ISSUE 32 | SPRING 2021
From the Head May I offer you a warm welcome to this spring edition of The Edwardian magazine, and what a spring it has been for all of us at King Edward’s! I write this introduction on a sunny morning from my office at the school, accompanied by the sound of pupils laughing and chatting outside the window as they enjoy their morning break. In normal times this observation would be mundane in the extreme, hardly worth mentioning. But of course, these are not normal times. Despite the Spring Term coming to an end in less than a fortnight, these past few days have been the first since December when we have had our pupils at school, other than the children of critical workers. The most recent lockdown represents the single longest period of remote teaching and learning in the entire pandemic. For almost the entirety of the Spring Term, our academic, pastoral and co-curricular provision was provided and accessed remotely. I cannot begin to express my admiration for my teaching and non-teaching colleagues, who did so much, under so much pressure, not only to provide an education for the children, but to make it rewarding, inspiring and fun! Equally, the fortitude of the pupils has been extraordinary. In trying times, their character and resilience has been sorely tested, and they have responded in magnificent fashion. Strangely, this past term - this past year - has reaffirmed to me what a wonderful school King Edward’s is – and what wonderful people learn and work here. But, we are now back in school. Admittedly, even this simple transition provided us with an additional challenge, in a year full of them. In helping our pupils to return to Hill Lane, we have in the past week conducted almost 2,000 COVID-19 tests, and by the end of the week this number will have risen to nearly 3,000. This monumental effort has only been made possible with the help of a small army of staff, parent and OE volunteers. If you were among that number – thank you again for your help and time on behalf of KES!
Despite all, we are determined to keep King Edward’s moving forwards. As a school we are proud of the academic accomplishments of our students, just as we are of the distinguished contributions made in so many fields by our Old Edwardians. But we are also determined to remain a leader in our breadth of co-curricular offerings; our focus on the well-being of every child in our care; and our support and commitment to local, national and international causes. In the past term, as this edition outlines, we have renewed and developed our commitment to sustainability; to equality for all; to widening access to the opportunities a KES education allows, so that admission can be based on aptitude and attitude, rather than wealth. I would love for you to feel able to be a part of this journey; to share your stories about life after KES; to offer your support and experience for the young people now at King Edward’s. If you feel able, please let us know, and we would be delighted to welcome you back - once we are again able to receive visitors - to your school. Neal Parker Head
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News from the School
Admissions exam goes online for first time in KES’s history During Lockdown #3 King Edward’s was again closed to all pupils, except those of key workers, and teachers and most of our support staff were working remotely again. This meant that for the first time in the school’s history, the admissions exam also had to be held online this year. Despite this creating a huge amount of work for our Registrar and her team, putting everything needed in place, the day of the exam went smoothly. We weren’t able to welcome applicants to the school as usual, but it was lovely to see so many faces via Zoom.
School reopens with testing On the week beginning 8th March, all pupils returned to school in line with the government regulations. Pupils were tested in the first week back in the classroom, and were issued with their home testing kits so that they can continue to test themselves at home on a weekly basis. The sun shone, and it was smiles all round as we welcomed everyone back.
KES site used as vaccine training hub
Sustainable waste! We have been pleased to be able to help in some small way with the COVID-19 vaccine effort, by allowing St John Ambulance to use the school site at weekends as a vaccine training hub. The car park was noticeably extremely busy on Saturdays and Sundays in February whilst members of St John Ambulance trained hundreds of volunteers who will then go on to deliver vaccines throughout the region.
In January, we were delighted to announce that KES and Stroud School have signed contracts with local business, Baxter Environmental, who recycle and offer sustainable disposal solutions. Even non-recyclable material will be carbo-capture burned for energy, with the ashes recycled into asphalt for road building. In addition, all our food waste, previously thrown away, will be converted in to organic fertilizer.
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Retiring staff Mr Smart
Mrs Hardwick
Mr Smart joined the English Department in 1986 as a teacher of English and Drama. His long career as a teacher has been characterised by a meticulousness of preparation, combined with a love of the dramatic making for many lively and inspirational lessons. In 2003, as Literacy Support Co-ordinator, he was asked to head up the school’s brand-new Curriculum Support Department initially by himself, and, since 2008, with a team of colleagues. Outside the classroom he has also been active, managing the basketball team for 31 years with several city and county league wins. He is also the founder of the popular Byron Society. He retires from teaching to concentrate on his professional acting career, to commit further time to his spiritual direction and vocational coaching, and to spend time with his family. We thank him for his dedication to the school and its pupils for so many years.
Mrs Hardwick arrived at the school in 2008, having worked in the state sector for more than twenty years. As Second in the English Department, in charge of GCSE and then IGCSE, and it is in no small part due to her dedication, that the examination results have remained so stable throughout her time with us. She is passionate about her subject and has taught at all levels throughout the school. At A Level, she particularly enjoyed enthusing students with her own love for the Pastoral, as well as her favourite Shakespeare play, ‘King Lear’. She has been a highly professional Sixth Form tutor taking the welfare of her tutees very seriously. On the co-curricular side, Mrs Hardwick was a long-standing member of the Reading Scheme team, and organised several theatre trips. We wish her a long and happy retirement.
Mrs Mandley Mrs Mandley joined King Edward’s in 2006. Within her role as Careers Advisor, she has been hugely influential on the lives of innumerable KES students, helping and guiding them in making decisions that will affect their HE choices and their chosen professional pathways. She has conducted many thousands of individual careers guidance interviews, overseen the work experience programme for Sixth Formers, hosted industryfocused lunches and lectures and more recently introduced the annual KES Careers Fair. She leaves us with our thanks for all that she has done.
Mrs Smart Mrs Smart joined the Curriculum Support Department in 2008 teaching Literacy Support. After qualifying as an assessor, she expanded her role to include identifying students with possible special needs ensuring their ongoing support and organising special arrangements in exams. She also created a bespoke study skills course for Sixth Formers on the Curriculum Support Register and her handwriting lessons were legendary. Mrs Smart developed a detailed knowledge of dyspraxia and visual stress, mentored new colleagues and contributed to staff training. We wish her all the best in her new venture as a Declutter Coach and thank her for all that she has contributed to school life.
OEs recognised in New Year Honours List We were proud to see two further OEs recognised in the 2021 New Year Honours list. Congratulations to Chris Grigg (KES 71-78) and Philip Manns (KES 67-73) who both received awards. Chris, the former Chief Executive of property giant British Land, had a CBE bestowed upon him for services to business, particularly during the Covid-19 response whilst Philip was awarded an MBE for Services to Security. Until his retirement last year, Philip worked as an overseas security adviser at the Estates and Security Directorate for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
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Experiences of Lockdown #3, home and abroad! Jonathan Rial (KES 92-99) Jonathan works as a GP as well as undertaking a senior educator role nationally. “When the pandemic hit, my GP job changed, in that we immediately started doing mostly remote consultations by phone and video. We never shut (despite what the press implied) and continued to be busier than ever. General Practice has certainly changed and I think in some ways, these have been positive moves technologically but the lack of face to face contact definitely impacts on the patients and us as GPs. From the beginning I was also working in our local COVID hub. This was very daunting as little was known at the start and I didn’t want to contract the disease and bring it back to my family. On one occasion a patient turned up, in a taxi, with COVID-19. With no way to get them home safely at this stage, I ended up driving them home in my car. Although this brought an element of risk, I felt it was the job of being a GP to do my best for all my patients. It did, however, attract some funny looks from other drivers, as I drove in PPE with the roof down. More recently I’ve been working in the vaccination centre. This has been a pleasurable task as it is so nice to see all the smiling genuinely delighted patients coming for their vaccine. We are often pretty much the only people they have seen in the last year. It would be great to stay and talk but we need to crack on to get through 1000 per day! My educational role has become virtual and that brings its own challenges. GP training is three years long and culminates in an OSCE type exam in which the GP trainee sees 13 simulated patients backto-back in an exam centre in London. This has had to stop but meant we were left with a potential hole of 1000 GPs who were due to qualify in August 2020
but couldn’t as they didn’t have this final exam. I worked with a small group of people to design and implement a remote consultation assessment (RCA) exam that the trainees could do in their own practices. We managed to achieve this in an unprecedented time frame and situation and so most of these trainees were able to become GPs as expected without delay. Home schooling mixed in with all of this has also brought its own challenges and, despite having a Masters in Education, I am completely out of my depth! How the teachers do what they do is beyond me. They are the unsung heroes in my eyes!”
Philip Hayes (KES 63-71)
refreshed on their use and made aware of procedural updates. Thereafter I have spent a couple of hours every four weeks or so ensuring that I am still familiar with these. There are only a few pharmacists specifically trained, competent and authorised in my specialist area, particularly in Paediatric Chemotherapy, and so the hospital were keen that I would be ready to cover, should I be needed. In practice I have covered on four occasions for real and one was for urgent, same day, chemotherapy). Hopefully now that vaccination is in progress things may change this year and we can all return to something closer to normality. Until then I shall continue to ‘tick over’ in reserve for them.”
Samara Jones (KES 09-16) Samara graduated last year and has recently begun working in Student Services at the University of Winchester.
Philip retired in 2017 after a long and varied career in pharmacy but has stepped back into the breach during the pandemic. “Since leaving KES I have had a varied career as a pharmacist from which I retired in January 2017 and left the GPhC Register at the end of that year; my final post being as an Advanced Specialist Pharmacist in Aseptic Services, with a clinical role in Paediatric Oncology and Total Parenteral Nutrition for Children. At the onset of the pandemic a call went out to doctors, nurses and pharmacists who had left their respective Registers within the previous three years to become available if required. As a consequence, the General Pharmaceutical Council set up a temporary list of those of us falling within this category, in the Pharmacy Register. The Pharmacy Department at Southampton General Hospital were happy that I could be useful if needed and, after signing up with NHS Professionals last April I went into the department and spent some time accessing the computer systems that I would need, and being
“In 2019/2020 in my final year of university, I was the President at the University of York Student Union when we ended up with one of our students as the first UK case of COVID-19. In response to this situation, I ended up reading a statement on live, national and international TV, alongside the Vice Chancellor. When we reached the 1-year anniversary of this press conference on 1st February this year, I spent a couple of weeks talking to journalists who were looking back on that first case, studying the week before and after it. This culminated in me appearing live on Politics North.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/ news/uk-england-55622386
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Lottie Percival (KES 09-16) Lottie completed a Master’s degree in biochemistry and genetics at the University of Sheffield graduating in 2020 and is involved with COVID-19 testing in Winchester.
“I am part of the essential service laboratory in the Pathology Department of Winchester Hospital testing patient samples for COVID-19. We regularly test pre-op patients, staff and ward patients to monitor the COVID-19 levels within the hospital itself. We also run rapid test results for admittances from A&E and other emergency sites and this determines where the patient should go depending on whether they get a positive or negative result. We test for COVID-19 by analysing patient samples, extracting the RNA and running on a system, similar to PCR, called LAMP.”
Martin Kavanagh (KES 76-82) Rev Martin Kavanagh continues to work full-time in his role in the Church Pastoral Aid Society. “Like KES, we had to modify our ways of working very rapidly to accommodate the new needs of locked down communities across the whole of the UK and Republic of Ireland. We support 10,000 church leaders, their teams and congregations, and have continued to interview, select and commission new clergy to lead churches in vacancy, and have also adapted to provide an online virtual holiday club, instead of our usual programme of residential holidays for 4,000 children and teenagers including those suffering from severe forms of multiple deprivation.”
Allen Ennew (KES 50-55) Allen is retired and has had his first vaccination. “Lockdown has meant even more reading than usual for me. Some 60 or so years ago, with an interest in the Napoleonic period, I started collecting history books
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on Nelson, Wellington and Napoleon etc. This led me to Alexander Kent’s Bolitho novels, Forester’s Hornblower, Dudley Pope’s Ramage, Patrick O’Brien’s Jack Aubery and Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series, for light ‘Boys’ Own reading’. My collections had been unopened for probably 40 years but I started to read them again last March. 95 down and 5 to go! I feel privileged to be retired and feel for all those having difficulty in lockdown, while I am only inconvenienced and admire all that those on the front line are doing.”
Graham Hunt (KES 61-69) Graham is now retired and lives in Perth, Australia. “I guess our experiences here in Australia (and Western Australia in particular) provide an interesting contrast to the unfortunate travails you’ve had to put up with in the UK. Australia (like neighbouring New Zealand) chose early on to make use of its geographical isolation to try and exclude the virus, rather than developing ways of living with it. That policy has proven to be extremely successful. The worst consequences came in Melbourne, where residents endured a lengthy lockdown last year. We, here in the Perth area, had a brief period of lockdown when the outbreak started early last year, but as an illustration of the limited impact on local life, our golf course was only closed for 10 days! The WA government chose a more draconian restriction on interstate travel than any other state, and that has been statistically successful. Apart from the occasional positive tests on returning travellers (who are immediately quarantined for 14 days), there have been no community cases since the early days of the outbreak. However, the longer-term picture is less clear. As of 1st February most of WA (Perth and the south-west, where most of the population live and travel for work) went into lockdown again, because of just one positive test in the community (a security guard at a quarantine hotel). This raises the question of when and how normal life might be resumed. If authorities insist on keeping a ‘clean sheet’ then we’ll be liable to such quickfire lockdowns until the
virus has been completely eradicated, and when will that be (if ever)? Thankfully, as a retiree, we are fortunate in many respects. We don’t have to worry about our jobs and financial situation, or home schooling, or working from home. Meanwhile, it’s businesses which bear the brunt of the restrictions and uncertainties, although many of them are in much better circumstances than their counterparts in other countries. Travel remains the big bugbear. Closed borders - domestic and international - have been the bedrock of Australia’s fight against the virus, and will probably dictate that we are one of the last countries to open up again. That has unfortunate consequences for the likes of us, who are in the habit of visiting friends and family in the UK annually.”
Martin Cappleman (KES 61-66) Martin lives in Perth, Western Australia, in the suburb of Port Kennedy. “The pandemic has been a stressful and worrying time for everyone here, however, not as difficult as in the UK. Australia has been very lucky, as the government jumped on top of the situation very quickly. Travel is now open to the majority of states, although International travel in and out is still a No-No. I work transporting senior citizens around the area, but when the virus struck and aged care facilities were closed down, I had insufficient work and my last working day was 15th March 2020. In Australia, those whose gross income dropped by more than 30% were able to claim what is referred to as the Job Keeper payment, which is approximately $AUD3000.00 every four weeks. Those looking for employment received about half that amount. In my opinion, the government has done well. School started back in Western Australia and most other states and territories in February, which I am sure many parents are happy about. On 22nd February the Pfizer vaccine programme commenced at no cost to the people, firstly, to the elderly in Aged Care facilities and essential workers and then in the second phase to older people over 70.”
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Mark Mabey (KES 74-81) Mark has lived and worked in New Zealand since 2011 where he is acting as Engineer to Contract on a number of residential remediation different projects across Auckland varying from $1m to in excess of $20m and has joined with Kwanto to offer project management / Engineer to Contract services across the construction sector. “I am fortunate enough to live in New Zealand and so benefit from the fact we are small, isolated and closed ourselves off to the rest of the world pretty early on and introduced mandatory managed isolation for all NZ nationals and permanent residents who have returned over the past 6 months or so. I had to return to the UK for two family funerals in August 2020 and found the contrast between full and free movement back here in NZ and at home quite shocking. The only obvious signs here now (apart from still basically closed borders) are mandatory face masks on public transport and a shortage of, or long delays in, obtaining imported goods as a result of the upsurge in sea cargo traffic and, in part, additional safety precautions at the docks. I had to undergo a spell in managed isolation on return to New Zealand in September after my trip to the UK and it was first class. Luckily for me it was free as I just beat the introduction of legislation introducing fees.”
Harry Johnston (KES 09-14) Harry has been living and working in Hong Kong since last summer. “I graduated from Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2020 with a first in Business Management Marketing, after a slightly disrupted final year! I am now living in Hong Kong, having moved here in August for work and to play semi-professional rugby in Hong Kong’s Premiership and am furthering my studies part-time with a post-graduate qualification from the University of Cambridge in Business Sustainability Management.
Life here has its restrictions and difficulties, with masks being mandatory everywhere, leisure activities being suspended and cafés and restaurants being closed from 6pm. The holiday period was especially difficult as I was unable to fly home to see family and friends.”
Brian Chalk (KES 62-69) Brian has had a highly successful and varied career in the finance industry. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, he worked in various finance functions before securing a post in a multinational American firm in London becoming Vice-President of Finance for Europe/Americas and Africa. He is now retired and lives in the South of France. “We have had a number of restrictions placed on us at different times over the last year to deal with the COVID-19 threat in France. These have included restricting stores permitted to open to essential needs such as supermarkets, bakeries, pharmacies and medical centres. All restaurants, cafés, bars and gyms have been closed for many weeks. There have been additional restrictions on going outside that have involved filling out forms to justify the reason for leaving home. These must be carried with you at all times to present to the gendarmes if asked and masks are required at all times outside. Currently (in February) there is a nightly curfew from 6pm to 6am, with fines of up to €135 for offences. Schools, however, have remained open for those over 6 years of age. There have been approximately 80,000 deaths and 3.34 million people contracting the disease since its outset in France. However, whereas the UK has received much popular press in the rest of Europe for its speedy vaccination programme and early stock pile of drugs, France has been very slow with the vaccination of its citizens. Only 1.9 million people have received the jab so far in France compared to 9 million in the UK with some having had their second jab. Part of the reason for this is that the UK has the NHS, a national structure and regional health authorities to ensure vaccines can be distributed to vaccination centres so rapidly. In France the medical
system is private and paid for by individual medical insurance. All hospitals and doctor surgeries are independent and therefore coordinating a distribution network is complex and time consuming in such a large country. Being part of the EU, France buys its vaccines as part of a total EU project which has been slow due to layers of bureaucracy. Additionally, the French have been resistant to taking vaccines. It’s what some have called a “French paradox”: a country with historically a high medicine consumption has notably low confidence in vaccines, a trend that sparked concern in the early days of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout when just 40% of the French population (in a December 2020 Ipsos survey) said that they would accept a COVID-19 vaccine if it was made available to them. We live in a small medieval village and our nearest town is 12 miles away. With our two bars and two restaurants closed due to the pandemic, life is very quiet!”
Mike Giles (KES 54-59)
Mike retired from his role as a chartered banker in 2002. Along with his wife, they returned to the UK from abroad on March 10th last year just prior to the national lockdown. “Lockdown has restricted my wife and I from pursuing our interest in cultural travel, in particular our annual visit to The Gambia where we stay on a rural family compound for two full months. Over a period of 18 years we have been able to help the same family develop, in return for what have been unbelievable personal experiences. We were in The Gambia when COVID-19 struck the UK early last year, returning on 10th March. Thankfully, The Gambia has not been so hard hit and the family, like us, have remained fit and healthy. Supporting them from a distance is not so easy but we do our best. The children are currently all in education and we are awaiting a time when we can return again to greet them and see how they have grown and changed. We are mindful, however, that despite being in a vaccine regime ourselves we become a risk to a remote community should we return too soon.”
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Donald Mackinnon (KES 45-49) Donald retired in 1990. He spent 4 years working at Atomic Energy of Canada in Ontario studying the effect of bombarding metals, held at liquid helium temperatures, with fast neutrons before returning to the UK in 1961 to work for the Glasgow Health Board as a Medical Physicist. “I live with my wife in Bearsden, which lies on the northern boundary of Glasgow. I had my ninetieth birthday on the first day of lockdown. We have managed to survive this awful pandemic so far and have both just received the first dose of vaccine. We are very lucky that lockdown has not altered our lifestyle greatly.”
imposed less than 24 hours after the 4 unexplained cases were discovered. I have tended not to comment too much on our situation to our friends and family in the UK, as we know how difficult and frustrating they have been finding extended lockdowns, whereas we have been so fortunate.”
Michael Wigley (KES 75-81) Michael lives near Romsey and works for the Army designing computer systems, with his office based in Andover. Already working from home one day a week prior to lockdown, the transition has been a relatively painless one. As well as DIY and gardening, his main lockdown project has been working on a sustainable housing development.
Beth Doel (KES 14-16) Beth graduated in the midst of the pandemic with a 2:1 in BA Political Science and International Relations that included a year abroad. “After graduating I applied for approximately ten million jobs (genuinely probably a few hundred) and since January I’ve been working for Southampton City Council, providing citizen services in their Customer Services Department, helping to provide essential services to the residents of Southampton. Alongside work, I’ve been doing all the usual lockdown activities - walks, appreciating living by the sea and the new forest (wildlife photography was and remains a great source of joy throughout the pandemic) and arts and crafts including making an 8 foot long giant squid pillow!”
Ken Morrison (KES 63-70) Ken lives on the island of Guernsey where they have had a very different experience to the UK during the pandemic. “Guernsey has been very lucky with regard to COVID-19. The Bailiwick of Guernsey (the islands of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Herm) entered the first lockdown on 24th March 2020, which also virtually closed our borders to anything other than essential travel. Lockdown ended on 20th June 2020 with islanders free to move around and all businesses allowed to reopen - effectively everything within the islands was back to normal and the only restrictions being on people travelling into Guernsey who had to selfisolate. Freedom from lockdown extended until 22nd January 2021. Up until then there were no cases of COVID-19 detected within the islands, which meant we were free to attend concerts, dinners, nativity plays and have full family Christmas celebrations. Unfortunately, 4 unexplained cases were discovered on that date and we entered our second lockdown on 23rd January 2021. We reached a peak of around 360 detected cases, but numbers then started reducing and on 22nd February we began Phase 1 of the easing of the lockdown framework. We have largely benefited from the swift and decisive action of our government, as shown by the second lockdown being
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“What many people probably don’t realise is that in the UK, buildings in one way or another generate 44% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. So, if the UK is to go ‘zero carbon’ anytime soon then this is a major factor that needs to be addressed. Between 2014-2019 my family had, along with one of our neighbours, attempted to build ecohomes for ourselves, on a field in the Test Valley. These were high specification earth sheltered buildings that would have required no fossil fuel heating. The planning application received a lot of local and even some national publicity but was eventually refused. However, I did learn a lot from this process and so I have spent lockdown researching and developing a blueprint design for an ideal sustainably-developed community showcasing key ecological principles by minimising greenhouse gases emitted through building construction, emitting no greenhouse gases to heat and light the buildings, generating surplus electricity on site, minimising water use and harvesting rainwater, processing sewage and waste water on site, maximising local food production and selling surplus via a ‘Farm Shop’ and maximising ecological opportunities increasing biodiversity far above the levels present on a traditional housing development. All this is documented on the Deeping Project website https://deepingproject.org/. I am also working on a Crowdfunder campaign (with my daughter Pollyanna KES 0209) to try and raise money to build a development, based on the Deeping Project principles. Watch this space!”
Robbie Stelling (KES 10-17) Robbie is just finishing 3 years at Loughborough University and applying to teacher training schemes to teach History.
“It’s certainly been a shame to have my final year in lockdown, but there’s a lot of people that have had it much worse. I’ve still been able to enjoy myself, although having all my lectures online hasn’t been quite the same. We did have one period where we had some in-person teaching and the university has actually been fantastic in terms of how it has handled the whole situation. We even had our Vice Chancellor roaming the streets making sure people were managing. Our final exams were online including the presentation on my dissertation, which is on journalism in the Spanish Civil War, and in terms of graduation, it certainly looks like being virtual, although we haven’t had anything confirmed. One exciting thing to come from lockdown is that I’ve been able to dip my toe into journalism, commentating on football matches involving my beloved Hartlepool United on radio and live-stream.”
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From the archives
The school moved to the Hill Lane site from Marlands House in 1938. Throughout 1937 and 1938, it was slowly constructed until it resembled the building we still see today. Whilst there have been additions and modifications over the years, the iconic Bell Tower and main school façade remain much as they were on opening day on 25th November 1938. There were 498 pupils on roll in a school built for 650 in that first term in the new premises.
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Obituaries Michael Hobbins
Rick Kellaway (former Head Groundsman at KES)
Michael was appointed as a governor in March 1989 and served until 2003. Having worked for Pirelli as Director of Human Resources, he chaired the school’s initial committee on appraisals and also sat on the Executive Committee contributing to the debate on coeducation, school development and incorporation. He was an active Probus member and Rotarian and was President of the Southampton branch.
Rick died earlier this year aged 70 after contracting coronavirus in hospital following a brave battle against cancer. He worked at KES for many years and was among Romsey’s best-known sportsmen, both as a footballer, cricketer and subsequently a manager. In 1984 he played for Hursley Park in the National Village Cricket Cup final at Lord’s.
Vale Kenneth Moulton Leslie (KES 35-42)
Kenneth died on 31 January 2021 aged 96. He was the oldest living former Head of School and was a regular at many OE reunion events. Born in Southampton in 1924, Ken and his twin Alan both attended King Edward’s – evacuating with it to Poole after the outbreak of WWII. He won a scholarship to read history at The Queen’s College, Oxford in 1942 but, after two terms, he joined an artillery regiment, serving in the Ardennes and Mediterranean, returning to Oxford in 1947 to complete his degree. He married in 1956, then moved with Shirley and their two daughters to work in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong in 1961. Ken and Shirley settled in Winchester on retirement in 1986, where he became involved in the community including two terms as a Hampshire County Councillor. They frequently travelled, often to visit their daughters Caroline and Sarah and grandsons in Melbourne, Australia. On Shirley’s death in 2018, Ken moved to a sun-filled room at The Dower House in Headbourne Worthy and enjoyed its wonderful gardens, retaining a deep interest in politics, world affairs and his dry sense of humour right up to the end.
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Craig Plumpton (KES 83-90)
(former KES governor)
Craig attended KES along with his twin brother, Dominic and sister, Emma, who joined in Sixth Form. Whilst at school he represented the school in rugby, cricket and cross-country, and was captain of the 2nd XI football team. After a year of work experience, and travelling in Canada, Craig attended City, University of London, where he graduated with a degree in Insurance and Investment. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Accountants, he spent much of his career working in Southampton with his own business SGW Accountancy Services based in the Meon Valley. Despite a diagnosis of terminal cancer in late 2019, Craig continued to advise and guide his clients through the pandemic, whilst receiving treatment, almost until he passed away peacefully in October 2020. Craig is greatly missed by his family and friends, and is survived by his wife Lynda and son Luke.
Barry Eden (KES 61-68) Barry passed away in March 2019, aged 69. He is sadly missed by his family and friends and in particular those who knew him via the preserved steam railway world for which he had a deep passion. He dedicated much of his spare time to working on steam railway locomotives.
Brian Guilmant (KES 55-61) Brian passed away in July 2020 last year aged 76. King Edward’s was a family tradition as both Brian’s father and uncle attended the school before him. Brian was an avid narrow-gauge model railway enthusiast and had a 40-year involvement in the hobby. He leaves his wife, Muriel, and their daughter Lizzie.
Dr John Bernard Muddiman (KES 58-65)
John died in December last year aged 73. After finishing his secondary education at KES, John proceeded to Keble College Oxford in 1965 as an open scholar in Classics and Theology. Upon completing his degree he spent two years at Selwyn College, Cambridge (where he took a starred first in Part Three of the Theology Tripos) and a further year with the World Council of Churches. He returned to Oxford in 1972 as a Research Fellow and, having been ordained, combined his research with his chaplaincy, holding varying posts including that of Chaplain at St Hilda’s College and Mansfield College Lecturer. In 1976 he completed his DPhil at Mansfield on the fasting controversy in Mark’s Gospel. In 1983, John was appointed as Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of Nottingham, returning to Mansfield in 1990 as the G.B. Caird Fellow. In 1992, he was given a joint appointment in the Theology Faculty of the University alongside his Mansfield fellowship where he remained until his retirement in 2012. John was an erudite scholar and theologian, widely published author and a popular and compassionate man. On his retirement he moved to Bingham to be nearer his two sons and their families.
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Julian Ellis-Brown (KES 07-12)
PLANET POSITIVE TEXTILES
and shipping industries combined and consumes over 5% of our global supply of freshwater and sends a truck full of clothes to landfill or incineration every second. This means there is a need to move away from synthetic materials and shift our focus from water-thirsty plants to water-lean ones.
Julian graduated last year with a joint Masters in Innovation and Design Engineering (Distinction) from Imperial College London (MSc) and the Royal College of Art (MA). He also has a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the Univerity of Sheffield. With previous experience as a Design Engineer for both Imperial Consultants and eg Technology, Julian has already developed a variety of products from off-the-shelf medical equipment to stateof-the-art biking kit and has experience working for, and with, leading brands such as P&G, Aston Martin and British Airways. He was also employed as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Dyson School of Design Engineering where he taught human-centred design to undergraduate students and notably, designed the ‘Exhibition on the Flight of The Future’ with British Airways, for the Saatchi Gallery. Since completing his Masters, he has embarked on his most exciting project to date founding his start-up company; SaltyCo. SaltyCo makes planet-positive textiles and is on a mission to reshape the textiles industry by introducing materials from salt-tolerant plants grown in bluecarbon ecosystems, believing that we don’t have to sacrifice quality or cost for the textiles industry to have a balanced relationship with our natural resources. The modern textiles industry is damaging the planet and textile manufacturing produces more carbon than the aviation
Blue carbon ecosystems, such as saltmarshes, sea meadows and mangrove forests are planet-healing spaces. They are home to a family of salt-tolerant plants called halophytes. Halophytes are able to grow without the use of freshwater, sequester massive amounts of carbon dioxide and can grow in incredibly hardy environments.
SaltyCo has harnessed this idea and produces a price-competitive textile that stands up to environmental scrutiny whilst being designed to be compatible with existing customer technologies. Their product, Bio-Puff, is the first halophyte-based fibrefill for use as an alternative to goose-down, or synthetic fillers. By using halophytes as the feedstock for this innovative fibreextraction technology, SaltyCo retain these environmental credentials whilst producing a high-quality material that is not only lightweight but also three times more insulating than wool and completely water repellent.
the wider picture at SaltyCo whilst ensuring a scientific approach to technology. Along with numerous other awards that have featured in the press, the company recently won the first-ever Vogue-YOOX Challenge, with a €50,000 euro prize, and were featured in Vogue Italia in December 2020.
Over the next year SaltyCo will be officially launching their first product in a capsule collection with a leading outerwear brand, expanding their regenerative agricultural pilots and scaling up manufacturing to make more planet-positive impact! Julian and his team’s achievements, in such a short space of time, are incredible and we will watch with interest as his company continues to expand and develop. Instagram: @saltyco.uk www.saltyco.uk
Along with his multidisciplinary team, Julian has already taken SaltyCo from a seed of an idea to a highly-demanded innovative material manufacturer in less than a year; his simultaneous understanding of technical engineering and human-centred design thinking enabling him to adapt between managing
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A small gift can change a child’s life King Edward’s was founded upon an ethos of charitable giving when William Capon bequeathed the sum of £100 to create a grammar school for the city of Southampton in 1550.
“I give and bequeathe to the towne of Southampton one hundredth poundes to the erection maynetenance and fyndings of a gramer scole there perpetually.” As a Grammar School, the school was able to continue with these aims and
foundations for many hundreds of years, admitting and educating all those who proved academically able in passing their entrance exam. However, in 1976, with the Education Act under which selection by academic ability became illegal within the state system, King Edward’s risked closure and the governing body decided that they only way to ensure its continuation was to become independent. Despite this monumental change, the school still recognises and firmly values these historically benevolent roots and strives to offer the chance of a KES education to as many gifted children as possible, regardless of their financial
circumstances. Today we seek to enable this through our King Edward VI Bursary Foundation. Many OEs and friends of the school have already chosen to support our efforts, to provide as many bursaries as we possibly can, by donating to the Foundation either through lifetime donations, regular giving or by leaving a legacy in their Will. These demonstrations of gratitude for the education that the school gifted them, helps us to ensure that the next generation of young people can access all the opportunities that KES can offer.
How KES helped me the importance of bursaries “Being able to study at King Edward’s has enabled me to realise potential that would have gone amiss if I had not had the opportunity. The high quality of education has allowed me to achieve academically at the highest level, but just as important is the spirit that the school fosters in students, encouraging a modest confidence and strong self-belief. Having the financial support to attend the school has undoubtedly changed my future and I cannot thank those who have donated to such funds enough. Directly attendance
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at King Edward’s has allowed me to earn offers from some of the top universities in the country, but I feel it will have an influence beyond this as well. The school has both given me the drive to aim to achieve highly, and the skillset to do so. It is for these reasons that I will forever be indebted to the school and its generous benefactors.”
Thomas (KES 12-19) Went on to study Mathematics at St Andrew’s university.
www.kes.hants.sch.uk
Ways of Giving
Instruction to your bank or building society to pay by Direct Debit
Founded 1553
By direct debit Regular donations allow us to plan for the future with confidence. A modest monthly gift can make a big difference. If you would like to help support a child in this way then please complete the direct debit details on this form and return to the Development Office.
Service user number
please detach and return
6 9 5 2 9 6
By cheque If you would like to make a one-off donation by cheque, please make it payable to King Edward VI School and send it to: King Edward VI School, Wilton Road, Southampton, SO15 5UQ. Please mark it for the attention of the Development Office.
Please fill in the whole form including official use box using a ball point pen and send it to: DEVELOPMENT OFFICE KING EDWARD VI SCHOOL WILTON ROAD SOUTHAMPTON HANTS SO15 5UQ
By bank transfer You can make a one-off donation to the Foundation via electronic bank transfer. Please make payments to the following account using your name and ‘foundation’ as a reference.
Name(s) of account holder(s)
Account name: King Edward VI School Account number: 13339044 Sort Code: 56-00-68 Bank Name: Natwest FOR KING EDWARD VI SCHOOL USE ONLY This is not part of the instruction to your bank or building society. PAYMENT DETAILS (Please complete)
Bank/building society account number
Please pay King Edward VI School, Southampton Monthly Quarterly Annually (please tick) The sum of : £5 £10 £25
Branch sort code
Other amount £ Starting from :
£50
£100
(please tick)
(please specify) Month
Year
Funds will be drawn on: 3rd or 18th day of each month (please select)
Name and full postal address of your bank or building society To: The Manager Bank/building society
Instruction to your bank or building society Please pay King Edward VI School Direct Debits from the account detailed in this Instruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct Debit Guarantee. I understand that this Instruction may remain with King Edward VI School and, if so, details will be passed electronically to my bank/building society.
Address
Signature(s) Postcode
Reference K
E
S
F
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D
A
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Date
Banks and building societies may not accept Direct Debit Instructions for some types of account.
Gift Aid Declaration (tax efficient giving) I confirm I have paid or will pay an amount of Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax for each tax year (6th April - 5th April) that is at least equal to the amount of tax that all the charities or Community Amateur Sports Clubs that I donate to will reclaim on my gifts for that tax year. I understand that other taxes such as VAT and Council Tax do not qualify. I understand the charity will reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 that I have given. I would like to Gift Aid all donations I have made to the King Edward VI Foundation including future donations until I notify you otherwise. Signature: Date:
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Snippets Zoe Henderson (KES 13-20)
Glyn Meek (KES 61-68)
Tim Manns (KES 65-72)
Zoe Henderson was the overall winner of the 2020 RGS Young Geographer of the Year competition for the Key stage 5 age group. Unfortunately, due to restrictions, there was no annual awards ceremony for the prize winners of the competition but, instead, a virtual announcement of the winners.
Glyn has lived in Texas in the US since 1989. He recently spoke live at the New York Film Festival. https://vimeo. com/58666446
A lifelong Saints fan and having fulfilled various roles for Southampton FC over the years, this season, Tim has found himself carrying out the duties of PA announcer at St Mary’s stadium. To date this has been directed to a largely empty ground (players and officials excepted).
Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz (KES 61-68) Wlodek recently became Chairman of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain. The Federation is an umbrella organisation, set up by other Polish organisations in Great Britain, to represent the community and organise events when joint action is needed.
Pete Jones (Former Head of Sixth Form – KES 86-13)
Harry Ruprecht (KES 10-17) Harry is currently studying at UCL where he has formed a band with two friends, playing lead guitar. ‘The Backfires’ have played gigs all over London and along the east-coast of the US and have recently released an EP on all major streaming services that they recorded in London in January 2020. So far it has amassed 85,000 + streams on Spotify.
Pete was recently interviewed on the Khaki Malarkey podcast (featuring interviews with military historians on their latest discoveries, and book releases) talking about his new book, He Did His Bit - Stories Behind the Shirt Collection of Welsh Rugby Legend Charlie Pritchard (Gomer, 2020).
Tony Ryan (KES 86-93) Tony studied Journalism and Economics at City University London after leaving KES, and then went on to hold senior commercial roles in the IT Industry, selling into Higher and Further Education. He has worked for IT multi-nationals throughout his career and was also Head of Education Sales for Samsung UK. He has taken a career break in the past 18 months spending time between fundraising for a local charity, working as a Local Parish Councilor and watching his beloved Saints!
Peter Smart (KES 00-07) Peter lives in the US, where he is Global Head of Product Design at a company called Fantasy - a global team made up of 100 of the world’s most talented designers sought out by the likes of Netflix, the Academy of Motion Pictures, Google, Spotify, Salesforce and Tesla to help them create products. They also have a portfolio of celebrity personal clients, many of whom are in the film industry.
Searching For... Stuart Adrian Trigg Giffin (KES 89-92) David Bute (KES 86-93) is looking to get back in touch with old friend Stuart Giffin.
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Peter Dudley Isted (KES 61-65) Richard George Hazell (KES 61-68) is trying to find Peter who was best man at his wedding.
Hugh Donovan (KES 65-72) would like to renew contact with former classmates from his year group.
If you have any knowledge of Stuart or Peter’s whereabouts, or would like to get in touch with Hugh please contact the Development Office on edwardians@kes.hants.sch.uk or 023 80 704561.
www.kes.hants.sch.uk
Merchandise The School has a range of Edwardian merchandise for sale. This includes bespoke gold or silver plated cufflinks, (which come in individual presentation boxes and make ideal gifts), school scarves, ties and a number of books on the history of the School. To purchase any of these items please visit the KES PAY section of the main school website. payments.kes.hants.sch.uk/shop
Reunion Update Due to the current restrictions on gatherings there will be no alumni reunions this academic year. It is hoped that we will be able to start these again in the autumn term when we will be looking to organise a 10 year reunion for the Classes of 2010 and 2011 as well as a very belated get together for our 2020 Sixth Form Leavers. Watch this space!
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King Edward VI School Wilton Road Southampton Hampshire SO15 5UQ Tel: 023 8070 4561 www.kes.hants.sch.uk