The
Heron The Newsletter of Loughborough Grammar School Edition 12 June 2015
Curtain Call
June 2015
An eclectic mix
The New Directors’ Season this year consisted of five very different productions. All directed by boys and girls from LGS and LHS, the pieces were both cleverly directed and extremely well-acted: the directors certainly extracted the best from their casts. It was a melange of surrealism, dark humour, contemporary comedy and classical drama which left the audiences with wonderful visions tinged with a touch of bewilderment. Brilliant!
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June 2015
The Quality Of Mersey Blood Brothers
Those who did not get to see Blood Brothers in March missed an absorbing and polished production of Willy Russell’s 1982 play, originally written for use in schools and developed in conjunction with Merseyside Young People’s Theatre. Led by exceptionally strong performances by Holly Prangley, Rachel Thompson, Nikki Tewson, Sophie Callery, David Bernstein, Harry Hercock, Hari Jethwa, Abigail Burton, Josh Rice, Sam Hackwood, Isi Webb-Jenkins and Hamza Ali, all of whom sustained entirely convincing characterisations throughout, the pace of the piece held the audience’s attention in rapt and increasingly horrified contemplation of the inescapable fate of the “blood brothers” and the developing tragedy. Congratulations to all who were involved in the production but particular mention must be made of Sally Bruton-Lang’s direction of her young cast, from whom she coaxed astonishingly mature performances which would have graced professional productions and in doing so created moments of heart-stopping, powerful emotion which electrified the senses. Peter Viccars’ imaginative and versatile set and lighting provided the performers with a showcase worthy of their talents and quality and the superb support of the technical teams ensured that an entirely believable story unfolded without a visible strain.
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June 2015
A WEEK IN GREECE During a fascinating seven-day tour of Greece in April, 24 boys and 16 girls from the Endowed Schools thoroughly enjoyed the 2015 Classics Trip. Accompanied by six members of staff, amongst the places they visited were Delphi to see the oracle of Apollo; Olympia, where they indulged in a foot race in the stadium; Nafplio’s hill top fortress; the theatre at Epidavros; Mycenae, the citadel of Agamemnon who led the expedition to Troy; Corinth, where St Paul addressed the early Christians; and, of course, Athens, the site of Acropolis on the foot of which are the huge theatres of Dionysus and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.
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THE PRESSGANG
June 2015
Stop Press!
BBC School News Report 2015 The news team was picked at the start of the year for the BBC School News Report to the excitement of the selected pupils and roles were given out. Building up to the event, the team prepared for the big day by writing articles and interviewing selected members of staff, including: Mr.McCabe for a report on homework; Mr.Jackson for a report on Electric Cars; Miss Bancroft; Mr Lewis about rugby. On the day, the team met in Q2 early in the morning to catch up on the latest news and discuss the articles that would be written throughout the day. The first interviews were with Mr.Dawkins about the budget cuts, Dr.Healey about the iPads and Mr.West about music. The news teams then set to work writing their articles, whilst the technology team got busy uploading things to the website. Meanwhile, the sub-editor and editor were occupied with proof reading and checking over the articles. During lunch, the final two interviews took place with Mr.Lloyd and Flora Lewis about the teenage trust.
Double Blue Election fever gripped the School in May with first, a visit by the candidates for the Loughborough Constituency – Steve Coltman (Liberal Democrat), Nicky Morgan (Conservative), Matthew O’Callaghan (Labour), Bill Piper (UKIP) and Matt Sisson (Green) – who were faced with questions from Sixth Formers from both LGS and LHS and later the LES Election itself. The Conservatives were triumphant in both elections and we must congratulate Nick Mahoney on the more important of the two victories.
A grand day out On the morning of 20 March 2015 large numbers of the school gathered in the Quad to experience the partial eclipse. Dr Healey, our own astronomer, plus the members of the Physics Department set up an array of instruments which meant that the boys had the best possible chance of seeing this rare event. Expectations were high, glasses were donned, phones and cameras were made ready and thankfully there was a clear sky as 0942 approached and 87% of the Sun was hidden. Yes, as wisdom would have it, the temperature noticeably dropped and it did seem eerily quiet.
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June 2015
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“C” is for “C
“Cadets”
June 2015
The 58th Annual Review 25th April, 2015 The 58th Combined Cadet Force Review took place on Saturday, 25th April and for the second year running we were fortunate enough to have the sun shine upon us, although it was cold at times! This year’s was a particularly significant Review as it was Mr Fisher’s final parade as Headmaster as well as marking the centenary of the school having a cadet force. There was a distinct Naval theme to the occasion, commencing with the arrival of a Lynx Helicopter piloted by former pupil Lieutenant Commander Peter Higgins, AFC, RN, which caused great excitement amongst the cadets and spectators. Following the march-on by some 240 Cadets, the Reviewing Officer, Admiral Sir Trevor Soar, KCB OBE, former Commander in Chief Fleet and NATO Maritime Commander, spent time carefully inspecting the lines and talking to the Cadets. It was a great pleasure to have Sir Trevor as the Reviewing Officer – another former pupil and now a Governor of the Endowed Schools – and we were delighted that his wife, Lady Anne, was able to join us for the occasion. Wing Commander Sergeant being unable to present the Contingent to Sir Trevor, Lieutenant Commander Kerr commanded the parade in his stead, completing the Royal Navy theme perfectly. The Priestley Sword winner this year was Cadet Regimental Sergeant Major William Counsell.
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SPORTS R
June 2015
Bunbury Big Bash The Under 13 Cricket XI had a resounding victory against Bedford Modern School in the first round of the Banbury Cup competition. Batting first, Loughborough scored a mammoth 252 for 2 in their 25 overs with Dylan Church and Harry Sturmey excelling. Dylan made 101 not out off 70 balls and Harry 84 not out off only 39 balls in their undefeated stand of 169 for the third wicket. Rain then intervened and Bedford Modern’s innings was restricted to 10 overs in which they needed to score 102 runs based on Loughborough’s run rate of 10.1 per over. They were never in the hunt and accumulated only 26 for 1 due to some very tight bowling. Full of confidence, the team then took on Nottingham High School, but though they were set only 140 to win, they failed to reach their target.
What a record Once again our congratulations go to Ben Djikstra in Year 11 who won the U17’s Mini-marathon on the day of the London Marathon, breaking the record by an incredible 22 seconds. Ben finished the race in 14 minutes precisely: he is seen here winning the Youth Olympic Triathlon in 2014. Ben is already planning ahead for his next races and we wish him every success!
Tiger, tiger … This year we were pleased to have Tiger’s legend Lewis Deacon on hand to present the awards at our 2nd Annual Rugby Presentation Evening. It was great to see so many players present as the Player of the Year from each team, from the U12Bs to the 1st XV, stepped forward at the end of another excellent season for the Rugby Club.
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For good causes It is now traditional for the junior rugby teams to play inter-form rugby matches in aid of charity and this year Years 7 and 8 raised several hundred pounds for a variety of good causes.
S REPORT Oh, I do like to be … This year’s Blackpool Tour started in Great Glen – yes, you are right, in the wrong direction, but it was deliberate. The lads took part in the Leicester Grammar School 7s and reached the final before losing narrowly to Warwick School. Then, they headed North for two matches, honours even, and a day at the Pleasure Beach – definitely a victory.
June 2015
The Under 14 XV have been crowned County Champions after beating Mount Grace High School 38 nil. Despite the score, it was a hard-fought game with the opposition stretching Loughborough’s defence on a number of occasions, but resolute defence held them out. The team played some very attractive running rugby when they had the ball scoring a number of long-range tries.
Leaders of the pack at Quorn The Under 12s were crowned County Rugby Champions by defeating Welland Park in the final at Quorn at the end of May. The new format, used for only the second time, saw some excellent rugby being played, not least by LGS and they came out worthy winners.
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June 2015
Sum Going! The Junior Maths team comprising Matthew Drury (8JRC) Danushka Edirisinghe (8AMW) Ioan Irmanov (9EJ) and Antoni Krupa (9EOL) won its regional heat of the Team Maths Challenge in March and qualified for the National Final in London in June. Congratulations to them and we wish them good luck for the final.
In November last year, all members of Year 6 took part in the Primary Maths Challenge. Francis was awarded best in school and qualified for the bonus round which he completed last month. He successfully secured a bronze award in this national competition which places him alongside the other 540 medal winners in this competition this year. Francis is the first boy in the school to achieve this status at such a young age and will hopefully set a precedent for others in years to come.
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Summing Up Art for marks’ sake The Year 11 and 12 Theatre Studies students excelled this year with their examination performances. The GCSE group was ambitious in their choice of an extract from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The Year 12s presented two very different pieces: Antigone – a powerful interpretation of the original story by Sophocles and the later Jean Anouilh adaptation – and The 39 Steps, recognisable of course, but with some excellent original touches inspired by the absurd and clowning.
June 2015
g Up Success A great reaction This year eight Sixth Form chemists entered the National Chemistry Olympiad of whom six were awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze certificates. This was an excellent performance when normally these awards go to no more than 50% of the 2500 entrants.
Doubling up Following on from his previous achievement in being runner-up in the intermediate section of Royal Geographical Society Young Geographer of the Year, as reported in a previous Heron, Robert Saunt of Year 10 again narrowly missed out in another national competition. As in the RGS competition, competing against people at least a year older than him, he was runner-up in the National Science and Engineering Competition.
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June 2015
Polished off Sadly, the iconic cherry blossom which has adorned the Quad for some 50 years has been seen for the last time. The trees are being removed during the summer as many of them are not healthy and the roots are damaging the buildings. With this in mind, young trees, not seen on the photograph, were planted a few years ago and will soon be seen in their full glory.
Loughborough Grammar School admin@lesgrammar.org Tel: 01509 233233 www.lesgrammar.org Š2015 No unauthorised use or duplication of images or editorial content. Loughborough Endowed Schools is a Company Limited by Guarantee, Number 4038033 and is Registered in England & Wales. It is a Registered Charity, number 1081765. The Registered Office is 3 Burton Walks, Loughborough, Leics. LE11 2DU.