The Hallifordian - 2016-2017

68 Newsday During activities week the whole of Year 9 participated in Newsday. The aim of Newsday was to help reinforce our independent learning and help us co-operate well in a team. Firstly we were split into 10 groups, each group’s job was to create the front page of a newspaper and a 1 minute news clip. Each group allocated a different task to team members. One of the jobs was to go into Shepper- ton and ask the locals questions about the local news and opinions. My team found out about man who was attacked by his crazy tenant and then dumped into the river Thames. We also had the opportunity to hear from Dr Brooks, playing the role of a police detective, who read out a statement about a missing man and an unidentified body with a head trauma found in the Thames. We also decided to do a news report on can- cer as part of the health column of our paper, this is due to the word “Cancer” often being used in soci- ety but what really is “Cancer”? Luckily we had Dr Brooks on hand to give us tips and information for our article. To make our paper eye catching and bold we used big pictures to draw the reader’s attention, on top of that we added a section on The Lions and how their rugby tour was going. At the bottom of the cover we added the weather, a crossword and lotto numbers to make the paper more realistic. Our group filmed an interview with Mr Shales discussing The Lions for our news clip. After all the groups had finished their work we all assem- bled in the theatre to listen to a presentation by Ms Wilbraham on Fake News. After the presentation we all presented our pieces. I really enjoyed listening to all the groups reports and looking at their papers. There were many good news stories such as: The murder in Shep- perton, a discussion of why homework should be banned, why a flying car could save the environment and the London terror attacks. I really enjoyed this day and would like to thank all the staff and pupils involved. Ben D’Azzo, Year 9 Tower of London Trip, Year 7 During Expeditions Week, Year 7s visited the Tower of London. The trip was designed to support the learning that they had done over the year on the Norman Conquest and the Middle Ages. Upon arrival at the Tower, the boys took part in an educational session entitled ‘1066 and the Norman Tower of London’. Led by an educational guide playing the role of one of William the Conqueror’s courtiers, we learnt about the building of the White Tower, the way in which its defences were fortified, and its symbolic power as the great ‘Norman fist on Anglo-Saxon soil’. After this fascinating insight into the early history of the Tower, we were keen to explore the grounds. We started by visiting the world famous Crown Jewels which are made up of 141 historic ceremonial objects, which together contain 23,578 gemstones! We then looked around the White Tower, and took a particular interest in the Royal Armouries collection. This includes a wide range of armour dating back to the early me- dieval period, including the armour of a number of English kings, including that of Henry VIII. We rounded off the day with lunch and a quick visit to the gift shop, before heading back to school. All in all, it was a highly enjoyable and educational day, and a fitting end to a very interesting year 7 history course. Mr McMillan, Head of History