KonnEctionS winter 2017

From The Head The new academic year began with our best ever A Level results, particularly gratifying given the changing nature of the A Level specifications as we move to linear qualifications. As a consequence, just under 90% of our students will proceed to the Russell Group and The Times top 25 universities.

We were very pleased to welcome the distinguished Olympic team psychologist Dr Steve Bull as our chief guest at prize-giving in September to award our academic prizes in the new Dobson Theatre.

It is a wonderfully airy space with excellent acoustics, increased capacity and greater flexibility. It has been extensively used, not least for the sell-out production of the school musical, ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

This issue also reports on the many events that have taken place since July, with regular features such as the watersports holiday in France,

the charity visit to the Goedgedacht Trust in South Africa, the Summer Camp in the New Forest working with young carers and our annual exchanges with our partner school in Charlotte Country Day School in North Carolina. One group of lucky IT students even had a visit to Silicon Valley in California. We have also had expeditions to the jungles of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, hockey tours to Holland, Scotland and South Africa, netball in Belfast and rugby in northern France. Closer to home our linguists have been improving their fluency with trips to various European destinations.

In addition to the new theatre, the School has been kept busy with the completion of our Sixth Form Concourse, Atrium and Art Department. On the prep school site at Stroud, we have renovated a number of key areas including the science laboratory and the entrance hall to the principal building.

This is always a very busy term and our students have been involved in an array of activity in sport, clubs and societies, charity work and culture. We have had a number of cultural moments this term with various musical activities including a partnership day with the London Mozart Players, involving many local primary schools, and the Carol Service in the traditional venue at Romsey Abbey.

KonnEctionS can only give a quick overview of life at KES with nearly a thousand energetic and fully involved youngsters. For further information please refer to our website where the news section which is updated regularly or you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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 Outstanding examination results This year’s Sixth Formers have produced a set of outstanding A Level results. 100% of students in 2017 passed all of their A Levels with an improvement on last year’s record results. 87% of all grades were at A*, A or B with over 61% at A* and A. Seven students met their offers for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and over four-fifths of the Upper Sixth cohort proceeded to Russell Group universities. The Head Master commented: “We are again delighted that our students have gained such excellent results, particularly given the additional challenge of linear A Levels. They show what persistent hard work and outstanding teaching can achieve.

Congratulations go to all of those who leave King Edward’s for university after such well-deserved success.”

The Fifth Years also recorded an excellent set of IGCSE results. This year 99.5% of IGCSEs awarded were at grade C or above with 77% of all grades at A* and A. 92% of all grades were awarded at A*, A or B. 100% of all King Edward’s students obtained the minimum 5 GCSE passes including IGCSE Mathematics and English. In a first for KES students, everyone received a grade B or above in Mathematics.

Prize-giving 2017

Students visit Ashmolean

This year’s prize-giving ceremony was held in the new Dobson Theatre. As well as providing an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of King Edward’s pupils, bringing together students of all ages, the event was also an ideal occasion for parents and guests to view the newly refurbished Art Studios, Atrium and 400-seater theatre. Joe Arthur played the School’s new Steinway piano, kindly funded

by KES PTA, beautifully in its first public performance. The School was delighted to welcome Dr Steve Bull as its chief guest. Steve is a chartered psychologist, speaker and author and has coached CEOs, NATO officers, professional actors and university academics and also served as the Great Britain Team Headquarters Psychologist at three Olympic Games.

This term, Classics students visited the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. They studied artefacts from Ancient Crete and attempted to decipher some Linear B. Fun was had playing ‘The Trade Game’ and the group enjoyed sketching in the cast gallery that contains casts of some of the most famous Classical sculptures.

Geographers visit Durdle Door In September, the Fifth Year geographers boarded the coach to Lulworth and Durdle Door for a day of sea air and field work. The students undertook revision activities on the topics of coasts and tourism for their IGCSE and they were able to gain valuable case study examples whilst on the trip.

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First Years visit Winchester Humanities Day All First Year students visited Winchester Cathedral this term as part of the Extended Studies module ‘Reality and Representation’, which is an introduction to some basic philosophical questioning about the nature of the world. The cathedral visit provided a visual prompt to explore Christianity’s search for the divine and the rich iconography of the cathedral was then contrasted with the sparseness of Southampton’s Medina mosque and Islam’s conception of God.

This term’s Third Year Humanities Day gave students the opportunity to discuss and debate various topics with guest speakers and teachers.

In the Geography and Economics session, Ash Dykes, winner of the 2015 UK Adventurer of the Year Award, spoke to students about his adventures, including escaping forest fires, crocodiles and having to carry a cockerel to the top of the highest mountain in Madagascar. In the Politics session, students debated lowering the UK voting age whilst in the lesson looking at Religious Studies, pupils were introduced to the fascinating and controversial issues concerning the existence and role of nuclear weapons. Finally, in the History element of the day there was a focus on World War 1. Pete Jones, former Director of Sixth Form, talked to the Third Years about some of their predecessors who made the ultimate sacrifice in the conflict of 1914-18.

A Living Rainforest In October, Second Year geographers explored the rainforest without leaving the UK. The Living Rainforest, based near Newbury, is home to 700 species of plants and animals and pupils were able to watch birds, butterflies, lizards and even a twotoed sloth roaming free in the tropical glasshouses.

KES hosts Cogit-8 Conference The annual ‘Cogit-8’ conference saw twenty KES Second Year pupils join forces with eighty pupils from other schools to take part in this annual conference for gifted and talented students. They worked together to solve problems, crack codes and debate ‘big questions’. At the end of the day the pupils were entertained by ‘guitar physicist’ Dr Mark Lewney, who delivered a lively talk on the physics of acoustics and string theory, with lots of practical demonstrations.

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Designer, Maker, User In November, the Fourth and Sixth Form Design students visited the Design Museum in London. As well as having time to explore the museum’s excellent ‘Designer, Maker, User’ exhibition, the students took part in a chair design workshop run by museum staff.

‘What is the difference between a chair and a seat?’ and other questions were discussed, before students got to design their own chairs targeting specific user groups.

A Saints legend visits KES Upper Sixth Open Forum played host to local Saints legend Francis Benali on 10th November. The former club favourite spoke about how he realised his dream to play professional football and spoke candidly about how his hard work and dedication saw off threats to his position from, as he himself said, more naturally talented players. He then went on to detail the charity work that has given his life focus since he retired, notably two extreme endurance challenges running across the country to every Premiership and Championship football ground, raising over £600,000 in the process.

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A visit to a Roman palace

Spotlight on languages

Second Year classicists travelled to Fishbourne Roman Palace in October; the clement weather enabling students to explore the whole site, including the Roman gardens and herb plot. The hands-on archaeology workshop that followed was very engaging and the group were particularly lucky to be able to handle a very rare piece of decorated Samian pottery.

On 10th November, thirteen Fifth Year linguists travelled to Bath University to experience a day of language workshops and an introduction to university life. The workshops were led by university lecturers and pitched at first year undergraduate level. All the participants had a very stimulating day with many of them now convinced about the usefulness of languages in future careers, as well as interesting subjects in their own right.

KES hosts ISADA conference This term the Art Department hosted the autumn conference of ISADA (Independent Schools Art and Design Association). Established in the 1960s it acts as a forum for art teachers and Heads of Department to share good practice and engage with art and artists here and in Europe. During the weekend, the delegates visited the Southampton Art Gallery for a curated tour as well as taking part in workshops run

by KES staff. Mr Lewis ran a Biological Illustration class, Mrs Moxon and Miss McGinn ran a printmaking workshop and Mr Piggott ran an experimental photography class. On Sunday everyone visited the New Art Centre, Roche Court in Salisbury for a talk and guide around this wonderfully eclectic sculpture park and gallery. The Art Department staff did an incredible job hosting the event, which was hugely inspiring.

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Co-curricular Goedgedacht 2017 In August, a group of Sixth Formers, accompanied by Mr Miller and Mrs Wood, travelled to South Africa for the trip of a lifetime. Beginning their journey in Cape Town they visited Robben Island and Table Top Mountain before travelling to the Goedgedacht Farm outside of the city. Here they spent a week working on the farm and helping in the POP (Pathway out of Poverty) centres in the surrounding countryside. They met with the local teenagers, children and babies who attend these centres, helping with homework, playing games, face painting, singing, dancing and taking part in a whole host of other activities aimed at improving the lives of these local children. Their trip was rounded-off with a visit to a game park where they were fortunate enough to see lions, elephants, giraffes and many other animals close up and within their natural habitat.

A Central American adventure In summer, a team of thirteen KES students and two teachers travelled to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. With a focus on student leadership, management and resourcing, the group climbed five volcanoes in six days, seeing magma, sledding down the flank of a summit, and catching a 5.30 am sunrise. A border crossing took them into a rest phase that included snorkelling in the Pacific, glimpsing (amongst others) a Manta ray, turtles and octopus, before transferring to the Costa Rican mountain spine for a zip line tour of the cloud forest canopy.

A bus across the country brought the team to another cloud forest, this time as a food delivery group to an indigenous community, inaccessible by any other means. A final stop at the Atlantic beaches saw them enjoy the turtle nesting spot of Tortuguero which the group visited late at night before spending their final day in the capital of San Jose.

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Watersports trip At the very end of the summer break, the annual watersports trip to La Rive in the South of France took place. Students enjoyed a fun-packed week of non-stop activities including windsurfing, sailing, mountain biking and much more. The group also visited the largest sand dune in Europe ‘La dune du Pilat’ where they watched an incredible sunset and enjoyed rolling down the dune and scrambling back up.

Summer Camp After a year of fund-raising, mid-July saw a team of sixteen Sixth Formers, accompanied by KES staff, take a group of Southampton’s young carers camping in the New Forest. Throughout the week, the children were able to take part in various activities from visiting Monkey World to attempting a ‘Total Wipeout’ style obstacle course, whilst time on the campsite was spent playing football or board games, making loom bands and strengthening friendships. The week closed with the annual Talent Show and provided a fun and carefree week for the children whose daily lives often involve a high level of responsibility caring for members of their family.

KES reach International Kit Car Finals The KES Greenpower team had a mixed day at the International Kit Car Finals at Rockingham Speedway in October. An intermittent electrical fault reoccured at the worst possible time - 10 minutes before the start of the race after the car had been running perfectly throughout the practice session! The team kept calm and, after some quick troubleshooting, fixed the car and it rolled out just in time to start the race from the back of the grid, unfortunately undoing all of their hard work in qualifying. From this point onwards, the team did exceptionally well to battle through the large field to a respectable 32nd place; a great result in the circumstances.

KES students in stitches Mr Simon Toh, surgeon and teacher at the School of Medicine and Surgery in Portsmouth, visited the School this term to talk to our potential medical students about the history of surgery. A number of modern surgical instruments were demonstrated and MedSoc members were introduced to the art of suturing.

They all enjoyed the chance to try and perfect their suturing skills using surgical needles and artificial skin.

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Toy Appeal Fun Run September saw the First Years pupils take part in the sponsored lunchtime Toy Appeal Fun Run to raise funds to provide Christmas gifts for deprived children within the Southampton area. They completed a circuit of the School Field, dressed as toys past and present, demonstrating a huge amount of imagination and effort in the creation of their costumes.

Inspirational San Francisco During the autumn break, a group of Upper School students travelled to San Francisco and Silicon Valley in California for a week full of innovation and inspiration. They were impressed by Stanford University and saw the headquarters of many top tech companies including Apple, Google, Intel and Twitter. Blue skies and beautiful weather all week also helped make this an unforgettable trip.

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On s’est regalé à Paris Forty-seven Fourth and Fifth Year students spent four days in Paris in October making the most of the stunning weather. Activities included a trip on a ‘bateau mouche’ and a visit to the famous ‘Stade de France’, as well as language lessons at France Langue. Students enjoyed some free time, during which they managed to negotiate the Paris Métro, do some shopping on the Champs Elysées or return to the Pompidou Centre and Notre Dame. Merci à tous et à toutes!

Christmas Shoebox Appeal Duke of Edinburgh During half-term, and in the wake of ‘Storm Brian’, twentyeight brave students ventured to Dartmoor for three days to participate in their DofE Silver practice expeditions. The five teams of Fifth Year students found the moor in a particularly wet state and with some claggy conditions to boot! All who took part performed admirably and kept their sense of humour. They are now set to complete their assessment expeditions at Easter and during summer next year.

The Charities Commission again organised the annual Christmas Shoe Box Appeal this year. An impressive number of boxes were completed; over 225, matching the 2016 record achievement.

These were delivered to the local depot over half-term and will now continue their journey to Romania and Eastern Europe in time for Christmas where they will be very much appreciated by families during the festive season.

First Years visit Tile Barn As part of the settling in process, all First Year pupils and their prefects took part in activity and team-building days at the Tile Barn Development Centre in Brockenhurst in the first few weeks of the new term.

The day-long course offers a wide variety of outdoor problem-solving activities and challenges including activities at height.

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An American Halloween Ten Third Years, accompanied by Mrs Burnett and Mr Hall, spent most of the two-week half-term visiting our sister school, Charlotte Country Day, in North Carolina. The group were very excited to finally meet their exchange buddy, with whom they had been in touch over the past months and who will be visiting KES in the spring. In America, the group explored the city in the annual scavenger hunt, visited local art, history and the NASCAR museums, as well as visiting a nature centre in the mountains to see bears and coyotes. The students really enjoyed the opportunity to spend time in lessons and experience Halloween on an epic scale American style!

Tackling the widow-maker!

Members of the KES Mountain Biking Club ventured to Lovaton on Dartmoor in November for their autumn residential. On the Saturday, the group braved Dartmoor in wet weather for a muddy 36km ride, culminating in a descent of the ‘widow-maker’! All survived and on the Sunday they visited Haldon Forest near Exeter to hone skills on the pump track, ride the trails and practice a few ‘mechanicals’.

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Creative Arts Drumming Workshop Fifth Year GCSE Music classes took part in an inspiring African Drum workshop with master drummer Abass earlier this term. This was a high energy and in-depth workshop which brought the topic to life and reinforced pupils’ understanding.

The pupils were completely inspired by Abass who performs all over the world sharing his unique knowledge of African drumming.

Woodwind and Brass Music Day On 11th October, KES musicians joined forces with the London Mozart Players and eighty young musicians from our prep and partnerships schools for an exciting day of sideby-side music making.

The day culminated in a first-class concert in the new Dobson Theatre, where the wonderful acoustic of the new space impressed both players and audience. Music included traditional works

by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Susato and rousing numbers from ‘The Lion King’ and ‘La La Land’.

Drama Preview Evening GCSE and A Level Theatre Studies students took part in the Preview Evening in the new Dobson Theatre in October, where they performed their devised examination pieces to an invited audience of family and friends. The work was written and created by the students themselves and explored a variety of themes, topics and theatrical styles.

Oboe Masterclass Former KES student, Baroque oboist and graduate of the Julliard School, Fiona Last, visited King Edward’s in November to deliver an oboe masterclass to the School’s advanced oboe players. The opportunity to explore the complexities of this instrument with such an accomplished musician was inspirational and fascinating, and left students with much to reflect on and new ideas to build into their own practice.

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Sport KES host South Coast Kings Rugby Tournament To kick off the autumn term, the School hosted the 2017 South Coast Kings Tournament at Wellington Sports Ground. The event was well-attended with several schools making their tournament débuts. Even though the weather did its best to dampen the energy of all participating players, everyone engaged with the “free and fast” ethos of the competition and displayed some great attacking skills in the wet. The U15 teams were very evenly matched with only a few scores separating the top four teams. Eventually Bedford School emerged as Trophy winners with Dean Close School picking up the Bowl; KES finished a very respectable 4th. In the U18 tournament there was pace and power amongst the top four teams with Whitchurch High, Dean Close, Bishop Wordsworth’s School and Beechen Cliff all vying for top honours. Dean Close were eventually crowned winners of the tournament with Bishop Wordsworth’s taking the Bowl back to Wiltshire.

Junior House the 2017 season begins Junior House sporting events have been taking place this term with after school rugby and hockey matches. The results of the Junior House events will earn points that count towards the coveted Allen Grant Trophy awarded at the end of the academic year to the winning House. Reigning champions Lake will be hoping to retain the title whilst the others will be vying to disrupt their winning streak.

KES host Prep School Hockey Day In September, the School hosted a Prep School Hockey Day at Wellington Sports Ground welcoming pupils from Stroud, Forres Sandle Manor, West Hill Park, Durlston Court and Chafyn Grove.

The event was run by former national league coach Matt Taylor and during the morning all the schools were mixed together to spend time doing skills, drills and mini games. In the afternoon, they played in a series of matches in their school groups. The pupils all threw themselves into the coaching and the matches and had a great day of hockey. They were also lucky to meet, and be coached by, two current GB internationals; Ellie Watton and Ollie Willars.

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KES netballers reach regional rounds

KES sporting heroes

On 7th October the U14 and U16 netball teams entered the annual County Tournament; the first round of the National Cup. Both sides played some exceptional netball and demonstrated great determination and focus throughout the day. The U14 side played in a round robin tournament beating teams from PGS, Perins, Ballard, Priestlands and Farnborough Hill to finish as runners-up. The U16 squad won their pool, which included sides from St Swithun’s, St John’s, Priestlands, Kings’ Winchester and Bedales, and progressed to face Perins in the semi-final and Brookfield School in the final. The girls played some outstanding netball to win the final and become county champions. Both sides now go forward to the regional tournament in January.

Numerous KES students are competing at high levels in their chosen sports and this term has seen further successes. In netball, Claudia Leeming has been selected to play for the U17 age group of the Severn Stars, Charlotte Dunkley is training with the Surrey Storm U16 team and Grace Loveridge with the U19 Surrey Storm hub. In sailing, Mathias Potter sailed for the Junior GB team in an Optimist Class event in Berlin in October half-term, Lizzie Beardsall of the Fourth Year has joined the National Junior Sailing Squad in the Laser 4.7 Class and Henry Beardsall came 5th in the National Youth Laser Radial Championships. In hockey, Harry Croft-Baker and Rory Penrose have been selected for the England U16 hockey squad. Congratulations to all of these students for their success and dedication to their chosen sport.

Boys’ U15s tour Holland During half-term, the boys’ U15 A and B hockey teams travelled to Holland for a four-day hockey tour and sightseeing trip. The teams faced a variety of clubs with a mixture of results and were a credit to the School throughout each of the six games that were played. In between matches, the group also had the chance to take in the sights and sounds of Amsterdam, including a visit to Anne Frank’s house and a pedalo trip along the canals.

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Rugby tour to France During half-term break the U14 rugby players, accompanied by Mr Nichols and Mr Powell, embarked on a tour to France. The tour combined training and playing rugby with visiting some of the incredible historical areas that have become synonymous with WWI; Reims Memorial, Chemin des Dames, the newly installed World Rugby Memorial at Craonne and ‘Les Cavernes des Dragons’ to name a few.

The matches against Laon provided a real experience for the KES players. They combined a Mini 7s tournament with a full 15-a-side fixture against a very strong and experienced Laon team and KES were delighted to win two of the four fixtures.

Impressive cup run for Girls’ 1st XI The girls’ 1st XI hockey team have continued an excellent run in the National Cup this term. In the South heats in November they topped the group to progress to the semi-finals. Their semi-final match against Eastbourne College was played at home at Wellington and the squad achieved a convincing 8-1 victory over their opponents meaning they have progressed to the regional finals where they will take on Cranleigh, Kingston and Bradfield. This places them in the top 20 teams in England.

Girls’ first XI play Scottish tournament The girls’ first XI hockey team travelled to Glasgow in half-term to play in the Top Flight Hockey Schools Nations Tournament. The girls played some good hockey finishing in 12th place overall. Their sportsmanship, team play and behaviour were impeccable throughout the trip and set them up for the cup run to follow.

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Netball tour to Belfast The U13 netballers flew to Belfast in November and enjoyed a number of excursions including a trip to the Titanic Museum and the Giant’s Causeway along with a training session from two players from the Northern Irish netball team. The girls enjoyed two great fixtures against Bangor Netball Club and Holywood Netball Club with the A team coming away victorious from both fixtures. Throughout the week, the girls impressed with their attitude, sense of humour and outstanding court play.

U15s reach Natwest Schools last 32 The KES U15 rugby squad have reached the final thirty-two of the Natwest Schools Cup thanks to an outstanding 36-0 win over PGS. King Edward’s will now host Hampton School before the end of term. The 1st XV qualified for the 3rd round of the Natwest Schools Rugby vase competition which is also due to be played in December.

Indoor hockey success Both the U16 girls’ and U16 boys’ indoor hockey teams have progressed through the regional rounds of the county competition and have subsequently qualified for the regional finals that will be held in December.

Cross Country challenge Six KES teams competed in the Hampshire Inter Schools’ Cross Country event in November. On a tough course, running into a stiff northerly wind, all the athletes were truly tested and KES runners acquitted themselves admirably. There were some notable performances with Celia Brabazon, Iona Morley, Matt Dyer, Aaron Henderson and Felix Clacy all finishing in the top 10 of their respective events. Particular congratulations to Ben Brown who won the Second Year boys’ race and to the Third Year boys’ team who won the team event in their age group.

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Beauty and the Beast The School’s production of ‘Beauty and The Beast’ ran from 29th November to 2nd December, playing to four sold-out auditoriums, and included a black tie ‘Gala Night’ to finish off the run.

The show was certainly an ambitious choice to be the début production in the new Dobson Theatre and every inch of the new stage was used, whether in the spooky confines of the forest, the beery cheer of the tavern or the shadow-filled hallways of the castle. The costumes were magnificent, the music, directed by Mrs Freemantle, was exceptional and the choreography of Miss Barnett was of a truly professional standard. The cast of forty-four students worked tirelessly for months perfecting their performances in order to get the show up to such a height and they are all to be congratulated on a magnificent achievement.

King Edward VI School Wilton Road . Southampton . Hampshire SO15 5UQ Telephone: 023 8070 4561 . www.kes.hants.sch.uk