KGS Spring Newsletter 2020

Spring Issue 2020

INSIDE THIS ISSUE :

School life Farewell, Upper Sixth...

Page 01

Sport Champions!

Page 14

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: See page 12 for the full match report.

Trips Ski trip 2020 Page 21

Events Jazzing it up!

Page 34

Kingston Grammar School

WELCOME

FROM THE HEAD MASTER:

In any other year, three national hockey titles would be headline news: the KGS girls’ U13, U14 and U15 teams all did fantastically well to become the Independent Schools’ Hockey Champions after months of fiercely competitive matches. We are, of course, rightly delighted by their victories, as well as their sportsmanship throughout the competition.

Whilst we wish their successes weren’t overshadowed by the current circumstances, it’s right that the focus is instead on what is a changing daily landscape for us all.

But here’s a promise: once this is all over, girls, we’ll celebrate properly.

In the meantime, it goes without saying that I am extremely proud of the way the KGS community has adapted to the ‘new normal’. It’s been a week of adjustment for all, but I am delighted that staff and students alike (not to mention parents) have stepped up to the challenge of trying to deliver as much active learning as possible, with the KGS motto of ‘work well and be happy’ very much at the forefront of all our minds.

The early closure of the School meant it was a particularly emotional day as we said a premature goodbye, for now, to all students but particularly to our Fifth Year and Upper Sixth leavers. They were magnificent, showing a heartfelt yet measured response to what could be the final day of this chapter in their KGS lives. The mufti, and in particular the Upper Sixth tradition of fancy dress, was uplifting, as was the enormous number of donations to our food bank appeal. We are so very grateful to you all.

This term’s newsletter was written and put together before the current situation had deteriorated but it serves to showcase the incredible life of the School, the breadth of talent and the strength of the KGS community. As I wrote last week, I cannot begin to describe the pride I feel in being able to lead Kingston Grammar School, and how grateful we all are for the mutual, collective support. I look forward to happier times, and seeing many of you before too long.

Mr Stephen Lehec Head Master

This week in review Daily videos to the whole KGS community from our very own Head Master can be found on the newly launched YouTube channel. Just search ‘KGS Head Master’.

Don’t forget to subscribe now!

DAY ONE: Remote learning

DAY TWO: Are Caramels the best snack?

DAY THREE: KGS HM smartens up!

DAY FOUR: KGS HM & Bear, but no Jaffa Cakes!

DAY FIVE: End of Week One. Here comes Easter.

Follow the Head Master on Twitter at: @KGSheadmaster

Spring Issue 2020

Farewell, Upper Sixth...

Kingston Grammar School

Doing our bit It is often during the most difficult times that the best of people shines through and that has certainly been true of KGS over the last few days.

As part of the coronavirus response, we brought back the food bank bins that Mrs Garside’s tutor group had introduced over Christmas. Despite the students at school being faced with so much uncertainty, the amount of donations we received was incredible and we are so very grateful for the generosity of the KGS community. There was such brilliant support from the whole school, from the Exec to the Caretakers, who did a great deal of heavy lifting today. A special thank you must go to Molly Verow (Lower Sixth), for her amazing organisation, and her mother, Kirsti McCabe, who collected the donations from school today to distribute amongst the food banks in the area.

Miss K Brackley I English

Despite the unprecedented circumstances, the Upper Sixth Leavers made a fantastic effort to enjoy their last day at school on Friday 20 March.

They all came in fancy dress bringing numerous items for our local food bank charity, the Trussell Trust. We began the day with a final assembly where the School Captains gave out silly but fun prizes to their peers for such accolades as ‘Best Hair’.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when we played a video of all their yearbook photos.

They then had great fun in school for the day, and conducted themselves with enormous grace and fortitude in such difficult times.

They truly were a credit to the School.

I am very proud of them and we shall miss them greatly.

Miss B McDonald I Head of Upper Sixth 01

SCHOOL LIFE

The future’s bright...

CAREERS FAIR 2020

This year’s event saw 400 students and parents attending, with 40 speakers representing 35 careers, ranging from architecture and acting and from medicine to music, with much more in-between.

The evening kicked off with the Careers Fair which packed out the Hall, Dining Hall and Hattersley Room, providing an engaging environment for students and parents to move from stall to stall and talk to speakers individually, get an informal and in-depth look into that career area, as well as ask about the opportunities for work experience.

Group presentations followed, where the talks were both fascinating and informative, giving students an excellent insight into career opportunities and a broader careers education.

Particular thanks must go to those who helped make the evening such a success.

KGS parents continue to be a central part of the evening, without whose support we could not provide such a wide range of interesting careers talks – thank you so much for the help you offered. We also thoroughly enjoyed being able to welcome back several Old Kingstonians for the evening and greatly appreciate how much they give back to the School.

Mr S Morris I Deputy Director of Careers & Universities

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Spring Issue 2020

Oxbridge 2020

Kingston Grammar School

Student success

Six students have been offered Oxbridge places for 2020 entry

Securing offers at Cambridge University are Toby Cole to read Mathematics at Trinity Hall, Tom Driver to read Modern Languages at Emmanuel, Dylan Berressem to read Archaeology at Homerton and Anna Muent to read History at Murray Edwards. Holding offers at Oxford University are Chloe Taylor to read Biomedical Sciences at Balliol and Lexia North to read History at Queen’s.

We are delighted for our students.

They have shown real commitment to their studies and their hard work and absolute enthusiasm for their respective subject areas has paid off.

PHOTO (from left): Mr S Lehec, Tom Driver, Chloe Taylor, Dylan Berressem, Anna Muent, Toby Cole, Lexi North

Mr A Fitzgerald I Director of Careers & Universities

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SCHOOL LIFE

KT2 to E10

This year’s KGS Young Enterprise team, Magnetech, has had a very successful couple of months of sales led by Managing Director, Gabriella Linney, and Deputy Managing Director, Oliver Sandry-Butler.

Beginning with its very profitable fundraising stall at the PSA Christmas Fair thanks to the support of everyone at KGS, Magnetech has gone from strength to strength as it has developed its final product idea, a portable charger. Having identified that the global battery charger market has undergone a significant amount of growth in recent years, Magnetech recognised that this would be a successful product with their target markets, the KGS community and the wider London commuter market.

On Wednesday 12 February, twelve members of the KGS Young Enterprise team, Magnetech, travelled to Spitalfields Market to attend their first trade fair and experience their first taste of selling to the London commuter market. Competing against fifty

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companies from across London in a top trading location, Magnetech had a very successful day of sales led by Marketing and Sales Directors, Matilda Halliwell and Nevra Bahceci. Their bespoke rechargeable battery with card holder was popular with customers at Spitalfields and the team managed to sell almost half of its stock on day one of trading.

The judges commended the students on their excellent customer service.

Other selling opportunities also include the Young Enterprise trade fair in Eden Walk, Kingston, which takes place each March.

The next task for the team will be submitting their Company Report to the judges in which they will explain their challenges and triumphs and demonstrate their financial accounting skills.

The final hurdle for the team is to compete against other Kingston borough teams at the Kingston Showcase in late April, during which they will deliver a presentation to the Young Enterprise judges and other participants. We wish them luck!

Dr K Kennedy I Young Enterprise; Head of History

Spring Issue 2020

Kingston Grammar School

Bebras Challenge Samuel Arwas was a finalist in the UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford.

Reaching the final of the Seniors (14–16) age group is an impressive achievement, as 22,722 students entered the first round for this age group. Samuel was among the top 56 highest achieving students invited to the final round in his age group, and was presented with his finalist’s certificate at a prize-giving ceremony at Hertford College.

The UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge, supported by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, is designed to get students excited about computing and computational thinking. It is a problem-solving contest with questions inspired by topics in computer science. In the first round, held in their own schools, students have to try to solve as many problems as possible in the allotted time. There are six age categories.

The highest scoring students from the four oldest age groups (Elite, Seniors, Intermediate and Juniors) were then invited to the Department of Computer Science at Oxford for the finals over two weekends in January and February.

Wrappers to wreaths During the first half of the Spring term, the Second Year mentors were working passionately on their cause of promoting environmental issues.

This group of amazing students ran an assembly for each year group to discuss things that we can change and implement in school. They also ran a series of form time activities within the First and Second Year, seeing students create raps, improvised drama pieces, art work and posters. The most exciting creation that came out of this was a beautiful wreath made from 120 plastic cookie wrappers and aluminium drinks cans. The mentors collected wrappers around school for one day and found that we are consuming an average of 120 per day. Sadly, these wrappers are not widely recycled, so this is an important issue to highlight to the school community. To create the wreath, the wrappers were heated in the oven causing them to shrivel - and were made into flowers. Amelia Marinko (2W) and Imogen Marinko (4W) did a fantastic job highlighting this important issue with such a creative response.

Mrs R Hetherington I Head of Second Year

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SCHOOL LIFE

Science Week 6–15 MARCH 2020

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Hot on the heels of International Women’s Day, KGS students celebrated British Science Week by immersing themselves in a wide range of activities.

Old Kingstonian Freya Kille, who is studying Civil Engineering at Bath, returned to speak to the Lower Sixth Physics students about pursuing an engineering career.

She also spoke to the Fifth Year girls about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths), an area in which girls are under-represented.

Teams were given the task of building a tall structure using a very limited selection of straws, tooth picks, barbecue skewers, marshmallows and not forgetting the ever-popular jelly babies. In their small groups they analysed the various types of structures and considered means of

Spring Issue 2020

strengthening their design so that it could be both tall and sturdy using only the selected materials within a short time period.

Wednesday saw Chemistry 3 being sealed off as a crime scene, though all that could be seen from the corridor was the outline of where Dr Winning’s body had been found, along with an ominous pool of red liquid.

Fortunately, a crack team of KGS forensic scientists were able to sift through the evidence at lunchtime and use both physical and chemical tests to narrow down the field of suspects. Flame tests, fingerprints and experiments to investigate blood splatter patterns gave some good clues, but in the end it came down to the murder weapon, which could have been either a knife or a screwdriver. Both looked clean, but with the lights turned down, a little spray of luminol

revealed a ghostly blue glow from the knife, indicative of tiny traces of blood, too small to see.

Unfortunately, the murderer absconded before he could be apprehended, but it was an excellent piece of work by our KGS scientists! Happily, reports of Dr Winning’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

Biology and PSHE have been on a mission to improve the air quality and wellbeing of our tutor groups and students from every tutor group have been decorating glass jars for their pet plants. Students then collected a spider plant for each tutor group to nurture and care for. Spider plants are well known for their ability to grow runners (which are in fact clones of themselves!) but have also been shown to improve air quality by filtering pollutants from the air. Hopefully this project will encourage even more green fingers in our students and highlight how amazing plants are!

Thank you to all the students and staff who took part.

Kingston Grammar School

Technology Club News Technology Club students have been busy during the last few months working on radio-controlled boats and ‘Off road buggies.

Mr I Deepchand I Head of Physics

british The first challenge was to design and build a radio-controlled trimaran using vacuum-formed boat hulls and radio control equipment which was provided.

The two teams worked hard during the Autumn term and produced two excellent fully functional models which proved themselves in a local pond. The latest challenge was to design and construct a remote-controlled off-road buggy which had to negotiate different obstacles.

Well done to the enthusiastic and talented students whose competitive nature ensured very creative and fully functional solutions.

5 M 1 A RC – 6 H Mr D Farr I Head of Design & Technology

PHOTO (from left): Joshua Cassidy, Harrison Tincknell, Stanley Farrant, Sol Procter-Tarabanov

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SCHOOL LIFE

#KGSthisisme Students from First Year to the Upper Sixth marked LGBT History Month by taking part in a series of talks, performances, lectures and celebrations from 10–14 February.

Using the hashtag theme of #KGSthisisme, the KGS Wellbeing Team, in conjunction with the Equalities Society, organised a range of fun activities with the aim of educating students about the LGBT community and encouraging the whole school to join in the celebrations.

Wellbeing

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Activities included the Art Department leading a study of Grayson Perry’s art with discussions focusing on gender identity, and the legacy of Alan Turing and other prominent LGBT scientists was debated and dissected in Science lessons.

‘Conflict’ was the theme in Drama incorporating the history of conflict, rights and equality. The nature/nurture debate was taken on by Upper Sixth Psychology students whilst in the Modern Foreign Languages Department, GCSE students studied newspaper articles about bullying and social problems in Europe.

In the English Department, The History Boys took centrestage and facilitated a discussion of attitudes to LGBT in the 1980s and in Politics lessons same-sex marriage in the USA was debated.

Ms E Elliott I Head of Digital Marketing

Spring Issue 2020

Débattre… en français…

Kingston Grammar School

MFL

…y en español Gabriella Linney and Thomas Driver represented KGS in a Spanish debating contest held at Latymer Upper School.

They performed very well, challenging motions including defending the motion that a working mum is a bad mother.

The standard was extremely high and we are extremely proud of how they represented the School, the high level debating skills and excellent discussions that they produced. They prepared for the debate for weeks, and the Department are very grateful for their performance and participation in the debate. Next year, we hope to argue our case even more passionately!

Two of our Lower Sixth Francophiles – Anna Kolosova and Gabriella Linney – competed in the Central London heat of the regional French debating competition at St Paul’s Girls’ School.

What a great effort from the KGS team!

This was not an easy task, especially as many teams consisted of Upper Sixth students, and the three motions they had to prepare were particularly challenging. The girls performed extremely well throughout their three debates – should we boycott ‘fast fashion’?; were the ‘gilets jaunes’ right to resort to violence to make their voices heard?; and should works of arts/artefacts that reside in the Western world be returned to their countries of origin?

Mr. Bequignon and Miss Sharp were impressed with their passionate and persuasive debating skills and it was no wonder that they won the first two debates in their pool. They received some useful feedback from the adjudicators: not to be afraid to undermine the arguments given by the other team and to make use of as much persuasive debating lingo as possible.

Unfortunately, the girls did not make it through to the next round as it came down to points scored across the debates, and the highest score in each pool progressed to the next round. Nevertheless, I am sure that Anna and Gabriella will have benefited from the experience on many levels, and it will contribute to excellent training for their future oral exams.

Congratulations and thank you for being such wonderful ambassadors for KGS’s MFL Department!

Miss A Acros Villanueva I MFL

Miss R Sharp I Second in MFL 09

SCHOOL LIFE

Holocaust Memorial Day The 27 January 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Our year group was very lucky to be able to meet with two survivors of the holocaust, Bob and Ann Kirk. Bob and Ann had both been on the Kindertransport, a service set up by the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain.

The Kindertransport helped around 10,000 Jewish children escape from Nazi-occupied areas of Europe and brought them to England. Ann remembered her parents bringing her to the station and waving at her ‘until their arms were going to drop off’ as her journey to England began. Bob recalled the arrival on England, how there was a constant worry of being forgotten and not being ‘on the list’, but he remembered being met with warm smiles, something he had not seen for years. Neither Bob nor Ann ever saw their parents again.

Bob and Ann spent the rest of their childhood growing up in England. Ann attended a boarding school followed by South Hampstead High School. Bob lived with a foster family until he was moved to a hostel. When war broke out, Bob and Ann could only write 25-word messages to their parents back home each month and the communications were censored.

After a while, both suddenly stopped receiving letters from their parents. Bob was taught English and eventually joined the Army where he became an interpreter for German prisoners of war. Bob and Ann met at a club for Jewish refugees and got married in May 1950.

It was important for our year group to be able to experience their stories and understand how they felt. By meeting Bob and Ann, we could catch a glimpse into the lives of some of the last survivors of the holocaust, an experience that is much more personal than a book or movie. By learning about the stories of the survivors, we took on board Bob and Ann Kirk’s words of wisdom.

Most importantly, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Ava Tallon I 3L

PHOTO: Third Year students with Bob and Ann Kirk 10

Spring Issue 2020

TSBA Awards On Thursday 7 March I went to the Trinity Schools Book Awards (TSBA) ceremony at City of London School, near St Paul’s Cathedral, along with students from around 40 other schools. This year’s theme was ‘Stand Out and Speak Out’.

KGS runs a morning book club where we read the six shortlisted books and then vote for our favourite.

At the ceremony, the winning author is announced and there are also student prizes for the Best Book Review and the Best Creative Response.

The authors answered questions posed by the audience. Nicky Singer said she had turned down half a million dollars to change the ending of her book and Tanya Landman said her top writing tip was to be bored as that was when she had her best ideas. Penny Joelson was announced as the winning author. I had loved her book too so I was really pleased she won.

Kingston Grammar School

WINNER! Best book review

Then it was time for the announcement of the student winners and runners up. I had written a Book Review on the Survival Game

by Nicky Singer which was my favourite of the six books. I just couldn’t believe it when my name was called out as the winner of the Best Book Review! I had to go up on stage and stand with the other winners.

My prize was a £25 book token which I am really looking forward to spending.

After the ceremony, we could meet the authors and ask them to sign our books.

Nicky Singer signed my copy of The Survival Game. When she saw me, she said she had loved my review and that I should consider writing as a career.

It was such a wonderful evening, even more so because I think it will probably be the last event that I attend for a while.

Sophie Bailey I 2Q

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SCHOOL LIFE

Dance!

Congratulations to all students involved in January’s House Dance.

House news

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There were many outstanding numbers, notably Queen’s medley from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Stanley’s dark and mysterious contemporary dance, beautifully choreographed by Hannah Farrell (3S) and Walworth’s graceful Hollywoodstyle routine to La La Land. The audience were also treated to a number of show dances performed by our talented dancers, including Bhavithra Gananathan (2Q), Emily Shepherd (3S), Kitty Hutchings (3L) and

Izzy Reilly (2S). Walworth were justly crowned overall winners with Queen’s in second place. Thank you also to our fantastic judges Ruth Kestenbaum and Christopher Augilar who gave detailed, informative feedback to each house.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and a pleasure to see so many First Year students performing for the first time at KGS! Sixth Form choreographers should be commended for the hard work and dedication which went into the hours of rehearsals in the run-up to the event.

Mr R Gee I Drama

Spring Issue 2020

Kingston Grammar School

Baseball

Music

Ben Sporleder, First Year and Sam Sporleder, Third Year

Sam Kelly, Third Year

Spotlight on success

Athletics Angelina Campbell, Fourth Year Sam received the Trinity College Exhibition Award which is presented to the candidate who achieves the highest mark in the country for their instrument (saxaphone).

Squash Christian Faergemann, Third Year Christian took silver for Surrey at the Inter County Finals, won a Kingston Borough Sports Medal last term and has since played at the British Junior Open.

Angelina competed in the National School Cross-Country Championships, coming 73rd out of 335 runners. She was also part of the Surrey Intermediate girls’ team as they became national champions!

Freddie Lett, Second Year

Ben and Sam Sporleder have been training with the GB national team and have competed for GB at the U12 and U15 level.

Swimming Eddie Hunt, Lower Sixth Eddie represented ESSA London at the ESSA Inter Division Championships.

Karate Joe Taylor, First Year

Theatre Isabell Whitehill, Upper Sixth

Freddie has been selected by Surrey for the 2020 English Schools Cross-Country Championships.

Joe competed in the Funokoshi Shotokan Karate World Championships and won bronze in the kumite.

Isabell has secured a place at RADA and LAMDA on the Technical Theatre & Stage Management course.

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SPORT

We are the champions!

U14 GIRLS’ TIER 1 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 2020

U14 Investec Tier 1 Hockey Champions

2020

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Spring Issue 2020

Kingston Grammar School

A determined and fearless U14 team were crowned as hockey’s National Champions in the Investec Tier 1 Hockey Championship at the end of February after beating Epsom College in a nail-biting final at the Lee Valley Stadium.

They battled their way to victory during a thrilling day of matches, starting with the first three group games to determine who would progress to the final.

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NOV U14 TEAM LIST: Miri Scott, Katherine Don-Wauchope, Audrey Coursey, Jasmine Procter-Tarabanov, Jemma Dreyer, Ella Robinson, Ashley Walker, Amy Marshall, Francesca Delbe-Waldron, Emily Barker, Hanna Garghouti, Noa Armelin, Tula Knowles, Josie Roux & Betty Cannon A 2-0 victory over St. Peter’s, York with goals from Jemma Dreyer and Ella Robinson was followed by a 1-0 win over Loughborough College, with Amy Marshall grabbing the all-important goal in the dying seconds of the match; the girls went on to enjoy a 2–1 win against Framlingham School, with Josie Roux scoring and Ella Robinson bagging her second goal of the day.

In a thrilling and tight final match, KGS found themselves up against a local opponent in Epsom College who had topped their respective group. A 0–0 score at full time meant it would be down to penalty strokes. Whilst the supporters found this an agonising experience, the composed KGS girls took it in their stride as both teams scored their first five strokes to take it to sudden death. A save from England Lions and KGS goalkeeper Katherine Don Wauchope meant that Noa Armelin had a chance to win the trophy and take it she did, hitting the back of the net with assurance and ensuring that KGS were crowned as National Champions.

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SPORT

U15 ISHC National Hockey Champions

2020

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Kingston Grammar School

U15 SQUAD: Sophie Tomison, Rachel Barnicoat, Elsie Callen, Madi Good, Millie Good, Ellie Hauck, Teva Hogarth, Evie Hurn, Sophie Jones, Fia Mahdi, Katie Mullally, Kea Murray, Livvy Rosser, Grace Slevin, Amy Smith, Jess Walker

U15 girls U15 GIRLS’ INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS’ CUP 2020

Having battled through torrential rain and blustering winds against Sedbergh School, our U15 girls found themselves travelling to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park where they were playing Surbiton High School in the final of the Independent Schools’ Hockey Cup. The girls had already exceeded expectations and were in good spirits as the crowds arrived, the music played and the game began. Surbiton applied a lot of early pressure on our defence but, after a nervous start, KGS found their feet and started to string some passes together. Most of the first half resulted in end-to-end action with no real chances created by either side.

We came out flying in the second half and within ten minutes the girls produced some of the best hockey they have played all year. Transfers round the back, posting up in midfield, individual skill and awareness of the opposition all led to a through ball which Ellie Hauck calmly converted to make the score 1-0. The crowd went wild but it was important that the girls remained focused and calm as they knew Surbiton High were about to throw everything at them (which of course they did). With six minutes to go they did indeed score through a well-rehearsed short corner.

Everything was now to play for. Sophie Tomison made some exceptional saves whilst the defence remained solid under the Surbiton pressure. The final whistle went, meaning extra time. Both teams attacked and defended well to ensure the game went to penalty shuffles (one vs one - attacker vs goalkeeper - 8 seconds to score).

Surbiton won the toss and opted to go first. Sophie Tomison did exactly what she needed to which was to slow down the attacking player. Due to an umpiring decision a goal was awarded which gave Surbiton the lead. For Kingston, Kea Murray stepped up first and her attempt was saved.

Surbiton’s second shuffle was hit wide.

For KGS, Grace Slevin calmly took the ball around the goalkeeper to make the scores level. Sophie Tomison slowed the opposition attacker enough for time to run out which gave us the advantage. Madi Good used her skill to eliminate the opposition goalkeeper to make it 2-1. Surbiton scored, and Millie Good scored another well-executed shuffle.

Surbiton scored their last of five shuffles which meant if we scored now the KGS girls would be crowned champions. Jess Walker approached the goalkeeper, sent her the wrong way and slotted the ball in to make KGS U15 girls ISHC National Champions.

A truly remarkable feat to add to the successes of the U14 and U13 girls.

Thank you so much for everyone who has been part of the team this season.

Mr D Bartram I Hockey 17

SPORT

U13 SQUAD: Grace Dormer, Tula Knowles (Capt), Noa Armelin, Emily Barker, Betty Cannon, Josie Roux, Hanna Garghouti, Natalie Ivory, Maddie Sloan, and Hannah Wood

U13 girls U13 GIRLS’ INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS’ HOCKEY CUP 2020

On Wednesday 11 March, the U13A girls’ hockey team travelled up to Redbridge Sports Centre, Ilford to play in the Independent Schools’ Cup ‘Finals Day’ sponsored

by Smile Travel.

Our first game was against Reigate Grammar School (a team they had played once so far this season, with KGS coming out on top of that encounter). The girls applied some early pressure and had some well-placed shots saved by the very capable Reigate goalkeeper. Patience paid off with a Betty Cannon strike putting KGS 1-0 up.

Reigate were not down and out, though and intercepted a few KGS attacks, forcing KGS keeper, Grace Dormer, to make a few good saves in quick succession. KGS continued their build-up play and found the back board again through a corner strike by Josie Roux and associated defender deflection.

KGS went into half time 2-0 up, but they knew that Reigate would come out fighting.

Sure enough, a few minutes in, Reigate took advantage of a turnover and applied the pressure to slot it in the corner. KGS responded and wave upon wave of attack paid off with a Natalie Ivory slot-in putting the game to bed and KGS progressing into the final.

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The final was against Ipswich School who came from a 3-0 deficit in the semi-final v Danes Hill to win 4-3 so KGS knew the final would be against a tough and resilient team! KGS started off really well, playing at a higher intensity than in the semi-final which put Ipswich on the back foot. KGS were unlucky not to go up within the first few minutes but just couldn’t find the target.

Josie Roux finally broke the deadlock which settled KGS. A few minutes later, a lack of concentration at a KGS defensive short corner made it 1-1 going into half-time: Ipswich were back in it! A positive team talk propelled KGS out the blocks with a Tula Knowles strike in the bottom corner.

The game then went end to end and with 90 seconds to go, Ipswich equalised again making it 2-2 at full-time. The next stage was five minutes of extra time each way.

Once again, KGS came out quickly, with Josie Roux finding the net making it 3-2 at the five-minute change over. Ipswich were not defeated, though and applied the pressure making KGS defend and defend again. They equalised soon into the second five minutes and it took a Tula Knowles strike to make it 4-3 with 20 seconds to go. The whistle came at the right time, crowning KGS winners of the Independent Schools’ Cup with Tula winning player of the final!

Mrs N Maclean I Director of Sport

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Kingston Grammar School

U15 SQUAD: Sophie Tomison, Rachel Barnicoat, Elsie Callen, Madi Good, Millie Good, Ellie Hauck, Teva Hogarth, Evie Hurn, Sophie Jones, Fia Mahdi, Katie Mullally, Kea Murray, Livvy Rosser, Grace Slevin, Amy Smith, Jess Walker

U13 ISHC National Hockey Champions

2020

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SPORT

U15 cricket The U15A girls played with great teamwork and confidence to secure two solid wins in the group stages of the Lady Taverner’s Cup and become top of their group.

With strong batting performances from Gemma Dryer and Millie Good, and some exceptional bowling from many of the girls, they won by just over 30 runs in the semi-finals, with nearly all the girls taking wickets (especially Ellie Hauck) and some good runs scored by Jess Walker and Kea Murray. In the finals, it was a tough draw, but with great batting from Madi Good and Amy Smith, as well as some incredible catches taken by Eve Abbot and Millie Good, we were able to take a great win against Reigate Grammar by nearly 40 runs, and move on to the Regional Finals.

Madi Good I 4Q

In the net!

On Friday 6 March we took part in the Kingston Borough Netball Tournament at Tiffin Girls’ School. Having come runners-up last year, we were all really motivated to go one better this year.

We played seven matches, winning six of them. All the girls played really well and as the results came in it was down to crucial goal difference. With Josie Roux and Noa Armelin scoring a whopping 99 goals throughout the tournament, KGS took first place. A great way to end the tournament; well done to all the girls.

Mrs J Stapleton I Head of Netball

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Spring Issue 2020

FROM LEFT: Ut la conse ilitiscit optaernam derfus rem corum rae volest, omnihilignim ilitatur am

Kingston Grammar School

iur, Occullor sita verchic aborum quiamus, ommolore volestet omnimus rem

The KGS Ski Trip returned to Marmot Basin near Jasper, Canada after a successful first visit last year. When we finally made it after nearly 23 hours of travel the comfortable beds in the Lobstick Lodge were most welcome! >>

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TRIPS

KGS Ski Trip Canada 2020

Sunday morning began as every morning did with a 6.45am wake-up call (rarely actually needed given the jet lag everyone experienced) followed by an all-you-can-eat breakfast made up of almost every conceivable breakfast option you could think of. The staff who were on the trip last year introduced everyone to the fantastic combination of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup, which was guaranteed to keep you going for the whole day up the mountain.

We had a 25-minute drive to the Marmot Basin ski slopes from Jasper and the students were particularly excited about travelling in a traditional North American yellow school bus. Our regular driver, Glyn, regaled us with all manner of interesting stories and fun facts about Jasper, Canada and his life on our way to the mountain. He also happened to be one of the instructors and was a key part of our enjoyable week.

The students were organised according to ability giving us five different ski groups: beginners, intermediates, junior advanced, senior advanced and snowboarders. Our 22

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Kingston Grammar School

instructors came from all over the world: Glyn from Canada took the senior advanced group, Mads from Denmark took the junior advanced groups, Andy from Ireland took the intermediate groups, Matt from England took the beginners and David, also from England, took the snowboarders. As the week progressed, so did the quality of skiing. It was great to witness how everyone was attentive and keen to learn in the lessons and the improvement in some cases was staggering in only a few short days.

By day two, the snowboarders, who had only a few days’ previous experience between them, were doing black runs.

The technique of the junior advanced group in particular was markedly improved by the end of the week. The ski instructors frequently commented about the courtesy, attentiveness and enjoyment they received from instructing the KGS pupils and there were no major injuries to speak of, which was a relief.

One of the real benefits of going to Canada for the school ski trip is that the slopes are generally very quiet and this was evident even on the busy public holiday weekend that made up the first two days of our stay. The longest lift queue wait time was about one minute! Temperatures were much kinder than last year, rarely dipping below -10°C even first thing in the morning.

We were treated to ‘bluebird’ blue-sky days throughout our stay and even though there was no fresh snow, the quality and quantity of snow from earlier in the season ensured that skiing conditions were first class.

The trip was not just all about skiing and we adopted a more low-key, chilled out après ski programme this year. Our trip to The Jasper Pizza Place was undoubtedly the dining highlight but the hotel also served up some tasty evening meals, most notably the burger night and the burrito night the day before we left. The most enjoyable evening activity had to be the visit to the local leisure centre, which gave students the opportunity to try bouldering, work out in the gym or enjoy the swimming pool area, complete with springboards, hot tub and even water polo. We pretty much had the cinema to ourselves when we went to see Sonic the Hedgehog and Birds of Prey and the traditional KGS Ski Trip Quiz was won this year by some of the Fourth Years.

We arrived home on Sunday 23 February, tired but happy, having enjoyed a memorable week away. Thanks must go the staff ski team for their unwavering support and assistance throughout – Mr Bequignon, Miss Fletcher, Miss Butler and Mr Hardy.

Mr M Rodgers I Head of Biology

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TRIPS

At the beginning of March, 55 Fourth Year Geographers braved a rather unfavourable weather forecast to travel down to Bristol to carry out their Human Geography GCSE fieldwork.

The students would be gathering primary data to investigate the success of two of Bristol’s regeneration projects. We started at the Cabot Circus shopping centre in central Bristol where the students worked in small groups to carry out Environmental Quality Surveys and ask questionnaires they had prepared before the fieldtrip. We then walked through the city to the Harbourside, once one of the busiest docks in the UK, where the students had a break for lunch before carrying out their data collection for two regeneration projects. Up to this point the weather had been kind to us but the drizzle started just as we started our open top bus tour of the city which had bene planned to give some further context to the students’ fieldwork. Despite the weather, we left Bristol with lots of good data and an increased knowledge of the city’s fascinating geography and history.

Mr A House I Head of Geography

Go west!

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Spring Issue 2020

Paris Looking resplendent in our Christmas jumpers, fresh from mufti day, we boarded the bus that would see us to Paris. 5 hours, 12 Flappy Golf losses, and one Starbucks stop later, we arrived at our accommodation.

Having not studied French in over a year, my roommate and I settled down to enjoy some French TV to refresh our language skills >>

Kingston Grammar School

Christmas 2019

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TRIPS

We awoke to a quaint view of the suburbs of Paris, and finally had an opportunity at breakfast to enjoy a pain au chocolat.

This indulgent start to the day set the tone appropriately, as our first visit was to the opulent Châteaux de Versailles. Next, as a prelude to our real tour of Paris, we experienced a virtual tour of the city with FlyView VR headsets. We soared effortlessly from Le Tour Eiffel, to a 2016 Notre Dame before floating down towards the charming Pont des Arts.

We were then treated to a riverboat tour of Paris. The outward journey of the riverboat had a sombre start as we drew alongside the imposing Notre Dame, shrouded in scaffolding.

The mood lightened as we went further up the Seine. As evening fell, our boat passed Le Tour Eiffel, with its searchlight beaming into the night sky. No authentically French trip would be complete without a visit to the very epicentre of la république française, and the embodiment of its culture, Disneyland Paris. The commanding view of the park from the top of the 60 metre Tower of Terror, and the ensuing 40m drop at 63 km/h, proved to be a highpoint of my trip. We also rode Hyperspace Mountain as many times as the queues permitted, but the real highlight was experiencing a microcosm of Paris, in Paris; Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.

Alex Smolenski I U6PWS

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Spring Issue 2020

Kingston Grammar School

UAE Album Cricketers and netballers from Second to Fourth Year spent February half term in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. From training sessions and matches to camel rides and beautiful mosques, it was an activity-packed week. >>

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TRIPS

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Spring Issue 2020

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TRIPS

Christian Union Houseparty Senior CU Houseparty took place at the start of the Christmas holidays, returning to the luxurious surroundings of the Oast Houses in East Sussex.

It was the perfect balance of rest and activities at the end of a busy term: there was the fourth annual SCUHP beetle drive – it’s almost a tradition now – along with the definitely traditional winter walk. New for this year, we took a trip to a curling rink where, after some quick tuition, we were let loose on the ice. It was good fun, although I don’t think any of us will be appearing in the Winter Olympics anytime soon! Back at the Oasts, we also enjoyed evenings playing games by the open fire, and use of their fantastic indoor swimming pool.

The theme of this year’s talks was Christmas and Rory, our speaker, gave a series of excellent talks on the names of Jesus in the Old Testament book of Isaiah: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.

It gave us some food for thought at the start of the holiday, and rounded off a superb weekend overall.

Mr C Wenham I Head of Lower Sixth

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Spring Issue 2020

Kingston Grammar School

Boat Club Dinner Hampton Court Golf Club was the venue for our annual Boat Club dinner. After a lovely drinks reception, dinner was served amongst Boat Club oars and red bunting, with pictures of the crews and training camp from the past year.

Lily, our girls’ captain, was the first after-dinner speaker and she recalled the year’s highlights. Special commendation was given to Gabi Bergmann-Chornik and Frances Chorley who came third in the WJ16 double at the British Rowing Junior Championships. On top of this, Lily herself had represented Great Britain in the WJ18 quad at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Italy.

It was then my turn as boys’ captain to highlight some of our achievements and share some of the laughs we have had along the way. Notably, the J16 coxed four came fifth and the J15 coxed quad came seventh at the 2019 National Schools Regatta. In addition, I represented Great Britain at the J16 GB-France Match in Nottingham in the single scull. Mr Green gave his speech and presented his ambitions for the club: “we will win!” he exclaimed.

Our guest speaker for the evening, James Foad, talked about his bronze medal in the men’s eight at the London 2012 Olympics, along with other personal highlight - rowing with Mr Simmons at Molesey Boat Club! James talked about his recovery from a pretty major back injury which prevented him rowing at the 2016 Rio Olympics. It was a touching personal story which we could all relate to. There were questions from the floor at the end and we heard about James’s personal training business, MHR Fitness. Mr Green closed by looking ahead to next year’s event and seeing some old and new faces.

Harry Fletcher I Boys’ Captain 31

EVENTS

The Vote MIDDLE SCHOOL PLAY

Throughout James Graham’s The Vote, it was difficult not to think of Churchill’s infamous argument that the best argument against democracy is a fiveminute conversation with the average voter. Here we were, in the hall of a local primary school watching the fraught last hour of an unspecified election day, experiencing by proxy all the beauty and ugliness of The Great British Public.

The first scene of The Vote opens on a moment that sets the tone for the increasingly farcical series of events: Grace Botchway (played by Inaya Defise) is sprawled on the floor, having slipped over. However, she is less concerned by the possibility of injury than of the possibility of someone seeing her ballot paper. As Mrs Botchway is finally helped up – her vote safe from prying eyes – we are swiftly introduced to the three key players in the play: Stephen Crosswell, the seemingly unflappable presiding officer (played by Toby Anderson), Kirsty Henderson (Elsie Callen) and Laura Williams (Amelie Scott) the two exhausted poll clerks. It was hugely impressive to watch these three actors maintain the perfect levels of momentum, pace and focus throughout the whole play, as they barely left the stage throughout.

We quickly discover that Kirsty has become something of a viral sensation, having filmed herself breaking into the locked primary school that morning to ensure voting could start on time. It becomes apparent that Fin James’ caretaker should have been on hand, but had more personal matters to attend to: his daughter is currently in labour with his grandchild. So the stuff of everyday life is pitted against nationwide matters of great pitch and moment. But Kirsty’s dramatic involvement in enacting democratic voting rights is not quite over…

Elizabeth’s Sweeney’s forgetful, elderly, 32

slipper-shod Freya Norris manages to sneak back into the booth and vote twice: once for her, and once for her sister. So follows an ongoing saga of rigged ballot papers to try and ‘balance out’ the erroneous ‘extra’ vote. Elsie’s portrayal of Kirsty as naively committing electoral fraud with the help of all her family, followed by her increasing panic, was superb. She was matched perfectly by the increasing exasperation of Amelie’s second poll clerk, who gets roped into the conspiracy, all hidden under a very unsubtle boiled sweet analogy. Amelie managed to convey depths of helpless panic all via the medium of hand gestures: a total joy to watch.

Through the last minutes of voting time, we meet a real cross-section of the voting public: hen parties (Juliette Den Hoedt, Issy Rosser and Livvy Rosser, decked out in a range of feather boas), drunken football fans rolling in from the pub across the road (an absolutely star turn by Jake Francis), an incongruously glamorous Swedish reporter (Teva Hogarth), a wife whose husband had neglected to register her (Maddy Clark), an identically named mother and daughter arguing over who should get the one vote they had been given (Florence Chevalier and Bea Page), along with a whole host of would-be voters who had to be told they couldn’t actually use their mobile in the polling station.

Freddie Haynes’ local schoolboy’s comment that it was to do with “all that Brexit shit” was the only – and mercifully humorous – reference to the most divisive vote in recent memory. There was an unspoken understanding that in today’s climate, every single voter is aware of just how important his or her vote could be.

And then we had the electoral candidates themselves. Maddie Pritchard’s calm and collected Conservative Adriana Adams was aided throughout by the beautifully oily and officious polling agent Alan Walker, played masterfully by James Don-Wauchope.

However, Zain Ahmad’s Independent one-issue candidate Howard Roberts, optimistically still fighting the new oneway system, was the real treat in store.

The moment when Howard realises that the punctuation of his ballot paper slogan is catastrophically wrong, leading to a meltdown of epic proportions, was glorious.

Special mention really must go to Toby Anderson as the presiding officer, whose total naturalism and quiet authority was the calm eye of the storm. We began to see moments of hidden depths to this official’s consummate professionalism: as events start to spin away from his control, he becomes more and more exasperated and hopeless, and there is even a hint at a would-be love affair as Isabella Walsh-Whitfield’s Claire makes a rather heart-wrenching bid for Stephen’s attention, destined to go unnoticed. But it was Toby’s understated performance throughout that really captivated, and drew together the disparate cast of characters.

One really has to wonder whether Richard Gee has an arsenal of magical powers behind him, in his ability to predict the future (rehearsals started long before the December general election was a possibility), as well as the coup of persuading Jeremy Vine to join the cast to record the short televised punctuations to the action, inviting the audience to grab a drink in Hawkes during the interval. The real magic, of course, was in drawing together a huge cast, thereby allowing so many students’ acting talents to really shine. Similarly, the production crew must be congratulated on the perfection of the set.

So finally, as the presiding officer just about manages to hold it together, ten o’clock finally arrives, and Jeremy Vine returns to announce the final results. Of course, the curtain metaphorically falls before we find out which way the Great British Public has voted. Mercifully, this was one vote from which we would be spared the fallout.

Mrs P Stones I English

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Kingston Grammar School

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EVENTS

Jazzing it up!

KGS JAZZ NIGHT

The KGS Jazz Night is always eagerly anticipated by both performers and audience alike.

For the past couple of years we have welcomed a professional band to perform alongside our KGS jazz ensembles and soloists and this year we welcomed the Michael Janisch Band. Michael is an American-born musician who has lived in London for 15 years. In that time he has established himself as a first-call electric and double bassist to the stars, a MOBO Award-nominated solo artist, an indemand producer, and owner of Whirlwind Recordings, one of the premier indie labels in jazz and related music.

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“I loved having the chance to sing solo with the Michael Janisch band and am glad I took advantage of the opportunity.

It was really enlightening to see the professional band perform after the interval; the complex and technical jazz-fusion style was fascinating to watch!�

Francesca Bern L6JWS

Michael and his band have recently been touring to promote their new album, Worlds Collide and arrived at KGS fresh from a recording session at the BBC for J to Z on Radio 3. The band, on this occasion, comprised Nathaniel Facey on alto saxophone, George Crowley on tenor saxophone, Rick Simpson on piano/ keys and Marc Ayza on drums. During the afternoon these world-class musicians worked with members of our Jazz Band and Jazz Ensemble and I know that the students

involved gained a lot from the experience.

The KGS Jazz Ensemble kicked the evening performance off with repertoire such as Sleepwalk and Feeling Good before we moved on to performances from the larger KGS Jazz Band who, amongst their set, played one of my favourites, Cold Duck Time by Eddie Harris. Special mention should then go to the soloists who followed, all having the opportunity to perform alongside the Janisch Band. There were superb vocal performances from Francesca Bern, Pragna Sreeganesh and Isla Flett and a wonderful rendition of In a Sentimental Mood from Sam Kely playing alto saxophone. Following on from a break for dinner, the evening came to a climax with the Michael Janisch Band in concert and, judging by the CD and vinyl sales taking place at the end, a good time was had by all.

Special mention and thanks should go to Jazz Band Director, Andre Canniere who masterminded the event and we look forward to the continued development of jazz here at KGS.

Mr M Laflin I Director of Music

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#workwellandbehappy