Back in September 2002 Georgina Ettritch joined Shipston High School.  A quiet, unassuming, totally reliable and diligent student with an interest in all of her subjects, including sport, but with a particular passion for Geography.  Georgina left us in June 2007.

Fast forward to the Spring of 2020 when we heard the fantastic news that Georgina had graduated from Aberystwyth University with a Doctorate in Philosophy.  Her thesis entitled “Hydrogeomorphological Mapping of Malarial Habitats in Large Tropical Floodplains” was dedicated to Miss Davies and Mr Moyle, her two geography teachers whilst at Shipston High.

We are so proud of Dr. Georgina Ettritch BSc (hons) MSc PhD.

As a school, we would like to recognise Georgina’s total dedication to her subject, offer our warmest congratulations to Georgina in achieving the distinction she now holds and wish her every success for the future.  It is really heartening to learn the success that a student at Shipston High School can achieve when taking their first tentative steps into secondary education.

Once again, we had many and varied book characters in school on our school Book Day (due to internal exams taking place in school on World Book Day we moved the date slightly!).

We are always grateful to the thought given by staff and parents in making this such a successful event, promoting all that is good about picking up a book and reading, even though we did have strange and wonderful characters appearing in our lessons ….

Our u12 (Year 7) rugby sevens team competed at the Sibford School 7’s tournament on 11^th March.

This was the first time in several years that we have taken part in this competition and we returned by finishing 2nd overall out of 20 teams in total.

Schools from all around Oxfordshire and Warwickshire entered the tournament and we had some noteable victories including beating Cheltenham Boys College by two tries to one in the Semi final.  It is worth mentioning that the other schools we finished above were Warwick School, King Edward School, Beachborough School and Royal Latin School, all exceptional rugby-playing schools!

Unfortunately we were not able to beat Magdalen College School (another independent school) in the final, but what was frustrating was that we beat them in the group stages.  Possibly tiredness got the better of our boys when we faced them again in the final.

For such a small school with limited facilities compared to others, we certainly pack a punch and compete with the best.

Congratulations to all the team:  Joseph Fairbairn, Morton Bell, Jacob Gainsley, Harry Smith, Josh Windebank (player of the tournament), Ed Kerby, Sam Caldicott, Elliott Lockwood and Tyler Moodley

Mr S. Lockwood
Head of P.E.

Year 10 recently attended a really interesting Science/Careers lecture regarding Careers in Healthcare.

Dr Anne Scase, a Consultant Anaesthetist, gave up her valuable time to come in to talk to the group about the many and varied Careers that are available in Healthcare.

She talked about the training required to become a doctor, but also outlined the many different roles available and the many different routes students can take into the medical profession from Paramedic to Finance. There really is a career in healthcare for every student whatever their ability.

The students asked lots of questions and then did a personality quiz to see what type of roles were suitable for them.

You may like to try it yourself to see which healthcare career you could be suited to.

http:// www.healthcareers.nhs.uk

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A group of four Year 10 students and Mrs Kember visited Europe recently.  The trip was part of the First World War Centenary Battlefields Tours Programme run by the UCL Institute of Education.  This was a government funded trip and a fantastic opportunity for our students to mix with students from a variety of other schools to investigate the way in which we remember the fallen from the First World War.  Once concluded the programme will have seen 8,000 students from schools across the UK having visited the battlefields.

The visit began in Belgium investigating the start of the war and visiting Ypres.  In the evening, the group was privileged to watch the last post ceremony at the Menin Gate memorial.

During the first evening students were given two names, Thomas Henry Webb and Thomas Welford Rainbow.  Using the Commonwealth War Grave Commission website to find out who these individuals were, they were to discover that both men had come from Shipston and had both died fighting in the war. They went on to discover that neither soldiers’ bodies were recovered and they are both named on memorials to the missing.  Whilst at Tyne Cot, the largest British Military cemetery in the world, students found Thomas Henry Webb’s name and discussed what they had found out about his life before the war.  He will forever be remembered on panel 80.

The tour concluded with a visit to the Somme region where students spent time at the Thiepval memorial to the missing, where they discovered the name of Thomas Welford Rainbow on panel 5A.  Again they shared what they had discovered about his life and then signed the visitors book in remembrance of him

Thank you to Mrs Kember for giving the students the opportunity to take part in this very emotive and worthwhile visit.

At 2:30 a.m. on 7^th February thirty one bleary eyed students and three even more bleary eyed staff arrived at school ready to depart for Poland to explore the Jewish history of Krakow.

Despite the early start students involved themselves in all the activities throughout the day which included a tour of the Jewish quarter, a visit to the only remaining working synagogue in Krakow and a visit to the Schlindler museum. The day finished with a walk to the Plaszow concentration camp to see the stunning memorial there.

The second day was another early start, heading off to visit Auschwitz 1 and Birkenau. Here we had a guided tour of the barracks which have now been turned into museums, including a fantastic Shoah exhibition dedicated to the loss of Jewish life during the Holocaust. Students then visited Birkenau to learn more about the daily conditions at the death camp and to get a sense of what it might have been like for a prisoner there.  After what had been a rather intense day students finished their evening in a Klezmer restaurant, listening to Jewish music and eating traditional Jewish food, a really lovely way to see that Jewish culture is still alive and being celebrated despite what students had experienced during the day.

To complete the trip, on the Sunday students visited the Galicia photography exhibition dedicated to Jewish life after the Holocaust. It was here that students were fortunate enough to listen to a survivor talk, where they learned about a parent’s sacrifice to give up their child so that she could survive knowing what their own fate would be. After an incredibly moving session and some great questions from the students we then finished the trip visiting the incredible salt mines (where many of our students ‘enjoyed’ a quick taste of the salt walls!).

Despite a delay at the airport spirits remained high when a Jewish school broke out into spontaneous song and invited our students to get involved, which culminated in singing, dancing and a bit of learning Hebrew thrown into the mix!

As always the students were fantastic and a real credit to the school, resulting in all having a really valuable experience!

Ms Jordan Whitworth
Head of Religion, Ethics and Philosophy