Newsletters

Senior School Newsletter, 28 February 2020


Dear parents and guardians,Dr Andy Kemp, Head of Senior School

How the year is flying by. We’ve now passed the mid-point of the academic year, and for the Year 11s we are now coming into those important last few weeks of teaching and revision.  It’s for that reason that I chose to start the term by talking about the concept of ‘stress’ in assembly. Too often we focus solely on the negative impact of stress, but I wanted to emphasise to everyone that some stress can be a positive motivator. However, we each need to recognise where our own boundaries are and where stress moves from being motivational to debilitating. I also gave some suggestions on how they might manage those stressful moments in their lives to make sure that the stress they experience is productive rather than destructive!

My last letter came very near the beginning of term, so it was too soon to share much of the exciting things that have been happening in the school since Christmas. So now I can take the opportunity to share a little about some of the interesting and unusual things that have been going on.

First we have our AstroPi team made up of Oliver, Henry F, Gillian and Henry M. They are looking at mapping correlations between pressure and other environmental factors inside the International Space Station (ISS), and even whether there is any measurable correlation between the pressure and the position of the ISS (e.g. possibly higher pressure when on the sun-side of the Earth). So, the program they’ve written measures magnetic field, pressure, humidity, acceleration, temperature and so on, every 30 seconds over three hours. It even shows the astronauts an up arrow if the pressure increases and a down arrow if it decreases. Their code is now ready to upload to the ISS.

Our AstroPi team at work

The Year 8s have also been working on their Science Fair Projects, which have had them exploring a huge range of topics and thinking about how best to communicate their findings.  Below are just a few examples of the excellent posters which they produced.

Year 8 Science Fair projects

Year 8 Science Fair projects

Looking at their answers to the reflective question of “What did you learn or which skills have you developed whilst doing this project?” they clearly took on more than just developing their scientific understanding; here are just a few of their comments:  

-Researching online effectively 

-Teamwork and relying on other people to help with the experiment         

-I have developed my team work and I have improved my time management

-Leadership skills    

-I learnt how to present results onto a poster

-Importance of doing research before undertaking practical work    

-That you should work as a team and be open to other people’s ideas    

-My teamwork and coordination skills

Towards the end of last half-term the Visual Arts and Design Engineering departments undertook a research trip with Y11 students to the Royal Academy of Arts and Tate Modern galleries in London. Students went to visit an exhibition entitled ‘Eco-Visionaries - confronting a planet in a state of emergency’. The exhibition explored how architects, artists and designers are responding today to some of the most urgent ecological issues of our times. Highlights of the exhibition included interactive sculptures, films and an interactive installation where students saw themselves reflected as an endangered species before contemplating a tank of jellyfish which have survived on this planet for over 500 million years.

Visual art and design engineering trip

The afternoon saw students explore an exhibition of the photographer and artist Dora Maar’s work, as well as explore the vast Tate modern collection. Dora Maar is perhaps more famous for her relationship with Pablo Picasso as his muse. This exhibition sought to examine her professional life as an established photographer and artist who had a profound influence on Picasso's work including the production of his most famous piece Guernica.

Visual art and design engineering trip

Students photographed and drew from selected displays and asked questions about the role of art and designers in creating more sustainable futures.They will use ideas from the trip to develop work for their exam project which will be exhibited in the summer exhibition to be held at the Visual Arts Centre on Friday 12 June.

Over half-term, a number of our Year 10 French students joined some of our sixth form students in a visit to Antibes in France. They really enjoyed their French lessons. Whilst they were there, they got to visit Antibes, Cannes, Grasse and Menton. They particularly enjoyed the lemon festival. At the end of the course, they also got a European certificate with a report in French and their European level in the language. They were rightly very pleased with their achievements!

French trip to Antibes, France

This represents just a tiny snapshot of the exciting things going on in and around the school.  This term holds plenty of other exciting opportunities including the Cambridge Model United Nations (CamMUN) coming up in a few weeks time, the Spring Concert at the West Road Concert Hall on 17 March and the Year 9 drama production on 26 and 27 March, with the Senior School Rock Concert on 30 March in the Portland Arms. Lots therefore to look forward to, and I hope to see you at one of the many school events in the coming weeks.

Best wishes,

Dr Andy Kemp

Head of Senior School


Notices

Stephen Perse Podcast

Take some time out and listen to one of our Stephen Perse Podcasts. Each episode is a conversation between staff and students discussing everything from current events to education in the modern world.

Listen to all of our episodes on our website or search ‘Stephen Perse Podcast’ on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube and Anchor.


Sports Round-up

Boys Hockey teams

The boys hockey teams have continued with their hockey fixtures during the term, showing progress as we move through the season. Both the U13 and U12 hockey teams represented the school extremely well at their recent county tournaments. In a highly competitive tournament the U13 team finished second in their pool, with a record of played four, won three and lost one. This took them into a top four classification pool, with two of these teams progressing through to the regional tournament. Despite going into the classification matches with great confidence the team were unable to secure the points needed and ended the tournament in fourth place. This was the highest finish position achieved by any Stephen Perse boys hockey team at a county tournament.

Our U13 team

With the U13s setting the example, the U12 hockey team went into their county tournament looking to replicate their success. In a round robin format the U12 boys played with great determination and energy and from their six matches ended the tournament with a record of two wins, two draws and two losses. This also gave them a fourth place finish.

Our U12 team

For all other news, results and information on fixtures, please follow us on twitter @SPFSport and remember to check the sports website www.stephenpersesport.com  for fixtures, results and team selections.


Latest news

10 Feb 2020
Stephen Perse pupils compete at National Schools Equestrian competition
We're pleased to announce some great results from two of our Senior School pupils at a recent National Schools Equestrian competition.
Read more
10 Feb 2020
Anglian Schools Cross Country Championships
Four students from our school were selected to compete as part of the Cambridgeshire County Cross Country team at the Anglian Schools Championships being held at Boston in Lincolnshire.
Read more
06 Feb 2020
Triumph at Cambridge Rotary Technology Tournament
Earlier this week, two teams of pupils competed in the Cambridge Rotary Technology Tournament, an engineering competition.
Read more
04 Feb 2020
Year 10 visit Emma Copley exhibition at Cambridge University's Department of Pathology
In their Art lesson on January 30, ten Year 10 students, with Mrs Wilshaw and Ms Dilorenzo, visited an installation titled, “24 Portraits: Recovering and Reimagining Women’s Labour”, by artist Emma Copley at the Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge.
Read more

Read more Senior School news here.


Upcoming events

Y10 Geography trip to Stratford
8:30am – 4:00pm
03
March
Y7-13 Oxford Computing Challenge
11:15am – 12:15pm
The top 10% of students in the Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge have been invited to participate in the Oxford Computing Challenge. The first qualifier round will take place in school over 1h during the week of 2nd-6th March. See http://tcsocc.uk/ for more information. Students may opt in. Up to 100 students across the SS/SFC have qualified.
03
March
The Perse Science Quiz
1:00pm – 4:30pm
A team of 4 students from Y9 and Y10 will be taking part
03
March
Y7-13 Oxford Computing Challenge
11:15am – 12:15pm
The top 10% of students in the Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge have been invited to participate in the Oxford Computing Challenge. The first qualifier round will take place in school over 1h during the week of 2nd-6th March. See http://tcsocc.uk/ for more information. Students may opt in. Up to 100 students across the SS/SFC have qualified.
05
March

See the full Senior School calendar here.


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