Kingswood in Focus 2023/24

KINGSWOOD IN FOCUS

2023/24

HEADMASTER’S WELCOME

It is a pleasure to write the foreword for this year’s edition of Kingswood in Focus, although it is hard to believe that a year has passed already since I sat down to pen my last effort.

Dear Parents and Friends,

When you thumb through the pages of this wonderful record you will understand why. Three hundred and sixty-five days in the life of this school community in all its breadth, balance and busyness passes by in a flash. As I write this introduction, day 1 of the 2024/25 academic year is fast approaching.

I recently returned from Gothenburg, Sweden, which was the host city for the World Methodist Conference, a global gathering of the MethodistWesleyan family held every five years in a different part of the world. I had been asked to give a talk about Kingswood, under the banner of ‘Methodist Schools as Places of Pilgrimage’. As I prepared the words for my address, I reflected on the fact that every year at Kingswood is in a sense a pilgrimage for both pupils and staff. John Wesley’s work at Kingswood and his varied educational writings

have helped create a very important educational legacy that we are proud to continue. The Kingswood experience remains rooted in the belief that teaching is a vocation. Central to that vocation is taking a real interest in the welfare of your pupils and placing an emphasis on hard work and academic rigour. Importantly, education should encompass values and not just knowledge. As a school, we embrace the moral, spiritual and academic development of our pupils.

In the pages that follow, these influences are everywhere to be seen and paint a wonderful picture of a caring community, where pupils are encouraged to be the best they can be, whilst becoming more aware of the needs of others. From the joyful production of Matilda The Musical to the success of the U13A Hockey team at the National Finals, from another exceptional Model United Nations conference to the support our pupils have given to charities both local and international; these

stories make for proud reading. As each page attests, our pupils have once again embraced with gusto the huge range of sporting, musical, dramatic and outdoor opportunities on offer, which are so essential in the development of character and skills for life. Well done them, and many thanks to our very generous teachers and coaches who guide them with such dedication.

...education should encompass values and not just knowledge.

On the theme of being the best they can be, our summer exam results are outstanding and are testament to the fine attitude that our pupils bring to their studies, and the high standards that they set for themselves. It is clear at Kingswood that academic excellence is one very important part of the truly holistic education that pupils enjoy. I feel confident that our excellent class of 2024 will reflect on their school journeys and leave us having developed a personal philosophy to guide them positively through their lives. Good luck.

I hope you enjoy reading this edition of KIF as much as I did.

Mr Andrew Gordon-Brown

FROM THE CHAPLAIN

‘Born in Song – where all are welcome.’

Singing has gradually returned to pre-Covid levels and it is a delight to hear the Chapel filled with song. Research testifies that singing is good for mental and physical well-being; for building our sense of belonging in community. It doesn’t matter how good you are at singing individually, when everyone sings all are brought into one voice. It transcends boundaries. It was also a joy to listen to and be led by the choir at our first Easter and Commemoration service at the Abbey in April.

Kingswood was born in song! Our founder’s brother, Charles Wesley, was a prolific hymn writer using the popular music of his day, and

a much-loved school hymn, ‘And Can It Be’, was written by Charles ten years before the School was founded. Sung here for 276 years and at our Leavers’ Service, some would say it is our School Anthem. Others would say it must be ‘Shine Jesus Shine’! I wonder which you would vote for?

One of my favourite hymns is ‘Let Love Be Real’ written by Michael Forster. It talks about selfless love, learning to grow in love for one another, accepting each other’s incompleteness as we share the joy of learning to be whole. It describes such open accepting love as being the strength that helps us ‘face the risk of truly living, and makes us

brave to be what we might be’. The song reflects for me something at the heart of Kingswood. It is often described as true kindness to all and to self.

Much of what is shared in Chapel is rooted in the simple theology that we are created by love, for love, and we are invited to spend a lifetime growing in love of each other and of self until we finally return into the fullness of love itself. It is not always easy to love when we might disagree strongly, and perhaps our biggest challenge each year is learning to live with contradictory opinions whilst holding one another in love.

Our founder’s words that ‘an ounce of love is worth more than a pound of knowledge’ is still pertinent today. Our growing in love so that everyone is welcomed, included, valued, heard and able to flourish as their truest selves, continues to be the most valuable part of our learning together. My passion is that our welcome is not just in word but also in action. It is why we seek to make Chapel accessible and of value to all… creating space for people to reflect on what they believe, what is important to them, and what are the spiritual resources that they might use to live life in all its fullness.

One of my joys this year was the wedding of Sarah and Isabella who met at School. At their reception they reflected on changing views. As a school we are ever learning and growing. Mrs Brown has taken on the role for overseeing EDI – Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, helping us to ensure that we continue to do our best to be a place where all are truly welcome.

John Wesley said, “If your heart is where my heart is, then give me your hand”. He was speaking to those who had very different views but chose to work with them for the love of others, in service and in grace.

Rev. Katy Thomas (Chaplain)

Our founder’s words that ‘an ounce of love is worth more than a pound of knowledge’ is still pertinent today.

KINGSWOOD FOR LIFE IN USUM, IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS

At the end of June, as an integral part of the Kingswood for Life programme, all Year 7 students were taken off timetable to learn about the anniversary of the opening of the original Kingswood School and the laying of the foundation stone in Bristol, which took place on 28th June 1748.

During this drop down day, Year 7 focused on the life and example set by John Wesley while he lived in Bristol, and the values he instilled in the students in the early days of school. Students learned that the foundation stone on display in the library foyer has a Latin inscription with the words “in Usum”, meaning “in the service of others”, and how that shaped the actions of the students not just while they were at the School, but also shaped the people they become as they entered the wider world as alumni, doing all the good they could in all the ways they could. Mr Musto shared stories from the New Room (the Wesleyan Museum in Bristol), documenting ways in which Wesley served the community around Bristol by creating one of the earliest foodbanks in the UK, alleviating food insecurity among the poor living in the districts surrounding the original Kingswood School. Also mindful of the upcoming national election, students were challenged to think about what Wesley would do. Drawing on research by Kingswood’s former headmaster Gary Best, students explored particular strands of Wesley’s social action work and, as a result, considered what Wesley’s manifesto would look like if he stood for Prime Minister.

1. Reduce the gap between rich and poor

2. Seek to ensure full employment

3. Introduce measures to help the poorest, including a living wage

4. Offer the best possible education

5. Empower individuals to feel they can make a difference

6. Promote tolerance

7. Promote equal treatment for women

8. Create a society based on values and not on profits and consumerism

9. End all forms of enslavement

10. Avoid engaging in wars

11. Avoid narrow self-interest and promote a world view

12. Care for the environment

It was interesting to note that most students felt his manifesto was still relevant today and was a very good basis to make our world a better place.

Through the help of Mr Newbould, students then thought about Wesley’s example and how we can do all the good we can in all the ways we can. Students also learned about the economic disparity within local communities around our school today. We welcomed some amazing speakers from Julian House and Genesis Trust (not for profit organisations based here in Bath), who shared how they support vulnerable people locally. The students listened thoughtfully and asked excellent insightful questions and were challenged to think about how they could make a difference and empower them to become changemakers here in Bath.

The students then worked in their tutor groups and presented some excellent ideas about how we could help make our communities better places to live. Next year we hope to develop these ideas working alongside students from Madero College in Mexico to benefit communities around the world.

CHARITY FUNDRAISING

This year, the Kingswood community collectively raised over £29,000 for local, national and international charities through a wide range of activities. Here is a selection of some of our students’ charity initiatives.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION (EDI)

John Davies: It has been my great privilege to lead the School’s EDI strategy this year. I have always felt that Wesley’s immortal words to ‘Do all the good you can… to all the people you can’ includes within it a challenge to do with diversity.

We must resist the temptation to consider such issues as 21st century problems; Wesley was a fierce advocate for the abolition of slavery, understanding clearly that doing good to ‘all people’ meant recognising the truth that every human being is worthy of respect, dignity and compassion.

It turns out that doing good to all people is a complex affair. There are times when ‘good’ for one person is harm to another, and so doing good to all people means seeking to understand what goodness means for different contexts. In being involved in the EDI leadership of this great school, I have been confronted again and again with the

truth that my conception of ‘doing good’ is inevitably encoded with my own biases – that as a white, straight man, my understanding of what ‘doing good’ looks like might be very different from others.

I am indebted to Janine SolomonGardner, our first Head of EDI, who has, over time, gently and lovingly challenged me to re-evaluate my perspective. She helped me catch a glimpse of how it might feel to be counted as a minority in a community such as ours. I am grateful that she has remained connected to our community this year and has provided much-valued support and guidance to me, and to many pupils in our community who gain from her a level of empathy and lived

...recognising the truth that every human being is worthy of respect, dignity and compassion.

experience that I could never understand or replicate. It turns out, of course, that EDI strategy is necessarily a team game.

I have been richly blessed this year with senior pupils who have taken on the leadership of EDI with passion and conviction. Noelina and Monica have both acted as our first EDI Leads on the PR this year, roles that now will remain as constant fixtures in the future. They, with the support of others on the PR team and beyond, have led with maturity and sensitivity. They have helped bring to life the Wyvern Society, a group initiated by Janine last year, which is now well-established as an intersectional meeting place for pupils of all backgrounds and heritages to share their stories and perspectives, working together to celebrate the diversity of our community whilst challenging school leadership to continue evaluating our culture and policies. Their energy and initiatives, not least our inaugural ‘Identity Day’, has been significant – far beyond anything that I could have achieved. Noelina has shared her thoughts opposite. I have found, in these areas, that our young people have much to teach us, and I am grateful for their guidance this year.

The future is bright for EDI at Kingswood. I am delighted that Emma Brown is taking up the mantle of EDI Lead as I move on from Kingswood next year. Emma is deeply passionate about EDI; her vision for a hopeful, celebratory, technicolour culture at Kingswood is inspiring – I have no doubt that Kingswood will go from strength to strength, such that ‘all the people’, both past and present, will find themselves doing and receiving goodness, in all its diverse manifestations.

Noelina: The Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) team has had an extraordinary year, marked by impactful initiatives and meaningful

events.

Our efforts have been dedicated to fostering an inclusive, respectful, and celebratory environment within our school. We’ve worked closely alongside the Wyvern Society who represent the School’s affinity groups, including girls in STEM, neurodiversity, BSK (Black students of Kingswood) and many more.

The year began with an inspiring assembly focused on the fusion of fashion and music, illustrating how cultural blending creates beautiful and unique expressions. This theme underscored the importance of embracing diversity in all aspects of life, encouraging students to appreciate the rich culture within our community. With the support of the Wyvern Society, we launched Identity Day, a new tradition allowing students and staff to express their culture, sexuality, and neurodiversity freely. This celebration not only fostered understanding and appreciation of our diverse community, but also included a bake sale that raised £150 for Butterflies Haven - a charity supporting neurodiverse individuals. We chose this charity to address the underrepresentation of neurodiversity in schools.

Our branches of Wyvern Society have also celebrated various cultural events throughout the year. The Nepali Society hosted Dashain, a Hindu festival symbolising the triumph of good over evil, with games and traditional food. Also, during Black History Month, the BSK hosted a movie night featuring a film celebrating Black stories. These events provided opportunities for cultural exchange and learning. To cap off the year, the Upper Sixth group within the Wyvern Society tackled the negative stigma surrounding feminism. We explored the experiences of women in Gaza, and highlighted key historical figures such as Simone de Beauvoir, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Suffragettes. In this way, we left a positive message behind our presentation, advocating the way in which feminism stands as a global movement, not just a Western concept.

As the School year concludes, I reflect with pride on the progress made in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion. I am grateful to be the voice representing the members of our community. Coming here as a young Nepali girl in Year 7, I realise just how much the School has enabled me to express my individuality, and I am so grateful to be giving back to our lovely community. It has been excellent working alongside Monica, who has helped me every step of the way. Most importantly, I would like to thank Mr Davies for giving me this opportunity. I feel so lucky to be working with one of the most supportive and caring Deputy Heads we could ever ask for. We end the year with a heartfelt and emotional goodbye, looking forward to continuing this important work in the future.

OXFORD GLOBAL MUN

In October half term, twelve Lower Sixth students took part in Oxford Global 2023, the largest MUN conference in the UK. Over 900 students attended from 22 countries including India, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland and Georgia, allowing our students to meet and work alongside likeminded young people from around the world. The conference took place at Oxford University, with our students debating in the very lecture rooms used by university students.

Students engaged in three days of intense debate on a range of issues, such as rights for refugees, greenwashing, the use of surveillance technology and the impact of conflict on global food supply. Students had to prepare thoroughly to become the delegates for Tajikistan, Namibia, Pakistan and Bulgaria, as well as research the issues that were debated. They then worked with other delegates to craft resolutions to address these global issues. For many of our delegates this was their first experience of MUN and all rose to the occasion and grew in confidence, with some delivering speeches to over 200 people.

In addition to the main conference, our students were also treated to a workshop on university applications and personal statements by the Oxford University admissions team, a keynote speech by Natalie Samarasinghe, CEO of Open Society and UN civil rights advocate, a tour of Oxford, a trip to Blackwell’s bookshop, excellent food and a very enjoyable social at the Natural History Museum.

ABINGDON MUN

In July, fourteen Year 10 and 12 students took part in a one-day MUN conference at Abingdon School. Kingswood represented four member states: France, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea. They tackled current global issues including modern slavery, Kashmir, humanitarian assistance, and the international drug trade. Kingswood delegates engaged admirably in each debate and were instrumental in passing several resolutions.

Congratulations to Tom Gilpin, who was awarded Best Junior Delegate; Orla Reddin, Gala Marrack, and Oyin Obe, who were Highly Commended; and Elfriede Wong and Damilola Animashaun, who were awarded Distinguished Delegate for being the best in their committees.

Finally, we are delighted to announce that Kingswood took home the Distinguished Delegation Award for the best overall delegation, which is a significant achievement.

YOUTH STUDENT PARLIAMENT

Each year, Lower Sixth elects two students to represent Kingswood as members of the Bath Student Parliament, working alongside students from every school in the city in debating and developing solutions to the challenges facing young people today. They also meet and work with elected representatives such as Bath City Council and local MPs.

Kingswood’s representatives Freddie Williamson and Dan Zukas attended the session featuring Bath’s MP Wera Hobhouse, who supported the Parliament with developing their cross-school initiatives including an inter-school debate and, in particular, their action plan to raise awareness of the dangers of knives and knife crime through a student led campaign.

In the Spring, Tudor Mandrea and Oyin Obe were elected to represent Kingswood at the Bath Student Parliament. Both continued to build towards a Parliament manifesto on student safety in Bath that was presented to the city council.

BISMUN

The first weekend of March saw Kingswood play host to the 33rd Bath International Schools’ Model United Nations conference.

Approximately 320 students took part, representing 73 member states of the UN in two days of debate on a range of issues facing the global community today, including Artificial Intelligence, LGBT rights, the Israel Palestine dispute, climate change and the rights of women.

The conference began on the Friday evening with an Opening Ceremony which saw two outstanding speeches from the Secretary Generals for this year’s conference, Freddie Williamson and Leyla Aysan. Freddie chose as his theme the fact that 2024 is set to be the year of elections, with 3 billion people heading to the polls around the world. He spoke powerfully about the very real threats facing democracy today, from the dangers posed by authoritarian regimes to the growth of populism in the United States and Europe. He ended with a powerful call to arms, urging delegates to take a stand and protect a liberal world order that is faced with unprecedented challenges. Leyla then spoke about the slow death of democracy in Turkey, a country with which she has close personal ties.

The delegates listened intently as she outlined in forensic detail how the current Turkish government has step by step undermined the freedoms of the Turkish people, and in particular the rights of Turkish women. It was a thought-provoking and sobering speech, and one which left a powerful impression on the audience.

The Opening Ceremony was followed by a period of lobbying, during which delegates sought to build support for their resolutions. After a delayed start due to unexpected snow, Saturday saw a day of committee based debates on the issues on the conference agenda, before the conference climaxed on the Sunday with the always popular emergency scenarios, where delegates are asked to respond to an unexpected international crisis; this year these ranged from a clash between NATO and Russia to a disease devastating the planet’s supply of wheat.

Well done to the Kingswood students who represented Lebanon

and Sweden over the course of the weekend. Four were singled out for commendations for their contributions – Tom Gilpin and Oscar McGurdy on the Political Committee, and Elfreide Wong and Ethan Wong on the Historic Committee. Special mention should be made of the 54 Kingswood sixth formers who served as chairs of the committees, on whose efforts the success of the conference rested. All rose to the challenge of taking charge of their committees magnificently, showing exceptional organisational skills as well as great maturity in dealing with a variety of sometimes difficult situations. The visiting teachers were full of praise for their professionalism and warm and welcoming manner. The head chairs for the weekend were especially impressive, and deserve a special mention; they were Freddie Williamson, Leyla Aysan, Henry Solomon, Dipti Chhetri, Jamie Phillips, Izzy Evans, Ollie Brown, Aled Watkins and Gala Marrack.

SUSTAINABILITY

Kingswood has been working towards becoming carbon neutral by 2030 after declaring a climate and ecological emergency.

The Eco-Alliance Team have been busy in the year, working closely with the School’s Sustainable Development Committee to address our own environmental footprint. They have continued to run assemblies educating pupils about the impacts of climate change and what we can do to reduce the problems. Later in the year, they partnered with Tree Source UK and over 100 parents, staff and pupils got involved with planting around 500 trees on our Middle playing field. The Lower School Science and Geography departments got involved in joint sustainability projects, and there have been weekly student-led activities and the continuation of the Year 9 Global Goals course.

It has been lovely to see so many people supporting Kingswood to work towards a more sustainable future. Sustainability is rightly on the School’s agenda and, as a community, we are doing our best to make a significant environmental impact.

BANES CLIMATE CONFERENCE

In March, Kingswood School hosted the 2024 BANES Climate Conference.

This day is run similarly to Global COP conferences where it gives students an opportunity to have their voices heard, learn about new sustainable ideas and connect with other schools in the BANES region to hear how they are tackling climate change issues. We decided to choose the theme ‘positive changes that we can make in our society’. The day consisted of looking at ways to act on the climate emergency, inspire other young people and celebrate positive changes that we are making in our society.

The day started off with the students attending workshops which were run by numerous speakers, all of whom reached out to Kingswood due to having a background in sustainability. They either spoke about their journeys to where they are today or inspired students about future jobs in the sustainability sector and made them aware of their businesses which all make positive changes in our society both locally and globally. This session also involved some students working with councillor Sarah Warren and her team, who ran a workshop to gather youth feedback on their sustainability work in the area.

After this, students split into two groups, with sixth formers being led by the Avon Schools Eco Network who shared the work they have done to access greater opportunities within BANES, whilst all other students heard from former teacher Mr Musgrove, who spoke about what positive changes we can all do. This was followed by hearing from our local MP Wera Hobhouse, which allowed students to question her on local environmental issues and learn about the projects the council is currently working on.

Finally, the conference ended with each of the 11 schools presenting their sustainable ideas in a Dragons' Den style theme to help inspire others to promote positive change. There were some excellent ideas ranging from creating energy and food waste apps, to utilising outdoor spaces through implementing water butts, allotments, outdoor classrooms etc.

It was a thought-provoking day centred around a vital topic, that we must all do our best to make positive change.

ACADEMIC NEWS STEM

OLYMPIADS AND CHALLENGES

Every year, a good number of our students take the opportunity to tackle the fiendishly difficult online Olympiads and Challenges, pushing themselves beyond their comfort zone academically and testing core mathematical and scientific knowledge and problem-solving skills. The challenges contain questions set in novel contexts that the students are unlikely to be familiar with and really stretch them beyond the confines of the curriculum.

We would like to congratulate the following students who have achieved Gold awards this year in a selection of these challenges:

AWARD NAME GOLD PLACEMENT STUDENTS

Junior Maths Challenge

UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge

Bea Alexander, Emily Bulgin, Harry Casdagli, Christopher Docton, Eve Jotcham, Felix Karunaratne, Isaac Lau, Florence Limbu, Rebecca Lloyd, Fred Park, Yunik Thapa, Fig Watt

Renissa Awlak, Charles Barton, Ivor Branigan, Sam Dinnis, Jamie Douch, Sam Hunt, Mathijs In Der Rieden, Nicole Kwok, Laura Martin, Kwan Nam, Ernie Padfield, Jim Pilkington, Morrisa Pun, Spike Salkeld, Gareima Thapa, Ethan Y Wong

MATHS FEAST COMPETITION

In March, four of our Year 10 mathematicians took part in the Maths Feast competition held at Beechen Cliff School. Competing against fifteen other teams from across the Bath and Bristol area, there were four rounds designed to test their mathematical ability, problem-solving skills, logic and teamwork. Kingswood’s team placed first overall and were the highest scorers in two of the four rounds.

Congratulations to Sam Hunt, Nicole Kwok, Ernie Padfield and Spike Salkeld.

Year 10 National Scientific Thinking Challenge

Senior Maths Challenge

Year 12 Senior Physics Challenge

Cambridge Chemistry Challenge

Chemistry Olympiad

Eddie Barbato, Jack Bowra, Christopher Faulkner-Antoniou, Will Fryer, Sam Glassick, Mathijs In Der Rieden, Alex Lowe, Spike Salkeld, Sam Westbrook, Ethan Y Wong, Finn Wood, Daisy Wren

Luna Arimoto, Akira Asakawa, Cyrus Chan, Marco Chan, Adam Estcourt, Emily Hersch, Mako Higashino, Riki Miyoshi (100%), Ryu Shimizu, Daimu Tsuneki, Jiwoo Yang, Crystal Yu

Riki Miyoshi

Akira Asakawa, Adam Estcourt

Akira Asakawa, Marco Chan, Adam Estcourt, Emily Hersch, Riki Miyoshi, Daimu Tsuneki

UKMT TEAM MATHS CHALLENGE

In June, eight of our Year 8 and 9 mathematicians took on the regional round of the UKMT Team Maths Challenge. The competition tested Mathematics and teamworking and, despite fierce competition, one of our teams achieved the Bronze award. Congratulations to Flynn Byrne, Fig Watt, Isaac Lau and Eve Jotcham.

Given the calibre of the other teams, this was a fantastic achievement.

CHEMISTRY RACE

Year 12 chemists competed in teams of four against each other to solve as many chemistry theoretical conundrums as they could in 30 minutes. These were challenging questions ranging from A Level to university degree level in their complexity. The winning team of Crystal, Arlina, Jason and Whitney should be congratulated for answering 14 challenging conundrums correctly in the available time.

CHEMISTRY OF HALLOWEEN & CHRISTMAS

In the Autumn term, our Sixth Form chemists enjoyed two fun and informative evenings.

First, they enjoyed a 'faboolous' gathering where Mr Deacon explained advanced elements of the chemistry of things related to Halloween, including pumpkins, the science of fear, the chemistry of blood and the smell of death! The ‘puking pumpkin’ was demonstrated and dry ice was used to create a ghostly and spooky effect. Afterwards, students had the chance to make thick zombie blood slime and spine-tingling alginate worms.

Later, it was ‘Chemistry of Christmas – A Chemical Advent Christmas Lecture’ learning all about a variety of objects linked to Christmas. Questions were answered such as: “why do only certain people hate brussels sprouts?”; “how do you make different coloured Christmas lights?” and “what is responsible for the smell and taste of gingerbread, candy canes and mince pies?”. Students especially enjoyed the explosive Christmas pudding demonstration and the captivating luminol Christmas tree. To finish the lecture, 13C were announced as the winners of the Year 13 ‘Chemistree’ competition which was much deserved for producing one of the finest ‘chemistrees’ we have seen at Kingswood – well done to Joe, Will, Caitlin, Ansa, Daimu, Akira, Jerry and Emily!

JET FACILITY

In April, Year 12 Physics students visited the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, the UK’s national nuclear fusion laboratory. The visit began with a talk entitled “Fusion: Powering the Future”, giving an overview of the progress made so far in developing the technology and designs for the first commercial nuclear fusion power plants, and discussing the research challenges that the scientists and engineers working on the project need to overcome. The talk was followed by a tour of the Joint European Taurus (JET) facilities, during which the large scale of the JET experiment could be seen and students had the opportunity to speak with researchers who work there.

BEBRAS CHALLENGE

This year, over 400 students took part in the worldwide Bebras Computational Thinking competition which assesses students’ logic. This year was a record year for those who achieved Gold awards which places them in the top 10% of their age group nationally. Twenty students in Year 7 achieved Gold awards along with forty-six in Years 8 and 9, and four in Year 10. Of particular note are Fred Park in Year 7, Lily Foster in Year 9, Ernest Padfield in Year 10 and Oscar Bankes in Year 13, who achieved Best in School certificates.

PHYSICS OLYMPICS

In June, eight of our Year 7 scientists represented Kingswood at the Physics Olympics held at Millfield School, embarking on a day filled with challenging and exhilarating scientific tasks. Our students had to apply their scientific knowledge, lateral thinking, creativity and teamwork in a variety of engaging challenges, as well as tackle a series of Fermi problems, pushing our students to think logically and mathematically under pressure. Despite fierce competition, our teams performed exceptionally well in all the challenges.

ARKWRIGHT ENGINEERING SCHOLARSHIPS

Three of our Year 11 students have been awarded Arkwright Engineering Scholarships. Adam Reilly, Harvey Brooke and James Wadsworth went through a rigorous interview process and assessments to earn this achievement. Congratulations to all.

GOLD CREST AWARDS

CREST Awards are internationally recognised accredited courses, and are the brainchild of the British Science Association. A Gold CREST Award sets candidates apart as it underscores a commitment to academic distinction and hands-on research experience, qualities highly sought after by university admissions tutors.

Emily Hersch achieved a Gold CREST award by completing an independent research project which explored the role of supershoes in elite marathon racing. Alongside her own research and investigations, Emily spoke to industry experts and learnt about new sustainable foams which are more durable and can self-repair.

Jack Stephens, Marco Chan and Stan Wood also achieved their Gold CREST Awards for the project ‘Journey to F1 in Schools National Finals’. Their project submissions were considered exemplary and their contribution was instrumental in the success of their ‘F1 in Schools’ team last year. Through this experience they have learnt how to work in a team environment, discover each other’s strengths and help support each other to achieve a common goal.

SPECTROSCOPY IN A SUITCASE

In the Summer term, Year 12 chemists were visited by three PhD Chemistry students from the University of Bath for the Spectroscopy in a Suitcase event. The students brought with them some rare and valuable chemical analysis equipment, portable IR and NMR spectrometers, which enabled the analysis of a range of compounds. These modern techniques are very much an important part of the current A Level specification and students really enjoyed being able to see what the equipment looks and how it works like in real life related to the theory they have studied.

GCSE SCIENCE LIVE

In February, Year 10 went to the GCSE Science Live! event at The Forum. This event was an excellent opportunity to hear from five of Britain’s top scientists. Professor Dave Cliff gave a whistle-stop tour of Computer Science over the last 50 years and Professor Lord Robert Winston spoke passionately about his pioneering work with IVF treatment. A common theme from the speakers throughout the day was that you don’t have to be extraordinary to contribute to scientific progress, and that by working together, ordinary people with an interest in Science can help change the world.

SCIENCE WEEK

During Science Week in March, Mr Peerless displayed demonstrations in assembly themed around light, whilst Mr Deacon excited the audience with chemical hydrogen balloons, elephant’s toothpaste, whoosh bottle and dry ice demos. We also launched a competition to design a new idea for a product, piece of equipment, service or anything else that uses science in some way to make our world more sustainable.

The winning entry was ‘Bio-Marked Trees’ by Rubysha Malla, Adam Reilly, Charlie Woodward and Joss Armstrong. Their idea involved a fascinating composition of genetic manipulation strategies to enable the growth of trees that, although perfectly biologically functional, would be less appealing to those undertaking illegal logging practices and therefore help to prevent deforestation.

CLASSICS

This year has seen the renaissance of the Kingswood Classical Society, adding many fabulous events and activities to the Classics calendar.

In the Autumn term, Year 10 Latin students visited The Roman Baths at Aquae Sulis. On the short walk down from school, pupils learned about the Georgian Bath architecture, stopping at The Royal Crescent and The Circus along the way. At The Roman Baths, pupils enjoyed an immersive presentation and a tour of the Baths and high-quality gelato afterwards.

CLASSICAL QUIZ

The Classical Society also hosted their first annual classical quiz. Over fifty Year 8s and 9s took part in the six-round quiz, carefully created by members of the society. Well done to everyone who took part and to the winning team: Callum Falkiner, Noah Carswell, Henry McAuley, Seb Kennard, Flynn Byrne and Sam Dinnis.

JUNIOR MEMBERS

Our junior members had a superb year. Though few in number, Year 8s Isabel Davey, Amelia Faux, Rebecca Lloyd, Rose Mainwaring and Lola Thayer more than made up for it in their enthusiasm. Scarcely a Wednesday lunchtime passed by without an inordinate quantity of vocabularybased chaos and fun. The girls improved their Latin language skills wonderfully and were excellent, spirited, companyMatthew Wadsworth (Y12)

CLASSICS CREST

Matthew researched English heraldry over the summer holidays and under his tutelage, the Classical Society designed a crest. The escutcheon (shield) is comprised of; ‘Purpure an Apple Or’ - a golden apple against a purple background, and ‘Gules a Cross between twelve Escallops Argent’ - white scallop shells against a red background divided by a white cross (Cross of St George).

GREEK CLUB

In Greek Club, older students helped the juniors in learning the Greek alphabet.

CLASSICS ASSEMBLY

Matthew Wadsworth and Orla Reddin gave an entertaining assembly from a feminist perspective on the myths of Penelope, Ariadne and Medusa, and Dora Magill and Kara Kirkham delivered an interactive assembly to Lower School on Greek myths and what we can learn from them.

SARAH LE FÈVRE TALK

Year 12 members of Classical Society were privileged to hear from Old Kingswoodian and barrister Sarah Le Fèvre (KS 198890) who studied Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge and who is currently a coroner. The talk was very insightful when it came to showing what career a Classics-related degree could lead to.

CLASSICS TRIP

In the Spring term, Sixth Form Classicists enjoyed a trip to London, seeing sites such as The British Museum and a UCL Classics play.

LIBRARY

The library had another exciting and busy year.

READING CHALLENGES: We hosted various reading challenges throughout the year to encourage and promote reading for pleasure. In the Westwood Reading Challenge, impressively over 260 books were read altogether, and ten students finished reading all eight books. Mrs Curtis’s Year 7 tutor group won the challenge, reading the most amount of books.

OPEN MIC NIGHT: The library hosted two Open Mic Nights that welcomed students to share their own writing and creative talent. It was wonderful to listen to everyone’s short stories, poems and comedy pieces, including some brilliantly improvised anecdotes.

LIBRARY MOVIE NIGHT: Film vs Book? The library showed the film version of The Princess Bride to decide which was better… Spoiler alert: the book is always better!

WORLD BOOK DAY 2024: The library was thrilled to be the heart of the World Book Day celebrations for 2024, including games, quizzes and dressing up! Donations were collected for BookTrust and it was great to see everyone getting involved with the quiz and treasure hunt organised by the English department, and to see students contributing to the Library’s books displays.

AUTHOR VISIT: Stewart Foster

To celebrate the success of the Westwood Reading Challenge, we invited Stewart Foster to come and speak to the Year 7s about

PHILOSOTHON

In February, Kingswood secured their third consecutive Philosothon title, becoming the first team to ever do so. The competitors debated whether AI should prioritise saving human lives or focus on efficiency. They also discussed the ethics of AI deceiving humans, with some arguing for transparency and others considering deception in certain situations. The students also delved into a discussion about Peter

Singer's "right to be saved" theory and the concept of sanctity of life. Despite strong competition from Monkton Combe and King Edward's, Kingswood emerged as deserving champions. Orla Reddin was recognised as Philosopher of the competition, with newcomers Will Butterworth and Eleanor Gillard making notable debuts. The team's victory paves the way to the upcoming national final later this year.

his books and the journey which led him to becoming a writer. We were all interested to hear about the importance of diversity in his books, and the impact that has upon his readers.

LIBRARY LESSONS: As part of the Year 7 Library lessons, pupils took part in BookBuzz, where they carefully choose a book they’ll love from a collection of 16 titles, and receive their own copy to keep.

JUNIOR LIBRARIANS: The library wouldn’t be complete without our team of dedicated and hardworking pupil librarians.

Congratulations to: Will Butterworth, Manvis Cheung, Clemmie Coxen, Ferdie Goddard, Eleanor Gillard, Rubysha Malla, Orla Reddin, Gracie Weston, Ethan Wong and Elfriede Wong.

ENGLISH

SPELLING BEE

In June, after coming through a first selection round in school, our team of three top spellers from Years 7 and 8: Celeste Wong, Tutku Yalabik and Erik Brown, went to do battle with six other Bath schools at Hayesfield’s annual Spelling Bee!

There were some incredibly tough words to spell and our contestants did an amazing job of keeping cool and spelling words that they had never encountered before. They all got through three rounds to fight it out amongst themselves for 3rd place. Celeste was victorious and came third out of 21 competitors, while Erik and Tutku shared an excellent fourth place.

Well done to our amazing spellers!

ANTHOLOGY LAUNCH

In the Summer term, we celebrated the launch of this year’s online creative writing anthology, “Echoes of a Life”. Students and staff gathered to hear students reading their poems and stories aloud. It was a lovely, warm audience, and we heard a lovely mixture of pieces that were serious and witty, profound and inspiring.

AUTHOR VISITS

In the Autumn term, author Nick Bradley came to speak to Years 10 and 11, and led a creative writing workshop for Year 12 and 13 AFA students.

Not only does Nick have two published novels and teaches at University of Cambridge, but he is also an Old Kingswoodian! He was able to give words of encouragement and wisdom to our GCSE students, inspiring them to pursue whatever it is they’re interested in, even if they feel as if it’s a distant dream. For the AFA students, he focused on the idea of character, asking students to consider their own favourite literary characters, and reminding them that understanding your own characters thoroughly can be the origin for a great plot.

We were also lucky enough to be visited for a second time by the fabulous author Elle McNicoll. She talked to Year 7 about her book ‘Show Us Who You Are’, which they had all read over the summer. She spoke in a moving and thought-provoking way about her experience of writing about neurodiverse characters and the importance of being able to see yourself represented in the books you read. Since her visit, her new novel ‘Keedie’ has been released, and her new novel ‘Some Like it Cold’ is due out in October.

To celebrate the success of the Westwood Reading Challenge, the Library invited Stewart Foster to come and speak to the Year 7s about his books and the journey which led him to becoming a writer.

JASPER FFORDE

In February, AFA students enjoyed a trip to hear the author Jasper Fforde talk. He was a lively, engaging speaker, talking to the audience about the importance of fictional worlds having their own internal logic, and the significance of humour in both literature and film. He also spoke powerfully about his challenges with dyslexia, and how it initially put him off writing, but he realised that it was something that he loved later in life.

TRIPS

You can access the online version by scanning the QR code, so please do enjoy the talents of our Kingswood writers!

AFA TRIP TO OXFORD

A group of Year 12 AFA students visited Oxford in June. The day began with a lengthy browse in Blackwell’s book shop where students enjoyed getting a chance to wander around the huge Norrington Room.

...how important it is to edit and improve our work...

Later, the students visited the “Write Cut Rewrite” exhibition at the Weston Library. Students saw a range of pages from very famous texts, such as ‘Ozymandias’, ‘Frankenstein’, and the works of George Eliot and Jane Austen, each of them carefully chosen to emphasise how important it is to edit and improve our work – no piece of writing is perfect to begin with! This was followed by a tour of the Bodleian Library, learning about its fascinating – and often uncertain – history.

JANE AUSTEN CENTRE

In June, Year 12 English Literature students headed into Bath for an afternoon centred around one of Bath’s most celebrated authors: Jane Austen. The afternoon began with a tour around the Jane Austen centre, learning about Austen’s life and family, as well as the people and events that influenced her own works. There was a much-appreciated opportunity to enjoy some fancy dress, and the students had great fun trying on an array of costumes! After a quick pause, it was time to go on a tour led by the villainous Mr Wickham. He took the group around locations such as The Circus, Milsom Street and The Assembly Rooms, giving the students some really interesting historical and social context.

SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY

Fourteen members of the Shakespeare Society headed to London in June for a day celebrating the Bard. The trip began with a tour of the Globe and learning about the history of such an incredible building. The students were surprised to see how intimate the space was, and just how close the audience would be to the actors. The group managed to get excellent standing places, right by the stage, for the afternoon performance of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. Shakespeare’s beloved comedy did not fail to entertain, and highlights included being next to several actors as they walked (or drove!) past the group, as well as a surreal moment where James and Ivor were asked to help one of the lead actors to jump back onto the stage!

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRIP TO BATH

In June, the English Language A Level class took a trip into Bath to find out more about the printing and publishing gems in our city. The trip started at George Bayntun and sons, an antiquarian bookseller and book bindery where books have been bound and preserved since 1829. Its expert craftsmen walked us through the whole process of re-binding a book using tools and machines - many almost as old as the business itself. We were astonished at the techniques and specialist materials needed to create mind-blowing results.

Our second stop was Meticulous Ink, where Athena showed us calligraphic styles over time and traditional printing methods. We typeset our own names and saw some of her printing in action.

Our final location was Mr B’s, where Nic talked us through the birth and development of their publishing arm ‘Fox, Finch and Tepper’; we were extremely excited to hear about their upcoming projects!

MFL (MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES)

Early in the academic year, we celebrated the European Day of Languages, marking the occasion with some celebratory lessons and an international themed lunch for the whole school.

Years 8 and 9 took part in language-based quizzes and Year 7 undertook a scavenger hunt, where they had to hunt for clues around the school and listen to people from around the world speaking in their native language.

Year 7 took part in the annual Modern Foreign Languages Spelling Bee in French, German and Spanish for which they had to learn over 200 words and attempt to spell as many as they could in 60 seconds. Reli Goldman, Bea Alexander and Laura Pearce were crowned school champions in the School final and later went on to represent Kingswood in the Southwest Regional Final hosted by Hayesfield School. The girls had already beaten over 2,400 pupils nationally, placing them in the top 1.5% of Year 7 language learners. We extend our congratulations to Reli and Bea, who are the German and Spanish Southwest Spelling Bee champions respectively for 2024.

This year also saw the launch of the Routes into Languages Translation Bee; a similar competition to the Year 7 Spelling Bee, but where pupils must translate sentences into French, German or Spanish. The class competitions created our school champions: Erik Brown, Greta Saracino, James Marke, Tutku Yalabik and Millie Sharkey in French, German and Spanish respectively, and Kingswood were through to the last 57 in the whole of the Southwest, beating 4,056 other contestants from schools all over the region. The

It was a very busy year for the MFL department and we look forward to another year of language learning fun.

competition was fierce, and the MFL department would like to congratulate all of the contestants in getting as far as they did through the competition.

The MFL Christmas Card Competition took place again, with the theme this year of ‘Landscapes’. We had some wonderful entries, integrating these into the design of pupils’ cards. Well done to Amelie Laugharne for winning the school competition with a beautiful scene of Kingswood.

In February, 30 pupils from Years 9 and up took part in the UK Linguistics Olympiad. In the Intermediate and Foundation categories, we had some excellent results in an extremely competitive field of over 4,600 pupils nationwide, whilst in the Advanced competition, there was a record entry of over 1,600 candidates and the most challenging set of questions to date. Congratulations to all competitors, and a special congratulations to Riki Miyoshi who achieved a Gold award in the Advanced category.

In April, Mr Walker and Miss Evans took a group of German and Hispanists to Royal High School for the GCHQ Language Challenge day. Pupils were given a set of top-secret linguistic code-breaking problems, set by members of GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence and cyber

agency. The day was a wonderful opportunity to delve into the lives of those who work in intelligence and see how languages and linguistics can be used to solve realtime problems to combat national terrorist threats. It was an excellent day, with several Kingswood pupils being recognised for their hard work and sleuthing skills.

A number of students also successfully completed the Level 2 Accreditation in Languages for Business course. The qualification is aimed at boosting candidates’ linguistic skills and employability prospects and is designed to give learners an insight into the world of international business. Congratulations to the following who were awarded their Level 2 award with Distinction: Phoebe Gilpin, Tami Jaiyeola, Hannah King, Holly Robinson, Aoife Targett, Callum Voisin (French); Hoho Noma (Spanish).

The department was also proud to host a new series of film evenings French, German and Spanish departments all held a cinema evening throughout the year, showing a classic foreign language film to pupils of all ages. These gave our pupils the chance to experience languages and their culture and history through the medium of film.

FRENCH

Sixteen students took part in the prestigious Anthea Bell Prize Translation competition organised by Oxford University for which over 16,000 students took part from 280 schools nationally. Congratulations to Year 7 pupils Edie Greenwood and Georgia Ferdinando who gained a Level 1 Commendation for their translations.

GERMAN

Whilst studying the topic of food and daily routine, Year 8 were able to sample an authentic German breakfast picnic. They enjoyed roleplaying and described the experience using their language skills.

Year 9 had an excellent start to the new GCSE course. The topic of ‘School and Learning’ culminated in the creation of some promotional videos of Kingswood which were professional and a lot of fun to watch. Pupils also took a brief look at the history of Germany during the time of the Berlin Wall and undertook a mini film project about the film ‘Ballon’.

In October, a select group of Year 11, 12 and 13 Germanists attended the ‘Careers with German Roadshow’ hosted by the Goethe Institut. Students came away with some excellent information about how German can be used in various different careers and how useful being a linguist in today’s world really is.

In November, Sixth Form pupils attended an A Level film study day at the British Film Institute on the South Bank, London. Led by a German university lecturer from Goldsmith’s, the study day delved into the backdrop of ‘Das Leben der Anderen’ (The Lives of Others), which forms part of the A Level course and follows the lives of those living in East Germany under socialist USSR control and how the Stasi controlled all aspects of everyday life. It was a fascinating day for all.

In July, pupils in Year 8 and 9 embarked on the famous Rhineland trip, which you can read more about on page 77.

MANDARIN

In October, Year 7-12 Mandarin students visited the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery to explore the richness and depth of Chinese history through a glassware exhibition and a fun treasure hunt activity. In the museum, they also attended a talk on the history of China and learnt about the interesting facts behind the Terracotta Army. In addition, they experienced Chinese culinary culture by visiting a Chinese supermarket where they discovered authentic Chinese products and enjoyed

lunch at a Chinese restaurant. It was a great opportunity for our students to interact with each other and practise their Mandarin skills.

In February, we celebrated the Year of the Dragon and Mandarin students had the opportunity to learn about the process of making traditional Chinese dumplings and discover the symbolic significance of dumplings in Chinese culture. During the workshop, Mrs Falkiner, one of our school parents who is originally from Hong Kong, demonstrated how to make authentic Chinese dumplings which fascinated the students. Another highlight of the event was the tasting session,

SPANISH

In December, Sixth Form Spanish students enjoyed a delicious tapas meal in Bath. This was a great opportunity to enjoy some authentic Spanish cuisine, including croquetas, baby squid, tortilla, chorizo iberico, patatas bravas and rabo de toro (oxtail), amongst several others. As Gastronomy is a topic in the A Level course, the evening was also a chance for pupils to get a taste of some of the typical foods enjoyed in different parts of Spain.

In May, we were delighted to host an online video chat with students from our Mexican Assistant Daniela Fong’s school – The Escuela Secundaria #20 Dora Madero in Saltillo, Coahula. Ten of Kingswood’s Sixth Form Spanish students presented themselves in Spanish and talked about their interests whilst the Mexican pupils did the same to practise their English. It was a lovely experience for all and a really nice way to engage with other pupils from a Spanish speaking country on the other side of the world.

where students had the chance to savour delicious Chinese dumplings. Furthermore, each student received a dumpling recipe and a red packet to take home, allowing them to recreate the experience and share it with their families.

ART

The following images show a selection of A Level and GCSE artwork from this year.

WATERCOLOUR

As an Art scholar, Amelie Cardy was challenged with responding to a space or artwork in school. Amelie is a keen watercolourist, so took inspiration from David Arbus’s depictions of Summerhill Mansion, shown below.

“Inspired by the concept of hidden treasures and the raw, untamed beauty of nature, I believe I have created an intimate relationship between this piece and the one mirroring it. I was keen to capture the etherealness of the brush strokes that the artist creates, subtly enhancing the fragile elegance of the building and its surrounding landscape.

The choice of the American Museum entrance was deliberate. Rather than painting a picture of what most people associate the museum with (the main building), I saw a hidden beauty in the two smaller architectural buildings making up the entrance space for the museum gardens... I thought this painting was something that one could find solace in, providing a blend of the obvious beauty of nature and the unseen charm of buildings… I hope the piece serves as one that emphasises harmony in composition as well as underlying beauty, especially through the organic essence of watercolour.”

Amelie Cardy (Year

13)

DT

The year began with the annual trip for Year 10 to the Design Museum in London, here our GCSE students were inspired by professional and iconic design-work, as well as attending a workshop with their exceptionally talented designer in residence. Next, our A Level students visited the ‘Product Design in Action’ lecture series in London, where we listened to professionals like Tim Fu, an architect who worked with Zaha Hadid, and Jude Pullen, a University Lecturer and Design Engineer on the BBC’s Big Life Fix. This gave a huge insight into career paths and the realities of working in industry.

After Christmas, Year 12 students visited Mini and Morgan manufacturing facilities in Oxford and Malvern respectively, seeing

This year has, once again, been hugely successful for the Design & Technology

department.

up-close large-scale manufacture with robotics at Mini and then smaller scale hand manufacture at Morgan. Later that week, all Year 8 students boarded coaches to Coventry Transport Museum to attend a workshop and see the collection of vehicles including the Land Speed Record holding Thrust SSC and the next challenger Bloodhound in order to influence their own automotive designs ready to race at school. We then invited Tesla to give an assembly to Years 9, 10 and 11 about careers at Tesla and the future of the electric technology industry. Our Year 10 DT students were then invited to an “ask me anything” forum with the representatives from Tesla, which was incredibly valuable, before being invited to explore one of their showroom vehicles.

F1 IN SCHOOLS

Throughout the year, our F1 in Schools teams have been fundraising, developing their cars and documenting their work in portfolios.

This year we had an impressive four teams comprised of students from Years 8-13 competing at the regional finals. Both of our Entry Class teams won awards with ‘Hyperflow’ winning ‘Best Engineered Car’ and the ‘Future Stars Award’, while ‘Swift Warriors’ picked up the award for the ‘Best Verbal Presentation’.

In Development Class, the most competitive class, with eighteen teams in total, ‘Infinite Speed’ placed fourth, narrowly missing out on a podium place. In Professional Class, team “Impetus” placed third, narrowly missing out on a place at the national finals.

There are exciting things to come from all of our hardworking teams as they all look to compete again next year. Congratulations to everyone involved.

GCSE & A LEVEL DT WORK

DRAMA

It has truly been an extraordinary year for the Drama department!

We've been blown away by the talent displayed by our designers and performers in both curricular and co-curricular Drama. Their incredible work has been further enriched by a diverse range of trips, masterclasses, and workshops throughout the year.

We’ve enjoyed some fantastic trips, including Twelve Angry Men, Hedda Gabler, The Glass Menagerie, The Effect at the National Theatre, Choir Boy, Bacon, and Metamorphosis at the Bristol Old Vic.

A LEVEL DRAMA

Bad Apples, performed in December, was conceived by our Lower Sixth A Level Drama Students: Olivia Hope, Mae Press, Martha Pellicci, Oliver Hewitt, Rory McDonald and Alice Creed. The group crafted a verbatim piece of theatre inspired by 'The Paper Birds' theatre company, gathering firsthand reports and testimonies from individuals who had experienced or been affected by corruption and abuse of power within the Metropolitan Police. The piece shed light on the prevalence of ‘bad apples’ in the Metropolitan police force and advocated for a cultural shift in policing for the better. Its central message emphasised that a force perpetuating violent misogyny cannot adequately protect women and girls.

The Drama department is incredibly proud of the Lower Sixth students who dedicated themselves to creating such a compelling and thoughtprovoking devised piece. They collaborated brilliantly as an ensemble and fearlessly embraced creative risks in the rehearsal room. Congratulations! Your hard work certainly paid off.

THE EFFECT

The Effect by Lucy Prebble was performed by our Upper Sixth cohort in March. The play delves into the effects of a pharmaceutical drug on two volunteers in a clinical trial, exploring human identity, consciousness, and the influence of chemicals on our behaviour and emotions. Phoebe Gilpin and Lucas Bond brilliantly captured the rollercoaster of emotions experienced by a young couple falling in love, all while under the scrutiny of the trial supervisor, played by Millie Hawking, who portrayed her character's own insecurities with nuance and depth. Their performances were beautifully supported by Leyla Aysan’s exquisite design, which effectively captured the clinical world of the trial and the intensity of the characters' situation.

GCSE DRAMA

In January, Year 10 GCSE Drama students presented their devised pieces inspired by various stimuli, treating the audience to three captivating performances.

First, The Monarchy was the sinister story of how the pressures of being a monarch led to a breakdown. The second piece, Jane is Dead, was a poignant exploration of a family grappling with the challenges of mental illness, offering a sensitive portrayal of the complexities involved. The third performance, Silver Lining, delivered a cautionary tale centred around an AI robot whose interference in a family's life resulted in devastating consequences. In addition to the talented performers, the audience enjoyed the contributions of our GCSE lighting designers who skilfully enhanced the atmosphere and visual impact of each piece.

The diverse range of themes explored by the students not only showcased their dramatic skills but also highlighted the depth of their understanding of societal issues. Well done for a memorable and thoughtprovoking evening of GCSE Drama.

• The Monarchy was performed by Jess Hogg, June Gurung, Jessica Cole, Erin Catt and Luke Hadley, with lighting design from Sam Westbrook.

• Jane is Dead was performed by Matilda Teo, Lexi Nwabueze, Ellis Robinson, Baci Davies, and Sofia Shonfeld, with lighting design from Sam Hunt.

• Silver Lining was performed by Nathan Hayes, Martha Grimes, Ben Davies, Woody Wood and Freya Iles, with lighting design from Will Fryer.

The talented Year 11 actors and designers showcased their work during their GCSE Text in Practice exam in February. Each student demonstrated their skills by delivering or designing two distinct performances, showcasing their range of ability. The standard of performance and design exhibited was excellent, reflecting the hard work and commitment of the entire cohort. Everyone involved should feel immensely proud of their achievements. Well done to all!

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream was performed by: Clemmie

Janice Cheng.

• The Dumb Waiter was performed by George Jennings and Kit Hawking, with sound design from Krystian Dodge.

• The Queen Must Die was performed by Sofia Aysan, Molly Padwick, Issy Sheppard, with lighting design from Josh Webley.

• Macbeth was performed by Harriet Ward and Charlie Woodward, with lighting design from Ivor Branigan.

• Art was performed by Joseph Bailey, Alex Oldfield and Milo Worthy, with lighting design from Ollie Morgan.

• Daisy Pulls it Off was performed by Eleanor Dalton and Maisie Fox.

• My Mother Said I Never Should was performed by Daisy Wellings, Leonie Phillipson, Katrin Ovchinnikova and Aimee WebberJones.

Engley-Duffy, Ryan Salter, Matilda Lang, May Haddon, Lila Elsom and Ella Savage, with lighting design from

BLUE STOCKINGS

BY JESSICA SWALE

Congratulations to the talented cast and crew of Blue Stockings for delivering three outstanding performances before the February half term.

Blue Stockings, set in 1896, is an engaging, spirited, and shocking story of four young women fighting for their right to a university education in a world that believed women belonged at home. Ms Brayton was truly impressed by the dedication and skill demonstrated by everyone involved in the rehearsal process. They fearlessly tackled the challenges of staging such a substantial and politically charged play, working together with generosity and collaboration to address sensitive issues while maintaining a sense of fun and playfulness.

While everyone contributed brilliantly, Ms Brayton would like to shine a spotlight on some of the Year 13 students, for whom Blue Stockings marks their final production at Kingswood.

Millie Hawking portrayed Maeve with a beautifully sensitive performance, capturing the abrupt end of her education as she sacrificed her dreams to care for her siblings. Monica Mba Ivina brought boldness and fearlessness to her portrayal of Carolyn, providing huge entertainment for the audience. Dan Zukas charmed audiences with his portrayal of Ralph, while Basti Langkilde delivered laughter with his portrayal of the awkward and bumbling Edwards. Lucas Bond convincingly portrayed Tess's childhood friend, transitioning from a cynic to a supporter of women's right to graduate. Amelie Girdher showcased versatility in the ensemble and adeptly captured Anderson's contempt for women, while Charles Eldridge

was utterly convincing as Dr Maudsley. Leyla Aysan deserves recognition her lighting design; her innovative approach added depth and dimension to the production, she captured the mood and atmosphere of each scene beautifully.

A special acknowledgment must go to Phoebe Gilpin for her outstanding leadership in the rehearsal process and for her mature performance as Tess. Phoebe's talent and dedication shone through in every scene, entertaining the audience, and drawing them into Tess's journey with her compelling portrayal.

Congratulations to all involved for a job well done!

AS WE FACE THE SUN - BY KIT WITHINGTON

Just before the summer half term break, audiences enjoyed the Year 10 showcase, which began with superb LAMDA performances from Lexi Nwabueze, Freya Iles, Nathan Hayes, Ben Davies, Sam Hunt and Martha Grimes. This was followed by an abridged version of As We Face the Sun, performed by a cast of twenty Year 10 students.

As We Face the Sun is a compelling coming-of-age story revolving around a school trip that ends in tragedy. The cast skilfully captured the highs and lows of adolescence, the ebb and flow of friendship, and the poignant process of letting go. Their continuous presence on stage added intensity to their journey, engaging the audience throughout.

During rehearsals, the cast’s playful, creative and experimental approach brought spontaneity and genuine emotion to the characters' journeys. Mr Harding, Ms Brayton and Charlie had great fun working with this talented group. The dynamic and inventive staging utilised the space innovatively, enhancing the storytelling, and minimalistic props and set kept the focus tight. It was also great to see some new techies in the box. Congratulations to Charlotte Marke, Nicole Kwok and Woody Wood for their design contributions. Congratulations to all involved!

Ms Jo Brayton (Head of Drama and Theatre)

LAMDA

LAMDA lessons, initiated last year, continue to thrive. This year, our students took exams in public speaking, acting, and musical theatre, and we are extremely proud of our 100% Distinction and Merit rate. Congratulations to everyone who took LAMDA examinations this year but particular congratulations to our Grade 8 Gold Medal achievers:

• Grade 8 Solo Acting Kitty Mumford (Merit)

• Grade 8 Speaking in Public

Toby Eayres (Distinction)

MATILDA THE MUSICAL

When Roald Dahl dreamed up his fabulously drawn characters, little did he know that he would be providing students, teachers and audiences with a large piece of magic and the director a few sleepless nights trying to fathom how to make a cake disappear and for telepathy to happen live on stage!

The junior production is always a highlight of the year and this one has been a real exception. Everyone involved played a huge part in putting this production together and Mrs Ward, Mr Barton, Charlie and Mr Francis would like to congratulate and thank you all!

The cast and crew were a wonderful collection of characters themselves, all dedicated to the show from the first audition to the final curtain. Complex choreography, complicated harmonies, fast paced exits and entrances, endless rehearsals and ‘start with your right arm, no the other right arm!’, keeping quiet backstage, and even remembering to put all their costumes back into their bags at the end of the evening,

much to the relief of Mrs Ward and Charlie! All bringing joy to the end of term, mixed in with a little bit of fear (some members of the audience are still a bit anxious about just how far ears can stretch!)

The action on stage could not have happened without the expertise and support behind the scenes. Audiences can sit back and be sucked into the spectacle perhaps unaware of just how long it takes to plan and plot all of those lights or design the projections to help enhance the narrative. We are so lucky to have a wealth of talented designers and ‘techies’ who take the lead on all our productions. All this while waiting in the wings are a team to keep everything

running smoothly, whether shifting cumbersome scenery or being in charge of ‘ssshhhhing’, making sure that an eclectic array of props end up stage right or stage left.

All of this squeezed into the gaps between the actual school timetable. I am always amazed at just how much energy and heart our students have despite being stretched throughout the school day; they always rise to the challenge. The logistics are a fabulous juggling act and it takes lots of time, patience, kindness and practice. Miss Honey would approve of our methods; Kingswood is definitely Team Honey not Team Trunchbull!

Mrs Lizzy Ward

The cast and crew were a wonderful collection of characters themselves...

275 MUSIC & DRAMA SHOWCASE

The 275 Celebration of Music and Drama took place in October. An ensemble of over 100 actors and musicians from across the Kingswood foundation came together to celebrate the performing arts, creating a joyous evening. The Prep School showcased LAMDA extracts and music solos. Offerings from the senior school included both our choirs, as well as senior LAMDA pieces, music soloists, extracts from Buckets and Rails performed by our Drama scholars, and an extract of the senior production Blue Stockings. Westwood Voices displayed great musical theatre talent with songs from Mamma Mia and Matilda the Musical, whilst Kingswood Choir pulled on everyone’s heartstrings with their rendition of “Come What May” from Moulin Rouge. It was a wonderful way to conclude a busy half term, with a genuine buzz in the auditorium as we celebrated and marvelled at the talents of our actors and musicians.

THE SOUNDHOUSE BAND

In March, the Music department proudly hosted Old Kingswoodians Otty and Okiem Warmann, along with The SoundHouse Band for a special event aimed at uniting musicians and the wider community in support of our Transformational Bursary programme.

It was a great success and is a day that will long live in Kingswood’s memory. During the day, pupils enjoyed workshops with members of the band, for inspiring masterclasses on keyboards, saxophone, vocals, drums, guitar and bass, offering a unique opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business. It was an amazing experience for students to play with musicians such as Kenji on saxophone - he has headlined on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury with Paul McCartney, and played with artists such as Stormzy, Taylor Swift and Gary Barlow.

Over lunch, Otty and Okiem spoke about their time at school and how their lives since leaving have been rich and varied and led them to music as their main passion and career.

The highlight of the day was the evening’s fundraising concert. The SoundHouse Band brought great energy and set the stage alight. They covered all genres in their charismatic style, and the audience were soon on their feet singing and dancing along to classics like Whitney Houston's

“I Wanna Dance with Somebody“ and Stevie Wonder's “Superstition“. The talent of the band was unmistakable, leaving the audience in awe with their skill and energy!

We were fortunate to have Okiem join us on stage with our Senior Orchestra to perform his incredible compositions. He plays the piano with such passion and energy and his music is emotionally charged. The performance of his piece “50 Horses” was nothing short of breathtaking and received a

standing ovation from the audience. The finale of the concert was equally spectacular, featuring Elton John's “Your Song.“ Eleanor Reilly bravely took to the stage to sing solo with the band, and Christina Yan delivered the very last line for a beautifully meaningful ending. The SoundHouse Band brought the house down with an electrifying rendition of “Ain't No Mountain High Enough“, with excellent backing vocals from Senior Choir. The energy in the room was electric, a testament to the incredible talent and hard work of everyone involved.

There were some wonderful surprises throughout the evening, with Otty and Okiem performing a poignant acoustic version of “Ordinary People”. And there was also a surprise guest appearance on screen from Emeli Sandé, friend of the Warmann brothers.

Huge congratulations and thanks to all the students involved in the workshops and performance, and the incredible group staff effort behind the scenes to drive the project and organise such an inspiring event, and of course a massive thank you to Otty, Okiem and the members of The SoundHouse Band who gave their time and energy so willingly.

MUSIC

2023-2024 has been an exceptional year for Music at Kingswood, marked by numerous highlights.

From the very beginners to our most advanced musicians, their creativity and energy have shone through and the wide variety of performance opportunities across the year have been a joy to behold. This article captures just a glimpse of the extensive hours of practice and performance that make up a year in Kingswood's Music department. Congratulations to all the musicians for their impressive achievements!

OUTSTANDING EXAMINATION RESULTS

The Music department were delighted to celebrate the following students who achieved their Grade 8 or above this year, representing a highly significant musical achievement:

GRADE 8

• Luna Arimoto – Piano (Distinction)

• Alyssa Chu – Piano; Singing (Merit)

• Rafael Estrella – Piano (Merit)

• Poppy Squires – Flute (Distinction)

DipABRSM

• Joe Randolph – Cello (Merit)

MUSIC EVENTS 2023-2024

This academic year saw a whole host of musical events, trips, collaborative projects and performances. Here’s a summary of the main highlights that made up the year in Music at Kingswood:

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD FACULTY OF MUSIC

The year began with a trip for our senior musicians to learn about the history of instruments at the Faculty of Music’s famous Bate Collection. The group were able to get hands-on with the incredibly rare and historical instruments on display.

WOOLLEY CHURCH

The beautiful setting of All Saints Church in the village of Woolley is always worth a visit for this informal and intimate concert. Kingswood has a long-standing tradition of performing in this tiny chapel, and the local audience were as generous as ever in their reception.

275 MUSIC & DRAMA SHOWCASE

To celebrate 275 years of Kingswood, the Music and Drama departments of both KPS and KSS joined together to stage a varietypacked evening of choral music, instrumental soloists and drama extracts, showcasing the breadth of talent across the Foundation. (More on page 34.)

JESS GILLAM

Our scholars and senior musicians witnessed one of the most dynamic and engaging British performers live at St George's Bristol. Saxophonist Jess Gillam is the youngest ever soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms and is a huge advocate for youth music.

275 COME & SING CHRISTMAS

Another celebratory event, parents, staff and alumni were invited to Chapel for a rousing afternoon singing Christmas classics, forming a scratch choir to learn some of the greats of the festive repertoire.

DEMENTIA CAFÉ

A selection of Westwood Voices visited our local Dementia Café to meet the guests and put on a singalong of Christmas favourites.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

The annual concert in the last week of the Autumn term saw the whole department take to the stage, with the usual array of fun and festive items.

CAROL SERVICES

Kingswood Choir and Westwood Voices each led their own carol services at Bath Abbey and St Stephen’s Church, providing a glorious end to the term in preparation for the Christmas period.

BOURNEMOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The department enjoyed their first trip to the newly reopened Bristol Beacon to see BSO give a concert of Film Music classics.

CONDUCTING DAY

Tansy Castledine (Director of Music Peterborough Cathedral) is one of the country’s foremost women conductors, and she spent the morning working with Kingswood’s music staff as well as visitors from WEMA (West of England Music Alliance), developing our local music leaders’ conducting skills.

In the afternoon, it was the turn of our scholars to stand up and conduct, introducing them to this often over-looked but incredibly important skill. Tansy finished her visit with a fantastic rehearsal, putting the choir through their paces!

OTTY & OKIEM WARMANN WITH THE SOUNDHOUSE BAND

Another fantastic 275 fundraising event, this time in collaboration with the Warmann brothers Otty & Okiem, who both attended Kingswood. Our musicians spent the day learning in workshops with the musicians before the band took to the stage in the evening for an incredible night of music. Our students performed alongside in both the choir and the orchestra, and it’s fair to say this was an incredible highlight of the year! Read more about it on page 35.

THE ANNUAL SCHOLARS’ CONCERT - featuring the department’s Music Scholars:

COMMEMORATION SERVICE

This year’s annual service of commemoration took place at the end of the Spring term, allowing the choir the opportunity to explore the choral repertoire for Easter. Final service of the year is always a wonderful occasion, and this year was no different. Kingswood Choir led the service in Bath Abbey, singing beautiful music including Vaughan Williams' O Taste and See and Howells’ majestic A Hymn for St Cecilia

HARMONY RISING

In collaboration with Bath Philharmonia, Kingswood was proud to be the host school for the newly-formed Harmony Rising Choir, made up of students from all of the city’s senior schools. Some of our talented Year 7 singers took part in the project with the students writing their own songs to be performed alongside Bath Phil in two wonderful concerts, one in Bath Abbey, and in the annual Concert for the People of Bath at the Forum.

• YEAR 7 – Akshay Sivaloganathan, Celeste Wong

• YEAR 8 – Rafael Estrella

• YEAR 9 – Ben Bradford, Sunday Johnston

• YEAR 10 – Beth Dinnis, Ellis Robinson, Elfriede Wong

• YEAR 11 – Alexander Kirkwood, Max Wilson, Jayden Yip

• YEAR 12 – Alyssa Chu, William Greig, Anna Haldenby, Mae Press, Poppy Squires, Gordon Tse

• YEAR 13 – Katie Green, Imogen Hall, Joe Randolph

THE SPRING CONCERT

The annual showcase of all the major ensembles, including:

• Senior Orchestra

• Westwood Orchestra

• Brass Ensemble

• Clarinet Ensemble

• Flute Ensemble

• Kingswood Strings

• Westwood Voices

• Kingswood Choir

• Kingswood Jazz Orchestra

WICKED AT BRISTOL HIPPODROME

A special night out for Year 8 Westwood singers to see Wicked the Musical.

THE BATH FESTIVAL

Kingswood Jazz Orchestra stole the show at Bath Assembly Rooms for the opening of this year’s Party in the City. The band performed a toetapping selection of pop-jazz hits, entertaining the assembled crowds.

MATILDA THE MUSICAL

Another fantastic collaboration with the Drama department, this year’s Year 7-9 staging of Matilda the Musical brought the house down! The cast were incredible, with high energy, brilliant singing and sharp choreography – you can read more about the show on page 32.

ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN-INTHE-FIELDS

Another great trip out to see this fine orchestra play in the wonderful acoustic of Bristol Cathedral.

KATS

The annual Music and Drama awards celebrated the many achievements of the department’s musicians, alongside their dramatic counterparts – read more about it on page 42.

LUNCHTIME CONCERT SERIES, SCHOOL SERVICES & ASSEMBLIES

A whole host of individual and group performances have provided excellent opportunities for our musicians to showcase their talents and hone their performance skills. Well done to each and every performer this year!

BARCELONA MUSIC TOUR 2024

And if all of that was not enough, the Music department set sail on tour to Barcelona as the Summer term finished. Read more about this fantastic trip on page 78.

YEAR 13 MUSIC SCHOLARS

This year’s Year 13 Music Scholars are a unique group with a wide range of interests. Over the years, they have each contributed enormously to so many different concerts and events, performing extensively as soloists as well as being team players in ensembles and setting a strong example to our younger musicians.

We wish them all the very best for the future and hope that they will always continue to have a love for music and performance!

• Katie Green

• Imogen Hall

• Joe Randolph

Mr Andy Barton (Director of Music)

In June, Kingswood was abuzz with excitement as Year 10 to 13 Drama and Music students, parents, and specially invited guests gathered for the Casino Bling-themed KATS Music & Drama awards night.

The festivities began with a delightful buffet and drinks on the Dixon Lawn, creating a vibrant atmosphere that set the perfect tone for the evening before our students walked the red carpet. The Casino Bling theme inspired some fabulous interpretations, and it was wonderful to see so many sequins, sumptuous velvet, dark glasses, and even a few cowboy hats.

We were honoured to welcome back ex-Kingswoodian Ollie Gardner

to open the awards ceremony for us. Having juggled his studies at Kingswood alongside playing Billy in the hit musical Billy Elliot in the West End, Ollie has gone on to have success with several short films including The Sunday Night Drinker’s Club and has built a successful career at the National Theatre as a producer for NT Live Events. His talk on the importance of hard work, commitment, and perseverance, whilst being a good person, was truly motivating. Ollie

The Casino Bling theme inspired some fabulous interpretations...

also arranged a special message from Tom Holland, which was definitely a crowd favourite!

Mr Harding served as our entertaining compère, kicking off the awards ceremony that celebrated the remarkable achievements of our talented students. The audience enjoyed performance highlights from the year, including a beautiful duet from High School Musical by Ella Savage and Katie Green, a moving rendition of “As Long as He Needs Me” from Oliver by Clemmie Engley-Duffy, a hilarious scene from Jim Cartwright's play Two performed by Rory McDonald and

Alice Creed, and a dramatic coach crash scene from As We Face the Sun by the Year 10 cast.

Along the way, the audience celebrated all of the nominees and winners of this year's KATS awards and there was a great atmosphere in the Theatre. This year, a new award was even introduced to the celebrations, recognising Mr J M Davies for his generous support of the performing arts during his time at Kingswood. As the evening came to a close, a nostalgic slideshow featuring our departing students, for whom this was their final KATS awards evening, evoked fond memories. The Year 13 Leavers' Band concluded the night with a heartfelt performance of "Seasons of Love" from the musical Rent.

We extend our deepest gratitude to the dedicated staff in the Music and Drama department, whose hard work and commitment made this event possible. Special thanks go to the amazing technical team, whose expertise and hours of preparation ensured the evening ran smoothly, to Ms Smith for her behind-the-scenes efforts, and to the catering department for providing a truly delicious feast. Lastly, we thank everyone who attended and contributed to this unforgettable celebration of Music and Drama at Kingswood.

KATS 2024 NOMINATIONS & WINNERS

 DRAMA

BEST GCSE DRAMA DEVISED PERFORMANCE

• The Monarchy

• Jane is Dead

• Silver Lining

BEST GCSE DRAMA SCRIPTED PERFORMANCE

• A Midsummer Night's Dream

• Macbeth

• Daisy Pulls It Off

• The Queen Must Die

BEST LOWER SIXTH A LEVEL DRAMA NEWCOMER

• Rory McDonald • Mae Press

• Oliver Hewitt • Olivia Hope

BEST A LEVEL DRAMA PERFORMANCE

• The Effect

• Bad Apples

BEST DESIGN IN DRAMA

• Leyla Aysan (Lighting, The Effect )

• Ivor Branigan (Lighting, Macbeth)

• Janice Cheng (Lighting, A Midsummer Night’s Dream )

• Oliver Hewitt (Lighting, Bad Apples)

TECHIES’ TECHIE

• Leyla Aysan

• Oliver Hewitt

• Jerry Lam • Ollie Morgan

ACTORS’ ACTOR

• Phoebe Gilpin • Lucas Bond

• Millie Hawking

 MUSIC

OUTSTANDING GCSE MUSIC PERFORMANCE

• Olly Cory

• Alexander Kirkwood

• Ella Savage • Max Wilson

OUTSTANDING GCSE MUSIC COMPOSITION

• Charlie Barton • Olly Cory

• Alexander Kirkwood • Max Wilson

OUTSTANDING SIXTH FORM ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC

• Alyssa Chu

• Katie Green

• Joe Randolph • Gordon Tse

OUTSTANDING SIXTH FORM CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC

• Lily Bradley • Katie Green

• Joe Randolph • Ian Wong

MUSOS’ MUSO

• Lily Bradley

• Katie Green

• Joe Randolph • Aled Watkins

• Ian Wong

PRIZE GIVING 2024

It was a joy to celebrate Prize Giving ceremony at the end of term, and to mark a set of crossroads in the rich history of Kingswood School.

The event gave us the opportunity to recognise talent and to inspire students to strive for excellence as we celebrate all that our Year 13 leavers have achieved, and to celebrate the many talented young people following in their footsteps in the years below.

The day was unseasonably humid, but as Bath Forum began to fill with parents, pupils, staff and governors it was clear that the atmosphere was electric. The buzz in the space demonstrated to me once again what an important day in the Kingswood calendar this event is, and how much the pupils enjoy the opportunity to celebrate their own successes, and those of their peers. Thank you, too, to the many parents who attended the event and enjoyed celebrating with us. That our young people are given the opportunity to be honoured for their outstanding academic achievements and efforts is testament to the Kingswood spirit, and Prize Giving has now firmly become my favourite Kingswood event. The grandiose of the Forum is a fitting setting for such a typically Kingswood celebration – with joy and thankfulness at the core, there was humour, music, gratitude and humility throughout.

We started with a demonstration of how pupils should come up to the stage and in what order, comically

performed by Mr Matthews with Mr Davies. The acting out of this part of the day signals what a relaxed and celebratory atmosphere we want to instil, but also how proud the teachers are of the pupils. This was Mr Davies’s seventh and last Prize Giving, and I know he will particularly miss this aspect of our academic year. We swiftly moved onto the academic prizes, awarding effort and attainment awards for every subject in every year group, whilst also displaying the names of those who were highly commended on the big screen. As the pupils walked across the stage, it was a privilege to formally acknowledge their talent, ambition and energy, and we are full of anticipation and excitement as we follow their academic journeys throughout their school lives.

As is tradition, the event was deeply enriched by performances from some of our senior musicians and artists. Katie Green, one of our Year 13 Music scholars, performed ‘Breathe’ from the hit musical In the Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Katie’s performance was breathtaking and served as a perfect celebration for our pupils. We were also awed by Beatrix Willis’s Art video which she had submitted as her GCSE coursework. The piece, entitled ‘Out of Place’, consisted of a merge of photos, each of which had been individually edited, to make an animation that was spellbinding and

held the audience’s attention. Both performances serve to demonstrate how strong our creative subjects are at Kingswood, with talented pupils delivering outstanding pieces of art, music and drama throughout the academic year. We are immensely proud of all of these students and recognise the breadth and richness they bring to Kingswood life.

The day serves as more than just a celebration of the prize winners, worthy though they were. We are given an opportunity to celebrate all that a Kingswood education represents, and its continued commitment to nurturing excellence in a truly holistic educational setting. The event not only recognises the achievements of the current study body, but we are also reminded of our School’s rich history. As the world continues to struggle to maintain peace and with the climate emergency, our students, teachers and staff have demonstrated resilience in ensuring that education, in all its senses, remains a priority. This year’s event celebrated the collective strength, ambition and perseverance of the entire school community. Moments such as these remind us just how special it is to be part of the Kingswood community. For me, one of the most poignant parts of the day is when the Year 13 leavers are invited up on to stage and shake hands with the Headmaster as they make their way out of the building. Seeing these young people and recognising all they have achieved, both personally and academically, and knowing that they will go out into the world and do good fills me with such pride. It is precisely the qualities that our leavers show – supporting one another, discovering and nurturing new talents, hard work and resilience in the face of challenges and kindness – that the School looks to celebrate at our annual Prize Giving. We know that our leavers

will go off and make positive change in the world, and are so immensely proud of them.

Our ‘special prize’ categories help to encapsulate the Kingswood vision of what excellence looks like when we think about great education. The eclecticism of the awards speak to the breadth of vision for education that we hold so dearly at Kingswood. Of course, in many ways our world is much changed and more complex than that of Wesley, but the Wesleyan vision for a Kingswood education seems as relevant today as it did in 1748 – indeed, the real ‘prizes’ we celebrate are the young adults we send out into the world with the commission to be people of virtue and character, change-makers, who might just help save us all.

The Final Assembly also gave us an opportunity to say farewell to long-standing members of staff, who collectively have shaped and enriched the lives of countless young people over the years. Mrs Pasco, Mr White, Mr Smith, Mrs Edwards and of course Mr Davies were all rightly honoured for their long-standing commitment to the mission of education at Kingswood. This year’s events were an unforgettable and special experience for everyone involved. We are a school full of confidence and excitement about our future and that of our students, and we will continue to strive for excellence and to make a positive impact on the world over the next 275 years and beyond.

I emerged from the Forum into the sunshine uplifted, proud and excited about the future of our school. I wondered what the next set of crossroads would bring in a year’s time, and what exciting opportunities next year will bring.

Dr Rachel McIlwaine (Deputy Head Academic)

PRIZES FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE SCHOOL 2024

The Heart of Westwood Award

The Charlotte Hecquet Butterfly Award for Fine Art

The Duchars Award for Art

Freya Hyslop & Reggie Pilkington

Eleanor Reilly

Amelie Cardy

The John Allison Memorial Award Stan Wood

The Golden Mask Award

The Jean Pratten Award for Music

The President’s Prize for Contribution to Science

The Dikran A. Knadjian Award for Medicine

The E.P. Thompson Award for History

The Model United Nations Award

Leyla Aysan & Phoebe Gilpin

Katie Green & Joe Randolph

Emily Hersch

Jamie Phillips

Freddie Williamson

Leyla Aysan & Freddie Williamson

for Contribution

Warmann Shield for Team Sport 1st XV Rugby & 1st XI Boys’ Hockey

The Sandy Burgon Award for Sporting Commitment Out of School Callum Voisin

The Friends of Kingswood Award for Community Spirit Honor Sokell Thompson

The Chaplain’s Award for Charity Kara Kirkham

The Opie Award for Kindness Phoebe Gilpin

The Cooke Award for Fortitude Lottie Dodge

The Burns Family Leadership Award Wed Al-Aaloosi

The Simon Morris Award for Super-Curricular Achievement

Emily Hersch

The Jo Heap Award

to Sport Vivienne Kozel & Tom Martin

The

GCSE RESULTS 2024

Pupils, parents and staff celebrated in August following an excellent set of GCSE/ IGCSE results achieved by the Year 11 cohort.

The following headline results are testament to the hard work and effort achieved by them all, with 63% of grades at 7 to 9 (equivalent of A/A*); 41% at grades 8 and 9; with four students achieving an incredible set of 10 straight 9s.

Headmaster Mr Andrew Gordon-Brown comments: “To our brilliant Year 11 cohort, who have shown incredible resilience following the disruption caused by the pandemic at the start of their Senior School career, I say “Congratulations!”.

I am very proud of this year group who have achieved an excellent set of GCSE results. With 63% of all exams graded 9 to 7 they certainly have something to celebrate. They have shown real dedication to their studies and will, I am sure, join me in saying a heartfelt thank you to their teachers who have guided them with such incredible support.

Those returning to Kingswood for Sixth Form can look forward to being joined by a talented group of new students who have been selected for our popular post16 programme. The much loved Dixon Sixth Form Centre has been completely refurbished over the summer holidays and I am sure that they will enjoy making the most of their individual study and social spaces in this wonderful facility.”

...very proud of this year group who have achieved an excellent set of GCSE results...

A LEVEL RESULTS

Kingswood students celebrated outstanding A Level results in 2024, with half of all grades at A* or A, 81% at A*-B and a 100% pass rate. The BTEC results were similarly outstanding with all candidates achieving distinctions.

These results are a continuation of the very high levels of student academic achievement of recent years. Kingswood students continue to benefit from passionate and enthusiastic teaching and an environment that promotes success in all endeavours both inside and outside the classroom.

The School is particularly pleased with students’ achievements across a broad range of subjects, from the Creative Arts, where 100% of students taking Art, Design & Technology and Drama secured grades at A*-B, to the Humanities, with over 90% of students taking Economics, Politics and History securing A*-B, to Computer Science and Maths, where students have also performed exceptionally well. Ten students achieved a clean sweep of three or more A* grades.

...students continue to benefit from passionate and enthusiastic teaching...

Importantly, those students who applied are also celebrating overwhelmingly high rates of acceptance at a university of their choice, with four students going to Oxford and Cambridge, studying Natural Sciences, Chemistry or PPE, two to Imperial College and LSE, as well as six students beginning their medical or veterinary study this September.

“I am very proud of our Year 13 pupils who have achieved such stellar exam results. Once again, over 80% of all exam grades were A*, A or B and this speaks volumes, both about their hard work, and the culture of academic rigour insisted upon by our talented teachers. A Kingswood education is as much about values as it is about knowledge and skills, and this group of wellrounded individuals have achieved amazing things outside the classroom and have been kind and compassionate leaders and role models. They leave us now with excellent qualifications and impressive personal qualities which I know they will use to change the world for good.”

Mr Andrew Gordon-Brown (Headmaster)

1ST XI CO-CAPTAINS:

Imogen Hall & Emily Hersch

GIRLS’ HOCKEY

From complete beginners to senior players, we had nearly 300 students representing Kingswood Hockey this season.

The stats show another impressive season, winning 80 and drawing 11 out of 129 games. We finished with a 71% win ratio against a tough fixture list and, at times, managed to field 18 teams against some of our competitors.

Our U12, U13, U14 and U15 teams all got through to Regionals and our U14s and U15s just missed out going to Nationals, both getting to the final.

Our U12s had an extraordinary season with the 12Bs finishing unbeaten, and the U12As only losing one match. In the U13s, the A’s, B’s and D’s were all unbeaten and the C’s only lost one match against the Royal High School’s A team.

The U14s had the engine of Esme Hersch, with Iris Greenwood playing magically in midfield, and Zoe Minor and Emmy Toft picked up the ‘Most Improved’ accolades. A highlight from the U14B’s season was producing a 4-0 victory against Dean Close; the team linked their play together and demonstrated how threatening they can be in attack.

The U15As had some good results, especially against Redmaids’ and Cheltenham; they played some beautiful possession hockey and

were far more robust in defence, improving greatly on their results from last year. The U15B’s highlight was the season opener with a strong 2-0 win against BGS, and a 4-0 victory against KES. A shout out must go to Beth Dinnis for stepping up to play in goal and staying there for the whole season! Poppy Corripio-Dieppe was awarded ‘Most Improved’ player.

The 3rd team played their best hockey of the season in the final game, showcasing their ability to move the ball well and attack with pace. Other highlights were wins at Dean Close and at the Sherborne double header. Notable players were: Ella Burton, Daisy Bassett, Sophia Bailey, Amelie Cardy, Izzy Evans, Lexie Game and Lily Bradley. Thanks must also go to Gaby Davies who, when not in goal, is taking amazing photos.

It was a good season for the 4th team, with Leyla Aysan leading by example with excellent defensive work in her final season at Kingswood. Abi Coppard was integral in the midfield with an impressive work rate, whilst Eleanor Dalton’s commitment to training sessions allowed her

COLOURS & AWARDS

 COLTS COLOURS

Emily Franklin-Adams, Iona Robertson, Maddie White

 HALF COLOURS

Phoebe Gilpin, Amelie Girdher

 FULL COLOURS

Caitlin Barefoot, Imogen Hall, Emily Hersch, Emma Meier, Eleanor Reilly

 GROVE TROPHY

Imogen Hall & Emily Hersch

(for the greatest contribution to Kingswood Hockey)

to progress with a positive attitude in both midfield and defence.

Hayley Crowhurst captained the 2nd team well and was a lifeline at the back, whilst Clemmie Coxen and Gala Marrack were a great force upfront, supported by the attacking midfield players, Orla Reddin and Eva Wake.

The 1st team secured eight wins this season – with only four losses – and made it to Round 3 of the National Cup. Talented players from Year 10 included Kitty Mumford, Maya Sapkota, Laura Martin and Alice Hubbard, as well as appearances from Year 11 Ella Clarke.

Our Year 11s have had a great season. Maddie White used her cricket prowess to stop bouncing balls in defence, and Priya Girdher was ruthless in the mid to win loose balls. Upfront, Emily Franklin-Adams and Iona Robertson used their pace and one-on-one skills to beat defenders and win short corners, whilst reliable defenders Lotti Williams and Iona Stokes connected well with Amy Robinson in midfield and Maiya Milford upfront.

1ST TEAM LEAVERS

In goal, Eleanor Reilly is always willing to dive or throw herself in the air to stop the ball, and dominated in one-on-one situations. Controlling the defence were Emma Meier and Imogen Hall; Emma is a solid defender with a great reverse stick bunt and is a ferocious penalty corner defence first runner. As screens, Amelie Girdher impressed with a calmness on the ball, and Caitlin Barefoot’s ability to jump back is superb; their signature crab-like run was always effective.

Out on the wing, Phoebe Gilpin’s composed manner was a real asset to the attacking effort, finding a connection every time.

Co-Captain Emily Hersch’s vision and range of passes, along with her impressive 3D skills, makes her almost impossible to defend. She has a dangerous shot at goal, helping her secure the title of this season’s top scorer with seventeen goals. She could always be relied on to bring energy and intensity to the pitch as well as plenty of communication.

Co-Captain Imogen is a brick wall in defence and has crazy skills to baffle any opposition. She is the most reliable teammate and is incredibly humble for such a talented individual.

Finally, a massive thank you to all the staff who give up their time each week to support the sixteen Hockey teams. A special thank you to Mr Jackson whose fun training sessions are enjoyable for everyone. We are so grateful for his knowledge and expertise and for sharing his passion and love for the game with so many of us.

U13 NATIONAL SCHOOLS FINALS

Unbeaten all season, the U13A girls’ hockey ended their 2023/24 campaign with a Silver medal at the England Hockey U13 National Schools Finals in Nottingham in May.

Having only lost the Gold medal on a final penalty shootout having equalised on goals to the eventual winners, this demonstrated a significant achievement for the team and they can be incredibly proud of themselves.

Bristol Grammar

King's Bruton

Kingswood Prep

All Hallows

Redmaids'

Clifton College

King Edward's

Dauntsey's

Sherborne

Monkton Combe

Dean Close

Prior Park

1st XI

RUGBY

2023 was an exciting season for Kingswood’s rugby teams, as we welcomed some of the more established schools onto the fixture list, with the likes of Cheltenham College and Marlborough College visiting the Upper this year.

This represented a tougher challenge for our boys but they still emerged with 81 wins from 114 matches played across the age groups, with a 71% win rate.

In terms of success, 11 of the 14 teams won more games than they lost and as a group, we got the better of every block fixture we played. The U16As were the team of the season with a 100% record and looked a dominant force in the vast majority of their matches, but also won some very tight games against some of the bigger schools.

What a tougher fixture list meant was that Kingswood’s players had to work hard throughout the term to get to the next level.

As for the 1st XV, they enjoyed a fantastic season, winning 11 games out of 12. The tougher fixture list was a challenge the boys relished, and it began at our annual Rugby Festival, where the boys went unbeaten.

An away trip to Cheltenham College on the first Saturday looked to be one of the toughest challenges, and so it proved as a monumental clash

ended with a scintillating try sealing a 22-21 win, establishing Kingswood as a team to watch this season. Wins against Marlborough College and Blundell’s further cemented that reputation. Unfortunately, a promising run in the National Schools Cup ended with a narrow defeat to Monmouth but the team bounced back to go unbeaten in their remaining games. Despite this disappointment, this squad certainly showed that, on their day, they could mix it with the best in the country. This is even more impressive when you consider that ten of the fourteen leavers this year have been at Kingswood since the Prep School.

1st XV Captain: Charlie Ward

REPRESENTATIVE RUGBY

In light of the success that Kingswood Rugby as a whole has experienced this year, there were a number of boys selected for representative rugby. Jack Williams, Jack Watts, Milo Worthy, and Rory Targett have been members of the Bath Rugby U16s, whilst Wilbur Riddoch, Evan Gallagher, Leo Palmer, Archie Wake, Charlie Ward, James Linegar, and Ollie Day have all been involved with the Bath Rugby U18s. We have also had two England Academy Players in Leo Palmer and James Linegar, with James this year attending a national U18 training camp. Charlie Ward and Evan Gallagher were selected for the Wales U18 training squad. We wish all of these boys the very best in their respective competitions moving forward.

COLOURS & AWARDS

FULL COLOURS:

Ÿ Jacob Barton Ÿ John Bean

Ÿ Ollie Day Ÿ Evan Gallagher

Ÿ Can Kucukcan Ÿ Basti Langkilde

Ÿ James Linegar Ÿ Leo Palmer

Ÿ Fraser Riddoch Ÿ Wilbur Riddoch

Ÿ Charlie Ward

HALF COLOURS:

Ÿ Oscar Belmont Ÿ Tom Martin

Ÿ Jasper Barazandeh-Nejad Ÿ Will Shardlow

Ÿ Archie Wake

MOST IMPROVED:

Ollie Day, known more for his hockey, worked extremely hard to push for a 1st XV place and was a stand-out player all season, ultimately resulting in selection for the Bath Rugby U18 Academy. Well done to Ollie on showing such persistence and dedication.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR:

For the 2023 season, the Player of the Year award goes to the 1st XV captain, Charlie Ward. Charlie is an incredibly well-balanced leader who leads both with his actions on the field and the standards he upholds away from it. Over the past few years, Charlie has selflessly been coaching and mentoring younger pupils at Kingswood. In the Autumn, he was selected for the Wales U18 squad, and we wish him the very best with this campaign and all of the rugby that is still to come.

...we got the better of every block fixture we played...

Monkton Combe

NETBALL

Leading the charge for the U12s was Edie Greenwood, topping the score board, whilst Skye Black fast tracked through teams; Jessica Sharkey was on point all season and Rebeca Anchez Anton improved drastically after learning a new sport.

The U13s had so much depth. Sophia Ash controlled the midcourt in the A’s and Eve Jotcham read the game and constantly turned ball; Amelie Willis often intercepted and Amber Bourne weaved through her opposite numbers. Mr Davies loved his debut netball season, and we will miss him next year. Fig Watt added flair to the court and Ellie Godwin was

It has been another enjoyable season of Netball at Kingswood this year.

outstanding in leading the team and shutting down any ball into the D.

The U14’s Livvy Hicks dazzled with her quick wit and agile movements whilst Esme Hersch was amazing and calm when needed. In the B’s, Darcy Weston often had the better of her opponents and Esme Butler and Iris Greenwood always worked out the best hold or back line drive to goal. Sophia Williams always working tirelessly for her team.

Jess Hogg bought athleticism to the 15As, and Ruth Pentreath contributed to both ends and led the team with pride. Kripa Gurung finds space and Laura Martin always has

a game plan. But as the final game approached, tensions ran high. Mr Webb was worried his unbeaten season was at threat, but all went well as Gareima Thapa performed until the very final whistle!

Lexie Game led the 4ths and Lily Bradley always worked tirelessly. Emily Franklin-Adams with her lightning-fast feet and competitiveness worked well with Asia Norquoy who kept cool under the post for the 3rds, whilst Monica Mba Ivina dazzled with her quick wit and agile movements. The 2nds, captained by Eve Hopkins and Emily Gordon-Brown, had explosive energy and boundless enthusiasm – infusing

their team with a fiery determination. Oyin Obe was the last line of defence getting the most players of the match in the Netball Club, whilst Maddie White was the most improved.

In the 1sts, Orla Reddin and Izzy Milborrow were the defensive dynamic duo and were the best on the circuit. Ellie Lewis was critical in linking defence and attack, while Maiya Milford and Daisy Neary were a calm combination under the post, being fed beautifully by Imogen Hall and Emily Hersch. The team missed Iona Robertson as she could only play a couple of

matches, but they are lucky to have her for two more years!

Vice-Captain Clemmie Coxen and Captain Phoebe Gilpin have played side-by-side since the age of 7. Clemmie has always played with great energy and has always been a great support to her captain, whilst Phoebe’s speed and warmth made her a formidable captain.

As the sun sets on another successful season, the girls of Kingswood left the court with memories to cherish and friendships that would last a lifetime.

...the girls of Kingswood left the court with memories to cherish and friendships that would last a lifetime.

COLOURS & AWARDS

COLTS COLOURS

• Connie Harding

• Elise Hocknell

• Iona Robertson

• Maddie White

HALF COLOURS

• Clemmie Coxen

• Daisy Neary

• Imogen Hall

• Emily Hersch

FULL COLOURS

• Phoebe Gilpin

OUTSTANDING PLAYER

• Phoebe Gilpin (given to the player who has made the greatest contribution to Kingswood netball).

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER

• Daisy Neary

1st VII Captain Phoebe Gilpin | 1st VII Vice-Captain Clemmie Coxen

BOYS’ HOCKEY

1st XI Captain: Will Shardlow

It was another excellent year for the boys’ hockey teams. In a very condensed term with only 8 weekends, we managed to play more than 130 matches, involving over 250 boys and winning or drawing 80% of matches across all teams.

Five teams: the 2nds, 4ths, U15A&C and U14C all finished the season unbeaten. Add to that the progress made in County tournaments, whereby all but one of our age groups progressed to Regional finals, and you can see it’s been a jam-packed season that was full of success. The highlights outside the 1st XI had to be the U14s reaching the National Hockey Finals. A tight first round meant they eventually finished 6th, which is a fantastic effort, and they can take further satisfaction from the fact that they beat the eventual winners 3-1. Success on this scale doesn’t come by accident and thanks must go to the dedicated group of staff that have helped these teams to realise their potential.

The other real success on a National level was the 1st XI and, despite the loss to Ardingly in the National Semi-final, which was such a special occasion, the boys should be so proud of what they achieved this season.

It started with a debut for Kingswood at the prestigious Reyes hockey tournament in Barcelona, playing against teams from around the world, including South Africa, The Netherlands and Germany as well as our local rivals King Edward’s, against whom we finished the tournament with a 9-0 win. Shortly after returning, a 5-0 win against Dauntsey’s in the National Cup followed and from there the team went on a 12-game winning streak which culminated in a 5-3 win against Canford in the Quarter-final of the Cup.

Two Year 11s have been regulars this year with Alfie Marks and George Hancock establishing themselves as key players, a real achievement given the strength of the squad.

In Year 12, George Cardwell was an ever reliable presence in goal, as was Wills Hudson who has been hugely influential in the ‘screen’ position. Fin Caie has been a really good addition to Kingswood this year and struck up a great partnership with Wills just in front of the defensive line. Owen Brown completed his second season in the 1st XI, using his signature spin manoeuvre and deadly backhand cross to good effect on the left hand side. Archie Hamilton has worked tirelessly up front, chipping in with some important goals and the Year 12 contingent was completed by Toby Day. Toby’s passion for the game and goalscoring prowess were crucial this year and his selection for the England U18 squad was much deserved. I am confident that next season this group will become some of the best leaders the School has seen.

Amongst the leavers, Jamie Phillips has earned his chance in the 1st team this season and it has been really pleasing to see him how he has grown in confidence as the season went on. Ollie Brown and Jacob Barton have both played two years in the 1st team now and have played key roles in the defensive unit - Jacob as a physical presence

who is strong in the tackle and Ollie who is always composed on the ball and has become a real attacking threat down the right hand side. Alongside them was Joe Randolph, who has been a part of the first team for three years and is composure personified on the pitch, regularly earning the Player of the match award in some crucial games, most notably in the win against Canford in the National Cup quarter-final.

And so, to this year’s leadership group. Ollie Day, at sweeper, possesses a phenomenal passing range as well as being an excellent one-on-one tackler, but arguably his most telling contribution was that he has been one of the top scorers from penalty corners this season. Joe Watt has also been prolific at short corners and was the top goal scorer this season, with his pace and clinical finishing a real point of difference for the team. Finally, captain Will Shardlow has led the team to probably the most successful season in the school’s history, and is a hugely reliable presence on the pitch, be it in a midfield role or on the right hand side of defence.

2024 has truly been a memorable year – the challenge now is how to make 2025 even better!

COLOURS & AWARDS

COLTS COLOURS: George Hancock, Alfie Marks

HALF COLOURS: Jacob Barton, Ollie Brown, Owen Brown, Fin Caie, George Cardwell, Archie Hamilton, Wills Hudson, Jamie Phillips

FULL COLOURS: Ollie Day, Toby Day, Joe Randolph, Will Shardlow, Joe Watt

CONTRIBUTION TO HOCKEY AWARD: Joe Watt

King Edward's

Cheltenham College

Close

Wells Cathedral

Cliff

Dauntsey's

CRICKET

1st XI Captain: John Bean

Despite poor weather and exam season, we played more than 80 fixtures over nine weekends. To win 60% of these matches in a game like cricket, where one player can decide a match, is equally impressive.

All of our junior teams reached the semi-finals of the Area Cup with the U13s finishing as runners-up and the U15s as Champions. The increase in Girls’ Cricket has been great to see, with the U13s win in the County Cup Final the real highlight of the season.

The U12s showed glimpses of what they might be capable of in the future, with Fin Crawford, Sebbie Hoda and Will Williams the standout players for their respective teams whilst Reuben Giles, Theo Wright and Rex Stocken were the most improved.

For the U13s, Tobias Collis claimed two of the real highlights of the whole season, with a hat-trick against Beechen Cliff and his maiden century for school against Wellington. Mohammed Zaheb demonstrated how much his hard work has taken his game forward, whilst Noah Giles and Bardan Gurung were the players of the season for their respective teams.

Teddy McCrum and captain George Wylie were the shining lights for

the U14As, whilst it was Henry Cunningham who invariably led the fight for the U14Bs.

For the U15s, Mathijs in der Rieden captained the side extremely well whilst George Warden deserved his 1st XI call-up on the back of a remarkably consistent season opening the bowling for the Year 10s. Ernie Padfield was once again the rock that the U15Bs season was built upon.

With so many schools struggling to field 2nd teams this season, to have been able to put out a 3rd XI is arguably the greatest measure of how cricket is flourishing at Kingswood. Euan McDade was the star man for them with runs, wickets and catches, whilst the 2nd XI were pure box office with a number of thrilling wins. There are few that love the game more than Jimmy Stirling so it was great to see him score two fifties this season and captain the team so effectively whilst still only in Year 11. Joss Armstrong was the player of the season though, finishing as the top wicket-taker and scoring some crucial runs.

1ST XI

2024 saw one of the youngest 1st teams in quite some time. Year 10 students Mathijs, Toby Knight and George Warden all featured and acquitted themselves well in addition to Freddie Stappard who has enjoyed his second full season in the side. A highlight of the season was Freddie’s performance during cricket week, scoring 208 runs across the three main fixtures.

Fin Belmont, Tom Stappard, Harry Bates and Ed Armstrong made up the Year 11 contingent, and brought a great deal to the team. Tom had some encouraging moments with the bat whilst Fin and Harry have been key cogs in the seam attack. Ed shared the wicket-keeping duties with Freddie and it was a real bonus to have two high quality glovemen behind the stumps. He also took on the considerable responsibility of opening the batting and his innings of 76 against Xavier College from Melbourne was just reward for his efforts and testament to his character.

In Year 12, Fergus Hair and Owen Brown have impressed with the ball, regularly taking on the challenge of bowling the middle and death overs. Sam Dunmow finished the season as the team’s highest runscorer. Sam is a rare commodity in school cricket as he puts such a high value on his wicket and is able to keep a calm head even when things are not always going his way. His unbeaten knock of 75 against Collegiate exemplified this and he cemented his position at the top of the order with 96 not out against the Australian tourists. His opening partnership of 175 with Ed was one of the highlights of the season.

The two vice captains also came from Year 12. Archie Baker’s leg spin was a threat to any opposition

batter, and his infectious energy in the field makes him a vital cog in the team. Toby Eayres is the genuine all-rounder in the team, establishing himself as the first choice opening bowler and nobody looks more fluent with the bat than Toby when he is in full flow. His innings against Collegiate was a case in point.

And finally, a special mention must go to the two Year 13s in the team. Charlie Ward was such a mature and reliable presence in the team and an excellent role model for the younger players. On a number of occasions, he was able to give the innings the impetus that it needed with his extraordinarily powerful ball-striking, not least

COLOURS & AWARDS

COLTS COLOURS:

Ed Armstrong, Harry Bates, Fin Belmont

HALF COLOURS:

Archie Baker, Sam Dunmow, Toby Eayres, Charlie Ward

FULL COLOURS: John Bean

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER:

Ed Armstrong

PLAYER OF THE SEASON: John Bean

when opening the batting against Bristol Grammar in what was one of the team’s most impressive batting displays of the season. He is also an excellent fielder and it was great to see him return to bowling action towards the end of the season after a long lay-off through injury.

Charlie also offered great support to John Bean as captain in what could have been testing circumstances with such a young team, but he did an exceptional job of moulding a

really tight and successful unit from so many different year groups. In addition to his leadership, John demonstrated what an excellent off-spin bowler he is, often working in tandem with Archie. He also occupied the key batting position of number 3 and was the stand-out fielder in the team. After the commitment he has shown to Kingswood cricket over the years, he deserved to finish with a season like this.

Here’s to an even better 2025!

TENNIS

1st team captains: Holly Robinson and Ollie Brown.

Starting with the Junior Girls’ Tennis, the U12s have enjoyed an amazing season, with Thea Rainbow and Ame Timson proving to be a force to be reckoned with, whilst Edie Greenwood and Jess Sharkey having impressively developed their games.

The U13s also competed impressively in their fixtures. Isabel Davey displayed huge versatility and talent, and Rebecca Lloyd is already a consistent member of the 1st team – both girls are definitely ones to watch!

In the U14s, Livvy Hicks has shown great consistency which has fast tracked her to the 1st team, as well as Esme Hersch, Sofie In Der Rieden and Iris Greenwood showing huge potential in the year group.

Lastly, Erin Catt and Maya Sapkota from the U15s have played some extraordinary tennis this season. Set to join the seniors next year, I’m sure both girls will continue to play a key role in their teams.

With the Junior Boys’ Tennis, the U15s have enjoyed some very encouraging matches, signing off with a comfortable win over Warminster School. There is a real depth in this year group and plenty of promise for the future. Spike Salkeld, Oscar Salter, Kian Alizadeh, Jonty Lambah-Stoate, George Watts, Finn Wood, Oliver O’Neill, Eddie Barbato and Ethan Wong have all impressed and will contribute well to the senior teams next year. The U14s faced strong opposition at Clifton College but will have learned from the match experience and showed plenty of potential.

For the seniors, we have created some categories to best celebrate the season we’ve had.

‘BRICK WALL’

(for the most consistent player)

Highly commended: Theo Williams, Freddy Blofeld, Anna Haldenby, Zoe Lee

Winners: Charlie Woodward and Amy Robinson

‘RISING STAR’ AWARD

(recognising the emerging player)

Highly commended: Tudor Mandrea, Miro Cairns-Lowe, Livvy Hicks, Isabel Davey

Winners: Jax Ma, Rebecca Lloyd

‘DYNAMIC DUO’ AWARD

(for the doubles team that has displayed unparalleled teamwork throughout the year)

Highly commended: Archie Hamilton & Wills Hudson and Imogen Hall & Amelie Girdher

Winners: Ollie Yates & Ed Davey and Katie Green & Kristy Falkiner

‘VOLLEY VISIONARY’ AWARD

(for the player whose exceptional volley skills have dominated the net)

Highly commended: Jacob Barton, Rebecca Lloyd

Winners: Isaac Archer, Hayley Crowhurst

‘HARD HITTER’ AWARD

(for the player who hits through opponents and beats them with their sheer power)

Highly commended: Ollie Bates, Charlie Barton

Winners: Max Betran, India Master, Maria Rozhkova

‘FOOTWORK FIEND’ AWARD

(for the player for which a ball never seems out of reach)

Highly commended: Sam Nash

Winners: Harry Williams, Livvy Hicks

It’s difficult to not appreciate our Year 13 leavers when reflecting on this season. We’ll be losing Theo Williams whose groundstrokes from the back have overpowered opponents all season. Isaac Archer’s best net play and Freddy Blofeld’s monster serves will be sorely missed. The chemistry between Ollie Bates and Jacob Barton will be hard to re-create, with the two being ever in sync on and off the court.

In the girls’ teams, Katie Green has been an incredibly versatile player, adapting to new pairings year in year out, and really proving that she is someone who the team can depend on. Alongside their remarkable tennis play, Imogen Hall’s ever-smiling presence and Amelie Girdher’s infectious laugh will be hugely missed by Kingswood tennis. No fixtures could be played without hearing a little bit of laughter from their court every so often.

Of her vice-captain Hayley Crowhurst, Holly says: I have been playing alongside Hayley in teams since our very first match together in Year 7 and I honestly can’t say I could have wished for a better partner. From desperately trying to win actual donuts by getting a triple donut score in the U12As to captaining Kingswood’s girls’ tennis together, Hayley has consistently been an incredibly talented player over the years. It has been a real honour to play with her and I will really miss not being in a team with her moving forwards.

Of the boys' vice-captain Sam Nash, Ollie recalls: it pains me to say this but Sam is the best tennis player Kingswood has to offer and I’d be lying if I said he hadn’t dug us out of a number of holes in matches we should have lost. I’ve had the pleasure of playing with Sam since we were 10 years old and I can hand on heart say that my fondest memories on a tennis court are those with Sam. Whilst it is difficult moving on and leaving the team, I’m unworried as you will be in safe hands under Sam next year.

CROSS COUNTRY

Once again, Kingswood produced some excellent individual and team performances in house, inter-school, regional, national and international competitions this year, showing a sustained growth for the sport.

The most impressive thing about the team this season was their incredible togetherness and family spirit fostered by our captains which cascaded all areas of the squad. The students always behaved impeccably and represented Kingswood with great pride and respect, making this season a great success in more ways than just winning trophies and silverware, although we had some amazing success stories along the way.

In the Autumn term, Kingswood played host once again to the BANES County Championships. From this, we had multiple runners qualify for the Avon Schools Championships and 75 Kingswood runners took part in what was one of the best attended cross-country events in recent years. Sixteen of our runners qualified in top 10 positions in their categories, six of whom then qualified for the Southwest Championships. From here, Noah McClelland-Lofters and Ewan Sparey were able to run in the English Schools Championships in Pontefract to represent Avon, an event which is the pinnacle of school cross country running. Ewan went on to finish 6th overall, which meant he qualified for England selection for the ISAB Schools meeting where he competed against the home nations and improved his position to finish 5th (3rd English runner), an amazing achievement which shows the talent, determination and focus he possesses as an athlete.

In our school fixtures, fair weather conditions allowed us to visit Bryanston, Marlborough and Downside. We also visited Canford, where we once again retained the Senior Boys’ team trophy, with the team consisting of Ewan Sparey, Ferdie Goddard, Tom White, Dan Woodward, Noah McClellandLofters, Max Graham and Freddie Williamson, coming both first and second, with Ewan running a scorchingly fast time to also come individual first. It was similarly successful for the girls as the Inter Girls’ team of Pippa and Sasha Firbank, Eve Jotcham, Elspeth Marke, Sophia Ash, Rebecca Lloyd, Pippa Cottrill and Fig Watt came second.

On the final day of the Spring term, we held the Kingswood House Cross Country Championships. The course followed a route heavily inspired by House Cross Country courses of old, which provided a

COLOURS

HALF COLOURS:

Ÿ Akira Asakawa

Ÿ Lily Bradley

Ÿ Daimu Tsuneki

Ÿ Freddie Williamson

Ÿ Stan Wood

tough test of the determination and resilience of all who took part. Winners of their races were Elspeth Marke, Zac Hutchinson, Noah McClelland-Lofters, Alice Hubbard, Emily Hersch and Charlie Haines.

Overall, Phoenix House won both Westwood races, and in the Senior Boys’ and Girls’ events, Hall House and Summerhill House triumphed, Hall in particular being dominant in this category. Hall almost won the Inter Boys’, but it was Upper who came out on top by a single point. Finally, School House took a convincing win in the Inter Girls’ to round off the house results.

The final cross country event of the academic year was the House Relay which was hotly contested with new course records set in five of the six events. Hall were the team winners, with Phoenix and Mulberry winning the Westwood Girls’ and Boys’ respectively, and School and Summerhill sharing honours in the Senior Girls’ houses.

Finally, it is with sadness that we lose our captains this year and two of our two most senior Year 13 runners. Lily Bradley and Freddie Williamson have done an excellent job this year and have been superb role models and catalysts of our great team spirit; they will be hugely missed.

Mr Deacon (Head of Cross Country)

FOOTBALL

We looked forward to the football season with six games lined up, but due to some poor winter weather, we were only able to fulfil four fixtures.

However, with more of our students eager to represent Kingswood than ever before, we were able to field a first and second team for each fixture with plenty of subs.

The second team managed three wins from their four matches with some notable performances from Novruz Movsumov, Archie Baker and

Namkang Thanawongkosol (in the first two games, before deservedly being selected for the first team). Namkang and Novruz proved to be consistent threats in front of goal and were responsible for a lot of the goals our teams scored, Namkang scoring six in one match alone. Joss Armstrong and Oscar Eugster in goal for the seconds and thirds respectively, ensured our

matches were always entertaining and we are grateful that they will both be available again for the 2025 season. In fact, losing less than a third of our players is guaranteeing we will have solid foundations for success next season, especially as first team regulars, Gabriel Ladbury Dos Santos, Charlie Haines, Ben Boardman, Sam Dunmow, Fin Belmont and Charlie Allibone will all still be here.

Sadly, we will be losing our captain, Oscar Belmont, and stalwarts Basti Langkilde, Markus Rowan, Novruz Movsumov, Namkang Thanawongkosol and Sam Tisdale as they move onto pastures new. A special mention goes to Year 13 leaver Louis Barbato who scored many a goal for the first team over the past three years, including the overhead bicycle kick against Prior Park this season that has gone down in Kingswood football folklore.

SAFE FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

Raising awareness for supporting equality in Football.

In October, Kingswood hosted the annual SAFE football tournament, run by Avon and Somerset police. This annual event started in 2022 during Hate Crime Awareness Week, with the aim to raise awareness about inequality in sports and the hate crimes that can affect certain minorities in sports.

Girls from Wellsway School, Oldfield School and Ralph Allen School all attended the event to play in the tournament. Some fantastic games were played and the girls showed great sportsmanship throughout. At the end of the tournament, awards were presented to the winning teams. Afterwards, the

women from Avon and Somerset police delivered a speech emphasising the importance of standing up against hate crimes in sports and not allowing anyone to hinder your participation in sports. One woman on the police force shared an inspiring story about her experience with gender discrimination during her youth as a football player, which had a profound impact on the girls. She concluded her speech stating that: 'I cannot change the colour of my skin or my gender, but we can make a change and take a stand against people’s behaviours and attitudes towards inclusivity and cohesion to drive hatred out.'

ATHLETICS

The 2024 Kingswood Athletics season has seen the addition of new and exciting competitions as we have adapted our fixture list to provide more diverse challenges for our athletes. This multitude of opportunities has allowed many new athletes to join the team.

The English Schools’ Track & Field Cup is a team competition which sees schools from around the country competing over several knock-out rounds to qualify for the National Finals. Athletes’ efforts are compared to a table of national standards and awarded points accordingly. Each team needs to maximise their collective points through smart tactical decisions alongside athletic grit and determination. The Kingswood Junior Girls’ & Intermediate Boys’ teams progressed to the South West Championships where they managed to improve their collective scores by 35 points and 46 points, respectively. The competition was incredibly fierce, and our Junior Girls’ team missed out on first place by a mere 10 points. Our Intermediate Boys’ team missed 3rd place by 1 point! Both teams are to be recognised for this

Boys’ Co-captains: Joe Watt & Oscar Belmont

Girls' Captain: Viv Kozel

fantastic achievement and we eagerly anticipate next year’s competition!

Our Kingswood teams also took part in two Nitro Athletics competitions, one at Marlborough College and one which we hosted at our track. This format is also team-focused, except relies more on raw athleticism and tactical decision making under the pressure of competition. At Marlborough, our Junior Boys’ team placed first and our Junior Girls’ team placed third against competition from Marlborough, Cheltenham, St Edward’s Oxford, Clifton, Sherborne, and Godolphin. All our Kingswood teams demonstrated their dominance at our Nitro Meet, seeing off the competition from Clifton College, King’s Bruton, Hayesfield, and Monkton.

In a report of this scope, it is impossible to do justice to the story of each pupil’s progression over the season. We have attempted to highlight a few individuals in each age-category who have stood out as top performers.

COLOURS

COLTS COLOURS: Charlie Haines

HALF COLOURS: Oscar Belmont & Joe Watt

In the Junior category, consisting of athletes from Year 7 to Year 9, the girls have achieved some amazing results. Freya Dyson has proven herself an exceptional all-round athlete, excelling in the High Jump, 100m, and 200m events. With her continued focus and dedication to training, she could be an athlete that challenges on the national stage. Olivia Powell has also demonstrated her prowess as an exceptional Hurdler and Discus athlete. Olivia Smith excelled in the 300m and High Jump. Katie Bulgin is a powerful multi-eventer who blew the field away at the South West Cup in the 200m. Bella Nwabueze has shown exciting potential as she has sampled a range of events, performing excellently in the 100m and Discus. Our Junior Girls squad is characterised by determination,

enthusiasm to learn, and by supporting one another. Amy Matthews and Pippa Cottrill have epitomised this spirit, making substantial improvements throughout the season on the back of their rigorous and consistent training. Recently, our Year 7 girls won the Dauntsey’s Minor Championships with most of the pupils making their Inter-Schools’ debut.

In Year 9, Sophia Flatman and Zoe Minor have performed well whilst also supporting and encouraging their peers. Maddie Waring has shown great commitment, especially in the 300m & 1500m, whilst Charlie Moore has displayed exciting potential in the Long Jump. On the Boys’ team, Ewan Sparey has been in class of his own, specifically in the 800m where he has been ranked 2nd nationally. Ewan’s ability to dominate a wide range of events demonstrates his overall athleticism and exciting potential as a top-level track athlete and triathlete. Noah McClelland-Lofters is one of Kingswood’s iconic distance runners, often leaving spectators bemused as he sprints the first lap of the 1500m - they usually understand more of what he’s about when he finishes the race at that same pace! Alex Hill and Ted Lunn have had some impressive performances this season, progressing to the Southwest Championships in the 100m and Discus, respectively. Joshua George may be one of the breakthroughs of the season due to his exemplary determination at developing his craft.

In the Intermediate and Senior teams, Tom White has returned from an early season setback to smash his High Jump personal best and return to his elite form in the 800m. Sam Glassick has once again stood out in the 100m event but has also used his power to make a strong showing in the Shot Put. Charlie Day has invested greatly in developing his speed over the longer sprints, excelling in the 200m and 300m events. Like Sam, he has been honing his craft in a new field event, scoring well at the English Schools’ Cup in the Discus. Alice Hubbard, Ciara Targett, Kitty Mumford and Poppy Corripio-Dieppe have been consistent performers throughout the season.

With exams making it particularly challenging for our Senior athletes to compete after half term, we were unable to see regular performances from this group. However, the Girls’ Captain, Viv Kozel, is to be recognised for assisting in officiating at several meets, supporting some of our youngest athletes. Leo Palmer is to be thanked for his service to the team throughout the season. He gave generously of his time to officiate at several meets throughout the season, led intense fitness sessions during senior games, and mentored the younger pupils in the gym. This selfless service is what Kingswood is all about, and Leo has optimised this alongside preparing himself physically to take up a professional rugby contract next year.

Ollie Day has competed admirably in many track events throughout the season. Whilst not a traditional track athlete, he has invested greatly in training as he too prepares to take up a professional rugby contract next year. The Boys’ Co-Captains, Joe Watt and Oscar Belmont, competed at a limited number of events this year due to exam pressures, but over the years they have proven themselves as athletes of the top calibre. Between them they have won an inordinate number of events, and always led by example.

Well done to everyone who has represented the School this season - the future of Kingswood Athletics is very bright indeed!

SWIMMING

Boys’ Captain: Logan Hartwell

Girls’ Captain: Jessica Haines

This season has been very exciting for the swimming team. Overall, we have been competitive in eight external galas as well as having the annual house galas for all age groups.

This year, there has been a significant increase in the number of swimmers that are on the team. This has resulted in some outstanding results against talented and experienced opponents.

In the Senior gala, we saw many new swimmers competing which brought great energy and real House spirit. There were several outstanding performances. A particular highlight was Ed Davey’s 100-yard Breaststroke leg which set a new school record. The relays also brought some excitement with nail-bitingly close finishes in the mixed gender events.

There was also a good representation of the strength of swimming at Kingswood during the Inters’ gala, with Roger Davis breaking two school records this year, again in the Boys’ 100-yard Breaststroke, as well as the Individual Medley. Some other stand outs were Kurtis Wong, showing that his consistency of attending Team Swim every week is paying off, and Iris Greenwood was expectational in the mixed relays, as well as Albert Brown.

In the final week of the Summer term, we saw all of Westwood take to the pool for their House galas. It was so good to see a wide range of participants as well as all the Year 10 volunteers who helped to

run the event. There must be some special mentions to Zachary Weekes, Tanaka Mukonoweshuro, Annabelle Godson and Autumn Hatch for their outstanding wins!

This year, the seniors saw a lot of new swimmers including Georgia Haines, Christina Yan and Kate Stobart all in Year 12 helping to improve the Senior Girls’ team. Ed Davey, James Ardus, Joseph Bailey and Jack Williams have all been great moving up from inters into the seniors. The standout performance for the boys was the Marlborough Gala where all swimmers were involved helping us to place in the top 3. The girls had similar success against Hayesfield at home.

Unfortunately, with the end of each year, we lose some of our team. This year we must wish luck to our captain Jess Haines. Jess has swum with real grit and determination during her time in Kingswood Swim Team. Her warm personality makes her a wonderful role model to our younger swimmers in the club. We hope she continues with her swimming after Kingswood.

A thank you must also go to Mr Allchorne for helping at early morning swimming all year round as well as his help in supporting our swimming galas. We must also thank Mrs Curtis for her commitment to Westwood Swim Club this year, and whose dedication has made a real difference to build our youngest swimmers’ confidence in the water.

COLOURS & AWARDS

COLTS COLOURS: Ed Davey

HALF COLOURS: Logan Hartwell & Jessica Haines

THE BERESFORD SHIELD: Simar Chohan

THE TENCH CUP: Roger Davis

Senior swimmer Georgia Haines has stepped up to support the Swim Team all year round. She helped to create, organise and run the Summer Swim Challenge this term, which saw many of our swimmers take to the pool every week, competing in a range of disciplines with the aim to improve fitness and technique. This concluded with Kurtis Wong being the Senior Champion and Simar Chohan the Westwood Champion. Thank you, Georgia, for all your efforts with this.

Finally, we also say goodbye and thank you to our coach Miss Hay. During her time at Kingswood, Miss Hay has helped many swimmers to excel and provide countless sessions. She brought enjoyment to all sessions and helped to improve the swimming team massively. She will be greatly missed, but we wish her the best of luck in her future, and we would like to thank her on behalf of the Swim Team for the influence, time and effort she has put in.

EQUESTRIAN

The Kingswood Equestrian Team have had a remarkable year, with an excellent squad bringing home top results throughout the season, culminating with a second at the National Schools Championship finals in May this year.

Such a result at this prestigious competition effectively puts the team above the other 45 competing schools - many with deep longstanding equestrian heritages, and large pools of riders to draw from. To have achieved this so quickly with such a small new squad is testament to the hard work and dedication the girls have put in.

The NSEA (National School Equestrian Association) competition is open to boys and girls of all school ages riding as equals on horses of any size, sex, or age. To progress to the finals, riders must finish in the top 3 in any discipline including Eventers Challenge, Eventing, Show Jumping and Dressage. There are many well organised qualifier competitions throughout the year, catering for all levels from 70cm - 110cm. Some classes can compose of up to 100 hopefuls, so qualification is certainly well earned!

The Kingswood Equestrian Team are a small, inclusive bunch who understand better than most that when ponies and children are involved nothing is guaranteed! As a squad we support each other through the highs and lows and have lots of fun along the way. We have big hopes for next year with more competitions, training, trips to the gallops and even a beach ride in the pipeline.

If you have a horse or pony and are keen to give it a go, please do get in touch. We would love to hear from you.

“Being part of the equestrian team is one of my favourite things about being at Kingswood. I love being part of the horsey community. Qualifying and going to Hickstead as a team was so much funI still can’t believe we came second.”

Rose Wood, Y8

“I’ve competed for Kingswood for 7 years now, it’s amazing to have a team with the same passion for riding as I do.” Lily Langley, Y11

“My pony may be an idiot sometimes, but being part of such a supportive team with my friends makes the highs and lows all worth it.” Lottie Godwin, Y7

“Being able to ride for Kingswood this year in such incredible teams has been amazing! All our hard work and dedication throughout the cold winter qualifiers definitely paid off to come 2nd at Hickstead in May. I look forward to many more moments like these as part of the Kingswood Equestrian team.”

Lola Wood, Y8

“I have really enjoyed competing for Kingswood this year and hopefully we have lots more to look forward to in the future.” Tabitha Douglas, Y10

“Riding at Hickstead and coming 2nd was a dream, but having such an amazing, fun and supportive team was even better.”

Lily Meade, Y7

“It’s my first year at Kingswood Senior School and have loved being part of the Kingswood Equestrian team. I have made some great friends and everyone is so supportive of each other and all the ponies like each other! Coming team second at the National Schools Championships was such an achievement, which we all worked so hard for.” Romilly Lunt, Y7

“I have had so much fun with the Kingswood NSEA team this year with my pony Rupert. It’s an honour to represent our school.”

Lola George, Y7

THE KINGSWOOD GYM RENOVATION

Since the Athletic Development programme started in 2015, it has flourished in popularity. After mastering fundamental movement skills within the physical literacy block of the Core PE curriculum, many pupils chose to continue their journey into other forms of health-related fitness.

Over the past nine years, the gym club has become one of the most popular co-curricular clubs at Kingswood. Although great effort was put in to maximising the efficiency of the existing space, pupil interest far exceeded the capacity.

This barrier to growing and diversifying the offering required an innovative solution. Over the years there were numerous proposals and iterations for the redevelopment of the gym, and we finally formulated a plan which would double our capacity and offer a greatly enhanced training facility. This plan involved knocking through into a neighbouring space, opening-up the passage area, and redecorating throughout. With contractors, SBS Design & Build, brought in to knockthrough the wall, the remainder of the project was completed by our skilful in-house estates team. It was fantastic to work closely with this team as we shaped the new facility through smart design and problem solving. This relationship allowed us

to facilitate the continuation of the co-curricular gym club throughout the build, even if it was a little dusty!

With the bulk of the building nearing completion, we needed to ensure that the space was equipped to an appropriate level. I took a proposal to the Friends of Kingswood (FOK) asking for their support in equipping this sought-after co-curricular space. One of the intended outcomes of this project was to grow and diversify pupil participation. This was something the FOK were pleased to support, and they graciously granted us the funding. What followed was an exciting few months as the project neared completion, and I was able to recruit the support of a number of pupils to assist me in installing the new equipment.

The end result has been wholly transformative! The innovative design has opened the space and increased the training affordances, tenfold. The pupils have been incredibly grateful and complimentary of the new space and equipment, and it has become

a magnet in attracting new pupils to the environment. Our offering has diversified, using the new facility for Core PE and ‘girls-only’ sessions alongside the open gym club.

Since the beginning of the cocurricular gym club, the primary focus has been on building a positive and supportive health & fitness culture. Whether pupils are using the facility to improve their sports performance, or to challenge themselves physically and mentally, there is a unifying mission statement which is printed on the walls in the new facility: ‘Be better people who inspire others’. Health and fitness is a personal quest, but what we have shown is that by pursuing this within a shared and supportive fitness community, the entire journey becomes more enjoyable. I am really proud that we finally have a facility which compliments the positivity, passion, and energy of the Kingswood health & fitness community.

Mr Digby Webb (Athletic Development Coordinator)

OUTDOOR PURSUITS

YEAR 7 HIKE

In June, Year 7 pupils completed a 9-mile hike on the rolling Marlborough Downs. Conditions were perfect for walking and everyone was able to enjoy the historic sites of Iron Age Barbury Castle and the Avebury stone circle on route. The group walked well and finished the hike in good time.

YEAR 9 HIKE

Year 9 pupils made the most of spectacular weather to complete a 9-mile circular walk in the Mendips. Starting in the pretty village of Priddy, the walkers enjoyed great views across the Somerset Levels to Glastonbury and beyond as well as exploring Ebor Gorge and the surrounding woodland. Everyone walked well despite the heat and many and varied snacks were consumed to keep energy levels high!

YEAR 8 HIKE

Year 8 pupils enjoyed a lovely hike in the Mendips. The weather was perfect and everyone was able to enjoy far reaching views over the Severn Estuary into Wales from the scenic lunch spot. The group walked really well, finishing in good time.

BRONZE EXPEDITION

The Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Qualifying Expeditions took place in June, with ninety Year 10s completing two days on the Mendip Hills. The groups walked one of two routes, but both took in the popular Cheddar Cliffs just to the east of Cheddar Gorge, Burrington Combe and the delightful Chew Valley. The Bronze participants coped well with the hot weather, steep hill climbs and sore feet. Navigation was challenging on the first day, however, all of the groups made excellent progress and were very competent by the final leg.

We must thank Mr Smith who completed his last expedition with Kingswood. Mr Smith has been an excellent supporter of Duke of Edinburgh in his time here and staff and participants will miss his positive, caring and humorous approach.

DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S AWARD

SILVER EXPEDITION

At the end of June, thirty-four Year 11 students took to Exmoor to complete their Silver DofE qualifying expedition. They were required to walk for three days and camp for two nights in order to sign off this section of their award. The groups made excellent progress on all three days, walking with purpose and enjoyment whilst also demonstrating strong navigational skills. On each of the days they arrived into camp in good time and were able to enjoy some well-earned relaxation time in front of some beautiful views of both Exmoor and the coast.

GOLD D OFE QUALIFYING EXPEDITION

Lake District July 2024

Twenty-eight pupils set of for their Gold DofE expedition in the Lake District in the first week of the summer holiday. The pupils had to remain self-sufficient while they walked and camped for four days. After a sunny first day, the rain arrived and the middle two days of the expedition were very wet and challenging, however, each of the five groups showed great resilience and remained positive in the face of really difficult conditions.

On days 1 and 2, the groups completed routes taking in the Langdale Valley and Stake Pass as well as climbing up to High Raise where they experienced the full force of the high winds and driving rain.

On day 3, they headed for Patterdale via Grasmere and Grisedale Tarn. On the final day, the weather improved as they walked the length of Ullswater to finish successfully at Pooley Bridge. During the expedition, each group also had an aim to complete, with some identifying mountain flora and fauna, whilst others picked out the geographical features of the glacial landscape. Well done to all of the Year 12 pupils who have now successfully completed this aspect of their Gold DofE.

TEN TORS

The Ten Tors challenge is one of the most prestigious and demanding outdoor events for young people in the UK.

It requires students to operate in small teams, be fully selfsufficient, managing themselves and working together to navigate and complete either 35 or 45 miles of walking over a weekend on the rugged terrain of Dartmoor. Kingswood School sent two teams of Year 10 students to complete the 35-mile event and two teams of Year 12 students to complete the 45-mile event.

The students arrived on Dartmoor on the first day where they were given their checkpoints and tors and set about planning their routes. With the gloriously hot and sunny weather, there was a festival feel to the event and the students had time to explore the entertainment and stalls that the army had set up for them. The students then went for dinner in Okehampton, did some final kit checks and got an early night’s sleep.

On the Saturday morning, the students awoke at 5am to the infamous Chariots of Fire wake up call, and made their way to the start where 2,400 students from 400 different institutions lined up and were entertained by the army skydiving team and a short speech from Ray Mears. At 7am, the field guns fired and our teams set off on their gruelling routes in record high temperatures, resulting in the highest dropout rate the Ten Tors event has ever experienced.

Over the next 30 hours, our teams successfully navigated their way around Dartmoor, with some walking until as late as midnight on Saturday before waking up at 4am on Sunday to complete the event. On the final day, our teams were superb, completing their routes in excellent time, with special mention to the ‘35B’ team who were first on their route, the ‘45B’ team who came second on their route and the ‘45A’ team who came fourth on their route.

An enormous congratulations to all students who took part.

45-MILE ROUTE

35-MILE ROUTE

Evie Campbell Eddie Barbato

George Cardwell Jack Bowra

Gaby Davies Kitty Campbell

Sam Dunmow Nathan Hayes

Jago Dunn Alex Lowe

Oscar Eugster Oscar McGurdy

Mako Higashino Tom Narbett

Barnaby Leach Oscar Richards

Poppy Squires Ellis Robinson

Lotti Williams Isabelle Tonge

Dan Woodward Woody Wood

GEOGRAPHY GCSE TRIP 2023 ICELAND

In October half term, our Year 11 students embarked on an unforgettable GCSE Geography field trip to Iceland, a country renowned for its stunning natural landscapes and unique geological features.

The five-day trip provided a practical learning experience, bringing classroom theories to life through first-hand observation and exploration.

...a deeper appreciation of the natural world and its processes.

The first stop after arriving was lava tube caving. This entailed walking and then crawling (and some rolling) through tubes created by low viscosity lava formed over the past few thousand years. We then travelled to our accommodation at Hotel Viking where we were well fed and serenaded by the local minstrel. On the second day we awoke to a beautiful sunrise before heading to the lava centre, an excellent interactive exhibit which explained why Iceland was so volcanically active and gave students a chance to experience what it feels like to be in an earthquake. After lunch we drove to the Sólheimajökull glacier and spent the afternoon donning crampons and helmet before heading onto the ice to explore the different features of the glacier, an activity which for many was the highlight of the trip.

The south coast offered a range of geographical wonders. Students explored the Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss waterfalls, each offering unique opportunities to

Scan the QR code to see the full video of the trip.

study hydrology and erosion. The group then visited the black sand beaches of Reynisfjara, where they examined coastal geomorphology and the striking basalt columns.

The next day featured the famous Golden Circle route, covering three major attractions: Þingvellir National Park, Geysir geothermal area, and Gullfoss waterfall. At Þingvellir, students observed the rift valley caused by the separation of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. They then marvelled at the active geysers, including the iconic Strokkur, which erupts every few minutes. The day ended with a visit to Gullfoss, where the students witnessed the sheer power and beauty of the cascading waters.

The trip provided students with a deeper appreciation of the natural world and its processes. From tectonic activity to coastal and glacial landscapes, students were able to see the classroom theory in real life and appreciate the awe and power of this majestic landscape.

GEOGRAPHY A LEVEL TRIP 2023 BARCELONA

In October half term, our A Level Geography students embarked on a super curricular trip to Barcelona, Spain.

The trip focused on exploring coastal processes in Sitges and examining the changing identity and regeneration efforts in Barcelona. The five-day journey provided students with valuable insights into urban and coastal geography, combining fieldwork with theoretical learning.

The first day was dedicated to studying coastal processes in the picturesque town of Sitges, located about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona. Sitges is renowned for its beautiful beaches and dynamic coastal environment, making it an ideal location for geographical fieldwork. Data was collected to assess the impacts of coastal

defences and evidence for long shore drift, and a wider analysis of the coastal system was discussed later in the day.

The second day focused on the changing identity of Barcelona, a city known for its rich history, cultural diversity, and urban transformations. Students explored different neighbourhoods to analyse how identity and place perception have evolved over time.

In El Raval, students examined a neighbourhood undergoing significant regeneration and gentrification. They noted the contrasts between old and new buildings, the influx of diverse communities, and the role of

cultural institutions like the MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in reshaping the district's identity.

A final focus was on the regeneration of Barcelona, and how areas like @22 Innovation district can transform the area as a hub for technology and investment. Students examined the role that the Olympics and Gaudi’s gothic architecture have played in shaping the identity and encouraging redevelopment and evaluated the impacts of these changes.

In the evenings, we enjoyed some games of football followed by an ice cream on the beach alongside doing some follow up classroom based work.

SPANISH TRIP 2024 SEVILLE

Over February half term, 21 pupils studying Spanish in Years 10 to 13 enjoyed a trip to Seville in Andalusia, Spain. We were led throughout by our wonderful guide Ignacio who is always popular amongst pupils and has known Kingswood since our first trip with the company back in 2010.

Getting up at 2am to catch a 6am flight from Bristol, we arrived in Malaga before a 2.5 hour coach journey to our destination, Seville. Seville is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and historical cities in Europe and we were fortunate to be based in a city with such a rich history, a wealth of architectural gems and year round sunshine.

After checking into our hostel, pupils enjoyed a tour of the Maria Luisa park and gorgeous plaza which has been used in films such as Star Wars and the comedy The Dictator. We went on to the historical core of Seville, the barrio Santa Cruz, where the evidence of how close we are to northern Africa was evident in the Muslim architecture throughout this area. The centre of the city has been pedestrianised over the past 10 years and pupils enjoyed seeing the tram system weaving its way through the cobbled streets.

On our second day, we travelled to the historic world heritage city of Cordoba. The weather was unfortunately not at its best on this day but we were lucky enough to spend most of our time in the architectural gem that is the Mezquita, one of the world’s largest mosques and one of the most important buildings in the Arabic kingdom of Al Andalus (present day Andalusia).

Our final two days involved morning lessons for the pupils and a visit to a local school, as well as time spent exploring the world’s largest gothic cathedral, the traditional Triana neighbourhood, and the most important bull ring in Spain, la Maestranza.

FRENCH TRIP 2024 NICE

On the first day of the Easter break, students studying French in Year 10 to Year 13 had the opportunity to visit Nice. This trip was a blend of educational and cultural activities, ensuring students had a well-rounded experience.

In the mornings, students engaged in language lessons, enhancing their proficiency and understanding of the French language and culture. The excursions included visits to several iconic destinations, including Monaco, Cannes and Sainte Marguerite Island. In Monaco, students were enthralled by the opulence of the principality, exploring landmarks such as the Prince's Palace and Monaco’s Grand Prix track. In Cannes, they experienced the glamour of the French Riviera, walking along the famous Croisette and visiting the renowned Film Festival venue.

A highlight of the trip was the excursion to Sainte Marguerite Island, famed for its historical significance as the former prison site of the mysterious "man in the iron mask." Students were captivated by the island's rich history and natural beauty.

No trip to Nice would be complete without indulging in its culinary delights. Students savoured traditional Niçoise dishes such as pan bagnat, socca, and salade Niçoise, immersing themselves in the region's gastronomic culture.

The journey itself was an adventure, with students experiencing various modes of transportation. The scenic train journey to Monaco provided breath-taking views of the Mediterranean coastline, while the small ferry to Sainte Marguerite Island added a sense of adventure and exploration to the trip.

HISTORY TRIP 2024 BERLIN

Thirty-five Year 10 historians embarked on a journey to Berlin during the first week of the Easter holidays, aiming to deepen their understanding of 20th-century history from both German and international perspectives.

Students explored significant sites related to the Nazi regime, including the Olympic Stadium, renowned for hosting the 1936 Olympics where Jesse Owens made history, and poignant visits to Holocaust sites such as Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

Later in the week, attention shifted to the Cold War era, with students immersing themselves in interactive museums depicting life in Communist East Germany, exploring remnants of the Berlin Wall, and marvelling at the futuristic architecture of East Berlin's 1960 ‘Space-Age’ TV tower.

While grappling with the weighty historical content, the students demonstrated maturity and intellectual curiosity throughout their time in Berlin. They also seized the opportunity to savour the sights, sounds, and flavours of life in a bustling capital city, enjoying leisurely strolls in the Mall of Berlin and a spontaneous football match in the Tiergarten during their lunch break.

Scan the QR code to watch the full video of the trip.

ALPS

At the start of the Easter holiday, fortyeight Year 9 pupils headed out to the French Alps for the annual ski trip.

Although there was a limited amount of snow on arrival into Alpe d’Huez, things soon changed with 48 hours of snow falling, meaning all had the chance to try out their skills in deep powder. The pupils skied throughout the week and all hugely improved with the help of their ESF instructors. Pupils enjoyed a range of evening activities including a fast descent down the local Luge and fun climbing and tackling the challenges of ‘In Vertigo’.

SKI TRIP 2024 FRENCH

RHINELAND

At the start of the summer holiday, 27 bleary-eyed Year 8 and 9 German pupils arrived at school for the epic drive to the Rhineland and Cologne for the German trip 2024.

After arriving in Cologne, we stopped for some games of bowling before checking into our hotel for the evening for dinner and an early bedtime.

On our first day, we travelled into the historic centre of Cologne for a treasure hunt, a tour of the Cathedral, led by a very knowledgeable Miss Hawthorne, a picnic by the river and then a wonderful sightseeing river cruise of Cologne, taking in all of the sights of both modern and historic Cologne. After a short walk along the river, we entered the world-famous Schokoladen Museum, the Lindt chocolate museum and shop where we tasted the wares, learned about the process of making chocolate and bought about a hundred kilos of chocolate between us. In the evening, we returned to Cologne centre for some late-night souvenir shopping before heading to a local park for some downtime.

The next day saw us travel to Europe’s largest theme park - Phantasialand, where we spent the day trying to cram in as many rides as we could. We spotted some very pale looking faces after some of the rides, particularly ‘Fly’, which seemed to be the scariest and most popular of them all. In the evening, Mr Allchorne had arranged a very topical quiz and we were impressed with everyone’s knowledge of all things German. We also had a prize-giving ceremony after which we stayed up to watch England go through to the final of the Euros - a really special opportunity, particularly as the match was being played not so far away!

Our last day saw us travel back home and finally arrive at Kingswood late in the evening, tired and happy.

GERMAN TRIP 2024

MUSIC TOUR 2024 BARCELONA

In July, just as the summer holidays commenced for most of the School, the Music department met at a slightly eye-watering 4.45am to load the coach to embark upon this year’s concert tour.

The last time the department toured was to Holland in 2019, and so it was with great anticipation that the first tour since the pandemic was finally underway!

The coach set off, heading for Dover to catch the ferry to Calais, before driving over 850 miles of roads and motorways through France and Spain, down to Coma-ruga, a quaint seaside town on the Costa Daurada.

After spending an evening settling in at our beachside hotel, the first morning in Spain was spent travelling into Barcelona city centre to visit the incredible Sagrada Familia. The tour group consisted of 42 musicians from Years 8-13, and each of them was in awe standing below this incredible building. Designed

by Antoni Gaudí, this is the largest unfinished church in the world, having been in construction for over a century. The architecture is a heady mix of Gothic Revival, Art Nouveau and Moderinsta, and the incredible attention to detail in the design and decoration is overwhelming. The next stop was La Boqueria market in the heart of Barcelona, with everything to find from amazing tapas to the freshest fruit juices. The day was leading towards our first concert at Barcelona’s Gothic Cathedral. This special building is dedicated to Eulalia of Barcelona, and the choir sang their first performance of the trip on the sanctuary above the crypt which house Saint Eulalia’s relics. The cathedral was filled with the powerful sound of the choir, who performed a set of choral favourites including

Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine and Byrd’s stirring Ave Verum Corpus.

The following day, it was another choir outing, this time to Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, high up in the mountains, sitting 720m above sea level. The journey on the rack railway offered wonderful views across the mountain, named Montserrat after its serrated rock formations. The Basilica is a very holy place, close to the heart of Catalonians, and houses the venerated Our Lady of Montserrat statue. This monetary is a Benedictine foundation and is home to L’Escolania, one of the most famous choirs in the world. As the boys were on a well-earned holiday, Kingswood’s tour choir sang their lunchtime service, offering choral prayers for the assembled congregation. The programme ended with Arvo Pärt’s moving setting of Bogoróditse Djévo, the hymn to the Virgin Mary. A quick trip down the mountain and out to

the seaside (via the hotel pool!) saw the group undertake its next performance, on a glorious beach bandstand in the town of Calafell. The chamber orchestra, string group, choirs and tour band entertained the locals with their upbeat programme, and it was great to see so many people stopping to listen and enjoy this relaxed and informal concert.

It is almost tradition now that every Music tour must have a trip to a theme park, and this was no exception. The group visited Port Aventura, one of the largest and most expansive theme parks in Europe and is home to some of the most thrilling and fast-paced rides. Some of the tour group (including staff!) braved Shambhala, standing at 249ft tall and reaching 83mph, whilst others stuck to the log flume to cool off in the 33ºC heat. Great fun was had by all on a well-earned rest day from music-making!

The final day of the trip began with a beach trip, with plenty of burying each other in the sand, sunbathing, ball games and the inevitable jumping of the waves in the warm Mediterranean. Our final tourist visit was a quick stop at Park Guell, another of Gaudí’s incredible creations, before heading down to the marina to set up for the final concert in the gardens of the Maritime Museum. This wonderful setting offered the best of both – a quiet, sheltered courtyard but still in the warmth of the evening sun. Once again, the programme wowed the audience, made up of locals, tourists and some home support from parents who took the chance for their own getaway! The concert included chamber items including a Mozart piano trio, a Piazzola guitar and flute duet, as well as a trio by the German flautist Kummer. The concert was brilliantly received, and the choir took to the stage for a final encore of their favourite And Can It Be by Dan Forrest, with words by none other than Charles Wesley.

It was with mixed emotions that the tour group packed up the coach on the last day to depart on the long overnight journey back. So many incredible memories were made, the trip was full of laughs and smiling faces, as well as fantastic music-making. It made for an incredibly special and fitting end to what has been an excellent year for the Music department. My thanks to Ms Smith for her work behind the scenes, and to my incredible tour staff – Mr Chua, Mrs Francis, Miss Jenkins and Mr Knights. And finally, to all of the students on the tour – thank you, you are all brilliant!

Mr Andy Barton (Director of Music)

WESTWOOD HOUSE (LOWER SCHOOL)

In September, our new Year 7s arrived excited, and just a little bit nervous, about starting life at the Senior School. They were joined by the returning Year 8s who were so full of beans as they returned to Westwood as “old hands”, full of news about their summer holidays.

The early days were filled with activity sign-ups, teambuilding challenge days, as well as starting lessons and meeting teachers. It was also a pleasure to meet new and returning parents at the annual afternoon teas on the Westwood terrace.

Leadership has continued to evolve in Westwood and as well as our House Captains (Harry, Zach, Pippa, Sophia, Ellis, Sasha, Tobias and Eve) who gave great speeches at the end of the year looking at things they have loved about their time in Westwood and things they are looking forward to, we also now have Tech Leaders (Sophia, Jayden, Edward and Ben) as well as our Wellbeing Ambassadors.

Mulberry provided worthy opposition throughout the year and finished strongly, winning the Inter-House swimming and athletics in the Summer term. One must make mention of the records that fell at our Westwood Sports Day (Zach

Hutchinson 400m, Olivia Powell Discus and Shot, Katie Bulgin 200m, Ame Timson High Jump and Bella Nwabueze 100m). Phoenix, however, did prove very strong and won many of the other competitions throughout the year to emerge as the worthy winners of the Duke Trophy for the Westwood Inter-house competition.

In morning tutorials, we covered numerous topics thanks to Mrs Curtis’s amazing planning, and we continued our fundraising efforts, providing various tutor group initiatives to raise funds for charity.

Our musicians continued to perform both in and outside of school in concerts, Bath Abbey services and assemblies, whilst in Drama, we enjoyed exceptional performances of so many of our pupils in the Lower School production of Matilda; what a thoroughly enjoyable evening of theatre from a very talented (and sizeable) cast. The countless hours of rehearsals that make these music and drama performances look so polished are truly impressive.

Sport at so many levels has continued at pace and a big thank you must go to

everyone who has taken part at various different levels against numerous internal and external opposition and demonstrated team spirit. We continue to do our best to match ability with opportunity to play matches, which continues to be a challenge due to the large and enthusiastic cohorts we have; long may this challenge continue. We have had a number of very good team results against other schools, and in tournaments and regional competitions. A special mention goes to our U13A girls’ hockey team for their exceptional performance at the England Hockey U13 National Schools Finals in May, winning the silver medal.

My final word is one of thanks to all the tutors, teachers, parents and support staff, without whom none of the above would be possible. As we say goodbye to our Year 8 pupils and wish them well in their Senior Houses, I’d like to thank all of the Westwood pupils whose willingness to tackle anything with good humour and resilience have made Westwood a truly memorable place this year.

Mr Steve Pentreath (Head of Lower School)

Wellbeing Ambassadors

In April, sixteen Year 8 students participated in Kingswood's inaugural Wellbeing Ambassador training program. Over a span of six hours, they engaged in comprehensive training sessions centred around wellbeing theory and practical application strategies, equipping them to offer peer support. This evidencebased program, facilitated by school staff, aims to empower students by imparting valuable skills, and fostering leadership in promoting wellbeing and happiness among their peers.

FONTHILL HOUSE

It was our Sixth Form who paved the way for such a good year for the house. They were excellent leaders and role models throughout: at the heart of everything.

Enthusiasm and energy from the Fonthill and Hall leaders were evident in the House Performance of Iyaz’s ‘Replay’, and our fantastic version of ‘Valerie’ again won the Ensemble. Success also came later in the first term with the Year 9s winning their Hockey after nail-biting penalty shuffles against School House (kudos to GK, Sophie!). They then replicated this win in House Netball later in the year. Inspired by Georgia’s GB Water Polo exploits, Swimming was a strength; we won all House galas convincingly, with Hall, who we paired with for this. The same was true at the end of the year when our joint houses were victorious in Sports Day thanks to wide participation that saw every event filled, and some excellent individual performances including Oyin’s wins and school record, and Viv bringing home the Senior 4x100m – a fitting end to house sport this year.

In Drama and Music, Fonthill also had fantastic participation, and it was inspiring to see so much artistic talent in the house. On stage, leading performances in Blue Stockings from Oyin and Ellie were especially moving, poignantly reminding us of the importance of female solidarity, the Year 10s impressed in As We Face the Sun,

and the Year 9s enthusiastically participated in the Junior Production of Matilda, with Poppy and Sophie standing out as Mrs Wormwood and Phelps, respectively. Musically, there were so many highlights! Ella and Clemmie wowed with solo and duet performances in the Christmas Concert, Elfriede’s beautiful organ practice was aural background for many assemblies, and Senior Choir and Orchestra members had the privilege of performing with Okiem and Otty Warmann in a once-in-alifetime charity concert.

Confidence on ‘stage’ was also evident from Fonthill members at other times in the year. Head of School (Fonthill’s first for some years) Izzy was prominent throughout, Ellie and Rubysha debated strongly on the topic of AI, we provided many members of committees at the BISMUN event and Philosothon,

Clemmie addressed the School in her Netball VC’s speech, and Noelina and other Upper Sixth impressively presented assemblies on EDI themes, and headed up Kingswood’s inaugural Identity Day. On a different ‘stage’, Evie and Kitty represented the house in the gruelling Ten Tors event. The Lower Sixth also showed their talent both in front and behind the camera to create the traditional Candy Cane video; led by Kristy and Sofia, this annual charity event raised nearly £900 to support the Re-Start Centre as usual. Throughout the year, Alyssa, Crystal, Whitney and Arlina also willingly gave their time to various charity initiatives as Young Ambassadors.

In house-based events, Fonthill spirit was hugely evident. House assemblies provided varied ways for the ‘Fonthill families’ to get to know each other: bench ball, Just Dance, rounders, Kahoot quizzes and Buzzy Bees were all popular activities, as well as providing the chance to applaud individual achievement, for example Lottie completing the Bath Half, or Poppy’s progress in National-level Ultimate Frisbee. The Heads of House – Dipti, Eve and Noelina – brilliantly reviewed house highlights in end-of-term speeches, and the new ‘Fonthill Fairy’ award recognised the ‘unsung heroes’ of the House, alongside House Colours awarded for amazing house spirit and participation.

At the very end of the year, the annual house awards saw Oyin voted as Spirit of Fonthill, with Year 9 Sophia getting the Wright Way and Noelina the Sergeant Leadership Award. Indeed, School Prizegiving also saw Fonthill success, as Wed was recognised for leadership, and Lottie for fortitude – a lovely way to end the year.

Finally, some goodbyes! To the amazing Upper Sixth who have been brilliantly inspirational all year and who will surely go on to further amazing achievements as they make their way beyond Fonthill and Kingswood. To some younger house members who are also leaving to seek adventures elsewhere. To Mrs Pasco who has tutored Year 10 very well in her time in the House. And from me as Houseparent. It has been an honour to have been allowed to be part of Fonthill for the last few years, and shape – in small part – its spirit and ethos. The amazing young people of the house never fail to impress me with their passion and talent in so many areas, and I know that this will continue long into Fonthill’s future as a value that is held dear by the house. As said to the House during goodbyes: it is not the houseparent who creates this ethos, but the pupils who care so much about Fonthill. The very best of luck to Mrs Webb and Miss Moore, and house leaders, Kate, Kristy and Sofia as they become the next custodians of the amazing Fonthill spirit.

Mrs Juliette Mainwaring (Senior Houseparent)

COLOURS

• Caitlin Barefoot

• Alyssa Chu

• Clemmie Coxen

• Tami Jaiyeola

• Viv Kozel

• Matilda Lang

• Ellie Lewis

• Sofia Radzeviciute

• Kate Stobart

HOUSE AWARDS

Spirit of Fonthill: Oyin Obe

The Wright Way: Sophia Flatman

Sergeant Award for Leadership: Noelina Lingden

MRS MAINWARING

For the last six years, Mrs Mainwaring has embodied everything Fonthill stands for: kindness, service, House spirit, and so much more!

She has been an amazing role model for all members of the House, consistently putting her heart and soul into everything she does. Mrs Mainwaring has the best House spirit, always encouraging us to get involved and believing so strongly in our ability. Whether through her thoughtful advice, her bright smile, or the countless memories she has helped us make, she has truly made this House feel like a home. We are so grateful to her for everything she has done. Her legacy of kindness and dedication will be felt for many years to come. She has been an incredible housemistress and will be missed deeply.

Dipti Chhetri (Head of Fonthill, Y13)

HALL HOUSE

The term started with the first House event of the year, House Music. Hall and Fonthill were victorious in the arguably more skilful section of the competition, coming out on top in the ensemble with “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse.

The lead conductor Aled Watkins showed his vast musical experience by taking the helm and loudly tapping his feet during the performance, convincing the judges that he knew what he was doing.

As ever, the boys from Hall dominated on the sports pitches. Year 10 won their House matches against Middle and Upper, Milo Powell particularly impressive. Hall House boys also represented the School well on the rugby pitches, with impressive performances from Tom Stappard, Jack Adams, Kian Alizadeh and Sawan Tamling. Congratulations also go to Jack Williams and Milo Worthy for representing Bath U16s in the local tussle against Bristol. Jacob Barton and Basti Langkilde impressed in their final season for the 1st team, with Louis Barbato, Joe Watt and Will Cory playing for the 2nds. Lorcan Thornley and Will also represented the mighty 3rd team to an almost unbeaten season (despite losing two games in five) under the watchful eye of Mr Brown.

When he wasn’t impressing on the rugby pitch, all 96kgs of Jack Williams were impressing in the Dojo; Jack added U18 Heavyweight Judo

British Champion to his collection of awards after winning all his fights in Sheffield, whilst Ewan Sparey had international success in Bali.

In the Spring term, there were fine performances from Ewan Sparey, Noah McClelland-Lofters and Ferdie Goddard in Cross Country. In Football, the 1st team won three of four of their matches, and the 2nd only lost two, with great performances from Namkang Thanawongkosol, who scored lots of the goals. Hall placed second in their House matches, with stunning displays from Aled and Louis. With the 1st XI Hockey team, Jacob Barton and Joe Watt won lots this year but sadly lost in the national semi-finals after a fine performance; it was, however, a great experience for all to have got so close.

The Summer term’s sport was hampered initially with some poor weather, but Hall were well represented in Tennis where Spike Salkeld and Oscar Salter formed an impressive pairing, and Mathijs In Der Rieden represented the School in the Cricket 1st XI, performing well. Hall won the Inter House Swimming Competition, where Kurtis Wong swam notably well and, in Athletics,

Ewan continued to shine. The Sports Day was the big end of term event and Hall performed well in all events; congratulations to all competitors – our efforts combined with Fonthill secured a win overall.

Hall also impressed academically with the Senior Maths Challenge where Akira Asakawa, Riki Miyoshi, Ryu Shimizu and Jiwoo Yang took home Gold certificates. Akira went on to achieve Gold in the Chemistry Challenge with Sean Choy achieving a Copper certificate. Akira also worked incredibly hard to secure his offer for Cambridge University next year and we wish him all the best when he starts in September. We know how hard he has worked to achieve this.

Sam Dinnis, Theo Pillow and Ben Bradford in Year 9 finished 117th out of 3000 teams nationally in this year’s National Language Competition organized by GCHQ. This is an amazing achievement and shows their strong problem-solving skills. Ernie Padfield also achieved a Gold certificate in this year’s Bebras competition, and in the F1 in Schools competition, Ben Bradford and Ewan Sparey carried their team to take home Best Engineered Car and the Future Stars awards.

Hall House has also been busy in the creative arts. Ranging from Ollie Palmer’s and Sam Hunt’s Grade 4 and 5 in Acting, to Mr Chua and the Chuettes stealing the show at the Valentine’s dinner. Additionally, many performed in various school concerts and continued Hall’s tradition of fine singers and instrumentalists. Many boys were also involved in the annual Christmas concert. Well done to Eli, Ellis, Cyrus, Akira, Ben, Theo, Sam, Olly, Kurtis, Ryu, Charlie, Max, Aled and Mr Chua for performing, amongst many others. It was amazing to see the skills of many musicians on display. Max Wilson was also selected for the National Youth Guitar Ensemble which is an incredible achievement.

As always, the House held multiple charitable initiatives. Novruz Movsumov, Archie Wake and Jacob Barton took part in Movember, helping to raise over £2000. Tom Blezard and Will Cory took on the Bath Half Marathon, raising money for Bath Mind; thank you to everyone who supported them and helped us to raise over £1000 for such a great cause. Thanks must also go to the Year 13 bakers who unleashed their inner Mary Berry to cook up a storm for the Bake Sale which helped to raise a further £500. Year 13 also organised a night run, we enjoyed the Valentine’s dinner where many of the boarders waited on dinner guests, and the most recent fundraiser, and what may have been everyone’s favourite, was the sausage roll sales during a hockey match! This all helped raise in excess of a further £2000 for charity this year. Well done to everyone.

Finally, at the end of the year in our House assembly, we said farewell to our leavers. This group have been great role models this year and made the most of their time in Hall House as well as at Kingswood. Finally, from me, a huge thanks to the matrons as well as a great House tutor team for supporting the boys. Also big thanks to Will, Tom and Jerry in all they have done to help lead the House this year.

Mr Barney Brown (Senior Houseparent)

HOUSE AWARDS

Hall Rugby: Jack Williams, Archie Wake

Hall Athletics: Joe Watt

Hall Cricket: Mathijs In Der Rieden

Hall Hockey: Joe Watt

Overall contribution to House Sport: Jacob Barton

Hall House Hero: Will Cory

Hall Champion (epitomises House spirit): Aled Watkins

House Colours: Joe Bailey, Sawan Tamling

SUMMERHILL HOUSE

It has been another whirlwind of a year full of activities, fun, achievements and character-building for the fantastic Summerhill students!

Iremain immensely proud of the kind spirit of the students alongside the desire to get involved and make the most of the opportunities presented to them. The Year 9s settled in quickly and have been wonderfully eager to volunteer and participate as much as they can. A particular shout out must go to Emmy who volunteers for everything and anything with great joy.

We have enjoyed a host of sometimes crazy activities in House assemblies, including our recent tradition of gardening and growing flowers, making gingerbread houses in Advent and playing ultimate frisbee, rounders and ninja. We have enjoyed the Summerhill garden and have done a few events using our new pizza oven when catching some sunshine.

In the boarding house, the students love using our karaoke machine, and the table tennis table is in daily use by both day students and boarders. The usual happy chaos and mixed smells of cooking fill the kitchen every weekend and it is always fun seeing the students learning from each other. Jewel has been

particularly active with cooking, being her DofE skill, and she’s often treated other students to her meals.

The end of the academic year was full of amazing achievements and memorable fun. House Entertainment alongside Middle, Hall and Fonthill with the slip slide and inflatables and a huge BBQ was fantastic, with the weather just about holding out. We celebrated with the Year 13s afterwards with everyone signing a photo of the year group, reflecting on memories and sharing laughter together.

In our final House assembly, baby photos of the leavers were enjoyed alongside a mini accolade for each Year 13 student, as well as celebrating the special

annual awards and giving out the FLOURISH cacti to students who exemplify the values and qualities of the Flourish acronym: Full of confidence, Loving, Ownership, Uniqueness, being Reflective, having Integrity, being willing to Serve and having Humility.

It is certainly a lively and joyful job, being Houseparent. I am immensely grateful to Miss Hay for being a fantastic Resident Assistant and Deputy Houseparent during my first two years in role. She has been a bundle of energy and fun, alongside her warmth and care for all the students. We say goodbye to her and will be welcoming Miss Hawthorne to come and live as Resident Assistant in Summerhill boarding house, and Miss Jenkins will be taking the reins as Deputy Houseparent of the whole house. I am full of confidence in their capable and professional care.

And a final thanks must go to Emily and Hoho for leading Summerhill brilliantly this year – for going the extra mile, building relationships with younger students and staff alike and doing some fantastic organisation of events, sports and their endless support of charity initiatives. We wish all our leavers a safe onward journey into their next chapters.

Mrs Monica Lopez (Senior Houseparent)

PRIZES

• Dragon Award for Sport: Gaby Davies

• Good Egg Award: Emily Hersch

• Perseverance Award: Iona Robertson

• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Award: Hoho Noma

• Flourish Award: Emily Gordon-Brown

COLOURS

• Anna Haldenby

• Mako Higashino

• Florencia Legge

• Dora Magill

• Christina Yan

House Music kicked the year off: after rehearsals in the morning, the musicians in the ensemble performed an incredible rendition of 'Pompeii'. The rest of us spent the afternoon learning choreography for ‘Cheerleader’ with reversed OMI and cheerleader roles with Middle, where the boys stunned in cheerleading outfits. The enthusiasm was inspirational!

Sport has been fantastic: we made a great contribution to the 1st XI Hockey, with nine players including Kitty in Year 10 as the youngest in the team, and Imogen and Emily as co-captains. In the 1st VI Netball, there were four regulars with Phoebe as captain. House Cross Country was successful, with many Summerhill top-place finishers in the individual run, and team wins in the infamous relay. The senior A team now holds the new school record. There was fantastic participation in sports day - well done to everyone who competed, contributing to our combined win with Middle House, overall.

Music and Drama: We saw many Summerhill girls contributing to the play: Phoebe Gilpin showcased her incredible talent with her impressive performance as the main character, and won the KATS award for Best Performer. The Summer term was especially busy for Year 10 Drama students who performed their devised and LAMDA pieces, and we hope you are all pleased with your results and that they reflect the tremendous effort you have all put in. For exceptional individual music achievements, congratulations to Luna Arimoto, Poppy Squires and Sunday Johnston for achieving Grade 8 awards with Distinction. Anna Haldenby has been outstanding, too.

Charities: We have continued our fundraising efforts this year, supporting Flor raise money for Jessie May, Emily for Bath Mind and Mrs Lopez for The Life Project. Thank you to the Summerhill bakers who contributed to the fundraising efforts by providing some delicious baked goods. Overall, more than £2500 was raised! Just before Christmas, the Year 13s led the annual tradition of campaigning for Genesis Trust care packages. A truck-full of items were donated, thanks to the generosity of people across the whole school.

Emily Hersch and Hoho Noma

(Head & Deputy Head of Summerhill, Y13)

MIDDLE HOUSE

As we say farewell to the academic year 23/24, Middle House has much to look back on with fondness and pride.

The Autumn term kicked off with the House Performance. Middle and Summerhill managed to assemble two excellent performances and, whilst this was not to be our year to win, as always it was a great opportunity to get the House together and join Summerhill. It also provided an opportunity to dress up as cheerleaders as the House danced along to the Omi song of the same name. During the first term, a large number of boys represented senior rugby teams, but special mention should be given to Charlie Ward and Leo Palmer who have represented Bath Under 18s this season, and they were a significant part of the win in the Premiership Final against Northampton Saints. Ice-skating at Bath Pavilion, alongside Summerhill, helped Middle get into festive spirits, although it was a stressful experience when trying to avoid a speeding (yet graceful) Andrew Docton and Miro Cairns-Lowe.

In the Spring term, we had notable success on the hockey and football pitches, which a huge representation from the House in Senior and Junior teams. The Day brothers continued to be a solid spine running through Kingswood School Hockey; Toby was also selected for and even captained England, which is highly

commendable despite his efforts to keep the news quiet, whilst in football, Oscar Belmont led the 1st XI to one of its most successful seasons to date. Freddie Williamson led the school cross country squad, for whom all of the age categories had a large number of Middle pupils in their ranks. We also had a good showing in the House Cross Country with Charlie Haines winning the Senior race, whilst Tom White was runner-up in the Intermediate race. After Christmas we received welcome news on the Higher Education front with a number of offers from top universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial starting to arrive with our Year 13s and we wish them well. The Bake Off was also a great weekend in the middle term, where the boarders were able to experiment with and show off their culinary skills. Although the end products were edible and, to some extent, enjoyed by the House, we were not victorious this time.

During the Summer term, we celebrated our musicians at KATS. For Anson Yuen, Ian Wong and Daimu Tsuneki, it was their last time in attendance but they have enjoyed many years contributing to school orchestras and concerts. It was also great to see Lexi Nwabueze and Ben

Davies perform their Year 10 Drama pieces. Tom White and Charlie Haines represented Avon at the English Schools Athletics Championships, whilst Joshua George led the charge at Sports Day with his wins in all the Junior events he took part in. Joshua was recognised for this achievement and awarded the Victor Ludorium in the Final Assembly. House Swimming is an event where we have pupils who are keen competitors rather than accomplished swimmers. However, we were ably led by Lukus Kung who managed to win his Butterfly race. The Middle House Boot Sale has now become a firm feature of the final run-in at the end of the year. The sale of home-made pizzas, hot dogs and second-hand sports equipment raised over £300 for the Help for Heroes charity.

Throughout the year, Callum Voisin managed to balance considerable motor-racing commitments with trying to complete his A Levels. On the back of his win in the GB3 championships, Callum had the offer to drive for Rodin in the Formula 3 Championship and he spent the Summer term racing at Grand Prix circuits such as Silverstone and Monza. We have been excited to see some of his races on Sky Sports and wish him the very best of luck as he pursues his Formula 1 dream.

Finally, at the end of the year in our House Assembly, we said farewell to our leavers. The Year 13s have been excellent role models, displaying kindness and positivity in their approach to school. We also said farewell to Mr Smith and wished him the best of luck in his new role at Peponi School in Kenya. He has been a very popular tutor in Middle and we have all appreciated his calm approach and the care he has shown for his tutees. Mr White has also stepped back from his full-time teaching role at Kingswood and therefore tutoring and so we thanked his excellent contributions to life in Middle House. Mr Atkin and Mr Allies-Curtis have also left us this year and we thank them for their short but significant roles. Mr Webb and Mr Gordon should be congratulated on their appointments as Deputy Housemasters of Hall and Middle respectively. This does mean that Mr Webb will be leaving us, but we hope that he takes a little of Middle with him to Hall and thank him for all he has done. Mr Gordon is also moving out of the Boarding House and makes way for Mr Lynch and his family. Mr Gordon has been an excellent Residential Assistant in the House and the boarders as well as myself are very grateful for the way he has helped run the House. Thank you to the matrons as well as a great House tutor team. Finally, thank you to Freddie and Marco in their roles as Head of School and House respectively, as well as Anson and Charlie in all they have done to help lead the House this year.

Mr Steven Smyth (Senior Houseparent)

HOUSE AWARDS

• Middle House Man of the Year: Marco Chan

• Endeavour Awards: Jack Beveridge, Oscar Belmont, Ollie Day, Leo Palmer

• Sportsmen of the Year: Ollie Day & Charlie Ward

• Artists of the Year: Cedric Yeung & Ian Wong

SCHOOL HOUSE

Autumn term started with a bang with the annual House Music competition which Year 13 led brilliantly.

There was a tuneful rendition of ‘Dancing Queen’ to kick off School and Upper’s entry, followed by an energetic and wellchoreographed performance of ‘Take on me’. It was lovely to see so many students on stage and Rosie Tisdale’s and Rosie Rees’s gymnastic displays really elevated the show. We were delighted to win this event – an excellent way to start the term. Year 9s also spent time on the coast as part of their induction to School House. Despite some cloudy skies, the waves were good and the girls showed their prowess and mastery of the boards with many being able to stand up and surf to shore. Finally, we had House Hockey and yet again School House team stepped up and showed their team spirit.

It was great to end the Autumn term with some festive celebrations. The Year 12s organised a bake sale to raise money for Crisis and were able to donate £130, which was excellent. The baking theme continued with what will become an annual gingerbread house competition. This was fiercely contested as School House demonstrated their creative talents; entries included an impressive Dixon House and a bulf-themed lily pad, but the eventual winner was Ms Dakin’s Year 12 tutor group and a ‘highly commended’ was awarded to Mrs Prowse’s tutor group for their efforts. The term ended with House Ents at Bath on Ice and hot chocolates all round.

as part of a 3-legged pair)! I am sure that the en-mass House warm up led by Freya Thompson also meant that everyone was starting in tip-top shape!

...the girls have worked hard and should be proud of all their dedication.

All of these events were hotly contested, Year 9 narrowly missed out on victory after a penalty shootout against Fonthill, Year 10 came second to Summerhill and the Seniors managed to secure a win, despite a very icy and cold morning on the lower astro. It was great to see the different year groups working together and encouraging each other. Big shout out to Alice Hubbard who played up a year as goalie and managed to make some exceptional saves.

Easter term was just as packed with balls and dinners as well as an amazing theatrical performance of Blue Stockings which was utterly brilliant and certainly left the audience reflective of a different era of education. House Netball provided opportunities for School House to show their team work on court (complete with lots of face paint and glitter)! Alice Hubbard and Gala Marrack represented School House in House Debates. Both gave a clear and articulate response opposing the assertion that ‘artificial intelligence is a danger to humanity’ and were victorious. Pink Week was absolutely the highlight of the term though – School House raised over £2480 which was split between Breast Cancer UK and the Ben Saunders Foundation. We ended the term with Pink Day and House Cross Country. As always, School House put in a brilliant performance with Alice Hubbard winning the Inters race and Maddie Waring coming in third, but the podium finish is testament to each and every girl that ran (two even completing the 5km course

The Summer term raced by. House relays were run in the heat with excellent performances by all four teams. Inter A's notably did brilliantly and secured not only a gold medal but a new course record! It has been lovely to see the comradery between the House as we entered exam season and I know that the girls have worked hard and should be proud of all their dedication. There were some exceptional drama performances by Year 10 and more recently Year 9 in Matilda. As always it is so lovely to see such amazing talent on stage (and in the tech box)! The year concluded with a packed week of events. Sports Day was a particular highlight with many amazing individual performances including some exceptional track wins for Bex Atkins, Charlie Moore, Maddie Waring, Izzy Casdagli, Alice Hubbard and Izzy Milborrow in their respective events. Superb skill was also demonstrated on the field with Hattie Brown securing a 1st place in the Inters Shot competition. An enormous well done should go to Freya Dyson who managed to clear 1.5m in the Inters High Jump – setting a new school record! House Ents followed immediately afterwards and it was lovely to celebrate the end of the school year together.

The Leavers’ Ball provided a fitting ending for Year 13 and a lovely way to celebrate the end of their journey. We wish all leavers all the best as they look forward to their next chapters.

Mrs

Sarah Musgrove (Senior Houseparent)

COLOURS

• Leyla Aysan

• Hannah Atkins

• Freya Dyson

• Lexie Game

• Eva Gordon

• Alice Hubbard

• Orla Reddin

• Rosie Rees

• Gracie Weston

• Lotti Williams

HOUSE AWARDS

Spirit of School House: Hannah Atkins

The Jackie Reeman Sunshine Award: Maddie Waring ‘Pave the Right Way’ Award: Kara Kirkham

UPPER HOUSE

Well, what a year! It began with a perfectly aimed jibe at Mr Matthews as part of Tom Martin’s Head of House welcome speech and there followed an unlikely victory in the House Music competition thanks to an enthusiastic performance of “Take on Me” by A-Ha.

The music ensemble was a more eclectic affair with some willing volunteers taking their positions on the maracas and triangle, but we didn’t want to be greedy!

As half-term approached, the Sixth Form and staff got a chance to bond with the Footgolf and Curry night. The staff were clearly the class acts on the Footgolf but somehow Ollie Yates managed to conjure up the winning score. This was quickly followed by the first charity event as Mr C-P was the driving force behind the Upper House Movember campaign. It’s a good job we helped raise over £1800 as some of those moustaches were truly disturbing!

From Week 1, there were countless candidates for the iconic ‘Man of the Week’ award and it was fitting that the first recipient was the ‘Daddy of the House’ Fraser, as he made his return to 1st XV rugby following a two year layoff due to injury. The term finished with the annual Ice Skating trip and we were thankful this year for no injuries!

Other ‘Men of the Week’ awards this year saw Will Shardlow and

Joe Randolph recognised for their role in helping the 1st XI Hockey team to reach the Semi-finals of the National Cup; Seb Kennard for his Movember fundraising; Noah Stacey and Freddie Langham for making great starts to the year in class; and Albert Brown for fixing the House PlayStation! Freddie Stappard got the iconic yellow blazer after gaining the best batsman award for Somerset U15s on their tour to Sri Lanka; Ethan Y Wong for tearing it up in the merits charts once again; Dan Zukas for his outstanding performance in Blue Stockings; and Archie Tillett for being an all-round top man and real team player.

There were two students who got the award for sporting achievements at the highest level. Roger Davis continued his stunning progress in the swimming pool by qualifying for the Olympic trials in April. Olympic selection this time around was unlikely but he acquitted himself well, and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Adam Peaty and Duncan Scott was a fantastic experience – maybe his chance will come in Los Angeles 2028. James Linegar also enjoyed a remarkable season on the rugby

field, helping Bath U18s to win the Premiership title and gaining selection for England U18s. On the back of this, he was awarded a first professional contract with Bath Rugby and we look forward to perhaps seeing him running out at the Rec next year for Bath 1st XV.

One of the key premises of the Upper ethos is to ‘get involved’ in all the incredible things that are on offer at Kingswood and the Spring term really saw the Upper boys step up. There were eight boys in the Hockey 1st XI and Upper boys made up nearly half of all the senior teams. As well as Dan, Rory McDonald, Kit Hawking and Charlie Woodward all had key parts in Blue Stockings and Joe Randolph, George Cardwell, Alex Kirkwood and Tom Gilpin all featured prominently in the Spring Concert, whilst there was mass participation in the House Cross Country.

In the Summer term, despite exams looming on the horizon for many, there was still time for the second edition of the main charity fundraiser of the year, UPPERFEST! Head of House Tom and John Bean really stepped up in the lead up to this event, helping to produce a day

that was great fun and raised nearly £800 for Mind.

Once again, Upper boys made up over half of the 1st XI cricket team, with John leading the team to a very successful season and Sam Dunmow and Ed Armstrong sharing the highlight of the season as they posted the highest opening partnership in 18 years, with 175 against a touring team from Melbourne.

As we neared the end of term, participation levels were fantastic for the Senior Sports Day, and Oscar Easen’s 400m win was the highlight of the Upper performances. From here, we went straight to House Entertainment, enjoying some inflatable fun with School House on the Upper. This was followed by a really lovely evening back in House as the Year 13 leavers shared some memories

of their time at Kingswood in the company of the Upper tutors.

The formal House goodbyes took place on the final day of term and Deputy Head of House Oscar Bankes spoke so eloquently about his time in Upper and what the House has meant to him. Finally, it was left to Tom to sum up the year, which he did in his typically unassuming yet humorous way. I have been so lucky to have two quite outstanding Heads of House in my first two years in the job and Tom has been a fine example to the younger students, and the respect he has amongst the boys is clear to see. I am certain that Tom, like the rest of this fine group of leavers, will go on to great things. Just remember to all pop back down to Upper whenever you’re back in Bath.

Mr James Brown (Senior Houseparent)

WE’VE REACHED THE END OF A FANTASTIC FIRST YEAR IN BEACONFIELD HOUSE!

It’s been a busy year full of laughter, joy, friendships, and memories.

Our junior boarders have thrived in the newly refurbished Beaconfield House, making it their home while at school. Whether enjoying film nights, relaxing in the garden, playing swingball, basketball, or rounders, making homemade pizzas, indulging in chocolate fondue, hosting talent shows, or celebrating cultural events, Beaconfield has been a very happy place to be. The boarders have received great care and support throughout from our fantastic pastoral boarding team, as well as the matrons, who have worked hard to keep everything so clean and shiny.

The boarders have enjoyed an action-packed schedule of weekend excursions, including visits to Longleat, laser tag, theatre trips, rugby, netball, and basketball matches, as well as a waterpark. We are indebted to all the staff who have driven minibuses to enable our boarders to have these fantastic opportunities. We know that the boarders have had a great time, and many of these activities have

been highlights of their boarding experience. We have lots of exciting ideas planned for next year too.

Many of our boarders have won the weekly ‘Best of Beaconfield’ award for exemplifying the house values and setting a good example for their fellow boarders. We would also like to thank Abigail, Bella, Florence, Inaya, Mohammad, and Nisek for

serving as Boarding Champions and taking on important leadership roles in the House.

After a very tightly fought contest between our four house teams, we were delighted to announce that Team Daisy has won the first Beaconfield House Cup! The competition culminated in a thrilling event—the inaugural Beaconfield Olympics— featuring classic summer games like sack racing and tug of war.

On the final evening of the year, we hosted the inaugural Beaconfield Oscars. It was a lovely opportunity to have fun, give thanks for the past year, and especially celebrate our fantastic Year 8 leavers. Special congratulations to Nancy, who was awarded the 2024 Caring Award, and Mohammad, who received this year’s Confidence Award. We will certainly miss all of our leavers next year and wish them every success as they move into the Senior Houses.

Mr George Newbould (Junior Boarding Houseparent Beaconfield)

BOARDING AT KINGSWOOD

Our junior and senior boarders enjoy a full programme of activities throughout the year and there have been plenty of opportunities to get involved with community events.

HEADS OF SCHOOL REFLECTIONS

Hello, everyone! We are Izzy and Freddie, and we have had the pleasure of being Kingswood’s Heads of School this year.

As we sit and write, we can’t quite believe how quickly the year has flown by, and how much everyone has achieved. We’ve had musicals, charity pantomimes, Philosothons, exhibitions, an incredible array of sporting fixtures and so much more we couldn’t even begin to list here (we would simply run out of room!).

We think that this article is the perfect opportunity for us to take a moment to say just how proud we are to have been a member of this school for the last seven-orso years. We really have been so fortunate to experience a school like Kingswood, and we are so grateful to everyone who has helped make our time here so special, shaping us into who we are today. In the classroom, on the sports pitches,

and even in Friday morning Whole School Services, you have all inspired us and many others. That is something that will stick with us long after we leave, as we’re sure it will for many of you.

Most of all, we are incredibly proud of our departing Year 13s. Some of them have been here for 15 years and some for just two, but, either way, every one of them has contributed to making us such an engaging, fun and joyful year group right the way through the school. We are incredibly grateful to have been able to represent such a forceful group of wonderful people. It’s been a pleasure to grow up alongside them and we are more than confident that each and every one of them is going to go out in the world and do incredible things.

We really have been so fortunate to experience a school like Kingswood...

We couldn’t write this article without a huge thank you to our teachers. Thank you for putting up with us for the past seven years! Your dedication is extraordinary and your impact on us and all the leavers has been immense, something that I’m sure we will never forget. To those of you lucky enough to still benefit from their teaching – please do make the most of them. They are truly wonderful people who care deeply. Getting to know our teachers more as we moved up the School revealed not only how much work goes into educating us but genuinely how lucky we are to have such supportive and kind adults around us.

If you are still reading at this point, then we would like to leave you with some final advice. Essentially, make the most of it! We are always told that time flies but, in this case, it really does. The opportunities on offer are never ending and they are a huge part of what makes Kingswood such an incredible adventure. Yes, the journey’s been full of ups and downs, good days and bad, but, ultimately, it’s been a journey filled with kindness, purpose and community. That is something you can’t take for granted.

If we could go back in time and talk to our Year 7 selves, we would be saying, ‘please stop worrying!’

There’s no use in comparing yourself to how smart, or sporty, creative or friendly you are to others around you. And, please, don’t think you’ll be rubbish at something if you’ve never even tried it. The most terrifying thing you will do over the course of your education will be to try new things – trust us, we’ve been there – but those things that will terrify you so much in the moment will teach you more about yourself than doing nothing ever could.

So, as we leave a place that has meant so much to us and step out into the big wide world, we think that the most important part of Kingswood is its genuine sense of community. The fact that everyone belongs. It is a place where you can meet new people, try new things,

fail, succeed, laugh and cry and still be welcomed by all with open arms. We urge you to grasp the chance you are presented with at Kingswood with both hands. You might not realise how lucky you are to have been here, to have been a part of this community, until you’re sat, in your final prize giving, knowing that it’s all coming to an end.

Finally, the notion that Kingswood is a community is often thrown about, but it is more than true. All who are involved in Kingswood, from pupils to teachers, to support staff, alumni and beyond – thank you – you make it a community, a home, for everyone.

Freddie and Izzy (Heads of School, 2023-2024)

2024 LEAVERS

TEACHING STAFF 2023-2024

NAME JOINED SUBJECT

Mr Andrew Gordon-Brown

Mr John M Davies

01/09/2020 Headmaster and Principal of the School Foundation

01/09/2017 Senior Deputy Head & Vice Principal

Dr Rachel McIlwaine 01/09/2022 Deputy Head (Academic)

Mr John W Davies

Mr Jamie Matthews

01/09/1994 Deputy Head (Co-Curricular)

01/09/2002 Deputy Head (Pastoral)

Mr Ed Allchorne 13/06/2016 Assistant Head of Sixth Form (Academic); Head of Biology

Mr David Allies-Curtis 01/09/2021 Art and Photography Teacher

Mrs Sophie Andell 01/09/2017 MFL

Mr Will Atkin 01/09/2023 Computer Science

Mr Andy Barton 01/01/2018 Director of Music

Miss Emily Becconsall 01/09/2022 Geography

Miss Rosie Bond 01/09/2019 MFL

Miss Taryn Borys 01/09/2022 Librarian

Mrs Abi Bowman 01/09/2020 Psychology

Ms Jo Brayton 01/01/2022 Head of Drama

Mrs Natalie Brett

Mr Barnaby Brown

Mrs Emma Brown

Mr James Brown

01/09/2022 Physics

01/09/2010 DT; Houseparent Hall

01/09/2017 Head of English; Head of Gifted & Talented

01/09/2009 Head of Boys' Games; Houseparent Upper

Mr Stephen Brown 01/01/2011 Head of Art

Mr Nick Burton 01/09/2023 Chemistry

Mr James Castrique 01/01/2018 Head of DT

Mrs Ilona Chamen 01/09/2017 Head of Study Support

Miss Charlotte Chua 01/09/2015 English

Mr Jude Chua 01/09/2010 Mathematics

Mr Rick Clarke 01/09/2023 English

Mr Liam Conner 01/09/2019 Head of EAL

Mrs Monica Corripio-Lopez

28/01/2019 English; Houseparent Summerhill

Mrs Nicola Curtis 01/09/2016 PE; Assistant Head of Lower School

Mrs Sarah Dakin 01/09/2008 Head of Classics

Mr Daniel Darwin 01/09/2012 Head of History & Politics

Miss Amy Davidge 01/09/2022 Mathematics

Mr Matt Deacon 01/09/2022 Head of Chemistry

Mr Olly East 01/09/2018 DT

Mr Gareth Edgell 01/09/2010 Head of Computer Science

Mrs Claire Edwards 01/09/2008 Business Studies

Miss Sophie Elliott 01/09/2015 Art

Miss Charlotte Evans 01/09/2020 Head of MFL

Miss Alice Fox 01/09/2017 Second in Mathematics

Mrs Elaine Francis 01/09/2015 Music

Mr Euan Gordon 15/05/2017 Geography

Miss Jane Hammond 01/09/2023 English

Miss Natalie Hannah 01/09/2019 Head of Academic PE

Mr Darrell Harding 01/09/2002 Drama and Theatre; Head of Boarding

Miss Emma Hawthorne 01/09/2023 German

Miss Sophie Hay 01/09/2022 PE and Games

Mrs Sarah Herlinger 01/09/2012 Co-Head of Middle School; History & Politics

Mr James Hills 01/09/2022 Business Studies

Mr Tim Hooper 01/09/2023 Mathematics

Miss Holly Hyams 01/09/2023 Mathematics

GOVERNORS 2023-2024

Mr Paul Baines Miss Judith Fenn

Mrs Helen Bools Mr Peter Freeman

Mrs Jessica Briggs Miss Beth Garner

NAME

JOINED SUBJECT

Mr John Jackson 01/09/2022 PE/Hockey

Miss Amy Jenkins 01/09/2022 History & Politics

Mrs Hannah Jenkins 01/09/2022 Chemistry

Mrs Anna Knights 01/09/2004 Mathematics

Mr Jamie Knights 04/09/2006 Music

Miss Felice Laake 01/09/2019 Biology

Ms Priscilla Lam 01/09/2017 Head of Mandarin

Mrs Sarah Leclercq-Thain 01/09/2018 Head of Economics

Ms Ruoshan Li 01/09/2022 Physics

Ms Debbie Longland 01/09/2022 Biology; Co-Head of Careers

Mr Bill Lonsdale 01/09/2023 Computer Science

Mr Luke Lorimer 01/09/2021 Mathematics

Ms Nicola Lowe 01/09/2019 Study Support

Mr Paul Lynch 01/09/2022 Head of RPE

Ms Jo Lyons 01/09/2023 Economics

Mr Peter MacDonald 01/09/2003 Assistant Head (Academic); History & Politics

Mrs Juliette Mainwaring 01/09/2003 English; Houseparent Fonthill

Mrs Alexandra Matthews 23/04/2007 Geography

Mr Tom Moat 01/09/2017 Head of Geography

Miss Alice Moore 01/09/2016 English

Mr Jonny Moore 01/09/2022 Physics

Miss Amy Murtagh 13/10/2020 Humanities

Mrs Sarah Musgrove 01/09/2021 Geography; Houseparent School

Mr Garrod Musto 01/09/1994 Computer Science; Mathematics; Director of Partnerships & Outreach

Mr George Newbould 01/09/2016 History & Politics

Mrs Steph Newbould 01/09/2023 RPE

Miss Michelle Newman 12/01/2004 PE

Miss Sam Page 01/09/2022 English

Mrs Eugénie Pasco 01/09/2014 MFL; Co-Head of Careers

Mrs Alice Paterson 01/09/2022 Biology

Miss Una Paver 08/01/1990 PE; Biology

Mr Ed Peerless 01/09/2011 Head of Physics

Mr Stephen Pentreath 01/09/2015 Head of Lower School; Chemistry

Ms Emma Prowse 01/09/2020 Study Support

Mr Timothy Reeman 01/09/1988 Director of Sport

Mrs Imogen Rickard 01/09/2023 Physics

Miss Nadine Robinson 01/09/2010 MFL

Miss Kathy Shaw 01/09/2022 English

Mrs Victoria Sim 01/09/2012 Head of Girls' Games

Mr Matthew D Smith 01/09/2016 Mathematics

Mr Matthew W Smith 01/09/2016 Head of Mathematics

Mrs Laura Smyth 01/09/2011 Co-Head of Middle School; Biology

Mr Steven Smyth 01/09/2012 Geography; Houseparent Middle

Miss Louise Sobey 01/09/2019 MFL

Mrs Nicki Sparks (Gerrish) 01/09/2013 Chemistry

Mrs Nat Stewart 01/09/2018 English; Head of Life Skills

Mr Barney Stuttard 01/09/2018 Geography

Ms Najat Taibi 01/09/2018 Head of French

Miss Katie Taverner 01/09/2023 Head of Psychology

Mr Miles Thompson 01/09/2023 KS3 Science

Mr David Walker 01/09/2009 Head of Spanish

Mrs Lizzy Ward 01/09/2013 Drama

Mr Digby Webb 01/09/2015 PE

Mr Roger White 01/09/2012 Mathematics

Miss Harriet Wilson 01/09/2013 Assistant Head of Sixth Form (Pastoral); RPE; Activities Co-ordinator

Mr Craig Woodgate 01/09/2001 Head of Sixth Form; History & Politics

Mr Guy Hinchley

Mr David Lane

Mr Tim Lindsay (Chair of Governors)

Mr Ian Falconer Mr Malcolm Gordon Dr Clare Millington

STAFF FAREWELLS

The following words are an adaptation of the Headmaster’s valedictions to this year’s staff leavers in Final Assembly.

PAULINE BASS & PETE CLARK BASS...

Having joined the School as a pot wash in 1975, Pauline Bass has been preparing food to fuel Kingswood pupils and staff for almost 49 years and is now ready for retirement. Earlier in the year, we also said goodbye to Pete Clark who had spent 47 years in the Gardening team at Kingswood. It is a wonderful thing to have people such as Pauline and Pete who dedicated their whole working lives to Kingswood and on behalf of all of us I offer humble and heartfelt thanks.

MRS CLARKE

LANGUAGE ASSISTANTS

In the Summer term, we offered our thanks and best wishes to our Language Assistants, to Miss Colombel for her support with French, to Miss Fong for her support in Spanish and to Miss Schnetzer for her support in German. We also said farewell to Miss Wang who has supported our work in Mandarin. Miss Wang joined in 2022 and has been more than a language assistant, teaching a wide range of groups and subjects. She is moving on to be a TA in St John’s Primary School and we wish her all the best with her new role.

MISS HAY

Miss Hay has been an amazing PE teacher for the last three years and a wonderful Resident Assistant in Summerhill for the last two years. Miss Hay has made a huge contribution as a member of the PE department, leading swimming and coaching a wide range of our teams on Saturdays. In Summerhill, Miss Hay has epitomised the House values of the FLOURISH acronymshe is Full of confidence, Loving, has no hesitation in Owning up when she's made mistakes, she is Unique, she is Reflective, she has great Integrity, she Serves with a smile and she is full of Humility. She has been an amazing role model for all the students and we are very sad to see her go. We have no doubt that she will flourish in her new school and we wish her all the very best with the next chapter of her life.

Mrs Clarke joined the Kingswood Art department back in the Spring term. As a highly qualified and experienced artist and teacher, Mrs Clarke swiftly took charge of her various classes and supported all pupils with their artwork. We offer our thanks to Mrs Clarke who has been invaluable delivering a breadth of quality lessons throughout her short stay at Kingswood, and has brought a cheerful outlook and infectious laughter to the department. We wish her well as she moves on to her new role with Mr Clarke in outer London.

MR CLARKE

We have been fortunate to have Mr Clarke join us as teacher of English this year. The English department have appreciated his kindness, and are grateful that he has been a brilliantly safe pair of hands with every class. Mr Clarke will be leaving us to take on the headship of St James Senior Boys’ School in Ashford. We wish him all the best in his new role from September.

MISS TURNER

The Library team said goodbye and thank you to Miss Turner. She is moving on after a year and half at Kingswood. She was a tremendous help in the library and helped lead and guide the fantastic team of junior librarians. She will be missed in the library and we wish her well.

MISS HYAMS

Miss Hyams has completed two stints in the Maths department this year, each time taking over classes as both maternity and paternity cover. The department say that her youthful enthusiasm for all things Maths, Yoga or fitness-related has been infectious. Her subject knowledge and passion for teaching has been consistent and clear. We wish her well as she moves on to her next adventure.

MR ATKIN

Our thanks go to Mr Atkin who joined us in September and has been an excellent teacher of Computer Science. He has helped contribute to the curriculum development of the department, and outside of Computer Science, Mr Atkins has been a wellrespected Year 12 tutor in Middle, carefully guiding them through their first year in Sixth Form. He has helped throughout the year with Rugby and Cross Country activities. We wish him all the best as his continues his teaching career in The Netherlands.

MR SMITH

Mr Smith joined Kingswood eight years ago moving from London to take up the position of Head of Mathematics. He has fulfilled this role superbly, being a knowledgeable, friendly and supportive figure for staff and students alike. As Head of Maths, Mr Smith has presided over many years of outstanding examination results, and incredibly high numbers at A Level.

Mr Smith does not take the easy way out when teaching Mathematics – his firm belief that everyone has the potential to think like a mathematician has resulted in outstanding progress, and many pupils over the years have developed a genuine love for mathematics.

MR HOOPER

Mr Hooper has made a fantastic impact on the Maths department this year. His positive, calm and measured outlook, allied with the care and kindness he has for his students, make him a fantastic teacher. The department have loved having him as a colleague and will miss him greatly, both in the classroom and the cricket field, where he turned in some wonderful performances for the staff team, as well as leading an under 15 cricket team. We wish Mr Hooper well as he steps into the role of Second in Maths at King Edward’s.

In addition to his work in the Maths department, Mr Smith has refereed school rugby on the Upper, been a Bronze DofE stalwart and an incredibly supportive tutor to countless Middle sixth formers. We will certainly miss his many contributions in these areas.

Mr Smith is somebody that genuinely loves to help out others, no matter what they may need, and indeed his inability to say “no” has been a huge benefit to so many people in our community! Mr Smith is genuinely liked and appreciated by everybody he meets and he will be sorely missed by all at Kingswood, both past and present.

Mr Smith now moves on to a new adventure with his family

MRS PASCO

MRS RICKARD

Mrs Rickard has worked tirelessly throughout this year, creating innovative and engaging learning activities for her students and always encouraging them to think independently. She has taught Physics, Chemistry and Lower School Science classes and has also been a supportive presence in Westwood. Her professionalism, kindness and sense of humour has been hugely appreciated by the pupils and her colleagues. We wish Mrs Rickard the very best in her future endeavours.

as they move to Kenya where he takes up an exciting role at Peponi School. He will be a huge loss to the Maths department and indeed the whole of the Kingswood community. Good luck, Mr Smith, and thank you for all you have done.

Mrs Pasco has brought warmth, humour, kindness and energy to Kingswood for the last ten years; she is a much loved and trusted colleague and friend to many, as well as being a vivacious and engaging teacher of both French and Spanish.

As Head of Careers, Mrs Pasco helped to inspire and encourage students to consider future pathways open to them and invited so many interesting and varied speakers into school to help ignite enthusiasm. Mrs Pasco has, for many years, masterminded our work experience programme, enabling many pupils over the years to have inspirational and exciting experiences in the world of work beyond the school gates – a hugely important part of any education.

We wish Mrs Pasco well as she embarks on a new chapter of her life beyond Kingswood. We will all miss her laughter, her kindness and her dedication to the Kingswood community.

MRS EDWARDS

Our sincere thanks go to Mrs Edwards who has been at Kingswood for almost 16 years. For a number of years, Mrs Edwards served as Assistant Head of the Sixth Form, taking particular responsibility for the day-to-day running of the Dixon. She did this with her customary energy and efficiency, but her impact stretched way beyond her official responsibilities.

She also set up the first Psychology department and was an outstanding teacher and Head of Department. Mrs Edwards is renowned for her high standards and ambition, and always has your best interests at heart. She is the kind of person who will often go the extra mile to help her pupils, ensuring each is pushed to be the best they can be. Her examination results over the years speak for themselves.

This year Mrs Edwards has worked in the Business department, where she has been encouraging, caring and has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to teach complex finance to even the least confident mathematicians.

We want to thank her for all that she has done to support Kingswood over the last 16 years.

MR WHITE

Mr White joined Kingswood as a Mathematics teacher in 2012, having turned to teaching following many years working all over the world in the shoe industry. Mr White quickly developed a reputation as an excellent classroom teacher and tutor as well as recording many victories with a range of sports teams across the Hockey and Tennis terms. As a coach, he is always positive, optimistic, and always willing to trust his players to execute their best in every situation.

During his time at Kingswood, he is known for his excellent teaching in Maths, and for his leadership as housemaster of Upper. Following his tenure as housemaster, Mr White served as a tutor in Hall, completing the set of all three senior boys’ houses, having served in Middle earlier in his Kingswood career. He has made a huge impact on both his students and his colleagues in so many ways.

Mr White has made the decision that it is time for him to retire, and to explore new opportunities beyond Kingswood. You may see him again next year as he has been strong-armed in to doing some Computer Science teaching by Mr Edgell and Dr McIlwaine, but we thought it right to acknowledge and celebrate his official leaving at this time.

We wish him all the best in his well-deserved (semi-) retirement and we will greatly miss his fulsome contributions to our school community, although we are delighted that he will continue to stay connected with us next year.

MR JOHN DAVIES

Mr Davies arrived at Kingswood seven years ago from Abingdon School, so it is apt that as his first Year 7 cohort leave Kingswood, he bows out with them.

Mr Davies joined us as Deputy Head Academic which he did brilliantly for five years. He successfully delivered on a range of important change projects including wholesale change of the school day, strengthening various systems to improve teaching and learning. The very strong A Level results during and beyond the pandemic are in no small part down to his academic leadership. In 2022, Mr Davies was appointed Senior Deputy and he and the team of deputy heads have been wonderfully effective in overseeing the running of the School on a day to day basis.

Mr Davies is a very intelligent human being who is basically very good at everything (including video games and most recently turning his hand to being a netball coach) but I reckon his superpower is his Emotional Intelligence which is second to none. He has an uncanny ability to work people out, to discern their characters and ascertain their

needs. I’m sure this has its roots in his genuine compassionate concern for others. I have often marvelled at his ability to help people find a way through the most difficult situations. He has been a coach, mentor and guide to so many in our community.

Mr Davies is a man of great faith, blessed with a wonderful optimism and playfulness, and he’s also a gifted public speaker. We have been treated to his masterful talks and sermons: in chapel, in school service, sometimes with his guitar, sometimes in fancy dress, quite often about bread. They are always well crafted, enjoyable and with a thoughtful message. He didn’t need much persuading to get involved in the staff pantomime, bringing the house down with his hilarious acting.

I know the PR have really appreciated his efforts to work with them on various ideas, guiding them to be a real force for good in the School. Head of School, Izzy Evans says: “I think we can all agree that Mr

...never failed to be a spirited, welcoming and kind-hearted presence...

Davies has never failed to be a spirited, welcoming and kindhearted presence at Kingswood, even if we’ll all have his performance as Prince Charming seared into our memories for all the wrong reasons. We’ve loved working with him this year as PR, and will miss him almost as much as we will miss his pizza!”

John, you have done a wonderful job at Kingswood, you have taught all of us a great deal and you will be greatly missed. We wish you well as you head off to Dauntsey’s School which will surely go from strength to strength under your leadership.

80TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY

HOW KINGSWOOD AIDED THE D-DAY INVASION

6th June 2024 marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landing.

By 1940, Nazi Germany had conquered most of Western Europe and had turned all the Channel ports in France into strongholds. This posed a significant challenge for the Allies, as they needed the harbours to land the hundreds of thousands of men and millions of tons of supplies necessary for the success of Operation Overlord, the codename given to D-Day.

Ambitious engineering led to the idea of an artificial harbour, composed of huge floating concrete caissons. This soon became known as the Mulberry Harbour, used on D-Day for the landing on the Normandy beaches.

Kingswood School played an important role in the design of the Mulberry Harbour. In December 1938, Alfred Barrett Sackett, Kingswood’s Headmaster at that time, was secretly informed that the government would need to take over the School buildings. In 1939, the Admiralty commandeered the School, and Kingswood became a base for the Ministry of Defence.

Looking back 80 years, Kingswood was very different from the vibrant community of learning we see today. Surrounded by barbed wire

and with armed sentries posted at each entrance, the School building had become the centre of planning for one of the most audacious engineering projects of World War II.

During this time, the Admiralty designed and oversaw the development of the floating breakwaters that formed most of the Mulberry Harbour.

Here's an interesting fact: be it by coincidence or design, the caissons that made up 9.5 kilometres of the breakwater were remarkably similar in size to our Dining Hall! Each measuring 60 metres long, 18 metres high, and 15 metres wide. Whether the engineers working at Kingswood were inspired by the size of our Dining Hall remains a mystery. Nonetheless, it’s fascinating to consider the parallels between the caissons and our Dining Hall.

Additionally, for many years it was rumoured that the codename ‘Mulberry’ for the harbour was thought of at Kingswood. The Admiralty’s Civil Engineer-in-Chief, who worked on the designs of the Mulberry Harbours while based at Kingswood, had his personal office overlooking the School’s mulberry tree (which still survives, although it now must be propped up). Despite this, the word Mulberry was simply the next code word on a list.

Once the designs were finalised and approved by Winston Churchill, the

Allies had 150 days to build all the various components of the harbour, involving 55,000 men and carried out under a blanket of complete secrecy. This included 213 concrete caissons, each weighing over 7,000 tons.

D-Day required unprecedented cooperation between international armed forces, and we would like to take this time to thank and remember the men and women who served at this time, for their bravery, skills and dedication that helped make D-Day possible.

To remember this significant time, we have two original maps of the Mulberry Harbour on display in the Cusworth Room, together with a framed dedication from the Admiralty. One document is a working record of production progress, while the other is a unique illustrated cartoon depicting the features of the Harbour according to their codenames, designed by Francis Marshall, an artist and fashion illustrator for Vogue, who was seconded to the Admiralty’s camouflage department. This map was discovered by Mr A B Sackett in the empty school premises after the Admiralty had vacated the buildings and campus.