Activities and events at Collingham, Summer 2012:

 

 

Activities Week 18th – 22nd June

Activities Week is an important opportunity for AS students to take part in and benefit from an experience beyond their A level studies.  It gives everyone an opportunity to work alongside different tutors and students other than those whom they normally encounter.  All students are expected to participate.

• Snowdonia Trip: a two-night trip to Snowdonia National Park
• Collingham workshops – Drama, Board Game Design and Film Making

On Thursday 22nd June all students will attend the water-skiing and raft-building day.

 

The Classics Department is taking a group of students to see Sophocles' Antigone at the National Theatre on May 23rd. Thebes has just beaten off a serious military attack on the city. The two sons of Oedipus, Polyneices and Eteocles have killed each other in single combat. The new king, their uncle Creon, has begun his reign by pronouncing an edict that the body of Eteocles is to be given a proper burial with full military honours whilst that of Polyneices who led the attack against Thebes is to be left unburied on the plain outside the city.

Antigone, their sister, is determined to bury her brother even though the penalty for disobedience is death. Heroic and defiant, she escapes from the city to perform the duty required by the gods below.

This classic and moving play examines the conflict between the claims of the family and religion against the claims of the state.

 

 

Recently, Spring 2012 term:

 
The annual CIFE Academic Awards presentation took place on Monday 19th March 2012 at the House of Lords. These awards recognise outstanding academic achievement of students who attend CIFE colleges. The standard is exceptionally high with many of those shortlisted having achieved 100% in individual A level modules.

It was very pleasing, therefore, that three Collingham students had been selected to receive awards presented by Baroness Perry of Southwark. Baroness Perry is a former Chief Inspector of Schools and the Honorary President of the Council for Independent Education (CIFE).

• Giles Howdle received the CIFE award for Visual and Creative Arts. After achieving an A* and three A grades at A level, Giles has gone on to study Philosophy at King's College London.
• Max Wagner received the CIFE award for Humanities and English. Max achieved the maximum possible marks in a number of units at A level. He is now studying Politics at LSE.
• Paul Linshits received a CIFE college award for all-round achievement. Paul joined Collingham in his last year of GCSE study.  He took five A levels, achieving two A* grades, two A grades and a B. Paul is now at Pembroke College, Oxford reading History and Economics.

Baroness Perry congratulated all the students who had been given awards, "It is a great pleasure to celebrate the wonderful achievement not only of these outstanding young people but also their parents for supporting them and all their teachers and colleges."

 

 

 

Business studies

A Level students took the day off from college to visit the cinema! On Monday, 19th March, all the A level business studies students participated in a day long revision lecture seminer. It was hosted by Tutor2U and was held at the multiplex cinemas at Fulham Broadway. It was split up into AS and A2 workshops, based in different screens. A number of past and present examiners gave a series of interesting business studies talks, using the vast cinema screens to show videos and news items to illustrate the talk.

 

History of Art

Students visited the Courtauld Gallery on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd February to view an exhibition exploring works by Piet Mondrian and Ben Nicholson painted during the 1930's. Of particular interest were the parallel paths Mondrian and Nicholson charted during this exciting decade whilst creating abstract artworks.

 

A2 students visited Tate Modern on Wednesday 14 March to view modernist works in the collection including paintings and sculptures by the Cubists, Futurists and Surrealists.

 

 

ART

 

The GCSE Art Department has so far this academic year directed several stimulating and tailor-made visits, linked to the students Edexcel coursework, to the following venues:  Tate Modern - Gerhard Richter Retrospective;  Tate Britain - John Martin, 'Apocalypse';  and  The National Portrait Gallery, ' Lucian Freud, Portraits ' and there has also been a visit to The Royal Academy to view ' David Hockney, A Bigger Picture'.   There will hopefully be further pertinent and inspiring student trips to come this year !

 

February 20: four of our art students (two GCSE and two A-level) have had their work selected by the Royal Academician Humphrey Ocean and the Rector of The RCA Paul Thomson, for The 2012 ' Young Art at The RCA '(Royal College of Art) exhibition!

Many congratulations to:

Max Durkin  -  GCSE
Izzy Taylor   -  GCSE
Joy Finzi      -  A-Level
Adam Riley  -  A-Level

More to follow ......

COLLINGHAM BIOMEDICAL SOCIETY (CBS)

Jan. 31st:  Zayd Sharif, a recent Collingham alumnus and current student at St. George’s Medical School, spoke with CBS students about the realities of medical school.

 

GCSE TRIP

 

Our GCSE department headed east to the slopes of Bankso in Bulgaria. The students flew out on the 29th of February for 5 days. Three days were given over to skiing. In addition to this, they visited local attractions and took a tour of Sofia. The resort is located in the South West of Bulgaria and has buildings dating back to over 100BC.  It is famous for the beauty of the mountains and the 27 local hot springs that have made the area a spa destination. The skiing is on par with the Alps with a vertical drop of over a 1000m and a maximum height of 2600 m.

Bankso is on the FIS circuit, hosting world cup races for both men and women so the students found plenty of challenging terrain. However the mountain also has excellent facilities for some of our more novice skiers.



PICTURES FROM THE TRIP

 

 

HISTORY OF ART

AS and A2 students visited the Courtauld Gallery on Tuesday January 31 to view 19th and 20th Century paintings in the collection.  Of particular interest were works by the Impressionists and Post Impressionists.

 

PHILOSOPHY

The Philosophy Department attended a one-day Philosophy conference at Heythrop College, University of London, on Friday March 9.  Speakers included Michael Lacewing, author of the A-Level coursebooks.  Click here for the full schedule.

 

CLASSICS

Theatre visit in February for A2 Greek students to see Euripides' Hippolytus, this year's set text,  at a local London theatre in Bloomsbury.

Hippolytus tells the tale of how a young man, obsessed with the pursuit of purity, unknowingly becomes a victim of the Goddess Aphrodite’s vengeance. As the Goddess’ plan unfolds, Phaedra, his stepmother, becomes consumed with passion for him, but will she break society’s conventions and give in to unnatural desire, or protect her reputation and that of her family. As the battle between divine and mortal will begins the House of Theseus is thrown into a sequence of uncontrollable and tragic events.

 

• February 6: Virgil Lecture Day
• March 12: Homer Lecture day - Homer's Odyssey arranged by Sovereign lectures. Four distinguished academics gave lectures on different aspects of the Odyssey. Their talks were geared to the requirements of the A level syllabus.  These lectures have proved to be very valuable for examination preparation and the students really enjoy them.
  
  
  March 20th:  a matinee production of Aeschylus' rarely performed trilogy "Oresteia". Translated by Ted Hughes and performed at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.
  

 

 

 After the murder (1882) artist John Collier (1850-1934) Guildhall Art Gallery (London)

 

SOCIOLOGY

A trip for our 'Families and Households Unit' to the Geffrye Museum of the Home, on Wednesday February 1.

 

Previously:

CLASSICS

 

 

 

As part of their study of comedy in the ancient world, the Classics department will be visiting One Man, Two Guvnors by Oliver Chris and Jemima Roper when it transfers from the National Theatre to the Adelphi.

 

Other Classics trips this term include:

A lecture day on Greek Tragedy

A visit to see a production of Clytemnestra, a dazzling new adaptation of Aeschylus’ tragedy The Libation Bearers. A national institution over 130 years old, the Oxford Greek Play is a rare opportunity to witness the greatest drama of the ancient world in the magical rhythm of its native language

 

 

An evening of entertainment celebrating the production of The Oresteia at The National Theatre in London in 1981directed by Peter Hall. To be held at The Lecture Theatre, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies.

 

 

 

PHOTOGRAPHY

The photography students have visited the new permanent Photographs Gallery at the Victoria and Albert museum.  Of particular interest were the older prints, among them a daguerrotype from 1839 - a one-off process creating an image on a shiny metal plate - the reflectiveness of which the students cleverly likened to modern holograms which arrived 120 years later. The gallery draws on the V&A's formidable collection and is a great resource to have so close to Collingham.