Theme of the Fortnight
Food Technology
A Huge Well Done to our year 11 food tech students, who have worked incredibly hard to produce these wonderful dishes for their practical exam. We are really proud of all of you!
Some Amazing Artwork From December 2021
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Book Review By Georgia Beaver 13 Nightingale
They Both Die At The End.
Adam Silvera
9/10
Receiving a phone call in the middle of the night telling you that you're going to die is definitely not what I want to hear on a Tuesday morning. Many would actually assume it was a joke. But unfortunately for this beautiful fictional universe, even if it is so small, DeathCast broadcasts a message to every person about to die within the next 24 hours - if you're even lucky to even make it 24 hours.
The book immediately kicks off with the nervous wreck that shoved himself into his own home for years on end named Matteo Torrez receiving his phone call alone. Rufus Emeterio, on the other hand, was just casually pummelling his ex-girlfriend's new partner that decided to run his mouth, right when he received the same call. A total-opposites cliché that meet for some well-earned life changing experiences, something that I do truly love. Now while the title may put some off, pursuing it further actually makes knowing what happens forces you to stay, wanting to see if the way they go out is brutal. Speaking of brutal, Silvera is brutal enough as it is with events that have you wanting to throw the book across the room at one moment, hug it while squealing like a teenage girl or sob until the pages dampen from your tears. Definitely not describing anyone in particular.
But Silvera truly goes out of his way to pull off this amazing piece through the switching between different perspectives and making this whole world so small yet so large and eventful. Minor side characters greatly influence the story - or are influenced by the main characters themselves. Some are key plot points whereas others are reminders of the lives people lead outside of the professional workplace. Yet Matteo and Rufus have only just become or not even become an adult. Some are so young yet so unfortunate. Silvera manages to clasp at the taboo of death, showing to us clearly that anyone and everyone dies, you just will never know when or how. It also really shows you how those you keep close will be affected when you're gone, some may slap you across the face before embracing you while lecturing you for avoiding them, others would just hug you without a word. Someone may even call the cops on you for beating them up just earlier.
But either way the impact Silvera has on his readers is without a doubt impressive. To be fair, he did effectively sum up creeps on the internet in one minor scene. Yet the book still makes me question, is it really worth knowing that you'll die in the next 24 hours at most? Or is the bliss ignorance of not knowing way better? I'm not even sure myself at this point but what I do know that I will definitely need some tissues when the next 5th of September rolls around...
GCSE Drama workshop and performance
On Tuesday 30th December the Verbatim Theatre Company The Paper Birds joined us in school to deliver a practical workshop on devising and perform their wonderfully thought provoking production of Broke. All students worked very hard in the workshop and produced some excellent work, after the show students took part in a question and answer session where they asked a variety of interesting and relevant questions, regarding the acting industry and how to prepare an audition!
“We loved meeting The Paper Birds and got lots of ideas for our own devised piece from the workshop and performance!"
Well done KS4 Drama, you were excellent.
The Drama Department.
Maths Chess Tournament
On 16th November, 7 members of the Baylis Court chess club took part in a Chess knockout tournament held by the Maths department. There were a range of abilities on show throughout the tournament including those who have played for a couple of years and those who were brand new to the world of chess.
The first round saw Tia-Lorelle Richardson, Zeenat Noori, Atnaan Sharif and Rosie Douthwaite sailing through to the semi finals with Zeenat being the favourite to win.
It was a close match between Atnaan and Rosie during the first semis with Rosie being the victor of the bout. In the other semis, the game started off reasonably close but Zeenat showing her dominance to sail through to the final.
The final pitted the experienced, Zeenat, against the newly-accomplished, Rosie in what would be a very tense and close game. Rosie seemed to have taken the lead when she took out some key pieces early on, including Zeenat’s queen. However, Zeenat remained composed and eventually got herself back into the game, leading to the final phase where Rosie had nothing but her king left. Zeenat was soon crowned the first Baylis Court chess champion!
Well done to all students that took part in the competition and congratulations to Zeenat for winning the first of many tournaments to come.
Deeper Learning Day
On Tuesday 30th November all year groups took part in our deeper learning day, which consisted of a variety of activities based on different PSHE and Careers topics.
Year 7
Pupils had the opportunity to complete tasks for their PiXL Edge. The focus was on developing transferable skills that will help them as they go through their future education stages and careers. They took part in a resilience workshop led by an external visitor, and also some fun problem solving activities.
“I really enjoyed the day. The lady who spoke to us at the end of the day was great and I learned that it is ok not to always get things right but you can learn from your mistakes.” Ellie Slade 7 Grey-Thompson
Year 8
The day was about developing creativity and leadership skills with a focus on the theme ‘diversity’. Pupils took part in an inter-class competition. Workshops included dance, drama, singing and art. At the end of the day, each group performed the song they had been working on from the musical ‘Hairspray’. Well done to the winning class – 8T!
“Everyone’s dances were really good! I liked how everyone participated and had great teamwork. I also liked the fact that everyone appreciated the topic and got a good understanding about diversity and civil rights.” Tami Fashoyin 8 Nightingale
Year 9
Pupils learnt about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and careers within health and sport. Each class rotated through five sessions: Careers in health, how to measure your own health, a healthy heart, healthy eating, and careers in sport (including practical boxercise activities).
“I gained a lot of knowledge about jobs in health. The practical sessions were really fantastic and amazing. We learned how to use actual machines and equipment that doctors and nurses use (e.g. blood pressure). We got to test out our own grip strength. We worked through booklets but it was also very interactive.” Shreshta Chauhan 9 Pankhurst
Year 10
The main theme for year 10 was ‘Safeguarding’. In the morning pupils learnt about how to be safe with regards to knife crime and child criminal exploitation and they watched a live performance by a theatre group ‘Peer Productions’. In the afternoon they learnt more about consent and peer-on-peer abuse. The Sakoon through Cancer charity also led a workshop on breast cancer awareness.
“On Deeper Learning day, we watch a performance by a company called Peer Production titled ‘As I see it’. It was a performance to raise awareness of knife crime, racism and sexism in young people. It was a very entertaining and I found the experience a great way to raise awareness. We also went on to learn about Breast Cancer. We got to learn how to tell if we were to have cancer in the future. It was a very informative way of learning about a rather taboo subject.
Overall, it was a very productive day, full of new learning and developing some of the knowledge we already have from our PSHE lessons.” Kezia Barnes 10 Austen
Year 11
Deeper learning day was a very important day to help pupils to succeed in year 11 and plan their post-16 education. Junior from Fix Up Seminars led a motivational talk in the morning. Pupils took part in a revision skills session to help them prepare for their GCSE’s. In the afternoon they took part in different workshops on careers and post-16 options to help them plan for your future. This included speakers from BCA College and The Windsor Forest Group.
“It was a really beneficial day for our year group. The talk from Junior was very inspiring and our entire year group loved his message and encouragement. I personally enjoyed the UCAS session as we got the opportunity to research different universities and their courses, as well as entry requirements. The colleges were very informative and helpful, with many year 11’s asking questions. Overall, I learned lots of new things!” Ayan Hussein
Year 12
Pupils went on a trip to Reading University. They found out more about university life and were able to ask any questions they had about living away from home, finance, etc.
“Firstly I'd like to thank the school for giving us the opportunity to visit a university and see in person how we feel about it. The trip was a fantastic opportunity to find out our options for university. We saw the campus and the student environment and also, for those thinking to commute, how long it would take to get there. I managed to see what were big priorities in my life as well as have questions answered in depth by people who had already gone there. The ambassadors did a really good job of preventing any doubts to be formed and were very motivating. For some people who may have financial difficulty, all the options were laid out very well, including an in depth example. I managed to get a glimpse of what a university student’s life consisted of and learned a lot about what university I might like to go to. We were well catered to and enjoyed the experience as well as having fun. The Q and A with the six ambassadors was very helpful. It was a great day!” Moomna Yasin 12 Nightingale
Year 13
Year 13 had independent study time to complete a Future Learn course or attend the virtual UCAS apprenticeships fair. They also had the opportunity to attend careers talks: Solicitor, Senior Clinical Scientist, Judge, IT Apprenticeships and Social Worker.
“On deeper learning day year 13 had the privilege to meet many inspirational and motivational speakers. The highlight for me was having the opportunity to have a Q&A session with judge Berner, who gave us an insight into his successful career and how he got there. I was fascinated by the types of cases he was able to judge, and as an aspiring barrister, it was really helpful to understand a day in his life. Judge Berner was also able to recommend a motivational book ‘Spider Woman’ by Baroness Hale, who was the first female president of the supreme court, in which she describes her historic achievements and the cases she has worked on.” Priya Dogra 13 Keller
Mrs Howkins
On Monday 13th December, our Year 13 Sociology class went on a trip to the ‘Sociology in Action’ Programme in London. There were a number of different speakers we listened to in order to enrich and expand on our sociological knowledge. These included Dr Jennifer Fleetwood, who gave a talk on ‘Re-thinking poverty as an explanation for women’s offending’, Kalwant Bhopal discussed ‘BME experiences in higher education’, talking about how not only ethnic minorities and BME students are at a disadvantage in the education system, but also professors from the same backgrounds. Dexter Dias spoke about ‘Identity and Socialisation’ and lastly, Professor Helen Wood, who’s talk was on working-class lives in British Media. These talks all linked in well with our curriculum as it went into greater depth on different inequalities in our society, mainly focusing on gender, ethnic and social class inequalities. Overall, the trip gave us much to talk about in our exam and we all had a great time.
Careers in English
All students at Baylis Court complete two separate GCSEs in English: English Language and English Literature. Although the content of the courses is quite different (Literature focuses on the study of texts and Language on reading comprehension and writing), the analytical and communication skills required are the same for both courses.
At A Level, we offer a combined English Language and Literature qualification which allows students to develop these skills to through the integrated study of language and literature in a range of different text types.
Careers Options
Good written and verbal communication skills are a requirement for a whole variety of jobs. This includes roles where the skills are used explicitly such as lawyers, teachers, politicians and journalists to careers where the ability to communicate convincingly at a variety of different levels will set you above other candidates, for example if you are thinking of working as an office administrator, receptionist or in a variety of roles in the public sector such as working for the local council or the NHS.
Did you know…..?
Emma Watson, Robbie Williams, Prince Harry, Benedict Cumberbatch and Lord Alan Sugar all have A Levels in English!
Some ex-Baylis students who studied English at A Level have also gone on to do great things.
- Sakina Naqvi (who was Head Girl) is now a qualified doctor.
- Zaila Akram is currently working in the Civil Service working on postal policy.
- Aisha Akram has a position as a Social Worker for Slough Borough Council.
- Sabina Malik is employed as a Solicitor.
Skills
Below is a list of transferable skills developed in English that can be applied to all careers:
• Written and oral communication skills - ability to define audience, construct an argument, present an idea, and provide background information on a variety of issues.
• Sensitivity to how communication is shaped by circumstances, authorship and intended audience
• A broad vocabulary and ability to use critical terminology appropriately
• Skills in a variety of research methods and the ability the accurately and appropriately present research
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Year 10 & 11 students can apply to attend Royal Holloway’s Spring University residential taking place from 11th – 13th April 2022. Across three on campus days, students will have the chance to explore the different higher education options that are available to them. They will enjoy a range of exciting activities, including subject taster sessions, meeting current university students and taking part in social activities
This residential is free to eligible students and will include student accommodation, food, social activities and resources
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Credits:
Created with an image by LubosHouska - "books bookstore book"