Noor; a year 12 Latin student, won a gold medal at this year’s Classical Association Reading Competition. The competition, held on Tuesday 15th March brought together schools from around the country to share their readings of Latin and Ancient Greek stories, many of which were written by Greek and Roman authors more than 2000 years ago. Noor entered the Latin Open category and performed the tragic tale of Pentheus’ death,

which was written by the Roman poet Ovid. In this passage, King Pentheus, having dishonored the Roman god Bacchus, is given a cruel punishment; his entranced mother and aunts think he is a wild animal and tear him limb from limb. In the passage, King Pentheus desperately calls out to his mother and aunts for them to recognise their son and nephew; they tragically do not recognise him and his family instead wildly celebrate their kill. Noor performed the horrific 2000-year-old myth to an audience of other students and teachers. The candidates were judged on their Latin pronunciation and for their ability to bring this tragic and dramatic story to life. The judges, both eminent academics in their field, were impressed by Noor’s ability to characterise the shocking ecstasy of King Pentheus’ frenzied mother. Noor’s reading brought the ancient characters to life and her performance of Pentheus’ mothers’ valiant cheer, ‘io!’, conveyed how terrifying this story is and could scarcely have been matched by the poet himself. This was the first year we have attended

the competition, and we were the only comprehensive school to enter. The competition was fierce, but Noor rose to the challenge and did herself and the College proud. We are planning to return next year and hope that Rooks Heath students of all years will enter other rounds of the competition, including Ancient Greek! Congratulations Noor!!

Mr Macaulay.

On the 29th March to the 1st of April,

the Year 9, 10 and 11 Latin students

went on a trip to Sorrento, Italy. We

spent the whole day travelling and

around 11:30pm we finally reached

the hotel.

Day 2: We visited Pompeii! It was so

hot, we can prove this by the amount

of people who were sunburnt. We had the chance

to walk where the Romans walked and

experienced how the Romans lived. We also

enjoyed some authentic Italian food and tons of

ice-cream. The amphitheatre and theatre were

very interesting. One was for gladiator fights and

the other was for watching plays. Miss Nash tried

to get us to perform a comedy but we all refused

(in a kind manner, of course). After 7 long hours of

walking around Pompeii, we finally went back to

the hotel. We went to the Marina near our hotel

and the teachers kindly offered to buy us ice

cream.

Day 3: Mount Vesuvius day!! We climbed (well,

walked) up a VERY steep path of a volcano. Yes,

you heard me correctly. A volcano! The teachers

had a mini

competition on who

they thought would

reach the top first.

However, this was

difficult to identify

as the order kept

changing. On the

first and second

checkpoint Jack

was first, Jathavan

second and Oriana

was third. On the

final checkpoint

Oriana, Jathavan

and (surprisingly) Izzy made it to the top first.

Before leaving to go to Herculaneum, we got the

chance to eat at a restaurant at the bottom of the

volcano. Here the year groups got to bond. After

that we set off to Herculaneum (where the richer

people lived), here we saw the remains of

skeletons of those who had died due to the

eruption of Vesuvius. On that night, because it

was the last we were all hyper (even the

teachers). We again went to the Marina and had a

group photo by the sea before our last night’s

sleep in Italy.

Day 4: We went to Solfatara. Solfatara’s tectonic

activity make it feel and smell much more like a

volcano than Mt. Vesuvius (like rotten egg). We

saw fume and bubbling mud coming out of the

volcano. The Romans believed that this was the

entrance to the underworld. The tour guide threw

a huge rock on the ground, and the floor vibrated

– making it feel like we were on a thin layer.

Finally we headed back to the airport, got on the

plane and landed safely.

The whole trip was fantastic, entertaining and

informative. We would like to give thanks to Ms

Maida, Mr Macaulay, Miss Nash and Mr Simpson

for organising a brilliant trip. We would also like to

thank all our tour guides from Italy and our coach

driver Giacomo, who got us to all of the sites

promptly.

Fathiya (10R) & Oriana (10B)

On Wednesday 4th May we will be

welcoming our new Year 7 students to

Rooks Heath College for the first time at

our ‘Rising Year 7 Evening’. This event

provides students, parents and carers with

the opportunity to ask questions and start the process of settling in to Rooks Heath. We are sure that

students will soon feel at home in their new surroundings and will be ready to come back for their New

Intake Day on 30th June feeling confident and happy to be a part of Rooks Heath College. We are

looking forward to meeting everyone and to helping each and every child achieve their full potential in

the important years ahead.

At our Prospective Parents Evening in September 2015 some of our new Year 7 Students were asked

for their initial thoughts on starting at Rooks Heath College. We would like to share their thoughts with

you…..

‘If I was given one wish it’d be to go back in time to tell myself I

was being silly to worry and I would be fine the second I stepped

into Rooks Heath’. Devashree.

‘I was worried that I would get lost

and be late for lessons but luckily

some of the senior students that I

asked helped me out and guided me

in the right direction’. Maha.

‘Once I started college, I gradually

felt confident because all the senior

students and the staff were very

welcoming and helpful.

I believe that through Rooks Heath

College my goals and dreams will

come true’. Abdulwasey.

‘I am a proud student at Rooks Heath College, this school feels

like home. All of the students are kind, loyal and look out for you if

you are lost. I love this school’. Jacey.

On Thursday 5 November, Year 9

geography bridging students went on

a trip to the Natural History Museum.

The purpose of the trip was to

enhance our knowledge of the history

of the Earth. We all had an

enlightening and pleasurable time.

The day commenced with the large

group walking to South Harrow

underground station. After 12 stops

we arrived at South Kensington

Station and walked to the museum. It

was a magnificent beginning. There

was a long escalator leading into a

large circular entrance, complete with

red and black lights. Once we had

been told a few dos and don’ts by our

teachers we were allowed to investigate some exhibitions in the museum in small groups, whilst

trying to find answers to questions in a booklet we had been given. The booklet consisted of

questions based on information located around the museum. It was a challenging but informative

task. We then all gathered for lunch at a meeting point at 11:45.

We were all exhausted. However, after a revitalizing lunch we were allowed to explore the museum

some more. Some of us took

pleasure in viewing the dinosaurs.

However, many simply contented

themselves in the gift shop; buying

various souvenirs such as sweets,

minerals, stones, jewellery and toys.

After enjoying some free time we all

gathered back at the museum

entrance and boarded the train

which transported us back to South

Harrow, from where we were then

dismissed.

Overall, we all had an extremely

delightful time. Many of the

exhibitions were very informative

and were lots of fun (particularly the

real life earthquake simulator). Many thanks to all the staff who organised it. I would definitely

recommend this trip to geography-lovers in the future.

Sumayyah, 9 Yellow.

PHOTOS

The Celebration Evening was a success with 84 Year 11 students receiving awards!! These were

awarded for various reasons and subjects such as

Achievement and Effort in Drama, Achievement

and Effort in Economics and Achievement and

Effort in Personal Development. Trophies and

shields were also presented to students who had

really excelled!

Haider for Excellence in English

Elliot for Excellence in Mathematics

Vitalia for Excellence in Modern Foreign

Languages

Jack for Excellence in Music

The Ruth Woodhall Award presented to

Michaela

The Jamal Campbell Trophy for Excellence in

Sport presented to Mia

Sports Shield presented to Tiana

It was a proud evening which showcased the hard

work and effort Year 11 students have put in over

the last 5 years with us at Rooks Heath College.

Sport Relief Week was a

great example of the

whole college coming

together in support of a

worthwhile cause.

Everything kicked off on

Monday with a Staff

versus Year 9 Volleyball

competition in which the students put up a good

show but failed to overawe the might of the PE

department stalwarts, Mr Todd and Ms Williams.

Tuesday was a great success for Year 7 who

entertained us with their fairground activities,

while Wednesday saw Year 8 challenge and

engage many with their treasure hunt and goal

shooting fun. Everything culminated on Thursday

in a popular mufti-day and the well-attended

Sport Mile run. This was well placed to work off

all those cakes consumed in the lunchtime cake

sale. Friday ended the week on a high with Year

7’s performing their own and well-known

compositions at lunch time for an appreciative

audience. Overall, it was a great success, with

the College raising in excess of £1800 for charity.

This event could not have been completed

without the hard work of many individuals and

departments. It is because of this willingness and

ability to support one-another that we all have

such fun.

Ms Halligan.

Thank you everyone for their generosity and time making up the 23 Christmas Boxes and contributing £57.90 towards the distribution cost of all these boxes to children all over the world. A special thank you to tutor group 8O. Also all the 6

th form classes for their contributions of boxes and

money and Lauren, Head Girl for helping to put them all together. And a big thank you, also, to all those who have individually lovingly made up their own boxes and given money!!

In March twelve

intrepid year 12

geographers

travelled three

hours north

from the urban

sprawl of North

London to the

wild, unspoilt

Norfolk coast.

After refuelling

at Maccy D’s

their first task

was to visit

Burnham

Market, Clone

Town or Home

Town? It was

then time to get their first experience of a salt marsh. Creek

jumping and salt pan diving accomplished whilst wearing

wellies kindly loaned by Ms Lane and students were ready

for their 5* accommodation at Sheringham Youth Hostel.

After a quick dip in the hostel’s swimming pool and a five

course meal students were refreshed enough for their

favourite part of the day – evening lessons.

What followed was three really full days – being woken by

Mr Wright at 7am each day, lots of sun, wind, seal trips, the

Norfolk Broads, Cromer ‘the Gem of the North Norfolk

coast’, enjoyment and beaches during the day and ending

with some really interesting lessons from Mr Wright and Ms

Lane in the evening – apart from the last night when

students went to the Cromer Regal multiplex (4 screens!)

cinema to watch Deadpool (“violent but very funny” review

by Mr Wright. “Sickening and unwatchable” review by Ms

Lane).

All of the students enjoyed their opportunity to experience

the diversity North Norfolk has to offer allowing them to

make comparisons with the more familiar surroundings of

Harrow and London. Hopefully, they will be able to

remember the important stuff when they have to answer

questions on it in their summer exams. Mr Wright and Ms

Lane were impressed by the enthusiasm and good

behaviour of the students and had a good time being

entertained by them. Mr Wright.

Billy Elliot is a vastly popular theatre production,

though it will be sadly finishing soon, after running

in the West End for many years.

Students of music, and theatre were given the

opportunity to see it for the last time in London. The

long awaited trip was set on the 16th of March, and

slowly crept towards us. As a music student, I had

been to tonnes of productions before this one, but

a sense of excitement still tingled in my bones.

Every production is distinctly different from the rest.

Les Miserable being sung from beginning to end,

and The Lion King being performed by actors

dressed as animals. I wasn’t quite sure what to

expect.

The day arrived. At 5:55, lots of students appeared

from all different directions outside south Harrow

station, eventually leading to a full house. The

group then split into two travel groups; one lead by

Miss Christensen, and one lead by Mr Ring. We all

headed out to the platform, quickly filling an empty

carriage on our train, and setting us on our way.

The journey took an hour of chatting, checking and

sitting, but at 7:00, we arrived at the theatre. We

then had half an hour to find our seats and get

comfortable before the show began.

The staging looked fairly ordinary. I spent the next

few minutes searching it with my eyes to find

some sort of clue as to what the show would

include. A swinging chandelier like in the Phantom

of the Opera… grooves in the floor, signalling the

existence of a rotating stage… but nothing. I sat

there, curious, and hoping that I wouldn’t be

disappointed.

The show began, the scene was set. Political

struggles and local hardships streamed before my

eyes, showing us the troubles of a mining town,

fighting against the actions of the government.

Still I sat, waiting for something spectacular.

Through the show, we saw the development of a

young boy, 12 in age, on stage, and in real life.

He was a dancer, with magnificent skill. Dancing

across the stage, portraying his struggles against

society, fighting to succeed. From beginning to

the end of the show, I could not believe that such

a young boy could have such raw talent and

confidence. I peered from side to side and saw

the crowd were all sat with their jaws dropped, as

the curtain closed.

The journey back was filled with disbelief and

surprise. A liveliness spread over the group,

despite the late hour. Students sang praise of the

performance, and of the opportunity, on into the

night…

Prahlad, 11 Indigo.

In February 2016 Year 13 physics students were lucky enough

to have a tour of CERN.

At CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research,

physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure

of the universe. They use the world's largest and most complex

scientific instruments to study the basic constituents of matter –

the fundamental particles. The particles are made to collide

together at close to the speed of light. The process gives the

physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides

insights into the fundamental laws of nature.

Founded in 1954, the CERN laboratory sits astride the Franco-

Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe's first joint

ventures and now has 21 member states.

Ms Hare.

On Monday 29th February ten students from Year 10

visited Emmanuel College, Cambridge to take part in a

Challenge Day. We enjoyed a variety of activities

throughout the day. We learnt about going on to Higher

Education and about studying at Cambridge in

particular. We had a tour of the college and lunch in the

canteen. We joined with students from other schools

for a debating challenge. The motion was “You should

only be allowed to go to university in your home town”.

We were given two taster lectures, one was on the topic

of “Counting” and the other was called “The psychology

of happiness”.

This was a very informative introduction to studying at a

top university, which we all enjoyed.

Special thanks go to Mr Todd for driving the minibus!

Mrs Arnold.

Staff fundraising throughout the college has been very successful so far this year!

£197.60 was raised from a Marie Curie Rainbow Lunch in March 2016. And a

further £67.70 was raised by collection boxes for the Great Daffodil Appeal. Thank you

to all those involved!

Following on from World Book Day ,Year 7 and 8 Art students were asked to design a World Book Token for 2017. We had over 80 entries! After preliminary judging we submitted the following students for the National Book Token Competition; Nidhi, Adeysha, Piriyanka, Archisha, Leena, Jacey

and Keethiya (7 Yellow) Manju, Archana, Maha, Isobel, Mateusz and Dylan

(7 Green) Zainab, Rohan and Varsha (7 Violet) Talitha (7 Red) Devashree (7 Orange) Zyena, Denisa and Christina (8 Blue) Thiwisha, Ayman and Soumiya (8 Orange) Dewi (8 White) We are sure there is a winner or two amongst them.

Another competition entered by Year 7s was the ‘Our

World is Beautiful’ competition run by The Rotary

Club. The competition is designed to help young

people express their ideas through any artistic medium

rather than Photography.

As part of their Art and Design

Certificate course, Year 9 visited

the British Museum to look at

other cultures. Having spent time

in the African Galleries they

came back and made their own

African masks out of clay.

Ms Hargrave.

To the right are

some of their

entries.

Netball. The Year 11 team are Borough Champions having won both the League and Tournament. Their success is exceptional because they did not lose a single game in any of their matches. The team is in the photograph below; Dilacsha, Zoe, Mia, Adriana, Kayleigh, Naveen, Tiana, Sapphyre (absent). The other years were placed in either 2

nd or 3

rd place in both competitions. The Year 7 team

are through to the final. Volleyball. The boys entered two teams in the U14 competition and finished in first and third place. The U16 boys were second. Badminton. The girls took part in the Borough Badminton Tournament, and again they performed very well. Both U14 and U16 teams finished in second place. The boys were also runners up both in the U14 and U16 competitions. Basketball. We hosted the Borough Basketball Tournaments and entered one girls’ team in the Under 14 competition and two teams in the U16 competition. All teams played very well and as usual we were winners in both the U16 and U14 competitions. The other team in the U16 competition came second. In the boys’ competition, the Year 7 team won the borough tournament and the Year 9 team were second. Football. The year 8 football team are through to the final of the Borough Championships.

I am pleased to say that Rooks Heath will be full in

September 2016. 210 students are joining us in Year 7;

the maximum number available, and there is a waiting

list. We are currently rated in the top 100 schools nationally for progress between Key Stage 2 and

Key Stage 4, and we have received warmest congratulations from Nick Gibb; Minister for Schools.

Our Sixth Form data is deemed to be Outstanding for progress at A Level, and student attendance at

Rooks Heath is well above the National average. I would like to thank parents and carers, staff and

students for their continued hard work and support. I hope that this will be rewarded with some

excellent exam results, which I am looking forward to in the summer. The best advice I can give you

now is to be prepared, revise well and your efforts will be rewarded. John Reavley.

ZUMBA WITH TRISHA

www.zumbawithtrisha.co.uk

07919 276 539

Monday, 8-9pm -

Bushey & Oxhey Methodist Church, 77

Chalk Hill WD19 4D

Tuesday, 7-8pm -

Northwood Hills United Reformed

Church, Joel St, HA6 1NL

Thursday, 6.15-7.15pm

The Cavendish, Field End Road,

Eastcote HA4 9PG

£6 per class (No need to pre book).

Loyalty card in operation. (Please bring

an exercise/yoga mat for focused abs

track).

Kerbys’ Garage

24 Village Way East

Rayners Lane

Harrow

HA2 7LU

Tel: 020 8866 2379

Small family run garage. High quality

customer and repair service.

AC Tiling Kitchens and Bathrooms Kitchen / Bathroom Design & Installation Home Adaptations and Modifications Shop and Office Fit-outs Plumbing Electrics Custom Made Joinery Tel: 07985 644 207 Email: ACTiling@hotmail.co.uk

We are looking at opening a new Scout Group at

Rooks Heath College! From star gazing to sailing, building dens to cooking, and even undertaking your Duke of Edinburgh Awards - the Scout Group will initially cater for young people aged 10½ - 14 years old but we hope that it will quickly grow to include Explorer Scouts , aged 14 – 18 years, Cubs, aged 8 – 10½ years old, and eventually Beavers, 6 – 8 years old. Scouting helps 6-25 year olds grow in confidence, achieve their full potential and become active members of their communities.

The local Scouting District Commissioner, a member of

the Regional Development Service and local Scouting colleagues were in attendance at the recent Year 7 and 8 open evenings to provide information about this venture and there was a lot of interest with over twenty young people signing up to express an interest in joining this potential new Scout Group. Our next step will be to hold an open evening specifically for young people and their parents to come along to find out more and ask any questions that they might have – watch this space for the proposed date of this meeting. In the meantime, if you would like any more information or have any questions please contact Keith Savage on keith.savage@scouts.org.uk / 07960160110

Rooks Heath College Contact Details

Admin - Telephone: 020 8422 4675

E-mail: contactus@rooksheath.harrow.sch.uk

Student Absences - If your child is unable to attend school please contact us as early as

possible.

Telephone: 020 8872 8900

E-mail: attendance@rooksheath.harrow.sch.uk

MyChildAtSchool Parental Portal - www.mychildatschool.com

MyChildAtSchool is an online portal for parents that enables you to view your child’s performance

at school via the web. The facility allows you to view your child’s attendance, grades, behaviour,

timetable, homework and more. If you require login details please e-mail Carol Davis at

davis@rooksheath.harrow.sch.uk

ParentPay - www.parentpay.com

Rooks Heath College operates a cashless catering service, so cash is not accepted at till points.

You are able to pay for meals using the ParentPay online facility. If you require a ParentPay login

and details of how to activate your account, please e-mail Maria Kennard at

KENNARD@rooksheath.harrow.sch.uk

Important Information

Monday 30th May - Friday 3rd June: Half Term

Thursday 9th June: Professional Day, College closed to all students

Friday 10th June: Professional Day, College closed to all students

We ask Parents/Carers to take extra care when driving outside the college gates and ask you to

refrain from dropping students off on the crossing and along the zig zag lines as this is

compromising student safety. Thank you for keeping all Rooks Heath students safe.

Working at Rooks Heath College

We often receive enquiries about vacancies at Rooks Heath. As well as local and national websites, we always advertise on the Rooks Heath website. Keep an eye out for job vacancies

on the College Information tab.