William Brookes School Blog

Courtesy is more than having good ‘manners’. It is an important aspect of respectful living that can be a challenge to stick with. Courtesy is treating others in the way we expect and wish to be treated. The development of such social skills and an ability to form constructive relationships with others, whether they be friends or colleagues are essential skills for life and work. There are standards that are obvious to everyone.

Someone who is courteous is:
• polite
• nice
• prompt about saying ‘thank you’ and ‘please’
• smiley (and not whiney)
• able to listen, not just out of politeness
• good at taking time when dealing with someone

They are well liked by most people and are not easily pushed around. They rise above what a crowd might be doing and aren’t selfish.

Amongst other things, they:
• treat friends, relatives and people they know with warmth and respect, look them in the eye in conversations and listen to what they have to say, asking questions to better understand their perspectives or their concerns;
• don’t insult other people, mock them or act unkindly; if they have a criticism they say it to the person’s face rather than behind their back;
• don’t pry into other people’s affairs or push for information that another person does not wish to give;
• wear clothing or styles that are suitable and will not offend even though it might be individual;
• take part in conversations without dominating, demanding attention or being too loud;
• help people who require assistance and encourage quieter, shyer people to take part;
• hold doors open for older people and do not push in front of smaller people;
• eat sitting down, don’t get food everywhere and do not make chomping noises;
• arrive promptly and settle to take part in a group activity rather than e.g. continuing a conversation with their neighbour;
• do not sink to sending messages that are hurtful for ‘entertainment’;
• are not too noisy in a place where it might disturb others.

Courtesy is not always easy but it costs nothing and profits everybody. You know that if someone pushes in to a queue, maybe waiting for dinner, that this spreads annoyance and hatred. When you get older this is true if someone drives aggressively and endangers other people’s lives. If you are polite, take your place in a queue, wait for other people or hold a door for someone it makes them (and you) feel good; if you can smile whilst doing it – so much the better.

The word is very similar in meaning to enterprise but is more to do with hard slog and a more individual effort, maybe with less obvious or less immediate gains. The word seems to come from the French, metre en devoir, which means to “put in your duty”. This indicates the need for someone to take responsibility for their own actions and efforts. It’s the opposite of ‘CBA’!

Endeavour means:
• Trying hard to do something, or at least attempt it
• Exerting yourself
• Striving to start and accomplish some task or other
• Giving it a good try, having a crack at it, giving it a whirl, having a stab at it
• Getting your head down and keeping a focus on the task
• A serious and sincere effort
• Viewing success as only a step away
• Not cheating or cutting corners
• An earnest and honest effort, whatever your ability

In the spirit of Olympism that the school wishes to associate itself with, there is an encouragement to meet or exceed your personal ‘best’, always giving a task your best ‘shot’ and taking pains to work as well as you can for a fairly long period of time. Endeavour can also involve being bothered to sort out things you may not have fully understood or finished. It involves taking time and not thinking “It’s beyond me.”

The School motto (Courtesy, Enterprise and Endeavour) is in the process of being reviewed. We are interested in your suggestions for alternatives. Some people like to hold on to the tradition established by the current school motto. We shall explore some aspects of what the motto means, starting with enterprise.

Enterprise is working hard at something or other, with imagination - a task or a project that may:
• involve planning and refining
• take time to complete
• be complicated
• have some risk (of failure) attached.
As with the Star Trek motto (‘To boldly go…’) it involves working actively on a project or task in a way that is purposeful or personally demanding; especially one that requires a lot of effort.

There are several opportunities to participate in school activities: through coursework or extended tasks and a range of extracurricular opportunities. Recently, for example, you could get involved in raising money for charity through the ‘ping-pong-athon’, improve or learn how to ski (if you are in Y10), attend higher level maths SAT preparation sessions during the holidays - all requiring an individual effort. You show enterprise when you deliberately push yourself to work harder than you normally do or when you are prepared to embark on a new, initially difficult, venture. Revising for exams can be viewed as an enterprise.

In specific work-related enterprise projects, students are challenged to see who can make the most profit from a small business venture. Some came up with washing staff cars and several groups thought about and sold homemade cakes and biscuits. In this project the students soon learned real business lessons about careful pricing and the need for market research to see what people are interested in buying as well as how much they are prepared to pay for it.
John Healey, the Labour member for Wentworth, has a particular interest in promoting the initiative and application required to be enterprising. He recently commented:
“The driving forces of the modern economy are innovation, competition, skills and enterprise.”

An enterprising person will:
• want to become actively involved
• have many ideas which are creative and interesting
• be inspired and regularly enthusiastic
• not rely on others to motivate themselves
• be in-tune with your community and the environment
• be both a creator and finisher, with a determination to succeed
• be a hard-worker, persistent, sticking with a task rather than giving up
• want to be successful yet have a focus on succeeding with others
• be able to generate fine ideas
• not be put off by problems, seeing them as hurdles to overcome

Affectionate rice calculators might have worked out that there are roughly 2646 grains in an average sized portion (i.e. half a cup).

How many grains of rice would there be in a 2kg bag (Basmati, fine)?

300 grains of rice = 9 grams
1 gram of rice = 33 (and a third) grains
1kg = 1000grams
So 2kg of rice = ?? grains

How many grains of rice would fill the universe?
The volume of 2kg of rice is around 0.0016256241 m^3
So 1 grain occupies about??

The diameter of the universe is estimated to be 2 x 10^23 miles. Assume it is a sphere (volume = (4 x pi x r^3)/3)

A cubic mile is 4.16818183 x 10^9 m^3

How many grains of rice in a universe?

I travelled to the French speaking Quebec City from 12^th to 28^th February this year to play for Under 13 Team England in the Under 13 (Pee-Wee) Ice Hockey World Championships.

During the tournament we played the following teams in either tournament or exhibition games: - 

Vancouver Winter Hawks

Team Italy

St-Hyancith

Colorado AA

Czech Republic

Beauval

New Jersey Devils

Springfield

Colorado Avalanche

Monkton Wildcats

 Team Nike-Bauer

Chicago Hawks

Team Austria

John Renie Pro-action  

Sadly we were knocked out of the main tournament during the early rounds but then played either 1 or 2 exhibition games every day against some of the finest teams in the world so the practice and experience was magical.   Ice Hockey, as I am sure you all know, is a very physical and male dominated sport so I felt very proud to be one of a very few girls who had attained the standard to be at the tournament and the only girl in Team England (I am only the second girl to play for any ‘mixed’ England Team). I realise that as the lads start to develop and grow, I will eventually have to move to Ladies Hockey (I already play for Nottingham and North of England Conference at Under 16 level) so I have now started the long road to attain the goal of playing for the Senior Women’s GB Team and (if we qualify) representing Great Britain in the 2014 Olympics! (Well, everyone has to have a target).While there, the temperature varied from -12 to -35 degrees C and there was over 4 metres of snow (the skiing and frozen pond hockey was great!) 

During the stay, it was an association rule that we were to be billeted in pairs with a local family so I had a lot of time needing to get myself understood using some French so hopefully the trip was not only an amazing experience, it was educational as well. 

Free Rice is a great little website. You play a game to improve your understanding of words and by doing so donate rice to people that need it.  If you get the answer right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word. For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

Visit: http://www.freerice.com/ 

Warning: it is incredibly addictive.

Name: Mathew Mead

Form: Queens and Edwards

Form room: Various, but I think my first form room was Room 5 in the maths block

Tutor: My first tutor was Mr Game, followed by Mr Constantine, Mrs Smith, and Mr Thomas 

Year that you left school: 1992 

What were the phrases, films, trends, etc when you were at school?

I remember bands like Guns n Roses, The B52’s, Happy Mondays and Bon Jovi being popular, and films like Crocodile Dundee and Terminator were in the cinema. In the late 80’s the “baggie jeans” era was popular. 

What did you enjoy about William Brookes School?

I pretty much enjoyed most things at the school. Nice location, teachers and other pupils. Favourite thing was probably the Top of the Pops event just before Christmas when the pupils and teachers dressed up as pop stars and performed on stage. 

What was one of the things you learnt that has stuck with you (curricular or not)?

I always enjoyed Geography at the William Brookes and suppose that has stuck with me as my job now revolves around similar issues.   

What do you miss most?

The school day finishing at 3.30pm and 6 week summer holidays! And those Jam butties they used to serve in the school canteen which had been fried in batter – although I suspect they have long since gone thanks to Jamie Oliver!  

What memories stick out in your mind?

The Top of the Pops events at Christmas I mentioned before really sticks out in my mind. Other things that have stayed with me are queuing up for lunch in the corridor; Mr Cox the science teacher setting fire to the science lab; playing “spot” in the maze by the home economics department; being forced to run up Windmill Hill during cross country events; and  I guess I must have gone to some lessons occasionally as well. Mr Smith’s maths lessons, Mr Kelly’s English lessons and Mr Thomas’ Geography lessons were great. I’ve also got fond memories of the 6^th Form Common Room, but it’s probably best not to talk too much about those!  

What did you do after you left school?

When I left school I studied Urban Geography at The University College of Ripon and York and Heritage Management at the Ironbridge Institute.  When I left university I came back to Shropshire and worked for the Shropshire County Museum service at Much Wenlock Museum, where I looked after the Museums collections and helped research information about William Penny Brookes and the Olympic connection. In 2004 I joined TESS (Transport for Everyone in South Shropshire) where I managed the Shropshire Hills Shuttle bus service. 

  Where are you now?

In 2006 I joined the Shropshire Access Partnership, where I still work. I’m based at the Shirehall in Shrewsbury but travel across the county as part of my work. My job is to try to ensure that people living in rural communities in Shropshire have access to essential services, employment opportunities and leisure facilities. I now live in Shrewsbury, where coincidently my local Councillor is Mr Townsend who used to teach me English at the William Brookes. I also go to watch Shrewsbury town play at their new ground, where I sit near Mr Leahy, my Science teacher (I still get worried that they are going to ask me where my homework is). 

What are you doing (Is it what you thought you would be doing /what the school thought you would be doing)?

When I left William Brookes School I was thinking of going into either urban planning or journalism, so I suppose the job I’m doing now isn’t too far off that.

    If you could do it again what would you do differently?

I’m not sure I’d do anything differently really. I had one or two teachers I didn’t get on with and some subjects I didn’t like, but enjoyed going to William Brookes. I suppose one thing I might do differently is to have been better at French or German. They were my two weakest subjects and I would have liked to be better at speaking a foreign language.  

What advice would you give to students about making the most of their time here?

I suppose just to enjoy their time at school as much as they can. While it seems like a bit of a pain at the time, it’s much better than working, and occasionally some of the teachers do tell you things which prove to be useful in later life. Also, if they do still sell the jam butties in the canteen, don’t eat too many of them as they really aren’t good for you!

There is encouragement to walk 10,000 steps a day. How far is this? An average person’s stride is roughly 2.5 feet long.

There are 5280 feet in a mile.

Ways to increase your daily steps:

• Take a walk with a friend
• Walk the dog, or someone else’s dog
• Walk around the school once a day
• Use the stairs instead of a lift
• Get your parents to park further away from the shops/school
• Walk to some shops
• Get up to switch channels on the TV
• Run up and down the stairs
• Window shop
• Plan a walking meeting with mates
• Walk over to visit a friend
• Vacuum the house
• Go to collect some milk or a newspaper every Saturday
• Get outside to walk around the garden or cut the grass

Podcast

Pi time

It is pi day on Friday 14^th March. This number is how many times the diameter of a circle (the distance across it) stretches around the circumference of a circle (the distance round it). This number was probably important, a long time ago, for astronomy – you could predict where stars would be for navigation and the likely flooding times of large rivers (like the Nile).  

Various approximations to pi are found, going back to the ancient Babylonians who thought it was exactly 3 for a while and then improved upon this (around 2000BC) to be 3 and an eighth. The Egyptians came up with a closer value (found in the Rhind papyrus, in around1650 BC) of 3 and 13/81ths for pi.

These ancient civilisations found their approximations by increasingly accurate measurement. Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC) seems to be the first person to have actually calculated pi. Cleverly, he found the total perimeter of a polygon inside a circle and the polygon inside a circle.