Year Eleven

Examination Information letter

In early November, Mr Monk took our hardy athletes to Bath for the BANES cross-country event. Congratulations especially to Lewis Nightingale and Claire Hammett for finishing 2^nd and 4^th respectively. There were also creditable performances from Dani Radford, Joe Martin, Tom Yeatman and Katie Purchase. Claire and Dani were amongst those fortunate enough to meet World 400m Champion Dai Greene when he visited the school.

After an injury-ravaged start to the season, Miss Daly’s hockey team came good in a tournament against Wellsway and St Gregory’s. The team was successfully organised and led by Jess Hepburn and (with the help of 4 year 10 students) beat St Gregory’s 4-0 and more importantly won 1-0 against Wellsway, our arch rivals.

Ralph Allen were the winners of their pool so Chew Valley and Ralph Allen now go head-to- head in the final in 2012. We wish them all the best of luck.

In late November, Mr Davis and Miss Vartuli took a large group of budding scientists to the Colston Hall to see some of the most prestigious scientists of our generation. The very charming Professor Jim Al-Khalili spoke on the nature of black holes and time travel. Professor Richard Dawkins led us through a fascinating argument about the nature of evolution and the consequences of ‘winding back time’, replaying evolution from the start. Professor Steve Jones led a brilliant and stimulating lecture on genetics and his work in contributing towards mapping the human genome. Dr Andrea Sella then explained the story of how the zebra got its stripes. The answer actually came from the field of chemistry this time, much to the surprise of the audience. Dr Sella also ‘wowed’ the crowd with some chemical amazement and offered a bang to the day! The final speaker was Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock. An untraditional physicist, she spoke passionately on the ‘wonders of the Universe’ and revealed that you can achieve whatever you wish to do in life, regardless of your background. This was a perfect end to a great day and will surely inspire some Chew Valley students to follow a career in the sciences.

The recent Autumn Extravaganza was packed with talent from Year 11, both on-stage (Alex Newman, Amy Chard, Bonnie O’Brien, Rosie Filer, Ollie Edwards, Sam Snook, Jacob Straffon and Hardy Mills to name a few) and behind the scenes (thanks to Emerson Kent and Ali Dagger).

We wish Year 11 (and their parents) a restful Christmas, though also need to remind them there are several GCSE exams throughout January!

Year 11 Catch Up sessions for ICT have been running for a few weeks now and are available each Tuesday after school from 3.45 to 5pm on the Mezzanine.  If pupils feel they are behind in any part of their ICT work (including Unit 1 and Animation) then please see your ICT teacher in the first instance and turn up on the day.  Mr Webber