THE RONIAN
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Tatler Award Saint Ronan's wins Tatler UK Prep School of the Year!
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Restart a Heart
ISSUE 67 | AUTUMN 2017
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The Prep School took part in a nationwide scheme to learn CPR @SAINTRONANS |
Shepherd Neame Shell pay a visit to Britain's oldest brewer
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The Headmaster
Writes
It seems many moons ago that we welcomed new Ronians, new staff and new donkeys to the school in September. It has been a joy to reflect on everything we have achieved since we reappeared, bleary-eyed, after the summer holidays. It was a great honour to be named the UK’s Prep School of the Year by the Tatler. For me, bringing the cup back to show the children was a definite highlight of the term. I’m delighted that our wonderful school was recognised in this very public way. Since then our feet have hardly touched the ground! We have had considerable successes in sport, with a good proportion of the places on offer in the various county teams and our children excelling in Cricket, Hockey, Cross-country, Sailing and Fencing. Certificates galore were awarded to our gymnasts, belts to our judo fighters and medals to our fencers and swimmers. We have had trips out for Music, as well as some wonderful concerts here at school and I continue to be astounded at the standard of our young musicians. Bicton won the House Shout but, as ever, it was very close! The Nativities were magnificent, as always, and the rehearsals for next term’s musical, the Lion King, are well underway. Our LAMDA results were marvellous, with 60% distinctions and 40% merits. I’m waiting for the results of the ABSRM but am quietly confident! We have finished the air frame for the plane in DT and the children have been busy creating chess and backgammon boards using the new 3D printer. In Art, the children produced a magnificent Hospice Horse and several splendid examples of ‘urban decay’. Our Pre-Prep constructed a striking Armistice Poppy in the woods and each child planted an armistice cross, to mark the fallen, at a special service held at the Tongswood Memorial.
explorer and a most entertaining French Drama Group. We welcomed families to the Autumn and Christmas Fayres, our Next Steps afternoon and to a glorious firework display. We greeted grandparents at a special tea and the Inspectors invited themselves here for two days (!) The former visitors were more of a treat but the latter did give us a clean bill of health. Our Great British Ball was a magnificent occasion and I look forward to the monies raised being used for the creation of ‘Balmoral’ (an additional play area) when the weather gets warmer. Lola secured the first scholarship of the season (Drama); many congratulations to her from all of us. Fingers crossed that there will be more to come this year. Our 13+ Cranbrook candidates were all successful and the advent of pre-testing has seen a number of children in Years 6 and 7 secure early offers to their Public Schools. We thank Jemima for her hard work as Head Prefect and she hands the baton now to her worthy successor, Lily. We waved goodbye to Matt Bryan at the end of term as he takes up a Headship, and salute James Green, who becomes Deputy Head (Academic) in the New Year. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Katie Wyatt, who stepped down from her portfolio of responsibilities at the end of term but fortunately is not leaving us completely: Bea, her youngest of four, is not quite ‘done’ yet! In the New Year, we will welcome Florence Buet to the French and Latin Departments and Hayley Curran to IT, to help with data management.W Emma and I wish you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year.
The children have visited many places this term, including the Houses of Parliament, Shepherd Neame Brewery (thanks to OR, Jonathan Neame) and Herstmonceux. We also welcomed various speakers, including parents (thank you!), the charity Childhood First, a jungle
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Contents Tatler Prep School of the Year
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Astronauts and Aliens
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Upper trip to Battle Abbey
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Class 3 visit Muesum of Kent Life
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Benenden Model United Nations
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Restart a Heart
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The House Shout
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Orphans in Sengal
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Forest School
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Sophie Cleverly
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Le Chateau French Play
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Midway trip to Herstmonceux
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Visting Speakers
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Nursery Garden
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Focus on Cupcake Icing
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Book Chat Club
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The X Factor
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Grub's Up!
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Shell visit Shepherd Neame
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Michaelmas Concert
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Charity and Community
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Autumn Term Prizes
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Salvete and Valete
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Alumni visits & OR News
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Sport
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Alex Codd
Michaelmas Concert Page 13
Coming Up... Term Begins
11th January
FOR meeting
16th January
Half Term Begins
9th February
Half Term Ends
19th February
FOR meeting
20th February
Common Entrance mocks
20th-23rd February
World Book Day
1st March
Quiz Night
2nd March
The Brodie Shield
3rd March
The Lion King
14th & 15th March
ABRSM Exams
19th-21st March
LAMDA Exams
21st March
Term Ends & Carol Service
23rd March
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T
he glossy Tatler invitation came through the post in the holidays and although I popped the date in the calendar, I forgot to reply. This eventually prompted an email from the Tatler to check I would attend. Promising to brush my hair and shine my shoes prior to being there, I must admit I was a bit suspicious!
The Tatler Good School’s Guide is known to be a guide that one doesn’t get in to for love or money. Each year we are invited to submit an essay about the School and answer a huge number of questions. This year, Tatler UK PREP SCHOOL OF sent an emissary, who also contacted some parents and Senior Schools to get the ‘low down’ on us. For our THE YEAR 2017/18 part, instead of presenting glossy students, primed within an inch of their lives, we threw the Tatler emissary into the thick of things. There were a dozen students and we shut them all together in my office and went for a cup of tea! It was only afterwards that I was told that most schools present two highly-polished and practised model students, reading from a script essentially. Not at Saint Ronan’s! It was, however, this spontaneity and the children's genuine love of the school which impressed (along with all the wonderful things we do, of course)! The Landmark Hotel is a very special place and I must say that it was unnerving to be there with the ‘great and the good’ of the teaching world. I was delighted to have the school described in wonderful terms and to be told that we were the Tatler Prep School of the Year! How magnificent! I gave a short speech and then handed over to Tim Haynes from Tonbridge, who had just been awarded best Public School Headmaster. What an honour and what a wonderful evening!
Astronauts and Aliens The children’s Cross-Curricular Week this term was all about Science. A visiting Planetarium made its way to the Sports Hall and the ‘ooh’s’ and ‘ah’s’ of the children when they saw the great big black balloon were wonderful to listen to. We went on a trip in a rocket, whilst in the Space Dome, and our destination was the moon! It was a fabulous experience and the children’s games and conversations for the rest of the week were mostly based around this great day. They also enjoyed the Prep School children visiting them and helping them with science experiments. The week ended with a marvellous day of dressing up. The N&PP became a planet for the day and the incredible imaginations of the children were much in evidence as they ‘floated’ around the Pre-Prep.
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Upper trip to Battle Abbey Upper enjoyed an exciting and informative trip to Battle. The aim was learn more about the Battle of Hastings by investigating the battlefield. The trip started with students exploring the site in small groups. We stopped to look in detail at the key moments of the battle, like when William launched his retreating trick and ordered his archers to fire high up in the air. We all know what happened next! After seeing the battlefield, the next part of the trip involved a visit to the interac-
Class 3 visit the Museum of Kent Life
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n 30th November Year 3 went to the Museum of Kent life in Maidstone. At 8.15am I got to school in my grey evacuee costume. It took an hour to get there. Me and Raife were moaning about how hot it was in the bus. When we arrived I was glad. First we went to a wooden playground with a raven black leather swing and a greenish slide, before our first World War 2 workshop. We walked to a pink timber chapel where we met an ARP warden. I felt a fizzling and bubbling in my tummy! Then we walked in and sat down on pews.
tive exhibit on 1066. Upper enjoyed the hands-on time they had with versions of the weapons and armour from 1066. We finished off by watching a colourful and detailed documentary that further explained how William the Conqueror won the battle. A great trip all round and I very much enjoyed reading the positive reviews the students wrote on their return to Saint Ronan’s.
The ARP warden was a tall man in a green suit with medals on his darker pocket. He showed us a real gas mask. Suddenly a noise came from a box. It sounded like an airplane, getting louder and louder. It was an air raid siren! After that we went to see a hardware shop, shoe shop and grocery store. An old man showed us black and brown
shoes. Five minutes later the man talked about rationing and how it was very difficult to get food in the war. At the end the man kindly gave us a lolly. Then we went to an actual home from World War 2! The window had white sticky tape on it so that if a bomb dropped, the glass would not shatter. They also had no TV! At midday we had a delicious lunch of ham sandwiches, followed by scrumptious crisps and chocolate biscuits. Me, Oli and Will sat together, laughing and telling jokes. Later we went to the Home Guard. He looked scary but I was excited. He told us how to march and salute. We also felt a real gun, it was jolly heavy. We had other workshops, like RAF navigation and evacuee experience, where we wrote letters home. Finally we hopped on the bus and set off home. What a brilliant trip we had. Oliver Boydell 3KL
CongratulationsScholars! Very well done to Lola Thomas who has won a Drama Scholarship to Kent College, Pembury, and, just as we were going to press, Alex Codd received an Art Scholarship to Mayfield. Two fantastic achievements, well done!
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Restart a Heart Course The Tenth Benenden ModelUnitedNations
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even Ronians, representing Angola and Canada, went to Benenden School, which had transformed itself into the United Nations for the day, on the 11th December to debate and pass resolutions. The representatives for Angola were Ben Flynn, Anushka Ramyead, Oscar Sullivan and James Woodhouse; the delegation for Canada was made up of Emma Beart, Arthur Gee and Amelie Geens. Although surrounded mainly by older pupils, our debaters were undaunted and participated well and with verve in debates about diverse subjects such as organ trade, nuclear missiles, rule of law and youth unemployment. Every pupil had to give a short position speech, and then it was open debate where anybody could take the floor. All Ronians contributed well to the debates in their respective committees, though not all wholly freely; special mention must be made of Arthur Gee, who confidently raised points of procedure as though he’d been doing MUN for years; Amelie Geens who spoke numerous times and was always keen to raise her placard and Emma Beart who held two speeches and then dealt with points of information in a considered manner. It was a great day and, although debating matters of international importance is a challenge, the pupils thoroughly enjoyed themselves and held their own against pupils from senior schools.
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n the 10th October we welcomed two First Responders from the South East Coast Ambulance Service – not for their help with a real medical emergency but to teach Years 5 to 8 how to help if they encountered one. The event was part of the nationwide initiative called ‘Restart-aHeart’, which aims to teach the vital skills of CPR, the recovery position and use of an automated defibrillator to children. The children all enthusiastically rose to the occasion and worked as teams, putting each other into the recovery position, trying to resuscitate the mannequins and demystifying the contents of an AED. The two course leaders were very positive about our children and complimented them on their behaviour, attention and excellent participation. I heard some lovely comments from pupils in the Great Space, including this from Levi Hockney: “Thank you so much for coming! Can you please come again? I’ve done this before but I learnt SO much more from you today.”
The House Shout The theme of this year’s House Shout was ‘animals’, which manifested themselves in Selden’s ‘Rockin’Robin’, Pembroke’s ‘Bear Necessities’, Bicton’s ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ and a complete zoo in Tongswood’s ‘Talk to the Animals’. A particular feature this year was the variety of accompanying instrumental groups, ranging from a cello ensemble to a rock band. Fine solos were provided by Mia, Luka, Gil and Evie T. Chris Bass-Gualbert, Director of Music of Holmewood House, adjudicated, and eventually chose Bicton as the victors for their multi-part House song and spirited rendition of ‘Go Down Moses’.
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Forest
Orphans in Senegal Fencing Kit
School
During half-term Old Ronian John-Paul Shaw was in Thiès, Senegal, with his mother to personally hand over the fencing kit bought from the money raised by the Ronian fence-a-thon in June. After arriving at the prison in Thiès on Monday, October 23, where they were met by Ablaye Gueye, one of the fencing coaches for L’Association Pour le Sourire d’un Enfant, JP watched some awesome fencing training by coach Jacques Faye. He was also shown around the classrooms and DT workshops used by the charity to rehabilitate and help the children adjust to a future life outside the prison walls. After presenting the kit, made possible by the fencing club’s fence for charity, generous donations from friends and a kind discount from Leon Paul, the British fencing kit maker, JP gave a short speech thanking the fencers for letting him visit.
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The next stop was an orphanage also supported by the charity further away in the countryside of Thiès. JP met the teacher there, Ms. Oulimata Kebeye, who is also a fencing coach, and the young children in her charge. The children learn to read and write, and are trained in fencing to help them develop social skills and self-confidence. The children gave JP a fencing demonstration, and JP fenced foil for the first time – and lost! But fun was had by all.
Visiting Author Sophie Cleverly
The trip ended with a visit to the British Embassy in Dakar where JP met with the Deputy Head of Mission, Mrs. Harriet King, who was keen to learn about the fencing program in Thiès and about why Saint Ronan’s had chosen to raise the money for the fencing kit. She was delighted about the initiative and that there had been a British interest in Senegal. The children were all hugely grateful for the kit made possible through the sponsored fencing and the generosity of all donations. Once again a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the fundraising for the fencing in Senegal. It was a great success and has made a big difference.
he beginning of this term found us slip-sliding on an abundance of acorns and we watched each week as the leaves slowly changed to their autumn colours. The children have been exploring the forest and making natural paints, looking for seeds, creating natural works of art, hedgehog homes and even some prickly visitors to try them for size.
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e were thrilled to have Sophie Cleverly in to talk to the children this term. They were mesmerised when she began by giving them five extraordinary facts about her, one of which was made up. Which was it? It turned out that she did travel to Tatooine from Star Wars on a camel, and went to school with a boy named Harry Potter, but did not have two cats named Plato and Trevor. Now that she had their attention, she began to talk about how she became a writer and the books which inspired her. She advised the children to find (and ‘steal’) inspiration from everywhere and everything. The children had an interactive ‘mystery planning’ session. Sophie spoke to two groups and set both groups a challenge
The mild Autumn soon gave way to the chills of winter and we warmed ourselves by the fire, toasting marshmallows. The forest looked even more wonderful in the final week of term when it was adorned with the festive decorations the children had made from natural materials. Happy Christmas!
- to write a mystery concerning a theft. What was stolen? Who stole it? Where from? Why? The two groups created two extremely different stories, one featuring Mr Green as the key investigator, with the twist that he may in fact have been the actual thief! How to get a book published? Sophie explained the steps you have to take to get there. She told the story of her own journey in writing – the knockbacks, the details she had to tweak for her agents, the illustrators she worked with and the revisions she had to make to arrive at the perfect version of her finished book, ‘Scarlett and Ivy’. She left the children with her most important message: that you just have to keep on going and keep on writing!
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Speakers
T Le Chateau
French Play
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nce again this term we hosted the excellent Onatti company, who performed ‘Le Chateau’ to such a high standard that they managed to make our Year 2s chuckle and cachinnate and our older children smile. A few expressions like “où sont les toilettes?” and “je cherche une belle femme” might come in useful, who knows, for the CE examination. Quite a few children braved the stage and joined one of the actors, who was playing Henry VIII’s official painter, in order to help him to find a beautiful French lady for his English King to marry. A wonderfully imaginative play, which brought History and French together in a beguiling way – and not through a battle, this time!
his term we have had three visiting speakers. We started the term with Fergus Beeley, who has worked closely with David Attenborough on different wildlife series. He was involved in the original Planet Earth and talked, with the passion of a lifelong enthusiast, who had sat and watched what was going on in the nature around him as a nine-year-old and built this interest into a career. Next, Dominic Eldred-Earl (below) came to talk about energy for a sustainable future. Starting by looking at his own eco-house, Dominic guided us through using our resources more wisely, from large-scale electricity production to mining trucks that power the factory they deliver ore to, having generated electricity on the way down the hill. Our final talk was from Childhood First, the charity we supported at the Ball, who came to tell us about their work with children who have been taken into care.
Midway trip to Herstmonceux
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idway, who started separate Sciences this term, spent the morning at Herstmonceux Science Centre. This former observatory has huge numbers of hands-on experiments, ranging from shaking hands with yourself to a levitating chair, which helped begin the journey through Physics in an engaging way. There was also a ‘telescope tour’, encompassing the different types of telescope, where the scale of the universe was also unfolded. With a couple of team challenges added in to the mix, we had a packed, but very successful, morning. © Science Projects Ltd
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Nursery garden transformed into Our own La La Land
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n the last few months the Groom’s Cottage garden has undergone an amazing transformation. Our garden is tucked away within the safe boundaries of the Nursery; a place not often seen by anyone else except the Nursery children and their parents, a little like a secret garden. It’s much-loved and we spend much of our time there. However, with all that playing and learning taking place, it had started to become a bit tired and worn out. However, with a little imagination and some amazingly clever landscaping, it’s now a beautiful and exciting space, with still more improvements to come. Over the summer holidays the uneven listed grey pavers were lifted and re-laid, making a beautiful path. This path was virtually unusable before but now looks twice as wide and is a great place to ride our bikes. There is an evergreen astroturfed area for the children to play on all year round, where the old paving slabs used to be, with big beautiful wooden posts in place to support a sail shade in the summer. We have our own ‘stately home’, kindly donated by the Spence family, where the children play games in style. To top it all, we have the Teletubby mound, nicknamed ‘La La Land’. The mound is so big that we actually had to extend the boundary fence. It even has a tunnel running all the way through it for underground adventures! Outside is a tyre ladder for climbing to the top and a slide for coming back down again. Soon to be added is a dry riverbed for water play and a wooden stepping stone ladder, to make the ascent to the top even more exciting. We and the children think it’s amazing and we love going out in it, whatever the weather. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard.
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Focus on... Cupcake Icing In the second of a series of articles looking at our diverse Clubs programme, we focus on Cupcakes!
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ach week during the winter months, a group of excited children gather in Richie’s classroom to work on their sugar-craft skills. Each child is presented with two freshly-baked cupcakes and each session we decide on a decorating theme. Initially we learn basic buttercream-piping skills and how to colour sugar paste, before using cutters to create pretty flowers. From then on the children are very involved in choosing the theme for the following week. So far this year we have created Pudsey bears for Children in Need, autumn leaves & unicorns - and last year we created everything from farm animals and dogs to our own self-portraits, minions and emojis! The classes are taught by Ketta Shimmin who has run her own cake design business since 2012. We combine artistic skills, three-dimensional modelling and, randomly, usually quite a lot of singing. It’s a relaxing and rewarding process and the children take away their decorated cakes (and usually a bit of left-over icing for practising with), along with a sense of pride about their creations. Classes are available for Years 3 & 4 on Wednesday afternoons and for Years 5-8 on Thursday afternoons, in both the 1.30pm and 2.30pm slots. And yes, we do have both boys and girls in the class!
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News In Brief... Next Steps We had a wonderful Next Steps Afternoon on 10th November, before the Fireworks display. Representatives came from Battle Abbey, Bede’s, Benenden, Bethany, Eastbourne College, Hurstpierpoint, Kings’, Lancing College, Sutton Valence, Sevenoaks School and Tonbridge. Many thanks to our parents for such a wonderful turn out - the senior schools had a steady stream of people to talk to and seemed pleased to have spoken to so many. We hope that those of you who attended found it a useful way to see so many fantastic future school options in one go!
Book Chat
Music Trips The musicians participated in three events at senior schools, including a brass workshop with the Embassy Brass quintet at Benenden, and the annual day of singing and activities at Eastbourne College attended by members of the Chamber Choir. A particularly memorable event was the choral day attended by the Chapel Choir at King’s Canterbury, which took place in the inspiring setting of cathedral. Members of the choir enjoyed the experience of staying on afterwards to hear the cathedral boy choristers sing Evensong.
Club
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hat a lovely inaugural Book Chat Club we had with our Year 3s & 4s in the Library.
We have started these informal chats so that the children can come together at break time to discuss books. We all sat together and talked about our favourite books and recommended ones to each other to try. Mrs Gibson also read us a lovely story, with a somewhat gruesome ending…
The Club extends to the older year groups, with Shell and Midway the next group to take part. The new Library is already having a huge impact on the children's reading and appreciation for books. If you want your children to be intelligent read them fairy tales, if you want them to be really intelligent, read them more fairy tales – Albert Einstein
The X Factor This year's post-Feast entertainment was once again brought to us by the boarding team, with the final of their X Factor competition. Nine acts had made it to the final round. All the children performed well, on a night which is intended to be fun rather than serious! The acts varied from solo singing pieces, through an 11-girl supergroup, to a three-piece rock band - eventual winners, Gil Anthony, Henry Buck and Max McConachie. Well done to all those who took part, not only in the final but in the preceeding rounds as well. Thanks as always to Julie Gillam and Mr Fox for organising the event.
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Shepherd Neame tour
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n a bright but chilly November morning, Shell set off to Faversham to visit Britain's oldest brewer, Shepherd Neame.
The company is owned and run by the Neame family, many of whom have been at Saint Ronan's over the years, including the current chairman, Jonathan Neame.
Grub's Up!
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he tradition of ‘Grub’ at Saint Ronan’s took a new direction at the beginning of the Autumn term when ‘Doris’ the Grub Box was introduced! Starting her life as a lowly horse trailer, she has quickly adapted to her new surroundings and continues the custom of serving the children, once a week, with their favourite treats.
Shepherd Neame traces its roots back to the year 1698, when it was founded as the Faversham Steam Brewery. These days, the brewery very much combines the best of ancient and modern techniques to produce some of Kent's most popular beers. The children learned about the process of fermentation and saw first-hand the industrialised processes involved in the manufacturing of different products. They also found out about how Shepherd Neame takes its environmental impact seriously, in particular its water recycling schemes and its lorries (or 'drays' as they are known in the trade) which are powered by alternative fuel sources. Our thanks to Shepherd Neame for an interesting and informative visit!
Tom's Charity Bike Ride
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n September, Tom Hills raised an extraordinary £1162 by cycling all the way from school to Beachy Head. He was raising funds for Charlie Farragher, who needed the same operation in America as his sister, Eliana, to enable him to walk. Huge thanks to everyone in the school community who sponsored him.Well done, Tom!
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Lily Stewart
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Michaelmas Concert ix ensembles and over 80 children took to the stage for the Michaelmas Concert in November. The Flute Ensemble provided a snazzy tango, the Jazz Band got our toes tapping with the ‘Swingin’ Sherpherd Blues’, and the Chamber Choir provided a moment of calm with a moving version of ‘O Danny Boy’.
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The Intermediate Strings performed a French folk tune, and the Seniors presented a rollicking arrangement of Coldplay’s ‘Clocks’. The concert was topped and tailed by the Orchestra with two sixteenth century dances and a very jolly foxtrot.
Charity and Community
Year 1 visit Bexhill Museum
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his year the Autumn Fayre made over £2250, having fun and raising funds on another beautiful day at Saint Ronan’s. The charities the Student Council chose to support this year were Autistica, The Brooke Trust, ShelterBox and Macmillan. Thank you for your Harvest Festival produce. Pupils from Year 3 delivered it to local care homes and community groups and to a food bank in Paddock Wood. The recipients were quite moved by the volume donated – they were impressed when the first box arrived, not realising there were another 25 coming up behind!
ust after half term, Owls and Squirrels visited Bexhill museum. They loved the Jurassic relics, especially the huge iguanadon footprints found recently at low tide in Bexhill.
The children were fascinated by all the bones and fossils, which they handled and passed around. They also learned about toys and one of the highlights was playing with lots of old fashioned toys. We were so inspired that when we returned to school we made our own cup and ball to play with.
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Autumn Term
Prizes
Senior Prefects Head Prefect Second Prefects
L. Stweart H. Taggart, G. Wood
Heads of Houses Bicton Pembroke Selden Tongswood
C. Milborne A. Codd S. Ford H. Morrell
School Appointments Captain of Lacrosse Captain of Boys Hockey
T. Morris A. Chatterton
Headmaster’s Special Prizes L. Rowlands, F. Peacock, I. Allgrove, J. Moss, M. Roberts, E. Moore Most Shows Remove Upper Midway Shell Class 4 Class 3
L. Stewart E. Shimmin L. Allchorne, M. Ramyead R. Morris C. Beart J. Wellesly
Exams Best average
M. Davidson-Houston, G. Tweedie, E. Shimmin, G. Coulson
School Prizes Harris Cup Sight Reading Mountain Biking top rider Mountain Biking improved Senior Judo Junior Judo
J. Hancock E. Symonds T. Whiteley O. Hinchliffe B. Hagan E. Hillman
Football Prizes 1st XI Player of the Season U13 Most Improved U11 Player of the Season U11 Most Improved
H. Morrell H. Macrae B. Dear A. Hall
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Girls Hockey Prizes U13 Player of the Season U13 Most Improved U11 Player of the Season U11 Most Improved
G. Bartleet E. Van Buer B. Wyatt H. Allthorp
House and Form Prizes Senior Form Junior Form House Cup Bicton Prize Pembroke Prize Selden Prize Tongswood Prize
Upper EG 4 EM Tongswood L. Stewart H. Wyllie K. Roberts, J. Moxx, H. Powell M. Macleay
Form Tutors’ Prizes Remove DB Remove JG Remove PG Upper BC Upper EG Upper TP Midway IP Midway LL Midway SC Shell RG Shell JK Shell RVS 4 DG 4 EM 4 RT 3 EGH 3 KL 3 TT
A. Woods E. Tapper A. Chatterton W. Curtin P. Barker A. Taggart F. Gutteridge L. Allchorne S. Williams G. Wellesley C. Flynn A. Peck L. Hall G. Macrae F. Spence A. Bickford D. Allchorne B. Friday
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Valete Katie Wyatt
Matthew Bryan
Katie Wyatt stepped down from her portfolio of responsibilities at the end of term but fortunately is not leaving us completely: Bea, her youngest of four, is not quite ‘done’ yet!
Matthew joined Saint Ronan’s in September 2014 as Deputy Head (Academic) and began building on the excellent work done by Goulwenn Vincendeau.
The Wyatts joined Saint Ronan’s in September 2004 and Katie, as a parent, quickly got involved in the ‘fun and fundraising’ activities of the Friends of Saint Ronan’s (FOR). Her natural flair for this sort of thing led her to being invited, in 2011, to manage our commercial activities. Under her excellent stewardship, many a happy couple have been married, babies christened, lives celebrated and concerts enjoyed. The commercial activities extend far beyond just events, of course, and each holidays she organised a variety of camps and courses, much to the children’s delight and the parents’ relief! In 2014 we brought the housekeeping in-house and immediately turned to Katie to manage our wonderful team of cleaners, many of whom start work as everyone else is clocking off for the day. She multi-tasked magnificently, often working long hours, even in the middle of the holidays.
Tall and dapper, he brought to bear his deep understanding of educational theory and discussions about CAT data, InCAS and MidYIS scores became commonplace in the Staff Room. A great advocate of the ‘Growth Mindset’, he challenged his colleagues about what can be possible and elevated everyone’s expectations.
Katie’s experience in event hospitality, her extraordinary work ethic and her kind, unflappable competence have been absolutely invaluable at Saint Ronan’s. We are still working out how on earth we are going to cope without her!
In his three years here, he built up the Academic Management Team which scrutinises the teaching and learning in the Prep School and enriches the curriculum further. All this while making the buses run on time, be it through timetabling or ensuring that cover was in place if a colleague was absent. We wish him every success as he climbs the ‘greasy pole’ and takes up the Headship of Longacre School in Guildford. We wish good things for the future, too, to his wife, Sophie, and his children, Alex and Amelia.
Thank you, Katie!
Salvete Florence Buet
Hayley Curran
We are tickled pink that Florence Buet is joining us in January to teach French and Latin in the Prep School.
Hayley will be joining the IT Department as Data Administrator in January 2018.
We have known and loved her for years, firstly as a colleague covering for Ian Palmer, following his car crash some ten years ago, and then as a parent to May (OR 2009-12) and now Matthis, who is in Year 7. Florence joins us from DCPS.
Originally hailing from Australia, Hayley, along with her husband and daughter, have settled in the Hawkhurst area. Hayley has worked in the technology sector as well as being Information Officer for a large organisation, and has also run a pub with her husband!
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Keeping in Touch New Regulations! Saint Ronan's is lucky to have such a strong link with its alumni, something which often tends to be the preserve of senior schools rather than preps. Over the years we have built up a database of some 3,500 records of friends of the school. Alumni enrich the school in so many ways, not only helping with fundraising projects but also offering trips to their businesses (such as this term's trip to Shepherd Neame's brewery) or by visiting and speaking to the children. Some alumni have even taken the step of sending their own children here! In May 2018 new data protection regulations come in to force which require us to record the consent of our alumni for processing their personal information (i.e. for sending mailers such as The Ronian or information about new projects). Alumni should find enclosed in this issue a pre-paid postcard; if you would like us to be able to continue sending The Ronian, please complete the card and drop it in a post box! Many thanks.
Old Ronian Visits
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hree Old Ronians dropped in to visit the School during the course of the term. Each wrote a few lines about their time at Saint Ronan's and how they felt upon revisiting.
Stephen Bray (OR 1957-62) I think you have done a magnificent job in dragging the school into the 21st century: I am so envious of today’s children for the incredible access they have to sport and music and yet the feel of the school has not changed at all from that which Sir Richard inherited and consolidated 50 years ago. To have managed to retain the best of the old with the necessary opportunities of the new is some special achievement. I’m not surprised that Tatler agrees!
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Colin Hayes (OR 1951-56)
Mike Tennant (OR 1949-53)
Having largely lost touch with the school for so long it was an absolute joy not just to see it again, bringing back so many memories, but to discover that it is doing so splendidly well. No wonder my god-daughter’s little girl Lois is so happy there. I do congratulate all of you most warmly on the accolade that Saint Ronan’s has recently received, and rightly so. Little did I imagine when I won the .22 Shooting prize all those years ago, on what I think was a 25 yard range beneath a series of tree trunks, that it would lead eventually to me becoming a long-range full-bore rifle shooter and captaining Cambridge, Scotland and Great Britain team to Australia. I have Saint Ronan’s to thank for that introduction, and the beautiful silver medal that I won in 1954 remains one of the most precious of all the medals that I have won over the years, if not the most precious. I wish that Fred Poole, who taught us so well, could have known that his very small protégé would one day captain Great Britain. Maybe he does!
My father, Hugh, had been at Saint Ronan’s in Worthing in 1923. In 1949, when I arrived, there were only about 70 boys (all boarders), plus one honorary boy, Juliet Vassar-Smith, who was a fine games player, bright and, I suspect, a good influence on the rest of us! There were almost no exeats and most Sundays after chapel we all went into Tongswood and got happily muddy. Dick Harris was Headmaster then and had improving musical evenings for senior boys in his study. It was there that I was introduced to Gilbert & Sullivan, which became an enthusiasm I never lost. As a young Army Officer in 1962, I returned to Saint Ronan’s to take out my brother David in my little sports car, which did much for his 'cred! October 2017 was my next visit - a nostalgic return, which I much enjoyed. My overriding impression was how little had changed. Except the atmosphere! There was lots of unselfconscious musical talent on show and everyone seemed so confident and happy. Well done the TVs and Saint Ronan’s!
THE RONIAN | AUTUMN 2017 | WWW.SAINTRONANS.CO.UK
OldRonian News Fred Allinson (OR 2009-12) Won gold for Great Britain on both days of the Coupe de la Jeunesse (the European Junior Rowing Championships) as part of the coxless four in Haxelwinkel, Belgium. The Coupe de la Jeunesse is a two-day competition which sees 12 European countries come together to battle it out over 13 events on each day. Last year Freddie represented King’s, Canterbury in the Eights at Henley and won the British Championships with his rowing partner. The pair also won gold for England at the Home International Regatta. Phoebe Pickering (2004-09) Achieved A*s in her RS, Latin and English A Levels at Brighton College, despite having been diagnosed with a cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma after her Lower Sixth Year. She continued her studies during her year of intenstive treatment and is now at Cambridge studying Philosophy. Her ambition is to go into political journalism and to "grow her creative writing". Giles Ross (2003-07) & Julius Carter (2000-06) Received Masters of Science degrees from Reading University's Henley Business School, Giles in Real Estate and Julius in Rural Land and Business Management.
The Harris Family A Dynasty of Teachers
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e know much of Stanley and Dick Harris, the two brothers who transformed a small Prep School in Worthing into the well-known and flourishing Prep school that Saint Ronan’s became. We also learned, in previous editions, about their father, Sir Alexander; their father’s sister, Beatrice (‘the great Miss Harris’ of Berkhamstead School) and Charles Poulett-Harris, their great-grandfather, who fathered a whole dynasty of teachers. Richard Deodatus Poulett-Harris, Charles’ eldest son, was born on Cape Breton Island in 1817. When the family returned to England, Richard went up to Trinity College, Cambridge. His first teaching job was at Huddersfield Technical College, followed by Blackheath Preparatory School as Classics master. After his wife (with whom he had six children) died in 1856, he went to Tasmania to become the Headmaster of Hobart High School, where he was loved and respected. He actively advocated the establishment of the University of Tasmania and became the first Warden of the Senate when it was founded in 1890.
neering lady …. a true female intellectual before her time.’ Some of Eleanor’s sisters also taught there, including her younger sister, Lily. Lily was bright and adventurous and played the piano and violin with a high degree of skill. She also had a major passion for cricket, an interest probably awakened by taking part in family cricket games with her sporty brothers. Eventually she became the driving force in the formation of the Oyster Cove Ladies’ Cricket Club in 1894. She died, tragically young, in 1897 from a form of tuberculosis, but her team’s successes left an inspiring legacy of cricket in Tasmania and Australia and resulted in the Australian Women’s Cricket Council being formed in 1931. Lily is buried with her father Richard, in the same grave at Cornelian Bay Cemetery.
Richard had eleven children in all and some of his girls, in particular, possessed a strong vocation for teaching. Georgiana opened a small private school in Melbourne, while still in her twenties, and moved on from there to become the Principal of Christchurch Girls’ High School. Another daughter, Eleanor, founded the Ladies’ Grammar School and Kindergarten in Hobart, where she was ‘a visionary, pio-
Giles Ross & Julius Carter
Coming Soon Alumni Portal
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e're very excited to have teamed up with ToucanTech to deliver a new section of our website for alumni and friends of the school. The new portal will be the place to go to find out about alumni events, as well as giving options for keeping in touch with
Fred Allinson
former classmates, organising groups based on particular activities and managing your communications with the School. We will send out more information via email in the new year when the site is up and running.
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Fencing: a short, sharp round up
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encing has been busy with especially the Year 3s and 4s turning out in large numbers to swing their swords. The Pre-Prep fencing ended, much like The Wind in the Willows, with Badgers, Foxes and Otters armed to the teeth with metal swords! The huge enthusiasm the pupils have for this sport was evident in all the sessions but also in the two fixtures we had. The fencing team was ably captained by Oliver Mitchell, who unfortunately managed to injure himself, but luckily only after all our fixtures had been fought. We had a change of teams for each competition, to have as many pupils as possible fencing, and overall 18 pupils raised their weapons. Jamie Parskey, Liv Edwards and Eleanor Symonds made their piste debut in the senior category. In the juniors Sophie Davies, Bella Gabbitas, Loïs Tyrie and Michelle VDB formed a team and fenced for the first time – very successfully – against Gad’s Hill. While the results were mixed, everybody had fun, which is the main thing. On the national circuit, Liv Edwards made her debut at Millfield and came an excellent 10/11. Emma Beart, Lottie Beart, Aggie Edwards and Clara Shimmin also fought for final ranking points. Emma Beart ended up 8th nationally in the U11 girls sabre, her sister Lottie made it to 3rd in the country in the U9 girls sabre and Aggie and Clara came joint 4th. Well done to all fencers and I look forward to another great term!
Cross Country
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he Cross Country Squad has made a very positive start to the 2017/18 season. Under the guidance, organisation and example of captains Lily Stewart and Isaac Baker, both girls and boys teams have enjoyed success this term. In the Brenchley Relays, the girls A team finished second, our highest placing in recent years. The U13 girls went on to secure second in the Dobson Trophy before finishing a very commendable nineteenth of sixty in the highly propitious Junior Knole race. Demonstrating real potential across the age-groups, all the girls have run well, most notably Lily who won silver at Claremont and finished eighteenth at Sevenoaks; Lottie Beart, tenth at Claremont and in the Kent Primary Schools Championships at Detling, and Bea Wyatt, our second scorer at Sevenoaks, finishing ninety-second of two hundred and eighty runners.
Luka pushes the boat out Luka Franklin’s talents as a sailor have been spotted by the Royal Yachting Association Zone Squad and he has trained with them over two weekends, one in Hayling Island (in difficult conditions) and one on the Island Barn Reservoir in West London. Earlier this month, he was awarded the Maidstone Coaching Award by the Kent Schools Sailing Association and has recently heard that he has received a Performance Bursary by the RYA SE Youth Training fund. We wish Luka the very best of luck in the regattas he has planned for the first few months of next year.
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With the Thomas Trophy cancelled due to adverse weather, the Dobson Trophy was the first opportunity afforded the U9 teams to compete. And the boys made their debut in superb style: Oscar Bottle, Max Meredith, Oli Hinchliffe and Jacob Jeffries taking team gold at Claremont. Highly deserving of his first medal, George Kidd ran an excellent race to win silver at the Dobson; the combined boys’ teams were second overall. Charlie Ellison is emerging as a fine runner, finishing thirty-second in the Junior Knole, leading the U13 Boys to twenty-fourth of sixty-one teams. Brother Jack is starting to see the fruits of his hard work in training, coming tenth of one hundred and seventy runners at Detling. And finally, congratulations to Lily, awarded County Colours and representing Kent at the Inter-Counties match in Oxford on December 9th. We look forward to more hard training and (hopefully!) success next term!
THE RONIAN | AUTUMN 2017 | WWW.SAINTRONANS.CO.UK
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Football teams fly high like the Seagulls in the Premiership!
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he Saint Ronan's football teams went goal-crazy this year, with the 4th IX leading the way, scoring 29, with the 1st XI just behind on 26. The meanest defence was also the 1st XI, who conceded just 12 goals! Connor Gorman, Will Gaffney and captain Kaspar Bottle were at the heart of the defence, with Gus Chatterton providing the protection just in front of them. Max McConachie supplied the ammunition which Harry Morrell gratefully received and Harry thoroughly deserves his Player of the Season award. They were well-supported by a talented group of Year 7 boys. Joe Fuller played extremely well alongside Henry Collins, Tom Hall, Archie Wilson and Theo Bond who, along with Harry, have been selected for the South East IAPS Football teams.
The 1st XI
The 1st XI also made their debut in the New Beacon 7-a-side tournament (18 teams) and just lost 2-1 in a very exciting semi-final. The other really successful side was the U11D team, who when they were U8s, lost every game and scored just one goal! Three years later, against the same opposition, they played 6 matches, winning 2, drawing 2 and losing 2, and scoring 13 times. Well done, boys! Mr Andrew must be in line to win Coach of the Year! The U10A team played 7 matches and lost just twice and there were also some very encouraging performances from the junior boys, which bodes well for the future. The Under 11Ds
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Awesome action on the Astro
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he girls have had another fantastic hockey season. We are still very much reaping the benefits of the astro and the advantages that working on this surface brings. Since we started training on it we have improved our results every year and this year we won or drew 71% of our fixtures - 30 wins and 20 draws out of 70 matches played. Our attacking play has really come on and we are much more of a force in front of goal, scoring 109 goals collectively. Congratulations must go to the 4th VII, who were unbeaten. The 3rd VII, U11B, U11C and U10C teams also performed well, only losing 1 match each. The success of these teams demonstrates the strength of ability at all levels. The A teams had some very close and exhilarating encounters, which could have gone either way - goal margins were tight. The U11A team were semi-finalists at the U11 EGHA tournament – a well-attended event, with teams from across the southeast (16 in total). The girls did incredibly well to finish in the top four, winning their group and quarter-final matches, and not conceding a goal until they were knocked out in the semi-finals. The U13 1st VII also performed well at their EGHA tournament, drawing all their group matches before losing to Roedean in the play-offs. Pembroke were this year’s winners of the U13 Inter-House league. They also shared the top spot with Selden, equal first in the U11 Inter-House league. Congratulations to all the girls, whose contributions have made the season so enjoyable.
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U9 and U8 Netball
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ith 52 goals popped successfully through the hoop, the junior girls really enjoyed the netball season and made huge improvements in their skills and strategic play with every match. The U9 Sky team, now a more experienced side, played some great netball, only losing one of their six matches and demonstrating exciting potential for the future. The Navy team are a determined bunch and also only lost one of their six matches. They have made vast improvements in their tactical awareness and understanding. The Royals have persevered throughout and demonstrated great resilience, always giving their best until the final whistle. The U8 sides played some encouraging netball, once they had got over the excitement of match tea and seeing their parents on the sidelines! There is some great talent in this year group and plenty of potential to build upon as they get to grips with the rules and various positional roles. Congratulations to Bicton, who dominated the Inter-House leagues, winning both the U9 and U8 competitions.
Representative Sport
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uge congratulations to the following who have successfully passed through selection into Kent County squads: Bea Wyatt U11 County cricket; Jemima Spence U13 Country cricket and U11 Western Rhinos District squad; Connor Gorman U13 County cricket; Harry Taggart U13 County cricket (Sussex); Lily Stewart U13 Kent Cross-Country and Caitlin Milborne U14 (Hockey) Junior Academy Centre.
THE RONIAN | AUTUMN 2017 | WWW.SAINTRONANS.CO.UK
© 2018 Saint Ronan's School Editor: Ben Clarke Photos: Saint Ronan's / Sarah Clark Photography