, toilets, kitchen and dining hall. The whole

building can now run on renewable energy, saving a significant 3.8 tonnes of CO2 per annum

plus a considerable £1000 saving to the school‟s energy bill.

The impressive boost to the School and the environmental committee‟s efforts closely followed

the award of the prestigious Eco-Schools Green Flag in February this year. It demonstrates the

whole school‟s ongoing commitment to improve its environment. As Mr Everson, commented

„Students and staff on the environment committee work hard to educate their peers, to reduce

the amount of waste generated, promote sustainable travel to school and reduce energy

consumption. Each generation of Skinners‟ students builds on the legacy of its predecessors.

This generation will help to ensure that future is a sustainable one.‟

PRESS RELEASE

2 Tonnes of CO2 already saved

DRAMA

Dramatic

MomentsEven before the official

dedication of the Thomson

Theatre, boys were getting a

taster of the

exciting possibilities of our

new performance space. Mrs

Fiona Lennon, the Head of

Drama was a driving force

when negotiating the

specification of the theatre

and rehearsal space; her

technical crew have already

received training in the state

of the art lighting and

sound systems; 'A' level

students will be able to

perform their exams pieces at

Skinners' this year and three

oversubscribed drama clubs

are up and running at

lunchtimes!

Watch this space for

notification of future

performance dates - all

invited!

Poet Inspires Year 7sPaul Lyalls ran a series of workshops for year 7 and 'A'

level students on 25th September. Boys were treated

to a range of Paul's own poems, anecdotes and advice

on writing - delivered in a lively, accessible style.

Poems covered a range of intriguing topics: toy

soldiers brought to life, 'Who wants to be a

millionaire?' and the adventure of children's lost coins.

Read the creative results of the competition that

followed in the next edition of 'The Leopard', the

school magazine.

Thomson Theatre Officially

OpenedOn 7th November David Thomson‟s widow was present at

the dedication and opening of the new theatre. The

theatre is named in honour of her husband who inspired

the generous benefactor, a former student, when he was

his English teacher.

The 22nd October saw 118 Year 7 boys, 9 prefects and 5 members of staff make the much

anticipated journey to Cromer, Norfolk, for a fun-filled three days in which they would be

faced with a range of exhilarating challenges. With activities ranging from Night Line, in

which boys were pitted against the challenge of darkness and testing obstacles, and

Aeroball, an exhilarating hybrid of trampoline and basketball, our boys developed their

team work skills; learning to trust, encourage and engage with each other. Friendships were

clearly developed and cemented in the centre‟s activities, sporadic games of Frisbee that

broke out, chatter and friendly banter across their cooked breakfasts and in a rousing and

rather enthusiastic practice of the Leopard song!

The Oakley Wildlife Garden was

opened on Wednesday 22nd October.

On a glorious autumn day, staff,

pupils, parents, governors from both

schools, attended to watch the

ceremonies which included an address

by the Tunbridge Wells Town Cryer, the

official opening by the Wildlife Trust,

and then speeches from both

Headmasters and the Kent High Weald

Project. The project had involved our

boys working with the KHWP over

several weeks; clearing invasive

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UN

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Norfolk 2008 - Mud Doesn’t Stop Play!

rhododendron, grubbing up old tree trunks, putting up bird boxes and making sight-

lines for the views.

Guests were treated to a tour of the Wildlife Trail and out-door classroom, and the

sunny, extensive views over the Weald from the end of the trail were truly beautiful.

„Mini-beast music‟ was then performed by the children of Oakley School and was in

keeping with the theme of the outdoor classroom, after which we all retired to the

Sensory Garden for tea and sandwiches.

Thanks are due to all the boys who have helped on this project – too many to name

individually, but there were representatives from every Year group in the school.

Thanks also to my colleagues Mr Stone, Mr Adams and Dr Porter, all of whom rolled

up their sleeves and helped with the hard work!

Mark Moody - Specialist Science Coordinator

House academic challengeThursday 23rd October saw the first Inter-House

Academic Challenge, where seven of the finest

academically gifted pupils from each House were

pitted against each other in a University Challenge

style quiz, with hundreds of House points up for grabs

for the revitalised House Competition.

Jeremy Paxman was replaced by our very own Yorkshire

born question master Mr Utting, and Mr Oldham was in

charge of the (dare I say it!) somewhat dubious scoring

system.

The first round of ten questions saw Knott take an early

lead, but sadly Sebastian and Atwell began to dominate

the competition; Head Boy Sam Barker seemingly

answering all the questions for Sebastian House.

The final standings saw Atwell take first place,

Sebastian second, then Knott and Hunt third and fourth

respectively. Altogether it was a tremendously

successful evening and as a member of Knott House I

am content in the knowledge that our shortcomings

were merely the result of a faulty buzzer!

Joe Severs

11 Red

Knott House

Year

Group Atwell Hunt Knott Sebastian

7 769 728 730 770

8 1296 1236 704 943

9 816 728 803 919

10 607 596 572 601

11 296 434 512 489

Other 505 185 190 395

Total 4135 3568 3290 3796

Totals as at Friday 24 October

2008

House Points

MUSIC

Musical InterludesBoth Junior Swing Band and

Junior Orchestra entertained

an ever changing but

appreciative audience on

Open Evening. For Skinners‟

Day the school orchestra led

the enthusiastic singing

when boys, staff, parents and

guests proudly sang the school

song.

Visiting MusiciansTom Keenlyside, an

eminent jazz musician from

Canada, worked with 25 of our

players during a recent Jazz

day. In addition he lectured to

the exam sets.

International SuccessThe 3rd ITF (International Taekwon-do Federation)

World Cup took place in Riva Del Garda, Italy,

between the 15th and 20th of November 2008. This is

an open world championship with 1200 competitors

from 45 countries taking part. Andrew Buckingham

from the upper sixth form at Skinners‟ competed and,

in a closely fought series of contests, secured the

bronze medal! We congratulate him on his impressive

success!

Luminescence – Young EnterpriseThis year‟s current year 12s at Skinners‟ along with other schools in Kent, have decided to

participate in the highly recognised Young Enterprise scheme. Young Enterprise is the UK‟s

leading business and enterprise organization that aims to help students learn about the

business world by setting up and running their own real life business.

Members of Year 12 at Skinners‟ have teamed up with students from a variety of schools

including TWGGS and Beechwood to set up a company called Luminescence Ltd.

Luminescence aim to sell the hugely popular Pandora style bracelets.

The group will be holding a stall at Skinners‟ Christmas Bazaar on the 29th November and

will be hosting a launch party at Skinners‟ (TBC).

Luminescence ltd has created a website which showcases their products. If you are

interested to see or buy any products please visit luminescenceltd.com.

Members of Team 3, whose trek was

dramatically cut short in the summer,

were treated to a fantastic day

courtesy of team dynamics in Bells

Yew Green that covered a range of

outdoor team activities to end their

work together on a high note.

Te

am

Bu

ild

ing

CCF Cadets play in TA Freedom

ParadeOn the morning of Saturday 18 October a parade in

Tunbridge Wells town centre saw the Freedom of the

Borough offered to the locally based TA soldiers of 579

(EOD) Squadron Royal Engineers. As part of the parade,

cadets from different youth organisations, including our

own CCF, were invited to supply a colour party (of three

cadets), plus a small number of others, whose task was

to collect for 'Help for Heroes' and help raise awareness

of the parade and the role of cadets. (See full report on

the school's website - www.skinners-school.co.uk )

A J HoldingLieut. Colonel

Stop PressTickets still available for year 7 visit to January's

pantomime 'Cinderella' from the School Library.

Tuesday 18th - the inaugural concert to be held in

the newly refurbished Byng Hall will take place in the

Thompson Theatre at 7.30pm

The Right to Reply…There is an opportunity for parents to respond to

parent mail and offer thoughts on school life by

emailing:

yourvoice@skinners-school.org.uk

Dr Tom Slater, a PhD chemist (DSTL at Fort Halstead) spokesman

from the Royal Society of Chemists, RSC, gave an interesting

presentation to 70 Sixth Form chemists about careers for chemists

and introduced the scientists to the use of RSC Chemnet website.Ca

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Work Experience for Young ScientistsJames Turbett and Jesse Asherson Webb, Year 11, attended GSK for a day's work experience.

James reports on the experiment they ran: „ The aim of the experiment was to investigate

why the presence of a water wet Pd/C catalyst appeared to increase the rate of formation

of the imine product and records that the Pd/C catalyst is not recognised as a catalyst for

the imine formation - it is actually required for a subsequent hydrogenation reaction of the

imine product.'

Our future in their hands!

Fieldwork for GeographersThe Geography Department continues to be as busy as ever. At the beginning of October

Forms 9G and 9Y carried out fieldwork on coastal management at Reculver along the north

Kent coast. Consideration was given to the reasons why this coastline is retreating so

rapidly and how man has attempted to control this erosion(or not as the case may be).

Pupils viewed a variety of different techniques from hard engineering schemes such as sea

walls and rip rap, to softer techniques such as beach nourishment. The Kent weather once

again provided a challenging backdrop of cool temperatures and a blustery north wind.

However, a combination of brisk walks and lots of brainpower (and a rapidly consumed

lunch) provided sufficient warmth for most. We look forward to leading 9B and 9R later

this term.

Seniors Visit IcelandThe Sixth Form and Year 11 experienced a glorious week visiting Iceland. The Skallinn

Centre in Hvolsvollur once again provided a wonderful home from home for the group and

Henrik together with his wife Gully and son Samuel were truly fantastic hosts. Visits to the

waterfalls Gullfoss, Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss provided an opportunity to see the true

force of nature in moving water and, of course, an opportunity to get wet! An early swim

at the Blue Lagoon close to Reykjavik was a great introduction to the way the Icelanders

have harnessed their island‟s geothermal opportunities and a swim in air temperatures

close to -8C was certainly bracing. Further visits to Geysir to witness the gushing of

Stokker and surrounding geysirs, and to the rift valley at Pingvellir also highlighted the

geological instability which people live with in their everyday life – the abundance of

greenhouses in the area also reminded us how ingenuous man can be in using natural

resources for his own benefit. After a short flight across to the Westmann Islands we took

a short trek up to the rim of one of Iceland‟s most active volcanoes (Eldfell) and viewed

the evidence of the destruction caused by the eruption of 1973 which caused the

inhabitants of the nearby town of Heimay to flee for their lives – luckily for us the volcano

was quiet for our visit, though just beneath the surface temperatures did rise to 475C and

the odd puffing fumarole was evidence of lots of activity beneath our feet. The “black”

glacier of Soheimjokull provided an excellent case study of how ice, as well as fire,

continues to create this unique landscape. The final evening was spent watching the

sunset along the coast at Reynishverfi was memorable. Add to this an hour‟s viewing of

Aurora Borealis and a daily outdoor swim then a better trip could not have been had – it

will live long in the memory.

Director of Sixth Form

The Skinners' School

SKINNERS’ v JUDDWELL DONE TO ALL TEAMS.

THIS WEEK SEES ALL OUR C& D

TEAMS IN ACTION AS WELL AS

OUR YEAR 7‟S.„‟

TEAM SCORE

12A Won 17-5

12B Won

12C Won

12D won

13A 39-0 WON

13B 15-5 WON

14A 23-0 LOST

14B 12-10 WON

15A 44-12 LOST

15B 15-0 WON

16A 18-16 WON

2NDXV 15-5 LOST

1STXV 26-10 WON

Turbulence - an evening of

comedy, music and drama that took

place on the 16th and 17th October

was a joint production between

the MFL departments at Skinners‟,

TWGGS, AND Kent College. Year 8

and 13 pupils from Skinners‟ took

part under the guidance of Mrs

Hubbard, Mrs Wickham and Mrs

Wheeler.

What a show! After watching this play, in-flight entertainment will never seem the same again!

The first joint venture between Skinners, TWGGS and Kent College left the sell out audiences

thoroughly entertained and wanting more. Set on board an airliner with the audience as the

passengers, the characters took the audience on a fun-filled trip around Europe with comedy

music and dance. The Skinners boys‟ involvement was essential to the smooth running of

„Turbulence‟. Sam Barker and Alistair Ceurvorst as the airliner‟s captains tied the various

sketches together with great style, while Dan Keen, Sanzhar Kushekbayev, Sam White, Ben

Burgess, Joe Thomas, Hugh Dennis, Craig Osborne, Alex Osborne, Harry Barnes, Robert Barnes,

James Barden-Edwards, Cormack Jackson and Ben Breathwick performed pieces including Monty

Python, Blackadder and Prévert to the delight of their audience.

Turbulence was a great success and thanks must go out to all involved both on and off the stage.

Thanks must also go out to all those who supported the show by coming to watch in help to raise

over £1000 for the schools‟ charities. We look forward to our next joint venture!

Mrs J Hubbard & Mrs C Wickham

TURBULENCE

The Skinners’ School Christmas

BazaarSaturday 29 November - 11.30 am- 3.00 pm

Come along to our Christmas Bazaar on Saturday 29

November where we promise we can solve most of your

Christmas shopping dilemmas.

We have a great range of stalls selling craft items,

toiletries, stationery, jewellery and accessories to suit

every pocket in these straightened times!

Encourage the children to break out their pocket

money as they will find great Xmas buys for all family

members.

Look out for bargains on the book, DVD and toy stalls

If your boys aren‟t really interested in the whole

present buying idea (obviously the receiving of .. is a

great idea!) then appeal to the cookie monster in

them! There will be homemade cakes, chocolate stalls

and to work off those extra calories – there is the ever

popular pedal go-kart challenge taking place outside.

For all those rugby players, there is nothing quite like a

bacon sandwich to give the boys that something extra

so Skinners‟ boys can rule the day on the rugby field.

And if all this sounds too much for a Saturday afternoon

– don‟t panic there is mulled wine and mince pies to

help the afternoon sail by in a Christmassy haze!

Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday!

The Skinners’ PA

Parents Association

Parents Association

INT3NSE @ Skinners‟ was a sell-out.

On 3rd October, 300 pupils from

Skinners‟ and other local schools

gathered together in the school hall

for a disco organised by a team of

boys from the L6th. The disco

atmosphere was enhanced by the

use of a giant smoke machine,

occasional strobe lighting, two

bubble machines, a UV cannon,

face paints and glow sticks whilst

the kids danced to a variety of top

tracks.

Approximately £1300 was raised by

this event and these funds will be

used to purchase a portable PA

system for use by outside speakers

and during conferences.

These boys have recently gone on

to form a company called

BLUEPRINT who specialise in under

18‟s discos.

To find out about BLUEPRINT check

out www.blueprint-experience.com

Spring Ball 09

Important Dates – Term2/3IMPORTANT DATES – TERM 2/3

November 2008

Tuesday 25 Year 8 Parents‟ Evening – 5.00 – 8.00pm

Saturday 29 PA Christmas Bazaar – 12. – 3.00pm – Dining Hall

December

Monday 1 – 5 Year 11 Mock Exam week

Friday 5 Year 8 trip to Aachen – German Christmas Markets

Monday 8 Year 11 Mock GCSE Orals all week

Friday 12 PA Junior Disco – 7.30 - 10.00pm

Monday 15 Carol Service – 7.30pm St John‟s Church

Friday 19 Progress reports issued Years 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

TERM 2 ends

January 2009

Monday 5 Staff Development Day – no pupils

Tuesday 6 TERM 3 starts

Tuesday 13 PA committee Meeting 8.00pm

Thursday 15 Year 11 Mock results issued

Year 11 parents‟ Evening - 5.00 – 8.00pm

Thursday 29 Year 11 (AS) Options Evening – 7.00pm

Friday 30 Year 9 Reports issued to pupils

February

Thursday 5 Year 7 Parents‟ Evening – 5.00 – 7.00pm

Friday 6 PA Junior Disco – 7.30 – 10.00pm

Friday 13 TERM 3 ends

Sunday 15 Ski trip to Les Menuires, France – return 22 February

Monday 23 TERM 4 starts

On Friday 7th November, we celebrated Skinners‟ Day. The school gathered in the

Assembly Hall in Tunbridge Wells to honour the prize winners, review the year and

hear from Lord Adonis, minister for Transport.

Beginning as always with a rousing rendition of “The Leopard Song”, the occasion was

marked by excellent performances from the orchestra, who gave us the march from

Vaughan Williams Folk Song Suite. Another highlight was the amusing dramatic

reading of Mr Micawber‟s advice to David Copperfield. Mr Micawber‟s thoughts on the

management of finance were very relevant to the present credit crunch; his touching

faith that „something will turn up‟ brought real laughter from the audience.

We were very fortunate to be addressed by Lord Adonis, who broke into a full

ministerial diary to support the school. The fact that he was very nearly late, due to

disruption to the very trains that he has responsibility for, provided his opening quip.

As Lord Adonis listened to the announcement at Charing Cross, informing the

passengers that no trains would travel between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, the

old lady beside him spoke. “It‟s terrible,” she commented. “The government should

do something about it.” “I agree,” replied Lord Adonis, “why don‟t you write to the

minister about it?”

Andrew Adonis was warm in his praise for the pupils and the school. He picked out

the support the school offers Tunbridge Wells High School as a good example of how

strong schools can work to develop standards across the whole community.

The response to our guest was offered by Sam Barker, the Head Boy. His words were

hugely well received by guests and pupils; they were witty, thoughtful and delivered

with Sam‟s usual panache. Finally, the school had the opportunity to express its

thanks to staff, governors and parents. The cheers were offered by the House

Captains, who discharged their duty well and to the general amusement of all.

In summary, the occasion was a great success. The atmosphere was warm and

friendly, as befits our school. The school and its pupils have had another year of

great achievement.

Simon Everson

Headmaster

Skinners’ Day...Some final words from the Headmaster