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Issue No 4 February 2008 |
Cultural Hurst
SSBA Presentation
Southern Schools Book Awards Presentation
(by Dominique Collins)
Charlie Higson
On a windy January night, 8 pupils from the Shell attended the Southern Schools Book Awards (SSBA) Presentation Evening at Roedean School. The SSBA is a reading project, involving nearly 40 schools in the South East and its importance lies in the way it encourages young people to enjoy reading some excellent contemporary literature.
Each year, students read a shortlist of new novels and vote to decide the winner. This year's outstanding contenders comprised a 'junior' James Bond novel - Double or Die - by Charlie Higson (best known, perhaps, for his work in The Fast Show with his friend Paul Whitehouse), Rift by Beverly Birch, The Lurkers by Charles Butler, Leaving Poppy by Kate Cann and The Forshadowing by Marcus Sedgwick.
The children particularly enjoyed hearing each of the short-listed authors talking about their book and the process of writing. Every pupil attending was awarded a book token and there was plenty of time after the presentation for pupils to talk to their favourite author and have their books signed. The winner, Kate Cann, spoke of the importance of this award, not least because it is given by the young people who read her books. Overall, the evening was a rewarding end to a project that really fires interest in reading.
Classics Department visit to the British Museum (by Chris Eustace)
The Remove Latinists and Upper Sixth Classicists went to the British Museum for GCSE coursework research and A2 sculpture work respectively. The Remove spent the morning touring the Roman rooms, with Mr Cole leading, researching their coursework topics. In the afternoon some time completing their collection of primary material was followed by a 30 minute whistle-stop tour of the other treasures the BM has to offer. The experience has meant that not only have they collated primary material for their coursework (a difficult criteria to fulfil) but also they are in a position to start their coursework sessions next week firing on all cylinders.
Similarly, the Upper Sixth Classical Civilisation students spent the morning and most of the afternoon examining all the Parthenon sculptures including the metopes, frieze and pediments. To see the Greek works of art in detail was a fantastic experience for the students. As with the Remove, the last 30 minutes was given over to a very quick tour of other free-standing Greek sculptures (also on the A2 module), finishing with the Egyptian and Roman rooms.
The students' application throughout the day was wholly commendable and much was gained, both academically and culturally.
"Just what is Classics?" A talk by Mr Eustace
The inaugural talk of the Hurstpierpoint Classics Society took place on Wednesday 23rd January. Mr Eustace set out upon a wonderful journey into the heart of the Classical World. Such are his passion and mastery of his subject and the deftness of his exposition that every member of the audience left with a magical and near total understanding of what Classics was and is.
Of course, there had to be a limit to what could be conveyed in the time set aside for the talk but we were all amazed at how much we learnt. The talk was fun and filled with intellectual rigour. We were introduced to the many different fields which the term 'Classics' encompasses and it was clear to all just how relevant this subject can be. There were opportunities for every individual to pick out the bits of the subject which appealed to them most. There are so many, after all: art, archaeology, Latin, Greek, extension to other ancient languages, philology, Egyptology, history, philosophy, and the list goes on.
With questions and cheese to follow, this turned out to be an enjoyable and rewarding evening for all.
Upper Sixth at the British Museum