Autumn 2021
Adventurous Activities
Senior Adventure Club
In late September, 18 Sixth Form pupils, plus four staff, travelled to Snowdonia National Park to take on the Welsh 3000 route and also complete an exciting gorge descent challenge: two full and extremely challenging 12-hour scrambling and hiking days, up crags and across the tops, camping in the Ogwen Valley. This was a fantastic group of teenagers who showed huge appetites for adventure and challenge as well as the required bravery, stamina and resilience, too. A particular highlight of the four-day trip was seeing the pupils work so well together as a team.
Devizes to Westminster
On the first Sunday of October we commenced our 2021-22 DW programme. 28 Lower Sixth pupils took to the Basingstoke Canal as they started their journey and training programme which should ultimately see them paddle to Westminster Bridge on the fourth and final day of the world famous Devizes to Westminster Canoe Marathon.
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FOCUS Senior
DofE
It has been a ‘bumper’ DofE Expedition season! In addition to the usual programme of expeditions, an additional Gold and a Silver Expedition were run following their postponement the year before. As a result, a whopping eight DofE Expeditions were held between June and October! The most eventful was the Gold Expedition to Snowdonia in October half-term for Lower and Upper Sixth students. Torrential rain and strong winds harshly tested the tents, kit, clothing… and resolve! After two days of incessant heavy rain, the students retreated to a hostel to recover. The tents had taken a beating and even the best quality waterproof clothing was defeated! However, with a next-day delivery of new tents, dried clothes and kit, and the prospect of a slight improvement in the weather, the students set out once again into the rain. To top it all, that night a family of badgers visited the campsite and raided two of the
OSCA Summer Term
We were delighted that we were able to reschedule the full Spring Term programme, cancelled due to lockdown, into the Summer Term. This meant for a busy time for staff and pupils but lots of fun, challenge and learning. In addition to our rescheduled activities, including the Rother Valley hike and open fire cooking, we were thrilled that we could run our watercraft days for all. Three sessions were run at Cobnor Activity Centre, during
OSCA Autumn Term tents, feasted on snack bars and stole a rucksack and deposited it in the river! It was miraculous to see the students maintain a positive attitude throughout; they successfully completed the expedition and, remarkably, said they enjoyed the Expedition! In stark contrast, the two Gold Expeditions to the Lake District in July and August had fine, dry weather, sometimes too hot! The students were able to climb all the peaks and wild camp near tarns at night. Nevertheless, the teams were plagued with midges and were challenged by major climbs each day.
With more than 120 new recruits to the OSCA programme from our new Second Year we are delighted that Churcher’s pupils still have not only a passion for outdoors and adventure but also a great deal of emerging skills, talent and knowledge. Bucking the national data and statistics regarding Covid, lockdown and technology keeping our youngsters from wanting to spend time exploring our beautiful outdoors, our Oscaneers have been busy each week with ropes, knives, fires, compasses, maps and so much more!
The Silver Expeditions for Fourth and Fifth Year students were held in Exmoor and the New Forest in the Summer and Autumn Terms, as well as an outing for the Bronze Fourth Year group in the Meon Valley.
which our young Oscaneers operated in a range of water activities and also some additional land-based challenges too. SCUBA diving sessions were also greatly enjoyed by the OSCA pupils during the Summer Term. Our year ended with different, but highly successful, residential opportunities for all OSCA pupils. Welsh Covid regulations caused our Brecon trips to be cancelled with 5 days’ notice... however, as is the way
of Churcher’s, we were not to be defeated and were delighted that every OSCA pupil was still able to experience the excitement, fun and adventure of travelling away on a three-day multi-activity residential experience. From Dorset to Portsmouth, Stedham to Cobnor, our 120 OSCA pupils finished the year with huge smiles, and heaps of success.
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Sixth Form
Sixth Form Ball
A more pleasant consequence of this unprecedented year saw two Sixth Form Balls in the space of six months. The first ever Upper Sixth Autumn Ball was arranged to compensate for Covid restrictions scuppering the usual Summer Ball, which had to be restricted to last year's leavers. On
both occasions, they dragged out their dickie bows and dusted off their high heels for what was for many their first ever black-tie do. Both in the Sports Hall and later the glamorous Old Thorns Ballroom, they had a fabulous night of food, dancing and a legendary dancefloor takeover by Mr Crossman.
Mexican Lunch
The Sixth Form Mexican lunch has become a traditional way to celebrate the new academic year and new Sixth Form cohort, once the initial start of term frenzy has subsided. Fabulous Mexican food is accompanied by games and activities in the Ramshill garden. Sombreros are optional.
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FOCUS Senior
Careers Breakfast
Calshot Teambuilding
The Lower Sixth enjoyed their annual teambuilding trip to Calshot early on in the Autumn Term. With fantastic weather, they enjoyed a range of activities including cycling, skiing, climbing and water sports. New and old friendships alike were also furthered during the lunch break which was spent on the beach, and Mr Hill was seen enthusing about the container ships arriving in Southampton. Next year the backdrop will be very different, as since our visit the tall chimney at Fawley, which is visible from Butser Hill and is a major local landmark, has been demolished.
Subsea Craft
Just before the summer holidays, a group of Lower Sixth students had an exciting opportunity to visit Subsea Craft in Portsmouth. Students were given an insight into building the Diver Delivery Unit (DDU) ‘Victa’ including a 360-degree overview of the business showing the testing, development and methodologies adopted to deliver a complex engineering project.
The sun shone for our first ‘Coffee, Croissants and Careers’ since lockdown. 40 students and volunteer networkers spilled out of the Pavilion into the early morning sun whilst talking animatedly about careers in the creative industries. The array of roles was inspiring, from curators to architects and editors, all sharing with the pupils in attendance a short introduction including ‘what they would tell their 16-year-old selves’, which is always hugely insightful, enlightening and reassuring! After the icebreaker there was plenty of time to circulate and meet everyone.
Elevate Education
On the first day of term all of the Lower Sixth heard a talk from Elevate Education. The talk covered those essential study tips which are a recipe for success at A Levels. These include making revision notes as you go, mastering the content so you can apply what you know to the unfamiliar, completing past papers, and using a traffic light system on the specification so you know where focus is needed. Good luck to all the Lower Sixth as they embark on their courses!
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Music With events returning after the pandemic and ensembles being able to mix again, this, together with the opening of the New Music School has resulted in an exciting term so far for our musicians!
Orchestra Summer Tour
It was certainly third time lucky as far as the Churcher’s College Orchestra & Jazz band tour was concerned, with the original tour to Lake Garda and a re-scheduled tour to Jersey both falling foul of Covid restrictions. With eight weeks to go before the start date, the race was on to find suitable accommodation for 62 people, book exciting concert venues and plan some fun activities! The ongoing challenge of Coronavirus meant that we were never sure whether the tour would be able to take place, even on the day of departure with all pupils and staff having to be tested prior to leaving school but take place it did and a fantastic time was had by all!
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We stayed in the beautiful setting of Nettlecombe Court in North Devon and played in the fabulous locations of Connaught Gardens in Sidmouth, the Quayside in Exeter, the Banjo, Princess Gardens by the harbour in Torquay and finally to the impressive Wells Cathedral. The Orchestra played a selection of pieces from Classical masterpieces, including the Carmen Fantasy by Sarasate with soloist Anna Lezdkan to well-known film music classics and lighter numbers, all of which were enjoyed by a large number of people at each location. The Jazz Band also excelled themselves and were joined by brilliant Florrie Ransom who stunned the audiences with her amazing voice.
Lunchtime Concerts are Back!
The first live concert since the pandemic took place on Monday 11 October with a delightful lunchtime concert in St. Peter’s Church. It was lovely to see a full range of solo performances, from pupils in the First Year through to our Upper Sixth musicians. The SSA choir also enjoyed their first performance of the year, revelling in the wonderful acoustics and appreciative audience.
FOCUS Senior West End Trip
This term, a coachload of enthusiastic musicians set off to the West End to be inspired by the talented cast and musicians of the Canadian musical ‘Come From Away’, which is set in the week following the September 11 attacks and tells the true story of what transpired when 38 planes were ordered to land unexpectedly in the small town of Gander in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, as part of Operation Yellow Ribbon.
GCSE Musicians
Despite only having just started the GCSE Music course, our Fourth Year Music students entertained residents at various local nursing homes by recording various solo and ensemble performances which were sent to the homes to the played to the residents. Unfortunately, Covid restrictions meant that visiting and performing live to the residents was not possible, but they will have still been able to enjoy listening to an array of brilliant music.
Junior and Senior Recitals
It was an absolute joy to listen to our musicians perform once again to a live audience. Both of these recitals were of such a high standard and given the gap with the pandemic, it is heart-warming to know that we continue to have really strong musicians throughout the school. There was however another first – the Senior Recital was the first concert to be held in the new Music School and it didn’t disappoint! All of our performers enjoyed the wonderful acoustics in the auditorium and I am sure that the audience enjoyed being able to see the performers from the tiered seating! The wonderful new space gave an opportunity for the Senior Wind Band to perform, which was not possible previously due to space, so we were treated to a very special performance of the Concert Prelude by Philip Sparke, together with performances from the Jazz Band, various small chamber ensembles and solos.
Remembrance Concert
After a two year gap, the Remembrance Concert returned with a whole host of strong performances from all our choirs including the Junior Choir, Junior Chamber Choir, SSA Choir, Senior Chamber Choir, Barbershop and Senior Choir. The College Orchestra performed the
fourth movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony together with one of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances and really raised the roof of the church with a phenomenal sound. The Senior Wind Band was once again on parade for Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday. Five trumpeters from the band performed the Last Post with distinction and composure.
Music Enrichment
Our A Level students enjoyed an entertaining morning trying their hand at conducting, coached by professional conductor Robin Browning (conducting teacher at Southampton University and conductor of various orchestras). The students certainly enjoyed being in charge of an ensemble and it was great to have the roles reversed with the teachers playing and the students in charge!
Rock School
With only two weeks to rehearse and prepare, the Rock School made a flying start to the year, entertaining the runners as they embarked on the gruelling Butser Hill run. It was so brilliant to see them all together once again – the smiles on their faces said it all!
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CCF
Field Day
In early October the Army Section conducted its largest ever field day with 95 Third Year cadets and 15 Sixth Form NCOs. Exercise Chameleon took place on an Army training area at Aldershot and focused on observing others while not being seen yourself. The programme comprised three strands, with each covering two lessons from the APC syllabus: personal camouflage and concealment, tactical movement and field signals and observation and judging distance. Lead by one of their NCOs, the sections were trained and then assessed in each of the six elements. While some enthusiastic cam-cream application may have produced results that appeared more theatrical than tactical, the cadets remained focused and engaged throughout, despite the curious attentions of a small herd of cows. All sections passed the practical tests and the overall winner with a score of 47/60 was Platoon 1, Section 2.
Summer Camp
Exercise Taurus Adventure comprised four days of activity provided by 11 Brigade Cadet Training Team at Longmoor. Day 1 was a fieldcraft day, starting with a paintball section attack and defense, with NCOs leading and directing their sections using quick battle orders. Then on to TIBUA (training in built-up areas) executing a room-by-room house clearance. The afternoon started with an escape room challenge, set in 1917, with constituent PWRR regiment teams competing to solve a succession of problems to find and deliver orders to Piccadilly Circus. The day finished with a STEM challenge, with teams competing to build and fire catapults. Day 2 focused on Survival Skills: tracking - reading the signs and building the
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narrative, fire-lighting without matches, obtaining water and making it drinkable, trapping prey (mangle, tangle, strangle or dangle!) and building shelters using naturally available materials. This was followed on by a day’s Adventurous Training, where the cadets took part in a variety of wet and dry activities: raft building and racing, kayaking and paddleboarding, archery, climbing and mountain biking. The final day found our cadets on the ranges – firing the L98A2 cadet rifle on the ETR (electronic target range) and clay pigeon shooting. Unfortunately, it was non-residential this year, but none the less enjoyable for all the cadets, whose excellent conduct throughout was remarked upon by CTT.
FOCUS Senior
Remembrance Day
We are delighted to see our CCF grow to a larger number of cadets than in any of the previous five years. With a huge intake from the Third Year and a strong group of Sixth Form NCOs taking on more and more of the leadership and teaching, our corps is in a healthy place and cadets are learning a great deal, not only about military skills but also more importantly about themselves, teamwork, leadership and resilience. Our Remembrance Service parades, three in total, were all excellent examples of how the cadets develop not only a greater understanding and respect for this special annual parade and service of Remembrance, but also in how they represent themselves, their
CCF, school and local community through their exemplary appearance, manner and conduct. With more than 250 cadets and 25 Staff Officers parading in both our School Service and the Petersfield Town Service, we were all enormously proud and honoured to do our best and play our part in one of our nation’s most treasured and important annual dates. In addition, an elite group of cadets, under the guidance and leadership of Cadet Warrant Officer Mark Childs, paraded at a special Armistice Day Act of Remembrance in Petersfield, including a salute to the recently installed and unveiled Allies Stone outside the Festival Hall.
Historic Dockyard
Our junior cadets had a fantastic day when they headed over to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard for our Royal Navy CCF field day. They visited the sights of HMS Warrior, the Mary Rose and Nelson’s flagship, Victory and the day proved to be a wonderful learning experience for all involved, as well as a fun day out!
RAF
Our RAF Field Day this term took us all the way into London to visit the excellent RAF Museum in Hendon. On display are a multitude of aircraft in the vast hangars from previous campaigns and eras. One particular highlight is the huge wingspan of the Lancaster Bomber and being able to walk underneath the bomb bay doors. Our Third Year RAF cadets enjoyed the flight simulators on display and planned missions on the large displays with varied success. The history of the RAF is one part of the curriculum we cover as part of being a cadet so seeing the machines and timeline of events played out in displays and videos, pictures and interactive episodes helps bring this to life in different ways.
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What a Performance!
Cabaret
Over two November evenings, the Sports Hall came alive to the sound of the Junior Cabaret. Performers from the First to the Fourth Year entertained parents to a wide repertoire, from Alfie Barton’s comedic King George singing ‘You’ll Be Back’ from the musical Hamilton, to the tear-jerking ‘Burn’ from the same show, sang by Xan Verney. The wealth of musical talent in our younger years was interspersed with the witty repartee of our able compères, Cecily Morrogh and Rocco Thomas, and ably demonstrated that an enforced Coronavirus hiatus has not dampened the spirit of our performers!
Physical Theatre
Our Lower Sixth students had a fantastic workshop with physical theatre company, Frantic Assembly. They were pushed out of their comfort zones as they explored how to incorporate physicality into storytelling during the devising process. Our workshop leader Paolo Guidi was thoroughly engaging throughout, and we are super excited to incorporate some of these techniques into our performance work.
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FOCUS Senior
Puppetry Workshop
Things got very ‘Out of Hand’ when our Third Year Drama students participated in a fantastic puppetry workshop, led by one of our very own, Charlie Daniells who left Churcher’s in 2012. After graduating from Drama School, Charlie co-founded Out of Hand Productions, focusing on teaching the art of puppetry within theatre. Not only did our students create their very own puppets, but they also devised an original piece of drama using the techniques that Charlie and her partner Amber-Rose had taught them. Students thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and we are super excited to get Out of Hand Productions back in for more workshops in the future.
Our Upper Sixth enjoyed exploring some of the methodologies of theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht. Students have been devising an original production based on the idea of a ‘Classless Society’ using Brecht’s methodologies. The workshop led by Kerry Frampton, a Brechtian master in her own right, gave our students just the right ingredients to inform their devising process.
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Out of the Classroom
Geography Field Trip
In spite of having moved our residential fieldwork from November to June this year, partially to take advantage of the better seasonal weather, the forecast was not encouraging. However, Saturday was a sunny day spent measuring beach profiles and sediment in Porlock Bay, Sunday found us studying “place” in Exmoor, contrasting the mist-shrouded agricultural village of Wheddon Cross with the medieval honeypot of Dunster and Monday morning was spent appraising coastal management along a windswept Minehead beach. Covid constrained our use of some of the grander communal rooms in the stately Nettlecombe Court, run as a field study centre, but the students remained good-humoured and focused throughout and were a credit to themselves and the College.
Tercentenary Celebrations
This year’s tercentenary celebrations began in style on a crisp and bright September morning. Marking the 300th year of Churcher’s College existence, the whole school came together to create a giant 300 on the school’s playing fields. The image, captured by drone, includes all 1,234 pupils from Nursery, Junior, Senior and Sixth Form from both campus sites in Liphook and Petersfield, not forgetting the 240 staff! And we couldn’t celebrate a birthday without a party! The morning’s excitement was followed with a glorious late-Summer’s afternoon of fun and games, providing an opportunity to fundraise for our partner United World School (UWS) in Mude, Nepal.
Nelson Bowling
Nelson House have had a busy term, making sure our Housemates have the opportunity to relax and have fun together outside of school! Unfortunately, Mr Shipley’s legacy of the traditional Sixth Form Nelson curry night fell foul of Covid, but the lower years all had great fun bowling or, in a new addition to the activities programme, zorbing on the school playing fields.
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FOCUS Senior
Planetarium Trip
In November, the First Year visited the South Downs Planetarium, following on from learning about Space during our Physics lessons. After a pleasant welcome we quickly became accustomed to the low levels of light and were in the full swing of the show. It began with the origins of the zodiac, continuing to fascinating insights into life on the International Space Station, and then previous and future attempts to reach other planets. The show ended on a high note with an effective whistle-stop tour of the planets. We were reluctant to leave our comfortable seats after enjoying the show for an hour. All in all, the South Downs Planetarium experience was definitely fun and informative. Not only did it enhance our current knowledge on a relevant topic, we all enjoyed the show! Abilene Howells
Haunted Library
This year saw the return of the muchloved Haunted Library, providing staff with lunchtime fun as they dressed up to spook our First and Second Years! The library was transformed with smoke machines, scary lighting and lots of jumping out of cupboards and from under tables! Students queued up to visit multiple times and try and work out who was behind the make-up and masks… all the while raising money for the Charities Committee!
Calshot
The annual First Year activities trip to Calshot proved to be a wonderful start to the new school year for our youngest Senior School pupils. After the whirlwind initial few weeks of settling in, a couple of days of exhilarating activities at Calshot provides the perfect opportunity to unwind and get to know their new schoolmates. “Calshot was an amazing experience! The activities were fantastic: we did all sorts of stuff like snowboarding all the way to cycling in a velodrome. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay the night because of Covid but it was still awesome. My favourite activity was kayaking because I loved the games we played and at the end we got to jump into the sea!” Gemma Cowley, 1D
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Sport
Netball
Hockey
After last year’s disruption, it has been a delight to see so many Churcher’s pupils out and playing competitive inter-school matches again. Our chock-a-block schedule included regional success at U14 level and exciting spectacles across all age groups and ability levels, including a nail-biting Friday night lights 1st XI game against Charterhouse in the England Hockey Cup.
Cross Country
The cross country season was started in style at the Butser Hill Challenge; 43 students (and four staff) took on one of the hardest fell races in the south of England, including three summits for those in the senior race. After a break last year, it was wonderful to see so many runners back on the hill. Next up was the ESAA Cross Country Cup – a competition of up to 20 schools, with the top two teams
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progressing to the Regional Finals. This is a huge challenge, but it was testament to our Second Year girls’ and boys’ teams and our Senior boys’ teams that they progressed to the Regional Finals in Kent. Hot off the press is news of the HSAA Inter Schools Cross Country Cup, the second of our team competitions. All teams finished in the top four, again with the Second Year girls stealing the limelight with their first place finish.
In October our 1st V11 Netball squad went to the National Schools Tournament. The squad of 10 played a series of short games throughout the day and their great team spirit and perseverance was much needed against some great opposition. Hampshire has a very high standard of netball with amazing teams from St Swithun’s, King Edwards Southampton and Peter Symonds, amongst others. We won three matches, one of which was a particularly good team performance against Barton Peveril in which Helena Brown and Kim Monkman put Barton’s shooters under real pressure and turned over lots of ball, helping the team take the win with a narrow score line. Mia Clark kept the ball moving through the court and the attack fed some great balls into the shooters from the circle edge. We’re all looking forward to the netball season starting in January! Alice Ramseyer, Upper Sixth
Tennis
It was a wonderful feeling to finally be back playing fixtures and seeing all the pupils out on the courts every minute they had spare. We entered the LTA schools competition for the first time this year and proved we have some talented players. Our school fixtures were very successful, even though we were only able to play for half a term. We finished the season on a high with the Parent Pupil tournament, albeit a somewhat different format as everyone had to play within their year groups. Nevertheless, a record 64 pairs entered of all abilities, making for some great, competitive matches! All were rewarded with a fantastic cream tea and a cold Pimm's for parents, which was gratefully received!
FOCUS Senior Cricket
The Churcher’s girls’ and boy’s teams threw themselves into all things cricket over the Summer Term and they certainly took full advantage (come rain or shine) of any opportunities to play. The girls’ programme in particular now offers both hard and soft ball options. We can’t wait to see these children continue to develop their skills and next season promises to be action packed and full of opportunities to represent the school. The sound of bat on ball under the summer sun is not that far away!
Netball
Also in October, our U14 netball squad competed in the County Round National Schools Tournament. With a tough seven rounds throughout the day, we had five successful wins against and two tough losses against Portsmouth High School and a strong St Swithun’s side, placing us in third place in the competition. Overall it was a really great experience and it was good to be playing netball again after the last two years. Jess Mellor, Third Year
Rugby
This term has seen the return of a traditional rugby season and the resurgence of our fixture card. It’s been fantastic to see the boys being able to take to the pitches and test themselves against opposition schools, after such a restricted season last year. We have had more than 300 pupils represent the school and all those in the U12s and U13s represented the Senior School for the very first time. Traditional fixtures such as Gordon's School, King Edward VI Southampton and Portsmouth Grammar School, along with new fixtures versus Wimbledon College and Sutton Valence School have all proved to be great occasions. A number of year groups have had particularly strong performances and results, leading to an overall 74% win percentage for the School. The U14s and U15s should be very pleased with their current unbeaten seasons.
Friday Night Lights
Friday 8 October saw our two senior teams take on Reading Blue Coat School in a unique ‘under the lights’ fixture at Petersfield Rugby Club. With a 7pm kick off it was a great opportunity for the school community to come together to show their support for the senior rugby squad. With several hundred supporters watching, both the 1st XV and the 2nd XV produced two outstanding games, and this added to what was a fantastic celebration of rugby and a very enjoyable evening all round.
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Co-Curricular SATRO
This year’s SATRO Problem Solving challenge proved to be a particularly fiendish one. Our teams Second Year, Fourth Year and Lower Sixth teams had to design and build a device to allow an electric motor to move in a horizontal circle, moving only due to the force exerted by a propeller attached to the motor. The propeller itself, along with all the supporting structure, would have to be manufactured from some basic materials and ready to test in just 90 minutes. Both our Second Year and Lower Sixth teams emerged as victors in their categories, but all three teams showed great potential as scientists and engineers of the future, impressing not just with their ingenuity but also their determination and perseverance in the face of such a complex challenge.
Model United Nations EPQ Forum
19 Upper Sixth students presented their EPQs at the EPQ Forum in November, marking the culmination of over a year’s worth of hard work! The projects on display ranged from the fall of Constantinople, to an 1830s replica cricket bat, to the main antioxidants that protect against reactive oxygen species in the body. Mara James even had VR goggles for visitors to explore her multifunctional apartment, designed using CAD. Not only is the EPQ highly valued by universities, it is the only opportunity students have to study something entirely of their own design at A Level and it is astounding to see the ideas they decide to pursue when given this level of freedom.
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On Saturday, 2 October, a team of intrepid Sixth Form delegates represented the countries of South Africa, Myanmar and St Vincent and the Grenadines at the 25th Reigate Grammar School Model United Nations Conference. Mrs Butler and Mrs Trent were extremely impressed with all our delegates, who managed to take on their roles and diligently represent their given countries, often arguing viewpoints at complete odds with their own. The delegates for St Vincent and the Grenadines in particular ensured this tiny island nation of 100,000 people were vigorously represented and dominated discussion alongside the more typical ‘top dogs’ of international diplomacy, the USA, Russia and China.
Junior Academy
This year’s Junior Academy returned with a revamped and rejuvenated program running across both year groups. The Second Years have been treated to a faculty carousel across a variety of subjects. In keeping with their theme of ‘Learn about the World’, students have enjoyed learning about witchcraft, selling shares, and more recently have been excited by Mr Dunster’s explosive (literally!) Chemistry sessions. Meanwhile, the Third Years have now begun exploring various areas of interest for their big research project in the quest to ‘Become the Expert’. We are looking forward to the first Academy trip to Oxford where students will explore the sights of the city including a college, as well as visiting the Pitt River museum, renowned as ‘the museum of a museum’.
FOCUS Senior Lit Soc
October saw the long-awaited return of Lit Soc, Churcher’s Literary Society. A group of Sixth Form students met for a Gothic literature themed evening, appropriately attired in a selection of capes and fangs. They were joined by author Nick JohnstonJones, whose book ‘The Human Dress’, tells a gothic-style tale of a ghost in a boarding school. Mr. Johnston-Jones relayed to the students his inspiration for
writing his novel and his research into Gothic literature. Students then delivered powerful readings from Gothic texts, including Susan Hill’s ‘The Woman in Black’, Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’ and Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’. Finally, attendees relocated to the library, where they enjoyed a section of Gothic-themed games, quizzes and a photo-booth, and had the opportunity to question Mr. Johnston-Jones further about his work.
ACADEMIC LECTURE SERIES
Meeting Fidel Castro: Reflections on the Cold War
FIGHTING FOR PEACE RIGHT OR WRONG?
By Gerald Martin
Wednesday 17 November 4:30 - 5:30pm Lecture Theatre
Fidel Castro
By OC, Lt Col (retd) Chris Parker MBE Infantry veteran of 9 combat and operational tours
Wednesday 24 November 2021, 7:00pm Lecture Theatre
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Gerald Martin regaled our students with his astonishing tales of driving at top speed with Fidel Castro through the streets of Havana in 1996 and chatting to him about Che Guevara, US sanctions and many other topics. Gerald began with a history of ‘the pearl of the Antilles’, and explained how it became dominated by American interests. He moved on to the Cuban fight for independence: the ‘tropical revolution’, to the thwarting of the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Castro’s tenacious hold on power against all the odds as Cuban Comandante from 1959-2008. He explained how Fidel was a benign dictator compared to other South American regimes and that he was incredibly popular and charismatic. The final piece of this amazing personal encounter described how as Gerald was heading home after his 1996 visit, a security guard knocked on his hotel door, to say that Fidel was waiting for him at the bar. When he got there, Fidel named a cocktail after Gerald!
Rocket Science
We were delighted to welcome Andrew Knight, a Spacecraft Engineer, to give an afterschool talk to enthusiastic students and parents. He led us through the process of building a satellite and making it as light as possible, avoiding unnecessary structure for something that would operate in effective zero gravity, but finding a way to make structure support itself while it is still on Earth! He explained how the hazardous environments of the launch itself, and the vacuum of space, could be simulated in detail to repeatedly test the satellite, before and after the tricky process of getting it to the launch site. His audience were fascinated, too, by the details of the launch process, so much more commoditised by the latest generation of space businesses, such as SpaceX. Truly an inspiration for the next generation of rocket scientists!
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Fighting for Peace
Class of ‘86 OC Lt. Col. (Retd.) Chris Parker MBE returned to give a fantastic talk to students and parents entitled ‘The Realities of War: Fighting for Peace, Right or Wrong?’. It was a fascinating evening of drinks, canapés and stimulating debate, with Chris regaling the students about the most challenging role of his career (as Captain of Nelson House!), his tours of service in the infantry in Iraq, Bosnia and Northern Ireland and subsequent work in the private sector in construction and cyber-security. Chris answered questions for more than 40 minutes from parents and students on the nature of conflict in the 21st Century and the shape and challenges of global politics in the postCold War era. Chris’ impressive candour and willingness to discuss the moral and human component of conflict was of great value to those studying Politics, History and R&P alike.
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In Other News
COP26 comes to Hampshire
On 8 October, five members of the Upper Sixth attended the East Hampshire COP26 conference in Alton. The conference was the brainchild of local MP Damian Hinds, who wanted to give an opportunity for local businesses, schools and environmental groups to share what they are already doing to combat climate change, and discuss how we might do even more. There were many interesting stalls set up by local groups which gave a wealth of inspiring ideas. The five girls were all interviewed by Petersfield Shine Radio about how they felt about the threat of climate change and what they hoped would be the result of both the East Hampshire conference and also the full COP26 in Glasgow. Along with representatives from Bedales, TPS, Alton School and Bohunt, our five students spoke to an audience of business leaders and local politicians about all that Churcher’s is doing to combat climate change and reduce our environmental impact.
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Amarantus Project
Since 2017, our very own Mrs Jenkinson-Brown has had the pleasure of working with the Cambridge Schools Classics Project – the makers of the Cambridge Latin Course – on the Amarantus Project, a free ancient history course for schools. The Project is based on the research of Dr Sophie Hay, an archaeologist who worked on the excavation of Insula 1.9 in Pompeii, which discovered graffiti suggesting one of the houses in the block was lived in by a freedman called Amarantus, who possibly ran a bar, and also had a mule and a dog whose skeletons were found in one of the rooms. Dr Hay had seen Mrs Jenkinson-Brown’s Greek Myth Comix work and along with bestselling Historical childrens’ author Caroline Lawrence, invited them to set about creating the story of Amarantus and his neighbourhood. In total, Mrs Jenkinson-Brown produced 60 illustrations for the book and website. The course and story will be free on the internet, but all proceeds from the sale of the book go towards CSCP’s funding and keeping the course online.
Caen to Paris
In July, First Year student Charlie Jones cycled 360km from Caen to Paris to raise money for his three-year-old cousin, Ralph, who is paralysed from the waist down. The hot weather added to their 5-day challenge, but Charlie and his father successfully completed the ride, raising money for a specialised trike for Ralph. Charlie decided to take on the challenge after seeing Ralph’s twin brother cycling and realising how Ralph was unable to experience this simple joy. A therapy trike would help him exercise and gain a sense of normality through rehabilitation and also help him feel independent, but at a cost of £2,500 or more. Charlie decided to find a way to contribute and has raised more than £3,000 for Ralph.
FOCUS Senior
COP26
Third Year pupil Will Lall attended the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in his capacity as WWF Youth Ambassador to help promote the youth view of climate change. 14-year-old Will’s aim was to network with key decision makers and learn from the global experts present. He also joined both the main march and the youth march in Glasgow with the other five WWF Youth Ambassadors. Will spent
Equestrian Success
On Sunday 3 October, three teams travelled to Cranleigh for the Jumping with Style Showjumping Qualifiers for the NSEA With an eye on the coming National Championships, to be held at Keysoe at the end of October, the team knew a top two finish would be essential. On the day, they performed incredibly well in very competative classeses. In the 70cm Aneka Wisniewska was placed individually and qualified and in the 80cm class of more than 50 competitors, the team consisting of Aneka, Amelia Dallyn, Clemmie Foster and Ella Hart came second and qualified for the National
18-hour days racing around the Glasgow event to fit in all the opportunities on offer. He summarised his visit for us: “It was a resounding success, I learned a huge amount, interviewed many people from various organisations and made some valuable contacts.” The highlights include appearing on BBC Newsround, interviewing Actor and Radio 1 DJ Cel Spelman, and chatting with HRH Princess Eugenie.
Championships. In the 90cm class the team consisting of Emily Martin, Georgia Dyer, Clemmie and Ella came fourth, qualifying for a Plate Championship in November. In the metre class Ella, Clemmie, Megan and Emily won and have therefore qualified for the National Championships. Congratulations to all girls and a special mention to Clemmie, who won the class as an individual. Five of the team will now travel up to the National Championships at the end of October with their horses to compete against qualifying schools from across the country. We wish them continued success!
Will Porter
Congratulations to Sixth Former Will Porter who this Summer was selected for the England Hockey U18 Development Squad! His first port of call was playing against the Women’s Olympic England Hockey team. It was the first of two matches against them as part of their final preparations before they flew to Tokyo for the Olympic Games and the boys won 3-1! Since then, Will has played in the U18 team against Wales U19 team at Millfield. Wales won the first game 1-0, with England fighting back to win the second game 6-1. He has also played in the England U18 team against Scotland U19 team - Scotland won the first game 4-1 and in the second match it was a 2-2 draw.
Michael Huggan
Where better than the pages of Focus to share a quick Thank You to our unofficial Churcher’s photographer Michael Huggan? We are incredibly lucky to be able to call on Michael’s photographic talents come rain or shine for many of our sporting and adventurous endeavours, helping document the extra-curricular life of Churcher’s students through the camera lens.
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Modern Foreign Languages
French Theatre
In November, our Third Years were entertained by the Onatti Theatre Company. With the title ‘Mon père ne me comprend pas’, this play was likely to contain all the intrigue of a young teenage daughter misunderstood by her father, by her brother and by her grandmother… and much intrigue indeed there was! A grandma’s neighbour’s cat in danger of being “assassiné”, a father suddenly becoming “cool”, a brother totally changing personality… all was presented with good comical acting, great facial expressions, and, of course, the compulsory facetiming. Lots of humour, lots of repetitions of words allowed us to understand most, if not all, of the dialogues. Before they were able to escape and enjoy their Friday evening, our students were coerced by Monsieur Leysen to sing along a French classic, “Oh Champs Elysées” by Joe Dassin. Hopefully most were still humming this tune by the time they got home…
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Celebration Week
September saw the return of our annual week-long celebration of foreign languages! Our pupils rolled up their sleeves and enjoyed competing in our ever popular International Bake Off, judged by Miranda Gore Browne, who was dazzled by the standard and variety of cakes. Maisie Trask was our Star Baker with her classy allwhite Arc de Triomphe, Anthony Eldridge won the Technical Excellence prize for his Armenian honey cake and the Cassidy sisters won the Showstopper with their brilliant Icelandic volcano cake. Our Third Year pupils were treated to a continental breakfast and language quiz, which was greatly enjoyed and hotly contested to win the ultimate prize – chocolate! Maisie Stanley will be joining our Hall of Fame of Love Languages posters after winning the competition with her inspired eco-friendly poster, along with runners up Mia Penfold and Emily Moor. We loved their convivial messages around languages including culture, amazing food and travel.
FOCUS Junior Fun with Languages
Students across the school have been learning that languages are fun and taking part in a range of cultural activities! From language quizzes to dancing the cha cha, they have all experienced the fun that can be had learning a foreign language.
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A Busy Term of Learning!
A Busy Term of Leaning! A guess who of all our wonderful Year 2 watercolour self portrait work
Year 4 are proud of our progress in English this term
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Year 1 making bread rolls for Harvest
FOCUS Junior
Year 1 learning to read
Year 4 showing off perfect parenthesis
Year 4 enjoyed using our new English scheme Pathways to Write
Writing in the Year 1 role play area
Year 2 enjoyed Mr William's visit and shared their self portrait painting skills
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Nursery & Reception Anyone for tennis?
Taking good care of the babies
The letter A
Trim Trail
Fun in the garden
We helped Little Red Hen make some bread rolls
Ready for the sun
Bath time
Matching natures
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FOCUS Junior Friends
I'll be the big sister
Puppet theatre
Apple printing with apples...from our very own tree
Mud pie making
Self portrait
Show and tell
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Science & The Natural World
Year 3 enjoyed measuring who had the longest shadow, recording changes throughout the day
Year 3 Science
As part of their ‘Keeping Healthy’ Science topic, Year 3 found about their bones, muscles and a healthy diet. To finish the topic, an investigation asking ‘Can people with longer femurs, jump further?’ gave the children a great introduction into fair testing as well as a lot of fun!
Learning at its best for our investigation into light and shadows
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Year 1 love playing with water
Year 4 enjoyed the outdoor classroom on their Induction Day
FOCUS Junior
Year 4 used pooters to examine minibeasts more closely
Year 1 Science collage
Mindful gardening allowed Year 3 to connect with nature
Year 2 met the farm animals on their visit to school and learned how to look after them
Measuring the tallest sunflower plant in Year 3
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Trips are back! As part of their History topic on the Romans, Year 3 had a fantastic day out at Butser Ancient Farm. Blessed with good weather, the children spent the day outside doing activities such as wall building, jewellery making and excavating treasures. Being archaeologists for the day brought the topic to life and gave the children an understanding of sources of evidence.
Selborne
In Selborne, 5R consolidated their plant lifecycle knowledge. The children used the equipment in the field studies centre and the plants in the grounds to narrowly focus on the different stages of plant life cycles. They Investigated how humans affect the plants around them. The children used quadrats to help them identify the difference in the plants that grow inside different areas.
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FOCUS Junior
Cobnor
Year 5 spent three days at Cobnor earlier in the term, thoroughly enjoying the challenge of the activities canoeing, kayaking, sailing, problem solving, low ropes and climbing, to name but a few. Another challenge they faced was spending the first night away from home on a school residential. The children have supported and encouraged each other throughout the trip and although tired, they all have a great sense of achievement.
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Music and Drama
Jazz Group
Every Thursday lunchtime these budding big band members play fun pop songs and film music to bring the music room to life!
Ensembles are Back!
We have really enjoyed starting up our musical ensembles again this Autumn Term. Every Tuesday morning these fantastic young musicians come together to have fun playing together and learning new music!
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FOCUS Junior Showtime We had sun, rain and fake snow during our Showtime Drama festival - but the rain didn’t dampen our spirits! Each child got up on the festival stage with a smile, a dance and a song! We were so pleased
to finally get our whole school community together to celebrate with the music from the stage and screen, in what we hope proved to be a lasting memory for them of an extraordinary year!
Nativity
Year 6 had a wonderful time in the Summer Term producing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Each class had the opportunity to take the lead, allowing plenty of chances for all to shine on the stage – and that’s just what they did! All of the children were amazing and we were all just so grateful to be able to put this play on in Covid times.
It was with great excitement that the children retold the story of 'The First Christmas' in their nativity production. The children delighted their parents and grandparents with their beautiful singing and storytelling and all looked wonderful in their costumes on a stage bedecked with little, sparkling stars.
Hitting the Right Note!
We enjoy music throughout CCJS from Nursery all the way up to Year 6. Here are our youngest children performing some rhythms on the Djembe drums!
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Focus on History
As part of Black History Month, Year 5 welcomed into their classrooms a virtual Rosa Parks. Rosa told us about her life and how she always wanted to finish her education. She explained how different life was for her with segregated schools, churches, toilets, buses. One day, when returning home after a long day, she refused to give up her
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seat for a white passenger - she was arrested and fined $15 and so started her life in the civil rights movement and changed the world. The class ere really inspired by this interactive lesson and wanted to share what they had learnt in an assembly for the school, which they hope inspired everyone to speak up if they see something unfair or unjust.
FOCUS Junior
Learning about the Roman army was one History lesson Year 3 will not forget, as they marched around the field in a ‘testudo’ formation. Italian for tortoise, this tactic was successfully used by the Roman army and beautifully executed by Year 3!
Year 6 had a great time when they ‘met’ Queen Victoria. It was a really informative session and lots of the children were able to speak directly to the great lady herself and ask her many weird and wonderful questions! We heard lots about her beloved Albert and the Great Exhibition, and it proved a fabulous learning opportunity in the Covid climate!
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Friendship and Teamwork
Low ropes team building challenge for our new Year 3s to kick off a new year in style!
Year 2 worked as a team to move a cup round the trim trail without dropping any water
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FOCUS Junior
Year 4 are best buds even in camouflage!
Year 3 team building in September - each house group worked together to tackle 4 challenges
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FOCUS Junior
Year 6 In October 2021, Year 6 hit the seas to journey to Little Canada, a PGL centre based on the Isle of Wight. Here the children enjoyed an action-packed couple of days of buggy building, giant swings and a plethora of other outdoor activities. This trip always tests the children in terms of coping with activities at height, but all of them pushed themselves and achieved so much.
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Sport Sports Day
With 5 Sports Days in 1 day, 2021 was a Sports Day extravaganza like no other!
Netball
It was so nice to be back to hosting our annual U11 netball tournament. With 12 teams competing and the sun shining, all the girls played fantastically well and there were some great skills on display.
Football
An outstanding performance from the boys U11A football team saw them finish as runners up at the ISFA Hampshire Regionals and qualify for a place in the National Finals at St Georges Park!
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Butser Run
There was an excellent turn out this year from CCJS at the Butser Hill Challenge and some fantastic results. Very well done to all the competitors.
FOCUS Junior
Swimming
The House swimming galas are always a fun event and fantastic opportunity to show off their hard work and talents in the pool. Very well done to all the swimmers and to the winning House, Rother.
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ACADEMIC LECTURE SERIES
sir vince cable
Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament.
15 March 2022
ChurchersCollege.com