Spring 2015 This year around 50 students from The Gryphon School competed in the International Dance and Drama Competition ‘Rock Challenge’. Rock Challenge encourages young people to lead healthy lifestyles and to be Rock Challenge their best without the need for tobacco, alcohol or other drugs. The competition saw nine schools from around the Hampshire/Dorset area perform at The Guildhall in Southampton, a fantastic opportunity for young people. Our theme was a twist on the ‘Pied Piper’ exploring the story through energetic choreography and fast-paced drama. The whole production was led by four Year 11 students; Sophie Ward, Daisy Baxter, Chloe Hart and Sarah Bradley. They not only came up with the concept themselves, they also choreographed the performance, ran rehearsals, created ideas for set and costume and chose the soundtrack. The girls did an absolutely fantastic job and Rock Challenge presented them with the ‘Student Leadership Award’ for their hard work and commitment to the performance. This was the second time The Gryphon School competed in Rock Challenge and although we did not place this year due to the outstanding competition we did win awards for Excellence in Drama, Visual Enhancement, Concept, Set Design and Function and Entertainment. All involved should be very proud of their hard work as it was a fabulous performance. Holly Young - Drama Nick Scott Photography Maths Conference at The Gryphon School Sixth Form students from across Dorset and Somerset gathered at The Gryphon School this term for an all-day Maths Conference. The students and their teachers attended workshops to develop their mathematical problem solving skills. The event was aimed at students who are thinking of studying Maths or related subjects at university. More than 80 students from ten schools took part in a variety of activities including a FunMaths Roadshow where they solved a wide range of puzzles accumulating points for correct answers and explanations. Other workshops included writing and communicating Primary Chess Mathematics to others and a geometry and proof practical session on 2D and 3D geometrical problems. The students, who are all in Year 12 and studying Further Maths, also worked on problems from Competition 2015 Oxbridge entry papers. This helped them learn how to use and apply their current knowledge to solve In mid-February, seven local primary schools problems more difficult than they are used to so far. each sent a team of four chess players to The Gryphon Students Gryphon to compete against each other. train for Ten Tors Each player took part in eight matches during the day, accumulating points for their The Gryphon School has been allocated respective schools. At the end of the day the teams in the nationally renowned Ten Tors points were totalled up and the winners Challenge. A Year 10 team will take part in revealed; Thornford School had retained the 35 mile event, and a group of Sixth their trophy and won the Primary Chess Formers will be in the 55 mile event. The Ten Competition 2015. Tors is an Army organised event and has been running for more than 50 years. Teams The schools taking part were: Bishops have to complete a 35, 45 or 55 mile route Caundle, Bradford Abbas, Buckland Newton, across Dartmoor over two days, taking in ten Sherborne Abbey, Sherborne Primary, tors along the way. The teams have to camp Thornford and Trent. My thanks go to all the overnight on the moor and carry all their primary school students and to Cameron equipment and food with them. McKinnon, Owen Loader and Hannah Roberts of Year 8 for their help in preparing and It is a very demanding physical challenge running the day. and the students involved are developing a Patrick Unwin - Maths Some of the students working in one of the geometry and proof practical sessions wide range of skills. The two Ten Tors Squads have been training every Tuesday Patrick Unwin, the Maths teacher from The The schools involved were The Gryphon School, since November. The first training walk was Gryphon School who co-ordinated the day, said, Kings of Wessex Academy, Poole Grammar 13 miles in a day across Mere Down at the ‘All the students thoroughly enjoyed themselves School, Purbeck School, Sexey’s School, end of January followed closely by a First Aid and were extremely involved in each of the Shaftesbury School, Strode College, The Training Day. Training is going well and sessions. It was a great success and we expect to Blandford School, The Thomas Hardye School and future training is planned around Cheddar host a similar event next year.’ Twynham School. Gorge and across Dartmoor before the event in May. The day was organised in conjunction with the Further Maths Support Programme Geoff Cooke – Ten Tors Co-ordinator For further information see http:// www.furthermaths.org.uk/ www .gryphon .dorset .sch .uk Building Blocks The Lego Club for Year 7s, started in September, has been a huge success. Vital financial support from the Learning Support Department allowed the club to buy three large boxes of Lego and the Lego charity sent us a huge package of new but incomplete Lego sets. We’ve had lots of fun building and last term a minibus full of Lego enthusiasts set off from Sherborne to see Brick 2014 at the ExCel Centre in London. Brick is a huge exhibition organised for Lego enthusiasts young and old. It has Lego yet to be released, old Lego being sold on to new fans, and a zone for fans to share exhibits. We saw a very impressive one which ran around a number of tables with all kinds of moving parts. Design teams from Sweden had flown over to hold a Q&A session about upcoming designs and Students’ work advice on how to build and what to build. commemorates First World War Year 9 pupils focused on the First World War when they put together a multimedia piece of work Gryphon Student during their Business and Enterprise Day, as part of a community arts project. The group of 26 students created the piece for the Sherborne branch of the Royal British Legion. It featured stands for Youth monochrome mixed media panels covering battlefield maps and imagery, which, when assembled, had a symbolic poppy superimposed in faded colour. Three of the students, Isaac Broom, James Dighton and Joshua Whittick, all now in Year 10, together with Head of Art, Michael Parliament Fenton-Wilkinson, presented the artwork to representatives of the Sherborne branch of the Royal The best part of the day was the ‘freebies’ Year 10 student Iga Sikorska stood in the British Legion. RBL spokesman Anthony Chambers said; ‘I was extremely impressed by the work and, for some of the students, ‘playing in the recent Youth Parliament elections in a bid to and obvious emotion which had gone into it. Our chairman Dave Bows saw it for the first time at Lego pits’. They are exactly as they sound, pits change society for the better. Students from the presentation and was again very impressed by the way the students had gone about putting full of the same coloured Lego. Adults and The Gryphon School voted in February for four it together and the way they had managed to incorporate a stylised poppy into the work.’ The children alike were taking off their shoes and of their peers to represent them in the UK artwork is now hanging in The Sherborne Hotel where the RBL holds its monthly meetings. climbing in to build whatever came to mind. Youth Parliament, two Members of the Youth Parliament and two deputies. Iga was one of Brick 2014 was a very exciting experience for eight candidates from the county and fought the Lego Club and has inspired them to try her campaign on a platform calling for more more complex builds. Members of the club are cycle paths in the area. She did not win a now itching to get going on some challenging place but is determined to stay involved in new projects later this year. They are hoping politics. She says, ‘We are the generation that to build a Lego version of Sherborne Abbey. will change our future, and young people Watch this space. should take an interest in politics because we Helen Pearce – Lego Club will be the ones that make changes.’ Science Club A change of Year 7s in Science Club recently took part in the RSPB Big Schools’ Bird watch. This involved spending a full hour surveying and recording all the different species of birds that visit The Champions! Swimming Gryphon School’s top field. The event was a great success with six different species spotted The winners of this year’s PTA Quiz, held including numerous starling murmurations. Science Club has submitted its results to the RSPB earlier this term, were, for the first time in six the Channel and we look forward to exploring the national results in the coming months. Meanwhile, at the years, not the ‘Quizologists’. The reigning Year 9 student Edward O’Grady set himself a end of February we placed a "bug hotel" in the wildlife garden to encourage pollinators to visit champions lost their title to newcomers challenge at the end of last year; to swim the the garden. The bug box we used was made and sold by Year 10 students as part of a business ‘Basher’s Bevy of Brilliance’ who finished with 22 mile length of the English Channel (that’s enterprise. We are hoping this will encourage the growth of native wild flowers in the area. We an enviable score of 90 out of 110.