Issue 50 I Summer 2015

P7 perform Disney’s Aladdin

Pupils prepare for Himalayan trek

CCF RAF cadets visit flight simulator

Pupils enjoy experimenting in the new science labs

1 From the Quadrangle Summer 2015

MathsUMKT European Kangaroo PapersSenior Kangaroo Paper:Yash Nirmal (S5), Catriona Soden and Luke Travis (S6) - Certificate of Merit

Pink Kangaroo PaperJiesen Pan (S3), Magnus Ferris (S3), Nimrod Libman (S4), Miriam McDonald (S4), Matthew Mays (S4) - Certificate of Participation. Keith Yardley (S4) - Certificate of Merit.

Junior UKMT Maths ChallengeBronze: Colin Chen, Gemma Rowbotham, Lewis McShannon, Vaibhav Chetty, Adithya Kannan, Matthew Davidson, Jubal George, Patrick Robinson (all S1), Tobi Komolafe, Lewis Guy, Kirsty Forbes, Rohan Mudkavi (all S2).Silver: Konrad Wojciechowski, Douglas Fraser, Ellie Black, Patrick Ashdown, Nivi Aravind, Anna Scott, Marcus Henderson (all S1), Shreya Nirmal, Andrew Dawson, Peter Collins, Rory Gilmore, Pranav Maganti, Priyanka Ram, Eilidh Forrest, Peter Lacaze, Michael O’Donovan, Mary Shearer (all S2).Gold: Caelan Teismann (S1) was Best in Year. Theo Aidbiyi, Andrew Ross, Joel Simpson, Tom Craik, Kirsty Oldham, Katie Smith, Robbie Eost, Nicholas Runcie (all S2).

MusicRachel Lowden (S5) Clarinet and Hayleigh Mathers (S6) Trumpet both played in the Aber-deen Music Centre’s Youth Wind Band which achieved a Gold Award at the National Scottish Concert Band Festical at Perth Concert Hall on March 22. Further information: www.scottish-concertbandfestival.comGanesh Mohan (S4) has secured a place in the National Youth Choir of Scotland Training choir.

ABRSMP5: Shravan Aravin - Grade 1 Piano (Merit). S1: Alistair E. Finch - Grade 2 Alto Saxaphone (Merit); Patrick Robinson - Grade 3 Oboe; Marcus Henderson - Grade 3 Alto Saxaphone (Merit); Nivi Aravind - Grade 2 Flute (Merit) Esther Hayes - Grade 4 Flute (Merit); Jamie Niven - Grade 2 Flute (Merit); Shavena Balan - Grade 2 Flute (Merit).S2: Ryan Milne - Grade 4 Clarinet; Sebastian Barclay - Grade 3 Alto Saxaphone (Merit); Shreyas Nirmal -Grade 5 Alto Saxaphone (Distinction).S3: Thomas Slater - Grade 7 Violin (Merit). S4: Ganesh Mohan- Grade 6 Singing (Merit).S5: Rachel Lowden - Grade 7 Clarinet (distinction).

Trinity College Examination resultsP7: Archie Love Grade 2 Tuba (Distinction).S1: Tom Cameron - Grade 3 Bassoon (Distinction); Harry Forbes - Grade 2 Cornet (Merit); Jonathan Reeks - Grade 3 Trumpet (Merit)S2: Siobhan Bridges - Grade 3 Trumpet; Kirsty Forbes - Grade 4 Violin (Merit); Euan Seaman - Grade 5 Trumpet (Merit); Lucy Spalding - Grade 4 Saxophone (Distinction); Cara Whitelaw - Grade 3 Singing (Merit); Callum Adams - Grade 4 Flute (Merit); John Gamba - Grade 3 French Horn (Merit); Josie Gomersall - Grade 3 Flute; Conor Hardy - Grade 2 Singing (Distinction); Samuel Hill - Grade 4 Flute (Distinction); Henry Lyons - Grade 4 Saxophone (Distinction); Grace Milne - Grade 4 Saxophone (Merit); Emma Morrice - Grade 5 Clarinet (Distinction); Kirsty Oldham - Grade 4 Flute (Distinction); Emily Purcell - Grade 2 Trumpet (Distinction).S4: Katrina O’ Donovan - Grade 5 Clarinet (Dis-tinction); Rishi Purkayastha - Grade 5 French Horn (Distinction); Hannah Milne - Grade 6 Cello; Brodie Barker - Grade 5 French Horn (Merit).S5: Yash Nirmal - Grade 6 Euphonium (Merit); Chloe Trail - Grade 7 Clarinet (Distinction).S6: Connor Welsh - Grade 8 Alto Saxophone (Merit); Niall Macrae - Grade 7 Euphonium (Merit); Tom Summers - Grade 8 Voice (Merit); Tom Summers- Grade 7 Flute; Alexander Young - Grade 6 Cello

Aparna Kumar (S2) was one of 12 winners (10 from Scotland and 2 from St Petersburg) of The Pushkin Prize and attended a prizegiving ceremony in Archers’ Hall, Edinburgh, on Monday 27th April. Aparna submitted a folio of 3 pieces of work which was judged by published authors Keith Gray and Joan Lennon. Mrs Rencontre, Teacher of English said: “This is an extremely prestigious prize in a competition for young people interested in creative writing. We are truly delighted that Aparna won this award. She completed all the pieces at home, in her own time - two short stories and a poem.” After the prize-giving ceremony, Aparna and the others participated in a 5 day residential creative writing course near Inverness, working with published and successful authors to develop their skills.

Creative writing success for Aparna

Chess ChallengeMr Fish accompanied eight of our chess play-ers to the North Scotland ‘Megafinal’ of the UK Delancey Chess Challenge in May. Mr Fish said: “All our players did extremely well with six qualifying for the next round, the Gigafinal’ in Manchester in July. This is a record number for us with Euan, Tobi and Adi winning all their games.” Stuthi Hegde (S3), Euan Gray, Tobi Ko-molafe, Andrew Ross (S2), Adi Hegde (P5) and Peter Fish (P2) will participate in the ‘Gigafinal’.

BBC School News ReportOn 19 March pupils from S1- S6 reported on topical news items for the BBC School News Report 2015. Visit www.rgc.aberdeen.sch.uk/bbcschoolreport to view their coverage.

Taekwon-do Rogan Rennie (S6) recently completed the prestigious International Instructor Course in Taekwon-do. This allows him to teach Taekwon-do to a high level to adults and children. Lauren Kiloh (S5) completed the same course on a previous occasion and, like Rogan, has previously enjoyed a very successful Taekwon-do career, which saw each of them compete with great success at the Taekwon-do World Championships.

Dance AchievementsFreya Oswald (S6) has gained a Distinction in Modern Theatre Dance at Level 4 Vocational Graded Examination in Dance: Advanced 1 (QCF) from the Imperial Society for Teachers of Dancing. This is the second highest award avail-able to her and is considered a ‘professional’ examination.Olivia Attwooll-Keith (S6) devised and implement-ed the choreography for the very successful ‘Theatreland’ show performed recently by our S3-S4 pupils.Erin Strachan (S1) recently represented North Aberdeenshire at the Scottish Area Finals in Oban during the Highlands & Islands Music & Dance Festival. This event is the only High-land Dance team competition to be held in the world. Seventeen areas throughout Scotland were represented by a team of six dancers who had qualified by their performance at a selected championship. Erin performed exceptionally

well, making a significant contribution to her team, which won the overall championship.Veronica Duthie (S4) has been awarded a place in the Edinburgh Tattoo dance team for August 2015. This is a great achievement for Veronica as over 200 dancers auditioned for 50 places and she is the only 16 year old to make the team.

Duke of Edinburgh AwardsCongratulations to the following pupils on the completion of their Gold Award: Catherine Cannell, Amy Fraser, Alice Jaspers, Eleanor Jenkins, Hayleigh Mathers, Freya Oswald, Aized Shahbaz, Curtis Stephen, Tom Summers, Lise Théron, Louise Walker (all S6).

Kirsty Oldham, Robbie Eost, Nicholas Runcie qualify for Junior Kangaroo. Katie Smith gained Best in School and Best in Year and qualifies for Junior Kangaroo.

Scottish Maths Challenge Award Congratulations on their success in the Scottish Maths Challenge competition. Patrick Ashdown (S1) and Kirsty Oldham (S2) - Bronze Awards and to Viaibhav Chetty (S2) - Gold Award. Viaibhav Chetty was invited to a Presentation Day at the University of Aberdeen earlier this month.

S1 drama club were delighted to perform ‘Matilda’, the first drama production in the new Craig Centre for Performing Arts. Mr Hunter, Teacher of Drama said: “This production embodies the true values of a drama club with pupils taking responsibility for all aspects of the production. Roles such as Acting, Lighting, Set, Choreography and Directing were all taken on by S1 participants who are relishing the exciting opportunities the new Craig Centre for Performing Arts has to offer.” Ticket sales from the performance raised over £360 for Brain Injury Grampian Group. Read more at www.rgc.aberdeen.sch.uk/news.

2Summer 2015 From the Quadrangle

Editorial: pr@rgc.aberdeen.sch.ukPhotography and articles: A big thank you to everyone who contributed to this edition of From the Quadrangle. © Robert Gordon’s College 2015

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New centres open their doors to pupilsPupil lessons started at the end of April in The Wood Foundation Centre for Science and Technology, and the Craig Centre for Performing Arts. The new centres will formally open after summer with a series of celebration events planned for pupils, families and the wider community from August 2015 until June 2016.

Name an Element on the Periodic Table of Elements

The Periodic Table of Elements will be an impressive feature in the Foyer of The Wood Foundation Centre for Science & Technology. Elements are available for naming after individuals, year groups, a company or in memory of a loved one and cost £5,000.

Seats are available for naming after individuals, year groups, a company or in memory of a loved one. Your name of choice will be recognised on your seat in a plaque designed as a granite star. Each seat costs £2,000.

Name a seat in the Craig Centre for Performing Arts

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S1 Drama Club perform ‘Matilda’

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3 From the Quadrangle Summer 2015

TV Doctor visits pupils to talk allergiesAs part of the health campaign ‘Best To Test’ TV Doctor Hilary Jones and Emma Wileman founder of Haydn’s Wish charity visited pupils on 29 April. Raising awareness of the link between asthma and allergies, the campaign is designed to improve the diagnosis of allergies and how to treat them. Emma’s son, Haydn, tragically died aged 9, due to anaphylactic shock caused by the combination of asthma and an allergic reaction to peanuts. Dr Hilary said: “If you have a food allergy, you are four times more likely to have asthma. ’Best To Test’ is urging parents, particularly of children with asthma, to seek help for tiny changes in their child’s symptoms, from patches of eczema to the onset of hay fever, which could indicate they’re at risk of developing a food allergy. We also want to make teachers and pupils more aware so they can seek help and advice.”

Farewell from the school captainsWith this academic year drawing to a close, the temptation is for us to look forward to what comes next. Yet we also look back with pride at what has been a whirlwind year for all of us here at Robert Gordon's College. As school captains, we have helped the College undertake an amazing variety of challenges, from hosting a political debate with BBC's 'Any Questions?' in our very own MacRobert Hall to continuing the College's dramatic and musical success in several productions - most recently the fantastic S1 performance of ‘Matilda the Musical’ in the Craig Centre for Performing Arts. As if this wasn't enough, we have seen the school gain the extraordinary asset of The Wood Foundation Centre for Science and Technology, which has injected new enthusiasm into our future engineers, doctors, and scientists.

The time has now come for pupils to look forward to the Summer break, and for S6 to a life beyond school. Over the course of the year we've watched the S5s develop into extremely capable future leaders - we wish them all the best of luck in their various roles of responsibility over the course of next year.It seems as if it was yesterday that we became school captains, which makes it all the more peculiar that we now say farewell. It has truly been a pleasure, RGC!"Mirrhyn Stephen and Benjamin Osugo (S6)

Grampian Children’s Book Award In mid-May, two S1 English classes, along with their teachers and the librarians, attended the annual Grampian Children’s Book Award ceremony at Aberdeen University. The pupils had read six shortlisted books and also entered competitions associated with the award. Robert Gordon’s College secured second place in the book review and book trailer presentation categories. This was a great achievement considering they were competing against schools from all over North-East Scotland. Mrs Brazendale

Lord Lieutenant’s CadetSgt Matthew Munt (S5) of the CCF RAF Section has been appointed Lord Lieutenant’s Cadet for the year 2015-16. Matthew has had considerable success in the CCF since joining in S2. He visited RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, and graduated from the prestigious Air Cadet Leadership Course at RAF Cranwell in 2014. After a rigorous selection procedure, he has been awarded a place on the International Air Cadet Exchange in August 2015 when, as a member of a small party of UK cadets, he will visit Washington DC as a guest of the United States Air Force.

Beating the RetreatSelected Pipers and Drummers from the Senior Pipe Band took part in the CCF Beating the Retreat at the Palace of Holyrood House on a dry sunny evening in May in front of a spectator audience of over 500. The Lord High Commissioner took the salute for the parade in what will now become an annual event in the Pipe Band calendar.

Nine CCF RAF cadets thoroughly enjoyed a visit to the CAE Super Puma Flight Simulator at Dyce on 5 May. All “flew” the simulator over Aberdeen and the North East and were fascinated by the experience with some pupils carrying out an approach to the helipad at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. We are extremely grateful to Gordonian and former CCF RAF cadet Andy Jewell, now working at CAE as a Flight Simulator Engineer, for organising the event, and to the company for agreeing to host the visit.

CCF RAF cadets visit Flight Simulator

Pictured: Dr Hilary Jones, Emma Wileman and S1 pupil Samantha McEwan.

Pupils prepare for Himalayan trekPreparations are underway for the second annual GAIL (Global Alliance for Innovative Learning) Convention which is this year being held at Woodstock School, Mussoorie, India in July. The Convention will look to elaborate on key environmental issues within a global context and pupils from the GAIL schools will experience some of the Himalayan Outdoor Education on which Woodstock prides itself, whilst exploring the local flora and fauna of this picturesque region of India. During the Easter break, some of the Robert Gordon’s College student delegation together with the accompanying staff, Mr Primrose (Head of RMPS) and Miss Holdsworth (Junior School Teacher of Art) met with Andrew Stokes-Rees of the Royal Geographic Society who will be leading the group on a week long trek up through the high Indian Himalayas following the convention. Mr Duncan, GAIL Co-ordinator said: “Our team will be walking at altitude and camping in some of the world’s most remote and challenging terrain and as such, thorough preparation and a solid team spirit is essential for what will no doubt be an experience of a life-time.”

4Summer 2015 From the Quadrangle

Medical InsightsSchool Nurses Deborah Kennedy and Sheena Hendry (pictured left to right) highlight useful medical information and topics in the secure pupil area of our website: www.rgc.aberdeen.sch.uk/pupils/medical. The first of their monthly health and wellbeing updates focussed on ‘sun safety’.

Update from the Parents AssociationIn March we held our first quiz night, raising over £1500. Thanks to all those who attended the event and to our wonderful quiz masters, Bob and Paul, for making the evening such a success! The PE staff again made Sports Day a very enjoyable day! We were proud to support this event and special thanks go to the army of helpers who assisted our fund raising efforts. At time of writing it seems we have raised around £2000. With the Spree funding raised in Autumn, the PA were excited to support the visit of Stuart Trotter, Author and Illustrator, to the Junior School children. The book and second hand uniform sale were of course as busy as ever. Lastly, we have enjoyed working with the music department this term to support their fundraising efforts for the Italy music tour. The standard of music in the school never fails to impress and these groups are a fantastic showcase of the talent Robert Gordon’s College has to offer! In all these matters we remain ever indebted to the support of parents and the College with our efforts. Have a relaxing Summer! We hope to see as many of you as possible at the AGM next term.Jo Hardie and Steve Kemp, chair.rgcpa@gmail.com

Art newsSince January, S6 Art pupils have been busy submitting initial digital folios followed by interviews and full practical folios to the universities and Art Schools of their choice. As a result of their hard work and the dedication of the teachers, they have all received offers from a number of universities for courses ranging from Architecture to Digital Media.

In May, S3 pupils went to Edinburgh to visit two Art galleries. First we went to the Gallery of Modern Art where we sketched some of the paintings and took pictures for our National 5 folio. We had a guided tour and were told different facts about the paintings and what had inspired the artists. After that we went to the City Art Centre to see the ‘You Choose’ exhibition where we discussed our opinions with a guide who gave us an introduction into the different art styles and the inspiration sources of artists. This trip was very useful as we got a lot of ideas for our folios and also learnt to explain why we like or dislike paintings as well as learning a lot about the artists and their influences.Mariana Correa Villalobos (S3) and Chelsea West (S6)

STEM in the Pipeline After an intense induction day at Aberdeen University, we were immersed into the world of the oil industry and for the next three months we met three times a week in order to complete the vast amount of work. The project set was a comprehensive, in-depth and challenging series of 3 tasks to produce a Field Development Plan for the STEM field. The tasks covered subsurface work, production profiling, separator design, safety and the calculation of CO2 emissions. We completed a 40 page written report, which was assessed by industry experts. In December we presented our work at the BP Headquarters to a panel of judges and came came second in the competition against 16 schools and all achieved a Silver Crest Award. We were commended for being the most professional presentation the assessors had ever seen.

We gained many things from our STEM experience including the importance of teamwork, time management and presentation skills. We would like to thank Miss Pathakji, teacher of Mathematics, and Jonathan Murray and Leanne Mearns, our mentors from ConocoPhillips. Lise Theron, Thomas Rowbotham, Ross Cooper, Ben Lyons, Alix Mowatt and Robin Murray (S6)

Kayaking The kayak club have enjoyed another very successful year of training and competing in slalom events throughout the country. New members have shown a great deal of promise, with some of our S1 pupils promoted at their first slalom event. We have had trips to the River Dee for beginners and Spey for more competent paddlers. Our coach, Janet Peck, took some of our second year paddlers to Grandtully to train and shadow the more advanced paddlers.

The group are looking to defend their Scottish Schools Slalom championship win from 2014 but with a depleted team due to S2 Activities week, know they have a strong challenge from other schools. We are very grateful for the commitment of Janet and Roman Gorski who give up so much of their time to help.Dr Shand

Deborah Kennedy and Sheena Hendry

Aladdin The P7 Show Club of 2015 worked really hard to produce the magical, action packed stage production of Disney’s Aladdin Jnr.

Jared Ednie said: “I was very grateful for the opportunity to be given the main part in the P7 production of Aladdin. I felt very nervous from the first day when we were in the Lecture theatre and my name was called out! I was astounded but felt fantastic. Working with such a dedicated team was great fun. The teachers were very reassuring and on the night we were all very excited standing in the wings. I am looking forward to Senior School and using the new Centre for Performing Arts.”

Mrs Lizzy Rose, Teacher of Drama, commented: “Each week the children came to rehearsals full of energy and we had a great time learning the dances, songs and blocking the scenes all together. The final performances were excellent and a happy, fulfilling experience was had by all involved.”

Teacher of Music, Miss Watt, added: “P7 have worked very hard to bring this Disney classic to the MacRobert Hall - both the principal and chorus singing was of a very high standard and all the children involved have experienced being part of a full scale production - memories that will last forever!”

5 From the Quadrangle Summer 2015

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2015 Robert Burns Federation Music and Verse Speaking Competition Between the three disciplines of poetry recital, instrumental presentation and singing, a group of P6 and P7 pupils returned with 19 medals ranging between 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings. In addition, overall category winners included: Archie Love (P7) singing, Anna Frost (P6) instrumental, Louis Roddy (P6) Verse Speaking and the Burnsian Trophy.

Junior Learning CouncilPupils from Nursery through to P7 took part in the Junior Learning Council meeting with Mrs Mennie. At the meeting, the Council discussed behaviour as part of the Junior School Improvement Plan.

P2 Trip by train to Inverurie Garden CentreTaking in elements from both this and last term’s projects, ‘The Garden Centre’ and ‘Transport’, Primary 2 travelled by train to visit Inverurie Garden Centre. We had a wonderful time seeing inside and outside a Garden Centre. We learnt about planting seeds and helping them grow, were plant detectives outside and even decorated cakes which could grace any Garden Centre tearoom - but we actually got to take them home! We would like to thank all the staff at Inverurie Garden Centre who welcomed us, taught us so much and made everything so much fun.

P2 Technology WeekP2 love a challenge and to transport an egg safely using junk model transport was right up our street! In teams, we designed our transport, chose our materials and carefully built our vehicles to carry our precious cargo. Did they work and keep our eggs safe – well – mostly!!

Nursery newsThis term, the Nursery theme has been 'construction'. Our theme began with an enthusiastic 'bug house' session. The Nursery children were joined by their P4 friends and together they carefully placed twigs, leaves and vegetation to create spectacular homes. The 'bug houses' were positioned in the school garden to attract many minibeasts. The children then went on to study (and then recreate using wooden blocks) various buildings in our local community as well as some religious buildings around the world.

P4 working with Nursery on Bug Houses P6 Victorian Trail

AthleticsPrimary 5-7 achieved great results at the Aberdeen Primary Schools Athletic meet on Saturday 9 May. Results were as follows:P7 Long Jump: 1. Ella SherwoodP7 Shot Put: 1. Athol Gordon; 2. Benjamin Evans; 3. Angus Jack; 4. Logan CoffeyP7 Shot Put: 1. Ella Sherwood; 2. Rebecca Heidenreich; 3. Holly Miller; 4. Morag ShepherdP7 Long Jump: 1. Angus Hasler; 2. Athol Gordon P5 Girls 60m: 1. Rachel Hopkinson; 4. Emily WintonP5 Boys 60m:1. Dara Falope; 2. Finlay BlackP67 Boys 60m: 1. Athol Gordon; 2. Angus Hasler; 4. Ross WilsonP6 Boys 60m: 1. Paul Augustine-OhwoP7 Girls 60m: 1. Ella Sherwood; 4. Holly Miller

6Summer 2015 From the Quadrangle

My Place 2015 Morag Shepherd and Penny Winton (P7) saw success in The Scottish Civic Trust My Place Photography Competition. Morag’s photo Moving Sands of Time won Highly Commended and Reflection on the Past by Penny Winton won Commended in the Primary School Category. Both pupils attended the awards ceremony in March 2015 at The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Design and Architecture. Read more at www.rgc.aberdeen.sch.uk/news.

Aviation Rules and LawCaptain Molloy came to speak to the Primary 4 pupils on Thursday 21 May. He was talking about rules and laws on a plane. One of the most important rules is to listen to your captain when you are on board the plane. Mr Molloy also talked about the scanner. You put your bags through the scanner before you get on the plane. The scanner shows what you have put in your bags and if you have some liquid or a knife or something sharp. If you did have any of these things then they would be taken out of the bags before you were allowed on the plane. We were also able to ask Mr Molloy lots of questions about being a pilot and how rules and laws support him with this role.Lara Scatterty (P4)

Primary 4 Mini-TrialThe P4 children recently had the opportunity to take part in a Mini-Trial as part of their Rules and Laws topic. Within this trial, the charge against the accused (Goldilocks) was that she ‘maliciously damaged property’ belonging to the Three Bears. The children were given roles such as prosecution lawyer, defence lawyer, witnesses, police, Clerk of Court, Court Officer and jury. We were very lucky to have a real Sheriff, Sheriff Cusine, attend our trial. This trial enabled the children to build on their knowledge and understanding of how a court operates and followed on from the class visits to Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

Business StudiesICAEW BASE Competition - Advanced Higher Accounting pupils Andrew Davidson, Innes Bradford, and Richa Kamat and Higher Accounting pupil Morna Holmes travelled to Carlisle to take part in the Northern Heat of the national ICAEW BASE competition run by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, where they were given the opportunity to show off their business and accounting prowess alongside teams from schools and colleges in the area.

Presented with problems and decisions to be made for their fictitious business, the pupils had to demonstrate knowledge, teamwork, initiative and entrepreneurial thinking, culminating in a 4 minute presentation to the ‘Board’ at the end of the day. They did a tremendous job and showed great insight into the business problem they had been presented with and delivered a confident, well thought out presentation that received excellent feedback.

Discover Fortunes Event - Senior Economics, Business and Accounting pupils attended an interactive workshop delivered by the Chartered Insurance Institute. Discover Fortunes is a board game that introduces pupils to the financial planning profession. Using different scenarios, pupils were split into teams where they made decisions regarding investment, pensions, savings and investment. After the “winning” team was announced, the industry representatives spoke with the pupils about their respective jobs in the finance sector, which ranged from business development and marketin to financial planning and accounting.

Visitors to the Department - Justin Urquhart Stewart, co-founder of 7IM, visited senior Economics and Business pupils, discussing global economic issues and the background to the latest financial crisis which economies are still suffering from. Justin touched on many topics, but one of the most interesting issues was “negative interest rates”, which some economies are now facing. Having negative interest for borrowers discourages them from saving and encourages them to spend the money instead; and low rates on loans and mortgages encourages consumers to borrow funds, which they then spend. The effect is an attempt to boost economic performance by increasing demand in the economy.

Senior Economics pupils also heard from Will Dowson, Bank of England’s Agent for Scotland, who came to speak about the UK economic recovery and Quantitative Easing (QE), a form of monetary policy where a central bank creates new money electronically to buy financial assets, like bonds, from high street banks. These banks then lend out this “liquid money” (in theory) to the public, which we then spend. The objective is to increase spending within the economy to improve economic performance.

Advanced Higher and Higher Accounting pupils were lucky enough to have a visit from Claire Burhouse and Kevin Reynard of PwC, who advised them on the varied routes into accountancy as a profession, and what a graduate recruitment scheme such as that available at PwC can offer. Emphasising the choice and scope on offer within the accountancy profession, Kevin Reynard (PwC Partner and Robert Gordon’s College Governor), spoke about what being an accountant actually involves. The pupils agreed that there was much more to being an accountant that they had thought, and were particularly taken with the worldwide travel opportunities that may be afforded through such a career choice!

Goldilocks on Trial

7 From the Quadrangle Summer 2015

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AthleticsCongratulations go to our S1-S3 pupils who won the girls and boys Albyn Athletic Match at Milltimber Playing Fields on 13 May.

Sports DayGood weather conditions accompanied a variety of events at our annual Sports Day on 23 May. View a summary in our websote news.

Scottish Schools’ Cross Country ChampionshipsCongratulations to Kirst Oldham (S2) who won the bronze medal on 7 March at Irvine Beach park, finishing 3rd in a field of 125 competitors.

BasketballBasketball players Ross (P6) and Darya (S1) travelled to Andorra in May to compete for Scotland in the U12 basketball squad against other European Basketball teams at the TIM Pirineus Tournament. After the event Ross said: “I had a brilliant time playing with the Scotland under 12 team in Andorra. The team worked really hard and had lots of fun. I am so proud to represent Scotland and I'm really looking forward to the next competition in Surrey with the under 11 team.”

Boys’ HockeyAndrew Webb (S5) has been invited to join the Scotland U21 hockey training squad. Jamie Wong (Class of ‘13) is currently training with the Scotland team.

CricketDespite the recent inclement weather the RGC Cricket season has finally got underway. A historic first was our first ever venture against Glenalmond, which proved to be a steep learning curve for the teams involved. Undaunted, four teams then took to the field at Countesswells against Dundee High School. The Colts XI lost despite some excellent bowling from their captain Magnus Ferris (S3) who was ably backed up by Gailash Ruthirakumar (S3). The Junior XI completed a comfortable win due to the sterling batting efforts of Lewis Cameron and Chris Fitch (S2), and our North District U13 representative Fraser Mclean (S2) who rattled through their batsman very quickly. There is much potential within this team with Rohan Mudkavi (S2), Shreyas Nirmal and Alex Hounsome (S2) contributing handsomely. The Minors XI have gelled well and will hopefully continue to improve under the leadership of Sean Leishman (S1).

Figure SkatingRuaridh Fisher (S5) saw success at the Skate Southern International in London in March where he won a Gold medal/1st place in the Junior Men’s Free programme and Silver medal/2nd place in the Short programme. Ruaridh, one of four young Scottish figure skaters, has been awarded a financial grant from SportsAid Scotland to support travel and training costs.

Girls’ HockeyThe S3 Girls Hockey Team had a fantastic time at the Scottish Schools Hockey Finals day at Glasgow Green on 21 April. The team saw success against Hutchesons’ Grammar School 2-0 and George Heriot’s School 1-0 where they qualified for the Semi Finals which resulted in a 1-1 draw with Heriot’s and an exciting penalty shoot-out with Heriot’s winning 2-1.

GolfRobert Gordon’s College was one of two teams from Scotland to make the Independent School Golf Association national finals alongside Loretto in Musselburgh and were placed 4th in the team standings.

Golfing trio Dylan Smith (S5), Lauren Watson (S6) and Michael Lawrie (S4) competed on 26-27 April at Princes and Royal St George’s in Kent. Mr Scorgie, RGC Golf Co-ordinator, said: “The team performed admirably and achieved a very credible 8th place after day one, improving by 3 positions the following day to finish 5th in the overall team standings. Not only did they enjoy practising and playing at such a top venue, they spent some time with Gordonian Stuart Mitchell whom we would like to thank for his support throughout the tournament.”

GymnasticsCongratulations to Innes Reid (S1) on his first cap for Scotland. He represented Scotland at the Celtic Cup Championships in Cardiff in a team of 6 gymnasts.

NetballCountesswells played host to visiting Primary 6 and 7 Netball teams from Ashley Road, Cults and Bucksburn Primary Schools on 31 March. This is a new tournament in our sporting calendar providing the opportunity for pupils to play with teams throughout the area.

RugbyFormer Scotland Rugby Captain Jason White hosted a training session at Countesswells with the S1 Rugby team. Talking about the experience, pupil Cameron Morrison said: “I thought it was great for our team to get an extra training session in the summer with someone as experienced

as Jason White. We worked on communication in attack and defence, and at the end we put those skills into a game of touch rugby.”

SkiingPupils George Roddy, Tim Brewis (S2), Findlay Randalls (S4), Ross Buchan (S4), Ben Chapman (S2) and Andrew Budge (S3) travelled to the Snow Factor at Braehead on Thursday 23 April to compete in the Scottish Schools Association Indoor Freestyle Championships. The team put down some excellent tricks, some of which were first seen on the pro circuit only 5 years ago. The highest ranking riders from each team were used to place the team. Ross Buchan's 4th place and Findlay Randall’s 5th place for male skiers and Andrew Budge's 5th place for male snowboarders gave RGC the most points, winning them the title of Freestyle Champions.

SwimmingSam Evans (S3) came 7th in the final of the Scottish National Swimming Championships in the 50m breast stroke.

Mattie Tildesley (P7) enjoyed competing at the British Schools Modern Biathlon Championship in London where he stormed his way to a PB of 33.81 and came 13th overall in the swimming. There were 170 children taking part from across the country.

Murray Coueslant (S4) has been selected to swim in the 2015 Sainsburys Schools games at the Manchester Aquatics Centre on the 3-6 September. Murray will swim as part of the North & West Boys Team.

Tennis Four pupils competed in the High School of Dundee's Invitational tennis tournament on Wednesday 20 May. Mr Allan, Teacher of PE said: "Varada, Brooke, Zoe and Dorothy played really well and were delighted to be invited with Brook and Varada winning the A section."

In other tennis news, Ross Martin (S3), currently ranked No 3 (14 & Under) in Scotland, was runner-up in January at the Scottish U14 Indoor Championships. He recently competed for the North of Scotland U18 County Team at the British County Cup in Sunderland, winning 3 out of 3 matches. In addition, he represented Aberdeen in the Scottish Inter City Davis Cup U14 Doubles event in Glasgow, with a 100% record, winning against Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Inverness. Ross and his partner, Matthew Clegg from Yorkshire, won the U14 doubles at the Grade 2 National Tour event at Halton, Buckinghamshire.

For more on all these stories go to www.rgc.aberdeen.sch.uk/news.