issue eighteen LENT TERM 2015
SherborneNews MUSIC
INSPIRATION
SPORT
CCF
Comment BY JAMES HENDERSON DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
...at Sherborne music is recognised as being part of everyone’s lives...
Music runs right through the heart of the School, from the exuberant whole-school singing of hymns twice weekly in the Abbey, through RocSoc and Unplugged, to the advanced instrumental playing of chamber music and diploma solo performances. The big ensembles are given key points in the day in which to rehearse, specifically in order to allow the boys to play their instruments and to rehearse in ensembles at times when they are able to think clearly, to contribute fully to the musical team, and to excel in their musical performance. This is because at Sherborne music is recognised as being part of everyone’s lives, whether they realise this or not. Whether or not they participate actively, all boys are given a chance to become involved. Within days of arrival in Sherborne, the boys are given the opportunity to join the Choir, to take up a new instrument or perhaps return to one which was mistakenly dropped on leaving their previous School. All boys also follow a course in Music-Technology-based composition until Christmas in the first year, after which many choose to continue until the end of the Third Form and move onto GCSE Music. Consequently, the Choir is enormous, at a current membership of 102 singers; the Wind Band numbers some 86 players; the joint orchestras (with Sherborne Girls, Leweston and The Gryphon) are 86 and 82; and there is a proliferation of chamber and jazz ensembles, rock bands and DJ enthusiasts.
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Chamber music, in the shape of small ensembles, the Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Choir, stretch those who are already very able. In the past two years, too, there have been
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several boys taking ATCL diplomas – with two gaining the nationally rare Distinction – and there are many boys who take grade exams while they are here. The commitment and dedication needed to see instrumental progress through to these high levels is proven to have an effect on the development of the brain. For example, the singing and playing of music enhances logical and rational thinking. Annual musical tours take strong musical performances further afield: this year the Concert Orchestra is visiting Prague and the Swing Band has something of a reputation for its bi-annual Caribbean tours. Shirburnian musicians are fortunate to play and sing to a weekly audience of well over one hundred in the Friday lunchtime recitals which take place throughout the academic year in Cheap Street Church. Many of the School’s finest musicians are also key sportsmen, and many of the School’s finest sportsmen are involved with some of the highest quality music ensembles. Whether it is possible to take part properly in both major cocurricular activities is a question which I am regularly asked by prospective parents, and the answer to that is, ‘Yes’. We strive to make it possible and, with the exception of one or two competition clashes, taking part in both is actively encouraged and enabled.
BY JAMES HENDERSON DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
Congratulations to New Head of School Jack Hillan (c)
Congratulations to the six new Prefects who were appointed at half term: Harry Atkins (f), Jack Dible (c), Jack Harley (d), Ruari Ross (b), Max Wood (g), Oliver Wurfbain (a)
Election Fever In preparation for the election, each House will become a constituency and each constituency will field candidates representing the Green Party, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and UKIP, for the Sherborne School mock election. Campaign rules have been established by Mr Ballard, the Returning Officer, and early next term we expect to see candidates campaigning to ‘influence’ the electorate. There will be a leaders’ debate the night before the election and all boys will be eligible to vote in the Library on 7th May. Early polling suggests the Conservatives will make a clean sweep across all the constituencies, but many of the candidates are determined to upset the odds. The aim is to raise awareness about political issues and enthuse the next generation of voters to take an active interest in politics.
Careers Convention
BY ROB LE POIDEVIN HEAD OF POLITICS
Business and Economics Visit to the MINI Plant 45 Economics and Business students visited the Mini factory near Oxford. They employ 4,000 ‘Associates’ (staff) and 1,000 Swedish robots to produce 900 of the iconic cars each day. We were lucky enough to see the cars grow from the first spot weld into a finished product getting loaded onto a train bound for Southampton. It was amazing to see how 3,600 parts can be combined in a day. There were lessons for our A Level courses everywhere we looked. My favourite point was how teams of employees of all the same height had been grouped together to try to reduce the chances of back strain and loss of work hours. They really had thought of everything to make their operations as efficient as possible.
BY HARI NADIOTIS (U6d)
45 different career areas were represented at this year’s Careers Convention, as OS and current parents gathered to talk to the Lower Sixth about what they do and the skills and qualifications the boys will need if they are to pursue the various career paths. As well as the Careers Fair each boy also had the opportunity to meet four delegates of his choice in small group sessions. In his closing speech, Hugo Soul (2005,d), the marketing delegate and Global Client Partnership Manager at Google’s Paris office, shared the ten things he had learnt in his career so far which would enable the boys to focus on what is important and to differentiate themselves within a competitive world.
BY KIM DUNNING MANAGER OF HE AND CAREERS
Spanish Trip to Salamanca Over the half term holidays 25 Sherborne boys and ten girls from Leweston travelled to Salamanca in Spain. Although it was cold, the weather stayed dry and bright and allowed us to enjoy our visits around the historic university, and the rooftops of the two
cathedrals. From Monday to Thursday the boys and girls worked hard in the language school each morning, but also managed to fit in a Spanish cookery lesson, some Sevillanas dance tuition and plenty of tapas.
BY ANDY NURTON - HEAD OF SPANISH
Inspirational Speaker Programme SHERBORNE FOUNDATION SUPPORTING THE SCHOOL FOR 15 YEARS
Kate Adie, the distinguished former chief news correspondent of the BBC, spoke to the whole School this term. She talked about her journey from Sunderland, where she was born and raised, about her life in journalism and the importance of ensuring that your life includes adventure and being where the action is, rather than watching it. She also spoke about being present as a reporter during the siege of the Iranian embassy in London, the brutal suppression of students in Tiananmen Square and the overthrow of President Ceausescu of Romania. She told her stories with great humour and wisdom, and many students stayed after the talk to ask questions about her career. She then told a number of anecdotes about her time spent in difficult and dangerous places.
Speech and Drama Competition Congratulations to Bently Creswell (3a) and Malhaar Shah (3a), who both took part in the Mid-Somerset Drama Festival held this year in Bath’s Guildhall. They entered the Junior category for modern monologues and both performed exceptionally well. Bently achieved an excellent second place and only missed first place by one mark.
ABBEY ROAD SHERBORNE DORSET DT9 3AP E: foundation@sherborne.org www.sherborne.org.uk
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Abbey Confirmation Service In an inspiring and poignant service, 50 boys were confirmed in Sherborne Abbey by The Right Reverend David Hallatt.
BY BARBARA DARNLEY SPEECH AND DRAMA
Leadership and Development Training
The Royal Navy section of the CCF was very fortunate to be able to use ‘HMS HAVOC’, the Royal Navy’s facility for training all naval personnel on how to stop flooding in ships. The boys were split into two teams and each had to use a range of skills to cope with four different leaks. The whole of HMS HAVOC rocks from side to side and quickly becomes filled with 4ft of very cold water. This meant team
members had to duck under the water to try to stop the leaks. This exercise requires both leadership and teamwork to fight the leaks. Both teams managed to stop all four leaks in the time required. They all hugely enjoyed this challenge, despite the water temperature being only nine
degrees centigrade! In the afternoon the whole team carried out firefighting drills, which also gave them the opportunity to identify and use different extinguishers.
BY CDR HARRY STRAUGHAN
The Army section of the CCF were superbly hosted by the staff at the Army Training Centre in Winchester, who put them through their paces on both the obstacle course and the low and high wires course. A key message reinforced to the boys was the importance of teamwork rather than just thinking about looking after themselves. Many of our boys demonstrated great courage by conquering their fears on the high wires course. The dreaded ‘leap of faith’ involved boys jumping from the top of a telegraph pole where they would free fall until the safety system slowed them to a safe landing. The boys offered fantastic encouragement to each other and the staff were very impressed by their attitude. The boys were also able to enter a clay pigeon shooting competition and the staff
were slightly surprised that many of the boys were so experienced with a shotgun! Even so, it was actually a novice who scored top on the day.
BY ROB LE POIDEVIN
CONTINGENT COMMANDER COMBINED CADET FORCE
Alps Ultramarathon Rob Le Poidevin, the CCF Contingent Commander, and our former colleague Matt Woods, are training hard for an eight day ultramarathon across the Alps at the end of August. The distance is 270km, but more challenging is the nature of the route, with over 16km of vertical ascent over some extremely unforgiving terrain. They are raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support. If you would like to sponsor them, please visit www.justgiving.com/transalpine
Sherborne CCF win the Dorset Cadet Challenge For the second year in a row the Sherborne CCF have won the Dorset Cadet Challenge. They were amongst 20 teams from the Army Cadet Force, Air Cadets and CCF competing for the annual trophy which comprises a run carrying weapons, an obstacle course, shooting competition and weapon handling tests. The boys in the team performed superbly in a tight contest. Congratulations to Ruari Ross (captain) (U6b), Ed Scott (U6c), Noah Chillingworth (L6m), Archie Swann (L6b), Hugo Houlton (L6d), James Thorne (L6e), Rory Coughlan (L6e), Jimmy Fisher (L6m) and Jack Fitzpatrick (L6f).
Junior School Production of Oedipus
The Green
Drama
Team Building Trip
Oedipus is one of the most highlyrevered plays of all time, containing, as it does, all the classic ingredients of a great tragedy. As such, it is not only a great piece to watch or be part of, but also a fascinating reference point for all those boys studying Drama at GCSE and A level. We were privileged to watch a highlycharged and brilliantly paced piece, which built throughout to the awful climax. Oscar Fearnley-Derome’s (5e) unaffected approach to the central role gently drew the audience into the web of corruption and murder surrounding the unsuspecting King of Thebes. Max Scheuner (4f), playing Creon, was just as effective and
hugely powerful in the end-piece after assuming the throne. Harry Gibbs (4m) coped with the blind man’s sunglasses to produce an exceptionally cool performance as the prophet Tiresias, but also filled it with huge conviction: when he declared he was unafraid of Oedipus, come what may, we all believed it. Every single actor on stage did a truly superb job of what is an exceptionally challenging play. The phenomenal set, constructed and beautifully lit, accompanied by exciting Mad Maxinspired costumes, really made this into a production which outstripped its categorisation as a ‘Junior Play’. This was a truly great Sherborne School production.
BY IAN READE HEAD OF DRAMA
The Fourth Form from the Green spent the day at Brenscombe Outdoor Centre. We spent the morning on-site in glorious sunshine, working on different team building challenges set by the instructors. In the afternoon we headed to the low and high ropes course, with a particular highlight being the ‘Jacob’s ladder’ task. Groups of four had to scale the ‘rungs’ of the ladder which became increasingly far apart. Although some individuals were likened to spiders as they ascended the heights at speed, no group managed to complete the task until they worked together effectively as a team. One or two also had to overcome their dislike of heights in order to reach the top, but with the help of their teammates they all managed it.
BY NICK SCORER SENIOR TUTOR OF THE GREEN
To see the Gallery of Photos go to http://www.sherborne.org/news-calendar/event-galleries
Music
BY JAMES HENDERSON DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
St George’s, Hanover Square
In addition to the weekly lunchtime recitals, which have continued to be of a very high standard, throughout the second half of term there have been an enormous number of further high-quality musical performances taking place both within Sherborne itself and also further afield in London and Oxford. The Green offered a particularly high standard House concert, with many Music Scholars and Exhibitioners presenting advanced repertoire by Mozart, Cooke, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Debussy, three ensembles, some Stevie Wonder and some DJ-ing from the balcony in the Music School Atrium: here indeed was music for everyone. Hot on the heels of that performance was the annual
Choral Society
Scholars’ Concert, in which there was an extraordinary number of high quality performances ranging from solo singing, an organ performance on the Tindall Recital Hall’s electronic instrument by Matthew Cann (5e), to a diploma performance on the tuba by the talented Robert Ham (U6e). The Swing Band, which gave its first All Stars concert of the year, went on to give a stunning performance in St George’s, Hanover Square recently, with its new vocalists James Allan (L6m), Jacob Hughes-Hallett (L6a) and Jack Miller (L6a). This was a joint concert which included some superb performances by the Madrigal Society of Sherborne Girls.
RocSoc presented one of its three annual concerts in the BSR and showed that the younger years are in particularly fine form with some imaginative and well-rehearsed cover songs surrounded by the ever popular DJ-ing. The Chamber Choir visited Christ Church, Oxford, to sing Choral Evensong. This was an occasion of really outstanding choral singing. The Choral Society for the sixth year in a row, together with Sherborne Girls, the Sherborne community, professional soloists and a professional orchestra, performed Haydn’s Creation, on a specially constructed stage in Sherborne Abbey. The Symphony Orchestra gave its second
RocSoc
Orchestra rehearsal with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
concert of the year in the Exchange, Sturminster Newton. This was a particularly demanding programme, but the excellence of the orchestra’s woodwind and brass was clear: there were some particularly brilliant solos from Theo Beeny (L6c) and Harry Reynolds (L6e), while the string section, led by Clara Hewitt (Leweston) was refined and forceful, with excellent articulation and intonation. The Sinfonia was also on good form in its concert in Leweston Chapel. The Barbershop group, led by William Glasse (U6a), lightened the atmosphere with some well-rehearsed and exacting performances. I am proud to announce that a partnership scheme has been entered
with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, enabling talented instrument players at Sherborne and Sherborne Girls to attend orchestral rehearsals prior to concert performances at Poole Lighthouse and elsewhere, and also to facilitate rehearsals with the Symphony Orchestra in the Music School. The first of the partnership days took place this term, when a representative from each section of the orchestra were coached by the Symphony Orchestra sectionals. Then the entire Orchestra was conducted by Frank Zielhorst (one of the BSO’s Leverhulme associate conductors). This was an inspirational and uplifting day for all of the instrumentalists.
LOOKING FORWARD... • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Wed 29 April – Pre-Concert Foyer Music at Poole Lighthouse Fri 1 May, 1330 – Chamber Music - Abbey Festival (Abbey) Fri 1 May, 1645 – Jazz at the Powell - Abbey Festival (Powell Theatre) Sat 2 May, 1030 – Close Harmony & The Unplugged - Abbey Festival (Abbey) Sat 2 May, 1030 – Parent Lecture - Drug Awareness (JCR) To reserve a place please email cgraham@sherborne.org Fri 8 May, 1930 – Wallace House Concert (Tindall Recital Hall) Sat 9 May, 1930 – Concert in the Courts Fri 15 May, 1915 – The Green 150th Dinner (Marquee on the Upper) Sun 17 May, 1000 – Turing Cycling Event Thurs 21 May, 1930 – The Unplugged (Tindall Recital Hall) Fri 22 May – Fourth Form Parent/Staff Meeting Fri 22 May, 1930 – Sherborne School All Stars (Dining Hall) Sat 23 to Mon 25 May – Swing Band at Salcombe Jazz Festival
TERM DATES: Travelling day: Sunday 19 April Exeat: Saturday 2 May – Monday 4 May (including Bank Holiday) Half Term: Friday 22 May – Sunday 31 May End of Term: Saturday 27 June
Join us in the Next Turing Bike Ride On Sunday 17th May (almost three years since the last one), Sherborne School will be undertaking the “Turing Sportive”, a circular ride of about 65 miles which will include the final stage of Turing’s original journey, from Blandford to Sherborne. The event, which is open to boys, parents, siblings and staff , promises to be an enjoyable and challenging day. The ride will be fully supported, with two feed stations and roving (motorcycle) technical and first aid support. The aim is to make a mass start from the courts at 1300, preceded by a pasta lunch at 1200. Tea, coffee, sandwiches and cake will be available in the dining hall from 1600. If you would like to take part, please email Michael McGinty at mmcginty@sherborne.org with “Turing Ride” as the email subject. The deadline for entries is Friday 8th May, but it would be helpful if you could get your entry in early. The cost is £12 per head, which includes food, signage, and other support. This can be added to bills or you can pay by cheque, payable to Sherborne School. We hope to have as much participation and support as possible.
Sport round up
BY DAVID GUY – DIRECTOR OF SPORT
Schools Competition, with Hugh Williams (U6c), Stephen Reed (U6a), James Caldwell (U6m), Will Caldwell (L6m), Thomas Stagnetto (3a) and Nicolas Olazabal-Heartley (3e) achieving excellent results as a team; the Mini Colts A
Mini Colts A
Hockey team played an outstanding tournament which has also put them through to the regional finals; our Judo team came home with two Gold medals and a Bronze medal at the National Championships – congratulations to Peter Angkasith (5e), Conrad Cowan (5m) and Tem Tuganov (3b); the House Cross Country, always a highlight in the calendar, as every boy participates for their House team, was won by Henry Davies (5f) for the Juniors and Eddy Horn (U6d) for the Seniors.
House water polo team. They may train and play on Pitch 15 rather than the Upper, but we aim to support them every bit as much as their peers in the A teams. Sport should be enjoyable, and we aim to help every boy find an activity he can be passionate about and give him the ‘tools’ to achieve his potential. We can’t all be the next sporting superstar, but Sherborne boys should have fond memories of their time on the games field, on the courts or in the pool.
Selected for England
There are numerous wonderful sporting achievements to celebrate this term: the Junior Colts A team won the Final of the NatWest Vase at Twickenham this week, an amazing experience for the whole team and for the whole School who were supporting them; our Golf team have reached the final of this year’s HMC
However, I am equally proud of the efforts and achievements of those not featuring in the elite squads. The boys who train regularly and give their all in every situation, both for the School and their House, deserve recognition, whether they play for the 5th XI Football side, the Junior Colts B Hockey squad or the Lyon
Congratulations to Jack Edmondson (U6f), who has been selected to represent the England U18 Rugby squad in the European Championships in Toulouse, France. Jack has also recently signed a University Scholars Academy Rugby contract with Bath: he will start at Bath University in September. SHERBORNE SCHOOL ABBEY ROAD SHERBORNE DORSET DT9 3AP T: 01935 812249 E: enquiries@sherborne.org www.sherborne.org
Photographs: Tomas Ackerman Ferreira (4d), Alexander Davidson (5f), Alex Dunham, Sophie Harris, James Henderson, Jack James (3d), Jim Kimber, Louise Litchfield, Caspar Ormrod (5b), Peter Pantlin (parent), Christian Robson (5b), Nick Scorer, Sherborne Photographic Society, Jeremy Wadham and others. Registered Charity No. 1081228