Events/Art, Music & Drama
Sport Club La Santa Athletics training week – Lazarote 40 boys undertook a mix of technical event-specific work and a fitness improvement programme, making use of the wide variety of facilities available at Club La Santa’s outstanding athletics venue in Lanzarote. In addition to athletics, the group did extra work in the swimming pools, fitness suite, Body Bike studio, TRX centre and sports halls. In the team and individual pentathlon on the final day, the group played five-a-side football and beach volleyball, went mountain biking to various beaches around the centre and for the first time went go karting at San Bartolome race track. Pool tournaments proved very popular in the evenings. Ollie Hocking and Jamie Harper excelled in the pentathlon, Ollie throwing over 13 metres in the shot and 40 metres in the discus. Distance runner Jamie Harper ran 2.02 for the 800m and improved his high jump to 1.72. Other athletes to show good early season form were Freddie Shiret, Kit McDonagh, Henry Rocha, Tolu Elesin, who also did four swim sessions in the Olympic pool, and Adam O’Reilly who excelled in the 80m hurdles. A number of the group combined to put teams into the weekly Club La Santa triathlon which comprises of a 400m swim, 16km bike ride and 5km run, Tolu Elesin, Kit McDonagh and Jamie Harper combined to finish 7th, with Jamie running the fastest leg and Tolu recording the 3rd fastest swim. A special mention goes to Andrew Chronias who, despite having a tough start, kept going and mastered the hilly and very windy cycling course.
Herts County Doubles Championships The School’s top tennis players were in action at Welwyn Tennis Club in the Herts County Doubles Championships on Wednesday 4 May 2016. The standard of play was the highest it has been for several years – the senior winners even had a junior Wimbledon competitor in their pair. Our first senior pair Sudeep Khadka (L6C) and Adam Vaughan (L6H) fought hard throughout but were unfortunate to be beaten in the semifinal by Parmiter’s School. Under 14 pair, Jay Patel (9R1) and Arjun Parmar (9R1) performed magnificently to beat strong pairs from St Albans School, Sandringham School and Monk’s Walk School to set up a final against Parmiter’s School. In a really close final, played in great spirit, our boys held their nerve brilliantly to win 6-4 and retain the trophy that Freddy Nash and Sam Warner won in 2015. Well done to all of the boys involved.
Summer Term Cricket Report
Mark Foster opens Medburn Centre On Wednesday 27 April, the School welcomed Mark Foster, who represented Great Britain in the Olympics and world championships and swam for England in the Commonwealth Games, to open the Medburn Centre, the School’s new state-of-the-art sports centre. Named after the brook running by the School’s 100 acres of parkland, the Medburn Centre boasts a 25-metre, eight-lane swimming pool, fitness suite, squash courts, climbing wall, sports hall, conference suite, school shop and café. Inside, rooms are named in honour of Michael Palmer and Vic Matthews, a former member of staff and former pupil respectively, who both represented Great Britain in the 1960 Rome Olympics. In the presence of the Master of the Haberdashers’ Company, Mr Richard Glover, School Governors, the Headmaster, staff, pupils, Old Boys and other members of the extensive Haberdashers’ community, on unveiling the plaque to open the Medburn, Mark Foster said: “It is an honour to be at Habs to open this excellent new sports centre. The facilities on offer are second to none and among the best at a school in this country.”
The weather this term has been typically British! We have experienced sun, rain, wind, sleet, the odd flurry of snow and an all too brief heatwave. However, our cricketers have responded positively to all conditions and performed admirably. The 1st XI, captained by Ian Harris, has won four out of seven games so far, including resounding victories over Berkhamsted and St Albans. Charlie Mack has led the way with the bat, scoring 415 runs at an average of nearly 70. He recorded his maiden century at this level against Mill Hill and almost repeated the feat against St Albans. Wicket-keeper batsman Alex Willis has also scored a century, reaching three figures for the second year in succession against Berkhamsted, while Harris fell narrowly short of this notable landmark against St Albans after sharing in a partnership of 179 with Mack. Jordan Urban has passed 50 on two occasions so far and all-rounders Naresh Rasakulasuriar and Hugo Murphy have also made significant contributions. Left-arm spinner Shaniel Lakhani, after his five-wicket haul against St Albans, is currently the leading wicket-taker with 13 dismissals to his name, followed by Aman Chatterjee (11 wickets), Mack (eight wickets) and Harris and Murphy (both with seven wickets). Elsewhere, the 2nd and 3rd XI have each achieved six wins out of seven (beaten only by the rain causing the games against Magdalen College School to be abandoned as draws). Both sides have excellent bowling attacks, while managing to score runs with the bat, and have proved too strong for most of our opposition. The U15As have achieved mixed results to date, but, bolstered by the inclusion of several players from the year below, beat Royal Hospital School from Ipswich in the ESCA One Day Cup by the narrow margin of four runs and now face a trip to Wellington College. Unfortunately the U14As lost their 2nd round tie against St Albans, thus bringing an end to Mr Haring’s five-year reign as winning coach in this competition. All in all, it’s been a fantastic summer term of cricket with continued success!
Peter Hamilton, Headmaster, said: “A huge amount of effort and investment has gone into making this a first-class facility. The equipment and technology available will enable us to offer an unrivalled sports and extra-curricular programme that promotes competitive excellence and fit, healthy lifestyles for all of our boys.” After the official opening and lunch, Mark spent the afternoon coaching a swimming session. He provided a practical masterclass on technique, and afterwards, using video recordings of this earlier session, was able to give invaluable advice and feedback to the boys who participated. Thomas Cheng, Year 10 pupil, said: “As a keen swimmer I found today a great experience. It was amazing to receive advice from such a highprofile swimmer. I will certainly take his feedback on board and I’ve learnt how the smallest, most basic things can improve my swimming.” Mark finished the afternoon by fielding questions from the pupils, ranging from competing at the Olympics, breaking world records and even his participation on Strictly Come Dancing! The Medburn Centre is the newest addition to the School’s already remarkable sports facilities. Physical Education and Games are an integral part of both curricular and extra-curricular life at Habs. All pupils are provided with opportunities to participate at a level appropriate to them. There is a truly diverse range of sport available and boys at the School go on to represent national, regional and county sides. The new Medburn Centre will allow pupils to develop their talents and thrive in their chosen sporting activities.
National Youth Theatre success
Summer Concert
The School would like to congratulate Rishabh Shah (U6C2) who has recently gained a place on to the National Youth Theatre’s summer senior course. Having competed against over 5,000 budding thespians, Rishabh used his considerable acting talent and experience to demonstrate his potential. Under the direction of Mr Norton and Mrs Morris-Wolfe, Rishabh has taken advantage of the myriad of School Drama opportunities afforded to him, most recently in an adaptation of Catcher in the Rye and Twelfth Night.
Wednesday 27 April saw the Bourne Hall host the final whole school concert of the year. The Summer Concert is always a spectacle and the boys kept everyone entertained their impressive performances and was a testament to the vibrance of the Jazz community at Habs. The first half included film music from Wind Sinfonia and the Concert Band, an acrobatic Guitar Ensemble, the Samba Band conjuring visions of South America and perennial favourites the Big Band performing demanding and intricate music with their customary panache. Philomusica, the School’s second orchestra, started the second half and this went on to include a double reed trio, the Chamber Choir and the Symphony Orchestra playing standards of the orchestral repertoire – Beethoven’s Fifth and the Fantasy on Sea Songs. Congratulations must go to all boys who have won music prizes this year: George Handley MacMath, Hugo Murphy, Daniel Harris, Arun Doegar, Nils Gaukroger and Bruce Parris. There were touching speeches from staff, boys and the Headmaster wishing all the leavers – both from the Upper Sixth and staff (Mr Muhley, Miss Cousens and Mr Pritchard are all moving on this year) - the best of luck in their future endeavours. This concert was a fitting tribute to all that they have contributed over so many years.
Max Metcalfe wins national Shakespeare Writing Competition Max Metcalfe in Year 9 has won a fantastic prize from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). The competition was run to inspire young people to read Shakespeare and to write an imaginary scene based around copyright and plagiarism. This was a problem that plagued Shakespeare in his time so it is apt that the ALCS has chosen to run a competition to celebrate originality and authorship. Max is delighted to receive his prize of £100 book tokens and a tablet. In addition, he has won a theatre trip for his class and an author visit from a prominent writer to visit the School. Max was presented with his prize in the week of the Shakespeare 400th celebrations, a super way to connect with one of our greatest authors! Well done to Max on his fantastic achievement.
SKYLIGHT SUMMER 2016
The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School
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Trips Year 10 Sevilla Exchange During the Easter half-term break, on a typically sunny day in Spain’s sunniest city, Seville, 10 boys and two teachers arrived to begin a week-long Spanish exchange.
Year 8 Chambéry Exchange
Year 9 Iceland Geography expedition
Middle School exchange trip to Stuttgart
With a 4 o’clock start at Habs on a freezing morning, boys and staff were glad to board their Heathrow flight to Lyon. After a short ride to Chambéry they had lunch together at a local crépérie, sampling delicious sweet and savoury pancakes. They were then reunited with their exchange partners, who had spent a week with the boys in the UK back in March, and accompanied them to lessons; an English lesson answering their questions and a fun art class.
42 pupils enjoyed visits to the Golden Circle, Srokkur Geysir and the Snaefellsnes peninsula – the inspiration for Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth. They tried lava tubing, saw a Minke whale and were lucky enough to catch the Northern Lights in all their glory.
The recent exchange trip to Stuttgart was a most rewarding experience for 17 enthusiastic Year 9 and 10 Germanists. Boys and teachers were greeted by sunny weather and given a warm welcome by their host families on their arrival in Stuttgart. The exchange gave them the opportunity not only to develop language skills but also to enjoy an action-packed programme. The boys spent a morning observing lessons in school, visited the beautiful university towns of Heidelberg and Tübingen and toured the Mercedes-Benz museum and Porsche factory. They also enjoyed trips to the Ritter Sport Chocolate Factory and Aquatoll swimming complex. This was the 15th exchange to Stuttgart and the School are very much looking forward to welcoming our guests here in the summer.
The boys then went to each of their host family homes, and were made very welcome. After setting up the Wi-Fi and unpacked their luggage, they went to bed exhausted.
They spent a couple of days in the host school, Seville’s Europa International School, understanding the much more relaxed teaching style and participating sports. The other days were filled with excursions to central Seville, visits included the cathedral, Plaza de España, the Setas of Seville and the historic coastal town of Cádiz with football on the beach. Life with the exchange families was very different to the UK, with paella and seafood common dishes and extremely late Spanish mealtimes proving a real shock. The weekends were spent at football matches, parties and the famous Fería de Abril festival. A huge thanks goes to the Europa International School in Seville for their outstanding hospitality and warm welcome. We are all looking forward to the return visit this summer and would like also like to thank Miss Von Truchsess and Miss Adams for making it a great trip.
Highlights of the week included the magical, enchanting Gorge De Fier, where they walked suspended on a wooden bridge jutting out over the raging waters. In Grenoble, which was reached by train despite a national transport strike, boys and teachers enjoyed magnificent views over the city during an amazing cable car ride and visited the moving and informative Musée de La Résistance et de la Déportation. The weekend was spent with host families, giving the boys the opportunity to truly practise their French; some boys were taken skiing, some to the mountains, and others did horse riding. Chambéry was an amazing exchange and it comes highly recommended by the boys on the trip to anyone interested in studying French language and culture. The School would like to thank Mrs Miller-Smith for planning such a wonderful experience and to her and Mr Jones for accompanying the trip.
Prep & Pre-Prep News The Pre-Prep have enjoyed having a South African themed week. The boys were able to bring in various different artefacts and pictures from home for display and learn all about life in South Africa. They learnt all about where it is located, huge political figures such a Nelson Mandela, as well as experiencing South African food, traditional Zulu dancing, drumming workshop and singing.
The Pre-Prep had great fun celebrating Book Week. They dressed up as their favourite book character, attended a ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’ and Year 1 visited The Roald Dahl Gallery. They were fortunate enough to have a visit from the well-known illustrator Garry Parsons, who held inspiring workshops for each class. Year 2 visited the Year 1 boys to share their book reviews.
Throughout the five-day expedition, the boys really embraced the values and purpose of the expedition and have returned home wanting to go back to explore this fascinating country again and travel outside their usual comfort zone. The success of the trip and the quality of the boys’ experience was enhanced by a fantastic staff team of Mr Bown, Dr Hobbs, Dr Harrison, Mr Gauntlett and Mr Charman.
Oxford Reunion a great success
Telephone Campaign
On Sunday 24 April 2016, the Habs Foundation held a reunion at the Oxford Union - bringing together Old Haberdashers (and former teaching staff) who are studying/studied, or working and living in the Oxford area. It was a great occasion and the School would like to thank all who attended, with a special thanks to the recentlyappointed President of the Union, Robert Harris (OH 2013), for his kind assistance.
The School will be running a telephone campaign from Monday 15 August to Sunday 4 September 2016. During these three weeks our enthusiastic callers, comprising recent School leavers and current Sixth Form members, are looking forward to sharing stores of Habs, old and new with all members of the School community. The aim of the campaign is to raise money to help provide facilities and bursaries that will allow the next generation of boys at Habs to really benefit from their time here and also to increase relations and involvement between you and the School. We are also very keen to hear from those who may be willing to offer work experience, come in as a guest speaker, volunteer, donate or are able to offer help in any other way. As Old Boys and members of our Habs Community, we hope that you will be available to have a quick chat with our callers to discuss if you may be able to help in any way you can. Through this campaign the boys will be able to enhance many key skills, such as teamwork and communication, not to mention putting this down on their CVs as invaluable work experience, which will aid them well in life beyond their A levels.
Marc Joss (OH 2007) visits School Mr Thompson, Head of Modern Foreign Languages, was delighted to welcome back Marc Joss as a guest speaker on Thursday 26 May 2016.
He took part in a Q&A session with the boys and when asked who he’d like to work with, he said: “Jose Mourinho would be great. He’s one of the biggest names in football today and started his career off as a translator.”
Grass is waving. Trees are growing. The sea is hot. People getting a suntan. The sun is shining through the trees. People going to the park. Fish jumping through the gleaming water. People sitting on the sand. People fishing on the pier. By Shane Moran 2AF Summer is very hot, When you sleep you need the fan, You get to eat ice cream any flavour, I get to drink fizzy things, We get to go outdoors more. People have lunch outside, They eat cold things, There are beautiful beaches you can go to, Wearing shorts and sleeveless tops, All your lessons stop. Hurrah! By Keshav Kanwar 2AF
Year 1 Creative Writing ‘Dream Jars’
The linguist spoke about some of his high-profile clients, including Guillem Balague, Diego Costa, Oscar, Santi Cazorla, Dimitri Payet, Diafra Sakho and many more. Most recently, a book that Marc had translated, Ronaldo by Guillem Balague, won the Football Book of the Year. It’s always a great pleasure for the School to welcome back an Old Boy and it was brilliant for all who attended to hear about Marc’s successes.
Year 6 boy selected for England International chess matches Congratulations to Aman Gogna in Year 6 who has been selected to represent England for international chess matches by the English Chess Federation. Aman recently played at Liverpool for EPSCA qualifiers to join their main junior England squad. He not only qualified for the squad, but won the tournament outright. The tournament was entered by a total of 43 U11s, who are amongst the best players in the country in their age group, and had to qualify to be able to play in the final. Aman is now officially an international England player for both EPSCA and ECF (English Chess Federation). Well done once again to our chess champion, Aman!
Lower Sixth boy is Cadet of the Year
Forthcoming Reunions The Habs Foundation are pleased to announce the following reunions for the 2016/17 academic year: Reunion
Date
History reunion
Thursday 6 October 2016
Class of 2007 reunion
Monday 14 November 2016
Class of 2012 reunion
Monday 21 November 2016
Class of 2016 reunion and certificate collection
Wednesday 14 December 2016
2000 Decade Reunion (Old Boys who left Habs between 2000 and 2009)
Monday 6 March 2017
Boarding House reunion
TBC
This is Language: Year 9 and Year 10 Linguists’ Success Niraj Doshi, L6R, was selected to be the St John Ambulance Regional Cadet of the Year after competing in a gruelling three-day assessment, in which 34 of the best St John Ambulance Cadets from across the country were measured on their lifesaving first aid skills, teamwork, initiative under pressure, organisation, presentation and leadership. This latest triumph for Niraj follows his success in being named Lord Mayor’s Cadet of the Year in November 2015. Both roles involve promoting the charity’s mission to get more people learning vital lifesaving skills. He received his award from Rodney Green CBE, the Chairman of the St John’s Ambulance. He describes volunteering for St John Ambulance as “immensely rewarding and character building.” Niraj has been part of St John Ambulance’s first aid team at some of London’s biggest events including the London Marathon and Trooping the Colour - and has dealt with numerous medical emergencies both on and off duty. He will be representing London St John Ambulance at many high profile events over the coming months, including The National Service of Remembrance at The Cenotaph and a royal reception at Buckingham Palace. Niraj, as one of a small group of London Cadets with advanced first aid skills, is an ambassador for St John Ambulance’s extensive youth programme, designed to help young people from all walks of life realise their full potential. London St John Ambulance Youth Manager Kevin Munday said: “We’re all incredibly proud of Niraj. He’s a truly inspirational young man whose work ethic and commitment to helping others will make him the very finest of ambassadors for St John Ambulance.” Niraj is currently studying A level Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Theology in the Sixth Form and, unsurprisingly, is planning to pursue a career in medicine.
Year 7 Annual Family History Afternoon
Please note that venues are yet to be confirmed and you will be contacted nearer the time with an official invitation containing more information.
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Salter’s Festival of Chemistry University College London Four Year 8 boys - Arun Nandakumar, Krish Nanavati, Sacha Holt and Jack Cobb - enjoyed a full day of chemical investigations and practical experiments at University College London. The first task was the Salters’ Challenge: forensic chemistry to solve a murder mystery, which involved chromatography and qualitative test tube experiments in a colossal chemistry lab. After various spillages and mistakes, the boys predicted who the ‘murderer’ was, by completing various codes to back up their scientific experiments. The second task was the University Challenge clock reaction challenge, which was an experiment to try and get a chemical reaction to work in exactly one minute. By adding different quantities of hydrochloric acid and sodium thiosulphate, the boys managed to find a solution that worked just before using up all the chemicals given. Finally, the boys enjoyed an extremely interesting lecture given by Professor A Seller about solids, liquids and gases with dry ice and liquid nitrogen. The boys found the day of science interesting and especially enjoyed the ice cream demonstration. Thanks go to Dr Citron, Dr Pyburn, and the technicians for making this extremely enjoyable day possible.
The HABS Community
Marc is a football translator and interpreter, who speaks and works with Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. He excelled in languages, and across the board, during his time at Habs and spoke to boys about his experiences here in Elstree and what he has gone on to do. Marc, who was speaking in the Aske Hall, said: “I wouldn’t be in the job I’m in now if it wasn’t for my teachers at Habs, many of whom are still teaching here today.”
2AF Summer Poems
Awards & Achievements
Over 200 boys, staff, parents, grandparents and other relatives of Year 7 pupils gathered in the Bourne Hall on Monday 16 May for the Year 7 Family History Afternoon 2016. Each boy in Year 7 conducted an interview with a family member as part of their study of History. The boys then produced projects which can be displayed on the Family History Afternoon. This year’s excellent projects reflected the vibrant and cosmopolitan nature of our school community. The growing enthusiasm of the boys for studying History and their fascination with the memories of their relatives was apparent in their work. The tea and the opportunity to talk at the end of another busy day of learning at Habs was appreciated by all who attended. Mr Amlot, Housemaster of Calverts, commented: “It was a fantastic event. The work on show was superb and it was lovely to get the chance to talk to a few boys and their parents and grandparents about their family histories.”
The School are very proud of the achievement of some of our most dedicated linguists who have performed brilliantly in a national competition run by our favourite language-learning website: www.thisislanguage.com. The site features an addictive vocabulary game called Nutty Tilez, which pits players against each other or against the computer. Several of our boys took it upon themselves to enter the recent Nutty Tilez competition, despite their upcoming school examinations and numerous other extra-curricular commitments, and they did very well. In French, James Wirth was the national winner, with Rishi-Nayan Varodaria in third and Aditya Varshney sixth. In Spanish, Mikeet Patel came eighth and in German, Harjivan Singh came third and Akshi Kumar was fifth. What’s more, Habs was the top school in the country in the French competition. Here are some of our winners with their certificates, awarded by the website along with some very welcome iTunes vouchers: