1 Editor’s Note Welcome to the first edition of Liverpool College’s Middle School Magazine College Column. Over the past few months, I have been working with both Year 8 Butler’s and Year 8 Brook’s during Thursday activity sessions to bring you this inaugural issue. Firstly, I would like to applaud the efforts of all pupils that were involved in the making of this very first version of College Column. I am extremely grateful for the hard work and dedication demonstrated by the pupils of both Butler’s and Brook’s during this process. Moreover, I would like to thank Mr Cartwright for arranging this activity and allowing pupils to become creative outside of the classroom. It has been a privilege to see pupils develop original ideas into complete articles. Additionally, I am very excited to begin working on future editions of College Column with the other Year 8 forms throughout the remainder of the academic year. If you’re in a Year 8 form, get thinking of future articles that you would like to include in your personal issue of College Column. Finally, to you the reader, thank you for taking the time to read the very first College Column. This version of College Column puts particular emphasis on Liverpool College’s recent (and quite frankly fantastic GCSE results) in addition to providing advice for our new Year 7 pupils, a range of original pieces of creative writing and information about the impending school play Bye, Bye Birdie. There are a range of puzzles and activities to complete in the magazine. If you want to earn a PPC point, hand the correct answers to me in my room (H1). Hope you enjoy reading through the magazine. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Mr Farnan 2 An Interview with the Principal The school is very pleased with the recent GCSE results and so are we! So, we asked the Principal, Mr Broekman, what his thoughts and views were on these amazing set of results. Here’s what he had to say. Q: What is your reaction to the school’s GCSE results? A: I was delighted, over the moon, ecstatic and relieved. The best feeling is watching pupils, staff and parents celebrate great results. Q: What are your views on the harder GCSE’s? A: I am broadly pleased with them. Take for example English. In the new GCSEs pupils read more literature and study it in more depth. I think that is a good thing. The results show that pupils and teachers can tackle these more difficult examinations. It is very difficult to be against higher standards. Q: Why do you think that the results remained the same, even though the exams got harder? A: Because the government promised that they would for the first year. It will be interesting to see how that develops in the years to come. Q: How do you think the school could further improve their GCSE results? A: Great results are created by great teaching which inspires pupils to really get into the subject. To improve them further will be very difficult, but the recipe is the same; great teachers, inspired pupils. Q: What is your advice to the pupils in year 11 that will be taking their exams in the summer? A: Start revising early, believe in yourself and set clear targets. LISTEN to your teacher. A big thank you to Mr Broekman for taking the interview! 3 Year 7 Advice and Tips Picture this. You’re entering a new school filled with strangers and new people, a massive new place which seems like a maze to somebody who’s new. Whenever you talk or your shirt is untucked you are given endless punishments. However, Liverpool College is also a place of opertunities, meeting new people, learning exciting new things. These are some tips to help you get started: Always try your best in everything you do. Even if you don’t enjoy a subject always try hard and you will do well. If you lose something don’t stress. Ask your house mentor. It will almost certainly show up in lost property. Do all homework on time. If you don’t, all you will get is a punishent and you’ll have to do it again. If you get lost ask a teacher or someone older than you for help. Always bring the correct equipment to every lesson. Try to always be on time for lessons or you will be in trouble. If something is annoying or bothering you, get help from a parent or teacher. Good luck in all your lessons! 4 If you could tell your Year 7 self one thing, what would it be? In this article, we had the idea to ask some of the teachers one question: If you could tell your Year 7 self one thing, what would it be? Below are their recorded answers. Here is what they said: Upper School: Mr Traynor (Science) – “Don’t stress out about the small things and just enjoy the big picture.” Dr Atkins (English) – “Take up an instrument!” Mr Barnicoat (English) – “Learning is actually fun.” Mr Griffiths (Geography) – “Be confident.” Mr Farnan (English) – “Be more confident and outgoing; get involved with everything. Give English a chance!” Mrs Hughes (Physical Education) – “Be yourself and try to make friends with everyone.” Mr Bartlett (Classics) – “Try new things.” Ms Knoop (English, History and Classics) – “Don’t care what anyone else thinks because life is too short!” Ms Maloney (English) – “Don’t always think that you’re right.” 5 Ms McWatt (Art) – “Try as many different activities as possible until you find what’s right for you.” Ms Snyder (Maths) – “Don’t worry about what other people think because life is too short to be anything but happy.” Mr Turbitt (Science) – “Calm down! Take it easy, Turbitt. Don’t worry.” Prepatory: Mrs Pease (Head Teacher) – “Listen and learn and don’t judge a book by its cover. The more friends, the better!” Mr Stamper (Physical Education) – “Don’t get into so much trouble.” Ms Brooke (Year 5) – “Keep good friends and don’t be afraid of work.” We decided to do get the teachers’ point of view to give advice to new students because they’ve been through it and know how to handle different situations. Hope you enjoyed their advice! 6 How to use your bullet journals: What is a bullet journal? A bullet journal is a journal which you write your notes down over the period of the week. What to do? Over a two page spread, section out them out so you have Monday to Friday, and a notes section. At the start of each month, put the calendar of all the days and dates. What you can use them for? - Writing in homework - Writing notes down - Writing events down What the symbols mean: = a task (homework) - = your own notes (explaining homework or other things) o = event (a match or service) = migrating task (something that you do over a period of time) What not to do! - Don’t draw in your planner! - Don’t play games in your planner! - Don’t rip out pages from your planner! 7 Charity Work Recently, the school has been doing a lot of charity work. We have worked with the Merseyside Youth Association food bank and Scouse Kitchen. The Merseyside Youth Association food bank (or MYA) is a young person’s food bank accessible for 13-25 year olds in real need. They are unlike any other food bank as they do not need vouchers and can be used as often as people need them. They hand out emergency 3 day food and necessity packages. We helped by donating many boxes of food for them to hand out. We are also helping by handing out clothes to the homeless. A group of sixth formers were handing out clothes on Wednesday 13th of December with the charity Scouse Kitchen. Scouse Kitchen hand out clothes at the bombed out church every Wednesday. We also have lots of charity events lined up for everyone to get involved in! 8 Bye, Bye Birdie - The School Play The Plot: Bye, Bye Birdie is a musical by Michael Stewart set in 1958. The play is about a pop star named Conrad Birdie who is being drafted for the Vietnam War. However, Conrad’s record company, called Almaelou, cannot afford for him to go away because he is their only successful client. Debt is already high for Almaelou so they decide to publish one last song before Albert, the head of Almaelou, gets an English degree. Eventually this song will pay off Albert’s debt so he can go and live the rest of his life happily as an English teacher. The song that Amaelou decides to publish will be called ‘One Last Kiss’. To perform his final song Almaelou decides Conrad will sing it too and then kiss a lucky adoring fan on the Ed Sullivan show. What could go wrong? The lucky winner of Conrad’s kiss is a girl named Kim MacAfee who recently got pin to (started dating) Hugo Peabody. See what happens in this tricky situation in Liverpool College’s production of Bye Bye Birdie. The Auditions: In regards to my recollection of the auditions, as I walked into the MV Hall I noticed it was deadly silent. This could have been due to everyone being anxious about auditioning, or perhaps it was the tension of everyone wanting to get a main part. Either way, I know as the teacher sat down ready to watch our auditions my anxiety levels were through the roof.