Kes winter konnections 2015

From The Head We were again delighted with our GCSE, AS and A Level results, particularly given the challenging nature of IGCSE for all core curriculum subjects. We were very pleased to see 55% of all IGCSE level results awarded the very demanding A* grade. We welcomed the distinguished former RAF pilot Mandy Hickson as our Chief Guest at Speech Day in September to award our academic prizes.

A number of new facilities have been completed over the past six months including a much improved hospitality facility at Wellington in the pavilion, new music rooms, and an expanded fitness area. We continue to be grateful to the KES PTA, and its chair Dr Hulbert, for its support for new projects. Work has also proceeded apace with the integration of Stroud Preparatory School into the KES community following the appointment of Mr Worrall as the new Head.

This is always a very busy term and our students have been involved in an array of activity in sport, clubs, societies and charity work. We have had a number of cultural moments this term, including an excellent concert at Turner Sims, building up to the School drama production of ‘Hiawatha’ and the Carol Service in the new venue at Romsey Abbey.

This issue also reports on the many events that have taken place since July, with regular features such as the water sports holiday in France, the Goedgedacht Trust in South Africa and the Summer Camp at Swanage working with young carers. Many have been involved in new experiences such as our exchange with our partner school Charlotte Country Day in North Carolina, an expedition to the foothills of the Himalayas and a sports tour to Cape Town. Closer to home our linguists have been improving their fluency with trips to Spain, Germany and France.

KonnEctionS can only give a quick overview of life at KES with nearly one thousand energetic and fully involved youngsters. For further information please refer to our website and the news section which is up-dated regularly.

A J Thould Head

King Edward VI School Wilton Road . Southampton . Hampshire SO15 5UQ Telephone: 023 8070 4561

www.kes.hants.sch.uk

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Academic Outstanding A Level and GCSE results Last year’s Upper Sixth produced another excellent set of A Level results in August. 83% of King Edward’s students in 2015 passed their A Levels with grades at A*, A or B with over 19% at A*. 40% of students gained three A grades or more.

Nine students, 10% of all university applicants this year, secured offers for Oxford and Cambridge and over four-fifths of students proceeded to Russell Group universities.

99% of IGCSEs awarded in 2015 were at grade C or above with 82% of all grades at A* and A while 95% of all grades were awarded at A*, A or B. 100% of candidates obtained the minimum of five GCSE passes including IGCSE Mathematics and English.

Speech Day Geography field trip to Malham On 18th September, pupils, parents, staff, governors and guests spent the afternoon at The Mayflower Theatre to celebrate current and former pupils’ successes at the annual Speech Day and prize giving event. The chief guest and speaker was Mandy Hickson, a former RAF GR4 pilot and one of the first female pilots to fly in combat in Iraq. She spoke about her experiences flying multimillion pound fast jets and the importance of staying calm under pressure. Her inspirational talk included the difficulties she had to overcome during her training and the importance of working as a team.

The Lower Sixth geographers had an extremely successful field trip to Malham in the Yorkshire Dales just before half term. The five days included a stroll up Malham Cove and across to the Tarn, a visit to the market town of Skipton to investigate flood management, a tour around Lower Winskill Farm to look at the difficulties of farming in National Parks and upland areas, a study of four rural settlements across the Yorkshire Dales, a journey around the Dales looking at the glacial features of the landscape and finally a trip to Ingleborough Caves to see the

incredible limestone geology of the area. The students worked extremely hard whilst on the trip and a huge amount of knowledge was gained to assist them with their A Level Geography course.

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Renowned geographer visits KES This term, the Geography Department welcomed David Edwards to give a series of talks to students about a wide variety of geographical topics ranging from ‘Iceland – a geographical wonderland’ to ‘Global Warming and Climate Change’. David also provided the whole school with an inspiring assembly during which he shared his stories and life lessons. David has an extensive background in adventure, travel and environmental education and whilst carrying out a biodiversity survey on the island of Montserrat he experienced the infamous volcanic eruption. Surviving this eruption was the topic of his lunchtime talk to the Geography Society.

Roman mysteries revealed On 14th October, fifty KES pupils travelled to Cantell School to hear Caroline Lawrence, writer of Classical novels, give an insight into her work. Caroline awarded three prizes during the talk, of which two were awarded to KES students. She talked of the book that changed her life - Mary Renault’s ‘The Last of the Wine’ - which brought her to the UK from California to study Classics and subsequently set her on her career as a writer.

Shortlisted for Salters-Nuffield Biology prize Sophie Majoe and Lucy Taylor (2015 Sixth Form leavers) were shortlisted for the national Salters-Nuffield Biology prize this year with Sophie being awarded 2nd prize. Both girls qualified as, nationally, they were among the top three highest scoring candidates in their A2 Biology examinations. Sophie achieved 597/600 and Lucy 595/600. It is an incredible achievement that for the last three years students from KES have either been shortlisted for, or awarded, a national prize for their performance in A Level Biology.

Classics inspiration day KES Classics students recently attended a Classics inspiration day in Winchester. Edith Hall from KCL, Stephen Harrison from Corpus Christi and Llewellyn Morgan from Brasenose provided pace, interest and variety in their presentations. The topics covered were ‘The Importance of the Greeks’, ‘Rome and Hollywood’ and ‘Virgil’s Aeneid - the toga and the sword’. KES students were very positive about their experience and it was well worth the visit.

The Living Rainforest The Living Rainforest in Newbury was the destination for Second Year students in October. The Living Rainforest is home to 700 species of plants and animals and visitors can watch birds, butterflies and lizards roam free in some of the tropical glasshouses.

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Co-curricular KES hosts Digital Leaders’ Conference In November, the School hosted the national Digital Leaders’ Conference. This was an event during which pupils completed a carousel of IT based activities as well as presenting on the ways that IT is enriching learning in their schools.

Around 100 pupils attended from seven schools around the country. They took part in activities including drone flying, sphero programming and making a musical instrument out of bananas. The day was a great success and enjoyed by all those who attended.

Activity trip to Dartmoor At the end of half-term, a group of Upper School students travelled to Dartmoor for an outdoor activity experience.

The group carved pumpkins, cooked tea on trangias and completed a night time navigation skills session on the open moor as well as attempting a 30m free abseil and climbing the rock face at the Dewerstone.

DofE expeditions Nineteen Duke of Edinburgh participants spent four days completing their Gold and Silver practice expeditions in Dartmoor during October. After enduring a Saturday of typical Dartmoor rain, the weather relaxed and showed its splendour to the three groups who all performed exceptionally well, typically navigating their way and walking 18-20km daily and wild-camping throughout the last expedition of 2015. Teams will now go forward to their assessment expeditions from Easter 2016 onwards.

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Paris in autumn Fifty Fourth and Fifth Year students and seven teachers set off early on the first Monday of half-term in order to get to Paris in time for an afternoon stroll.

Blue skies and sunshine helped to make the early start worthwhile and a walk along the Seine, past Notre Dame and the Pompidou Centre before arriving at the Louvre in time for a beautiful sunset added to the excitement. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were filled with French lessons in France Langue Paris whilst the afternoons encompassed all things French; les bateaux mouches, La Tour Eiffel, Les Tuileries, Les champs Elysées and journeys on the Paris metro.

The final evening was spent enjoying ‘Maax’ play the piano and sing at the wonderful restaurant in Montmartre, La Mère Catherine.

Byron Society visit London The Byron Society travelled to Regency London in October. Starting at Byron’s statue at Hyde Park, the group headed east to pay homage to the poet’s prestigious bachelor apartment in Albany, his publisher John Murray’s office, the Cocoa Tree Club and the Drury Lane Theatre, where Byron had been Artistic Director. In St James’s Park, under a spreading beech tree, the poem ‘So, We’ll Go No More A’roving’ was lustily rendered, before the party headed northwards to Harrow to see not only Byron’s old school, but also the memorial to his second daughter, Allegra.

First Year disco The Summer Camp team organised a superhero themed First Year disco on 16th October to raise money for Hampshire Young Carers and the Summer Camp project.

The evening was a great success, with pupils enjoying the fancy dress theme and participating in all the activities including a dance off competition, apple bobbing, face painting and posing for photos with Wolverine!

KES digital leaders at Stroud KES digital leaders have been busy this term. They received their official badges, in a ceremony with the Head Master, in recognition of the work they have done to support their peers and staff members with using technology to enhance learning. They have also visited Stroud School to help run an ICT day for Year 5 pupils.

The junior school pupils completed activities based on algorithms, artificial intelligence, and learning about digital sound and images; all without the use of computers encouraging the children to develop their computational thinking skills using the traditional medium of paper and thinking.

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Greenpower finals at Rockingham The KES Greenpower team rounded off their successful 2014/15 season with an invitation to race in the International Kit Car Finals to be held for the first time at the world famous Rockingham Speedway just outside Northampton. The Greenpower car was taken up to the speedway the night before in order to be one of the first in line when scrutineering opened at 8.30 am and with this important process passed, the drivers were straight out of the minibus and onto the track for two hours of practice time before the finals got underway. The weather was ideal and the rain clouds just held off long enough for the team to complete an excellent sixteen laps placing them 26th in a field comprised of the top cars not only from the UK but also from America.

Student Robotics Competition Team KES attended the launch event of the 2015 Student Robotics Competition at Southampton University in November. Fifty-four Sixth Form colleges and schools are participating this year and the King Edward’s team was the first team to complete all the set challenges.

Teamwork was superb and was backed up by strong hardware and software skills.

First Year Toy Appeal Fun Run Despite the blustery weather the First Years, as well as their Sixth Form supporters, took part in the Toy Appeal Fun Run at lunchtime on 6th October.

Sponsorship raised for this event will provide Christmas presents for children in Southampton who would not otherwise receive any gifts.

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Syrian politics and culture speaker visits KES Diana Darke, author of ‘My House in Damascus’ visited KES this term to give a lecture about Syrian politics and culture. Diana graduated in Arabic from Oxford University and started her career working for the British Government’s General Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham. She went on to specialise in the Middle East for over 30 years, living and working in a range of Arab countries. She has also authored sixteen travel guides on the region and is now recognised as a fully independent Middle East cultural expert. Her talk was fascinating and enjoyed by all those who attended.

KES sailing

Honey harvesting In September, a team of seven students extracted over 20lb of honey from the supers lifted from the KES bee hives earlier in the summer.

Samples of the honey were then entered into the Southampton and District Beekeepers’ Association’s annual competition. Unfortunately the honey was not placed in the top three but Mr Robinson claimed 1st prize in the close-up photograph category with this photo of one of the KES bees and Lucy Giles won 2nd prize in the honey cake category.

Team building at Woodmill New Third Year pupils, along with Mrs Rugge-Price and Mrs Burrows, enjoyed a ‘mostly’ sunny morning at Woodmill Activities Centre on 14th September. The group were engaged in a range of team building activities which challenged comfort zones at times and encouraged new friendships and conversations.

After many happy years sailing at Weston Sailing Club the School’s Sailing Club has now moved to SWAC (Southampton Water Activities Centre). This move has enabled King Edward’s sailors to be able to sail more often as the site is very sheltered but, more importantly, they can launch at all states of tide and therefore sail every week. The School is lucky to have the use of SWAC’s extensive range of boats enabling pupils to be able to test their skills in a range of different craft and is also able to call upon the SWAC staff to help run sessions allowing KES to staff more weekends for its pupils. The facility is also being used for FS power boating and means Sixth Formers can hone their rib driving skills in the very public arena of Ocean Village and also quickly get out into Southampton Water for some high speed driving. We have also enhanced the games provision with the addition of stand-up paddleboarding and rowing as Fifth Year games options and look forward to a successful partnership with SWAC over the forthcoming years.

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Creative Arts Royal Marines band workshop In September a group of KES brass and wind players visited the Royal Marines School of Music in Portsmouth to participate in a day of music-making with the professional musicians of the Royal Marines Band.

It was an inspirational day of learning and playing, alongside students from five other local schools, which ended in a hugely impressive afternoon performance with the worldrenowned band.

Exam pieces performed

Southbank Sinfonia visit KES

On 5th November the GCSE Theatre Studies pupils showcased their devised performance exam pieces to an audience of parents and friends in the Twigg and Dobson Theatre. The evening offered a diverse range of styles of performance from Brechtian-inspired plays examining the migrant crisis and the fickleness of those in positions of power to two naturalistic performances one set in a prison and the other the home of a war veteran. There was also a piece of physical theatre set in an airplane inspired by the work of theatre company Frantic Assembly, who pupils worked with last year.

On 20th October the advanced musicians of the Chamber Orchestra joined forces with our professional partnership orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia, for an inspiring day of side-by-side playing. Repertoire included Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture, Dvorak’s 9th Symphony, first movement and extracts from Poulenc’s Gloria. The day, which also saw seventy musicians from our feeder junior and prep schools performing with the KES Chamber Choir, culminated in an outstanding concert at Turner Sims.​

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Art Trips The Art Department has taken three trips this term. The Fourth Years went to Kew Gardens to fuel their first portfolio of work and the resulting etchings and sketchbook pages have already shown the value of good first-hand research. The Fifth Years travelled to London to see the show of the moment ‘Giacometti-pure presence’ at the National Portrait Gallery and his fluid and expressive drawings and sculptures will certainly feature in their work over the next few months. The Sixth Form attended a Creative Arts Seminar at the Institute of Education during which Gerald Scarfe spoke about being an artist and his work in terms of operatic productions and the iconic Pink Floyd film ‘The Wall’.

Hiawatha The KES Drama Department has been working with Jeremy James Taylor (international director and writer) who founded the National Youth Music Theatre Company) in his role as director-in-residence this autumn. Jeremy directed the ensemble piece ‘Hiawatha’, with a talented cast comprised of pupils from all year groups. The performances at the end of November were outstanding showcasing the talent amongst the School’s dramatists and musicians.

Theatre workshop Sixth Form and Fourth Year Theatre Studies pupils recently took part in an inspiring and highly energetic workshop by Max Lindsay from the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton. The workshop was a practical exploration of the work of the French theatre director and practitioner Antonin Artaud, who pioneered the niche style known as Theatre of Cruelty.

Pupils explored a more visceral approach to performance with enthusiasm and much noise, creating powerful pieces around the themes of human trafficking, dictators and mental health issues.

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Sport Kings’ South Coast Rugby Tournament On the first Sunday of the autumn term the sun shone on the 12th South Coast Kings’ Rugby Tournament held at Wellington Sports Ground. This encouraged the teams to play expansive rugby in excellent conditions; a challenge they all rose to. In the U15 tournament Dean Close School from Cheltenham met Hampton School in the trophy final.

The former battled their way to a 10-7 victory to take the trophy to Gloucestershire. In the shield final, a strong Halliford side beat KES. Hampton School reached the

final in the U18 tournament as well, and this time they emerged victorious beating Whitchurch High School from Cardiff. KES reached the final of the shield and in this they managed to overcome Downside School. It was the first time the host team had won a trophy at this festival for some years and the home crowd were suitably delighted.

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U14s are Rugby 10s champions With wins over Romsey School and Salesian the KES team scored a remarkable 71 points in two group games to finish top of the pool in the Rugby 10s Championship. In the semi-final they had a rematch with Salesian which they won 12-5 and thus reached the final against Churcher’s College. In a tough match, Churcher’s took the lead twice but KES hung on and scored two tries late on in the game to win 24-10 and become County 10s champions.

Netballers play county rounds The KES U14 and U16 netball teams played the county rounds of the National Cup in October. In the U16 age group the team played nine matches and did well to win seven of them. A defeat to PGS and a draw against Thornden meant they finished level on points with Thornden. With only two teams qualifying for the regional rounds, goal average per game was used to decide who would progress. Second place went to Thornden by an agonising 0.1 of a goal and so the KES team finished 3rd in the county. The U14 team also played nine games and they managed to win eight of these with particularly pleasing results over PGS and Perins. A surprise defeat to Bedales meant that they finished level with PGS but on goals scored came 2nd. This means that they have qualified for the regional stages.

School Sport Magazine Cup success The U12 netball team have reached the quarter-final of the School Sport Magazine National Cup following a convincing win over Downe House 26-7 in the last sixteen. The U13 squad have also reached the last sixteen of the competition and they will play Walthamstow Hall School from Sevenoaks in the quarter-final.

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Alumni girls’ team play the School’s 1st XI On 21st September a strong OE side faced the girls’ KES 1st XI hockey side in their annual pre-season match in a bid to once again claim the trophy. The OE girls’ team have had to settle for a loss or a draw for the past four years so this year a very determined team took to the pitch. In a competitive but friendly match the OE girls finally achieved their victory in a game that saw them take the cup with a 3-1 win.

Boys’ indoor hockey Success for KES sailors The boys’ U16 indoor hockey team won their regional qualifier this term to reach the regional finals and the 1st VI indoor team won the regional qualifying tournament, held at KES, to qualify in 1st place for the regional heats which were held at the end of November.

Playing for England Yvie Lock was selected to play for the England girls’ hockey team at the Sainsbury’s School Games held in Manchester in September playing three international matches in four days against Scotland, Wales and Ulster.

KES sailors have barely had time to dry out this summer. Hamish Morley came 4th in the RS Tera World Championships in Holland and 2nd at the National Championships in Weymouth during the break whilst Lizzie Beardsall competed for GBR at the Optimist European Championships where the team came 3rd out of the nearly forty countries who entered. The European competition was immediately followed by the Optimist British National and Open Championships, in which Lizzie came 4th. Henry Beardsall represented GBR in Holland at the Laser 4.7 Worlds. He competed alongside 400 sailors from around the world, put in a very commendable performance and gained valuable experience. Henry has been selected for the Laser 4.7 National Squad and Lizzie has been selected for the Optimist National Squad based on their rankings after the final selection event.

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KES rugby Girls’ hockey qualifiers teams qualify The U13 rugby team have reached the 3rd round of the School Sport Magazine National Cup following a comfortable win over Ringwood School. They will now play Dr Challoner’s Grammar School from Amersham in the 4th round. The U15 boys unfortunately lost to Bishop Wordsworth’s School in the 4th round of the Nat West National Cup. BWS won with a drop goal two minutes from time but the KES team impressed many with their performance. The 1st XV rugby squad have also reached the 4th round of the Cup where they are likely to face a rematch against Dauntsey’s School.

The U13 girls’ hockey team beat Hampshire Collegiate School, Robert Mays School, and Durlston Court to finish top of their group in the county stage of the National Cup this term. A play-off followed against Farnborough Hills which KES won 2-0 and, as a result, the team qualified for the regional round after Christmas. The U14 girls’ team also qualified for regional heats as Hampshire champions winning all four of their matches in the county tournament, scoring 11 goals and not conceding any. The U16 girls finished 2nd in the county and reached the regional heats where they came 3rd in their group. The girls’ 1st XI squad were crowned county champions and have since progressed through the regional rounds and now face Eastbourne College in a regional semi-final match.

KES staff test their limits Several members of the KES staff have been competing in tough competitions this term. Miss Yerbury travelled to Chicago where she took part in the World Aquathlon Championships finishing in 9th position. She also competed in the Triathlon World Championships achieving a career best performance and finishing 17th (out of 92).

Mr Miller travelled north to compete in a Double Iron Man competition. He finished the event in 39hrs and 20mins coming home in an incredible 7th place raising nearly £3,000 for Naomi House.

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Summer globetrotting South Africa 2015 During the summer break sixteen students and three teachers undertook a two-week trip to South Africa. The first three days in Cape Town included a visit to Robben Island, the District Six Museum and various outings to the waterfront and its restaurants. This was followed by a fun-packed week working on the Goedgedacht Farm. The group visited numerous POP (Pathway out of Poverty) centres and KES students played non-stop with the children resulting in lots of laughter, music, singing and dancing. The evenings spent with the youth were memorable for the energy required, be it when playing the ‘apartheid game’, dodgeball or taking part in a fashion show. The joint trip to Table Mountain, where the views were spectacular, helped to finish the week on a high. The last few days were spent on Safari at the Entabeni Game Reserve and the sighting of the lion and the crocodile on the final day were a fantastic conclusion to an amazing trip.

Tall ships adventure

La Normandie This year sixty-four Second Year pupils, together with eight members of staff, enjoyed a visit to Normandy in July as part of the Endeavour programme.

The Arromanches 360 Cinema, the American Cemetery, La Pointe du Hoc, the German Cemetery at La Cambe and the Bayeux Tapestry all proved thought-provoking and informative. The entertainment at the Chateau du Mollay included ‘It’s a Knockout’, frogs’ legs and snail tasting, a disco and karaoke, a crêpe activity and swimming in the open air pool.

An intrepid bunch of KES and Stroud pupils, parents and staff had a fantastic fundraising day out on HMS Tenacious during Cowes week. During the voyage the group had the opportunity to hoist and set the sails and have a go at helming.

Charlie Hurst, Grace Bailey, Jacob Adeniji and Mrs Burrows all braved climbing the mast whilst at sea, from where they had a fantastic view of the Solent. HMS Tenacious is owned by the Jubilee Sailing Trust which is a registered charity whose mission is to promote the integration of people of all physical abilities through the challenge and adventure of sailing tall ships on the open sea.

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A Himalayan expedition In July, the KES Himalayan team set off on the expedition of a lifetime to Ladakh, Northern India, for a trekking experience in the Himalayas. On arrival in Leh, at 3,600 metres above sea level and the gateway to the Northern Himalayas, the group spent the first few days completing several acclimatisation treks before departing on their principal eight-day expedition.

During their trek they experienced the most magnificent views, completed a nine-hour gorge walk, during which they met some challenging unstable slopes and fast-flowing water, and also visited Rizong Gompa Monastery, meeting a child monk. On their journey home, the group visited Delhi where they made straight for Agra to visit the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal.

Mutterstadt exchange In the summer, twelve students and two members of staff travelled to Germany for the return leg of the Mutterstadt Exchange. During the scorching week, a full programme of trips was organised on most days. The first day trip was to Kaiserslautern, home of the Fritz Walter stadium, where the group was treated to a tour of the stadium which hosts Bundesliga and World Cup matches alike, and was followed by a visit to a nearby theme park. A further outing to the beautiful university city of Heidelberg saw the group take a guided tour, via cable car, to Heidelberg Castle.

Sports Tour to South Africa The 2015 Sports Tour to South Africa departed with great anticipation in July.

The boys’ rugby and the girls’ hockey teams each played five schools (in and around the Cape Town area) meeting pupils with a variety of skills, from a wide range of backgrounds. The KES rugby team were to finish winning three of their five matches whilst, on the hockey field, the KES girls made fantastic progress and thoroughly deserved their excellent playing record, winning all five of their matches. The group were based in Cape Town for much of the trip so were also able to do some sightseeing. They visited Seal Island, drove through Camps Bay and travelled down to the Cape of Good Hope.

Undoubtedly, the two highlights were going to the top of Table Mountain and out to Robben Island. They also managed to see a good amount of wildlife spending a morning at the Drakenstein Lion Park and Chimp Haven and the West Coast Ostrich Farm. As well as allowing the students the opportunity to develop in sports performance, they were also able to experience local cultures, gain an insight into the country being visited and form some new friendships.

Endeavour Following its success last year, Endeavour once again took place in July over two days. The First Years focussed on INDEPENDENCE with a two-day camping trip in the New Forest. The Second Years improved their CONFIDENCE abroad in Normandy, with heights, water and behind the lens. The Third Years worked on COLLABORATION skills in the Dragons’ Den and the Fourth Years showed their COMMUNITY spirit hosting nearly 200 students from our partnership schools at Wellington for a sporting event whilst a further sixty primary school pupils took part in various workshops on site. Lower Sixth Formers developed SELF-IMPROVEMENT on a range of activities and trips including visiting CERN and the Large Hadron Collider.

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