PRINCIPAL BLOG 5TH JULY 2024

COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS TO BERT’S BOOKS…

Ms Bridgewater and Mr Burtwell took the Community Champions to Bert’s Books on Wednesday to spend the credit that we earn when Bert comes and sells books at events in school.  Books were chosen based on students’ knowledge of what is currently popular and by taking advice from Michael and Alex in the shop.  Watch out for these hitting the library shelves very soon….

YEAR 11 PROM…

It was the annual Year 11 Prom on Friday 21st June at the Marriott Hotel. This was a chance for Year 11 students to party hard after all the hard work they have put into revision and exams all year. The evening started with glamorous entrances as usual with the most memorable being a tank that decided to break down at the end of the red carpet! Prom King was Henry Williams, Prom Queen was Alex Noakes, best dressed male and female were Charlie Eves and Miya Zheng respectively. This year group have worked so hard and we are so proud of them and look forward to welcoming them back into school on results day in August!

Mr Wakefield.

THE CAMBRIDGE CHEMISTRY CHALLENGE…

Our year 12 Chemists were put to the test again last month when they all participated in The Cambridge Chemistry Challenge. This elite challenge is organised by University of Cambridge for Y12 students across the country and is designed to challenge them beyond the curriculum to problem-solve and think critically at degree level.

12968 of the brightest minds up and down the country participated this year and we are proud of all our students for the perseverance they showed throughout the challenge.

When the results were released, Ridgeway students achieved an incredible 10 awards in total. The results are as follows;

Copper award- Abida Ahmed, JC Beronilla & Freya Wallace

Silver award- Abdelrahman Mahmoud, Arthur Lok Juk Leung & Jeduthun Jones

Gold award- Bea Bond, Ciara Harrison & Eleri Owen

Only 10.81% of all applicants received the Gold award, with 20.99% awarded Silver award and 29.43% awarded the Copper award.

One student however, had an outstanding performance and achieved the top Roentgenium award which was only given to 0.539% of all competitors. Huge congratulations to Rhys James, who was one of only 70 students to earn this amazing accolade and as a result Rhys has been invited to the prestigious St Catharine’s College Cambridge to partake in a residential at the end of the summer! Rhys will have an opportunity to experience university lectures and lab work with some of the top Chemistry professors in the world! We are delighted to celebrate this incredible achievement and applaud the remarkable efforts of Rhys.

As a Chemistry team we are very proud of our Y12 students and cannot wait to see what the future has in store for them!  Mr Pittaway and Miss Gallagher

HOUSE ROUNDERS REPORT…

What do Coventry City Football Club and Kennet House Rounders Team have in common? They’re both teams I support that were wronged. Yes, this is a callout. I won't say they were rigged, but I will heavily imply it. 

Moving aside from my bitter remarks, it was a delightful day. The sun shone, which unfortunately melted the chocolate I had in my bag; however, a nice breeze came along and provided the perfect atmosphere for the classic British sport. After the initial issue of low staff numbers, with a bit of hunting (and the arrival of some latecomers) there were three science teachers (Mr Pittaway, Mr Ryan, Mr Atkins, Mr Thomas), a couple of PE teachers (Mr Hill, Mr O’Neill, Miss Larcombe), Miss Curtis-Slater (who did run AWAY from the ball at one point it seemed - either that or the runner) and Miss Loughlin. 

We played three matches of ten minutes, with two matches running at once. Watching two matches at once was difficult, but I managed being as skilful as I am. We had so many players - many of which surprised me with their ability, as well as teachers who surprised with their inability. We had a stray sixth former who also played reasonably well, although his footwear was questionable. Mr Atkins was instantly stumped out by Miss Loughlin, who performed phenomenally for her team, until she was accused of obstructing the way (she’s forgiven because she wore pink, and I love that). Mr Atkins did struggle to hit the ball, requesting ‘granny balls’ which he *still* proceeded to miss. 

We had batters that absolutely sent their balls and bolted, and if they didn’t hit it, they definitely managed to compensate and communicate well to not catch team members out. Fielding was equally as good, with people being caught and stumped out all the time. Occasionally, the ball was fumbled by fielders, but it was comical to witness, so it's all good. Now, there’s only so much even I can say about balls being thrown, hit, and people running; just imagine miscellaneous rounders activity repeated way too much. To paint a more detailed picture, it was a relentless cycle I was trapped in of bowling, a lot of no balls, batting, running, catching, and stumping. 

There was a bit of discrepancy regarding the rules, but as an ex-player (and an expert) I was fully qualified to call no-balls and establish when half-rounders were given if needed. That being said, I didn’t impose my superior knowledge because watching teachers and students ‘lowkey beefing’ was fun.  Blames were placed on everyone, whether it was a dodgy bowl, or just a bad batter, no one was safe. I think it’s worth mentioning that Mr Pittaway was wearing Adidas socks with a Nike outfit, a major fashion faux pas in my book. He also wanted to mention for the record that, despite a (not very) serious injury in the first innings, he was thriving with all the rounders he scored.  

Many students performed incredibly well, and they definitely left a lasting impression. A future Ridgeway student who partook in the match even lost a tooth whilst playing - that’s dedication (it was wobbly and about to come out anyway). I was really shocked with how good it was; I was expecting a match where I’d have to pretend to be impressed, but I promise I actually was. 

In the end, I found myself collecting up some of the equipment, like the good sport I am, and somehow running out of breath from that alone. The standings were as follows:

  • 4th place = Kennet (1 win and 2 losses)
  • 3rd place = Silbury (1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss)
  • 2nd place = Avebury (1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss – but got more rounders overall than Silbury)
  • 1st place = Barbury (2 wins and 1 loss)

Big shout outs to the 40+ students who took part and we look forward to the next competition with anticipation and excitement.  

Imaan Azam (Year 12 Student, Kennet House Captain)

SISTER ACT MUSICAL 9th-12th JULY 2024…

Tickets are still available.  Please see flyer for details…

Updated: 26/06/2024 271 KB