News and events
Our latest news and events give you an insight into life at school.
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Our latest news and events give you an insight into life at school.
The theme for this year's conference was 'Believe in Tomorrow: STEM and Futures Day'. It was organised by Mr Abelmula who provided a brief welcome before introducing the school band who treated the audience with a rousing rendition of Wham's classic 'Last Christmas'. The band comprises Kira (Year 10) and Rebecca (Year 9) on vocals, Nathaniel (guitar), Danny H (bass) and Lester (drums) (all Year 9) and Silver (year 10) on keyboard.
The conference was yet another event sponsored by The Old Camdenians Club (O.C.C.) who continue to support the school financially in several endeavours. Mr Abdelmula invited Dr Raymond Rowe, Secretary of the O.C.C, to the stage to say a few words. He spoke about the club and recalled fond memories of his own time in the school in the 1960s and urged the students to keep in touch with their friends after leaving the school, as he has done.
Following Dr Rowe was the guest speaker, Charlie Walker, who held the attention of students, staff and honoured guests alike for a full hour as he shared tales, photographs and videos of his intrepid adventures all over the world; from freezing temperatures (-68 degrees) to hot deserts, from wild rivers with rapids and crocodiles to dense forests and buying a donkey when he was expecting a horse! Some days he was walking a marathon daily. He visited some of the most remote parts and communities anywhere in the world, faced moments he thought he was going to die and was even wrongly arrested and detained for a month in Russia, wondering if he'd ever be released. His message to students was to challenge themselves; "do difficult things" and not to put things off because "someday isn't on the calendar". Charlie also encouraged students to not be afraid to ask for help when they needed it saying "the biggest barrier to getting help is not asking". It was a truly inspiring talk and he fielded questions from fascinated students at the end of it, including "can I have your autograph?"
After the break, the main thrust of the day commenced; the STEM projects. The 139 students in attendance from years 7-10 were split into groups of 6. Half the groups were in a session where they were tasked with building an aircraft in the assembly hall whilst the other half were in the Old Camdenians Hall building wind turbines. Each member of each group had to take on a specific role; project manager, finance manager, designer, energy engineer, systems specialist or marketing executive. It was a competition so the groups did not just have to build their items but also present it to the rest of the hall and have their product tested.
There could be only one winning group for each product. The wind turbine challenge was won by Ibrahim (Y10), George, Drinos, Nomqhele (Y9) Myla (Y8) and Hannah (Y7). The aircraft building task was won by Vinnie (Y10), Lester, Nathaniel, Kolade, Adam (Y9) and Habiba (Y8). Some students were commended for presenting well; Mehmet, Jet (Y10), George, Raymond, Nomqhele, Louise (Y9), Skyler-May (Y7).
What they said:
"Not just building stuff but building character with it" - Aymen (Y9)
"Engineering creates opportunities and winnergy creates synergy" - Rosey and Trina (Y9)
"May be the one thing I'm actually proud of" - Danny D (Y9)
"Difficult times lead to prosperous futures" - Jet (Y10)
"Amazing!" - Yaqub (Y8)
"On pressure but good work" ; Hannah (Y7)
"Stressful!" - Tommy (Y7)
