July 2008 Issue No. 139 Editor: Susan Begg INSIDE THIS EDITION: Another Doctor in the House Mrs Parker gets exactly what she deserves! We Won! How the Langton Young Consumers scooped the big prize Trips, Trips, Trips! Reports about Northern Ireland, Hampton Court & the Swaminarayan Mandir Temple The Ultimate Cosmic Ray Detector! The Langton Satellite Team travel the country Smile Please! Video Conferencing Report A Fond Farewell Mr Knapp reflects on his time at the Langton and … of course…. MUCH, MUCH MORE! 2 Student page CONTENTS Contributions page 15 Swaminarayan Mandir FEATURES 3 Elliot Fox reports on the Year 7 trip 16/17 Headlines 4 The Mourne Moutains Dr Baxter writes for Langton News Peter Hatfield reports on the DoE Gold Practice 18/19 Oliver Writes a Winner Expedition Year 7 student wins the inaugural Scarrow Prize for fiction 5 Langton Satellite Team competition. Adam Sandey gives and update on the Ultimate 20 In My Day Cosmic Ray Detector! Mr Pinnock talks to Mrs Jayne 6/7 about the ‘good old days’ Hampton Court Thomas Gooderham and Sports News Jon Head write about the Sports Day Roundup and Cricket 8/9 first Langton visit to 22 results Hampton Court Keep on Trying Going Downhill - Fast! Mr Melford on rugby 10/11 Jamie Williams reports from the slopes We are the Champions! Langton students are named Young 12 Consumers of the Year 2008 Black History Month A brief look at the background of 13 If you would like to contribute to the BHM which is celebrated in October next edition of Langton News, please Smile Please! Video Conferencing Project 14 email your article and/or photographs to Bits and Bobs Snippets of news, reminders and 20 thank-yous [email protected] Bookmark The latest editions to the Langton 21 We are especially interested in hearing about Library your favourite music, computer games, hobbies, Hear! Hear! movies, etc. Don’t worry about layout - just Youth Parliament 2008 23 write ab The Langton tradition continues... out things that interest you that you think would interest others. Dr P MBE! 24 A rhyming headline Help Required Parents are also welcome to Can you drive a minibus? Can you contribute if they wish. help? 2 3 From the Head, Dr Matthew Baxter I am sure that, like me, every ments about these new There will also be a few one connected with the projects early in the next changes to our curriculum Langton felt his or her heart school year. next term. For some time we swell with pride on receiving have been concerned that the the news that Becky Parker, I am pleased to announce curriculum does not fully our Head of Physics, was that the work on restoring the challenge all our students; in awarded an MBE in the swimming pool is comfortably some cases the available Queen’s birthday honours. Dr ahead of schedule and I examination syllabuses do not Parker (she also received a expect that swimming will fully inspire and there is much Doctorate from the University again be on the PE curriculum which would be useful for our of Kent last week) was in September. There will also students to learn, without awarded the honour because be new developments in the simply pushing them through of her contribution to science PE department in September; more and more examination education. we have added to the staff in courses. In many subjects we the department and will be have been able to free up During the past three years increasing the access to sport curriculum time to allow she, Dr Poole and Mr Connolly for all boys in years 7 to 11 students to spend time going have developed the most by two hours each week. We outside and beyond the for- successful school physics have made slight changes to mal curriculum and published department in the country. the timings of lunch and af- syllabuses. The recently es- The Langton now has more ternoon registration which will tablished History of Ideas students studying A level mean that for two days each course with Year 10 students physics than any other school week boys will be able to take provides a good example of and last year one in every two part in one of six additional the kind of learning we are hundred students taking up supervised sporting activities trying to encourage; students physics in a British university for one hour during their followed an introductory mod- was a Langton student. Given lunchtime. I should stress ule on the Renaissance and the chronic and serious that these activities are will go on to study the shortage of physics graduates entirely voluntary, but they Enlightenment, the develop- in Britain it is not surprising do mean that each boy will be ment of modern scientific that such an award was able to involve himself in two theory, political theory and made. more hours of supervised modern psychology. Whilst sport each week. there are no formal examin- Of course, Dr Parker has also ations in these subjects, the led the development of the We also expect to establish a course will help students Langton Star Centre, Langton swimming team next encounter ideas which under- concentrating on astronomy, term and have appointed a pin contemporary thinking cosmology, particle and coach. At the moment we and which will provide a very theoretical physics and, plan to run the swimming club useful foundation for the because of her work, some of after school on Mondays and development of their thinking our students have been Wednesdays and we are as they move through the involved in genuinely world considering having early school and university. class initiatives, whether it is morning training on some in monitoring and tracking days too. Students in year 11 I would like to take this asteroids, investigating and above will also be able to opportunity to wish all plasma bursts in space or train to take a nationally Langton students, and their measuring and analysing recognised qualification as a parents, a restful and enjoy- cosmic ray showers. Many swimming pool lifeguard. able summer break. The next more Star Centre projects are There is a little more work to academic year is going to be planned for the future and Dr do before we finalise these an exciting one. Parker and I have discussed plans and Mr Watson will let how we can extend these to students know of arrange- include students in Key ments for extra sporting Stages Three and Four. We activities early next term. will be making announce- 3 4 Langton novelist Simon Scarrow was back at the school in May in the wake of his great success Oliver Writes a topping the Sunday Telegraph bestseller list with his most recent novel Centurion. He reached number two in the Sunday Times bestseller lists but Winner was pipped to the top position by one Jeffrey Archer. The purpose of his visit on this occasion was to judge the quality of the work of Langton writers and, in particular, those who had submitted entries for the inaugural Scarrow Prize for fiction competition. The task awaiting entrants was to initially track down Mrs Walters – a daunting enough task for most – and to determine with her, by a roll of dice, what historical period to set ones writing in and what was to be the central focus. The first prize was to be fifty fresh pounds from the big man himself. Entries were enthusiastically received and there was one clear winner. Entry was open to the whole school and every year group was represented from Year 7 to Year 13. Slight surprise then, but huge congratulations, that the first winner of the prize came from Year 7, Oliver Braddy, whose dual narrator piece won high praise from Simon Scarrow himself. “If Oliver can write at this standard at this age, there is nothing to stop him making a living with a pen in later life” he told the Key Stage 3 assembly. Runers up were Costas Oliver Brady and Alistair Economou (Yr 12) and Year 10 McKeever pose with Simon Alistair McKeever who also Scarrow holding their prizes received cash prizes from Simon. We are looking forward to next year’s competition already. SIMON SAYS... I've finished the third Revolution novel and the editor is delighted with the results, so that is a huge relief. Meanwhile, all sorts of odd foreign sales have come through (Serbia, Romania, Chile and Argentina) as well as signing a deal for a range of 28mm figurines of Macro, Cato and co. (How weird is that?). Meanwhile, the film guy is edging further down the track to getting the Roman series onto the box, but there's a long way to go there. I have started the next Roman book, and also a young adult project which I may continue if I get the time. Oh, and I have been working hard on a local road safety campaign. So - keeping busy. Hope to see you all again very soon. 4 5 Have you ever wondered what life was like at the Langton in the ‘good old days’? Mrs Jayne was curious and while we got into the sway of so she interviewed Mr Kenneth learning a real language. We had Pinnock, who is about to celebrate his our lessons in a sort of a mobile 90th birthday classroom, an old army hut, which was very cold in the winter. So cold that the ink in the ink- ‘In My Day…’ wells would sometimes freeze solid. This caused some problems I joined the Langton in May 1928, as we were forbidden to use a just over 80years ago.