www.royallatin.org
October 2023
Issue 78
T H E L A T I N wwwwww
From the Headteacher - David Hudson
Dear Parents & Guardians I hope you enjoy this vibrant edition of The Latin. This month has been incredibly busy and it has been a joy to see so many wonderful activities taking place. The 600th Anniversary Gala Ball was a special occasion, bringing together so many friends, both past and present of the school. It was also a way of helping to mark this momentous year in our history - we have no records of how our previous centenaries were celebrated (or, indeed, if they were recognised at all!), so it has been an important part of 2023 that we leave a legacy for future generations. As we approach the end of this calendar year, we still have a couple of events to add to our list. Please do join us on 14th November to share the memories and thoughts of six illustrious Old Latins from a range of professions. Our Evening with Inspirational Royal Latin Women (free entry - see details on page 6) promises to be a wonderful evening and it is a chance to hear the voices of women to help to balance a history all too often dominated by men. Back in school, this edition captures a flavour of the incredible impact of our recent Enrichment Day. It was heartening to see students immerse themselves in so many different activities, often producing finished products of outstanding quality. This day helps to put into practice our commitment to developing LATIN values and virtues with the aim of producing students who are able to live happy and well-rounded lives.
The Royal Latin School Chandos Road, Buckingham MK18 1AX Tel: 01280 813065 Email: office@royallatin.org Website: www.royallatin.org
Headteacher: Mr David Hudson (Cantab)
20th October 2023 Dear Students, Parents and Guardians No doubt we are all still coming to terms with Mr Hudson's announcement of his retirement at the end of the 2023/24 school year. After what will have been 15 years of exemplary service to the school, its students, parents, staff, alumni and governors, we do need to let go, as difficult and as sad as it will be for all of us. But let's also be happy. Happy for Mr Hudson and his family. Happy in the knowledge that we still have Mr Hudson for another nine months during which time we will celebrate his contribution with the panache that the Royal Latin has amply demonstrated during our 600th anniversary year. The Full Governing Body - made up of currently 15 community, staff and parent governors - is already working hard behind the scenes to ensure that we attract and recruit from the very best pool of candidates. We want to reassure you that we take this responsibility incredibly seriously and will make sure that we plan meticulously and keep everyone informed and involved so that we minimise the uncertainty that a change in school leader can otherwise cause. We intend to advertise the role from the end of November until early January, with school visits available to prospective applicants during that period. Shortlisted candidates will be put through their paces both at formal interviews and through observed interactions with students and staff, amongst other testing, at the end of January 2024. We will be supported by specialist HR and Education sector expertise to help us in our deliberations and there is much government guidance to help us get the recruitment process absolutely spot on. We are confident that there will be huge interest in the role and that we will have high calibre applicants from which to choose our next school leader. As a first step we've set up a very short GoogleForm to get your initial views on what you believe are important qualities for a future headteacher, and the positive things that the school currently means to you and your children / students. The intention is to generate worldclouds for the governors to consider alongside how we shape the future requirements for the role. We will be asking students also to complete this after the half term break. The GoogleForm can be accessed via the following link: Headteacher wordcloud quiz. The link will close on Friday 3rd November. If you have any immediate concerns or comments, you can email HTrecruitment@royallatin.org. Whilst we cannot guarantee to respond to every individual email, governors will consider any contact that we receive from you and we will take other opportunities to seek your views. Yours sincerely Philip Dart Chair of Governors on behalf of the Full Governing Body
The Gold Gala Ball and Extraordinary People Awards
We were thrilled to welcome nearly 400 guests to our Gold Gala Ball on 30th September, including current and former parents, corporate partners and friends of the school, as well as many alumni, some of whom had travelled long distances to be part of this celebration of our school in its 600th year. We've been overwhelmed by the positive feedback received after the event, and by how this feedback conveys just how much the Royal Latin has meant, and still means, to so many members of the school community, especially Old Latins. The Ball also hosted the inaugural 'Extraordinary People Awards' - seeking to reflect the Royal Latin values and virtues and to recognise those in our community who have demonstrated extraordinary qualities in their efforts to overcome challenges and help others. The award recipients were chosen by a panel of judges from our community. The glittering ceremony was hosted by Headteacher David Hudson and Chair of Governors, Phil Dart, with sponsors and special guests being invited to the stage to present each recipient with their award. Gala Ball guests were treated to a brief film about each recipient, to share the work they do to encourage and support those in their community. Congratulations to all of the deserving winners (below and overleaf), and huge thanks to the sponsors who made the awards possible. Penny Mason (Leadership Award, sponsored by ek robotics), Mike Spencer-Jones (Resilience Award, sponsored by Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team), Peter and Rosemary Frohock (Teamwork Award , sponsored by HSO), Ross Hockham (Innovation Award, sponsored by Racelogic), Peter McNiven Hay (Nurturing Award, sponsored by Denise Griffiths, Old Latin)
The Gold Gala Ball and Extraordinary People Awards (continued) (Click on each Award winner's photo for full details)
Join us for a fascinating evening in conversation with some of the Royal Latin's most dynamic and successful female leaders. Our panel includes Royal Latin alumni ('Old Latins' who've led the way in the media, the diplomatic and civil service, STEM education, wealth management and the Royal Navy. Our panelists include: Dame Shan Morgan DCMG, Chair of the Royal Devon NHS Trust and former Head of the Civil Services of the Welsh Government Lakechia Jeanne, Biomedical Scientist; Founder of Girls in Science Commodore Alison Hofman RRC KHNS Royal Navy. Head of Navy Healthcare and Head of the Royal Navy Medical Service Sam Tatlow MBE, Creative Diversity Partner, ITV Virginia Sentance MBE, Deputy Director International Policy, HM Treasury Sarah Deaves, Head of Financial Planning and Personal Wealth, ABDRN Entry to this event is free of charge, but pre-booking is essential. Please book your tickets here.
On Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st September, Year 7 visited Willen Lake as part of their transition to RLS. Here are a few comments from students:
“The thrilling combination of archery, raft building and paddle boarding was amazing fun. I particularly enjoyed the paddle boarding because it helped build my teamwork skills with everyone needing to paddle at the same time to make the paddleboard move. I loved being pulled along by my fellow classmates behind the paddleboard after I jumped in and held onto the back. It may have only been a day but it will last a lifetime.”
“Everyone came home with elongated smiles after the brilliant, lengthy time they spent in the amazing outdoors made and ever-lasting memories while creating bonds between their new classmates. Some built rafts with barrels and logs which involved getting wet in the water and held by life jackets, some jumped from a high tower with a safe harness and some went kayaking and paddle boarding. The staff were always ready to help and made waves with their motorboats to entertain the children.”
Year 7 Visit
“We did archery, and a bunch of watersports, paddleboarding, canoeing and raft building. Year 7 had loads of fun on this trip.”
“I really enjoyed going to Willen Lake with BDN. I think it was a really good chance to make good friends in our form and learn more about each other and our teachers. My group personally did high ropes, raft building and paddle boarding, although I know that other groups did lots of other fun activities! My favourite was paddle boarding, when we got to paddle around the lake and play lots of fun games in the water. Overall, it was an incredible experience and I would definitely go again.”
On Enrichment days all students are off timetable. These provide opportunities to develop skills that underpin our LATIN ethos beyond the academic curriculum. Enrichment day develops the full range of Latin Learning skills, including constructive competition, with a sense of community and belonging within each House. Students are encouraged to try something new and work with students across all year groups within the same House. The following pages include a snapshot of some of the activities.
Winner: Denton
Enrichment Day - 10th October
This year, our 600th anniversary celebration, had the theme, ‘The Next 600 Years’, which inspired an extraordinary outpouring of creative imagination. Thank you so much to everyone who took part. Many congratulations to Denton, the winning creative writers - Rory, Simran , Jeremy, Dylan and Henry. As one would expect, dystopian futures featured heavily, but there was also a promising signal of hope. We had two archive stories. Denton’s marvellous contribution, was titled ‘The Last Archive of Droid ZE2525’, with the subheading: If you are reading this, humanity is no more. Heed their hubris and continue their legacy. This is their memory: ‘Droid ZE52525’ records interviews with ‘The Rich’, ‘The Family’, ‘The Old’ and ‘The Young’, exposing the hubris that destroyed the planet, but also offering hope. The record ends with: So was this humanity’s legacy? A handful of grubs squirming between sun-bleached cadavers? No. I know now the joy of humanity. For all of its pitfalls, and there were many, it persevered. Throughout the wars and climate cataclysms, the murders and collapses, humanity never faltered. And now, here, at their end, they faced it graciously - other archivists may argue this does not fit with human nature, but I would disagree. As I travelled that strange land, I met all facets of humanity, and they taught me that humanity would face its end with optimism. That is the legacy I intend to enshrine in my logs for whomever may find me - one of resilience and a refusal to give up. That is the message I wish for you, unknown reader, to heed - don’t repeat their mistakes, but follow their spirit.
Creative Writing
Ruding's clever contribution was also in the form of an archive record, documenting memories from the centuries from 2023 to 600 years in the future and discovered in a vault. The story opens: Forgive me for this introduction – I recognise it is far detached from the formality that such a paper should have – but little to say, I do not think any of us expected Terra-1 to be in such a state. Based on last radio contact and signals picked up being transmitted to the stars, Terra-1 (the home-world of our cousins who sent our ancestors to the stars) should be in complete and utter ruin. Instead, what we stumbled upon is a completely normal and functioning biosphere. However, that is not to say that our discoveries were bland. They were not. See, what originally drew us back was an orderly radio signal which we managed to track back to a specific location in the north of our cousins’ home. There, we found a vault made of black steel, the name on the door being ‘Eden’. Verney’s chilling story was about the rebellion of human beings who had been microchipped. Newton’s story was set in a spaceship where the utopian life is disturbed by a drug trial using reptilian DNA. Stratton’s dystopia abounded in war and carnage and Barton’s story featured the possible horrors of AI. (Overviews not in rank order - except for Denton!) I would like to express special appreciation to the sixth formers who ran their house competitions on their own, Ben Cheese for Newton and Emily Williams for Stratton, and also thank you so much to the English department staff who took part. From Mrs Mason, Teacher of English
Journalism
Holly Schneidau Year 9 with sixth form helper Jess Coleman
Runner up: Stratton
Umar Muhammad Year 9 and Evie Kennedy Year 11
Enrichment Day - Photography
Barton: In this picture we wanted to display forms of leadership through different life forms. The original photo was of humans however, the future may entail contact with extraterrestrial beings. We channelled this by editing humans into non-human life forms.
RLS Students embarked on a mission to foresee how teaching would look in the future. It was a great opportunity to mix their photographic skills with their imagination. After some training on photo editing, they went looking for ideas in line with their given 'LATIN Virtue'.
Leadership
Ruding: In these photos it shows students working together to win a competition. In the future, robots could be in this position that they are in now.
Verney: Looking out of the portal is looking into the future. Imagine the possibilities.
Aspiration
Newton: Newton’s team captain giving advice to a younger player who was feeling nervous. This shows how leaders can make people inspired and help them in their future lives.
Barton: In this picture, we wanted to display the future technologies that may be developed in science, where team members can communicate non-verbally. Each person can communicate ideas with each other mentally, allowing for an efficient, seamless communication of respect and teamwork.
Ruding: In this photos it shows that in the future it could be robots playing sports and understanding human ways. There isn't much light because we would not need it. This is because of how futuristic our world could become. This is the netball match of Year 8 and Year 7 Ruding vs Newton.
Teamwork
Innovation
Verney: This is innovation as teleportation is a new idea and this image shows how technology could improve and shows someone teleporting down the stairs.
Stratton: There will be portals to travel in space to go from one place to another without moving
Denton: The person on the left got injured, the person looking at the camera is helping him.
Newton: Technology can be used to nurture and aid children who will be in the future. Learning and education will be completely different in the future.
Nurturing
On Enrichment Day, we ran our own event, called Project Elysium. It had the brief - ‘Earth is inhabitable’, and students (from Year 7 - 9) had to choose one of our six fictional planets as a new home. Each planet had a unique climate, terrain and solar capabilities. Faced with three problems - generating electricity, making transport, and building infrastructure on this planet - the students then had to create survival solutions that were suited to their planet. They all combated this successfully and had incredibly innovative ideas such as on the planet Aqualith, composed of 90% water, they came up with hydroelectric power to provide renewable energy, maximising use of the planet’s resources. Overall, the event was a huge success and all pupils enjoyed themselves, as well as learning new skills like TinkerCAD, Google Slides as well as reasoning, presenting and communication as well as problem solving skills. Parineet, Sonali, Aidan, Prayksha, Nidula, Vilekha, Samuel
The Latin Hackathon by Parineet Vernekar Year 12
GAMES FESTIVAL 2023
On 15th October some students from Years 11, 12 & 13 went to the EGX Games Fesival in London. You wouldn’t immediately expect ‘Specsavers’ to be at a computer games festival, but their presence was unmissable. Alongside students playing video games past and present, and learning about the games industry, they could also consider the impact of gaming on their long-term health. Discounting genetic factors, have you considered the potential long-term impact that excessive screen time and headset usage can have on vision and hearing? Specsavers had people playing a video game twice. The second time; the video game had a blur filter applied to simulate the effects of blurry eyes. Scores from both the sessions were then compared and participants were invited to fill out a survey about their physical health in relation to playing video games. Here at RLS, when exploring information reliability, students will consider a question about whether excessive screen time can cause permanent myopia. Different studies and professionals have differing conclusions, yet not all of them specifically consider children. Those that do include studies that suggest that children are at risk (e.g https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-58274916) . Research will show you conflicting ideas including whether it is staring at bright close up screens that can cause long-term problems or whether it is not spending sufficient time outdoors. The staff on the stand explained how some developers are no-longer testing Virtual Reality software (for use on VR headsets) with under 12s. This is because they’ve concluded that they can cause permanent damage to developing eyes. If I understood correctly, children can have difficulty in decoding real and virtual depth of field. Not being able to tell the difference has been seen to cause detrimental changes to developing eyes. Specsavers were advocating what seems sensible advice: forcing yourself to have a 5-minute break for every 20 minutes of screen time - especially for children whose eyes are still developing. The result is better long-term health. Given the addictive nature of technology this is not always easy to achieve, but perhaps something that will be given greater emphasis as we begin to understand the longer-term impacts of excessive screen time whilst growing up.
Including an unusual visit to Specsavers! From Mr James - Head of Computing
On 3rd October, the clock in the clock tower chimed for the first time in over 40 years. It took over four hours to fit a newly machined shaft into the mechanism to enable the clock to chime on the hour, every hour. A welcome sound in the courtyard, which would have been heard many years ago by the workers in the tower going about their day on this lovely site, at the same time steam trains were arriving at the station on the corner. New instructions regarding maintaining the clock are being followed including the winding up of both mechanisms, along with using the correct oil to help ensure it will keep good time and chime for many years to come. At 2:00p.m. on 3rd October, a test was carried out to check all was working and the first official chime was recorded at 3:00p.m.
The winding up of the clock will take place every Friday and will last eight days. If anyone would like to try winding it up, please get in touch with Mr N Stafford, Head Caretaker - a head for heights is advised!
The School Clock chimes after 40+ years!
On Friday 6th October one of our very favourite dinner ladies, Sue Hastings, affectionately known as 'Fluffy', retired after 24 years of service. She was hugely popular with the students and staff alike. We will all miss you Fluffy! All the best for the future from us all at RLS
Farewell Fluffy!
Congratulations
To RLS teacher of Guitar, Mr Brewer for completing the Oxford Half Marathon on Sunday 15th October, raising over £800 for Endometriosis UK. Well done Mr Brewer!