From The Head We have had an interesting mix of weather with snow in March and tropical heat in June! That said, most school activities have continued as planned with lots of enthusiasm for the Second Year Camps on Dartmoor, whether in sunshine or rain. As I write, our students are emerging from examinations and, as the end of term approaches, youthful exuberance has erupted with the Science Festival filling the School with everything from an inflatable planetarium to lectures on quantum mechanics and crystallography. The Lower School play, ‘Treasure Island’, was a great success and we have Sports Day, the Endeavour programme and the Swimming Gala to pack in before the summer holidays begin. We are busy finishing the expansion of the Dining Hall together with a new Key Stage One building at Stroud. We have also been impressed with the development of our memorial quadrangle, created to commemorate the end of the First World War.
The statue, designed and made by Mike Long, former Head of Art, is a remarkable addition to the School and will formally be unveiled on November 9th by the Venerable Stephen Robbins CB, Honorary Canon of Salisbury Cathedral and a former Chaplain-General of the British Army. The number of co-curricular trips that take place each year remains a very impressive part of the School’s provision with record numbers involved. Over a third of the School were involved in these activities over the spring holiday. These included a very successful ski trip to France, a creative arts trip to Vienna, a pre-season cricket trip to Menorca, exchange and language visits to Montpellier, Andalucía, Catalonia and Mutterstadt and various Duke of Edinburgh expeditions in the New Forest, Yorkshire and Dartmoor. Reports of these activities and various individual achievements are given in detail in this edition.
Our charity work remains very active with significant numbers involved in the Summer Camp for young carers in the New Forest and our annual participation in the Goedgedacht Project outside Cape Town. Other planned visits over the summer include an expedition to The Galapagos and the Amazon Rain Forest and the water sports trip in southern France. This term sees the retirements of Mr Foyle, Mrs Freemantle and Mrs Lupton after a combined seventy years of service to the School. Others moving to new positions and challenges elsewhere, include Mrs Ahmad, Miss Champion, Ms Gadsbey, Mrs Jones and Mr Westwater. We wish them all well and thank them for all that they have done for the School. 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 Olympiad results KES students have been taking part in a range of academic Olympiad competitions over the last couple of months with some excellent results.
Physics
Biology
Languages
Five KES students took part in the first round of the British Physics Olympiad. The competition comprises a three-hour examination, featuring incredibly difficult problems on all aspects of Physics that reach well beyond the A Level syllabus. All the students performed extremely well. Charlotte Bassett, Bruce Carpenter and Patrick Miller each achieved a Commendation whilst Jordan Abbott was placed in the top 360 students in the country and attained a Silver medal. Ewan Murphy was placed in the top 160 students in the country and attained a Gold medal award and a book prize.
The results of the Biology Olympiad have been impressive. Georgia Stonadge performed particularly well and progressed to the second round. This placed her in the top 3% of students who took the paper. Gold awards went to Georgia Stonadge, Jess Holmes, Natalie Oldfield and Will Thompson whilst Daisy Porter achieved Silver and Eleanor Todd, Maya Smale, Sara Talwar, Naomi Lee, Alice Ridley and Abigail Sheppard received Bronze awards.
Jessica Lu, Iolanta Spanner, Charis Saer, Isobel Searles, Charlotte Saudek and Xyla Taufaniska all achieved Gold Awards in the recent UK Linguistics Olympiad.
Exploring different faiths! This term, eight Fourth Year pupils who are studying the full Religious Studies GCSE course visited the London Central Mosque and Islamic Centre at Regent’s Park. They were given a talk and shown around the mosque before visiting the exhibition centre in the Islamic Centre. Following this, the group travelled across London to visit St Paul’s Cathedral as a centre of Christian worship where they climbed the 500 steps to the top to access an amazing view of London, stopping part way up to test out the Whispering Gallery!
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Maths
First Year PSHE Day
In the recent UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge Yuqing Chen won Best in School with a score of 104. This puts her in the top 500 candidates in the country and gained her entry into the Maclaurin Olympiad round. Cherida Zhang, Will Atherton, William Rose, Sarah Macleod and Arev Melikyan of the Fifth Year also achieved a Gold certificate and gained entry into the Pink Kangaroo follow-on round as did Fourth Year pupils, Benji Graf, Joshua Lam, Ryan Scott and Daniel Erwig. Charlie Smeeton, Joe Rachman, Anna Aksenova, Tasmiah Safat-e-Jannat, Michael Beck-Papageorgiou and Abigail McCarthy all earned Gold and along with Ankit Nambiar (Silver) they entered the Grey Kangaroo round.
At the end of May, all First Year pupils participated in their PSHE day. Within their tutor groups, they rotated around each of the six organised sessions that covered topics such as drugs, alcohol, managing money, internet safety, social networking and team-building skills.
The Waterman Essay Prize Sixth Form student, Colin McCann, has been awarded the 2018 Waterman Essay Prize. This endowment prize was set up by two former pupils to reward originality, flair, wit, and an element of provocation, in response to an unseen essay title to be completed in one hour. The title of the essay this year was “If it were possible to ‘uninvent’ one thing, which thing would you choose and why?” Essayists chose ideas ranging from ‘uninventing’ the car, the aeroplane, the smart phone, the whole world wide web, English spelling, social media, dabbing and the humble saucer. All the submitted entries were engaging, well written, thought provoking and very funny. Colin’s winning entry took the form of a diatribe against the pernicious influence of the saucer, whilst the runners-up aimed their sights at the The World Wide Web and the irritating idiosyncrasies of English spelling.
La Casa Encantada In April, the Onatti Theatre Company performed their touring play ‘La Casa Encantada’ to all the Third Year Hispanists in the Dobson Theatre. The lively performance, in very accessible Spanish, was enhanced further when pupil Alex England was chosen to take part in the action. He rose to the challenge, even improvising of his own accord to the amusement of the audience.
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Co-curricular The Opal Coast
Students visiting the Opal Coast in France over half-term were lucky to have beautiful weather for their four-day trip. The group had many typically French experiences, including a market visit, learning how artisan bread is made, rolling croissants, visiting a snail farm and simply enjoying time together on the beach. Lots of language practice was also done along the way.
Second Year Camps Over the past few months, groups of Second Year pupils have been heading off to the School’s Rural Studies Centre in Lovaton for a few days of orienteering, camping, team building, hiking, climbing and more! The groups have had mixed weather with some enjoying glorious sunshine and others needing waterproofs. However, this did not dampen their spirits and they enjoyed a full few days of activities.
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KES Memorial Garden The WWI Memorial Garden continues to take shape in time for its official opening in November this year, to mark the anniversary of the end of WWI. Mike Long, former Head of Art at KES, was commissioned to design and make a bronze statue to commemorate this particular moment in history. The stunning statue, which depicts three servicemen and has references to KES pupils lost in both world wars, has now been delivered to school and is awaiting installation, as the garden moves into the final stages of completion.
Remembering Ben Smith A year ago, the School tragically lost one of its Fifth Year pupils, Ben Smith, who died whilst out jogging. In memory of Ben, the weights room in the School Fitness Suite has been dedicated to and named after him. In May, Rev Poppleton, the School Chaplain, the Head Master, members of staff and some of Ben’s friends gathered for a small dedication and naming ceremony. Afterwards a prayer of renewed blessing was offered at the tree planted last year, on the edge of the School Field, to commemorate Ben’s life.
Cactus Club visit Devon
Young Enterprise This year’s King Edward’s Young Enterprise Team, consisting of Jovan Dhariwal, James Harden, Adam Lock, Colin McCann and Tom Mitchell represented their company, ‘Radar Hockey’, in the Young Enterprise Company of the Year competition held at Winchester College at the end of last term. After beating tough competition, they won the round progressing to the county final in April. Unfortunately they did not progress further in the competition but their social media and marketing materials impressed the judges and have been entered into the South East Regional Final.
During the last weekend in April, the Cactus Club set up base camp at Lovaton and in the course of the two days visited the impressive Eden Project in Cornwall and the memorable Cactus Shop in the heart of Devon. Sir Tim Smit’s conversion of a chalk pit into an environment for cacti, other plants and birds to live in harmony, and Ralph Northcutt’s passion of a lifetime to bring the greatest collection of succulents under one enormous greenhouse roof, made their marks on the students. Greater understanding and a large number of cactus purchases were among the many benefits of their time away.
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Fundraising dinner dance The South Africa team, along with Mr Miller and Mrs Collinson, organised a wonderful fundraising dinner dance in aid of the Goedgedacht Trust, based just outside Cape Town, which supports young local children born into poverty. The event raised an impressive £7000, through ticket sales and an auction, which will go a long way to supporting the invaluable work done by the Trust in their ‘Pathway out of Poverty’ programmes.
Thank you to our Prepositors The School is grateful to Will Thompson for his leadership as Head of School over the last year, ably supported by his deputies Maddie Burton, Ben Millar and Senior Prepositor, Daisy Porter. School duties are also carried out by Prepositors, Heads of House and Lower School prefects. The team have worked very effectively this year with a varied range of responsibilities, and opportunities to develop their teamwork and leadership skills. In order to recognise this hard work and commitment, the School hosted a thank-you barbecue at Wellington prior to the start of exams.
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Greenpower team race at Goodwood
A record 100 teams turned out for the Greenpower regional heats at Goodwood race circuit on 10th June. With a completely rebuilt car, the KES Racing Team were confident but, with no practice session so far this season, everyone was ready for any quick modifications required. The team, led by Alex Everest in the Lower Sixth, used the practice session to maximum effect, giving everyone at least one lap of the circuit, before the first race of the day in which KES finished in an impressive 20th place; the team returning to the paddock area in high spirits. The second race of the day did not go quite so smoothly, as a lost drive pin forced an early pit stop. However, the problem was quickly identified and fixed allowing the team to still finish in 30th place with high hopes they have done enough to qualify for the International Finals at Rockingham Speedway in October.
Mountain biking on Dartmoor At the end of last term, the KES Mountain Biking Club held its spring residential weekend on Dartmoor in the thawing weather. Â Saturday saw a 45 km cross-country route across the middle of the moor in a cloudy drizzle but on the Sunday, it brightened up nicely and the group enjoyed the trails of Haldon Forest before returning to school.Â
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Mutterstadt Exchange In the Easter break, a group of Third and Fourth Year Germanists, accompanied by Mrs Lupton and Mr Jepson, took part in the 19th German Exchange to our partner school, the IGS Mutterstadt. The weather was brilliantly warm and sunny for the week’s activities that included day trips to the beautiful city of Heidelberg and the impressive cathedral city of Speyer, a round of ‘football-golf’, a quiz in the renowned Speyer transport museum, a morning’s lessons in school and a farewell barbecue at the ‘Naturspur’. The German counterparts returned to KES in May during which they too visited many local attractions.
Cordoba Twenty Third and Fourth year Spanish students received a warm welcome in Córdoba during the Easter holidays, and soon put their Spanish into practice communicating on everyday topics with their host families. The group also enjoyed time looking around the beautiful city of Córdoba, spent a day in Seville, admiring the beautiful peacocks in the gardens of the Royal Palace, exploring the María Luisa Park and walking along the Guadalquivir River, as well as getting the chance to put their dance skills to the test with a Flamenco class!
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Triathlonathon
KES has got talent
At the end of March, a charity event saw pupils and staff take part in a twelve-hour triathlonathon in the Crush Hall to raise money for this year’s Summer Camp for Southampton’s young carers. In total, a combined distance of 562 kms was covered and sponsorship raised over £640 that will go a long way to funding activities for this year’s trip.
The annual ‘KES has got Talent’ event was held in the Dobson Theatre one lunchtime. The audience were treated to a range of acts with the ultimate winner being First Year pupil Lucy Walker singing, ‘If only you would listen’ from ‘School of Rock’. Second place went to Ollie Viant who did some great impressions from around the world. The event raised over £100 for the Charities Commission.
Trauma weekend After a hectic week of exams, a group of budding Lower Sixth medics were whisked away to Lovaton for a trauma first aid trip this term. The course consisted of a series of lectures, with practical workshops on how to use equipment required for emergency medicine. These skills were put to the test when the group was faced with real-life trauma situations. The weekend was a huge success in further inspiring the students to pursue a career in medicine.
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Duke of Edinburgh The Easter break saw four Duke of Edinburgh expeditions take place throughout the country; one to the Elan Valley in Wales, two to Dartmoor and one to the New Forest. In total, sixty-seven students took part in all three levels of the award and they were ably supported by seventeen different members of staff. The May half-term saw further groups of Sixth Form and Fourth Year students take part in expeditions. All participants performed well and kept their sense of humour whatever the weather!
Careers Fair In May, the School held a busy Careers Fair in the School Hall. Representatives from a variety of leading businesses and industries attended, and Fourth Year and Lower Sixth Form students were able to talk to these working professionals about their job roles in order to help them explore areas of interest for when they leave Sixth Form or university.
Thanksgiving Last term’s Thanksgiving Service saw us welcome Elizabeth Oldfield who is the Director of Theos (a think tank organisation that researches and investigates the intersection of religion, politics and society in the contemporary world) as our guest speaker. First Years held their own Thanksgiving Service, which took place at St Nicolas’ Church in Stoneham Lane, adjacent to Wellington Sports Ground. Pupils delivered readings and the First Year Choir gave a beautiful rendition of ‘For the beauty of Earth’ by Rutter.
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Creative Arts Dance Gala This year’s Dance Gala was a spectacular display of talent. The dancers, from across the School, performed with passion and commitment treating the audience of family and friends to displays of tap, Hungarian, ballet and Irish dancing, to name but a few.
Gold ISM award
Teatime Concert
Once again, the KES Music Department has achieved a Gold certificate from the ISM congratulating last year’s Fifth Year GCSE musicians on excellent exam results. The certificate is awarded to schools who enter a large number of pupils for GCSE Music. Last year’s GCSE Music classes achieved 100% A/A * grades for the third year running.
At the end of May, a number of Lower School musicians entertained family and friends at a well-supported teatime concert. There were some outstanding soloists and lively performances from the First Year Choir and Swing Band. Tea and cakes rounded off the event perfectly.
Royal Festival Hall visit During half-term, A Level musicians enjoyed a concert trip to the Royal Festival Hall for a performance by the Philharmonia Orchestra. Music included A Level repertoire with works by Dukas, Berlioz and Rachnaninoff.
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Art Exhibition In the evening of the 25th June, hundreds of parents, pupils and staff gathered in the Atrium gallery and art studios to celebrate the annual Art Exhibition. This year, the event showcased the creative achievements of pupils from the First Year through to the Upper Sixth. For the current Upper Sixth artists and photographers, it was an emotional end to their time in the Art Department. Parents commented on the range, quality and ambition of the work.
Alumni Concert On the 28th of June, the Dobson Theatre played host to a selection of alumni, former and current staff members and pupils for a concert to celebrate the Music Department. The audience was treated to a wide variety of music ranging from Caccini to Debussy. It was wonderful to see the successes of so many former students.
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Treasure Island
In June, the Dobson was transformed into a pirate ship for the Lower School production of ‘Treasure Island’. This new adaptation featured a large cast from First, Second and Third Year and was certainly a spectacular event, with swashbuckling swordfights and an incredible set, which was part-funded by the KES PTA. There were some very entertaining and notable performances, particularly given the age of the students involved.
Spring in Vienna Creative Arts students spent a fantastic five days in Vienna over Easter combining trips to art galleries and exhibitions with visiting famous architectural and musical Viennese landmarks, attending concerts and enjoying a river trip along the Danube. An evening sortie to the famous Jazz club ‘Porgy and Bess’ was also a highlight of the trip.
KES hosts Southampton Schools’ Ceilidh On Thursday 28th June KES musicians joined forces with Folk Active for the Southampton Schools’ Ceilidh 2018 which took place in the Dobson Theatre. Our musicians performed a variety of Jigs, Reels and Hornpipes for over one hundred local junior pupils who danced their way through the morning learning new skills and having lots of fun. For the KES musicians, it was a lovely way to celebrate the end of the busy school exam season!
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Sport Inter-form athletics The annual First Year interform athletics event was held at Southampton Sports Centre and produced some excellent performances by many of the pupils. The competition was tight but at the end of the day 1/3 finished in third place, 1/5 finished in second place and the winners, by just seven points, taking first place were 1/2.
A busy term for KES sporting stars
Cricket success
Iona Morley competed in the Scottish National Age Group Swimming Championships. She posted a personal best time and won a Gold medal in the 200m butterfly and a Bronze in the 100m butterfly.
There has been success in the County Cup cricket competitions for all three teams who entered the county cups. The U14s lost in the quarter-final, whilst the U12s and U15s both reached the semi-finals before being knocked out. The U13s beat Millfield School in the South Final of the competition to reach the national semi-finals in which they lost to Whitgift School. This is nevertheless a formidable achievement.
Mathias Potter competed for team GB in an Easter sailing regatta in Holland and finished sixteenth out of 200 sailors and was the second placed British sailor. Ben Brown competed in the British Athletics 3-mile road championships over the last three miles of the London Marathon course. This featured the top seventy athletes from across the UK in each age group. Ben ran superbly to finish second in his age group. Harry Croft-Baker and Rory Penrose have both played hockey for England U16 squad in a series of matches against Holland. Charlotte Dunkley and Claudia Leeming took part in the U14 Netball Club National Club Finals and their team, Weston Park Blades, finished sixth overall. Claudia has been invited to trial for an English Schools’ team to compete at the British Youth Games and Charlotte has been selected for the U15 Surrey Storm squad for the School Games. Rory Urquhart-Hawkins played for the England U15 basketball team in an international tournament in Denmark. This is in preparation for the European U16 Championships next year.
Dobson Bat awards Congratulations to Jovan Dhariwal and Charlie Harden who have both received their Dobson Bat awards this term. The award is presented when a student makes their first century for the School.
Netball win for U15s The U15A girls’ netball team won the County Cup this season to become Hampshire champions.
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Menorcan training camp In April, seventeen U13 cricketers travelled to Menorca for a warm weather training camp. Although not well known for its cricket, the Menorca Cricket Club proved to be an excellent base for their stay. The boys spent a lot of time practising in the middle to work on game-related aspects, as well as having time in nets for a more technical focus. They were then given a break from cricket to spend a day out on the Mediterranean Sea: a great way to relax and unwind. The final day saw a match as the group were split into two teams. The boys also had the opportunity to look around the historic cities of Ciutadella and Mahon before returning home from an excellent trip.
1st XI win Altham Trophy The XI squad retained the Altham Trophy in the finals event hosted at Wellington in June. They beat Barton Peveril by 40 runs in the semi-final game and then Peter Symonds by 9 wickets in the final.
GB cricketer coaches KES girls The School was delighted to welcome former England Ladies Cricket Captain, and Ashes and World Cup winner, Charlotte Edwards, last term to conduct a coaching session with a group of Lower School and Stroud cricket players. The girls were given expert coaching on bowling and batting techniques in preparation for the 2018 cricket season.
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Science and Technology Festival 2018 The second Science and Technology Festival took place in wonderful weather as pupils, parents, pupils from local schools and members of the public enjoyed a variety of talks, presentations and workshops from nine o’clock in the morning until nine o’clock at night. The festival used the new Dobson Theatre to great effect, as evening audiences enjoyed talks ranging from the science of fireworks to the working of the brain and the physics of electric guitars and linked to an ultimate theory of matter. During the day, pupils from KES, and beyond, learned about the magic of science, jellyfish, life in the jungle, exploring the Solar System, becoming an astronaut, the science of materials, the criminal brain, car design using a wind tunnel, took part in a rocket-powered car competition and quizzes and much, much more. The ‘street fair’ on the last lunchtime proved a hit with many and helped round off a superb festival!
King Edward VI School Wilton Road . Southampton . Hampshire SO15 5UQ Telephone: 023 8070 4561 . www.kes.hants.sch.uk