Courage

As we return from our end of term break and start the last weeks of revision before the exam season, this weeks theme is courage.

It Takes Courage   

It takes strength to be firm, it takes courage to be gentle.
It takes strength to conquer, it takes courage to surrender.
It takes strength to be certain, it takes courage to have doubt.
It takes strength to fit in, it takes courage to stand out.

It takes strength to feel a friend's pain, it takes courage to feel your own pain.
It takes strength to endure abuse, it takes courage to stop it.
It takes strength to stand alone, it takes courage to lean on another.
It takes strength to love, it takes courage to be loved.

It takes strength to survive, it takes courage to live.

Anon

Ambition

With Year 9's in the throws of making some difficult choices and Year 11's revising hard for their exams and next steps in life the topic of the week is ambition.


If you would rise above the throng
And seek the crown of fame, 
You must do more than drift along
And merely play the game. 
Whatever path your feet may tread,
Whatever be your quest, 
The only way to get ahead
Is striving for the best.

'Tis not enough to wish to do
A day's toil fairly well;
If you would rise to glory, you
Must hunger to excel.
The boy who has the proper stuff
Goes into every test,
Not seeking to be "good enough,"
But eager to be "best."

Aim high! And though you fail today
And may tomorrow fail, 
Keep pounding steadily away,
Some day you'll hit the nail.
At no half-way mark ever pause
n smug content to rest,
Who would win honor and applause
Must want to be the best.

The best must be your aim in life,
The best in sport or work,
Success in any form of strife
Falls never to the shirk.
The crowns of leadership are few,
The followers move in throngs,
If you would be a leader, you
Must shun the "drift alongs."

By Edgar Albert Guest

World Book Day

Thanks to every tutor group who took part in the WBD quiz, I hope you all resisted the temptation to use the internet! 

Here are all the answer! We hope you enjoyed It!

Author (year)		Director (year)
Stephanie Meyer (2005)	Twilight	Catherine Hardwicke (2008)
Dan Brown (2003)	The Da Vinci Code	Ron Howard (2006)
Lauren Weisberger (2003)	The Devil Wears Prada	David Frankel( 2006)
Nick Hornby (1995)	High Fidelity	Stephen Frears (2000)
Michael Crichton (1990)	Jurassic Park	Stephen Spielberg (1993)
Ian Fleming (1958)	Dr. No	Terence Young (1962)
J.K Rowling (1998)	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	Chris Columbus (2002)
Roald Dahl (1964)	Charley and the Chocolate Factory	Mel Stewart (1971)
Orson Scott Card (1985)	Enders Game	Gavin Hood (2013)
Rick Riordan (2005)	Percy Jackson Lightning Thief	Chris Columbus (2010)
J.G. Ballard (1984)	Empire of the Sun	Stephen Spielberg (1987)
Philip Pullman (1995)	Northern Lights	Chris Wietz (2007)
Meg Cabot (2001)	The Princess Diaries	Gary Marshall (2001)
Cornelia Funke (2004)	Inkheart	Ian Softley (2008)
Neil Gaimen (2002)	Coralline	Henry Selick (2009)
Louise Rennison (1999)	Angus, thongs and perfect full frontal snogging	Gurinder Chadra (2008)
Anthony Horowitz (2000)	Stormbreaker	Geoffrey Sax (2006)
Jeff Kinney (2008)	Diary of a Wimpy Kid	Thor Freudenthal (2010)
Cressida Cowell (2003)	How to Train Your Dragon	Dean deBlois and Chris Sanders (2010)
William Shakespeare (between 1591-1595)	Romeo and Juliet	Baz Luhrmann (1996)

The Choices We Make

As year 9 students begin to make their choices for their option subjects this poems looks at the nature of choices and why we make these decisions.

The Choices We Make

 

 

Take us in different paths.

We always stop to think,

Later on in life- What if?

Would the grass have been greener on the other side?

If I'd made the other choice, what would've happened?

Do the choices we make

Define our life,

Setting us on a particular path?

 

Life is always about choices,

And we never know for certain

Whether the choice we made is

Right or wrong,

Because, as it is said,

"In life, there is never a definite right or wrong,"

Rather, we take the path

That leads us to a better future

For ourselves, and those with us.

Revelations about life always come

At different points in life,

Forcing us to reflect, and wonder-

Is this the appropriate life for us?

That's just life, in general.

We may never know

What the other path may have been

Holding for us,

And we may never get the chance to.

But our obligation to reflect

Always makes us wonder,

About the current path we're in,

And the decisions we took

To chance upon the current path

We tread on.

The path we take

Also starts to really define our personality.

The choices we had to make,

The sacrifices taken,

And the maturity we seek

Define what really took us on path we are on now.

Any decision taken can lead

To a different turning point, or a dead-end-

Thus making us reflect on the decisions we took,

And seeing where life eventually took us to.

But, there is always one sure thing:

Like change being constant in our lives,

There are always choices.

These voice may or may not be good,

But they are there,

With every step we take.

It forces us to adapt,

Continuously testing us;

Our strengths, our weaknesses,

Our willpower, and the determination we have.

It compels us to see how well we fit,

And of our survival.

But that's life-Life is about survival,

"Survival of the fittest."

Truth

Who am I ?

My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading "Keep Off."

 

My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.

 by Carl Sandburg

Jaques Cousteau

Ms Hughes in English says.

"I was reading at the age of 12ish - would probably be one of  Jacques Cousteau's books 'The Silent World' - I was crazy about the oceans and seas and the world that existed beneath the surface."

Favourite reads as a child!

We are restarting the My Favourite read for all School Staff. Visit the label "As a child" to see what your tutor or favourite member of the Administration staff read when they were about your age!

First is Staff  Mrs Hughes IT

"I read many books as a child, like Mrs Nichols I read the Chalet School books and I also enjoyed many Enid Blyton books. "

"The books I remember most are the Barney Mysteries and 'Secret' series, both are about a group of children who have adventures whilst solving mysteries all over the world."

How Do We Deal With Prejudice?

even those of us who've worked very hard
at not being prejudiced, have some type of
prejudice remaining. for example:
it could be prejudice by color, over religion,
over political views, concerning sexual orient-
ation.... prejudice against those who have money,
or those who dont! ...etc.
all prejudice is wrong by nature, most of it grounded
in the 'self'... in our own irrational fears, and our
stubborn streak of ignorance....
it's always taught, but doesnt have to be allowed!
it ofen hides under the banner of morality, or the
flags of patriotism...
we battle prejudice by being open minded, being
willing to listen, and learning to see ourselves
in other people...
if we say we have no prejudices, we have lost,
and prejudice has us bound.
if we admit our prejudices, name them, look at
them with naked eyes and resolve, then we're making
headway....
prejudice in the end is humanity failing to be human!
being human is a 24 hour a day,7 days a week job!   

Eric Cockrell   

Excuses !

All My Great Excuses

I started on my homework,
but my pen ran out of ink…
My hamster ate my homework…
My computer’s on the blink…


I tripped and dropped my homework
in the soup my mom was cooking…
My brother flushed it down the toilet
when I wasn’t looking…

My mother ran my homework
through the washer and the dryer…
An airplane crashed into our house…
My homework caught on fire…

Tornadoes blew my notes away…
Volcanoes rocked our town…
My books were taken hostage
by an evil killer clown…

Some aliens abducted me…
I had a shark attack…
A pirate swiped my homework
and refused to give it back…


I worked on these excuses
so darned long my teacher said,
“I think you’ll find it’s easier
to do the work instead.”

By Kenn Nesbitt

The Greatest Poem About Success and Achievement ?

Do you know a better poem about success and achievement, if so let us know.

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Good Books

Good books are friendly things to own.
If you are busy they will wait.
They will not call you on the phone
Or wake you if the hour is late.
They stand together row by row,
Upon the low shelf or the high.
But if you're lonesome this you know:
You have a friend or two nearby.




The fellowship of books is real.
They're never noisy when you're still.
They won't disturb you at your meal.
They'll comfort you when you are ill.
The lonesome hours they'll always share.
When slighted they will not complain.
And though for them you've ceased to care
Your constant friends they'll still remain.

 

Good books your faults will never see
Or tell about them round the town.
If you would have their company
You merely have to take them down.
They'll help you pass the time away,
They'll counsel give if that you need.
He has true friends for night and day
Who has a few good books to read.

 

Edgar Guest

New Year, New You

To the New Year

 

 

With what stillness at last

you appear in the valley

your first sunlight reaching down

to touch the tips of a few

high leaves that do not stir

as though they had not noticed

and did not know you at all

then the voice of a dove calls

from far away in itself

to the hush of the morning

 

 

so this is the sound of you

here and now whether or not

anyone hears it this is

where we have come with our age

our knowledge such as it is

and our hopes such as they are

invisible before us

untouched and still possible

 

By  W. S. Merwin