Founded 1553
KING EDWARD VI SCHOOL
SOUTHAMPTON
ANNUAL REVIEW 2017
Head’s Report The academic year 2016/17 has seen a number of significant developments. We began the year with 961 students on the roll and the School continues to be full at every level. We enjoyed our final Speech Day at the Mayflower with the prizes given by Dr Middleton, OE and distinguished geographer, broadcaster and Fellow of St. Anne’s College, Oxford. We have continued to invest in the School’s fabric with the reconstruction of the Art Department, the expansion of the Sixth Form social and work facilities and the building of a new atrium and theatre. There has also been a lot of work at Stroud, particularly to improve the reception and teaching facilities. Further detail is provided in the Chairman’s report. Our students have enjoyed another very good set of academic results with 61% of all A Level grades at A* and A, and 87% at A*, A and B. 51% of grades at IGCSE were at A* and 77% A* and A. We were also very pleased with our university admissions; over 88% of our students proceeding to courses at the top 25 universities with seven students with places at Oxford and Cambridge and nine at medical school. Sport continues to thrive at KES with even more students participating than ever before and over 1000 fixtures played during the course of the year. In addition to this, KES teams were successful in cup competitions at county, regional and national level showing that there is good provision for both participation and performance elements of sport. The hockey programme continues to impress both indoors and out. The girls’ teams won over half of their matches and in the cups, the U13, U14 and U16 squads reached the regional heats whilst the 1st XI progressed to the regional quarter-final stage. The U16 indoor team also did well to reach the regional finals. On the boys’ fixture card there were again impressive performances from the U14 and U12 sides in particular. The 1st XI reached the last sixteen of the national plate competition whilst the U16 team reached the regional quarter-final of their competition. The boys’ U16 team did particularly well in the indoor programme, finishing second in the south to qualify for the national finals where they gained 8th place. The rugby teams continued to work hard and recorded some good results throughout the season. 2
The senior team were knocked out of the NatWest cup by eventual finalists Bishop Wordsworth’s School and the U15 side had a good run before losing to a strong Churcher’s team in the fourth round. The U14 team played particularly well to retain the county 10-a-side competition and both U13 and U12 sides had good seasons at A and B level showing there is great potential for the future. The netballers once again had a frustrating season with poor weather affecting the number of matches that could be played although the numbers involved had increased. The 1st team was very competitive against strong opposition and there were a number of good performances across the School particularly amongst the younger players. The U12 team reached the last sixteen of the national cup and the U14 side reached the regional round of their national cup. Summer sport remains buoyant with the cricket teams enjoying a good season with increased numbers involved. The 1st team had a strong season and their highlight was winning the Altham trophy at the Ageas Bowl at the end of term. The U14s reached the final of the county tournament and the U12 team played well to win their county cup and qualify for the national competition next season. Positive developments continue to be made in rounders and the U14 team performed well to win the county invitational tournament held towards the end of the term. The athletics programme also continues to grow with KES teams performing well in the Southampton Championships, winning many of the boys’ and girls’ age group competitions in the U15 categories with many representing the city and three pupils winning county titles. In addition to all of this activity, a number of our pupils have been involved in individual pursuits at a regional, national or international level in sailing, hockey, rowing, swimming, tae kwon do, cricket, rugby, sky diving, rhythmic gymnastics, diving, cross country skiing, fencing, biathlon and equestrianism.
running numerous residential and day field trips before moving to a new role as Website Content Manager for his final nine years.
The number of visits the School organises each year continues to grow and is a major part of our educational provision. This year students have enjoyed visits to the USA, South Africa, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Spain, France, Belgium, Iceland, Italy, Morocco, and Germany. These have ranged from trekking in Central America and skiing in France to playing hockey in Cape Town and conducting fieldwork in the volcanic landscapes surrounding Reykjavik. Closer to home, pupils have participated in language exchanges and study visits to Berlin, Cordoba, Catalonia, Salamanca, Paris, Prague, Montpellier and trips across the UK ranging from regular theatre, music and art visits to London to geography and biology field trips across the country. Hundreds of our students make excellent use of the New Forest and our facility at Lovaton on Dartmoor for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. The arts have had a high profile with regular occasions such as the Carol Service at Romsey Abbey and the Service of Thanksgiving interspersed with a wide range of concerts including evening events at the Turner Sims Concert Hall. Drama has been busy with a number of productions including the magnificent ‘Welcome to Gedanken’ written by Mr Herklots and performed at the Theatre Royal, Winchester, as well as the Junior Drama Club and specialist Drama Department events. The Arts Festival provided an extensive variety of creative events, performances, exhibitions and activities to stimulate the imagination of our students. Charitable and community work has long had considerable prominence at King Edward’s. In the past year over £30,000 has been raised by the students themselves for a range of different organisations including our Summer Camp for young carers and the South Africa venture supporting the Goedgedacht Trust near Cape Town. Dozens of volunteers have helped with cake sales, sponsored events, discos and talent shows. Likewise, our primary school partnerships have prospered involving a range of art, literacy, mathematics, languages, computer coding and science clubs as well as special events such as the July partnership day as part of the Endeavour programme.
We have been very well served by Oliver Uglow as Head of School over the last year, ably supported by his deputies, Joseph Winter, Katya Sheath and Natalya Evans. Our Prepositors and Heads of House, together with the Lower School Prefects, provide excellent leadership across the School. They have all worked very effectively with a varied range of responsibilities and opportunities to develop their team work and communication skills.
KES PTA has prospered under the direction of Mrs Leask. We are very grateful for its support for a range of activities including a substantial contribution to the purchase of a Steinway grand piano for our new theatre. Our OEs have enjoyed numerous reunions organised by our Development Officer, Ms Hooper, with much useful work completed by the King Edward VI Foundation to help students applying to King Edward’s from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Tragically one of our Fifth Year students, Ben Smith, died while on a run at home just before the May half-term. Ben was a delightful young man, an accomplished rugby player, musician and actor with many friends. His memorial service was attended by over 600 from the KES, Stroud, Trojans and Stagecoach communities. A tree has been planted in the School grounds in his memory and the Ben Smith Foundation is being established with the focus on raising awareness of cardiac risk in the young with the intention of preventing young sudden cardiac deaths through awareness, screening and research, and supporting affected families. A number of staff have served the school with distinction for limited periods and we thank Mr Stow and Mr Digby, our IT Assistants for the past year, and Mrs Tucker, Miss Porter, Dr Wikeley, Mrs Besley, Mr Fernandez, Mrs Garcia-Viejo, Mrs Djivanian and Dr Evans who have all completed shorter contracts at KES. Mr Hardwick is retiring from the mathematics faculty after five years at King Edward’s, Mrs Platten is leaving King Edward’s after nine years with two as Head of Faculty. Mr Halls, a first rate classicist, is leaving having completed a decade at King Edward’s. Mr Kukla joined KES in 2001 and over the years has taught both French and German across the age ranges. He became Head of German in 2015 and has led our Sixth Form football team with distinction. Ms Greenwood began teaching English at King Edward’s in 1984. Her love of the subject has inspired generations of students. She was Head of Careers and then Director of Student Guidance for over ten years. Mr Hunt began teaching geography at King Edward’s in September 1983. In September 1985 he was appointed Head of Geography and he remained in post for twenty-seven years,
This is also the occasion to record our thanks to Mr Gay for his exceptional chairmanship over the past sixteen years. We are enormously grateful to him for his strategic vision, commitment and attention to detail. Few chairmen attend so many events at their schools and he and his wife have given an exceptional amount of their time and energy over a period of great change since 2001. King Edward’s has continued to be a very successful School offering its students a very wide range of activities, visits, sport and cultural opportunities. They leave School as confident adults and impressive leaders, combining personal ambition with a strong commitment to the wider community.
AJ Thould Head 3
Head of School
Chairman’s Report I have spent the last seven years of my life as a KES student. King Edward’s has served me and my peers as a phenomenal springboard for the rest of our lives, giving us every chance to try something new and different, while always encouraging us to keep moving forward in our studies. I have volunteered in South Africa, completed language courses in France and Spain, been a part of record-breaking fundraising projects with the Charities Commission, expanded my knowledge with the Film Club and pushed myself in the Indian Himalayas; to describe just a fraction of my experiences here.
“King Edward’s has served me and my peers as a phenomenal springboard”
Ever since the stressful revision period before my entrance exam, I have known that I am not the most academic individual. However, the KES approach to teaching has helped me achieve my goals all the way through my time here. Whenever I have had difficulty with a particular concept, I have never known a KES teacher to leave me struggling on my own. Instead they have always helped me to rethink my approach and keep trying. In all my time here, I have never found myself wanting for anything at KES. Yet despite this, the School is still adding to its impressive array of resources and facilities. We even have our own KES drone! The new DAC project will serve as an impressive space for students of several departments, although I’m especially excited to see what the drama and art students will do with the new space and natural light. There are further exciting projects ahead and I am delighted that future KES students will have even more to profit from during their time at school. I would like to thank everyone who has made KES such an exceptional experience for me. On behalf of everyone in the Upper Sixth I hope I have conveyed just how grateful we are to our teachers for their constant effort and support, to our friends for always being there and to the vast network of people behind the scenes that continue to make KES the great opportunity that it has been, and always will be, for everyone.
Ollie Uglow Head of School
4
For the last two years my report has referred to the significant development of the enlargement of the Dobson Theatre, the Art Department and the Sixth Form Concourse - the most significant building project agreed by the Governors in over a decade. The key objective of this development was the provision of a theatre with a capacity in excess of 400 seats which could also be used for a number of other activities. The planning application was approved in July 2015 and, following the appointment of the main contractor, work began on site in early July last year. Due to the complexities of demolishing the existing theatre, we had agreed a total contract time of around 52 weeks such that we anticipated everything being up and running by the start of the autumn term 2017. This is a busy part of the School and the building works have clearly created some disruption in this area, although every effort was made to keep this to a minimum. I am delighted to be able to report that the contract progressed extremely well, largely within budget, and with very close cooperation between our contractor, Beard, and our Operations Manager, Mr Baker, who are all to be congratulated for this. The Art Department moved back into their newly refurbished area after the Easter break and made use of the newly constructed atrium alongside for their annual Art Exhibition in June. The enlarged Sixth Form Concourse was ready for students on their return at the beginning of the autumn term and the wonderful new theatre had its first public outing at the prize-giving ceremony in September. We have also continued with our normal maintenance and improvement works at Hill Lane, including the construction of a new lecture room for use by the Duke of Edinburgh team. This summer, refurbishment will start on the inner quadrangle behind the reception area. This is in preparation for the installation of a sculpture, currently being developed by our former Head of Art, Mr Mike Long. It depicts three servicemen from the First World War and will be unveiled in November 2018 as part of the commemorative events marking 100 years since the war ended. Although we already present an excellent impression to any visitors to our school, and it undoubtedly makes it an excellent environment in which
to study and to teach, there are still further plans and ideas for the future. School lunches are now so popular that the Dining Room has become a real bottleneck and so a design has been created to extend it outwards across to the adjacent building. This project should take place towards the end of the 2018 summer term for occupation in early September. With the completion of the theatre, thought is also being given to improvements to the external areas at the east end of the School, and the possible construction of a social space in the form of a KES café. At Wellington, the entrance to the Pavilion has been refurbished thus bringing the whole of that building up to the same high standard. We have also developed a reciprocal relationship with the adjacent St Nicholas’s Church. We held an Advent Service there in December and a Thanksgiving Service for our younger pupils in the spring term. Our Rural Studies Centre at Lovaton on Dartmoor is in very good order with regular maintenance of the cottage and the barn. We continue with regular visits to Lovaton not only for Duke of Edinburgh activities but for other team-building or educational purposes. Stroud School have also enjoyed taking groups of their pupils down to Lovaton and so it has become a regular destination for our prep school as well. At Stroud, various minor improvements have been made to the accommodation with the next major project being the construction, in summer 2018, of the new classroom pod for our KS1 pupils. The connection of the outdoor swimming pool to the biomass heating system has already resulted in a longer swimming season for Stroud pupils and an investigation is now under way to see if the pool could be enclosed to extend this still further. I mentioned at Speech Day in 2016 that the Governors had decided to resurrect the election of Fellows. This concept was created in the 1980s to acknowledge the significant contribution made by an individual to King Edward’s, with the first Fellow being Sir Edward Abraham, an OE and major benefactor to the School. The first new Fellow we announced last year was Mr Phil Hartley, the retired Deputy Head who had given a lifetime of service to KES. I am pleased to announce that the Governors have
elected two new Fellows this year; Mr Alderman Alec Samuels, who was a governor from 1998 to 2015, and Mr Rob Putt who retired in 2014 after eleven years as Deputy Head (Registrar) and nearly forty years as a member of staff. Within the KES governing body, there have been three retirements and a significant number of changes and additions. Mrs Pierce, our Child Protection governor, retired in the autumn term; the Revd. Davies, an ex officio governor as Team Rector of the Southampton City Centre Parish, returned to London with his position as Team Rector currently unfilled; and Dr England left the Board at the end of the school year; his role as Chair of the Education and Welfare sub-committee will be taken by Mrs Chant. The Head of Ballard School, Mr Reid, joins the governing body this term ensuring we continue to have a strong educational input. Dr Buchanan has become Child Protection governor on an interim basis in anticipation of a new governor Dr Mitchell, a GP and former KES parent taking on this role in 2018. Mr Rudland has taken over as Chair of the Buildings, Grounds and Sports Committee from Mr Brazier who has been its Chair for the last twenty years and in that time overseen a multitude of building projects at KES and latterly Stroud. Mr Brazier will continue as a governor and Vice Chair. Three other new governors are Mrs Musker, a former KES parent with experience in personnel and recruitment; Mrs Swinn, also a former parent who has been on the Stroud sub-committee for the last five years as their Early Years and Child Protection governor; Mr Gray, an OE, senior partner at a leading accountancy practice in Southampton and current Stroud parent will take over as Chair of the Finance sub-committee. I have decided, after sixteen years as Chairman of Governors, to stand down from this role. I will, however, continue as a governor for an interim period. Mr Morgan takes over as Chair of the Board after nine years as an excellent Chair of the Finance Committee. Mr Morgan is a former KES parent, an accountant and a staunch supporter of the School. These changes and additions have been facilitated by the Membership Committee; they bring new blood, new ideas, and maintain the right mix of skills within the governing body. The Governors are a key part of the leadership of our two schools and
I would like to thank them for their continued support and involvement. I wish the new governors and the incoming chairs every success in their new roles. I normally leave comments with regard to staff to the Head but I feel I must refer to the retirement during the year of two longstanding members of the School; Ms Greenwood, latterly Director of Student Guidance, helped countless numbers of Sixth Formers with their UCAS applications, but was also a stalwart of the English Department for thirty-two years and Mr Hunt, following a thirty-four year career at KES, twenty-seven of them as Head of Geography. I would like to thank them both for the huge contribution they have made to the School and wish them well for the future. The King Edward VI Foundation, under the enthusiastic guidance of Ms Hooper, continues to develop a greater following particularly amongst older Edwardians who appreciate the start in life that the School gave to them, in most instances with their education being free due to our status at that time as a direct grant school. Ms Hooper has organised a number of reunions both at school and around the country for diverse groups, ranging from those termed the ‘Poole Veterans’, so named because they were evacuated to Poole during the Second World War, the ‘Capon Club’ consisting of benefactors to the Foundation and other year groups who attended KES at various times. Several times a year she also publishes ‘The Edwardian’, an alumni magazine circulated to all OEs. I am pleased to be able to conclude what will be my last review by confirming that the School continues to be in excellent health, academically, in sport and the arts, and in the multitude of co-curricular activities in which so many of our pupils participate. We are also financially secure and extremely well administered by our bursarial team. We have a solid intake of new students this September at 11+, 13+ and in the Sixth Form, thus maintaining our numbers at around 960. There is also a firm indication from the enquiries we receive that, in spite of the uncertainties concerning the effect of the so-called ‘Brexit’, this level will continue for the foreseeable future.
Mr B Gay Chair of Governors 5
Academic Progress The School began the year with 961 pupils on role and a ratio of 60% boys to 40% girls. We have enhanced the School’s reputation for academic success with another set of impressive A Level, GCSE and IGCSE results. The academic results this year were very pleasing with 100% of King Edward’s students passing their A Levels with 19% of grades at A*, 61% at A* and A, and 86.6% at A*, A and B; a significant improvement compared with last year. IGCSE and GCSE results were very encouraging. 99.5% of IGCSE and GCSEs were awarded at grade C or above with 76.6% of all grades at A* and A and 51% at A*. 92.1% of all grades were awarded at A*, A or B. 100% of students obtained the minimum 5 GCSE passes including IGCSE Mathematics and English, the usual DfE measure of high standards although, given our adoption of the more demanding IGCSE, this is not given official recognition in the government’s league tables. The results for the GCSE Religious Studies examination taken at the end of the Fourth Year were also very encouraging. These results have ensured that our students are able to proceed to a range of competitive institutions in Higher Education with 96% gaining places at university. A small number have opted for places at art or music colleges and a few are moving directly into the world of work through graduate apprenticeships. 90% gained their choice of university course with 88% of places in the top 25 UK universities including 7 students with places at Oxford and Cambridge and 9 at medical school.
A Level Results 2017 Percentage
50 40 30 20 10 0
A*
A
B
C
D
E
U
F
G
A Level Grades
IGCSE and GCSE Results 2017 Percentage
50 40 30 20 10 0
A*
A
B
C
D
E
IGCSE and GCSE Grades
90% First or second choice university place 10% Other university place or PQA
8 8% Students placed at top 25 ranking universities or medical schools* 1 2% Students in other HE institutions including Music and Art
*As quoted in the Times Good University Guide for the year the application was made. 6
“KES PTA has had another very active twelve months”
KES PTA
KES PTA has had another very active twelve months. The three sub committees (the Social Committee, the Prayer Group and OBNO) meet on an individual basis but also at the PTA council meetings with staff, governors and parents attending. The calendar of social events began with the New Parents’ Wine Tasting in November that was once again very successful. In March, we organised the annual Quiz Night which is always a popular evening with parents. We owe a big vote of thanks to Andrew Fraser-Urquhart who compiled the quiz this year. A collection at the end of the evening, organised by the Charities Commission and the Summer Camp team, raised £521. In July, we held a BBQ and Ceilidh in a marquee at Wellington and much fun was had by all those attending. We are
grateful to all the Social Committee members for their invaluable support in arranging these events over the course of the year. Sadly, we have to say goodbye to Bridget Amos who is leaving the School after many years of support. Her sense of humour and reliability will be very much missed. The Prayer Group continues to meet regularly with the KES staff to pray for the School and its community over breakfast and lunchtimes. The members have continued to support the Christian Union, Interface and the Chaplaincy. Thank you to Helen Lotery and Teresa Venable for leading this group. It has been a difficult year for OBNO (outworn but not outgrown), which is ably run and organised by Sophie Liardet, due to the lack of proper shop space. It has only been opening once a term at the end of the school holidays.
However, there is definitely a demand for it and this has been demonstrated by the number of enquiries, and the amount of people who turn up when the shop is open. From September 2017 we hope to have it back open on a regular weekly basis. Funds raised by KES PTA have this year funded a Ski Erg, contributed towards the Endeavour First Year camp activity, the Cactus Club, outdoor furniture for Wellington, events at the Arts Festival, ‘break out’ kits, the Robotics Club and the Scamp Club. We have also contributed towards the Steinway piano for the new Dobson Theatre. I would like to thank all those who have attended any of the events and encourage parents to join in whenever they can.
Mrs Leask
Chair of KES PTA
This year has been another busy one for the Development Office.
The Edwardian Society
In December we kicked off with the 10 year reunion for the Class of 2006 which was enthusiastically attended by many former pupils and staff. This was followed, in January, by a 50 year anniversary get-together for the 1967 and 1968 leavers, many of whom found the evening extremely nostalgic. The Oxbridge Dinner, for those former KES pupils currently studying at Oxford and Cambridge, was held at St Edmund’s Hall before, in May, we held our annual Poole Veterans’ Luncheon and our coffee morning in June. All the events have been extremely wellsupported by past pupils, most of whom welcome the chance to meet up with old friends. We are grateful to those amongst the alumni community who are involved in helping to keep OE sporting events alive. A core of enthusiastic sportsmen and women are always willing to help organise teams ensuring that regular matches and games take place. In recent years, netball, hockey, golf and cricket fixtures have all become annual events and this year has been no exception with the addition of a football tournament to mark Mr Kukla’s retirement. The Golfing Society has also held five events this year including a new weekend competition aimed at attracting younger players.
Support for the King Edward VI Foundation that raises money solely to provide means-tested bursaries continues to grow, and we are thankful to those alumni and friends of the School who have made one-off or regular donations or are leaving bequests to this very worthwhile cause. Past members of the school community continue to offer their help and guidance to current students by way of careers advice, presentations, work placements and talks to clubs and societies. Their input is invaluable and we are extremely grateful for their willingness to support the current generation of Edwardians.
Ms Hooper
Development Officer
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Drama
The Drama Department has had another busy and exciting year, despite the temporarily reduced performance space. In the autumn term, the GCSE Theatre Studies students created some highly original and thoughtful devised work on a range of topics as part of their examination course, whilst in February, the department staged the first KES Scholars’ Play in the Twigg Studio. All of the Drama Scholars from each year group took lead roles in ‘The Ash Girl’ by Timberlake Wertenbaker, a bold retelling of Cinderella. In the spring, the GCSE and A Level students produced some innovative and highly engaging performances as part of their examination courses for which they received high praise. More recently, the Third Year Theatre Studies classes presented the ‘The Grimm Tales’ in the Twigg Studio and
“The GCSE and A Level students produced some innovative and highly engaging performances”
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Art
during the Arts Festival, Fourth Year students performed extracts from the physical comedy ‘The 39 Steps’ to parents. At the end of June, a cast of more than thirty pupils from First Year to Sixth Form performed in the musical ‘Welcome to Gedanken’ in the wonderful setting of the Theatre Royal, Winchester. Throughout the year, students have had the opportunity to see some very powerful and thought-provoking productions, both in London and closer to home. We have also been fortunate to host workshops from two different theatre companies. Our co-curricular clubs and activities have continued to be popular with students. LAMDA lessons are growing in popularity throughout the School and there have been some very successful examinations this year. Junior Drama Club has been a highlight once again with large numbers of students attending every week. This year has also seen the launch of Stage Club, in collaboration with the Art Department. In this weekly session, students have received guidance and hands-on experience with all aspects of theatre production including lighting, costume, make-up and even designing posters. We are looking forward to making full use of the wonderful new theatre in the next academic year.
Mrs Arnold
Head of Drama
We started the academic year in our temporary studios based in the old school shop and squash court and one remaining art studio, whilst the DAC project got underway. Miss McGinn also joined the department, fresh from Falmouth Art School, and has thrown herself into life at KES. KES artists have been busy throughout the year producing some outstanding pieces of artwork with many Head Master’s commendations awarded. The Upper Sixth have responded well to the demands of the new A2 course. There have been expressive paintings exploring relationships, photographs and charcoal studies looking at the synergy linking man-made forms in architecture to their origins in the natural world and works exploring the vulnerability of being a young person in the void between childhood and an adult. Compositions of the underwater world and photographic studies of London have all illustrated the breadth of talent of this year group. The Lower Sixth artists and photographers also proved very able using the new unexamined AS course
Music
to really experiment and look closely at the back stories of many artists. After the Easter break we were able to move back into the newly refurbished department holding the A2 and GCSE examinations in the new studios. The students produced some stunning pieces of work as if to welcome us back into our natural habitat of large white spaces! The department continues to run a range of lunchtime and after school clubs and societies to further engage and expand the students’ creativity. Mrs Moxon has been running our art partnerships with local primary schools introducing children to an exciting range of processes, Mr Lewis has run a fascinating Biological Illustration Club and Miss McGinn has introduced Character Design Club.
Mr Piggott Head of Art
It has been a whirlwind of excitement, fun and activity in the Music Department this year. Notable events have included an inspiring string playing day with the London Mozart Players which involved KES musicians and 110 young string players from partnership and prep schools; the Lower School concert where Symphonic Winds, Sinfonia, Vocalettes, Flute Choir and Jazz Group performed with great style and confidence; the Turner Sims Concert in March featuring the School’s senior musicians in Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Big Band and Chamber Choir and the Carol Service which took place at Romsey Abbey. Other performances have included Sixth Form recitals at Southampton’s Art Gallery, the Chamber Choir singing evensong at Romsey Abbey and the Wind Trio performing at the National Chamber Music competition for schools. Many of our musicians performed in the annual Music Competition adjudicated by Dr Carrasco and the winners were Maya Chakraboryty, Alex Zhou and Erik Hillman. Trips and workshops have included an excellent evening at Soho’s Pizza Express Jazz club, listening to the infectious Latin rhythms of nine piece Cuban band Son Con; a first class chamber music concert at London’s Kings Place; a Beethoven conducting workshop with Tom Seligman; a
backstage tour of Covent Garden Opera House; a singing workshop with David Hurley of the Kings’ Singers; a piano masterclass with Neil Immelman and a concert of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 16 with the London Mozart Players at St John’s, Smith Square. The highlight of the year has to be the creative arts trip to New York City where in five days of seemingly non-stop activity, students soaked up the cultural richness and diversity of this most iconic city. The Arts Festival ran for three sunny days in June with a kaleidoscope of performances, exhibitions, workshops, lectures and concerts providing an exciting, vibrant and stimulating three days to challenge and inspire. Sixty-two visiting artists came to the School to work with the pupils and the event was rounded off in style with a wonderful street theatre, festival picnic and firework display.
Mrs Freemantle
Director of Music and Creative Arts
“The Arts Festival ran for three sunny days in June” 9
Sport
“A number of athletes continue to be successful at higher levels within their chosen sport ”
This has been another excellent year for the sportsmen and women of KES. There have been over 775 fixtures across fourteen sports involving over 600 students. In the autumn, the KES 1st XV rugby squad did well against some strong opposition but it was the performances of the younger sides that give us great optimism for the future. The U15, U14 and U13 sides all won over three-quarters of their matches and the U14 team won the county 10-a-side competition.
The girls’ hockey teams continue to be successful with good results in the regular block fixtures and four age groups progressed to the regional rounds of the county cup; the 1st XI reaching the regional semi-final. The netball programme grew considerably and this year we fielded nineteen teams. The 1st team won over half of their matches, the U14 team reached the regional heats, the U13s continue to be strong and the U12s reached the last sixteen of the national cup. In boys’ hockey there were some impressive performances from the U14 age group in particular. This team won all their Saturday matches and reached the regional final only to miss a place in the national finals because of losing a penalty shoot-out. The U12 age group showed a lot of potential for the future and the 1st XI reached the quarterfinal of the national plate competition. Indoor hockey continued to grow with all our teams reaching the regional heat stage, the U16 girls progressing to the regional finals and the U16 boys reaching the national finals. The summer term was no less busy. In rounders the senior team had Saturday fixtures for the first time in a number of years and the U14s did particularly 10
well to win the South Coast Invitational Tournament hosted by PGS. In cricket, 95 matches were played across what was a very busy summer term. The U12A team secured a county cup win over PGS placing them in the national cup next year and the U14s did well but were disappointed to lose their county cup final. The 1st XI had an excellent season winning the Altham Trophy for the first time in nine years. Other highlights include the KES athletics team reaching the second round of the County Track knock-out competitions and individual athletes gaining selection to compete in the county championships, as well as the formation of a girls’ rugby team and an U13 girls’ cricket team. The elite performer programme continues to grow and we held a selection day for the first cohort of sports award holders who started in September. A number of athletes continue to be successful at higher levels within their chosen sport including national level in biathlon, athletics, tae kwon do, cross country and badminton and international level in sailing and rowing.
Mr Kent
Director of Sport
Co-Curricular
We are hugely proud of the range of co-curricular activities on offer for pupils to take part in outside of the classroom. For some they provide the opportunity to become more skilled and experienced, for others the chance to enjoy a new hobby and some students just enjoy being involved and taking part in the activity. KES PTA continue to generously support our societies and this year monies have been donated to the Cactus Club to create a cactus garden, for some gym equipment, to student robotics and the Scamp Club. We have nearly 100 clubs running at lunchtimes and after school. There have been some notable new clubs formed this year. We are very grateful to Mr Appleby for running a Scrabble Club, pupils have benefited enormously from his expertise, and there is now a popular Harry Potter Society. The new Art Department is thriving and now hosts a Biological Illustration Club and a Character Design Club in addition to the usual provision. Pupils and staff were also busy painting the set for the ‘Welcome to Gendanken’ musical. This was performed in the Theatre
Royal, Winchester at the end of the Arts Festival and involved about 40 students and staff from all areas of the School. The House competition, the Allen Grant Trophy, has been an exciting and wellattended contest, with a host of events. Sports Day, Cross Country and the Swimming Gala were closely fought, high energy occasions. With Lawrence and Lake competing for the top spot, it was tight up until the last event but Lake came through as the victorious House in 2017. Partnerships with local schools are growing ever stronger and we have large groups of pupils in the Upper School and Sixth Form involved in weekly and one-off activities. Our pupils really enjoy being involved and get a huge amount from volunteering with their younger counterparts.
Mrs Burrows
Assistant Head (Co-curricular)
Endeavour Endeavour is a well-established part of the summer term, now in its fourth year. The whole school came off timetable in early July, with year groups all focussing on a different part of their development. The First Year worked on their ‘independence’ at Fairthorne Manor for two nights. The Second Year had the opportunity to improve their ‘confidence’ on water, abroad in Normandy, with heights on a climbing trip, or behind the lens with a photography workshop. The Third Year ‘collaborated’. A large group went to learn about collaboration in the
trenches on the Battlefields trip and those who stayed behind worked in teams in a Dragons’ Den simulation. The Fourth Year either went to Wimbledon, completed a Duke of Edinburgh expedition, or threw themselves into a number of ‘community’ projects with partnership schools. The Lower Sixth were involved in a range of activities in pursuit of ‘self-improvement’, engaging in Biology or Geography fieldwork, open days, work experience, starting their extended project or planting a cactus garden at Stroud.
Mrs Burrows
“The Lower Sixth were involved in a range of activities in pursuit of ‘selfimprovement’”
Assistant Head (Co-curricular) 11
Trips & Visits
It has been a bumper year full of exciting and interesting trips and visits from the local to the far-flung. Their purpose has been a mix of those which inspire academic interest or aid with the speaking and listening of a foreign language, to those which centre around charity projects, teambuilding, competitive sport, performance or expedition and endeavour. They all foster a sense of independence and increase confidence and there really is something for everyone. The trips and visits calendar is a busy one. The French, German and Spanish departments have had successful ventures across age groups and Europe and the Charlotte and Prague exchanges were a great success. Historians enjoyed Munich and the ski trip this year was back in France. The expedition team had a fantastic time trekking in Costa Rica
“The trips and visits calendar is a busy one”
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and Nicaragua whilst our sportsmen had a superb time playing hockey in South Africa this summer. The annual watersports trip to France continues to be as popular as ever. An abundance of Second Year pupils enjoyed camping at Lovaton and Duke of Edinburgh offers opportunities to experience the outdoors throughout the Upper School and Sixth Form. This year has also seen new trips; Space Camp in Brussels, Creative Arts in New York and Geographers in Iceland. Teaching staff give a huge amount of time, in addition to their teaching and pastoral duties, but their understanding of the benefits for the pupils means that they continue to do so and come up with new and exciting ideas for what will come next.
Mrs Burrows
Assistant Head (Co-curricular)
Charities
This has been another year full of exciting fundraising events at school. The autumn term started off with the Toy Appeal Fun Run, which saw the entire First Year run the length of the School dressed as their favourite toy or character. The students raised a record amount and were able to buy Christmas presents for 100 local children, who may not otherwise have received a gift. The Toy Appeal was quickly followed by the annual Link to Hope shoebox appeal. Again, a record number of boxes were filled by students, staff and parents; 176 in total. These were all sent via a local church to families in Eastern Europe. The autumn term also saw the Upper School Charities Commission running a ‘Mr & Mrs’ game show with a mixture of staff and students taking part. This event was a huge success with the Upper School pupils! The term’s non-uniform day was pyjama themed and there was a great display of onesies. In the final week of term, the pupils arranged their popular Christmas stalls selling Santa hats, candy canes and gift tags. With the New Year came some new ideas. The students hosted two more popular shows; ‘KES has got talent’ and ‘University Challenge’. Both were very well attended and raised more than £200. Other events included a First Year football tournament, a FIFA tournament, selling Valentine’s Day roses and a treasure hunt. Summer was busy with the Arts Festival activities, including ‘Sponge
the Teacher’, the annual fun run raising money to sponsor a guide dog puppy and a kaleidoscope nonuniform day. Throughout the year the Charities Commission has supported various charities; local, national and international. A donation has also been made to the newly set-up UK Solidarity Fund to aid victims of terror attacks in the UK. The Summer Camp team has been working hard to raise funds for their week camping in the New Forest. They organised a jungle themed First Year disco, a 12 hour triathlon and a Krispy Kreme doughnut sale. They have also been lucky enough to acquire several wetsuits to allow the young children to play in the sea and Lymington Seawater baths whatever the weather this year!
“All pupils involved in the Charities Commission have worked with dedication and motivation”
The South Africa team has had another successful year fundraising for the Goedgedacht Trust which supports children and offers them a path out of poverty. The annual dinner dance was a big hit, raising over £5000, and was closely followed by ‘An evening with Geoff Stelling’ for the football fans. Overall it has been a highly successful year and all pupils involved in the Charities Commission have worked with dedication and motivation to raise money for those less fortunate than themselves.
Miss Enfield
Head of Charities
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Staff Mr Hunt joined the School in 1983 as a teacher of Geography. In 1985 he was appointed Head of Geography where he remained for 27 years, stepping down in 2011. During his time at King Edward’s he has run numerous residential and day field trips and ensured field work played a central part in the experience of our Geography students. He has taught Geography and Geology to A Level standard and was appointed as an academic tutor in 2007. In 2008 Mr Hunt took on the role of Website Content Manager, a role which he will be continuing with part-time next year. We wish him all the best for his retirement from teaching. Ms Greenwood joined King Edward’s as a teacher of English in 1984 and has done much to change and modernise attitudes in the School as it moved to full co-education. She is an exceptional teacher of English literature and language with a real passion for the subject. She has been a Lower School and Sixth Form tutor and Head of Careers but will be best remembered for her role as Director of Student Guidance for which she was known as Mrs UCAS. She has also run a number of girls’ netball teams, started the first Dance Club within the School and has served the DofE programme as a silver award trainer and assessor. We wish her the very best as she retires.
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Mrs Platten joined King Edward’s in September 2008. She is an exceptional mathematician and has been a Lower School and Upper School tutor. In 2008, she set up the Mathematics Partnership Scheme offering enrichment lessons for Year 5 and 6 pupils. She also introduced Sixth Form attendance at the ‘Mathematics in Action’ lectures and has regularly accompanied students to London for these valued trips. In 2012 she became second-in-department and Head of Mathematics in 2015. Mrs Platten is leaving teaching and we wish her success in whatever lies ahead. Mr Kukla joined the School in 2001 to teach French on a part-time basis, but shortly afterwards became full-time, teaching both German and French. He is a formidable linguist and has taught both languages across the age ranges. He has been a caring and popular Sixth Form tutor, has run the Aachen Christmas market trip since 2010 and became Head of German in 2014. He has led numerous trips and exchanges and has coached the 1st XI football team who won the U19 Hampshire Cup under his guidance this year. We wish him all the best as he takes early retirement.
Mrs García Viejo started working at KES as a Spanish language assistant in September 2014 and during her time at KES she has shown great enthusiasm for her job and boundless commitment to her students. Principally she has worked with A Level and Upper School students and made a real impact on their achievements in the final oral examinations.
Mr Halls joined the Classics Department at King Edward’s ten years ago from Taunton School in Devon. As a first rate classicist he has contributed greatly to the teaching of both Latin and Greek and also to the study of both the Aeneid and the Homeric epics within Classical Civilisation. As a passionate Hellenist he has also run a Greek club for younger students and his love of Greek drama also led him to produce Aristophanes’ Frogs. He has helped coach football in the Sixth Form and has accompanied countless Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. Earlier this year he led a very successful trip to Italy with 45 students. We wish him all the best for the future.
Mrs Besley worked at King Edward’s for nearly four years as a school nurse. Before coming to KES she had lived in Kenya where she worked as a Nurse and Child Protection Lead within an educational establishment. Mrs Besley quickly become a central figure in the nursing team giving all a friendly welcome with a reassuring manner. She is moving to take on a new role at Ballard School and we wish her well in her new post.
Mr Hardwick has worked at King Edward’s on a part-time basis since September 2012 and has taught a range of classes from Second Year through to A Level Further Maths. He is a first rate mathematician and a very skilled teacher with over 40 years of experience and has been particularly valued by our most able students studying for Oxbridge. He has also been involved in running the Chess Club and this year organised a cup for House Chess aptly named ‘The Richard Patten House Chess Trophy’. We wish him well in his retirement.
Mr Fernández started teaching at KES in September 2016 as an NQT and quickly established himself in the department. He was a valuable asset all round, particularly with his native knowledge of Spanish and English. He accompanied two school trips to Salamanca and to Catalonia and also helped coach the U13 rugby team and the 1st XV squad. He moves to Spain to work in a bilingual school in Madrid. We have had three teaching staff on short term contracts; Miss Porter, Dr Wikeley and Mrs Tucker. We thank them for their support. Mr Digby and Mr Stow served as our IT Assistants for the year to fulfil the sandwich work placement components of their degree studies. We wish them well in their final year at university.
Dr Evans joined the Music Department two years ago and has been an important part of the music team, whilst simultaneously completing his doctorate at Southampton University. In addition to conducting the Sinfonia, Dr Evans has taken the Jazz Group to a high standard of performance with his own intricate arrangements. He is an able singer who has contributed to numerous performances with the Chamber Choir and is a popular teacher of both Lower School Music and Music Technology who has been dedicated to the success of his students. We wish him well as he moves beyond teaching to pursue his vocation within the Church.
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Founded 1553
KING EDWARD VI SCHOOL
SOUTHAMPTON Wilton Road Southampton SO15 5UQ
Tel 023 8070 4561 Fax 023 8070 5937 Email enquiries@kes.hants.sch.uk www.kes.hants.sch.uk