The finest young orators in Cranleigh have taken part in a public speaking contest.

Organised by The Rotary Club of Cranleigh, the Youth Speaks competition at Cranleigh School on 22nd January featured seven teams from Glebelands School, Duke of Kent School and Cranleigh School, with four entries in the intermediate competition and three in the seniors.

A team from Glebelands won the intermediate category, speaking on 'The Tangled Web.'  The team comprised chairman Hannah, speaker Jade and Hannah as proposer of vote of thanks.

The team will now compete in the semi-final at the University of Surrey.  

This year's adjudicators were Celia Stanton, a former deputy headteacher at Farlington School, Andrew Clark, headteacher at Park Mead Primary School and the Reverend Roy Waters, deacon at Jesus Christ Redeemer of Mankind Catholic Church.

Heat organiser Michael Hart said: "The subjects were most interesting and varied. The judges were impressed with the standard of the presentations and had a very difficult time in deciding the winners."

Source - Surrey Advertiser

Glebelands Spring Focus Day was a roaring success on Thursday 13th February. Students enjoyed a fantastic day of activities, learning about a vast array of different cultures and environments and preparing for the future and the world of work. Year 7 spent their second Focus Day on a visit to the Natural History Museum in London with the highlights being the iconic dinosaur skeletons, a trip through planet earth and the recently opened Extinction Exhibition.

Year 8 spent half the day with some horrid creepy-crawlies and weird and wonderful creatures with the Zoo Lab experience. A company visited the school and brought in some unusual and amazing animals for students to learn about and in many cases, hold, including a snake which was not for the faint-hearted!  In the other session, Year 8 students got the chance to have a go at new languages that they might like to study in the future, Spanish, Italian or German. Students earned points by speaking in their new language and this earned them resources to build their own model of the Eiffel Tower.

The Year 9 Day was split into two. For half of the day, students participated in an activity named Speed Earth which placed groups of students into role-playing scenarios focusing on how they would run an island with a finite amount of resources. This activity really helps with team work and leadership skills. For the other half of the day, the students immersed themselves with the History department in the issues associated with World War Two and the holocaust – a sobering experience.

In Year 10, half of our students experienced the Bradford Business Game, run by local charity Surrey SATRO. In small groups, the students ran a company for the morning, had to manage their finances and prove that they could create a product and make a profit in a fictional business scenario. The remainder of the year group were shown some cognitive memory skills by some an agency specialising in student presentations. These were then consolidated in English and Maths focused afternoon sessions.

With important GCSE exams approaching, Year 11 were introduced to some vital revision techniques that will be incredibly useful over the next few months within the context of Maths, English and Science which complemented the Year 11 Parents’ Information Evening held the week before. To enable Year 11 to prepare for the wider world, students also experienced two sessions on finance, addiction awareness and managing their money. A session on time management including a school-wide treasure hunt gave some invaluable lessons in prioritising time with a bit of fun thrown in.

Thank you to all the staff at Glebelands who have put time into planning this successful day, and also to all the visitors who came in to share their expertise with our students. A fantastic day was had by all! 

Mr C Smitheram
Assistant Headteacher

Source - Surrey Advertiser

Tales from behind the camera as film club welcomes top director

Students at Glebelands School in Cranleigh were given an exclusive glimpse of life behind the camera as they welcomed BAFTA Award-nominated film director Phyllida Lloyd to their school through education charity Into Film.

Members of the school's film club, aged 11 to 15, took part in the exclusive question and answer event with the director, best known for her work on The Iron Lady and Mamma Mia! to discuss how getting into film can help young people learn, her personal career highlights and the under representation of female directors in the film industry.

The visit was part of international Women's Day, which is held to inspire women and celebrate their achievements.

Pupil, Hannah said: "As a girl who already likes this sort of thing, it really made me want to pursue going into the film business and having a career."

The visit formed part of the Into Film's industry interaction programme, 'Behind-The-Scenes,' which enables young people from all backgrounds to have access to a creative professional while still at school.

Phyllida Lloyd said: "It feels really important to get out there and talk to young people, hear their views and talk to them - particularly to people who are passionate about films because they are the audience of the future."

Kathy Bell, who leads the school's film club, said: "It was an incredibly wonderful opportunity to have a visit from a respected, esteemed Hollywood director.  A real treat for the students, a real treat for me.  Informative, educational, funny.  An absolute pleasure."

Source - Surrey Advertiser