Lent Term Review 2017

Issue 10 I Lent Term 2017

Termly Review The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School

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Contents lent term 2017 4 Lower School Mass with Bishop Wilson Bishop Wilson speaks of his friend Blessed Pier Gorgio Frassati in a special Mass for the First & Third Forms 5 School Partnership Celebration Mass Bishop Sherrington celebrates Mass in recognition of the partnership between Cardinal Vaughan and Newman Catholic College 13 Fourth Form Interviews Ruairi Coyne reports on the individual mock interviews held for the Fourth Form in March 14 Man vs Machine Miss Carew brings the latest news from the Art Department 18 Philosophy Society A spotlight on one of the School’s most popular lunchtime clubs 20 Latest News from the Music Department Mr Terblanche looks back on the sporting highlights from the term 24 Latest News from the PE Department Mr Price looks back on the musical highlights from the term 30 Outside the classroom A snapshot of extra-curricular life at the Vaughan

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foreword from

We were privileged this term to w a Melkite priest and the head of t in 1993 as a school for orphans an the village of Beit Sahour, in Beth

Beit Sahour is a deprived area w tension resulting from the difficu economic privations. It sits near and the Palestinian West Bank including Christians and Muslims. the school itself is open to all ch 6 regardless of faith or ethnicity – b international support to keep it go

Father Abusada works closely with Holy Land, which has been suppo since 2009. It strikes me that the w School of Joy to run not only com Aid to the Church in Need, but al into important perspective: the

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the Headmaster

welcome Father Mamdouh Abusada, the School of Joy, which was founded nd young people with special needs in hlehem.

with sparse public transport and high ult political situation and social and r the separation wall between Israel and has a mixed Arab population Run by Roman Catholic Missionaries, hildren with special learning needs but relies on voluntary donations and oing.

h the UK-based charity Friends of the orting the running costs of the school work of this organisation in helping the mplements that of our current charity, lso puts our own financial challenges austerity measures imposed by the

Government do present us at the Vaughan with real difficulties.

But the fact remains that there is much that we could and should do to help our neighbour. I have therefore undertaken to sponsor a child at the School of Joy to the tune of £1,500 per year. Charitable giving is an important obligation for anyone at any time, but especially for the pupils of a Catholic school in Lent: I know that I can rely on you to encourage your sons and daughters to continue being generous – in so doing, they are giving much, much more than money and enrich our Catholic community in a profound way.

I wish you and your families a happy and joyous Easter.

P Stubbings

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Bishop John Wilson tells boys to ‘Be courageous’ We were extremely pleased to welcome Rt Rev John Wilson on the morning of Wednesday 18 January for a special Mass with the First and Third Form.

In his homily, Bishop Wilson encouraged pupils to follow the example of the saints, particularly Blessed Pier Gorgio Frassati: ‘What marks Pier Giorgio is not just his skill in mountaineering, in biking, in rowing, in horse riding or in swimming; not just his love for art, for music, for the theatre and for museums.

What marks Pier Giorgio is his deeply real and personal relationship with Jesus and his desire and effort to live like Jesus and to love like Jesus. This is what made him holy; this is what makes us holy.’ He went on to tell the boys: ‘Be courageous. Don’t just exist; live.’

Bishop Wilson was then taken on a tour of the School by the Headmaster, before meeting the rest of the Senior Leadership Team, Head Boy, Head Girl and Head Prefects. Head Girl, Flora Fergusson, said: ‘Without stopping smiling once, Bishop Wilson gave us sound advice for university while finding out about Cardinal Vaughan and our subjects.’

Bishop John Wilson’s full homily will appear in the 2016/17 Vaughan Magazine.

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Bishop John Sherrington celebrates Partnership Mass with Newman Catholic College The Headmaster and Governors of Newman Catholic College invited our Directors, Senior Leadership Team, Head Prefects and House Captains to a special Mass on Thursday 2 March, celebrating the partnership between the two Catholic schools.

Head Boy, Ben Farmer, said: ‘It was great to meet our counterparts from Newman Catholic College and to 12 celebrate Mass with them.

‘I enjoyed discussing with Bruce, the Head Boy there, about how the school has continued to grow and hearing from their School Council leaders about their recent achievements.

‘Thanks to Bishop Sherrington for celebrating and all the staff and pupils at Newman Catholic College for making us feel so welcome, as well as for providing refreshments which the Lower School House Captains were only too glad to try!’

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Faith on the Front Line Major Naveed Muhammad spoke to the Lower School on 16 March about careers, diversity and the role of the British Armed Forces. bridge-maker for peace.’ Major Muhammad was awarded an MBE in January 2016 for his exemplary service within the Army and strengthening positive relationships with minority communities around the world. During his long career with the armed forces, he has been deployed in many areas such as Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. He also aided those in Nepal who suffered the terrible Kathmandu earthquake.

In his Assembly, Major Muhammad shared with us his experiences of how religion has influenced him and his career. He told us how Muslims have fought for the British throughout history, with 400,000 Muslim soldiers fighting for Britain in WW1, and 445 Muslims currently in active service. From introducing Halal ration packs, supporting the right for men to wear beards, observing Ramadan and raising awareness of the need for prayer facilities for all faiths, Major Muhammad has been instrumental in shaping policy that supports serving Muslims and his efforts have seen him become a role model both inside and outside the British Armed Forces.

All in all, the talk was both engaging and informative, educational and helpful. We hope others gained from this experience too.

Ruairi and Lorcan Coyne, 4Ma

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A Childhood in the Holocaust Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg spoke to the Fourth Form on 10 January about his experiences in Nazi Germany during the Second World War.d your support Mr Goldberg was born in Kassel, Germany in 1930.

He was just nine years old when war broke out in 1939 and as a teenager he spent time in four separate concentration camps, as well as the Riga ghetto in Latvia. After being held for three years, he was eventually rescued by American army tanks when the war ended in 1945. He arrived in England in 1946 with his mother, although sadly he was separated from his younger brother who was never found.

much more real, with Mr Goldberg giving vivid descriptions of his experience. He described what the Nazis did to Jewish people, starting out with how they had to wear a badge when on the streets and how they could not fight non-Jewish kids if they were attacked by them.

‘He then moved on to talk about his time in concentration camps and he described every struggle in complete detail by using stories about looking for food and getting help from random Richard Koh, 4M, said: ‘The speech was amazing strangers. and outlined the true struggles that Jewish people endured throughout the war.

‘Finally, Mr Goldberg and his mother managed to get out alive and, before they even realised it, the ‘Hearing a first-hand account made the Holocaust war was over and they were free.’

Mr Goldberg’s visit was organised through the Holocaust Educational Trust, which aims to inform young people of the events of the Holocaust through a number of methods, including talks by survivors.

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news in brief

Other visitors we have welcomed to the Vaughan this

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Carl Bahoshy performed a mini-concert at Sixth Form Assembly in January, raising awareness for Iraqi Christians in Need.

The First Form enjoyed a Creative Writing Workshop in the Library on 23 February with popular children’s author Rob Lloyd Jones.

‘I will not be beaten by what happened to my son.

Something good had to come out of it.’ - Barry Mizen spoke to the Sixth Form on 2 March about faith and forgiveness, following the devastating murder of his teenage son, Jimmy, in 2008.

'Love anywhere defeats evil everywhere' Fr James Mawdsley spoke to the Sixth Form on 9 March about his time in jail in Burma for human rights activism.

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Dominic Jermey, CVO, OBE spoke to the Sixth Form on 23 February about his work as the current British Ambassador to Afghanistan.

Award-winning author Alex Wheatle spoke to the Third & Fourth Forms on 24 February about the influence his difficult upbringing has had on his work.

Old Vaughanian Kate Hallam delivered a motivational speech to the Sixth Form on 27 March about chasing one’s ambitions and her experience rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.

‘We don’t want our churches to become museums.

We have to help each other. We have to show our solidarity.’ - Fr Mamdouh Abusada, Head of the School of Joy in Beit Sahour, Bethlehem, in an Assembly to the Sixth Form on 30 March.

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The Chase The Fourth Form participated in the School’s own version of TV quiz show The Chase on 28 March, with Mr Leigh playing the role of professional quizzer ‘The Chaser’.

A team of four contestants (Daniel Lipinski, Nélson Fernandes Serrao, Benedict Walsham and Dylan Keane) were tasked with accumulating as many House Points as possible for their House, with Mr Leigh trying to catch each contestant during his individual chase, thereby eliminating that person from the game.

The results were as follows: Campion: Daniel Lipinski (500 points) More: Dylan Keane (1000 points)

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Ash Wednesday After a morning Mass for the Sixth Form with Monsignor Martin Hayes, on 1 March pupils from the First to Fifth Forms walked down to Our Lady of Victories Church on Kensington High Street for a second Ash Wednesday Mass, celebrated by School Chaplain Father Dominic Allain.

At the morning Mass the Schola sang music by William Byrd and repeated this in the afternoon at Our Lady of Victories but with the addition of the Miserere by Allegri. This piece, which for the first 150 years of its existence was only allowed to be sung in the Sistine Chapel, is famous for the High C sung by a treble soloist on six occasions during the twelve minutes that the piece runs. The responsibility for this feat of vocal bravura fell to Aidan Cole and James Fernandes this year, who acquitted themselves admirably.

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Pupils in Parliament It is with many congratulations that we announce Fifth Form pupil Conor Quinn as the new Deputy Member of Youth Parliament for RBKC. ‘I would like to thank all of my voters for electing me to become the DMYP of RBKC’, said Conor. ‘As a member of Youth Parliament it will be my primary concern to ensure that all young people’s voices are heard and I will investigate what young people want from their council.

‘Mental health of children is still my main issue of debate and I will endeavour my best efforts to highlight these issues. I know how important it is for young people to feel they are able to express their opinions and I will make their voices heard.’

Click here to find out more about the UK Youth Parliament and how you can be involved.

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Fourth Form Interviews Ruairi Coyne, 4Ma, shares his thoughts on the individual mock interviews that were held for the Fourth Form between Wednesday 1 and Friday 10 March.

It is not often possible for a pupil to experience some of the inner workings of twenty-first century life within school. Maths and English can only prepare one so much for the real world, so we, the Fourth Form, have been granted a true privilege in our Creative Curriculum lessons: we have undergone immeasurably helpful training on how to survive an interview!

In the weeks leading up to the exchange between potential future employer and pupil, we learnt how to compose a curriculum vitae (CV). Given that this is vital for most occupations, I feel that myself and the rest of the year benefited from gaining completely new knowledge on how to write the document.

The school then contacted professionals with expertise within these sectors and/or in the recruitment profession, who then came into the school to conduct the interviews. One key thing to stress here is that these busy, accomplished people took time out of their weeks to provide this public service on a voluntary basis!

We were very fortunate to have this experience, as it has not only given us an understanding of how recruitment works but also how to speak confidently and eloquently to our interviewer and how to convey a good appearance. Now we will not go into Sixth Form interviews or university interviews without any prior knowledge or support, and on behalf of the whole year I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every interviewer for providing this service.

Personally, I know my confidence in my ability to excel in interviews has been boosted, and I know that this is true for many of my friends.

Having said that, the real gain from this process (which also included how to write application forms, among other things) is that we took part in mock interviews. Each Fourth Form pupil was instructed to find a profession that they believed may become a reality in the future, hence why Thank you to all those who participated and I personally chose to apply for an advertising organised these sessions, and I encourage the school to do this again, next year, with the next position.

Fourth Form.

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Man vs Machine Second Form pupils have been inspired by the concept of Man Vs Machine this term, creating large scale chalk drawings and designing masks made in clay and card.

‘Art Department staff are excited about displaying this work in the summer. Congratulations Second Form artists, you have made fantastic artwork this term!’ - Miss Carew

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Art Outdoors In March, Third Form GCSE artists spent a morning drawing and taking photographs in Holland Park as a part of a study on natural forms.

George Campbell, 3C, said: ‘ We started off in a beautiful garden where saplings were planted in uniform rows around a fountain; we used this opportunity to take close-up photos of all the budding plants.

‘We then moved on to the amazing Kyoto Garden, where the head gardener of Holland Park, Mark, showed us the various aspects of Japanese gardening and culture. For example, three is a very important number in Japan and their gardens often have rocks or ornaments arranged in threes. This is also reminded of the rule of thirds, compositionally.

‘We gathered lots of inspiration for the sculptures of natural forms we will be doing soon and, overall, I think it was a very fun and educational trip.’

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Self-Portraits Fourth Form GCSE artists have been painting self-portraits and the results are going to be pretty spectacular.

It seems we have a number of magnificent painters at the Vaughan and they have found inspiration from painters such as Jonathan Yeo, Lionel Smit and Lucian Freud. Boys have developed keen observation for colour tones and confident brushstrokes in their work. Miss Herbst and Miss Carew are incredibly proud of their achievements and will be very excited to reveal the portraits in the coming months. GCSE artwork will be on view alongside A-Level work at the forthcoming CVMS Summer Art Exhibition.

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Talking technology with the Lower School On Tuesday 7 February, pupils from the First and Second Forms were visited by Ernesto Suarez, co-founder and CEO of Halo Insurance Services.

Mr Suarez worked his way up to a Vice President role in AIG before using digital technology, online platforms and innovative marketing skills to sell car hire insurance services to customers around the world.

more about specific industries and ask questions to the very people working in them.

Mr Spence-Hill Head of Careers & Work Experience

Quickly engaging pupils with his story of how he became interested in entrepreneurship as a teenager, Mr Suarez went on to speak about the importance of digital technology in both his company and career in general, specifically by allowing his business to accelerate in selling his financial products to consumers in a global market.

He was also able to explain this in a way that our younger pupils could easily understand and relate to with regards to their own career paths.

The feedback from the pupils was extremely positive and it was clear that they enjoyed the talk.

We are consequently hoping to run more Careers Insight assemblies for the Lower School, as they provide a great opportunity for pupils to find out

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Philosophy Society

Sixth Form pupils have commandeered Philosophy Society this term, and it has resulted Joseph Stewart, L6NF, was first to lead this term’s weekly lunch time session by bravely attempting to explain Karl Marx’s entire political philosophy in 20 minutes. Speaking to a packed room, Joseph said it was important to understand parts of Hegel (which he went on to expound) and successfully asserted his own position in a lively Q&A with his fellow classmates.

girls present. Speaking about how women sti equality even in developed countries and ho this, Miss Jeffers asked if liberal feminism w radical feminism is the only means to com patriarchy from society.

Week two saw Tom McGrath, L6SL, discuss if it was reasonable to be an atheist in this day and age. The strongest argument he gave for believing in God (other than Faith) was the philosophical argument known as the Cosmological Argument for the existence of God. Developing what he thought was the strongest version of this argument, Tom concluded that it is unreasonable to hold the view that the universe - even a multi-verse version - of the totality of matter and space could have been self-generated. He said is far more reasonable to conclude that an infinite, all-powerful, intelligent ‘thing’ (what Theists call God) initiated the creation of space and time as we experience it.

Mr Fleischer declared Tom’s speech: ‘perhaps the most brilliantly delivered talk I have ever witnessed by anyone so young: logical, calm, convincing, with excellent questions at the end, handled with care and good will.’

Upper Sixth Formers Benedict Parker and M drew in crowds with their discussion on the Hop on 28 March, while Mr Fleischer rounde a presentation on the following theme: Se views on same sex marriage.

Other notable highlights have included talks by the Franco brothers (Jack on suicide and Jean on anarchism), while Miss Philosophy Club will continue next term Jeffers’ talk on Feminism was so popular it was standing room lunchtimes, and is open to all pupils to att only and stirred up some strong responses from the many to Mr Fleischer for further details.

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d in a series of exceptionally ambitious and interesting talks.

till do not have full ow best to address worked or whether mpletely eradicate

Michael Spain also Philosophy of Hiped off the term with even philosophical

m during Tuesday ttend. Please speak

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sport

Latest News from the PE Department It has been yet another extremely busy term and our pupils have had the opportunity to take part in a multitude of sporting opportunities.

Football is our main sport during Lent and across all year groups there is a genuine enthusiasm to represent the School. The First XI is still on course to secure a play-off place in the QPR League (as of 30 March), with the possibility of playing in the final at Loftus Road. Filipe Barbosa represented the First XI for the 50th time, whilst Chris Koscien was selected to represent the Inner London team.

Chris also reached an exceptional milestone by making his 100th appearance for the First XI.

teams from the Vaughan reached or won all of the competitions entered. The Isleworth and Syon School Rugby sevens tournament saw the Under-12s as Plate runners-up, the Under-13s as Plate winners and the Under-14s as Tournament champions. The Gunnersbury School Tournament also saw the Under-13s as Plate winners and the Under-14s as Tournament champions.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone for their achievements and thank In cross-country, the Senior Boys finished in third each and everyone involved in sport at Cardinal place in the London Championships. Dominic Vaughan.

Ogbechie extended his impressive run of form by winning Gold in the Under-17 National Indoor For more details and to download our sports app, High Jump Championship and finishing with a please visit www.cvmssport.co.uk and follow us on Twitter: @cvmssport Silver medal in the 200m race.

At the National Indoor Rowing Championship held at Lee Valley in March, Laurence Joss came Mr D Terblanche second and Niles Toussaint came third. The CVMS Head of Physical Education Boat Club has also competed in the Hammersmith Head and Scullery Cup. In a brief but successful Rugby sevens season,

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CVMS rowers represented the School for the first time on 5 March in the Hammersmith Head, racing against Westminster, Emanuel, St Pauls and the Oratory from Chiswick Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge.

Above left: First and Second Form rowers win the relay at the Row 4 Results Central Final at Greycoat Hospital School on 21 Feb, receiving medals from Triple Olympic Gold medallist Andy Triggs Hodge.

Sixth Form rowers try out the new Concept 2 Rowing Machines, generously provided by the Vaughan Parents Association.

First Form A-D teams delivered great performances and results against the John Lyon School on 10 February, which included a hat-trick for Mesdar Woldesus.

Second Form boys compete (and win!) the Year 8 Sportshall Athletics Festival.

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CVMS Under-14s won their second consecutive rugby 7’s competition on 28 March, after winning the Gunnersbury School 7’s the week before.

A day later, on 29 March, the Under-13s won their own second consecutive Plate Trophy competition at the Isleworth and Syon School 7s, after previously winning the Gunnersbury School 7s.

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Kajetan McDonnell was awarded Silver in a field of 137 international fencers from as far afield as Hong Kong, India, Russia, Hungry and the USA at the British Fencing 2017 Challenge Wratislavia in March.

in the news

Fourth Form athlete Dominic Ogbechie was featured in Athletics Weekly ‘State of the Nation’ analysis of men’s athletics for 2017, in which he was named as ‘the best young prospect’ in British Men’s Jumping. Click here to read the online version.

It was wonderful to see the ambition of Sixth Formers Laurence Joss and Milo Storey is recognised in this article about indoor rowing in schools by London Routh Rowing.

Click here to read the full piece.

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music

Latest News from the Music Department This Lent Term began and will end with the remarkable achievement of one pupil in particular, Owen Saldanha in the Upper Sixth. It began with Owen performing with the National Youth Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall and will end next Saturday with his performing Ravel’s G major Piano Concerto at St John’s, Smith Square, as part of the Vaughan’s Easter Concert. Owen is a prodigiously gifted musician – this term has seen him add a Diploma on the Piano (pass with distinction) to the ARCO qualification that he achieved on the organ last term. He also won the Vaughan’s Music Competition, although he was run pretty close that evening by another remarkable talent, Filippo Turkheimer. And these are just two of the many, and it is many, remarkable musicians that we have at the School. In all different kinds of music too.

What a precious gift the musical traditions of the School are – and how lucky we are that so many pupils take full advantage of it.

Junior: Gabriele Montone & Nilton Aranda Neto Senior: Harry Fetherstonhaugh & Justin Perfecto Woodwind (Adjudicator, Amanda Cousin, Flautist) Junior: Dominic de Vivenot & Luke Nguyen Senior: Logan Stewart & Owen Saldanha Brass (Adjudicator, Amos Miller, Trombonist) Junior: Barnaby Stewart & Joshua Schrijnen Senior: Filippo Turkheimer & Joseph Bingham Cooper Singing (Adjudicator, Diana Moore, Mezzo Soprano) Junior: Alessio D’Andrea & James Fernandes Senior: Sean Roche-Watson, Filippo Turkheimer & Emilia Staniaszek Singing Heat Winners

Throughout the term we have run our Annual Music Competition with 90 pupils participating in five heats. The Final held at the end of March was adjudicated by David Hill, conductor of the BBC Singers and the Bach Choir. David awarded the first places to Alessio D’Andrea and Owen, as I mentioned above, whilst describing the standard of the performances as a whole as “extraordinary”.

The winners of the Heats were as follows: Piano (Adjudicator, Anthony Williams, Radley College) Junior: Alessandro MacKinnon & Alexander Wu Senior: William Crossley & Owen Saldanha Strings (Adjudicator, Adrian Bradbury, Cellist)

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Overall Winners (Adjudicator, David Hill, Conductor & Organist) Junior: Alessio D’Andrea Senior: Owen Saldanha Earlier in the term we once again held our annual collaboration with Southbank Sinfonia, our ‘orchestra in residence’. This involved an excellent composition workshop, with the professional

David Hill with the Competition Winners

Piano Heat Winners

Brass Heat Winners

String Heat Winners

Woodwind Heat Winners

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musicians bringing to life compositions by pupils from across the School and then side-byside preparation of Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, conducted by David Corkhill. There are videos of both the composition workshop and also the performance of the Brahms on our Facebook Page (Facebook/cvmsmusic). Give us a ‘Like’! Working with Southbank Sinfonia is always one of the highlights of the School’s music year and this year was no exception. It was especially rewarding to see how very excited by the work this year’s set of Vaughan participants were and also lovely to see how very positive and helpful this year’s Southbank Sinfonia contingent were too. This is a wonderful collaboration that next year will celebrate its tenth anniversary: there are big plans afoot!

Wilby, who also steered the stronger than ever Junior Big Band through their contribution. It was lovely to see the younger boys playing with such confidence in some complicated music, and also lovely to see that way that the older boys were so supportive of their younger fellow musicians.

This was an evening marked by a strong sense of camaraderie amongst the pupils. Mention should also be made of Mr Manoras who directed both Junior and Senior Strings with his customary flair and precision.

The orchestra also performed at the Spring Concert, held at St Paul’s Church in March. We set the church up differently to try to help people see more clearly what was going on - sight lines are not easy in that building – and this seemed to work very well. The older boys and girls played very nicely that evening but it was the work of the younger boys that was particularly impressive.

The Big Band performed at the Spring Concert and have been busy elsewhere besides this term, playing at the Half Moon in Putney in January and at the Bulls Head in Barnes at the end of term. In February we held the always popular Big Band Evening, at which there were some excellent vocalists alongside the Band, providing an evening of real entertainment. If you’ve never seen a Big Band concert do come along – we do have a quite a good time! The Band is always in a state of flux and we are about to lose some good players as this year’s Upper Sixth leave, but some of the younger boys who have been finding their feet in important seats in the band are now fully establishing themselves and the band shows great Second Orchestra has never been so big or so potential. strong – under the expert guidance of Mr Jackson it is flourishing and has developed that all important The Schola Cantorum has worked very hard this sense of identity as a group, with which comes term, singing each Wednesday for the School Mass loyalty and commitment. Also really very good whilst also preparing a number of memorable were Jazz Orchestra, superbly directed by Miss events. Early in the term we sang for the Vigil Mass

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Festa Venziana! at Westminster Cathedral and then a little later in January gave a concert at St Peter’s, Eaton Square for Aid to the Church in Need. At the concert the Schola gave its first ever performance of The Twelve

by William Walton, a famously difficult work, both for the choir and the organist. The Schola acquitted itself admirably, assisted, as always, by the quite brilliant accompanying of Mr Evans. The concert, which also included the Requiem by Duruflé, raised £750 for the crucial work of ACN. In February the Schola travelled to Liverpool, having been granted the considerable honour of singing the Sunday services as guests of the Metropolitan Cathedral. We had a great weekend, also singing a concert at the Dome from Home, on the Wirral. Before half-term the Schola also sang the first performance of the winning composition in a competition run for the Music Education Expo held at the Olympia.

For Ash Wednesday, at Our Lady of Victories for the whole School, the Schola prepared the annual

The Schola at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

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performance of Allegri’s Miserere with the famous top C acrobatics for one of the trebles. The duty fell to Aidan Cole this year, who sang them admirably, assisted by James Fernandes who sang one, and also by Joseph Short who sang the less flamboyant but arguably more difficult second treble part in the repeating solo verses.

by Owen Saldanha mentioned earlier, and also the most colossal undertaking for many years by the Music Department, Vaughan William’s A Sea Symphony. This huge work, a setting of poetry by Walt Whitman, is a very considerable challenge, a little daunting perhaps but very exciting too. We will be joined by two wonderful soloists, Sarah Fox and Duncan Rock, for what promises to be Most of this half-term was spent preparing for a remarkable evening. If you see this before it a very special event though, a concert entitled happens then come to listen!

Festa Venziana!, given with an ensemble called His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts and tenors Next term sees the boys in the Schola return to Nicholas Mulroy and Peter Davoren. His Majestys the Royal Opera House for Turandot and also sing Sagbutts and Cornetts perform on instruments a concert at the Aldeburgh Festival. We will host that are the same as those used in the sixteenth a visit from the finest boys choir in Canada, Les and seventeenth centuries and together we Petits Chanteurs of Montreal, in July, there will be presented a programme of music from Venice at the Ensembles Competition and also hold what we that time. The concert was given in the twelfth are calling Music Week at the end of May when we century Temple Church, the first time the Schola intend to have as many performances during the has performed there, and as part of the Temple School day as we possibly can. Hopefully there will Music Foundation Concert Series. Being involved be enough to keep everyone on their toes! in this prestigious concert series helped us draw a large audience and also resulted in the concert Mr Price being professionally reviewed – four stars!

Director of Music There was one further event for the Schola when at the end of March the choir sang Evensong at Westminster Abbey. This was an especially lovely occasion marked by some very fine singing from the choir in music by Henry Purcell, who was organist at the Abbey and is buried just a few feet from where the choir sang.

As I write, final preparations are being put in place for the Easter Concert which is to be held on Saturday 8 April at St John’s, Smith Square.

This will include the Ravel concerto being played

We extend a very warm welcome to our new Music Administrator Tanya Watkins who joined us at Christmas. Any queries regarding instrumental lessons or musical events generally should be sent to her by email at WatkiT@cvms.co.uk.

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news in brief

Outside the classroom: a snapshot of extra-curricular

Congratulations to Team Supremacy on their podium place at the F1 in Schools competition in February. The best result ever for a CVMS team!

Second Form pupils developed th March with a trip to Eastbourne Be

Fifth Form Science students attended GCSE Science Live! at the Appollo Theatre on 10 February, to hear some of the best scientists who are working at the cutting edge of their specialisms.

Sixth Form Physics and Computer S Organization for Nuclear Research for a tour of CERN, two museums a

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life at the Vaughan

heir Geography fieldwork skills in each, Beachy Head and Birling Gap.

Fourth Form geographers visited the River Pang in Berkshire in March, where they measured the depth and characteristics of rivers.

Science pupils flew to the European (CERN) in Switzerland in February and the old town of Geneva.

Fourth Form Historians travelled to Berlin in March, covering locations and events from both the German Depth Study and Cold War sections of their course.

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rbtsa

Improving Learning Outcomes As a lead school in the Royal Borough Teaching School Alliance (RBSTA), the Vaughan was proud to host a cross-school event on 20 February entitled ‘Improving Learning Outcomes across all School Groups’.

This event brought together teachers from five other schools and Universities – Newman Catholic College, St Mary’s University, St Vincent’s Primary School, Our Lady and the Visitation Primary School Greenford – who were able to benefit from a wide range of expert speakers sharing their best practice across a broad array of educational themes.

Over 150 participants at different stages in their teaching careers were able to consider and discuss a range of professional development, ranging from the best use of new data to support learning, through to innovative techniques for cultivating creativity in the classroom.

Feedback from the event was extremely positive and shows how the Cardinal Vaughan and its partner schools continue to spearhead outstanding teaching and learning across west London and beyond.

Mr Godwin Associate Assistant Headmaster

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Click here to visit the RBTSA website

‘Incredibly well organised and educative. I’ve learnt so much - been inspired. Can I have it every day?!’

‘Very useful discussion. Practical techniques about leading learning for whole classes.’

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