The Chronicle no. 672

3 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Making a Splash By David Aldred

Visiting The North Wall for the first time, I was instantly reminded of another theatre, similar in character and size: The Watermill in Newbury, a converted 200-year-old mill which has retained many of its historic features and combined them with modern theatre technology. So too, The North Wall has had another life and a watery past, with which I am

also familiar, having swum as a pupil of St Edward’s in the pool that was once housed here. I remember the white elegance of its tiles and underwater mosaic, and the wonderful wet acoustics. Many years later, just after my return to The North Wall as a teacher of Drama, there were whispers of a ghost, a rumour instantly denied by the school authorities.

But aren’t all theatres haunted? It’s part of their inevitable make up and dramatic character. Katrina Eden cast me as the ghost in Hamlet , an ethereal voice from behind the stage. So if there is one, I could be it! From the waters of its forgotten pool, now covered in dust sheets below the stage, making an entrance as… the ghost of The North Wall. See pages 18 and 27.

Bringing Books to Life

Shells are in the enviable position of being taught by the very person who wrote their Biology textbook. Dr Andrew Davis wrote the definitive guide to the IB Biology Middle Years Programme and, although we do not study the IB MYP here at St Edward’s, the Biology Department feels that it is the right focus for our pupils. ‘The MYP shares many of the aims of the Shell Curriculum, such as a concept and skills-based approach to learning,’ Dr Davis tells us. ‘In fact, I wrote the book using the approach we have developed at

Teddies, and several of the chapters are based on units we teach the Shells.’ It is good to know that an approach developed at St Edward’s has been recorded in book form and is being used worldwide. Pupils will use MYP Biology in their Shell year to gather an appreciation of the key concepts in Biology, and the skills they will need to succeed academically, before embarking on the IGCSE in the Fourth Form. This book is not Dr Davis’s only claim to fame. He has written several other IB books covering Biology, and Environmental Systems and Societies but, perhaps most impressively, has a rainforest hunting spider named after him, Teutamus andrewdavisi , a new species he discovered whilst working in Borneo.