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24 January 2025


Maths Student of the Week

Sabrin 9T - for her engagement and participation in her Maths lessons. 

Well Done!


Debate Competition

Well done to the three Year 12 students who have progressed to the regional finals of the English-speaking Union's Debate Competition in the UK.

Melita, Jasmine and Baudelaire put a convincing argument forward for globalisation causing global inequity!

They are in the final 72 of over 360 schools who entered. If they win the next round, they will be in the London schools final!

Ms Dallas


Documentary Portrait Photographer Visits CSG

Year 13 Photography Students met with the Documentary Portrait Photographer Kate Peters to learn more about the Photographic Industry during their lesson on Thursday. Kate generously gave us her time and insight, sharing with us her journey from a student of A Level Photography back home in the Midlands through to the Professional Photographer she is today.

After secondary school, Kate embarked on a foundation course that she abandoned halfway through in favour of work and travel before applying and being offered a place at Falmouth University for their degree course. She shared with us her early work from this period and her experience of moving to London and seeking experience through assisting with various photographers. Unheard of in the world of Photography now, but she was eventually employed as a full-time assistant to Nadav Kander for four years before taking the leap into self employment to be commissioned for her own Photography.

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Kate has used personal stories as a method to gain commissioned work that has been published in various magazines and broad sheets. Her work has also been selected for The Taylor Wessing awards at The National Portrait Gallery, and she is often employed to do advertising shoots that have included ‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ campaigns, The Olympics as well as financial institutions. Her long-term project ‘Boudica’ offered the students fascinating insight into how to approach possible opportunities to create a documentary body of work.

The students were incredibly attentive, asking pertinent questions throughout, and I am hopeful that this talk has inspired them to continue their interest in Photography.

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Assembly Speakers - 13 January
Neil Newbon, director and producer

On Monday, 13 January, we were lucky to have actor, director and producer Neil Newbon as our assembly speaker. He has been working as an actor for 28 years and in games for 15 years, doing a range of things including advertisements, voiceovers, creature work and, most notably, motion and performance capture. He is most famous for his role as Astarion in the game Baldur’s Gate 3, for which he won the Game Award for ‘Best Performance’ in 2023, as well as roles in other games such as Resident Evil and Detroit Become Human.

To start, he presented a showreel highlighting some of his recognisable roles and work in motion capture. He then went on to tell us about his journey from school to acting, which started by joining the National Youth Theatre at around age 15. He encouraged any aspiring actors to join groups or organisations such as this, as it is beneficial to start from a young age.

This led to him gaining an agent and a variety of roles in television and theatre, saying many do not necessarily need major academic qualifications to enter the field, the most valuable asset being experience. However, he still recommended having qualifications in another sphere as a means for survival if acting opportunities dry up, as they commonly do. Neil Newbon himself struggled with this, almost facing bankruptcy at one point until he discovered the possibilities of acting in the gaming industry.

This has allowed him to be steadily employed ever since, now being a well acclaimed actor, directing, as well as producing and delivering specialist training in motion and performance capture.

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When asked what the difference between screen acting and performance capture was, he explained that performance capture is a very pure form of acting as it is not just voice and motion but the ability to be viewed from a 360 degree viewpoint.

He stated that it is often useful to have good physical fitness for action roles, but this is not necessarily a requirement for every job. He then went on to demonstrate the intricacies of building a character through one’s voice and body language, taking on the characteristics of an ape (as he did in Planet of the Apes) and the elven vampire Astarion from Baldur’s Gate 3. He also listed the various sources he studied to do this. For instance, he borrowed the characteristics of 3 friends for Astarion. This was both a very entertaining and enlightening performance. He also advised any creative to only use social media as a form of advertisement and as a professional tool, as reading into comments was neither helpful nor healthy. Finally, he recommended that due to the competitive nature of acting, one should only go into the field if they have a strong drive and passion for storytelling.

After the talk, he very graciously gave his time to answer individual questions, sign people’s prints and take photos. It was a greatly enjoyable talk which we will all remember for a long time to come.

Melita
Year 12


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