SILVER SENATE INVITE TO SWINDON CHAMBER…
The Silver Senate is an elected student body within the Specialist Resource Provision who run themselves. This came about to encourage student voice, which also feeds into the student school council. They worked hard on their campaigns and were congratulated in their roles during a ceremony with the Mayor in December last year. Since then they have been important in gathering feedback from the SRP students and communicating with the SRP leadership team, resulting some positive changes within the department.
On 7th May the Silver Senate visited the Swindon Council Chamber by invitation of Madame Mayor, Barbara Parry. During the visit they had the chance to ask questions about what happens in the chamber and what the role of Mayor entails. The Mayor also listened to some of the things that mattered to them and took them back to the Mayor’s parlour where they saw some of the treasures collected over the years and the mace. We learned that the mace was one of six in the world, holding the crest for Edward VIII, and the meaning of the symbols on the Swindon Coat of Arms.
The Senate were a credit to the SRP and the school. It was a fitting end as they dissolve for the Summer, working to engage other SRP students until they recruit in September.
YEAR 11 FINAL ASSEMBLY…
Year 11 had their final assembly in school on Friday 3rd May. This was a chance for us to dust off the old assembly layout they had back in 2019 and show a video, including pictures of them back Year 7 and compare them to present day photos. The assembly started off with comments teachers had made about their classes with ‘Take That’ played in the background – Much to Mr Cush’s disappointment! Awards were given for mentee of the year, student of the year, Spirit of the Ridgeway and mentor group of the year. The Yearbook awards for ‘best glow up’ and ‘most likely to go off grid’ amused everyone in the hall! Year 11 had a good send-off but were reminded that the hard work starts here!
Mr Wakefield.
RIDGEWAY SCHOOL PTA QUIZ…
Being charitable whilst feeling a sense of loss of intellectual ability; these two seem miles apart from each other, but there is one thing they are synonymous with: Ridgeway’s PTA Quiz, which was held at the end of April. The attendance was amazing, with members of the community, teachers, and even an SLT team all getting involved. All in all, there were eight rounds - and I would know considering I added up all the scores, of all the rounds, of all TEN teams.
The battleground where wit, actual knowledge, and educated guesses collided was set around tables adorned with pens, pencils, and paper on top of buffet roll that was (expertly) rolled and cut. As well as music, we had rounds on sports, emoji, dingbats, capitals (because it can’t be arranged by a Geography teacher without something geographical involved) and many more. You can imagine the mashups of (self-proclaimed) trivia experts in conjunction with the hesitant attendees who were only there for funsies with their mates. As our quizmaster Mrs Meredith stood in front of everyone, anticipation crackled through the air, with everyone waiting.
The sports round was a tricky one, at least for me whose activity level is lower than a sloth’s heart rate during a nap. The music round was traumatic and very distressing for me. You may think I’m being dramatic here; however, I can assure you that my reaction is warranted. Imagine how I felt having an English exam the next day, and there I was being reminded of Zayn Malik leaving 1D and marking the start of their breakup. As if that wasn’t enough, they asked what year George Michael, David Bowie, and Prince all died! We had dingbats, which everyone did phenomenally on. (I won’t say it’s because the answers flashed up very briefly on the screen, but that may be a contributing factor). The capitals round was a strange one, I feel like they were just random; I didn’t even register Austria was different to Australia, and I got a grade 8 in my GCSE Geography. Its capital is Vienna, if you were wondering. The chocolate round was a good one. There was a tasting test (unless you had allergies, sorry you couldn’t get involved) and then questions that only a true chocolate lover would know. A few rounds more had laughter and teamwork shining through.
Watching this event was almost comical. Many expressions were telling of how the person wearing them felt. Confident smirks contrasted confused features, however all teams had ups and downs. The one unwavering team was SLT’s, who seemed to hold it together with their amalgamation of trivia knowledge. The night became increasingly surreal, with the occasional bribe to convince me to give some teams the edge, but I remained impartial, exploiting my opportunity to say no to SLT for once.
The teams battled it out for a cash prize of £50, which was ultimately won by the team that regarded themselves as ‘Not Management Material’ who were conveniently seated behind SLT, known for their role in management. SLT’s name of Break In Service may be the reason they did so well, breaking into the second place alongside a ragtag team comprising of a mix of players (who only met on the evening); the message there is that sometimes we need to band together to get to the top.
An excellent range of refreshments were available (pizzas, hot dogs and mocktails to name a few), and there was a 50-50 raffle, to raise money. I awkwardly shuffled from table to table asking people if they wanted to enter the draw for £5. Half of the money the raffle raised would go to the winner, and half would go to the Prospect Hospice in Wroughton. A total of 28 donations meant a summation of £140, giving the winner £70.
Overall, the night was a success, being enjoyable both for the participants and the volunteers, whilst raising £420 (almost double the amount raised last year) to be shared equally between Prospect Hospice and the PTA (who invest in a variety of projects to enhance student experience).
Written by Imaan Azam (Year 12), edited by Mrs Meredith