Newsletter SENIOR November2019 - St John's …...Newsletter Senior School Issue 16 November 2019 029 2077 8936 @SJCCardiff Dear Parents, I am sure you will enjoy reading this month's

Newsletter

Senior School

Issue 16 November 2019

029 2077 8936 www.stjohnscollegecardiff.com @SJCCardiff

Dear Parents, I am sure you will enjoy reading this month's newsletter containing all the good news stories from this very busy Advent term. I am always amazed by the many different activities and achievements of our pupils. I am particularly proud of the pupils who performed in the concerts at St David's Hall and Brecon Cathedral. The concerts have done so much in raising the profile of Music at St John's College and I am very grateful to Mr Howard and the Music department who have worked so hard to make them such a success. We have also followed, with great excitement, our F1 Team Infinity’s racing progress at the World Finals in Abu Dhabi and we are immensely proud of their achievement in finishing 37th out of 50 teams. In line with other Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese we have been encouraging our pupils to follow the virtues of being: Grateful, Generous, Attentive and Discerning. This has certainly been thought provoking and provided a strong focus for our assemblies and our charitable giving this term. We have a very busy end to the term and I hope to see many of you over the coming weeks at the Nursery & Infant Tableau in St Cadoc's Church December 5th, the Christmas Concert on December 9th, the Nursery & Infant production on December 10th and our annual Prize Giving and concert on December 12th. Thank you for all your continued support. Warm wishes, Mr Shaun Moody Sixth Form News Upper Sixth With the end of term approaching, UVI students are working hard to balance UCAS applications and academic study. They sat mock exams this month and have the first of their parents’ evenings on 3rd December. Offers and interviews have already started to come in, particularly for those early-deadline applicants for Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary and Oxbridge, so practice interviews have been a priority in recent weeks. Last week, our regular visiting expert on Medical School Applications, Martin Blamey (formerly of Cardiff University’s selection panel), gave a talk in preparation for the mock MMIs (multiple mini interviews) which are now favoured by the majority of medical, veterinary and dental colleges. These took place last week in the David Neville Hall with students tackling a range of quickfire tasks within six-minute time limits, including roleplay, multi-task dexterity and brain-teasing quizzes, medical dilemma scenarios, ethical and topical discussions and more. Thanks go to the many teachers who staffed our various stations: L Chwieseni, L Knight, M Bridge, N Cooper, D Lhermitte, E James, K Thomas and J Gordon-Smith, but especially to Akash H of R16 who displayed tremendous acting skills by playing a distressed student whom

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the candidates had to approach and help. We also look forward to traditional panel interview practice in December with a recently qualified doctor. Formal interview practice is also currently scheduled for students applying to read Veterinary Science, Law, Dentistry, History, HSPS and Economics at institutions where the traditional panel system is still used. Good luck to all those about to attend Oxbridge interviews between 10th and 12th December! Lower Sixth LVI have experienced a range of speakers this month: Lancaster University gave a most useful presentation on interview techniques which will prepare our students for their future interviews. David Oakes from Sandhurst delivered a presentation on army opportunities. We also had a speaker from the police and a member of our alumni, ex-student Rik Banerjee, ran a Science seminar, 28th November. R16 also visited the Sixth Form Centre, Friday, 8th November for an afternoon tour of the Sixth Form Centre and restaurant and listened to a talk from our Upper Sixth students. To celebrate the end of term, our students have organised their annual Christmas Ball which takes place at St David’s Hotel on 3rd December. We also look forward to welcoming back from university last year’s VI Form leavers on Founder’s Night and to presenting them with the certificates that celebrate their outstanding A Level results last summer. Children in Need Many thanks for all your donations to this worthy charity. We surpassed ourselves this year as the grand total donated was £1731.00. and we could not have done it without your continued and much valued support. Many thanks to Mrs Laura Taylor, Ms Lauren Knight & R15 and Ms Martha Sanders for doing such a great job in organising our fundraising events for the Juniors, Seniors and Sixth Form. It was a pleasure to judge the ‘Bake Off’ competitions. The tempting cakes baked by Junior and Senior pupils were not only beautifully decorated but were also full of the most wonderful flavours and not one soggy bottom!

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R15 Pupils who organised the bake sale event counting up the donations and our Senior bake-off winners. Poppy & Jemima B 1st, Akash H 2nd and Jenny G and Ananyaa Y Joint 3rd. Well done, All! Many thanks to Mrs Aine Gooding and our PA for organising the fab prizes for our worthy winners. They were beautifully wrapped and gratefully received! Our R15 pupils Crina C and Grace C also commented: ‘It was so busy, but it was so worth it!’ In the wise words of Tom C who said: ‘This was an amazing event to take part in, knowing that it was all for a really good cause. There is nothing better than knowing you are putting a smile on a child's face’. Biology Gold Crest Award The Crest Award is a 70-hour project which is largely self-directed by the pupils. Pupils carrying out some preliminary work on daphnia (small aquatic crustaceans). Their current aim is to look at the effects of caffeine on heart rate.

A Cognitive Neuroscience student from Cardiff University, gave the pupils a lecture on decision making/action selection.

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L6 Techniquest Visit This DNA workshop enhanced the pupils’ understanding of practical techniques used in Genetic Research laboratories. It provided pupils with an opportunity to discuss some of the associated social and ethical issues involved in this type of research. Pupils extracted their own DNA from cheek cells and used PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) techniques and gel electrophoresis.

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Biology Competitions Biology Intermediate Olympiad Certificates were presented to the successful competitors.

U6 Practical work

Microbiology work being undertaken by our U6 pupils (including Gram staining and counting yeast cells using a haemocytometer)

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Physics Former student, Daniel Siromani, achieved the best A-Level Physics result in the country in August 2019. This incredible achievement is to be recognized by the WJEC/Institute of Physics in the form of an official presentation and cash award. Daniel is now reading Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Mathematics R16 Maths Trip to Bletchley Park Recently, our Additional Mathematics pupils in R16 visited Bletchley Park, a world-class heritage and education site that was once the top-secret home of World War Two Codebreakers. The trip involved exploring the Victorian Estate and visiting various exhibitions contained in some of the World War Two code-breaking huts. Pupils also participated in a workshop which focused on code breaking and ciphers from World War Two to the present day. They also had the chance to view and operate a working Enigma machine (one of only 8 left in the world). The pupils had an enjoyable but busy day and all behaved very well - a credit to themselves and the school.

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R13 Chepstow Racecourse Mathematics Trip On Wednesday, 20th November R13 visited Chepstow Racecourse to take part in a range of Mathematical activities, incorporating key elements that are taught in the classroom Pupils looked closely at the construction of hurdles and fences, learning how they are built and measuring their height and spread to discover how athletic horses are. Other activities included pupils using their Mathematics skills to calculate how many horses can safely fit into the parade ring before a race at one time. The trip was concluded by watching three live horse races from front row seats which were all thoroughly enjoyed by all students and staff.

Senior Quiz Challenge Two teams of four pupils competed in the Senior Schools' Challenge Quiz Tournament at Hereford Cathedral school on Wednesday, 20th November. One team, consisting of Sachin P, Dylan O, Hiya R and Jay C, beat Monmouth Boys School and lost to Hereford Cathedral in their round Robin matches. The other team of Christian J, Teia R, Ansha K and Ojas M got beaten narrowly in both matches by Llandaff Cathedral School and Monmouth Girls School. Junior Quiz Club continues to run on Tuesday lunchtimes in room 1.7 and Senior Quiz Club in EBP8 on Thursday lunchtimes. We are looking to recruit some R12 pupils for the next competition in March.

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English News Kids’ Lit Quiz On Friday 22nd November Noah D, Tatsam J, Anchitha K, Varshini S, Hani M, Krishna L, Rhea I and Annabel J formed two teams to participate in the International Kids’ Lit Quiz. They were required to answer 100 questions on children’s literature. The standard this year was incredibly high, but both teams enjoyed the evening and received books for winning a round. Noah, Tatsam, Anchitha and Varshini finished 3rd overall and also received book tokens and a certificate.

Institute of Chess Examinations Congratulations to Shayanna S and Venetia S who sat Institute of Chess examinations over the summer. Venetia scored full marks at Level 1 and Distinctions at Levels 2 and 3, whilst Shayanna scored a Distinction at Level 5 - the highest level offered. Well done to both girls for these impressive results. We have been offering these examinations as part of our Co-Curricular enrichment for nearly 2 years now and some 75 examinations have been sat. Over twenty pupils will be sitting Institute of Chess examinations in November - good luck to all those involved.

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Congratulations to our Junior Chess team who came second out of 37 schools in the Primary Schools Chess Championships held at Cardiff City Stadium. Well done to all involved on such an impressive achievement! Music This autumn, the St John's College Music Department has been extremely busy performing in a variety of venues with a wide-ranging repertoire. On Friday November 8th, the Cathedral Choir were invited to join forces with the female choruses from the Cardiff and Swansea Bach Choirs in a performance of Mahler's Third Symphony at St David's Hall. This venture was part of the International Concert Season at St David's Hall and the invitation came from the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra who filled the stage with their physical presence, and their sound. This was a wonderful opportunity for our choristers, who ranged in age from 9 to 18 to experience a live, professional symphony orchestra at close quarters, and also to sing in German, some of the most engaging repertoire ever written. Our second performance took place in Brecon Cathedral on Friday November 22nd where the Cathedral Choir and Concert Orchestra joined forces with the choir of Brecon Cathedral in a dazzling display of some of the most famous choral pieces ever written including Handel's Zadok the Priest, Parry's I was glad and Mozart's Laudate Dominum with soloist Luke Samra from R14.. The wonderful acoustic in the cathedral resonated with the glorious sound of both choirs combined and orchestra. A huge thank you to the peripatetic teaching staff who helped set up the cathedral and of course, performed alongside the pupils.

Moving toward the Christmas season, we once again took over St David's Hall for our annual (early) lunchtime Christmas Concert on Tuesday November 26th. The Cathedral Choir and Concert Orchestra performed a wide variety of Christmas music and carols for the audience to join in with including music from the film Hook by John Williams We have a regular clientele who come to this concert and many said it was the best one they had ever been to. The repertoire ranged from the beautiful Little Road to Bethlehem by Michael Head and then on to music by contemporary composers such as Will Todd and Daniel Kantor. The Christmas season is a great opportunity to showcase the latest addition

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to the music department at St John's - a 3 octave set of professional handbells - and special mention must be made to Rowan H, Neel S and Houram E who not only played the bells for the first time, but appeared in concert with the orchestra for the first time. And a special thanks to Mr Capel for teaching them how to play them! Our Close Harmony group also sang Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

We have three more performances this term, beginning with the whole school Christmas concert on December 9th at 7pm in the Hall with all the music ensembles from Juniors through to Seniors - this will be a celebration of the many pupils who make music at St John’s! In December, the Concert Orchestra will play a few pieces in the annual Founders' Day awards ceremony. The final performance of the year from the Cathedral Choir will take place on the 15th December at the Metropolitan Cathedral

where we shall be relating the Christmas story through readings, carols and choir items. We are joined by a professional brass, percussion and organ ensemble which creates such an exciting sound in the building. This carol service is also being recorded for Shalom Television who have regular Christian broadcast slots in over 150 countries. The Cathedral Choir continue to sing every Sunday morning at Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral, culminating in the Christmas Eve mass. We would like to thank the wonderful music staff at St John's for their commitment, help and support with all things musical - Anthony Capel, Rachel Lawrie and Phylip Nichols. Team Infinity Racing at the World Finals in Abu Dhabi Our team arrived safely in Abu Dhabi and started a week-long competition to try and become the World Champions. They completed the first stage of the competition with a very impressive presentation and success in the first round of track races.

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Infinity Racing @Yas Circuit Abu Dhabi. After months of preparation the team arrived in Abu Dhabi on Friday morning to compete with the top 55 teams from around the world. The team were the youngest combined team to compete and did us proud especially as they had never competed at "pro" class. The team were confident and incredibly engaged with the whole experience. One of the judges who remembers them at Nationals said that they are going to go far and they are being tipped for great things in the future! They were standing at 25 on the fastest car grid . . . an awesome achievement! After days of tough competition and an incredible experience for all involved, Infinity came in 37th out of 50 teams in the world. A truly remarkable achievement!

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Sports News Vineet B Cricket Vineet B was the Best Bowler of the tournament at the Prestigious Ampleforth festival in North Yorkshire where he was presented with a custom-made cricket bat. He was the highest wicket taker and player of the tournament at the Taunton festival where he was presented with a shield. Wales won this prestigious tournament beating top English county teams as well as teams from the Caribbean. Vineet was also presented with the end of season Peter Hardwick award on the 4th

November at the Swalec stadium. He was also the highest wicket taker this season across all age groups and had a successful season as a batsman too. The Glamorgan Junior cricket academy is the highest platform for junior cricketers in Wales. Well done, Vineet; these are fantastic sporting achievements!

Junior Cross Country Our junior Cross-country team made it through to the finals and competed outstandingly well in the final. Table Tennis Congratulations to Rhys H. He is the Blaenau Gwent Boys Table Tennis Champion 2019. What a fantastic achievement!

Swimming Congratulations to both Emily and Ffion who are pictured below with their gold medals from the South East Wales Sub Regional Swimming Gala. The girls are preparing for their forthcoming Urdd schools competition.

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Netball Our R13 netball squad are heading to the finals of the Sport Cardiff netball tournament. The squad competed against 10 other teams and came 2nd.

Taekwondo Harry and Max recently competed in Barcelona, Max came 4th and Harry came 5th. Harry is now in top placing for Wales and 2nd Top UK placing! Max finished in 4th place (Top Wales placing and top UK placing for 10-12 year old blue-red belt) Harry finished in 5th place (Top Wales placing and 2nd top UK placing for 13-15 year old black belt) We are so proud of their commitment and hard work. Congratulations both what a fantastic achievement!

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Basketball Our VI form and senior basketball squads are going from strength to strength the mixed squad are preparing for their matches in Dec and January and the VI form won their recent match vs Eastern High.

SJC Hockey Academy Our junior and senior hockey academy is thriving each week with over 36 members, playing and competing each week, well done to all involved. *Please check our twitter updates for further news @SJCCardiffSport

Mr Blair’s Adventure During the October half term Mr Blair cycled 210 Miles from Holyhead in the North East of Wales to my house in the South Wales valleys. The 72 mile route on day 1 took him through Anglesey, over the Menai Bridge, through the Snowdonia National Park, and along the coast to Barmouth. Day 2 was very hilly (2000 metres of ascent) and the route took him through the old capital Machynlleth, past Devil's Bridge and up the stunning Elan valley to Rhayader before dropping down to Builth Wells.

Day 3 was a shorter 54 miler through the Brecon Beacons and down the Sirhowy valley to take me home. He would like to embark on this adventure again sometime in the future with the St John's community so any pupils who think they may be interested in this should speak to him directly. Well done, Mr Blair!

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Documents

Newsletter SENIOR November2019 - St John's …...Newsletter Senior School Issue 16 November 2019 029 2077 8936 @SJCCardiff Dear Parents, I am sure you will enjoy reading this month's