Hilary Term - January 2021
World Youth Chess Championship Viraj Shah keen to impress at World Youth Chess Championship Page 2
Venturing into Digital Art I initially downloaded Procreate for fun a few years ago. However, it has become quite unexpectedly resourceful this year and is now a serious aspect of my art. Page 4
Peponi Pupils Shine in Early Examinations Peponi School is delighted to announce the early examination successes of our Sixth Form A Level Mathematics candidates. Page 10
BOARDING AT
Sedge House Welcome to Sedge House, our dedicated Junior House for Boarders from Year 7 to 9. +254(0)794 586733 | r egistrar@peponischool.org
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Hilary Term - January 2021
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Viraj Shah Keen to Impress at World Youth Chess Championship By Washington Onyango - The Standard Sport (www.standardmedia.co.ke) Viraj Shah is confident of finishing in the medal bracket when he represents Kenya at the World Youth Chess Championship next year. Shah, 15, will not only be representing Kenya but also the African content after finishing top during the African School Online Individual Youth Chess Championship played last week.
After emerging Africa’s champion, Viraj received economy class air ticket sponsorship by the African Chess Confederation to participate in the 2021 World Individual Schools Chess Championships to be held in Halkidiki, Greece, next year in May. “I know that I will not only be representing Kenya but will be representing the whole of Africa, and this is a very big thing for me.” “I am going to work even harder and prepare well for the world championship and try to keep Kenya’s name high,” added Viraj Shah started playing chess when he was six years old in 2012.
Rated 1377 in the world and the top seed in Africa U15, he overcame the stiff challenge from his opponents to advance to the next level. “I played very well during the qualifiers where I learnt a few tricks ahead of the global stage. I have played numerous online chess championships and I believe I am at a better position to win a medal for Kenya,” he said. Out of the nine rounds of matches of the qualifiers, Shah won seven, drawing and losing one to emerge top in the Under-15 category. Viraj had started strongly by winning his first match against Brandon Fourie of South Africa in before losing to Oosthuizen also from South African.
“I started chess when I was six-year-old. I got it as an activity from school. I had absolutely no idea how to play, but after a few weeks of learning, I started to beat my own teacher and I realized how fun chess is,” he said. Competitively, Shah started playing in 2015 where he won gold during the Kenya National School championship in the under 10 categories. Shah then carried on to win many local tournaments from 2016 to 2018 before taking a big leap last year by playing in the under 1600 rated category and finished with a perfect score of 6 out of 6 and even beating a fide arbiter. Last year, he represented Kenya in the African Youth chess championship and came fourth overall in the whole of Africa.
He bounced back after the loss to winning five straight matches against Dave Acheampong of Ghana, fellow Kenyan Paul Orlando, Ofile Masilo of Botswana, Chifundo Boshoma of South Africa and Abdeldjalil Bidi of Algeria to inch closer to the title. Algerian Beghriche Rami tried to derail his coronation by wrestling him to a draw in round eight but Viraj had saved his last for the best, beating Leonel Soares of Angola in round nine and final round to emerge African champion.
Viraj Shah - UV
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Congratulations Sohail Peponi School would like to congratulate Sohail Ahmed for his offer from the University of Cambridge. We are delighted in continuing our tradition of sending our pupils to a wide variety of international universities around the world. Peponi School prides itself in encouraging all pupils into the right university for them. This acts as excellent stepping stones towards their career and life beyond.
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Hilary Term - January 2021
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Venturing into Digital Art By Carlo Blunsum - LV I initially downloaded Procreate for fun a few years ago. However, it has become quite unexpectedly resourceful this year and is now a serious aspect of my art. When school closed and quarantine began, I spent a lot more time on the app, messing around with all the different features, until I tried to start a serious piece. From there, I learned how to use the app, and realised it was capable of doing much more than I had been using it for. With quarantine limiting the amount of supplies I had, procreate was an easy way to continue making art without any limitations, and broadening my skillset too, with a whole new medium to experiment with.
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Hilary Term - January 2021
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An Exceptional Artist By Mary Mukule- Teacher of Art & Design Last term the Lower Vth were focusing on Portraiture and Compositional Skills. Carlo Blunsum excelled and displayed an obvious flayer for the subject. He is a gifted visual artist with brilliant technical skill and an eye for detail. He would like to share some of his pieces with the Peponi Community.
Facial Features Medium used: Pencils, Coloured Pencils, Biro and Water-colour paints
Expressive Portraiture Medium used: Pencils
Self- Portrait with favourite items Medium used: Coloured pencil and Acrylic paint for the background
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Maria Blunsum (Carlo's Sister) Abstract portrait inspired by David Hockney's style Medium : Coloured pencils
Hilary Term - January 2021
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From the Library By Hellen Kanyiri - School Librarian
Welcome Back A warm welcome to our library column this term. We have now been accustomed to doing things differently and our school library hasn’t been left out.
Digital Magazines Magazines are a wonderful supplement to classroom instruction, where one is exposed to a variety of content that supports the curriculum. We have subscribed to a platform that offers a broad selection of digital magazines and their archives. These can be accessed from the comfort of our devices. Please use the link ttps://login.exacteditions.com/login.do to access the ones available for the whole school e.g;
Positive News
Science Focus
The magazine for good journalism about good things. When much of the media is full of doom and gloom, Positive News is dedicated to quality, independent reporting about what’s going right globally.
Physics, Chemistry, and Biology are your "big three" branches in science. Lest you forget, there are so many more branches of science, including the formal sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences. They're all here, and you can rely on Science Focus to put the 'fun' in fundamental science for you.
Aesthetica Aesthetica is a worldwide destination for art and culture. In-depth features bringing you today’s most innovative practitioners across art, design, photography, architecture, music, and film.
BBC History Britain's bestselling history magazine bringing the world's rich past to life.
New Internationalist It has in-depth information on human rights, politics, and social and environmental justice. Its aim is to stimulate debate on global justice issues. Has excellent resources for MUN/MSMUN topics. NB: we will be adding more titles so that we have a wide range to choose from. Enjoy.
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Peponi Chess: An Interview With Erick Kanyiri What is the advantage of someone starting to play chess at an early age? When is it best to start? And for those who might be late in learning the game, are they able to get back on track to becoming a titled player? The best age for children to learn chess and develop good strategic thinking is between the ages 6 and 8, as it is then that learning new skills has the greatest influence on the child. Nevertheless, if a child starts later it is not a problem as he/she can still become a strong player. Indeed, many of these ‘late starters’ have gone on to become top chess players. School teachers, are discovering that Chess is a great teaching tool to teach logical thinking, intellectual passion and decision making. Chess in schools is currently booming all over the world.
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If there are three main aspects of the game – Opening, Middlegame and Endgame – what portion of our time should we spend on each? What is most important? The most important quality in chess is to spot the inter–relationships between the chess pieces and their functions. We call it tactics. Tactics makes 90% of the game! Many young players devote a lot of time to openings, but one should not spend, more than 30% of their training time on it. One should spend 20% of their training time on the endgame and 50% of their training time on the middle game. The middle game involves the use of strategy and tactics. If young kids are good at tactics, they can improve very quickly, but the teacher must not forget about strategy and technique! Young players should not neglect practical play and engage in much blitzing! Studies have shown that blitzing can be a lot of fun but after 6–8 games, the quality of play decreases rapidly.
Hilary Term - January 2021
From your own experience can you recall any specific type of opening position or endgame theme that an aspiring chess player should be sure to study because of its particular importance? When I was a young player, I played quickly without a strategy in mind. Trainers now know, that all typical plans can be adopted in the various openings. The main task for the aspiring player is to study and cultivate dynamic play - how to be faster than the opponent, when the position is opened up. As Bobby Fischer stated: “Chess is a matter of timing!” Not everyone can be a chess world champion. How can chess be of benefit in the life of pupils? Research worldwide has shown definite results that chess players perform better in Mathematics, Art and Science subjects. Playing chess may just seem like a whole lot fun to the players, but they are actually thinking their way to success. Most people love and enjoy games. Chess motivates the pupils, to become willing problem solvers and to spend hours quietly, immersed in logical thinking. Chess playing is sufficient to accelerate the increase of IQ in pupils of both genders at all socio-economic levels.
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Benefits of Chess include: 1. Enhanced reading performance. 2. Enhanced mental concentration and self- discipline. 3. Helps develop both memory and verbal reasoning skill. Why would you recommend chess to young people? What joys may they expect to experience on this thrilling journey, in addition to those you have mentioned in your previous answer? First of all, there is the joy of winning, that I find very satisfying. One must acknowledge that it is through losses, that one learns how to improve and how not to repeat mistakes. Learning from ones mistakes, will help one to understand that improvement in every area of life can be achieved by hard work. “Hard work does not guarantee success, but without it success is simply impossible!” Pat Riley. N.B:- Be prepared: One day you are the professor giving lessons, the next day the pupil. Do not lose sleep over a loss, rather be critical of your own play and see where you might have played better.
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Peponi School
Sixth Form Scholarships Peponi School welcomes applications for scholarships and exhibitions at 16+ entry. There are a number of awards available in a wide range of pupil activity. The aim is to reward and encourage pupils to excel and to strive for the very best in their endeavours.
Award Categories Academic Special Awards To apply, visit our website www.peponischool.org
Application Deadline 26th February 2021
For more information: Tel: +254 (0) 794 586733 | Email: registrar@peponischool.org
Hilary Term - January 2021
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Peponi Pupils Shine in Early Examinations
Peponi School is delighted to announce the early examination successes of our Sixth Form A Level Mathematics candidates. We would like to congratulate all our pupils on their outstanding achievements in Mechanics 1, Pure Mathematics 1,2,3 and Further Pure Mathematics 1
Many of our Upper Sixth pupils have now secured top grades in their final A level. Their university destinations include: • University of Bristol • Imperial College London • University of British Columbia
Savannah Tawk, Sean Koome, Shay Shah, Rhea Shah, Simran Raikundalia and Reyan Vora are to be congratulated on their early A* grades in A Level. Savannah and Sean are currently completing their final papers for the Further Mathematics A Level.
The Lower Sixth have also done very well and we are very pleased with the results achieved in A Level papers early in their Sixth Form. Many have achieved A grades in Pure Mathematics 1 with Pascha Schmidt-Hulsman scoring an amazing 99%.
“Peponi Mathematics has always been very strong but this year has been quite exceptional, I am delighted that all candidates achieved excellent grades. A large number of our candidates prepare and write their papers one year in advance and this year our Lower VI did very well.” – Mark Durston, Headmaster
Congratulations to our high achievers for a job well done. We as a school are proud to have incubated you through the years and you have never let us and yourselves down. Looking forward to the moment we shall be sending you to the Universities of your choice. David Kimani - Mathematics and Head of Sixth Form.
Savannah Tawk achieved an exceptional 100 % in both Further Pure Mathematics 1 and Mechanics 1 papers. In the Mechanics 1 examination, 6 of the 8 candidates achieved A grades with Savannah Tawk, Reyan Vora and Rhea Shah scoring 100%, 99% and 97% respectively.
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“No human is limited”- Eliud Kipchoge
WILD PEPONI
Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus Pygerythrus) The vervet monkey, or simply vervet, is an Old World monkey of the family Cercopithecidae native to Africa. The term "vervet" is also used to refer to all the members of the genus Chlorocebus. The five distinct subspecies can be found mostly throughout Southern Africa, as well as some of the eastern countries.
By Robin Backhouse - Teacher of Biology
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Peponi Schools Visit Nakuru At Sarova Woodlands Hotel
5th - 6th
From 10.00am-6.00pm
February 2021
To book an appointment email registrar@peponischool.org
Come discover more about life at Peponi Schools
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11+254
@peponi_school
Peponi School
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Hilary Term - January 2021
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Recipe from Chef Silvester
Beetroot With Fresh Mint For adding a splash of colour to a cold spread, this ruby red salad is hard to beat. The simple mint and balsamic dressing really brings out the earthly flavour of beetroot.
Ingredients (Serves Four) 4-6 raw beetroot (beets) 5-10ml/1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar Juice of ½ lemon 30ml/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 1 bunch fresh mint, leaves stripped and thinly sliced salt
Method
Chef Silvester
Trim off the tops of the leafy stalks down to about 2.5cm/1in of the beetroot. Wash the beetroot but do not peel. Cook in boiling water for 1-2 hours, depending on the size: small ones will be tender after about 1 hour. Drain the beetroot, then cool and peel. Slice or cut into even dice with a sharp knife. Put the cooked beetroot in a bowl. Add the sugar, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil and a pinch of salt and toss together to combine. Add half the thinly sliced fresh mint to the salad and toss lightly until well combined. Place the salad in the refrigerator and chill for about 1 hour. Serve garnished with the remaining thinly sliced mint leaves.
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Hilary Term - January 2021
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Peponi School on Social Media The Official Peponi School Social Media Accounts
Facebook www.facebook.com/peponischool Twitter www.twitter.com/peponi_school Instagram www.instagram.com/peponi_school
Youtube https://bit.ly/2YUrnl8
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Peponi School PO Box 236, Ruiru 00232 +(254) 020 354 6456 +(254) 0733 615 193; +(254) 0722 287 248