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On the way to St Alkmund’s
Church, we crossed a spikey
bridge, which used the towering
poles as a way of displaying an
unfortunate priest’s head, who
had come to a sticky end after
disobeying the Church. On our
way, Mr Butler and Mr Dobson
entertained us with anecdotes
of their childhood and what
Derby used to be like with
regards to ethnicities, religions,
and origins.
Upon our arrival, Elaine, the
youth worker, spoke to us about
St Alkmund’s and allowed us
to ask her questions about her
beliefs, being a Christian.
Later, she took us around the
church, informing us of the
various purposes of the church.
The visit overall was interesting
and insightful because we got
a sneak-peek at parts of the
church that we would normally
not see. Plus, we got cake!
In the future, we would like to
visit other places of worship
that we would not normally
go to, such as Mosques,
Gurdwaras and Synagogues.
We feel that actually going to
places of worship benefits us
in a way that simply learning
about religion in sessions
doesn’t because we get to view
everything we’ve learnt about
being put into practice.
Jaya Jaspal,Year 11
Year 13 Chemistry students
were recently lucky enough to
be visited by the ‘Spectroscopy
in a Suitcase’ outreach team,
sponsored by the Royal Society
of Chemistry. This enabled us to
put our knowledge of chemical
analysis into practice.
After being able to create
infrared absorption spectra,
the students got involved in a
mock ‘Who-done-it?’ mystery.
A variety of samples such as
urine, drugs and possible blood
stains left at the scene of the
crime were analysed using
both proton NMR and Mass
Spectrometry to discover the
identity of the guilty individual
who murdered Mr Green. The
students used clues and police
interviews to solve the horrific
crime. The results they obtained
from the analysis of these clues
proved that Mrs Green was the
culprit who murdered her ex-
husband in a fit of jealous rage.
The students thoroughly
enjoyed participating in this
activity and had realistic
insight to how the analytical
techniques they have learnt
are used practically within the
world of crime.
Amira Maryam
and
Sanha
Saleem,Year 13
Take MeTo Church
As part of our GCSE Philosophy and Ethics learning
experience, Mr Butler arranged for our class to visit
St Alkmund’s Church for the afternoon.
Spectroscopy in a Suitcase