Kes sotoniensis 2017 lr

Cover designed by Mr G Piggott.

Our grateful thanks to him for this and many of the wonderful photographs contained in this publication.

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Sotoniensis 2017

CONTENTS

04

Editorial

20

Creative Arts

From the Headmaster Chaplaincy Chat Staff Farewells Arts Festival 2017 The Allen Grant Shield 2016-17

The Art Department The Dance Department The Drama Department The Music Department

32

Clubs & Societies

60

Trips & Visits

98

Sport

Ancient Greek Club Architectural Society Astronomy Society Badminton Club Beekeeping Club Biological Illustration Club Byron Society Cactus Club Character Design Club Charities Commission Chess Club Christian Union Classics Society Computer Society Cookery Club

Aachen Biology trip to Leeson House CERN Charlotte Exchange Climbing trip to The Peak District The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Endeavour Florence French trip to Montpellier French trip to Normandy Geography trip to Iceland

Athletics and Cross Country Boys’ Rugby Boys’ Hockey Boys’ Cricket Boys’ Tennis

Debating Society Digital Leaders Drone Club Economics Society English Society First Aid Club Geography Club (Lower School) Geography Society German Magazine Club Greenpower Historical Society Interface Japanese Club Lego Club MedSoc

Partnerships Photography Club Polyglots Society Robotics Club Sailing Club Sanskrit Society Scamp Club Sewing Club Shooting Club Spanish Magazine Club STEM Club Table Tennis Club Wargaming Club Young Enterprise

Geography trip to Osmington Bay Geography trip to Slapton Hockey tour of South Africa History trip to the Battlefields History trip to Munich and Nuremberg Morocco trip New York Creative Arts trip Nicaragua and Costa Rica Prague Exchange Rome and Naples

Second Year Camp Ski trip South Africa trip Space Camp Spanish trip to Córdoba Spanish trip to Salamanca Spanish trip to Catalonia Summer Camp Tile Barn Watersports Woodmill Activity Centre

Boys’ Basketball Boys’ Football Girls’ Hockey Girls’ Netball Girls’ Rounders

Girls’ Tennis Girls’ Rugby Girls’ Cricket

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From the Head 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.

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.

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.

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

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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.

New First Years

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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.

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 significant funds have been raised to support charities raising awareness of cardiac risk in the young and two scholarships have been established in Ben’s memory.

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, running numerous residential and day field trips before moving to a new role as Website Content Manager for his final nine years.

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.

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

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Change at the top!

This has been a very busy year but also a rather nostalgic one as we say thank you to our retiring Chairman of Governors, Mr. Gay. He has guided the School through a period of momentous change over the past sixteen years with the acquisition of our base on Dartmoor at Lovaton, the Wellington Sports Ground and Stroud School as well as the reconstruction of many of the facilities on the principal site including those for design and technology, science, music and sport in addition to a comprehensive refurbishment of all of our teaching areas. The completion this year of the new theatre, art department and Sixth Form concourse was a fitting conclusion to his strategic leadership and vision. We thank him for his immense contribution to his old school and welcome Mr Morgan as our new chairman.

Mr Morgan is a Chartered Accountant living in Winchester and a former KES parent. He spent most of his career as a Tax Consultant working for Deloitte in Southampton, latterly as head of the office. He is married with two sons aged 26 and 21, both of whom were pupils at KES. He has been a Governor and Chair of our Finance Committee since 2008, and he has worked closely with the Head and the Bursar throughout that period, notably in the acquisition and subsequent development of Stroud, and more recently in the redevelopment of our theatre at Hill Lane.

He has been a keen sportsman and is now a very active rugby supporter. In the last few years he has followed the Welsh rugby team as far afield as South Africa, New Zealand and the South Sea Islands. Until recently he was also the manager of the very successful Hampshire under 20s rugby squad, where he has supported a number of former KES students as they continue their rugby career. He is also a participating member of the Winchester Musicals and Opera Society and can often be seen singing with the KES Adult Choir.

Mr Morgan is very aware of the outstanding legacy he is inheriting from Mr Gay. He says, “It is a huge honour to be elected as the Chairman of Governors, and I am looking forward to working with the Head and Senior Management Team to address the challenges of the next few years as the country prepares itself for life after Brexit.

The demands of the work-place are also changing rapidly with the added importance of technology and social media and it is critical that we are ready and able to respond to these new challenges over the next few years. I am very fortunate that the schools are in such excellent shape after Mr Gay’s sixteen year tenure as Chairman. I would like to pay tribute to his outstanding leadership throughout that period. He is truly a tough act to follow and I am delighted that he has agreed to stay on as a Governor to ensure a smooth transition.

I am fully committed to working with the Governors and Senior Management Teams of both schools to ensure an environment which will continue to produce students who are academically successful, but also well rounded young men and women who have the skills and experience to embark on the next stage of their career with confidence. This has been the trademark of the schools for many years and long may it continue.”

AJ Thould / Head

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Chaplaincy Chat There has been much to ponder, to pray about and to give thanks for in 2016-17.

Our community is a microcosm of the wider world.

One, I trust, where it is safe to explore ideas, one’s values, hopes, fears and to continue the task of working out how to live and to work together here and beyond. Guided and shaped by our Christian heritage and foundations, we aspire to make good choices and to make manifest our common humanity and capacity for generous, loving and compassionate shared life.

As chaplain, my relationship with King Edward’s is shaped by prayer. I hold the School in my prayers every day, and more formally in services of Holy Communion that start and end each year, and at other times when staff, pupils and parents meet to bring all that we are before God. In addition to thanking God for our blessings, I commend the Headmaster and Governors, all that work here, and especially for those members of the School and current and former staff who are facing major health issues. On Founder’s Day, I remember the founders and benefactors. I was pleased to contribute to the Ceremony of Admissions and Speech Day and we held a very moving Act of Remembrance in November, which also saw some lovely brass playing, notably by Mhairi Carson sounding ‘The Last Post’ and ‘Reveille’.

Christian Union has been busy and with a number of very committed students, encouraged by Mr Robinson who also coordinates the Staff Parent Prayer group who meet in each half term. Mr Singleton continues his work with the youngest pupils with Interface, exploring religious ideas and friendship.

The Assembly programme provides opportunities for pupils and staff to voice their ideas or offer performances. We have our annual sequence of reporting of charitable activities and it has been good

to see pupils take up the daunting challenge to lead assemblies with First Years dealing with internet safety, others talking about Philosophy Shop run

by Mr Tofts in local primary schools and the Third Year Charlotte exchange students sharing their experiences. Others reflected on the US Presidential Election and the Post-Brexit landscape. Mr Diver helped the School follow up Remembrance with a moving marking of the end of the battle of the Somme as part of the continued anniversary of the Great War; he also helped us mark Holocaust Memorial Day, focussing on Eichmann’s trial. Mr Herklots explored some of the wonders of Physics and language. Mrs Ahmad addressed the School on the keeping of the fast during Ramadan, and more broadly about being a Muslim in Britain. She reminded us of the demands some of our students place upon themselves by keeping the fast, the need to be careful of one’s health, and the spiritual riches of the Muslim faith.

It was once again an enormous privilege to hear and meet with Freddie Knoller, the Holocaust survivor and sometime prisoner at five concentration camps speaking to the Sixth Form for what was the last time.

Despite being in his late nineties, he is a powerful communicator of the horrors and cruelty, alongside the hope and altruism he experienced. On another note, I very much appreciated the extended course Annie Davison ran on Mindfulness this year and found it enlightening and helpful in the busy-ness of school, family and parish life.

Another new departure was the Advent Concert, conducted by Miss Anderson and the Music Department, and held at St Nicolas’ Church. This candlelit evening of music, including movements from

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Britten’s ‘Ceremony of Carols’ and readings, was very well attended and the audience enjoyed this start to the festive season. It was very good to make use of the next-door Wellington facility afterwards for excellent refreshments and fellowship.

Romsey Abbey afforded us a very warm welcome for our annual Carol Service. It was another great occasion and my thanks to all who contributed, not least in the extensive planning and in the musical preparations. The choirs, orchestra, readers and very large congregation shared the Christian message, the collection raising some £1700 to be donated to The Evelyn Rose Trust, a local initiative that seeks to support families with seriously ill children. The Chamber Choir returned to a very chilly Romsey Abbey in February to sing Evensong, joining with the men and boys of the abbey choir.

It was a joy to be a part of the Charlotte Exchange.

The trip proved very successful with the team being fine ambassadors for both the School and the UK. It was a fascinating time to be in North Carolina on the eve of the election. Mrs Burnett and I were privileged to attend a rally addressed by President Obama. As ever, the hospitality was very generous and in the New Year I very much enjoyed hosting Mrs Rucker and welcoming again Mr Cooper and students from CCDS. The annual Services of Thanksgiving were held in March, one in the School Hall and a separate service for the First Years at St Nicolas’ Church Stoneham Lane. It was a great pleasure to welcome The Venerable Dr. Peter Rouch, Archdeacon of Bournemouth to the Main Hall. His message combined wit, social observation and challenge. The service followed the usual pattern with the Chamber Choir singing a couple of modern arrangements of Spirituals and the School Council, Prepositors and Heads of House all playing their parts with distinction. The First Year service had many of the similar elements but was with the Jewish Passover meal in mind. This has a series of questions by a child prompting the unfolding of the biblical story. It was especially pleasing that The Revd. Sheena Williams, newly installed priest-incharge for North Stoneham and Bassett and parent of Eilidh, presided over the event.

During Lent, staff and students were encouraged to make use of a prayer resource supplied by the Salisbury Diocese. Staff met daily before school in the Commemoration Room for a very short liturgy.

I continue to work with cohorts of First Years as part of their Extended Studies programme in visiting Winchester Cathedral and other faith traditions and we have established a very healthy relationship with the Central Mosque, its members and leadership.

It has been very good to join Stroud at key moments in the year, working with the children for Harvest (a significant occasion at the school), delivering assemblies and also being involved in the Carol Service at Romsey Abbey. The young readers and performers were impressive and took their responsibilities as leaders very seriously. As part of Foundation Studies I have taken Sixth Form students to work with the Forest School for the four and five year olds.

It is fair to say I never know what is coming around the corner and can move from a regular teaching class straight into responding to a distraught pupil or staff colleague handling life-changing news. It was a great joy to baptise Emilia Kairis in February in St John’s Church, Locks Heath and to attend worship there in the preceding weeks. It was good that a number of staff attended to support the family.

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Sadly, a number of students have suffered parental or grandparental bereavement in this period. The pastoral team works hard to support without being intrusive. Equally, colleagues faced loss and family challenges and I pray for and hope to support them faithfully. As a School, the greatest sadness was the tragic sudden death of Ben Smith in May, just as he and his peers were beginning their GSCE examinations. This was, and remains, a devastating loss for his family and friends. The Commemoration Room was set aside with candles, readings and a book of condolence; as always, the student body supported each other wonderfully in their great distress.

I continue to meet with staff and pupils privately on an ad hoc basis to discuss a range of issues: academic, professional and personal. I hope and pray that I can continue to be a useful outlet for their concerns, be they senior management, staff or pupil, offering a release valve, a sounding board and perhaps I am able to offer a fresh perspective. This may allow them to move forward positively and engage successfully with other more formal mechanisms within the School.

Offering a paradigm, grounded in the loving model Christ gives us, is at the heart of what I strive to bring to our community. I rejoice that this is so very evident in the care and compassion manifest in students and staff. Given the presence on the world stage of hate-filled ideologies that seem to normalise violence or xenophobia, it is all the more important that we, as a school community, champion and live out our message proclaiming the unswerving and inalienable value of all humanity as children of a loving God.

Revd. Poppleton

It was very clear how much Ben was loved and what a terrific young man he was. This was clear as I encountered many of his friends as I prayed and kept watch in the Commemoration Room.

Ben’s teachers at Stroud with whom he had a very happy eight-year relationship felt the terrible news deeply. I was pleased to be able to locate retired Stroud teacher the Revd. David Walters (who had encouraged Ben in his confirmation) who was then able to lead his funeral. Following half-term, with the help of many from Trojans, Stagecoach and Chris Jackson of Stroud, we held a very moving and, I believe, helpful memorial service, celebration and tree dedication in Ben’s memory. The wider community and Church held us all in their prayers during this very sad time.

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Staff Farewells Teaching Staff Ruth Greenwood Ms Greenwood joined King Edward’s as a teacher of English in 1984, when the school was a very different place, and has some extraordinary stories to tell from her early days here as one of a very small number of female staff. It took a year for her to be given a key to the English book cupboard because her Head of Department felt that ‘women were unreliable’ and the Masters’ Common Room was a male preserve with a separate ladies rest room, suitably painted in pink. Ms Greenwood did 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.

She has a real passion for the subject and really wants her students to do their very best. Ms Greenwood brooks no nonsense in the classroom but her love of the subject shines through and generations have been brought to a love of reading and writing through her teaching. She also has a love of the theatre, helping with productions as diverse as ‘Grease’ to ‘Hamlet’, as well as organising over fifty theatre trips.

Outside the academic side of the School she has been involved in a variety of activities. For many years she ran a number of girls’ netball teams, started the first Dance Club, introduced aerobics as a Sixth Form games option, initiated a Horse-riding Club and was the driver behind the KES allotment. She was a very active member of the Byron Society and has had a long involvement in the Duke of Edinburgh Award programme as a silver Duke of Edinburgh trainer and assessor.

On the pastoral side she began as a Lower School tutor later becoming a popular Sixth Form tutor. She also took on the brief as Head of Careers but will be best remembered for her role as Director of Student Guidance.

Ms Greenwood has advised and encouraged thousands of students in finding the right path after KES, building up an encyclopaedic knowledge of university courses, university rankings, admissions procedures and tests; so much so that she became known as Mrs UCAS. There can be no doubt about Ms Greenwood’s dedication to the School and the welfare of the students but, even by her own exacting standards, her approach to getting married went beyond the norm. One day in 1987 she came into school as normal and taught the first few lessons in her usual breezy professional manner; she then popped out just before lunch to get married to the then Head of Geography, Mr Hall, and then returned after lunch to teach the remainder of her timetable as if nothing very unusual had happened.

She has now been married for nearly 30 years and is retiring to spend more time with her husband and her grand-children, as well as plenty of travelling, reading and gardening. We wish her the very best.

Dr Schofield

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Garry Hunt Mr Hunt started at KES in September 1983 as a teacher of Geography. Two years later, in September 1985, he was appointed as Head of Geography; a post he held for 27 years until 2011 when he stepped down to focus on his website and academic tutor roles.

When Mr Hunt started as Head of Geography, the department consisted of just three full-time geographers and one residential field trip to South Wales existed.

This flagship trip for the Lower Sixth remains but under his leadership, numerous other trips were launched including the GCSE field trip to Barton Hall in Torquay, which subsequently became the Osmington Bay trip and which still runs today. He has taught both Geography and Geology to AS and A2 students for 34 years at the School. He has also been part of the Foundation Studies programme as well as the Extended Studies team since its inauguration in 1996. Between 1983 and 2010, Mr Hunt took on the organisation of the Worldwise Quiz for the Geographical Association in Southampton. and on two occasions the KES team reached the National Finals in London.

Mr Hunt became an academic tutor in 2007 and in 2008 took over the role of Website Content Manager. For a period of time in the 1980s he was also the School’s photographer.

Mr Hunt has also been responsible for the U16 boys’ basketball team at a time when all fixtures had to be played away from home as the School did not possess any suitable facilities. He has regularly assisted with Duke of Edinburgh expeditions.

Mr Hunt is a hardworking and organised colleague, who has always given 100% to everything whether this be planning, marking or trip preparation; to name just a few. He ensures that all his students are fully supported in every aspect of their KES life. I have appreciated working alongside him for my first four years at KES and he has given me much helpful advice during this time, whilst allowing me to take up the reins of the department and guide it down new avenues. I will be forever grateful to him for all his support and he will be missed by all. As he steps down from teaching Geography, we wish him a very happy retirement.

Miss Grant

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Martin Kukla Mr Kukla joined KES in 2001 as a part-time teacher of French, but soon a vacancy arose to teach German at A Level too and he immediately adapted to this situation with his typical flexibility. He took an intensive refresher course in German over the summer and returned in September ready and raring to share his considerable linguistic expertise in both his languages.

Mr Kukla is a formidable linguist, but he has never been one to trumpet his talents or selfpromote. Fortunately, others did recognise his qualities, for example he quickly became a favourite with the German Sixth Form who took to calling him ‘Kookie’ on the first Berlin trip.

Mr Kukla’s relaxed attitude is one of his best-loved characteristics, endearing him to both pupils and teachers alike, but his adventurous spirit and love of travel are also well documented. He has led and accompanied countless trips and

exchanges – always with a smile, a joke at the ready and a real sense of fun only matched by his passion for sport, especially football, as exemplified by his following of Man City and coaching of the football team who tasted victory under his enthusiastic leadership in the Under-19 Hampshire Cup this year.

This was a well-deserved highlight for him.

Over the years, he has taught both languages across the age ranges and been a popular, understanding Sixth Form tutor. He took over the running of the Aachen Christmas Market trip in 2010 and added the position of Head of German to his accomplishments in 2014. To all these roles Mr Kukla brought his customary affability, wearing his responsibilities lightly and always without fuss but also very ably.

Whether as a teacher, a tutor or as a colleague, he has the gift of the truly human touch. He is simply good company and knows how to enjoy life himself and allow others

Kathryn Platten Mrs Platten joined King Edward’s in September 2008 from Wildern School. During her time here she has taught throughout the complete age range and students under her tutelage have been well looked after. She has been a Lower School and Upper School tutor and her caring and professional manner mean that nothing has ever been too much trouble.

In 2008 she set up the Mathematics Partnership Scheme linking local state primary schools with King Edward’s and offering enrichment lessons for Year 5 and 6 pupils. She ran this for three years.

She has also participated in several History Department trips and assisted with Second Year camp.

Mrs Platten introduced attendance

by KES Sixth Formers at the ‘Mathematics in Action’ lectures and has regularly accompanied students to London for these valued trips. On the back of this

success, she also set up a range of mathematics inspiration trips for Upper School pupils to experience the UK’s most inspiring maths speakers live in theatres, presenting mathematics in the context of exciting, real-world applications.

In 2012 she became second-indepartment and I found her help in running such a large department invaluable, being able to rely on her 100%. She helped me to continue to steer an already successful department in the right direction and it was only natural that she became Head of Mathematics when I retired. Mrs Platten has only held this role for two years but during this time the department has been well catered for and we will miss her enormously. We all wish her every success in whatever lies ahead.

Mr Collins

to do so, despite the pressures of the busy school day. Mr Kukla’s decision to take early retirement will finally allow him more time to indulge his own interests fully and we wish him well in exploring these new avenues with his wife Alison.

We will miss his big personality and sense of humour and remember him with great fondness.

Mrs Lupton

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Julian Halls 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. He is a passionate lover of Greek drama, in particular, and has regularly led play readings at Classical Society.

He also put on a production of ‘Frogs’ by Aristophanes. Over the past couple of years his Hellenist interests have manifested themselves in a thriving Greek Club for Lower School students and his classroom sports a range of creative projects from theatre masks to Roman gravestones.

As well as within the Department, Mr Halls has been a sociable member of the Common Room, regularly involved in discussion and amusing conversations with colleagues. He has also involved himself in other areas of school life, including Sixth Form football and countless Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. Earlier this year he led a successful tour, involving forty-five students and five staff, to Rome and the Bay of Naples, receiving a number of letters from parents afterwards expressing thanks for a highly enjoyable trip.

We wish him all the best with his future plans.

Mrs Meredith

Ian Hardwick Mr Hardwick has worked continuously 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 very knowledgeable and enthusiastic mathematician and is always generous with his time, often supporting students outside of lessons and producing materials for departmental use.

He has also been involved in running the Chess Club, originally with Mr Patten and now with Mr Collins.

This year he has organised a cup for House Chess aptly named ‘The Richard Patten House Chess Trophy’. He has also supported our Upper Sixth Oxbridge candidates with mock interviews and preparation for STEP

examinations, helping to produce a bank of questions for interview practise for other staff to use.

Mr Hardwick has also supported a number of Sixth Form pupils wishing to study extra A Level modules (particularly Decision Mathematics) outside of lessons and has marked both A Level and Further Maths papers for a number of examination boards.

He is always willing to share his experience, which has hugely benefited the department, and has also regularly offered to drive the school minibus on university visits and theatre trips.

Mrs Platten

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Chris Evans Dr Evans joined the Music Department two years ago and has been an important part of the music team over that time, 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.

Dr Evans 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 great success and happiness as he moves beyond teaching to pursue his vocation within the Church.

Miss Anderson

Corinne Tucker Mrs Tucker joined the School in January 2016 to cover Mrs Piggott’s absence and subsequently stayed to further cover Mrs Hawker’s maternity leave this academic year. As well as her role as a Sixth Form tutor, she has been a supportive member of the Drama Department, teaching every year group in the School and helping to deliver the Extended Studies programme. Additionally, Mrs Tucker has become involved with the co-curricular life of the

School by helping backstage for ‘The Ash Girl’ and ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’, as well as supervising students on many theatre trips. Mrs Tucker launched ‘Stage Club’ this year and has recently organised the Third Year production of the ‘Grimm Tales’, which was praised by staff and parents. Her sense of humour and engaging way with students will be missed at KES and we wish her all the best for the future.

Mrs Arnold

Daniel Smith Fernández Mr Fernández started teaching at KES in September 2016 as an NQT but very quickly established himself in the department as someone who knew what he was doing. Over the year he worked with us, he amassed a following amongst the students due to the fun nature of his classes and his very approachable manner.

Mr Fernández was a valuable asset all round and the fact that he has native knowledge of Spanish and English and a passion for history and politics meant that the A Level students found him terribly engaging too.

He travelled to Spain with the department on two occasions, to Salamanca and to Catalonia.

He came with great sporting credentials as he had played rugby in the national league whilst living in Spain, so over the last year he also worked with the PE department coaching the U13 rugby team and helping out with the 1st XV and running Games sessions.

Mr Fernández was a breath of fresh air, reminding us all that despite all the pressures of formal examinations, teaching and learning can be exciting. We will definitely miss his cool ways as he moves to Spain to work in a bilingual school in Madrid. Hasta pronto Súper Fernández!

Mrs Ladislao

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Liz Porter Ms Porter began with us at King Edward’s part of the way through the 2015-16 school year, teaching in the Chemistry Department. Such was her positive impact, we were pleased to have her teaching Biology and Junior Science this year, covering Ms Smith’s maternity leave. She has taught to a

high standard, kept calm through all the pinch points of the year, and been a support with her knowledge of ecology.

Next year sees a family move away from Southampton to the west coast of Wales and we wish her all the best with the next chapter of her adventure.

Mr Aellen

Ana García Viejo Mrs García Viejo started working at KES as a Spanish language assistant in Sept 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 and has always been happy to give them extra lessons if required. She managed to lighten the mood in every situation with her very bubbly personality so she will be sorely missed, but we wish her well on her new venture as she sets up her own legal business in Romsey.

Mrs Ladislao

Non-teaching Staff Jackie Besley 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 there.

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 role at Ballard School in the New Forest and we wish her well in her new post.

Mrs Cox

Aaron Digby and Robert Stow Mr Digby and Mr Stow joined the IT Support team for the 2016-2017 academic year to fulfil the sandwich work-placement components of their degree studies at Portsmouth University.

They have ably managed to achieve whatever the School has asked of them. Within their roles as Web Content Developer and IT Classroom Support Assistant, they have both experienced many different work situations and gained valuable new skills. We are grateful for their hard work throughout the year and wish them both well for their final year at university.

SOTONIENSIS 2017 | 17 SOTONIENSIS

ARTS FESTIVAL 2017 in numbers • 62 visiting artists came to the School over the three days to work with the pupils • 820 workshops places were filled by KES students • 180 Prep and Partnership school pupils took part in additional workshops No. of Pupils Year Group

Activity

132

First Years

African Dance and Drumming

136

Second Years

Illusion and Magic Workshop

68

Third and Fourth Years Theatre Workshop

154

Fourth Years

Theatre Performance

29

Fourth Years

Art Drawing Workshop

78

Third and Fourth Years Taiko Drum Workshops

115

Lower Sixth

Hang Drum Concert

12

Mixed

Fashion Workshop

12

Mixed

Face Painting Workshop

10

Mixed

Vocal Workshop

12

Mixed

Magic Workshop

20

Mixed

Tap Dance Workshop

12

Lower School

Recording Studio Workshop

52

Third Year

Architecture Workshop

34

Upper School

How to Make and Produce an EP

10

Upper School

Steel Band Workshop

12

Mixed

Juggling Workshop

12

Mixed

Paper Cutting Workshop

32

Upper School

Music Composition Workshop

10

Lower School

Aerial Workshop

12

Sixth Form

Art Lecture

25

Mixed

Rock Guitar Workshop

40

Mixed

Zorb Ball Tournament

20

Mixed

West End Dance Workshops

40

Upper School

Hang Drum Performance and Talk

In addition: • 34 Fifth/Sixth Form artists had their work exhibited in the Art Exhibition • 5 pupils reached the final of the Aerial Sculpture Competition • 22 Fourth Year and Upper Sixth made up the Festival Management Team • There were 32 visiting street theatre performers • 4 competitions took place • 56 members of teaching staff assisted with supervision • 12 members of teaching and non-teaching staff played in the Zorb Ball tournament • 450 pupils enjoyed the Festival Picnic • 48 members of staff pulled in the Staff Tug o’ War teams • Numerous pupils visited the Camera Obscura • Many pupils attended the break and lunchtime Big Top shows • 8 staff took part in pop up performances • 35 members of staff took part in a musical Flash Mob

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The Allen Grant Shield 2016-17 After 45 events, starting back in September and finishing in July with the declaration of the results for the Swimming Gala and the Lower School Merits, and with many energetically contested events in between, the Allen Grant Shield table was completed for the 2016-2017 academic year.

The runner up in the Lower School Cup, with 108 points, was LAWRENCE The winner, with 131 points, was LAKE The runner up in the Upper School Cup, with 27 points, was LAWRENCE The winner, with 39 points, was LAKE The overall results were therefore: In third place with 164 points: SYLVESTER In second place with 180 points: LAWRENCE And the runaway winner was LAKE, for the fourth year in succession, with 213 points.

SOTONIENSIS 2017 | 19

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Creative Arts

Art at KES We started the academic year in our temporary studios in the old school shop and squash court and one remaining art studio, whilst the DAC project got underway. Whatever initial discomforts we felt, the pupils were brilliant in adapting to their new surroundings even if the staff weren’t quite sure where they had put everything. Miss McGinn also joined the department as an NQT, fresh from Falmouth Art School.

She has thrown herself into life at KES and the department is richer for her input.

Our artists have been typically busy producing some outstanding pieces of artwork and it has been a pleasure to award many Head Master’s commendations. The Upper Sixth artists initially used the old school shop as their studio area, but the numbers of Lower Sixth students, meant they soon migrated to take up residence in different areas.

In the Upper Sixth, Alice McNicholas’s expressive paintings explored a very poignant and tender relationship between a young disabled boy and her sister and mother. The paintings were being highly personal and thoughtful. Duncan UrquhartHawkins looked at the synergy

linking man-made forms in architecture to their origins in the natural world and his photographs and charcoal studies cleverly illustrated his research. Katya Sheath’s subject was the vulnerability of being a Sixth Former in the void between childhood and adulthood. Her paintings were paired down to focus on emotion and a directness to how they are viewed. Imogen Haisman chose to look at the world underwater with large distorted painted figures with unusual, but striking, angles. Iona Rhodes, the sole photographer, looked at London as if she was taking a portrait, capturing some very wellobserved pictures especially in and around The Tate Modern.

The Lower Sixth artists and photographers proved very able using the new unexamined AS to really experiment and look closely at the back stories as to why artists do what they do. Next year promises to be really very exciting for them all.

After the Easter break we moved back into the newly refurbished department just in time to hold the A2 and GCSE examinations.

Again the students produced some stunning pieces of work as if to welcome us back into our natural

habitat of large white spaces!

Outside of lessons, there is always something happening in the department at lunchtimes and after school with a range of clubs and societies to engage and expand our students’ creativity.

Mrs Moxon has been running our art partnerships with local primary schools, introducing children to an exciting range of processes, and Mr Lewis has run a fascinating Biological Illustration club for the Sixth Form. Miss McGinn has introduced a popular Character Design Club.

Mr Piggott (Head of Art)

Primary School Art Partnerships Pupils from Wordsworth, Springhill and Highfield schools have all worked hard to achieve some impressive results this year.

They never cease to amaze as to how readily they step up to the challenges presented to them.

Pupils from Springfield Catholic Primary School learnt how to fashion contour lines around cylindrical forms to effectively

render the hand held in a sign pose. They then learnt the etching and printing process to produce clean prints and plate tone worked prints resulting in rich tonal values to create a sense of depth.

Pupils from Wordsworth Primary School also produced etching but worked imagery to represent the theme, ‘Celebration of the individual whilst building a team.’

This involved taking photographs of themselves in various poses to celebrate qualities of learning and school life, such as friendship, enquiry, listening and observing.

These were then used to reference when etching using mark making to sculpt forms. Pupils also added plate tone and in some cases several ink colours to further exploit tone and depth of field.

SOTONIENSIS 2017 | 21

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Dance at KES It has been a fantastic year for dance at KES. In September, we saw an intake of particularly talented and enthusiastic dancers in the First Year, allowing dance to boom and become an integral and exciting aspect of our co-curricular provision. With several dynamic and exciting clubs for our dancers to take part in, ranging from Ballet to Street Dance, our pupils make full use of our excellent Dance Studio at various lunchtimes and after school. This year we launched ‘Elevate Dance Company’, a brand new Contemporary/Jazz/Lyrical fusion Dance Club open to all.

In the spring term, our Dance Studio transformed itself into a wonderful performance setting to provide the perfect back drop to this year’s Dance Gala.

KES dancers from across the whole school came together to display their incredible talents in various styles including Tap, Contemporary, Ballet and Irish Dance. The pupils worked tirelessly choreographing and rehearsing their pieces and were overwhelmed by the positive reviews they received after their performances.

In March, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures Company visited KES to deliver an exciting and dynamic workshop based on their brand new, award winning ballet ‘The Red Shoes’. New Adventures’ dancers Daisy and PJ took a number of our Lower School pupils through a rigorous warm up, followed by some of the show’s original repertoire. The dancers worked on themes of storytelling through tableaux and were given a fantastic insight into Matthew Bourne’s choreographic style. In the evening, the dancers were lucky enough to visit The Mayflower to see the company in action perform ‘The Red Shoes’. There was much buzz about the students when they spotted the steps they had learned

earlier in the day. The performance was enjoyed by all.

The spring term ended for many of our Upper School and Sixth Form students with an exhilarating Creative Arts trip to New York City.

This was a jam packed couple of days full of exciting creative endeavours. Many of our dancers visited the David H. Koch Theater, home to New York City Ballet, and were also privileged enough to tour the prestigious Juilliard School where they saw students in their Ballet classes as well as the incredible facilities. Many students then took a Commercial Jazz Class at the famous Broadway Dance Center with the exciting and dynamic choreographer Debbie Wilson.

Dance has continued to feature in various aspects of school life.

This year, Fifth Year student Evie Wateridge performed a stirring jazzy number with the Chamber Orchestra to ‘American Patrol’ at our Spring Concert in the Turner Sims. Sixth Form student Harriet Crompton also used dance in her Extended Project entitled ‘The Struggle for Survival’. Harriet’s project was imaginative, creative and certainly displayed her talents for choreography. Harriet was rightfully awarded a dignissima for her work. This year also saw the very first Dance Colours awarded here at KES. Congratulations to Charlie Callaghan, Harriet Crompton and Alice McNicholas who received full colours and to Evie Wateridge who received half colours.

The summer term saw the vibrant Arts Festival return to KES, and once again, it was a fantastic three days filled with all things creative and challenging. Students took part in Tap and Aerial workshops and there was also the opportunity to dance with the incredible West

End performer Omari Bernard in his Musical Theatre Jazz Dance workshop.

In September, we are looking forward to introducing a Tap Club to our dance provision.

The autumn term will also see an all singing and all dancing performance of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and will feature many of our talented dancers from across the whole school. Dance has had an impressive year at KES and it has much to look forward to over the next year.

Miss Barnett (Head of Dance)

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Drama at KES The Drama Department has had another busy and exciting year.

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. Parents, staff and friends of the students were invited to view the work at a Preview Evening and the students received glowing feedback on their creative approach to the task.

In February, the department staged the first KES Scholar’s 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. They were supported by additional cast from the Sixth Form and Fourth Year Theatre Studies students.

This was a wonderful opportunity for our younger scholars to work with, and learn from, their senior peers and the final performances were enthusiastically received by audience members.

In the spring term, the GCSE and A Level students produced some innovative and highly engaging performances as part of their examination courses. The GCSE students received high praise for their scripted performances at the Preview Evening and the visiting examiner was impressed with the range of work shown.

The A Level students presented their devised piece to great praise from staff and students alike and their creativity and originality was especially notable.

More recently, the Third Year Theatre Studies classes presented the ‘The Grimm Tales’ in the Twigg Studio. The students devised their own versions of the famous tales with some very entertaining characterisation and plot twists.

During the Arts Festival, Fourth Year students performed extracts from the physical comedy ‘The 39 Steps’ to parents, which was a very entertaining evening and a highly enjoyable end to the Fourth Year course.

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. Many staff and technicians from across the Creative Arts faculty were involved in the production which included a very imaginative and attractive set design, sensitively arranged tunes and exuberant choreography. It was clear that all the pupils involved worked extremely hard and thoroughly enjoyed taking part.

24 | SOTONIENSIS 2017

Throughout the year, students have had the opportunity to visit the theatre and 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 this year. In February we were visited by a member of Frantic Assembly, who ran an extremely popular and inspiring workshop for our GCSE and A Level students. As part of the Arts Festival, we also welcomed The Last Baguette, a more local company based in Wiltshire who have helped our Third and Fourth Year students to develop their physical comedy skills. After this workshop, the Fourth Year and all Theatre Studies and Physics students were treated to a performance of their touring physical comedy about Physics ‘What’s The Matter?’ in the Main Hall.

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, makeup and even designing posters.

The completion of the new Dobson Theatre will provide us with an amazing new space in which to work and perform and we look forward to using it.

Mrs Arnold (Head of Drama)

Welcome to

Drama at KES Gedanken

SOTONIENSIS 2017 2017||25 25

Music at KES Another exciting year of music began in September with A Level musicians enjoying an excellent evening at Soho’s Pizza Express Jazz Club listening to the infectious Latin rhythms of nine piece Cuban band ‘Son Con’. The band fuses the elements of traditional Son with an exciting modern vibe. During the evening, and after Pizza, the Sixth Formers took to the dance floor for a spot of Latin dancing.

In October the school hosted an exciting string playing day with the London Mozart Players, KES String players and 110 young string players from eight partnership and prep schools. The day focused on technique and musicianship and the important skills required to play in a large string orchestra.

Following several workshops during the morning the combined players presented a lively afternoon concert to parents. Repertoire included pieces from Grieg’s Holberg Suite, Bartok Rumanian Dances and Warlock’s Capriol Suite. The junior pupils joined the core orchestra to play a number of Jigs and Reels which took the total of string players to 167! It was a wonderful day of music making.

Sixth Form musicians travelled to London once more to enjoy a first class chamber music concert at London’s Kings Place in November. The concert, given by the Schubert Ensemble, began with one of the Ensemble’s highly-acclaimed ‘Behind the Notes’ sessions, in which they explored the Piano Quintets of Franck and Faure, using live performance to strip down the music and reveal its inner workings.

Also in November a very appreciative audience was entertained and delighted by the Chamber Choir, soloists, instrumentalists and readers at the Advent Concert. Choral music from the twentieth century included a moving performance of Britten’s ‘Ceremony of Carols’, Tavener’s ‘The Lamb’ and Warlock’s rousing ‘Benedicamus Domino’.

In December the Carol service took place in Romsey Abbey where the full orchestra accompanied the exuberant singing of carols. The stage overflowed with choirs of students, staff and parents, the First Year Choir and the Chamber Choir. Biblical readings, poems and prayers were read my members of the school community and complemented the wide ranging music. A particular highlight was the UK premiere of Avro Pärt’s Christmas Lullaby, featuring two harps and violins with the Senior Choir. Candles were held aloft for ‘O Come all ye Faithful’ and mulled wine and mince pies were enjoyed by all at the end.

The 2017 musical year got off to an exciting start with a day of workshops from our visiting musical advisor and consultant Tom Seligman. Fourth Year GCSE pupils worked with Tom on aspects of their Concerto topic, while Sixth Form A Level musicians enjoyed an active conducting workshop on Beethoven’s ‘Eroica Symphony’. Tom also worked with musicians on A Level recital repertoire in a series of excellent performance classes.

In January, thirty GCSE and A Level musicians enjoyed a bright, crisp sunny day in London where they had a fascinating backstage tour of Covent Garden Opera House, visited the National Gallery to look at eight significant masterpieces, watched Street Theatre in Covent Garden over lunch and listened to the London Mozart players perform Mozart’s Piano concerto No 16 with soloist Howard Shelly at St John’s Smith Square. All in all a top quality action packed cultural day.

Music Competition Results Grade I - III Winner: Maya Chakraborty Runners-up: Huw Dunlop Beth Robinson

Grade IV-VI Winner: Alex Zhou Runners-up: Ankit Nambiar Oliver Schofield

Grade VII+ Winner: Erik Hillman Runners-up: Aelfred Hillman Niamh Phelan In February sixty-seven musicians performed in the annual Music Competition and Dr Carrasco, the adjudicator, commented on how well prepared the players were and also the impressive range of music on offer.

26 | SOTONIENSIS 2017

Also in February, three students participated in the regional rounds of the National Chamber Music Competition at Godolphin School. The Woodwind Trio, with Tom Edwards and Eva Carlyle playing flute and Aelfred Hillman on clarinet, performed ‘Aubade’

by Gordon Jacob to a very high standard in front of adjudicator Laura Kinnesey, and a receptive audience, before receiving a masterclass on their piece.

The Chamber Choir joined Romsey Abbey Choir to sing evensong at the Abbey and the combined voices produced a beautiful rendition of Noble’s ‘Magnificat’ and Edgar’s ‘Give unto the Lord’ for the congregation.

Lower and Upper Sixth A Level musicians performed at Southampton’s Art Gallery. They showcased their A Level recital pieces to the public ahead of their forthcoming examinations.

To round off the exceedingly busy month of February a large and appreciative audience enjoyed a wide range of music performed by members of the Lower School. The Symphonic Winds, Sinfonia, Vocalettes, Flute Choir and Jazz Group performed with great style and there were also a number of outstanding solos.

There was a lively performance of ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’ from the newly formed boys group ‘The Castle Singers’ complete with top hats and bow ties.

Just after half term pianist Niel Immelman, teacher at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy, visited KES to offer a masterclass to some of our senior pianists. His work with the participants, Maya Garside, Joe Arthur, Sophia Bassi and Alex Zhou, who played beautifully, was inspirational and demanding, and left them with much to think about. Many other talented KES pianists attended as observers, and through Niel’s knowledge and experience gained an intriguing insight into some advanced music and many interesting nuances of piano technique.

In March the Music Department was awarded the ISM’s (Incorporated Society of Musicians) Silver certificate in music. It has been awarded for the excellent results in GCSE music last year. More than 15% of the Fifth Year cohort at KES achieved an A*-C in GCSE music. The data highlights the reach of music within the School and whilst the ISM award was for schools with A*- C grades the whole KES Music cohort produced 100% A*/A grades for the second year running.

On Thursday 9th March the Chamber Choir welcomed David Hurley, former member of the King’s Singers, a world-famous a cappella group, to run a workshop on their pieces for the Turner Sims Concert. In the workshop students were encouraged to move outside of their comfort zones away from the need for a conductor, building confidence as individuals to take collective responsibility for the performance. The experience was inspirational and informative as well as being enjoyed by all.

The second spring term concert took place at Turner Sims in March and featured the School’s senior musicians in Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Big Band and Chamber Choir. There were a number of chamber groups and outstanding solo performances, once again, highlighting the depth and breadth of music in the School. The musicians performed to a full house with their customary energy, poise and professionalism.

The spring term came to a close with a Creative Arts trip to New York City. In five days of seemingly nonstop activity students soaked up the cultural richness and diversity of this most iconic city. Bounding from one end of Manhattan to the other they took in everything from opera at the MET to late-night diners off Times Square, picnics in Central Park to Miss Saigon on Broadway, gems of twentieth-century art at MoMA to midnight city views from the Empire State building. Between countless other highlights, including a very special violin recital at Carnegie Hall, a dance class at the Broadway Dance Studio and an evening at a Jazz club, students used their free time to explore the streets and cafes in midtown Manhattan and immerse themselves in the magnificence and craziness of the city that never sleeps.

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)

SOTONIENSIS 2017 2017||27 27

Chamber Orchestra Once again, it has been a pleasure to conduct the players in the advanced Chamber Orchestra. They bring commitment, enthusiasm and fun to every rehearsal and are never phased by the challenging repertoire put in front of them. The string players performed with innate musicianship side by side the London Mozart Players in October and the whole orchestra performed with great style and panache at the Carol Service and the Turner Sims Spring Concert in March. This year we say goodbye to Maya Garside, Natalya Evans, Ben Atherton, Tom Edwards, Kieran Bassi, Richard Brown, Iman Elsheikh, Eleanor MacLeod, Joe Winter, Oliver Tait, James Mitchell and Zak Milner who have contributed so much to the orchestra during their time at KES. Following on the tradition of OEs, we hope we will see them again as guest players at some point in the future.

Mrs Freemantle (Director of Chamber Orchestra)

Senior Choir The Senior Choir continues to be a popular activity in the run up to the Carol Service with the large mixed choir enjoying the challenge of singing in four part harmony with the Parent and Staff Choir at the service. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents and friends of KES who join the choir for the Christmas Carol Service bringing an exciting extra dimension to the proceedings.

Mrs Freemantle (Director of Senior Choir)

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Chamber Choir This has been a very rewarding year for the advanced singers in the Chamber Choir. At the beginning of December, they participated in an Advent Carol Concert at St. Nicolas’ Church, with the female members of the choir undertaking a real challenge and performing Britten’s ‘Ceremony of Carols’ with a harpist. They then joined with their male counterparts to perform Tavener’s ‘The Lamb’ and Warlock’s ‘Benedicamus Domino’; performances which were reprised at the Carol Service a couple of weeks later. The spring term saw the choir participating in Evensong alongside Romsey Abbey Choir, singing Elgar’s challenging but rousing ‘Give

unto the Lord’ alongside canticles, responses and a psalm. The Chamber Choir then took part in a masterclass with David Hurley, former member of the King’s Singers, where they learnt about ensemble performance techniques. The two pieces, arrangements of the spirituals ‘Steal Away’ and ‘As I went down to the River to Pray’ were then performed with great success in the Turner Sims Concert. Sadly, this year we say goodbye to a number of singers who have contributed so much to the choir during their time at KES: Holly Smart, Himani Arora, Charlie Lisle, Rachel Jacob, Niamh Phelan, Phoebe Willoughby-Hannington,

Symphony Orchestra The Symphony Orchestra has had a successful year, culminating in their performance at the Turner Sims Concert.

The audience enjoyed a rousing and at times exquisitely sinister rendition of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Marche Slave’ followed by the soulful ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ by Enrico Morricone. Both works posed significant challenges in terms of ensemble and rhythmic intricacies and the orchestra rose to the challenge, producing an excellent final performance. It has been a pleasure working with the orchestra this year and I would like to thank the students for their commitment to rehearsals and practise.

Miss Anderson (Director of Symphony Orchestra)

Meg Dunlop, Iman Elsheikh, Jake Berry, Beth Self, Tom Edwards, Charlie Callaghan, Joe Winter and Richard Brown. It has been a pleasure to work with the choir this academic year; they are an enthusiastic and committed group.

Miss Anderson (Director of Chamber Choir)

SOTONIENSIS 2017 | 29

Big Band It’s been another successful year with the Big Band who gave an exciting performance at the Turner Sims Concert in March. Much of the repertoire including Freddie Hubbard’s ‘Red Clay’ pushed boundaries and gave the players a real challenge. The musicians handled it well and took to the style gracefully. The trumpet solo

in ‘Monday’s Child’ was handled skillfully by Mhairi Carson and all enjoyed playing Quincy Jones’s arrangement of a Country & Western classic ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You.’ As usual, I’m immensely proud of the band and already looking forward to next year!

Mr Carrasco (Director of Big Band)

Flute Choir The Flute Choir has been rehearsing regularly on Monday lunchtimes. During our rehearsals we have been learning to develop instrumental and ensemble skills whilst exploring a range of different styles. The flute players have played repertoire including film themes, musicals and classical repertoire. In our rehearsals the students develop musical skills including listening to each other, matching their sounds and

dynamics alongside the challenge of playing in tune and in time with each other. They are developing their sight reading and aural skills regularly in rehearsals alongside enjoying the fulfilment of hearing their hard work come to fruition.

The flautists worked hard to prepare for the Lower School Music Concert held this year in the School Hall. They performed an arrangement of ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ complete with percussion

instruments, including a car horn! The performers brought this fun arrangement to life with confidence and energy. Regular contributors this year have been Carol Naoum, Beth Robinson, Isobel Chapman, Charlotte Dunkley, Joshua Lam, Elizabeth Field, Sophie Diamond, Alice Thomas, Emily Ardern Jones, Maya Chakraborty and Emily Buckland.

Mrs Stocker (Director of Flute Choir)

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Rock Academy This year’s Rock Academy saw the biggest and, most would agree, best Battle of the Bands. For the first time the event was held in the Main Hall and the atmosphere was electric! The skill, personality, musicality and showmanship was out in full force with the audience being treated to an incredible amount of talent. The Fifth Year Rock Academy band were on fire that night, winning two of the four prizes. Throughout the year the groups enjoyed the usual experiences afforded to Rock Academy such as the photoshoot, during which even the most timid of student seems to find their inner rock star strut! Rehearsals, repertoire building and practising for the Arts Festival performances completed this packed year.

Mr Kotch (Director of Rock Academy)

Sinfonia Orchestra

Symphonic Winds

The Sinfonia Orchestra has had a characteristically buoyant and hard-working year to produce some polished performances. They took part in the annual Spring Concert (this year under a marquee in the Main Hall) performing arrangements of two short pieces by Bartók from Book One of his wonderful folk-inspired collection ‘For Children’.

They enjoyed the atmospheres these pieces conjure up and followed with an energetic, foottapping performance of ‘Rock Around the Clock’ by Bill Hayley and the Comets. They also took part in a pop-up performance during the Arts Festival, performing the renowned film theme from ‘The Great Escape’ by Elmer Berstein. They have loved learning this piece with its memorable tunes and it promises to be an excellent contribution to the lunch hour’s proceedings.

This has been an exciting year for Symphonic Winds, who have tackled some challenging repertoire with great flair and enthusiasm. The group has shown admirable commitment in rehearsals even throughout the busy examination period and are working more and more sympathetically together as an ensemble, with a musical maturity that continues to grow. A successful performance in the Dobson Theatre concert was followed by a rendition of ‘St Louis Blues’ in the inaugural ‘Prom in the Park’ at the end of the summer term.

Dr Evans (Director of Sinfonia Orchestra)

Mr Belassie (Director of Symphonic Winds)

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The Castle Singers This has been an excellent inaugural year for the First Year Boys’ Choir. Despite only beginning rehearsals in January, the boys performed the Irving Berlin song ‘Putting on the Ritz’ in the February school concert with great excitement and enthusiasm. A particular highlight was the opportunity to wear Top hats! The boys have worked hard to develop their singing technique, as well as their sight-reading and confidence, and should be congratulated for all their hard work. I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.

Mr Castle

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Clubs and Societies

Ancient Greek Club Ancient Greek Club continues to meet on Friday lunchtimes, one sitting to allow Second Years to also go to Classics Society and one for the First Year students. Sessions focused at first on Gorilla Greek and learning the alphabet, though hangman, and more advanced Greek has featured at times too.

Architectural Society Every Friday the Art Studios have been the meeting point for erudite discussions on architecture in all its forms from Greek temples to the rise in contemporary statement buildings.

The Society has proved a lovely forum to discuss and debate and be informed by each other. In the latter half of the year, students were asked to design and build a bus shelter to scale out of balsa wood. These might be humble beginnings but the principles of form following function were applied with an appreciation of what is good design.

Mr Piggott

There have been keen groups in the Second and First Year who have brought their own sense of humour, interests and, occasionally, cake to the club. The participants have been very keen and I hope to see it continue next year.

Mr Halls

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Astronomy Society This has been a relatively quiet year for the Astronomy Society, but we started the year with a new keen group of astronomers studying for the Astronomy GCSE to be taken in 2019 and graded on the new 1-9 scale. We have managed some sunspot and prominence observations of the sun and hope to get up to Toothill Observatory in the autumn term next year.

Mr Simm

Badminton Club Despite Mr Walter’s departure last year, the Badminton Club continued to thrive in the autumn term under the watchful eye of Mrs Evans and Mrs Lane. Students from all years attended the after-school sessions demonstrating a wide range of ability and skill.

Mrs Evans

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Beekeeping (KES Bees) Great excitement was the order of the day when, during the Easter break, the colony of bees we had placed out at Nursling was able to be returned to the roof here at KES. The bees seemed strong and, after a few feeds, had a good amount of stores and honey.

They had been well looked after by Dave Norris, our bee mentor.

All looked well, with a few new beekeepers from the Fourth and First Years joining the ranks. However, on a very hot day in the middle of June, the bees decided to exit the hive ‘en masse’, during the Art Festival.

Following this, an anxious few weeks passed as we waited to see if a queen was present in our remaining bees.

I am pleased to say we have a laying queen but numbers of bees are down and so we cannot really expect a honey crop this year; we will have to wait a little longer for that.

The Upper Sixth leavers this year had, among their number, James Mitchell and Tom Edwards who have been excellent beekeepers over the whole time we have had bees at KES – since 2012.

If you think you may be interested in learning about being a beekeeper, or just think you might like to put your head into a hive of bees just once, then get yourself involved.

Mr Robinson

Biological Illustration Club Biological Illustration Club has seen the Upper and Lower Sixth artists explore the wonderful world of internal and external anatomy. From the inner machinations of the humble squid to the frantic illustration of the Biology Department’s lively avian guests, the students combined the process of accurate recording with the need to work quickly. The range of subjects allowed the students to overcome their squeamishness, and often the smell of the object, to produce some very dramatic work. It is hoped that this club will expand to include more A Level scientists to join so we can encourage the polymaths!

Mr Piggott

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Byron Society From: Ms Claire (Clara) Clairmont To: Mrs Mary Shelley Southampton, July 1819 Dearest Sister I am gladdened to hear that you are well and that you and my pretty Bysshe are enjoying milord’s company at Pisa. O the wild stories that are told here of your doings!

Suffice to say that, here in seclusion on the other side of the Channel, I am feeling most out of sorts and desperate to see my darling little angel, Allegra. But her papa is of the opinion that she is better off being educated in a flea-ridden convent near Ravenna. D__n him - how could he be so uncaring of our progeny and of me in particular! How I regret our careless assignation in his London flat all those moons ago. If he continues in this behaviour towards me I shall soon go out of my mind with worry and self-loathing!

But all is not lost. The King Edward’s Byron Society continues to flourish, albeit in somewhat more muted terms, with a Reading Competition and a Winter Ball among its characteristically scandalous outpourings this season. Lady Charlotte Leverson-Gower (Madeleine Collins) was a deserving winner of the former, with a stirring rendition of one of LB’s finest, though Robert Dallas (Aelfred Hillman) played an exceptionally gifted second fiddle. The entire affair was admirably conceived and chaired by the delightful Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (Michael Armitage) - this year’s inspirational Byron Society President. Our Regency Winter Ball was graced by several Society beauties, and the dancing was among the best that we have seen at Annesley Hall, with Francis Hodgson and Tommy Moore (Angus Armstrong and Tom Edwards respectively) and Mrs Virginia Murray (Alexandra Hopkins-Manceri) looking particularly resplendent among the dancing couples.

It made my sad heart sing - if only for a moment.

I have one last piece of news to report - the apparent resurrection of your mama and my step-mama, Mary Wollstonecraft (RJM) as a member of the Byron Society’s inner circle. I am dubious as to her presence among such reprobates and can only surmise that she means to tame our ‘friend’ and bring him low, under the guise of literary fellowship and bonhomie. Let us hope so - for all our sakes.

I do love/hate him so.

I am ever y’rs &c. &c.

Claire / Clara

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Cactus Club A mainstay of the year’s programme is always the display of cacti of all sizes and types in March. There were two new categories this year. Mrs Mitchell richly deserved her Lifetime Achievement Award for her support, understanding and the sustained magnificence of the cacti in her collection.

Ankit Nambiar (solo category)

2017 Winners

Lucy Giles (group category) Zak Crane-Whatmore (succulent category) James Mitchell (seed category) Tilly Abraham (cactometer – new category for 2017) Mrs Mitchell (lifetime achievement – new category for 2017) Every week the group concentrates on one special cactus, namely ‘Cactus of the Week’. A firm favourite this year was turbinicarpus jauernigii which was the winner of the members’ choice. It is an exceptional plant found North of Palomas in Mexico and was discovered growing next to a major motorway by an Austrian enthusiast.

Every Tuesday members of the Cactus Club gather in CL3 to take part in practical sessions and to learn more about the fascinating world of our prickly friends.

On Open Evening in October a fine series of informal talks and advice were also given by our own ‘cactus doctors’ and also featured our biggest specimen display yet.

Topics and activites this year have included: Aztec Cacti, the ever popular Cactus Bingo (usually won by a member of the McCarthy family) Cacti Care Cacti Regions of the World (some surprises here) Cactometers (a novel device for showing how many cacti members own) The Endeavour Project (building the new cactus garden at Stroud) The Club Greenhouse (due to open to seedlings soon) Schrodinger’s Cactus (the science of cacti explained) United States Refugee Cactus Support (a special presidential address about the superb programme of cactus rescue carried out by US Customs officials).

The focus for our annual trip this year was cacti and plant adaptations generally. We made our first ever venture to the superb RHS Gardens at Wisley which is located just west of the A3 between Guildford and the M25. With the help of Kyle McHale, the Education Officer, and Greg Overton, the glasshouse expert, we investigated arid plant adaptations, studied the superb section of varying ferns in the temperate zone and headed off to the alpine houses to develop our understanding of high altitude plants from hot and dry regions along with cold regions from around the world. This was a truly fascinating day for the fourteen strong group.

Thoughts from the President “ After more than a decade since its foundation, Cactus Club is truly enjoying a period of unparalleled popularity. With a record membership base, we have had a truly unforgettable year, with plenteous helpings of excitement, prickles and green fingered advice. Our newly installed propagators have helped us grow many specimens from seed, and they will undoubtedly go on to found new collections with the members. Elsewhere, particular highlights have been the many craft activities, ranging from flipbooks to pincushions, and games of pairs and cactus bingo have found a space in between. In this last year of my presidency, I am delighted at just how far the club has come from when I joined seven years ago, and I am confident that it will continue to expand and excel for many years to come.”

James Mitchell and the Cactus Club team

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Character Design Club Students have explored a range of illustrative styles within Character Design Club this year. They began by looking at surrealist artists such as Hannah Hoch to inform their own collaged creations. The club then designed their own children’s book character that could exist within Lewis Carol’s fantastical Wonderland. After exploring 2D illustration, the

students then built their own 3D characters out of materials that reflected their character’s occupation.

Of late, students have just produced some fantastic paper cut illustrations based on the Brothers Grimm Tales whilst inspired by Rob Ryan’s and Bovey Lee’s paper cuts.

Mr Piggott

Charities Commission Charities Commission has had an amazing year with a wide variety of events, shows and stalls. We have raised money for many different charities ranging from local organisations (such as the Wessex Cancer Trust) to national campaigns (such as Children in Need). We have had a great turnout this year at both Lower and

Upper School Charities meetings which have run next door to each other making collaboration much easier.

We began the autumn term with the Toy Appeal Fun Run, with the whole of the First Year dressing up as toys, running around the school and raising money to buy Christmas gifts for local disadvantaged children.

This year we raised almost £2,500, and had great fun picking out the presents for local children! Another successful event in the autumn term was the Link to Hope Shoebox Appeal. We filled a record 176 shoeboxes with gifts for families in Eastern Europe, and there was great teamwork as both Upper and

Lower School charities groups worked together to sort through all the boxes. The show of the term was ‘Mr & Mrs’, which saw various couples (of teachers and of students) hilariously tested on how well they know each other. We also had an extremely comfy non-uniform day which was pyjama-themed, and on the last day of term the Sixth Formers came to school in festive jumpers. We ran Christmas stalls throughout the last week, selling Santa hats, candy canes and Christmas cards as well as a competition to win a gingerbread house.

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In the spring term we held two more shows, which were both very popular. ‘KES Has Got Talent’ saw a range of acts including ABBA, bottle flipping and rap.

The winner was Phoebe Rogers with an impressive dance routine. Later in the term we held a ‘KES University Challenge’, in which students fiercely competed with teachers, answering questions on topics from F Scott Fitzgerald to Beyoncé. The teachers were the winners, and the event drew a large crowd, raising over £110. We also helped out with the PTA quiz night, waiting on tables and manning stalls and throughout the year we have sold hundreds of Krispy Kreme doughnuts; always a favourite amongst the students.

It’s been a fun year for the Charities Commission and whilst we have worked hard, we have also had a great time throughout. I hope next year will be equally fun and I look forward to seeing what they get up to!

Ellie MacLeod (Student Head of Charities)

Chess Club The Chess Club has met on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays this year. The individual club championship was decisively won by Joshua Lam, who shows both a good understanding of strategy and a knowledge of several different openings. This competition qualified him for the national event and he has successfully come through the first stage of this.

The House competition was comprehensively won

by Lawrence with a maximum possible score of five points out of five. This made them the first holders of

the ‘Richard Patten Trophy’, which was presented by Mr Patten himself, who returned for the day to help with the event.

There are many talented players in the club who should consider increasing their experience of the game. This can be done by using internet sites for play, studying in books or by U-Tube videos, or joining a club outside school.

Mr Hardwick

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Christian Union Christian Union has met regularly on Wednesday lunchtimes partaking in a broad variety of activities from hearing talks to engaging in meaningful discussions about the big questions of life.

We began the year going through a video series called ‘Towards Belief’ which we used as a prompt for conversation and which gave us a basic grounding in apologetics – examining compelling arguments that provide a rational defence for Christian belief.

We have also enjoyed hearing talks from many visiting speakers. Dr Collins gave a talk entitled, ‘Advent beyond the Chocolate’, and we ran a two-part series that was advertised as ‘Modern Faith’; a youth leader from a local church presented the case for the resurrection, and Mr Collins delivered a talk about why we tell stories. In addition, we have been privileged to hear talks from our very own Mr Aellen, who broached the topic of science and God and Mrs Asiki, who spoke about her life as a missionary in Uganda.

In the spring term we explored the book of Romans.

Each member was given the opportunity to lead a bible study and we all benefited from delving into this profound book, learning about the fundamental aspects of the Christian faith in an open environment where questions were encouraged.

But it wasn’t all intellectual and spiritual discussions – we did Easter and Christmas quizzes, as well as watching short, fun videos such as ‘retooning the nativity’ (a humorous video comparing human traditions and biblical accounts) and ‘falling plates’ (a video that presents the gospel in an accessible, visual way).

All in all, this year has been a great one for the KES CU; there has been a consistent, core group, and also a good turnout for the various talks. We hope this club will continue to flourish in the years to come, and are extremely grateful for the chance we’ve had to meet with other Christians and talk about our faith at school.

Madeleine Collins and Eleanor Dye

Classics Society A dedicated group of First Year and Lower School students have regularly attended Classical Society, keeping it vibrant and busy. A variety of activities have been covered including quizzes on mythology, some collage making and several talks, including an unusual one on Harry Potter and Latin by Sophia Skenderis, Hannah Smith and Xanthe Thompson.

Particularly popular were play readings from the story of Odysseus which continued for several weeks. The performances were lively and often original, and certainly kept us all on our toes. Recently the team have been recreating the Parthenon Temple out of toilet rolls and cardboard, and many thanks to the Art Department for the loan of a table during the lunchtimes. We all loved the statue of Athene, beautifully drawn and painted by Xanthe.

It is wonderful to see so many students really enjoying the Classics.

Mrs Meredith

Computer Society The Computer Society hosted several lunchtime talks in the autumn term on a variety of topics. There were two particular highlights; a talk from Upper Sixth student Thomas Eaton on machine learning algorithms and a visit by representatives from ‘Tekever’, a thriving specialist drone manufacturer based on the south coast.

Mr Mapstone

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Cookery Club Cookery Club has enjoyed a very successful year expanding membership to include all year groups.

This proved hugely successful for the Upper School who used the opportunity to hone their skills for Duke of Edinburgh.

The Second Years were fortunate enough to attend a cookery demonstration by celebrity chef James Tanner at Stroud School which was both informative and delicious! A variety of dishes were cooked up, including Thai green chicken curry, risotto, sweet and sour chicken, gingerbread and even scones.

Members of the club were in operation on Open Evening enticing prospective pupils and their parents with aromatic Thai flavours and the opportunity to ice freshly made gingerbread. As ever the ‘Bake Off’ was fiercely contested with great entries from all of the competitors, some highlights included Sophie Holliday’s Chocolate and Cointreau roulade, Amber Musson’s award-winning Lime Torte, Steph Judd’s Mango and Passion fruit Roulade and an unforgettable Easter-themed creation by Saskia Costigan.

Mrs Searles

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Debating Society Debating Society has had a relatively quiet year yet we still remain in full force and have taken part in many friendly competitions. In particular, the 2017 General Election, the Trump presidency and Brexit have taken hold within our discussions and it has been both fascinating and enlightening to listen to members’ opinions.

Earlier in the year, we were fortunate enough to host a friendly competition against Bishop Wordsworth’s School under the motion of ‘This House Believes that social media has debased politics’. We had a fascinating round of debates and discussions, and each party was able to learn new techniques and tactics which will undoubtedly put us in good stead for future competitions.

In addition, the society was fortunate enough to have a visiting guest speaker from Southampton University’s own Debating group. We were able to play games and pick up useful hints and tips for the future.

Once again we have hosted the Oasis Academy in Mayfield and hope to continue this partnership for some time to come. We shall be entering the Cambridge Schools Debating Competition in late January 2018 and I have full confidence that in the coming academic year, the society will thrive even more.

Miss Champion

Digital Leaders The Digital Leaders’ group has continued to go from strength to strength this year. We have several new First Year Digital Leaders who did an excellent job delivering an assembly talk on Safer Internet Day, as well as running events in the Crush Hall. The Digital Leaders have also made e-safety cards, with tips on using social media and how to stay safe on line.

The Upper School Digital Leaders have done excellent work with the primary partnership schools and have been running after school coding clubs for them. In addition to this, they created their own resources, and started a similar club for our own Lower School pupils. This focuses on Python and has been well attended.

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We were very lucky to again host #DLNetwork17, the national Digital Leaders’ conference in conjunction with Mrs Price at Stroud School. Over 130 Digital Leaders from all over the country attended, and were treated to activities such as a break out room, making binary jewellery, drone flying, virtual reality with Google Expeditions and cryptography.

We are also now fortunate to be working with a former KES pupil, Martin Gale, who is a Program Architect at Salesforce. Mr Gale has challenged our Digital Leaders to a ‘blue sky thinking’ task to design and build something with technology that will benefit the School. Keep your eyes peeled to see the bus arrival link and healthy eating scheme that they are building using an Arduino.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank one of the founding Digital Leaders for everything he has done, as he now leaves King Edward’s. Caleb Venable has been a key member of the group and we thank him for his hard work.

Mrs Whitfield

Drone Club Drone Club has been active this year and the pupils have enjoyed working with the software on the drone to make it more user responsive. Our test flights have been somewhat hampered by poor weather, and a reluctance on the pupils’ part to fly in wind after the now notorious ‘tree-gate’ incident. Members of the group are excited about the prospect of using the 3D printers in the Design and Technology Department to produce a mini-drone.

Mrs Whitfield

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Economics Society This year, Economics Society was bursting with both exciting and innovative talks and presentations. We began with Hugo Marshall pushing forward the benefits of capitalism to the masses. Hugo McCullagh followed in this vein by also presenting on worker exploitation, as he gave a captivating talk on the economics of slavery.

Fortunately, for the many attendees of the Society, Callum Loader was able to enlighten them with a talk on Marxism.

Guest speakers included the likes of the notable Neil Munz-Jones, who emphasised the importance of networking in one’s career, giving invaluable advice. Further speakers included Dr Ianni from Southampton University who gave a thoughtprovoking speech on Game Theory, and Andrew Holder, a representative from the Bank of England.

Economics Society also hosted two presentations of Extended Projects on the subjects of inequality in the UK and the sub-prime mortgage crisis, both proving to be well researched and intellectual.

However, the highlight of this society was the day the legendary Mr Walter imparted his wisdom and gave an impressive talk entitled: ‘Markets: a Pensioner’s Perspective’. It was great to see the former KES Economics teacher return, as it has

been clear that he is greatly missed this year. One must not also forget the Economics-style quiz, in which a group of Lower Sixth students emerged victorious, shaming the Uppers taking part.

It has been a great honour and good fun for both of us to lead this group; the atmosphere in H2 has been electric for the bi-weekly talks, with people rushing to secure seats. We hope the society will continue to develop and increase its lead as the best Humanities society!

Hugo Marshall and Callum Loader Mr Culver adds:

“ This really has been a vintage year for Economics Society, thanks to the efforts of Hugo and Callum. They have set a high benchmark for next year’s Presidents to follow, and they have my great thanks and appreciation.”

English Society Under the careful guidance of Dr Schofield, the English Society has continued to flourish and Mr Mason has also been instrumental in providing so many, regular inspirational talks. The Society continues to offer members a variety of talks on a range of writers using both outside providers and our in-house expertise.

This year the Sixth Form enjoyed the expertise of speakers from Southampton University on the craft of Shakespeare whilst internal speakers also gave enlightening presentations which were enthusiastically received. Mrs Hardwick spoke on ‘T S Eliot and the search for a Creed’ which created an interesting opportunity to examine a poet who, sadly, no longer appears on many specifications. Miss Champion raised a large and enthusiastic following

for her talk on Harry Potter which examined Rowling’s criticism of a Nazi type regime. Miss Cullen gave a fascinating talk on Dystopian fiction with a focus on Orwell. This was meticulously researched and the concept of the politics of language was especially thought-provoking for our English Language students in the Sixth Form. Terry Pratchett has always had a loyal group of readers and his texts are always a popular issue from the library so Mr Collinson’s talk on the recently deceased author proved understandably popular. Mrs Gadsby gave our feminists a chance to examine the poetry of Sylvia Plath in a post-Trump era which gave an apposite political connection to the literature we read.

Mrs Hardwick

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First Aid Club I have run two First Aid Clubs this academic year and we now have fifteen more newly qualified First Aiders with certificates from the Red Cross ‘Life Live It’ schools’ programme. Our programme includes the basics like the recovery position, CPR, keeping yourself safe in emergency situations, bleeding, burns and choking. It also covers a range of medical conditions that the pupils are encouraged to research and present back on, some on detailed power point presentations, some role playing and others in poster form.

The group meets on Monday after school and pupils are encouraged to come to the medical room to enquire about enrolling on a course which lasts ten weeks. Successful participants received a certificate issued in conjunction with the Red Cross and their qualification lasts three years. They also receive a first aid kit and manual at the end of the course.

Mrs Duke

The qualification also covers topics such as bites and stings, hypo/hyperthermia, sunburn and sunstroke; all things that are relevant to anyone wanting to do the Duke of Edinburgh award. My second group this year, were all Duke of Edinburgh award participants so we factored in extra sessions to ensure they reached their skills target.

We have access to a range of equipment such as resuscitation, choking Charlie and baby mannequins so that we can teach a range of first aid skills. The students have enjoyed using a training defibrillator so that we can equip them with the skills to use these potentially life-saving machines.

Geography Club (Lower School) During the autumn and spring terms, Miss Grant and a group of Sixth Form geographers organised a number of geography related activities for the First and Second Years. These included making and decorating erupting volcanoes, creating Chinese lanterns for the Chinese New Year, getting messy while making papier mâché piñata globes, and producing some flag bunting to decorate the classroom! Some quizzes and games were also played to test the geography knowledge of the students.

All of the students (including the Sixth Form helpers) thoroughly enjoyed the club as it enabled the older geographers to engage with the younger pupils and share their passion for the subject. We hope the club continues to be a success in the future.

Bronwyn Lee

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Geography Society This year’s Geography Society has held a multitude of fascinating talks, from teachers, students, and outside speakers, as well as the popular Christmas Quiz. Geography Society has taken advantage of the travels of both teachers and students, with talks ranging from travels across Africa, life in Uganda, holidays in Borneo, school trips to Iceland and Sri Lanka, and hiking in Svalbard. The Sixth Form students have been very keen to share their personal geographical stories or their extended research of Geography A Level, such as geopolitics, with other members of the Geography Society.

One particularly thought-provoking talk came from a Southampton resident, John Easton, who the Lower Sixth students had met on a Geography field trip. He came to KES to give a talk on the socio-economic problems in the local area. We were also fortunate enough to have Lucy Williams come and give a presentation about her work in the oil industry.

Geography Society continues to be a very popular way to spend a Thursday lunchtime with teachers, as well as students, coming to watch the talks.

It is nice to see such a large audience each week.

Phoebe Willoughby-Hannington

German Magazine Club This has been another successful year for the German Magazine Club. Due to popular request the format has been changed from a magazine to a blog in order for students to be able to produce articles in a different way, honing their editing skills along the way. Articles have been produced on everything to do with German, Austrian and Swiss life, culture, history, language and customs and traditions.

Highlights have included traditional German Christmas baking, St Nikolaus and German animals.

Any member of the German Magazine Club can research any part of the above countries’ history and culture in which they are interested or would like to look at in more depth. It is a good way for students to broaden their knowledge of the subject.

New members will be made very welcome in the autumn term.

Elisabeth Ruggles

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Greenpower The racing year got off to a flying start with a trip up to the Rockingham Speedway in October; the culmination of the 2016/2017 season. The International Kit Car Final saw teams from all over the UK, and as far away as America. Year after year spaces in this race have become harder to secure and the competition has become more challenging.

The fast oval circuit provided the KES racing team with the opportunity to really test the new speed controller, designed and built by Alex Everest, which provided the car with a soft start, saves battery power and gives the drivers much greater control over the speed of the car.

Mr Blow

The Rockingham Finals We left school at six in complete darkness and began our lengthy journey up to Rockingham. After three hours we arrived and rushed to scrutineering.

We were pressed for time and, after making our adjustments, we were ready for testing. All seemed well until we discovered that after changing driver our brakes had become contaminated with oil.

This meant the pads didn’t get friction onto the discs and they began to fail. After fixing it quickly, we were pushed straight out onto the track for the start of the race. Ian gave us a strong start quickly moving up the leaderboard and by lap 6 we were in 16th place.

We fought on but were forced to pit to swap driver.

After a long stop, clearing out the brakes checking tyre pressures and the battery, we had dropped to 20th but Joseph was able to restore some of our places to 18th. By the time we had pitted again and switched driver to Robert, our batteries were fading.

We kept going but dropped to 22nd and finally on the last lap, squeezing all we could from the batteries, the car gave in during the last lap leaving us in 24th place, stranded just a few metres from the line. A great result against the best kit cars both nationally and internationally.

Harry Stembridge and Will Daniels

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Following last year’s Greenpower House Challenge on a slightly damp school field, a number of keen female racing enthusiasts joined the team and this got us thinking about acquiring a second kit car to cater for the growing number of interested students and more specifically the possibility of a female team. The team put together a proposal for the KES PTA and were very generously granted the funding to allow us to start planning for a second car next season.

The next challenge for the team was the Goodwood heats. This saw a record turn-out of over 85 Greenpower racing teams for these regional heats.

The KES racing team got off to a good start with eleven members of the current team all getting a practice lap around the course to get a feel for the conditions. Two races then followed, one of ninety minutes in which we were placed provisionally 15th in the kit car category and then a slightly shortened second race in which we finished in an all-time best 12th position. Everybody had a very successful day and we hope that a qualification letter for the Rockingham finals will be on its way to us.

This year the Greenpower team have been using some exciting new technology, a 360 degree view video camera which allows the viewer to be fully immersed in the experience of driving the car or being at the side of the race track in the pits during a race. The 360 footage has been used very effectively by the team to learn the twists and turns of the race circuits and you can use the QR code below to sit on board a lap of the track at Goodwood. The video is best viewed in the Vimeo app or using Chrome on a desktop computer.

Mr Blow

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Historical Society Throughout the year, the KES Historical Society has hosted a variety of talks ranging across topics such as the philanthropic activities of Lord Shaftesbury, the story of a dramatic escape from a World War I prison camp and a discussion of civil rights in America and Rosa Park.

We have also been lucky enough to welcome a number of visitors to KES including Roy Doughty and Professor Brown who gave fascinating and insightful lectures. The annual Christmas Quiz was great fun, with Mr Coundley and Dr Filtness regaining the trophy with a close win, followed by ‘Et Tu Franklin’.

The Sixth Form pupils, who have been keen to talk about their favourite periods of history, have given a number of exciting and passionate presentations.

Henry Townsend spoke about Guy Burgess and the Cambridge spy ring of the 1940’s, Hugo McCullough gave a talk entitled ‘Lawrence of Arabia, saviour of the Arabic peoples or their greatest betrayer?’ and Robbie Stelling gave a touching presentation on the Sobibor Death Camp and Escape through the eyes of the prisoners.

Overall it has been a brilliant year of great contributions from KES’s most dedicated history students. We wish the best of luck to the new heads of Historical Society, Henry Townsend and Tabitha Traill.

Interface This group for First, Second and Third Years has been meeting every Friday to explore the Christian faith through games, activities, quizzes and discussions.

There has been considerable variety throughout the year with many challenges. Historical subjects were encountered (Guy Fawkes and Isaac Newton’s thumb theory) as well as Geography (country quiz and nations where persecution is greatest), English (longest word competition), Maths (fractals, Bertrand’s Box and the surprising probability in Acts 2:24), Art (Pictionary, animal art and drawing on your head contest), Design & Technology (miniature tetrahedron construction) as well as plenty of biblical themes. A good memory helped at times, as well as extra-terrestrial powers for the psychic ability test.

Humility (quiz inspired by Mr Collinson’s assembly) and thankfulness were important attributes considered. Students with a viewpoint to express or those who like pondering new ideas are very welcome to attend.

Mr Singleton

Ben Barr and Ekaterina Sheath

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Japanese Club Cramming vocabulary and grammar is not what language learning should be about, and luckily Japanese club was able to make it fun.

As a student, learning Japanese is quite refreshing since it gives you a break from memorising various conjugation tables and adjectival agreements, especially when taking more than one modern foreign language. Beginners were able to pick up the language with ease and learnt basic vocabulary and phrases whilst the more advanced group aimed to improve their communication skills and tackle the challenge of conquering the unique writing system.

Lego Club Lego fans at KES have had a busy year building the School out of Lego.

It has actually proven to be quite a challenge, as the pupils have been rigorous in their attention to detail and scale, and several re-builds have taken place - not to mention now we will have to add on the emerging new Drama theatre!

Aside from building the Hill Lane site, Lego Club offers younger members of the school community a place to come and be creative and design their own projects. Many a stop-motion video has been produced during this Monday lunchtime club!

Mrs Whitfield

Plus, everyone was encouraged to participate and get to know each other better by the club’s relaxed atmosphere and by Mr Lawson, spoiling the members with various Japanese snacks.

Xyla Taufaniska

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MedSoc During the past year, MedSoc has hosted a variety of different speakers from all corners of the medical world; from postgraduate medical students to top consultant neurologists, and everything in between.

Although we heard from a diverse range of speakers, what they all had in common was an avid enthusiasm and love for medicine, which was infectious.

We kicked off the year with a postgraduate medical student, OE Phil Mitchell, who gave us perspective on a less travelled path into medicine. He told us of the benefits of doing a degree before medicine, and how even during it, his attraction towards medicine never faltered. Another Old Edwardian, Junior Doctor Oliver Townsend, gave us his own perspective on the junior doctor strike, and we were able to hear a side the media tends not to present to us, which was eyeopening for all.

At KES there is no shortage of current pupils with medical parents and we have made full use of that.

Some of the highlights included talks by Dr Diana Baralle, Dr Ben Marshall and Dr Doug Dunlop. Dr Baralle, Professor of Genomics at Southampton, gave a fascinating insight into the exponentially growing world of Genomics and the exciting prospects it holds for the future with regards to treating genetic diseases and cancers. It really revealed how much progress the future still holds in medicine which is incredibly exciting. Dr Marshall, a respiratory physician and the TB lead at UHS, came to discuss his career in respiratory medicine and the developments being made, especially in tuberculosis treatment, with mortality rates decreasing substantially in recent

years. Dr Dunlop showed us what life is like as an orthopaedic surgeon, and we saw how medicine and engineering could cooperate to produce astoundingly effective results; for example in hip joint replacements.

Some other speakers that really intrigued us were Dr Andy Eyenon, a neurologist, and Dr Sanjay Patel, an infectious disease specialist. Dr Eyenon really gave us a clearer perception into that mysterious branch of medicine that is neurology, and we saw not only the life changing-potential that brain injuries could have, but also the inspirational way people have learned to deal with them. Dr Patel’s talk was both captivating and terrifying. He spoke of the antibiotic resistance crisis which is striking the world at the moment, and how it could cost the world trillions in just a matter of decades.

The world needs doctors and scientists now, more than ever before, to develop and test new drugs to help treat these issues, and a whole variety of others.

We would like to express our immense gratitude to all the speakers who came to MedSoc this year, as each and every one of them enriched our knowledge of the career that we hope to pursue. It was very kind of them to take time out of their busy schedule to speak to us, and there would be no MedSoc without them.

MedSoc will of course resume next year in the same vein, hoping to encourage those that want to take up the hard graft of a medical career.

Ananth Sathyanath and Claudia Tam (MedSoc Presidents)

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Partnerships This has been another successful year for Partnership projects across many areas of school life, with around 160 KES students involved this year. Overall, approximately 920 places for state school children in different events have been filled this academic year. A wide variety of clubs have been on offer, including philosophy, literacy, numeracy, science, ICT, art, French, fencing and music. Projects have been very well received by our partnership schools, and many clubs have been carried forward from previous years. Significant new additions have included a Science Club for Wordsworth School, as well as the participation of both Springhill Catholic Primary School and Nursling Primary School in regular Reading Schemes. New links have been made with Nursling Primary School and we have seen students from Fair Oak Junior School and The Crescent Primary School participating in the Arts Festival for the first time.

September saw the very successful ‘Gifted and Talented Conference Day’ for Second Year students, led by Mrs Costello-Kelly, which attracted a number of local schools to participate including Redbridge Community School, Oasis Mayfield, Testwood Sports College and Brookfield Community

College. Another successful one-off event was the London Mozart Players’ String Day which involved 66 string musicians from local primary schools; St. Marks, Springhill, Hollybrook, Wordsworth, and Highfield.

Both Springhill Catholic Primary School and Wordsworth Primary School brought students along to science clubs, led by Mrs Burnett and Mrs Collinson, and ably supported by a number of dedicated and inspirational KES students. The primary school students were very enthusiastic and excited to be working with novel equipment, enabling them to explore their passion for science. In the first few sessions, the students were introduced to bunsen burners and laboratory safety, using them in some basic experiments as well as investigating different metals in flame tests, which they found fascinating. The primary school students had the opportunity to look at insects under a microscope as well as to investigate water and air pressure by collapsing drinks cans. The final session saw students revelling in the opportunity to be involved in dissection, analysing the digestive systems of rats and studying the

structure of a pig’s heart. This was definitely a love or hate activity!

The Endeavour communities project continues to be a great success with seventy-eight Fourth Year students involved in leading sessions in dance, drama, art, English, science, mathematics and sport to 346 primary school children. This is a very rewarding culmination to the academic year of partnership projects and is an excellent opportunity for our Fourth Year students to contribute to the local community while developing their leadership and communication skills.

Congratulations to all of the KES students involved in supporting activities this year.

Miss Anderson

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Photography Club The photography group has been very popular this year as we have met on a Thursday lunchtime to engage with a number of different photographic activities.

We have been on numerous walks in the local area, photographing parts of the common and the cemetery as well as local roads. A number of interesting techniques have been investigated inside as we have used the studio equipment, photographed chicks and painted with light.

There have been two opportunities to showcase these pictures with competitions and shows, each with several categories. Photos taken with DSLRs, phones and iPads have all been entered. We have also had an excellent talk and show by Roger Buchanan.

If you think you might be interested in joining the group it meets on a Thursday lunchtime at 1pm in M9, or you can ask Dr West or Mr Robinson for further details.

The images show a few of the winning competition entries but further pictures can always be found on the display board in the Mathematics corridor.

Mr Robinson

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Polyglots Society This year’s Sixth Form alllanguages society Polyglots featured the following talks: In the autumn term, former pupil, Virginia Stuart-Taylor delivered a talk entitled ‘50 Countries and Counting: How Languages Let me Discover the World’. Virginia is a travel-writer/journalist who is well known for her award-winning blog ‘The Well-Travelled Postcard’ which attracted attention and funding whilst she was still a student at Bristol. She counts, amongst her achievements to date, the role of Digital Strategy Manager for O2 (London), Strategic Partnerships Manager for Telefonica (Madrid) and a technical internship at Georgio Armani (Modena, Italy).

In December 2016, Isobel Searles and Iolanta Spanner gave a highly informative, scholarly talk on ‘Proto-Indo-European: the Cornerstone of Modern Languages’. The sheer depth and scope of information contained in their talk was impressive.

They blended fact with amusing observations and fielded questions from the audience of students and teachers with great poise.

In March 2017, Matt Livingston presented his fascinating EPQ ‘The significance and impact of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960’s film ‘Breathless’ on filmmaking’. Matt’s passion for this subject and the inclusion of a

Robotics Club This year, the club met every Tuesday after school with the aim to design and build a robot for the National Student Robotics competition held at Newbury Racecourse which was held on the 1st and 2nd April. The Sixth Form team used a variety of skills from programming, to electronics to 3D printing to produce their robot for entry into the competition.

On the day of the event they worked hard to make it through the first knockout round but, unfortunately, they were eliminated in the following round.

Mr Mapstone

clip from a short film he had made himself, to illustrate his points and experiment with film-making techniques, made for a highly entertaining and engaging talk.

We look forward to another set of thought-provoking talks next year, so if you are a Sixth Former who would like to be involved, please let your language teacher know, or come along as an audience member and learn more about a new area of languages.

Mrs Lupton

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Sailing Club The KES Sailing Club has drawn on students of all years during the 2016/2017 sailing season. Saturdays and Sundays in the autumn and summer terms, and the worst of weathers, have all played host to training sessions which have focused on trying out new boats and race training. During the Easter holidays beginners’ and improvers’ courses also took place.

A strong contingent of sailors in search of vital Duke of Edinburgh ‘skills’ hours has kept the attendance buoyant, complemented by enthusiastic Lower School pupils, enjoying their early forays into the sport, and a healthy number of Sixth Formers pursuing light relief from their studies.

The RYA qualifications gained by our Lower School sailors have equipped them to become regular members of the club. If the squeals and laughter after capsizes and successes are used as a yardstick, we can rest assured that they will be back. Under the able stewardship of SWAC the five day training programme ran smoothly and although the breeze would have tested all but the Ben Ainslies of this world, not one attendee gave up the ghost and all could fairly argue that a new talent had been acquired.

The Sailing Club is based at SWAC on the River Itchen and has about forty members. Pupils are a broad mix of ages across the entire school spectrum. Our very able sailors are benefiting from a more challenging selection of boats, and the occasional master-class in racing from the SWAC instructors. On Sundays we sometimes join forces with Stroud pupils and have some racing. The Club is used by Sixth Formers on Tuesday afternoons for power boating and on Wednesdays for sailing. Sailing for the rest of the

School happens at weekends, where you will find Mr Havers, Mr Allen, Mrs Sheriden, Mrs Burrows, Mr Barker and Dr Waymark eager to take you afloat.

Mrs Burrows

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Sanskrit Society Sanskrit continued this year with a small core of very enthusiastic students from the Upper School and the Sixth Form. As students have joined the group at different times, they have worked at the characters and the grammar at different rates, helping each other as they go along.

We have had a huge amount of informative discussion and fun around languages, both ancient and modern, and the links between them have all been particularly fascinating to research. We have also touched on

history and mythology and the students have learnt a good deal about Indian culture. This year the group have enjoyed watching Disney’s version of the story of Arjuna and a wonderfully animated version of the Ramayana.

I am particularly indebted to Iolanta Spanner who has been a stalwart member of the group, eternally inquisitive and always enthusiastic.

Mrs Meredith

Scamp Club Part 1: Introduction During the second weekend of March the students of Scamp Club undertook the fifth annual pilgrimage to the School’s study centre at Lovaton. Here is an extract from one of the field diaries: ‘Ben drew in his breath sharply and pointed with a shaking hand. A strange object was rising in the night sky, surrounded by a soft glow of the rosy light...Lucy choked back a scream; this was something she did not understand, and she feared and hated it. But there was someone else watching from the shadows, someone who made the dangerous mistake of underestimating the Scamp Club.’ The excitement, sense of adventure and camaraderie captured here sums up the purposefulness and drive of the club, not only over this glorious weekend but also throughout the year since they first ventured into CL3 for the first meeting of the new campaign last September.

Part 2: Lovaton, March 2017: on the trail of the hound This year Scamp Club’s literary quest took them to Lovaton on Dartmoor. ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ and Malcolm Saville’s classic, ‘Saucers over the Moor’, were their ‘maps.’ Only one area properly fits the bill for Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle’s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ - the moor south of Princetown. Here Fox Tor Mires makes the perfect great Grimpen Mire, while Nun’s Cross Farm is surely the original Merripit House. In late afternoon rain, the group passed the gaunt Napoleonic barrack blocks of Dartmoor prison and walked the puddled track towards Nun’s Cross Farm. The shuttered building lay hidden in a walled

quarter-acre of rough garden, its grey walls battered by the weather.

Nothing lonelier or more eerie could be imagined - save for the vast flat brown waste of Fox Tor Mires that filled the adjacent valley.

To the east, where the Devonport Leat emerges from a tunnel, there lies a ruined house with a tree growing within in – the Sherlock tree. It was here that Chapter 14 of The Hound of the Baskervilles was read aloud. Along the track through a moor fog Sir Henry Baskerville had run screaming from the hellish, fire-breathing hound that Stapleton set on his trail. Here, Holmes gunned the hound down in the nick of time. And over there, where the ruined walls of the old Whiteworks tin mines lay on the moor slopes, the desperate Stapleton, in flight from the collapse of his schemes, had leapt over the tussocks of the great Grimpen Mire until a false step sent the murderer into the ooze to be sucked down to his awful end. The club members gazed on this scene so often conjured in the imagination’s eye, and now brought starkly and stunningly to life. Beyond Whiteworks, towards Hexworthy, lies the River Swincombe with its small reservoir in a hidden valley. It was here that the source of the saucers over the moor was rumoured to be.

Here was the legendary secret station. Armed with our David Morton maps we set off as the mist rolled in…

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Part 3: The Tuesday Lecture Series A splendid range of students graced CL3 over the course of the year to present lectures on topics both pet and universal. Ben Barr, Will Daniels, Lucy Giles, Blake Margason, Ben Mundy, Fergus O’Halloran, Seb Sheath and Harry Stembridge all delivered impressive talks which resonated with solid preparation and confident delivery. In alphabetical order, the topics covered were: Bletchley Park, Body Snatchers, Carlyle Square, Christmas Special, Codes and Ciphers through the Ages, CyberCenturion, Hound of the Baskervilles, Les Deux Inspecteurs, Maigret, Malcolm Saville Mysteries, Marston Baines, Master Plan Deux, Saucers Over the Moor and Secret Locations of Britain.

Part 4: From the President It is with great pleasure that I have guided the fortunes of Scamp Club over the last twelve months. Not only have members readily come forward to pass on their passions in a series of glorious, illustrated lectures but I myself have had the privilege to delve deep into Scamp related issues such as ‘Gary Powers and the U2 Incident’, ‘Gripping Ciphers and Their Antidotes’

Sewing Club KES pupils and teachers have been busy furthering their sewing knowledge and skills, ranging from learning to read pattern envelopes and pattern pieces, cutting out techniques and sewing machine skills. Zips have been inserted to create pencil cases and iPad cases.

This has seen creative applications such as the recycling of jeans to exploit pockets and studs for effective detailing to the stylish play of fabrics inside and out.

Pupils have made lined plimsole style drawstring bags for a modern take on the standard fare. With confidence comes ambition, and projects are now going large with beanbag chairs now being undertaken.

Mrs Moxon

and three end of term quizzes on matters of mystery and special interest. CL3 has long been the base of Scamp Club, a mighty elite task force which has held many great talks ranging from the goings on of Bletchley Park, code breaking and ciphers, all you need to know about the body snatchers, the works of the great detective novelists Malcom Saville and Arthur Conan Doyle and many more captivating coincidences and mysterious. We have participated in the CyberCenturion Challenge and have led great and successful missions across the vast bogs of Dartmoor, endlessly searching for secret stations, alien spacecraft and monstrous animals that may be lurking there.

Scamp Club members have provided a wide variety of intriguing material and presentations which have captivated our minds and I hope that next year will bring forth many more exciting and fascinating lessons and that the club further thrives as I too set off on my own adventure beyond KES, well prepared with an eye to the unusual and the desire to travel the harder rather than the easier route (unless a well-placed Costa demands a detour).

Ben Barr and the Scamp Club team

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Shooting Club A good number of students had their first taste of clay pigeon shooting over the autumn and spring terms at the lovely Hampshire venue ‘Acorn Shooting’ near Kings Somborne. Some fine crisp and cold Saturday mornings saw some sharp shooting and, for some students, this experience has sparked a keen interest and passion really meaning they have found their sport.

Mr Mapstone

Spanish Magazine Club This year we saw the revival of the Spanish Magazine Club but with a twist. Three of our current First Years come from families where Spanish is spoken at home but whose knowledge of grammar and spelling is perhaps not as solid, so they all embraced the chance to improve on these skills by co-writing a magazine full of facts relating to Spain and other speaking countries, such as Nicaragua. It also included fun activities for the other First Year Spanish students to tackle if they wished to. The magazine could be accessed on paper or digitally via the school website. Towards the end of the year the emphasis moved to improving their grammar knowledge with actual lessons during Wednesday lunchtimes. All three students found the sessions very helpful and they are hoping to continue working hard during the Second Year and take their Spanish IGCSE early.

Samuel Cordon, James Cummings-Candal and Sofía Godsland-Ladislao

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STEM Club STEM Club has been running on a Wednesday after school this year with the objective of building a machine that will collect and return ping pong balls for practice. The challenge was to keep the production cost very low, publish a full parts list, code the machine and build instructions to the web for replication.

Such systems do already exist but cost in excess of £1000 so the aim has been to create a similar one for a fraction of the price. Mr Walter, a former retired KES parent who is an automation expert has kindly been assisting the Club each week.

Mr Mapstone

The firing mechanism controlled by an Arduino

Table Tennis The Table Tennis Club has had a good core of committed students, from the First Year to the Third Year, this year, with some excellent matches played and a number of exciting competitions enjoyed.

The School only managed to enter one team into the Southampton Schools’ U13 Table Tennis League but, after a slow start, the team picked up and finished with three wins and a draw to add to the initial three defeats. There were some fine performances from the players (Billy Goodridge, Oscar Groves, Jacob Hampshire, Ollie Herbert, Alex Kipps, Kerem Nebol and Sammy Venable). A number of KES players achieved significant results against top players in the area so this is encouraging for the season ahead.

In the annual Inter-Form Competition 1/4 had a strong squad (Mayan Gupta, Martin Neves and Sammy Venable) but the title was eventually taken by 1/5 due to some superior play by Billy Goodridge.

A number of girls made significant improvement during the year and the Lower School girls’ competition ended with a final between Poppy Culver and Abi McCarthy in which Poppy was victorious.

Next season we look forward to even more success.

Mr Singleton

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Wargaming Club The increase in keen warriors noted last year has been maintained this year, allowing for a wide variety of games to be played. Old favourites like Battle Cry, Wings of War and Warhammer have shared honours with more abstract but equally enjoyable strategy titles like Small World and Ticket to Ride, old-school pen and paper role-playing in the form of Pathfinder, and app-driven horror with Mansions of

Madness. Despite intense, sometimes very animated, competition everyone has played with good humour and a certain ‘esprit de corps’. Honourable mention in dispatches must go to veterans James Lesniak, Tom McCarthy, Alfie Wright, Joe Linehan, Will Atherton, Erik Hillman, Robert Evans and new recruit Toby Ellis.

Dr Gamblin

Young Enterprise As ever, Young Enterprise has been a very popular activity with the Lower Sixth this year, with pupils signing up from within and outside the Economics Department. The participants are required to set up and run a small business, with a view to developing skills such as teamwork, negotiation and basic marketing.

After choosing a management team, led by Managing Director John Naoum, pupils spent some time considering various product ideas. Sensibly, they decided to capitalise on the strengths within the team and produced Christmas cards based on two beautiful designs by Anna Pang.

They were printed on high quality card, with envelopes, and sold in bundles of six tied with ribbon.

The cards were popular and would have sold in higher quantities had it not been for the rather delayed decision making. Young Enterprise was a learning experience for all concerned this year, especially with regard to the importance of accurate costing and project management.

Mrs Quinn

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Trips and Visits

Aachen At 10 pm, on a dark December evening, forty pupils and five members of staff met on Hill Lane to set out on the annual trip to the atmospheric ancient capital of Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire. Although we were missing our usual husband and wife team who usually take us on the journey across France and Belgium, our new drivers did an excellent job and delivered us as one of the first coaches to arrive at the parking area a short walk away from the festive fun.

An early arrival meant that we could wander through empty streets to the oak-panelled café where we ate our breakfast and got ready for the adventure ahead.

After a fine German breakfast

the group embarked on a walking tour of the old town, taking in the cathedral, the town hall (built on the ruins of Charlemagne’s palace) and also part of the trail of thirteen cribs which can be visited during the Christmas period.

It was then time to wander around the market looking for presents, decorations and the local speciality of Printen, a kind of gingerbread cake. A visit to the Rathaus over lunchtime gave everyone a chance to sit down and to warm up, before a second assault on the market.

The day was then rounded off with a visit to the Lindt chocolate outlet shop where a vast array of treats was available to purchase, mainly as presents, but some to eat straight away. It was certainly

a quieter journey on the way back and a tired but happy group arrived back at Hill Lane in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mr Kukla

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Biology field trip to Leeson House

This year’s very enjoyable Biology field trip to Leeson House began with an excellent spell of weather and we were fortunate to have spent such a beautiful first day alongside the magnificent landscape and shimmering sea of Kimmeridge Bay. As well as looking at transects, teachers and students were very keen to taste the popular “Mango Madness” ice cream.

We all took pleasure in being taught by tutors Mike and Amelia, who met us with great warmth, and we were very impressed with the incredible depth of wildlife knowledge which they had to offer us; especially towards

the end of the trip when we got excitingly close up to some very cute mammals and birds (great tits, shrews and voles) which we learned how to track in order to conserve these members of our precious British wildlife.

We had plenty of practice sampling and identifying species of organisms from a range of ecosystems, working together in groups and then taking the data into the classroom to brush up on some ‘exciting’ statistics.

The capturing of woodlice (to measure population size) became extremely competitive, with Daisy the clear winner.

The trip was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, especially as we all worked very hard on our individual projects, still leaving us with time to enjoy one another’s company while playing frisbee, table tennis and touch rugby (with Mr Aellen).

A big thank you to all the Biology teachers for making the trip the best it could have been. We are all very prepared for the next year of the Biology course, with key terminology and practical skills under our belts.

Kate Ward

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CERN During February half-term a group of twenty-one Sixth Form students, along with Mr Simm, Mr Herklots, and Miss Downing, travelled to Geneva to visit the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, more commonly known as CERN. After departing school early Wednesday morning, we arrived at our hotel in Geneva mid-afternoon. We were then given the opportunity to explore and take in the sights and sounds of the city until our reservation in Pasta Prima later that evening.

The next day we caught a tram to CERN itself where we explored the two exhibitions that CERN has on offer to the public. Firstly there was one about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This explained the science behind the collider as well as giving a sense of perspective of how large it actually is (twenty-seven kilometres in diameter). Additionally, the museum had a one-to-one scale model of the Atlas detector (one of the four particle detectors in the LHC) and some leftover tubes that accelerate particles to up to three times the speed of sound. Outside there were several old experiments now used as Art exhibits.

The second exhibition named ‘Universe of Particles’, was housed in a giant wooden dome. Inside there were many glass, spherical objects each containing information about light and other waves and particles and on the roof there was a small particle detector installed. When particles (usually from space) hit this sensor it would relay this information to a monitor down in the exhibition hall which would show the path the particle was travelling along.

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Afterwards we took part in a workshop on making cloud chambers. To do this we placed an alcohol soaked sponge at the top of an air tight box with dry ice underneath. This super-cooled the ethanol forming a cloud of sorts at the bottom. Every so often the cloud would become dense as a particle passed through, forming interesting lines in the vapour. This was very interesting and helped put the concept of particles in a more visual way.

After lunch we explored the grounds and got to see the beauty of the surrounding area before an afternoon lecture about the history of CERN followed by seeing two experiments. We saw the Grid where all data created at CERN (about one petabyte a second) is stored and the Anti-Matter chamber. Inside the chamber they create anti-protons and slow them down so they can be experimented on.

On the final morning we went to the Geneva Science Museum. Here we saw historical science experiments and models of the solar system before many of us caught a boat across the lake to see the massive fountain. This trip was great fun and educational and I would really recommend it to future students.

Scott Olive

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The Charlotte Exchange The Charlotte Exchange differs from the normal type of exchange; it is a cultural exchange not a language exchange. Given that there is no major language barrier (aside from the odd different word) the students participating must instead complete a project whilst visiting. The project is normally artbased and centred around something to do with Charlotte, North Carolina or America as a whole.

When KES visited Charlotte, we were greeted at the airport by our host families. We were all whisked home and had an evening to get settled in and unpack. The following day we had a tour of the school and in the afternoon headed off for a scavenger hunt around the main sites of the city.

Halloween was in a few days so the school celebrated by having a fancy dress day when students wore their Halloween costumes to school. It was amazing to see how different Halloween is in America; a much bigger tradition than it is in the U.K. In order to get to know everyone on the exchange, we drove to the mountains at the weekend where

we stayed in two houses owned by two families on the exchange (one for the girls and one for the boys). During the day we could either go on a hike up a mountain or on a bike ride down a mountain.

Regardless of the activities chosen, the view was incredible. On the final evening there we had a buffet dinner and made s’mores which was a great way to end a weekend trip.

The next week was spent at school working on our projects and going to museums to learn more about the history and culture of North Carolina. On the final weekend the state football team, the Carolina Panthers, had a game at their home stadium and most of the families attended as American football is a big part of America’s culture. Before any of us knew it, it was time to go home. We had one last day at school to say our goodbyes and experience a couple more classes before heading off to the airport to catch our flight home. We weren’t too forlorn though, as in just two and a half months the Charlotte side would be visiting Southampton.

When we were in Charlotte, we all enjoyed an excellent programme and explored the American culture, so when our buddies were here, we aimed to do the same. When they arrived at KES, they attended the afternoon lessons before travelling on the normal school buses for an early night as they were all exhausted. Our buddies explored our local history with a tour of Southampton docks, Stonehenge and Salisbury. We all journeyed to Oxford where we had a tour, visiting the impressive colleges and museums and then our partners travelled to London and went on the London Eye, walked past Buckingham Palace and saw many more attractions. At the weekend, we took part in some planned group activities such as a football match and skittles followed by a pub meal. The exchange really was an amazing experience that none of us will ever forget!

Marianne Brabazon and Maddie Harris

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Climbing trip to The Peak District A group of Second Years spent a weekend climbing in the Peak District in July.

We left quite early on the Thursday morning to travel to the Peak District which gave us time, after the 4-hour journey, to climb before going to the campsite.

When we arrived at Burbage North we set up and the teachers showed the less confident climbers how to get started and gave us a 5 minute masterclass in safety! Following the climb, we were all worn out and we drove to the campsite and put up our tents.

We cooked our food on trangias which Ben Barr lit expertly and spam made an appearance for the first time since 1942!

The next day we drove to Stannage Edge (High Neb Buttress) which carries on for six unbroken, towering miles. We set up eight different routes slowly edging across the cliff face. The routes started off relatively simple for most of us, progressing to climbs that even the staff struggled to climb (all except Beth, but she climbs a lot!). Afterwards, we went to Hathersage

outdoor swimming pool where we got 45 glorious minutes of playing aqua-tag. We drove back to the campsite to have dinner and play some evening games.

After our very enjoyable last night we all arose weary headed and glazed eyed from our tents by a shouting Mr Havers demanding a reply of ‘Good Morning Mr Havers’ from the girls! We made breakfast, packed up our belongings and said our final goodbyes to the campsite. We drove south for an hour before stopping for our final climb at Harbor Rocks, the only limestone rock climb we faced which turned out to be quite slippery but also included a cave climb.

We completed our 4-hour, traffic-laden drive back to school where we unpacked the trailer and followed every one of Mr Havers’ commands to put the tents away before being picked up by our parents to go back home for a lazy Sunday. In all the trip was really fun and I would definitely recommend it to others.

Blake Margason

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Duke of Edinburgh Well done to all Duke of Edinburgh participants this year; particularly those in the Fourth Year where there was a bumper enrolment of well over 120 students from the year group.

The DofE Award continues to thrive at KES with the facility now to provide a mountain biking option at Bronze (for one or two teams a year) for those with the necessary bikes. Racks, panniers and bags will be provided by the School. This will go hand in hand with the establishment of a new Mountain Biking Club amongst the co-curricular provision providing a skill and physical option for members in the Upper School.

A new avenue for both the DofE Award and the Senior Positions at KES is the establishment of a DofE Ambassador. This individual will be a Sixth Form student with DofE experience who can assist with mentoring for new participants, enabling them to develop further student leadership and develop a more defined communication link between staff and student bodies.

Congratulations go to Bruce Carpenter, the DofE Ambassador for 2017-18. For those with an interest in this role in future, you should be a DofE Award holder going into the Upper Sixth.

We wish all participants taking part in the programme over the coming year the best of luck.

Mr Barnes

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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 ‘selfimprovement’, engaging in Biology or Geography fieldwork, open days, work experience, starting their extended project or planting a cactus garden at Stroud.

Mrs Burrows

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Florence A group of Art pupils joined Italian students on a fiveday trip to Florence over the February half-term. The pupils adapted admirably to their surroundings and immersed themselves in the historical and cultural richness that Florence had to offer. Added to the visits of the many fantastic galleries and museums, unexpected events such as the Calcio Storico, a historical football contest in Santa Croce square, and colourful procession through the town the following day, just heightened the variety of experience that this incredible city had to offer. Art pupils were treated to a full programme which offered the chance to study a wealth of exquisite sculptural works and fine examples of Medieval and Renaissance paintings, while the Italian students happily took part in the many activities their Italian lessons required. The pizza and ice cream/sorbet cookery lesson was a highlight for all, particularly the sampling of all the food that had been cooked and frozen, while a climb up through the skin of the Dome to the top of the cupola left most breathless – whether from the spectacular views or the 500 steps up! We couldn’t help but be impressed

by Michelangelo’s David in the Accademia, and we all learnt something from our guided visit round the Uffizi. We were fortunate to experience spring-like weather almost every day, and our return via Pisa in beautiful sunshine didn’t disappoint; the dolphin in the Arno surfacing beside our bus while we waited on the bridge really topped off a wonderful trip. All pupils were a true delight to accompany and we came back extremely proud and impressed by their conduct, cultural curiosity and enquiry as well as their endurance. This trip provided a valuable source of observation and learning and we hope that all have been inspired to return to sample some of the many more delights that Italy has to offer in the future.

Miss Moxon and Mrs Rugge-Price

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French trip to Montpellier In the final week of Easter half-term, we were lucky enough to take part in the school language trip to Montpellier. A group of around twenty Sixth Formers descended upon the student town in the south of France for a week of improving our language skills and learning more about the cultural nuances of the region.

We were hosted by very welcoming families who would act as a “famille d’accueil” for the week. By staying with French native speakers, we were forced to talk only in French at home and this really stretched our linguistic capability to the max. We spent the day we arrived, Easter Sunday, with our hosts and experienced different ways of celebrating it in France.

Although at first it was a bit daunting for some students, by the end of the week we were speaking confidently and getting on well with our respective hosts.

In the mornings, we had informative lessons with a French teacher which were full of debate, discussion and lots of fun with Grant! Our oral exams were directly after the end of Easter and the constant practising of our conversational proficiency helped

enormously with our ability to communicate in French.

In the afternoons, we went on a variety of different excursions including a trip to the historical city of Avignon, a ‘degustation’, a walking tour of Montpellier and fun days out at the beach, aquarium and the ‘patinoire’. On two evenings, we went out as a group for our evening meals in the town centre and had a great time, trying some of the local delicacies including many crepes!

Overall, the trip was one of the best trips that I have experienced and the combination of fun and learning made it a wholly beneficial experience for all involved, including an opportunity to tan in the Mediterranean sun!

Mike Gorry

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French trip to Normandy Over the Endeavour period and the following weekend, sixty-three Second Year pupils enjoyed amazing weather throughout their time in Normandy and this made the dips in the pool, the picnic on the beach, the BBQ, activities at the château and the time in Bayeux extremely enjoyable.

The time away was fun packed and busy but everyone was able to appreciate the importance of the American, German and British cemeteries and the importance of Normandy during the Second World War. Merci à tous et à toutes!

In Normandy, we stayed at the Château du Molay. I was in a room of 4, but there are some of 6, 8 and even 10. Our room was really nice, and every room had an ensuite bathroom.

The château even had wifi! To eat, we went to the dining room, where we had breakfast and dinner every day. The food was really nice, and it varied every day. We also watched a chef make crêpes on the last evening. When we got back to the château every evening, we went swimming in the pool.

It was an outdoor pool and it was heated, and it was really fun! During free time, we could go onto the field, play table tennis, chill in our rooms and loads more. After dinner, we had an evening activity. On the first two evenings we played team games, but on the last night we had a disco!

Mrs Jones

Lizzie Lotery

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Geography trip to Iceland 2017 Iceland is, literally, a country in the making - the natural elements work in harmony to power a volcanic laboratory of geysers, mudpots, glaciers and lava fields, accompanied by some freezing Arctic gales.

With a population equivalent to that of Coventry, and a staggering 54% of the population still believing in elves, we didn’t really know what to expect as our plane touched down on an unexceptionally wet Sunday afternoon in early April.

Eighteen students from the Fifth Year to the Upper Sixth were accompanied by Miss Grant and Mr Gilbert.

Having met our guide Arnie, we headed straight for the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. With the North American Plate heading to the west and the Eurasian Plate heading eastwards, we were able to stand in the 10 metre gap between the two, which are drifting apart at rate of around 2cm/year. As we acclimatised to the cold Icelandic weather, we moved on to the widely anticipated Blue Lagoon Thermal Spa. This steaming, pale-blue pool, full of silica and heated by surplus geothermal water, was a welcoming way to spend our first afternoon in Iceland.

After an overnight stay in the mysterious ‘Hotel Viking’ of Hafnarfjordur, we began our second day by driving through the bleak, rift valley of Thingvellir National Park. Bessastaðir is the official home of the Icelandic President and we were able to walk right up to the front door of this single house, which stands alone on the bleak landscape. Later that morning we had the chance to go beneath the snow and into one of the many networks of lava tubes that cover the island. These long caves were formed by the flowing lava of past volcanic eruptions and impressive stalactites hang down from the damp walls. As we journeyed through the national park, we saw the array of incredible waterfalls that are scattered right across this beautiful country. Gulfoss Waterfall was a highlight and with around 140 tonnes of water cascading through every second, we were able to witness Iceland’s impressive forces of nature

at work. Similarly, the iconic geysers of Strokkur were an impressive sight. We were able to watch several eruptions, which occur every 3-8 minutes and spray boiling water 35 metres up in to the air.

We spent the next two nights in Hótel Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced ay-ya-fiat-la-yo-gootl). This is the infamous volcano that erupted ash across continental Europe in 2010, leading to travel chaos for millions of air passengers. Having only partly dried our clothes from the previous night’s snowball fight, we continued our journey around the south-west of the country.

Skógafoss is an impressive, 60 metre high, waterfall with two rainbows formed beneath it on sunny days by the sheer amount of spray. We then had the chance to get right up close to the magnificent Solheimajokull glacier. Although the river beneath is often called ‘The Stinking River’, we were able to overcome the strong smell of sulphur, which we had begun to get used to thanks to our morning showers in smelly geothermal water. Arnie showed us the great extent to which the glacier has retreated during his lifetime, highlighting the impact of global warming on this environment. The sun shone as we visited the iconic black sand beach at Vik, despite being the rainiest spot in what is a very damp country. The fourth day saw us visit some more beautiful natural features, including a walk behind the waterfall at Seljalandsfoss and a visit to the Skogar Folk Museum.

On our final day in Iceland we visited the city of Reykavik. The world’s most northerly capital is quirky, colourful and entirely powered by renewable energy.

However after visiting the Icelandic Parliament and distinctive Harpa Concert Hall, our time in the country was over. On the way back to the Keflavik Airport we stopped in an area of volcanic calderas, where Neil Armstrong prepared for his moon walk in 1969, reminding us of the rugged nature of this amazing country and why they call it ‘the land of ice and fire’.

Ollie Tait

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Geography field trip to Osmington Bay The week after internal exams, the Fourth Year geographers travelled to Osmington Bay for a weekend filled with fieldwork and a variety of activities.

We left school on Friday morning and our first stop was at Barton-on-Sea, where we discussed the causes of erosion and how it is managed along this coastline.

A funny moment occurred when someone’s phone went off while Miss Grant was talking and she told them to turn it off - then she realised it was hers! We carried on to Knoll Beach for a lunch stop, where we encountered lots of people enjoying the surprisingly warm weather. Our last stop of the day was at Studland Bay, where we met the PGL staff and carried out our first piece of fieldwork on sand dunes. The data collection went well, although a lot of us caught the sun despite Miss Grant’s constant reminders to reapply suncream. We arrived at PGL in time for dinner and spent the rest of the evening doing follow up work and then relaxing at ‘Little Wembley’.

On the second day, half of the group travelled to Weymouth to do some tourism and settlement studies, whilst the other half went to the River Wey. The group at Weymouth enjoyed their day, especially their two hour lunch break, while those on the River Wey found their day equally as enjoyable, as most of it was spent in the shade away from the heat and they were treated to Purbeck ice-cream after completing the fieldwork. In the evening, everyone met back at PGL where we did either trapeze or abseiling for our evening activities. After dinner, the teachers took us down to the beach where everyone enjoyed the scenic views. Mr Havers had to jump into the sea to rescue a stray rugby ball from floating away after someone’s throw was clearly not as accurate as they thought it was.

On the third day, the two groups swapped locations.

Those at Weymouth were met with hundreds of tourists on the beach and a military parade happening in the town, while those at the River Wey carried out their fieldwork and had to go to McDonald’s for icecream as we had bought all of the local shop’s stock of Purbeck ice cream on the previous day. We returned to PGL for dinner and then began our journey home.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and learnt a lot of new skills, and the data collection fieldwork will come in useful when we sit our Paper 4 next year.

Stephanie Judd

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Geography trip to Slapton During Endeavour, twenty-three Lower Sixth Geography students headed to Slapton Ley Field Studies Centre for four days of fieldwork as part of their A Level studies. They spent the first two days learning about a variety of data collection methods for both urban and coastal fieldwork. Plymouth was the first stop of the trip. Luckily the sun was shining on our arrival and we were able to enjoy lunch in Hoe Park overlooking the sea. The students then spent the afternoon exploring a variety of locations around the city which have undergone regeneration. It is fair to say that the areas visited were somewhat contrasting - some far more appealing than others! Free food however did seem to be the theme of the day with Honey, Martha and Lara indulging in burgers, chips and coffee, whilst Mr Gilbert opted for the slightly healthier salad option!

Day 2 began at the aptly named ‘Start Point’ and we undertook an 8km walk along the South West Coastal Path. The walk offered us a variety of scenery with some amazing views from the headlands as well as walking through dense bush growing on the cliff edge. Throughout the day the students again learnt a variety of data collection methods in order to give them ideas for their own projects. Alex, our FSC tutor, also cleverly challenged the students to a pebble skimming competition at Beesands in order to highlight the shape of the sediment on this beach.

Towards the end of the walk everyone was starting to tire, so having been reliably informed by Alex that there would be an ice cream van in the final car park, Miss Grant offered the encouragement of ice creams to the students once they finished their data collection. Strangely the students started to work flat out to collect their results, only to arrive at the final car park with no ice cream van in sight - Miss Grant was not popular! The sunny weather throughout the day definitely caught a few of us out and there were a few panda faces by the end.

In the evening of day 2 the students then had to compose their independent project titles and decide upon the methods they were going to use in order to collect reliable data. The students worked extremely hard on this and were in the classroom until 9pm ensuring they were prepared for the following day.

Our FSC tutor even commented that the students had developed the best set of titles he has come across so far as part of the new A Level specification. This really boosted the students and made them appreciate the work they had been doing in the lead up to the trip in their Geography lessons. Despite a long day, some students even still then had the energy to do a HIIT session on the beach!

Day 3 and 4 were spent either in Plymouth or on the beach at Torcross collecting data for their projects.

Many of them doing fieldwork in Plymouth overcame their fear of asking questionnaires - approaching numerous members of the public to try and get a reliable set of data.

Although they all worked very hard on day 3, that evening it became apparent that perhaps not a large enough data set had been achieved and therefore methods needed to be reviewed and adapted.

Students took the sensible decision to team up in order to increase their sample size and this had a positive impact on Day 4 as students efficiently collected data, allowing for an earlier than anticipated departure.

The students worked incredibly hard over the four days and all staff were impressed by their efforts, particularly as this trip fell on the last weekend before the end of the academic year. Hopefully this trip has set them all up and they will be able to produce some excellent independent investigations for their Geography A Level.

‘The A Level Geographers’

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Hockey tour of South Africa Cambridge after braai

Zip line

After the brilliant 3-1 win at Cambridge, the team showered and prepared for dinner which would be a traditional braai done by the 1st team captains.

The braai itself looked like nothing like England’s equivalent barbecue, but consisted of concrete/brick waist high bays, raised from the ground where you could cook from. The food did take a long time but this was owing to the fact that the braai sticks and wood had to be lit and essentially three mini campfires created in each of the bays. However, our hospitable hosts ensured we had a brilliant time nevertheless, learning various songs, words and hand signals from the students and questioning them on various parts of their completely different culture.

On Monday at the start of the second week, we were travelling to Knysna. During the journey, we stopped just after lunch to go on a zip line tour. It spanned a gorge just one along from one of the largest in South Africa. We started out on three slower zip lines just to get some practical use of the braking mechanisms we were given. They were all relatively short being around 70 metres long. The next line was only 40 metres but was slightly steeper so we went faster. The next two lines took us right down the middle of the gorge with beautiful scenery. The last line was 200 m back up to the start which involved us climbing up out of the gorge and on to a platform on top of the hill which would allow us to make the distance though we were told not to brake otherwise we would probably not make it.

Kariega game reserve On Friday 28th July we drove to Kariega game reserve where we would be going on two game drives and staying the night in lodges. On the first game drive we were split between three jeeps so take us round.

On this first drive we saw buffalo, many different species of antelopes, waterbuck, elephants and male lions. The elephants were also close (about 10 yards from the jeep) and we had to leave to avoid getting cornered in. Following this we had a delicious African style supper by the fire before going back to our rooms to spend the night. In the morning we had the second game drive. This time we saw an adult and baby white rhino walking beside the jeep grazing, and a herd of giraffes eating leaves from nearby trees. We also saw monkeys and, after searching for most of the drive, we saw a baby hippo sleeping in bush by a river.

James Diaper

Archie Millar

Match vs Queens The second match of the tour saw KES face a very intense and hard-working Queens College side. A lazy start meant the boys conceded within the first five minutes. However, after this setback the team gradually started to get back into the game and apply some pressure in the opposing half. Unfortunately our forwards were unable to find the back of the net largely due to the Queens’ goalkeeper who was by far their best player on the field. The first half finished 1-0 to Queens and, after some inspirational words from Mr Gilbert, the boys went into the second half with a much more positive attitude. The match was very much in the balance until a lucky counter attack goal meant Queens took a 2-0 lead. This did not phase the KES team who continued to push for a goal. With 3 minutes on the clock Jacob Fay found the bottom corner from a short corner. This lifted the lads and there was a new found energy, however it was too little too late and the match finished 2-1 to Queens.

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Match vs Hudson 1st team

District 6

After a disappointing result against Queens the boys travelled back to East London for a match against Mr Crichton’s old school, Hudson Park. This gave the match an extra edge and meant it was a must win for the team and the coach. A messy goal after ten minutes from Will Fleming gave the KES team an early lead. However, the fast paced Hudson hockey led to an equalising goal and some maintained pressure in the KES half. Nonetheless, Sam Allsop managed to find a way past four Hudson players with some mesmerising skills, right on the baseline, to set up Archie Millar for a tap in. In the second half, the Hudson defence continued to struggle to control Allsop who created chance after chance and finally one of the forwards found the net to make the score 3-1. The final whistle blew and the boys were delighted with the result.

On our final day we visited the District Six Museum. This was an area of Cape Town which was predominantly owned by the ‘non-white’ community.

However whilst apartheid was being enforced the district was infamous as here, the local community numbering 60 000 people, were evicted from their homes due to their ethnicity. This once thriving community was torn apart as a result of the regime and were rehoused in an area called the Cape Flats, a vast step down from their previous homes. The area is infamous as it epitomises the unfairness of the policies. Normal working class people were stripped of their possessions merely because of their race. Each family left with no more than a suitcase of belongings.

The museum was a real eye-opener for all of us, enabling us to grapple with the profound implications of the policies.

Match vs Pinelands

James Harden

The last match of the tour saw the lads play Pinelands.

In the first five minutes Ben Fox slotted the ball bottom corner to secure a 1-0 lead. For the next 20 minutes there was constant pressure on the Pinelands goal however the KES forwards didn’t find the net and unfortunately the first half only finished 1-0. An even start to the second half saw both teams create chances but were unable to convert until a swift counter attacking move from Pinelands, left goalkeeper Scott Olive helplessly lying on the floor as the ball was walked round him and rolled into the goal.

With 22 minutes left to play, many of the KES team seemed tired and fatigued after a long two weeks. The Pinelands side were able to build momentum which they took into the last 10 minutes and they finished off another classy move with only 2 minutes to go.

Unfortunately, there was no way back and the team finished with a disappointing loss to an overall weaker side. Nonetheless, the hockey improved dramatically throughout the tour and the boys definitely left with a lot of new ideas to be taken home.

Jacob Fay

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History trip to the Battlefields The 31st July 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the start of the Third Battle of Ypres and it was thus appropriate that this year saw Flanders as the destination of the annual Third Year Battlefields trip. The tour party, expertly guided once more by former KES teacher Peter Jones, visited many of the most significant sites of the Ypres Salient such as Essex Farm, Tyne Cot Cemetery and Langemark German cemetery.

The group witnessed the ever-moving act of remembrance at the Menin Gate in Ypres and also spent time at the dramatic preserved trench system at Hill 60. World War One represents so many of the starting points for themes and developments that still affect our world and it is hard to visit the scenes of carnage without being affected markedly.

As a departure from the norm, this year the History Department introduced, as a joint collaboration with the IT department, a downloadable electronic guidebook that pupils could call upon throughout the trip, together with regular realtime updates for parents on the departmental Twitter feed and it is intended that this will become the norm in the future.

I hope very much that the pupils appreciated their glimpse into events of 100 years ago and would also like to thank Mrs Burt, Mrs Searles, Dr Filtness and Mr Mapstone for all of their hard work on the trip.

Mr Diver

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History trip to Munich and Nuremberg In February, the annual IGCSE History trip changed location, visiting Munich and Nuremberg for the first time after many years of going to Berlin. This allowed the group to explore both the early years of the Nazi Party, seeing the main scenes of Nazi activity in the 1920s, and, also, the reality of Nazi rule in the 1930s through a visit to the chilling Dachau concentration camp. The trip itinerary also allowed the pupils to visit the Nazi Rally Grounds at Nuremberg, together with a guided tour of the venue for the famous post-war Nuremberg war crimes trials. The impact of visiting these sites cannot be exaggerated; to see where and how the Nazis operated, and to witness

the impact they had on ordinary people, is a moving and unsettling experience. To lighten the mood, the group also enjoyed a visit to Bayern Munich’s magnificent Allianz Arena, an emotional experience in itself for the Arsenal-supporting Head of History, given that it was only a few days after Arsenal’s 5-2 capitulation in the same stadium. I would like to thank Dr Filtness, Miss Champion and Miss Barron for giving up part of their holiday to come on the trip and thus making it possible.

Mr Diver

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Morocco trip During the Easter holidays, twenty-six Third and Fourth year students enjoyed a fabulous week taking in the sights and culture of Morocco. During the week, students visited several UNESCO world heritage sites, including the fishing port of Essaouira and the ancient village of Aït Benadhou, the setting for the film, ‘Gladiator’. They also consumed copious amounts of tagine, drunk local Berber tea and learnt about Moroccan history and religion, whilst squeezing in the odd bit of time at the swimming pool.

The main highlight for the group (apart from two nights at the 5 star hotel on the coast!) was the chance to travel into the Sahara Desert by camel. Dressed for the trip in local scarves, the students spent an evening sand boarding, listening to Berber music around the camp fire and sleeping under the stars! It was the best night for it as the skies were crystal clear and I am sure this an evening that many of students will remember for a very long time.

The trip concluded with a visit to Marrakesh. After a tour of the city with our guide, the larger than life character, ‘Big Mustapha’, the students then went into the local souks. This gave them an opportunity to haggle with local shopkeepers for a variety of goods; some with more success than others!

Mr Brown

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New York Creative Arts trip We had the most amazing time in New York, absorbing all the culture that the city has to offer.

Our afternoons and evenings were filled with stunning displays of art, music, theatre and dance. This included visiting the MET Opera House to see the breathtaking ‘La Traviata’. We were all blown away by the powerful performance, and the simplistic set was completely different to anything we had seen before.

The next afternoon a group of us visited Carnegie Hall to listen to Anne-Sophie Mutter, one of the world’s leading solo violinists. Her use of vibrato, beautiful playing style and impressive tone left us all amazed – especially the violinists in the group. The next evening we visited the Village Vanguard Jazz Club and listened to the guitarist Peter Bernstein, accompanied by his trio, and we all enjoyed their relaxing jazz style, which was different to more traditional jazz groups, featuring long and creative improvisations. On the final evening we saw ‘Miss Saigon’ on Broadway from amazing upgraded seats and followed it with a visit to the top of the Empire State building at midnight - the perfect way to round off an action-packed weekend.

The dancers in the group took part in a fast paced Street Dance class at the Broadway Centre and it is safe to say that over the five days we spent in New York, we all loved being immersed in the culture of the city that never sleeps.

During the trip we enjoyed the many facets of the city, as we were lucky enough to be accompanied by Dr Berryman, an ex KES teacher who is now living in New York. He gave us a walking tour of the local area and, despite the pouring rain, we were still able to take in all of the iconic sites and views. Throughout the week, he guided us through the subway to see other areas of New York such as Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, the 9/11 memorial and Grand Central Station. One of our personal highlights was enjoying a picnic and bike ride through Central Park on the sunniest day of our trip.

We’d like to thank all of the staff who helped organise the trip, and made our time there so special, especially Mrs Freemantle who spent hours of planning and preparation. This amazing experience, I’m sure, will stay with us for a very long time.

Ben Millar and Guy Ripper We visited many museums such as the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier and the Natural History Museum.

Artists in the group took trips to the MOMA and the MET Gallery of Art, where they were able to sketch and appreciate two of the largest and most prestigious collections of art from across the world.

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Nicaragua and Costa Rica

After enduring 25 hours of travel, we arrived at Augusto César Sandino International Airport in Managua. Tired, after this long day of travelling, we wound up at our accommodation in Leon that evening. The following morning, after what was a good night’s sleep for all of us, we proceeded to make arrangements with Tierra Tours, our tour agent in Nicaragua, to organise food and prepare for the coming trekking days. These would involve walks up and down four of Nicaragua’s volcanos as well as camping during this period of time.

Our first trek involved a climb up the active volcano, Telica, the following day. We arrived at the base in the early afternoon carrying with us everything we needed for the next four days. After the one hour climb up the volcano, we made it to the crater, which was filled with a thick sulphur-like smoke, preventing any views of the magma in the crater. We then headed down the other side, to our first campsite, where we set up camp and prepared to hike back up Telica at sundown to view the crater again in the dark, in order to see the molten rock at night. The next day we hiked back down and were picked up by jeeps and transported back to Leon. Here we got lunch in a buffet-like café

giving us a chance to try more of the local cuisine, based predominantly around rice and beans. After lunch, we headed to our second campsite, a farm near the volcano, Rota, called Doña Ana’s Farm. A four hour walk down to the base of Cerro Negro was our next expedition, where we then prepared for the walk up Cerro Negro with a sledge so we could slide back down. This was made possible by the thick layer of basalt rock that had been deposited by Cerro Negro from previous eruptions. The next day we began our trek up El Hoyo at 3 a.m. so we could arrive at the viewpoint in time for sunrise. This provided an incredible view of a distant lightning storm as well as the incredible sunrise over Lake Nicaragua

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Nicaragua and Costa Rica before we headed to our final campsite at the foot of Momotombo volcano. We rose early again for the trek up Momotombo to observe the view. At first it was somewhat cloudy however, it cleared up later on to again provide some stunning views over the lake. This was the final volcano of the chain before we headed to Ometepe Island.

We took an hour long ferry from San Jorge to Ometepe Island where we found our hostel and that evening we went out to watch the celebrations that were taking place due to the national holiday. The next day we climbed the higher of the two volcanos on the island, Concepcion, before leaving the island the day after, heading for Playas del Coco, a tourist hot-spot on the west coast of Costa Rica and therefore ending our stay in Nicaragua.

Costa Rica was a big change to what we had been used to in Nicaragua. The country was more expensive due to it being a popular holiday destination.

However, Playas del Cocos offered us snorkelling in the refreshing Pacific Ocean, where we saw a wide range of sea life including dolphins, turtles and rays.

This relaxed period was welcomed by the group, who were tired after the long trekking phase in Nicaragua.

We then moved on, with the destination being Monteverde, which was a town this time in a cloud forest up in the mountains. This unique environment showed the diversity of Costa Rica’s biomes, with storms being much more frequent than on the coast. Here we took to the trees, zip wiring around the cloud forest in what was a thrilling experience, before a six hour drive the next day took us to what

was unexpectedly a beautiful campsite. Here we had lunch and dinner before taking a walk up to a small, isolated community in the hills where we met with the locals, playing a game of football with some. We then said goodbye to this welcoming community and headed to the Caribbean coast. Here we visited Tortuguero, which is only accessible by navigating the rivers by boat, and were taken on an early morning tour of the rivers in search of iguanas, macaws and crocodiles. A highlight for some of us was the night walk along the protected beach to view the green female turtles laying their eggs. Few of these will make it to adulthood. We left Tortuguero the next day and travelled to San José, the capital city of Costa Rica, before beginning the long day’s travel home.

We thoroughly enjoyed the expedition, organising and leading them ourselves, as well as enjoying the culture change and the experiencing activities and sights that will stay in the minds of all of us for the rest of our lives.

Dan Simonini

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Prague Exchange In September, the School hosted pupils and teachers from a link school in Pribram, Czezch Republic as part of the Fourth Year Prague Exchange. The group enjoyed spending time in school and experiencing the opportunities and facilities on offer here. They also visited Southampton Walls, the SeaCity museum and Winchester Cathedral as well as exploring further afield with their host families.

In April the away leg took place and during the Easter holidays, a group of five girls travelled to Pribam to stay with their exchange counterparts. Whilst there, the girls visited the capital and saw all the highlights including Prague Castle and the Astronomical Clock.

Easter was a wonderful time to visit as there were Easter crafts and markets aplenty. The group also helped with running a sports event for a local school for children with special needs.

Mrs Burnett

“ During our stay we went to their school where we had a tour and sat in on an English lesson. We learnt loads about their traditions and customs at a mining museum, making tradition Easter crafts. We also visited the capital city of Prague twice and went to three different castles in the local area. In the evenings we did many activities, from bowling to laser tag. Overall it was an extremely enjoyable and interesting trip for everyone involved.�

Phoebe Moriarty-Palios and Amy Tunney

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Rome and Naples After a year of waiting, it finally felt very surreal to be meeting a waterproofed Mr Halls in the early hours of Tuesday morning. He had clearly checked the weather forecast in Rome, which I had not. After an easy journey to Heathrow, the fight was quick and problem free, the only excitement coming from having my sun cream confiscated.

We were all slightly anxious about staying in a convent but we needn’t have worried; the nuns were more like Maria from ‘The Sound of Music’. On our first full day in Rome we finally succeeded in taking the metro to Ostia after firstly accidentally sitting down on a train which was not in service. We wondered why there were so many free seats before we got thrown off by a security guard. Finally, we took the correct train to Ostia where we saw the ancient Roman Harbour. This was well-preserved and full of stunning buildings.

On day 2, we visited many places in Rome, such as the Forum, the Pantheon and the Palatine Hill. My favourite was definitely the Colosseum as it was so huge and impressive. I was amazed at how they could construct such an impressive stadium without a health and safety sign in sight and it was so easy imagining the gladiators fighting to the death.

When we arrived in Sorrento we stayed in a green swimming-pooled hotel. My favourite part of Sorrento was climbing up Vesuvius, where we got some stunning views from the top. It was amazing seeing the smoke rising from the crater. Even though it was steep, the view and the cold drink was worth it. Another amazing place we visited was Herculaneum as it was so perfectly intact. Roman skeletons had been perfectly preserved and there was even a two-storey building still standing.

I really thought this trip was a great success and I am sure that everyone else loved it too.

James Jellett

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Second Year Camp Having pitched our tents on arrival on Friday we woke on Saturday, had breakfast, and made lunch for the day. We were divided into groups and then we were off.

Our group went to a forest and did three activities on the site. First we had to build a shelter out of rope, plastic sheeting and rocks. We scouted around for a suitable place which was far enough away but also near enough to water and away from any unstable trees. Finally, we found a place and made a shelter. We then went on a blind walk. There was a rope guiding us and we had to climb over and under trees, over rocks and into bushes before going rock climbing which was fun, but quite challenging. The hardest ascent was the blue route and only a few of us made it up there.

We then went on a long scenic walk for about three hours but we did get ice cream at the end! Back at camp, the teachers showed us how to use the trangias. Most people cooked pasta, rice or boil in the bag foods and afterwards we washed up. We had a bit of downtime before the evening activities which consisted of students (shepherds) trying to make others (blind sheep) move into a certain space without touching them, skiing (two groups of five students on two planks racing) and a challenge where we had to get a bottle into a tin can using only a tent peg and a piece of rope. and tested them to make sure they were strong enough. We walked half an hour until we reached the river where we could race our rafts. We had many different races! After the races, we kept going on a long, tiring, mostly uphill, soaking walk. The thought of being in a lovely, clean, warm bunkhouse that night helped us stay positive. Luckily, the evening activity was inside and afterwards we had hot chocolate and went to bed. Myself, and a few other lucky people, got to go in the warm bunkhouse and finally have showers!

The next morning it was raining hard and freezing cold so we put on our waterproofs and went to breakfast. That day we went to another part of the forest and were sorted into different groups.

We learnt how to use a compass and did some orienteering but immediately started to fail since we were writing down the bearings on pieces of paper in the rain. Our next activity was making catapults out of rope and three wooden poles, after which we made rafts out of small bits of bamboo and string

The next day we got up, packed our bags and headed down for breakfast before cleaning up. After a marshland walk, we headed to the fish and chip shop for lunch before we got on the mini bus and headed home.

Sadie Pratt Filker and Emily Smith

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Second Year Camp This camp was challenging but also fun. On the first day, we had a long drive to the campsite, in a village that was so small we doubled the population when we arrived. We settled in to where we were sleeping that night (bunkhouse or tent) and then drove to the moor for a long walk. In the evening, we cooked dinner for ourselves on the trangias, and then we were split into groups for evening activities.

Day two was the first full day. We got up, made our breakfast and then got ready for morning activities.

Day two was one of the best days because we got to make catapults, race rafts and orienteer. For the rafts, we made them in pairs out of bamboo and string, raced them, then the rafts that won competed on different rivers. At the end of the day, we played more games; the one that we enjoyed the most was a sheep game, where we were all blindfolded and directed into a pen without speaking.

The third day was the most challenging.

We did rock climbing on an actual cliff face, a long hike, a blindfold challenge, and shelter building. For the rock climbing, everyone belayed each other, and some brave people did the climbing blindfolded. For the shelter building, we only had 45 minutes and we had a limited supply of waterproof sheets and string.

The blindfold challenge was hard, and you really had to trust the person leading you. The hike was uphill but we did get ice cream! After a long day, we drove to some open moorland and played rounders; everyone had loads of fun.

The last day was a half day, but we managed to get quite a lot done. We went on another hike and we did scrambling (climbing up the rocks on Sheep Tor). We also did some more orienteering before driving to a fish and chip shop and eating lunch in the sun.

Poppy Culver and Tilly Abraham

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Ski trip 2017 This year the KES annual ski trip was to Serre Chevalier, France. We arrived at school at 3.00 am in time to leave at 3.30 am, until we realised that one student had left their passport at home. Although this delayed our departure, we arrived at the airport in plenty of time, checked in our bags and were then allowed to go off in small groups to get some breakfast.

The trip was thoroughly enjoyable and we managed to get through without any major injuries or hiccups, apart from the odd fire alarm going off at seven in the morning because someone had used their deodorant outside the bathroom.

We flew into Geneva airport without any complications and carried on our journey by coach. We went from Switzerland into France, into Italy and then back into France again, as this was supposedly the fastest route! After arriving at the Hotel FrĂŠjus, we unpacked, got our skis and boots fitted, had dinner and went to bed after a tiring day of travel.

The skiing during the week was fantastic, although on some days it was very hot and in the afternoon the snow became a little slushy. We had a two hour ski lesson in the morning and were then given the option of an extra ski session with the teachers before we returned to the hotel for lunch, which gave us the opportunity to ski with friends of different abilities.

After lunch we went back onto the slopes with our instructors for another 2 hour session and by the end of each day everyone was exhausted!

In the evenings we did a range of activities, which included bum boarding, a quiz night, bowling and a games night. During games night Mr Brown and Mr Lewis teamed up for a game of giant Jenga. The first game went on for twenty minutes, with almost the whole party watching it and although it was closely fought, Mr Brown and Mr Lewis were knocked out by the eventual winners of the tournament, which everyone found very amusing.

Although there were only Second and Fourth years on the trip, everyone got on well and we all made some new friends. We arrived back at school on April 8th and, although tired, everyone was still buzzing from the excitement of the trip and we all went home to enjoy the rest of the Easter break.

Thank you to the staff who gave up their holiday to accompany us and to our parents for funding the trip.

Stephanie Judd

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South Africa trip Cape Town After a 12 hour overnight flight we arrived in Cape Town ready for a busy day ahead, starting with a drive along the coastline towards the Cape of Hope. Our drive then continued along to the original 1859 Cape Point Lighthouse where we climbed up the steps to the retired lighthouse to capture the stunning view which surrounded us.

We kicked off the second day by visiting the District 6 museum. Here we heard horrific tales from the past which had a powerful effect on the group. Following this we headed to the harbour where we caught a ferry to Robben Island and learned about life in the prison and the years Nelson Mandela spent at the island.

We arose early the next morning to beat the rush to Boulder Beach, famous for its penguins. Our tour guide, Heath, gained us special access onto the beach allowing us to get close to the penguins. This gave us a flavour of the wildlife that was to come. Before lunch we scaled Elsie’s peak, a cliff top overlooking two bays, where we were lucky enough to see some whales. After a braai (South Africa’s equivalent of a barbecue) at Heath’s house, we all headed over to Table Mountain. The last evening in Cape Town was a special one as we went to ‘Gold’, a traditional African restaurant where we had a 15 course meal made up from dishes originating from across the continent.

As well as this, we were taught how to drum using bongos and dance while also watching incredible vocal and percussion performances.

The next morning we were told a story of the day in the life of one of the POP kids. This was when we really understood that every single teenager and child that we met every day for the rest of the week was going to have a story just as shocking, and a life just as hard, and throughout the week we all struggled to come to terms with how brutally unfair this world is on them. We took a bus to our first pop centre, and I know I speak for all of us when I say we had been naive about what to expect. The children were unbelievably brave, talented, humble, kind and generous despite having nothing. We spent the afternoon singing and dancing with them, face painting, hair braiding and playing lots of games which hopefully brightened their days. Later on we met with the youth again for the evening but now with a more informed idea of the way they live. From this night onwards we began to learn their individual stories and got to know them more as people.

Barnaby Taylor At the farm Over the past year our trip to Goedgedacht Farm had been talked about, planned and fundraised for. Once a week we had meetings to discuss different aspects of the trip such as the history of the apartheid down to even learning some dances to use out there.

The farm had well and truly been built up by our imagination. However, despite all of this, there was nothing that could have truly prepared us for the best week of our lives.

After lunch on the fourth day of the trip we made the journey from Cape Town and arrived at the farm to be welcomed with scones and tea. Every evening on the farm consisted of spending time with the same group of youth or people our age. We were all apprehensive but excited to meet them and were amazed by their enthusiasm and sheer talent; their abundance of music ability put our ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ to shame but nevertheless it was a wonderful evening and a glimpse of what was to come.

We were set to work on the farm the next day; digging trenches, gardening and weeding. We then went to POP 10 after lunch where it was sports day. Here I met Jaesha who didn’t speak much english but who took a shine to my hair and who I carried in the piggy back race consisting of me running laps with her on my back! She told me as best she could about her story and about her older sister, who was only fifteen, who couldn’t come to the pop centre on that day because she had to look after their baby brother and her unwell mother at their home in the township.

Jaesha had a two hour walk home alone in broken sandals along the busy roads to her very sick mother and no father. She is nine.

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Two POP centres were on the agenda for the next day. First of all we visited POP 1 which is on the farm itself. This POP centre is for extremely young kids and has a nursery and a pre-school. We visited POP 3 in the afternoon and despite every visit being tough, the positivity was always uplifting, especially at this centre which was much more modern. We helped some children do their homework and we played a competitive game of netball.

The days that followed became harder as our relationships with the youth grew stronger and bonds with the kids happened more easily. However, despite that, the days only got better and better. KES has its own POP centre, POP 6, which is where we spent the whole of that day. We were split into two groups to look after the babies in the nursery and the pre-school kids. It felt as though we were being parents for the day, giving the children the love and affection which you could tell many of them didn’t get at home. We fed them, played with them, drew with them and prayed with them until it was time for us to dig a trench in their yard in order to make room for a new project. We then awaited the arrival of the older children who had a long walk from school to enjoy their evening at the centre playing volleyball with us.

One of the highlights for many of us was the day out to the cinema in Cape Town with about 45 children.

Many had never been to Cape Town, let alone the cinema. Despite the excitement of seeing Captain Underpants in 3D and stuffing their faces on popcorn and chocolate, the escalators and hand dryers in the shopping mall provided enough entertainment for hours! Things only got better when we took them to a beautiful beach with the view of Table Mountain as many of them had never even seen the sea before, I will never forget the look on their faces.

We woke up on the last day at the farm feeling a bit emotional knowing in the back of our minds that we would be leaving the next morning. We were challenged to climb the mountain on the farm that morning which was tough but totally worth it for the view. In the evening we held a talent show and a leaving ceremony with candles, songs and messages to each other.

Laura Moody

On safari After leaving the farm, we embarked on a four hour minibus drive to our game lodge, where we were met by the sight of an elephant as well as antelope and springbok. Soon after unpacking we set out on our first game drive; this would turn out to be especially eventful for the boys whose jeep broke down in the lion enclosure. Thankfully they weren’t too hungry!

Each day we would have two drives, one leaving at 7am and another at 4.30pm, which would last two hours. Over our six drives, both groups saw a variety of animals including cheetahs, lions, rhinos and hippos.

On the second evening game drive we were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to feed the elephants. This was an amazing experience which everyone found quite extraordinary. While each game drive was thrilling, the days were spent relaxing and reflecting on the week we had spent at the farm.

These long periods of downtime gave us opportunities to talk about our feelings and future plans for returning to Goedgedacht. In addition, the food at the lodge was something special as we tucked into a variety of dishes including impala, wildebeest and also ostrich steaks.

The group would like to thank Mr Miller and Mrs Wood for putting this incredible trip together and giving us all some amazing experiences. We hope they enjoyed their time in South Africa as much as we all did.

Barnaby Taylor

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Space Camp 3… 2… 1… Lift off! We were journeying where no one from KES had gone before. We were on a mission to Euro Space Camp in Transinne, Belgium. Twenty three pupils and three teachers left KES and came back as trained astronauts and chocolatiers.

We left school at five in the morning, travelling by coach and ferry. Over the next four days, we took part in a range of activities and challenges, including a multi axis chair, experiments, rotating chair (on which the astronauts can manage eighteen minutes. We did forty five seconds), made model rockets before launching them, and, with the help of virtual reality, experienced what it would be like to walk on the moon and Mars. We also worked as a team on a two hour mission, where the flight director, launch and landing director, environmental support officer, weather and tracking, public affairs officer and support system officers, worked to send the pilot and commander to the international space station and bring them safely home again. Even though it was so much simpler than at NASA ground control, we all realised how difficult it must be getting the astronauts safely into space, especially when ours ‘died’ at least once.

In the evenings, we played games and watched Apollo 13. We also had an atmospheric visit to Bouillion Castle, where we walked the castle by torchlight, with Godfrey of Bouillon.

On the way back, we stopped at P&J chocolate factory, where we watched a video on the history of chocolate production, decorated our own bars using liquid melted white chocolate, ate a lot of free samples and bought most of the shop.

All in all, it was a brilliant trip - full of fun and with experiences literally ‘out of this world’!

Katherine Roberts

On the first morning of our trip, we had an early start and began our first day of activities. This included learning about the preparation astronauts would have to use to stop travel sickness while in space, observing and learning about vacuums in space and lastly taking part in a very realistic simulation of a space/flight mission. Later that evening we headed out to Bouillon Castle. This was fascinating as it revealed a lot about both Belgian history and culture.

On our last day of activities, we spent the morning learning about the physics behind how rockets fly!

Along with this we designed our own rockets that were to be shot up into the sky later that same day. This was great as there was a balance of science and creativity which everyone loved. We also did a simulated moon walk and used the multi access chair; these activities made me feel like a real astronaut. Finally, to round off the trip, we all flocked to a field just next to the space centre where we watched our own rocket creations being shot off into the sky.

Rory Penrose

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Spanish trip to Córdoba This year seventeen Third and Fourth Year students took part on the Andalucía homestay programme and these are some of their impressions: During the trip we had lots of opportunities to learn and improve our Spanish. In the mornings we had Spanish classes at Kairos Town Language School. In the lessons we went through different topics that we had studied at school but also learnt new vocabulary and how to speak in ‘frases completas’. During the trip we also had lots of time to look around Córdoba and shop. During this free time we had to use our Spanish knowledge to ask directions, find the prices of things and learn how to order ice creams. Throughout our stay our Spanish accents improved a lot and we even came to know how to pronounce words in “andaluz”.

Overall the trip was a great opportunity to not only learn about Spanish culture but to visit amazing sites and to further improve our Spanish.

Gus Berry We were never short of things to do around the city, whether it was shopping for souvenirs, buying ice creams or enjoying the sights, like the stunningly crafted Mosque. Not only did we do these ‘touristy’ things, but also explored Spanish culture, for instance one hot afternoon we all sat down and had an array of tapas, ranging from the classic Calamares and Croquetas to something none of us had tried before, Berenjenas con miel (aubergines in honey). By far the most enjoyable activity was the Flamenco lesson, where everyone, including Mr Lawson, got involved!

Kira Morton Anyone who has been to Sevilla always says that everyone else should go there too. Now those who went on the Córdoba trip know why. First of all we visited La Plaza de España, where there are alcoves with mosaics all along the wall of the building, each one depicting a region of Spain. As well as this, there were beautiful bridges crossing the canal that runs through

the square. Next we visited the Maria Luisa Park which had beautiful gardens and the Alcázar peacocks. These were very much the centre of everyone’s attention.

After this, we walked to the magnificent cathedral and the Giralda near the centre of Sevilla and explored the surrounding area during lunch. We went to an amazing ice cream place where they shaped the ice cream into flowers with different flavours! On our way back to the bus we stopped by La Plaza de Toros, but unfortunately we didn’t get to venture inside. It was definitely one of the best days in Spain!

Ottilie Beal One of the best parts of the trip was having the experience and opportunity to stay with local families.

We enjoyed home-cooked Spanish meals every evening and on occasions we were even taken out by the families in the evening. Our family had four small dogs and we had great fun spending some time playing with them. This part of the trip really helped our Spanish speaking as the families didn’t speak any English.

Alice Dyer During our stay in Córdoba we visited many beautiful sites. As soon as we arrived we crossed the Roman bridge, before walking around the outskirts of the Mezquita. The following day we went inside La Mezquita, which was beautiful and designed very intricately. It is renowned for its arches with clay coloured stripes. We learnt about several aspects of its interesting history during our visit. We also saw the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos, which had beautiful gardens and a stunning view, from which you could survey the whole place and some of the city. There were lovely long pools of water surrounded by the famous orange trees and tall green hedges interwoven with beautiful flowers.

Maisie Molyneux

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Spanish trip to Salamanca On Sunday we went to the cinema and, as luck would have it, there were no Spanish films on until really late in the evening so we all enjoyed watching ‘Lalaland’ and ‘Manchester frente al mar’ in Spanish. On Monday we all took a cookery lesson and were taught how to make paella and tortilla de patata, which we then enjoyed for supper! On our final evening in Salamanca, we experienced a salsa dance class which was very amusing. The best dancer award definitely went to Mr Lawson.

On the last day we said goodbye to our hosts and set off to spend the last day in Madrid. For the morning we split into two groups and half of us visited the Bernabeu Stadium, home of Real Madrid, while the This year twenty Sixth Form Spanish students, Mrs Ladislao, Mr Lawson and Mr Fernandez all travelled to the beautiful Spanish town of Salamanca. Leaving school at 9am on Thursday 16th February, we flew to Madrid airport and drove to Salamanca, arriving at around 10 pm local time. We were all exhausted so we met our hosts and went straight to bed.

The mornings consisted of an early start (which were particularly difficult for some members of the group) for breakfast with our hosts and Spanish lessons at a local language school. After four hours of lessons, and some questionable refreshments of milk mixed with juice, we returned to our hosts for lunch. Meals were normally very traditional Spanish dishes such as paella and tortilla.

A typical afternoon would consist of some free time, a cultural activity and supper with our hosts.

In the free time we shopped, relaxed at cafés in the stunning Plaza Mayor or sometimes had a siesta for those who struggled

with the early starts! We did all the cultural activities as a group. On the first afternoon we did a tour of the city, visiting all the sights including the historic university and cathedral, and we then had ‘chocolate con churros’. On the second day we went to a play in the local theatre which was a performance about a man with extremely bad luck. Although the play was not the sort of comedy that we were used to, it was still an enjoyable thing to have done.

other half went to the Reina Sofia art gallery. After having a bite to eat we walked through Madrid to see sights such as the Royal Palace, the Plaza Mayor and the parliament building. I definitely speak for the whole group when I say that this is a great trip and everyone had a truly amazing time.

Tom Rugge-Price

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Spanish trip to Catalonia

In May, forty-five very excited First and Second years set off for sunny Catalonia to spend what would be a fun-filled and activity-packed five days. We took an evening flight from Gatwick which meant arriving at the hotel at 2 am!! Everyone was exhausted but terribly excited so the time going to sleep didn’t seem to be a problem. On Friday, to recover a bit, we spent the day getting to know the town of Tossa de Mar, where the hotel was located. Tossa is a small town but has everything you need to have a good holiday.

We climbed up cobbled streets to the castle and the lighthouse, from where the views were amazing, and had time at the beach, shopping and getting our bearings. In the afternoon we went on glass bottomed boats to explore the coastline. In the evening, we took over the hotel swimming pool before having dinner.

On Saturday we travelled to Barcelona where we visited the Mercado de la Boqueria, Las Ramblas and Parc Güell, having lunch and ice-creams, courtesy of James Capewell, at the port. In the evening the hotel organised a disco to celebrate James’ birthday and everyone showed off their best moves.

On Sunday we were wowed by the Dalí Museum in Figueres, the wackiest museum you’ll ever see.

The temperature was in the high 20s so an afternoon at the beach playing football and rounders seemed like a good idea. If you ask Mr Dodds and Mr Fernández this was one of the highlights of the trip.

This was followed, of course, by more ice-creams.

Monday took us to Girona, a medieval town with the most attractive cobbled streets, parks and walls. We visited the cathedral and the Arab baths, and took in the atmosphere pretending we were inside a ‘Game of Thrones’ episode. The afternoon was spent at the beach, doing last minute shopping and sampling tapas; tortilla, patatas bravas and calamares being the most popular with the students whereas rabo de toro (bull’s tail) won the contest among the teachers.

On the last day we spent the morning interviewing the locals in Tossa, before getting the coach to visit Camp Nou in Barcelona. Unfortunately, Messi was not around but everyone enjoyed getting close to the pitch were the magic happens.

This was a most enjoyable experience for students and teachers alike. The location and the weather helped, of course, but more than anything the students were all lovely and made the most of their time in Spain.

Mrs Ladislao

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Summer Camp

I was delighted to have led the Summer Camp this year in Mrs Hawkers’ maternity absence. We selected an excellent Lower Sixth team to join the Upper Sixth with a lengthy process that saw thirty-nine excellent applicants for nine places. Fundraising goes on throughout the year to enable the team to take young carers selected by the City Council Voluntary Services’ team on a respite break in July. The First Year disco was a roaring success and Zofia Rogers persuaded Southampton FC to allow the use of their indoor training facility for the traditional Sixth Form end of term soccer match raising over £200. Team members have provided refreshments for plays and events and worked tirelessly to organise the Battle of The Bands raising £1500 and so paying the cost of the campsite for July. Other fundraising activities included lunchtime versions of ‘Would I Lie to You’ and a twelvehour charity Triathlon was held in the Crush Hall. We met some of the young carers at their evening support sessions in March and KES students were passionate and determined to give these deserving youngsters a great respite holiday in July. The Sixth Form team were absolutely terrific: mature, sensitive, generous and loving. Supported by super teaching and nonteaching staff, seeing this made me immeasurably proud of them and what the School has nurtured and championed. It was a real privilege for me to oversee and a highpoint in my many years at the School.

Rev Poppleton

After a year of worthwhile fundraising, mid-July saw the beginning of Summer Camp 2017. A team of 16 Sixth Formers, with the aid and guidance of staff took a group of Southampton based 9 to 11 year olds camping in the New Forest. These children were given the chance of this holiday due to the unique work they perform throughout the year as a young carer, either for a parent or sibling, with a wide range of disabilities.

For some, this was their first time away from home and for even more their debut camping experience.

We aim to provide an environment for the carers to spend time with kids of their own age, learn and relax.

Throughout the week we embarked upon various activities from visiting Monkey World to ‘Total Wipeout-esque’ obstacle courses. Time around the campsite was spent playing football or board games, making loom bands and performing our best impressions of the previously observed monkeys. During glorious sunshine and almighty thunder storms, the kids remained resilient and bursting with energy, often more so than most of the Sixth Form team.

The week came to a close with the annual Talent Show. It was evident here how far many of the kids had come since the first day on camp. The growth of confidence and maturity in some was testament to the hard work of the Sixth Form and staff team. The memories of eating countless jam sandwiches and not being able to get ‘Galway Girl’ out of our heads are not what comes to the forefront of our minds.

Instead conversations, moments spent playing with these children and the clear impact the holiday had upon them will be how we all remember camp for years to come.

Joel Davies

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Tile Barn During the first few weeks of the autumn term all the new First Year students visited the outdoor activity centre Tile Barn in the New Forest. “ I really enjoyed Tile Barn because it was a really good way to get to know the people in my tutor group better. My favourite part was when Evie and I attempted to do Jacob’s Ladder because it was fun and we persevered.I also enjoyed when we did the team challenges because we learnt a lot about one another and we worked as a team. Overall, I think it was great and I would love to go again!”

Saanchi Gupta “ My favourite part of our trip was the blind trail because it was fun not knowing what obstacles were coming up.”

Fin Kilpatrick “ I liked doing the climbing with Catherine and Rachel. We had to pull each other up working together.”

Gracie McCauley

“ I really enjoyed the Tile Barn trip in the first term.

It was good as it made us work as a tutor group although we didn’t know each other very well.”

Billy Goodridge “ I really enjoyed the trip and all the people who came with me. Overall, Jacob’s ladder was my favourite as I conquered my fear of heights with the help of some new friends.”

Kate Dunn

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Watersports The Watersports 2017 trip to La Rive in the South of France was amazing and every day was different. One day we would windsurf and catamaran across the lake and the next we would be mountain biking uphill through the forest. Each morning, after breakfast and a few rounds of cards, we were off with our instructors, doing non-stop activities until lunch, which shortly after eating we would pick up again.

My favourite part of the trip, aside from the camp’s activities, was visiting the Dune du Pilat, the biggest sand dune in Europe and luckily only a 20-minute drive from La Rive. We watched the sun set over the endless forest and sea, rolled down the hill and then scrambled back up.

It was an unforgettable trip, the atmosphere being relaxed whilst also full on, and I’m glad I could have experienced it with all my friends.

Kira Morton

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Woodmill Activity Centre Pupils joining the Third Year in September, Mrs Burrows and Mrs Rugge-Price headed off, at the beginning of the academic year, to Woodmill Activity Centre for a morning of problem solving and team building. We were lucky to have glorious weather, there was lots of laughter and co-operation, and good friendships were formed. Everyone took part, even when the activity took the students out of their comfort zone, whether at height or on the water, and good fun was had by all.

Mrs Rugge-Price

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Sport at KES

Athletics and Cross Country This has been a good year for our athletes both in track and field and on the crosscountry course. The House cross-country event in October was again keenly contested in all age groups with some stand-out individual performance from Matt Dyer, Ben Brown, Lizzie Beardsall, and Phoebe Moriarty-Palios. Our runners also competed well in the Southampton school races as KES teams emerged victorious in a number of age groups and from this it was brilliant to see so many KES students selected to represent Southampton at the county games. Some even went further to represent Hampshire at the inter county event.

In the summer, we continued to see our students competing in track and field athletics. The first event of the summer term was the First Year Inter-Form Competition held at the outdoor sports centre. 1/5 narrowly beat 1/2 to win this event but the whole atmosphere of the afternoon was an outstanding display of sporting participation and support, with some quality performances on show as well.

Once again, we entered teams in the County Track Knock Out Competition and, as in previous years, our athletes gave a good account of themselves.

Injury and availability sometimes meant that teams were not at full strength but all teams qualified from the 1st round. However, the 2nd round was as far as they progressed this year. There are some good athletes in the School and some of the teams are very capable of pushing for a place in the finals next year.

Finally, we were able to enter a full KES team in the Southampton Schools Track and Field Championships for the first time in a number of years. Seventy KES students took part in the event and we had one of the largest teams there. Our athletes pushed themselves hard to put in some excellent performances with many recording new personal bests.

The team results were:

Boys

Girls

First Year

1st

First Year

7th

Second Year

1st

Second Year

3rd

Third Year

1st

Third Year

2nd

Fourth Year

1st

Fourth Year

1st

Field Events

1st

Field Events

6th

Overall: KES 1st and Southampton Champions Although it was a team event, there were some excellent performances and the Southampton team for the county championships were selected from this event. It was a shame there was not a separate Third and Fourth year event as a number of our competitors would have gained selection.

However, the following were selected into the First and Second Year team:

Boys

Girls

Matt Dyer

Ida Goodridge

Billy Goodridge

Eloise Muller

Ree Oktikipi

Claudia Leeming

Daniel Wickes

Natasha Pillai

Rory Urquhart-Hawkins

Abi McCarthy

Kerem Nebol

Charlotte Dunkley

Ben Brown Three of these athletes (Ben Brown, Billy Goodridge and Charlotte Dunkley) won their event at the county championships and, as a result, were invited to attend the county training sessions in summer.

We are delighted to be able to make athletics provision for our students. It is a sport that affords an opportunity for a number of our athletes to show off their abilities and also provides excellent benefits for the other major sports. The Athletics Club on Mondays after school is well attended and we do hope that athletics can continue to develop into a major part of the summer sporting programme.

Mr Kent and Mr Powell

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Boys’ SPORT AT KES 2016-2017

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Rugby overview The game of rugby continues to grow at King Edward’s with more boys, AND girls, playing the sport. With A, B and C teams in the many of year groups all players are having the opportunity to represent the School.

This continued, upward trend in the rugby programme seems to be a consistent theme and one to which all staff are committed to ensuring continues.

The season started for the 1st XV with the traditional pre-season training in August which, for the first time, culminated with the South Coast Kings Tournament.

The tournament was a fiercely contested competition for both the U15 and U18 teams with some of the most renowned rugby-playing schools going head to head in this 15-a-side event. Both the U15 and U18 KES teams attributed themselves extremely well taking the scalps of some very strong opposition. The 1st XV fought really hard to make it through to the shield quarter-final, beating PGS on the way, only to lose to Bryanston who were the eventual winners of this competition. The strong U15 team played exceptionally well and played in the final of the Trophy competition only to lose to a very talented Windsor Boys team.

Other year groups engaged in a series of preseason training camps in preparation for their first competitive games of the campaign.

Rugby is as much about team work as it is about results. This year has seen a real improvement in the ‘squad mentality’ and our B team coaches are to thank for this continued growth in playing numbers; their enthusiasm and organisation in fielding full teams every week was fantastic; Mr Aellen, Mr Fernandez, Mr Rosenberg and Mr Gould deserve a great deal of thanks for their efforts.

The autumn term was blessed with perfect rugby playing weather which saw all our teams participate in the early rounds of their prospective National and County Cup competitions. Individual players from several teams were also beginning to create a name for themselves among a variety of representative teams; David Marsh and Chris Seaby represented the Independent Schools South West Team (The Lambs) with county representation from Will Thompson and Nick Hepworth. Further down the School there were established Hampshire County caps for Sam Hill-Cousins, Jake Roland and James Webb (Fifth Year) and Jamie Cook, Toby Reid, Ben Pearce and Henry Gwilliam (Fourth Year). There are also several Second Year boys involved in the DP programme with HSRFU.

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The senior squads boasted very good numbers during this season; 30+ at training. Their hard work throughout the season, typified by players such as Ed Dawson and Ben Millar, has brought its rewards; wins against Churcher’s College, Magdalen College School and Lord Wandsworth College were notable highlights with a huge performance in our heroic loss to Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Round 1 of the NatWest Cup. The First Year players were mostly small but skilful and quick and as determined as you could hope for.

Mr Aellen and Mr Laverty crafted three squads full of energy and skill and they pulled off some mighty victories; a most notable scalp came in the form of Seaford College.

The U13 squads made excellent progress throughout the season, growing in skill and speed and performing well in the National Cup; their most notable result was the narrowest of losses against Ivybridge School which saw the players take a road trip and a sleep over at our Lovaton Rural Study Centre.

Our U14 teams were one of the most skilful, and ruthless set of players I have seen at this age group; they never failed to produce two full teams every Saturday and some of their performances were breath-taking. An unbeaten season with 444 points scored, and only 47 points conceded.

Mr Gould and Mr Kent managed the very talented U15 team who scored heavily and finished in December with a +309 points difference. It was a shame that their Round 2 NatWest Cup game against Churcher’s College saw them exit the competition.

The U16 squad was previously a group that was particularly low in numbers but they greatly benefited from the experience of Mr Wood combined with the leadership of Sam Hill-Cousins and they knuckled down and worked hard throughout the season. Several players from this squad represented the 1st XV. This year also saw the introduction of a girls’ rugby team, something that we hope to develop further over the coming years.

I would like to personally thank the staff and students for their hard work. Coaches demand high standards which our players respond to accordingly.

The students understand the need to put their heart and soul into representing the School and this is rewarded with the positive experiences that they receive and, in a less direct way, from the results that they are achieving. I look forward to seeing more players representing the School, and as many parents as possible coming to support.

Mr Powell

102 | SOTONIENSIS 2017

1st XV Rugby

The 2016-2017 rugby season saw the senior squads achieve a number of outstanding wins over some massive opposition such as Lord Wandsworth College, Magdalen College School and Churcher’s College. Meeting Bishop Wordsworth School in the first round of the NatWest Cup was a rather fierce baptism of fire but everyone felt that KES taught them a few things regarding attitude and defiance propelling them into the semi-finals of the cup!

The highlights of the season were the growth of players such as Henry Waring (Most Improved Senior Player) and David Marsh (Player of the Season).

There was also a reinforcement that, regardless of the opposition, every point against the boys was going to be earned the hard way; the reluctance to fold, determination to battle and the solidarity in the KES team was, however, never replicated by the sides faced. This attitude was, in no short measure, engendered by the leadership group headed up by Will Thompson, Mike Gorry and Cameron Thompson. The school is seeing fitter, stronger KES representation in all senior sides; the fitness suite surely is beginning to pay dividends.

I would like to thank Mrs Paul for her patience in facilitating the transport and catering arrangements throughout the season, Mr Jones and Mr Wright for creating outstanding playing and training surfaces, Mrs Cox and all the medical staff who supported our

Played: 17 Won: 7 Drew: 0 Lost: 10

players and visiting teams during our home fixtures, the catering staff who fed us all and the junior coaches who have worked so hard over the years to continue to supply the senior teams with such wellrounded, skilled and robust players.

Lastly, I would personally like to thank all the parents who have braved the weather to be such a supportive, positive and enthusiastic presence throughout this season; without your transport, time management and fridge contents I would be bereft of a team – thank you all so much.

Mr Powell Squad members: Mike Gorry (C), Will Thompson (VC), Edward Dawson, Nick Hepworth, Oliver Jones-Hughes, Archie Millar, Ben Millar, Michael Magier, Scott Olive, Oliver Viant, Henry Waring, Reuben Benton, Alec Damley-Jones, Joel Davies, Charlie Gale, James Harper, Callum Loader, David Marsh, Hugo Marshall, Stanley Paxton, George Plater, Chris Seaby, Ben Sharpley, Tom Smart, Cameron Thomas, James Thomson, Joe Winter, Sam Hill-Cousins, James Webb, Peter Ryall, Jake Rowland, Dominic Staniforth and Seb Fernando.

Player of the Season: David Marsh Top Try Scorer: David Marsh (6) Top Points Scorer: Ben Sharpley (32)

SOTONIENSIS 2017 | 103

2nd XV Rugby The 2nd XV had a relatively short season as many fixtures were shared with the U16 squad but, nonetheless, in the five games played, a wide range of players from three different year groups took part and there was some excellent rugby played.

The first fixture against Halliford was a good way to warm up for the season, with the superior fitness of our smaller, but faster, squad taking its toll on the opposition early. We emerged victorious an hour later at 49-0.

The next fixture, against Bournemouth was something of a heartbreaker; a high-scoring match in which KES created some wonderful attacking play unfortunately found the boys on the wrong end of a single score defeat, 39-34.

Away against Seaford, who were considerably larger and older than our squad, a string of injuries left the team playing first with fourteen, then thirteen and eventually only twelve players on the pitch. A heavy loss of 49-7 followed, although all credit to the boys for not giving up and getting on the scoreboard. Â The high point of the season was a commanding 40-12 victory over Lord Wandsworth College. KES dominated from the first whistle to the last and scored some blistering tries, with forwards and backs interchanging freely. It was fantastic to see so many players, some new to their positions, really giving their all.

Played: 5 Won: 2 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

The final fixture of the season was a loss to Churcher’s College, 39-15. The match was pretty tight until the last fifteen minutes or so, when a string of quick tries took the fixture out of reach.

However, the dogged determination and bravery of all fifteen players was something to be very proud of.

A short but sweet season then, with everyone hoping for a few more fixtures next year.

Mr Collinson Squad members: Cameron Thomas (C), Hugo Marshall (C), Jake Berry, Ben Trotter, Sebastian Fernando, Robert McFarlane, Jake Rowland, Tom Croft-Baker, Peter Ryall, Joe Winter, Adam Lock, Oliver JonesHughes, James Webb, Ollie Martin, Andrew Crawford, Pierre Livingston, Dominic Staniforth, John Naoum, Edward Shannon, Harry Ruprecht, Scott Olive, Joel Davies, Alec Damley-Jones, Reuben Benton, Nick Hepworth, Ben Smith, Tom Smart, Henry Scullard, James Murphy, Mateus Janaway, Callum Loader, George Plater, Angus Armstrong and James Harper.

104 | SOTONIENSIS 2017

U16 Rugby

Played: 7 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 4

A small but enthusiastic squad assembled in September and trained hard at improving their skill level as well as developing a pattern of play. With only eighteen players it was going to be a difficult season with students occasionally having to play out of position.

hard fought match and, despite the score line, the boys had to work very hard for every goal. Perins School was brushed aside by a very competent display from the KES side that included three U15 players. The final game of the season saw a rugby masterclass from a very good PGS side.

The opening game, away to Bournemouth, was lost.

The side failed to stop the opposition’s number 10 playing and he won the game for them almost single-handedly. The visit to Clayesmore saw the debut of a KES U17 side with five Lower Sixth players joining the Fifth Year students. What followed was a fantastic game of rugby in which the lead changed hands a number of times with both teams having dominant periods during the match. The final score of 48-40 (in favour of KES) was a true reflection of the match which, despite the score line, had great defence and outstanding team and individual attack.

The Ryde match followed a similar pattern to the Bournemouth fixture in which one player dominated the game for them and St John’s were only able to field a 7-a-side team so a triangular tournament, with KES providing two teams, was played instead.

The match between the two evenly matched KES teams was exciting and hard fought. The games against St John’s saw our A team win and our B team lose but this was after the KES internal match which had left players unable to run!

There are some outstanding players in this age group; Sam Hill-Cousins, James Webb and Jake Rowland all have a bright future in the game. James excelled as an emergency scrum-half on a couple of occasions but his standout performance was against Clayesmore in his preferred position of outside centre. Jake Rowland was awarded ‘Players’ Player of the Season’, Toby Pugh the ‘Most Improved Player’ and Harry Colwell the ‘Unsung Hero’ award.

After half-term three matches were played each with a different levels of performance. Magdalen was a

My thanks to all the players for their hard work during the season and those parents who supported us. It was a tough but most enjoyable season.

Mr Wood Squad members: Sam Hill-Cousins, James Webb, Jake Rowland, Tom Croft-Baker, Peter Ryall, Seb Fernando, Andrew Crawford, Dom Payne, James Diaper, Jack Wergan, Angus Armstrong, Ben Smith, Rob McFarlane, Mateus Janaway, Harry Cowell, Toby Pugh, Michael Hannides, Pierre Livingston, John Naoum, Ollie Jones-Hughes, Dominic Staniforth, Toby Reid, Henry Gwilliam and Dan Leake.

SOTONIENSIS 2017 | 105

U15A Rugby The U15 squad started their season in positive fashion in the South Coast Kings Tournament hosted by the School at Wellington. Some good performances in the group stage (including a win over Bedford School) saw them top the group and qualify for the final. However, this game against Hampton proved to be one too many against strong opposition but the successes of the day gave indication of the ability in the group.

The first match of the season took place in heavy rain which limited the free flowing rugby that this team aspired to play. Nevertheless a 3 try lead at halftime was a good start but Halliford worked their way back into the contest and the 17-17 draw was a fair, if frustrating, reflection.

The results from the U14 season suggested that this team was capable of good attacking play and the next few games showed they had not lost their touch.

Against Bournemouth School, KES racked up 70 points without reply, and Clayesmore also suffered a 46-0 defeat. In the first round of the National Cup the squad were drawn against Portsmouth Grammar School who were unable to cope with the KES attacking play as they won 50-0.

The fixture against Seaford provided a stern challenge.

They were physically strong in every position, had a good level of skill and their athleticism was of a high quality. The U15s had to defend for the majority of the game but ultimately they lost 17-31, although is fair to say that the game was closer than the score would suggest.

Played: 11 Won: 8 Drew: 1 Lost: 2

Churcher’s were next on the agenda as they travelled to Wellington for a re-match of the cup fixture. The newly found defensive qualities of this side came to the fore once more as they resisted wave after wave of attack. As half-time approached the KES attacking game became evident and the team scored 2 tries to take the lead. This lead was extended early in the second half and a good decision to kick a penalty gave KES an 18-0 lead. We knew Churcher’s would come back at us and so they did. In a frantic last 10 minutes they scored twice, and converted both, but time was on our side and the final whistle blew with the KES side winning 18-14.

This was the first time in five attempts that the boys had beaten Churcher’s and showed the excellent development of this side. A final victory over PGS 4910 meant that the U15s had won all the games during the second half of the season, scored over 400 points in 11 games and conceded just 125.

This team are ferocious at the breakdown, athletic in attack, and are becoming a tough side to break down.

With further work on the core handling skills, decision making, discipline and game management they can go on to even more success and form an impressive 1st XV in a few years’ time.

I wish them well as they move into the U16 age group next year and look forward to hearing of their continued development.

Mr Kent

The next game was the 2nd round of the National Cup against Churcher’s College. Churcher’s controlled the game well and won 31-5 to put us out of the competition. This was a disappointment but the game was to have a big influence on the second half of the season. The final game of the first half of term was a comfortable 62-7 win against St John’s Southsea.

The second half of the term featured some tough contests with Magdalen College School, Lord Wandsworth and Churcher’s all on the list. The first of these was against MCS which was a game we lost 7-5 as U14s. The performance put in by the KES team was outstanding both in attack and, more impressively, in defence and the game ended in a fantastic 39-10 victory for the KES squad. Lord Wandsworth followed and again a combination of good attacking play and, more importantly, superb defence resulted in a 29-5 victory over strong opposition.

Squad members: Jamie Cook (Captain), Will Barker, Rufus Beck, Pushpit Bhardwaj, Sam Burton, Luke Collins, Henry Gwilliam, Filippo Hall, Paddy Johnson, Ed Kellett, Daniel Leake, Tom Lockyer, Jai Mew, Max Mills, Ben Pearce, Toby Reid, Jake Reilly, Michael Shenouda, Charles Thomas, Sam Thompson and Ollie van Aalst.

106 | SOTONIENSIS 2017

U15B Rugby This was not a vintage season for the U15 B team and the results reflect the inconsistencies in performance. They showed, on occasions, that there is ability within the squad but all too often good work was undone by simple mistakes.

The season started against Halliford and a good game finished in a 7-20 defeat as the opposition proved to be a little more clinical near the try line.

The second game of the year was the highest scoring of the season as the boys put together excellent phases of play, demonstrating good attacking ability in a 6-0 win. Seaford were next on the agenda and they, like their A team, were a strong team. Despite a determined effort from KES, Seaford won 31-12.

The St John’s game was cancelled so Ryde was the final game of the first half of term. Again a failure to make the most of scoring opportunities, as a result of countless handling errors, resulted in a 14-17 defeat to the their A team.

After half-term Magdalen College School showed good levels of skill and physicality to win 35-19 but it was the following week that the squad put in the performance of the season. With some outstanding defence and thrilling attacking play, a good Lord Wandsworth team were beaten by the convincing margin of 44-19.

Played: 9 Won: 2 Drew: 1 Lost: 6

Unfortunately the same level of performance was not to be repeated and Churcher’s were too strong for us and won 51-12. Against Perins the boys gained an early score but in spite of countless further opportunities a poor handling display resulted in them chasing the game. Eventually drawing level they still had opportunities to win but could not take them. Although it was a frustrating result it would only have taken a small increase in the consistency with which the boys handled the ball to have gained a comfortable victory. The final game against PGS was also a disappointing morning as, having taken the lead, a lack of discipline let the opposition into the game which they ultimately won 46-17.

The theme of the season was a common one; some good play to create scoring opportunities but all too often the performance of skill broke down and the chance was gone. However, this group continued to train throughout the season and demonstrated a positive attitude towards the sport which I hope they will continue next year at U16 level.

I would like to thank them for their efforts this term and wish them well as they move up to the next year group.

Mr Gould

Squad members: Oscar Bailey, Gus Berry, Tom Boyland, Ollie Buckland, Luke Collins, Will Daniels, George Fennell, Josh Golledge, Cam Jesney, Paddy Johnson, Patrick Keith, Tom Lockyer, Behrang Mansourian, Finn McCullagh, Max Mills, Joe Mills, Harry Pizzey, Lewis Ravenscroft, Brandon Rawles, Oliver Showell, Mukund Srinivasa Raghavan, Charles Thomas, Henry Tudor, Ollie van Aalst, James Williams and Oliver Wilson.

SOTONIENSIS 2017 | 107

U14A Rugby What a season! The boys built on a strong finish to the end of last season with a sensational term of rugby. Flowing moves in the backs have capped off some dominant displays from the forwards, with the boys at one stage recording 264 unanswered points over a five game run. Not only has the group tightened up in defence, conceding more than one try on only two occasions, but they have always found ways to score.

On top of an unbeaten regular season, the boys took part in the Hampshire 10s tournament. They grew into the tournament and, after a relatively controlled set of group games, found themselves in the semi-final against Perins. This was a sharp wake-up call as they quickly conceded their first try of the tournament, but quickly regathered to end up eventual winners at 21-7.

In the final, they faced a familiar opponent in PGS and played some excellent ‘heads up rugby’ to really make their opportunities count, winning the game 14-7 and the tournament with it.

The improvement in quality has largely been down to members of the group really pushing each other forward as the competition for places was bigger than ever. By training as a single squad, B team players have been able to demonstrate their ability and train with the strongest in the year. Niall Armstrong, who started the year in the B team is now one of the first on the team sheet.

New recruits into the Third Year have also bolstered the squad and there are now multiple players genuinely competing for each shirt. Euan Roberts posed a selection headache as he became almost un-droppable after some fine defensive performances and Jack Sherred added pace, strength and passion to the back line.

Played: 12 Won: 12 Drew: 0 Lost: 0

The high speed KES defensive line has continually forced attacks backwards until the only option left is to kick for territory. Unfortunately for opposition teams, Rory Holm, playing at full back, has been faultless all season and has usually made up the kick distance (with interest) with ball in hand, picking gaps at will and giving KES momentum and field position.

Offensively the team are always looking to offer multiple threats at every attacking breakdown.

Forward running lines are more intense than ever, forcing opposition defences to guard fringes carefully.

Behind the pack, Jamie Dunn has moved into a clinical back line to create one of the most devastating centre partnerships I have seen. I wish I could personally thank each and every member of the squad as this truly has been a team effort this year and every member has been pivotal at one stage to the success.

Next year the squad will have to show their capability on two fronts. They have now identified themselves as the team to beat in Hampshire and so every opposition will be bringing their A-game to try and force an upset.

The squad will also be competing in the National Cup again and, after a short run in the competition last time, will be hoping to demonstrate just how far they have come. The sky is now truly the limit.

Mr Westwater Squad members: Jack Sherred, Rory Holm, Jamie Dunn, Harry Croft-Baker, Luke Ward, Nick Damley-Jones, Tom Henley, Tom Sutton, Alexander Georgiou, Charlie Harden, Noah Cooper, Soren Golding, James Bristowe, Samuel Smith, Josh Williams, Niall Armstrong, Jacob Adeniji, Euan Etheridge, Alex Miles, William Jackson and Will Brench-Jones.

108 | SOTONIENSIS 2017

U14B Rugby

The U14B team have had a very pleasing season. The squad were determined to improve upon the results from the previous season and this was reflected in the number of boys who attended pre-season training at Wellington. This positive attitude continued into the first few weeks of the season, where good numbers at training enabled the team to develop a simple, but effective game plan; a couple of forward drives followed by the ball being provided to the backs for them to attack the wider channels.

The team were well led and organised by James McIlroy and it was pleasing to receive many comments from opposition coaches about the way in which the boys conducted themselves and the spirit in which they played their rugby.

The team started their list of fixtures well, winning their first three matches against Halliford School, Clayesmore School and Seaford College. The highlight was the 55-5 win against Clayesmore and the six tries scored by Sam Richards. The second half of the season proved to be more difficult with some tough fixtures against Magdalen College, Lord Wandsworth College and Hampshire Collegiate School. Even during these difficult matches though the squad stuck together and there were some impressive defensive performances from Finn Sambrook-Smith and Ryan Scott. Two of the final three fixtures saw the team return to winning ways in close fixtures against our local rivals Churcher’s

Played: 8 Won: 5 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

College 29-26 and a slightly more comfortable victory against PGS, 24-10. This was a positive note on which to finish a very enjoyable season. I look forward to the squad developing their rugby further next year.

Mr Rosenburg Squad members: James McIlroy, William Booth, William BrenchJones, George Butler, James Ghirarduzzi, Tom Hand, Nathaniel Holland-Wright, Will Jackson, Alex Miles, Sam Richards, Theo Roberts, Anthony Rogers, Finn Sambrook-Smith, Ryan Scott, Oscar Self, Archie Stokes, William Waring, Jack Wiseman, Jonty Yonge, Tom Johnson, Euan Etheridge, Marcus Beresford, Nial Armstrong and Archie Webster.

SOTONIENSIS 2017 | 109

U13A Rugby No one could have known how the season would turn out after the opening poor, error-strewn loss to Halliford! Five emphatic victories ensued before the team were drawn to play Ivybridge College, Devon, in the National Cup. The squad stayed at Lovaton overnight and produced an amazingly skilled and brave performance against a school that acts as a feeder centre for the Exeter Chiefs! The boys were pushing for what would have been the winning try with the last play of the game and, although they lost, it is a game that will live long in the memory.

The other notable performances were a one try loss to a very strong Magdalen College, an excellent victory against a Churcher’s side to whom they had suffered a heavy loss the previous year and an emphatic 40-5 victory against PGS to finish a fantastic season. It is perhaps unfair to single out any players but Will Daniels’ 28 tries were vital to the team’s success this season.

Mr Mixer

Played: 11 Won: 8 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

Squad members: Archie Callaghan, William Chambers (ViceCaptain), William Daniels, Samuel Young, Huw Dunlop, Oscar Groves (Captain), Aaron Henderson, Kerem Nebol, James Pearce, Benedict Potter, Jack Wells, Daniel Wickes, Rory Urquhart-Hawkins, Billy Smith, Jack Warrener, Isaac Chapman-Sheath, Alistair Howard, Hamish Armstrong, Daniel Houston-Robb, Flynn Denman, Beau Darrer and Sam Boyland.

110 | SOTONIENSIS 2017

U13B Rugby

This year saw the U13 B rugby team make great progress, both as a squad and as individual rugby players. There have been plenty of positive moments to look back on, and the team showed extremely encouraging signs.

The team began the season against Haliford School with determination, and showed great skill and perseverance to win the opening match in the final minute, courtesy of a try converted by fly-half, Flynn Denman. This put the final score at 7-5 to KES. The winning streak continued with the team showing a great display of skill against an inexperienced, yet improving Clayesmore side. This was followed by our second close finish of the year during a trip to the Isle of Wight. This was a challenging match which started with Ryde dominating and going in at half-time 15-5 up. The second half saw brilliant perseverance and attitude by KES to score 4 unanswered tries. The final 10 minutes saw KES defending ferociously but finally Ryde’s pressure was too much, and they managed to equalise the match with 2 tries. Special mention must got to Daniel Houston-Robb for scoring a try on his début, and to Hal Armstrong for some amazing defensive work.

Played: 7 Won: 3 Drew: 1 Lost: 3

The following three opposition sides proved to be too strong for our team and our unbeaten season was abruptly brought to its conclusion. Nevertheless, through hard work in training, and a positive attitude coupled with perseverance, the boys were able to end the season on a high. The victory was a particularly sweet one, as it came against school rivals, Portsmouth Grammar. The boys showed superiority throughout the match, and did themselves proud.

The potential in this team is enormous and I look forward to seeing the boys develop further in the coming seasons.

Mr Fernández Squad members: Hal Armstrong, Eric Bentham, Sam Boyland, Isaac Chapman-Sheath, Benedict Charlton, William Daniels, Beau Darrer, Flynn Denman, Robert Evans, Ali Hamady, Daniel Houston-Robb, Alistair Howard, Andrew MacFarlane, Charlie Massey, George McGinn, Brinley Myles, Ree Okitikpi, Tom Parsons, Jin Sandhu, Billy Smith and Sam Young.

SOTONIENSIS 2017 | 111

U12A Rugby From the very start, the season was characterised by high levels of enthusiasm and commitment from the First Year boys. Very good numbers of players attended training throughout the season and, crucially, made themselves available for matches.

The competitive season started with a good battle against Bournemouth. Faced with a handful of large players, KES conceded tries early on, only to come back strongly in the second half to earn a welldeserved draw. The leadership and organisation of Josh Kent was evident and contributed to a well-organised second half performance. Over the next three matches the side not only improved, but demonstrated a willingness to play open, running rugby. This approach led to some spectacular tries and a brand of rugby that was well appreciated by supporters. Key to this was the performance of the forward pack who provided enough possession to make it possible. Stand out performers were Matt Loran and Sam Golledge, the latter of whom played in a number of different positions throughout the season. The 10-15 victory away at Seaford stands out as a memorable performance. Despite driving rain throughout, the KES side were prepared to run the ball from all areas of the pitch. Wilf Sutton played a big part in this both in attack and defence; however even he was outdone on this occasion by Charlie Hand who dazzled the opposition with his elusive running and helped himself to a brace of tries.

Played: 9 Won: 4 Drew: 1 Lost: 4

Over the next three matches the team improved still further and, despite suffering three defeats, learnt lessons about playing rugby at a higher intensity.

The match away to MCS Oxford started in disastrous fashion with the team conceding a number of tries in the first ten minutes. Their performance for the remainder of the game though, bravely led by Harry Bristowe, was commendable and exemplified the commitment that this group were willing to give. Despite losses against Lord Wandsworth and Churcher’s College, this level of commitment continued. Bruno Jesney came to the fore during these tough encounters with his hard, athletic running, while Will Armstrong’s tackling always impressed. A pleasing victory against HCS saw some plays direct from the training pitch, most notably Wilf Sutton’s try from a loop move.

The final game of the season always promised to be the toughest challenge against Portsmouth Grammar side who had beaten MCS Oxford by more than sixty points! However in a game where the scoring alternated between the sides for much of the match, our commitment to the tackle and our willingness to play a quick, passing game, simply weren’t enough to beat such a powerful opposition. The performances of Dom Fernando and Sam Golledge were enough, however, to whet the appetite for next season.

Mr Laverty

Squad members: William Armstrong, Harry Bristowe, Tom Collins, George Coltart, Kamran Dhariwal, Hugo Dunkley, Dominic Fernando, Samuel Golledge, Charlie Hand, Oliver Herbert, Bruno Jesney, Josh Kent, Alex Kipps, Oliver Lander, Mathieu Loran, Harry Loveridge, Tom Lugton, Sam McIlroy, Seb Mills, Ben Morgan, Charlie Shannon, Wilf Sutton, James Tall, Joe Thompson, Oliver Williams and Ethan Woods.

112 | SOTONIENSIS 2017

U12B Rugby This season the B team played a full calendar of fixtures against a mixture of A and B opponents and it is much to their credit that the B team had a winning season. It is very pleasing that so many boys regularly turned out for U12 training – numbers always in the mid-thirties and thirty-seven boys have played for the B team at some point over the season. Whether these were players working their way into the A team, boys turning out for their first representative match or both, they played with great team spirit and determination.

This was most in evidence in the games where they came from behind to win.

After two Saturday training sessions, the first match was against Clayesmore. This was a comfortable win 55-0 and showed features of play that were going to develop over the course of the season, strong running from the pack, the ability to off-load and competition for the ball at the breakdown. The second game against Ryde (10-25) was hard-fought but came a little too early in the season, as a more experienced pack of forwards were able to dominate possession.

Played: 8 Won: 5 Drew: 1 Lost: 2

The game against a KES C team (including several B players) was a draw but set us up well for the game against Magdalen College, probably the best result of the season with a 15 point winning margin against a very good side. The tide was going against KES in this game before Oli Lander took an interception the length of the pitch to score. Other try scorers in this match were Alex Kipps, Ethan Woods, George Coltart (2) and Dom Fernando, most of whom by the end of the season were representing the A team.

Lord Wandsworth (big win) and Churcher’s (big loss) followed before we finished the season strongly against Perrins and Portsmouth Grammar School.

This final tough fixture ended with an U12 45-30 win, a very satisfying conclusion. To have nearly forty boys playing B team rugby and of those twenty-four scoring tries, bodes well for the future of this year group.

Mr Aellen

Squad members: Alex Kipps, Archie Wright, Barnaby Saer, Bruno Jesney, Charlie Hand, Charlie Shannon, Daani Nayyar, Dominic Fernando, Ethan Woods, Frank Hancox, George Coltart, Harry Bristowe, Harry Loveridge, Hugo Dunkley, Isaac Haq, Ivor Berry, Jack Williams, James Capewell, James Cummings-Candal, James Tall, Joe Thompson, Joshua Kerr, Kamran Dhariwal, Kym Anderson, Matthew Carrall-Wilcocks, Neev Bakshi, Oliver Herbert, Oliver Lander, Oliver Williams, Ollie Dare, Sam McIlroy, Samuel Cordon, Samuel Golledge, Tom Collins, Tom Lugton, Wilf Sutton and William Armstrong.

SOTONIENSIS 2017 | 113

Hockey overview Once again, the hockey at King Edward’s took many steps forward during the 2017 season. There was notable success at all levels as the sport continues to develop and the School becomes a regular at the South and National Finals. This season there were more teams and more fixtures played. The numbers at training every week was incredible with U12, U13 and U14 having over forty-five boys at every session, no matter what the weather did. The percentage of wins and draws was increased again to show a good balance in fixtures, on what was a strong fixture card, which is a credit to the coaching staff and the players.

The depth of boys’ hockey was shown in the ability to be competitive across a number of different age groups in national qualifying tournaments. The U14 boys were the team to watch this year and were unlucky not to have reached the National Finals after topping their group (beating the eventual winners), winning their quarter-final but being knocked out on flicks. They finished in 3rd place in the South of England. The U16s showed much promise and talent.

Again, they topped their south round group but were knocked out at the quarter-final stage, placing them in the top 8 in the South of England. The 1st team had a successful run in the England Hockey U18 Plate competition. Having reached the South Final, they were one win away from finals day but sadly fell short in their final match.

The boys continued to be challenged at games sessions and after school training and the high number of students in attendance was a great advert for the popularity of boys’ hockey at KES and the range of levels on offer; from the high performance players to the team players in the lower teams. KES is a base for one of the high performance centres for England Hockey and the School is delighted to have several students attending their training sessions.

Indoor hockey proved to be a very popular amongst the boys. KES did well in their preliminary tournaments. The 1st team was desperately unlucky to miss out on South Finals day by a goal been disallowed in the final 30 seconds of their final qualifying match. The U16s showed their class and potential, as they cruised through their qualifying rounds to make the South Finals; a few injuries had threatened their participation at one stage. They finished runners-up in the U16 South Indoor Competition and qualified for the national tournament, a first for KES to qualify for a National Indoor tournament after starting indoor hockey only four years ago.

The Senior Boys Hockey will be touring South Africa in the summer of 2017, with the U15s touring Holland in October.

I would like to thank the coaching staff for helping put teams out each week. The term is short and intense which requires many teams per week. The large number of boys playing is credit to the coaches who have been positive and created a culture of hockey amongst the boys. Thank you to Mr Gilbert, Mr Dellar, Mr Wight, Mr Wood, Mrs Kelly, Mr Dodds, Mr Kent, Mr Penn, Mr Sheppard and Mr Bassett.

Mr Crichton

114 | SOTONIENSIS 2017

1st XI Hockey Played: 16 Won: 7 Drew: 2 Lost: 7 The 1st XI started the season with a tough first fixture versus RGS Guildford. The boys played well but struggled to string any passes in the final quarter to create any chances to score. Captain of the season, James Harper, would show his strength and ability to carry his new team but they lost 2-1. The following day, we travelled to Clifton College for a pre-season tournament in Bristol. This was a great opportunity for some players to get much needed game time.

The highlight was the goal by Jim Murphy who beat a few defenders to hit an upright reverse from the top of the circle sending his shot flying into the net. This was ideed the goal of the season. The three matches played proved to be a great base for the season.

The regular Saturday block fixtures had mixed results as the boys had vast amounts of possession but struggled to turn good possession into goals. Against Canford, Gregor Mckenzie would give a ‘man of the match’ performance as he pressed and worked tirelessly throughout the match. The final score was 4-4 with both teams feeling they had had chances to win the match. Unfortunately weather cancelled the PGS match but KES put together an outstanding performance to beat Ryde 11-0.

The squad then travelled to MCS Oxford and struggled to create any chances of real threat as the main threat, Jacob Fay, was missing due to injury. MCS played well with their National Schools’ player posing a threat in the circle but Scott Olive stepped up and made some quality saves even though KES lost 2-0. The boys bounced back to beat Lord Wandsworth 2-0 before half-term.

After the break, the team took part in the annual St George’s 6s. Again, the boys were slow to start but they did well throughout the day with some valuable lessons learnt and finishing second in the group to progress to the plate competition. Unfortunately some tired legs and some missed chances saw KES knocked out.

A 0-0 draw against Churcher’s saw Fifth Year, Joe Murphy, playing his first game for the 1st XI making many good saves. He will be a player to watch in the future. The match versus Bryanston had to be cancelled due to the National Plate competition. St George’s in our last block fixture of the season was a tough encounter with Harper and Murphy controlling possession of the ball. The St George’s keeper, however, made many saves off his line and counter attack goals were a threat. KES lost 4-1, a tough loss after having controlled possession and ball for such long periods of the game.

The final match of the season was versus the OEs. The alumni team had some of the best players from the last 10 years and whilst KES defended well, the boys could not handle the many attacking runs the OEs put together. The OEs ran out winners in a great exhibition match.

England Hockey U18 Cup The 1st team had an incredible cup run and can be proud of their efforts, reaching the South semifinal. The first match was against local rivals PGS. KES dominated possession but found themselves 3-1 down after some quick counter attack goals by the opposition. However much they pushed for the equaliser they could not turn possession and circle entries into goals resulting in a 3-2 defeat that put KES into the Plate competition.

The Seaford match was played away and KES had to play without a few key players (James Harper and Ben Trotter). Jim Murphy captained the team and put in a massive effort to control the match which was played at high intense speed. The boys worked well, with the press being done to perfection and many balls being turned over high in the opposition half. KES ran out 6-2 winners and progressed to the next round.

The next match was against Peter Symonds College. KES found themselves 3-0 down within a few minutes but pulled one back to make it 3-1, only for PSC to go 4-1 up before half-time. KES dominated possession in the second half but could not turn good opportunities into goals. With 12 minutes left, KES finally found a way past the goalkeeper to go to 4-2 with 12 minutes left. The KES assistant coaches made rolling substitutions, giving important tactical information to the players, and the move of Jacob Fay to right wing opened up the opposition’s defence.

KES scored again with 5 minutes to go. With two minutes left, KES won a penalty corner. Joe Winter stepped up and put a low drag flick on the ground for a defection and, more importantly, the equaliser 4-4. After regulation flicks, the game went to sudden death. Harper brushed off his earlier miss to put the first KES one in. PSC also scored their attempt. Jacob Fay stepped up again and scored ensuring James Thomson would have to make a save. He did just that and put KES into the third round of the National Plate.

KES then played Reeds at Wellington and boys played some of the best hockey of the season. They ran out 5-1 winners after some torrential rain come down in the last 15 minutes. The boys were then drawn away against Kent College; a 6 hour round trip. The team started well with Jacob Fay proving a threat going forward. There were a few misses but the strikers kept pushing in very hot conditions. KES won 7-3.

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At this point, all that stood between the KES 1st XI and the National U18 finals was one match against RGS Guildford. Unfortunately the team fell 1-0 down early in the match and struggled to gain any momentum and rhythm as RGS showed they had also improved over the season. RGS won 4-0 to put KES out of the competition.

This was a great run for the boys 1st team and they can be proud of what they achieved this season. It was a fantastic season, with many laughs along the way and some great displays of hockey at the highest

level. Well done to all who played, everyone made the team work and created a great atmosphere on and off the field.

Mr Crichton Squad members: Joel Davies, Jim Murphy, James Harper, Ben Trotter, Jacob Fay, Stanley Paxton, Gregor McKenzie, Ollie Martin, James Thomson, Tom Newsom, Joe Winter, Charlie Harrigan, Oliver Viant, Robert Atkinson, Archie Millar, James Gaunt, Zak Milner, Ben Millar, Joe Murphy and Scott Olive.

2nd XI Hockey Played: 8 Won: 1 Drew: 2 Lost: 4 The 2nd XI have had an up and down season this year. Results of games have not gone their way despite some superb team performances. Canford (1-4), St George’s (0-1) and RGS Guilford (2-3) were very hard matches against some excellent opposition and the team were unlucky that the score line did not reflect the effort put in. Wilkinson, Benton, Man and Livingston were exceptional all season long. The attitude of the team on the pitch was exemplary and they chased down every tackle and kept going from the first minute until the last.

The squad particularly enjoyed their new kit for this season. Mr Crichton had managed to find shirts not seen at KES since the 1980s and the team wore them with pride and a big smile! A special mention

needs to go to the players that helped the team out at late notice; Alec Damley-Jones, Tom Smart, James Gaunt, Archie Millar, Ben Millar, Zak Milner and Gregor McKenzie.

Mr Penn Squad members: Alec Damley-Jones, Tom Smart, James Gaunt, Archie Millar, Ben Millar, Zak Milner, Gregor McKenzie, Scott Olive, Reuben Benton, Hugo Wilkinson, Nick Hepworth, Mathew Man, Matchey Lincoln, Tom Rugge-Price, Pierre Livingston, Will Thompson, Hugo Marshall, Joe Powell, Oliver Viant, Joe Winter, Archie Attfield, Mike Hannides, Ollie Martin, Raul Patel, Jack Wergan, Charlie Harrigan and Robert Atkinson.

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U16A Hockey The season got off to an unusual start away to RGS Guildford, in a game where KES enjoyed high levels of possession and territory in the opposition half, together with a large number of shots on goal. The result was a 5-1 loss, which was hard to explain. The lessons learnt from this game were the importance of taking chances, and being clinical against a good goalkeeper. In addition, the boys realised that they must concentrate defensively and not get caught on the counter attack. After a couple of mid-week warm up games, the team took part in the Hampshire round of the National Cup finishing in a slightly disappointing second place after losing to PGS, but with a victory versus Kings’ School, Winchester.

The highlight of the season came at the South round of the National Cup where KES finished as group winners after impressive wins against Kent College (3-0) and Bede’s School (7-0), followed by a draw against a strong Cranleigh side (2-2). Sam Rachman scored a fantastic hat-trick in the Bede’s game. The tournament format allowed the team to develop throughout the day, in particular with the pressing. Will Fleming turned over the opposition numerous times in high areas of the pitch, which in turn led to a large number of chances and goals scored in the opposition goal. This result led to a home knock-out match against Langley Park, who were runners-up to Whitgift in their group. This was

Played: 16 Won: 11 Drew: 1 Lost: 4

perhaps the most difficult tie that KES could have drawn following the group stage, made more difficult by the omission of Will Fleming to injury. KES gave their all in the match against Langley Park, with Tom Croft-Baker working characteristically hard in midfield, but came second best to a very clinical side.

Langley Park showed the goal scoring instinct needed in order to come out on top in a very tight game.

The season concluded with two more good wins versus Kingston Grammar and Churcher’s College, before an unfortunate loss against St George’s. The boys were a delight to coach this season and despite the ups and downs, they gave their all and can look forward to an enjoyable tour to South Africa in the summer break and a successful move into senior hockey next season. A special mention to Toby Dudson who captained the side with strong leadership and enthusiasm.

Mr Bassett Squad members: Joe Murphy, Nathan Hastings, James Diaper, Toby Dudson (C), Jameel Khan, James Harden, Jovan Dhariwal, Tom Croft-Baker, James Williams, Ned Goodridge, Henry Beardsall, Ben Fox, Sam Rachman, James Lander, Jack Wergen, Sam Allsop and Will Fleming.

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U16B Hockey The U16 B team gathered at the start of the season full of the confidence you would expect from a side broadly untroubled by their rivals in the year before.

The complexity of lining up as one of the senior sides meant that fixtures this year pitted the boys against some exceptionally strong opposition. Combining this with the usual difficulties in attending training and coordinating the starting XI, despite the brevity of the fixture list, meant that it was a tough season on the pitch, although a lot of fun for those involved.

The first fixture against a very well organised and strong side from RGS Guildford was a rude awakening to senior hockey, but the boys did well to maintain their composure to keep the score below double figures. This wasn’t the only strong U18 side the boys faced during the term with the competitive and lively St John’s College 1st team also putting four past the goalkeeper in the first half; the experience gained throughout the season saw a better response from the KES side winning the second half by the only goal. Two fixtures escaped us, one due to inclement conditions and the Winchester game which resulted in an unlikely abandonment following a nasty clash

Played: 5 Won: 1 Drew: 1 Lost: 2

of heads. The fixtures against Canford and Magdalen College remain the highlights of the season. Both were highly competitive fixtures with results reliant on the boys maintaining a disciplined and enthusiastic approach. The Canford game saw us convert a halftime score draw into a narrow victory whilst the KES side were leading at half-time in Oxford, to see this slip away before recovering to finish the season with a draw in an eight-goal thriller.

Thanks go to those that gave their time so freely to ensure we could take on some strong opposition to good effect.

Mr P Sheppard Squad members: Jackson Taylor, Leon Astles, Daniel Atchley, Archie Attfield, Matthew Diamond, James Diaper, Sebastian Fernando, Benjamin Fox, Michael Hannides, Sebastian Harris, Oliver Kimmance, Archie Lawrence, Raul Patel, Max Pumphrey, Samuel Rachman, Aditya Rokade, Jack Wergan and William Wickham.

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U15A Hockey

Played: 8 Won: 3 Drew: 3 Lost: 2

This has been a frustrating season in many ways as performances have been inconsistent. That said, there is the potential for this group to be successful as they move through the School.

to be desired and the boys squandered a number of opportunities both in open play and at the short corners. Eventually they took a 2-1 lead and were able to hold on to this to gain another victory.

The season started and finished with two heavy defeats; 5-0 to Guildford in the season opener and 4-0 in the concluding game against St. George’s, Weybridge. Both of these opposing teams progressed well in the national cups which showed the standard that KES teams are now up against on a regular basis.

The second half of term was much shorter and started with a disappointing 3-3 draw against Churcher’s. In this game, KES were far too generous to the opposition resulting in conceding 3 goals and although we scored 3 of our own, a more clinical touch in front of goal would have resulted in a deserved victory. The game against Kingston U16B team at Wellington was a good one. Key elements that the team had been worked on in training were evident in the game; working the right side of the pitch and scoring on the far post resulting in a pleasing 3-1 victory.

In between these games there were some encouraging performances. A 3-3 draw against Canford showed that this group have the ability to compete with strong schools when they are in the right frame of mind. There are some skilful players who have the ability to eliminate defenders and there are good distributors of the ball at the back. With a group in a positive frame of mind it was disappointing that the match against PGS was cancelled due to a frozen pitch and so it was Ryde School who provided the opposition for the next game. A 4-0 win for KES did not tell the whole story as, although satisfying to win a game, the scoreline could and should have been even more convincing.

With a number of players on DofE expeditions the following week it was a changed team that took on MCS, Oxford. The attitude here was good and although trailing for much of the game they deservedly scored an equalising goal in the final few minutes to gain a creditable 1-1 draw. The final game before half-term was Lord Wandsworth College and once again, although dominant for much of the game, the final touches in front of goal left much

This group of players do have ability on the hockey field and there is potential for a number of them to make good contributions to senior hockey in years to come. However this ability will only be maximised when the players are prepared to listen to the advice they are being given and willing to work hard to develop core skills. They need to be happier to do simple things better.

Mr Kent Squad members: Ned Goodridge (C), Luca Astles, Will Barker, Jamie Cook, Will Daniels, Ben Donnison, Jack Dyer-Slade, Alex Hall, Tom Lockyer, Jai Mew, Joe Mills, Max Mills, Ben Pearce, Toby Reid, Sam Thompson, Ollie Van Aalst, Marcus Webb, Hugh Wilkinson and James Williams.

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U15B Hockey

Played: 10 Won: 4 Drew: 1 Lost: 5

The U15B players remained enthusiastic throughout the season and at no stage was it difficult to field two teams. The numbers at training after school remained high and we even had thirty players when it snowed in February. After a tough start, it was this positive attitude that helped them have a successful second half of the season.

As with the A team, the attitude in training will dictate how much further this group of players develop.

There is the potential to make good contributions to senior hockey both in the 2nd and 1st XI but the players have to decide whether they are prepared to work to develop their skills and ability before this can happen.

The first half of term started with three defeats in a row; 0-2 to RGS Guildford, 2-4 to Canford and 0-3 to Winchester College A team. The team were delighted therefore to come up against a PGS team that was lacking on both ability and discipline to record a first victory. The final score was 4-0 but we could have scored twice as many with more control in front of goal. A 1-1 draw with St John’s, Southsea was following by a heavy 6-0 defeat at the hands of MCS Oxford before the Lord Wandsworth game was cancelled. And yet still the boys came out to train with a great deal of energy and optimism.

I hope to see them working hard towards gaining places in the senior teams in the years to come.

In the second half of term this optimism no longer looked mis-placed as they beat HCS A team comfortably 6-2 and put in two good performances to beat Churcher’s College 4-0 and Epsom College A team 5-2. The final game against a strong St George’s team ended in a 3-1 defeat.

Mr Kent Squad members: Sam Alkin, Luca Astles, Cameron Barr, Rufus Beck, Tom Boyland, Sam Burton, Oscar BusseyJones, Jamie Cook, Will Daniels, Matthew Duke, Jack Dyer-Slade, Josh Golledge, Henry Gwilliam, Filippo Hall, Paddy Johnson, Paddy Keith, Ralf Lloyd, Finn McCullagh, Jai Mew, Max Mills, Ben Pearce, Harry Pizzey, Toby Reid, Sam Richards, Theo Roberts, Oscar Self, Sam Thompson, Henry Tudor, Ollie Van Aalst, Luke Ward, Marcus Webb, Hugo Wilkinson and Jonty Yonge.

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U14A Hockey

This was a season that promised much with such a talented group of players. Four new Third Year pupils broke into the A team this year and complemented an already very talented squad who progressed to the National Finals last year in the U13 competition.

Results speak for themselves, and the boys enjoyed a string of outstanding successes and performances of which they should be proud. Particularly of note were the successes at county and regional level even though the squad were unfortunately knocked out of the national competition on flicks against Cranleigh in the regional finals. This was a missed opportunity to represent the South on the national stage but many lessons were picked up along the way. Notable performances of the season were against last year’s national champions (and eventual champions this year) Whitgift when the KES U14 squad beat them 2-0 in the group stages of the regional heats. Another excellent performance was against Reeds School in the regional semi-finals when the boys won 4-1.

The U14 A team produced some very strong results in the Saturday fixtures including an 8-2 win against Canford, 8-1 win against Magdalen College School,

Played: 21 Won: 18 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

6-1 win against St George’s and 6-0 win against RGS, Guildford amongst others. The only defeats to date were against the KES U16 team. The players certainly had lots of confidence and, as the season progressed, the boys channelled their energies into training hard and working towards success. The team were extremely disappointed to not make it to National Finals this year but I am confident that with continued application and a determined work ethic, they will continue to do exceptionally well and I look forward to witnessing their success at U15 and U16 levels. Many boys demonstrated excellent leadership qualities and great humour that will serve them well in the future.

Mrs Kelly Squad members: Harry Croft-Baker (C), Rory Penrose (VC), Alex Georgiou, Jamie Dunn, Charlie Harden, Noah Cooper, Will Jackson, Euan Etheridge, Tom Henley, Rory Holm, Jack Sherred, Soren Golding, Alfie Dudson, Finn Coleman, Harry Stembridge, Tom Sutton and Rufus Taylor.

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U14B Hockey U14C Hockey Played: 9 Won: 5 Drew: 1 Lost: 3

Played: 3 Won: 1 Drew: 0 Lost: 2

These boys were an absolute delight to work with this season. It was obvious from the start of the season that the U14B hockey squad were going to have a fun, busy and inspirational season and this was true! I thoroughly enjoyed working with this talented group.

Once the pupils realised they were going to be worked hard, they bought into the work ethic and the hockey brand we wanted from our players. It was also great to see so many hockey players out at training and sometimes this number exceeded 45 students for both A team, B team and C team players. The boys trained with enthusiasm and places for team places were very competitive. They were keen to improve and to demonstrate their skills on every occasion. James Bristowe was one of the most organised captains I have worked with and he was always eager to ensure his team were ready and motivated to perform.

The U14 C team only had three matches this season but it was amazing how quickly they gelled as a team. It was a pleasure to see the players being so enthusiastic about their hockey and training regularly.

The boys had some exceptional performances and those particularly worthy of mention are beating Winchester College 8-2, Churcher’s College 5-0 and St George’s Weybridge 4-0. The boys should feel pleased with their achievements and I look forward to seeing this dedicated group of players progress as they move up through the School.

Mrs Kelly Squad members: James Bristowe (C), Anthony Rogers, Will Brench-Jones, Nick Damley-Jones, Archie Stokes, Josh Williams, Luke Ward, Will Booth, Oscar Self, Marcus Beresford, Rufus Taylor, Ben Axton, Theo Roberts, Harry Webster, Dom Goddard, Torin Atchley, Pierre Forster, Noah Inada-Kim, Tom Sutton and Sam Richards.

The best result of their season was beating Canford 9-0. They played superbly and showed some great skill. With the KES boys passing the ball around nicely, and three rolling subs to freshen passages of play, the home side soon got onto the score sheet. At half-time, KES were 6-0 up and Will Waring scored a hat-trick. This was a fantastic result with some great leadership from captains Harry Webster and Daksh Bhatnagar. The boys played well against St John’s College U14 A team and Toynbee Sports College U14 A team but unfortunately lost both matches 3-4 and 2-3 respectively. They demonstrated excellent work ethic and true KES hockey spirit.

Well done boys on some great hockey and I look forward to seeing you progress next season.

Mrs Kelly Squad members: Harry Webster, Daksh Bhatnagar, Daniel Erwig, Tom Holliday, Adam Woo, Tom Hand, Sam Kendall, Finn Pinto, Sam Richards, Sam Smith, Theo Roberts, Will Waring, Tom Woodcock, Jonty Yonge, Ralf Lloyd, Luke Ward, Noah Inada-Kim, Oscar Self, Kai Hammond and Huw Dunlop.

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U13A Hockey

Played: 17 Won: 6 Drew: 4 Lost: 7

In January a squad of enthusiastic young hockey players gathered for the first training session of the season. Approximately 40 boys regularly attended training enjoying the opportunity to improve their hockey skills. The A team had some tough fixtures but were always competitive and over the course of the season developed a style of hockey that will allow them to make greater progress next season.

There are a couple of ideas that they should take away from this season and develop; that hockey is essentially a passing game involving 10 outfield players and when you get a chance to shoot you should take it and that the ability to receive and give a pass quickly is crucial. The squad reached the semi-final of the county cup and were unlucky to lose by the only goal of the game to Durlston Court School. The match against Forres Sandle Manor, a 5-3 defeat, was a very entertaining game that

could easily have been won; there was not much to choose between the two teams. The same can be said of the final fixture of the season against St George’s College, that ended in a 3-1 defeat.

It has been an enjoyable season watching the young players develop their skills and learning how to play the game with more control. Despite the playing record above I feel that they will do well in future years.

Mr Wood Finnian Coleman, Isaac Chapman-Sheath, Freddie Coulson, Aaron Henderson, Sam Young, Harry Stembridge, Daniel Wickes, Flynn Denman, Matthew Dyer, William Chambers, Owen Ramamoorthy, Oscar Groves, Ben Harding, Beau Darrer, Sam Madiratta, Oliver Lander, Sam Boyland, Tom Mason, Giles Bailey and Duncan Little.

U13 A

U13 B

U13 C

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U13B Hockey The boys under 13B team had a good all round season with some top performances against some strong opposition. Overall they improved as the season went along. It started with two mixed results; the first was an away game against RGS, Guildford. The team started well with confidence and were moving the ball around nicely but a couple of good chances went begging, although the half ended 1-1. RGS started the second half on the front foot and a couple of quick goals saw the team’s heads drop as they could not recover, the match finishing 1-5 to RGS. The next match saw the team chalk their first win against Durlston Court School, playing indoor hockey for the first time too. With a two goal cushion at half-time the game looked to be settling down for a comfortable victory but a Durlston goal saw a nervy last few minutes. The final result was 2-1 to KES. The middle of the season saw the under 13B team notch up two more wins against Ryde School and Lord Wandsworth College. Away at Ryde, the team played well and spent a lot of the time playing within the opposition’s half, maintaining possession and securing a 4-0 win. The second was a home fixture against Lords Wandsworth College. Again the team were confident and moved the ball around the pitch nicely, but their opportunites couldn’t be converted due to the solid LWC goalie. The deadlock was broken though and, in quick succession, more goals followed that saw the boys again win 4-0. A 1-1 draw against

Played: 9 Won: 5 Drew: 1 Lost: 3

Forres Sandle Manor and a 6-1 loss against a welldrilled Churcher’s College team were the next couple of results on the fixture list.

The final two matches of the season showed just how greatly improved and hardworking the under 13B team had become with two tough fixtures against Kingston Grammar School and St George’s, Weybridge. The match against Kingston Grammar School saw them give their best performance of the season. The team were an attacking threat every time they went forward and even though they missed several opportunities to score, the Kingston goalie was forced to pull off some good saves. The boys deservedly took the lead in the second half and went looking for more but couldn’t find the back of the net. The match ended 1-0 to KES. The final match was against St George’s, Weybridge and was a frantic end-to-end 11 goal thriller. In a game that was tough and fast-paced, the boys showed their hard working credentials and team spirit. A last minute victory for the team meant smiles all round and was a great finish to a good term of hockey!

Mr Dodds Squad members: Tom Mason, Huw Dunlop, Jack Warrener (Capt), Simon Ladd, Sam Boyland, Robert Evans, Charlie Massey, Archie Callaghan, Duncan Little, Tom Parsons, Ben Le Poidevin, Will Daniels, Ali Hamady, Will Chambers, Giles Bailey, Ollie Alford-Evans and Sam Mediratta.

U13C & D Hockey There were only a limited number of opportunities for those boys who represented the C and D teams to show their skills this season. However, they played well and with enthusiasm, showing that with more perseverance and continued hard work, in games lessons and after school practices, they could be pushing for places in the B team next year. Both teams had to cope with a mixture of playing other schools’ A/B teams and in all their fixtures they were competitive. The C team recorded outstanding victories against RGS Guilford C team and Ryde B team while the D team took the scalp of a good St George’s College, Weybridge D team in their final game of the season.

My thanks to those who played and all who attended after school training.

C Team - Played: 5 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 2 D Team - Played: 3 Won: 1 Drew: 1 Lost: 1

Mr Wood Squad members: Huw Dunlop, Oliver Alford-Evans, Simon Ladd, Robert Evans, William Daniels, Joe Worthy, Duncan Little, Cameron Yates, Sam Boyland, Charlie Massey, Billy Smith, Russell Pugh, Archie Callaghan, Ben Le Poidevin, Tom Parsons, Jin Sandhu, Jack Warrener, Andrew McFarlane, Harry Stembridge, Tom Mason, Giles Bailey, Ali Hamady, Adam Smith, James Capewell, Eric Bentham and William Chambers.

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U12 Hockey

A Team - Played: 14 Won: 8 Drew: 2 Lost: 4 B Team - Played: 10 Won: 5 Drew: 2 Lost: 3 C Team - Played: 8 Won: 2 Drew: 0 Lost: 6 D Team - Played: 7 Won: 6 Drew: 0 Lost: 1

The First Year Boys responded enthusiastically with some experienced players parading their skills from the start, and others growing in confidence and skill remarkably quickly. We enjoyed a series of lunchtime practices in October and November and were ready for trial matches at the start of the spring term which enabled the coaches to select A, B, C and D 7 a-side teams.

The A team recorded three convincing wins in their opening matches playing some really good passing hockey. They were able to raise their game against older prep school teams and competed very well in the KES U13 tournament in which their tenacity and teamwork in defence helped them beat several older teams including their seniors at KES; albeit in a very short game and against the run of play. The team were beaten by Kingston Grammar School and St George’s College and the boys know that they will have to improve if they are to compete at this high level in future years.

The B team scored an impressive 41 goals winning half of their matches.

They managed to improve the pace of their passing during the season but need to improve their first touch and decision making. The highlight of the season had to be the magnificent away win against a strong KGS team.

The C team had a very tough fixture list playing many A teams. They competed well in all of their games but lacked the experience and suffered a series of defeats. The players rolled up their sleeves and battled on. Once they worked out how to keep the ball strong and get the ball to the right, and as success bred confidence, the improvement was clear culminating in a fine 5 goals to nil victory against a strong side from Churcher’s College.

The D team had a fine season; in fact they enjoyed the best record of all four teams winning 85% of their matches. The team worked well together and improved their basic skills admirably through their hard work at training and in games sessions. The season ended with consecutive 5-4 victories against strong opponents with last minute winners reflecting a certain strength of character and resilience.

It was clear that the lads really enjoyed their first season with more than forty boys attending training and playing matches. They worked well and made some pleasing improvements with several players stepping up to play in higher teams. Competition for places will be high next year. I encourage any of the boys in the squad who enjoyed the season to consider joining a local hockey club as this will give them the time they need to develop the core skills needed to improve and make a real impression next year. Congratulations to Oliver Lander who played for Hampshire U13s this year. I sense that others could make this grade next season as long as they continue to improve. Large numbers will have the opportunity to attend the Hampshire Hockey Development Centres in the autumn.

Many thanks to Mr Bassett, Mr Faye and Mr Dodds for their fabulous coaching and support.

Mr Gilbert and Mr Dellar

A Team Squad: George Coltart, Kamran Dhariwal, Dominic Fernando, Charlie Hand, Oliver Herbert, Josh Kent, Alex Kipps, Oliver Lander and Harry Loveridge

B Team Squad: Will Armstrong, Harry Bristowe, Matthew Carrall-Wilcocks, Will Donnison, Fin Kilpatrick, Seb Mills, Joe Thompson and Sam Venable

C Team Squad: Tom Andrews, Findlay Bell, Hamish Croft, Sam Golledge, Billy Goodridge, Robert McKenzie, Wilf Sutton, Ben Morgan and Mathias Potter

D Team Squad: Frank Hancox, Hugo Dunkley, Bruno Jesney, Sam Mcllroy, Dillon Patel, Rudy Barr, Mayan Gupta, Isaac Haq, Tom Jackson, Joshua Kerr, Tom Lugton, James Tall, Archie Wright, Kym Anderson, Tom Collins, Mathieu Loran, John Salib Goal keepers: James Capewell, James Cummings-Candle, Harry Loveridge, Danni Nayyar and Raihan Tarafdar

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Cricket overview This has been a most enjoyable season. It has obviously helped that we have had sun almost from start to finish and so real momentum has been possible. There have been ninety-five fixtures over the ten competitive weeks which is remarkable in what is a very busy term with a wide range of demands placed on our students. It is great to be a part of such a busy school and our students do very well to balance everything as they do. Cricket at KES is certainly moving in the right direction and the foundations are being put in place that should lead to a very successful cricket club in years to come. I would like to pick out a few of the lessons that I hope have been learned and to give some of the highlights of the season.

I was delighted to see the enthusiasm on the faces of the U12C team after their first game and very pleased that we were able to arrange six matches for this team; two of which they won. I enjoyed watching the U12 cup final as our team defended 210 to win the county cup and become the Hampshire representatives in the National Cup next year. The U13 age group had some tricky matches although by the end of the season, there was evidence that they were starting to understand the importance selecting the correct shots to play. There is enthusiasm in this group as it was never a problem to field a C team and this bodes well for future. The A team also enjoyed their trip to the Reigate 6s which we entered for the first time; an experience that we shall repeat. The U14 age group are strong and there are a number who could realistically hope to be involved in senior cricket next season. There is, however, still much to learn as was evident in their cup final defeat in which the game was well within their capabilities. In the U15 age group whilst there were many frustrations, there are a number of enthusiastic players who enjoy playing cricket every Saturday for the School and they will have enjoyed the wins they gained. These players will, I am sure, be involved in senior cricket as Fifth Years next summer. The strength in senior cricket is evident from their results, with the 1st XI winning two-thirds of their matches, including the Altham Trophy final, and the 2nd XI winning seven of their eight matches. It is perhaps no surprise that these results come in the summer and the Lower Sixth are back in school for the whole term and therefore have the opportunity to both practice during the week and have consistency of selection at the weekend.

I was also delighted to set up a girls’ cricket club this year and they enjoyed having the opportunity to be coached by their very own Viper, Katie George, and did very well in their first experience of competitive cricket at the Salisbury Cathedral School Festival.

They are keen for more and I am sure that this can be arranged for next year.

The success of the cricket programme could not have been possible without the great commitment of the staff who take the teams and so my thanks go to all involved. A number of staff took teams other than their own without complaint or grumble when they could have had a free Saturday, and it is this that enables us to put on a programme that gives the players such a great opportunity. We do say farewell to Mr Brown from the coaching staff for next year as he jumps ship to take over football at the School. I would like to thank him for the time he has given KES cricket.

Finally thanks to Mrs Paul for the endless administrative and organisational support she provides, to the catering team for proving that the traditional cricket tea is very much alive and perhaps most of all to our excellent grounds staff whose endless hours of grass cutting and pitch rolling provides our players with such fantastic grounds to play on, with Wellington Sports Ground being the envy of many a visiting opposition.

Mr D Kent Director of Sport and Head of Cricket

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1st XI Cricket The 1st XI did not have an auspicious start to the season as they lost a pre-season game to Dulwich College by 32 runs. The main reason for this was bowling that was sadly lacking in accuracy! However, the value of this pre-season game became clear as it gave the boys a kick start and they went on to play considerably better throughout the remainder of the season.

The Altham Trophy campaign got off to a good start with a convincing 72 run win over Peter Symonds before the boys played well, to be competitive against a very strong side from St Edward’s School, Oxford. A dropped catch did not help our chances but to get within 50 of this strong team gave the boys confidence that they could compete against all the schools in our area.

The game against Bryanston was an excellent one as we set them 250 to win, with our innings anchored by an impressive 95 from Jovan Dhariwal.

They threatened to reach this target but eventually we took the final wicket in the last over with the opposition 13 runs short. We scored a convincing victory over Winchester College, bowling them out for just 52, and won by 8 wickets in a T20 game. We then beat Itchen College team by 250 runs in the Altham Trophy. Gregor McKenzie’s 120 retired was the highlight of this and the impressive striking that he showed that day was impressive to all.

The Lancing College match was a tight game as we bowled well on a dry pitch to bowl them out for 149.

Batting was not easy and we were soon in trouble.

However, a disciplined 65* from Jameel Khan got us over the line with one wicket remaining. Our bowling was even more impressive the following week as we bowled PGS out for 99 and, despite a nervy start to our reply, we eventually coasted home by 6 wickets to register an excellent win with Jovan unbeaten on 48. The final game of the first half of term was the final group game against Richard Taunton College which we won by 85 runs to reach the final to be held later in the term.

The first game after the break was against the MCC and the challenges of playing against more experienced men’s teams was evident. Bowlers had less room for error and batsmen could not rely on loose bowling to score their runs. It was disappointing to finish 50 runs short however this could have been very different if their main batsman

Played: 15 Won: 10 Drew: 1 Lost: 4

who went on to get 100 was not dropped when on 18 by a guest fielder from the opposition.

Against Reading Blue Coats our bowling impressed as we bowled them out for 95 and reached this target for the loss of just 1 wicket. The performance against Tiffin was disappointing even though the game eventually finished as a draw. We had a good game against the Old Edwardians that was closer than in recent years as we managed to gain a victory by just 15 runs. The final regular season game was a tough trip to MCS. Put into bat on a difficult wicket our innings stuttered a bit until Gregor gave it some impetus. Good cameos from Tom Smart and Archie Millar helped us reach a score of 176.

The first half of our bowling innings showed pace, aggression, outstanding fielding and we managed to build real pressure on the opposition. Unfortunately the control in the bowling deteriorated and again they found boundaries too easy to come by but it was an excellent inning of 99* by their captain that eventually won them the game.

The Altham Trophy final saw us face Queen Mary’s College, Basingstoke. Bowling first we were very generous in our lines as we gifted the opposition 45 extras. However, we were confident that a total of 150 to win was achievable and our reply started in measured fashion. We had wickets in hand and a combined attack from Gregor and Jacob Fay saw us home with 5 overs to spare as we claimed the trophy for the first time in nine years This was a season that those involved in can look back on with a fair degree of pride for what has been achieved. The approach of the players was excellent and the roots of much of this can be traced back to the tour last summer of Sri Lanka when the boys discussed how they wanted to go about things. Their approach over the winter training sessions was the best that I have experienced in my four years working with the 1st XI at KES and the team spirit they showed throughout the year was of a very high standard.

That said, for those who are continuing at KES next year, there are areas that clearly need improvement.

The appreciation of when to attack and when to defend is crucial and more batsmen need to take responsibility in building their innings to occupy the crease for greater lengths of time.

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Many players made valuable contributions but I do want pick out three individuals. The hard work and dedication that Alec Damley-Jones put in as captain is to be commended. He always opened the bowling with real pace and threat and could well have finished with more than the 18 wickets he took. His opening partner was Jacob Fay whose control was outstanding making it very hard to score runs; indeed his spell of 5 overs for 6 runs against a dominant MCC batsmen deservedly won him the spirit of cricket award and he took 19 wickets.

Two innings; 1 from Jovan and 1 from Jameel gave optimism for run scoring next year but I would like to finally mention Gregor McKenzie. His clean striking of the ball demolished many bowlers and he finished top run scorer with 564 runs at a remarkable rate of 184, hitting 84 boundaries in his 12 innings and finishing with an average of 56. He also finished as

the leading wicket taker with 26 as batsmen tried to take on his left arm spin which he has worked hard to develop over the last three years.

I would like to thank all the players for their time and efforts throughout a very successful season and also Mr Penn who took on a leading role in the coaching of this team.

Mr D Kent (Head of Cricket) The following players played 3 or more games for the 1st XI: Squad members: Alec Damley-Jones (C), Gregor McKenzie, James Murphy, Tom Smart, Cameron Thomas, Felix Bussey-Jones, Fred Davies, Tom Duff, Jacob Fay, Archie Millar, Ben Millar, Jovan Dhariwal and Jameel Khan.

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2nd XI Cricket

Played: 6 Won: 5 Drew: 0 Lost: 1

The first cricket match of the season saw the 2nd XI take on the HCS 1st XI team in a 30 over match.

Hugo Marshall and Jim Murphy both got good starts with 37 and 30 respectively to give KES a defendable total of 130 on a lively wicket. HCS batted well in the middle order and looked to have the game in the bag before a run out by Tom Duff started a batting collapse. Jim Murphy took 3 wickets with Kieran Bassi taking two key wickets for HCS. KES won the match by 4 runs with credit to Cameron Thomas for his bowling and positive attitude on the field.

KES then faced MCS. Jim Murphy was on top form and scored a quick 48 with some clean hitting on a big field. Will Wickham (31) and Hugo Marshall (31) chipped in for KES to score 148/7. MCS batted well, even with Hugo Marshall taking 4 wickets, but MCS made it home with an over to spare; KES lost the match by 3 wickets.

Against Bryanston, KES batted first and Ben Trotter 22 and James Lander 55 got the team off to a perfect start at Hill Lane. However, the batting performance belonged to Jim Murphy who hit 84 not out off 30 balls. The squad scored 259/4 in 30 over with Bryanston scoring 158 all out with Sam Rachman as the top wicket taker with 3/35. The School won by 101 runs.

Mr Crichton

Next up was another tight ending match versus Lancing College. KES scored 103 for 6 with Ralf Lloyd top scoring with 21. The boys hung on to win the match in the final over with Hugo Marshall bowling the important final over. Credit must go to Tom Rugge-Price, Tom Newsom and Hugo McCullagh who stepped in last minute and all took amazing catches to help KES win a tight match.

Against PGS, KES won another tight game by 7 runs with Ethan Sharpe 76 and Felix Bussey-Jones 48. Tiffin school were next and James and Charlie Harden put in a good batting display. KES scored 154/8 whilst Tiffin scored 151/6 and fell 3 runs short in another last over match.

It has been a fantastic season and a great set of results, the boys showed some great camaraderie on and off the field and stepped up to play some exciting cricket.

Squad members: Angus Armstrong, Thomas Croft-Baker, Seb Fernando, James Harden, James Lander, Sam Rachman, Aditya Rokade, Will Wickham, Felix Bussey-Jones, Tom Duff, Charlie Harrigan, Tom Rugge-Price, Daniel Simonini, Kieran Bassi, James Harper, Ralf Lloyd, Callum Loader, Hugo Marshall (C), Ollie Martin, Hugo McCullagh, Jim Murphy, Tom Newsom, Ananth Sathyanath, Ethan Sharpe, Cameron Thomas (C), James Thomson and Ben Trotter.

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U15 Cricket The U15 cricket team have found this season to be a particularly challenging one, with the team winning just four matches. A lack of team continuity, combined with low attendances at practices, have meant that the boys appeared to be continually on the back foot. The team did notch up four victories and these were characterised by some fine individual efforts.

Away to Bryanston School, early on in the season, Alex Hall took 3-20 to help guide KES to an impressive 37 run win. In the following game against Perins, Sam Thompson hit through the line for a quick fire half century whilst in the following cup game against HCS, it was the big hitting from Jamie Cook (59*) which took the team to victory. However, it was the game against Tiffin School which saw the boys perform at their collective best to record a 7 wicket victory. Will Tall claimed a hat-trick with the bowl whilst with the bat, Jack Dyer-Slade scored a superb run of 77 not out.

Played: 10 Won: 4 Lost: 6

Along with the individual performances, Luca Astles always gave it 100% in the field and Oscar BusseyJones provided useful contributions with both bat and ball. I hope that the majority of the boys will continue with cricket and a number of them should be targeting playing for the 2nd XI next year.

Mr Brown Squad members: Will Daniels, Jack Dyer-Slade, Luca Astles, Oscar Bussey-Jones, Jai Mew, Alex Hall, James Williams, Tom Lockyer, Sam Thompson, Jamie Cook, Will Tall, Henry Tudor, Harry Pizzey, Ben Donnison, Ned Goodridge and Theo Law.

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U14A Cricket Overall this was another successful season for this talented group of players. The highlights included a great win against a good Churcher’s side with the ever reliable captain, Charlie Harden, making a good start which was finished off with the big hitting Rory Holm’s 23 off 13 balls. There were a number of easy wins so it was satisfying to come through the test of PGS in the County Cup 1st round with flying colours after an excellent all-round bowling display lead by Ralf Lloyd and a another crucial innings by Charlie Harden.

As well as a depleted side failing to step up against Reading Blue Coats, the biggest disappointment was the county cup final loss to Churcher’s.

The boys need to learn to be more defensive with their fielding placings and bowling lengths when appropriate. Despite this, a fantastic rally from Nick Damley-Jones and James Bristowe led to an agonising 7 run loss. In the final game of the season an excellent victory was secured against a very good Magdalen side due to the classical batting of Daksh Bhatnager combined with the big hitting of Harry Croft-Baker and James Bristowe. Noah Cooper’s runs against Bryanston and Lancing showed what he is capable of.

U14B Cricket The 2017 cricket season was an enjoyable time for the U14B team. A group of positive and energetic boys played eight matches in all, finishing with an even split of four losses and four victories and clearly learning more about the game as they went along.

The two highlights of the term were undoubtedly the heavy defeats of both Bryanston and Lancing, with reverses at the hands of St Edward’s, MCS, Winchester and Reading Blue Coats being no great disgrace, given the quality of the sides these schools were able to put out.

I hope very much that the boys enjoyed themselves and that in the future they will appreciate the need for more considered shot selection at vital times! I would like to thank Pierre Forster for his helpful and thoughtful approach to captaining the side.

Mr Diver

Played: 11 Won: 9 Drew: 0 Lost: 2

Anthony Rogers and Soren Golding both improved their batting and bowling but the promoted Luke Ward has to be the most improved player of the season.

Mr Mixer Squad members: Noah Cooper, James Bristowe, Ralf Lloyd, Luke Ward, Tom Henley, Soren Golding, Daksh Bhatnagar, Charlie Harden, Nick Damley-Jones, Harry Croft-Baker, Anthony Rogers, Rory Holm, Jamie Dunn and Nathaniel Holland Wright.

Played: 9 Won: 4 Drew: 0 Lost: 4 Abandoned: 1

Squad members: Marcus Beresford, Will Booth, Pierre Forster (C), Nathaniel Holland Wright, William Jackson, Nathan Mitchard, Samuel Smith, Luke Ward, Jeremy Hill, Jack Evans, Theo Roberts, Sam Richards, Alfie Dudson (VC), Archie Stokes, Alexander Georgiou, Torin Atchley, Tom Sutton, Dominic Goddard, Euan Etheridge, Jack Sherred, Erik Hillman, Anthony Rogers and Tom Woodcock.

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U13A Cricket The season started with a trip away to HCS in Romsey and the boys got off to a good start with a comprehensive 6 wicket victory. Will Porter was a stand-out performer, scoring 45 not out and taking 2/10 chasing 91 runs to win. Unfortunately the subsequent game against Bryanston was cancelled, so the boys had to wait a couple of weeks to face local rivals PGS. After a below par score set by KES, PGS chased the runs down with 5 wickets to spare, despite a decent bowling display by KES. KES bowled extremely well in the game against Churcher’s College with Ed Bence taking 3/13 to hold Churcher’s to 103 all out. Unfortunately, KES failed to bat with the discipline required, a theme which occurred regularly during the season, and were bowled out for 39 runs.

The remaining five matches of the season showed signs of improvement with the boys working hard in training in order to ensure that they value their wicket and bat out the overs. KES managed to beat HCS in the quarter-final of the Hampshire Cup, after Perins had conceded in the previous round. Finn Coleman and Flynn Denman led the way with 21 and 20 respectively as KES posted 96/7 before HCS were restricted to 29/8 off their 20 overs, Oliver Alford-Evans with 3/3. KES lost to a very strong Reading Blue Coats team by 51 runs, but did manage to bat out their 25 overs, which included a 50 run partnership between Aaron Henderson (18*) and Oliver Alford-Evans (26*). This gave the boys some confidence going into their cup semi-final match against Churcher’s College. Unfortunately for KES, Churchers were just too strong and KES lost by 76 runs, despite a spirited 25 by Will Chambers. A special mention must go to Ed Bence who bowled his second spell of 2 overs for no runs, taking the wicket of Churcher’s opening batsman for 49, in what was a fantastic bit of fast bowling. Will Chambers followed on his fine form with 40* against Tiffin School as KES chased down Tiffin’s 95/5 to win by 6 wickets.

The last game of the season saw KES travel away to MCS. Oliver Alford-Evans, who captained the side well in the field all year, bowled beautifully and was unlucky to only take 2/14 from his 4 overs as MCS made 107/5. Will Chambers made another good knock of 28 but KES fell just short at 90/7.

Played: 8 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 5

The boys also competed in a 6-a-side tournament hosted by Reigate Grammar School. KES played their best cricket of the season to record three victories against Dulwich College, Trinity College and Howard of Effingham. Flynn Denman batted beautifully in the tournament, recording four retirements out of five games. In addition, the fielding during the day was extremely high quality led in particular by the captain Oliver Alford-Evans. The boys played five matches, winning three of them and losing two.

The season has proved an extremely good learning curve for the boys. They have begun to understand the importance of batting out the overs, as well as limiting the number of extras given to the opposition. In addition, there has been a lot of work put in to the ability to score runs and rotate the strike without taking unnecessary risks. The last few games of the season, combined with the 6-a-side tournament has shown evidence that the boys have taken all of these points on board and improved their performance. It has been a pleasure to take the boys this year and I hope that they will continue to improve in the coming years.

Mr Bassett Squad members: Finn Coleman, Flynn Denman, Will Porter, Will Chambers, Freddie Coulson, Matt Dyer, Oscar Groves, Dan Wickes, Tom Mason, Sam Mediratta, Jack Warrener, Edward Bence, Karem Nebol, Aaron Henderson and Oliver Alford-Evans (C).

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U13B Cricket The U13s have had a good season with some top performances against some strong opposition.

The season started with a loss against St Edward’s School, losing by 9 wickets, but this opening misfortune gave the boys a lot to practice on in the week and the second game saw a win against Stroud School by 8 wickets. Some strong bowling saw KES bowl Stroud all out for 68 runs and during batting improved decisiveness between the stumps, and good running, saw the team knocking off the runs with 7 overs to spare. The next three matches saw the squad get 3 wins on the trot; the first against rivals PGS saw the under 13s win by 3 wickets in a close, nip and tuck encounter.

The middle of the season saw the under 13Bs notch up two more wins against Churcher’s College and Winchester College, the latter being one of the closest matches I have ever witnessed. The first game against Churcher’s was a 20/20 match which saw the boys bat second and knock off the runs with 3 overs to spare winning by 38 runs followed by a mid-week match against Winchester College. Winchester put the KES opening batsman under a lot of pressure with some fast, tight bowling and a few wickets fell.

Will Chambers then thwarted the Winchester bowlers scoring an unbeaten 54 not out. Winchester went into bat and the bowling attack quickly took wickets with Winchester struggling at 34 for 4 wickets against the boys’ bowling and disciplined fielding However, a lower order Winchester batsman came in and knocked an unbeaten 52, taking the match into the last over, needing 6 off the last ball. Thankfully he only got a four and KES won by 2 runs.

Played: 9 Won: 5 Drew: 0 Lost: 4

The final few matches were against The Reading Blue Coat School, Tiffin School and Magdalen College School. The boys recorded a loss against Reading but returned to winning ways against Tiffin School a with a 7 wicket win. The last match of the season was against Magdalen College which saw the boys lose by 5 wickets.

Overall this has been a good season for the U13 B team with some good results against good opposition. The improvements all round with the batting and bowling was great to watch over the season and even the fielding improved with some good catches in the outfield. I look forward to taking and watching the boys play further as they go into Upper School.

Mr Dodds Squad members: Huw Dunlop (Capt), Simon Ladd, Sam Boyland, Jacob Hampshire, Charlie Massey, Will Chambers, Rory Urquhart-Hawkins, Sam Young , Kerem Nebol, Henry Smith (Vice Capt), Theeran Ramanan, Owen Ramamoorthy, Oscar Groves, Daniel Wickes, Aaron Henderson and Issac Chapman-Sheath.

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U13C Cricket The U13C team have had something of a mixed season with our four fixtures seeing a return of two good victories but also two heavy defeats. Crucially, the derby match against PGS saw us emerge with a seven-run victory, due mainly to a tight bowling display; Tom Parsons’ 3 for 11 off his 3 overs being the stand-out performance here. This was followed by a trip to Reading Blue Coat School, whose strong batting performance saw them accumulate a score of 108. Despite a manfully impressive display from Harry Stembridge on his debut, batting throughout the 20-over innings to post a score of 25, KES were unable to score prolifically off Reading’s controlled bowling and were limited to a score of 48 for 8. Next up was Tiffin school, with KES winning easily by 66 runs, posting a season-best score of 139 in the process; special mention should go to Hal Armstrong, who scored an impressive 51, including eleven boundaries, before retiring. We finished the season with a trip to Magdalen College School, Oxford, who proved to be our strongest opponents. A depleted KES team, ably captained by Jin Sandhu, contributed some good bowling performances but were unable to wrestle control of the game from an experienced MCS batting line-up, who eventually totalled 130 from 20 overs. Despite a brave knock from Ben Hews and some good shots from Tom Parsons, somewhat lacklustre batting from KES saw us struggle to build momentum in the innings, eventually scoring just 52 from 20 overs. So, overall, some really good work in places from a developing side but plenty still to work on for next year.

Dr Filtness

Played: 4 Won: 2 Drew: 0 Lost: 2

Squad members: Jin Sandhu (C), Joe Worthy, Giles Bailey, Tom Parsons, Simon Ladd, Eric Bentham, Alastair Howard, George McGinn, Archie Callaghan, Felix Clacy, Russell Pugh, Harry Stembridge, Daniel Houston-Robb, Harry Molden, Ben Hews, Henry Smith, Owen Ramamoorthy, Isaac ChapmanSheath and Hal Armstrong.

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U12A Cricket A very enjoyable summer was had by this squad of boys with some very good results and performances, rounded off by a Cup Final victory against Portsmouth Grammar School.

The boys were finding their feet early on, with it being their first year at the School, so it took some a little longer to settle down and perform their natural game.

The batting unit did well on occasions, extremely well on a couple, and not so good on others. I think the main lesson with the batting is to learn how to bat time. Batting becomes easier the more time you stay in, so playing slightly longer games of cricket gives the batters this opportunity. The highlight of the season with the bat was Kamran Dhariwal and his 92 not out in the Cup Final alongside two other scores of over 50; George Coltart 50 retired; Hamish Croft with two innings of 30+ retired and Seb Mills with a 33 retired.

Fielding was of a good standard all season with great enthusiasm demonstrated by some, which raised the level of all. The bowlers gradually improved with their lines and lengths as the season progressed. The next stage for them now is to know what to do when things are not working, or they are up against a very strong batter. Field placings are also something that the bowlers need to think more about for the way they bowl. Wickets were shared by all but the stand out bowler was Sam Golledge, with 13 wickets in total, including a hat-trick where he clean bowled all three batters; George Coltart took 11 wickets and Kamran Dhariwal took 9.

There were convincing wins over HCS U13. The Mountbatten School and two wins over PGS. The game against Lochinver House Prep School resulted in a 10-run win to KES, Reading Blue Coat School were beaten in the final over of the match and the game against MCS, Oxford was the closest of the lot as the boys won by just 1 run. Tiffin School had one strong player who turned the match in their favour and the performance against Churcher’s was a disappointing one as we failed with the bat.

Played: 11 Won: 8 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

Squad members: Kamran Dhariwal (C), Harry Bristowe, George Coltart, Hamish Croft, Hugo Dunkley, Sam Golledge, Mayan Gupta, Charlie Hand, Josh Kent, Alex Kipps, Oliver Lander, Mathieu Loran, Seb Mills and James Tall.

U12A

U12B

Overall, the boys were very keen, attended practices on a regular basis and had a great bond between them. They could potentially grow into a very useful squad of players if they continue to practise and play with purpose and enjoyment.

Mr Wheeler U12C

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U12B Cricket

U12C Cricket

Played: 7 Won: 4 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

Played: 6 Won: 2 Drew: 0 Lost: 4

It took the weather a while to warm up but not the boys. As temperatures soared in June, so did the team’s desire to win. Early games against Stroud and HCS saw easy victory and were barely contested. Ben Morgan’s leadership showed early promise and with successive games his role was never in doubt. The first real contest took place in March against Portsmouth Grammar School; a close contest that was won by 2 wickets. The next three matches were against traditionally very good cricketing schools. The game at Churcher’s was, however, lost by only 8 runs, whilst against Reading Blue Coat School, the heat was almost unbearable and the boys lost another close game by 5 wickets. The match against Tiffin School tested the team and the final score was decided in the last two balls of the over.

The U12C team had a full set of fixtures for the first time and fielding a team was not a problem. There was so much enthusiasm within this year group as twenty-five boys played for the team at some stage. Attendance at training was very good and they learned much over the course of the term.

Their ability to bowl straight improved as the season progressed, and this gave them a better chance of taking wickets. Their fielding was good throughout and a number of impressive catches were taken. The batting was a little less consistent and this is certainly an area to be focussed on in the future. The boys need to make better decisions in shot selection and respect the good straight ball so that they are still at the crease to make the most of the bad balls that get delivered to them.

Early in the season the boys had solidified as a team and were communicating on the field and between the stumps well. Although the last three games did end in defeat, they were very closely fought and could have gone either way. The final fixture saw the boys compete against Magdalen College, Oxford. The opposition won the toss and batted. A sparkling performance bowled them all out for 74 and following tea, KES took to bat losing only one wicket to achieve victory in the 8th over.

This team had a good practice match at the start of the season against the B team but it was against PGS that they got their first proper outing. This was a good game and in spite of the 16 run defeat, the boys left with smiles on their faces looking forward to more.

Against Churcher’s, they won by 10 runs but they found Reading Blue Coat school and Tiffin to be too strong. The re-match against Churcher’s was another good game but Churcher’s won this time by 20 runs.

However, the boys finished the season in style with a fantastic 81 run victory over Magdalen College School from Oxford.

Matt Loran showed tremendous effort and was consistent all season behind the stumps. The bowlers worked hard with some standout performances by Dillon Patel, Mayan Gupta, Dominic Fernando and Joe Thompson. In respect of batting, the boys who topped the scoring leaderboard were Joe Thompson, Archie Wright and Dominic Fernando.

There were many encouraging aspects to report this season, not least the team spirit and cohesiveness of the squad; in the good times and also when mistakes were made.

Mr Mapstone Squad members: Archie Wright, Ben Morgan, Bruno Jesney, Dominic Fernando, Dillon Patel, Frank Hancox, Findlay Bell, Fin Kilpatrick, George Turner, Harry Loveridge, Ivor Berry, Joe Thompson, Joshua Kerr, Kym Anderson, Mayan Gupta, Matthew CarrallWilcocks, Matt Loran, Robert McKenzie, Tom Collins, William Armstrong and Wilf Sutton.

I am delighted that so many boys made themselves available to play and look forward to more next year from this group at U13C level. It will also be very interesting to watch which players develop their game and push to move up the teams.

Mr Mapstone Squad members: Kym Anderson, Tom Andrews, Neev Bakshi, Findlay Bell, Ivor Berry, James Capewell, Tom Collins, Matthew Dodd, Khalid Elsheikh, Mayan Gupta, Frank Hancox, Isaac Haq, Henry Harber, Bruno Jesney, Joshua Kerr, Mathieu Loran, Harry Loveridge, Tom Lugton, Robert McKenzie, Daani Nayyar, Dillon Patel, Mathias Potter, Wilf Sutton, Joe Thompson and George Turner.

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U15 & U14 Tennis It seemed a short season this year with fewer competitive matches than previously and the friendlies dogged by bad weather and our traditional season finale against Winchester College fell foul of technical problems with a minibus. Some of the lowlights and highlights are recounted below.

The season got off to a tough first match against a Thornden side who hit us cold on the second day back after the Easter holidays. Even the KES players who had got match practice over the winter and spring were hardly prepared for the legendary dead bounce of the KES astro surface. That said, Thornden would have proved the better side in all conditions and it was good to see a high standard and determined play.

Cameron Barr, Kai England and Edward Sheppard all played well and kept battling even when under the cosh. Player of the day on this occasion was Beau Darrer from the Second Year who stepped up to fill in for a missing player and ended up with the only victory of the day. He played an intelligent game, reading his opponent’s weakness and playing accordingly and thus achieving a victory against an opponent a couple of years older. We look forward to seeing him in the senior teams in future.

After the disappointment of the opening fixture it was good to get a win under our belts against Romsey School a couple of weeks later. The match was closer than the 12-0 scoreline suggested but, nevertheless, all players won comfortably. On this occasion Rory Penrose and Dominic Goddard played alongside Kai and Ed. Our only remaining Aegon Tournament match was a disappointing affair against Burgate. This should have been a much closer fixture, and one we could have won and effectively forfeited as three-quarters of the team abandoned ship before the fixture was complete.

The two initial losses in the doubles served as a warm up for the KES players and Ed Sheppard and Brandon Rawles served up impressive victories in the singles.

Brandon’s victory was particularly pleasing as this was his first time out playing for this team. The remaining two singles were losses, but one was abandoned before completion. A win in that singles would have meant a tie break, but even then we would not have had the players to complete it. More commitment needed KES boys!

In the Hampshire U16 doubles tournament, Rory Penrose partnered Ben Fox to represent the School.

The tournament was played to an unusual format

because the outdoor courts were lost to the weather, so the boys had to play under the pressure of a series of 15 minute championship tie-break matches.

Comfortable victories in the group stage put the boys into the semi-final where they encountered much tougher opposition but bowed out having played well under tough conditions. It was a shame there was no time for a third / fourth place play-off match, so no doubt both teams will be claiming third here!

Thanks to all the players, not just those turned out for matches, but those who came to the practice sessions too – these were led by coach Paul Scullard to whom thanks are also due.

Mr Culver Squad members: Cameron Barr, Kai England, Edward Sheppard, Beau Darrer, Rory Penrose, Dominic Goddard and Brandon Rawles.

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U13 Tennis This has been another enjoyable and impressive season for the U13 squad. We have had a great turn out at practices and with the high standard of tennis at these sessions, competition for the match places was tough. This, in turn, has resulted in some strong team performances in our Aegon League match.

The first Aegon match was against Thornden School and King Edward’s took the bull by the horns, carving out a fantastic 8-4 victory. The doubles teams worked particularly well together taking both matches 6-2 and setting early and high expectations for the term to come. A special mention should go to Beau Darrer who stepped up to fill an U15 position and took the only U15s singles victory of the day.

The Romsey School was the next to fall victim to an aggressive KES side, losing their encounter 10-2 and raising KES confidence for our last Aegon match of the season. Portsmouth Grammar School gave us a battle in the baking heat and were able to overthrow

a strong KES side, winning 8-4 and providing a frustrating ending to an otherwise successful term of tennis.

I would like to thank all who represented KES in the team for their effort and commitment and everyone who attended training and made it an exciting and productive term of tennis, it has been a pleasure.

Mr Lewis Squad members: Beau Darrer, Archie Callaghan, Tom Parsons, Charlie Massey, Kerem Nebol and Flynn Denman.

138 | SOTONIENSIS 2017

Basketball It has been an exciting and positive year for KES Colts basketball. The squad was one of the largest in a number of recent years, consisting of ten students from the Third and Fifth year. Each player had moments of brilliance. Our key scorers have been Rory Urquhart-Hawkins, Jack Wiseman, Ben Wetmore and myself.

Dan Atchley proved a valuable asset standing tall at the back of the zone; a strong defensive player. Oliver Miles and Joe Murphy gained experience and showed real potential, both valuable members of the team.

This season, we played eight games against other schools from the southern region. We had a promising start to the season with a win against Thornden School (40-31). James Diaper showed confidence in dribbling and driving to the basket drawing fouls, earning easy free throws. After a disappointing succession of losses leading up to Christmas, the team pulled together and, under the leadership and coaching of Mr Smart, secured our second win against Cantell School (55-16); 31 of these points being successfully scored by one player.

Continuing our momentum, the team went on to win another game against Mountbatten School (76-64) with Jack Wiseman being our key scorer. The team went through a frustrating period of losing three further games by only one point and these were all tense and thrilling matches. Jackson Taylor showed great determination when physically outmatched by opponents but remained a valuable member of the team.

The highlight of our season was reaching the semifinals of the playoffs. This was a physically demanding and challenging game and despite losing to the better side, we all grew in confidence and ability as individual players and as a team. The objective for KES Colts is to reach the final of the playoffs next season, which I have every confidence they will achieve.

I would like to thank Mr Smart on behalf of the team for being our referee and organiser and driving the team forwards. I would also like to thank the scorers for all their help. Well done to all who played and good luck for the upcoming 2017/2018 season.

Max Pumphrey (Captain)

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1st XI Football

And so another season dawned and with it were born the hopes and dreams of the next generation, ready to forge their own new link in the unbroken chain of collective memory that is KES footballing history.

Deprived of the usual beginning of season warm-up against an OE XI due to a punishing league fixture list, the season got off to an underwhelming start as the team struggled to get results. A 2-1 defeat against Fareham was followed by a 3-3 draw against a poor Eastleigh side and then three more losses and a draw followed in which the team conceded 13 goals. The absence of key players such as Henry Scullard and Matt Giles through injury was a key factor which led to a weakened defence despite solid performances from Bruce Carpenter and Henry Harris who were not playing in their natural positions. Therefore, although the side scored a respectable number of goals, this did not translate into a successful points tally and KES found themselves at the bottom of the table going into half-term break.

The first game back saw the KES team take on a very good Havant side in the Hampshire Cup. The team showed no signs of intimidation despite the great challenge at hand but again succumbed to a

defeat – this time 2-0. Things were beginning to look up, however, and the next game saw KES travel to Eastleigh. The first win of the season arrived at last with the team recording 5 goals for, and only one against, and Sam Woodcock scoring a hat-trick in the process and Fred Davis producing a wonderful half volley from well outside the box that flew into the top corner. This was the start of a magnificent run and the following game saw a convincing 3-0 win against Itchen College where the first clean sheet of the season was recorded. It could really have been 10-0 but for some careless finishing from our showboating strikers. In the next game, first choice keeper Matt Stelling was not available due to injury so Tom Eaton stepped into the team for a tight game against St Vincent’s filling the seemingly unfillable void with aplomb and no little agility. The match ended 2-2 despite the School dominating the game. This performance left the squad feeling a little disappointed going into the next cup game of the season knowing they should have been 2 points better off in the league. It appeared to have no effect come the first whistle though as the team created chance after chance in a 5-1 demolition of the Itchen side. This was the final game before the Christmas

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break when the team lost a quality player in Jacob Fay to his main game of hockey. He was a striker whose movement and perseverance constantly caused problems for opponents. It was not all bad news though as the end of the rugby season signalled the arrival of Tom Smart, a player of great promise, who has the combination of pace and skill that so often destabilises opposing defences.

The first game back saw KES travel to St Vincent’s, a stubborn opponent when they last met. The game looked to be heading for a 3-3 draw despite a well taken hat-trick from Tom in his debut match, but the KES boys continued battling to create a chance for Sam Woodcock in the closing stages of the game; a well hit shot into the roof of the net saw the team claim another victory. Itchen were the next victims of a buoyant and ruthless KES team who on this occasion found themselves 8-0 up at half-time with a hat-trick from Smart including a brilliant chip and with each goal being assisted by Woodcock. Barney Taylor, an unlikely name on any scoresheet, also bagged two goals with one coming from a superb volley from the edge of the box. He’s not just a defensive man mountain in the middle of midfield!

In the second half, the team had done enough so settled for a 9-0 win against demoralised opposition.

The game and performance of the season came against a strong Barton Peveril team. Yet another hat-trick from Tom Smart and a well taken goal from Fred Davis gave the School team a 4-3 lead. Barton brought it back to 4-4 until, late in the game, Barney managed to win a penalty which Jacob Baxendale coolly put away. Barton unbelievably came back again to make the game level but with seconds left to play Matt Pimley played a ball down the line for Woodcock to whip in a sharp cross and find the head of Tom Smart, who showed his strength and power to climb above the defence and head home the winner. The return league game against Barton came ironically the very next week. This time the tables were turned and it was only due to a magnificent performance by Matt Stelling between the sticks which saw him save countless shots (many from inside the box and even inside the 6 yard box) that the game ended in a 1-1 stalemate. This was the final league game of the season and showed the huge improvement the team had made from a bottom of the table to one just on the edge of gaining promotion. The team went into half-term knowing the cup final and glory awaited on the other side.

After a long break the team eagerly anticipated the cup final. The team made it look easy and took a 3-0 lead early on with goals from Smart and Woodcock. This was built on the foundations of a great performance of perpetual motion by the ever mobile George McCarthy and a less energetic but equally effective contribution from the more rock-like Barney Taylor. The Fareham team however were not giving up and brought the game back to 3-2. Hopes of a comeback were snuffed out, however, as Matt Pimley pounced from left back to curl a beautiful shot into the top corner. Any lingering doubt about the outcome was removed when ‘Mr Consistency’, aka James Young, who had played every game of the season, produced an inch perfect cross into the box for Tom to find the net once again and win the cup 5-2. Robbie Stelling was man of the match following yet another full 90 minutes where he worked tirelessly, keeping the ball moving, staying calm under pressure and retaining possession for the team. The final game saw the team play friendly matches away at Poole. The first XI made easy work of the game against a team from a higher division, winning 6-2 with another hat-trick from Tom which almost won him the coveted Golden Boot Award ahead of Sam Woodcock. Sam pipped him to the honour partly thanks to his fine brace in the same match. Ryan Cousins, who was often called upon for his pace, grabbed a good headed goal at the death. Jacob Baxendale continued to do what he does best, getting 4 assists which ended his assists tally well in double figures, the creative spark in attack. The second team also managed a win with a Dan Simonini hat-trick helping the team to a 5-4 win.

A season that began inauspiciously gradually grew, built up to a crescendo of success and footballing fun. As one forge master fades into the sunset with the retirement of Mr Kukla so another steps into the white hot furnace, ready to help with the creation of new links in the chain of KES football history. Good luck Mr Brown! Your place in Valhalla awaits you!

Sam Woodcock Squad members: Dan Simonini, Jacob Baxendale, Ryan Cousins, Sam Woodcock, Robbie Stelling, James Young, Matt Pimley, Barney Taylor, George McCarthy, Tom Smart, Tom Eaton, Henry Scullard, Matt Giles, Bruce Carpenter, Henry Harris, Fred Davis and Jacob Fay.

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girls’ SPORT AT KES 2016-2017

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Hockey overview The 2016 season has again been a successful one for girls’ hockey at King Edward’s. The 1st team won the Sherborne Girls’ Tournament, Hampshire Cup and again reached the quarter-final stage by topping their group; the first time in girls’ hockey history. This places them in the top 8 of the South of England. The U16 girls won the Hampshire Cup and qualified for the South Round whilst the U14 girls were Hampshire Cup runners-up qualifying for the South Rounds. The U13 squad finished as Hampshire Cup Winners and also qualified for the South Rounds. KES have played a record amount of games and have been competitive on a tough fixture card which has included touring schools from Argentina. The girls have been fantastic this season and have achieved great results and met their coaches’ high expectations.

In addition to success at eleven-a-side we have also performed well at indoor hockey. The U16 and 1st teams did well to win their preliminary rounds with both topping their groups. The U16 girls also qualified for the South Finals, as an U15 team, and

we look forward to seeing how they develop next season. Both teams enjoyed playing the faster version of hockey. The U12 and U14 squads were also introduced to indoor hockey through a festival with local clubs after school.

King Edward’s girls have been very fortunate to have a dedicated group of qualified coaches. This year, we welcomed Mr Bassett to support the running of hockey and help oversee the ever growing number of teams. South African U21 player and Trojans overseas player, Sinoxolo Mbekeni, has also been an asset to the high performing players as well as the beginners during games sessions and after school practices.

I would like to personally thank all of the coaches and girls across all teams who have worked incredibly hard. Mrs Jordan, Mr Cross, Miss Ball, Mr Dodds, Mr Bassett, Miss Smith, Mrs Penn, Mrs Kelly, Mr Penn and Mrs Ferrand have all coached teams.

Mr Crichton

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1st XI Hockey

Played: 22 Won: 17 Drew: 3 Lost: 2

It has been an absolute delight to work with the girls’ 1st XI hockey team again this season. The girls have been enthusiastic, cohesive, extremely talented and dedicated role models for all younger hockey players in the School. The squad had a significant season, split into the regular fixture list and the Cup competitions. Claudia Tam was an inspirational and talented captain who was the ultimate role model for the team; with her sense of fun, versatility and solidity in defence which quickly earned her the name Claudia ‘Block Tackle’ Tam. Sophie Ridley was outstanding in attack and was the fastest winger that KES has seen; she was a fabulous vice-captain.

This season, not only did the girls match the successes of the previous hockey season, they were hard-working, keen to improve, competitive and eager to be successful. Improving their game meant they needed to play the very best teams on the circuit – a challenge that the team always approached with the determination we have come to expect from a KES hockey player. KES girls want to be the best and indeed they expect the best from themselves at all times. They were such a fun and delightful group of students and the season was not just fun and memorable for the girls, but for both myself and Mr Crichton also.

The girls attended the invitational pre-season tournament at Sherborne School and recorded excellent results to finish as champions, allowing them to really develop their skills and sharpen up for a long and exciting season. Two memorable highlights of the season were in the form of Canford and Cranleigh.

KES pulled off an excellent performance, beating Canford 3-2 away from home. The game against Cranleigh was also a very tough game and one which resulted in a 3-2 defeat. However, although the team lost, they learnt so much from the experience and started to show the determination and motivation that they ended up building the season on. One additional highlight was the 8-2 victory against local rivals Portsmouth Grammar School.

Mr Crichton and Mrs Kelly Squad members: Claudia Tam, Sophie Ridley, Zoe Kyle-Henney, Eleanor Medlock, Georgia Hoile, Honey Lander, Emily Morgan, Alice Ridley, Daisy Porter, Maddie Deakin, Zoe Henderson, Stephanie Judd, Isobel Richardson, Mary Amos, Georgia Appleby, Stella Bendoni, Alex Hopkins-Manceri, Eve Henley and Romilly Clark.

The Hampshire Cup

The South Rounds

Regional Quarter-Final

After an outstanding afternoon of hockey, the KES 1st XI qualified for the regional stages of this national competition by becoming Hampshire Cup Champions. The girls recorded wins over Portsmouth Grammar School (3-2), Ryde School (7-0), PSC (2-0), Hampshire Collegiate School (3-0) and a draw with Churcher’s College (0-0).

The squad travelled to Stowe School for the South regional stages of the National Cup. KES faced tough opposition in the form of Surbiton High School, Godolphin and Latymer and Stowe School. They won against Surbiton High School (1-0), against Godolphin and Latymer (5-0) and drew with Stowe School (0-0) winning their pool and qualifying for the next stages of the competition. This resulted in a fixture against St John’s School Leatherhead at home.

This was an exciting game and the girls all showed their true character: determined, motivated and resilient. Unfortunately the team lost this game 2-1 despite chance after chance to take the game. Eleanor Medlock made some outstanding saves as goalkeeper and, as a squad, the girls should be very proud of their achievements this season. We are truly looking forward to seeing what next season has to offer.

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2nd XI Hockey The girls’ 2nd XI squad had a great term of hockey with some hard fought results and performances. The effort and team spirit from all members was nothing short of excellent.

Results initially didn’t go their way, with a loss to Warminster School 0-2 after playing some dominant hockey in the first and second half. The next game, against Cranleigh, was a hard fought 1-1 draw with the team defending extremely well under a lot of opposition pressure. Unfortunately the game was called off in the last five minutes due to a nasty injury to defender Alice Dean. This was followed by another draw, this time to Portsmouth Grammar School.

After being in the lead twice throughout the game, a last minute goal denied the girls their first win which would have been much deserved after another good team display.

The squad’s first win came against St George’s, Weybridge which produced an exciting end-to-end, open game. The girls scored four goals, two either side of half-time, running away 4-1 winners. This was a pivotal result in the 2nd XI’s season and spurred the girls on to an unbeaten run of results after the halfterm break.

Once refreshed after the half-term, the girls went on a three game winning streak firstly beating Churcher’s College in a frustrating and feisty match. The girls spurned several decent opportunities in front of goal which could have put them out of sight by half-time but instead it was 0-0. The game opened up in a frantic second half but the only goal in the game arrived in the final seconds of the match. Kate Ward smashed the ball into the goal to a delighted team

Played: 11 Won: 4 Drew: 3 Lost: 4

and a relieved coach. The goal became the team’s goal of the season.

This was followed by two more wins, the first at home against HCS. With confidence high, the girls put to bed their missed opportunities from the previous match and ran away 8-0 winners, with midfielder Izzy Rose scoring a hat-trick. The second was on the road against Seaford College. On a bitterly cold day the 2nd XI played their best team performance of the season, dominating the play and scoring another five more goals winning 5-0.

The last game of the season was to be a hard fought 1-1 draw against a resilient Dauntsey’s team. The game ebbed and flowed with both teams missing one on ones with keepers. Dauntsey’s scored first but the 2nd XI showed resolve to come back into the game and in the last ten minutes were awarded a short corner which was nicely slotted to left slip and into the goal; final score 1-1.

The team improved massively throughout the season and in the second half of term produced some lovely hockey with great energy and team spirit. Well done to all the girls.

Mr Dodds Squad members: Maddie Burton, Zoe Kyle-Henney, Clare Mitchell (C), Bethan Self, Vicky Diaper, Miffy Allen (VC), Izzy Rose, Ellie Todd, Anna Pang, Julia Mead-Briggs, Hattie Smith, Jess Holmes, Katrina Penn-Newman, Olivia Leask, Imogen Haismen, Niamh Phelan, Flossie Rose, Indie Chugh, Alice Dean and Anna Poller.

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U15A Hockey U15B Hockey Played: 13 Won: 6 Drew: 0 Lost: 7

Played: 9 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 6

The season didn’t get off to the best start when the team lost three of their four games at the Sherborne Girls’ Invitational Tournament, although the girls battled hard and only lost these games 1-0. However, despite the shaky start, the rest of the season was more successful and the team should be proud of how much they have improved.

The U15 B girls were a pleasure to coach this season.

Their enthusiasm and team spirit were evident for all to see. The highlight of the season was undoubtedly the 1-0 win over Bryanston in which, after long spells of pressure, KES managed to score a well struck strike from a short corner. The defending and goalkeeping in this game was exceptional and it was great to see how much the team enjoyed this win.

Further wins came against Lord Wandsworth and Toynbee with only narrow losses against Dauntsey’s, St George’s College and PGS.

Thankfully, it seems that the team were just a little rusty after the summer holidays, as the girls went on to win their next four fixtures against Cranleigh, Hampshire Collegiate, PGS and Lord Wandsworth.

The side should be especially happy with their performance against Cranleigh, as this is always a tough fixture. They played some excellent hockey and came away with a 3-1 win. The matches against Bryanston and Dauntsey’s ended 1-0, although both of these could have gone either way, but by far the best performance of the season was against St George’s College, Weybridge. The squad went into this game missing three key players. Chance after chance was created, but the St. George’s goal was impenetrable. The King Edward’s goal was safe until two minutes before the end when a counter attack from St George’s caught the team off guard and they scored an unstoppable goal. Although this game ended in defeat, all the girls should be extremely proud of how they played as a team and their determination until the final whistle.

Every week there was an abundance of players at training, wanting to play on Saturdays. We often fielded a team of fifteen or so players and a number of the girls also stepped up to the A team during the season and held their own when doing so. The strength in depth of the year group enabled there to be competition for places in both sides.

Mr Bassett Squad members: Hannah Loran, Zayna Salib, Issy Todd, Orla Bark, Amy Ritchie, Eleanor Yonge, Amy Tunney, Rosie Potter, Chloe Fong, Emily Proctor, Emily Price, April Hernandez (GK), Kira Morton, Molly Troup, Eleanor Dunlop, Elli Gingell and Harriet Carlyle.

The effort and dedication of every single player meant that the girls improved immensely as a squad and it will be exciting to see how they progress when they move on into the senior hockey squads. The key area in which the girls can improve is in the ‘D’. With more clinical finishing, the games against Bryanston, Dauntsey’s and St George’s College could have ended very differently.

Mr Bassett

U15B

Squad members: Sarah MacLeod, Zoe Henderson, Sophie Roe, Stella Bendoni, Ottilie Beal, Isabel Richardson, Hannah Loran, Marianne Brabazon, Alice Dyer (GK), Phoebe Moriarty-Palios, Stephanie Judd (C), Daisy Sarton, Sophie Allan-Burns, Maisie Molyneux, Amy Boyle, Emily Price, Lucy Howarth, Holly Laugesen, Kira Morton, Emily Proctor, Zayna Salib, Molly Troup, Eleanor Dunlop and Eleanor Yonge.

U15A

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U14A Hockey

Played: 15 Won: 6 Drew: 1 Lost: 8

The season started off with a fantastic challenge: playing Cranleigh, away. This was a tough game against an athletic and experienced side but the girls developed throughout the game, and should be proud of keeping the result to 1-1 at half-time. The following weekend saw the team travel to HCS where the squad showed how strong they are in comparison to other schools within the county. Their ability to maintain possession and link play meant the girls fought hard for their biggest win of the season; 7-0. In the match against PGS, the girls fought hard and worked tirelessly. Their speed and movement was better and everyone was very pleased with the 3-1 victory. Lord Wandsworth were the next opposition and the girls’ cohesion blossomed; movement and passing was faster, stronger and accurate, resulting in a 4-2 win.

Bryanston was a hard game for KES and resulted in a lot of tension on the pitch. The girls learnt a lot from the match and have become stronger as a result.

The School hosted St George’s after half-term (last year’s national champions). Unfortunately, due to being a few players down, we had no substitutes.

They were a skilful team but the girls showed their true determination and continued to fight until the final whistle.

to take a different team to the south rounds but it was a fantastic experience for the girls to play such strong opposition and understand how much hard work is needed to breed success. Although we lost all three games the girls kept each score line down, only losing 2-0 to Cranleigh having previously lost 6-1 earlier on in the season.

The following Tuesday was the Hampshire Cup. Unfortunately, due to the Charlotte Exchange, we were missing a few girls but with the help of three Second Years we did enough to qualify for the south rounds held at Cranleigh School. Unfortunately, again, we had

Mrs Penn

The penultimate fixture, against a strong Kingston Grammar side, was a real test to see how the girls could implement what they had learnt throughout a busy and challenging season. They attacked with speed and, when defending, all got behind the ball, putting a lot of pressure on high up the pitch. However, the opposition’s keeper was strong and the team were unable to convert chances resulting in a 0-0 draw. The final match was against Dauntsey’s at Wellington. This was a competitive match with some fantastic goals, ending 4-2 to KES. The team have shown how much their hard work has paid off, training week in and week out, by beating teams to whom they lost last year, as well as scoring more goals against the same opposition as last year.

This was a fantastic way to end the season and I wish them all the best of luck next year.

Squad members: Lucy Howarth (C), Isobel Chapman (VC), Marianne Brabazon, Nyah Clark, Carol Naoum, Holly Laugesen, Elizabeth Beardsall, Rebecca Waggett, Alice Cowell, Lucy Pumphrey, Puja Muthalagu, Lucy Tait, Elizabeth Armstrong, Darcey Harber, Ottilie Beal, Ida Goodridge, Rachel Howarth, Grace Loveridge and Abbie Morton.

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U14B Hockey The U14 girls started off the season well, picking up from the progress they had made in their previous season. Their first match against St John’s College, Southsea saw them put in a good performance, going up 1-0 at half-time before stretching their lead to win 4-0.

Buoyed by this confidence, KES travelled to Cranleigh and competed strongly in the first half in what appeared a well-matched midfield. Both teams were goalless at half-time and it was only in the final quarter of the game that Cranleigh demonstrated the superior skill of their forwards slotting in two goals past the KES defence.

October was a good month for the girls; three victories on the trot and building nicely as a team. The squad played Portsmouth Grammar School at home, winning 3-0; this time it was Mia Blake who scored 2 crackers. This win was followed by two further brilliant victories against Lord Wandsworth College (2-0) and Bryanston School (6-1). The girls worked well as a team throughout these fixtures, moving beautifully on the field and making good use of their passes to move the ball around the oppositions’ defence.

After the half-term break the fixtures became more challenging for us. The team came up against strong opposition in the form of St George’s College, Weybridge. They had caused us difficulties last season, and it was a similar affair this time, though we were much more competitive and only lost the Squad members: Lizzie Armstrong, Jenny Bareham, Mia Blake, Izzy Chapman, Nyah Clark, Alice Cowell, Freya Crowley, Becca Davis, Katie Duff, Liz Field, Izzy Fleming, Elli Gingell, Darcey Harber, Elspeth Hargreaves, Amelia Harris, Lena Mills, Carol Naoum, Sophia Olive, Lucy Tait, Abby Taylor, Tash Thompson, Anoushka Umranikar and Maddie Wright.

Played: 9 Won: 6 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

game 1-2. This result could have been reversed had we demonstrated a little more composure in the D. The following weekend, however, we faced our strongest opposition of the season. Every credit goes to the Canford girls who evidently had huge depth to their squad and were able to force their way routinely through the midfield justly beating KES 1-3. Happily however, we returned to winning ways the following week with a 3-1 victory over the U14A girls from Ryde School with Upper Chine.

Our last match of the season was against Kingston Grammar School and resulted in a 1-0 victory for KES. As with other fixtures, this game was well-matched in the midfield, though both sides missed chances on goal and we should have probably won by more.

Nevertheless it was extremely positive to end the season on a high, and there was certainly a sense of relief when we went ahead.

The girls have made brilliant progress this season; it has not been easy as we often had to deal with losing players. The core of the team has had to learn to adapt with different players joining them and they have worked hard to cope with this. They were always determined to succeed however and I hope they enjoyed themselves. They are certainly becoming a skilled group of players and I hope to see them continue next season.

Miss Ball

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U13A Hockey

Played: 9 Won: 4 Drew: 0 Lost: 5

The A team went from strength to strength, starting the season with a win and un-phased by an 11-aside match against HCS. The leadership from Holly Giles enabled the girls to take on other stronger opposition with confidence and the girls went on to beat PGS and Bryanston comfortably. The second half of the season saw the girls take on more challenging fixtures and although their game play was improving the results did not reflect this.

ball in their opponent’s half for the majority of the match. The girls came away with the win and secured a place at the regional tournament. Unfortunately, this event took place in March and, after a few months of not playing competitively together, it proved too big a challenge at this stage. The girls should be really proud of their achievements this season and I look forward to hearing of their success as they move through the School.

At the county Inter Hockey Tournament, the girls again really impressed, listening well to feedback and the tactics put in place. With some outstanding goal keeping from Isi Murphy, coupled with some strong, cohesive outfield play, the team made it to the final to take on Durlston Court. The final match of the tournament saw the girls play some of the best hockey they had played all season. They demonstrated their ability to press high and keep the

Mrs Ferrand Squad members: Holly Giles (C), Ida Goodridge, Rachel Howarth, Isi Murphy, Abbie Morton, Ellie Small, Lucia Rugge-Price, Abigail McCarthy, Isabella Tam, Grace Loveridge, Charlotte Dunkley, Claudia Leeming, Martha Sullivan, Olivia Tudor and Sophie Khan.

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U13B Hockey Played: 5 Won: 2 Drew: 1 Lost: 2 The U13 B team also impressed throughout the season showing great commitment and team spirit. It is always a challenge to achieve consistency with a B team as players are often pulled up to play in the A team. This, however, did not phase the girls and they played some outstanding hockey throughout the season. Particular highlights include the 2-2 draw against St George’s and a 4-1 win against Farleigh.

Mrs Ferrand Squad members: Sophie Diamond, Rosalind Dye, Emilia Walker, Jasmine Williams, Olivia Tudor, Sophia Bassi, Martha Sullivan, Charlotte Dunkley, Isabella Tam and Sophie Khan.

U13C&D Hockey C - Played: 4 Won: 1 Drew: 2 Lost: 1 D - Played: 3 Won: 2 Drew: 0 Lost: 1 The C and D teams worked tirelessly throughout the season demonstrating impressive commitment and an eagerness to improve. The girls thoroughly enjoyed representing the School and they should be commended on their efforts and enthusiasm. I hope they continue to enjoy their hockey.

It has been a very exciting season for the girls’ U13 hockey teams. With high numbers at training and with players buzzing with enthusiasm, it has been evident that we have the foundations for a successful squad amongst this age group.

Most weekends the School fielded A-D teams; a real credit to the girls and their commitment.

U13C

Mrs Ferrand Squad members: Eve Musson, Antonia Ruprecht-Smith, Anna Aksenova, Kate Leask, Darcie Burrows, Xanthe Thompson, Anna Tunney, Natasha Pillai, Thomasina Gibson, Alice Leather, Katie Powell, Olivia Tilley, Florence Wright, Lilly Cooper, Maddie Gallagher, Nadia Paine, Iona Morley and Megan Matthews.

U13D

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U12 Hockey By the end of our customary pre-term Saturday session (which was attended by thirty girls), the basics of the game were becoming familiar to most and friendships had already been forged. It was to be an interesting four months, as most of the girls had no, or very little, hockey experience. However, by the end of term, everyone who attended practice had represented the School on at least one occasion, and done so with endeavour and enthusiasm.

The squads were very fluid and several girls progressed up through the teams simply by listening and learning, or by dogged determination. A couple of tournaments were enjoyed by all and, although results did not always go our way, these newly attended events, in which we often played against the year above, enabled coaches to ascertain levels of skill.

Several girls took up the opportunity to don the goal keeper’s kit, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

U12A Hockey Played: 10 Won: 2 Drew: 2 Lost: 6 The A team faired reasonably well this season; all things considered. Certainly by the last game (and their first 11-a-side match; against strong opposition), the lack of positioning and aggression apparent in the earlier weeks had all but diminished. It was obvious to see that progress had been made, particularly in defence. In attack, however, there were plenty of opportunities to score throughout the season and these vital goals were squandered. The girls lacked that killer instinct when it mattered but this is something to work on next year.

Squad members: Isabel Hall, Orla Paterson, Kate Dunn, Ruby Slowen, Emily Ardern-Jones, Katie Ryan and Lola Dibden.

Played: 9 Won: 3 Drew: 1 Lost: 5

Unfortunately, our D fixtures could not be fulfilled, simply because of logistics.

Many thanks go to Mr. Bassett for his input, our OE and GAP year student, Tom Fay, whose knowledge of all things KES assisted greatly on match day and, of course, our four Sixth Formers: Miffy, Kate, Anna and Olivia, whose knowledge of the game contributed much to the smooth running of Wednesday practices.

KJ and Mr Cross

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U12B Hockey Played: 9 Won: 3 Drew: 1 Lost: 5 The B team had an encouraging season overall, despite being heavily defeated by some more experienced and skilful opposition. The three victories were well-earned; the highlight being the last minute victory over PGS in an autumn monsoon.

Two 1-0 losses near the end of the season, against very strong opposition, showed how far the girls had progressed. It also revealed how difficult they had become to score against; indeed their defensive skills were well honed by the end of term.

Squad members: Ella Danby, Grace Orton, Anna Morley, Alice Turner-Hall, Imogen Miller, Charlotte Ashton, Sofia Godsland-Ladislao, Myah Ganjavian-Connor and Annabel Stonadge.

U12C Hockey Played: 7 Won: 3 Drew: 3 Lost: 1 The C team faired a little better: winning three, drawing three, and losing only one. It was pleasing to see that the squad’s team work and skill levels had improved, particularly against the infamous Kingston School; an exciting end-to-end contest that culminated in a well-deserved score draw.

Squad members: Rachel Sturdy, Rosie Dyer-Slade, Sophie Keeble, Megan Maltby, Catherine Shore, Evie Bulstrode, Hannah Procter, Neha Syed, Freya McCauley, Grace McCauley and April Richards.

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Netball overview The 2017 netball season has been one of the trickiest since I started at KES six years ago. Losing our Hill Lane netball courts to the DAC project has made training sessions more challenging to organise but this has certainly not affected the enthusiasm and spirit of the pupils. For the first time ever, we have successfully had twenty teams representing the School across all age groups, with seventeen of these teams making an appearance during our Saturday fixture programme. This was only made possible due to the outstanding staff who worked tirelessly with the pupils to coach, organise and umpire the teams every week and, of course, the pupils’ fantastic commitment to the netball programme.

For the second year running, we entered our U12 and U13 teams into the School Sports Magazine Cup. Unfortunately the U13 team took a surprisingly early exit but our U12s successfully made it through to the 4th round where they were knocked out by Wycombe High School. The U12s should be commended on their team performance throughout the cup; coming

1st VII

together for the first time in September and achieving success immediately is a real achievement.

The U14, U16 and U18 teams entered the annual National Schools Competition. All teams put in strong performances but it was our youngest side who shone through on the day and narrowly missed out on a place at the regional tournament on goal difference.

I am excited to see what next year’s squads will bring and I wish them every success at the tournaments in October.

This year also saw the introduction of some new opposition including Wellington College. These fixtures proved to be fast paced, physical and a refreshing new challenge for our girls to take on. The fixture programme for 2018 is already looking strong with some excellent opposition to play. Coupled with our new netball courts, this will certainly make the 2018 season an exciting one!

Mrs Ferrand (Head of Netball)

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1st VII Netball

Played: 9 Won: 6 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

This has been an exciting year for the senior netball squad. For the first time we have had four senior teams representing the School. This year has allowed us to put the foundations in place to build on in future years and I very much look forward to seeing how the senior netball develops.

Eleanor Medlock in particular was moved from defence to attack quite frequently but dealt with this challenge effortlessly. Alice Cheshire led her team with great focus and drive throughout the term and she should be commended on her leadership style as well her outstanding playing ability.

The 1st team had a great season and their commitment to Saturday fixtures cannot be faulted.

With some new players coming into the team from younger age groups the girls did well to adjust quickly and they started the season off with three straight wins on the trot. Unfortunately, due to illness and injury, we had to face our local rivals (PGS) with a couple of key players missing. The girls fought hard and demonstrated some outstanding court play, but were unfortunate to come away with their first loss of the season.

It has been an absolute pleasure to work with such talented players and very much look forward to seeing them in years to come playing for the OE team!

Mrs Ferrand Squad members: Alice Cheshire (C), Mary Amos, Alice Ridley, Meg Dunlop, Maddie Deakon, Julia Mead-Briggs, Eleanor Medlock, Martha Lawrence, Becky Williams, Bronwyn Lee, Romily Clark and Zoe Henderson.

As the term progressed, the team once again evolved and the girls showed great maturity and their level of skill and versatility as some had to play out of position to support the missing players.

2nd VII Netball The 2nd team also started off the season well with three consecutive wins against some tough opposition. The girls coped well with losing key players to the 1st team and the strength and depth of the squad was evident as this did not have an impact on their playing style or results. A particular highlight of the season was the end-to-end game against Peter Symonds. Although the girls did not come away with the win, they led at several times throughout the match and played some of their best netball. Martha Lawrence was an outstanding captain demonstrating impressive leadership and organisational skills.

Mrs Ferrand Squad members: Maddie Burton, Rosie Daniels, Vicky Diaper, Zara Mitchard, Bronwyn Lee, Katie Mote, Naomi Lee, Romily Clark, Becky Williams, Eleanor Todd, Susannah Hill and Gemma Pearson.

Played: 9 Won: 5 Drew: 1 Lost: 3

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3rd VII Netball

Played: 6 Won: 1 Drew: 2 Lost: 3

The 3rd team had a more difficult run at the start of the season. After an intense end-to-end match against Churcher’s, resulting in a draw, the next two matches had to be cancelled. The cap in matches meant the girls were on the back foot when taking on some of our toughest opposition. However, this did not affect the positivity or motivation from the team and they continued to develop as the season progressed.

Mrs Ferrand Squad members: Maddie Burton (C), Alex HopkinsManceri, Fin McKenzie, Jess Holmes, Iman Elsheikh, Rosie Daniels, Millie Hargreaves, Katya Seifert, Gemma Pearson, Honey Lander, Isobel Rose, Iolanta Spanner and Katie Mote.

4th VII Netball

Played: 2 Won: 0 Drew: 0 Lost: 2

This is the first year that we have had a senior 4th team and although they only had a handful of matches, they have put strong foundations in place for next year that we can build upon.

The girls should be very proud of their achievements this season and I look forward to working with them again next year.

Mrs Ferrand Squad members: Isobel Rose (C), Iolanta Spanner, Hannah Elton-Dobbin, Anna Pang, Miffy Allen, Luka Peart, Lana Willoughby, Kate Ward, Olivia Leask, Millie Downes, Jess Holmes and Zoe Kyle-Henney

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U15A Netball

Played: 9 Won: 4 Drew: 2 Lost: 3

The 2017 netball season was a wholly enjoyable term.

Outstanding and consistent performances from the likes of Ellie Dunlop, Zoe Henderson and Molly Troup gave every competitive game a real touch of class.

Even though numbers at training were, at times, questionable, those who committed to the programme really developed their netball and social skills as the term progressed.

Highlights of the term were the outstanding (yet bruising) encounter with Lord Wandsworth College, our road trip to Wellington College and our ‘overseas tour’ to play Ryde School.

Mr Powell

As a coach you really rely on those experienced and reliable players to cement, on the court, what we had been practising during the wet and cold sessions after School on a Thursday evening; leadership from our senior players such as Stephanie Judd, Sophie Roe and Issy Todd with the pure netball skills and fitness displayed by Zoe Henderson and Ellie Dunlop made for a very productive environment.

Squad members: Ottilie Beal, Sophie Allan-Burns, Stephanie Judd, Issy Todd, Zoe Henderson (C), Molly Troup, Eleanor Dunlop, Sophie Roe, Olivia Abraham, Amy Tunney, Amy Boyle, Kira Morton, Alice Dyer, Nyah Clark and Freya Crowley.

Player of the Season: Ellie Dunlop

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U15B Netball

This was a tough season for the girls. They got off to an excellent start with a solid win against Churcher’s at home, but struggled to maintain this level of play throughout the season. The girls trained hard, working on their communication and movement around the court, and were able to put what they had learnt into practice during matches against some strong oppositions. The team bonded very well together and grew in confidence and court presence over the course of the season. They were able to adapt to each other’s play and became better at positioning themselves on court.

I would like to thank the girls for a very enjoyable season and am confident that they will go on to become strong senior team players in the years to come.

Miss Enfield

Played: 8 Won: 2 Drew: 0 Lost: 6

Squad members: Amy Boyle, Alice Dyer, Kira Morton, Charlotte Young, Amy Ritchie, Olivia Abraham, Daisy Sarton, Maisie Molyneux, Hannah Loran, April Hernandez, Rosie Potter, Emily Boxer, Orla Bark, Amy Tunney, Sophie Roe and Issy Todd.

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U14A Netball

Played: 6 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

The girls of the U14 squad have been a very lively and enthusiastic bunch and it has been a pleasure to select nine players for each of the A-C squads throughout the season. The turn-out at training has been consistent and many of the girls have progressed significantly with both their individual skills and their court play.

Holly Laugesen, all of whom have brought skill and good distribution skills. Defence has rotated around Beth Robinson as GK and captain, with Lucy Tate and Lucy Howarth or Rebecca Waggett at GD. These combinations have worked well together to develop a tight coverage in the circle which was particularly impressive in the game against St George’s.

The A squad has been dependable throughout the season and many of the girls have worked hard to balance their commitment to school with their commitment to their club. This has been greatly appreciated. The shooting pairing of Nyah Clark and Catherine Thomson has proven very successful with both girls achieving high shooting statistics and developing an understanding within the circle.

Mid-court has generally been led from the centre by Freya Crowley who brings speed and a vision of the full court which ensures good flow. Freya has been supported by Carol Naoum, Rebecca Waggett and

A special mention should be made to the particular versatility of Lucy Tate and Rebecca Waggett who have probably spent most of matches wondering which bib they will be given next. Each has risen to the challenge and impressed me greatly.

Mrs Henderson Squad members: Beth Robinson (C), Nyah Clark, Freya Crowley, Lucy Howarth, Holly Laugesen, Carol Naoum, Sophia Olive, Lucy Tait and Catherine Thomson.

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U14B Netball It has been a pleasure coaching the U14B team this term. They have grown together as a team so beautifully and there has been some great progression in their netball skills. They are now really focusing on driving towards the ball and receiving on the move, making it more difficult for the opposition to intercept the ball.

We have been incredibly lucky to have such accurate shooters in Lena and Lucy Pumphrey, both of whom have achieved ‘player of the match’ for their excellent shooting. Lena has also been a massive attribute to the team as captain. She is mature, supportive and can always be relied upon to give constructive feedback after every quarter. The other players and I certainly appreciate her vocal feedback on the court during the game!

The defensive players have shown a huge improvement over the course of the season; Tash continues to be a reliable and consistent GK, with an incredible stretch! Anoushka has demonstrated her skills both as GD and WD, with some impressive interceptions, and Sofia and Isobel have both been

Played: 8 Won: 5 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

determined defensive players, never wanting to let the ball get past them. Sofia has achieved ‘player of the match’ twice, showing what an attribute to the team she has been. Puja has been a useful C, her knowledge of what the position involves, and where she needs to be on court, has certainly helped the team on many occasions. I have been particularly impressed with Lizzie’s progression over the season; she is thinking about her play a lot more and as such, is making some excellent movements on court. Elspeth, has also played some matches for us, showing her skills as both C and WA. For me, the best match was the last one of the season against Ryde School. Ryde unfortunately only had six players, and the girls (without any motivation from me) volunteered themselves to play for the other team, so it was seven aside. This showed immense sportsmanship and I was very impressed by the positive approach from the whole team. I’d like to thank them all for a very enjoyable term of netball.

Miss Downing

Squad members: Lena Mills (C), Puja Muthalagu, Tash Thompson, Anoushka Umranikar, Sofia Olive, Lizzie Armstrong, Isobel Chapman, Lucy Pumphrey, Elizabeth Beardsall, Elspeth Hargreaves, Abby Taylor, Lusin Melikyan, Carol Naoum, Holly Laugesen, Katie Duff, Madeleine Wright, Miranda Atkinson and Harriet Wheeler.

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U14C Netball The C squad has had a very successful season. I particularly need to thank Lusin Melikyan for bringing together the team each week, despite the many different players who took part and regular last minute changes to positions that were played. Others who played regularly in the C team with dedication were Lizzie Field and Rebecca Davies in attack, Miranda Atkinson, Katie Duff, Alice Kernick and Elspeth Hargreaves in the Centre, whilst Maddie Harris worked tirelessly in defence with Lusin to turn the ball over and get it back up court.

Mrs Henderson

Played: 7 Won: 5 Drew: 0 Lost: 2

Squad members: Lusin Melikyan (C), Miranda Atkinson, Mia Blake, Rebecca Davis, Katie Duff, Elizabeth Field, Darcey Harber, Elspeth Hargreaves, Madeleine Harris, Alice Kernick, Abby Taylor and Madeleine Wright.

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U13A Netball The U13 age group have been exceptionally strong this season with high numbers training every week and over forty girls getting the opportunity to compete against other schools on Saturdays. They have shown determination throughout the season and I have thoroughly enjoyed coaching a wonderfully talented group of girls.

Our first fixture of the season was against Churcher’s.

This was a mentally tough game for the girls, due to missing players because of illness and injury, but they showed their competitive spirit resulting in their first win of the season. The following weekend they played Bryanston’s U14 B team, demonstrating their strength by taking control of the game and achieving a win by 20 goals. Farleigh School were a strong, athletic and powerful side but the KES side fought throughout the match and adapted their play to get around a strong opposition. This was the only draw of the season and a fair result for two evenly matched teams. Next the girls were fired up to play PGS having not played them last year due to poor weather. In this game, as well as the Ryde match, they showed their versatility playing out of position but still winning both games by large margins. The final game before half-term was against Twyford; the squad remained unbeaten winning 24-19.

After half-term they travelled to St George’s College, Weybridge with an extremely depleted team. The girls took control of the game for the first two quarters and moved the ball around the court well. However,

Played: 13 Won: 10 Drew: 1 Lost: 2

in the third quarter their focus dropped allowing St George’s to take the lead and making it hard to shoot under pressure. The result was a 19-18 loss. The following Monday the girls were excited about their first tournament of the season at Churcher’s College which proved an excellent experience allowing them to get used to fast pace tournament netball. The team won four out their five matches meaning they came second overall.

Westbourne House was the penultimate game of the season. This was an incredible match that required the girls to dig deep, concentrate throughout and take every opportunity. Westbourne House led for the first three quarters but KES never lost sight of the end goal; to play their best and get a good result. They defended with excellent strength and attacked with quick movement resulting in KES taking the lead in the final quarter to come out on top. This was the best game of the season and the girls should be very proud of their performance.

This has been an excellent season and we were fortunate to have no matches cancelled due to poor weather. The girls’ goal difference was 67 which is a fantastic statistic of which they should be proud.

This is a credit to their excellent shooting and strong defence. This group of players have an exciting netball future ahead of them, they have been a pleasure to coach and watch grow throughout the season.

Mrs Penn Squad members: Abbie Morton (C), Claudia Leeming (VC), Sophie Khan, Grace Loveridge, Lucia Rugge-Price, Jasriah Mandair, Rachel Howarth, Sophia Bassi, Abigail McCarthy, Emilia Walker, Antonia Ruprecht-Smith and Charlotte Dunkley.

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U13B Netball

U13C Netball

Played: 9 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 6

Played: 5 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 2

The B team was made up of a wide variety of players and the results do not reflect the closeness of some of the games. I was impressed by the cohesiveness demonstrated by girls who had often not had much opportunity to play together as a team. The girls were incredibly unlucky to lose their match against LWC as they came from behind after the first quarter, went ahead after the first half and then lost by one goal in the final seconds of the game.

This year’s fixtures saw a good range of skills and positions being played by the team. They rotated in different positions and came out with more wins than losses. Starting the season with a defeat in a close game against Churcher’s College, the team came back fighting to win against Farleigh. PGS was a tough game and the girls put in a good innings and came out with a loss, but an admirable one nonetheless.

The team won 13-12 against St George’s College Weybridge and then finished the season with a strong victory of 21-1 against Westbourne House.

Ida Goodridge captained most of the games and worked the ball well around the court in her position as Centre. Xanthe and Abi were often paired together to form a strong defence. Abi went for every available rebound, often clearing the ball away from the grasp of the opposition’s shooters and was regularly named ‘player of the match’. Emmy proved to be the most flexible player, readily willing to play attack or defence.

The shooters made real improvements as the season progressed but all players were willing to fill any position required and several admirably continued to play, even though they had sustained an injury during the match!

Miss Yerbury Squad members: Xanthe Thompson, Jasmine Williams, Lucia Rugge-Price, Ida Goodridge, Holly Giles, Thomasina Gibson, Isabel Murphy, Esme Lock, Olivia Tilley, Abigail McCarthy, Emilia Walker, Darcie Burrows, Natasha Pillai, Antonia Ruprecht-Smith, Rosalind Dye, Lily Cooper, Nadia Paine and Florence Wright.

Throughout the season we saw some great shooting from Nadia Paine and Isabel Murphy, keen defence with Olivia Tilley and Maddie Gallagher and a wide range of centre court players, with Darcie Burrows, Katie Powell and Anna Tunney showing agility, amongst others. We had an excellent show of commitment from so many players and great progress was made all round.

Mrs Penfold Squad members: Isabel Murphy, Nadia Paine, Rosalind Dye (C), Florence Wright, Eve Musson, Anna Tunney, Maddie Gallagher, Katie Powell, Olivia Tudor, Sophie Diamond, Isabella Tam, Darcie Burrows, Catherine Wray, Lily Cooper, Olivia Tilley, Holly Giles, Kate Leask and Bella Roe.

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U12A Netball Seventeen girls attended our very first practice of the year; the number had almost doubled by the end of the second week. It was most pleasing to see so many enthusiastic prospective team representatives, after a somewhat slow start to this shorter term.

The skill level for some players improved immeasurably. With their high concentration and endeavour eventually paying off, the coaches were impressed that so many early tentative steps had developed into great strides by the end of term and that so many girls had represented the School.

The A team faired reasonably well during the official netball season (January to March). During practice, and at fixtures, the girls gradually grasped particularly important aspects of the game: from co-operation and versatility to commitment. The successes were largely due to the cohesion of the team for the majority of their fixtures; any holes were plugged admirably by either Ese Okitikpi, Katie Ryan or Lola Dibden, and on one occasion, all three. I thank them for stepping up when required.

Played: 7 Won: 3 Drew: 1 Lost: 3

From a coaching point of view, and as was clearly evident against PGS and St. George’s, marking and strength is certainly something to work on next season. I believe that with a little more discipline and aggression, the team could have snatched victory from every school they played. The most exciting match for me was the last fixture against Ryde. After every quarter KES trailed by two goals and, although at one point both teams were on par, KES just couldn’t quite overturn two important conversions, enabling Ryde to resume the lead and emerge victorious.

My personal thanks go to Mrs Gadsbey and Miss Stone for their efforts with the B and C teams, and Martha Lawrence our Lower Sixth student who was invaluable at practice.

KJ Squad members: Emily Ardern-Jones, Lottie Ashton, Evie Bulstrode, Kate Dunn, Diba Mansourian, Orla Paterson and Charlotte Roberts.

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U12B Netball

U12C Netball

Played: 8 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 5

Played: 6 Won: 2 Drew: 0 Lost: 4

Popular attendance at netball training meant the U12 B team was flooded with members to choose from this season. The first few games saw the squad finding its feet and training was key to picking a team that gelled well in the correct positions. To this end, the first half term saw a range of girls playing in different positions before the squad settled down.

Results reflected the jostle for places as match performance did not go in King Edward’s favour in early games, with some losses. However, the girls showed determination and, by half-term, the B team had shown dramatic improvements in their cohesion and skill, with solid defensive play by Ella Danby and Annabel Stondage helping to create a strong defence.

By the time February half-term arrived, the quality and pace of netball from the whole team had improved.

Amy Oldfield listened to advice in training and her shooting at GS saw more conversions of goals and better positioning in the circle, as well as mid-court.

Overall, more strategic positional-related play meant the girls soon brought more convincing scores in their remaining matches leading up to Easter, and the season ended in a buoyant mood.

This season has seen the C team making a fantastic effort to enjoy the sport and develop their skills, working together as a team at every match. The most pleasing game of the season saw a victory over Portsmouth Grammar School; a closely contested game that ended in a 13-10 win for KES. This was Miss Stone’s first victory with a KES team against PGS in the seven years she has been coaching so an amazing achievement by the team.

All the girls showed fantastic sportsmanship and commitment throughout the training and match schedule, with particular improvements in performance by Katie Ryan and Ese Okitikpi. The girls’ commitment to training and successful match performances means the B team Squad look poised for an even better netball season in 2018.

Miss Stone

Squad members: Alicia Laverty, Grace Orton, Megan Maltby, Ese Okitikpi, Susie Bence, Evie Davison, Emily Buckland, Sophie Godsland-Ladislao, Freya McCauley, Grace McCauley, Catherine Shore, April Richards, Evie Brighton, Annabelle Oddoye, Maya Chakraborty and Ella Danby.

Ms Gadsbey

U12D Netball Played: 2 Won: 1 Drew: 0 Lost: 1 Due to lack of opposition, the D team only had two fixtures: one was a great victory over PGS and the other was a fairly heavy loss against St George’s. It was, however, very satisfying to see many of these girls promoted to the higher teams during the season.

Squad members: Lola Dibden, Myah Ganjavian-Connor, Grace Orton, Katie Ryan, Ruby Slowen, Annabel Stonadge, Ella Danby, Amy Oldfield and Ese Okitikpi.

Mrs Ferrand and KJ Squad members: Imogen Blick, Grace McCauley, Annabelle Oddoye, Sophie Englyst, Neha Syed, Saanchi Gupta, April Richards, Megan Maltby and Susie Bence.

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Rounders overview SOTONIENSIS 2016 | 164

Once again, A and B teams were fielded from U12 to U15 level and I have been delighted to also get some fixtures for the U12 C and U14 C teams. There were some very good performances in the season with 44 rounders matches played, 57% won or drawn and we have been very lucky to have only one fixture cancelled because of the bad weather.

The First Years have trained well which enabled all to develop their skills across the term and it has been fantastic to get out a C team for the first time. It is pleasing to see more and more girls training and to have thirty-nine girls play competitively at weekends is tremendously promising for the future of girls’ rounders at King Edward’s.

The U13s continue to develop and there were regularly thirty girls training after school. They are very committed and this has allowed them to develop their fielding skills and now read the game extremely well. They should be very pleased with their results beating two schools by an entire innings. They have now played two seasons together and illustrate excellent team work and communication.

The U14 squad continue to go from strength to strength. They are have worked hard in training and done well to score 77 rounders throughout the season. This group of girls are very adaptable and their movement is fantastic. They should be extremely proud of only losing two games across three seasons at King Edward’s as well as winning the South Coast Rounders Cup hosted by Portsmouth Grammar School. Unfortunately they have not had that many fixtures this season, largely due to other schools being unable to find enough players. Their team spirit, communication and desire to always do their best has allowed them to play well in each game and they show a lot of promise for next year.

The U15s have not had many fixtures either this season due to exams and Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. Despite this, the A team have remained committed to training and have a great team spirit and inner determination to try hard.

Rounders is an important element of the summer programme for the girls’ sport and I would like to thank Mrs Henderson, Mrs Sheppard, and Katie George for their considerable efforts to ensure that the girls had the same opportunity for sporting involvement as they do in the other terms. A lot of effort was put into the training, fielding more teams than ever before, and I am sure it was much appreciated by all.

I would also like to thank all the girls for their hard efforts as we continue to develop rounders and girls’ summer sport at KES.

Mrs Penn Head of Rounders

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1st IX Rounders This has been a fantastic year of firsts for the senior rounders team and I am delighted to see the sport continue to grow. Unfortunately, due to bad weather and other schools finding it hard to field teams, three matches had to be cancelled. This was quite frustrating for the girls especially when the School was set to play a first ever 2nd team match.

I have been particularly pleased with the girls’ level of commitment. This has been the first year of senior rounders’ training as well as Saturday matches and the first match of the season, after examinations, was against Ryde. This was a slow start but once the girls found their form, the communication was excellent and there was some fantastic hitting. The next match was scheduled to be against Churcher’s but bad weather for the week meant it had to be cancelled.

We then played Hampshire Collegiate School and the girls showed off their excellent fielding by getting them all out before the end of each innings winning by 10½ rounders.

The third game of the season was against Richard Taunton Sixth Form College where the girls demonstrated fantastic character and sportsmanship.

Played: 4 Won: 3 Drew: 1 Lost: 0

The KES team was far more experienced than the opposition but it was nevertheless an enjoyable game.

The subsequent game against Seaford ended up being the final game of the season due to Portsmouth Grammar School and Lord Wandsworth being unable to field a team for their planned fixtures. This was a tight game! We fielded fantastically in the first innings but Seaford’s batting improved in the second innings and the game ended in a draw, 16-16 and an unbeaten season for KES. The girls have been a pleasure to coach as they have a natural desire to improve and are very dedicated to school sport. It has been a shame to miss out on so many fixtures but I hope that their enthusiasm will continue into next year and that we can continue to build on this year’s success. Well done to all.

Mrs Penn Squad members: Maddie Deakin (C), Kate Ward, Eleanor Todd, Jess Holmes, Honey Lander, Mifi Allen, Daisy Porter, Alice Ridley, Flossie Rose, Maddie Burton, Iolanta Spanner and Martha Lawrence.

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U15A & B The U15 rounders squad have been a pleasure to work with due to their enthusiasm and teamwork.

More than one of the opposition umpires have commented on the support they have shown for each other and the skill they have demonstrated, particularly when fielding. The A team games varied in their intensity with the tightest being against Churcher’s College and PGS. As captain, Izzy Todd often led the way in the scoring table with her trusty bat, closely followed by Ottilie Beal, Stella Bendoni and Alice Dyer. Bowling was a combination of Steph Judd for speed and Izzy de Merode for consistency, whilst with the fielding combinations of Zoe Henderson on second base with Hannah Loran on her left in deep field and the big arms of Stella, Issy and Ottilie, the girls regularly closed down most of the oppositions’ attempts to score.

U14A,B & C

A- Played: 4 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 1 B- Played: 1 Won: 1 Drew: 0 Lost: 1

Unfortunately, the B team only had one outing on a damp day at PGS but were pleased and deserved to come home with a win. The performances of that match were from Molly Troup and Izzy Richardson.

Mrs Henderson A team squad members: Issy Todd (C) Sophie Allan-Burns, Ottilie Beal, Stella Bendoni, Izzy de Merode, Alice Dyer, Zoe Henderson, Stephanie Judd, Hannah Loran, Amy Ritchie and Eleanor Yonge.

B team squad members: Amy Boyle (C) April Hernandez, Phoebe MoriartyPalios, Kira Morton, Izzy Richardson, Molly Troup, Amy Tunney and Charlotte Young.

A- Played: 10 Won: 7 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

This season it has been a delight to work with such positive, energetic and talented girls. They have been keen in practices and very successful in their matches.

Their fielding is excellent with super throwing and catching skills. The teams are also able to read and understand the games well. Our batting has not been as strong at the fielding but is certainly improving.

The teams won all of their matches except the very competitive fixtures at Churcher’s School where we lost all three matches. Lena Mills deserves a special mention not just for her super rounders playing but for her great captaincy this term.

The season ended very well with the A team attending the South Coast Rounders Tournament hosted by PGS. Throughout the day they impressed with their fielding as they bowled all their opposition out within the allotted number of balls. KES and PGS emerged as the two top teams with each losing one match but when the total number of rounders scored over the course of the day were counted, it was KES who finished as champions. It was a fitting end to a very successful season.

Mrs Henderson

Squad members: Lizzie Armstrong, Isobel Chapman, Nyah Clark, Freya Crowley, Rebekah Davis, Katie Duff, Isobel Fleming, Elspeth Hargreaves, Amelia Harris, Maddie Harris, Lucy Howarth, Holly Laugesen, Lena Mills, Katie Mitchell, Puja Muthalagu, Sophia Olive, Annabel Panaech, Lucy Pumphrey, Lucy Tait, Abby Taylor, Natasha Thompson, Catherine Thomson, Anoushka Umranikar, Rebecca Waggett and Harriet Wheeler.

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U13A & B The U13 A rounders squad were enthusiastic throughout the term. They trained well in after school practices and showed a lot of potential in a number of their matches. In the regular Saturday fixtures they gained some excellent victories including two by over an innings against Ryde School and PGS, predominantly thanks to some excellent fielding.

There was an exciting game against Seaford that eventually ended level on 13 apiece and the season finished with a narrow defeat to a strong Farleigh team 16-18. This team also took part in the U13 tournament that was hosted by KES and our girls learned a lot over the course of the afternoon and demonstrated excellent fielding once again throughout. There were defeats to Farleigh and Twyford but wins over Stroud, Durlston Court and Ballard meant that the girls finished in 7th place.

This group of girls played with great spirit and appeared to enjoy themselves thoroughly. I am sure that this will continue and they will develop into a strong team in the future.

A- Played: 7 Won: 3 Drew: 1 Lost: 3 B- Played: 5 Won: 2 Drew: 0 Lost: 3

A team squad members: Sophia Bassi, Rosalind Dye, Thomasina Gibson, Holly Giles, Ida Goodridge, Rachel Howarth, Claudia Leeming, Jasriah Mandair, Abigail McCarthy, Abbie Morton, Lucia Rugge-Price, Ellie Small, Emilia Walker and Catherine Wray.

The B team started with a tough afternoon in the A team KES tournament but they did themselves proud as the only B team in the competition. They won two of their five matches and came 9th overall; the benefits of the tournament were clear as in their next two fixtures they beat Ryde School 24-16 and PGS 22½-10½. There were two defeats, one to Churcher’s College and another to a strong Farleigh School and it was disappointing that the match against Seaford College had to be cancelled.

A number of the girls gained A team experience over the course of the season and there are more who have the ability to push for an A team place in the future if they continue to work as well as they have done this season.

Miss George

B team squad members: Anna Aksenova, Darcie Burrows, Poppy Culver, Rosalind Dye, Thomasina Gibson, Sophie. Khan, Elizabeth Lotery, Megan Matthews, Abigail McCarthy, Nadia Paine, Sadie Pratt-Filker, Bella Roe, Antonia Ruprecht-Smith, Ellie Small, Martha Sullivan, Xanthe Thompson, Olivia Tilley, Olivia Tudor, Emilia Walker, Jasmine Williams, Catherine Wray and Florence Wright.

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U12A,B & C This has been an excellent term for the U12s.

The girls have been very determined with over twenty-five turning up every week for training.

It has been a massive achievement to be able to field an A, B and C team and I am delighted that thirty-nine girls have taken the opportunity to play competitively at weekends.

The A team have had a mixed season. The girls started the season well beating HCS by 8 rounders. Their hitting was strong and communication in the field allowed them to control the game. Unfortunately however, due to injuries, the girls have found it hard to create a strong team network to build on week by week which meant they took a while to get into each game. Against Ryde, the A team’s fielding was excellent but they were too cautious when batting and therefore did not score highly. For the third match of the season the girls travelled to Hilsea for a big block fixture. The A team improved greatly throughout the match and learnt a lot about fielding. They should be very proud to have only lost by 2 rounders. The B team however showed their fantastic hitting to get 20½ rounders and win by 6 rounders. The next two games of the season resulted in fantastic victories for the A team. The girls all fielded excellently to get Churcher’s out for 4½ rounders and started to push and take risks in order to score which affected the opposition’s concentration. The final match of the season was against a strong, fast and energetic Farleigh team.

Disappointingly the girls were too risky in the first innings and Farleigh fielded well to keep the score down. Lottie and Neha did extremely well to keep KES in the game and I was impressed with how quickly the girls took advice at half-time and implemented more energy and precise communication to field well in the 2nd innings. The B team struggled to maintain their success and changes in the team affected their results. They always scored highly but found it hard to get Churcher’s, Westbourne House and Farleigh out. Emma Appleby was the star batter and Katie Ryan was star fielder. The U12 C game was cancelled against PGS as they could not field a team but they continued to work hard in training and develop their understanding of the game’s tactics, catching and throwing accuracy. Their positivity always shone through and they should be proud to have only lost by 2 rounders to Churcher’s and to beat Farleigh in the final game of the season by 5 rounders.

Mrs Penn

A- Played: 6 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 3 B- Played: 4 Won: 1 Drew: 0 Lost: 3 C- Played: 3 Won: 1 Drew: 0 Lost: 2

A team Squad members: Lola Dibden, Kate Dunn, Izzy Hall, Diba Mansourian, Neha Syed, Alice Turner-Hall, Grace Orton, Emily Arden-Jones, Charlotte Ashton, Evie Bulstrode, Maya Chakraborty, Ella Danby, Sophie Keeble, Orla Paterson, Charlotte Roberts, Katie Ryan and Ruby Slowen.

B team Squad members: Katie Ryan, Emma Appleby, Susanna Bence, Evie Brighton, Ella Danby, Rosie Dyer-Slade, Myah Ganjavian-Connor, Izzy Hall, Sophie Keeble, Megan Maltby, Freya McCauley, Amy Oldfield, Hannah Procter, April Richards, Charlotte Roberts, Ruby Slowen, Annabel Stonadge and Alice Turner-Hall.

C team Squad members: Susanna Bence, Evie Davison, Sophie Englyst, Hannah Gawne-Cain, Sofia Godsland-Ladislao, Saanchi Gupta, Alicia Laverty, Megan Maltby, Freya McCauley, April Richards, Hannah Procter, Eloise Muller, Ese Okitikpi, Amy Oldfield, Catherine Shore, Annabel Stonadge, Grace McCauley and Isabel Wilson.

B Team

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U15 Tennis

Played: 4 Won: 3 Drew: 0 Lost: 1

This year’s attendance by the U15 girls was very good.

The girls conducted themselves really well for the three pool rounds in the Aegon Schools National Competition beating HCS 8-4, St George’s Catholic College 12-0 and The Burgate School and Sixth Form 10-2. This put them through to the regional round where we were narrowly beaten by St Swithun’s C 10-2. The rubbers were very close and could have gone either way with many tie breaks and deuce points to be fought for.

Emily Price and Lucy Howarth (Third Year) represented the School at a tournament in Winchester. The weather was dire, causing the organisers to rethink at very short notice and transfer the event inside. Although the girls did not manage to get out of their pool group, they played some great tennis.

Thank you to Joe, our coach in residence: his enthusiasm for the sport and his smiling face never waned. A special mention must also go to Lucy Howarth who played up for nearly all the matches.

She did her year group proud and was very much part of the Aegon Four.

KJ

Aegon squad: Ottilie Beal, Emily Price, Zoe Henderson, Izzy Todd, Orla Bark and Lucy Howarth.

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U13 & U12 Tennis Squad members: Holly Giles, Rachel Howarth (Captain), Abbie Morton and Florence Wright

The U13 and U12 girls are an energetic and talented group who have shown great team spirit. Unfortunately, they are rather few in number and have had only limited opportunities to show their ability this year.

In the LTA team tennis matches, the School proved too strong for the opposition, winning both their fixtures comfortably. They began with a 12-0 victory against HCS, where their captain, Rachel Howarth had the most competitive game in the first singles, winning 6-3 against a good opponent.

The other five games proved to be rather one-sided.

The girls were similarly impressive in their second fixture, with another 12-0 win against Mary’s, this time without the loss of a single game. Unfortunately, cancellations and unavailability curtailed their season after this most successful start and it is hoped there will be more opportunities for them next year.

Miss Barron and Mrs Evans

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Rugby

Girls’ rugby made its KES début with twenty-eight players regularly training every Tuesday lunchtime, and a talented group, led by Emily Boxer, made huge strides within the sport. Within a few (very muddy) weeks our players were ready for their first game: against Park House School, Newbury. What materialised was nothing short of spectacular; the tackling of Beth Robinson, the speed of Amelia Hargreaves and the carrying strength of Emily Boxer resulted in this game, against an experienced team, being a pleasure to referee. The girls should be incredibly proud of themselves and each other. We look forward to this area of girls’ sport developing over the coming years.

Cricket In the summer term the School also fielded a girls’ cricket team for the first time in its history. The U13 team competed in a festival hosted by Salisbury Cathedral School and had both an enjoyable and successful time. Scoring a 6 off the final ball of the first match to tie with Stroud was a great start to the day and wins followed over Forres Sandle Manor and Salisbury Cathedral School.

Although they lost to both Chafyn Grove teams they were very pleased to have come joint 3rd with Stroud.

We are looking forward to providing more opportunities for girls to play cricket for King Edward’s in the future.

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