G-Mag wishes all of our readers a happy summer break!

From all the editorial team who will be back in September!

Bugsy Malone

Keep posted for news on Bugsy performance!

Champions!

To top off a great sporting year the Y7 Rugby lads took home the Swindon 7 aside trophy defeating Commonweal in the Final 15-5 despite being 5-0 down at half time. The hair dryer treatment was issued and the threat of having to walk home brought about the killer instincts of Elliot Maggs Franklin and Jemal Lewis, who scored in the latter stages of the game. If you see any of the following please congratulate them for a hard earned victory.

Sean Reese- Fine all round game and captain of the ship
Correy Somanski- The hardest thing on 2 legs. A complete one off
Jemal Lewis- Fastest thing on 2 legs when he put his mind to it
Alex Webb- Big and strong and fast, usually you get one of the 3
James Lewis- Brave as a lion and great skills
George Russ- Great sevice and a great tactician
Carl Reid- Big and strong and injured
Callum Aslantape- Fast and loves the rough stuff, his wrestle skill have really helped. Had to ban the lycra though.
Elliott Maggs Franklin- Player of the tournament. Rapid. Going to be a great rugby player. Be nice and you may get international tickets one day
Dan Watt- A great find for next season, another one as brave as a lion and small as a mouse.
Loie Paradise- injured early but a fine player
Matty Margates- getting better and better every game. The ability to hurl himself in the way of great danger was very reassuring for me

A Buchalik

Year 10's make Prom Pitch

On Tuesday July 7th, the Year 10s were given an enterprise challenge fit for The Apprentice: working in teams, the students had to take on the role of a catering company bidding for the tender to put on a Year 11 Prom dinner within a fixed budget. This meant working out all the costings in detail as well as creating a theme, menu and company logo, writing a persuasive letter of tender and then pitching their presentation to their peers.

This is the second year we have held the ‘We’re in Business’ event, one of several ‘real life scenarios’ produced by NatWest Bank as part of their MoneySense for Schools programme, set up to develop business and financial skills among young people.

Once again we saw some fantastic efforts and displays of creativity and financial skills. Themes chosen for the Prom dinner ranged from the ever-popular masquerade ball and Moulin Rouge to casinos, kangaroos and hip-hop. One team even researched thoroughly into Renaissance history to enhance their Renaissance-themed Prom idea.

“This is much better than doing lessons like Maths and English!” was a typical comment from students. But of course that’s just what they were doing! Other enterprise skills being put to work were teamwork, communication, initiative and creativity and that essential entrepreneurial ingredient – daring to be different.

The judges at the final presentation – Mr Zimmerman, Mr McGlaughlin, Ms Davies, Ms Griffin and Ms Matthews from NatWest – had the hard task of finding a winner among the many excellent presentations, but the team that ticked all the boxes, making a very professional pitch with their ‘Delectable’ theme, were from 10RJ: Katie Tonks, David Ruddle, Brandon Soo, Joni Collier, Nadia Adofo & Robbie Swainsbury. And their prize? They get to plan the real thing next year as part of the Year 11 Prom Committee!
see it here on youtube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MmisY6_80I

Julia Wilkinson
Enterprise Coordinator

Upcoming Bus Trips - Watersports and Shopping

This upcoming Monday, the remaining two trips for the bus will take place, both for an array watersports at South Cerney and shopping and bowling in Bristol. Shopping has been a regular favourite, proving yet again it's popularity by maxing out the number of spaces available. A new addition to the trips available this year, watersports, was an immediate hit with there being interest from the beginning, and with those who fail to go to Thorpe Park will be enjoying an alternative day in South Cerney.

Unfortunately, if it starts to rain, the students will be brought back at lunch time and return to their normal timetable - hopefully, this won't happen!

The shopping trip will start with two games of bowling, followed with lunch. After that, students will be taken to Cribbs Causeway for an afternoon of shopping.

By Rhiannon John
Year 8

Induction Days

This week, Greendown invited over 200 year 6s into the school to begin the experience of joining our school. Induction started when the eight new tutor groups were introduced to their tutors, followed by a tour of the school and their first break as part of the school.

Lessons commenced at 10:15, with the primary school students going to lunch 10 minutes earlier than the rest of the school. Leaving school early, they prepared themselves for the following 2 days as "Year 7".

Thursday saw further mingling within tutors and more taster lessons.

One more day of induction still to come, and then the primary school students return to us in September as Year Sevens.

By Nathalie Cannell
Year 9

Annual Bus Trip - Thorpe Park

As you all know, people who were lucky enough to get on the bus to Thorpe park went on the 6th of July. As one those people, I can tell you that it was great! We had the chance to go on the water rides and stealth - personally, this was the best ride I went on and Carney, our editor-in-chief, thought it was amazing. The weather, however, disrupted the day, but, if you were lucky enough to be on the water rides at the time, it wasn't a problem! Luckily, it soon cleared up just in time for those who hadn't to go on stealth. Unfortunately, when everyone arrived back on the coach, it absolutely poured!

Hope you can get the opportunity to go to Thorpe park like many of us did this year. It is definitely worth it!

By Josh Talbot
Year 8

Bugsy Malone - 15th & 16th July Don't miss

TICKETS GOING FAST - Adults £5 - children £3.50

CAST LIST
Daisy Smale
Sarah Finney
Izzy Waite
Rosie Free
Zoe Samwell
Oliver Jackson
Katie Povey
Adam Bradford
Daniel Waller
James Wood
Ryan Turner
James Reid
Faye Rogers
Jess Harmer
Anna Waddington
Stephen Indge
David Ruddle
Abigail Upfold
Zoe Smith
Mollie Tuttle
Andrew Larkin
Hannah Hewson
Louisa House
Jacob Cripps
Sam Ward
Bobby Davies
Jessica Bryant
Oliver Fry
Mollie Soley
Jessica Jenner
Jorja Newman
Jayde Weatherly
Skyler Eck
Alex Livingstone
Olivia Pike
Chloe Gamble
Courtney Johnson Mitchell
Sarah Clarke
Ronni Ricket
Jemma Burren
Joshua Thompson
Ben White
Chris Middlecoate
Jack Duffy
Matthew Birt



Natalie Burke
Professional Tutor/Head of Creative Arts/Teacher of Drama

Sports presentation evening at the De Vere

The school held the 2009 sports presentation evening last night, and it was the most successful evening yet. Look at some of the letters we received the very next day!
Pictures to follow!!
'Hi Christian,

My name is Justin, Lee Evans’s dad. Firstly just to say what great night it was last night, it was fantastic to see all those achievements recognised.

Secondly, my dad works for the Swindon Advertiser and I have asked him about getting the event published as I think it deserves it for all the work the school puts in. So if you wanted to get as many photos of the winners on the night, with names and age groups, to me I can forward them on and he said he would ensure it goes into the paper.

Thanks again,

Kind Regards,

Justin Evans

IT Innovations Solutions Limited'
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'Good morning Chris,

Corene and I felt we just had to drop you a line after last nights awards evening at the De Vere to let you know what a great evening it was, splendid venue, excellent food, professionally run, organised and presented. Congratulations to you and your team, you deserve a large pat on the back. What a long way the evening has come over the years. Hayley as you know trains at the Swindon Harriers and often when I am track side listening to the kids and parents gathered there, I hear people saying how they wished they were at Greendown doing sport, it has great teachers, facilities, and is becoming a force to be reckoned with. We believe credit should be shown to you, after all you have inspired and supported many students and made sport fun and challenging. Well done'.

Nick & Corene Elbourne
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To: Christian DobbsCc: Clive ZimmermanSubject: Last night

'Just wanted to congratulate you and your team for last nights outstanding event. It was slick, glitzy, professional and above all it was a night that belonged to the students. Seeing the energy of the students, especially the table of year 11s, made me wish I was their age again! The venue was amazing. You should all be very proud. David was delighted with his award. Sport is so much part of his life and I thank you all for helping him to discover more. As a teacher I know how hard you all work and the results of that were there to be seen last night. I am passionate about local schools for local children and I am so glad that Greendown is my children’s local school.'

Thank you once again

Ian Howard
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From: Marc Radford
Sent: 03 July 2009 09:27
To: Christian Dobbs
Cc: Mark Lanchester
Subject: Sports Eve comments

Chris

Texts I received from 3 sources re: last night fyi:

1. Super evening
2. Cracking evening
3. Good organisation
4. Must keep this venue next year
5. Will come again for sure!

Marc R Radford BA (Hons)Lon, MA, PGCE
Français, Italiano, Español, ICT, WRC
School OSHL Coordinator
Greendown Community School
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From: Cristina Bennett
Sent: 03 July 2009 09:40
To: Christian Dobbs
Subject: RE: G-Mag

Hi Chris,

Mark got in there before me with congratulations - I echo his comment about the best yet. It was a really great evening - I agree the best ever. It had an 'awards ceremony' feel which really made each student's achievement something very special; and the pride of parents and siblings taking photos of their 'winners' was well-worth seeing.

Jenny Pacey was great - a personal and genuine speech and a great inspiration for so many young women. All in all, an evening with an excellent combination of entertainment: cheer leaders were brilliant; 'live' voting was a great way to involve the audience; all MCs and announcements were slick; involving the sports council was great (perhaps each pair of reps from each year group could do a speech about that year group's achievements? Then they could all have a role to play). To make the most of the sports council reps' moments of glory, perhaps they could have some coaching in public-speaking to give them more confidence? (English dept could help on this - or, perhaps we could work on an extension of the CLIC speaking and listening section about individual presentations to a big audience??

So, congratulations to all of you who made it such a special evening - perhaps you'll have to re-name it, "Sports Oscars Evening" ? (only joking!)

Finally, when's the picture of Jenny Pacey carrying Clive Harding going to be released??

Thanks again for a fantastic evening - and I won a raffle prize!

Cristina
Cristina Bennett
Literacy and Global Partnership Co-ordinator Greendown Community School

Upcoming Sports Day!

As many of you know, our next sports day is being held at the County Ground. We have been told that, as per usual, we will be doing this event in our tutor groups. Many students have been busy creating wonderful banners and all of the ones I have seen are looking great! Remember to get your transport forms back in to your tutors to tell them how you will be arriving at the County Ground!

If your not getting a lift there, please remember to bring your £2 for the school bus!

By Josh Talbot
Year 8

Year 9s Do Peer Mentor Training

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, 25 year 9s spent the day at Lydiard Park, along with Miss Carreiro and Mrs Barratt. In non-uniform, they were trained by professionals, focusing on the issues that may arise when dealing with scared, nervous Year 6 students. With help from Mr Thomas and Miss Hesten, pupils played 'ice-breakers' to familiarise themselves with activities they could use to help bond tutor groups.

Induction days are next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with over 200 primary school students making their way to Greendown for their first glimpse of secondary school life.

By Nathalie Cannell
Year 9