King Edward VI School
End of Term Bulletin 13 July, 2018
O
ver the past few weeks we have had a huge array of activities including an excellent Science Festival, a host of university open day visits, work experience placements, Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and preparation for the Fourth Year students as they consider their Sixth Form options. A wide range of visits and events organised for Endeavour occupied the penultimate week with much of this recorded in more detail in the latest issue of Konnections. Sports Day and the Swimming Gala both proved to be very competitive occasions and, as ever, the Allen Grant Inter-House competition has been fiercely contested!
Work is proceeding very well with our new Dining Hall extension. We are confident that it will be completed by the middle of August and will provide much needed additional space for our students. At Stroud we have also nearly completed a significant new Key Stage 1 building with 5 new classrooms. Prize Giving is on Friday evening, the 14 September. The chief guest will be Felicity Aston MBE. We thank Mr Foyle, Mrs Lupton and Mrs Freemantle for all they have done for the School and wish them well as they retire after a combined 70 years of service to the School. We also wish Mrs Ahmad, Miss Champion, Ms Gadsbey, Mrs Jones and Mr Westwater well as they move to roles in other schools and new challenges. The names of the staff replacing them may be found on page two of this publication.
During the summer many students will be involved in activities abroad and in the UK including the Summer Camp in the New Forest, the Goedgedacht team in South Africa, expeditions to the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon Rain Forest and the watersports trip in France, as well as further Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. Our thanks go to all of the staff involved in those trips – they will be giving up a lot of their holiday to make them work so well.
I wish you all a restful holiday over the summer. A J Thould Head
From the Chair of Governors I am delighted to announce the appointment of Neal Parker as our new Head. Neal will take up the post in September 2019 after the retirement of Julian Thould. Neal is currently Vice Principal and Head of the Senior School at The Grammar School at Leeds, a co-ed independent 3-18 day school with a very similar structure to KES. He joined the school in 2012 as a Senior Deputy Head, before taking up his current role in 2016. Previously, Neal was Director of Music and Head of Performing Arts at the Newcastle Royal Grammar School, having started his teaching career at King’s College School in Wimbledon. Educated at the British School in the Netherlands and The Purcell School of Music, Neal read music at St. Anne’s College, Oxford. He also holds a Masters in Educational Leadership from Newcastle University, and is currently studying for an MBA. He is a long-standing ISI inspector and is currently a member of the Board of Directors at Leeds College of Music. Neal is married to Sarah, a Deputy Head at Harrogate Ladies’ College, and they have one son, Joe. As well as his passion for music in all its many forms, Neal is an avid sports fan and lover of the outdoors, particularly enjoying hiking in the Lake District. The post attracted an outstanding field of candidates and we are delighted to have been able to appoint someone so well placed to take our schools forward to the next stage in our development. We look forward to welcoming Neal to Southampton over the coming months as he prepares to take up his new role. Alan Morgan 1