THE SHIELD LENT 2022
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WELCOME TO THE LENT EDITION OF THE SHIELD 2022 Official Opening of the new Theatre
Sir Geoffrey Nice Lecture
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n 1 February 2022, Dunstonian Sir Geoffrey Nice visited the College to the delight of students, staff and parents with his informative seminars. Sir Geoffrey met with our younger scholars to talk about the concept of Human Rights around the world before facing a room of Sixth Formers interested in a career in law for a Q&A. An impromptu book signing session took place in the lobby for his book ‘Justice for All and how to achieve it’ before he delivered a most insightful lecture on the birth of the International Court of Justice and his recent involvement in the Genocide Tribunal for the Uyghur people. A truly enjoyable and informative talk for all.
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he grand opening of our new theatre took place on Wednesday 30 March. Parents, donors and Dunstonians gathered for the special ceremony, which was followed by the opening night of the Senior School performance of Machinal. Theatre and TV filmmaker. Dean Byfield - also a parent - officially cut the ribbon. The theatre will now be at the heart of our Performing Arts Centre, which houses music, drama and the arts. The 150-seat space will be used for productions, musicals, and conferences – and will not only benefit the St Dunstan’s community, but also members of the
wider Lewisham borough. Thank you to all of our parents and carers who have generously supported the new theatre. Please contact the Development Office at development@stdunstans.org. uk as it is not too late to sponsor a seat or become a Performance Donor.
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International Marketing Award Excellent BREEAM ratings for new development
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his term, the College was delighted to achieve a BREEAM excellent rating for the new Junior School and STEM building following a sustainability assessment. The assessment, carried out by Blewburton Limited, scored the College’s new developments on areas including health and wellbeing, energy,
transport, water, land use and ecology. The Junior School and STEM buildings, which officially opened in 2021, are the most significant developments on the school grounds since 1888. The College’s forward-thinking approach is now matched by modern, bright and inspirational facilities.
Dunstonian Anniversary Dinner
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n Saturday 12 March, around 100 Dunstonians, plus their partners, gathered at St Dunstan’s College to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Dunstonian Association. The evening started with a reception in the lobby outside the Great Hall, before guests enjoyed a fantastic performance by the St Dunstan’s Jazz Band in the Great Hall itself. They then proceeded
(to the strains of ‘Jerusalem’, no less) to the Refectory and enjoyed an excellent meal, followed by speeches, before reconvening in the lobby for coffee or more wine, according to taste... The evening was a fantastic success and enjoyed by all. Particular thanks go to the catering and facilities staff at the College, who made a huge effort to put on a truly special event.
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n January, the College was delighted to find out it had won a 2021 InspirED School Marketers Brilliance Award for its recent school video. The short film, Albam Exorna, celebrates life at the College from Junior School to Sixth Form. The film was produced last September by Affixxius Films and takes its name from the school’s motto. The entries were judged by a volunteer panel of 68 marketing experts from around the world who are professionals in private schools or businesses that specialize in school marketing. The entries were scored on creativity, persuasiveness, design, copy, photography and overall appeal. The video is available to watch on our YouTube Channel.
Sleep out
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he St Dunstan’s Sleep Out, which took place in December, raised an incredible £5,000 for Centrepoint. Thank you to everyone who donated to the worthy cause.
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STEM WEEK I
n early March, the College celebrated STEM as part of the theme of the week. It was kicked off with an assembly by Mr Randall (Head of Design Engineering) who inspired the students to think about how engineering has affected our daily lives. Here are some of the highlights of the week:
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Staff and students were delighted to find three ducklings hatched after excitedly waiting for their arrival.
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Students were treated to a giant Thermite reaction and elephant’s toothpaste experiment in the Plaza.
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The Nursery school took part in an electricity workshop - using the Van Der Graaf Generator. A fantastic collaboration between the nursery school and Year 8 students.
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Dr Guy Sutton from the University of Nottingham came in to do a specialist workshop with A Level and GCSE Biologists and Psychologists, focusing on the brain - including a brain dissection.
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The team at Imperial College London delivered a Sickle Cell Anaemia Workshop called ‘Invisible Warriors’. Students got a chance to discover more about this inherited disorder which affects African and Caribbean communities.
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Year 11 had the opportunity to attend a Maths Inspiration Trip where they heard talks from esteemed mathematician and comedian, Matt Parker, and there was a pi recital in the STEM Atrium, with the student recalling the most digits of pi to the audience winning Matt Parker’s Humble Pi book.
THE SHIELD I LENT NEWSLETTER 2022
Dungeons and Dragons Society
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ungeons and Dragons Society kicked off in full swing this Lent term. Groups of 4-5 students began role-playing through a myriad of adventures, with the use of dice, imagination and strategy. Students brought in their own maps, character sheets and rulebooks to follow their stories.
SENIOR SCHOOL FORDER Ecology Pond
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his term, the Ecology Society has enjoyed investigating the pond life in our senior pond. Even though the pond is relatively new, we have found an abundance of frogspawn in the last week. We also took a sample of the water
Chemistry Olympiad
back to the lab and used the microscope camera to look at the small invertebrates and other organisms that live there. The students enjoyed identifying a Mayfly Larva and are excited to observe the frogspawn over the coming weeks!
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e were pleased to hear that three of our Year 12 Chemistry students have been awarded certificates in the 2022 Chemistry Olympiad, organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Bruno was awarded a Silver certificate, placing him in the top 30% of students in the country, and Karina and Jacob were awarded Bronze. Congratulations to all participants.
Forder Music
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ell done to all our young producers and composers who have been attending our Forder music production clubs this term. Our visiting music teacher, Mr Ibbeston, who leads on music production has been working with pupils on new compositions. The College was treated to new tracks by Sonny and Arinjay in assemblies.
Psychology Speaker
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t Dunstan’s was delighted to welcome Ms van Roosmalen, a psychotherapist, to the College on Wednesday 2 February. Ms van Roosmalen visited to give a talk
to students attending the Psychology University Prep Forder club about her journey as a psychotherapist. During the session, students learnt all about her experiences as part of her training and how her career has developed as a psychotherapist. www.stdunstans.org.uk
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Charity & community Supporting Ukraine
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s a community, we have been shocked and horrified at the unfolding events in Ukraine, and have been looking for ways to support those affected by the conflict. As a first step, we agreed to support the work of the Lewisham Polish Centre who coordinated efforts from the local community with the support of Lewisham Council, collecting aid supplies and donations and sending them to the Polish border and into Ukraine to help the refugees. We sent a van piled high with
Red Nose Day
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tudents across the College took part in Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day in March. The special day raised £1061.10, which will help charities both in the UK and around the world.
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boxes. Thank you to everyone who donated items and to those student volunteers who gave up their time to help organise, sort and pack the boxes. The College has also been supporting the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine appeal, and our JustGiving page has now raised more than £3,200. The Junior School also hosted a special bake sale, raising more than £767.38 for the DEC appeal. Thank you to everyone for their continued support.
St Dunstan’s Depop clothes sale
Tree planting for Platinum Jubilee
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he global fashion industry emits 1.7 billion tons of CO2 each year and is one of the largest polluters in the world. To help combat this and raise money for charity we hosted our first secondhand clothes shop on Friday 25 February. This event was a great success with takings exceeding £200.
tudents at St Dunstan’s have marked the start of the Platinum Jubilee year by planting several new trees on the school grounds in honour of Her Majesty’s service and duty during her seven-decade reign. The first set of new trees were planted in two locations; next to the Junior School and around the Senior School ecology pond. During the planting, students were able to learn more about the planting process and how the trees would grow in the coming days and years. The new trees, donated to the school by the Trees Council, included wild cherry, downy birch, field maple, mountain ash and goat willow. Apple, cherry, plum and pear trees were also planted, alongside dogwood, blackthorn and hawthorn hedging. The new trees will continue St Dunstan’s sustainability drive, helping to attract biodiversity to the school grounds and improve air quality.
Acorn Book Club
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uring the month of January, the College took part in a book drive for Acorn Book Club, which is a local charity that takes donated high quality pre-loved children’s books and redistributes them to local primary school libraries which are often in great need of new books. The book drive was a great success with more than 1000 books being donated. Thank you to everyone who donated their pre-loved books!
International Women’s Day
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e hosted a movie night on Thursday 10 March to celebrate International Women’s Day. Students gathered to watch ‘Hidden Figures’, a movie based upon the untold story of Katherine G. All proceeds went to Women’s Aid.
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Former students speak at MedSoc
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unstonians Selena Afshar and Ibrahim Konie came in to our MedSoc lesson to talk about their experiences as medical students.
SENIOR NEWS
Selena is in her second year at the University of Buckingham and Ibrahim is in his first year at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. It was very well attended by Year 10 -13 students. They discussed what it is like on their course, what life is like at university and the process of application. It was informative and gave the students lots of food for thought.
Year 8 at the British Museum
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n Tuesday 18 January, our Year 8 academic scholars were taken to the British Museum by Mr Burke, Mr Swan and Ms HernandezAlarcon, to see the ‘Peru: A journey in time’ exhibition. Mr Hewlett even made a surprise visit, meeting the scholars inside the exhibition and guiding them round.
Welcoming the Chair of the Dunstonian Association
After they finished the exhibition, the students followed the one-hour tour route at the museum, stopping off at famous exhibits such as the Rosetta Stone and Hoa Hakananai’a.
Jeffrey Boakye talk
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e were delighted to welcome Jeffrey Boakye to the College for a series of talks on racism, identity, culture and imperial history. It was great to see so many of our students from Year 6 to Sixth Form engaging in the informative talks.
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ichard Fagg (’85), a former student and Chairman of the Dunstonian Association, was recently welcomed to the College to deliver a talk to our Sixth Form students about the Dunstonian Association’s ethos and values. He discussed with students the types of connective events that the organisation hosts, emphasising the importance of staying in touch with the College as alumni.
Year 7 Royal Observatory trip
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ear 7 students made a trip to the Royal Observatory Greenwich, aligning with their study of Space in Physics. They experienced a planetarium show taking in the vast scale of the universe, a workshop on how astronomers search for exoplanets, and they were wowed by the array of creative and scientific images on display at the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition.
Year 7 use Micro Bit
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n Computing, students in Year 7 learned to use Micro:Bit computers to control multiple LED lighting circuits. Students discovered how to program the computer to turn on and off red, yellow and green LEDs in a timed sequence. They built their own lighting circuits, and then wrote subroutines to control the different bulbs using digital signals.
BETT Show
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ur digital leaders attended the BETT Show at the ExCeL in London, which featured leading experts from around the world in the field of education technology.
How will I use Maths?
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he College Maths department welcomed Year 9-13 students and parents last night for the inaugural ‘How will I use Maths?’ event to explore the opportunities
afforded through further study in Maths. Delegates from a range of professions were on hand to answer questions about why they love Maths, how they have gone on to use it and any other queries our students had. It was wonderful to see our students confidently approaching the professionals and developing their networking skills across the evening.
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SIXTH FORM NEWS
Year 13 Biologists visit Wakehurst Place
Special Congratulations for Oxford Success
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he College is delighted to reveal four students have been offered places at the University of Oxford. Sixth Form students Claudia, Adam, David and Bjorn have all been offered places at the prestigious university following the application and interview process. Mr Hewlett celebrated the news explaining: ‘These are outstanding outcomes that showcase the terrific academic success being realised at St Dunstan’s in so many different areas.’
and to get these Oxford places is a further sign of the academic excellence achieved from our ambitious and driven students.
Speaking about the news, St Dunstan’s Deputy Head Academic, Jonathan Holmes said: ‘This is a tremendous achievement for these four students, their teachers, and the whole Oxbridge team here at St Dunstan’s,
Art Foundation achievement
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‘To see such a diversity of subjects from Theology to Engineering is a testament to the broad Sixth Form curriculum we offer here at St Dunstan’s, where each individual’s potential is explored and guided to the full as part of our Diploma programme. Very well done Claudia, Bjorn, David, and Adam!’
Congratulations to Jemima Marks and Paddy Byfield for their fantastic unconditional Art Foundation offers at Kingston University.
ll Year 13 A Level Biologists headed to Wakehurst Place to complete some of their required field work and practical activities. Students were lucky enough to start with a tour of the Millennium Seed Bank which has a store of seeds from all over the world. The seeds are categorised and kept in dark, cold conditions to preserve them. Some samples are over 100 years old and are still able to germinate! Students were able to see the specialist scientists’ laboratories whilst they prepared new samples from Thailand, Afghanistan, Ireland and Israel.
Psychology students welcome Dr Forrest
Year 12 Trip to Geneva (CERN)
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ear 12 students took a trip to Geneva to learn more about the history of CERN. Students stayed in a hostel in the heart of Geneva, travelling to CERN where they had a tour of the facility. During the visit, students were able to see first-hand the equipment being used to make news discoveries, and they watched the famous light show which helped explain the history of CERN.
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r Sue Forrest, a clinical psychologist, gave a virtual guest lecture on her route into the profession, her experiences during training to become a clinical psychologist and options available post qualification. Her talk was extremely interesting and allowed students to understand more about the profession and first-hand experience of it. Dr Forrest also took time to answer questions that students had about different undergraduate degrees and how she is able to communicate effectively with her patients.
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Pre-prep Force & motion
Junior School News World Book Day
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Author Suzanne Hemming visits
n Thursday 3 March, St Dunstan’s was delighted to celebrated World Book Day. Children in Reception enjoyed dressing up as well as looking at books in our library.
Year 3 celebrated the day by enjoying a variety of activities. These included taking part in a World Book Day Quiz and Bingo. They also designed a book cover and had a visit to St Dunstan’s Learning Resource Centre to share, choose and read books! Year 4 children enjoyed sharing their story ‘Book in a Box’ for World Book Day, as well as the dressing-up fun! They also had time to visit the library and enjoy some relaxed reading time.
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ursery have loved exploring the topic ‘Things that Move’. They have been learning all about force and motion by doing some amazing experiments. This has included learning about static electricity with balloons, watching a tea bag float away after it was set alight, creating balloon rockets which zoomed across the room and playing with a giant slingshot in the Woodland Classroom!
Chinese New Year
With jokes, riddles, songs and even exercise, students in Year 1 demonstrated beautifully the wonder and importance of reading books. They created their favourite book character using potatoes, designed their own book cover and created story boxes of their favourite book. Year 2 celebrated World Book Day with amazing costumes and imaginative “Book in a Box” creations. They took part in scavenger hunts in the Junior School Library and spent time sharing their favourite books.
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n 11 February, our Junior School Assembly focused on how Chinese New Year is celebrated across the world and within our St Dunstan’s community. One highlight of this was a special performance of the ‘Lion Dance’ by Mathilda and Harriet. Thank you to all the families who contributed to this assembly.
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ear 1 were very excited to welcome the author Suzanne Hemming to read her new book How Frank Helped Hank. Suzanne Hemming is an award-winning author behind She’s Not Good for a Girl, She’s Just Good! and The Queen Engineer. How Frank Helped Hank is a beautifully illustrated rhyming story that teaches children there is no shame in crying, feeling sad or talking about our emotions, tackling outdated views on masculinity within our society. The children really enjoyed the reading and asked some wonderful questions.
Reception visit London Transport Museum
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eception travelled to central London to visit the London Transport Museum on their very first school trip! The children had an exciting day travelling on a real train and toured the museum looking at old and new forms of transport.
Woodland Classroom
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eception have enjoyed putting their Forest School skills into practice in the Woodland Classroom this term. Pupils made campfire bread using their maths skills to measure out the correct amounts of ingredients and honed their physical skills as they kneaded it. Year 2 have also enjoyed exploring our woodland classroom this winter. They have created magic wands, nature mobiles and creative animal portraits using the materials they could find in our environment.
Paul Klee Art
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n art, the children explored the painting ‘Castle and the Sun’ by Paul Klee. After using charcoal and rulers to create straight lines, the children then used the contrasting textures of oil pastels and water colour paints to colour the background.
Morning Fitness
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ear 2 have started their days this term with energy and exuberance. Moving their bodies to get their brains ready for learning, the children have enjoyed a range of physical exercises in the classroom to kickstart our day.
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Year 6 Sacred Spaces
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ear 6 students visited St Paul’s Cathedral and London Central Mosque as part of their ‘Sacred Spaces’ RPE topic. They were able to learn more about Christianity and Islam and were lucky enough to watch prayers being read in both places of worship.
Year 4 Horniman Museum
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his term Year 4 began their new topic Turn It Up! with a visit to the Horniman Museum, where they got their hands on a range of instruments from around the world, as well as visiting the Music Gallery to see and listen to hundreds of different kinds of instruments.
Year 3 Rainforest
Year 4 Born Free Presentation
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ear 3 pupils worked extremely hard to produce some wonderfully colourful and vibrant rainforest pictures with toucans as the centre piece!
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ear 4 were fascinated by a presentation from animal welfare charity Born Free, and learned different ways that they could protect precious primates in endangered rainforests around the world.
JUNIOR SCHOOL IPC
Making Spinal Columns
Superhumans Day
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ear 1 ended their IPC topic, ‘Superhumans’, with ‘Superhumans Day’. The children took part in a range of activities including making fruit and vegetable kebabs to consolidate their learning on healthy eating, learning all about the digestive system and how poo is made, making popcorn to explore the senses, running around the Woodland Classroom on a senses scavenger hunt and discovering how long the small intestines are. What an exciting end to a fabulous topic!
Year 5 Space Academy
n IPC, Year 1 have enjoyed learning about how the skeleton helps to support the body and protect our organs. They conducted an investigation to find out how the spinal column functions and supports our bodies.
The Nervous System
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s part of our Being Human IPC topic, we learned about various systems in the body. Year 6 enjoyed mapping out their own nervous system and worked collaboratively to label a life-size model of a body.
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ear 5 set out to see if they could cut it in space! Facing challenges to test their agility, strength and problem solving skills, pupils gained better understanding of just what it takes to be a great space explorer.
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Junior Highlights
MUSICAL NOTES
Year 6 Bucket Drumming
Reasons to be cheerful
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ear 3 worked extremely hard in preparation for their Roman showcase, Reasons to be Cheerful! If you saw the performance, you know how it lifted everybody’s mood!
Year 6 Ukulele Lessons
n music lessons, Year 6 have been learning to follow basic drum notation and play along with well-known hits. Some future rock stars in the making!
Year 5 Showcase
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ear 6 have been learning about chords this term. They have used the ukuleles to play and sing along to a variety of songs in their weekly music lessons.
Prep Chamber Strings
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ur Prep Chamber Strings group have been busy rehearsing for their upcoming performance in the Prep Instrumental Concert and they sound great!
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n Thursday 24 March, pupils in Year 5 wowed parents and staff with their showcase performance, A journey through space and time.
Year 1 Strings Lesson
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ear 1 enjoyed investigating how string instruments work in their music lesson. They played violins and ukuleles, then made their own string instrument with a box and rubber bands.
Senior Highlights GCSE Recitals
Battle of the Bands
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ur extremely talented GCSE Students performed their coursework pieces at a recital earlier this term. Well done to everyone!
he first St Dunstan’s Battle of the Bands took place on Monday 21 February. The competition was open to bands and solo artists from Years 7 to 13 and showcased some incredible talent. The evening was hosted by two students, Freya and Joe, and the audience were treated to a wide variety
of performances including songs by Madonna, Weezer, Bastille, The Academic and Queen. The evening concluded with an audience vote and Year 8 band Intentions were crowned the winners. The students also put on a charity bake sale, the proceeds from which were combined with ticket sales to raise £355 for the charity YoungMinds.
Chamber Concert
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n Thursday 3 February, we were treated to our termly Chamber Concert in the Great Hall. This was a grand occasion, which saw performances from our major instrumental ensembles such as the Brass, String and Guitar Ensembles.
Highlights of the concert included SDC Voices’ performance of California Dreamin’ and the Concert Band’s performance of Shostakovich’s Waltz. The packed Great Hall witnessed some extremely impressive performances from our scholars and performers.
House Music
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ith the theme of Motown, House Music was bigger and better than ever before, with all of Year 7 and 8 getting involved in the choir section of the competition, and specialist musicians playing in the Ensembles and Soloist competitions. With an audience of 300 and our 300 performers in the Refectory, watching on a big screen in a ‘fan zone’. It was a fantastic event.
Special Congratulations
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he Music Department is celebrating outstanding results in our recent set of ABRSM examinations, with more than 75% of students receiving either a Merit or Distinction. In terms of our advanced musicians, Alice and Molly celebrated receiving Merits in their Horn and Trombone grade 7 exams. Special congratulations also go to Florence, currently in Year 9, who gained a grade 8 with distinction in her recent violin exam.
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Year 8 Food Sculptures
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ear 8 responded to the soft sculptures of Claes Oldenberg by making their own yummy food sculptures. We had a plethora of responses from a burger made of a bath sponge, a paper mache bucket of KFC, a sparkly birthday cake, delicate morsels of sushi, an oversized dragon fruit and an Icelandic Christmas dinner!
CREATIVE PURSUITS Senior School... Year 10 Tate Modern
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ear 10 artists spent a wonderful afternoon at the Tate Modern looking at the general collections. During the visit, they completed direct observational drawing responses to artworks using mixed media.
Fishli and Weiss Sculptures
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ear 7 have been balancing objects to make sculptures as tall or as wacky as possible, responding to the work of artist duo Fishli and Weiss. These towering sculptures of kitchen brushes, sponges, spoons and crabs, inspired some dynamic, fun collaborative drawings which will be developed into ceramics. 7F1 made a brilliant performance and sound piece responding to their drawing.
Year 11 Showcase
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ear 11 are working hard for their final show, which is now only a few weeks away. There are some fabulous pieces showing the broad range of work by our talented students who certainly make our art rooms with buzz with ideas responding to their drawing.
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Year 13 work with Artist, Archie Campbell
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ear 13 had the wonderful opportunity to work with artist Archie Campbell. He discussed his practice and the research behind it from Greek tragedy to the absurd nature of instructional imagery and language, like aeroplane flight safety booklets and Covid testing diagrams. Students then developed their own instructions responding to their projects.
Year 3 Felting & Sewing
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his was a three-week project. The children layered the wool tips, whilst in week two they combined these to make the felt. This involved using a mixture of washing up liquid and water together with lots of hand rubbing. It was bubbly fun! In the final week the pupils finished their felt pieces by sewing on some beautiful buttons in the shape of flowers and butterflies, to tie in with the rainforestthemed work they have been doing. Some children had never sewn before so learnt a new skill.
Junior School... Year 5 Space Drawings
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ear 5 pupils created fantastic space drawings. They created the constellation and galaxy backgrounds by crumpling up newspaper and dipping it in paint. They then proceeded to sketch their spacemen in various sizes, using photographs to guide them.
Year 4 Ancient Egypt
Year 5 Space Cushions
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tudents started with some tie-dyeing before creating designs to stitch onto their fabric pieces. They looked at work by contemporary textile artist, Karen Rose and photographic images of real galaxies and nebulae, to help inspire them. After several weeks of sewing, the cushions were then created. They were all so proud of the end results.
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ear 4 have created some wonderfully colourful, mixed media artwork which started life as a simple black and white photograph of their profile. They added details using collage techniques and felttip pens. Year 4 pupils also were working with clay to produce some wonderful Ancient Egyptian plaques. They used both impressed and relief methods to create their 3D pieces and worked from designs in their sketchbooks. They painted them once they were dry.
Year 6 Enrichment
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ight Year 6 pupils in the Junior School had a wonderful time participating in an optional afterschool art enrichment workshop in the Senior School Art Department.
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Dramatic highlights... Edward
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hampions Theatre Arts offered our students a unique and tailor made production of Edward Scissorhands, led by their Dance Principal, Flo Champion. The 30-minute dance production was inspired by the famous choreographer, Matthew Bourne, and followed the same wonderful focus of story telling through movement. The cast received a combination of technical dance training and storyled movement workshops, as well as experiencing the creativeness, discipline and dedication needed to work within a professional movement company.
Dance & Drama Workshop
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ursery and Reception were delighted to participate in a dance and drama workshop run by Champions Theatre Arts on Thursday 3 February. Nursery zoomed off to space to become astronauts and test their new knowledge of gravity. Reception were taken on a superhero adventure, saving the day with their extraordinary powers and dance moves.
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School of Rock
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ock ‘n’ Roll arrived in the Great Hall in March with the Senior School’s stage adaption of the hit film ‘School of Rock’ The cast of nearly 60 students, alongside a tech team of 10 had been preparing for the production since January working on singing, dancing, staging as well as lighting and sound. This high energy, fun production was an amazing opportunity for students of all year groups to work together.
House Drama
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ur senior LAMDA students have now embarked on their ‘set piece’ performance in preparation for their LAMDA exam which will take place at the end of June. The students have worked incredibly hard on putting their performance techniques into practice. Classes this term have included scene analysis, character improvisation and a Stanislavski-based workshop which the students have really enjoyed.
espite cancellations and postponements, we managed to squeeze House Drama into this extremely busy term. The theme for this year’s House Drama was Fairy Tales and Folk Tales and with
the students working hard on their productions since September, the quality was fantastic. Our winners on the night were Stuart House, with their funny and entertaining performance of Snow White and the Seven Entrepreneurs. Well done to all those who were involved!
Machinal
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he grand opening of our new theatre took place on Wednesday 30 March. Parents, donors and Dunstonians gathered for the special ceremony, which was followed by the opening night of the Senior School performance of Machinal, by Sophie Treadwell. www.stdunstans.org.uk
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SPORTING HIGHLIGHTS Football
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ootball continues to thrive with more students taking part than ever before. We have seen the fantastic return of a ‘normal season’, with our students benefitting from the well-constructed SKIL league fixtures against top independent and boarding schools nationwide. Special achievements in football this term: 1st and 2nd XI have both been tried and tested this term, with the majority of games played being very close matches. Congratulations to both teams for their hard work, but especially the 2nd XI for their standout 8-1 win against Christ’s Hospital. The U15A team has consistently performed at a high level, with one of the main highlights of the season being the fantastic win against Cedar’s school – a big well done to Noah for an outstanding hat-trick and
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the rest of the team for their commitment and great game-playing. The U15B team kick started the season with a win against Christ’s Hospital and another against Cedar’s. We then travelled down to King’s Canterbury and won 2-0. The progress and determination shown from this team has been so impressive, well done! The U14As team bagged a home win against Cedar’s combined with an additional away win against King’s Canterbury. Highlights for the U13s season are the double victory against Bickley Park, as well as the U12s game against the Judd School. We have also seen major growth in engagement of our girls’ football teams, and we look forward to introducing more girls football matches and larger teams in future.
Hockey
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uring this term, our hockey teams have taken part in a variety of different matches. One of our most notable tournaments was the U13 boys Tier 2 Kents, hosted at King’s School Wimbledon. Despite a rocky start, the team went onto beat Alleyn’s School 1-0, and Eltham College 4-0.
Rugby
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uring the Lent Term, rugby has transitioned to a shorter version of the game, rugby 7s. It has been hugely successful, with all year groups buying into the alternative version of the sport. A highlight of this term was the U15 Kent County 7s, where our team won the 7s Shield for the first time in years.
The girls’ rugby Forder club has seen a steady growth in numbers with 12-18 girls attending regularly. As a result of this, the girls’ team have been able to make it through to their first U13s and U15s tournaments. Keep up the hard work and we look forward to seeing how both squads progress over time.
Netball
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his term, students involved in Netball have represented the College in over 82 fixtures and 6 tournaments. Our hard-working netball teams have collectively scored over 215 goals - with our big block fixtures with Alleyn’s, Colfe’s and Royal Russel, still left to go. We are extremely proud of every one of our students and blown away by the progress they have made throughout. House Netball ran slightly differently this year with a fresh approach to the afternoon sports programme. There were amazing performances from our students involved in the internal competitions and special congratulations to Forder House for currently taking the lead. www.stdunstans.org.uk
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Swimming
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n March, Year 7 and 8 pupils competed in the London Leagues coming 4th out of more than 40 schools. Our swimmers also took place in the prestigious Bath Cup Gala, with our boys coming 15th and girls coming 20th.
Strength & Conditioning
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his term highlighted some amazing progress made by the Senior School. Starting off in Year 8, students’ training sessions have focused on developing the athletic qualities required of their sport, which include balance, multiplanar stability,
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force absorption, and production, strength, flexibility, and mobility. They have all developed into very capable young athletes so a big well done to Year 8.
JUNIOR SCHOOL
SPORTING HIGHLIGHTS Dressage
Swimming
Year 6 Netball
Congratulations to Zara from Year 5 for gaining a place in the British Dressage South-East Regional Youth Squad. The squad supports her training and prepares her for future regional, national and international dressage competitions. We wish her every success!
The South of the River gala is always a highly competitive gala for the girls. This year, huge congratulations go to Imogen for winning silver in the 25m Front crawl and to Lyla for winning bronze in the 25m Butterfly. All of the girls swam incredibly well and they should be very proud of their efforts.
Our Year 6 netballers represented Lewisham at the London Youth Games in Redbridge this March. They performed brilliantly and came 5 out of 29 London boroughs.
Year 6 Hockey Tournament Our Year 5 superstars stepped up to play in our Year 6 hockey tournament and played exceptionally well. With the help of Beau in Year 4, the teams finished second and joint third. Well done to everyone involved!
Cross-Country
Medals: Year 5 and 6 were proud of their medal haul at the Lewisham Primary Schools Gala this year. Tunde won the top Year 6 boy trophy and St Dunstan’s won the best school shield.
Congratulations to our medal winners at the Cross-Country event at Merton Court. Arthur and Luca won gold, Johann won silver and Zara, Mati and Ada won bronze. Our Year 6 boys also won the team gold. It was a very exciting event with great performances from all of the St Dunstan’s runners.
www.stdunstans.org.uk
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CCF O
n Monday 7 March, 10 senior cadets from both the Royal Navy and Army Sections were invited to perform a Guard of Honour for the Worshipful Company of Marketors Installation Dinner in Central London. The Dinner was held at the magnificent Clothworker’s Hall which is located close to St Dunstan’s in the East. Looking very impressive in their dress uniforms, the cadets represented the College at the highest level and many of the guests commented on how well turned out the cadets were. Many thanks to all the cadets who took part for their professionalism on the night.
CCF Range Day
O
After having to wait for over two years, the CCF was finally ready to return to the shooting ranges. On Tuesday 15 March, 18 cadets from Years 10 and 12 set off for Hythe Ranges, near Folkestone. The weather was perfect for shooting and the cadets had spent many training sessions preparing for this day. After spending the morning ‘zeroing’ the rifle to them, the pressure mounted with the competition shoot in the afternoon. There were many outstanding performances from the cadets however
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a special mention must go to Gabriel who achieved a score of 41/45. Towards the end of the day the CCF staff also got to put their skills to the test. All eyes were on Sgt Telford as an ex-Royal Marine sniper and he did not disappoint. Congratulations also go to Mrs Latham who fired the cadet rifle for the first time achieving a very respectable score. Many thanks to all the staff who supported the event and the cadets for their outstanding conduct and effort
Year 12 Senior Leadership Course
O
ur Year 12 Army and Navy section senior cadets attended a one-day senior leadership course on Saturday 29 January, run in-house by Head
Royal Navy Section Afloat Training
O
n Tuesday 15 March, a group of Year 10 and Year 12 cadets from the Royal Navy Section took part in a day of afloat training at the Danson
of the Navy Section at the Jubilee Ground Pavilion. Based on Royal Navy Leadership Academy work and senior cadet leadership courses that are run at Britannia Royal Naval College each year, the day was a mix of classroom
and practical work. A short brief from each student on a leader of their choice (from Napoleon Bonaparte and Jacinda Ardern to Idi Amin and Boris Johnson) provided an insightful start to the day.
Park Watersports Centre. This was the first time out on the water for these cadets since the start of the Covid ‘lockdowns’ – so a most welcome day upskilling in kayaks, sailing boats and on paddleboards. The weather was glorious, and the wind speed was right for both the novice and more experienced sailor. The staff
at the water sports centre were very impressed by the enthusiasm and team-work of our cadets and commented on how much they enjoy training cadets from St. Dunstan’s. Well done and thank you to all the cadets for making the day so enjoyable.
www.stdunstans.org.uk
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Stanstead Road, London SE6 4TY Charity number: 312747 A co-educational, independent College for ages 3 to 18 www.stdunstans.org.uk 020 8516 7200