KGS Spring 2024 Newsletter

Spring 2024 ALLTHATJAZZ... COMESTOKT2

Bug hotels and bird boxes

February’s monthly focus was sustainability

The concept of sustainable development was first defined in 1987 in the Brundtland Report as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” This has come to include social, economic and environmental sustainability and there is more focus on our relationship with the natural world We are looking at ways we can be more sustainable in our approach towards our environment and encouraging young people to take an active role is vital to ensure its success At KGS we are committed to education around the care of our planet, through lessons, activities and engagement with our wider community

This term we launched two competitions to the Lower School; build a bug hotel and design your own bird box We were delighted to receive so many entries and images of students’ handmade hotels and quirky designs

Bug hotel winners:

Alex and Julien Sharples (1T and 3T)

Alba Wilson (2T)

· Maddie Robinson (3L)

Bird box winners:

Katy Russell (1T)

· Iris Young (1W)

Lucinda Franklin (1T)

· Iwon Min (1T)

These winners will be constructing and painting their bird box designs after the Easter break with the help of the DT and Art departments

Mrs L Macfarlane I Head of Geography

Alumni

1960 - 1969 Celebration Lunch

It was an absolute pleasure to welcome back nearly 50 alumni to our inaugural Decade Lunch for those who left KGS between 1960 and 1969 The day began at a rather wet Ditton Field for coffee with Ben Edwards, Director of Sport, who talked about the sporting life of KGS in 2024 and our plans for the future A number of guests took the opportunity to enjoy the short minibus ride to the KGS Boathouse where Director of Rowing Ed Green showed everyone round our impressive facilities and the glorious stretch of river

Before sitting down to a three-course lunch in the School Hall, guests enjoyed looking at the Prefect boards and old school photographs The Head Master spoke about exciting future developments for the School and thanked those alumni who had remained connected to KGS over the past few decades. A tour of the school from Prefects followed, including areas close to the hearts of many: the 'Cage', CCF block and Dining Hall

It was a memorable day and I would like to thank everyone who came along It was glorious to hear so many stories about their time here, and to learn what a positive and lasting impact KGS had made. We look forward to hosting more lunches in the months to come

Mrs S Humphrey I Deputy Head (Development, Outreach & Partnerships)

Obituary:

Fred Tao (OK 1986)

On 27th January, almost 500 mourners gathered in the Olivier Hall at St Edward’s School, Oxford, to say farewell to Fred Tao who has died aged 55 Throughout the congregation were the red ties, socks and trousers of those who knew Fred at KGS and who had come to reflect on the extraordinary impact this immensely generous man had on the lives of so many

Fred came to KGS as part of a large family that originated in Hong Kong At school he had two passions: the Christian Union (CU) and the Boat Club, passions he retained throughout his life He would often lead the weekly meetings of the CU, during which his deeply held faith became clear For those who knew him, the strongest memories came from the annual camps held in remote fields in southern England Even as thunderstorms darkened the skies and tents collapsed, Fred provided his trademark enthusiasm for evening hymns, putting more emphasis on volume than tone More importantly, though, if someone was feeling homesick or was struggling with something, Fred had a knack of spotting it and providing friendship or support

Fred’s other passion was the KGS Boat Club Initially taking the position of cox, he went on to row in the eight or the four Travelling in the school bus to regattas all over the country, he would shorten the journey by providing a steady supply of jokes and Jaffa Cakes to the rest of the squad Fred was one of the people who generated the camaraderie that turned a sport, rowing, into a club

After leaving school in 1988, Fred spent two years working as an Associate at St Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate trying to decide whether to train as a minister He chose a different path and worked at Lloyds of London but, rather than working out insurance premiums, he would prefer to spend his working day planning menus and guest lists for the weekly 30-person dinner parties that he hosted in a shared house in south London Fred had a knack for creating a community for these guests, going on to meet his future wife, Claire, at such an event

The themes of steadfast cheerfulness, a knack for maintaining communities by putting others before himself and above all generosity of spirit that marked the early stages of his life only became even more apparent later on From the City he went into teaching, first at City of London for Boys and then Pangbourne College before taking up his final berth at St Edward’s Claire was by then also a teacher, eventually rising to become an Executive Head Fred, though, was content to teach and manage two Geography Departments, putting to good use his generosity of spirit and time much to the benefit of countless pupils and fellow colleagues Rowing was also a big part of his life at Pangbourne and St Edward’s; his unique methods of organisation and tendency to hand out Percy Pigs proving to be just the sort of thing that the management of J14 squads required

Indeed, rowing was a major part of his life until the very end Fred died suddenly on the banks of Port Meadow in Oxford, having volunteered to give up extra time to help a crew that would not otherwise have been able to train

At his memorial, the family asked guests to wear Henley attire to reflect Fred’s love of rowing and his incredible contribution and dedication to the sport Each aspect of the uplifting and emotional service spoke to the enormous spirit of a much-missed man

St Edward's School, where Fred worked at the time of death, has launched a memorial fund in his name If you would like to contribute, you can do so here: https://beyondteddies stedwardsoxford org/donat e/the-fred-tao-memorial-fund

Ross Simmonds, OK 2014

British Science Week

Hot on the heels of National Careers Week, students at KGS celebrated British Science Week by immersing themselves in a range of activities.

Science continues to be one of the most popular choices at A Level so this year we were delighted to be able to run various activities to celebrate the beauty and importance of science This dovetailed very nicely with #TECHOGNITION which is a national celebration of technical support staff, recognising the importance of their essential roles in school and college education We have technical staff in: Art, DT, Science, Theatre, Reprographics and IT at KGS

British Science Week (BSW), 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

In honour of BSW, First Year students had the opportunity to send their code up into space to be run on the International Space Station (ISS) Astro Pi Mission Zero is a project run by the European Space Agency, allowing students to control the Astro Pi - a modified Raspberry Pi up on the ISS The young scientists did a great job and were able to not just code an image to be displayed by LEDs on the Astro Pi but also to use an onboard sensor to change the image according to the colour it senses! Having met the criteria of working code, we duly sent it off to the ESA to be sent up to space We look forward to hearing when the program is run for real!

The Biology Department was delighted to welcome students to investigate the structure of a fish and how it 'breathes' Adeptly guided by in the Lower Sixth, students were shown how to dissect a fish, first examining the operculum and then the gills that lie underneath Students were fascinated by the gill structure, examining the gill filaments and lamellae that make up this remarkable organ It was incredible how efficiently fish are able to take in oxygen from water, despite the much lower concentration present than in air

Florian Young

A group of students helped the Chemistry Department investigate the murder of Mr Smith, Head of Science at Queenston High School We analysed ink from a threatening letter, using chromatography to compare it with inks from the suspects’ pens and then analysed footprint residues by flames tests to match them to the suspects’ shoes Alas our time was limited, and we ran out of time to complete a fingerprint analysis, but it certainly looked like Mrs Spark, Queenston’s Head of Physics was probably the guilty party A good time was had by all, learning something about how chemistry can help solve crimes

In Physics our theme was ‘roller coasters’: a roller coaster 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 roller coasters descended from the so-called ‘Russian Mountains’; specially constructed hills of ice located especially around St Petersburg Built in the 17th century, the slides became popular with the Russian upper class Catherine II was such a fan that she had a few built on her own property

Teams from across the school competed to build a roller coaster 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!

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 Whilst Science, alongside Maths and English, is a core subject and experiments form the bedrock of what we do here at KGS, it is nice to have a week set aside where we can promote the beauty of our subject beyond the classroom

British Physics Olympiad

This year, eight students made it through the national A2 Challenge round and sat the Round 1 paper, a three-hour extravaganza of Physics problem solving This paper is designed to challenge a range of knowledge, preparation and ability, and aims to stretch and challenge the top young physicists in the country

Sam Sturge

Congratulations go to Youngseo Wang (Bronze I), and Johnny Barr (Silver) Josh Batchelor, Anas Boulahmi,Ellinor Comard, and Joe Toot all achieved Gold awards, A special mention goes to Stanley Farrant who achieved the final competitors to represent the UK will be selected

placing them in the top 16% nationally a Top Gold placing him in the best 6%

and allowing access to Round 2, from which

A brilliant achievement

Well done to all this year ’ s entrants – you have done yourselves and the Physics Department proud!

Mr I Deepchand I Head of Physics

Please mind the Gap

With the Fifth Year Geography fieldwork trip already having been rescheduled once due to bad weather, we were disheartened to see a similar forecast for our alternative date However, is it even a Geography fieldtrip if you don’t pack waterproof trousers, jackets and a change of socks?

The students were in East Sussex to collect data to consider the question ‘How successful are the coastal defences in Seaford?’ Along the seafront they conducted bi-polar analysis of the sea defences and spoke to the small number of people also braving the rain to ask their prepared questions, made sketches and measured the sediment either side of the groyne In the afternoon we travelled to Birling Gap In contrast to Seaford, here the coastline is not defended but is being managed through ‘managed retreat’ This strategy was made clear by the slow removal of the old coastguard cottages and the National Trust Café as the sea claims more of the chalk cliffs As the weather eased, we walked to the lighthouse and the top of the cliff but unfortunately the heavens opened again on the way down and students were soaked through

The students were stoic in the wet and cold weather throughout the data collection, ensuring they returned with useful data

A big thank you to Miss Hurley, Mr Hammond, Mrs Lett and Mr Gardner for their support and good spirits

Mrs L Macfarlane I Head of Geography

Community Service

Primary Maths Challenge mentoring

“I enjoy the weekly mentoring sessions with the primary school pupils; they are fun and it’s nice to be able to help develop their problem-solving skills Being a mentor has challenged me: I’ve had to be patient and really think back to basics when explaining something but I thoroughly enjoy it!”

Sebastian Cockerell

Reading Buddies

This term 21 Lower Sixth students completed their training and began volunteering as reading buddies for pupils at St Joseph’s Primary School

“I felt that I wanted to translate my own passion and value for learning to younger students through helping to improve their reading skills In return I get to see their reading improve and feel that I have contributed as an educator ”Jonathan Duguid

St Stephen’s Cooking

31 Lower Sixth students have been volunteering to support the St Stephen’s Drop-In, where they prepare a hot meal for 40 people in the local community who are experiencing food poverty This term they have cooked meals including a chicken korma, a vegetable curry and a delicious Italian stew

Afternoon Tea

This term we hosted two tea parties in Hawkes for residents of local care homes Students from the Second Year were invited to volunteer to help by baking cakes and/or chatting to, and playing games, with our guests The bakers did a superb job, and the visitors thoroughly enjoyed a second (or even third!) slice of cake

Our guests were served tea and homemade cakes whilst being entertained with some beautiful music played by

Lilliana Cucinotta-Spinelli and Dharma Chopra (piano), Ben Murphy (French Horn), and Liana Wong on the cello with the guests and enjoyed hearing stories from their past Bingo has always been a highlight of the Tea Party and this year was no different; our bingo caller, Thomas Darbyshire, was great and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the game

The students enjoyed wonderful conversations

The students should be very proud of themselves for the way in which they interacted with our guests; they all did a brilliant job, and I am extremely grateful to each of them for giving up their time

Miss V Paterson I Head of Community Service

“I really liked chatting with the visitors: they were kind and had lots of interesting things to say. I also really enjoyed playing the cello for everyone ”

SENIOR SCHOOL PLAY: Chicago

Mr Crohill

Outstanding precision and professionalism

Mrs Humphrey

A mind-blowing show – superb!

Mrs Butcher

The cast were so professional that I had to remind myself this was a school production and not the West End

Mrs Lett

Spellbinding performances!

Mr Cooper

It had all that jazz and more - loved it!

Mrs Vilasoa

A feast for the eyes and ears I thoroughly enjoyed every second

TEENEDITION

Miss Robson

ThiswasthefirstKGSplayIveattended duringmytimehere Thestudentswere trulyamazingandshowedtalentbeyond theiryears Iamalreadylookingforwardto watchingthenextKGSproduction!