From The Head As we emerge from probably the coldest spring in a number of years, it has been a good term with plenty achieved. It began with very good results for our university applicants with over 80% receiving offers from Russell Group universities including twelve Oxbridge places in this round of applications. Much time has also been focused on managing the new construction projects on the main Hill Lane site as well as at Stroud. Plans are complete for the expansion of the KES Dining Room over the coming term, and work is already underway on the construction of a new four classroom building at Stroud. As this edition of KonnEctions makes clear, the School remains extraordinarily busy with a variety of activities offering our students many opportunities. The spring term has a compressed calendar of hockey,
netball, football and even sailing at SWAC when the snow allows! We have also enjoyed the annual KESPTA Quiz Night, a number of drama productions including the student directed Agatha Christie classic ‘And then There Were None’ and several musical events including two spring concerts in our new Dobson Theatre, a jazz evening and wonderful combined choral concert with the Winchester Cathedral Choir. Charitable activity has been very successful with over £5000 raised this term; a great achievement. As ever, our students enjoyed a number of trips during half-term. Our historians travelled to Poland, our Italian linguists went to Milan, our Hispanists were in Salamanca, our younger scientists visited Space Camp in Belgium and our senior netball team toured Jamaica. There was also Duke of Edinburgh training at Lovaton.
There is more opportunity over the forthcoming Easter break with the annual ski trip to the Alps, a cricket pre-season training camp in Menorca and a creative arts visit to Vienna, as well as the regular trips to Mutterstadt, Andalucía and Montpellier to improve language skills. Many other students will also be involved in various Duke of Edinburgh expeditions in the New Forest and on Dartmoor at Lovaton. This issue of KonnEctionS also highlights some of the remarkable achievements of individual students at King Edward’s. They remain positive and community minded whatever the weather. A J Thould Head
King Edward VI School Wilton Road . Southampton . Hampshire SO15 5UQ Telephone: 023 8070 4561
www.kes.hants.sch.uk
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Academic Upper Sixth Art students visit Chichester
Local MP visits KES
In January, the Upper Sixth Art students visited The Pallant House Gallery in Chichester to view a retrospective of the painter David Bomberg and the sketchbooks of Paula Rego. Bomberg’s work covered early vorticisim through to visceral and moving self-portraits and paintings of Jerusalem, whilst Paula Rego is a Portuguese artist whose work is often autobiographical. Her sketchbooks clearly showed the process of constructing a sense of a narrative; a characteristic of her paintings.
An A Level Politics course was introduced at KES last year and, since then, students have been fortunate enough to have visits from two members of parliament. Local MP, Dr Alan Whitehead, delivered a question and answer session that was dominated by the issues of Brexit and the impact of Jeremy Corbyn, whilst Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North and newly appointed Immigration Minister, visited one lunchtime to speak about the role and challenges of being a politician.
Geographers in London At the end of last term, Third Year geographers visited the Natural History and Science Museums. Whilst at the museums, the students enjoyed a show entitled ‘Rocks the House’ that involved hands-on experiences to learn about plate tectonics. The earthquakes and volcanoes section of the museum was also useful with the students particularly enjoying the earthquake simulator. In the Science Museum, the group visited relevant areas such as Atmosphere and Energy in order to learn more about climate change, sustainability and changes through time.
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A night at the Opera!
Maths mania
A group of GCSE and A Level Music students visited London during the Christmas break for an enlightening foray into the world of opera. The group spent time at the opera exhibition at the V&A museum experiencing some of the most exquisite music composed for the stage, while face to face with objects and artefacts which place it in a unique cultural context. Afterwards, they went for dinner in Covent Garden before attending a dazzling production of Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto’ at the Royal Opera House.
The Maths Department have been busy over the past few months with many pupils getting the chance to participate in off-site trips and compete in external competitions. Ewan Murphy did particularly well winning a Gold certificate in the UK Mathematics Trust Senior Maths Challenge and subsequently qualifying for the British Maths Olympiad. Here he earnt a Distinction, placing him in the top 20% of this elite group. UKMT Gold awards also went to Georgia Stonadge, Sam Austin, Rishabh Chugh, Naomi Lee and Eva Carlyle putting them in the top 10% of the 70,000 students who entered from across the country. A KES team of four mathematicians also competed in the Senior Team Maths Challenge, at Alton College, where they took part in four rounds of problem-solving and teamwork against the clock. Lower Sixth mathematicians travelled to the University of Warwick to be inspired by some great speakers on a variety of topics. Among others, Simon Singh spoke on one of his pet topics, ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’ and the long quest to prove it, whilst Dr Mark Lewney spoke about the mysterious ways that maths appears in nature.
Popping up for a talk GCSE Design and Technology students were delighted to receive a talk from the popular pop-up book illustrator Jennie Maizels. The students enjoyed hearing about the process behind each book and the way the designs and mechanisms are continually developed and refined from initial ideas, through to the published version of each book. Understanding this industrial approach will be useful as the students start to think about their major GCSE projects.
The sword of Odysseus Fourth Year Classical Civilisation students visited the British Museum in January to support their study of the Homeric World. Dr Andrew Shapland, Greek Bronze Age Curator gave them a wonderful introduction to the Minoan Mycenaean and Later Greek Galleries and, during the course of the visit, students were shown sculpture from the Tomb of Agamemnon, the sword of Odysseus and the Linear B tablet of King Nestor.
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Why languages matter!
Science Live
Nine members of the Lower Sixth attended the University of Southampton’s ‘Why Languages Matter’ conference in February. They listened to a range of lectures from feminism and the media to the impacts of globalisation, and enjoyed the opportunity to experience the university atmosphere and to gain insight into what constitutes a languages course. The day also provided time to consider potential careers and discuss how the ability to speak a second language can be advantageous.
GCSE and A Level Science students have enjoyed various trips to Science Live events this term. Fifty-four Fourth Year students attended a Science Live event in Oxford during which they listened to talks from leading research scientists. The highlight was undoubtedly the opportunity to learn about the uniqueness of ice as a solid material and to witness Andrea Sella make dry ice-bergs. Upper Sixth physicists travelled to London for their event. Along with lectures on whether life needs quantum mechanics, understanding the secrets of particle accelerators and the world of fluid dynamics, Dr Michael Brooks challenged them to consider ‘What is time?’ examining some of the current theories speculating that there may be something that lies beyond both the space and time that we experience in our universe.
Hausarrest! Third Year Germanists were entertained by the Onatti Productions touring theatre group this term. The troupe put on their production of ‘Hausarrest’ and were enormously energetic, involving audience members on more than one occasion, and speaking nothing but German throughout the entire play.
Sixth Form History Trip Sixth Form historians visited Hampton Court Palace this term to learn first-hand about the rise and fall of Thomas Wolsey, an essential element of their A Level studies.
A Level Chemistry students also enjoyed a trip to London to hear a host of inspirational speakers presenting on a wide variety of topics at the cutting edge of their research. Of particular interest was a presentation given by Dr Peter Wothers, from the University of Cambridge, on the elusive world of electrons through wave functions and software models. The students found this subject fascinating in spite of the complex nature of the material.
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Co-curricular ‘Hairspray’ dance workshop
Carol Service
On 24th January, KES welcomed Layton Williams from the cast of touring musical ‘Hairspray’ to lead an exciting and dynamic dance workshop based on the hit musical. A number of Lower School dancers took part with the opportunity to learn some of the moves from finale number ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’. The girls gave the workshop an enormous amount of enthusiasm and energy and were then lucky enough to visit The Mayflower in the evening to see Layton, and the rest of the cast, perform the moves they had learnt earlier in the day.
The annual Carol Service was held in the beautiful Romsey Abbey just before the end of term. The KES Chamber Choir led the singing, alongside the full combined choirs and instrumentalists. The choirs performed a wide range of repertoire, from a traditional hymn to the Virgin Mary in the Quecha language from South America, to Wilberg’s ethereal ‘Still, still, still’. The retiring collection for the cardiac charity CRY, selected in memory of Fifth Year student Ben Smith who tragically died last year, raised over £1300.
Bike Aware Seven intrepid First Year cyclists spent four hours over two very cold Sundays learning how to negotiate the roads around the School safely. Based on the Bikeability scheme, the National Standards Instructor guided them through twenty-two skills expected when cycling on a variety of roads. All achieved success at Level 2, with three students passing Level 3.
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KES welcomes American exchange students
First Year disco
Students from King Edward’s partner school in Charlotte, North Carolina arrived in the UK for the away leg of their exchange in February. After a big welcome by their student partners in school, they spent the weekend with their British families in their homes. The following week, they spent time in school working on their art-based projects and shadowing their exchange friends, as well as going on several day trips to visit places of interest around the UK.
This year’s annual First Year disco, organised by the Sixth Form Summer Camp team had a neon theme. The evening raised over £200 for this year’s summer camp with Daisy Porter displaying her DJ talent throughout the evening.
WW1 Day Third Years spent a busy and interactive day one Friday in January, when they participated in the History Department’s WWI day. The students spent each period listening to, and participating in, a session with a visiting speaker; each with an aim of giving them a better understanding of the historical and social context of this period of recent history.
Topics covered included the German perspective and the importance of WWI in the rise of the Nazis, the role of women in WWI, medical services and developments during WWI, WWI in the air and Tommy Atkins: the British soldier in WWI.
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Battle of the Bands This year’s Battle of the Bands competition took place in the new Dobson Theatre in front of an auditorium full of family and friends. The event is held annually as a fundraiser for the Summer Camp project that entails a team of Sixth Formers taking a group of Southampton’s young carers on a week’s long camping and activity holiday as respite from their daily caring responsibilities.
German Weihnachten! The annual First and Second Year trip to the Christmas market in Aachen, Germany, took place in December. After a warm welcome at breakfast at the Café van den Daele, the group acquainted themselves with the town with the help of a tour, before heading off to the market for lunch and shopping! They also visited the beautiful Aachen cathedral before finishing at the Lindt chocolate outlet.
Oxbridge explained! At the beginning of February, KES played host to a team from St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and the Oxford University Society (Hampshire branch) for a series of talks and workshops on the application process to Oxford and Cambridge. Lower Sixth students from other local schools, as well as KES students, were invited and the School was delighted to welcome students from as far afield as the Isle of Wight and Dorset. Those attending were taken through writing personal statements and the interview process, as well as more general presentations on admissions tests and the selection process.
There were some outstanding performances and the eventual winner was Daisy Sarton, the runners-up were ‘The Risk Runners’ and the audience award went to ‘Pride and Joy’.
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KES hosts Higher Education Fair The School organised a very successful Higher Education Fair this term. The event was primarily aimed at members of the Lower Sixth and their parents and representatives from twenty-eight of the UK’s universities attended. Amongst the other exhibitors were GAP year organisations, apprenticeship providers and recruitment officers from each of the Armed Forces as well as a company offering overseas study opportunities.
CERN 2018 In February, a group of Lower Sixth physicists travelled to Geneva to visit CERN – the world’s largest particle accelerator. Here they combined lab sessions (during which they built their own cloud chambers, and observed alpha particle trails and muon trails arising from cosmic rays) with visiting exhibitions and the facility. They also made a trip to the control centre for the cosmic ray detector on board the International Space Station and were able to see live footage of a spacewalk.
Space Camp A group of twenty-four Third Year students and four members of staff recently visited the Euro Space Centre in Belgium. During their two day stay, the group took part in various activities and training sessions including a space mission control which involved the launching and landing of a space shuttle, and exercises on the different simulators used for astronaut training. They also took part in a micro rocket building and launch workshop and attended presentations on topics such as ‘living and working in space’ and ‘weightlessness and its effects’.
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Sixth Formers attend Debating Conference On the Friday before half-term, Lower Sixth students spoke articulately, and with eloquence, at a conference at Southampton Civic Centre. The group discussed the role of the United Nations in today’s society, drawing on its history and its current effectiveness, against Bitterne Park School. The four speakers were excellent, remaining composed during some tricky subjects and each earning a school dignissima for their performances.
History trip to Poland
Milan and its galleries! During half-term, nine students and two teachers spent four days in Milan on a combined Art and MFL trip. The group visited at least nine different art galleries that included installations by Anselm Keifer and Lucio Fontana and exhibitions of Toulouse-Lautrec and Frida Kahlo, among others. They viewed the ArmaniSilos clothing exhibition, saw exhibitions in the Fondazione Prada and glimpsed the café designed by Wes Anderson. Their cultural experience was complemented by nine hours of Italian lessons, a lesson in pizza-making, shopping and eating a lot of ‘gelato’! They also experienced a walk on the roof of Milan’s world famous cathedral.
In February, the annual History Department IGCSE trip once again took place. This year the pupils visited Krakow in Poland in an effort to develop their understanding of Nazi Germany and the events of the Second World War. The trip took in a tour of Krakow itself and the famous, and remarkable, Wieliczka Salt Mines on the first day. Days two and three were devoted to studying The Holocaust. The group spent a day at Auschwitz whilst also visiting two relevant museums in Krakow itself. The trip concluded with the opportunity to listen to a Polish ‘Righteous Gentile’- a lady whose family had sheltered a young Jewish girl from the Nazis during the dreadful years of the early 1940s.
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Pinhole photography Members of the Photography Club were treated to a visit from school governor, Dr Roger Buchanan, who brought along with him a selection of pinhole cameras for the group to see. The students had a chance to look more closely at the equipment before trying the cameras out for themselves.
Salamanca During half-term fifteen Spanish A Level students travelled to Salamanca to experience Spanish culture first-hand. As well as having daily lessons at a specialist language school the students had a chance to prepare traditional pies at a well-known local bakery, visit Madrid’s bullring and fully immerse themselves in the carnival’s atmosphere ensuring everyone had a great time!
Netball tour to Jamaica For ten days in February, the KES senior netball team took on eight gruelling games, in hot and humid conditions, as they toured one of the world’s most culturally diverse countries. Jamaica is a fascinating place with beautiful beaches, landscapes and history and despite the weather, the players equipped themselves really well and played some fast and accurate netball; winning almost half their games. The students returned to school better players and enriched by their tour experience.
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Creative Arts And then there were none! Congratulations to all those who took part in the Sixth Form production of Agatha Christie’s ‘And then there were none’ that was performed in The Dobson Theatre this term. The play was superbly directed by Ameena Hamid and involved eleven Sixth Form cast members, as well as numerous other students in make-up, sound and front of house.
Piano Masterclass Pianist Samantha Carrasco visited KES to lead an exciting and informative piano workshop for A Level Music students. Samantha is a highly skilled soloist, accompanist, orchestral player and chamber musician who has developed an impressive reputation as a teacher, presenter and ensemble coach. She gave a fascinating insight to the programmatic piano music of Schumann and Grieg which the students have been studying as part of the course.
Singing at The Royal Albert Hall Congratulations to Sixth Form student, Indie Chungh who, following two rounds of auditions, has a place to sing in the children’s chorus of Bizet’s opera ‘Carmen’ at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in early spring.
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Music Competition 2018 This year, the KES annual Music Competition was held on February 2nd, judged by alumna and current Oxford Music student Miriam Chapman-Rosenfeld. All of the entrants performed with musicality and technical accomplishment with an impressive range of styles and instruments on display including electric guitar, clarinet, voice and the bagpipes. Grade 1-3 Winner: James Tall Runners up: Toby Ellis and Amelia Roberts Grade 4-6 Winner: Boheng Shen Runners up: Kym Anderson and Sophie Roe Grade 7 and above Winner: Aelfred Hillman Runners up: Eleanor Dunlop and Jordan Abbott
Junior Spring Concert Earlier this term, The Dobson Theatre hosted the Junior Spring Concert featuring, amongst others, The Swing Band, several soloists, a violin duet and even a bagpiper. Around seventy pupils, mainly from the Lower School, performed to a packed auditorium filled with family and friends.
Pirate capers! One Thursday after school, the cast of the forthcoming Lower School Production of ‘Treasure Island’ took part in a combat workshop led by Mark Ruddick from Squire Stage Combat. Pupils had great fun learning how to create realistic fight scenes, including hand-to-hand combat and sword-fighting techniques. We look forward to seeing these in action in the production in June!
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Jazz Workshop At the end of February, virtuoso drummer Ted Carrasco and his professional jazz band, led an afternoon of music making in a jazz workshop for nearly fifty students consisting of the members of the KES junior and senior jazz ensembles, Big Band and Swing Band. The focus of the session was on the freedom and artistry of improvisation, and the workshop culminated in a combined performance with students of all ages performing and improvising with top-level professionals. The day concluded with an evening concert featuring student and professional performers, and including solo items from Ben Carter and Jackson Taylor.
KING EDWARD VI SCHOOL MUSICIANS PRESENT
WITH WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL CHAMBER CHOIR
23 FEBRUARY 2018 | 7.30PM DOBSON THEATRE | TICKETS £5 WWW.TICKETSOURCE.CO.UK/DOBSONKES T: 023 8070 4561 E: DOBSON@KES.HANTS.SCH.UK
KES welcomes Winchester Cathedral Choir On 23rd February, the KES Chamber Choir performed in a concert in the Dobson Theatre alongside the Winchester Cathedral Chamber Choir. The performance included Vaughan Williams’ ‘Five Mystical Songs’ with professional soloist Andrew De Silva, as well as a heartwarming rendition of Elgar’s ‘Songs from the Bavarian Highlands’. This was an excellent opportunity for King Edward’s vocalists to sing alongside one of the county’s leading choirs and provided a valuable learning experience to all who took part.
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Spring Concert In March, the Senior Spring Concert brought the term to a rousing finale showcasing many of the School’s advanced musicians. There were a number of outstanding chamber groups and solo performances in the lively programme, demonstrating the depth and breadth of music at KES. The Chamber Choir performed a stunning newly commissioned vocal piece entitled ‘The Curtain Lifts’ by composer Paul Burke and the Chamber Orchestra excelled at all levels with a performance of the last movement of Rachmaninoff’s famous Second Piano Concerto with guest professional pianist Samantha Carrasco.
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Sport Two KES teams make regionals
Pentathlon World Cup
In January, U14 and U16 netball teams competed in the Regional Netball Tournament having qualified in October by finishing runners-up and winners of the County Tournament. Despite having to compete without their usual goal shooter, the U16 side played with great strength and determination throughout, finishing fifth in their group. The U14 squad demonstrated outstanding court play, a high level of skill and great team cohesion, only losing to Brighton College by two goals and Wellington College by one goal and beating Headington, Pipers Corner, Thornton College and Cowes. The girls finished third in their group, missing out on a place in the semi-finals by only one goal! It is a real achievement for two teams to reach this stage.
George Budden was selected to represent Great Britain in the first UIPM 2018 Pentathlon World Cup Series competition of the season in Cairo.
England squad selection Harry Croft-Baker and Rory Penrose will represent the England U16 hockey team in a series of matches against Holland at Easter.
A successful term for boys’ hockey The boys’ hockey teams have had a phenomenal term of hockey with great success in the County Cup competitions. The 1st XI progressed to the last sixteen of the English Boys’ Under 18 Cup having beaten Wellington (9-0), Reigate Grammar (7-2) and Kingston (3-1). Both the U13 and U14 sides also won their county championship tournaments this season and progressed to the regional heats whilst the U16 squad became Hampshire Schools’ runners-up and advanced to the regional heat by virtue of a 10-1 win over St James’s, London in a play-off.
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British Championship qualifier
County Cross Country Championships
First Year student Natasha Begbour finished fifth in the Southern Region Foil Fencing Championships. As a result of this performance, she has qualified for the British Youth Championships to be held in Sheffield in May.
Several of the School’s cross country runners represented Southampton in the County Championships that took place at Fairthorne Manor. There were notable performances from Felix Clacy who came fifteenth, Phoebe Moriarty-Palios who finished eleventh, Isabel Richardson who came tenth and Ben Brown who came fourth. This qualified them to run for Hampshire in the regional event.
Table tennis league results KES table tennis players competed in the Southampton Schools’ U13 League at this term. They beat Testwood 7-1 and St Mary’s 5-3, before drawing 4-4 with Mountbatten School. The results of these matches meant that they finished just one point off of the top of the league at the end of the season.
Girls’ Rugby action Sunday 25th February saw the first ever KES Girls’ Rugby 7s Squad take part in the Christ’s Hospital School Tournament. In freezing conditions, the team acquitted themselves extremely well against some experienced opposition such as Epsom College, Gordon’s School, Peter Symonds College and Christ’s Hospital A team. Although the King Edward’s girls did not win any games, they defended valiantly and Ellie Dunlop, Ellie Todd and Naomi Lee all scored tremendous team tries. The girls were enthusiastic throughout, despite the freezing temperatures, and are to be commended for their performances.
King Edward VI School Wilton Road . Southampton . Hampshire SO15 5UQ Telephone: 023 8070 4561 . www.kes.hants.sch.uk