Author Archives: Grace Williams

Posted on by

‘Une Journée de Média étranger’ for MFL Students

On the final, cold morning of January, A-Level students studying a foreign language gathered in the Vigornian Room. Many had dressed accordingly, with perhaps the most obvious were the French students sporting berets and reflective-yellow gilets. As we took our seats around a table, we were presented with the day’s itinerary, which included activities relating both to broadcasting techniques and also current affairs around Europe. Mr Ball welcomed us (thankfully, in English) and proceeded to describe each of the tasks we would complete in groups throughout the day: a radio broadcast, a television news segment and a written article each, which would ultimately all be compiled into three magnificent newspapers in French, Spanish and German. Another challenge for the day was that nobody in attendance would be permitted to speak a word of English… all day long. If one did so, they would be penalised with a dreaded mark on the whiteboard beside your name — a mark of shame. With that daunting concept on all of our minds, we split off into the three groups to begin our first media-related quests.

The French students began by planning which articles we would include in our news bulletin. In smaller groups of three or four members, we scoured the far corners of French media outlets for the most interesting stories to bring to our tiny volume of viewers. Features included reports about ‘Les Gilets Jaunes’, interviews with French ‘officials’ (who were most certainly not our fellow language students in berets) and the odd advertisement thrown in for good measure. After the planning stage, groups drifted to other rooms to film their segments using the high-quality cameras of the school’s iPads, which would be edited later in the day. Afterwards, all participants regrouped and indulged in some hot chocolate and delicious pastries, which could have easily come from an authentic Parisian patisserie.

For French students, next came the writing of the newspaper. All manner of subjects were the focuses of the articles, from French contemporary music to nuclear power stations, with some well-devised crosswords and word-searches dotted throughout for the entertainment of whoever ended up reading it. Once every element was completed, it was compiled into one magnificent document, ready to print and distribute to the masses.

Lunchtime arrived and the smell of freshly cooked schnitzel with a side of paella drifted beyond the Vigornian Room as students gathered before the spread of piping hot food, ravenous. As everybody took their seats, we were rather excited to see that bottles of beer were available as beverages but, to the disappointment of many, the labels informed us that they were, in fact, non-alcoholic. Dessert was a delightful chocolate mousse which left all of us with full stomachs, raring to get on with our final tasks.

French students ventured to School House to plan their radio broadcasts and, with completed interview questions in hand, each group retired to a quiet room for the recordings to take place. After a few takes and fits of laughter at mispronunciations, we were finished and ready for all the elements to be compiled together. Overall, a fun-filled day which will ultimately prove very beneficial in the long-run.

Posted on by

First-Place and Festivities

During the final week of last term, a small team of A-level English students traveled to both Castlemorton Primary School and Broadheath Primary School in order to present prizes to the winners of a creative writing competition hosted by the King’s School English department. The theme was the First World War, a subject which was under particular focus over the later months of 2018. Annie Park, Heather Crowte, Jemima Thrush and myself joined Mr. Maund in discussing all of the entries received, eventually deciding on winners as well as the highly-commended awards. Prize winners were selected from years four, five and six, with our first visit being paid to the winner of the Year Six category at Castlemorton Primary on the 10th December.

With Annie and Heather unable to attend, Jemima, myself, Mr Booth and Mr Maund loaded onto a sparse minibus and drove the relatively short distance to the school, where we were greeted by scores of bemused eyes watching us from classroom windows. The headmistress, Mrs Adsett, welcomed us warmly and we were ushered into the main hall of the school, where several remarkably small chairs sat on the stage in front of a star-spangled nativity scene. Mrs Adsett explained that the children had just had a dress rehearsal for their Christmas show which, as expected, included a rendition of the nativity story. As the children filed into the hall, we were briefly introduced to the writers of the prose and poetry which we had enjoyed so greatly a few weeks earlier during the judging process. Whilst the winners took their seats, their schoolmates stared up at us, and I felt very tall all of a sudden.

The time soon came when the children would receive their prizes. Each of the winners bravely read aloud excerpts from their work, and I had the duty of saying a few words about the judging process before Mr Maund addressed the congregation about the importance of literature. I then had the privilege of distributing the highly commended awards, whilst Jemima presented the winner’s prize. The assembly came to a close with a stirring rendition of the end-of-the-day prayer which brought back some fond childhood memories. Soon enough, we were back on the minibus for the treacherous journey through the Worcester rush-hour.

The next time we would gather at the bus bay would be the following Friday. It was a crisp, misty morning and, most importantly, the last day of term before the long-awaited Christmas holidays. The full set of judges, sporting some festive accessories,  piled onto the minibus and engaged in some questionable carol singing as we wove our way down the lanes to Broadheath Primary School. Unfortunately, we were unable to visit the winners at Welland School due to the assemblies being scheduled at the same time that day. Seeing as we were slightly early for our appointment, we were welcomed into the staff room and indulged in some much-needed hot beverages. Needless to say, we felt very grown-up whilst we sat in the room which we could only imagine entering as children.

However, our little pit-stop was short lived. Donning our ‘Visitor’ badges, we took our seats at the front of the hall whilst the pupils filed in, class by class. With some enthusiastic waves to parents at the back of the room, they settled down quickly and the proceedings got swiftly underway. As before, both Mr Maund and I were invited to speak for a moment or two, before leading on to the prize giving. Two winners were selected from Year Four, with their rewards being presented by Heather and Jemima. Annie was assigned the task of handing over a book for their school library, a prize which each victorious school received to commemorate the achievement of their pupils. The room was glowing with pride after the assembly concluded, which made it challenging to leave the excitable atmosphere behind when the time came to return to Worcester. Although seeing the beaming faces of our winners very much outshone the slight melancholia of going home; well, that and Mariah Carey’s vocals filling the bus whilst stuck in stationary traffic.

Posted on by

All the King’s Men – Tributes to the Fallen

Shortly before our stirring service of Remembrance this year, each King’s School student was provided with a copy of book, aptly titled All the King’s Men, a collection of short biographies of those former attendees of the school who valiantly fought and fell in conflict. The records contained within the pages were gathered together by Mark Rogers, a former pupil of the Royal Grammar School, and Harriet Patrick, our very own archivist. With one memorial anthology already under his belt, Mark worked alongside Harriet to put together an appropriate tribute to the fallen war heroes.

Personally, a particular stand-out in the book was the story of Lieutenant Owen Howett Dampier-Bennett. He died at the tender age of 18 whilst training with the newly-formed Royal Air Force. The only son of an Abberley vicar, he joined King’s in 1913 and entered Hostel house. Dampier-Bennett joined the RAF in 1917, only to be killed when his plane fell from the skies and became entangled with another aircraft passing beneath; fortunately the other pilot escaped unscathed. What intrigued me most about Lieutenant Dampier-Bennett is that he is one of the youngest of the deceased included in the anthology. This reflects the large volume of youths joining the war at the time. One of his fellow OVs said of him: “He was such a nice chap, a first-class pilot, and a very good officer. He was tender-hearted and considerate to a degree, and his last act on the day before his death was to rescue a wounded and tortured bird at great personal pains”. This alone shows his kind temperament and makes his loss seem even more of a tragedy.

In summation, All the King’s Men is a wonderful portrayal of all those from King’s who fought for our liberty. They will live on both in our memories and these anthology pages.

For your tomorrow we gave our today.

Posted on by

‘Crusing’ for Charity

King’s pupils from all years recently sported purple and yellow when they ran a hefty distance in aid of the local branch of Cruse Bereavement Care, an organisation that offers care and support to bereaved people of all ages. 

Organised by our Sixth Form Charity Committee, this year’s fun run attracted an impressive mass of pupils dressed in Cruse’s staple colours, all gathered on College Green raring to begin. The run was preceded by a cake sale where an entire bakery’s worth of cakes, biscuits and cookies were presented by some generous pupils and staff and sold to hungry students at short break. Only a few morsels of the selection were left over in the aftermath, which were whisked outside close to the finish line to tempt those who finished quick enough to snatch one away. The bake sale managed to raise upwards of £90, an amount added to by the run itself.

Beneath a rather grey sky, participants could be seen signing up and dropping their donations into the buckets, then the runners headed off out of College Green towards Diglis Basin, guided by members of the charity committee in fluorescent jackets. A steady stream of King’s pupils could then be seen on the other side of the river as they skimmed around the clusters of swans and approached New Road. Joy spread across the faces of those running as the home straight came into view, and their pace picked up as the motivation of the cakes was suddenly provided. Slowly but surely runners began to emerge in dribs and drabs, red-faced and thoroughly worn out, but all held a sense of achievement, whatever the pace they completed the route. The afternoon was rounded off pleasantly with runners eagerly devouring leftover cake and cups of squash.

To support Cruse, or to read some of the remarkable stories of people that they have supported, please click the link below or follow @CruseCare:

www.cruse.org.uk

Posted on by

Art Students take the ThinkTank

Lower Sixth art students had the opportunity to jump on a train to Birmingham last Thursday in order to take photographs and gain some inspiration for their next project. Whilst some students headed off on a tour of the most industrial and popular parts of the second city, the rest made the short journey from Moor Street station to the ThinkTank at Millennium Point. Personally, I chose this option due to the fond primary school memories I made there – and of course the photographic opportunities.

With three floors of discovery to explore, we disbanded into much smaller groups upon our arrival and set about filling our cameras with as many artistic-looking pictures as we possibly could. Beginning on the bottom floor, many of us ran around the large machines and the old locomotives, contorting ourselves into remarkable positions to get the perfect angle of the gears and the wheels. I found going inside a sizeable but stationary steam train perhaps the most entertaining element of this level – despite not being able to touch the important-looking buttons embedded into the metal, tempting as it was.

The second story of the building was my personal favourite, as it contained the much-loved ‘Kid City’, which I remember playing in whilst in primary school. Now that we are older, we were not allowed to enter, but we still managed to find plenty of interesting things to do and photograph before ascending the final set of stairs. There was an entire zoo’s worth of taxidermied animals, which I admittedly found rather eerie (the glassy eyes were perhaps the most unnerving feature). However, the medical section was tremendous fun, especially the mock-up exercise video featuring a little cartoon character who resembled an egg on legs. This particular part of the museum also hit a serious note, with a small segment dedicated to the rising issue of mental health issues in young people. That same character addressed body image and bullying which the ThinkTank’s target audience of the younger generations have to become more aware of in this day and age.

The final floor was dedicated to futuristic machinery and robotics – and we had great fun programming an arm-like robot to play terrible drum routines and we had wonderful conversations with an intellegent robot. The ‘Planetarium’ also inhabited this area, however we sadly could not enter without buying an extra ticket. I can imagine that would have been interesting to view, even if it did not relate to the purpose of our visit. In all honesty, not many purposeful images were captured.

The day came to a marvellous close with a few overpriced coffees, just before sitting in Moor Street station and waiting for our classmates to return from their tour of the city. Overall – it was a fabulous day which provided plenty of information and inspiration and I, for one, will not be short of reference for a long time.