KGS Newsletter December 2015

Senior Play ∙ page 6

Social Media ∙ page 3

Mr Campbell reviews the Senior Play, 'Earthquakes in London'

Second Year pupils are taught how to be responsible on social media

NEWSLETTER

December 2015 ∙ www.kgs.org.uk

OUR STUDENTS SPREADING CHRISTMAS CHEER

Christmas Cheer Tuesday 8th December saw members of the KGS Chamber Choir performing in Kingston in aid of The Royal Star and Garter Homes, organised by the Rotary Club of Kingston.

Armed with a hefty book of carols, we strode determinedly into the seething mass of people that were busy doing their Christmas shopping, determined to at least try to spread some Christmas cheer into the hardened faces of the onlookers. Despite the looming grey clouds KGS Newsletter ∙ December 2015

overhead, we sang brightly, starting off with a classic – Away in a Manger.

Over the course of the next half an hour we sang many of the nation’s favourites, repeating those of a more lively nature at the end, such as Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. In return, many different varieties of weather came to greet us – a rainstorm that vanished as quickly as it had started, replaced by the watery sun beaming through a crack in the winter sky.

The audience seemed to truly enjoy our performance and it appeared as though they were grateful for the break from the monotonous ‘Muzak’ backing tracks played on loops in the bustling shops! Overall, the trip was brilliant – a big success and we helped to raise funds for charity too. It was great fun and we all look forward to doing it again next Christmas.

Anna Gray, 3AEB

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welcome

WELCOME A

s we approach the final days of the longest academic term I am delighted to report that engagement and success at KGS carries on almost relentlessly. We have just learnt that three junior students, Anna Le Huray (1MJD), William Everitt (1MJD) and Penny Cairney-Leeming (2NHR), have been awarded places in the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain. Huge congratulations to all three students and we look forward to more KGS musicians joining them later this academic year. In addition, our senior 1st XI girls’ hockey team defeated Framlingham School 4-1 in the final knockout game to reach the Schools’ National Finals next March. This year’s team, led by School Vice Captain Holly Munro, has the ability to go all the way and we’re looking forward to the rest of their exciting season.

"Hearty carol singing to get us all in the Christmas spirit"

I’d like to convey my thanks to the hundreds of students and parents who took part in the recent uniform survey. The executive summary of the findings is published for you all to see in this week’s letters and the School Student Council will be discussing the feedback in Forum this week and after Christmas. The detailed findings will be available in early January when we shall be inviting some of you who kindly volunteered to be contacted on this subject to meet with the School to discuss any potential developments.

I hope to see many of you at next week’s Service of Lessons and Carols at All Saints Church, Kingston. This should prove to be an excellent way to round off the term, not least owing to the wonderful mince pies and mulled wine served afterwards that we shall be in need of after some hearty carol singing to get us all in the Christmas spirit! For now, however, on behalf of everyone at Kingston Grammar School, I would like to wish everyone a very restful and enjoyable Christmas and we look forward to seeing you all in the New Year for another year of KGS success. Work Well and Be Happy – and Merry Christmas!

Stephen Lehec Head Master

LARA HORIN, OK

Follow Mr Lehec on Twitter @KGSHEADMASTER 2

December 2015 ∙ KGS Newsletter

school life

STUDENTS WITH THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA CHARTERS

How to be safe on social media M

edia trainer Cathy Wood came in to talk to Second Year pupils recently about internet safety and, in particular, how we can make our social media lives safe and responsible. She made quite an impression on form 2B and here they remember some of what they learned: “She told us about how social media can be an incredibly powerful tool if used sensibly.

She is passionate about helping young people to deal with their social media responsibly.”

Joe Ives

she taught us things about security that I didn’t previously know.” Frances Chorley “When you make your account private, the point is to allow only people you know to see what you post. If you just add anybody who requests you as a friend, it defeats the whole object of making your account private.” Panu Hietanan “I was surprised to find out that the age to have a Whatsapp account is 16!” Malik Saparov

“We should leave a good footprint on social media. We don’t want embarrassing or offensive material to come out in a job interview in the coming years.” Emma Sloane

“At the end of the talk, we made our own charter. I really enjoyed being able to make up the rules ourselves – no-one was telling us what to do!” Anouk Delattre

“We need to be responsible with what we post online as the consequences of being irresponsible can be horrendous.” Tali Box

“Making the charter made us feel more responsible as we knew that online we are making our own choices.” Clara Hinde

“She taught us to think before we post anything and ask ourselves: is this something that my granny wouldn’t mind me posting?”

Clara Hinde

“Because Cathy made the whole thing so much fun, I think everyone is more likely to remember exactly how to be responsible on social media.” Jasmine Good

“Cathy showed us how to use social media safely to avoid letting strangers you don’t know follow you. It was very useful because

“Cathy taught me so much in such a short space of time. From all the things that were discussed I have actually followed one of her

KGS Newsletter ∙ December 2015

recommendations; namely, to block people on Instagram who I don’t actually know.”

Madeleine Wynne “During the talk, I learned that the internet is a wonderful but potentially dangerous place.” Ben Little “Cathy insisted that social media was a great thing and that we shouldn't be scared of using it, as long as we followed her 'rules'.” Izzy Kerr “I would recommend this talk for all ages from 6-16 because it was interactive and very helpful.” Roddy Reid Thank you to 2B for all their contributions.

Miss K Brackley

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Trips

Gelato, music and art - the KGS Choir hits Rome A

fter a quick flight from Gatwick Airport, we touched down in Rome mid-afternoon. Our first port of call, after dropping our bags at the hotel, was to wander around the Vatican City, where, despite being quite dark, we could see the statues of the saints encircling the walls as well as the platform on which the Pope emerges to deliver his speeches.

After delicious pasta aglio e olio followed by tiramisu, we returned to our hotel for a good night’s rest. The next day was a full schedule: a concert at All Saints’ Church (on St Luke’s Day), St Peter’s Basilica and admiring the rituals and ceremonious dress all around us.

After all that singing we enjoyed a welldeserved pizza.

Monday was exploration day. We had a guided tour through the decadently decorated Vatican, seeing the vast collection of art, Greek and Roman sculptures, tapestries and the map room. Later in the day we had some free time to wander around the market. A lot of time was spent trying to work out the confusing Italian conversion rate of one scoop of gelato, which is equivalent to one shovelful!

St George’s British International School, situated on the outskirts of Rome, was the venue for our next concert and here we sang several non-sacred songs as well as joining in with in the St George’s school choir. We then returned to the centre of Rome for dinner near the Coliseum followed by a trip to the Pantheon, with its majestic towering columns.

As is expected in Rome, street vendors were everywhere, their wares ranging from a luminous slingshot to selfie sticks and key rings.

PUPILS AND STAFF ENJOYING BEAUTIFUL ROME

On Wednesday we sang at the beautiful Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore church, which was to be our final concert. We also visited the Coliseum, admiring how this gargantuan structure has survived, largely intact, over about 2000 years. It was the Wembley stadium Mediterranean climate. We had an opportunity to venture inside the Pantheon but perhaps the most memorable event was when we were

of the time, where animal fights would take place. The Romans also used to flood it to host naval battles. On our last evening in Rome, we enjoyed yet more great Italian cuisine, and the highlight of the meal was a decadent panna cotta.

Our last morning was spent walking through the streets, the beautiful Roman architecture still evident, in the pleasant warmth of the

Scholars' Masterclass L

ast year, First to Fourth Year Scholars, accompanied by some of the highest achieving pupils in each year group, attended a masterclass on critical thinking; this year the focus was leadership.

After considering what really went into being a good leader, trying to avoid the usual clichés, students had to put their ideas into practice.

Having being led out to the Cage, they were confronted with a ‘bomb’ which had to be defused. This was a briefcase trapped within a cordoned-off ‘danger zone’, which had to be retrieved through a combination of working out clues and a code. Pupils had to use their initiative to reach it using only the few materials to hand without anyone physically entering the ‘danger zone’. Everyone had a turn at leading their group to take responsibility of how to approach the problem and managing their team. On reflection, pupils agreed this could be as challenging as the main task!

whether they were more people- or task-focused, and whether they were better at generating ideas or implementing them. In groups comprising pupils from different year groups and different leadership strengths, everyone got stuck into coming up with ideas about how to make KGS even better, ranging from having food technology classes to a mentoring system (which, it turned out, already existed!). These ideas were eventually whittled down after some lively discussion to two ideas: using the electronic notice boards around school to communicate wider news and notices, and online textbooks to avoid lugging huge books to and from school.

At the time of going to press, the two groups will be presenting their proposals directly to Mr Lehec, so watch this space! One definite outcome is pupils’ greater confidence in their own ability to lead others, in a variety of circumstances.

Mrs P Stones

The afternoon saw pupils reflecting on their leadership styles – 4

December 2015 ∙ KGS Newsletter

school life Mediterranean climate. We had an opportunity to venture inside the Pantheon but perhaps the most memorable event was when we were treated to three scoops of authentic gelato.

Bearing in mind the conversion rate, the delicious calories within could probably feed KGS for a year!

As we boarded the plane for Heathrow, we bade farewell to a fantastic city. A traditional British welcome awaited us at home – the overcast, chilly day a stark contrast to the lovely warm weather we had in Rome.

Alex Smolenski, 3KAB

Art Exhibit Throughout January, the Baxter Gallery will host an exciting exhibition of artwork from students currently in their final year at Wimbledon College of Art. We would like to invite you to join the artists at the opening night of the exhibition on Thursday 14th January (5pm9pm).

Shakespeare Debate

T

he KGS Debate, with the motion of ‘Shakespeare is overrated’, was an exciting event to say the least. For the motion, Mr Bond, Miss Knight and Mr Campbell began, countered by the opposition of Mr Smith, Miss Varley (a last-minute Mrs Garside substitute) and Miss Brackley.

Mr Campbell spoke first for the proposition and argued that Shakespeare’s ability as a businessman surpassed his ability as a writer.

Controversially, he suggested Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe were more uniquely creative and Shakespeare was "more of a copier than a writer." He also proposed the writer owes his fame to his heritage, and it is merely the "idea of our Englishness which we don't want to lose."

For the opposition, Mr Smith spoke, and was notably the only member of the department not to forget his manners as he offered his thanks to Mr Campbell! He suggested that Shakespeare is the most “pre-eminent writer” in our literature “due to the richness of the dramatic characters he has left.” At this point Mr Bond uttered a dramatically loud cry of outrage followed by a lengthy, incredulous speech during which Mrs Stones requested an “actual question, please.” (I am still unsure if he ever did ask one.)

The second speaker, Miss Knight, discussed the “holes in his characters” likening the “intellectual” Hamlet to a sulking teenager.

She also objectively pointed out the plot flaws in ‘Measure for Measure’ in which Shakespeare blandly "shoves characters in unwilling marriages". Furthermore, the "ridiculous" characters’ disguises are perhaps unbelievable; Mr Smith in a skirt would not be passable as either a regular maiden or a man pretending to be a “statue for 16 years”.

further away from the debate at hand, the speaker decided “English literature is a waste of time” and even more controversially still, “it's all the same second-rate rubbish", which naturally evoked quite a response from the floor.

Miss Brackley spoke as the final member for the opposition, with a little more composure than her predecessor. She reminded the audience that during Shakespeare’s life he was also “rated by all of his peers, including Ben Jonson", not only 100 years after. The final speaker also linked Shakespeare’s economic productivity with the merit of his writing, suggesting that “good business came from good quality.” His skill was recognised so much even in the 16th century that he was invited to Court and many distinguished figures saw his plays. Expanding on Miss Varley’s point of universality, Shakespeare has been “translated into over 100 languages, including Klingon” as the themes can be understood across the world. Although the translations don’t add to Shakespeare’s ability, they do point to his “worthwhile” material.

After hearing both sides argue their viewpoints most forcibly, a vote of the floor suggested that, for the quality of the argument, the proposition ‘won’.

Interestingly, the subsequent vote of the floor’s personal view of the motion was too close to call. Despite being heated at times, the professional air of the debate was also noteworthy. Mr Bond was elected best speaker, the Chair reasoning that, “if you think all books are crap you are going to be quickly out of a job.”

Jess Murray, L6

Miss Varley began her speech with the quick rebuttal that Shakespeare invites his audience to “suspend your beliefs” and enjoy the “universal themes” explored. From Mrs Garside’s speech, she stated that the breadth of his works, “over 100 sonnets and almost 40 plays” shows his prowess.

Here are some of our second form pupils enjoying a Community Service Tea Party for Rosclare Care Home. The next one will be 29th January and will involve 2CB. Apologies that this photo was omitted from our November edition.

KGS Newsletter ∙ December 2015

The final speaker for the proposition, and perhaps the most memorable, was Mr Bond.

He began his speech by proclaiming that it was only 100 years after Shakespeare’s death that “David Garrick invented Shakespeare” and thus we have been “saddled” with him since.

Garrick made lots of money from his invention only after he had rewritten many plays, having deemed them not good enough as they stood.

Mr Bond suggested that universality was not a sign of quality but of “a clichéd writer". Going 5

The arts

Senior Play B

eing my first KGS Senior Play, I was unsure of what to expect from Earthquakes in London. House Drama had been a good test run; I knew there was some quality drama to be had from the Fifth and Sixth Forms. Would it be enough to blow my socks off, though? I’m glad to report that the play, focusing on three hugely different sisters (a teen rebel, a heavily pregnant housewife, and a career-driven cabinet minister, vividly portrayed by Maddie Kelly, Charlotte Le Feuvre and Josie Palmer respectively) and their estranged, fear-mongering scientist father (brilliantly depicted by Jamie Bisping) absolutely amazed. Around this family tragedy wider issues of global warming and the impact of human interference on nature were tackled head-on.

There were truly no duds in the cast: from Teddy Coward’s gritty man-on-a-mission to the hilarious 70s double act of George Kitson and Luca Kamleh-Chapman, every performance really showed the hard work and dedication that clearly went into the play.

My favourite was Maya Yousif’s manic representation of young delinquent Peter, but even the relatively brief parts – like Fergus Ainsworth’s plane passenger, or Finn Stammers’ doctor – had a captivating power.

The acting itself was almost superseded, however, by the sensational complexity of the stage. Each section of the stage was divided into a set in miniature, bolstered by a close attention to detail; the transitions between these locations seamlessly kept the numerous plotlines progressing and firmly rooted in my mind.

The subtle touches of light, costume and video were the icing on an already mouth-watering cake. A massive amount of recognition should go to the tech team, who must have worked ceaselessly to create such a professional production.

All in all, then, the play was a roaring success, and I can’t wait to see what the Seniors do next year!

Mr B Campbell To see the promo video please click here

CAPTION XXXX XXXX XXXX XXX

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December 2015 ∙ KGS Newsletter

The Arts

"There was some quality drama from the Fifth and Sixth Forms"

KGS Newsletter ∙ December 2015

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school life

House Art

T

he House Art Competition is a test of creativity, organisation and stamina. The theme this year was ‘Utopia’ with the rules allowing each House to assemble a team of 14 artists (two chosen from each year group) who gather for three hour-long sessions to create a piece of artwork using only the materials provided by Mr Dyson.

Creativity is put to the test right away, with each team desperately trying to outdo the others with clever ideas for interpreting the theme. The Sixth Formers in each team must then organise the younger participants by dishing out tasks to contribute to the overall plan. Finally, it requires stamina on the part of the team leaders to ensure that each House has the full complement of artists in each session to enable the maximum amount of work to be achieved.

After a flurry of activity, four pictures finally emerged and a guest judge was invited to award the prizes. In reaching his decision the judge considers the interpretation of the theme, the quality of the artwork and also looks for evidence of input by a large number of artists.

The winner this year was Walworth; 2nd place goes to Queen’s with Lovekyn and Taverner in joint 3rd place.

Congratulations to all the participating artists who worked so hard in such a short space of time. All four pictures can be seen on display in the Finlay Gallery.

Mr J A Dyson

LENDING A HELPING HAND

Inspire Sport I

nspire Sport, short for INclusive SPort In Recreation and Exercise, is based at St Philip’s School in Chessington and runs every other Monday. The club offers the opportunity to anyone aged 8 to 80 with a disability or special needs to play a variety of sports including basketball, mini tennis, football and various other activities. As volunteers at Inspire we are responsible for looking after the participants but we also have the opportunity to take part ourselves in the engaging and fun activities on offer.

Inspire not only provides a chance for its members to relax and chat but it's a great opportunity for us to do the same after a laborious Monday at school! We are also learning valuable lessons about working with 8

people with special needs or disabilities and are grateful for the opportunity to volunteer there.

Emile Pinder-Hussein, L6TMR & Troy O'Dowd, L6MJR

December 2015 ∙ KGS Newsletter

school life

World Wise Quiz

A

team of six intrepid geographers braved the 111 bus journey to Hampton School on Monday 7th December to take part in the World Wise Quiz tournament. Organised annually by the Geographical Association, the quiz hasn't been run in this part of London in recent memory, so it was with great excitement that our two teams came 2nd and 3rd out of 12 competing teams.

Beaten only by the hosts in the final round of ‘Guess the location using Google Earth’, our chaps scored highly during the earlier rounds, such as a Geography ‘alphabet run’ and ‘Christmas map skills’, to lose out by just three points. With many thanks to the team of Joe Studholme, Oliver SandryButler, Seb Latimer, Noah Holloway, George Douglas and Toby Cole for spending their Monday evening quizzing, and to Miss Jenkins for accompanying Mr Waddington to Hampton and enabling the trip to take place.

Kids' Lit Quiz

O

ur team of Second Years, Penny Cairney-Leeming, Isla Flett and Erin Shrimsley along with First Year George Douglas, more than proved themselves as first-rate book boffins in the South London heat of the Kids’ Lit Quiz at KCS, Wimbledon on November 25th.

Performing particularly well in the Harry Potter and ‘insects’ rounds, the team finished eighth out of 27 teams in a very closely fought competition. Only six points separated KGS and the winning team.

Every team member won a book as a keepsake of the occasion.

Huge congratulations to the team including reserve Fran Chorley who put considerable effort into prepping beforehand as well as performing so well on the day. Many thanks too to Fifth Years Zac Procter and Kate Scott-Taylor who gave up many lunchtimes to coach the teams.

Mrs H Cleaves

THE KGS TEAM

Schools' Challenge I

t would seem that to make the cut of KGS’ four-man general knowledge team one would need a monosyllabic first name and a surname either of the same nature or the complete opposite: double-barrelled.

My reasoning? On Thursday 3rd December my comrades at buzzer – Ben Park, Ben HarrisonHyde and Max Cairney-Leeming – and I set off with Mr Bond for Bedales, near Steep in Hampshire, for the annual Schools’ Challenge, the rules of which are near identical to those of University Challenge. The first starter for ten was to work out the format but after a short time all became clear and we took up our positions opposite LEH. With an extraordinary number of the questions bearing a similarity to the ones we had made up to practise in the car (e.g. Which British city has the dialling code 0131? Answer to be published next month) we had a relatively easy round, winning 570-170.

Next up: Lord Wandsworth College, to whom we initially conceded a lead of around 50 points but were able to overhaul in the second half to beat by 320-290.

At this point we were sent off to dinner – perhaps a tactic devised to throw us off our form – while our match against the allconquering RGS Guildford loomed. As when sailors on a curved ship see tall waves coming towards them, knowing straight away to reach for the sac de vomissement, so too was the writing already on the wall for our winning

KGS Newsletter ∙ December 2015

streak. I now ought to make special mention of Max and Ben H-H, our two juniors, and their winning of eight of the nine junior-only rounds during the evening, without which we would probably not have ended up playing RGS in what was effectively the regional semi-final.

And so we began the final match, with RGS getting off to a flying start and pulling out a lead of 110 points. Gradually we managed first to stabilise, then to narrow, the gap and in the final five minutes it was our opponents who barely had a look in. Alas, it was all too late and after winning what had to be the final starter we knew that even getting all our bonuses correct (as indeed we did) we still would not gain enough points to win. 510-500 was the final score.

This does still represent our best result at least since I joined the team, and I am sure we shall return with even itchier buzzer fingers next year.

It remains to thank Mr Bond for organising and facilitating our entry, and for giving up his evening to watch such an agonisingly disappointing last stand, and my fellow team members for being on such good form that we did even so well as we did.

Matt Pugh, L6TMR

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school life

"Allowed us to see how much we have improved"

CADETS DOING A SPOT OF PASTING

CCF Range Day A

s a new recruit to CCF, I was slightly apprehensive about my first-ever range day. Having never properly fired a loaded rifle before, this was going to be a completely new experience. However, my original fears were quickly banished and it turned out to be an absolutely amazing day!

Discreetly wiping sleep from our eyes, we arrived at school bright and early on the Saturday morning and joined the flurry of activity. Our bags were packed full of many layers of warm clothing and strangely shaped waterproof items. We then unpacked them all to check that we indeed did have our fleeces (we did!) only to pack them again and be told to unpack them to line them with a waterproof sack! We collected our weapons, which had been assigned to us along with the bags at the parade of the night before. When we were completely positive that everyone was suitably equipped, we set off in a parade of minibuses, receiving some horrified glances from the hockey players who happened to be passing through the school at the same time as us, catching sight of the rifles hanging by our sides as we boarded the vehicles.

Forty minutes later, we arrived at Ash range 10

complex where we received our instructions about the upcoming day. We were split into four groups, shooting in rotation, whilst the others sipped slightly bland tea and practised doing drill so as to be prepared for the quickly approaching graduation.

When shooting, we were given twenty shots to begin with and told to aim five at each section of the target, creating varying levels of success and carnage. We then had to fire five rounds, to help us focus on our grouping. Once every member had had a chance to shoot, a final round of five was allowed to be fired by all those willing. This was mostly aimed at the newer cadets, so as to allow us to see how much we have improved (or in my case, not so much!).

Arriving back at school, following a journey in which we were compressed by our huge bags, we cleaned and oiled our individual weapons, which we would do again later in the week. It was a brilliantly fun day, and one that I know many of us would love to repeat!

Anna Gray, 3AEB

December 2015 ∙ KGS Newsletter

Sports

Boys' U18 Indoor Hockey Tournament O

n Sunday, our indoor hockey U18 team played in the last tournament of the term in the South Finals competition.

It was set to be a challenging day due to the strong calibre of the opposition and the day did not start as planned with a hard-fought 2-1 loss against RGS High Wycombe. Key decisions did not go in our favour and we were left to rue the numerous chances which went agonisingly close to the goal. This meant we had to win against the pre-tournament favourites, Whitgift, in our next match to have a chance of qualifying. The fact that we were very competitive in this game is a testament to how much we have improved as the season has gone on. Although the score line, 5-1, did not reflect this, we had chances to take the lead in the first half and fought extremely hard until

the final whistle. In our last match, it was nice to round off the indoor season on a high with a 4-1 win against RGS Guildford, meaning we finished third in our group. We were pleased to make it as far as we did in the competition, despite limited opportunities to train, and the experience stands us in good stead for next year when we will have largely the same team.

Ben Park, L6JMD

Girls' U16 Indoor Hockey Tournament

O

n Sunday 6th December, the U16 girls’ indoor team took part in the South indoor hockey finals held at St George's. The day got off to a slow start when we came up against Beaconsfield, a team we had thought we could easily beat.

However, they were stronger than expected, and we found their press very hard to break through. Some good defending and a good press ourselves down the other end meant it was 0-0 at half-time. We came back strongly at the start of the second half but Beaconsfield responded and won a short corner which they managed to score from. We responded well to this but we couldn't quite find the goal we were after. This was a disappointing start to the day but we knew we could still qualify if we got the right results.

Ardingly were our next opponents and the KGS team came together to produce a great performance which eventually resulted in a 3-2 win. It was only then that we realised how hard we had to work if we wanted to succeed! So, it was all down to the last games, as other results in the group meant that we were all level.

After watching Ardingly and Beaconsfield draw, we had to beat Sir William Borlase’s in order KGS Newsletter ∙ December 2015

National Hockey Play-Offs

O

n Wednesday 9th December we travelled to Suffolk for our playoff game for the final stages of the National Schools’ Hockey Competition against Framlingham College (runnersup in the East region). After a very long coach journey, we were raring to get started. Saying that, we began the game slowly, conceding a goal within the first 10 minutes (proving that the journey wasn’t quite out of our legs just yet).

Luckily, we caught them on the counter attack and won a penalty stroke shortly afterwards. Ellie De Heer stepped up and scored the equalizer, getting it back to 1-1 for half-time. We stepped up our game in the second half and a deflection from Eva Gray took the score to 2-1. At this point, confidence was really high and Holly Munro converted a short corner into a goal. Although we were 3-1 up, we still had to work hard to defend our position and couldn’t afford to let our guard down.

The final score was 4-1 to KGS with a goal from Lottie Ross, meaning we are through to the National Finals!

Katie Headley, L6TMR

to qualify for a semi-final against Wellington. A slow start meant that we were 1-0 down from a short corner quite early in the game. We tried to respond to this but they scored a lucky goal from a counter attack. With five minutes to go, a decision was made to take the goalkeeper off in the hope of allowing us more players to get forward and score the two goals we badly needed. It was a risky strategy: it paid off in the first couple of minutes when we had all the possession and created a few good chances but they caught us three times on the break - and with no keeper it became impossible to defend. The final score was 5-0 which did not reflect the performance of the team at all. It was really annoying to go out in this way but we knew that it was a strong group and the team was very pleased to get this far as most of us had not played indoor hockey before.

Eva Gray, 5MEB

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school life

ECL

E

CL – or Elmbridge Community Link – is a charity based in Walton which recently celebrated 21 years working with adults and young people with learning disabilities. ECL has around 100 members but hopes to double this in the next three years, thanks in part to a recent lottery grant of £150,000. KGS Sixth Formers have volunteered at ECL's weekly bingo night for several years, chatting with members and helping them to get the most out of a fun and sociable evening with their friends. Starting this year, we also help out at their weekly ‘Allsports’ event for 16- to 25-yearolds where sports such as badminton, basketball and rounders are played for fun in a supportive and nurturing environment.

Sofie Lloyd, Evie Benincasa & Jess Murray, L6

LOOKING FOR CLUES

Fishbourne O

n 24th November, Second Year pupils went to Fishbourne Palace in Chichester. The palace was filled with beautiful mosaics and many fascinating historical artefacts including jewellery, combs and furniture. There were also some actual bricks from the palace itself. We even saw real skeletons!

One of the many activities we did was a workshop where we were given artefacts – an old roof tile, an oyster shell and an old piece of glass – and had to try and decide what information we could get out of them. There was also the opportunity to dress up and to see what it was really like to be King Cogidubnus. Just before it was time to go home, we were able to taste some delicious Roman food.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the trip and would highly recommend it to the younger students!

Charlotte Higham, 2NHR, Penny Cairney-Leeming, 2NHR & Daisy Bainbridge, 2CLB

"We were able to taste some delicious Roman food"

Biscuits and Daemons

H

ave you ever wondered what your daemon would be? How about whether we should be governed by historians or scientists? Or perhaps what it was like to be a ‘powder monkey’, responsible for keeping the canons firing on a battleship, where your life expectancy was just 14 years? Join the TSBA Book Club which meets every Monday in the Fenwick Library at Break for biscuit-fuelled fun and debate. Find out more about the shortlisted titles, debate the merits of each book and fight for your favourite to win the school’s vote. All – pupils and staff – very welcome.

Mrs H Cleaves

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December 2015 ∙ KGS Newsletter