Tennis Success

In a tennis match yesterday against a certain predominantly boys' school up the road, our L6th team won two games to one. The scores were 6-0, 6-2; 6-4; and 4-6. I'm not quite sure why some of the matches were only one set but I am sure that it was a great victory. Let the summer begin!

The Young Enterprise Team

Here are some photos of our successful Young Enterprise team. No prizes for guessing the name of the company.

Young Enterprise success

Congratulations to our Young Enterprise company which was awarded Best Company Presentation and to our Managing Director who was awarded Best Businesswoman at the area heats on Saturday. Our MD will now go on to compete in the regional finals held at Robinson College, Cambridge.

More on the History of Democracy

The system of ruling a country by votes from the people began in Athens in 510 BC. The Greeks called this system demokratia (rule by the people) which of course gives us the word democracy.


The ancient Athenian democracy was very different to ours. First, only adult male Athenian citizens were eligible to vote, only a very small percentage of the population of Athens. Secondly, those who had the vote were allowed to attend the assembly (the ancient Greek version of the house of Commons) and vote on any new law. Instead, in democracies today, citizens vote for politicians to represent them in parliament.

Athenians used voting not only to make laws: they also voted in law courts to decide whether someone was guilty or not; they could also vote to get rid of (ostracise) politicians they didn't like. Ostracised politicans would have to leave Athens and live in exile.

Voting today usually takes place on paper ballot slips, sometimes on computer. However, the Greeks voted with pebbles, or pieces of broken pottery, or even leaves. For more information about the Athenian democracy, follow this link.