The festival features all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays, each performed in a different language by companies from all over the world. The students had a fantastic day, experiencing a spectacular performance by the Q Brothers from the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.

The Q Brothers are America’s leading re-interpreters of Shakespeare through hip hop, creating productions that unlock Shakespeare’s work for audiences from all walks of life. Following their award-winning international tours of Bombitty of Errors and Funk It Up About Nothin’, the brothers returned to London to perform Othello – The Remix for the Globe to Globe Festival.

Their vibrant and original interpretation had everyone spell bound from start to finish and hopefully it will have inspired and prepared the students for their forthcoming Drama and Theatre Studies exam.

Sheridan Lewis

The British Physics Olympiad (BPhO) aims to encourage the study of Physics and recognise excellence in young physicists through annual physics competitions. The competition is designed to test understanding and develop problem solving skills and is open to able young physicists studying A-Level Physics in schools and colleges.

 Participation in a British Physics Olympiad is a challenge for able students and allows them to:

• Have fun problem solving
• Test their knowledge with stimulating questions
• See the real-world problem-solving potential of physics
• Practice open-ended and unstructured questions, as seen at higher levels of study
• Gain a prestigious award for CVs and UCAS forms
• Win certificates and book prizes
• Compare their attainment with students from all over the United Kingdom

It is an exciting opportunity for AS students to stretch their lateral thinking skills and apply fundamental physical principles to novel situations.

Pictured are students (L-R) Mike Sullivan (Bronze Award), Jonathan Deakin and Ben Fox (Silver Awards).

Congratulations to all the students who took part.

The students tackled a stretch of water from Burnage Rugby Club to Jacksons Boat near Sale Water Park. During the trip the students were assessed for their BCU 2 star award as well as gaining river reading skills and strategies in preparation for their Gold qualifying expedition on the river Wye.

Taking part were students Samuel Beard, Rob Goldstone, Ashleigh Higginbottom and Christopher Walker. The trip was led by BCU coach and ICT teacher Timothy Crowther and assisted by aspirant BCU coach Alan Little.

 Best of luck for the Gold qualifying expedition everyone!

Two students from The University of Manchester, Ben and Nadir, have been developing a website and app which aim to improve pronunciation in non-native German speakers as part of their studies.

The Ashton students were offered the opportunity to test the app and website and give feedback on usability. The programme is being developed by a group of German language students at The University of Manchester (Team Denglish) and teaches high-level pronunciation skills thorough phonetics.

The link was made possible by German teacher Guy Bennett who also lectures in Grammar, Translation and Business German at The University of Manchester. Guy felt our A-Level students would benefit from the app, especially before their final oral exams, and his Manchester University students would also benefit from user feedback.

Ben and Nadir also spoke to the students about why they chose to study German at University. Nadir (currently studying joint honors in German and Chinese) stated the opportunities to travel to both China and Germany as part of his course as particular reasons for choosing his programme of study. Ben mentioned to the students that studying a modern foreign language gave great opportunities for travel and employment as linguists are currently one of the most employed groups of graduates.

Ashton Sixth Form College student Anna Ridgway (pictured) commented “The app was really useful; it helped me to understand how to pronounce some difficult words. Ben and Nadir were great; they gave us all an insight into studying German at University”.  

You can view the Team Denglish website at www.denglishglo.tk/

Sam Coates with Queen's Invite and Greater Manchester Spors Volunteer Trophy

Ashton Sixth Form College student and BT Manchester Sports Awards Volunteer of the year Sam Coates was recently invited to attend a Civil Luncheon during The Queen’s visit to Manchester.

Sam was invited to the prestigious event at Manchester Town Hall, after her volunteer work with youngsters came to the attention of the Royals.

A keen tennis player, Sam is currently studying the BTEC Extended Diploma in Sport and keeps herself busy in her spare time. For the last four years Sam has been giving up 10 hours a week offering free coaching sessions at Sportcity to youngsters aged five and over.

Sam has also taken part in sports events for charity, most recently volunteering to help out at Manchester Sport Relief Sunday and attending the Sport Relief Mile in Spinningfields. Sam has also been chosen as one of Manchester’s ambassadors at the London Olympics.

“I love sports and I’ve been helping out coaching since I was 13, I just wanted to give something back, I think it’s really important that children are able to get into sports.”

Sam was extremely pleased and equally surprised to hear she had been invited to attend;

Sam said: “I was invited a while ago and I had to RSVP.

“I got the proper invitation in the post after that. It was really posh!”

“My family were really pleased I was invited. My mum and dad and nana all thought it was really good.”

She added: “I kept looking over at the Queen while we were eating and thinking it was really weird that she was there! It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

“The lunch was really nice. The Queen sat in the middle and I was two tables away, so I could see her while I was eating. I was really careful not to spill anything!”

Sam continued; “Bobby Charlton was there and about 16 other VIPs. Obviously the Queen and Phillip were the most impressive ones!”

Sophie Scholl tells the story of how three university students who fought to overturn a Nazi totalitarian regime through the power of words alone. Although the play ended with all three students sentenced to death, it showed us that even the smallest organisation can make a huge difference in inspiring future generations of people to stand up for what they believe in.

At times the subtitles provided during the play were useful for understanding specific knowledge but the overall play was very easy to keep up with and understand. It was very well performed and combined with the lighting and music, very atmospheric.

Admittedly I had doubts about watching a play entirely in German, but seeing it has made me realise how much of the language I can understand and has reinforced my reasons for taking a language at A Level.

Lilith Harrison-Rooke

The competition took place at Tipton Sports Academy, Tipton on the 18th February 2012. Ashton Sixth Form College competed in the sport of “Kho-Kho”. For those of you unfamiliar with the sport, here is one example from this years’ competition (although unfortunately not the Ashton Sixth Form College team).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJf0meWZAnw

Ashton were one of only two Sixth Form teams competing at the event. The remainder of teams were from University, and as such were more experienced and some of the best the UK has to offer. Ashton inflicted a crushing defeat on Queen Mary’s University of London. The score being 43 to -1.5 points (an average game usually scores around 5-9 points). This was the biggest win of the day and may be a record win. In the final Ashton played Leicester University and won the match 8.5 to 6 points.

Rules of the game:

•           Each team consists of 12 players, but only 9 players take the field for a contest.

•           A match consists of two innings. An innings consists of chasing and running turns of 3 and a half minutes each.

•           Then, 1 team sits/kneels in the middle of the court, in a row, with adjacent members facing opposite directions.

•           The chasers can only run in one direction and cannot cut across the sitters unlike the dodgers who can run randomly and in between the sitters.

•           They have to run round the entire row to reach the other side.

•           The other option is to pass the chasing job to another sitter whose back is facing the chaser as the chaser is running.

•           In this option, the chaser touches the sitter he wants,usually nearest to the target and shouts “kho” to signify the change of guard.

•           The objective is to tag as many of the opponents in the shortest time possible.

•           Each opponent that has been tagged is worth 1 point. If the chasers make a foul the half a point is docked for each foul.

•           A foul consists of change in direction while chasing or swinging around other teammates sat down.

 Team Members:

Karan Haveliwala (Captain)

Prince Naruka (Vice Captain)

Shivam Bhagat

Jiten Mistry

Jaymin Patel

Mahesh Chhiba

Jinal Patel

Former Students

Vinay Sud

Akash Sood

Jessica Patel

Congratulations to all!

http://www.nhsf.org.uk/

 The following students were selected to receive an award:

Sophie Artingstall

Alice Ash

Amy Astley

Samuel Beard

Joshua Birch

Aaron Breeze

Elizabeth Cavanagh

Daniela Clare

Andrew Davies

Kurtis Fishlock

Daniel Gradwell

Joshua Haywood

Matthew Johnson

Natalie Jones

Umer Iqbal Khurshid

Christopher King

Rebecca Leigh

Jonathan Lloyd

Bethany Lowe

Laura Male

Kamila Palka

Akshay Patel

Christopher Porter

Aimee Powell

Usama Samad

Elizabeth Smedley

Joshua Smith

Kayleigh Smith

Matthew Swift

Alexander Syddall

Jake Walker

Thomas Wilkinson

Ellie Woodhouse