Midsomer Norton Games Association

 On Thursday 15 May 2008, students from 11 different Primary Schools came to Somervale School to participate in the Annual Midsomer Norton Games Association Tag Rugby Competition. 

 

The schools that participated were Farrington Gurney, High Littleton, Shoscombe, Trinity, Clutton, Farnborough, St Benedicts, Westfield, St. John’s, Paulton Juniors and St Nicholas with 2 teams.

 

Volunteers from Somervale’s CSLA and JSLA groups umpired and helped with the running of the tournament.  There were many close games and generally a great afternoon was had by all.

 

There were 2 different pools of schools where each team played 3 or 4 matches.  From this the winners of each pool competed against each other to get an overall winner.  However, every year there is another prize for the team who showed the most sporting behaviour within each game to which the ‘Fair Play’ award was given. 

 

The winner of the Fair play award was High Littleton.

 

It was St Nicholas v Paulton Junior School playing the final and the overall winner was St Nicholas.

Somervale’s Football Success

Somervale’s Year 11s are the celebrating their football success after completing an unbeaten season with a 2-1 victory over Writhlington in the Bath and North East Somerset final at Twerton Park.  The game was a showcase of the best two teams in the area, featuring the winners of the two leagues from earlier in the season.

 

Alex Docherty was in unplayable form, and broke into the box to sweep the ball past the ‘keeper and open the scoring.  Only 10 minutes into the second half, Somervale doubled their lead when an intricate passing move lead to the ball falling in the box at the feet of Dan Button, who coolly knocked the ball passed the motionless keeper to make it 2-0.   A Writhlington free kick from the right touchline somehow eluded everybody to loop over the mass of players and into the top left corner of the goal to make it 2-1, but that was the way it finished.

 

In the later match, the Year 9s met Beechen Cliff to contest the Year 9 Bath and North East Somerset title.  Both teams played excellent football, with flair and creativity on obvious display.  This was reported to be by far and away the highest quality final of all five but it was Beechen Cliff who won it, 3-0.

Somervale goes to Westminster

Students from Somervale School Council and from the A Level History group were invited by Dan Norris, their local MP, to find out more about how democracy works through a visit to parliament.  Mr Norris was eager to visit them in school to find out their impressions of life at Westminster Palace.

 

Adrianne Adlam one of the Y10 students who went on the tour said, ”The Houses of Parliament were really interesting, we learnt about how affairs of state are handled and how the House of Commons votes. We even managed time to visit the London Eye with spectacular views over London. Overall, it was a really successful trip which everyone enjoyed.”

 

Dan Norris after speaking with the students said, “I very much enjoyed my visit to Somervale School.  Youth democracy is very important to me and it was fascinating discussing with the students their views about Parliament and their own concerns”.

 

The students were impressed by the sheer scale of the palace and the tour was brought to life by an actor from Holby City who does a very good line on palace commentary between visits to the operating theatre.

 

Mark Kenny, Deputy Headteacher of Somervale who accompanied the trip said, ”The students were really interested in the history of their democracy. As they looked at the worn fabric of the royal seat in the robbing room it really brought home to them all that those arms had been worn bare by the wrists of the Kings and Queens of England”.

Visit to Somervale RE Department by University Lecturers

Year 12 and 13 students benefited from two visits from University Lecturers recently.  On 31 March 2008, Dr David Webster from the University of Gloucester Philosophy department spent two hours with Year 13 students, teaching them about life after death and religious experience in preparation for their final summer exam. He spoke to Year 12 students about the design argument for God.

 

Later the same week, on 4 April 2008, Denise Cush from Bath Spa University spoke to Year 12 students about the development of Buddhism in China and Japan and the historical features of India at the time of the Buddha.  Denise Cush is the author of a students’ text book on Buddhism.

Community Governor Vacancy

We currently have a vacancy for a Community Governor at the school.

Parents of pupils, both of those currently at the school and of pupils who have left the school, are eligible to stand as community governors.  It is anticipated that the appointment of community governors will be used to strengthen links between the school and the community that it serves.

If you would like to download more information, and a nomination form, please click this link.

Vacancies Page Added to Website

The latest addition to the Somervale School Website is a new ‘Vacancies’ page. This gives visitors to the site the ability to see the latest vacancies from the school, and to download application packs in an easy to use format. Most of the documentation is in Adobe Reader© format, but has also has the application form in Microsoft ‘Word’© format, so that it may be completed using a computer and emailed back to the school. This will make the whole application process much faster and more efficient.