THE ALDRONIAN 2016 - 2017
TITLE
“Bringing out the best in boys”
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THE ALDRONIAN HEAD BOY
Toby Pascoe
PREFECTS
Jonathan Barley Henry Brown Jack Finnis Toby Pascoe Finn Taylor Jonny Wilkinson Ben Yeldham Rory Yeldham
SQUAD CAPTAINS Africa Australia Canada India New Zealand West Indies
Luke Cassar Will Owen Oliver Percival Henry Bourne Rory Yeldham George Lake Coghlan
CHAPEL WARDENS
Max Coltart, Hugo Worthington
TEAM CAPTAINS
Captain of Football Captain of Rugby Captain of Hockey Captain of Cricket Captain of Athletics Captain of Golf Captain of Chess Captain of Shooting Captain of Polo
Benedict Crowe Henry Starmer-Smith Will Owen Oliver Percival Finn Taylor Jonathan Barley Jack Finnis, Jonathan Barley Charlie Hall Freddie Cooper
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The publishing of The Aldronian continues to be a team effort which could not happen without the help and support of many people. Firstly, thank you to everybody who submitted reports and photographs. Thanks also to Malcolm Cronshaw, Janie Sadler, Elizabeth King and Chris Rose for their proof reading, advice and support and to Martyn Foss for co-ordinating the sports reports. Team photographs were taken by Ben Alexander and reproductions can be ordered via the school. Co-editors: Loren Fenwick and Sheridan Charles THE THE ALDRONIAN ALDRONIAN 33
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION After the long Summer break, it would be easy to start a new year fresh and forward-looking, but this is one time where to look forwards properly we must reflect just as much on the glorious year that has just unfolded before us. This wonderful Aldronian magazine, lovingly crafted and put together by the Aldro staff team will not only bear testimony to the array of talents possessed by the boys, but also to the thrilling set of achievements built upon during the year. It goes without saying, that the whole magazine needs leadership to produce it and it could not have succeeded without the many hours of blood, sweat and tears poured out by Mrs Sheridan Charles and Mrs Loren Fenwick. Holbrook for master-minding this.
After a Summer send-off where our local MP, The Rt. Honourable Anne Milton, gave out prizes and a moving address on making your own success in the world, we know just how talented our boys really are, and strive to be as they leave here. It may interest you all to know that Aldro may be an amazing community – but is a divided electoral estate. Our grounds, lake and tennis courts lie in South West Surrey, but the residences and main buildings lie in Guildford – so we could have a foot in both camps if we wanted (hence the position of the parents’ tug-ofwar). With our election on June 8th, we had four main parties: Vision, Progress, Transform and Tomorrow – and boys took to choosing their own policies and debating, campaigning, lobbying alongside taking on key roles in the polling station, counting office and registration office – such was the desire to give them a positive experience of democracy – our debt of gratitude to Simon 4 THE ALDRONIAN
This year saw 12 scholarships for entry to senior schools, and thus 32 scholarships from the past 2 years. Comprising 11 for academic or allrounder awards, 11 for Sports, 7 for music & drama, 2 for Art and 1 for D&T – some breath-taking results from very talented young men. We are very proud of our leavers who all sailed through their Common Entrance exams to achieve places at their chosen senior schools, and thank all the staff for working so hard with the boys to achieve their successes. The theme of partnership is key to all of us. We treasure the journey we share with families in educating their boys and play a special and important role with all those key Christian values that we strive to live our lives by. We value the fact that we are surrounded by loving families supporting their sons, each one with individual gifts and talents. At Aldro we seek to give them huge opportunities to develop and nurture those gifts. In picking out some highlights from the year; Golden tickets have been awarded for 15 or more behaviour squad marks in a half-term (and 20+ boys achieved this each halfterm) – a popular Headboy initiative. Similarly on the new front: Lamda lessons have taken off for over 50 boys, as have Lamda showcase events for all year-groups and this led to form assemblies and
a pioneering group of 6 boys competing in the Godalming Drama Festival, all of whom received distinction awards. We have also successfully introduced the Millionaires' Club for those who have enjoyed huge passion and success at Accelerated Reader – to have reached such dizzy heights this year is hugely important in fostering an even greater love of reading. This year we have introduced the Boarders ‘Big Weekends’ - filling the house almost every weekend – more than 120 boys have boarded at least once this year. During the year I have been delighted to recognise many Aldro boys who have achieved so much more outside of school. One boy has been selected for the National Strings Symphony Orchestra and one boy placed 3rd in the U13 National Racketlon Championships. We also had three boys who finished inside the top 100 nationally in maths competitions, another three who won the Mini Model UN Debating Competition at Bryanston, nine boys selected for the ISFA South central teams for the Gothia Youth Football World Cup in Sweden, our 1st VII Rugby team who were within a whisker of winning the Rosslyn Park VIIs tournament – Aldro boys are on track to be world-beaters!
CHAPEL
CHAPEL
All of us who have led chapel services have felt the call to delve deeper into God’s word, and to carry on this journey faithfully through the year. We all need to be reminded to give God thanks where we feel blessed, and to remember to hang on to Him when times are harder – to remember His strength. The main teaching services have been led by myself, Nick Margesson, Sir James King and Chris Rose, but a few more hardy staff have bravely accepted the call to lead and preach to the whole school – for which we are truly grateful. I have been following a journey through Mark’s gospel, most notably spending this past term exploring Easter – proving that Easter is for ever not just a weekend in March or April. Sir James has helped us understand the Lord’s Prayer, and how to be prepared for life by taking on the full armour of God from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, while Nick Margesson has been leading us through Chronicles and the call of both Elijah and Elisha, who responded to God in different ways. Chris Rose took up the mantle of themes from the Bible, most notably resilience, teamwork and leadership – all vital soft skills!
In chapel, we have embraced new technology. Thanks to Ben Alexander and Joyce Johnson for launching it, and to Max Dyer and Charlie Camilleri for running the EasyWorship software to help support services and assemblies in chapel. Hymn books are now packed away, and words on screen, but boys still love using bibles to find passages. We have even used this to great effect with new hymn practices for the boys, and new organ playing staff to deputise for Tom Rainer. This year, we have been richly blessed by visits of guest preachers from Wellington, Eton, Monkton Combe, Cranleigh, Harrow, Forres Holidays, and Operation Christmas Child. Who could forget the incredible carol service at Charterhouse, where we were challenged and enlightened by Mr Andy Poulson, Director of the Godalming Trinity Trust?
We enjoyed a wonderful confirmation service in March, taken by Bishop Michael Baughen, retired Bishop of Chester (who lives in Godalming). Nick Margesson had been preparing a group of 7 keen and committed boys for confirmation as well as one baptism. These are special moments for boys and their families, and I am grateful for the time spent in helping boys on their journey to explore faith, as with the time spent by both Nick Margesson and Sir James King with the Lighthouse Group which meets in the Boarding House on Tuesday evenings. I finished the final week of term with the challenge to understand and live out the call to be compassionate people – what this means practically is to be people who are both “giving” and “forgiving”.
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BOARDING
BOARDING
Another amazing year has flown by in the Aldro Boarding House! It was a year that saw amazing growth in the number of boys signing up to board. We had 65% of all boys at Aldro taking up some form of boarding over the year. We are very lucky to have the amazing Matrons, Boarding Staff and Housemaster, Mr Rainer, to support the boys and foster a real family environment that permeates the entire Boarding House. It really is a team effort to make it a ‘home from home’ for all the boys, whether they come from the surrounding villages, or from as far away as China. One of the highlights of the year was the introduction of the ‘Big Boarding Weekends’. This entailed inviting non-boarders to join us on the weekends to experience what life is like in the Boarding House. We had special weekends dedicated to Forms 3 & 4, 5 & 6 and 7 & 8 each term. This also meant that our full time boarders were able to invite their day-boy friends to ‘sleep over’. We were very encouraged by the large number of boys
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BOARDING
that signed up. The Summer Term saw almost the entire Junior Department staying one weekend and travelling down to the Isle of Wight on the Sunday for a day at the beach! With such success we will be carrying these on in future terms, so please keep your eyes peeled for the sign-up sheets in the weekly mailings. On another note, our Boarding House animals are being as loved as ever. Pepper the hamster has had many daring escapes after lights out, the fish are still swimming, and we added two new hamsters, Archie and Gilgamesh. Miss Whitelock got a puppy called Rolo who is well loved by all the boys! Three dorms have been repainted and we have plans to continue this throughout the rest. The boys love the new ‘Minion’ themed dorm which was a big hit with the juniors. We have also added some new bunk beds as the uptake in boarding was so great. It’s safe to say there is always something happening in the Boarding House! Everyone in the Aldro Boarding House would once again like to thank all the boys for such an amazing year. The Boarding House was a hive of activity and we could not possibly write everything that happened within these pages as there have been too many highlights! We wish all the leavers good luck on their journey and we hope that the foundation of boarding at Aldro has set them up for success in their senior schools. Bring on the new year!
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SCHOOL TRIPS
ALDRO FRENCH TRIP APRIL 2017 A combination of beautiful weather and brilliant boys made for one of the best French trips to date. Minor setbacks dwindled into insignificance. For instance, at 6.30 AM, Saturday 22 April, the second false fire alarm of the trip was redeemed by a cloudless, pale blue, pre-dawn sky without a puff of wind. The boys’ exemplary evacuation and behaviour, standing-to without a murmur to be accounted and Ben Ballard’s final suggestion that “If we cannot get back to sleep, we can at least get our packing done in advance.” The highlights of this trip according to all feedback were a pleasant surprise
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and a first. Our first experience as a school at sand yachting was a winner. The light onshore Force 4 breeze was strong enough to make the ‘chars à voile’ responsive without being too strong for them to capsize. Only one or two of our lighter boys succeeded in getting a wheel into the air. The rest of us tried our hardest and just went faster. For those who have not tried this sport, imagine go-karting on the beach without the noise and fumes, nor any brakes, and being able to exchange banter as you are overtaken! The other highlight also involved crossing sand, but on two feet. Last year we were
led to believe that the reorganisation of the flow of water to restore Mont St Michel to an island had put paid to crossing the Baie from one side to the other for good. It came as the best surprise on the last day to set off from the La Grand’ ferme shore and head straight to Mont St Michel as pilgrims have done for centuries. It is an unforgettable and surrealist experience walking 3 miles across the seabed, including fording France’s best salmon river, and looking back from the terrace at the top of the Abbey to see the sea reclaim its space for the next six hours. A greater appreciation of Geography
SCHOOL TRIPS
in action was provided by the clearest explanation of how tides work from Woody in La Maison de la Baie before we set off with the help of selected boys, including Charlie ‘Moon’ Hall and Alex ‘Sun’ Hu. How is it, there is always at least one wearing blue, white or grey and red? In the wake of their success last year, oysters have now become a fixture and when Woody offered to provide some from his beds in the Isles de Chauseys, a cautious order was of two per boy plus a dozen for each member of staff for hors d’oeuvres. In the end the staff were lucky if they had four! While
not to everybody’s taste, these oysters appealed to an impressive majority, more so than the snails, and a few just could not get enough. The other memorable gastronomic moments were Dinan Market and the Goat Farm, naturally! As always confidence through familiarity with the language was the main aim. Instructions and explanations were delivered in French and boys were encouraged to speak in the language as much as possible. By the end all were doing so
quite naturally at basic level and the pride some boys have taken in their ‘journaux’ is most impressive as they gradually began to work independently on the terrace in the evening light. Others had important boules matches to play or swim off their remaining energy.
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SCIENCE WEEK
SCIENCE WEEK
It has been a fantastic year in the science labs with boys dancing like atoms and electricity, making the most of the school grounds. We have welcomed 2 new boys into the department – Basil and Eggbert whom some of the boys have been kind enough to look after at home (I am sure some arm twisting was involved). New fortnightly science challenges have been very popular with boys as has the reformation of the curriculum into combined sciences. Boys have dissected, modelled, counted, sang, smiled and enjoyed. We did Science Week differently this year and the Junior and Senior Departments each had a whole morning off entirely dedicated to the super world of Science…..boy, did they go off with a blast!! The boys dressed up as a chosen element for the day. The Junior boys spent their morning making fire, being wizards and making loud bangs in the laboratory with Miss D (and a fire-starting Mr.Margesson). A big thank you goes to Miss King who offered her help as technician for the morning. They also had the opportunity to learn more about the stars around us in an inflatable planetarium that visited us. The Senior boys had a plethora of activities run by our staff and visiting companies to enrich their classroom learning: Form 5 created super man-sized Biodomes with Mrs Matthews and made plaster casts of their hands with Mrs Fenwick.
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Form 6 used different areas of Science to solve a serious crime against our very own Headmaster. Form 7 had a chemistry workshop with ‘Mad Mark’ and ‘Sublime Science’ and got to take their own slime home (thank goodness!) Form 8 used higher order thinking to plan an expedition up Mount Everest. The school was brimming with excitement over the two days and the ‘Staff Rocket Competition’ became a very popular show for the boys – congratulations to the victorious Mrs Fenwick of Africa squad!
SCIENCE WEEK STAFF ROCKET CHALLENGE: Staff name
Squad
J. Chitson
Africa 20
K. Donaldson
Africa 10
S. Holbrook
India 10
E. King
India 30
L. Benz
Australia 10
A. Mallios
W. Indies 10
L. Fenwick
Africa 40
C. Rose
India 10
E. Matthews
Canada 10
F. Drayton
Australia 10
B. Higham
N. Zealand 10
J. Corfield
Africa 10
P Holbrook
India 10
SCIENCE WEEK
3rd Place – Mrs Chitson 2nd Place – Lady King 1st Place – Mrs Fenwick
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SCIENCE WEEK
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SCIENCE WEEK
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A YEAR IN ENGLISH
A YEAR IN ENGLISH “IF YOU TALK TO A MAN IN A LANGUAGE, HE MERELY UNDERSTANDS AND THAT GOES TO HIS HEAD. IF YOU TALK TO HIM IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE, THAT GOES TO HIS HEART.” NELSON MANDELA
Why do we study English, when we all speak it? Could it be to pass exams like Common Entrance or GCSE? Could it be to celebrate the language’s contribution to the culture and thinking of the world? or could it be as Nelson Mandela asserts, that by studying our mother tongue and all its intricacies, we delve into the soul, change lives and find a place beyond the ordinary? The English Department has been working hard to ensure that English remains a subject that goes beyond exam technique and rote-learning, and embracing free-thinking and selfexpression. I have been delighted to see the hard work of teachers and students this year and the progress made. We were incredibly thankful to have author visits from the inspiring Christian Darkin and Dave Shelton, theatre trips and the regular features that included the Form 7 visit to Brookwood Cemetery that inspired the Form 7 boys to write some memorable war poetry for the Barry Gardiner War Poetry Competition. We also added the incredibly successfull ‘Aldro 500 Creative Writing Competition’ that had around one hundred entries and was a delight to mark. Finally, we shared an amazing World Book Day that had many terrific costumes and events. The Accelerated Reader programme has worked brilliantly this year at promoting reading. The programme, which helps monitor reading ability and lets boys choose books which are suitable in content and level, also helps parents to select appropriate books through ‘AR Book Finder’. The year saw 75+ badges 14 THE ALDRONIAN
and 40+ other reading prizes. Many thanks to Mrs Chitson for her amazing help in the Library, where she inspires reading, as well as organising some wonderful author visits. Also many thanks to the parents for helping us ensure all boys read. Finally and sadly, we said a fond goodbye to a valued member of our team.
Mrs Polly Holbrook leaves us this year. She has brought so much to her Junior English role and has been a truly positive influence inspiring her Form 4s. I wish to thank her for both her work in and out of the classroom. We look forward to a great 2017-2018 as a team.
SUMMARY OF ENGLISH PRIZES
YEARLY Prize-Giving 2017 Longacre English Prize George Lake Coghlan (8K) & Luke Haynes (8R) Best Form 8 Non-Fiction Writer Henry Brown (8R) Best Form 8 Literary Criticism Writer Henry Starmer-Smith (8K) Best Form 8 Speaking and Debating Prize Monty Payne (8R) Most Improved in their Time at Aldro Harry Murray (8A) & Will Owen (8R) TERMLY Lent Term Form 7 Brookwood War Poetry Prize: 1st Charlie Hall (7H) 2nd Alfie Hewitt (7J) 3rd Ben Ballard (7L) Forms 4 to 8 Forms 6 to 8 ‘Writing Alone’ Winner: James Vincent (6D) Aldro 500: Forms 6 to 8 ‘Writing With An Adult’ Winner: Bertie Harris (7J) Forms 4 & 5 ‘Writing Alone’ Winner: Alex Garawal (5J) Forms 4 & 5 ‘Writing With An Adult’ Winner: Toby Nash (5J) Summer Term Highest Accelerated Readers: F orm 8: Max Agrest (8A) Form 7: Charlie Camilleri (7L) Form 6: Edward Britton (6D) Form 5: Rishi Bhardwaj (5D) Form 4: James Clifford (4PH) Form 3: Harvey O’Mahony (3R) Form 8 Gold or Ultimate Reading Badges Winners*: Henry Brown (8R), Archie Chilcott (8K), Jack Finnis (8K), Jake Golding (8R), George Lake-Coghlan (8K), Sam Nicholas (8K), Monty Payne (8R), Henry Rix (8K), Semion Shuppe (8A), Henry Starmer-Smith (8K), Jonny Wilkinson (8K), Ben Yeldham (8K) and Rory Yeldham (8K). (*Obtaining Bronze, Silver, Gold and Ultimate Badges over 3 or 4 years of the Middle and Senior Schools.)
ART AND DESIGN
A YEAR IN THE ART DEPARTMENT Hugo Worthington
This year, four dedicated and hardworking young men spent many hours preparing their scholarship portfolios to showcase their talent. Luke Haynes, Henry Bourne, Freddie Cole and Hugo Worthington painted and drew, sculpted and printed their way to success and their stunning work is a testament to their efforts. They were joined by Jack Finnis, whose enthusiasm for art drove him to work alongside the scholars despite his future school not offering an art scholarship. His passion for art inspires us all. Congratulations to Luke, who was awarded a scholarship to Tonbridge, and Hugo who was awarded a scholarship to King Edward’s School, Witley. All four boys should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved in their final year at Aldro and we wish them every success in the future. LF
Luke Haynes THE ALDRONIAN 15
ART AND DESIGN Freddie Cole
Jack Finnis
Freddie Cole
Henry Bourne
e
rn Henry Bou
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BEAUTIFUL BIRDBATHS
ART AND DESIGN
Boys in Form 3 designed and made these ceramic birdbaths using red terracotta clay. They learned how to create a basic pinch pot before painstakingly sculpting tiny birds to sit on them. There is definitely an advantage to having tiny fingers! The bases were created separately and added after firing. They discovered how important it is to join clay securely. Leftover clay was used to create small creatures that might be found lurking around a birdbath. Transparent blue glass beads were placed inside the bowls before the glaze firing and they melted in the kiln to simulate water. The boys were terribly excited when the kiln was final opened to reveal the wonderful colours of their glazes.
Balthazar Ellis
“There was an old lady, who swallowed a fly� Boys in Form 3 loved creating these imaginative interpretations of a popular song.
Elliot Barnes Leo Holmes
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ART AND DESIGN
DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS In Form 4 boys considered what they might like to be doing in 30 years’ time. Many boys chose sports stardom; some chose military careers, there were a couple of astronauts, a few explorers and also the less predictable builder, a postman and the delightful magician. Their creativity ran wild!
On the technical side, boys learned about colour mixing, composition, pattern and texture. For some, working on such a large scale was a real challenge, but they all approached the task with maximum enthusiasm and the results speak for themselves.
I will be a magician because I want to welcome little kids to the world with a bit of magic. James Clifford
I want to be the first astronaut to explore Mars, because i'm very curious about finding out if there is water on mars. Dylan Galbraith
I want to be playing rugby for England and Saracens, like Owen Farrell. Zac Whitehouse
These fabulous collages are proof that young boys do know how to cut and stick accurately! They are adapted from line drawings and took much concentration and precision.
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These delicious looking burgers are filled with all the tastiest ingredients. Boys investigated ellipses to help them draw the plates and soda glasses.
EXTRAORDINARY HOUSES
ART AND DESIGN
These stunning houses were designed by boys in Form 4, Inspired by the Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. After exploring his philosophy for creating dwellings that allow people to live in harmony with nature, they experimented with gouache paint, a new medium in the Art Department, to create these vibrant and highly individual paintings.
LF
Boys experimented with drawing figures from direct observation. They took turns to pose in a chair and be drawn. There were also some guest posers – including the headmaster! After the initial anxiety about drawing in pen, most boys found it very liberating to abandon erasers and commit to every line. These drawings were enhanced by patterns using colour pencil, inspired to wallpaper designs from the 1960s. THE ALDRONIAN 19
TITLE ART AND DESIGN
ABORIGINAL ART These beautiful paintings were created by boys in Form 6, inspired by Australian Aboriginal art. Boys learned about some of the Dreamtime symbols and the traditional patterns and colours, before choosing an animal – not necessarily Australian – to depict in a similar style. There was much experimentation in order to find perfect dot making tools. Mostly, boys used the backs of everyday tools such as pencils and paintbrushes and the end of a very broad felt tip was useful for the biggest dots. It was a slow and painstaking process but the results are worth the effort!
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BRILLIANT BATIK
ART AND DESIGN
The highlight of Form 7 was definitely the opportunity to get creative with scalding hot wax and even hotter tjantings which are the small brass tools used for pouring the hot wax onto fabric in a controlled way. The boys took the safety aspects of the project very seriously. Only one person burned a finger and it wasn’t a student! After five or six cycles of waxing and dyeing, it was very exciting to iron the fabric between layers of newspaper, to remove the wax and reveal these wonderful marine-themed batik pieces. Many thanks are owed to Karin Lauritzen for her generous donation of beeswax, which is an essential component of this ancient Indonesian craft.
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ART AND DESIGN
SILK TIES
As always, silk tie production has been very popular in Form 8. These highly colourful expressions of their creativity are much anticipated and their individuality is a testament to their creators. Working with precision and care, every boy produced a tie that he can wear with pride!
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CHESS PIECES A brand new project, in collaboration with Design & Technology, has been the creation of ceramic chess pieces to accompany their beautiful chess boards. Boys studied the history of chess and looked at the individual chess pieces, their role within the game and their unique characteristics.
ART AND DESIGN
They then created their own chess sets by interpreting each piece in an imaginative way, while preserving the identifiable characteristics to ensure the functionality of the set. Each set was glazed in contrasting colours and when they were placed on the boards, the results were breathtaking.
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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY This has been a year of great change in the DT department, as I took over from the much loved and well respected Mr Smith who had built the department up from nothing over the last 29 years.
Over the summer the classroom and workshop had a mini makeover, and the boys set to filling the brightly coloured walls with fabulous examples of their DT work using a range of different materials and processes. We are very excited by our first venture into Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacture (CAD/CAM) with our CNC vinyl and card cutting machine which lots of the boys have used in their projects this year. Here is a little snap shot of what we have achieved in the last 12 months
FORM 3
The boys started with a Graphics project PENPALS, creating animal themed pen pots, which were developed using a range of hand skills and an element of CAD/CAM. They also had their first venture into the workshop where they used some hand tools and machinery to create a weighted wooden base for their eye-catching designs. Later on in the school year we also introduced some Textiles in the SEW EASY project, helping the boys to develop their sewing skills. This is in the hope that they may be competent enough to sew their many badges onto their jumpers themselves over the coming years! To learn these skills they practised a range of sample stitches, and created some stuffed felt fishes.
FORM 4
These boys commenced the year with the OLYMPIC GAMES project, where they designed and created their own board game, themed on the amazing Olympic and Paralympic games we witnessed last summer. This enabled them to develop their basic CAD skills so that later on in the LOCK UP project they could design and make their own name plaques for their sports lockers, something they are very excited about using in September!
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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
FORM 5
These boys have crammed so much into one year, that even I am amazed by what they completed. Initially they undertook their main project BEDTIME, to design and manufacture their own clock. The variety of designs is staggering and each boy completed a highly desirable outcome encompassing not only resistant materials that were cut and finished using hand tools and machinery, but also the application of CNC produced vinyl “Stika’s”TM to add a really professional finish to the completed product.
Following on from this we also enlisted the help of Mr McCoy in the kitchen to facilitate some Food Technology, with FEED ME being another new initiative for DT at Aldro! The boys worked hard in teams to produce both standard and healthier brownies and they analysed the differences between the recipes, their ingredients, the different nutritional values, and of course their favourite bit was the taste testing!!! The boys then designed Valentine's packaging so that they could create gifts for their loved ones.
In the Lent term, the boys created some savory Easter Eggs, (closely resembling Scotch eggs!) most of which were devoured at lunch time and didn't even make it home!
We completed the year with a MEGASTRUCTURES project, looking at architecture and constructing their own geo-domes working up from small card models, to larger frameworks using cocktail sticks and sweets (which of course had to be consumed afterwards!) to a large construction made from rolled paper, masking tape and split pins. This final activity was part of Science Week and they loved making a dome they could fit inside.
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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
FORM 6
The year commenced with MERRY MECHANISMS, a project looking at motion and mechanisms, and the boys put the theory of cams and followers, friction drives, crank handles, axles and some levers into practice making a range of mechanical Christmas scenes.
Their second project was another first here at Aldro, introducing some metal work with KEYSKILLS. The boys worked SO hard cutting with a hacksaw, filing and wet and drying their aluminium keyrings and necklaces, and they certainly learnt the true meaning of the phrase 'elbow grease'! The results were stunning and I know the boys are all proud of their outcomes in this project.
Form 7 and Form 6 took on a joint team BRIDGE challenge where they investigated bridge design and experimented with different ways in which to strengthen a fairly flimsy material, paper, before constructing their own designs. The teams were marked on a range of criteria, not only the overall weight the bridge held, and rather pleasingly we had joint winners, one team from each year group!
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DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
FORM 7
We started this year with the BIRDHUT project, a simple birdhouse which the boys then customised and decorated to resemble a beach hut of their design. Their task was to be able to interpret working drawings and cut and assemble the 7 main parts following a detailed set of instructions. We continued with GET HOOKED, a far more open-ended design task where the boys were asked to come up with their own design for an acrylic storage item, which encompassed hooks or shelving to help organise items of their choosing around the home. The outcomes in this project were incredibly varied, and again the boys benefited from customising their work with CNC produced vinyl graphics.
In June a large proportion of Form 7 showed interest in DT as an option for further study at GCSE or A-Level, and so we took them to see an exhibition of coursework at CHARTERHOUSE. The boys were very interested in the pupils' work, and of course the incredible workshop facilities they have there.
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DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
FORM 8
I felt that this was an important year for the boys and was very keen for them to leave the school with a high quality artefact that would be kept and enjoyed for many years to come, as well as being something that reminded them of Aldro, hence the project CHECKMATE was introduced. We joined forces with the Art Department to create hardwood veneered chessboards and the accompanying clay chess pieces. I hope that in years to come the boys will be teaching their children to play chess with these boards and pieces.
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DESIGN TECHNOLOGY Towards the end of the CHECKMATE project some of the boys had additional time to work on a small laminated hardwood keyring, or Christmas decoration.
BATMAN, The final project for our leavers was totally inspired by the boys’ love of table tennis and their frequent requests to make their own bats. They researched a range of different styles before settling on their own design, and the selection ranges from the more traditional to some other more unusual designs. During the Leavers Programme the boys very much enjoyed playing mini tournaments in Chess and Table Tennis.
In conclusion 2016 - 2017 has been a very busy and productive year for the DT department. The boys have created some fabulous work, which I have been delighted to display both in the department and in the glass cabinet just off the vestibule. I just have to apologise to the boys that I wouldn’t let them take their work immediately as we needed to show off a little first! I did promise that by Christmas I will have new work to display and they can then claim their masterpieces! Thanks to all the boys for making my first year here so great!
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MUSIC
MUSIC
Every year the question goes through my mind "how will we do next year when the Form 8s leave?" With so many talented boys leaving in the Summer of 2016 this question burned strongly at the front of mind perhaps more than ever since my arrival at Aldro. Within days it was clear that we didn’t even need to ask the question as the new crop of Form 8’s, along with a number of new boys who had joined Aldro this term, would step into big shoes and not only fill them but arguably outgrow them! The initial rehearsals gave us tremendous encouragement as the ensembles, classes, choirs and staff got down to the job of preparing the boys for 30 THE ALDRONIAN
concerts, exams, festivals, competitions and services. The music competition got off to a flying start and the heats were very competitive as the standard was so high and the panel of judges took a great deal of time deliberating who should go through to the final. The programme is worth looking through as it shows the incredible diversity and amount of music taking place at Aldro.
Henry Cardozo (5)-Guitar-Samba Ole Nicko Lawrence (5)-Piano-Calypso Henry Cole (5)-Singing-Where is love? Joshua Cook (5)-Singing-Butterfly Henry Cardozo (5)-Piano-You are the sunshine of my life String orchestra: Shark Attack Function band: Valerie Henry Wigg (6)-Oboe-Cairo carnival
Brass group: The Joy of Christmas Jack McKenzie (4)-Trumpet-Give me joy
Freddie Weir (6)-Violin-Gavotte
Alexander Sheridan-Oliver (4)-RecorderCat walk
Woodwind group: Eye of the tiger
Tom Wild (4)-Drums-Big ideas
Charles Currie-Aird (6)-Piano-Lullaby
Chamber strings: History Jack Douglas (5)-Violin-Happy go lucky
Oliver Drewitt (6)-Singing-She’s like the swallow
Sebastian Kus (6)-Guitar-Dirt Wizard
Benji Bushnell (6)-Guitar-Celebration
MUSIC Jack McKenzie (4H)-Trumpet and Henry Rix (8K)-Trumpet. The boys deserve a huge amount of credit for entering and performing so well and the most encouraging thing from the whole term's competition was the boys performing with excellence, confidence and a great deal of enjoyment. The boys asked "when will the next one be sir?" and I had to reply "next year". Amongst the soloists the ensembles were to demonstrate their hard work and continued improvement, and with the addition of Chamber Strings, Trombone Choir and, later in the year, Woodwind Trio we have seen tremendous improvement and a very bright future for music at Aldro and beyond.
Recorder ensemble: Jingle Bells Patrick Hughes (7)-Saxophone-Polly wolly doodle Siwei Han (7)-Cello-Danse Rustique Felix Hughes (7)-Drums-1 Guitar group: Blues Oliver Percival (8)-Trombone-Let’s call the whole thing off Jonathan Barley (8)-TromboneThe Acrobat
As the evening went on the audience were clearly intrigued as to which boys would be awarded the prize of ‘Junior Musician of the Year’ and ‘Aldro Musician of the Year’ and our adjudicator Gary Ryan (International Guitarist and Assistant Head of Strings at the Royal College) had a difficult job. In the end, and having grown up listening to some poor trumpet playing from Mr Rainer at school, Gary awarded the prizes to
Choirs: All the choirs have worked extremely hard this year and again shown a great deal of development. It was wonderful to hear them all sing at the Christmas Carol Service and the tone was set for the service by Toby Pascoe (Head Boy) starting the service off with ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ Toby’s singing was to be a highlight this year with not only this solo but a distinction at Grade 7 during the summer term and winning most promising male voice overall in the Godalming Festival.
Henry Rix (8)-Trumpet-Rondino Advanced Trombone ensemble: Hymne An Due Nacht Henry Rix (8)-Piano-Theme and variations Jack Finnis (8)-Piano-60’s swing Toby Pascoe (8)-Singing-Silver Chamber choir: Snowfall Chapel choir: Carol of the Children Jazz band: Mission impossible
THE ALDRONIAN 31
MUSIC
Chapel Choir deserve a special mention for literally working right up until the very end of term with the Leavers' Service and they provided us with some beautiful and thoughtful performances throughout the year, be it singing at Harvest, Remembrance, Christmas Carol Service or Candlelit Service, Confirmation and the Leavers' Service not to mention the concerts that they have so enthusiastically performed in. The final rehearsal for the Leavers service only lasted 5 minutes as Mr Rainer was so pleased with them that he gave them a well-deserved break, as he didn’t think it could be improved upon. Needless to say they didn’t disappoint in the service itself, the following day. Individual lessons: It is always fascinating when a boy or parent writes in wanting to try-out an instrument and begin their musical adventure. I have asked the question over my entire teaching career "how does a boy choose his instrument?" as this is 32 THE ALDRONIAN
a constant source of fascination and it was when asking Mrs Gregory this question during a discussion that she gave a better answer-"they don’t. The instrument chooses them". This year has seen progress and interest like never before-the boys have hit what I term ‘professional standards’ right from the first lesson with attitude, practice and working out the rudiments of music which will take them so far in the future. No more apparent has this been that with the boys' desires to get their counting right while playing and the use of Mr Rainer’s ‘Instrument of torturethe metronome!’ As the year has progressed we have seen the evidence of this work in concerts and individual performances. In the end of term concerts, informal concerts and regatta the boys have demonstrated their passion and excellence for performing. The brass ensemble and Form 5 entered pieces for ‘Music for Youth’ and were highly commended for their performances.
None demonstrated this excellence more so than the Junior Concert at the end of the term where all boys who learn in the Junior Department performed and the standard was the highest in many years at Aldro. Well done to all who took part, especially those who have literally just started. The year culminated with an exceptional set of music results in the summer sittings to add to some exceptional achievements during the academic year...
MUSIC
MUSIC EXAM RESULTS TRINITY-December 2016
Oliver
Drewitt
Trumpet
2
DISTINCTION
Ben
Hickey
Trombone
1
DISTINCTION
Bertie
Harris
Trumpet
2
MERIT
Finn
Taylor
Trumpet
1
MERIT
Sahib
Kullar
Euphonium
1
MERIT
Jacob
Drayton
Trumpet
2
PASS
Benedict
Robertson
Trombone
2
PASS
Henry
Rix
Trumpet
6
MERIT
Alfie
Hewitt
Euphonium
1
MERIT
Jack
Bourne
Trumpet
1
MERIT
George
Brew
Tenor Horn
4
PASS
Jack
McKenzie
Trumpet
1
MERIT
Luke
McGarry
Trombone
4
MERIT
James
Cassar
Trumpet
1
DISTINCTION
Jonny
Wilkinson
Trumpet
4
MERIT
Maximus
Cornelius
Trumpet
1
PASS
Ben
Hickey
Cello
1
DISTINCTION
THE ALDRONIAN 33
MUSIC Rockschool December 2016
ABRSM Easter 2017
Tom
Wild
Drums
Debut Distinction
Charles
Currie-Aird
Piano
2
Merit
Patrick
Barraclough
Drums
1
Pass
Dominic
De Vuyst
Singing
2
Merit
Klim
Rotov
Drums
1
Merit
Oliver
Drewitt
Piano
3
Pass
Caspar
Wood
Drums
Debut Merit
Louie
Thompson
Piano
1
Pass
Jonnie
Lake Coghlan
Drums
Debut Merit
ABRSM Christmas 2016
Trinity entries summer 2017 Toby
Pascoe
Singing
7
Distinction
Monty
Payne
Trumpet
4
Pass
Jonathan
Barley
Trombone
7
Merit
Siwei
Han
Piano
6
Pass
Oliver
Percival
Trombone
6
Merit
Toby
Pascoe
Saxophone 2
Merit
Henry
Bourne
Trombone
4
Pass
MatĂas
Lenton
Saxophone 3
Distinction
Luke
McGarry
Trombone
5
Merit
Benji
Bushnell
Clarinet
1
Merit
Samuel
Follett
Trombone
5
Distinction
Jack
Finnis
Singing
5
Merit
Jamie
Hume
Trombone
5
Distinction
Oliver
Drewitt
Singing
4
Merit
Sahib
Kullar
Euphonium 2
Distinction
Max
Cater
Singing
3
Pass
William
Brew
Tuba
2
Distinction
Joshua
Cook
Singing
3
Merit
Charlie
Hall
Trombone
2
Pass
Gabriel
Cardy-Brown
Singing
3
Pass
Alfie
Hewitt
Euphonium 2
Distinction
Charles
Currie-Aird
Singing
3
Pass
Oliver
Wolny
Trombone
2
Merit
Marcus
Hinds
Singing
2
Pass
Scott
Hume
Trumpet
2
Distinction
Jack
Winter
Singing
2
Pass
Oliver
Richards
Trumpet
2
Distinction
William
Hewitt
Singing
1
Pass
Oliver
Drewitt
Trumpet
3
Distinction
Nicko
Lawrence
Singing
1
Merit
Hugo
Worthington
Trumpet
1
Merit
Henry
Rix
Piano
6
Pass
Max
Coltart
Trumpet
3
Pass
Alexander Sheridan-Oliver Descant Recorder
2
Distinction
Jonah
McGarry
Trumpet
4
Distinction
Charlie
Thompson
Trumpet
4
Pass
Ted
Descant Recorder
2
Felix
Whitlam
Trumpet
5
Merit
George
Hughes
Trumpet
1
Distinction
Jack
Bourne
Trumpet
2
Distinction
Harris
Pass
James
Cassar
Singing
3
Merit
Joshua
Cook
Descant Recorder
4
Pass
Henry
Wigg
Oboe
2
Merit
Sahib
Kullar
Piano
1
Pass
Sam
Nicholas
Jazz Piano
1
Pass
Nicko
Lawrence
Piano
1
Merit
Felix
Palmer
Piano
3
Pass
34 THE ALDRONIAN
MUSIC Jack
Mckenzie
Trumpet
2
Distinction
Oliver
Drewitt
Singing
5
Pass
Maximus
Cornelius
Trumpet
2
Merit
Ben
Yeldham
Violin
3
Pass
Theo
Niel
Tenor Horn 1
Distinction
Merit
Harris
Trumpet
3
Pass
Descant Recorder
3
Bertie
Alexander SheridanOliver
James
Cassar
Trumpet
2
Distinction
Oliver
Wootton
1
Merit
Toby
Lumb
Trumpet
4
Merit
Descant Recorder
Henry
Wigg
Oboe
3
Distinction
Patrick
Hughes
Piano
1
Merit
Jack
Campbell
Singing
4
Merit
Henry
Cardozo
Piano
2
Merit
Luke
Haynes
Singing
5
Distinction
Jack
Douglas
Violin
1
Merit
James
Vincent
Singing
4
Merit
Lev
Shuppe
Violin
4
Merit
Max
Agrest
Singing
4
Merit
Freddie
Cole
Merit
Seb
Kus
Singing
4
Merit
Alto 1 Saxophone
Max
Cater
Clarinet
2
Pass
Benji
Bushnell
Clarinet
2
Merit
ABRSM Summer 2017 Rory
Yeldham
Alto 3 Saxophone
Distinction
Henry
Davis
Alto 4 Saxophone
Pass
Freddie
Proctor
Singing
1
Merit
MatĂas
Lenton
Cook
Singing
1
Pass
Alto 4 Saxophone
Distinction
Toby Freddie
Bailey
Singing
1
Pass
Barnaby
Bridges
Flute
Distinction
Klim
Rotov
Alto 3 Saxophone
Pass
Patrick
Hughes
Alto 5 Saxophone
Merit
Mikhail
Lukyanov
Alto 1 Saxophone
Distinction
Laurence
Hepworth
Flute
1
Merit
Henry
Starmer-Smith Piano
2
Merit
Max
Cater
Piano
5
Merit
George
Lake Coghlan
Jazz Piano
4
Merit
3
MatĂas
Lenton
Singing
1
Distinction
Tom
Elkington
Singing
1
Merit
Thomas
Bateman
Singing
1
Pass
Will
Ross
Singing
2
Pass
Henry
Cole
Singing
2
Pass
James
Atkinson
Singing
3
Pass
Sam
Watson
Singing
3
Merit
Barnaby
Bridges
Singing
3
Pass
Billy
Cooper
Singing
3
Merit
Wiiliam
Groves
Singing
4
Pass
Joshua
Cook
Singing
4
Merit
Theory
James
Cassar
Singing
4
Merit
Jonathan
Barley
Theory
5
Merit
Felix
Whitlam
Singing
4
Merit
Marcus
Hinds
Theory
5
Merit
Henry
Wigg
Singing
4
Pass
Jack
Finnis
Theory
5
Distinction
THE ALDRONIAN 35
MUSIC There have been a notable number of individual achievements within the department from both pupils and staff all driving music education and excellence forward-Jonathan Barley (Trombone and Piano) achieved a music award to Harrow for September 2017, MatĂas Lenton (Saxophone) winning an audition and gaining a place with the National Schools Symphony, Toby Pascoe winning most promising male voice in the Godalming Festival. On the staff front, Miss Sanderson was awarded a prestigious Winston Churchill Fellowship for her work in guitar education for youth where she has worked extensively in the UK and USA, Mrs Gregory was in high demand as an adjudicator, Mr Linham had publications for brass players with Warwick Music Publications which many of the boys will be using, Miss Allen flew off to Japan for the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition with her Brass Quintet Quintabile and Mr Rainer delivered CPD development training for a number of schools. Old boy Max Kam was to return in the summer to present a concert with the Charterhouse Woodwind Department and this was part of his preparation for taking his Diploma this summerwhich was achieved with an incredible 100%.
Further to the practical exam results the following boys were also in the awards with Mtech:
While quite rightly wanting to celebrate our achievements over this year, It is the smaller things behind the scenes that often go unnoticed. The boys' attitude, the staff's professionalism and the support from parents have all contributed to another excellent year and an exciting few years ahead.
36 THE ALDRONIAN
Aldro M:tech Awards : Klim Rotov and Gabriel Cardy-Brown Grade Certificates –: Max Britz
2
Tom Elkington
2
Klim Rotov
2
Jonnie Lake Coghlan
2
Maxim Agrest
2
Aaron Duhra
3
Dylan Galbraith
3
Eliot Bromley
5
Toby Nash
6
Tor Davidsen
6
James Atkinson
6
Jack McKenzie
6
George Starmer-Smith
6
Dougal Craig-Wood
6
Gabriel Cardy-Brown
6
PRO William Hewitt
PRO
James Cassar
PRO
Sidney Huet
PRO
Charles Hall
PRO
Max Dyer
PRO
DRAMA
What a truly fantastic year it has been in the Drama Department, with Forms 3-6 immersing themselves in performance. After two hugely successful productions,
I am delighted that drama will be extended to Forms 7 and 8 next year and look forward to continuing the excellent work of our young actors. The Juniors spent time exploring the world of Roald Dahl, which culminated in some wonderful performances for Grandparents' Day. Form 3 read ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’
DRAMA
from the hugely entertaining Revolting Rhymes, whilst Form 4 acted out scenes from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.' During Activities Week the Juniors were lucky enough to be visited by Jamie Parker, the Olivier Award winning actor famous for playing the grown up Harry Potter in The Cursed Child. The boys were treated to a fascinating talk about performing Harry Potter, and had the opportunity to ask some very interesting questions. The morning was rounded off by their very own wand lesson! Form 5 have travelled far and wide, visiting the world of the Ancient Greeks and the Victorians and to the magical land of Narnia.
They have also become advertising experts, inventing their own products and campaigns- watch out for Potion 10, the magic potion which makes you 10 years younger, coming to a store near you! This year Form 6 have tried script writing and performing using existing scripts. This culminated in performances by the entire year, including scenes from The Hobbit, The BFG and The Borrowers. LAMDA has been a huge success this year, with over 50 boys taking LAMDA exams in June. A massive thank you to Mr and Mrs Cardy-Brown for all their hard work.
THE ALDRONIAN 37
DRAMA
LAMDA REVIEW 2016-2017 First things first, I would like to thank Tom Rainer and Emily Allen for their constant support and encouragement, and Miss Allen’s constant attention to my weekly rota, (thrilled not to have to deal with that one) and also to the Headmaster for recognising the benefits the Lamda Programme can offer every boy, and being so encouraging.
When we started back in September 2016, it felt like a real start of a journey sort of moment. Joy and I have always believed that drama in education is very important, instilling confidence, helping to define and develop empathy, individual opinion, and performance, not to mention diction, interpretation and the constant learning of lines‌ there have been countless studies pointing out the positive effects. So when we were offered the chance to re-start the Lamda Programme at Aldro, we jumped at the opportunity. We were due to start with just Wednesdays, but that grew to 22 boys,
38 THE ALDRONIAN
then that grew to 55 boys very quickly and has been growing step by step ever since. And thus we started in the Chapel, with the fab Ollie Hirst being our first boy, who threw himself into everything we asked him to do, no matter how odd, and within the first term of Lamda, (he moved abroad) he managed to pass his level 1 grade 1 with a merit! As the term drew on, we all gained in confidence, working on strengthening the voice with vocal tennis and wicked oral warm ups as we ploughed our way through books of poetry (Spike Milligan was a great way to relax the boys with some nonsense) and interview questions, or opinion forming questions, the two favourites being which one of your teachers would survive a zombie apocalypse, and if you could be a new shade of colour pencil. This developed further into the Torturous Tongue Twisting League of Doom, the current record set by Jonnie Lake Coghlan at 247 lines! By the end of the first term we had 8 boys wanting to do the Godalming Festival. Unfortunately, 2 had to drop out, but the 6 that went did very well indeed. This was in the Lent term along with the year recitals, where I fear my
heart was pumping harder than the boys. One thing I would like to point out is that my Form 6 boys did all this at the same time as they were pre-testing and interviewing, and on the night of their recital, a lot of them had spent the day at Cranleigh. In the summer term, it was the Tangfastic challenge, to make sure the boys were clued up on their lines, and then the exams and a sense of excitement and nerves filled me and the boys. They would arrive looking nervous and tense, we ran lines and relaxed, and then they went and returned with big grins on their faces. To me it really is a pass fail moment, because marks are quite subjective. As long as you do what you have worked on, I am happy; one person might have a different take on a performance than another. And now we are expanding our syllabus, including the Speaking in Public, the acting and communications exams, and we hope to take many more boys to the Godalming Festival, and looking round at where else we might perform. ADRIAN CARDY-BROWN
DRAMA Year 3
Exam
Result
Year 6
F Bailey
entry
Distinction
A Dodsworth
L1G1
Merit
T Douglas
Solo 3
Distinction
M Lukyanov
L1G1
Pass
S Kus
L1G2
Distinction
K Rotov
L1G1
Merit
C Raeside
L1G2
Distinction
B Bushnell
L1G2
Distinction
G McIntyre
entry
Pass
G Burnell
L1G1
Pass
C Currie-Aird
L1G1
Distinction
T Lumb
L1G1
Pass
J Cassar
L1G2
Merit
H Von Haniel
L1G2
Distinction
O Drewitt
L1G2
Distinction
T Niel
L1G2
Merit
E Ibegbulum
entry
Pass
E Bromley
L1G1
Merit
B Roberston
L1G1
Pass
B Harris
L1G3
Merit
Year 4 O Butcher
entry
Distinction
L Norman
entry
Distinction
J Mckenzie
entry
Distinction
J Bourne
entry
Pass
B Hickey
entry
Distinction
M Britz
entry
Pass
A Robertson
entry
Distinction
H Munday
entry
Distinction
Z Whitehouse
entry
Distinction
A Templeton Ward
entry
Distinction
H Cardozo
L1 G1
Merit
F Wallis
entry
Distinction
R Bhardwaj
L1G1
Distinction
F Ellis
L1G1
Merit
J Lake Coghlan
entry
Distinction
H Cole
entry
Distinction
Year 8
A Duhra
entry
Merit
M Hinds
L1G3
Merit
G Cardy Brown
L1G1
Distinction
J Finnis
L1G3
Distinction
T Davidsen
entry
Distinction
M Agrest
L1G3
Pass
N Lawrence
L1G1
Distinction
H Brown
L1G3
Distinction
B Hayhoe-Hallam
entry
Distinction
L Cassar
L1G1
Merit
S Kullar
L1G1
Merit
O Percival
L2 G5
Distinction
D De Vuyst
L1G2
Merit
T Harris
L1G1
Distinction
E Lumb
L1G1
Merit
Year 5
Year 7
THE ALDRONIAN 39
DRAMA
HMS PINAFORE The auditions were held, boys turned up eagerly and read and sang for the roles-"sir, can I be a sailor?", "sir, can I be a girl?" and "can I be back stage?" were among the first questions asked.
At the first rehearsal the questions had narrowed down to just one ‘sir, what’s it all about’ and as with most G&S productions it’s a question that is asked throughout the rehearsal period by the actors, throughout the show by the audience and quite often by all afterwards who still don’t quite understand what was going on! However, as always, the boys and staff threw themselves into the production and sailors, heroes, villains (some not always apparent!) and girls all set about learning the huge number of lines, 40 THE ALDRONIAN
difficult songs and getting the ‘subtle’ nuances of G&S learnt so we could deliver a magnificent show. Bit by bit the roles were learnt, costumes arrived, props were thought of, the band came together, the ship was built and it was up to the audience to understand that the love story was complicated, some achieve high rank and we don’t know how they got there, some things are not quite what they seem and then, of course, there is always the mix up at birth, unfairness, confusion but, most important of all, a happy ending and throughout some of the greatest tunes and songs ever written. One of the most fascinating things for any director is the auditionsthese are often complex and a huge number of boys come to take part, many who have never had a leading
role or sung before, and so it was as with all of these things that a new generation of stars was born and came to the fore. Another fascinating thing, which sometimes comes with sleepless nights, is how the boys become understandably nervous throughout the process, but learn a huge amount about themselves. Each need different approaches to learning and developing. 'HMS Pinafore' was certainly no different in either of these cases and it was simply a huge pleasure to see the boys develop, enjoy their acting and singing, and produce a quite stunning climax to several months' work. The list of boys and staff to thank are too numerous to put down here but the pictures (and DVD) tell the story of what was achieved on and off stage.
DRAMA
THE ALDRONIAN 41
LIBRARY
LIBRARY
Our library is always busy and this year there was an increased buzz in the air due to the great success of Accelerated Reader. Amongst other things, the system calculates how many words each boy has read and it is possible to become a Word Millionaire. However, we never anticipated that we would have a total of 36 Word Millionaires, of which three went on to read more than three million words and one boy read a total of 4,092,445 words. All this has been achieved since our Form 3 boys only started using Accelerated Reader in January and they have managed to read an impressive two million words in six months. These great achievements were celebrated at the end of each term with a Word Millionaires’ lunch. Boys were allocated their own dining table and teachers provided waitress service.
AUTHOR VISITS
We were lucky to have three author visits this year.
Christian Darkin spoke to our boys about computer animation and how to self-publish.
Matt Oldfield is the author of the very popular Football Heroes series. Matt delivered a workshop to some of our boys during Activity Week. 42 THE ALDRONIAN
Dave Shelton is an author illustrator who completes all his illustrations by hand.
WORLD BOOK DAY 2017
Our celebrations lasted a whole week and included two author visits, our annual bookmark competition, a potato book character completion, dress-up day, a doodle wall and a special book themed lunch.
LIBRARY
DOODLE WALL
Boys illustrated their favourite books in graffiti style.
ANNUAL BOOKMARK COMPETITION Winners Benji Bushnell Ollie Butcher Jacob Drayton Oliver Wolny
DECORATE A POTATO COMPETITION Winners 1st Fin Bennet – The Very Hungry Caterpillar
2nd George Hughes – Aliens Love Underpants Joint 3rd Jack Bourne – Harry Potter & Benedict Robertson –Flat Stanley
THE ALDRONIAN 43
SCHOLARS TRIP
SCHOLARS' TRIP TO FRANCE 2017
44 THE ALDRONIAN
SCHOLARS TRIP
THE ALDRONIAN 45
JUNIOR DEPARTMENT
46 THE ALDRONIAN
BLUE REEF
BREAKFAST AND LUNCH
JUNIOR DEPARTMENT
Inviting parents and guests in for school meals always proves to be a very special occasion, and this year was no exception. The Parents’ and Sons’ lunch in the Christmas Term and the Breakfast followed by the Argyle Cup Rugby in the Lent Term were wonderful opportunities for the boys to show their parents a typical meal time at Aldro, and for the parents to have an opportunity to enjoy a meal without any preparation or clearing away at the end! Both saw a fantastic turnout, with every boy being able to share a meal with someone special. Huge thanks go to David McCoy and his catering team for producing such delicious meals day in day out.
THE ALDRONIAN 47
JUNIOR DEPARTMENT
LESSONS
Lessons in the Junior Department this year have been full of wonder and challenge – ranging from writing instructions in Form 3 English in order to make a magic potion, to transforming into pirates during English in Form 4 and writing a Wanted Poster. Boys also learned about how different religions wash before reading their holy book with an impromptu lesson in the swimming pool for RS, and learning about healthy eating combined with reversible and irreversible changes in Science by making pizzas!
48 THE ALDRONIAN
SQUAD SELECTION
JUNIOR DEPARTMENT
Our annual ‘sorting hat’ squad selection assembly was one of the highlights for the Form 3 boys during the Christmas term. With the whole school present, and the squad captains waving their flags on the stage, the Form 3s were called up one by one to be welcomed into their squad by their Squad Commander. All the boys were excited and we are all looking forward to seeing what they will contribute to their squads in the coming years.
THE ALDRONIAN 49
JUNIOR DEPARTMENT
THE LION KING JR For children of any age, taking on the Lion King Jr would always be a challenge, but for boys as young as our Juniors it was a huge ask. They more than rose to the challenge and created a show beyond anything that could have been imagined back in September. Their performances were simply a spectacle, with enthusiasm bursting out of the boys and delight shining on every face, both on stage and in the audience. The day after our final show, we took all the boys to London to see the matinee of the West End Production.
50 THE ALDRONIAN
I spent more time watching the boys watch the show, rather than watching the show itself – the amazement on their faces was a sight to behold. At one stage, we had to ask them to be a little bit quieter when they started saying the lines along with their character! When asked on the way home ‘Boys, did you like the show?’, an immediate response came back,
“IT WAS AMAZING MISS HIGHAM… BUT I DON’T THINK IT WAS AS GOOD AS OURS!”
JUNIOR DEPARTMENT
THE ALDRONIAN 51
JUNIOR DEPARTMENT
ACTIVITY WEEK Activity Week was a fantastic way for the Juniors to round off their year. With a week packed full of challenges, trips and concerts the boys were certainly kept busy right up until the last day.
The first Monday saw all the Junior boys head to Campaign LaserTag where they all thoroughly enjoyed hiding in the woods, hoping their team would come out victorious in the laser quest challenge. This was then followed by a short coach journey over to Camberley for the boys to show off their skills on the trampoline at Gravity Force! Some very hot and sweaty boys headed back to school having had a wonderful first day of Activity Week! There was a real treat in store for the boys on Tuesday. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child actor, Jamie Parker, who has been playing Harry Potter in the West End show for the last year, came to visit the boys and talk to them about his life as an actor and what it was like to play Harry Potter. He then read aloud from the first Harry Potter book, and the boys all chose to lie down – you could have heard a pin drop they were so quiet! We then all headed outside, where Jamie taught the boys some games using their wand! In the afternoon, another highlight of the Junior year, with Grandparents’ Afternoon. Every boy had invited their guests to join them for afternoon tea, followed by a performance of Rock the Walls – a cantata based around the stories of Joshua.
52 THE ALDRONIAN
On Wednesday morning the boys took on the Team Building Challenge – with 24 different team challenges to complete followed by an army assault course. The boys worked extremely well together and as well as having a lot of fun, learned some valuable communication lessons too. In the afternoon, all the boys took to the stage for our end of year Junior Concert, where all boys who learn an instrument play to an audience of parents, guests and friends. There were some confident performances from a range of boys, including complete beginners who may have only had a lesson or two, to some hugely accomplished ones from boys who have been learning a lot longer. The future of Aldro music certainly showed a great deal of promise based on this afternoon. A very hot Thursday saw us all head off to Marwell Zoo – many animals were hiding in the shade trying to keep cool, so there was a lot of ‘spot the animal’ going on. Friday was ‘Move up Day’ where the boys got to spend time in their new form groups for the coming academic year, and all headed off with much excitement and a little trepidation. All was well and we all gathered back together for lunch, with the boys full of tales from their morning and what they were looking forward to in September. What a perfect week to round off what has been an excellent year.
SCHOLARS
SCHOLARS 2016
Many congratulations to all the boys who were awarded scholarships to their senior school. Academic George Lake Coghlan, Charterhouse
DT Joseph Anning, Tonbridge
All Rounder Toby Pascoe, Charterhouse Jonny Wilkinson, Charterhouse
Sport Luke Cassar, Worth Benedict Crowe, Wellington Jack Lenton, King Edward’s, Witley Will Owen, Sherborne Oliver Percival, Wellington Henry Starmer-Smith, Wellington
Music Jonathan Barley, Harrow Art Luke Haynes, Tonbridge Hugo Worthington, King Edward’s, Witley
THE ALDRONIAN 53
PRIZE GIVING
ALDRO AWARDS 2017
The Guest of Honour this year was our local MP, Anne Milton. Mrs Milton trained as a nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London and worked for the NHS for 25 years as a district nurse. She was elected as MP for Guildford in 2010, and was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Education in June 2017. Academic Awards 2017 3R Form Prize
Toby Douglas
History CE Prize
Luke Haynes
3R Progress Prize
Elliot Barnes
Science Award
Jonathan Barley
4PH Form Prize
Robert Greenway
Middle School Science
Matìas Lenton
4PH Progress Prize
Ollie Butcher
Gunner ICT Award
Charlie Camilleri, Max Dyer
4BH Form Prize
Tom Watts
Middle School ICT Prize
Freddie Weir
4BH Progress Prize
Oliver Wootton
Current Affairs Award
William Hewitt
5D Form Prize
Rishi Bhardwaj
CE Effort Award
Luke Cassar
5D Progress Prize
Gabriel Cardy-Brown
5J Form Prize
Joshua Cook
5J Progress Prize
Toby Nash
5B Form Prize
Monty Money
5B Progress Prize
Nicko Lawrence
6F Form Prize
Freddie Seabrooke
6F Progress Prize
Tom Elkington
6D Form Prize
Freddie Weir
6D Progress Prize
Felix Palmer
7L Form Prize
Bertie Harris
7L Progress Prize
Max Dyer
7H Form Prize
Felix Hughes
7H Progress Prize
Albert Ding
7J Form Prize
Patrick Hughes
7J Progress Prize
Max Sheridan-Oliver
8A Form Prize
Luke Haynes
8A Progress Prize
Max Coltart
8R Form Prize
Benedict Crowe
8R Progress Prize
Jake Golding
8K Form Prize
George Lake Coghlan
8K Progress Prize
Sam Nicholas
Longacre English
George Lake Coghlan, Luke Haynes
Art & DT Form 8 Award for Art
Hugo Worthington, Luke Haynes
Form 7 Award for Art
Kit Mackay
Form 6 Award for Art
Charlie Raeside
Form 5 Award for Art
Caspar Wood
Form 4 Award for Art
Jack Bourne
Form 3 Award for Art
Freddy Bailey
The Pate Cup for Art
Jack Finnis
Form 8 Award for DT
Bennie Banks
Form 7 Award for DT
Louie Thompson
Form 6 Award for DT
Tom Elkington
Form 5 Award for DT
Oli Lucas
Form 4 Award for DT
Ollie Butcher
Form 3 Award for DT
Toby Douglas
The Knight DT Award
Sam Nicholas
The Cooke Cup for Junior DT Boris Taylor-Smith Music Form 8 Award for Music
Will Owen
Form 7 Award for Music
Siwei Han
Form 6 Award for Music
Luke McGarry
Form 5 Award for Music
Joshua Cook
Form 4 Award for Music
Jack McKenzie
Form 3 Award for Music
Oli Richards
English Non-Fiction
Henry Brown
English Progress Prize
Will Owen, Harry Murray
English Literature Essay
Henry Starmer-Smith
Speaking & Debating Prize
Monty Payne
Maths Award
Jack Finnis
Maths CE Prize
Marcus Hinds, Henry Bourne
Greenfield French
Jack Finnis
Leach French Prize
Thomas Barnes
French CE Prize
Max Coltart
Drama
Classics Award
Benedict Crowe
Form 8 Award for Drama
Oliver Percival
Badcock RS
Hugo Worthington
Form 7 Award for Drama
Samuel Follett
RS CE Prize
Max Agrest, Darius Heinen
Form 6 Award for Drama
James Vincent
Badcock Geography
Jonny Wilkinson
Form 5 Award for Drama
Max Cater
Geography CE Prize
Oliver Muir
Form 4 Award for Drama
Luke Norman
History Award
George Lake Coghlan
Form 3 Award for Drama
Freddy Bailey
54 THE ALDRONIAN
Form 8 Music Progress Award Freddie Cole Twyford Music Cup
Henry Rix
Hugo Bush Piano Cup
George Lake Coghlan
Ellis Singing Cup
Toby Pascoe
Ashton Music Prize
Jonathan Barley
Edge Music Prize
Jonny Wilkinson
PRIZE GIVING Mitchell Drama Trophy
Felix Whitlam
Maslen Cup (U11 Champion)
James Vincent
Nicholson Drama Trophy
Matìas Lenton
Aldro Tennis Cup for most improved player
Tom Beggs
Form 7 Champion
Charlie Thompson
Form 5 Champion
Fin Bennet
Form 4 Champion
Charlie Elkington
Form 3 Champion
Oli Richards
Chess Rawlinson Board
George Starmer-Smith
Form 8 Award for Chess
Jonathan Barley, Jack Finnis
Form 7 Award for Chess
Henry Hickey, Siwei Han
Form 6 Award for Chess
Charles Currie-Aird
Form 5 Award for Chess
Jonnie Lake Coghlan, Joshua Cook
Form 4 Award for Chess
Ben Hickey, Boris Taylor-Smith
Form 3 Award for Chess
Eddie Hewitt, Oli Richards
The Price Shield
Benji Bushnell
Golf ‘C’ Shield for the most improved Golfer
Jamie Hume
Turner Cup for the most promising Golfer
James Vincent
The Aldro Open Plate
Jonathan Barley
Model Railways Tuddenham Trophy
Jack Finnis
Sport The Outstanding Sportsmen Awards are our most prestigious sporting awards at Aldro. The awards are based on not only school representation, but more importantly key traits we are looking for in a top sportsmen: Attitude, Commitment, Effort, Skill, Teamwork & Sportsmanship. Cronshaw Cup for contribution to Sport
Luke Haynes
Alasdair Ross Memorial Trophy: Most Promising Athlete
Sidney Huet
U13 Sportsman of the Year
Ben Yeldham, Rory Yeldham, Will Owen
Sailing The Kettle Sailing Trophy Pétanque Marcel Pagnol Trophy
The Aldro Polo Prize
Tom Harrison Cup for the most improved Rifle
Galloway Cup for the Top Rifle
Jamie Hume
Lloyd Williams Trophy for the Top Pistol
Sam Nicholas Louie Thompson
Theo Niel
U10 Sportsman of the Year
Monty Money
Top Gun Shield
U9 Sportsman of the Year
Scott Hume, Harry Watts, Tom Watts
Miscellaneous
U8 Sportsman of the Year
George Hughes
2017 Football Captain
Alfie Hewitt
2017 Squad Captains
Africa: Tom Beggs; Australia: Charlie Thompson; Canada: Felix Whitlam; India: Mohammed Vahora; New Zealand: George Brew; West Indies: Joe Best
2017 Prefects
Tom Beggs, Laurence Hepworth, Siwei Han, Henry Hickey, Patrick Hughes, Bertie Harris, Ben Ballard, Felix Whitlam, Charlie Thompson, Felix Hughes
2017 Head Boy
Patrick Hughes
Library Awards
Charlie Camilleri, Charles Currie-Aird Edward Ibegbulem
Cricket Jack Lenton
1st XI Player of the Year
Alfie Hewitt
U11 Player of the Year
Sam Watson
U10 Player of the Year
Jacob Drayton
U9 Player of the Year
Tom Wild, Robert Greenway
U8 Player of the Year
Harvey O’Mahony
Swimming
Max Sheridan-Oliver
RBG Cup for the most improved Sebastian Kus Pistol
U11 Sportsman of the Year
1st XI Best Batsman
Freddie Cooper
Shooting
Alfie Hewitt, Charlie Thompson
Jonathan Barley
Alexander Sheridan-Oliver
Polo
U12 Sportsman of the Year
1st XI Best Bowler
Max Dyer
U13 Swimmer of the Year
Bertie Harris
U11 Swimmer of the Year
Jesse Thompson
Boarder of the Year
U9 Swimmer of the Year
Maximus Cornelius
Junior Citizenship Awards Thomas Barnes, Tom Osmond
Squad Swimming Cup
Canada
Junior Endeavour Award
Charlie Elkington
The IF Cup
Archie Chilcott
The Deputy Head’s Cup
Finn Taylor
Tennis Firth Challenge Cup (U13 Champion)
Harry Murray
The 1898 Cup (Head’s Cup) Ben Yeldham, Rory Yeldham The Champion Squad Shield Africa THE ALDRONIAN 55
LEAVERS
Archie Chilcott Cranleigh
Ben Yeldham Wellington College
Rory Yeldham Wellington College
Benedict Crowe Wellington College
Bennie Banks Cranleigh
Darius Heinen Charterhouse
Finn Taylor Lord Wandsworth College
Freddie Cole Sherborne
Freddie Cooper Millfield
George Lake Coghlan Charterhouse
Harry Murray Sherborne
Henry Bourne Tonbridge
Henry Brown Bradfield College 56 THE ALDRONIAN
Henry Rix Eton
Henry Starmer-Smith Wellington College
Hugo Worthington King Edward's Witley
Jack Finnis Eton
LEAVERS
Jack Lenton King Edward's Witley
Jake Golding Cranleigh
Jonathan Barley Harrow
Jonny Wilkinson Charterhouse
Luke Cassar Worth
Luke Haynes Tonbridge
Marcus Hinds Tonbridge
Max Agrest King Edward's Witley
Max Coltart Sherborne
Monty Payne Churcher's College
Oliver Muir Charterhouse
Oliver Percival Wellington College
Sam Nicholas Weydon
Semion Shuppe Tonbridge
Toby Pascoe Charterhouse
Will Owen Cranleigh
William Hewitt Bradfield College THE ALDRONIAN 57
LEAVING STAFF
ALEXANDROS MALLIOS
Alexandros Mallios: non timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. Although it transpired that Laocoon’s foreboding of the invading Greek forces was later substantiated, last year Aldro was blessed by the arrival of a kind, caring and comical Grecian by the name of Alexandros. There was no single occasion where the smile slipped from his face, nor did he ever have ‘one of those days’. Alexandros had come fresh from completing his M.A. in Classics at UCL to teach here at Aldro and he bore with him a fresh approach which he invested in the department; his classical zombie game is still reminisced about to this day! Thank you, Alexandros; here’s to a bright future career in teaching.
JOYCE JOHNSON
Joyce came to us in September 2016 to join the Science Department under Katie Donaldson. Ever a true Scot, born and raised in Edinburgh, she stayed to complete a degree in Chemical Engineering there too before moving South for career reasons. Joyce spent her early career as a chemical engineer both in the UK and the USA, before she started a family. Her wealth of industrial science experience has proved invaluable in the classroom as she moved round schools in Surrey, and this is what obviously attracted her to Aldro in the first place. Joyce’s background as a long-serving member of the senior leadership team at Brigine School offered her a wealth of school experience that she was keen to share particularly on database management. As soon as Joyce arrived, she was determined to not only explore the chemical cupboard, but to use her long career in practical science as a key facet of her teaching. It was clear to the boys that her first love in Science is Chemistry, and there were certainly plenty of exciting experiments for boys to get their teeth stuck into during lessons. Joyce is also committed to her faith, and plays a big role in her local church and with the Girl Guide Association, so she soon set about overhauling our chapel-tech team and helping instil a structure of service plans, hymns and other multi-media presentations onto the computer in chapel ready to support our morning services. Having been a form tutor to 7J, it was no surprise that the first volunteers for this chapel-tech role were from her own form! We wish Joyce every success as she moved on to Canbury School in Kingston as their Head of Science.
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DAVID BUSHNELL
ICT has seen a huge change, and as Mr Ben Alexander stepped up to become the Head of ICT from January 2016, we launched into finding his successor as systems manager. We were very lucky to find David Bushnell who brought with him many years of systems and school expertise, and he soon set to work helping us install many new technological functions from our new key fob access, firewalls, clever touch interactive boards in classrooms, through to the technology in chapel. He was also very busy with the normal run of the mill job supporting our IT function in school – whether servicing the learn pads, guiding us on how to use our database (SchoolBase), fixing printers, managing room bookings, or just repairing telephones and pcs. David has always been a very willing and helpful member of the community; some might say indispensable! While he loved working within the Aldro staff team, it was also great to see him involved in small amounts of teaching ICT and he found himself very popular by running the model railway for a couple of terms – much to the delight of the boys who love that activity. We will miss David greatly as he moves on from Aldro – now ready to take on an empire of his own, as he manages the IT infrastructure across a multi-academy trust.
LINDA WAGNER
In July we said a very sad goodbye to Linda Wagner who had been Assistant Bursar at Aldro since January 2015. Prior to that she had worked in the maintained sector and also in hotel management. Linda was involved in every non-teaching aspect of Aldro’s life – from coordinating the working schedules of the caretakers, organising events’ licenses to ensuring the catering orders were correct. Linda was a keen brass player – she often joined School’s brass group for their practice. Linda left Aldro as she needed to focus her attention onto her 3 children. She will be sorely missed by all. Nothing was too much trouble for Linda and she had a great sense of humour.
MARTYN FOSS
Martyn Foss arrived at Aldro in September 2012, joining us as a part-time member of the Sports Department following a long and successful career at Horris Hill. However, over the following five years we were able to squeeze every ounce of his expertise out of him – teaching Maths Club, strengthening academic standards through lesson observation, and acting as a mentor to our new staff. Like most Aldro staff, Martyn was undoubtedly at his happiest on the games field. It did not matter what age group he was coaching, it did not matter what sport, and it did not matter what standard of ability he had at his disposal: Martyn took the same approach: you play to win, but not at all costs; you give 100% effort throughout, no matter what the opposition; and you respect the spirit of the game at all times. Martyn single-handedly raised the profile of Hockey at Aldro, to such an extent that we now regularly use the facilities at Charterhouse, KES Witley and Prior’s Field, and compete on a level playing field with schools who play a whole term. Outside school, Martyn loved a Sports Tour. He helped us out on many occasions, whether football, rugby or cricket, and proved invaluable with his experience and organisation. He also assisted 8K on their French trip, and joined the Leavers Activity Week in the Brecon Beacons. In recent years Martyn ran representative teams taking part in the world famous Gothia Cup, often involving several Aldro boys, and was instrumental in bringing the ISFA area trials to Aldro every year. A devoted supporter of both Bristol Rovers FC and Bath RFC, Martyn has now embarked on his bucket list of travelling to sporting events such as the Ashes, the Lions Tour, the Olympics and the Football World Cup! It is difficult to predict which of these he would most enjoy – a debate that would certainly fill a few sessions in the Cyder House, sampling a few of the local ales which he so enjoyed.
SHEILA HUNTER
LEAVING STAFF
Sheila Hunter’s involvement with the school started over 25 years ago when she joined the Aldro family as a parent and was then subsequently asked to help with reading. In 1997 she became a valuable part of the French department and when the library opened in 1999 she supported its set-up and continued to keep the library running smoothly until she left this summer. Most people will have had the pleasure of knowing her and whether that be as a French Teacher, Form 3 Teaching Assistant or Librarian, they will have known her to be an extremely supportive and friendly colleague . My personal title for her was ‘Library Fairy’, due to the speed in which she would shelve the books. Her calm and gentle nature when supporting the boys within the classroom with French, reading and drawing gave them the confidence to make the most of every opportunity at Aldro. Sheila enjoys travelling and she has recently become a grandparent, there is even more to fill her time and we wish her all the best in her semi-retirement.
ROSIE DOLMAN
Rosie joined Aldro as an Assistant Matron in the Summer term of 2016 and was an integral part of the Matrons team for a short but meaningful year. She went above and beyond what the role of Assistant Matron called for, she threw herself into life at Aldro, always willing to help out wherever she was needed. Rosie was known widely for her kindness and warmth for all the boys, and was a listening ear to many. Her quick wit served her well in a bustling boarding house and the boys enjoyed the many nicknames she had for them all. Her love of Disney films, whilst not particularly appreciated by the boys, brought many laughs as she sometimes broke into song accompanied by whoever knew the words. Her spontaneity and laughter will be greatly missed. We all extend her a big thank you and good luck for her continued studies at Warwick in September.
Quite simply, Martyn inspired boys of all ages, both on and off the sports field. There are a good number of boys in recent years that have benefitted enormously from his coaching and teaching, and owe him a debt of gratitude for his wisdom and care. As Martyn moves on to help develop the next generation of PE teachers at the University of Bucks, we wish him all the very best in his semi-retirement – and will welcome him back at any time.
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LEAVING STAFF
POLLY HOLBROOK
During her first year at Aldro, Polly taught English to the more senior boys in the school, before moving to be a Form 4 Teacher for her last year. Her natural warmth and energy made her an instant hit with her class, and indeed all the Junior boys, and she quickly became an integral and invaluable member of the Junior Department. Polly’s academic lessons were exceptional, and she found a way to engage all boys in their learning, particularly those who were finding a subject or topic more challenging. The boys who were taught by her were overwhelmingly positive and the messages they wrote in her leaving card really summed up how much she meant to them. Polly was unfailingly supportive of the boys, and always made sure she had the latest knowledge on the ‘in’ game of the moment, as well as introducing the boys to some new ideas for games or activities. As a colleague, Polly was hugely supportive of all that we did and always ready to throw herself into anything that was asked of her. Her organisation and creativity was a huge asset to the department as well as her genuine care for the people she worked with. As a family, we will miss the Holbrooks enormously. Tabitha and Ottilie were as much a part of Aldro life as Polly and Simon, and could often be found alongside mum or dad in school. The boys all knew them and the girls talked about ‘their boys’ often! As a family, the Holbrooks commitment to the boarding house in particular was tremendous and I could not think of a better role for them as they move to become Houseparents of the Junior Boarding House at Sandroyd. Aldro’s loss is most definitely Sandroyd’s gain. We wish them all the best – we will miss them all enormously.
VICKI ALEXANDER
In July we said a sad farewell to Vicki Alexander who had been a Learning Support teacher here at Aldro for nearly a decade. Vicki was a popular and very hard-working member of staff and devoted to the boys in her care. Very well qualified, she knew only too well the challenges faced by these boys and she went out of her to way to champion and support their learning in and out of the classroom. With her guidance and support, they were able to move successfully on to the schools of their choice and flourish there. No doubt her newly freed up time will be spent tending to her beloved garden, discovering new foreign destinations and visiting her two sons. We wish her the very best!
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SIMON HOLBROOK
Mr Holbrook arrived at Aldro two years ago. Under the White Ensign, he immediately took command of both the History Department and first floor classroom corridor from his ‘bridge’ in 7H. His quiet manner and unfailing charm belied a ruthless efficiency, exposed to the discerning by his impeccable dress sense. Like his amazing collection of flags, his range of ties would generally signal his day’s mission, the Shuttlecock Club tie being a particular favourite. Yet he had a voice when called upon and woe betide any boy who incurred a dressing down! However, those of us who were here when he arrived were first alerted to its latent power on Trafalgar Day when he led the school in Hearts Of Oak in the rich notes of a Cornish tenor. Everything Mr Holbrook turned his hand to could be relied upon to go like clockwork, planned and managed with naval precision that never seemed to cause a ripple in the day to day running of the school. The Aldro Election introduced boys to our political system seamlessly in tandem with the real thing and the Regatta will be hard to emulate with Mr Holbrook’s Royal Tournament style commentary. He imparted the same art of speaking to the first team of boys Aldro entered for the Mini Model United Nations debating competition at Bryanston. He will be hugely missed by his colleagues as much as the boys. In his capacity as Aldro’s first Chairman of the Common Room Committee he made his mark by single-handedly rearranging and letting light into the Common Room itself, transforming it from a Bletchley Park cypher office into a welcoming clubroom for members of staff to sit, meet and work together. He quickly followed this up with an in-house film night for boarding staff and it worked well. Because his initiatives were always good and they worked, he was never short of volunteers and over another leave out weekend transformed the boys’ gardens in the first phase of the open public space we now enjoy. As dependable in an emergency as he is in his initiatives, Mr Holbrook has been a huge influence in shaping Aldro and we wish him fair winds and all the success and happiness he merits at Sandroyd.
TOM LOWE
It was a pleasure to have Tom working at Aldro last year. Although only brief, his time here was well valued and recognised by the boys whom he taught and the staff he met. His scholarly character and interest in classics injected great enthusiasm into the department; having taught at Charterhouse previously, he supplied innovation and experience, which he was always happy to share. Although he has left an inevitable void, I am sure that his sharp intellect and dry wit will be cherished by future colleagues and he will continue to transform those working around him.
JACK FINNIS PANORAMIC
THE ALDRO PANORAMIC – JACK FINNIS When considering creating a picture of Aldro I wanted it to capture my time here; to celebrate all the amazing people and things you can do here, the energy and life of the school, what’s inspired me, the many challenges that I have faced, the beautiful grounds, and the memories that I hope I’ll keep for ever. I wanted the picture to remind people of all the different memories that they have of the school, but also to create memories by making the images simple, colourful and captivating. A panoramic seemed to be the best format to capture: 1. A walk through life at Aldro • A panoramic encourages everyone to literally walk from one end of the picture to the other, as if walking through one’s life at Aldro. 2. Diversity of activities and characters • A very busy picture including all the different activities that Aldro offers, and the different characters of the boys and staff. 3. Life and energy • Using multi-view, each part of the picture is taken from its best view point in order to fit in all the activities, regardless of whether they match or have the same perspective or scale e.g. make the fort bigger and CHC smaller. • Use vibrant colours to create energy. • Capture all the characters doing
lots of different things in different positions and clothes.
• M ake the background a flatter, more uniform colour and the characters outlined in black so that they stand out more. 4. Inspire and Engage • One can find well-known teachers and boys and hopefully even oneself doing a favourite activity, and therefore feel involved and in the picture taking part. • F elt tip pens are a simple medium that everyone uses and can relate to. This will hopefully inspire one to want to do a picture like this too.
‘post-it’ glue so that the templates peeled off again. I coloured in most characters from photos that I’d taken or the ones on the Aldro website that were stored on an iPad. It’s been a great experience to unveil the picture; to see people’s reaction and watch them look for the recognisable characters in the detail of the picture. A massive thank you to everyone who has bought a print and postcards and contributed towards profits that are going to the Aldro charity.
• People are looking for a relative level of accuracy in the activities, apart from a little artistic license. For example, a cricket game should show a fielder diving for the ball only if the bowler has just bowled and the batsman has just hit it in that direction and all other players are looking in that direction. 5. Capture memories • Use colour-fast pens so they keep the vibrant colours for many years. • T ake each view from the best known angle; the angle that people recognise and remember the most. I cut out and stuck on 200 templates for the characters and all the buildings so that the spray paint for the grass and sky left blank white shapes, otherwise the green and blue would have shown through the felt tip pen. I had to use THE ALDRONIAN 61
SAILING
SAILING
This year sailing has taken a purposeful step forward at Aldro with the kind donation of four Optimists for the lake. These small craft are exactly the right scale and move at proportionately the right speed to turn our lake into a challenging race course. They are exceptionally stable and have already introduced two boys, Eliot Bromley and Lev Shuppe, to the thrill of harnessing the wind. In common with Frensham, it is the flukey breezes that provide the best training grounds in these sheltered waters of Surrey for future helmsmen, as you have to learn very quickly how to read and feel the signs of windshifts in advance to make headway. We are lucky to have a core of seasoned mentors in Will Groves, Max Dyer and Benedict Robertson willing to share their expertise and train up newcomers. The Winter Series on our own lake dovetails with the Summer Season at Frensham where again the advent of racing is seeing added purpose and refining of skills on the water with Tom
62 THE ALDRONIAN
Camilleri, Dominic De Vuyst, Charlie Camilleri, Charlie Hall and Kit MacKay and Ben Hayhoe–Hallam keen to make their mark as rising stars.
SMALL REPORTS
WATTS GALLERY
Boys in Form 7 enjoyed a day at Watts Gallery and Artists’ Village, where they visited the Mortuary Chapel designed by his wife, Mary Watts, and spent time sketching some of the wonderful decoration inside and outside the chapel. They also visited his studio where they learned about the life of G F Watts, an important Victorian artist who lived and worked very close to Aldro, before trying their hand at creating ceramic tiles in a similar style to the ones they admired in the Chapel. They spent a busy, enjoyable day exploring this fascinating part of our local heritage.
ALDRO ELECTION 2017
Following on from the huge success of the Referendum and Debate in June 2016, and the Aldro Election of May 2015, we were determined to capture the national mood and give the boys a huge dose of democracy, and to really magnify pupil voice. Our aim in June was to give the boys a clear insight into how a General Election is organised. To do that, we used the wonderful election toolkit from The Houses of Parliament which provided resources to allow the Aldro Election to be run in exactly the same way to the General Election (right down to the security seals on the Ballot Box). Boys were sought to be volunteers either as party members or organisers. In our election, there were 4 Parties: Vision, Transform, Tomorrow & Progress. Each party had a candidate standing in the constituencies: Forms 3&4, Form 5, Form 6, Form 7, Form 8. They had to elect a party leader, decide on 3 out of 12 policies which formed their party’s manifesto, then campaign around the school until the end of the day before the election. Organisers were divided into the following groups: Registrar & team, Polling Station Manager & team, Chief
Counter and team, and Polling Officer & team, with each group trained to deliver their specific role through the election process and on polling day. All in all, 113 boys opted to be involved in the campaign and election – nearly 60% of the school, which shows a great deal of buy-in to the fun of the process. Campaigns happened in lunch, breaks, after chapel or assemblies and there were many banners, posters and rosettes in school for the 4 weeks of campaigning. The organising team made sure all boys had registered to vote who wanted to, sent out polling cards in advance, and were there with the polling room set up in the library ready for democracy to take place. Boys voting learnt the golden rules of polling stations, and there were no breaches of electoral law, thanks to our wonderful organising team. In fact, the election around that produced a 100% turn-out in Forms 3-7, which was amazing, although there was one spoilt ballot! In the end, there were 5 MPs elected, one from each party but 2 from the new ruling party: Transform. I say “ruling”, as they now embark on the process of forming a coalition government and have to agree which policies are most key. Something that might take a few lessons in diplomacy.
ALDRO CHALLENGE 2017
This term saw the launch of the ALDRO challenge – to define what it means to be an Aldro boy. Aldro boys like having fun Living life to the fullest Doing your best every day Respecting and supporting each other One big happy family
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SMALL REPORTS
BRYANSTON MINI MODEL UNITED NATIONS
On Tuesday 28th February a group of six Form 7 boys acted as diplomats for the day representing Aldro at Bryanston School’s Mini Model United Nations Debating Competition. Eleven Prep Schools attended, representing different member states of the United Nations – Aldro acted as the delegation from Vietnam. Each delegation was divided between three committees; the Security Council which debated the problem of North Korea and the conflict in Syria, the Environment Program which debated the problem
of climate change and nuclear energy and the General Assembly which debated access to education and water. The delegations were given briefings on the work of the UN by Bryanston staff who had past experience working for the UN before their debates in the afternoon. The boys’ hard work over the preceding 6 weeks paid off and they all gave an excellent account of themselves arguing with the USA over climate change and with Russia
over regime change in North Korea. Siwei Han, Laurence Hepworth and Felix Hughes did particularly well and were awarded ‘Best Delegation’ from the UN Environment Program. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and an excellent opportunity for the boys to stretch their analytical and public speaking skills in an unfamiliar environment; it is now our intention to begin a debating program at Aldro to build on the success of this week.
a Swim-a-thon to raise money for the Oscar Foundation, something built upon during our wonderful Summer Party and Auction of Promises. Similarly 9 teams of 4 Aldro boys entered the Restless Development Cranleigh School's triathlon earlier this term (in their own time), finishing very high up the fields (one second place, one third, and 6 in the top 40 of 75 strong fields) and raising over £5000
for chosen charities.
CHARITIES AND FUND-RAISING
We started the year continuing our support for Unique – a small charity specialising in supporting families with children born with chromosomal abnormalities. Handing over a cheque for £9000 raised by school / FOAA for the school charity was a really special moment for all of us, not least of all Ben Alexander who launched the charity with us. At Harvest Festival we continued to raise funds to support Starfish Malawi, who believe you can change the world by one act of kindness to one individual. Our Christmas Mufti day and record number of boxes for Operation Christmas Child show just how much our community rallies around those in need. The Rugby Shirt Day in aid of the Wooden Spoon charity is an event which has raised thousands to transform lives of the disabled and disadvantaged – the day first started by our own Monsieur 14 years ago. This past term saw 25 boys complete either 500m or 1000m in the pool for 64 THE ALDRONIAN
In October, we look forward to welcoming the Oscar Foundation group from India – to fundraise for them, and to be a part of their life-changing programme. I salute all of you who want to make a difference in the local community as in the wider world by helping our neighbours.
SMALL REPORTS
BATTLE OF HASTINGS
As part of the History syllabus Form 5 studied the Norman Conquest and almost 950 years after the original battle, some of the Form 5 boys set up their own Saxon shield wall and prepared for the onslaught of Norman arrows and cavalry. On this occasion, as the boys re-enacted the Battle of Hastings, the hill by the flagpole replaced Senlac hill and rugby balls replaced the arrows. The boys were walked through the battle plan before replaying it themselves from memory, contributing to a unique understanding of how such a significant event in English history unfolded.
FORM 7 VISIT TO BROOKWOOD MILITARY CEMETERY
On Tuesday 21st Feb the Form 7s visited Brookwood Military Cemetery as part of their English syllabus looking at Poetry in the First World War. The morning was combined as a History trip where Mr Holbrook, Mr Swan and Mr Leach all spoke about how different countries commemorate their war dead differently. The cemetery was set aside for the burial of men and women of the forces of the Commonwealth and Americans, who had died, many of battle wounds, in the London district; in addition to the Commonwealth plots, the cemetery also contains French, Polish, Czechoslovakian, Belgian and Italian sections. The Italian section is of particular interest to Aldro as there was an Italian Prisoner of War camp on the edge of the Aldro playing fields during the Second World War.
The boys took great interest in the stories of some of the Servicemen and women and they had plenty of inspiration for their poems, taking the name from a gravestone and creating a poem suggesting the type of life and war that person might have had. It was a moving trip, the end of which was marked by a short service of remembrance where Jake Malloy, Alex Hu and Siwei Han read the poem ‘For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon and Mohammed Vahora read a prayer.
The boys’ poems then went into a competition to be judged by the English Department.
THE ALDRONIAN 65
SMALL REPORTS
LANCING CONCOURS D’ART ORATOIRE, 2017
For the first time Aldro submitted a team to the annual French Declamation Competition hosted by Lancing. The long journey there began at the beginning of last term with the first internal qualifying round to select the team. From the start Form 7 took it seriously and, in doing so, have each a poem they can recite in French. Everybody has grown both in confidence handling the language and in self-esteem. The team eventually selected was Bertie Harris, George Brew, William Groves, Henry Hickey, Henry Jackson, Charlie Thompson, Henry Williams, Tom Beggs, Patrick Hughes, Joe Best, Laurence Hepworth, Siwei Han, Alfie Hewitt and William Drewitt. Each had to learn a poem of their choice from the competition selection and prepare and deliver a presentation on a topic of their choice in French. On top of that they were going into the unknown with their pieces as, with no experience of this competition, we did not know what to expect. Joe Best, for instance, was hoping for an audience of at least
66 THE ALDRONIAN
two hundred for peak performance, whereas others were relieved to find all seven schools were jumbled together to perform in six separate rooms, with the winner of each asked to give a recital at prize giving. On arrival we were ushered straight into lunch just ahead of the rest of the school and it was lovely to have Freddie Pritchard come over to greet us in the same suit we remember him for at Aldro, soon followed in the lunch queue by Harry Aldritt, both in great heart. On what felt like the first day of sping Lancing was looking resplendant, perched on the edge of the South Downs under a chalk blue sky and we were given a quick tour of the chapel, school farm and showstopper of a Design Technology department. The rising tension as we settled down to business in the audition rooms was quickly dispelled by the warm appreciation of each competitor on the part of the adjudicating Modern Language Staff and the courageous example of the first competitors. William Drewitt’s nerves were compounded by losing the bullet points allowed for reference in the presentations. In their bright green blazers, our boys distinguished themsleves not just for
standing firm and remembering their words when it came to their turn, but for the evident interest they took in listening to all their competitors and taking on board feedback given. They had clearly worked hard on their presentations because they were genuinely interesting and elicited further questions from the judges in English after they had finished (as we learned, for instance, from Charlie Thompson that tortoises live in packs and can reach speeds of up to eight mph.) After a quick and very necessary refreshment, prize giving happened in Lancing’s impressive theatre where William Drewitt was the first to be called up. After receiving his prize he kept his nerve, remembered all his LAMDA training, fixed his gaze in the middle distance of his audience of one hundred and calmly gave his best performance to date of Mon cartable. Alfie Hewitt was close runner-up in his section. However, every one of those boys who made it to Lancing that sunny spring day came away feeling the wiser and stronger for the experience. Thank you from the French Department to all their support teams at home and at school that enabled them to take part.
SPORT – FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL 1ST XI
RESULTS Played 8 Drawn 1 Goals for 19 Goals Difference
Won 2 Lost 5 Against 25 -6
The Aldro 1st XI built on the previous two performances and in the next match against Parkside produced the best performance of the season. The game could have been won by a much bigger margin, however nothing was to be taken away from the performance of the team.
The 1st XI results probably don’t reflect the fantastic progress that they made as a team this season. With an early victory in the Surrey Cup away to Harrodian, the boys' expectation were raised. Facing Rokeby in the next round of the cup at home, the team managed to show determination, flair, grit and a fantastic team effort to come back from losing positions several times, to unfortunately lose with the final kick of the game. With Shrewsbury House and Lambrook fixtures following quickly after the 1st XI faced potentially the toughest opponents of the season. The 4-1 score line against Shrewsbury
FOOTBALL 2ND IX
This was a terrific season for the 2nd IX. Unbeaten seasons are hard to come by and all of the boys involved should be very proud of their achievement. The boys tried to play fast moving, attractive football which suited our speed, size and skill set. As can be seen from individual match reports on the website.
RESULTS Played 6 Drawn 0 Goals for 28 Goals Difference
Won 6 Lost 0 Against 10 18
flattered the opposition somewhat, with a 2nd half performance by Aldro which demonstrated the potential that they had, and with the 2nd half score line being 1-1, the result would have been a fairer reflection of the match. Similarly, the match against Lambrook took a very similar pattern with the opposition leading at half time, but the Aldro boys performing to a very high level in the 2nd half. Even the opposition coach couldn’t believe they had won 4-1, complementing the boys and informing them that they were by far the toughest opposition they had faced.
With Benedict Crowe captaining the side, assisted by Jonny Wilkinson, the team grew in stature throughout the season and it was a shame the season came to an end when it did. The IAPS tournament held at Rokeby highlighted the standard of the top teams in the area. Unfortunately, Aldro were placed in a tough group with the eventual winners, and Shrewsbury House who had beaten the boys a couple of weeks previous. However, with 3 draws and only two defeats, 1-0 both times, the boys could walk away with their heads held high after some excellent performances and demonstrating the right attitude on the pitch. RJL
This was very much a team effort with all of the players making significant contributions. Captain Finn Taylor led by example; Archie Chilcott scored some outstanding goals; Luke Cassar and Will Owen dominated the left hand side while Henry Rix ran tirelessly on the right; Toby Pascoe and Oliver Percival were giants in defence. There were many highlights of the season but, for the coach,
the stand out moment was when everything ‘clicked’ in the 5-0 victory over Lambrook. It was a great pleasure to coach these boys and they deserve their success. Well done! NDM THE ALDRONIAN 67
SPORT - FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL 3RD IX
A season of ups and downs with a balanced result sheet, which was probably a fair reflection of the season. The boys worked hard and, at times, showed considerable skill but we lost a number of matches that we ought possibly to have won. On some occasions our teamwork was missing and on others we lacked the ‘cutting edge’ needed to put our opponents away, but overall the boys enjoyed their
RESULTS Hall Grove School
Won: 5-0
Feltonfleet School
Draw : 3-3
The New Beacon
Lost : 3-4
Shrewsbury House School Lost : 0-3 Lambrook School
Lost : 0-3
Parkside School
Draw : 2-2
Hoe Bridge School
Won : 5-3
FOOTBALL 4TH IX
The 4th team played some lovely and neat passing football this year and had a successful season in terms of overall improvement and results. The boys showed an excellent team spirit and always had a willingness to learn, which meant coaching them was a very rewarding experience. We focused on a simple passing game and for the most part showed good composure in front of goal, which meant we scored in every game! Fifteen boys played for the team over the course of the season and a number enjoyed promotion to the
RESULTS Hall Grove School
Won 3-0
Feltonfleet School
Won : 5-0
The New Beacon
Draw : 1-1
Shrewsbury House School Draw : 3-3 Lambrook School
Won : 3-2
Parkside School
Won : 2-0
Hoe Bridge School
Won : 1-0
68 THE ALDRONIAN
football. All of the boys contributed to a very enjoyable season. The blip in the middle of the season was a frustrating one for the boys, they should have beaten New Beacon, and could have had a closer match against
both Lambrook and Shrewsbury House and during the draw against Parkside we conceded a last minute goal. They did well to bounce back against Hoe Bridge and finish on a high.
third team squad, where they performed creditably. Notable highlights of the season were regularly beating the 3rd team in practice, and a very impressive 5-0 win over Feltonfleet. My thanks to
the parents who supported from the touchline and finally the boys who made it such an enjoyable season.
YGBL
MT
SPORT - FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL 5TH IX
The boys started the season with an entertaining 0-0 draw against Hall Grove. Plenty of chances but perhaps early season rustiness could be blamed for the final touch not being as sharp as it might have been. Shrewsbury House always prove to be a strong test and this year was no different but we made them work hard for their 2-3 win at Aldro. The boys finished the season off on a high with wins against Lambrook and Hoe Bridge. Football journalists have talked about teams having a spine of key players and for the 5th XI, Max Coltart, Hugo Worthington, Sam Nicholas and Sidney Huet made up the spine. From goalkeeping to striking the four brought confidence and consistency to the team. Well done to them and all the other boys who represented the 5th IX. BA
FOOTBALL 6TH IX
This was a good year for the IX. The opening 7-0 win against Feltonfleet had the boys in a euphoric mood but they had to be reminded that tougher tests waited ahead. There was no shame in the defeat to Shrewsbury House – playing away on a larger pitch against arguably fitter players. Despite that defeat, the boys bounced back to record two exciting wins against Lambrook (1-0) and Parkside (2-1). Special mention should go to Bertie Harris and Felix Hughes – not just for their goalkeeping and goalscoring respectively but the way in which they led the team as captain and vice-captain. BA
FOOTBALL 7TH IX
What a terrific bunch of boys to work with! The overriding value of the season was FUN and we had plenty! All the boys were actively involved throughout the season and there was good individual progress made both physically and mentally. The highlight of the season was without doubt our one match of the season at Shrewsbury House; a fantastic 4 – 0 victory with both teams playing in a wonderful spirit. It was a great pleasure to coach these boys and I wish them well for the future. Well done! GD
THE ALDRONIAN 69
SPORT - FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL U11s
This has been a short, hectic but enjoyable season with Form 6. The vast majority of the players have been very keen and made good progress. They have been a pleasure to work with and always played with a smile. The U11 A squad have had a mixed season. They performed incredibly well in the ISFA and Charterhouse tournaments they entered, winning their groups and losing narrowly in the semifinals of both. The regular season of block fixtures has not been so successful. Despite always playing the best passing, possession football in all their matches they struggled to put any pressure on their opponents by scoring when dominating. This has meant it has often only needed one goal to lose the match. Their effort and willingness to play good football cannot be faulted but they need to develop a more physical and ruthless streak in the future if they are to win more. Well done to all involved but particularly captain Malachy Talty and vice-captain Freddie Proctor for always leading by example in training, matches and preparations. Barney Bridges and Freddie Seabrooke also deserve a special mention for their consistently strong performances in the less glamorous role of stopping the opposition.
U11A
U11B
The Under 11 Bs have had a truly successful season, not just in terms of the results they attained but also the quality of the performances that they produced. It was exceptional to witness the determination and energy of the team that grew with each game. The squad improved in passing and creating space, allowing the attack to be a prominent feature of our game. In defence, we placed constricting pressure on the opposition that proved effective in regaining possession. I would suggest that collectively the players should remember to be encouraging and positive of each other regardless the situation. Congratulations to all the players, you all have improved enormously. Lastly, a big thank you for a great first season of football coaching and most importantly I hope you enjoyed it. The U11 C team had a difficult season and came up against some impressive teams. Their performances improved as the season progressed and were unlucky on a number of occasions not to get more positive results. They worked hard throughout the season to improve their basic skill sets of passing, dribbling and shooting and made progress in all of these areas. Playing within a structure at times proved to be more challenging and they learnt the hard way that the game relies on all seven players performing a role on the pitch. This is definitely an area to work more on in the future. Special mention must go to Toby Lumb in goal, who performed brilliantly throughout the season and kept the side in the game on more numerous occasions. Well done to all the boys in the C team who showed excellent spirit from the outset to the final whistle. The U11 D team had an enjoyable season and showed some strong progression in their abilities and fitness as the season progressed. All the boys worked hard during training developing their skills and were keen to put some of those into practice during matches. The boys’ enthusiasm was a real feature of their games, especially during the final match when they came back strongly during the second half only to lose out on victory during the final seconds. MF 70 THE ALDRONIAN
U11C
U11D
RESULTS U11a
P8 W1 D2 L5
U11b
P8 W5 D1 L2
U11c
P7 W2 D0 L5
U11d
P7 W3 D0 L4
SPORT - FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL U10s
My fellow coaches and I had a great squad of boys to work with this year. They tried hard in training, and improved all aspects of their game in the short six weeks that make up the football season. Results were mixed and varied. Although our main focus, as always, was on player development and learning the game, there is no doubt it helps to win a few games – and we were very grateful to the C, D and E teams for doing so and boosting our sometimes fragile confidence. A good number of these boys deservedly progressed to the A and B teams.
RESULTS U10a
P8 W0 D2 L6
U10b
P8 W0 D2 L6
U10c
P7 W2 D1 L4
U10d
P7 W5 D1 L1
U10e
P7 W3 D1 L3
U10A
Monty Money took the honours for the U10 Player of the Season, and Charlie Bromley won the award for Most Improved Player. I am very grateful to Messrs Callaghan, Duah and Crafter for their coaching and assistance; my thanks also to all the parents for their faitwhful support on the touchline, and of course to the boys for their efforts.
U10B
U10D
CR
U10C
U10E
FOOTBALL U9s
An outstanding year season for the U9s saw the whole year group go through the season unbeaten! A remarkable achievement, and a perfect reward for how hard they have all worked during the season. Along the way they have played some lovely, neat and fast passing football. In games sessions these were our main focus points along with our ability to
RESULTS
U9B
U9C U9A
U9a Played 14 Drawn 3 Goals for 38 Goals Difference
Won 11 Lost 0 Against 6 32
U9b Played 14 Drawn 4 Goals for 29 Goals Difference
Won 10 Lost 0 Against 4 25
U9c Played 14 Drawn 1 Goals for 43 Goals Difference
Won 13 Lost 0 Against 2 41
U9d Played 10 Drawn 1 Goals for 24 Goals Difference
Won 9 Lost 0 Against 5 19
THE ALDRONIAN 71
SPORT - FOOTBALL U9D
keep possession to create chances to score. This incorporated a lot of emphasis on effort and also on team work, and through drills and games we emphasised the importance of each and every player being as important as the next on the football field. Much of our training was completed as an entire group with all the boys being given plenty of opportunity to progress and represent the school. Once again our main aim was to develop a style of football that would
FOOTBALL U8s
This season we fielded 2 exciting teams; the Reds and the Greens! The boys played a number of matches in these teams but were also, on a number of occasions mixed together and so given an opportunity to play with different players. I am delighted to say that on every occasion that the boys had a match this term each and every boy was able to take part.
AJ
RESULTS
Two highlights of the season were the Squad Matches and the Argyle Trophy matches! The Squad Matches were particularly exciting as this was the first occasion that the boys were able to represent their Squad and do so in front of their parents! Fortunately they are all at the beginning of their time at Aldro and will have plenty more opportunities and matches in the coming years! Well done this season, but be ready for the big step up in Form 4! GD
GOTHIA WORLD YOUTH FOOTBALL CUP Aldro was again well represented at the Gothia World Youth Football Cup in Gothenberg in July. All boys played a full part and gained much from the experience. Well done previous attendees Henry Starmer-Smith, Charlie Thompson, Felix Whitlam, Joe Best and Alfie Hewitt. First timers Henry Rolland, Freddie Proctor, Malachy Talty and year young Monty Money all took it in their stride. A particular well done must go to Jake Golding as he joined late helping make up an injury depleted squad and excelled!
MF 72 THE ALDRONIAN
There were many outstanding individual and team performance through the course of the season as well as some fantastic results against some traditionally strong football schools. However, our primary aim was to try and ensure the boys enjoyed the season, learnt more about the game, improved their skills and are now in a position to improve further as a team.
U8x
The U8s began their sporting careers at Aldro in great style and huge enthusiasm. We were able to have a huge amount of fun whilst also working hard to improve. The group as a whole really performed very well both during practice and matches. The progress has been made more noticeable by the willingness to learn and improve. Each boy has also made good advancement on their individual skills and game awareness and also developed a greater understanding of team play. The signs for the future are very encouraging!
set them up for the future focusing on the basics of the game.
U8 Reds Played 15 Drawn 1 Goals for 28 Goals Difference
Won 10 Lost 4 Against 22 6
U8 Greens Played 13 Drawn 3 Goals for 18 Goals Difference
Won 5 Lost 5 Against 15 3
U8y
SPORT - RUGBY
RUGBY U13A
RESULTS Played 15 Won 2 Drawn 3 Lost 10 Points for 185 Against 360 Points Difference -175
sometimes were sloppy executing the basics such a passing. However, they came through all the matches through a combination of great determination and moments of quality. Each session was a real pleasure and we all enjoyed a great deal of fun whilst learning and indeed improving. With the right attitude, application and a genuine sense of team work the potential they show as individuals can be harnessed as they move to their senior schools. With good players in every position the boys were able to work on playing a few different styles. Some matches the forwards gained more success and other matches it was the backs. The tries came in a variety of ways as well with the forwards contributing on several occasions.
However, it was nice to see the team trying to be expansive when possible.
AJ
The squad was needed to maintain the very physical style of play the boys preferred with all contributing significantly. Technically the team fluctuated and
RUGBY U13B
Mr King and I shared the coaching duties with an enthusiastic and committed squad of boys this season – the first time we have fielded a XIII picked purely from Year 8. We battled hard in every game, and on more than one occasion did not get the result our efforts and performances deserved. Four out of five matches in November were lost to bigger, stronger opposition, with the one victory at Eagle House, and a triangular in early December saw a draw with Edgeborough and another narrow defeat to Highfield. A spanking at the hands of Shrewsbury House after Christmas preceded some awful weather, with three fixtures being lost to the conditions. February brought more playable pitches, but no change in fortunes as first New Beacon then St John’s Beaumont battered our boys into submission – but thankfully we ended on a high note with revenge over Highfield. Jonathan Barley led the forwards well, with able support from George
Lake Coghlan, Monty Payne and Max Coltart. In the backs we had the ever-present and reliable Finn Taylor, alongside Jonny Wilkinson, with Hugo Worthington and Archie Chilcott the pick of the rest. A good number of boys progressed to the A team during the season – a reward for their hard work in training.
Our grateful thanks to all the parents for their faithful support on the touchline, often in cold and wet weather conditions, and to the boys for their attitude – they never once threw in the towel, and showed resilience and persistence all season. CR, TK
THE ALDRONIAN 73
SPORT - RUGBY
RUGBY U12A
It has been a successful and highly enjoyable season for the Under 12A rugby team. This was the first year that the Under 12s played as an age-group of their own and, while the the RFU still have some issues to iron out in the rules of play, the changes have certainly enhanced the rugby played by this group of boys. Throughout the season the boys played and trained with enthusiasm, toughness and considerable skill. One of the effects of the changes in playing regulations at this age group, designed to make the game more enjoyable and safe, has been, ironically, to increase the intensity of the impacts both at tackle and breakdown. In many ways this played to our strength because I cannot remember coaching a group of boys who were braver or more ‘up for it’ in the collision. Unfortunately, this did come at a cost with more injuries and knocks than in previous years – most notably the loss of our inspirational captain, Patrick Hughes, with a broken knee, early in the season. Charlie Thompson was brutal and tireless at the breakdown, Alfie Hewitt was creative and energetic in
both defence and attack and, when available, William Drewitt was lethal in his running. However the successes of this season were built on the foundation of teamwork where every boy played his part and contributed wholeheartedly to the collective. A particular highlight from a coaching point of view is seeing the emergence and development of players who have fought their way into this team. Joe Best, Jake Molloy and, most noticeably, Sidney Huet have all progressed significantly this year and now
RESULTS Played 10 Drawn 0
Won 7 Lost 3
command a place on the team sheet alongside more established players. It has been a pleasure to coach this side and I look forward to charting their future success with great interest. Well done! NDM
RUGBY U12B RESULTS Played 8 Drawn 0
The Under 12B team had a season of two halves. With some tough opposition prior to Christmas against Cranleigh, and playing a year up against 74 THE ALDRONIAN
Eagle House and Hall Grove, they still did themselves proud. The losses to Eagle House and Hall Grove were very close affairs and some positive remarks
Won 4 Lost 4
from the opposition coaches certainly kept spirits up. A victory against Feltonfleet with 4 tries from Jake and 2 from Lev was a welcome victory for their efforts for this half term. After the Christmas break the boys pushed on once again with victories against Highfield School and Shrewsbury House. Unfortunately, the weather had an impact for some of the fixtures at this stage. The season then finished with an excellent performance against St John's Beaumont School and then a close loss to Highfield School. The boys should be proud of their efforts and performances this season, and look forward to next year.
SPORT - RUGBY
RUGBY U11s
The 2016/17 season saw us field 3 teams every week and all of our U11 boys were involved regularly. Training sessions were always inclusive and competitive and there was a good amount of change within each team throughout the season. This group of boys proved to be a joy to coach. The enthusiasm amongst the cohort was both fantastic and infectious. The desire to learn and improve was indeed tangible. Our rugby journey began at the beginning of November when we once again took a group of Year 6 boys to Sherborne School for our annual pre-season tour. The seed were sown there, the foundations were laid and through November and December these seeds began to blossom. By January we were in full flow; the personnel in each of their teams understood their roles and played for each other. However, the real achievement of the season and source of pleasure for us as coaches was to see this group of boys playing for each other and believing in their individual and group ability.
U11A
We are sure this set of lads will continue to progress in their rugby whilst also deriving great pleasure from the game, I hope, for many years to come. GD/SH/BA
U11B
RESULTS U11A Played 14 Drawn 3 Points for: 310
Won 8 Lost 3 Points against: 175
U11B Played 11 Drawn 0 Points for: 286
Won 7 Lost 4 Points against: 155
U11C Played 8 Drawn 0 Points for: 270
Won 6 Lost 2 Points against: 125
U11C THE ALDRONIAN 75
SPORT - RUGBY
RUGBY U10s
The U10 rugby season started slowly, possibly with the hangover from a tough football season for this year group. There was a lack of focus by too many with those wanting to develop their rugby in the minority. To their great credit this gradually changed with all players eventually showing a great willingness to improve. The stand out team that lead the way was the U10s who went nine straight wins before defeat. Competition for places and pride in performance came to the fore such that the last few weeks of the season have been most enjoyable. This year has ended showing considerable promise as evident from their excellent display in the squad matches when combined with the year above. The U10 A squad had a very slow start. Confidence was low and three early defeats dented this further. Progress was slowly being made with performances improving but then an emphatic victory against Hall Grove proved to be the catalyst. From there Captain Jesse Thompson, ViceCaptain Ted Harris and top scorer Monty Money drove the others on by example. A run of four straight wins ignited the season and showed what this squad could do. Some tough, well balanced matches towards the end of the season provided excellent opportunity to develop. From a team lacking confidence this is now a squad with great potential. Well done to all involved! The U10 Bs had an interesting start to the season with both wins and losses early on and a total of 4 losses and 2 wins heading into the Christmas break. After the term break the team returned in fantastic shape with strong wins against teams they had previously lost against and finishing with 7 wins 4 losses. The boys should be extremely proud of their efforts this season as each member displayed commitment and enthusiasm to every aspect of the game. Special mentions for team captain Charley Bromley and Vice-captain Barnaby Hatton for their excellent leadership all season. It has
76 THE ALDRONIAN
been a pleasure to coach these fine young men through their rugby this season and I wish them all the best for future endeavours. At the start of the U10 C season, there was a sea of talent hindered by disorganisation and a lack of cohesion. After the first match against Cranleigh, a thirst for success propelled the team to search for progression; although the composition of the team was not cemented immediately, eventually there was a clear improvement in teamwork and as a result, the margin of wins increased. The resilience of the team and their fearlessness in contact were great strengths, which delivered unremitting victory. As the season drew to a close, it was clear to see a huge advancement in the team’s rucking and awareness of space on the pitch. It was unfortunate to lose a match, however I would like to think that this can be a lesson in retaining humility and developing sportsmanship. Stand out performances from captain Fin Bennet and Joshua Cook were invaluable to the success of the team. Well done boys; it has been a pleasure. The Under 10 Ds squad had a brilliant season. All individuals played to the best of their abilities and showcased enthusiasm, passion and dedication to the wonderful game of rugby. The beginning of the season highlighted their great potential with a win and a couple of draws. However, with a few games being cancelled, the squad suffered some tough defeats against St John’s Beaumont and Highfield School. Nevertheless, James Atkinson was a unique talent for the team as he was top try scorer and managed to play in the C team for the final matches as a testament to his hard work ethic. Overall, they were a pleasure to coach and it is amazing to see the potential in every individual that played for this team. Congratulations to everyone and I wish you every success in your rugby careers.
RESULTS U10a P13 W5 D3 L5 U10b P13 W7 D0 L6 U10c P14 W11 D2 L1 U10d P10 W4 D2 L4
U10A
U10B
U10C
U10D
SPORT - RUGBY
RUGBY U9s
U9A
The U9s Rugby season always promised to be an exciting one from the outset, with the boys loving the thought of full contact rugby. And they didn’t disappoint, a great opening triangular against Highfield and Edgeborough was the perfect way to get the season underway. It’s always important in rugby to make sure that you learn from your mistakes, but more importantly that you take positives from every game. However with the rain and subsequent mud it becomes very difficult! Once the puddles, mud, and deluge subsided the boys continued where they left off, playing some fantastic running rugby in every team, and putting in some great tackles, which by the end of the season was our strongest part of the game; not many U9 teams can say that tackling is their forte so a big well done to the boys. The culmination of our season came in the last couple of games against Rokeby and Cranmore. On this occasion both teams played some great rugby and this was shown in the results from those matches against very tough opposition. Well done to all the boys.
U9B
U9C
AJ
RESULTS Played 5 Drawn 0 Points for 115 Points Difference
Won 3 Lost 2 Against 105 10
Played 6 Won 4 Drawn 0 Lost 2 Points for 230 Against 105 Points Difference 125
U9D
Played 5 Won 2 Drawn 1 Lost 2 Points for 130 Against 105 Points Difference 25 Played 6 Won 5 Drawn 1 Lost 0 Points for 225 Against 150 Points Difference 75
THE ALDRONIAN 77
SPORT - RUGBY
RUGBY U8s
The U8s enjoyed a fun and exciting first season of Rugby at Aldro. The emphasis was based strongly on learning the game; understanding the laws and developing the techniques required to play the game and work as a team. They showed a great deal of enthusiasm throughout their rugby season and achieved some strong results. The player development was extremely pleasing to see but more importantly was the gradual understanding of team work at this level. Rugby is about the team more than anything else. Individually the boys will have to continue work on the basics; catching passing, running with the ball in two hands, if they are going to make a notable improvement in Form 4. Getting the basics right first will lead to a whole lot of success in the future. Remember next year you will be playing ‘contact’! Another steep learning curve.
U8A
On every occasion this year the entire year group were involved in an afternoon of inter-school rugby. It was great to see this happening and you could see the pleasure all the boys gained from such an event. Well tried this year and good luck in the future. GD
RESULTS U8 Harlequins Played 7 Drawn 1 Points for 270 Points Difference
Won 0 Lost 6 Against 335 -65
U8 Saracens Played 7 Drawn 2 Points for 190 Points Difference
Won 2 Lost 3 Against 215 -25
RUGBY SEVENS UNDER 13 The Sevens season really took off, the boys adapted well and kicked on from the 13-a-side game.
The main thing that carried through the 13-a-side season was teamwork and effort. A Seven that is together and united will be far better than Seven individuals. We got off to a great start at the CLFS Sevens tournament, Finishing runners-up in the plate to a strong Cranmore team, but the game could have gone either way with a different bounce of the ball. It is worth remembering the first game though, a 35-5 loss against Danes Hill. 78 THE ALDRONIAN
U8B
SPORT - RUGBY A stuttering start to the second tournament meant that instead of being 3 wins from our opening 3 matches we drew one and lost two, conceding tries in the last play of two games. For the final match, we talked only about togetherness and playing for each other. Giving positive reenforcement and looking out for your team mates. An excellent all-round team performance saw us put away the hosts 3 tries to 0. If only we started how we finished! One of the main highlights of the season came at our own tournament. Making it to the ‘cup’ group for the second round as we won our first group matches,
RUGBY SEVENS UNDER 12 This was an outstanding season from an exceptional group of players, for whom the results speak for themselves. Of the five tournaments that we entered, we won four and were runners up in the fifth. The boys scored over a hundred tries at an average of four per match and only lost one game in the entire season. As with the twelve-a-side season, these performances were built on teamwork and effort. Although we had good pace in the squad from Molloy, Huet and Brew, we lacked the scintillating
the togetherness and positive reenforcement was really coming to the fore now. Earlier I mentioned the 35-5 loss against Danes Hill. In the last game of the day, we almost reversed the score line, turning them over by 33-5! The boys arrived at Rosslyn Park with a lot of nervous energy and excitement. Eager to get started and the first match out of the way, it couldn’t have started better, cheered on by the Headmaster and Governors, the boys eased to a 45-0 win. The second game had to be the best performance of the season, the grit and determination showed by all the boys was a pleasure to see, this time cheered on by World
speed that is nearly always present in successful Sevens teams. However, what was lacking in ‘gas’ was certainly compensated for in skill, determination and fitness. The hard work practising our passing and running lines on the training field certainly paid off as there were times when our handling and Sevens play were breath-taking. With more space on the pitch, Sidney Huet came into his own as a powerful and elusive runner, but he, and others, fed off the possession that was gained
Cup winner Will Greenwood, a last play try won the match. We would go through as group winners, and play 2 more games with the possibility of being unbeaten all day. The second group got off to a great start against St Olave’s, but we just came unstuck against Dulwich Prep in the last game. The boys were a pleasure to accompany; they made the long drives and tournament days more than worth it with their excellent attitude and brilliant company. AJ
RESULTS U11a Played 25 Won 22 Lost 1 Drawn 2 Points For 540 Points Against 190 Points Difference 350
most often by Charlie Thompson’s work at the breakdown. Perhaps even more gratifying than the results, is the spirit with which this group of boys played - in each of the tournaments the boys were commended on their style, attitude and never-say-die approach. The amount of travelling and the length of tournaments can make the Sevens season pretty hard work, but this was never the case with this squad. They have been optimistic, enthusiastic and polite throughout, with a good level of banter thrown in. It has been a pleasure to coach these boys and if, as I suspect, this turns out to be Monsieur Lombardot’s final season coaching Sevens at Aldro, then I can think of no better team with whom he should end his illustrious coaching career. NDM
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SPORT - RUGBY / CRICKET
RUGBY SEVENS UNDER 1 This season saw yet another highly successful U11 Rugby 7s campaign. A squad of 18 boys were selected for the season and this group of players, developed and grew as individuals, as a team and as human beings immeasurably over 5 weeks. I was extremely proud of them!
On paper, this team showed a couple of genuine individual stars; players with good pace, players with size and strength, players who could potentially dominant a match. However, our focus was and always is the team and those players need to play for and within the team structure. As it happened injuries put paid to some of our key players and
as a result the team ethic became even more profound. Our principal culture revolved extensively around the importance of the team. Much of our game strategy and tactics revolved around team work. Combined with an understanding of roles, tactics, strengths and weaknesses and above all an emphasis on hard work the template was evolved to create a successful team. I was delighted to see the entire group buying into this concept and as a result enjoying a truly fun, enjoyable and successful season. Our primary goal is to prepare this age group for what is
U11A or B
CRICKET 1ST XI
TOURNAMENTS PARTICIPATED IN: U11 Aldro 7s Tournament U11 Oratory Prep School 7’s Tournament U11 Portsmouth Grammar 7s Tournamnet U11 Feltonfleet 7s Tournament U11 Shrewsbury House Rugby 7’s Tournament
to come on the Sevens circuit in future years at Aldro. This group of boys are well ahead of the learning curve! Well done boys and good luck for the next 2 years. GD
U11A or B
My first year back coaching the 1st XI since 2011, and a very enjoyable season full of ups and downs – a record of 3 wins from 13 matches perhaps not a fair reflection of the boys’ efforts over the ten weeks. Lambrook and Downsend both defeated us back in chilly April – the latter by just 16 runs in a high scoring Cup match, which really set the scene for several equally close finishes later on in the term. Despite a terrific unbeaten 85 from Jack Lenton, the Feltonfleet batsmen proved too strong for us in early May, though we bounced back to record our first victory over Highfield later that week, largely thanks to strong batting by Ben and Rory Yeldham. A loss at the hands of
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SPORT - CRICKET Awards Best Batsman
Jack Lenton
Best Bowler
Jonathan Barley
Best Fielder
Rory Yeldham
Nicholson Niggardly Trophy
Ben Yeldham
Champagne Moment
Henry Hickey
Players’ Player of the Year
Jonathan Barley
Ludgrove
Coach’s Player of the Year
Alfie Hewitt
Downsend 165-2 Aldro 149-6 Downsend win by 16 runs
Cranmore preceded two unforgettable matches where the phrase ‘grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory’ never seemed more fitting… Chasing 124 at Eagle House, we were cruising along, needing just 20 from 5 overs before a lower-order collapse left us 2 runs short; a few days later we produced a magnificent bowling and fielding display to dismiss a strong Rokeby side for just 73, only to crawl our way to 72 in reply, falling an agonising 1 run short. After half-term, defeats against Hoe Bridge, Hall Grove (another desperately close run-chase) and Cranleigh brought us to our West Country Tour: Sherborne U14s were too big and powerful for us, but the next morning our batsmen finally found their form, hitting 177-8 at Taunton Prep and dismissing them for 104. In our last game, hosting Trinity House from Johannesburg, we continued our impressive form with a more comfortable victory than 14 runs suggests. If I had £1 every time one of the squad muttered a sentence beginning “if only…” I’d be able to afford a debenture at Lord’s. Jack Lenton was a fluent left-handed opening batsman, who hit a couple of good scores but all too often failed to push on once he’d established himself at the crease. He was joined by a succession of opening partners before we settled on Patrick Hughes, another left-hander who looked safe and stable, but was prone to the odd reckless shot. Henry Hickey, Will Owen, George Brew and the captain Oliver Percival made up the middle order, with Ben and Rory Yeldham popping in and out of the top six. I am expecting Hickey and Brew to come into their own next year, having had the experience of cricket at this level. Alfie Hewitt, Jonathan Barley and Luke Cassar proved to be no mugs with the bat – Hewitt opened against Taunton and played superbly – and Charlie Thompson will also gain a lot
RESULTS Lambrook 178-4 Aldro 117-6 Lambrook win by 61 runs
from playing a few matches for the 1st XI as a Year 7. Our bowling line-up was as good as any school we faced. On his day, Barley gave virtually nothing away, and bowled as tightly as McGrath once did for the Aussies. The two Yeldhams both bowled useful seamup, Ben adding a yard of pace during the season and Rory developing a dangerous off-cutter. Hewitt never let us down, jagging the ball into opposition batsmen at a decent pace, and Cassar also moved the ball off the seam superbly at times. Lenton and Hickey provided spin and guile, though both need to work on flight as well as turn. Our fielding was strong, and at times quite outstanding – four run-outs at Rokeby, for example – and Thompson was often the pick at his favourite backward point. Percival and Hickey shared keeping duties, and I am grateful to Owen for helping out in practice sessions. Other highlights of the season included a very enjoyable Fathers Match, a sweltering 8-a-side Festival at Lanesborough, and a memorable visit to the County Ground at Taunton to watch England face South Africa in a T20, where they took their cue from us in falling 3 runs short in the last over!
Cancelled
Aldro 147-2 Feltonfleet 151-5 Feltonfleet win by 5 wickets Aldro Highfield Aldro win by 27 runs
131 104-8
Cranmore 164 Aldro 132 Cranmore win by 32 runs Eagle House 124-6 Aldro 122 Eagle H win by 2 runs Parkside
Cancelled
Rokeby Aldro Rokeby win by 1 run
73 72-9
Aldro 115-9 Hoe Bridge 117-3 Hoe Bridge win by 7 wickets Hall Grove 104-9 Aldro 93-8 Hall Grove win by 11 runs Cranleigh 167-8 Aldro 70 Cranleigh win by 97 runs Aldro 84 Sherborne U14 85-4 Sherborne win by 6 wickets Aldro Taunton Aldro win by 73 runs
177-8 104
Aldro Trinity House (S Africa) Aldro win by 14 runs
141-6 127-9
I am grateful to Mr Foss for his coaching and assistance, to Miss Whitelock for scoring, to the kitchen staff for the teas, the ground staff for preparing excellent wickets, and to the Matrons for endless washing of whites. Parents, too, have been hugely supportive as always. The school Cricket season is always a short one, but this one was packed with good performances and memorable moments. CR THE ALDRONIAN 81
SPORT - CRICKET
CRICKET 2ND XI
RESULTS Played 8
Won 6 Lost 2
Feltonfleet
away
won by 9 wickets
Highfield
away
won by 55 runs
Cranmore
away
lost by 6 runs
Eagle House home
won by 8 wickets
Rokeby
home
won by 38 runs
Hoe Bridge
home
won by 64 runs
Hall Grove
away
won by 36 runs
Cranleigh
away
lost by 8 wickets
loss was heavy. The match that sticks in the memory was a high scoring loss to Cranmore where this team nearly got 141 in 20 overs to win.
It was unclear what kind of a team and season this group would have at the start. By the end it was very clear that they were a very good team and have had an excellent season. Expertly led by Captain Jonny Wilkinson and Vice-captain Benedict Crowe they really gelled as a team. Most players bowled in every
match and all with great skill. The fielding was sharp supporting the bowlers. The batting was efficient with opener Benedict Crowe often leading the way. The only drawback was that there was only one tight match. Each of the six wins was fairly comfortable and one
Although Patrick Barraclough took two amazing catches the moment of the season has to be Johnny Howard's hattrick, deservedly achieved after very many good bowling performances. A most enjoyable season both in training and in matches. Well done all involved! MF
CRICKET 3RD XI RESULTS Played 8
Won 6 Lost 2
only a handful of players do everything, so it was terrific see all of the boys enthusiastically playing their part. Occasionally this ‘all-inclusive’ approach to cricket can have a detrimental effect on results but this was not this case this year. On paper the team was very successful with only two losses – one of which was against an outstanding Highfield side.
This has been an excellent season for the Aldro 3rd XI. The boys played with enthusiasm and flair and embraced the 3rd team philosophy of enjoying their cricket. A large number of boys had the opportunity to represent the 3rd XI as we operated a rotation system which
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recognised that there were a large number of boys with a similar level of ability in the 3rd, 4th & 5th XIs. From the beginning of the season we adopted a 20/20 approach to all of our games where everybody had the chance to both bat and bowl. Cricket can be fairly tedious in teams where
Highlights of the season were Archie Chilcott’s half century against Feltonfleet; Sidney Huet’s 48 runs against Hoe Bridge; Ben Ballard’s excellent bowling, Joe Best’s fielding; Luke Haynes’ attempted catch against Rokeby; Freddie Cole’s commentary and Finn Taylor’s six against the 2nd XI. Overall it has been great fun, which is exactly what 3rd XI cricket should be! NDM
SPORT - CRICKET
CRICKET 4TH XI
The 4th XI have enjoyed a multitude of successes this season, not only with their perpetual win-streak, but also with individual performance and progress. It has been a pleasure to watch them develop into fine cricketers and to see their cohesion as a team flourish. Although the ultimate match (filled with excellent displays of cricketing prowess) tarnished the otherwise immaculate record, it was brilliant to see the team retain their sportsmanship in the face of defeat. The rest of the season was testament to the hard work and dedication that was poured into practice; the team’s fielding progressed well and became a key part of their game, with which they were able to pile the pressure on the opposition. Well done, gentlemen; I look forward to seeing what you can achieve next year. BJC
CRICKET 5TH XI
It would be fair to say that this season was a little frustrating for the boys. After the disappointment of the first match of the season against Ludgrove being cancelled, we had a convincing win against Feltonfleet which naturally gave cause for optimism for the future. Unfortunately the success against Feltonfleet was to be our only victory. Rain put paid to our fixtures against Parkside and Highfield, Rokeby, Hall Grove and Cranleigh proved to be too strong for us. That said, there were some stand-out moments; not least Jake Molloy’s 43 against Rokeby, Felix Hughes’ positive attitude and a remarkably good forward defence from Alex Hu. If some of the fielding errors can be corrected next season I feel certain a better season, rain notwithstanding, awaits. BA
ADAM ANSELM
THE ALDRONIAN 83
SPORT - CRICKET
CRICKET U11s
RESULTS U11a Played 8 Drawn 1
Won 3
Lost 4
U11b Played 5
Won 4
Lost 1
U11c Played 5
Won 3
Lost 2
(27) but with partners falling at the other end, Aldro managed to get bogged down in the middle overs and behind the run rate. A rear guard action by Niel (20) almost got the team over the line but in the end we fell agonisingly short, losing by 3 runs.
U11A Cricket The season opened away to Lambrook on a hot, late April day. The home side decided that they wanted to play a win, lose, draw game which was a format largely unfamiliar to our team. Nevertheless, we won the toss and decided to bowl first and excitedly took to the field. A few early wickets from our bowlers promised a good day for Aldro but unfortunately a well-constructed partnership pushed the home side to a total of 165 for 3 off 25 overs. In response, we frequently lost wickets and the chance of victory slipped away. However, Talty who made a fine 24 and Seabrooke held out to earn a hardfought draw. Our first home match was the first round of the Prep School’s Cup against Feltonfleet. Aldro won the toss and decided to bat and proceeded to build a competitive total of 126 for 9 in our 20 overs. Many of the boys got good starts but failed to go on to make a big score with Bridges 29 and Bushnell 20 making useful contributions to the total. This total in the end proved to be plenty as Feltonfleet collapsed in the face of some accurate and hostile fast bowling from Niel (2-3) and Watson (2-8) combined with the off spin of Talty (3-9). The opposition were bundled out 84 THE ALDRONIAN
for 49 giving us a well-deserved win. A poor performance at Highfield was followed by another convincing win. Against Cranleigh Prep, we again chose to bat first and this time kept wickets in hand to make a big push towards the end of our 20 overs. An excellent and hard hitting knock from Watson 59 not out, supported by Niel 44 and Talty 21 pushed the Aldro score up to a very competitive 175 for 2. In response, Cranleigh Prep lost early wickets and struggled to keep up with the required run rate, finishing on 117 all out. There were some fine bowling performances from Drewitt (2-12), Niel (2-9) and Bridges (2-18) to complete the victory. The closest and most exciting game of the season followed against Eagle House. Having lost the toss, Eagle House decided to bat on a swelteringly hot day. They consistently lost wickets during their innings, brought on by some accurate Aldro bowling. Watson finished with figures of (5-15), including a hat-trick. Eagle House were bowled out for 106 in 16 overs leaving Aldro with a relatively achievable target. Our response though was nervous and we lost wickets consistently without putting together any meaningful partnerships. Kus managed to score some early runs
The U11s also played in both the Lancing and Tonbridge tournaments, the former being an eight-a-side and the latter a six-a-side tournament. Both of these proved to be excellent opportunities to practise their key cricket skills when placed under considerable pressure and the boys made good progress in their batting, bowling and fielding. In the Lancing tournament, the boys won all of the group games and lost narrowly in the semi-final of the cup competition. The boys finished the season with another close game, this time away at Cranleigh Prep. Cranleigh Prep batted first and scored a moderate 107 for 5 in their 20 overs. In response we again struggled to keep wickets in hand however a fine hard hitting innings by Cassar (28), got his team close but wickets continued to fall and at the start of the last over we needed 6 to win with our last pair at the crease. Proctor managed to hold his nerves in check and struck the ball to the boundary followed by a couple of frantic singles to win the match. An excellent and most enjoyable season that had some excellent victories and I would like to thank the boys for their enthusiasm, commitment and most of all sense of fun that made the cricket season such a joy. TK
SPORT - CRICKET
RESULTS U11a Played 7
Won 4
Lost 3
U11b Played 6
Won 5
Lost 1
U11c Played 5
Won 3
Lost 2
of their ability. Special mention to Toby Lumb who captained the team superbly, This can be highlighted in the game against Highfield, where he scored an outstanding 66 runs which was crucial in the team's win by 2 runs. I have no doubt that many of these players will have great success in cricket over the next couple of years. They were a pleasure to coach and I congratulate every single boy. Well done! DG
U11C You could not have asked for a team with more enthusiasm and desire to improve and succeed than the under 11C team. The boys have been outstanding all season. The progress each player has made has been very impressive. The team spirit has been commendable, and this was highlighted in the final match of the season. Away to Cranleigh, the opposition were short of some players on an exceedingly hot day and asked if they could borrow a player. George Brew stepped straight up without hesitation, and volunteered his services. The Aldro boys were extremely grateful and an excellent game took place. Special mention to Edward Ibegbulem for his first season in cricket, along with Mikhail Lukyanov. Felix Palmer took the pressure of captain on early in the season which I believe set the standard for everyone. Well done boys, an absolute pleasure this season! U11B Cricket The Under 11 B cricket team had an extremely successful season. At the beginning of the season there was a lack of confidence and a negative mind set when batting and bowling, however, as the season progressed the boys became more confident in all aspects of the game which made them an unstoppable team. Throughout the
entire season, the team only suffered two defeats! This is an incredible effort by the boys. The reason why the team was successful this season was because all individuals played with enthusiasm and dedication to the game of cricket, they switched the negative mind set into positive and always showed up to games and matches on time and ready to play to the best
RJL
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SPORT - CRICKET
CRICKET U10s
RESULTS Played 10 Drawn 0
Won 4 Lost 6
Played 9 Drawn 0
Won 3 Lost 6
Played 7 Drawn 0
Won 5 Lost 2
The U10 age group, in not just cricket, is often one in which the most notable change is observed in terms of the boys'development. This season has been no different, with the current group of U10s really improving their cricket, with most beginning to discover their strengths and weaknesses in this technically complex game. Regarding bowling, accuracy has been the main focus for this season, since wides and no balls play such an integral part of the game. The beginning of the season saw numerous drills honing the boys’ ability to put the ball on the stumps consistently. At first, this proved more difficult for some, however the end of the season has shown a vast improvement from all boys.
U10A
U10B U10CD
Often the favourite aspect of cricket for younger cricketers, batting, was another area in which the boys demonstrated their willingness to improve. Playing with a straight bat, is something which a lot of cricketers don’t pick up until much later in their careers, however all of the boys this season have made an effort to practise this skill. Not only have they worked on their shots this season, other aspects of batting have been addressed. Running between the wickets and backing up at the nonstriker's end have been focussed on this year, and it has certainly proved useful. Slightly less recognised in the junior game, the boys’ fielding skills were also honed this season, with a number of throwing and catching drills allowing the boys to refine their techniques. The importance of fielding in cricket is often underestimated, and the U10s demonstrated how integral it is to the game. GRND
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SPORT - CRICKET
CRICKET U9s RESULTS U9a Played 8 Abandoned 1
Won 7
Lost 0
U9b Played 8 Abandoned 1
Won 7
Lost 0
U9c Played 7 Abandoned 1
Won 4
Lost 2
Won 0
Lost 2
U9d Played 2
Cricket in Year 4 is very much a transition season as boys gradually are introduced to hard ball cricket. Through the course of the season we were able to get a number of boys playing regularly with the hard ball as well as slowly introducing and integrating the entire group to the concept. This season saw every boy in Year 4 working with hard ball in training at least once a week. It is an important stage as they need to be prepared for what will come in Year 5. What a tremendous group of boys! Superb enthusiasm, lots of fun and no lack of skill and understanding. As a result all the boys in Form 4 enjoyed a fun and exciting season of cricket. All the boys performed well and showed great enthusiasm. Whilst there was a great deal of fun and enjoyment had by everyone, the prevailing message was the need to work hard and practice. With this ethic they can all do very well in the future. It was most rewarding to see some clear progress made by each individual.
U9A
U9B
U9C THE ALDRONIAN 87
SPORT - CRICKET
CRICKET U8s
U8A
All the boys in Form 3 enjoyed a fun and exciting first season of cricket Aldro. RESULTS U8 Surrey Lions Played 7 Drawn 0 Abandoned 1
Won 4 Lost 2
U8 Sussex Sharks Played 7 Won 4 Drawn 0 Lost 2 Abandoned 1
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The emphasis continued to be based strongly on learning the game; understanding the laws and developing the techniques required to bat, bowl and field. Cricket is such an individual game and so technical that it is vital that these areas are covered and constantly repeated in training.
U8B
We were delighted that during every match ALL the boys in Form 3 were actively involved. A real achievement for the school! Well done this year and good luck in the future. GD
SPORT - HOCKEY
SENIOR HOCKEY
RESULTS 1st Played 7 Lost 6 2nd Played 7 3rd Played 7 Lost 5
1st VII
With the addition this year of doing hockey in PE lessons during January and February, more school matches, playing in tournaments, more new goalkeeper kits and the excellent coaching of Charterhouse teacher GB international Dan Fox, this has been a most enjoyable and successful season for hockey. At Aldro hockey continues to gain in popularity and the steady progress in skill levels reflects this. Despite playing against schools who have their own artificial surface to practise on, all the Aldro teams have been competitive and enjoyed themselves. The 1st team’s season started with a closely fought fixture against Cranleigh. After coming back from 4-2 down to be level, all was to play for and the boys went for the victory,
unfortunately Cranleigh scored 2 in 2 minutes meaning that the Aldro boys came off the pitch a little deflated. Two particularly tough fixtures against Eagle House and Westbourne House followed, but much was learnt from these. A fantastic round-robin set of matches at Charterhouse saw the boys win their first fixture 2-0 against St Edmund's, followed up with two very strong performances against Edgeborough and Barrow Hills. Both ended in a very close defeat, but the result could have gone either way. Confidence grew from these matches and the team went into their final fixture against Highfield with a great deal of positivity. The team went 1-0 up, but got pegged back to 1-1 just before half time. Again, the boys went out with attitude to win the game, but some fantastic goalkeeping by the
2nd VII
Won 1
Lost 7 Drew 2
4th Played 6
Lost 6
5th Played 1
Lost 1
opposition goalkeeper, and some nice finishing from Highfield meant the boys came away feeling a little hard done by the result. Well done to all the boys especially Captain Will Owen and ViceCaptain Bennie Banks, who were always prepared to support their team mates in developing their games and Monty Payne for some outstanding saves in goal. The 2nd team started the season with a difficult match but in that match showed resilience which was an attitude the 2nds showed throughout the season. It has been tough as there have been very few goals from the 2nds but well done to Henry Rix for scoring 3 out of 6 goals. Throughout the season the results have improved from large defeats to small defeats and closer matches on some occasions the 2nd team having more attacking chances than the oppositions. The 2nd team showed determination throughout the season to keep playing through the matches regardless of the score which is a great attribute. The 3rd team’s season started with three fairly one-sided defeats and no goals. This served to motivate the squad of players to improve and train better instead of becoming down. The next match was a narrow defeat but a much improved performance. This was partly due to the rise through the ranks of Jack Finnis and George Lake Coghlan to train, and eventually play with the 3rd team. They helped set the example of effort and willingness to learn. Goals soon started to go in which resulted in the next two matches ending in draws. A narrow defeat against a strong Highfield team saw just how far this group of players had THE ALDRONIAN 89
SPORT - HOCKEY come at the end with by far the best performance of the season. Well done all concerned and especially Captain Henry Brown and goalkeepers Louie Thompson and Alex Hu. The 4ths were tough to get to play together and create meaningful passages of play at the beginning of the season. However, the brilliant attitude and participation of the boys in the first match allowed them to see what needed to be improved to further the performance of the team. After focusing their training on proper match situations, it developed the flow of their game which was seen in a much more hard fought loss to Westbourne House where despite going down, their heads could be held high. Yet the real test came the following week where the 4ths participated in a quadrangular at Charterhouse. Regardless of a few changes in the team, every single boy stepped up to the challenge. The new found determination and positive aggression made it hard for the likes of St Edmund's, Edgeborough and Barrow Hills to retain possession for any meaningful periods of time. Honourable Mentions go to Hugo Worthington, William Hewitt and Henry Williams for their endless amounts of running and tackling, Jack Finnis and Max Sheridan-Oliver for their work at the back and Alex Hu who made many fantastic saves. The end score lines most certainly did not reflect the games as the Aldro 4ths managed to create a number of opportunities to score, showing that they were just not clinical enough in front of goal. This also proved to be the problem in their final match, going down to a very strong Highfield team. Special mention to Jonny Howard for stepping up to be keeper and giving it a real go. Overall, it has been a successful season based on the participation, positivity and improvement of each individual and the team. With so many players keen and interested in playing matches the 3rd and 4th team squads were expanded. This meant that for the one 5th team fixture experienced boys were playing alongside a few who were happy to play just the once this season. It was an exciting narrow loss to Edgeborough with both teams thoroughly enjoying themselves! MF
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3rd VII 4th VII
5th VII
HOCKEY U11s
With the fresh new faces as the coaches for the U11 boys, it was destined to be a fun filled season with good quality individual learning. The boys worked hard during their coaching sessions to improve stick skills, scoring skills and competitive skills. They also learned the importance of dynamic stretching (of the oddest variety) to ensure hard play was not deterred by the prospect of painful muscles at the end. Despite a difficult season for both teams, it was noted that all had gained a stronger understanding of,
SPORT - HOCKEY U11A
and like for, the sport. The A team’s season started with a tough match against Cranleigh Prep. There was strong passing between distinct midfield areas and some good shots on goal. We learned about the importance of our positioning skills here, particularly in respect of the defending D and how to take the ball between areas of the field better. A resilient bunch, the boys supported each other magnificently and were set to remain in this vein. The next match against Eagle House saw success in our scoring ability with Freddie Proctor scoring a fine shot on goal and U11B
RESULTS Under 11A Played 8
Lost 8
Under 11 B Played 8 Drawn 1
Won 2 Lost5
then managing to break his finger! He was a wonderful support to us from the sidelines in the following matches. We soldiered on through some particularly tough matches against Westbourne House but kept cheerful throughout the remaining season. In our final tournament at Bohunt we showed greatly improved practice and the boys should be proud of this. A big thank you goes to Felix Palmer whose quietly confident and positive attitude, alongside his refined sense of humour, gave great direction and meaning to our time on the pitch. KD The B team had a successful start to the season with a couple of convincing wins against Cranleigh Prep and Eagle House where strong positional play, defending and strikes on goal were vibrant. The team worked very well together and apparently gelled very quickly. Due to a few changes of players mid-season and a difficult fixture against Westbourne House, confidence on the pitch was lost a little and we did not manage to score as well as we had done previously. Despite this minor set-back, we still maintained a draw in the Bohunt tournament and remained cheerfully positive. The boys showed greatly improved goalkeeping and accurate passing throughout the season and should be proud. Mikhail Lukanyov showed brilliant sympathy and drive as the team captain this season. TK THE ALDRONIAN 91
SPORT - HOCKEY
HOCKEY U10s
U10A
RESULTS Under 10 A Hockey Played 7 Won 1 Drawn 1 Lost 5 Under 10 B Hockey Played 7 Won 2 Drawn 1 Lost 4 Under 10 Cs & Ds Hockey Played 5 Won 0 Drawn 1 Lost 4
U 10 As The A-Team made a good start to the season with a 3-1 victory over Cranleigh and a 2-2 draw against Eagle House. Thereafter we had a difficult season coming up against lots of good opposition; particularly in our final match against Highfield where the grass pitch and the experience of the opposition combined to make it a particularly tough match. The team has been filled with very able hockey players including some new boys who brought their skill and experience to bear week after week. All of the boys improved markedly throughout the season; Jesse Thompson did especially well picking up the role of goalie right at the end of the season and producing a stellar performance in the final match where he saved approximately 15 shots.
It was pleasing to see so many boys challenging for positions in the A-Team from the lower teams and many boys earned their promotion to higher teams across the year group. The key feature of the A team this season has been their spirit; even when faced with extremely good opposition and suffering some difficult defeats. The clear highlight for me was the spirit in which the boys played right to the end of the final match despite the score line; their ambition and desire to make the very best of every opportunity was excellent to see. Well done boys for a spirited season. SJH
U10 Bs The B team also made a strong start to the season with a convincing win against Cranleigh and a second against Eagle House sadly, this success was not to last and the remainder of the season passed without another victory. Despite having a large pool of players to choose from, we struggled against schools who had been playing hockey for much longer. Throughout the season, however, the boys’ fitness and strength of character meant that their heads never dropped and they continued to give the opposition a good run for their money. Joshua Cook was the top goal scorer before earning a place in the A team and there were several more close behind him. Well done for a good season boys. SJH U10 Cs & Ds With such a large group of players in Form 5 and so few schools who are able to field for hockey teams at U10s it was a struggle to get each boy a U10C
U10B
U10D
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SPORT - HOCKEY good amount of game time during the season. It is, however, important that the boys are able to represent the school and, as a result, we were able to field every boy at least twice during the season; A good example of this was the tournament at Edgeborough where
every boy in the year group played at least one full match in comparison with some of the opposition teams who only took their top seven players. It is clear that the boys improved their hockey markedly across the season which was particularly pleasing given that so many
boys had not previously picked up a hockey stick. The spirit with which they played was exemplary and they are all looking forward to next season. Well done boys! SJH
CHARTERHOUSE HOCKEY PREP SCHOOL CHALLENGE
A picturesque spring day was the perfect setting for a day of hockey at Charterhouse. Although the boys came up against stiff competition, I was hugely impressed by their unremitting determination and skill with which they played. After a win in the first match against Parkside, with a goal from Billy Cooper, the team started strongly. Some exquisite defending by Ted Harris and Jesse Thompson made our goal
inaccessible to the opposition. However, the strength of the Hoe Bridge and Lambrook sides proved too much as we conceded several early goals, making it difficult to find our stride. Joshua Cook and Jacob Drayton added their names to the score sheet, picking up a goal each, in the middle two matches. There were moments in which our boys played some outstanding hockey, deftly playing the ball around and working as a united front, of which they should be
immensely proud. Congratulations! Results: vs. Parkside vs. Lambrook vs. Hall Grove vs. Shrewsbury House vs. Hoe Bridge
1-0 (B. Cooper) 0-3 1-1 (J. Cook) 1-1 (J. Drayton) 0-3 SJH
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SPORT - GRIMSTON CUP
GRIMSTON CUP 2017 SQUAD CROSS COUNTRY Form 3 1st : WEST INDIES 32 2nd : INDIA 27 3rd : NEW ZEALAND 24 4th : CANADA 10 5th : AUSTRALIA 9 6th : AFRICA 8 Form 4 1st : CANADA 113 2nd : INDIA 98 3rd : NEW ZEALAND 73 4th : AFRICA 72 5th : AUSTRALIA 71 6th : WEST INDIES 39 Form 5 1st : AUSTRALIA 138 2nd: INDIA 132 3rd : CANADA 130 4th : AFRICA 110 5th : NEW ZEALAND 103 6th : WEST INDIES 83 Form 6 1st : AUSTRALIA 70 2nd : WEST INDIES 67 3rd : AFRICA 54 4th : CANADA 38 5th : INDIA 34 6th : NEW ZEALAND 14 Form 7 1st : AFRICA 107 2nd : AUSTRALIA 96 3rd : NEW ZEALAND 86 4th : CANADA 72 5th : INDIA 67 6th : WEST INDIES 47 Form 8 1st : AUSTRALIA 83 2nd : AFRICA 82 3rd : INDIA 69 4th : CANADA 65 5th : NEW ZEALAND 62 6th : WEST INDIES 10 OVERALL SQUAD RESULTS 1st : AUSTRALIA 467 2nd : AFRICA 433 3rd : CANADA 428 4th : INDIA 427 5th : NEW ZEALAND 372 6th : WEST INDIES 278 RACE WINNERS 2017 Form 3: GEORGE HUGHES Form 4: CHARLIE ELKINGTON Form 5: JAGO TAYLOR Form 6: BARNEY BRIDGES Form 7: BERTIE HARRIS Form 8: WILL OWEN
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SWIMMING
This Summer term we have had the opportunity to host Edgeborough School in a fantastic swim meet. The boys (and girls from Edgeborough) swam fantastically well, and the atmosphere was excellent. We also launched our first Swim-a-thon, whereby the challenge was given to swim up to 64 lengths in the pool (1000m). This was a very popular
SPORT - SWIMMING challenge with excellent performances by all who took part. Louie Thompson (Form 7) wasn’t content with swimming 1km, he decided to continue going until he reached 2km, a fantastic effort. The early morning swimming club was very popular and oversubscribed, with some mornings the temperature dropping to almost zero degrees, the boys were always ready and raring to go.
We are looking forward to building on the development of the Swimming in the Summer term 2018; there will be technique and stamina work in the pool for all year groups to ensure that the boys have the opportunity to develop their swimming within school. RJL
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SPORT - TENNIS
TENNIS
With more boys than ever wanting to play tennis it was important that we arranged matches against local schools, despite the busy summer calendar. Some fantastic matches were fought against local foes Amesbury and Edgeborough and it was also pleasing to welcome a new school to our list of fixtures - Pennthorpe School in Rudgwick. Disappointingly the season ended with a couple of cancellations due to the weather but all schools are very keen to play again next year. Overall, nearly forty boys represented the school this year and gained some match practice. Well done to all boys for their excellent play and fabulous sportsmanship throughout the term. Thank you to all staff for their help supervising matches and parents for their support. The internal Aldro Tennis Tournament took place during the summer term with a total of 141 boys from all years taking part. After squeezing in almost 140 matches in nine weeks, the final results were: Year 3: Oli Richards beat Oscar Salter Year 4: Charlie Elkington beat Thomas Barnes Year 5: Fin Bennet beat Monty Money Year 6: James Vincent beat Charlie Raeside Year 7: Charlie Thompson beat Ben Ballard Year 8: Harry Murray beat Jonathan Barley All six finals were extremely close matches and played in a wonderful spirit. The tennis season concluded with Mr Archer and Mr O’Hara taking a group of eight lucky boys from Form 7 to Wimbledon. They had a fantastic day on court 2 seeing the world’s best players. DG
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SPORT - ATHLETICS
ATHLETICS
IAPS West Surrey U10
s 100m Relay champion
s
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SPORT - REGATTA
REGATTA
The annual Regatta is very much one of the highlights of the year for the boys at Aldro; there is always much excitement when the sign-up sheet is pinned to the board in the vestibule and the boys bustle around school trying to recruit the best oarsmen and the most shrewdly tactical coxswains – or simply their best friends with whom they want to challenge their peers. As well as the importance of choosing a strong crew, a catchy name is also important and there were some favourites who returned from 2016 as well as some equally imaginative names from new combinations and the Form 6s who didn’t compete last year. ‘Lakeconicholinnis’ won the award for the ‘Best Named Crew’ of this years’ Regatta and was made up of George Lake Coghlan, Sam Nicholas and Jack Finnis. The rowing itself was of a very good standard with the Form 8 final providing edge-of-the-seat tension and a near photo finish. ‘Lakeconicholinnis’ and ‘Going Forward to Victory’ showed their experience of the Aldro lake, built up over the past 3 years, and provided an extremely close final with ‘Going Forward to Victory’ (Toby Pascoe, Hugo Worthington and Jake Golding) actually going forward to victory and winning the Form 8 Regatta by a length. The Form 7 Regatta was similarly well fought with ‘Where’s the Boat Returns’ (Louie Thompson, Felix Hughes and Max Sheridan-Oliver) being beaten in what was a close race by ‘A Camel in a Hall is Dying’ (Charlie Camilleri, Charlie Hall and Max Dyer). Charlie Hall did especially well as he had to nip off between his semi-final and the final to train with Guildford Rowing Club for
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a regatta the next day (which he also won), but was back in time to race in (and win) the final. The Form 6 Regatta was really well contested by a large group of boys who had very little experience between them. After some bumpy races early on in the competition, the boys quickly settled into their groove and the semi-finals and final were great races to watch. The boys did particularly well as several of them had to leap out of the swimming pool, half-way through their sponsored swim, to compete in the
Regatta before jumping back into the pool to complete their lengths! I’m sure they slept well on Saturday night! In the end ‘The Dotty Fishermen’ (Luke McGarry, James Vincent and Charlie Raeside) beat ‘Miromesnil’ (Guy McIntyre, George Burnell and Henry Wigg) in a tightly contested race. It was a pleasure to see so many boys do so well on the lake in all weathers and I’m sure that many will have caught the rowing bug before going onto their senior schools.
SPORT - SPORTS DAY
SPORTS DAY
Winners Year 8 1= Jake Golding and Luke Haynes 3. Rory Yeldham
SPORTS DAY 2017 (RECORD BROKEN AS OF 2009) Year Name Squad Placing Event
Time
Year 7 1. 2. 3.
Laurence Hepworth Sidney Huet William Drewitt
5
Jago Taylor
India
1st
U10 800M
2.46:99
6
James Cassar
Africa
1st
U11 Shot
8.29m
Year 6 1. 2. 3.
8
Ben Yeldham
New Zealand 1st
U13 Ball Throw 66.21m
Theo Niel Seb Kus Oscar Golding
8
Jake Golding
Africa
1st
U13 High jump
1.55m
7
Patrick Hughes
West Indies
1st
U12 Ball Throw
58.75m
Year 5 1. 2. 3.
4
New Zealand
New Zealand 1st
U9 Squad Relay 1.07:78
Fin Bennett Jago Taylor Monty Money and Billy Cooper
4
Scott Hume
New Zealand 1st
U9 Long Jump
3.70m
3
Harvey O’Mahony
Canada
1st
U8 Ball Throw
32.32m
7
Patrick Hughes
West Indies
1st
U12 800m
2.41:97
Year 4 1. 2. 3.
Charlie Elkington Harry Watts Tom Osmond
7
Laurence Hepworth Canada
1st
U12 400m
1.07:83
4
Tom Wild
U9 Ball Throw
39.30
Year 3 1. 2. 3.
George Hughes Eddie Hewitt Oli Richards
New Zealand 1st
OVERALL 1. New Zealand 2. Canada 3. India 4. Africa 5. West Indies 6. Australia
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SPORT - CHESS
CHESS
Captains; Jonny Barley and Jack Finnis
I.A.P.S. National Chess Championships The Chess Congress was a great success again with 19 schools taking part and 120 children.
RESULTS Played Won Lost Drawn League and friendly Matches 24 18 6 0
31 Aldro players took part and they all enjoyed the chess competitions and the trip to Chessington.
Inter Schools Events Aldro Inter Schools
33
4
23
6
EPSCA National Heats U9
5
3
2
0
National Semi-Finals U9
5
3
1
1
Overall
67
28
32
7
Best individual tournament results S.Han 3rd=National Prep School Rapidplay U12 age group B.Bushnell 3rd National Prep School Rapidplay U11 G.Starmer-Smith 1st National Prep School Rapidplay U10 B.Hickey and B.Taylor-Smith 2nd= National Prep School Rapidplay U9 B.Bushnell 4th Wey Valley Championships U11
Guildford League Congratulations to the U13 team on winning the league this year. The U13 team included Jack Finnis, Henry Hickey, Siwei Han and Jonny Barley. The U11 team were runners up in the league and the team included Benji Bushnell, George Starmer-Smith, Jonnie Lake Coghlan and Joshua Cook.
Aldro Inter Schools Team Tournaments We have run Inter-Schools tournaments for 25 years now and once again they proved very popular attracting teams from all over the south of England. These tournaments give all our players the opportunity to play for the school and we always raise money for the Aldro charity from the refreshments. Our parents have been outstanding organising the refreshments at our tournaments this year and we have raised over £250.
Our players in the Championship did well with Siwei Han and Benji Bushnell top scoring with 4\7, our U11 team did incredibly well to come 2nd in the David Bull Cup. Congratulations to Benji, George, Joshua and Jonnie. In the age group sections the best results were; Boris Taylor-Smith 1st in the U9 age group James Clifford 2nd in the U9 age group Charles Currie-Aird 1st in the U12\13 age group Alfie Hewitt 2nd= in the U12\13 age group Section winners are very rare but we had one this year with Thomas Barnes winning Section C. Other prize winners included; Eddie Hewitt 3rd in section C Jude Thompson and Max Cater 3rd= in section D Two of the most impressive performances came from Boris Taylor–Smith 5th in section A and James Clifford 4th in Section B. English Primary School Chess Association National team Championships The U9 team went to Twickenham Prep for the heats and did well to win their first 3 matches and qualify for the semi-finals at Bristol. Boris Taylor-Smith was top scorer with 3.5\5
EPSCA National Primary Schools semi-finals We had a good day in Bristol where the U9 team competed against some of the top teams in the country. Once again it proved to be the toughest of the three semi-finals. This is the 5th time we have played in a one day semi-final and the boys all deserve great credit for their efforts.
Cottesmore Chess Congress The Cottesmore Congress is in its 40th year and once again it proved to be a most enjoyable but tough tournament. All of the schools taking part were from Sussex apart from Aldro. Sussex chess is strong at the moment and there were lots of county players in the tournament. Our young team of Benji Bushnell, George Starmer-Smith and Jonnie Lake Coghlan all played well. In the team competition we came 6th out of 14 schools. Benji was our top scorer with 4\6 points, George and Jonnie both scored 3\6. All three boys received certificates and Easter eggs. The boys had some excellent games and enjoyed meeting the other players and playing snooker between rounds!
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The team won 3 matches drew 1 and only lost 1 match. They won a Silver team award. Ben Hickey did a great job on top board and it was Boris Taylor-Smith and Alex Sheridan–Oliver who were top scorers with 4\5. All 6 of the Aldro players were awarded with a medal and certificate to mark the occasion.
SPORT - CHESS National Prep Schools Rapidplay Tournament This tournament has become one of our best events of the year and the Aldro players have been very successful again. In the team competition we came 2nd only one point behind the winners Twickenham Prep. In third place was Lockers Park who also came to the IAPS Chess at Easter. Our top scorers were; Siwei Han 3rd in the U12 age group Benji Bushnell 3rd in the U11 age group George Starmer-Smith 1st in the U10 age group Boris Taylor-Smith and Ben Hickey 2nd= in the U9 age group Scott Hume 4th and Thomas Barnes and Alex SheridanOliver 5th in the U9s UK Chess Challenge We competed in the UK Chess Challenge again this year with competitions in Senior Chess Club, Junior Chess Club, Junior Activity and all of Form 3 took part. The top players in each competition qualified for the Surrey Megafinals. Player Of The Year Awards U13 prize J.Barley and J.Finnis U12 prize H.Hickey and S.Han U11 prize C.Currie-Aird U10 prize J.Cook and J.Lake Coghlan U9 prize B.Hickey and B.Taylor-Smith U8 prize E.Hewitt and O.Richards
Grand Prix Prize giving and Chess Jamboree 59 boys have played for the school this year and it was a good way to finish with the top 20 players competing against each other in a Jamboree. The top twenty players are the boys who have contributed most to the success of chess teams at Aldro this year, playing in team events and matches against other schools. After the winning team had been awarded their prizes we came to the Grand Prix prize giving. All the boys received a prize and it has been encouraging to see most of them playing regularly in individual and team tournaments. The top 10 players in the Grand Prix this year are; 1st Benji Bushnell (U11) 2nd George Starmer-Smith (U10) 3rd Ben Hickey (U9) 4th Boris Taylor-Smith (U9) 5th Siwei Han (U12) 6th Alex Sheridan-Oliver (U9) 7th Joshua Cook (U10) 8th Thomas Barnes (U9) 9th Dylan Galbraith (U9) 10th James Clifford (U9) Many thanks to all the parents who have helped in many ways this year. Congratulations to all the boys who have played so well. DJA
Player of the Year (Price Shield) Benji Bushnell Most improved player (Rawlinson Board) George Starmer-Smith Aldro Chess Championships The Squad competition is always a great way to finish the term and this years’ competition lived up to expectations with some great games and more than the occasional shock result. Age group winners; U13 Jack Finnis U12 Henry Hickey U11 Benji Bushnell U10 Jonnie Lake Coghlan U9 Ben Hickey and Scott Hume U8 Eddie Hewitt
Squad Competition It was a very close squad competition with the top 6 scoring players from each squad counting towards the final result. 1st India 19.5 points 2nd NZ 16.5 3rd Australia 15.5 4th WI 14.5 5th Africa 11.5 6th Canada 10 Congratulations to the India team Well done to all 57 players.
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ALDRO SPORTSMAN'S DINNER
ALDRO SPORTSMAN’S DINNER 2017
We were delighted and privileged to welcome the Rugby Union World Cup winner Phil Vickery as guest speaker at our latest Sportsman’s Dinner back in March. Nearly 100 guests gathered in the Argyle Building to listen to the former Gloucester, Wasps, England and Lions star. And what a thoroughly entertaining evening – we heard some wonderful tales from the dressing room, as well as countless anecdotes from Phil’s long and successful career. We also learned of Phil’s farming background, his tireless dedication to the Wooden Spoon charity, his exploits on Celebrity Masterchef (he won the title in 2011), and his clothing company – aptly named
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Raging Bull. He also answered a number of questions from the diners, and provided his own thoughts in judging our competition to name a starting line-up for the forthcoming Lions tour to New Zealand. All in all, a terrific evening, raising money for the Aldro Foundation. Our thanks to David McCoy and his staff for the catering, and to Mr & Mrs Cassar for their help in organising the event. CR
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