Friday, 27th March 2015

The Christs Chronicles

www.christs.richmond.sch.uk

Issue No. 16

Welcome to the new format

Christs Chronicles, which we will
be issuing weekly. Your feedback
would be most welcome. Please
email me at:
sgarrett@christs.richmond.sch.uk

Some important dates for your diary:

Friday 27th March
Easter Break Begins
Monday 13th April
Summer Term Begins
Friday 17th April
Year 7 Trip to France

Happy
Easter!
Remember to check
the School Bulletin for
more information.

The Year 7 Boys Basketball Team were crowned

Borough Champions last week after a
tournament at Hampton Boys School. Having
dispatched St. Richard Reynolds & Grey Court
with ease, the ensuing Semis were a whole
different story as the boys were drawn against
the boroughs best basketball school:
Teddington. Showing little respect for their
counterparts, the boys taught them a lesson in
counter offence as Ridley Shema starred, centre
stage in this man of the match performance.
Against RPA in the final Edward Sykes, Leon
Byrne & Tom McKiernan were the stars of
Christs offensive armoury. Christs won 10-9, the
first time in our long history we have been
Borough Champions!
Well done to the following boys: Ridley Shema,
Edward Sykes, Bailey Webb, Leon Byrne, Tom
McKiernan, Hannes Wimmer, Flavio Marino,
Jayden Standing, William Silfverling, Ryyan
Baqi & George Kellett.
In a hugely successful TeamKeane Rowing
Regatta in Hounslow, the results were as follows:
Year 7 Boys came 2nd in their final
Year 8 Boys won their final
Year 10 Girls came 2nd in their final
Well done everyone!

The Richmond Borough Basketball Champions!

As always, see our Facebook page

for pictures and fixture list. Just
click here.

Christs School Hit The Catwalk

Christ's School's Concept to Catwalk finalists showed their creation at the
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Wednesday to a crowd of enthusiastic
supporters.
The students, Naomi Ormonde, Chantal Omarsdottir, Fahima
Salha, Hannah Berhe and sixth former Megan Mc Hugh were all finalists who
had been working with MA students from Central St Martins to create a truly
memorable design to wow the judges, including fashion designers Wayne
Hemmingway and Christopher Raeburn.
The group spent the day rehearsing with their model, having their photos taken,
and polishing their final presentation which would be part of the catwalk
show. The big finale in the evening was wonderfully supported by parents and
staff alike and the judges had a very difficult task to choose the outright winner from the seven finalists. It was a very
high standard given that the seven finalists were picked from over 1000 entrants to the competition back in October.
Although our team didn't win, we are extremely proud of the fact that we were in the last seven and that our garment has
now gone back to Central St Martins and will be displayed in the future as part of an exhibition.

Motive8 Sports Training Programmes- Easter 2015

Advanced Football Training Programme
Focused on developing and enhancing skill levels through advanced training
practises, small sided games and tournaments.

7/8/9th April 2015

Specialised Gymnastic Programme
Focused on developing and enhancing skill levels through participating in
various gymnastics disciplines such as trampoline, acro and vault.

31st March/ 1st/2nd April 2015

9-3pm at Richmond Upon Thames College, Egerton Road, Twickenham
20 per day / 30 for 2 days / 45 for all 3 days
For Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils

www.m8coaching.co.uk

Call 0208 481 9700 to book your place

Year 7 French
Trip

Year 7 Boys
Year 8 Boys
Year 10 Girls

The Year 7 French

trip will leave on
Friday 17th April
and return on
Wednesday 22nd
April.

Parents Prayer Meeting

Good Clean Fun

The next prayer meeting for parents will be

in the Chapel on Monday 13th April at
2.15pm.

Top set Year 9 Science went to have a load of 'Good Clean Fun' at the Royal
Institution (RI) in London on Tuesday. The all-day workshop was held in the
L'Oreal Young Scientist Centre and run by two very enthusiastic scientists. The
group were tasked to design a shampoo. They leant how to test and alter the Ph
balance, control the amount of foam and viscosity of the product and add their
own colourings and essences. Everything had to be done in an exact fashion and
the end result was a range of beautifully coloured and fragrant mini bottles of
shampoo. It was just as it says on the bottle 'Good Clean Fun' and we are very
grateful to the RI for funding the day for us.

Please come as its a lovely opportunity to

pray for our whole community here at
Christs School.
Serena Willoughby, Chaplain

Our Bible verse for the week:

e kind to one another,

tender hearted,
forgiving one another,
as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4 v 32

Lord of all life and power,

who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity

Easter Activities at Albany Park Canoe and Sailing Centre for ages 8 to 16 years
Sailing for those beginners and novices or training days to brush up on your skills with help from our RYA Senior
Instructors. A family river trip is planned, from Hampton Court to Albany. Come along and enjoy a family day
together. There are also canoeing/kayaking courses for beginners and improvers and our popular multi activity
sessions.

Albany Park Canoe and Sailing Centre Afterschool Activities

We are pleased to be able to offer after school paddle-sports (canoeing) sessions on Tuesday evenings weekly
throughout the term. Young people will be able to gain valuable experience on the water to prepare and keep
refreshed for your next BCU (British Canoe Union) canoeing course at Albany Park Canoe Centre. The sessions will be
fully supervised by experienced fully qualified BCU instructors at all times.

Email albanyparksb@kingston.gov.uk or go to www.kingston.gov.uk and search for Albany Park

Increase the Maximum Prison Sentence for
Acts Committed Under the Animal Welfare Act

Diamond Light Source

Sixth formers taking Maths and Physics A

level went to Diamond Light Source at
Harwell on Wednesday. The science
centres at Harwell, including both
Dont let the law crush animal rights- we believe that the
current law of 51 weeks in prison does not give animals the
Diamond and Rutherford Appleton
justice they deserve. This law covers most forms of abuse
Laboratories, are major employers of
including abandonment, domestic abuse and slaughter.
scientists, engineers and technicians with
However, we have found that the majority of criminals dont
even get a prison sentence and in fact no one has ever been something like 10,000 employees. Our day
began with a fascinating talk about the
given the maximum sentence. In our eyes, animals should
receive the same respect as us and therefore crimes against
work done at Diamond Light Source where
them should be seen just as severely. We would thoroughly
they have some 23 beam lines delivering
support an increase of the maximum sentence to up to 2
data working almost 24/7. Experiments
years so that the penalties become harsher and are more
range from looking at moon dust on
likely to reach one year and even over that. We believe this
Jupiter, how to preserve the Mary Rose,
issue is important because in a study of male prisoners who
were deemed violent offenders, over half of them admitted to analysing propeller coatings from Rolls
having committed acts of violence against animals. This
Royce, to simply watching paint dry - or at
means that if they were prosecuted more harshly at the
least working out the chemical reactions
beginning, they might not have gone on to commit more
taking place. We then toured the facility
threatening crimes. Moreover, there have been approximately
which consists of a starter section, an inner
1000 convictions under the Animal Welfare Act but only 10%
ring, an outer ring which is nearly 500m in
of these received any prison time and those who did receive
a custodial sentence, rarely served over eight weeks. Finally, circumference. It is here that the light is
the change in law would send a powerful sign that there is no either bent through magnets or tuned into
place for such barbarity in British society.
various prescribed wavelengths and then
We appreciate you taking the time to read about our issue
sent into the beam lines. We were also
and if you want to find out more or stay updated on this topic
allowed into one of the beam line
then follow us on social media. Our twitter is
laboratories where they were using
@Animal_Cruelty5 and our Facebook page is called Extend
diffraction on multiple experiments and
the Maximum Sentence for Animal Cruelty.
had help from a robot who could be
programmed to work through the night. It
was an interesting and inspiring visit for all.

By Natasha Blackmore, Hannah Perks, Maya

Regan and Ben Jones

Citizenship Campaign News: Recover

Our campaign is to decriminalise drugs in the UK. We want drug offenders to be helped instead
of being imprisoned. We believe that imprisonment is not an effective way of dealing with drug
offenders, as in prison they do not receive enough support and help they need to stop their drug
addiction. The government spends 13.5 billion on imprisoning drug offenders every year and in
our opinion this is an ineffective use if tax payers money (because there are many other ways it
can be spent to yield greater results). Often people continue to take drugs once let out of prison.
Therefore prison isnt a big is not solving the problem. People commit various crimes to fund
their drug use but if drugs were decriminalised then people would be more willing to seek help
because they wouldnt be scared of being punished.
Liberal Democrats are looking at decriminalising drugs in this country. The liberal Democrats
are thinking of moving the drug policy from the Home Office to the department of Health. Nick
Clegg claims: We need to put an end to this ludicrous situation.
Our focus should be on getting them the help they need, not
punishment. However, neither the conservatives neither the
labour party have any plans to decriminalise drugs in the UK.
Portugal decriminalised drugs in 2001. Portugal removed all the
criminal penalties for drug use. Now if someone is caught with
drugs, they are sent to a Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug
Addiction, a panel including a social worker, a psychologist and a
legal advisor. It can only refer people to treatment, and if they
someone appears at the panel within six months, they may be
forced to pay a fine. Reports have proved that this policy has worked because the number of
drug related problems has decreased. We want a similar policy to be implemented in the UK.
For more information:
Watch our campaign video-http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YTZpYTXIDFM
Like our facebook page- Recover
Follow us on twitter- R3C_over
By Jasper Spires, Alex Greenwood, Finlay West

CITIZENSHIP CAMPAIGN UPDATE: WHAT TO DO ABOUT ISIS?

By Aleksandra Aleksejevaite, Lucy Morris-Board, Marnie French-Mahoney, Year 11.

We are a group of year 11 girls who are campaigning for the British government to take stronger action against
those young Britons who have gone to fight for ISIS. This issue needs to be urgently addressed by the UK
government. Just a few weeks ago three girls who are our age, from London, left their apparently peaceful lives to
go to Syria; then three young boys tried to get onto a flight to Turkey to cross the border and only last week a
woman been arrested in Luton Airport for returning from the fight along ISIS. How is this happening, and why?
Why are these people able to go out and commit such terrible crimes against humanity and mainly indirectly but
explicitly against the country they call their own.
We strongly believe that those who have gone to fight for ISIS
or have tried to cross borders hold a massive threat to the
British people. The threat that radicalised young people could
coming back to England to carry out mass acts of terror on
civilians, and those have not yet tried to make their way to
join the fight could very well be influenced to carry out lone
wolf attacks our very own streets. Not only will the potential
terror acts harm individuals, it will also ruin community
relations in Britain and lead to suspicion and segregation
unless radical Islam and its followers are dealt with.

So what should be done? We firmly believe that those gone to fight shouldn't be allowed back into England and
should have their passports taken away. They have made their choice. At the very least they should be arrested on
return and charged with terror acts, even if they havent directly attacked the UK. We also believe that there should
be better checks at airports and that Under 16s flying to Turkey should be questioned especially if travelling
alone. In a lot of cases it is also needed for the government to have a much greater control of social media as a lot
of the radicalisation does come from the internet, it might be hard to believe this but actually many of the young
teenagers gone to fight for ISIS have received help from those already there with the help of twitter, which most
children in our school use every day. Do you want your child witnessing these horrifying and disturbing images of
beheadings that some people seem to think acceptable and their strongest argument is religion? Actually, the fact is
that Islam does not teach any of these things as it is a very peaceful and respectful religion to all other groups of
people.
Another problem that ISIS have fuelled the concept of islamaphobia in the UK. We have learnt that Islam is based
on helping people lead good and healthy lives, while doing right for everyone and everything and praying for
thanksgiving and wrong doing to Allah. However now because of ISIS activity many people in the West have
started to fear this religion as they believe it to be something that it truly isn't. This fear has also fuelled discrimination in our streets and communities as people are now associating all Muslims with ISIS and terrorist activity. Although the issue is of course one associated with Islam, the effects the reaction by some is wrong and counterproductive. Something has to be done about it, just because there is a small minority of individuals that are doing
wrong doesn't mean that everybody of that religion holds a threat to us.
We strongly argue that those extremists who commit such crimes should be punished as criminals according to the
law, but people also must see the clear line between Islamic Extremists and ordinary British Muslims. However, as
long as radical Islam is not tackled firmly by the Muslim community, and firmly by the British government and
courts (ie sending out a clear message that if you go to fight for Isis you will not be allowed back in to the UK) then
we fear this will not happen.
By Sandra Arezina, Georgina Plant, Isy Urquhart, Jake Hillyard
Would you feel safe knowing that one in six foreign offenders living in the community
have absconded deportation, including 58 dangerous individuals who have been
missing since 2010?
The governments performance in reducing the number of foreign national prisoners has described to be
frustratingly poor due to their continued use of outdated IT and too much reliance on form-filling. As a result,
crucial checks and information gathering is not happening at the right time. How can it be that after five years in
office, David Camerons government are deporting over 500 fewer people than in previous years?
A report conducted by the National Audit Office found that the government has made little
progress on the issue. Foreign prisoner numbers have risen 4% from 10,231 to 10,649 since
2006, while removals have fallen to 5,097 from a peak of 5,613 in 2009.
There were 12,500 Foreign National Offenders in Britain at the end of March this year, either in
prison or living in the community pending deportation. Public bodies have spent an estimated
850m on foreign criminals, approximately equating to 70,000 of taxpayers money a year per criminal. Yet
despite this, Britain remains one of four countries in the European Economic Area not to sign up to the Schengen
Information System, which uses warning alerts about foreign nationals.
The report also disclosed a case of a foreign offender who has been jailed twice for
sexual offences, but remains in the UK despite a near eight-year battle to deport
him. The man arrived in the UK as a student in 1980 and was granted indefinite
leave to remain in the UK in 2005 despite being jailed for three counts of
indecent assault of a female under 14 five years earlier in 2000.
We hugely disagree with the leniency in the enforcement of deporting foreign offenders and are continuing to apply
pressure on this important matter, particularly emailing Members of Parliament. The numerous failed cases and
increased media coverage dedicated to this issue highlight the need for change.
If you would like further information on our campaign, please visit our Twitter page @UKDeportation for regular
updates.

Campaign Update
The dangers of hidden sugar
By Sophie Fenton
Many of us are eating more than our recommended GDA of sugar, a mere 6
teaspoons. Often we are eating foods we think are healthy or not high in sugar
but are in fact, a lot worse for us than we presume. So why are we allowing this to
happen? Surely in a time when health and fitness is a key aspect of life and with
regulations forcing manufactures to put the amount of sugar in our foods.
Some companies have even taken up the traffic light system, this shows people at a glance whether the
product has a high sugar content, red, low content, green, or medium content, amber. The product is deemed
a sugary product if there are 22g of sugar per 100g, this is extremely useful as you can tell straight away just
by looking at the product whether it has a high sugar content. However, companies are not obligated to do
this, and many do not. In fact, many products try to n confuse or mislead customers when they provide the
sugar content per portion or per half-pack.
We feel that this is outrageous, as the obesity epidemic increases in the uk and around the world this has
become a major issue, and nearly two thirds of people in the UK are overweight or obese. This obesity then
leads to other problems like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. As scary as these figures are, the simple fact is
that all this can be easily avoided- reading the label carefully, being aware of the sugars that are often hidden
in food and try to stick to the 6 teaspoons a day. It may seem difficult (everyone enjoys a sneaky chocolate
bar here and there) but it is so simple and can be done by anyone. I, myself decided to give up fizzy drinks for
lent but after watching the BBC one programme The truth about sugar (I strongly recommend watching this
as it is eye opening and intriguing, not to mention excellently filmed) I decided to give them up, I realised that
fizzy drinks were just sugar dissolved in water. I was horrified that a bottle of ginger beer had a whopping 12
teaspoons of sugar! Thats twice your daily intake in one bottle, I know that I will occasionally have the odd
fizzy drink- you dont need to completely cut out sugar but just be wary of it.
If you feel as we do, that there needs to be more said about this issue then please feel free to have a look at
our Facebook page: TMS-TooMuchSugar or our twitter: TheSugar101.
Our campaign is Sophie Fenton, Clare Tweedie, Luke Livesy Tate and George Iredale

Christs Year 7 Netball team beat Orleans

Park 11-6 at Christs School. Well done!