KGS November Newsletter 2016

Y NOT

With five houses competing, which one was victorious in this year’s House Dance?

Our new Young Enterprise team are up and running with a fantastic custommade product

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NOVEMBER 2016

NEWSLETTER

KINGSTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL 1

Let’s Dance!

A FROSTY HALF TERM On Monday 24th October, 18 Upper Sixth pupils and 3 Geography staff boarded Wow Airlines flight 811 from London Gatwick and journeyed over the North Atlantic to Keflavik International Airport, Iceland As soon as we touched down we were all whisked off to Iceland’s premier lava-tube caving destination, Leidarendi.

Only mapped in 1992, the long lava-tube cave was formed by a volcanic eruption over 2000 years ago. While inside the pitch-black tunnel system, we explored the darkness using headlamps to guide

• school life • trips •

our way, walking, crouching and even crawling through the 900m-long tunnel. A real highlight was switching off all headlamps for a short period to savour the darkness and atmosphere of the caves, while our guide told Icelandic sagas of trolls and witchcraft. After this exciting experience, we boarded the coach to head to the south

competitions

coast farming area and our first night’s accommodation. Clear skies at the hotel meant that visibility was good enough to spot the incredible Northern Lights which danced and dazzled for over an hour that evening.

Continues on page 10

• sport • events • alumni

WELCOME

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November 2016

As we fast approach the Christmas break, this is a good time to reflect on what a wonderful term we have enjoyed with a few important weeks of celebration and achievement still to come. The term was, of course, kicked off nicely when we were able to come together at Senior Prizegiving to offer some individual congratulations and a collective ‘well done’ to those who had done so very well at GCSE and A Level. Achieving the School’s best-ever GCSE results and the highest number of first-choice university entrants, including those going to Oxbridge, was a hugely positive and inspiring way to start the year. Since then we have enjoyed some memorable moments – the new music scholars’ concert, the Christmas card design competition, the Christmas bake-off, a brilliant Romeo & Juliet and literally hundreds of sporting fixtures alongside many other opportunities for our students to share and to shine in. One of the aspects of KGS that still inspires me on a daily basis is not just the staff capacity to provide these innumerable opportunities but also the students’ capacity to take them up and still maintain a healthy and positive balance in their lives. Much of this is, no doubt, also down to the hard work and support of parents for which all of us are incredibly grateful.

The other item of business, which is happening on a daily basis in and out of the classroom, is, of course, ‘learning’.

We know that this can occasionally be regarded as a narrow endeavour solely focussed on exam grades or its polar opposite, being too widely spread to the extent that exams don’t matter. The trick is, of course, to maintain the correct balance. Results do matter for all manner of reasons but so does the education of the whole person. This is why I have been extending my talks and the School’s focus this term from being concerned with the characteristics of good learners and the concept of benefiting from a growth mindset to asking students to become more aware of how and why they learn, metacognition, and the importance of feedback in all its myriad forms. We shall focus on this as

we continue to grow and develop the School.

The key learning point, and indeed balancing act, at Christmas is to ensure that we both enjoy ourselves but also help others in whatever ways we are able to in order to maintain the spirit of the season and a sense of proportion.

Once again, the commitment of students, staff and parents to fundraising and community support is very much appreciated. Our Rosclare tea parties, Christmas mufti days, reading schemes and help at homeless shelters and soup kitchens across the borough are an integral facet of being grounded, aware and supportive. Long may it continue and please don’t forget my personal challenge to all those of us who have a lovely Waitrose, or similar, card that gives you a free hot drink. Do get the drink but pass it on to someone who needs it during these cold winter days and nights but cannot get a card without a fixed abode.

No doubt for a few (sorry, Fifth Year students) Christmas will also mean revision for those all-important trial GCSE examinations in January. I would encourage balance, proportion and good common sense once again. Do take them seriously – exams are for life, not just for Christmas – but do plan your revision so that you have time off to relax and enjoy the festive season with friends and family. You can certainly tell your parents that I insisted you have Christmas Day off! When we come back in January there will lots of exciting and interesting news to return to that will buoy us all up after the holidays and there will always be plenty of exciting and interesting opportunities for us to enjoy together.

Joyeux Noël to all – and I hope to see many of you at the School Carol Service.• Stephen Lehec Head Master

@KGSHEADMASTER

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CERN TRIP 18 Sixth Form Physics students ventured to Geneva, Switzerland during the halfterm break to visit CERN, the home of the large hadron collider. Braving the torrential rain, the group not only visited CERN but also had time for a tour of the UN offices, a boat tour around Lake Geneva, a visit to the History of Science Museum on the shore of the lake in picturesque surroundings and a trip to the bowling lanes. On top of this there was still plenty of free time for the students to explore the city and after

a tour of a chocolate factory on the Thursday morning it was time to leave.

Unfortunately, fog at Gatwick delayed us by eight hours in Geneva although this gave ample time to use up any leftover Swiss Francs, mostly spent on duty-free chocolate! • Jessica Pringle L6SRM

BOROUGH CROSS-COUNTRY On Tuesday 10th November, 53 students competed in the annual Borough CrossCountry event. It was a challenging and hilly course which proved difficult for even the more experienced of runners.

Overall, the First Year girls won their event and the First Year boys came 2nd.

Second and Third Year girls also won their categories.

Some noteworthy results: First Year: Caitlin O’Donovan - 3rd (medal); Ellie Hauck - 8th; Adam Sloan 2nd (medal); William Solomon - 4th.

Second & Third Year: Ife Dombrowsky - 4th; Emma Sloan - 6th; Sophie Wood - 7th.

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Many of these students can now go on to take part in the Surrey Schools’ Cross-Country competition to represent Kingston Borough. •

Mr S Woodward Assistant Director of Sport

ALUMNI

ARKWRIGHT AWARD CEREMONY Nathan Farr was delighted to receive his Arkwright Engineering Scholarship from his sponsors, the Nuclear Institute.

The prestigious awards ceremony was held at the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) in central London and was the culmination of a rigorous selection process.

The Arkwright Scholarship scheme matches students to host sponsors who offer mentoring and £600 of financial support to help with A Level studies. Nathan is looking forward to the opportunities that the Nuclear Institute will provide. • Mr D Farr Head of DT

FROM JOURNEY’S END TO THE DAM BUSTERS Congratulations to ex-KGS parent Roland Wales, whose biography of Old Kingstonian R.C. Sherriff has just been published. Roland has been working closely with the Surrey History Centre, who secured Heritage Lottery Funding to help with the cataloguing, collating and archiving of the huge volume of papers and documents Sherriff left behind, as part of the centenary of the First World War. It was Sherriff’s first-hand experience of the trenches that led to his first great success, ‘Journey’s End’, described as ‘the greatest of all war plays’. He went on to write the greatest of all war films, ‘The Dam Busters’, and this book tells the story of the man behind these milestone works.

of his many years of involvement with Sherriff and his story is this magnificent volume. The book makes fascinating reading – no-one alive knows more about the subject than Roland, and the footnotes alone are an awesome spectacle, testimony to the exhaustive research that went into the writing of this truly definitive account.

The book is published by Pen and Sword Military and is available, or jolly well should be, at all good bookshops. Christmas sorted! • Mr N Bond Alumni Relations

Part of the preparations Roland undertook was the writing of a play about Sherriff, ‘How Like It All Is’, that the School performed first as a rehearsed reading at The Rose and latterly in a full production in the KGS Studio, but the culmination

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MATHLETES HANS WOYDA ROUND 1 (KGS v Hampton away) This year’s KGS Hans Woyda maths team of Ricky Rim, Toby Cole, Kate Jarvis and Rebecca Dodd battled against tough competition at Hampton School, finishing with a score of 34 to our opponent’s 50.

Well done to the new team members and thanks to Mrs Whitby-Smith for her help with the team. •

SENIOR TEAM MATHS CHALLENGE Ms Clifford kindly led a recent trip to Kingston University where our student maths team competed against fourteen other schools. The team of Charlotte Smith, Harry Kershaw, Hakeem Shittu and Nathan Foulsham worked very well together and enjoyed the mathematical challenges. They achieved a creditable 9th place in the final scores. • Mr K Connor Assistant Head of Mathematics

ADA LOVELACE CHALLENGE On 11th October, Isla, Ben (both Third Year), Paul (Second Year) and I went to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Didcot, Oxford for the Ada Lovelace Challenge Day. It was to celebrate Lovelace, who is considered to be the first computer programmer.

The concept of the day was that we were on the way to Mars in a spaceship named the Ada Lovelace when it was hit by a solar flare and several pieces of equipment were damaged. Our task was to make our own versions of the systems that were broken with an Arduino (a microcontroller/minicomputer) and a laptop to code on. We also had different components, e.g. LEDs, buttons, buzzers and resistors.

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The first thing we made was an intro project, a ‘red alert system’. We made ours so that when you pressed a button, an LED (a light) came on.

The main project KGS worked on was a communication device (other schools had to make different things, such as life support devices). We used components to make a system which let you press buttons to display Morse Code on an LED. We had a buzzer to represent a new letter and a pre-programmed message, SOS. In the afternoon we were lucky enough to get a tour of the labs at the RAL, which they use for scientific computing (i.e. storing data). The day was lots of fun and it was very interesting learning more about hardware programming. We

would like to thank Mr Benson and Mrs Hetherington for taking us. • Sophia Snow 2CES

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SCHOLARS’ CONCERT The new Music Scholars’ Concert on 8th November was excellent and showcased an incredible amount of talent and musicality in front of a rather large and enthusiastic audience The evening started with Jasmine Levell performing Burgmüller’s Etude No 13, which she played with intricate dynamic shaping and a beautiful tone.

Her grasp of technique was highly secure and it was an impressive start to the concert. This was followed by Sophie Jones, who played the Fourth Movement from Handel’s Violin Sonata in E with secure tone and intonation. A fluent performance with really enjoyable phrasing and shaping.

Strauss’s Concerto No 1 is no mean feat and a proper grown-up repertoire.

She did the first movement real justice and delivered a strong and convincing musical experience which was a joy to hear. Bijan Ghamsari’s piano Prelude in G Sharp Minor by Rachmaninov was next; his performance was no less impressive.

His tone and shaping were sensitive and highly musical, and there was a strong sense of lyricism in his technically mature and excellently secure playing.

Louis Pisarro-Jensen gave a spirited performance on the piano of Sweet Mister Jelly Roll by Capers. The jazzy rhythms and harmony added panache to this enjoyable rendition. Next up was Imogen Marinko who delivered the Third Movement from Vivaldi’s Concerto in A Minor for violin with much confidence.

The tempo was appropriately brisk, adding spark and drive to this exciting musical journey. Lila Skeet delighted the audience with Chopin’s famous Prelude in E Minor for piano. The melancholic longing in the melody was expressively shaped, and the tone was controlled and clear throughout. Next up was Alice Tobin who performed the First Movement from Seitz’s Concerto No 5 on the viola with warmth and a beautiful tone. It was impressively performed and played entirely from memory, which was a real delight to hear. Jemima Jordan’s rendition of John Williams’s Schindler’s List theme was hauntingly beautiful, and she played this piece with a real sense of phrasing and colour, sensitively accompanied

by Mrs Law. It was a real treat to hear this famous piece played with so much musicality. Our next performer was Anna Le Huray on the French horn. Richard

Anya Aziz delivered a beautifully shaped performance of Take Those Lips Away

by Dring. Her voice carried much warmth and colour, combined with secure intonation and phrasing which was always stylish and musical. George Casci’s performance moved us to a new world of styles. His excellently secure saxophone playing and his natural ability to improvise brought Charlie Parker’s Donna Lee to life, and the audience was left desiring more. Johan Smith rounded off the evening with a secure and impressively memorised performance on the vibraphone of Blues for Gilbert

by Mark Glentworth. It was a great joy to hear this beautiful instrument played with such command and authority. A wide range of colours and dynamic shadings were explored and the excitement created was tangible. Many thanks to all performers, and especially to our new piano teacher, Mrs Law, for her excellent accompaniment and her support to the students during the rehearsal. Many thanks must also go to the Music Society for providing copious refreshments for everyone after the concert. • Mr M Von Freyhold Director of Music

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MY THREE-PEAK CHALLENGE Over the October half-term holiday I visited the Lake District to climb Scafell Pike (the second challenge out of the three). Snowdon was the first mountain I climbed and next summer I hope to scale Ben Nevis in Scotland. Four years ago my grandma was diagnosed with Aplastic Anaemia which affects one in a million people. With the help of good doctors, she has got a lot better but will never be cured. I want to raise money so that scientists can find a cure. Using a Justgiving page I’ve raised over £950. Climbing Scafell Pike took about three hours (and then three hours down) and covered about 10 miles of land. It is the highest point in England at 978m. The view from the summit was amazing and we could see most of the Lake District including the coast and Wasdale Water, the deepest lake in England.

If you would like to donate to my fundraising mission, this is the link to my Justgiving page: https://www. justgiving.com/fundraising/croydecracknell and this is the link to my blog: http://www.ccsummits.com • Croyde Cracknell 2DAS

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OUT & ABOUT WITH CCF

Guthrie Cup 2016 I am sure most people would expect KGS to have been somewhat vacant throughout the October halfterm break. However, ten cadets represented the School on Sunday, taking part in the London regional army cadet competition against nine other top contingents. The Guthrie Cup, named after Field Marshall Charles Guthrie, is held at Harrow School, where he was educated.

Though only in its second year, is a prestigious tournament and our team, led by Colour Sergeant Wilcox, was eager to take part. Different aspects of the competition included Observation, First Aid, a paintballoperated Fire and Manoeuvre stand and Skill at Arms. Our team did very well in the Navigation and Military Knowledge stand and exceptionally in Command Tasks. We ended the competition in a very respectable sixth place, an improvement on last year. London Oratory won the overall competition and was presented with the trophy by General Stamford, who we had the chance to talk to during the day. Though a very challenging competition, stood up to the test and competed at a very high standard. I am sure that those who took part will all be looking to improve along with our new

Third Year cadets, who are all doing very well with their training and have a chance of competing with our Guthrie Cup team next year. Congratulations to all those who took part. • L/Cpl Thirunamachandran, 5NSF

CCF Under Canvas The CCF camp to ATC (Army Training Centre) Pirbright was a fun trip and lasted two days and two nights. The first day was dedicated to weapons training and courses on the centre’s assault course (both physical and mental). The second day is geared to learning how to survive on your own in a garrison. We were to make our way towards a clearing in which we had to set up camp and defend the area for a night. The night exercise, dedicated to stealth, was incredibly enjoyable.

I really recommend CCF Camp and think that any cadet who goes will thoroughly enjoy it. • Cdt Thomas Skeates 3NHR

National Cadet Leadership Course During the half-term break, two cadets from the KGS CCF took part in a weeklong CLC (Cadet Leadership Course) in Folkestone. On the first day we got straight into Command Tasks, aimed to test our leadership skills which was made harder by the fact that we had only just met the people in our sections who had come from all over the country. Luckily, the tasks were also a great team-building exercise and we got to know each other very quickly, learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

TRIPS

GOING FOR GOLD During October half-term, 16 Upper Sixth students headed off to Dartmoor to complete the expedition element of their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award

We also had talks in the evenings and visited the Battle of Britain Memorial Museum on the last day, which was very educational with excellent interactive displays and to-scale models of a Spitfire and a Hurricane. Major Andrew Todd MBE gave an amazing talk about leading an expedition to Everest to celebrate 200 years of Gurkha service by attempting to get the first Gurkha to the summit.

Unfortunately, they were there when the earthquake hit Nepal in April 2015, and were instrumental in evacuating climbers and in the clean-up operation.

On Monday we had lessons on a number of different stands including First Aid, where we learnt how to triage casualties, tie a tourniquet and apply field dressings.

We were also taught how to set up a vehicle check point (VCP) which was very interesting as we had never done it before and involved searching both cars and people (some of whom we had to fight when they attacked us).

Over the next two days these new skills were tested in stands where we each held command appointments and our actions were observed by instructors for a report on our week. Both Flo and I were in charge of the First Aid stands and did our best to delegate roles to members of the section whilst adapting plans to suit the ever-changing situation.

On Thursday and Friday we finally went on exercise which enabled us to use our new leadership skills in simulated real-life situations with less guidance from the instructors.

On the last night, we got very positive one-to-one debriefs and will soon receive full reports on the week. We both had a fantastic week and can’t wait to use all we’ve learnt back at CCF. • L/Cpl Freya King 5LJS

With our 65-litre bags packed with everything we would need for the next five days, we met at the back of school bright and early on Saturday morning.

After a few hours of travelling in two minibuses, we arrived at Fox Tor, where we had our last proper dinner, before parting ways in our groups the following morning. From Sunday morning to Wednesday afternoon, we spent the mornings trekking around 18km per day. In the evening, as we arrived at our campsites, we made our dinner on our trangias and set up our tents. Fortunately, Dartmoor’s infamous weather had been held back for us, as there were not too many heavy showers whilst we were walking.

However, all changed in the evenings,

with thunderstorms and strong winds during both nights.

We were all filled with an enormous sense of achievement as we arrived at our final checkpoint on Wednesday afternoon. From jumping over barbed wire to crawling under fences, those five days will never be forgotten! A huge thank you to our assessor for joining us in Dartmoor (and passing us all!), and to all the teachers who helped us on the expedition and the practices too! • Nicole George U6SSC

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ICELAND 2016 Continued from front page On Tuesday morning we travelled to Solheimjokull glacier to go on a glacierwalk. We were taught the rudiments of walking with crampons and the correct use of an ice-axe, while the brave amongst us peered over the edge of a large crevasse.

Later we visited Skogafoss, where Mr Waddington piloted the Geography Department’s drone to take video footage of the 62m-high waterfall roaring off the isostatically rebounded land surface, while a trip to nearby Seljalandsfoss allowed some of the more daring gentlemen to follow in the footsteps of Justin Bieber and get soaked by walking behind the waterfall.

For those with a coastal penchant, we also visited Vik’s black sand beaches and basalt columns, formed by slow cooling of intruded magma under the sea.

Tuesday night was spent in the palatial guesthouse at Hellisholar before heading out early on Wednesday morning for the long drive East to Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon. On the way we passed through Laki’s 1783 lava field, the largest modern eruption of lava recorded, while at Jokulsarlon we took a ‘duck’ boat ride on the proglacial lagoon. While on our cruise we gazed at the many icebergs glistening in the sunshine, with the opportunity to touch (and even eat) some of the ice discharged into the water. After this we hopped across the N1 ring road – Iceland’s equivalent of the M25, but only one lane in each direction!

– to Jokulsarlon beach where icebergs wash up on the shore to be broken down by the ferocious North Atlantic surf. Due south from here the nearest landmass is Cape Verde, 3500 miles away! On our road-trip back to the guesthouse we stopped at Skaftafell National Park for hot chocolate, before a supper of freshly roasted lamb and roast potatoes at our hotel.

Thursday morning dawned chilly, but we were excited to be off to Fludir for a trip to the Secret Lagoon, Iceland’s oldest naturally heated outdoor swimming pool. With a mini-geyser that erupts every few minutes into the pool, and

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limited health-and-safety guidelines, we got as close to the super-heated vents as we dared and enjoyed a good long soak in our near-private pool. Our next stop was the classic Golden Circle, starting at Gulfoss waterfall, a double-drop fall with a spectacular gorge downstream.

Here the snow-gods were keen to show us a little of what Iceland could be like in the winter and within 10 minutes of the blizzard starting, the roads were covered in a thick white carpet and the other tourists had melted away into the gift shop!

We weren’t to be deterred, though, and pushed on to our next stop of Geysir, to watch the impressive Strokkur geyser erupt up to 35m every five or so minutes. Occurring due to groundwater interacting with magma-heated bedrock, steam expands to 60% more volume than water and shoots a ball of water up into the air – it was fascinating to see a process that we’ve been learning about in class really come to life.

However, we couldn’t loiter there as we had to make a final stop that day in Thingvellir, the birthplace of the Icelandic parliament in 930AD (and the oldest modern parliament in the world). Here we witnessed

the North American and Eurasian plates drifting apart, with a spectacular waterfall flowing off North America into the great divide, while we were led in an Icelandic football chant by our guide, Skulji. After identifying some solidified pahoehoe lava flows, we boarded the coach back to Reykjavik for our final night, a little tired, but looking forward to a meal in a local restaurant.

Friday morning dawned all too quickly, but we were given some time to visit central Reykjavik, the harbour and the main shopping district. Although the exchange rate didn’t favour us, we managed to buy some essential provisions (Miss Jenkins’ fifth bag of Bugles, amongst other things), before heading back towards Keflavik for our flight home. Just to prove how amazingly local the geography is in Iceland, we were able to stop off en route, walk across ‘the bridge that divides the continents’, and take a final group photo before the flight home. We had a brilliant time and I would like to thank all the KGS staff, especially Mrs Humphrey, the trip leader, for the time and effort they spent making the trip such a success. • Mr H Waddington Head of Geography

TRIPS

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BOOK CORNER ‘The Bubble Boy’ (the book, not the film!) is fantastic, and everyone should read it. I don’t care how old you are. It is about a boy, Joe, with a very rare immune deficiency that means any infection could be fatal and who has to live in a carefully sealed hospital room as a result. It deals with his life and relationships and, amazingly, his adventures. He is obsessed by super-heroes and the book makes the clever point (rather overdone by the publishers, who splash it all over the place, ruining the effect, as publishers often do) that not all super-heroes wear capes.

Of course, the bubble boy is a hero, but what matters most is his absolute ordinariness. Indeed, the whole point of the book, and its strength, is how ordinary he is despite his extraordinary circumstances, and it is that that makes him a hero. He is brave, but not superhumanly so, and the book’s other strength, apart from its ordinariness, is its lack of sentimentality. You can’t help welling up at times, but this is not a tear-jerker, and you feel that having a bit of a blub is understandable, but somehow does Joe a disservice. You wouldn’t want him to know!

It’s a tremendous read, tremendous because despite it all, the very ordinariness of its humanity shines through. My only objection would be that I didn’t like the last sentence, but that may just be me. I thought the book – and Joe - deserved something better.

I rattled through it in no time and was mad keen to get back to it, and if anyone would like to discuss it I’d be very happy to. • Mr N Bond English

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EXPLODING TOFFEE CRISPS AND LUCKY RABBIT’S FEET...

On Tuesday 8th November, the Library and Geography Department welcomed mountaineer Matt Dickinson back to KGS. He conducted small-group workshops with the Upper Sixth Geographers during their lesson time, discussing the Himalayan environment, mountain hazards and the impact of tourism on the Nepalese people. At break he took part in a booksigning session in the Library, where our younger cohorts enjoyed the chance to meet the Everest summiter and buy his ‘Everest Files’ books and his new title, ’Lie Kill Walk Away’. Over lunch, Matt changed his focus a little and talked to a packed Geography classroom of all ages about his experiences of mountaineering in the Khumbu region before making his first successful Everest summit attempt.

Pupils (and a number of staff!) were hooked on his tales of crevasse traversal, oxygen depletion and avalanches, while a number

of them have now been inspired to make the 14-day trek to base-camp from Lukla, the world’s highest airport!

Given his credentials, we couldn’t let Matt leave without judging the Extreme Reading photo competition. Winners will be revealed imminently… Many thanks must go to Mrs Cleaves for organising Matt’s visit and to our pupils for asking such good questions. • Mr H Waddington Head of Geography

SCHOOL LIFE

MAGGINI QUARTET

MEDIA NETWORKING DINNER

On Tuesday 1st November our Music Scholars and other talented musicians had the immense privilege of an intimate Lunchtime Concert played by the Maggini Quartet, as part of KGS’s annual Partnership Project. Chamber music is a wonderful, sophisticated area of music which is often, by its nature, the preserve of the very best musicians – because to hold one’s own in a group of musicians who are conversing in sound, as Goethe famously described it, is a complex, high-level skill. Often musicians assume that it is a cut-down version of orchestral playing, but it is very much more than that; the lunchtime concert provided an opportunity for our musicians to sit very close to the performers and experience, almost be a part of, the extraordinary way in which top-class chamber musicians interact with each other.

Comprising two substantial pieces – an early Haydn Quartet Op 20 No. 3, and Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 59 No. 3 – the concert showed not only the immense power of a string quartet in full flight, but also how innovative composers could be in their writing of chamber music.

Haydn’s strange, non-functional phrase lengths were disconcerting; the Maggini Quartet explained how, strangely, they find more to discuss in what they would normally assume to be relatively early, and therefore less experimental, work, than in many more apparently substantial, mature works. Moreover, the harmony in the Beethoven slow movement could have been written by late Romantic or even twentieth-century composers; it was really quite startling in its experimentation.

Before each piece, members of the Maggini Quartet gave illuminating introductions to the works, and many students were surprised to hear of Beethoven’s difficult upbringing and sad family circumstances. It was a fascinating concert, and an excellent start to this year’s Partnership Chamber Music Project, to which we are all greatly looking forward. • Ms P Hyde Music

On the 1st November Fifth Year and Sixth Form students were given the astounding opportunity to network with seasoned veterans from the media industry and other KGS alumni at a gathering of likeminds at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant in Victoria. Professional journalists, film makers, editors and producers all took time out of their doubtlessly busy schedules to speak to the up-and-coming KGS talent, helping to educate the next generation in media with the skills they require to succeed and offering useful contacts.

With each course of the meal the seating placements were re-arranged, allowing for more interaction between the hopeful students and the eagleeyed alumni, looking to swoop in and acquire promising students for work experience. The students blended in

fantastically as a natural similarity of interests allowed the conversation to flow and the atmosphere to remain calm and relaxed throughout the night. Even alumni with no experience in the conversational topic could be seen enthralled by the tales of aspiring students, forging their difficult but determined paths through their countless options and opportunities, many with the end goal of a career in media. Alumni watched and listened, bowled over by the drive displayed in every one of the students and students were fascinated by the stories of how alumni forged their way in a competitive sector. Many, I think, were proud that their industry would be left in such enthusiastic hands. • Mr A Fitzgerald Director of Careers & Universities

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DUTCH COURAGE & A WARM KGS WELCOME On 17th October the girls and boys from Wageningham HC arrived at Ditton Field for the beginning of their KGS visit It was great to meet up again with our hosts from the KGS trip to Holland in April.

We played two fixtures against them on the Tuesday and Friday and in-between they also had matches against Surbiton Hockey Club and St George’s. It was clear from our visit to WHC that the hockey was going to be very tough.

Despite some of the score lines, the matches were competitive and were all played in a really good spirit.

As with any hockey tour what happens off the pitch is as important as what happens on it! We had a great week with our guests including a meal in Kingston one night, a gathering on another night and finishing up with the infamous disco. All the girls and boys from WHC seemed to enjoy themselves and had fun bowling, shopping and visiting Thorpe Park between the hockey games.

The week seemed to go really fast

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and we all gathered early on the last Saturday in various states of dress, including pyjamas and onesies, to say goodbye. There were hugs all round and some last-minute banter exchanged before our guests departed. I’m sure we’ll all be staying in touch.

A big thank you from the whole squad to Mr Buttanshaw and the other coaches for arranging the trip. • Izzie James 4KEC

COMMUNITY

On the 13th October, a group of 13 KGS Lower Sixth students started up the company Y Not. What is Young enterprise? A Young Enterprise Company is a business run by students, all working towards developing and selling our product. By the end of the academic year we intend to establish a profitable company which performs well in the Young Enterprise Company of the Year Competition.

What are we selling? Y Not will be selling a variety of custom-made Paracord Dog Collars. Our top-quality British-made dog collars are the ideal Christmas present for your playful 5-month-old puppy or your chilled-out Great Dane.

The collars are handmade by us and come in the colour of your preference.

We are hoping to develop a collar which contains a pedometer on the collar to measure the amount of exercise your dog has done in a day and an app which will be able to advise customers on dietary requirements for their dog comparing it to the amount of exercise performed. Watch this space!

Please get in contact with us if you are interested in buying a collar of a specific length or colour (kgsyoungenterprise@ gmail.com). Measure the size of your dog’s neck to establish the correct size required and we very much look forward to hearing from you. • Joe Woodcock L6PJR (Managing Director)

HELPING OTHERS Last half term I spent a few days volunteering for a local charity in Chiswick called International Refugee Trust (IRT) They are a small, UK-based charity, which work overseas in areas affected by conflict. Their aim is to help refugees, people who have been displaced and returnees, to rebuild their lives by providing them with training, skills and resources so they can support themselves and their families. The main areas they work in are Uganda, South Sudan and Jordan.

IRT, like many other small charities, can move in once the big aid agencies have moved on after humanitarian disasters, and work with local people on a long-term basis to provide very targeted support. If you work for a small charity, you have to be able to turn your hand to everything, so my work ranged from helping to open the post and processing donations, working on the database, helping with project administration and choosing photographs and videos to use for social media and fundraising material.

I really enjoyed working on one of their main projects which is based in northern Uganda, and helps poor farming families to lift themselves out of poverty by training them to farm their land better, sell more crops and start small businesses. These people are desperately poor after years of

fighting, and it was amazing to me to see how very simple measures can help whole communities to become self-sufficient and how hard-working and committed these people are.

One of the most important things for families in Uganda, as well as in many other African countries, is to be able to send their children to school so they can receive a good education and improve their lives. I found it shocking that so many girls never go to secondary school, and that even at primary level, many children are forced to drop out of school because of poverty. It really made me aware of how lucky we are in the UK and how important it is that children everywhere in the world have the chance to go to school and achieve their potential.

As IRT is so small, I felt like an essential part of the team, even after only a few days, and I really enjoyed seeing what a difference their work was making, and how I was able to contribute to this. Charities really welcome volunteers as there is always so much that needs doing, and the work is always worthwhile because everything you are doing is helping someone in need. • Joe Hilty U6TMR

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LET’S DANCE This year’s ever-popular House Dance competition was enjoyable and entertaining Hosted by Joe Hilty (U6TMR) and Sophie Gallagher (U6PSG) and judged by professional dancers Hayley Chilvers and Claire Sibley, the sell-out audience was treated to a combination of solo performances, duets and musical theatre numbers as well as pieces of original choreography devised by the older students.

The House performances were interlaced with stunning solo and duet performances from Angelica Pasamontes-Steel (1W), Emily Parnis (1W), Maddie Prichard (2MEB), Zoe Mason (3CLB) and Amari Dahlhaus (3NHR), Matti Musk (5LHW) and Nicole George (U6SSC).

The duets commenced with Lovekyn’s Aoife D’Mello (5MJJ) and Amy Falconer (5SJW) performing a contemporary duet to Ellie Goulding’s ‘My Blood’. This was followed by an energetic, upbeat performance from neon-clad Queen’s representatives Lily Abbott (4KEC) and Lydia Underwood (4AEB) to Fleur East’s ‘Sax’. Up next was Stanley’s inaugural House Dance performance by Lila Skeet (1S) and Sophie Garner (1S) to ‘Castle’

by Halsey, which told the story of a battle between two queens. Taverner’s Matti Mask (5LHW) and Clara Lyckeus’s (5SJW) emotional contemporary dance to James Arthur’s ‘Say You Won’t Go’ portrayed the breakdown of a relationship. Rounding off the duets was sister act Florence (2NAR) and Alice Chevallier (5MJJ).

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Again, Lovekyn commenced the musical theatre numbers with the classic and appropriate, given the event’s proximity to Halloween, ‘Time Warp’ from the Rocky Horror Show. From dancing zombies to dancing candlesticks, Queen’s then invited us into Beauty and the Beast’s castle for ‘Be Our

Guest’. Stanley’s ‘Lady’s Choice’ from Hairspray followed, which finished with the dancers falling at the feet of KGS’ very own Zac Efron (Cameron Spurling, L6HJW). Taverner transformed the Theatre into a New York speakeasy for their dance to Bugsy Malone’s ‘Fat Sam’s Grand Slam’ in which Mac Barclay (1T) as Fat Sam treated audience members to headstands and back flips aplenty.

Walworth struggled, I’m sure, to get into character for ‘Revolting Children’ from Matilda in which a group of school children rebel against their teachers…

Closing the show was the original choreography. Lovekyn took us back to the 1990s with S Club 7’s ‘Bring It All Back’ choreographed by Paula Roth (U6RJS), Emily Pearce (U6RJS) and Katinka Ronberg (U6SSC). This was followed by Queen’s smooth and synchronised performance to Beyoncé’s ‘Formation’ choreographed by Lydia Underwood (4AEB), Lily Abbott (4KEC) and Will Hewetson (L6HAH).

Stanley’s energetic performance to Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ choreographed by Ellie Falconer (U6SSC) was next and then a similarly

energetic and playful ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ from Taverner choreographed

by Holly Godliman (L6SRC) and Sophie Askew (L6SRC). Finishing off the original choreography was Walworth with their medley, choreographed by Florence Chevallier (2NAR), Alice Chevallier (5MJJJ) and Nicole George (U6SSC).

A great evening was had by all and the professional adjudicators were honoured to be invited to judge the event. Congratulations and thank you to all students who participated as dancers, hosts, choreographers and crew but a particular well done to Queen’s House who, after much deliberation, were awarded the winners of House Dance 2016/17. • Miss L Robinson Drama

HOUSE COMPETITION

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KGS TO ZSL On 1st November the Upper Sixth psychologists went on a trip to ZSL London Zoo. As soon as we arrived we headed straight to the monkey enclosure to carry out an observation on their behaviour. We chose a monkey that we would watch for ten minutes and tallied the different behaviours we saw such as climbing and feeding. Following our observation we went to the learning centre to begin our workshop on phobias with expert John Clifford. At first he discussed what phobias are and how they are established and then explained the zoo’s Friendly Spider Programme, a course that is available to help arachnophobics overcome their fear of spiders using a combination of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and hypnotherapy.

During our lunch break we were free to explore the zoo and see a huge variety of animals such as giraffes, tigers, snakes, kangaroos and lots more. After lumch we were fortunate enough to take part in a section of the Friendly Spider Programme which was a group hypnosis session; 15 minutes of deep relaxation, a method used to help overcome negative thoughts and fears towards spiders. To finish the day we all had the opportunity to hold or touch Rosie the tarantula as part of overcoming any fears we may have had.

The day was extremely fun and provided us with a valuable experience that will be very beneficial for our upcoming exams! • Mrs M Robinson Psychology

YOUNG ENTERPRISE ‘SUPER ACHIEVER’ Jenny Shpeter (U6JWS) has been invited to join the Board of Volunteers for Young Enterprise in Kingston and Richmond as a ‘Super Achiever’.

Jenny was part of KGS’s very successful Young Enterprise company, Seeko, last year. The judges were so impressed with Jenny during the Young Enterprise competition and the role that she played in Seeko’s success that they have invited her to join the Board for 2016-17. As

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part of her responsibilities, Jenny will be advising this year’s participants at a number of schools in the area in addition to participating in board meetings and attending trade fairs.

This is a tremendous achievement and a great opportunity for Jenny. • Dr K Kennedy History

OCTOBER IN THE BIG APPLE

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The Sixth Form students and staff who went on the Art and Drama trip to New York during the half-term holiday had a wonderful time visiting museums, galleries, theatres and tourist sites During an action-packed itinerary we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art and saw Cornelia Parker’s striking rooftop assemblage, and the Museum of Modern Art where we saw more modern masterpieces in one place than any of us can every remember seeing before. Frank Lloyd Wright’s amazing Guggenheim Museum was another highlight and we strolled through Central Park, took a boat ride to within touching distance of the Statue of Liberty, scaled the Rockefeller Centre to see magnificent views across Manhattan, walked along The Highline (an elevated city park), took subway trains and cross-town buses and attended the Broadway shows, ‘Jersey Boys’ and ‘Chicago’. We enjoyed mountainous breakfasts in a local diner, mouthwatering street-food and fantastic burgers in packed restaurants. The whole experience was an assault on the senses and one that we will not forget in a hurry.

Did I mention the shopping? There was lots and lots of shopping too! • Mr J Dyson Head of Art

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MUSICAL INTERLUDE During a recent music tech club, I decided to demonstrate how to properly set up a condenser microphone for vocal recordings. I asked if anyone had anything they could sing for the purposes of our demo. Jasmine Levell, one of our brilliant new Music Scholars, said she had been writing a song and could sing the chorus. We quickly programmed a basic piano chord structure into Logic and surrounded by approximately 20 fellow students, she began to sing. I was so incredibly impressed by not only the catchy song she had written, but by the power of her voice. I knew immediately that I wanted to produce it.

I’m pleased to say that it is now finished and you can hear the amazing end result here: https://soundcloud.com/ sequencekomplete/youre-the-light-featjasmine-levell At the end of last academic year, Nonny Jones, Emily Sprackling, Maddie Hayes, Camila Carbajal and Portia Katzauer performed what I considered to be one of the best songs yet for their end-of-year composition. There was no doubt that this was going to end up being something special. Nonny’s incredible voice blended brilliantly with Emily’s ethereal backing vocals

SETTING GOALS First Year Sports Scholars were invited for breakfast with Mrs Corcoran on Friday 4th November.

Over freshly-baked croissants and fruit they gave thought to the question “When is learning easier?” With heavy training schedules, match fixtures and twice-weekly strength and conditioning sessions (7am start) these young athletes are keen and willing but often time poor.

As part of the session they set targets for both their world of school and world of sport. Reflection on these will be made later in the year. • Mrs S Corcoran Head of Learning Support

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and it was a pleasure to produce this end result: https://soundcloud.com/ sequencekomplete/falling-short-featnonny-jones • Mr J Tierney Music