Children in Need
Sixth form students at The Corsham School discovered the sweet taste of success for Children in Need, by raising more than £1,700 for the charity appeal. Year 12 and 13 students organised a charity auction on Friday, which easily surpassed all their targets. Eighteen-year-old Nancy Lewendon helped organise the auction. She said: “It all went really well, we had a lot of help from people around Corsham who donated items, and one of the boys in Year 13 raised about £50 by having his very long hair shaved off in front of everyone.
“In the auction we had a Pudsey Bear cake, which went for £85.That was probably the most popular.
“We were hoping for £1,000 so we raised much more than we expected, people seemed to be very generous this year.”
Drama
Scene Productions’ ‘Fear and Misery of the Third Reich’ By Connor Macleod, Rohan Wolsey and Chris Day
On 14 November, we were treated to Scene Productions’ original adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s play, hosted in our very own drama studios. We thoroughly enjoyed the satirical commentary on Germany under the Nazi regime; an insight into the lives of German people which proved both humorous and illuminating.
Viewing this piece of theatre was useful as a source of inspiration for our A2 Unit 3 Devised piece. Scene’s use of Brechtian techniques prompted us to adopt similar ideas for our own performance: such as changing costumes on stage and the utilisation of placards to announce scenes; to mechanically change the scene through narrator characters.
Chris, who attended another Scene Productions’ performance last year, and is using this visit as the basis for an assessed Theatre Review, adds, ‘Typically, Scene Productions was pushing the boundaries of audience and actor relationships: encouraging members of the audience to take an active role in the performance. The cast thrives on the shrieks and laughs of the viewer. This experience gave me an altogether better depth of background understanding about a theatre practitioner, hopefully helping me to complete a thorough essay as well as support my Unit 2 practice.’
Many thanks to parents and carers for supporting us in enabling all KS4 and 5 Drama students to attend the evening.
We very much hope that some of you will be able to join us for festive frolics next month, when Sixth Formers present EPQ student Alex Lewis’ brand new play, ‘Santa Claus’s Year Off’. Performances will be in the Drama Studios, lasting about an hour, and will start with mince pies at 7.00pm on Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 December.
English
On Thursday 28 November the English department took 30 Y12 students to the Theatre Royal in Bath to see Propeller’s production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Propeller is an all-male Shakespeare company and their show was both funny and enchanting. Not only was the evening entertaining, but it will prove to be a really useful starting point for studying the play in lessons. The students were a pleasure to be with.
History
Year 9 have been studying World War One since September, and as part of their work have been handling artefacts which have been kindly loaned to the school from Richard Broadhead (wiltshiresholdiers.co.uk) and also from the Swindon and Wilts Learning Resources Centre in Trowbridge.
Amongst the items was a Princess Mary Gift Tin, given to the soldiers who were fighting overseas at Christmas in 1914, and a set of embroidered postcards. Working with the artefacts has enabled students to literally “touch the past”. As one student said, it has provided a real link to the lives of the soldiers who are no longer with us.
In addition, annually since 2004, students from Year 9 pay a visit to Ypres in Belgium, to see for themselves the sites of The Great War. This year, thanks to Richard Broadhead, we located the names of the Corsham men who fought at Ypres and never returned home, on The Menin Gate and also at Tyne Cot Cemetery. Students laid flower wreaths, provided by Theodora’s Florist in Corsham, at The Last Post Ceremony in remembrance.
PE
PE Gifted & Talented Triathlon Coaching Session
On November 13, Age Group Triathlete and coach, John Wood took 21 gifted and talented students from PE with a particular strength of cardiovascular fitness and endurance sports for a swimming and running session. During the 45 minute swim and run sessions the students were put through their paces and showed great progress as they picked up ‘world class’ coaching tips. Many of the students went on to great success at the Mid Wilts Cross Country Championships and there may be a level 2 triathlon competition coming up soon.
Cross Country News
There were some impressive performances at the recent Area Cross Country Championships on Wednesday, November 14 at Grittleton School.
In the Minor Girls race Ella Reid finished 6th, Emily Williams 10th and Amy Richards 13th. In the Minor boys race Ethan Hall was 5th with Hal Stringer finishing in 13th place.
Jade Littlechild continued her amazing season with a win in the Junior Girls beating a close rival in an exciting finish. Following her with a strong team performance were Izzy Hawkins 8th and Sasha Nugaga 10th. Otto Copping finished 9th for the Junior Boys.In the Inter Girls Lucy Hyde came 11th.
The Inter Boys put in an exceptional team performance ;Jacob Payne 4th, Jesse Bacon 5th, Jacob Bacon 7th, Aidan Daniel 8th,Rhys Lock 9th and Tommy Lappish 11th.
Many of these athletes will go onto to run in the South West Championships on January 18th at Grittleton School.
Jade Littlechild has also taken part in the Schools Biathlon Competition and has qualified for the next round in January.
Hockey News
Congratulations to Elise Bessell in Year 8 who has been selected for the Wiltshire Under 14 Hockey squad.
The year 10 Hockey team have had a mixed season and despite playing well finished fourth out of 8 teams at their tournament which was held at Corsham School on October 10
Player of the match awards voted by opponents have included Tiana James and Josie Hansford Holt.
Girls Football
Amy Leask and Sophie Sweetlove in year 12 have started a football club for girls every Tuesday. The response has been encouraging and all age groups are still welcome to join.
1st XI Football
For the first time in a few years TCS had their very own 1st eleven football team, captained by Alex Hillier and managed by Sam Plowright. They made it into the second round after a hard fought battle which resulted in a 1-0 victory against one of the oldest state secondary schools in the country, KLB, Wotton-under-edge. Jonathan Harding with the goal. After an extraordinary minibus trip the team faced Norton Hill School of Somerset in round 3 and early goals from captain Alex, Liam Harris, Alfie Cross and an Own goal saw the side 4-0 up at half time. A second half goal from Nathan Hampson resulted in a 5-0 victory and a clean sheet for Goalkeeper Gabriel Field. Round 4 saw a trciky trip to Clevedon where the boys were undone by some terrific wing play and ruthless finishing. The team are sure to have learned from this and will be proud of making it into the last 100 teams in the country. They play New College at home on 3rd December. Mr C.Smith
Key Stage 3 Rugby
There have been almost 30 rugby fixtures already this term and the effort and application of the boys has been outstanding. Mr Evans the Director of Rugby is very happy with the progress being made and thanks also go to Alex Bilton, Duncan Wilson and Seth Lavington (From Yr13 A level PE) who have coached and managed the Year 9 team to two splendid victories over Devizes school and St Laurence, with Josh Hill scoring many tries. James Utton and Young-Soo have also progressed into the next round of Dorset and Wilts Trials, so congratulations to them both. The year 7 team are progressing nicely and their highlight was a well earned draw against Malmesbury with tries from Ethan Hill and CJ Feirn. They are set to play a 10 a side tournament in December and have already starting training for the County Cup football match. The Year 8 team have been the pick of the Key Stage 3 sides with emphatic victories against Sheldon, St Laurence and Devizes. Scott Taylor and Chris Blazey making particularly good progress under the captaincy of Ben Hansford-Holt. Players player of the match often goes to fullback Zac Tobin who makes countless tackles and breaks the line well.
Key Stage 3 Badminton
In November Matt Hughes captained Jack Stanley, Reuben Stringer and Lyndon Scott-Humphries to second in the Mid Wiltshire Level 2 Badminton Competiton at Devizes school after winning all their games on the way to the Final 5-0 then losing narrowly in the final 3-2. Congratulations on the great effort gentlemen and thanks to Mrs Hughes for the transport.
Young Leaders Nominations
This term has seen the year 9s working hard to be nominated as Young leaders. Nominations to be posted in the next newsletter. There will also be further nominations after Christmas. Good Luck!!
Christmas Concert
Our Annual Christmas Concert will take place in St Bartholomew’s Church on Thursday 19th December at 7.30pm. This is one of the highlights of the school year where not just only our students and staff attend but anyone from the local community is also invited. There will be readings and musical performances from our students. This is a very popular evening and free limited tickets are available. The evening will end with complimentary refreshments being served. All donations will be going to The Corsham Food Bank. You are all very welcome to join us and celebrate the start of the festive season.
If you would like tickets please contact community@corsham.sch.wilts.uk.
The Corsham School Shop
Thank you to all the parents/carers who have kindly donated school uniform to the School Shop. It has been very much appreciated, and has made the School Shop a huge success. If you can ever donate good condition school uniform please bring it to Main Reception.
Students can also buy essential school equipment ranging from handwriting pens to pencils and art equipment along with PE Equipment, table tennis bat and ball and even hula hoops to play with at break times. The shop is open morning break in T Block. Please encourage your child to pop in.
The Corsham School Christmas cards are now available, the cost is £2 per pack (8 cards). These have been designed by our students. To view the Christmas Cards please go to The Corsham School Blog. If you would like to purchase any cards please email community@corsham.wilts.sch.uk
Dates for the Diary
December 2 3.00pm Nearly New Shop (SBH)
December 4 7.00pm Focus Evening
December 5 Y8 Parents Evening
December 9-19 Y11 Mock exams
December 10 & 12 5.00pm onwards Y7 Tutor Evening
December 19 7.30pm Carol Concert St Bartholomew’s Church
December 20 11.00am A’Level Certificate presentation (last year 13′s)
December 20 Term 2 ends
