Sotoniensis 2023

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Sotoniensis 2023

Contents 04 29 39

Editorial From the Head From the Chair of Governors From the Head of School Alumni and Development Activities

Creative Arts Art at KES Dance at KES Drama at KES Music at KES

Clubs & Societies Astronomy Club Bridge Club Cactus Club Character Design Club Charities Commission Chess Club Christian Union Classics Society Coding Club Cookery Club Cyber Ambassadors Debating Society Digital Aspirants

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The Allen Grant Trophy Sports Day Staff Farewells

Digital Leaders Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Doodle Club Economics Society Football Feminist Society Geography Society Greenpower Greek Club Historical Society Japanese Club Lego League Library Leaders

Literature Society Lunar Society MedSoc Multicultural Society Paddleboarding Club Partnerships PDSA Partnership Photography Club Psychology Society Sailing Club Stage Crew Club Sustainability Action Group Wargaming Club

German trip to Cologne History trip to the Battlefields Italian and Art trip to Milan Jersey Cricket Tour Netball tour to Ireland Rugby trip to Ireland Second Year Camp Science and Technology Festival

Ski Trip Spanish Trip to Andalucia Spanish Trip to Catalonia Spanish Trip to Salamanca Sports tour to South Africa Summer Camp Tanzania Trip

Trips & Events Biology Field trip to Leeson House Charlotte Exchange Duke of Edinburgh Award First Year Camp First Year Trips to Go Ape French Trip to Normandy Geography Field Trip (Rivers & Coasts) Geography Field Trip to Slapton

Sport Girls’ hockey overview Boys’ Rugby overview Girls’ Netball overview Boys’ Hockey overview Indoor Hockey Cricket overview

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From the Head I am deeply honoured and delighted to extend my warmest welcome to you all to this edition of Sotoniensis, as we reflect upon yet another exceptional year at our School. This annual review of our School’s journey over the past twelve months certainly encapsulates the vibrancy, growth, and achievements that define us as a community, as well as the sheer breadth of experiences available to the pupils at King Edward’s.

Before we delve into the myriad achievements and remarkable events of the past year, it is essential to acknowledge the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, a figure of immense significance to our nation. At the very start of the academic year we came together as a School community to hold a service of remembrance in her honour, a solemn occasion where we paid tribute to the enduring legacy of a monarch who served our country with unwavering dedication and grace. This was especially poignant here at KES when we reflect upon the deep historical links which bind our School to the Royal Family, springing from our very foundation by a royal charter granted to us

by King Edward VI in 1553. Nearly 500 years later, we remain proud of our founding vision and our royal origins, and one of the developments to the buildings at the Main School site this year was in creating a ‘1553 Room’ to house and display some fascinating and historic items from our archives, including the original royal charter itself. We hope that this space will inspire our pupils and visitors when they come to KES and teach them a little bit more about the long and illustrious history of our School.

However historic our institution, what makes it live and breathe are the people within it today. I am delighted to report again on some outstanding academic and cocurricular achievements which have taken place over the past year. This year’s A Level and GCSE results were nothing short of extraordinary, and especially so given the return to pre-pandemic marking levels – the first time this has been the case since 2019.

They stand as a testament to the dedication and hard work of both our pupils and staff. At GCSE level, we witnessed nearly 70% of our results achieving at A* and A grades this summer, and at A Level nearly 60% achieved these same highest of standards. I can only offer my sincere congratulations to the pupils who worked so hard to earn these results, and my grateful thanks go to all of our parents who supported them, as well as our exceptional teachers and professional services staff.

Beyond the confines of the classroom, our students embarked on an extraordinary array of exciting trips and visits which undoubtedly enriched their lives in countless ways. It is one of the great joys of working in this School that we get to see our pupils seek out and grasp some of the fantastic co-curricular opportunities which KES offers, all the more so after an extended period in recent years when many trips had to be cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic. From a multi-sports tour to South Africa, where our young athletes honed their skills and fostered international friendships, to a life-changing expedition to Tanzania, where they contributed to meaningful community projects, the experiences described in this edition of Sotoniensis broadened our pupils’ horizons and nurtured their sense of global citizenship.

Our commitment to partnerships and charity work has also continued to flourish, with many of our pupils actively engaging in community projects and fundraising initiatives. Their dedication to making a positive impact on the lives of others resonates with the values we hold dear as a school community. These efforts reflect the kindness and empathy that define our students and makes working alongside them such a delight.

In the realms of arts and culture, we were treated to a spectacular main school production of “Singin’ in the Rain” this year. This performance, from what so many audience members were saying to me at the time, truly attained professional theatre standards, and I wholeheartedly endorse that view! It showcased the immense talent and dedication of our students

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the touchline seeing it brought to life by our pupils.

Sporting highlights continued until the very final day of the academic year, with Sports Day having now been moved to the end of term, and providing a wonderful send-off for the School.

and staff both on and behind the stage. It was funny, poignant and overwhelmingly just exceedingly good theatre. It was wonderful to see the Dobson sold out each night, and we are already looking forward to this term’s production of “Chicago” - another great show to entertain the wider KES community. But our younger pupils also excelled in the arts, with a Lower School production of “Emil and the Detectives” complementing a myriad of other concerts, dance showcases and theatrical productions throughout the School year. More formal, but equally impressive from our musicians and readers, was the lovely Carol Service in December at Romsey Abbey – for many, including myself, the true start to the Christmas season here at KES. In sports, we witnessed a bustling and full programme of weekend and cup competition fixtures. Several of our teams achieved remarkable successes, reaching national finals and testing themselves against the very best in the country. Equally significant is the fact that the vast majority of KES pupils represented the School in sports at some point in the year. This commitment both to excellence and participation is at the very heart of our Sports Department’s philosophy, and we were able collectively to enjoy many hours on

As we celebrate the accomplishments of our students, it is also a moment to bid farewell to departing teachers and staff members. In this edition of Sotoniensis we rightly pay tribute to those who have moved on to new roles, or else have retired from education. Many of them have served our pupils with distinction for many years, leaving an indelible mark on our school community. We must particularly acknowledge Mr. Singleton, who retires after an astonishing 41 years of dedicated service to KES. He, and our other departing friends and colleagues, have given so much to our School, and will be sadly missed.

It is also always sad to say ‘goodbye’ to the outgoing Upper Sixth students and the exceptional student leadership team. Their dedication and leadership have been instrumental in creating a nurturing and vibrant school environment, and their legacy will undoubtedly inspire future generations of KES students, as well as their younger peers. They go with our very best wishes for the future, and in the hope that they will one day come back to visit KES and tell the next generation about their lives after School. Indeed, this year we welcomed back a huge number of Old Edwardians from many different eras to speak to our current pupils, including Virginia Stuart-Taylor (OE) as our chief guest at Prizegiving.

Sad though saying ‘goodbye’ always is, we can also look forward to welcoming new pupils and staff members to KES for the new academic year. Only recently, we held the annual ‘Ceremony of Admissions’ to welcome the next generation of pupils to KES. This annual occasion is both historic and wonderfully forward-looking... surely the very essence of this

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great School? For me, it is certainly one of the many joys and privileges of being a teacher and Head here, that each year both respects the great traditions of this place, whilst also bringing to King Edward’s new faces, new opportunities and new excitements. As I write this introduction to Sotoniensis - sitting in my study in the very first week of the term, everything is as it ever was... but everything is also just a little bit different. Whether it is the new school uniform, now becoming well-established (and looking super smart!).

Or the new Chapel in what was the Commemoration Room – providing our pupils and the wider community, irrespective of their beliefs and faith, with a place to pause and contemplate their own journey. Whether it is the new Lower Sixth students looking suddenly grown-up as they move from a school uniform into smart business attire, or else the subtle hint, seen just in glimpses, of the huge array of solar panels now installed on the roof at Hill Lane to provide our 1938 buildings with the most modern and sustainable of energy sources.

In closing, I hope that you enjoy this review of the past year at King Edward’s, and that it gives you a sense of all that has happened at our wonderful School. The truth is that this publication can only represent just a tiny fraction of the activity and bustle of this place – but I hope that it gives you just a sense of the variety of life at KES in 2022 to 2023.

With warm regards,

Mr Parker Head, King Edward VI School

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From the Chair of Governors We also recognise that significant challenges to our sector will undoubtedly continue from external pressures in the coming years, but the resilience of our Schools’ finances, and the experience and expertise of our Governors and Senior Leadership Teams make us extremely well placed to make the right decisions to ensure that our Schools remain strong and secure for current and future generations of KES pupils and their families. As Chair of the Governing Body, I am confident that KES will once again come through these challenges not only unbowed but flourishing and even more strongly placed for the future.

This is my sixth report as Chairman. As I look back over another busy year, I recognise that the Governors have once again been called upon to make some major decisions to protect the longer-term prospects for our Schools, particularly at Stroud.

These decisions are never easy, but we recognise our responsibility to strengthen our Schools so that they are well-positioned to flourish in the future.

The Head in his report has described the outstanding academic success of our pupils in the recent external examinations, in the first year when marking has not been adjusted to allow for the adverse impact on the learning of our pupils caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. This reflects the outstanding response from our pupils and teaching staff, despite the profound disruption to our teaching programme caused by the pandemic, and once again I would like to place on record our appreciation for the immense effort of our academic team and pupils through this period. That we have emerged so strongly from one of the most challenging periods our Schools have experienced in living memory is a tribute to the enormous contribution of every member of our staff, both teaching and our professional services colleagues, who have dedicated huge amounts of time in keeping both Schools running efficiently despite all the challenges thrown at them.

The financial consequences to our Schools caused by the pandemic have been significant, but I am pleased to confirm that we have weathered the storm and we remain in a strong position financially. That said, we are clearly not out of the woods. The current cost of living crisis, together with inflation levels which we have not seen for many years are a real and ongoing concern both for our Schools and our parents.

Of course, these pressures apply to both our Senior and Prep Schools. Parents may recall that when Stroud joined the KES family in 2012 it was structured as a prep school for ages 3-13. This meant that years 7 and 8 were duplicated at both Stroud and KES, which was always regarded as anomalous. Over time there has been a clear trend for significantly greater numbers of parents to choose to move their children to secondary education at the age of 11, and in the last year we decided to restructure Stroud to accommodate the traditional primary age range. The removal of years 7 and 8 has not been easy, but the new structure will allow us to provide an exceptional and fully integrated 3-18 education for the young people of our county and region. I would like to pay tribute to Mrs Smith and her Senior Leadership Team who have guided the School through a turbulent year with remarkable compassion and diligence.

Of course, we now look forward, and the plans for Stroud are hugely exciting. In September 2024 the School will be renamed as the King Edward VI Preparatory School, (KES Prep), and the process of integration of the two Schools will be accelerated.

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This will include the transition of pupils from our Prep to Senior School based on a Head’s recommendation, which will remove the requirement for the majority of our prep pupils to have to pass the KES entrance exam in order to gain entry to the School. At the other end of the School, we are opening a 51-week nursery to support our parents, and there are exciting plans to develop the School’s curriculum to make it more relevant to the growing demands on our pupils. With this new structure now in place, and with a refreshed purpose and mission established, the prospects for the KES Prep School are very promising indeed.

As I mentioned last year, one of the undoubted consequences of the pandemic has been the adverse impact it has had upon the mental health of young people across the country. Our new Wellbeing Centre in the heart of KES, which is designed to be a safe haven for our pupils with easy access to our nurses, chaplain, counsellor, curriculum support and key pastoral staff was opened in September 2021, and it has become a very important addition to our provision. The mental health of all our pupils is a key area of focus for the Governing Body and we will continue to invest in supporting our pastoral staff and students wherever we see the need.

During this summer our facilities team has continued to be exceptionally busy. Alongside an impressive number of smaller projects at both Schools we have repurposed the old Commemoration Room into a multi-faith chapel, offering a quiet space for reflection for pupils of all religions and none. Recognising the rich heritage of the School, we have also created a 1553 room which will display many of the interesting artefacts in our archives for our parents and pupils to enjoy. Finally, in recognition of our growing ‘green’ credentials, we have installed solar panels on a significant proportion of our roof space at KES, and we are well into the process of converting all our classroom lights to LED. Once again, I would like to thank our Director of Operations, Mr Baker, and his

team for their outstanding contribution to our Schools in delivering a remarkable number of projects on time, despite the environment for the procurement of building materials continuing to be exceptionally challenging.

The last year has seen the retirement of a number of Governors who have given exemplary service to the School, and the appointment of new Governors who bring a wide range of skills and experience. It is an increasing requirement that the Board has a much greater focus on the longer-term strategic vision for our Schools and I am immensely grateful for the dedication and support of each and every member of our Governing Body.

The desire to support a greater range of bursaries so that able pupils can attend our schools regardless of their means, remains a key objective of the Governors. I am excited to announce the appointment of Mr Wilson as our new Director of Development who will build on the excellent work of Ms Hooper and add further impetus to growing The King Edward VI Foundation. We hope that over the next few years we will be able to make contact with many Old Edwardians of a variety of vintages. Please be ready and willing to take the call!

To conclude, I am delighted to report that our Schools continue to be financially robust, and we are very well placed to address the imminent challenges which are coming into sharp focus. We will continue to manage our resources carefully, placing our pupils in the centre of everything we do, and we will always strive to deliver excellence in the broad educational experience which we deliver. I remain grateful for the support of every member of our community which is the foundation for our every success.

Mr Morgan

Chair of Governors

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From the Head of School their time at KES and be surprised about how much it has changed since their departure. Upholding the traditions has also been a highlight of mine, such as my daily venture to the serene environment that is the Commemoration Room to read and turn the pages of the War Memorial Book, appreciating those from our school who gave their lives for this country. These are invaluable experiences that I think are impossible to forget.

It is with a mix of nostalgia and gratitude that I present this annual report, marking the culmination of my tenure as Head of School at King Edward’s.

Over the past seven years, I have had the privilege of witnessing the transformative power of education and the incredible impact our school has had on the lives of countless individuals including myself. When I joined King Edwards in 2016, I could never have imagined the personal growth I would experience.

The school community, with its unwavering dedication to learning, has instilled within me the courage to embrace challenges and the resilience to overcome obstacles.

Alongside the traditional classroom way of learning, KES offers countless opportunities to get involved outside of the classroom. From Cactus Club to Fencing to Chess Club to Debating and many more.

I am always in awe at the array of clubs KES offers.

Personally, I have always been interested in clubs like Diversity Society or Charities Commission where there is an opportunity to have a direct impact on the mindset of others and ultimately the wider community. KES has given me, and many others, the platform to bring light to relevant issues and get talking which I think is a vital step to change. As Head of School this past year I have been able to give back to the KES community in various ways, as well as satisfy my intrigue of how the School works and get an insight as to what actually goes into the things that happen. Additionally, I have enjoyed talking to and meeting inspirational Old Edwardians such as Virginia Stuart-Taylor at Prize Giving and David Wickes. It was fascinating to hear them reminisce on

Entering the world of work and university, I feel not only confident in my academic ability but I feel confident due to the life skills KES has instilled in me. This school has fostered a deep appreciation for diversity, encouraging dialogue and understanding among individuals from different backgrounds and perspectives. Being a part of the partnership group working with Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association will forever be my highlight of my time here. Making new friends and having fun participating in various activities was one thing, but seeing the confidence of some of the PDSA children grow, just from us spending time with them, is an incredibly invaluable experience that will stay with me.

Finally, from the bottom of my heart, I extend my deepest gratitude to the teachers and staff who have nurtured an environment of continuous growth, enabling me to develop as a leader and a human being. No words can adequately express my appreciation for the exceptional teachers who have dedicated themselves to our students’ growth and success. Their unwavering commitment to excellence and their relentless pursuit of innovation have not only enriched the educational experiences of our students but have also inspired me.

As I conclude I must acknowledge the bittersweet emotions I am experiencing at this juncture. While I am filled with pride and joy for the countless achievements and milestones we have reached together, there is also a profound sadness in bidding farewell to a KES Thank you for your unwavering support, dedication, and commitment to the pursuit of knowledge and personal growth. It is my sincerest hope that our school will continue to be a beacon of inspiration for generations to come!

Eseoghene Outgoing Head of School

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Alumni and Development Activities

Our OE community continues to thrive in more ways than one, both in their continued personal friendships and contacts with each other, and also with the School. Each year, we are delighted that so many choose to join us for one of the varied OE events that we offer. It is testament to their lifelong association with King Edward’s that they continue to want to maintain their links with us, long after they have left the School, with many keen to use their experiences to advise and inform the current generation of pupils.

The OE social calendar began in October with the OE ladies’ netball and hockey matches played at Hill Lane. Despite the appalling weather, everyone put their best foot forward on the outdoor hockey pitches but the OEs succumbed to the KES team’s experience of playing together, conceding the match.

The netballers fared better in terms of the weather (playing indoors in the Sports Hall) but they also lost to a good KES side. As ever we were grateful to Alex Morgan née Williams (KES 94-01) who organised the OE teams. This event was followed by the 10-year reunion for the Class of 2013 in November. A closeknit year group, we had a fantastic turn-out for a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

The Spring Term began with a 50-year reunion for leavers from the 1970s who joined us for a Friday night curry and drinks. Photos from the school archives proved a big talking point and caused much amusement for all those present, and the tour of the school site was certainly an eye-opener. The latter part of the term saw a hugely popular London Drinks drop-in event take place at Champagne Charlies on Embankment. OEs from all decades joined together to meet with each other and KES staff, network and catch up. The event was so successful that we hope to repeat it regularly. The term ended with the Peter Folkes Art Exhibition. Hosted by the KES Art Department and largely organised by OE, Rod Rumble (KES 51-59), the evening was a celebration of the work of former Head of KES Art and renowned local painter, Peter Folkes. The event drew a crowd and was attended by over 120 people, many of whom were OEs and former students of Peter, but also included Peter’s family and friends.

In May, our Poole Evacuees met for an informal lunch at school. It was a real pleasure to see some

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of our most senior alumni, all or whom attended King Edward’s during the war years, and who were subsequently evacuated to Poole Grammar School when the Hill Lane site was requisitioned by the army in 1939. The boys’ OE v KES hockey match was held on a Sunday in June and coincided with an OE girls’ hockey event to celebrate Mrs Kelly’s 17 years teaching at the School before she leaves for pastures new. Both matches were followed by a barbecue and drinks event. The Class of 1966 joined us to watch the MCC cricket match and partake in a cream tea on June 14th and later that week we welcomed back Former Heads of School and their Deputies spanning back to the 1950s for a formal dinner. It was touching to see such a wide age span in the same room, all united by their common theme of service to King Edward’s during their time at school.

During the year, the OE Golfing Association have continued to play regular events including the autumn Ray Paull medal event, the Inter House Cup, the annual Triangular match against alumni from Peter Symonds College and Taunton’s College and the Wally Kemp Competition in July. They have played at varied courses around the county and beyond and the events have always been played in friendly yet competitive spirit, welcoming golfers of all ages and abilities.

Our alumni have also contributed to many different areas of the school curriculum throughout the academic year. From the annual Careers Fair, to Sixth Form Foundation Studies lectures, individual professional advice and guidance and industryspecific talks, members of the OE community have embraced the opportunity to come back into school to help. Their experiences, both personal and professional, are invaluable to our current pupils and they provide inspirational role models, leaving them in

no doubt of what they too can achieve as they move on from KES. As well as organising the yearly carousel of alumni events, the Development Office continues to raise awareness and funds for the King Edward VI Foundation which provides bursaries for gifted local children applying to the School from less advantaged backgrounds whose families are unable to afford school fees. Over the coming years, our aim is to significantly increase the amount of money raised and a new strategic plan for our fundraising and development activities will hopefully help us to achieve this so that we may continue to honour our school’s historical philanthropic vision to offer a King Edward’s education to all able children, regardless of family income.

Ms Hooper Development Officer

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The Allen Grant Trophy

House Report 2022-2023 The new School year began with a series of House meetings and House Teas to welcome the new students into the School and into their Houses.

Meanwhile, the Allen Grant events got underway with House rugby and hockey competitions, where no one House was able to dominate, before we sent the whole of each year group out to compete in the cross country. Here the outcome was more clear cut, with Reynolds winning all of the races, except for the Fourth Year competition, which went to Lawrence. The design competition also went to Lawrence, whose First Year students came up with the most innovative Christmas tree topper. The Autumn Term concluded in traditional fashion with the mostly dulcet but occasionally raucous tones of the Christmas song competition, as the Houses sang in the festive period.

The emphasis in the Spring Term was once again on the outdoors with a series of hotly contested football tournaments that attracted large crowds of supporters for each House. Reynolds achieved great success here taking the First Year, Lower School, Fourth Year and Sixth Form Tournaments, but were denied a clean sweep by Lake’s talented Fifth Year team. Elsewhere, Watts proved to have all the moves in the chess and also took advantage of another new initiative, the House Music competition judged by Mr Parker. This

event saw some stellar performances from both soloists and groups, with Watts achieving the highest combined score.

In the Summer Term, we bade a fond farewell to the Upper Sixth with their own special Sports Day at Wellington. A mixture of fun and traditional events made for a very enjoyable afternoon with victory in the athletics going to Reynolds. With a new team of Lower Sixth House Captains now in place, Sylvester drove to victory in the School’s own Greenpower Grand Prix, coping best with the tricky chicanes coned out on the School Field. In the pool, Reynolds swam to victory in the Swimming Gala and also headed the Credit competition, with Watts a close second in both events. Sports Day now provides the grand finale for the School year and, this July, saw the unveiling of the new House banners and mascots. The competition was fierce, records fell and the final result was in doubt until the concluding relay events. However, as the sun set on another School year and the Sports Day scores were hastily tallied, it became clear that the green crocodiles of Reynolds had retained their title and were once again crowned Champion House with their House Captains, Isla and Pete, holding the trophy proudly aloft.

Miss Barron

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Sports Day

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Staff Farewells - Teaching Staff John Singleton

John became a member of the Mathematics Department in September 1982 and, in the 41 years since, he has been a constant source of happiness, laughter and inspiration for generations of students and staff alike. Being a maths teacher, I thought we’d appreciate some numbers to describe John’s career. He has worked under five head teachers and five heads of department. As a First Year Tutor, he has established a record that will surely never be broken; John was in charge of 1/2 for an astonishing 34 consecutive years, or 102 terms! That’s around 750 pupils who were lucky enough to be in his form. The number who have been taught maths by him will be many thousands.

The past 41 years have seen many changes, particularly in technology, and it may come as a surprise to some that John was at the forefront of developments in the School in this area. He was appointed Head of Computer Studies in 1985 and in this role he organised the curriculum for the Sixth Form, as well as managing the network, which admittedly

was only one room back then and with no wifi. It was from these humble beginnings that grew the essential technology that we have in the School today. Once John has mastered a piece of technology, he certainly is excellent at using it to his best advantage, and to that of the students. I’m not sure he foresaw teaching from home via technology though!

John’s penchant for long service also applies to his work in clubs and societies. After an early spell in charge of the Cross-Country Club, he took the Table Tennis Club for many years and had many successful trips to tournaments with some fine young players.

Having been born into a missionary family in Ghana, John’s Christian faith is very important to him and he has been an integral part of the Christian Union and the younger version, Interface. Countless members of both the staff and student body will have benefited from his wisdom and compassion.

In the recent phase of John’s career, he has worked his way up to Deputy Director of Studies, which might be a vague title but has very important implications for everyone at KES – for a number of years now John has constructed the timetable that keeps us all in the right place at the right time. He does this with a meticulous eye and goes out of his way to ensure that we have a timetable that not only works, but satisfies the specific requests of the Heads of Department and for that we are all very grateful.

Such a long career is naturally going to have many strands that will weave quite a tapestry. In every single thing that John has done here at KES, he has always undertaken the task with absolute

humility, total good humour and undeniable expertise. He is an outstanding mathematician and maths teacher, and we will miss his advice and clever approach to solving the really challenging questions. He is hugely compassionate, incredibly good natured, and while the maths corridor will be a bit quieter, his home will no doubt be filled with John’s joyful and generous laughter.

September 2023 will be strange indeed when the rest of us return for the new year and find that John Singleton really has left the building. There are not many people around who know of a KES without him! The Maths Department will feel like a different place, but John’s impact will be evident for years to come. He will now be able to spend more time with his wife Janice and their three daughters, following his path in faith and embarking on learning Biblical Hebrew.

Hopefully he will also be on hand for when we want to ask him a question about second order differential equations! We wish him all the best for his retirement and congratulations on an amazing career.

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Andy Gilbert

Andy first joined the teaching staff at King Edward’s in 1988; but his association with the School goes back much further than that. An OE himself, he attended KES as a pupil and was described as ‘one of the best all round sportsmen the School has had in recent memory’. He was a member of the Hampshire 2nd Cricket XI, a member of the Yorkshire Under 21 Hockey XI and the English Universities Hockey XI while studying Geography and then completing his PGCE at Hull University.

Andy has taught at King Edward’s for a remarkable 32 years as a teacher of Geography and Games.

Jacqui Meredith

Jacqui Meredith joined KES as a teacher of Classics in 1997.

From the very outset Jacqui was recognised as an excellent teacher by her colleagues and a passionate advocate of Classics across the School. Working with

He has a natural ability to inspire all pupils who come into contact with him, and he throws himself into a variety of activities. His extensive professional repertoire extends from Head of Lake House, 1st XI Hockey Coach, Humanities Resource Coordinator, Lower School Head of Year, Tutor, Preparatory School Liaison and a wide variety of sporting roles.

Andy has been totally invaluable to the Geography Department over all his years at KES. From OEs to the present day, pupils fondly talk about the Mr Gilbert rallying call of “Right then guys!”.

He is totally passionate about his subject and he works hard to inspire and generate a sense of awe and wonder amongst students. On field trips Andy is in his absolute element enthusing students and encouraging them to fully appreciate the importance of learning outside the classroom.

Over the years he has been on numerous residential and day field trips - Swansea, Barton Hall, Malham Tarn, Osmington Bay and Slapton Sands to name a few, and many adventures have been had!

Jacqui is tremendous fun due to her infectious sense of humour and the enthusiasm that she has towards her subject area. She is tireless in every aspect of her commitment to the School and a genuine source of inspiration for staff and students alike.

Jacqui has embraced a variety of roles during her time at KES. She has been a Charities Coordinator and helped organise the legendary Summer Camp as well as a Community Services Coordinator where she ran a very successful partnership visit to the Lovaton site with St Mark’s primary school for five years. Both of these roles embody the care

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He is a hardworking and organised colleague who commits fully to everything he does, whether this be planning, marking, classroom teaching or trip preparation. Andy is a beloved colleague, always ready with a friendly smile to listen to, and support, other members of staff, just as he is with the pupils.

Whether in the classroom or in the field, Andy is a professional teacher through and through.

And he has always looked like one: as a previous Head Teacher of KES once said of him “He has the capacity to look smart and thoroughly professional, even when soaking wet”.

Andy’s retirement from the Geography Department feels like the end of an era, and he will be sorely missed by his students and colleagues alike. We wish him a very happy and doubtless characteristically busy retirement!

and concern that Jacqui shows towards the students that she teaches and this has also been evident in her work as a tutor.

As a Sixth Form tutor she has guided many students through the trials and tribulations of both the university application process and their exam preparation. She has spent many a free period working with students on fine-tuning a personal statement or reviewing an essay that they have written for Classics. Jacqui is one of those rare colleagues who seems to find time for everyone.

Jacqui was appointed Head of Classics at KES in 2011 and the department has gone from

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strength to strength under her leadership. There is a keen educational rigour and rationale to everything that she does and she has encouraged the students of KES to aim higher both academically and in terms of developing their wider intellectual curiosity. The KES Classics Department is a beacon in this region due to the sheer amount of events that are run ranging from visits to the School from Roman soldiers to evening lectures organised by the Classical Association. She has overseen the legendary Classics Society whose creative output has included some memorable plays, and unfailingly has weekly talks dedicated to topics as diverse as classical insults!

Jacqui has been instrumental in inspiring a regular number of students to go on to study Classics at university and I know that they will all be very grateful for the time and expertise that she devoted to them. Another passion of Jacqui’s has been to offer a bewildering range of trips, from Butser Farm to the notorious Fishbourne Palace, taking in Rome, Herculaneum and Pompeii along the way.

Some of her favourite memories from these adventures will doubtless include having to tell off a student who managed to sit on an exhibit at the Ashmolean and then subsequently losing a group of students at the same location only to find that they were treating themselves to a gourmet

meal at the museum’s in-house restaurant!

Simon Barker

practical wood and metal working skills with countless sets of students.

Outside the classroom Simon has been involved with the school Sailing Club, leading groups of students from the water sports centre SWAC out into Southampton Water and on to the the Solent. The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme has also been an important part in Simon’s cocurricular time at KES and he led groups in the New Forest for many years.

Simon joined the School 25 years ago and, throughout his tenure as Head of Design and Technology, the department has change immeasurably. During this time, the subject moved into its current custom-built workshops and has developed into a modern department with two laser cutters and a 3D printer. Simon has taught through the whole range of school years in his time, from First Years to the Sixth Form, but specialised in taking the GCSE Resistant Materials course, sharing his

Simon established a new school trip visiting the Design Museum in London and countless GCSE students were able to use this experience to develop their own ideas for coursework projects by learning about innovative design.

He has also been responsible for developing the computer aided design curriculum and introducing the industry standard CAD package Solidworks to the department, teaching all students how to model and render in three dimensions. Simon has represented the staff body as Health and Safety Officer and has helped the School as a first aid trained teacher.

He has been a tutor in the Upper School and enjoyed lots of involvement in House events.

Her time at KES has been so much more than just a job for Jacqui with the manner in which she has taken on so many diverse opportunities but also the pride with which she speaks about both of her Old Edwardian children.

We will miss a wonderful teacher and colleague and we are grateful for all that she has done. In addition to spending more time with her family, Jacqui plans to stay involved with the Classical Association and may be tempted to help support the occasional trip here and there. She will always be welcome back at KES.

Simon leaves us for a welldeserved retirement and goes with our best wishes.

SOTONIENSIS

Stuart Ayers

Stuart joined King Edward’s in September 2002 as Head of French, having spent the start of his career teaching at boarding schools and with a view to finding a new challenge. What followed was a variety of roles and services to the School, ranging from teacher of French to Initial Teacher Training tutor, as well as running a multitude of trips to France. Mr Ayers could just as easily be found supporting the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme on Dartmoor as

Clare Kelly

Clare Kelly (formerly known as Miss Campbell) started at KES in 2006 as an NQT and was immediately thrown in at the deep end when she was given GCSE and A Level teaching groups, as well as a maths group. She quickly made her mark and was appointed Head of girls’ hockey after her first year, Head of Lake after her second, Head of Dance after her third year and, in 2009, also covered Head of First Year.

singing his heart out as a very confident bass, supporting the school choir for the Romsey Abbey Carol Services.

Stuart’s command of French is exceptional and he always set the highest standards in language and scholarship for himself and his students. His knowledge of French history is extensive and was always a highlight of French trips. Mr. Ayers would often regale students with the stories behind the Normandy landings, gladly taking on the role of tour guide on French trips. He was also instrumental in setting up the Le Havre Exchange which ran for many years and was a key feature in the French Department’s diary.

Stuart was known for his kind nature by staff and students alike.

His approachable manner was instrumental in supporting the careers of many a new teacher at

Clare excelled within her pastoral role, as a result of her naturally caring nature and belief in every child’s ability, and took up the position of Assistant Head of Year in the Upper School in 2011, before moving to the Lower School as Head of First Year in 2013. After gaining two years’ experience leading a year group, she became Head of the Lower School in 2015 and a member of the safeguarding team. Many aspects of these roles are very challenging but Clare thrived on being able to help and support students as they navigated their way through their school years. Her contribution to this area of school life has been remarkable and her experience will certainly be missed.

Clare has also been involved in coaching the U12 and U14 boys’ hockey team, the U14, U15 and 2nd XI netball teams and she also

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King Edward’s. Stepping into the role of Initial Teacher Training tutor was a perfect fit for such a caring individual, who was blessed with a wonderful sense of humour and an unforgettable and infectious laugh.

As well as excelling in his linguistic ability, Stuart was also a keen singer and supporter of singing in the pupils. He was regularly involved in the school choir and performed at a variety of events.

He was always delighted to hear pupils giving their all to singing!

His love of Arsenal was as fervent as his love for French and he was also known for his involvement in the staff and parent prayer times and Christian Union events.

Stuart’s warmth, energy and laughter will be greatly missed at KES, and we wish him all the best for the future.

led the senior rounders team for a while. However, her contribution to girls’ hockey has been outstanding.

Her arrival prompted a real push for girls’ sport, and hockey in particular, and she took over the senior team in 2007. Under her guidance, the girls progressed from mid-week fixtures to three senior teams with Saturday fixtures, bringing their provision into line with that of the boys.

Clare encouraged and challenged the girls to achieve high levels of performance and the results (on a local and regional level) speak for themselves.

When she returned from maternity leave it did not take long for her to get back into a leadership role, taking up her most recent post as Head of Academic PE. She is a fantastic classroom practitioner whose drive and determination have resulted in significant

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development of the subject in the last couple of years and she is always determined to get the best out of her students, going way beyond what is a reasonable time commitment to ensure this happens.

Clare has been on many residential trips and tours; to the Caribbean, to Holland, and to South Africa and, closer to home, to Bath,

Jess Ferrand

Jess started at KES as a newly qualified teacher in September 2010 and was very quickly into her stride. At the end of the year she took over as Head of Netball and the following year became Head of Lawrence. Although still a young teacher, she showed her determined side and, as a result of her powers of persuasion and her ability to motivate and cajole the students, Lawrence won the Allen Grant trophy that year.

Jess is an outstanding tutor and, as a PE teacher, she is a true educator who always wants the best for every child she works with. Her lessons are well planned, delivered at good pace with great clarity and ensure all students are fully involved, active and learning.

In April 2014 Jess was appointed to the position of Deputy Director

Nottingham and on First Year camps. She is a true professional and those new teachers she has mentored have benefited from her great experience. She has achieved so much working in so many different areas of the School, been excellent in each of her roles and made a real difference to so many students and colleagues.

She will be sorely missed but we wish her good luck for the future.

of Sport and whilst this was not without its challenges Jess again stuck to her guns and pushed hard to develop a programme that matched her beliefs about school sport, providing challenge, variety and opportunity for all. The PE and Games programme was transformed over the course of the four years Jess held this position and much of this programme is still in place now.

It is, however, through her work for netball that Jess will probably most be remembered. She believed strongly that the girls’ provision for sport should equal that of the boys and worked tirelessly to promote girls’ sport as a whole, and netball in particular. She should be rightly proud of so many aspects; of the fixture list that she developed giving so many girls’ opportunities; of the number of teams that qualified for regional tournaments especially recently when 2 KES teams have qualified and of the part she played in inspiring girls who have gone on to play in super league franchises.

But I know she will be equally proud of the enjoyment on the faces of the U12 C and D teams when they represent KES on a Saturday morning. The fondness and respect in which she is held was so obvious in the farewell netball match organised between our

current 1st team and a team made up of OE former netball captains during her time as Head of Netball.

Jess accompanied the 2011 netball tour to Jamaica. She recognised the value of touring and created another legacy with the Belfast netball trip that she started in 2017 and that has since become an annual event.

Jess is innovative, passionate and committed and it is this that has led her to her new challenge.

Frustrated by the lack of netball opportunity for young children in Bournemouth Jess set up a Sunday morning club which has been so successful it has developed into 3 centres. She has decided that she wants to focus on pushing this whilst also spending more quality time with her young family. I am sure her ‘Netball Stars’ programme will continue to grow.

She will be massively missed in so many ways by so many and it just remains to say thank you on behalf of the students, the parents for whose children she has created opportunity and the many colleagues with whom she has worked and on whom her infectious enthusiasm and passion has rubbed off.

SOTONIENSIS

Dave Blow

Dave joined the Design and Technology Department at King Edward’s in 2011, having come from roles in Formula One and freelance videography. He quickly established himself as an innovative teacher being one of the first to use an electronic mark book and an iPad in a Parents’ Evening. After his first year in the School, he was given the role of Cocurricular Coordinator and helped to implement the current Evolve system for all school trips.

Dave then moved to one of his current roles as E-Learning Coordinator where he was instrumental in moving the School to one-to-one devices alongside then Assistant Head, Bob Allen.

He has travelled extensively with students all around the world, running international trips to Mexico City and the archipelago in Sweden and accompanying trips to the Himalayas, Morocco, and Tokyo. School camps for both First and Second Years have benefited

from his time, and he has run numerous surfing and water sports trips in the UK. Running school kayaking and paddleboarding gave Dave the opportunity to share his enjoyment of water sports with many students of all ages.

Dave formed the Electric Go Cart Club with his father, Vic Blow, which has allowed countless students to develop their love for engineering and interest in motor sports; the School’s team have competed in heats at Goodwood ever year and qualified for the International Kit Car Finals at Silverstone. Inspiring young designers is something Dave will be remembered for at KES, with one ex-student citing Greenpower as her sole reason for becoming an engineer.

More recently Dave has been an influential member of the Marketing Team in his role as Digital Media Coordinator. During this time, Dave’s creative flair has transformed the marketing initiatives into something truly exceptional. Through beautifully crafted videos, stunning photography, and impactful content, he has elevated the quality of the School’s offerings tenfold.

Dave can constantly innovate and create something awe-inspiring.

Some of his most talked about and much anticipated work include his Christmas videos, production promos and compilation videos that showcase the very best of our schools. The twelve years

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of relationships with colleagues and students across the School has enabled Dave, and the team around him, to excel in making marketing so inclusive, resulting in his contributions bringing about a seismic shift in the realm of marketing.

Beyond his undeniable talent, Dave is known throughout both KES and Stroud for his can-do attitude and unwavering support for everyone, anytime. He has been a pillar of strength for the Marketing Team, always ready to lend a helping hand or offer guidance. He has also been an incredibly valued team member, colleague, peer, and friend and his kind, warm, and loyal nature has endeared him to all who have had the pleasure of working with him.

It is a testament to his character that his name is known far and wide, and his impact on our school community will not be forgotten.

However, Dave’s departure brings with it a sense of excitement and joy. We are delighted to see him embark on a new journey as a Creative Director, working alongside his brother. This is a testament to his exceptional abilities and the recognition he has earned in his field. Thank you, Dave, for your extraordinary contributions, your friendship, and your unwavering commitment to excellence. May your new role bring you even greater success. Farewell, Mr. Blow – you’ve been utterly incredible.

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Claire Costello-Kelly

Claire has had a tremendous impact on the School since joining King Edward’s in September 2011, She is an exemplary educational professional whose outstanding teaching across the age ranges has benefited legions of KES students. An integral member of the Chemistry Department, she has regularly and humbly offered her expertise on all aspects of teaching and learning and curriculum development, particularly in the effective use of IT, remote classrooms and general online wizardry.

Catherine Lane

Catherine arrived at King Edward’s seven years ago initially to cover maternity leave in the Religious Studies Department, but swiftly made herself an indispensable part of the landscape with a permanent position being offered quickly. A career that had seen her teach in a number of schools around the country, with St Mary’s Shaftesbury being her most recent port of call, combined with

Never one to make a fuss or blow her own trumpet, Claire has often been happy operating in the background, leading the way on academic excellence, alongside her more visible and notable contributions to school co-curricular life. Her academic responsibilities over the years have included coordinating programmes for gifted and talented students, and arranging visiting speakers, scholars’ talks, lunchtime study skills workshops and the British Science Association’s CREST Award projects.

However, her biggest achievement in recent years has been as the School’s Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) Coordinator. In this role, she has ably led an everchanging team of staff to support Sixth Form students achieve an independent project qualification designed to extend and develop their abilities beyond the A Level syllabus. Her contribution to this programme has been nothing short

experience of King Edward’s as a parent, ably equipped her to flourish in her new environment and, as such, it was no surprise that she took over the role of Head of Department after only three years. The hallmark of Catherine’s approach to classroom teaching, and departmental management, has been an unflinching expectation of pupil diligence, intellectual engagement and a passionate belief in the value of her subject beyond the classroom.

The Religious Studies Department has, under her stewardship, been a place of genuine and impressive academic endeavour and hundreds of King Edward’s pupils have good reason to be thankful to Catherine for her ability to encourage them to grapple with some of the deepest questions associated with human

of mesmeric and her commitment to ensuring that students are supported appropriately, while maintaining the space for them to thrive independently, is commendable.

Claire has been a fantastic supporter of the DofE programme at KES since her arrival. She achieved the impressive feat of becoming a Mountain Leader, which enabled her to support the more challenging expeditions on offer.

From her early days abandoning minibuses in the middle of nowhere on Dartmoor, she has progressed admirably, and the rest of the staff team are now quite confident that the minibus will always be where she says she left it.

Claire will be sorely missed by students and staff alike.

experience whilst, at the same time, developing their minds in a manner that will see them well set for life more generally. That said, Catherine has been far more than an excellent and inspiring teacher. As a pastoral tutor her enthusiastic interest in the wellbeing of her charges, together with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of doughnuts, has created something of a cult of personality around her and I know full well that her tutees will miss her dreadfully. The situation is absolutely the same where her colleagues are concerned.

Catherine has been a great friend, valued opinion-shaker and much appreciated sounding board to many of us and she goes into retirement with our friendship, gratitude and best wishes for the future.

SOTONIENSIS

Ben Reekes

Ben joined us in September 2019 from Nonsuch High School for Girls. He immediately made a splash with his energy, humour and endless passion for the subject. A classicist by trade (via St John’s College, Cambridge), he immediately re-branded the Literature Society as LitSoc, and organised talks on a variety of

Sophie Bentley

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texts and writers, as well as giving some fascinating presentations himself. In particular, he should be ‘mentioned in dispatches’ for some marvellous work in keeping LitSoc going during Lockdown, which really helped raise the spirits of the students. At A Level Ben has been very successful in his teaching of the Crime unit of the Literature paper and, as with every aspect of his teaching, he has spent a huge amount of time and energy preparing resources and delivering interesting and lively lessons. His marking is quite astonishing, and at times his feedback seems to cover more of the paper than the actual essay! He takes this energy and industry to every class that he teaches, from First Year to Upper Sixth, and this really must involve

a great deal of preparation work outside the classroom. Ben also went on a Literature trip to Cambridge last summer and helped with the Debating Society.

He has also taught Latin, and has been an excellent Lower School tutor, determined to expose his tutees to a wide range of cultural influences: Ben’s knowledge of television, film and pop music is unparalleled. This is probably why he was recently asked to be a judge on the Summer Camp Battle of the Teachers show. During his time at the School, Ben has gained his QTS, and he has certainly given a great deal back. He leaves us to join Caterham School and he goes with our friendship, thanks and good wishes.

Sophie joined the School two years ago to cover a maternity leave in the Biology Department; one of four OEs joining the staff body that year. She quickly made a splash with her bubbly personality and ability to build strong relationships with her students. Along with her classroom teaching, she has contributed extensively to the co-curricular programme, leading the U14B girls’ hockey team and

the Ski Racing Club, as well as coordinating the Charlotte Exchange and joining the 2023 ski trip. She has also been an active Head of Lawrence House. Sophie is moving on to La Garenne International School in Switzerland and we wish her well.

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Kate Woolstenhulme

Kate joined KES in September 2020 straight after her training with Teach First. She came into difficult circumstances with covid restrictions separating year groups, split lunchtimes and everyone wearing masks.

She very quickly demonstrated her resourcefulness and quickly established herself

Alex Standing

as a dedicated, creative and enthusiastic teacher of both Philosophy at A Level and Religious Studies and a caring and conscientious Lower School tutor.

Having researched and written a ground breaking (published) thesis on ‘The Matriarchs in Genesis Rabbah’, Kate’s expertise in theology became an invaluable resource in the School. Her biblical knowledge and the infusion of Hebrew into her lessons challenged her students and extended their learning.

Many students have benefited from her exemplary teaching at all levels. Kate took on the role of Partnerships Coordinator in 2021 and fostered links with primary schools, providing opportunities for young children to participate in a range of learning opportunities

Alex joined the Music Department in January 2022 as Head of Keyboard and teacher of music.

She leaves to become a music teacher at Kensington Prep School and to pursue a career as a freelance pianist. She has been an invaluable accompanist and musical support to many of our exam candidates and performers, as well as an inspiring piano teacher to some of our top pianists.

and activities. Close to her heart was a desire to reach out to our local community and she ensured that KES students designed and sent Christmas cards to lonely people and oversaw an initiative for students to sing carols in a local care home. She worked closely with the Creative Arts Department on their productions and acted as Stage Manager for ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. She gave her time generously to all her students and colleagues and in a short time at KES made her mark with her impressive intellect, excellent teaching and her fulsome commitment to the School and its values.

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Professional Services Staff Sue Owen

and change within KES and external examination processes.

Throughout her time the whole school community has been touched by her professionalism, care and understanding for all things exams related by supporting, managing and helping staff, pupils and parents. Exam arrangements and regulations have expanded and become ever more complex in the last two decades, yet Sue has facilitated the success of hundreds of pupils during some of the most important moments of their school careers.

In addition to running the Exams Office, Sue has also found the time to be a regular supporter of all aspects of the DofE programme, gaining the Walking Group Leader qualification to enable a greater involvement when required. It is of no surprise that she leaves to pursue her passion of the outdoors, to be amongst other things, a freelance DofE instructor and assessor. Her skills of tact and diplomacy and calm demeanour will be greatly missed.

Nicole Dawson

Nicole joined King Edward’s in September 2017 to work in the HR Department. She quickly became an integral part of the team, and staff at KES and Stroud greatly appreciated her dedication to the schools and her caring and approachable nature. Nicole championed staff wellbeing in her time at the schools, completing her Mental Health First Aid training and intro-

ducing a menopause policy. She was also a dedicated supporter of the PDSA partnership. We wish Nicole all the very best as she moves on to a new role as a Wellbeing Coordinator, in which she will continue to pursue her passion for supporting staff wellbeing in the workplace.

Maryanne Hopkins

Debbie Toothill

Maryanne joined the School in July 2021 as a Finance Assistant. She leaves us to relocate to Scotland.

Debbie joined the Finance Team

Sue joined King Edward’s in June 2003 as the Examinations Officer, at a time of great expansion

in August 2021 as a Management Accountant on a fixed term contract.

She leaves us for a similar role within a local recruitment company and we wish her all the best in her new challenge.

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Josh Richardson

Josh joined the School in September 2020 in the bizarre position of accepting the post having never set foot on the school site. His interview was a Zoom interview as we all started to emerge from the first

COVID lockdown. He took up the role of Head of Rugby and Strength and Conditioning lead and very quickly got stuck in, developing both rugby and our gym provision. The rugby teams across the School adapted to his philosophy of playing open attacking rugby and he worked to develop a programme that had logical progression from year to year. He led a Senior Squad pre-season training trip to Lovaton and also accompanied the U13 netball and rugby trip to Edinburgh. His infectious enthusiasm for the sport rubbed off on those students he worked with. He also made a significant impact on strength and

conditioning within the School.

He supported staff in the delivery of fitness sessions, developed an outstanding programme for our elite performers and had input into the design of the new gym which will have a long-term impact on what we can offer our students. Josh always had a real interest in the development of the elite performers and it was no surprise that he gained a position in professional sport. He has moved on to lead the strength and conditioning for the academy at Kent County Cricket Club and we are sure he will be a real success in this role. Good luck for the future.

Trent Eriksson

Amy Stickland

Jake Nicholas

Trent joined the School in January 2020 as the Stroud Data Lead and Data Protection Manager.

He has been based across both school sites, but largely at Stroud, where he became a hugely valued member of the staff team.

He has been instrumental in helping embed a culture of Data Protection awareness across both Schools, and has helped us achieve compliance in many areas. He leaves us to take up a post at King’s Inter High online school as their new Academic Data Lead.

Amy joined the HR Department in January 2022 from Winchester City Council where she had worked as an HR Administrator Apprentice whilst completing a Level 3 Business Administration Apprenticeship course. In her time at KES, Amy continued to develop her HR knowledge and skills, providing excellent support to the School’s recruitment and new starter processes. We wish Amy safe travels as she takes some time out to travel around Europe.

Jake joined King Edward’s in September 2022 as an IT Support Technician on the sandwich work-placement component of his degree course at Bournemouth University. Jake has always been keen to assist all members of staff and has made valuable contributions to the IT team during his year with us. We wish him well as he moves into his final year of study.

SOTONIENSIS

Tamara GCSE Fine Art

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Creative A r ts

Art at KES The Art Department continues to be a vibrant, creative, and kind place for our students to thrive.

The work produced across the year groups is always impressive as they build on skills and confidence year on year. It is wonderful to see the First Years tackle the complexities of perspective drawing and then reflect on their first drawings in tone to see how much they achieve. Our Second Years too have been exploring the nuances of colour, culminating in exciting pastel drawings exploring the confectionary paintings of Sarah Graham.

opening night. We were also able to produce a small booklet with over 40 of his paintings included along with an insightful commentary from Rod. It was a real triumph both as a testament to Peter’s work as a painter but also his legacy as a KES art teacher! The evening was a tremendous success and for many OEs the first time they had been back to the school since the 1950s. My thanks to Rod Rumble for his huge dedication to this project.

The fifth annual Peter Folkes preparatory school exhibition in March was an immense success with nine schools taking part. The premiss of the show is to celebrate the creative of students in Years 6 and 8 and the range of styles and the sheer ambition was fabulous to see. It is also fast becoming a lovely opportunity for the wider school communities to come together. For our colleagues in these schools, it provides a good opportunity for them to see each others’ work, as well as getting to see how their students progress as they come to KES.

After three years of disruption due to COVID, the GCSE and A Level students have had the delights of tackling an examination unit which is 40% of the whole course. We held an open studio on the Saturday before these exam days, so that all our students could prepare, and it was lovely to see so many students using the day to fully work through their ideas. The examination days are when the studios really feel like an art school, with the GCSE and A Level artists and photographers working with such intense concentration and focus as these days are the end of their two-year courses.

Whilst on a theme of Peter Folkes, the Department also hosted a retrospective of his work. Former Head of Art from 1950-1963, Peter was a well-loved teacher, and it is testament to this that over 150 OEs, friends, family and staff came together to see an exhibition celebrating his work. We are extremely grateful to one of his ex-pupils, OE Rod Rumble, who was the driving force in getting the exhibition off the ground, from the initial discussion some six years ago to the

Outside of lessons the Art Studios are always a hive of activity. Miss McGinn’s Character Design Club is a wonderful opportunity for our Lower School students to create eclectic work looking at a wide range of imaginative characters to provide inspiration. Mr Lewis has run Biological Illustration Club, with topics ranging from squids, crabs, oysters and a wonderful John Dory, all of which makes for an interesting scene for our students to work from! Mrs Moxon’s partnership work with our local schools continues to be both exciting and informative and gives our students the opportunity to lead and support the younger pupils.

The Sixth Formers can attend Life drawing classes and each Wednesday, over a nine-week period, staff and students draw the life model. Studying the anatomy of the human figure, and relating this to a wide range of art historical influences, is an invaluable extra that helps many of our students when creating their portfolios and applying to art

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school for foundation, fashion, and architecture courses.

The Annual Art Exhibition in June was a fabulous culmination of all the year’s endeavours. The show, which spread out over two Art Studios and the Atrium Gallery showcased all our exam classes but also the best of all our Lower School students. Over 250 parents, friends and visitors joined us to celebrate.

As part of the Science Festival, we were delighted to have Dr Jasmine Pradissitto join us to give a talk on the importance of a polymathic way of seeing and learning as she combines her passion in physics and fine art. Her talk “Why ‘Awe’ isn’t just to be found in the ‘Awesome’ - Making sense and creating joy in a 21st Century world through patterns” captivated a sold-out Dobson Theatre.

A number of trips have taken place this year. In March, forty of our Third Year artists went on the annual art trip to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios. This never ceases to be both amazing and informative. The tour brings the films to life as well as providing real insight into the vast range of creative skills that enable a film like this to be made.

The Sixth Form photographers went on a trip to visit three London Photographers’ galleries. The first stop was the Photographers Gallery and a retrospective of Chris Killip. His evocative black and white images of the Isle of Man, and the North of England are incredibly moving and a wonderful example of creating a narrative body of work. They then visited Hamiltons Gallery in Mayfair before walking to the brand new British Centre of Photography in Jermyn Street. This had just opened, and the exhibitions were contemporary and thoughtful and well worth a visit.

Meanwhile the Sixth Form artists went to see painter Peter Doig’s work at The Courthauld Gallery. This small but exciting show highlighted his recent work before everyone mavelled at the exciting rehanging of their permanent collection before visiting The National Gallery and The Tate Modern before heading home.

Mr Piggott Head of Creative Arts

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Creative A r ts

Dance at KES Dance has continued to thrive here at King Edward’s, and we couldn’t be prouder of the ever-growing role it now plays in the community.

With the ever-blossoming offering of enriching activities and clubs, dance is now complemented by the academic offering of the subject for our pupils, with GCSE Dance proving its popularity and importance with increased interest. Our Dance Studio has been alive with enthusiasm and passion this year and it has remained a welcoming and creative space for our passionate dancers.

The academic year started in earnest with rehearsals for our all-singing, all-dancing, and all-tapping whole school production of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. We could not be prouder of what our dancers achieved in this production, taking non-tappers to Broadway superstars under our confetti rain. Audiences were wowed by the production, with our pupils bringing incredibly well-known, challenging, and much-loved numbers such as ‘Good Morning’ and ‘Broadway Rhythm’ to life with heartfelt gusto. Congratulations must go to our Don (Oliver – Upper Sixth), Kathy (Molly – Lower Sixth) and Cosmo (Jimmy – Third Year) who worked so hard to achieve their welldeserved rapturous applause. They quite literally brought the house down as they braved the infamous bench-tip in ‘Good Morning’! Every pupil involved in the production shone on the stage and their success was a testament to their hard work. It brings me such joy to still see our cast reviving the steps whenever the opportunity presents itself!

It was with much anticipation and excitement that we saw the return of pupil and audience favourite, the Dance Gala in February. This year, a record number of 70 pupils took to the stage to an appreciative and sold-out audience, presenting an incredibly exciting and diverse programme of dances. It was an utterly magical evening, with styles including ballet, street, tap, jazz, contemporary, juggling, musical theatre and acro. The Dance Gala has always been a celebration of the passion and commitment our pupils have for dance, regardless of age and ability. This year, some of our pupils even took up dance to be involved, and we couldn’t be prouder of the confidence our dancers exude as they step on stage to perform their dances. This year, a record number of First Year pupils took part, and it was extremely special to see their enthusiasm and commitment for the event.

They quite literally rehearsed for months prior to the performance and their hard work certainly paid off.

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that the Dance Gala has been granted two performances next year, giving yet more opportunity to our pupils to showcase

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the dances they pour their creative hearts into.

With a Broadway musical theatre theme next year, dancers are already plotting their performances and we cannot wait to hang the mirror ball back up and share another evening (or two!) of pure celebration of dance.

Dance has continued to feature in various aspects of School life in and outside of the Studio. Our dance clubs are enthusiastically attended with pupils enjoying Tap Club, Ballet Club and Lower School and Upper School Dance Clubs. My thanks go to Miss Crompton for her assistance in offering these to our pupils. Following our vibrant and enthusiastic intake of dancers in the First Year, dancers performed their very own dance dedicated assembly, featuring many of the wonderful pieces they performed in this year’s Dance Gala. Dance continues to be enjoyed by all in First Year Extended Studies, with pupils exploring styles including the Haka, Latin and Ballroom, Lindy, and Indian dance. Third Year pupils are also able explore dance in their PE lessons, along with the option of dance in Foundation Studies offered to the Upper Sixth, where they explore a crash course in styles to suit their interests.

GCSE Dance has continued to gather momentum, and our current pupils have approached the course with genuine enthusiasm for dance appreciation, choreography, and performance.

Our GCSE dancers were inspired in March by New Adventure’s production of Sleeping Beauty at The Mayflower, choreographed by Matthew Bourne. It was an inspiring evening at the theatre, with pupils gaining insight for the skills required to perform with technique and expression. It was the perfect evening of inspiration for our Fifth Years in particular, who spent the Spring Term preparing their solo

choreography projects ahead of their filming day in March, which saw them perform set phrases, solos and duets with confidence and artistry. Our Fifth Year dancers showed exciting creativity this year with solo dances exploring themes of Joan of Arc, memory benches, avalanche attacks and solid into liquid.

Each pupil should be very proud of what they created.

Our current Fourth Years have been following in their footsteps creating exciting group dances throughout the year inspired by the set anthology pieces. In June, we were excited to welcome back Juka Dance to teach the Fourth Year pupils the set phrases that form part of their practical work. Each dancer worked incredibly hard, and we are all looking forward to continuing to polish these pieces ahead of their exam year. GCSE Dance continues to expand here at King Edward’s, and we cannot wait to introduce our largest cohort to the syllabus in September.

It has yet again been another year of wonderful achievements and exciting opportunity in Dance.

As a growing family of keen dancers, we are sad to say goodbye to some of our Upper Sixth and Fifth Year pupils who have contributed so much over the years. We wish them all the best in their creative endeavours. Our pupils have utterly flourished on and off the stage and we are excited to embrace another year of passion and performances from our pupils.

Dance is truly an integral puzzle piece within our School community and academic offering, and we continue to strive to seek expansion and opportunity for all of our dancers. In the Autumn Term, we are excited to dive into rehearsals for our production of ‘Chicago’ which sees the collaborative efforts from all our Creative Arts departments. If the auditions were anything to go by, you are in for a treat! Dance is a powerful tool for communication and expression, and we are humbled by the freedom and empowerment it gives to our passionate and dedicated pupils.

Miss Barnett

Dance Coordinator

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Creative A r ts

Drama at KES KES Drama has had another fantastic year of stunning productions, clubs, visits and workshops and professional industry connections, all of which our very talented KES pupils have enjoyed, engaged with and flourished from.

The Autumn Term saw the sensational whole school production of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’, a challenging piece that had our pupils push themselves to learn new skills including tap dancing, slapstick and film acting.

We must give a hearty congratulation to all involved, cast and crew but especially to our three leads; Molly, Oliver and Jimmy. It was beautifully costumed by our very talented parent helper Mrs Wateridge and credit also goes to our fantastic choreographers Miss Barnett and Miss Crompton who gave our pupils the opportunity to raise their dance skills to a whole new level. We also had the opportunity to road test a new way of housing the band through the technical wizardry of Mx Brewer and Mr Whitaker. Under the direction of Mr Eadon the band was broadcast through to the Dobson Theatre from the Study Centre.

Thank you also to Miss Forsey who ran the singing rehearsals before the summer in preparation for Mr Eadon stepping in for his debut KES MD role.

Mr Blow’s filming and editing talents were also very much appreciated in this complex show of combining live and pre-recorded acting. This show also required a lot of backstage work, and our thanks go to Mx Brewer, Miss White and Mrs Hawker for providing this with the help of a great team of backstage pupils. It was a privilege to direct this show and to see it come to life in all its sophisticated glitz and glamour of old Hollywood and Miss Barnett did a fantastic job taking on the role of producer.

The Autumn Term also saw the stunning performances from both our GCSE and A Level exam classes as part of their devising exams. They created original theatre on a number of hard-hitting themes including young carers, the White Rose movement of Nazi Germany, domestic abuse, abortion, Edward Colston; to name but a few.

The Spring Term was likewise an exciting and busy term for the Drama Department. This term included both the GCSE and A Level scripted exams being

previewed and completed. There were performances from 14 different scripts from the comedy of Wilde and Godber to the extraordinary stylistic creativity of Berkoff, from the modern contemporary of characters of the National Theatre production of Mosquitoes to the historical treasures of Shakespeare, Arthur and Russell, with everything in between. Special credit

must go to Upper Sixth students, Oliver, Toby and Tom for their chilling performances in the harrowing play ‘Pillowman’, which saw us turn the Dobson Theatre into an intimate round stage. Their performances were of an exceptional standard that had audiences mesmerised. The Dobson was then transformed into the neon lit outrageous Shakers Wine bar where Myah, Sophie, Kate and Ruby masterfully multi-roled, to hilarious effect, the daily comings and goings of that bar. With some fast-paced choreography and snappy lines they successfully took the audience on a fun-filled, irreverent and highly entertaining romp.

We also had our inaugural LAMDA performance evening where a plethora of talent was showcased and spotlighted the wonderful work of our pupils, as well as that of our lovely LAMDA teachers, Mrs Lambert and Mrs Shah, whose expertise are very much appreciated.

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This year saw the emergence of the Advance Theatre Club in which Upper School students have been able to explore some hard-hitting drama looking at the play DNA and been able to extend their acting skills with this tragic play full of colourful and, at times, slightly disturbing characters. We had a truly inspirational visit from the RCS actor Edward Bennett this term who worked with both our GCSE and A Level Drama students in an enjoyable and instructive session.

We housed the dramatic and emotional production of the GCSE text ‘The IT’, performed by the Quirky Bird Theatre Company, followed by an interesting Q&A session, enjoyed by our GCSE students and opted Third Year students. All were moved by this creative and challenging play that tackles difficult current topics including teenage anxiety.

This term we also saw the fantastic production of the Sixth Form Play; ‘Our Country’s Good’. A gruelling, thought-provoking, gritty and witty play which stretched our talented Sixth Form students who rose triumphantly to the challenge and produced some stunning performances. We will always remember Robert’s stunningly performed but eyebrow raising opening lines. A special thank you to Mrs Arnold, Mrs Gunton and Mx Brewer for all their hard work with this project.

The start of the Summer Term took us straight into the Lower School production of ‘Emil and the Detectives’. This production, under the direction of Mrs Hawker, allowed us to showcase the fantastic talents of our Lower School pupils, which it did so wonderfully. Credit especially goes to all the hardworking cast and crew particularly our main roles played by Jack (First Year) and Callum (Second Year). This was an excellent example of an ensemble performance with many wonderful performances given across the 46 cast members. Many thanks also go to our 5 hardworking backstage crew pupils who worked so tirelessly behind the scenes but made such a difference for those on stage.

A number of trips to see live theatre productions have taken place. Students enjoyed a fantastic example of slapstick comedy and mime with the production Charlie and Stan at the Mast Theatre and the highly acclaimed Oceans at the End of the Lane. GCSE Fourth Year pupils enjoyed an insightful experience of an all-access backstage tour of the MAST Theatre and A Level students attended a trip to the Globe to see a highly innovative performance of ‘The Tempest’ and a production of the new award-winning musical ‘Operation Mincemeat’.

Finally, we underwent the exciting, but also difficult, process of running auditions for casting the forthcoming whole school production of ‘Chicago’. I say difficult as we have so much talent here at KES that it is hard to find parts for everyone. We have, however, managed to cast 58 pupils from across the School from First Years all the way up to our Upper Sixth and, with the singing rehearsals already commencing, we are filled with anticipation for ‘All that Jazz’.

A huge thank you and well done to all those involved with any aspect of all that has taken place in the Drama Department this year.

Mrs Gilmour

Director of Drama

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Creative A r ts

Music at KES It has been said that a school’s Dining Room is the place to measure the barometric mood of a school; if that is the case then the Music Department is where the heartbeat is to be found. The academic year 2022-23 here at KES has seen a high-energy output of Music that has been matched both by quality and breadth across the whole school.

Although the Autumn Term would usually have started relatively gently with the popular ‘Music While You Lunch’ series (in which performers volunteer themselves – perhaps with external exam preparation in mind), the Royal Family had other ideas. The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II sent KES’s musicians into immediate action as things were hastily put together to commemorate the life of our longstanding monarch. The Chamber Choir was able to perform music by Henry Purcell and Henry WalfordDavis on less than twenty-four hours’ notice to an extremely (and indeed appropriately) high standard.

This event was also significant as it was to be the last time in the academic year that any given musical event would be represented solely by male composers.

No sooner than the shock to the system of the extra events was recovered, we welcomed woodwind and brass players from the internationally-renowned London Mozart Players for a day of coaching alongside our own instrumentalists. We were also able to welcome many prep and primary school players to join in proceedings and introduce them to a rigorous – but fun and informative – day of high-quality musicmaking. We enjoyed two Music Scholars and Captains’ talks – one by Miss Standing sharing tips for effective

practice, and one by Mr Eadon focusing on the role of the conductor – and giving every music scholar the opportunity to direct an ensemble for the first time.

Many rose to the challenge, and several could well have promising careers as international maestros in due course! Music was, as ever, also at the forefront of the touching Remembrance Day commemorations with five trumpeters providing a moving rendition of ‘The Last Post’ alongside vocal contributions from the Chamber Choir. With the orchestra and four choirs in attendance at Romsey Abbey for the annual Carol Service, an uplifting and atmospheric start to the festive period was made. Many readers will have seen KES’s virtual Christmas card, with the choir singing John Rutter’s ‘There is a flower’ so beautifully – in the service itself, there were many other highlights to reflect upon at this truly special event.

It would be remiss not to mention the theatrical triumph of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ which had some truly memorable and brilliant performances on stage.

Behind the scenes, the sixteen-strong band (playing in one of the rooms off the Concourse, but closemic’d and relayed into the Dobson Theatre) were impressively tight and sensitive. That their number

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included three current pupils (including Lower Sixth student, Callum, on drums for the whole run), as well as one very recent former pupil, made their playing all the more remarkable. Many who attended in the audience commented very favourably on the standard of the show.

In the Spring Term the annual music competition provided the opportunity for some really fabulous solo performances. Richard McVeigh (organist and YouTuber) was our adjudicator on this occasion and was given the unenviable task of picking winners from a phenomenally talented pool of musicians; eventually Arabella (Third Year) and Sophie (Sixth Form) won the main prizes, but there were many other performers who gained smaller awards and much more dazzling playing besides. Mr McVeigh was able to visit us later on in the term to talk to the Scholars and Captains about his experiences as the world’s most popular organ YouTuber – perhaps rather a dull-sounding niche, but with over 100,000

Although officially under the auspices of the School’s charity umbrella, the Battle of the Bands was a

followers, his advice on making money and gaining

wonderfully energetic evening, showcasing the

followers, as well as setting up musical business

talents of some of the less regularly performing

plans was invaluable.

(but no less talented) rock and pop musicians. The standard was really high and the adjudicators had quite the job to judge an eventual winner from the bands - a decision made all the more complex when judging classic rock ballads against fresh new songs from the bands themselves. The evening was an important fundraiser for Southampton Young Carers and the Summer Camp team.

February saw the return of our Junior Spring Concert. It was a glorious evening of musicianship and a celebration of live music and included performances from Sinfonia, First Year Choir and Swing Band all of whom showcased the community

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winners; Watts, who edged a narrow win with their major ensemble which contained representation from every year group. Mr Parker was the competition’s adjudicator and, as expected, provided wonderful feedback for the Houses to improve for next year’s event. We also had a Scholars and Captains’ Talk given by Miss Seaby and Mr Eadon in how not to put on a concert, including a practical demonstration of what to do when things fail to go to plan.

and team spirit of the young musicians. Soloists also sparkled with captivating performances from a wide range of composers all beautifully introduced and professionally performed by the Lower School.

Always a highlight of the School calendar, the Senior Spring Concert showcased the very best of musical talent amongst pupils at KES. Highlights included a Mozart Clarinet Concerto performance

by Music Scholar, Tom, accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra. Tom demonstrated a level of professional virtuosity at the clarinet which was simply spellbinding. Soloists treated us to a broad range of composers and repertoire from Mozart arias through to Pink Floyd classics; and we must also mention the wonderful communities that make up the Symphony Orchestra (playing music by John Williams and von Suppé), Chamber Orchestra (playing the Holst St Paul’s Suite), Chamber Choir (performing twentieth and twenty-first century part-songs) and Big Band delighting us with repertoire to get our feet tapping!

Congratulations must go to all of the performers – but not forgetting the staff who, week-in, week-out, give of their best to help pupils attain something similar.

Particular thanks on this occasion must go to Mr Ted Carrasco who was directing the Big Band for his final time as their bandleader. His near-decade service to KES and to the development of Jazz at our school has been truly inspiring. Further, as part of our showcase season, musicians gave a recital at Romsey Abbey in March to experience public performance in a stunning venue and acoustic. KES musicians gained valuable experience in the public arena and concert stage. The concert was a delight for the audience of well over one hundred.

The Spring Term also saw the inaugural (or possibly re-inaugural) Inter House Music Competition.

Performances were wide-ranging and effervescent, show-casing the increasing sense of House spirit and gentle competition. There were stipulations concerning the use of as many different year groups as possible, so huge congratulations are due to the

The Summer Term, often thought of as a mere exam term, contained many more delights for the ears and eyes. In addition to the usual round of Music While You Lunch concerts, the First Year Choir sang in a performance of Alexander L’Estrange’s ‘Zimbe!’ with the locally-based Brockenhurst Choir while Scholars and Captains’ Talks were given by Ms Hayden and an external speaker discussing the Alexander Technique.

We also were at the forefront of the remarkable celebration for the 10th Anniversary of the partnership between Stroud and KES, with bands and Jazz serenading those in attendance on the School Field – ended only by even more dazzling fireworks.

As another year draws to a close, and the musical heartbeat drums away ever more strongly, it has been really encouraging to see Music, alongside the other arts disciplines, start to return to its pre-pandemic strength. We hope to see many more in attendance at our public facing performances in the next year though – music cannot live without people there to hear it!

Mr Eadon

Director of Music

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Clubs & Societies Astronomy (GCSE) Club

Bridge Club

This is an inspiring and exciting subject but would

This year saw the launch of the school Bridge Club.

also be a significant additional undertaking outside of

The club started with a mix of experienced players and

normal timetabled lessons. Studying GCSE Astronomy

complete beginners and now has a small group of pupils

also helps participants to cultivate fundamental skills

who have mastered the basics of the game and who

both universities and employers value highly, such as

meet to play every Thursday after school. We were lucky

scientific thinking, problem-solving skills, and the ability

to be able to learn from our more experienced players

to evaluate observations and methodologies.

who have been excellent teachers. We would love to see

The astronomers were dedicated and enthusiastic throughout the two years course. They sat their GCSE papers at the end of Fifth Year examinations this

more members next year who would like to master the game of Bridge.

Mrs Asiki

Summer Term.

Mrs Mahdavi

Cactus Club Cactus Club moved to E1 this year and met bi-weekly.

Over the first few weeks we were continually welcoming new members. Our early sessions featured splendid, informative and illustrated talks on the basics of looking after cacti; “Cactus Care”, “The Naming of Cacti”, “Cacti Regions of the World” and Re-Potting” were enthusiastically received, especially by First Years who were given their first cacti to begin their collection.

As we moved towards the end of the academic year, we were treated to “The Untouchables - where to find cacti in the UK”, “The Long Road to Mexico”, which involved a

As the year developed, so did the range of topics. “The

talk by David Attenborough on deserts and the drawing of

Cactus of Fire” delved into the appearance of cacti in films

the flag of Mexico as it features a cactus, and, the gem in

and took us way beyond Harry Potter. The return of James

the crown, “The Gallery of Stars”. This latter presentation

Mitchell’s “Cactus Bingo” produced some new, smiling

was an art display of photographs and drawings of the

champions and “Cactus 1549” reminded us that this was

members’ cacti at home. Many collections had grown

the call sign of the aircraft which made the spectacular

from the initial gift from the club to well into double figures.

emergency landing on the Hudson River on 16th January 2009.

The Malvern Spring Show took place in May. This is organised by the RHS. A small group from the club

In early March the annual competition took place. We were

attended. Amongst many admirable plants we were

graced by the dynamic and well-informed presence of

pleased to see that cacti featured prominently in the main

three greats of the cacti world: Becca, our President, Mrs

show tent. We were also thrilled to see that there was a

Whiting, our Library Assistant and Dr Buchanan, former

schools’ section. This year the theme was “Bring a Book

governor and loyal supporter of the School and Cactus

to Life”, and with help from School Garden Challenge

Club. Cacti underwent rigorous judging. Difficult decisions

Champion Chris Collins, ten incredible creations came to

were made before the top cacti of the year emerged.

life after months of hard work by teachers, volunteers and

The results were as follows: the President’s Prize went

the young horticulturists of the future. The winner brought

to Felicity with her delightful cactus “Princess”. Lewie’s

the tales of the Brothers Grimm to the horticultural table.

“Patrick” stormed through to wrest the prize in the Group

We took notes. Much food for thought.

category. In the Refugee section (which featured cacti rescued from an over-watered or over-dry and unloved end in a poorly-curated shopping outlet) “Angelica”, owned by Jessica, took first place. Finally, Edward with “Spiky” won in the Solo event. This was another superb and sunny lunchtime occasion and we are most grateful to our judges for their expertise and the generous giving of their time.

We have had a terrific year. Our thanks go to all our members who have made our meetings such fun. We move on to new adventures and to enlarging our cactus collections, keeping firmly in mind all that we have learnt this year.

The Cactus Club Team

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Character Design Club Character Design Club has been well attended by Lower School students this academic year. At the beginning of the year students began with basic character design focusing on sketching human anatomy and facial expressions. By Christmas, they had created their own nature-inspired creations looking at the work of Arthur Rackham. In the Spring Term, students worked on creating their own 3D clay models inspired by the character models displayed at the Harry Potter studios and, in the summer, we explored the surreal narrative illustrations by Shaun Tan. Some of the artwork produced at these sessions featured at the annual KES Private View in June.

Miss McGinn

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Charities Commission Members of the KES Charities Commission have been extremely busy this academic year. They have met each week to plan events and ensure that the money raised goes to worthy causes. In September, the Commission chose to raise £1,350 for Sophie’s Legacy which supports families admitted to hospital with their children. This was followed by the annual First Year Fun Run when the students were asked to create toy-inspired costumes and gain sponsorship to run around our School Field. They managed to raise £2,830 which is an incredible amount and this was donated to Scratch, Southampton.

money to fund a range of activities with the visually impaired students from Kings Copse Primary School.

They managed to raise over £700 and have already taken the students horse riding and intend to run more activity days over the Summer holidays.

At Christmas, the Commission sold advent calendars and managed the ‘Send a Candy Cane’ stall to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease Association. Along with the Carol Service donations they managed to raise over £1,000. In the Spring Term, the Commission raised money for the Ruth Strauss Foundation and have also run charity cricket fixtures. The total raised at this time stands at just over £800. A collection of toiletries for the homeless was arranged and these have been happily accepted by some of the most vulnerable in our local community. KES Charities has also raised money for the Turkey Syria Earthquake Appeal by hosting ‘Two Peas in a Pod’ event and a Sixth Form Chess Tournament.

At Easter, the Commission ran stalls for Cure Parkinson’s after Isla Osman’s thought-provoking ‘Thought for the Day’. The Sixth Form Leadership Team also organised a food collection in the Crush Hall for Southampton City Mission. In the Summer Term, money was raised for the Hampshire Family Counselling Trust and People’s Pride Southampton and asked the whole school to participate by wearing something colourful in June.

Alongside our Commission, the Sixth Form Charity projects have also been busy fundraising for their individual events this summer. The Sixth Form Partnerships Team hosted the PTA Quiz to raise

The Summer Camp Team kickstarted the year with their annual Battle of the Bands event which was a fantastic evening full of song and laughter.

The Summer Camp team have also run a netball tournament and KES Cluedo in which both staff and students have participated and have managed to raise over £1,500 which will go towards their week of activities with the young carers from No Limits in the summer holidays.

In February, our PDSA Team hosted a Barn Dance to raise money for their ongoing activities with their friends from Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association. This event, along with the evening auction, managed to raise over £3,200 which is an

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incredible achievement. The members of PDSA have also continued to meet with both the senior and junior members regularly throughout the year for activity evenings and to continue building friendships.

A huge thank you from KES Charities to all students who adorned silly socks, bought sweet treats for charity, or donated items this term. Your kind actions really do make a difference.

Miss McGinn

Head of Charities

Chess Club It has been another busy year in Chess Club, in which the number of our attendees has continued to grow.

We now have a separate Senior Chess Club running alongside our Friday club.

Students have competed both on physical boards and using the chess.com app, on which they have enjoyed competing to gain the top rating! A number of DofE participants have used chess as their skill section, improving the quality of their game in the process.

The House chess competition was a closely fought battle, won jointly by Reynolds and Watts this year.

Ms Ridley

Christian Union The Christian Union has met weekly throughout the year to allow Upper School and Sixth Form students to consider the big issues of life from a Christian perspective. The Bible was central and many deeply meaningful and helpful discussions took place with a variety of opinions being expressed.

Emma and Barnaby very ably led and planned the meetings. These were relaxed times (with snacks provided) where all ideas could be openly considered. The important topic “Science and the Bible” generated significant interest and the study of John’s gospel raised many profound issues. The three studies in Jude’s letter were timely with the appeal “to contend for the faith” a real challenge.

Mrs Asiki and Mr Singleton were on hand to contribute to discussions but it was very much a student-directed Society with many wonderful thoughts being expressed to the benefit of all.

Mr Singleton

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Classics Society

Coding Club

Following the departure of last year’s President, Sophia, the Classics Society has continued to thrive, with a mixture of lectures and activities. Talks have been given on topics as varied as classical Strictly Come Dancing, cats in the Ancient World, ancient LGBTQ+ culture, Christianity in Rome, Norse mythology, ridiculous classical deaths and how to survive as a Roman emperor. Meanwhile, activities such as a classically themed Taskmaster, Bake Off, Sudoku and crosswords have brought enjoyment and sweet rewards. Member of the Classics Society were put to the test by quiz masters Murray and Theo, and also welcomed back Sophia and Hannah for a Christmas quiz.

Over the past year, members of the Coding Club have continued to develop their programming skills using the Python programming language. For some, this was their first proper experience of programming, and they were introduced to various programming techniques, culminating in them creating programs which responded to user inputs; for example, a random number guessing game. Some students made use of the turtle graphics library to create turtle racing games.

Running Classics Society alongside co-president Beck this year has been an amazing experience and I hope that everyone who attended a Classics Society session this year has enjoyed it. I wish all outgoing Classics Society members good luck in their future classical endeavours, and I am excited to see where Classics Society will go next.

Students already possessing some proficiency in coding, spent time looking at various mathematical programming challenges from Project Euler. They were encouraged to employ various computational thinking techniques, including abstraction and decomposition, in order to help to better understand the problem. This stage of problem solving is often overlooked, but it is important that students are able to recognise its importance, as it enables them to write more logically structured and concise programs.

Samantha (Lower Sixth)

Sav (Lower Sixth)

Cookery Club This year our Fourth Years enjoyed preparing and cooking a variety of dishes, honing their knife skills and also their presentation skills. Recipes included spaghetti Bolognese, Thai green curry, scones, cheesecake with a fruit coulis, autumnal/ spring minestrone and pizza dough. Fiercely fought bakeoffs were undertaken with some delicious cakes and desserts being created.

Mrs Searles

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Cyber Ambassadors This recent year has been a busy time for the cyber ambassadors of KES; they have taken part in many activities, such as the Cyber Ambassador Conference, assemblies and supporting the lower year groups. This has provided the School and pupils with a network of support when they have had any cyber-related concerns or problems.

The Cyber Ambassador Conference was a monumental moment for the School as it was the first ever cyber conference, in collaboration with the Police and Crime Commissioner, and proved to be a fun but educational time for all the schools involved. There were a multitude of talks, ranging from the online safety bill, which many of us didn’t know about, and online safety to cyber security and hacking, with interactive methods to help us learn and understand more about the wider world of cyber security and even jobs within this sector. All of the cyber ambassadors enjoyed their time at the different workshops with some of our ambassadors here at KES even appearing on the local TV news to talk about our personal experiences and feelings on cyber security. The day culminated in KES winning the Pathfinder School of the Year award, which was very rewarding for our cyber ambassador team as it showed that our hard work was recognised.

We have also done work internally to help to educate the younger year groups on online safety, such as giving a talk to the First Years on the consequences of digital footprints, cyber-bullying, staying safe and secure, and appropriate internet use. We find that presenting this ourselves helps it to become more relatable for the lower year groups and we feel as though they become more interactive and aware of the subject. This is also seen through our one-to-one sessions, where a student who needs advice on internet usage will come and talk to one of the cyber ambassadors. We find this helps because it becomes a more relatable experience coming from their peers, in comparison to hearing the consequences from their teachers again. The cyber ambassador team at KES is always willing to help and educate those who need some guidance and we will continue to strive to be able to give more advice in the future as we also learn and grow.

Tessa (Lower Sixth)

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Senior Debating Society The Senior Debating Society has met every Tuesday after school. The turn-out was invariably healthy and enthusiastic. Freya was a tremendous President of the Society and ensured that every week activities were impeccably organised and there was a variety of serious and frivolous motions, as well as types of debates, from formal debates that involved one week’s research and preparation, to ‘table-tennis’ and balloon debates, which could be done more impromptu. Debates were always passionate and sometimes vociferous but never less than respectful.

The feedback at the end of each session from Freya and other seasoned debaters like the Vice President, Rebecca, and Amelia ensured that debaters honed their skills, whether this was avoiding fallacies, organising their arguments, dealing with points of information, defining and finding nuances within the motion, and so on.

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An entertaining and fiercely contested presidential election for 2023-24, for which all candidates produced thorough and innovative manifestos, was won by Rajeev and James. Promises for next year include pre-decided motions that will be voted for; a commitment to teaching debating techniques; making the transition between Junior and Senior Debating Society smoother; organising more external and internal competitions; allowing all members of the Society the opportunity to try out every role, from judge to floor to summary speaker; to host wholeschool assemblies and implement other publicity methods to recruit new members; and arranging mock-UN summits and mock trials, again to show the rest of the whole community how intellectually invigorating and culturally enriching debating can be.

We have a group of accomplished and indefatigably improving debaters, including Mandi, Alex, Celia, Max, Samantha, Ozan and many more. The society is a King Edward’s institution which is going from strength to strength; long may it flourish.

Mr Reekes

Digital Aspirants

Digital Leaders

The digital aspirants are a team of First Year techknow experts who have been learning additional IT skills to help their fellow students and teachers in lessons.

At the start of the year members of Digital Leaders participated in Open Evening, talking about topics and projects we have completed either in class or outside of the classroom.

This year our digital aspirants have developed their Microsoft Office skills and tested new software with Adobe Creative Cloud to create explainer videos and posters.

One such project saw us take inspiration from StarWars and design Lightsabers using Sketch-Up that could be 3D printed. At present, we are planning and organising the filming of a movie trailer in which we will use our 3D printed lightsabers.

They have also enjoyed creating advanced projects with Kodu Game lab and simulating a virus using the BBC Microbits. In the Summer Term we also discussed how to look after our digital wellbeing and took part in the ‘Solve for tomorrow’ STEM competition.

Mr Hall

The group meets every Friday at lunchtime to continue with our set projects and to discuss any new interesting topics as well. Being a Digital Leader is always fun and brings many responsibilities. I highly recommended it.

Sesika (Third Year)

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Diversity, Equality and Inclusion This year has seen a significant change in the way we talk about diversity issues here at KES. For the past seven years we have run DivSoc as a society for discussing lots of different diversity topics but, this year, we took the decision that specific topics needed their own societies. This change was, in part, inspired by the incredible success of FemSoc and, also, because the Curricular Wellbeing Programme now deals with many of the issues that DivSoc used to cover.

Along with the Multicultural Society, there is now MindSoc (who deal with neurodiversity and mental health), MenSoc (who deal with male mental health and toxic masculinity) and KesKweers (who discuss LGBTQ+ issues). We are hopeful that these changes will result in more members of the KES community feeling recognised and valued.

Mr Collinson

Doodle Club A regular group of Upper School students and First Years gather once a week to draw and talk in a relaxing and chilled environment. The students this year have been working on one piece that they have been making their mark on, and we are super excited about seeing the final doodles being displayed around school. You can get involved as little or as much as you want, and anyone and everyone, no matter your age, is invited; you do not need to be an artist to turn up and take part!

Mrs Collinson

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Economics Society

of Harry D’s encyclopaedic knowledge of aviation, and Harry B’s enthusiasm for the golf course.

Economics Society had a packed programme this year with a series of well attended studentled talks on what is now an established Friday B weekly lunchtime tradition. The Society depends on proactive student leadership and this year’s Presidents have delivered a wide ranging and thought-provoking programme. My thanks especially then to Kym, Bruno, Rhea and Joe, all of whom not only gave great talks, but rallied very healthy audiences and organised publicity as well as the welcome refreshments.

It was great to see some Lower Sixth students step up to present – Rajeev’s talk on credit did him great credit, and Oscar got off the mark with some insights from his successful cricket based social media accounts. We will no doubt hear more from both next year as the Lower Sixth students step up to take over this thriving society.

Topics tackled by this year’s speakers were a pleasing blend of the theoretical, explications of current economic events, and more specialist areas reflecting the speaker’s personal interest. In the first category, Kym’s inaugural talk on Constrained Optimisation and Jack’s views on game theory stand out, whilst in the second, Bruno’s two talks on environmental economics and policy responses (the second an entertaining duel with Robert) were well argued and insightful explanations of the enormous economic challenge presented by climate change.

The reach and applicability of Economics into all aspects of life gave us the opportunity to get a flavour

Football We continue to expand our football offering at KES with after school football training sessions running for our Lower School pupils and a Sixth Form boys’ team competing in the local colleges league.

The Sixth Form team had a mixed season, squeezing in 13 matches over the course of the season and securing 5 wins. Despite losing the first two fixtures of the season, they pulled back with an impressive 8-0 win over Bay House and progressed through to the semi-finals after wins against Portsmouth College and Itchen College. However, they were deprived of a place in the finals when they were beaten 3-2 by Barton Peveril College leaving them with a sixth place league finish. The team did well in the Steve Perkins Cup progressing to the semi-finals of the competition with good performances all round.

The team this season has comprised Lower and Upper Sixth boys. The Upper Sixth players who are leaving us will leave a huge void in the team, but we are hopeful that there will be some new keen footballers joining KES’s Sixth Form in September.

Mrs Ramshaw

Such is the appetite for Economics that this year we launched a specialist reading group, meeting after school or at lunchtimes to discuss a book, paper or news article. It has been good to see some crossover of ideas between the two events and reassuring to know that students are keen to pursue the subject beyond the bounds of the A Level course. With economic news continuing to make pretty grim reading this year, the students’ desire to find out more about economic ideas, policy and solutions gives us some hope for the future!

My thanks once again to the society Presidents, to all those who gave talks, and to all those who attended.

Mr Culver

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2023

Feminist Society (Fem Soc) Since its conception in September 2021, the KES Feminist Society has gone from strength to strength, with a wide range of discussions and lectures for Upper School and Sixth Form.

Our programme commenced with Mrs Whiting, Library Assistant, and Ms Ribas de Oliveira, Teacher of Physics, introducing Fem Soc, with many keen students looking to find out more about the purpose of the society and plans for the year ahead.

Shortly after, the first session was led confidently by Phoebe Rogers, Upper Sixth and Senior Deputy Head of School. Phoebe presented on the Intersectionality between Feminism and LGBTQ+, two iconic social movements that have progressed over the last 50 years. Phoebe explained the ways in which activists have worked together and against each other as the movements crossed paths, and how students can be open minded and curious about intersectionality in all walks of life.

Following feedback from last year, students expressed a want for modelling positive relationships, rather than many of the negative terms and scenarios they see in media and films, including coercive control or gaslighting. Mrs Whiting created a session and led the group through definitions of harmful or

toxic behaviours and characteristics of an unhealthy relationship. We then proposed several scenarios as students responded with ‘harmful’, ‘bare minimum’ and ‘healthy relationship’ examples for each.

Students enjoyed this session which allowed them to explore relationship expectations and reflect on selfrespect within their own relationships.

As Christmas approached, Emily, Upper Sixth delivered a well-attended session on Art and the Female Gaze. Emily’s Triptych Portraits have been displayed in the Atrium this year causing much curiosity for students and staff. Emily took us through her process for creating the pieces and the meaning behind each of her positions and expressions, which were reflective of her experiences as a young person in today’s society. Emily provided a brilliant exploration into how women have been represented as both artists and figures within art.

Next, Ruben and Abi, Upper Sixth, led a session on Incel Culture and the Manosphere, a growing corner of the internet that is promoting radical and misogynistic views about power dynamics between men and women. Students were taught about the horrid attitudes behind pick-up artists and incels who see women as property for conquering, messages which often trickle down through social media.

We discussed the real danger that these people pose, online and in real life, and how ironically this movement is causing poor male mental health and

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contributing to toxic social expectations of what it means to be a man. Many students said they had only briefly heard or seen incel culture, so this detailed session guided the students safely through the radical ideology and real world impact.

In the new year, Susie, Upper Sixth, presented on the Dangers of Chick Flicks, breaking down the typical clichés in rom coms as well as the aesthetics of how female characters are presented in film. Susie gave a look into the underlying themes of misogyny and toxic masculinity within many beloved films, and why breaking these stereotypes matters behind the scenes in the industry.

Due to its popularity last year, Abi, Freya and Hannah, Upper Sixth, presented their Scholars Project on Abortion. This gave them an opportunity to highlight the changes in American states following Roe v Wade being overturned and to consider the impact new laws and restrictions will have on everyday Americans.

We welcomed guest speakers Sarah and Liam from Christ Church Southampton, discussing women in the Bible and how women have been represented in historical texts. Sarah and Liam discussed how this translates into today’s culture and modern world and Christian values.

In the spring, we looked at feminism around the world, and various staff and students presented on feminism in their culture or country. This included Brazil, Ireland, Iran, Japan, Nigeria and France. An enlightening session which informed us of lesserknown movements and gave a taste of social conditions and barriers in each country.

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Mr Nichols and Sophie, England U17s player, tackled Women’s Football over the last 50 years including the discrimination women’s teams faced from FIFA which limited their playing opportunities. Sophie shared her experiences as a youth player for Southampton FC and England, and how their training facilities, time, payment and other conditions are still at a disadvantage compared to boys’ teams.

In the Summer Term, we had several science themed sessions. Mr Simm presented on Women in Physics and the challenges women in STEM face. Chloe, Fifth Year, led a session on Eugenics, the History of Birth Control and Designer babies, tackling both sociological and scientific issues. Guest speaker and OE, Imogen Bhogal, presented on Women in Engineering, recapping her education and career in electric vehicles and challenges she has faced and overcome.

Finally, Amanda, Lower Sixth, rounded off the year with the evolution of Disney through a feminist lens.

Amanda recapped how the princess stereotype has slowly improved, and whether Disney are including enough accurate representation of women and our diverse global population in their animation and film.

New for 2022, Junior Fem Soc, led by Mrs Galan, Teacher of Languages, has launched for Lower School Students. We kick-started the group with an interactive session led by Sixth Form Students in First Year Group Bases. The session was designed to get young students thinking about gender stereotypes and where they have seen these in their life so far.

Junior Fem Soc has continued to meet on Thursday lunchtimes for informal discussions on gender stereotypes and norms. We hope that this group continues to grow as students progress through the school and new students join.

Many thanks to all of our speakers this year, with both staff and students helping to expand feminist thinking. We will feel the great loss of our Upper Sixth students who are passionate and have demonstrated their interest over the years. We hope that they go on to participate in or lead feminist groups at their chosen universities and careers.

The year ahead will be key in encouraging Upper School students to join discussions and lectures and continuing the growth of the Society.

Mrs Whiting and Ms Ribas de Oliveira

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2023

Greenpower This season is the 12th year that the KES Greenpower Team has entered a car into the regional heats at Goodwood Race circuit. During this time, we have raced in rain and sunshine, we have overheated and frozen, we have won the best new team award, raced at world famous circuits like Silverstone and Rockingham, qualified for multiple national and international championships and helped team members pursue their education in design and engineering at some top universities.

I started the Greenpower team in my first year of working at KES and, with help from my father (Vic Blow), the club has been popular and well attended from the beginning. Greenpower offers the students a unique opportunity to design, build and race their own electric car against other schools and colleges and, with the support of KES PTA, the team now has two race cars and everything else that is needed to get them on the track.

This season’s racing was as action-packed as ever with the normal format of 2 x 90 minute races, to be held on the same day at Goodwood. The team had fitted a speed controller to the newer of the two cars and felt confident rolling onto the grid for Race 1. All went smoothly for the first 90 minutes, securing the team a solid result ahead of race 2.

A loose battery terminal left the car stranded on the grid when the flag was dropped but after some quick work in the pits to identify and fix the issue, the

drivers steadily worked their way back up through the field to record a good combination of results and the chance of a qualification spot for the National Finals at Silverstone. With the qualification tables ever changing until the season is complete, the team won’t know if they have gained a place at Silverstone until September but we are all hopeful they have done enough.

This will be my final season with the team and it has been a pleasure to work with all of the students over the years. I am most proud of the ownership and responsibility that the students have taken for their team and its performance. The KES Greenpower Team is a student-led club, with the older members helping the new students as they move up through the School. Our cars may not win the races but the learning along the way is significant and real.

I am really pleased that the Greenpower Team will continue after I leave KES, and my thanks go to Mr

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“I’ve recently joined GreenPower and I’ve loved it! It was really fun getting behind the wheel and testing the cars on the School Field. Everybody has been very welcoming and they’ve helped me to know what to do. I would highly recommend it!”

“I have really enjoyed doing Greenpower at KES - it helped a lot with my confidence in teams and it is very interesting to learn about all the different aspects of the car and engineering as a whole. Also, the days at Goodwood are extremely fun and a unique opportunity to drive on track.”

Ferguson and Mr Mobley for taking over the reins next year, as well as to all the staff and parents who have helped me over the past 12 years. My final thank you is for Vic, my father; without his help I simply could not have run the club.

Mr Blow

“I have really enjoyed Greenpower this year as it has been a great experience and opportunity for me to learn about how the electronics and mechanics of the car work. It will help me a lot for my GCSE, and also has helped me in my end of year exams.”

Geography Society It has been an exciting year for Geography Society, and we have been privileged to chat and listen to so many exciting speakers, ranging from students, teachers and external speakers.

Miss Cooper impressed with talks of her travels to Africa, sharing stories of elephant encounters and animal sightings. Will in Upper Sixth shared adventures of his trip to Nepal, from the food he ate to the views he saw, and Oli in Lower Sixth spoke about his trip to Iceland, sharing pictures of glaciers and rock formations closely linking to the “Coasts” section of the A Level course.

We were lucky enough to hear from Tom, a representative of True Adventure, who spoke about his work with Better Lives Charity in Africa, and also the issues associated with “voluntourism”. We look forward to hearing back from the team of KES students who leave for Tanzania at the end of term with True Adventure, and are excited to hear all about their adventures in Geography Society in September.

Thank you to everyone who has spoken or attended talks, and we hope everyone has enjoyed the opportunity to expand their geographical knowledge and mingle with students from other year groups!

Molly, Nic and Isla (Lower Sixth)

Historical Society The Coundley Historical Society has continued to meet ever fortnight during this academic year, allowing Sixth Form historians to be exposed to areas of the past, both familiar and unfamiliar, and, again, reinforcing its status as one of the most valued and eminent of the King Edward’s academic societies.

The range of topics covered has been as broad and exciting as ever - the Society has been lucky enough to listen to pupil presentations on subjects as diverse as the Berlin Wall and 9/11, whilst also being challenged by talks on Gorbachev, Richard Nixon and the visit of the Byzantine Emperor to England during the reign of Henry IV. That said, perhaps the most memorable talk of all was given by Mrs Leathem, whose intriguing exploration of the historical accuracy of Hollywood blockbusters left all present with much to ponder over. The past is about so much more than simple dates and timelines - the real fun is to be had both through learning about entirely new material and being challenged on one’s assumptions concerning more familiar topics. The Coundley Historical Society performs this dual role with real aplomb and all involved look forward to seeing what 2023/4 might offer.

Mr Diver

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2023

Greek Club

Japanese Club

This year a variety of intrepid pupils have been trying Greek (ancient, not modern!) in a lunchtime club or after school. For the first time, two of our Upper Sixth pupils will be sitting the Intermediate Certificate in Classical Greek this summer, a goal for the current crop of aspiring Hellenists to aim for, which will allow them to read the Greek written and spoken by Athenians at the height of its powers in the late Fifth Century BC. Stories concerning Aesop, Homer and Alexander the Great give an idea of the breadth of culture available.

Japanese is very different from languages like Spanish or German, ones which we are, perhaps, more familiar with. This means that studying it can be challenging, but also fascinating. In Japanese Club this year students have learnt how to communicate key information about themselves and their families, go shopping, and talk about hobbies and interests in the present tense. We have also learnt to read and write using one of the phonetic syllabaries, Hiragana, and some basic Kanji. We are looking forward to building upon this next year

Mr Halls

Mr Lawson

Lego League (STEM CLUB)

‘Best Innovation Project’ for a solar panel which has been engineered to change angle depending on the position of the sun.

During the Autumn and Spring Terms a group of 15 students from the First, Second and Third year have been busy taking part in the global STEM competition FIRST Lego League. Carving time after school, during lunchtimes and even on weekends, our 2 teams have been busy looking at the scientific and real-world challenge of energy production, partly researching and designing an innovative solution for the future while also constructing and programming Lego Education robots to complete tasks.

On 8 March the regional tournament took place at The National Motor Museum, Beaulieu. During the day our young teams presented their projects to a panel of judges and competed in a series of robot matches. Our amazing teams won the trophy for ‘Best robot design’ for a nimble robot with multiple modular attachments. We also won the award for

“I’m super proud of our students and their incredible effort. This is the first year we have entered the competition and it was always going to be a tough challenge competing against older children. The teamwork, engineering and robotic skills the students have learnt have impressed everybody and will hopefully encourage them to take part again next year.”

Mr Hall

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Library Leaders As always, the Library has enjoyed a packed year of activities with our Library Leaders - we have well over 70 students across every year group! We work alongside our Library Leaders on a daily basis, as part of their role is to work in the Library on a rota basis with us each week. Students will assist us on the desk, cataloguing new books and designing engaging and relatable displays with themes such as Pride, Ocean Literacy, and author spotlights. It has been truly wonderful seeing students from the Upper School and Sixth Form training the new First Year Library Leaders on how to work in the Library, recommending their favourite reads and sharing a love for all things ‘Library and reading’ with their peers.

Our biggest week of the year which is World Book Week is a chance for our Library Leaders to really shine and take a prominent role in the coordinating of the activities. The week kicked off with a whole school assembly on dealing with grief through reading, with Library Leaders Sesika (Third Year) and Jacky (Fourth Year) taking part. We then celebrated a love of reading in some way each day throughout the

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week which included a ‘Reading Café’ in the Library, a used book swap stall running all week in the Crush Hall alongside our amazing reading installation designed by Mx Brewer. Plus, to celebrate World Book Day, we created a marvellous Murder Mystery evening exclusively for our Library Leaders. Teachers played the part of suspects and our students had to solve the fictional murder using their skills of deduction inspired by their favourite literary detectives such as Poirot, Enola Holmes and Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells from the ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ series.

During our Library Leader summer party this year, we were thrilled to award Library Leader of the year 2023 to Eliza who is currently in Third Year. Eliza has been a prominent Library Leader since her First Year at KES and has been an absolute joy to work with.

Eliza is conscientious, kind and always comes in for her designated Library duty, clearly truly enjoying being part of the Library. She has also always been a keen reader and sets a wonderful example to all KES students.

I also want to thank our Upper Sixth Literary Ambassador, Hannah, who is moving onto University next academic year. Hannah is our head Library Leader and has been instrumental in all of our initiatives, parties and events this year. Her work in the Library each week has been outstanding, as is her leadership and mentoring with younger Library Leaders. Hannah now hands the Library batten over to Charlotte, who we are delighted to welcome as our new Sixth Form Literary Ambassador for 2024.

We have lots more exciting plans underway for next year and look forward to the ever-increasing numbers of Library Leaders joining our community!

Miss Speck and Mrs Whiting

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2023

Literature Society It has been another fruitful and fascinating year in Literature Society. The first half of the Autumn Term was devoted to the prestigious King Edward’s tradition, the Booker Prize Challenge, which throws down the gauntlet of reading every novel on the Man Booker shortlist in the five weeks before the prize is awarded. There was plenty of lively and forthright discussion about the relative merits of the novels on the 2022 shortlist. The group’s favourite was ‘Small Things Like These’ by Claire Keegan, although the eventual winner, ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’

by Shehan Karunatilaka, received a respectable seven out of ten. This year six students - Phoebe, Emma, Freya, Gabsy, Celia and Emma - read all six novels in the five weeks. This is made all the more impressive for the clarity and verve with which they discussed the novels and is a remarkable achievement.

For the rest of the year, Lit Soc has held debates, University Challenge-style quizzes, and a number of talks covering a miscellany of topics: Dr Schofield gave an illuminating whistle-stop tour through ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’; Mr Reekes spoke on two of his favourite poems, ‘Started Early, Took My Dog’ by Emily Dickinson and ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning; Freya gave two stellar talks, one on ‘The relationship between poetry and song and the figure of the singer’, which covered such wideranging subjects as the definition of a ‘bard’ and Britten’s ‘War Requiem’, and one on her EPQ, ‘Is Greek tragedy inherently misogynistic?’; Emma delivered an engrossing presentation on the translation of modern Japanese literature into English; Mandi spoke passionately about her personal journey in writing poetry, from inspirations to the creative process, the refinement of her skills and experimentation with form; and we welcomed a dynamic and engaging external speaker, Professor Will May from the University of Southampton, who gave a talk entitled ‘Telling Tall Tales - retelling in contemporary UK Poetry’, which traced Chaucer and Eliot through Patience Agbabi, covering a staggering amount of

ground in half an hour and culminating in students having a go at rewriting the opening to Eliot’s ‘The Wasteland’.

Three of our departing Upper Sixth Literature students were invited for interview at Oxbridge and the current Lower Sixth are an enthusiastic and able cohort, voracious readers all, who have a plethora of exciting ideas for Lit Soc next year, which should ensure the Society remains in rude health and continues to flourish.

Mr Reekes

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Lunar Society Lunar Society is a forum for students and teachers to present and discuss interesting concepts in science and maths. This year saw a revival of the society after a break due to COVID. It has been a fantastic year with fourteen talks on a wide range of topics, from Quantum Computing and Atomic Clocks, Pluto and the Physics of flight, Fractals and Hydrogen Atomic Orbitals to Rubik’s cubes.

‘Chaos’ by Zak explored the nature of systems built from a simple rule that lead to unpredictable behaviour, a concept that is very important to physics but is not included within the A Level course.

For this lecture he coded some fantastic graphics showing the development of such a system to aid his explanation.

Oliver gave a two-part lecture series on special relativity, which dived into the strange and even paradoxical nature of Einstein’s famous theory. He researched well beyond the physics course to give a pair of brilliant lectures that helped us to see that all the seemingly absurd predictions, follow from the postulates in a logical mathematical way, and the apparent paradoxes can be easily resolved.

There were a few lectures that were based purely on maths, including talks on fractals and the Rubik’s cube. Afjal and I explored the idea of extending functions beyond their usual domains. It introduced complex numbers and an understanding of how

functions behave in unfamiliar circumstances.

Ruben’s talk on Rubik’s cubes gave an insight into the mathematics of permutations and puzzle solving methods. He has immense skill with such puzzles, and we were all fascinated to understand the technique involved to solve them as fast as he does.

After each talk there is always a plethora of questions asked to the speaker which always stimulate insightful debate. A recurring theme of these discussions has been the idea of free will and whether there is room for it in a predictive model of physics. This topic was tackled in Ashwin’s talk of the many worlds theory and Alex’s on super determinism.

I have greatly enjoyed being President over the last year, the society has a very friendly atmosphere, people are always willing to give a talk and everyone else is always interested to listen, so much so that we have had to change the club from meeting biweekly to meeting weekly. I hand the presidency to Oliver next who I am sure will do an excellent job and I hope he has as much fun in the role as I have.

Robert (Upper Sixth)

Lunar Society President

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2023

MedSoc MedSoc has continued in its role of supporting our students’ applications to medicine and the allied professions. We have been fortunate enough to hear from a number of memorable and engaging speakers throughout the year, as well as contributions from our own students.

We have heard from medical professionals in a number of specialisms. Mr Aiman Alzatani, a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at University Hospital Southampton, shared his experiences of training in medicine and discussed advances in surgical techniques. Dr Mark Tomson, a local GP, spoke about his varied career with a focus on emergency medicine for sailors. We have also heard about the problem solving required in Rheumatology from Dr Ernest Wong, a consultant Rheumatologist in Portsmouth, as well as the importance of sexual health doctors from Dr Sophie Nicholls and Dr Emma Mischel. In collaboration with the scholars’ programme, Mary Tebb gave a memorable presentation on her role as a physiotherapist working with patients with prosthetic limbs.

A number of Old Edwardians have been kind enough to share their insights of their medical specialities and training. Dr Jonathan Rial, a local GP, spoke about the role of primary care, including insights into the challenges faced by GPs. Dr Olivia Ellis spoke about the next steps in her training following her medical degree. Arev Melikyan spoke to us about the intercalation in his medical degree, and the rewards of carrying out research as a part of his training. A group of recent OEs, currently at medical school, shared their memories and advice of the application process, as well as providing a students’ eye view of life at medical school.

A number of our own students have presented to MedSoc this year. James, one of our MedSoc presidents, gave an interesting presentation on the Galleri test for multiple cancers. Charlotte led a journal club on the outcome of clinical trials for antibody therapies against Alzheimer’s disease.

Ellie presented a fascinating EPQ project on the opioid crisis in the United States; and Abi gave a thought-provoking talk on the ethical considerations surrounding abortion.

In addition to these talks, we have explored a number of important issues around medicine, including the importance of the interaction between medicine and research; ethical considerations in medicine, and alternative careers to medicine. Our Lower Sixth students are now entering the application stage in earnest, with the upcoming UCAT and BMAT assessments.

Our thanks go to our outgoing MedSoc presidents this year, James and Emily. We are also grateful for the number of speakers who have given up their valuable time to speak to our students. If you are reading this and feel that you would like to contribute to our programme, please do get in touch.

Dr Wortham and Dr Thomas

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Multicultural Society For the first time ever at KES, this year we celebrated our multicultural communities. 23% of our student body is made up of individuals who share a culture outside of school and we were keen to promote these unique identities. What better way to celebrate this, but to have an evening honouring the healthy population we have by filling the night with music, dances, poems, literature, food, and traditional clothing; it truly was a colourful and vibrant evening.

Students from all year groups and staff shared and embraced our roots with other communities, unfamiliar with cultures who wanted to learn. The society is hoping to grow and welcomes everyone who would like to be a part of a diverse and inclusive society.

Mrs Collinson

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2023

Paddleboarding Club Paddleboarding Club ran on a Tuesday evening in the Autumn and Summer Terms. The weather in the Autumn Term was not so good to the pupils and the first session took place in driving rain. However, as they all fell in anyway this did not dampen spirits. The Summer Term could not have been better conditions - with sun and a gentle breeze. Pupils quickly learnt how to paddle in a straight line, turn and stand up on the board, although for some of them they were keener to be in the water than on the SUP! My thanks go to all the staff who help run these sessions.

Miss Cooper

Partnerships It has been another exciting and fulfilling year for Partnerships.

Many collaborations were formed with a range of partner schools taking part in a wide range of workshops and activities.

In the Autumn Term Christmas cards to the community members of Bassett Care Home were not only sent by pupils this year but accompanied by the First Year choir who performed Christmas carols and songs for the festive season. Popular workshops in Science and Art were led by our superb teachers whose creativity and enthusiasm enable these activities to be such a success.

Such sessions included an incredible range of activities including the design and construction of an electronic game and practising a number of new practical experiences (including dissection!) using our Science facilities.

Alongside the Science and Art workshops, we hosted the London Mozart Players workshop, offering participants the opportunity to improve their skills by playing alongside other wind and brass players. In the Spring Term, Shirley Junior participated in a creative writing workshop on ‘Heroes and Villains’. This workshop was led by two wonderful Sixth Formers, Mandi and Amelia, who created and delivered energising, thought-provoking and challenging activities.

To conclude the year, pupils from Mount Pleasant, St Mark’s and Shirley Junior visited the School to participate in our biennial Science festival. The festival encompassed a wide range of activities including a science magic show!

Miss Goodsell

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PDSA Partnership

Summer Activity Week When I joined PDSA and had my first outing with the group, I asked them what their favourite thing was about the partnership. Most of them answered that the summer activities were by far the best so, throughout the summer holidays, I was excited and a bit nervous about what to expect during these 4 days.

Day 1 began with a chance to ask our PDSA friends about their holidays while playing games. We played ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’, and it was evident that we would be doing this for some time – it was a firm favourite.

This was followed by some time playing with the Lego, singing and playing a lot of football. Everyone found the day relaxing.

On Day 2, we headed to Marwell Zoo. It was lovely to see all the teenagers get so much enjoyment from seeing the animals. It is safe to say that my group’s favourite animals were the giraffes. An honourable mention must go to the rhinos as we spent a lot of time watching them sleep but it was their size that captivated the teens. Lunch included being attacked by wasps for a solid hour before slowly making our way around the rest of the zoo. After a crazy and loud bus journey, we arrived back to school for a bit of downtime.

Day 3 saw us visit Paulton’s Park. We were split into small groups and mine was eager to get to the rollercoasters and we sped through them quickly.

Despite the heat of the day, the rides were extremely enjoyable to do with members of the PDSA teen group. We then headed back to KES for a sleepover.

Everyone watched 2 movies and then went to their sleeping areas but no-one slept a wink as everyone was way too excited. We headed off to Wellington the next morning as our 4 days came to an end.

Looking back on it, I am grateful to have been given this opportunity to bring some spark to the PDSA teen group’s members’ lives. I truly enjoyed myself and continued to strengthen my friendship with them. It’s a seriously great partnership that brings happiness to many lives. I very much look forward to seeing them again soon.

Pete (Upper Sixth)

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2023

PDSA Teen Group We started the year off in December with a barn dance to meet the PDSA teen members and for them to meet us. We were all feeling relatively nervous to meet new people for the first time but the best thing about a barn dance is how silly everyone looks doing it so it becomes great fun. People even got a chance to show off their special skills like cartwheeling in some dances.

Our second outing was to Romsey Rapids, where we went twice during the year. Both times were great fun with the Rapids and the slide all for us only! It was also wonderful to watch the teens push themselves out of their comfort zones. Some were scared of the water flume to start with but, by the end, they couldn’t get enough of it!

The barn dance in February was a big fundraising event that funded the majority of our activities throughout the year. It was lots of fun with parents and friends dancing along together to country music.

Our visit to Red Spider Climbing was fun for both KES and PDSA members with the wall posing challenges for all of us. We had both some time to climb and some in the play area.

During our trip to Flip Out, some of us went crazy with the jumps and trampolines while others loved the giant bouncy slide. This was followed by pizza, nuggets, ice cream and lots of chatting.

The final activity before the summer was a sports evening at KES. We had pizza, played ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’ and ‘Stuck in the mud’ as well as ‘Splat’. Some played football and we all enjoyed the nice summer evening having fun together.

PDSA Junior Group In our brand-new junior group, we met up once every half term with primary school children to do fun activities such as games and obstacle courses.

We also used the parachute which everyone really enjoyed. During these sessions, we were able to get to know everyone and form lasting friendships. We discovered that a lot of new skills came from this, and it was an invaluable experience for both us and the kids. To raise money, we also hosted a barn dance and auction for parents and family at the School.

We raised nearly £4000 while having a wonderful time dancing and chatting. This experience has been one of the best of our times at school as it has increased our leadership, and communication skills and teamwork, and we have all learnt a lot from the children, such as some sign language and new dance moves! We look forward to meeting more members of our group and continuing to have fun with our existing team.

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Photography Club The KES Photography Group was reformed and restarted during this academic year following the departure of some older students and the initiation and enthusiasm of some younger ones. The group comprises those using just their iPads or phones right through to those with full SLR kit who have enjoyed assignments, competitions and learning new skills.

The group received a very generous gift from the KES PTA which enabled the purchase of some LED lamps, mini studios and some miniature items with which to get creative and make images on a small scale.

A recent competition saw entries in the categories Celebrations, Bright, Small and Nature giving four different opportunities to display pictures and enjoy a focus for taking photos.

The group welcomes all members of the school with an enthusiasm to take pictures.

Mr Robinson

Psychology Society The KES Psychology Society has been as popular as ever this year. The students have really impressed with their enthusiasm when researching and presenting topics beyond the specification. We have enjoyed talks on the Mandela Effect, which explored the fascinating occurrence of large groups of people holding the same false belief (for example the common belief that Nelson Mandela died in the 1980s), as well as learning about the Psychology of Great Businesspeople, which explored why certain mental health disorders are more common in highly successful people but can be seen as advantageous in specific circumstances. The talk on the Transgender Brain was particularly popular and we also learnt about Sports Psychology, amongst other topics. The students talked passionately about each unique area which had sparked their interest and answered questions confidently.

Mrs Brindley-Ewan

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2023

Sailing Club So far this year we seem to have spent most sailing sessions searching for a bit of wind, but that hasn’t put off the pupils from coming down to SWAC for their sailing sessions on a Sunday morning.

During the first half of the Autumn Term, we welcomed back some regulars to the Sailing Club and introduced a new group of beginners to the wonders of messing around on boats. The weather for these sessions was a bit up and down but this didn’t put the beginners off and they were soon able to sail around a small course. The more experienced sailors enjoyed developing their seamanship skills, including learning how to sail without rudders, a rather key piece of equipment for steering the boat!

For the first time, we ran Sunday morning sessions in the Spring Term, aimed at our more experienced sailors, to help teach and develop team racing and fleet racing skills. These sessions were enjoyed by all, despite often having very little wind, and pupils learnt how a race can be won or lost in the first 2 minutes.

The hope is we will be able to take part in some sailing regattas against other schools in the future.

Over Easter, many KES and Stroud pupils took advantage of the sailing courses offered by SWAC and, although they once again spent some days hunting for wind, pupils enjoyed learning and developing their skills and making new friends. A big thanks also goes to the pupils who supported this week as assistant instructors.

In the Summer Term, we welcomed a lot of new sailors to the club and also benefited from some of our KES assistant instructors giving up their time to support our beginners on the water. The weather has been glorious for these sessions, although sun sometimes still leads to a lack of wind. However, we have been making the most of the whole of Southampton Water and to find a breeze the sailors were towed further out on to Southampton Water.

Pupils have enjoyed the sessions and have made new friends, developed teamwork skills and have always come away with smiles on their faces.

My thanks go to the pupils who always show up with enthusiasm, the pupils who have supported as assistant instructors and the staff who give up their Sunday mornings to enable these sessions to run.

Miss Cooper

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Stage Crew Club This year has been a fantastic year for productions and the students working in Stage Crew have had some very diverse experiences in working backstage on shows.

For our whole school production in November, we staged ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. This was an extravaganza of a show with a giant cake needing to be wheeled on stage with a person inside and several scenes that had a full ‘film set’ of staging and props to be set up.

Stage Crew joined in with the theme of the show and all wore brown workmen coats, as often they were visible as part of the scenes while carrying out their duties. Whether it was hauling a giant fan into place, or sorting out knocked over bushes that went off cue, they worked hard to keep the flow of the production going. For the rain effect needed, we used over 10 kg of glitter confetti across the show run week, all swept up by the hardworking crew, not an easy task at the end of the night! This production offered the extra opportunity for two of our Crew to be follow spot operators. Jess and Jamie were brilliant in this role and brought a professional approach, especially when they had to follow spot three dancers between two follows in one dance - not a simple challenge for even experienced crew.

The Lower School production of ‘Emil & the Detectives’ brought a different tone with a film noir setting and the chance for the Stage Crew to assist in creating the locations across Berlin where the play is set. We brought a train carriage on stage (complete with smoke), created a café, kitchen, a bank, trams and a hotel room, and made sure that the vintage bicycle was able to be ridden on and off the stage with ease. The crew hit their cues perfectly during every performance.

In our regular sessions, we looked at some of the techniques that are used for creating soundscapes for the stage, with the students coming up with their own scenarios and bringing them to life with SFX. The Stage Crew assisted with varied activities from folding theatre drapes, painting floors, lighting the Battle of the Bands event and painstakingly stapling book pages that were part of the World Book Week installation in the crush hall.

For myself I note that the students have been a pleasure to work with, always upbeat and interested in the varied disciplines of technical theatre. As a team, there is a friendly welcome that extends to anyone who wants to be involved with us backstage.

Mx Brewer

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2023

Sustainability Action Group As another remarkable year comes to a close, we are delighted to present a year-in-review of the progress undertaken by us in the Sustainability Action Group.

Throughout this year, we pursued various themes and initiatives that contributed to our collective mission of promoting sustainability within our immediate community and beyond.

Our year began with a focus on the fashion industry, with a particular focus on how “greenwashing” done by companies to appear outwardly sustainable is ultimately unproductive and unsustainable. This culminated in our Slow Fashion Sale where we gathered clothing donations to sell second-hand in the atrium. This was a tremendous success, and we hope to establish it as an annual tradition.

The group also worked with the Charities Commission in decisions regarding fundraising for charities to support victims of the Pakistan Floods and Earthquakes in Turkey. This came along with a series of assemblies offering a view that demonstrated the harsh reality of the situation, and the causes of natural disaster.

Other focuses include tackling food waste, which remains a key theme from the previous year. We furthered the discussion by looking at waste management within the new concourse and its street food bar. After numerous student-led meetings, the concourse is set to replace its disposable trays with reusable ones.

In addition, we ran a series of assemblies titled “No Snow”, putting into perspective the impacts of global warming through the lens of its impact on skiing holidays - a topic close to the hearts of many of our students. This discussion on the effects of climate change continued throughout the festive season as we aimed to promote a Sustainable Christmas. We did this through the launch of videos on social media which has become a big part of our outreach this year, with monthly sustainability tips that provide a constant flow of informative (and sometimes comedic) reminders to help us adopt seemingly small sustainable practices to ultimately reduce our collective impact, year-round.

Furthermore, the Sustainability Action Group has been closely involved in the future of the School; the group had an important role in ensuring that sustainability is carefully considered in all aspects of the school’s development plan. An example of this is that we have 2 classrooms that have been experimentally remodelled to maximise natural

lighting in the room, contributing to the School’s aim to ultimately become net zero in emissions.

In parallel with our commitment to sustainable infrastructure changes, we have also established the community garden this year along with the KES Spuds Gardening Club. The garden will serve as a living example of the importance of sustainability at KES as it allows us to intertwine sustainability into school life where students can get handson in Extended Studies and Cookery Club; in Geography lessons; and as a general community space for events like the current Sunflower Growing Competition.

As we reflect on the success we have found this year, sustainability will continue to be a driving force in our endeavours. We look forward to bringing sustainability to the Science Festival in June, as well as continuing to nurture and maintain the community

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garden with our theme for this term being “Fruit and Veg”. As we sow the seeds of change, both metaphorically and literally, we understand that even the smallest germinating sunflower seed, like mine named “Bartholomew”, has the potential to grow into something magnificent. Similarly, the initiatives that we enact today have the potential to cascade and grow, culminating in a collective impact that echoes well beyond the walls of our school.

Afjal

Incoming Sustainability Prepositor

Wargaming Club It has been another good year for the Wargaming Club, with some welcome new recruits joining seasoned veterans returning for another year of board and card games on a Thursday evening. Anyi, Ruby, Peter, Dillon, Guy and Owen were among the most regular players, ably marshalled by Charlie who has grown into the mantle of club elder now that the Fifth Years have moved on. Among the games played, “Evolution Climate” proved a hit, “The Captain Is Dead” and “Forbidden Island” offered co-operative alternatives to the more competitive fare and the new “7 Wonders Architects” proved a great new addition, having much of the appeal of the classic original whilst playable to a finish within the club’s allotted hour. The prize for most played game must go the perennial favourite “Bang!” with an honourable mention to Ayni and Ruby’s “Gubs”. Meanwhile, next door in J2, Tim, Max, Felix, Jamie and Robert spent the year playing Warhammer 40K, showing much the same enthusiasm and commitment that they gave to last year’s remarkable Pathfinder campaign.

Thanks to all who played with such good humour and contributed to another successful year; may you always roll a six!

Dr Gamblin

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2023

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Trips and events

Biology Field trip to Leeson House The Lower Sixth biologists travelled to Leeson House in Swanage in the latter part of the Summer Term to carry out the field work aspect of the A Level course. We were ably taught by the Leeson House tutors whose expertise allowed the students greater insight into the interactions of organisms and the environment.

Our first day was spent at Studland Bay, which contains a unique area of Heathland with many species unique to the area, where the students studied the change in distribution of plant life moving from the seashore back into the dunes and how this related to the changing conditions. We then moved on to Leeson House and, having settled into the rooms, analysed the data. Following dinner, the students designed their personal projects to carry out the following day, learning about the range of habitats and plants present in the Leeson House grounds from tutor, Mike.

The next day, the students were split into groups, with half staying on site to carry out their projects while the other half went to Wareham to carry out river sampling in the River Piddle, swapping in the afternoon. The students found a wealth of creatures, including the endangered white clawed crayfish, and particularly enjoyed catching fish in the deeper waters. The rest of the day was spent completing the projects and their presentations.

On the final morning, we started the day looking at a variety of moth species caught the previous evening, including the elephant hawk moth. We then moved on to Kimmeridge Bay, where the students studied two aspects of rocky shore ecology: the effect of wave strength on limpet height, and the distribution of periwinkles moving from the sea up to the higher areas of the shore. A particular highlight was the opportunity for the students to explore the Kimmeridge rock pools, with many crabs, anemones and shrimp found, as well as the occasional fossil in the sedimentary rocks.

The trip was a great success and left the students with a greater appreciation and knowledge of a variety of different ecosystems and the techniques used to monitor them.

Dr Wortham

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2023

Trips and events

Charlotte Exchange

In October half-term, a group of ten KES students jetted off to Charlotte in North Carolina for a 10day home stay with their American buddies. Whilst in America, students had the chance to live with an American family and absorb American life and culture.

The KES students went to school and experienced different classes and even took part in a middle school assembly. During this time, they spent their days on different excursions; hiking in the North Carolina mountains, visiting the NASCAR Hall of Fame, enjoying a walking tour of the Uptown and a backstage tour of the Blumenthal Theatre, as well as taking part in a STEM workshop at Discovery Place. At the weekend students accompanied their buddies and their families to see sports games, went on camping trips and to the theme park and, of course, enjoyed some shopping! One of the key highlights was experiencing an American Halloween.

Students went trick or treating and dressed up with their buddies. They couldn’t quite believe the number of decorations and the sheer amount of candy that was handed out. They thoroughly enjoyed their stay in Charlotte, experiencing American life and culture first hand and to the full.

In February, the return leg took place, with the American exchange students joining KES for ten days of British culture. The American students enjoyed day trips to; London, Harry Potter studios, Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge, as well as walking the walls of Southampton and visiting the Sea City Museum.

Both legs were a great success, with students getting the chance to learn about different cultures, complete projects in a creative medium and all those that took part, made wonderful friendships and memories.

Miss Bentley

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Trips and events

Duke of Edinburgh Award

The Duke of Edinburgh award programme continues to provide opportunities for our students, supported by our dedicated staff. This year we have seen the following teams start their awards and progress throughout, completing both a practice and qualifying expedition: Bronze: 14 Teams (New Forest) Silver: 7 Teams (Dartmoor) Gold: 3 Teams (Lake District and Wales) In addition, many others have been completing their awards in preparation for their expeditions during the coming school year. In the 2023-24 school year we will also be accepting Bronze enrolments from our Year 9 pupils so that they can start fulfilling their Volunteering, Physical and Skill sections before moving on to expeditions in Year 10.

Well done to all who have completed a DofE award during the past year.

Mr Barnes

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2023

Trips and events

First Year Camp

In June, the First Years took part in an overnight camping expedition at Wellington Sports Ground.

The two days were full of fun activities (including a trip to the Lymington Sea Water Baths), opportunities to make new friends and consolidate existing friendships, and the chance to build on teamwork skills and experience outdoor camping and cooking.

The First Years learnt a whole new skillset from the activity and were all able to take away something positive from the experience.

“It will help me to be open-minded about my friends and talk to everybody, not just the friendship group that was formed at the beginning of the year.”

“I think that I am braver than I was before and I’m going to be more independent.”

“I learnt that taking a few risks is great fun and that challenging myself is a good thing to do.”

“I’ve realised that I’m really slow at cleaning my teeth!”

“The camp meant that I will know more people in my House ready for our new tutor groups next year and it helped me learn new first aid skills.”

“My knowledge will help me be better in group activities and the friends I have made will really be people that I will spend more time with.”

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Trips and events

First Year Trips to Go Ape

All First Year pupils spent a day at Go Ape at Itchen Valley within the first few weeks of starting at KES. Along with the other new pupils from their tutor group, it was a great opportunity to develop their teamwork skills and cement new friendships.

On our Go Ape trip we had lots of fun, not only with the activities we got to do, but also by learning about the people in our class. We went up into the trees and it was amazing. Although it was a bit scary it was really fun. I was scared I wouldn’t make any friends but instantly everyone was very friendly. Never be scared to face your fears.

Jessica

In the Autumn Term, me and my tutor group went to Go Ape for the day. It was really fun and I used this day trip as an opportunity to make new friends! We worked together, completing an obstacle course in the trees and it was a great chance for us to overcome fears of not only meeting people but, learning to co-operate together.

Anisha

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Trips and events

French Trip to Normandy

Forty-six pupils and six teachers travelled to Normandy for four days this summer. Based at the Château du Molay in Normandy, students visited Bayeux and its tapestry, Pegasus Bridge, Mont St Michel, Arromanches, a hypermarché and a goats’ cheese farm. Here’s a snapshot of what they had to say about it.

“The ferry was fun and went surprisingly quickly; we watched movies and played in the arcade. Once we got off the ferry, we got taken by bus to passport control and we then got on our coach and went to Pegasus bridge.” Yanis “We saw a goats’ cheese farm and learnt about these fascinating creatures. Then we even tried a variety of goats’ cheese - they were very yucky. Speaking of yucky things, on one of the nights we ate frogs’ legs and snails. The snails were surprisingly okay, however the frogs were like rip-off chicken.” Aimee “We went to the American Cemetery; we didn’t stay long but what we saw was amazing. It really made me think about how many people lost their lives during the war. Later we went to the pool at the château.

After a great barbecue we heard Mr Halls interesting rendition of 22 by Taylor Swift - it was great! On Sunday, we went to Mont St Michel. It was really

amazing and beautiful but also confusing and easy to get lost and very hard and steep to climb.” Kitty “In my opinion, this trip was very fun and a great opportunity to discover the places of France.” Robert

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Trips and events

Geography Field Trip (Rivers & Coasts)

The Fourth Year geographers enjoyed two days of rivers and coasts fieldwork in July. The coastal day started at Barton-on-Sea where they assessed the effectiveness of the coastal management strategies.

This was followed by an investigation into the benefits and impacts of tourism at Studland. The day finished with them practising their fieldwork techniques which included beach profiling and vegetation sampling.

The rivers studies element of the field trip tracked the course of the Lymington river from its source at Highland Water, through the middle course at Puttles Bridge and Brockenhurst Beach, down to the lower course at Lymington. At each sample site, students measured the river characteristics and tested the applicability of the Brawshaw model. Students worked collaboratively to prepare themselves for their Geography fieldwork examination next summer. An enjoyable time was had by all!

The Geography Department

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Trips and events

Geography Field Trip to Slapton

The Lower Sixth geographers spent the weekend after their end of year exams in Devon, in both Plymouth and at the Slapton Field Studies Centre.

Accompanied by an FSC tutor, the students were taught useful fieldwork techniques for their nonexamination assessment projects. The extremely knowledgeable tutor gave them an insight into the data collection and analysis techniques available for their projects, as well as guiding the group through the weekend.

Friday The buses left KES just before 8.30 am, commencing a 4-hour journey to Plymouth. The early start allowed the students to spend the afternoon in the city where they collected data on the place character and identity of different neighbourhoods. They used this data, collected by ArcGIS which is a fantastic survey software, to compare against deprivation data available on the area. The buses left from Plymouth in the late afternoon, making their way to the Slapton Field Studies Centre which acted as both a classroom for the students to learn the techniques and also as accommodation for the two nights.

Saturday Starting their transect at the headland, “Start Point”,

the students walked 7 kilometres along the beautiful Devon coastline stopping at Hallsands then Beesands before making it to Torcross where a debrief with an ice-cream was waiting. The Sixth Formers’ mood was lifted after their early start by a seal sighting and ideal weather. They assessed the cost-effectiveness of the coastal management strategies used at the different locations via flood risk assessments and the economic value of property at risk. Upon arrival at Torcross, the students were given a lithological talk by their FSC tutor, Em, and then debriefed with an ice-cream (whippy with a flake was the most popular).

The evening was spent discussing potential project titles.

Sunday Sunday began with a lesson about place characteristics which includes the built environment, tranquillity quality, and environmental quality. The students then set out into Slapton village to various locations to survey their designated area for these factors. Slapton proved a hit with the students who obviously loved it. After a brief set of goodbyes, the students left Slapton, all with a deeper insight into the world of data collection and field studies.

Oliver Lower Sixth

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Trips and events

German trip to Cologne

Over the half term in summer, Lower School and Fourth Year students took part in a three-day trip to Cologne. The sun had been visible for a few hours by the time we got on the ferry and we enjoyed breakfast and some gorgeous views off the back of the boat.

After disembarkation, we continued our coach ride.

We passed through France and Belgium with a quick stop in the Netherlands, before finally arriving in Germany!

The next day, we woke up and had a breakfast of Brötchen (bread rolls) as well as a selection of other German items, such as whole boiled eggs. First, we visited the magnificent Cologne Cathedral. It towered above all the other buildings and was beautiful. Inside we were able to see the astounding stained glass windows that adorned the building. Some of us also lit candles for lost loved ones and it was truly a great experience. We were then given the option to climb the 1,066 steps up and down the cathedral. I, for one, participated, and the steep spiral stone staircase sure was a challenge but it was a great feeling of euphoria once you got to the top. We also saw the bells which were massive and we could hear them from miles away in the city.

We visited a chocolate museum, learning how chocolate was made from bean to product, and got to try some samples (which were delicious). Afterwards we went on a boat tour around the city with many picturesque views, including the cathedral, as well as

a few architectural feats of buildings which did not look like they should be able to stay upright!

We then had some time to do some shopping and practise our German. This was a great experience as it gave us more independence, and my friends and I managed to find a souvenir shop so I bought some for my family! That evening, we went bowling which was great fun, and everyone was very competitive!

After a great day we had dinner and went to bed.

Overall the trip was an amazing experience.

Jess - Fourth Year At the start of the Summer half-term, we went on a school trip to Cologne in Germany. It was a fascinating experience to see the culture and daily life of people living in the country. It was great fun spending my time looking around the different areas of Cologne and participating in many activities with my friends. One highlight of the trip for me was definitely participating in the best trip photo, and I had a lot of fun capturing those moments spent with my friends. We also got the opportunity to climb 533 steps to the top of Cologne Cathedral, which was definitely a challenge, but the view at the top was incredible and definitely worth it !! It was a captivating and informative trip, with lots to take part in, like bowling in German style, or just a casual and relaxing overview of the city, travelling on a boat.

Zhiqing – Fourth Year

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Trips and events

History trip to the Battlefields

October 2022 saw forty Third Year historians venture to the World War One battlefields in Belgium and France for the very first time since October 2019.

Whilst the purpose of this trip revolves around the sometimes sombre realities of remembrance, respect and quiet contemplation, it was very pleasant indeed once more to be able to take King Edward’s pupils to these haunting sites that, over a hundred years since the end of hostilities, retain immensely their ability to shock and move in equal measure.

The group visited a number of the key sites - the Thiepval Memorial, Tyne Cot Cemetery, the preserved German trenches at Bayernwald and their British equivalent at Newfoundland Park - whilst also spending time pondering more generally the nature of life and death in the trenches from 1914-1918. The behaviour of the group was exemplary throughout, finding exactly the right balance between the important and the fun, and the two days spent on the Western Front were a hugely positive educational experience for all involved.

I would like to thank the pupils involved for their maturity and respect when faced with evidence of the terrible experience of their forebears and wish to extend my gratitude to the teachers who volunteered

their time to come on the trip and thus make it possible.

Mr Diver

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Trips and events

Italian and Art trip to Milan

Each February the Italian and Art departments combine to take a group of students to Italy: rotating location between Florence and Milan. This year’s trip saw twenty-four students from the Third and Fourth Year take on Milan to enjoy four days of cold sunshine soaking up the art and culture of this wonderful city and discovering a love for the Italian way of life.

at a height of over 300 ft on the roof of the stunning gothic Duomo, making pizza under the guidance of an authentic and talented pizzaiolo, and visiting – the first time we have managed to achieve this on the trip - Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper, in situ as it is in the refectory of the Santa Maria delle Grazie church and convent in the western part of the city.

For the Italian students, it gave the opportunity to live and study for a few days in a bustling, historic, Italian city, putting into action all the Italian learnt in the classroom and seeing the purpose behind it all. With 9 hours of lessons in total, all students made some progress and expanded their linguistic knowledge.

The artists visited various galleries and museums, learning about the paintings, murals and sculptures, as well as sketching, building, photographing and making studies relevant to their GCSE coursework.

Local cuisine was also sampled in some of the most typical food venues, and Luini’s panzerotti (pillowy fried dough parcels filled with delicious savoury or sweet fillings) became a firm favourite. More than one gelateria was also visited.

After a fantastic few days of all things Milanesi, I think everyone felt that they would be happy to return and loved the atmosphere and lifestyle in this gorgeous Italian city. Roll on Florence 2024!

Highlights of the trip included visiting the fantastic sculptural installation by Anselm Kiefer and graffiti

by Osgemeos at Pirelli’s Hanger Bicocca, walking

Mrs Rugge-Price

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Trips and events

Jersey Cricket Tour

It was great to have the opportunity to go on a cricket tour to Jersey this year. We had a lot of fun and did lots of cricket training. The trip to the assault course was a really good afternoon, and the quiz night was fun. We did a wide variety of training to improve our skills and some match awareness, with scenarios cleverly put together by a great team of staff. We had a lovely hotel, with fantastic buffets, and a swimming pool for us to use in our free time, which we had a very good amount of. We used this time to relax and prepare for the next day’s cricket. We played one match, but the other that was scheduled was unfortunately rained off. However, the match played was against a competitive side and, whilst we did lose, it was still a good learning experience for the team. Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip, and I hope there are more like this planned for the future.

Josh Fourth Year

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Trips and events

Netball tour to Ireland

We started the tour by arriving at school at 2 a.m.

While in Belfast one of the main things you HAVE to

dressed in our Belfast tour hoodies and tops, from

do is visit the Titanic museum. It’s very well known in

there we took a coach to Gatwick. Once in Ireland, we

Belfast and even has a rollercoaster ride! We learnt so

got picked up by another coach (which most of us fell

many new things. Another highlight was the trip to the

asleep on) which took us to our first netball training session. After that we travelled to The Ramada Hotel where we were allocated our rooms.

On the second day in Belfast, we went bowling and had hot dogs and burgers for dinner. After the bowling had finished, we had some time to go to the arcade and, on another night, we had a party where there was music and fun party games such as an outfit designing. One person from each team modelled the outfit and they got to catwalk to their chosen song!

Whilst on tour we played three netball matches. We even won against a team from the year above us!

On Day 1, before we played our first match, we had a

Giant’s Causeway. It was interesting hearing all about its story and getting to climb it. We also climbed further up some steps to the top of a cliff where it was very windy but it had an amazing view.

As well as all this, we also played mini golf (the course had a very cool theme which was a lost city) and got to spend some time shopping in Belfast.

There were lots of shops and we got the chance to explore on our own. Many were filled with rugby and Guinness inspired items which our parents especially enjoyed receiving as gifts.

Before we went to Belfast we designed and received our very own personalised hoodie. We wore it everywhere in Belfast! It was a great trip.

netball training session with a member from the Irish

Poppy, Anna and Alba

netball team.

Second Year

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Trips and events

Rugby trip to Ireland

During the first week of the October half-term break, 26 members of the U14 rugby squad travelled to Ireland for a mini tour. Having spent a year on sabbatical, working in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, I had made some strong connections that came to fruition for this short tour.

The first game played by the squad was against a talented Temple Carrig School. They left KES chasing the result throughout the fixture, narrowly losing 34-28. The second game against Greystones RFC was, however, a more open affair with the KES team running out resounding winners 46-12.

As well as training and matches, the tour was punctuated with a variety of social and cultural experiences; a trip to Dublin’s Gaelic games stadium, Croke Park, a visit to the EPIC museum and the Irish National Natural History museum as well as gokarting, training sessions at Blackrock College and competitive team quizzes at the hotel.

The tour was a huge success and the KES players represented the School with the highest levels of courtesy, social skills and rugby application. I am very proud of the players and indebted to both Mr Schreuder and Mr Aellen for their support on this tour.

Mr Powell

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Trips and events

Second Year Camp “I learnt that I was more resilient than I thought as often I think of myself as easily giving up or not giving something a second try. But I proved myself wrong and now hopefully I can transfer that skill into my everyday life.” Matthew “I learnt that I could go three days without my phone, it’s fun as we all talked and laughed together.” Talia “I liked climbing because it was a fun experience, and everyone was so happy and supportive of each other.” Emily “I learnt that working as a team is much more efficient than working alone.” Jake

The two Second Year Camps ran over the May bank holiday weekend and during the summer half-term break. The students had the pleasure of going to the School’s Rural Study Centre in Lovaton, Dartmoor, spending two nights under canvas in the wooded area and one night in the bunk house.

The days started at 7 am when students made their own breakfast and lunch out of the food they had brought with them. They then packed their bags and went out for a day of activities. For both camps, one of the days involved them heading to the local moor where they used compasses to learn orienteering

which they all had to walk on the same pair of ‘skis’ in a series of little races and a second where they were sheep being herded into a sheep pen!

skills and they also built a wooden life-size catapult

On Sunday, the groups rotated between climbing on

and had to see who could throw the tennis ball the

the Dartmoor granite where a challenge was found for

furthest. The final activity was raft building – creating

all abilities, going on a walk over the top of the moor

a miniature model to later race down the leet.

and playing some games including a blind folded

During the afternoon, the groups walked and raced their rafts. Due to a good level of rain in the recent

walk and building shelters. The day was rounded off by a game of rounders.

weeks the water levels were high and the speed of

On the last morning students were really sad because

the leet made the races very entertaining, even if

it was time to go home. Another short walk on the

the raft recovery was a little more challenging than

moor where they played a game to win a pound using

other years! After ice-creams they went back to

the compasses was followed by lunch in Princetown

the cottage and made their own dinners, followed

before heading back home.

by some further activities; learning how to use the climbing equipment, challenging teamwork games in

Mrs Henderson

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Trips and events

Science and Technology Festival

The KES Science and Technology Festival took place in June and a busy three days were enjoyed by pupils from all year groups as well as pupils from our partnership schools.

The festival included activities, rocket launches, science experiments, talks, and a whole host of interactive sessions for everyone to enjoy. In the evening on each day, there was the opportunity for pupils, staff and parents to attend. a programme of lectures from industry professionals from various disciplines within the sector. These included Anthony Foy – a product design engineer and high performance technical race team support with over 15 years of experience within the cycling industry, Jack Davis – a physiotherapist who has worked with athletes at Olympic level across a variety of sports, Dr Bruce Dyer – Head of Design and Engineering at Bournemouth University, Professor Diana Baralle – Professor of Genomic Medicine and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Medicine at University of Southampton, Dr Lucy Green talking about the impact our first 1000 days of our life have on the chances of lifelong health and Dr Jasmine Pradissitto a Londonbased artist, scientist and academic whose work

focuses on the themes of environmentalism and sustainability. All our visiting speakers explored the connections that Sport, Medicine and Art all have with the world of Science and Technology.

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Trips and events

Ski Trip

On 1st April 2023, at 3am in the morning, sixty KES students and six KES teachers set off on an adventure! After a long day of travelling, we arrived at the Grand Hotel Miramonti in Passo Tonale, Italy and got ourselves ready for our first day on the slopes.

Although the wake-up time wasn’t as late as some would have hoped, the sunrise coming over the top of the mountains was something worth getting up for. Each morning, as everyone gathered around in front of the hotel, you could feel the excitement in the air. The first day was full of exploring the slopes, gathering your bearings and for some, who hadn’t skied before, getting the feel for it. On the first evening, after a fun day of skiing and a couple of hours relaxing in our rooms, or swimming in the hotel’s pool, we had dinner and headed to our own private disco. At the beginning of the night, the dance floor was quite empty but, by the end of the night, almost everyone (including teachers) were dancing and singing. I have to say Mr Gilbert’s dancing skills were very impressive! The rest of our evening activities included a quiz night, sledging, karaoke and even more.

As the week went on, tiredness became more common but the morale was kept high and everyone continued to have a blast on the mountain. By the end

of the week most had visited the glacier standing at 3000m above sea level. Others had also completed their Sports Science GCSE filming.

The last day was the day that Noah’s Ark came to Passo Tonale! Once we had all ventured outside, and got our ski gear on, everyone, from beginners to advanced, skied down the same slope in one long line all following Noah (aka Mr Rosenburg). The costumes were crazy. There were cows, kangaroos, ducks, and even a couple of butterflies. The whole day was full of laughter and smiles and I think the costumes gave everyone an extra boost of dopamine. Once the day came to an end, we all packed and readied ourselves for our journey home the next day.

Overall, the ski trip is something I will never forget!

Every day was so much fun and I don’t think I had one bad moment on the slopes, even my crashes and falls made me, and definitely my friends, laugh! It was also great to get to know other people better, including the teachers who we all owe a massive thank you to.

I think I can say, on behalf of all of the pupils, that the ski trip was fantastic!

Lily Fourth Year

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During the first week of the Easter holiday, I went on the school ski trip to Passo Tonale. We had six days of five hours of skiing, and there were many other activities organised. These included a disco, quiz, swimming, sledging and more. In the afternoons we were also allowed to explore the town, and on two occasions we were all bought hot chocolates. My favourite moment on the trip was seeing Mr Gilbert dancing with us in the disco. All the instructors and staff were very nice and were helpful throughout the week, making our time in Italy more enjoyable. Since the skiing groups were mixed ages, many people made friends with people they wouldn’t have met at School. This made for a fun and friendly atmosphere on the slopes. I really enjoyed both the skiing, and the other activities that came alongside it.

Alex Fourth Year

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Trips and events

Spanish Trip to Andalucia

Over the Easter break 34 Third and Fourth Year students travelled to Córdoba, in the heart of Andalucía, to experience live as a real Spaniard and to put into practice all the language skills they have been learning at School. Although the first 24 hours were spent in and around Heathrow due to airport strikes, the students had an amazing time and made the most of a few days immersed in Spanish culture.

This is what some of them had to say on their return: “I had a great time on the Spanish trip. My homestay family was so kind, caring and friendly towards us.

I thought that Córdoba was an impressive city with a rich history and I learnt a lot about it on the trip. I really enjoyed our independence when the teachers would allow us to explore by ourselves. It didn’t start in the best way with our flight being cancelled, but we still found enjoyment and fun when staying in the hotel. I just wish the trip could have lasted longer!”

Nicholas Fourth Year

“Andalucía was an amazing experience - we visited important cultural sites such as the MezquitaCatedral de Córdoba and the Real Alcázar de Sevilla, whilst embracing the vibrant Spanish culture all around us. Our stay took place during Semana Santa, so we saw the deeply religious processions making their way through the crowd-congested streets - ¡lo pasé muy bien! Each day, we returned to our homestay families who overwhelmed us with their kindness and generosity - especially having to put up with three boys! During the sweltering afternoons, we visited numerous historical sites such as the aforementioned Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba which was once a mosque before being converted into a cathedral, and we could see the extravagant Moorish and later Renaissance influences side-by-side. We also visited the breath-taking Plaza de España en Sevilla, built for the 1929 Iberia-American exposition, bankrupting the city in the process! We saw horsedrawn carriages travelling around a fountain in the centre and even small boats on a moat surrounding it.

So, yes, the trip was truly amazing and we made a lot of happy memories together!”

Kishan Fourth Year

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Trips and events

Spanish Trip to Catalonia Barcelona. The students were treated to spectacular views over the city, as well as striking mosaics and architecture.

The following day saw us return to Barcelona for a chance to see one of Europe’s most famous streets; La Rambla. The students took in the sights and sounds of the city before having the opportunity to join in with a traditional Catalan dance ‘La Sardana’ which was being held next to the cathedral. They were then given a somewhat haphazard tour of the city’s Gothic quarter before finally descending to Barcelona’s port area and seeing the monument to Christopher Columbus.

Forty, First and Second Year students made their way to that well-known gateway to the world Bournemouth Airport - to begin their Catalonian adventure over the May half-term. Upon arrival at our destination - the scenic fishing town of Tossa de Mar, the students unpacked and made themselves at home at the hotel in preparation for the challenges to come.

On the first day we visited the Camp Nou in Barcelona, a cathedral of European football with a capacity on matchday of upwards of 100,000 people.

Some of the students relished the opportunity to see the Champions League trophy and the Ballon D’Or, whereas, some students relished the opportunity to sit in the shade and take in the ambiance of such an impressive stadium. Park Güell was next on our list; the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi’s famous homage to an English park situated on a hill overlooking

The next day was all about art and culture as the group made their way to a museum dedicated to Salvador Dalí and saw his surrealist work first hand and also had the chance to participate in a Spanish vocabulary hunt around the museum. The afternoon saw us return to Tossa de Mar for a boat trip where we saw (and went into) many of the coastal caves and observed the local aquatic life. Everyone then made the most of the ‘Gran Platja’ (big beach) and we saw games of football as well as gymnastic displays being enthusiastically carried out. A number of students were also buried under the sand but they were able to re-emerge in time for dinner and for a walking tour of the historic Vila Vella (old-town of Tossa de Mar).

On the final day we visited the historic Catalan capital of Girona and the students completed the Passeig Arqueologic (archeological walk) across the city’s skyline before grudgingly making our return back to Southampton. My thanks to all of the staff who attended the trip; Dr Wortham, Miss Breheny, Miss Crompton and Miss Morally and to the students for their company on a great visit.

Mr Sinclair

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Trips and events

Spanish Trip to Salamanca

Salamanca, 10-15 de febrero 2023: Algunas impresiones de los estudiantes de bachillerato En general, me encantó el viaje a Salamanca. El grupo de estudiantes fue encantador, al igual que nuestra anfitriona Manuela. Cocinó una variedad de comida tradicional española mientras obteníamos un vistazo de la vida cotidiana en Salamanca. La ciudad era hermosa y genial para caminar durante todo el día. Los profesores fueron increíbles y tuvimos el equilibrio perfecto entre la estructura del viaje y la libertad. ¡Me encantaría regresar! Isla, S9 Mi parte favorita del viaje a Salamanca fue la clase de cocina, ¡nos dio la oportunidad de aprender a hacer empanadas, tortilla de patatas y sangría correctamente! También disfruté mucho visitando los sitios en Salamanca, por ejemplo, la Universidad, la Catedral y la Plaza Mayor. Eleanor, S21 Salamanca es el mejor viaje escolar que hay en KES. Mi español realmente mejoró, debido a toda la socialización con los españoles. Salamanca era una ciudad preciosa con mucha cultura y comimos muy bien. Nuestra anfitriona fue muy simpática con nosotros y nos cuidó como si fuéramos sus

propios hijos. Yo le daría a este viaje un 10/10, y se lo recomendaría a todos los estudiantes de español en sexto curso. Marcus, S11 Tuvimos el viaje más increíble e inolvidable! Ellie y yo nos alojamos con una mujer simpática y su perro, se llaman Carolina y Max. Las clases fueron interesantes y divertidas. Diría que mi español ha mejorado mucho! Salamanca es una ciudad muy bonita y me encantó la arquitectura. Mi momento favorito era salir de tapas con todos. no podíamos haber soňado con una mejor familia o un mejor tiempo! Lo pasamos muy muy bien y nunca olvidaremos el viaje. Alice, S14 Me encantó el viaje y la experiencia de la cultura hispánica, especialmente la comida y el tiempo libre que nos dieron para explorar la ciudad. Además, las actividades y las clases fueron muy interesantes la universidad y la historia sobre la guerra civil en particular. También, la inmersión en el idioma fue tan efectiva y creo que gané más confianza cuando hablo y escucho. Celia, S3 La experiencia fue increíble. He aprendido mucho y he hecho muchos amigos. Pienso que mi español ha mejorado y estoy más segura de mí misma cuando hablo español. Las personas y familias con que nos alojamos fueron muy amables y nos cuidaron mucho.

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cultura española mejora tu aprendizaje en la clase y tu valoración de la vida diaria en España, fuera de su zona de confort. Tuvimos una variedad grande de actividades en Salamanca y Madrid, incluyendo una clase de cocina y las visitas turísticas de una arquitectura maravillosa. Sin embargo sobre todo lo más sorprendente fue la amistad y hospitalidad de los españoles que ayudaron a hacer el viaje mejor de lo que podía imaginar. Blair, S21 Me quedé en un piso cerca de la Plaza Mayor con mi amiga. Nuestro dormitorio tenía buenas vistas de la calle, la comida era muy rica, especialmente el desayuno, visitamos la universidad y edificios históricos. Fuimos a clase de cocina e hicimos comida tradicional española, era muy rica. La gente de Salamanca eran muy amable y lo pasé bomba.

Ella, S11

Nunca olvidaré mi experiencia en Salamanca!

Emily, S21 Cada día disfruté viendo el programa ‘La Ruleta de la Suerte’ con Montse y hablando del fútbol con ella ya que es aficionada al Real Madrid. Además, me sorprendió que tuviera que llevar zapatos en casa, algo que fue muy extraño. Ben, S21 Salamanca fue una experiencia inolvidable y mágica.

Todas las cosas, desde los edificios a la gente y el tiempo eran perfectas. En el instituto aprendimos con una profesora muy útil, aprendimos sobre la gramática, el patrimonio y la cultura en España y específicamente en Salamanca. Aprendimos a cocinar unas comidas típicas, por ejemplo, tortilla de patatas y empanadas. Las noches eran muy divertidas también, fuimos a restaurantes de tapas y comida tradicional. En general, el viaje fue increíble.

James, S21 Durante el viaje a Salamanca, encontré el ambiente tanto en las clases como en el alojamiento de los anfitriones amable y solidario. Esto ha ayudado con mis habilidades y confianza en español, y ahora siento que la experiencia de primera mano de la

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Sports tour to South Africa

Dressed head to toe in our tour kit, lugging our ‘just’ underweight bags behind us, we all travelled to Heathrow airport on the 15th of July, ready for a jam packed and competitive two weeks of sports touring.

Harry was put in charge of caring for “Faf De Lion” (the tour mascot) for the first leg to make sure he had a smooth and comfortable flight. Other than Kym, who managed to secure himself a business class one-way flight ticket straight to South Africa, we all boarded the three flights to East London and arrived after a VERY long day of travel. Our first evening set the tone for the trip as we ended our first meal in South Africa dancing around the restaurant with the waitresses and wishing an “early” happy birthday to Mr McKenzie.

We all woke up early and refreshed on the first day and the netballers left for their first fixture against Cambridge High School, winning both their games.

After a friendly match tea, we travelled to Stirling High School to support the hockey teams. The next morning we visited Kwetyana Village and the welcoming locals taught us how to bead bracelets and gave us a tour of their tight knit community. We then returned to Stirling High School - this time to play rugby and netball. Stirling High School proved they were a strong side after winning in both sports but

we walked off the pitches proud after experiencing two different styles of play and one of the many beautiful South African sunsets as a back drop. The competition didn’t stop in the evening as we ended the second day with an entertaining quiz from Mr Powell. The next morning we headed to Kingswood College where the netball and hockey sides were both successful. The rugby players were also treated to a ‘guest coaching’ session with Kingswood Head of Rugby and SA U18 Assistant Coach James Winstanley - an incredible insight into the world of high performance sport. To finish a brilliant day, we ended the evening with a delicious Braai dinner hosted by the school.

The excitement ramped up the next morning, despite another early start, as we left for the Kariega Game Reserve. We had a delicious lunch overlooking the reserve and then got taken to our villas in our groups to wait for our safari tour guides to collect us for the evening game drive. We all got very lucky and our amazing guides took us to see rhinos, elephants, zebras, giraffes and lions in the sunset. When we arrived back there was a buzz across the group and we exchanged stories whilst eating a traditional dinner outside. We got to experience the magic all over again the next morning as our safari guides

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came to collect us at 6:30am for a sunrise safari before boarding the buses again and heading for Woodridge College for another round of fixtures.

With amazing views of the mountains in the background, the netballers put out an amazing performance to win the 1st team match, and the 2nd team had a cracking game but got pipped at the end 11-15. The 1st XI boys’ hockey side fought hard but were unsuccessful after playing a very talented Woodridge side, but the 2nd XI drew 1-1. Watching the sunset on the buses, we travelled to our next hotel where we would stay for the next 2 nights. We all enjoyed a dinner out, then got some well-earned rest for the second week ahead of us. Battling Woodridge once again the following day, this time in girls’ hockey and rugby, KES filled the stands next to the rugby pitch and recited our tour anthem for the 1000th time!! The boys gave everything on the pitch and the supporters gave everything on the stands but, after a tough battle, one dislocated shoulder, and a concussion, they came away suffering a heavy defeat. The girls’ hockey teams hustled hard and finished with one win and one draw. After a hot morning everyone made the most of Woodridge’s outdoor pool facilities. In the evening, we had a mini excursion to the nearest shopping centre and enjoyed a meal of our choice.

We packed up again the morning of the 23rd July and travelled to Knysna where we enjoyed a river cruise and heard stories from around the bay. After checking into our next hotel, everyone enjoyed the pool and hot tub and we had a chilled afternoon before walking to

a nearby sea food restaurant where we all devoured a delicious three course meal. The stay in Knysna was short lived, as we had to pack up again the next morning and head around the bay to Sea Rescue Station 12 where we all explored the high tech lifeboats and heard some amazing and heartbreaking stories by the inspiring team. The afternoon was filled with more sport as we headed west to George and competed against York High School in all three sports. After a tough and competitive game, the hockey players lost, however, the rugby boys put in the performance of the tour playing some fantastic rugby and emerging victorious. Some of the

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netballers played their last match for KES and went out with a bang winning both matches. This meant we could all celebrate a successful afternoon with a delicious dinner hosted by York High School.

The next stage of the tour began in the morning when we left George and began the long trip to Cape Town. On our way we stopped at Cool Runnings toboggan park where the competition continued, particularly between Miss Cole, Dr Fewtrell and Mr Powell, as to who could get down the toboggan in the quickest time. That evening, before eating, the whole restaurant joined in with an African drumming

workshop and then we all tried traditional South African delicacies before joining the dancers on the stage and all learning some new moves.

The next morning we took the boat to Robben Island and had an eye opening tour around the prison by an ex-inmate. Everyone learned a lot about the history of the island and we also got an amazing view of Table Mountain across the water. Our afternoon fixtures took place at Edgemead College where everyone put in an amazing performance. It was some of the boys’ last games for KES and the hockey teams won both their games. The rugby team unfortunately just missed out on their win. For our last evening in South Africa, we headed to the Cape Town Waterfront to do a bit of souvenir shopping and to enjoy our last meal together. Back at the hotel Mr and Mrs Penn hosted the awards ceremony which was the best way to round off the tour.

On the final day we drove south, enjoying the views along the way to Boulders Beach and saw the famous penguins sunbathing on the sand. We quickly rushed off to our last fixtures of the tour at Edgemead High School. KES filled the stands and silence with our proud chants and this saw both girls’ hockey teams reign successful over two strong Edgemead sides. With our suitcases already packed and tightly squeezed into the coaches, we headed straight to the airport.

The trip was a MASSIVE success and created fantastic memories for every single tour member. It would not have been anywhere near as successful

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without our amazing teachers who never failed to make each day more exciting than the next.

A special mention must go to Mr and Mrs Penn (our tour organisers) who organised such a magical trip.

Mr Penn’s speech to the leavers and tour party on the final evening left not a dry eye in the house. Thank you South Africa - we all cannot wait to go back.

Evie (Upper Sixth)

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Trips and events

Summer Camp

The Sixth Form Summer Camp team put in a strong effort fundraising for our annual Summer Camp trip over the past school year. Fundraising events included the First Year Neon Disco, Battle of the Bands, ‘Would I lie to you?’ and Battle of the Teachers.

This year, our team of Sixth Formers joined sixteen young carers for a fun-filled four days at Avon Tyrrell at the beginning of the summer holidays.

Highlights of the trip included: a day enjoying the rides at Paulton’s Park, seeing the animals at Marwell Zoo, fish and chips at the beach and the highly entertaining talent show. Strong friendships were formed between our students and the young carers and our Lower Sixth students are looking forward to holding more young carer school visits in the Autumn Term. The KES Sixth Formers were excellent role models and their hard work, especially in the camp kitchen, ensured that all the young carers had a wonderful time!

Miss Crompton

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Trips and events

Tanzania Trip

Pre-trip training Over the course of 4 days all those going to Tanzania took part in a residential training trip at Lovaton. This trip was designed to educate the students about skills that will be required for the expedition. On arrival they were divided into 2 groups to complete a 2 hour night (and very wet) walk to acclimatise to the surroundings and start working together as a team. Tuesday was designed to test team skills and they rotated in their two groups around two activities – spider’s web (lifting everyone through holes made from rope) and bridge making. This was followed by raft making from bamboo and rope and testing their speed down multiple rivers before building fires on which they cooked homemade pizzas. On Wednesday, the 2 groups alternated rock climbing with a walk before listening to a talk about the equipment required for the expedition. KES staff also demonstrated how to carry injured people out of difficult situations if necessary. In the evening, everyone played team games, cooked tea and cleared up. Tackling a river crossing was Thursday’s task and, upon arriving home nearly 3 ½ hours later, they were very nearly dried out.

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Tanzania – the expedition Over the summer a group of 23 students went on a trip to Tanzania for 3 weeks. It really was a once-in-alifetime experience!

After exploring the atmosphere of Dar es Salaam, we spent a couple of days in the Amaani Nature Reserve.

We hiked in the forest and appreciated the local wildlife, learning about the diverse flora and fauna from our local guide, Gabriel, even getting to hold a chameleon and see an incredible sunset.

Next was camping in a small village near Moshi, where we worked with the local school’s breakfast programme. We dug gardens and an irrigation system, planted over 50 banana trees and installed an electric water pump, as well as spending time with the children and adults. To be able to build such a special relationship with the locals, playing games, football, singing and teaching them ‘heads, shoulders, knees and toes’ and ‘The Hokey Cokey’ was, for many of us, the most memorable and fulfilling part of the trip.

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We then attempted to scale Mt Meru, which was 4 days of steep hiking with the third day being especially challenging. Due to strong winds and little shelter the temperature was -10 degrees Celsius which, in the middle of the night when it was pitch black, was quite daunting, especially while scrambling over cliffs! These conditions were extremely challenging, which meant that we didn’t quite manage to summit. However, we did get to 4300m out of 4566m, and the sunrise coming off the mountain was incredible. Though it pushed many of us to our limits, the challenge of Meru was very rewarding and increased both our resilience and our group morale. At the lower altitudes we also managed to see some incredible animals such as giraffes.

We finished the trip with an amazing safari, as well as an experience with the Masai tribe, where we were even introduced to their mating ritual! This trip was undoubtedly one of the most unforgettable experiences of our lives, and we all feel very lucky to have experienced it.

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Sport at KES

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Girls’ hockey overview

Reflecting upon another incredibly busy and successful season as it comes to a close, it is important to acknowledge the flourishing state of girls’ hockey at KES. While many other esteemed independent schools are reducing the quality and quantity of their fixtures, KES has chosen a different path. Instead of following the same trend, KES has expanded its fixture list, increased the number of teams, and provided more opportunities for girls to represent the School on Saturdays. Each year, the fixture card has grown, extending its reach along the South Coast. It is a commendable accomplishment, and all those involved should take pride in their contributions.

The 1st XI girls’ team took their opportunity to play in the U18 Tier 1 League and for the first time played in the West League which saw them encounter many of the big schools in the west and provided a new challenge for girls. They rose to this challenge and took the opportunity to improve with every match.

The U14 girls, despite a slow start, narrowly missed out on the Tier 1 Regional Finals and progressed to the U14 Tier 2 Regional Finals which they won but then lost in the National Finals in Nottingham.

The U13 girls lost in the Regional Finals, having been Hampshire Champions, and so missed out on a place at the National Finals.

While we found success in XI-a-side matches, our achievements in the Indoor hockey circuit were also remarkable. Indoor hockey remains immensely popular among the students, as evidenced by the overwhelming number of participants in lunchtime training sessions, exceeding the available space. The demand for places in the team was encouraging, and it was inspiring to witness girls from various year groups vying for positions.

Notably, two Third Years made it into the U16 team, showcasing the strength and quality present in the lower years.

The U16 girls’ indoor team made it to the National Finals for the second time in two years and, despite an outstanding performance throughout the day, they were unfortunate to miss out on a higher placing, losing 2 of the 3 games by 1 goal, having drawn the 3rd match. Similarly, the girls’ 1st XI indoor team narrowly missed qualifying for Nationals after a poor start at South Central Finals.

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I would like to personally extend my gratitude to all the coaches and girls who have contributed to this year’s success. It is evident that this achievement is not merely the result of luck. Both the staff and the girls, from the A teams through to the D teams, have put in incredible effort. The coaches have maintained high standards throughout the season, and the girls have consistently risen to meet their expectations. They have been truly exceptional this season, achieving commendable results across all age groups.

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I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the following coaches who have devoted their time and effort in putting together teams every week: Miss Cole, Miss Timms, Mr McKenzie, Mrs Penn, Mr Niemand, Miss Lister, Mr Mixer and Mrs Kelly. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.

Mr Crichton Head of Hockey

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Boys’ Rugby overview

I am delighted to be able to write once again about an excellent rugby season with much development of the sport at KES. In total there were 145 fixtures with 230 players taking part at one stage or another.

It was a delight to field a C team at U12, U13 and U14 for the first time in many years.

Our youngest age group showed much improvement with many taking up the game for the first time when they step through the KES gateway and the enthusiasm at the pre-season sessions was a delight to see. Results did not go their way, but their performances showed considerable development over the course of the term and I would expect them to come out on the right side of a number of those matches in the future.

It was a tough season for the U13s too, but they are building a really good attacking skill set which will enable them to play some very positive rugby in the future. It is the more physical aspects of the game that they need to a focus on when they return to the sport in September.

The U14s had a season that indicates there is much promise for future. The A team won two thirds of

their games, the B team half and the C team were unbeaten. This included an excellent cup run for the A team which came to an end in the 4th round against a strong Sherborne team. It will be exciting to see them develop in the years ahead.

The same can be said for the U15 age group who also impressed throughout the season. The A team won 11 of their 14 games and the B team won two thirds as they showed excellence at the top end and real depth of quality into the B team. In the National Cup the A team reached the 5th round before meeting Thomas Hardy School who went on to reach the national semi-final.

The U16s showed great character and determination as they battled several strong teams, and their efforts were rewarded with 2 wins late in the season. The senior team played some excellent attacking rugby and a number of their scores were enjoyed by all those who were fortunate enough to watch. Sadly, they found games tougher against stronger sides, but they recorded a good return of 5 wins from their 8 games with a particularly pleasing win over PGS in the cup.

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From my perspective as Head of Rugby I was incredibly grateful for the never-ending support from those who gave up their Saturdays to coach teams and give our students such wonderful opportunities.

Their positive outlook and determined approach provided our students with a most positive experience that I hope will encourage our students to keep coming back to this wonderful game. A big thank you to the coaches but also a massive thanks to those staff who worked behind the scenes to enable the season to take place; the grounds teams, the catering teams, and our sports administrator. It simply would not be possible without you all.

Mr Richardson Head of Rugby

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Girls’ Netball overview

As always it has been excellent to see so many of our pupils representing the School in netball this academic year. Training has been a huge success with more girls participating from the Autumn Term through to the end of the Spring Term. We have been able to compete in fixtures consistently with up to twenty teams each week, this has featured four teams at U12, U13 and U14, three teams at U15 and three senior teams with some age groups able to select enough girls to have six teams.

This year we entered more teams into the National Cup competitions than before providing us with a new range of fixtures against schools we haven’t played previously. The U12, U13, U15 and U19 teams all began to train for this in the Autumn Term with all girls involved showing excellent commitment continuing throughout the competition and into the Spring Term.

The U12s had a great run in their fixtures beating Farnborough Hill in the first round of the competition but unfortunately losing out to a strong St Helen and St Katherine side. The girls did exceptionally well as they had only been playing together for a couple of weeks before their first fixture. The U13s also went

on a good run beating Farnborough Hill in the first round but, again, just falling short of a win in a tough game against Surbiton High School.

Both the U15 and the U19 teams showed their competitiveness and excellent teamwork to play out some very close matches. The U15s were successful in their first two rounds beating Ryde and then Canford, in a game that really did keep the spectators (and coaches) on the edge of their seats. The third round saw the U15s play St George’s in a goal for goal game right up until the closing moments of the game when St George’s took the win by three goals. A very entertaining game in which either team could have won.

The U19s have never been entered into a national knock out cup before and it was all about gaining experience and enjoying their time as a senior age group. The first three rounds saw us play against Ibstock Place, Farnborough Hill and Lingfield College giving the girls a real challenge, having not faced any of these teams before, and it was a challenge which they all rose to. The girls were so proud of themselves to pull through the games when it got tough, and to work hard for one another,

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and take the wins, was awesome. The fourth round saw the U19s play a very good Millfield team. We knew from the beginning this was going to be a highly competitive fixture and one in which the result could go either way. The girls gave it their all, playing at 100% the whole hour but, unfortunately on this occasion, they just missed out on going through to the last sixteen. This has been one of the most successful years for KES in the National Cup, competing in four age groups, with the girls showing great resilience. We are already looking forward to the challenge next year.

The National Schools’ Tournament is a prestigious tournament organised by England Netball that begins with an area tournament, progressing into a regional competition with the aim to get to the national finals. This year we entered three teams; U19A, U16A and U14A in to their respective age groups.

The U14s had an excellent tournament with some last-minute changes in the groupings meaning the girls had to face different opposition than originally planned. The U14s are a group of extremely talented and competitive pupils who are also very passionate about their netball. They played some of their best netball, really showing that they could be the team to beat at the tournament but, unfortunately, the structure of the fixtures meant that the girls were relying on results, and faced tough competition in the semi-final. They did not let their heads drop and

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fought until the very end but the tournament finished here for them. Girls - you were absolutely amazing and we are so proud of what you achieved. I cannot wait to see your netball continue to grow over the next few years.

Both the U16s and U19s had a challenging tournament. However, both teams rose to this challenge and showed excellent team work and a huge amount of determination. The U16s did well to win games against some tough local opposition showing their ability to come back from losing to take a win. Their defence work was really good throughout the whole tournament across every position, and there was plenty of encouragement from those players on the side-line. The U19 tournament is highly competitive and the girls knew the challenge that awaited them. The team played some fantastic netball with the defence turning over the ball in all areas of the court and with some real speed shown from our switch to attack. This allowed the ball to be with the shooters before the other team could set up their defence. Every single player on the U19 team showed real empathy and support for one another, particularly when the games lost were by one goal, really encouraging the rest of the team to hold their heads high and go again in the next game.

Overall, it was a tough year for us at this tournament but I have no doubt that the girls involved, and those coming in to these teams next year, will play

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with great drive and passion to want to play well for one another as well as giving themselves the best opportunity to be in the final next year. I am very proud of each of the girls that turned up at this year’s tournament and played their socks off.

This year, as the world recovered from COVID, we were able to return to Northern Ireland for our U13 netball tour. The tour takes place over three nights and four days with a touring party of twenty-six pupils and three staff. During the time in Belfast the girls experienced a coaching session from a Northern Ireland player. The girls did some attacking work, looking at changing of pace and direction, and were then able to ask questions about becoming a professional netballer and the experiences gained at The Commonwealth Games. They also played numerous netball fixtures and were hugely

successful, winning almost every fixture. However, the thing that impressed me the most was when the girls weren’t playing they were working on their coaching skills, each focussing on one player on the court. At the end of each game the girls would give positive feedback (based around what had gone well) but also some suggestions for improvement as they moved in to their next game. It was a great tour and so fantastic to see such progress in a short space of time.

I am looking forward to taking our next group of U13 netballers on tour in October 2023 as it proves to be an excellent pre-season tour in which the girls show huge development in themselves as netballers both on and off the court. Our senior netballers also had an opportunity to tour in South Africa this summer as part of the multi sports trip where they

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discovered a different style of netball and made plenty of memories to celebrate the end of the netball season.

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been part of this year’s netball at KES. This includes parents who have driven players to different locations and their continued support from the side-lines and the staff who give up their time to provide excellent coaching sessions for our pupils during the week alongside running teams and fixtures at weekends. The continued support of staff and parents is invaluable to the running of the netball term.

Next year’s fixture programme is looking competitive with some new block fixtures arising, entry into the National Schools’ Tournament and a

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different National Cup competition bringing a new challenge to the netball term. It is going to be a very exciting year with lots of extra opportunities for all of the girls to partake in.

I would just like to personally thank everyone who has been involved in the netball for the past six years. It has been a real pleasure to see the progress in each individual pupil and teams along the way. I have no doubt that netball at KES will continue to develop and I cannot wait to see what the near future holds.

Miss Cole Head of Netball

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Boys’ Hockey overview

The 2023 boys’ hockey season at King Edward’s showcased significant progress once again. Our teams achieved notable success at all levels, demonstrating the continuous development of hockey at our school. We have become regular participants in the South Central Finals and National Finals, reflecting our growing prowess. Our commitment to expanding our teams and increasing the number of fixtures has also been evident. We witnessed an incredible turnout at training sessions each week, with over 45 boys from the U12, U13, and U14 categories braving all weather conditions after school. This level of dedication is truly commendable.

Our boys’ hockey programme exhibited exceptional depth as we competed fiercely across various age groups in national qualifying tournaments. The U15 boys were particularly impressive, delivering outstanding performances that earned them a spot in the quarter finals. Although they narrowly missed out on reaching the National finals, they left a lasting impact with their exceptional skills and style of play. Similarly, the U14 team displayed tremendous promise and talent, leading their South Central group and narrowly falling short in the final match,

where they conceded a goal in the last 30 seconds.

This achievement placed them among the top 16 schools in England.

Our 1st XI team faced formidable challenges in the England Hockey U18 Tier 1 competition.

Despite several close defeats, the team showcased exceptional determination and resilience. A testament to their spirit was the remarkable comeback from a 5-1 deficit to a 6-5 loss in their final Tier 1 game – a real example of their unwavering attitude and tenacity.

The boys consistently faced challenging game sessions and rigorous after-school training, which played a vital role in their development. The significant participation in after-school training sessions served as a testament to the popularity of boys’ hockey at KES. It also highlighted the range of opportunities available, catering to both highperformance players and team players in lower-level teams.

Our achievements included a number of Hampshire Cup titles, including the U13 and U14. The U13 team, in particular, exhibited exceptional performance,

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reaching the regional finals but narrowly missing out on a chance to compete in the National Finals.

Mr McKenzie deserves special recognition for his outstanding work with the U13 boys.

Indoor hockey gained immense popularity among our boys, with KES achieving commendable results in Hampshire tournaments. While our 1st XI team faced challenges during the South Central finals day, our U16s demonstrated their class and potential. They comfortably progressed through the Hampshire qualifying rounds, securing a spot in the South Central Finals. Despite facing some injuries that threatened their participation, the team pulled together and finished as runners-up in the U16 South Central Indoor competition. Unfortunately, they narrowly missed out on qualifying for the National Tournament based on goal difference.

However, with a promising group of U15s, they are poised to be the team to watch next year.

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I would like to express my gratitude to the coaching staff for their unwavering support in fielding teams each week. The short and intense term demands multiple teams, and their dedication has been crucial to our success. The significant number of boys actively participating in hockey is a testament to the coaches’ positive influence and their ability to foster a hockey culture. I extend my thanks to Mr Gilbert, Mr Cross, Mr Jackson, Mr Powell, Mrs Kelly, Mr Barley, Mr Kent, Mr McKenzie and Mr Sheppard for their invaluable contributions.

This academic year we say ‘Goodbye’ to Mr Gilbert who has, during his time at KES, been a 1st XI hockey coach, Head of boys’ hockey and has been instrumental in building the technical hockey skills of the junior teams for many years. Many generations of former pupils will remember his goto phrases when coaching, ‘Guys, guys, guys!’, ‘Red to Red’ and ‘You just don’t want it enough!’. Leading his

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team to victory at the St George’s Sixes tournament was one of his many highlights along with taking so many KES players forward to international team representation. His lifelong links to Trojans Hockey Club have benefited the School in so many ways and his passion, unwavering enthusiasm for the game and good nature will be sadly missed as he retires.

Mr Crichton Head of Hockey

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Indoor Hockey

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Cricket overview

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As another busy, competitive and very successful cricket season here at KES draws to a close, and I look back over this academic year, I am filled with a huge amount of pride at where cricket at KES has finished again this season.

Over the course of the season, we have had over 337 students represent KES in cricket matches, across 191 fixtures, across both the girls’ and boys’ programmes. These figures are outstanding, and for this number of students to have the chance to get out and enjoy their sport is what it is all about and makes me a very proud Head of Cricket.

The boys have had a number of cup successes this season. The talented U15A boys’ side reached the ‘Inspire Sport 40 Overs’ Regional Final, the ‘ESCA National T20 Cup’ Semi-Final, as well as beating Winchester College in the County Cup. The U13A boys’ team played in the ‘David English National Cup’ coming up against a strong Exeter School side in the 1st round but they reached the County Semi-Final this summer along with the U14s. The U12s lost their first round of the Cup and finished runners-up in the Plate Competition.

In the girls’ side of the programme, the U15 girls reached the Semi-Finals of the ‘Lady Taveners Indoor

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Cricket Cup’, with the U13 girls doing one better and getting to the County Finals Day of this competition for the second year running. This summer saw the girls’ U13 and U15 teams reach the semi-finals of the Hampshire Cup. However, the impressive 1st XI girls reached the 4th round of the ‘School Sport Magazine National T20 Cup’ eventually losing out to a strong Canford team. This is an outstanding achievement for our girls’ programme here at KES and shows that our girls can compete with the best sides around.

Cricket 2023 has also seen several outstanding individual achievements this summer. We have had Aleks (Fourth Year) take 8 wickets for 5 runs against PGS, Arthur (Fourth Year) take two 5-wicket hauls this season, including one in his debut match for the 1st XI boys’ team and Kamran (Upper Sixth and 1st XI Boys’ Captain 2022 & 2023) score a career best 168* for his club, only to better that a few weeks later with a brutal 209 off 85 balls against the Isle of Wight! We have also fielded the first KES girls’ 2nd XI as well as boys’ 3rd XI fixtures this season.

Alongside all this success, we have started to rollout the “KES Way” philosophy throughout the winter training programme. This new philosophy will help our students, regardless of the team they represent, play the same brand of cricket throughout the School.

This will be central to the success of the KES Cricket programme over the next few years.

At the end of term assembly, the Mr Parker presented trophies to students who have scored 100+ runs (boys’ teams U15 upwards), taken 5 wickets or more, have had hat tricks or scored 50+ runs (girls’ and boys’ U12-U14 age groups). This season has been another bumper year with 20 trophies to present.

We have also been fortunate that Hampshire County Cricket Club (with whom we work in partnership) have supported us this year giving each of our Team of the Season students a pair of tickets for the Royal London match against Essex in August. A huge thank you to Hampshire Cricket for their support this season.

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I would like to thank my coaching staff and players.

This season has seen continued success and this would not have been possible without the support of an outstanding team of coaches leading their teams with professionalism, passion and care each and every week. Thank you to the girls’ cricket coaches; Mr Royall, Mrs Penn, Miss Cole, Miss Lister, Miss Timms, Miss Brannigan, Miss Dunkley and Mrs Sheppard and the boys’ cricket staff; Mr Kent, Mr Potter, Mr Mixer, Mr Eyssens, Mr Diver, Mr Smith, Mr Soames, Mr Crichton, Mr McKenzie, Mr Schroder and Mr Dormehl.

A special mention must go to Mrs Henderson, who this year will be moving on from the cricket programme. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank her for all her dedication, passion, care and support over the past five seasons. Without her, girls’ cricket at KES would not be thriving in the same way.

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Finally, I would like to thank our departing Upper Sixth cricketers - you have all been outstanding ambassadors for the School, for cricket and yourselves. You have been an absolute pleasure to work with, throughout your time at the School, and I hope that you all continue to play cricket in your next stage of life.

I would like to thank Captains Kam and Sanya for all they have done over the past two years. Sanya, in particular, should be very proud of all she has achieved during her time at KES. She is a history maker by being the only player to have won her baggy cap in both the Boys’ and Girls’ 1st teams.

However, what she should be most proud of is that she has helped inspire the next generations of female cricketers here at the School. Well done Sanya!

Mr Penn Head of Cricket

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Cover designed by Mr G Piggott.

King Edward VI School . Wilton Road . Southampton . Hampshire SO15 5UQ

www.kes.hants.sch.uk