Any unused walkmans out there?

If anyone out there still has one of the old fashioned tape player walkman that is sitting in a drawer and no longer used, (but working) we would be pleased to take it off your hands!
It can be put to good use by our Resource Centre. Contact Mrs Eagle - RC Manager or just send it in if you can! Thanks
M lanchester

Swindon Chamionships - results!

I am pleased to report the latest set of results from the county ground….

Year 7 - Boys -SWINDON CHAMPIONS – 1st 101 points (first time in schools history that a year 7 boys team has won), nearest competitors had 71, performance of the day, Jamael Lewis running 12.6 in the 100m, also excellent performances from Dan Watt (triple), Elliot Mags-Franklin (200m + Long Jump), Louie Paradise (400m), Jack Phillips (High Jump)

Year 7 - Girls - 3rd place. Best performance by Jess Jenner 100m (14.2)

Year 8 - Boys - 4th

Year 8 - Girls - 6th

Please congratulate any pupil that represented the school in the athletics

Thanks

Christian Dobbs
Director of Sport

South West Pentathlon Championships

Braedon Cleverly and Josh Paradise took part in the South West Pentathlon Championships at the weekend. Both performed to the best of their ability. Josh achieved 4 PB’s, Braedon 2.

Braedon finished 4th and qualifies for the national finals, representing the South West (From Berkshire and all counties West and down)
Josh is a reserve after finishing 6th

Please congratulate both boys on an outstanding achievement.

Christian Dobbs
Director of Sport

National Cheerleading Championships

The girls who took part in the National Cheerleading in Manchester this weekend were:

Yr 7 – Chloe Proctor
Yr 8 – Carmen Lee
Hannah Adams
Jodie Tielmanns
Emily Hayward
Yr 11 - Jordon Bonello
Laura Read
Carly Thomas
Danni Soffe
Hannah Godfrey
Emma Milsom
Molly Grey

They were a credit to the school and performed their routine perfectly in a huge venue in front of a big crowd. They finished 3rd behind teams who had been competing at this level for years. Roll on next year!

Thanks to Tammy who choreographed the routine and spent hours training the girls to this level.
Gail Davies

Houses

As some of you know Greendown may be considering making houses. Houses are different groups (not tutor groups) that work as a house during the year, we would no longer have tutor groups just houses, and the school may take away the idea of merits and just have house points, the winner will receve a trip out (like the bus trip), the other houses will get a chance to go too but would have to pay to get a seat. Do you think this would be a good idea to do? if you feel like telling us your veiws, please post a comment on the bottom of this post and let us know.

Josh Talbot - Reporter year 8.

GREENDOWN PUPILS RUNNERS UP IN NATIONAL COMPETITIONS FOR SONG, POETRY AND POP VIDEO!

Y8 pupils Hannah Mitchell and Jodie Tielemans secured a double whammy recently for themselves and the school with a song they wrote in Spanish about what they were going to do in their spare time. Hannah also composed the music and together they choreographed their performance of it. They were asked to compose something following a unit of work on future plans with their Spanish teacher Señora Mochan back in the Spring Term. She was so impressed she showed it to the whole class who agreed it should be forwarded as an entry to two different competitions.
Free Spirit organised by University of West of England is a National Song and Poetry competition run annually and Pop Video was run by Routes into Languages.
The girls were delighted to receive the news that they had come runners up in the Spanish section for Song for the Free Spirit competition and winners in the Pop Video competition.
On 22 June they went with Señora Mochan up to the Goethe Institut in London where they were first to perform their entry to an audience of judges from a variety of embassies and other competition entries. Alison Taylor from UWE commented that 87 schools had taken part and that some of those had multiple entries and reiterated how well those present had done in the face of fierce competition.
It was a wonderful celebration of pupil creativity in a variety of languages and spanning key stages 2-5. It was also noticeable that the majority of other winners were from private schools and a further accolade of the girls’ achievement. They each received a sum of money, certificate presented by a representative of the Spanish Embassy and pencil case. A further outing to receive the second prize is planned shortly.

Interview with Mrs. Mochan on the Spanish Exchange

This week, a group of Spanish exchange students came to Greendown. They will be staying with a selection of the Greendown students all week and in the summer holidays, the Greendown students will be travelling to Spain (Seville). We managed to talk to Mrs. Mochan about her views on the exchange.

How long does it take to plan something like this?

This has been ongoing since last year. It takes a lot of planning and a lot goes on behind the scenes. We have to get permission from senior management and see how many children would be interested. Last year there were a lot more Spanish people on the exchange than English, of course this means that some of the Spanish children had to stay with some voluntary teachers, so that was quite a stressful time. In Spain they are very keen for their pupils to learn English. They have even started to teach subjects like Maths and Science in English to help the students learn in more detail. In this particular exchange, the students have been able to contact each other easily on msn so they got to know each other well before they'd even met.

Do you enjoy the exchange?

It takes a lot of hard work organising flights and sorting out money but it's always worth it when the pupils enjoy it so much afterwards.

Thank you Mrs Mochan! We are glad the exchange was such a success!

By Faye Rogers & Jess Harmer 8DS

Wiltshire Athletics Trials

On Saturday Janine and I took 20 of our pupils to represent Swindon in the Wiltshire athletics trials. All of them competed well and did the school and Swindon proud. The best performances and qualifiers for the SW trials are written below. Success in the SW trials will see our pupils reach the national athletics finals.

Braedon Cleverly – 1st in Hurdles 12.7s (NEW SCHOOL RECORD), 2nd in Long Jump 4.30 (NEW SCHOOL RECORD) – SW trials
Jo Shepherd – 2nd in 800m, ran 2m06s – SW trials
Carney Bonner – 2nd High Jump (1m70cm) – SW trials (Equals school record)
Jess Nickels – 2nd High Jump (1m44cm) – SW trials
Nyle Clinton – 3rd 1500m (4m36s) – got qualifying time so should run at SW trials (NEW SCHOOL RECORD)
Josh Paradise – 3rd Triple Jump (reserve 10m45cm )
Elliot Maggs-Franklin – 3rd Long Jump (reserve 4m30cm)
Jamael Lewis – 3rd 100m (reserve 13.1s) – NEW SCHOOL RECORD
Jess Jenner – 3rd 100m (reserve 14.4s)

Please congratulate them if you see them

Christian Dobbs
Director of Sport

Spanish Exchange Programme

Programme for Exchange visit

Mon 8-Mon 15 June
Mon 8/6
Pick up from Heathrow IB5635 at 17.00, return to be met by host families at Greendown at 18.30pm approximately. Settle in with host families, explore a little of West Swindon
Tom and Marcus

Tue 9/6
Host partner brings exchange partner to Greendown for official welcome by CZ then Spanish group off to visit Bristol and Glastonbury/Wells. Return to Greendown at 5.30pm to be met by host family
Tom & Matthew

Wed 10/6
AM Students in lessons at Greendown
PM Visit Swindon town centre, outlet village etc with exchange partner and suggest activity such as bowling, ice skating, laserquest, oasis etc, go directly home with exchange partner
EM and Spanish staff

Thur 11/6
8am Whole group to LONDON return by 8pm- drop at London Eye, walk along South Bank to Globe theatre stopping off at Tate Modern, cross over to St Paul’s and Trafalgar Square, National Portrait Gallery, Covent Garden etc
Tom, Matthew, Marcus and EM

Fri 12/6
9am Spanish group to Bath and Stonehenge returning via Marlborough and Avebury by 5.30pm to be met by host partner at Lydiard Park for farewell BBQ for all families
Tom & Matthew

Sat 13/6
With Host Family

Sun 14/6
With Host Family

Mon 15/6
2pm Depart Greendown for return flight from Heathrow IB5636 at 17.35
Tom and Matthew/Marcus

Cheer To The Nationals!

Our school cheerleading squad is going to compete in Manchester against the rest of the teams in Britain.The competition is very important because it is the British nationals. So we will wish the team much luck,and are excited to hear how they have done.
By Hannah Adams and Zoe Samwell

Africa teacher trip

As many of you know, four teachers were lucky enough to go to Africa in this half term to visit partner school Moriting Wa Thuto. We interviewed Mr Williams, and asked on his first experience in Africa. He told us that he really enjoyed his time there and the teachers went to learn from them and see how their school worked. They went there for one week, stayed in a small hotel and went to their school every day. Mr Williams also expressed the Moriting Wa Thuto pupils interest in Greendown's staff, asking an array of questions about school in England, as well as families and daily life. Overall, the teachers had a great time!



Article written by Josh Talbot, info collected by Josh Talbot, Joe Barnard and Kieron Parker

Sustainable Swindon competition

As we have reported a few weeks ago, a group of children from Greendown school won a competition to film a documentary with a professional film crew (four of the G-mag students are taking part in this documentary. They are: Faye Rogers, Jess Harmer, Joe Barnard and Zoe Samwell). The documentary will be based on the subject 'Sustainable Swindon' and will be shown on the BBC big screen in the town centre.

Our final documentary will include interviews with the public about how they feel about the possible construction taking place in Swindon countryside and their views on how to keep Swindon sustainable.

On Saturday the 23rd May the students had a training day at create studios so they could learn how to use the specialist equipment. We got to practise using:

• Stills cameras
• filming cameras
• Sound kit (including boom mics)

We also learnt how to do a professional pitch as we would be approaching others to give us ideas about what they think about sustainable Swindon.

On Saturday the 30th May, a section of the group went to Lydiard park to start their interviews and film part of the documentary. We had a brilliant time and got some great footage of the park and visitors of Lydiard. Now we have some idea of how people really feel about Swindon and sustainability.

This coming Saturday, another section of the group will be interviewing in Coate water and on the 13th June, 3 of the G-mag students taking part in the filming will be at the Brunel centre doing more interviews.

So, if you're interested in being featured in our documentary and want your views heard, come along to the Brunel centre on the 13th and look for the kids with the cameras.

By Faye Rogers & Jess Harmer 8DS

More good sports news.........

Jo Shepherd, Braedon Cleverly, Josh Paradise and Jess Nickels have all been selected to represent Wiltshire in the South-West Pentathlon Championships in Exeter on June 27th/28th. This is the first time we have had more than one competitor representing the school and Wiltshire, therefore please congratulate them as and when you see them
Thanks

Christian Dobbs
Director of Sport

On the last day of term Greendown did very well at the County Pentathlon….

Year 8 Boys – TEAM WILTSHIRE CHAMPIONS
Troy Foster – 4th
Niman Gurung – 6th
Conall Rees – 7th

Year 9 Boys – TEAM WILTSHIRE CHAMPIONS
Braedon Cleverly – 1st
Josh Paradise – 3rd
Aaron Stubbs – 5th

Year 10 Boys – TEAM WILTSHIRE RUNNERS-UP
Jo Shepherd – 2nd
Lewis King – 5th
Carney Bonner – 8th

Year 9 Girls –
Jess Nickels – 5th
Hayley Elbourne – 13th

Please congratulate them if you see them

Christian Dobbs
Director of Sport