6Th December 2019 Dear Parents/Carers
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Altrincham Grammar School for Boys A Grammar School with Academy Status Head Master: Mr G. A. Wright MA (Hons) FRSA Marlborough Road, Bowdon, Altrincham, WA14 2RS 6th December 2019 Dear Parents/Carers As the Christmas decorations are set up across School, there is still much to report as we head towards the final ten School days of 2019. We are coming to the end of the Year 13 mock examinations and I would like take this opportunity to wish the best of luck to those students who are taking part in interviews next week for both Oxbridge and Medicine. Congratulations to all involved in what was a stunning two evenings of music at the 2019 Autumn Concerts. AGSB musicians played to a packed-out audience in the Coleman Hall as they produced a wonderful and eclectic spectacle of music. The fantastic range of opportunities for extra-curricular Music were showcased throughout. There were many highlights including the Swing Band, the Staff Choir, a scene from the forthcoming production of Back to the 80’s and of course, the Year 7 Choir. Many thanks both to the Music Department and the School’s musicians. With less than a week before the General Election, I am pleased to report that the AGSB mock election did not disappoint. In assemblies, the candidates representing the five main parties had the chance to launch their manifesto with a 2-minute pitch. We then held a Question Time event in the School library. In a good-humoured, but hard-hitting, debate, topics ranged from Brexit to education, taxation, knife crime and climate change. Congratulations to Belema B and the Labour Party who won the AGSB election with 36% of the vote. On Sunday, the School hosted the annual PFA Christmas Fair. There was a splendid selection of activities on offer including a Bucking Reindeer, House Entrepreneur Competition, raffle, tombola, Chad’s Challenge fund raising games and of course, some delicious food prepared by Anna Jones and Saima Alvi (and many other parents). The PFA raised over £9,000, up £1, 500 from last year, which is a fantastic achievement for everyone involved. Yesterday I travelled over to The Manchester Grammar School to watch the Under 16 and Under 18 AGSB Indoor Hockey Squads take part in the Northern Finals. In a thrilling Under 18 contest, the Senior Squad made it through to the National finals with victories over MGS (becoming North West Champions) and Egglescliffe School. The Under 16 squad not only qualified for the Nationals, but were also crowned North West and North of England Champions along the way! These results highlight the strength of hockey at AGSB and I would like thank Mr Soulsby, Albert Marcano (Hockey Professional) and the players for all their efforts. The National Finals will take place at Whitgift School, Croydon in January 2020. Finally, I would like to wish the AGSB Model United Nations Team the very best of luck as they look forward to the Manchester High School for Girls’ MUN event over the weekend. Good luck also to our football and rugby teams who take on King’s Chester and Sandbach School tomorrow morning. I wish you and your families well for the weekend ahead. Yours faithfully Mr G. A. Wright, Head Master Altrincham Grammar School for Boys A Grammar School with Academy Status Head Master: Mr G. A. Wright MA (Hons) FRSA Marlborough Road, Bowdon, Altrincham, WA14 2RS Senior Team Maths Challenge Congratulations to our Sixth Formers who won the Regional Finals of the Senior Team Maths Challenge recently pipping 25 other schools to the post. Next stop - London for the National Finals in February. We wish them all the best of luck. Autumn Concerts November 2019 Well done to all those musicians who took part in the Autumn Concerts last week. Both Concert Bands sounded wonderful, vocal performances were packed with energy and most of all, the students had a great time! A big thank you to Mr Myers, Mrs Jarratt and Mr Myers Junior who produced the events over two evenings! AGSB Chess An extended chess team played a friendly against King’s School in Macclesfield this week. We played 14 games in total and won 10.5 to 3.5. The players were: Nugith J (Team Captain); Seny D; Karan J; Gautham R; Mark Y; Ewan B; Kamol S and Franicszek M. (Y9) Altrincham Grammar School for Boys A Grammar School with Academy Status Head Master: Mr G. A. Wright MA (Hons) FRSA Marlborough Road, Bowdon, Altrincham, WA14 2RS Nugith used the friendly as an opportunity to mix the players up and help inform the final team of six that we will shortly field against The Blue Coat School, Liverpool. Everyone seemed to enjoy the match, although all their minds are focused on the first competitive match of the year. We have arranged some lunchtime training sessions that should help us finalise the team. Thank you to Mr Olney for driving the minibus! House Bake Off We had a really successful House ‘Bake Off’ last week where the ‘brief’ was to bake the best chocolate cake. The seven bakers all produced very chocolatey rich cakes which were enjoyed by our invited judges (Mrs Gordon, Mr Wright and Mr Baker). Mr Cummins gate-crashed the event but his appetite was appreciated. The winning cake is show below - House Tatton - baked by Matthew B in Year 13. Well done Matthew and also to all the other bakers on their participation and success. 1st - Tatton - Matthew B 2nd - Stamford - Talhah L 3rd - Massey - Taran S 4th - Bradbury - Archie E 5th - Stamford - Hamza B 6th - Tatton - Yaseen L 7th - Bradbury - George E Mrs E King Food & Nutrition Altrincham Grammar School for Boys A Grammar School with Academy Status Head Master: Mr G. A. Wright MA (Hons) FRSA Marlborough Road, Bowdon, Altrincham, WA14 2RS AGSB Mock General Election Last week was Mock Election week. Congratulations to Belema Briggs, who in representing the Labour Party, secured victory in AGSB’s Mock Election 2019. The full results were: Labour Party: Belema B 325 36% Green Party: Ed D 179 19.9% Lib Dems: James B 144 16% Conservatives: Kit F 126 14% SNP: Matty C 80 8.9% Brexit Party: Taran S 46 5.1% Many thanks to our student candidates and their assistants for all the hard work they put into preparing and delivering their campaigns. The engaging and well-informed presentations made in assemblies, hosted by James B and James M, gave students to opportunity to think meaningfully about the issues at stake. Candidates’ Question Time on Thursday lunch was packed out with a wide range of topical issues discussed and was adeptly chaired by Archie Edwards. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to making the election a successful experience for all involved. Mr N Croxton Head of History and Politics Altrincham Grammar School for Boys A Grammar School with Academy Status Head Master: Mr G. A. Wright MA (Hons) FRSA Marlborough Road, Bowdon, Altrincham, WA14 2RS Year 9 Book Club Review by Gautham R (9CC): A classic example of ‘short but sweet,’ Of Mice and Men is a brief novel by John Steinbeck that was truly a pleasure to read. It recounts the journey of a migrant ranch worker, George Milton, who has taken into his responsibility the childlike, simple-minded Lennie Small. However, Lennie faces his own strength as an adversity and eventually can longer run from his problems with George, succumbing to his inability to control his power. All of us in book club found this book to be an excellent read, especially the various moments of genius foreshadowing we only realise upon delving further in. In the space of 90 pages, this book succeeded in bonding the character and the reader, and blowing us all away with the tragic, yet perfect ending to this wonderful story. Poetry Live Trip to the Palace Theatre, Manchester On Monday 2nd December, 50 lucky pupils travelled to the Palace Theatre Manchester to experience a day of live poetry performances. We heard from poet laureates old (Duffy) and new (Armitage,) and gained valuable insights for the Literature exam. The highlight of the day was hearing from living legend and crowd favourite John Agard, who performed 'Flag,' 'Half Caste' and 'Checking Out Me History' to rapturous applause. Miss E Chapman English Department Back to the 80’s Last Saturday the Musical Theatre Society were in school for a full day rehearsal, working hard to perfect Act 1 of the upcoming March production of 'Back to the 80s.' Combining some complex choreography with harmonised singing and shrewd acting skills is no mean feat! Congratulations boys on a productive rehearsal day. Miss C Clark English Department Altrincham Grammar School for Boys A Grammar School with Academy Status Head Master: Mr G. A. Wright MA (Hons) FRSA Marlborough Road, Bowdon, Altrincham, WA14 2RS Year 9 House Public Speaking Competition The Year 9 House Public Speaking Competition took place last week and the motion was ‘This House Believes That: Rosalind Franklin was denied a Nobel Peace prize due to her gender’. The contest was won by the proposition, consisting of Jacob R and Aiyush G (Stamford) & Talal I and Zen K (Massey). Both Jacob and Zen were stand out performers in their respective roles as Responder and Questioner. Stamford were awarded first place on the basis that Aiyush also made an excellent contribution as First Speaker. The defeated opposition team consisted of Max Mc & Hugo S-F (Bradbury) and Gautham R & Labib A (Tatton). They put in a good effort and Gautham was awarded 'Star Performer' for his impressive contribution as Opening Speaker.