Newsletter · Mr Tony McNally who holds an honours degree in Music Education majoring in percussion and composition. “During the competition he thoroughly enjoyed watching the participants

No: 1138 24th March 2017 www.yarmschool.org

Newsletter

On Thursday 16th March, Oswald House gathered in the sports hall to take part in a onesie workout, in order to raise money for the charity Lepra. The workout involved a Bollywood theme, which included moves that certainly made all of us build up a sweat! From dinosaurs to leopards, the members of Oswald dressed up to enjoy this event with the security of knowing it was all for a good cause. Lepra is a leading charity working to beat leprosy, a disease which affects the most vulnerable people in the world. There are over three million people living with undiagnosed Leprosy, and the money we raised (£1500!)goes towards treatment and support for leprosy sufferers. Many thanks to all the people at Lepra, Mrs Jackson and to everyone else who was involved in making this event so fun and worthwhile.

Victoria Storry

Lepra Onesie Workout

Last Friday, a small team of Second Year pupils took part in the regional round of the junior 'Schools' Challenge Quiz' at Ripon Grammar. Noah Bickenson, Abhinav Ramisetty, Michael Shipman and Jai Trivedi had successfully auditioned for the team and were put up against teams from four other schools from the region in a 'university challenge' style quiz. Each team played every other team once, with the best team overall going through to the inter-regional rounds. Questions ranged from academic topics, to popular culture, and the occasional more abstract question, such as "What is the fifth word in this question?" Yarm played well, showing excellent knowledge from a range of domains, often only losing out on points due to the faster buzzer speed of some of our opponents. Every member of the team made a good contribution to our points totals. We did not do well enough to go through to the inter-regional round, but we did place third overall. This was a fine achievement and I believe that our players will have a good chance in the senior competition when the time comes.

Dr P D Prideaux

More photos on the website - click

Schools' Challenge Quiz

Due to refurbishment work the School Uniform Shop will be closed from 5pm on Wednesday 29th March and reopens on Tuesday 11th April at 1.00pm - 4pm The shop will be open on: Thursday 13th April from 1.00pm - 4pm Tuesday 18th April from 1.00pm - 4pm Normal hours 1.00pm-5pm Tuesday - Thursday from Thursday 20th April

This year the traditional Easter Service, for pupils and staff only, will be held during the normal school day on Wednesday 29th March. The pupils will enjoy a special celebratory Easter lunch and school will finish at 4.00pm as usual. We take this opportunity to wish you a safe and happy holiday and we look forward to seeing pupils return to school on Thursday 20th April.

End of Term Arrangements

Uniform Shop - Easter

Bistro Coffee Deal From the start of next term, takeaway regular coffees will be £1.20 when purchased between 8-9am. Perfect for parents dropping off before heading to work.

NEWS

24th March 2017|Yarm School Newsletter 2 |

Music Festival

The music department held its 10th music festival on Thursday 9th and Friday 10th of March, with an amazing attendance of over 140 applicants. Throughout the music festival there were several categories ranging from drums to singing, participants were arranged into performance levels. The music festival was arranged by Mrs Staggs and adjudicated by Mr Tony McNally who holds an honours degree in Music Education majoring in percussion and composition. “During the competition he thoroughly enjoyed watching the participants and was very impressed by their overall performances” commented Mrs Staggs. Category Name Elementary Piano Grace Hall Intermediate Piano Julia Portsmouth Advanced Piano Lucy Walker Elementary Woodwind Emily Dunn Intermediate Woodwind Jamie Wiltshire Advanced Woodwind Stella Dooris Intermediate Drum Kit Kyle Parker Advanced Drum Kit Alex Maddison Elementary Strings Poppy Gratton Intermediate Strings Ava Brûlé-Walker Advanced Strings Ava Brûlé-Walker Instrumental Jazz/Folk Chris Muir & Beth Roberts Junior Musical Theatre Annabella Burgess Senior Musical Theatre Morgan Burgess & Kate Craig Junior Classical Singing Conall Deane Middle Classical Singing Rebecca Armstrong Junior Popular Vocals Jack Critchlow Middle Popular Vocals Conall Deane Senior Popular Vocals Ella-Joy Hunton Elementary Brass Luke Porter Intermediate Brass Poppy Gratton Advanced Brass Abigail Craig Organ Jamie Wiltshire The Performance by the Most Promising Performer of the Festival was awarded to Jamie Wiltshire.

Jess Coapes

In Geography at the moment, we are looking at Yarm and collecting data about the local area. I really enjoyed going onto Yarm High Street as part of our Geography Fieldwork. In my group, we had great fun figuring out which buildings were commercial, leisure, banks, residential, offices or ‘other’. It felt nice to be trusted and to have some independence as a group whilst at school. We were really happy to be outside school, having fun, collecting important information about Yarm and learning skills for the future. When we were out, we knew all the dangers and made sure we stayed safe. Altogether, it was a great experience and I can’t wait to do some more fieldwork!

Abigail Woolley

1st Year Geography Fieldwork

Tasked with devising and executing a charity crowd funding video, the two teams faced one of their toughest challenges to date. Ella-Joy's team championed Remembering Rebecca, whilst Ben Dickinson's team once again advocated Butterfly Giving. Both teams pitched well, but whilst Ben's team had the slickest video, Lord Sugar, Ms Daly, felt that Ella-Joy's team had more effectively met the requirements of the brief, and they were declared victorious. Whilst Ella-Joy's team enjoyed cream cakes and fresh fruit juice as a reward, Ben was forced back into the boardroom, choosing to take Alex Ravenhall and Leena Mohammed with him, and after probing by Lord Sugar, Leena was the final apprentice to hear the immortal words "You're fired!" Ben received the bonus points for outstanding task contribution from both his team mates and Miss Rhodes/Mr Menzies, whilst Ella-Joy and Katie received the equivalent points on the winning team. With only one week remaining until the winner of Yarm Apprentice 2017 is declared tension is now extremely high! Many thanks to Ms Daly for giving her valuable time to both devise and judge such a realistic and educational task.

Miss C E Rhodes

Yarm Apprentice

NEWS

24th March 2017|Yarm School Newsletter 3 |

Over the Spring term during Tuesday and Thursday activities, we have organised some competitive chess as a preliminary event for the Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge. After 7 rounds, the eventual trophy winner was Freddie Wiles with a perfect score of 7/7. On 6 points were Tom Hall, Shrish Nair, Adam Wright and Gautam Sathyamurthy, on 5 points; Abhinav Sathyamurthy, Anish Krishnan, Vignesh Janakiraman, Tarrun Sandhu on 4.5 points and on 4 points; James Harrison, Matthew Thambyrajah, Michael Shipman and Prateek Sunkavalli. Yarm School will be hosting the Mega Finals of this Chess Challenge on Saturday 6th May. ALL secondary schools are eligible to play without qualifying this year. There is a cost of £15 and pupils should log on their entries on the site; delanceyukschoolschesschallenge.com. The event on the day starts at 9:45, with prize-giving being held at 15:45.

A couple of weeks ago we left the balmy temperatures of the North East in search of some winter conditions. Aviemore is the gateway to the most notoriously harsh mountains of the Cairngorms. Stepping outside in a T-shirt, it was difficult to imagine the near arctic conditions that we would encounter in the mountains. Whilst the rest of the school would be setting down to normal lessons, this group of Fifth Years and Sixth Formers were learning how to walk in crampons and preparing themselves for tough conditions. We spent the day also looking at snow evaluation (chemistry), formation of the corries (geography), the plumage adaptation of the Ptarmigen (biology), ice axe arresting (PE) - truly education for life! Having evaluated the ski conditions, we decided that members of the group who hadn't skied before could have that option, and those that could ski would have a mountaineering day out. Myself and Mr Yates, took the unsteady beginners to the nursery slopes for their first slides and inevitable falls, an excellent day was had in very sunny conditions! The mountaineers returned weary but rewarded with a great day out, climbing and scrambling the classic twin ribs and Fiacaill ridge. Our luck was in - our visit coincided with the local mountain festival. We managed to get tickets for the evening’s events to watch some amazing short films and we were then treated to a presentation by Cedar Wright. It was particularly entertaining to hear of his development as a hippie child to one of the best known (and notorious!) climbers in the world. By Sunday morning we were all pretty exhausted, the weather was stunning and a walk up and over the Pleateau to find deep snow drifts was planned. We found snow over 7 meters deep and a great couple of hours was spent sliding, digging and throwing snow about! All in all a great weekend was had, topped off with fish and chips on the way home!

Mr R Van Opstal

Winter Skills Chess Challenge

Photography Competition

As part of the Photography Club’s brief this term, pupils were given the task of taking a photograph that best encapsulated their idea of spring. There were some fantastic images with some very imaginative and creative entries! The overall prize was awarded to Grace Hall (B2AJWB), with Natasha Davis’ (O2CPM) photograph being highly commended.

Ms H Blakemore

Gra

ce H

all

NEWS

24th March 2017|Yarm School Newsletter 4 |

An afternoon in the company of Palestine's future

“To Alef, the letter that begins the alphabets of both Arabic and Hebrew- two Semitic languages, sisters for centuries. May we find the language that takes us to the only home there is - one another's hearts. Alef knows that a thread of a story stitches together a wound.”

Ibtisam Barakat, Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood

There are currently three exceedingly smart women studying at Durham University, supported by the Palestine Education Trust. They represent the academic elite of their community, having competed for and secured a full educational scholarship to study at postgraduate level, with course fees waived by the Durham University. All three women are Palestinian, two living in the West Bank and one remarkably securing temporary leave of absence from Gaza. Tala Abu Eid, Tamara Barakat and Hoda El Rayes are studying Masters courses in Management, Accountancy and Translation and Interpreting respectively. These students spent a Friday lunchtime engaged in fascinating discourse with a crowded room of Yarm pupils, detailing their experiences growing up, studying and working in Israel-Palestine. For many it was their only first-hand contact with the region, combined with the complexities of coverage of the region in the media. In the afternoon our guests joined an Upper Sixth Politics lesson, providing all with an extended opportunity to explore further the themes raised during the lunchtime session.

The educational and professional background of these women was as impressive as their remarkable fluency in English. Hoda has been a Researcher on an Oxfam project on Economic Recovery in the Gaza Strip, aiming to develop a fair and sustainable business environment and economic recovery. She had

previously worked for the United Nations agency UNWRA in Gaza, working in the Budget and Treasury Divisions. Immediately after graduation she was commissioned by The Guardian newspaper to investigate women’s struggles in post-war reconstruction, education, economics and health. Few young people have such faith invested in them that they are granted such continuous access to the editor of a leading national newspaper. Upon returning to Gaza

Hoda will utilise her enhanced skills to work with donors and investors in the region. Living within what Naom Chomsky has termed the 'largest open air prison in the world', where the majority of the 1.5 million Palestinian suffer food insecurity and scarcity of drinking water, the challenges for Hoda will be immense. Tala’s was educated at Bethlehem University, followed by an early career in advertising and sales, as well as being the co-founder and co-worker at Al-Harah Theater, developing its syllabus and training programmes. She is a renowned youth worker, developing a creative writing programme for Palestinian youth. Fascinatingly she was a basketball coach for a group of otherwise marginalised village women. And if this were not sufficiently diverse - she has represented Palestine in the international women's football team! She has her sights set on developing further her already established business profile.

Our final guest Tamara has previously worked as a translator at the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR). Her role involved being the primary point of liaison with visiting foreign ambassadors. Effortlessly fluent in Arabic, English ad French, she is also a talented artist, having

exhibited her work in Palestine. But in line with the remarkable diversity of talents of the other guests, Tamara is also an established writer of poetry and short stories. For those interested, samples of her work can be found at http://tamarabarakat.blogspot.co.uk/. Tamara spoke passionately about her belief in the power of education and especially literature to foster greater understanding for the plight of the region. This younger generation of Palestinians is finding novel and creative ways to develop connections between themselves and the world beyond Israel-Palestine. Their experiences and endurance are much beyond our experience and understanding, but their resolve and commitment to fostering better understanding and awareness sows seeds of hope for a fairer, more sustainable and civilised future for all citizens of the region.

Mr S Edwards

Medical students attend Royal College of Surgeons event

NEWS

24th March 2017|Yarm School Newsletter 5|

Rishi Kumar is a Lower Sixth student. He is currently preparing to make an application to read Medicine at university and is considering a medical career in the Army.

Last Thursday a small group of aspiring Medics was invited by Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Chris Dunkin, to attend the Durham at Stockton Surgical Road Show organised by the Royal College of Surgery of Edinburgh. The purpose of this road show was to have a first-hand experience of the numerous aspects of various fields of surgery and to learn from highly trained and experienced surgical practitioners. We were introduced to a variety of different stalls, each staffed by surgeons representing various branches including Neurological, Cardiothoracic, Orthopaedic, Vascular and Abdominal surgery. One particularly fascinating presentation gave a demonstration and recording of robotic surgery at work. At each stall we were given advice and information by the surgeons on the current state of surgery within the UK, technological developments in their particular field, the implications and experience of practicing as a surgeon, and general advice about a specific area of surgery. Along with this, there were practical demonstrations, such as the opportunity to try current equipment, including drilling into a femur bone model and screwing a plate into place, replicating the procedure that might be required for a fracture. Another popular practical was the use of long forceps to stack a tower of sugar cubes within an enclosed box, with the sugar cubes being shown on a screen from an adjustable camera. The aim of this was to test our ability of adjusting our movements with a pair of forceps whilst using a monitor to see the cubes and so perform the operation in the same way an actual operation would be performed. The while experience provided a fascinating and privileged insight into this career area of surgery and I would like to thank Mr Edwards and Mr Newman for organising and facilitating this visit.

Rishi Kumar

In this version of Sudoku the digits from 1 to 9 appears only once in each row and each column. It differs from traditional Sudokus in that the digits one to 9 appear only once in each block defined by the thick solid line.

Solution in a fortnight (or email me if you cannot wait - [email protected])

Mr M C Rye

Jigsaw Sudoku

Ishika Singh is currently in the Fifth Year. Though still early days, she is exploring possible careers in the fields of architecture, medicine and finance.

During the recent half term I visited BSBA Architects in Darlington to gain work experience and see whether architecture is a possible career option for me in the future. On the first day I was introduced to current projects being worked on by the firm, as well as looking at past projects and was enlightened to see the massive thought process that goes behind each building design. For instance, I discovered that the room of the building should be distributed around the building to bring in optimum sunlight during the day. During the course of my work experience I was made to look at the design software 'Sketch Up' where one virtually generates the building design in order to allow the client to have a better understanding of the final product. I spent much of my time on this software designing my own 'ideal home' using the knowledge I had gained as well as the floor plan I hade created on the previous day. Overall, this experience gave me great exposure to the practice of architecture and has opened a possible career route for me.

Ishika Singh

Building a career: architecture work experience

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24th March 2017|Yarm School Newsletter 6|

Tom Easby won a free header but couldn't find the net. Ten minutes before half-time, Yarm won a corner due to some good work by Josh Robinson on the left. Following the corner, the ball dropped to the feet of Adam Nargol, slightly further out this time, he shifted the ball onto his "so-called" weaker left foot before rifling it into the top left corner to give Yarm a 2-0 lead at half time. In the second half, Ampleforth came out stronger and put Yarm under extreme pressure and would have scored if it hadn't been for Alex Ravenhall who showed great defensive instinct in clearing the ball off the line. Following some good link-up play between Josh Robinson and Kyle Parker in midfield, Adam Nargol played a through ball to Will Alexander who expertly chipped the keeper to finish off a clinical counter attack and to put Yarm 3-0 up. After the goal, Yarm were once again under pressure but managed to restrict Ampleforth to only a handful of chances until they received a lifeline when the ball fell to the feet of their striker, following a corner, who finished into an empty net. Ampleforth struck again ten minutes later with an unfortunate own goal for Yarm to concede from a corner. With the score now 3-2 it was a nervous final ten minutes for Yarm who had to work hard to secure the well-deserved victory. MOTM - Adam Nargol

Football 1st XI v Ampleforth College Drew 1-1 2nd XI v Ampleforth College Won 3-2 Boys’ Hockey 1st XI v St Peter’s School Drew 1-1 2nd XI v St Peter’s School Lost 2-3 U15A v St Peter’s School Won 4-0 U14A v St Peter’s School Won 1-0 Netball 1st VII National Finals See report Rugby U13A v Oakham School Won 20-10 U13A v New Hall School Lost 0-35 U13A v Eggar’s School Drew 20-20 U13A v Gordano School Drew 20-20 U13A v St John’s College Lost 0-35 U16A v St Paul’s School Lost 14-38 U16A v International College, Beirut Won 30-0 U16A v Loughborough Lost 19-33 U16A v Ipswich School Lost 17-19

Sport Scoreboard

Football

1st XI v Ampleforth College Drew 1-1 The first half started with Yarm playing some very good football both on the deck and long balls over the top despite playing against the wind and uphill. The first goal came against the run of play when the Yarm defence became over run and Ampleforth's striker had an easy tap in from 6 yards. Yarm fought back late in the first half with some great chances to equalise but were unable to find the back of the net. The second half started like the first had, finished with Yarm building more pressure on Ampleforth while the Yarm defence limited the opposition to very few chances. The well-deserved equaliser came after an excellent run from John Grainger who beat his man, cut in and squared it to Jake Gordon who finished with great composure. Yarm kept pressing towards the end but were unable to score the winner. It was very much a team effort from the boys, playing 80 minutes in a very competitive game with only 1 sub and little match practice. MOTM - Ben Tomlinson 2nd XI v Ampleforth College Won 3-2 The game got off to a slow start with not many chances for either side. Then, in the 20th minute, the ball fell to the feet of Adam Nargol just outside the box who delivered a devastating curling shot into the top corner, the keeper had no chance. At 1-0 the game was very close with Ampleforth having the majority of the possession but struggling to create chances due to our strong defence. Yarm nearly scored another, this time from a corner, when

Hockey

1st XI v St Peter’s School Drew 1-1 A strong Yarm 1st XI travelled to St Peter's in York for what promised to be one of the most challenging fixtures of the year. The St Peter’s side are a well drilled unit that has had a lot of success so far this season. Yarm started nervously and failed to play with any cohesiveness for the first 10-15 minutes. That said, our strong defence was restricting the opposition's attack and Chris Armitage in the Yarm goal was only called upon a few times, each of which he dealt with well. Yarm were just starting to gain a foothold when St Peter's gained a penalty corner from which a well executed move was glanced in from close range (0-1). Their strong central midfielder was becoming an increasing influence and it was taking the combined efforts of Copeland and Wood to nullify the threat that he posed but they successfully kept him out until half-time. The turn-around saw a greater level of impetus from Yarm (plus a tiring St Peter's midfield) and a period of concerted pressure resulted in the ball breaking to James Burdon who calmly flicked the ball over the diving keeper (1-1). The game then swung from end to end with both teams having penalty corners, with Foster and Copeland having chances in open play. However it was St Peter's who failed to tap one in at the far post in the dying minutes that allowed the scores to remain level at 1-1. In the end a draw was probably a fair result in a tough and highly competitive fixture at the end of a successful season. U15A v St Peter’s School Won 4-0 The U15 team bounced back from a difficult tour of to beat St Peter's 1-0 at the weekend. The boys put in an

SPORT

24th March 2017|Yarm School Newsletter 7 |

excellent performance in what will likely be their last game together. Sol Kench was on particularly good form, setting up goals for Conall Lacy and Philip Simpson as well as chipping in with 2 of his own, the pick of the bunch being a flicked shot over the goal keeper's left shoulder after an attacking run around the right base line. Yarm dominated the game and could have won by a much larger margin had they been more clinical. Oliver Marriott kept the team's clean sheet with a goal line save from a short corner late in the game. The boys should be really pleased with the progress they have made this season: with one game left they are unbeaten on the local circuit.

U14A v St Peter’s School Won 1-0 Under the watchful eye of the England football manager (a spectator for the opposition team), the U14 team struggled to get a narrow 1-0 win over St Peter's on Saturday. Despite dominating possession, the team was lacking their usual eye for the goal as they ensured an uncharacteristic goal-less first half. Alex Greenaway finally put Yarm ahead early in the second half, but goalkeeper Tom Hall was kept busy to maintain the home team's lead. The boys will look to bounce back in their final game against Silcoates next week.

Hockey (continued)

Cross Country National Finals

Our current Second and Third Years Sophie Brining, Anna Reeves and Conall Deane, all stepped up and made the National Finals along with Anna Harrison who will now compete in her third final in as many years. Anna Reeves finished 259th in the race running 12.43mins for 3250m, placing her 3rd in the county. Sophie Brining finished 306th in the race running 13.06mins for 3250m, placing her 6th in the county. Anna Harrison (her 3rd finals!) finished 319th in the race running 3.75k in 15.25min, placing her 7th in the county. Conall Deane finished 11th in the county and 342nd overall.

U13 Rugby Sevens - Rosslyn Park

In what was their first national 7s tournament the U13 team took to the field in London with nervous excitement for their first match against St John's College, Southsea. There were flashes of brilliance from Armstrong and Wilkshire on the wing and Grainger at scrum half, but the reality of national competition hit hard, game 1 ended 35-0.

With the nerves settled we kicked off our second game, this time against Eggar's School. It was end to end 7s, with some excellent runs from both sides and at half time after tries from Kitson (2) and Beck we were 15-5 up. Eggar's started the second half strong and made it 15-15 within just a few minutes. Fresh legs were needed and within seconds of coming on, Brown made a break for the corner - 20-15. Kitson then scored his first hat-trick of the day making it 25-15 with 3 minutes to play. Thinking the game was theirs, the boys let their concentration slip and Eggar's managed to get 1 try back, then another just on the whistle. Final score 25-25. New Hall School proved too much for the boys and ran out a 35-0 lead before the final whistle. After soaking up some of the atmosphere around the main pitch, the boys were back warming up for game number 4 against Gordano School. Lessons clearly learnt from the morning's games, the boys played some inspirational 7s, attracting a large crowd including journalists and coaches - one writer commenting that the match was “Sevens at its most pure and at its very best”. They were desperately unlucky to come away with a draw after a second hat-trick from Kitson and an outstanding phase of play as Cropp broke away at the half way line and sprinted for the corner. The score was 20-15 with a minute to go but Gordanos worked hard to evade our defence and the game finished in another agonising draw, 20-20. With renewed focus and resolve the boys regrouped and after some inspirational words from captain, Heathcote, they took to the pitch for the last time to face Oakham School. Heathcote had been looking dangerous all day and he kicked off the scoring with some quick footwork and sublime vision, 5-0. Kitson then got a break and scored his 7th try of the day - 10-0. Oakham rallied round and managed to get one back just before half time - 10-5. The final 7 minutes can only be described as epic as the hunger for a win was etched into the faces of the whole team. Kitson (voted player of the tournament by the rest of the team) ran down 2 tries in quick succession - his 3rd hat-trick! - making it 20-10 the final score. A great time away with the U13 team who were a credit to the school and themselves. Well done!

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24th March 2017|Yarm School Newsletter 8|

U19 National Netball Competition

Huge congratulations to our U19 netball team who took part in the National Schools Finals in Welwyn Garden City at the weekend. They competed as one of the best 18 schools in the country after winning the county and regional rounds, representing the North East at this competition. The girls played so well, winning their first match against Truro and Penwith College (SW2) 10-6 and this helped to calm the nerves before our next match. We were out-played in the second match against Barking School (LSE1). However, our next two matches were competitive, facing Hurstpierpoint (S2) losing 5-9 and Wrekin College losing 6-12. We then had a long wait before our next game, against Norwich School, but the girls came out strongly and we were leading by one goal at half-time. Unfortunately Norwich came back into the game and we lost by one goal. The next match was against Holly Cross College which we lost, however against Ratcliffe College we drew 11-11 narrowly missing out on the win after the final whistle. Our final match was against Grammar School at Leeds and we knew this would be a tough game as they were the reigning champions. The girls played extremely well against a very good side and because we kept the goal difference down to a minimum GSAL needed to score more. This meant that the game against Yarm put them out of the semi-finals. Overall we came 13th in the country which is amazing. What a wonderful experience this has been and the girls should be very proud of their efforts. Many thanks to all the staff who helped and supported to make this possible: Gel Williams, Mrs Redhead-Sweeney & Mrs Gratton, organisational assistance from Ms Morgan and Mrs Mills, and the superb support from parents. What a great end to a fantastic season.

Netball End of Term

This has been a successful year for the netball season. Of the 163 matches arranged we have won 93, lost 39, 15 had to be cancelled due to poor weather and we are still due to

Durham Hockey

Congratulations to James Foster and Connor Watson, members of our 1st XI, who last Sunday represented Durham Hockey Under 17s at Wakefield Hockey Club with matches against Nottingham and Fylde. At two further competition days they will play against Manchester and Leeds. A North of England squad, Pennine Pumas, is then selected from the 5 squads. We wish them well as they push hard for selection.

play 16. Congratulations to our U14B and U13B teams who won the District Tournaments this term. We have had record numbers of girls attending practices this year, which is fantastic as we aim to provide extra-curricular opportunities to anyone interested. Many thanks to all staff who have helped coach and take teams so that the girls get to as many netball matches as possible. Thanks go to Mrs Redhead-Sweeney, Mrs Gratton, Gel Williams, Miss Gamble, Imogen Kench-Porter, Miss Dixon-Barker, Mrs Ankers, Mrs Clarke and Mr Newman.

U16 Rugby Sevens - Rosslyn Park Nationals

A National Schools' draw which allows you to play on the main pitch is always to be enjoyed and savoured, especially in a huge tournament with 160 teams across 42 pools in the U16 competition alone! Our group brought several experiences for the boys, the first of which was a game against The International College, Beirut. Clearly over on a sports tour, they had a large contingent of vocal supporters which added to another great atmosphere this year! Keen and committed, our opponents worked hard throughout the game but the Yarm boys built themselves into the match and were always in control. Superior skills and speed allowed us to score 6 unanswered scores in an opening win. This then brought us to the 'main event' - a match on the show pitch against Ipswich School, a game being streamed live on the official tournament site. In front of large crowds, the team played a fantastic first half, totally dominating and controlling the game. We showed patience and ruthlessness to lead 17-0 at half-time. As expected our opponents fought back hard in the second half and 7s is a brutal game in that one mistake is costly. Sadly we made a couple of key ones and ended up grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory, losing 17-19. Ipswich intimately went on the win the group and progress to the last 32. This rather knocked the stuffing out of us and, despite playing some good rugby and scoring some fine tries in the remaining matches, the damage was done and we couldn't catch the pool leaders. All the boys had plenty of match experience and savoured the atmosphere of the world biggest school rugby tournament! A huge number of positives can be taken from the day as the lads learn, improve and come back stronger next year. Well done, boys!

NEWS

24th March 2017|Yarm School Newsletter 9|

Sixth Form Students attend Oxford University Politics Conference in Brexit

Amy Booth and Fiona Weatherhead are both Lower Sixth Politics students who recently secured places at the prestigious McWhirter Conference hosted by Oxford University. They are both considering reading Politics, International Relations or Law at university. On Monday 13th March we travelled to Oxford to attend the McWhirter Conference held at Trinity College, Oxford. The topic of the conference for investigation and debate centered around whether in the post-Brexit era we are building a ‘Brave New Britain’. The format of the event included a number of keynote speeches followed by discussion groups of Sixth Form students from around the country. We listened to four different speakers each with different views on Britain’s current relationship with the EU and the impacts Brexit may have on the UK. Three of the speakers supported Brexit; Rory Broomfield for instance, Director at The Freedom Association and Director of The Better Off Out Campaign, spoke about regaining control of our laws, courts, borders, and money. He argued passionately that Britain will be better off out of the EU and spoke persuasively and enthusiastically on the subject. Victoria Hewson, member of Lawyers for Britain and an associate at Law firm Slaughter and May, spoke on the topic of trade and the financial impact of Brexit. She, like Rory, was also clearly a strong Brexiteer. The third speaker was Miles Saltiel, a member of the Adam Smith Institute and the CEO of the Fourth Phoenix Company which provides policy, research and associated services to banks, industry and others. He spoke about the possible pathways Britain may take throughout upcoming negotiations and what a post EU Britain may look like. The final speaker Rosie Millard. She has a regular column in The Independent and i newspapers as well as being a features writer for a variety of national publications including The Sunday Times, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Mail and New Statesman. Rosie was a strong believer in the EU, and felt that immigration was at the heart of the leave voters reasoning. After each of the talks we spilt into small syndicate groups to discuss and express our ideas on the issues covered. To end the conference eight students took part in a Question Time style event, answering questions from the audience. We thoroughly enjoyed staying in Trinity College, Oxford and the experience of a formal dinner. The whole experience opened our minds to the views of other students and experts within the field of Brexit.

Amy Booth and Fiona Weatherhead