No Showers; just Glorious Bath

Saturday 12 February dawned misty and cool but the promise was of sunshine to come. The students and three staff assembled on time at the Swan building ready for trip to Bath. It was a good journey there and we arrived by 10.30. The city looked beautiful with the golden colour of the Cotswold stone buildings making a stunning contrast with the blue sky. A short walk took us to the centre of the town and a chance to explore the Roman Baths.

The Baths were built along with a temple to Sulis Minerva at the site of a Celtic sacred spring. This is a place where hot water rises from deep in the earth’s core and gushes out on the surface. The flow of water is enough to fill your bath in 8 seconds. We walked around the Baths and the Temple and were able to listen to a commentary in Chinese, Japanese, German, French and other languages as well as English. It was fascinating to walk around the areas that the Romans had walked around over two thousand years ago. The water was not clear but we could watch the steam rising from it as it bubbled up from the ground.


We then had a break for lunch where all could choose a restaurant. After lunch we reassembled and walked as a group up to the Circus and the Royal Crescent. There was much amusement as we walked past the street called Quiet Street — none of us were sure who could live there! We admired the beautiful houses in the Royal Crescent and dreamed of owning one. All were imagining what life would be like if they lived there in the past.

The group then divided with some wanting to enjoy more free time in the city whilst the remainder enjoyed a visit to the Assembly Rooms and the Museum of Fashion.

— Words by Ursula Boughton, Teacher of Maths

Friday Night Bowling Trip

A collage of bowling photos by talented ISC student Sasha Sokolova

An important part of the GCSE Programme is the programme of social events and activities that offer students a chance to have some fun outside the classroom. Last half-term's bowling trip was one such event.

It also proved to be another great opportunity to display our students' astonishing talent: should their summer exams go poorly, Toby Sun and Sergiy Marchenko clearly have a bright future as professional bowlers — they finished the evening with record scores of 95 and 94. Helen Wood also deserves credit for saving the staff from complete humiliation by equalizing with a score of 95.

But the evening was also a chance to show off just how creative some of our students are. We were witness to some unique bowling techniques, never before seen on the UK mainland. These included throwing the ball so hard and with such inaccuracy that it bounced into the neighbour's lane! (Thank you for that, Atsuko Hashimoto…) And, not to be out done, Nathalie Rimensberger rolled the ball so slowly it did not even reach the pins. Last but not least, Joe Ou went to bowl the ball, forgot to let go of it and promptly fell over.

A night of extreme talent, clumsiness and great fun!

— Writeup by David Wareham, Senior Pastoral Teacher