Newsletters

News from Mr Grady

Hello everyone.

This week sees us moving into the final round of a particularly important appointments process: That of our Senior Student Team.  This team will be comprised of Year 12 students and is a vital conduit between students and staff.  The roles are prestigious ones and we had a wealth of applicants, out of which there was an interview process to narrow it down to 8 candidates who write a manifesto and give speeches to their peers, before a public vote of staff and students decides the final team.

I had the real pleasure of watching the 8 speeches yesterday, and I have to say was incredibly impressed by the passion of the students, their insight and the clear desire they had to be part of shaping the Rugby High School Community.  They were not politicians trying to find the next soundbite, but passionate, erudite and considered young adults, eager to shape their community and make a difference. 

The reflection on what a special community Rugby High School is was a pleasure to hear, and the 8 candidates should be immensely proud of their speeches, and the way they presented themselves to their peers.

It was a real moment of “this is what education is about.” Seeing the culmination of all our work as a school in supporting the growth and independence of the young people speaking.  All were academically successful, which is the least you could expect, but all too, were sensitive, perceptive, self-confident and focussed.  I felt proud that these were students of our school, and whether they’d joined us in Year 7 or at any point in between, their ownership and sense of belonging to the Rugby High School community was very real.  If the future of our school is in the hand of the young adults speaking yesterday, then I can say it is a very rosy future indeed.

Best wishes,
Mr Grady

Rugby High Presents: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Tickets on sale everyday at lunchtime from the tutor officers desks

£6 adults
£4 concession
 

Wednesday 27^th,
Thursday 28^th,
Friday 29^th November

Starts at 7pm
Buy your tickets before they sell out!

...more information

A Site for Sore Eyes

EES is a 6-month Programme which links teams of Year 12s and their teacher with a local company where they work on real-life, scientific, engineering and technology projects. Our project (In Partnership with GE Energy) is based on a cooling system for a very, very big electrical cupboard – the Narnia of engineering if you will. Last week we visited Rugby’s GE site to put our project into perspective.

We strapped ourselves in to the minibus, and were positively static with excitement. After doing hours of research on something we could only imagine, we would be able to finally put a picture to the product. After some squeezed parking, we had reached our destination. 

On arrival we were provided with some safety shoes (a fashion crime to say the least) and some safety specs and took a small catwalk to the factory. Our guide, Noel, explained the fascinating history of the site including details on a scientist called Dennis Gabour who invented the hologram on the Rugby site. He  went on to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in 1971. He also explained how Frank Whittle first successfully tested the jet engine in the same place 82 years ago. We were obviously standing on important ground. 

Upon my first steps into the factory, my initial reaction was ‘wow!’ the space was tremendous in size and I’d never seen anything of its kind. We learnt that the Rugby site predominantly assembles generators that consist of two main parts: Rotors (which rotated) and Stators (which remained static) – this was all to create an electromagnetic current. 

Step one to creating these magnificent machines was to cut steal laminations which were to be stacked into a small tower like structure, by hand. Laminations are used to increase the path of electricity, as there is a higher surface area. These are then compressed and held together by huge bolts – this effectively is the rotor. Stator bars are then shaped and formed and they are wrapped in special insulating tape. The wrapped bars are baked in an oven to 100 degrees Celsius, so the insulating tape hardens and the bars are ready for the generators. Once the stator is fully assembled, it goes through the VPI process – a poxy resin is drawn through the stator in a vacuum at a fierce temperature - which makes the machine water and oil resistant and ensures there is no movement between parts. After some adjustment and testing, both the rotor and stator are assembled to make an operational generator for the customer. 
This is then tested in house and then shipped to site. 

Fun facts: Each generator can paint any colour of the customers choosing (including neon pink).  It can take from 1000 – 5000 hours to manufacture a machine.

Overall our trip not only put our project into perspective, but also allowed us to get a glimpse into a possible future in electrical engineering. 

Meera Mistry Year 12