Kingstonian 2021/2022 by Kingston Grammar School

KINGSTONIAN H E R M AJ E S T Y Q U E E N E L I Z A B E T H I I 1926 –2022

Having started the editorial process for this issue of Kingstonian in May, these archive images and memories had been intended to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the School’s long association with her. Her death on 8th September 2022, at the age of 96, marks the end of the second Elizabethan age and with it the 70-year reign of a remarkable woman. Kingston Grammar School was founded by Royal Charter in 1561 on the orders of Queen Elizabeth I. 400 years later, on 4th March 1961, we welcomed Elizabeth II to the School as part of our anniversary celebrations. In 2005, she returned, this time to open the Queen Elizabeth II Performing Arts Centre, which continues to be at the centre of school life. We regard it as an honour and a privilege that Her Majesty visited the School. On the following pages, some of those who were students and staff at the time tell us what they remember of the royal visits.

H E R M AJ E S T Y Q U E E N E L I Z A B E T H I I 1926 –2022

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

1961 “As an RAF cadet, I was part of the Guard of Honour for Her Majesty. I stared straight ahead as she passed by and realised how short she was! It was a great honour to be a participant.” David Clark OK 1962

“My abiding memory is that, as a member of the CCF (RAF) and an NCO no less, I pressed, polished and practised for weeks in advance. Her Majesty inspected the assembled contingent, a camera clicked – and missed me. Such is fate.”

An archive copy of the 1961 Kingstonian detailing the visit can be viewed here: bit.ly/KGS1961

Mike Sayer OK 1961 “I was the last of the Full Prefects lined up in the Library to be introduced to the Queen at the end of her visit. She was running ahead of time but, even so, I was surprised and honoured that she stopped and talked to me, asking about my plans for after I left KGS. She had just returned from a state visit to India and her encouraging remarks on my plans to study Chemical Engineering were more than just polite conversation: they were based on her first-hand experience of where she had been. Speaking to the Queen was a most memorable experience, one which I have delighted in sharing with family and friends over many decades.”

“I remember the visit very well. As part of the RAF section of the CCF, I was in the Guard of Honour inspected by the Queen. She gave a speech and granted us all a day’s holiday (perhaps my best memory!).” Chris Cochran OK 1962

“As you might expect, it was very well orchestrated. She was accompanied on the tour by our Head Master, P. W. Rundle, the Head Boy, Geoff Hunt and Deputy Head Boy, Chris Nelson.” Ray Orriss OK 1961

Gopal Srinivasan OK 1961 “I recall standing by the doorway into the quadrangle as the Queen came from the Main Hall and made her way round the school. A respectful gentle bow was, I hope, appropriate. A notable memory.” Michael Tribe OK 1962 Front cover: Wearing a coat she had made in the KGS red, the Queen inspects the School’s CCF.

The original black and white image has been restored to reflect this. Right: Head Master Percy Rundle and the Queen examine the School’s founding charter.

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HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

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HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

1961

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HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

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HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

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HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

2005 “I have very fond memories of the Queen’s visit – the excitement about her arrival (which included the closure of the London Road, no less!) and the sense of the KGS community pulling together to ensure that we were able to show the school at its very best. I was tasked with presenting a book to Her Majesty but was more concerned about toppling over if my curtsey wasn’t on point!” Deb Sherwood, Geography teacher “My recollection is of the Queen unveiling the plaque in the QEII courtyard watched by a totally engrossed throng of staff and students, not only in the courtyard itself but lining the first and second floor corridors. I couldn’t help thinking what a wonderful, almost Globe-like ‘theatre’ the setting provided.” Julian Smith, English teacher “Whether waving their flags in welcome along the London Road, lining the balconies of the new QEII building, working in classrooms on the inspection route or performing in the arts spaces, everyone was laughing and smiling as if their faces would crack. Even Her Majesty, it was whispered later, had rarely been seen to smile so much!” Nick Bond, English teacher

“I was a Prefect and remember the atmosphere being electric. “Remember ‘MAM’ like ‘SPAM’,” we were told. I was in the ‘new building’, as we used to call it, and I saw her car parked on the London Road. She was wearing bright purple and a huge smile. I was one of the lucky ones that got to shake her hand. I smiled like a Cheshire cat and was grinning so much she did a double take. I must have been a little over-excited... I remember her being shorter than I expected, with impeccable make-up and a very warm presence. I have lived in the US for a few years and the one question they love to ask is, “Have you met the Queen?” Amazingly, because of KGS, I can say yes!” Amelie Williams OK 2006 “As a proud member of Queen’s House, I put aside my republican leanings to get stuck in and meet Her Majesty. The day was full of pomp and pageantry and I very much felt the sense of occasion. I recall the CCF standing to attention and there being a music recital before an inspection of the original charter parchment paper endowing the School in 1561. The large crowd of wellwishers outside the London Road gates also highlighted the school’s broader role within the town of Kingston and beyond. It is great to see that the Queen Elizabeth II building is used today, not just by the school, but by the wider community too.” Jeroen Sibia OK 2006

“I remember the visit vividly. I was a Prefect at the time and we had a nice chat about which university I would be going to and the fact that Prince William was enjoying studying Geography.” Victoria Sena OK 2006 “I was waiting for the Queen in the newly built Baxter Gallery with A Level Art students. It was my job to introduce each student and encourage them to talk to her about their artwork displayed behind them. The excitement of the visit had built for a few weeks and it was quite a tense moment for me: I had just become Head of Department and felt the pressure quite keenly. By pure coincidence, I had played Prince Edward at Real Tennis a few weeks before. He was quite competitive and, I think, a little annoyed to have lost – I’ve certainly not been invited to play him since!” Joe Dyson, Art teacher

An archive copy of the 2005 Kingstonian can be viewed here: bit.ly/KGS2005

Left (top): The Queen views students’ artwork in the Baxter Gallery. (Bottom): The official plaque is unveiled in the QEII Quad.

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HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

2005

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HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

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HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

2022 Jubilant, a poem written in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Mr B Campbell, English (and resident Poet Laureate)

1977

2012

Silver, a sheen like the Ford Fiesta That first hit the roads that year, and Rumours Hit the charts as hard: a bassline blown like bombs In the hearts of young baby-boomers.

Diamond, shining like the glass of the Shard, Like medals: Wiggins on the bike, Murray On the court, and the London Olympics Hiding rain records, climate change, worry.

1992

2017

Ruby, like the flag falling in the east, Like Diana’s ring falling from finger, But nothing to say from Punch, which that year Found it hadn’t the money to linger.

Sapphire, surely so clear, surely so pure – And yet now we see neighbours as shifty After attacks on arenas, bridges. See the weapon called Article 50.

2002

2022

Gold, mini-skirt glare of Girls Aloud and A purple State Building from Uncle Sam, We see a Kingdom more worldly, perhaps: The last Fiesta made in Dagenham.

Platinum. Dull sheen. An unclear mirror. Years of lockdowns and of trying to cope. And yet, and yet – we have this history. Our future. Our country. Ourselves. Our hope.

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HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

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INTRODUCTION

2021/22

Mr SR Lehec, Head Master

Welcome to this issue of Kingstonian, a review of the academic year 2021/22 at Kingston Grammar School. In addition to the hugely welcome return to in-person teaching, we also saw life back in full force on the sports fields, on the river and on stage, in the keenly-fought House Championship, and throughout our community-wide outreach, partnership and volunteering activities. We said farewell to another wonderful group of Upper Sixth leavers as they started the next stage of their lives, having achieved a superb set of A Level results that is testament to their hard work, commitment and focus. They now become Old Kingstonians and we look forward to welcoming them back to school as alumni. Garnering rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the KGS Theatre Company, consisting of Sixth Form Drama students, performed The Ofsted Massacre, with one audience member saying it was “the best show at the Fringe this year” and another that the production was “a triumph”. Congratulations to all involved on what I can confirm was an outstanding performance. As the nation mourns the death of the Queen, we hope our selection of images and memories from Old Kingstonians and staff is a fitting tribute to a long and happy association between Her Majesty and the School.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to the many staff, students and alumni who have supplied both articles and photographs. We welcome feedback via marketing@kgs.org.uk on what you’d like to see in future issues of Kingstonian.

Whilst marking the end of another successful year, it feels timely, to say that KGS would not be the school it is without the wholehearted support of the entire KGS community: dedicated, hardworking staff; students who come to school ready to learn and be challenged; parents who encourage and facilitate day in, day out, governors who expertly help develop the strategic direction of the School; and valued alumni who keep in touch and give so generously of their time and experience to our students. Thank you to them – to you – all. Mr SR Lehec, Head Master

Kingston Grammar School A leading independent co-educational London day school. London Road Kingston upon Thames KT2 6PY 020 8546 5875 enquiries@kgs.org.uk www.kgs.org.uk KGS1561 KGS1561 kingstongrammar

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CONTENTS

Contents

ACADEMIC MATTERS Art.................................................................................................... 26 Biology..................................................................................... 36 Chemistry............................................................................ 38 Classics.................................................................................... 40 Design & Technology........................................ 42 Drama....................................................................................... 44

82 SPORT

HOUSE REVIEW

104

SCHOOL LIFE

TRIPS

OUTREACH & PARTNERSHIPS

LIFE BEYOND KGS

WELLBEING

Economics..........................................................................52 English...................................................................................... 54 Geography......................................................................... 56 Government & Politics................................................................................ 58 History...................................................................................... 60 Library....................................................................................... 62 Mathematics................................................................... 66 Modern Foreign Languages.......................................................................... 68 Music.......................................................................................... 70 Physics......................................................................................74 Psychology.........................................................................76 Religion & Philosophy........................................78 STEAM....................................................................................... 80

116

CO-CURRICULAR

122

STAFF NEWS

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SCHOOL LIFE

Welcome to our new School Captains 2022/23 Mr SR Lehec, Head Master

Kingston Grammar School has a long history of students taking on leadership roles. Having been founded as a boys’ school in 1561, the role of Head Boy made way for that of School Captain when we became proudly co-educational in 1978. Each year, in the Summer term, a School Captain team, along with a small group of Senior Prefects, is appointed after rigorous interviews with senior members of staff. These students all thoroughly embody the KGS motto – work well and be happy – and act as role models for younger years. They are actively involved with school life and regularly represent KGS to visitors and the wider community. They are chosen as much for their personal attributes as for their academic ability and are an important part of life at KGS. My sincere thanks and good luck to the 2021/22 School Captains, Ife Dombrowsky and Zain Ahmad. Ife, a seasoned rower for KGS, will read Geography at UCL whilst at the time of writing, Zain is performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and will study Psychology at King’s College London. They were a truly excellent team and, alongside Vice-Captains James Fairhurst, Sasha Lacey and Issy Rosser, made a hugely valuable contribution to school life. We warmly welcome their successors, School Captain Hattie Fowkes and Vice-Captains Sachin Patel and Jemina Jordan, and look forward to working with them.

HATTIE FOWKES, SCHOOL CAPTAIN Hattie is studying History, Latin and Government & Politics and hopes to read History & Politics at university with the goal of joining the Civil Service Fast Stream. “Outside lessons, I am a keen ballet dancer and a Sergeant in the CCF. I love playing netball with school (admittedly not very well!) and getting involved in Young Enterprise. I also enjoy volunteering with the children’s charity Solidarity Sports in the holidays as well as reading at the local primary school.”

SACHIN PATEL, VICE-CAPTAIN Vice-Captain Sachin is studying Maths, Chemistry, Biology and Music, as well as AS Further Maths and plans to read Chemistry at university. “I volunteer with the Maths Mentoring programme with our First Year students. I remember looking up to my Sixth Form Maths Mentor, and I find it extremely rewarding to be helping students like I was helped. Out of lessons, I love playing the guitar and piano and am a Sergeant in the RAF section of the CCF.”

JEMIMA JORDAN, VICE-CAPTAIN Jemima is studying Philosophy, History and Psychology with a view to reading Philosophy & Theology at university. “I love to play the piano and violin and have achieved my Diploma in piano and Grade 8 violin recently. It was great being involved in providing the music for the Junior School play, The Wizard of Oz. Through the Duke of Edinburgh Award I formed a connection with my local care home and still go and play the piano there every week. As Vice-Captain, I am excited to take a more active role in the School Parliament.”

Credits: (Top from left) Sachin Patel, Mr Lehec, Hattie Fowkes, Jemima Jordan (Bottom, top row) Oliver Dawson, Sachin Patel, Adam Nasir, Faran Shaheen (Middle row) Jemina Jordan, Hattie Fowkes, Silvia Greco (Bottom row) Tom Evans, Edward Phillips, Olivia Rosser, Maddie Sibley, Katie Monaghan, Imogen Marinko, Amelie Scott

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SCHOOL LIFE

CAPTAIN Hattie Fowkes

VICE CAPTAINS Jemima Jordan Sachin Patel

SENIOR PREFECTS Adam Nasir Amelie Scott Edward Phillips Faran Shaheen Imogen Marinko Katie Monaghan Kea Murray Maddie Sibley Martha le Huray Oliver Dawson Olivia Rosser Silvia Greco Tom Evans

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SCHOOL LIFE

Farewell to the

Class of 2022 Mr N Hudson, Head of Sixth Form

Whilst their Sixth Form experience was anything but typical, the Class of 2022 go out into the world as bright, kind and capable young adults (with an unusually developed knowledge of Microsoft Teams and One Note…). What stands out about this Covid cohort of students is not their many and varied accomplishments – the work they have done on equality and diversity issues in school; the successes on the hockey pitches, culminating in a national final; the fantastic all-singing, alldancing performance of Made in Dagenham; sterling results in rowing regattas; their ongoing successes as the senior ranks in the CCF; the artworks they created; their academic successes inside and outside of the classroom – but the support they offered one another through the darkest of times. This year group leaves us with bonds of friendship strengthened by periods of absence, and with resilience honed by facing adversity. They also leave with our very best wishes: do keep in touch.

Zain Ahmad Shourya Arora Samuel Arwas Rafael Aslanian Amelia Barnes Adam Blackler Olive Bose Luka Boyle Douggie Bradley Emily Bryce Matthew Burrell Tomas Caldon Charlie Canning Rose Cashmore Alice Cassidy Eleanor Chang Florence Chevallier Maddy Clark Findlay Clay Marta Console Camprini Alexander Currie Rhys Davies Julia Diaz Ifeyinka Dombrowsky James Don-Wauchope Joe Dudgeon Josh Dugdale Anna Duggan Fergus Duncan Will Egby Sidney Eisenstein-Levett Jacob Eley Jack Emerson Mary Ewart-Ellison James Fairhurst Sophie Farrell Holly Farrer Luca Fielden Thomas Fox Cara Fraser

Miland Gajree Ethan Geddie Nathan Gorin Lucas Griffin Matthew Harley Holly Harrison Tom Hewer Lucy Hicks Tom Hill Jess Hogan Alice Johnston Toby Jones Bennett Katzauer Ollie Keartland Mathilda Kendall Kian Khan Laura Kimber Ralph Knowles James Ko Sasha Lacey Izzy Lamberton O’Neill Sebastian Latimer Alice Lodge Nick Long Matthew Mace Yoseph Mahdi Max Mayhew Louis McMahon Esme Medley Marcus Merritt Saam Merwanji Jordan Miao Alex Middleton Archie Millar Fred Mills Kasra Mohammadi Zakeri Freddie Moore Sophie Morris Andriy Novak Beatrix Page

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Edward Park Theo Pawsey-Persaud Alex Pelling Heertthana Peterarulthas Freddie Pflanz Hugo Picken Finlay Pickrell Freya Pickup Harry Pink Felix Pluck Maddie Prichard Arthur Prince Anna Pryse-Davies Victoria Purnell Hal Purton Gwen Richford Alicia Rodrigues Issy Rosser Oliver Rossner Annabel Roux Sebastian Rugina Eva Rydahl James Sadler Kaveen Samarasena Tom Sexton Joseph Steel Elizabeth Sweeney Izzy Tabbron Toby Thorpe Isabella Tilzey Ben Turner Thanya Urairat Isabella Walsh-Whitfield Harry Wilkinson Eve Winders Sophie Wood Betty Xiao Ivan Yazikov Luke Yiannaki

SCHOOL LIFE

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SCHOOL LIFE

Class of 2022

Behind each exam success is a student who has shown the most impressive commitment to their studies whilst embodying the KGS motto of ‘work well and be happy’. At a time of such uncertainty, I could not be prouder of this group of students for their positivity and resilience. It is always sad to say goodbye, but they leave KGS having made valuable contributions to the School and wider community. We wish them the very best as they take their next steps into the world. Mr SR Lehec, Head Master

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SCHOOL LIFE

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SCHOOL LIFE

Upper Sixth Graduation Mr C Wenham, Head of Upper Sixth

Graduation 2022 was an incredibly special event. Having been unable to hold celebrations for the last two summers, it was wonderful to round off the academic year properly and pay tribute to the achievements of this talented cohort of students. The School Captains, Ife Dombrowsky and Zain Ahmad, spoke eloquently about seven lessons learned over their seven years at KGS. Their speeches weaved in both moving and entertaining anecdotes and exhorted their peers to go into the world inspired to make a difference, using the tools their education has given them. The Head Master followed them with his own emotion-filled tribute to the first cohort of students he was responsible for selecting to join KGS in First Year. Then it was off to Sandown for students and Sixth Form staff where they enjoyed drinks on the beautiful terrace bathed in evening sunlight, an excellent three-course meal, a night filled with dancing and fun in the photobooth. It was certainly a celebratory end to a fantastic night. It has been an absolute privilege to be Head of Year to the Class of 2022. They are a bright, sparky and fun-filled group of students who will go very far in life, and I wish them all the very best for the future. The conclusion of Zain and Ife’s graduation speech seems a fitting way to finish:

While the next chapter in our lives (whatever it may be) can be seen as a way to start completely afresh...we must strive to carry the lessons learned forward, take the tools KGS has equipped us with, and use them to change the environment around us for the better. Kingston Grammar School has given us some of the best education the world has to offer so to not apply what we have learned would be selfish. Where possible, we should avoid being passengers but stand up, speak out and help to shape the world into one we unequivocally want to live in.

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SCHOOL LIFE

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SCHOOL LIFE

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SCHOOL LIFE

GCSE results day

These students have truly excelled, with a record-breaking set of examination results that belies the two years of disruption to their learning that they faced. I am delighted for them all. Mr O Garner, Head of Fifth Year

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SCHOOL LIFE

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SCHOOL LIFE

Colours & Honours ‘22

School Colours and Honours are awarded to recognise excellence and commitment to sport and other co-curricular areas of school life respectively.

2022 AWARDS

FULL SCHOOL COLOURS Cricket Maddie Prichard Emily Bryce Sophie Wood

Football Hanna Garghouti Gina Saltykova Fergus Duncan Saam Merwanji Freddie Moore Beatrix Page Finlay Pickrell Felix Pluck Ivan Yazikov

Hockey Tula Knowles Mikey Eldridge Teddy Warner Edward Wheeler Sam Harcourt Luis Knowles Martha Le Huray Kea Murray Daniel Roberts James Fairhurst Adam Sloan Emily Bryce Josh Dugdale Jacob Eley

Luca Fielden Thomas Fox Lucas Griffin Thomas Hewer Tom Hill Ollie Keartland Max Mayhew Theo Pawsey-Persaud Harry Pink Oliver Rossner Toby Thorpe Sophie Wood

Netball

FULL SCHOOL HONOURS CCF Zain Ahmad Douggie Bradley Marcus Merritt Issy Rosser

Community Service Amelia Barnes Issy Rosser

Drama

Florence Chevallier Anna Duggan Mathilda Kendall Freya Pickup Maddie Prichard Issy Rosser

Zain Ahmad Florence Chevallier Sebastian Rugina James Sadler Isabella Walsh-Whitfield

Rowing

Music

Alice Cassidy Lola Crampin Alexander Currie Ifeyinka Dombrowsky Matilda Drewett Matthew Mace Alex Middleton Rosie Symons

Douggie Bradley Jemima Jordan Luis Knowles Jasmine Levell Imogen Marinko Lila Skeet Emma Stoner Sam Kelly

Tennis Sebastian Latimer Sophie Morris James Don-Wauchope

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SCHOOL LIFE

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OUTREACH & PARTNERSHIPS

Futures: community and collaboration Mrs D Sherwood, Director of Outreach & Partnerships

TOP TEN TIPS TO MAKE YOUR FAMILY LIFE MORE HARMONIOUS...

Award-winning journalist and author Lorraine Candy presented our inaugural webinar, ‘Top ten tips to make your family life more harmonious’. With over a decade of experience writing about parenting in national newspapers, Lorraine, who co-hosts the chart-topping lifestyle podcast, Postcards from Midlife, joined Sarah Humphrey, Deputy Head (Pastoral), to talk through her tips on how to maintain harmony throughout what can be, potentially, some challenging years.

seriously. I found the KGS/TKA virtual events really useful. Hearing a current student’s experiences made it a bit more relatable as Oxford can seem quite intimidating. The best advice I was given is to not actually worry about the outcome: the more relaxed you are, the more likely you are to showcase your passion and knowledge. I think it is very important that schools work together as it helps them provide the best for their pupils.” KGS Sixth Former Freddie Pflanz also took part in the event. Having studied Maths, Further Maths, History and Classical Greek, he takes up his place at New College, Oxford to read Politics, Philosophy & Economics (PPE). “The Futures event was great: current students were able to bust some myths and misperceptions. I found the interview advice very helpful, particularly the idea to think out loud and share your thoughts. Some of the questions I was asked were pretty challenging but using this advice I was evidently able to give answers which impressed the tutors.

https://youtu.be/Otnoa1PCqk8

ACCESSING OXBRIDGE Last year, in collaboration with The Kingston Academy, we ran two online events on the Oxbridge entry process. We were delighted to hear from Mariam Nossair, a student at TKA, after she received an offer to read History at Mansfield College, Oxford. “I first went to an open day when I was 14. I loved the atmosphere and really started taking the idea of Oxford

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I received fantastic support from the school throughout my application, and the Futures event was a big part of it. Schools may have different levels of experience in supporting Oxbridge applications, so projects like this help to share and pool expertise and ensure that students from a variety of backgrounds have the knowledge required to make a strong application.” https://youtu.be/nioJ2MVKSwM https://youtu.be/0lI-DFx02Us

GREEN FINGERS AT ST JOSEPH’S What a difference a few months, expertise and dedication by staff and students can make. Back in the dark days of November, Mr Lawrence went to have a look at a sad and neglected outdoor space at our local primary school, St. Joseph’s, and decided that with a little bit of help and support from their staff and pupils, combined with the magic he possessed in his green fingers, together they could transform this unloved corner into a green and productive space where the children could grow, learn and relax. Fast forward six months and the children welcome Mr Lawrence every Tuesday afternoon, with potatoes to plant, tomatoes to tender and bugs to house. The children greet him with excitement and enthusiasm. This is a heart-warming transformation, physically, of course, but on a much deeper level too. The children are now engaged with the ecosystem, understand the importance of bugs and worms, and have quite literally enjoyed the fruits of their labour. This is just the beginning: there are plans for a forest school and more green areas in the months to come.

OUTREACH & PARTNERSHIPS

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OUTREACH & PARTNERSHIPS

At the heart of the community Thanks to the hundreds of our students who have given up their time to be of service to their local community.

It is always such a pleasure to look back at the volunteering our students have done. Each year we see them push themselves out of their comfort zone, learn new skills, meet new people and gain new perspectives on life. Despite some restrictions, we were still able to find Community Service opportunities for many of our Lower Sixth, not to mention those who organised their own placements outside school, such as Ed Phillips and Erin Verwoerd who both volunteered at Princess Alice Hospice Trust. Year in, year out, our students prove themselves to be committed volunteers and positive role models. By mentoring their peers in other schools such as The Kingston Academy and St Joseph’s, they provide valuable one-to-one support in maths and literacy. By volunteering at local charities including Elmbridge Community Link and Richmond Mencap, they help to offer crucial support to disabled members of our community. By cooking at St Stephen’s Twickenham, they provide what is, tragically, an essential service in the wake of the pandemic and as the country now faces a cost-of-living crisis. By becoming involved in people-powered research on Zooniverse, our students help to drive scientific research. Volunteering builds our students’ self-esteem and confidence and they learn to treat others with compassion and kindness, even when facing challenging situations. Working with or for marginalised groups helps students to build strong morals and principals, and any preconceived ideas about disabled people, those experiencing homelessness or those from different socio-economic backgrounds are challenged. Their understanding of the ethics of society are widened and they learn to build values based upon their own experiences rather than hearsay. This will be my final year looking after Community Service so I want to sign off with a huge thanks to the many colleagues who have supported me or been involved in looking after volunteering projects here at KGS: without their involvement it would have been an impossible task. Above all, sincere thanks to the hundreds of our students who have given up their time to be of service to their local community: they have made a huge difference to the lives of so many people. Mrs K Pinnock, Head of Community Service

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OUTREACH & PARTNERSHIPS

LITERACY & NUMERACY @ JOSEPH’S Being involved in this project has been a valuable experience and has particularly helped me feel settled at KGS as a new Sixth Form student. I’ve met some great people through it and it’s really rewarding interacting with the primary school children as they learn fundamental skills. Jolie Hodgson

ELMBRIDGE COMMUNITY LINK The Elmbridge Community Link is an incredible charity that supports and enriches the lives of young people with learning disabilities. I volunteer at the ‘allsports’ evening where we play a wide variety of games, the members’ favourites being badminton, basketball and curling. Halfway through the evening, we all come together and the members tell us about their week. I love this part as it helps us to form good relationships with the members and shows the positive impact that the charity has on their lives.

DISCOVERING THE ZOONIVERSE Zooniverse is an online platform where volunteers can help researchers with science projects. People-powered research projects involve people like us doing much of the legwork required before scientists can analyse the data they have gathered for their cuttingedge research: this could be labelling, counting, identifying or transcribing. From the structure of mitochondria and black holes to the judicial system in 19th century Australia, you can also choose a topic that you find both important and fulfilling. Such support from volunteers really does make a meaningful impact on scientific research and decision-making. Ben Stancliffe

MATHS MENTORING WITH THE KINGSTON ACADEMY

Amelie Scott

COOKING @ ST STEPHEN’S A group of us had the opportunity to go to St Stephen’s Church in Twickenham to cook meals for their Thursday drop-in sessions. These events are held to provide warm meals as well as practical and pastoral support for vulnerable adults from the local community. We made meals such as tikka masala, spaghetti bolognese, black bean chilli and shepherd’s pie. Since we had to cook for around 50 people, the gigantic saucepans required all our attention to ensure we didn’t burn the food. We spent a lot of time chopping, stirring and then more chopping, as preparing 25 chicken breasts and an immeasurable number of garlic cloves is not a one-man job! The experience has been very enjoyable and has taught us a lot about kitchen skills and cooking for large numbers of people. The opportunity has been a great way to expand our culinary knowledge as well as a fun way to get into volunteering. Ed Orrell

Over Microsoft Teams, a group of Lower Sixth students has been tutoring some Fifth Years at The Kingston Academy. As someone who has a deep love for maths, it’s satisfying to be able to share that enthusiasm. It’s been interesting to learn, though, that helping someone with maths is not just about being able to do the maths — it is also about being able to clearly communicate. This experience has taught me so much about being a leader and being able to guide someone through a problem without doing all the thinking for them. I have found it extremely rewarding to be able to use my strengths to help others and am so grateful to have been given this opportunity. Chloris Wong

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LIFE BEYOND KGS

Life beyond KGS: The KGS Podcast Series 2

Millie Giglio, Jack Waller and Zach Wallace have all been hugely successful in their sporting careers following their time at KGS. Millie is part of the Great Britain Elite Development Hockey Programme and both Jack and Zach have played hockey for Great Britain and England, most recently representing Team GB in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Ms A Williams, Director of Marketing & Admissions

After a successful first series of the KGS Podcast, we were delighted to launch series two in July, featuring more of our brilliant alumni – Jon Alexander, Jo Blackshaw, Millie Giglio, Jack Waller and Zach Wallace. As ever, it has been fascinating to hear about their time at KGS and subsequent successes. Jon Alexander is the author of CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us and the co-founder of the New Citizenship Project. He aims to shift the dominant story of the individual in society from ‘consumer’ to ‘citizen’ and has partnered with the BBC, National Trust and the Food Ethics Council to bring about global change. We hope to be able to invite Jon back to KGS to assist us with The Kindness Council, a group set up to develop the School’s culture in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Jo Blackshaw rowed competitively during her time at KGS and then for Great Britain in a pair in the Junior World Championships in 1991. She also rowed in the Oxford Blue Boat in the Women’s Boat Race in 1992. More recently, she was part of an all-female team of four who took part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2021/22. Rowing 3,000 miles in a race across the Atlantic from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to English Harbour in Antigua, they each rowed two hours on, two hours off for just over 40 days in one of the world’s greatest physical and mental challenges. They finished second in the Female category and came 13th out of 36 competing teams.

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Zach was recently selected as part of Team GB for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. We hope to meet many more of our eminent alumni and look forward to sharing their stories with you in future episodes.

LIFE BEYOND KGS

The second series is available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts & Soundcloud or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Visit www.kgs.org.uk/podcast for links and further information.

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LIFE BEYOND KGS

Life beyond KGS: Alumni stories Freya King (OK 2019) begins an Army Scholarship to Sandhurst later this year after finishing her Biomedical Sciences degree at Nottingham.

Tell us about the Officer Training Corps (OTC) during your time at university. What opportunities have you accessed? There were lots of opportunities at OTC, even during lockdown. I was based at East Midlands Officer Training from where students from Nottingham, Nottingham Trent, Derby, Lincoln, De Montfort and Loughborough universities are recruited. We have regular training weekends where we conduct military-based exercises. In my first year I had summer camp at Longmoor, at Chilwell near Nottingham and weekends away across the UK. In addition, the adventure training is great: I have done a kayaking foundation course, winter mountaineering in Scotland using ice axes and avalanche safety, I organised a summer mountaineering trip to the Pennines and have been skiing in France: everything is paid for. This summer we had three days on the range in Kent working on weapons systems followed by four days on a field training exercise in urban operations.

Freya, how did your interest in the Army develop during your time at KGS?

What skills would you say you have developed during your time with the OTC? You get pushed out of your comfort zone but in a controlled way: you feel supported, particularly as you start leading 30+ people. There have been opportunities to take on command appointments and this year I have been a platoon commander with 55 new recruits. I help to look after their welfare, have learned time-management and how to lead someone who might be older than you. Command appointments really help you see things from an adult perspective.

Congratulations on achieving an enhanced bursary for the Army. I understand you start your officer training at Sandhurst in May. Tell us a bit about what that involves and your expectations. I’ve got just under a year to ensure my fitness is as good as possible. There’s a really physical side to being in the Army: running around with a lot of weight on your back and holding a rifle is quite physically demanding! I’m excited and slightly nervous and am not looking forward to sleep deprivation which will be the ultimate challenge. Some people will be coming from jobs rather than university so the mix of people will be interesting, and the average age is 25. You spend about 44 weeks at Sandhurst divided into three terms, with various long exercises in the UK and Germany. My calling is towards the more technical regiments and I’m looking at the Royal Engineers and Royal Signals as well as the Royal Logistics Corps after Sandhurst. Watch this space!

I joined CCF in Third Year and loved it from thereon. I was in the RAF section but got involved in all the Army competitions too. I loved teaching the younger years as I rose through the ranks and CCF really cemented my interest in the Armed Forces. We took part in lots of competitions, tested our military skills at RAF bases and went on trips which were always fun. I began to lead some activities and that made me more interested in becoming an officer. With encouragement from Mr Beggs and Mr Gardner, I got onto a cadet leadership course. Colonel Peacock, the Army Careers Adviser, then visited KGS and I learnt about the Army Scholarship Scheme.

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LIFE BEYOND KGS

Eddie Hunt (OK 2021) won a Swimming Scholarship to Fairfield College, Connecticut in 2021.

One of the cultural surprises is that in America you have to share a room. I was in a triple: you think ‘well, this has to work as I’m going to be living with you for the year.’ Luckily, we are now close friends. I find the academic support really good. My school is on the smaller side, so you get to know students and academics.

With hindsight, how, if at all, do you think you could have better prepared yourself for moving to the States to study? The most important thing is that you communicate with your coach. Also, you tend to arrive for international orientation but I think you need time before term starts to acclimatise to the time zone and culture and get your bearings a bit.

Finally, what encouragement and tips would you give to anyone considering applying for a Sport Scholarship to study in the States?

Eddie, how has your first year at Fairfield been? It’s been great. It was a big change but I embraced it with an open mind. I love the way the education is structured over there: you have your major and you take other classes around that. The swimming has gone really well and I’ve met some lovely people. There’s one other Swimming Scholar from the UK on our team, and four or five internationals. We all understand each other as we have moved to the US and don’t see our family very often.

What, if anything, have you struggled with in the transition from the British to the US education system? There haven’t been any real struggles with the education system as it starts off at a lower level than A Level. That’s actually really helpful as it helps with settling in and international students find that they are often at an academic advantage at this point.

What have been some of the swimming high points so far? I think it has been the overall journey. I have learnt a lot about myself. You are swimming for a team not for yourself which really motivates me. The coach was really good at integrating us into the system. It sets up a sense of friendly competition because we are all aiming for the same goal. One of the high points was back in February at our championship meet where I won my 400 individual medley and was part of a relay team that won. I felt I delivered what I promised: you do feel you need to live up to the scholarships and I think I have – it’s just that next year I’ll have to do it all over again! The training facilities are fantastic because there is so much money in the American system. Even a small university has fantastic facilities. Being part of a team really helps your performance. I never felt I was falling behind academically because of my swimming commitments, which is important when you travel a lot. The sports teams pride themselves on having high GPAs as they know that first and foremost you are there to get a degree. As far as my scholarship is concerned, the visa only allows me to have a job on campus so next year I am going to work as a lifeguard, one of the jobs that are primarily given to the international students.

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Don’t be afraid to ask questions: I found they like it if you ask detail. You need to be comfortable with where you are going as you are spending four years there. I would start talking to universities in Lower Sixth, not leave it until Upper Sixth like I did. It’s important to have a line of communication and it’s much more personalised than applying in the UK. If you do decide to go, you’ll have a wonderful time. KGS set me up academically and socially for this next step in my life and I’ll be forever grateful.

Freya and Eddie spoke to Mr A Fitzgerald, Director of Careers & Universities

WELLBEING

Wellbeing

Mrs S Humphrey, Deputy Head & Mrs M Robinson, Head of PSHE

Student wellbeing has always been central to all we do at KGS. Much is written of the need for effective and clear pastoral care in schools and in the post-pandemic landscape this has become increasingly evident. We wanted to take this opportunity to showcase the amazing work done by staff, students, parents and outside practitioners. In many ways, the pastoral education delivered to students has changed beyond all recognition over the past few years. Gone are the days where anything outside the academic curriculum was an ‘add-on’. Now, quite rightly, it sits at the heart of school life and works hand in hand to support students’ academic development. Pastoral provision needs to be both on the front foot and reactive; it needs to educate and train everyone in the issues of the day whilst also supporting those students and families who need extra help. This is what we are so proud of at KGS. The major success story from 2021/22 has been the close collaboration between students and staff, and the great strides in our work on three key areas of school life – racial equality, gender equality and LGBTQ+ equality. The cornerstone of this work has been our campaign weeks. We are rightly proud of the work done by students and staff to highlight these key areas.

Initiatives have included student-led assemblies, student surveys, displays around the school site and external subject specialists invited to speak. We were delighted to welcome three ex-professional footballers from Show Racism the Red Card to speak to Second Year students about eradicating all forms of racism in society. When we ran our Pride Week, OK Henry Hudson came back in school to talk about his experiences both at school and in the wider world. We also ran a highly successful, and largely student led, ‘Stand Up: Speak Out’ week highlighting sexual equality in school. This saw assemblies for all students plus a dedicated staff training session on identifying and tackling the issue. Later in the year, the Schools Consent Project spoke to our Sixth Formers about the wider issues surrounding consent at university and beyond. We are extremely proud of these sessions: they show the importance of such initiatives being a collaborative effort rather than imposed on students. Our thanks go to all those who worked hard to help deliver these important pieces of work. This year also saw the inaugural PSHE Forums run by Mrs Robinson. It has been fantastic to share our vision and work directly with students to ensure we deliver a meaningful and appropriate programme while adhering to the government’s statutory guidance. Our plan is to widen the remit of this group over the coming year to look at more areas of school life.

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In December 2021 we had our timetabled ISI Inspection which focussed on Relationships and Sex Education. This gave us the chance to showcase the work we do but also reminded us of the increased focus on this area from outside school. We are delighted that such matters are increasingly being raised in the media and discussed with the gravity they deserve. This year also saw the welcome return of trips and visits. In June, we took our First and Second Years to Aberdovey in Wales and Loch Eil in North West Scotland respectively. They went tech free and supported each other through all the activities, forging strong links with their instructor and dedicated member of KGS staff as well as their randomly selected group of fellow students. At school, students are encouraged to take appropriate risks and find new ways of dealing with stress so it is great that this can be put into practice in such fantastic settings. In an alien physical environment and not always surrounded by their close friends, it was lovely to see students able to test their skills and attributes. We saw them grow in confidence and ability and increase their levels of resilience and positivity. As we emerge from the pandemic, this will be the key measure of how we support our students outside the classroom. Through an extensive co-curricular programme and high-quality pastoral education, we need to ensure all our young people have the right skills to make the most of their remaining years at KGS and the years once they leave us.

WELLBEING

Just some of the activities that took place as part of our wellbeing and PSHE provision, including gardening, an age-appropriate sex education workshop, yoga, Lego and an anti-racism workshop with Show Racism the Red Card

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Art

With the worst of the pandemic behind us, everybody was very excited to be back in the fabulous KGS art studios, flooded with light and equipped with all the materials the students could wish for.

The process of making successful art benefits immeasurably from working collaboratively and the very fact that we were all together again, discussing ideas and encouraging one another, only served to make us realise how much we had missed this experience when we were forced to struggle on alone under lockdown. Some of the first artworks to be presented to us were the new First Year entries for the Junior Summer Art Competition. The theme for this is simply ‘My Summer’ and entrants can submit work in any medium they choose. We received drawings, paintings, collages and photography, with the array of creativity making judging very difficult. The winning piece was a superb watercolour and collage landscape picture by Isabella Marson, with runners-up prizes going to Woody Griffith and Alex Comard. Not to be left out, the staff at KGS get to enter their own art competition each year. The Staff Common Room Photography Competition receives scores of fantastic entries with the prize being the privilege of having your photograph printed, framed and hung in the staff room. There are 18 winners each year, so too many to mention here, and the standard is always very high, with the images making a significant contribution to the ambience of the room. Thank you to everyone who entered.

In March, our Art Scholars paid a visit to the wonderful Surrey Sculpture Showcase event at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington. As part of the visit, artist and sculptor Kate Viner presented her work to the students and spoke about her creative process as well as the public art projects she’s undertaken throughout her career. Our scholars also had some time to view the excellent 2D and 3D work on offer, to which they dedicated some time to drawing from observation. These drawings were then put to a judging panel, who had the very difficult task of choosing three outstanding pieces. The selected students received some art-filled goody bags, but all the scholars were gifted a surprise item. The House Art Competition is a fantastic way for older students to engage with junior artists and impart their knowledge, experience and to encourage the next generation. The theme this year was ‘Honey Bees’. Honey bees are vital for the survival of humanity but are a species in crisis. The Houses were challenged to produce a piece of 2D collaborative art based on this fascinating insect. In order to maintain year group bubbles, the format of the event was different this year but proved very successful. The Sixth Form artists were given a fortnight to devise an idea for a piece of art that was to be created during a handful of lunchtime sessions. Each session was attended by 10 artists and was overseen by the senior art directors, with each year group building upon the good work achieved by those who had worked during the previous lunchtime.

The judging criteria considered the level of creativity shown in interpreting the theme, degree of group participation and level of artistic ability displayed in the final outcome. Congratulations to Stanley who produced the winning piece. Walworth came second with the other three houses coming joint third. It was delightful to witness the fantastic collaborative effort made by all the students. In December there were two Christmas card competitions. The first was to design the Head Master’s official KGS greetings for the year. There were five winning designs that included festive images of the school itself as well as a KGS robin, a stag and a re-imagining of the Lovekyn Chapel windows. These wonderful cards were created by Sophie Fuller, Poppy Emerson, Imogen Marinko, Anna Helbing and Amy Marshall, all members of our terrifically talented Art Scholar body. The second competition was organised by the PSA and judged by KGS parent and renowned graphic artist Prentis Rollins. The winning designs by Valerie Wan, Sophia Raza, Chaohan Fang, Yulia Novak, Zac Adigun and Amelia Marinko were sold for charity at the highly successful PSA Christmas Market. A new initiative designed to encourage our developing artists is ‘The Wall of Fame’. This rolling exhibition of artwork made by students of all year groups can be found in the Finlay Gallery. Pieces generally don’t stay on display for more than a few weeks so students are encouraged to check back regularly to see if they have been selected. Mr J Dyson, Head of Art

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Credits: (Top row from left) Thomas Bristow, Fifth Year; Hal Purton, Sixth Form (Centre row from left) Eleanor Jones, Fifth Year; Kerry Wang, Fifth Year; Amy Marshall, Fifth Year (Bottom row from left) Joe Dudgeon, Sixth Form; Kitty Hutchings, Fifth Year

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Credits: (Top row from left) Jasmine Levell, Sixth Form; Jemima Fussell, Sixth Form; Jess Hogan, Sixth Form; Mikhail Chohan, Fifth Year (Centre row from left) Marta Console Camprini, Sixth Form; Mae Gray Fahy, Fifth Year; Harry Wilkinson, Sixth Form; Orla Parker, Fifth Year; Max Carnegie-Brown, Fifth Year; Rowan Bantick, Fifth Year (Bottom row from left) Greta Dudgeon, Fifth Year; Imogen Marinko, Sixth Form; Gracie Paterson-Neil, Fifth Year; Elle Chang, Sixth Form

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Credits: (Top row from left) Anna Helbing, Fifth Year; Evie Dunwoodie, Fifth Year; Nina Chamarette, Fifth Year; Poppy Connolly, Fifth Year (Centre row from left) Poppy Emerson, Fifth Year; Leela Siebert-Patel, Fifth Year; Alicia Bramwelll, Fifth Year; Anna Bowyer, Fifth Year; Athena Estrada, Fifth Year; Caitlin Oxborrow, Sixth Form (Bottom row from left) Eve Abbott, Sixth Form; Ella Watkins, Fifth Year; Francesca Pavry, Fifth Year; Ella Verdult, Fifth Year

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Credits: (Top row from left) Ingrid Verwoerd, Fifth Year; Jasmine Procter-Tarabanov, Fifth Year; Ash Spragg, Fifth Year; Natalie Kavanaugh, Fifth Year (Centre row from left) Conor Carnegie-Brown, Fifth Year; Miles Parsons, Fifth Year; Jasmine Moher, Fifth Year; Emily Shephard, Fifth Year; Johnny Barr, Fifth Year; Casper Cook, Sixth Form (Bottom row from left) Ella Jacobs, Fifth Year; Ashley Walker, Fifth Year; Matthew Jonkergouw, Fifth Year; Lea Essery, Fifth Year

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Credits: (Top row from left) Matthew Jonkergouw, Fifth Year (images 1 –3); Alice Johnston, Sixth Form (images 4 & 5) (Centre row from left) Silvia Greco, Sixth Form (images 1 & 2); Ava Tallon, Fifth Year; Harry Wilkinson, Sixth Form; Jasmine Moher, Fifth Year (Bottom row from left) Kiki Zhang, Sixth Form (images 1 & 2); Marta Console Camprini, Sixth Form; Eleanor Jones, Fifth Year

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Biology

Leon Feltham achieved KGS’s firstever Gold Award, a truly outstanding achievement given that he is a Lower Sixth student and much of the Olympiad covered Upper Sixth content. Our annual A Level Field Trip to Leeson House in Dorset was blessed with excellent weather that allowed the students ideal conditions to study sand dune succession, freshwater invertebrate ecology and rocky shore marine zonation. These investigations set them up well to plan and carry out their own ecological investigations that go towards the award of the CPAC practical endorsement, part of their Biology A Level.

With the return of public exams, the expectation for A Level and GCSE grades has been high, giving our strong cohorts the opportunity to prove themselves against the rest of the country. The departure of Miss Cuthbertson led to the arrival of another new Biology teacher, Miss Finnegan, all the way from Cornwall. We were able to resume our Brain Day, in collaboration with Psychology, with visiting lecturer Dr Guy Sutton delivering yet another engaging day of lectures to the Sixth Form biologists that included a sheep brain dissection. A Level students took part in the UKBC Biology Olympiad in March with some outstanding achievements. Kyle Park, Louis Pisarro-Jensen, Lara Pilcher and Rohan Korpal all achieved Highly Commended awards, Ed Phillips achieved a Silver Award and

Opportunities for themed science experiments were also taken and students enjoyed learning the science behind fireworks around Bonfire Night, carrying out flame tests using Bunsen burners, as well as making their own slime at Halloween. The run-up to Christmas prompted the production of Christmas trees made from salt crystals and testing which solvents dissolved candy canes the fastest. Springtime saw our young scientists using the carbon in match heads to extract iron, measuring the speed of sound in air, learning the science behind lava lamps, and extracting DNA from strawberries. They also built their own models of DNA using gummy bears. Students had a go at writing secret ‘fire’ messages to each other using potassium nitrate to varying degrees of success, as well as observing the foaming ‘elephant’s toothpaste’ experiment. Other sessions included a game of ‘maggot football’, dissecting locusts and using fruit and vegetables to make pH indicators. Thank you to Ms Thomas, Miss Finnegan and Mrs Mayor for putting together such an exciting programme of activities. Mr M Rodgers, Head of Biology and Ms F Thomas, Biology

First Year Science Club ran weekly from September. The Autumn term involved making streamlined plasticine animals and seeing which were the fastest, testing how acid and alkali everyday substances are, examining weird and wonderful biological specimens and looking at cells under microscopes.

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Chemistry

Chemistry is a core subject: every KGS student studies it to GCSE with around a third of Lower Sixth students choosing to study the A Level. Entrusted with this time, one of the most important things the Chemistry Department can do is open students’ eyes to the way chemistry has shaped the development of human civilisation. The discovery in the Middle East (around 3000 BC) that included fragments of green rock exposing shiny orange copper in the ashes of a fire brought man out of the Stone Age. Our ability to make useful things from otherwise useless things has continued to advance our civilisation ever since. Metals rightly form a significant part of the curriculum and students recreate early smelting of copper to develop an understanding of methods for extracting other metals based on their reactivity. They also learn how to protect metals from corrosion and how the properties of different metals are harnessed for their applications. Upper Sixth students study the properties and reactions of the transition metals as their final topic. Global warming is perhaps the most pressing issue of our age and the scientific consensus that this warming is anthropogenic is prompting major shifts in policy and governments’ spending.

In the Third Year, students study the composition of the atmosphere, including the effects of increased carbon dioxide, whilst A Level students are able to understand the phenomenon in more depth. As the world continues to discuss reducing emissions from burning fossil fuels, it is worth remembering just how valuable crude oil is to our society.

In the Fourth Year, students spend several weeks studying the extraction of crude oil as part of their IGCSE course, building on what they learnt about separating techniques in the First and Second Years. They learn what happens in combustion reactions and the dangers of incomplete combustion (forming colourless, odourless and highly toxic carbon monoxide gas). Later, they calculate the energy given out by fuels as part of the Energetics topic and then begin to explore Organic Chemistry (the chemistry of carbon), which is wholly based on materials that can be obtained from oil.

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Indeed, a case can be made that oil is far too precious a resource to continue to waste by burning it! Consider aspirin and paracetamol as everyday pain killers: both are made from benzene, which is obtained by the fractional distillation of crude oil. Aspirin is made in a multi-step process, with benzene converted to cumene, then phenol, then 2-hydroxybenzoic acid, and finally to aspirin. Upper Sixth students have the opportunity to carry out the final step in this process as part of their A Level studies, learning first-hand that the amount of product produced in a reaction is not always as large as might be hoped. The production of sulphuric acid (from sulphur, air and water) is another important industrial process, with the acid finding use in a huge range of processes, including the production of medicines, paints and fertilisers. Students meet acids from Second Year, with A Level chemists introduced to a more mathematical treatment in the Upper Sixth, enabling them to understand a much wider range of phenomena. These are just a few examples of how the chemistry that KGS students learn enables them to understand the world around them and the way it enables humans to manipulate and adapt the resources of the planet. In developing an appreciation of the impact this has on the environment, they are equipped to participate thoughtfully in the debates of their generation. Dr L Winning, Head of Chemistry

ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Classics

It has been a wonderful year for Classics at KGS. It must have felt quite overwhelming for students to go from remote learning to a fully-fledged school year with the co-curricular demands that come with it but I have been as impressed as ever with how the year groups have managed their time so effectively. We were pleased to welcome Victoria Paterson to the Department and thank her for guiding an eager Sixth Form club towards impressive achievements in the UK Linguistics Olympiad. We have also been very fortunate to retain assistance from Brenda McDonald, whose expertise has been a wonderful help to our students of Greek.

This summer we say valete to some fantastic classicists. It has been an absolute pleasure to teach Freddie Pflanz: his insight and dry wit have made Classical Greek lessons feel more like tutorials which I hope stands him in good stead for his study of PPE at Oxford. Surely Herodotus’ portrayal of Xerxes’ and Artabanus’ philosophical discourse had an influence on his decision. The Latin class of Douggie Bradley, Sophie Farrell and Matt Mace has also been tremendous fun for the staff.

As well as bringing new meaning to the ‘timeless’ nature of Taylor’s oeuvre, it is further proof of the continued interest in and interpretations of classical languages and literature.

Their enthusiasm for analysing the style of Cicero and Virgil has ensured that time spent with them has been a joy, and Cicero has given them several phrases to avoid when making new friends at York, Oxford and Manchester next year! We also wish Tomas Caldon and Gwen Richford well at Warwick and Roehampton respectively and thank them for buying into their Ancient History and Civilisation course with

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such gusto. Congratulations, too, to the Latin and Greek students who (at the time of writing) have just completed their GCSE exams. They have coped with the demands superbly. Mr Grant, knowing how big a Taylor Swift fan I am, recently sent me a video of Love Story with Latin and Greek subtitles. As well as bringing new meaning to the ‘timeless’ nature of Taylor’s oeuvre, it is further proof of the continued interest in and interpretations of classical languages and literature. At KGS we need look no further than First Year students enthusiastically linking new vocabulary to languages spoken at home, and perceptive Second Year project videos based on the destruction of Pompeii or Greek myths. Indeed, the students’ innovative approach to these myths, using modern approaches to tell the ancient stories, lays bare the enduring essence of the characters, their relationships and their challenges. I am delighted that all students at KGS have had the opportunity to explore this link between the ancient and modern but even more pleasing, with over half the Second Year opting for Latin, is the number of them who want to read these stories in the original languages. On a personal note, I am leaving KGS after five years of learning from such generously supportive colleagues in Emma Pytel, Brenda McDonald, Laura Snook and Victoria Paterson. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the fabulous students here and wish them all a happy future. Mr M Cooney, Head of Classics

ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Design & Technology

Harrison Tincknell was awarded gold for his reusable bird feeder packaging which encourages customers to take photographs of birds in their garden. The judges commented on the excellent development of this concept. He also received special recognition from the sponsors and won £500 for KGS. We look forward to deciding, with Harrison, how this will be spent.

TEEN TECH AWARDS 2022 Congratulations and well done to Alexandria Coen and Grace Gui for achieving a Gold award and invitation to the finals of the Teen Tech Awards for their adaptable trainer, ‘Footwise’, for people with foot disabilities.

SUSTAINABLE SNACKING Back in September 2021, the Fourth Year Paper and Board students started working on their StarPack design brief: design an engaging snack pack that highlights the sustainability of carton board and encourages recycling or reuse. 12 students’ fantastic design work were put forward for judging: Harrison Tincknell, Jaime SanchezRuiz, Anushka Bate, Ollie Stone, Isabel Harris, James Comely, Plum Knowles, Georgie Hauck, Eliza Morton, Holly Seabrook, Emily Barker and Tarun Desai. The judging took place in early June 2022 and their work was scrutinised by industry professionals from Graphic Packaging International, the sponsor.

Jaime Sanchez-Ruiz, Anushka Bate and Emily Barker won bronze, with the judges loving the idea of Jaime’s duel flavours, Anushka’s consideration of sustainability and the way that Emily’s packaging opened to reveal the games inside. Ollie Stone, Georgie Hauck, Plum Knowles, James Comely, Eliza Morton, Isabel Harris and Holly Seabrook were also recognised for their work with a High Commended certificate. Congratulations to all who took part.

The STEM-based competition allows students to show their creative talents across a range of different categories including: science, technology, engineering, maths, environment and textiles. Alexandria and Grace will attend the finals at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in London next year as this year’s ceremony clashed with a school trip to Scotland. They now have time to develop the project and improve their chances at the finals. Well done to them both.

Mrs R Hetherington, DT

Mr D Farr, Head of DT

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Drama

HOUSE DRAMA House Drama is an entirely studentled event with Sixth Formers writing the script and directing. Guest judges Jamie Bisping, a KGS alumnus (Look Alive, Othello) and Olivier award-winning actress Anne-Marie Duff (Shameless, The Salisbury Poisonings, Sex Education) were incredibly impressed by the standard of the acting and were so encouraging to our students. Anne-Marie discussed the importance of collaboration and creativity, and it was perhaps fitting that her favourite award of the evening was Best Ensemble as she said this is what theatre is all about. She thought there was some incredible talent on display and commended the bravery of the performers exploring deep, complex emotions. The evening, which had the theme of ‘resurrection’, was effortlessly hosted by Teva Hogarth and Toby Anderson whose rapport was infectious. Prizes were awarded across multiple categories: Best Original Script was shared between Stanley and Queen’s. Stanley’s performance, ‘Memories’ was written by Amelia Barnes and traced the memories of a lady with Alzheimer’s disease. Queen’s ‘Memory of You’, written by Zain Ahmad, Silvia Greco and Sasha Lacey, charted one young person’s descent into isolation and depression and the regret friends and family had that they had not noticed and done more to support the lead character, Neive.

For her astonishing performance as Neive, Grace Dormer was awarded the Best Actress award whilst Jasper Simmons won Best Actor for his role as ‘teacher’ in Walworth’s ‘No Bad Ideas’ where a youth theatre group explored potential ideas for a show along the theme of ‘resurrection’! Best Supporting Actress was won by Alicia Bramwell from Taverner and the award for Best Supporting Actor went to Jaeden Ford, the judges commenting on how impressed they were with the versatility of these students in being able to play characters of different age ranges. The much-coveted Best Director award was given to Isabella WalshWhitfield and Day Ko from Lovekyn for their direction of ‘The Dreamers’, a love story. As this is a house competition, there had to be an overall winner. The judges unanimously agreed that Queen’s sophisticated handling of a teenager suffering from mental health issues was intricately sculptured and superbly performed. Congratulations to them and, indeed, to all the houses involved. House Drama is officially ‘resurrected’!

HOUSE DANCE Hosts Beatrix Page and Florence Chevallier opened the show with an energetic dance leaving them somewhat breathless to welcome the audience. They were superb hosts with their relaxed, tongue-in-cheek style. Each of the five houses performed a solo, duet, musical theatre and original choreography dance.

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There were many outstanding performances, notably Hannah Farrell and Emily Shepherd’s innovative Michael Jackson medley, Eva Rouse and Grace Stylianou’s beautiful duet to Counting Stars, Taverner’s Mad Hatter original routine featuring excellent Fourth Year dancers and Lovekyn’s Into the Unknown from Frozen performed by the enchanting First Years. Our judges, Laura Caldow – who has performed all over the world – and Jason Piper, whose latest credit is choreographing Kylie Minogues’s Fever tour, had a difficult task on their hands but the final winners were: Best Solo: Bhavithra Gananathan (Queen’s) Best Duet: Hannah Farrell & Emily Shepherd (Stanley) Best Musical Theatre: Be Our Guest (Stanley First Years) Best Original Choreography: Abba Mash-Up (Walworth Sixth Form) Huge congratulations to Stanley as the overall winner. Many thanks to Mr Crohill and Mrs Starmer for putting it all together but, most importantly, thank you to all the students who made this such a memorable evening. Mr R Gee, Director of Drama

ACADEMIC MATTERS

Queen’s sophisticated handling of a teenager suffering from mental health issues was intricately sculptured and superbly performed.

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Junior School Production: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

We asked three students for their perspective on being involved in this year’s Junior School Production, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Ava Kasolowsky, Performer Working on the play this year has been an amazing experience. It was my first professional school production and has been such fun. It has given me an insight into the world of theatre, teaching me so many different skills: how to cope under stress, how to overcome fears and challenges and how incredible it feels once you know you have beaten your fears. It has been so rewarding – walking out onto stage for the first time, helping friends learn lines and heading onto stage for the final bows. I, and all my fellow castmates, are so grateful to have been a part of this fantastic play.

Joe Finn, Deputy Stage Manager

KINGSTON REVUE

“Lx 0.6, Go! Sound 0.6, Go!” Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was my first show as the DSM, which means I was responsible for calling light and sound cues. It was a really exciting experience, very different to my previous shows where I was stage crew or management backstage. In addition to being my first time based in the tech box, it was also my first show where I attended rehearsals with the director, Miss Christmas, from the start. As a result, I got to enjoy the process of developing something from bare bones to fully-fledged production. Now it’s all over until next year, I have the same thoughts that I always do after a show. I just wish I could do another week of it. “Lx 30, Go!”

As usual, we were inundated with talented individuals, and the Revue once again showcased the best of what KGS has to offer. Third Years Jasper Simmons and Lauren Proddow introduced singers, dancers, actors, magicians, even a comedian and circus performers. First Years Zoe GoldwynPagett and Anya Taylor treated us to a series of circus-style routines, Hannah Farrell, in the Fifth Year, polished off her pointe shoes for an absolute wonder of a ballet dance, and Eden Taylor in the Second Year beautifully sang All I Want by Olivia Rodrigo. We had monologues from Sixth Form Drama students Diya Wadhwani and Jake Francis, and First Year Xander Crane wowed us with magic tricks. We even had some surprise appearances from a couple of teachers! As much as all the students missed performing on stage in front of a live audience, all were glad that this year’s Revue being online at least meant that as many people as possible could watch and could do so safely. We are looking forward to welcoming back some of our regular performers for next year’s revue, as well as inviting even more to take part.

Amelie Scott, Assistant Director I loved working as Assistant Director for the Junior Play. From the initial auditions, right through to the show, I have enjoyed coming up with new ideas and helping the cast members build confidence in their acting abilities. My favourite moment was watching everyone give an amazing performance and seeing all the hard work that had gone into the play pay off! The set design by Mrs Starmer and costumes by Mrs Borrows were incredible and helped the cast to create the wonderful world of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory!

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

KINGSTONIAN 2021/22

ACADEMIC MATTERS

Middle School Production: Midsummer Night’s Dream

Attempting Shakespeare for the Middle School Play is a daunting undertaking. Will the students understand the language, rhythm and imagery contained in the prose sufficiently to entertain an audience?

“THOUGH THE CAST BE LITTLE, THEY BE FIERCE!” Superb performances by Plum Knowles as Bottom and Bhavithra Gananathan as Titania stood out as some of the best seen on stage in the Michael Frayn Theatre. Indeed, the Mechanicals, with their modernised references, were genuinely funny as they struggled to perform Pyramus and Thisbe appropriately for the court. The four Pucks helped change location, narrating with their deviousness. Jasper Simmons, Orson Griffith, Hannah Topen and Josephine Hill all seemed to portray a different side to Puck’s character and as a device worked excellently in establishing a unique style to the performance. Everyone in the cast performed wonderfully with incredible focus and skill.

And will the fantasy of the setting of A Midsummer Night’s Dream be communicated alongside the comedy of the Mechanicals’ metatheatre? Well, the answer is a resounding yes. A wonderful night’s entertainment was had by all. The hard work and skill by Director Mr Gee, beautiful costumes by Mrs Borrows and a talented technical crew led by Mrs Starmer and Mr Vavrecka...and that’s before we mention the wonderful cast.

“THE COURSE OF TRUE THEATRE NEVER DID RUN SMOOTH.” It was a truly outstanding production and was made to feel all the more enjoyable as it suddenly became apparent how much audiences and students alike have missed theatre in the last 18 months. How appropriate to be transported to a mystical modern magical forest far from the stresses of reality. Theatre at KGS is back, bigger, brighter and bolder than ever. Mr S Crohill, Assistant Director of Drama

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

KINGSTONIAN 2021/22

ACADEMIC MATTERS

Senior School Production: Made in Dagenham

Mr R Gee (Director):

Mr S Crohill (Director):

KGS has not staged a musical for twelve years and the Drama Department were keen to turn the tide. After contemplating My Fair Lady, we settled on Made in Dagenham for its array of characters and powerful message. And so the process began…In September we were impressed by the auditions and after much deliberation we had a cast. Then we had a production meeting and the scale of the task started to dawn: a 170-page script, a cast of 35, 14 songs, 8 dances, 7 solos, 110 costumes and a set that needed to show multiple locations. It was fine; we had 5 months! Directing a musical is like piecing together an enormous jigsaw. For weeks, three rehearsal rooms were being used: one for singing, one for choreography and one for acting. There were times I worried it was never to going to come together. However, through the sheer determination, energy and dedication of the superlative cast and my wonderful colleagues we reached the opening night. I hadn’t expected to be playing Harold Wilson for the first two performances, but the show must go on and I was secretly thrilled to be back under the lights! My lasting memories of this show will be the extraordinary devotion and talent of the entire cast, band and crew. Everyone was striving for the best possible show, under difficult Covid circumstances, and the exhilaration and sheer joy was infectious. I have never felt prouder in my whole teaching career when the cast received a standing ovation on the final night.

Wow! I still can’t quite believe what we achieved. In 1968 the Western world was waking up to sexual and racial equality and it felt that was being echoed in pandemic hit 2022. Made in Dagenham felt an apt production to stage. My hope was that we would create a show that would put KGS drama and music on the map and despite Covid’s best attempts to scupper us, we managed to push on through with immense amounts of professionalism, dedication and plain old hard work from all involved. The technical rehearsal weekend was the most challenging I have ever encountered as both a teacher and in my past life as a professional. The Friday before, I was the only member of staff at school in the department as Covid took its grip. We lost Mrs Starmer and Mr Vavrenka to isolation rules and had to call up OK Isabelle Whitehill and a professional, Dave Starmer from the Rose Theatre, to help out. Our sound specialist Mr Leigh Davies also succumbed on our Monday Tech night. I cannot stress how complicated musicals are from a technical point of view. Even ‘micing up’ the cast takes a lot of time and skill. I was so impressed with how our student technical team stepped up to the challenge: James Sadler, Paul Adams and Sebastian Rugina were as impeccable as ever, but a special mention should be given to Phoebe Bowen and Millie Good (who celebrated her 16th birthday during the run) who managed to cover the missing technical roles, adapt daily to new challenges and keep a sense of humour throughout.

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They truly were working as ably as any crew I have encountered in my career and I can’t wait to work with them again on future productions. I don’t think I will ever be part of a production greater than this! Mr M Laflin (Musical Director & Conductor): Well, what a journey! Made in Dagenham marked my first foray into musical theatre at KGS and I couldn’t have been prouder of what the whole cast, band and crew achieved. Yes, at times in rehearsals it felt like we were riding in a Trabant rather than a sleek new Ford Cortina but it all came together in the end and all the hard work paid off. There were some truly outstanding performances, and it was a real privilege to work with some very talented students. I know that many of the cast pushed themselves to places that they had never been before and the way that their voices developed and grew as we approached the performances was impressive. Likewise, the talent of the students in the band shone through and, performing alongside professional musicians, they proved that they were more than up to the task. Shows like this don’t come along very often and I hope that it will live as long in the memory of the students involved as it will in mine.

ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Economics

In a year in which economics has dominated public conversation and headline space, every week has given our students material to discuss in lessons. Some of our Lower Sixth students have taken discussions one step further and written stories of particular interest.

COMPETITION IN THE GAMING INDUSTRY

This year has seen several acquisitions, worth more than $1bn, by major players across the industry. Whilst this may attract consumers to one brand, it also reduces the variety of games on offer across the market, restricting consumers to very few options. Acquisitions like this cause other firms to panic as the race to absorb competitors is already under way. Microsoft’s announcement alone led to a 10% fall in Sony’s share price. If there is no intervention, the industry may soon become monopolistic. Adam Comley

Sri Lanka’s foreign currency reserves, £5.8bn at the end of 2019, fell to £1.5bn in March 2020 and now stand at £40.5m. Huge debts racked up as the country aimed to fund infrastructure projects such as the development of Hambantota International Port. The loans Sri Lanka received from China had extremely short repayment periods, making repayment even harder. The shortage of foreign currency to buy imported necessities has caused shortages of food and fuel and skyrocketing prices. Inflation was estimated at 60% in June 2022. Jake Francis

SRI LANKAN DEBT CRISIS Microsoft has been trying to gain a larger market share in the games industry. Their focus has shifted to their subscription service, Game Pass, and they are currently expanding the collection of games available. In January 2022, they announced their intention to acquire Activision Blizzard, the world-leading publisher behind Call of Duty, for $75bn with the hope of strengthening their service. The deal is expected to be finalised around summer 2023 and would cement Microsoft’s position as the third largest video-game firm by revenue. There are several concerns surrounding such a large forward vertical acquisition. Microsoft could deny competitors access to Activision Blizzard’s games on their platforms. Millions of casual players who buy consoles for Call of Duty alone may need to switch platforms – a move that will significantly disrupt the market.

Sri Lanka has defaulted on its debts for the first time in their history as the country battles its worst financial crisis in over 70 years. It was unable to pay £63m in debt interest payments, causing credit rating agencies to refer to it as “defaulted”. Defaulting debts damages the economy as confidence in its currency plummets and it becomes harder to borrow from international markets. The government blames the pandemic and rising energy prices while critics say that this was a selfinflicted problem as the authorities failed to prevent severe inflation and ran out of foreign currency. After the Sri Lankan civil war ended in 2009, the government implored traders to provide goods to domestic markets instead of entering foreign markets. This reduced income from exports. Tourism, a major source of income, crumbled during the pandemic.

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WINDFALL TAX ON ENERGY COMPANIES

In his first budget, Gordon Brown used a windfall tax to fund his ‘New Deal’ welfare-to-work scheme. It may seem logical to ease the cost-of-living crisis through a similar method, yet the evidence suggests otherwise.

ACADEMIC MATTERS

When asked about a windfall tax In May 2020, Shell’s chief executive said that their planned $20–25 bn investment in the UK ‘has to make sense’. Although some energy companies will still invest even if such a tax is implemented, there may well be consequences for foreign investment. Foreign direct investment (FDI) was £50bn in 2020, and £100 bn in 2019. Surely the £1.2bn the tax would bring in is outweighed by the loss of investment? What may weigh in the Chancellor’s decision is the fact that a windfall tax would also hurt pensioners’ pockets. The Week notes that 8% of Shell and BP’s shares are owned by pension companies. The repercussions could mean that a retiree may have £10 or £20 less a week to spend owing to the dividend they receive being reduced. Oli Dawson

COST OF LIVING I spend Monday evenings volunteering at the Kingston Foodbank, and it is clear that there is an increasing need, with many of the people using it currently in employment. The Trussell Trust estimates that 2.1 million food parcels have been given to people in crisis in the 2021/2022 financial year. The war in Ukraine has exacerbated the issue with soaring oil and gas prices. Russia supplies 30–40% of Europe’s gas, with the UK market closely connected to the European market. Nitrogen fertiliser rose by 14% in April, pushing global food prices higher. The price of a basket of food has increased by 6.7% year-on-year as of April 2022 and is expected to increase further. Governments could increase universal credit or scrap national insurance increases. However, the problem with increased government spending or reduction of taxes is the huge national debt build-up. A windfall tax could be imposed on energy companies but that might hinder their investment in renewable energy. From my perspective, the best way to work towards a solution is a step-up in the voluntary sector to tackle the problem closer to home.

INFLATION IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY We have watched inflation soar since the pandemic. The fashion industry has been no exception; the CPI for apparel rose 4.9% from June 2020 to June 2021. Brands face higher shipping costs, supplier backlogs, surging consumer demand and labour shortages. These difficulties in the supply chain are not short term — retailers need reliable and resilient supply chains. These rising prices have come at an interesting time for luxury fashion, as brands look to stop discounts as a means for moving unsold merchandise and begin to focus on improved quality to set them apart. However, some brands have struggled with how to communicate price rises to consumers. Should they raise them gradually and quietly or have complete price transparency? Upta Dholakia, Professor at Rice University’s School of Business, suggested that retailers “call the action a price increase, not a price adjustment … or another euphemism, explain the reasons for the price increase, and link the price increase to a customer-centric value narrative.” This approach was adopted by London-based jewellery designer Kimai, who specialise in lab-grown diamonds, and warned customers of their 15% price increase.

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This was well-received and an increase in orders in the month before the rise. Alternatively, Alighieri, another London-based jewellery designer, introduced a price increase of 10–15% without telling consumers and reported no decrease in sales or negative response. Previous to the uptick, founder Rosh Mahtani, decided not to do “...a blanket comms because it just didn’t feel right for the brand,” and is now revisiting the brand’s pricing architecture. Simeon Siegel, retail analyst for BMO capital markets, said, “2022 is the year where we find out which companies actually have pricing power.” While this is definitely true for luxury brands, the future of fast fashion might be less predictable, since this sector of the industry has a much higher price elasticity of demand. Jasmine Levell

Mr S Symington, Head of Economics

ACADEMIC MATTERS

English

It was lovely to be face to face with students once again for an entire academic year. While the past two years undoubtedly created challenges, one positive has been an increased embedding of technology within the English classroom; this year, students have embraced working on laptops, leading to more organised notes, wider opportunities for collaborative learning and greater efficiency when sharing resources and homework. On a more traditional note, and with a view to bringing texts to life in a variety of ways, we were delighted to be able to organise an English trip and author, actor and drama company visits to KGS this academic year. Events got underway in the Autumn term when the English and Drama departments worked together to give Sixth Form students the opportunity to have a Q&A with actor Alex Waldmann. He gave us a brilliant insight into his career journey, and in particular, his roles as Horatio in Hamlet and Antonio in The Duchess of Malfi. Ms Stones’ Upper Sixth class were then lucky enough to chat to him more informally during their lesson on Hamlet. More followed in the Spring term, when The Handlebards Theatre Company’s all-female version of Macbeth, which they performed (with gusto) to the Fifth Year. This was quickly succeeded by 3L’s visit to Richmond Theatre and its visually stunning production of Animal Farm, which brought their study of the novel to life (as far as possible, of course!).

To complement the English Department’s commitment to equality and diversity, we welcomed author Catherine Johnson (writer of Sawbones, which 1S has enjoyed as their class reader this year) into school in the Summer term. We are very grateful to her for an inspiring workshop to the Scholars, a writing workshop with 1S as well as her talks to the First and Second Years on diversity and her journey as a writer.

KGS students have continued to excel in English, with Second Year Amy Parker winning the School’s Short Story Competition, Sophie Davies, also Second Year, gaining a Commendation in the Wimbledon Book Festival for her story The Tree and Izzy Reilly a Highly Commended in the Live Cannon Poetry Competition, Year 10 – 13 Group, for her poem about a lost place, Oradour-Sur-Glane. Special mention should also be given to Ms Stones for her very well received review of Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan for The Guardian. Finally, Mr Campbell and his writing group, The Inklings, have continued to produce exciting and inspirational work – look out for their anthology, Crossing Borders, coming to a school near you next academic year. So, while we sign off for a well-deserved break after a jam-packed 2021/2, we look forward to all the new opportunities and experiences waiting in the wings for our English students next year! Mrs S Garside, Head of English

Indeed, we have continued to embed our commitment to equality and diversity across the English curriculum, with First Years completing their ‘This is Me’ project on identity as they arrive at KGS. Thereafter, students across the year groups study a range of texts which provide opportunities to explore a variety of cultures and experiences, including She is Not Invisible, The Merchant of Venice, A View From the Bridge, Purple Hibiscus, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Kite Runner and White Teeth to name just a few.

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

The Important Decision By Amy Parker, winner of the Short Story Competition

Everyone knows that grannies are the best. Mine is. And my grandad, of course. I was so excited to finally see them again, and the day was perfect – the cloudless sky shone azure, with not a breath of wind. Mum had warned me that Granny’s memory was deteriorating, and I should prepare myself for the worst, but she can be very pessimistic. My parents are always talking about moving her to a care home but I will protect Granny and make sure that doesn’t happen. Granny’s is a short drive away, in a nearby hamlet. Car drives with my family are always fun, as my parents love singing, belting out Dolly Parton or the Beatles. Yesterday, Jolene was playing and with the windows down, the whole street turned heads and stared at our dusty old Skoda. The drive was beautiful. Towering Cornish cliffs and serene sea on one side and an expanse of fields on the other, littered with livestock and walkers. My grandparents’ house is a small, picturesque cottage on the edge of the village, covered with honeysuckle and wisteria. As we drove up the drive, music still pumping, the side gate creaked open and Bev, their old retriever, limped up to the car, her tail nearly wagging off with excitement. I gingerly opened the car and, after receiving a lick in the face, raced up to the house and rapped on the door. Grandad peeked his head round, smiled, and reached in to embrace me. The feeling of him again was so nice, so reassuring. Suddenly, I heard Granny inside. “Frank, darling, who is it?” she called. “It’s Rowan, remember, love? I told you earlier she was coming. Your daughter is here too!” Grandad replied.

I could see he tried so hard to sound happy, upbeat, but underneath his cheerful tone there was disappointment and frustration. He’d probably told her five minutes ago we were coming, and she had already forgotten. My mum, finally out of the car, started to console him, and walked off into the house with Grandad and Dad. Meanwhile, I yearned to see Granny and raced off down the hall to find her. She sat in the corner of the conservatory and stared absently at the tree peonies and hydrangeas just coming into bloom. The sky started to turn grey and a drop of rain fell, hitting the window. “Granny!” I exclaimed. She jumped, looking round to see who had addressed her. When her eyes found me, she looked confused. They darted around my body, her brain scrambled to find some recollection of who I was. “It’s me, Granny. Rowan. Your granddaughter,” I prompted, my hopes drained. Suddenly, Granny leapt up, pacing in circles around the room, muttering under her breath, becoming more and more agitated. I started panicking. I had never seen her like this before. Her pacing got faster, her muttering louder. I rushed to the kitchen and grabbed Grandad, words spilling out my mouth, apologies and explanations. He shushed me, before walking off to see her. My parents glanced at each other, a look of concern plastered onto their faces. They pulled me in, mouthing words which I knew I wasn’t meant to see. “Rowan, love, I think you and I might head home now,” Dad whispered, “Mum will follow on later.”

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This was all my fault. If I hadn’t raced to see Granny, taken her by surprise, none of this would have happened. We could be eating ice cream, or going for a walk by the sea, if it wasn’t for me. Dad ushered me out of the room and back to the car where I was sitting just 10 minutes ago. The drive home was miserable. The upbeat atmosphere evaporated, replaced by rain and disappointment. We sat in silence, the static of the radio crackling, the rain drumming repetitively on the roof, so hard I felt like it was going to break through the aluminium. As soon as I got home, I raced upstairs, and threw myself onto the bed. I glanced at the skylight above my bed, the dreary weather matching my mood. I could hear my dad bustling around in the kitchen, making tea, listening to the radio. How could he be so calm? Before I knew it, my mum was back. As soon as she walked through the door, tears running down her face, I knew she and Grandad had come to a decision. The thing I had promised to protect her from. And yet I caused the reason that they decided to move her to Westview, the local care home. They told me it wasn’t my fault. So many things they hadn’t told me about what was happening. She had gone out at night, wandering the streets barefoot. She wasn’t safe, my parents told me. Why hadn’t they told me before? I could have helped. But, deep down, I knew I couldn’t, which made it even worse. Grandad was going to stay with us for a while after we helped her move so we could help him adjust. A stifling silence filled the room. Even though it was our choice, we were all so upset. It was best for Granny, but it felt like we had lost her. But she was still Granny. On Wednesday, we all went to visit her. The care home was an old, quaint building, but welcoming and homely, just like Granny. The beautiful weather was back, the sun shining like a halo. Inside, the walls were littered with pictures and magazines. We were directed to Granny’s room, at the end of the corridor. I clasped Mum’s hand, which was as sweaty as mine, and we were shown into the room. 80s music played quietly in the background, and the curtains fluttered in the breeze. Granny was sitting in an armchair in the corner, watching the world go by. She looked so different from the person I had seen just over a week ago, calm and content. I realised that although it was hard, we had made the right decision.

ACADEMIC MATTERS

Geography

This year saw the return of external exams, meaning for the first time since 2019 students were sitting papers set by the exam boards and preparing to answer testing questions across their chosen subjects. Exams are about so much more than answering questions in a test. The ability to ask questions, to enquire, to investigate and to feed one’s curiosity is something must be equally valued and nurtured. In our day-to-day operations as a school this takes place in the classroom but in Geography our subject matter is the physical and human world around us. Therefore, taking the opportunity to explore and investigated in the ‘field’ is vital in developing inquisitiveness. So, whilst exams returned this year so did a full programme of fieldwork opportunities for KGS geographers. In late June 2021 our Lower Sixth students had blazed a trail in our return to the field when they spent a week in the Lake District and we were delighted to return to Blencathra on the outskirts of Keswick in the summer of 2022.

This A Level residential is a busy yet enjoyable week when our top geographers really do display their curiosity when setting out to collect primary data for their independent coursework. The students need to come up with their own investigation question and, after refining this with their teachers, they plan appropriate methods to gather the data they need. The human geographers head into Keswick whilst the physical geographers get their walking boots on and hike up the Easedale valley to investigate the legacy that the last ice age left on the landscape. It is not just at the top of the school where students have grasped the chance to develop their fieldwork skills. In May this year, all First Year students headed into Kingston to investigate whether the town is a local or global place, carrying out questionnaires and land use surveys and looking at the services available to gather data and draw their conclusions. Fourth Year students embarked on a GCSE field trip to Bristol where they focused on the impact of regeneration of the city KINGSTONIAN 2021/22

centre. The Fifth Year students, whose chances for fieldwork were the most disrupted by Covid, travelled to the Surrey Hills to investigate changes in a river’s characteristics as it travels from source to mouth. The Department was also delighted to return to Iceland over the Easter break with 48 Third Year students hiking glaciers, marvelling at waterfalls and much more. There is more on this fantastic geographical experience elsewhere in this edition of Kingstonian. As we reflect on a busy and successful year, our thoughts turn to the new and exciting opportunities we can add to the curriculum so that students at all stages of their time at KGS get the chance to step outside the classroom and really question, explore and investigate the wonder in the world around them.

Mr A House, Head of Geography

ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Government & Politics

POLITICS SOCIETY Lord Jonny Oates Lord Jonny Oates, a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, visited us in March at the invitation of Tom Evans. Lord Oates gave a summary of his varied career and interests, which include acting as Nick Clegg’s Chief of Staff in the Coalition government, working as a councillor for the Kingston borough and, since 2009, acting as Director of Communications for Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister under David Cameron. Much of what we learn about the role of the House of Lords and its work is gleaned from textbooks and political journals, so it was instructive to hear first-hand how peers scrutinise and hold the government to account. Among the little-known gems was the news that the present Johnson government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill had been defeated by the Lords on more occasions than even in the 1970s. He now plays a key role as Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change with a special focus on energy independence for the UK. Our students asked apposite and topical questions on a variety of areas including Cop 26, the war in Ukraine, nuclear energy, the role of third parties and the Tigray famine in Ethiopia to name just a few.

James Heale, OK 2013 James visited us in January to share his experience and knowledge of working as a journalist for The Spectator magazine. He has previously worked for the Mail on Sunday and was active in student political journalism while at university. The talk opened with a witty introduction by Faran Shaheen, who

POLITICS IN ACTION Two Sixth Formers arranged tickets to PMQs during the year. Inspired by political sketch writers, you can read Oli’s account of his time in the Commons below, whilst Adam got some rather superior selfies...

A group of committed A Level students made up our team – The Maybots – for the weekly Facebook politics quiz each Thursday. After an up and down season, which saw us reach the heady heights of 11th position in December in this league of 185 schools, we ended the series in 28th place. This was a brilliant result overall and team members are listed below for posterity with their average points score in percentage terms. Freddie Pflanz 92%; Charlie Canning 92%; Oli Dawson 90%; Arthur Prince 88%; Sasha Lacey 76%; Adam Nasir 74%; Faran Shaheen 72%; Issy Rosser 68%; Daniel Fletcher 68%; Tom Evans 67%; Ed Orrell 66%; Jack Shaikh 66%, Findlay Clay 65%.

It’s one thing to learn about political theory in a textbook, another to see it manifest itself inside the walls of Westminster Palace. In May, I was fortunate enough to witness just that: Prime Minister’s Questions in the flesh. Johnson was being quizzed (or rather dismantled) by Starmer on why the Treasury hadn’t introduced a windfall tax during the first energy price hike. Like preening animals in some sort of reality TV zoo, they argued for what seemed like hours, during which time Johnson managed to weave in some untranslatable and incoherent Latin sonnets. The atmosphere was the most incredible part of the experience – even though the public gallery is separated by a thick sheet of Perspex, the apparent mutual hatred that parties displayed was palpable. There was a moment when I thought I spotted a Boris impersonator on the benches, only to realise it was Michael Fabricant’s headpiece glistening in the light. After the PM had scurried away to presumably host another ‘work event’ at No.10, I made my way over the road to Portcullis House to watch the International Development Committee, which was calling Margaret Thatcher’s wannabe…sorry…Liz Truss, to give evidence. With considerable help from two of her senior civil servants, she was examined on a vast array of issues, from Ukraine’s wheat exports to nutrition plans for developmental aid programmes. This committee had a completely different feel than that of the Chamber – both because of the lack of theatrics and jeering and because there was sufficient time to answer the questions in depth. There was much more of the ‘nitty gritty’ which in turn meant that there was proportionately more straight talking. Truss couldn’t easily skirt round the questions, like Johnson could half an hour earlier. There’s something unique about going to see democracy in person yet this unimpeded view does come at a cost: you get to see much more of the unattractive, petulant behaviour displayed by those on the benches. No camera restricts your field of vision; no TV director gets to tamper with what you see. You’d be forgiven for mistaking the Members for rowdy schoolchildren in the Chamber – something which adds to the atmosphere but also impedes proper debate. But, as the saying goes, “them’s the breaks”.

Mr D Sorley, Head of Politics

Oli Dawson, Lower Sixth

adroitly selected a series of tweets made by James over the years, some being rather controversial. In his talk, which was thoroughly engaging and amusing, James gave us valuable and, on occasion, eye-opening insights into the work of a Diary Editor for a nationally recognised publication. We were regaled with fascinating stories of what it was like to be a Spectator journalist when Boris Johnson was its editor as well as the occasionally dangerous work carried out in the interest of journalistic research. James encouraged questions from our students which were far ranging and broadly focused. Questions about ‘party gate’ leaks, female MPs, the war in Ukraine, politicians and lobbying amongst others were all handled with good humour and grace by James. His visit was one of the most enjoyable hosted by the Politics Society for many years and we are already looking forward to his return.

NATIONAL POLITICS QUIZ

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

History

It has been a welcome development to venture out once again on trips and we have continued to make changes to our Lower School curriculum to reflect the diversity in global history. Thanks to the arrival of Mrs Collins in September, Second Year students have been learning about life in a variety of African countries before the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade. Discovering fascinating facts about coins from the Axum Empire, the eleven churches of Lalibela and the golden Rhinoceros of Mapungubwe, they have been able to contextualise the subsequent history of African nations to a greater extent. During Black History Month, First Years learnt about diversity in medieval England through the research of Professor Sue Black. They learnt about discovery of the remains of the ‘Ipswich Man’ who is thought to have been born in Tunisia in the 13th century and who possibly came to England during the 9th Crusade.

SENIOR HISTORY SOCIETY

Chalke Valley History Festival

Senior History Society has also explored aspects of history beyond the A Level syllabus. Students present on a topic of their choice, and this is followed by questions, discussion and debate. The standard of presentations has been superb this year with topics ranging from Jack the Ripper and the Shroud of Turin (Faran Shaheen), Toussaint Louverture (Annabel Roux), the Israel-Palestine conflict (Hattie Fowkes), Jamaican politics in the 20th century (Eloise Cross), the partition of India (Adam Nasir), Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard (Freddie Pflanz) and the life of Saladin (Jacob Watkins).

From the Second World War and the American Civil War to slavery in America and the Crusades, there were so many interesting lectures and the speakers were so good at engaging with their audience. The highlight of the trip had to be the Word War Two trench experience at the end of the trip. We were able to have a realistic, scenario-based tour of replica trenches, where we had to lay low from German soldiers! Even the teachers got involved! Dhilan Chopra What a day! Undeniably the best talk was from Dan Jones on the Crusades: he was an amazing storyteller and really kept us interested. When not in lectures, we could explore the living history exhibits. We got to see a real siege machine and the live firing of a cannon, along with looking at WW2 vehicles, the daily life of a WW1 soldier and even had the opportunity to try our hand at the sword school. The best experience came at the end, when we did a whole class experience of escaping to Dunkirk. Even the teachers got involved, with Mr Beard and Dr Kennedy having the most fun. We had to defuse a mock bomb while we avoided hazards and learnt about the great bravery of British and French troops in holding back the German lines. Overall, it was a great day, with it being a tangible learning experience. I would urge everyone studying History to go next year.

It has been great to be able to venture beyond the walls of KGS and embark upon history trips to the Rose Theatre to see SIX the musical with the Second Year and to the Chalke Valley History Festival in Wiltshire with the Lower Sixth. SIX

It has been great to be able to venture beyond the walls of KGS and embark upon history trips...

“Wow! This amazing musical showed how all the wives of Henry VIII were unique and powerful inspirational women who shouldn’t be defined and remembered by their husband! The songs were funky, rocky and the perfect combination of historical events and emotions .... It was a show to remember and we loved it!” Melody Moppett, Second Year

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Adam Nasir, Lower Sixth

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Library

It feels good to say that 2022 has been a much more settled year than the previous two. School life has returned to the ‘new normal’ and many activities and events have been able to resume.

READ UP! KINGSTON

FIRST YEAR PROJECTS AND READING CHALLENGES

We participated in the Read Up! Kingston shared reading project again, with a copy of the same book being given to all incoming First Years to read over the summer holidays. The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh by Helen Rutter is a heart-warming story about a boy with a stutter who wants to become a stand-up comedian. When asked what they thought about the idea of a shared reading project, students were very positive. Arjan Cheema said: “I liked it because it meant that everyone had something in common when starting a new school.” In October we were lucky enough to welcome the author to KGS. Helen delivered a wonderful talk and workshopped some fiction ideas. Judging by the wildly inventive ideas that the students came up with, there are certainly some budding authors amongst them!

Anya Taylor was presented with this year’s Library Project Prize for her inventive and innovative investigation into Women’s Blind Football. After her well-researched presentation, she invited two volunteers to play on her fantastic homemade fußball table. The catch? The players were to be blindfolded so that they could experience what it might be like for the players to play football without being able to see! Of course, fußball is in no way the same as playing a team match on a pitch, but it did really help us all to think about what it must be like for the blind players and how much courage, conviction and skill they must all possess.

Our second author visit of the year was from Catherine Johnson, whose book, Sawbones, was studied by some of the First Years. Catherine spoke about her writing process and her particular interest in historical fiction, as well as the importance of diversity in children’s literature. She entertained us all with fascinating stories about body snatchers, the swashbuckling ThomasAlexandre Dumas and the dangers of surgery in 19th century London! KINGSTONIAN 2021/22

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LIT QUIZ With the annual Kids’ Lit Quiz on hold, this year we decided that we would form a team and get in some serious training so that we would be combat-ready for when it returns! Our Senior Student Librarians, Hannah Farrell and Maya Arwas, volunteered to take charge of the team training and what an excellent job they did.

The Spring term saw the First Years face a reading challenge: read eight books and complete six challenges, including writing a book review, designing a book cover and writing a short story. The end of the Summer term culminated in a lively game of bingo with top prizes being awarded to Matilda Pain, Rosie Sibley, Valerie Wan and Alex Young for achieving a full house! After some team trials, we put together a small, but perfectly-formed, team of Sinead Ritchie, Anya Taylor, Isabella Marson, Amelia Mitchell, Alexandria Coen, Melody Moppett and Philippa Ivory. Training sessions included everything from classic children’s literature to Mr Men. Since there was no external quiz taking place this year, we decided that we would host a special end-of-year one in July open to all students. Despite Hannah and Maya having finished their GCSEs just days previously, the dynamic duo volunteered to come back into school to host it!

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It was a great success and an enjoyable end to the term – and proved that all the training really did pay off since Isabella and Anya won! Fingers crossed that they will get to use all heir new-found literary knowledge next year.

LIBRARY DIVERSITY SCHEME The School Captains met with the Librarian at the start of the academic year to discuss the diversification of the Library’s fiction collection. Along with the rest of the School Council, they had put together a list of recommendations that they felt represented a diverse school community. It was pleasing to see that we already stocked a number of the recommended titles, but it was agreed that we can always do better and the remaining titles were added to stock. Keywords and reading lists were added to the Library Catalogue to make it as easy as possible to find the new titles and the Library hosted a number of displays to promote the new books.

STUDENT LIBRARIANS The hard work and dedication of our team of Student Librarians is something that we as a team value very highly. Their help is invaluable and an integral part of the success of what we can offer. This year saw more applications than ever, with interviews taking place before the end of the Summer term. We’re delighted to have appointed a large team for 2022–23 and are full of ideas to keep them all busy.

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Read this...

WORLD BOOK DAY To mark World Book Day we asked the Lower Sixth Prefects to name their favourite book, or a book they are currently enjoying reading, which other students might enjoy or be inspired by. Unsurprisingly, a number of ‘classics’ appear on the list including, Homer’s Odyssey which is recommended by Alistair Anthony and charts Odysseus’ adventures on his journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Jacob Watkins recommends JRR Tolkein’s The Hobbit which tells the story of Bilbo Baggins and is a prelude to The Lord of the Rings. Emma Stoner recommends Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Sachin Patel recommends HG Wells’ The Time Machine, whilst Silvia Greco recommends Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the classic comedy of manners featuring the Bennet family and its five daughters, with the parents determined that at least one of their daughters should make a marriage to a suitably wealthy individual so that the next generation can avoid destitution. Tennis fan Faran Shaheen’s choice is Federer: The Biography by Chris Bowers which charts the story of former world number one tennis player Roger Federer and his journey from first picking up a racket to winning 20 Grand Slams. Also from the realm of sport, comes Gerrard: My Autobiography, which is recommended by Dan Roberts. This book charts the life of Liverpool and England footballing legend Steven Gerrard from growing up in Huyton, to leading Liverpool to victory in the Miracle of Istanbul in 2005 when Liverpool came from 3 goals down to defeat AC Milan in the Champion’s League Final. Daniel Fletcher, meanwhile, recommends The Life of Senna by Tom Rubython which

charts the life of the legendary Brazilian Formula 1 driver, Ayrton Senna. Oli Dawson named Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit as his recommendation. The author, Craig Oliver, was David Cameron’s Director of Politics and Communications at Number 10 and his book charts everything from the decision to hold the Referendum through to the campaign and the eventual result. Oliver considers, too, the factors which helped to determine the outcome of the Referendum and the ‘civil war’ which resulted in the Conservative Party once the result was known. Maddie Sibley recommends Adam Kay’s best-seller, This is Going to Hurt. Based on Kay’s experience working as an NHS doctor, where 97-hour weeks, life and death decisions, a constant tsunami of bodily fluids, and the hospital parking meter earns more than you. Kay’s account is both hilarious and tragic and has now been made into a BBC TV series, starring Ben Whishaw. This book should be compulsory reading for anyone considering a career in medicine. In a similar vein, anyone considering a career in the law, would undoubtedly enjoy John Grisham’s The Reckoning which is recommended by Harriet Lannero. Teva Hogarth named The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. This book is a dark and enchanting fantasy adventure for those who prefer their fairytales with a twist. Adam Nasir also chose a science-fiction/ fantasy novel, Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. Continuing the theme of science-fiction and fantasy novels is Katie Monaghan who recommends Philip Pullman’s modern masterpiece, Northern Lights – from the His Dark Materials series of books.

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Amelie Scott, Elsie Callen and Evie Hurn all chose JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series as their favourite books and I suspect the boy wizard needs no introduction to many of our students.

AWARD-WINNING BOOKS FROM THE PAST YEAR

October, October, Katya Balen Winner of the Yoto Carnegie Medal 2022

The Last Bear, Hannah Gold Winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2022

You Are a Champion, Marcus Rashford Winner of the British Book Awards 2022

Loveless, Alice Oseman Winner of the YA Book Prize 2021

The Promise, Damon Galgut Winner of the Booker Prize 2021

The Book of Form and Emptiness, Ruth Ozeki Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022

Ms F McBride, Librarian

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Extreme Reading entries were as diverse as ever...

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Mathematics

With another year of teacherassessed grades behind us, we returned to school last September with a bounce in our step and fingers crossed that there would be no further disruption. We welcomed two new members to the Department; Mrs Hassan joined us as an experienced teacher from Ibstock and Miss Parry joined as a trainee teacher, both great additions. We were pleased to start the year with another large cohort of 88 Lower Sixth students taking Maths A Level, including 17 starting the AS Further Maths course and 18 doing Further Maths. The AS Further Maths course is proving an increasingly popular option, combining a Maths A Level with an AS in Further Maths. As it only counts as one A Level option it allows students to select an additional 3 A Levels, but allows those who are thinking about Engineering, Physics or Economics to study Maths beyond the A Level specification without committing to the full Further Maths A Level qualification. Another change this year was the move to the Edexcel specification for our A Level Further Maths course. The Edexcel course allows students to focus on just one of either the Further Mechanics or Further Statistics options determined by the university courses they were applying for. Resources, such as online textbooks, are also much more widely available for the Edexcel course. I am pleased to say that the change has gone smoothly and has proved popular with students.

The various national Maths Challenges are a regular feature of our calendar and got off to an early start with the Maths Olympiad for Girls; we had 11 entrants, of which four received the top Distinction grades, with Katie Monaghan coming top in the school. Next up was the Senior Maths Challenge for A Level students: we had almost 100 entrants including a large contingent of Third, Fourth and Fifth Year students. Samuel Sturge in the Fifth Year came top of the school and went on to the highest level in the British Math Olympiad Round 2 where he was ranked 14th in the country. He was invited to a week’s summer school at Trinity College, Cambridge for training for the British team for the International Maths Olympiad, a truly impressive result. Third, Fourth and Fifth Year pupils did very well in the Intermediate Maths Challenge, with a record 28 going through to the Kangaroo round, and the recent Junior Maths Challenge for First and Second Years saw four students go through to the top Olympiad round. A great performance by our KGS mathematicians. KINGSTONIAN 2021/22

The KGS Hans Woyda Team had an exciting run of strong wins at the start of the academic year. In the group stage of the competition, after a walkover from Harrodian, KGS beat Tiffin Boys’ School (48–43), followed by Tiffin Girls’ School (48–41). This gave us the top spot after the group stage and led us into the tough knockout stage in the new year. With 64 schools reduced to 16 we faced Whitgift School next. After a gallant effort in this extremely close match, we fell short by one point on the day. It has been a great year of competitions and the team (Fraser De Rivaz, Samuel Sturge, Anas Boulhami, Leon Feltham, Chloris Wong and captain Samuel Arwas) has demonstrated the strength of mathematics at KGS. Well done to the team and good luck as you work towards next year’s competitions. A big thank you to our captain, Samuel, for leading the team this year, and to Mr Chiew and Ms Clifford for excellent training at Maths Competition Club. At Easter we welcomed back Mrs Jones after her maternity leaving following the birth of baby Olivia. We are sorry to lose two members of the Department at the end of the year; Mrs Rhys, who has been a longstanding member of the Maths Department, is leaving to relocate with her family to Northamptonshire, and Chris Hill who is also relocating. Thank you to both of them for their contributions and we wish them both all the very best for the future. Mr J Skeates, Head of Maths

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Modern Foreign Languages

AN EVENING OF LANGUAGES A variety of acts took to the stage in the largest ever KGS Languages Evening in March, with students showing off some of their linguistic skills in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Mandarin. The audience was treated to singing, dancing, role plays, games and some fantastic acting, hosted superbly by our wonderful Upper Sixth. The evening highlighted the excellent creativity of the MFL Department, and the impressive quality of language and performance is testament to students’ hard work and commitment. It is always exciting to bring languages to life and to successfully perform in front of a large audience in a foreign language is no small feat!

STEPHEN SPENDER POETRY TRANSLATION YOUTH PRIZE 2021 We were delighted to hear in November that Sixth Former Kian Khan had been awarded a Commendation in the Stephen Spender Youth Prize. This competition celebrates the translation of poetry from any foreign language into English and Kian’s translation of the poem Weltende by Jakob von Hoddis was superb. Our Lower Sixth Germanists spent time considering the particular challenges that might be faced when translating poetry, such as cultural references, rhyme and metre. They then took on the considerable challenge of translating a German poem of their choosing in a manner that would render an English version that was both linguistically and stylistically faithful to the original. No mean feat!

They tackled the task with linguistic rigour and creative flair, producing translations of a high standard. Congratulations to Kian and to all who entered.

GONG XI FA CAI In February, we celebrated the beginning of the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The Library was decorated with red lanterns, banners and Chinese knots. Students of all years, including the enthusiastic Second Year Mandarin Club, joined in the festivities for one of the most important days in the year for Chinese people the world over. They created red envelopes, paper cuttings, tried calligraphy, wrote their wishes into couplets or bookmarks and learned about and tried out Chinese chess. It was a lovely occasion that included a Chinese lunch for everyone and the opening of fortune cookies.

SPANISH DEBATING In March, Sixth Form Spanish students went to King’s College Wimbledon to participate in a debating competition. Despite initial nerves, the kindness of fellow competitors and the judges helped the team to relax. Our students performed extremely well across their three debates, beating one of the teams that made it to the semi-final. The whole experience was invaluable, allowing students to develop their confidence and share experiences of studying Spanish with students from other schools.

CHILDREN CHANGE COLOMBIA Former KGS Language Assistant Patricia Sturgis visited us to share with Sixth Form students the work that Children Change Colombia undertake in remote villages in Colombia. The charity is the largest UK NGO working exclusively in Colombia and supports, empowers and protects children and young people who may be at risk by strengthening local grassroots to positively impact their communities and defend their rights in the long term.

EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES To celebrate the European Day of Languages in 2021, students spent their lunchtimes getting involved in creative activities, drawing on their language skills and engaging with the cultures behind the languages in a deeper way. Activities included a ‘Guess the Language Eurovision Quiz’, which featured Disney’s popular hit Let It Go in Finnish, and a wonderfully wacky competition in which students had to build replicas of the Eiffel Tower using only spaghetti and marshmallows, for which they demonstrated an extraordinary flair for construction! A Memrise competition to see how much of the Swedish language they could master in only 30 minutes meant students discovered skills they didn’t realise they had, and everyone went away with the ability to greet the next Swedish person they encounter. All in all, the week was a fantastic opportunity to recognise and celebrate the number of world languages spoken by KGS students and staff and to encourage everyone to keep pursuing language learning. Languages bring people together, spark joy and are a fantastic tool for life! Mrs T Russell, Head of MFL

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Music

KGS Music has seen a delightfully busy year, with lots of opportunities for performances which the students gladly embraced.

October 2021 saw three of our Music Scholars invited to perform at the Thames Concert launch event in Surbiton: Emma Stoner (trumpet and voice) performed Allegro con anima from Hansen’s Trumpet Sonata and sang Gluck’s O del mio dolce ardor, accompanied by Mr Laflin. Jemima Jordan (violin) performed Konzert in G by Haydn, and Sam Kelly (saxophone) finished off the night with the jazz standard Song for my Father by Horace Silver. A wonderful way to start the term. November saw the first event with an in-person audience since the start of 2020. It was wonderful to see so

The Junior Orchestra, directed by Mr Tierney and led by Chloe Jackson, gave a marvellous rendition of John Williams’ Jurassic Park. Mr Laflin conducted the Senior Symphony Orchestra in their performance of Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, led by Jemima Jordan. The brass soared across the hall with their brilliant fanfares, and the winds and strings demonstrated technical expertise in Handel’s tricky, virtuosic passages. Following this were the Wind Band and Senior Guitar group, each displaying wonderful musicianship.

Needless to say, the choir produced an outstanding sound, finishing with a ‘mash-up’ of Wade in the Water and Hit the Road, Jack.

many students jumping back into co-curricular music and the Autumn Concert was the perfect opportunity to showcase all their hard work. The evening started with a beautiful performance from the Third and Fourth Year Choir who performed their two pieces, both unaccompanied and off copy. This was executed brilliantly and set the bar high for the rest of the evening. Following this, we heard from both the Junior and Senior Symphony Orchestras.

Attendance at First Year Choir has been really excellent this term, with nearly 40 students performing in the concert! Needless to say, the choir produced an outstanding sound, finishing with a ‘mash-up’ of Wade in the Water and Hit the Road Jack. Fifth Year students Miri Scott and Rosie Higham then treated the audience to a graceful duet of A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman, accompanied by Mr Tierney on the piano.

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The final choral offering of the night was our Sixth Form Choir who gave a lively performance of Robbie Williams’ Angels, and Kander and Ebb’s Theme from New York, New York, made famous by Frank Sinatra. The jazzy harmonies of the latter were brilliantly executed and the whole performance was delightful to watch. We finished the concert with tunes from the Jazz Band and Jazz Ensemble, directed by Mr Canniere. The students exhibited virtuosity in their solos and ended the night on a high.

Before we knew it, it was the end of term which was celebrated musically with our annual Carol Service at All Saints Church. The service began with an impressive organ voluntary from Stephen Westrop, followed by a candlelit procession to Once in Royal David’s City, led by soloist Jamie Scott. It was wonderful to hear everyone singing together again after such a long time. There were performances from each choir, all directed by Mr Laflin and accompanied by Mr Tierney on the piano. Emma Stoner from the Lower Sixth accompanied the congregation on the trumpet for a number of carols and the descants in particular sounded wonderful in the acoustics of the church.

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The start of 2022 was a busy one with regular rehearsals for the musical Made in Dagenham, a collaboration with the Drama Department and the KGS Choral Society Choir. It was a particularly special event and Mr Laflin was really impressed with all the students involved: Luis Knowles, Emma Stoner, Imogen Marinko and Sam Kelly. Although we were unable to have students take part in the KGS Choral Society Concert, the 80-strong singers delighted the audience with Vivaldi’s Gloria and selections from Handel’s Chandos Anthems. Directed by Robert Mingay Smith, the choir was joined by professional soloists Emily Dickens – Soprano, our very own visiting music teacher Charlotte Brosnan – Soprano, Rebecca Leggett – Mezzo Soprano, Sam Dressel – Tenor and Hugo HermanWilson – Bass. Another truly wonderful event which the members of this community-based choir thoroughly enjoyed.

As ever, the whole event was coordinated by our jazz teacher, Andre Canniere, who does a superb job preparing rehearsing and preparing our students. The beginning of March saw competition successes when four of our First Year students were selected for the Pro Corda Festival. Coached by Ursula le Huray, a parent and professional musician, the quartet managed to reach the semi-finals of this well-respected competition that was established exclusively to promote and celebrate chamber music within schools. It is available to all instrumental ensembles between three and nine players. KGS was represented by First Years Clarissa Cheng (violin), Lui Kim (viola), Connie le Huray (violin) and Jemima Mack (cello). After their performance of Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik their performance received very positive feedback from the adjudicator including the comment ‘This was a really stylistic playing – beyond your years. Well done’.

The term culminated with our Spring Concert which saw a total of fourteen different choirs, orchestras and ensembles perform. The Jazz Night was slotted in between these significant events and we were very fortunate to welcome the internationally renowned saxophonist Will Vinson to KGS where he led an inspiring workshop and performed in concert with his quartet. Will is an Englishman, now living and working in New York, and we were delighted that he was able to include a visit to KGS as part of his UK tour. In the afternoon, students learnt about various techniques and, in particular, how rhythm is such an important feature of jazz and were able to improvise together using their instruments. The evening saw Will’s group performing alongside the KGS jazz ensembles and it was, as ever, a wonderful evening of varied, high quality, music. Special mention should go to our soloists, Emma Stoner, Miri Scott and Sam Kelly who produced wonderful performances on the night and, in Sam’s case a top-class arrangement for the band as well.

The Spring term culminated with our Spring Concert which saw a total of fourteen different choirs, orchestras and ensembles perform. Although a longer concert than normal, we did not want to miss out any of the groups who had a desire to perform as we fully appreciate that with the pandemic performance opportunities with a live audience has been scarce. The Summer term saw the return of the Lovekyn Recital series. These informal recitals are an opportunity for students at any level to have some performance experience and offers the opportunity to invite friends, parents and family to attend.

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Although these recitals have been running for a number of years, the new flexibility that working from home offers enabled more parents to attend and it has been wonderful to see them enjoy the performances. In May it was time for the Music Scholars to excel in what they do best at our Music Scholars and Chamber Music Concert. With 21 solo performances and three chamber groups performing, the full capacity audience were delighted by a diverse range of music from baroque to 20th century repertoire. Congratulations to the solo performances of Sophie Bailey (oboe), Chloe Jackson (violin), Oscar Darbyshire (piano), Anya Taylor (trumpet), Jemima Jordan (violin), Jasmine Levell (piano), Tom Price (piano), Imogen Marinko (clarinet), Xan Cairney-Leeming (oboe), Luis Knowles (guitar), Kiki Zhang (clarinet), Lizzie Clark (piano), Yuri Rim (cello), Zoe Crooks (violin), Ralph Hassan (cello), Emma Stoner (voice), Lila Skeet (piano), Max Taylor (piano), Sam Kelly (saxophone). Sophie, Ralph, Yuri and Chloe also performed in the Chamber Groups along with Chauhan Fang (violin), Clarissa Cheng (violin), Maxim Dythtchenko (violin), Connie le Huray (violin), Lui Kim (viola) and Jemima Mack (Cello). After such an uncertain couple of years, playing once again to a live audience has been fantastic and certainly makes all the difference. We have appreciated such a warm response from the audiences that have been at all our events; thank you for your support! Mr M Laflin, Director of Music

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Physics

Given that the main casualty of the previous year’s lockdowns was practical work, it was a pleasure to see students applying their knowledge, especially when the link between experiment and theory is made.

We have been very pleased to make full use of the laboratories, including the new one completed over the summer of 2021. This year, nine students sat Round 1 of the Physics Olympiad. Congratulations go to Sam Arwas and Cara Fraser who achieved a Bronze II Award. Joseph Steel, Nick Long, Finlay Pickrell and Sebastian Rugina attained a Bronze I Award. Jordan Miao and Marcus Merritt achieved Silver Awards, placing them in the top 30% of students nationally. Sitting at the top of the tree is Alex Middleton, who triumphed with a Gold I Award, placing him in the top 16% of young physicists across the land. Well done to you all – you have done yourselves and the Physics Department proud!

BRITISH SCIENCE WEEK Hot on the heels of scientists claiming to finally unravel the paradox at the heart of Stephen Hawking’s explanation of black holes, students at KGS celebrated British Science Week by immersing themselves in a range of activities both within and outside lesson time. Last year, this annual event coincided with the reopening of schools after lockdown 3.0. This year we were delighted to be able to run various activities in school to celebrate the beauty and importance of science. Given all that has occurred on the pandemic front over the past two years, the importance of science would be difficult to overstate.

British Science Week, which is run by the British Science Association, is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, featuring entertaining and engaging events and activities across the UK to help raise awareness and spark enthusiasm in people of all ages. This year, in Physics our theme was ‘roller coasters’. A rollercoaster is an elevated railway with steep inclines and descents that carries a train of passengers through sharp curves and sudden changes of speed and direction for a brief thrill ride. The oldest rollercoasters descended from the so-called ‘Russian Mountains’. These were specially constructed hills of ice located especially around St Petersburg, Russia. Built in the 17th century, the slides became popular with the Russian upper classes. Catherine II of Russia was such a fan of these attractions that she had some built on her own property. In March teams from the Sixth Form were given the task of building a rollercoaster using pipe insulation. In their small groups they analysed the transfer of gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy so that their passengers, in this case ‘marble’, would travel a long distance, performing a loop on its travel. They ended up having to think about how to strengthen their design and most importantly to ensure their passengers did not go flying off into the air! The teams successfully completed the challenge and the following photos show some impressive looking set-ups.

KGS SCIENCE WEEK Thank you to all the students who attended and all the teaching staff and technicians who went the extra mile to put on these events. Science, alongside Maths and English, is a core subject and experiments form the bedrock of what we do here at KGS; however, it is nice to have a week set aside where we can promote the beauty of our subject beyond the classroom. Ben Stancliffe was the winner of the Science Week Roller Coaster Challenge. The Physics Department chose to run a lunchtime rollercoaster building session during British Science Week to give students the chance to use some their knowledge of theoretical principles to build a model rollercoaster. Using foam rollers cut in half as the track for the rollercoaster, and a marble as a cart, I attached the track to clamps resting on top of a workbench to give the marble initial acceleration at the start of the ride. After the groups had secured the starting track of the rollercoaster, a race followed to build the first successful loop the loop. We encountered the problem of positioning the loop so that the marble would have enough kinetic energy and therefore velocity to complete the loop without falling out of the track at the bottom. After some trial and error, multiple groups managed to incorporate a loop into their rollercoaster; I managed to add a second to my own design just before the bell rang. The activity allowed me to embrace my creativity, while using some problem-solving skills. Mr I Deepchand, Head of Physics

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Psychology

Mrs Edwards, Head of Psychology, met up with Sofie Procter (OK 2021) after her first year reading Experimental Psychology at New College, Oxford.

How have you found your first year?

What is the best thing about university life?

I am loving the whole experience. Everything we study is so relevant to everyday life, whether I’m learning about 3D vision or the importance of emotions in cooperative behaviour, which makes the work so enjoyable as I can see its importance. Of course, Oxford is not an easy place to study with one or more essays a week, but I’ve found all my tutors to be so helpful and encouraging. I was worried that I might have to sacrifice my extracurricular interests for the academic work so I didn’t fall behind, but that is not the case at all as I found that my sport commitments, in particular, make me more productive during the day; my tutors particularly encourage this because it’s so important to have some balance in your routine. Oxford, for me, is the perfect balance of everything. It’s big enough that the university doesn’t dominate and there are plenty of different places to go for lunch or drinks, but it’s small enough that I often bump into people I know, and everything is within a 20-minute walk. Obviously, the buildings are so beautiful, and I’ve been lucky enough to visit friends or tutors in other colleges, which has been so interesting.

It’s rare that I walk out of my room without bumping into someone that I know – whether it’s from college, my subject, sport or societies, I’m bound to see a friendly face wherever I go which makes university feel a lot like home. This also means that life is quite spontaneous as I’ll bump into someone and invite them for a coffee or decide to play tennis with some friends after dinner.

How have you changed since going to university? Without a doubt I’ve grown in confidence, particularly with the tutorial system at Oxford. I’ve learnt to accept that I probably won’t know the answer to every question I am asked but I am happy to make an educated guess or just admit that I’m not sure so my tutor can help explain it to me. We are also encouraged to introduce originality into our essays so I’ve learnt to carry out my own research into a topic and present papers which extend the content covered in lectures or present an alternative viewpoint to the essay question I’m answering.

How would you advise someone to make the most of university? The best thing for me was getting involved in sport, especially team sports like hockey. At a university like Oxford, where students are separated into colleges, mingling with other colleges is so important to expand your social circles and I’ve found that sport is a great way to do this while getting some fresh air away from work.

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Sport might not be for everyone, so there are loads of other societies for you to get involved in and meet new people and I’d really encourage it!

What have you missed about KGS? I really miss being able to study more than one subject. While Psychology was definitely the right choice for me, I do wish I could have continued some of my other subjects as well. I would advise students who feel the same that applying to Scottish universities may be a great solution as you are often encouraged to take multiple subjects in your first year. There are, however, other ways of keeping up additional subjects; for example, I am considering joining a language centre in Oxford to continue with my Spanish.

What advice would you give someone applying to study Psychology at university? Thoroughly research the course that is specific to the university they are applying to. I have found that the Oxford course is particularly science heavy, with modules on neurophysiology, perception and statistics, for example. While this worked in my favour, I know others were surprised by this and have perhaps struggled more with grasping the concepts. Not all universities take such a science-based approach to the subject so this should be considered before choosing where to apply.

ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

Religion & Philosophy

We began the year feeling enormously proud of our Upper Sixth and Fifth Year students who had worked so tirelessly, despite the challenges which Covid brought. This year has been full of exciting enrichment opportunities for our students, including a new Fourth Year trip to the Kingston Quaker centre where we received a warm welcome and copious amount of cake. Our students were welcomed into the meeting room where they asked some brilliant questions about war, the nature of God and the way in which Quakers interpret the Bible. We look forward to more projects and events with the Quakers in the future. In January, Mr Lawrence hosted another excellent Holocaust Memorial Event for our Third Years; sadly, Covid prevented our visitors, Bob and Ann Kirk, from coming to the school in person. But, rather than cancel the event, they wanted to tell their moving and hopeful story of surviving the Holocaust to the students via a specially recorded film. The theme for this year was ‘One Day’ so Bob and Ann spoke about that one day when they left everything and everyone that they knew and loved behind, boarded the Kindertransport and came to live in England. They never saw their parents again. The students were struck by their dignity and courage and were hugely impacted by meeting these two incredible people who had lived in Nazi Germany and all the horrors this brought.

We have been friends with Bob and Ann for a number of years now and when the lockdown restrictions were lifted the Head Master invited them for tea in his study to thank them for their dedication and service in sharing their story with KGS on Holocaust Memorial Day over the years.

We have been friends with Bob and Ann for a number of years now and when the lockdown restrictions were lifted the Head Master invited them for tea in his study.

Our Sixth Form Philosophy club, Touchstone, continues to thrive under the leadership of Dr Sheehy, as Jemima Jordan, a regular attendee and Oxford (Theology) applicant attests: ‘Topics for discussion have included “Is there an objective standard of goodness?” and “Is the removal of statues ever justified?” Having finished my Extended Project Qualification on the ethics of prenatal screening, I decided to present on this topic. This gave me a chance to mention my conversation with Jane Fisher, director of Antenatal Results and Choices (the only national charity helping parents and healthcare professionals through prenatal screening), who I had

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interviewed as part of my research for the project. I threw several questions at the Touchstone group, including “Is prenatal screening discriminatory?”, “Is screening a slippery slope to even more selective abortions and designer babies?” and “Is screening contemporary eugenics?”. It was a fiery debate indeed! Discussions in Touchstone never fail to be interesting and stimulating and they always challenge us to think more deeply about the topic in question and to develop our own opinions.’ Beyond this, it is also wonderful to see so many of our students taking up the many extra-curricular opportunities that are available to them within the world of Philosophy and Ethics, both online and, more recently, in person. In February, several of our students travelled to the Emmanuel Centre to hear Richard Dawkins in conversation with Robin Ince, about a range of topics from natural selection to misinformation. Unsurprisingly, our students relayed that Dawkins’ key message was “the only reason to believe anything is evidence”! We look forward to another exciting year ahead, packed full of speakers, trips and intelligent debate, uninhibited by lockdown restrictions. Mrs C Williams, Head of Religion & Philosophy

ACADEMIC MATTERS

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

STEAM

While it is certainly the case that computing lends itself to remote teaching more than many other subjects, it was a great pleasure to have students back in the classroom on a more consistent basis this year.

As a department passionate about physical computing, it was also brilliant to get back to completing practical projects, both in lessons and clubs. In addition to welcoming back the students we have been delighted to welcome our new Computer Science teacher, Mr Gautam, who brings a wealth of experience.

In the Lower School we have continued to develop our curriculum, with a focus on developing confident programmers, able to apply their skills to solve problems in new contexts. In the Second Year, students enjoyed, as always, the opportunity to take on the LEGO Space Challenge unit, programming EV3 robots to activate satellites, rescue rovers and pick up astronauts. In the Third Year, students made use of the Raspberry Pi and Sense HAT and programming the KGS version of a Harry Potter sorting hat, complete with LEDs in house colours!

UK BEBRAS AND INFORMATICS OLYMPIAD In the Autumn term Years 3, 4 and 5 pitted their computational wits against the UK Bebras challenge run by Oxford University. The contest is designed to be accessible to all students, regardless of coding experience, and to introduce students to computer science problems in an engaging way that might just pique their interest. Once again there were some fantastic results, with KGS students achieving 26 Distinctions and 25 Merits overall. Special mention should go to Fraser De Rivaz and Max Tomison who achieved the joint best result in school for the Intermediate with an outstanding 173/200. In the Senior category, Tilly Cairney-Leeming achieved the best in school with an incredible score of 177/200.

There were also some academic milestones this year: though we have taught Computer Science GCSE for some years now at KGS, COVID has disrupted all previous examination efforts, so this year marked the first cohort able to sit a Computer Science exam in person. We have also continued to expand our offering into Sixth Form, welcoming our first group of A Level Computer Scientists into the Lower Sixth.

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ACADEMIC MATTERS

We have been pleased to see increasing levels of interest and participation over the last few years in the Informatics Olympiad, a very challenging programming competition. In January, ten students from across the Senior School took on the fiendish challenges over three hours. It was fantastic to see the level of determination and creative problem solving on display, with some excellent scores posted. Impressively it was Fourth Year Johnny Barr who led the way with the highest score in school, outperforming his older peers with an excellent effort at the fiendish ‘Game of Drones’, a puzzle based around feuding bee colonies!

CYBER FIRST COMPETITION

Further up the school, both James Keywood and Noah Dyson have been independently working on more advanced robot buggy designs, making use of tank tracks and meccanum wheels (last seen on our successful PiWars competition robot in 2019). These clever wheels allow a robot to travel in any direction, even sideways like a crab!

It was great to see last year’s participants helping to guide the new cohort as they took on an array of cryptic puzzles, honing their technical skills along the way. The resilience and perseverance of the teams when faced with a challenge was impressive and I hope it gave them new insight into this dynamic sector.

DIGITAL MAKERS’ CLUB

Also taking place in January was the Cyber First girls’ competition, a contest devised by GCHQ to encourage more women and girls into the fascinating world of cyber. After last years’ success in qualifying for the regional final we once an excellent level of participation in the competition, with 13 Second Year girls taking part. As always the array of team names was eclectic with the Techy Tasmanian Devils, BigBrains and The Z Team entering the fray.

Digital making is all about controlling a range of inputs and outputs to solve problems, or sometimes just for the joy of seeing if you can make it work.

Digital making is all about controlling a range of inputs and outputs to solve problems, or sometimes just for the joy of seeing if you can make it work. Paul Adams has been exploring a gyroscopic sensor, using it to control a robot buggy just simple movements, and Chloris Wong is currently working on using a servo motor to display a simple weather forecast with a pointer! Mr T Benson, Head of STEAM The members of both Junior and Senior Makers’ Club have been as industrious as ever, progressing with a range of projects. We have been creating and programming robot buggies as well as learning the basics of physical computing with Raspberry Pi. First Year Arjan Cheema has been working hard on his own buggy design, building a solid wooden chassis to house a range of sensors. He has shown great determination overcoming technical challenges in the build phase and is now programming his robot to respond to sensor inputs. In the Third Year, Ben Ariel and Nathaniel Butcher have been creating a Raspberry Pi-based word clock, using the laser cutter to create the face and an LED array to light the letters at the appropriate time.

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The sporting year Mr A Watts, Director of Sport

It has been fantastic to return to full sporting activity and I feel fortunate that my first year at KGS saw the calendar fill once again with matches, training sessions and national competitions. We have played well over 1000 competitive fixtures, across all sports, underpinned by our aim of providing the opportunity to compete to all those who want it. It has been a real pleasure to see so many students and staff involved, as well as parents supporting our teams from the sidelines.

There have been a huge number of superb achievements. We are obviously very proud of our students who have represented their country, of which there have been a number, but we are just as proud of those who have represented their county, their club and, specifically, their school. Participation in sport and physical activity has significant benefits to health and wellbeing, as we have seen more than ever over the past two years. Involvement in team sport too is hugely important as it develops lasting bonds with peers and is the source of some of the fondest memories in a student’s school career. We will continue to encourage everyone to make the most of their ability, playing as many sports as possible for as long as possible, and I look forward to an even busier year ahead.

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1st XI

It was a brilliant season for the boys’ 1st XI that ended with a silver and a bronze medal. The most pleasing part for us as coaches, though, has been seeing the boys develop as a team, with cohesion forming across three year groups and individuals taking responsibility at important times. The last two weeks of the Easter term saw them playing in the ISHC finals day at Birmingham University where they won bronze, as well as travelling to Lee Valley for the Tier One semifinal and final. A nail-biting 3–2 victory over Taunton in the semi-final set up a final against Repton: not quite able to replicate the levels of performance of the previous evening, they lost 2–0. There were many excellent performances throughout the season but some key mentions must go to Jacob Eley, Dan Roberts and Harry Pink who formed a solid defensive partnership, Tom Fox in midfield, and Max Mayhew and Theo PawseyPersaud in the forward line. Well done, boys, on a season to be proud of. 1st XI squad: Jacob Eley, Harry Pink, Lucas Griffin, Tom Hewer, Tom Hill, James Fairhurst, Tom Fox, Ollie Rossner, Luca Fielden, Max Mayhew, Theo Pawsey-Persaud, Toby Thorpe, Josh Dugdale, Tom Hill, Dan Roberts, Luis Knowles, Sam Harcourt, Adam Sloan, Ed Wheeler, Mikey Eldridge, Teddy Warner, Tim Bryce. Mr T Beaumont, Head of Boys’ Hockey

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From the crease, pitch, fairway, court and river... CRICKET

Season highlights Natalie Ivory started the summer with a bang, striking her first century for the U15A girls. Ellie Phillips and Isaac Clarke took hat-tricks on the same day for the U12A girls and U12B boys respectively, both against Ibstock Place. Tim Bryce passed 50 on four occasions in the boys’ 1st XI.

The first full cricket season since 2019 saw success to reflect on, as well as much to look forward to, particularly as we will be continuing to play fixtures into the Autumn term for the first time. 2022 saw notable growth in the cricket programme: we added to our coaching resources and created weekly one-to-one coaching opportunities for more than 50 cricketers as part of the newly introduced Player Development Programme. To complement this, we have added two cricket nets on the main school site which are in use all year round. One more highlight was the cup run of the U15 girls. They will be taking part in the U15 girls’ national finals day in early September, along with Ipswich School, Repton and Clifton College. They were tested by one of the most challenging cup runs imaginable, beating Wimbledon High, Reigate Grammar, Cranleigh and Bede’s, the final three of which had genuine expectations of winning the competition. We wish all the girls involved the very best of luck, and congratulate them on what is already an incredible achievement! With a growing focus on cricket within the school and impressive performances from both boys and girls, we look forward to 2022/23 with excitement and anticipation.

Jemma Dreyer picked up the best figures in the girls’ 1st XI, taking six wickets for just eight runs against Reed’s. The U12A girls completed an unbeaten season. Max Mason (First Year) stepped up to represent the U14s, scoring 33 runs and taking 5–16 on the way to victory against St Benedict’s.

FOOTBALL Football returned in September with the added excitement of competitive fixtures with other schools. We wasted no time in reinstating our traditional match with the KGS Old Boys’ team, who play in the official Arthurian League for school alumni. The match was a close affair and an excellent workout for the current 1st XI who, despite the narrow 4–3 loss, went on to have a good season with good wins against Wellington College, Lingfield College and Box Hill amongst others. The 1st XI also made history by playing our neighbours, Tiffin, in a boys’ and girls’ 1st XI match for the first time in the school’s history. Our oldest annual fixture (the first game being played in 1890), against St George’s College, saw a 4–1 win this year.

The 1st XI girls secured a nail-biting victory over Hurstpierpoint, led by 50 from Kea Murray and an exceptional spell of bowling from Madi Good. Tom Price claimed five wickets on his 1st XI debut.

The 1st XI boys were awarded honorary caps with the number 133 on them in recognition of the number of years KGS has been playing Association Football. Next year will see the 1st XI girls receiving their caps after a successful first full season of training and matches. Other season highlights include the U15 boys making the ESFA third round, the girls making the sixth round and the last 16 in the national ESFA Cup. The U13 girls reached the third round of the ESFA Cup, losing out to the eventual tournament winners and reaching the county quarter finals.

Mr S Lavery, Head of Cricket

Mr M Hall, Head of Football

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GOLF KGS resumed competitive golf fixtures in September after the enforced break, with our opening home match in the HMC Foursomes competition against Reigate Grammar. Although the team lost 3–0, two of the three matches only lost by one and two holes respectively. Special mention should go to Max Mayhew and Lucas Griffin who lost on the last hole on their KGS golf debut. The next week, Oli Dawson, Joe Raven and Tei Kim took part in the ISGA Southern Schools championship at the Marriot Tudor Park in Maidstone. After a strong start, the wheels came off around the turn, but the students continued to battle hard and finished a very creditable 7th out of 23 schools in the net competition. Next up at Malden GC was a strong Hampton team in the ISGA Matchplay. On a slightly damp and rainy day, KGS put in a strong performance but ultimately lost 3–0. At one point, both Oli Dawson and Joe Raven were three up on their opponents before ultimately losing over the last few holes and going down 2&1 and 3&2 respectively. There followed a fourball better ball friendly against Epsom College, who boast one of the strongest teams they have had in recent years. Playing off handicaps, KGS secured a dramatic 2–1 win. The top match, featuring Joe Raven and debutant Ollie Stone, was a nip and tuck affair throughout with never more than two holes in it. They were one up with four holes to play but lost the next three holes in a row to lose 2&1. Oli Dawson and Ben Turner routed the number two pair from Epsom College 7&6, the match finishing when Ben holed a long putt from the back of the 12th green for a birdie, which was a net hole in one! The fixture came down to the final match featuring Tei Kim and Lui Kim, who were up against a twoand a four-handicapper. With three holes to play, they were one down but fought back to take the match down the last. Lui played the hole brilliantly, securing a net par with a good two-putt from distance. This left the boy from Epsom with a four-foot putt to half the hole, the match and tie the overall fixture… He missed, and the Kim sisters secured a long-overdue victory for the KGS golf team. The last golf match before the winter shutdown came against Reed’s second team. Some new faces – Jonatan Ronberg and Freddie Lett – made their debut for KGS. Jonatan paired up with Joe Raven in the top match and they were forced to relinquish some additional shots against the lone Reed’s player. That proved decisive as they lost 4&3. After the previous week’s crushing victory, Oli Dawson and Ben

Turner were looking for a repeat. Ben’s handicap had come down as a result of his stellar play last week and that may have been the difference. They were four down at one point but fought back well only to lose on the 17th. Ollie Stone paired up with Freddie in the anchor match and had a titanic struggle. All square going down the last, the KGS pair won the hole and secured the match, giving an overall match score of 2–1 to Reed’s. The golf season resumed in Spring with a match against Halliford School for a place in the regional final of the ISGA Schools’ Matchplay Plate competition. In atrociously wet weather, with greens coming close to flooding, Natalie Ivory, Joe Raven and Oli Dawson put up a valiant fight but ultimately lost 83 Stableford points to 94. One big plus was Oli, who top scored on the day with 40 points.

Our second victory of the year came with a 2–1 win against Reed’s at Burhill GC. This reversed a 2–1 loss in the home fixture back in October. On a glorious afternoon, Oli Dawson led the way in the top singles match. After some fortuitous bounces off trees over the first few holes, he found his game through the middle part of the round and secured a convincing 5&4 win. The third match featured the Fourth Year pairing of Freddie Lett and Ollie Stone who decided to take on the Reed’s pair off scratch given they had similar handicaps. This approach perhaps gave Reed’s more of an advantage and KGS were always behind as they lost the match 5&4. The fixture came down to the middle match featuring Natalie Ivory and Joe Raven. The KGS pair were giving away a lot of shots but battled hard, with never more than a couple of holes in it. The match was all square going down the 18th hole, a long par four, but was settled in the favour of KGS when Natalie nonchalantly rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt with about four feet of break to win the hole, the match and the fixture. The Past vs Present golf match took place for the first time since 2019. Back at Malden GC club after the last staging was played at Coombe Wood, KINGSTONIAN 2021/22

seven gallant students and three staff members took on the ‘Past’, made up of members of the KGS Golf Society. The weather was initially kind but ended with rain, a near inevitability with this event. This unique team event involved two mini matches of greensomes and fourballs. Out first was the all-staff team of Mr Farr and Mr Hardy. Solid team play saw the Present secure their first point in the greensomes but they lost the fourball match on the back nine, probably not helped by Mr Farr having to leave with a few holes to go to see his son play in a football final! In the second match, featuring ex-Head of Maths Mr Cooper and his brother-inlaw against debutant Adam Sloan and Jonny Ronberg, the greensome result was reversed but Adam and Jonny bounced back to again level the match by winning the fourball match. The only clean sweep came in the third match out. Present captain, Oli Dawson, was paired with Mr Rodgers and they were never behind as they won both the greensome and fourball match with ease, dovetailing nicely throughout. They also picked up the spot prizes of a sleeve of golf balls each for the two nearest the pin competitions. Match four was another shared match. Ollie Stone and Freddie Lett narrowly lost the front nine match but Freddie rolled in a crucial putt on the final hole to win the back nine and give the Present an unassailable lead with one match to go. Something was needed from the last match to secure the trophy for the Present and have the outright win. It wasn’t looking good after the front nine for Upper Sixth students Max Mayhew and Lucas Griffin, despite some prodigious hitting off the tee. They hung in there on the back nine, winning the 17th hole and holding on for the half point that saw the Present victorious for the fourth time in the last five events. Winning captain, Oli Dawson, was awarded the John Makin Cup for a narrow 5 1/2 – 4 1/2 win. We completed the golf season sweep against Epsom College over the prestigious Old Course at Walton Heath Golf Club. Playing the foursomes format, Jonny Ronberg and Natalie Ivory took on an all-girl pair from Epsom and, despite giving away a fair few shots, won 3&1. After a slow start, our Lower Sixth pairing of Oli Dawson and Adam Sloan took charge midway through the back nine and sealed the fixture with a 3&2 win. In the final match, Ollie Stone and Freddie Lett didn’t have their best ‘stuff’ but still clung on to only lose 3&2 rounding off a 2–1 KGS win. Congratulations to all who played this year on a very successful season. Mr M Rodgers, Head of Golf

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HOCKEY // BOYS

National Finals

Indoor hockey

The U12s fielded four teams most Saturdays and a key achievement in this age group was offering the opportunity to represent the School to every boy who wanted to. Mr Watts and Mr Cooney were really impressed with the improvements made throughout the season, and more than 60 fixtures were played. Noteworthy progress was made by Tiago Pena and Sepp Van Der Plas and we are excited about how this year group develops.

The U13As were entered into the National Schools Championships and the Independent Schools Hockey Cup, a knockout competition. The boys beat Forest School 8–0 in the second round (after a bye in the first), going on to beat Bedford Prep on penalty strokes after a 2–2 draw. Oscar Darbyshire did brilliantly to save two of Bedford’s three strokes and Jonah Callen, Barnaby Harcourt and Wilf Fox-Robinson all scored. This qualified them for the quarter-final against a strong Caterham side. It’s fair to say that Caterham were the significantly better side on the day and KGS were on the wrong end of a 4–1 result. The National Schools Championships began with the local round where KGS won four out of four games to progress to the London Finals. Victory in all four of their pool games here meant they played Langley Park in the semi-final and, following a 2–0 win, set themselves up for the final against Whitgift. In a superb game of hockey, the first half was end to end with both goalkeepers proving their worth and keeping the scoreline at 1–1. The second half was a tense affair. KGS broke through to lead 2–1 and held their nerve to win the game and qualify for the National Finals as London Champions. The National Finals took place at Nottingham Hockey Centre in May, where we won all three pool games, beating Katherine Lady Berkeley, The King’s School Chester and Greshams to qualify for the final against Reed’s. Unfortunately, despite a huge effort from all the boys, they were unable to overcome Reed’s goalkeeper and the game finished 1–0.

The U16 and U18 boys’ sides qualified for the London Finals without too much trouble. The U16s began with the two toughest matches against Whitgift and Trinity where, despite being a goal up with seconds to go against Whitgift, both matches finished in draws. Impressive victories over Forest and Bancrofts weren’t enough to prevent us finishing second on goal difference. The 1st XI unfortunately followed a similar pattern beating Mill Hill, Aldenham, and KCS Wimbledon comprehensively but a draw and a loss to Trinity and Whitgift respectively meant we finished second in the region. Whilst two second place finishes should be regarded as a positive, some key lessons around preparation and execution of skills in key moments were learnt for the outdoor season.

RESULTS

22 In the U13 age group, participation is still a key aim and Mr Durban and Mr Lavery spent the first term rotating players between the four squads to allow as many boys as possible to play and develop. It soon became clear that this year group were a force to be reckoned with and there were lots of tough selection decisions. A key highlight and strength was the ability on show in the B and C teams throughout the year, with key performances from Jem Prasher, Joe Ellis, Freddie Lloyd and Floyd Maclean. The U14s, U15s and U16s played a variety of indoor and outdoor competitions, with notable performances from the U16As who reached the last 16 in the national outdoor competition and the U14As who reached the London Finals. Mr Durban, Mr Bartram and Mr Buckle spent a long time consolidating the key skills the boys need to play senior hockey. The 2nd XI won ten and drew two of their 15 matches and the 3rd XI won seven and drew three of their 12. Mr Durban was impressed with 2nd XI players Ollie Fairweather, Dhilan Chopra and Luca Fielden, whilst Mr Grant was keen to praise Ethan Hammond, Max Billar and Marcus Merritt in the 3rd XI.

U13A squad: Oscar Darbyshire, Barnaby Harcourt, Jamie Scott, Jonah Callen, Romeo Ebanks, Ryder Ebanks, Carl Romberg, Wilf Fox-Robinson, Yire Lee, Alexander Christie, Platon Khodykin.

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Mr T Beaumont, Head of Boys’ Hockey

HOCKEY // GIRLS

A total of 263 matches, excluding training games and tournament matches, were played in the 2021/22 season: a busy yet energising welcome back after the pandemic. The Independent Schools Cup once again proved successful for the girls’ teams. The U13s made the fourth round, narrowly losing to St John’s, with the U15 and U19 both making finals day. The U15s had a tough semi-final against Framlingham but handled the game well, controlling the pace and creating better chances throughout. A fine top corner reverse stick finish meant victory and the girls were through to the final two. The U19s’ semi-final against Sedburgh was certainly one for the crowd. KGS went 2–0 down, quickly counteracted a short time later. The final five minutes saw another for each side and extra time where chances were few and far between and a shootout was required. Katherine Don-Wauchope is becoming quite used to such an occasion, once again proving her strength and quality as a top goalkeeper and KGS progressed to the final where the girls won silver medals, a fantastic achievement.

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The U12s had a fantastic first season with all 60 girls representing the School in a competitive game and 51 playing regularly in training and Saturday and midweek fixtures. The U12As and Bs qualified for the Regional Finals with the A team also playing up as an 11-a-side team against U14 sides. The U13s, U14s and U16s all had a full Saturday fixture programme with a total of 145 matches played. The short indoor season saw the U18s qualify for the London Finals, narrowly missing out on a place in the National Finals. The U16s, who qualified as an U15 team, didn’t lose a game as they firmly secured their place at the National Finals in Repton. A hardfought group stage, with a game which span on its head within 50 seconds, saw KGS placed fifth, very credible given the short preparation time and younger profile of the team. Tula Knowles has once again been playing for the England U16s, captaining the side for games against Ulster. Kea Murray competed in the Eight Nations event in Spain in July as part of the England U18 squad. Martha Le Huray, who also represents England at the U18 level, was called up to the GB Elite Development Squad and was selected for the U21 European competition in Ghent. Ella Robinson and Katherine Don-Wauchope were both involved in England U16 trials, with Katherine narrowly missing out in the final stages. Martha and Kea have represented Surbiton HC and Wimbledon HC respectively in the England Hockey Women’s Premier League. Finally, congratulations to OKs Millie Giglio who captained England in the U21 World Cup in South Africa where they took a historic bronze medal and Holly Munro who represents Wales at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Brimingham. Miss H Naismith, Head of Girls’ Hockey

NETBALL A busy season of fixtures saw the girls working hard to get back on track after two years of disruption. KGS teams won 34 out of 57 fixtures, a fantastic achievement with just one training session a week which reflects the girls’ commitment and hard work. Highlights included the 1st VII and U12s qualifying for the Surrey Finals alongside the senior players taking part in their first National Schools tournament, where they won three out of their six matches. Other achievements were the U18 and U13 A teams winning the Borough competition, beating seven other schools, with the U12s and U14s coming runners-up.

Junior players had a fantastic trip to see London Pulse v Wasps at the Copperbox Stadium. This was a great opportunity for them to watch netball played at a very high standard. Ashleigh Dekker, London Pulse Wing Attack, then delivered a masterclass to the U13 and U14 players, sharing tips, skills and drills. We look forward to much more of this alongside our netball tour to Dubai in February 2023. Mrs J Stapleton, Head of Netball

REAL TENNIS As I write, the two-week tennis bonanza that is Wimbledon has just got under way. Serena Williams has been knocked out in the first round by a little-known French player, Harmony Tan, and so takes home just £50,000 this year rather than the £2 million that will go to the winners of both the women’s and men’s championship. Tennis has become big business. You might think that this is a new phenomenon in the game, but you would be wrong. The ancient game of Real Tennis is the forerunner to the game we know today and was once so popular that in 1600 the Venetian ambassador to France wrote that there were 1,800 courts in Paris alone. Money and gambling were integral parts of the game. Rich patrons sponsored their champions to take on rivals and huge sums of money changed hands. One of the theories relating to the unusual scoring system in tennis suggests that wagers were at its heart. Sixty was a common base number before the popularisation of the decimal system. In the French language there are no words for two-digit numbers beyond sixty, so it is reasonable to assume that 60 was considered a nice round number to earn, should you win a game at tennis.

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Each game could easily be divided into four mini contests – rallies – and so winning you 15, of whichever currency you were gambling, per point. The truth is that nobody is certain. What is certain, is that Real Tennis is still more popular than most people realise. There are more than 50 active courts in the world, with around 75 professional players running courts, giving lessons, and playing tournaments for prize money in the four participating nations: Britain, America, Australia and France. Today there are estimated to be 7000 players who regularly enjoy the physical and mental challenge that the game offers. For many years, students at KGS have had the privilege of opting to play Real Tennis at Hampton Court Palace, perhaps the world’s most famous court. The current enclosed court was built in 1625 to replace Henry VIII’s open-roofed version and, with its four professionals who help Kingstonians develop their knowledge and skills of this fascinating version of the game, we have developed a lasting partnership with The Royal Tennis Court Club. This year Harry Wilkinson, Joseph Steel, Anas Boulahmi, Rowan Bantick, Nick Long, Marcus Merritt, Samuel Sturge, Mikhail Chohan, Freddie Thompson and Charlie Ives have all had the privilege of testing their athleticism and tactical skill on the same court frequented by the world’s greatest players. How many lawn tennis players can boast of having played on Centre Court? Each year some of our students move onto Oxford or Cambridge for their undergraduate studies. Both universities have their own Real Tennis courts with active student membership, and I hope that some day one of our students will earn their ‘blue’ having been introduced to the game whilst at KGS. There are many mysteries surrounding the game of Real Tennis and one exists right here in the KGS archive. Amongst the sepia photographs, old manuscripts and long forgotten versions of the school uniform is a dark green tie with a KGS Real Tennis insignia printed upon it. This combines the familiar birds and shells on a shield, along with a Tudor rose and crossed rackets. Perhaps one of our alumni can shed some light on its origins? Mr J Dyson, Head of Real Tennis

ROWING

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J15

KGSBC Regatta Season 2022 The 2022 regatta season was one of the most successful for some time. All year groups experienced event wins and several crews won on numerous occasions. The season’s climax saw our most senior crew race at Henley Royal Regatta for the first time in several years and the club’s leading athlete stroke the Great Britain quad to a bronze medal at the U19 World Championships in Varese, Italy. Boys’ Captain: Alex Currie Girls’ Captain: Alice Cassidy

J14 The J14 squad has the objective of discovering the sport, learning the fundamentals of the stroke on the water, the basics of strength and conditioning on the land and the excitement of racing. The squad raced first at our local Thames Ditton Regatta with both the boys’ and girls’ crews experiencing heat wins. There was a plate win for the girls’ coxed quad of Sophie Kelly, Sofia True, Maia Hendrickx, Ava Cooper and cox Mia Memaripour. This success was followed up with the squad’s first race away from home, and their first experience of multi-lane racing, at the Peterborough Junior Championships. The time trial followed by side-by-side racing gave all crews the opportunity to improve their ranking through the day. This is what the girls’ coxed quad and octuple did in fine style. Lauren Proddow, Clementine Holloway, Issie Botha, Anna Gleeson and cox Mia Memaripour won their B final to rank fifth in the WJ14 coxed quad. It was a very close affair until the opposition from Oundle School capsized midrace, a highly unusual event for a coxed boat! The quad was then joined by Ava Cooper, Iaruna Nacu, Maia Hendrickx and Emma Pope to repeat the success in the WJ14 Octuple. Sophie Kelly deserves a mention for her efforts racing in the single. Despite very little time in this boat class, both girls got on with racing this very exposing boat class and demonstrated a superb attitude. The squad, led by the calm hand of Mr Clay, have shown themselves to be very coachable and with much potential. The scores produced in training have been strong which, combined with the good grounding they have experienced in training and racing, sets up those who wish to move into the J15 squad with the tools to progress and succeed.

The large and noisy J15 squad had one of their strongest seasons. The aim has been to learn to train with the goal of making A finals at major events. Being ‘in the ball-park’ at J15 is critical to success in the senior squad. The head season’s climax for this group was the National Junior Sculling Head held over two timed legs of Dorney Lake. The girls’ octuple of Indy Catford, Charlotte Wellman, Charlotte Wigmore, Charlotte Comard, Plum Knowles, Emily Jones, Hattie Byatt, Anne Thevenon and cox Aria Chaukar set off at a work-rate that any senior crew would be proud of. Whilst tiring, and recovering well from minor crabs, the crew persevered with a furious intensity on the second leg to win bronze. The regatta season started back at Dorney with the National Junior Sculling Regatta. This is a time trial followed by side-by-side racing. Both the boys’ and girls’ crews raced in J15 coxed quads. This event attracts the most entries and it is not uncommon to be racing in excess of 60 crews. This makes for tough racing so if crews can compete in this event they are well set for the future. The boys’ A quad of Joshua Cassidy, Pietro Forlin, Asa Clayson, William Adams and cox Dexter Porter placed fifth, with the B quad of Jonathan Duguid, Tom Watts, Freddie Steel, Judah Brackin and cox Ralph Hassan placing ninth and ranking as the top B boat nationally. One of only two river regattas was a trip to Bedford Amateur, a popular event in the lead-up to National Schools. The boys’ crews didn’t put in their best performances and suffered at the hands of the very strong Windsor Boys. The girls’ A crew of Anne Thevenon, Daniela Cuervo, Hattie Byatt, Charlotte Comard and cox Aria Chaukar raced with increasing confidence to advance to a final against Mossbourne Academy. The crew put in a fighting performance to the line but were narrowly defeated.

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The biggest regatta of the season for the J15 squad is the National Schools Regatta at Dorney Lake. Racing in the J15 events is brutal with over 60 crews entered and just 12 getting to race in finals. The boys’ A crew, now with Freddie Steel in for Joshua Cassidy, put in a strong time trial to gain a berth in the A final later in the day. The girls’ crews both placed mid-table but out of the top twelve and, as was becoming a trend, remarkably close to each other, showing that if there wasn’t yet top speed there was clearly some depth to the group. Due to the two-boat limit per club in coxed quads, the KGS boys’ third crew of Charlie Neale, Oliver Kemp, Oliver Barnett, Florian Young and cox Tarun Desai raced in the J15 coxed four and placed eleventh in the time trial, progressing to the B final. The crew then showed great determination in the side-by-side B final to come second in the race and eighth overall. In the J15 coxed quad final, the strong tailwind conditions favoured accurate sculling. The KGS crew was perhaps a little caught out by this and were frustrated to place out of the medals in fifth. However, it is a mark of the desire and growing expectation that the squad were not just happy to be in a final. The half-term break is immediately followed by Fourth Year exams so it was a nearly a month before the squad could race again at Thames Valley Park Regatta, a well-organised, popular 500m event on the Thames. The boys’ A quad once again made the final only to be well beaten by Wallingford. The girls showed their depth with a strong series of races in the octuple defeating Bedford Modern, Kingston RC and Henley RC to win by a canvas. The final regatta of the J15 season was the Peterborough Junior Championships. Now split over two days, the girls raced on the Saturday in quads and octuples. The A quad of Charlotte Wigmore, Daniela Cuervo, Charlotte Wellman, Charlotte Comard and cox Aria Chaukar put in their best performance of the season to win the event, putting several crews that had been well ahead at National Schools behind them in the process. This result was backed up by yet another medal in the octuple with a bronze in the last race of the day for the girls from the A crew plus Emily Jones, Hattie Byatt, Charlotte Wellman and Indy Catford.

SPORT

On the Sunday, the boys’ quad travelled to Peterborough. With some boys racing in small boats the quads were not as strong as at previous regattas and did not make the A final. The double of Asa Clayson and Joshua Cassidy performed well against strong opposition to record a fourth place. In the afternoon’s racing, the quads combined to race in the octuple, winning their heat to earn a place in the A final. The crew of Charlie Neale, Oliver Barnett, Oliver Kemp, Judah Brackin, Asa Clayson, Tom Watts, Florian Young, Joshua Cassidy and cox Dexter Porter shot out of the blocks and a stroke-for-stroke battle for silver developed with St George’s College, with Norwich School out in front for gold. KGS came out on top of the local derby by half a length. Peterborough was a good end to a strong season from this squad. The group has worked hard on and off the water, with fantastic attendance (including a 100% attendance rate from William Adams). With growing experience, and an expectation of success, as long as they can continue to develop their listening skills they should be a major addition to the senior squad! My thanks to Miss Davies who, in her first season with us, coached the girls to so much success.

Senior squad The senior squad at KGS was still showing the signs of recovering from the impact of COVID but anyone assuming that our small squad size meant small objectives and outcomes would be seriously mistaken. The regatta season kicked off at Wallingford, yet another regatta hosted by Dorney Lake. The boys tried a coxed four for size and found the pace a little too hot. The girls raced in the quad, a boat that had shown some promise through the head season, with a bronze medal in WJ17 quads at the National Junior Sculling Head and seventh place at the Schools Head of the River despite having no rudder for the length of the course. At Wallingford, the quad of Alice Cassidy, Rosie Symons, Lola Crampin and Matilda Drewett managed an encouraging fifth. A ‘B’ boat of Poppy Emerson, Ellinor Comard, Audrey Coursey and Ife Dombrowsky was put into a coxless four and raced very well to place third. Our local regatta gave us the opportunity to race a girls’ eight and they continued their winning streak on our home water, rowing through Wimbledon High to take the silverware. The crew was made up of all nine senior girls: Ellinor Comard, Poppy Emerson, Ife Dombrowsky, Alice Cassidy, Rosie Symons, Lola Crampin, Matilda Drewett,

Audrey Coursey and cox Nina Chamarette. The boys’ squad raced in the coxed four and defeated Hampton to win their event. This crew was Tom Hunt, Alex Middleton, Alex Currie, Max Crampin and cox Nina Chamarette. In search of 2000m experience, the squad travelled to Nottingham City Regatta. This proved to be a good hunting ground with the boys’ pair of Alex Currie and Alex Middleton winning open pairs in the morning racing and placing second in the afternoon. The girls’ quads placed first and second in JW18 quads with the A quad then placing second in the afternoon’s open quads. The National Schools Regatta is the first of the major events for the senior squad. This year saw major progress for KGSBC with all three crews progressing to A finals for the first time in several years. The boys’ championship pair won bronze on the Sunday, the girls’ A quad of Matilda Drewett, Lola Crampin, Rosie Symons and Ife Dombrowsky placed seventh and the girls’ B quad of Poppy Emerson, Ellinor Comard, Alice Cassidy, and Audrey Coursey won bronze.

RESULTS

22 The second half of the Summer term sees the senior squad focusing on two of the largest regattas in the world, Henley Women’s Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta. At Henley Women’s, KGS had two crews racing. Entries are now so large that all crews time trial to earn the right to race side by side. The KGSBC 4+ of Poppy Emerson, Lola Crampin, Ellinor Comard, Ife Dombrowsky and cox Nina Chamarette put in a storming time-trial. They placed in the top four winning a bye to the second round. The girls’ quad of Audrey Coursey, Matilda Drewett, Rosie Symons and Alice Cassidy also progressed to the side-by-side racing and faced local rivals Molesey Boat Club in their first round. A close-run affair went the way of KGS by half a length. Next up was the quad from Wycliffe College and its various associated clubs. KGS sprinted out of the blocks to lead at the quarter KINGSTONIAN 2021/22

mile but sadly a steering error saw KGS disqualified somewhat harshly. The coxed four defeated Yarm School in their first race to set-up a semifinal with a composite from Scotland. Again, KGS led, but this time a large crab caused KGS to come to a standstill and be well beaten. This is not the way that the squad wanted to depart from a major regatta. However, the majority of these girls will be back to race next season. Not only were they frustrated at the nature of the loss, they will also be aware that they were in race-winning positions, something that KGS has not been in at Henley for many years. If ever there was fuel to be better in training and come back stronger next year, this is it. For the first time in the club’s history, a girls’ crew pre-qualified at Henley Royal Regatta. Alice Cassidy, Lola Crampin, Matilda Drewett and Audrey Coursey were drawn in the first round against Kingston Rowing Club. The red-on-red battle was dramatic: in the first few strokes, KGS caught the water with a blade and had to re-start. However, Audrey Coursey stroked her crew calmly back into contention and KGS were in the lead before the quarter mile, going on to win by some two lengths. This was the first win for a girls’ crew at this regatta. In the next round KGS again faced Wycliffe. KGS led out of the blocks but the relentless rhythm of Wycliffe took its toll and KGS went down by just over two lengths in the fastest race of the day. The last race of the domestic season for the senior squad is the British Rowing Junior Championships. KGS teamed up with Molesey to race a composite eight. One final race for a squad that has achieved so much saw Ife Dombrowsky, Alice Cassidy, Rosie Symons, Audrey Coursey and cox Nina Chamarette win bronze. This was the club’s fifth national level medal of the season and the last race for Captain Alice and Ife. They have been at the forefront of the progress that KGSBC is making and now have a decent haul of medals and pots to show for it! My thanks to the senior squad coaches, Miss Thomas and Mr Gough in his final season. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for not only coaching crews and squads to numerous wins over the ten years he has been at KGS, including NSR Championships medals this season and last, but also for his work on the administrative side. When 100 boat licences have needed registering, it is Mr Gough who has got it done. His minibus management skills are also legendary. I wish him all the best at Putney High, except of course when he is racing us!

Also leaving us this season is Mr Lewis, someone Americans would call the ‘winningest coach’ on the Thames and we were very lucky to have him. He was always happy to coach at any level (although he did require rather more tea prior to a J14 octuple session) and his advice has been significant in our ongoing development.

KGSBC at the U19 World Rowing Championships During the season the nation’s top junior rowers attend a series of trials with British Rowing, the aim being of making the national team at either the U19 World Championships or the Coupe de la Jeunesse which, essentially, is a European Junior Championships. This year, Matilda Drewett and Lola Crampin have been attending the trials, something that requires that they submit ever-improving ergo scores and place well enough on the water at time trials to earn an invite to the next test. Having trialled well all year, Lola missed out on a place at the final crew formation camp by just three seconds. Matilda attended the final crew formation camp having recorded strong test results all season. During five days of intensive and relentless testing, she earned herself the stroke seat in the U19 World Championships GB quad. She is the first KGS student to represent GB at the Worlds since 2009 and the first female since Sophie Hosking in 2004. Initially, the selectors believed the quad would do well to make the B final and ‘racing for experience’ was the name of the game. However, Matilda, her crew and coach had other ideas. They travelled to Varese, Italy with growing confidence as one of the stronger crews in the team, placing second in their heat. The semi-final saw the crew race more evenly and win, earning themselves a central lane for the final. The final, held in a roaring tailwind, saw Germany and Great Britain side by side. However, Romania had shot out, looking to take advantage of the better water in the early part of the course and obtained a useful lead with Germany and Britain chasing. In the closing stages, Romania held on for the win with Great Britain closing the Germans down but not passing them. A superb bronze medal on the world stage.

SPORT

TENNIS Following two seasons it was so pleasing to get back to a full training, competition and event schedule. What’s more, 2022 was a recordbreaking season for KGS Tennis. Once again, we entered boys’ and girls’ teams into the Surrey Schools Leagues, the LTA Youth Schools competitions, the Surrey Schools Festival and the Rootham and Branston Shield Surrey knockouts. In addition, we entered boys’ and girls’ pairs into the ISTA Independent Schools Championships at Eton for the first time, held the Kingston Challenge Cup (an annual classic clash between KGS and Tiffin Boys) and ran the KGS Play Your Way to Wimbledon, Family Tennis and House Tennis tournaments.

Lastly, there was the KGS Tennis Trip to Day 8 of the Wimbledon Championships at the All-England Lawn Tennis Club. We were extremely fortunate to secure ten No.1 Court tickets in the LTA Schools’ Ballot and on a beautiful day we saw lots of amazing tennis. Everyone had a fantastic time, both sampling the unique atmosphere of the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament and experiencing the raw power and precision of some of the world’s top male and female players. Fingers crossed we get lucky in the ballot again next year!

Key highlights The U15 girls being crowned Surrey Champions, as well as winning the U15 Girls’ Springthorpe Cup at the ISTA Championships and being runner-up at the Surrey Schools Festival The U12 girls winning the Ralph Cake Plate at the ISTA Championships The U13 boys reaching the Surrey Schools Finals The U12 boys being runners-up at the Surrey Schools Festival The U12/U13/U14/U15 boys retaining the Kingston Challenge Cup

In addition, the U15, U13 and U12 boys and the U15, U14 and U13 girls each won their LTA Youth Schools qualifying groups and are in the county quarteror semi-finals of this competition which continues in September. It was great to see so many of our First, Second and Third Year students competing in the KGS Play Your Way to Wimbledon U14 tournament, in which Rhea Nayak successfully defended her title and William McKay made a very impressive debut to claim the boys’ title. Congratulations to both our champions who went on to represent KGS in the county rounds of this national competition. This year also saw a record number of entrants in the annual KGS Family Tennis tournament at Ditton Field. The competition was run as a fourgroup round robin doubles tournament with six pairs in each group. The winners from each group proceeded to the semi-finals with Ellie and James Phillips becoming this year’s Family Tennis Champions. Congratulations!

Mr E Green, Director of Rowing

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Mr S Morris, Head of Tennis

SPORT

Ballgirling at Wimbledon Olivia Lett, Sixth Form

Each year, more than one and a half thousand teenagers apply to become a ball girl or ball boy at the Championships: only 300 will be accepted. It’s a hugely demanding role: not only do you need focus and concentration skills but you also need to be able to react in a split second to a ball flying at you at up to 145mph!

In 2022 I was successful again and was lucky enough to be on Centre Court with Novak Djokovic in his first round. It was a surreal experience: for a tennis fan like me it’s a dream come true. Throughout the Championships I ballgirled for matches that included Emma Raducanu, Nick Kyrgios and Rafael Nadal. It made all my hard work worthwhile to be able to watch such talented players up close. I’ll never forget being on court for the men’s singles final (Djokovic defeated Kyrgios 4–6, 6–3, 6–4, 7–6). I’d encourage anyone who has an interest in tennis, doesn’t mind being stretched physically and thinks they might have what it takes to apply.

Sixth Former Olivia Lett was one of this select group and here she tells us about her experience. I was first accepted onto the Wimbledon ball girling process in 2019. Training consisted of feeding and rolling exercises alongside fairly gruelling fitness tests, after which I progressed onto the initial trial at Raynes Park AELTC. In early 2020, I was accepted into the programme and began weekly training where I learned key court play and improved my ball skills. The training was physically and mentally demanding but it needs to be tough to be realistic preparation for the Championships. The pandemic forced the cancellation of Wimbledon 2020 but I resumed my training in 2021 and had my first experience of being a ball girl that year. I was generally on the outside courts with lower ranked players but it was an incredible experience, nonetheless.

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HOUSE REVIEW

House Championship

Mr AJ Beard, Assistant Head

After two years of disruption, it has been fantastic to see the House Competition return with a full programme of events. There were many highlights, but House Dance, Drama, Music and Sports Day have been particularly noteworthy, and it has been especially pleasing to see the collaboration on a grand scale and across year groups. Each house has won several competitions outright. The Taverner Bears, under the leadership of Mr Casasanto, took memorable victories in the Junior Boys’ Hockey in the Autumn, the Senior Hockey in the Spring and finished on a high with victory in the House Music, with Toby Ison playing Beethoven’s Sonata No. 5, before Catherine O’Shea, Joseph Oxborrow, Alicia Bramwell and Jasmine Moher performed Train’s Drops of Jupiter, finishing with a wonderful cover of Freedom! 90’ by George Michael. Lovekyn had another hugely successful year, with the Eagles soaring high with numerous outright wins including the MFL Quiz, the Fourth Year Netball, the U14 and U15 Boys’ Hockey, the Second Year Table Tennis, Senior Football, the House General Knowledge, Chess, Girls’ Cricket and, of course, Sports Day, where they came out as overall winners. Captain Beggs has, I know, been delighted by the efforts of all Lovekyn students and has run the year’s events with military efficiency.

In 2020, Queen’s managed to wrestle control of the House Championship from Lovekyn and deny them a fourth victory on the trot. Last year, however, Lovekyn were once again victorious. Mr Bartram has therefore been even more determined to get the crown back, particularly in the Platinum Jubilee year! Outright victories were achieved in House Poetry, U12 Football, U13 and U14 Football, Junior Ergo, Photography, Drama, the Bake-Off, Junior Girls’ Hockey, Senior Netball, Junior Netball (for Seconds and Thirds), Shooting, and in the Second Year Tug of War. Particular mention should go to Alexandria Coen, who won the House Entrepreneur competition. Queen’s have been nothing but consistent in their ability to pick up points. The Walworth Tigers, under the watchful eye of Mrs Wakely, achieved individual victories in the Technology Challenge, Table Tennis and Tennis, demonstrating themselves to be adept across a range of events. Indeed, Walworth’s titanic struggle in the Fourth and Fifth Year Tug of War will live long in the memory, resulting as it did in a three-way tie with Lovekyn and Queen’s. Stanley were under new management in 2021–22, with Mr Lawrence providing the impetus for an early title challenge. Big victories were achieved in the Autumn term in House Dance, CCF and Art, followed in the Spring term with victories in the Senior Ergo, Junior Netball and the Senior Tug of War.

The Summer term saw second place recorded in House Music where Luis Knowles turned the amp up to 11, with a fantastic performance of Night and Day by Cole Porter, demonstrating his masterful finger work in what was a hugely impressive display of guitar playing. He was then joined by Lila Skeet, Daniel Jolly, Judah Brakin, Sophie Farrell and Rosa Snow for a performance of Caravan by Juan Tizel and Duke Ellington. With just a week to go until the end of term, Stanley then performed the apposite Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles. Stanley were also hugely impressive in the First Year competition at Sports Day wherein Olivia Klein broke multiple school records. All the Houses have impressed in their willingness to get involved and demonstrate their talents and my thanks go to all of the Heads of House and House Captains for helping to facilitate the competition, together with the individual event organisers. So, to the overall result…

1st

Queen’s 850 points

2nd

Lovekyn 797 points

3rd

Stanley 794.5 points

4th

Walworth 736.5 points

5th

Taverner 713 points

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HOUSE REVIEW

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HOUSE REVIEW

Lovekyn

Following a somewhat reduced schedule of events, 2021/22 saw the House Championship return to its full splendour. With Mr Bartram taking on Queen’s, and Mr Lawrence stepping up to become the new Head of Stanley, the Lovekyn Eagles knew it was going to another hard-fought competition. After being crowned House Champions the previous year, we established a plan to ensure we could remain a strong contender for this year’s race. This was clearly displayed in the First Year MFL Quiz, which saw Lovekyn fighting hard to secure the first win of the season. This was closely followed by some great performances, most notably victories in House Table Tennis, Fourth Year Netball and Third/Fourth Year Boys’ Hockey. In addition, in a highly contested House Dance competition, Lovekyn narrowly missed out on the top spot. The return from Christmas saw Stanley and Queen’s battling it out with Lovekyn in a strong third place. By February half term, the Lovekyn House Captains had calculated that our target was to stay in the top three for each event.

Queen’s

With this in mind, special mention must go to the Senior House football team, led by Alex Clarke, who rose to the occasion and secured victory. Going into to the final term, Queen’s were in the lead, helped by their impressive sporting prowess. Lovekyn wins in Third Year Tug of War and General knowledge were topped with an amazing team performance at Sports Day, where we claimed victory in an array of events and the title of Sports Day winners 2021/22. A special thank you goes to our House Captains, Isabella Walsh-Whitfield, Maddie Prichard and Holly Harrison, for all their efforts in motivating and encouraging people to take part and helping Lovekyn to be one of the best-supported, and competitive, houses. With the incoming House Captains 2022/23 to be announced shortly, we look forward, with vigour, to another year of competition, and the opportunity to claim back the House Championship trophy that we look forward to returning where it belongs – in the Lovekyn nest! Go, Lovekyn! Mr A Beggs, Head of Lovekyn

What a fantastic House Championship it was. With students still feeling the effects of COVID, the Heads of House and Mr Beard worked hard to produce a system that still allowed mass participation towards the beginning of term. Having said that, Queen’s did not quite manage to get off to the start we were expecting, despite some excellent performances in House Dance, a brilliant bridge built in House Technology and some beautiful bees drawn in House Art: somehow, we were still in fifth place by October half-term. House Poetry came along and, with the combined efforts of Rosie Sibley’s brilliant winning poem and another 50 contributions from the rest of Queen’s on the theme of ‘determination’, we were determined to dominate the rest of the competition. Some brilliant results in House Football just before Christmas followed, yet we still remained bottom of the championship. The term ended with us hungry for more. I was amazed by energy as we came back for the Spring term, with Queen’s dominant in almost every event. House Drama saw us climb to fourth with a superb performance across all age groups.

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Stanley

House Ergos and House Photography brought us to third. Tug of War raised us to second but it was our brilliant turnout in House Cross-Country that secured us first place. What a turnaround! By the Summer term, we had amassed a huge lead. The students remained focused on the job at hand, delivering a brilliant performance of Don’t Stop Believing for House Music. Sports Day was a fantastic event and was lovely to see so many students representing the Queen’s crown. Even on the last day of the competition, Alexandria Coen brought in some final glorious points, winning House Entrepreneur, to ensure were in their rightful place at the top of the table with an astonishing 850 points. What a team. A few special mentions must go to the House Captains (Alice Cassidy, Mathilda Kendall, Alex Middleton and Kaveen Samarasena) who worked tirelessly behind the scenes, as well as Zain Ahmad, Sasha Lacey, Silvia Greco and Jemima Jordan who also put in an enormous amount of effort to various events throughout the year. And finally, a thank you to the other houses who have been a pleasure to compete against. Go, Queen’s, and bring on next year... Mr D Bartram, Head of Queen’s

Stanley have had an absolutely stellar year and our trophy cabinet is now full to bursting with resounding victories in House Art, Dance, CCF, Senior Ergos, Senior Tug of War, Junior netball, as well as many notable second places, particularly in Music. Our early victory in House Art was judged to be down to teamwork as well as the creativity we have come to expect from Stanley. The busy bees worked away in collaboration, under the supervision of Sixth Formers Matilda Drewett, Alex Pelling, Fin James, Jemima Fussell, Lilah Tincknell and El Chang to produce a hive of activity, with each Lower School student designing a cell, decorated by bees under the slogan ‘Save the Bees’. Stanley’s top spot on the leader board was consolidated by our victory in House Dance, truly a night to remember. Harrison Tincknell opened the show with a very slick collection of moves to Stormzy’s Big for your Boots followed by the First Year’s Beauty and the Beast piece, the applause nearly taking the roof off the Frayn Theatre.

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Hannah Farrell’s choreography again featured in her wonderfully executed duet with Emily Shepherd, Michael Jackson on Point, which wowed the judges into submission. Special mention too for Lila Skeet who put together a fabulous piece to Beyonce’s Sweet Dreams including an unforgettable cameo by Felix Pluck, the ‘Dreamer’. Another Christmas highlight must be the House Captains at the Christmas Fair. Emily Bryce (Captain) and Vice Captains Sophie Morris and Douggie Bradley entertained the visitors with gusto at their sideshow stalls. Star of the show, though, was Yoseph Mahdi (Captain) who appeared in an inflatable Santa suit to play beat the (Santa) goalie for three hours straight raising money for charity. Unfortunately, the dream of winning the House Cup turned into a bit of a nightmare in the Spring term as a series of sporting losses saw Stanley’s lead ebb away. We must get better at team sport as a house. We may not be the most sporty cohort (I’ve had a word with the sorting hat) but we have some very talented athletes and with a bit of guile and commitment and a full team, we can certainly compete and challenge the sporting stronghold of the more established houses. We just couldn’t keep up on the field and the dual juggernauts of Queen’s and Lovekyn were just too strong to hold off in the end.. Having said that, our rowers, Matilda Drewett, Rosie Symons and Alex Pelling supported by Ffion Rowe and Tom Morris, pulled off a stunning victory in the Senior Ergos, beating Queen’s by six hundredths of a second! Then, joined by Sophie Farrell, Matthew Mace, Douggie Bradley, Fred Mills, Issy Rosser, James Sadler and Yoseph Mahdi (as an immovable anchor man), we once more beat Queen’s in a hard-fought Tug of War final.

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Taverner

In the Summer term, House Music was another glorious night for Stanley with Directors Lila Skeet, Luis Knowles and Matthew Jolly winning the Small Ensemble with their drum-driven jazz band, playing Caravan, featuring a highly polished brass section of Sophie Farrell, Rosa Snow and Judah Brackin. We were just edged out by Taverner on the night, but Luis’s Night and Day was a big hit with the audience, as was the Choir’s sweet rendition of Here Comes the Sun. We certainly have some shining stars of the future coming through the Lower School and this was most evident on Sports Day when Olivia Klein (‘the bullet’) smoked the opposition in the sprints, smashing all known records. Supported in the relays by James Croston, Max Taylor, Amy Hassan, Tom Dragne, Chloe Verdult and Holly Milnes and the rest of the squad, 1S won their year group competition, a sign of things to come. Participation levels in the Lower School have been fantastic and particular thanks go to those magnificent students who have participated in seven or more events: Bella Brunati, Lily Buchanan, Faye Feng, Varia Karmalito, Emily Webber, Kitty Carol, Philippa Ivory, Allegra Kelly, Angela Oliva-Velez Segura and Melody Moppett. 3S did us proud with Nathaniel Butcher, Orson Griffith, Grace Goold, Harry Lipscomb, Josie Hill, Jago Marton, Iarina Nacu, Lauren Proddow, Abigail Sturge and Audrey Shepherd leading the way. In the Middle School for 4S, Maya Buchanan shone out along with Judah Brackin, Noah Dyson, Oli Kemp, Freddie Steel, Mishka Grewal, Izzy Reilly, Angelina Remisio and in 5S Hannah Farrell, Emily Shepherd, Tilly Cairney-Leeming, Tom Morris, Lucas Eley and Ffion Rowe were superstars too.

I was very pleased too that the spirit of Stanley came through in the Commendations League in which we came first or second each term, reflecting the hard work and heart of our students. Stanley is gradually ascending the leader board and this year’s placing of third (missing out on second by two points) is our highest yet and shows that our newly formed house is now established and a force to be reckoned with; even the great Lovekyn had to make a desperate lunge for the line in order to get past us and having them celebrate a second-place finish shows us how far we have come. Thanks so much to the previous Heads of Stanley, Miss Brackley and Mr Gee, for building this foundation, to the Stanley Form Tutors – Miss Collins, Miss Kaur, Mr O’Collins and Mr Connor – and to the outgoing Captains, particularly Yoseph Mahdi who really gave it his all. We look forward to formally announcing the new team early in the Autumn term. Congratulations to Queen’s on the win and thanks to all the houses and Mr Beard for the competition and fun. Mr H Lawrence, Head of Stanley

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Muhammad Ali once said, “Even the greatest have to suffer sometime.” Despite coming last overall, 2021/22, 2021–22 was a year filled with great outcomes and performances for the mighty Taverner Bears, even if the scoreboard might not suggest it. We can be proud of what we accomplished and how much enthusiasm and dedication there was along the way. Thanks to the spirited devotion from First Year students right out of the gate, Taverner had early momentum. With victory in Table Tennis (thanks to Isaac Clark, Wilf Fox-Robinson, Euwan Tan and Izzy Tasker), and significant contributions in House Dance (including a super The Lion King group piece and a moving duet featuring Connie le Huray and Izzy Tasker), our youngest students certainly helped Taverner achieve its respectable thirdplace finish. House Dance also featured a wicked small group piece performed by Indy Catford, Tess Helbing, Joseph Oxborrow, Emily Smith and Lottie Wellman, and a powerful hip-hop solo piece from Ava Dent. Special thanks go to Leela Siebert-Patel and Alicia Bramwell for choreographing the group pieces.

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Walworth

The Autumn term continued with gusto thanks to further enthusiastic contributions from the Taverner Juniors. The First and Second Year boys smashed the competition to win U12 House Hockey, and 1T gave a commendable performance to achieve second place in the First Year House Football. The Taverner Seniors took the baton at the end of the term and came a close second place in the House CCF competition. By the end of term, the Brown Bears were ready for hibernation, which unfortunately resulted in a rather un-bear-able Spring term. However, despite many fourthand fifth-place finishes, there were noteworthy exceptions. House Drama – a Taverner favourite – saw the brainchild of Tomas Caldon, Joe Dudgeon and Victoria Purnell come to life under the theme of resurrection and the direction (and acting!) of Leela Siebert-Patel and Alicia Bramwell. Joining them in the cast were Anfisa Betts, Woody Griffith, Connie le Huray, Sophia Raza, Izzy Tasker, Emilie Wellman, Thomas Ahearn, Indy Catford, Tarun Desai, Emily Smith, Jemima Stuart and Hannah Topen. Our third-place finish in House Drama was a breath of fresh air, as was the third-place result in the hard-fought U15 Girls’ Hockey, in which the tenacity and athleticism of a Third/Fourth Year team composed mainly from First and Second Year players shocked opponents. Supporting Lottie Wellman and GK Hannah Topen were Connie le Huray, Antonia Ridley, Ella Tallantyre, Izzy Tasker, Emilie Wellman and Aisha Kalaiyalahan. The same First Year girls who competed in the U15 Girls’ Hockey also helped to lead Taverner to another third place-finish, this time in the First Year House Netball. Incredible teamwork was on display from them and Anfisa Betts, Ellen Jackson and Qiangqiang Wang. The lone victory this term came in the Senior House Hockey competition thanks to the grit

and determination of Johnny Barr, Conor Carnegie-Brown, Mikey Eldridge, Ben Sporleder, Teddy Warner, Harrison Lloyd, Jolie Hodgson, Katie Mullally, Elsie Callen, Marcus Merritt and Sophie Wood. Sadly, by the final term, Taverner had fallen to the bottom of the pack but that did not stop us from finishing on a high note. After impressive victories in Junior House Cricket (shout-out to team manager Erin Lawson-Smith) and Second Year House Tennis (thanks to Jonah Callen, Sami Ghusayni, Rhea Nayak and Rania Shittu), Taverner stunned a packed Michael Frayn Theatre to win House Music. Toby Ison’s beautiful rendition of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 5 in C minor on the piano, won best solo and other highlights included an enchanting cover of Train’s Drops of Jupiter sung by Alicia Bramwell and backed up by Jasmine Moher on bass, Catherine O’Shea on guitar and Joseph Oxborrow on cello; and a dazzling performance of George Michael’s Freedom! ’90 featuring the above ensemble plus Lizzie Clark (vocals) and Tess Helbing (piano), Tarun Desai (guitar) and Leon Brierly (drums). Special recognition goes to Emily Smith, Indy Catford and Hannah Topen who not only sang in the large group performance but also stepped up to direct. When Taverner were presented with their trophy after the show, the Head Master said something that perfectly encapsulates Taverner’s promising future: the talent and dedication on display from the Lower and Middle School students especially bodes well for some strong performances in years to come! Of course, I would be remise not to recognise my fearless House Captains, Joe Dudgeon and Marcus Merritt and Vice Captains Heertthana Peterarulthas, Sophie Wood and Alex Currie. My sincere thanks for everything you have done for Taverner, and best wishes in your onward endeavours! Mr N Casasanto, Head of Taverner

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It has been wonderful to see the full range of house competitions back in play this year. Walworth have, as always, given their all. House Dance saw fantastic performances from a group of Third Years in a number from the film Coco, and Teva Hogarth stole the show in the Sixth Form Abba number. James Don-Wauchope wrote a brilliantly original script for House Drama on the resurrection of life post-Covid, something the House Competition has definitely had this year! We were pipped to the post in House Art, our outstanding cut-out tiger highlighting the issue of deforestation. Our small team of savvy Second Years won House Technology with a bridge that could hold many times more than its own weight. On the sporting field we won Junior Table Tennis and House Tennis and fought like tigers in the Tug-ofWar to ensure a three-way tie, not to mention an outstanding second place overall at Sports Day. As Head of House, I am enormously proud of everyone who has taken part this year. Special thanks to our House Captain Team of Annie Roux, Bea Page and Freddie Pflanz. With the effort and determination everyone puts in, I feel sure our time will come! Onwards, Walworth, onwards! Mrs R Wakely, Head of Walworth

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TRIPS

The land of fire and ice

What a lovely feeling it was to finally, after two years, be able to take a group on a trip, and to one of the world’s most incredible destinations, no less.

Our party of excited Third Years and staff set off on the first day of the Easter holidays, positively bubbling over with excitement. Even the ‘changeable’ weather could not dampen our spirits as we arrived in Reykjavik to typical Icelandic weather, blustery and cold with rain never far away. Our jovial guide, Helgi, kept us entertained as we whizzed along the empty roads along the coast. Our first stop was the sulphur springs at Gunnuhver followed by time at the Bridge Across the Continents to witness the plate boundary in action. At the evening light started to fall, we passed the Fagradalsfjall, a new volcano, and saw for ourselves the makeshift infrastructure quickly put in place to support the volume of tourists now pouring into this area. After dinner in Selfoss, we retired to the games room for a few frames of pool before going off to bed, ready for the day ahead. On a cold and crisp second day we drove up to Thingvellir to investigate the dramatic plate boundary, as well as the location of much of the Games of Thrones filming. We looked closely at the ropey lava strewn across the landscape and witnessed where the world’s earliest parliament met. This was followed by a real trip highlight – swimming in the Secret Lagoon, a gorgeous open-air geothermally heated pool where we bathed in wonderfully warm water whilst the outside air temperature was crisp and cold.

A quick trip to a local ice cream farm followed, for blueberry ice cream with an incredible view. We then drove to see the geysirs erupting every five minutes before ending the day at the massive waterfall at Gulfoss. A short drive down the coast to the southernmost tip and we reached our hotel for the night.

The blustery cliffs at Dyrholey and the stunning black sand beach were our first destination on day three. Wind speeds here were epic and we got a real sense of the power of the Atlantic Ocean. We then went into the town to visit a new attraction, the Lava Show. Here, recently collected lava from the new volcano was heated up to become molten rock – a wonderful experience to see.

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Back on the road we visited the two major waterfalls in this area – Skogafoss and Seljaldnsfoss – experiencing their power and sheer size. We walked behind them and up to them – everyone, of course, getting absolutely drenched! The final day dawned and it was time to start heading back to Reykjavik but not without stopping at the amazing Solheimajokull glacier where we went glacier walking and ice climbing up a sheer wall of ice. We were able to see the full impact of climate change on this retreating glacier and appreciate the size and scale of the glacier itself. In the gorgeous afternoon light, we drove back to Reykjavik, stopping on the way to stroke some pretty Icelandic thoroughbred horses as well as squeezing in a trip to the new volcano – this being so new the lava was still steaming in places, with geologists near the crater studying the sulphur and mineral levels. Arriving in Reykjavik we had an hour of sightseeing before our final dinner of the trip at the Hard Rock Café. We then retired to bed early as our breakfast was at the eye-wateringly early time of 3am ready for our dawn flight home. This was a fantastic trip with a superb group of students. The scenery never ceases to amaze and the things we saw and experienced were amazing. Thank you to the staff who assisted – the Head Master, Mr Cooper, Mrs Sherwood, Mr House and Miss Kaur – and here’s to the next trip to this magical island. Mrs S Humphrey, Deputy Head

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Outward bound to... Aberdovey, Wales The end of June saw the First Year head to North Wales for five days of adventure and challenge...

The week was based around the theme ‘Dig deep and see the reward’ which was a mantra that came alive as the week progressed. Some students succumbed to a sickness bug – never ideal – but quickly recovered and most were back with their teams within 24 hours. The week was tough and included a night under canvas for most, some in tents, some in bivvies on the beach. Some of the bivvies survived the rain, others… well, there were a few damp sleeping bags and students hiking back to base after a night in the wilds! There is no doubt that all the students (and staff) faced numerous challenges during the week but there were lots of smiles too. Each staff member who was linked to a group said how proud they were of their group. Well done, First Year! A tough, challenging and demanding week. You did it! Mr P Simmons, Assistant Head of First Year

The Outward Bound trip was the best trip I have ever been on. With the help of the instructors who are supportive and caring I achieved things that I never knew I could do. Wales really made me embrace having such a good and kind group of friends and classmates, who you can lean back on if in need. Leander Young

I enjoyed climbing the wall: you really had to trust your group. The mountain climb was a real achievement even though I had some falls! Archie Whyte

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I learned a lot from the week, especially that it is easier to do things when you work together. Hannah Price

By the end of the trip I had become close friends with those in my group, so that is a real bonus. Arlo Godwin

With every challenge we supported each other, and it was a perfect way to end my first year at KGS. Wilf Fox-Robinson

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Outward bound to... Loch Eil, Scotland Having missed out the year before, Second Year students travelled to North West Scotland as they undertook their Outward Bound week on the glorious shores of Loch Eil.

The students had a fabulous week immersing themselves in the physical environment and learned many new skills from abseiling and raft building to orienteering and wild camping.

When asked what they had learned over the week, students said...

Over the course of the week, students grew in confidence and ability and it was lovely to see how they supported each other and increased their levels of resilience and positivity.

... why it’s crucial to support others through difficult activities

Mrs L Macfarlane, Head of Second Year

... put up a tent quickly ... cook without electricity ... the importance of teamwork and collaboration with others

... how important resilience is, because you always must keep pushing even if the situation is getting hard ... that patience is vital because not everyone will work at the same pace ... that you don’t need to worry about the small things and that being without a mobile was easy!

Their advice for next year’s students: Try everything you can because you won’t get this opportunity again Bring snacks! Bring long trousers so that you don’t get eaten alive by midges

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Fieldcraft, navigation and ceremonial duties: another great year for the CCF Capt. A Beggs, Head of CCF

It began with an amazing win in the London District Brigade schools’ competition, which was held at the National Cadet Training Centre, at Frimley Park, Surrey. The contingent took part in a variety of cadetbased activities and not only did we win best section but we also won the overall prize for the day as the best in the London area, which at the last count, was around 51 schools with CCFs. This was topped with the highest average attendance on parade nights in recent times. We started off the year welcoming CFAV UO Parry and UO Chen to the contingent, along with a large group of new recruits ranging in age from the Third Year to the Upper Sixth. They started their basic training cadre, whilst the Fourth Years began with their Junior NCO cadre (an insight into leadership), which would allow them the opportunity to attaining the rank of Lance Corporal. The Fifth Year cadets continued to hone their leadership skills as JNCOs, along with the Lower Sixth starting their all-important senior NCO cadre preparing them to enter the Sergeant’s Mess. The contingent is led by the extremely competent Upper Sixth Colour Sergeants and Warrant Officers. Our first event was Crown Court Service in September, guarding the way for the mayor and judges to come, as well as sitting in on the service.

The sermon, given by a judge, was extremely insightful and it was a great day with clement weather to introduce the new recruits to the ceremonial duties of the CCF. In October, we embarked on our Recruit Camp, where cadets spent a day improving their skills in fieldcraft, drill and skill-at-arms, before the famous exercise at Longmoor ranges where we saw L Cpl. Phoebe Bowen show her skills as best recruit. We also saw Sgt. Alex Currie lead his section to the best section award, and Sgt. Adam Nasir awarded best NCO. Recruit Benny Margetts won the best achievement award, an impressive feat indeed. The platoon was led by the amazing WO2 Douggie Bradley (Pt Cmd.) and WO2 Issy Rosser (Pt Sgt.) who worked hard to keep the camp on track. In November, our contingent had the best turnout ever for Remembrance Sunday, something everyone who took part should be very proud of. The humbling and inspiring stories of our fallen soldiers was well met by not only our contingent, but a healthy crowd of former servicemen and servicewomen, youth groups and the general public. Thank you to Sgt Alexi Cross for his beautiful rendition of The Last Post at our school assemblies: he was supported by several members of the Contingent who led the assembly overall. Later in the month, our RAF cadets performed well at the Air Squadron Trophy competition, led by WOs Zain Ahmad and Marcus Merritt. In December, cadets got their first chance to shoot live rounds at the Junior Range Day. The final parade of the year saw Stanley House, with their lone Sgt. Ben Reilly, win House CCF, in what proved to be, yet again,

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a very highly competitive competition. The new recruits also marched off as full cadets and we ended the year with a well-deserved celebration at the end of parade. Well done to everyone! The new year offered yet more opportunities for the cadets to continue their cadet experience. The first of these was the range camp in February which allowed them to hone their skill at arms and marksmanship skills that they had been working on during Friday parades. The camp was a great success with several of our cadets finally obtaining their marksmanship classification, something that is very difficult to achieve, with the pass mark set extremely high. Upon the cadets’ return, they embarked on a course of navigation in addition to brushing up on their first aid skills and finishing their Junior and Senior NCO cadres. Following the successful completion of both high calibre leadership courses, the contingent was able to hold a large promotion ceremony with many of the cadets obtaining their next level of proficiency. It has been a very successful year for the CCF and one the cadets have relished.

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Christian Union

Mr C Wenham, Head of Christian Union

The Christian Union at KGS has continued to be very blessed over the past academic year. Meetings for Second, Third and Fourth Year, along with Sixth Form, have continued to thrive, with around 30–40 students in attendance each week across the four meetings. We have looked at various topics and books of the bible including Exodus, Daniel and Prophecies from the Old Testament, to the gospel of Luke, Ephesians and 1 Peter in the New Testament. JCU Houseparty at Easter took us to Letton Hall in Norfolk for the usual staple of fun, games and Bible study. We enjoyed a fantastic afternoon on the beach, a wonderful time on the go-kart track, with hotly contested head-to-head races, and a pool party at the local leisure centre. The theme of the whole weekend was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and so as well as watching the film we spent our Bible study sessions investigating the biblical themes that CS Lewis, the author, drew upon when writing the Chronicles of Narnia. It has, however, been a bittersweet year for the CU as we took the decision not to run our traditional summer camp. The leadership team is keen to rebuild this wonderful KGS institution and is discussing what it might look like in the summer of 2023.

As we look forward, we also look back, and I felt it appropriate to reflect upon part of the leaving speech given by Louise Rhys – a Maths teacher and CU supporter – who leaves KGS this year:“When I think about my time at KGS, inevitably I start thinking about legacy. My previous headteacher encouraged students to recognise that twinned with privilege comes an obligation to give back to their school, their community and their world.

On arrival at KGS, therefore, I was primed to think about our legacy and what the ideal KGS student might look like. At the end of my first year I went on the Christian Union camp, and met Katy Tugwell, an Old Kingstonian just a bit younger than me. Although she had passed through the school many years before, here she was, returning each year to offer our students a brilliantly unique experience.

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Katy would oversee the encampment of a large group of us in a field by the coast, completely taking on the care of our students for a week: helping to feed them, keep them clean, sorting out their squabbles and introducing them to CU Camp traditions. Katy had used her impressive KGS education to become a social worker, to get involved in her local church and to give back to KGS every year on camp. I could see she had an iron-clad faith in her ability to make a difference in her community. There are certainly other professions and hobbies where she might have achieved more acclaim or been more richly rewarded for her efforts but instead she chose to make the biggest difference that she could. Katy is part of a KGS legacy that started long before I got here – and will continue long after I am gone.” Katy is one of many former students who, year on year, have given considerable time and energy to making CU Camp happen. So, as we look to the future and plan how to refresh and rebuild the CU trip model that has been so successful in previous years, we also look back with thankfulness on the contributions of the volunteers who have so enriched the lives of our KGS students.

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Young Enterprise

Mr AJ Beard, Assistant Head & Head of Young Enterprise

Young Enterprise exists to encourage the development of entrepreneurial and business skills and this year’s cohort followed on from the success of last year’s group by fully immersing themselves in the challenge. Having allocated director roles, determined a company name (Kingston Osiris) and raised some initial capital via the selling of shares, the group set about their first project which involved the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of cork coasters. The company sourced and purchased a large role of cork and began the process of ‘burning’ in designs using the laser cutter in the DT Department. This proved to be more difficult than anticipated, with one of the first challenges being how to get the cork sufficiently flattened, something which appeared easier than it was. Thereafter, the laser cutter proved slow, meaning that the number of coasters produced was lower than expected and a large part of the cork role remained unused. At the PSA Christmas Market in December, the group had their first opportunity to sell the product. In order to raise additional revenue and make up for some of the loss on the cork, they determined to also hire out access to an Occulus VR Headset, which proved popular and demonstrated the ability of the group to think and act in an agile manner, raising additional capital to put towards the second project.

In the Spring term, the company determined to dispense with the manufacture of the coasters. Even with the use of the laser cutter, the process was too long and labour intensive, with profit margins too small to justify the effort expended.

An important part of business is recognising when you have made a mistake and when to cut your losses...

An important part of business is recognising when you have made a mistake and when to cut your losses: Kingston Osiris should be credited with having the confidence and courage to move on, rather than continue with a business plan which was ultimately much more challenging than they had originally anticipated.

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Instead, the group determined to develop a range of hand-painted terracotta pots which they sold under the name of House of Terracotta. These were made in multiple designs and proved popular with buyers both at the Kingston Trade Fair in February and at the Spitalfields Trade Fair in March, with the remaining stock being sold during a pre-Mother’s Day lunchtime ensuring that not only were all the shareholders repaid, but the profit generated from their efforts was paid as a dividend too. All in all, a successful venture! My thanks go to Suze Drew, who once again volunteered her time as our Business Adviser and to Mrs Collins who also supported sessions and accompanied students to Spitalfields Market. The KGS Young Enterprise Group for 2021–22, Kingston Osiris, was: Martha Le Huray, Hattie Fowkes, Riya Nathan, Adam Nasir, Jacob Watkins, Jack Jeynes, Pranay Malhotra, Paul Adams, Rohan Korpal, Ben Stancliffe, Cristobal Arraya and Toby Collins.

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Farewell to... ‘Mrs P’ Mr SR Lehec, Head Master

It is often remarked, in jest, that Carol wasn’t Duncan’s first choice for the role and that he called her having been turned down by another candidate. Whilst it may appear fortuitous for us that things turned out that way, what we all know is that at the time, no-one really thought Carol would accept as she was far too over-qualified and elegant to work in a school, so it had to be offered elsewhere. But, as the legend goes, even the other candidate knew that Carol was the better person for the role.

At the end of the Spring term, KGS lost some of the ‘glue’ that helps to hold us all together, as Carol Pink – simply ‘Mrs P’ to many – retired after 17 years of dedicated service as the Head’s PA. Carol joined the School on 18th August 2005 having had stints at St Catherine’s and Buckingham Primary School after beginning her career as a Law Clerk at New Scotland Yard. All that experience, and more, would help her and all those she worked with including four Heads, beginning with Duncan Baxter who had the wisdom to employ Carol, Sarah Fletcher, Mark Wallace and, ultimately, me.

Carol was always ready to help and support anyone. Her self-effacing, dedicated and unflappable persona became an essential element of what helped to make KGS tick so successfully.

How lucky I was to find her in post when I arrived in 2014. Her knowledge, calmness and enormous commitment to the School and her position allowed me to find my feet and get on with the busy life of being Head Master at KGS without ever having to worry about being in the right place at the right time with the best information at my disposal. Carol took care of all of that and was, in short, indispensable.

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As the last eight years have flown by it has transpired that her dedication and indispensability didn’t just apply to me but included other members of the Executive team and many other staff. Carol was always ready to help and support anyone. Her self-effacing, dedicated and unflappable persona became an essential element of what helped to make KGS tick so successfully. This was never more apparent than during the period of the pandemic and successive lockdowns. Carol suffered her fair share of difficulties during the two years but was always on hand to support, either in school or remotely. The myriad of messages and notices that went out often had Carol’s unseen hand in the proof-reading and the sending, helping to ensure that our community held together in the toughest of times. I could be trite and say that I will miss Carol’s ability to make the perfect coffee, or that her capacity to deal with my pedantry and frustration, forewarning others or pretending that she simply hadn’t heard what I said before I corrected myself, all helped to make us such a winning team. These things would be true. But it is probably more important to say that I shall never forget her kindness and commitment to me and to my family, that I shall always be in awe of her organisation and her patience, and that Kingston Grammar School, including the many staff, parents and students who encountered her, will never forget the debt it owes to Carol for her many years of incredible service. She was always Carol, or Mrs Pink, rarely – if ever – simply the Head’s PA and she was always our number one.

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Yes, Chef!

New staff, 2022/23 A warm welcome to the staff joining KGS this term.

Mr D Leen, Director of Finance & Operations

Challenges over the years don’t get much more dramatic than the day a power cut forced him to ‘hijack’ the delivery lorry to take whatever was on board and make up a menu for that day’s lunch, although he says he will also remember constantly having to fend off the PE staff not just from ‘seconds’ but ‘thirds’ every lunchtime!

Ben Gardner, Assistant Groundsman Rae Ann Faiz, Mathematics George Cummings, English Alexander Henderson, Psychology William Bohanna, Head of Economics Louise Andrew, Head of Classics

Jerry Bausor joined KGS in 2007 having previously worked in hotels and higher education. As Chef Manager, he oversaw all catering operations at school including the Dining Hall, Hawkes Cafe and Ditton Field, with provision ranging from breakfast and break-time bites to lunch, match teas, hospitality and functions. Special memories include serving 1,000 Christmas lunches each year to happy staff and students, Theme Day menus (Korean fried chicken was a firm favourite with students) and devising a menu for a Medieval banquet to celebrate 700 years of the Lovekyn Chapel.

Challenges over the years don’t get much more dramatic than the day a power cut forced him to ‘hijack’ the delivery lorry to take whatever was on board...

Away from the kitchen, Jerry competed in paintballing and was a member of the team that won the Amateur European Championship in 1994. He also had an abiding love of music and was part of a punk band at the age of 16. Music’s loss was our gain, though. Jerry says he will miss watching the students grow up over the course of their time at KGS…but certainly won’t miss the 4am starts! Retirement plans include spending more time in Spain and dreaming of a return to the glory days for Manchester United. He will be much missed by students, staff, the PSA and his team and together we wish him a long and healthy retirement.

Fabiano Geron, Computing Maisie Ireland, Visiting Music Teacher – Oboe Irem Albayrak, Economics Annabel Lawrence, Learning Support Assistant Sawsan Elbireer, Learning Support Assistant Kirsty Chaplin, Visiting Music Teacher – Piano Alexandrea Phoenix, PE Rachel Hill, Biology Tim Hughes, Deputy Director of Finance & Operations Maryna Rusinova, EAL Assistant David Brent, Sports Coach Callum Mackenzie, Hockey Coach Tom McCarthy, Hockey Coach Jordan Lewis, Music Intern James Hall, Hockey Intern

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From the Common Room After another academic year of Covidrelated disruption, we started the new school year excited for ‘normal’ life and were pleased to welcome many new teachers and support staff.

14 new members of teaching staff joined us. Megan Parry and Saba Hassan to Maths, Laura Hruska to Geography and Misia Collins to History. Victoria Paterson joined Classics and Anubhav Gautam joined Computing. We welcomed two new trainee teachers – Amy Clarkson in Chemistry and Laura Emm in DT.

14 new members of teaching staff joined us...

A new Assistant Head, Nick Hudson, joined us from City of London Boys. Nick is an English teacher and has responsibility for several key areas as well as the Sixth Form. Jacqueline King joined the Learning Support Team. Two new Language Assistants joined: Patricia Hermosa in Spanish and Giulia Pepe in Italian. Claire Findlater, a visiting flute teacher, started with us, along with a new music intern, Isabella Bartlett. Within Sport we welcomed a new Director of Sport, Andy Watts, who joined us from Magdalen College in Oxford, together with several new coaches – Kirsty Allan, Matt Brown, Aurora Mears, Josh Browne, Jamie O’Connell, Adam Buckle, Jason Stiff and Braydon Dixon. Daniel Vavrecka joined Drama as a Theatre Technician. Finally, we welcomed back Ricky Rim, an Upper Sixth leaver, as a temporary science technician.

As the Autumn term progressed, we welcomed a new Deputy Head Groundsman to the team – John Reilly – and a new member of the Bursary Team, Laura Wilson. At the end of the term we said ‘au revoir’ to Clement Bequignon in MFL and farewell to Emma Cuthbertson in Biology and Laura Hruska who moved to the south coast with her family. January saw more new starters: Sarah Finnegan in Biology, Rachel McCulloch in Geography and Amy Maclean in French and German, along with sports coaches Jason Moriaty, Cameron Mackenzie and David Brent.

At the end of the year, we said sad goodbyes to a number of teaching staff...

Gareth Humphreys started as a new visiting bassoon teacher and Francesca Bern joined as a Music Intern. Jim McClenaghan popped back for a couple of weeks in the Maths Department to cover staff absence and Emma Dawson joined us as a Copy Editor. At Easter, Ann Millar moved on from the Admissions Department and was replaced by Jules Day. In Marketing, Thea Phillips joined us as the new Head of Marketing and Rani Deshpande began maternity cover for Natalie Man. Three new sports staff, Aaron Watson, Gareth Townsend and Victoria Wright, also joined.

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We said goodbye to the Head Master’s PA, Carol Pink, after more than 17 years of service to the school and welcomed Susana Warne to take on her role. Pirjo Singer, our new School Counsellor, began and a new HR and Executive Assistant, Philippa Charlton started. Finally, we welcomed Gina Domnica as a new cleaner. At the end of the year, we said sad goodbyes to a number of teaching staff: Daisy Collins in English, Matt Cooney in Classics, Harriet Hunt in RP, Chris Hill and Louise Rhys in Maths, Seb Symington and Angus Brown in Economics, Sandra Corcoran in Learning Support and Sarah Finnegan in Biology. Facilities Manager John Farmer left us this term after 13 years and his deputy, James Davies, also left. Last but by no means least, Jerry Bausor, our Catering Manager, hung up his chef’s hat. Jerry has fed us all so well over the last 19 years and we will miss all the delicious food. We welcomed Paul Lynch to KGS as our new Head Chef. Throughout the year we were delighted to welcome the following staff babies – Felix to Harriet Hunt, Lola to Amy Angell, Rupert to Matt Daly and Teddy to Natalie Man. Congratulations to them all, and to ex-members of staff Ellie Varley and Chris Edwards who welcomed baby Imogen. Anthony Fitzgerald and Jack Daley had weddings during the year and congratulations also go to Daisy Collins and Dave Bartram who got engaged. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard at KGS: we all wish you well in your new roles and places of work.

AND FINALLY...

And finally... Welcome to the Class of 2029 #workwellandbehappy

Aram Adams Anna Barker Conor Barr Zayn Bashar Luke Bowyer Kye Brown Daniel Callaway Michael Case Lam Lam Chan Zaki Chomoko Dharma Chopra Tara Clayton Florence Coen Emilia Coladangelo Aidan Cua Liliana Cucinotta-Spinelli Lola Curtis Oscar Curtis Thomas Darbyshire Kiera Davies Dakota De Fonseka Anish Degamber Kiara Duffy Louie Embury Alex Fardon Evie Gardner Jonah Ghodse Alex Giblat Roman Gorczak Alice Greenslade Charley Halliwell Oliver Hamilton Lucia Harbour Mia Henson Amelie Higgin Zachary Hsiao Amelia Hutton Max Huwendiek James Jong Roy Jung Pene Kerton Eren Kilic

Jushin Kim Locky Kirk Lauren Kirk Yasmin Kloihofer Lexi Lacey Pippa Lacey Francesca Laudicina Wilfie Lawrence Eilidh Leishman Thomas Lewis Harrison Lewis Vincent Liao Karnan Maheswaran Tobi Mahr Thusanth Manimaran Michael McGrath Frederik Merlo Seb Merrison Toby Metzgen Zain Moledina Gregor More Ben Murphy Esi Ogowewo Cathy Oh Miguel Olalla-Manji Maxim Osmond Lucas Pardal Chloe Parker Emily Parmenter Eshan Patel Emilia Pennie William Phipps Chloe Pihlens Krish Praveen Josh Randall Daksh Ravendran Aimee Redman Sammy Ridley Emily Roberts Josh Robertson Emily Roscoe Phoebe Ryder

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Luke Samms Riley Sen Jamie Sexton Josh Sharma Mattia Signoretti Florence Stafford Alex Street Lusia Sullivan Sherin Sumar Eleonora Terranova Pippa Thompson Owen Townsend Mavi Turan George Tzortzis Mathies van Herwaarden Jake Veichmanis Phoebe Watts Alex Weatherhead Ellie Weston Sebastian Wheeler Hugo Whyte Florence Williams Alba Wilson Liana Wong Josh Woo

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