Year 7 Science Club

Every Tuesday we have a Science Club in Room S1 with Mr Damree. The first week we learnt how to make model rockets out of a plastic bottle and card. We had to partner up for the project, it was a good experience to work with one another and co-operate with each other to make the rockets. When they were finally built we went to the cricket pitch to test them out. We had to fill the bottle halfway with water and then pumped them up till they flew high to the sky. We enjoy the club because we get expert science advice but we can talk to our friends too as it is not like being in class.

Adam Sarwar and Navdeep Singh 7Q

‘Superstrings’

On Wednesday 19 March the A Level Physics students attended a lecture on ‘String Theory’ (the theory of everything) by Professor Brian Foster, Head of Physics at Oxford University, accompanied by Jack Liebeck playing violin. It consisted of the explained working stages of Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein (you may have heard of him…) and how he was inspired by a series of seemingly random thoughts which crossed his mind which led him to the theory of relativity and perhaps the most famous equation in the world, E=mc2. The talk took us beyond Einstein the scientist and introduced to us Albert Einstein the musician and his love of playing the violin, with amazing performances by Jack Liebeck of pieces by JS Bach, Kreisler and Mozart. The string theory basically proposes that each particle is actually a string of a very small scale 0.000000000000000000000000000000000016 meters… rather tiny if you think about it) which vibrates at resonant frequencies specific to that type of particle, like violin strings which are being played and are producing musical notes. This poses a mind-boggling question… who or what is playing the strings? For this theory to work, we must have a universe of 10 dimensions… and to think that we live in a three-dimensional world! It is difficult to imagine even just the fourth! Overall, this talk is definitely the most interesting one I have ever been to and was filled with interesting facts about the universe and how we are just months away from discovering the secrets of the ‘big bang’ when the massive particle accelerator at Geneva (CERN) is complete. It’s just a matter of time now!

Karan Sharma Year 12

Sport Report

Wednesday 19 March was a great day for sport at The John Lyon School. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd XI football teams all managed wins over Halliford School. Many of these boys then attended the annual Sportsman’s Dinner, which this year happened to be held at the Committee Room in the Pavilion at Lords Cricket Ground. This was a superb evening, at a truly fantastic venue. The JLS boys were treated to a three-course meal, before ending with presentations for players of the year and the final speeches.
The JLS Staff v Year 13 football match took place on Wednesday 26 March. This year’s Upper Sixth Form students managed a 1-1 draw with the staff team in what is always one of the most entertaining football matches of the season. On Friday 28 March the JLS 1st XI football team take on Stanmore College in the semi-finals of the Harrow Borough Cup.

Nathan Ireland, PE Department

Headmaster’s Extra

Anthony McClaran, Chief Executive of UCAS

Kevin Riley

Royal Institution Presentation

Years 7, 8 and 9 recently enjoyed a presentation by a speaker from the Royal Institution on space and rocket science. Stephen Bennett 8Q wrote this as part of an account: “We learnt about the space race and the rocket tree. The Americans who thought they were ahead in the space race turned out to be near the bottom. Surprisingly, the speaker did not throw loads of equations at us apart from explaining how the different proportions of lift and thrust enabled the rocket to take off in a certain way. One of the first rockets designed actually had its engine at the top as it is much easier to keep a rocket stable when lifting from the top rather than pushing it from below. Nowadays most rockets are built with engines at the bottom for added strength. At the end of the lecture a replica of part of a rocket was passed around the group and we each got a chance to see it.”
 

ΠΠαντα εστιν Aγγλικα μοι!

Wednesday afternoons from the start of the academic year have been filled with the sight and sounds of JLS boys using a language that has been in use for over two and a half millennia… An ancient language that lies at the very heart of our own culture. Ancient Greek has thus engaged the interest of a small but extremely dedicated group of students from Years 8 and 9, who together have committed to sit down every Wednesday after School with Paul Cowie, History Department, in order to master the essentials of this ancient tongue. Building on their already extremely competent linguistic skills acquired in modern language classes, these highly motivated boys have been able to apply their passion and interest for Ancient Greek history and culture in a practical manner. The results have so far been impressive: The students rapidly mastered reading and writing the Greek alpha-beta (alphabet) – no mean feat! – before progressing on to a solid working knowledge of common Greek nouns and verbs. More advanced structures have been introduced in the last few weeks to give the students a pleasing early versatility in reading and writing. Coupled with the boys’ seemingly boundless enthusiasm (“Please, sir, can we start doing tests?” - !), the future of ancient Greek as an informal interest group at The John Lyon School seems assured.
 

Parents' Support and Study Group

There are six places available for the next parenting course (Parenting teenagers) to be given after the Easter break. I intend to use the American STEP programme. First-come first-served basis. Parents who have previously taken a course at The John Lyon School are also invited to take an advanced parenting course starting after Easter. There are only three places available for this programme. We will be studying the book Children the Challenge by Dreikurs. Some parents will also participate in a programme to learn how to facilitate a parenting study group. Please let me know if you are interested.

Grendon Haines, Resident Psychologist
E-mail: staff.haines@johnlyon.org.uk

Sport Report

On 2 April 40 boys and four members of staff will set off to South Africa for the 2008 JLS Football and Cricket Tour. The group will begin their journey in Cape Town. After six nights there they will travel to Kynsna, then on to Port Elizabeth, and finally to the Game Reserve in Kariega. Spending several days and nights in each of these regions, the boys will play a total of eight football matches and eight cricket matches before heading back to the UK on April 17. The John Lyon School inter-house swimming gala will take place Tuesday 11 March at 4:00 pm. This is a major event of the School calendar that promises to be an exciting occasion, with boys from every year group taking part.

Nathan Ireland, PE Department