Issue nine

issue nine MICHAELMAS TERM 2013

SherborneNews DRAMA

SPORT

TRIPS

MUSIC

Comment

BY CHRIS DAVIS, HEADMASTER

...these results bode encouragingly for this coming year

Welcome to the first Sherborne News of the Michaelmas Term. The term is now well under way, with half term already upon us, and early September seems some time ago. Then, we celebrated some very strong A2 exam results, including IB, with 76% of all papers marked at A*/A/B - a set of results that was close to record levels. It was also especially pleasing that the majority of our leavers secured places at some of the most competitive Russell Group universities, with all our Oxbridge candidates securing their grade requirements. Our IGCSE results were equally strong, while our AS results were even closer to record levels. It was noticeable that a particularly large number of papers were upgraded following remarks, some of them by as much as three grades. These results bode encouragingly for this coming year.

A particular excitement has been the filming in The Courts and in the Abbey Close of scenes from the upcoming new film of Far From the Madding Crowd. School House will also be the venue over this half term for some scenes of a new film about Alan Turing, The Imitation Game, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing. The whole School also enjoyed listening last Saturday to a truly inspirational talk by Satish Kumar, who was this year’s Lawn Lecture speaker.

The Lawn Lecture is in memory of Steven Lawn, OS, who lost his life in the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers.

www.sherborne.org

As ever, the co-curricular programme has been extremely full. As a school that offers an allround education with an academic focus, vital to that all-round education is the co-curricular programme, which builds on and reinforces so many important aims of the curriculum elsewhere and allows opportunities for all boys to participate and excel, whatever their level of ability. Sporting fixtures have been full across the board; we have enjoyed much music

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making at House and School level in these last six weeks; and last week saw The Digby’s excellent production of Pravda.

There is much else to look forward to in the second half of the term. The new drama space (the old music school), though as yet unnamed, will be completed soon after half term and ready for use, while rehearsals continue for this term’s School musical, Into the Woods

by Stephen Sondheim. We are also looking forward to the launch in the near future of our new website, which has been constructed entirely anew with a fresh design, new pictures and new text that more accurately reflect Sherborne its ethos, aims, values and achievements as it is today.

In the meantime, may I wish you all a very happy half term.

PREFECTS BACK ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: Jack Bridger (c), Jamie Williams (f), Ben Newton (d), Ed Benney (a), Ross Collington (c), Hugo Reid (b), Richard Galloway (m), Tom Owen (e), Jack Humphrey (f), Max Nott-Bower (m) FRONT ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: Robert Folkes (a), Shiv Singh (g), James Sewry (d) Head of School, James Vitali (f), Alex Majorin (g)

...STOP PRESS The School’s science department is proud to report that two teams of Sherborne’s A-Level physicists came second and tenth out of 35 participating teams at this year’s Physics Olympics, held last week at the University of Liverpool. The teams undertook a variety of team-work and problem-solving tasks throughout an intense day; Sherborne’s participants agreed that it was “an incredible opportunity to grapple with some engineering and physics-based problems.” The Physics department looks forward to a return visit next year.

Congratulations to: Team One, led by Rory McMillan (L6b), Hugo Bromell (L6b), Patrick Hobbs (L6c) and Johnnie Massey (L6m).

Team Two, led by Will Pisani (L6a), Haydn Cuthbert-Brown (L6d), Sam Choroszewski (L6e) and Edmund Budd (L6m).

Honorary Scholars and Distinctions The School would like to congratulate the following boys on their excellent academic achievements.

HONORARY SCHOLARSHIPS Awarded for having gained four Distinctions in both internal and external exams: FIFTH FORM: Arthur Drake (b) LOWER SIXTH: Robert Ham (e), Charlie Paines (m), William Pisani (a), Marcus Soo (e), Bradley Weatherhead (e) UPPER SIXTH: Oscar Cairns (a), William Eaton (d), James Vitali (f), Hubert Wong (b) DISTINCTIONS Awarded to Lower Sixth boys for outstanding performance in (I)GCSE examinations of 6A* or more with no other grade lower than a grade B: 6A* Hugo Bromell (b), Robert Clark (d), Jack Dible (c), Edward Horn (d) 7A* Jack Crinks (b), Archie Denny (f), Jack Edmondson (f), Matthew Key (m), William Pisani (a), Edward Wauton (f), Bradley Weatherhead (e) 8A* Jack Hillan (c), Patrick Hobbs (c), Perry Jenner (b), Charles Paines (m), Marcus Soo (e) 9A* Oshi Corbett (d), Robert Ham (e), William Glasse (a), Hugh Williams (c), Max Wood (g) 10A* Koichi Kanaboshi (f), Rory McMillan (b), James Weldon (b) 11A* Gregor Tims (a) 12 A* Alex Ferguson (f) Awarded to Upper Sixth boys for outstanding performance in AS examinations gaining 3 A grades: Nicholas Bottari (c), Jack Bridger (c), Oscar Cairns (a), George Campbell (c), Fergus Cowan (m), Harry Drake (b), Thomas Du Val de Beaulieu (m), Robert Folke (a), Richard Galloway (m), Jonny Goff-White (g), Thomas Mendel (d), James Murray (c), Paul Myatt (b), Kit Pybus (b), Hugo Reid (b), Max Stone (e), James Vitali (f), Jamie Williams (f), Hubert Wong (b)

Trips D of E Canoeing The canoeing expedition for twelve Silver DofE boys took place towards the end of the summer holidays on the River Wye in Wales. On the longest day the boys completed 37km, which is just short of a marathon, and were glad to find Hereford Rowing Club at the end.

They coped admirably with the summer heat, capsizes and a campsite without showers, toilets or indeed water!

Congratulations to Jonnie Massey (L6m), Charlie Paines (L6m), Henry Payne (L6f), Rory McMillan (L6b), James Birley (L6m), Freddie Sorby (L6m), Tom Slade (L6g), Freddie Stisted (L6g), Koichi Kanaboshi (L6f), Marcus Soo (L6e), Patrick Tinsley (L6f) and Harry Atkins (L6f).

Summer Spanish Trip to León At the end of the summer holidays, a small group of Upper Sixth boys flew out to the Spanish city of León in order to perfect their Spanish fluency. Staying with Spanish host families, they enrolled in a language course at the University of León. Mornings were for language lessons, and in the afternoons, excursions were organised to nearby sights of interest – with the most iconic being the fabulous Cathedral. There was also plenty of time for exploring this compact, beautiful city, and soaking up the tapas culture in the barrio humedo. Boys received certificates at the end of their language course. Many thanks to Dr Hamon for accompanying the trip.

BY JOSEPHINE BERGANZA

BY NEIL BRADSHAW

CCF CAMP CORNWALL CCF Annual Challenge The Dorset Doddle This year saw the introduction of the CCF Annual Challenge with the misleadingly titled ‘Dorset Doddle’ chosen as the inaugural event. This is a 32-mile dash along the beautiful but hilly stretch of the Jurassic Coast from Weymouth to Swanage. Alexander Reid, Ruari Ross (both L6b), Ollie Lambert (U6d), Hugo Potts (U6e) and Monty Pilkington (U6f) embarked upon a gruelling training regime that would take them right up to the event and, for some, included running a marathon as part of the buildup. We were joined on the event by Ollie’s father; everyone crossed the finishline tired and bruised but proud of their achievement. We witnessed some stunning scenery, but whether it was truly appreciated by the CCF Doddlers through sickness, cramps and general weariness is another matter.

This summer the CCF went to St Mawgan, Cornwall for their camp where the boys experienced a mix of military and adventurous training. On the first day the boys took part in surfing and abseiling, and undertook the fearsome Tyrolean Traverse, which involves being suspended on a rope and harness

between two cliffs with the sea over a hundred feet below. The next few days were taken up by military activities, culminating in an escape and evasion exercise on Penhale training area. The final activity was coaststeering with some adventurous cliff jumping from the boys.

The boys’ dedication to training and perseverance throughout the event, when stopping would have been the easy thing to do, was admirable. Let us hope there will be plenty of volunteers for the 2014 challenge.

BY ROB LE POIDEVIN, CONTINGENT COMMANDER

Rugby Tour – Canada Thirty senior rugby players and four staff undertook a rigorous tour of Canada over the summer break visiting Calgary, Victoria and Vancouver. They took part in five XV-a-side matches and two major Sevens events, as well as enjoying some of the foremost attractions the country has to offer. One week prior to departure, however, Calgary was devastated by flooding, but in true Canadian spirit, this did not affect the tour.

A tough start saw the squad win against the Calgary Hornets Academy U19 XV and the Wolf Pack XV (a provisional team selected from Alberta). Two further fixtures against Calgary Irish and Lethbridge ensured that the squad left Calgary unbeaten. These successes were enhanced when a squad of twelve players, captain by Will Homer (U6m), accepted a late invitation into the Stampede Sevens and coasted through to the final where they demolished The Howlers’ Sevens,

who are an invitation squad made up of the best players from Alberta.

A trip to Victoria and another Sevens competition produced a further victory, this time in the Plate, as two teams from Sherborne took on the best from America and Canada in the Victoria International Sevens Competition. The final leg was a match in Abbotsford and another victory followed by two days in beautiful Vancouver. One boy reflected:

“The tour has been priceless in terms of the development of us all individually and as a team, and the confidence it has given us will be vital next season throughout a competitive fixture list. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me personally, and some experiences, places and people I will never forget.”

BY DAVID MUCKALT, HEAD OF RUGBY

Musicians in Rome

Hot on the heels of all of the Commem concerts, the Rome Tour was one to remember, not least for the strong sense of being part of a large team which entertained and impressed audiences in some of the more spectacular Roman venues. Italian audiences let you know what they think of the music: ‘interruptions’ from applause, much frowned upon at home (never applaud between movements!), indicate delight and are, as Choir, Concert Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and Wind Band discovered, encouraging rather than distracting.

Trumpet Concerto (soloists - Robert Folkes and Jack Blakey, both U6a) and Verdi’s Grand March from Aida, with Ravel’s Pavane, Newton Howard’s Hunger Games and Zimmer’s Gladiator resounding alongside a capella choral music by Tallis and Byrd.

A musical feast in Rome! A choral highlight was singing Mass in Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore - a moving and solemn occasion which, on the face of it, seemed not to be an occasion for receiving applause but which received some of the more rapturous appreciation after the communion.

The venues were exceptional. From the (literal) heights of the Auditorium delle Scuderie Aldobrandini, in Frascati, the drama of the Teatro Marcello and the Basilica di San Nicola in Carcere, to the stunning beauty of the Chiesa de Sant’Agnese in Agone, all four ensembles performed superbly and with style. English repertoire was represented by Walton’s Crown Imperial and Vaughan Williams’ Folksong Suite, Italian by Vivaldi’s Double

Boys took full advantage of visiting Rome’s popular tourist sights including the Vatican, the Villa d’Este, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain and the Coliseum. An unusual attraction was the Time Elevator, an indoor virtual ‘ride’ through the history of the city which was air conditioned – something of a relief in the midday sun of July!

BY JAMES HENDERSON, DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

School House Concert Wales Mountain Challenge At the start of July a team of Fifth and Sixth Formers headed to Snowdonia with Mr Kimber and Mr Thurman where they achieved the notable ascent of the 15 highest mountains in Wales. Each peak rises over 3,000 feet and the best way to the top was by climbing some of the most notorious scrambles in the UK.

The School House Concert contained a wide variety of repertoire with some stellar performances by boys of all ages and abilities within the house community.

To open the concert, there was a polished performance by the three bagpipers Morty Dickson, Fred Willmott and Charles Morris, who performed a selection of traditional jigs. This grand opening set the tone, which immediately led into the House Orchestra playing a grand march by Handel. The orchestra, conducted with great confidence by Jack Blakey and led by Jamie Hewitt, showcased the impressive ability of boys

The team made base camp in a remote climbers’ hut perched on the northern slopes of Mount Snowdon.

The accommodation was cosy and great meals were prepared by all. A nearby set of boulders provided excellent training for climbing and the stream made for a soothing spa after a hard day’s walk.

Although the weather was dry, the cloud base remained stubbornly at 1,500 feet, making the navigation quite demanding, with visibility reduced to just 10 metres for much of the day. Still some members of the group were happy for the pillows of white fluffy cloud to hide the 1,000 foot drops below the mighty knifeedge traverse of Crib Goch.

A number of the team have used this experience as a springboard for greater things next summer.

Combining their climbing skills on the wall with their winter mountaineering experience gained last February, they hope to explore peaks in the Alps whilst others will head for the Himalayas on their World Challenge expedition.

BY JAMES KIMBER, HEAD OF OUTDOOR EDUCATION

from all year groups with the able assistance of house staff.

These two ensembles set the standard for the rest of the evening that contained many solo performances, notably the first outings for Peter Folkes, Alan Hughes-Hallett, Finnbar Blakey and Jamie Hewitt.

The night provided an opportunity for a number of Upper Sixth musicians to showcase their talent, including some astounding playing by Thaddeus Müller of Elegy by Kenneth Leighton, as well as lively improvisations by Max Creswell (drums) and Jack Blakey (piano).

The event finished with all the boys from the House performing the Blues Brothers’ classic Everybody Needs Somebody. Conducted by me, enhanced by Jack on the piano and Edward Benney as the soloist, it proved to be a great success in terms of the performance and the audience’s animated reaction.

For more pictures see the School House page at www.sherborne.org

Overall, the occasion was a great success, with every boy in the House giving his own contribution and energy to create a House Concert to rival any other.

BY ROBERT FOLKES (U6a)

New Music Videos Lunchtime recitals, held every Friday at 1.30pm in Cheap Street Church, have continued to attract large and supportive audiences from the local community as always, but a new development this term is the addition of the entire school as a ‘video audience’ the following week. Tuesday morning assemblies for the whole school have regularly included a four-minute video of the preceding week’s music, which so far has involved watching and listening to extracts from two recitals of chamber music, a percussion recital, a brass recital and the Unplugged. The pianists’ recital and the woodwind recital have not yet been included, as on those weeks other musical items were featured - including an interview with Peter Bray, the School Organist, and rehearsals of the 86-strong Wind Band in the Tindall Recital Hall, the 93-strong Choir in the Abbey and the 20-piece Swing Band in the Patrick Shelley Studio. These video shorts will, in time, be available on the school’s new website on the music pages, and all future lunchtime recitals and concerts will be recorded in one format or another.

BY JAMES HENDERSON, DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

What was life like in Pompeii?

At the end of September, a group of Fifth and Sixth Form classicists visited the British Museum to see ‘Life and Death in Herculaneum and Pompeii’, an imaginative and enthralling recreation of the tragic destruction of these two towns. The exhibition was laid out as a Pompeian house, from the twisted plaster-cast of the famous chained dog to the dramatic presentation of the human plaster casts. Boys were enthralled by the moving stories of everyday lives, the array of everyday objects, the graffiti of a jilted lover, the wondrous collection of food, seeds and bread, laid out on tables as they were found, the amusing mouse pot and the tintinnabula. There was a guided tour of the Greek galleries and boys enjoyed an interesting and thought-provoking day.

SHERBORNE FOUNDATION SUPPOR TING THE SCHOOL FOR 15 YEARS This year we celebrate the fifteenth year of the Sherborne School Foundation, created to support the School through voluntary donations. Since its inception, we have raised over £8.5m and supported over sixty projects that have enriched the boys’ lives. In December we will be publishing the Giving Report of the Foundation, outlining the past success, the current projects and looking to the future. In the meantime we hope you will support the Annual Fund projects about which you will be receiving information in the coming weeks. These are now ingrained in the fabric of the boys’ lives and you, I am sure, have enjoyed reading about many of them in this magazine. Many thanks if you are already one of the 2,408 supporters; your generosity has made a great difference.

BY ADRIAN BALLARD, HEAD OF THE FOUNDATION

BY STEPHEN HEATH, HEAD OF CLASSICS

Visiting Speakers Prestigious Honour for Sherborne Cadet The School is proud to announce that Cadet Warrant Officer Class II Hugo Potts (U6e) of Sherborne CCF’s Royal Marines’ Detachment has been appointed Her Majesty’s LordLieutenant’s Cadet for Dorset. This is a significant award for Hugo and marks him out as a leading cadet in the county. The Lord-Lieutenant is the Queen’s representative in the county and Hugo will accompany her at official occasions, including royal visits and civic ceremonies. The LordLieutenant noted that during her tenure Hugo was the first cadet from Sherborne and the first Royal Marine cadet. Hugo was praised for his outstanding contribution to the CCF and the various challenges he has completed.

This has been a very busy half term with an interesting variety of visiting speakers in School. This year’s Steven Lawn Lecture welcomed Indian activist and pacifist Satish Kumar who was genuinely inspirational to those who heard him.

Through his telling of the remarkable ‘peace tea’ walk (8,000 miles in two and a half years, carrying no money), Satish humbled the audience with his tightly controlled narrative, given without notes

and slides, and revealed himself as a man of extraordinary personal integrity and fortitude. We were indeed lucky to hear him speak. How often do you get a chance to hear a man who has had a 45 minute audience with Martin Luther King?

In addition, as part of the Saturday morning lecture programme, we have enjoyed presentations from sports motivator John Steele, adventurer Leon McCarron (pictured), James Partridge, who talked to the school about facial disfigurement, Old Shirburnian Nick Greenstock who, following an England Rugby career now runs a geo-political consultancy.

Various speakers have also been invited into School through different department initiatives including Johnnie Boden (Economics & Business), historical author Ben Kane (Classics Society) and the University of Exeter’s Professor of Ancient Thought, Christopher Gill (Classics Society).

Digby House Play - Pravda

BY DAVID HARE AND HOWARD BRENTON

For more pictures see The Digby House page at www.sherborne.org

Senior House Debating Competition Richard III There has been much debate about the appropriate form and location of Richard III’s burial following the discovery of his remains beneath a Leicester car park earlier this year. It was particularly timely, then, that Upper Sixth historians from Sherborne and Millfield met at the beginning of term to consider one of the darkest episodes in Richard’s reign: the disappearance of his nephews, Edward V and Richard Duke of York. With notable contributions from Paul Myatt (U6b) and James Sewry (U6d) the students worked together to analyse disparate accounts from contemporary and historical commentators and began to realise that Richard’s culpability is difficult to establish, despite the best efforts of Tudor propagandists, who wrote of the king’s physical deformities and brutal character. After an hour of debate that would have stretched the ‘grey cells’ of Agatha Christie’s famous detectives, the group concluded that Richard was to blame for his nephews’ incarceration and death. To paraphrase the High Court judge who sanctioned a wider consultation about Richard’s burial, the Sixth Form debate certainly showed how this tumultuous reign ‘touches upon our history, heritage and identity’.

BY DR BEN WILD

“The boys go to so much effort – it’s a lot of work and they take it seriously. What do they win?” “Win? - glory.”

This is an exchange I had with a new member of staff as we left the steamy and tense atmosphere of the OSR, where Harper and Wallace had faced one another in the final debate of the competition on Wednesday 16th October. While the tone of that conversation was somewhat playful, it is entirely true to say that Sixth Formers from every house make time between their studies, UCAS applications, sport, music and social time to prepare their debates for this knock-out competition. It requires a great deal of work and guts to make a speech in a hostile environment, and think on your feet as you attempt to field questions and interruptions designed to unnerve and ridicule.

Harper may be basking in the glory of their victory, but all teams will have learnt something about independent thinking, articulate presentation and persuasive argument.

Highlights of the competition include Ed Wauton’s (L6f) sublime speech relegating feminism to history, Ross Collington’s (U6c) passionate appeal

to end animal testing, thoughtful conclusions from Matt Key (L6m), and promising floor contributions from juniors Vincent Hagg-Davies (3f) and Oscar Fearnley-Derome (4e). A convincing Wallace team (Max Stone, James Freeman and Robert Ham) finished runners-up when Harper overturned the motion “This House believes the die has been cast”.

Congratulations to Tom Mendel, Rufus Johnson and James Sewry for confident, logical and clear-thinking debates throughout the competition.

BY JOSEPHINE BERGANZA

Sport Round up

It’s been an exciting half-term for sport at Sherborne. In rugby both Junior Colts A and First XV squads are through to the fourth round of the Nat West National Cup. The JCAs defeated Stanchester Academy 43-12 in the previous round while the Firsts squad saw off Poole Grammar School by 8 tries to 4. On the representative front, Richard Galloway (U6m) and Will Homer (U6m) have both been selected to join the England U18s rugby camp over half term.

Henry Field (5c) has had an exciting few weeks in which he has been selected for the U16 Wessex Leopards for the forthcoming England Hockey Futures Cup in addition to

The School is also proud to report that after his tenure as a member of the National Rugby Coaching team came to an end this year, Director of Sport, David Guy has been appointed as Head Coach of the South West U16 Division and furthermore David Muckalt, Head of Rugby, has been appointed as the England U16’s Rugby Forwards coach.

improving his LTA rating to 5.1 with several impressive results at recent tennis tournaments.

Henry

Our tenacious water polo team are still enjoying their recent 8-2 victory over rivals at Marlborough College, who also lost out to our colts squash team 3-2 for the first time in many years.

In sailing, Ben Poe (5d) has been selected for the GB Junior RS Terra National Sailing Squad which includes the top 15 junior sailors in the country.

Ben

BY DAVID GUY, DIRECTOR OF SPORT

LOOKING FORWARD...

Over half term the following trips are taking place: Sixth Form Classics (Greece), Lower Sixth Geography (Manchester), Fifth Form History (Berlin), Lower Sixth German (Berlin) • 2 November ‘The Oldest Four’ Rugby Festival hosted at Sherborne • 9 November RocSoc LIVE! • 10 November Strings Festival (Music School) • 15 November 7.45pm Joint Schools’ Symphony Orchestra Concert (BSR) • 20 November 5.30pm Choir sings evensong at Winchester Cathedral

Camelot Challenge Congratulations to the following boys who completed the Camelot Challenge half marathon in September as part of their training for next summer’s Himalayan venture.

Edward Horn (L6d), Jack Harley (L6d), Olly Douglas (L6d), Jake Brill (5d), Ben Poe (5d), Jacob Lane (5d), Harry Scarlett (L6a), Archie Swann (5b) and William Ashley Miller (5c).

• 21 November 7.45pm Tamsin Waley-Cohen Trio (Tindall Recital Series) £10pp* • 22 November All Stars Jazz, £20pp includes 3 course dinner and coffee.

Last few tickets available* • 28 – 30 November School Musical ‘Into the Woods’ ticket allocation* • 1 December 8.15pm Candle-lit Advent Carol Service (Abbey) • 14 December 2.30pm Carol Service (Abbey) TERM DATES Return to school: 9.30pm Sunday 3 November Exeat: 4.00pm Friday 22 - Sunday 24 November Ends: 4.00pm Saturday 14 December * tickets@sherborne.org T: 01935 812249

SHERBORNE SCHOOL ABBEY ROAD SHERBORNE DORSET DT9 3AP T: 01935 812249 E: enquiries@sherborne.org www.sherborne.org Registered Charity No. 1081228

Photography: Kenny Primrose, Alexander Davidson (4f), Liz Thompson, Jeremy Priddle, Neil Munns, James Kimber, Rob Le Poidevin, Alex Dunham, Neil Bradshaw, David Muckalt and Josephine Berganza