Newsletter of King Edward VI School
Founded 1553
From The Head It is said that after every storm, the sun must surely shine. At KES this summer term, we have experienced this both literally and metaphorically. Literally, because as I look out over the tents that have provided year group ‘bubble’ shelters for the pupils this year, I can see that they are looking a little worse for wear after the May downpours. But metaphorically too, as we look to fill the final few weeks of the term with some of the joy and laughter that has perhaps been harder to inspire under the clouds of the long months of the pandemic. I am eternally grateful to the pupils, who have been optimistic and engaged and cheerful this academic year, regardless of circumstances. I am more grateful yet to my colleagues, both teaching and nonteaching staff, who have given every ounce of energy to nurture a joy in education and school despite all. It has been a long hard winter, but now the sun is shining brightly, thanks in no small part to their efforts and dedication. When I read this edition of KonnEctionS, it seems that normality
has been resumed. Our students have been getting involved in academic and co-curricular enrichment; they have observed some of the typical schoolleaver rites of passage; they have shown off their talent and creativity in live performances. It is easy to glean from this impressive list of endeavour that all is now well with the world. But of course, this hides the truth – that for every event described, many more hours of planning have been needed, so that there was a Plan A, Plan B and often a Plan C at the ready to cover all eventualities. It is these hidden efforts that need to be acknowledged. Without them, KES would have been a poorer place in this extraordinary year: because of them we have flourished and remained true to our values of academic rigour alongside a breadth of participation and opportunity. The pupils have remained busy because the staff have been busier than ever. There is much that I could choose to highlight here, but I want to select just one example. In June, our Fifth Years and Upper Sixth students, having completed their assessments
for the ‘teacher assessment grades’ which have this summer replaced traditional examinations, were invited to participate in a unique ‘Activities Week’. At the end of a year filled with uncertainty and pressure for these particular year groups, we wanted them simply to enjoy a week of sociable fun. The vast majority chose to join us and filled their week with water sports, music, debating, climbing or any of the other opportunities on offer. Even as we rushed towards the deadline for school submissions of student grades and conducted rigorous quality control checks and balances on the grades to be entered, so a myriad of teachers volunteered to give yet more of their time to making this all possible. It was a brilliant week, made possible by brilliant staff. Enjoy your summer, and enjoy this edition of KonnEctionS. Neal Parker 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 Geography Field Trip On Friday 18th June, the Lower Sixth geographers headed to the coast to undertake preparation work for their forthcoming independent investigations. Students were given hands-on experience around a variety of coastal fieldwork techniques including beach profiling, sediment sampling, re-photography and exploring the geology of the coastal area. They visited a number of locations in order to give students a range of different examples and ideas for their own projects. At the weekend, they then undertook urban fieldwork in Southampton, again learning about techniques and collecting data specific to an urban environment.
Biology Field Trip In a year of moving goal posts, the Biology field trip took on several incarnations before a final form emerged. In July, the students spent time sampling a variety of habitats with the staff from Leeson House, practising their statistics and completing an individual investigation. This year the group have been completing day trips rather than being on a residential.
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Butser Farm
Extended Studies
The First Years spent a day at Butser Ancient Farm this term, investigating how the Iron Age people lived. Sitting in an actual roundhouse, they learnt about how it was built and about daily routine. They were also able to experience various activities including making a wattle fence, creating Celtic art and being archaeologists.
First Year students have continued to enjoy their timetabled Extended Studies - a carousel-based programme consisting of six units: Food & Health; Equality & Diversity; Reality & Representation; Dance; Resilience and Relationships. This term they have participated in yoga sessions, encouraging them to take responsibility for their own health and focussing on core exercises, stretches, breathing and mindfulness as well as cookery lessons. Mrs Collinson also led a module on the basics of Indian dance teaching the pupils traditional hand gestures and dance sequences, combining various classical Indian moves and resulting in a well-choreographed routine!
PSHE This term, ‘It Happens Education’ delivered separate RSE (Relationships and Sex Education) talks to Third, Fifth and Upper Sixth pupils, as part of their PSHE programme. The visitors discussed issues such as confidentiality, consent, pornography, peer pressure, sexual behaviour and ‘Freshers’ Week’ allowing pupils to explore and ask questions about these subjects, think critically about
their choices and to learn where to obtain help should the need arise. The First Years also spent a day off timetable for their PSHE day during which they rotated between sessions, delivered by a range of specialists, on internet safety, dental hygiene, simple budgeting and drugs and alcohol education as well as further developing their communication and team building skills.
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Citizenship Day
Junior Science
Fourth Year students took part in their Citizenship Day this term completing a series of six sessions and activities, aimed at developing British values, such as democracy and tolerance. A really interesting and active programme was put together, including a game that required students to think about the mechanics of capitalism and also a chance for them to write to their local MP about issues of concern.
Junior Science is part of the curriculum for all First and Second Year pupils and is designed to provide students with a solid foundation for the IGCSE separate science courses that they will follow. Introducing practical experiments is always a popular element of study and Lower School students can attend Science Club in which they get to conduct further practicals. First Years enjoyed getting messy whilst studying tie-dye during one such session.
The psychology of animals
On 9th June the Lower Sixth Psychology students attended a workshop at Marwell Zoo as part of their Research Methods topic. The session focussed on animal behaviour and reinforced their learning about classical and operant conditioning in the A Level Psychology Approaches topic, as well as providing them with the practical opportunity of studying animal behaviour in the park.
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Science Festival The biennial Science Festival took place in June with a fantastically varied timetable of practical events and workshops organised to engage and enthuse all year groups. From the physics of music technology, veterinary science workshops, wind tunnel experiments and psychology lectures to a Horrible Science writing competition, talks from visiting speakers on global warming and ocean biology, a Science Magic show, lots of impressive rocket launches and much more besides. The Festival certainly went off with a bang!
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Co-curricular Paddleboard Club
Sixth Form Climbing
Paddleboard Club has been very popular this year and even the damp, grey and windy May weather has not deterred the Lower School paddlers who have spent Tuesday evenings on the River Itchen participating in coaching sessions. By the end of half term they had mastered paddling backwards, forwards, 360 degree turns and plenty of falling in! On particularly windy weeks, students worked on their teamwork skills by trying to navigate the 10-man Mega SUP around a course.
Sixth Formers have enjoyed outings to the Dorset coast during their allocated games periods. The Dancing Ledge on Swanage cliffs played host to one such excursion on a particularly sunny June afternoon, finishing with a fish and chip supper in the shadow of Corfe Castle.
New Student Leadership Team In May, we were delighted to announce the new Student Leadership Team for next academic year! After a rigorous selection process, their names were announced in assembly. In June, these students took part in training to ready them for the demands of leading the school. There were six sessions in total: Effective Communication, Leadership Skills, Mental Health, Safeguarding, Teamwork, and Dealing with Difficult Situations.
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Sixth Form Leavers’ Day Following the completion of their assessments, Upper Sixth students got the opportunity to say goodbye and thank you to teaching staff and their classmates. In keeping with tradition, many sported their old school uniform with some creative embellishments.
Second Year Activity Weekend In May, Second Year students experienced a packed weekend programme of activities at Wellington Sports Ground, in lieu of the usual residential trip to the school’s Outdoor Study Centre in Lovaton, Dartmoor. They prepared their own lunch on camping stoves, built shelters and took part in a number of team building exercises. The jam-packed days were designed to develop students’ practical outdoor skills and build upon their teamwork and communication skills.
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PDSA training The school continues to build on the partnership work taking place with Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association and, in June, students and staff were able to attend an afternoon Down Syndrome awareness session. The training was primarily aimed at those who will be helping out with the PDSA summer activities and covered information aimed at improving understanding around Down syndrome and how it may affect the lives of people who have it, how to be a good friend to someone with Down syndrome and hints and tips for effective communication.
Activities Week
In the second week of June, the outgoing Fifth Years and Sixth Formers enjoyed an organised Activities Week giving them the chance to take part in a whole host of different sessions ranging from watersports and jewellery making to climbing, musical theatre workshops and baking competitions, to name just a few. Much fun was had by all, despite the end of week downpours which saw some rather damp trips to Paulton’s Park and Thorpe Park take place.
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Non-uniform Days The Charities Commission have raised notable amounts of money for Yellow Door (a charity that seeks to prevent domestic and sexual abuse of young people of all backgrounds, age and gender) and Break Out Youth (a local charity offering a range of support services to young people on LGBTQ+ issues) by organising non-uniform days this term.
Endeavour In July the whole school came off timetable to take part in the annual Endeavour programme. With each year group’s set of activities centred around a different area of development, the event saw pupils take part in a myriad of on and off-site activities.
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Creative Arts Game Over At the beginning of the Summer Term, the Drama Department rehearsed and recorded a production of ‘Game Over’ by Mark Wheeler. The play, inspired and based upon the tragic story of Breck Lefave, explored the issues and dangers surrounding on-line gaming and internet and social media use. The cast gave heartfelt and emotionally driven performances and, whilst they were unfortunately unable to perform in front of a live audience, they produced a creative and innovative filmed performance that was screened later in the term.
Lunchtime concert The month of May saw KES musicians perform an impressive lunchtime chamber music concert of Shostakovich’s Piano Trio in E minor (movement I) and Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F major (movement I). There were some outstanding performances from all the students involved who were joined by Miss Forsey on cello.
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Dance Gala
Dance workshop In June, our GCSE dancers had the opportunity to work with Delene from Juka Dance to learn the set phrases they will need to perform as part of the performing element of their course. The dancers had a full day of dance training learning the choreography.
A cast of 40 took part in this year’s long-awaited Dance Gala which saw pupils return to the Dobson Theatre to showcase a range of diverse and dynamic dance genres. With dance styles that included African, Bharatanatyam, Ballet, Hip Hop and Contemporary (to name a few), the evening was a celebration of expression and freedom. Despite not being able to welcome a live audience, the event was professionally produced and filmed allowing it to be shared later with family and friends.
Music Competition At the beginning of May, we hosted our annual KES Music Competition in the Dobson Theatre and welcomed Ruth Rodgers, celebrated soloist and leader of the London Mozart Players, to adjudicate the competition. Students from across all year groups gave one-to-one solo performances and were also able to get personalised feedback from Ruth in mini workshops. Every single performer provided polished, impassioned and committed performances at an extremely high standard – well done!
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Chamber Orchestra Performance One of our few orchestral ensembles able to stay together in rehearsals this year was the Chamber Orchestra. This fantastic group of elite string players has been working on advanced orchestral string repertoire and invited Chant Music Scholar Will to perform the slow movement of the Emperor Piano Concerto with them in May for a short film of their work during the academic year. They also recorded Elgar’s String Serenade first movement too which was added to the film footage of the music competition. The Chamber Orchestra will be performing a side-by-side concert with the London Mozart Players in October.
Jazz Workshop Members of the KES Jazz ensembles, including the Swing Band and Big Band, experienced a combined workshop and performance afternoon with the famous Paul Jordanous Ensemble in June. A newly formed school Jazz Trio also joined the stage and the finished performances were recorded to share with friends and family. After a year of hard work and dedicated rehearsal it was only fitting that our young musicians were able to join together to perform.
Composition workshop This term, Second Year pupils engaged in a Jazz and Blues workshop as a complement to their academic studies. They were taught the building blocks of improvisation, blues stylings and all things Jazz with Ted Carrasco who has performed with famous Jazz musicians such as Gilad Atzmon’s Orient House Ensemble, The Baker Brothers and The Paul Jordanous Ensemble. Bringing the practical elements of musical academia to life provided an insight into this side of the industry.
Piano Masterclass Dr Samantha Carrasco delivered a masterclass for some of our most talented pianists this term. As a professional and seasoned live performer and artist, she was able to explore the technical and musical communicative features of live performance with the students. She also delivered a lecture on the Romantic Piano to GCSE and A Level Music students to complement their academic curriculum. Exploring the keyboard’s evolution from harpsichord to the Steinway concert grand, provided students with fascinating insights into instrumental and engineering developments, not to mention the wealth of performers and composers who have brought the piano its well-deserved fame as we know it today.
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Summer Concert The Music Department returned to live performance with a spectacular summer concert just before the end of term. The programme was thoughtfully designed and planned by Sophie and Elias who wanted to create memories and pay homage to opportunities missed and opportunities still to come. There was a cast performance from the forthcoming production of ‘Les Misérables’ and recitals from those who have continued to practise diligently at home this year. The concert focussed on classical and musical theatre repertoire but also included some brilliant pop and rock performances too.
Sinfonia Celebration The Sinfonia produced a performance video of all their repertoire from this academic year in celebration of their efforts, hard work and dedication as a group. They have not always been able to play together this year. Bubbles demanded we had to think outside the box in how to maintain the passion for playing and working together that KES musicians have! Their enthusiasm and comradery shone through in the film recorded in June.
Romsey Concert KES musicians were delighted to be given the opportunity to take part in a lunchtime recital at Romsey Abbey in July as part of the Romsey Music Festival. The annual KES Music Competition winners and showcase artists all enjoyed the magnificent performance space and delighted the audience with a diverse range of repertoire choices.
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Sport Inter-Form athletics competition This year’s First Year inter-form athletics competition took place in some miserable weather. However, this did not dampen the spirits of our First Year pupils who competed wholeheartedly despite the rain. After an afternoon of track and field events, Tutor Group 1/1 emerged the winners by 10 points.
Sixth Form Scholars visit Stroud On a beautiful June day, the current Fifth Year students who have been successful in their applications to become Sixth Form sports scholars, joined pupils at Stroud to deliver a full day of cricket coaching. KES students spent the first hour planning for the four different age groups - the sessions involved drills for batting, bowling, and fielding with each session finishing with a game.
Football In what has been a year of delayed matches, the KES Sixth Form football team were finally able to play some league matches against other local college teams this term with some favourable results for the school squad.
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Cricket returns
The summer term has seen the return of competitive sport fixtures on Saturday! The boys’ and girls’ cricket sides of all abilities have faced other schools in matches and have largely benefited from favourable weather. The boys’ U13 and U14 sides both won their respective county championships and the school fielded a girls’ 1st XI side for the first time ever in a match against Hursley Park Cricket Club.
Elite Sports Performers Sixth Form student and elite sports performer, Charlotte, gave a presentation to the First, Second and Third Year elite performance pupils this term. She spoke about her sporting journey to date playing for Surrey Storm Netball Superleague franchise. Having overcome substantial injuries, Charlotte spoke about the value in strength and conditioning, taking opportunities and also her appreciation for all her parents do transporting her to training and trials. Claudia, Aaron and Abbie also gave talks to the younger pupils this term, giving insight into each of their individual sporting achievements.
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Sixth Form Sports Day
The Upper Sixth finished their time at KES with a House athletics event, competing alongside Lower Sixth students. There were a number of close races and excellent performances with Bella (800m), and Charlotte (Shot Putt) both setting new school records! After a count up of the points, Lawrence emerged in the top position with Sylvester taking 2nd place and Lake coming in 3rd. Students then enjoyed an ‘alternative sports day’, featuring a number of more comedic events such as the 3 legged race, sack race, egg and spoon race, and obstacle course, leapfrog race and a space hopper race, tug of war competition and the classic, welly boot throw.
Sports Day This year’s Sports Day took place at the end of June in the afternoon. Sadly, we were unable to welcome parents and guests to spectate as usual. Despite these changes, this annual occasion provided a welcome sense of normality as the whole school engaged in an afternoon of friendly yet competitive track and field events in an effort to win valuable points for their House in the Allen Grant Trophy competition. Congratulations to Lawrence House who were the overall House winners of Sports Day.
King Edward VI School Wilton Road . Southampton . Hampshire SO15 5UQ Telephone: 023 8070 4561