Bablake Diary

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LIONTH

E NEWS & VIEWS FROMBABLAKE SCHOOL

ISSUE 40SUMMER 2006

Wednesday 6 SeptemberStart of new academic year (Autumn Term)

Friday 15 SeptemberSpeech Night/Prizegiving Ceremony(Methodist Central Hall)

Saturday 30 SeptemberInterview morning for U6 studentsorganised by the Careers Department

Monday 16 – Friday 27 OctoberHalf Term (two weeks)

Friday 10 – Saturday 11 NovemberOpen sessions

Saturday 2 DecemberParents’ Association Christmas Fayre

Friday 15 DecemberEnd of Term

Wednesday 3 JanuaryEntrance examination for 2007 Entry

Thursday 4 JanuarySpring Term begins

Friday 6 May Parents’ Association May Ball

Omedetoo goziamasu!(Congratulations)

Huge “Congratulations” are in order for nineteen Bablake pupils who havepassed the first stage of the level one proficiency examination in Japanese.

The pupils are now able to read and write the Japanese Hiragana script andcommunicate some key information. The Examination was a challenge forthem all and they deserve much praise for facing the challenge with suchcommitment and enthusiasm.

The pupils, ranging from 3rd to 6th Formers, have been studying Japaneseonce a week for a Term with Ms Thompson, who herself spent two years inJapan teaching English.

Languages Club trip to Japanese EmbassyOn Thursday 11 May a group of 29 studentsalong with Ms Thompson, Mrs Foster and DrNuttall travelled to the Japanese Embassy in London to take part in Club Taishikan.

Club Taishikan is a workshop organised bythe Embassy's Japan Information and CulturalCentre and is aimed at introducing variousaspects of Japan to young people. The visitinvolved workshops on Calligraphy, Origami andtrying on kimonos. There was also a slide showon life in Japan.

Pupils from Shells to fourth year took part as theyhave been learning Japanese with Ms Thompsonsince the beginning of the term. Everybodythoroughly enjoyed the day.

Further details about ClubTaishikan can be found atwww.uk.emb-japan.go.jp

Bablakeevents

Bablake School2

On Saturday 8 April Dame Kelly Holmes held atraining day as a result of a competition that washeld on her website. Nine young athletes werechosen from across the country to join her atBattersea Athletics Track. One of those was ourvery own Madison Woodward.

“We all sat nervously waiting for Dame KellyHolmes to arrive. Suddenly I looked around andsaw her behind me. She came without any fussand I was very surprised at her height – 5 feet 3 inches.

A GOLDEN DAYOTHER EVENTS

The day began with warm up exercises andstretches which started from our necks and endedat our ankles. After this we went on to drills andmobility exercises which included loosening ourhips, side steps and cross overs. Then it was timeto run!

After the running we had lunch. It was quitestrange to be sitting with Dame Kelly Holmes andeating tuna sandwiches. A quiz followed lunchwhich gave us time to digest our food.

An afternoon of games and further exerciseensued.

At the end of the day I took photographs ofmyself and Dame Kelly Holmes, she signed thefreebies we had been given and it was time to say goodbye.

It wasn’t until I had time to relax on the coachjourney home that the realisation came: I hadactually trained with Double Olympic GoldMedallist Dame Kelly Holmes.”

Bablake’s MadisonWoodward trains for a daywith Olympic legend Dame Kelly Holmes

TOMORROW TODAYOur biennial Careers Convention brought almost100 delegates to the school. Over 400 studentsand parents were able to discover the latestinformation about a wide range of professions.

It was excellent to be able to see so many formerstudents and local companies attend. The messagefrom all involved was that, to stay ahead and standout, students need academic grades of a high qualitybut also the soft skills employers require.

To those looking at Options choices, the advicewas to choose subjects that would be enjoyed andwere areas of strength academically while obviouslychecking any career or university implications.

DEBATING AND PUBLIC SPEAKINGIt has been a good term for Bablake’s public speakingand debating teams with success in a number ofprestigious local and national competitions.

The debaters have led the way with the seniorduo of Marco Orsini-Jones and Someit Sidhucoming within one place of qualifying for thenational final of the English Speaking Unioncompetition. The ESU, as it is known, involvesschools from across the country, and the boyswere able to defeat many respected Midlandsschools to qualify for the regional final. In thatround they were unlucky in so far as the team theywere due to debate against could not attend.Instead a last minute stand-in was organised andit was difficult for Marco and Somie to show theirbest debating techniques.

Remarkably, both the junior and senior publicspeaking teams reached exactly the same stagesof their main competition, the Rotary ClubYouthspeaks Contest (Bablake was the only schoolto achieve this distinction). The junior trio ofChristopher Lamb, Alannah Norton and Pam Uppalspoke eloquently on the subject of ‘ComputerGames: an opportunity for integration or isolation’.Their senior counterparts – Marco and Somie -were joined by main speaker Mark McKelvie, andaddressed the subject of animal testing in theirpresentation entitled ‘Our Four-Legged Friends?’Having become champions of Coventry in Februaryand of the Birmingham District in early March,both teams made the long trek to Ross-on-Wye forthe national semi-finals on Saturday 18th March.After a hard day’s competition, both teams wererewarded with second place in their respective agegroups, thus missing national final appearances bythe tiniest of margins.

Therefore, we look forward with eageranticipation to next year’s various competitions:both teams have time on their side and there isstrength in depth with many other debaters andpublic speakers competing for places to representBablake. The future is bright.

The Lion | Summer 2006 3

Brains on show at BA Science Fair

PAPERCLIPPHYSICSOn the 8 February a team of four L6th formerscompeted at the local heat of the Institute ofPhysics' "Paperclip Physics" competition, held inthe Department of Physics & Astronomy atLeicester University.

David Buckeridge, Rebecca Lane, MarkMcKelvie and Richard Thomas presented to a panelof three judges “The Physics of Fluorescence”,demonstrating the concepts behind why someobjects can glow in the dark, using householdmaterials only. Their presentation impressed thejudges (consisting of a Physics Lecturer, a Physicsteacher and a non-physicist) which led them towin their round and progress to the regional GrandFinal at the National Space Centre on 9th March.They competed well against 5 other schoolsmatching the same distance that previous Bablaketeams managed to get to.

Two Bablake pupils were delighted to be successfulin applications to attend the British AssociationScience Fair at the Royal Society’s headquarters inLondon on 27 February 2006. They had enjoyedparticularly fruitful research projects. Last yearover 23,000 students participated in the CRESTAward Scheme and the best 70 projects wereinvited to attend the Science Fair.

James Stefaniak of the Fifth Year was one ofthe top eleven Silver awardees. He hadinvestigated natural acid-alkali indicators inChemistry Club and produced an outstandingproject based on indicators extracted from sourcesas diverse as blueberries and begonias. Theassessors were friendly, but asked some verytaxing questions on the theory of colour chemistrythat many graduate chemists would struggle toanswer.

Ramandeep Lidder of the Upper Sixth hadresearched the role of a hormone in obesity. Shewas privileged to be allowed to work with Prof.Spanswick of the Biological Sciences Departmentat the University of Warwick. Her work includedsome complex experiments on neurons from rat

brain slices. This is animportant area ofresearch that willhelp to improve ourunderstanding of amedical conditionthat is becomingmore and moreprevalent.

Our hosts,the BA, weremost welcomingand we enjoyed the grandsurroundings of the Royal Societywhere we could see some importantartefacts from the history of science (e.g.Isaac Newton’s telescope, CaptainCooke’s accurate clock taken aroundthe world for astronomicalmeasurements and ChristopherWren’s pair of dividers). Among theguests circulating the displays it wasparticularly interesting to meet SirRobert Winston and Johnny Ball.

Bablake students’ success in CREST Award Scheme

Bablakearts

Bablake School4

There were debuts for the Flute Choir conducted bythe Flute teacher, Jane Kimberley, who played theconclusion of Rossini’s William Tell and theBarbershop Quartet whose presentation wassuperb but still have a little way to go to perfectthe art. The trio playing the slow movement from

Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg (all 5th years) showedgreat feeling for the music.

The band that were hidden away in a ‘cave’ toaccompany the production of The Pirates ofPenzance were exposed to the light playing theoverture, and the Swing Band showed increasing

IN TUNE AT EASTER

BABLAKE FASHION ICONS STRUT THEIR STUFF

expertise in their two numbers. It was a pleasureto hear, the Senior Orchestra were in great formplaying the Scherzo from Dvorak’s 8th Symphonywith the magnificent soaring string parts and windmelodies, and also Fawkes the Phoenix from themusic for Harry Potter by John Williams.

There were excellent instrumental solos fromMatthew Weeden, Gurdeep Uppal and JennyMaudsley, and vocal solos from Sarah Hutchisonand Tara Katti and Claire Laverick. Apart fromMatthew and Claire whom we usually see asflautists, these were all debut Senior Concertperformances and show the wealth of talent thatis coming up through the school.

The Chamber Choir were also in good voicesinging Rutter’s The Peace of God which they alsosang at Holy Trinity for the commemoration of theCity’s Bonds Hospital which is attached to OldBablake. The serene music of Gershwin’sSummertime completed their programme. Thechorale showed spirit in Rutter’s For the Beauty ofthe Earth and Seiber’s 3 Hungarian Folk songs withincreasing assured accompaniments from MichelleJie and James Ross respectively.

Finally there was a bit of fun with two boy/girldialogues, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off andSummer Nights from Grease and Bablake’s ownversion of Swing Low.

Many of them modelled their owngarments while others found friendsto model for them. There were ballgowns designed for a local theatreon a budget, funky dresses andjackets designed for a magazinephoto shoot on clothes from the1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s, a bodicebased on a Japanese theme, aneducational toy for a nursery andseveral pieces of soft furnishings fora modern café.

The fashion show was a newventure and the pupils did a superjob of putting together the musicand showing off their textilesproducts. The standard of work is

very high again this year and manyof the items are made to a highlyprofessional standard.

The audience was veryappreciative and the event raisedfunds for Macmillan nurses and thesenior girls’ South African tour thissummer (several of the girls will betravelling there to represent theschool).

It is hoped that the show mightbe inspirational to some of theyounger pupils. Anyone who missedthe show will have an opportunity toview the textiles items on display inthe Autumn Term.

On Friday 12 May the GCSE Textiles pupils put on a display of the products andgarments that they had made for their major coursework

This term’s concert had perhaps a bigger proportion ofensembles than for a few years

The Lion | Summer 2006 5

The cast was outstanding: there wasremarkable singing from Abbi Bird,Sarah Barnard, Melissa Parvis, DevanPankhania, Zain Ali and AndrewMonaghan. Melissa and Andrewcoped remarkably well with somenotoriously difficult numbers. Suchwas their remarkableprofessionalism it was hard tobelieve that they were only in thefourth year. Abbi and Sarah sang

X FACTOR

A tremendous standard ofmusic this year from all yeargroups finished with three5th Year bands battling outthe final. Crowd-pleasingperformers P-Unit failed toimpress the judges presentand Jessica Blake's emotivemix of piano and vocals sawoff the challenge of anthemicDominic Watson. Jess willnow play a set at November'scharity concert.

THEATRE VISIT

In the last week of the SpringTerm, the Onatti TheatreCompany visited school withtheir hugely enjoyableperformance of La Chambrede Jean-Paul. This productionwas designed to be bothfunny and educational,offering pupils at all stagesof GCSE and A level Frenchthe opportunity to developtheir listening skills andrevise vocabulary needed fortheir forthcomingexaminations in a lively wayand it was much appreciatedby pupils.

ARTNEWS PIRATES

beautifully together and acted withremarkable assurance. Zain proved adashing Johnny Depp like pirate king– a remarkable performance and noless remarkable was the frowningcharacter that Devan brought to hisrole as the sergeant.

These principals were supportedby a remarkable chorus – someremarkably glamorous pirates – afew remarkably rough looking pirates

This was undoubtedly the finest and mostsuccessful production of ‘Pirates’ everstaged at Bablake

– some police men of remarkablesize – both Kantoresque andByardesque figures who wereremarkably funny – some remarkablycharming, pretty, slightly affected attimes and occasionally boldmaidens.

There was remarkably strongsinging and remarkably vigorousdancing. The production featured ashopping trolley and mobilityscooter and was played on anotherremarkably fine set from Mr West.Mr West had created a rocky cove forAct One and another remarkablysimilar cove for Act Two.

Hidden within the rocky covewas a remarkably accomplished banddirected by the ever remarkableBernard Sutton. It was alsoremarkable by Bablake standardsthat the show sold out each nightwhich may have something to dowith the remarkably large cast or theremarkable box office marketingskills of Mr Mellers and Mrs Billingsor the fact that Gilbert and Sullivanremains remarkably popular.

What was totally remarkable wasthat audiences hugely enjoyed eachperformance and were mostenthusiastic.

You may be interested to knowthat the whole cast was not on stagetogether until the second night –remarkable!

Pin Up Portrait – Zain Ali's band –won the people's vote in the 2006Battle of the Bands while ‘Made inChina’ took top prize from judgesStew Kingscott (BBC Cov and Warks)and former students, Arthur Keegan,Steph Webb and Ash Hawkins. Pick'n' Styx kindly donated four hours’practice time to the judges'favourites as well as three hours to

Pin Up Portrait and two to theTrolleys (a third band who pluckilykicked off the evening with a rousingset of punk covers).

A fine, loud evening of musicand linking banter from MC SomeitSidhu concluded with a popular setfrom last year's winners, Superheroesin Training.

BATTLE OF THE BANDS

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Bablake School6

Bablaketravel

A CLASSICDAY OUT

The Sixth Form Classical Civilisation setaccompanied by Miss James travelled instyle via Allen’s Taxis mini-bus to London,looking forward to a day studying the realartefacts from the course on Greek art andarchitecture, already seen in so manypictures. Armed with their booklets, thepupils gazed at each case, making noteson each piece, and followed the artisticand technical developments of the ages.We admired the Elgin marbles, particularlyimpressed that the backs of the figuresare beautifully carved, despite the factthey were designed never to be seen; sawcountless examples of both black and redfigure pottery; and found out abouteveryday life of women and how the menchose to unwind at a symposium.

We all admired the skill and artisticbrilliance of the ancient Greeks, especiallyconsidering their basic tools and thespeed at which the monuments wereerected, or, in the case of vase painting,considering that so much of the potterywas for use rather than merely to beadmired. We are certainly lucky to be ableto see it first hand in the British Museum,even though this is a rather controversialdebate. Following a quick and temptingstop at the bookshops, we headed back toreturn to Coventry by 6pm, worn out, butwith renewed enthusiasm.

Once we’d checked in andunpacked, we set off on ashort walk to see the EmpireState Building.

Friday kicked off early at5.30am for the majority of thegroup, who went to see thefilming of Good MorningAmerica at the ABC studios inTimes Square. Later in theFinancial District, we weregiven a walking tour past the Stock Exchange,Ground Zero and many other places of interest.After a quick lunch we then made our way over tothe Staten Island ferry, then to the UNheadquarters. That night we went to a baseballmatch – New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles.

Saturday started with a lie-in and then to

Macy’s department store. Inthe afternoon we took a tripto MoMA – the Museum ofModern Art. The collection onshow was vast, includingPicasso, Dali, Hockney andVan Gogh, but was mainly loston this particular Economicsstudent.

Day 4, Sunday was ourlast day in New York, where

we were given free time to shop and stock up onNY souvenirs! In the afternoon we took a coach outof the city to JFK Airport and began the long triphome. All in all a fantastic trip which gave most ofus our first taste of New York and a great excuse tospend lots of money; but a tremendous experiencewhich we’ll remember for a long time.

At 3am on Thursday 20 April, 29 of Bablake’s Economics andBusiness Studies students, Mr and Mrs Faulkner, Mr and Mrs

Fletcher and Mrs Goodwin gathered to set off on a mostexcellent adventure to New York

The Lion | Summer 2006 7

Another ski trip, another country. This year, the SkiClub travelled to the Canadian Rockies, to thestunning Jasper National Park. The Canadians werevery welcoming, and no more so than in the Basinitself. The President and Chief Executive of theBasin made sure he spent some time with us, towelcome us and hear our views on the ski area.

Five hours’ tutored skiing or boarding a dayhad two noticeable results. Firstly, huge progresswas made in skiing and boarding ability during thecourse of the week. Secondly, the students werephysically exhausted and were ready for their bedsat a respectable time each night. However, just incase there had not been enough activity duringthe day, swimming and skating sessions werearranged in the evenings.

Canada had just experienced the warmestwinter on record! Hence, the snow conditionscould have been better. However, despite this, theinjury list was the lowest ever. Unfortunately, MissJames was the main exception. She became thefirst Ski Club member of staff to sustain a seriousinjury. We hope that by the time you read this, shewill be mobile again after her knee ligament strain.

This was Mr Jackson’s last trip as Ski Cluborganiser. The current and past Ski Club staffwould like to thank him (and Mrs Jackson) for thetime, effort and attention to detail he has given tothis and past trips. The students have alwaysexperienced the utmost care, while at the sametime having great fun.

‘Take a deep breath...

Jasper2006

...and prepare yourself for a grand adventure in a placewhere snow comes from Heaven, not from Earth’

Bablake School8

Bablaketravel

On Saturday 18 March 2D, together with fourmembers of staff and the French assistant, set offfor France.

The crossing, considered by some to be quitereasonable, proved a little too bumpy for others!Our first visit in France was to a small café ownedby a lady called Arlette Gondrée. After our firsttaste of some scrumptious French food, sherecounted some of the harrowing details of howshe and her family survived the Germanoccupation during the war. We heard about herexperience of the moment when the Pegasusbridge was liberated. From there we went to the360 degree cinema at Arromanches, a very movingexperience for all.

This was just the start of a very full week, withall sorts of exciting events. These are recounted bymembers of the form in some of the followingmemories…

“My favourite part of the trip was ‘OperationIce Tea Heist’ i.e. hiding Josh’s iced tea to stop himgoing hyper. First we had to subdue the beast(cover him in a quilt), then divide up the iced teastash and hide it. I got stuck with the ‘Liptonic’.This was the tastiest, most addictive iced tea withthe highest millilitre to hyper-activity ratio. Inother words, Josh’s favourite.”

“We explored the shops in St. Malo then re-grouped at the Sanchez ice cream shop. I had onescoop but lots of people had a ‘Super Sanchez’(three huge scoops of ice cream, loads of whippedcream and a chocolate flake). One person, whoshall remain nameless, managed two – and hewasn’t ill! This was the coldest day of the week sowe must have looked pretty silly.”

FOUSSEAUFOR FUN(AND FOOD)

‘We explored the shops in St Malo and then regrouped atthe Sanchez ice cream shop’

F is for all the fun we had

O is for all the odd things that happened

U is for all the umbrellas when it rained

S is for silly Emily S dressing up as a Goth

S is for silly Jazz when she dressed as a Barbie

E is for Emily A singing in the shower

A is for the awful ferry journey across

U is for the unfair part of coming home!

The Lion | Summer 2006 9

Charitynews

CHARACTER BUILDING IN SNOWDONIA

IN THE SPRING TERM WE ASKED OURPUPILS TO NOMINATE CHARITIES THATTHEY WERE INTERESTED IN AND WOULDLIKE THE SCHOOL TO SUPPORT.DONATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE TO ‘SEEDSFOR AFRICA’, ‘SEND A COW’, ‘BOOK AID’,‘JUBILEE ACTION’ AND OTHER CHARITIESWORKING IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD.

IN THIS COUNTRY WE HAVE SUPPORTEDCANCER CHARITIES, CYSTIC FIBROSIS, THEACORN HOSPICE AND AMNESTYINTERNATIONAL.

CONGRATULATIONS GO TO BENMCFADDEN OUR AV TECHNICIAN WHORAN THE LONDON MARATHON RAISINGOVER £1,500 FOR CANCER RESEARCH.

IN FEBRUARY MRS GOODWIN VISITEDPROJECT INDEPENDENCE IN RWANDA – ASCHEME TO HELP WOMEN SURVIVORS OFWAR TO MOVE FROM CRISIS ANDPOVERTY TO OPPORTUNITY AND SELFSUFFICIENCY. SHE IS RETURNING IN MAYTO DO SOME TEACHING AT THE CENTREAND HAS A POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONOF HER VISIT THAT SHE IS WILLING TOGIVE TO INTERESTED GROUPS.

£15,000RAISED SO FAR THIS YEAR

On Monday 20 March 2006, 19 members of thelower 6th departed on a pilgrimage to the ‘holyland’ for Geographers everywhere – Snowdonia,accompanied by Mr. Enstone & Mrs. Marchant. Ourhome for the week was to be the Field StudyCentre at Betws y Coed in the heart of thisbeautiful glaciated landscape.

The week involved a variety of practical fielddays – studying fluvial landforms and downstreamchanges on the River Conwy, coastal sand dunesystems and ecology at Morfa Harlech and coastalgeomorphology and management issues at theresort of Criccieth on the North Wales peninsula.The aim of the fieldcourse was to provide studentswith an opportunity to study at first hand some ofthe features that they had been taught about inthe classroom and also to prepare them for theforthcoming AS and A2 skills examinations. Oh –and to have fun and find out what real Geographyis all about!

The only minor incident involved a couple ofhours spent sheltering from the cold in a sheep

pen at the top of Migneint Moor owing to the factthat the coach driver had a momentary lapse ofreason when attempting to turn his 14 tonnevehicle around, and promptly disappeared fromsight leaving us to fend for ourselves (see photo).Still – it was all extremely good for buildingcharacter, especially those who were sweating itout in the bothy bag !!

All the pupils thoroughly enjoyed the weekand above all found it extremely useful for theircourse. On their behalf I would like to thankeveryone at the Field Study Centre (especially ourtutor Ed) for all their hard work. I would also like tothank the students for maintaining such a positiveand cheerful attitude both in the field and in theclassroom and for putting in so much hard work.They were a credit to the school, and we genuinelyenjoyed their company.

Lower 6th GeographyFieldcourse, North WalesMarch 2006 report by Mr Enstone

Bablakenews

Bablake School10

YOUNG ENTERPRISE AT ITS BEST!

ENGINEERING SUCCESS!

S-Cubed’s primary achievement has been to be thefirst company from Bablake ever to win theCoventry finals. To win this, we produced an awardwinning report, gave a 1st place presentation andwere voted overall best company, which was out ofa total of 27 companies including S-Cubed’s in-school rivals, Neutrino. Due to complicationswithin the Young Enterprise organisation, S-Cubed

It has been yet anothersuccessful term for Bablake’s young enterprise companyS-Cubed

For more information, or to place your order, visitthe company website at: www.s-cubedonline.com

was forced to do 3 presentations in only ten days.The majority of the people who were at theCoventry and Warwickshire Strategic Board finalsfelt that S-cubed had received a lot less credit thanwas deserved. We were narrowly pipped to the postby Legacy from Myton School, whose ManagingDirector was Mr. Sam Cuthbertson himself.

S-Cubed’s main idea was to create a new andinnovative take on Table Tennis. The unique idea of‘PACEBALL’ took a normal table tennis bat and tookaway the handle to improve control and pace onthe shot. The bat is attached to the hand by apiece of elastic on the back of the bat into whichthe hand slides. The product has won S-cubed bestproduct at both of our local trade fairs and got S-cubed commended at the national trade fair.

Congratulations go to this year’s EngineeringEducation Scheme (EES) team on a welldocumented and presented project.

Matthew Francis, Matthew Galloway, LeeHarrison and Nathan Ward went to the celebrationday at the NEC on 3 May 2006 and although EES isnon-competitive they were the best in their group.

Over the past 9 months they have beenworking on a project with ARUP to design a newbuilding for their employees at Campus (theircurrent home) in Solihull. The team have beenresearching and solving problems through visits,residential workshops (to create a model of their

Engineering Education Scheme 2005/2006

design) and weekly meetings with their EngineerChris Furneaux.

In this time they have learnt the value ofcreating and meeting deadlines, communicatingwith a number of different people to get an endresult and being prepared to go that extra mile -generally all the skills they will need for theirfuture careers.

Thanks must go to our sponsor company ARUPand their link engineer Chris Furneaux for the timeand expertise they have given us. We look forwardto working with them again next year.

The Lion | Summer 2006 11

2+2=4TH

Bablake’s very own stock market whiz kidstook on the best teams from the UnitedKingdom in this year’s ifs Prosharecompetition.

The team, known as ‘Cherman’consisting of Someit Sidhu, AmarpalJandoo, Lee Harrison and Richard Smithtravelled to London for the national finalof the competition in April. They hadalready qualified through the gruellingregional rounds of the competition, whichstarted in October 2005. This involvedfloating £100,000 of virtual money on thestock market. Cherman managed a 38%return on this in the matter of a fewmonths, something the top Londoninvestors would be proud of.

The national final was held in theDeutsche Bank headquarters in London’sfinancial sector. Cherman were only one ofthe 8 teams which qualified from aroundthe U.K. This is a great achievement in acompetition which started with 34 000pupils from 7500 teams in 900 schools.

Unfortunately Cherman were notplaced as winners of the competition andnarrowly missed out on the winning prizeof a trip to New York. This competition hashowever given the Boys from Bablakegreat confidence and many newexperiences, including a recent radiointerview about the competition on BBCCoventry and Warwickshire.

There is no doubt about it, they willbe back next year, they will be back with a bang.

TEAM MATHS CHALLENGE 2006

On Friday 17th March we took part in the teamMaths Challenge at Rugby High School. Twentytwo teams entered the Challenge which beganwith a rather easy practice round.

We did amazingly well in the crossword round,which was a surprise, as we had no experience inthis challenge.

After lunch was the head to head challenge.Overall this was our strongest round. Followingthis was the relay race challenge which was all

The Junior Quiz team have been busy competing against some very stiff competition. On 27 Aprilthe team played at King’s Worcester. They won their first two matches against Wrekin and KingEdward’s Handsworth, but then played the eventual winners of the quiz King Edward’sBirmingham in the semi-final and were knocked out.

The team enjoyed the event and played well. They are to be congratulated on their knowledgeand coolness under pressure.

based around speed and accuracy. We didn’t dovery well at all and found this challengeoverwhelming with all the running around going on.

Once the final challenge had been completedour scores were calculated and the resultsannounced. The results were given in reverse orderand Rugby High school was announced as fifth.There was then a pause and the announcement –Bablake School, fourth – We were really stunned atthe announcement, it was really amazing that wedid so well.

‘STOCK-BLAKERS’ TAKEON STOCKMARKET

JUNIOR QUIZ REPORT

Bablakeaction

Bablake School12

As the Easter holidays were coming to an end and mostpupils were enjoying their last few days of freedom, 20Bablake cadets were back at school, preparing to take partin the annual ‘Exercise Cadet Stretch’

‘EXERCISE CADET STRETCH’

CCF EASTERCAMP

The competition began on the Saturday morningand after an early breakfast, cadets drew theirweapons from the armoury and began a 10 milepatrol around the training area. As they patrolled,they came across a series of stands which they hadto deal with before moving on to the next. Theseincluded, among others, vehicle recovery, medicalevacuation, a minefield incident, winthropping(delivery and deployment of supplies) andweapons amnesty. The instructors on the Militiaroadblock stand were particularly impressed withthe leadership and teamwork shown by our girls.They were the only team who managed to clear theroadblock, not through force or persuasion likeother teams, but by dancing! The instructors wereso flabbergasted by this response, that theycleared the block and let them move on!

Once the day’s patrol had finished, all cadetsfaced the final stand, which was the stretcher race.They had to carry a stretcher, laden with two largejerry cans filled with water, back to the camp. Theboy’s team, under the command of Sgt Grewal,crossed the finish line first for a glorious victory.

The daunting first task of Sunday morning wasto complete the assault course. After a thoroughwarm up and demonstration by the physicaltraining instructors, it was down to the teams tocomplete the obstacles in the fastest possibletime, without incurring any penalties. The boyswere pipped at the post by the narrowest ofmargins, being runners up by only 2 seconds!

After a quick break for drinks, the next projectwas to build a bridge out of pallets, planks andrope in one hour. The team building the longest

bridge, which was strong enough to hold theCommander, would be acclaimed the ‘ExerciseCadet Stretch’ winners. Sgt Sheard ensured thateach member of her team had a job to do andsoon their bridge began to take shape. LanceCorporal Woodward and Corporal Gardner were incharge of lashing the planks together and theCommandant was most impressedwith the little bowswhich tidily finished offeach knot!

With the hour up,the Commandant tookposition and steppedsheepishly onto each bridgein turn. Some of thebridges collapsed almostimmediately, whilst otherslooked sturdy enough tohold the whole team.Although the Bablakebridges were marginallyshorter in length thanothers, the Commandantwas able to walk across bothbridges with ease andconfidence.

The whole exercise over, wewere delighted with our one win andour 5th and 6th placings for our boysand girls teams respectively in thebridge building; overall excellentresults considering the quality andnumber of opposition teams!

This year’s Easter Camp was held at SwynnertonTraining Camp in Staffordshire.

Swynnerton training area is very convenientlylocated next to the camp, so whilst staff left in aminibus to set up the stands, our cadets, ably ledby Sgt. Hughes, set off with a map to navigatetheir way to the grid reference provided. Therefollowed four sessions: canoeing on the lake, runby Mr Tyas who had kindly left his family holidayin the Lake District and driven down for theafternoon; an observation post, in which cadetsstealthily moved into position and looked forevidence of enemy activity in undergrowth acrossa river; section battle drills; setting up andexecuting an ambush – the latter two involvingthe use of blank ammunition.

At around 1900 hrs the evening activitiesbegan. Each of three sections, led by Sgt Hughes,Cpl Briggs and Cpl Sheard respectively, receivedorders to set up an ambush at particular times andat a particular grid reference. They were toapprehend, or eliminate, terrorists who wereknown to be meeting that evening.

Sure enough, as each ambush party arrived,voices with strange foreign accents, and evenstranger topics of conversation, were to be heardemanating from a shed that was illuminated bylights from a nearby minibus. The ambush was laid

and shortly afterwardsfigures emerged from the shed

and were challenged. As expected,the ‘terrorists’ tried to make good their

escape, throwing smoke grenades and firingwildly. The dark figures were despatched in ahail of fire, amidst a confusion of green smoke,eerily lit by the headlights. Finally, all was still.The cadets then silently retreated and madetheir way back to camp, returned weapons tothe armoury and then to bed.

The next day saw us all up early forbreakfast and then a two hour drive by

minibus to Kingsbury Ranges, nearTamworth.

Slightly earlier than intended, dueto the deteriorating weather, wepacked up and returned to base where

hot showers and another excellentmeal, with seconds, was followed byhome made entertainment in the

NAAFI.Following a hearty breakfast

the next morning, the minibuses,loaded with equipment, set off

early to return to School.

The Lion | Summer 2006 13

D of E SILVER PRACTICE

to come next, I’m sure they both would havedeclined the invitation to spend their Easterholidays with us. For the next three days theirevenings were to be filled with ‘interesting’conversations with the warden, on topics such asthe Welsh language, reading maps without a torchand how to make dandelion wine!

On the Tuesday, the 6 groups embarked on a 12mile hike up and around the Long Mynd. Theweather was lovely and pupils enjoyed thechallenge. The staff were particularly impressed bythe groups’ navigational skills, as every groupmanaged to return back to the campsite withouteven a hint of getting lost. During the evening,some pupils still had enough energy to playRounders and Football. Some enjoyed the rest,whilst others nursed aching feet and blisters.

It all seemed too good to be true – goodnavigation and glorious weather – was this really aD of E expedition? Then the rain came and didn’tstop. The staff arrived at the campsite early on the

Over the next three days, they were going tocomplete a series of day walks covering a distanceof 30 miles and carrying all their kit.

Due to the narrow, twisty lanes in Wentnor,Shropshire, the bus had to stop short of thecampsite, therefore the first task of the expeditionwas to walk a mere mile to the campsite. Somestruggled up the hill that Miss Hall had accidentallyforgotten to tell them about, others got very lost,despite attending weekly navigation lessons backat school! Once all groups had eventually arrived atthe campsite, they settled into their luxuryaccommodation and began to cook their eveningmeal. As they tucked into their meals, which evenJamie Oliver would have been proud of, the staffwent to check out their lodgings. Miss Hall had alsoforgotten to mention that the staffaccommodation was in fact a one star YouthHostel, located in the middle of nowhere with theadded bonus of being run by an insane warden. IfMrs Thomas and Miss Young only knew what was

Wednesday morning expecting all the pupils to bestill tucked up in their tents, sheltering from thedriving rain. How wrong could they be! All pupilswere packed and ready to go and were certainly notgoing to be defeated by a wet day. Their usual highspirits got them through the day and after a 10 milehike, the rather soggy pupils soon returned to thecampsite to pitch camp and cook more noodles.

Thursday soon came round – the last day!Pupils had to walk 8 miles from the campsite intoChurch Stretton. The groups had no realnavigational challenges and were all at the finishpoint by midday. After buying some celebratoryfish and chips in the town, pupils boarded thecoach and were soon fast asleep as we travelledback to school.

So what next? With routes all planned andsubmitted, the pupils will be travelling to Bala,North Wales after their GCSE examinations tocomplete their Silver Assessed Expedition. Good Luck!

On a hot and sunnyEaster Monday, 42 5thform pupils took abreak from their GCSErevision and set off toShropshire to completetheir D of E SilverPractice Expedition

MASTER CADET LEADERSHIP COURSEOur Congratulations go to Corporal Jamie Stefaniak who recently attended an

action packed week long Master Cadet Leadership Course at Nesscliff army

training camp.

Jamie is the first ever cadet from Bablake to go on this advanced course.

In summing up Jamie said, “Overall, it was an exciting and exhilarating

experience, which I would never have been able to do anywhere else other than

with the CCF. I had learned more than I ever thought possible and met a great

group of cadets and army staff from all over the UK. It was also very tough,

and I can see why, as they say on TV, 99.9% need not apply!”

Bablake School14

Bablake success

The U16, U14 and U13 Rugby teams on all reaching the finals of the Coventry Schools Cup competition at the end of the Easter team. Particularcongratulations to the U16 and U13 teams on their winning performances and the U13 team on going through the season undefeated.

The Senior Girls’ Netball team on their excellent performance in the National Finals and on winning the West Midlands South Collegesleague, being undefeated throughout the season and on winning the Colleges tournament.

The U15 Girls’ Hockey team on becoming the Warwickshire champions.

Lucy Horn on being a member of the Belper U15 Hockey team which won the national finals.

Lucy Horn and Holly Payne on representing the U15 Midlands Hockey in Holland over Easter for the second year running.

The Boys’ U14 Cross Country team on winning the Coventry league and the Cup competition race.

Paul Lam on winning the Lightning Chess tournament for the fourth time in five years. Paul is also the Warwickshire U18 Champion for thefourth year running and is in the squad of players for the England team to play Russia.

Helen Price on her selection for the Rugby Football Union of Women (RFUW) U17 Performance Camp for the 30 most talented U17 regionalplayers in England.

The Girls’ Intermediate (Years 10 and 11) Athletics team on winning the Coventry City Athletics Championships and to Ira Kleine, JennieGardner, Lucy Horn and the Relay team on all winning their event.

Nine pupils from the 3rd and 4th years on gaining gold awards in the Intermediate Maths Challenge and in particular to Thomas Hine whowas placed in the top 400 out of 195,000 entrants.

∑Jamie Stefaniak on being selected to attend the CCF Master Cadet Course.

Philip Catterall, Dominic Ainsworth and Philippa Collision on being selected to represent Coventry in the forthcoming InternationalChildren’s Games in Thailand.

The 6th Form Business team of Lee Harrison, Someit Sidhu, Richard Smith and Amarpal Jandoo on winning through to the national finalsof the IFS Proshare Student Investor competition, one of only 8 teams from an original 7500 team entries.

The Senior and Junior Public Speaking teams of Someit Sidhu, Mark McElvie and Marco Orsini-Jones and Pam Uppal, Christopher Lamband Alannah Norton on their excellent achievements in going through to the semi-finals of the regional Rotary Club competition.

Joshua Baines on winning the Hinckley and District Shooting competition and going through to the National Finals.

Sam Sharples on being selected to attend The Smallpiece Engineering, Technology and Enterprise Experience at Harper Adams University College.

Paul Best on his achievements with Warwickshire Youth Cricket Board.

Richard Miles on his selection for the Warwickshire U12 Cricket squad.

The Young Enterprise teams, Neutrino and S-cubed, on their excellent performance this term with S-cubed being commended for theirproduct innovation at the National Trade fair and also receiving first prize for their product and third prize for their stall at the recent

Regional Trade fair. Both teams have also won through to the local finals.

The Young Enterprise team S-cubed, Imran Ahmed, Aaron Banger, Matthew Given, Paddy Hyslop and Someit Sidhu, on winning the Bestpresentation and Best Company awards at the local finals and going through to the regional final.

The CCF teams under the leadership of Sergeants Hannah Sheard and Gary Grewal on their excellent performances in the annual “Exercise Cadet Stretch”.

The Sixth Form Chemists on their excellent showing in the British Chemistry Olympiad and in particular Jennifer Bufton who gained a Silveraward and Lauren Ewington, Bina Modi, Anna Seeley, and Chris Taylor who all gained Bronze.

The Education Engineering Scheme team of Matthew Francis, Matthew Galloway, Lee Harrison and Nathan Ward on their excellentsolution to the problem set by Ove Arup of designing a new building for that company.

Adam Austin, Veronica Davis, Lauren Irwin and Jodie Kirk on their organisation of a petition about the situation in Dafur.

Philip Walker on his continuing successes in sailing and on winning the recent Severn Trent Trophy.

CONGRATULATIONS GO TO

HOCKEYIn the Bablake invitation 7 a-side tournament the girls played very well and finishedrunners up to Kings High. In the Warwickshire 11 a-side tournament Bablake wontheir section and met Kenilworth and Kings High in a triangular final. Once againBablake finished runners up to Kings High, but have learnt a lot throughout theseason and are closing the gap.

The U12s enjoyed playing in two hockey mini tournaments last term, Solihulland Bablake Invitation. The girls have progressed throughout the season finishingwith a 2-2 draw v Newcastle-under-Lyme school in an 11 a-side game.

The U15 team not only won the Coventry tournament, but got through to thetriangular final in the Warwickshire tournament. Here they beat both StratfordGrammar and Kings High 2-0 to take the winners’ trophy.

NETBALLAt the end of January both Under 16 and Under 19 Netball Squads played in the WestMidlands Netball Tournament, having qualified from the Warwickshire Tournamentsprior to Christmas. The U16 squad won 14 of their 6 matches with good victoriesover Wolverhampton Grammar School, St Mary’s Convent, Wrekin and HerefordCathedral School. They lost to the eventual tournament winners Sandon 10-17 and toSutton Girls, having led at half time. Despite their disappointment all the squadplayed very well and rose to the occasion. From the tournament Ellie Donaldson andLauren Boon were selected to attend an England Talent Camp.

The U19 squad managed to win all their section games despite a virus thataffected several members both on the day and in the run up to the tournament. Inthe semi-finals they played Shrewsbury High winning 18-8 and in the final met theirold rivals Fairfax, narrowly losing 12-14. As runners up at this tournament they wenton to represent the region at the National Finals in Manchester on 25th March.There they playedexcellently and wereplaced third in theirsection, only losingnarrowly to the twoteams who met in thefinals. Overall, they wereplaced 5th in the countryand, in addition, thesquad were awarded theMary Bearwood Trophyfor the team, across allage groups, whichscored most goals in thesection games. 110 goals from 8 games was not only testimony to the excellentshooters but to the whole team which provided those shooting opportunities andkept the opposition out. We were extremely proud of the success of the squad.

The U15B netball team won the Coventry Schools final, beating King Henry VIII22-11. The U15A team all worked very hard but finished runners up to King Henry VIII.

The U13 A&B and U12 A&B netball teams also met King Henry VIII in theCoventry Schools netball tournaments. The U12A team finished runners up andvictories were secured by the other three teams to bring trophies back to Bablake.

ATHLETICSWe would like to wish Philippa Collison the very best of luck at the InternationalChildren’s Games in Bangkok in August. She has been selected to represent the Cityof Coventry in High Jump.

Bablake got off the athletics season to a very good start. The intermediate teamwon the School City Championships comfortably. Events were won by JennieGardner, Lucy Horn, Ira Kleine and the relay team – Jennie Gardner, Lijana Kaziow,Siobhan Robinson & Lauren Boon.

The junior team came a very close second to Tile Hill Wood. Individual winnerswere Danielle Smith in shot putt and Harriet Carter in high jump.

The Lion | Summer 2006 15

BABLAKE SCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY 2005 – 2006COVENTRY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP.The U12 boys finished 3rd over the four league races.The U14 boys finished 1st over the four league races.

COVENTRY CITY CHAMPIONSHIPIn the meeting on 30th March the U13boys finished 1st. Specialcongratulations go to Thomas Dwyerwho just missed out on a medal,finishing 4th. Harriet Simmonsfinished 7th in her championship race.

Congratulations go to AdamSimmonds and Tom Costello from thefourth year who finished 5th and 6threspectively in the U15 Championship race.

REPRESENTATIVE HONOURSNine boys and two girls qualified to represent Coventry this season – HarrietSimmons, Jamie Cozens, Matthew Smith, William Knight from Shells; AislingFlannagan, Thomas Dwyer, Samuel Lewis and Aaren Healey from the second year;Adam Simmonds, Tom Costello from the fourth year.

In the U12 William Kenney-Herbert and Jamie Cozens both representedCoventry, winning gold medals as the team finished first in the West MidlandsChampionship. Jamie finished 9th which means he ran for the West Midlands inWales during April.

U14s Aaren Healey and Samuel Lewis both won silver medals as the Coventryteam finished second in the West Midlands Championships.

RUGBYThe season finished with a great deal of success for Bablake’s Junior Teams with theUnder 13s, under 14s and under 16s all reaching the Coventry Cup Finals played at theButts Stadium.

The Under 13s were first to play and took revenge on Woodlands for last year’sdefeat with a 26-5 win. Tries came from Chukka Ogbuneke (20), Adam King andOliver White with two conversions from Morgan Baker and one from Adam King.This result capped a fantastic season with the team winning every match and alsosecuring victory in the Solihull Sevens Tournament.

The Under 16s werenext to play and alsobecame City Championsthanks to a 17-12 victoryover Coundon Court. Ina hard fought matchRoss Harrison and GavinHarman scored trieswith Lewis Jacksonadding two conversionsand a penalty.

The Under 14s were the final team to play and unfortunately lost 17-5 toCoundon Court. Dominic Ainsworth scored Bablake’s only try.

ATHLETICSThe start of the athletics season has seen a great deal of success for the BablakeTeams and individuals. In the Inter Championships for 4th and 5th years, Bablake’sBoys’ team finished runners-up. City Champions included James Krestovnikoff inthe hurdles, and Ross Harrison in the High Jump.

In the Junior Event for 2nd and 3rd years, the Boys’ Team also finished runners-up. Here City champions included Dominic Ainsworth in the 100m and shot, andToby Donaldson in the javelin.

Bablakesport

Each edition of The Lion is a snapshot of the breadth of extra-curricular activity at Bablake. It is a cornerstone of our educationalphilosophy that we seek to educate the whole person and as Idepart, I should like to thank all my colleagues who do so muchbeyond lesson time to enrich the education of Bablake pupils.

Next term, as the new Headmaster takes over, the current onebecomes a mere portrait in the Library. John Watson and I haveworked closely together this term, trying to ensure as smooth atransition as possible and, under his leadership, I am sure that theschool will go from strength to strength in future years. I lookforward to hearing about this from afar.

Finally, my thanks go to the great many parents who have supported the staff and me in so many ways during the course ofthis academic year. Thank you, too, for all the encouragement andhelp we have received.

I hope all of you have a very good holiday and a great deal ofhappiness over the summer.

With warmest good wishes,

Stuart NuttallHeadmaster

I am pleased to announce that the following will be joining theteaching staff at the start of the new academic year in September:

Mr A Homer as Head of Classics to replace Mr J D Swales who hasbeen appointed Deputy Head at Ackworth School and Mr M J Lang(former pupil, 1986-93) as a teacher of Physics to replace Dr S AJohnson who has been appointed Head of Physics at LawrenceSheriff School, Rugby. Currently Mr Homer is teaching at WatfordGrammar School for Girls and Mr Lang at the Royal GrammarSchool, Newcastle.

Two other members of staff, Mr B S Bramley (Head of Biology) andMr R W McDermott (Head of Physics) will be leaving at the end ofthe Summer term. Mr Bramley is to pursue a career outside ofteaching and Mr McDermott has been appointed as Head ofScience, Maths and ICT Faculty at Kelly College, Tavistock in Devon.

Bablake School16

STAFF NEWSHEADMASTER’S NOTES

Bablake School, Coundon Road, Coventry CV1 4AUT +44 (0)24 7627 1200 F +44 (0)24 7627 1290

E info@bablake.coventry.sch.uk W www.bablake.com

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Bablakeupdate

There will no doubt be many tributes to Stuart Nuttall as he approaches hisretirement after 15 years as Headmaster at Bablake. He has led the Schoolthrough the many changes that have beset education since 1991 and is highlyrespected, not just for his work at Bablake but locally, regionally, andnationally through serving on and chairing various committees and steeringgroups. There is not room here to do justice to Stuart’s many qualities and hisoutstanding work for the School.

We thank him for his outstanding dedication, commitment, loyalty,kindness and compassion. The success and firm standing of Bablake is evidentand, importantly, it extends beyond the league tables. The wider context ofeducation has always been centraland crucial in his leadership – youonly have to have had a son ordaughter involved in any form ofextra-curricular activity to knowthat. He has been wholeheartedlysupported by his wife Lindathroughout and we thank her toofor her dedication and herinvolvement with and support forthe School.

On behalf of us all, staff and pupils,we wish Stuart and Linda a long,happy and healthy retirement.

A FOND FAREWELL