Terms 1 & 2 2020

Issue 1 2020

RGS Newsletter

Autumn Edition

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Christmas Message from the Principal 1

Small Screen: Bid Debate 2

Senior Prize Giving 2020 3

TSAT Black History Month Art Competition 4

National Funny Award Winner 5

ProjectVoice2020 5

Carol Service - Down Memory Lane 6

RGS Charity Fundraising 6

Sports Success 7

Maths Success 7

Duke of Edinburgh 7

UCA - 2020 Fashion Competition Winner 8

CAS Competition 8

Dear Parents/Carers

Under normal circumstances I write Christmas newsletters and look back on all the trips, activities and events of the year so far. But

2020 has been anything but a normal year. Since March, we have faced the most turbulent time education has ever seen and we are still facing daily challenges. Throughout it all we have held on to our core aim of trying to provide the best quality education possible for our

students and supporting them through what has been an unsettling and worrying period. I would like to thank all our students for the

resilience they have shown and for how they have adapted to our new normal since September. The way they have dealt with lockdown, the move to remote learning, the changes to our school routines and the disruption we have all faced due to the rise in

positive cases this term has been truly inspiring and while I know it has not been easy for many, to see our students turn up every day ready to learn and participate in school life has been wonderful.

I am sure you will join me too in thanking the staff at RGS. From the site team, who have played a huge role in maintaining the health and safety measures we have in place, to our admin team who have provided non-stop support with track and trace and of course to the

teaching staff who adapted to remote learning so quickly and who have been so willing to work as a team. This has ensured that

learning has been able to continue for all, whether staff or students have been at home or in school.

I am so proud to send you this newsletter full of positive stories and achievements. It just goes to show that even when we are going

through difficult times our students are still standing out from the crowd and going the extra mile to succeed and help others.

I wish you all a safe and peaceful Christmas and I look forward to seeing students in the New Year.

Best wishes

Issue 1 2020 December 2020

Term 1&2

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM RGS

RGS Newsletter

Mrs Brinklow

Principal

RGS Newsletter Page 2

Here is Janelle’s winning blog post:

Children of the digital age are familiar with every trope in

entertainment, effectively turning every archetype, every plot

device and method into a glaring cliché. This, coupled with the fact

that the internet and social media has revealed the world to be

brazenly amoral, makes it almost impossible to surprise or engage a

young audience. However, if the current trends tell us anything, it’s

that young audiences still love entertainment, so there’s hope for

the industry.

Firstly, I think it’s important to look at our current culture.

Broadcasters need to understand the young audience, so let me explain us: we grew up on dystopia. Katniss Everdeen screaming

“If we burn, you burn with us” will forever be seared into our

brains and we recognise that the world is chaos. Quite frankly, we’re primed and ready for anarchy and sometimes, we will want

to see that chaos accurately reflected in our entertainment. But we

also grew up on Vine and now have TikTok, so our capacity to enjoy humour and foolishness is as potent as our desire to fix the

social order. This duality means that gritty realism and serious

topics like mental illness are as desired as comedy and low stakes, “feel-good” drama. Culture isn’t monolithic and neither are

experiences, which is why diversity both on and behind the screens is increasingly important. By this I am not just referring to the

ethnicity, religion, sexuality; I’m also talking about the medium of a story, the type of story, the message and purpose of the story.

Why don’t traditional broadcasters produce any anime?

Sometimes the hyper expressive nature of the medium and the practically limitless freedom to create new worlds is exactly

what is needed to accurately reflect a feeling or message. Haikyuu! is an anime about volleyball. Nothing else,

just volleyball, and yet it is one of the most exciting shows I

have ever watched because the medium creates a sense of

urgency and power in a sport that I had never found interesting until I watched the show. Sometimes, there’s no need to

explore a grand theme; at its core, Haikyuu! is just a collection

of teenagers playing a sport. Or, anime could discuss whether humanity deserve to survive, which is what Attack on

Titan does in a wonderfully mind-bending way. The

possibilities are endless.

Why do n’ t b ro adcas t er s p rod uc e h i s to r i ca l dramas based anywhere other than England or North

America? Teach me about the Huns, the Mongol Empire. I

want to discover the intricacies of the Chinese dynasty or the

Russian oligarchs. The world is rich with stories – don’t restrict yourself to the ones that we already know. History is broader

than WWI and II.

I think, in summary, the best advice I can give is to widen your creative eye outside of the comfortable and the norm. An

exploration of different voices, different faces,

mediums, tones, and subjects will undoubtedly attract attention. Ultimately, we still seek TV to feel something. The

problem is, we’ve already felt everything you’re offering.

During lockdown The Financial Times and OFCOM ran a national

competition asking young people to write in with their thoughts on the

question:

“What must traditional broadcasters and streaming services do to make sure

they appeal to the audiences of tomorrow?”

“What must traditional broadcasters and streaming services do to make sure

they appeal to the audiences of tomorrow?”

We are delighted to announce that the winner for the blog post category was Janelle Oje, Year 13 who gaining national recognition for her writing talent

and also a prize of £100.

The panel was made up of three judges – one from Ofcom, one from the

Financial Times (FT), and one from Career Ready, a national charity aimed

at connecting young people with the world of work.

Issue 1 2020 Page 3

SENIOR PRIZE GIVING 2020

Even though we couldn’t celebrate Senior Prize Giving with you this year, we would like to award the following named prizes to stu-

dents who have given their time to supporting the RGS community: The students are:

Alumni Prize for Services to the Wider Community

Fauziyya Kazeem, 13G – For the work she is doing with “The pink Empowerment Project” which aims to reduce period poverty in

BAME groups.

Butterfield Cup - Services to the school Sammie Jones, 13F—for supporting students who are LGBTQ through SAGA club. This enables students a safe place to discuss their

worries and feelings.

Claire Hartley Award - outstanding contribution to students in the school

Emily Gray, 13A – for supporting younger students through running a Year 7 Art club in her own time.

Diamond Jubilee - overcoming adversity Jessica Adams, 12 Tm5 – Jessica has overcome many difficulties this year and has still managed to obtain a good set of results. She is

now successfully studying the IB.

Trustees Prize—charity in or out of school

Jessica Cole - 9 Sv5, Daniella Holgado - 8 By6, Kayleigh Shaw – 11 By1 RGS, Sophie O'Gorman – 11 Tm7 for ProjectVoice2020.

More information about the project can be found on page 6.

Watts Award —charity in or out of school

Beau Marie Draper, 12 By3 -For her continued hard work, resilience and determination in the face of adversity.

RGS Newsletter Page 4

TSAT BLACK HISTORY MONTH ART

COMPETITION

To celebrate inspirational black people and their achievements The Thinking Schools Trust (TSAT) launched its first ever Black History

Month art competition.

Talented students from all year groups across our Trust jumped at the chance to flex their creative muscles and submissions quickly rolled in; we were overwhelmed with so many fantastic and imaginative entries!

After time to ponder some difficult decisions were made, our judging panel chose 3 overall winners – congratulations to you all! Our

judges didn’t have it easy, there were so many fantastic pieces submitted; all of them were celebratory, imaginative, educational, diverse

and interesting.

KENT WINNERS – SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Third Place: “#Maketheuturn” | Maria Gecheva | Rochester Grammar School, Year 12

Maria said: I chose to create a piece of Marcus Rashford MBE. The piece was

inspired by his #maketheUturn movement that he started during lockdown, to provide free meals for the vulnerable children and families. He fought on after

Boris Johnson rejected the U-turn over holiday meal vouchers, and vouched to

help the 200,000 children who were skipping meals. 1.3 million children ended up receiving vouchers for free school meals during the summer holidays, his

campaign succeeded. He is an inspiration for young people all over Britain, as at only 22 he has received the title MBE and started a change for the vulnerable

people in our society.

Mrs Gregory said: This piece is a beautifully drawn portrait capturing a likeness of Marcus Rashford who has made a massive impact in supporting societies most vulnerable young people. The range of mark-making applied to show variations in texture are truly

beautiful. The concept is clear in a subtle way through the text with Rashford’s key message being added to the background. Well done Maria!

Issue 1 2020 Page 5

Second Place: “William Brown” | TVA Art Project | The Victory Academy

The class said: Within the Art department at the Victory Academy, we

have taken creative inspiration from the beautiful paintings of Chris Ofili

and decided to get students to produce work inspired by the life of William Brown.

William’s birth name is unknown, and she has been recorded in history

under the name she used to enlist in the Royal Navy. She was born between 1789-94 and was from the Caribbean Island Grenada. William disguised

herself as a man to enlist in a profession that was off limits for women. There is a record of her joining the crew of HMS Queen Charlotte, built in

Chatham Dockyard, between May and June 1815 as a landsman sailor,

until it was discovered that she was a woman and discharged. How long she had served and where she came from is a matter of debate among

historians. Some say she served for at least a dozen years, rising to the rank of foretop captain. Students at Victory have produced portraits of William

Brown and taken inspiration from the artist Chris Ofilli. With his use of vibrant contrasting colours, African patterns, larger than life afros and his

use of dots to highlight and bring portraits to life. We hope you like our

colourful display of work.

First Place: Black History Month Blowout | Ama Amo-Agyei | Rochester Grammar School, Year 9

Please click on link below to see the winning video:

https://www.tsatrust.org.uk/2020/11/black-history-month-art-competition-winner-revealed/

Ama said: The people I have chosen to draw are: Diane Abbott-MP, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, Stormzy and Chadwick

Boseman. I chose these people because they have all overcome challenges associated with their race in order to aspire to be their best in every area of their lives. Their stories inspire and give me confidence to be able to tell myself that I can also make a change, looking

beyond the colour of my skin.

Mrs Gregory said: This piece is just… ‘Wow!’. Creative interpretation involving self in video drawing tonal portraits of iconic people. Each portrait has been drawn beautifully and has captured a likeness. The entire concept is very clever, engaging and powerful. Looking forward to seeing your next

Art endeavours. Well done Ama, incredibly sophisticated work!

Judges comments: “Using music and video media is an ingenious way of responding to the project. With digital media used to show the drawing and

timed well with the lyrics on the song, the drawings showed technical strength but was also edited well with timings, this is a strong response of including many inspirational figures and with a fitting, emotional, written tribute.”

RGS Newsletter Page 6

NATIONAL FUNNY AWARD WINNER

ProjectVoice2020 was born in lockdown, which we have now completed and shared online. The aim of the project is to raise awareness

for the positive effect music (and in particular, singing), can have on mental health and to support further funding to incorporate music

and singing into therapeutic interventions. The project is in partnership with YoungMinds.

The students involved in the project in collaboration with Mrs Cole, are Jessica Cole - 9 Sv5, Daniella Holgado - 8 By6, Kayleigh Shaw

– 11 By1 RGS, Sophie O'Gorman – 11 Tm7 and Rosie Williams from Fort Pitt.

Please see the link below for the full story:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10164874143150554&id=776920553&sfnsn=scwspwa

The video is best watched on a mobile device, full screen and headphones (where possible) to get the full effect!

https://youtu.be/D8G3f46QBZM

If you wish to make a contribution to the project, please click on the link below:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ProjectVoice

PROJECTVOICE2020

Kiki Peckham, Yr8 Tm1 and her friend entered the National Funny Award 2020. This is an award in memory of beloved author and

comedian Louise Rennision. Her most famous works include award winning book “Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging” – part

of the “Confessions of Georgia Nicholson” series.

Kiki and Jen wrote a short scene/script called “Do It Yourself” and were the winners of the Comedic Writing aged 11-14 group. Many

congratulations.

Here is the link for you to enjoy:

https://www.comedy.co.uk/news/5990/louise-rennison-winners-2020/?fbclid=IwAR2xj7okqNc6aB-

Ji1PBWaYLhLnx5_YnYoZGx4dbCtju-fRV9OlmqW1LD-g

Issue 1 2020 Page 7

CAROL SERVICE - DOWN MEMORY LANE

As we weren’t able to celebrate the RGS carol service this year, here are some photographs from last year to enjoy:

Year 7 Choir at a Care Home

RGS CHARITY FUNDRAISING

MONEY RAISED: TO DECEMBER 2020

Donation Charity Name Amount Raised

Flair Parkinson’s UK 4297.07

Wear Yellow Day Young Minds 849.47

TOTAL 5146.54

RGS Newsletter Page 8

SPORTS SUCCESS

Emma Noble in Year 10 has had a great success recently! She has been accepted onto the

Women’s Development Programme for Rowing. There are only 10 spaces in each region so this is fantastic news She has already started the year long programme.

Just last week Emma competed in a National competition, British Rowing Indoor

Championships. 40 countries took part in this, with around 50 to 60 competitors and she

was placed 8th. Many congratulations.

TERMS 1 & 2

Samriddhi Das 9 Cd5, has competed in many swimming competitions for Sevenoaks

swimming club. Among many other successes she placed 7th in Kent in the 50m Breaststroke and 16th in Britain for the 50m Backstroke. Samriddhi hopes to reach nationals

in 2021.

Jamie Smith - 12 Tm6 has worked extremely hard at Sport, Health and Exercise Science at IB

level. Jamie has also just been successful in a Surrey Storm (Netball) trial and so will be transferring from London Pulse over this season. It takes a lot of hard work, motivation and

commitment to play sport at the highest of levels and succeed academically!

Well done to Alice Coaker, 9 By3, for starting off her YouTube career. Alice was inspired to use knowledge she had gained in a Maths

lesson to find out how much a hunger point was worth in calories in the game Minecraft. She investigated the Mathematics with immense sophistication and released the video on YouTube, which has so far had 28 views. You can watch her video here:

https://youtu.be/yS4Vz6uCF6M

Another well done goes to Alice Wilson, 10 Tm5 for using her video creation skills to support her classmates. Alice took a particularly tricky topic that she was learning in Maths that pupils in class had struggled with. She then created video examples and worked

solutions to aid her classmates and shared this on Teams to improve the understanding of the whole class.

Well done to both students for taking Maths beyond the classroom and sharing this to support and enrich your classmates!

Miss Clautour

Curriculum Leader of Mathematics

MATHS SUCCESS

Issue 1 2020 Page 9

1st Place

'COLLATION' by Kelvin Streater

My entry consists of a limited colour scheme of black, silver, and red, composed

in various ways; exploring the use of shapes, mark-making, and print-making. The pieces are irregular due to abstract pattern and composition of these designs -

for example, the abstract mark-making and ecstatic reflective colour of the trench coat is highly entertaining and visible, which is a greatly juxtaposing look as

military-style is often associated with dark colours and camouflage, the exact

opposite of this piece. The patterns are abstract and enhance and 'edgy' vibe, yet still have a sense of elegance to them. The pattern designs were influences from a

range of non-relating things, including snake-skin and shattered glass. I believe that this collection of designs incorporate the theme of 'Irregularity' greatly as

they are iconic while still looking fashionable. I have composed the print designs, and have also created some looks to demonstrate how these prints can be

produced to present irregular fashion pieces that are more unique and expressive

than standard designs.

Comments from the judges said that the work showed a really clear process and

loved the print experimentation and the use of texture. The project has some really good artist references and research with the print application to garments

and accessories were very well thought out. The judges said they would love to

see more of your work applied to full runways looks.

UCA—2020 FASHION COMPETITION WINNER

The CAS Black History Month competition was open to all students at RGS.

Students were asked to create a poem, a short essay or a piece of art that explored

and celebrated an individual that they think has made a significant impact in

history. The individual could be from the past or present. There were many

impressive entries and such people as Ruby Bridges, Michaela DePrince, and Rosa

Parks were honoured in some inspired pieces that highlighted the significant impact

they have had on such areas as education, arts and civil rights. The overall winner

was a fantastic painting by Saniya Nair in year 7 who depicted Wangari Muta

Maathai, a renowned Kenyan social, environmental and political activist who was

the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize for her contribution to sustainable

development, democracy and peace. Runners up included Olamide Oyediran for

her depiction of Michaela DePrince and Gabrielle Rocha who was inspired by Ruby

Bridges.

Congratulations to all those that entered.

Overall Winner: Wangari Muta Maathai by Saniya Nair

CAS COMPETITION

Irregularity is random, uneven, eccentric, distorted or imperfect, it is the quality of not being regular in shape or form, something

that is unusual or unexpected.

Many congratulations to Kelvin Streater, 13A who came first in the UCA 2020 Fashion Competition.

RGS Newsletter Page 10

LOOKING AHEAD—

IMPORTANT DATES FOR TERMS 3&4 2021

The full newsletter can be downloaded from the RGS website.

Monday 4th Jan CPD - Students not in school

Tuesday 5th Jan Start of Term 3

5-15 Jan Year 11 Mock Exams

18-22 Jan Year 13 IB 1 Paper examinations

22-Jan Year 11 Taster Day

29 Jan - 1 Feb Year 11 Art Exam

12-Feb Last Day of Term 2

15-19 Feb Half Term

22-Feb Start of Term 4

22 Feb - 5 Mar Year 10 Unseen Exams

8-12 Mar Year 13IB MFL Oral Exams

8-19 Mar Year 13 A level Unseen Exams in lessons

10-Mar Year 9 Options Evening

29-Mar Multi-cultural week

01-Apr Last Day of Term 2

Easter 2-16 April

Monday 19 Apr Start of Term 5