by James Booker, RebeccaPickering and Charlotte Evans

Tuesday 11th March 2008 proved tobe a turning point in our lives. Ourexperiences and the things we saw atAuschwitz has had a profound effect onus. The consequences of the Holocauststill cast a shadow over moderncivilisation.

Prior to leaving, we attended aconference, to prepare us practicallyand emotionally for our visit. We metKitty Hart-Moxon, one of very fewJewish survivors of the anti-Jewishcampaign, who spent two horrifyingyears at the Auschwitz-Birkenau labourcamp, and whose inspiring story wasboth humbling and thought provoking.

The visit itself began at half past threein the morning – we had to be at theairport for five o’clock. Wrapped up inmultiple layers, from cagoules tothermal vests, in preparation for thevicious Polish climate, we stepped offthe plane into glorious sunshine andtemperatures of 20 degrees! Eerily, thecloser we travelled to Auschwitz, thecolder and duller it became, and, bythe time we approached the remains ofthe largest gas chamber, the wind wasicy and the rain was coming down intorrents.

The Auschwitz main camp is now anexhibition and we were led by ourhighly knowledgeable guide, who wasclearly still moved by the events thathad broken his nation sixty yearsbefore. We saw the sites on whichpeople were murdered, and some ofthe possessions, clothing and even hairof those who had perished there.

After our time at Auschwitz, wetravelled to the nearby Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, which had beenpreserved to allow us to see whatconditions were like for those who hadbeen unjustly imprisoned there. Afterseeing the infamous railway line thatled millions of people to their deaths,we stood in the small wooden hutswhere the prisoners were kept. Up tosix hundred prisoners were packed intowhat had been designed as stables.

The day ended with a memorialceremony, led by one of Britain’s mostsenior Rabbis who created the

foundations for the nationwide,educational project that exists today.Together and in silence, we, twohundred and fifty young students, twoeach from secondary schools across theEast Midlands, each lit a candle inmemory of the one and a half millionJewish people who were murdered atAuschwitz and the four and half millionothers who suffered because of theNazis’ twisted ideology.

Though several hundred miles andseveral generations separate us fromthe events which took place there, wefeel, more strongly than ever, that it isessential to remember the horrors ofwhat happened at Auschwitz andelsewhere across Europe, and theunnecessary slaughtering of thousandsof innocents which still continues inparts of the world today.

People should remember not onlythrough a natural empathy and respectfor those who died but to ensure thatnothing like this is ever allowed tohappen again.

UK Maths Challenge120 Year 10 and Year 11 GiftedMathematicians took part in the UKMaths Challenge. Over 200,000pupils took part nationally and thehighest scoring 40% of pupils gaineda certificate, with 6% winning Gold.

47 of our pupils received certificates:Gold - 7 studentsSilver - 14 studentsBronze - 26 students

The top 1% of pupils are invited totake additional papers, and this yearfour of Tupton’s Year 11 pupils did so.

Daniel Fox (pictured) came in the top500 and took the ‘Olympic’ paper.

Tim Rouse, Lawrence Caines & JamesFlint were close behind and sat the‘Kangaroo’ paper.

Daniel achieved a distinction for hisachievements in hispaper, reaching thetop 100! He hasnow been invited toa Summer School.This is anoutstandingachievement.

PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER ISSUE 7 JUNE 2008

INSIDE: Cosmic Chemistry • Penny Race • Arts • ICT • Ski Trip • Sport • Humanities

Our lesson from Auschwitz

U-Neek successTupton Hall’s Young EnterpriseCompany “U-Neek” successfullyreached the area finals this year.

Their keen business acumen andexcellent team work ensured that U-Neek’s buy-to-sell operation wasappealing to customers, profitable andwell administered. A healthy profitand loss account and balance sheetwere submitted to the judgescomplemented by a strong companyreport and an excellent presentation.

All these factors enabled the companyto secure third place in the area finals,in April at the Winding Wheel,Chesterfield. The sixth form studentswere pleased that all their hard workhad paid off and would like to thanktheir Business Advisors Ian Greenway

and Julie Taylor from MTM Products,for all their support and guidancethroughout the programme.

U-Neek are: Stephen Tann (MD), LiamWatters, Sarecia Slack, AdamBingham, Daniel Walker, RebekahHill, Thomas Booth, NathanCartwright.

In April, Y7 spent the PSD IMPACT daylearning about water and the shortagesthat some third world countries face. Theday culminated in a penny race in theafternoon. Y7pupils had been collectingpennies for weeks and had a racebetween forms to see which one couldmake the longest line of pennies. 7TAwon by collecting over £70 worth ofpennies. Mr David Fish from the rotaryclub came to watch the race and collectthe money. He drove off with his car

bonnet pointing to the skyand it took him 24 hours to

count the proceeds whichamounted to £430 –

enough to sponsor fourwells in Sri Lanka. Well

done to Y7 for a fantastic effort.S. Kench

Penny Race

Students in Y8 saw just how much funscience can be when they took part inan inspirational science festival andlearned about everything from the BigBang to the science of how food ismade.

The festival involved over 290 Year 8students and was co-organised bySciTec, part of Derbyshire EducationBusiness Partnership.

Mr Topley, Head of Key Stage 3Science said, “The Science Festival wasa crash-bang mixture of experiments inbiology, chemistry and physics,showing just how magical science canbe. Students got the chance to take partin unique experiments, learn about andhandle exotic animals from snakes andskunks to meercats tarantulas andhands-on demonstrations, which letsthem see science in a totally differentlight.”

Students from the Y8 took part in avariety of workshops including CosmicChemistry, which explains the creationof the universe and how it has evolvedover time. Ready Steady Science,where they looked at healthy eatingand the science of ingredients and TheReally Gross Show where theylooked at the science involved in bodilyfunctions and secretions.

The day was a great success and wasenjoyed by all staff and students whotook part.

Cosmic Chemistry and thejungles of South America

The final of the 2008 Read to SucceedQuiz took place during a Marchevening in the Richard Smith Hall.

Now in its fifth year, the book quizattracted a record number of entries,with eighty four teams from years 7, 8and 9 taking part. The heats were heldduring school time with the top twentystudent teams competing in the final,where they were joined by three staffteams. A feature of the evening is theinventive fancy dress, based on book

characters, worn by the teams. Thehelpers this year dressed as charactersfrom the “Wizard of Oz”

A closely fought contest, with thepossibility of a staff team victory at onestage, was won by ‘An Awful Ending’,a team of year 9 students, who will berepresenting the school in theDerbyshire Literature Challenge.

Carnegie ShadowingFifteen students from years 7 to 12 andseven staff are taking part in this year’sCarnegie Shadowing.

This involves reading the seven bookson the shortlist before the winner isannounced on Thursday 26th June.

Shadowers will discuss the booksduring a review meeting on Wednesday25th June and vote for Tupton Hall’swinning book.

Our reviews can be read on theshadowing site athttp://ww.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/shadowingsite by clicking on ReadingGroups and finding us in thealphabetical list of participatingschools.

Arts roundup

Read to Succeed

It’s been a busy time for the ExpressiveArts Faculty! The Spring Concertfeatured an eclectic mix of classical andpopular music that was well received byparents and students alike (photosbelow).

This term our students have been busilypreparing for their exams. The ArtsCafé held on May 13th showcased thehigh standards achieved by our Y11GCSE students in Art, Music andDrama. Y13 Drama students alsoperformed their adaptations of Romeoand Juliet and Hamlet on May 15th.The Y12 Drama students performedBlue Remembered Hills and Oh What aLovely War on 20th May.

We now look forward to the ArtsCelebration Evening on July 2ndwhich will showcase KS3 work.

During the April holiday, sixTupton Duke of Edinburgh’sAward students headed north tothe windswept heights of theYorkshire Dales for their GoldPractice expedition.

Five Year 13 students - NatashaGanecki, Charlotte Brown, SophieWardlow, Richard Harris & MarkEdwards - plus Abbey-Jo Mooresof Year 11, travelled by mini busto their start point in Settle onWednesday 16th. From here theynavigated eastwards to dramaticGoredale Scar where they campedfor the first night.

There followed three more days ofnavigating the rugged limestoneDales, walking with very full andvery heavy packs frequentlybuffeted by very cold winds. Twomore nights of camping were also

part of the expedition. In totalthe group walked over forty miles,showing excellent resolve,determination and a greatattitude throughout. Places ofinterest en-route includedMalham Tarn, Kettlewell,Grassington and several areas ofLimestone pavement.

And all this was but a preparationfor their assessed expeditionwhich may well take place nearerto home in the Peak District.Considering the impressiveapproach and attitude of everymember of this group I expectthem to be as successful on theactual assessed expeditionwhenever that takes place. It wasa pleasure being with suchresponsible and well motivatedyoung people.

Ian Parfitt

Yorkshire Dales Expedition

A Level HistoryRevision WeekendThe annual A Level History revisionweekend took place on in May. Thisyear 48 Key Stage 5 students and 6History staff spent the weekend atthe Hollowford Centre in Castletonpreparing for the forthcomingexaminations. The Saturdayconsisted of three revision sessionslasting for 2 hours each, in additionto the regular football match to finishthe day. The topics covered rangedfrom the role of Martin Luther Kingand Malcolm X in gaining civil rightsfor black Americans to Hitler’sGermany and Stalin’s Russia. Sunday involved a 11/2 hour sessionlooking at exam technique before weall packed up and came home. Thefeedback from the students wasagain immensely positive with allrating the weekend as very good toexcellent both for exam preparationand for enjoyment. Typical commentsby students were:

“It was valuable revision that Iwouldn’t have forced myself to do athome, but it was fun as well’The days ‘reminded me of what Iknew and, more importantly, what Ididn’t”“There was a good balance betweengetting work done and enjoyingyourself”“It was a more interactiveenvironment and longer sessions sowe learnt more”

I would like to take this opportunityto thank the History staff for givingup their weekend unpaid and thestudents for their excellent attitudeand hard work.

Mr Crunkhorn Head of Humanities

Rock ChallengeTwenty students from Years 8-13competed in the Rock Challengedance competition at DerbyAssembly rooms in May. After a long day of rehearsing weperformed to a packed audience.The Tupton performance wasamazing. After the performance thejudges commented: ‘Outstandingtechnique shown in all performers’,‘Very strong use of choreography’and ‘...a very innovative and wellrehearsed piece’. We also wonbest choreography, hair and makeup, costume, best group by otherperformers and 2nd overall. We leftfeeling tired, emotional anddetermined to get 1st next year!

ICT updateAward of the ICT Mark

Tupton Hall has nowbeen permanentlyawarded theprestigious ICT Markby Becta, the BritishEducation Communications andTechnology Agency.

We are one of only three secondaryschools in Derbyshire to have the ICTMark, which is awarded for a periodof three years following an extensiveexternal assessment. The Markrecognises the school’s success indeveloping the strategic use of ICT inboth administration and across thecurriculum.

Parents will now have proof that theirchildren are attending a school thatuses the very best information andcommunications technology toenhance their learning.

ICT has been our second specialismsince 2005 and the award by Bectarecognises our continued commitmentand positive approach to ICT. Webelieve that ICT can be used in everyaspect of learning and that it isessential our children are equipped forthe modern world.

Neil McLean, Executive Director forEducational Practice at Bectasaid;”Tupton Hall School thoroughlydeserve the accolade of the ICT mark.They clearly demonstrate howimportant it is to take a holisticapproach to using ICT in schools.Their investment in new technologyhas contributed to substantialimprovements in learning.”

One of the key stages in furtherdevelopment is increasingparental communication andinvolvement in their students’learning.

The “Parents” section hasdeveloped greatly over the lastmonth containing generic andyear specific documents,information, letters home, andlinks to our student database.

Watch out for invitations toexperience ICT in the classroomover the coming months.

IT DiplomaFrom September 2009, Tupton Hallwill be offering, as Lead School, the ITDiploma to students from the 10school Chesterfield LearningCommunity. The new Diplomas are a

major part of the new 14-19education Vision, and we aredelighted that our bid to deliver the ITdiploma was accepted.

Revision MaterialAs the major examinations are nowunder way, it is worth reminding allstudents of the wealth of resources inmany subjects available on the schoolVLE (Virtual Learning Environment).

Once logged in, students have accessto podcasts, revision tasks, pastpapers, mark schemes and links tospecific online revision sites, mostnotably SAM Learning, to which theschool subscribes.

SAM claim that 10 hours revision ontheir site will increase GCSE grades!

SAM login details:

Centre ID: S42THUser ID: date of birth, initials, e.g.:020293jb, may be john bullPassword: date of birth, initials, e.g.:020293jb, may be john bull (sameas user id)

For all ICT issues, please email:nickm3@tuptonhall.derbyshire.sch.uk

After the success of the ski trip in 2006the staff and students could not wait toget going on this year’s trip to Bormio,Italy. Over 70 pupils from years 8-12visited the purpose built ski resort,which offers multiple ski runs forbeginners to the advanced skiers, all ofwhich have benefited from the fantasticsnow fall that the region have receivedsince the New Year.

The start of the week saw many of thestudents as complete beginners.

However, after a full week of tuition,many falls and scrapes the studentswere flying down the red and blueroutes like complete professionals!

The evenings in the resort were notwasted either with a number ofactivities on offer including swimming.shopping, quiz night, and presentationnight where ski instructors presentedeach skier with a certificate. To add tothe fun the staff came up with the ideato offer awards for the days’ antics!

Winners proudly wore a high visibilityvest for the following day’s skiing.

All students were delivered home safely,with only minor knocks and bruises. A great week was had by all!

Ski Trip: BBoorrmmiioo 22000088

Sports ReliefTupton Hall supported the work ofSport Relief, by raising £525.In a joint venture betweenChesterfield FC and Tupton HallSchool, money was raised by PEstaff offering reduced priced ticketsto a televised game against MKDons.

With a £1/ticket donation beingmade to Comic Relief staff, studentsand friends of Tupton Hall wereable to experience an evening offrantic football in the knowledgethat they were also supporting aworthy cause.

Chesterfield FC praised the effortsof both the staff and students at theschool – and was most thankful ofthe time put in by Thomas Jenkins(PE Technician) to make the projectwork.

Tupton Hall School, Old Tupton, Chesterfield, Derbyshire S42 6LG Tel: 01246 863127 email: info@tuptonhall.derbyshire.sch.uk www.tuptonhall.derbyshire.sch.ukdesign & print • www.pickardcommunication.co.uk printed on recycled paper

Fantastic sporting year...

Netball stars

150 Students enjoyed taking part inthe 12th annual gym and dancedisplay held in mid February. Theydid two performances, one for parentsin the evening and one for primaryschools the following morning. This

was alsowatched bymany of ourKS3 studentsand as aresult, a new

vaulting club was started for boys bypopular demand.

Highlights were the quality of workproduced by GCSE and ‘A’ levelDance students and the enthusiasticand fearless qualities of our vaultingteams who like nothing better than tobe upside down, rotating andpreferably three metres off the ground.

It was also the last display for many ofour Year 13 students who have beeninvolved every year as performers,choreographers and young leaders.They will be missed.

Here are some highlights of of the year:

Boys’ FootballNED Tournament – Year 7 Boys: A Teamwon, B Team second. Year 8 Boys: ATeam second, B Team second.Year 9 Boys: A Team won, B Teamsecond. Year 10 Boys: Unbeatenthroughout. Round 3 of the Under 15’sNational Cup. Jordan Burrow, Tom Mitchelland Aaron Jones represented ChesterfieldF.C.’s Centre of Excellence programme.Under 18: last 16 in National Cup.

Girls’ FootballYear 7: 6-a-side competition. A, B and CTeams all achieved second place.Year 8: Quarter final of the County Cup.Represented Chesterfield in the RegionalFinals, coming third.Year 10: Last 32 of the National Cup.Year 11: County Finals and last 16 of theNational cup.

NetballYear 9: Winners of U14 County NetballChampionship. U14 Regional NetballChampionship. WinnersU14 East and Central Sports CollegeChampionship. Winners of NationalSchool U14 Tournament. Exceptionalperformances from Paige Goucher andJenna Wallis. Year 10: North East DerbyshireTournament, 2nd place.

CricketU13 Girls’ Cricket team were beaten inthe county final of the indoor event.U15 Girls’ Cricket team beat FrederickGents in the county indoor final. They areplaying in the regional tournament.U13 Boys’ Indoor Cricket currently throughto finals of County Cup

BadmintonNED Tournament: Year 7 Boys Second.Year 8 Boys First. Year 9 Boys Second.Year 7 Girls Fourth. Year 8 GirlsSecond. Year 9 Girls First.

Cross CountryNED Event: Year 7 Boys 1st Place.Year 7 Girls 1st Place. Junior Boys 1stPlace. Junior Girls 2nd Place. InterBoys 3rd Place Inter Girls 1st Place.Senior Boys 1st Place. Senior Girls 1stPlace. Many represented Derbyshire.

GymnasticsGymnastics Festival hosted by Tupton Hall,with 5 schools and 80 gymnasts.Year 7 won the team competition – starperformance from Sophie Holt. Year 8came second. Tupton also came 1st inpairs – Carly Parfitt & Emily Partridge.

Sports Hall AthleticsYear 7 won the Sports Hall Athleticscompetition held against NED schools.

SwimmingYear 10 and 11 Girls became Division 4Champions in Freestyle and reachedNational Finals for Freestyle and Medley.Team: Ruby Brunt, Millie Golding, AlexHartshorne, Laura White & Ainsley Cross.

TrampoliningNED Competition: In the Advance GroupTupton came 1st thanks to Emily Partridge.In the Level Group Tupton came 1st thanksto Gemma Page.

+++ National recognition for ourwork with the Science department. Weraised over £400 for British HeartFoundation in a year 7 charity skip. Alink with Loughborough University forstudents to check out career paths in sport.

Over the past 12 months the U14netball team has gone from strengthto strength. Following a series ofconvincing wins at the regionaltournament, beating teams fromLincoln, Nottinghamshire, Northants,and Leicestershire, they qualified forthe national finals in Bournemouth.After a lengthy trip to the southcoast and a paddle on the beach,the girls took on the best U14netball teams in the country. Thestandard of play was exceptionallyhigh and thoughts of winning thenational title disappeared. However,all was not lost as the girls werepresented with the ‘National Awardfor Endeavour’ in recognition oftheir sustained effort through thecompetition. A most deservingaccolade, for some outstandingindividual performances.

Gym & Dance display