Excel Magazine Autumn 2018
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ExcelAutumn 2018 Standing Tall RGS giraffe project for the ‘Worcester Stands Tall’ trail p4 Celebrating Academic Success p3 National Success in Sport p6 and p20 Imran Khan n former RGS student p13 #worcesterisgree #worcesterisgreen Contents p11 Fencing for Gold RGS Springfield p12 Rugby Tour - South Africa p18 Osmington Bay RGS p18 RGS Royal Wedding p3 Celebrating Academic RGS Alumni p19 Spies Like Us Success p13 Did you Know – Imran Khan p4 Giraffes are all around us attended RGS Worcester RGS The Grange p5 Dig for Victory, Dig for Lunch p14 Seventy Five over(s) and out p20 National Prep School p6 Hockey U13 National Finals - Cricket Special Champions p7 RGS Worcester presents p15 Four men in a boat – p21 Chris Pennell hits 200 to HMC Conference Talisker Challenge p8 Careers Expo p16 Annual Commemoration p22 RGS At A Glance p9 Inspired Ideas on Show Service p23 RGS Overview p10 Gordon’s Alive? p17 Foundation Welcomes New Trustees Cover photo: RGS Giraffe Stands Tall p11 Keep on Running Design: IndigoMoon Design Published: September 2018 Headmaster’s Introduction This edition of Our former pupils have some excellent stories to tell and Excel magazine we include in this edition some of the most recent alumni displays a range of successes. RGS can now count amongst its former pupils achievements and a national leader in Imran Khan and his story is told here. experiences that are Thank you to the Marketing team for assembling this so impressive. excellent edition and to everyone who has contributed. The combination of Finally, please do visit our website (www.rgsw.org.uk) academic success where you can see our school film which demonstrates as well as events in the exceptional all-round education that our schools offer Drama, Music, Sport and, above all, how much our pupils enjoy RGS school life. and any number of Please do come and visit and see us in action. other co-curricular pursuits is proof that an RGS education really does encourage our pupils to aim high. Contained within these pages are some of the opportunities that the pupils have enjoyed in recent months at the School and all that they have experienced and achieved. Read on about how RGS Worcester is advising other independent schools about the appropriate use of digital John Pitt, Headmaster, RGS Worcester technology in learning, about award-winning Careers support and about projects in the community in which RGS plays a full role. Together with group, team and individual achievements, often at national level, we can celebrate an RGS education for all of our pupils aged 2 – 18 years and beyond. 2 rgsw.org.uk Celebrating academic success A Level graded A*-G), it is difficult to summarise but well over half of all grades were in the top 9-7 or A*/A grade category and In a year of so much educational change and in which A 96% of all grades were 9-4. Levels are becoming increasingly challenging nationally, the Upper Sixth students maintained the School’s 31 pupils achieved 9-7 or A*/A grades in 8 or more subjects excellent results of recent years. Most impressively, at a and should be congratulated including Aodren Clemit time when it is supposed to be more difficult to achieve (pictured above) who achieved 11 grades at 9/8 or A* and the highest A* grades, the results at the top level were Alex Owen, Lydia Faizey and Alex Peake who achieved 10 up with more A* grades than previously. GCSEs graded 9/8. On the strength of their examination results the students At a school where the STEM subjects are always strong have gone on to leading Universities across the country, it was particularly pleasing to see such success also in including Oxford and Cambridge where students are Art and Textiles with 92.3% of all Art pupils achieving 9-7 reading Biological Science, History, Law, Medicine, and grades and over 94% of all grades at A*-B in Textiles. Spanish with Portuguese. Equally, students have achieved John Pitt, Headmaster, commented, “Very well done to the places on a wide range of courses and subjects from Year Eleven RGS pupils and their teachers for working so reading Engineering to the Arts, including History at Florida hard and responding so positively to what are different and State University, USA, to High-Level Apprenticeships at challenging examinations. The pupils have set themselves up Aston Martin, BMW, Rolls Royce and High Speed Rail. extremely well for the new A Levels and I am sure they will John Pitt, Headmaster, commented “We are delighted go on to further success in the Sixth Form here. This year that our Upper Sixth students have coped so well with the group has achieved so much in the classroom and outside challenges of a new A Level system. They deserve every the classroom – they were National Semi-Finalists in Hockey praise along with their teachers who have responded so and Rounders while also taking part in so many other areas well to the reforms and supported the students. These of school life. It is very pleasing to see that they have done so results have given all of our students a great head start.” well academically and taken full advantage of the academic and all-round education that RGS Worcester provides.” GCSE Tazmin Barnes (pictured above), Year Eleven, was interviewed on the GCSE results day by BBC Hereford In a year of unprecedented changes at GCSE for Year & Worcester Radio. Tazmin achieved all 9-7 grades at Eleven, we were extremely pleased our pupils performed GCSE and was delighted with her results. BBC Hereford & very well at GCSE. With different subjects and Exam Boards Worcestershire interviewed her previously about her music operating under different grading systems (for example, career and she has performed in numerous festivals and Classics, Design Technology and Textiles at RGS are still events over the Summer. rgsw.org.uk 3 Senior Giraffes Are All Around Us Towering achievement RGS has embraced the whole project and Petr’s giraffe is testimony to the hard work by all. The collective term for a group of giraffes is ‘tower’ and it can be truly said that Petr’s giraffe is a towering achievement. We were delighted when internationally published Worcester artist, Petr Horacek, took on the design and painting of the RGS giraffe for the ‘Worcester Stands Tall’ trail, in support of St. Richard’s Hospice. To provide a starting point for his giraffe design, Petr and his wife Claire came to the school for two days to work with some of our young artists. Workshops were held for the pupils, where they created a wonderful range of giraffe designs using Petr’s favoured collographic printmaking techniques. With the pupils eager to see how their designs would be joined together to make a whole, Petr then became ‘artist- in-residence’ at RGS. Petr said, “I really enjoyed working on the final giraffe and was pleased to overcome the technical challenges working on a significant scale and with such an unusual shape. What really made the giraffe work was utilising the pupils’ designs which reminded me of how much fun we had doing the workshops. I realised that this was a really great opportunity for everyone to be involved and that everyone could be included. Being an artist is about having fun and working with enthusiasm and it’s essential never to be scared and to try new things.” There were a number of fundraising projects led by RGS teacher Mrs Joanna Marsh to raise funds for St Richard’s Hospice and the giraffe project. Remaining funds for the project were kindly donated by the Alumni Association, the AOOEs, so that RGS could be a sponsor for ‘The Worcester Stands Tall’ project. The 2.5m tall RGS ‘Dreaming Giraffe’ was sited at the Hopmarket during the Festival and was one of 30 positioned around Worcester City 4 rgsw.org.uk The Sunday Lunch, Malvern Spring Festival ‘Dig for Victory, Dig for Lunch’ The Gardening Club saw their wheelbarrowing 30 barrows of soil to Over the four days of the Festival, the hard work celebrated as they were fill in their space. Once the soil was garden was admired and commented commended by the RHS for their in place, the structures began to take on by hundreds of visitors, including Garden design at Malvern Spring shape and the planting could then many Alumni. Those manning the Festival, receiving First Prize for begin. The most time-consuming part garden learnt a huge amount from the ‘Campaign to Protect Rural was the watering, as the weather, visitors who spoke so eloquently England’. whilst beautiful, quickly sucked up any about their memories of the Anderson moisture. shelters and gardens during World Both the Club and volunteers War II evoked by the RGS Worcester worked tirelessly over the Bank The finishing touches were made in garden’s design. Holiday, preparing their design for preparation for the RHS judges to the RHS Malvern Spring Garden scrutinise the garden in relation to Show. In sweltering conditions, they the brief that was submitted earlier constructed the garden from scratch, in the year. rgsw.org.uk 5 Senior Hockey Under 13 National Finals Results RGS v The Perse School, Cambridge 1-1 RGS v Wakefield Girls School 0-1 RGS v Surbiton High School 1-2 RGS v Millfield School 3-2 RGS v Stockport School 1-0 The Under 13 Hockey team displayed a fantastic Fantastic skills were displayed throughout and the RGS performance at the Regional Finals, heading into the team concluded the tournament to take 7th place in quarter-finals as group winners.