Kingswood In Focus 2010/11

focus Kingswood in

2010 - 2011

Contents

Regulars

40

48

SENIOR SCHOOL

19

1 2 4 8 9 10 14 18 26 42 43 44 46 68 69

Letter from the Headmaster Staff News Chapel & Community Exam Results Prize Giving Focus on Modern Foreign Languages Art MUN Performing Arts Friends of KS Eco-Schools Visiting VIPs Sport DT Visit to Williams Cosworth F1 Offices Out & About

Features 19

House Reviews A brief glimpse into life in our ‘Houses’

40

The Kingswood Foundation Summer Ball An evening of exceptional entertainment

48

Sports Tour This years’ trip saw our teams heading to Italy for some sporting action

Regulars

86

92

PREP SCHOOL

76

78 79 80 82 84 87 88 89 93 94

Letter from the Headmaster Staff News Drama & Public Speaking at KPS Performing Arts Art Visiting Authors Eco-Schools Sport Friends of KPS Out & About

Features 76

A Farewell Tribute to the Headmaster The retirement of an eminent Headmaster, Mr Marcus Cornah

86

International Day - A Focus on Africa A celebration of the richness of Africa’s culture and people

92

Play at KPS The grand opening of the new Prep School playground

Kingswood Senior School, Lansdown Road, Bath BA1 5RG T. 01225 734210 E. enquiries@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

Kingswood in Focus 2010 - 2011 Designed by Novum Communications www.novum.co.uk

Kingswood Preparatory School, College Road, Bath BA1 5SD T. 01225 734460 E. kpsreception@kingswood.bath.sch.uk

www.kingswood.bath.sch.uk

Letter from the Headmaster

A Warm Welcome Dear Parents and Friends, It is with much pleasure that I accept the Editor’s invitation to write a few words to introduce the latest edition of Kingswood in Focus.

Putting a school magazine together is no easy task and I am indebted to Peter Clarke for not only agreeing to take on this new editorial role, but for carrying it out with a subtle mixture of tenacity, good humour, tact and, I suspect, occasional coercion. He has worked closely with Angela Dudley-Warde, our Director of Marketing and Development, to produce a fine record of the school year and I do hope you will all find something of personal interest in the pages which follow.

I should add that one of the greatest advantages which this new editorial role has brought is the lessening of the burden on my long-suffering Personal Assistant, Sally Johnston, on whom the lion’s share of the proof-reading has fallen in previous years; she will not thank me for mentioning this so publicly, but I am hugely indebted to her for quietly taking on the many unseen tasks of this type which do not appear in her already extensive job description!

I write later in this issue about Marcus Cornah and his immense contribution to the Kingswood Foundation in a variety of roles over a number of years. Marcus was hugely supportive of the concept of the Foundation and saw, as I do, great strength in the shared ethos between a junior school and its senior counterpart. My point here is that, whilst educating 3 year olds must involve an entirely different approach – and a fundamentally different skill set – to that adopted

I hope the spirit of Kingswood comes through in these pages and that the huge variety of articles – and the style Headmaster Simon Morris with his portrait painted by Eleanor Richardson in which they are written and presented – in some with 18 year olds, the values which underpin the education of both way mirrors a school which seeks to provide plentiful opportunity ends of the Kingswood age range do not need to differ at all. So and breadth, but which above all puts a great emphasis on when I share with pupils a view that we should all be ambitious, individuals and individuality. When we talk about individuals challenge ourselves and test out our comfort zone, I also emphasise and individuality, we need to be clear what we mean, as we are equally that this should be done in an environment which encourages in no way a school which encourages selfish pursuit of individual tolerance, understanding, humility and a real sense of inclusivity. glory or which supports the type of attention-seeking individuality This approach sits very comfortably with our Methodist foundation; which so offends against the community spirit. Rather, we look to it is from this original foundation and the enduring ethos which it treat each member of the community as an individual, but within provides that we have arrived at today’s Kingswood Foundation, a an environment which encourages an acceptance of shared values. community of pupils, staff, parents, governors and friends which Like any good school we seek to inspire, to excite and to challenge seeks to provide the very best for every individual and which, I every single student; we value the kind of individuality which hope, is secure enough in the quality of its provision to embrace says, ‘How can I in my own personal way contribute?’ and, ‘Can I individuals with widely differing interests, aptitudes and aspirations. find my own way of making a real difference?’ I am, incidentally, I thank you all for your support of this very special ethos. always rather confused by the notion that conforming to the norms of a community suppresses individuality; I rather feel that With my very best wishes the structure provided by a community such as ours offers young people a real opportunity to experiment with their individual talents and moreover to share them with others in a supportive and encouraging environment. Add in the crucial ingredient of a liberal approach to education – in the sense of broadening the mind, encouraging debate and promoting a questioning approach Mr Simon Morris – and you have some of the absolutely key foundations of a (Headmaster and Principal of the Kingswood Foundation) Kingswood education.

Kingswood in Focus 1

Staff News

From the Editor’s Desk In 36 years of teaching, in 7 schools across 3 continents, I have managed to do a lot of things, apart from teach.

To mention but a few: I have run bars and folk festivals. I have redeveloped a library and I have been the school garbage collector complete with a tractor and trailer! In that time I have also seen a lot of school magazines, but have never edited one. So, always on the lookout for new challenges, “imagine my delight” (as they might say in Woman’s Own) when I saw that the Headmaster was looking for an editor for Kingswood in Focus. To cut a long story short, I have recently embarked on what could possibly be my final challenge before I retire.

As I am sure you all realise, Kingswood in Focus is now published annually and we want it to be a record of the school academic year. We want it to be the sort of publication that all students will collect during their years at the school. We want Old Kingswoodians to be able to go to the collection in 20 or 30 years time and to be able to find themselves and their school friends, to laugh at what they looked like, to utter things like “I wonder what happened to...” and to start the reminiscing that keeps us all going as we get older.

In the many magazines I have seen down the years, I have realised that, in order to produce a magazine that fits the above mentioned bill, you need to have every student’s picture in there at least once and you need a strong House section. “What house were you in?” is often the first question when you meet another former pupil. The House page is often the one people turn to first. In future editions, I am hoping to include a double page spread on each House that will include the House Photo (that gets everyone’s picture in the magazine at least once!), a House Report and a selection of other photos and articles. In this issue, where space is at a premium, everyone is limited to a single page and I invited each Head of House to put in whatever they wanted to. As a result there is no conformity, but I hope you enjoy the innovation.

Mr Peter Clarke (Editor)

Footnote from the Development Director I find it hard to believe, but it was back in 2002 that Gary Best first asked me to take on responsibility for the publishing of the very first Kingswood In Focus magazine, the aim then, as it is now, is to communicate the richness and diversity of the educational experience here at Kingswood. We spend so much of our time at Kingswood looking forward and planning for the future, however KIF provides a rare opportunity for us to reflect and to record for posterity the many challenges, triumphs and occasional tragedies that have shaped the lives of so many young people who have passed through our front gates. It is perhaps no coincidence that over the years the magazine has grown considerably in size as it continues to record the ever increasing success of our pupils. To all pupils past and present, I hope you continue to enjoy your School magazine.

Best wishes, Angela Dudley-Warde

2 Kingswood in Focus

A Fond Farewell In July, we said farewell to Mrs Best at the end of a most distinguished Kingswood career.

Mrs Best joined Kingswood as a Chemistry teacher in 1987, a small matter of 24 years ago, and in those intervening 24 years she has shown a level of dedication to the school which has been nothing short of remarkable. She has been an inspirational teacher, a perceptive tutor, a highly successful Head of Chemistry, a runner of activities and supporter of much, much more, not least, of course, the Christian ethos of the school.

What makes it even more remarkable is that for the first 21 years of these 24 she also carried out the dual role of headmaster’s wife. This role has no job description, of course, indeed it probably isn’t a job as such, but I do feel qualified to say how important the role is and what an impact it can have on the success of the school. I know that Mrs Best played that role to perfection, understanding just when to be involved and when not.

Perceptive, wise and caring are words that come to mind when thinking about Mrs Best. We wish her well as she joins her husband, Gary, in well earned retirement.

Mr Simon Morris (Headmaster)

Goodbye & Good Luck CAMERON MAIN At the end of the Autumn term we said goodbye to Mr Main, who has decided to take up the opportunity of concentrating on his own work as an artist.

He has been a truly inspirational Head of Art for the past five and a half years and we shall miss him greatly, but we wish him every success as he moves to Devon and, in the first instance, builds his studio!

A Warm Welcome I was delighted to welcome the following new teaching staff this year: Mrs Aimée Bassett to teach Music. She has been a private music tutor in voice, piano and violin since 2007 and is also a freelance mezzo-soprano.

Miss Sarah Brookes as Head of French. Miss Brookes undertook her BA and PGCE at the University of Bristol. Before she joined Kingswood she was Head of French at Frome Community College.

Mr Barnaby Brown as Head of Design Technology. Mr Brown undertook a BSc Hons Ed in Industrial Design at Loughborough University. His most recent appointment was as teacher of Design and Technology at The Edinburgh Academy, having previously taught at Rugby School.

Mr Stephen Brown as Head of Art. Mr Brown joins us from Kent College, Pembury, where he has been Head of Art and an Assistant Housemaster. He obtained a BDes in Ceramics from University of Dundee, Duncan Jordanstone College of Art, and an MA from the Howard Gardens College of Art, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.

Mr Jude Chua to teach Mathematics. Mr Chua was educated at SMK St Joseph, Kuching, Malaysia and Ampleforth College. He has a MMath degree from the University of Bath where he was also a teaching assistant.

Mr Gareth Edgell to teach ICT. He has a BA in Business Studies from the University of Northumbria and a PGCE from Bath Spa University. Following his degree and before deciding to make his career in teaching, Mr Edgell was a group marketing manager and webmaster with Rullion in Altrincham in Cheshire.

Mr Harry Mackridge to teach History and Politics. Mr Mackridge has a History degree from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

He completed his Graduate Teacher Programme at Levenshulme High School in Manchester.

Miss Nadine Robinson to teach French and Spanish. Miss Robinson has a degree in French from Southampton University and a PGCE from Bath University. Most recently she taught French and Spanish at Culverhay School.

Mrs Charlotte Nightingale to teach Science as cover for Mrs Brett’s maternity leave. Mrs Nightingale has a degree in Biological Sciences from King’s College London. She took her PGCE at the Institute of Education, London. She has taught at Latymer Upper School and Chiswick Community School, London.

Mr Simon Morris (Headmaster)

Kingswood in Focus 3

Chapel and the Community

Where Are We Coming From?

The sign on the front gate simply says ‘Senior School Entrance’ – that works for most people. However, you will have to trust me when I say there was some debate about that sign.

The debate surrounded any additional words that describe where we come from. The principal question was….’ Do we call ourselves a Methodist School?’ There is no doubt that those words would have once described our population. John Wesley’s school of 1748 was ‘for the sons of our principal friends’ and to educate ‘according to the accuracy of the Christian model’. In time, it became the place where the sons of poor Methodist ministers had their schooling.

Matters are very different today, at least in terms of the background of the people who work and learn here. Ministers can now create ‘station’ appointments that fit the key stages in their children’s education and, therefore, going to a local school makes good family and financial sense.

In population terms we are now like so many faith schools – attracting a range of people with or without faith. Those who have a Christian faith are not particularly denominationally minded and, if I judge our parents well, their focus is mostly on finding a school that can promote and ‘live’ the values that faith encourages. Those of other faiths take the same view, hence their comfort in placing their children in an overtly Christian place.

So, back to that early question… should the word ‘Methodist’ be in the sign? Some argued for an alternative, namely ‘a Christian Foundation’.

This solved the problems of those who hadn’t a clue about Methodism and those with the misplaced view that we might just be a poor substitute for the Church of England. Those who entered would discover more about our roots once inside. Indeed, if you read the opening pages of the website and prospectus and watch the school DVD, there can be little doubt about where we come from.

In the end, the sign said ‘Senior School Entrance’ and we chose to tell of a school founded on Christian principles, alongside Mr Wesley’s story, in all of our published and posted material.

I take up this theme because, for those within the Methodist fold, questions about the distinctive contribution of Methodism to education are in the air.

So the more important question might not be ‘Where do we come from?’ (in terms of history), but ‘Where are we coming from?’ (in terms of what makes us distinctive and offers potential benefits to our students).

“I believe that those searching for the distinctiveness of Methodism within education will still have something worthy to find.”

At the turn of the Twentieth Century, in a school far more open to boys of non-Methodist families, at least one third of the population were still ‘sons of the manse’…. quite a high percentage of them going on to become ‘Revs’ like their dads. At that time, it made sense for itinerant ministers, required to move to new churches after perhaps two or three years, to lodge their children in a place that gave continuous education. They were paid a pittance, but there was enough help from central Methodist funds to make it workable.

4 Kingswood in Focus

Different Methodist ministers / chaplains will offer different answers.

It needs to be understood that Methodism is a broad church – a part of its appeal. I have had to learn about that span which ranges from a very close approximation to sacramental Anglicanism to something more akin to free evangelicalism with charismatic accompaniments.

Kingswood is a bit more via media but, I hope, hangs on to some of the best bits Mr Wesley put in train.

At the age of 35 he became a convert, had his ‘heart warmed’ and it changed him. Arguably, without that event of 24th May 1738, our tower on the hill would not stand. Therefore, firstly, a personal faith matters. I write in a week when three of our students are about to be confirmed.

We have rehearsed the ‘why?’ of our engagement regularly. This is not the equivalent of a merit certificate from the Headmaster or completion of 25 metres front crawl. Nor is it a ticket for bread and wine. It is a statement of personal faith, made publicly and with conviction, something to be lived as well as said.

Secondly, this faith has to go alongside works. The man said things like…

“Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.”

And…

“Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can” His bias to the poor had justifiable gospel origins. He was no different to many of us, he found it difficult to like unlikeable people, but, he loved them as he was commanded to do so. Fortunate as we are, we are called to be distinctive in our attachment to those who go without.

Thirdly, Methodism allows space for people to be who they want to be. Nothing is more offensive to me than religious arrogance – ‘I am right because my God is better than your God’ should not be heard at Kingswood. Our founder wrote…

‘Think and let think’ and of a Christian… (please forgive his gender bias) ‘while he is steadily fixed in his religious principles in what he believes to be the truth as it is in Jesus, while he firmly adheres to that worship of God which he judges to be most acceptable in his sight, and while he is united by the most tender and closest ties to one particular congregation, his heart is enlarged toward all mankind, those he knows and those he does not. He embraces with strong and cordial affection, neighbours and strangers, friends and enemies. This is catholic or universal love. And he that has this is of a catholic spirit. For love alone gives the title to this character: catholic love is a catholic spirit.’

This focus on acceptance and tolerance is underpinned by the duty of care, particularly in the setting of education. The pastoral imperative and the value of each individual are summed up in his words…

‘Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge’.

So, the value of personal faith; service with a particular eye for the poor and the creation of an environment in which we are sure in what we stand for, but would never want to impose that upon those who would prefer something else; this is where we are coming from.

There is much more to Methodism than my ‘top three’, but I offer them believing that those searching for the distinctiveness of Methodism within education will still have something worthy to find.

Rev. Mike Wilkinson (Deputy Head Pastoral & Chaplain)

Confirmation As mentioned in the main article, on 16th June three of our students were confirmed at Bath Abbey by the Rt Rev. Peter Maurice, Bishop of Taunton.

Charlie Clague, Caolán McConnaughie and Elizabeth Scott are seen pictured with the Bishop by the Abbey’s west doors. Where the hat came from is a mystery to the photographer, but the Bishop’s sense of fun percolated the whole service and all those present came away thinking there can be real joy in declaring what you believe.

Kingswood in Focus 5

Fundraising For Malawi Inspired by the 2010 Malawi trip, the Kingswood community has continued to raise money for the two Open Arms Infant Homes and the various outreach projects associated with them.

In the Autumn term, a group of 55 pupils and staff gave up some of their Sunday to pack bags in Sainsbury’s. Between 11am and 5pm they raised £1,272. At Christmas 46 students and 10 staff gave up some time in the first week of the holiday to pack bags in the Food Hall of Marks and Spencer’s. Between them they packed on four tills, for 6 hours a day, for 6 days and collected a total of £2,043. In March, 53 members of Kingswood went to Sainsbury’s for another Sunday and collected £976.

The annual Market for Malawi brightened up a Friday evening in November. Twenty-six companies came in to school to sell their wares in the Dining Hall, along with several stalls organised by the Malawi team.

There was a big raffle with some great prizes. The evening was very well attended by both pupils and parents and over £4,500 was raised. The BBQ that the catering department put on was a big hit.

The Year 10 and 11 Christmas Ball was another enjoyable evening. The delicious dinner was served by the Malawi team and there was a fantastic raffle and the evening raised £945.

A number of people donated some great books for us to sell in National Book Week, and Malawi bookmarks were available to buy.

During the course of the week £140 was raised.

The annual Charity Jumble Sale took place in the theatre on a Saturday morning in March. The first customer arrived by 8.30am even though the doors were advertised to open at 10am! The stalls ranged from clothes, shoes, toys and books through to DVDs, bric-a-brac, and unwanted presents. Refreshments were available in the foyer along with cakes to take away. The total raised at this event was £1,372.

Luke Stockley and Mollie Dent organised photographs for Mother’s

Sleeping Out Twenty-three students, Mr MacDonald and the Chaplain spent the night of Friday 11th March sleeping in Alice Park in aid of Julian House.

Everyone survived with good cheer and thanks to all those who sponsored them.

Rev. M Wilkinson (Chaplain)

6 Kingswood in Focus

Day and although most pupils were camera shy, the mums of those who were brave enough were delighted with their very personal gifts.

Thanks must go to Mr Duke for organising the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Event. 2640 doughnuts were consumed and this raised £908.

The concert put on by Lucy and Marcus Sealy with Jean Crowther - Music and Words for a Summer’s Evening – was fantastic. The music ranged from French country songs by Poulenc to ‘Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise’ by William Bolcom and the readings ranged from Wind in the Willows to ‘I loathe picnics’ by James Lees-Milne. It was a wonderful evening and raised £1,600.

A number of people picked up bargains at the lost property sale and in the process £130 was collected. Since September we have recycled 1,600kg in the textile bank (which is located in the Lower Astro car park) and this has raised £800 for Open Arms Infant Homes.

The Human Planet Lecture evening, for which we are very grateful to Dale Templar and the Friends of Kingswood, was a huge success and raised £454.

A number of pupils have also shown initiative and set about raising money by babysitting, making cakes and jewellery, holding yard sales, selling pieces of art, organising sweets in a jar, selling ice lollies and doing sponsored events.

During the course of this academic year the Kingswood community has raised over £15,000 and this is equivalent to the monthly running costs of the two Infant Homes. Open Arms is entirely dependent on donations and it is good to think that Kingswood is making a real difference to this charity.

Mrs Jenny Opie

Fairtrade at Kingswood The Fairtrade team was set up within “Eco Schools” in 2010.

Our initial aim was to evaluate the use of Fairtrade products within the school and work towards achieving our official Fairtrade status.

A Fairtrade tuck shop had been established by Mr Wilkinson during the year and the staff room already used Fairtrade tea and coffee when available, so the school had already made a good start.

After our review of the current use of Fairtrade products, we tried to promote their use further through an assembly to the all years in the senior school about the benefits of Fairtrade. We also spoke to the teachers at the Prep School, asking if they could do a similar assembly, and they also had a Fairtrade Harvest Festival in the Autumn term.

This received a very positive response and led to many of the younger pupils enthusiastically encouraging their parents to buy more Fairtrade products.

To receive Fairtrade status we had to ensure that Fairtrade was taught in at least two subjects, in two different year groups. This was achieved in the Prep School in Year 4 and also in Year 11 at the Senior School. In addition, other subjects, such as Economics and Business Studies, discuss Fairtrade issues. The Fairtrade team also worked with the School Uniform Shop, which now sells a Fairtrade cotton sports shirt and is looking for further ways in which clothing can switch to using Fairtrade cotton. The catering department have also tried to use Fairtrade products wherever possible and when their budget allows it.

Doughnuts!

The school community consumed over 2,600 Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Doughnuts in aid of Malawi projects.

The doughnut hunt took place on Sunday with Matthew Jeffery and Sam Morris kindly aiding Mr Duke on this mission after Mr Duke, earlier in the week, had put 220 dozen doughnuts on his credit card. Yes, that is 2640 doughnuts! The eagerly awaited doughnuts had mainly been pre-ordered, but there was a still a scramble for a single, half-dozen and even a dozen on the Monday lunchtime when we opened for business.

Over £900 was raised for Malawi and the money has been ear-marked to continue funding a teacher who is also responsible for training other teachers. Mr Duke wishes to thank all those pupils who went on last year’s trip to Malawi, for helping to pre-sell and sell on the day, as well as pupils and teachers who generously devoured the doughnuts. It was good to make so much “dough” for such a good cause!

Hannah Bottle and Emma Gordon (Year 12)

Kingswood gained Fairtrade status in September 2010 and in February, to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight and raise awareness of this cause, we held a sale of Fairtrade chocolate. This raised over £150, which was donated to the Malawi projects.

We have been working towards renewing our Fairtrade status again this year and hope that staff, parents and pupils will support us.

Emma Davey, Peter Evans & Abby Wilkins (Year 12)

Kingswood in Focus 7

Exam Results & Prizes

School Bath

ION RESULTS A AND AS EXAMINAT ga

atin ts are once again celebr Kingswood School studen of all 18% h wit el, Lev A at s ces year of outstanding suc % 100 a and B /A, 84% at A* grades at A*, 57% at A* 3 st lea at ed iev ach ts e 36 studen pass rate. An impressiv re we rs se the very top performe A*/A grades; amongst the who land and Henry Legge, Ire Gareth England, Alfred tie Ka and Lee uis Lo grades, and each achieved four A* . grades Phillips, each with 3 A* r 70% of also excellent, with ove AS Level results were ts who den stu 30 the Of A or B. all entries being graded Chan, n grades, 5 students – Joh achieved at least 3 A Tim and rell the an, Elizabeth Ha Roy Chan, Alex Hardm h.

A grades eac Woodhead – achieved 5 ted to see rris said, “I am deligh Headmaster Simon Mo ressive imp h suc e ing to achiev our senior students continu wed sho th Six per Up g leavin academic results. Our and life in many areas of school tremendous leadership h wit ed ard rew be y should now it is most fitting that the ute trib at gre a , rse cou . This is, of such fine overall results uld also e and I am sure they wo tud atti and nt tale to their l have wil ich nding teaching wh want to cite the outsta ” s. ces suc of h high levels guided them towards suc

School Bath

GCSE EXAMINATION RESULTS Kingswood students have been celebrating some excellent GCSE results with 32% of all grades at A*, 59% at A*/A and over 98% at A*- C. Among the many very high achievers were Tamsin Ireland and Christopher Jenkins, with 13 A* grades each, Caitlin Owens with 12 A*, Charlotte Frude and Gabriel Penn with 11A* and Martha Chilver Vaughan, Kristina Grant and Sophie Hughes with 10 A* grades. Over 30 students achieved at least 5 A* grades each.

Headmaster Simon Morris said, “These are terrific results for a very talented all-round year group. I congratulate all our students on their achievements and very much look forward to welcoming them back as sixth formers in September”.

8 Kingswood in Focus

Prize Giving & Final Assembly 2011 Once more, as July 8th approached, the Sports Hall became less of a utilitarian space occupied by sweaty games players or nervous examinees (depending on the time of year) and more of an elegant arena in which to celebrate the hard work, the dedication, the talents and the progress of Kingswood’s student population.

Drapes in the Kingswood colours, an imposing stage, over seven hundred chairs and beautiful flower arrangements turned the ‘no-frills’ hall into something rather grand! The specially imported big screens ensured that everyone was able to see the videos and the slide shows celebrating the best of the practical and creative within the curriculum as well as athletic, tennis and swimming highlights.

Further entertainment was provided by a cornucopia of musical delights including the Music department’s films of ‘Seventeen Come Sunday’, a very jaunty folk song written and performed by The (Year 9 Music) Core and ‘America’, from West Side Story, played with panache by the Senior Orchestra. ‘Eres Linda’, a bossa nova composed by Oscar Nowlan (U6), was sung beautifully by Eleanor Hobbs (U6) whom Oscar accompanied on the acoustic guitar.

Catchy themed music played as pupils came up to collect prizes in each subject area, and the names of all those who were highly commended for their superb effort throughout the year were displayed on screen too. As one sitting on the stage, it was lovely to see the genuine delight and enthusiasm of those applauding their friends, as well as the big smiles on the faces of the prize winners as they came forward to shake the Headmaster’s hand and collect their books. Captains of Sport spoke warmly about their sporting experiences at Kingswood, acknowledging the tremendous support that their coaches had given them over the years as well as relishing the many friendships made and cemented through team work.

A really upbeat morning was followed by a very memorable final assembly in the afternoon, to which parents of the Upper Sixth were invited. We said goodbye and thank you to science teacher Mrs Charlotte Nightingale who had provided maternity cover during the year. Mrs Frances Best, much loved and inspirational retiring teacher of Chemistry (and former Head of Chemistry) gave a wonderful speech on what she had loved about her teaching career and why Kingswood’s Christian tradition is so important to her. She left the stage to tumultuous applause and a standing ovation, holding her bouquet of flowers aloft as she walked back down the central aisle.

What a fantastic way to go!

Prize giving

Prize Winners 2011

“A really upbeat morning was followed by a very memorable final assembly in the afternoon...”

Two special prizes were awarded for the first time this year and it was fitting that they had a particular place in the Final Assembly. The John Allison Memorial Award for “a student who has shown tremendous interest and effort in developing their Design and Technology manufacturing capabilities” was presented to Sarah Blackburn (U6) whilst The Rebecca Bleathman Memorial Award, given to “the pupil who shows a special passion for French; not only in the learning of the language, but also in displaying a keen interest in France, its people and its culture”, was presented to Ainé McCarthy (U6). As we applauded these deserving winners, we were all reminded of two very special teachers and just how much they had given unstintingly to the Kingswood community during their years of service.

The afternoon’s entertainment was provided by Exit Stage Right whose performance of the famous ‘Four Yorkshiremen’ sketch took many of the audience back to their teenage years, when they revelled in the subversive humour which seems less than radical now! We also enjoyed the Chamber Choir’s beautiful rendition of ‘Oh Shenandoah’ and the stirring ‘La Caccia’ from ‘Autumn’ from Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ played by the String Ensemble and led by Roy Chan. Finally the Head Boy and Head Girl, the Deputy Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl told the audience what it meant to them to be a part of Kingswood; they included some entertaining memories and paid tribute to great friendships forged. However, it was their appreciation of the abiding ethos of the School and their confidence that it would remain such, that underpinned all of their deliberations. Then it was time for the final roll call as each member of the Upper Sixth, House

by House, stepped up onto the stage to shake hands with the Senior Management Team and then stepped out into the big wide world to The Elbow’s celebratory anthem ‘One Day Like This!’

Mrs Sarah Dawson (Deputy Head Academic) Kingswood in Focus 9

Feature on Modern Foreign Languages

Languages at Kingswood I pen this article having just listened to Nicky Campbell on his ‘Radio Phone In’ programme discussing the ubiquitous issue of the British being poor or reluctant learners of foreign languages. Thankfully working in an outward-looking school, like Kingswood, where scholarship and open-mindedness are encouraged, this is less of an issue.

The languages faculty at Kingswood comprises not only the modern tongues of French, German and Spanish, but also the classical language of the Romans, Latin. The faculty is staffed by both single and multiple linguists. These are exciting times in the languages faculty with much improved resources, new staff on the team and a wider range of ventures taking place in the countries of the respective languages being taught. The faculty is grateful for the support of the Senior Management Team and the Governors for this investment.

The modern linguists and their classes were delighted by the arrival of the splendid state of the art ‘Televic Tenjin’ digital language laboratory which is effectively a computer suite solely for language teaching. The new laboratory principally enhances the listening and speaking experience of our pupils; it offers functions not previously possible. Pupils can, for example, now record their own spoken work and take it home on an iPod or take home listening exercises devised by teachers. There is greater scope for differentiation in lessons, more opportunities for pupils to discreetly seek advice from their class teacher without peers knowing and staff are able to listen in and advise pupils about their accents. They can even take over their screens (not in Big Brother fashion!) to direct pupils more with regards to written accuracy, for example, showing where accents go or where verbs go in the dreaded German subordinate clauses. The laboratory took four years of researching and discussing before coming to fruition. The reactions of visitors to the school and the pupils who have lessons in this room have been very positive.

The laboratory was kindly supported by a former pupil and keen linguist, Ian Streat, who came back to see the finished room in November 2010. Our pupils are much more ‘au fait’ with electronic gadgets and we feel that combining their proficiency with such technology and their learning should lead to more enjoyable learning outcomes.

The provision of digital projectors and interactive whiteboards in all language classrooms allow staff to accommodate kinaesthetic and visual learners and they help to meet our desire for language learners to have a fully multi-sensory experience. We are very grateful to the support of Mr Parsons, Mrs Warren and Mr Adams for their constant good grace at helping overcome glitches when they occur.

The school has employed a number of excellent Spanish staff since its introduction in 2002, but now under the watchful eye of Mr Walker, who arrived in 2009, it has begun to flourish in Year 7, having previously been studied from Year 9. Mr Walker has established a new and exciting exchange with a school in Madrid and plans are afoot for a short cultural and linguistic Year 8 and Year 9 trip to Spain in February 2012.

10 Kingswood in Focus

Ian Streat admiring the new laboratory

Miss Brookes arrived as Head of French in January 2011 and has already excited sixty Year 7 and Year 8 pupils who signed up for a Paris trip at the start of the October half-term, 2011. These junior school trips are building on the success of the four trips to the Rhineland which have been biennial since 2004. The last trip in October 2010 consisted of 83 pupils and 9 members of staff. The faculty is passionate about the quality of its teaching and is constantly looking for ways to expose learners to the real culture and language of the respective countries. The annual exchange programmes provide opportunities for up to 20 pupils in Years 10 and above to sample not only the culture and language of Madrid, Münster and Toulouse respectively, but also family and school life.

“The annual exchange programmes provide opportunities for up to 20 pupils in Years 10 and above to sample not only the culture and language of Madrid, Münster and Toulouse respectively, but also family and school life.”

All language staff are zealous about the languages they teach, but despite the immediacy of the language brought by the internet and the newest technology, we cannot literally take pupils across the Channel to mainland Europe in our daily lessons, so there is no real substitute for staying with a family for a week in France, Germany or Spain.

Fundamentally, we are equipping pupils with a very practical skill which can, and will, enhance their job prospects and open many new doors outside the workplace and afford them experiences they would not have initially imagined possible. We find that the very keenest linguists will participate 3 or 4 times on exchanges and some will embark on a degree in modern foreign languages or a language as part of a combined course. Pupils’ enjoyment of the exchange can play a huge factor in this decision making.

Mrs Dakin is delighted that Latin has become part of the Year 8 curriculum and she is excited about the chance to establish her subject with the appointment of a part-time Latin teacher from September 2011. Latin trips to London, plus Sixth Form Study Days and a visit to the Roman Baths, have already become annual fixtures.

Mrs Dakin has been able to invite visiting speakers, including an old boy, Mr Simon Radford, (Kingswood and Prior’s Court, 1980-1989).

Mr Radford showed the newly reinstated Classics Society his Roman coin collection. Next term there will be a visit to the British Museum with a tour by another Old Kingswoodian, Luke Scoging, who is currently reading Ancient History at Birmingham; a trip to Hadrian’s Wall is also being mooted.

Over the last four years, the faculty has been able to appoint excellent Foreign Language Assistants, undergraduates in France, Germany or Spain. Initially the faculty had just one assistant per year on a rotational basis, but thanks to the support of Mr Morris this has now been increased to two per year. These assistants run small conversation classes with individual or pairs of sixth form pupils studying the respective language(s) at A Level to help prepare them for the speaking examinations. Pupils are also taken out of normal lessons to work in small groups to enhance their aural and oral skills.

There has also been scope for assistants and MFL staff to ‘team teach’ some lessons with different year groups.

The assistants have been meticulous in their preparation of both their own lessons and authentic resources for use within the wider faculty and they have also been very enthusiastic in their support of trips.

Our sixth form pupils have particularly benefited from their input.

The School is able to accommodate the assistants in school and they have not only contributed to the language learning experience of our pupils, but they have supported many school functions; a highlight being their role as judges of the Westwood House Music Competition.

The faculty looks for opportunities to take Year 12 and Year 13 classes to see appropriate foreign language films at the Little Theatre in Bath and the Spanish groups always seem to enjoy some Tapas to give an even more authentic flavour to their outings! The Simpsons Auf Deutsch activity is in its sixth year and continues to thrive and 2011-12 sees the addition of two new French activities run by Mrs Morris and Miss Brookes. We will also be offering Beginner Mandarin & Japanese through the activities programmes so that our pupils experience life beyond the realms of Europe. I am thrilled that at least ten pupils have already signed up for this prior to the summer holidays.

If any reader has any ideas or questions, please do not hesitate to contact the languages faculty.

Mr Roderick Duke (Head of Modern Foreign Languages)

French Exchange to Toulouse On 31st March 2011, 15 excited and slightly apprehensive pupils from years 10, 12 and 13 set off from Bristol airport to Toulouse.

We left cool overcast conditions and were met by sunny, warm weather. This set the trend for the week, as we enjoyed bright, clear days and warm temperatures, which highlighted the warm pink hue of the traditional buildings in Toulouse and made wandering the narrow streets and sampling ice-creams and cold drinks a delight.

Our trip to the old walled town of Carcassonne encouraged some to relive their fantasies of being knights of old and we had panoramic views of the surrounding area. The Lycée celebrated Carnival while we were there, which involved a fancy dress competition organised by the pupils. Kingswood pupils entered imaginatively into the spirit of it, dressing themselves up as a complete McDonalds’ meal.

The commentary of a poster exhibition fascinated the group and opened our eyes to the power of Art to appeal to the senses and be persuasive in its effects. Our final day trip to the Pic du Midi high up in the Pyrenees involved a coach trip where we first saw the mountains from afar, iced with snow and eventually drove up into them and took a cable car up to an observatory for an excellent sunbathing opportunity, surrounded by

spectacular views of snowy mountains, valleys and plains beyond. Our day of departure was hot and the prolonged farewells heartfelt, but we eventually tore ourselves away. It has been a source of particular pleasure that some lasting friendships have resulted from the trip. My thanks to Miss Paver for accompanying the trip and providing invaluable support.

Miss Nicola Beale (Teacher of Modern Languages)

Rhineland Eighty-three pupils from Years 8 and 9 and nine staff enjoyed a packed five day trip to Koblenz in Germany at the start of the October half-term. Day 1 was a long day spent travelling but on Day 2, pupils experienced the delights of Cologne including the impressive Cathedral (including the 509 steps to the top of the tower), a chocolate museum and shopping! Day 3 was spent at the vast theme park, Phantasialand, where the adrenalin junkies in the group were in their element.

The final day in Germany was spent completing a treasure hunt in German around Koblenz and then on a boat cruise with spectacular views of vineyards, castles and villages nestled along the meandering Rhine to Sankt Goar. Two evenings were spent in an ice cream parlour and tenpin bowling. The return journey was punctuated with a brief stop in the stunning Belgian city of Bruges.

Koblenz 2010

Mr Roderick Duke (Head of Modern Foreign Languages) Kingswood in Focus 11

The German Exchange 2010 Despite missing out on the pleasure of Herr Duke’s company, we somehow struggled through. Before we had even left the country the trip appeared ill-fated: one person nearly missed the bus, one did miss the bus and one lost his boarding pass. But, in true Kingswood spirit, we survived the perils of the German rail network to arrive, pretty much in one piece, in Münster. Ahh Münster… “schönes Münster”, we soon realised the accuracy of the famous German saying, “If it’s raining and the bells are ringing, you’re in Münster”, except in our case it was snow, Güte Zeiten! After a cosy evening getting reacquainted with our European friends, we reconvened at the charming Schiller Gymnasium and undertook a tour of Münster led by the bi-lingual sixth-formers.

Jonny Pert’s presentation was up there with the Gettysburg Address of 1863! We now found ourselves at the weekend, which we spent with our host families and experienced various aspects of German culture including historical sites, cinema, go-karting and of course Fuβball.

Monday saw us experiencing Germany’s education system with its good bits and some of its not so good bits. On the Tuesday we were thankful to be reunited with Inga (our German assistant) for a historic visit to the even more historic Osnabrück, where superb map reading skills were demonstrated all round. Osnabrück epitomises the German city with Christmas Markets, frozen rivers and snow-strewn promenades (with a bit of Currywurst thrown in). Although we had come here to learn German, they decided to teach us science as well. We travelled to the world famous science museum in Bremen where we spent an enjoyable morning revisiting our childhood with the interactive displays.

We also got the chance to visit the Christmas Markets surrounded by the wünderschöne Gebäude (beautiful buildings).

After a tearful farewell we discovered that the German transport system is no better than ours when it comes to snow and after 500 years waiting for Düsseldorf airport to clear their runways we departed happy and exhausted for unsere Heimat (our Homeland).

All in all, the trip was a tremendous success. Mrs Knights’ German improved beyond all recognition, Miss Beale had the trip organised with military precision and Miss Inga Niessen seemed to become ever more radiant with every hour spent in her home country. Now seems an appropriate time to thank Inga for all of her hard work and we will all miss her greatly. Our German vocab and our understanding of the German culture came on leaps and bounds and we’ll be rushing back next year (hopefully with Herr Duke in tow).

Elli Hatherell and Sam Coates (Year 12)

Spanish Exchange 2011 From the 17th to the 24th of October, 20 students from Year 10 to Year 13, who are studying Spanish, flew over to Madrid to spend a week living with Spanish host families in the small town of Moralzarzal.

The Spanish families really welcomed us into their homes and into their day to day routines. We had the first weekend free with our host partners, getting used to Spanish life and the very fast way that they spoke, which was quite a struggle! During the week we went on a lot of different trips with the rest of the students from Kingswood, Mr Walker, Miss Donovan and our tour guides. We spent a day in Madrid; sightseeing on the open top buses and then visiting the old part of the town, where we were given lots of free time.

12 Kingswood in Focus

We also went on a trip to a nearby shopping centre, Xanadoo, where we could shop or play mini golf. Other trips included the monastery at El Escorial and the small town of Toledo. The final day we spent in Spanish lessons, which were very confusing but interesting! We left on the 24th after a really great week which really helped us to improve our Spanish, let us visit lots of really interesting places and gave us the chance to make lots of new Spanish friends. Thank you to Mr Walker and Miss Donovan for taking us on the trip and for looking after us.

Also thank you to the Spanish teachers and the Leonardo Da Vinci School who were all really welcoming and helpful to us!

Sally Hargrave (Year 11)

Memoirs of a Housemistress Quit whilst you are ahead…looking back over five special years.

I was delighted when Gary Best had sufficient faith to appoint me to the role of Senior House Mistress of Summerhill in 2006. My children had ‘grown up’; however, none of the ‘empty nester’ feelings for me. I was about to fill my ‘nest’ with 30 girls. Not without experience and with twenty one years of parenting, I thought I might be fairly well-equipped for this new and exciting challenge. I can go to bed late, still get up early and even remain cheerful. I can mop a fevered brow and organise a sleepover.

I can reassure an anxious parent and appease an angry one. What else would I need to do apart from teach 26 periods of a core subject? Little did I know what I was letting myself in for! I can now tell stories of Astro Lights and the wrath of Mr Opie, hours spent in A&E with a girl attached to her orthodontic bracket via her cardigan sleeve, five fire alarms in the space of as many hours in just one night, an emergency dash to rescue an undelivered pizza at 11.30pm, squirrels where they shouldn’t be, body-piercing that went horribly wrong, phone calls to retrieve an AS Maths folder left at a bus stop and much more besides…

Being a House Mistress is a very privileged role and one that I have enjoyed immensely. Whilst it is all-consuming and can leave you feeling drained, it is also very rewarding. There are the inevitable lows with disciplinary issues; there is sadness when things go wrong.

Thankfully there are more highs – a lot of fun, laughter, successes, shared experiences and wonderful memories.

“Being a House Mistress is a very privileged role...”

As I step down, I do so along with the same set of girls with whom I started – a ‘generation’ of girls who joined Summerhill in Year 9 and who now prepare to take on the world as they leave in Y13. They and others have helped shape Summerhill by sharing together Badminton Horseless Riders, Ice Cream Weeks, Hot Chocolate Weeks, Christmas Dinners (cooking turkey for 40+ is no mean feat), House entertainments, House Music, ‘adventurous’ cooking on Saturday nights and successes and failures on the sporting field. Through it all shines that Summerhill House spirit which is more important than anything else. Giving to others and having fun on the way is what it is all about. We don’t have to come first in everything. Winning is feeling as if you have achieved something together and I think the girls have certainly done that. I have been very lucky to have worked with such a dedicated team of tutors and I am grateful for their commitment and support; it would have been an impossible task without them. I also include our superb matrons, Gin and Les, who are an essential part of the Summerhill team and without whom the domestic wheels would not have turned so smoothly. Mrs Best is retiring and we thank her for the selfless support she has given to the girls over the past ten years and wish her well for the future.

Summerhill – A Special Year Outside Spain This year has been very special for us as, when we arrived, it was a bit hard to adapt because we didn’t know anyone and everything was very different to what we were used to. However, everyone always helped us so that we could integrate and feel settled. The teachers have always been very nice to us and they have given us help when we needed it. We have enjoyed nearly every moment we have been here and sometimes, when we did miss our family and our friends, Summerhill has always made us feel at home. Our housemistress, Mrs Cunliffe, is very caring and we always had everything that we needed. She has made Summerhill a happy place by organising fun activities like the Christmas dinner with all the girls of the house and the Badminton Horseless Riders event when we got covered from head to toe in mud! We also enjoyed sharing our typical Spanish dishes and one Saturday evening we cooked “paella”. There are lots of other little details, but each one is very significant to us as they build up to create memories that we will never forget.

We will miss you and goodbye!

Cristina Casanella-Martinez and Laura Nolla Sollé

As I return to doing only one job - that of teaching English - I will look back with affection (and exhaustion!) over the last five years. I am grateful for the understanding of my children, Rachael and Piers, and also to my husband Mel. I am indebted for all his ‘behind the scenes’ efforts and his unconditional patience. He reckons that we had had a good week if he had only been sent out twice to get a takeaway! He does not view a takeaway as a treat, but as emergency rations!

Good luck Summerhill – I will miss you all and watch with keen interest, but only from the sidelines!

Mrs Sally Cunliffe (Head of Summerhill 2006 – 2011) Kingswood in Focus 13

Art Department

‘That’s Kingswood’ Within days of my arrival, having taken over as Head of Art from Cameron Main, I soon realised what everyone in the staffroom meant by the saying, ‘That’s Kingswood’.

Stephen Brown

Within what is a beautiful three storey building is a creative world of students of all ages busy creating visual imagery which explores a bounty of concepts and ideas. The individual nature of work within the examination groups is exceptional and the resulting paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures are often so sophisticated that they extend well beyond A-level standard.

Having left my post as Head of Art and Assistant Housemaster at Kent College Pembury, another Methodist School, to take up the challenge of leading a much more prestigious department, I hit the ground running last January. With almost a year under my belt, I am delighted to reflect on the many successes so far, the highlight of which was most certainly the annual ‘Summer Exhibition’. With over two hundred pieces of work on show, the exhibition was well received by a huge number of parents, staff and guests.

The frenetic pace of school life combined with the huge expectations created over years of outstanding academic results within the Art Department was quite breathtaking at times. Kingswood Art is clearly of the finest vintage and to be part of that experience is something I am very proud of.

With numbers of students taking the subject for GCSE and A-level at an all time high and the Department looking fantastic, Mrs Bradbury, Mrs Appleyard-Pallott, Mrs Maddi Pearn and I are really excited about the prospects ahead. As the walls on the studio begin to fill up and the sketchbooks begin to bulge, thoughts move towards how we can make the next Summer Exhibition even better than the last!

Mr Stephen Brown (Head of Art)

“The individual nature of work within the examination groups is exceptional...”

AS trip to Devon

Amy Worsfold

14 Kingswood in Focus

Kimberley Chivers

Hannah Enderby

Kate Silvester

Thomas Connolly

Katy Peck

Kingswood in Focus 15

Laura Clarke

Alex Stansfield

Eleanor Richardson

Jessica Thompson

Matthew James

16 Kingswood in Focus

Emma Scolding

Jessica Brown

Jessica Thompson

Anna Bools

Charlotte Asherson

Kingswood in Focus 17

MUN

Model United Nations 2011 Conference report from a delegate...

As the annual MUN weekend approached there was much excitement at the prospect of hundreds of students from around the UK and abroad arriving at Kingswood. MUN is a great way of bringing together students from many different backgrounds to discuss important issues facing the world today, and the 2011 conference promised more lively debate and discussion on a wide range of issues. Having been a delegate at previous MUN conferences I was looking forward to the new challenge of leading the Environment Committee as Head Chair.

The conference kicked off on Friday night with a speech from Moe Bu, a Burmese human rights campaigner. She spoke to us about how she escaped the country at a young age, and how she continues to campaign for human rights in her homeland, inspired by the example of Aung San Suu Kyi. The Headmaster and Morwenna Jones also gave welcome speeches, Morwenna speaking in her capacity as this year’s Secretary General.

On Sunday I found myself in one of the joint committees in the Sports Hall, with an interesting combination of the Environment, Health, Economic and Africa Committees. We debated an emergency scenario on a humanitarian crisis in the Ivory Coast and, with each of the head chairs leading one amendment, we saw a wide variety of debate and solutions to the issues the delegates faced.

In the afternoon, all of the General Assembly committees joined together in the sports hall and the Human Rights committees in the theatre for the last debates of the weekend. The G.A. debate got underway just after lunch, with Morwenna in the chair.

We debated a scenario about unrest in Saudi Arabia spiralling out of control, which prompted a number of interesting solutions, some more viable than others. France suggested the imposition of peacekeepers, whilst South Korea wanted the removal of US troops; Iran, meanwhile, wanted a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, an amendment that was soundly defeated.

The debates finally over, we moved to the Awards Ceremony. France and China were awarded joint Best Delegation. Their victory was well deserved, despite a last minute attempt by one delegation to have China evicted during their acceptance speech!

“Chairing was a new experience for me, and with over seventy delegates to look after it was a challenge, but one I definitely enjoyed.”

On Saturday the debates started in our separate committees. In each committee, resolutions on a variety of topics were debated and it was good to see everyone trying to get involved in the debates. Chairing was a new experience for me, and with over seventy delegates to look after it was a challenge, but one I definitely enjoyed. I felt Saturday was a success with a high quality of debate. Delegates rarely agreed on the issues, but we still managed to pass three of the resolutions we debated. Many resolutions were also passed in other committees, and the day would not have been complete without the usual range of innovative UN body names, ancient proverbs, bribes and committee prizes.

MUN REPORT: Well over a hundred Kingswood students

took part in the conference in some capacity, and with support from the Catering and Maintenance Departments, as well as the Friends of Kingswood, the success of the event was very much a team effort. The sixth-formers who chaired the various committees once again won much praise for the professional and organised

18 Kingswood in Focus

This year’s MUN was a huge success and thanks must go to everyone involved, especially Mr Woodgate and Mrs Lemmy for organising another fantastic conference. It was great to see so many young people passionate and enthusiastic about such a wide variety of issues.

I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, and can’t wait until BISMUN 2012!

Emily Souter (Year 12)

manner with which they led the conference. Particular mention should be made of the head chairs, Morwenna Jones, Imogen Sadler, Harry Dawson, Tom Sansford, Tahmid Chowdhury, Izzy Mulvany, Hilary Brett, Chrissy Seed, Emily Souter, Ellie Hatherell and Sam Jared Coventry.

Mr Craig Woodgate (Head of Sixth Form)

House Reviews

Chinese cooking

Legoland visit

“It’s great fun in Westwood!”

House music competition

Burns Night Making cakes

Kingswood in Focus 19

Middle House As usual it’s been a busy year for the Middle House Men, both inside and out of the house. Some of the highlights for me include wins in both rugby and hockey house matches and while we were not so successful at house music, it was still great fun. Attempting to organise a large, rhythmically challenged, group of boys to dance in time remains one of the hardest things I think I’ll ever have to do in my life.

with them while also making sure that I don’t let anything get out of hand. Trying to tell someone who is both respected in the house among the other boys, and also the same age as you, to try to “stop being so silly and go to bed” whilst trying to keep calm myself and not join in, is another thing I have found particularly hard about my role this year.

“Attempting to organise a large, rhythmically challenged, group of boys to dance in time remains one of the hardest things I think I’ll ever have to do in my life.”

Another highlight for me was the Middle House assembly which, because of the large armed forces presence in our house, we decided to do on the charity Help for Heroes whose aims are “giving practical, direct support for our wounded”.

The idea of the assembly was to raise awareness for the charity and I hope we succeeded. It saw the return of South-Westlife for their last ever performance and also showcased some of Middle’s other talents with Chris Riley’s theatrical flair being a highlight for many.

This year in Middle we have a particularly large and energetic Upper Sixth boarding community and one of the main challenges for me has been finding the right balance between having fun

20 Kingswood in Focus

It’s been a great year in Middle and I look forward to coming back in the future and seeing how it’s getting along. It has been a pleasure to see how well the new boys have settled into the House, both day and boarding. The new Year 9’s have made their mark both academically and on the sports field and will, I am sure, continue to uphold the Middle House traditions.

As Head of House I would like to say a big thank you to Mr Matthews and all of the House tutors who have worked tirelessly to ensure we have made the most of our opportunities at Kingswood.

William Morrison (Head of Middle 2010 / 2011)

Summerhill House Louisa Harris and Evie Beaven reflect… Summerhill is a unique boarding house.

It provides us with so many opportunities!

We started the year with the Horseless Riders event at Badminton – basically pretending to be horses running around the same course: cross country, through water and over jumps.

This year, four of us decided to go as Smurfs and paint ourselves completely blue, contrasting to painting our selves completely PINK the previous year. Inventive, we know! Still, we were extremely visible throughout the course. We did split up, with some people running so much faster than the rest.

Special mention must go to Jo Hep (Head Smurf) for being the first Summerhillian to complete the course.

One thing exclusive to Summerhill is our Christmas Dinner.

Every year we sit in the lounge and have a full Christmas Dinner and open our presents from our Secret Santa. This year, we, the U6th and the Matrons took on the task of setting up and cooking for the whole event as Mrs Cunliffe was at the Clothes Show with the rest of the house. It was a challenge and a half, but we think we just about managed it. This left us completely exhausted and we congratulate Mrs C for doing this every year!

“Our house, joint with the Middle Boys, is known for having the best House Entertainment.”

Our house, joint with the Middle Boys, is known for having the best House Entertainment. We don’t need to leave the school or pay lots of money for one amazing evening. We use resources that are close by, namely, the Upper. In the dark, wet, cold and (this year) SNOW, we play a Wide Game. It consists of two teams who have to ‘bomb’ a city with tennis balls, rugby balls, and this year Mr Matthews added a ‘fit’ ball which was the deciding factor between the teams. Needless to say – the U6th team triumphed. We are the best!

Easter term sees Mr Matthews and the U6th hiding in the grounds of the Prep School. No, this is not a big game of Hide and Seek – it’s a very serious Easter Egg Hunt. It’s so extremely serious that people even wear khaki to make sure they are camouflaged.

People are still waiting to be found! After the hiding, the chase, and the capture of the bunnies, we then have a BBQ and a huge bonfire (thanks Mr C) and everyone sings songs around it, courtesy of Mr Burgon and his accordion. Popular tunes included the ‘Music Man’ and the ‘Quarter Master’s Store’ which leaves many U6th embarrassed and all the U6th laughing while everyone is left slightly bewildered. But we do enjoy it.

Summer brings the Great Water Slide. This is the most epic of all House Entertainment – and so much fun!! Lots of bruises and grass burns later, we still laugh at how this person rolled, and that person took someone else out. Hilarious on the day, very painful the next. It is the highlight of the Summer term.

Without one person though, all the above events just would not happen. Mrs C has to deal with the Christmas Dinner, the Clothes Show, Summerhill Ice Cream Week, and lastly us – and we can be quite a handful at times. But we wish to take this opportunity to say thank you to her for all her efforts in the years that we’ve had in Summerhill. Thank you Mrs C – they wouldn’t have been the same without you. We wish you all the best for the future as we welcome Mrs Brown into the house. Peace out Summerhill.

And Jo Hepburn adds…

As my time in Summerhill is drawing to an end, I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has made my time here so much fun!

I have already said what I wanted to say to my fellow boarders, with whom I’ve shared many highs. With those highs unfortunately come lows, and I would like to personally thank Mrs Cunliffe and Mrs Knights who always have a smile on their faces, even if that smile is greeted with a frown at the other end. From all of us in U6th, thank you and we wish you luck for the future.

Kingswood in Focus 21

Upper House In Upper, we welcomed two new members of staff this year, Mr Mackridge and Mr Brown, who quickly settled in to the spirit of the House.

As ever, the school year started with the House Song Competition which was convincingly won by Upper and School with our rendition of Shania Twain’s ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’. Other highlights included the Upper and School House Band’s version of ‘So Lonely’ by The Police which was brilliantly organised by the Principal Musician, Oscar Nowlan, and was the only truly ‘musical’ piece of the night.

Upper has had a strong representation in Drama and Music this year.

The senior drama production ‘Blind’ was a great success with Head Boy, Oscar Batterham, and Adam Lloyd James both giving memorable performances as two of the lead characters. Oscar Batterham again stole the show at ‘Classic Ha Ha’, an evening which included classic sketches and improvised comedy. As mentioned above, we were fortunate to have this year’s principal musician, Oscar Nowlan, amongst our ranks who, along with Matt James and Oscar Batterham, made an outstanding contribution to the Music Department’s great success this year.

Captain Ben Simpson came home in third place but the performance of the day went to James Humphrey who won the race, setting a new course record as he did so. Importantly, Andrew Parsons, Matt James and Sam Harman all finished strongly, guaranteeing victory for the House.

Upper’s efforts in the swimming gala have, historically, been fairly shambolic. However, this year’s senior team was one of the more impressive with new find Ed Dumpleton displaying some genuine ability. Unfortunately, Upper failed to secure any victories.

At intermediate level, Angus Hawking secured a second place which proved to be Upper’s best result of the day. Special mention must go to Alex Scott’s tumble turn which baffled everyone, including him, as he resurfaced still facing the wall.

“Sport, as ever, has been a key part of the Upper experience this year with numerous Upper boys representing the school teams.”

Sport, as ever, has been a key part of the Upper experience this year with numerous Upper boys representing the school teams. It wasn’t our greatest year for House Matches, but the performances in Rugby and Hockey said a lot about the strong spirit of the House given the lack of 1st team players we had for both. However, Cross Country has again proven to be Upper’s forte with victory in the Senior House Matches.

Upper has, along with School, enjoyed two memorable House Entertainments this year. The wide games in the snow were particularly amusing with some having to go home covered in flour whilst the rather more civilised annual quiz evening was an entertaining battle of wits. The highlight, once again, was the Upper and School House Band who performed Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’, including a cameo from Mr Hughes on the ukulele.

To have been Head of Upper for my fifth and final year in the House has been a great honour and it has been truly memorable.

The Upper representation throughout the school in music, sport, drama and academia is, and I’m sure will continue to be, hugely impressive. I’d like to say, on behalf of all the leavers, a huge thank you to Messrs Hughes and Brown who have been fantastic tutors this year, to Mr Hills for keeping us all in line and to Mr Davies for being such an excellent Head of House. Good luck to the House for next year!

Alex Young (Head of House) 22 Kingswood in Focus

School House HOUSE MUSIC “It all began during the summer of 2010, when we chose the music that would decide our fate. The days turned into weeks, and there was constant rivalry, secret planning and continuous emailing through Facebook. Youngy, Oscar, Adam, Elly and I spent hours discussing various song choices from all four corners of the world. Finally we decided on ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’ by the legendary Shania Twain.

The day arrived and rehearsals varied from excitingly brilliant to utter shambles. In that single day the chapel lost its feel as a sanctuary and became a sweat-fest, as students mercilessly pumped out the dance moves. Tension built steadily. Finally, at 6.30pm, the theatre seats started to fill, faces were being painted and inspirational talks were being delivered. The competition was about to kick off! At last, it was our turn for the House Song. All that hard work definitely paid off as we sailed through it with the audience seemingly in the palm of our hand.

Afterwards we were all buzzing as we nervously waited for the judges verdict. When they announced us as the winners, I am embarrassed to say that Youngy and myself, who had been waiting with baited breath, jumped up and embraced, rather awkwardly, as we were sat in the middle of Summerhill and Middle. I even shed a tear of joy!

On a more reflective note: For us, House Music has always been a highlight of the year. I have enjoyed them all - from ‘Uptown Girl’ in Year 9, all the way to ‘Backstreets Back’ and ‘S Club Party’ in more recent years. However, nothing could top the feeling of winning this year, especially after all the hard work everyone put into the performance. And it is with great sadness that we leavers say goodbye to Kingswood House Music, and wish you all good luck for next year.”

Emily Clarke (Head of House)

AEROBICS CHARITY EVENT “Until you have seen Mrs Reeman instructing Aerobics, you have not seen the epitome of fitness. I have never seen anyone jump so high or talk with such enthusiasm while doing ridiculously high leg kicks.

We find it hard enough to breathe while working out to Raining Men let alone ceaselessly encourage the SSSG (Senior Social Sports Girls).

Due to Mrs Reeman’s love of making exercise ‘fun’, she suggested that, for the School House Charity Fundraising Event, we invite the First Team Rugby Boys to participate in an ordinary Thursday afternoon games session. So, just before the October half term, the First Team Rugby Boys, with a few extras, volunteered to participate in a gruelling 45 minute long workout.

The boys turned out in force and in some rather interesting outfits, which left little to the imagination...which encouraged hordes of spectators. Unlike the girls, the boys had little experience of Mrs Reeman’s workouts and there is no question that they found it harder than their usual fitness sessions. The boys really were not expecting the level of difficulty, as they believed it was all “hopping and bopping” to quote the captain, Rowan James.

All in all, the aerobics session was a great success and raised over £100 to donate to a local charity called Jamie’s Farm.”

Shallie Olanrewaju & Georgina Frude (Year 13)

HOUSE CROSS COUNTRY “My breathing was heavy, my brow was sweaty and I reached the point where I could not go on. My fellow runner, Amy Greene, began to shiver and shake, her circulatory system beginning to fail. By now we had reached the Astro Car Park and, in traditional School House manner, we were on top form... according to some witnesses. As the 40th person crossed the line, spectators began to disperse, thinking the race was over and then... some sweaty, flustered cowboys (cowgirls?) were seen flinging themselves down the hill to the finish!”

Anna Nicholson (Year 12) And finally, to all the leavers “We wish you all the best in the future and hope that the School House Spirit stays with you”.

Mrs Jackie Reeman (Senior Housemistress) Kingswood in Focus 23

Hall House For a boarding house, term always begins earlier as pupils arrive the night before lessons start to get settled in. New pupils are also welcomed into the house; mainly Year 9s and Lower 6th.

The Winter term started with house music and unfortunately we followed the traditions of Hall and Fonthill and didn’t finish as well as hoped, despite our headliner Ed Cooper impersonating Michael Jackson. It was, however, a good way for people to get to know each other and much fun was had by all. House rugby was the next event on the agenda. Hall fielded a strong team in the seniors with many first team players including Max Gauntlett, Tom Drew, Harry Pemberton and the 1st team captain Rowan James but, in the deciding match against Middle, a 0-0 draw was not quite enough to clinch the win. The last part of the term as far as house events went was the classic ‘party games’ and disco evening. The festivities found many losing their inhibitions on the dance floor, and the games excited the young and the old, especially egg roulette!

The Spring term was less busy for us as we were into a routine by this stage, meaning we could devote our efforts to ensuring the success of the annual Hall and Fonthill Valentine’s Dinner. Once again Mrs Westcott’s culinary skills were outstanding, and Mr Chua on piano, guitar and vocals and our live band of Roy Chan and Ringo Dai gave the evening a very romantic atmosphere. It was a great success, enjoyed by all, but most importantly, raising over £500 for Trust PA, a spinal injuries charity. House Hockey was next and our team was made up of some 1st team players and also some less experienced players who all performed well. After beating Upper we started strongly against Middle in the deciding match.

We were 2-0 up by half time, thanks to Ed Hutch and Max Gauntlet, with Praful Limbu playing well in midfield. Unfortunately we allowed this to slip and eventually lost 3-2 in a hard fought encounter.

Onto the Summer term, the U6th last! Owing to study leave and exams, this was much shorter, but despite this we competed well at Sports Day with the juniors doing well; George Stuart Harris stood out in the 100m and both 4x100m relay teams did well. Then the final House Entertainment of the year, the Hall and Fonthill dinner took place. It was a great event with excellent food provided by the catering department, however it could have gone badly wrong when Zach, the supposed calm and collected Head of House got up on stage to deliver his end of year speech and due to some last minute editing nearly forgot to mention half of the leavers. Luckily Ed Cooper discreetly reminded him by shouting, “What about me!” and he managed to finish his speech. Just!

“...The festivities found many losing their inhibitions on the dance floor, and the games excited the young and old, especially egg roulette.”

The top team of Mr Westcott, Mr Reeman, Mr Forrester and Mr Chua ensured the house ran smoothly all year - no one could ask for better house staff and we are so grateful for everything they have done and will continue to do for Hall House. It has been a pleasure for us to be part of Hall House for our time at Kingswood and being appointed Head and Deputy of House together has made our last year the most enjoyable of them all. We wish Max, Michael and Chester, who has brought the Head Boy position back to Hall, all the best for next year and hope they have as much fun as we did. Good luck for next year!

Zach Mayne and Rowan James (Head of House and Deputy Head of House) 24 Kingswood in Focus

Fonthill House Fonthill girls have once again been getting involved in every aspect of school in what has been another busy year.

All our new arrivals from near and far settled in well and the house was as lively as ever as we had many a morning birthday sing-a-long with cupcakes, celebrated Chinese New Year and even enjoyed cream teas for the Royal Wedding.

The girls were also busy acting as Cupid, selling candy canes and love hearts for charity at Christmas and on Valentine’s Day, raising money in particular for Hope and Homes (our House charity) and we raised £700. Our charity ‘bring and buy’ sales have also helped to relieve the pressure in some of our boarders’ wardrobes!

“The creativity of the Fonthill girls has shone through this year.”

Tyler O’Brien

Across all age groups, Fonthill have been very successful in our House Matches and on each occasion the red hoodies come out ‘en masse’ to support! We won Cross Country, with Amber James and Molly Jones placed second and third, we won Netball and we won Swimming with Sophie Roberts impressively stepping up from year 10.

The creativity of the Fonthill girls has shone through this year.

The GCSE drama production showed that Kriti Rana, Emily Rowlands, Verity Burke, Mary Carter, and Rosie Dixon were the drama queens we all knew they were. Our musicians were outstanding in the Remembrance Day concert, and at Green Park Station, but our success at KATS, Best Painter – Charlotte Asherson, and Top CAD – Sarah Blackburn, demonstrates the endless talents of our leavers that will surely be missed.

The house will definitely be a quieter place without those girls we say goodbye to this summer, but we wish them all the best of luck for everything they do in the future. A huge thank you to our team of prefects led by Sienna and her deputy Chloe, who have done a fantastic job creating the friendly atmosphere that permeates the house, together with the occasional smell of burnt toast. Well done to Tyler on winning the ‘Spirit of Fonthill’ award and well done to all Fonthillians and the House staff for helping make the House what it is: FANTASTIC.

Hannah Burnell (Year 13) and Miss Angie Wright (Senior Housemistress)

Kingswood in Focus 25

Drama

The Famous Five

For our A level performance we creatively adapted Enid Blyton’s Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island.

We chose the style of ‘the 39 Steps’ after we saw the show in London’s Criterion Theatre because we really enjoyed the workshop run by the cast at Pineapple Studios. However, we struggled to find an original twist on our story, until one lesson after afternoons of fighting / playing tag and hide and seek, we struck on the idea of playing with props as children and to set the scene in a garage, using the props ‘randomly’ found there to retell the story. The idea of story-tellers was also reinforced by Enid Blyton’s own life – she used to take her siblings to her attic and tell them stories, to escape from their quarrelling parents. In order to be performance ready in time we started partaking in “all-day” rehearsals. By the end of these days, we found ourselves exhausted with our senses of humour long gone!

“Chief Moderator, Sue Fielder, said ‘it’s the best A Level performance I’ve ever seen’...”

Trying to create innovative ways around the complexities of the story was hard but by using a mixture of physical theatre and multi-role play we found solutions and with it our own style. For example, our dive into the sea consisted of a balancing act and lifts involving the entire group.

The props held many surprises for us as a cast, as mundane objects were transformed into all sorts of things: wells, boats, castles and cars. The well was made out of a life ring, the junk was shaken and thrown together to form the wreck and the dog, Timmy, was created simply from two mop heads.

Needless to say the dog got more applause than we did!

26 Kingswood in Focus

Everyone, at some point, was multi-role playing, yet Katie, Issie and Emily did the majority of it by taking on all the other characters, such as the Smugglers, Mummy and Daddy, Aunt Fanny and Timmy; with brilliant comic timing. Oscar, Evie, Chloe and Adam took on the roles of Julian, George, Anne and Dick using the ‘BBC English’ accent; Chloe did especially well to adapt her Somerset twang.

“The icing on the cake for all of us was the standing ovation.”

Our first performance was received well, especially by the Chief Moderator, Sue Fielder. She then asked if we could repeat the performance in order to film it and use it as an exemplar of exceptional work. She said she would show it at every standardisation meeting for the AQA exam board. This was a pretty big shock for all of us since we’d assumed that it wasn’t even top band, so for Sue Fielder to say, ‘it’s the best A Level performance I’ve ever seen’, was a real high point of drama at Kingswood for all of us!

Obviously, we felt the added pressure after the success of our first performance. People had high expectations and we had to fulfil them, particularly as Mr Harding and Mrs Dudley-Warde were inviting half of Bath to come and watch. We were in the Chronicle Newspaper and on the School Website so seats were selling fast but due to Issie’s art exam, the time we had to rehearse was limited. When the fateful day arrived, Mr Harding told us first thing that all the seats were sold out and we had still to do yet another run through. OH NO! We were scared! We took our place on stage to rehearse, just two hours before we were due to perform, and had a nightmare. Props in the wrong place, people forgetting lines, and the dive going terribly wrong.

It was a shocker. This terrified us even more which we think helped us keep the same concentration and motivation to give a better final performance than the week previously.

The whole thing went better than we could have hoped, the audience being a major contributor to the success we felt we had achieved.

The icing on the cake for all of us was the standing ovation. None of us have ever received one in anything we’ve ever done at Kingswood before, and it was a fantastic feeling.

Thanks to everyone who came to support us. Having such a receptive and brilliant audience really helped our performance. We wish to thank the Drama Department as we couldn’t have done it without them. To leave such a great school on such a high was beyond our wildest dreams.

Evie Beaven and Emily Clarke (Year 13) Kingswood in Focus 27

Beasts & Beauties The week of 10th March 2011 was a fantastic week for the students from Years 10 and 11 who are studying Drama at GCSE. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the GCSE students performed “Beasts and Beauties” in the Kingswood Theatre to highly appreciative audiences. Seven groups in total created their own unique interpretations of a variety of classic folk tales from around Europe, such as “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Blue Beard” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. On the final night the Year 11s were assessed by Mr Harding and two external moderators who all agreed that an exceptional group of performers had been on view. It came as no surprise that many students gained full marks in this project as part of their GCSE examination. The Year 10 classes all showed much promise for the future with their exciting and very amusing interpretations of “The Man who was to Mind the House”, “The Juniper Tree” and “The Girl and the North Wind”.

Mrs Kate Nash (Teacher of Drama)

AS Drama Report The AS Drama and Theatre Studies students followed in the footsteps of the GCSE students with an excellent evening of practical assessments on Thursday 24th March.

The external moderator once again praised the school for the professional standard of both pieces.

Five students performed an extract from Steven Berkoff’s “Metamorphosis” in the Kingswood Theatre and captivated the audience with their superb portrayal of Gregor Samsa and his family.

The performances were never less than stunning with Sam Harman on particularly fine form as Gregor. The second group, performing in the more intimate surroundings of the Drama Studio, produced an extract from “Blithe Spirit” by Noel Coward. Again the group was praised for their performances and the way in which they made Coward’s witty lines sound as if the characters were speaking them for the first time.

Mr Darrell Harding (Head of Theatre Studies)

28 Kingswood in Focus

Blind ‘We must go back, way back to the beginning’...

Last December, the sixth form drama students and a few lucky younger scholars performed an adaptation of The Oedipus Trilogy, entitled ‘Blind.’ Considering the depressing subject matter, it was surprisingly good fun. Our rigorous rehearsal process was focused on integrating stylistically devised choral sequences with naturalistic dialogue. This meant that the cast bonded well, making us a united company, thus allowing strong performances from everyone.

Leo Fini, Charlie Beaven, and Ollie Gardner proved that the standard of drama at Kingswood will remain high for years to come, whilst newcomer Rhys Redman enjoyed his first ever live performance.

The first half saw Adam Lloyd-James take on the title role of Oedipus, along with the help of Isabelle Mulvany as Jocasta, Chloe Chilcott leading the chorus and Oscar Batterham as Creon.

The impressive lighting, thanks to Mr Neil Francis, contributed to the sinister atmosphere we intended to create and the gruesomeness of Adam’s gouged eyes were incredibly effective, scaring members of the cast as well as the audience.

The second half looked at the story of Antigone, played by Emily Clarke, with Tom Curnow as Haemon, Evangeline Beaven as Ismene, Katie Phillips as the Nanny, and Oscar continuing his role as Creon.

It was a very tense half, with the conflict of family and state taking its toll on Creon, no thanks to Antigone. An unexpected fall during the climax scene of the play on the last night left the audience believing it was part of the show, whilst the cast silently panicked as they had to continue!

The cast couldn’t have done it without Mr Harding’s and Mrs Nash’s inspirational ideas and direction. Thank you very much for all your help.

Evie Beaven and Emily Clarke (Year 13)

“Our rigorous rehearsal process was focused on integrating stylistically devised choral sequences with naturalistic dialogue.”

Kingswood in Focus 29

Grimm Tales Summer Term 2011 saw another Junior Production – this time ‘Grimm Tales’ performed by Years 7, 8 & 9.

Grimm Tales was the twisted reworking of the stories written by the Brothers Grimm. All these tales were linked together by a Puck-like character (played by Ollie Gardner) and his sinister pack of bed bugs.

They gave the stories a darker edge by forming one of the words of the seven deadly sins before each story.

The entire cast should be thrilled with their fantastic performances and everyone pulled together to make the production truly brilliant. Even those playing a small part played a crucial role in the success of Grimm Tales.

Here students from the cast, crew and audience comment on their memories and impressions of the production.

“Grim Tales” - a production I will never forget. I enjoyed every moment of it” “Grimm Tales was a pleasure to watch. Dra ma at Kingswood always has a high standard, and this was no exception!”

“I have definitely made new friends performing in this production and I’m sure others have as well. A special thank you must go to the lighting crew as they helped a lot as they had to go to all the rehearsals and they have to put a lot of effort into this production. Also, thanks to the musicians as they also turned up to all the rehearsals and had to play every night non-stop.”

“Being in Grimm Tales was an enriching experience and one I will never forget. The way that the whole cast ca me together and worked really well with each other was a mazing. The rehearsal timetable was very busy but it was a lot of fun and kept us active! In fact now that it is over I’m sure that quite a few of us are wondering what to do with ourselves!”

“Grimm Tales was an a mazing experience. I made loads of friends in Year 9 and I can happily say “Hi” to them in school.

I a m sure that this is the most professional performance I have been in so far!! It has made me look at dra ma in a different way.”

“This performance has made a huge difference to my confidence on stage even though it has meant I have spent more time at school than I have at home!”

“This was a very professional performance with lots of add-ins and changes to the original stories. The best play I have ever been in.”

“I really enjoyed being in Grimm Tales as it was great fun as well as a wonderful opportunity to work with people I wouldn’t usually have worked with.”

“When I first learned that I had been given the role of the Wolf in Grimm Tales I was really glad but also very nervous. During the first rehearsals I felt really self-conscious and didn’t try my hardest so I wouldn’t feel embarrassed but Mr Harding and Mrs Nash said that if I put my full effort in it would pay off when performance night ca me. I listened to their advice went for it and was surprised when people said I was funny and melodra matic. Probably the best thing about being in the production was working with everyone else because we all got along and had a laugh with each other and really enjoyed ourselves which really added to the memories.”

“As a member of the audience, I was astounded by the professionalism shown by Y ears 7, 8 and 9. I greatly enjoyed seeing such a variety of people taking part, all with significant roles and lines.”

Mrs Kate Nash (Teacher of Drama) With thanks to everyone for their comments including: Charlie Beaven, Lottie Biggs, Isabel Calvert, Charlotte Crowe, Luke Jackson, Chris Kelly, Robyn Newman, Thomas Parsons, Lilia Pittaway-Gill, Emma Stephens, Isabel Stuart-Harris, Claudia Wallis.

30 Kingswood in Focus

This year’s winners

Wow! What an evening!

Although there are winners at the Awards, the evening primarily is a chance for Kingswood to celebrate all of its creative subjects.

BBC Human Planet Series Producer Dale Templar was our inspiring guest of honour. She claimed that the event was more glamorous than the BAFTA Awards she attended two weeks previously! Praise indeed!

are as follows: ART: Best Painter – Ch arlotte Asherson; Be st Mixed Media – Isobel M itchell; GCSE Artis t of the Year – Olivia Deith; Artis ts’ Artist – Izzy M ulvany.

DESIGN TECHNO LOGY: Top CAD – Sarah Blackburn; Magni ficent Maker – William Roper; Pu rrfect Product – Rebecca Brock; Designers’ Designe r – Toby Russell.

DRAMA: Best A Level Acto r – Oscar Batterham ; Best Group Performance – Os car Batterham, Ev ie Beaven, Emily Clarke, Chloe Chilcott, Adam Ll oyd-James, Izzy Mulvany, Katy Phillips; Best GC SE Actor – Elliot Canning; Ac tors’ Actor – Osca r Batterham.

MUSIC: Best Sixth Form Performer – Roy Chan; Best Sixth Form Composition – Beth Garner; Be st GCSE Composition – Sa m Mumford; Mus os’ Muso – Oscar Nowlan.

The KATS Team

“...the evening is a chance for Kingswood to celebrate all its creative subjects.”

Kingswood in Focus 31

Music

Soul Train pulls in to Green Park Station The Kingswood Jazz Orchestra’s special gig at the end of May has now become a firm favourite in the School calendar.

It always falls on the last Friday of the first half of the Summer Term, and is part of the opening night celebrations of the Bath International Music Festival. This year, the band showcased some of the great Soul and Motown numbers from the 1960s and early 1970s. What is always really difficult about this gig is the sheer volume of material that we have to learn. To give you some idea, on the all-day rehearsal a few weeks before the gig we played from 10am until 5pm with only one 30 minute break for lunch. Each number was allocated about 6-10 minutes rehearsal time, and much of the material was sight-read! Even then, we didn’t quite get through all 27 songs!

On the day, the singers and band have a three hour soundcheck / rehearsal, and then comes the show. The soundcheck / rehearsal is quite fraught as there is so much to do – masses of cables, about 40 microphones, foldback monitors, mixing desks, stands, sheet music, amplifiers and lights. And that’s before we get to play!

But this rehearsal is also always really great fun, as there’s a real sense of anticipation as the music starts to take shape. We’ve even had members of the public dancing during the soundcheck!

And then the gig... As ever, Mr Mainwaring tells us to make it look fun, but never stop concentrating – this is a difficult balance to get right.

It only takes a second’s lapse, perhaps miss a repeat sign and before you know it, you’re completely lost in the piece!

32 Kingswood in Focus

And also, because the stage is so big, the sound that the audience gets is completely different to what we get on stage. We have foldback monitors near us which might have some piano and drums blasting through them, or perhaps some of the singers, but from the drum chair, you can’t hear an awful lot to be honest, apart from drums!

The added responsibility for a drummer is that you’re basically in charge of the band. Some numbers need to feel as if they’re pushing forward in speed, some must not have any feeling of rushing – drift off for a moment, and you get that black look from Mr Mainwaring as the rest of the band follows you the wrong way! Perhaps though, the most fantastic part is looking up from your pad, out across Green Park Station and seeing a thousand or so people smiling and dancing to something you are playing – that’s perhaps The Sweetest Feeling, knowing that if the audience Reach Out, We’ll Be There!

Matthew James (Year 13)

“..the most fantastic part is looking out across Green Park Station and seeing a thousand or so people smiling and dancing to something you are playing...”

A Remembrance Day Concert to Remember Every few years, the choirs of the school join forces with parents, staff and friends, in order to sing a large-scale choral work.

Following the amazing success of Carmina Burana, Kingswood embarked on Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. This was a challenging work, and to prepare the piece in only 10 weeks ready for Remembrance Sunday was a tall order. The various movements draw inspiration from a variety of sources, including poetry, the Bible and the Koran.

For the Muslim Call to Prayer, Kingswood was honoured to invite Abdul Sherriff from Bath Mosque to sing the Adhan.

He sang from the balcony of the sports hall in complete darkness – a magical moment. The other soloists were equally as amazing, Katja Cross on cello in the beautiful Benedictus and Mrs Bassett singing on her first major Kingswood debut.

The accompanying film, along with the orchestra of professionals and advanced students raised the performance to an intense emotional level. The large audience were completely in awe, not only by the size of the choir and orchestra (over 250 performers in total!), but also by the sheer professionalism throughout.

“The large audience were completely in awe, not only by the size of the choir and orchestra, but also by the sheer professionalism.”

This followed a first half of superb solo performances from Kingswood Scholars. From Susanna Sealy’s debut right through to our most experienced National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain bassoonist Alfred Ireland, all of the musicians played with great technical skill and a level of musical understanding that belied their years. It was also great to see some of the musicians being accompanied by Kingswood Senior Orchestra and Senior Strings. We were delighted that the retiring collection at the end of the concert raised £400 for the British Legion, which seemed an appropriate beneficiary on such an occasion.

Myfi Hollywell (Year 12)

Roy Chan

Kingswood at Bath Abbey Both our Carol Service and Commemoration Day Service are true highlights of the year, and yet again, Kingswood’s choirs made a superb contribution to both.

At the Carol Service, the Chamber Choir’s And The Glory of the Lord from Handel’s Messiah was first class and it was such a thrill to hear the choir accompanied by a small orchestra of students.

The Senior Choir performed Mr Knight’s fantastic composition Peaceful, the Wondrous Night with great sensitivity and Kingswood Voices’ A Maiden Most Gentle resonated wonderfully around the Abbey.

As is traditional at Commemoration Day, there is always at least one performance of a new composition. We were most fortunate to have two new pieces this year. Matthew James’ A Level composition Benedictus was performed by the Senior Choir, and showed how Matthew has made great strides in terms of his harmonic and textural writing. Mr Knights also offered another new piece, this time for Westwood Choir to perform.

As well as the new music, the words were also written especially for the piece by Kingswood’s Christian Union. As ever, we are indebted to the choirs, organist Mr Sealy and Mr Knights for their invaluable musical contribution to our two most prominent annual acts of worship. I have to say that I have loved my first two Abbey experiences!

Mrs Aimée Bassett (Teacher of Music) Kingswood in Focus 33

Roar Power from Kingswood’s Drummers Kingswood’s ad hoc percussion ensemble / drum circle had a very busy start to the year with two gigs in different venues within an hour.

The 10-strong all-male (tut tut, come on girls!) African Drum Circle comprising of Harry Chivers, Isaac Brain, Toby Briggs, Matt Jeffery, Matt James, George Williams, Toby Underwood, David Short and Harry and Tim Rouse performed at the Royal Crescent’s VIP reception for the Roar Event. This gig started the weekend of celebrations of the Bath Lions collection, and the Mayor of Bath and local MP Don Foster were on hand to lend their support. This was yet another high-profile Bath gig for the Music Department, and the drummers performed for 20 minutes whilst guests wandered around the famous Bath Lions collection. The African drummers were photographed by the local press in front of many of the lions, including Kingswood’s own Mathematicat which now sits proudly outside the Art Centre.

Harry Chivers (Year 12)

In a Masterclass of Their Own Two of our most talented performers, Leonard Budd and Lauren Kelly, were given opportunities to learn from two of the best musical luminaries in the business during the Summer Term.

Leonard performed at Kingswood Theatre in front of international concert pianist Joanna MacGregor. Joanna has become a regular at Kingswood Theatre, and is world-renowned as an innovative and wide-ranging pianist, having worked with everyone from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to Brian Eno. Leonard performed the fiendishly difficult work, Marigold by Billy Mayerl, and Joanna was extremely complimentary about Leonard’s technical ability. A few days later, Lauren Kelly was invited to Bath’s Academy of Musical Theatre vocal masterclass with world-renowned vocal coach Mary Hammond. Mary has worked with the opening casts of at least 26 West End shows as well as opera and rock sessions. Lauren performed Your Daddy’s Song, and, again, received a great deal of inspiring comments. Congratulations to both of these talented Kingswood musicians!

Mr Richard Mainwaring (Director of Music)

Solace:

Kingswood is an extremely vibrant and busy place to work and live. And, in such a bustling community, there can sometimes be little time or space to stop and reflect.

In March, the Music Department’s Solace concert was a chance to do such a thing; a time to find comfort, peace and solace through a programme of reflective music, in the tranquil candle-lit setting of an applause-free, late-night chapel concert.

Around fifty performers took part, including members of the Chamber Choir, Senior String Orchestra and soloists, as well as Mr Mainwaring, Mrs Bassett, Mr Knights and Mr Arcoleo, one of Kingswood’s guitar teachers. There were so many wonderful musical offerings, but some of the highlights of the evening included Albinoni’s Adagio played by the Senior Strings, Ellie Hobbs’ John Dowland song and Oscar Batterham’s Schubert song, Du Bist Die Ruh. For some, the concert was simply a chance to pause at the end of a busy week, for others, it was a chance to find some solace after difficult times. For all though, it was a memorable evening.

Louisa Harris (Year 13) 34 Kingswood in Focus

Music Winners Kingswood musicians have been so pleased to receive recognition for their work this year through a number of public awards.

In September, 10 musicians formed the band Martha and the Umbrellas in order to participate in the inter-schools’ charity competition Top of Those Pops. The band competed against seven other schools as part of the Time After Time festival at the Bath Pavilion. The theme for the show was ‘Hits from the 1950s and 60s’. The event was opened by the Secretary of State for Health, Paul Burstow and local MP, Don Foster. The whole premise of the community-based festival was to encourage more understanding between old and young people, and Martha and the Umbrellas performed Why Do Fools Fall in Love and Dancing in the Street to an audience of approximately 500, the majority of whom were senior citizens. The band performed superbly, learning all of the music and dance moves the night before the competition! The whole outfit was led in the most exemplary and professional manner by pianist, Sam Mumford, and Kingswood won the top prize of £250 which was donated to Hope and Homes for Children.

Although the band was delighted to win the competition, more importantly, the musicians helped to contribute to an incredibly memorable day for those who attended.

Jess

Bish

ay L6

“...Kingswood music is about giving enjoyment to other people.”

Around Christmas, Lauren Kelly discovered that she had picked up third prize at the UK National Songwriting Competition. Her composition This Is My Story got through to the final four of the competition from where it was available for download from iTunes. Lauren was given the real star treatment, being interviewed on a number of occasions on BBC Radio Bristol and a live interview on BBC TV’s Points West. And, as with much of what we do at Kingswood, there was a charitable element to the competition as money from the downloaded song went to Barnardos. As well coming third in the songwriting section, Lauren and I also came first and second in the video section. As reward for her 3rd place, Lauren was invited to Mark Knopfler’s amazing British Grove Studio in London. Also as part of the prize, she could bring a guest, and kindly, Lauren invited me to help her rerecord her song with the likes of Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason playing drums! Finally, in March, during a normal morning assembly, there was an audible gasp as Mr Mainwaring welcomed Nick Mason to Kingswood. Nick presented Lauren and me with our prizes and complimented us on the high quality of the Kingswood entries. The whole event was so special, and it’s not every day you have someone who has sold 200 million albums presenting you with a prize!!!

Later in the year, at an incredibly posh function at the Assembly Rooms, Kingswood Music Department picked up Best Arts Award at the Bath Life Awards 2011 for their superb 2-hour gig at Green Park Station last May. The school was shortlisted alongside strong artistic names such as The Natural Theatre Company. Myfi Hollywell, principal saxophone with Kingswood Jazz Orchestra said “What an honour! We knew that we had been shortlisted, but we never thought we’d win. Last summer’s gig at Green Park Station was brilliant fun, and it was great to see so many shoppers dancing to our music! That’s what Kingswood Music is about – giving enjoyment to other people.” Pictures Bath Life Award Winners from the glitzy awards evening were published in Bath Life Magazine, and the trophy has taken pride-of-place in the Headmaster’s office!

r Osca

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lan L

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Jess Bishay (Year 12)

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mbrella nd the U Martha a

Kingswood in Focus 35

Lunchtime Concerts

This year’s Music Department’s lunchtime concerts have been hosted by the Music Scholars, and have given many pupils the opportunity to perform to a more intimate and appreciative audience.

For some pupils it is the first time they have given a solo performance and an informal gathering can help soothe the nerves! The first concert was hosted by Alfred and Tamsin Ireland, who provided masterful performances, combining flawless technique with great musicality.

It was great to see the talented siblings ably supported by Oscar Batterham, Martha Chilver Vaughan, Susanna Sealy and Lucy Russell-Bates.

Roy Chan and I hosted the second concert. Roy wowed the audience with his extract from a Bach Partita and the Liebesfreud by Kreisler.

I performed two contrasting movements from one of my favourite Vivaldi cello concertos. Roy and Katja’s guests were Natasha Chapman and Lauren Kelly, both of whom performed to a very high standard.

There was also a first for our lunchtime concerts when Rosie Snowden performed a harp solo called Two Guitars.

Olga Trunova and Susanna Sealy represented the younger scholars with a concert at the start of the Summer Term.

The standard of performance was excellent throughout, with Susanna’s Mozart aria on the oboe and Olga’s stunning Khachaturian Tocatta showing what great potential our younger musicians have.

Charlie Price opened his and Sam Mumford’s concert with a performance of The Noble Savage by Hummel, a piece he had also played for his AS Music recital. Sam followed with his own tasteful arrangement of Satin Doll for solo piano. Sam and Charlie were joined

by Katie Mitchell, who sang a beautiful rendition of Shenandoah, and

by Isabel Calvert with her atmospheric version of Feeling Good. Sam and Charlie rounded off what was a very entertaining concert.

The final Scholars’ Lunchtime Concert of the year was hosted by Ben and Len (Richardson and Budd). Jess Brown began the concert singing When Daisies Pied followed by scholar Ben Richardson performing a challenging jazz version of Blue Moon, including his own impressive improvising and embellishments. Gareth Hollywell and Andy Chadwick both performed their examination pieces. Next came another lunchtime debut - a piano duet with Catherine Stevenson and Mr Knights. Rebecca Nicholson then followed with her first solo performance singing a highly expressive song by Pergolesi. Ashley Hunt was next and sang Something Good, which indeed it was!

Scholar Leonard Budd finished with what must be his favourite piece, Marigold, a fiercely challenging piece played with great skill, a fiendishly difficult work he performed for the famous concert pianist Joanna MacGregor.

Everyone agreed that the Scholars’ Lunchtime Concert Series has been a great success and has given a lot of pupils an opportunity to perform. Everyone is looking forward to doing it all again next year!

Katja Cross (Year 11)

A Different New Year!

After two years of wonderful Viennese-style New Year’s celebrations with the Senior Orchestra at the Guildhall, it was time to ring the changes. Therefore, on cue, Mr Burgon appeared with his accordion to help celebrate Burns’ Night! All of Kingswood’s string players contributed to the fabulous Friends of Kingswood event which was so well attended, it had to be held in the Sports Hall. After all, it is difficult to “strip-the-willow” in a confined space! In all, 165 parents, staff and friends ate traditional Scottish cuisine in the Dining Hall, all prepared by Kingswood’s fantastic catering team, and this was followed by a raucous Ceilidh. There were around 25 violin, viola and double bass players performing traditional Scottish dances, ably accompanied by guitar, keyboard, and drums. Mrs Best, Mrs Brown and Mrs Nash called the dances throughout the evening, and the event was deemed such a success that another Ceilidh next year is a must!

Martha Overeynder (Year 9) 36 Kingswood in Focus

Music in the Community Why perform music? Is it merely the pursuit of personal excellence, a chance to develop one’s skills, a chance for individual achievement or an opportunity to gain plaudits?

Of course it isn’t. The famous musician Wynton Marsalis once said “those who play for applause, only get applause.” The greatest gift that a musician has is the ability to communicate with others, and Kingswood musicians learn this through their performances in the community. And if we can raise a bit of money for good causes on the way, then all the better. This year, many of the Music Department’s ensembles performed at various locations.

In November, our Sixth Form music students returned for their annual visit to the exquisite church in Woolley. It was once again packed full of locals and parents, and all of the students provided wonderful solo performances. The music ranged in style from Renaissance songs to Romantic piano miniatures, from operatic arias to drum kit improvisations. The concert was finished with the traditional ensemble piece which is never rehearsed in advance, and always has a Woolley link in the title. Previous audiences have been treated to Woolly Bully and I Just Called To Say I Love Ewe, and this year the musicians performed the famous Proclaimers song I Would Shear 500 Sheep. The students helped to raise a substantial amount of money, all of which goes to help maintain this wonderful little church.

In February, ex-Kingswood teacher Mrs Jackie Ball invited us back to St Andrew’s Church in Chippenham for our biennial concert. This time, we took Kingswood Chamber Choir, Kingswood Jazz Orchestra and the String Orchestra. The concert was a wonderful occasion, with numerous highlights.

Many people commented upon the beautiful Shenandoah from the Chamber Choir, the very cool Tuxedo Junction from KJO, and the fabulous fun that the string orchestra provided with a medley of traditional Bluegrass American folksongs. It was great to visit this wonderful church once again, and, in our bid to do our bit for the Big Society, Kingswood musicians raised £440 for St Andrew’s Spire Fund!

And then in March, Year Nine Core Musicians visited the Oldfield Park Friendly Club. It was so great to see our younger performers really entertaining some of our more senior members of the community with a range of fantastic musical items. The small but appreciative audience clapped vigorously and hummed and sang along to the more well known tunes. Some of the highlights of the show included Gareth Hollywell’s trombone solo The Skye Boat Song in which the audience fulfilled the humming role, Sophie McDermott’s beautiful rendition of Linden Lea (in which the audience also joined in), and Ben Richardson’s improvised saxophone solo which one of the members of the club insisted he played.

Finally, in June, the Music Department visited another beautiful church, this time in Box. This was Kingswood’s first concert at St Thomas-a-Becket Church, and Year 9 and 10 musicians provided the parents and locals with a fantastically varied programme from Handel to Guns ‘n’ Roses!

Of particular note, the concert provided the opportunity to hear both the Boys and Girls Choirs showing that Kingswood has plenty of vocal talent for the foreseeable future! Once again, the musicians raised a substantial amount of money for church restoration, and equally as importantly, gave the audience a most inspiring evening of memorable music-making.

Mr Richard Mainwaring (Director of Music)

Kingswood in Focus 37

Peri Profile We currently have 22 instrumental and vocal teachers who teach over 300 individual music lessons every week.

The wealth of their combined musical talent and experience is quite staggering, and we are indebted to them for making the Department such a wonderfully exciting, stimulating and fun place to work. In every KIF, we profile one of our staff.

This year it is the turn of:

ANNA SALAMONSEN – VIOLIN / VIOLA Anna started learning the violin at the age of 11 when, following aural tests conducted in the schools in her area, she was given the chance to take up group lessons. Progressing to individual tuition, through her teenage years she endured the combination of a ferocious teacher and a Monday morning lesson at 7 o’clock! An extensive tour with the New Zealand National Youth Orchestra introduced her to the UK and, following completion of a M.Mus (Performance) at the University of Auckland, she returned to London to study the Baroque violin, take Alexander lessons and further her teaching career. She was most fortunate in joining the notable violin teacher Sheila Nelson in her group-teaching scheme in Tower Hamlets. This was an enormous inspiration and, newly married, Anna moved to Stockholm where she lived for three years and was able to introduce this method of teaching to schools there. On returning to London she set up ‘The Young String Experience’ at the Junior Academy of The Royal Academy of Music. In 1992 she moved to Bath.

Here, she lives in Weston with her lovely dog Greta along with the youngest of her three children and her husband! She enjoys her freelance playing and greatly values the teaching work she does here at Kingswood.

Mr Richard Mainwaring (Director of Music)

Anna Salamonsen

Filming for the New Website Throughout the year, many of Kingswood’s ensembles have been recording films in preparation for the new Music Department website (www.kingswood.bath.sch.uk/media).

These films were to be added to other gems such as Stinky and KATS 2010 which were made at the end of last academic year. With the Senior Strings at the best they have been for a number of years, we decided to film them on location. Through the kind offer of a Kingswood parent, we managed to acquire the wonderful setting of the Octagon on Milsom Street. Not only is this is a visually stunning venue, but the acoustics are simply superb for strings. During a 4 hour audio and video shoot, we recorded the Strings performing La Caccia from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Both the ensemble and the technical crew were so professional, but special mention must go to cameraman Toby Russell and solo violinist Roy Chan for their amazing work. The resulting rushes were then edited back at the Music Department studio, and the final film is possibly one of the most professional ventures I have ever had the pleasure of working on at Kingswood.

With this success under our belt, it was not long before we embarked on an even more ambitious project – this time, to record and film the 80-piece Senior Orchestra! With one eye on a challenge, we chose to record the technically challenging America from Bernstein’s West Side Story. Once again, all of the performers and technical crew were superb, and it was testament to the pupils’ talent and professionalism that, after the audio recording was complete, it only took an hour for 7 takes of the video shots. On this session, cameraman Toby Russell used his brand new camera crane which he had designed and constructed for his A Level Design Technology examination. The results were superb. After this, we were on a roll, recording other films such as the Year 9 Core at the end of the summer term. All of the films can be found on the Video Wall of our brand new section of the school website. Check it out – www.kingswood. bath.sch.uk/media

Mr Richard Mainwaring (Director of Music)

38 Kingswood in Focus

Ensemble Fortnight This year’s Ensemble Fortnight concert was the usual mix of under-rehearsed duets, trios, quartets etc., all blended with a healthy mix of blind panic!

But, as we all know, the point is that we all have a go at playing music in small ensembles where the responsibility for playing a part lies solely with the individual! If it goes wrong, well, it goes wrong, and the music staff and our peripatetic teachers always claim it is good experience for us to get ourselves out of trouble......mmm!

As the title suggests, we only get to see the music for two weeks and have two lessons rehearsing it with our teachers. About 140 musicians participated in the concert which included a diverse range of musical feasts including piano duets, voice trios, wind quartets (including an umbrella-wielding dancing Mrs Hammond!), an excellent saxophone orchestra, a 20-strong American fiddle group and the ear-splitting Guitar Band of Doom rounding off the concert with a version of Addicted to Love. Perhaps Addicted to Living on the Edge of One’s Seat would have been a more appropriate title!

Natasha Chapman (Year 11)

Uncle Sam’s Big Gig Every Spring Concert over the last few years has used a theme around which to showcase the breadth of musical talent at Kingswood. This year was no exception, and the rich range of music from the United States of America was ideal.

Around 200 pupils took part in Uncle Sam’s Big Gig, a riotous concert of red, white and blue! The packed theatre was festooned with Stars and Stripes flags and bunting, and films of American icons were shown to introduce the musical items. Mr Harding, Olivia Dellow, Mr Mainwaring, Sam Harman, Mr Musto and Mr Bissex provided highly entertaining voiceovers for the films, which included Homer and Marge, Neil Armstrong, Barack Obama and Miss Piggy!

The concert started with the Senior Orchestra and the American National Anthem, and was followed by an incredibly energetic version of America from West Side Story. Westwood Choir sang Chicka Hanka, a very entertaining and evocative railroad song.

The Chamber Choir performed the haunting Shenandoah and the first half finished with Kingswood Flying Circus’ blues number, Oh Pretty Woman, with an extremely cool Kofi Sawyerr greatly impressing the audience with his vocal debut.

After some satisfyingly American interval refreshments of hot dogs and coke, we returned to the entertainment. Westwood Orchestra (Battle Hymn of the Republic), the Senior Strings (Mesmeric Minimalism by Philip Glass) and Kingswood Jazz Orchestra

(Miles Davis / Benny Goodman) all performed superbly, and the concert was closed by the Senior Choir, with a most memorable and raucous version of Sweet Home Alabama.

A big high five to everyone involved for yet another doggone awesome gig from the guys and gals of Kingswood’s Music Department - yee-hah! We had a nice day!

Charles Price (Year 12) Kingswood in Focus 39

A Blast from the Past I’m not sure that, after one of the busiest years we have ever had in the Music Department, a massive two-hour gig at the end of the summer was particularly welcomed when first mooted!

The Kingswood Foundation However, once initial plans had been made, it was obvious to us all that this was going to be a very special gig.

Not only were we going to take some of the best songs from the last three Green Park Station concerts, but we were going to get some of Kingswood’s best ex-students to come back and perform. Once this particular ball was rolling (pardon the pun!), I got a bit carried away and started inviting back great musicians from many years ago.

What was fantastic was just how successful many of Kingswood’s ex-music students had become. Amongst the notable achievers were Dominic Monks, now a music producer who has worked with Tom Jones, Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs and Ray LaMontagne among others. He was joined on guitar by Simon Whitehead, who has worked on films like Casino Royale and The Golden Compass. Chloe Morgan returned to sing a couple of numbers, and I was delighted to learn that she is now singing professionally with esteemed choral ensembles throughout Europe. It was also great to see Vicky Klewin who sang superbly – she came to the Foundation Ball virtually straight from Glastonbury!

And then there were a number of other students, still studying at some of the UK’s leading conservatoires and universities including Alex Bevan (Royal Academy of Music), Hannah Bishay (Goldsmiths), Jeff Carpenter (Cambridge University Footlights), Laura Cross and Alex Killpartrick (both Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama), Sam Parsons (Oxford University) and Rebecca Reed (Trinity College of Music, London). However, it wasn’t only successful music students we invited back. It was wonderful to see Yuki Inoue and Irene Kong (violins), Tom Pritchard (voice) and Magnus Mulvany (sax). The gig was fab with everyone playing and singing out of their skins. It was so rock-and-roll to finish at 12.30am(!!), though I think I’m getting a bit old for it all!

Mr Richard Mainwaring (Director of Music)

40 Kingswood in Focus

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We Really Had a Ball!

After nine months of planning and many informal meetings of a number of very dedicated and willing volunteers from the Development Council and Friends of Kingswood, it was with great excitement and expectation that 250 guests were welcomed to the first ‘Kingswood Foundation Ball’ on Saturday 2nd July.

We knew it was going to be an ambitious project; to transform the sports hall into a cabaret-style venue; to produce an exquisite meal in-house with exceptional entertainment, and to create an event which would have sufficient appeal to be a sell-out whilst helping us raise money for the Foundation. To have actually pulled it off was therefore truly amazing!

The atmosphere was buzzing from the arrival of the very first guests in their splendid outfits and with such willing and enthusiastic support, especially in their last-minute buying of extra raffle tickets for the Mazda 2 car and participation in the Grand Auction. Fantastic prizes had been very generously donated by many current parents and also former pupils. Local businesses, who regularly support Kingswood, played their part in the success of the evening in many ways, from providing flower arrangements to specially created ‘Kingswood Fudge’ treats on the tables for all the guests.

After much dining, dancing and daring (for those who attempted a ride on the bucking bronco) the tension mounted as the Headmaster’s wife, Mrs Caroline Morris, drew out the winning ticket for the Grand Draw of the Mazda Car, most generously provided at trade price to the School by Mr Danny Sacco of Lansdown Mazda. The very surprised winner was Mr Richard Jeffery who most generously gave a further donation to the Fund, after being presented with the keys by Mr Sacco.

“To say that ‘a great time was had by all’ would probably be the understatement of the year...”

To say that ‘a great time was had by all’ would probably be the understatement of the year, but the feedback and kind comments the Committee received afterwards certainly paid tribute to the fantastic ‘team work’ that was put in by so many to ensure that everyone really did have a fantastic evening.

The list of thanks is so extensive that we will make mention of all the names in the next edition of ‘Horizons’, the Development Newsletter, but suffice it to say that the biggest thank you is to all those who attended the event and helped us to raise over £6,000 in just one evening for the Kingswood Foundation funds.

Mrs Angela Dudley-Warde (Director of Marketing & Development)

Kingswood in Focus 41

Friends of Kingswood

Another Busy Year “Thanks to the hard work of committee members, teachers and volunteers and, not forgetting you, our lovely parents supporting the events, it has been yet another busy and successful one for Friends of Kingswood. What did we get up to?

In November we held an enjoyable Quiz Night – who did get that wooden spoon?

memory of Miss Bleathman and a trophy which will be awarded annually in memory of John Allison: ‘The Allison Trophy’.

In January we danced our hearts out at The Ceilidh – what fun!

Throughout the school year our Second-hand Uniform Shop is smoothly, efficiently and very profitably run by Sheena Stockley and Moira Thompson. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them sincerely for all their hard work and efforts to provide this much-needed service.

In March we supported the very prestigious Bath International Schools Model United Nations; an excellent weekend with the FoK committee and lots of volunteers helping to run the teachers’ “Welcome Drinks” reception on the Friday evening and a very busy tuck shop throughout the weekend.

June saw the KATS Awards event where the Friends provided their traditional assistance setting up the theatre for the ceremony and helping serve dinner.

In July, it was a pleasure to be part of the Foundation Ball with some of our members on the Foundation Ball Committee – a fabulous evening was enjoyed by all.

As you can see, we have had fun but at the same time we have raised money which will be used for the benefit of all Kingswood children.

We managed to purchase some interesting items such as: Web Cam Bird Feeders, a new garden in Westwood, a Kindle (as first prize for the Library Challenge Competition), an outdoor table tennis table, a Sublimation Dye Printer for the Design and Technology Department, Lego Educational Mindstorms for robotics activities, a bench in

We would also like to thank the Coffee and Tea team. Where would we be without you - well done Helen Beere for all that organising!

Oh, I almost forgot, thanks to Peter Clarke and his trusty band of volunteers for organising the FOK bars that provide you with welcome refreshment at all the plays and concerts.

Finally, the Friends of Kingswood are always looking forward to meeting with parents - new and old. If you want to find out more about what we do or want to get involved in any way whatsoever, please do get in touch with us.

See you soon!”

Mrs Mary Jane Chalmers (Secretary of Friends of Kingswood) Contact Mary Jane on: mary-jane.chalmers@sky.com

The Westwood Garden

Lego Mindstorm Kit Making Robots

Outdoor Table Tennis Table Jewellery Making Kit

42 Kingswood in Focus

Eco-Schools

School Community Supports Biodiversity Toby Russell made Biodiversity the topic of his Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) having become interested in it during his A Level studies.

Over the past academic year, I have produced a short film that shows how biodiversity is still largely unrecognised, and how much it shapes and affects our lives. It also talks about how vital it is that the public are taught about the issue if progress is to be made to safeguard biodiversity in the future. The film was the basis of my EPQ and was shown to the school in an assembly last April.

Biodiversity is a term used to describe the variety of life on Earth. It refers to the wide variety of ecosystems and habitats that contain living organisms, animals and plants, and all the genes they contain. It is important to recognise its significance; as humans continue to disrupt the natural world with pollution and habitat destruction, species become endangered or extinct. As more species are lost, the ecosystem they form a part of begins to break down; we are in danger of losing many habitats around the world altogether, and not just a few species, if we continue like this. A rainforest or coral reef may seem far removed from our everyday lives, but we use these places to research life-saving drugs, new materials and consumer products so, if we lost a resource like that, many things that we take for granted today would be affected.

The winning photo in the Orchid Competition taken by Finn Weston

“Biodiversity describes the variety of life on Earth.”

At Kingswood, I hope that my film, combined with the work done by the Eco-Schools Group, will help increase interest in biodiversity. Their photography competition specifically involves orchids on our Upper Playing Field. Awareness needs to be raised and, by doing projects like this, people can be shown that there is something positive they can do on a personal level.

Toby Russell (Year 13)

The Eco-Schools’ Biodiversity Team (pictured below) has been researching our orchid population and have organised a photography competition to involve others.

Currently inhabiting Kingswood’s Upper playing grounds are some green-winged orchids. They begin to flower from April to June, with the shoots appearing towards the end of March. This variety is threatened and, as a result, should be cherished and encouraged to flourish.

To encourage their growth, the groundstaff do not mow the grass from April until August, so no flowers are cut down during this stage of development. When it is cut, an open ended lawn mower is used.

This collects the seeds to redistribute them in the newly cut ground for the next year’s flowering. To avoid trampling, there are mown paths that allow you to walk around the Upper with minimum impact. For the first years of action, only a relatively small area was allowed for growth but, over the years, an increasingly large area has been left. This has worked to great effect, as over the ten years of care, the area taken up by the orchids has grown to around an acre. There are no initiatives for the future other than to continue as we are, because our current techniques are proving successful.

We believe that greater understanding will improve their survival chances. Therefore, this year we have publicised their existence and run a competition to photograph our orchids. Hopefully, this will just be the beginning of many competitions to help increase awareness of Kingswood’s biodiversity.

Angharad Hopkinson & Jess Jeffery (Year 10) Kingswood in Focus 43

Visiting VIPs

A Visit from Lord Rosser In January the Sixth Form gained an insight into the workings of Parliament when Lord Rosser visited the school as part of the General Studies programme.

After lunch with some of our sixth formers he then gave an informative talk about the workings of the House of Lords. A lively question and answer session followed, in which he fielded questions on a range of topics, from the nature of the coalition’s mandate to the arguments surrounding reform of the upper chamber.

Mr Craig Woodgate (Head of Sixth Form)

An Evening with Dale Templar On Wednesday 8th June we held the inaugural lecture to mark the founding of Kingswood School Geographical Society.

To give the lecture we were fortunate to have Dale Templar, a Kingswood parent, who was the series producer of the award winning BBC series “The Human Planet”.

In Dale’s own words the lecture was about...

“How we make a landmark series like Human Planet - filmed in over 70 of the most remote places on earth in just over 2 years. Stories, things that go wrong, lots of lots of clips and an insight into the tricks of the trade.”

The audience was transfixed for 2 hours and the evening raised £400 for Friends of Malawi!

Mr Peter Clarke (Secretary of Kingswood Geographical Society)

44 Kingswood in Focus

One in a Million!

In February, it was a great pleasure to welcome renowned London-based property developer and self-made millionaire Nick Capstick-Dale back to his old School for the first time in over 30 years.

Nick first re-connected with Kingswood with some trepidation at the East India Club reunion of ‘Old Kingswoodians’ in 2010 when I was pleased to hear him say, “I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it! I was also very impressed by the new Headmaster and the way in which he is obviously taking the school forward.” It was with this renewed interest in Kingswood that Nick accepted our invitation to come and talk to Sixth Form students, in particular those studying Economics & Business Studies, who were very keen to hear about his exceptional entrepreneurial skills in the business world.

A chance meeting with former tutor, Richard Garforth

The Headmaster discusses future possibilties for the school campus

His message to the pupils is “look around you at the wider picture and really embrace every opportunity...”

Nick Capstick-Dale with Sixth formers

Nick spoke passionately about his career and how, through sheer hard work and determination, he was able to develop not only his own confidence, but also his skills and ability to set up his own company.

It all started from a bedsit in East Ham where he had his first job, as a junior negotiator, selling houses for a salary of £3,000 at year.

He said he was “fiercely ambitious” and it was his hard-work and canny willpower which took him very swiftly up not only the property ladder itself, but the proverbial ladder of life! Selling houses led to buying houses, buying houses led to buying larger properties - mostly derelict and with potential - and soon Nick’s own artistic design skills and creativity were being put to greater use in planning and developing his own schemes.

During his visit Nick was also pleased to spend some time with the Headmaster and architect George Batterham and had some very interesting new perspectives for them to think about as they look at future development plans for the campus in the coming years.

He even had a chance meeting with former tutor, Mr Richard Garforth, who instantly recalled a sporting injury that Nick had sustained to his knee. He was certainly impressed by Mr Garforth’s memory!

His message to the pupils of today is “look around you at the wider picture. See what is going on and really embrace every opportunity that comes your way. You just don’t know how it may help you in the future.”

We would like to thank Nick for his interest in coming back to see us at Kingswood and for his very kind offer to students interested in property development. They are welcome to contact him for any advice or possible work experience opportunities in the future.

Mrs Angela Dudley-Warde (Director of Marketing & Development)

George Batterham looks at the campus plans with Nick

Kingswood in Focus 45

Sport

Rugby 2010 Kingswood is fortunate to have some very good rugby teams and exceptionally talented players in the school at the moment, resulting in our 13 teams winning nearly all of their matches this year.

Four teams were unbeaten and every team won more matches than they lost.

In the U12s year group there is little difference between the A and B teams and so there was a lot of competition between the two sides for places. After a tough start which saw the A team lose their first 2 games, they then won 4 in a row before finishing with an excellent 10-10 draw in a thrilling game against a strong Sir Thomas Rich side. In the pack, Louis Charley, Ollie Johnson and Rathlin Scott were excellent all season and Rory Crowther improved steadily as the season progressed. Charlie Patterson and skipper Nick Harris were the controlling influence at half-back while Jack Kenny was the top try-scorer and Joe Han-Hauser promises to be a really exciting player for the future. In the U12Bs, Player of the Season was fly half Caolán McConnaughie, whilst flanker Jake Taylor was the Most Improved Player of the Season.

The U13s have made considerable progress under the guidance of Mr Harding. Every result was an improvement upon last season’s and, significantly, they beat a good QEH Bristol side which they had lost to the previous year. Lucas Reeman was defensively very strong whilst Oliver Akiwumi proved a useful addition to the side. Wilf Brunt was excellent at scrum half, whilst Ollie Millner, Charlie Fraser and Freddie Oliphant were also key influences in the matches. For the Bs Matthew Williams, Cameron Walker, Kofi Sawyerr and Alex Scruton showed they have the potential to compete for A team places next year.

Both U14 sides were again unbeaten, winning all 16 matches. For the As Owen Waters, Dominic Mackenzie, George Broom and captain Jack Hurring all represented the County, whilst Parimal Shrestha was often the match winner from a variety of positions. The highlight was a 43-3 win against Dauntsey’s who had also not lost for two and a half years. The U15 Daily Mail Cup next year should provide them with a new challenge. The U14Bs also enjoyed a very good season, with some improved results on last year. Player of the Season was Morgan Chalmers and the Most Improved Player was Jamie Padkin.

“...Kingswood rugby has much to look forward to in the near future.”

The U15As also enjoyed an unbeaten season with their highlight also being a win against King Edward’s. Excellent victories against good QEH Bristol, King’s Bruton and Beechen Cliff teams followed.

Jack Crowther was outstanding throughout and deservedly won County Honours, whilst Barney Eliot, Angus Hawking, Jonathan Roberts, Tim Rouse and Matt Scott regularly stood out. In the Bs, Rob Blackburn was consistently excellent whist Hugh Schofield was outstanding with his effort. Highlights for them included good wins over local rivals King Edward’s and Prior Park.

At U16 level, the As and Bs lost just two games between them. Nick Mackenzie excelled as both captain and playmaker for the As, whilst Oscar Dennis, Elliot Canning, Zach Hart, Nick Phillips, Toby Briggs, Conor O’Sullivan and Fraser Russell were all significant players throughout the season.

Performances were always very entertaining with many tries scored from long range using the pace of the back-line and the fitness of the forwards. The U16B team most certainly improved as the term progressed. Key players for this team include Alex Wynne-Hughes, James Humphrey and Bosco Chan. The Most Improved Player this season was Patrick Seed.

Of the three Senior sides, the 3rd team under the guidance of Mr Davies were unbeaten, winning all 7 of their matches with a 20-10 victory over a good Clifton College side being the highlight.

46 Kingswood in Focus

Andrew Moss was the most consistent player and his passion helped the side on several occasions. Alfred Ireland proved almost as proficient on the rugby pitch as in the orchestra, whilst Will Morrison deserves huge credit for his leadership. Will Norman, who missed the previous season with a broken leg, was, by some distance, the outstanding player for the early part of the season, so good that the 2nd team pinched him!

The 2nd team were inconsistent. They won convincingly against Queen’s Taunton, Beechen Cliff and Wycliffe, but lost to QEH Bristol and Dauntsey’s in matches they could have won. Edward Hutchison captained the side superbly and was given excellent help from Matt O’Bryan, Josh Baldwin and Harry Clark.

The 1st team started with a pre-season tour to Riberac in the South of France which helped the side gel and, in addition to training, beat a Riberac Development side.

Rowan James proved to be an inspired choice of captain and, along with other older members of the squad such as David Short, Jack Feeny, Harry Cheetham, Harry Dawson, Tom Drew, Sam Elliott, Ed King, Adam McBraida, Harry Pemberton, Will Mackenzie, Ben Simpson, Robbie Carrington and Zach Mayne, helped the side to one of the most successful seasons in over 25 years. Narrow defeats to King Edward’s and King’s Bruton were the only disappointments in an otherwise very impressive season. Victories against all other local rivals, and an impressive win against QEH Bristol, were testament to the strength and skill of the entire squad. Several younger players gained invaluable experience, and with a strong U16 side coming through, some new recruits, and a new pavilion, Kingswood rugby has much to look forward to in the near future.

Mr Tim Reeman (Director of Sport)

Post-script from the Captain - Rowan James I can’t quite describe how I felt when I was asked to be Kingswood rugby captain, but I assure you I was so excited about the things to come and matches I would be playing, I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. For me it was the equivalent of being made Head Boy and it is what got me out of bed in the morning!

It has, undoubtedly, been the highlight of my time at Kingswood being the Rugby Captain, and although to many of you this may seem a bit odd, I felt most at home running out in the Kingswood colours onto the Upper playing fields in horrible weather conditions in front of our faithful band of supporters. I know I am speaking for the team when I say that we were all gutted when it became clear that we would not be able to play our final matches of the term due to the weather.

Rugby Results - Autumn 2010 1st XV Riberac

2nd XV

3rd XV

U16A

U16B

U15A

U15B

U13A

U13B

U12A

U12B

L 17-25

W 48-0 W 12-5 L 12-17

Queen’s Taunton W 43-12 W 53-10 King Edward’s

U14B

W 41-7

Truro Dauntsey’s

U14A

L 10-18

W 31-17 W 67-17 W 43-0

L 3-12

Blundell’s

W 43-0

W 39-12 W 44-0

Beechen Cliff

W 25-3

W 36-5

W 30-5

W 52-0

W 17-5 W 43-12 W 51-0

L 0-19

W 24-0

L 5-31 W 17-12

W 17-5 W 19-15 W 44-0

W 28-19

Wells

W 44-0

W 43-3

L 5-32

L 7-15 W 15-10

W 22-5 L 17-38

W 38-0

W 78-0

W 38-5

W 58-5

W 60-0 W 12-10 L 0-38

Wellington

W 32-7 L 0-27

W 24-0

D 17-17 L 10-17 W 15-5

L 10-24

W 59-0

Prior Park

W 41-5 W 15-8 W 24-22 W 27-0

W 54-7

W 43-0 W 22-0

W 14-0

W 39-0

W 49-0

W 22-5

QEH Bristol

W 27-17 L 5-13

L 22-29

L 0-24 W 20-15 L 7-19

W 38-5

W 12-5

W 12-0

L 7-48

W 38-7

Wycliffe

W 19-8

W 59-0

W 33-5

W 51-0 W 35-10 L 0-22

L 5-45

D 10-10 W 10-0

W 51-0

W 55-0

W 56-0

C

C

W 24-7

W 24-7

Sir Thom Rich King’s Bruton

L 15-17 L 19-24 W 44-5 W 36-11 W 19-7

Clifton Coll.

Monkton Combe

W 45-0

L 12-42 W 20-10 C

C

W 12-5

C

W 26-14

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

Millfield Dean Close

W 50-10

C

C

OVERALL WIN RATE – 76%

Kingswood in Focus 47

Molto Bene!

The Sports Tour to Italy

In August, two very excited groups of players met for training on the Monday and Tuesday before the tour began. The days were filled with hard work, team building and plenty of running.

The official tour began on Wednesday with an early start at Kingswood’s side entrance where everyone was raring to go, mentally preparing for the 10 days ahead.

fought a tough game losing to one of the best teams in the area 6-2, but gave a very promising performance for a first outing.

The next day was one of relaxation. The group headed off to Milan for a morning of touring and shopping with many visiting sites such as the Cathedral and the Arcade, where one of only two seven star hotels in the world is situated. We ate a quick lunch and then boarded the buses and went to Lake Garda, where some chose to swim in the lake, whilst others spent their time lying in the sun.

On day 6, the girls set off on a 3 hour coach journey for their evening match. The boys set off to Rovato later that afternoon for their evening game. Both teams claimed victory with the boys winning 27-12 and the girls 8-1.

Celebration was at a high with both teams being treated to yet more pasta by the opposing teams. After a long journey home we all called it a night.

The next day, we had yet another training session in the morning and then headed to Gardaland Theme Park where we spent the afternoon on roller coasters (well, most of us) and water rides.

After a short flight from Gatwick to Milan and a long wait for a certain tour member to get through customs, we arrived at the Hotel Gardesano - our home for the next ten days. We relaxed by the pool before heading off to bed. The tour was up and running.

We awoke on the first day excited about the prospect of training. We ate a luxurious continental breakfast and then headed off to two local clubs for training. Two hours of intense exercise in scorching heat, practising set plays and skills, tested us all with some coping better than others. That afternoon we headed to Verona where we ate lunch and had a guided tour, seeing famous sites such as Romeo and Juliet’s balcony and the Arena. We also had our first taste of gelato - traditional Italian ice cream.

The second day was similar, with us all attending another training session in the heat of the day.

The only thing powering us through was the thought of a water park that afternoon.

That evening was spent mostly relaxing whilst we prepared mentally for our first matches.

The next morning everyone woke pumped and raring to go for our first match. The boys headed to Asti and the girls to Bra. The boys worked hard to come away with a 48-0 win, with the players’ of the match being Sam Coventry and Jamie Williams. The girls

48 Kingswood in Focus

“The tour was another huge success...”

“We can honestly say it was 10 days we will all never forget...”

Day 8 was another eventful one. After breakfast we had a video analysis session and worked out areas to work on for our final matches that afternoon. We spent the majority of the day in Padua, wandering around the city and looking in the churches. Then the time had come to head to our final match destination, the boys to Valsugano and the girls to Padua. It was a tense bus journey for both teams, especially the boys who were so far unbeaten.

It was another tough game and unfortunately the boys lost 27-5 with some injuries leading to a hospital visit. The girls won 6-0 and were very happy with the result, a great team performance overall.

We then came together for our final post match entertainment, eating yet more pasta and enjoying the celebration. The boys, for once, were at a slight low with three members of the team in hospital and having lost their match to a very big, physical side.

The final day was spent in Venice; we visited St Mark’s Square, the Rialto Bridge and the Basilica of St Marco. Venice is a truly beautiful city and it was a lovely way to spend our last day on tour with some last minute souvenir shopping and having our last taste of pizza, pasta and gelato. We then returned to the hotel for our final night and one last evening by the pool. The tour was another huge success and we know all the pupils would like to thank all the teachers for making it as good as it was, especially Mr Reeman for organising it! We can honestly say it was 10 days we will all never forget and encourage anyone who gets the opportunity to go on the next Tour, to take it. You will not regret it!

Emma Gordon and Katy Yates (Year 12) Kingswood in Focus 49

Girls’ Hockey Junior hockey has been very successful this year. We had an enthusiastic group of Year 7s and managed to put out four teams, with the “Killer B’s” producing huge scores each match and the A team losing only one match.

The Hockey Club and the U12s would like to thank Miss Robinson, Mr Clarke and Mr Main for their time and energy.

The U13s will be a team to reckon with in the future and this was clearly shown by them winning the County U14s Plate Competition. Miss Newman is the coach to be thanked.

Her influence was clearly reflected in their results – won 7, lost 2. Both the U14s and U15s had rather mixed seasons.

The U14s had a B team that only lost one of their four games, and an A team that scored 30 goals, but conceded almost the same number. The A team would like to thank Mrs Mainwaring for her excellent coaching this term. Although the U15s had an inconsistent season, they cannot be faulted for their tireless work rate. Mrs Opie has helped them develop as a team, as they strive to achieve their full potential. Thank you Mrs Opie. Finally, I feel that I should highlight the success that our U16s have had this year. They were runners up in Avon, went through to the West Preliminary Finals and managed to finish 4th overall in the West of England Finals.

“We clearly have much promise for our future hockey, and this is shown with numerous players being selected to play County Hockey.”

We clearly have much promise for our future hockey, and this is shown with numerous players being selected to play County Hockey. Freya Courtaux gained a place in the U14 Avon Junior Academy Training Centre along with Ellie Lyne and Olivia Lines. Ellie Tullberg played for Gloucestershire County U15s, and Meghan Duncan secured a place in the Avon team. Finally, I should mention Catherine Bolland, who performed with real class for the West of England and so gained an U16 England Trial.

In the Seniors, we have managed to put out 4 teams this year.

Our fourth team was captained by Emily Clarke, who together with Jo Hepburn will be missed next year. This is also true of Emma Hamilton, captain of the 3rd team “Dragons”, who skippered the team in an almost undefeated season, playing 9 and winning 8. In this team we say a sad goodbye to Issie Mulvaney, Kate Bennett-Brown, Hannah Burnell and Jess Thompson who have contributed much to Kingswood Hockey through the years. Mrs Jenner was an invaluable and encouraging coach as ever, so thanks Mrs J. The 2nds were unbeaten in 6 of their 9 matches under the able leadership of Anna Nicholson. They improved greatly throughout the season, hitting their peak towards the end.

Molly Jones and Louisa Harris have both now played their last matches for Kingswood. They deserve thanks for their commitment to the teams in the past. Miss Paver, as always, has been a tremendous coach, giving up massive amounts of time and her enthusiasm and encouragement are greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Miss Paver.

Finally, the First XI. At the beginning of the season, I had my doubts about how our new first team were going to shape up, after being unbeaten last year, with the majority of that side having left. However, my doubts were unfounded. We had a really successful season, winning 6, drawing 2 and losing just 3.

Our team consisted of mainly Year 11s who dealt particularly well with the step up to the Firsts. Bea Shepherd won Most Improved Player, with Emily Rowlands achieving Players’ Player of the Season.

50 Kingswood in Focus

“Hockey at Kingswood has been one of the most important parts of my time here.”

Of the Upper Sixth who played, my thanks go to Evie Beavan, Chloe Roberts, Gemma Holmes, Sienna Dennis and my vice-captain, Beth Garner, for their unstinting efforts.

encouraging me since Year 7, always ready with help and advice, and pushing me to take my hockey to an ever higher level. Mr Opie has taught me how to become more aggressive in my approach, and I feel that my technical skills have improved because of it.

Hockey at Kingswood has been one of the most important parts of my time here. For the past seven seasons, my weekends have revolved around my hockey matches, but this has never been a chore, indeed, it has been a pleasure.

Being Captain of Hockey was one of my goals from lower down in the school, and, although it did not get off to a great start when I tripped up the stairs in assembly after receiving my captaincy, I have found that it has taught me a lot. I have enjoyed every moment of it.”

I would like to say a special thank you to Mr Opie and Miss Wright who have coached me for the last 3 years. Miss Wright has been

Jess Gregory (Captain of Girls’ Hockey)

Girls’ Hockey Results 1st XI

2nd XI

3rd XI

4th XI

U15 XI

D 2-2

W 4-0

W 6-1

King’s Bruton

W 5-2

Wells Cathedral

D 3-3

W 2-1

W 3-0

L 0-3

Prior Park

D 3-3

W 3-2

L 0-1

L 1-2

KES

W 3-2

W 3-0

U15B

U14A

U14B

U13 XI

U12A

U12B

U12C

U12D

W 3-0 W 2-0

W 6-0 W 6-0

W 5-0 L 3-5

L 0-3

W 4-0

W 5-1

L 1-4

W 4-0

D 0-0

L 2-3

W 7-0

W 6-0

D 1-1 D 3-3 W 5-0

D 1-1

W 3-2 L 5-1

W 1-0

W 3-0

W 4-0

Queen’s Taunton

W 3-2

L 0-6

L 1-9

BGS

L 1-6

L 0-3

D 0-0

D 0-0

L 0-1

W 6-0

W 7-0

W 3-0

W 7-0

Monkton

W 6-3

W 3-0

W 1-0

W 3-1

W 3-2 W 4-0

W 7-1

W 2-0

D 4-4

W 2-1

D 2-2

W 5-1

L 2-1

L 2-4

W 12-1

W 3-0

W 5-0

W 7-0

W 9-0

W 3-0

W 13-0

C

C

D 2-2 W 4-0 v. 1st XI v. 2nd XI

Royal High School Wellsway Colston’s

W 1-0

W 2-1 W 3-2

L 2-3

Dauntsey’s

L 1-2

L 0-2

Sherborne

W 4-0

W 2-1

L 0-2

W 4-1

D 0-0

W 5-0

W 4-1

L 1-3

L 0-1

Bruton School Taunton School

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

Bryanston

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

St John’s on the Hill St John’s Argentina

W 1-0

L 1-5

Kingswood in Focus 51

Boys’ Hockey This season saw our Boys’ Hockey teams play over 150 matches in just 10 weeks,winning nearly 4 times as many games as they lost, and progressing to the Regional Rounds of the National Championships in three different age groups.

Four teams - the U15Bs, both U14 teams and the 4th XI - went through their regular season unbeaten and, while they would all say that this was down to team effort, there were some outstanding individual performances that should be recognised. Rowan James was excellent as captain of the 4th team, Orion Matthews was the stand-out performer for the U15Bs and Matt Holmes was the driving force in the U14Bs. The U14As were the stand-out team, however, as they also won the County Championship and progressed to the Regional Finals at Millfield. For these, Parimal Shrestha, Dominic Mackenzie, Owen Waters and Hywel Jones were all consistently excellent - Hywel eventually finishing as the school’s top scorer with 25 goals.

The U16s also managed to win the County Championships and reach the Regional Finals and only lost one game in their regular season, the same number as the U15As. From these teams, Zach Hart, Henry Darch, Nick Mackenzie, Elliot Canning, Tim Rouse and Ben Papuca all represented the 1st Team towards the end of the season and, with a number of others, should ensure that there will be a steady supply of talent for many years to come.

52 Kingswood in Focus

Of the Westwood teams, the U13Bs played some excellent hockey and the U13As only lost one game with Oliver Akiwumi and Freddie Oliphant welcome additions to the team to support the likes of Jeremy Hardman, Lucas Reeman and Charlie Clague.

The U12 teams acquitted themselves well on a tough circuit and will become a strong side in the future. Joe Tait, Charlie Patterson, Xavier Nicastro and Nick Harris provided the nucleus of the team and Jake Taylor and Joe Han-Hauser improved rapidly in their first ever term of hockey.

At senior level, the 2nd XI improved hugely on last year’s results.

At the heart of this team were a number of players in their final season who have made a significant contribution to Kingswood Hockey over the years including Greg Harris, Alex Young, Hugo Hunt, Robbie Carrington, Sam Elliott and Oscar Nowlan. Harry Daniels in Year 12 also had an excellent season.

Mr James Brown (Head of Boys’ Games)

“Four teams - the U15Bs, both U14 teams and the 4th XI - went through their regular season unbeaten...”

1st XI Report from the Captain - Will Mackenzie The 1st XI played some very good hockey this season, often dominating possession and creating a lot of chances. However, the finishing did not match our dominance in other areas of the pitch and this led to quite few games resulting in a draw, especially at the beginning of the season. Having said that, our hard work and consistent play meant we ended up 3rd in the JMS league which is something I think we can be very proud of. Leavers this year include Harry Dawson. Harry was pivotal in the team this year, filling a hole at the heart of the defence with his combative, no-nonsense approach.

I would also like to highlight Ed King. Ed continued his excellent sporting year in the Spring term by moving up from the 2nds last year and becoming an extremely influential performer in the 1sts this year

- the most improved player without question. David Short showed some great finishing at pre-season training and picked up some crucial goals throughout the course of the term. He was one of the hardest workers in the side, both in attack and defence and certainly made the most of his ability. Finally, I must mention Ed Hutchison.

Hutch was one of the most consistent players all season and was a great vice-captain. Although not very vocal, he led by example in the way he played and was someone the whole team could look up to. As centre back, his composure on the ball and determination in the tackle gave the rest of the team the confidence to be positive when they were in possession. His contribution to the season should not be underestimated.

Boys’ Hockey Results 2011 1st XI

2nd XI

3rd XI

4th XI

U15A

U15B

U14A

U14B

U13A

U13B

Clifton College

D 1-1

L 1-3

W 6-0

W 4-2

W 6-1

W 7-1

W 7-1

W 5-0

L 3-5

L 0-1

King Edward’s

D 1-1

W 5-1

W 5-0

W 3-0

W 5-0

W 4-0

W 2-1

L 0-1

Monkton Combe

D 1-1

L 2-4

W 7-2

W 2-1

D 1-1

W 2-0

Wellsway

W 4-2

W 9-0

W 4-1

W 3-0

Colston’s Coll.

W 1-0

W 4-1

Prior Park Coll.

L 1-5

L 2-3

U13C

U12A

U12B

W 2-1

W 2-0

W 5-2 D 1-1

L 0-2

L 0-1

W 3-0

W 4-0

D 1-1

L 0-1

D 0-0

U12C L 0-5 W 1-0

W 5-0 W 9-2

W 2-0

W 3-1

W 2-1

D 1-1

D 2-2

W 4-1

W 1-0

W 5-1

W 5-3

W 2-1

W 4-0

W 4-2

L 3-4

Beechen Cliff

L 1-4

W 8-2

Bristol Grammar

W 4-2

W 2-0

D 2-2

W 4-1

W 3-2

W 6-0

W 7-2

W 3-0

W 6-1

L 2-3

L 0-4

L 1-5

Queen’s Taunton

W 3-0

D 1-1

W 8-0

W 7-0

W 3-2

W 7-0

W 5-2

W 4-3

W 3-2

W 5-1

L 2-5

W 3-0

Dauntsey’s

W 4-3

L 0-6

L 2-3

W 3-2

L 1-2

W 5-1

W 5-0

D 0-0

W 6-1

W 2-1

W 2-0

L 1-2

Wells Cathedral

W 4-2

D 0-0

W 4-0

King’s Bruton

W 7-0

D 1-1

W 4-0

W 4-1

W 3-0

W 5-1

L 1-2

D 3-3

W 3-1

D 0-0

W 3-0

W 6-0

W 4-0

Goals For

24

31

35

32

47

39

43

29

35

15

9

14

8

1

Goals Against

22

22

9

5

10

6

10

6

16

11

3

15

9

5

OVERALL WIN / LOSS RATE (REGULAR SEASON) – 78%

Kingswood in Focus 53

Netball Since joining Kingswood in Year 9, I have always been involved in netball, however I have not always been in the A team. In the U14s I played most of the season in the Bs. As upsetting as this was at first, it encouraged me to work harder and my efforts were rewarded. In Year 10, I was made ‘A’ team captain and from here moved up to the 2nd team in Year 11.

Having had such success last season and being unbeaten on the sports tour to South Africa in 2009 meant we had a lot to live up to this year.

With so many of the 1st team players leaving, the team faced the challenge of having a completely new squad.

In the light of this, the teams showed marked improvement as the season progressed.

There is much strength and plenty of depth in all the year groups with the Westwood teams being unbeaten in the 2nd half of term. In Westwood, the Players of the Season were Sarah Rawle, Amelia Disney, Livia Gauntlett and

“The seniors have had a mixed bag of results, but all managed to end on a high note.”

54 Kingswood in Focus

Emma Hurring and the Most Improved Players were Lucy Rowlands, Olivia Sealy, Rhiannon Osbourne and Olivia Pope. The U14As only lost 2 games this season. They are a very talented side with a strong B team and they managed to field 4 teams in this age group. Players of the Season were Hattie Levanthal and Emily Clutterbuck. The Most Improved Players were Ellie Lyne and Jessie Palmer. The U15s are certainly the tallest team in the school and produced some very good performances. Emily Bristow and Aoife McCarthy were the Players of the Season and the Most Improved Players were Rachel Greenslade and Emily Seagrove.

The seniors have had a mixed bag of results, but all managed to end on a high note. Players of the Season were Gemma Holmes, Chloe Roberts, Natasha Chapman and Most Improved Players were Daisy Bendry, Livi Pridham, Amy Worsfold and Beth Garner.

Beth Garner made a massive step up to the Firsts this year after playing in the 3rd team last year and fully deserves her award.

Hannah Burnell also had a very good season this year. She has proved to be one of the most consistent players and I have really enjoyed having her in the team.

Now on to my Vice Captain Jess Gregory. Jess and I have played in the same team for most sports since I joined 5 years ago. She has always been the most enthusiastic player on the team and this, together with her natural ability, has made her one of the best all round Kingswood sportswomen to date. In Netball, not only this term, but throughout my time at Kingswood, Jess has shown an impressive commitment to her position and has often turned over the opposition’s play. I have enjoyed every moment of playing sport with Jess and it will definitely be strange playing without her when we all go off to university.

The Year 11s all deserve a mention: Amber James, Rosie Dixon, Bea Shepherd, Jess Portman and Emily Rowlands, who have all performed well on numerous occasions and also Tash Chapman, who stepped up to the Firsts for two matches.

Being 1st team netball captain this term has been both rewarding and challenging. This year we were faced with a very young team. The lack of experience has meant that we did not have the most successful season and as a team we had to deal with that disappointment. Nevertheless I was impressed with how much we developed over the course of the term. When facing defeat we stayed committed and this paid off with us winning our last two matches.

I would like to say a massive thank you to all the staff who gave up so much of their time to help out with the netball teams this year. I would particularly like to thank Miss Paver on behalf of myself and the team as a whole. As a coach, it must be just as disappointing as it is for the players when things aren’t going to plan. Miss Paver never stopped being positive and continually reminded us that the enjoyment of the sport is more important than the result. I wish you all the best with your team next year.

Sienna Dennis (Captain of Netball)

Netball Results 2011 1st Prior Park College

2nd

3rd

4th

16Bs

L 13-20 L 9-15 L 11-25 W 10-6

Cathedral School, Cardiff

15As

14As

14Bs

W 30-9 W 11-15 W 26-5

L 9-19

W 24-11

W 22-12

W 30-10

15Bs

14Cs

13As

13Bs

13Cs

12As

L 10-12 W 25-8

12Bs

W 26-3 W 11-7

W 20-10 W 29-1

W 14-7 W 7-6

Queen’s College, L 17-24 W 20-11 W 22-9 Taunton

W 26-24 L 11-19 D 22-22 L 14-15

Bryanston School L 13-14 L 14-20 L 11-37 L 10-24

W 23-18 W 26-4 L 21-45 L 10-25

King Edward’s School

L 20-30 W 27-6 W 29-11 W 23-5

L 9-24

L 18-19 W 23-7 W 35-28 W 23-21 W 9-8

W 31-4 W 26-0

W 13-6 W 21-5

L 8-57

L 9-32 W 37-11 W 22-10

Bristol Grammar L 12-19 D 12-12 W 19-15 L 5-15 School

L 15-22 L 9-14

Warminster

W 27-15 W 18-15

W 42-0

12Cs

L 4-8

L 11-15

W 6-4

L 6-12

L 4-7

L 8-11

W 24-8 W 22-6

Wells Cathedral School

L 13-27 L 19-22 W 28-23 W 16-12

L 9-28

W 21-5 L 22-32 W 16-15

W 20-18 W 22-9

W 15-5 W 12-10

Dauntsey’s

W 27-19 L 11-23 L 16-30 L 7-16

L 19-27 L 13-16 W 28-19 L 18-22

W 23-20 W 25-22

W 24-5 W 16-2

Royal High School

W 24-21 W 19-1 W 16-5

W 20-9 W 18-15 W 35-12 W 36-4

W 15-12 W 21-7

W 10-7 W 12-4

L 6-9

Points For:

127

137

168

70

30

165

174

114

195

31

135

196

33

105

96

21

Points Against:

198

158

169

83

10

164

94

146

131

14

105

74

9

53

46

26

Overall Win Percentage:

25%

22%

44%

50%

100%

50%

77%

64%

60%

100%

71%

100%

50%

71%

75%

33%

Kingswood in Focus 55

Cross Country 2011 The Cross Country season got off to a flying start at the BANES championships in December.

Despite the snow, several Kingswood runners qualified. Jesse Akiwumi, Charlie Patterson, Eddie Narbett, Livi Gauntlett, Esmée Charley and Olivia Hart all achieved impressive positions in the Junior races, and Amber James and James Humphrey each came second in the Intermediates.

Y10 House Cross Country

Ben Simpson

James Humphrey

In the Senior Girls Race, Annabelle Dewar and Molly Jones qualified for the next round. However the greatest success came from the Senior Boys, who won the team prize thanks to good races from Sam Harman and Ben Simpson, with Matt James, Tom Pang, Andrew Parsons and Russell Lloyd also contributing.

The Ken Baily Races at Bryanston in January proved to be one of the most successful events for Kingswood in recent history. There were individual medals for Eddie Narbett, 3rd (from 95 runners) in the Year 7 race and a very creditable 2nd place for James Humphrey running up in the 6th form Boys race. In the team event, Esmee Charley, Olivia Hart, Emma Narbett and Ella Reeman won Bronze (from 30 teams) in the Year 7 and 8 Girls race with the Senior Boys James Humphrey, Ben Simpson, Tom Pang, Sam Harman, Matt James and Andrew Parsons also taking the Bronze medal. However it was the Year 8 Boys team who stole the glory, winning the trophy for the first time in 25 years. Although no member of the team came in the top three, their placings of Matt Williams (7th from 79), Billy Greenway (9th), Jeremy Hardman (10th), Lucas Reeman (12th), followed closely by Chris Hannon and Alex Scruton, gave them a score of 84, 65 points ahead of the next school.

“...the greatest success (at the BANES Championships) came from the Senior Boys, who won the team prize...”

At the County Championships in Bristol, Year 7 boys Charlie Patterson and Eddie Narbert came 3rd and 5th respectively, and James Humphrey qualified comfortably for the SW Championships, in 4th place.

One of James’ best races was yet to come, at the annual race at Milton Abbey in which he beat all the senior boys, as well as his own class of Intermediates, and came first, followed by Ben Simpson (4th) and Sam Harman (11th). This was the Senior Boys’ first win in 5 years, and one of the season’s highlights. James was to continue his run of success after half term culminating in his winning a place in the County 56 Kingswood in Focus

side at the Nationals in Nottingham.

As to the unsung heroes, throughout the season there have been solid contributions from Alistair Dolman, Dan Yates (U6th) and Theo Bertrand-Price, Josh Saunders, Harry Chivers and Robbie Hirst in the L6th.

For the final away fixture of the term, Kingswood travelled to Canford to compete in the annual relays. In the mass start for all races, James Humphrey got off to a flying start and it was no surprise to see him leading the entire field in the finishing straight. His lap time of 10.52 was the fastest of the day from all competitors. Next up was Matthew Jeffery, and he again maintained the team’s lead. Nick Mackenzie and Oscar Dennis completed the line up and both finished strongly. Although the Kingswood side were eventually overtaken by a sixth form team from Winchester, their performance placed them 2nd overall from 40 teams and winners of the Intermediate Trophy. This certainly rates with a former Kingswood side that last won a Boys’ trophy at this event in the 90s.

Ben Simpson and Molly Jones (Captains of Cross Country)

House Competitions YEAR 7: Cusworth won the Boys and Beckford the Girls Individual Winners: Ella Reeman and Eddie Narbett

YEAR 8: Posnett won the Boys and Hamilton the Girls Individual Winners: Oivia Hart and Jeremy Hardman

YEARS 9 & 10: Hall won the Boys and Fonthill the Girls Individual Winners: Olivia Lines and Paramel Shrestha (Year 9), Rachel Greenslade and Harry Waring (Year10)

YEARS 11, 12 & 13: Upper won the Boys and Fonthill the Girls Individual Winners: Annabelle Dewar and James Humphrey (new course record of 18 minutes and 56 seconds).

Awards Colts Colours:

James Humphrey

Half Colours:

Reawarded to Molly Jones Awarded to Ben Simpson, Matt James, Tom Pang and Andrew Parsons

Orienteering This year saw the league events scattered from the Forest of Dean to Savernake Forest and Eddie Narbett (Year 7) was the only competitor in the league to score the maximum 100 points at every event.

Even more remarkable was that, after becoming overall winner of the Year 7 league, he then went on to run up two classes for the last two events, winning the final event by a huge 6 minutes and beating all the Year 10s thus depriving other schools of valuable points on this course. Emma Narbett (Year 8) started the season rather nervously on the harder orange course, but her confidence grew throughout the season as did her points, and she finished fourth in a highly competitive class. Our other class winner left it to the final event before securing victory. Sarah Rawle won the final event at Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean by over a minute to become the Year 7 champion. Despite scoring maximum points at three league events, Cameron Owens was unlucky to finish 3rd, just 8 points behind first place, in the most competitive Year 9 class.

Eighty pupils took part in the Westwood House Orienteering Competition in March with controls scattered from the far end of Primrose Hill Woods, around Middle Field and Westwood Woods, to the farthest corners of the senior school site. In the girls’ competition, with the first 6 from Hamilton, it was no surprise that they won with 2150 points to Beckford’s 1935. The boys’ event proved a much closer competition with just 30 points between the two houses: Posnett won with 2425 to Cusworth’s 2395. It was a memorable occasion with tumultuous cheering and support at the finish from the spectators.

Eddie Narbett

Following their enjoyment at the House Orienteering Competition, Kingswood had 5 more competitors for the final events of the season as Dexter Evans, James Little, Wilf Foster, Joe Han-Hauser and Jessica Brown ventured into the Forest of Dean and helped the school to move up from fourth to third place.

The relays proved a very popular occasion at the new venue of Dyrham Park on a lovely warm day and we fielded three teams in the Intermediate Schools Competition which took a clean sweep in that competition.

We look forward to next season with a larger team and hopefully we will be challenging for the Schools’ League Trophy once again.

Collecting their electronic punch at Westwood House Competition

Mrs Jackie Hallett (Teacher i/c Orienteering) The Kingswood Team at the British Schools Championships

Pupils, Parents & Old Boys’ Relay Teams

Senior School Relay Winners

Kingswood in Focus 57

Westwood Sports Westwood sports day this summer was a very successful one; not only were there many parents supporting, the weather was glorious too.

A mention must go to Olivia Hart and Joe Tait who both broke a sports day record in the high jump and javelin. But “Athlete of the Day” was Livi Gauntlett who broke records in the hurdles, long jump and 100m.

After many triumphs and many disappointments for all the houses involved, there could only be two winners. A competitive and strong spirit led Posnett to a clear victory for the boys and for the girls, well it was a little closer! Beckford won, just snatching the title from Hamilton. This showed that the standard was very good and both teams were evenly matched with impressive performances throughout. A big thank you must go to all the teachers and staff who helped organise and run this annual event and to all the timekeepers too. Westwood Sports Day 2011 was one of the best ever!

Miss Una Paver (Head of Girls’ Games)

Livi Gauntlett

Livi Gauntlett

Rosie Dixon

Athletics Kingswood Athletics Club has had a very successful season.

There have been many athletes competing at county level: Rosie Dixon and Elise Gauntlett both qualified for the English Schools National Championships in the Intermediate Girls Competition and Livi Gauntlett competed in the Junior Girls Hurdles. Competition proved tough, but everybody enjoyed the experience. For the Juniors, Westwood Sports Day proved to be a record breaking event, as reported elsewhere on the page.

The Club has enjoyed some top quality competition this term and there are some prominent junior competitors emerging. In addition to those already mentioned, Harriet Leventhal and Charles Fraser also show great promise. In addition, the Year 10 Boys will prove a formidable force next season.

58 Kingswood in Focus

Sam Harman

Adam McBraida breaking the Long Jump Record

“There have been many athletes competing at county level...”

The Girls’ Captain Reports

The Boys’ Captain Reports

School records broken this year include Jess Portman breaking her own 300m record and Livi Gauntlett with a new time for the 100m, also steadily slicing off fractions of her 75m Hurdles time.

Tom Drew and Josh Baldwin have been solid for the last four years in the discus and shot putt, often being the two best throwers on the day.

Now for a brief mention of some of the Upper 6th Leavers. Emily Clarke has always been willing to compete in the 1500m with help from Morwenna Jones on the odd occasion, and also to compete in the high jump. I would like to a say a big thank you to Acacia Leakey for stepping in to do all the events nobody else wanted to do, grabbing valuable points, albeit one at a time! Evie Beavan is probably the most enthusiastic member of the team, always stepping in to do the sprinting events even though we had to wrestle her Aviators off her so she could run. Gemma Holmes has been a fantastic Girls Vice Captain, often sorting out the team for me. She is a great all round athlete, and the team would have suffered greatly without her.

Ed Cooper made his 1500m debut in year 10, and proved to be hugely entertaining with his unorthodox approach to the event, his only tactic being to converse with the opposition to distract them, resulting in them ending up in stitches, some of them even dropping out!

Finally, a word about my fellow Captain. Adam’s athletics ability has always impressed me, since as far back as Year 7. Since then he has competed at English Schools National Championships three times in the hurdles, twice coming away with bronze medals. He has two bronze medals from the UK School Games, as well as winning two silver medals for England. I’ll never forget the time I turned on Sky Sports to see him lining up at the start line about to race! Adam, I’ve really enjoyed captaining with you this season.

Jessica Thompson (Year 13)

Ed King, although wanted by the Tennis team, has run well over the past few years, contributing points from many different events.

Matt Houldsworth, my Vice Captain, has an exceptional natural talent for sprinting. I think the rivalry between us has been a big factor in success for us both, forcing us to get the best out of ourselves.

He qualified to compete at the UK School Games, but had an uncharacteristic false start in the 100m. Matt, I have enjoyed running with you a lot over the last 7 years.

As for my fellow Captain, I’ve competed with Jess and have shared her love of sprinting for the last 5 years. Most memorable were the early years (Y8 and Y9) when we were the young ones on the team.

Thank you for being great company over our time in athletics.

Adam McBraida (Year 13) Kingswood in Focus 59

Cricket Kingswood’s cricket teams enjoyed their best season for a number of years, winning two-thirds of their fixtures, with two teams reaching the Semi-final stages of the Regional Cup competition and one reaching the Final.

The 2nd X1 led the way in terms of results, winning every game with a number of different players contributing to these victories. Alex Stansfield, Alex Hardman, Fraser Russell and Jack Rowlands all had good seasons whilst the old guard of Harry Pemberton, Andrew Moss, Zach Mayne and captain Alex Scott were all reliable performers.

The U12’s started and finished strongly, winning their first and last games but struggled in between. Nick Harris and Charlie Patterson

were the most consistent performers with Chittij Lingden and Joe Han-Hauser making great progress in a short space of time.

The U13’s made a big improvement on last year’s results, with Lucas Reeman, Cameron Walker, Ollie Millner and Ollie Akiwumi all making significant contributions. Mr Hollywell’s decision to recruit overseas player Jimmy Sholto-Douglas on a short-term contract also proved inspired as he scored the only century outside the first team during the season!

The U14’s built on their excellent rugby and hockey seasons by reaching the final of their cup competition and lost only 2 matches in the regular season. Felix Barnard-Weston, Max Pugsley, Owen Waters and Hywel Jones were the principal run-getters with Dominic Mackenzie, Matt Holmes and Osh Cook impressing with the ball.

The U15’s coped well without the services of Tim Rouse and Rob Blackburn (who played the majority of their games for the 1st X1), losing just one game and reaching the Semi-Final in the Cup. Captain Matt Scott had a good season with the bat, as did Jonathan Roberts, and Josh Gammie was the pick of the bowlers.

Mr James Brown (Head of Boys’ Games)

1st XI Focus

“...I have been proud to captain such a talented side.”

We lost a couple of games, but won many more, enjoying an 8 match winning streak towards the end of the season. It has been an entertaining year, with some depressing failures, but also some moments of brilliance. The loss against KES is generally regarded as a “lowlight”. However, in contrast, there have been many excellent matches, including a drubbing of Beechen Cliff by 8 wickets with Chris Barnard establishing himself as a solid all rounder smashing 67 not out at the top of the order. The winning of the Wells Cathedral School Triangular Tournament proved to be another highlight, beating Wells Cathedral for the second time in the season with Harry Dawson flourishing with bat and ball. We then also beat QEH, Sam Morris smashing 54 in quick time to take the game away from them.

60 Kingswood in Focus

Max Gauntlett has been the find of the season for the 1st XI playing two brilliant innings against the 40s Club and the Old Boys and scoring nearly 300 runs in his debut season. Rob Blackburn has also impressed, establishing himself as a reliable new ball partner. He has taken 15 wickets this year, including the astonishing figures of 5-8 to set up a convincing victory against Prior Park.

Tim Rouse finished as the second highest wicket taker, also securing a five wicket haul in the win over Beechen Cliff. Scores of 47 against the MCC and 50 against Prior Park demonstrated his sublime talent with the bat and, as an excellent slip fielder, he finished the season as the leading catcher in the team.

Elliot Canning, the “number one spinner”, has also been a key asset to the team, bowling tight spells, and also playing a great innings against Dauntsey’s.

This year has also uncovered some other talents in the Upper 6th who have been hiding over the years; Alex Young has proved to be a steady bowler and a solid tail end batsman. Sam Elliot has demonstrated his potential in all three disciplines, often setting the standard for some of our more energetic fielding displays. These two, along with Harry and Chris, will be greatly missed next year. Fortunately, the likes of Jack Rowlands, Fraser Russell, Ollie Meyer and others look ready to fill the hole that the Year 13’s will leave in the squad.

Another key member of the squad was Billy Morrison. Rarely can there have been a more enthusiastic scorer. Rain or sun, Will has been there, putting up with the comforts of the scorer’s box, whilst inspiring the next generation of Kingswood scorers such as Ethan Chilcott!

And finally, Will Mackenzie - my vice-captain. Will has proved pivotal in all three areas of the game: a fielding fiend, a skilful bowler and a free-scoring batsman. I knew I could rely on Will to bowl a tight over whenever needed, and to stabilize the innings if a collapse was occurring. His help has at times been essential to our victory, and it will definitely be hard to find a vice captain to fill his shoes.

On behalf of all the cricketers at Kingswood, I would like to thank all of the staff who have given up their time to help the school’s cricket develop. Without them, Kingswood’s cricketing future would not be built on such firm foundations. The season was brilliant, and I have been proud to captain such a talented side. It will be sad to see the Upper 6th leave us this year, but with our large number of up and coming young cricketers, the future for Kingswood cricket looks bright. Thanks very much, and see you next year.

Harry celebrating his century at Wells

About the Captain Harry Rouse really came of age as a Kingswood cricketer in 2011.

He has captained the side with increasing confidence and maturity this season and has also been the key performer with bat and ball. He was the leading wickettaker with 29 wickets at an average of 11 including two 5-wicket hauls. He also scored 668 runs at an average of 60.7 including two fifties and two excellent hundreds against Bristol Grammar School and Wells Cathedral School, both setting up convincing victories.

As a result Harry was deservedly awarded his Full Colours at the end of the season along with the Cricket Trophy for an outstanding contribution to Kingswood cricket.

Mr James Brown (Head of Boys’ Games)

Harry Rouse (1st XI Captain)

Cricket Results 2011 1st XI

2nd XI

Won by 5 wkts

Won

King Edward’s

Lost by 6 wkts

Won

Monkton Combe

Lost on run rate

Abandoned

Wycliffe

U15 XI

U14A XI

U14B X1

Colston’s Won

Wells Cathedral

Won by 10 runs

Won

Won by 13 runs

Won

Prior Park

Won by 6 wkts

Won

Beechen Cliff

Won by 9 wkts

Won

King’s Gloucester

Won by 3 wkts

Won

Won

10/10 v Wells

Won by 14 runs

10/10 v QEH

Won by 29 runs

Won Won

U12A XI

U12B X1

Won

Won Lost Lost

Lost

Lost

Lost

Won

Lost

Won

Abandoned

Abandoned

Abandoned

Abandoned

Won

Lost

Lost

Won

Won

Winterbourne

Lost

Lost

Lost

Won

Won

Dean Close 20/20

Won by 3 wkts

Won

Dauntsey’s

Lost by 4 wkts

Won

XL Club

Match Drawn

MCC

U13B X1

Lost

Bristol Grammar

Headmaster’s XI

U13A XI

Lost

Won

Match Abandoned Lost by 19 runs CUP MATCHES

Round 1

Won v Wellsway

Round 2

Won v M’gotsfield Won v Beechen Cliff

Quarter-Final Semi-final Final

BYE

Won v Prior Park Lost v KES

Won v Beechen Cliff

Lost v KES

Won v Winterbourne

Worle conceded

Won v Castle

Castle conceded

Lost v Clifton

Won v Nailsea

Lost v Monkton Prep – R/R

Lost v Clifton

OVERALL WIN RATE – 66%

Kingswood in Focus 61

Boys’ Tennis This year there have been junior fixtures against Prior Park, KES, St John’s on the Hill and Chepstow. Prior Park were very strong, however good wins were recorded in the other matches.

Against KES there were wins for the U15A and U13 teams. The U13 win owed much to a tie-break win by Calum Montgomery and Lucas Reeman in their final match. The stand-out players at U15 level and below have been Calum Montgomery who shows real promise after 2 starts in the senior team (and only in Y8) and Dan Banan who trained hard through the winter and played for the senior team throughout the season (when he arrived on time!). Other players for the future are Nick Harris, Ollie Johnson, Ollie Sowler, Jack Sowler, Ben Bates, Leo Fini, Harry Waring, Seamus Grant and George Broom.

The 3rd team owed much to Ed Dumpleton and Tim Woodhead; these two should be pushing for 1st team places next year. The senior 2nd team enjoyed another successful year with pairings of Rowan James and Jack Feeny performing well to win the majority of their matches.

Useful contributions were also made by Cameron Knee, Robbie Carrington and Ed Hutchison.

“The 1st team had another successful year with only 2 narrow loses...”

Now to the 1st team. They had another successful year with only 2 narrow losses in the first 2 weeks (both 5-4), followed up by comprehensive victories in all of the other fixtures. The 2nd pairing of Angus Plumbly and Kirils Ladovs had a solid season contributing well to all of the victories. However a special mention must go to the pairing of Hugo Hunt and Alfred Ireland. By far the most improved pairing, they played a key role in all of the teams’ wins and, despite being the 3rd pair, they often won all of their sets, beating the opponents’ 1st pairs. It was also good to have Henry Legge’s services midweek and he trained hard in the winter. My partner and Vice Captain Gareth England is another player who has improved considerably from last year and that made it very easy to play alongside him. Not only was it nice to have someone you could rely on on the court, but also off the court his organisation was excellent which made my life a lot easier. Gareth, Kirils, Angus and Cameron Knee also enjoyed some success at Eton, in my absence.

Finally I would like to thank Mr Westcott and Mr Walker for taking the team for matches. I would also like to thank Mr Davies who gave me my first chance to play 1st team tennis when I was in Year 8 and made me feel comfortable playing amongst many of the older boys.

Lastly my thanks go to Mr Duke. His extreme love of the game and constant enthusiasm at matches is infectious and he always somehow manages to get the team excited no matter what the weather is like or where the venue is.

Sam Williams (Captain of Tennis)

SENIOR RESULTS 1st

2nd

3rd (U16)

Prior Park

Lost 4-5

Won 7-2

-

Dean Close

Lost 4-5

Won 8-1

-

KES

Won 7-2

Won 7-2

-

Monkton Combe

Won 9-3

King’s Bruton

ISTA RESULTS (Eton 1-2 July 2011) Pair 1 Kirils & England Pair 2 Plumbly & Knee v Yarm School P1 lost 4-6 / 5-7 P2 lost 3-6 / 5-7

Won 9-3

Well CS

Won 5 ½ - 3 ½

Wycliffe

Won 7-2

Dauntsey’s

Won 6-3

v Epsom College P1 lost 2-6 / 3-6 P2 won 6-4 / 3-6 / 10-8

Drawn 4 ½ - 4 ½ Won 8-1 Won 5-4

Cheltenham

No Game

Sherborne Boys’

Rained Off

Lost 3-6

v Merchant Taylor’s London P1 lost 5-7 / 4-6 P2 lost 0-6 / 1-6

JUNIOR RESULTS St John’s Prior Park KES

62 Kingswood in Focus

U12

U13

Won 6-4

Won 8-1

U14

U15

Drawn 6-6

Won 10-2

Lost 2-14

Lost 7-9

Lost 3 ½ - 5 ½

Won 5-4

Lost 2-7

Won 6 ½ - 2 ½

Girls’ Tennis Down the years tennis has been seen as a social sport because so many go out and play at 4.30 every afternoon. However, this year, the teams have clearly shown that there is a competitive side to the game.

Highlights of the season were as follows: our U13 league team winning the Avon County Championships, the U13Bs being unbeaten, and the U12s, the Fourths and the Firsts only losing one match each.

This year’s First Team was clearly an anomaly when compared with past senior teams. For one, it is the first time I have ever been the tallest in the team! Also I believe it is probably the only time in which half of our team were members of Westwood – Ella Reeman, Masha Motchalnik and Becky Jackson – our ‘baby-faced assassins’!

Ellie Tullberg with The Bleathman Trophy

After our last match, there was a sense of relief because we ended on a winning streak, however I was also very sad, as it was my final match for Kingswood after playing for the last 7 years. It has been an honour to play with staff and friends alike, with their enthusiasm, talent and humour and I will miss it all.

Miss Wright has provided us with many opportunities to develop our tennis. Highlights include: our tennis tour to Windmill Hill in Year 9, where we received good quality coaching and all improved our skills and our weekly sessions in The Bubble in the winter, which help us maintain the high standards of previous years. Finally, mention must go to the never-ending enjoyment of training and early morning lessons at 7am! All these provided and continue to provide a great foundation for the school tennis teams. We were also lucky enough to get a Wimbledon trip this year!

On behalf of the girls, our thanks go to Mrs Sergeant who masterminded Westwood Tennis and to all the staff who help out with matches at the weekends and with coaching during the week. Miss Wright, I wish to thank you enormously for coaching me throughout my time at Kingswood.

Jess Gregory (Girls’ Captain 2011)

Awards Full Colours:

Jess Gregory

Half Colours:

Chloe Roberts; Louisa Harris

Colts Colours:

Rosie Dixon

Most Improved Salver:

Anna Bools

Players of the Season:

Becky Jackson & Ella Reeman

The Bleathman Trophy: Ellie Tullberg (Court Craft & Sportsmanship) Bleathman Coaching Workshop Award: A. Bools; E. Bristow; E. Chilver Vaughan; M. Jones; K. Kerrison; R. Osborne; S. Sealy; P. Roper Pre Season Coaching: O. Lines; N. O’Sullivan; I. Hodgson; S. Rawle; I. Broom; C. Crowe; R. Dixon; M. Motchalnik; B. Jackson; B. Plumbly; E. Tullberg; E. Lyne

Kingswood in Focus 63

Swimming Amelia Maughan – Swimming Superstar:

Amelia is a pupil in Year 11 and she has already had considerable success at international level.

When she was 13 she was the gold medallist at the European Youth Championships in the 100m Freestyle and bronze medallist in the 50m Freestyle and 4x100m Relay.

She had her first senior cap in a meet against Germany earlier on in the year where she was 4th in the 200m Freestyle and won a gold medal for the 4x200m Freestyle Relay.

Over the summer she had success at the British Youth Championships, winning gold medals in both the 100m and 200m Freestyle and a bronze in the 50m Freestyle. At the European Juniors in Belgrade. She won a silver medal in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay and at the World Youth Championships in Peru she was in the finals for several individual events and won a bronze medal in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay.

Her achievements to date are as listed below: World Record:

12 years old Freestyle

British Records: 12 years old 50m Freestyle 13 years old 50m and 200m Freestyle 14 years old 100m and 200m Freestyle

As this issue of KIF goes to press, she is looking forward to the Olympic Trials in March and is training very hard (24 hours per week) for the 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle events which will be held in the actual Olympic pool.

Mrs Jenny Opie (Teacher i/c Swimming)

“Over the summer she had success at the British Youth Championships, winning gold medals in both the 100m and 200m Freestyle and a bronze in the 50m Freestyle.”

Swimming Awards 2011 The cup for the Most Improved Swimmer goes to someone who has been in the U16 team for the past three seasons. He has trained very hard throughout the year and made impressive progress and even though he is only in Year 9, he has won several races against boys in Year 11. This year the cup is awarded to Jonathan Brend.

The Tench Cup is awarded to the most successful school swimmer and as usual there are a number of contenders. Last year’s winner Patrick Seed was the most successful U16 boy and he now holds a freestyle record. Becky Saunders took pride of place for the U16 girls with 10 wins to her name. Georgie Barnes was the most successful of the Open Girls, winning 9 races. However, this year the Tench Cup is awarded to someone who has had an exceptional season for the Open Boys to finish his swimming career at Kingswood. He holds 6 out of a possible 14 school records. This year it goes to Tom Pang.

64 Kingswood in Focus

The Beresford Shield is for the person who has made the greatest contribution to Kingswood swimming. This year the award is shared by 2 swimmers. They have both been good on the poolside at galas organising the teams, they have raised money in the sponsored swim and last, but not least, they have given very creative speeches. The award goes to the 2 captains – Sienna Dennis and Harry Cheetham.

FULL COLOURS:

Already awarded to Tom Pang & Sienna Dennis

HALF COLOURS:

Harry Cheetham, David Short, Harry Oliver, Georgie Barnes, Emma Hamilton, Liz Burke, Jo Hepburn, Agnes Chui

COLTS COLOURS: Already awarded to Becky Saunders, Patrick Seed, Byron Dunn, Oscar Dennis

Mrs Jenny Opie (Teacher i/c Swimming)

We tried to think of a reason For such a successful season

It all came down to how we trained This happened even when it rained

National relays back in November

We have our snazzy kit

But of course the old Kingswood Pool Was our most valuable tool

That makes us look so fit

20 yards long and not very deep You could cross it in a single leap

So many records this year have been broken Of which the Headmaster has already spoken

Pang was joined by Dennis, Seed and Dunn To make a relay team which had some fun

Tom Pang has six to his name I don’t have any - such a shame They broke the freestyle record from 1980 The year of good old Mr O – bad luck matey

We went to Millfield, remember

The Open Boys won more than half And along the way they had a good laugh

The Under 16 teams take pride of place By coming first in nearly every race

Main school boys Alex, Alec and Josh They were really so good, oh my gosh

The Open Girls lost only two To Taunton and Canford – boohoo

From Year 8, Esmee ,Esther and Tokes Have shown some really excellent strokes

Year 7 stars Louis and Ollie Such speedy things, oh my golly

Brandon and Jonathan Brend Have set a really good trend

Becky, Lisa and Emily have all been big winners

Becky, emily lisa World record holder Amelia Maughan Was sometimes seen resting on the Ferens lawn

Which is so much better than being bad sinners

The House gala was a highlight Where Hall and Fonthill got it right

Georgie Barnes kept making a quick dash And never seemed to make much splash

The sponsored swim in memory of Dilys Brake What a lot of money for hearts we did make

The girls have been captained by Sienna Dennis Thank goodness she did not want to play tennis The Boys have been captained by Harry Cheetham And in every race he tried to beat ‘em

Kingswood in Focus 65

Junior Ski Trip In the first week of the Easter Holidays, 57 parents, students and staff set off on the Junior Ski Trip to Tignes in France.

“We arrived at the airport in bright sunshine only to get to the resort to find that it was raining and the first day’s skiing took place in light drizzle. However, for the rest of the week the group enjoyed glorious weather and it is all credit to the Piste staff at Tignes, and the fact that the resort is so high, that conditions remained good throughout the week despite soaring temperatures. As a result, excellent progress was made by all, despite a sickness bug that laid a number of the party low during the week. The Most Improved Skier was Charlie Patterson, Best Intermediate Skier was Esmee Charley and Best Advanced Skier, Chris Johncox. After the skiing, the party was entertained with a number of evening activities including Bumboarding, a Disco and Swimming, with Mr. Hollywell regaining his title for the biggest splash coming off the aqua slide! Credit should go to the students for their positive approach, even in adversity, and also for their fantastic company. They were excellent ambassadors for the school throughout the trip. Last and by no means least - there were no broken bones!!”

Mr Phil Hollywell

66 Kingswood in Focus

British Schools Ski Championships For the second year running, Kingswood entered two teams in the British Schools’ DHO* Ski Championships in Meiringen, Switzerland.

This prestigious competition comprised a Giant Slalom and Slalom, both events having two runs per competitor. There were over 160 competitors, representing 35 school teams, from across the UK. Our Junior Team completed a fine first day’s Giant Slalom, with George Logut finishing 5th and George Broom an impressive 24th in his first outing. The second day of Slalom proved technically challenging, but all competitors put in two good times in this discipline. The Junior Team became British Champions, winning the Gold Medal in a combined time which was better than all of the other high profile schools across the country. The winning team comprised George Logut (captain), Gareth Hollywell, Cameron Owens, George Broom and Cameron Price.

The Senior Team, comprising Henry Darch, Zach Mayne, Harry Pemberton and Hugo Hunt, also completed a successful first day in the Giant Slalom event. All four boys contributed to the overall team score. However, the Slalom event proved far more technical on a very steep and icy black run and, although the team skied well, they were eventually beaten by the ever deteriorating course.

Overall the standard of competition was extremely high, with the UK’s most able skiers competing in the events. Kingswood were obviously delighted to gain a Silver Medal place in the individual competition for non-registered skiers with Hugo Hunt coming an impressive 2nd overall. George Logut, one of Kingswood’s elite skiers, was placed 3rd in his age group, winning the Bronze Medal. * The DHO (Down Hill Only Club) is one of the oldest alpine Skiing Clubs in the world. It was founded in Wengen in 1925 and is one of the foremost organisers for ski racing for children.

Senior Ski Trip – Bormio Sixty three pupils and staff enjoyed a fantastic week skiing and snow-boarding in Bormio, Italy during the first week of the Easter holiday.

The conditions were typically spring like, often skiing in the afternoons in nearly 30 degrees – the snow, however, was excellent given the unusual temperatures. The progression of all students was impressive, and everybody, even those who had previously skied, enjoyed the superb conditions and variety of instruction. All students reached the summit at 3,000 metres and were able to ski back for lunch, with the more experienced skiers battling the famous world cup descent to the hotel’s back door. Having lunch in the garden was also a treat for us all as weary limbs were rested and a spot of sunbathing allowed before the afternoon lessons.

Some staff even had time for a nap!

There were some unfortunate ski casualties, but this did not deter them from enjoying the evening entertainment programme with Mr Redman’s Trivia Quiz, the thermal baths and spa, pizza night and the popular karaoke and disco evening. One of the highlights was the attempt to ski across an ever thawing pond, which saw a few casualties and caused much laughter as skiers and boarders plunged head-first into the icy water!

The prize possessions of the group were the ‘Fairy Wings and Tutu’, awarded to the skier or boarder who made the biggest error or largest ‘wipe-out’ on the previous day – this included the staff!

Mr Westcott would like to thank all the party for their excellent company and behaviour throughout the trip. Particular thanks must go to the accompanying staff; Miss Telford, Miss Conway, Mr Forrester, Mr Redman and Mrs Westcott for all their help and support.

Mr Mark Westcott

Mr Mark Westcott Kingswood in Focus 67

DT Visit

A Formula One Visit The A level Design and Technology Department was recently offered the experience of a lifetime – an opportunity to visit the Design Offices, Manufacturing Centre and Conference Centre of one of the world’s great Formula 1 teams, Williams Cosworth!

The students and staff enjoyed a tour of the site at their Headquarters in Grove, Oxfordshire, spending time in the state-ofthe-art Exhibition Centre that displays an impressive selection of production cars from the 80s through to the current day. Students were able to question the Williams Design team through their Chief Designer, Mr Ed Wood. The technical side of the visit concluded with a tour through the inner sanctum of the production areas where the students saw the latest technologies and performance enhancing materials used in this industry.

The amazing visit finally ended with time spent at the factory shop and a chance to purchase souvenirs of this truly memorable occasion.

Mr Barney Brown (Head of Design and Technology)

“...the students saw the latest technologies and performance enhancing materials used in this industry.”

68 Kingswood in Focus

Out & About

The Roman Baths The Year 10 Latin and Classical Civilisation students took a break from their busy schedules one Tuesday morning and walked down to the Roman Baths.

The visit began with a powerpoint presentation on the history of the Baths. The Latin students were particularly excited, having just received our new Latin text books - set in Aquae Sulis - which is, of course, the Roman name for Bath! We had a look at some interestingly shaped artefacts on the tables and Joel Lees-Massey and Alex Biggs found the broken bottom of a clay amphora particularly fascinating.

We learnt about the different rooms in the baths, including the Frigidarium (the cold room) the Tepidarium (the warm room) and the Caldarium (the hot room). The Romans would alternate between the different rooms, rubbing oils on themselves and then a slave would scrape them off taking all the dirt and sweat with it… lovely!

British Museum Visit In January, the Classical Civilisation GCSE class left for a trip to the famous British Museum.

The trip started at the train station where we anxiously awaited the rest of our group for an exciting day ahead. Soon we were all jostling towards the buffet car, returning laden with soft drinks and sweets.

Within an hour and a half we reached London (and its terrifying public transport system!). After a quick walk we found ourselves standing awestruck at the entrance to the museum. The pillars that supported the structure must have been 4 feet wide and 40 feet tall.

The courtyard outside the museum was bustling with tourists and foreign schools just as anxious as we were to get inside.

We were greeted by a huge white atrium with bleached limestone walls with a glass ceiling; the entire structure seemed to glow.

We entered the Ancient World Exhibition and came across what looked like a huge scratched slab of slate, but was actually the Rosetta Stone.

It’s amazing to think that this rock and the writing upon it unlocked thousands of years of ancient Egyptian history. We wandered through the exhibits learning more and more each time. We soon reached the temples section and we saw the reconstructed face of a Greek temple to Hera, originally located on the coast of Turkey. It was thought to have been part of a settlement near Troy, and was untouched by human hand for thousands of years before it was discovered.

After this we split up and had a look around the Baths. No-one fell in, which would have meant a risk of getting meningitis from the misleadingly inviting waters. Most people bought a little something from the gift shop, including Mrs Dakin who bought a mini Roman soldier for the invalid (from the Latin invalidus meaning ‘not strong’) at home, Becky Bates, who named him Philip.

After lunch we headed to an archaeological dig site outside the Abbey to interrogate the people working there. We inspected the rubble extracted from the ground and saw a few bits of pottery and some oyster shells which might have been used to scrape the oil off the skin in the baths. Apparently these were of no archaeological value but unfortunately we were still not allowed to take them.

Having greatly increased our knowledge about Roman Civilisation in the Baths we experienced something that the Romans disliked most about being posted to this part of their Empire – rain! We marched back to school and arrived, soaked, just in time for afternoon lessons.

Luke Stockley (Year 10)

As we wandered through the exhibits we were impressed by the scale of some of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian monuments and the grace with which they were carved. Other highlights included the Etruscans exhibit (the native predecessors to Rome) and the Hall of Busts, where we had great fun posing with the monuments and reading about the people who commissioned them. History is ten times as interesting when you know about the people behind the facts.

So without a doubt the 2011 British Museum trip was a fantastic success and thanks, of course, to Mrs Fountain and Miss Niessen. I hope that future Classical Civilisation classes will enjoy the trip as much as we did!

Alexander Biggs (Year 10) Kingswood in Focus 69

A Visit to the Battlefields This summer 39 students from Year 9, accompanied by four members of staff, visited the sites associated with the 1944 Normandy landings in France.

The reality of being in places where so many had given their lives so that others might live in freedom proved to be a humbling experience.

day we visited Arromanches and learnt about the Mulberry Harbours which were designed at Kingswood when it was home to the Admiralty during the war.

Other visits during the week included the impressive Longues Battery, another part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, Pegasus Bridge, scene of the famous British airborne operation in the early hours of D-Day, as well as other beaches and a number of fascinating museums, each of which told the story of a different aspect of the war in France.

As we were staying near Bayeux, we also took the opportunity to see the world-famous Bayeux Tapestry for ourselves, and be taken through its story by the excellent audioguide.

Our visits to the cemeteries on the trip had the biggest impact on all the students, as they all stood out for different reasons. The American Cemetery holds over 9,000 graves, marked by white marble crosses and Stars of David, which stretch out, row upon row. We were impressed by how well kept it was, as well as being shocked by the numbers of servicemen killed in that area. The second cemetery we visited later in the trip was a British and Commonwealth cemetery, where we paid our respects at the grave of an Old Boy, Lieutenant Derek Grange (Middle House), who was killed two months into the campaign, aged just 21. Finally we visited the German cemetery, which we found to be more sombre, but it was good to remember all those Germans who also lost their lives fighting for a cause about which many had no choice. It struck us that war is hard for everyone, no matter what side you fight on.

“Our visits to the cemeteries had the biggest impact... It struck us that war is hard for everyone, no matter what side you fight on.”

On the first morning of sightseeing we visited sites associated with the American landings on D-Day. We started at the Pointe du Hoc, scene of an assault by US Rangers to neutralise German guns built as part of the Atlantic Wall. We were able to look around some of the defences and were struck by the sheer size of the shell holes that were made by the constant bombardment. Just down the coast, we stepped onto Omaha Beach, where our knowledge of the large number of casualties made a deep impression, a feeling confirmed by our visit to the American Cemetery at St Laurent-sur-Mer, just above the beach. Later that 70 Kingswood in Focus

Overall the trip was greatly enjoyed by all, and thanks should go to Mr MacDonald, Mr Mackridge, Mr Woodgate and Mrs Gibson for helping to make the trip so worthwhile and fun for everyone.

Ethan Chilcott (Year 9)

Keeping Things in Perspective “How can we keep things in perspective?” At the end of the Summer Term, a party of staff and 27 pupils from Years 7-9 travelled to Oxford to answer this question.

At the Ashmolean Museum, we admired the architecture of the new galleries, and studied artworks in the Museum’s collection which cover a time span of over 2000 years. We paid particular attention to how the artists created illusions of depth in their work.

Beginning in the Ancient World, we saw paintings and carved reliefs with exquisitely detailed scenes including a Temenid hunt feast and Assyrian soldiers leading away their Babylonian captives; however, the skilled artists had attempted to show little or no depth or distance. Moving forward in time to the end of the Middle Ages, we saw examples of the use of hieratic scale in paintings, with saints or members of the family of God painted larger in scale than less important figures; these works also highlighted the major figures by lavish application of gold and lapis lazuli. Arriving in the Italian Renaissance Gallery, we found ourselves drawn into works showing depth and distance with great accuracy. The Hunt in the Forest by Uccello (1397-1475) is a masterpiece of Renaissance perspective painting and we allowed our eyes to be drawn by Uccello’s artistry towards the vanishing point.

But how did Uccello and other masters of perspective do it? Was it simply a feat of concentration and preparatory sketches using receding gridlines, or was it facilitated by the developing science of optics? Our time in and around the Museum of the History of Science gave us the opportunity to investigate the scientific approach further using the camera obscura. In the quadrangles of the Bodlean Library, next to

the Radcliffe Camera, we sketched the perspective of the architecture both freehand and assisted by camera obscuras. Inside the Museum we assessed the evidence in the paintings of Vermeer: did he or didn’t he use a camera obscura, or similar optical device, to produce his masterpieces?

Dr Matthew Fletcher (Teacher of Chemistry)

Watch out Lord Sugar!

Kingswood saw its first ever ‘Enterprise Day’ on the 17th June.

It was a day of furrowed brows, intense meetings and frenzied competition between the pupils of Year 8. There was even a board room dispute with a dramatic resignation from a key player.

Apparently no one was “fired”.

Enterprise Day sought to engage the pupils in some entrepreneurial skills. They were asked to form a catering company that was to tender for a celebratory dinner for a hundred guests. The teams had to work out costing, menus, entertainment, seating plans, venues and staffing. They were also involved in the marketing strategy; deciding upon logos, presentations and the all important ‘USP’ or Unique Selling Point. Staff from NATWEST were on hand to offer help and guidance at each stage.

Year 8 displayed a range of talents that impressed everyone involved.

Not only were the Power Point presentations impressive, but the level of teamwork was excellent

In true ‘Apprentice’ style, the afternoon saw four finalist teams, one from each form, make their presentation to our team of judges: Mr Hills, Head of Economics and Business Studies, Mrs Edwards, Teacher of Economics and Business Studies and the NATWEST team, Jackie Matthews, Debbie Wilkinson and Neil Glendinning. All had the unenviable task of selecting the winning team. However, the group from 8D named ‘Red Rose Dining’ was declared victorious.

Oliver Akiwumi, Miles Aiken, Christopher Hannon, Olivia Pope and Isabelle Street demonstrated their ideas with a presentation which consisted of music and video.

Neil Glendinning remarked that the team’s logo and image were clear and simple and they had presented a comprehensive marketing pack which clinched the victory.

Mrs Suzanne Marshall (Enterprise Day Co-ordinator) Kingswood in Focus 71

An Awe-Inspiring Trip to China “Nǐ hǎo (你好)” or “Hello” became the most common phrase for twenty Sixth Form students who embarked on the Economics and Business Studies trip to China in October 2010.

China has said ‘hello’ to us all in some way or another. With a population of 1.3 billion people, economic growth rates that exceed 10% a year and an economy now worth an estimated $5 trillion, China’s influence is being ever more felt on a global scale, particularly now with China’s insatiable appetite for natural resources that has set off a global commodity boom.

Group and the state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation.

In addition to visits to local urban housing districts and factories, the students attended an informative lecture on China’s macroeconomic and financial issues, delivered by Professor Jianping Ding at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, the oldest financial university in China.

At Kingswood, the Economics and Business Studies department explores the key emerging markets and their impact on the UK economy. To complement the course specification, a trip to China allows pupils to gain an understanding of the business and economic culture in one of the fastest growing economies and provides the chance to study first-hand this captivating country.

In the evenings, the students were able to experience the vibrancy of city night-life, attending live shows, ‘The Legend of Kung Fu’ and the entertaining ‘Acrobatic Show’ as well as with walking tours through the Shanghai financial district. We also visited ‘The Bund’, one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai, where the illuminated buildings and structures illustrate the international influence of the late 19th and early 20th century, when the Bund was the major financial hub of East Asia. One particular highlight for all on the trip was the tour of the 3rd tallest building in the world; the Shanghai World Financial Centre, standing 492 metres high. Each member of the group accessed the 100th floor which, according to the Guinness World Records, is the highest observatory in the world!

With an extensive itinerary, the students were extremely busy engaging in the local culture.

Highlights ranged from a trip to a farm beyond the numerous ring roads of Beijing (notorious for the high scale congestion and the 24/7 rush hour), to local historical landmarks including the infamous Tiananmen Square and the stunning Forbidden City.

China is well known for construction on a massive scale. The students were fortunate to visit several types of factories that varied in legal ownership, from the largest beer manufacturer that is state-owned, the Yanjing Brewery, to the privately owned manufacturer and distributer of dairy products and ice cream - the China Mengnui Dairy Company.

They also visited the enormous Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Company with a car manufacturing plant in Shanghai producing over 600,000 cars a year through a joint venture between the Volkswagen

Students and staff were overwhelmed by the scale and size of these cities. This was an awe-inspiring experience for everyone, and one that will take place again in October 2012.

Mr James Hills (Head of Economics & Business Studies)

“...the students were able to experience the vibrancy of city night-life, attending live shows...”

72 Kingswood in Focus

Biology Field Trips A Level:

In October, as part of the A2 Biology course, 32 U6 students went on a residential field trip to Nettlecombe Court Field Centre in Exmoor National Park.

The first day was spent studying succession at Saunton Sands on the North Devon coast. This was done by carrying out an interrupted belt transect which involved identifying and quantifying the plant species present, as well as measuring a number of abiotic factors, at various positions across the dunes.

Cielle Vaughan searching for animals

U6 Biologists off to investigate the pond at Nettlecombe Court

Based at Nettlecombe for the second day, the students tried out various field work techniques. They sampled in the pond to look at feeding relationships and then produced a pyramid of numbers for the organisms found. They then investigated the distribution of photosynthetic organisms on the north and south side of a church and finally they looked at the effect of soil moisture on the distribution of yarrow, which is a wild herb that was once known as “Soldier Woundwort” due to its ability to stem the flow of blood!

Some of these investigations formed the basis of assessments which were part of the practical coursework element of A2 Biology.

Mrs Jenny Opie (Head of Biology)

GCSE:

On June 30th all Year 9 pupils travelled to Watchet.

They spent the day on the rocky shore carrying out field work, supporting the content of the Biology GCSE specification.

Dr Sheffrin taught one group and the other three were led by members of Nettlecombe Court Field Centre.

Activities included: • • • •

Determining plant and animal species abundance Feeding relationships Sex ratio in shore crabs Limpet suction

Mrs Jenny Opie (Head of Biology)

Lily Gregory determines the growth rate of knotted wrack

Studying succession at Saunton Sands

Kingswood in Focus 73

CAVING:

Another Kingswood group enjoys the earthy delights of Goatchurch Cavern in the Mendips.

CLIMBING: Kingswood pupils enjoy regular sessions at the recently opened Bristol Climbing Academy.

TEN TORS:

After many weekends of training in the Mendips, the Black Mountains and on Dartmoor, on the 14th May two Kingswood teams took part in the annual Ten Tors Challenge on Dartmoor.

The Year 10 team, consisting of team leader Josh Gammie, Harry Waring, Ben Papuca, Charlie Pope, Tom Hardman and Angus Hawking, completed their 35 mile route at 10.45am on Sunday, having set an impressive pace throughout. This is the earliest finish by a Kingswood team for many years and the team would have completed the route even more quickly had the event rules not required them to stop and camp at their eighth tor.

The U6th team took on the challenge of the 55 mile route.

The distance has to be completed inside 34 hours and the teams are required to camp overnight - it is exceedingly difficult to be successful! The team did very well to pass their sixth tor on Saturday evening before it shut, allowing them to walk on and camp before tor seven. By 3.40pm on Sunday they were tantalisingly close, having reached tor ten. They eventually reached the finish with nine minutes to spare, running over the last hill in a dramatic race for the line! This was the first 55 mile team that Kingswood has had for many years, and their success is a fantastic achievement.

The team, led by Andy Parsons, included Robbie Carrington, Ed Hutchinson, Russell Lloyd, Andrew Moss and Ben Simpson.

Training

Mr Davies would like to thank all of the staff who have given so much of their time once again this year to train and support the teams.

Mr John Davies (Head of Outdoor Pursuits)

74 Kingswood in Focus

The team

The finish

Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme 2010 saw the start of an exciting new era in the running of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at Kingswood, as we were granted Independent Operating Authority status.

This means that we are able to offer a fuller training and expedition programme within the school, and make better use of the school’s excellent facilities.

In September, an unprecedented 46 students in Year 10 started working towards their Bronze Award, along with over 20 beginning the longer route towards Gold. For the first time they signed up to DofE, the Award’s new electronic system, which replaces the old books as a way of recording aims, achievements and evidence as participants move towards completion.

Highlights of 2010-11 have to include being presented with our new licence by the Duke of Edinburgh himself at St James’s Palace! Miss Telford and Mr Edgell attended a Gold Award Ceremony in October, and were whisked off to an anteroom to meet the Duke; a fantastic honour!

The Bronze expedition to the Mendips in June was a great success, with all participants passing this section of their Award.

All the groups faced navigational challenges, close encounters of the livestock kind and some wet weather at the start, but they overcame it all in good spirits! Mr Edgell, Mr Davies, Mr Chua and Dr Sheffrin helped all the groups (and Miss Telford!) throughout the weekend, so a big thank you to them.

In the first week of the summer holidays, a Gold expedition set out for the Lake District. Of the 16 sixth formers, 9 were undertaking their qualifying expedition and 7 their training. In a week of glorious sunshine, resulting in comedy sun-tan lines, they covered nearly 80km of mountain, woodland and riverside terrain and travelled from the SW corner of Eskdale to the NW corner of Ullswater. Miss Telford would like to thank Mr Edgell, Mr Davies, Mr Burgon and Harry the Dog for their superb support and company on the trip.

Bronze Expedition

Gold Expedition

Kingswood D of E was proud to hear of Gold success for Chris Barnard, Alice Lui, Nick Grant, Jenny Tsang and Megan Adams, and to present Charles Price and Peter Evans with their Silver Award. Emma Gordon, Hannah Bottle, Rosie Dixon, Kim Chivers, Kristina Grant and Will Roper all successfully completed their Bronze Awards, and we look forward to many more this coming year.

Miss Mary Telford (Teacher i/c Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme)

Gold Expedition

CAMPING: At the start of the academic year, the Year 9 boarders took part in the traditional camping and activity weekend in the Forest of Dean.

Based at the Biblins Youth Campsite on the bank of the River Wye the pupils had the chance to try climbing, caving, canoeing and kayaking. The roaring campfire and plentiful supply of burgers did much to keep everyone warm and in good spirits.

Mr John Davies (Head of Outdoor Pursuits) Kingswood in Focus 75

A Tribute to Marcus Cornah

Marcus Cornah When Marcus Cornah retired in July 2011, we were witnessing the retirement not only of an eminent Headmaster of KPS, but of someone who had served the Kingswood Foundation with great distinction and in a variety of roles over a great many years.

The son of a Methodist minister, he attended our preparatory school at Prior’s Court followed by Kingswood Senior School, before qualifying as a teacher at Westminster College, Oxford. He then spent 13 years at Gresham’s Preparatory School, before returning to the Kingswood Foundation on his appointment as Deputy Headmaster of Prior’s Court in 1989. The closure of Prior’s Court and the associated restructuring of the Foundation’s schools brought Marcus back to Bath in 1998 as Deputy Head of KPS; in 2004 he became Headmaster of KPS, a post for which he was astonishingly well qualified, which he deeply wanted and to which he has given unrivalled commitment.

in every single one of them and the time he gave generously and unfailingly to all – was leadership of the highest order and something which has had a deep and lasting influence on many of the teachers at KPS. How impressive to not only know all the children’s names before they joined the school, but also to know so much about their parents! Much is said about being a ‘people person’; not many people would fit that description as well as Marcus Cornah. To know that the foundations for this approach both to his career, and indeed to his life, were in some way at least laid during his formative years as a pupil at Kingswood, says much for the school he attended and for the enduring qualities that sustain the Kingswood of today.

“Humane, kind, loyal, generous – Marcus is all these, and much more.”

Marcus has talked much of the honour of being appointed Headmaster of the school which one attended as a child; his natural modesty has prevented him from saying (or perhaps, even, recognising) how much his personal love – and it is, quite clearly, a deep and genuine love - for the school and his profound understanding of what makes the Kingswood ethos so special, have helped KPS become such a fine school in such a short period of time.

He has always understood that in good schools the children’s needs must always come first, that happy children will succeed and that, from a very young age, children must be offered a range of experiences which will help them to develop confidence and self-esteem. To see Marcus engaging in conversation with an excited 3 year-old in the nursery or sharing views over lunch with eager Year 6 pupils was to see someone born to lead the education of young people; he never tired of being with the children and never allowed the many challenging and disparate demands of headship to make him aloof or to distract him from what he saw as his major role.

Marcus’ own example with the children – his interest

As Marcus relaxes into his retirement in the Highlands of Scotland, it will be interesting to see what he thinks his legacy to KPS has been. At some stage, when he has had the necessary time to reflect, I shall ask him, but for now I will offer a short personal observation based on just the final three years of Marcus’ Kingswood career.

Marcus has played the major role in establishing KPS as the leading 3-11 prep school in Bath; he has done this in a period of economic downturn by ensuring that KPS provides the strongest balance of all-round education underpinned by a total commitment to the pastoral care of the individual. He has wisely seen the continuation of boarding (thus bucking the national trend in this age group) as central to the ethos, offering as it does a sense that the school sees itself as a community which can address the specific needs of each family whilst also providing much more than just a top quality experience in the classroom. Significantly, he has never done any of this for himself; he is entirely selfless and would, I am certain, judge any success he has had in terms of the influence it may have had on others.

Lest we forget, he achieved this in his latter years at KPS following recovery from a serious illness which would have defeated those who lack Marcus’ extraordinary sense of purpose and commitment.

The depth of affection which KPS pupils, ex-pupils, parents, staff and governors feel for Marcus was never more evident than in the many farewells which he enjoyed in the final weeks of the Summer Term. What a pleasure it was to see so many people wanting to express their personal thanks to Marcus – how humbling to hear the number of ex-pupils who saw him as the one who ‘really believed in me’ and, no doubt therefore, helped them to believe in themselves. Of Marcus’ many qualities, the ability to see the best in each individual and to spot and nurture individual talent clearly ranks very highly indeed.

Humane, kind, loyal, generous – Marcus is all these, and much more.

When the time comes to write the next history of the Foundation, it will have become even clearer how influential Marcus’ years as Headmaster of KPS have been. Mark Brearey has inherited a very fine school with what we now call a ‘distinctive brand’; a school which has benefited so much from Marcus’ Christian leadership. We are all much indebted to him.

Mr Simon Morris (Headmaster and Principal of The Kingswood Foundation)

76 Kingswood in Focus

A Fond Farewell

My Last Days at Kingswood To paraphrase the words of Sir Thomas More from Robert Bolt’s play, ‘A Man For All Seasons’, “I have been commanded by Kingswood School to be brief, and as I am the school’s loyal servant, brief I shall be!”

My association with Kingswood School has been a long one: seven years as a pupil at Prior’s Court and Kingswood and a further 23 years as Deputy Headmaster at PC and KPS before becoming Headmaster of KPS for the final 22 terms of the 108 terms I have taught! I have enjoyed my entire teaching career both at Gresham’s Prep School in Norfolk, at PC and at KPS. As I have mentioned to people before, there has been a special resonance for me in being the Headmaster of the prep school of the school I attended as a child.

My last year was another happy one, and the various ‘leaving’ events that happened throughout the year were all memorable. I think that the leaving of a place is important and I would like to say how much I appreciated the effort that was put into the events on my behalf by so many people. My various ‘Goodbye’ sessions from the Prep and Pre-Prep were lovely and very moving occasions. The age group I have taught regards the world as a very literal place, and what they had to say was lovely. I am pleased that I was able to keep my emotions in check!

Having said that I would like to make particular mention of four events that took place in the last nine days of the term.

The Governors did me the honour of a special formal dinner in the dining room at Summerhill on the 1 July. The Chairman, Colin Burns, spoke movingly about my time at the school, before presenting me with a magnificent oil painting of my favourite view of the Prep School, which had been specially painted by former member of staff, Nick Thorne. I then replied at length in a speech which attempted to cover my time at the school, and which seemed to go down well: I’ll save the best joke for the end of this piece!

On 3rd July I said my farewells to the parents of the school by appropriating our usual Family Fun Day in the grounds of the school.

I was stunned by the huge number of people who turned up on that sunny day, approaching 700, I am told. This was a relaxed way to say goodbye to so many. Another wonderful occasion and my heartfelt thanks to the FoKPS and especially their Chairman, Jane Rowley, who worked so hard to make the event a success. I had taken my trusty Canon Camera with me, and I have many photographic memories of family photos, plus me, to look at in my dotage!

Nick Thorne and his painting of the Prep School

On the evening of the 6th July, I was the guest of honour at a special evening meal in my honour at Woods Restaurant in Bath, which had been so skilfully organised by Kingswood parent, Greg Ingham. There were about 70 / 80 people in attendance and the whole evening was a delight, and a very special memory. What was remarkable was the comprehensive age range of those who were present, which ranged from present prep school pupils, current senior school pupils and families, a ‘University’ table through to parents and grandparents of children I had taught many years ago. Kind words were said by many, before I got to my feet to reply.

On the evening of Friday 8th July our end of year staff “Jolly” was held at ‘The Bathwick Boatman’. I was driven down in style in a vintage red Ford Thunderbird, courtesy of Kambiz Shayegun, to walk into the restaurant through a row of raised cricket bats, while a Scottish piper played appropriate tunes, at considerable volume! At the end of the dinner the staff presented me with a specially constructed cross (by KPS parent Jonathan Stockton) from the wood of a tree that stood for many years in the grounds of the school. Around the base was a metal band engraved with the text from Proverbs 22.6 ‘Teach children how they should live and they will remember it all their life.’

I hope that I will be remembered as having a keen sense of humour. The story which went particularly well during my speech to the Governors and Senior Management colleagues came after I had recapped the story of my spontaneous brain haemorrhage in early 2006, when I had been operated on by KPS parent and brain surgeon David Sandeman, the one parent I have played golf with during the last decade! I said that I sometimes say to children that if your parents get annoyed with me to the point of questioning if I have any brain, to tell them that I have, and that one of them has seen it!

Thank you all.

The Govenors’ farewell to Marcus

Mr Marcus Cornah (Caithness, August 2011) Kingswood in Focus 77

Letter from the Prep Headmaster

My Final Year I am happy that my final year of teaching has been such a good one at our school with much achieved.

The announcement of my retirement was given in good time and everyone has known since July 2010 that Mark Brearey would be my successor as Headmaster of KPS. I am delighted with his appointment and feel that I have got to know Mark, Yvonne, Ben, Henry and Ellie fairly well over the last twelve months. I have also spoken to over 200 prospective parents about Mark, over the last school year, many of whom have also shown their approval by entering their children for the school, so that Mark will start his time as Headmaster with a slight increase in the pupil roll (for the second year running.) This is most pleasing in these financially straightened times. I wish him every blessing in the years to come, and it is my hope that the school will continue to develop and become even better than it is now.

For the majority of my 36 year teaching career I have been heavily involved with the coaching of school sport, mainly Hockey and Cricket teams, but also Rugby. It is a special pleasure for me to be able to say therefore, that the KPS U11A Rugby team for this year, was the best team we have had in the relatively short history of KPS, winning all 16 of their matches against all our local rivals and other schools from outside our circuit, with varying degrees of comfort. It is good to take part, and it is especially sweet when any team manages to go undefeated.

My congratulations to all the boys who played for the side and of course to their coaches, Mr Titley and Mr Parry.

When one comes across excellence, it is thrilling, but so too is participation.

In anything we do at KPS we have tried to provide an opportunity for our the best they can. I find that children to participate and to achieve now, at the end of my teaching career, I cannot say if I get greater satisfaction from excellence or participation, but I have gained tremendous satisfaction from both.

Marcus with Jane Rowley, FoKPS Chairperson

It has also been another memorable year in Music and Drama. There were the usual successes in the Mid-Somerset Festival and in English Speaking Board examinations. It was a notable achievement by Mrs McGlynn and Mrs Cross to produce two major productions in the summer term within five weeks of each other. First we had the Year 5/6 production of ‘Peter Pan’ in the school theatre in the middle of May and then in June the Year 3/4 production of ‘Cinderella and Rockerfella’ in the school hall. Both were splendid shows and gave much enjoyment to many.

“I have enjoyed my time immensely and I shall miss you all.”

I was also delighted that our Year 6 pupils did so well in their Entrance Assessments to Kingswood in January. Two of our Y6 children did not take the exam for Kingswood but were successful in gaining entry to their next schools, Port Regis and Grittleton House. The remaining 51 children all sat the tests for our senior school and all have accepted the offer of places that resulted. There were a pleasing range of scholarships achieved, not only academic, but also awards in Sport, Art, Music and Design Technology, which was most gratifying as, although we are perfectly serious about academic work, it does not occupy all our time at the school. In recent years entry for our senior school has been very popular and it was most pleasing to do so well. What is remarkable about the above figures is that of the 51 children who gained entrance to KS, none of them took entrance assessments to any other school. I have spent my entire teaching career in ‘tied’ prep schools, and I was particularly pleased therefore with the way things panned out this year.

I have been asked to write a few words on my time at Kingswood which will form part of what others have to say about me and which will appear on other pages of this edition of KIF. I have been approached by a number of people in the playground towards the end of this term with the rhetorical question: ‘You’re going to miss all this, aren’t you Mr Cornah?’ I have replied that I will (though I expect that I will adjust rather quickly to, say, the lack of meetings in retirement!) What I will most miss is talking to children. My biggest thanks go out to my colleagues on the teaching staff at KPS: what you pay for at a school like ours is good teaching from good teachers. I am always asked about class sizes by prospective parents, and having answered that I lead them to the photo boards of the staff and point out that of the 63 photos on display, 56 are teachers and assistants who deal directly with our children in class, a ration of 1:6. I am pleased to have retained such a large staff in these financially difficult times and that Mark will inherit a full school of pupils and teachers.

As I have said many times, it has been really special to have been the Headmaster of the Prep School of the school I attended as a child. I have enjoyed my time immensely and I shall miss you all. God bless you all!

Mr Marcus Cornah (Headmaster, Kingswood Prep School) 78 Kingswood in Focus

KPS Staff News

Staff Leavers and Joiners In September 2010 we welcomed Mrs Rebecca Briggs and Miss Emily Brunt.

MRS REBECCA BRIGGS Rebecca Briggs joined KPS in September 2010 with over 20 years teaching experience, mostly in inner city London, and over the years has taught every year group from Nursery to Year 6. The majority of her teaching experience has been in areas of high social deprivation where the children were mostly from multi-cultural backgrounds. She has been involved in a number of stimulating and challenging inner city projects.

Her roles have been varied: From Music Co-ordinator, and leader of the choir, to Deputy Head. Of the latter post, she says, “It was a fantastic experience, but it taught me that I much prefer to be with the children in the classroom!” Her current interest is outdoor education and she is passionate about wildlife. Her aim is to convert all her classes into wildlife experts and enthusiasts if they aren’t already!

Rebecca, we all look forward to working with you at KPS!

MISS EMILY BRUNT Emily studied for a BA Joint Honours degree in Music and Italian at Cardiff University (2004-2008), spending her Erasmus year studying at Ca’Foscari University in Venice.

She joined KPS in September 2010 directly from Chichester University where she was on the Primary PGCE course with Modern Foreign Languages. As part of the course, she spent

4 weeks teaching in a school in Belgium where she was required to plan and teach all curriculum subjects in French.

In between her studies she worked as a full time teaching assistant at an infant school in her home town of Norwich working predominantly in Year 1 but she also undertook roles in Year 2 and Reception.

Emily is a keen sportswoman and played hockey for her university. She was awarded her Half Colours. In addition to a love of music and languages, she is very interested in art and photography and, to improve her knowledge of the subjects, visited many exhibitions, museums and churches whilst living in Italy.

Emily has travelled widely, visiting many countries within Europe and around the world, including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Indonesia. In 2009, she visited Africa and spent some time working in an orphanage in Tanzania and afterwards, for charity, she successfully climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Travelling has given her an enthusiasm for cooking and she loves experimenting with recipes that she has collected in different countries.

Emily, welcome to KPS!

In July 2011 we said goodbye to Mrs Caroline Frey.

MRS CAROLINE FREY KPS has reason to be grateful for the good work that Mrs Frey has done for the last sixteen years as a form teacher, and much else besides.

She has proved to be a very reliable form teacher of Year 5 and for many years in Year 4 in tandem with her good friend and colleague, Mrs Sue Butcher. She was a sound educational judge of people, and many parents have spoken to me over the years in appreciation of the year their child spent as a member of Mrs Frey’s class. She was particularly adept at analysing the difficulties of individual children and suggesting the best way forward.

As well as her form teaching Mrs Frey took responsibility for ICT in the early days of computers at KPS. In more recent times she has been responsible for the co-ordination of our many and varied educational visits, ensuring that the relevant risk assessments are up to date and pertinent. The school has particular reason to be grateful to Mrs Frey in taking on the responsibility for the running of our Library. She spent many

hours ensuring that all the varied tasks were completed. In this she has been aided by Mrs Shanti Arscott. A notable fixture each year was ‘Book Week’, which Mrs Frey co-ordinated in a very efficient manner and which all at the school were made to feel part of.

We thank Mrs Frey for all the hard work that she has put in at KPS over so many years and wish her every blessing for a future in which she will be more able to call her time her own.

Mr Marcus Cornah (Headmaster, Kingswood Prep School)

Kingswood in Focus 79

KPS Academic Feature

Building Self Confidence Drama and Public Speaking at KPS Drama is one of the great forms of human expression: it involves imagination and feelings and helps us to make sense of the world.

Our drama education at KPS begins naturally with learning through dramatic play; eventually, it includes many elements of theatre.

DRAMA LESSONS During Foundation and Pre-Prep years, children are involved in class role-play and in speaking and listening activities. Additional time is given to preparing for participation in assemblies and ‘Nativity’ performances, where the audiences range from peers to parents. A formal ‘Drama’ lesson is introduced from Year 3 whereby children create, perform and respond to drama either individually, in pairs, or in groups. Stories, ideas and situations are explored through a range of stimuli and games are played to encourage cooperation and trust. Year 3 pupils have a further taste of public speaking in preparing for their Poetry Café; it is rewarding to see how each and every child responds with determination to the challenge of learning and delivering a poem to an audience.

PRODUCTIONS

The benefits from engagement in drama and public speaking activities are numerous; the greatest, by far, being the way that drama helps develop self confidence. One KPS child regularly used to hide in a corner during his drama lessons in Year 3. Since then he has taken three LAMDA acting exams and can’t wait to strut the stage of Kingswood Theatre as one of the main Year 6 characters next year!

During the year, pupils have the opportunity to pursue drama and public speaking through a whole host of activities, from staging a performance to achieving success in internationally recognised exams. They all help nurture and develop confidence.

“...children are involved in class role-play and in speaking and listening activities.”

80 Kingswood in Focus

Every KPS child is involved in a yearly production. There is a Nursery ‘Nativity’ performance and Pre-Prep Christmas production. Our traditional Prep Summer Production has now evolved into two major projects: an afternoon Year 3&4 show in the KPS hall and an evening Year 5&6 production in the Kingswood Theatre. For our Prep children, this has led to greater involvement and more time on stage. As well as honing their acting and singing skills, these productions also give children a chance to design the set, arrange the choreography, create artwork for the programmes, make props, work backstage and take charge of sound effects.

Hard work for all but certainly a highly enjoyable and memorable experience.

ESB EXAMS From Year 2 onwards, keen speakers may choose to prepare for English Speaking Board (ESB) exams in our ESB Club. The exam involves delivering a talk, reciting a poem, reading a passage and answering talk-related questions in front of a small group of peers and an external examiner. It gives an excellent introduction to more formal public speaking and very early preparation for that first job interview! Talks have ranged from ‘How to Make Chocolate Truffles’ to ‘The Battle of El Alamein’. The ESB exams are enthusiastically coordinated by Miss Diaz who was delighted with this year’s largest ever uptake by pupils and best ever set of results.

LAMDA EXAMS Another extra-curricular club provides the opportunity for children to prepare for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) acting and mime exams, which involve pupils performing two prepared pieces, either solo or duo, before an external examiner. Club sessions involve a variety of drama-related games and much experimenting with scripts. In their interpretation of texts, pupils further develop their dramatic skills and, in devising mime scenes, they learn more about shaping and structuring drama.

From our first batch of 6 entrants in 2007, LAMDA Club has grown; currently a maximum of 30 candidates prepare for each exam session. This year we introduced a ‘LAMDA Evening’ which gave our budding thespians a chance to show off some of their work to their parents. We were also delighted to see our first KPS student take a Grade 4 LAMDA exam.

MID-SOMERSET FESTIVAL For 10 years now, ESB and LAMDA students have been encouraged to enter the local Mid-Somerset Festival. Classes targeted are Verse Speaking, Reading Aloud, Memorised Prose, Solo Acting, Duo Acting and Television News Reading. In addition, pupils in Year 6, who study a block on mime, are also invited to prepare for the Solo, Duo and Group Mime classes. Successes have been great; we have been fortunate to win many trophies. However, the real winner is the increase in confidence which participation brings. On taking part in an acting class last year, one student said, “It was really scary” and spoke of her nerves, dry mouth and shaking knees. When asked if she would recommend being involved, she quickly replied, “Oh yes, because once you’ve done it you feel so proud of yourself!”

“Drama is one of the great forms of human expression...”

‘YOUTH SPEAKS’ COMPETITION A brand new venture for us this year was to host the first Junior ‘Youth Speaks’ Competition, arranged by the Bathavon Rotary Club. Two Year 6 teams from KPS competed with teams from other local schools, giving formal speeches on issues related to the environment. This time, our audience included not just parents but also many strangers; the experience for the participants was again extremely positive and we hope that this event will become a regular feature on the KPS calendar.

VISITS & VISITORS Finally, our drama education at KPS is further enhanced by drama-related visits and visitors. Whether this is in the form of a ‘Pantomime Workshop’ and backstage tour of the Theatre Royal or the performing of a Victorian melodrama at the Museum of Bath at Work, the involvement of all encourages further communication of shared understanding. Past visitors to KPS have included inspirational Australian mime artist, Wolfe Bowart. Recently, Year 6 pupils were treated to a unique ‘Stunt Workshop’ when Elaine Ford, one of the UK’s most respected and successful stunt performers and coordinators, passed on some tricks of the trade. However, for most of our students, the highlight of their drama studies is taking part in a ‘West End Workshop’ and then watching a West End show during their residential trip to London. This year, it was truly ‘Wicked’!

Mrs Marie McGlynn (Drama Teacher & English Co-ordinator) Please note: Photos in this article feature past and present pupils.

Kingswood in Focus 81

KPS Drama

Cinderella & Rockerfella A frenzy of excitement led to our first ever Year 3 & 4 production at KPS, a humorous, modern ‘take’ on the fairytale, Cinderella.

Once the nervous anticipation of ‘The Casting’ was over, rehearsals began in earnest with a read-through of the script, followed quickly by a first walk-through.

Characters were discussed and explored and ideas for staging were keenly shared.

Catchy songs, combined with a lively script, ensured that the learning process was not too arduous; within a short time, we were rehearsing ‘books down’. So far so good!

“The whole cast pulled together to deliver a really super show...”

Next, new lighting was rigged and our brand new staging arrived (kindly partly-funded by the ‘Friends of KPS’) and once assembled in our hall, there was no stopping us. Rehearsals were even more energetic and every bit of the new acting space was used. Mrs Fox put up a fantastic backdrop of the children’s work and parents assembled an incredible array of colourful costumes. Finally, props were collated and used, cues revised, dance moves refined, and we were ready for our first audience, Years 5 and 6.

The rest was a whirlwind of four performances - two to pupils and two to parents. The whole cast pulled together to deliver a really super show, every moment of which was thoroughly enjoyed by all involved. Both the singing and acting were of an exceptionally high standard for such a young troupe. Our only regret is that it was all over too quickly. What fun!

Mrs Marie McGlynn (Drama Teacher)

82 Kingswood in Focus

Flying High to Neverland Fairies, Evil Mermaids, Pirates, Braves and Lost Boys were in abundance on the 19th and 20th May as the children in Years 5 & 6 staged their annual production, a musical version of Peter Pan. Team work involving the Music, Drama, Art, ICT and DT teachers meant that not only did the children perform on stage but they also designed the set, arranged the choreography, created artwork for the programmes, slickly moved props on and off stage and took charge of sound effects. In addition, some children also made or customised their costumes and props and keenly ushered members of the audience to their seats in Kingswood Theatre. Such is the pull and excitement of the annual production that past pupils also came back to help with face painting.

The singing and acting were delightful, and of a high standard. Both evenings were memorable and hugely enjoyed by the performers and audience alike. The appearance of the crocodile was a particular favourite, as were the various fight scenes and the special effects of the smoke machine and the sparkly backdrop, cleverly coordinated by the theatre technician.

Mrs Marie McGlynn (Drama Teacher)

Kingswood Prep’s Got Talent Excitement rises in the Prep School every year as House Talent Show Day draws near.

Both teachers and pupils look forward to a morning of the brilliant but often bizarre talents of very courageous individuals.

The Talent show is all about sharing our unique and special talents. We can all shine and the Talent Show provides an opportunity for anyone to be a star! It was only fitting that this year the show opened with a dedication to Mr Tony Jenner by Mr Callahan. Tony had many talents – music, teaching and bringing light into a room being just a few of them.

All together we had 32 Acts which included magicians, violinists, cellists, saxophonists, singers, actors, gymnasts, dancers, poets and much much more. All these acts were enjoyed and appreciated by the audience as well as a highly esteemed panel of judges which included ‘Simon’ Shrubsole, ‘Piers’ Parry and ‘Amanda’ Baker.

It wouldn’t be appropriate to highlight just a few acts such was the quality of performance at the show. As a teacher, I felt privileged and humbled to witness the array of talent at our school. So much rehearsing and practising at House Assemblies had been done, not to mention at home and even on the London Residential Trip! Apart from a short break, the Talent Show lasted nearly three hours and we were treated to a feast from start to finish. Not only were all of the acts of high standard but the audience watched and listened impeccably.

The Talent Show wasn’t about winning. It was about sharing our talents, sharing our joy and laughter and sharing our appreciation.

It takes much courage and nerve to stand up on a stage and perform to a large audience so congratulations to everyone who took part, you are all stars! Mr Jenner would have loved it!

Mr Mike Callahan (House Co-ordinator) Kingswood in Focus 83

KPS Art Department

...IN THE PREP SCHOOL It has been another creative year for our young artists and designers in the Prep School.

Along with competitions such as ‘Animals and Pets’ in the summer holidays and designing the school play sets, all of the children in the school have also created beautiful designs for our annual greetings card project. The school was able to raise £360 in garden vouchers from this activity and the results were a wonderful representation of our children’s talents.

In class, children have completed many projects including papier-mache birds in Year 3, printed tiles in Year 4, dramatic tonal self-portraits in Year 5 and delicate ceramic dream catchers in Year 6.

Some wonderful examples from DT include detailed plans and puppets from Year 5 and wire figures sculpted in Year 6.

Well done to all of the children who work so hard throughout the year to demonstrate their skills. The Prep School displays bring imagination, colour and inspiration to all who see them.

Mrs Karen Fox (Art Teacher) Y5 Daisy Shayegan

Y3 Papier-mache

Ceramics Club

84 Kingswood in Focus

“Well done to all of the children who work so hard throughout the year to demonstrate their skills.�

Y6 Will Thompson

Y5 Callum Michie

Y4 Anna Blezard

Y6 Rebecca Ousby

Y4 Emma James

Y6 Will Barnes

Y6 Emily Rothery Hannah Morris with Puppet

Kingswood in Focus 85

KPS International Day

Africa Day On 31 March Kingswood Prep School held its seventh International Day, which has become one of the highlights of the KPS calendar.

This year Kingswood Prep School decided to narrow the focus and concentrate on the continent of Africa, celebrating the richness of its cultures and its peoples. The format of the day was changed from previous years to take on board the school’s new status as a Green Flag Eco School. Some important Eco-themes were integrated into the day.

Dale Templar, series producer of Human Planet on BBC1 and a former KPS parent, got the day off to a stimulating start by taking the school assembly, showing specially cut video footage and giving anecdotes of her experiences in Africa.

The Pre-Prep took part in a carousel of activities, which included a drumming workshop and a Really Wild Presentation by Tropicalinc. com, who brought a large variety of animals for the children to see and hold, including meerkats, snakes, tarantulas and African pygmy hedgehogs. Mask-making, jewellery-making, textile design, food-tasting and instrument-making provided further exciting, “hands on” experiences of the rich cultures that make up the continent of Africa.

Meanwhile the children in Prep attended workshops to explore aspects of African art, music and dance and faced some technological challenges of the kind that African farmers have to face. This took place outside,

86 Kingswood in Focus

“Tropicalinc.com brought a large variety of animals for the children to see and hold...” preparing and planting vegetables, using ‘African Bag Gardens’ (an idea from the Bath based Send a Cow charity). Children wore African dress or bright coloured clothes to reflect the vibrancy of African cultures.

Gardening was one part of the Eco-theme. In addition, children were asked to bring in items of old clothing for recycling by the organisation Rag Bag. Good quality clothing will be shipped to Africa, poor quality clothing will be recycled for industrial use.

All money received will be donated to Challenge Africa. The children were also challenged to come to School in a ‘Greener Way’ as many African children walk miles to school, often barefoot. Carbon emissions in the West are already affecting the African climate and this was one chance for KPS children to cut theirs down.

Mr Philip Dixon and Mrs Sue Butcher

KPS Visitors

Rick Riordan Visits

Australian Authors Pop in to KPS “Enthusiastic readers at Kingswood Prep School were thrilled in June to meet best-selling Australian authors Garth Nix and Sean Williams.

The fantasy-fiction writers visited Bath for a few hours only, as part of their world tour, to promote ‘Trouble Twisters’ - the first of a five-book series. ‘Trouble Twisters’, an action-packed adventure, features feisty twins with mysterious super powers, a mysterious ‘Grandma X’, talking cats, spider attacks and chattering crocodile skulls. With such an enticing storyline, the visit was bound to be a hit!

Between them, the authors have published over 55 books in 38 languages but this is the first time they have worked together. Garth and Sean delighted their audience with code-breaking puzzles, tales of men abducted by aliens, and they also spoke of the excitement of writing for ‘Dr Who’. The overriding message to their listeners was that they should never give up, but that they should persevere with their dreams, much as the two authors themselves had done when faced with a number of rejections and redrafts before publishers finally accepted their work.

The 7 - 11 year old discerning readers then asked a range of questions before clamouring to obtain their own signed copy of ‘Trouble Twisters’.

Staff, as well as children, left the event suitably inspired!”

Mrs Marie McGlynn (English Co-ordinator)

“Kingswood pupils were buzzing following an inspirational visit from best-selling American author, Rick Riordan.

Rick, who spoke to Years 3 to 8 in the Kingswood Theatre, recalled his own writing journey, from receiving his first rejection letter at the age of 13 through to when his first adult novel was published at the age of twenty nine.

As a parent, Rick started to create stories for his own children. Having run out of the Greek myths they loved, he created the character Percy Jackson who was ‘half boy, half god, all hero’ and has not looked back since.

Rick’s talk was captivating. It was full of humour, encouragement and enlightenment – his passion for the Greek myths was quite infectious. There was an amusing flick through his book covers in some of the sixteen languages into which his work has been translated. The children rose to the challenge of a ‘Greek Gods and Goddesses’ quiz and then asked Rick some very interesting questions. Rick read an exciting extract from his new book, Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero and the event concluded with a book-signing session.

What was particularly impressive was how Rick managed to capture the attention of everyone in the theatre – from the seven-year olds to the adults. His overriding message was that becoming a writer usually takes time, patience and lots of redrafting. Rick certainly inspired his audience. On leaving, one Year 3 child remarked, “I haven’t read any of his books yet but I am going to read them all now”.

The visit was arranged in conjunction with the Bath Festival of Children’s Literature.”

Mrs Marie McGlynn (English Co-ordinator)

Kingswood in Focus 87

KPS Eco-Schools

Green Flag Awarded to KPS It took us five years after beginning Eco Schools at KPS to be convinced we were ready to apply for the Green Flag, but during those five years, sustainability became fully embedded into school life in a huge variety of different ways.

The nine key environmental topics on which Eco Schools focuses are: Litter, Waste, Transport, Biodiversity, School Grounds, Healthy Living, Energy, Water and Global Perspectives. These are some of the ways in which we have addressed them:

1..

Litter was one of our main projects and it is a mark of our success that when the prep school children visit the senior school for play rehearsals the children are mortified about having to bin their fruit waste rather than composting it. We haven’t won the litter battle yet, but with recycling and compost bins in the playground, fewer, but regularly emptied, litter bins, a healthy break policy which encourages children to bring fruit and discourages bringing pre-packaged foods, an emphasis on using reusable break boxes and weekly litter picks by the children, we are getting there.

2..

We still waste too much paper, but reusable paper is collected and distributed to Pre-Prep classes for drawing on. We now recycle not only paper but card, plastic bottles, cans, printer cartridges, envelopes and even elastic bands from the postman. We now have eco-lunches when we go on trips, eliminating the need for wasteful packaging. Our new playground has edging made from the cedar which needed to be felled in the grounds of the Senior School. .

3..

4..

For transport we have encouraged car sharing and walking and our new wider entrance and path have made walking a safer option.

In terms of biodiversity, the children have planted hedging plants, put up bird and bat boxes and created a bug hotel. Annabel Mottershead, our gardener, has done a wonderful job with planting and sorting out the school grounds and we have bee hives in the lower field. Our new outside classroom provides an inspiring setting for nature study.

5&6.

Annabel has also been responsible for beginning gardening with the Pre-Prep who now work on their own raised beds, growing vegetables, as do the boarders at High Vinnalls. Children in the Prep are clamouring for something similar which we hope to implement in due course.

The vegetable gardening feeds into the healthy living and school grounds topics, as do exciting curriculum developments in Outdoor Education led by Amy Wright. .

7..

Reducing our energy use is a priority although it is difficult to do much to reduce costs in Grade One listed Summerhill. But since Eco Schools began, all light bulbs have become low energy, computers are 88 Kingswood in Focus

switched off centrally, signs have been put beside light switches and Eco Monitors appointed. ‘Switch Off Fortnight’ proved that most children and staff do indeed switch off when they leave a room. We have to thank Claire Russell-Bates for monitoring our electricity usage as well as helping with Eco Schools in dozens of other ways.

8..

9..

Water is another area we have yet to make progress on but we do have a water butt waiting to be installed.

Finally – Global Perspectives. We have worked with Kingswood Senior School to achieve Fair Trade status and this year our International Day became Africa Day, with a range of African based activities and an eco-focus, including raising money for Challenge Africa through recycling clothes. A Water Aid day, organised by Y5 children, will be taking place at the end of term. The list goes on.

There are many, many other areas in which sustainability has impacted on the life of the school and many more people who should be mentioned for their involvement. There are links with the Eco Schools programme in many of the children’s curriculum topics and the Eco Club continues to thrive. Most importantly, and the feature that the assessors were particularly looking for, is that the children are involved in planning and decision making wherever possible. Since March 2011 we have been the proud possessors of a Green Flag and a flag pole on which to display it!

Mrs Sue Butcher (Science Co-ordinator)

KPS Orienteering

British Schools Y5 Champions

Y5 League Trophy Winners

Y6 Orienteers

Orienteering The highlight of the season has to be the crowning of three of our Year 4 pupils as Year 5 British Schools’ Champions!

It was a long journey to Wormley Woods in Hertfordshire and there were some nervous faces at the start line. But the trio of Jamie Deverell, Ben Shardlow and Rory Padkin all ran solid races to bring the team home in first place. A memorable day for them all!

KPS needed a full turnout for the League Final in the Forest of Dean amongst the bluebells and we got it. Fourteen possible scorers on the start line and excellent runs gave Kingswood the victory once again, narrowly beating Redland High. This year saw the league events scattered from the Forest of Dean to Savernake Forest and we had many individual winners including: Dan Greenslade, Charlotte Cutter and Ben Narbett.

Cecilia Mayne, Rory Padkin, Alex Rawle and James Button.

The annual ASO Championships were staged in the holidays at Stourhead and Daniel Greenslade ran very well to win the Year 5 trophy. Charlotte Cutter ran the same course and gained 2nd in the Year 5 girls and Jim Bailey (Year 3) was 3rd in the Year 4 class.

“We have a young squad who show great promise for the future...”

The annual Parents v Pupils match was held at the penultimate event in the Forest of Dean and seven game KPS parents ran for the Mums & Dads team of seventeen which lost to the school by 1235 points to 1100.

We have a young squad who show great promise for the future and regular top finishes have been secured by Ben Shardlow,

With the theme of “Being ‘Prep’ared” Kingswood Prep School had 8 teams on the start line at Dyrham Park for the Avon Schools’ Relay Championships. There were a fantastic 18 teams altogether from Kingswood which included senior school teams, parents and old boys.

The team ‘Prepared to Win’ of Dan Greenslade, Charlotte Cutter and Ben Narbett were crowned the Primary Schools’ Relay Champions.

Finishing in 4th and 5th places were the teams ‘Prepared and Ready’ with Ben Shardlow, Rory Padkin and Alex Rawle and ‘Prepared for Business’ with Jamie Deverell, James Bailey and James Button.

The mums’ team ‘Prepared for the Worst’ showed they could run fast but a little more practice is needed on the navigation!

Mrs Jackie Hallett (Teacher i/c Orienteering)

KPS Orienteers recieving their pre-run briefing

Kingswood Parents Relay at Dyrham

Kingswood in Focus 89

KPS Sport

Boys’ Sport Rugby We have had some outstanding teams over the years at KPS but it is just possible that the U11 team from 2010/11 was the strongest side we have ever put out onto the field, winning every game they played throughout the season. Much praise must go to all the boys for their hard-work and efforts over the season as well as their teacher Mr. Titley. Not only were they skilful and knowledgeable as individuals but their real strength came in the way they operated as a team and worked together to overcome all opponents and play some memorable rugby along the way. It will be very interesting to chart their progress in the future.

The regular team was as follows : Max Thompson, Jacob Berger, Will Thompson, Will Barnes, Tom Royston, Olly Millichamp-Merrick, Al Mackenzie, James Milford. Olly Parry, Joshua Brace, Theo Gammie, Tom Matthews, Nicky Johncox and Charlie Webb.

The other age-groups continue their rugby journey, learning lots of lessons along the way. The U10s are a real work-in-progress, whilst the U9s have shown particular promise for the future. At the youngest end of the scale, we have a very useful-looking Year 3 team who have been guilty of playing too much rugby (ie passing too much and not running enough!) in a few of their games this year… which, believe me, is very unusual at this age.

Hockey Whereas the U11 Rugby team contains a large number of boys who play for clubs outside of school, the hockey team contained very few, which usually means that their skills and understanding are at a somewhat lower level. As you might expect in such circumstances, the season started slowly but gathered pace as it progressed and there were some excellent performances along the way. The biggest challenge to the team throughout proved to be putting the ball in the net. Often excellent approach play was not matched by the finishing – despite a great deal of work to try to improve it. Our record across the season would have looked highly impressive if we had converted anything like half the number of chances we created.

Once again, the younger age groups are progressing well with some outstanding performances in particular coming from the Year 4 team, who have quickly grasped how to keep the ball and maintain a good team shape. It is notable across all the age groups (and across all sports in fact) that our B, C and occasionally D teams are always strong in comparison to our opponents, seeming to vindicate our inclusive approach to sport and the concentrated work we do with all children, regardless of ability.

Cricket

“...it is just possible that the U11 team from 2010/11 was the strongest side we have ever put out onto the field...”

The cricket season started in glorious sunshine but quickly reverted to what might be described as a “typical English summer.”

The U11s were a strong all-round unit with all players able to contribute decisively with both bat and ball and they received a lot of excellent coaching from current England International, Anya Shrubsole.

After a strong start, the season petered out as several games were cancelled due to the weather and it became more and more difficult to maintain momentum and develop a consistent approach. We can, however, rest assured that we have produced a whole year group who have strong basic skills as well as a clear understanding of the game which they will be able to build on in the future.

Cricket is the strongest suit of the Year 5s, with a few excellent individuals and a large number of enthusiastic and quick-learning others who have made a good transition to the hard-ball form of the game. There were also some strong performances from our Y3s and Y4s playing Kwik Cricket who have been particularly impressive in their work to master that most difficult (and unnatural) of all sporting skills – bowling!

Many thanks are due to all the staff who have made it possible for the children to have so many opportunities and given so much energy to helping them to improve. In particular, thanks to Phil Titley, Jon Parry, Euan Gordon, Anya Shrubsole, Mike Callahan and John Paines.

Mr Ian Shrubsole (Head of Games)

90 Kingswood in Focus

Girls’ Sport Girls’ sport continues to flourish at Kingswood Preparatory School. The girls from Year 1 to Year 6 follow the same pattern throughout the school year: playing Hockey in the first term, Netball in the second term and Rounders in the summer term.

Year 1 and Year 2 girls are introduced to the basic skills of the games, which involves learning how to hold a hockey stick correctly and how to throw a netball with the right technique. In rounders they all manage to play a simple game and use a tennis ball as a substitute for the harder rounders ball. I am very excited by the depth of talent we have coming through from these foundation stages. In Year 2 Phoebe Hall, Rose Bates and Ruby O’Mahoney are already showing a high level of skill, closely followed by the other girls in that year and I am sure there will be many successful teams emerging from these young girls in the future.

In Years 3 and 4 the girls are now playing matches against other schools and have had some excellent results. There are only ten Year 3 girls and they all deserve a mention due to their incredible unbeaten run of results in the last two terms playing netball and rounders. Well done to Skye, Beth, Kristel, Eleanor, Olivia, Jessica, Niamh, Isobel, Matilda and Elizabeth. The Year 4 girls have also had some excellent results this term and Rhea Lewis and Francesca Ledbury have been extremely influential in the team’s success, particularly in the hockey and netball term.

“All the girls from U8 to U11 regularly represent the school each term and enjoy the camaraderie...”

At the top end of the school, the Year 5 girls are a talented group of twenty one girls who have all played with enthusiasm whether they are playing for the A, B or C teams. Charlotte Chilton, Hannah Morris, Elizabeth White and Lexi Hart have all been driving forces in the A teams, and Amelia Low has been a strong addition to the year group having joined us in the netball term. The Year 6 girls have had a mixed year with regard to results but their enjoyment and positive attitude has been a credit to them.

The sporting calendar has not been restricted to the ball games and we have competed in festivals and tournaments in many other sports. This year the girls from Year 3 through to Year 6 have competed in swimming galas which have been hosted at our own senior school pool and at Monkton School. Our top girl swimmers this year have been Olivia Wilson in Year 3 and Natasha Thornton and Kelly Read in Year 6.

We have also competed in Aquathons against the other independent schools in the area. The Aquathon requires the girls to complete a timed swim with a cross country run. Elizabeth White won the Stonar Aquathon, beating a large field of athletes, and finished 2nd in the U10 competition at Kingswood.

Our cross country team also boasted some talented athletes. Kiana Portman finished in the medals in several events this year for the U11 team and Lexi Hart was successful in the U10s. We also hosted a tennis festival involving seventy children in Y5 and Y6, from Kingswood and King Edward’s, on our lower astro which was a great introduction to the game and involved the full range of abilities.

Though the independent schools athletics meet was cancelled due to the weather, we managed to host Monkton Combe on our all weather track on the Upper and many girls competed in a full range of track and field events.

Though success of the teams is to be enjoyed, the ethos of the Prep School is to promote the participation in sport throughout the girls’ time with us. All the girls from U8 to U11 regularly represent the school each term and enjoy the camaraderie, the travelling and the post-match teas. Most importantly, they meet girls from other schools in a fun, competitive but friendly environment.

Miss Michelle Newman (Games Teacher) Kingswood in Focus 91

KPS Improvements

Play at KPS

After three years of planning, consulting and gaining the necessary consents, September saw the grand opening of the new Prep School playground. This event represented part of KPS’s continuing commitment to outdoor education and learning through play.

Following a report commissioned in 2008 to consider the use of outdoor spaces at KPS, staff identified a number of areas for development which would increase the opportunities for outdoor learning. So what did we want to achieve in the playground and why was its development so important? We wanted to create a safe environment where physical, creative and imaginative play opportunities were aplenty and could be accessed by the full age range of pupils at KPS. The report by Bilton (2002) emphasises the importance of developing zones in outdoor areas, and suggests that teachers should ensure that the outdoor environment is, above all, natural.

For physical play, the area for ball games was expanded, tennis nets were added and a non-slip paint applied to the surface. Quality playground markings not only bring a splash of colour, but also encourage “chase” games and the opportunity for the children to invent their own games. A climbing wall was also installed: great for a challenge and for working small and large muscle groups.

A set of outdoor musical instruments and a stage with a seating area are ideal to get the children’s creative juices flowing. The mock train station is a great starting place for imaginative play and with ‘The Fort’

all three objectives are fulfilled with ease. Defined quiet areas and friendship benches, where children can be apart from the more boisterous activities, have also been established near borders with fragrant plants which provide additional sensory experiences.

Although the playground improvements formed a major part of this initiative, other outdoor spaces have not been left behind. Areas of the school grounds have been cleared of overgrown trees and shrubs so that they can be enjoyed by all.

“At KPS we are looking to embrace the outdoors and take the classroom outside.”

Many parents and children now get to walk through ‘The Dell’ on their way to school, a hidden garden area between the main drive and the playground side gate. The ‘Secret Garden’ is now being fully utilised for educational purposes, cleared of dangerous plants and overhanging branches, and with the addition of a purpose built outdoor classroom.

Kingswood’s pupils are extremely fortunate to have such extensive and diverse school grounds at their disposal and to be given so many opportunities to learn in such an environment. At KPS we are looking to embrace the outdoors and take the classroom outside. Kingswood pupils should be ready to work hard, and play hard!

Before

92 Kingswood in Focus

After

Mr Philip Titley, Mrs Kate Simpson, Miss Amy Wright

Friends of KPS

End of Year Review 2010 / 2011 The year got off to a flying start with the official opening of the new playground, to which the Friends of Kingswood Prep School contributed £10,000 for the purchase of new outdoor play equipment.

The new playground is a fabulous facility for all the children and parents to enjoy daily and it was fantastic to see the culmination of two years of fundraising efforts come to fruition.

This was swiftly followed by our welcome coffee morning to help new parents settle into school life and make new friends.

Our fireworks night in November was a complete sell out.

Over 400 enjoyed what was declared “the best firework display yet!” The display was run in the grounds of High Vinnalls by the pyrotechnic team of Mr Titley, Mr Shrubsole and Mr Stevens. Then, having barely time to draw breath, it was into the fun and festivities of the Christmas Season: dusting off and putting up the Xmas decorations and of course welcoming Father Xmas to the Annual FOKPS Xmas Fayre, our major fundraiser of the year. This is a lovely family event filled with festive cheer where parents have the opportunity to catch up with friends over a steaming glass of glühwein and make a start on the Christmas shopping. The “Elves Workshop” and Santa’s Grotto provided crafts and entertainment for the children to enjoy, plus tempting treats and toys to spend their pocket money on. The Autumn Term festivities came to a close with Christmas Lunch for the whole school, the Friends providing the all essential Xmas crackers and of course helpers, to support the wonderful catering team.

The Spring Term brought the news that, planning challenges overcome, the work on the outdoor classroom in the Secret Garden (funded by the Friends), had been completed. To complement this long awaited addition to the school’s outdoor education programme, the Friends gifted funds to the school for an introductory programme of outdoor workshops for the whole school.

After half term it was time for parents to test their knowledge at the Comic Relief Quiz and Tapas Night hosted in The Summerhill Arms popup pub. On the night 80 parents enjoyed a social evening of competitive fun which was ably compered by our quiz master extraodinaire, Mr Shrubsole. The proceeds from the evening were shared between FOKPS and Comic Relief. On the last day of term the Easter Bunny

Fun on the lawn

Magic

Pony rides

BBQ special

Bouncy castle

once again visited the Prep School and all the children had the opportunity to take part in the end of term FOKPS Easter Egg Hunt and enjoy the many chocolate treats donated by parents.

Summer arrived with a flourish of warm sunny days and brought into focus the farewell arrangements for Mr Cornah, the retiring Headmaster. The Friends chose to host a Summer BBQ and Family fun-day, in the spectacular grounds of the Prep School, to provide families old and new from the school with an opportunity to bid a fond farewell to Mr C. It was a wonderful event with great food provided by the talented KS catering team, a children’s entertainment programme which included magicians, clowns, pony rides, sporting challenges and bouncy castles and, of course, the fantastic programme of live music, provided by talented parents, ex-pupils and staff, for all to enjoy throughout the afternoon. This proved to be the biggest event to date to be organised by the Friends Committee. The response was overwhelming, with nearly 700 parents, pupils and friends coming together to party in the parklands. The afternoon culminated with the presentation to Mr Cornah of a Book of Thanks, compiled by the Friends, and other various gifts.

A Cedar Tree and a copy of the Book of Thanks were also presented to the school as a record of the deep affection in which Mr Cornah was held by the parents and pupils and in recognition of his contribution to the Kingswood community.

The tree was planted in the grounds of the Prep School in a brief ceremony on the last day of term by Mr Cornah and will be known as “Mr Cornah’s Tree”!

Mrs Jane Rowley (Chairperson FOKPS 2010-2011) Kingswood in Focus 93

KPS Out & About

Visit to Cardiff Castle

During the Spring Term the children in Year 2 at Kingswood Prep School study Castles and they thoroughly enjoyed this topic again this year.

They learnt about hill forts, motte and bailey castles, stone castles and weapons and, to find out more about this topic, they had a day out visiting Cardiff Castle in Wales.

As soon as they arrived at the Castle they enjoyed a very interesting guided tour of the rooms and learnt about what they were used for and the original family who lived there.

Also, whilst at the Castle, the 104 Regiment of the Royal Artillery were preparing for a 21 gun salute, with additional representatives from the Navy and RAF, and the children watched in amazement as parades of uniformed officers and The Prince of Wales Regiment Brass Band marched onto the Castle Green. The children were also thrilled to experience three enormous cannons blasting a total of 21 times. They were of course all issued with ear plugs! Finally the children had the opportunity to climb the steep steps into a real hill fort, before taking part in a workshop on knights and armoury in the afternoon.

I am delighted to say that all the Year 2 children were really inspired by their visit to Cardiff Castle and have written very detailed accounts of their day to put into their Castles Fact Files!

Miss Amy Wright (Year 2 Teacher)

Mill on the Brue “On Monday the 27th September 2010 we went to Mill on the Brue.

MotB is a residential activity centre in Bruton, Somerset. There was a river cutting through the grounds and the dorms and long house were on the right hand side. The activities were spread out between the different fields.

I was in the Swallows and was led by Rachael Jones and Miss Brunt. Some of the most exciting activities for me were Rifle Shooting, Zuper Zip Wire, Trapeze and Crate Stacking.

I found Canoeing quite hard as I had never done it before and you always felt like you were going to fall in.

My favourite food was scrambled egg for breakfast and pizza for lunch. I would definitely go to Mill on the Brue again as I had a great time!�

Tom Reeves (Year 5) 94 Kingswood in Focus

Visit to Slimbridge

Children in Year 6 at Kingswood Prep School visited the Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre at Slimbridge.

They enjoyed an informative talk about the proposed Severn Barrage and the Bewick swans and their migration. They also had a chance to feed the geese and the swans and to observe the wild and captive birds at the centre. This was the high point of the day for everyone. Another highlight was finding out more about the area when they went on to visit Sharpness where they witnessed the tide rushing upstream. This illustrated the scale of the Severn Estuary and helped them to understand its unique ecosystem.

“They also had a chance to feed the geese and the swans and to observe the wild and captive birds at the centre.�

The visit was planned as part of a geography topic about Renewable Energy.

Following the visit there was some lively debate about the need for tidal energy versus the desire to conserve a unique eco system. During the term, they also worked on individual PowerPoint presentations on one form of renewable energy. In addition, they wrote letters to the Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, Mr Chris Hendry, with questions and ideas. Another highlight of the topic was a visit from Mr George Batterham, the architect responsible for designing the new Upper Pavilion, who talked to children about sustainable buildings.

Mrs Sue Butcher (Science Co-ordinator) Kingswood in Focus 95

Members of Staff 2010 / 11

Kingswood Preparatory School Teaching Staff 2010 / 2011 APPOINTED Mr M Cornah

Headmaster

1989

Mr P Dixon

Deputy Headmaster

2004

Mrs A Parry-Hearn

Head of Pre-Prep

2010

Miss S Caden

Foundation Stage Co-ordinator / Head of Nursery

2004

Mr P Titley

Houseparent

2003

Mrs M McGlynn

Year 6 Teacher / English Co-ordinator / Drama

1988

Mr I Shrubsole

Head of Games

1992

Mrs I Turner

French Teacher

1993

Mrs J Cook

Head of Learning Support / Year 4 Maths Teacher

1993

Mrs S Butcher

Year 6 Teacher / Science Co-ordinator

1996

Mrs J Cross

Head of Music

1995

Mrs C Frey

Year 4 Teacher / Library Co-ordinator

1995

Mrs A Hirst

Learning Support Teacher

1997

Mrs K Simpson

Reception Teacher

1997

Mr J Chitson

Design Technology Teacher

1998

Mrs J Mason

Pre-Prep Teacher

1998

Mrs R Green

Pre-Prep Teacher

2000

Mrs J Dix

Pre-Prep Teacher

2001

Miss M Newman

Games Teacher

2004

Mrs K Fox

Art Teacher

2004

Miss M Diaz

Year 3 Teacher / Assistant English Co-ordinator

2004

Mrs S Gilmore

Year 5 Teacher / Health & Safety Co-ordinator

2005

Mr M Callahan

ICT Co-ordinator

2006

Mrs S Higgins

Year 1 Teacher / Maths Co-ordinator

2006

Miss J Rexe

Year 5 Teacher / PHSE Co-ordinator

2006

Mrs M Gibson

Year 4 Teacher / RE Co-ordinator

2007

Miss K Elliott

Year 3 Teacher / Geography Co-ordinator

2005

Mrs J Hallett

Learning Support Teacher / Orienteering

2008

Miss A Wright

Year 2 Teacher / Outdoor Education Co-ordinator

2008

Mrs P Wynne

Reception Teacher

2008

Miss R Howe

Year 2 Teacher / History Co-ordinator

2009

Dr E Watts

Year 1 Teacher

2009

Mrs R Briggs

Year 6 Teacher

2010

Miss E Brunt

Year 5 Teacher

2010

Kingswood School Governing Body 2010 / 2011 Chair: Wing Cdr C Burns (retd); Chair of PEC: Mrs K Pillinger; Chair of FRC: Mr J Forbes; Secretary: Mr J Monahan.

Governing Body: Dr J Barrett; Mr P Baines; Mr M Bishay; Revd R Borgars; Mrs S Cook; Mr AG Douglas; Mr A Gibbs; Dr M Hayden; Revd AW Jones; Mrs B Pendle; Major General A Raper (retd); Mr G Russell; Mr D Walters; Mr T Westbrook; Revd Canon P Whitworth; Mr K Wood; His Honour Judge P Wright.

Bursar and Clerk to the Governors: Mr PA Sadler.

96 Kingswood in Focus

Kingswood School Teaching Staff 2010 / 2011 APPOINTED

APPOINTED

Mr S A Morris

Headmaster

2008

Miss M Newman

Games

2004

Mr G D Opie

Deputy Head; Games; PE; English

1990

Mrs S J Marshall

Head of PSHCE; RE

2004

Mrs S C Dawson

Deputy Head Academic; English

2004

Mrs K Fox

Art

2004

Rev M L Wilkinson

Chaplain; Deputy Head Pastoral; RE

1992

Mrs A M Knights

Maths; Resident Assistant Housemistress Summerhill House

2004

Ms N McNee

Librarian

2005

Mr M Sealy

French; Examinations Officer

1970

Mr C J Main

Head of Art (until 31 December 2010)

2005

Mr A E Haines

Geography

1971

Mrs K L Nash

Drama

2005

Mr J R Garforth

Chemistry; Head of Careers

1973

Games, PE, English; Senior Housemistress of Fonthill

Mr C J Redman

2005

Miss A T Wright

1983

Maths; Resident Assistant Housemaster Middle House

Mrs C M Sergeant

Head of ICT (Academic)

2005

Mrs D J Jenner

Head of Geography

1985

Mrs N E Brett

Physics

2006

Mrs F E Best

Chemistry

1987

Dr M D Fletcher

Chemistry

2006

Miss U J Paver

Head of Girls’ Games; PE

1990

Maths, Senior Housemistress School House

Mrs M J Hutchison

German and RE

2006

Mrs J Reeman

1990

Mrs A K Matthews

Geography

2007

Mr S J Burgon

Maths; Head of Dixon

1991

Mrs M L Brennan

Maths

2007

Mrs J R Opie

Head of Biology

1992

Mrs A Y Burt

Head of Chemistry

2007

Miss N J Beale

French; German

1993

Mr S J Forrester

Head of ESL

2007

Dr N M H Sheffrin

Head of Science

1993

Mrs S C Fountain

Humanities

2007

Mrs J Cook

Head of Learning Support

1993

Mrs V Gibson

History

2007

Mr J W Davies

History, Senior Housemaster Upper House; Outdoor Pursuits

1994

Mr D T Hughes

Head of English

2007

Head of Maths; Public Benefit Co-ordinator

Mr I J Prior

RE

2007

Mr G J Musto

1994

Mr J P Hills

Head of Economics / Business

2008

Mr M J Westcott

DT, Senior Housemaster Hall House

1994

Mrs S Dakin

Head of Classics

2008

Mrs L J Court

Head of RE and Critical Thinking

1995

Mrs C E Edwards

Economics / Business

2008

Mrs A Hirst

Learning Support

1997

Mrs J Hallett

Learning Support

2008

Mr P J Hollywell

Geography, Games, Senior Housemaster Westwood

1998

Miss M E Telford

Second in English Department; Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme

2008

Mr T P R Reeman

Director of Sport

1998

Mrs C D Morris

French; German

2008

Mr S R Snowden

Director of ICT

1998

Mr J B Brown

Head of Boys’ Games; PE

2009

Mr R E Burton

Head of Physics

1999

Mr P Clarke

Physics; Editor of School Magazine

2009

Mr R Mainwaring

Director of Music

2000

Miss K M Donovan

Geography

2009

Mrs M K Patterson

Biology; ESD Co-ordinator

2000

Mr D Walker

Head of Spanish

2009

Mrs M L Brown

Physics; Timetabler

2001

Mrs A O Bassett

Music

2010

Mrs S Cunliffe

English; Senior Housemistress Summerhill House

2001

Mr B N Brown

Head of Design Technology

2010

Mr C B Woodgate

Head of Sixth Form; History; Politics

2001

Mr J C H Chua

Maths

2010

Mr G D Edgell

ICT

2010

Mr H G M Mackridge

History

2010

Mr D T Harding

Head of Theatre Studies; Resident Assistant Housemaster; Activities

2002

Mr J Matthews

Games, PE; Senior Housemaster Middle House

2002

Mrs C V Nightingale

Science

2010

Mrs L J Bradbury

Art

2003

Miss N Robinson

French and Spanish

2010

Mr R J Duke

Head of Languages

2003

Mrs L J Lilley

Geography

2010

Mr P P G MacDonald

Head of History and Politics

2003

Miss S Brookes

Head of French

2011

Mrs J L Mainwaring

English, Housemistress Westwood

2003

Mr S Brown

Head of Art (from 1 January 2011)

2011

Mrs D J Westcott

DT

2003

Mrs S Burton

Physics

2011

Kingswood in Focus 97

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