Charlie Moore 8RM

So this year you were the first

to achieve 50 achievement

points and the first to achieve

100. How hard has this been

for you?

It has been challenging but

easy at the same time. I've been trying to work

very hard to get all the achievement points I can.

Were you surprised to learn you were the first? If so

why?

I was actually quite surprised to be the first to get

50 and then be the first to get 100. Because last

year I was quite bad and used to get, into trouble

a lot.

Who did you think your biggest competition would

be and why?

I thought my biggest competition was going to be

Brandon Hughes from 8SM, as he got 100 achieve-

ment points first and 150 first.

What advice can you offer to students who are

looking to hit the 100?

Be good in and around school. Because if you

work hard you can achieve a lot.

This term, Miss Callaghan and her photography club

have been working hard to produce a calendar to

sell to the students and their families.

We came up with an idea for each class to represent

a different subject that we study at school. For exam-

ple, 8WW represented History, while 8SM depicted

Design and Technology.

We all took the photographs with Mr Kerry’s profes-

sional camera, who kindly let us borrow it.

Each class and subject represent a different month,

eg. 8WW is on the month of October and 8SM on Au-

gust.

Nearly every student (and teacher) in the school was

involved in the calendar, and there are quotes for

each month from the teachers.

A lot of time was put into the production of our cal-

endar…a lot of time spent making props and finding

awesome poses! Photographing a whole class of stu-

dents was definitely an interesting experience for all

of us. Calendars are on sale in reception for £5

each. All the money raised is going to charity.

By Neha Aurora and Megan Mackintosh

Welcome back to the RFSS Newsletter!

This first term has been very eventful with

lots of activities that RFSS has done. We

are excited to show you our December

edition of the newsletter with, of course,

the lead up to Christmas. We hope you

all have a Merry Christmas and a happy

holidays leading into the new year when

we will be back for 2018!

The holidays are a chance for all of the

students at RFSS, to have a break from

learning and spend time with their fami-

ly. We hope that you have a very won-

derful and relaxing holiday and come

back in the new year, to carry on our

journey to make RFSS to best school in

Rugby!!

This week, Mrs Hudson put together a Christmas

concert for all the parents and the students from

Rokeby Primary School down the road. It consist-

ed of a range of acts from drama, orchestra,

choir, solos, ensembles, drumming. By the end of

the concert lots of instruments were played:

electric guitar, electric bass, drums, piano,

keyboard, xylophone, guitar, clarinet, flute,

violin, and vocals.

All the students involved had been prac-

tising all week and parts of the school days

to make it the best it could be. There were

many performances from Year 7 and 8’s

showing again how talented both years

are.

To open the evening, the orchestra played

Radioactive and Santa Claus is coming to

town. After that, three groups from Year 7

performed their African drumming curricu-

lum work. Following that were many inspira-

tional pieces from many other very talented stu-

dents including a beautiful piece called Nuvole

Bianche by Liam Tutcher.

It was a wonderful night and yet another oppor-

tunity to see what Rugby Free Secondary School

is really made of.

By Peyton Fincher and Megan Mackintosh

RFSS Orchestra playing Radioactive and San-

ta Claus is coming to town.

Year 7 drumming compositions including

groups from 7TM and 7RH.

Liam Tutcher, piano solo, playing Nuvole

Bianche.

String Ensemble playing Guadette.

RFSS singers with Seasons of Love and Skyfall.

Students from 7RB playing Rivers of Babylon.

Woodwind ensemble playing Memory and

Come Summer.

Year 7 and 8 performance of Don’t Stop Me

Now.

Year groups playing their Dorian compositions

including groups from 8WW, 8EH, 8SM.

Taylor Adams and RFSS sings performing The

Christmas Song.

Drama group performing Little Match Maker.

RFSS Choir singing Somebody to you and

Somewhere only we know.

On Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th of December 2017

the students of Rugby Free Secondary School didn’t

come to school as a result of the snow being too

dangerous for the students.

It was good news for the students as they had two

days full of fun in the snow and curling up and

watching a film.

On Monday, I went sledging and had a snowball

fight with my friends and family. I was so cold by the

end of it!

I had the opposite kind of day on the Tuesday. I

curled up on the couch in my pyjamas with a hot

chocolate and watched Netflix all day.

We interviewed 6 students (three from year 8 and an-

other three from year 7) to find out what they were

doing for two days..

The year 7 students we interviewed were: Erika in 7RB,

Esme in 7TM and Ashley in 7GS.

We asked what did they do and we got these an-

swers: Playing in the snow, sledging, built snowmen,

celebrated Mum’s birthday, sat inside and watched

movies.

We asked if they did homework and most of them

said no they didn’t.

The year 8 students we asked were: Oscar in 8SM,

Taylor in 8EH, Anzar in 8RM and James in 8RB.

Oscar: ‘I went to Spain and I studied, I couldn’t play

in the snow because there wasn’t any in Spain.’

Taylor: ‘I was sick so I just slept and watched Netflix, I

also did some homework.’

Anzar: ‘I played on my PlayStation and went to Lon-

don, I also played in the snow. I would’ve done

homework but I didn’t get any.’

James: ‘I helped my family and played board games

with my sister. I also built a snowman with my sister, I

also did homework. My favourite part of the snow

days was that I got to connect with my family and I

wasn’t on my phone all day because the Wi-Fi was

down.’

Seems like snow day was a success.

By Ava Kempson in 8WW

A few people were chosen to go

to a STEMM Week trip, they went

to a cinema to watch a movie

called Hidden Figures. Hidden Fig-

ures is a 2016 American biograph-

ical drama film, based on the non-

fiction book of the same name by

Margot Lee Shetterly about Afri-

can American female mathemati-

cians who worked at the National

Aeronautics and Space Admin-

istration (NASA) during the Space

Race.

It let us see how society has

changed through the years and

how people’s opinions have

changed; even in the past 50

years. The book takes place from

the 1930s through the 1960s when

women were still viewed as less im-

portant than men. The biograph-

ical text follows the lives of

“Human Computers” such as Kath-

erine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan,

and Mary Jackson. Also Christine

Darden, who was the first African-

American woman to be promoted

into the Senior Executive Service

for her work in researching super-

sonic flight and sonic booms.

These days we tend to forget the

struggles our ancestors have gone

through, we take things for grant-

ed. So this trip let us appreciate

the fact that we have a lot of op-

portunities in life and our educa-

tion.

By Julia Ignaczewska

This term RFSS headed to

the Space Centre in

Leicester for a chance to

hear renowned author

Phillip Reeve talk, and to

have a chance to explore

the Space Centre itself.

When we arrived we

made our way to the shut-

tle room where Philp

Reeve talked to us about

his ideas for his books and

answered many questions.

The talk was amazing as

he spoke to us about how

to create our book and

how to keep it interesting.

After the talk Mr Ross told

us to get into groups and

go explore the space cen-

tre. In the space centre

there was many exiting

things such as a recreation

of what it would be like if

you where on a space

craft launching out of the

atmosphere. Also we saw

the what the old space

suit and the modern ones.

There was also a space

shuttle (made by the

U.S.A) and a full space

craft in pristine condition.

There was so many things

we didn’t have time to get

to see all of it. One the

way out many of us

stopped off at the gift

shop and picked up some

keyrings, posters and rub-

bers. Sadly the time came

to an end and we had to

board the coach to go

back to school where our

parents would pick us up.

By Stephen O’Neill

This school has possibly

the best food that you

can buy at break and

lunch, so when I was

asked to write about the

Christmas dinner I was

excited. Last year we

had three super long ta-

bles stretching the whole

hall, kind of reminded me

of the great hall in Harry

Potter. Then the food.

The food here is the best,

it is scrumptious and deli-

cious and any other -ious

I can think of.

I have seen many films in

my life about high school

and how the food in the

school is sludgy mush

and looks like, well some

very disgusting things.

As of actually writing this I

haven’t had the Christ-

mas food in 2017 but I

know for a fact that it is

going to be amazing!

The Christmas spirit is

found in that hall. To all

reading who may be

wondering about the

food, to sum it up, it’s

amazing.

Tim 8WW

This term a few people

got chosen to go on a

Twickenham trip. We

left at 9:15 and

stopped at 10:30 for

the services. We finally got there around 12:00.

When we got there we had to go through security,

after that we went around outside the stadium, the

stadium was huge and the food was really expen-

sive. When we got in we sat in our seats and

watched the rugby people train. At 3:00 the rugby

match started. At half time people went to get some

stuff to eat, the hotdogs were huge like every other

food item.

When the match started there were a few more

tries. England won in the end but we had to leave in

the just before the end so we would be on time to

get back home. We got back to school at around

7:00pm and then we went home.

On the 31st of October

(Halloween) willing stu-

dents from year 8 went

on a trip to the parlia-

ment of the United King-

dom for the day. In total

there was… students.

There was a 2-hour

coach trip there and

back that was full of in-

quisitive conversations.

When we had arrived at

Westminster, we were

lead straight into the

hall between the two

court rooms. The house

of lords (red) and the

house of lords (green).

After a quick tour round

and show of the archi-

tecture, we were guid-

ed to the house of lords.

We sat above the mem-

bers and observed over

a political debate

about gambling. We

saw Jeremy Corbin.

After a few minutes, the

tour guide showed us

around some more and

we learnt very much

about the rules and

laws of parliament like

that king Charles I was

executed of treason be-

cause he went into par-

liament more than

once.

Asthe day went on, it

was time to go home.

By then everyone was

tired out and falling

asleep on the bus.

By Olivia Brimley

On 31st October this year, some of the students

in our school went on an education trip to the

Houses of Parliament. In this article, we are inter-

viewing a few students, writing about the two

houses and describing our workshop with the

Rugby MP, Mark Pawsey. Unfortunately, one

group couldn’t enter the House of Lords be-

cause a serious debate was happening.

The Houses

In the Houses of Parliament, there are 3 different

houses: The House of Commons, The House of

Lords and The Monarchy. The House of Com-

mons consist of MP’s from local areas, the ruler

of the country cannot go in any of the houses.

Interviews

We will be interviewing 3 students about their

time on the parliament trip. The students are:

Krina Chudasama, Bailo Darame, Kacper Cho-

jnowski.

Did you have fun on the trip?

Yes because we were Live on television in the

gallery of the House of Commons and we got

to watch a debate about online gambling - Kri-

na

A little bit of fun because some of it was funny.

For example, we were playing games outside

and there was a guy doing press-ups outside

the entrance and was caught on live TV. -

Kacper

What was your favourite part of the trip?

My favourite part was when we sat in the gal-

lery for the debate – Krina

My favourite part was also sitting in the gallery

because it was fun watching the debate. –

Bailo

I liked exploring the Houses and doing the work-

shop. I liked it because it gave us useful infor-

mation. - Kacper

Did you learn anything you didn’t know before?

If so what did you learn?

I learned about what they debated about and

that was fun because I like finding things out. –

Krina

Yes, I learned about how the Members of Parlia-

ment debate. – Bailo

I learned about the history of Prime Ministers

and I watched a video about the Suffragettes.

– Kacper

I enjoyed the trip because we learned lots. My

favourite part of the trip was when Mark Pawsey

came in and answered our questions. I learned

about the contents of the Parliament and what

goes on inside it – Vicky

I enjoyed the trip to parliament because I really

like politics and I haven’t really been to London

that much. I liked listening to the debate from

the big gallery which was my favourite bit. I did-

n’t learn much because I already know quite a

bit about politics already. - Charlotte

By Sophie Lucas, Abigail Allen, Charlotte Sand-

ers and Adelaide Crick-Hughes.

Last week the year sevens had their first Christmas disco, so we decided to in-

terview some year sevens on what they thought about it.

What was the disco like?

Harriet and Claudia, from TM, said that the disco was very fun because they

enjoyed dancing and being with their friends, they also liked the lively and

weird dancing all the year 7s decided to do.

What was your favourite song played?

The TM girls said they didn’t have a favourite song because they enjoyed them

all as they knew them all and they were relatively new songs.

Who was the best dancer in year seven?

Harriet and Claudia said The best dancer was voted Henrique in 7TM while Ellie

L said that Ellie h from 7GS was the best.

Who did you hang out with at the disco?

All 4 of the girls said that they just hung out with the people from their form and

some other people in their year.

Did you enjoy the disco?

Ellie L and Aimee, from GS, said Yes, because they got to hang around with their friends and do whatever they want which made it better then it already was.

What was your favourite part of the evening?

Ellie L enjoyed the funny dancing because she likes dancing like a jellyfish. Aimee said she was happy to take her heels off because her feet were hurting from dancing.

Would you go to the disco next year if RFSS did one?

They all said that they would both go again because they would like to dance “very weirdly again” and hang out with their friends in a different way then nor-mal.

By Erin Morgan and Tineisha Irwin

Students have experienced engaging fun practices

that have allowed them to explore science. Year 7

have been learning about acids and alkalis neutrali-

sation, how to be a good scientist gaining their Bun-

sen burner licence. In Biology they have been intro-

duced to a microscope, while in Physics they have

been exploring the universe.

Next term Year 7 will be studding, reproduction biolo-

gy, in chemistry partial theory, physics, electric cir-

cuits.

Year 8 have been learning about the digestive sys-

tem, respiratory system, eye dissection and lung in Bi-

ology while in Chemistry they have been learning

about Mendeleev and alkali metals, gas tests, metals

with water and acid.

Next term year 8 will be learning about biology unicel-

lular vs multicellular organisms, chemistry rocks and

physics energy transfer and electricity.

Science Bob is a website that allows to do home

practicals. For a lava lamp all you need is a plastic

bottle, water, vegetable oil and a alka saltzer tablet.

Science club has started on Thursday and first week

back they will be making slime.

Science ambassadors have been elected and meet-

ings to be held in the next half term.

This term in music we have been

learning a variety of skills, from

listening, to writing and compos-

ing our own piece. This term we

were looking closely at the Dori-

an piece, what is it you may ask,

it is a piece of musical notes

playing simultaneously making a

tune.

We were all in groups, in our

group there was Mia, Ellie, Millie,

Julia and I we all worked togeth-

er to make our piece, we then

had to perform it into in front of

the class, as part of our grades.

In our piece we had to impro-

vise, my favourite piece was by

Abigail’s group, they showed

leader ship and confidence

while playing it.

Further on into the term we

looked at how to create and

compose our own piece of mu-

sic. Towards the end of the term

we had a choice, to go on key-

board and learn some of our fa-

vourite songs.

By Izzy and Julia and Mia

Mr Hambidge

What is your job here

at RFSS?

I am a teaching as-

sistant for the year

sevens and eights

here at RFSS.

What brought you to

this school?

To develop my

knowledge becom-

ing a Level 3 Teach-

ing Assistant as I

completed my Level

2 last year at Bilton

Junior School.

Do you like it here at RFSS?

Yes I do because the students are great and I feel

they have a lot more respect for me and I also get

on with every staff member and we can all have a

laugh with staff and students.

What college did you go to?

Rugby College for 1 year studying Level 3 Sport

What is your favourite colour?

Blue because I support Everton is that a good

enough reason J

What is your favourite memory?

My favourite memory is when I won the league

with my cycling team and when I also completed

my

Level 2 Teaching Assistant qualification.

#HappyDays :D

What is your favourite food?

Definitely homemade pizza as I really enjoy making

it with my family!

If you could ask one question to the next person

interviewed what would it be?

What is the best holiday you’ve ever been on?

Liam Tutcher 7RB

How did you feel about coming to Rugby Free Sec-

ondary School?

I was really excited about coming to secondary

school.

What primary school did you go to?

I went to Badby primary school

Have you made new friends?

Yes I’m friends with Parka, Arbra, Isaac and many

more

Do you like it here?

Because the year 8s help the year 7s out

What do you want to be when you’re older?

I would like to be either a photographer or a PE

teacher.

What one question would you ask the next student to

be interviewed?

Do you feel welcomed in this school

What subject do you like the most?

My favourite subject is pe I find it really fun.

Do you speak another language?

No but we are learn-

ing Spanish in school

What is your favourite

colour?

My favourite colour is

blue.

What is your least fa-

vourite food?

I don’t like Bananas.

Between the last two

terms a group of girls

have been chosen to

play in the indoor

league school netball.

It was enjoyable be-

cause the games

were fast and fun and

won all games but

one against rugby

high. After school on

a Tuesday every week

a after school netball

club would be set up

to help us practise,

Miss Probert gave us

many handy tips in

what to do in difficult

situations during the a

game.

The first game we

played was Harris on

17th October where

we won thanks to Ana

and Maya’s amazing

shooting, the score

was 15-2. The games

we played in be-

tween the first and

last game were Ash-

lawn, Avon Valley,

Rugby high and last

Bilton. Our last game,

Bilton, we won with a

shocking score of 27-5

we found that it was

our best game

throughout the terms.

Miss Probert and Mr

Clancy were very

proud of all of us and

congratulated us on

coming second on

the table.

By Ellie Hill and Amelie

Searle

Interview with MAX HART

What is Friday football like?

It is very exciting to play

with my friends but it can

become very competitive

which I enjoy.

Friday football is very fun

and very competitive.

What is your favourite part

about Friday football?

The teams are often fair

and everyone obeys the

rules

Who is in your team?

On our team there is 4 peo-

ple Max Hart, Nuno Bo-

tas ,Reece Cocks and Josh

Jackson.

How long have you been

playing football for?

I have been playing foot-

ball for over 3 years.

What is your team name?

My team name is Baywatch

FC

Do you play football out of

school?

Yes I play football out of

school.

What is the position you

play?

Centre midfield, however

when I play for school I play

up front. I play p front so I

can score more goals to

help the team.

Would you do anything to

change it?

I would change it by sepa-

rating it so you have a year

7 side and then the next

day year 8 go.

By Josh Kelly amd Tom Rid-

ley and Ethan Kestila

Rugby is a fun, tactical and exiting sport and is no dif-

ferent at RFSS. The RFSS team is friendly and is a place

to play rugby. You get to make lots of new friends

and get to know the other students at RFSS, we get to

play in different teams and play fun games.

We compete against other schools like Ashlawn and

Bilton so if you would like to join the Rugby team talk

to Mr Clancy or Miss Probert the P.E. teachers.

It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced player, or

completely new to the sport, you can join the team

for free. If you don’t know the rules it’s ok because we

can teach you the rules before you know it.

By Liam Tutcher, Parka Roderick and Isaac Lancett