The Priorian 2024

Welcome

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the 2023–2024 edition of the Priorian, our superb school magazine. I hope you will enjoy reading it and looking at the wonderful images as much as I have!

Since my arrival at the school I have been powerfully struck by both the breadth of achievements of our young people and the sheer quality of them. Anyone who was present at the dance show, any of the music events or one of the performances of Oliver! – to name but three highlights –would surely agree. Evidently, at St Benedict’s breadth of interest doesn’t equate to mediocrity of performance – on the contrary.

My heartfelt thanks and congratulations to the young people who have committed so fully to the life of the school in all its richness, to the staff who have enabled our students to discover and develop their talents and interests, and to our wonderful editorial team for producing such a splendid record of a fine school year.

Joe Smith Headmaster

Front cover: Amalia B (U6)

Above: Evelyn K (U6)

Left: Eliza R (U6)

This page: Jude T (U6)

This page: Amalia B (U6)

Top: Hannah D (U5)

Above: Elena F (3F)

Right: Aimee H (L6)

Top row (l to r):

Isabel T (L5)

Riona E (L5)

Sasha H P (L5)

Above: Alex M (L4)

Alongside: Olivia O’C (L6)

This page: Arthur A (L4)

This page: Sofia P (L4)

Top left: Lana D, Izzy E and Chisaki S (L4)

Top right: Oliver K, Herbie R and Rohan P (L4)

Alongside: Sebastian B (L4)

Bottom left: Eric Z (L4)

Bottom right: Coco F (L4)

Alongside:

Above: Carla C (3F)

Zachariach B (3F)

Top left: Charlie E (U4)

Bottom left: Luciana T (U4)

Top right: Eliza J (U4)

Table:

Eden S (L6)

Chairs (l to r): Else G, Harry C, Jay W & Gemma S (U4)

Clocks (l to r): Naveen S, Lucas K & Leo M (L4)

Alongside: Emma L (U5)

Bottom left: Lettie S (U5)

Below: Mya W (U5)

Hatem A (U4)

Georgia B (U4)

Gemma S (U4)

Tristan B (U4)

Nathan Y (L4)

Miles F (L4)

Hugo T (L4)

Top: Sebastian B (L4); Above: Mia S W (L4)

DRAMA

This year’s sixth form production of Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’, directed by Mr Randall, was a triumphant success, running for two nights during the Michaelmas term. This gripping play explored themes of women and femininity, as well as lies and deceit – exposing the patriarchal pressures within the late 19th century.

The rehearsals took place over nine weeks, which allowed us to polish each scene, ensuring that we executed them in the most successful way to evoke feelings of sympathy as well as increasing tension for audiences over both nights.

The Orchard Hall was transformed into a traditional Victorian living-room through a simplistic set design which helped to elevate the naturalism of the play, creating an immersive experience for the audience.

As we followed Nora Helmer’s journey as a frivolous wife to Torvald Helmer, and mother to her two children, we delved into her choice to take a loan from a lawyer, Nils Krogstad, and hide it from her husband causing a rift in their marriage. Undeniable tension was created on stage towards the end of the play where Torvald fears that his reputation has been tainted by Nora’s decision to forge a signature and take a loan. The highly emotional performances during the final scene in which Nora has the revelation that she has merely been a toy in the ‘dollhouse’ created by her father and husband, allowed the audience to recognise the eponymous story as a metaphor for the objectification of women in the Victorian era.

She makes a courageous, yet controversial, decision to leave her husband and children in pursuit of

independence and self-discovery, which left the audience shocked but also compassionate for her decision.

Both nights were extremely enjoyable, with the final night showcasing the most moving performance. It was a delight to participate in this production, as it was an excellent opportunity to grow in my confidence as a performer, as well as working amongst talented students.

Arielle O-K (U6)

Combining harsh realism with unforgettable songs and vibrant satire, ‘Oliver!’, a timeless musical adaptation of Dickens’ 19th century novel, captivated audiences last February as the Drama and Music departments marked the revival of whole senior school productions with an ensemble extending from 3rd Form to the Upper Sixth!

At its core, the production’s poignant reminder of the plight of the marginalized and vulnerable expressed somewhat of a topicality. Under the creative direction of Mr Randall and Ms John, the moving acting performances and engaging musical numbers combatted serious themes of an industrial, Victorian backdrop, particularly as pertinent topics within ‘Oliver!’ such as anti semitism and the struggle of youth against adversity progressively become more prevalent in our own society.

Standout performances came from the Upper Sixth with Angus Macallister’s witty portrayal of Fagin’s balance of charm and menace as well as Kate Kenny’s touching performance as Nancy, skilfully capturing her raw emotion. However, Thomas Lane (F3) arguably stole the show as the young Oliver, harnessing a masterful partnership of innocence and beautiful singing.

Having participated in the musical playing the role of Mr Bumble, this was particularly special for me and the rest of the U6 who were involved as this was our last production at St Benedict’s. The experience was undoubtedly entertaining and memorable; we are sad to leave, albeit eager to see what fantastic performances await in the future!

Mak S (U6)

CLASSICS

Discuss the meaning of a particular ancient myth and how it has changed over time

The Evolution of the Myth of Clytemnestra

The myths we have received from the ancient world have survived hundreds of years to become the tales we know today. These myths have been passed down through generations from the oral tradition of storytelling. These myths have been passed down through generations by the oral storytelling tradition, this is where stories are passed down through the spoken word and not written down. In turn this may result in the distortion of some details and elements of the myth. This is evident in myths such as the story of Heracles and his labour of capturing the Golden Hind, which is depicted on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia.

The myth of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon is a story that has come into contemporary possession from ancient Greek civilisations. Although the myth has survived till modern day, the interpretation and the way the characters are viewed has developed overtime. The character of Clytemnestra is infamously known as the ultimate bad wife and has been used as an example of the monstrous behaviour of women for hundreds of years such as in Chaucer’s Wife of Bath as he refers to “Clitermystra for hire lecherye” – Clytemnestra for her lechery (Chaucer, 1388/2016). The presentation of Clytemnestra in versions of myths and stories has however developed actively from her being the villainess of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon to her generating more sympathy from a modern gaze.

To summarise, the myth tells how while Agamemnon, the King of Mycenae, was away fighting in the Trojan War, he lured his daughter Iphigenia to Troy with false promises of marrying Achilles. He actually planned to sacrifice her to atone for his disrespectful acts towards Artemis. These discourteous actions hindered his army’s ability to go home as Artemis stopped the wind from blowing in their sails. On return to Mycenae, Agamemnon brought back another woman named Cassandra, the priestess of Apollo, who was taken as a prisoner and intended to be kept as a slave. While away, Clytemnestra, his wife, took on another lover named Aegisthus and together they killed Agamemnon while he was in a position of vulnerability once he had returned. The myth varies as to whether he was by the hearth (the centre of the family home), in the bath or while he was asleep. There are also variations as to who was in charge of the murder, Aegisthus or Clytemnestra.

In early versions of the myth, such as Homer’s Odyssey, Clytemnestra is presented to be secondary to the villainy of Aegisthus but nevertheless calculating and malevolent. At the beginning of the Epic, Zeus establishes fault in Aegisthus rather than Clytemnestra and credits him for “steal[ing]” Agamemnon’s wife and murdering him (Homer, The Odyssey 1.33 – 38). The position of action is left to Aegisthus. In

addition to this, Homer uses the character of Clytemnestra to act as a contrast point to Penelope’s implausible wifeship. She is conveyed to be the dark reflection of the archetypally good wife Penelope (Haynes, 2020, p.166). There is no reference to Iphigenia in the Odyssey so to the knowledge of the audience, it appears that Clytemnestra’s main motive for the murder of Agamemnon is her sexual jealousy towards Agamemnon bringing home another woman. The Odyssean Clytemnestra is cursed and degraded by Agamemnon who speaks with a bitter tongue referencing her as the “treacherous scheming Clytemnestra” (Homer, The Odyssey 11.423 – 424) to Odysseus, warning him of the dangers of returning home in a selfaggrandising manner. Agamemnon goes as far to denounce the entirety of the female gender. Clytemnestra takes a more passive position in this myth only being described as scheming with no reference to her taking any physical action the way Aegisthus is credited to have done. This furthermore perfectly aligns with the societal expectations that women had no agency and were conniving but inactive.

In Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, (perhaps the most famous characterisation of the murderess) Clytemnestra is clearly presented as the embodiment of malevolence, and she is meant to be viewed in an unforgiving manner. This version of Clytemnestra would have been particularly fearsome to an Athenian (probable all male) audience watching this play due to her unapologetic cunning persona. In the beginning of the play, the Chorus attempts to create sympathy for Agamemnon by describing the difficulty he faced in choosing between his fleet and the life of his daughter. “Heavy is my heart if I do not obey, heavy too, if I butcher my child, pride of my house” (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 192 –194). The illustration of Agamemnon facing an impossible decision, a decision in which both acts consequence to disaster, the Chorus makes Clytemnestra’s action seem unfavorable as he is punished after having to make a dreadful choice.

Clytemnestra is in a position of power over the chorus of men, and she often dominates conversation. The believed duplicitous nature of women is evident as Clytemnestra can manipulate Agamemnon into acting hubristically by walking along expensive tapestries as he shouldn’t be subjected to walking upon the ground like a regular mortal man. The act of hubris, excessive pride, would be enough for an ancient audience to loathe Agamemnon as the gods were figures who deserved unfaultable respect and should be elevated above humanity. In making him act hubristically, Clytemnestra is attempting to depict Agamemnon in an unsympathetic light, so her future actions are more justified.

Clytemnestra further points out the hypocrisy of Athenian society as she is shamed for taking Aegisthus on as a lover

while Agamemnon has brought back another woman and had previous war brides in Troy. In challenging the system, Clytemnestra is immediately monstrous, and she is a woman who does not know her place (Haynes, 2020 p.149). This portrayal of Clytemnestra is further driven by her grief and anger surrounding the murder of Iphigenia rather than primarily Agamemnon’s infidelity seen in the Odyssey. She has no remorse for the murder of her husband and sees it as “payment for his pollution” (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1392).

Euripides, however, conveys a more progressive version of Clytemnestra in his play Electra. As mentioned by scholar Edith Hall, “women… are permitted by the multivocal form of tragedy to address the public in the theatre as they never could in reality” (reference) and this is evident in Euripides’ work. The Euripidean tendency to provide a voice to the unexpected and to the voiceless is a notion commented on by Aristophanes, that “in Euripides’ plays slaves and women, young and old, would speak just as much as their masters” (Aristophanes, Frogs 949–950). The Euripidean variation of Clytemnestra is much less wicked, as at the beginning of the play, a peasant recounts how Aegisthus planned to kill Electra but “Clytaemnestra then, cruel as she is, stopped him, and saved Electra’s life” (Euripides, Electra 26 – 27). Euripides’ further gives Clytemnestra the space to explain her motive and allows her to justify her actions to Electra and Orestes. Through her soliloquy, Clytemnestra is demonstrated as reasonable as she accepts her tainted image and the cruel words the town have said about her. Her motive mainly focuses on Iphigenia, and we can see her truly mourning the loss of her child and see this as the root of her hatred. Cassandra being brought into the home as a concubine was just a catalyst to her decision to murder Agamemnon as she just added on the arrival of a second wife at the end of her grief-ridden speech.

Clytemnestra is presented in the most rational light and her characterisation is softer compared to the ruthlessness

of her previous depictions by Homer and Aeschylus. She even speaks of how if Agamemnon had killed Iphigenia for a reason with more validity such as to “avert the capture of his city, or to exalt his house, or if, to save his other children, he had taken one life for many, he could be forgiven” (Euripides, Electra 1024 –1027). It could be argued that Euripides is in fact attempting to portray the more stereotypical female qualities by mellowing her character. There is a more repenting take on her as she claims, “how bitterly I regret it now!” (Euripides, Electra 1108). Her regret for her actions negates her strong character and her femininity. She also comments on how “women are frail” (Euripides, Electra 1102) and feeds into the patriarchy to make her character more forgivable and more appealing.

Depictions of Clytemnestra not only from literature and poetry but also from art, conveys her to be domineering. Pierre-Narcisse Guérin’s portrayal of Clytemnestra pictures her to be the agent of Agamemnon’s destruction. The cowering Aegisthus perfectly captures the version of the myth that Clytemnestra was truly the one of agency in the murder unlike her Odyssean depiction. Her ability to render the male incapable and inactive is what truly makes her terrifying to an ancient audience. Her hateful, cunning stare to the unprotected Agamemnon connotes her to be an unrelenting force. It further implies that her hatred for Agamemnon is unremitting, and his murder was no mistake, and she has no regrets unlike the way Euripides’ has presented her.

Artwork of Clytaemnestra advanced to portray Clytemnestra as less of a character with unremitting malice, but rather a figure that displays power and control. The stance and holding of the axe depicts her to be dominant and governing. This illustration of her implies grandeur. If Clytemnestra truly has always just been a figure of power, the villianisation of her character by an ancient Greek audience begins to become coherent. The position of women in society was equal to that of children. Essentially women were the property of their husbands due to the overbearing patriarchal society that was ancient Greece. Clytemnestra, however, defies the societal norms by killing the head of her household and her husband. She is a figure that causes insecurity in the position of men.

In contemporary novels and podcasts, Clytemnestra is a figure that now arouses sympathy. Tóibín immediately opens his novel with Clytemnestra explaining her motive for the murder of Agamemnon centring around his brutal murder of their daughter through a harrowing, vivid recounting of Agamemnon’s cruelty towards Iphigenia. Unlike in past interpretations that convey Clytemnestra to be nothing more than an adulteress (Haynes, 2020, p.167), there is

Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, 1817

John Collier, 1882

a focus on her avenging her wronged child. The true villainy of Agamemnon is now truly being condemned by a modern audience. His past actions as highlighted in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis are finally being recognised and monstered. It is difficult to believe with a contemporary feminist gaze, that fault could be found in Clytemnestra for avenging not one of her children murdered by Agamemnon, but two. Haynes perfectly captures the shocking acceptance of Agamemnon’s actions and the fact that he was victimised by an ancient audience through her novel focusing on the unspoken female characters of myth. Modern readers of these plays have concluded that Clytemnestra is righteously murderous and in these ancient plays she has never really given the space to truly be the tragic figure that she is (Albert, 2021). There is more of a focus on what led Clytemnestra to becoming a murderess and her motivation rather than on only her actions. This is evident as there are now recent novels that focus solely on Clytemnestra as a character such as the Clytemnestra novel written by Costanza Casati.

To conclude, Clytemnestra has been a character that has been misinterpreted and overly vilified. Her victimisation has come second to that of Agamemnon’s and her true tragedy has been masked by her one action of killing her husband. There has been an undoubtable shift in the presentation of the character of Clytemnestra from being an unsympathetic villain in ancient Greece, to now in recent times, people delving into her motives more and attempting to truly understand why she committed such a crime.

Bibliography

Chaucer, G. (1388). The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale. Second edition (2016). United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press.

Homer, The Odyssey. Translation by E. V. Rieu (1946). New York: The Penguin Group. Aeschylus, Agamemnon. Translation and commentary by Philip de May (2003).

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Aristophanes, Frogs. Translation and commentary by Judith Affleck and Clive Letchford (2014). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Euripides, Electra. Translated with introduction by Philip Vellacott (1963). New York: The Penguin Group.

Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, B (1817) Clytaemnestra. [Oil on canvas]. Department of Paintings of the Louvre.

Available at: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/ clytemnestra#:~:text=Clytemnestra%20ruled%20Mycenae%20with%20her,affair%20 with%20his%20enemy%20Aegisthus (Accessed: 20 July 2023)

Collier, J. (1882) Clytemnestra. [Oil on canvas]. Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London. Available at: https://artuk.org/discover/stories/the-tale-of-troy-in-art (Accessed: 25 June 2023)

Tóibín, C. (2017). House of Names. Milton Keynes, Great Britain: Clays Ltd. (Accessed: 28 June 2023)

Haynes, N. (2020). ‘Clytemnestra’ Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths. Picador: Pac Macmillan. (Accessed: 17 July 2023)

Albert, L. (2021) ‘I Promise We’re Not Defending Murder, Clytemnestra’, Let’s Talk About Myths Baby! Greek & Roman Mythology Retold. [Podcast]. Available from: Spotify Podcasts. (Accessed: 27 June 2023)

Aeschylus, The Oresteia. Translated by Robert Fagles (1977).

Garves, R. (1955). The Greek Myths. Great Britain: Clays Ltd

Pouros, C. (2019). ‘The murderous relationship between mothers and children: the evolution of myths concerning Medea,Clytemnestra and Electra from Homeric epic to Seneca’. MPhil, Royal Holloway, University of London.

Available at: https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/publications/the-murderousrelationship-between-mothers-and-children-the-evolu (Accessed: 20 July 2023)

Ayodenu D (U6)

GEOGRAPHY

SOCIOLOGY

Essay on Gender and Education: Does the education system favour girls?

From the 1980s there has been a disparity between girls and boys in terms of educational achievement, growing wider in 1989, one year after the Education Reform Act and the year of the introduction of GCSEs. The gap has since then remained stable, with an average of around 10% difference in the number of boys and girls who get at least 5 grades

A*-C equivalent at GCSE levels, girls constantly being on top. There is much debate over the reasons for this disparity, and whether or not this points to a disadvantage for boys. Some, such as Sewell and Mitsos & Brown argue that there are shifts within the education system which are responsible for making the system ‘go against boys’, whilst feminists such as Connell argue that we should be looking at gender within the education system more holistically rather than focusing solely on grades, such as social issues faced by girls.

One argument by sociologists who argue that the education system is favouring girls over boys is Tony Sewell who is quoted as saying “We were right to challenge the 1950s patriarchy, but we have thrown boys out”. He believes that there has been an increasing feminine influence in the education system which has harmed boys. Mainly, he cites GCSEs and coursework as this so-called feminising force. He argues that coursework is wired towards girls as he sees girls as being more organised, quiet and consistent with their efforts. Furthermore, he sees the introduction of coursework as disadvantaging boys, as he argues that there isn’t enough emphasis on outdoor adventure or competition which boys would favour. Sewell also says that the school system now encourages ‘feminine’ traits such as being nurturing and organised, and he says this clashes with boys’ working styles and personalities. Theorists who agree with him argue that the education system has become feminised and now favours girls too much.

However, Sewell’s claims have been disproven various times over. For example, Read’s study with a very wide sample of over 50 schools investigated the discipline style of teachers. She found that female teachers were just as likely as male teachers to use a ‘disciplinarian discourse’ when correcting or handling students. This refutes the claim that female teachers and the education system (which is mainly composed of female teachers) are somehow unable to transmit discipline and structure. Furthermore, although he says we were right to challenge the 1950’s patriarchy, his arguments of ‘female’ and ‘male’ traits very similarly mirror the 1950’s patriarchal standards which expect women to be docile, submissive and nurturing, whilst seeing men as being strong, disciplinarian providers, even though both women and men are people who are complex and multi-faceted and they have equal chances of passing on different degrees of discipline. A second argument which attempts to argue that the education

system favours girls over boys is that boys don’t have enough male role models, and there are too many female teachers. ONS statistics show 13% of primary school teachers are male. Mitsos & Brown and French & French argue that this means boys have insufficient role models. If this were true, it would impact boys’ experiences as they could feel unseen or unsupported. YouGov showed that 43% of boys reported working better in the presence of a male teacher, which these theorists argue disadvantages boys because it means that they don’t work as well and therefore obtain lower results. However, this theory could be seen as being too reductive. Even though there is a lower percentage of primary school male teachers, 60% of secondary school headteachers are male. This would dispute the claim that there aren’t enough role models, because in secondary school, where the attainment gap is widest, there are still more high-ranking male role models than female. Therefore, it would mean that boys would still have people in power to look up to, and know that they’d have to work hard to attain the appropriate qualifications to get to a position of power, and therefore be motivated to work harder and attain more. Furthermore, YouGov’s findings, rather than supporting the view that the education system is more feminised, they point to the continued devaluing of women and girls in the education system. As previously mentioned, Reads’ findings that female teachers were just as disciplinarian as male teachers, and yet that significant number of boys say they work better with a male teacher, points much more to the boys dismissing women’s authority and presence, rather than pointing towards an over feminised school system. They would perhaps therefore point us to external factors such as gender role socialisation wherein girls are presented to be submissive and less important. Contrasting with the previous two arguments, some feminists find that these concerns about boys’ achievements are not representative of the nuances of the education system, for example, by ignoring workingclass girls. Archer’s research looked into how working-class female identities interacted with the schools and education system. She found schools would often enact double symbolic violence on working class girls: both devaluing their class, and their gender. Working-class students were more likely to look for symbolic capital, through things like clothes, romantic partners, friend groups and looks, because middle-class schools would devalue working class culture/ accents/tastes. However, this method of attaining symbolic capital clashed with many of the schools’ uniform and presentation policies. Working-class girls therefore faced a dilemma: educational or symbolic capital? Because many schools devalued working-class culture, if the girls chose to attain symbolic capital through styles they would be negatively labelled as troublemakers and suffer in educational achievement. If they chose to comply with the school rules,

although their grades would go up, they could lose symbolic capital and so might be seen as “boffins” or stuck up. This demonstrates that although middle-class girls mostly do very well in school, working-class girls face a blend of classism and sexism in school which can be very detrimental to their social or educational lives. However, there are some who argue that the existence of a smaller percentage of workingclass high achieving girls means that it’s not impossible for them to attain. Although these girl’s merits are great and it isn’t impossible to achieve highly in school, it’s definitely made more difficult for them when the education system systemically fails them and doesn’t negate the negative experiences that many working-class girls have in schools. These theorists also argue that the notion that all girls are benefited by the education system is reductive because it ignores the plights faced by ethnic minority girls. Archer’s study of ethnic differences in achievement found that ethnic minority girls were seen as far from the ‘ideal pupils’. Asian girls were often stereotyped and labelled to be repressed, quiet, submissive and achieving through work rather than talent, i.e., achieving the so called ‘wrong way’. Black girls were stereotyped as having a ‘demonised pupil identity’, there are many prevailing racist and misogynistic stereotypes which lead to Black women and girls being labelled as culturally deficient, loud, or troublemakers. This can lead to ethnic minority girls being labelled negatively by teachers, and so either unfairly harshly punished, or being shunned and pushed to the side in class discussions and conversations. Not only can this affect ethnic minority girls’ self-esteem, as they perceive the teachers’ unfair treatment, but it can also lead to teachers investing less time on these girls, and so can also harm their achievement. Another argument which points to the education system not valuing girls over boys at all is the evidence of patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes in the education system. Connel notes that there is still a ‘rich vocabulary of abuse’ thrown at girls: they get slut-shamed, abused, sexually harassed and objectified by the male gaze (Mac an Ghaill) significantly more than boys do. This can have serious impacts on their mental health and school experiences, as they can feel devalued, attacked, and looked down upon. Furthermore, these patriarchal attitudes can also be seen when it comes to subject choices. Primary socialisation and the creation of gender domains around subjects can mean that they are stereotyped to be “boy’s subjects” or “girl’s subjects”. This means that when girls step out of the very narrow patriarchal mould, they often face homophobic and misogynistic abuse. Connel notes that girls who did sports were often forcibly masculinised and called lesbian and queer. This demonstrates that girls still face many challenges around school, even if they do better in grades on average than boys.

Overall, I believe that the strongest points come from the various feminists who argue that the education system still unfairly favours boys over girls. I believe that the claims of theorists such as Tony Sewell are too reductive and rely on the antiquated, extremely patriarchal and binary ideas of gender traits. Furthermore, Reads’ research very much proves, with its much larger sample and studies backing it, that the education system imparts as many traits which he identifies as ‘manly’ than it does those which are ‘womanly’. I also find the second argument, that the lack of male primary school

teachers negatively impacts boys, to be short sighted, as larger amounts of school leadership employees are male than female, therefore meaning that boys still, in fact, have many more high-ranking role models than girls do. However, I find the feminist arguments to be much more holistic and take into account many more factors such as class and ethnicity, which are facets and nuances that are failed to be explored by the first arguments’ broad, reductive strokes. Furthermore, they also explore how in many of the social aspects of the education system, independently of grades, girls and in particular working-class and ethnic minority girls, suffer a lot at the hands of the boys and men in the education system, whether that be from sexual harassment or symbolic capital. And sadly, most of the time this abuse of women is largely brushed off by schools and played of as just ‘boys being boys’. Overall, I believe that the notion that the education system values girls over boys fails to look at the big picture: yes, girls outperform boys in terms of grades (although this gap closes in every post-GCSE qualification), but they also suffer in many other social aspects than boys, through labelling, abuse, harassment and restrictions over subjects they can pick without being bullied.

Diego A (L6)

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Changes:

• Optimisation of track: Rather than drawing every section of the track when at every frame, it only computes the sections that have changed. This ensures that the software can run quicker and use less resources. Technical skill B

• Fixed bug when adding points to the middle of the track: User is able to insert points anywhere on the track, however this would sometimes misplace these points due to a bug. This has now been fixed. Technical skill C

• Wrote an algorithm to remove “kinks”, or loops in the track, formed by the outer edges of the track. Although this can be hidden visually, it’s important to be able to make the track “clean” to help the AI navigate. Technical skill B

• Added ability to switch where the “front” is. For non-looped tracks, it changes what end points are appended to. Technical skill C

Next Up:

• Week 1: Implement the ability to close the track, to form a loop. An algorithm will be required to smooth out the connecting points to ensure C1 continuity.

• Week 2: Implement ability to zoom in and out of the track. Will also add a button to recentre positioning and zoom.

• Week 3: Add ability to save and load track. Will also add an input box, to allow the user to rename their track. If not already saved, this name will be used as the track name.

Code Changes:

Raphael W (L6)

What I’ve done:

I began by practicing syntax for java that I will need for my project using w3schools, including their exercises. I then attempted to implement some code in Java that created a database about books to practice the syntax, however I struggled to get the code to run correctly despite many different attempts.

Then I began to implement the database in Python so that I could understand how my database was going to work in a more familiar language.

What I will do:

My next step will be to try to get the Java code to run by using a different method of learning the syntax, and implementation (e.g. videos, tutoring).

Once I get this to run, I will implement all my databases as they are all highly necessary for the execution of my project, and therefore will be the task I attempt first. I will begin to code the necessary aspects of the sign-up/login option as some features of this are required for the app to work properly. Then, write the code that will allow the user to input information (if they are signed up as a client). Finally, I will work on the code that allows accounts to access each other.

Technical design:

This is the entity relationship diagram that represents the four databases I currently plan to use, but I may change as I implement them to create more so that they can be better normalised.

The class ‘MoodsIn’ will inherit from class ‘ClientInfo’ and the input from ‘MoodsIn’ will be stored in a database alongside the id from ‘ClientInfo’. This is how the information will be called for that specific client.

Holly T (L6)

Java attempt/trial code – Error Appointment

– Practice of basic syntax

Java

DANCE SHOW 2024

‘Bennies Goes to Hollywood’

PSYCHOLOGY

The ‘nature-nurture’ debate has permeated clinical psychology circles for decades. Some theorists argue that behaviour, cognition and mental processes, including mental illness, can be explained through genetics and inheritance, whereas others look to the environment, whether that is pre-natal, or throughout someone’s life. Personally, I agree that environmental factors are more important than genetic in many cases, but I believe the question is reductive. The term ‘mental illness’ is described as a ‘clinically significant disturbance in thinking, emotional regulation and behaviour’ (WHO, 2022). This, as per the current DSM-5-TR, encompasses 297 distinct diagnoses, without counting different subtypes of disorders, all of which have different nuances. Hence, it is far too reductive to paint a host of subjects which are so heterogenous in etiology as ‘mental illnesses’ with as broad a brushstroke as the statement does. Each disorder has its own facets, and genetic and environmental underpinnings, the notion of which I will explore in this essay.

Even within single disorders in the DSM-5-TR, there is genetic variation and differences in heritability rates. For example, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), characterised by obsessions, unwanted thoughts or images, more intensely distressing than the average person, and rituals (whether physical or mental), which serve to maladaptively avoid or diminish anxiety caused by the obsessions (Barlow, 2014). OCD has 5 officially recognised subtypes: Harm, Checking, Symmetry, Contamination, Repugnance (sex, violence) and Hoarding (Abramowitz et al. (2009)), although the DSM-5 established Hoarding Disorder as a differential and separate diagnosis, and current research calls ‘Repugnance’ ‘Forbidden thoughts’. Overall heritability in OCD across different symptom dimensions has been found to range from 38–47% (Iervolino et al., 2011). However, the same study, and many others, found that there wasn’t huge amounts of genetic overlap across symptom dimensions, with correlations ranging

from 0.55–0.38. Not only does this show the incredibly faceted and nuanced etiology of even one disorder, but points once to the arguable lack of validity of diagnostic measures which still view OCD as a unitary disorder rather than different diagnoses based on symptoms dimensions, despite the clear difference in etiology and expression. Therefore, if even one disorder is too complex to answer with “most importantly genetic or environmental”, considering the heterogeneity in peoples’ experiences and etiologies of the disorder, neither can the other 296, illustrating how I believe that statements have been made which aren’t detailed or nuanced enough. However, perhaps this conflicting evidence can point us to thinking about heritability of symptoms, rather than disorders. For example, studies have found that OCD and Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), which both involve obsessive and perfectionist cognitive styles, have found 64% shared genetic factors between the two (Browne et al., 2014). Furthermore, Anorexia Nervosa, another disorder with strong obsessive underpinnings, has very high comorbidity rates with OCD and was found to have genetic correlation across 229 traits (Yilmaz et al., 2020). Therefore, high genetic correlation across obsessive-style disorders has been found to imply that there is a shared etiology of obsessive traits, especially considering the familiar clustering of obsessivestyle disorders, even if different ones. Therefore, differences in disorders even with shared genetics could be found to be influenced by environmental factors. These environmental factors have been found to be driven by Early Maladaptive Schema (EMS) and cognitive distortions. OCD patients have higher prevalence of overinflated sense of responsibility, dichotomic thinking and unrelenting standards (Kizilagac & Cerit). Contrastingly, BDD patients have been found to have higher prevalence of seeking external reassurance and excessive vigilance than a control group (Dehbaneh & Bahrainian). Hence, rather than saying that mental illnesses as a whole are

‘more environmental than genetic’, I think it would be more accurate to argue predispositions to cognitive styles (which increase vulnerability for certain diseases) can be genetically influenced, and then environmental triggers would be most important in activating EMS which stimulate the development of the disorder.

Secondly, I want to look at the way we categorise mental disorders in modern society, and how it can mean data collected for the disorders can lack validity. Western cultures most commonly use the DSM-5-TR and ICD11. As of the latest DSM-5-TR, there has been exploration of a wide range of etiologies of 297 disorders, reflecting the currently more nuanced views of mental disorders. DSM diagnostics have strict criteria, and despite increasing the reliability of diagnoses, perhaps it also lowers the construct validity of the way they are diagnosed. This sentiment is mirrored by members of the clinical community (Nemeroff et al., 2013). If the DSM has such rigid diagnostic criteria that a patient can meet all but one of the required symptoms, and has no available differential diagnosis, they are functionally suffering from the disorder but unable to acquire a diagnosis. Therefore, if the way that we measure disorders is over-simplified or too rigid, rather than looking at disorders as a collection of symptoms on a series of spectrums which reach clinical significance, then the data which we have could be unrepresentative and hence, approaches to analyse any one disorder homogenously, let alone all mental illnesses, could be argued to lack validity. Since research into mental disorders is often done on DSM diagnosed patients, those with just sub-diagnostic levels are unrepresented by the data. Hence, how could we accurately argue that mental illnesses as a whole could be predominantly caused by environmental (or genetic) factors if the data we have on those diseases might only reflect the people fitting into the very narrow mould of the DSM, rather than including people who experience most of these symptoms but not all? Or

perhaps even symptoms experienced by many of the sufferers of the disorder, which haven’t been studied enough to be added to the diagnostic criteria? Although understandable that the DSM has strict criteria to ensure interrater reliability, perhaps this problem of unrepresentativeness could be mitigated if research included subdiagnostic symptom sufferers.

Furthermore, our understanding of what it means to be mentally ill changes and develops widely as time goes on. This can be illustrated through the changing psychological and societal attitudes towards homosexuality. In 1838, Morison wrote “The physiognomy of mental diseases”, wherein he described homosexuality as ‘a crime against nature’ and ‘monomania with unnatural propensity’. In other pseudoscientific approaches to homosexuality tinged with eugenics, theorists such as Millingen (1940) described gay people as ‘sodomists’ with ‘incurable religious monomania’. This pathologized view of homosexuality continued throughout the early and mid-20th century, despite the popularity of Freud’s theories, which although controversial and low in construct validity, were regarded as the epitome of psychology and yet didn’t look at homosexuality as a treatable disease, although still treating it as deviant. Even the DSM-1 in 1952 labelled homosexuality as a ‘sexual deviation’ and ‘sociopathic personality disturbance’ (American Psychiatric Association, 1952).This reflected the societal views of the time, despite overwhelming evidence garnered since then, as well as at the time, that homosexuality was not pathological or maladaptive, and when looked in a scientific manner is not harmful or disordered. The label of homosexuality was removed by the DSM-III-R after pressure from gay rights activists for the board of APA trustees to acknowledge scientific research disproving that homosexuality was an illness (Hectors, 2023). Furthermore, there are current debates on whether Gender Dysphoria should be removed from the DSM-5 altogether, as some argue it pathologizes gender variance, whilst others say removing it would lower access to HRT or sex-reassignment surgeries. I use these as examples of how what we understand societally as being disordered or being classified

as so changes widely. Therefore, any attempt to homogenously analyse ‘mental illnesses’, whether genetically or environmentally, lacks temporal validity, another reason why I disagree with the original statement.

In conclusion, I disagree with the statement for a multitude of reasons. I find that nosological frameworks currently used such as the DSM-5-TR (although amazing and useful tools) don’t take into account patients on the peripherals of diagnostic thresholds, and perhaps hold too rigid diagnostic criteria. This makes the data collected solely on the basis of the DSM-5-TR and without subdiagnostic samples unrepresentative of many peoples’ experiences of their conditions. Therefore, it can be difficult to generalise either genetic or environmental data to all those suffering from the disease. Furthermore, mental illnesses are an extremely wide and heterogenous subject to analyse, and there are many differences between patients, and our understanding of what even is a mental illness changes at light speed as we learn more about the mind and behaviour. Hence, I firmly disagree with the statement, because some mental disorders are very genetic, and some very environmental, and so attempts to homogenously define mental illnesses as a group as mostly environmental or vice versa are futile and lack validity of all sorts.

References

Kawa S, Giordano J. A brief historicity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: issues and implications for the future of psychiatric canon and practice. Philos Ethics Humanit Med. 2012 Jan 13;7:2. doi: 10.1186/1747-5341-7-2. PMID: 22243976; PMCID: PMC3282636

Surís A, Holliday R, North CS. The Evolution of the Classification of Psychiatric Disorders. Behav Sci (Basel). 2016 Jan 18;6(1):5. doi: 10.3390/bs6010005. PMID: 26797641; PMCID: PMC4810039

Nemeroff, C.B., Weinberger, D., Rutter, M. et al. DSM-5: a collection of psychiatrist views on the changes, controversies, and future directions. BMC Med 11, 202 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7015-11-202

Barlow, D. H. (Ed.). (2014). Clinical handbook of psychological disorders: A step-by-step treatment manual (5th ed.). The Guilford Press. 5, 768

Abramowitz, J. S., Taylor, S., & McKay, D. (2009). Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Lancet (London, England), 374(9688), 491–499. https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(09)60240-3

Iervolino AC, Rijsdijk FV, Cherkas L, Fullana MA, Mataix-Cols D. A Multivariate Twin Study of ObsessiveCompulsive Symptom Dimensions. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2011;68(6):637–644. doi:10.1001/ archgenpsychiatry.2011.54

Browne HA, Gair SL, Scharf JM, Grice DE. Genetics of obsessive-compulsive disorder and related disorders. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2014 Sep;37(3):319-35. doi: 10.1016/j.psc.2014.06.002. Epub 2014 Jul 23. PMID: 25150565; PMCID: PMC4143777

Hectors, New Zealand Sociology Special Issue: Theorising Mental Health 2023, Issue 38, No. 1, 18–28

Kizilagac F, Cerit C. Assessment of Early Maladaptive Schemas in Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Dusunen Adam The Journal of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences 2019;32:14–22

Maryam Akbari Dehbaneh and Seyed Abdolmajid Bahrainian. The comparison between early maladaptive schemas and dysfunctional attitudes and coping strategies in people with Body dysmorphic disorder and healthy people in a study population in Tehran. 2018;16(1):170-180 World Family Medicine. DOI: 10.5742/MEWFM.2018.93208

Diego A (L6)

SCHOOL COUNCIL

Throughout our tenure as the presidents, we have pushed and implemented ideas brought to our attention by you to the council. A few key changes we have made are to the uniform, the mirrors in the girl’s bathroom, the introduction of culture day, and the addition of the football goals. As our time comes to an end, I’m pleased to announce the upcoming elections for the next student council presidents. Serving in this role has taught me a lot about the importance of leadership, helped me improve my communication skills, boosted my confidence and most importantly, allowed me to collaborate with both teachers, students and the headmaster. More importantly, it has helped me with my UCAS and allowed me to demonstrate the skills I acquired in my personal statement. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve, and I look forward to seeing the next group of student leaders continue to make positive changes in our school community.

Advay J and Albert E (U6)

We have two presidents and two copresidents. Otylia and I were elected as co-presidents in June of last year. The system for selecting co-presidents is that the individuals who secure the second-highest number of votes become the co-presidents. The role is a vital counterpart to the two presidents, working hand-in-hand to ensure the smooth function of our student council. The co-presidency role offers flexibility and balance, unlike the presidents, whose responsibilities may seem daunting at times. Otylia and I have shared a lower workload but all support each other during busy periods, for example attending the meetings held every half term and inputting our ideas to improve St Benedict’s. I’ve really enjoyed being a part of the student council for my last year here at Bennies.

Mary-li M-A (U6)

Since the beginning of the school year, the school council has been active in taking steps in order to improve the experience of the school. The improvements include the uniform policy changes such as different coloured shirts for sixth formers and allowing girls in all years to have their hair down, as well as changes around the school such as mirrors for the girl’s bathroom. Culture day has been confirmed, which consists of delicious food from across the world, coming in clothes from your own culture and the celebration of cultural diversity. These changes don’t happen in isolation. It requires leadership, dedication, and a commitment to serving the needs of the community. So, we urge each and every one of you to consider the importance of this role and the impact it can have. Don’t underestimate the power of your voice or the influence you can wield as student president. Together, we can continue to strive for a school environment that fosters growth, inclusivity, and excellence. We wish good luck to anyone who decides to run for student president.

Otylia P (U6)

A RANDOM TALK

Hi, I’m Louis and I’m going to be talking about random numbers, a seemingly boring topic that is actually fascinating the more you look into it, and one that relates to my interests in maths and physics.

Random numbers are the hidden base of so many things we do every day, from protecting our online banking, to sending encrypted text messages to just shuffling our Spotify playlists, and yet they are surprisingly hard to generate. Many of the things you might think of as random; rolling a die or flipping a coin are not truly random but are just very sensitive to the initial conditions. For example, if you knew the exact conditions in which a coin was flipped, the forces put on it, the distance it falls, the hardness of the surface it lands on, you would be able to predict heads or tails with 100% accuracy every single time.

What about computers. They can generate random numbers, right? Well sort of. The problem is computers can only follow instructions they have been given, so how can you get them to come up with a random number on their own? Well, you can’t. Most computers generate what are known as pseudo random numbers, they take a number already present on the computer known as a seed value. This might be the time or another arbitrary value. This seed is then passed through an algorithm, and out comes your pseudo random number, very difficult to predict, but not impossible.

Now this isn’t really a problem for some uses, it doesn’t really matter if the next song on your shuffled playlist isn’t truly random, its close enough. But for others it can be a real security problem. If someone were able figure out the seed and the algorithm of an online lottery, they could win every time. Or in a bank they could access any account they liked. And there have been multiple examples of this happening, for example in 2003 a statistician in Canada was able to exploit weakly generated random numbers on scratch cards to predict whether each card was a winner or a loser. He sent 20 unscratched cards into the company that

produced them, each labelled winner or loser and was able to accurately predict 19 out of the 20.

This is why we need truly random numbers. The search for a source of truly random numbers has been going on for a long time. In 1997 scientists were so fed up they started using lava lamps as a source of seed numbers to try and make the generated numbers more random. Cameras observe the incredibly hard to predict lava lamps and use their movements to generate seed numbers that are fed into the algorithm. Despite seeming ridiculous, this is actually quite a good method of generating random numbers and is still in use by some companies today. But technically speaking it isn’t truly random. So how can we produce a truly random number? The answer seems to lie in quantum mechanics.

When a single photon (the tiny particle that makes up light) is fired at a beam splitter, it has a 50/50 chance of being reflected or going straight on. This gives us a truly random way to generate numbers, or so we think, and is currently thought to be impossible to crack without just trying every number, which would probably take a while.

However, with our still very incomplete knowledge of quantum physics we might find out that this isn’t truly random, and the search will continue.

Louis J (L6)

SPORTS CAPTAINS

FENCING

It has been another fantastic year for fencing at St Benedict’s. Every fencer has had a chance to represent the school in a fixture and many have taken part in regional and national tournaments.

This season has been marked by significant successes and milestones for our fencers, with 31 teams winning more than half of the 190 matches they have fenced. These have been against a variety of more than 20 schools and clubs.

We remain the London Quadrangular Champions for the second year in a row, although this year only three teams took part with Eton having pulled out. We have had some incredible results this year at the Public Schools Championships, with two fencers in the top 8, four in top 16, and 15 in top 32 of their category. We also have eighteen fencers qualified to the national championships, six of whom won regional medals.

Dan R (F3) and Oscar C-R (L5), two of our current fencers, have been given an incredible opportunity to represent England at the Challenge Wratislavia in Wroclaw, Poland at the end of term. This is a remarkable opportunity for them to showcase their skills on the international stage, and we wish them the best of luck.

Our teams get along very well, always supporting each other during competitions and matches, giving tips where we can. The team has its fair share of fun and jokes between the three weapons and there’s a real sense of community between year groups.

Having started fencing nine years ago in the Junior School, I always looked up to the older fencers so being chosen as the fencing captain was a big deal to me and I’m extremely grateful to be picked for the role.

I’ll be leaving for university next year and hope to continue fencing there. The role of fencing captain

has been immensely rewarding and enjoyable and I hope the team have enjoyed having me as their captain. I aim to keep in touch with the school and coaches that I’ve known for countless years, I owe a huge thanks to Mr Sadiq for his unwavering coaching and mentorship over the past decade. Thank you also to Mr Conyard, Mr Sloman, Mr Hamika and Mr Clewett for their dedication to our training and coaching efforts throughout the season.

The future for fencing at St Benedict’s is looking very bright, as I’m sure the standard of training and coaching will continue to increase. It has been an honour to be captain this year and I wish all the teams next year the best of luck.

HOCKEY

St Benedict’s hockey season has been a very successful one with lots to celebrate. From the U12s having a 90%-win rate to the second team being the most successful team they have ever been. All teams across all ages have progressed immensely, and it is testament to the hard work put in on, and off, the pitch.

As a first team we started off the season with our annual pre-season training camp to Maidenhead, not only did this help us in preparing for the hockey season physically but it also helped to bring the team together and start to form a community.

Throughout the season we were able to obtain a 64%-win rate with majority wins and draws and only losing 4 games, it has been the most successful season to date.

Our greatest success is probably the National Finals. We started off by competing in the London County round, playing Notting Hill and Bancroft’s, we won both games allowing us to progress to the London regional finals. At the regional finals we won all three of our games to become regional champions which gave us a ticket to the National finals in early February.

We headed to Nottingham and the day consisted of 4 games overall, 3 group stages and one final. We drew our first game against Caterham, then lost our next game to Sheffield girls’ school who were the eventual winners of the day. Finally, we beat Pate’s grammar in our last group stage game. This put us in the 5th and 6th play-offs which we beat Brentwood 2-0 putting us in 5th overall. It was an incredible day and something the team is proud of considering this is the furthest the school has ever gotten.

This achievement is a testament to the dedication and teamwork of every member of our First Team squad. I am immensely proud to have led such a remarkable group of athletes, and I extend my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of them for their commitment and passion for the sport. Thank you, Mr Nijhar and Mr Condon, for supporting and helping us as well as Mr Hanbury for helping us off the pitch with our fitness and strength and conditioning.

Elena L-P (U6)

Polly B (U6)

RUGBY

After a tough season last year for the first XV, we have made significant progress not only as a team but also as developing rugby players this season. Our first team is mainly made up of lower sixth boys of which only a small minority of them have played any first XV matches or been a part of our weekly training schedule last season. However, it’s fair to say they have gone above and beyond when stepping up to the role of being a first XV player and, with the help of key upper sixth leaders in the group, the standard of rugby we have showcased this season has been very impressive, especially for such a young group at under-18 level.

We knew that this season would be a challenge and so the team was eager to get started and get some wins under our belts before we went into our main 15-a-side season. And after a difficult first half term we went off to Merchiston Castle school festival, where we faced some of the toughest schools in Scotland and the North of England. We performed extremely well and became noticeably more resilient as players. This tournament turned out to be a key turning point for not just the team, but also some individuals as our collective determination massively increased in training. Throughout the course of the trip, we became much closer as teammates, and I know that everyone thoroughly enjoyed the tournament and the overall tour.

Then from when we arrived back from school, all the way up to the Christmas break, we had won four out of four of our matches. Unfortunately, we then faced some marginal losses against two of some of the traditionally top school rugby teams in the country, RGS High Wycombe and Hampton. But regardless of the opponents, our performances spoke volumes about the team we had become, playing with high levels of confidence and intelligence and I think I speak on behalf of all the friends and family who came down to watch that we became a thrilling team to watch.

I am also delighted to have had the pleasure of reporting on the school’s overall rugby achievements this year in our whole school assemblies. As a programme we are currently operating

at 100% participation. This means that every pupil in the school who has chosen rugby as a games option has represented the school in at least one external rugby fixture. Some of our achievements include the U14A’s season, winning 9 out of 11 games played, the U15B’s season who had won 5 out of their 9 games played and these are only a couple of examples among several other teams having successful seasons. Aside from team achievements, we have also seen multiple individuals in our school rugby program being selected for the London South Central academy program and these include Harry T, Johnny D, Adam F, Freddie L, Jay W, Evan W, Finn B, Victor C P, Dan L, Freddie R. This reflects all the hard work that individuals have put into the program this season.

Finally, on behalf of all those who have participated in the school’s rugby program, I would like to highlight the amount of hard work and effort that the coaches have put into the program this year. It is only as a result of their extra efforts, that often go unnoticed to most, we have been able to have consistently high-quality training sessions including strength and conditioning in the gym and onpitch sessions. Well done to everyone this season and good luck to the first XV for next year’s season and I’m excited to hear about all the excellent achievements in the years to come.

NETBALL

Netball this year has showcased an enormous amount of talent throughout all age groups. All with outstanding successes, the first team, moving through to the fourth round of the Sister ‘n’ Sport plate. However, missing out to get to semi–finals. We qualified for the Middlesex County finals (which we placed 6th in against

tough competition) after a strong performance in the Middlesex Netball County preliminary rounds. This took place at LEH school, where we played against the top schools in London, like North London Collegiate, and Godolphin and Latymer.

Attendance at after school sessions and S&C have been incredible, and this has played a predominant part of our success this season, with 639 goals scored in the 43 matches played so far. Our dedicated players have showcased unparalleled teamwork, determination, and skill on the court, securing impressive victories through strategic plays, precise shooting, and great sportsmanship. Congratulations to all involved for this outstanding achievement on the netball court. A special thank you to Arielle, my co-captain, who has stuck by my side through these terms of Netball, especially when I was injured for the majority of the beginning of the season. She stepped up and led the team to success, the team wouldn’t have been as successful as it is now without her. And to my other teammates in U6 I wish you the best of luck at university and I can’t wait to see you thrive and carry on your netball journey.

Undeniably, our success could not have been achieved without the hard work of the sports department, especially Miss Maynard, Miss Broome, Miss Williamson, Mr Hanbury and Miss Hill who have facilitated our fitness and training sessions, allowing us to perform at the highest standards we could. It has been a pleasure leading this year’s first team and seeing everyone grow throughout the season. The friendships and bonds built with everyone in the team has been a significant highlight and good luck to the teams in the years to come. I hope that the legacy of netball as one of the most successful girls’ sports in St Benedict’s continues to prosper.

Freddy R (U6)

Francesca N (U6)

DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S AWARD

I did DofE all the way from Bronze, and it has been excellent for my fitness, skills, and personal development. The expeditions (long, 3–5-day treks through the peak district), taught me useful orienteering skills, and gave me the opportunity to explore a very different environment to that of London. The other sections; skills, sports and volunteering, allowed me to give back to society, develop my sports skills, and continue my singing lessons. For the Gold award, the residential section meant that I spent a week at an activities camp in the summer, which meant I got to try archery, waterboarding, and many other activities I would never get to do otherwise. I have found DofE very useful, and it has given me many memories and skills I will remember for life.

Samuel B (U6)

Starting my Duke of Edinburgh journey in Year 9 and only recently finishing it has been an incredible experience – one which I will never forget. I was very lucky to have a great group to share this ride with, all the way up from Bronze to Gold. The expeditions strengthened our teamworking and collaboration skills, as well as resilience and practical skills like reading a map –but above all, they were great fun! The other sections of DofE allowed me to

develop my insight into career options beyond school via online courses and improve my other interests like playing hockey. It also gave me the opportunity to volunteer at a local care home, where I talked, listened, and played games with the elderly residents, giving me a new perspective to healthcare and community. The Gold award also has a residential section; I spent a week in Portugal on a surfing course over the summer holidays, which was amazing. I loved every aspect of DofE and will take all the memories and skills it has given me into my life beyond school.

Martha H (U6)

Completing the Bronze, Silver and Gold Duke of Edinburgh awards has given me so many amazing experiences and opportunities. From the very start, you feel part of your team as you develop mapping and teamwork skills together to prepare for the expeditions – which covered various areas of the UK. My favourite was the Peak District – despite the freezing temperatures and icy tents, it was so much fun! Beyond the expeditions, DofE gave me the chance to volunteer at St David’s home in Ealing where I chatted and played games with the residents and, in completing the physical and skills section, I was able to continue doing and improving activities complementing my interests, for example playing the flute and playing hockey, which again helped improve

my teamwork skills. For the Gold award, there is also a residential section for which I went to Figueira da Foz in Portugal for a surfing course where I learnt to surf (at least to a certain level) and this was definitely one of the best features of the award for me. Overall, DofE has provided me with so much enjoyment at every stage of the journey and I have made many memories I’ll never forget.

Lucy B (U6)

I was apprehensive at first about signing up for Gold DofE, however I thought back to how much I enjoyed my Bronze and Silver DofE experience and knew that I wanted to complete Gold. My Gold practice expedition was the most difficult aspect, not only was I with strangers as the expedition clashed with my residential (CCF Recruit camp) but we happened to be in the Peak District during a terrible storm. I found it extremely difficult to keep motivated as I was freezing, soaked through and covered in mud. I contemplated dropping out and giving up but the thought of collecting my award at Buckingham Palace kept me walking. The Gold qualifying expedition was the complete opposite of my practice, clear skies and a soft breeze, as well as the great views of Dartmoor. Each night was spent with stargazing and sharing stories with the other groups. Everyone was exhausted as the days dragged on but my group kept up the spirits by singing songs and playing games to pass the time. Thank you to the ‘Jammie Dodgers’ who made the expedition a memorable experience. Overall completing the Gold DofE award has been such a rewarding experience, I have gained very useful skills, such as first aid during my residential or sorting through donations when volunteering at Oxfam. I have memories of my expeditions that I will cherish for the rest of my life and a driving determination to accomplish difficult goals in life.

Isabella W (U6)

THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY & ETHICS

The Body and Soul are Separate Substances

The distinction between the Body and Soul has been a major source of philosophical discourse for thousands of years. Since the age of Plato and Aristotle up until the times of Descartes and Richard Dawkins, debates on the nature of the human condition have been ubiquitous – and often times polarising. In this essay, I will argue the notion that the Body and Soul are not ‘wholly’ distinct substances as suggested by Descartes. However, the vehement stance of Dawkins on Materialism is also not entirely desirable considering the transcendent nature of the ‘soul’. Therefore, I will support the notion presented by the likes of Aristotle, and also Christian philosophers such as John Hick and Peter Geach. This is because I believe they have a solid argument for the co-existence and unity of the Body and Soul.

One reason why I disagree with the statement, is due to Aristotle’s stance on the inseparability of the Body and Soul. For example, Aristotle used the analogy of the bronze statue to illustrate his monist view. In this, he says that a person can’t distinguish where the matter (bronze) of the statue stopped and

where the form (shape) of the statue began. He concludes that both the matter and the form contribute to make its own particular substance, i.e., the bronze statue. Similarly, the Soul could be identified as the form of the Body. This is a strong argument as Aristotle explains clearly how the essence of the material form derives from its psyche – and they can’t be separated otherwise. On the other hand, Plato completely discards the validity of the material substance, and thus alleviates the value of the Soul to an absurd level. He believed that the psyche was infinitely more important than the body, as it had a prior knowledge of the World of the Forms. In other words, the psyche defined Plato’s understanding of reality. However, this is where I believe Plato’s argument is insufficient in its understanding of the Body and Soul. This is because his whole rationale hinges on the supposed existence of the World of the Forms. There is no empirical evidence for the Forms, and so Plato argues the existence of this perfect reality via assertion. This is why Aristotle’s depiction of the Body and Soul is more reasonable than that of Plato. For Aristotle, the soul was not a separate entity distinct from the body. The soul was linked with Aristotle’s ideas about causality; the soul gave the matter its form, efficiency and its final purpose. To summarise this point, Aristotle in his treatise De Anima neatly deduced that ‘the soul is in some sense the principle of animal life.’ Thus, the Body and Soul cannot be entirely separate from each other, as the matter of a substance needs an immaterial form to provide its essence.

Contrarily, some may agree with this statement by complying with Platonic views on the Body and Soul, as well as substance dualism by default. One way in which Plato justifies his viewpoint is through his ‘Argument from Knowledge’. This explains how humans can identify things as similar: chairs, cats, etc. This knowledge can only be explained by the fact that our souls remember their true Forms. How else could empiricism explain things beyond our limited human senses? In addition, Plato appealed to the ‘Argument from Opposites’, which says that because permanence cannot be found in this material world, then it must exist in the realm of the spiritual. In this way, Platonists can also stand in the face of death, as they are certain that death is merely a transmigration of souls – as well as the dissolution of the body. In the Phaedo, Plato claims that because Socrates’ soul is eternal, he has nothing to fear from death: “…the soul is the very likeness of the divine, and immortal…and unchangeable”. This is a valid argument for the permanence of a ‘soul’ or psyche. This ties in with common views on Descartes’ substance dualism. Substance dualists believe that the body has ‘extended’ properties, meaning it takes up space and has measurements. Plato would agree with this hypothesis, as he would say that the body physically traps the soul from reaching the Form of the Good. On the other hand, in substance

Body & Soul by Fredrik Wretman.

This modern bronze figure sits alongside a reflection pool outside Södersjukhuset in Stockholm.

© Holger Ellgaard

dualism, the mind (soul) is not extended and has mental capabilities. However, the limitation of substance dualism is the fact that it can’t explain the direct correlation between mental thoughts and physical responses. For example, the dis-unity of the Body and Soul can’t justify how mental decisions can result in walking, or moving a muscle. Furthermore, British philosopher Peter Geach argues against Plato and Descartes, saying that ‘a man is a sort of body, not a body plus an immaterial somewhat; for a man is an animal.’ Even though this is a more hardcore materialist view, Geach’s argument repudiates the substance dualist and Platonist’s dismissal of the material body. Finally, a more recent philosopher who adapted Aristotle’s stance of inseparability is Elizabeth Anscombe. She used the example of pointing a finger at something. A description of this bodily action may describe how the body is working, but it doesn’t answer why it is working. This is why a disembodied soul cannot do the act of pointing without a material body, it is the act of a human as a whole.

Therefore, it is evident that the Body and Soul are not separate substances when evaluating Aristotle’s monist perspective. He believes that the Body and Soul are inseparable, and that both substances unite to form the human person. There is some validity in Plato’s argument when he looks at the psyche, but he loses credibility when he completely diminishes the material aspect of man. Descartes also shared this view when he talks about the ‘extended’ properties of the body. However, Peter Geach’s materialism negates dualist perception on the body, and he agrees with the Aristotelian conception of the soul. Elizabeth Anscombe further strengthens Aristotle’s argument, as she accurately portrays the union of the Body and Soul through the act of pointing a finger.

Another reason why I disagree with the statement, is because of its misuse of language and its un-Christian view towards the Body and Soul. Gilbert Ryle proposes that Descartes’ dualism is subject to a ‘category error’. He says that the mind is not a ‘ghost in the machine’ and to say there is, is to commit this category error. An example of this is a foreign visitor coming to see Oxford University and asking where the University was after being shown all the Colleges and offices. Similarly, Descartes tries to categorise all events as either mental or physical. This presupposes an unjustified assumption that they cannot be both. He also attributes something additional to the body which controls behaviour, i.e., the mind. Ryle debunks this by suggesting that the mind is not separate from the body, and thus Descartes commits a misuse of language. Descartes also had a problem explaining how a non-spatial mind can influence a spatially located brain. In The Passions of the Soul, Descartes tries to explain this connection by suggesting that the pineal gland is the place in the brain where the ‘soul exercises its functions more particularly than in the other parts of the body.’ However, this theory was made in a pre-scientific era, and so modernday scientists have no verifiable evidence to back up his claim. Moreover, Descartes’ hyperbolic scepticism is questioned by John Hick, who also questions the Platonic view of the soul. Firstly, Hick claims that there is no mind without matter and that to be a person is to be a thinking

material being. Descartes conversely doubts everything –hyperbolic scepticism – and realised the only true certainty is the fact that he was thinking sceptically. Descartes finally concluded in his infamous quote: “Cogito ergo sum” (“I think, therefore I am”). Hick acknowledges that humans are not just material beings, and so humans are more than just thinking beings as well. Thus, Hick’s argument avoids the reductive nature of Plato and Descartes’ rationalism. Furthermore, he highlights the fact that in Christianity the soul doesn’t pre-exist the body – a fundamental belief in Platonism and Cartesian dualism.

However, there is a convincing argument in substance dualism, especially when Descartes allows for subjectivity (or qualia). Qualia is the experience of how something actually feels such as smelling a flower or tasting wine. If we reduce our theory of mind to something which dismisses it, we then arguably discount the importance of sense experience in understanding something. Descartes further strengthens his argument when he argues the distinctive properties of the mind (soul) and the Body. The mind does not have extension, but the body does. The body does not have mental faculties, but the mind does. If two substances are identical, then surely they would share the same properties, not mutually exclusive ones. However, there are examples in which the Body and mind can cooperate together. For example, we do not just notice that our bodies are damaged when we hurt ourselves, we actually feel the pain, as it causes mental consequences such as distress. Moreover, Descartes continues to commit the category mistake as he divides the Body and Soul yet again. Ryle combats this with the example of a pair of gloves. It would be an error to think of ‘a pair of gloves’ as something different from a matching left and right-hand glove. In the same way, it would be an error to divide the united human person into its Body and Soul. Norman Malcolm also challenged the accuracy of Descartes tautology to show that it is also possible for someone to imagine themselves as a non-thinking being.

Therefore, it can be deduced that the Body and Soul are not separate substances, as Descartes’ dualism falls under the category error of Gilbert Ryle. This premise claims that Descartes’ logic is inherently flawed, as he mistakenly treats the physical and mental as separate categories. Also, John Hick corrects Descartes’ deduction of man being a thinking being, into a thinking material being. Even though Descartes poses some legitimacy in his distinction of the Body and Soul, he yet again commits the category error and further discredits his argument.

The final reason why I disagree with the statement, is because of the modern-day materialist arguments against dualism. Richard Dawkins is a renowned British evolutionary biologist who totally rejects the idea of a ‘soul’. In his book River out of Eden, he states that: ‘there is no spiritdriven life force, no throbbing, heaving, pullulating, protoplasmic, mystic jelly. Life is just bytes and bytes of digital information’. This idea of the soul is what he calls ‘Soul One’. This is the viewpoint that the soul is a distinctive spiritual supernatural part of a person. Dawkins viewed this notion as a primitive superstition and instead preferred the

more Aristotelian understanding of the soul (‘Soul Two’). This definition does not include any promise of an afterlife or connection with the divine. In the end, the human person is not a Body and Soul, but rather just a material body – with consciousness explained as a purely physical phenomena. This is further encapsulated in Dawkins’ book The Selfish Gene, which describes humans as nothing more than ‘survival machines’. Unlike Aristotle who proposed some sort of psyche, Dawkins and other fervent materialists don’t believe in any immaterial source which separates them from other animals. Another materialist, Steve Pinker, came up with the strongest arguments for materialism to combat dualism or belief in an immaterial ‘soul’. For example, he noted that behavioural genetics had identified that monozygotic twins – who were separated at birth – had similar personalities. In this particular study, monozygotic twins were separated at birth yet they somehow managed to have similar personalities, intelligence, and attitudes. This therefore shows that souls – even if they do exist – can’t be individualistic, as this case study shows that 2 people can effectively have the same ‘soul’. In summary, Dawkins was correct when he said that the term ‘soul’ was not an explanation, but rather an evasion and a name ‘for that which we don’t understand.’ Thus, the Body and Soul are not separate substances – whereas for most materialists, the Soul doesn’t even exist.

On the other hand, Christian dualists such as Richard Swinburne and Keith Ward both defend the idea that human beings have souls which are distinct from physical bodies. Swinburne argues that human individuality and identity cannot be explained in purely physical terms, so there must be an immaterial factor within humans. It is because of souls that we can recognise goodness when we see it in other people. Swinburne also denotes a God-given conscience within the human soul – perhaps hinting at Romans 2:15. In addition, Keith Ward in his book Defending the Soul responded to scientists who claim that humans are just physical beings: ‘Human persons, they say, are not free spiritual agents with a special dignity… they have no more intrinsic dignity than walking bags of chemical compound.’

This passage suggests that without belief in a soul, morality becomes simply a matter of personal choice. The soul both gives us moral direction and inherent dignity. This is a strong argument because without a soul, killing another human life would merely be an attempt at ‘survival of the fittest’. Dawkins and Pinker could appeal to the infallibility of modern science, but science has yet come to decipher consciousness or ‘Soul Two’.

Therefore, it can be inferred that this section asks whether the Soul exists at all. Materialists like Dawkins and Pinker have solid empirical evidence for the material body, but dualists like Swinburne and Ward have responded with logical counterarguments proving the existence of a soul. They used the morality argument, as they know that science has difficulty answering such questions.

In conclusion, it can be deduced that the Body and Soul both exist, but they are not separate substances. Overall, the blueprint of the human condition proposed by Aristotle and Elizabeth Anscombe seem like the most sensible in my opinion. They show the union between the Body and Soul, and how they work together. There were many inconsistencies with substance dualism and Platonism as highlighted by Gilbert Ryle’s ‘category error’, and John Hick manages to correct Descartes’ hypothesis on human nature – concluding that humans are thinking material beings. Finally, even though the Christian dualists had convincing arguments against materialism, it is reasonable to say that overall the Body and Soul are not wholly separate and distinct substances.

Amirreza K (U6)

UNIVERSITY DESTINATIONS 2023

Destinations Course

Arts Bournemouth Film Production

Bath Criminology

Birmingham International Relations

Birmingham History

Brighton Biomedical Science

Bristol Mechanical Engineering

Bristol Geography with Study Abroad

Brunel Psychology

Cambridge Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic

Cambridge Engineering

Cambridge Medicine

Cardiff Met Sport Management (3 years or 4 years with Foundation)

Cardiff Met Sport and Exercise Science (3 years or 4 years with Foundation)

City, University of London Law LLB

Edinburgh Artificial Intelligence & Computer Science

Exeter Biological Sciences

Exeter Economics

Exeter Medical Sciences

Exeter Geography

Exeter Geography

Exeter Economics

Exeter Politics and International Relations

Glasgow Classics

King’s College Physics

King’s College Biochemistry

Leeds Economics and Mathematics

Leeds Geography

Leeds Product Design

Leeds Psychology

Leeds Geography

Leeds Ecology and Conservation Biology

Leeds Social Policy, Sociology and Crime

Leeds Biochemistry

Leeds Modern Languages and Film Studies

Leeds Law

Leeds Geography

Leeds Beckett Business & Management

Leicester Biological Sciences (Neuroscience)

Liverpool Economics

Liverpool International Relations

Liverpool International Relations

Liverpool Economics

Liverpool Sociology and Politics

Liverpool Geography

Liverpool International Business with a Year in Industry

Manchester Materials Science and Engineering

Manchester Management

Manchester Met History

Manchester Met Electrical & Electronic Engineering with Foundation Year

Newcastle Economics

Newcastle Politics and History

Newcastle Modern Languages

Nottingham Psychology

Nottingham Geography with Business BA

Nottingham Product Design and Manufacture including an Industrial year

Nottingham Geography with Business BA

Nottingham Nutrition and Dietetics

Nottingham American Studies and History

Nottingham Trent Sport and Exercise Science

Nottingham Trent Business

Oxford Brookes Business and Management

Portsmouth Electronic Engineering

Queen Mary Physics with Foundation

Queen Mary Economics and Finance

Reading Modern Languages (French/German/Italian/Spanish) and History

Reading

Computer Science

Reading Pharmacy

Sheffield

Southampton

St George’s

Sussex

Sussex

Swansea

Psychology with Placement Year

Biomedical Sciences

Paramedic Science BSc

Biomedical Science

Social Sciences (with a foundation year)

Politics and International Relations with a Year Abroad

Swansea Psychology

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance Musical Theatre

UCL Ancient World

UCL Chemistry

UCL Physics

UEA Liberal Arts

UEA

Business Management

University for the Creative Arts Games Arts

York Mathematics and Statistics (Equal)

CCF

Squadron Sergeant Major’s annual report

RSM Elena L-P (U6)

This year has been incredibly eventful for the CCF: over 70 new recruits joined in September, Wilding Troop thriving in their advanced training, Casey Troop training to instruct, and a great team of committed NCOs (senior cadets).

In the first weekend of October the recruits went on Ex RECRUITS’ DAWN, their first exercise, where they made huge developments in their training. This exercise gave them the motivation and practical experience to apply to their learning and development for the rest of the year.

Then during half term, a replacement for Junior & Senior NCO cadres was run called Ex SAMBRE. It was an opportunity for aspiring and current NCOs to showcase their leadership in the field. Here’s what a cadet had to say about the exercise:

“With the cancellation of Ex BAYONET POINT earlier in the year, all of us undergoing JNCO training were disappointed until luckily we were given another opportunity in the form of Ex SAMBRE. We started with an exciting and challenging navigation exercise, before stressfully attempting to repeat it at night, with varying levels of success. After a restless night due to being pounded by rain, we finished with section attacks, before returning home with an eventful coach journey back. It was a great experience and many of us received invaluable training in leadership.” Jake B (U5)

For the first time since before the pandemic we held a formal dinner in celebration of the CCF’s foundation. Many former pupils returned to celebrate the opportunities the CCF provided them and six SNCOs volunteered to act as waiting staff. Major Hullis gave an inspiring speech about W.F. Morris, the CCF’s first contingent commander and a history teacher at St Benedict’s, as well as a novelist best known for his mystery novel, Bretherton (1929), set in World War I. The Corps of Drums captivated the guests with a performance at the dinner, much like their debut performance in the 90th anniversary dinner back in 2020. They have come so far since then with a wider repertoire, more members and higher standard of performance.

In the February half term, we had two camps back-to-back at Bramley. The first was Ex RECRUIT THUNDER, where the recruits spent their first night out in the field, and got to

fire blanks for their first time, which many were excited for. The second camp was Ex WINTER’S BITE, which was the highlight of the year for me.

All participants are experienced cadets so it is the toughest and most complex exercise, and it provide the opportunity to develop stamina and personal resilience. This year, there were three different forces at play, two opposing forces, the DREGS (L5th) & CAMBRIANS (Patrols Troop), and a neutral group of mushroom farmers that I led, the FANTASIANS (U6th). Night recces, nuisance raids, a platoon ambush were all executed across the three days in the build-up to the final battle.

With the help of the outstanding efforts of the Teeling Troop NCOs, the new recruits have eagerly undergone their basic training throughout the year. Our most recent camp, Ex RECRUIT LIGHTNING, was the last hurdle to pass before earning their berets. Here’s what some NCO’s had to say about the camp:

“The recruit camp was a fun and memorable experience for me to practice my leadership skills both in and out of the field.” Zach B (U5)

“The CCF instils a real sense of discipline into cadets. For example, the new intake this year joined as a gaggle of recruits but they are now noticeably more organised.” Kacper M (L5)

Ex RECRUIT THUNDER

Ex WINTER’S BITE

When the recruits receive their berets this April, at our annual parade, we will also be rebadging to Grenadier Guards, after 18 years of being affiliated with the Royal Engineers.

This year we got more involved with national and regional competitions. Our Patrols Troop have been selected to enter a team of eight cadets for the CADET CAMBRIAN PATROL 2024 competition on Sennybridge Training Area in May 2024. There are only twenty teams annually & ours is the only CCF team from London District this year.

Here’s what one cadet had to say about their experience this year:

“The camps are great fun lots of field craft, navigation and blank firing. Live firing though, can be argued as the best part, shooting to 25m or even 100m away. In addition, Corps of Drums is a part of the CCF that plays music on special occasions like the fireworks evening, Remembrance Day and Armed Forces Day. Overall CCF is great experience with amazing opportunities and leadership skills.”

James A (L5)

U6 LEAVERS

Joshua Al-Dakkak

Sama Alshelh

Harry Amador

Charlie Ambrose

Nessi Asima

Samuel Balogh

Amalia Barreto Garrido

Thomas Barry

William Bedwin

Jack Bena

Inigo Bigland

Conrad Boe

Zak Bondarenko

Samuel Bricknell

Lucy Brooks

Sebastian Brown

Luke Burgess-Moloney

Polly Burns

Callum Chadwick

Emma Clark

Yakira Correia de Sousa Barradas

The NCO team has worked very hard alongside staff this year to enable us to enjoy all that we have done this year. I want to say thank you to those leaving the CCF this year for joining me on the journey to becoming SNCOs: Peter G, Matilda C, Julia W and Isabella W. Here’s what Julia said about her life in the CCF:

“I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to grow up in a community full of dedicated, hard-working individuals and being pushed to the limits. I enjoy cadets, there is no doubt about that. My friends and family can’t get away from me when I start talking about what I got up to on an ordinary Monday parade or the exciting camps. My favourite highlight is Ex WINTER’S BITE (2024). It was three days, of joking around, making memories and shouting many mushroom chants – morale never left us because of the bond we built over the years. I have no doubt this was the best five years of my extracurricular life and, with a heavy heart, I’m looking forward to my final cadet camp in July.” Julia W (U6)

Thomas Davies

Bailey Davis

Evie De Abaitua-Hind

Karam Dhawan

Ayodenu Dosumu

Albert Emamy

Jayme Ferrett

Riobaurd Flanagan

Angela Ghanem

Archie Gillan

Ezra Goff

Peter Gordon

Zac Gormley

Olivia Grigg

Martha Hickman

James Higgins

Kai Hudson

Marriam Hussein

Kara Irvine

Advay Jain

Evelyn Kan

Amirreza Kebryai

As the end of my time at the CCF nears, I have realised how impactful it has been had on my life. I joined in 2019 as a keen recruit just excited at the prospect of sleeping out in the field with friends. Although the first few years of my training were quite impacted by the pandemic, I am extremely grateful for the opportunities that the CCF has given me to grow as a person and develop my leadership. Not only has it helped me to develop as an individual but I have also found a wonderfully diverse community of people whose excellence shows in the cold, rain and mud. I’m very grateful to have known them and taught them over these years. Thank you to all my cadets for being great this year, it has been an honour to have been the head of CCF.

Finally, I’d like to thank all the supportive staff this year that have enabled these opportunities and who volunteer their time and energy to ensure that our experience is challenging but rewarding nonetheless.

Kate Kenny

Julian Kenth

Zach Khan

Stefan Krunic

Sebastian Lawson

Elena Llinares-Perales

James Lund

Mark Maalouf

Angus Macallister

Alexis Markou

Mary-Li McAleer

Luke McKinlay

Oliver Meyers

James Morgan

Denis Nedostupenko

Kyra Nelson

Francesca Newbold

Ella O’Connor

Arielle Ofori-Koree

Chiara Padovan

Danny Parry

Otylia Perz

Lola Petrovic

Eliza Ridout

Freddy Rossigneux

Christine Roth

Mak Selimovic

Pio Semaan

Arsalan Shabani

Isabelle Size

Adam Spencer-Lane

Tessa Swarbrick Ibarrola

Charlie Taylor

Benjy Thornton

Jude Todaro

Jacob Tomlinson

Rian Trollip

Aaron Unas

Ned Watts

Kit Wheldon

Freddie Wille

Isabella Wong

Oliver Wynn Jones

Thomas Yost

Amelia Young

Ruben Yue

Sebastian Zecevic

Leo Zivkovic

MUSIC

Excerpt from In monte Oliveti

Mark M-O (U5)

Excerpt from Nocturne in B minor

George M-O (U5)

Scan this QR code to listen to Nocturne in B minor in full

ENGLISH

The Middle School Creative Writing Competition

Pupils in Form 3, Lower Fourth and Upper Fourth were invited to write a 500-word opening of a mystery story. Here are the winning entries from each year group.

‘The Fallen Queen’

As the limousine slowly parked outside the ballroom, I stared at myself though the car mirror. My hair was let down (annoyingly), my lips now a dark red colour and, worst of all, the dress. I couldn’t even think about it without cringing. The director said it would help my disguise but, at this point, I couldn’t care less. The dress was a shimmery gold colour with a belt to match. It also was so long it reached the floor. The floor. But this was an important mission, so (unnecessary) sacrifices would have to be made.

“Will you be wearing your high heels, Agent?” the chauffeur asked politely. Actually, the driver was Richard. The Director’s personal chauffeur.

“WHAT!?” I said a bit too angry. “WHAT HIGH HEELS?”

Richard sighed and gave me the shoe box. “The director decided, so, will you, Agent, disagree?”

I groaned. This couldn’t get any worse. First the dress; now this

After a few painful minutes of grappling with those stupid high heels, I stepped out of the limousine and was immediately escorted to the ballroom by some surprisingly strong bodyguards.

As I entered the ballroom, I tried not to roll my eyes. I had been to posh places before, but wow… They really wanted to show off their wealth. Everything was so ornate, from the walls with their painting of cherubs and whatever rubbish, to the staircase and … Man! That staircase looked ridiculously expensive. And to top it all off there was a chandelier. A chandelier! Luckily for me the ball was already in full swing, and as I stood awkwardly by the door, I had to do three things

‘The Game’

“Arthur, you’re counting!”

Ughhh! When was I not? I hated hide and seek. Reluctantly, I pressed my eyelids together. Silence filled my mind as the metronomic pulse of my heart pounded...

Thirty... Twenty-nine... Twenty-eight.

I was horrendously bad at: flirting, being ‘girly’ and the worst of all, socialising. But I had a mission to complete, and, if I failed, my reputation would be ruined.

I grabbed a glass of champagne from a waiter and took small sips. How was I going to do this? I could ask around or I could dance while asking. After a fierce war in my head, I went with option two – the bad option. But before I could do anything, the music, which I hadn’t noticed before, abruptly stopped. I whipped around and saw a lady wearing the most ridiculous clothes ever coming down the staircase. She wore a pink puffy dress with sleeves and makeup like cement. Everyone stood still. I gasped. She was my target.

Then everything happened.

First it was the chandelier. It went crashing down. Leaving us in complete darkness. Then, we heard the scream. It was a shrill scream of pain, ringing out in the ballroom, searing itself into everyone’s mind. Then… it was all silent.

The once regal atmosphere deteriorated into un-controlled hysteria. Guests ran out of the doors screaming. As I stayed behind, turning on my flashlight, I saw Lady Katherine dead, at the bottom of the stairs. I gulped; she looked exactly like me.

Now, I had a new mission: to find the person who may want me dead...

All around I could hear scampering; screams encircled my – once-serene – being. This noise retreated further and further away, disappearing into the forest.

Twenty-one... Twenty... Nineteen...

My breathing was becoming less slow, rising and falling steadily. The breeze whistled through the trees unnerving me

with its painful howling. Skeletal figures surrounded me in my mind. Despite my closed eyes, I could still see their imposing silhouettes, their branches intertwining, reaching up to the fading golden sunset like ancient sentinels. Amidst the eerie symphony of rustling leaves and the whining wind, I could still feel a warm pulse of excitement to catch my friends as my countdown hit Five... Four... Three... Two... One.

McKayle A (F3)

Once I opened my eyes, an overwhelming barrage of light infiltrated my pupils.

“Ready or not... here I come!”

My words were swallowed by the wind and mocked by the mighty oaks. At the start I didn’t know how to play my game, my role, but galvanized by my overflowing adrenaline, my legs pumped like pistons and I set off into the depth of the woods.

Rustles.

All I could hear was rustles, my mind deceived me, playing games with my ears. No one was in sight, and I couldn’t hear voices. It felt like the oaks were getting bigger, encroaching on me slowly. Just a little boy lost in the woods... I replayed that many times in my head applying the laws of fantasy and fiction I read

about most nights. Palms sweaty, knees weak, all I wanted was my mum’s spaghetti she had promised me at home ‘in an hour’ for dinner. An hour?! My watch betrayed my eyes... 7:30 already, half an hour since we came out. I turned around but all I could see in all directions became a blur as it all looked the same in the darkening forest.

Finally, I saw a lurid colour, juxtaposed to the forest of dirty greens and browns... thank God I’ve found someone! This vibrant blue looked like a shoe poking out from behind the base of a tree a distance away. The idea of a companion to deter the forest’s assailing whispers and ever encroaching arms was an ideal refuge. I broke into a sprint toward what I thought was Harriet. Once I got within earshot, my sprint turned into a militaristic style commando crawl that I learned to do at CCF at school. I

‘Our Ocean’

Beneath the azure sky, Where the sun meets the sea, Stormy tantrums, waves rise high, Nature’s power painting the ocean’s sky. A lullaby of waves, a tranquil potion The ocean, an eternal boundless ocean.

As the daylight whispers goodbye, The sun dips low Painting the sky with a warm Golden glow.

Birds take flight in the evening air Silhouetted, their colours so rare.

Beneath the waves a bustling, beautiful life unfolds Where ocean creatures live, tales told. Coral reefs, a colourful city bustling with light With sea flowers – torches in the night.

Whales – gentle giants of immense might –Sing songs echoing through the night

In the depth of the ocean Where shadows play –

A world created for sea life, long before our day.

Before humans swam the sea and marked the land

Sea turtles glided across the sand. In the watery expanse, a web of connection Where creatures thrive in mutual protection.

wished Sgt Peters could have seen me. Striking distance.

Snatching out I grabbed what I thought was the end of the shoe... It crinkled in my hand as I cursed my rotten luck.

A packet of OREOs.

I curled up... ready to sink into nothing. Tears gushed down my trembling face.

I was truly lost with nothing...

No one.

Sharks. Not the villains the story depicts, But a vital part of the ocean’s intricate script. Their importance in the oceans – vast –A crucial link in the web that will forever last.

Rhythmic waves play a timeless melody. Crashing against the shore with a soothing sound, A song of the ocean, forever unbound.

On the sandy washed up shores treasure unfolds, Shells scattered like stories, ancient and bold. Whispers of the sea in every twist, Nature’s artwork, where memories persist.

Clams, like clasped hands in prayer, Shells of simplicity, wondrous to share. Oysters with shells shining bright A gleaming pink to the ocean’s design.

Nature’s tales unfold, finding their home. In the quiet of the shoreline, a peaceful sound –The ocean’s lullaby, forever profound.

Ria P (L4)

Jay W (U4)

HPQ Building a Model of a Supermarine Spitfire

Max M (L4)

Introduction

I decided to build a model of a Supermarine Spitfire because I am very interested in History, and the Spitfire aircraft is very important to British History especially during WWII and the Battle of Britain. I also wanted to investigate why the Spitfire was so effective in the Battle of Britain.

Methodology

I first undertook internet research into the History of the Spitfire, including sources such as The Imperial War Museum website1 and The Aviation History Online Museum2

My second form of research was a site visit to The RAF Museum Hendon3, where I had a private tour of an actual Supermarine Spitfire, and where I was able to sit in the cockpit and discuss the design and the development of the aircraft with a museum expert.

Finally, I also used the internet to research the best way to build my model of the Spitfire. Sources included Supermarine Spitfire RC plane DIY build video4 and a Blueprint of a Supermarine Spitfire5

Findings

When I first started this Project, I thought that I just had to create a simple model of a Spitfire aircraft using basic ready-made materials, however after undertaking my research into building a working model I soon found that I would need specialist tools and materials that I do not have access to at home and would be dangerous to use unsupervised. After discussions with my supervisor, we agreed that I would build my model at school, in the Art Department using a 3D laser cutter machine and using wooden parts. I undertook this part of my project in December 2023.

My other key finding was the effectiveness of The Supermarine Spitfire in the Battle of Britain stemmed from its exceptional manoeuvrability, powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. With an elliptical wing, (an oval wing leading to trailing lines.) Design and responsive controls, outmatched the German Messerschmitt Aircraft. The Spitfire’s speed, acceleration, and climb rate allowed British Pilots to do more with their aircraft than their German enemy, while its well-balanced armament, featured machine guns and

cannons which ensured that the aircraft had accurate Firepower. The clever use of Spitfires in intercepting German bombers, coupled with the RAF’s skilled and adaptable pilots, meant that the Spitfire played one of the most important roles in defending Britain during the World War conflict.

Conclusions

This Project has been very interesting and informative to me as it has told me much more about the History of the Spitfire, The Battle of Britain and World War II. This will help me in my history studies as we learn more about World War II in the next term.

The biggest learning I have had from this project is how to build an actual scale model using the latest technologies and materials. I now have a real interest in woodwork and 3D laser cutter machines and I want to find out more about the different uses of these over the coming months, and as a result I have signed up to the school’s Woodwork Art and Design club.

I would like to thank my EPQ teacher, Mr Wijinberg and my woodwork Teacher Mr Mendes for their support and guidance during this project.

References

1. The evolution of the Supermarine Spitfire | Imperial War Museums (iwm.org.uk)

2. Supermarine Spitfire (aviation-history.com)

3. www.rafmuseum.org.uk

4. Supermarine Spitfire RC Plane DIY build video No.2 (youtube.com)

5. Spitfire – Blueprints, Drawings & Documents | AirCorps Library

Production/Research Methodology

Phase 1: Scaled model construction

I started researching the production of my model by purchasing and making two scale version models of a Spitfire in plastic material. These models gave me an idea of the look and feel for the aircraft, the main components such as the main body, cockpit, undercarriage, and armaments. But most importantly, it thought me about scale. My versions were 1:72 and 1:32 This gave me a very good idea of what scale I would have to make my wooden model.

Phase 2: Real aircraft research

My next phase of research was a visit to the RAF museum Hendon where I looked at and took photos of real Spitfire aircraft. This was really important to my research as it helped me get a better perspective of all the key parts of the aircraft and how they all work together.

Phase 3: Online research

My online research focused on identifying how to make a model aircraft using wooden materials. However, it quickly became evident that I did not possess the required skills or didn’t have access to specialist tools and materials to make a wooden scaled model. I discussed this with both my Supervisor and my School’s woodwork teacher, and they agreed that some of the methods and tools would need adult supervision and if I was to make it by myself there could be safety issues. So, they encouraged me to look at other options.

Summary of sources used and findings

Source How to make a model Spitfire out of wood

RAF Hendon museum: www.rafmuseum.org.uk

Supermarine Spitfire RC Plane DIY build video No.2 – YouTube

What I learnt from the source

The Evolution of the Supermarine Spitfire

How was the Spitfire Built? –Britain’s Best Fighter Plane

blueprint of the supermarine spitfire – Search Images (bing.com)

Spitfire – Blueprints, Drawings & Documents | AirCorps Library

I watched a DVD – Spitfire at War by Power Grace & Glory

Phase 4: Online research part 2

After discussions with my school’s woodwork teacher I switched the focus of my research away from hand made model building to building a model using advanced 3D model printing methods. This was interesting, and I soon found some really good online resources.

Phase 5: 3D Design software research and printing of Spitfire Blueprint

I identified the 3D Design software for my project and downloaded it onto the computer in my school’s art department. I then researched and identified a 3D Design Blueprint for a Spitfire model aircraft and using this I sent the blueprint to the 3D laser cutting machine by file transfer using the 3D Design software.

Phase 6: Laser cutting of materials

Using the Blueprint that was now on the school’s 3D Laser cutting machine I loaded the machine with plywood. The laser cutter than started to cut all the different component parts of the model aircraft. During this stage I received advise and technical help from my school’s woodwork teacher.

Phase 7: Assembly of parts

I then assembled the various parts of the model aircraft using specialised wood glue.

This is a home video, but it is well made and goes through all the different processes involved in making a wooden model of an aircraft.

I have looked at this website to understand the museum that I am going to visit as part of this project and to understand what types of aircraft are in the museum especially the Spitfire.

This website details how to build a Spitfire model radio-controlled aircraft. I learnt a lot from watching this including understanding what types of materials I can use. The person building the model used a very detailed blueprint. I learnt about how he made the wings, fuselage, undercarriage and cockpit.

This website shows us how the Spitfire was invented and why it was so powerful in WW2. I learnt a lot from this video including what the different types of parts of the aircraft were made out of.

This source taught me the building of the actual Spitfire aircraft.

This website shows the different mechanics inside of the aircraft and the outside of the aircraft. It gives me dimensions of all the different parts that need to be made to make the Spitfire aircraft.

During my meeting with my woodwork teacher he told me to look up a 3D design of a Spitfire, and I found this website.

This DVD told the story of the Spitfire, its design, testing, manufacture and operational life. It also had some great information into why the Spitfire was more superior to the Messerschmidt aircraft during the Battle of Britain.

Reliability and did I use this source?

This video was really interesting, as the person in the video films himself making a wooden model. However, it soon became clear that I did not have the necessary skills or tools to copy this form of production.

A pre visit document detailing the objectives of my visit to the museum was submitted with my project.

As a result of viewing this video I have decided I will not be able to make such a detailed model and will need to find other ways to make my model.

This website helped me with some facts and figures for my presentation

Whilst this is really interesting, it didn’t really help me with my project because it didn’t give me any insight into how to build a model.

This source was very important to my project.

I used this source to download the actual blueprint of my model aircraft

I used information from this DVD for my presentation.

Making my dress

Coco F (L4)

In making my dress there were many stages. It took around about a week with breaks to make it, but I think the result is worth it. To start, I had to collect all the materials such as plastic bottles and the mannequin. Then when I had all the materials, I started the under layer which is made of calico. The design is a mini dress with an over skirt that goes halfway around. For details, I added the labels with hot glue to the mini skirt. This had no specific placement, so I put them in any direction. The next stage was the sash. I attached bottle lids with hot glue in a sort of mountain shape with stripes. At the back I added a bow with bottle caps. For the long skirt, I tried to pierce holes in the bottom of them with a pair of scissors and a knife, but it didn’t work so I ended up using a drill with a 4.8 tip. Once I had all the holes in them, I threaded a piece of string through the holes. I put 5 normal sized bottles on the bottom and 2 small sized bottles on top of the long skirt. I attached the strands of bottles onto a piece of string around the waist. For the bodice, I put one bottle cap in the centre to give it some detail and I also put a brim around the top to give it more depth.

My Sources

Source The V&A

Why was it useful?

Why I chose this topic

The design – I have always wanted to do the design of the skirt, since I was child. Feminism – I know that we have come a long way with trying to equalise women and men, but I think that we still have a long way to go and I just wanted to share that with you. The dress – I am so interested in fashion and design, so I wanted to try to make a dress.

What are some of the difficulties I faced?

For my time management I had trouble starting because I was procrastinating. When I started this subject, I thought that I would have made at least half of my dress before Christmas and that I would do all my PowerPoint and description over the holidays. I ended up doing some of my PowerPoint over the holidays as I had planned, and I am starting to make my dress (on the 27th of January). I also found it difficult to get all the materials as I couldn’t drink that much water. For my design it took me a long time until I settled on one design. I also found it hard to choose a material for the overlay which is why I ended up going for the sustainable choice of water bottles.

What skills have I learnt?

I have learnt how to do a cross stitch on a sewing machine by changing the settings on it. I have also learnt to re-word a piece of writing from a book by simplifying it all. I also learnt how to use a drill and change the settings on it.

It had a lot of visual interaction which helped me with my design as it had all the original dresses and outfits of the modern Diva’s. It also had a lot of information on the pillars and walls about each person and their career.

This book was very useful as it had a lot of information starting from the rise of the Diva to the Modern Diva. It also had photos from shows and concerts. Also, it had sketches which helped me with my sketch.

Why was it not useful?

There was a lot of information around the exhibition, but I didn’t use it as I had a lot more information in my book and they were all photos on an iPad, so some were blurry.

I found everything in the book very useful but I didn’t read it all.

exhibition (DIVA)

Book – Diva, Victoria and Albert Museum with contributions from Veronica Castro, Sasha Geffen, Keith Lodwick, Lucy O’Brien, Miranda Sawyer and Jacqueline Springer, V&A publishing, June 2023

To what extent does Identity Politics affect players and tactics in English football?

Aarnav B

The project examines how identity politics influences players and tactics in English football. It discusses the concept of identity politics and how it relates to the act of “taking the knee” as a form of protest against racial inequality. The document also explores how the socialist ideology of former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly and the capitalist approach of Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson reflect the intersection of identity politics and football. The paper concludes that identity politics significantly affects English football, influencing both players and tactics, particularly through gestures of protest, team ideologies, and the connection between fans and players. It highlights how football teams can embody broader socio-political ideologies and how these can resonate with local communities, shaping team strategies and player development.

Do different genres of music affect exam anxiety?

Ruth M

This project aimed to investigate the impact of different music genres on exam anxiety and explore music’s potential in alleviating this anxiety. Combining secondary sources and primary data, the research delved into how various genres affect test anxiety, contributing to the ongoing discourse on music’s role in student stress management. Findings from both primary and secondary sources indicated varied effects of music on exam anxiety, with primary research involving a sample size (N=8, F=4, M=4) suggesting that faster-paced music may heighten anxiety, while silence might not significantly affect it. However, no specific genre emerged as universally effective in reducing anxiety. The study also observed a tendency in secondary sources to emphasise music’s positive effects on exam anxiety, while the questionnaire/experiment revealed contrasting effects, with rock and roll exacerbating anxiety and rhythm and blues (R&B) notably alleviating it. Overall, the research underscores the complexity of music’s impact on exam anxiety and highlights the need for further exploration in this area.

How effective is Jonny Greenwood’s contemporary style of music on the early filmmaking of Paul Thomas Anderson?

Tom S

The project involves composing a piece of music inspired by Jonny Greenwood’s style for a scene from Paul Thomas Anderson’s film “PunchDrunk Love”. While initially planning for a string quartet, the composition shifted to piano due to practical constraints. Research encompassed Greenwood’s works, particularly focusing on his soundtracks for “Phantom Thread” and “Spencer”, as well as Radiohead’s album “A Moon Shaped Pool” and the song “Spectre”. The composition process involved adapting Greenwood’s arpeggiated piano patterns and chord progressions, incorporating elements from his music, such as a sense of mystery and melancholy. The piece evolved into a reflective, romantic section, capturing the mood of the scene. Ultimately, it is concluded that Greenwood’s contemporary style effectively complements the early filmmaking of Anderson, supported by personal experience, research, and feedback indicating its alignment with Greenwood’s style and suitability for the scene.

To what extent has COVID-19 reshaped globalised industries within the UK?

Rowan D

The project examines how the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on several major industries within the UK. The tourism industry experienced a dramatic decline, with international arrivals and spending plummeting by over 95% during the lockdowns. However, the sector has shown resilience, with tourist expenditure in 2023 surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The retail sector was also heavily affected, with a shift towards online shopping and the closure of numerous physical stores. While the retail industry has largely recovered, the pandemic has led to lasting changes in consumer behavior. The healthcare system, which was already strained pre-pandemic, faced an overwhelming influx of COVID-19 patients, causing a backlog of treatments and a severe strain on resources. Although the NHS has set ambitious targets to address these issues, the pandemic has exacerbated many of the pre-existing problems within the healthcare system, requiring significant restructuring and investment to prepare for future crises.

What

are the origins behind the racial stereotypes concerning illicit substances in Western regions?

Alice M

The project examines how historical factors, such as slavery, Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, lynching, and the Civil Rights Movement/ War on Crime, have influenced racial bias against Black people in the modern-day American criminal justice system. It argues that slavery had the most significant influence, as it established notions of Black criminality, the origins of modern policing, and systems like convict leasing that continued to target and oppress Black Americans. Lynching also perpetuated these biases, while Black Codes, Jim Crow, and the War on Crime further entrenched racial disparities in the justice system, leading to issues like mass incarceration that disproportionately affect Black communities today. The essay concludes that acknowledging past atrocities and addressing unconscious biases are key to addressing the systemic racism embedded in the modern criminal justice system.

Renaissance projects

Charlotte A (L4)

Owen W (L4)

Gabrielle H (U4)

Francesco C (U4)

Jess W (U4)

MODERN LANGUAGES & CULTURES

Je suis en vacances au Maroc, le weekend dernier j’ai nagé avec ma famille, c’était très amusant. Le week-end prochain je vais faire du skate avec mes amis, nous allons au skatepark. Je suis sur la plage en ce moment, il fait très beau, il fait un peu trop chaud. Le mois prochain, je vais rentrer chez moi et je vais aller au parc avec mes amis, nous allons jouer au foot !

Rory Bradley (L4)

Je suis en vacances au bord de la mer en France. Il y a du soleil tous les jours mais parfois il pleut. Il y a plein de plages et d’ arbres. Le matin, je me lève a huit heures et je mange le petit déjeuner. Hier soir j’ai fait les magasins et j’ai achté des souvenirs. L’après-midi, je vais nager dans la mer. Je vais aussi manger une glace au chocolat.

Tom H (L4) Je suis en vacances en France, à Paris. Il y a des bâtiments et beaucoup de gens. Il y a du brouillard mais il fait chaud le soir. Samedi matin, Je vais me lever et je vais prendre le petit déjeuner. Je vais visiter les monuments historiques. Samedi après-midi on doit faire la sieste. C’est très animé ici. Hier soir, j’ai fait les magasins et j’ai dépensé trop d’argent. Selon moi, ce n’était pas ennuyeux mais très amusant. L’année prochaine, je vais aller en vacances aux Antilles parce que c’est fantastique ! Aussi je vais faire un pique-nique. Miam-Miam !

Charlotte A (L4)

En mis ratos libres…

Tengo muchos pasatiempos, puesto que me ayuda a olvidarme de todo. Los fines de semana, suelo hacer mucho deporte, dado que es importante para estar en forma. Juego al bádminton dos o tres veces a la semana, y hago piragüismo de vez en cuando. Para mí, el piragüismo es más emocionante que el bádminton, aunque un Poco agotador. Además, hago patinaje sobre hielo en invierno, cuando hace mucho frío. No suelo ver la tele ni suelo ir al cine. Soy bastante deportista.

Cuando tenía ocho años, era muy perezosa. No tenía muchos pasatiempos. Sin embargo, jugaba al balonmano a menudo y a veces, hacía submarinismo, aunque ya no me interesa. Todavía juego al balonmano de vez en cuando. ¡Es guay! Adicionalmente, cuando era más joven, hacía remo e iba a clases de dibujo una o dos veces al año. Creo que es muy útil tener muchos pasatiempos.

El fin de semana pasado, vi una película con mii familia. Vimos una película de ciencia-ficción. La película era muy entretenida aunque un poco tediosa. Además, vi una comedia en mi casa con mis amigos. Soy teleadicta. Pienso que las comedias son bastante interesantes. Sin embargo, nunca veo los documentales, ya que son muy tediosos.

El fin de semana que viene, voy a salir con mis amigas. Vamos a ir a un concierto de Olivia Rodrigo. ¡Va a ser fantástico! Es más, mi hermano va a participar en un torneo de rugby. ¡Qué guay!

Riona E (L5)

Meine Ambitionen

Ich bin abenteuerlustig aber vorsichtig. Ich würde den Mount Everest besteigen aber ich würde nicht mit Haifischen schwimmen. Ich würde Brennnesseln essen aber ich würde nicht Kakerlaken essen. Ich würde Fallschirm springen aber ich würde nie zum Mars fliegen. Ich möchte einen Job haben, um Geld zu verdienen. Ich würde gern auf die Uni gehen, um Fremdsprachen zu studieren. Ich würde gern um die Welt reisen!

Ishant M (U4)

In der Zukunft möchte ich einen Job haben, um Geld zu verdienen und SpaB zu haben. Ich möchte als Babysitterin arbeiten. Ich würde gern ein schnelles Auto kaufen, weil es hyper cool ist! Ich würde gern um die Welt reisen und viele Tiere mit meiner Familie sehen. Ich werde auch mit meinen Freunden in der Wüste radfahren.

Gemma S (U4)

AI generated images descriptions

Tengo el pelo rizado y soy pelirroja. Soy alta y joven. Tengo los ojos azules y verdes. No llevo gafas. No llevo pendientes y tampoco tengo tatuajes. No llevo lentillas.

Clara S (L4)

Yo soy un hombre y tengo el pelo liso y largo. Yo soy alto y tengo los ojos marrones. Tengo veintitrés años y mido 1.89 metros. Tengo una barba y soy británica. Soy blanco y bronceado. Tengo una chica y un chico. ¡Soy surfista y me gusta mucho hacer deportes acuáticos!

Aaron McQ-V (L4)

SCIENCE FAIR

What makes ice melt faster?

Charlotte A

Isabelle N

Abi A

1ST

What type of apple produces the most apple juice?

Archie R

Archie M

Jeremy R

2ND 3RD

How the weight affects the speed of the hovercraft

Owen W

Arjun R

Rohan P

What the Cream?

Ava P

Mia S W

Move to The Beat

Edward O Jake M

How powerful is the placebo effect in sports performance?

Tom H Hugh W

Feras A

CHEMISTRY

Plastic Eating Bacteria

PET Plastic

The plastic most used in water bottles is known as Polyethylene Terephthalate or PET.

One way it can be produced is through the direct esterification of purified terephthalic acid with ethylene glycol.

PET is colourless, lightweight and durable, making it a practical material for many uses such as plastic bottles. However, PET is hard to effectively dispose of as, like many plastics, it is very resistant to biodegradation.

Ideonella Sakaiensis

Originally isolated from a sediment sample taken outside of a plastic bottle recycling facility in Sakai City, Japan, Ideonella Sakaiensis can break down and consuming PET, using it as both a carbon and energy source.

MHET degraded into its two monomers by a lipid-anchored MHETase on the cell’s outer membrane.

Both molecules derived from the broken-down PET are used by the cell to release energy and to build necessary biomolecules.

Eventually, the assimilated carbon may be mineralized to carbon dioxide and released into the atmosphere.

Uptake of MHET MET is hydrolyzed to the monomers

Method of PET degradation

Bacteria adhere to PET surface.

PET hydrolase (PETase) secreted to degrade PET into mono(2-hydroxyethyl)terephthalic acid (MHET).

PETase functions by hydrolyzing the ester bonds present in PET with high specificity.

Impact and Applications

The bacterium as found naturally can colonise and break down a thin 0.2 mm thickness film of low-crystallinity (soft) PET in approximately 6 weeks.

However, a large amount of manufactured PET is highly crystalline (hard) and breaking this down takes said PETase enzyme around 3 years.

Therefore, genetic modification and enhancement of PETase and MHETase enzymes seemed critical in order for the bacteria to be used industrially to break-down PET. Below is a diagram which briefly outlines this process.

Arthur H (L6)

I. sakaiensis adheres to PET film

As a result of this, PETase has been genetically modified and combined with MHETase to break down PET faster, which also degrades PEF (polyethylene furanoate) plastics. This along with other approaches may be useful in various efforts such as; recycling and upcycling of mixed plastics.

A team of British scientists developed an enzyme that’s able to work quickly and operate effectively at room temperature, building on the research from a French company, Corbios, who had managed to modify an enzyme so it could degrade 90% of PET bottles within just 10 hours at 70˚C.

The Importance of Environmentally Friendly Plastic Disposal It is no secret that single-use plastics present a critical environmental challenge due to their pervasive presence and lasting impact.

Plastic waste can take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose, and on top of this half of the world’s plastic still goes straight to landfill.

During this extensive degradation period plastics such as PET can leach potentially toxic substances into the soil and water. Plastic waste is also a huge cause of water pollution. 12 million tonnes of plastic finds its way into the ocean every single year.

This pollution, among other things, chokes marine wildlife, damages soil and poisons groundwater, and can even cause serious health impacts for humans too. Today, on average globally, only 9% of plastics are recycled.

Conclusion

The idea of using bacteria as a means to combat our evergrowing issue of plastic waste and pollution obviously comes with an inherent list of various pros.

Such as the fact that it comes with the ability to reuse monomeric products like the terephthalic acid. In addition to utilising this bacteria to potentially recycle plastic organically, I. sakaiensis is being studied for its PET degrading capabilities to tackle water management issues of sewage fed fisheries. Various strains of this bacterium has been shown to not pose any threats to the growth and cultivation of fish. This species of bacteria can properly use PET as a source of carbon and thrive in wastewater and plastic polluted water ecosystems, showing its promise as a cost-effective anti-pollutant. However, some cons with using this bacteria could be its potential to produce toxins that could harm the environment themselves. Secondly, the decomposed plastic monomers need to be separated from the other substances in the mix for them to be recoverable. This adds to the time and cost involved in breaking down the complex products that we produce, making the process less commercially viable in the long run.

References

https://earth.org/plastic-eating-bacteria-can-save-our-oceans/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/28/new-super-enzyme-eatsplastic-bottles-six-times-faster https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/27/scientists-find-bug-thatfeasts-on-toxic-plastic

https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution https://www.rts.com/blog/plastic-eating-bacteria-a-new-solution-for-plastic-waste-or-justscience-fiction/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideonella_sakaiensis#:~:text=Ideonella%20 sakaiensis%20is%20a%20bacteriumhttps://bettermeetsreality.com/plastic-eatingbacteria-what-they-are-how-they-work-pros-cons-more/#google_vignette https://www.oecd.org/environment/plastic-pollution-is-growing-relentlessly-as-wastemanagement-and-recycling-fall-short.htm https://www.tudosobreplasticos.com/en/materiais/pet.asp https://www.vaisala.com/en/chemical-industry-solutions/chemicals-allied-products/ polyethylene-terephthalate-pet-production-process#:~:text=PET%20is%20 produced%20in%20the

INTERVIEW WITH THE HEADMASTER

Tessa: Can you share some highlights from your first year as headmaster at St Benedict’s?

Headmaster: Off the top of my head, I would say “Oliver!” would be one of my absolute top highlights from this year.

Beginning to actually watch some sport and see the matches happening. Ironically – I say ironically, because it was not a happy day – was the match against Mill Hill. I actually spoke to the team afterwards because I was quite moved by it. We got thrashed and it was a really, really difficult evening, but actually, I felt like I learned quite a lot about the resilience and character of our young people.

Tessa: Did you enjoy the karaoke you did?

Headmaster: [laughs] I did! I’m not sure anyone else did! That was really good fun.

The dance show was amazing.

Getting through the inspection was quite was a highlight. Getting through

that unscathed and getting that done in my second term, ticking that box as it were, was quite nice because that had been a bit of a sword of Damocles hanging over me, knowing that it was coming and, not quite knowing what to expect with the new inspection framework that came in last September.

I think what’s been a surprise, actually, if I’m honest, which is probably just my prejudice from coming from the countryside, is the kind of the warmth of the community in what is quite a big school or a much bigger school than I came from. And I wasn’t necessarily expecting that. We were talking about London and university earlier and, you [Ned] were saying about Ealing not being like London, but being more like living in a town or a village, and I know what you mean. I think I was expecting St Benedict’s to be a really, really good school, but not necessarily so much of a community that I was certainly used to from my old place, not least because half the young people there were boarders. For example, during Covid, we had about eight young people who stayed at school for the whole of Covid and they would take turns to come to our houses and have supper.

We were literally living together, and I wasn’t necessarily expecting that kind of community here. I do think that says to me, it’s something about Catholic schools. I really do believe that. The Benedictine ethos is it’s a particular charism at this school. The whole thing about hospitality and community, I think is actually real. I don’t think it’s just words on a marketing document. The parents and everybody have been really warm and welcoming and friendly and not the stereotype, if you like, of hard-nosed west London, so that’s been a real joy.

Ned: What were your main accomplishments so far this year?

Headmaster: I haven’t got sacked yet, which is positive. Still going – two terms down, one to go. So that’s all good!

Ned: Obviously the inspection is quite a big thing.

Headmaster: Yes, I mean, not my accomplishment, I didn’t do anything, I’ve only been here five minutes, but I suppose leading the school through that inspection was really satisfying. I think probably the Head’s job in an inspection is, like, I suppose a coach with very good athletes, you’re not doing it for people, you’re just making sure they’re in a position to perform to their best. So, for example, when it was looking as if we potentially might get a really good write up about the careers and higher education provision, I went over and had a little chat, sort of pep talk, with Mrs Hopgood and Mrs Norris and just made sure that everybody was prepared and knew what they needed to do, show and demonstrate, in order for us to get the best possible billing. So that was really positive.

Tessa: You’ve settled in really well, quite efficiently to the school. It must be a big change.

Headmaster: Thank you for saying that.

I’m a very optimistic person and I think that does help and this probably comes from having a faith. But, even when

Heads of School, Tessa S I and Ned W, talked to Mr Smith as he approaches the end of his first year as headmaster.

things are difficult, and there have been one or two tricky moments, you have to just believe that everything’s going to be fine. And that doesn’t mean you put your feet up and don’t do any work and say “God will provide.” But you just have that kind of belief that everything’s going to be okay. And that confidence and optimism I think is really important. Also, I’m not a very reflective person. I don’t mean that I don’t think about things. Of course, I do. But what I mean is I don’t tend to dwell on the past. And I think that helps. I think what I’ve tried to do, is bring a bit of ‘me’ in the sense of listening and wanting to engage with people. I think I’m pretty good at strategy. I’ve got good ideas. But essentially, I’m a teacher. I was an English teacher for years. I haven’t been teaching this year because it hasn’t worked with the time. But I had an A-level set last summer getting their A-level results (brilliant A-level results I hasten to add!) so, engaging with young people and teaching young people, particularly my subject, was why I went into it. So, while my job means that I’m not in the classroom really anymore I don’t want to lose any of that, so just bringing a bit of that, personality, that small school love, if you like, to a bigger, efficient school, could be quite a powerful “brand”.

So, some of those sorts of things, I’ve really thought about. For example, asking James Shone to be guest speaker at your prize giving. I wanted to get somebody really good, who was going to speak to you, not to me or the parents, but to you in what I think you’ll find is quite a powerful way. Given the story behind James, who I know very well. I think it’s really important. And I think actually, as I say, commercially, it’s very powerful because a lot of schools, particularly a lot of London day schools, I think are a bit monolithic. They say “this is our school, this is our brand. This is what we do. We’re very good, very efficient. We get excellent results”, but they’re not necessarily quite so good on the softer side and actually listening, hearing, engaging. You send your child to this school, and we’ll do our thing, and actually you need both. So, bringing a bit of that kind of boarding school, smaller school sort of softer side of things to a really efficient school, I think is perhaps where I can do something.

Tessa: So, what do you think separates St Benedict’s from any other schools?

Headmaster: Well, it goes back to probably what I was saying about community. I don’t think that’s necessarily completely unique, but I do think it’s the Catholic school thing, or certainly schools with a strong ethos like that. And so Catholic might be Church of England as well. I mean, honestly, maybe I’m just easily impressed. I’ve done so much of looking into things since I’ve been here, but I haven’t made that many changes, really. I mean, obviously football is a big one, but other than that, there has been bit of tweaking of the uniform, but a lot of listening, a lot of talking to people and looking at policies, and how do we ask questions? I like asking questions. Somebody once said to me, I’m very good at asking questions,

which is good for a teacher because it’s a lot of what you do. Genuinely there’s more things we could do, but I’ve really good impressions of St Benedict’s. I think that it seems to me, you may feel differently, and if so, tell me, but it seems to me like everything I look at, we do really well. So, I was at the fencing at the weekend, that was really good. Actually, the weekend before that, the fencing coach from St Paul’s was actually talking to me about how impressive our fencing setup is. The dance show, “Oliver!” The drama last night, I go to all these different things and I haven’t been underwhelmed, you know?

Tessa: Everyone says how nice it is that you’re going to these different events.

Headmaster: Well, it’s important to do that.

Tessa: It’s good support for the students as well.

Headmaster: So last night was tiring because we had the drama event, and then I went straight to the Junior School Lenten assembly in the abbey church. That’s why it helps living around the corner. It’s busy, but coming from a boarding school, we had something on nearly every night because people lived there. You just get used to that lifestyle, and I enjoy it. Occasionally, I think, “oh, gosh, you know, I’m really tired. I’ve got something else.” And then like Friday night when I went to the dance show, my wife said, “oh, you’ll come back buzzing. You always do”, and I did. I came back saying, “that was unbelievable”, and then talking about it for the next half an hour, “you should have seen this, and you should have seen that.” So, it’s great. I did an assembly a few weeks ago about excellence. And I do think there’s an expectation of excellence, like a self-expectation. It’s not so much an expectation that the school has on you. It’s an expectation you have of yourselves. Well, obviously I’m going to do my prep or obviously I’m going to do my best and I’m going to try and get the best A-level grades I can. Or if I’m playing sport, I’m going to try, or we’re going to try and win. You’re not arrogant but I do think there’s that quiet confidence here that I really like.

Ned: How have you worked to build strong relationships with staff, students, and parents during your time so far?

Headmaster: Even though I think I’ve tried quite hard to build relationships with staff and build relationships with students, I think one of the really difficult things is it is a big school. And so therefore, I’d be lying if I said I know everyone’s name or I know much about every student or many students, and that’s something I’m going to have to find ways around. I’m doing my best, but that is partly a big school thing. Bigger staff, bigger parent body. I mean, we introduced things like the parent breakfasts.

Ned: My mum really enjoyed that.

Headmaster: Yes, just trying to engage. We’ve introduced a suggestions email.

I reached out to every family of an Upper 5 student who were looking at other schools just have a conversation because, again, it’s about not making people feel like they’re just a number on a spreadsheet. You know, you’re number 374 and, and if you go then that’s fine because we’ll get someone else. Well actually everyone is valued. That was quite time consuming for me to have all those meetings. And lots of parents were kind enough to say, well, thanks for reaching out, thanks for having the conversation.

Tessa: Have you encountered any challenges this year?

Ned: Going from a smaller school to a much bigger school must have been, I don’t know, a bit of a shock to the system.

Headmaster: Yes. I suppose it goes back to what I was just saying about people. You know the bigger scale of things.

Because I’m so optimistic, I don’t tend to think in terms of challenges. I wouldn’t say there are insurmountable challenges. We’re aware that there are challenges for all schools at the moment to do with VAT. And the sort of challenges that all private schools are facing.

You come in and you look at the balance sheet of the school, obviously, and you think great, happy days. We’re

lucky to be a full school, but when you think that parents have to then add VAT onto their school fees, which is around 20%, you do worry that parents will not be able to send their children or choose not to. So, there’s a challenge there in working out how to run the business side of the school as well as the educational challenges. The education comes first, but at the end of the day, we have to be able to balance the books and be a viable business.

Ned: I think I have to ask for me mainly, bringing in football, was that a business decision? Was that something you’re really passionate about?

Headmaster: To be honest, it’s a bit of a mix. I’d be lying if I said that there wasn’t a commercial business imperative. To be honest with you, so many people had said to me, “oh, I’d have I’d have sent my child to St Benedict’s if they could have played football.”

Ned: At open days, the main question was always, why don’t you offer football?

Headmaster: Yes, but it wasn’t simply a business decision. It was also because, educationally, you know, we’ve talked a lot about excellence, but actually an important principle for me educationally is breadth.

Only having the same sport available for two terms, and I’m not against rugby by the way, I would feel the same if there was only football or cricket for two terms, but some people don’t like rugby, or want to do something different. Giving students other options works for their breadth of excellence.

It’s also going to be good for fencing, I’m sure Mr Sadiq wants people to join the fencing club because they want to be there, not because it’s either that or rugby. In the Lent term, boys may well choose football, so it’s both a decision to help the students and a commercial decision.

There are very strong schools who play rugby and football, so it’s still going to be an option for Sixth Form. The younger years will have football as well.

Ned: Looking ahead, what are your goals and priorities for the school as you move into your second year as head?

Headmaster: I think inevitably, the first year or first couple of terms is quite a lot of listening research, you know, just getting a feel for the place. I mean, obviously, the football was perhaps an exception to this because I really felt quite strongly.

So, we’ll have to wait and see, but nothing too radical. It’s all important though. In the market, we’re very strong position, academically, but we actually do so much more as well. I think that’s our kind of sweet spot. Loads of co-curricular [activities] and done really well. I think we can do more and become stronger on the whole wellbeing piece. I don’t want to be one of those schools where yes, students get good results, but at what cost to your mental health? So that’s broadly speaking the vision, and then it’s a question of how exactly are we going to achieve that?

Tessa: So, to finish, how have you found settling into Ealing?

Headmaster: I absolutely love it. It’s been like a new lease of life, you know. So, my wife and I started our married lives together in London nearly 26 years ago, and now we’ve come back. Our children have only ever lived in rural boarding schools, so that’s been really fun for them. I mean, I’ve told this story so many times, but we moved in on the 4th of August, and the first thing we did was get a Deliveroo because we have never been able to do that before. They wouldn’t deliver to the various boarding schools we lived in. I just find the whole vibe of London really vibrant and quite exciting.

POLITICS

Parliament comes to St Benedict’s

During Parliament week in November, the school’s Library was transformed into the House of Commons for a Prime Ministers Questions-style debate complete with Speaker of the House (Mr Thomas) and ceremonial proceedings including the laying of the mace. The Politics Department coordinated the event to raise awareness among the school community of Parliament and its integral part of our democracy.

Members of the School Council and 6th Formers adopted Government (Edmund H and Tessa S I) and Opposition (Kate K and James M) positions to debate a range of subjects including Artificial Intelligence, the Cost Of Living Crisis and the conflict in the Middle East. The School Council presidents

gave a statement to the House on what they had achieved so far that year including a new football goal for the playground and an update on negotiations for a budget. Backbenchers ‘bobbed’ to catch Speaker Thomas’ attention and there were notably incisive contributions to proceedings made by Rory J and Luke C from these backbenches. Debate was lively and Speaker Thomas interjected with firmness and wit on several occasions to maintain order in the House. Meanwhile, the whole school community was able to enjoy the live-streamed event from their classrooms.

This overall experience was excellent as it gave us an understanding of what it would be like in Parliament. Being able to partake in this was a fantastic opportunity as it promoted democratic debate and our institution of Parliament and its importance in society today.

Jessica W (U4)

JUNIOR SCHOOL: NURSERY

Alien space ship

Easter activities: Making pancakes and hunting eggs!

Pilot training

MUSIC

This year’s 2023 Carol service was a wonderful occasion allowing singers, teachers, families to join in a series of song celebrating the birth of Christ. The Abbey once again acted as a wonderful host amplifying the melodic voices of our pupils (and our audience) while readers imparted many messages reminding all, of the true values of Christmas. It was a moving scene as pupils entered the Abbey holding flickering candles which bathed their faces and the walls in a golden light as a solo of Once in Royal David City filled the room.

It was a beautiful service directed by Mr Field, which had traditional pieces dating back to the 1500’s to modern Christmas songs to melodic pieces and good old crowd pleasers such as “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. It was when the audience got to join in that the Abbey truly filled with the joy injecting all with a festive spirit.

When the final notes of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” rang throughout the Abbey you got a sense that it signaled the start of Christmas.

On 29 February 2024 Upper Prep, Form 1 and 2 (with some special guest spots from music teachers) proudly hosted another amazing concert for family and friends, “The Spring Concert”. This year’s theme was “Music for a Royal Occasion” and it did not disappoint with a fabulous selection of songs and musical pieces soon having audience members tapping their feet and clapping in applause.

The first song, Zadok the Priest set the scene for a Royal Occasion, knocking parents off their mobiles with the dramatic and regal sounds quickly filling the air of the Orchard Hall. This song has been performed at every British Coronation since 1727 and is always sung prior to the anointing of the Monarch.

From there the audience was taken on a journey by the Schola and School choirs with more modern pieces

“Somewhere” from West Side Story and “Your Song” by Elton John which were both performed at the Diamond Jubilee concert. This then set the scene for our talented musicians where we experienced a number of exciting musical pieces from pupils with the newly formed samba band transporting the audience to the beaches of Brazil. This was followed up with the guitar group, brass group, strings, percussion and school orchestra all creating a thrilling demonstration of skills, hard practice and sound.

It was, however, the final piece that had all our audience members bopping and mouthing the words to “Our House”, perhaps it was the words about the simple life that everyone liked.

Mr Field again created a wonderful event, which all the pupils have enjoyed learning and humming around the school and at home and this year the Spring Concert program was a keepers’ edition with the event falling on a leap day! One thing that we have noticed is that our Spring concert seems to have driven a change in the weather with more sunny weather and lighter evenings. Maybe next year we should do it in January.

Olly H (F2)

PRE-PREP 1

India Topic Day

On Thursday 22 February PP1’s found a letter in their classroom from Bennie Bear! Bennie Bear is travelling the world and requires some help from his PP1 friends.

Our Topic this term is ‘Fast and Fantastic’ and so PP1’s are full of ideas and knowledge to share with Bennie about the best way to travel and what to take. The children have also enjoyed learning about the traditions, culture, food, climate and language of many countries.

Bennie Bear wrote that he is travelling to India! On Thursday we celebrated India by making mandala’s, using our senses to explore Indian spices, creating colourful rangoli patterns, henna art, making an Indian flag, dressing in beautiful traditional Indian dress, making mango lassie’s and watching paper lotus flowers bloom! It was so much fun. We all needed to end the day with a little yoga and saying ‘Namaste!’

Quotes from the children:

“I liked sticking orange and green paper and making an Indian flag”.

Hugo

“I liked the flower henna art on my hand.”

Gabriela

“I liked the bright yellow turmeric spice. It smelled hot and sweet!”

Alisha

“I liked the crunchy papadums and mango chutney. The lotus flowers blooming was beautiful.”

Saleh

“I liked the mango lassies. They were yummy!”

Ekhmam

“I looked really smart in the Indian costume.”

Arjan

Pea investigation

Turrets and Tiaras topic

Mothering Sunday

Visit to Windsor Castle

Maths

Mental Health Week

Turrets and Tiaras topic

Kindness Week

LOWER PREP

Mental Health Day

Maths – Length & Perimeter

Romans: Trip to the Verulamium

Poems about the Titanic

Underneath the moonlit stars, The Titanic band played their guitars. Lots of men smoked their cigars, whilst woman played cards beside the bars.

As she calmly sailed along, the crew from the crow’s nest spotted a large block of ice. Everyone heard a loud crash! Then panic hit the once floating paradise.

They saw the ice rock, Now everyone is in a big shock.

Maybe the terrific Titanic belongs at the bottom of the Atlantic? All the people on her are suddenly in a massive panic. This is really, really, really dramatic!

The men on the boat were blinking and thinking As the ship started slowly sinking.

Aiden M

The tremendous, tall Titanic started to sink, Like a great Olympic diver, diving. At that point, not many people were surviving. The sea was crazy and terrified of the iceberg, Which was so very tall.

The bright sky was navy, The beautiful stars were bright. The astonished eyes were As bright as a light.

The great Titanic snapped in half. As the people grew sadder on the grey path. That was the end of the Titanic.

The people were free of their panic

As they sadly travelled home.

Eska H

Trip to Cutty Sark

UPPER PREP

STIXX boat building during Science Week

Roman Day – Swords and Sandals topic

“My best part of Roman day was cooking, as I liked baking the bread. I also enjoyed putting herbs onto the fruit to make a Roman salad.”

Maia A

Kindness Week – Amelia T

Eleanor H

Top to bottom: Danika H (UP)

Group Work (UP)

Raphael S (LP) Yuika N (LP)

Top: Keira McM (F2) (joint 3rd place in Ealing Catholic Schools Art competition)

Above: Claudia S (F2)

Above: Tudor inspited figure sculptures (F2)

Left: William J (LP)

Right (top to bottom): Clara R G (PP3) James R (PP3)

Cityscape inspired by Paul Klee (PP2)

In the style of Romero Britto (F2)

Olivia L G (F1)

Here are some insights into what the Junior School children enjoy during their ICT lessons and Coding hobbies written by the Form 2 ICT Ambassadors

For upper key stage two, after school coding hobby is a great way to get together with your friends and learn about the different aspects of coding, while exploring a range of Minecraft worlds. For lower key stage two, a coding hobby is offered that involves coding with scratch, and featuring tasks on code.org, developing skills in block coding and creating a range of games and apps that people could use in everyday life, whilst becoming better problem solvers too.

Che W

In the Junior school, coding is a major aspect of the ICT curriculum. We are lucky to have so many coding opportunities, using multiple languages such as Python, Logo and block coding. We use different websites like code.org, Trinket and Blockly and Flowol software. We program BBC micro:bits and micro: Maqueen cars and other robots, including the Bee-Bots and Ohbots. We have fun building models out of Lego and K’nex and then programming them.

O

During ICT lessons we do a lot of creative tasks like building projects in Minecraft for Education. For example, if the topic is Egyptians, we would build Pyramids, and also for the RE topic ‘Mission – The Diocese’, we would build a cathedral. We have also recorded mountain weather forecasts with Audacity, produced quizzes using Forms in Microsoft 365 and made websites on Google Sites. Some year groups have also enjoyed making movies using Adobe Express.

Mila M

Mikey

Knight mash cam (PP3)

Lower Prep recorded their own shipping forecast

Flag designs (PP2)

Park design (PP3)

MODERN LANGUAGES & CULTURES

Trip to Normandy

Last year, all of the form ones, (year 5) went on a residential trip to Normandy, France. We met with our assigned group leader at the junior school gates at 3:45 am. We had to come into school with coloured hoodies. It was one different colour for each group and group leader. We had to bring our passport and we had the option to bring up to 50 euros. The reason we had to meet up at 3:45 in the morning is because we travelled by coach; which took 11 hours due to delays. Once we arrived, we sat in the front garden and got put into groups with our friends to sleep with. It was a chateau, we had bunk beds and there was a football pitch. That night we only had dinner and settled down. Over the next few days we did lots of activities and had lots of pain au chocolats. Some of the activities included: going to a snail farm, a goat farm, a market, Omaha beach, the Bayeux Tapestry and ice cream. Also at the hotel we had a disco, crepes and a blindfold obstacle course. We ate frogs legs and snails. We also went to the castle. It was the most fun trip we had in ages! Thank you so much to Mrs Canovas for this opportunity.

Text by Modern Language and Cultures Ambassadors: Ana N, Oliver H and Uma S (F2)

Piñatas

Most of us made our piñatas with papier-mâché, but some of us made it with two boxes stuck together. We had to leave a gap to put the sweets in, for when we were finished.

On Friday we smashed all piñatas. It was really fun day because in some of our lessons we had been decorating them with colourful paper, stickers and drawings. My piñata was a cute mouse, so I felt a bit bad about hitting it. However, it was fun to smash it and get my sweets.

We had so much fun with the piñata, it was such a creative and fun thing to do, all of my friends really enjoyed it, it was probably the best Spanish task we had ever done!

Amelia T (UP)

SCIENCE

“Science lessons are really fun! I like how we learn because we always do amazing experiments.”

Lisa S (F2)

“I love science because it is outstanding. If you want to discover something it is just amazing.”

Darcie M (LP)

“Eleven years on, I still have so many fond memories of science in the Junior School with Mrs Whiteman. I remember the excitement of activities such as the annual Egg Drop, and the feeling of awe as we began to learn about the universe and the natural world. I vividly recall the specific lessons on energy use and climate change, finding the concepts intimidating at first. But as I continued to learn I became inspired to delve deeper into these topics, eventually specialising in climate research at university. This passion was born back in that science room, where we began a lifelong journey of trying to understand this world, and I’m extremely grateful to Mrs Whiteman for the foundation and education that she provided.”

Evan Hobson, Former Pupil 2020

Lower Prep Word Cloud – the children each gave a ‘wow’ word to describe science

Lower Prep exploring the components of soil

Form 2 –changing circuits topic

Form 1 exploring simple machines

Prep Prep 2 making a spring scent room spray

“I wish everyday was Wednesday then it would be science every day.”

Alexander M (PP2)

“ In Science, we have been learning about the lifecycle of humans. It is interesting to look at all the ways humans change from a little baby to an elderly person.”

Florence B (PP3)

“When doing science you should ALWAYS remember this tip, it is the most fun lesson that ever happened and will happen!!”

Vivaan A (UP)

“Science is a fun filled lesson where you learn a bunch of cool things.”

Frida B (F1)

Crazy chemists and bubble fun during Science Week

Upper Prep food chain role play

Upper Prep using string headphones to explore how sound travels

The Battle of Bosworth Field Millie S

Evie B

My voice matters Keira McM

Tala A

Tudors at sea

The wind was slow, and there was a jolly atmosphere onboard the delicate Golden Hinde. This was because Drake and his mates had just become the first Englishmen to reach the Pacific. The beer was gurgling down the men’s throats as a way of celebrating the outstanding achievement. However, no one knew what lay ahead that very same and soon to be tragic day.

Suddenly the window flew open and in came rushing the salty, harsh breeze, alongside the spray of the waves just like a fountain. “That’s unusual!” exclaimed Sir Francis Drake. Everyone understood what he meant! Rushing up to the deck they were met by a very disturbing scene.

The waves crashed against the soggy side of the ship while water seeped through the wet wooden floorboards. Just then a monstrous wave swept over the side of the boat causing chaos and mayhem onboard the deck. Sails stopped flapping and that was one of Drake’s greatest worries. If the sails failed the journey would be done for and it would all be his fault. The atrocious storm relentlessly raged on, while the crazy dancing waves battered the ship. Meanwhile the menacing, puffing clouds howled at them whilst the foamy tips of the stammering waves continued to bash at the ship’s sides.

Drake bellowing “Get to work! Fix the sails! What’s this water doing here?” The frightened crew hurried to rescue the ship. Ropes burnt the battered, alarmed sailor’s hands as they hauled in the battered sails attempting to solve the problem. As the storm subsided, buckets of unnerving, stinking water were being thrown out of the battered ship.

The hard rocking of the ship continued as some sailors started to sit down, the whistling picked up again, but this time nothing atrocious happened. Hence, showing their strenuous work had been satisfactory, even if it were just for that hour. The menacing waves could at least retreat. The ship was fine for now. But who knew how long it would stay like that...

Mallory’s Letter

Taran K

Philippa G

Sienna

FORM 2

Top of the world

It was now or never. This would be Britain’s last shot at conquering Everest in a few years. The treacherous expedition to achieve what was, up to that point, the impossible – to climb to the top of the world. The summit of Mount Everest! In 1924 George Mallory and Andrew Irvine infamously disappeared. But... could this be the year?

John Hunt’s team all met up in Kathmandu on the 4th March 1953. There were 13 westerners, 30 Sherpa (people who lived at high altitudes) and 600 porters. In total, they took 7.5 tons of materials and 443 packages. Edmund Hillary (a 33 year old bee keeper) and George Lowe were close friends and both from New Zealand. Hillary’s family was very poor. This expedition was a race against time as the monsoon was approaching. Tenzing Norgay was an experienced Sherpa. The first challenge (of many) was the Khumbu icefall.

At 20,500 ft was the Khumbu icefall. This part was dangerous to say the least. Most people die or gave up here. Hunt chose 4 people to find a route then sent the rest to Camp 4.

However, next up beyond Camp 4 was to get past the Lhotse face to the South Col. Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans spent 10 days on the Lhotse face above 10,000 ft. However, they didn’t have enough oxygen and Hunt wasn’t feeling well. Despite Hunt’s attempt to make the summiting team all British – it failed.

Next up it was Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. The two figured heading straight for the summit was impossible as it would consume too much oxygen. So, they made Camp 9 at 27,900 ft high. George Lowe and a Sherpa would come as well to take enough oxygen. Camp 9 was the highest camp ever on Everest or any other mountain. That night they stayed at Camp 9 was the coldest of the whole expedition. They were breathing 8 x more than normal! It was so dry it sucked water out of their skin. Hillary and Tenzing would even melt ice and snow for water! The pair spent 16 h on Camp 9.

At 6:30 29th May 1953, the two set off for the summit of Mount Everest. Just a few hundred feet from the summit of Everest was the notorious Hillary’s Step. Hillary took a picture at this point. He didn’t believe they’d get beyond this point. Despite all odds... Hillary got past. Hillary saw Tenzing struggling and realised there was something wrong with his oxygen tank. Luckily Hillary fixed it. Every step was like a 5 km but closer to the top of the world.

Finally... the top of the world. They looked at each other, shook hands, gave each other a hug. They tapped each other on the back. Hillary checked his watch. 11:30 am on 29th May 1953. For generations to come, we will remember the names Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Hillary

took pictures of the view and Tenzing to prove they did the impossible. However there are no pictures of Hillary as Tenzing didn’t know how to use the camera. After 15 minutes they left.

News reached England on 2nd June, coincidentally it was the day of Elizabeth II’s Coronation. Hillary famously said to George Lowe “We knocked the bastard off.”

Kayden Y

Hillary and Tenzing pictured after reaching the top of the world

George B

Can I write a night time poem?

There are trees on the pavement, They dream of growing tall, reaching the sun if they can. They worry about storms, blowing the leaves away.

There are cars on the side of the road, Dreaming metal dreams, winning races and gaining super speed. They worry about their tyres, gaining a flat tyre.

There are lampposts on the pavement, They dream of shining bright, shining as bright as the sun. They worry about the day, when their light is no longer needed.

There are pavements on the side of the road, Dreaming happy dreams, people walking on them. They worry about their stones, getting cracked and battered.

There are bushes in the parks, They dream of being lush, being bright and green. They worry about being overgrown, and never being cut.

Sophia N

Above the city the stars gleamed brightly, They were dreaming bright dreams, Being in the country where they are truly appreciated, Worried that they soon may be forgotten, and outshone by all the city lights.

Sadly the moon watched the scared unsleeping children, dreaming that later no one would be scared of its dark domain, as no one wants to look up or be out at night.

Being worried that it may drift away from earth, Earth after all is her dearest friend.

Down below this starry sky houses sleep. Their eyes are curtains closed they’re dreaming warm dreams, where everyone can afford a house. Worried that the people inside might be hurt by robbers, and failing its purpose of keeping them safe.

Watching the house it was rejected from the toy sobs.

It dreams of being played with by the kind boy, the one who tried to save it. It worries the boy may not come out, come out to save him.

E-bikes sympathise as they have been left far from where they should be. They dream that they ride around fast as the wind, biking people place to place. They’re worried no one will find them.

Orlando P

PUPIL OFFICIALS

SENIOR SCHOOL OFFICIALS

Head Girl: Tessa Swarbrick Ibarrola

Head Boy: Ned Watts

Deputy Head Boy: Charlie Ambrose

Deputy Head Girl: Ayodenu Dosumu

Senior Decan Team: Nessi Asima

Jayme Ferrett

Martha Hickman

Presidents of School Council: Albert Emamy and Advay Jain

House Captains: Barlow: Ayodenu Dosumu and Stefan Krunic

Gervase: Martha Hickman and Benjy Thornton

Pickering: Polly Burns and Amirreza Kebryai

Roberts: James Higgins and Lola Petrovic

Decan Team: Joshua Al-Dakkak

Sama Alshelh

Amalia Barreto Garrido

Inigo Bigland

Dhawan

Khan

Captain of Boys’ Athletics: Siôn Jones

Captain of Girls’ Athletics: Amelie Domoradzki

Captain of Cricket: Ned Watts

Captain of Fencing: Elena Llinares-Perales

Captain of Hockey: Polly Burns

Captain of Netball: Francesca Newbold

Captain of Rugby: Freddy Rossigneux

Leader of the School Orchestra: Helena Ramsden

President of the SVP: Tessa Swarbrick

Ibarrola

JUNIOR SCHOOL OFFICIALS

Head Pupils: Anastasia Norman and George Bigland

Deputy Head Pupils: Lisa Kluemper, Emme Love, Fionn O’Reilly, Raj Sidhu

Prefects: Jenni Bosher, Oliver Hall, Alexa Joannou, Finnbar McQuillan Visintini, Uma Sidhu, Letlotlo Wanjau

House Captains

Bede: Luna Akuffo and Alex Zoumidou

Fisher: George Girgis and Lisa Stoilovska

Gregory: Freddie Codrington and Alessia McQuillan Visintini

More: Otis Monaghan and Kay Stojsavljevic

Art Ambassadors: Dylan Avella, Zac Bernard, Lily Chavda, James Giles, Carlos Grant and Alexa Joannou

Cookery Ambassadors: Maria Bignell and Grace Heald, Marcus Lee and Diego Uribe Solano

Eco & Geography Ambassadors: Charlie Goodridge, Rian O’Sullivan, Orlando Salisbury and Anthony Sherlock

English Ambassadors: Maria Bignell and Damon Chavda

History Ambassadors: Owen Cotter, George Hacking and Rian O’Sullivan

ICT Ambassadors: Mila Miran, Mikey Oldland and Che Whitton

Library Ambassadors: Alexander Murphy, Kenshiro Said and Letlotlo Wanjau

Mass Leader/RE Ambassadors: Gianluca Ciavola and Orlando Pieralisi

Mathematics Ambassadors: Aayushmaan Choudhry, Owen Cotter, Sabrina Kapoor, Sammy Mohseni, Uma Sidhu, Kayden Yip and Yiming Zhong

Modern Language and Cultures Ambassadors: Oliver Hall, Anastasia Norman and Uma Sidhu

Mini Vinnie President: Reuben Adebutu

Music Ambassador: Ollie Hird

Pre-Prep Ambassadors: Leandro Craigen, Freya Hughes, George Knight, Abigail Langford, Mila Miran, Varvara

Nedostupenko and Sophia Norman

School Council Chairs: Alexa Joannou and Viren Mathias

Science Ambassadors: Harry Campbell, Sabrina Kapoor and Orlando Pieralisi

Housemistresses/Masters:

Bede: Mrs S Stevenson

Fisher: Miss C Langlands

Gregory: Mr L Wright

More: Mr J Laffey

ST BENEDICT’S SCHOOL

ST BENEDICT’S SCHOOL