Edited by David Hopkins, Head of Prep School Liaison (dnh@kings-school.co.uk)
from Issue No 9, 2022
Earlier in the year the announcement was made that Jude Lowson had been appointed Head. Ms Lowson will be the school’s first female Head in its long history – the school was founded in 597. Ms Lowson who has exceptional academic credentials has worked in some of the UK’s top independent schools. She is currently the acting Head of King’s College School, Wimbledon. Prior to that, she was Deputy Head, Academic at Putney High having started her teaching career at Whitgift School. Ms Lowson has an MA in History from the University of Cambridge. Ms Lowson commented: “It is a tremendous honour to have been appointed to the position of Head of King’s, Canterbury. The school has an enviable reputation for co-curricular and academic excellence, and I am excited to have the opportunity to strengthen this further whilst also cherishing the unique ethos of this very special school. The school’s character, exceptional facilities and historic setting mean that it is perfectly placed to provide an outstanding education for its pupils, preparing them for an exciting and fulfilling future. I am very much looking forward to leading the school in its next chapter.” Ms Lowson will take up her new post in September 2023; until then Mrs Liz Worthington, current Senior Deputy Head, will hold the post of interim Head.
King’s Appoints
First Female Head
Peter Roberts retired as Headmaster at the end of the summer term after 10 highly successful years at the helm, fittingly rounded off with a whole series of tributes to him and Marie. Peter and Marie arrived at King’s in 2011 on the back of Peter’s distinguished career as Housemaster of the Scholars’ House at Winchester College and Headmaster of Bradfield College. He and Marie brought a Gallic panache which dovetailed neatly with the cosmopolitan nature of the Precincts. Peter’s legacy is readily seen through landmark buildings, including Lady Kingsdown girls’ boarding house, the Malthouse Performing Arts Centre alongside the International College, and the new Science Centre due to open in 2023. Peter would, though, be the first to emphasise that a school is primarily about people over buildings. He believed that his primary role as Head was to look after the welfare of his pupils, which is why he insisted on writing a report to parents on every boy and girl at the end of every single term - a rarity among modern Heads. It meant that he really did know and support all his pupils and why King’s has a deserved reputation for top quality pastoral care. Peter and Marie left in July with the school’s every best wish for their retirement in France. They will be greatly missed.
Peter and Marie Roberts
King’s Week 2022 Returns
The highlight of the summer term and indeed the whole year at King’s has long been King’s Week – the school’s very special festival of Music, Art, Drama, Dance and Sports which takes place each year in late June/early July. Thanks to Covid restrictions, a full King’s Week had not been held since summer 2019 and so its return in 2022 was all the more keenly anticipated by pupils, familes and staff. The week did not disappoint and, blessed by wonderful summer weather, consisted of over 125 different events taking place across the school. Drama and Dance productions featured Dr Faustus, Twelfth Night and KiDaCo (King’s dancers) with Music performances involving The Serenade in the Cathedral cloisters, Jazz concert and The Gala Symphony, and many more being performed throughout the week. This year had a particular focus on our departing Headmaster, Peter Roberts and his wife Marie.
Fencing at King’s continues to thrive under the leadership of Marc Chapman, Head of Fencing and his expert coaching team. Pupil numbers have increased to record figures – with 105 in the Lent Term. The school has a superb new Fencing facility at the Malthouse Sports Hall which is one of the largest in the UK, housing 18 training pistes complete with modern underfloor wiring and wall mounted scoring apparatus. Performances continue to be strong with numerous county and regional champions, culminating with King’s being crowned the overall Boys’ Epee Champions and third in the overall Girls’ Epee at this year’s Public Schools’ Fencing Championships. Sean Qian (Dulwich College Beijing) also won the Boys’ Epee U14 individual title, with Lev Bosky (Newton Prep) 5th and Ealye Masiero (The Banda School, Nairobi) 9th. Marc Chapman comments: “Looking ahead to next year, we are adding additional staff to our coaching team and expanding our competition programme to include national ranking events at U17 and U20 level for our high-performance athletes, as well as offering more opportunities for all pupils to take part in our own home-hosted youth development events.” The future certainly looks bright for fencing at King’s. Work on the construction of the new Science Faculty Building at King’s continues apace, with the building due for completion by Christmas and occupancy in January 2023. Providing six state-of-the-art Physics laboratories as well as a 120-seater lecture theatre which can also be used as two further Science teaching spaces, the new building will bring the three Sciences at King’s into one conjoined/free flowing space for the first time. Externally, the building will visually harmonise with the historic buildings that surround it within the north-eastern part of the Cathedral Precincts; a sympathetic contemporary shell for a high-tech modern interior, capable of delivering the very best of Science teaching and learning and inspiring tomorrow’s scientists.
Splendid Fencing
New Science Building
Live Music Returns www.kings-school.co.uk/boxoffice VERDI REQUIEM Friday 18th March 2022 7.30 CanterburypmCathedral The King's Chorus & Symphony Orchestra Claire Rutter - soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons - mezzo soprano Daniel Norman - tenor Grant Doyle - bass conducted by Will Bersey Tickets Central Nave £10 Rear of Nave £8 Side Aisles £5
King’s music continues to set an immensely high standard and last year has seen live music return as Covid restrictions have eased and a whole series of wonderful performances have been enjoyed at a whole range of venues. In the spring, two fine choral performances featured as a packed cathedral audience were treated to a stellar performance of the Requiem by Verdi, an incredible work for four soloists, symphony orchestra, and chorus. With a formidable line-up of international soloists, the performance saw over 200 pupils take part in the concert, including staff members and past pupils. Just two weeks earlier the Crypt Choir and Chamber Orchestra tackled a second Requiem, this time the moving and evocative setting by Gabriel Fauré, in a filmed recording for broadcast on Good Friday. This impressive performance can be viewed alongside the Verdi concert performance as well as many other concerts on the music department’s YouTube channel.
Saturday Smarties Volunteers Claudia Ross-Russell (Junior King’s), George Young (Lambrook), Lucas de la Vega Mezzoni (Thomas’s Battersea), Ayan Jain (Mayoor School), Aiden Masiero (Banda, Nairobi), Arushi Benefield Chopra (Junior King’s), Onize Salami (Junior King’s), Honor Fox (Vinehall), Anna Cohn (Junior King’s), Dami Solanke (St Lawrence)
Past pupil Matt Stonier (Daneshill and Junior King’s) has continued to carve out a fantastic middle-distance running career since leaving King’s. Earlier in the year the 20-year-old Loughborough student produced a sensational run to break the famous 4 minute mile barrier to win the Emsley Carr Mile. Others who have won the trophy include Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Asbel Kiprop which underlines the extent of Matt’s achievement. An invitation then followed for Matt to run in the prestigious Diamond League event (1500m) in Birmingham. More recently, Matt finished a very creditable seventh in the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and joined the senior Team GB squad for the European Championships in Munich.
King’s runs an exciting Science Outreach programme, headed up by Dr Geoff Nelson who also teaches Chemistry at the school. One key aspect of the programme is Saturday Smarties, where pupils from local primary schools spend a morning in the school’s labs enjoying a masterclass taught by science staff, supported by 12 King’s pupil volunteers. One theme chosen for a Saturday session was forensics, with pupils conducting their own investigations into fingerprints, using microscopes to analyse footprints and soil types, and checking dental records. As well as providing fun and exciting opportunities for visiting pupils, the mornings also give the King’s pupil volunteers a taste of teaching and of leading others in their learning. Saturday Smarties is just one aspect of the school’s partnership with 22 Canterbury primary schools. There are also Family Science Days, with families invited to spend a fun afternoon experiencing science in action and being provided with an insight into what a science education can offer. Another crucial aspect is offering support to subject teachers in participating primary schools to help with their delivery of science. Dr Nelson comments: “Our pupils give up free time to help and do so with such enthusiasm; nor could we do what we do without the support of our lab technicians, but it is well worth all the hard work.”
Athletics Star Science Outreach
Welsh Expeditions
Pictured: Zara Fish (Vinehall), Eliza Fox-Pitt (Wellesley House), Ella Dean, (Cumnor House) Mhairi Simpson, (Junior King’s) Ed Instance (Ashford), Tom Dunbar Johnson (Wellesley House), George Paine (Thomas’s Prep Clapham), Jules Lagarrigue (Wellesley House), Milly Preston (Dulwich Prep Cranbrook), Anoushka Durham (Wellington College International Shanghai), Ben Way (King’s Rochester), Alex Banks (Hereward House), Harry Hughes (The Hall), Fred Way (King’s Rochester).
This Easter a group of 45 pupils and 12 members of staff headed to Anglesey and Snowdonia in North Wales for adventurous training and a chance to enjoy the great outdoors as part of their Duke of Edinburgh awards work. The expedition was split into two groups; the 6a’s who headed to Snowdonia National Park for their four-day qualifying expedition, and the Removes who were taking part in their Bronze DofE expedition in Anglesey. This included activities such as coasteering, paddleboarding, canoeing and low-level traversing. Major Adam Vintner who runs DofE commented: “It was wonderful for pupils to be able to banish the Covid years of lockdowns and “staying local” restrictions and they enjoyed lovely weather for late March with temperatures reaching the low twenties. The pupils worked extremely well together and achieved their DofE goals.” They also found time to visit Anglesey’s most famous station.
Winners were Charles Aylward (Dulwich Prep Cranbrook), Augustin Cook (St Philip’s), Thomas Howse , Holly Piccinin (Junior King’s), Honor Fox (Vinehall), Leah Kim (Nord Anglia International Dubai) Global Perspectives
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Galpin’s Garden Gig Galpin’s House hosted a fantastic afternoon of live music to raise funds for local charity “Canterbury Welcomes Refugees”. Louis Smeeton (Hereward House) set up and ran the event which took place in the House garden. Louis, who was then Head of House, coordinated all the music and enlisted the support of his three bandmates - Elliot Hampton (St Paul’s Cathedral School), Harry Hughes (The Hall) and Maya Moh (St Edmund’s). Equipment was borrowed from the Music Department and the band, who were also joined by various other guests, performed to an audience during a relaxed and very enjoyable afternoon. Housemaster Rob Sanderson commented: “The afternoon was a huge success. We had about 70 people in total come to listen, sit, relax, and eat the chocolate brownies on offer. The afternoon gave the new pupils a small taste of the superb musical talent we have in Galpin’s House, as well as a taste of what King’s Week is like. I am sure this event will now be a regular feature in the calendar and will grow as each year passes.”
The Shell Global Perspectives Competition at the Malthouse Theatre saw 15 finalists, one from each House, present their research presentations on a range of topics such as ‘How did climate change accelerate the inequality in South Sudan?’, ‘To what lengths did the Soviet Union go to suppress democracy?’ and ‘The Land of the Rising Rates – how Japan combatted Covid with an ageing population’. In its fourth year, the competition remains a fun, educational and competitive event with the whole Shell (Year 9) year group in attendance to support their peers. Mr Rob Harrison (Head of Lower School) commented that the event “was extremely successful with an impressive range of different themes and countries represented. Finalists, all of whom had done in-depth research were able to show off their presentation skills with over two hundred students and staff in attendance.’
