Skylight - Spring 2016

Prep & Pre-Prep News

Drama, Art & Music

Creative Writing – 2GZ

Year 1 Story

Our Pre-Prep boys were provided with one sentence and then asked to use their imagination to finish the story. Here are three short stories from some of the boys: Hungry, trembling James stood alone outside in the open, wondering what to do. The sky was as dark as coal and all James could see was pitch black.

The owls swooped in the misty night sky. James trembled with fear and had the slightest thought that something even stranger than this was going to take place. He slowly walked over towards the tall fence that surrounded the giant peach. The peach itself was in a rather strange shape. It was in a bumpy circular shape. To this second it was getting bigger and bigger…

Cheran Srishangaran

Quietly and secretly I popped the red hot chili into my mouth. I felt like my face was on fire. My mum ran into the kitchen with some dairy free chocolate. I ate a whole bar but my mouth was still too hot. Next my daddy came to help with some yummy broccoli but my mouth was too hot. Then my brother came and gave me some fizzy sweets. I sucked ten sweets but my mouth was still too hot. At last my friend came who was called Charlie and he gave me a pork sausage to eat. Soon my mouth felt better but I was too full.

Ben O’Callaghan

Junior House Drama Competition

Hungry, trembling James stood alone out in the open, wondering what to do. The trees looked like stooped figures swaying in the night. Mist hung around James, blocking out the moon. Listening carefully, he heard the owls’ screeching call through the darkness. Dark shadows loomed over James, making him shudder. Looking around he saw the gigantic peach standing proudly in the mist. It was an enormous ball of peach in the middle of the garden, on the sloped hill. Moonlight lit the monstrous peach, making it look like a humungous silvery orb. James didn’t know what made him do it. It was like an invisible magnet pulling him towards the peach. Slowly he walked towards it…

Alex Cham

Year 1 Weaving

Hungry, trembling James stood alone out in the open, wondering what to do. James stepped on a twig and jumped, as slow as a slug. He could see the moon moving, there were stars all around it. The sky was pitch black like a big black wall. Boats were flying angrily. Trees looked like monsters with six arms. James paused, saw the peach, and slowly walked to it. It got creepier and creepier…

Nathan Perdios

Year 1 have had lots of fun learning indoors and outdoors! The boys were introduced to the skill of weaving using skipping ropes on the playground benches and on the fence. They worked together as a team to produce their colourful weaving patterns.

Once they had mastered the skill, the boys improved their fine motor skills by weaving paper strips and ribbons.

The boys had to listen attentively, follow instructions and concentrate very carefully.

Boys create hearts for Mothering Sunday

Sport Habs Boys selected to play for England Joey Gardner-White (11C2) and Aril Pandya (11S1) and) have been selected to play for England in the EU Nations Men’s Junior Water Polo Tournament.

The boys are travelling out on with the English team on the last day of the Spring Term for the three day tournament taking place at the Austrian Sports Resort BSFZ Südstadt in Vienna.

The England team will be playing a number of matches against other countries including South Africa, Lithuania and Wales. We wish the boys the very best of luck and look forward to hearing more of their successes on their return.

Over 70 junior boys, supported by around 20 senior boys and their House Masters, took part in the eagerly anticipated and impressive Junior House Drama competition.

Hendersons came away with the cup for Overall Best Play, with Meadows and Calverts as runners-up, but all houses impressed the adjudicator, actor Phoebe Sparrow, with their tight ensemble work, creative story-telling and energy and focus on stage.

Awards were given to Joshua Baumring-Gledhill (Meadows) for Best Director; Joe Rossiter (Meadows) for Best Actor 2nd runner up; Joseph Wolffe (Strouts) for Best Actor 1st runner up and Eyatar Levin who won the Best Actor for Hendersons. Phoebe awarded her special award for Best Cameo to Aryan Sanighrajka (Joblings). All boys involved and their houses should be very proud of their efforts and achievement.

Art Factory Day All Year 9 and 10 students were invited to an action packed workshop ‘Factory Day’ at School so that they could try new techniques and materials in preparation for the wider programme that we are introducing in Year 10 towards GCSE examinations.

Visiting tutors included: Olly Ruddick (Art Director, Sony PlayStation) who ran workshops on CAD design with sneak previews of new PlayStation games, Max Herbert (OH 2007) gave an energetic master class in portrait drawing, Greg Steckelmacher (OH 2010) ran some exciting life drawing groups using a range of different media.

For the new textiles initiatives Miss Shaw introduced ‘Day of The Dead’ themed silk painting and Mrs Lewy worked with students to produce an amazing shoal of 3D needle felted fish.

Mr Todhunter ran a popular mono printing workshop and Mrs Gleeson had students using the pottery wheels to throw bowls.

A messy time was had by all!

We were delighted to have so many members of staff from other departments along for the day to hone their own artistic skills.

Gala Concert 2016 at Barbican Hall On Monday 1 February, over 500 boys from Haberdashers’ made the journey into the City of London to perform in the School’s 2016 Gala Concert at the sold out Barbican Hall. These visits to the Barbican are a much-loved tradition amongst the boys, parents, staff and friends of the School and the performance on Monday amply proved why this should be so.

Six ensembles performed during the evening. The first half commenced with the Concert Band performing film scores by John Williams, including pieces from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and the theme to Saving Private Ryan, showcasing the sheer power of the brass section. The Guitar Orchestra followed with stunning renditions of Karl Jenkins’ Palladio and Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, directed by resident guitar tutor, Urszula Galuszka (whose passionate leadership spurred Compere for the evening, Mr Eyre-Maunsell, to refer to her aptly as a “force of nature”). The entire Prep School conducted

by Miss Gozzard performed a heart-warming ABBA medley, complete with live band and 40 professionally choreographed dancers; while the Big Band, conducted

by Mr Simm, finished off the first half with the theme from Rocky and an arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

The second half was devoted to the Symphony Orchestra and Choir. The Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Director of Music Mr Muhley, started with Dvorak’s Carnival Overture and Suite No.1 from Bizet’s Carmen exhibiting thee versatility and depth of the ensemble and individual talents of the instrumental soloists. These were followed by movements from Rutter’s Feel the Spirit for Choir and Orchestra, with guest soloist Alison Kettlewell, conducted by Miss Cousens. The concert finished with rousing renditions of Elgar’s Pomp & Circumstance March No.1 and Land of Hope and Glory, complete with red, white and blue flags, Union Jack bowler hats and streamers, and the School’s chosen anthem Jerusalem, before a standing ovation from the audience.

Thanks must go to all the boys, staff and parents who have worked so tirelessly over the last few months in preparing for this concert and particularly to the Director of Music, Christopher Muhley. At the end of this academic year Mr Muhley will retire from the School after many years at the forefront of its musical life.

SKYLIGHT SPRING 2016

L-R Arya Fazeli, Dani Rosenzweig and Rex Zekaria

Cricket: Spring Term The Solai Indoor Cricket Centre has been in constant use this term as preparations for the forthcoming season continue apace.

For the second year running, warm-up games against Middlesex and Hertfordshire age group sides have been arranged for the end of the Easter holidays, along with games for the senior sides against Aldenham and UCS. Opening batsman Ian Harris will captain the 1st XI, with last season’s leading wicket taker Shaniel Lakhani as his vice-captain. Most of last year’s side remains and, after the encouraging tour to Sri Lanka during the October half term, much will be expected, particularly from the senior players. Lower down the school, our U15 and U13 sides will represent Hertfordshire in the national stages of the ESCA One Day Cup and Bunbury Cup respectively, while the new U12 squad looks particularly promising.

Block fixtures against Berkhamsted, Felsted and Merchant Taylors’, amongst others, will test our cricketers and the Devon Tour will once again be eagerly anticipated. As long as the weather stays good, there is much to look forward to for all our teams.

U14A Hockey County and Divisional Journey On Friday 22 January, the U14A hockey team took part in the Hertfordshire Cup at Haileybury. We dominated our group, winning every game without conceding a goal and progressing to a very tight semi-final against Merchant Taylors’, culminating in sudden death penalties. Freddie Shiret’s goal and Ben Bellman’s amazing saves put us through to the final against Bishop Stortford College. Sadly, we lost 3-0 although we came second in the county and progressed to the Regional tournament. This was held on Tuesday 9 February at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. Despite forfeiting our first match, our second, against The Perse was very encouraging with a very good goal by Arman Islaam, however the opposition equalised in the last couple of seconds from a short corner. Our third game was against a talented Stamford County, which we lost 4-0. Our final game against Forest was lost 2-0 despite playing well. We came up against some good teams but we still managed to put up a good fight. It was an excellent experience and our hockey has improved as a consequence.

The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School

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Trips & Events Theology and Philosophy In February, fourteen budding Theologians attended the topical ‘All you need is love’ conference in London hosted by Dr Peter Vardy. The main session explored the place of love in ethics, including stimulating major ethical issues. A riveting and lively debate ensued, with Habs well represented. This enriching event reinforced the AS Theology course, allowing boys to explore beyond the syllabus and enhance their learning even further.

The Aske Hall played host to Year 10 Theologians in March when we welcomed Dr Denis Alexander, Emeritus Director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge, as the keynote speaker at our annual ‘Science and Theology’ conference. He posed the question: Can science explain everything? By examining the history and purpose of ‘science’, and even considering the impending ‘Brexit’ vote, the Year 10’s exclaimed assuredly ‘No!’ Dr Alexander further argued that theological and evolutionary accounts are complementary, not conflicting, and focused finally on an absorbing and thought-provoking analysis of genetic engineering. The conference retains its status as an excellently engaging and deeply relevant occasion and one the boys clearly enjoyed, as seen by the eagerness and high standard of their questioning.

Year 13 Geography field trip Year 13 Geographers completed a day’s fieldwork on the River Ver in North Hertfordshire on Wednesday 24 February 2016. They accessed 12 sites along the river and worked in small groups to collect data about streamflow. They will process this data in preparation for their Unit 4 Exam. This was the final piece of fieldwork that these boys will do at Haberdashers’ and there was much sadness amongst the group. However, many have been so inspired that they are going on to read Geography at University.

Golf trip to Portugal The golfers enjoyed a few days in Vilamoura, Portugal over the recent half term break, and whilst it wasn’t the warmest trip on record, it was still nice to escape the grim British weather for a few days!

Vilamoura once again proved to be an ideal base for the group, with golf courses in excellent condition. The boys also enjoyed a lesson on pitching, bunker play and ball striking from Algarve-based PGA professional Rob Cheney.

After four rounds of close competition, Chinmay Mullapudi held on to his overnight lead at The Old Course to see off the challenge of Kiaan Patel by just two stableford points. Boys were also awarded prizes on a daily basis for ‘shot of the day’ and ‘nearest the pin’.

All of the boys improved their golfing skills and their understanding of rules and etiquette over the course of the week, and all are eagerly looking forward to the 2017 event.

Senior Ski Trip 2016 This year, the Senior School Ski Trip consisting of 32 boys and four staff travelled to Alpe d’Huez in the French Alps. They were treated to fresh snowfall on arrival, followed by alpine sunshine and blue skies as they explored the extensive piste map and enjoyed the true beauty of the mountains. The camaraderie between the boys and teachers was great throughout.

Every evening was full of laughs and chat, and the quiz, run by the Upper Sixth, was a great occasion.

A number of prizes were awarded at the end of the week including ‘Most Improved Skier’ (Ben Wright), ‘Biggest Wipeout’ (Freddie Nash) and ‘Ski King’ (Jay Kaposi). We must give a huge thank you to Mr Lee, Mr Simm, Mr Hardman and Mr Bartlett for making this possible.

Economics On Saturday 30 January, the Economics Department organised a trip for some 20 boys to the ‘Marshall Society Conference’ at the University of Cambridge. This is an annual conference arranged by the Cambridge Economics’ Society which features many eminent Economists. Two particular highlights this year were talks from Jon Gruber, who was instrumental in designing the ‘Affordable Care Act’ (otherwise known as ‘Obamacare’) and Professor Richard Layard, who has helped to develop ‘Happiness’ Indicators. The day was thoroughly enjoyable and it was a lovely opportunity for the boys to get a taste of Economics at a higher level and to explore Cambridge itself.

Westminster MUN conference The Westminster MUN conference was our third MUN conference of the year. 14 delegates travelled to Westminster School expecting a day of fascinating debate. It was great to see participation across years with several Year 9s attending the conference and engaging wholeheartedly with the debate topics.

While delegates got involved in the intricacies of legislation in their committees, everyone was preparing for the General Assembly. After some outstanding performances in committees the Habs delegates were fortunate to come home with a real sense of accomplishment.

Excellent speeches came from Sam Grankin and Aniket Chakravorty.

Commendations must go to the Habs Chinese Delegation who triumphed and won a Delegation award. We’re very much looking forward to next Habs MUN conference later this year.

The HABS Community Financial Services careers evening a huge success On Tuesday 26 January, the School held its first Financial Services careers evening at The Worshipful Company of Innholders in London for boys in Year 12 and Year 13.

Over the space of two hours in the beating heart of The City, boys were provided with valuable insights into the working world of the financial sector by a number of leaders in this field by Old Boys, parents and friends of the School who had kindly agreed to help in this fashion. Having been introduced by the Headmaster, Peter Hamilton, keynote speaker Ali Kamzi (OH 2000), Head of Infrastructure and Structured Finance Debt Advisory at Rothschild, spoke about his own journey from Habs right through to his current role, the challenges and decisions he had faced along the way and tips to the boys on how they might become best equipped for a career in the often cut-throat financial sector.

There then followed a ‘speed networking’ session where our other finance experts spread across two rooms to speak to small groups of boys as to their own experiences, with further discussion taking place later over refreshments.

The School are very grateful to all the speakers who gave up their valuable time to talk to the boys and are especially thankful to Mr Suresh Kanwar, parent of boys at the School, for his invaluable help in both helping to organise and sponsor this event.

The evening was a tremendous success, and one we hope to repeat in future years.

Geography careers afternoon and reunion On Monday 8 February, the Geography Department and Director of the Foundation, Mr Llewellyn, were honoured to host the Geography Careers afternoon and Habs Geography reunion.

It was a momentous occasion which celebrated the achievements of former pupils and the valued contributions of former colleagues who have helped to ensure the Geography Department remains to have a national reputation of excellence. As Mr Bown stated in his welcome, “Geography, now more than ever, is the subject of our times”.

The first part of the afternoon was focused on inspiring the next generation of Year 12 and Year 13 geographers, from both the boys and girls school, about the plethora of different career pathways a degree in Geography provides. Pleasingly, the OH Geographers in attendance reflected the breadth of career pathways on offer.

The afternoon networking event meant that students were split into small groups and had five minutes with each OH geographer after which they ‘rotated’ and moved onto the next speaker. It was fantastic to see students really engaged and interested, asking probing questions, as well as reflecting upon their subject option choices in advance of the Higher Education careers talk.

After an hour of networking, former colleagues and OH geographers retired to the Old Refectory to informally catch up, laugh and share memories until the early evening. The School would like to thank those former colleagues and OH geographers who generously gave up their time to talk and inspire the pupils, as well as to current staff members who attended and showed their support.

Cover Story On Friday 13 November 2015, in his capacity as the Youth MP (MYP) for Harrow, his local area, our very own Zac Wagman in the Lower Sixth attended the UK Youth Parliament’s annual House of Commons Sitting in Westminster. This yearly event brings together MYPs from across the UK at the Houses of Parliament to debate key issues affecting young people, such as transport and the school curriculum.

The day’s debate was chaired by The Rt Hon John Bercow MP, Speaker of the House of Commons, and was an experience in which the school community was able to share via the live BBC broadcast and later on BBC iPlayer. Zac took full advantage of his opportunity to address the house, speaking about the living wage and encouraging the Youth Parliament to begin to strive for effective, positive change for young people. He found it a humbling and truly enjoyable experience.

Spanish Debating at Mill Hill Year 13 Spanish students Sebastian Pell and Nikhilesh Chakraborty represented Habs in the Spanish Debating Competition at Mill Hill School on Sunday 27 January, accompanied by Ms Adams, Head of Spanish, and, Mr Oscar Garcia Rochera, Spanish Assistant.

This competition is aimed principally at those studying Spanish to A2 level. As our boys observed, “Debating competitions in a foreign language are both excellent preparation for public examination and a truly stimulating experience for Sixth Form participants, and indeed teachers.”

We were victorious in our debates against Merchant Taylors’ and Wycombe Abbey School and the teacher judges were impressed by the level of linguistic ability as well as the quality of the debates on issues affecting Spain. Well done Habs Spanish team for giving up their time and debating so well.

Festival de Théâtre Francophone On Wednesday 2 March, Kabir Kapoor (Year 11) and Aahil Damani (Year 12) successfully defended Habs’ title in the French Drama Competition organised by King Alfred School. 10 schools entered the competition and numerous performances of great quality were presented, ranging from classics like Racine’s Phèdre (Eton College) to Sartre’s existentialist Huis Clos (Wellington College and NLCS).

Performing the opening scene of Art by French playwright Yasmina Reza, Kabir and Aahil delivered an award winning performance, with Aahil receiving the Best Performance in a Supporting Role award. The boys were delighted and admitted they are determined to claim back the award for best play in next year’s competition.

Year 9 Climate Change Conference On Monday 1 February, the infamous Geography Climate Change Conference took place. This year for the first time, in addition to 15 geographers from the Girls’ School, the Conference was attended by state schools, including Beaumont in St Albans, who brought over 20 Sixth Formers. In the first half of the morning, pupils listened to keynote speeches from Dr Benjamin Hennig, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, and Tom Jennings, Senior Press Officer for Science and Conservation at the Zoological Society of London, before drafting their two resolutions and then trying to persuade other countries to support them.

The second half of the morning saw the four successful countries presenting their resolution and answering questions from both their peers and the judges, in what was an inspiring Q&A session. After a tense round of voting, it was pleasing to see that both the Aske and Bourne groups did pass a resolution – something which has recently been achieved by world leaders at COP 21 in Paris. Overall, it was a fantastic experience for all pupils involved as they not only had fun and enhanced their understanding of Climate Change – a key twenty-first century challenge – but they also developed their range of transferable skills.

Awards & Achievements

Economics Tom Glinnan, Upper Sixth, was recently awarded first prize in the Cazenove Essay Competition for his written piece on negative interest rates. The essay competition was open to all economics students at schools in the Haberdashers’ family. A proud moment for Tom and the department.

Tom was presented with his award by Azad Zangana, Schroders’ Senior European Economist and Strategist, receiving a £150 cheque for himself and £300 for the department. He will also undertake work experience with Schroders Bank in the City of London. This is a highly prestigious and sought after prize and the school wish him all the best for what promises to be an excellent opportunity.

The next essay competition will be coming up in a few months’ time and we look forward to participating once again.

Boys win Bridge Schools Cup for seventh consecutive year Forthcoming events: Oxford reunion The HABS Foundation will be holding a reunion at the Oxford Union, with the kind assistance of the recently appointed President of the Union, Robert Harris (OH 2013), for those who are studying/studied, working and living in the Oxford area.

The reunion will take place on Sunday 24 April between 4pm and 7.30pm. There will be afternoon tea from 4pm and then a wine reception from 6pm, thus allowing those who wish to do so to go for dinner afterwards in local restaurants, or return London/ Hertfordshire-wards.

Other planned events include reunions and careers events for those who studied, or wish to study, the Sciences and History. Details of which will be disclosed soon.

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Can you offer work experience?

Year 11 boys are currently organising their work experience placements which they will be undertaking after their GCSE examinations in the summer. As you will be aware, placements can be very difficult to secure therefore we do rely on parents, Old Boys and friends of the School to help make the work experience period as worthwhile for the boys as possible. The boys are motivated, high achieving and keen to make the most of this excellent opportunity.

Our work experience period will be from Monday 20 June to Friday 8 July, while some boys will be seeking a placement over the duration of the summer holiday. Placements in the fields of law, finance, accounting, medicine, media and engineering are always particularly sought after, but we would be keen to hear from anyone who might be able to help.

If you think you might be able to help by providing a placement to one of our boys this summer, the School would be delighted to hear from you. Please email Mrs Nash: nash_k@habsboys.org.uk Our work experience period will be from Monday 20 June to Friday 8 July 2016, however some boys will be seeking a placement over the summer holiday. Placements in the fields of law, finance, accounting, medicine, media and engineering are always particularly sought after, but the School would be keen to hear from anyone who might be able to help.

On Saturday 5 March, Habs sent three teams to the Schools Cup for Bridge. The A team of Jonathan Clark, Kripa Panchagnula, Dylan Dissanayake and Jack Ronayne were the same four who have won the cup for the last two years. After dominating the qualifying and winning the semi-final very comfortably, they met Westminster in the final. Despite a little bad luck in the final, they managed a narrow win to retain the trophy. Habs have now won the competition for the last seven years.

The B and C teams were just above average in the field and will look to take on the mantle left by the departing members of the A team. Well done to all involved.