2012—2013
Volume 1, Issue 1 Humanities Enrichment Newsletter
Year 7 Trip to Chepstow Castle and Tintern Abbey
A crack team of hand- gic crossing place on picked RGS staff led an the River Wye to help Humanities army of Year 7s to King William control Highlights Chepstow Castle and the Welsh and prevent Tintern Abbey for the them attacking his lands first time. in Gloucestershire. Stu- dents particularly liked Visit to Berlin with We were blessed with spotting the murder Year 10 historians gorgeous autumnal The Year 7s, who were holes in the gatehouse - and German stu- weather as students studying how Medieval used for pouring boil- stormed the battle- dents. authorities kept control, ing oil and hurling ments and wandered were also amazed to stones on the heads of the cloisters of these see the oldest post- unfortunate enemies! Medieval architectural Roman stone fortifica- The trip was such a suc- Slapton Field wonders over two days tion in Britain cess that it has now be- Studies visit with last November. The (construction of Chep- come an annual event. Year 12 students. 12th century Tintern stow Castle started in [Mrs A Baker] Abbey, one of the most 1067 just one year after picturesque sites in the Battle of Hastings). Wales, gave students a AS and A2 Ethics They discovered how valuable insight into life its founder Lord Willi- Matters confer- in a medieval monastic iam FitzOsbern con- ence led by Peter foundation. Vardy and his wife structed the stone keep Charlotte in Ox- and walls at this strate- ford. Tour of Bletchley Park
arrived at Bletchley Park Hidden Histories of During February a leagues”, visiting the group of year 9 students historic huts and build- in 1939, and which a Bristol at the M had the opportunity to ings where the code year later was renamed Shed. visit the famous Bletch- breakers worked. the Government Com- ley Park. munications Headquar- The tour commentary ters (GCHQ). We also “We walked in the foot- included the story of the learnt how Enigma and steps of Alan Turing and Government Code and other Axis messages his code breaking col- Cypher School which Page 2 Humanities Enrichment Newsletter
Activities week visit to the Big Pit
As part of Activities week. Year 8 [Mrs S Jenkins] students visited the Big Pit to sup- During activities week we had two port in class geography work very successful trips to Big Pitt, in related to industrial change. Stu- South Wales with year 8 students. dents had the opportunity to ex- Students discover the importance perience 1st hand the challeng- of Industry to areas both across ing conditions of mining under- the UK and the globe and how this ground as well as the problems affects a countries economic de- faced by the mining communities velopment. Students even got to of Blaenafon, South Wales. Stu- how much miners had to crouch go down into the coal mines! dents were suitably 'kitted up' for down to complete their work. [Miss C Spurway ] their underground experience, Luckily the helmets avoided any and some really did find out just injury.
Redland Green Church Unique Voice’ perform Our on going partnership with
Redland Green Church Education centre has continued to enrich the The theatre group 'Unique Voice' curriculum for LVS pupils. Youth gave a successful performance of workers and education officers a drama piece on pressure in from the church visited each class relationships called 'Status'. This to lead a fascinating workshop on was followed up with workshops the role of miracles for Christians considering ways to support today. Personal testimony and friends to resist pressure to thoughtful insights on beliefs asso- conform or behave in ways they ciated with miracles really do not feel comfortable with. brought this topic to life. [Mrs S [ Mrs A Bell ] Roberts]
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
All GCSE History Year 10 stu- Egypt and impact on medicine. dents visited the Egyptology ex-
hibit as part of their study of
Egyptian civilisation and impact on medicine. The visit focused on identifying and exploring key objects to learn about their role in ancient Page 3
The History of Bristol Docks
We enjoyed sunny weather for since the Middle Ages and con- our annual tour of Bristol Docks tinue to. on 25th and 26th September. Stu- [Ms A Fletcher] dents took part in a walking tour of the central docks learning about the changes that have tak- en place since the Middle Ages. “To catch the reader's attention, At Bristol Museum they used arte- facts to further discover the histo- and London. The highlight of place an interesting sentence or ry of Bristol Docks, especially the both days was the boat tour quote from the story here.” vast changes to the water net- around the floating habour track- work to allow Bristol to compete ing the changes and develop- with rivals incluiding Liverpool ments that have affect our city
Year 10 Explore Berlin
In February we took fifty students snow fluttered in the top of the to Berlin for the weekend. It's the dome making it look like the third time we've been and the world's biggest snow globe - a success of the trip grows each memory many will not forget! year. [Mr R Kennett] This time Berlin was covered in snow and this certainly added to the atmosphere of the visit. We visited the DDR museum, the but a few. Our best trip out Brandenburg Gate, Sa- though was walking through a chenhausen Concentration Camp blizzard at night to go to the top and the Jewish Museum to name of the Reichstag building where
Bristol University present Visit to Nettlecombe Court
Visit from John Blundy Professor Y10—Nettlecombe Court July of Petrology at Bristol University. 2013. 6th form Geography students were We look forward to our last field able to gain invaluable insight into visit of the year, let's just hope the monitoring of Mount St. Helens the River Holford hasn't run too and how to assess the signs that it dry for us to measure it. may erupt again in the future. [Mrs S Jenkins] [Mrs S Jenkins]
Page 4
Mshed Exhibition
Year 10 Redland Green students centration camps to Cary Grant were invited by the M Shed to first use the word "gay" in films. help create an exhibition about All students involved in the pro- the Hidden Histories of GLBT ject were invited to the opening people in Bristol. 10 students of the exhibition by the Lord Ma- spent a fascinating afternoon cre- jor of Bristol. ating information sheets for the [Mrs S Roberts] exhibition that spanned the de-
velopment of pink as the colour being used as the colour of uni- reclaimed by GLBT people after forms for GLBTs in the Nazi con-
Ethics Conference Myself and several other Philoso- which students could stand up and ful to A Level students in the phy and Ethics students from give arguments for. The day was midst of deciding their higher both AS and A2 visited Oxford to extremely informative and an education. Overall, it was a attend a conference by the world amazing chance to meet and listen unique and enlightening experi- renowned Philosopher and Ethi- to an actual Philosopher first hand ence and I hope that next year’s cist Peter Vardy and his wife whose books we actually use in students will have an equally Charlotte as part of a tour of lec- our lessons – I even got mine beneficial opportunity. tures titled Ethics Matters. We signed. The lectures provided the [Amelia Baker, Yr13] were accompanied at the confer- opportunity for stu- ence by A Level students from all dents to learn a few over England and received a day additional things Phil & Ethics lecture - Badminton School Phil & of lectures on topics such as Kant- that aren’t on the Ethics Students attended a though provoking ian Ethics, Ethics in Business and syllabus and also set of lectures at the Badminton Philosophy Economy and Medical Ethics etc. gave a realistic, Conference. The students There was also a debate led by university lecture [Ms A Sarbicki] Peter Vardy on the question of experience which whether “Greed is Good” in is incredibly help-
Slapton Field Studies Centre
Field visit - All current Year 12 stunning walk along the Start Bay topics investigated. students attended a residential coastline as well as a few individ- [Mrs S Jenkins] trip to Slapton Field Studies Cen- uals being brave enough to go tre, South devon in November for an early morning run along 2012. Despite some cold weather the beach. Assessments of threats the students worked hard to de- from coastal erosion, an analysis velop a wide range of field work of the success of Riverford Or- techniques for use in their May ganic and the rebranding of are- AS exam. Highlights included a as of Plymouth were amongst the Redland Green School Historia!! Redland Court Road Throughout the year the post-16 history club Histo- Redland Bristol ria have had lectures on Tuesday lunchtime and have BS6 7EH attended evening lectures in the city. We've had a wide variety of speakers covering topics from John Cabot to Palestine to the English Civil War. Teaching Phone: 0117 353 3200 Fax: 0117 353 3199 staff including Mr Houghton, Mrs Baker, Mrs Fletcher E-mail: [email protected] and Mr Kennett from the University of Redland Green (!!) have valiantly given lectures as well as academics from Bristol University, including the legend Profes- sor Ronald Hutton. The editor of BBC History Maga- zine has been in and even some of our own students have delivered lectures. We hope to build on this suc- cess next year with a planned event at the SS Great Were on the Web! Britain. [Mr R Kennett] www.redlandgreen.bristol.sch.uk
POST 16—RGS and Cotham presenta- tions. Students from Cotham and Red- land Green School met on the 12th of July to present what they have learnt in term 6, RGS presented a talk and treas- ure hunt quiz on the Ontological argu- ment and Cotham presented a debate on the theme of civil disobedience. [Ms A Sarbicki]
UWE and Bristol Central Library
It was with great pleasure er variety of historical inter- that A2 historians visited pretation in their extended UWE and Bristol Central Li- essays. Thanks also to Paul brary for the first time to Wells of UWE library who carry out important research made this possible. for their American History [Mrs Baker] coursework. We are particu- larly indebted to librarians books dating back to the 15th Maggie Bowers and Howard century. We were also de- Sykes of Bristol Central Li- lighted to be among the first brary for giving us a behind- sixth form students in Bristol the-scenes tour of the li- to be allowed to access the brary, including the the lo- historical collections at UWE cation said to be haunted by library. Several of our stu- a ghost. We were also privi- dents were able to borrow leged to examine one of the rare books which helped library's earliest printed them to demonstrate a broad-