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Headteacher's Newsletter December 2023
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Dear Parents and Carers This year is the first time we have had a Christmas concert at both campuses and it was uplifting to see how well supported these events have been – thank you if you were able to come. I have to say the Christmas concert has come a long way in my seven years at TWGSB – from heavily biased bass guitar sets to a very diverse mix of piano, violin, saxophone, brass, wind and of course some bass. It is always heart-warming to witness both the talents of our students and their courage to get up on stage and perform. The beaming faces of the audience said it all. Thank you to the music department and all the staff who make these events happen – it really is appreciated. Trips have been a very big part of this term as you will see from this newsletter. The French Christmas markets have been a great success and resulted in some very tired students and staff. Thank you to all involved in ensuring trips run as smoothly as possible – as I’m sure you can imagine it is a huge responsibility. Sporting fixtures have been in full flow with much success in a variety of sports. It is great to see the dedication from the students both in and out of school. A particular well done to the school’s U15 rugby team! There are always two milestone as we break for Christmas – the first is Christmas lunch. The school’s caterers, Independent Catering, did an incredible job, serving over 900 plates of food of exceptional quality. A big thank you to the Independent Catering team across both sites – it is a huge feat to manage this successfully and produce very happy students and staff. The second ‘It’s beginning to look at a lot like Christmas’ milestone is the PTA chocolate tombola, always a highlight for the students. I smiled to myself as I walked across the playground at 08:15 and watched a Year 7 student empty a tube of Smarties into his mouth. I asked if they were supposed to be handed in for the tombola. With hamster-like cheeks he shook his head and made a noise that sounded like ‘no’! Needless to say, much sugar was consumed by all and the PTA did a marvellous job, as always. On behalf of the staff and governors at TWGSB I would like to wish you and your family a very restful Christmas and a healthy new year. Yours faithfully Amanda Simpson |
Positive Pathways
It’s been a fantastic term with so many students achieving a large number of positive house points embracing the school's values of Respect, Excellence and Determination.
So far this academic year 95,159 positive house points have been issued across the school. All our students achieve success on a daily, weekly and termly basis and as a school we celebrate these.
Huge congratulations to everyone and keep it going.
Mr Lewis, Assistant Headteacher
PTA Christmas Trees
Many thanks as always to our hard-working PTA for our beautiful school Christmas trees! The PTA buy and decorate three Christmas trees for our school every year. Stonepitts Farm generously donates a tree to the school annually, and the PTA buy two more – one for Sevenoaks and another for the Tunbridge Wells campus. They look beautifully festive!
Stonepitts Farm donates £2 to the PTA for every Christmas tree that TWGSB parents and staff buy, and they deliver it, too. Thank you all!
Well-being
We are all looking forward to a break over Christmas, but for some young people and their parents/carers this can be a really challenging time for various reasons. Looking after our mental health and well-being is especially important at this time of year so I have put together a few websites and links to resources that both parents/carers and students may find useful:
Seasonal Tips from The Kent Emotional Wellbeing Team
Kooth (offering free, safe and anonymous support)
Don't forget, there is also lots of support for students and their families in school and, after meeting with the student council in December, I will be putting together some more information on how to access this help. There is also some information on our school website here and lots more in the School Resources section of MyEd, found under 'School Information' in the app.
I wish you a restful time over the Christmas holidays and a happy new year.
Mrs Rose, Assistant Headteacher
Sixth Form
UCAS
It has been another very busy university application season.
Well done to Year 13s: 161 students have completed their UCAS applications. Fifty have had all their offers, 111 have had some offers – congratulations to all, especially our Oxbridge interviewees. We have had a very impressive range of offers from top Russell Group Universities like Bristol, Durham, Bath, Cardiff and Exeter. It is particularly pleasing that the students who have had interviews have all been offered a place. Many have been offered a reduced tariff due to the strength of their application. Exciting times indeed.
Mrs Corp, English/ UCAS/Destinations Lead
History
Ypres
To begin with we had to wake at 4am (which was a bit of a shock to the system!) to get our coach to Belgium. I didn’t mind the coach journey though as it only took a few hours. Our first arrival was at a special cemetery (well it was special to me). I was one of the lucky students on this trip who had the chance to visit a relative who had sadly passed at the Battle of Ypres. I got to visit my great-great-great uncle’s grave and the tour guides passed me a wallet full of things about Thomas Pendruigh who was my relative. We learned about many soldiers but one of them stood out to me. He was a 15-year-old German student who had joined the war. On the first day he arrived on the front line, he wrote a letter to his father saying how amazing and great the war was. A week later, he sent another letter to his parents but this was not the same… this was a letter saying how great his parents had been to him and thanking them, because these were the last moments of his life: he was in a bunker bleeding out from shells and thought that he should write home.
It was a long day, emotional at some points, exciting at others. I will always remember the grave of my relative and the story of the 15-year-old soldier.
Oliver G (9J)
Classical Civilisation
On Friday 10th November, our Year 12 Classical Civilisation A Level class was fortunate to attend a theatre trip to University College London to hear a Latin reading of ‘The Song of Arms and a Man’ by Virgil. The experience was riveting, with mesmerising Latin sequences. It was well summarised, easy to understand yet shorter than the original text. The English narration was humorous, and the talented musician added greatly to the atmosphere. Each of the speakers had powerful voices, adding to the overall mood and ambience. It was a lot of fun and very compelling.
Mrs Panou, Classical Civilisation Lead Teacher
Computer Science
Earlier this term, all those students taking Computer Science (Years 7–13) undertook the Bebras (Beaver) Computing Challenge. This challenge looks to test students on their computational thinking and logical understanding through the interactive, online challenges. Three hunded and sixty-five thousand students took part across the country with three million students undertaking it worldwide. Students undertake the challenge in different categories based upon their year group. We have now had the results back from the Computing Challenge and we are pleased to announce that we have had 152 students who ranked in the top 10% nationally across the different categories. This is an amazing achievement for the students as in the ten years we have been running the challenge in schools, we have not had this many in the top 10% before! Students received their certificates either in assembly or through tutors with 5 House Points being awarded in recognition of the achievement.
Mr Hamilton, Assistant Headteacher and Director of Digital Learning and Mr Humphrey, Head of Computer Science
Music
Glyndebourne Opera Trip
On Wednesday 15th November, 50 Year 9 students were lucky enough to attend a special school’s performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the world-class Glyndebourne opera house in East Sussex. The auditorium was completely packed with secondary students, many of whom had never entertained the idea of going to the opera and had no idea what to expect. Following a brief introduction by one of the singers, explaining how she had arrived at her chosen career, the curtains opened to the interior of a multi-storey hotel, where a chaotic tale of deception and confusion ensued. Both the cast and the musicians were superb, delivering a truly top-drawer performance that inspired over one thousand of the next generation of opera lovers.
Sevenoaks Campus Christmas Concert
On Thursday 30th November, TWGSB held its inaugural Christmas concert at the Sevenoaks campus.
The much-anticipated event was sold out and our thanks go to the PTA for supplying very welcome refreshments on a bitterly cold evening.
The programme was kicked off by the Year 7 Singers, with their rendition of the Bublé-infused 'It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas', truly setting the scene for the rest of the evening and filling the room with smiles. A little later, the Year 9 Singers delighted the audience by whipping out inflatable guitars and saxophones during the instrumental of 'Last Christmas'. The evening also featured a number of brave, young soloists: Harry M (guitar), Kaya J (piano) and Gabriel and Hadrien M (saxophone and drums) with their festive adaptation of 'Tequila!'
Arguably, the highlight of the show was the collection of committed students who form the Summer of 89 group, with their energetic performances of 'Santa Claus', 'Blinding Lights' and 'Message in a Bottle'. To close the show, the full ‘congregation’ joined forces to sing 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' to truly seal the Christmas spirit and go out with a bang.
Finally, Mr Jackson, Deputy Headteacher, gave a short speech to close the evening, acknowledging the event as the first-ever concert at the Sevenoaks campus and reminded us all that everyone present would be able to say they were there for the very special occasion! A huge well done to all involved! Enjoy some of the photos and music videos here: https://tinyurl.com/3p2pnt8n
Tunbridge Wells Campus Christmas Concert
Another successful and heart-warming Christmas concert took place at the Tunbridge Wells campus on Thursday 14th December, with some listeners claiming it was the best one yet. It cannot be denied that the overall quality of musicianship was top-notch and there was a healthy diet of traditional music, mixed in with the usual pop fair.
On the more traditional side, the audience enjoyed pieces such as 'Moon River, Liebestraum' (Liszt) and 'Sonata No. 2' (Brahms), expertly performed by Alfie, Arthur and Alvis respectively. Other pieces, performed by younger students, included 'Mazurka in A Minor', 'Russian Fantasy No. 3' and 'Le Onde', much to listeners’ delight. Furthermore, well-handled renditions of 'The Swan' and 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik' were offered by Karson and The Elites, who once again wowed the audience with their prowess. Not only did Karson show off his skills on the silky tones of the viola, an endangered species, but he displayed enormous resilience in having to play with a different accompanist at the last minute.
On the popular music side of the evening, Summer of 89, Soul Band, Vibe Tribe and the newly formed Sax Ensemble covered a range of genres with pieces such as 'Remember', 'Superstition', 'I Don’t Need No Doctor' and 'All in Good Time'. The energy of these groups was palpable and brought a different level of excitement to the evening.
On the other hand, those who were hungry for a little more tradition were satiated by some festive numbers, including 'Let It Snow', 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', 'Walking in the Air' and 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing'. However, the highlight for many parents will surely have been seeing their son sing their heart out as part of the mass Year 7 Singers vocal group and their performance of Michael Bublé’s version of 'It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas', with their Christmas jumpers and other festive accessories.
They made a powerful sound and demonstrated the kind of confidence and determination the school is keen to develop in students. The music was supported by a great effort from the lighting team of Lucas and Innes, who added some sparkle to the event with hundreds of fairy lights.
As always, the Music Department is extremely proud of the hard work put in by the students and appreciates the support of their parents. If anyone is able to donate towards the purchase of a new piano to enable future pianists, please contact Mrs Harper (charper@twgsboys.kent.sch.uk) in the Finance Office. We look forward to seeing you at our next event.
Mr Joris, Head of Music and Mr Brush, Teacher of Music
Modern Foreign Languages
BFI Trip
Students in Years 12 and 13 studying French enjoyed a day trip to the British Film institute in London in November to learn about studying film as part of their A Level course. Students developed their film analysis skills in the morning and built a deeper understanding of the styles and themes of key French films through an interactive session. In the afternoon they enjoyed a screening of the classic French movie La Haine. It was an excellent session conducted in French, which students thoroughly enjoyed.
Ms Wilkey, Teacher of MFL
Lille Christmas Markets and Waffle Factory
On a cold winter morning of December 11th TWGSB went to Lille Christmas market (Villages de Noel!) The sound of excited children echoed around and a smile began to grow on my face. We set off before even the sun was awake. When we arrived a pleasant thrill of new adventure came upon us, our eyes widened as the picturesque scene of Villages De Noel came into view and our hearts were brimming with joy. Stalls were everywhere, their bright colours bounced off the lit-up signs. We were eager to fill our bags with souvenirs and sweet snacks, but we filled our stomachs with French snacks and pastries. Our bags were twice the size of before and we journeyed to a bakery to create some exquisite waffles. Then full of waffles, gifts and souvenirs, we made our way home.
My favourite part of the trip was visiting the Christmas markets because it was a great place to get Christmas gifts for my family. Also it gave me the chance to practise my French in person. The waffle experience was great too and we got to see waffles being made. Even though the journey was quite long, the trip was worthwhile.
Oscar B-W (Year 8)
My favourite part of the trip was the waffle experience. This was because of the authentic French culture and the warm environment of the bakery was fantastic. The baker was really nice and the waffle was delectable as the vanilla melted in my mouth. Although the journey was long, it was worth it for the memories we made, and the fun time we had was amazing.
Matthew P (Year 8)
Year 10 French and Spanish Language Plays
In November, our Year 10 students watched a comedy entirely in French or Spanish (depending on their GCSE choice). Onatti, who delivered the comedies, produce and perform plays in Modern Foreign Languages. The French play, set in the art room of a French college, was very entertaining. The setting for the Spanish play was an Airbnb house that was double-booked. It had physical humour with misunderstandings and comedic mishaps.
The plays were a big hit with students and they thoroughly enjoyed the interactive aspect.
Mrs Gray, MFL Lead for French
Art
Hockney Exhibition
Our A Level Art students paid a visit to the National Portrait Gallery recently to see David Hockney: Drawing from Life. Hockney’s fantastic exhibition explores the artist’s work over the last six decades, working with a range of mediums and styles, from pencil, pen and ink and crayon, to photographic collage and the iPad. The exhibition also debuts a selection of over 30 new portraits painted from life, depicting friends and visitors to the artist’s Normandy studio between 2021 and 2022.
In the afternoon the students took part in a workshop with the gallery’s education team looking at ‘Identity through Portraiture’. The artist educator took them around some of the photographs in the collection to prepare them for the workshop where they took it in turns to pose for portraits as well as taking the photos. It was a very memorable experience for them all.
Ms Kublik, Head of Art and Design
Festive Calendar
The Art Department Family Calendar fundraising competition was held again this year and we had some outstanding artistic responses to contribute towards the design. The students involved should be congratulated as we had some excellent entries to choose from.
This year's calendar features student’s artwork representing the different seasons. All year groups had the opportunity to participate in producing entries and the winning designs have been printed as a montage for each of the four seasons.
The sale of the calendars helped raise money for TWGSB PTA and 313 were sold, raising £1,074.80. Thank you so much to everyone who purchased one.
Ms Kublik, Head of Art and Design
Food and Nutrition
Message from Ms Smith:
I will be really sad to leave the school at the end of this term. I am moving to Surrey over Christmas and have another position as Head of Food and Nutrition at Chertsey High School. I have worked at TWGSB for eight years and have been so proud to teach many students this wonderful subject. Cooking in schools sometimes gets a bad press but at TWGSB we aim to instill a love of cooking to all. The students also build up a set of skills they will have for life and can pass on to their families. In a world where they are increasingly surrounded by ultra processed foods, it is so important they know how to cook tasty, low cost and nutritious meals. The new food rooms at both sites are one of the best in the country, and are filled with wonderful smells and delicious dishes every day.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the school and hope all the students keep cooking throughout their lives. To quote Virgina Wolfe,
'One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.'
Mrs Smith, Head of Food and Nutrition
Physical Education
Rugby
TWGSB's U15 rugby team played in the final of the England Rugby Schools Kent Shield on 21st November against Aylesford School. TWGSB left as 46-12 winners after an exceptional performance from the players. A deserved reward for the hard work that they have put into their rugby since losing to the same opposition in round 1 the previous year! Well done all!
Mr Woods, Head of PE
Football
U18 1st XI: Having lost away at Cardinal Newman in Hove in the ESFA National Cup, the team travelled to Bexley GS in the Last 32 of the Kent Cup. This was a close game that we lost 2-1.
U18 2nd XI: Our young team travelled to Southend in Essex in the ESFA National Cup to play Southend High School for Boys in Round 2. We trailed 2-0 but fought back to level the game at 2-2. We conceded 2 goals in extra-time to lose 4-2. On Wednesday 10th January we play Beths GS in the Last 16 of the Kent Cup.
U16: The B team won 2-0 against Bede's in the Last 64 of the ESFA National Cup. The team then travelled to Dover GS in the Last 32 of the ESFA National Cup. We didn't take enough of our chances to score and lost in a game that could have gone either way.
U15: The A team lost 3-2 against Dover GS in the ESFA National Cup. The B team lost 3-2 away at Hurstmere in Sidcup in the ESFA National Cup. We plan on having some friendly matches in the new year.
U14: Our A team won the Kent Cup convincingly last season. The team, missing four players with injuries, lost 1-0 against Eden Park from Bromley in the ESFA National Cup. In the Kent Cup we lost 3-1 away at Maidstone GS. The B team enjoyed some wins before losing against the current national champions Ravens Wood in the ESFA National Cup. In the Kent Cup a slightly weakened B team played very well in the semi-final against Hurstmere. The game could have gone either way and finished 0-0. Hurstmere scored the winning goal in the last minute of extra time to dash our hopes of reaching the Kent Cup final.
U13: The U13 teams have had a very good season to date. The A team has lost only one match all season and is still in both ESFA National Cups. The team won 5-0 away at Downlands in West Sussex. The team then won 3-1 against Oriel High School from Crawley. The following round was an excellent match, a 2-2 draw against The Regis School from Bognor Regis. TWGSB won 3-1 in the penalty shootout. On 5th January the team will travel to The Ashbourne School in Dorking to play in Round 5 of the ESFA National Cup. The A team has also performed very well to reach the Last 16 teams in the ESFA Elite national cup. We won 4-3 against Royal Russell having led 4-0. On Monday 2nd January the team will travel to play away at St John's Leatherhead in Surrey.
The B team is very good in Year 8, however, we lost 3-2 away at Ravens Wood in the Last 16 of the Kent Cup. Three days later we lost away at Ravens Wood in the Last 64 of the ESFA National Cup.
U12: The Year 7 teams have performed very well. The A team has reached the quarter-final of the Kent Cup (80 schools entered) and will play at home against Herne Bay in the new year before the 13th January. The B team has reached the semi-final of the Kent Cup and will play at home on Saturday 13th January against Hurstmere.
Very well done to all the students who have attended practices regularly and have represented the school's teams.
Mr Menzies, Head of Football
Cross Country
Over Term 1 our intermediate (Years 9 and 10) and senior (Years 11, 12 and 13) cross country teams have been representing the school in the English Schools Cross Country Cup.
The Kent round came first with the intermediate boys coming 3rd and senior boys 2nd, meaning both teams qualified for the next stage of the cup – an incredible individual result from Toby B (Year 11) who won his race, competing against students up to two years older.
The next stage of the cup was the South East England finals. Both teams performed amazingly with the intermediate boys coming 2nd and qualifying for the national finals for the second year in a row. Unfortunately, the senior boys narrowly missed out on qualifying, finishing 4th in the South East. It was an amazing achievement for both our intermediate and senior boys.
On 2nd December the intermediate boys team travelled to Suffolk for the national finals. All five boys ran incredibly well and managed to finish as the 12th best school in the country. Well done to Henry C (13th), Ewan P (23rd), Steven G (55th), Ollie L (101st) and Christiaan D T (113th), excellent representatives for the school.
Well done to all of the boys who have represented the school in the English Schools Cross Country Cup!
Miss Burdett, Teacher of PE
Table Tennis
U13: The U13 table tennis team won their first group stage against Mascalls B team and Hadlow School, which sent them into the next round against Brompton girls and Oakwood Park Grammar. After a very close match against Oakwood, the boys finished the round in 2nd place meaning we went into a consolation round and 3rd/4th play-off final against Skinners'. Skinners' just edged the match, meaning TWGSB finished the tournament in 4th place. With three of the four students representing the table tennis team for the first time, this was an excellent experience and the boys played some high-quality table tennis throughout their matches.
U16: The boys put in another excellent display at this year’s Kent Schools Team Tournament. A solid start saw them winning their group with the loss of only one game. In the next round they met another group winner and didn’t drop a game, which saw them into a three-way final with Oakwood Grammar and Skinners. First up were Oakwood, which they knew would be a tight match. At the halfway point the team did well to have a lead after Charlie came from 9-3 down to win his deciding game 15-13 to put them ahead rather than level. The second set of matches finished 2-2 so it was a close 5-3 win. The final match against Skinners was much closer than the 7-1 scoreline would suggest. Congratulations to Sam A (Year 11), Charlie H (Year 10), Jamie B (Year 9) and Sonny L (Year 9) who now progress to the regional finals in February as Kent Schools Champions.
Mr Boddy, 2nd i/c PE
Co-Curricular
Chocolate Tombola
Many thanks to our wonderful PTA and everyone who took part in this year’s chocolate tombolas in Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells last week. We had great levels of donations, but the extra 1,000 chocolate bars the PTA provided also made their way to happy winners. It felt as if everyone had a great time, especially those who drew the top prize tickets in the 900–1,000 range, which could win you several pounds of chocolate. If you won more prizes, you could even wash it down with a Diet Fanta. Not something to repeat every week, but the tombola is always such a joyful activity for the students and the volunteers. Hopefully it leaves the students energised for the holidays, and the event raised c. £1,350 for the school!
Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award
On the 16th November we hosted for the first time, a Celebration Evening for students in Years 10 and 11 to hand out their Bronze D of E Awards. Parents were invited and it was wonderful to celebrate the achievements of the students who were present on the evening. We have since been able to hand out even more certificates in assemblies to those students who have completed their Bronze Award.
We have also signed up a new cohort of students from the current Year 9 and look forward to their successful completion of the Bronze Award by the end of the academic year. Students in Year 10 and 11 have been able to sign up for the Silver Award and we now have more students than ever taking part in Bronze, Silver and Gold D of E Awards.
We are very excited about the growth of the D of E Awards scheme in the school as we realise how much students gain from taking part in the co-curricular activities involved.
Mr Hamilton, Assistant Headteacher
Gardening Club
The Gardening Club harvested their world collection of chilis on 22nd November. These comprised red and green and yellow varieties sporting names like The Trinidad Scorpion, (Caribbean obviously!), Guajilio and Poblano (Mexico), Thai Hot, Hot Lemon (USA hybrid), Birds’ Eye (African), Bhut Jalokia – a.k.a. Ghost Chili (India), and Paper Lantern (possibly China), with heats ranging from 3.5 million on the Scoville scale (The T. Scorpion) to about 500 (Poblano).
In time-honoured tradition the Year 7 and 8 club members tested the chilles for heat on passing Year 10s. The results were highly amusing.
Mr Hall, Science Technician
Other News
Swimming Achievements in our Talented Year 7 Cohort
A big ‘well done!’ to Joel P (Year 7) who took part in the Sussex County Winter Swim Championships over half-term. He achieved personal best times in six events and was placed in the Top 10 for all the events he took part in.
He was also selected for the Sussex Swimming Development squad, in which he took part in a training session at Eastbourne College. This is only available for the top 12 swimmers in each age group in the county. It comprised a land training session, swimming session and a psychology session. Congratulations Joel and please keep us posted on your progress!
Rory C-W (Year 7) has also shown his swimming prowess by recently being selected for the Kent Development Squad and was featured in an interview with Kent Online News. After this he achieved victories at the London Aquatic Center, Olympic Park on 22nd October swimming for Edenbridge Piranhas Swimming Club who went on to win the Kent Junior League, with Rory's exceptional performance contributing to three victories, often competing against children older than him.
Rory had another successful weekend at the Maidstone Swimming Club championships gaining 2nd place in 100m front crawl, and at HMS Temeraire Royal Navy base for the Sea Cadets, where he won the Regionals 1st place 100m front crawl and 2nd place 100m. Well done Rory, these are great achievements!
Man U Excitement
In late November, William U (8A) and his football team, Invictus Development Centre from Bexleyheath, were invited to play against Manchester United in their famous Carrington training centre. Here he tells us all about the amazing experience:
'From the moment I stepped off the bus at the famous Carrington training centre, I was amazed by the surroundings! After all, who wouldn’t be? This place had been the home to all of the recent United greats: Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo etc. It is for sure a once-in-a-lifetime experience which any footballer dreams of! The coaching staff were funny and welcoming, they showed us around the mesmerising football grounds and into the changing rooms.
We then put our kit on and chatted about the place we were in and what an opportunity it was. The game itself was superb – we were against the Manchester United U14 elite development side who were outstanding.
It was intense from minute one with loads of people watching and an amazing competitive environment to be in. Unfortunately though, we lost 3-0, but we left knowing where we had just played! If I were invited to do this again, I would reply "yes!" in an instant.'
We are all so thrilled for you William – what an experience to have! Thank you for sharing it with TWGSB!
Talented Anatomical Artist Published
One of our talented Year 7 Artists has had his work published in a national newsletter. Luke H (7I) is a member of the Phasmid Study Group and is a collector of stick insects. He sent an example of some of his artwork to the group, and it has now been published in the December newsletter. An example of Luke's artwork can be seen on the front cover of this year's school calendar.
Gold Medal Winner at Engineering Awards
Zavier S (7H) has won a gold award at the Primary Engineer Macrobert Medal Award Ceremony at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London.
School pupils, university students and engineers arrived for the highly prestigious Primary Engineer MacRobert Medal Award Ceremony to receive recognition for their work in creating a Prototype based on a school student’s engineering idea.
The award asks the question 'If you were an engineer, what would you do?'
Zavier’s idea was:
What do you do if your house plants keep dying, but you don’t know why? What if the plant could tell you what it needs? Through an LED screen displaying an emoji to communicate what is wrong with the plant, you can tell from across the room what needs to be done. The ProtoTeam at ThalesGroup selected this idea. Zavier said of this special honour:
'I was so elated when I won, my mind didn’t register it, and it was only when I had the framed certificate and trophy then it hit me. I never thought my design would then be selected to actually be made into a prototype. To see my design brought to life was an amazing experience. When I thought it could not get any better, the prototype was given a gold award! I felt so proud and so fortunate to have experienced this.' Read Zavier's amazing story on our website: https://tinyurl.com/mvxnwzf5
Summary of some of the engineering ideas can be seen here: https://tinyurl.com/2erj6vuy
Lord Lieutenant’s cadet for Kent
Daniel W (Year 13) received a very special award at the end of November at a South East RFCA ceremony where he was appointed as one of the Lord Lieutenant’s cadets for Kent.
Cadet Flight Sergeant Daniel W, of 129 (Tunbridge Wells) Squadron was bestowed this honour at University of Greenwich Medway Campus, where Lord Lieutenant of Kent, The Lady Colgrain, awarded Kent RAF Air Cadets, staff and cadets with these top accolades. She is the county’s official representative of His Majesty The King.
Lord Lieutenant awards are an important means of recognising valuable Reserve and Cadet Force service. Danny fills us in on how the award came about and what it entails:
'I joined the Air Training Corps (ATC) about four years ago, and have since engaged in a variety of events, for example Gold DofE, flying, gliding, shooting, fieldcraft, music etc. I've been promoted to the rank of Flight Sergeant, which is the highest rank attainable at my age. There are various awards and appointments available to cadets across the country, one of which is the post of Lord Lieutenant's Cadet.
'The Lord Lieutenant of each county selects a few cadets for this role, which involves accompanying the Lord Lieutenant on ceremonial events. I'm excited for the opportunity to serve the ATC in this new and interesting capacity, and I am grateful for the recognition of achievement afforded to me by this award.'
Well done Daniel! Well deserved we are all very proud of you!
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