Upload
vomien
View
216
Download
3
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Oxbridge Offers 2
Oxford and Cambridge Offers We are extremely proud of the many offers that have been received by our students to study at some of the best universi es in the UK. The UCAS process has been a very busy me with in ex-
cess of 70% of our students making applica ons. A signifi-
cant majority already holds offers. This is credit to their
hard work at AS, their extra-curricular commitments and
their broad skills base that have made them stand out.
Last year 5 Penglais students were successful in securing offers from Oxford and Cambridge. This year we are ex-tremely proud that 6 hold offers for September 2015. Max Clark has an offer to study Chemistry at St John’s College, Oxford. Tess Dupont has received an offer to study Classics at Lady Margaret Hall College and Max Pi-otrowicz has secured a place at St Hilda’s College, as he has taken a gap year and already meets the terms of his offer with the outstanding grades that he achieved last year. Max is currently travelling in Australia and will re-turn later this year to study Physics. Mohsen El-Abbadi has been offered a place at Jesus Col-
lege Cambridge to study Materials Science. Nnamdi
Nwaefulu has an offer to study on the Engineering course
at Churchill College Cambridge and Tesni Clare has an
offer to study Geography at Fitzwilliam College.
Welsh Government Oxbridge Ambassador for Wales, Paul Murphy MP said “my congratula ons go to Penglais School on this outstanding achievement. Six students ob-taining offers to study at Oxford and Cambridge really is excep onal and it reflects the hard work of the students in ques on and the teachers who have supported them in their applica ons. “When the Welsh Government’s Seren programme is established in Aberystwyth it is clear that Penglais will be an asset to the local hub. In the mean me I wish all of the students the very best of luck in their A Level exams and I hope that the school will con nue to go from strength to strength.” Head of Year Kate Brown says that the candidates are
excep onal and that it has been a privilege to work with
them at this key stage in their lives. She is grateful to
Penglais staff who have worked relessly both in and out-
side lessons to help the students to prepare. She would
also like to thank Aberystwyth Rotary Club for their sup-
port and input as well as Professor Chris Pollock and
CEWC. They have all contributed to inspiring our pupils,
giving them the confidence to put themselves forward.
Cynigion Rhydychen a Caergrawnt Rydym yn ymfalchio yn y ffaith bod llawer o’n myfyrwyr wedi cael cynigion amodol i barhau eu hastudiaethau academic mewn rhai o brifysgolion gorau y DU. Gyda 70% o fyfyrwyr y Chweched Dosbarth yn gwneud ceisiadau UCAS, mae’r wythnosau diwethaf wedi bod yn gyffrous a llawn prysurdeb. Mae mwyafrif sylweddol o’r myfyrwyr wedi derbyn cynigion amodol yn barod – yn seiliedig ar eu cyrhaeddiadau AS, eu gweithgareddau all‐gwricwlaidd a’r amrediad eang o sgiliau ychwanegol sydd ganddynt. Llynedd, cafodd 5 o fyfyrwyr Penglais gyfleuoedd i astu‐dio naill ai yn Rhydychen neu yng Nghaergrawnt. Eleni, rydym yn falch i gyhoeddi bod chwech wedi cael cynigion i astudio yn y prifysgolion yma ar gyfer mis Medi 2015. Mae Max Clark wedi derbyn cynnig i astudio Cemeg yng Ngholeg Sant Ioan, Rhydychen, mae Tess Dupont wedi cael cynnig i astudio Clasuron yng Ngholeg Arglwyddes Margaret Hall ac mae Max Piotrowicz wedi cael lle yng Ngholeg Santes Hilda i astudio FFiseg. Ar hyn o bryd mae Max yn mwynhau ‘blwyddyn allan’ yn teithio yn Awstral‐ia ar ôl cwblhau arholiadau lefel ‘A’ a sicrhau lle yn Rhydychen llynedd. Mae Mohsen El‐Abbadi wedi cael cynnig lle yng Ngholeg Iesu, Caergrawnt i astudio Gwyddoniaeth Deunyddiau, mae Nnamdi Nwaefulu wedi derbyn cynnig i astudio Peirianneg yng Ngholeg Churchill, a chafodd Tesni Clare gynnig i astudio Daearyddiaeth yng Ngholeg Fitzwilliam. Wrth longyfarch Ysgol Penglais, dywedodd Paul Murphy, Aelod Seneddol a Llysgennad Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer Rhydychen a Chaergrawnt: “When the Welsh Government’s Seren programme is established in Aberystwyth it is clear that Penglais will be an asset to the local hub. In the mean me I wish all of the students the very best of luck in their A Level exams and I hope that the school will con nue to go from strength to strength.” Yn ôl Kate Brown, Pennaeth y Chweched, braint a hyfrydwch yw cydweithio gyda phobl ifanc yn ystod cyfnod mor allweddol yn eu bywydau. Hoffai Kate ddatgan ei diolch i staff yr ysgol am eu hy‐
drechion di‐flino i gefnogi myfyrwyr yn ystod ac y tu al‐
lan i oriau ysgol. Mae hi hefyd yn ddiolchgar am
fewnbwn a chefnogaeth Clwb Rotary Aberystwyth, yr
Athro Chris Pollock a CEWC. Mae’r holl gyfraniadau
ychwanegol wedi codi profeil a hyder myfyrwyr Penglais
ac wedi’u hysbrydoli i wireddu breuddwydion a dy‐
headau personol.
School Council 3
Jack rides his way into Bri sh Racing School Jack Goodchild 11KD will join an elite group of students
at the Bri sh Racing School at Newmarket which is a Cen-
tre of Excellence within the horse racing world. The rac-
ing school provides purpose built facili es and is a end-
ed by young people with poten al to ride as a profession-
al jockey. ‘I’ve always ridden horses, and the thought of
galloping down long straights thrills me. The Bri sh Rac-
ing School is based in Newmarket and had over 1000
people apply, so it was great to get offered a place’.
Many well established jockeys have a ended the school
and Jack is hoping that this could be the start of a profes-
sional career in the sport.
School Council
OXFAM Unwrapped Each year at Penglais, Christmas me is a chance for all the students to par cipate in a very special scheme called Oxfam Unwrapped. Oxfam Unwrapped involves buying gi s to send to countries where they are really needed. The most common and well known gi is a goat. You pay Oxfam for a goat and they give it to a village, this pro-vides milk for selling and drinking, a job for a member of the community and when the goat reproduces, the vil-lage can sell the goats bringing much needed money into the community. In Penglais every form group collected money separately and then selected what they would spend their money on. This year we raised an incredible £1612 which is the most we have raised so far and a great achievement for the school.
Special thanks and congratula ons go to 8AP who are our Oxfam Unwrapped Form of the Year. They raised an in-credible £206 and were able to fix a well, build two toilets and buy four goats, two chickens, four health checks for children and care for mums. The runners up were 7JI who raised a huge £179.60 and bought four chickens, a goat couple, green energy, safe water for 50 people and provid-ed the money to train a teacher.
School Council Year 7 Elec ons Congratula ons to Alex Quayle and Lucille Richards who were recently elected as the Year 7 Year Representa ves on the School Council.
Welsh Assembly Consulta on On Friday 23rd January, members of the Penglais School Council took part in a consulta on with Kate Gravell from Na onal Assembly for Wales on whether the vo ng age should be lowered to 16. The pupils discussed both sides of the debate before comple ng ques onnaires on the issue. Kate was very impressed with the contribu on made by the pupils and looks forward to working with us again in the future.
No ces 4
Dinner Money—Important No ce If you are paying for your child’s dinner by cheque, the cheque is to be made payable to ‘Ceredigion County Council’. Any cheques for dinner money that are made out to Penglais School will need to be returned. Thank you for your assistance with this ma er. Melanie Williams / Finance Department
Arian Cinio – Rhybudd Pwysig
Os ydych yn talu am giniawau eich plentyn gyda siec, rhaid sicrhau bod y siec yn daladwy i ‘Cyngor sir Ceredigion’. Bydd rhaid dychwelyd sieciau sydd yn daladwy i Ysgol Penglais. Diolch am eich cydweithrediad. Melanie Williams (Adran Gyllid).
Casgliad RAG BAG Collec on
Do you have any clean, old and unwanted clothes/fabrics/curtains/ duvets/shoes/handbags/accessories? Did you know these items can help raise money for the school? Please place any of the above items in a plas c recy-cling bag, bin bag or carrier bag ed up to ensure no water gets in. There is a container around the rear of the school (the parking area near the sports hall doors) where you can drop them off, or they can be brought to Mrs Elgood’s office oppo-site D18.
Oes gennych chi unrhyw ddillad/ffabric/cyrtens/dillad gwely/esgidiau/bagiau/cyfwisgoedd/hen, lan a diangen? Ydych chi’n gwybod bod y rhain yn medru codi arian i’r ysgol? Plîs rhowch yr eitemau uchod mewn bag ailgylchu plas g, bag bin neu fag cariwr wedi ei glymu i wneud siŵr fod dim dŵr yn mynd i mewn. Mae cynhwysydd ar gael (yn y lle parcio wrth ymyl drws y neuadd chwaraeon) lle medrwch chi eu gadael, neu gallant gael eu gadael yn swyddfa Mrs Elgood, gyferbyn â D18.
Cer ficates Evening On Wednesday 17th December, the school held its annual Cer-ficates and Awards Evening in the Great Hall, Aberystwyth
Art Centre. It was an evening to celebrate success, both past and current pupils a ended whilst proud parents watched as they were presented with their GCSE and A Level cer ficates. Prizes were also awarded in recogni on for outstanding per-formances in various areas including, Maths, Chemistry, Mu-sic, Sport, Art and excep onal achievement within the Learn-ing Support Centre.
The programme of events included fabulous musical perfor-mances by the Penglais Wind Band, Osian Dance and Erin Botche flute duet and the Mistletones quintet. Professor John Gra an, Pro Vice Chancellor at Aberystwyth University, was guest speaker and presenter of the prizes and cer ficates throughout the evening. Of course, the evening would not have been a success without the con nued dedica on and achievement from our pupils and the generous support the school receives to fund the generous prizes. I would like to take this opportunity to wish our current GCSE and A Level can-didates all the best in their summer exams and l look forward to seeing you at our next Cer ficates Evening on 16th December 2015.
Mathew Jenkins received a prize for excep onal achievement within the Learning Support Centre
Cerys Sharples -Outstanding Achievement in A level and Lead-ership prize, Megan Carter Davies -Outstanding achievement in A level, Phoebe Williams -best performance at A level and Maths, Dylan Wiliams—winner of the combined Penglais/Penweddig Award for best performance in Geography and French.
No ces 5
Fergus McMahon and Jac Horwood - joint winners of the Sports Personality of the Year Award
Pictured with Mr & Mrs Curwen are Osian Dance and Kim Har-vey joint winners of the Jane Curwen prize for outstanding contribu on to music.
Here are examples of Daniel Smith’s and Gwenan Clegg’s work, which made them joint winners of the Outstanding Achieve-ment in Art Award.
By Daniel Smith who is now at Aberystwyth University studying Scenography and Theatre Design.
By Gwenan Clegg who is now at Chester University studying Animal Behaviour and Welfare.
Kingsman The Secret Service
Charity Screening
Taron Egerton, former Penglais pupil and star of Kingsman, The Secret Service, organised a charity screening of the block-buster film which was held on Wednesday the 18th February at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre. The aim of the evening was to increase awareness and raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Associa on. To help
promote this cause, Penglais held a raffle draw for sixth form pupils and parents. The prize was a cket to the screening and the draw was made by Mr Ma hew Brown, Headteacher on Thursday 12th of February. The winners of the ckets were Emma Hopkins, Year 13 and Mr Robinson (father of Roisin Rob-inson Year 13). Both winners were invited to meet with Taron for drinks and canapes before the screening and again a er-wards for any ques ons and answers. The Penglais raffle draw raised £100 towards this event.
Cogurdd Compe on The school heat of the KS3 Cogurdd Compe on took place on the 28th January. Compe tors had to prepare and serve Gla-morgan sausages and an apple and date salad. It turned out to be a very technical challenge, with only 90 minutes to complete the two dishes but all did extremely well with only a few points in it. In first place was Millie Hore Y7, second place was Toohey Everard Walker Y7 and third place was awarded to Dalia El-Abbadi Y8. We were very fortunate to have as our adjudica-tor Mrs Rudge, who was very keen to praise all compe tors as standards across the board were high.
Departmental News 6
Cystadleuaeth Cogurdd Cynhaliwyd rownd ysgol Cystadleuaeth Cogurdd Cyfnod
Allweddol 3 ar yr 28ain o Ionawr. Y dasg oedd i baratoi a
gweini Selsig Sir Forgannwg a Salad Afalau a Datys. Her
technolegol iawn oedd hyn, gyda dim ond 90 munud i
gwblhau’r dasg gyfan, ond llwyddodd pob cystadleuydd i
wneud yn arbennig o dda. Ychydig o farciau’n unig oedd
rhwng y cystadleuwyr pan ddaeth y dyfarniad. Aeth y safle
gyntaf i Millie Hore Bl. 7, yr ail safle i Toohey Everard Walk-
er Bl. 7 gyda Dalia El-Abbadi yn drydydd . Ein braint oedd
croesawu Mrs Rudge fel beirniad. Cafodd ei phlesio’n fawr
gyda’r safonau uchel ar draws y gystadleuaeth.
Whizzkidz Cake Stall Mrs Lowe is running the London marathon in April and we decided to have a cake stall to help to fundraise for the chal-lenge. We sold lots of cake and raised £185. Thanks to every-one who contributed to this great total!
Learning Support Centre (LSC) Design a Superhero! Mrs Evans from the English department ran a Superhero chal-lenge for pupils in the Learning Support Centre. They had to create their own original Superhero character and we had some amazing entries. The overall winner chosen by Mrs Ev-ans was Lucy O’Connell 9RW but all pupils that entered re-ceived a comic strip notepad.
English Year 7 English workshop On February 3rd, some Year 7 pupils had the opportunity to a end a talk named ‘Scribblers’ in Aberystwyth Arts Centre. As part of the Hay Fes val, the ‘Scribblers’ talk was a valuable opportunity for Year 7s to learn about crea ve wri ng and be
The table where Alex served her meal
Departmental News 7
given an interes ng presenta on from two authors. First, a descrip ve wri ng workshop was held where the pupils had to write a story based on four pictures of monsters. Second, the two authors, D.D. Everest and Abi Elphinstone, gave separate presenta ons on their books and gave an informa ve Q&A session a erwards. The pupils then had the op on to buy a copy of the books and have them signed by its respec ve au-thor. Josh Cox, one of the pupils that a ended, said that “it was really fun and interes ng; I liked how interac ve it was”. Anoth-er pupil, Emma Bucknor, said “I’d really like to do something like this again, the authors were very interes ng and I enjoyed the Q&A session.”
Design and Technology
The Rotary Chef Compe ton
Alexandra Von Muller (Year 10) represented Penglais in the local round of the Rotary Chef Compe on. She did the school proud in planning, making and serving a 3 course healthy meal and came a very close 2nd. Alexandra’s score was 120/150 and the winner from Llandeilo was 121/150. Mrs Hague says, “I was extremely proud of her efforts, she was a credit to the School. Well done, especially as Alexandra only started Penglais in Sep-tember, as she has come over from Germany for a year to im-prove her English.”
The four contestants wai ng to hear the results.
The table where Alex served her meal
GCSE Hospitality Events This year there was 3 groups in Y11 who planned and served a meal for a group. They all performed extremely well and re-ceived lots of praise. Last Man Standing served their meal in Poppies (at Arthur Newman's Garden Centre) courtesy of Mr and Mrs Hennighan and Ian and Sue who run restaurant. There meal was based on Italian food. They managed to raise £120 for Ty Hafan.
Departmental News 8
El Macho's theme was based around a Spanish menu and they managed to raise £50 for Children in Need.
Banter Squad based their meal around Italian food and Hallow-een and they managed to raise £50 for Cancer Research.
The Italian cuisine is prepared and is taken out to guests to serve.
GCSE Hospitality Events con nued ...
Music
Thanks to all who supported the successful Christmas concert where £250 was raised for the Music department, this money will be put towards buying the department a new piano. A new venture for this term is the training Wind Band (Friday Lunchtime D2) to ensure an ensemble opportunity for all Woodwind/ Brass players at the school. Preparations are un-derway for the Spring Concert on the 26th of March in the school’s main hall. Congratulations to Max Glasser, Isaac Williamson-Evans, Emyr Dance, Bryn Dennis, Katy John, Greg Parry, Joshua Ireland and Nicolas Smith who have re-cently been selected to perform as part of the Six Counties.
Penglais Spor ng Achievements Na onal Urdd Swimming Gala Five Golds for Penglais swimmers at the Gala It was a golden day for our swimmers, who represented the School at the Na onal Urdd Swimming Gala, held at Cardiff on the 25 January 2015. All members of the team managed to qualify for the finals and the squad achieved an impressive five gold medals and one bronze. In the individual events Morgan Revell, Teilo Cour er-Lilly,
Shannon Sayer, Nansi Dingle, Lewis Drakeley, Isaac Evans and
Amber Owen all made it through to the finals. Cameron
Thomas (Year 9) achieved gold in the 100 meters bu erfly in
an impressive 1.05.94. He managed to snatch victory from his
arch rival in the last few strokes of a close and thrilling race.
James Payne (Year 8) achieved a bronze medal in the 100
freestyle in a new personal best me of 1.08.32.
However, it was in the relay events where Penglais demon-
strated our strength in depth, winning four of the twelve
events in this na onal compe on. The boys Y9-10 team
comprising; Lewis Drakeley, Morgan Revell, Sion Davies and
Cameron Thomas won gold in both the freestyle relay and
Spor ng Achievements 9
gold in the two hard fought races. This team included Issac Evans, Max Glasser, Cai Elgood, Teilo Cour er-Lilly. The girls Y9-10 team; Rebecca Glasser, Amber Owen, Nansi Dingle and Shannon Sayer swam very well in the medley relay and nar-rowly missed a medal, finishing fourth in the freestyle. Our Y7-8 boys team (Alex Glasser, Robert Glasser, Owen Drakeley and James Payne) performed valiantly in the Medley relay. This was a promising performance from the boys who fin-ished in sixth place. Three of the team are in Year 7 and will be one to watch next year when they are at the top of their age group. The swim team was supported throughout by their parents
and the School is very grateful for their commitment and
support.
Nofio Cenedlaethol Yr Urdd Nofwyr Penglais yn Cipio Pump Medal Aur Yng Ngala Canhaliwyd Gala Nofio Cenedlaethol Yr Urdd yng Nghaerdydd ar y 25ain o Ionawr 2015, a chafodd nofwyr Penglais ddiwr‐nod euraidd! Llwyddodd pob aelod o’r m i gyrraedd y rowndiau terfynol a rhyngddynt enillodd y sgwad bump med‐al aur ac un fedal efydd. Yn y cystadlaethau unigol, cyrhaeddodd Morgan Revell, Teilo Cour er‐Lilley, Shannon Sayer, Nansi Dingle, Lewis Drakeley, Isaac Evans ac Amber Owen y rowndiau terfynol. Enillodd Cameron Thomas (Blwyddyn 9) aur yn y Ras Pili Pala
(100 medr) mewn amser anhygoel o 1.05.94. Cipiodd y fud‐
dugoliaeth o drwch blewyn ar ddiwedd ras gyffrous iawn.
Enillodd James Payne (Blwyddyn 8) fedal efydd yn y Ras
Rhydd (100 medr), gan greu amser personol newydd o
1.08.32.
Ond yn y cystadlaethau cyfnewid daeth cryfder y nofwyr i’r amlwg gyda thimau Penglais yn ennill pedwar o’r deuddeg Cystadleuaeth Genedlaethol. Yn nhîm Bl 9‐10, llwyddodd Lewis Drakeley, Morgan Revell, Sion Davies a Cameron Thomas i gipio’r aur yn y Ras Gyfnewid (Rhydd) a’r Ras Gyfnewid (Medli). Roedd bechyn Bl 11‐13 hefyd wedi cipio dwy fedal aur yn eu
rasys cyfnewid hwythau ar ôl brwydrau hir a chaled. Aelod‐
au’r mau yma oedd Isaac Evans, Max Glasser, Cai Elgood a
Teilo Cour er‐Lilly.
Roedd m merched Bl 9‐10 wedi nofio’n arbennig o dda yn y
Ras Gyfnewid (Medli), a chollon nhw fedal o drwch blewyn
wrth ddod yn bedwerydd yn y Ras Gyfnewid (Rhydd). Aelod‐
au’r m yma oedd Rebecca Glasser, Amber Owen, Nansi Din‐
gle a Shannon Sayer.
Roedd bechgyn Bl 7‐8 (Alex Glasser, Robert Glasser, Owen Drakeley a James Payne) wedi gwneud ymdrech arbennig yn y Ras Gyfnewid (Medli) gyda pherfformiad addawol iawn i gipio’r chweched safle. Mae tri o’r m hyn ym mlwyddyn 7 felly mae’n disgwyliadau ni ar gyfer y flwyddyn nesa yn uchel iawn! Hoffai’r ysgol ddiolch i rieni’r nofwyr am eu cefnogaeth a’u
cydweithrediad parod.
URDD Gymnasteg/Gymnas c Llongyfarchiadau mawr i Celyn Evans (9LH) a Millie Gwynne (8AV) ar eu llwyddiant yng nghystadleuaeth Gymnasteg yr Urdd yng Ngheredigion. Enillodd y merched y fedal aur a byddan nhw’n mynd ymlaen i gystadlu yn y rownd Genedlaethol yn Aberystwyth ar Chwerfor y 12fed. Da iawn ferched! Congratula ons to Celyn Evans (9LH) and Millie Gwynne
(8AV) on their success in the Urdd Gymnas cs compe on.
The girls won a gold medal and will compete in the Na onal
round in Aberystywyth on February the 12th. Well done
girls!
Eisteddfod yr Urdd – Neges bwysig
Os ydych chi’n bwriadu cymryd rhan mewn unrhyw un o
gystadleuthau’r Urdd eleni rhaid i chi fod yn aelod o’r Urdd.
Dewch i A5 at Miss Davies am ffurflen cyn gynted â phosib a
thalwch eich arian i Julie Davies yn y Dderbynfa yn syth.
Spor ng Achievements 10
If you are taking part in any of the compe ons in the
Eisteddfod this year you must be a member of the Urdd. Come
and see Miss Davies in A5 to get a le er then pay Julie Davies
in Recep on as soon as possible.
Swimming Success Cameron Thomas 9EE and Amber Owen 10NR both medalled in the Bri sh Gas short course winter Na onal at Swansea Na onal Pool 19th – 21st December 2014. Cameron received 2 bronzes for his 50 metre and 200 metre bu erfly races and Amber received a bronze for her freestyle and a gold in the girls’ relay event.
Cameron Thomas, who was awarded the Talented Junior Indi-vidual Award for Swimming at the 2014 Ceredigion Interna-onal Awards in July 2014 is pictured here with his medal.
What a year!
Physical Educa on The 2015 Dyfed Secondary Schools Cross Country Champion‐ships at Oakwood took place on Tuesday 20th January and there were a number of representa ves from Penglais. A spe-cial men on goes to Sian Ducke in Year 7 who finished 5th in her age category in a me of 9.17 minutes.
Sian and Fay Walsh (Year 13) were selected to go on to repre-sent Dyfed Schools in the Welsh Schools Cross Country Cham‐pionships in Brecon on 11th February.
Pictured is Sian compe ng in her race to represent Dyfed Schools at Brecon. Sian was placed 46th out of 82 compe -tors.
Fay was placed 13th out of 42 runners in the senior race.
The Dyfed Senior Girls team came first overall. Pictured is Fay and the team with their well deserved medals.
Departmental News 11
Hockey Match On Wednesday February 11th Penglais boys under 18s hockey
team played the local ladies’ hockey club, Bow Street Ladies. It
was organised by Fergus McMahon (year 13) and Mrs. Philips
and the purpose was for Jac Horwood (year 12) to be assessed
for AS level PE in both hockey and hockey umpiring. The score
was 6-0 to Penglais boys. Pictured are Charlie Edmunds, Fraser
Harris, Allen Roby, Jac Horwood, Fergus McMahon, Iwan Kierle,
George Edmunds, Gareth Jones, Ali Salami, Elfed Selman, Chris
Jones, Noel Janes, Mark Ladwig and Rachel Donnison who
played for Bow Street Ladies.
History
The 70th anniversary of libera on of Auschwitz‐Birkenau Year 12 pupils James Morgan, Emyr Goodwin, Megan Isherwood and Eszter Pinter are represen ng the School on a trip to Ausch-witz. In light of the 70th anniversary of the libera on, we look forward to repor ng their experiences in the next newsle er.
Science Bri sh Physics Olympiad Karl Piotrowicz and Joseff Jones in year 10 were successful in their Bri sh Physics Olympiad experimental project. These boys spent a term working on their project which was looking at the rebound height of two balls stacked on top of one another and dropped. They spent lunch mes, breaks and a er school de-signing their project and carrying out and wri ng it up to a high standard. Well done boys; all their hard work has paid off and they have a Silver Cer ficate Award.
Lectures and workshops Pupils from 7G and 8G a ended an energy lecture at the uni-versity on the 22nd January, where they looked at different ways of conver ng chemical energy into other forms of ener-gy, such as heat, light and sound. Sixty pupils from years 10 and 11 a ended a WWAYS lecture at the university about musical squares – adventures in sound. The EESW team spent three days in a workshop at Bangor Uni-versity working on a prototype for their project with ABER In-struments.
Elephant Conserva on Talk Dr. Trevor Jones, Director of the Southern Tanzania Elephant Project (STEP) came to talk to year 13 Biology students about the threats elephants face and the work that his organisa on is doing to protect them. STEP's work involves applied moni-
toring and research, elephant protec on, enhancing human and elephant co-existence, and campaigning for ele-phants by opposing the ivory trade. Dr. Jones gave us some shock-ing sta s cs: Tanzania as a whole has lost more than 50%
of its elephants to poachers since 2006. In some areas 76% of elephants have been killed. Poaching is illegal but lucra ve – there is a big demand for ivory with the biggest markets being in China where it is carved and sold as status symbols. Dr. Jones explained that carving and selling ivory in China is not illegal as China stockpiled ivory legally in 2002 and 2008. How-ever, the existence of a legal trade in old ivory has opened the floodgates for an illegal trade supplied by poaching. Conse-quently an average of 100 elephants are illegally killed in the wild each day. If this rate of poaching con nues then ele-phants will likely be ex nct in the wild by 2025. Dr. Jones's project supports Tanzania's Na onal Park rangers in their an -poaching work, monitoring and iden fying individual elephants, training rangers and providing camera traps and a plane for aerial surveillance. Despite the seriousness of the current situa on Dr. Jones is op mis c that all is not lost. He advocates that all ivory trade should be banned and all stock piles destroyed. He explained that without a channel for illegal trade, elephant popula ons could recover.
Departmental News 12
Elephants are some mes killed by farmers as they raid their crops so Dr. Jones's project involves some interes ng methods of deterring elephants from farms, such as chilli oil fences, bee hive fences (elephants are afraid of bees!) and spreading ele-phant dung on crops. Bee hive fences have the addi onal ad-vantage of producing honey which the farmers can sell. STEP is
working to develop honey markets by liaising with local farmers in the hope that they can co-exist with the elephants. Habitat destruc on is another problem for elephants - although 25% of Tanzanian land is set aside as Na onal Parks elephants have a vast range and move from park to park. If "wildlife corri-dors" are not le to link the parks then elephants have to cross farms, roads and built up areas, pu ng them in danger. Dr. Jones explained that the solu on is to set land aside to link the parks up so that elephants can travel safely between them and to build elephant underpasses beneath major roads. He also told us about elephant behaviour and society, explain-ing how elephants live in matriarchal socie es, communicate with each other, help each other out of danger and have a spa-al memory that enables them to find water in droughts. He
showed us some beau ful photographs and videos of elephants in the region where he works. Comments from Year 13 students included: "Very interes ng and refreshing. Good to see that something is being done, and inspiring. Good to get a contrast from class-room learning and hear about current issues in Biology.” "The topic was one that I had not been too aware of in terms of the seriousness of the issue. I am very glad that you came in to educate us on the problems you face and how you are working with the villagers to protect the elephants. I think it would be worthwhile for similar talks to be had in other schools because it relates to our syllabus and also raises awareness and could inspire more people to work in elephant conserva on. Thank you." A big thank you to Dr. Jones.
More informa on on STEP can be found on www.stzelephants.org
Mathema cs Prac ce for Junior Maths Challenge Mr. Bentley will be holding prac ce sessions for the UKMT Junior Maths Chal-lenge during Friday lunch mes a er Half-Term.
This is a fantas c opportunity for students to think through nov-el and interes ng mathema cs problems, and it is open to eve-ryone in years 7 and 8.
Max Clark and Ellie Jolley with their certificates
Gold Cer ficate— Max Clark and Nnamdi Nwaefulu
Silver Cer ficate— Eleanor Jolley and Robert Williams
Bronze Cer ficate— Noel Janes and Josiah Youd
Senior Maths Challenge Results Pupils at Penglais School achieved 2 golds, 2 silver and 7 bronze awards in this year’s UKMT Senior Maths Challenge. Over 81,000 pupils from across the UK returned scripts for the Senior Maths Challenge with the top 10% receiving a gold cer-ficate, the next 20% silver and the next 30% bronze. Well
done to everyone!
Best in School— Max Clark Best in Year 13— Max Clark
Departmental News 13
Robert Williams, Nnamdi Nwaefulu, Noel Janes and Josiah Youd
Best in Year 12— Trystan Besent (pictured)
Bronze Cer ficate— Trystan Besent, Sophie Edwards, Cai
Elgood, Tara Howard, and Fergus Meredith.
Fergus Meredith, Tara Howard and Cai Elgood
MFL Routes into Languages Spelling Bee Round 2 The School round was held on 5th February and the top 5 compe tors were: Thomas Glasby 7CH, Eileen Brendler-Spaeth 7JN, Cameron
Chris e 7JI, Georgia Heidt 7CH and Ma lda Kirk 7DG. These will now go head to head to fight for the two available places in the Na onal Finals! Mandarin Pupils will be hos ng a Chinese New Year celebra on on Friday 27th February in the DT Department between 5 and 7 pm. There will be cooking demonstra ons by Dr Zhou and others, cooking dumplings and other foods.
A poem by Eileen Brendler-Spaeth— 7 JN An empty, silent cave, its slimy surfaces gleaming. I am as afraid as a mouse. Drip! Drip! The water slides down the damp walls. The skinny, slimy, scaled fish slither through the clear pools. My curiosity grows. My skin turns ice cold, goosebumps rippling up my arms. Fear … The damp, salty air s ngs my tongue like a bumble bee. Based on a chapter from: The Candle Man
Puzzles 14
Sudoku The aim of the game is to fill each square with a number from 1 - 9. Each number can only appear once in the same row, column or 3 x 3 box.
Solu ons to each puzzle will be posted in the following issue.
PTA Curry & Quiz 15
Insert Text for HEADER 20