Schools News round-up (Including Students match-make for tiger at Whipsnade)

Students match-make for tiger at Whipsnade

Students at Hemel Hempsted School have helped select a mate for a female Amur tiger on a recent school trip.

The Year 10 religious studies students visited the zoo as part of a module on Religion and Animal Rights. During the visit, pupils were given insight into the conservation work ZSL do around the globe, including the breeding programme.

Students were given the same information as the zoo keepers and had to check a potential match’s age, location and health. After a few false starts an ideal companion was found for Anya the tiger. Fiona Dayton the religious studies teacher, said: ‘The students came away from the trip buzzing about what they had learnt and with a new understanding of how zoos work in today’s society.’

Top grades at Longdean School

Pupils have been achieving top grades at Longdean this month with 90% achieving better grades for their recent practical assessment examinations compared to year 10.

Year eight pupils were giving the task of designing renewable energy resources at the recent Science Technology Engineering and Maths day.

The winners of the competition were given the opportunity to visit the University of Nottingham for a guided tour around the engineering department. Students have also receieved their highest place yet in the Senior Mathematics Challenge. The school would like to cogratulate Vincent Cheong who has made it through to the next stage of the maths competition.

Grove Road Primary School Christmas Fair

Grove Road Primary School’s will be holding their Christmas Fair on Saturday December 6,from 11am until 2pm.

There will be an array of stalls selling Christmas gifts, as well as Santa’s grotto, face painting, a secret present room and tombolas. There will be a range of refreshments on offer and children will be able to have fun whilst parents do some Christmas shopping. All are welcome.

Micklem Primary bring some joy to care home

Year three pupils at Micklem Primary School spent time getting creative on Monday with residents from High View Lodge care home.

Classes from the primary school at Warner’s End have been visiting the home each Monday and year four students recently read their favourite stories to the residents. Miss Lyons the year three teacher said: “The children had a fantastic time I believe it was beneficial for all involved.”

Bagging a day of experience

South African bag designer Sharon Maddison made a recent visit to Longdean School.

Last Friday GCSE Textile students experienced a full day of industry practices from selecting different materials, discussing processes of pattern cutting to analysing different bag construction techniques.

Pupils were then set with the task of making their own bag in five hours. Textiles teacher Laura Moore said: “The textiles workshop was animated with creativity and enthusiasm from the students and the feedback from them was that they had found the day extremely inspiring and rewarding.”

Fundraising success for
The Cavendish School

Sixth form students from The Cavendish school have helped raise £450 for a local charity.

Using the theme ‘Wacky week’ students chose to put the proceeds towards Signpost an outreach charity that counsel and support teenagers and young adults.

The money raised will help many young people who have difficulties in their lives. Head of sixth form David Fisher said: “The fundraising week has been the most successful one in a long time.” The cheque was presented to William Allen, manager of Signpost and Sheila Barton a trustee of Signpost. The school would like to say congratulations to all students who took part in Wacky Week and a big thank you to the Sixth Form Committee for organising and creating a special week to help raise the money.

Charity Quiz night at 
Adeyfield School

Adeyfield students have hosted their first Quiz night as part of the Dacorum Dragons Apprentice Challenge initiative.

The group of seven were assigned with the task of turning £100 to £1000 for the Gaddesden Riding School for the Disabled.

The charity quiz night was a huge success and pupils managed to raised £1,089. One of the teachers who attended the event Ms Clegg said: “The evening was really well organised and one of the best quiz nights I have attended in a long time. The students thought about everything from the structure of the evening to the presentation of the tables and the tickets.”

Business teacher Mrs Willis registered her course with the apprenticeship programme which recruits teams of students across the area. The initiative partners groups with a mentor and a local charity. Chloe Hall the team leader for the event said: “It was great fun doing the quiz night and seeing how much money we raised for a good cause gave us a great buzz.

“That said, it was hard work and gave us real insight into how much work is involved in running a successful event.”

House of Lords Baroness
visits Ashlyns School

Ashlyns School hosted a talk from a member of the House of Lords on Friday to encourage students to engage more with the political process.

Baroness Tyler met with sixth form politics students for an hour to talk about the work and role of the House of Lords.

This was followed by a question and answer session on various aspects of the parliamentary process and life at Westminster.

Paul Harland – teacher of Politics at Ashlyns said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to interact with someone who knows the parliamentary system inside out, as it can sometimes seem far removed from their daily lives.”

The visit was arranged through the Lord Speaker’s “Peers in Schools” programme, which has been running across the UK since 2007 and has so far involved around 50,000 young people. This continuing outreach programme sends members of the House of Lords into schools and colleges across the country to give talks in support of the citizenship curriculum. For further information, see the Lord Speaker’s web page at www.parlia
ment.uk/lordspeaker