Editorial Introduction After months of hard work and deliberation it is finally here! The Lord Grey School Magazine! We have spent many weeks trying to create the ideal magazine for the Lord Grey community and we believe that we have finally succeeded. Our highly talented team of budding journalists have been searching high and low for all those juicy bits of gossip that the teachers store away and have included many interesting and rather amusing articles about their hobbies and hidden talents. We have also retrieved what we consider to be some of the best work produced by our students this year and given all those talented writers and artists their first taste of fame! Throughout the magazine you will find several reviews, written from your point of view and includ- ing all those vital facts that you are dying to know about your favourite games and books. The mag- azine also contains a guide to what's been going on at the school this academic year including all the gossip from the amazing school production Grease, Rock Challenge, the dance sensation and student reports from your favourite school trips. With these great contents, the Lord Grey School Magazine is certain to keep you plugged in to the cool side of school and give you an insight into what really goes on behind the scenes. On behalf of the rest of the team I would like to thank every- body who contributed and hope you all enjoy The Lord Grey School Magazine! . Miss Rachel Jones Many Thanks To... Ben Mallard Gemma Hudson Ben Miller Matt Woollett Louise Beach Mr. Chambers Lisa Turnbull Shelly Rowland Jenny Allsopp Gabriel Wallace Claire Baines Kathryn Entwistle Kishan Savjani Carly Theodosi Tara Smith Mark Ray Joe Moore Rakhee Modhwadin Thanks also to: Beth Webster who produced the front cover David McLean for his art work Anyone who has allowed us to publish their work. The production Team would also like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Miss Jones who helped us all get organised and to get the magazine to come together. We couldn't have done it without her! Headteacher’s Welcome When I joined The Lord Grey School a year ago, it was obvious to me that this was a school of great potential. Given the right mix of determination and enthusiasm, and the clear talents and abilities TCT Excellence and of our students, there is no limit to what we can achieve. I am Diversity delighted to introduce to you, from the students of our school, the first Lord Grey School Magazine. The production of this Magazine has been no small feat. It has been stu- dent driven, and every poem, article, review, illustration and contribution has been made by a member of our learning community. The Magazine represents a massive achievement, and is, I believe, testimony to the exhilirating ethos we share. I would like to extend my thanks to Rachel Jones, who has co-ordinated and overseen the production of the Magazine. I applaud the Editorial Team who have pulled out all the stops to ensure the timely production of this fascinating chronicle of life at Lord Grey. As an “in-house” produc- tion, my congratulations also go to our Reprographics team. The forthcoming academic year will no doubt present many challenges, and each member of our school will face, and conquer, seemingly insur- mountable obstacles. This Magazine represents our school motto in abundance, and I have every belief that we will continue to move from strength to strength. Having read the “first” magazine, I look forward to next year’s edition. Excellence: Dare to Succeed Despina Pavlou, Headteacher Report on the Talent Show Late November last year, Lord Grey School hosted its first talent show. The event was a huge success with participants from all year groups displaying their talents in front of a spellbound audience. Year 13 students Jonathan Tan and Gemma Peppard hosted the evening, prov- ing themselves to be two of the school’s most talented entertainers, using a mix of humour and style to captivate the audi- ence. There were twenty-four unique perform- ances which displayed a selection of dances, songs and many other magnificent musical acts. Highlights of my evening included a beautifully sung rendition of 'When you say nothing at all' and several of the dance acts who displayed excellent co- ordination and flare. Present at the show were an inspired audience consisting of fellow students and the proud parents of the performers. A panel of esteemed judges, including our Headteacher, Ms Pavlou, Manager of Chappells music store, David Meek, and gifted actress Wendy Kitching, appraised the event and after much thought and deliberation reached their final verdict. Jonathan Tan and Mark Calape came in third place after humorously presenting their amazing break-dancing. Stacy Meadows achieved second place having demonstrated his fantastic piano skills and showing the audience how to really play the blues. First place went to the incredibly talented Elisabeth Brown who won the judges' praise after singing a show tune flawlessly and showing off her beautiful voice. The winning acts were requested to perform in a whole school assembly following the talent show and were each given their prizes personally by Ms Pavlou. The talent show was a very memorable event and we all look forward to witnessing the same excellence next year. On behalf of the school I would like to thank all the gifted students who took part. By Jenny Allsopp Grease As most of you will know, the play this year was 'Grease' the musical. It was a huge success and was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone involved. There were performances by two casts throughout a whole week from 12th February to 16th February with matinee performances for local middle schools. The tickets were all sold out for every performance with some special visitors, including the Mayor of Milton Keynes. The whole cast worked extremely hard for several months giving up their lunchtimes, after school and even a weekend. We were confronted with difficulty, as we had to learn all of our songs with just a piano accompaniment. Fortunately Mr. Wakley, our new Head of Music, was recruited towards the end and the band worked extremely hard to make everything come together. Mr. Brierly and Gemma Peppard directed us and put up with us even when it looked as though we wouldn't be able to pull it off, but however it fell into place in the end. To encourage us more, they awarded us with Director’s Awards for outstanding dedication and performance. The absolute high received was amaz- ing and the whole cast got on very well and became really close. The feeling of performing on stage in front of hun- dreds of people is indescribable and everyone gave it their all. I am almost certain that everyone involved this year will want to be involved in next year's performance. We would like to take this opportunity to say 'goodbye' and 'good luck' to Jonathan Tan, he will be sorely missed, as this was his last performance. By Luke Webb (Roger) and Kevin Rowland (Danny) ‘Grease’ was obviously a big hit as on the first performance the hall was full. The enthusiastic cast began the show with a wonderful opening and got the audience in the mood. Proud family and friends of the actors sang and clapped along the whole way through and by the interval everyone was having a great time! We could see that the cast had spent a long time in rehearsals and getting the show perfect by their American accents! Many were impressed by the singing soloists and all the singers. The main characters had been carefully selected and had been carefully thought out. Backing dancers were also convincing and were all in time doing their Rock 'n' Roll moves. We also thought that the Guardian Angel (Cameron Parks) was a star! Well done to everyone who took part and a special thankyou to Mr. Brierly. We are all looking for- ward to next year’s show! By Shelly Rowland and Tara Smith Rock After months of choreographing, many feared that Lord Grey's dance Challenge piece would not be ready for the rap- idly approaching performance. A day before the performance all the members of the Rock Challenge took part in the intense On the day we had three rehearsals all day. There were still final rehearsals with each one get- details we had to add, the dance was not ting better as we performed - each entirely completed and we had not one gaining in energy. When it came rehearsed with the set; Tuesday was our to our performance, and we were the attempt to get everything perfect for opening act, everyone was nervous yet Wednesday's performance at the excited and gave it 110% when we Oxford Apollo Theatre. entered the stage. Everything went well. After our performance we went back into the changing-room and waited for the results. The judges left all schools waiting in anticipation as they began to talk. Many people lost faith when they heard that 3rd place had gone to Crickhowell High School, but when they read out Lord Grey School...2nd place, the atmosphere was electric! Everyone was screaming in the excitement, we couldn't believe we had come 2nd! After the results had been announced there was a huge gathering of students from different schools out- side the theatre - congratulating each Lord Grey Poem other on their spectacular performance. Of course, Lord Grey were the loudest L is for Lessons, so we get in the know, there and all students were still on a high.