NEWS AND REVIEWS FROM THE SCHOOL AND ALUMNI 2012-2013
CONTENTS Introduction from the Head
1
Leavers 2 Features Middle School Curriculum
10
Sevenoaks Lectures
14
IQ and The Schickler Society A day in the life of Year 8
Old Sennockians: The Academic Life
Interview with Professor Sir Simon Donaldson (OS 1975) Katy Ricks: a return to research Academic service Extended essays
12 16 17 20 22 23 25
SPOTLIGHTS Where invention meets discovery
30
School House: A year of beginnings and endings
32
Founder’s Day
Struggle for survival
Charlie Higson returns to school Doha goals forum
Fifty years of the IC
31 34 36 38 39
Greece! 42 The Suffolk connection
44
Biology study trip to Transylvania
46
Review: Benjamin Britten, A life for Music History study trip to the United States Year 8 Globe Theatre trip
45 47 48
REVIEWS Academic Review including prizewinners
50
Drama Review
72
Visual Arts Review Music Review
64 82
Sport Review
Trips and Activities Review Alumni Review
94
108
116
Valete 144 Founder’s Bursary Appeal Dates for your diary Year 10 artwork by Amy Mead SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
154 156
AN Introduction from the Head Welcome to this year’s Sennockian. In this edition we hope to capture something of the excitement of academic discovery. My own recent experience of working on a DPhil thesis was a vivid reminder of how thrilling and rewarding it is to study and perhaps even contribute to human knowledge and understanding.
Our teachers continue to innovate and to enrich the pupils’ learning with opportunities outside the classroom. In March we hosted (and livestreamed) our first TEDx event on Science and Technology, a superb complement to our annual Science Week. This year has also seen the inauguration of the Sevenoaks Lectures and audiences have enjoyed talks by Professor A C Grayling, Paul Rose and our The ISI Inspection Report published in March gave own published author, Chris Greenhalgh. The the highest possible commendation to all aspects of extensive menu of activities available to our the school and described the quality of our pupils’ students now includes Anthropology and teaching and learning as ‘exceptional’. But we are Astronomy Societies, and many of our Service not standing still. The Middle School curriculum programmes have an academic dimension, such as continues to evolve: after the success of the teaching Latin to local children and the Junior innovative Sevenoaks Certificate in English Science Club for primary school pupils. We have Literature, we are now developing similar courses recently made the rewards of academic success a for the creative options. Since September every little more tangible: for every 100 distinctions pupil in Years 10 and 11 has been pursuing a new awarded to the Sixth Form, we are purchasing an core programme alongside their examined acre of rainforest. A number of Sevenoaks students subjects, exploring global perspectives and go on to pursue academic careers: Professor Emily investigating ‘10 Ideas that Changed the World’. Greenwood (OS 1993), who spoke so eloquently at We are planning the construction of a new Founder’s Day this year, now teaches Classics at Science and Technology Centre, the largest project Yale University and is a fine example of this in the school’s history, investing in innovation academic continuity. and learning for future generations of Sevenoaks While a Sevenoaks education is much more than students. Of course our current generations merely study, academic curiosity and a love of continue to excel, and consistently achieve exceptional examination results at (I)GCSE and IB. learning are at the heart of our mission as a school. I hope you enjoy our celebration of these values in this year’s Sennockian, which we dedicate to the memory of an exceptional Headmaster of Sevenoaks, Kim Taylor, who led the school from 1954 to 1968 and remained a regular contributor to Sennockian until his death in July 2013.
© Zak Waters
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
1
LEAVERS
LEAVERS 2013
2
Name
Degree
University
Maryam Abiola-Odunowo
Biochemical with Chemical Engineering
University College London
Lottie Abrahams
Liberal Arts
New York University
Lamide Akinwuntan
Medicine
Imperial College London
Kolapo Aluko
Liberal Arts
Duke University
Eshaa Amin
Law
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Naoko Atsumi
Medicine
Imperial College London
Ollie Ayling
Chemical Engineering
Loughborough University
Harriet Barker
Geography
University of Exeter
Salma Barma
History
Oriel College, Oxford
Julia Bartsch
Biology
Imperial College London
Emma Beale
English
University of York
Benjamin Bezant
Geography
University of Nottingham
Aazaish Bhanji
Liberal Arts
New York University
Priyanka Bhupalan
Philosophy, Politics and Economics
University of Warwick
Barnaby Bibb
Human Sciences
University College London
Rosemary Bird
Biological Sciences (Neuroscience)
University of Edinburgh
Sam Boddy
Combined Honours in Social Sciences
Durham University
Philip Boobbyer
Product Design with Professional Practice
Brunel University
Gemma Border
Architecture
University of Edinburgh
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
Name
Degree
University
Michele Bos
History
Durham University
Benedict Brenninkmeijer
Sustainable Development
University of St Andrews
Kenza Bryan
History
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Bethany Chan
Economics
London School of Economics
Bryony Charnock
Geography with European Study
University of Exeter
Natalie Chau
Medicine
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Stephanie Chau
Medicine
University of Hong Kong
Samuel Chenoweth
Business Studies
University of Edinburgh
Jonathan Cheung
Anthropology
University College London
James Chisholm
Geology with Study Abroad
University of Bristol
Francine Choi
Economics
London School of Economics
Maira Chowdhury
Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Merton College, Oxford
Ptolemy Coburn
Sport and Exercise Science
Loughborough University
Alexandra Conway
Biological Sciences
Durham University
Phoebe Cournane
Biology
University of Bristol
Gaia de Ponti
Liberal Arts
Cornell University
Eleanor Desmond
Biological Sciences
Durham University
George Dix
Civil Engineering
University of Surrey
Olivia Dubec
Geography
University of Exeter
Dominic Dyer
History and Politics
Loughborough University
Ayman El-Farouki
Medicine
University of Szeged
Alba Elliott
Combined Honours in Arts
Durham University
Lily Elliott
Classics: Greek and Latin
St John̢۪s College, Cambridge
Ludovica Fallanca
Psychology
University of Warwick
Daniel Farraway
Natural Sciences
Selwyn College, Cambridge
Oliver Finnis
Rural Studies
Newcastle University
Samuel Firth
Philosophy
University of Leeds
Justin Fong
Mathematics
Imperial College London
Georgina Gibb
Geography
University of Exeter
Will Golding
Engineering and Business
University of Warwick
Lucy Gray
Flexible Combined Honours
University of Exeter
Timothy Greig
Medicine
Queen Mary, University of London
Kate Grimbley-Smith
Business Management
University of Birmingham
Nicolas Grunberg
Law
University College London
Lara Gurcan
Liberal Arts
Boston University
Tabea Haas-Heger
Neuroscience
University College London
Gus Harris
Politics
University of Warwick
Rupert Harris
Managing Performance
University of Leeds
Harry Hitch
Electronic Engineering
University of Warwick
Barnaby Hodgkins
Geography
Durham University
Rasmus Hogh
Economics
London School of Economics
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
3
LEAVERS
4
Name
Degree
University
Name
Degree
University
Benjamin Hudson
Aerospace Engineering
University of Surrey
Christopher Osborne
Automotive Engineering
University of Sussex
Thomas Hughes
Geography
Trinity College, Cambridge
Ashna Oukabay
Economics, Politics and International Studies
University of Warwick
Katie Hung
Archaeology and Anthropology
University College London
Marina Palm
Economics
University of Mannheim
Saam Jahanbani
Information Management for Business
University College London
Alice Paterson
Architecture
University of Edinburgh
Khush James
Mathematics with a Year in Europe
Imperial College London
Sarah Peel
Archaeology and Anthropology
Keble College, Oxford
Kabir Jhala
Combined Honours in Arts
Durham University
James Perry
Modern and Medieval Languages
Selwyn College, Cambridge
Ishaan Jhaveri
Liberal Arts
Cornell University
Adam Renton
Medicine
Queen Mary, University of London
Darsh Khosla
Liberal Arts
University of Michigan
Jonny Riddick
Philosophy and Politics
University of Edinburgh
Stuart King
Geography
University of Exeter
Lewis Roberts
History and International Relations
Loughborough University
Ugne Kobler
Chemistry
University of Zurich
Tolly Rose
Human Sciences
New College, Oxford
Hue Sang Lai
Mathematics
St John’s College, Cambridge
Isabel Sawkins
Modern Languages
Durham University
Gabriella Laine
Biochemistry
Imperial College London
Vincent Schott
Economics
University of St Andrews
Jeremy Lam
Physics with Theoretical Physics
Imperial College London
Caspar Schwarz-Schilling
Economics
University of Heidelberg
Lucy Lawson
Medicine
Newcastle University
Elizabeth Seeley
Combined Honours in Social Sciences
Durham University
Henry Lee-Saunders
Liberal Arts
UCLA
Caroline Sharp
History
Jesus College, Cambridge
Daryl Leong
Liberal Arts
UCLA
Kazuki Shaw
Japanese
Wadham College, Oxford
Nicholas Lesseps
Natural Sciences
University of Nottingham
Aidan Shields
Product Design and Technology
Loughborough University
Jay Vern Lim
Chemical Engineering
Imperial College London
Imogen Smith
Psychology
University of Bristol
Joey Lindsay
Medicine
Hull York Medical School
Jack Smith
Human, Social and Political Sciences
King’s College, Cambridge
Aaron Loh
Medicine
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Claire Somerset
Geography
Durham University
George Lovell
Natural Sciences
University College London
Jake Spence
Modern and Medieval Languages
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
William Macalester
Chemistry with Industrial Experience
University of Bristol
Alexandra Steckmest
Liberal Arts
New York University
Claire Macfadyen
Medicine
Newcastle University
Toby Sullivan
Computer Science
University of Birmingham
Eleanor Mackenzie-Smith
Arabic and Spanish
University of Edinburgh
Ben Sunnucks
History
University of Warwick
Matthew Maitra
Natural Sciences
Trinity College, Cambridge
Amy Swinglehurst
English Studies
Trinity College Dublin
Nicholas Makepeace
Liberal Arts
University of Miami
Thierry Tan
Liberal Arts
UCLA
Jade Man
Medicine
Imperial College London
Emma Thompson
History and Politics
University of Exeter
Amelia Martin-Davies
Modern European Languages & History
Durham University
Lucy Tiffen
Medicine
University College London
Massimo Mazzolini
Liberal Arts
Georgetown University
Pragya Tooteja
Liberal Arts
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
William McEachern
Combined Honours in Social Sciences
Durham University
Tarish Trivedi
Liberal Arts
New York University
Alexandra McLennan
Classics
Durham University
Anna Turner-Major
History and German
Jesus College, Oxford
Jonah Mendelsohn
History
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Catherine Uhomoibhi
Medicine
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Kitty Mitchell
Graphic and Communication Design
University of Leeds
Andrina Voegele
Liberal Arts
New York University
Tanay Modi
Liberal Arts
Tufts University
Alexander von Boetticher
Physics
ETH Zürich
Marcus Mok
Economics and International Relations
Tufts University
Laurence Warner
Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Balliol College, Oxford
Scott Newman
Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Magdalen College, Oxford
Ben Waters
Classics
Durham University
Nadia Ogilvie
Geography
Christ’s College, Cambridge
Julius Weber
Business Administration
Esade, Ramon Llull University
Ewurama Okai
Liberal Arts
Yale University
Zoe Wedderburn-Day
Law
King’s College London
Samantha Ong
Medicine
University of Dundee
Constantin Weiss
Liberal Arts
Tufts University
Liz Orrin
Modern Languages
Durham University
Max Wieland
Liberal Arts
Dartmouth University
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
5
LEAVERS
LEAVERS 2012
6
Name
Degree
University
Name
Degree
University
Nicola Wilkinson
Geography with Study in Continental Europe
University of Bristol
Adam Hill
Modern Languages
Churchill College, Cambridge
Victoria Willby
Psychology
University of Bristol
Abigail Holmes
Philosophy and Politics
University of Bristol
Alexandra Wong
Liberal Arts
University of California, Berkeley
Katharine Huckstep
English Literature
University of Edinburgh
Bonnie Wong
Law
King’s College London
Alexandra Isard
Economics
University of Bristol
Julia Wong
Liberal Arts
Carnegie Mellon University
Lydia Jackson
Business Administration
University of Bath
Finlay Wood
Bachelor of Arts
University of British Columbia
Magdalena Kupfersberger
Civil Engineering
University College London
Florence Wood
Spanish and Portuguese
University of Edinburgh
Jules Lom
History
Trinity College Dublin
Nicholas Yau
Mechanical Engineering
University of Exeter
Kellen Maganjo
Law
University of Bristol
Amanda Yim
Law
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Katherine Marshall
Management
University of Warwick
Christopher Ying
Mathematics
Imperial College London
Ben McCarthy
Law
Trinity College, Oxford
Pollyanna Young
English Studies
Trinity College Dublin
Tom McGee
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Jason Yuen
Experimental Psychology
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Kitty McGirr
Liberal Arts
University of California, San Diego
Samuel Moss
Mechanical Engineering
University of Nottingham
Alexandra Moss
Economics
University of Exeter
Victor Mound
Law
University College London
Eleanor Pile
Architecture
University of Edinburgh
Alec Price
Management with Marketing
University of Exeter
Michael Rice
Economics & Philosophy
University of Edinburgh
Rio Richardson
Psychology
University of Bristol
Lucy Roberts
Architecture
University of Nottingham
Adam Roud
Financial and Business Economics
Newcastle University
Jessie Samuelson
Sociology
University of Exeter
Matthew Shairp
Combined Honours in Social Sciences
Durham University
Elisabeth Shannon
Geography
University of Exeter
Anna Skulczuk
Fine Art
Newcastle University
James Snowden
Geography
University of Exeter
Charlotte Solomou
Language and Culture
University College London
Anna Surrey
Liberal Arts
Carleton College
Robert Taylor
Business and Management
Oxford Brookes University
Gualtiero Uslenghi
Chemical Engineering
University of Bath
Thomas Waterhouse
Law
Christ Church, Oxford
Charlotte Wickenden
Chinese and French
University of Edinburgh
Tristan Witzigmann
Medicine
University of Göttingen
Oliver Wright
Biology
University of Southampton
Name
Degree
University
Alexandra Abrahams
Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Somerville College, Oxford
Daniel Adeline
Geography
University of Nottingham
Aisha Bennett
Modern Languages
Durham University
Frederick Best
Anthropology and Archaeology
Durham University
Francesca Bridger
Law
University of Exeter
Edmund Broadhead
Engineering
Homerton College, Cambridge
Emily Campin
History of Art
University of Nottingham
Lily Canetty-Clarke
Psychology
University of Bristol
Laurence Cardwell
Theological Studies
University of St Andrews
Harriet Coleman
Bachelor of Arts
McGill University
Schiller Cowley
Law
London School of Economics
Philippa Crombie
Film Studies
University of Exeter
Stefan Davies
Bachelor of Arts
McGill University
Sean de Montfort
Human, Social and Political Sciences
Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge
Alexander Dudney
Medicine
Hull York Medical School
Phoebe Dunn
English Literature
University of Edinburgh
Emily Elliott
History
Homerton College, Cambridge
Alex Evans
Chemical Engineering
University of Leeds
Jack Gay
Religion, Philosophy and Ethics
King’s College London
Benny Gerstmeyr
Engineering
ETH Zürich
Antonia Godman
Biomedical Science
Imperial College London
Kitty Gould
Psychology
University of Nottingham
Richard Gower
Medicine
University of Southampton
Thomas Graber
Medicine
Queen Mary, University of London
Tristan Gray
Classics
University College London
Adam Gristock
Engineering
Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge
Clara Grossmann
Medicine
University of Münster
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
7
LEAVERS Foundation Courses
Name
Degree
University
2013 Leaver
Angus Dymoke
UAL Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
Falmouth University
2012 Leaver
Anuschka von der Heyden Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
2013 Gap Year
Sophie Adair
Tom Lord
Gregory Arts
Sebastian Lowton
Megan Beddoe
Julia Muench
Rupert Bennett
Michael Musker
Alex Branford
Elspeth Newey
Filippo Brignone
Viktoria Noka
Sophia Buhl-Nielsen
Vadim Ordovsky-Tanaevsky
Naomi Carndorf
Noah Parfitt
Louis Catliff
Rohan Patel
Sharon Chang
Michael Richards
Eleanor Cornes
Nicholas Rupp
Flora Donald
Thomas Scott
Katherine Dunn
Emily Shepherd-Barron
Benedict Durrant
Joshua Snow
Jannick Fjeldsoe
Charlie Soames
Michael Forward
Jan Sokol
Ann-Sophie Gernandt
Victoria Strutt
Philip Gull
Kirsty Sutherland
Fred Johnson
Katherine Tittle
Dominic Kehoe
Claudia Vanea
Victoria King
Edward Whelpton
Will Kneeshaw
Kirsten Whitaker
Polly Lambert
Grace Whitehouse
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SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London
足足F EATURES
Middle School Curriculum
Innovative courses to capture and stimulate the enthusiasm of our pupils Sevenoaks has become a great school through innovation. We were the first public school seriously to consider international education, and now educate students from more than 40 countries. We were the first fully IB Diploma school in the UK, and this has led both to phenomenal success in examinations and at university entry. All this innovation and success has created a ‘buzz’ around the Sixth Form – this flows from an academically demanding, broad, balanced and principled IB curriculum taught by specialists who enjoy teaching students who enjoy learning. Increasingly, we’ve found that the national GCSEs don’t provide the intellectual excitement our pupils deserve. GCSEs replaced both the O-level and the CSE qualifications, of which the latter were intended for students leaving school at 16; none of our students do this. In many areas we found GCSE unambitious, poorly assessed and overall an unsatisfactory preparation for the IB. 10
FEATURES
Many subjects moved towards the more academic (and politically independent) IGCSE, which was an improvement, and of course all faculties regard the IGCSE as a minimum requirement for Years 10 and 11, whilst routinely ‘topping up’ their teaching with extra, unexamined material. Nevertheless, we were on the lookout for something better and, when we didn’t find it, decided to go our own way, introducing a new Sevenoaks Middle School Curriculum and the Sevenoaks School Certificate qualifications in place of GCSE. The Sevenoaks Middle School Curriculum is designed to reflect the best features of the IB so that the Sixth Form ‘buzz’ can spread more consistently across to the younger years. We are writing our own courses, working from a shared set of principles which will stimulate intellectual curiosity and serve as a better preparation for the IB. As a top independent school with high-achieving students and talented teachers we feel that we have an opportunity to create something distinctive, innovative and intellectually inspiring – as well as fun. In building a framework for the curriculum we wish to equip students with the knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure a smooth
continuum from the Lower School through the Middle School to the Sixth Form. Faculties are working together to develop cross-curricular courses. We anticipate that these courses will evolve to form a coherent unity, providing our students with a uniquely rich and balanced educational programme. Enquiry, creativity, independent learning, problem solving, critical thinking, team work and international awareness underpin our vision. The curriculum is made up from courses in seven subject areas – English Language and Literature, Languages, Humanities, Science and Technology, Mathematics, the Expressive Arts and Physical Education. There is a core, and there is also an element of choice. In the academic year 2013-14, we are introducing two new courses at the core of the curriculum – Critical Perspectives in Year 10, and 10 Ideas that Changed the World in Year 11. We hope that these courses encourage reflection and broaden pupils’ perspectives, as well as paving the way to start Theory of Knowledge in the Sixth Form. Informed by the Core of the IB, these two new ‘core’ courses are designed to introduce a critical thinking SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
element to the Middle School. Combined with a Personal Research project and Voluntary Service activities, we hope that this will provide a unique space within which pupils can explore, extend and reflect upon what they are learning. A mixture of continuous assessment – presentation and portfolio – and exams will feature in each year. Final portfolios and exams will be subject to internal as well as external moderation. The Sevenoaks School Certificates (SSC) are formally recognised by UCAS and appear on the UCAS course menu in the same way as (I)GCSEs do. The Literature course is the first we’ve written and delivered ourselves. Coming next are brand new courses approved by me and the Middle School Curriculum Manager, Mark Beverley, in Technology, Drama, Music and History of Art. We want the new curriculum to capture and stimulate the enthusiasm of our pupils. We want everyone to partake meaningfully in the full panoply of disciplines with a rich and varied co-curriculum, all underpinned by a humane and responsive pastoral system. Tim Jones 11
IQ and the Schickler Society
Next term we will be looking forward to exploring more topics in the arts and humanities, with a new influx of scholars to Year 7. I would like to thank those members of staff who have given generously of their time to appear as guest speakers this year: John Sprague, Ian Campbell and David Vaccaro. I wish the scholars leaving Year 8 well, knowing that the Middle School Schickler Society is welcoming some brilliant young minds.
Two societies promoting scholarship at Sevenoaks Lower School Scholars: IQ For many years the Lower School Academic Scholars have met regularly in order to expand, extend and deepen academic enquiry, encourage independent minds and further the enjoyment that they get from learning, thinking and creating. The group now meets on Thursday afternoons under the name IQ, which stands for ‘Independent and Quizzical’. Whilst being compulsory for academic scholars, it is open to all Lower School students and this year has seen a growing number of new faces. The topics discussed over the last 12 months have particularly focused on scientific and mathematical discoveries. The group enjoyed learning about the Mars landings and thinking about the complex
12
FEATURES
robotics involved, as well as how the on-board cameras operate. Other sessions have involved more down-to-earth topics, such as animal intelligence, philosophy and the workings of the brain, how we learn to count, and the discovery of DNA. Towards the end of this year the students were invited to present to the group on topics of their own choice, which they researched in their own time. The subjects they have chosen to present demonstrate their interests and passion in the world around them: the science of music, phobias and fears, human rights and prison sentences, the Bloodhound (inspired by Science Week) and even phrenology. It was heartening to see one of our ISI inspectors peering wide-eyed through the windows of S9, where he could see Jessie Oliver, Phoebe Barker and Thomas van Issum explaining the pseudo-science of phrenology with a level of articulation and poise beyond their years, subsequently noting their enthusiasm in the inspection report.
Using his name for this academic group of students seemed to be a very small but appropriate contribution to the memory of his time at Sevenoaks.
We now have Year 9 and Year 10 Schickler Society groups which meet to debate, present, listen and sometimes even taste and sing their way through a variety of topics. Recent examples include ‘What’s it like to live in North Korea?’; ‘How Rachael Campbell significant is the discovery of the Higgs-Boson?’ and ‘How do you turn a thought into a book and Schickler Society then into a film?’ On the first Wednesday of the Michaelmas term Some of the defining features of the Schickler 2011, a number of Year 9 scholars huddled around Society are the desire to engage, challenge one of the school’s new Harkness conference tables preconceptions, and think innovatively, at times to discuss ‘the power of the group’, a study of the controversially. The topics covered are designed to influence of group psychology on the behaviour of cover all aspects of the academic spectrum and individuals in a group. During the meeting the have the premise that all issues should be looked name for this club was suggested and the Schickler at critically and intelligently. Society was born, a discussion made up of scholars Some of the highlights of the last two years have and any other Year 9 students who would like to included using Chemistry and Biology to discover ‘look at the world in an intelligent way’. why salt mixed with caramel tastes so good; the The name Schickler comes from a former student, tears and shocked reaction of the Schickler Jonael Schickler, who left Sevenoaks School in 1994 students assessing 9/11 through the eyes of OS to study Social and Political Science at Cambridge film director Paul Greengrass in the film Flight 93; University. He later changed courses to Philosophy. trying to come to terms with the unbelievable Jonael was an outstanding undergraduate student complexity of the brain with Dr Matt Edwards; and went on to teach at Cambridge before being singing along to the masterful lyrics of John appointed Director of Studies in Philosophy at Lennon and Paul McCartney with Mr Nigel Hughes Hall, Cambridge in 2001. Tragically, he Connell, and trying to decide whether the Tour de was killed in the 2002 Potters Bar train crash. France really is the ultimate sporting challenge. Alex Smith SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
13
Sevenoaks Lectures how he introduced his characters, the use of tenses throughout the book, the point of view and tone and the challenges and opportunities which surround taking a story based in reality and developing a fictional narrative around it. Chris spoke of finding various factual ‘coordinates’, including the D-Day Landings, around which he could weave his own fictional narrative and imagined events. During the presentation he told the more personal story of the writing and publication of the work, including his week in Hollywood. John Sprague
judgement. Professor Grayling outlined the sceptical position as the acceptance that we know, and will always know, very little about the world. He also outlined the origins of sceptical thought in Ancient Greece.
Paul Rose
Professor Grayling gave a fantastic introduction to those unfamiliar with philosophy emphasising the presence of the constantly questioning, evaluative and methodical nature of philosophical enquiry. Grayling also indirectly approached the elusive question ‘What is Philosophy?’, arguing that a light sceptical approach is an important part of philosophy.
Professor Grayling emphasised the positive use and relevance of scepticism in life and in philosophical thought. The questioning, methodical nature of scepticism is also used in the scientific method and in everyday life, for example, in judging what is a credible source online. Professor Grayling claimed that a certain level of scepticism is needed to be a good thinker.
Paul Rose’s lecture in March was in support of the IB Group 4: Sciences, and was part of the Sevenoaks School Science Week.
The Centre for Innovation inaugurated a series of presentations entitled The Sevenoaks Lectures in
October 2012. The lectures are designed to promote the school’s delivery of the International Baccalaureate by bringing in eminent professionals and academics
working in the various fields represented by the IB’s six groups. All lectures take place in The Space. Chris Greenhalgh The first lecture, given by author Chris Greenhalgh, was designed to support the IB Group 1: Language and Literature. Chris’s presentation focused on the writing and publication of his second novel, Seducing Ingrid Bergman, in which he tells the story of the romance between photographer Robert Capa and film legend Ingrid Bergman. It was a lively and engaging discussion of the main structural elements of his novel and introduced many of us to the inner workings of the novelist and the novel:
The lecture outlined Paul Rose’s incredible experiences working in some of the world’s most extreme climates. He gave an explanation and illustration of how scientists developing their hypotheses in the relative comfort of university labs and research institutes move to the often harsh world of data-gathering expeditions. Paul has worked alongside scientists in the Antarctic, the ice-fields of Greenland and in the oceans of the world. Throughout the evening he presented us with chilling anecdotes of exciting adventures, near-misses and incredible discoveries. Punctuated with humour and an incredible enthusiasm, his talk gave the audience an insight into day-to-day challenges presented to scientists as they apply the rigour of scientific research to an often uncooperative natural environment. Paul’s work with television formed a major part of the presentation. He explained the difficulties and challenges he had to overcome to get the right footage for some of the BBC’s most popular nature programmes, from chipping his way into an ice-cave made out of an extinct lava tube in the Antarctic, to waiting for days in the murky waters deep in the Mediterranean Sea for the elusive sixgill shark. John Sprague
AC Grayling: Photo,
At the end of his presentation Professor Grayling took questions from the audience. He gave a respected thinker’s opinion on changes to the A C Grayling history curriculum and religious studies in schools. The final Sevenoaks Lecture of 2012-13 was given A C Grayling is an important name in philosophy in April by A C Grayling, Master of the New today and it was an incredible opportunity for College of the Humanities. He spoke on ‘Scepticism students and those from the wider community to in Philosophy and Life’, supporting Group 3: listen to him speak. Individuals and Societies. Katie Reade Having written two books on scepticism, Professor Grayling spoke with enthusiasm for the subject and outlined the differences between today’s understanding of scepticism and the scepticism spoken of in philosophy. The lecture was engaging from the outset with Professor Grayling eloquently using real life examples to explain this important philosophical position. He asked the audience how we justify our beliefs when the senses we use to interpret the world are communicated to us as activities in our brain. Professor Grayling argued that not knowing the answer to that question makes it possible that we could be perceiving the world inaccurately and constantly making errors in
New College of the Humanities
14
FEATURES
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
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Old Sennockians: the academic life
A Day in the Life of Year 8 Returning in time for tutor period, now better equipped with one trainer and a sports shirt I did not realise I had lost, we read in the bulletin about a charity cake sale, room changes and a lost watch. As we leave for our classes, my Year 8 colleagues and I indulge ourselves in the temporary superiority of being the senior members of the Lower School, before crashing back to reality as we pass Year 11s carrying laptops and Sixth Formers swinging car keys – there is always a bigger fish! The morning rushes past in a whirl of lessons. In French, we learn about how the past participle agrees (sometimes!) with the subject and something about adjectives being like chameleons. In Chemistry we test the alkali of metals and draw various conclusions about reactivity. In English we analyse a text called ‘The Scarecrows’ and understand more about how a teenager deals with his problems by creating an imaginary world. The teachers enthuse and the pupils reciprocate as best they can, but minds are wandering to lunch. I allow myself an indulgent pat on the back, my bag containing for once the correct books and completed homework required.
A taste of the academic and not so academic life of the Lower School My alarm shrieks, and I am rudely shaken from my sleep. The anticipation and trepidation of Year 7 is now replaced by the familiarity and friendships of Year 8. My train hurtles through suburbia and soon the landscape turns green and wooded as Sevenoaks approaches. Leaving the station I enter the frenzied rush for the minibus – no English queuing here – we are after all, very much an international school! On arrival I join another stampede hurtling towards YoungSox – lessons and learning awaits, but pool and table tennis starts the day. Play is interrupted by a text from home: ‘Find your trainer’. I was losing anyway, so I trudge to lost property, again! 16
FEATURES
The hard work of the kitchen staff disappears within ten minutes of my arrival in the hall as the gastronomical delights are consumed hastily – no time for a leisurely lunch today as the orchestra is rehearsing for our performance of ‘Space’, an arrangement by Mr Dyer. The rain clouds of the morning disperse and the sun beams through and welcomes me to the rugby pitch. My afternoon is spent running, sliding, gasping and panting as we train and tackle. In the changing room, caked in mud, we laugh and chat about the game, but there is an undercurrent of nervous apprehension – will I get picked for the squad? As another day in Year 8 draws to a close, I march towards the station with friends and eagerly anticipate the warm shower that awaits me. My senses are suddenly awakened by the buzz of a text message: ‘Hi A, what is Latin HW? Btw what is ur trainer doing in my bag?’ Alex Parton
Many of our alumni are employed in research and
teaching posts at universities and public institutions
across the world. We spoke to five OS about pursuing the academic life at postgraduate level and beyond.
French and German at IB Standard Level, and Latin to GCSE, I had a fantastic linguistic foundation on which to build when an opportunity arose to learn Italian. As I meet each new cohort of first year students, I reflect on how lucky I was to have studied the IB, in terms of the range of subjects covered by its history syllabus, and its commitment to the study of foreign languages. The maths even comes in handy for my new research project on ‘Death in early modern Venice’, as I can crunch mortality statistics! As a lecturer, I am now able to share my passion for Italy with my own students, by taking them on a field trip to Venice to see the churches, palaces and incredible urban environment which we explore together. I’m still in touch with many of my year group from Sevenoaks. Scattered across the globe, working in multiple languages, my friends remind me of the impact of the school’s international outlook upon our careers and lives.
Alex Bamji (OS 1999) After leaving Sevenoaks, Alex studied History at the University of Cambridge. On completing her PhD she worked for a year at the University of Glasgow. She has been Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Leeds since 2008. Alex is co-editor of The Ashgate Research Companion to the Counter-Reformation, published March 2013. I remember little of the history that I studied at Sevenoaks, except for Bismarck’s apparent fondness of buttered eggs. But there’s no doubt that the inspirational teaching of Mr Lacey, Mr Gent and Mr Smith fuelled my passion for the subject, and led me to apply to Cambridge.
Kenneth Cheung (OS 1982)
Ken is the Head of the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology at the University of Hong Kong, My experiences at Sevenoaks had a huge influence and holds an endowed professorship in Spine Surgery. on my undergraduate studies and future career. He is also the President of the Hong Kong College of First, the memorable Latin trip to Pompeii and Orthopaedic Surgeons. His work involves caring for Herculaneum (not to mention Sorrento) sparked a patients suffering from spinal problems, teaching, fascination with Italy. Second, the breadth of the IB training and research. He studied medicine at curriculum allowed me to venture beyond political St Bartholomew’s and obtained the Fellowship of the events by writing an Extended Essay on popular Royal College of Surgeons before returning to resistance in the Third Reich. Third, having studied Hong Kong in 1992.
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Old Sennockians: the academic life I was ten years old when I entered Year 7. I stayed in Lambardes for two years before moving onto Park Grange. Life was tough in the year I arrived, as the UK was in a drought and we could only have baths once a week! My Sevenoaks education helped me in many ways, however. Firstly, the international nature of the school allowed me to learn to be empathetic to different cultures. This has enhanced my ability to work with surgeons and scientists from around the world in a positive and collegial manner. Secondly, an extensive exposure to academic topics, arts, sports and social programmes at school broadened my outlook. I often brought a refreshing angle to discussions, and I was able to use this perspective to identify subjects and areas that I was passionate about, thus pursuing these as my career and life goals. Thirdly, communication and public speaking skills: I have often been complimented for the effectiveness of my communication skills and for the clarity of my presentations. The training at Sevenoaks School certainly helped! Even my most hated activity at school…the cross country runs in Knole Park on cold wet days, was probably the beginning of my current interest in running marathons! Reflecting back on the days at Sevenoaks School with my school friends, we all felt lucky; the time spent at school was some of the best days of our life. Clare Costley King’oo (OS 1993) Clare Costley King’oo is Associate Professor and Director of the Honours Programme in the English Department at the University of Connecticut. After leaving Sevenoaks, she read English at the University of Oxford, then moved to Philadelphia to complete postgraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her recent book, Miserere Mei: The Penitential Psalms in Late Medieval and Early Modern England (University of Notre Dame Press) won the 2012 Book of the Year Award from the Conference on Christianity and Literature. When I joined Sevenoaks as a Sixth Form boarder, I might have been described as a rather quiet, perhaps even apprehensive, pupil. Although my goal from an early age had been to pursue a career 18
FEATURES
in academia, I had not found a supportive learning environment at my previous school. I was cautious about offering ideas, asking questions, or even looking interested, in class. Credit is to be given to my teachers and classmates at Sevenoaks for providing the kind of vibrant intellectual milieu that I needed in order to regain my confidence and prepare for my vocation. English was my particular obsession at school, and I have been a student and teacher within that discipline ever since. Upon finishing the IB, I was sponsored by Sevenoaks to travel with Schools Partnership Worldwide to the Himalayan foothills in Nepal, where I taught English as a foreign language for eight months. Despite remaining within a single academic discipline, I have always aimed to think, teach, and write in an interdisciplinary manner. My 2012 book, Miserere Mei, is a case in point. In developing my cross-disciplinary methodology, I have built on the firm foundation of my IB training. Indeed, I have often thought back to the many rigorous discussions that took place in our Theory of Knowledge course – where we debated everything from how children acquire language to the nature of aesthetic pleasure. These conversations, which suggested just how valuable it could be to make connections between different bodies of learning, have proven absolutely vital to my scholarly trajectory. Alexander Morrison (OS 1996) After leaving Sevenoaks, Alexander went up to Oriel College, Oxford, to read Modern History. He graduated top of his year and was elected a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, where he wrote his doctorate on Russian colonialism in 19th century Central Asia. He is currently Lecturer in Imperial History at the University of Liverpool, and from January 2014 will be Professor of History at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan. In 2012 he won a Philip Leverhulme Prize. My path to Central Asia began at Sevenoaks, one of the few schools in the UK which still teaches Russian. Malcolm Daubney patiently introduced me to both its unbending grammatical laws and the subtleties of Pushkin and Turgenev. In History
my greatest debts are to John Guyatt, who taught me in the Sixth Form, and Ian Walker, who taught me throughout my five years at Sevenoaks. They inspired me with a love for the subject, and an understanding of sources which have never left me, and which I have tried to pass on to my students in Oxford, Liverpool and, soon, Astana. Meanwhile Paul Harrison and Allan Hopf taught me the importance of careful textual analysis and of clear English prose: I am not sure if I have always managed to measure up to their high standards, but given how poorly many academics write it was a valuable lesson. My first historical love (and one to which I frequently return) was India, where I spent a gap year teaching English at the Scindia School in Gwalior, receiving sound advice and fascinating stories from Kim Taylor before my departure. However it was clear that for my doctorate I would want to use Russian sources. My broader interest in imperial and colonial history drew me naturally to the 19th century and to the Russian empire’s most distant and alien periphery – the Governor-Generalship of Turkestan, now divided between five post-Soviet states. Claire Standley (OS 2003) Claire Standley is currently serving as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the US Department of State in Washington DC, in the Biosecurity Engagement Program. She manages programmes in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East that build capacity for laboratory biosafety and biosecurity, disease detection and surveillance, and collaborative research into health and security. According to my parents, I announced at the age of four that I wanted to become a zoologist. My interest in biology persisted throughout my schooling, and so the IB, with its emphasis on breadth rather than early specialisation, might have been seen as an unusual choice. However, not only did I really enjoy other subjects, and was loath to give them up, but I have found that having a broad educational base has proven to be exceptionally useful in my career as a scientist.
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As I began to pursue graduate studies, I realised that modern biology is extremely multidisciplinary, and indeed the most innovative, exciting research is that which reaches across subject boundaries and creatively finds solutions to common methodological problems. The academic rigour of the IB not only prepared me for the pressures of a research career, but gave me early exposure to the benefits of thinking laterally across disciplines. It also helped me consider more deeply what knowledge means and to appreciate that there are different ways of approaching a problem. Of course, I would be remiss to omit mentioning the huge benefit of the ‘International’ component of the IB; although I had worked and lived overseas for much of my life, studying explicitly within an international framework not only inspired me to continue working globally, but also provided me with the necessary perspective and empathy to build effective relationships in many different parts of the world. Given the internationalism of the modern scientific community and the ubiquity of transnational collaboration, being comfortable interacting across cultures is hugely beneficial in academia today. 19
INTERVIEW WITH PROFessor SIR SIMON DONALDSON (OS 1975) I’ve been studying a variant of this involving algebraic geometry, so it brings together algebra, partial differential equations and analysis and a kind of geometry. So it’s really a blend of these different techniques because I specialise in combining these things. In the past, I’ve been involved with relating these differential equations to topological questions, for example, studying knots; the ways you can knot a string and space, which is actually a very difficult topic to study. When did you become interested in mathematics?
IB Higher Level mathematician Nina del Ser and her teacher Dr Cheung spoke to Simon Donaldson about his work and his time at Sevenoaks School. Simon Donaldson studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he gained a first in Mathematics and a sailing blue, and then at Worcester College, Oxford, where he gained a DPhil under the supervision of Sir Michael Atiyah. There, he wrote one of his most important papers, ‘Self-dual connections and the topology of smooth 4-manifolds’ in 1983. He has been awarded various prizes throughout his career, notably the Fields Medal in 1986. He is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Imperial College London. Could you give us a summary of what you do? I work on differential geometry. I’d say it’s geometry in the sense that it’s using geometric insight to think about high dimensional or complicated things, but it’s differential in the sense that it’s using calculus as the main tool and has many connections with partial differential equations and analysis. For the last ten years or so what I’ve mainly been doing is showing that in some general circumstances one can solve a certain complicated differential equation on a space of any dimension.
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I guess about the time I started at Sevenoaks, when I was about 13, partly because I was a very keen sailor and one of my hobbies was designing yachts, which required me to read about more advanced maths than I would have learnt about otherwise. For example, if you want to work out the volume of a boat’s hull you need to use Simpson’s Rule. Who inspired you at school and university? At Sevenoaks I had two maths teachers I remember in particular, John Sampson and Harry Talbot, who were very inspiring. They were outstanding teachers who made the classes interesting and challenging. We did quite advanced things and they encouraged us to devote a lot of time to problem solving. When I was younger I liked History a lot, but I think in the end I ended up getting the lowest pass grade at O-level. I was also keen on Physics, and we had a very inspiring Physics teacher, Mr Parkhouse. When I moved to Oxford as a graduate student, my supervisors were Michael Atiyah and Nigel Hitchin. Atiyah is a very famous mathematician, and was a big influence on me, but although they nurtured what I was doing, to an extent I had my own idea of what I should be doing from a fairly young age.
Obviously as a professional mathematician you spend most of your time doing mathematics, but what was it like when you were at school?
In practice the way I think about that is I sit and I draw little pictures of, say, a one-dimensional thing and a three-dimensional thing, I’m aware those are not precise pictures, they’re pictures by analogy, but in reasoning about these objects one can extend one’s geometric intuition. You draw these pictures in low dimensions where you can really see things. You can argue with these objects. Then your mind develops an analogy into higher dimensions.
In the Sixth Form I did Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Economics [A-levels], so I suppose I had roughly a third of the time to focus on it. Outside study time, it’s hard to say. I might have been doing something mundane, like the washing-up or something, and have a question on my mind that I was thinking about at some level, so it’s quite hard to define. But I suppose maybe an You’ll be appalled to know virtually no hour a day. geometry is done in school anymore; how do you feel about that? How do you think Sevenoaks prepared you for an academic career? Well as you say, I’m sort of appalled. On the other hand I’ve never really been interested in that what Very well. I’m sure it’s still the case now, but people may think of as geometry, ie making formal certainly in those days we got a very good Euclidean arguments about angles in triangles and education, and the Sixth Form was run pretty putting together lots of arguments to prove that much like a university. We were challenged to do this angle is equal to that angle. There was also a the best we could and encouraged to not be limited period of maybe 20 or 30 years when geometry to a particular syllabus, but to think about lots of dropped out of the university syllabus. In general different things. it’s made a comeback at universities over the last You do a lot of very abstract mathematics. How do 20 years so maybe that will filter down into the you go about thinking in the abstract forms? How school syllabus. But I think that geometry needs to do you begin to visualise these n-dimensional be taught in a slightly different way, or different manifolds? things need to be emphasised from the very traditional kind of geometry, because that doesn’t That’s an interesting question. A first thing to say really, to me, capture the main excitement of the is that actually by the standards of mathematicians subject that I’m in. I would say what I do is not that abstract. But as for how you visualise; partly by extended analogy What advice can you offer to young and partly by logical thought and writing down mathematicians? equations. For example, you can define the They need to have a passion for the subject. equation of a circle: x2+y2=1 one or of a If you don’t really have a deep interest in 2 2 2 two-dimensional sphere, x +y +z =1, so for any mathematics then you’re not going to enjoy a number of variables you can write down an career as a mathematician. But if you do, in the equation for a sphere of the corresponding sense that you like to sit down and think for dimension. hours and hours about something mathematical, then it’s likely that you would both enjoy being a mathematician and almost certainly be successful.
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KATY RICKS: A return to research
Academic Service I tried to follow my own advice to all the English classes I have ever taught: make a work plan and stick to it. There is nothing like the first-hand experience of being a student again to revivify the excitement of the pursuit of knowledge and truth, the stresses and satisfaction of writing clearly, fully and concisely, and an appreciation of the profound influence of good teaching.
During the Michaelmas term, Katy Ricks took a sabbatical in order to resume work on her doctoral thesis on Dryden’s translation of Virgil at the University of Oxford. A couple of years ago something impelled me to open the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet and pull out a fat green folder containing a manuscript, entitled, in my 24-year-old handwriting, ‘Dryden’s Virgil: A Critical Study’. This relic represents three years of graduate study at Oxford in pursuit of a DPhil, from a pre-computer era. A quick browse made me think it was at least interesting enough to explore the possibility of finishing it at last. It looked better professionally typed, and the word count (only previously possible by counting by hand) told me I had already written more than 60,000 words. The requirements of an Oxford doctorate are basic: it must contribute to knowledge, have an argument, and be between 70,000 and 100,000 words. So, it was with a mixture of delight and apprehension that I embarked on the sabbatical to undertake my first piece of sustained academic study for over 25 years. How did I spend the time?
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I spent September in the library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reading the new secondary literature on my subject, and since October have been visiting the Bodleian and the British Library whenever I can. I now have 97,000 words (too long), and at the time of writing await feedback on the final chapter. The thesis is about the nature of the undertaking by one poet, John Dryden (1631-1700), to translate an author (not a poem, a collection of poems, the complete works, but an author), Virgil (70-19BC), from Latin into English. The apostrophe in ‘Dryden’s Virgil’, the phrase in the frontispiece of the first edition is the focus of the argument. Who or what is Dryden’s Virgil? The Works of Virgil, translated by Mr Dryden was published in 1697, a splendid folio volume produced for a list of subscribers, the great and the good of 1690s England. My research into the readership of this volume led me straight back to Sevenoaks: by far the most powerful subscriber, ordering no fewer than five copies at five guineas each, was our neighbour, Charles Sackville, Duke of Dorset, the minor Restoration poet and friend of Dryden.
Minimus: Bringing Latin to Life in Local Primary Schools Salvete! We have the unique pleasure of being able to teach several students the Latin language through a course called Minimus (a pun meaning ‘small mouse’, or ‘smallest’ in Latin). This course is thoroughly enjoyable: the students learn about history and their ability to learn languages is enhanced. Over the course of this academic year, we have been teaching Latin in Sevenoaks Primary School and St Thomas’ Catholic Primary School to selected groups of students.
As part of our inspiring and varied Service programme, students work with the local community through projects with an academic emphasis.
This copy, complete with the five plates dedicated to Dorset and his other family members, remains in Knole library today, photographed here by kind permission of Lord Sackville.
The pupils are very enthusiastic about learning a new language. Although they sometimes find it difficult, they always rise to the challenge, as they are determined to do their best. We benefit greatly from this opportunity too, as we are able to learn what it is like to teach children a language, like our own teachers do. We teach the basics of grammar and vocabulary, which we apply to stories within the course. Very occasionally, we assign pupils small homework tasks to learn Latin words, in the hope that they will not only be able to increase their knowledge of Latin, but also to give them the discipline that they can then apply to other subjects in the future. The pupils especially enjoy ‘Minimus Says’ (a version of Simon Says), playing Latin snap, and reading about Roman and Greek mythology. At St Thomas’ Primary School, we also ran a Christmas-themed lesson: students loved learning ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ in Latin and designing their own Latin Christmas cards. Teaching Minimus has been an exceptionally rewarding way to spend our Thursday afternoons. We hope that next year’s team will enjoy this activity as much as we have this year.
And if this is not incentive enough to finish the project, a handsome portrait of Dryden by another leading light of the late 17th century, Sir Godfrey Kneller, smiles benignly – though also somewhat wryly – down from the panelling in the Poets’ Parlour at Knole. If I am successful in completing the project, I will be able to return the glance with pleasure and piety.
David Edmondson, Francesca Vernon, Tabitha Adams, Daniel Sykes
Katy Ricks
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Academic Service
Extended Essays One of the ‘Core’ elements of the IB is the Extended Essay, a research project culminating in a 4000-word essay. Students generally choose a topic from their Higher Level subjects, developing an expertise in a subject they hope to read at university. Some students, however, choose a topic which they might not otherwise have a chance to study. The project is self-directed, though supported by a supervisor who helps the students learn the higher level research and writing skills needed at university. While it is the most difficult work the students will have done, they often tell us it was the best preparation for university. Below is a selection of abstracts from this year’s IB candidates. John Sprague We provide a warm environment where they can talk about anything they want, and where they will be welcomed and encouraged.
Junior Science Junior Science takes place every Thursday afternoon and is a predominantly student-led activity in which students from Year 11 to the Upper Sixth work together to teach science to Amherst School pupils. As a team we organise experiments and activities that help to make science engaging and exciting. As well as helping these local school pupils to learn more about the sciences, Junior Science also offers the opportunity for them to see inside a ‘big school’. This helps them to see how friendly Sevenoaks really is and allays fears of moving on to secondary school. Overall this activity offers great opportunities for learning and fun, both for Amherst and Sevenoaks students alike. By teaching, not only do we help others but we also learn a great deal. James Thomas Computing for Adults with Learning Disabilities In this activity a group of us help out with adults from various backgrounds who have learning difficulties. We teach the adults how to use of a number of programs and applications, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Internet Explorer.
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During our sessions, we work in pairs with the adults. We help them create recipes, reports, letters and posters, including pictures found on the internet, in a comfortable and supportive atmosphere which enhances learning. This activity not only helps them develop skills, but helps us learn the essential skills of interacting with people who have specific needs. It helps us develop patience and understanding and is really enjoyable too. We also find that these sessions develop our collaborative skills, as well as our ability to teach! To see the adults grow in confidence and the ability to interact, and develop their communication skills, feels like a monumental achievement. They always come with a willing and open attitude and we relish the responsibility of leading them in the right direction. Our goal is to make each session as relaxed and enjoyable as possible. To see them leave with a smile is perhaps the most heart-warming and encouraging moment of the day. Tancredi Castellano Pucci, Leo Danczak, Max Lewthwaite, Xander Bastin
Technological advances in football footwear
successfully designed new equipment capable of fulfilling these needs. This will be accompanied with an analysis of ways in which advances have aided consumers in other areas (such as psychologically); as well as an analysis of its negative effects for consumers. The effects which developments have had upon the market on a whole will be explored, in particular how it has led to the materialisation of new areas of football footwear. I will contrast the positive impacts for player performance with counter arguments, which includes a designer’s limitations in his/her consideration of a boot’s fitting (which is highlighted through means of theoretical analysis and product testing). To conclude, I will evaluate the extent to which player needs have been considered (and prioritised) in modern day footballing footwear.
Aidan Shields
In what ways and to what extent have player needs been considered in the design of today’s ever-advancing football footwear? Design Technology Extended Essay Abstract: In this Extended Essay I will research and investigate the ways (and the extent to which) player needs are considered in the design of modern footballing footwear. Additionally, I will analyse how further demands (such as environmental ones) within the market have led to changes in footballing footwear. To assist myself in reaching a conclusion, I will analyse different areas for the consumer (player) which have been impacted as a result of the innovation of footballing footwear. In addition I will explore the effects of technological advances upon designers and the market on a whole. The physical effects upon consumers’ physical performance will be experimented and evaluated to obtain a better understanding of the extent to which players’ needs are successfully fulfilled in modern day footballing footwear.
The Illustrator of Music To what extent is it possible to draw parallels between art and music with reference to a common language through the notions and works of Kandinsky? Visual Arts Extended Essay
Abstract: I will ask to what extent it is possible to draw parallels between art and music with reference to a common language through Kandinsky’s work. I have gone about this by examining the historical In experimenting and investigating this I will reach context and Kandinsky’s relationship with the abstract world. Investigating Kandinsky’s the conclusion that not only have designers taken involvement within movements and attitudes player specific needs into account, but they have towards other artists is an intrinsic feature in driving SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
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Extended Essays space. Divisions are also visible within the characters. Weber becomes ‘Ger’ and ‘Famous Gerald’, Karin is divided between herself and the perfect sibling Mark envisions his ‘real sister’ to be. Lastly, Mark, who is physically damaged, exposes the fragility of the human brain, and his personality transforms as he goes through several stages of recovery.
the argument in a direction that makes it possible to imagine Kandinsky’s thought processes. The nature of the essay is based on cross referencing different art forms, therefore contextual evidence from a variety of sources is important in underpinning my argument. Analyses of Kandinsky’s work will expose parallels between musical vocabulary and the paginating itself. I have analysed three paintings of Kandinsky’s, each from a different period in his career. While I was uncertain to what extent music had a role in abstraction, it is clear that the works of Kandinsky echo a musical quality, a visualisation of sound. Essentially, I have found that music was a commodity in forming abstract art. It has changed my critical thinking of art and expanded my ability to analyse. I hope to further investigate this topic by following through music’s place in the abstract world to examine its place in society today. Angus Dymoke
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The Echo Maker
Overall Powers presents an unstable society, without openly condemning it. At the same time as highlighting our lazy approach to environmentalism and even self-preservation, he celebrates our art, science, infrastructure and ability to form relationships. Despite the fact that the environment would have been, and inevitably will be, better off without us, this does not negate the value of human society – even if it does serve to highlight many of its flaws.
What is the Significance of Richard Powers’ Use of Images of Instability in The Echo Maker?
Emma Beale
methods are introduced in deriving the volume; the first one uses double integration, and the second one finds the surface area and integrates it to find the volume. In the first method, a relationship between an n-ball and an (n-2)-ball is determined using double integration. A general formula each for even-dimensional and odd-dimensional balls can be deduced and the two formulae could be made into one single formula. As for the second method, the surface area is first deduced using a special integral . Then the formula of the volume can be determined by integrating the formula of the surface area. These two methods can both attain the same result, however I think the second one is a more fruitful approach as more concepts are introduced, such as different coordinate systems in 3-space and changing of parameters when doing multivariable integration. Justin Fong
English Extended Essay Abstract: In his contemporary novel The Echo Maker Richard Powers presents the reader with a variety of themes that touch on identity, communication, and the environment, which I will be exploring through a focus on his images of instability, and their significance. Firstly, the unstable ecosystem inhabited by the Cranes serves to demonstrate the negative impact human society tends to have on the environment, whilst at the same time Powers emphasises the common threads between humanity and the Cranes, concentrating on our shared tendency towards self-destruction and the influences they have had in our culture. Setting is also key to the novel – with the geographical setting of Nebraska, the centre of the United States, providing the backdrop of a dying town. A very human sense of entitlement is reflected in the town of Kearney, which never managed to fill out the streets that were laid with the founding of the town. Temporally, the post 9/11, digital world offers many new situations and instabilities that Powers explores, with the addition of symbolic online
the derivation of volume of n-dimensional balls
King John and Magna Carta: the man and the document
Comparing different methods
To what extent were King John’s mistakes responsible for Magna Carta?
Mathematics Extended Essay Abstract: This essay introduces the concept of gamma function and compares different methods in the derivation of volume of n-dimensional balls. Gamma function Γ(x) is the extension of the factorial function by joining up the discrete points with the equation <Γ(n+1)=n!>. However, gamma function is not bounded in the range of all natural numbers like the factorial function; rather it exists and is applicable for all real and complex numbers. By comparing the positive side of the gamma function with a few other functions like polynomials and exponential functions, we hope to suggest that the gamma function actually behaves quite similarly to the exponential function. The volume of an n-dimensional ball is one of the applications of the gamma function. Through investigation on the internet and self-understanding and proving, two different
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History Extended Essay Abstract: While Magna Carta has become a glorified symbol both of rebellion and nascent constitutional reform, the image of King John in popular culture is one which seems exaggeratedly negative. His cruel style of ruling has been portrayed as the sole reason for the rebellion of his barons and the advent of Magna Carta. The purpose of this essay is to examine the real link between the two, and to come to a balanced conclusion through wide reading of secondary sources and close interpretation of primary sources such as the Great Charter itself. To what extent were King John’s mistakes responsible for Magna Carta? An analysis of the circumstances in which King John was crowned in 1199 reveals certain underlying weaknesses in an otherwise relatively stable England. Indeed it was
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within the context of the Angevin Empire’s rise and fall that King John’s own political mistakes and weaknesses as a leader were revealed. His inability both to gain and to offer trust undermined the fidelity of his barons, in effect his military and economic pillars of support. This essay will argue that King John’s excesses surpassed those of his predecessors King Henry II and King Richard Lionheart, directly leading to the rebellion of the barons. In June 1215, the sealing of Magna Carta represented no more than an attempt to submit King John to the unwritten custom prevalent in medieval society. Kenza Bryan THE INTEGRITY OF THE GERMAN LANGUAGE Inwiefern hat die Verschmelzung englischer und deutscher Wörter und Redewendungen die Integrität der deutschen Sprache gefährdet, vor allem seit dem Internet-Boom in den späten 1990er und frühen 2000er Jahren? German Extended Essay „das Fremdwort – [...] – hat eine Daseinsberechtigung. Wer ihm ein solches Existenz abspricht, befürwortet nichts weniger als den Ausund Abschluss Deutschlands von der Kulturgemeinschaft der Völker.“ Eugen Kaufmann Abstrakt: Die Frage „Inwiefern hat die Verschmelzung englischer und deutscher Wörter und Redewendungen die Integrität der deutschen Sprache gefährdet, vor allem seit dem Internet-Boom in den späten 1990er und frühen 2000er Jahren?“ hat mir erlaubt, den maßgeblichen Einfluss des Englischen auf die deutsche Sprache in den letzten siebzig Jahren zu analysieren und aufzuzeigen, warum die verspätete Reaktion der Regierung gegen den Anglosprachimperialismus nicht geholfen hat. Da die Zugehörigkeit zwischen diesen zwei Sprachen seit Jahrhunderten existiert,
SPOTLIGHTS
war es interessant, die Beschleunigung der Anglikanisierung zu untersuchen, die seit dem Internet-Boom in den späten 1990er Jahren stattgefunden hat. Um die Frage so logisch wie möglich zu beantworten, habe ich beschlossen diese Veränderung chronologisch zu untersuchen. Für meine Arbeit habe ich hauptsächlich Bücher über Linguistik verwendet, die sowohl die deutschen als auch die englischen Standpunkte berücksichtigen und dabei die historischen und aktuellen Beziehungen zwischen den beiden Sprachen untersuchen. Historische Quellen waren mir auch sehr nützlich, sei es in Bezug auf den deutschen Nachkriegszeitgeist oder den Einfluss der englischen Musik zu dieser Zeit. Das erste Drittel meines Aufsatzes fokussiert sich nämlich auf die anglo-deutsche Geschichte, die starke Auswirkungen auf die deutsche Psyche bezüglich der Akzeptanz von Anglizismen ausübte. Schließlich habe ich einen großen Teil meiner Forschung auf Quellen aus dem Internet basiert, von Artikeln über die „Business-Sprache“ bis hin zu Webseiten von deutschen Firmen, die in der Tat den Kern meines Aufsatzes geformt haben. Meine Schlussfolgerung ist ziemlich optimistisch, da ich überzeugt bin, die deutsche Sprache wird weiterhin existieren (zumindest in naher Zukunft), aufgrund ihrer wirtschaftlichen und demographischen Bedeutung. Die einzigen zwei Gegenargumente, die ich habe, sind, dass sich Sprachen kontinuierlich in einem Prozess des Wandels befinden, und zweitens, dass sogar Sprachen, die von sehr vielen Menschen gesprochen werden (wie Latein) auch verschwinden können. Liz Orrin
IC Anniversary Reunion. Kim Taylor front centre 28
FEATURES
Where invention meets discovery
FOUNDER’s day
For Science Week 2013, students and staff organised a TEDx evening.
This year’s Founder’s Day was a celebration of the Humanities and their place in the wider curriculum.
TEDx events are independently organised but linked to the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) global conferences created by the Sapling Foundation to disseminate ‘ideas worth spreading’. Our TEDxSevenoaksSchool evening took place on Thursday 14 March in The Space, and was based around the theme of ‘Where invention meets discovery’. When watching a TED show, you are instantly impressed by the intellectualism and ideas involved. The aim of our project was to collate a group of Lower Sixth students who would merge initiative, ideas, creativity and teamwork to produce an interesting and inspiring event. Most of the Lower Sixth welcomed the idea, and 40 students signed up to participate. We were all thrilled to be part of such a grand project within the school. The 40 of us were divided into four groups: publicity, logistics, tech and demos, and we were all eager to crack on with the work. The event consisted of a screening of several TEDTalks videos alongside five live presenters and three exhilarating demonstrations: ‘Elephant toothpaste’, a Van de Graaff generator and a live microscope, which all relied heavily on audience participation. The professional speakers were 30
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informative, interesting and inspirational. They ranged from a mechanical engineer at OC Robotics to a professor of balloon-borne astrophysics, who spoke on a variety of topics. The logistics team was not only pivotal in choosing and contacting the speakers but also in creating a professional atmosphere for the event and helping it run smoothly. The technology team helped create an ambient mood through deep lighting. The publicity team was a key factor in giving the project impetus. We invited parents and pupils by email, created a website and Twitter page, and put posters up around the school. The whole event was streamed live and a video was posted on YouTube so that people who were unable to get a ticket could watch at home. This was a unique experience in which we grappled with many innovative ideas. Beforehand, we were motivated to create an evening where invention would meet discovery. Afterwards, we were extremely proud to have been part of a global phenomenon, TED, which inspired every single one of us. Credit goes to Dr Harper-Clark and Miss Bonsall for supporting all of our thoughts and ideas throughout. Keyu Sumaria
The Head, Katy Ricks, opened the proceedings with her reflections on a recent sabbatical to complete her PhD thesis. The experience was not dissimilar to the everyday life of a student at Sevenoaks, involving the thrill of exploring ideas and the discipline of shaping them into their final, submitted form. She observed that IB students have the opportunity to engage with a wide range of human thought, from Homer to Higgs, and expressed her hope that the school’s next major project, a Science and Technology Centre, will create an environment to inspire the Nobel Prize winners of the future. The prizewinners of the present then received their awards from the guest speaker and Old Sennockian, Emily Greenwood, Professor of Classics at Yale since 2008.
Hippocratic Corpus to Anne Michaels, Professor Greenwood challenged the students to develop their critical faculties. Critical – from the ancient Greek word krisis which meant many things, from a legal judgement to the turning-point in a disease. But in each case the word implied a need for expertise and deliberative judgement: knowing not just how to act, but when to act. In an age of information overload, she remarked, such a critical faculty is more vital than ever. It is through education that these skills evolve, and the different subject groups of the IB Diploma provide an excellent context. In Professor Greenwood’s words, ‘no single discipline is sufficient for knowledge’.
The final address was given by Nicholas Gould, the Chairman of Governors. Mr Gould drew attention to the recent ISI report describing the achievement and learning of Sevenoaks pupils as Professor Greenwood’s speech was a profound and ‘exceptional’. He expressed his gratitude to all articulate discussion of the role of education. members of the school before closing the Reflecting on how her time at Sevenoaks prepared proceedings and joining everyone for a sunny al her for her own career, she reminded the fresco lunch. graduating students to use their education to help Andy Waldron guide and inform their choices, exhorting them ‘to ensure that both your own futures and our collective future are the best that they can be’. With reference to a range of sources from the SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
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School House: A Year of Beginnings and Endings at the Oval. The boarding community have also been entertained by the hilarious though not overly gifted musicians in School House band The S*A*C*K. The School House garden club has learned a variety of skills whilst creating a canopy and seating for an outdoor area as well as planting out a bee-friendly garden as part of a series of environmental initiatives running in the house.
‘ Education is that whole system of human training within and without the school house walls, which moulds and develops men.’
W E B Du Bois, The Talented Tenth (1903)
School House is an impressive Victorian building set in beautiful grounds slightly off the main school campus. However, School House is much more than the fabric of a building or the plot of land it stands on. It is home to 53 talented and energetic boys who are tightly bonded and proud of their identity and traditions. School House was a hive of construction activity before the start of term, allowing the house to gleam with new furniture and freshly painted walls. We also welcomed a new intake of Year 9 boys who were pitched into a whirlwind of activities. The first Sunday was a highly memorable whole boarding trip to the London 2012 Paralympics, where students attended athletics, basketball and tennis. Everyone was moved by the courage and determination of the
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athletes, so much so that we returned a few days later to watch table tennis and volleyball. Barely had Year 9 got to grips with the timetable than they were off again on their overnight induction trip, engaging in raft building and trying to traverse a lake in shoddy constructions, before camping overnight. We wrapped up the induction period with mountain biking at Bedgebury Forest. At the first leave weekend our exhausted but elated Year 9 were handed back to their parents buzzing about everything they had achieved and done in such a short space of time. The house staff work actively towards maintaining an ethos which provides a nurturing environment where all students are encouraged to excel and fulfil their potential across their wide-ranging talents. School House have proved themselves to be slick event organisers, hiring the Stag cinema on three consecutive nights for over 300 boarders to watch Skyfall, making over £250 for charity in the process, and hosting a Sixth Form Valentine’s Dinner party with home-cooked food for 50 people. Catering to the full spectrum of tastes, School House has enjoyed stand-up comedy evenings, a 5-4 thriller between Charlton and Cardiff football clubs, the house book club meetings, and England v New Zealand T20 cricket
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The end of a school year is an excellent opportunity for students and staff to recharge their batteries and reflect on the progress they have made. It is also a time of sadness as students inevitably move on to meet new challenges at some of the greatest universities in the world. This year was particularly sad as we also said goodbye to two very long-serving members of staff. The popularity and affection students have for Andy Day and Amanda Hebbert was palpably obvious when we hosted a garden party for current and past students with over 70 young men attending from far and wide. Andy Day has been the assistant Housemaster since 2002 and his cheerful and patient approach has helped his Middle School tutees gain the most from their abilities. Whether it is a house trip to Tanzania to work with Habitat for Humanity or help with homework, Andy is always on hand to help out. Amanda Hebbert has been the matron since 1992. She is immensely generous with her time, motherly, and always has wise words to help students put into perspective the inevitable low points of school life. Quite simply, Amanda is the heart of the house. We wish both Andy and Amanda the best of luck; they will be sorely missed by all the boys whom they have helped to nurture into fine young men over the years. Gareth Willis
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STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL
In Enrichment Week, Year 10 students took part in a Struggle for Survival simulation run by Global Hand, a non-profit organisation based in Tunbridge Wells. The primary goal was to raise awareness of global poverty and lead students to think about solutions to the problem. Sue MacLeay from the Geography department decided to set up the simulation after taking part in a similar event. Having found the experience powerful, she felt it would enhance and supplement the departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teaching about shanty towns, transporting it from theoretical understanding to a visceral experience of what it might actually be like to live in a slum. Eliot Raman Jones recounts his experience of the day: In the last week of the Summer term, I participated in a simulation in which 150 Year 10 students were led into the Middle School Common Room to find that it had been turned into an Indian slum. Newspapers draped the walls and coated the floors, and plastic bags of food were kept in a 34
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small area near the entrance. The idea of the event was to show how a poor family would live and work, and we were told to sit cross-legged in groups, around a large bucket of glue which we were to use in making paper bags. The life of an impoverished family was explained to us. We were told that in order to survive, we had to make sets of ten paper bags and sell them to a vendor in the corners of the room. However, the prices of the bags differed depending on which vendor we went to, and as we had no idea what the real rate of ten bags was, we could not tell if they were overcharging us. After three sporadic sessions of paper bag making, we had to pay rent and the price of a meal each for our family members. These prices were exorbitantly high. This exercise highlighted the struggles of real poverty-stricken families around the world. It was an incredibly well-conceived activity, and it provided us with new insight into the hardships which communities must endure to survive.
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Charlie Higson returns to school Charlie and the Zombie Factory As Mrs Henshaw came on stage and told us of Charlie Higson’s visit we knew we were in for a treat. Charlie told us a bit about his time at Sevenoaks and how it led him to become a writer. He shared his fascination with how lines on a page can communicate to us the ideas of the author. He told us how, having written the Young Bond series, he branched out into writing his books depicting the zombie apocalypse. Confused about the amount of horror he could put into these books, meant for teenagers and children, he told us a very funny story about gauging the amount of gore his readers could tolerate. Every night, Charlie would read his youngest son the newest chapter of his book; becoming increasingly annoyed that he wasn’t scared, he made each chapter more horrific than the last! Finally, after much effort, he was woken up by his son crying and sweating and thought to himself, ‘I’ve got it!’ Ethan Greenhalgh, Shiv Poddar and Finlay Ford
The Sacrifice comes to Sevenoaks
On 20 September 2012, coinciding with the release of his latest book, The Sacrifice, Charlie Higson (OS 1976) came to talk to Year 8 and Year 9 pupils about his career, inspiration and time at school. Fifteen of them reviewed the visit.
Sacrificing Sennockians! Charlie’s presentation in the Pamoja Hall started off with a trailer for his new book, the fourth in The Enemy series, which made half the auditorium scream. He led us through the series and his memories of Sevenoaks School with great charisma. He also told us how he had been heavily influenced by the James Bond series by Ian Fleming. The Enemy series was originally based on his childhood nightmare of people he knew becoming zombies. It is about everyone over the age of 14 being infected with a deadly virus that either kills you instantly or transforms you into a zombie. The main characters are children who exist in gangs on the streets of London, scavenging for food and hiding from cannibal adult zombies. We also discovered that he was given special permission to write the successful Young Bond books.
Though the talk had a serious message, he was a comic speaker. He linked his speeches back to our lives, such as his comparison between teenage boys and zombies, both creatures with a tendency to speak in grunts with gut-wrenching habits. He told us about ‘strange wavy lines’: his definition of writing. He told us how he chose the ‘no adults’ theme in his book to explore his childhood fantasies of an adult-free world, but crushed our dreams of this world by informing us of the lack of supplies such as electricity and food that would follow the adults’ demise!
During the presentation we learned about finding our feet as budding authors, and that you can only ever succeed in writing if the topic inspires you. Whilst doing so he reduced all means of communication to mere squiggles on a page, which was quite a fascinating thought and really made us appreciate how complex the human brain is to have evolved our level of communication, from the grunts or wild gestures of angry cavemen. He also explained why he wrote about zombies – because they were the only thing that really got to him and frightened him as a child. Charlie Higson was funny yet subtly informative and, above all, managed to keep a substantial number of children awake at 10am – an achievement in itself! Kizzy Steed-Fassett, Sehee Lim, and Claire Catuogno-Cal Charlie Higson: found guilty of striking fear deep into the hearts of his young audience People were screaming in terror and laughing hysterically almost simultaneously. Such was the effect the world-famous author Charlie Higson had on us. We all crowded into The Space to listen to this incredible author and comedian. He mentioned how grateful to the school he was in leading to his success as a writer. He told us all about the ups and downs of being a writer, how it is enjoyable but very hard work. He argued that our highly evolved communication skills have helped us accomplish technologic feats that have not been seen before. Sam Honnywill, Ed Norman, Shoa Hirosato
Helen Clay, Alberta Leonard and Tash Norris
Alice Thompson, Katharina Vrolijk and Victoria Menard
Charlie Higson with Mike Bolton
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We held our breath as gory images of a zombie apocalypse flickered across the screen, filling the Pamoja Hall with gasps of terror. What followed did not disappoint us. Charlie Higson captured our imagination, throwing us into a world where cannibalism and murder are common practice.
Breaking News: Zombie Attack on Sevenoaks Pupils!!!
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Doha GOALS Forum
Fifty Years of the IC
In the Michaelmas term, the school hosted a landmark dinner to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Centre Boarding House.
In December 2012, a group of Lower Sixth students were selected to attend the Doha GOALS Forum in Qatar. Doha GOALS (Gathering of All Leaders in Sports) is the world’s premier platform for world leaders to create social initiatives through sport. Every year, CEOs, government officials, athletes and other leaders from across the world gather in Doha to discuss how to address pressing social issues through sport. Christiana Bickley, Natasha Farrant, Oliver Gibson, Saul Greenhalgh, Alex Robbins and Sophie Simpson were invited to participate in the 2012 Forum.
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The idea to include students in the forum came from the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games which was to inspire the next generation. Students from across the world were nominated by their schools or universities for consideration after displaying outstanding academic, athletic and leadership skills, and acting as role models to their class or community. Among the 400 students who were selected to take part, Sevenoaks was the only UK school chosen.
There were four pre-selected topics: How can federations and sporting governing bodies achieve more? How do we encourage more women and girls to participate in sport? How do we use sports to alleviate social challenges facing children and young adults? How can we improve the balance sheet for sport? During the task forces, delegates and participants engaged in highly interactive small group discussions that focused on identifying the greatest opportunities and challenges arising from these topics and defining tangible prospects and solutions.
The diverse range of activities included: think-tank sessions, task force groups, plenary debates, and time out conversations with world champions and sporting personalities including Lord Coe, David Duke, Mark Spitz, Ian Thorpe, Juan Howard, Carl Lewis, Marie-Jose Perec, Tegla Loroupe, Francois Pienaar and Mikael Silvestre.
The Sevenoaks students enjoyed a truly motivating, illuminating and inspirational few days. They returned enthused from having rubbed shoulders with some of the greats of world sport, and it was a privilege and honour to be a part of the event. They were excellent ambassadors not only for the school but also for the UK.
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Housemaster Brian Scragg with early members of the IC, 1960s
Some 150 guests, including former students and all surviving Housemasters, spanning five decades, returned to the school on Saturday 29 September. Many guests took the opportunity to tour the campus and return to the original IC in Oak Lane, now occupied by School House, and had a very enjoyable evening. One former IC student said, ‘For all of us it has literally been a time warp to a highly entertaining and instructive past!’
the school Dining Hall, delivered a fascinating speech on the challenges he had to face to get the house up and running. Not only did he have to convince the Governors to purchase the old Ormiston Hotel in Oak Lane, but he had to raise money from various companies and trusts to support this new venture. Kim paid tribute to the hard work of Brian Scragg, the first Housemaster, who did so much to make the new IC a success.
Guest of honour, in his 90th year, was former Headmaster, Mr Kim Taylor (1954-68), who, following drinks at the IC and a gourmet meal in
Current Sixth Former and IC Chairman, Laurence Warner, thanked Mr Taylor and all guests for attending. Nigel Connell
Astria Nairn SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
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Fifty Years of the IC They were compelled to take digs in some industrial city to attend a tutorial college in order to compete with English candidates more happily prepared, usually at a public school. The ‘mother country’ was proving singularly unwelcoming. Schools showed unwillingness to accept such older foreign applicants, recruiting at 13, from well-conditioned boys taught at preparatory schools. Their boarding houses developed a complex hierarchy based in part on merit, chiefly on the passage of time. Sudden seniority given to a late-arriving foreigner meant an unfair disturbance to the cat’s cradle of privilege such communities developed. Newly arrived older boys needed a separate house, exclusively for Sixth Formers, where they could live under rules and arrangements appropriate to their age. The IC Housemasters and
A Sixth Form House Proposal
their wives, left to right:
Why the International Centre was founded
Back: Peter Hullah, Jonty Driver, Nigel Connell, Elaine Connell, Steven Connors, Liz Connors. Front: Adwoa Winter, Ann Driver, Peter Winter, Brian Scragg, John Guyatt, Kathleen Guyatt (John Garrood, housemaster 1980-82, died in 1995)
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Pre-war, at high noon of the British Empire (1939: 700 million souls) some wealthy and ambitious colonial families sent their sons to the ‘mother country’ for their whole schooling; post-war, however, in the imperial sunset, a boy from one of the assertive, newly independent countries would gain not advantage but handicap from such a practice. The elite British universities, though, continued to exercise their allure.
I took these perplexities to the Governors at Sevenoaks within a year of my appointment as Headmaster. They finally agreed in principle, adding the caveat that all the funds required would have to be found from new, outside sources. This I recognised as an astute decision: if such substantial sums could indeed be found, then the need for such a house would in the process have been proven.
So I wrote a ‘Sixth Form house proposal’ and set about raising support. The notion was strongly endorsed by Robert Birley, headmaster of Eton, and the British Council. Shell and British-American Entry to them was forbidding. Not only was the Tobacco gave cash too. These global industries competition more severe but it was based on were pursuing a policy whereby senior executives A-levels, an exam unlike any other in the world, in newly independent countries were brought to which assumed that candidates had specialised headquarters for familiarisation and training; they narrowly while still at school. To take just one often had teenage children whose education was a example: a candidate to read Physical Sciences at problem. The Dulverton Trust offered a grant (as university spent 25 periods a week in the Sixth later did the Leche and Alexandria Trusts)… all of Form studying Maths, Physics and Chemistry; his which was encouraging but slow. In the late 1950s continental equivalent spent ten. As a consequence, the current of inflation was strong; it seemed we a first degree course at an English university took would never reach an ever-receding shore. three years; elsewhere, four or even five. Post-war, Then a miracle occurred. The Ormiston Hotel and overseas university candidates – often from its estate in Oak Lane (now School House) was influential families and away from home for the first time – had no way to cross the A-level bridge. offered to the school in a private sale at an
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Peter Hullah, Housemaster 1982-7 with members of the IC
attractive price. It wasn’t the new building envisaged, but sufficient for a start, with room for later extensions. By then, the Governors were sufficiently persuaded, bought the estate, and in September 1962 the International Centre began, with 11 overseas and 120 English Sixth Formers. Diagnosing the need of this unprecedented sort of boarding house was a necessary preliminary, but could it be made to work? That was the achievement of the first Housemaster, Brian Scragg, his wife, the remarkably cooperative boys, and their successors. The house clearly flagged the school’s interest in accommodating older entrants from overseas. Other similar families moved into the school’s ‘catchment area’ so that their sons – soon their daughters too – could attend. After the
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International Baccalaureate was devised, Sevenoaks was the first English school to adopt it. Sevenoaks became a school particularly attractive to parents who recognised that the world was ‘shrinking’, that English was spreading fast as a common language, and that children could usefully acquire a global awareness. Kim Taylor Headmaster 1954-68
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Greece! Julia Morris and Kat White), a splendid triad of cantankerousness; the acolytes of Rhombus gawping at their High Priest’s comically gruesome death(s); the cruel Polydectes (Freddie Davis) with a voice like sandpaper; King Cepheus (Roshan Ruprai) cynically considering his daughter in terms of economic advantage; the Pythia of Delphi (Lusha Zharova) and her crazy prophetic trance; Orpheus (Naqib Rahman) the X Factor wannabe bursting into song at every turn; and a host of other memorable characters all brought the play’s mock-heroic world vividly to life.
Jim Grant’s humorous debunking of the Greek myths provided an entertaining evening of songs, slapstick and inventive storytelling. When Dionysus and Aphrodite (Sasha Dulerayn and Selina Lovell) take charge of Adam’s homework project, we hear the real stories of Perseus and Jason, warts and all. The theatrical invention, the jokes, the allusions to everything from Hamlet to Psy, and above all the tight ensemble performances, made Greece! a highly enjoyable production.
This year’s Middle School theatre production was a thoughtful and funny exploration of Greek myths which gave a voice to forgotten victims.
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With few props and little scenery the ensemble cast, ably supported by the technical crew, transported its audience from present to past and from land to sea, into the Gorgon’s lair and back to Adam’s bedroom, through economical storytelling and physical expression. The chorus – an integral part of any Greek drama – filled the stage with trees and waves, and became priests or monsters as required. Many of these incidental characters made an impact through strong and imaginative characterisation: the Grey Sisters (Hethvi Gada,
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Perseus himself, played with innocent charm by Vratko Himic, was far from the self-sufficient hero of legend. More suited to maths than myths, he reluctantly sets off on his quest and begs, borrows and steals equipment to kill the Gorgon, rescue Andromeda and liberate his mother. Succeeding more by accident than by skill, his story reminds us that behind every glorious quest lies a catalogue of loss, betrayal and deceit. Similarly, Jason’s unshakeable vanity (well realised by Yash Kothari), and the oafish self-love of his fellow Argonauts, gave the famous story of the Golden Fleece a very different complexion. Even with the greatest ship of legend (purchased flat-packed at Argos, of course) Jason can hardly keep his mind on the job and is only saved from pursuit by the terrible crime of Medea. As schoolboy Adam (Charlie Robertson) comes to realise, we should choose our heroes more carefully. Underneath the jokes and the slapstick, Greece! also contained a more thoughtful side. The play gave a voice to the forgotten victims, and these serious moments offset the comic chauvinism of the heroes. It isn’t often we hear the true story of Medusa, or listen to the grief of her bereaved sisters; nor do we witness the epiphany of a dragon shortly before it is brutally slain. The voices of abandoned women permeate Greece!, from Danae and Medea to the wives of Lemnos, and remind us that the shortcomings of heroic men often translate into the sorrows of women. But, in the end, it was the laughter that won out as this funny and theatrically clever production reached its touching conclusion. Andy Waldron 43
REVIEW: Benjamin Britten, A Life For Music, by Neil Powell
The Suffolk Connection Neil Powell was a pupil at Sevenoaks from 1959 to 1966. He studied English and American Literature at Warwick, taught English for 15 years, then ran a bookshop before becoming a full-time author in 1990. His previous books include biographies of Roy Fuller, George Crabbe, and Kingsley and Martin Amis, as well as seven collections of poetry, the most recent of which is Proof of Identity (2012). He lives in Suffolk. When I was growing up in Surrey and Kent, there were two obvious escape routes. The south-west involved a long journey on roads famous for traffic jams and frazzled tempers. East Anglia was a different challenge: even after the Dartford Tunnel opened, there was nothing much on either side of it, so getting to the A12 at Chelmsford meant navigating a network of country lanes. We’d usually head west; but in the summer of 1966, when I was 18 and awaiting A-level results, my parents rented a cottage in Aldeburgh and somehow persuaded me to join them there. The cottage was in Crabbe Street, opposite the Cross Keys: tiny and basic. Yet in my little bedroom there I wrote the first poems I’d want to publish and eventually to collect: something in the air or in the light must have set me off. One day, we went inland to Snape and there, outside a group of 19th century industrial buildings, was a sign which said they were being converted into a concert hall for the Aldeburgh Festival. It didn’t mean much to me. I’d been given The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra as a small child, but Benjamin Britten had lately been squeezed out by the competing claims of early music, jazz and even hippie rock.
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By the time I returned to Aldeburgh in the mid-1970s – escaping from school again, though now as a teacher – Britten’s music had become part of my life. And I began to see that whatever had started me writing on the Suffolk coast had something in common with what kept Britten ‘firmly rooted’ in his ‘small corner of East Anglia’. Each year I’d rent a flat overlooking the sea for a week or two, usually at Easter, to write; so when I became a full-time literary freelancer in 1990, I knew where I’d settle. Luck took me back to a larger, even more eccentric cottage in Crabbe Street: it was only a matter of time before I’d write about the poet himself. He turned out to be a more engaging man and a more engrossing writer than I’d guessed: George Crabbe: An English Life appeared in 2004, to mark his 250th birthday. Reading Crabbe’s great narrative poem Peter Grimes in California in 1941 had made Britten realise ‘where I belonged and what I lacked’ and so brought him back to Suffolk. I wanted to write about him because I loved so much of his music and because I’d grown to know the place that informed it, and also because I was beginning to admire and understand the man himself. And there was another aspect to Britten which particularly appealed to me, the sense in which he’s a very literary composer: I wanted to explore his relationship with the poems he set in song cycles and the works on which he based his operas. Agents and publishers love a centenary and 2013 is Britten’s: so here’s Benjamin Britten, A Life for Music.
Neil Powell (OS 1966) has written a revealing, sympathetic biography of Benjamin Britten, published in the centenary year of the composer’s birth. He has researched his subject in great detail and happily recognises Britten as ‘the greatest of English composers – rivalled only by Henry Purcell and Edward Elgar – and one of the most extraordinarily gifted musicians ever to be born in this country’.
From Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music by Neil Powell, published by Hutchinson. Used by permission of The Random House Group Limited
Powell’s book is a pleasure to read, and richly evokes the artistic, creative world in which Britten lived. We follow the shy, sickly boy from Lowestoft, Suffolk who arrived in London to study at the Royal College of Music, where he was not appreciated. He was taken up by a group of extraordinary individuals, including W H Auden and Christopher Isherwood, and eventually had a profound influence on world culture. Unlike Auden, who was wild and larger than life, Britten was a quiet, methodical man who was happiest in a controlled environment where he could work undisturbed. He came to hate the frenzy of London, preferring to live in the peace and quiet of Aldeburgh in Suffolk, close to the sea, which is of such significance in his music. There he wrote most of the masterpieces for which he will always be remembered, including the trilogy of operas with a sea theme: Peter Grimes, Billy Budd and Death in Venice.
Powell gives us a very clear picture of Britten’s difficult life, plagued by illness and insecurity. He had a superabundance of energy but always pushed himself beyond his own limits. Britten was first and foremost a composer, but he was also one of the finest pianists of the day; he was a superb conductor and a remarkable administrator who, with the help of friends, founded and organised the Aldeburgh Festival. With Peter Pears, his lifelong partner, he travelled the world and it is fascinating to learn how deeply he was admired in Russia. Dmitri Shostakovich told Britten, ‘You great composer, I little composer.’ Powell treats Britten’s sexuality with sensitivity. Indeed, he lists Britten’s three enduring legacies as, first and finest, the music; second, the organisation known as Aldeburgh Music, which includes the Aldeburgh Festival, the Britten-Pears Foundation and the Britten-Pears School; and third, that he and Peter Pears ‘taught gay men of my generation the astonishing lesson that it was possible for a homosexual couple to live decently and unapologetically in provincial England’. Anthony Dawson Benjamin Britten, A Life for Music is published by Hutchinson
Neil Powell
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BIOLOGY STUDY TRIP TO TRANSYLVANIA
History study trip to the United States immigration centre at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. Other highlights of the visit to New York included tours of the Museum of New York and the Museum of the Historical Society of New York where the immigrant experience was brilliantly brought to life through a range of fascinating artefacts connected with different groups of immigrants. Tours of the emotionally powerful memorial at Ground Zero and of the Empire State Building completed a busy two days.
Each group attended a daily lecture which enhanced our knowledge of birds, classification and biodiversity. Evenings for some consisted of looking in ponds and canals to find amphibians such as the abundant yellow-bellied toads. Once it got too dark for the amphibians, mist nets were set up to try to capture any birds to take a closer look, with the scops owl being a common visitor. We were split up into five teams and followed a However the most eagerly anticipated activity was daily rota, enabling each team to walk numerous trying to catch sight of a live bear. Only one group transits each day to take surveys on the was lucky enough to see a bear but the roe deer biodiversity surrounded us. Whether it was getting was not a bad substitute! up early in the morning to do point transits for The second and third villages we visited were birds or checking if any small mammals had been Mesendorf and Viscri where we continued caught in the Sherman traps, we all began to appreciate just how much the meadows and forests surveying the biodiversity. Along with all our hard work we were able to enjoy a fantastic bonfire around us were teeming with life. In the full heat completed with traditional Romanian music and of the day surveys were taken to record the dancing, and a picturesque tractor ride down to a herpetofauna seen basking on various logs and small charcoal factory and farm. After a round of stones. Grass species and butterflies were also goodbyes to the scientists we made our way to closely monitored with many of us learning the Sighișoara, an old Saxon city, for our last day in proper ‘swish and flick’ technique in order to Romania. All in all, it was an experience that none capture and identify unknown butterflies in the of us will ever forget. butterfly nets. Zena Stead Arriving in the early afternoon at Tirgu Mures Airport marked the beginning of a two-week Biology trip to the heart of beautiful Saxon Transylvania. We bade goodbye to modern civilisation as we drove further on into the wild Carpathians not knowing what awaited us in the first village of Crit.
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SPOTLIGHTS
Forty-two students and five members of staff embarked on a six-day trip to America’s three capitals: New York, Philadelphia and Washington. For the last three years an integral part of the GCSE History course has been a detailed study of the USA between 1919 and 1941. The course begins with an overview of the state in which America emerged from the First World War, before investigating the cycle of boom and bust which America experienced in the 1920s and 1930s. Questions of immigration, gender, class and race run throughout a very engaging topic. The History department felt that a trip to the US could do much to put this period of American history into context and therefore launched a trip for Year 10 and Year 11 students to America’s three capitals: New York, Philadelphia and Washington. While in New York the group enjoyed a boat trip in New York harbour. As well as marvelling at the iconic skyline we were able to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, pondering the fate of the 12 million migrants who passed through the
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The journey to Washington was broken by a stop in Philadelphia, a city particularly rich in history, not least because it served as America’s capital from 1790 to 1800, the period in which Washington DC was being constructed. In Philadelphia we visited the National Convention Centre. The centre presents the grand narrative of American history superbly, although some students were a little sceptical of some of the grander claims about the role of the US as a beacon of liberty and home of constitutional government. The trip concluded in Washington DC. The grandeur of Pierre L’Enfant’s magnificently designed city immediately made our students feel they were in a place of consequence. A walking tour of the city took in the White House, Washington Monument, memorials to America’s conflicts during the Second World War, and later Korea and Vietnam, as well as the memorials to Martin Luther King and presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Lincoln and Jefferson. This gave the group the opportunity to consider how societies choose to remember and construct their past. Visits to the Capitol Building and Supreme Court, which was preparing to hear a challenge of the Defence of Marriage Act, served to reinforce the fact that Washington is a place where decisions of global importance are made. We also found time to visit the Museum of American History and the Newseum, a museum devoted to the way we receive and interpret the news. It was an engaging and thought-provoking trip which helped everyone to reflect on the way history is constructed and remembered. Gareth Parker-Jones
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Globe Theatre Trip Dromgoole. This included a tremendous scene by the rude mechanicals, which involved very well thought-out positioning, capturing the authenticity of the would-be actors. Fergal McElherron played a delightful Peter Quince, by far my favourite of the mechanicals.
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Other highlights included the pairing of Oberon and Puck. Oberon was Herculean, picking things up with ease, while Puck was a more ethereal character, speaking with a tinge of melancholy running through his words. They were both at the peak of fitness, regularly shimmying up the pillars with the aid of ropes, adding to the fairy effect. Their relationship was at the very least friendly, culminating in a passionate kiss between the two. Puck, played by Matthew Tennyson, was simply brilliant. In the Globe the atmosphere was exceptional, throwing you back a few centuries, and the jests regarding the weather were particularly apt. One of the things that really held the play together and drew you in was the costumes.
Year 8 enjoy an exceptional production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As we approached the Globe, I noticed how unassuming it is. Amidst the hustle and bustle of one of the largest cities in the world lives a quiet little theatre with a thatched roof, once the centre of Bohemian, artistic life in London. Here we were to enjoy one of its greatest attractions; Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Michelle Terry as Titania and Pearce Quigley as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
With the fairies wearing horns and animal heads, there was never any confusion as to the kind of fairies these were; from the start you sensed they were very earthy and just a little bit evil! In addition, the rude mechanicals made use of clogs to provide a particularly enchantingly amusing dance scene. With thanks to Mrs Campbell for organising the trip, and Mrs Henshaw, Ms Seetharaman and Miss Ventress for coming too. All in all: an excellent afternoon at the Globe.
Patrick Nickols
Despite the horrendous rain, all of us enjoyed a faithful and comical rendition of the play. Well staged throughout, it didn’t matter where you were sitting; one was able to fully enjoy the great vision of the Globe’s artistic director Dominic
at Shakespeare’s Globe. Photographer John Haynes. By permission of Shakespeare’s Globe.
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SPOTLIGHTS
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ACADEMIC REVIEW OF THE YEAR nationalities and sometimes outside their native language. From their very first day at Sevenoaks they will have had daily experience of a genuinely international education, through the curriculum and the co-curriculum delivered by passionate subject-specialists, supported by a strong and sympathetic pastoral team. They will be well-versed in the myriad opportunities presented by information technology, and they will also know when it is time to unplug the router, to reflect, and to think. They will have confidence in their own views and opinions, and also the confidence needed from time to time to change these views when presented with new situations.
Working back from the Nobel Prize When thinking about how best to balance the different elements which go together to make a Sevenoaks education, I like to imagine a little time-travel. I imagine a former Sevenoaks student picking up their Nobel Prize (or Man Booker Prize, or Oscar, or BAFTA or Fields Medal) and think about the qualities they will have shown in getting to that point in their career. They will have shown determination, and their hard work will have backed up their natural ability. They will have spent many hours working on their own, knowing the value of drafting and re-drafting, having learned how to research efficiently. They will know that hard work, meeting deadlines and working steadily are just as indispensable to achievement as is talent. They will know how to collaborate without copying, how to use pressure without letting pressure get to them and how to show their best work in any number of ways. They will also work well as part of a group, and because they went to a co-ed school with an international dimension they will be accustomed to working with both genders, with several
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They will know that the Arts/Science dichotomy is false, and that being creative in Science is just as important as being methodical in the Arts. They will have learned from their teachers and their peers that enthusiasm, curiosity and application are the best tools we have in the battle against cynicism and selfishness. They will have learned that with their education comes a responsibility for those less advantaged in life and an expectation that they use their education to make a positive contribution to the world. Perhaps most vitally they will have developed the habit of reading widely. They will recognise that reading – and a broad and rich cultural life in general – is the best way to foster empathy and understanding. When examining, maintaining and adjusting the curriculum here at Sevenoaks, these values are key. We don’t just want to help our students through exams, into university or into jobs, though we are pleased when this does happen. We want to give them a sense of the infinite possibilities afforded by a lifelong love of learning, of scholarship and of continued intellectual curiosity and engagement. As a school, we want to be radical in exploration of new ideas, but sensible in their implementation. As such we aim to remain at the forefront of independent school educational thinking, and to further enhance the school’s reputation for innovation and excellence.
Public examination results
University Entry
The results were excellent again this year. The 195-strong IB cohort achieved an outstanding mean of 39.3 Diploma points, compared to a world mean of 29.8. Fourteen students secured 45 points, while a further 14 amassed 44 points, putting these students in a tiny world elite of high academic achievement. No other school in the country manages to sustain this level of achievement at IB over such a large cohort. We wish them every success as they leave the school and pursue their chosen degree courses at many of the most prestigious universities in the world.
There will be 215 university entrants this year from Sevenoaks School to leading universities across the world. Of these, over 200 were admitted to their first choice university, as this year sees a record 96 per cent enter their favoured university. One hundred and forty students will read Arts and Humanities subjects, while 75 go on to STEM-related degrees.
At GCSE and IGCSE and in the second year of SSC (Sevenoaks School Certificate), the results were also excellent. Well over 50 per cent of the examinations taken were rated as A*, while the total number of A* and A grades accounted for over 85 per cent of the total. Twenty-two students gained 10 or more A* grades, and 100 of the 150 students achieved 9 or more A*/A grades. All but 36 results out of 1522 examinations taken were grade B or above. These are excellent statistics and a testament to the quality and hard work of the candidates and the quality of the teaching they received. Tim Jones SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
The most popular university destinations were Cambridge, Durham, Exeter, Oxford, UCL, Imperial, Bristol, Warwick and Edinburgh, all of which took eight or more Sennockians, with Cambridge topping the pile and snapping up 20 of our leavers. This year 29 students took up places at top US or Canadian universities, while another 13 made successful applications to European or other international universities. Forty-six students opted to take a gap year, some choosing to defer a place until the next academic year. With the competition for places becoming ever fiercer, this is a tremendous record of achievement, and we wish all our new undergraduates every success in their higher education and future careers. Ruth Greenhalgh
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Visiting Fellows
September saw the visit of three distinguished guests as part of the Centre for Innovation’s Visiting Fellows programme.
Lily Fitzgibbon, Psychology
Professor Alison Finch, French
To mark the introduction of Higher Level Psychology at Sevenoaks, the department was pleased to welcome Lily FitzGibbon from Sheffield University. Lily is presently studying cognitive development for her PhD, specifically looking at executive cognitive functions in young children. She proved to be a delightful addition to the department and had prepared fascinating interactive workshops for students to investigate errors in reasoning and how this can give insights into normal mental processes. As well as these workshops she delivered an impressive lecture exploring more deeply the cognitive problems young children encounter and how these can be minimised in an educational context.
Professor Finch is a fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, and Professor of French. She has also taught at Oxford, with her specialty being French Literature. She originally examined 20th century literature, writing her thesis on Proust’s A la recherche de temps perdu and subsequently traced literature backwards, looking into why women’s writing was so different in France, compared to in England, and the misogynist views of 19th century France. She wrote French Literature: A Cultural History; a demanding task, following French literature back to the medieval era, and is also the author of Women’s Writing in Nineteenth-Century France.
At the end of a day teaching as well as observing Biology and TOK lessons, she relaxed over dinner with a small group of Psychology students who were completing an Extended Essay in the subject. The following day she delivered more workshops and spoke to students about Psychology at university, giving advice about entry requirements and relevant career opportunities.
Dr Cutler is a Teaching Fellow and Admissions Tutor at Churchill College, Cambridge and Lector and Director of Studies in Geography at Trinity College, Cambridge. His current research looks at spatial variation in high-latitude soil microbial communities, using molecular (DNA) techniques. During his visit, Dr Cutler observed IB Geography lessons on ‘Our Shrinking World’, ocean morphology and water and urban sustainability and a Theory of Knowledge lesson about map perceptions. After delivering a thought-provoking ‘Vikings and Volcanoes’ presentation to IB Geographers (which focused on spatial and temporal variations in terrestrial ecosystems in Iceland), Dr Cutler
enjoyed a meal with the Geography teachers and six prospective Oxbridge Geographers from Year 13. He also led a Sixth Form Geography Society meeting on the subject of applying to read Geography at Oxford and Cambridge. Dr Cutler was particularly impressed by the sophistication of ideas in the IB Geography course and the critical thinking approach in TOK. He believed that high-achieving potential geography students from Sevenoaks would be very comfortable with the intellectual landscape at Cambridge. We hope to welcome Dr Cutler back in future to present to potential Geography and HSPS applicants from Sevenoaks and other local schools. Paul Thompson
Issy Sawkins
Ian Campbell 52
During the two days she spent at Sevenoaks, she impressed classes with her sophisticated knowledge of French literature and its progress throughout time. Her lecture, ‘The role of politics in literature’, educated the audience with references to authors such as Stendhal. In essence, Professor Finch provided a fascinating insight into life as an MML student, and also an enriched knowledge of literature and culture.
Dr Nick Cutler, Geography
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Sports, Exercise and Health Science at IB
Sackville Lectures
This year we welcomed David Spiegelhalter, the Winton Professor for Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University, and Professor Andrew Watson from the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. Professor David Spiegelhalter Putting life into numbers: Some maths and the stats of risk On Monday 10 September we discovered the concept of a ‘micromort’ when the Upper School attended a fascinating lecture by Professor David Spiegelhalter. He focussed on the role played by statistics, or more correctly probability, in our everyday lives. Firstly, Professor Spiegelhalter talked about the aforementioned ‘micromort’, which is a quantity representing a one in a million chance of dying, and showed us how we can assign a number of micromorts to everyday activities such as walking, cycling and skydiving. Practically, the micromort allows us to compare different activities in terms of the probability of death as a result of engaging in them. He mentioned a colleague who wrote a controversial article using the micromort to compare the respective dangers of horse riding and drug-taking: ‘equusy and ecstasy’.
Professor Andrew Watson Earth Revolutions: Lessons for our future from the deep past
On Tuesday 9 October the school welcomed Professor Andrew Watson, whose work focuses on biogeochemical cycles, controls on oxygen and carbon dioxide as well as marine controls. He has worked with such eminent scientists as James Lovelock. Fortunately he tailored his talk to his audience. He chose to talk to us about climate cycles and our influence on them. He informed us about the earth’s climactic history and previous The second half of the lecture was on a decidedly cycles, such as the sudden oxygenation of the lighter note, focusing on statistics in the media. We saw how newspapers tend to mangle statistics, atmosphere by the ‘lucky’ invention of in one case suggesting that not eating red meat will photosynthesis. We were treated to some of the most cutting edge insights and the latest thinking earn eternal life for 20 per cent of the population. on possible outcomes of human activity and the Professor Spiegelhalter also showed us a poster evidence to support such theories based on (‘99% of London’s young people do NOT commit previous climactic periods. Though at times the violent crime’), which upon further reflection outlook may have been presented as an actually suggested that there are roughly 10,000 violent youths on the streets of London – not quite unavoidably grim fate, Professor Watson presented a range of scenarios, even including some the intended message! All in all, Professor Spiegelhalter delivered an enlightening lecture that favourable ones! not just showed us how exciting statistics and Thomas Hughes probability are, but also the importance of taking what we see in the news with a pinch of salt. Matthew Maitra and Lamide Akinwuntan 54
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A new IB Standard Level course in Group 4: Experimental Sciences debuted at Sevenoaks in September 2012. Sport science is a discipline that studies the application of scientific principles and techniques with the aim of improving sporting performance.
interaction of the body with apparatus or equipment through the application of mechanical principles.
There is a growing demand for sport scientists and performance consultants due to the ever-increasing focus on achieving the best results possible. Through the study of science and sport, researchers have developed a greater understanding of how the human body reacts to exercise, training, different environments and many other stimuli.
Psychology: the branch of sport and exercise science that seeks to provide answers to questions about human behaviour, in this case within a competitive sporting framework.
Three branches of science are examined in the course through interdisciplinary approaches: Physiology: the branch of the biological sciences that is concerned with the way that the body responds to exercise and training. Biomechanics: an examination of the causes and consequences of human movement and the
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This new IB Standard Level option was first offered to Lower Sixth students at Sevenoaks as an examined course in September 2012. It has attracted pupils interested in applying science to sport to give them a better understanding of how athletes can perform at optimum levels. A combination of theory and practical investigations provides students with the knowledge and skills to work towards maximising sports-related performance. Gavin Dinsdale 55
Higher Education News Over 20 scholarships were also awarded to our students for studies in US and Canadian universities. This year we say farewell to Julia Douglas who has given superb guidance to our pupils for over 16 years. An experienced US universities guidance counsellor, Selina Harvey, will take on her role from October 2013. OS University Fair In April we welcomed back 35 Old Sennockians (2009-2012) who are currently studying at universities in the UK. They spoke to our Lower Sixth students about their courses and university life. This was a great opportunity for our current students to speak informally with the OS, who represented a wide range of degree courses from Medicine to Mechanical Engineering. The students benefited enormously from these conversations, with one commenting that they had been reassured by an OS that the transition to university is easy after the IB. It was a most successful afternoon that we hope to repeat next year in March. PA Careers Evening
Advice tailored to each individual student
In the Higher Education department we are dedicated to providing the very best information, advice and guidance on universities and courses, tailored to each individual student. One hundred per cent of Sennockians go on to undergraduate studies and a very large number will attend global top 20 universities. Our staffing, with subject specialist Higher Education advisers and a dedicated US and International University Applications office, allows us to give the very best guidance to each student. Every year we have an extensive programme of talks, information evenings, visiting academics, fairs and forums. Here is an outline of some of this year’s successes. Higher Education Evening This year’s Higher Education Evening for Lower Sixth pupils was addressed by the CEO of UCAS, Mary Curnock Cook OBE. She spoke of the
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challenges facing students in the HE landscape in the UK and urged our students to learn, to read and to explore ideas, and then to apply to a university that will foster their intellectual development. Mary Curnock Cook was later joined on stage by four Directors of Admissions from the universities of Bath, St Andrews, KCL and UEA, and a course director from UCL. US University Applications About a quarter of our Sixth Formers make applications to universities in the US and Canada. Last year we introduced a US Colleges Tour of the Boston, New York and Washington area universities for Lower Sixth students. The school has also opened a private SAT centre for students to take these exams here on any of the dates that fall in term time. This year students received 108 offers from top US and Canadian universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, MIT, Cornell, McGill, Georgetown and Dartmouth.
In January we welcomed over 60 parents, Old Sennockians and friends of Sevenoaks to the PA Careers Fair. Students from Year 11 and the Lower Sixth greatly appreciated the advice provided, and many secured offers of work experience. We hope to attract more Old Sennockians to this evening in future years, as their experience of seeking jobs in the current market seems more immediately relevant to our students. We are very grateful to Gloria Yu for all the work she has done in promoting and organising this event for the last few years. Going forward we are delighted to be working with the new PA Chair Livia Lovell and her team. Sixth Form Careers Forums This April we held the Higher Education department’s first professional network event. We welcomed five Old Sennockian lawyers to speak to Sevenoaks students who are considering careers in law or applying to read Law at university.
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Ian Penman (OS 1980), one of the founding partners of New Media Law, gave a short presentation. A panel discussion followed, chaired by Sevenoaks parent Stephen Moverley Smith QC and with three OS contributors: Christopher Berry (OS 1964), Managing Partner, Edwin Coe LLP; Stephen Lloyd (OS 1986), Partner, Ashurst; Elizabeth Spence (OS 1999), barrister. Students asked a number of questions about what law firms look for in recruiting graduates and what it’s like to study Law at university. Georgia Pearson (Lower Sixth) gave a vote of thanks at the end. The afternoon concluded with a chance for informal conversations. We hope to hold similar events in different career areas and are working on a Medicine Forum for Michaelmas term 2013. Ruth Greenhalgh International Applications The US is by far the most popular choice amongst our students and this year we have witnessed an increase in the number of applicants to the US from 34 to 43. Canada, the Republic of Ireland and Hong Kong are the next three most popular destinations with around 10-12 applications each. There are also a handful of European students who apply to university in Germany, Italy and Switzerland each year. Julia Douglas
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PRIZEWINNERS Upper Sixth Prizes Lottie Abrahams
School Captain Prize
Elizabeth Seeley
Sportswoman Prize
Catherine Uhomoibhi
Humanities Merit Prize
Emma Beale
George France English Faculty Prize; Taylor English Extended Essay Prize
Aidan Shields
Taylor Science Extended Essay Prize
Nicola Wilkinson
Sport Merit Prize Expressive Arts Merit Prize
Humanities Faculty Prize
Expressive Arts Faculty Prize; Taylor Modern Languages Extended Essay Prize; Gandon Languages Faculty Prize for French Literature; School Captain Prize
Victoria Willby
Kenza Bryan
Jake Spence
Amanda Yim
Languages Merit Prize for Japanese
Christopher Ying
Science Merit Prize for Physics; Sport Merit Prize
Sophia Buhl-Nielsen Groves Humanities Prize for History; Science Faculty Prize for Chemistry Sharon Chang
Taylor Mathematics Extended Essay Prize
Stephanie Chau
Science Faculty Prize
Anna Turner-Major
Higgs Walker Humanities Faculty Prize for History
Lower Sixth Prizes
Laurence Warner
Tatersall Humanities Faculty Prize for Economics
Tabitha Adams
English Faculty Prize
Ben Waters
Languages Faculty Prize for Latin
Violet Bennett
English Faculty Prize
Expressive Arts Faculty Prize; Taylor Expressive Arts Extended Essay Prize
Elliot Briery
Honorary Academic Scholarship
Amanda Yim
Taylor Humanities Extended Essay Prize
Zoe Carver Languages Faculty Prize for German Larissa Castellano Pucci
Expressive Arts Faculty Prize
Christopher Ying
Mathematics Faculty Prize; Alcock Prize for Best All Rounder
Zoe Dawson
Expressive Arts Faculty Prize
Nina del Ser
Mathematics Faculty Prize
Jason Yuen
Humanities Faculty Prize
Jonathan Cheung
Expressive Arts Faculty Prize
Francine Choi
Humanities Faculty Prize
Lily Elliott
Languages Faculty Prize for Latin Julia Wong and Greek; Rowan Landy Award for Contribution to Sport
Alba Elliott
Languages Faculty Prize for French and German
Justin Fong
Mathematics Faculty Prize
Philip Gull
Alice Little English Faculty Prize
Rupert Harris
Sportsman Faculty Prize
Thomas Hughes
Humanities Faculty Prize; School Captain Prize
Stuart King
RAF Service Units Prize
Will Kneeshaw
Navy Centurion Cup
Hue Sang Lai
George France Mathematics Faculty Prize
Tom Lord
Daria Deluermoz Languages Faculty Prize for Japanese
Upper Sixth Merit Prizes
Kathryn Dodds
Alexander Borodin Prize for Science and the Performing Arts
Mofeyifoluwa Edun
Science Faculty Prize for Biology
Sophie Adair
English Merit Prize
Natasha Farrant
Sportswoman Cup
Megan Beddoe
Languages Merit Prize for Italian
Oliver Gibson
Sportsman Cup
Mathematics Faculty Prize
Sam Boddy
Mathematics Merit Prize
Saul Greenhalgh
School Captain Prize
Eleanor Mackenzie-Smith
Languages Faculty Prize for Spanish and German
Sharon Chang
Expressive Arts Merit Prize
Deanna Hetherington
Science Faculty Prize for Design
Matthew Maitra
Science Faculty Prize for Physics
Maira Chowdhury
Humanities Merit Prize
Hanna Jay
English Faculty Prize
Tanay Modi
Service Units Prize for Shooting
Eleanor Cornes
Languages Merit Prize for Greek
Army Prize
Mathematics Merit Prize
VSU Prize; Languages Faculty Prize for Spanish
Michael Musker
Eleanor Desmond
Ecem Karaman
Elspeth Newey
Expressive Arts Faculty Prize
Jannick Fjeldsoe
Science Merit Prize for Design
Nadia Ogilvie
Humanities Faculty Prize
Lucy Lawson
Sport Merit Prize
Samantha Ong
Science Faculty Prize for Biology
William Macalester
Science Merit Prize for Chemistry
Nicholas Makepeace
English Merit Prize; Sport Merit Prize
Scott Newman
Mathematics Merit Prize
Nadia Ogilvie
Languages Merit Prize for Mandarin
Vadim Ordovsky-Tanaevsky Midge Adams Drama Faculty Prize Liz Orrin
Languages Faculty Prize for German and French
James Perry
Languages Faculty Prize for Russian Caroline Sharp and Spanish Jack Smith Gandon Science/Technology
Nicholas Rupp Isabel Sawkins
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Lucy Tiffen School Captain Prize; DofE Gold Award
Faculty Prize
Languages Faculty Prize for Russian
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Humanities Merit Prize English Merit Prize
Alexandra Steckmest
Languages Merit Prize for Spanish
Lucy Tiffen
Science Merit Prize for Biology
Fenella Keevil Humanities Faculty Prize for Geography Frederik Kohl Humanities Faculty Prize for Economics Claire Nesbitt
Science Faculty Prize for Chemistry
Emily Norley Humanities Faculty Prize for Psychology
Katherine Reade Humanities Faculty Prize for Philosophy Hannah Sands
Expressive Arts Faculty Prize
Isla Stevens
Expressive Arts Faculty Prize
Patrick Thompson
Humanities Faculty Prize
Leyre Troyas
Mathematics Faculty Prize
Carla Troyas
Science Faculty Prize for Physics; Mathematics Faculty Prize; Honorary Academic Scholarship
Francesca Vernon
Languages Faculty Prize for Latin and Greek
Theresa von Boetticher
School Captain Prize
William Warren
Languages Faculty Prize for Russian
Anna Watkins
New Oak Mark Bullock Prize
Lower Sixth Merit Prizes Rory Barber
Humanities Merit Prize
Rex Boulter
Sport Merit Prize
Victoria Cheah
English Merit Prize
Kate Curran
Sport Merit Prize
Chiara Del Rio
Humanities Merit Prize; Mathematics Merit Prize
Nina del Ser
Expressive Arts Merit Prize
Emily Galvin
Languages Merit Prize for Latin
Alice Geradine
Science Merit Prize for Design
Natalia Gonzalez-Morales Languages Merit Prize for Russian Katy Hollings
Mathematics Merit Prize
Selvi Messi
English Merit Prize
Bongi Munatsi
Expressive Arts Merit Prize
Christopher Olley
Sport Merit Prize
Eliza Parr
English Merit Prize; Humanities Merit Prize
Leyre Troyas
Science Merit Prize for Chemistry
Francesca Vernon
Sport Merit Prize
Sam Parker
Languages Faculty Prize for Spanish Anna Watkins and French
Taran Patel
English Faculty Prize
Oliver Webster
Science Merit Prize for Biology
Isabelle Piper
Languages Faculty Prize; Mathematics Faculty Prize
Freddie Williams
Science Merit Prize for Physics
Eleanor Winch
Expressive Arts Merit Prize
Samir Yep-Manzano
Mathematics Merit Prize
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
Languages Merit Prize for French and Italian
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PRIZEWINNERS Year 10 Prizes
Year 11 Prizes
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Year 9 Prizes
Clementine Bennett
Art Prize
Charlotte Bonner-Davies
Geography Prize
Eugenia Carter
Sports Prize
Miles Caven
Biology Prize
Elizabeth Elgar
French Prize
Clare Cooke
Art Prize
Tabitha Gibb
Design Prize; English Prize
Christian Deverall
Spanish Prize
Charles Ingham
Geography Prize
Hethvi Gada
Latin Prize; Russian Prize
Rupert Moverley Smith
Sports Prize
Josephine Hogh
Sports Prize
Rhea Patel
Chemistry Prize; German Prize; Greek Prize; Mathematics Prize
Rachelle Lam
German Prize
Matthew Riches
History Prize; Latin Prize
Molly Marr-Johnson
Drama Prize
Clara Rupf
Drama Prize; Honorary Academic Scholarship
Anna Merson
Greek Prize
Dylan Morris-Jones
Sports Prize
Roshan Ruprai
Honorary Academic Scholarship
Rebecca Reiff-Musgrove
Chemistry Prize
Elizabeth Shaw
Russian Prize
Nathaniel Robinson
Music Prize; Schickler Prize
Miranda Stevens
Classical Civilisation Prize; Physics Prize
Anastasia Spiridonova
Mathematics Prize
Pippa Stevens
Biology Prize; Music Prize
Tanya Stead
French Prize
Karoline Wale
Spanish Prize
Lou Warnett
English Prize
Jessica Wen
Design Prize; Physics Prize
Daniel Wu
History Prize
Year 11 Merit Prizes
Rory Alexander
Geography Prize
Olivia Brandon
Art Merit Prize
Francisca Anderson
Spanish Prize
Chloe Broom
Sports Merit Prize
Olivia Anderson
Bridget Harmer History Prize; French Prize
Thomas Buhl-Nielsen
Latin Merit Prize
Georgina Barker
Sports Prize
Hugo Caven
Physics Merit Prize
Copter Brunt
Sports Prize
James Cooper
Design (Resistant Materials) Merit Prize
John Bryant
Chemistry Prize
Hugo Caven
English Prize
Flora Cournane
Jacqueline Cho
Maths Prize
James Cooper
Design Prize
Max Cunningham
Classical Civilisation Prize
Jaime Deverall
Wavetrend Electronics Prize; Physics Prize
George Evans-Thomas
German Prize; Gilchrist Trophy for Best All Rounder
Maxi Lampert
Midge Adams Drama Prize
Wing Lau
Art Prize
Anna McGee
Biology Prize; Greek Prize
Molly Merson
Latin Prize
Otto Newland
Russian Prize
Chloe Rouse
Drama Prize
Chantal Wong
Music Prize
ACADEMIC REVIEW
Year 10 Merit Prizes James Affleck
Sports Merit Prize
Rosie Alderton
Art Merit Prize; English Merit Prize
Emily Brandon
Biology Merit Prize
Charlene Chau
Latin Merit Prize
Chemistry Merit Prize; Classical Civilisation Merit Prize
Johan Clubb
Music Merit Prize
Niamh Fenton
Biology Merit Prize; Electronics Merit Prize
Lucy Eifion-Jones
Sports Merit Prize
Naomi Fenton
Greek Merit Prize
Harry Gilfillan
Music Merit Prize
Ursula Horton
Spanish Merit Prize
James Hale
Russian Merit Prize
Joe Jenne
French Merit Prize
Siena Hammond
Drama Merit Prize
Vardaan Mehra
Russian Merit Prize
Anna McGee
Spanish Merit Prize
Theo Moverley Smith
Chemistry Merit Prize
Molly Merson
Geography Merit Prize; German Merit Prize
May Randall
Geography Merit Prize
Eloise Robson
History Merit Prize
Otto Newland
Greek Merit Prize
Roshan Ruprai
Drama Merit Prize
James Richardson
Sports Merit Prize
Pippa Stevens
Mathematics Merit Prize
George Rountree
History Merit Prize; Drama Merit Prize
Euan Tyndall
Classical Civilisation Merit Prize
Catherine Stratton
Maths Merit Prize
Ben Walker
Physics Merit Prize
Verity Thomson
English Merit Prize
Bibi Wood
Design Merit Prize
Diana Urlichich
French Merit Prize
Lusha Zharova
German Merit Prize
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
Year 9 Merit Prizes Juliet Boobbyer
Drama Merit Prize; Spanish Merit Prize
Sophie Bruxner-Randall
Art Merit Prize
Miles Caven
Physics Merit Prize
Toby Flynn
Biology Merit Prize
Billy Hill
Design Merit Prize
Cathrine Hogh
Sports Merit Prize
Aarti Jalan
Drama Merit Prize
Oliver Kidd
Geography Merit Prize
Rachelle Lam
Latin Merit Prize
Julia Morris
French Merit Prize
Maya Raman Jones
Chemistry Merit Prize; English Merit Prize
Rebecca Reiff-Musgrove
German Merit Prize
Nathaniel Robinson
History Merit Prize
Theo Sawkins
Greek Merit Prize
Hamish Thomas
Sports Merit Prize
Lou Warnett
Mathematics Merit Prize; Music Merit Prize
Francesca Young
Russian Merit Prize
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PRIZEWINNERS Year 7 Prizes
Year 8 Prizes
Sports Prize
Florence Coumbe
Academic Prize
Molly Deagle
Academic Prize
Charlotte Foss
Academic Prize
Jahnvi Gada
Academic Prize
Daisy Hargreaves
Drama Prize
Sophie Perry
Academic Prize
Orissa Welsh
Academic Prize
Peter Westbrooke
Music Prize
Selina Yan
Academic Prize
Arthur Zijdenbos
Sports Prize
Year 7 Merit Prizes
Phoebe Barker
Academic Prize
Cameron Allan
Sports Merit Prize
Thea Beadle
Academic Prize
Rory Easton
Music Merit Prize
Cailin de Wet
Academic Prize
Zoe Eifion-Jones
Merit Prize
Matthew Emmerson
All Round Excellence Prize
Rebecca Funnell
Merit Prize
Josephine Gibb
Music Prize
Ben Hancox-Lachman
Drama Merit Prize
Amelia Irwin
Academic Prize
Charlotte Jairaj
Sports Merit Prize
Rhys Joseph
Sports Prize
Sean Lee
Merit Prize
Anna King
Academic Prize
Anna van Velsen
Merit Prize
Mackenzie Smith
Service Prize
Millie Williams-Walker
Merit Prize
Martha Tipper
Midge Adams Junior Drama Prize
Alice Tyler
Sports Prize
Thomas van Issum
Academic Prize
Louisa Webb
All Round Excellence Prize
Year 8 Merit Prizes
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Grace Annetts
Harry Carley
Sports Merit Prize
Imogen Gibb
Merit Prize
Tiffany Griffiths
Merit Prize; Music Merit Prize
Sohan Gwalani
Merit Prize
Alexander Parton
Drama Merit Prize
Elise van den Hoek
Merit Prize
Louisa Webb
Sports Merit Prize
Ethan Wong
Merit Prize
ACADEMIC REVIEW
VISUAL artS AND MEDIA review
Art: A Year in Review The pupils’ work reproduced in these pages is just a small snapshot of the diversity of practice in the Art department. The studios play host to as many different types of artist as there are pupils in the school and the emphasis is on developing individuals’ creativity, having established a grounding of skills and knowledge. The balance between offering freedom and structure is a key concern to the art teacher, and the department endeavours to tailor support to our pupils, whom we view as emerging artists in their own right. Looking to the future, we feel that these are exciting times for the department. The new academic year will see the arrival of an artist-inresidence, who will develop his own practice alongside that of the pupils and will be able to offer insight, advice and inspiration. Michael O’Reilly takes up this role, having recently completed his MA at the Royal Academy Schools. A new Art History course will be taught from September in the Middle School. This course will offer pupils the opportunity to study some of the great masters, both old and modern, developing individual and perceptive critical voices. Finally, the studios themselves will benefit from a summer refurbishment, expanding the Sixth Form studios and facilitating more opportunities for celebrating pupils’ work through exhibitions. Charley Openshaw
Top left: Eugene Dunaev, GCSE Above: Felicity Whaites, Year 9 Left: Olivia Brandon, GCSE
Previous page: Rosie Alderton, Year 10
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Clementine Bennett, Year 10
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Top: Zoe Dawson, Lower Sixth Michael Forward, IB
Left: Sophie Simpson, IB Above: Max Paillard, Year 10
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Art: A year in review
Freya Sackville-West, Year 10
Art at Sevenoaks: a student’s view For the younger members of the school, the Art department is the perfect place to be creative and experiment with techniques. Learning to make prints, sculptures and Photoshop creations gives them the opportunity to develop their artistic talents at the same time as enjoying themselves. The 2013 GCSE title ‘Force’ allowed the students to explore an open topic and create pieces of art in a wide variety of materials. Olivia Brandon used this title to investigate the butterfly effect, and the force of family and its history. Basing her exam project on her grandfather, she used photographs, paintings and the real belongings of her family to tell the story of her family tree, showing how one seemingly insignificant moment can have the force to form generations of strong family bonds.
Top left: Eleanor Winch, Lower Sixth Top right: Sharon Chang IB Bottom left: Angus Dymoke, IB Bottom right: Julia Wong, IB
At IB level, studying art is an experimental and non-constrictive experience. The opportunity to attend life drawing classes gave us a new appreciation of the human form. This enjoyable and difficult process of painting a nude and the engaging trip to the V&A and Tate Modern galleries inspired our individual ideas and creations. This year we have investigated the themes of identity and sensation, which has produced eight very different artistic journeys from the Lower Sixth. Sophie Simpson’s creation
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of a ball gown made from designer shopping bags explored the ideas of the media’s influence on identity, while Emma-Louise Rixhon’s photoshopped layers of line-drawn portraits showed how many layers define a person, and how complex the subject of identity is. My project started with the idea of ‘sensation’. This took me to landscape, and the sensations that nature gives you. When skiing in the Alps, I took many pictures of the beautiful surroundings which had filled me with awe. I then began making paintings in the style of the Romantic period, with the intention to inspire these same sensations in my viewer. The paintings got bigger and bigger, as size seemed to be the key element to impose the emotions I was looking for on the audience. Then, inspired by a trip to the Tate Liverpool, I had the idea to include video installation. For me, contemporary art, and specifically video projections, have the ability to recreate a moment in a way that a painting cannot. In the future I plan to mix a conventional painting style with contemporary video art to create an experience that mixes art with reality, to really fill the viewer with the sensations of a particular place or person. I am very excited to take these ideas into the world of portraiture, and bring in ideas of the mind and body being separate and yet linked. Zoe Dawson 69
Art: A year in review
DRAMA REVIEW
Olivia Storey, Lower Sixth
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DRAMA REVIEW OF THE YEAR The Sevenoaks School Theatre Company’s 2012-13 season has been bold and daring, staging ambitious plays embedded with humanity and political comment. It has been an experimental but fruitful year, which has seen a rich programme of artistic work, and an expansion of student-led projects and responsibilities. It remains an important principle of the department to offer creative opportunities within an environment that inspires personal challenge, teamwork and artistic risk-taking. There have been seven SSTC productions, beginning with a group of Upper Sixth students directing and acting in their own highly physical interpretation of Hymns. This was followed by the overwhelming and outrageous Earthquakes in London, which received a tremendous response for its stunning staging and contemporary resonance. With outstanding performances and a dedicated
technical and stage management team, Earthquakes made the most of the flexibility and intimacy of the Sackville, providing great entertainment, shock and provocation. The Lent term began with the SSTC hosting a production from the Perth Youth Theatre, from Western Australia. River Dreaming dramatised the history of Perth and the Swan River which runs through it. As part of the cultural exchange, SSTC members hosted the company and introduced them to the delights of Sevenoaks in the snow. A few weeks later the Middle School play, Greece!, took us on a playful journey through the myths of ancient Greek heroes, providing a comic yet critical perspective on each story. Following this, the Lower School took on an ambitious project in the form of Terry Pratchett’s Carpe Jugulum. A very large cast met the challenge with great accomplishment and a palpable sense of ownership and pride.
Late Summer term featured a group of Lower Sixth students who staged their own version of the dark, disturbing satire Contractions, and an exciting collaboration between Drama and Classics brought together a group including many debut actors to explore Greek choral staging practices in a powerful and emotionally charged version of Medea. Finally, the community show, Tree Stories, (involving pupils from Year 3 right up to Lower Sixth) treated audiences to a pleasant, informal evening of outdoor theatre in a new venue, the meadow. Other new ventures include a group of VSU students running drama workshops to pupils at St John’s Primary School. We have welcomed two resident directors, Clare Dunn and Janey Carden, and the department has also been assisted by a team of Lower Sixth Sackville Prefects, who have undertaken key production roles. The GCSE and IB courses have also produced some stunning, original work this year, but have perhaps lacked profile. Next year we hope to rectify this, with a showcase in the final fortnight of the Michaelmas term, entitled Transformations – new plays from Sennockians. The Trinity Guildhall/ LAMDA teaching programme, now in its third year, continues to enable students across the school to succeed at a high level in various acting awards. Also in its third year, the Year 9 Shakespeare Festival, staged during Enrichment Week, was unanimously regarded as the best yet, with some brilliantly condensed performances of the Shakespeare plays studied in English.
(PSD and Geography); and Idle Motion returned with their new piece about the Bletchley Park code breakers, That is All You Need to Know (Maths), for which one of the surviving relatives of Gordon Welchman joined the audience. Together, the SSTC and Space programmes continue to offer a broad and exciting range of live performances to its audiences, balancing the classical with the modern – and seeking to offer theatre that both enlightens the past but also has a contemporary connection and relevance.
September 2013 sees the launch of the inaugural Sackville Theatre Festival: a month of exciting The Sackville has hosted another year of dynamic, professional touring theatre (both national and professional work. The return of New International international). NIE return with their brand new show about a doomed polar expedition in a hot air Encounter (NIE) was most popular, with Past Half balloon (North North North), and we are extremely Remembered, a history of Soviet Russia seen lucky to host a full Kathakali troupe complete with through the eyes of one woman. As well as live musicians, from Kerala. October brings the inspiring Drama students, the professional shows next Drama tour to Germany: a relocation of also linked to other areas of the curriculum, and we have seen a diverse range of both performance Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to the contemporary setting of an airport departure lounge. Then the styles and subject matter: the Rose Theatre’s cycle of the major SSTC shows begins again, with production of Othello (English); Theatre Centre’s rumours of a major musical collaboration with the superb show based on transcripts from survivors Music department on the horizon. of Hurricane Katrina, The Day The Waters Came Gavin Henry
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Earthquakes in London moving. Azure Prior and Lizzie Reeves both played the dual role of Peter/Emily, Freya’s hallucination of her unborn daughter from the future, who spends the first half of the play in the form of an unlikely ‘host’ of a comic teenage boy. The portrayal of Peter was so convincing that the moment of transformation was not only very powerful, but for many a genuine surprise to discover he had been played by a girl. Emily was played with great integrity and conviction.
Waterloo Bridge (an actress wearing a hidden harness actually jumped from the gallery level). We were immersed in a story which did not relinquish its hold until the production ended.
Outstanding naturalistic performances in a production combining epic staging ambition with a strong sense of humanity and political comment. The striking layout of the theatre had never been seen before in the Sackville: a winding catwalk stage from end to end completely transformed the venue, bringing greater proximity and intensity, particularly for those who sat on the swivelling chairs in the ‘cabaret’ section. The production stretched the SSTC to the limit, as the play’s opening stage directions suggest: ‘The stage should overflow with scenery, sound, backdrops, lighting, projection, etc. It is too much. The play is about excess and we should feel that. Scenes crash into each other impolitely. They overflow, overlap. The production should always seem at risk of descending into chaos but never actually do so.’
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Earthquakes assaulted the audiences’ senses with the scale and intensity of its theatricality: stylised dance sequences, striking film backdrops (produced by Anton Volkov and Thalia Hutcheson), immersive lighting (designed by Kathryn Dodds), and a multi-layered, surround-sound scape (designed by Ollie Webster). This total theatre experience also reinforced the play’s social comment on rabid consumerism and its environmental consequences. Action occurred on and around the catwalk: students in onesies partied amongst the audience; serpentine swimmers emerged through trapdoors; an Amazonian-themed burlesque dance protested against the destruction of the rainforest, with a plea not to leave the world ‘naked’; a troop of glamorous mothers paraded their 1950s prams, their babies thrown in the air and exploding into black dust and glitter; London commuters danced and lip-synched to Marina and the Diamonds; and a pregnant woman took a breathtaking leap off
Although set on a backdrop of global disaster, and shifting between four different time zones (1968 to 2525), the plot revolved around the dislocated domestic lives of three sisters and their estranged, dysfunctional father. With such a challenging script, an unfamiliar stage, and doubling the cast over the four performances (alternating the main roles with choral parts), one might have expected the actors themselves to struggle with this challenge, but this was far from the case. The senior company outdid themselves. Oscar Thewlis was very impressive as Robert, the cynical, intimidating and sharp-witted Scottish scientist predicting environmental apocalypse. Hannah Sands and Isobel Connelly played his eldest daughter, Sarah, the icy, polished Liberal Democrat minister, but also carefully revealed endearing chinks in her armour. Hanna Jay and Thalia Hutcheson were outstanding as the heavily pregnant, somewhat loopy and traumatised middle sister, Freya, who wanders around London plugged into her iPod, daydreaming and hallucinating. Both performed the role with great emotional charge and unnerving instability. Violet Bennett and Zoe Dawson were also superb in the role of Jasmine, the youngest, rebellious daughter; both intimidatingly volatile yet sympathetically insecure. Her final scene when she meets her father for the first time was particularly SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
Bongi Munatsi and Natalia Gonzalez-Morales were incredibly impressive as Tom or Tam, the environmental protestor who seduces Jasmine in an attempt to blackmail her eldest sister to change government policy. Their delivery of one of the most important speeches in the play – shaming the audience with the true cost of their chosen ‘lifestyle’ – was incredibly powerful. One of their targets, Carter, the man from the corporation trying to protect airport expansion, was played with deadly charm and charisma by Harry Smith. Matt Payne and Max Lewthwaite were superbly understated as Sarah’s disillusioned husband, Colin, whose mid-life crisis brought moments of real hilarity and unexpected twists. In contrast, Tom Golding brought sympathy and integrity to role of Freya’s caring, selfless husband Steve. The production required skill and dedication from many technicians, in particular, Mr Leigh for his set construction, as well as Julia Ganis and her stage management team, who coordinated numerous, complex scene transitions occurring at both ends and sides of the auditorium – and on two different levels! Despite its hard-hitting subject matter, Earthquakes was an utterly engrossing, challenging experience, and one hopes this innovative spirit will continue to thrive. Naomi Carndorf and Gavin Henry
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Carpe Jugulum
The vampires themselves were a superb unit of smouldering attitude in ghoulish make-up and chic evening wear. Fronting them, Alex Parton’s calmly menacing Count de Magpyr had presence and power, while his Countess, a cool and entrancing Caragh Taylor, crisply supported his plans. Cameron Allan as Vlad played a more ‘human’ vampire, persistently trying to persuade Daisy Hargreaves and Georgiana Scott’s combined character to swap sides. His accent and line delivery was impeccable. The witches had an impressive variety of West Country accents, hair-dos and fetching costumes. Elise Van den Hoek was commanding as the oldest witch who fights back from her deathbed by getting inside the de Magpyrs’ minds. Martha Tipper transformed herself into a reassuring middle-aged witch with warmth while Daisy Hargreaves and Georgiana Scott’s double-act as the fat witch and her thin inner blonde damsel (an excellent abstract staging device) whom only she can hear afforded many moments of comedy and tension. The play’s plot and arguments were challenging to follow at times but in true Terry Pratchett style it afforded many exciting moments of theatre and juxtaposition, as did the clever two-tiered balcony set with curtained compartments underneath.
On 13 and 14 March, the cast and crew of Carpe Jugulum conjured a complex and mesmerising world onto the Sackville Theatre stage. The acting was outstanding for such a young age group, and was complemented by a clever set, detailed costume and superb make-up, not to mention spooky lighting and sound.
So many cast members shone in their eccentric roles – Ben Hancox-Lachman as an outdated Igor fallen out of favour with the new labour of vampires deserves a mention, as does Alex Huisman as the bumbling yet dedicated priest of Om who eventually haphazardly kills the Count in slow-motion style with an oversized axe. His outlandish gesturing was startlingly effective and often caused spasms of laughter in the audience. Overall, Carpe Jugulum was a formidable and ambitious Lower School play which showcased a striking wealth of talent, maturity and intelligence from these young actors just beginning their secondary school career. Hannah Pantin
The inspired opening featured a breathy, terrified, wide-eyed young damsel being trapped on stage by the de Magpyr vampire family and ritually carried off. Claudia Dochoda’s impressive absolute commitment to this brief opening role set the standard high for her fellow actors. In a 33-strong cast, there were many entrancing performers to note, not least Holly Ingram, who played whatever role she was given with care and detail. Others worthy of a mention are Michael Jacob’s slow-speaking roadside troll and Matthew Emmerson’s Old Count with exaggerated Germanic accent. 76
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Tree Stories bottom of a meadow, the audience took their seats amongst hay bales and blankets. A drummer signalled the start of the show, closely followed by the tree protestors’ song. Each of the six stories was staged by different casts, whose age range developed incrementally in a deliberately symbolic structure, and all generations came together for the final climax. Each story was performed with particular emphasis on choral storytelling, something which required strong teamwork, commitment and timing. The primary school pupils who started the show with ‘The Awongalema Tree’ provided an endearing start to the show and credit should go to the team of student directors from the primary school drama VSU group who had prepared them. Following them were ten Lower School pupils (Tiffany Griffiths, Martha Reeve, Orissa Welsh, Amelia Irwin, Isobel Fisher, Isabel De Sousa, Maya Remoy and Millie Sutherland) who staged The Tree by Phil King: a modern parable of the destruction of forests by commercial development. Vastly different in tone, one of the most popular stories with the audience followed: Stuck, from the picture book by Oliver Jeffers. This was also presented by Lower School pupils (Imogen MacDermott, Charlotte Foley, Alex Ford, Grace Annandale and Isobel Willis) and was very entertaining in its depiction of the lengths a young boy would go to get his kite down from a tree. The finale of the SSTC’s 2012-13 season fell to the community theatre production, Tree Stories, directed by Hannah Pantin. This episodic, outdoor production managed to charm its audience with an eclectic mix of tales about trees from Africa, Japan, England and ancient Rome. The show began upon arrival at The Space, where the audience were handed an acorn each and followed a candlelit path and protestors’ signs proclaiming the environmental and importance of trees. Upon reaching the two main trees at the
After the interval, seven Middle School pupils (Joe Jenne, Isabel McGrady, Molly Marr-Johnson, Olivia Lloyd-Williams, Tasha Cain, Aarti Jalan and Juliet Boobbyer) presented ‘The Chestnut Tree’, a Japanese folk tale, with some very inventive choreography and impressive ensemble acting. The final two stories from Ovid (‘Daphne and Apollo’ and ‘Erisychthion’) were staged imaginatively by four very strong and experienced performers: Thea Mead (Year 10), Bongi Munatsi, Alessandro Ferrari and Matt Payne (all Lower Sixth). Individually and collectively, they projected the text boldly to create the stories’ complex imagery. Gavin Henry
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Contractions
Medea
Four Lower Sixth students (Julia Ganis, Hannah Sands, Hanna Jay and Natalia Gonzalez-Morales) took on the challenge of directing and performing the dark satire Contractions by Mike Bartlett. They deserve great credit for being able to stage the production in under three weeks, and doing such an excellent job with their dynamic interpretation, well-crafted characterisation and assured delivery of the razor-sharp dialogue.
Medea dominates Euripides’ eponymous play from beginning to end. Annie Turnbull met this challenge in full with a performance of power, electricity and subtlety; she was indisputably centre stage throughout and everyone and everything in the play revolved around her. In contrast, Ed Oliver as Jason effectively communicated the Greek hero’s lack of subtlety – that is, until his affecting destruction at the hands of Medea in the final lines of the play. Director Jim Grant’s decision to split the roles of the Nurse and the Messenger was inspired. This enabled Kathryn Dodds and Alice Thompson to set up a thoughtful dialogue in their discussion of the events in the myth prior to opening of the play. Kate Arkwright and Sehee Lim’s angry and spine-chilling rendition of the Messenger’s speech vindicated wonderfully the Greek theory that tragic deeds have so much more impact if, rather than visually staged, the audience hears of them and is thus left free in its imagination to set up a mental picture of the horrors related.
In the office of a nameless ‘Manager’, within a unspecified multinational company, Emma, a polite and successful member of the sales team, is asked to read aloud a clause in her contract which forbids ‘any relationship, activity or act’ between employees ‘which could be characterised as sexual or romantic’. During the following meetings, the company’s power and control over its employees’ personal lives (and Emma’s futile attempts to resist) escalate into absurdity, humiliation and menace. The Manager was played by both Julia and Hanna with a deadly passive-aggressive stance and heartless neutrality. Whilst Julia combined a patronising gloss of superficial charm alongside a brutal directness, Hanna contrasted a steely sense of physical authority with softly spoken interrogation. Meanwhile Natalia and Hannah played Emma with conviction and sharp wit but also significant vulnerability. Both performers achieved great pathos and a strong sense of humanity in the face of such impersonal aggression. They successfully captured both Emma’s strength and insecurity, and played her gradual emotional disintegration truthfully, and with emotional depth and complexity. This was indeed very powerful theatre.
MUSIC REVIEW
By emerging from, and then withdrawing into the audience, the chorus set itself up as an effective bridge between the audience and the characters on stage. Almost all its lines were delivered individually, yet the choric effect was not lost. The chorus was led with clarity and a strong moral stance by Francesca Vernon. There was no doubt that all the cast responded with genuine depth of feeling to the power of Euripides’ great drama. Simon Carr
Gavin Henry
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Music: A year in review
A day in the life of The Space
Why so many people want to make music at Sevenoaks The title ‘Music at Sevenoaks’ goes back a long
way. But never did these large ensemble concerts reflect so little the diversity of what actually goes on here. There is now so much large ensemble music-making that it has become increasingly necessary to divide the concerts into choral ones, instrumental ones and just occasionally, miscellaneous ones which showcase what cannot be fitted in elsewhere. Having a distinctively choral performance appealed to Mr Cook and, at the end of the Lent term, he organised a feast of choral music involving all the classical choirs. The focus point was a stunning performance of Fauré’s Requiem, beautifully phrased and with some delicate and subtle control of tempi. Four days later, we heard the Gospel Choir in fine form, and at the start of the Summer term was the first of several ‘gigs’, the now regular ‘Sevenoaks Has Got Talent’. Solo and choral singing is flourishing under Mr Cook and the inspirational singing teachers, although we say goodbye to Letitia Perry, who has served as both teacher and pupil at Sevenoaks School since 1996. Instrumentally, the Music at Sevenoaks concerts give a substantial platform for ensembles such as the Wind Band and Sevenoaks Strings and the Foundation Orchestra. This last ensemble is worth a mention for two reasons. First, its sheer size is
Photo of Voces 8 by Hector Yep
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remarkable – its final count of 92 is probably a record for the school. The second is for their performance of a work specially composed for them by Christopher Roe (OS 2008), one of the Graduate Music Assistants. He has worked with students of all ages and we were pleased to perform several of his works throughout the year. But the piece ‘From the Edge of Space’ was something else. Apart from the logistical problem of teaching members in Years 7 to 9 a new and modern work, Chris composed it to accompany some video footage of Felix Baumgartner jumping 24 miles up in space. The orchestra responded brilliantly to the challenge, which has earned Chris another commission with them next term! The gigs are increasingly popular and, under Mr Drury’s inspiration, contain original writing by the students themselves. The Big Bands remain as popular as ever, and it is good to see Mr Beston’s work in the Studio growing. But perhaps most rewarding is the incredibly large number of solo opportunities open to pupils. This year there were over 20 concerts ranging from informal performances in boarding houses to the Scholars’ Recital in The Space. However, the vast majority were Open Musicians’ Platform Concerts. On two occasions we have had so many volunteers that we organised two concerts in tandem in different venues of The Space. It is inspiring to see so many people want to make music at Sevenoaks. Christopher Dyer
The Music department charts 15 energetic hours of discussions, rehearsals, classes, cakes and Satie in our performing arts centre. Thursday 7 March, 2013 7.00am The front doors are unlocked and Ms Anderson welcomes the regular boarders for their daily pre-breakfast practice session. 7.30am Mr Wey and seven piano students are present in the foyer for the beginning of a collaborative performance of Erik Satie’s Vexations, a short piece to be performed 840 times. Leyre Troyas opens the proceedings. George Evans-Thomas has already been practising the French horn for half an hour. Mr Wey has come prepared for the day ahead, armed with various patisseries, pancakes and packs of Smarties!
9.30am It’s Science Week. The Science Museum team has set up in the Pamoja Hall, and Mr Lawrie is coordinating the first of 1000 primary school children who will come through the doors during the day. Year 8 music lessons are noisily underway in the classrooms. 10.50am Outside the front door, the Bloodhound supersonic car is causing a great stir. In the foyer, Satie continues with a very keen set of pianists queuing up to get involved. The official forum is constantly updated on Firefly, giving up-to-date progress on the event, while the piece is provoking all sorts of online debates between staff and students.
8.15am Mr Cook calls the Chamber Choir for an extra rehearsal ahead of their performance in the 12.10pm Eliza Parr arrives for an extra Pamoja Hall concert next week, while Mr Dyer is rehearsing chamber music before the final round of run-through of her solo in the Fauré Requiem with Mr Cook; the Steinway grand piano is wheeled the Pro Corda Festival. into action in between the Science Museum’s tables with boxes bearing labels such as ‘large intestine’.
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Alan Adler Concert 1.20pm Mr Cook’s next appointment is with
the Lower School singers, who are also performing in the Pamoja Hall concert next Friday. Vardaan Mehra produces a dramatic rendition of the Satie in the foyer, which provides an interesting accompaniment to the trauma surgery a few metres away, where Samir Yep-Manzano is demonstrating his surgical skills.
2.00pm Mrs Mylod arrives with her VSU
performance group to rehearse before their afternoon visit to a local care home. Malcolm Rose, maker of the school’s harpsichord, arrives to give the instrument some TLC. Half of the VSU backstage team are put to action setting up the Recital Room for the evening concert.
3.00pm In an extra revision session for Upper
Sixth IB music students, Marcus Mok and Ellie Newey are debating the nature of music, Satie, John Cage and Terry Riley. The discussion stops mid-sentence as Mr Dawson sings his next pupil’s name very loudly down the corridor!
3.30pm There is a bit of consternation about
the progress of the Satie Vexations: after eight hours, 420 repetitions have been performed, leaving 420 more to be played in the remaining six hours before the end of the evening concert. Professor Karl Lutchmayer arrives for his afternoon masterclass, and quickly joins the Satie performance, giving several speedy versions of the theme and variations, counted off by Pippa Stevens.
4.20pm Mrs Carden arrives for a play rehearsal in the Sackville Theatre and is greeted by an excitable cast of Lower School students, as well as several loyal Sixth Form helpers. In the foyer, Mrs Hargreaves asks, ‘What is that piece of music?’, describing it as just as bad as last year’s Composition 1960 #7 (or ‘B and F sharp held for a very long time’) by La Monte Young.
4.30pm Nina del Ser opens the piano
masterclass with a stylish Bach toccata. Professor Lutchmayer introduces the idea of tempo in Bach performance by commenting that the composer
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himself never travelled at more than 14 miles per hour, whereas performers of today will have inevitably flown at speeds over 500mph, so the concept of ‘fast’ may be seen from a different perspective!
5.30pm Discussion in the ‘masterclass of ideas’
has entered into such realms as: why are there only three female composers in the entire musical canon (and no Indians)? Was Satie a genius, a charlatan, a true surrealist?
7.20pm The Recital Room quietly buzzes with
excitement ahead of the evening concert of French music. Satie can still be heard through the double doors.
7.30pm In the Recital Room, a feast of piano
music takes the audience from impressionism to surrealism, via exoticism and serialism, expressed via solos and duets, Steinway, Bosendorfer and harpsichord. Meanwhile, in the Sackville Theatre, the rehearsal is long finished, but the organisation of the lighting plot has only just begun, with Kathryn Dodds creating the designs for Mrs Carden.
8:20pm Isla and Pippa Stevens perform the
Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns, and Mr Wey makes a surprise appearance as zoo keeper!
9.30pm The piano showcase concert ends with
a triumphant performance of Chabrier’s Espãna, arranged for the eight hands of Emily Chung, Claire Nesbitt, Nina del Ser and Tiffany Fung. An even bigger round of applause is reserved for the last performance of Satie’s Vexations (the 840th). Jackson Wen picks the final player using a random number generator, Emily Chung is selected, and Lou Warnett’s nervous hands carefully count off the last five repetitions.
10.15pm The silence in the foyer is somehow deafening after 14 hours of continuous Satie earlier. The Science Museum staff are gone; the world’s fastest car is almost literally wrapped in cotton wool for the night. In the theatre Kathryn Dodds, James Elgar, Mrs Carden and Mr Andrews finish their preparation for the show.
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Sevenoaks pianists vexed!
Alan Adler concert
The Piano Showcase brings together all the pianists at school, to perform together and approach piano playing in new and inspiring ways. This year’s Piano Showcase took place in March and featured a monumental performance of Satie’s Vexations, played 840 times to mark the 50th anniversary of its premiere. Almost 40 piano students, from the Lower School to Sixth Form, and many music teachers, participated in the performance, which resonated throughout The Space foyer as the day progressed. Being part of such a great community of musicians was an intriguing experience. Satie’s Vexations for piano is an enigma. The melody seems to wander aimlessly, and the chords, mostly tritones, never resolve. Most astoundingly, the composer writes that the piece is to be played 840 times in succession! A complete performance can take anything between 15 and 20 hours, making it surely the longest piano piece in the repertoire. Written in 1893, it was not performed until John Cage rediscovered it in 1963. Our exploration of Vexations encouraged the students to think critically about all the music that they play. They variously asked what the point of the piece is, whether Satie was making a musical joke, and whether exact repetition is actually possible. While the score gives the pianist freedom to interpret the piece, it reminds us that repetition is an easily overlooked feature of our daily lives. Tau Wey 86
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At 4:30pm, students were given the opportunity to participate in a Masterclass of Ideas with Professor Karl Lutchmayer of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. This was a chance for pupils not just to explore the mechanics of a good piano performance, but to discuss the cultural implications of the instrument and music that they play. Professor Lutchmayer discussed the music, style and performance of pieces from the Baroque period, Beethoven’s works, and music of the new age. Are the grand narratives of Bach and Beethoven still relevant in the 21st century, or is Einaudi’s new-age minimalism the way forward? The Piano Showcase ended with a concert in the Recital Room. Students from all years played pieces by French composers such as Messiaen, Poulenc, Ravel, Fauré and Couperin, with astounding performances of Debussy’s ‘Jardins sous la Pluie’ from Nina del Ser, and his ‘Claire de Lune’ from Alistair Webb. The collaboration of so many talented musicians performing confidently made the Piano Showcase a wonderfully fulfilling day. Victoria Cheah
The Alan Adler concert on Tuesday 23 April was a spectacular success for the Music department. It was a chance to showcase the best music of the year and this was sublimely provided by the Sixth Form musicians. The first half was started, however, by the Middle School musicians of the Sevenoaks Strings, who showed how much promise there is for the future with an assured performance of Holst’s St Paul’s Suite. Then the more senior musicians took over. First, Tabea Haas-Heger, Elspeth Newey, Georgina Gibb and Claire Macfadyen were superlative in their performance of movements from Ravel’s String Quartet, and later Tabea was joined by Marcus Mok and Nina del Ser for an astonishing performance of Babadjanian’s luscious piano trio.
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Completing the first half was the Sennocke Consort, polished and accomplished as always with Old Sennockian Christopher Roe’s lovely setting of Blake’s ‘I give you the end of a golden string’. In the second half, the Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s 1st Symphony was breathtaking. They were delicate with the first movement, evocative in the third and simply stunning in the finale. This was a collective triumph and one magnificently led by the outgoing crop of Upper Sixth, who gave everything in this top-drawer performance. Christopher Dyer
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Music at Sevenoaks Concerts
Spirited orchestral performances and a feast of choral music The first Music at Sevenoaks concert took place in November, and was inspired by nature and the number 1. These two themes come together nicely in Mahler’s 1st Symphony. This was a spectacular performance of the 1st and 3rd movements and it was marvellous to hear the woodwind rising so well to the challenges of this demanding music. The Wind Band and Sevenoaks Strings gave beautiful performances of music by Holst and Elgar. The Strings also played the ‘Pastorale’ movement from Corelli’s Christmas Concerto.
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Chantal Wong and Alexander Maguire were the violin soloists, stylishly accompanied by Elizabeth Shaw on the cello. The Sennocke Consort was directed for the first time by Mr Toby Carden and sang with beautiful tone and delicate precision. Their performance of Whitacre’s ‘Lux Aurumque’ truly glistened in the wonderful Pamoja Hall acoustics and Bullock’s ‘Give us the Wings of Faith’ wonderfully recreated the atmosphere of the remembrance services. The Foundation Orchestra almost stole the show again with their spirited performance of Mr Dyer’s Pastoral Suite, which was an arrangement of famous 19th century music associated with nature. Rossini’s storm scene made the foundations of
The Space shudder, while the brass were spectacular with their theme from the New World Symphony (with soloist Jake Parker) and the performance was rounded off with one of Dvořák’s famous Slavonic Dances. March’s concert was a feast of choral music. The Sennocke Consort delighted the audience with a wonderfully stylish performance of Claudio Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir. The Chamber Choir captured the attention of all who attended with two beautifully sung lullabies. Other performances in the first half included the newly formed Senior Girls Ensemble who, under the direction of Miss Alex Kiggell, displayed some excellent close-harmony singing, and the Lower School
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Chorale who showed that singing talent is abundant throughout the school. The climax of the concert came when the school’s Parents’ Choir joined forces with the Choral Society to perform Fauré’s Requiem. This was a magnificent achievement for the 150-strong choir, who rewarded their hard work with a performance that displayed both passion and superb musicality; a special mention must go to Eliza Parr who stunned the audience with a truly beautiful performance of the Pie Jesu. Christopher Dyer and Matt Cook
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Chamber music
Carol Composition Competition The final event was another visit to London to the Cantus Ensemble’s Christmas concert. All the students received a certificate on stage and feedback from the choir, and the winners of the competition were announced and their carols performed. This was a very difficult decision, given that the standard of all the pieces was so high, and the choir were so impressed that they decided to perform three of the winning works in front of 150 people: ‘The Music of Christmas Day’ by Sophie Westbrooke, Year 9 (joint 1st), ‘It Came Upon the Midnight Clear’ by Pippa Stevens, Year 10 (joint 1st), ‘Wonder’ by Joshua Marza, Year 9 (3rd place).
A bumper year in which our Director of Music was awarded the Pro Corda Founder’s Trophy It was inevitable that this year was going to be a bumper year for chamber music, since the Upper Sixth has been such a strong musical year and they have been particularly successful performers. Marcus Mok and Nina del Ser enjoyed success with both Tabea Haas-Heger and Hue Sang Lai in the Pro Corda Festival, and their performances of trios by Babadjanian and Beethoven were really quite astonishing. Tabea also headed the quartet that has involved Elspeth Newey, Georgina Gibb and Claire Macfadyen. They have played together for four years now and their performance of the Ravel quartet at the Alan Adler concert shows what can be achieved with this kind of dedication. Maybe in future I will be writing similar things about the Year 7 quartet, Meg Ishimitsu, Jackson Wen, Annabel Stafford and Rory Easton, who joined four other groups in the national finals of the Pro Corda Festival in Oxford in March.
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In the Michaelmas term, students from Year 8 to the Lower Sixth got in the festive mood by writing their own Christmas carols for a new competition. They played an arrangement of a Mozart aria exquisitely and were then able to sit back, relax and listen to Samir Yep-Manzano, Jessica Li, Constantin Weiss, Jonny Cheung, Emily Chung, Theresa von Boetticher and William Wood also play some Mozart. These were six of the more prominent groups, but there were also at least 20 other collections of flutes, clarinets and brass who got together simply for the love of playing. We also had eight hands at two pianos on three occasions, with the pianists ranging from the Lower School playing a Mozart Minuet to members of the Sixth Form playing Chabrier’s España. I was delighted to receive Pro Corda’s Founder’s Trophy as a result of the programme we have been able to develop here. This, of course, is a direct consequence of the students’ enthusiasm for chamber music. Christopher Dyer
The Carol Composition Competition was supported by Composers’ Corner, a new weekly lunchtime activity set up by Graduate Assistant in Music and professional composer, Chris Roe. The aim of the group is to focus on a different project each term, building upon composition skills learnt in music lessons through small group sessions tailored to the individual. In preparation for the competition, the students learnt from Mr Roe about several relevant aspects of composition, including taking inspiration from words, writing effectively for a choir, and developing and communicating ideas with clarity. The project culminated in two exciting events, the first of which was a trip to London to hear all the pieces sung by a 30-strong professional chamber choir, The Cantus Ensemble. This was the first time many of the students had composed for voices, and the choir were amazed by the incredibly high standard of all of the pieces. After hearing their carols, students had the opportunity to discuss their music with the choir and make alterations. SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
All the students who took part (Charlene Chau, Josie Gibb, Joe Jenne, Joshua Marza, Olivia Sayers, Pippa Stevens, Alistair Webb and Sophie Westbrooke) were congratulated on their hard work and the high standard of music they produced. The choir were impressed with each student’s ability to communicate their ideas and solve problems under pressure. The camaraderie between students from different age groups was also very encouraging to see. The Composers’ Corner continues to meet every week, working on a different project each term, for example the Composers’ Concert in the Lent term featuring new dances written for Baroque instruments, and the Summer term when students wrote music to accompany short film clips. Chris Roe To listen to all the new carols you can visit soundcloud.com Olivia Sayers (Year 10): ‘It was a great opportunity to work with the Cantus Ensemble as we could tell them exactly how we wanted our piece to be performed. It was amazing to hear things we had composed being sung by a professional choir! I really enjoyed the experience and will definitely take part in similar projects in the future.’
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Young Musicians’ Forum In June, Sevenoaks School welcomed back Alda Dizdari. Last year, she led a day’s music-making based around the music of Bach; this year it was the turn of Beethoven. During the day, 70 local musicians aged between six and 12 came together to tackle an arrangement of the famous Ode to Joy, written especially for the occasion by the Director of Music, Christopher Dyer. This was a splendid curtain-raiser for the evening. There followed two solos by Alda. First, she was joined by Tau Wey for an exquisite performance of the ‘Spring’ Sonata, and to end the first half she was joined by the Sevenoaks School Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the F major Romance. These two solos were an inspiration to the youngsters who had benefited from her coaching earlier in the day. After the interval, two of Sevenoaks School’s major music scholars, Lou Warnett and Nina del Ser, were the soloists in Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Again accompanied by the Sevenoaks School Symphony Orchestra, they played with flair and panache, fittingly bringing to an end a terrific year for the school’s Music department. Christopher Dyer
Supplied by Alda Dizdari
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SPOR T REVIEW
Sport review of the year
Enjoyment, teamwork and success at the highest level The school has enjoyed another outstanding year of sport which has built upon the achievements and hard work of last year. The talent, commitment and determination of Sevenoaks students is certainly evident across all of our sports and is worthy of real commendation.
Previous page photo:
Sport plays an important role in the life of many students at the school. The diverse opportunities for student participation, and the number of teams competing for the school, now over 120, highlight the importance of sport here. Enjoyment, teamwork and success pervade not only at the top level but throughout all age and ability groups. It is a pleasure to witness the positive impact that sport has on the lives of our students.
Kate Curran at the 2013
Success at the highest level continues at Sevenoaks. Hockey successes include the U18 becoming county champions, and the U13 team winning the county and regional championships and qualifying for the national championships. The U15 rugby team were deservedly crowned Kent County Champions. Netball success included the U18 finishing as county champions and the U16 as runners-up, both teams qualifying for the regional finals. The U12 and U13 teams were runners-up in the county tournament. In football, the boys’ teams were successful in the Surrey and Kent Independent Schools League, finishing as champions at Senior and U16 level.
Sevenoaks School’s girls are ranked the number two tennis school in England with the junior girls finishing as runners-up in the National AEGON Finals in Bolton. Sevenoaks Sailors won the regional championship to continue their dominance. In the pool, Lily Snell swam a national qualification time in the 100m freestyle. Sevenoaks had high expectations in this year’s Knole Run and the students did not fail to deliver. Kate Curran finished first and the girls’ team won the team event whilst the boys finished in their best position of fourth with Chris Olley finishing second. Sevenoaks is proud to have six students who have competed at international level this year. Natasha Farrant represented the England women’s team at cricket, Kate Curran the Great Britain Triathlon
team, Lily Elliott the England hockey team, Megan Beddoe U20 Great Britain fencing, Rory Easton the England U13 badminton team and Nicholas Davies the Swiss National Optimist U15 sailing team. The list of representative honours at county level and above continues to grow, and all of these names are proudly listed on the honours page. Successes such as these do not come without support and good coaching. We are fortunate to have well-qualified staff who are passionate about delivering a quality programme of which to be very proud. I would like to say a final thank you to all of our sports coaches for their enthusiasm, hard work and contribution to student development over the year. Gavin Dinsdale
Horst ETU Powerman Long Distance and Sprint Duathlon European Championships. © Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images 94
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Kent Cup Final winners
Girls Hockey
…The beginning of a new dawn The U13 hockey team have had the most exceptional year. They had an unbeaten season, winning all eight matches, scoring 42 and conceding only seven. However it was their tournament success which really set them apart.
An outstanding performance from the U15 rugby team An outstanding performance by our team won Sevenoaks the U15 Kent Schools Rugby Cup in December, in a final played under floodlights at Gravesend Rugby Club. The win was the culmination of months of dogged and determined hard work, with the players producing an extremely tenacious display. The boys had a tough draw to reach the final, making their achievement all the more impressive. The first round was away against Colfe’s, whose team included two gifted county players. This 24-20 win was the sort of resilient display that would come to epitomise the squad. The quarter-final saw Sevenoaks at home to Langley Park, a very well-regarded rugby school. Refusing to be intimidated by their bigger opponents, our team secured a memorable 17-7 win.
© Lindsay Barker
The semi-final pitted Sevenoaks against Skinners’ School, a tough encounter indeed. In a war of attrition on a small pitch, we played relatively poorly, but still edged the game by the narrowest of margins. The team trained up to five times a week in preparation for the final against The Judd School, who had enjoyed an outstanding season themselves and were probably the favourites going into the game. The Sevenoaks performance was intense, committed and heroic. From bravery at the
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breakdown or scything cover tackles when the ball went wide to Judd’s dangerous wingmen, the ferocity of the game highlighted the outstanding standard of the two teams. It was certainly an entertaining and skilful encounter. Sevenoaks absorbed some early Judd pressure before slowly making their way upfield. From a tap penalty on the Judd five-metre line, Rupert Moverley Smith bounded over the line to ground the ball. The score remained 5-0 at the interval, in what remained a tight, nerve-racking encounter. The second half began in the frenzied way the game had been played to that point. Ben Walker, the team captain, opportunistically scored under the posts. With the conversion added, we had a 12-0 lead with about 20 minutes to play. To Judd’s immense credit, they pulled back to 12-7. Some good work down the left saw Theo Moverley Smith drawing the last Judd defender to release winger James Vernon down the left flank. Hitting the afterburners and scorching round the Judd defence, James managed to stay in touch, step inside and score, sending the Sevenoaks players and supporters into delirious celebrations. 17-7 was the final score. The match was supported with respectful enthusiasm from all spectators, and our students’ intense, committed and inspirational rugby was unusual for a team of this level. This success can be attributed to their camaraderie and dedication, and they have much to look forward to in the coming seasons. Sean Reid
© Lindsay Barker
The end of an era… As we say a fond farewell to our leavers of 2013, we reflect on what a truly remarkable, successful group of hockey players they have been. They were crowned Kent Champions at U14 (2008) and U16 (2010), and U18 (2012), reaching regional finals on both occasions and national finals at U16. Their final season in a 1st XI shirt was no exception as they added the Kent U18 shield to their collection, beating King’s Canterbury 2-0 with a performance of sheer class in the final. The team dominated at the East Region tournament, progressing to the regional finals with victories over Sharnbrook Upper School (6-0), The Perse School (7-0), Bourne Grammar (7-0) and Queenswood School (3-0). They still had high hopes of achieving their dream of national finals. Fate however had other plans; injury struck three players, including captain and England player Lily Elliott and despite a valiant effort, the girls could not match Felsted, King’s Canterbury and Ipswich on the day.
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
After winning the Sevenoaks Invitational U13 seven-a-side tournament, they set off for the Kent Tournament with cautious optimism as marginal favourites. Emulating their senior counterparts, they eased through the pool and knock-out stages, scoring 16 goals and conceding only one. The much anticipated final against Kent College Canterbury was tight with Sevenoaks becoming Kent Champions after extra time and sudden death penalties! At the regional finals, they qualified from the pool stages with ease. In the final stages of the tournament, A 2-2 draw with Queenswood and 1-0 victories over Felsted and Gresham’s meant finishing as runners-up behind Queenswood by a difference of one goal. The disappointment of not being crowned East Champions was soon overshadowed by elation at qualifying for National Finals. On finals day, after early pool victories over Moor Park (3-0) and Millfield School (1-0), Sevenoaks suffered defeats at the hands of Eagle House (1-0), and QEGS (2-0). The dream was over, and the team was eventually placed eighth nationally. When the girls look back and reflect on their year they will do so with pride at knowing how much they have achieved.
Liz Joseph
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Football At the nationals, Sevenoaks opened strongly, beating George Heriot’s School from Scotland 6-0 with the loss of only seven games. Their next match against Bedford Girls was a 5-1 win with Cathrine, Josie and Ellie all winning their singles 6-0 and this was followed by an equally decisive 5-1 win against Midlands champions, QEGS. Their much anticipated final match was against defending champions and Talbot Heath, ranked number 1 in the country.
Consistency at the highest level The Intermediate Tennis Team who have high hopes of going one better to win the Nationals this year: Sophie Gull, Cathrine Hogh, Josie Hogh, Ellie Knox. They have all played an integral part in the school being ranked second in the country.
Few could have predicted that within seven years of opening The Sennocke Centre and starting our liaison with West Heath Junior Tennis Club, the girls tennis section would have attracted players capable of overtaking the major independent tennis academy schools such as Queenswood, Ellesmere College and Millfield to become the second placed girls’ school in the country by 2012. In March 2011 we discovered that LTA points are awarded for each successful Aegon Cup performance and that Sevenoaks girls were in eighth place. By Christmas 2011 Sevenoaks had climbed to 5th, and by December 2012, thanks to Ellie Knox, Cathrine Hogh, Josie Hogh and Sophie Gull reaching the National U13 finals, they were ranked second in the country.
League champions!
Having returned from a pre-season to Villarreal FC’s academy, the 1st XI looked fitter than ever, playing an attractive brand of passing football. This was to prove the ideal preparation for the league and the boys swept all aside en route to becoming champions with a one hundred per cent win record, scoring 14 goals and conceding three.
When Cathrine Hogh beat her opponent 6-3, there was a glimmer of hope that we might push the defending champions to a draw. Spurred on by this possibility, Ellie Knox played an awesome match to challenge for that opportunity. However, despite playing tennis which rivalled the older age group for power, accuracy, speed and excitement, she finally lost a nail-biting tie-break 10-8 to dash our optimism. Despite a brilliant doubles match which Josie and Ellie narrowly lost 6-4, Sevenoaks had to settle for second place.
Following on from the success of the 1st XI, the U16A side travelled to King’s Canterbury in March needing a win or a draw to win the league. After a cagey start the result was never in doubt with Sevenoaks winning 3-1 thanks to goals from George McGirr, Oscar Frost and Dan Moss. We finished the season undefeated.
In the Kent Schools Championships, Sevenoaks went one better than in 2012, winning five out of a possible six county championships at Tunbridge Wells LTC. In the girls’ competition our juniors beat Sutton Valence 5-1, the intermediate team beat KCC 6-0 and the seniors beat Maidstone Grammar 6-0. In the boys finals, the inters beat last years’ winners, Sir Roger Manwood’s, and the seniors won a closely fought match against Kings’ Canterbury, 5-1.
This is a fantastic achievement for a team who have won three games and drawn one, scoring 14 goals and conceding only three. The team have shown a great attitude all year, playing some really entertaining football along the way. Many of the players should be looking to push for a 1st team place next year. Despite the weather, the season was overall a huge success with Sevenoaks winning over half their games, running 13 teams on a regular basis. Players and teachers should be commended for their enthusiasm and effort throughout, resulting in football played in a dynamic and compelling fashion.
We are greatly looking forward to training on our newly resurfaced indoor tennis courts which will rival the best in the country and allow the teams and squads to train throughout the winter. We hope that the standard of tennis will increase accordingly and that Sevenoaks will have another season challenging for regional and national titles.
James Emmitt
Pat Morecroft
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2013 saw the inauguration of SKIL (Sussex and Kent Independent schools League) in which Sevenoaks competed with Brighton College, Christ’s Hospital, King’s Canterbury and Worth Abbey in leagues for the 1st XI, 2nd XI, U16A, U15A and U14A sides. Happily the Sevenoaks 1st XI and U16A football sides won their respective leagues.
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England Badminton
Cricket
doubles Kent titles in his age group in each of the last four years. Shortly after this came the exciting news of his first England call-up as one of five U13 boys to travel to the Danish Cup in mid-October. The England team finished in third place. Rory got through to the last 16 losing to the number 4 seed. In January 2013, Rory was awarded a second England cap and the opportunity to play a home international in Milton Keynes. Following this second call-up, Rory entered a well-contested East European event in Hungary where he was accompanied by some of his England colleagues. Rory was unbeaten in both singles and doubles against the two strongest teams at the event (Denmark and Czech Republic) despite playing in the number 1 spot. The event was streamed live to those back home watching – happily including the England coaches and selectors.
Natasha Farrant bowling her first ball for England, on her debut in
Rory competed in the season-culminating U13 nationals in Nottingham in early March. He did not disappoint, winning through to two semi-finals and bringing home his first national title with a gold medal in the doubles, together with a bronze medal in the mixed doubles.
the T20 match against Pakistan at Loughborough on 5 July.
Despite a poor start to the season the 1st XI recovered well to finish with 7 wins and 9 losses. Leading batsman was James McQuin with 285 runs and leading bowler Jamie Richardson with 19 wickets. The outstanding team were the U13s who reached the semi-final of the Kent Cup where they lost to the eventual winners. Rhys Joseph was their leading player with a season’s best 83* against Dulwich Prep School Cranbrook. He also played for the U14A team and has continued to represent Kent U13. He scored 28 in their win against Essex and his 1 for 11 in 5 overs against Hampshire exemplifies his unerring accuracy at pace. Other U13s to represent Kent include Martha Tipper, who took 3 for 17 for our U13A against Judd early in the season and then more recently 2 for 16 for Kent Girls against Sussex, and Lucy Goodfellow, who has been keeping wicket for the Kent U13 Emerging Players team. Other notable performances included 72* from Dylan Morris-Jones as he carried his bat in the U14A win against King’s Canterbury, Tejas Patel’s 92* for the U15A at Reigate GS and Aryan Khan’s 5 for 1 for the U15A against St Edmund’s Canterbury.
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We continue to celebrate the meteoric rise of Natasha Farrant. By the end of the 2012 season she had been selected for both the Kent and England Women’s Academy squads. During the winter she made several trips to the National Cricket Performance Centre at Loughborough University for weekend training camps, and went on tour to Sri Lanka with the Academy. Early in the season she took 4 for 16 for Kent against Warwickshire and 3 for 8 against Berkshire. In July, at the age of just 17, she made her full England debut in the T20 against Pakistan at Loughborough. Natasha opened the bowling after England had made 145 for 7 in their 20 overs. She took two wickets in her second over, finishing with impressive figures of 4 overs, 1 maiden, 2 wickets for 15 runs, as England went on to win by 70 runs. She also took 1 for 13 in 3 overs in the second T20 the same day. She has also been selected in the initial squad of 18 players for the Test and one-day series against Australia. Natasha’s passion, work ethic, unbridled enthusiasm, and ability are all truly exceptional. Chris Tavaré
© Alan Spink
Sevenoaks is delighted to have Rory Easton, one of England’s most talented young badminton players, in its ranks.
Above: Rory competing at the U13 National Finals 2013.
In May, Rory travelled to the Gothenburg Open to play against the best Danes, Swedes and Finns. He reached the quarter-finals in the singles and the semi-final of the doubles to round off a superb year.
Roll on the 2013/14 season. With a virtually guaranteed place in the England U13 team, provided he remains fit and injury-free, Rory is looking forward to next season and all that it brings. Three weeks training in Bangalore, India, during July, has stepped his fitness up a level, allowing him to spar with a number of the best Rory Easton is a huge talent and has achieved young players from a country that is an a great deal in the last 12 months at both county and national levels. He finished the 2011/12 season up-and-coming force in modern badminton. with silver medals in singles and doubles at the Gavin Dinsdale U11 nationals. Moving up to the U13 age group was a big step. The year started with the Kent Restricted Championships in September. Rory was expected to win both the singles and doubles, and did so with relative ease. He has won singles and
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NETBALL
Knole Run interceptions. The centre-court players took up the counter-attacks with Isabelle Piper and Christiana Bickley driving the ball into our circle where Fenella Keevil, Pollyanna Young and Lucy Lawson took full advantage, scoring goal after goal. The tightest match of the day was a 9-9 draw against Benenden. The toughest opposition of the day was Guildford High School who beat us 10-15. With only one loss to account for and a draw, Sevenoaks finished third, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the nationals.
© Lindsay Barker
Continued success at the county and regional finals The U19s began the year strongly, setting a competitive tone for the whole season. They managed only a few practice matches before the county tournament; a round robin with each team playing seven matches and the top two progressing to the regionals. Sevenoaks had a superb day, winning all their matches to be crowned county champions. This gave them confidence for the regional finals, where they performed brilliantly, playing some truly outstanding matches. The tight zone defence, led by Isabelle Piper, Maddy Cummins and Sam Boddy, made it difficult for the opposition to enter their circle. Lizzie Seeley and Mily Shepherd-Barron snatched some amazing
Above: U19 lead the way as
Following in the footsteps of the U19s, the U16 girls finished runners-up at the county tournament and also carried this momentum through to the regionals. Starting with high intensity and accuracy they beat Barking Abbey 7-3 with Issy Urquhart, Bex Miles and Amanda Cottle all shooting well. An accomplished Guildford High School team managed to dismiss them 10-1 in the second fixture, before the girls smartly got back to their winning ways with a 5-3 victory over Cranleigh. Lizzie Roberts, Tara Daly, Sophie Weller, Frankie Anderson and Olivia Anderson were all sharp in defence, making excellent interceptions. A tight match against Lady Eleanor Holles resulted in a 9-6 defeat, but they followed with a composed 7-4 win over Robert Clack School. Local rivals Tunbridge Wells Girls Grammar were the next opponents. After a tight first half, TWGGS prevailed 8-5. Sevenoaks finished fourth and the squad can be extremely proud of their efforts. Lower down the school, there is a tangible excitement as teams seek to carry on our strong netball tradition. These youngsters are showing natural skill and determination to develop into competitive units. The U14 reached the county finals, finishing fourth, while both the U13 and U12 finished runners-up at county level. Our ever-increasing number of county representatives across all age groups is proof of the strength and popularity of the sport, and we expect the trend to continue. Astria Nairn
The 17th Girls’ Knole Run was won in an exciting sprint finish by Kate Curran, despite this being a rather short distance for our star triathlete. She was supported by Nicola Wilkinson in sixth place, Phoebe Barker (12th) and Tabitha Adams (28th), with Phoebe’s run being particularly impressive as she is in Year 8. This was enough for the girls to retain their title as Knole Run champions once again.
Boys’ race, Junior Knole Run 2012
The Knole Run in January was once again the highlight of the cross country calendar for our senior squads, with the boys’ race in particular probably being the most gruelling school fixture in the country by virtue of its length (almost six miles) and undulations. Coming off the back of last year’s team victory for the girls and seventh place for the boys (their highest ever), the pressure was on the teams to continue their improvement, particularly as for many the race is the culmination of four months of training from the beginning of the academic year. Thankfully, our high hopes were not disappointed. In the boys’ race, the 39th Knole Run, Chris Olley was rewarded for all his year-round training with a fantastic second place and, being in the Lower Sixth, he still has one further year in order to try and achieve the top placing. He was ably supported by Jake Spence in seventh place, Ibrahim Abed (36th), Robert Boylin (48th), Louis Catliff (63rd) and Sufyan Dabbous (71st) to bring the team home in a record fourth position, agonisingly just missing out on a team medal. Encouragingly, four of the scoring six will be returning next year, hopefully to further improve this position. Furthermore, the school entered a full B team for the first time in many years, which included a large number of Year 10 and 11 runners. They finished 24th team overall and fourth B team which bodes very well for the future.
county champions.
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The Kent Schools Championships followed a week after the Knole, with Nicola (2nd), Kate (3rd), and Chris (7th) all placing highly enough to gain sought-after selection to run for the county at the English Schools Championships. Furthermore, five of our junior girls also gained selection for Kent to run at an inter-counties match, although this was subsequently cancelled due to snow. Overall, cross country at Sevenoaks is in rude health, with levels of participation and achievement at their highest ever level, and a superb external coach in the shape of Darrell Smith laying the foundations for future success. Alex Patton Junior Knole Run The prestigious event was once again a huge success with over 600 runners from 35 different schools competing. The girls’ course saw Phoebe Barker finish strongly in fourth to lead the Sevenoaks team home. Lauren Tucker (10th), Alice Tyler (11th), Clara Tyler (20th) all followed close behind, giving the team a combined points score of 45. This wasn’t quite enough to reclaim the trophy; Alleyn’s ran very well to score 33 and were crowned this year’s winners, with Sevenoaks placed second. In the boys’ race, Matthew Emmerson ran a great course to finish eighth. Charles Lindsay (17th), Arthur Zijdenbos (49th) and Jamie Campbell (71st) gave the boys a combined score of 145 which saw them placed fifth overall. Skinners School took the trophy. The school would like to thank Lord Sackville and the Knole Estate for allowing us to host this event. Cath Gilliat-Smith
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GREAT BRITAIN Triathlon
SHOOTING the sports option with the aim of entering county level shooting. Our shooters provide the majority of the Kent Junior squad. Six were selected for the leagues and they also took six of the seven places in the Inter-Home Counties Carey Salver competition. They won for the fifth successive year, equalling Middlesex’s record. The Home Counties Co-ordinating Committee selected five for the match against New Zealand. Five were chosen to represent England in the British Schools Smallbore Rifle Association (BSSRA) International Match.
A rousing speech rallies the team to a year of astounding success. Kate competing at the National Duathlon Championships
Kate Curran joined Sevenoaks in the Lower Sixth as a Sport Scholar and national level triathlete, and her first year at the school has seen a continued stream of success in triathlon at the highest level. She started the academic year by being crowned British Triathlon Youth Super Series champion. This consisted of six gruelling races attended by the UK’s best young triathletes, and Kate sealed her position with a win at the final race at the inter-regional championship in September 2012. Earlier in the summer she had also won a bronze medal for Great Britain at the European Youth Team Relay event in Spain. Throughout the winter that followed, Kate trained intensely at all three disciplines (swimming, cycling and running) while also successfully managing her IB workload. This
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resulted in a great deal of success as a runner in her own right, winning the Girls Knole Run and being selected to run for Kent and Kent Schools cross country teams. She went on to win the Junior Category of the British Duathlon Championships (running and cycling) and was selected for the European Duathlon Championships two weeks later in the Netherlands. Here she placed a slightly frustrating fourth, but she was nonetheless pleased with her first international event as an individual, rather than as part of a team, whilst also being at the younger end of her three-year age category.
Our year began by celebrating last year’s hoard of victories at the annual dinner. This year’s captain, Tanay Modi, delivered a rousing speech, rallying us to success. It worked too; there are many more achievements than I can fit on this page. Tanay led a club of over 60 pupils, 35 shooting competitively from Year 7 to the Upper Sixth. Tanay, vice-captain Sharon Chang and adjutant Fran Vernon gave much of their time to help new and novice members, passing on their confidence and desire to improve and succeed. Fran Vernon, winner of the BSSRA Winter Open.
Smallbore shooting is the club’s major focus and the hobbies club provides the base for our youngest shooters. From Year 10 they may enter
Unfortunately, Kate’s summer season was limited by a broken elbow sustained when falling off her bike. Thankfully, it healed quickly enough to allow the prospect of some late-season racing, which we will be watching with much anticipation.
Fran Vernon stole the spotlight this year. The youngest in the Kent Ladies, she finished with the highest county average scoring 97.6 from 100. Fran won the West Kent Rifle League Prince William of Wales Short Range Championship in A class along with the Cadet equivalent of this competition and the BSSRA Winter Open Individual and Pairs with Tom Smith. The total aggregate score of these three competitions is 900; Fran scored 895. She shot 200/200 for the BSSRA England team too. Absolutely phenomenal! Our top eight won the BSSRA Team VIII competition. The club retained both the Junior and Main NSRA National Roll of Marksman shields for third and fourth successive years setting a further two new national record scores. Core members of the squad may join the CCF Shooting Section. Only the brave and accomplished go the next level with 7.62mm fullbore. They train for the Schools Meeting held at Bisley Camp, where this year we had an astounding set of results, most notably Tom Smith and Henry Davies winning the Cadet Pairs. Mal West
A full list of teams, selections and results can be found in Sennockian Sport Supplement.
Alex Patton SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
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HONOURS TABLE It is with great pride that the list of students representing teams beyond school level continues to grow. The list is impressive, highlighting the wealth of sporting talent at Sevenoaks School.
Sport Level
Name
Hockey
Lily Elliott
Sport Level
Name
Kent U13
Athletics Kent U15
Ben De Sousa James Yun-Stevens
Kent U14
Lizzie Holder Alice Tyler
Kent IAPS
Harry Carley Matthew Emmerson Charles Lindsay Alex Parton Tom Smith Phoebe Barker Lexie Hoyer
Ellie Knox
Kent U16, England U15 assessment camp, JRPC U16
Tara Daly Sophie Holliday
Badminton
England U13
Rory Easton
Kent U15, JRPC U16
Eugenia Carter Lucy Eifion-Jones
Cricket
England Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Team, England Academy Squad & U19, Kent 1st XI Ladies Natasha Farrant
Kent U15
Amanda Cottle
Kent U16, JRPC U16
Georgina Barker
Kent U13
Rhys Joseph
Kent U13 Girls
Martha Tipper
Kent U13 Girls Emerging Squad
Lucy Goodfellow
Dutch Lions U15
Nick Bett
Cross Country Kent Y7 Girls
Lara Gueorguieva Clara Tyler
Kent Junior Girls
Phoebe Barker Lauren Tucker Alice Tyler
Kent Senior Girls
Kate Curran Nicola Wilkinson
Kent Senior Boys
Christopher Olley
Fencing
Great Britain U20 Sabre Squad
Megan Beddoe
England U15 Sabre Squad
Nathaniel Robinson
England U15 Sabre Squad
Miranda Stevens
Football
SE Regional Squad, ISFA National Training Squad
Katherine Nickols
Kent Clubs
Oliver Gibson
Golf
SE England U16 Squad
Tom Harrison
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Kent U14, JRPC U14
Grace Annetts Hannah Daly Lauren Tucker Jess Wentzel
Kent U16
Chloe Broom Ciara Desmond Alice Kidd
Kent U17, JRPC U17
Fenella Keevil
Sussex U13
Louisa Webb
Netball Kent U17
Amelia Bell Catherine Brown Freya Hall Lizzie Roberts Octavia Turner
Charlotte Jairaj
Kent U14
Kent U14 Development Squad
Hannah Daly Zoe Eifion-Jones Lexie Hoyer Pollyanna Rimell
Rugby
Kent Elite Saracens Squad
Harry Carley
Sailing
Switzerland U15 Optimist Sailing Squad
Nicholas Davies
Shooting
British Schools England Team, Kent Team Francesca Vernon
British Schools England Team Tanay Modi Thomas Smith Leonard Taylor William White Squash
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England U18 & 21
Kent U16
Leo Danczak
Tennis Kent County Squad
Daniel Goodwin Cathrine Hogh Josie Hogh Ellie Knox
Triathlon
Kate Curran
British Youth Team
TRIPS AND ACTIVITIES
TRIPS AND EXCHANGES Michaelmas Term
Summer Term
Years 8-9 German
Study trip to Aachen Christmas Market
Year 7 Classics
Study trip to Fishbourne
Year 10 Art
Study trip to the Tate Modern and British Museum
Year 7 Geography
Field trip to Cuckmere Haven
Year 10 Geography
Field trip to the River Darent
Year 7 Physics
Study trip to Herstmonceux Observatory
Year 10 Spanish
Malaga exchange
Year 8
Study trip to Normandy
Year 10 Spanish
Study trip to Santiago de Compostela
Year 8 Biology
Field trip to Wildwood
Lower Sixth Art
Independent research in London
Year 8 Chemistry
Salters’ Festival of Chemistry at UCL
Lower Sixth Geography
Field trip to the East Sussex coast
Year 8 History
Study trip to the Tower of London
Lower Sixth Japanese
Japan Day in London
Year 9 Geography
Field trip to the East Sussex Coast
Lower Sixth Sport
Doha Goals Sports Conference
Year 9 History
Study trip to First World War Battlefields
Sixth Form German
Study trip to London Goethe Institute
Year 10 Geography
Study trip to Iceland
Sixth Form History
Study trip to Moscow and St Petersburg
Year 10 Physics
Study trip to Thorpe Park
CCF
RAF Field Day at Carroty Wood
Lower Sixth Biology
Field trip to the Dilar Study Centre
Sailing
Sailing Competition, Oxford
Lower Sixth Biology
Study trip to Transylvania
Shooting
Short and long range competitions at Bisley
Lower Sixth English
Literary Tour to Stratford
Skiing
Ski trip to Montgenèvre, France
Lower Sixth German
Hamburg exchange
Lower Sixth History
Study trip to Chalke Valley History Festival
Lower Sixth Italian
Study trip to Orvieto, Italy
Lower Sixth Russian
Study trip to Moscow and St Petersburg
Lower Sixth Spanish
Santiago de Compostela exchange
Lower Sixth Spanish
Study trip to Salamanca
CCF
Army Section Field Day, Ashdown Forest
CCF
Army Summer Camp, Crowborough
CCF
Fullbore Training Week, Bisley
CCF
Navy Section trip to HMS Bristol
CCF
RAF Section trip to CCF Museum, Hendon
DofE
Bronze assessed expedition, Sussex
DofE
Silver practice expedition
DofE
Silver assessed expedition, Dorset
DofE
Gold assessed expedition, Snowdonia
Lent Term Year 9 French
Exchange to Lyon
Year 10 German
Exchange to Ibbenbüren
Year 10 Science
‘Science Superheroes’ talks, Institute of Education
Years 10-11 French
Ski and Study trip to Les Menuires
Years 10-11 History
Study trip to Washington and New York
Year 11 Classics
Study trip to British Museum
Lower Sixth Economics
Student Investor Challenge, London
Lower Sixth French
Lyon exchange
Lower Sixth Geography
Field trip to Morocco
Lower Sixth Mandarin
Study trip to China Town and British Museum
Lower Sixth Science
AAAS Conference, Boston
DofE
Bronze practice expedition
DofE
Gold practice expedition
MUN
BISMUN (Bath)
MUN
THIMUN (The Hague)
PROMO Rajasthan Sailing
Sailing competition, West Kirby
Skiing
Ski Trip to Val d’Isère, France
1st and 2nd XI Football
Pre-Season Tour to Villarreal
PROMO Mumbai Shooting
Fullbore Zero Exercise Camp, Crowborough
Shooting
Fullbore 300-yard range, Bisley
VSU
Service trip to Mulamula, South Africa
YoungSox
Holiday in Greece
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The Co-curriculum: a year in review
A multitude of co-curricular activity
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Clubs and societies continue to thrive with 68 taking place on a regular basis. The chess club has been revamped this year with grandmaster John Emms providing coaching while the new astronomy club has been a great success. Community service has expanded to include opportunities for Lower School students to visit Lady Boswell’s School every week to help the younger pupils improve their reading. The CCF has also had a very successful year and a record 14 students went on army camp this summer. These activities feature on the following pages. Finally, the trips programme must be one of the most extensive of any school in the country, with over 200 trips, including 50 residential trips. The new History department trip to Washington and New York was a great success while in the summer the Biology department headed off to Transylvania to look at, amongst other things, bear and wolf ecology. In short there is a multitude of activity and we hope there is something for everyone. The co-curriculum is a great strength of the school and is reliant on the expertise and enthusiasm of the staff. Many thanks go to all those who give up so much of their time to create so many opportunities for our students. Neil Tetley Please see the Art, Drama, Music and Sport Reviews for more co-curricular reports.
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leaves us after 30 years. He has been both an Army and an RN officer in his time and his knowledge and enthusiasm for sailing and diving in particular will be hard to replace.
For the co-curriculum, 2012-13 was another vibrant and busy year. The sheer number of opportunities for students outside the classroom is staggering – in February, during the ISI inspection week alone, there were 170 discrete activities at lunchtime and after school. The aim is to provide an opportunity for all students to fulfil their potential, and ensure that the most able can excel and, in most cases, I hope we succeed.
Lt Gen Sir Robert Fulton RM inspects... In November the biennial inspection was carried out by Lt Gen Sir Robert Fulton RM. The Inspection allowed the cadets to show what they have achieved and they were a credit to the school, their instructors and themselves. The RN Section visited Portsmouth on Field Day which was spent on the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. The cadets had the opportunity to be involved in fire-fighting and NBC drills whilst having the privilege of dining in the Officers’ Ward Room. The year of inter-section competitions brought deserved success to the RN Section with victories in the Tug of War and a tied result with the RAF in the It’s a Knockout. The Annual South-East CCF regatta at Bough Beech was once again won by the Sevenoaks teams – their fourth successive victory in as many years mainly due to the direction and expertise of Ben Moverley Smith, this year’s Chief Petty Officer. The Centurion Cup was awarded to Chief Petty Officer Will Kneeshaw. The section welcomed new officer S-Lt Eva Csiki-Szasz this year, but sadly Lt Cdr Peter Ford
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The Army’s Field Day exercises featured section battle attacks, first aid stands, laser battles and camouflage and concealment activities. Mike Musker, who was honoured to be selected as a parade helper at Sandhurst, was promoted to Cadet Sergeant Major in reflection of his excellent contribution, and he wins the Army Prize. Cpl Alex Bullock attended the competitive Cadet Leadership Course at Frimley Park. The culmination of the year was Summer Camp at Longmoor and 12 cadets and three officers enjoyed a superb week. Corporals Arthur Davison and Rachel Lillie were promoted to Sergeant, and Cadet Euan Tyndall was Best Year 10. Capt Jeremy Wyld moves on to pastures new after running the Army section very successfully for nine years. He would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those members of staff involved in delivering the training and for their support, and wishes Capt Julia Kiggell well in her new role as his successor. The RAF have had another great year. Pilot Officer Paul Turner has raised the game in turnout and drill. Sgt Ben Hudson (VGS Kenley), LCpl Kieran Davey (VGS Odiham) and LCpl Ollie Webster (VGS Kenley) all received great reports and earned their wings. FSgt Stuart King made an excellent impression at the prestigious Air Cadet Leadership Course at Cranwell, passed the arduous course and brought so much he had learned back to school, leading the section with confidence and by example. Stuart was also awarded a Flying Scholarship (Dundee). We wish Stuart luck in his desire to follow a career in the RAF. Pilot Officer Chris ‘Coach’ Cockerill joined the section only two years ago but has been a real asset and led the RAF Gun Run team to victory this term. We are enormously grateful to Chris for his enthusiasm and wish him well in his new job. Lt Col Paul Bassett
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Lower School Voluntary Service
Duke of Edinburgh’s gold award As always, the weather played an important part in our gold Duke of Edinburgh’s award expedition to Wales. Rain and strong winds joined the participants on their acclimatisation day, soaking kit and making navigation challenging. Hill walking, to those fresh out of internal and external exams, was a real slog. Some chose to stock up on better kit in Barmouth at the end of their relatively short five-hour walk.
Stoic determination
The full expedition, for both the practice groups and the assessed groups, started in miserable conditions. In spite of this, most of the practice groups left early, and those with 25km days ahead of them and Cadair Idris to climb were wise to do so. Nobody got lost and although some reached camp quite late, the new Yellow Brick tracker devices meant a member of staff could watch the groups on an electronic OS map at base camp and update staff supervising those groups on the hill. By the next day the weather had improved, and this, along with the stoic determination of many of our pupils, meant that they got up earlier each day. The final day was glorious and three groups summited Cadair Idris by 11am and were blessed with unusually stunning views of the surrounding hills and the Barmouth Estuary. We had three groups doing their Gold Assessment this year; 20 pupils in the Upper Sixth and Emily Tait, who joined a group and completed the award she started seven years ago. All groups completed their missions successfully. A big thank you must go to all the staff involved: Mal West, Alex Patton, Paul Bassett, Graham Hall, Ken and Kate Henderson-Thynne, Ashby Merson-Davies, David Potter and Simon Hall, before he had even officially joined the school. Julia Bevan
Mackenzie Smith running around the classroom in a pirate mask to squeals of delight from his young charge; Martha Tipper instinctively using dramatic role-play to help a delighted little girl understand addition; or Ross MacAskill patiently persevering with the concept of division with two little boys desperate for the sweets they knew were in his pocket. I would like to extend our thanks to Mrs Jean Kelly at Lady Boswell’s for her cooperation and vision.
Instinctive generosity
This year the Lower School students have been instrumental in increasing their commitment to voluntary service. Their mission this year has been firstly, to visit a local primary school to help children in Years 1 and 2 with mathematics; secondly to raise money through their weekly cake sales and thirdly to raise awareness about the charities to whom we have sent money, often charities with which someone in the Lower School has a connection. I established a link with Lady Boswell’s Church of England School and asked for Year 8 volunteers to help with some of the youngest children in this primary school. I was instantly besieged with offers. It is heart-warming to see the incredible patience, friendliness and diligence that our Year 8s show. Our experience has been one of mutual learning, support and endless humour. I shan’t forget the look on Georgiana Scott’s face as her little charge solemnly informed her that ‘takeaway’ was something to do with pizza, not mathematics;
In addition, we instituted a rota of weekly cake sales. Within no time YoungSox on a Friday became piled high with a colourful array of cakes and entrepreneurial sellers. We raised £1890 in the Michaelmas term, donated to Niemann-Pick Research Foundation, suggested by Martha Tipper, and Breast Cancer UK. In the shorter Lent term we raised £957, with equal amounts going to the Africa Educational Trust, with which Mackenzie Smith has close connections, Macmillan Cancer Support and Comic Relief. Finally, we raised over £550 in the Summer term, which went to Valence School, the Mulamula Project and three charities with which members of the Lower School have connections: Cancer Research UK (Louisa Webb), The Hollybank Trust (Lauren Tucker) and Epic Arts Cambodia (Kasinia Wetter Sanchez). It has been a privilege to watch the instinctive generosity of the Lower School, which I am sure will continue not only in their school lives but their professional and personal lives too. Rachael Campbell
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New clubs at Sevenoaks ‘differences in faith and our attitudes’, and the provocative ‘mating structures of human populations’. While each topic is very different, they all have one thing in common: they force us to ask ‘Why?’
ALUMNI REVIEW
By exploring our assumptions, we better understand the complexity of the world. Far from having our questions answered, we leave Anthropology Society every week questioning what we thought we knew. Astronomy Club
The school prides itself on having a vibrant and diverse range of clubs and societies which give our students the opportunity to discover new passions or pursue their own intellectual interests. We launched three new and revamped societies this year. Anthropology Society This club was set up for those who are interested in the study of people and society, and our discussions begin with our own similarities and differences. Anthropology can be social, historical (archaeological), physical and linguistic; and the result is an almost infinite amount of topics for discussion. The variety in topics we have covered to date demonstrate this – from ‘sickle cell anaemia, mutation and natural selection’ to ‘how does money work’, we have also discussed
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We meet every week. The group is open to everyone and no prior knowledge is needed. During our meetings we discuss the formation of the universe, the furthest distance that we can see, the exploration of space, and other topics requested by members of the club. During the winter when it is dark enough we are able to take the telescope out and this year we were able to see Saturn’s moons and the craters on our very own moon. Next year we are getting a brand new telescope with GPS, enabling us to pinpoint stars more easily and view them with better resolution. Chess The many talented and enthusiastic chess players at the school received a boost this year with the arrival of Grandmaster John Emms to run and coach the chess club. The club meets weekly and welcomes players of all ages and levels, from absolute beginner to expert. Sessions at the chess club involve a mixture of playing games and learning skills such as creativity, logic, strategic thinking and teamwork. Last November a fiercely contested match between the students and the teachers saw the students win 11½-5½. A school chess ladder is now up and running, and the next goal is to organise competitive matches against other schools. Isla Stevens, Matthew Holden and John Emms
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OS Sport
SENNOCKIAN CLUB SPOR T Four teams of ten played a ‘round robin’ rugby competition in the morning. The matches were fiercely competitive and the rugby was played with a great level of intensity. The final game saw the Old Guard play last year’s leavers who had lost both their matches so far. This was a tense game and things started well with the Old Guard scoring early, but Sheppard’s team hit back and things were really tight. In their desperation, holes appeared in the Old Guard’s defence and last year’s leavers scored a late try to secure victory in the final game. This left Ellis’s 2009 team top of the group and winners of the OS Rugby 10s Cup. Many of the OS stayed in the afternoon to cheer the First XV onto victory against Christ’s Hospital. Old Guard vs Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail 1st XV Every so often I receive an email from Andy Smith (OS 2007) updating me on the progress of the Old Guard, who play in rugby tournaments at home and abroad. Andy’s updates normally end with an invitation for me to join them in some foreign land. Well, in February this year I accepted the offer and flew to Toulouse.
RUGBY Rugby Tournament This year’s OS rugby 10s competition, on Saturday 8 September, had four teams representing year groups from 2006 right up to the most recent leavers. The day began nicely with OS rugby team the Old Guard attending the Sixth Form assembly where they were presented with the trophy they won in June for the Barcelona Sevens Tournament. A number of the Old Guard team went on stage to address the Sixth Form and it was great to hear them speak enthusiastically about what it’s like to be an OS as well as their rugby achievements.
Old Guard stalwart James Roche (OS 2006) explained that the day before the match involves a light lunch (large steak and chips) and light training (two hours of touch rugby). I was expected to train. Wearing some borrowed tracksuit bottoms and oversized trainers, I took up my place on the wing and kept position as Ryan Weeks (OS 2010), Hamish Walker (OS 2008) and Jack Hulston (OS 2012) danced their way through tackles around me. From the off against Toulouse the Old Guard dominated early exchanges and built a lead that put the game beyond their opponents. The Guard made changes which caused some disruption but with the quality of Josh Pettitt (OS 2006), Matthew Newman (OS 2006) and Will Ellis (OS 2009) they were always in control. The final 15-5 victory over Toulouse to win the Agincourt Cup was well deserved. Alex Smith You can follow the team on Twitter: @OldGuardRFC
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FOOTBALL The establishment of an 11-a-side OS football team, the OSFC, marked a major new sporting initiative within the Old Sennockian community. Playing in the Arthurian League, the team competes against school teams from 35 old boy institutions around the South East. The initial half season saw an OS team of individuals representing year groups from 2001 to 2008. They competed in two cups with mixed degrees of success, the highlight being a 5-2 thrashing of Highgate in the inaugural game. Next year the team will compete in the full league and cup structure, involving around 30 games. We currently have a wider squad of 30 but are always looking for new players so do get in touch with me via the OS Office. Mark Thompson
with two deserved late goals and the game finished 5-2. It was great to see all three Warner brothers playing in the game; Jeremy (OS 2009) and Jonty (OS 2005) for the OS and Lawrence representing the school. It was also great to see their grandfather Bob Wilkinson watching them from the touchline. Bob has been a fantastic supporter of the school for as long as many of us can remember.
OS vs Staff – Sunday 11 November A beautifully sunny and crisp November morning greeted an OS XI consisting mainly of the Classes of 1993 and 1994, and a school Staff XI. The staff struck first when Sean Reid’s shot was deflected in off Alex Smith’s stomach. A second staff goal quickly followed and the advantage was with the teachers. The OS team found it difficult to get a toehold in the game. Eventually the OS opened their account and their equaliser soon followed with a characteristic left foot strike from Will House (OS 1994). The second half was nip and tuck with the game going from end to end and both teams squandering good chances. With ten minutes left James Edmonds (OS 1993) soared above the staff defence to head in the winner for the OS. OS vs First XI – Thursday 18 March A mild spring evening at Solefields saw the return of some of the school’s finest footballers of the last few years to play the school’s 1st team. All the OS commented on the school team’s sophisticated play. However, the experience of the OS team took them to a five-goal lead halfway through the second half, but the school hit back
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OS Five-a-side Tournament – Sunday 4 May There was real enthusiasm about this May’s five-a-side competition, with 12 teams entered. It was particularly great to see Old Sennockians spanning 20 years from James Fraser (OS 1994) to three current 1st team players in Lewis Bowman’s team. The final was a fantastic game between Lucian Weston’s Trojans and Kenny Groth’s 1999 team. It ebbed and flowed with both teams playing with incredible commitment and skill. In the end Lucian took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored a wonderful goal with a piercing right-foot shot. David Stubbs almost equalised with an incredible left foot shot but he struck the post rather than finding the corner of the goal. So the worthy winners of this year’s OS five-a-side were, for the fourth time in six years, Lucian Weston’s Trojans. Alex Smith
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OS Reunions pranks by students from ‘the naughty year’. He gave credit to the school for getting the year group through their exams successfully and for managing to get so many of the Class of 2003 to attend the reunion. He finished by saying, ‘I don’t want to see you again in ten years. I’m hoping it’s sooner than that.’ Johnsons Annual Reunion Lunch Warm sunshine and a warm atmosphere were in abundance at the annual reunion lunch for Old Johnsonians. It was a delight to see many friendly faces return to the school and to welcome those who had not attended before and travelled some distance to be there.
Five Year Drinks Over 120 OS came to the first informal Five Year Drinks event on Friday 12 October in London. Ten years is a long time to wait for a first reunion so this event, for all leavers from the past five years, provided an excellent opportunity for staff and alumni to catch up with one another about university life and the beginnings of some very exciting careers. 10 Year Reunion for the Class of 2003 This milestone event never fails to attract a large number of Old Sennockians and it was a real pleasure to see half the year group attend their reunion dinner in March. Katy Ricks welcomed the Class of 2003 in The Space, making reference to the special place that is Sevenoaks School and the varied and successful careers OS have gone onto. Many had travelled from across the world and were pleased to see a large number of staff from across the divisions and boarding houses. Alex Smith gave an anecdotal speech with particular reference to the occasionally questionable boarders’ plays, while Miles Gardiner’s reply was full of wit and stories of
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The Old Johnsonians were able to make the most of the April weather, enjoying drinks outside on the terrace of The Space, followed by a traditional Sunday lunch. This is the only boarding house with the tradition of an annual reunion, making it a unique and special occasion. We hope to see even more Old Johnsonians return to the school next spring. Summer Drinks, London The impressive courtyard at The In & Out (Naval and Military Club) played host to this year’s Summer Drinks reception on Friday 10 May. It was a delight to see such a diversity of OS, with staff welcoming former students from 1975 to the present day.
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OS Reunions
MARRIAGES AND DEATHS OS Marriages Nicola Arthur (2000) married Mr Kachum in 2012 Gavin Bate (Groves 84) married Elli Pirkis in December 2012 Robert Boatwright-Smith (01) married Jane Locke on 27 April 2013 Chris Candfield (04) married Danielle Orchard on 29 June 2013 Emily Driver (02) married William Shaw (02) in August 2013
20 Year Reunion for the Class of 1993 The outstanding attendance at this 20 Year Reunion owed much to the hard work of Tom Mitchell and Emma Beaumont in encouraging fellow alumni to attend. Reception drinks, at which Katy Ricks welcomed back the Class of 1993 and spoke of the many developments over the last 20 years, were held in The Space. The class enjoyed a special presentation of photos and popular culture from their era which roused many cheers from the audience. In his after-dinner speech, Alex Smith made special reference to some memorable events from 1993, most notably, the Dead Poets Society trip to London and the England match at Wembley. John Shields’ reply, with 20 thoughts from the last 20 years, referred to them as the ‘Rock and Roll Year’. He spoke of a school ahead of its time, and attributed the fact that he and his fellow classmates are ‘balanced individuals with humility and a sense of our own good fortune’ to the Sevenoaks School experience. Germany Drinks Reception We always find a warm welcome at our OS events across the world and this was certainly true at our reception in Munich on Saturday 15 June. Teachers Arabella Stuart and Alex Smith, as well as former teacher John Guyatt, were delighted to see 50 Old Sennockians and former parents again, and made the most of the sunshine at an outdoor drinks reception at Rilano No. 6. The popularity of this Germany reunion means that we hope to make it a regular biennial event. 120
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The Hon Simon Perry (School House 84) married Carolyn Cottingham on 27 April 2013 Faith Riding (01) married Christopher McKellow on 20 April 2013 Annelies Vermeulen (Park Grange 05) married Andrew Millar on 19 July 2013 Andre Wegner (IC 01) married Natalie Dickson on 4 May 2013 Founder’s Day Picnic and 50 Year Reunion for the Class of 1963
Jim Fresson (School House 47) died on 5 February 2013 John Jeffery (School House 59) died in 2012 Peter Keating (Sackville 62) died on 29 August 2012 Pete Kino (staff) died on 22 July 2013 Thomas Morris (Fenton 55) died in 2012 Ronald Pearson (Grote 41) died on 27 November 2012 Christopher Penley (Fryth 69) died on 24 October 2012 Ralph Settatree (Hardinge 64) died on 22 December 2012 Paul Ruth (former staff) died in October 2012 James Shaw (Fenton 90) died on 27 January 2013
The annual picnic drew a record number of alumni from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, the oldest being Dennis Filkins and Brian Lott from the Class of 1941. On this delightfully sunny Founder’s Day, Saturday 29 June, the Claridge House lawn was the perfect setting for former students to catch up with one another and hear about the school’s developments. A whole school photo from the 1950s, brought along by David Steward (OS 1955), was the subject of much discussion. It was wonderful to see so many OS return, several travelling from far afield and some for the very first time since leaving school.
OS Deaths
Bill Stubbs (former staff) died on 28 April 2013
Brian Bell (Hardinge 74) died in April 2012
Kim Taylor (former headmaster) died on 20 July 2013
For the IC 50th Anniversary, see Spotlights
Nigel Durdant-Hollamby (OS/school sport) died on 17 March
Katy O’Neill
Richard Jeremy Theakston (Johnsons 45) died on 4 October 2012
Neil Bickley (Groves 86) died on 31 January 2013 Maurice Bridgeland (Grote 45) died in May 2013 Paul Clark (Hardinge 51) died on 31 December 2012 Clive Dunn (School House 36) died on 8 November 2012
James Forder (Fryth 68) died on 5 May 2013
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Obituaries
Paul Clark, standing third left,
Paul Clark 1933-2012
with fellow Old Sennockians,
Paul was a pupil at Sevenoaks from 1945 to 1951 and loved his time at school, making the most of every opportunity available. He had a forceful personality and at an early age decided to become a lawyer. His contemporaries may remember an occasion when, during one of the headmaster’s periods, he attempted to answer a question and was immediately put down with the words: ‘Yes, yes, Clark, we all know you are going to be a lawyer, now sit down!’
Founder’s Day 2009
Paul was articled with Cripps Harries Hall in Tunbridge Wells and qualified as a solicitor in 1956. He then took time out to marry Frances and, for a change of scene, to spend some time working in Jersey, lifting potatoes. This interlude was followed by several years in practice as a solicitor in London and St Albans. In 1960 he joined United Dominions Trust which was then a substantial and respected finance house in the City. He was rapidly promoted to become the company secretary and then a director at the age of 32, which was exceptional in those days. He remained with United Dominions Trust, later acquired by the Trustee Savings Bank which was itself taken over by Lloyds Bank, until he retired at the age of 54.
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Paul had long planned to retire early, in fact as soon as he could afford to do so, in order that he could have as many years as possible to pursue his other interests. He particularly enjoyed riding, sailing and walking, sometimes in wilder parts of the world, as well as amateur dramatics and public speaking. He lived in Sevenoaks for most of his life; an eccentric who is missed by all who knew him. Michael Giffin (OS 1951)
James Forder 1950-2013
Paul Ruth 1942-2012
James Andrew Tait Forder attended Sevenoaks School during the 1960s, and was a great sportsman. His father, Mr Carol Forder, taught at Sevenoaks from 1948 to 1975, as Head of Geography and careers master, and, with his wife Diana, played a key role in the life of School House. James died in May 2013.
Nigel Durdant-Hollamby 1922-2013
Jim Fresson 1929-2013
Paul Ruth was Head of Physics at Sevenoaks from 1984 to 1997. He had established his reputation as an outstanding teacher of Physics at Charterhouse, where he introduced the Nuffield Sixth Form course and pioneered the teaching of Electronics. He had also taught at Bridlington School and Keighley Grammar School in his home county of Yorkshire. He left Charterhouse to follow his dream of running a country pub and restaurant in Suffolk, but missed teaching and after six years, joined Sevenoaks.
Although not an Old Sennockian himself, Nigel made a huge contribution to school and OS sport during the 1970s. He was the lifetime president of the Old Sennockians rugby club, the Whitney Buccaneers, and father to two prominent school sportsmen, Guy (OS 1974) and Peter (OS 1981). Nigel made a strong impact on Sevenoaks School sport. He was ever-present on the rugby touchline with his familiar hat and shooting stick, and also on the boundary at Solefields enjoying the exploits of the Cricket 1st XI. He arranged for the school to have its own cricket flag and, with great friend Peter Walker (another OS father), organised the weather vane that still sits proudly atop the Solefields pavilion. Nigel was affectionately named ‘Couver’ by the school’s 1974 rugby side which toured Vancouver, British Columbia. In an address at Nigel’s Thanksgiving, Mike Williams, the school rugby coach at that time, described ‘Couver’ as the inspiration behind the tour. It was only the second overseas rugby tour ever taken by a British school and was a precursor to many other ambitious tours undertaken by Sevenoaks. Following its success, the Old Sennockians formed a club called the Whitney Buccaneers RFC. This ran successfully for ten years, returning to Vancouver in 1984. ‘Couver’ was the automatic choice as President of the Club and, with Peter Walker, joined both trips to British Columbia. His Thanksgiving Service was something of an Old Sennockian reunion attended by a number of retired masters and a large gathering of OS cricketers and rugby players of the 1970s and 80s. Guy Hollamby (OS 1974)
Claire Forder James Fresson died on 5 February 2013. He is sadly missed by his family and many friends as attested by the full church (and overspill!) for his funeral at Mayfield Church. Jim was a wonderful father and friend and always proud to be an Old Sennockian.
Taking charge of a formidable team of physicists, Paul quickly re-established himself as a first-rate academic, gifted teacher, and good humoured, approachable colleague. He was a real fan of the physicist Richard Feynman, and believed that no Anthony Fresson one should teach Physics without first reading Feynman’s books. A teacher’s teacher who Christopher Penley 1951-2012 introduced novel ways of doing things, he began Christopher John Penley joined Sevenoaks School to increase student interest in the Physics in 1962. He studied sciences at A-level and took department and appointed more female teachers. a keen interest in photography and riding. After When the decision was taken to add to the Physics leaving in 1969, Chris went on to study and Chemistry labs, Paul drew upon his previous Mathematics and Physics at Kings College London, experience at Charterhouse to persuade the Head subsequently following a career in computing with and Governors to include an Electronics lab Jo Lyons, Whitbread and Computer Associates. alongside the new computing labs, creating the He settled in a small village near Reading and Science, Electronics and Computing Block. Paul participated wholeheartedly in community life. also set up and participated in the teacher Chris had a late diagnosis of sarcoma on the lung exchange programme with a partner school in in June 2012 and died in a hospice in Reading on New Hampshire, and on his return, used his 24 October 2012. He is very much missed by his experience to guide the increasing number of wife Juliet and three children who survive him. Sevenoaks pupils wishing to study at US Several friends from his time at Sevenoaks universities. He was IB Deputy Chief Examiner of attended his memorial service on 9 November Physics and led IB teacher training workshops. following reunions at the Halfway House Paul was an all-rounder. He was passionate about in Sevenoaks. Physics but also enjoyed teaching TOK, was a Jonathan Penley (OS 1973) member of the school choir, and brought expertise in areas of sailing and drama. He enjoyed simple pleasures such as crosswords, rail journeys, socialising and fishing. Having taken early retirement Paul and his wife Sadie moved to Lancaster to be near to their son, Ben. He was a gentle, compassionate man and a genuine friend to many at Sevenoaks. Phil Shakespeare, Bryan Richards and Maureen Connolly SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
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Obituaries After wartime RAF service, Ronald joined Shell and worked in the Venezuelan oilfields. He returned to Europe and married Juliette in 1950. The family came back to Sevenoaks in the early 1960s. A successful business career involved much worldwide travel. Time at home which was not devoted to family and garden continued to be spent in the enjoyment of sport. Ronald remained a strong supporter of Sevenoaks town and school rugby, and in later years took pleasure from golf with the Elders at Knole Park. Juliette predeceased him in 2000. He leaves a son, a daughter and one granddaughter whom he was proud to see attend Sevenoaks School in her turn and become Captain of Hockey.
Ronald Pearson (left) with his brothers Andrew (OS 1937) and Iain
Iain Pearson
Ralph Settatree 1947-2012
Ronald Pearson 1923-2012 Throughout a life containing adventures and much travelling, Ronald Alexander Pearson remained fond of all things Sennockian. He attended Sevenoaks School from 1937 to 1941, before going up to Oxford and thence the RAF. At Sevenoaks he was Vice Captain of School and Captain of House. He earned his colours for 1st XV Rugby and represented Sevenoaks in the 1941/2 Public Schools’ seven-a-side tournament. His love of sport was shared by his brothers. Andrew, the elder, was Captain of Boxing at Sevenoaks, while Iain, the younger, attended Loretto in Scotland and was selected to play rugby for both England and Scotland schools’ XVs.
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Ralph Stewart Settatree attended Sevenoaks School from 1958 to 1964. After leaving he trained at Guy’s Hospital, and later was a consultant obstetrician at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital. During nine years of illness before his death, he devoted his spare time to birth injury repairs in Uganda and the work of Kagando Hospital while continuing in post at Heartlands. He transformed the vesico-vaginal fistula repair service at Kagando, and was instrumental in making it one of the foremost VVF repair centres in the country. Ralph was a committed Christian and a dedicated doctor, and his funeral at St Matthew’s Cheltenham celebrated a life lived to the full. He also had a lifelong love of sailing nurtured at Sevenoaks in the glory days of the Firefly Fleet. Ralph Settatree died on 22 December 2012 after a long struggle with cancer.
James Shaw 1971-2013 James A L Shaw had three happy years at Sevenoaks School, leaving him with a strong connection to the town throughout his life. He settled in Sevenoaks with his family, established and operated a successful local business, and was an active member of the local community. James joined the Sixth Form in 1987. Always his own man, he was one of the few to plump for woodwork. After his first Sixth Form year, he also made the bold choice to change his options and repeat a year. The decision enabled him to gain four A-levels and that made him realise that he could do just about anything he set his mind to. After leaving Sevenoaks School James went to the University of Birmingham, where he read Geography and Politics and met his future wife. He kept himself busy with varied extra-curricular activities, including taking up karate and setting up and running a nightclub security business. Following graduation, he joined De Beers, the diamond mining company, where he enjoyed an eventful 15-year career. James trained as a diamond buyer and was assigned to several overseas postings in Israel, Antwerp, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. For some years thereafter, James worked in the London office, where he became a senior analyst and a leading expert on diamond mining in Russia. When De Beers announced a restructuring, James decided to pursue a long-held ambition. He took voluntary redundancy and embarked on a series of courses to train as a plumbing and heating
engineer. He started his own company, JMS Heating Ltd, in Sevenoaks. With his characteristic enthusiasm, high standards and hard work, he quickly built a large and loyal client base. The company expanded rapidly and he took on and trained a number of apprentices. It remains a flourishing business. James always lived life to the full and had many interests. He was a black belt and taught karate in the local area. He was also a keen cook and a convivial host and grew many of his own vegetables. James also retained a boyhood love of railways, both real and model and, to the delight of his children, he later built an outdoor train set around his own back garden. A devoted family man, James was involved in every aspect of his children’s lives and became a leading light in the PTA at Sevenoaks Primary School. He was always at the forefront when help was needed for fundraising, school trips and many other activities. James had an energy, intelligence and integrity which earned him the respect of all those who came into contact with him. He leaves a huge hole in his family and will be sorely missed by his many friends and others with whom he came into contact in his local community. James was tragically killed in a road traffic accident on 27 January 2013, aged 41. He leaves a wife, a daughter aged 13 and a son aged 11. Minda Shaw
Paul Settatree (OS 1967)
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Obituaries Leavers sent messages of condolences; ‘Bill made Sennocke have such heart and was a big part of making it home for me with his warm hugs and wide smile’ and ‘Bill is one of my most admired people, he was always so fearless and passionate about life and I looked forward to seeing him every day’.
Pete was one of those special teachers who seem to embody the soul of the school. He loved the place, and took a passionate interest in everything about it and everyone in it. The sheer range of his contribution and commitment over his many years of service bears testimony to that. Besides instilling a love of German language and literature in his students – for many of them, a love that has extended long beyond their school years – he guided many young people through their difficulties and encouraged them in their successes. He particularly loved the theatre, directing and acting in a number of plays, most memorably a spectacular and epic production of his beloved Faust in its original language. He was the driving force behind the regular Drama tours to Germany, and the partnership he forged between Sevenoaks and the Goethe Gymnasium in Ibbenbüren was one of his proudest achievements. He was a great supporter of school sport, and in recent years loved watching matches, as well as turning out when he could for the Orbilians. He was for many years the vital link between the school and the Parents’ Association. Beyond Sevenoaks, he had an enormous influence on IB German – setting papers and enthusing teachers all over the world through his workshops, enhancing the school’s reputation as he did so.
Bill was indeed selfless and after a few years as Houseman he took on an extra role within the school, the early morning minibus journey to the train station and back. It was on these excursions that Bill got to know the wider school community. One member of staff said, ‘Coming up from the station was always a pleasure with Bill, who seemed to know all the pupils by name and by the train they arrived on; noticing who was missing or late, careful not to leave anyone behind, concerned about any who were off school. And the conversation on the way up – often the most rewarding of the day!’
Bill Stubbs 1942-2013 Bill Stubbs joined Sevenoaks School in 2003 as the Houseman for Sennocke House. Having been retired for two years he decided ‘there was still a little life left in the old dog yet’. It was very clear during his interview for the job that Bill did not need the job but wanted it because he enjoyed helping others and particularly liked the vivacity of working in a youthful environment. Over the years that Bill worked here he certainly proved to be exactly that man! No job was too big or too small. He knew all of the girls by name and they grew to appreciate his care and attention to the boarding house and to them personally. On hearing of his passing many of the Sennocke
Bill had the vibrancy and energy of a man many years younger, which is one of the reasons he worked well past retirement age. He also mentioned, on many occasions, that he kept working because he had one of the best bosses to look up to! He reluctantly took retirement in the early part of 2012. Outside work, Bill was a long-standing Scout Leader with a specific interest in Air Scout micro gliding. One of the Troop Leaders said, ‘Bill was a man of great integrity who enjoyed his role in the Scouts because he got to see young people reaching their potential.’ Bill died on 28 April 2013 after a long illness; he will be sorely missed and long remembered. He is survived by his wife Brenda, two children and four grandchildren, and his loyal canine friend, Libby. Kristine Lewis
Pete Kino 1952-2013 Peter Ian Kino joined Sevenoaks School 24 years ago from Leeds Grammar School as Head of German and then Modern Languages, later becoming Divisional Head in the Middle School and finally, as most of us will always remember him, in the Sixth Form. Pete was a brilliant and charismatic teacher of German, a compassionate and wise pastoral leader, and a highly respected colleague and friend.
His wit and good humour, and the joy he took in collaborating on cryptic crosswords, lit up many lunchtimes in the Common Room. We will all have memories of his generosity: his willingness to give time, attention and advice. He was a great supporter of his friends and his students; he loved to sing their praises to others, genuinely celebrating their achievements. Above all, we remember what a great companion he was – witty, intellectually sharp and great fun to be with. Pete Kino died after a brave battle with cancer on 22 August 2013. His family, his friends and the whole Sevenoaks School community will miss him. Jim Grant and Andy Waldron
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OBITUARy: kim taylor Kim Taylor 1922-2013 Headmaster of Sevenoaks School (1954-68) Old Sennockian and former Governor. Leonard Clive Taylor was born in Calcutta under the Raj. His father owned an advertising agency. His mother, his father’s young, second wife, had, until her marriage, performed in a troupe of travelling entertainers. As was common, his parents sent their son to boarding school in England at the age of six; he rarely saw them thereafter. His father died when Kim was only nine. School became Kim’s home, its values his.
headmaster of a public school. He transformed Sevenoaks, which flourished under his energetic leadership. His ideas, described in the book Experiments in Education at Sevenoaks (1965), have taken root so widely that it is easy to forget their originality. Beyond Sevenoaks, Kim was one of the founding members of the committee for VSO.
After 14 years, Kim left Sevenoaks to become director of the Nuffield Foundation’s Resources for Learning project. His next role took him to the Centre for Educational Resources and Innovation in Paris; he took a particular interest in Portugal and was appointed a Commander of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator for his work there. After five years at the Independent Broadcasting Kim joined Sevenoaks aged ten, beginning a Authority as Head of Educational Programming, lifelong association with the school. Clever, strong and a good sportsman, he became School Captain, Kim ended his career as Director of the Gulbenkian Foundation. Meanwhile, he became a Governor of as well as Captain of Boxing and Rugby. At the outbreak of the Second World War, aged 17, he was Sevenoaks School in 1983. sent back to India, where he began teaching at St In retirement, Kim cared devotedly for Suzanne Paul’s School, Darjeeling. In 1942 he was during her long illness, moving to Chichester after commissioned into the Indian Army and survived her death. The last eight years of his life were the siege of Akyab before spending the rest of the happy; he received frequent visits from his war gathering intelligence about the Japanese children, grandchildren, neighbours and friends, army. After demobilisation Kim returned to welcomed visitors to the cathedral as a England and gained a first class degree in History magisterially robed door-keeper, maintained a and a boxing ‘blue’ at New College, Oxford. He wide correspondence and spent many hours spent a further year studying Psychology at the reading (pencil in hand to take notes) in an University of Chicago, and while in America, met armchair by the front window of his house. It was his wife, Suzanne Dufault, who would contribute there that, aged nearly 91 and in full possession of to his success as a schoolmaster and headmaster. his faculties, he died of heart failure while asleep. Kim was Head of History at Repton when he was invited by his former headmaster to succeed him at Sevenoaks. Kim was then the youngest
Among the many friends who wrote letters of condolence, one described him as ‘the most complete man I ever met’.
Adam Taylor (OS 1972)
Kim and Sue Taylor with Sevenoaks prefects, 1955 Left to right: Top row: Michael Morelle. Row 2: Robin Southby, David Greene. Row 3: Peter Ridout, Charles Hopkins, Colin Richardson, Jeremy Clifford. Bottom row: David Stuart-Smith, Roger Huddleston, Michael Constable, Kim Taylor, Sue Taylor. The 11th prefect, Peter Gardner, was not present for the photograph. 128
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OBITUARy: kim taylor we visited the wool churches of East Anglia, the Carmelite Monastery in Aylesford, read The Man on a Donkey, and saw one of the first performances of A Man for All Seasons; one of our last conversations was about Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall. And despite, as we noted, a passing physical resemblance to the young Henry VIII, he assured us that ‘Henry was not a very nice man!’ He had a wonderful ability to sum up the famous: ‘Lenin was not the sort of chap you would want on your cricket team.’ What struck us was his intellectual energy, his way of making ideas exciting and necessary; making us read, making us think. And around him Kim gathered exceptional teachers whose intelligence and love of their subjects made university study often anticlimactic.
Kim Taylor
Kim Taylor and Sevenoaks School
with (left) James Higgs Walker,
Kim Taylor’s life was, in the fullest sense, extraordinary. His achievements stretched from Calcutta to Chichester by way of Sevenoaks, Darjeeling, Oxford, Chicago, Paris and Lisbon. In their midst, however, lay a deep love of Sevenoaks School, of whose reputation over the last 60 years he was the true creator. As Headmaster and Governor, he balanced a deep knowledge of the school’s past with the imagination and ambition to create what it has become.
Headmaster 1925-54, and (right) Geoffrey Garrod, Headmaster 1919-25
I first met Kim in 1955 in his large study in Old School. Young, informal, energetic and immensely fluent, his intellectual and moral stature was obvious. In November 1956, I heard him speak to the school in Johnson Hall on the simultaneous crises in Budapest and Suez. How many Heads today would or could do likewise? In a Reithian manner, he was prepared to tell us that beyond our teenage concerns were things we should care about. He made a point of teaching all the new boys in their first year in the school, a memorable experience as he read Arthur Miller in a range of American accents. Later, in the Sixth Form, Kim inspirationally taught us the English Reformation: 130
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The Report of HM Inspectors in 1960 had spoken of a ‘gifted Headmaster [whose leadership] can only be called distinguished’. It noted that he was an exceptionally fecund innovator whose ideas were not sparks that fizzled and died: as it went on to say, ‘The Headmaster knows how to combine three virtues that are not always found together: lucid long term planning, careful working out in detail, and, most important of all, a profound concern for the individual.’ Looking back it is remarkable how limited the facilities of the school then were: new science laboratories and a Dining Hall were added but the keys to the outstanding education Sevenoaks gave were people and ideas. Many of his experiments have become part of the mainstream of British education and indeed the extent of their sheer originality has perhaps been hidden by time. He created the 3L French Exchange with St Martin in Pontoise, an early and ambitious experiment in language learning; a combined humanities course – PEB (Predicament, Experience, Belief – Kim had a love of slightly offbeat names) – that linked History, Geography and Religious Studies; Vista, the Technical Activities Centre, where boys learnt engineering and scientific principles through direct experiments and making models; and the International Centre in 1962, an enduring pioneer experiment in international education. It is difficult to pick out the most significant innovation but the Voluntary Service Unit has perhaps the best claim.
Prefects of 1939, with Kim Taylor front left
An article in New Society in October 1965 noted that ‘The idea of weaving the school into the life of the community is one of the headmaster’s constant preoccupations’ and that VSU at Sevenoaks was ‘distinguished by its scale and the care with which it is planned’. It is difficult to convey the intellectual excitement that Kim generated. For all of us who were taught by him or taught under him there was a sense that ideas and education matter greatly. And not just as ideas to be played with in some ivory tower but to be translated into practical reality: I remember Kim explaining the difference between Aristotle’s realism and what he termed Plato’s ‘dotty proposals in The Republic’. If occasionally Kim became carried away by his enthusiasms, Sue
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Taylor, sharing his intelligence and practicality, would bring him back to earth. The 1960 Report indeed refers to the Headmaster’s ‘gifted wife’. One evening, after a very long staff meeting at which Kim was in full stride and seemed likely to continue for some while, the door opened to the Common Room and in came Sue with a small child: ‘Come home, papa…’ Kim was, I believe, the greatest Headmaster of the middle years of the last century. He was the fons et origo of Sevenoaks’ present reputation but beyond his immense contribution to the school his deepest influence was on the lives of so many of us. He showed what a full life, what generosity of intellect and spirit, could mean. John Guyatt OS, Undermaster 1986-96 131
Permission to speak, sir! Some final words from Clive Dunn cane. On Clive’s last night at school when the boys were in high spirits and a little noisy, Clive remembered him thrashing a total of 50 boys, himself included. Some of Clive’s earliest stage appearances took place at Sevenoaks. He began as the call boy for The Importance of Being Earnest in 1930 and went on to perform in The Aristocrat in 1931. The review in The Sennockian noted: ‘As for Dunn, he appears to have the stage in him to his finger-tips, so to speak. A small beginning but a very good one; and we look forward to seeing him in many more plays.’ He appeared in at least three more, and particularly remembered his role as the Court Page in Bernard Shaw’s St Joan (1933).
Clive Dunn attended Sevenoaks School from 1929 to 1936. We last spoke to him in 2009, when he described his experiences during those years. Clive was sent to board at the age of nine, the youngest boy in the school by two years. His parents were both involved in the theatre and hoped that Sevenoaks would provide him with a stable education while they were in London or on tour. Boarding at School House (then housed in Old School), Clive, known to his schoolfellows as Above: Clive Dunn (right) as Court ‘Buddy Dunn’, took part in boxing, fives and rugby, and sat Royal Drawing Society exams Page in Bernard Shaw’s St Joan, Sevenoaks School, 1933 alongside his academic studies. The Headmaster, James Higgs-Walker, nicknamed ‘Jimmy’ by the Right: Clive Dunn, Dad’s Army. boys, was a charming man; a historian and former Photoshot/Hulton Archive/ county cricketer determined to improve the school. Getty Images He was also a strong disciplinarian who used the
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It was a great ambition of the boys to be invited out to tea on a Sunday so that they would get ‘a bit of cake and all that’, and Clive noticed that the boys who were Christian Scientists were regularly invited out. He got his mother to write a letter to the school stating that he was a Christian Scientist, and was duly invited to tea! This ruse bizarrely helped him during his time as a prisoner of war when the Christian Science organisation sent Red Cross parcels to their members. After a week’s route march across Austria, Clive found a parcel waiting for him containing 400 cigarettes. He described the feeling he had as the equivalent to winning the lottery. In typically comic fashion, he said that boarding school was perfect preparation for his four years as a POW, describing School House in the 1930s as ‘pretty Spartan’. Despite all this when in his final term his parents couldn’t afford the school fees (then over £4. 4s per term), he nobly raided his piggy bank – his life’s savings to date – and was just able to cover the cost. After leaving Sevenoaks, Clive went on to study drama at the Italia Conti School before beginning his career. Although he was invited back to Sevenoaks several times in subsequent years, he always declined as his grim experiences of boarding left him feeling unable to say anything positive about the school.
Arabella Stuart
OBITUARY Clive Dunn played old men for most of his long acting career and was best known as Lance Corporal Jones, the butcher in Dad’s Army. With his cries of ‘Don’t panic, don’t panic’, ‘They don’t like it up ‘em’ and ‘Permission to speak, Captain Mainwaring’, he became one of the series’ best-loved characters. Before that he played Old Johnson, the butler, in ITV’s Bootsie and Snudge. In most of his stage appearances he played an old person. He once played the father of Thora Hird who, in real life, was ten years older than himself. He even became a recording star in 1971 when his record, ‘Grandad’, reached number one in the charts. ‘It sold 90,000 copies in one day,’ he said. ‘I bought a house with it.’ Clive Dunn was born into a family of performers; his grandfather, father and mother all trod the boards. By the age of 15 he had made his debut in the Will Hay film Boys will be Boys, as an extra. Dunn trained at the Italia Conti School and made his professional debut as a flying dragon in Where the Rainbow Ends. His acting career was interrupted by World War II. At the age of 20, he was captured by the Germans while serving in the army in Greece and spent four years as a prisoner of war. He ended up as a medical orderly and, with a modicum of German, became the prisoners’ representative. In his autobiography, he recalls feeling that both his fellow prisoners and his German guards were victims. ‘I felt sorry for them,’ he said. ‘They didn’t really have much more than we had ourselves. Some of the nicest chaps I met were German guards.’ War taught him to distrust authority and to rail at injustice. He became a lifelong socialist. He returned to the stage after demobilisation and took jobs singing, dancing and making people laugh. His part in Bootsie and Snudge made him well known to TV audiences. He was a regular on Michael Bentine’s It’s a Square World. Then came Dad’s Army which, apart from almost continuous re-runs on television, was also broadcast on radio and made into a full-length film and a stage production with music.
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Clive Dunn was in them all. He put the series’ popularity down to good writing and the fact that people love authority figures making idiots of themselves. In a later series, My Old Man, Clive Dunn played a pensioner uprooted from his home and moved to a council estate. In the children’s TV series Grandad, which ran from 1979 to 1984, he played an elderly school caretaker. In 1978 Dunn made his opera debut in an English National Opera production of Die Fledermaus. He also appeared in the West End, in An Italian Straw Hat. Clive Dunn was a talented artist and several portraits of his fellow actors appeared in his autobiography.
A longer version of this article appeared on bbc.co.uk/news on 7 November 2012. © BBC News 2013. Reproduced with permission. 133
News from Home and Abroad 1946-69
Jack Reason (Johnsons 46)
Well into my eighties I have become a qualified member of the English Bridge Union Teacher Association and have started to conduct classes here in Canterbury. It has provided me with much interest and contact with new faces, and been very stimulating and satisfying. My own play has also been improved as a result. Most of my students are of retirement age, seeking a new social skill and something to keep their grey matter in good working order.
John Landau (Johnsons 49)
Greetings from a sunny South Africa. I was so sorry we could not make the Old Boys lunch in April. After 44 years in our house in Wendywood we finally went smaller to a cluster in Sunninghill Gardens, about 7km away. We moved in April and are finally getting things in the right places – never again will we move. We spent six weeks in France over December/January with our daughter and her family. They live just outside Bordeaux in a beautiful area, with their house bordering a vineyard. Should anyone want to contact us, please do so through the Development Office.
Walter R Cheney (Hardinge 58)
I recall the first year at Sevenoaks as being quite scary – but in the Sixth Form, based at Manor House, I was much more confident, and enjoyed studying A-level History and English Lit. I particularly enjoyed Music, as taught, unofficially, by Brian Townend, known as ‘Fuzz’, and we enjoyed rehearsals at his house. It was the experience of being taught by Brian Townend which gave me the spark to want to know about different kinds of music – this has been the foundation on which I’ve been involved as an amateur singer and cellist throughout my life. I came away from school with an interest in English Literature and History and a passion for music. I married Katharine Summerskill in 1985. On leaving school I went to the London College of Printing for three years to prepare for work at our family printing business, and then moved to the business in Banbury, Oxfordshire. I worked there until 1989 – about 25 years – then took the decision
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to leave, and worked for the next ten years on the staff of the Oxford Diocese of the Church of England. Retirement came to me in 2000, and my wife and I moved to Skipton, North Yorkshire. Here we enjoy walking in the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District.
Colin Major (Sackville 58) Colin continues as RFU Chairman of Player Development for the Midlands and is an active member of the RFU Player Development Committee where since 2005, he has led the research, in conjunction with Exeter University, into how Rugby Union is best introduced to young persons. Following a pilot of the proposed formats over the last three years the RFU has accepted the resulting ‘New Rules of Play’ for the next season 2013-14. He has lived in Worcester for the last 30 years and his door is always open to any passing OS.
doctors. The NHS has changed radically. One of my patients was a kitchen maid at Knole in the 1930s and had a fund of stories about the parties and dinners there which included the Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson long before that union was public knowledge. I do keep in touch with Bob White who kept me sane in those far-off teenage years.
Brian Colvin (Wordsworth 63)
Brian was awarded the Queen Mary Medal in 2012.
Richard Martin (Wordsworth 61)
Anthony Lunch (Sackville 63) I met Anthony Miles recently during his visit from San Francisco. We both left Sevenoaks in 1963 and have kept in touch over the years. I’m still busy on the sailing front, am President of Oxford University Yacht Club and a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. I’m always delighted, and proud, to note the huge success of Sevenoaks School. Great job!
Richard Jacoby (Johnsons 62)
Andrew Croombes (Grote 64) My wife, Chris, and I have been living in Sri Lanka since May 2008 as she is the HR Director for the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). However, we are about to leave Sri Lanka for the South Pacific island of New Caledonia, where she will be taking up her new position as HR Director for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, which advises 22 of the South Pacific island states. I took retirement/redundancy from the Magistrates’ Courts Service in 1997 following a reorganisation in Hereford & Worcester, where I was Clerk to the Justices for North Worcestershire. After that I took some financial qualifications (AAT) and worked part-time for a firm of solicitors in Woottonunder-Edge. My wife and I then moved to the Midlands and I worked for the Legal Complaints Service of the Law Society from 2001 until January 2007. At that point in time we moved to The Gambia, West Africa where my wife worked for the Medical Research Council and I worked as an assistant cashier for G4S in their Gambia office until we moved to Sri Lanka in 2008.
Being in Italy last summer, I was bitterly disappointed to miss last year’s reunion. I dearly wished to meet one or two contemporaries. After a career in teaching I retired through ill health at 53. Although I did an MA in Medieval History at Manchester and contributed to various conferences I was obliged to leave my PhD incomplete, again through ill health. After several years’ recuperation I went into politics and served as PA to my local MP. This was the most satisfying work of my life. Unfortunately I was ‘retired’ in 2010. However, I have been very active in my local church as guide and historian, supporting Samaritans and other voluntary work. My current interest is Latin. At school I loved the subject but failed miserably; now I am making swift progress. While I have made no fortune, undoubtedly, I owe my love of history, literature and politics to the work, support and enthusiasm of the staff led by Kim Taylor. Now, at the age of 70, I can say that they have done so much for my personal and professional life for which I am ever grateful.
Now retired, I was a physician at The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital for 35 years. The job I did for 20 of those years on my own is now done by ten
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Robin Fenton (IC 64)
Living here in the Dordogne for the past 22 years makes one feel, perhaps incorrectly, that really very little has happened which is noteworthy. We moved here in 1991 after two years in Paris and two years in Hong Kong (IT industry) and decided we had had enough of corporate life. We have had some visitors from Sevenoaks, notably Jonty Driver and his family, and Patrick Reynolds (Park Grange and Johnsons) but it is difficult to keep in touch as our visits to England are always planned down to the last minute and focussed around seeing family members.
Frederick Bump (IC 65)
I recently bowled a 287 and (more importantly) have completed 40 years as National Ski patrol in the US, inspired to continue by the cerebral aneurysm I suffered 23 years ago.
Neil Powell (Park Grange 66)
Neil’s most recent book is Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music, published by Hutchinson in February 2013 (see Spotlights). He lives in Orford, Suffolk.
Jon Fay (Wordsworth 67)
I retired in June 2012 after 38 years working with Scotiabank. My last assignment was in the Dominican Republic as Chief Auditor. My banking work took me to 40 countries around the world, and I was based in Latin America (Puerto Rico, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic) for the last 18 years. I retired with my wife, Daisy, to live in southern Florida, USA. However, we love to visit England – usually at least once a year – to visit family in Somerset, and to see some ‘old’ OS friends! I would love to hear from other OS classmates, especially the class of 1968!
William Alberry (Sackville 67) This year William was able to spend a full term at the Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary in Madurai, South India and enjoyed taking a full part in the life of the college, as well as teaching two days a week in another college up in Kodaikanal, the local hill station – a bone-shaking three-and-a-half hour bus ride each way, costing 62 rupees (78p). He and his wife Joan Scriven now live in Surbiton.
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News from Home and Abroad Ian Brinton (Fryth 68; Head of English 88-91)
I have three recent publications to report: Poems of Yves Bonnefoy (translations, Oystercatcher Press); ‘An intuition of the particular’: some essays on the poetry of Peter Hughes (Shearsman Press); Thrills and Frills – selected prose of Andrew Crozier (Shearsman Press).
Trevor Elliott (Fenton 69)
Trevor is still Deputy Headteacher at The King’s (The Cathedral) School in Peterborough, where he has worked since 1986. 1970-79
Roderick Hogarth (Wordsworth 71) I have been elected, by the Town Council, Mayor of Sevenoaks for the civic year 2013-14. Also, as a District Councillor, I have become cabinet member with responsibility for Community and Economic Development. John Innes (School House 71)
With his 60th birthday rapidly approaching, John is sliding into semi-retirement. Resident in Melbourne since 1977, he would be delighted to catch up with any OS of similar vintage via the Development Office.
Jonathan Lloyd-Jones (Caxton 72)
Having been Chairman of Blake Lapthorn (a large regional law firm) for six years (2005-11) and a partner with the firm since 1990, I went solo last year as a full-time commercial mediator with Independent Mediators. I resolve disputes across the country but am mainly London based. Starting a new career in your fifties is a great invigorator and to be recommended!
Matthew Diebel (Caxton 74)
Matthew continues to work as a senior supervising producer at NBCNews.com. His son George will have his bar mitzvah next year, and is an accomplished baseball player whose team, a ‘travel’ squad which plays all over the New York area, won the championship last season.
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Gavin McGillivray (Park Grange 76)
Gavin has just moved to Yangon (Rangoon) to take up a three-year posting as Head of the UK Department for International Development’s (DFID) office there.
George (Yorgos) Papatheodorou (IC 76)
Recently my daughters, Elisavet and Georgia, both graduated with Master’s degrees, one in nursing and one in social work. My younger daughter Georgia married and lives near San Francisco, California. I continue to be an avid home brewer, and last summer I completed the building of a sailboat I designed myself.
Tim Procter (Taylor 76)
I am very proud that my young son Henry will start in Year 7 from this September thus continuing the family tradition. Looking forward to going back to watch cricket as a grey-haired Dad! My own aircraft charter business continues to thrive as well as our new venture in aerial surveillance, C-Aviation. I continue membership of the East India Club in London – without doubt the J7 enrolment scheme was as good then as it is now! Happy to share memories from 1971-76.
Gijs van Hensbergen (School House 76) A Picasso expert and Gaudi biographer, Gijs recently appeared with Lara Logan on a CBS 60 Minutes called ‘God’s Architect’ to profile Sagrada Familia, and with Michael Portillo on ITV in Perspectives: Portillo on Picasso. Barry Durdant-Hollamby (Sackville 79)
Barry spent 1981-92 as a songwriter and record producer, becoming one of the first UK songwriters to sign to Motown’s publishing division. He married Winnie in 1988, and they are celebrating 25 years this year. His two daughters, Anna and Sophie, are now 23 and 20. He is now a one-to-one coach, author, and organisational development consultant specialising in communication, values and visioning work. He has written several books including The Male Agenda, a book on male psychology which was circulated to all the UK prison libraries, and most recently The Breaking of the Shell, his first novel. He lives in Forest Row with his family and mother Margaret who founded The Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks.
Matthew Lee (Grote 79) In December 2012 Matthew moved after 21 years at the BBC, latterly as BBC Scotland’s Head of Learning & New Media, to become Director of the Centre for Open Studies at the University of Glasgow. He leads the university’s adult education department serving 5000 part-time students who make 7000 enrolments on Scotland’s most extensive adult education programme. This move followed Matthew’s participation in the successful student-led campaign in 2011 to maintain adult education in the university. He adds, ‘Summer 2013 saw my son Oscar (Glasgow Academy) complete his undergraduate career at New College, Oxford, exactly 30 years after I finished at the same college – tempus fugit as Fuzz might once have taught us.’ 1980-89
Peter Donia (Johnsons 80) I am currently working at a US-based company called IMO as their VP for International Markets. Am travelling the world. I recently moved to southern Europe, near Barcelona; a nice climate. All the best to my former classmates; you can reach me on LinkedIn or Facebook. Nick Booth (Fryth 82) I have moved to Bangkok as UNDP’s Policy Advisor on Governance, Access to Justice and Human Rights covering the whole Asia-Pacific region (everything from Afghanistan and Iran through North Korea to the Pacific Island states!) – a big new challenge… James Cornwell (Caxton 82) I came back to the school in January for the first time in 20 years to address Sixth Formers on sustainability in business, had a great day, and was hugely impressed at how far it has come on, with new buildings and facilities. I met Pete Hill, still looking as fit as he was 30 years ago. I started a design and build business with two others 13 years ago, now £100m turnover and 175 employees. I live near Dorking, married, with one daughter. I’m celebrating my 50th birthday next year by
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cycling from London to Barcelona for charity, 1550km in 10 days. I’m now in touch with my old mate Rob Lawther (OS 1982).
Greg Mellish (Boswell 82) I am still in contact with both Julian and Steven Barker who went to Sevenoaks for the Sixth Form. I am also still good friends with Derek Shaw. I still work for Barclaycard as Head of Ops and Governance. I remain a keen diver and especially enjoy filming it all on video. I try to sell the odd bit of film and write the odd article just to say I get published but it’s very rare. I enjoy teaching occasionally as a PADI instructor but family life and two brilliant kids do get in the way of hobbies. Raymond Ooi (School House 83)
Karina and I had a second son, Jon-Ryan, born to us in March 2012. I’m in touch with Old Sennockians Douglas Murray and Miles Negus-Fancey on Facebook.
Richard Allen (Johnsons 83)
It’s been a few years since I last communicated with the school. I am still living in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, and presently work for Network Rail’s Kent Route (based at Waterloo), responsible for the renewal and upgrading of electrification infrastructure (such as power supplies for trains and signalling), including on the lines through Sevenoaks! So an OS ends up being responsible for the lines through Sevenoaks – a case of the wheel turning full circle? I worked as a volunteer driver during the Paralympics last year, which was very hard work and at times frustrating (although I was told by one Brazilian passenger that London’s traffic jams are insignificant compared to Rio’s!) but ultimately extremely satisfying. It was a great experience to be part of such a momentous event and one that also gave such a positive impression of our country worldwide.
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News from Home and Abroad Gavin Bate (Groves 84) In 2011 I made my sixth expedition to Mount Everest and summited with my clients in May, and raised more money for my charity Moving Mountains Trust in the process. In 2012 I carried the Olympic Torch which was a great honour and then got married in December to Elli Pirkis, whose cousins Emily and Kate Norton are both alumni of Sevenoaks School. In 2013 so far I have just returned from successfully leading an expedition to trek 550km to the Magnetic North Pole (1996 certified position), which has further raised money for my charity. Justin Giffin (Hardinge 84)
Our second son, Jeremy, was born in September 2012, a brother for Hughie, born 2009. I have now been in living in Kyoto, Japan longer than I lived in the UK. My new office is just around the corner from the house of Tim Medlock (OS 1985).
Simon Perry (School House 84) Simon married Carolyn Cottingham at St Mary’s Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster in April this year. Old Sennockians in attendance were Tim Popham, Bill Woodroffe, Sally Amos, Kate Neame, Andrew Marriott, Michael Hayes, Adrian Preater, Philippa Mortimer and Liz Mortimer, all OS 1982-5. Simon and Carolyn live in New York City. Philip Lewis (Taylor 88) Philip is now living in Helsinki with his wife Maria and three children. He is CEO of the global energy think-tank VaasaETT and a director of the Brussels-based Smart Energy Demand Coalition. Philip would be delighted to meet up with any old friends from his time at school. Ian Walker (Sackville 88) I have just been reappointed as Skipper of Abu Dhabi’s Ocean Racing team and will lead their team in the 2014/15 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. This will be my 3rd Volvo Ocean Race, sailing around the world in fully crewed 65ft racing boats. The race will start in Alicante and visits Brazil, Abu Dhabi, China, Auckland, USA, Lisbon and France before finishing in Gothenburg in July 2015.
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Anna Wilson née Hankey (Hardinge 88)
Anna has two new books out this year for seven-toten-year-olds. The Smug Pug is the last title in The Pooch Parlour series and was published in February by Macmillan Children’s Books. I’m A Chicken, Get Me Out of Here! is a new stand-alone title to be published in August, also by Macmillan Children’s Books. Anna has also started teaching creative writing on the BA course at Bath Spa University.
Lili Maschler (GIH 89)
Lili (aka Hannah) here. I am thrilled to share with you that at age 40 I qualified as a midwife. I am now working in New Zealand where I have been living for the past 13 years. Here the maternity system is very woman- and family-friendly and the government pay us to look after women throughout their pregnancy and up to six weeks post-natal. I facilitate home and hospital births and love the challenges and joy that the job brings. I feel very fortunate to be here where the sun shines and my children (three of them) enjoy an upbringing that is blessed by space and time that is not too hurried or crowded. We welcome any visitors to Nelson, NZ. Love to all the Old Sennockians. Kia Kaha.
Gavin Palmer (School House 89) Gavin won the Best Conference Paper at the House of Commons Corporate Governance Conference 2013. 1990-99
David Tradewell (Johnsons 91)
David is now living in New York. He is currently Vice President of Client Development at E-consultancy and runs the commercial and client services teams for the Americas. In his spare time he’s still playing the guitar and following rugby and cricket, both of which endeavours are much to the amusement of the Williamsburg hipster set. He’d love to hear from any Old Sennockians who are coming to New York and would like to catch up.
Tom Lucas (School House 92) I’m working at Vodafone as Global Head of Communications Strategy and Media, travelling sporadically, and enjoying family life with wife Ellie, son Max, 3, and daughter Pia, 1. Living in Battersea Park and developing an all-consuming cycling addiction. I thoroughly enjoyed the 20 Year Reunion and am now back in touch with Boudewijn Toorenvliet and Richard Brown as a result. Matthew Crudgington (School House 93)
Matthew and Lizzie recently grew their little family by welcoming Bastian to the playing field. He joins Ona, who was four the same week, in their world which revolves mainly around Lake Geneva with occasional trips back to Suffolk. Working as Head of Partnerships and Sponsoring at the Hospitality Management School in Lausanne, Matthew was gutted to miss the 20 Year Reunion which sounded like a real blast from all accounts. Until next time...
Helen Ibbotson (GIH 93) Helen moved to Johannesburg with the World Bank two years ago from Dakar, Senegal where she had been on assignment for one year. Prior to that, Helen worked in Hong Kong and then moved to Washington DC with the World Bank. After two and a half years in DC, she moved to Moscow and has made Africa her base since then. Helen is Principal Counsel for the IFC (International Finance Corporation) which is the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. Marco Alverà (School House 94)
I live in Milan with Selvaggia and Olimpia, 3 and Greta, 2. I often travel to oil-rich regions like Alaska, South America, Russia and Africa. I miss Sevenoaks. I spend my spare time trying to sail offshore or on skiing expeditions.
Sarah Boyd née Middleton (Park Grange 94) Sarah is married to Andrew and has two children, Stewart, 11, and Lauren, 8. Sarah has been living and working in the London area since leaving Sevenoaks and Durham University for a variety of large FMCG companies in predominantly
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commercial roles. She is currently Commercial Director for Bourjois Cosmetics. She and her family are heading back to her childhood home of Singapore this summer where Sarah will take up the position of CEO of Guardian Health and Beauty, a retailer not dissimilar to Boots, based out in Asia. She would be really happy to hear from any Old Sennockians based over in Singapore, or any old friends from around the world.
Nicholas Hale (Johnsons 94)
Nicholas has joined BT Group as Director, Supply Chain. He was previously a Director within the Management Consulting Practice at KPMG in London.
Sarah Keeley (Frith 94)
In 2010 I married Damien Michelmore and now live with my two children Harry, 8, and Archie, 5 months, in the Bahamas where Damien is managing the Albany Resort.
Floris Vermeulen (IC 96) Floris and Beatriz are very happy to have welcomed their second son Hugo into the world in 2012. His older brother Marcos will turn 3 in October. Following Floris’ move to the European Investment Bank they now live in Luxembourg, which turns out to be the ideal city-village for a young family. Please contact them if you’re in town! Gemma Baggott (Plender 97) Since January 2011 I have been working as HR Advisor for the Barbican Centre and Guildhall School of Music & Drama. From this July, I will move into the position of HR Business Relationship Manager. I am an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. I’m currently still living in Beckenham, Kent with long-term partner Kobie van der Westhuizen. Alice Brooking (Caxton 97)
Having worked as the Head of French at Harrow School for the past few years, I have been appointed a Housemistress at Harrow School in Hong Kong from August 2013. I’d be pleased to meet up with any Old Sennockians in HK!
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News from Home and Abroad Megan Johnson née Harvey (Park Grange 97) Megan is still living in Boston, USA with her husband Luke and son Zach, and loving it. Last summer she completed her first Olympic distance triathlon and caught the bug. Unfortunately this will be a summer off as she’s expecting Johnson Junior No 2, but a summer off work is still something to look forward to! Oliver Watt (Wordsworth 97)
After almost five very enjoyable years in Hong Kong, I am moving back to the UK in June with my wife (Sarah) and two young sons (Freddie and Alexander) where I will continue to work as an Investment Director at Jones Lang LaSalle in London. It would be great to reconnect with old friends.
JJ Bidwell née McCarthy (Park Grange 99)
I set up my own interior design company, JJ McCarthy Interior Design, in January 2011, and have finally got my website up and running. It has been busy so far and going well, and I have a good team supporting me. This has been an ambition for some years now, so it’s good to have achieved it. We are also expecting our first child, so trying to juggle the two is a challenge!
Yi Vei Kok (GIH 99) Yi Vei realised her hippie rock and roll dream by joining two tribute bands dedicated to her musical idol, Neil Young. The bands are called Heart of Rust (based in Scotland), and Yonder Stand the Sinners (Bristol), and she enjoys gigging in venues up and down the UK. She plays pedal steel guitar (enthusiastically emulating Young’s sidekick, Ben Keith) for the bands and also sings backing vocals. Yi Vei still works as a dentist and is progressing towards an interest in cosmetic dentistry. Stanley Pignal (IC 99) Having relocated back from Brussels to London in 2012, I recently moved to The Economist, where I write about all things financial for the newspaper. One surprise is how many Old Sennockians I speak to for work. My wife and I are expecting our first child in September.
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2000-2010
Oliver Risso-Gill (2000)
I have now been living in New York for seven years now, working for RBS Securities Inc and recently got promoted to Vice-President of Investment Grade Credit Market Sales.
Juwon Sofola (IC 2000)
My wife Nathalie and I had a son, Kolapo Junaid Aidan Sofola, in November 2012.
Andrew Hobbins King (2000)
Life has certainly changed since leaving school in 2000! After studying Medicine at St Andrews and then working in Manchester, the rain and cold drove me to seek warmer climes! In 2008 I spent a year working with Raleigh International in the steamy jungles of Borneo as an Expedition Medic before moving to the Sunshine Coast in Australia to work as an emergency doctor. Returning to the UK in 2009 I specialised in paediatrics in Reading but it wasn’t long before I moved permanently to Oz in 2010 and am now an Advanced Trainee of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine. My current job is in Cairns with the Royal Flying Doctor Service and sees me flying around the outback providing aeromedical retrieval services to the rural and remote communities of Far North Queensland. My parents were jealous that I was living next to the beach and moved Down Under last year! I will be returning to the UK in September, this time with my Aussie fiancée, Bree Stephensen, who will brave the best of our British weather and visit a small school in Sevenoaks where it all began.
Nicola Kachum née Arthur (2000) I am living in Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. Last year I got married to my husband who is Thai and in January this year I gave birth to our son Justin. We own a fresh market and other small businesses in the Golden Triangle area near the Laos and Burmese borders. Emily Rowe née Ward (2000)
Emily married Julian Rowe in June 2011, and in October 2012 she gave birth to a daughter, Alicia. She trained as an opera singer at the Royal Academy of Music following her degree at
Edinburgh University. Emily is currently on maternity leave from working as a freelance opera singer with companies such as Grange Park Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Buxton Festival Opera and Silent Opera. She has also returned to Sevenoaks School to work part-time as a singing teacher.
Robert Boatwright-Smith (01)
Robert married Jane Locke in April 2013 at Peasmarsh in East Sussex. The wedding reception was held in a marquee in Robert’s parents’ home and over 80 guests thoroughly enjoyed the day. They have recently moved into a flat in Vauxhall, London, as they both work in marketing roles in London.
Nikki Lee née Chow (GIH 01) I married Henry Lee in 2009 in Bali, graduated from medical school in 2010 and started training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St Thomas’ Hospital in 2012. I had a baby in February (Isla Katherine Min Lee) and moved back to Hong Kong in March, where I hope to relicense so I can practise medicine in Hong Kong. Katherine Jetter (GIH 01)
Katherine is now based in the US, where she is a couture jewellery designer. She has become known as an authority on exquisite and rare opals, which are infused with other precious gemstones in her fresh, contemporary, elegant designs. Katherine debuted her collection at Couture and her designs have become very popular with A-list celebrities.
Andre Wegner (IC 01) I married Natalie Dickson, a Nigerian/American lawyer, in Suffolk in May this year. I am also currently setting up Authentise, a company working in digital rights management in 3D printing, which is located in Mountain View, California. Ben Bishop (02) and Sarah Bishop née Bryant (Park Grange 02)
Our daughter Maya was born in late May, weighing 6lbs 11oz. Mum and Maya are both doing well. I (Ben) am still teaching Geography in Tower Hamlets, which I love most of the time!
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Sarah just finished a contract with a healthy eating education charity as regional manager for their ‘Let’s Get Cooking’ programme.
Katharine Ramsey (02) Katharine got engaged to Alex Chesculescu in August 2011. She is currently studying for her PGCE in Primary Modern Foreign Languages at Goldsmiths, University of London. Nigel Warne (School House 02)
Nigel Warne and his wife Kristina have settled in Sydney, Australia. He works on the delivery of new trains to the Sydney network.
Thomas Koskella (IC 03)
After a year in Laos and two years in the US for an MBA, I’m now moving back to London with the consulting firm McKinsey, focusing on oil and gas development.
Letitia Perry (03)
After enjoying the Ten Year reunion and having spent seven years teaching singing at Sevenoaks School it’s definitely time to leave! I am going back to uni and l will be studying Opera at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama for the next few years. I’m very sad to leave colleagues and students behind but am excited about spending time doing and studying what I really love.
Chris Candfield (04)
I am very happy to inform you that my fiancée, Danielle Orchard, and I were married in June 2013 at Penshurst Place. She and I met at a party, aged 16 and 17 respectively, when I was at Sevenoaks and she was at Tonbridge Girls Grammar School. We became engaged on 14 July 2012, nearly ten years later, in the gardens of Heidelberg Castle, Germany.
Joseph Fitchett (05)
After seven years of study and a year abroad in Germany, Joseph has (finally!) graduated from medical school and will be starting his first job as a junior doctor at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals in August 2013. If any OS are based around London or working at GSTT, do get in touch!
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Parents’ Association Review
Nickolai Vysokov (IC 05) I got married in 2010, which is old news now, but this year in February my wife Victoria gave birth to our gorgeous son Lev. We have moved from London to West Kingsdown in Kent.
Victoria Yates (08) I am pleased to share the news that I have graduated from Cardiff University Medical School and am now a doctor starting work in Hampshire.
James Draper (09) I graduated from Oxford Brookes in 2012 with a I and a fellow Old Sennockian Mr Yousef Al Yousef first class honours degree in Media Technology, also achieving dissertation of the year. My have launched a start-up stage quantitative hedge dissertation was a full-length album which I fund called Babuntu Capital, combining recorded in The Space, recording several different algorithmic strategies to offer clients exceptional Sevenoaks pupils and even teachers Letty Perry risk-adjusted return in the alternative investment and Jon Drury. Three days after finishing at Oxford space. We started trading in the autumn of 2012. Brookes I was scouted by a label called Turn First Alberto Brignone (School House 07) Artists at the Great Escape festival in Brighton. After graduating in Chemistry in June 2012 from St Over the past year I have worked with Turn First Andrews, I joined and co-founded a start-up that in many different ways, including working on will develop and manufacture instant adhesives. tracks for their artists, playing with Rita Ora at We are a spin-off of Henkel, but a fully Wembley Stadium and supporting her on her independent company which makes the nature of debut UK headline tour. In June 2012 I was this start-up quite interesting. commissioned for several large artist remixes Sam Johns (08) including Passion Pit, Twin Atlantic and Ellie So-called ‘Beautiful British Columbia’ has been my Goulding (my Ellie remix ended up in her Tesco home for the last two years, as I’ve been pursuing exclusive edition of her album Halcyon). I am an MA in Human Geography at the University of currently being signed to the Universal label (Turn British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Aside First Artists) and am moving to London to work as from the studies and opportunities to teach a producer with the Invisible Men production Geography, BC has been a playground of plenty, group. I am also pursuing my own personal music with mountains, ocean, and lakes. In a way, it’s project ‘Draper’ which has been very successful in been hard to concentrate on the thesis. I’m looking its own right, achieving primetime BBC radio plays forward to returning to the UK at the end of the and signing two singles with Canadian label year and getting back to life in London. Monstercat. ‘Draper’ was picked up by Oliver Sykes, which led to a sponsorship from his Masha Kiryanova (GIH 08) clothing label, Drop Dead. I can be found on Masha co-founded Eyedea, a London-based Facebook, SoundCloud and YouTube. network aiming to support and inspire young, ambitious, female professionals, with Marta Jonathan London (10) Szczerba (GIH 08). Since the launch in September I have been elected as Deputy President 2012 they have hosted multiple dinners with (Education) of the Imperial College Student Union. speakers such as the CEO of Easyjet, a London I began a one-year term of work in July. I will be Business School professor and a number of heading to Singapore with the College Pro Rector successful entrepreneurs. They are now extending for Education to help build bilateral ties with the Eyedea’s charitable arm through weekly Nanyang Institute of Tech. mentorship sessions in underprivileged schools, organising charity runs as well as numerous other fundraising events. You can get in touch with them via the Eyedea website. Vinay Gokaldas (IC 06)
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The Sevenoaks School Parents’ Association is a mirror image of the school, with members coming from far and wide: Australia, United States, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Denmark, Italy, Peru, Bulgaria, the Philippines and the UK. We collaborate for the benefit of our children and the school by bringing parents together, fundraising and investing in things outside the school budget which are useful for the students.
We welcomed the new parents at our New Parents’ Tea, an informal and fun introduction to school life at Sevenoaks. In October we had a New Parents’ Supper where the conversation flowed freely. Our year group coffees have become the ‘must-do’ on Saturday mornings – another informal and convivial way of meeting your child’s friend’s parents! Our Arts Society holds various tours and outings during the year. These are always oversubscribed as we get hard-to-book tickets. We went to see Jumpy and Twelfth Night, and we had a guided tour of the Inns of Court, Dickensian London, Riverhill House and Gardens, and a talk on Manet at the school as well as a visit to the Royal Academy exhibition. The Deputy Head Academic, Chris Greenhalgh, gave us a crash course on ‘How to Write a Film’, which was an eye-opener for students and parents alike. In June we brought the sun and flair of the Mediterranean to the school with our Summer Fiesta, a Latin-themed evening with musicians, SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
dancers and lovely food. We were pleased to welcome over 120 parents and their friends to this event. One of our remits is to support special projects. Every year we contribute to a Social Entrepreneur Day run by Entrepreneurs in Action. Students have to put together their own social enterprise and then pitch for business. This year over 200 students from the Lower Sixth took part; the aim is to develop certain skills which, although non-academic, are extremely useful in the outside world, especially the ability to think on your feet. We continue to support the school’s development and our current project is to help enhance The Flat into an appealing, communal space for the students. We hope that, whatever your involvement in Sevenoaks School, you will feel the benefit of the Parents’ Association. We hope that through our work, we improve both students’ and parents’ experiences of the school.
Livia Lovell, Chair of PA 143
Valete I think, however, there was one factor over and above his other skills which allowed him to be so successful in this role: Mike loves the school. You don’t have to speak to him for long to know this. When Katy Ricks became the Head of Sevenoaks in 2002 Mike became the Undermaster: a role he carried out with distinguished leadership for ten years. He was always a comforting presence in his office where he would offer sensible, kind advice; someone with whom you could just talk through the ‘ups and downs’ of school life. When Katy Ricks decided to take her sabbatical at the beginning of this year, Mike was asked to be the acting Head for the Michaelmas term; his last at Sevenoaks. During that term, he led the school with a human touch that everyone felt and appreciated.
Mike Bolton Mike joined Sevenoaks in 1973 as a History teacher. He quickly forged a reputation as a thoughtful, caring and innovative member of staff. In 1986 Mike and his wife Maggie were appointed to run Park Grange. I’ve always felt that going to school boarding house is like looking through a window into the housemaster’s life. Their manner permeates the place and Park Grange was just like Mike: warm, friendly, understated and calm. Mike was very involved in the evolution of the school’s VSU programme, overseeing it for ten years between 1974 and 1984. In 1996 he was appointed Pastoral Deputy and Divisional Head. He took on this position with calm authority and a great sense of humour. Two years later he became the Registrar; his authority and relaxed manner made him the natural person to represent Sevenoaks to schools and prospective parents.
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A few people have said to me he should have become a Head. I’m glad he didn’t. By staying at Sevenoaks he became one of a small group of teachers who have really shaped the school over its long history. He has given Sevenoaks so much through his work in formal positions of responsibility, but his informal way at the school has also been so influential. Nobody here will forget his warm presence at so many school events, his humour at lunch, those ‘Drinks with the Undermaster’ in the Royal Oak hotel and his wonderful speeches and assemblies. In 2009 Mike received a well-deserved MBE for his work in education. I wondered whether this was a high point for him. Mike is a modest man. I’ve never seen him do anything to make himself look good or important in all my time at Sevenoaks; his motivation has always been the good of the pupils and the school. That motivation remained right up until his until last day at the school on Thursday 13 December 2012 when he made his final address to the assembled staff and pupils. Upon finishing he made his way quietly down the aisle of St Nicholas’ Church for one last time and looked back at those assembled who rose to their feet to thank Mike for 40 years of service.
Neil Arnott
Chris Cockerill
School Doctor 1983-2012
Chris arrived in the Mathematics department in September 2010 as a fresh-faced graduate from a Mathematics BA at Royal Holloway and a PGCE at London Metropolitan University. Since then, he has developed into a respected teacher. With his wit, charm and natural manner he is unfailingly popular with his sets, carving out a reputation for the huge amount of support he offers, and the confidence which he always seeks to instil. His Middle School sets not only achieve good results but they are also motivated and switched on to the subject.
Neil came to Sevenoaks as the school doctor in 1983 already an established GP at the Amherst Medical Practice Sevenoaks. He was a very traditional family doctor with many professional interests but happy to add school medicine to his busy workload. With a young family of his own, Neil was very familiar with teenage angst and the anxieties of the absent parent. His consulting door was always open for pupils and staff with reassuring words and a calm manner. Together with a wealth of experience it made for a successful consultation.
If one thing marks Chris out more than anything else it is his energy and enthusiasm. Within two Neil certainly helped bring the School Medical weeks of arriving at the school he had managed to Centre into the 21st century by promoting health persuade eight reluctant teachers to embark on within the school community. The model of care he running the Paris Marathon, and while we may introduced to the Sevenoaks School Medical Centre have cursed him at the time during those early was innovative. Pupils were not looked after in a mornings training runs through Knole Park, it was traditional sanatorium but as if at a branch of the his motivating example which led us to the finish Amherst Medical Practice, offering all the services at the Arc de Triomphe. This ability to lead from a General Practice can to their patients. He strongly the front has been evident in all of his involvement believed that pupils prefer to get better in their with Sevenoaks School sport teams who refer to ‘home’, or the boarding house. School is essentially him as ‘Coach Cockerill’. Chris has also been a a healthy community where a bout of illness is part Pilot Officer with the RAF section of the CCF, set of life and not a reason to hospitalise and therefore up an Ultimate Frisbee Society, and he gives isolate pupils. generously of his time in extra revision sessions. Neil was very involved in the Medical Officers of Schools Association (MOSA) as appointed secretary then president. His voice could be heard on Radio 4 discussing SARS, the swine flu pandemic or any topical school health subject. Other school medical officers frequently benefited from sharing his knowledge and experience. As a strong supporter of the school counselling service, he recognising that emotional health is vital to the emerging adult. Neil will be very much missed but we will still feel his calm, fatherly influence within the walls of the Medical Centre.
Throughout all his hard work Chris retains a broad smile on his face. I am sure he has also needed a sense of humour in his role of coordinating the school’s reporting and grades software. Chris leaves to take up a position at the Southbank International School where I am sure that he will prove to be as popular and as effective. He has been a fantastic colleague and he will be much missed. David Vaccaro
Alison Wertheim
Alex Smith
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VALETE Gavin Dinsdale
Chen Draper
Peter Ford
Brian Fugard
Gavin graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in Sports Science and Geography. He worked at The Blue Coat School in Oldham, becoming Head of Boys’ PE, then moved to Singapore where he ran the activities programme at United World College before joining Sevenoaks in 2008 as Director of Sport and Physical Education. He leaves us to take up a position as Associate Principal at The British International School of Shanghai.
It is no exaggeration to say that Chen has revamped the delivery of Mandarin teaching at Sevenoaks since her appointment in 2009. Her dynamism and abundant reserves of energy have contributed to a massively increased profile for her subject, which she leaves in extremely rude health.
Peter joined Sevenoaks in 1983 from Giggleswick School to take up the new post of Head of Computing Science. Right from the beginning he impressed with his knowledge of cutting-edge IT innovations. Although a little ‘old-fashioned’ in his approach Peter was quick to establish an efficient and modern department. His 30 years here have been marked by a number of truly iconic developments. In his role as Head of IT he has ensured the smooth running of the department and delivery of the ever-changing academic IT skills programme. Peter has transformed the use of computers at the school from a classroom of four computers back in 1983 into the vast IT megastore that now exists and is enjoyed by so many.
Brian leaves us after 14 busy years at Sevenoaks and will be remembered for the vast knowledge and passion he has for Mathematics, and his keenness to share this with others in the department and beyond. His students looked up to him, and he was a very inspirational teacher. The quality of the Extended Essays in our department was mainly due to Brian’s input.
Gavin is a superb PE teacher and sports coach, passionate about sport and a great believer in the importance of sports science. He is a qualified coach in a staggering ten sports, including a UEFA Football coach and a Level 5 Gymnastic instructor. He has coached the 1st XI football team, culminating with a league-winning season in his final year. He has been integral to recent athletics success, and pioneered a greater use of IT for videoing training sessions for subsequent analysis.
Chen is universally respected by her students who are supremely fond of her. She has taught IB Ab Initio, B and A courses with distinction and gained stunning examination results, whilst catering for an ever-growing number of non-native private students. Chen’s expertise has made her reputation grow to such an extent that she has found herself incapable of meeting the huge demand for tuition on her own. She leaves Sevenoaks with a greatly increased student base which has evolved directly from her successful lunchtime clubs. Chen manages to fit a huge amount of work into a busy schedule. As a mother of two, she manages not only to continually update her resources and schemes of work, but also examines for the IB and is a Chief Examiner for CIE at IGCSE Level. In 2011, she organised a Mandarin Discussion for 22 delegates from other schools and is clearly a respected subject leader. Chen also managed to organise the very successful trip to China with the Geography department in 2010 and has run many workshops for students in calligraphy, martial arts and traditional dance. She has never missed an opportunity to celebrate Chinese festivals, while endeavouring to involve as many students as possible.
As Director of Sport and Physical Education, he has transformed the department. With over 80 staff involved in helping with sport at the school, the logistical challenges of making the games programme run smoothly cannot be underestimated! He has rewritten all schemes of work for PE and introduced IB Sports, Exercise and Health Science. He has worked to ensure the best school sportsmen and women have high-quality training while at the same time focusing on participation in sport for all. Under Gavin the school has been able to put out over 125 representative sports teams each year, which is a Chen moves on to a well-deserved promotion as phenomenal achievement. He has built an excellent Head of Mandarin at United World College in team in the PE department and this good work Singapore. We shall miss her smiles and ebullience will be continued by James Emmitt next year. but wish her and Ross, Ellie and George a smooth We wish Gavin, Niki and their three children every transition and every future happiness in their new home. happiness in their new home in Shanghai. Navaneethan Kunaratnam
Neil Tetley
Peter was snapped up by the CCF and established the first ever Royal Engineers Section at the school where his vast knowledge in car mechanics was passed on to the cadets. Within a year he had shown them how to completely dissemble an Austin Mini engine and rebuild it so the cadets could drive their own car! Peter played a major role in CCF field days and produced exercises which could have been used by the British Army. As part of his role as Staff Officer Diving, organising and developing diving for all CCF (RN) schools throughout the United Kingdom, he undertook diving trips in the UK and the Mediterranean. He also trained a number of staff who have subsequently gone on to become BSAC diving instructors. Throughout his 22 years in diving Peter has been involved in qualifying around 1000 students. Peter is not a man to retire and do nothing; he is far too active for that. His love of sailing, walking, flying and scuba diving, his firm commitment to his Christian faith and his passion for computing, IT and education will continue wherever he may go and he will no doubt still have links with the Royal Navy despite being over 80 miles from the sea!
He joined us at Sevenoaks in April 1999, after his position of Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of Abertay, Dundee. Before this he was a Senior Scientific Officer in Forecasting Research at the UK Meteorological Office. It was a real treat when he shared this forecasting expertise with us at one of the Mathematical Society events. His two daughters, Lynne and Alison, also enjoyed their time at Sevenoaks, so much so that Lynne continues to work here, in the Music department, teaching the flute. Brian was the department’s Extended Essay and Higher Level Coordinator (including Standard Level Further Mathematics), but he was also the backbone for all the Oxbridge and Step preparation. We have been very lucky to have such a fine mathematician in our midst for so long. A lover of music, Brian is a keen, energetic member of the Choral Society. His contribution to golf from 2003 to 2011 was superb, and where would we be without his unfailing efforts scoring in athletics, cross country and the Junior Knole Run? His efficient manner as Examinations Officer was also welcomed. He leaves us to take early retirement, and to further his mathematical studies and continue with his choral singing. Brian will be missed, and we wish him all the best for this new phase of pastures new, which he will enjoy with his wife, Helene. Gillian Williams
We wish Peter, Margaret and the family a happy future together in Sheffield. Peter Hill
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VALETE Mariko Gower
Chris Greenhalgh
Ian Harrington
Amanda Hebbert
Mariko retired this summer after 20 years’ association with the school as a part-time teacher and visiting tutor of Japanese. She has worked under five different heads of department and has remained unflappable in the face of syllabus changes and resolute in the face of ever-changing pedagogical trends.
Twenty years ago Chris Greenhalgh came to Sevenoaks to teach English. Within three he became Head of Department, a post he held for ten; he then shouldered responsibility for the academic life of the school in 2006, a responsibility borne ever since with equanimity, integrity and poise. Moving upwards, Chris has required ever thicker skin: underneath that cherubic exterior now sits a membrane of Kevlar, which will surely stand him in good stead in his new post as Principal of Southbank International School.
Ian did not, perhaps, have the most conventional of career routes. He left work at the London Stock Exchange to pursue one of his passions by opening a fishing tackle shop. After this, he turned his hand to landscape gardening (specialising in ponds and fish), a catering business and then became Head Gardener of Ashburton School, Croydon. Finally, Ian joined us as Head Gardener in 1985.
Amanda joined Sevenoaks in 1984 joining husband Bruce in GIH as tutor’s wife. As natural candidates to take on the newly created boarding house, Sennocke, Bruce and Amanda threw themselves into the task with their typical gusto with Amanda acting as Matron as well as House Parent. In 1992 Amanda joined School House as the full-time matron. In that time she has worked with several Housemasters, Ray Hackett, Tony Brown, Tim Manly, Mark Turnbull and, for the last five years, myself.
Her kindness, generosity of spirit and exceptional subject knowledge have been incredibly well appreciated by her students over the years. She has taught the IB A2 course for native speakers with real distinction, as well as B Standard and Higher Level. She says her most challenging assignment was teaching her own son at B Standard Level after he had confided to her that he was no great exponent of French, German or Spanish. She recalls how he would worry every time she gave him a quizzical look in class, fearing that a raised eyebrow meant disapproval, although this was far from the case! We wish Mariko a happy retirement and trust she will enjoy indulging her love of fuchsias and hanging baskets. She will be greatly missed by us all. Navaneethan Kunaratnam
Pupils speak of Chris’s enthusiasm as a teacher, of his patience and his expertise – and in the last case, well they should, given that he has published three collections of poetry and two novels, Coco and Igor and Seducing Ingrid Bergman. Equally academic and pedagogue, his move away from the classroom has been the pupils’ loss. Chris’s good relations with his pupils are matched by those with his colleagues: going to Chris with an issue, one receives a fair hearing, reasoned consideration and a straight answer. He has chaired many a committee with a typically polite and patient approach, often reducing others’ waffle to its key component (if any) in crisp summary. Chris enjoys playing squash; he has also played regularly for the Orbilians (the staff cricket team), taking wickets with deceptively tricky bowling, a skill U14 cricketers have been privileged to study. Before starting here, he married, moved house, and finished his PhD all in the same fortnight: a sign of his efficiency – or possibly inefficiency! Since then he has juggled the responsibilities of Academic Deputy with family life and two governorships, as well as his own writing. He will need all that cheerfulness and resilience next year. We wish him all the best for the future.
Along with his team, Ian maintained the gardens at Sevenoaks School to a very high standard. Our gardens are often commented upon favourably by visitors, but staff and pupils enjoy them immensely too. Immaculate throughout the year, Ian always ensured that they reached a peak in time for Founder’s Day with many floral displays and pristine lawns. We were constantly impressed by how Ian was able to envisage how things would knit together. He planted a different tree every year from 1988, and was also very successful at propagating plants from seeds or cuttings. Not only did these fill the gardens here, but he also regularly supplied plants to the Lower School Charity week. Ian was always willing to offer advice to others, or to help the school in more practical ways. He provided invaluable support to the Biology department by supplying endless plants for experiments, looking after their sea life tank, and giving talks on propagation in the greenhouse when it was on the IB syllabus. Ian left us in December to enjoy an active retirement, pursuing his hobbies. Always knowledgeable and approachable, Ian was a great colleague who will be sadly missed by us all. We wish him well for the future. Theresa Homewood
Philip de May
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All of the hundreds of students, and staff who have been in School House over the last 21 years will testify that Amanda is a very special person who will always be remembered by everyone at connected with the house. In June we held a delightful if chilly garden party in School House to which about 40 former School House and Sennocke students returned to say thank you to Amanda for all her hard work. She is immensely kind, caring and generous, whether through a sympathetic word at the end of a hard day, a lift to school or sorting out an all-consuming problem. I also particularly value the way she has taken a number of boys who have needed particular care under her wing and made their happiness her priority. Many of those students might not have lasted the full course of the school without the care and attention Amanda was able to bestow upon them. They have all gone on to achieve great things at university and beyond. Amanda has driven pupils to and umpired at numerous sailing competitions, opened her home to sailors or exam candidates who needed secure accommodation and excelled in the demanding role of houseparent. In short, Mrs H has been the whole package. Gareth Willis
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VALETE
Above: Pat and Pete Kino
Pat Kino
Below: Chris Martin
At the centre of every good school there must be a library, and at the centre of every good library there must be a great librarian. The Johnson Library sits at the very heart of our school campus, at the centre of which has presided Pat Kino, its very own great librarian. Pat joined Sevenoaks in 1987 and has overseen the transformation of the school library in that time. Pat has never been one of those librarians who prefer the 23,000 books to sit in orderly rows; rather she has enthusiastically encouraged students to use the library in ever more imaginative ways. Her vocation has been to promote a love of reading in the young and to this end she has become an expert in young persons’ literature. The development of the Lower Library dedicated to younger readers, and the termly author talks have all helped to inspire the next generation of readers and writers. In addition, the library is a place of scholarship and research, and many students have cause to thank Pat for her tireless support and advice with their studies.
Chris Martin
Louisa Radford
David Rogers
Chris joined the school as a teacher of Biology with some Chemistry in November 2008, having previously worked in industry. However, at the end of his first year he became a full-time teacher of Chemistry. Chris is one of the most knowledgeable people that I have ever met; he has amazing scientific and general knowledge and an interest in a wide range of subjects. He is an extremely enthusiastic teacher who is passionate about bringing across the excitement of Chemistry to his students. He loved carrying out spectacular chemical demonstrations both in class and for the benefit of the whole school during Science Week.
In the last three years I have had the pleasure of working alongside each Louisa in the GIH, and I have really appreciated her enthusiasm, kindness and utter professionalism. Louisa’s life is a busy one. Mum to three small children, enthusiastic Geography and TOK teacher, GCSE examiner, Upper Sixth Tutor and key member of our boarding team, she appears to balance everything with ease. She makes time for everyone, cheering on the swimming at boarding events, unravelling complicated pastoral issues, writing great quality UCAS references, and just listening to those who need it. However busy, however hassled, Louisa hides it well and her laugh is never far away. Louisa does her best, tirelessly and cheerfully, and she is a fantastic role model for the students of GIH. Four different year groups of students, 120 girls, are very lucky to have benefitted from her considerable expertise.
When David arrived at Sevenoaks in 2006 to provide maternity cover, we could scarcely have understood how fortunate we were to have someone with his vast experience, dedication and knowledge joining the Mathematics department. David had just retired as a long-standing teacher and Head of Mathematics at Caterham School, but he was far from ready to give up the classroom. In the last seven years, he has taught at Sevenoaks in four separate spells totalling 14 terms, whilst other schools have also benefited from his expertise. David’s hard work and devotion to his pupils have been greatly appreciated by students of all ages throughout the school. He exudes authority, inspires confidence and brings out the best in pupils of all levels of mathematical ability. He is extremely generous with his time, whether giving extra help to students or having discussions with colleagues. His dedication is exemplified by his determination to reach the school during ‘snow days’, when he organised revision sessions for the Sixth Form boarders. He has also run revision sessions in the Lent half term for Additional Mathematics students.
Chris is one of those annoying people who are good at absolutely everything. He had so many different jobs in the school that it is hard to imagine how just one person could do them all. Not only was he an exceptional teacher at all levels, he was an enthusiastic sportsman and coach, Higher Education adviser for Science and Medicine, school Gifted and Talented Coordinator, exams officer, tutor and quiz team organiser, and ran BMAT training sessions… and this is without mentioning all the jobs he did in the Chemistry department. Chris is exceptionally hard-working and set himself extremely high standards in all aspects of his life at Sevenoaks. He expected the same high standards from his students; and would leave no stone unturned to ensure that they reached the highest possible level. His commitment to the school and his students is legendary and he will be sorely missed. He leaves us to take up a position as Head of Chemistry at Eltham College and I have no doubt that he will be as successful there as he was here. Steve Owen
The girls in the boarding house describe her as a mother figure, dynamic and warm-hearted. It seems that Louisa can turn her hand to anything, from intellectual discussions about education to rearranging furniture for a house event. Each year she has been a driving force behind the Geography Calendar which raises money for Education for All. My abiding image of Louisa will be her big smile as she totes a pile of calendars in one hand. Quick to volunteer and determined enough to see every task through to the end, she has thrown herself into every aspect of boarding life.
As befits a proud Cornishman, David’s down-to-earth, straightforward manner and his genuine interest in everyone he meets, be they pupils, colleagues or parents, is immediately evident. It is not just in the Mathematics department that he goes far beyond what might be expected from him. His love of rugby has seen him support the school teams and even take charge of a Louisa leaves GIH to embark on an adventure with team on occasion. He has also regularly wielded a her family, and she is to take up a post as Head of stopwatch at athletics matches. On many evenings Global Perspectives at United World College in he could be found supporting the students in Singapore. We will miss her greatly, but I have no music and drama events. David has given much to doubt that she will continue to inspire students Sevenoaks School and he will be long remembered wherever she goes. by pupils and colleagues. Nichola Haworth
Brian Fugard
Jane Henshaw
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VALETE Chris Thomas
David Vaccaro
Jeremy Wyld
Chris has worked as an inspiring teacher and Head Rory Sutherland, a parent writing in The Spectator, of Art at Sevenoaks, in two stints, for over 20 years. described David as ‘this wonderful maths teacher’ when he set his daughter a tricky but compulsive Sevenoaks was Chris’s first teaching post in 1976, problem involving dwarves and an evil wizard. after training at both Goldsmiths and Camberwell His enthusiasm for computer-based mathematics, art schools and working for four years as a probability, game theory and the accurate freelance artist. He spent seven years at the school, representation of statistics has spilt over from the often working all night on projects like the classroom and inspired us all. Sennockian, which was then hand-pasted, or painting sets for the Drama department. He David speaks with passion and authority. His work introduced Design Technology to the school and as an HE adviser for Maths, Physics, Engineering led a DT department with a social conscience, and Mathematical Finance has been second to making for example the first electronic braille none. He has enthused pupils, organising trips to teaching machine for Dorton House and a the London Mathematical Society to hear Roger bicycle-powered mohair carding machine, which Penrose and to the Royal Institution for lectures by went to Lesotho. Stephen Pinker and David Spiegelhalter. Within the school, he founded the Maths Society, bringing Chris left to become a Head of Department at in Imre Leader and James Grime to speak. His Cranbrook School in 1983. He was very happy and, assemblies on Alan Turing, his staff versus pupils in addition to running the Art department and chess tournaments and his oversubscribed trips to introducing DT, spent seven years in boarding. He Cambridge and Bletchley Park have made Maths was lured back to Sevenoaks to work as Head of exciting and accessible. For those of us who are Art, CAS Co-ordinator and teacher of TOK. He has non-mathematicians we couldn’t help being swept remained a practising artist and has had his up by his Code Break Challenge in 2012, with paintings and ceramics in many galleries in pupils and staff alike from one hundred schools London and the Weald of Kent. He started a local nationally postponing their homework and arts network in Cranbrook in August 1997 which marking to wrestle with the latest Vigenère cipher. boasted over 120 members when Chris handed He has inspired a generation, as evidenced by over the reins in 2009. scores of Extended Essay students benefiting from Above all it is Chris’s students who have benefited his wisdom, patience and indefatigable energy. from his passionate, humane and patient approach. Quickly promoted whilst here to second in the He has always believed that teaching art is about department, he has been appointed Head of helping students develop their own ideas, and this Department at Highgate School. Effective as a philosophy has inspired many to pursue art as a mentor to junior staff, he built their confidence and career, such as Oliver Beer, Saatchi-winning artist, renewed their spirit. He was even able to make who returned to Sevenoaks in 2011 and 2012 for a setting exam papers enjoyable! Charming, witty residency and exhibition. and with his towering intellect and vitality, David We wish Chris all the best in his retirement and his is a stellar colleague and friend who will be sorely plans to devote more time to his own art. missed. He leaves a legacy that few could hope to accomplish in only three years. Neil Tetley
In 2001, Jeremy came to Sevenoaks from the Judd School as a teacher of French. On arrival he was quickly snapped up as a tutor in the IC, where his interest in boarding was first sparked. He had a Sixth Form day tutor group for five years too and his tutees thrived under his guidance. During that time he ran the Sixth Form Committee and the Freshers’ Ball, raising money for the PROMO Moldova project. Jeremy led this trip for three years, inspiring the volunteering side of many students. He was a very approachable chair of the SCR Committee and tackled tricky issues with characteristic calm. His contribution to Junior Games was patient and caring. Jeremy accompanied exchanges to Lyon and La Réunion. An all-round schoolmaster, he coached rugby to U14 and U16 teams and also the 2nd XV, helping to foster real team spirit. Since 2004 he has been an effective and highly valued Army Officer, and now runs the Army section. His booming voice on parade certainly licks his cadets into shape! For six years he ran Johnsons boarding house. More than one hundred boys and their parents have benefited from his dedication and excellent guidance. The house had a very strong traditional but unstuffy feel and boys knew where they stood; they were happy and busy, taught respect and good manners. Jeremy has trained as an ISI boarding inspector and has already struck fear into the hearts of boarding housemasters elsewhere! During his tenure he also took Johnsons boys, together with School House, to Tanzania to undertake building work for charity. Jeremy has been appointed Deputy Head of Holmewood House Prep School in Tunbridge Wells. We shall miss him and all he does for Sevenoaks, but we wish him all the very best.
We also say goodbye to the following members of the Academic and Support staff: Stephen Burley Solène Camus David Clifford Jacqueline Dennett Niki Dinsdale Laura Garcia Catone James Hughes Hsiang-Ju Lin Sam Liu Lyn Owens-Ward Letitia Perry Anthony Remy Katharina Voth Helen Whitaker Yang Zhang
Helen Tebay
Wendy Heydorn and Anson Cheung
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Philanthropic Leadership
FOUNDER’S BURSARY APPEAL
The Head, Governors and Foundation Trustees wish to sincerely thank the following donors for their support of the school over the past year.
A Sevenoaks education aims to give students the knowledge, skills and personal qualities that will enable them to fulfil their ambitions, whatever path they choose in life. We believe this education should be accessible to academically talented students, regardless of their background or financial circumstances. To this end we are seeking to double our bursary provision by 2020.
Julius Lau and Bonnie Chau
Michael and Ulrike Seiters
Alma Lawrie Chak Kuen and Cheung Ching Cherry Lee
and Amanda Deitsch
John Adler
Javier and Leonor del Ser
Pernille Ahlstrom
Marc and Katharine Doll
Abbad Al Radi
John and Julia Douglas
Mark Allen
Grant Douglas
Roger Alwen
Richard Douglas RICS
Sebastian and Pornpan Anstruther
Michel and Edmee-Marie Driessen
Suan Phang Loh and Meng Choo Chua
Harriet Armstrong Viner
Glenn and Phyllida Earle
Jonathan and Deborah Lyne
Aleksey and Olga Avanesov
Alistair Edwards
Dickson and Agnes Mak
Anuj Bahal
Graham and Sarah Elton
Stuart Maleno
Phillip Barnett
Nambar Enkhbayar
Ivan Marisin and Irina Marisina
Marta Bastianello
Lt Col Marcus Evans
William Mason
Mohammed and Georgiana Belgore
Tony Fenner-Leitao
Audrey McGillivray
Sandy Bell
John and Veronica Fenton
Anton and Rossy McGovern
Piero Benazzo
Luca and MariaChiara Ferrari
Dr Michael McMurtry MBE
Richard Field and Louise Bond
Ian and Carolyn Firth
Lucy and Andrew Mead
Omamofe and Nwakaego Boyo
Paul Fitzgerald and Khai Khalil
Adam Mead
Timothy and Susan Breedon
Amanda Ford
Arun and Simrit Mehra
Charles Breen
Carl-Peter and Dietlinde Forster
Sunil and Farina Melwani
Ivan and Fabienne Briery
Robert Froy
Mark and Ruth Merson
Dr Peter Broadhurst
Dr Yuk-Kwan Fung and Lindy Lai Bing Fung-Pak
Gennadiy Mescheryakov and Marina Mescheryakova
Tein and Dorcas George
Constantinos and Karen Miranthis
Dr Lorna Goddard
Michael Morelle
Eva Goetz
Michael and Heather Mosselmans
Walter Gontarek and Joelle Laissy-Gontarek
Vasily Mozgovoi and Alina Urlichich
Dr Armando Gonzalez-Ruiz and Pilar Gonzalez
David and Gail Nickols
Anthony and Isobel Brougham Cicely Brown Peter Bucks OBE Christopher Budgen Anne Catuogno
The school is immensely grateful for the generosity of all those who have contributed to the fund. Every gift will enrich and enhance the educational experience of students today and for generations to come – thank you.
Giovanni Ciccolunghi and Irina Laine
Matt Jarrett Deputy Director of Development
Bruno Scaroni
Habib and Tina Achkar
Last year we invited parents and alumni to support bursaries through a bursary appeal. The appeal had a wonderful response from parents and alumni throughout the world, and the result was outstanding. This will allow us to offer two full bursaries from September 2013 to students who would not otherwise have been able to benefit from a Sevenoaks education.
If you would like to help us give more students the chance to benefit from a Sevenoaks School education by supporting the Bursary Appeal, please contact the Development Office on 01732 467725.
Yu Yee Benjamin Lam and Dr Virginia Lee
Paul Chan Kam Kun Stephen Chau and Yim Fan Ho Sim Eng and Lee Chen Cheong Professor Kenneth Cheung FRCS and Cecilia Cheung Warren Wang Yan Cheung Edward Chow and Winnie Wong Jeeyoung and Seonmi Chung
Margaret Clothier Dr Michael Coigley Henry and Amanda Cooper Tim and Amanda Cornick Nicholas Cotterell Eamonn and Fenella Cournane Dr Nahid Cremer Pierre-Yves and Caroline Cros Michael and Angela Crow The Dacia Tasker Memorial Fund James Hochmann
Konstantin Gramotnev and Oksana Gramotneva Andrew Guest Arun and Sharmila Gwalani Philip and Lesley Hardaker Sarah Hicks Gordon Hillier Yasmeen Hoosenally Brigadier Brian and Margaret Horridge Richard and Julie Ingham Invicta Energy Limited Dr Khalid and Nasim Ismail Matt and Katherine Jarrett Michael Joyce Arnold Fung and Carman Kan Nicholas Khan Donald Kings Ian Kinnell QC David and Sally Knox
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013
Legal & General Ka Lun and Man Shueng Lee Andrew and Dr Yvonne Lindsay Yun Bonn and Cheuk Lai Liu
Peter and Colleen Nelson Edward O’Neill Ronald Pearson (Legacy) Mikhail Pecherskiy and Oxana Pecherskaya Andrew and Heather Phillips Roger Pickering Robert and Anne Pinchuk Graham and Louise Piper Neil Powell Vijaya and Vathani Rajah Reverend Richard Rayner Stuart Reeve and Emma King Charles Rogers Julian and Beverley Rudd-Jones John Sadler Sanford C Bernstein Ltd Edward Sayer
Dr Konrad and Heike Schott Mir Mehdi Seyidov and Ulviyya Seyidova Derek Shaw Magnus and Elizabeth Spence Peter Gloyne and Jill Stephens Anthony Stevens and Young Sil Yun Richard Surrey and Carol Welu Fabrice and Sophie Susini Giles Swift Yau Ting Tai and Sim Fong Wu Igor and Irina Tarasenko Kim Taylor Rosemarie Tegelaars Dr Suresh Tharmaratnam Russell Thomas Rhodri and Paula Thompson James and Helen Thorne John Thorneycroft Dr Clive and Lydia Thorpe Matthew Timms Dr Jitendra Trivedi Victor Troyas and Silvia Martinez Arnold and Denise Vergot-Holle Cedric Vidler Emilio Voli Oleg Volkov and Anna Volkova Dietrich and Annabel von Boetticher Mikhail Vorontsov and Olga Vorontsova Derick and Fiona Walker John Waring Richard Watters Klaus and Anne Wegner Martin and Anja Weiss Erik and Cassandra Wetter Sanchez Antony and Patricia Whitaker Bradley Gold and Jai White Wynyard Wilkinson David and Claire Williams Winton Capital Management Ltd Dr Poo Sing Wong FRCS (Ed), FRCS (CTh) and Dr Inez Wong Jason Wong and Zara Ng Leslie and Jane Wood Peter and Sara Yeates Lai Huat Yeo and Ai Khoon Wong
We would also like to thank those donors who wish to remain anonymous.
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dates for YOUR diary: School and OLD SennockianS Friday 15 November
18.30
Annual Old Sennockians Dinner, The Lansdowne Club, London
Friday 29 November
13.00
Junior Knole Run, Knole Park
Monday 2-Thursday 5 December
16:30
Transformations: IB Theatre and IB Literature & Performance presentations
Friday 6 December
19.30
Crash into Christmas, Pamoja Hall
Monday 9-Tuesday 10 December
19:00
Transformations: GCSE Drama presentations
Tuesday 10 December
19.00
Service of Readings and Carols, St Nicholas’ Church
Thursday 12 December
14.30
End of Michaelmas term
Wednesday 8 January
08.30
Beginning of Lent term
Saturday 11 January
14.30
40th Knole Run and 18th Girls’ Knole Run
Thursday 6-Saturday 8 February
19.30
Lower School Production, Private Peaceful, Sackville Theatre
Friday 7 March
18.30
OS 10 Year Reunion for the Class of 2004, Sevenoaks School
Wednesday 12 March
19.30
Music at Sevenoaks Concert, Pamoja Hall
Wednesday 19-Saturday 22 March 19.30
Upper School Production, Welcome to Thebes, Sackville Theatre
Sunday 23 March
12.00
Old Johnsonians Reunion Lunch, Sevenoaks School
Monday 24 March
19.30
Sevenoaks Swings Concert, Pamoja Hall
Friday 28 March
14.30
End of Lent term
Wednesday 23 April
08.30
Beginning of Summer term
Thursday 24 April
19.30
Jazz Club Concert
Saturday 26 April
18.30
OS Reunion, Italy
Tuesday 29 April
19.30
Alan Adler Concert, Pamoja Hall
Saturday 3 May
10.00
OS Five-a-side Football Tournament, Sennocke Centre
Saturday 17 May
18.30
OS 20 Year Reunion for the Class of 1994, Sevenoaks School
Saturday 24 May
Leavers’ Day
Friday 6 June
18.30
OS Summer Drinks, London
Monday 9-Tuesday 10 June
19.00
Sixth Form Plays, Sackville Theatre
Wednesday 11-Saturday 14 June
19.30
Middle School Production, Pericles, Sackville Theatre
Sunday 22 June
14.00
OS Cricket v the school 1st XI at Solefields
Monday 23 June
13.30
Middle School Sports Day
Friday 27 June
09.00
Lower School Sports Day
Saturday 28 June
12.00
OS 50 Year Reunion for the Class of 1964, Sevenoaks School
Saturday 28 June
14.00
End of Summer term
July, date to be confirmed
Vine Cricket: six-a-side competition involving the OS, the Vine Cricket Club, Orbilians and Tonbridge
Saturday 1-Saturday 25 August
Contractions, Sackville Theatre Company, Edinburgh Fringe
Thursday 28 August
Beginning of Michaelmas term
08.30
All dates are correct at the time of going to press, but may be subject to change. For OS reunions and sporting events, please refer to Dates for your Diary (OS pages, school website).
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SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2012-2013