JULY 2015
www.kgs.org.uk
NEWSLETTER
supplement
THE FINAL WEEK The last week of the year was typically hectic and busy one, and we hope to give some of the flavour of the week in the following pages, and would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy summer.
S P O R T S D AY
PA G E S 2 - 3
HOUSE MUSIC
PA G E S 4 - 5
A C T I V I T I E S D AY
PA G E S 6 - 7
Sports Day
The heat was really beginning to brew at the annual House Athletics at Ditton Field on 29th June. The weather was baking, the House Championship bubbling to the boil and there were blistering performances as the competitors burnt up the track and the field. A thrilling afternoon of racing, throwing, jumping and putting was enjoyed by a healthy crowd of spectators basking in the broil of it all, sustained by delicious supplies from the Simone’s Creperie van and the drinks and ice cream tents manned by the Hockey Society. Our heartfelt thanks to all of them. The Guest of Honour was GB Hockey star Helen Richardson-Walsh, one of the most experienced members of the GB team, having competed in three Olympics. She was shortlisted for the World Player of the Year Award in 2010, has been named
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in the FIH World All Stars Team three times and was part of the teams that won silver in the 2012 Champions Trophy and bronze at World Cup in Argentina in 2010. Ms Richardson-Walsh spoke warmly about the standard of the competition she had enjoyed watching during the afternoon and the commitment of the young athletes. Sport was, she said, an enormous part of her life and it was tremendous to see so many young people getting involved. Her main role, of course, was to present the House Athletics Cup, and there was excited anticipation as the result was announced. In fourth place came Walworth, with Taverner in third, Lovekyn in second and the winners were Queen’s, captains Eva Gray and Raphael Delattre collecting the cup on behalf of their House. Our congratulations to Queen’s, and thanks to all those who took part, competitors, officials, spectators, supporters and helpers, especially Mrs Maclean, Mr O’Brien and the sports staff, for making it such a splendid, enjoyable and good-humoured afternoon.
KGS Newsletter
SUMMER 2015
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This year House Music broke all sorts of new ground. For one thing the date – the last week of term – was a radical departure, making this event the climax of the House Competition. More importantly, the format underwent a major overhaul, with points being carried over from a preliminary heat on 17th June. The event on 30th was, then, a finale in more ways than one, and a terribly exciting one at that, with but a single point separating the top two Houses. On the evening, each House presented three items, a solo, a small band and a big band, and each category – another departure – was judged separately. 4
The person doing the judging was Simon Toyne, Director of Music at Tiffin School, as well as at All Saints Church, Kingston, the Eton Choral Courses and the National Youth Training Choir of Wales – and he was an excellent choice! Each performance received positive praise and constructive advice, with the focus being on three key elements: musicianship, the relationship between the musicians on stage and the relationship they established with the audience. His comments were insightful, instructive and delivered with great warmth, enthusiasm and humour.
And the winners on the night wer small bands, Taverner, for whom Betts, Peter Dawson, Grace Lloyd Reed and Daniel Selimi played ‘St Me’ by Sam Smith; for soloists, Pe Cairney-Leeming of Queen’s, with ‘beautifully fluent’ and ‘skilfully-p grade 8 piece, the first movemen La Flûte de Pan by Jules Mouquet big bands, the most difficult to ju Lovekyn, with ‘very good, very ac singing from Fiona Kennedy and h backing vocalists (the Lovekynett bolstered by a ‘very fine’ rhythm and an impressive variety of instr
re: for Lauren d, Thomas tay with enny ha paced’ nt of t; for udge, ccurate’ her tes?) m section ruments.
House Music
When all the adding up was done the final result was: in fourth place with 39 points, Walworth; in third place with 50 points, Queen’s; in second place with 73 points, Taverner; and the winners, with that one vital extra point on 74, were, for the second year running, Lovekyn. Congratulations to all who took part on both days, and thanks to the Music Department for organising it all and to Mr Toyne for being such an outstanding and enthusiastic adjudicator. It was a great way to round off a superb year of musicmaking at KGS.
KGS Newsletter
SUMMER 2015
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Activities Day
KGS Newsletter
SUMMER 2015
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Bentalls Event
Rowing Peterborough Junior Cha mpionships and R ichmond R egatta
On the final Saturday of term, 36 of the School’s rowers were in action at two events, and came home victorious. The Fifth Year boys went to Richmond Regatta, winning “pots” in Novice Fours, and various doubles and singles events. The Third Year rowers and a few Fourth Year girls, travelled rather further, going to Peterborough for their Junior Championships. All 26 pupils got a medal - between them they won 23 Gold, 5 Silver and 5 Bronze medals. Exciting Octuple races saw KGS girls beat Headington by only a few inches at the line, and the boys’ Octuple beating Yarm and Bedford Modern in another tight race. The J15 girls won their quads event quite emphatically, including beating the St.Peter’s (York) girls that had done so well at National Schools. The four-boat final of the WJ15 B quads included two KGs crews, who picked up second and third places behind a very impressive crew from Maidstone. The Rowing season continues into the holidays with some travelling to Glasgow for the British Junior Championships. RS-S
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We were very pleased to welcome Bentalls once again to run our annual two-day Dragons’ Den Event for the Lower Sixth Form. The format remained much the same, with the whole year group divided into ten teams over two days and devising business plans to present to a panel in a ‘Dragons’ Den’ format on the second day.
Greg Hughes (Managing Director of Bentalls) very kindly came in again to launch the event with a talk on enterprise and employability skills, while the Dragons Panel comprised KGS Chair of Governors Dermot Rice and KGS Governor Lorraine Adam, alongside two senior managers from Bentalls, Andy Barker (Head of Merchandising) and Amanda Bell (Head of Homeware). At the end of the event they professed themselves extremely impressed by the quality of ideas and the teams’ presentation skills – they felt that at least five of the final product ideas would be strong sellers in store! The teams were competing for Best Commercial Product/Service and Best Presentation. “Clinger” (a mobile phone operated tracking device from Bea Sayer (MD), Will Hird, Juliette Hough, Matthew Lansdell, Sean Mansfield, Charlotte Samady, Natasha Thomas and Davinder Tucker) won Best Product, and “Pop-up” (a provider of temporary pop-up stands within department stores from Finn Harman (MD), Emily Bertin, Georgina Cossey, Ethan Samama, Ben Smith, Anna Wallich and Krystina Tang) won Best Presentation, withstanding some particularly tough questioning from the dragons! Once again this has been an incredible opportunity for KGS pupils to develop crucial employability skills such as communication, innovation, teamwork, leadership and presentation skills. And, of course, our sincerest thanks once again go to Bentalls for supporting this fantastic event so generously. SM