Rhetoric, the art of persuasive speaking and writing, has played a key role in education since the days of Demosthenes and good schools have always taken Public Speaking and Debating seriously. Three of our students recently spent four days at The Royal Russell School International Model United Nations conference  joining almost five hundred other delegates

Representing The Republic of Togo - Joseph, Natasha and Luke.

 from across Britain, Europe and the Middle East and from as far away as California and Tokyo.

The Park School joined NASA and many others who have gone before in designing and launching our own range of solid fuel rockets as shown by Claudia, Kyle and Matilda above. Under the careful eye of our visiting mad scientist Adrian Dening (seen below) and his assistant Tone, pupils had worked in teams to design a range of exciting launch systems with names like 'Vostok 2' and 'Dynamite Bob'. These produced quite a stir as they were put on display before being test launched at a local farm.

During their training, pupils had the opportunity to study the physics of rocket propulsion and the essential principles of control surface areas, designing for stability and maximising flight duration. The hard work paid off as all the rockets launched successfully with only one taking a rather low trajectory and two reaching such an altitude they were lost over the distant trees!

This special event clearly helped support the learning of all our Year 11 pupils, and we hope it has paved the way for future events of a similar nature. Most of all though it was a great fun way to study this aspect of the Physics curriculum! Our thanks go out to Adrian, Tone and to Mr Mangles for the loan of one of his fields (for all the launches), and not least to our Head of Science Mr Dunacn Smith, together they contributed to the success of a most memorable learning experience.  More pictures below.....

Adrian does some fine tuning to Lucy's rocket, while back at school Hugh prepares his team- Sanga and Jenny - for the launch

Kyle and Jimmy about to retreat to safe ground!

If you are interested in other special events in science and astronomy run by Adrian then why not visit his website: http://www.adriandening.com

The Head, Mrs Jane Huntington, welcomed parents and governors and highlighted in her speech that although there has recently been much negative publicity about the recent GCSE exams and talk of the new English Baccalaureate Qualification to be introduced in 2015, we were there to celebrate the achievement of our students and the thousands of hours of work that had been put in by them and their teachers, to achieve these results.  Mrs Huntington went on to say,

"At The Park School, we have had an excellent year. 79% of all our GCSE results were graded A* - C, an increase of 8% on last year. At A Level, for the 7th year in succession we have achieved 100% pass rate at A Level with almost 20% of candidates achieving A* or A grades in all their subjects and 85% of all subjects taken being graded A* - C. (Three of our successful Sixth Formers below Matthew, Connor and Tamsin).

"We are tremendously proud of all our students not just because of the grades and statistics that all this work has produced, but because of the growth, work ethic, maturity, vision, self-discipline, focus and much more that has evolved in our students on the way to achieving their results; to quote Aristotle: 'Knowing yourself is the beginning of wisdom.'

This is surely the most important aspect of all achievements; knowing who you are, what you enjoy studying, why you enjoy it, what you want to achieve at the end of it and how you can find the best route for you personally to achieve your future goals".

Reverend Ian Green (pictured below with Head, Mrs jane Huntington) was our guest speaker and presented the awards to our students. He is stepping down from his role as Chair of Governors to take up his new appointment as Minister of the Free Church in Amersham; so we took this opportunity to celebrate his service to the school. Mr Neil Baker, spoke in glowing terms of Reverend Ian Green's supportive and energetic leadership and Mrs Huntington presented him with an engraved tankard.

In his speech, Reverend Ian Green asked the students to consider what their memories will be of their school years, whether it would be particular lessons, examinations, sporting events or drama productions. He hoped they would have fond memories of their teachers' integrity and authenticity. He mentioned that Jesus was a charismatic teacher who would be remembered into eternity. He concluded with the hope that the positive and happy memories they will gain from attending The Park School will stay with them for the rest of their lives. 

The evening ended with refreshments and the opportunity to be photographed with friends and parents, a selection of pictures can be seen below.  A CD of pictures from the evening may be optained from the School Office.

Two weeks into term time we piled into the buses and headed out for a day by the seaside; eating ice-cream, viewing the Olympic sites and (most importantly for some) shopping! Having arrived just after lunchtime the group disbanded with instructions to be back by the buses at 4. Most of the students headed down past the Pavilion to the end of the pier to watch the motorboat races that were taking place before heading into town to find the nearest subway, burger king or chippie.

Following this some ventured down to Brewers Quay – an assortment of small shops across the harbour, whilst others took up position on the beach for some much appreciated sun bathing. All in all everyone had a great day and arrived back to school exhausted.