City Lights - Spring 2017

CITY LIGHTS Spring 2017

OXBRIDGE SUCCESS | RHINOCEROS | CIT-ED TALKS | WORLD BOOK DAY | EUROPEAN TRIPS | BAYI VISIT

Head’s Editorial

Sarah Fletcher The Spring term always punches well above its weight.

The mock examinations at GCSE and A-level have been successfully concluded and there is a genuine sense of quiet focus amongst the boys as they work towards their final goal. The Senior Sixth are to be congratulated on a very strong showing in their university applications. 46 Oxbridge offers is an outstanding tally, and offers from other top universities have been flooding in too. Raising the cap on numbers of students entering university with AAB or higher has played to our advantage. Those with strong predicted grades are finding themselves well placed, with admissions tutors pitching for the best candidates. The advent of the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) has also helped many of our boys in giving them topics of substance to discuss at interview and on their personal statements. Several universities have been prepared to discount entry grades for those doing EPQ in recognition of its relevance to university study. I wish all the boys the very best as they finetune their revision schedules in advance of the Easter holidays.

Meanwhile the co-curricular life of the School has continued with unabated energy. The Lower School and Spring Concerts were imaginatively put together and diverse in musical genre. CLS is not only fortunate in the talent and commitment of the boys but also in the enthusiasm and direction provided by the Music Department. The announcement that the Choir of the Chapel Royal St James’s Palace will be run directly through the School is highly significant. It registers absolute faith in the quality of music making at CLS, and cements an important long-term relationship. The appointment of a Director of Music Chapel Royal, to focus half his or her time on the Choir and half on the School, is a wonderful opportunity for us to strengthen yet further our musical powers. Additional and very generous funding has also been secured from the City of London Corporation to enable us to offer full bursary support to at least one of the choristers, widening our reach in selecting candidates from different backgrounds in line with the ethos of the School.

The student production of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros was thought-provoking and skilfully put together. Choosing a piece from the Theatre of the Absurd was no easy undertaking, but the CLS boys, and girls from CLSG, did themselves proud. The timing, acting, and staging were impressive, with some memorable performances from a very talented cast. Many of the students involved will be facing major public examinations next term. To achieve a spectacle of such professionalism speaks volumes for their versatility and stamina.

The sports teams should also be congratulated. There have been some nail- biting second halves as they have approached the finals of their various competitions. As I write there is plenty to play for across all the major sports. I wish the boys the best of luck.

This has been a very successful and action-packed term, and I hope everyone has a restful and happy break.

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Cover story…

Oxbridge Applications

Record Success

This has been a record-breaking term for university offers for CLS pupils. In total, 46 boys have been offered conditional places at Oxford and Cambridge (28 at Cambridge, 18 at Oxford), which includes three medical school offers (two at Cambridge, one at Oxford). This is a remarkable achievement by the boys, and demonstrates their talent and hard work. This success has been mirrored through the Senior Sixth, with huge numbers of offers coming in from prestigious Russell Group universities, with most boys achieving offers from their top choice university. Internationally, we are delighted that two pupils have already received offers to Yale and Columbia and were also invited to join the Robertson Leadership Program/full merit scholarship pending admission to Duke University. We congratulate all the boys on their well-deserved success and wish them the best as they enter the final revision phase.

Spring 2017

Rhinoceros

This year’s student production was Eugène Ionesco’s 1959 absurdist piece Rhinoceros, an account of the rise of totalitarian and conformist regimes, such as Nazi Germany, collaborationist France or the USSR. As the inhabitants of a small French town begin to turn into enormous pachyderms, Ionesco explores the shock, hypocrisy, and ultimately indifference shown by all but one fallible clerk. Directors Jack Curtin and Jake Simms bring Ionesco’s masterpiece into the present day, linking it with the conformism and destructive views at the heart of Trump’s elec­tion through clever use of increasingly ominous radio broadcasts.

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James Harker delivered a fan­tastic performance as the slovenly Bérenger, a laudable achievement for an actor only in the Fifth Form. David Barton gave a mercurial and in­timidating rendition of the power and mania of Jean, while Maxine Mainelli as Daisy captured both the humour and awareness of the human vital to Ionesco. Vinusan Jeyananthan and Freddie Bartlett Evans also portrayed masterfully the feuding Botard and Dudard, bringing out Ionesco’s satire of the dogmatic socialist and the smoothly permissive cosmopolitan. The full cast gave a polished and comic performance, working in concert

to demonstrate a rich un­derstanding of Ionesco’s playful illogic, cyclical dialogue and mimicry.

A sparse and open set allowed the actors to engage with the stage in ambitious and creative ways, lending an unforgettable energetic and animal element to the production. The noises of radio and rhino alike enhanced the theatrical experience as well, but set, sound and stage only contribute to the superb performances which carried the play. It was a triumph for all involved.

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O’Sullivan Reading Competition French Debating Competition In February CLS took two teams to St Paul’s Girls’ School to compete in the regional heat of the UK’s annual French debating competition. 28 teams were represented in this highly competitive event, in which Sixth Formers from the South East debate motions including reforming the French electoral system, drug rehabilitation and nuclear arms.

Patrick Isaacs and Alastair Bonser notched up impressive victories over Blackheath and JAGS in the group stages, but their defeat to a twin pairing from St Paul’s Boys’ School meant that they were eliminated before the knock-out phase of the competition. Laurie Macdonald

and George Colley had a tough start to their evening with a narrow defeat to Sevenoaks, but a convincing win over Worth School and a resounding victory over Eton meant that they had done enough to qualify for the semi-finals.

Despite fine performances in both of their subsequent debates, Laurie and George just missed out on a place in the final to Hampton, and eventually finished in fourth place after losing by the tightest of margins to KCS in playoff. The quality of French and level of debating throughout was exceptional; congratulations to the boys involved.

This year, there were nine young finalists in the O’Sullivan Reading Competition. Judged

by Jonathan Keates (a former English teacher and distinguished writer) and organised by the English department, the competition was a fine occasion, showing wide variety and nuance in the deliverance of the readings given by the boys involved.

In the end, only three prizes could be awarded. The Lower School Prize went to Alex Bridges, 3B, and the Upper School Prize went to Emmanuel Inglessis, while the Shakespearean Resuscitation Prize went to Thomas Crossley, 1C.​Well done to all boys involved.

World Book Day

Cit-ED Talks

With a nod to the popular series of TED talks, CLS has launched its own series of Cit-ED lectures as a means of raising money for Centrepoint, this year’s School charity. From late February to mid-May, eight members of staff will give talks on a subject of their choice for parents, old boys, teachers and pupils.

The season began with Mr Norman’s superb account of Romantic poets, their work and how they espoused the metaphysical in defiance of the increasingly industrialising society of the nine­teenth century. This was followed by Mr Emerson’s breakfast-time talk on Martin Luther and his influences on modern day life, encompassing German linguistics, culture and religion. This struck a timely note in 2017, which marks 500 years since the Reformation. `The Charity Committee would like to thank Mr Norman and Mr Emerson for the tremendous work they put into their talks, as well the six other teachers whose talks are forthcoming.

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CLS celebrated the twentieth anniversary of World Book Day on March 2nd by welcoming two prominent authors of books for young adults. Dave Cousins is one of the most accomplished children’s authors in modern day literature. He has published over ten different books, and has won multiple awards. During his recent visit he impressed the boys with his down-to-earth and informal approach, engaging them brilliantly in a fun, interactive discussion of his

work. He led the boys through his thought process in a dramatic way and explained the ways in which his daily life infuses his work and the routine he established in order to produce his work. Gabrielle Kent is author of the Alfie Bloom series.

She too spoke of how she draws inspiration for her work by visiting castles. She sparked the pupils’ imagination by giving a few writing tips and led an open discussion based on “what if…?” scenarios.

Spring 2017

CCF in Portsmouth In early March the CCF Royal Navy section, as well as some boys from the FAR, travelled to Portsmouth for the afloat training camp. Their accommodation was the decommissioned Type 82 destroyer HMS Bristol, which is now permanently moored in Portsmouth to serve as a cadet training ship.

After a game of indoor cricket and an early night, the boys were ready for the following day’s activities. Having been kitted-out like fishermen, they set sail in a small convoy of two power-boats, two Drascombes and the RIB. Heading for Port Solent, they made quick progress and had enough spare time to practise man-overboard drills on a small buoy. Upon reaching the port, they were unnerved to discover the pontoon gone, but instead, a large lock leading to a marina.

Going through a lock for the first time was exhilarating, even more so when you are in steering the ship. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, with the exception of an unplanned fire alarm. After a perfect second day of sailing, with the Drascombes powered by strong gusts of wind, the boys returned to London filled with enthusiasm from the weekend’s exhilaration.

A Day at BETT 2017

New School Website

Ten pupils and Ms MacDonagh were invited to this year’s British Educational Training and Technology show (BETT) to assist in the launch of the new Beacon teaching materials by the British Computer Society. During the day, the boys demonstrated three computing activities which involved code cracking, pixel programmes and writing musical algorithms.

In January the School’s new public werbsite was officially launched, after many months of design and development behind the scenes. Our brief was to design and build a site that would reflect the School’s achievements, give prospective parents and families a glimpse into what life at CLS is really like, and provide a platform for regular fresh content generated by staff and pupils.

We worked with Brighton-based design agency Wild Dog Design, 

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who helped provide the technical and creative expertise to help shape our ambitions into a working, and maintainable modern website, suitable for all platforms and handheld devices.

Between demonstrations, the pupils also had a chance to visit other exhibits such as Microsoft Maker, Drone demonstrations and to attend a virtual classroom using VR equipment. They left BETT overloaded with IT and Computing ideas and in possession of a delightful goody bag.

If you haven’t watched it already, be sure to take a look at the prospectus video (especially the ‘making of’); this was a project run entirely by our boys, plus a little extra help from the team at the Young Film Academy.

www.cityoflondonschool.org.uk

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History trip to Berlin

During half-term 26 Fifth Formers and four members of staff travelled to Berlin. There was not a moment to lose as the party was taken by coach to the Olympiastadion, built for the infamous 1936 Olympic Games and still a remarkably well-preserved remnant of fascist architecture and now the home ground of FC Hertha Berlin. From there they continued to the Topography of Terror on the site of the former Headquarters of the SS. It was a suitably chilly Berlin winter, with the only warmth provided by an excellent dinner in the Haus der 100 Biere.

The next day began with a visit to the Reichstag (pictured right), and from there via the Brandenburg Gate to the more recently created memorials to the homosexual holocaust victims and the Sinti and Roma and the thought-provoking Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden

Europas (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe). The memorial consists of a vast grid of concrete pillars of differing heights, positioned on wavy ground and deliberately unlabelled in order to allow visitors to reach their own interpretation.

After a trip out to the House of the Wannsee Conference the day ended at the Jewish Museum. Sunday’s visit to Sachsenhausen, a former concentration camp, was a harrowing look at the horrors of Nazi persecution. The camp’s bleak setting and the fascinating talk by our guide meant our journey back was rather subdued as people sat and contemplated.

The final day held one more visit in store: the Stasi prison in East Berlin. The tour was a frightening reminder of the horrors of terror states and a thought-provoking conclusion to our visit.

Spanish Trip to Granada The Spanish Department spent February half-term in the notably sunnier climes of Granada. During the journey, there was a lot of deliberation about whether to shake hands or go for a more traditional Spanish greeting and this was evident in the awkward exchange of some boys going for a handshake and their families going for a kiss on the cheek. Once the boys had dropped their bags off at their homes there was still time for an hour lesson at the language school to meet their teachers for the week.

The next day, the boys along with Mr Edmundson and Mrs Robinson were given a tour of the Albaicín (the Arabic quarter) of Granada. The view of the Alhambra was as much a feast for the eyes as the Spanish cuisine was a feast for the stomach.

Most boys had a sense of adventure and decided that whilst they were in Spain they would indulge their palate with Spanish food.

Lessons began at 9am on Monday through to Wednesday, and lasted all morning. On Monday after lessons the boys trekked up a hill to the Alhambra. The rooms in the Alhambra reveal both Christian and Arabic architecture. On Tuesday they played some football in the heat of Granada and then went to a shopping

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centre for some bowling. This proved to be one of the most taxing sports in the world as shown by difference of tactics: from bowling with high speed at 42km/h with no real accuracy or at 20km/h with pinpoint accuracy. The latter proved more effective as Mr Edmundson took home the prize of top bowler with a score of 300+ accumulated over two rounds. It wouldn’t be a Spanish trip without the traditional chocolate con churros, which provided the adios to a halfterm well spent.

Spring 2017

German Exchange

Hamburg This year’s group on the Hamburg exchange with the Helene Lange Gymnasium was the largest for some time. This trip consists of two parts: the Fourth Form Exchange and the Junior Sixth Work Experience, led

by Mr Emerson and Mr Pollard.

After spending the weekend with the exchange partners’ families (with some boys lucky enough to take a trip to Berlin), all arrived back in school on Monday for a few morning lessons, many of which were bilingual. Throughout the week the group saw the many sights and sounds of Hamburg; on a city bus tour they saw the famous buildings and monuments in Hamburg, and stopped off near the Rathaus (Town Hall) to sample Hamburg Currywurst. The most memorable visit was to the Dialog im Dunkeln, where a sense of complete blindness is established and one is guided by a blind person through a wood, a market place, a house, the ‘Dunkelbar’ and other places around town.

In the meantime, the five Junior Sixth pupils separated from the group upon arrival to live independently in Hamburg for a week with host families and exchange partners. During weekdays they were kept busy with work placements at several different locations: two worked in an architecture firm whilst the others got their respective places at a radiology clinic, a Kindergarten and with a sports teacher. This helped everyone greatly improve their language thanks to being fully immersed in the German workplace.

Senior Sixth Berlin Trip It is a tradition in German schools that a departing final year class goes on a school trip to bid farewell to formal secondary education. The German Senior Sixth thought this was an excellent idea and spent three very busy days in Berlin towards the end of March. The aim was to see as much as possible in order to prepare them for their cultural topics: German History 1945-1961 and the work of director Wolfgang Becker (Good bye Lenin!).

Sights visited included the East German Stasi prison at Hohenschönhausen, the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauerstraße, the Reichstag for a guided tour including an inside visit of the Parliament, the Tränenpalast (palace of tears) building through which lachrymose West Berliners were once forced to return home having visited their relatives in the East, the flea market in the Mauerpark and there was also a guided bike tour along the Berlin Wall.

With such a packed programme there was concern that there may be no time for Kuchen (German cake, taken traditionally with a cup of coffee), but there certainly was and it was delicious.

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Spring 2017

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Water Polo

Team trip to Paris Team member Patrick Isaacs reports on the water polo trip to Paris and matches against both Racing Club de France’s youth and senior teams.

“After a slow start, CLS managed to get their game together and narrowly won the first match thanks in no small part to big saves from Jeyanathan, powerful pit play from Macdonald, pinpoint passing from Durand and a physical and dominating defensive performance from Eckersley. It was, therefore, with confidence that they began the game against the senior squad. This was, however, misguided confi­dence as CLS delivered a masterclass in taking the “L”, receiving a battering at the hands of our national league opposition. It wasn’t completely one-way traffic though, thanks to some sublime shooting from

Donner-Wittkopf which visibly irritated the Racing Club players.”

“Waking up next morning, we knew we had a very tough day ahead of us.

Arriving at Choisy le Roi for our second match spirits were high. A hard-fought game brought victory against a strong team with a smattering of na­tional league players, requiring top form from not only turnover machines Outen and Scott-Engel but also McCreery and his big saves. The match was followed by a colossal Chinese buf­fet meal before the return journey back to cen­tral Paris.”

IEA Economics Conference

Beijing Bayi Visit At the start of February, 77 pupils and four staff from Beijing Bayi School visited CLS to get a flavour of life at a British school. After some light refreshments, the visiting group was entertained with a welcome talk from the Head, and a screening of the School’s new prospectus video. The Senior Prefects talked about different aspects of School life at CLS and what opportunities they have had the chance to enjoy whilst at the School. At the beginning of morning break, CLS volunteers arrived at the Great Hall to collect their counterpart from Bayi School.

Once paired up, the visiting and host pupils departed to 8

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their various classes The CLS boys were encouraged to use lunchtime to give their partner a tour of the School and to see the facilities. After registration, the Bayi students once again attended lessons with their counterparts, before returning to the Great Hall at the end of Period 7. The atmosphere was one of newly formed friendships and mutual respect, with many exchanging phone numbers or email addresses in order to share some of the plethora of selfies taken over the course of the day. The CLS boys who are on the Beijing trip at Easter are very much looking forward to experiencing Bayi School life.

In March the School held its first ever Sixth Form Economics conference.

Working in co-operation with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) students heard presentations covering optimal currency areas, financial regulation and inequality from notable speakers, followed by a ‘Careers in Economics’ session.

Economics pupils from our partner school, the City of London Academy, and CLSG as well as Whitgift School also attended the event. The Q&A sessions were also lively – students were asked to tackle three key questions after each presentation.

The conference tailed-off a very busy year for the CLS Economics Society which has entertained a host of speakers from business and banking throughout the year.

Spring 2017

Project Rousseau comes to City At the start of the Lent Term CLS hosted six American teenagers on a cultural exchange facili­tated by the educational charity ‘Project Rousseau’.

The students, none of whom had ever been to the UK before, visited for ten days and stayed with host families.

The trip includ­ed two days of following a CLS timetable and experiencing lessons in a variety of subjects – one boy was left rather perplexed coming out of double Russian. In addition, the group visited London’s central landmarks and had the chance to watch a play in the West End and sit in on a parliamentary session in the House of Commons. With the talk of the Sixth Form Common Room largely revolving around Oxbridge results, they also went to Oxford to see what all the fuss was about.

The exchange marked the start of City’s rela­tionship with Project Rousseau, a charity with a mission ‘to empower youth in communities with the greatest need to reach their full po­tential and pursue higher education.’

Project Rousseau works with students from families with an average income

of $10,000 in order to facilitate their academic achievement and future prospects. The trip to London is one of many similar schemes aimed at exposing the students to new experiences and opportunities in order to broaden their horizons.

The visit ended with a farewell dinner on Wednesday night, the first such event held in the renovated library. At the end of the evening, each student stood up to give their reflections on their London experience, and the feedback demonstrated the unanimous admiration held for the school. Students commented on the respect shown in both directions between teachers and students, the level of engage­ment in each class and the self-motivation and aspiration evident throughout the school. This was compared to the challenging conditions typical of their own schools which do not facil­itate progress or achievement in the same way. Whilst this should serve to show us what an excellent working environment CLS provides, we should equally be reminded of the many problems faced by students, schools and com­munities around the world, demonstrating the importance of City’s international partnerships and its unceasing dedication to supporting those less fortunate.

CLS MUN

Model United Nations

CLS has a long-standing Model United Nations, which was set up to mirror the actions of the United Nations through debate, discourse and votes on resolutions. Every year, the School hosts an annual conference and this year’s event featured Political, Environmental, Special and Human Rights committees as well as a Security Council.

Topics featured in the morning included the European refugee crisis, the Rohingya people of Myanmar

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and Israeli settlements in the West Bank, before an emergency scenario testing delegates’ diplomatic skills was announce in the afternoon. The fictitious invasion of Azerbaijan yielded multiple solutions from the various committees and many commented on the high standard of debate. The day ended with a closing ceremony in the Great Hall. Miss Easton produced an in-house tabloid newspaper, which was just one of the highlights of an excellent day.

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Mark Brozel Director of ‘Humans’

Other Guest Speakers this term…

Did the writer/director really mean that or are we just over-interpreting it? It is a question which has rung out in English classrooms since the dawn of time. This term, Mark Brozel, Director of the final two episodes of Channel 4’s hit show Humans, the BBC’s Dickensian, and a version of Macbeth, visited CLS to talk to the boys about the process of directing and, perhaps, provide some answers to the eternal question.

Using a range of clips from the show, he talked the boys through how he had con­structed the scenes, analysing and explaining why he had framed shots in certain ways.

The boys’ questions at the end were chal­lenging and interesting: how long does it take to film a scene?

(3-4 hours as a minimum); are all shots pre-planned? (no plan of attack survives engagement with the enemy); who has more ownership of the plot: the directors or the writers? (a differing balance is struck depending on the individuals); does the show use the idea of Artificial

Dominic Lieven Historian and Author

Intelligence as a met­aphor to discuss real world issues of discrimi­nation? (yes, absolutely); and are there certain actors who are harder to work with? (a very tactful no comment).

The boys were very positive about the talk, and left with a much clearer idea of the work that directors do. We are very grateful to Mark for coming in and sharing his wisdom with us.

Peter Tatchell Human Rights Campaigner

Peter Vardy Philosopher and Theologian

Jon Sterckx and Ricky Romain

Indian Music Talk and Demonstration On 31st January, the three GCSE music classes came together for a talk on Indian Classical music by renowned percussionist and tabla player Jon Sterckx and sitar player Ricky Romain.

Pupils learnt about the two traditions of Indian music: the northern, Hindustani and the southern, Carnatic styles. The talk focused on the Hindustani tradition. They also learnt that although western music is based on harmony, Indian music is built solely around melodies. This results in the melodies becoming extremely rhythmically complex.

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The talk went into detail about the rhythmic building blocks of classical Indian music. The tala is the rhythmic cycle of a piece of music and the raga is the scale used. All the music played to us used the most common tala in the Hindustani tradition known as teental. At the end of the talk, pupils tried making their own piece of Indian style music which they played back to us; it was extremely fascinating to explore the construction the music, a process completely different to composition of western style music.

Stephen Gibson Economist

Stephen Dalziel Former Russian Affairs Analyst, BBC

Spring 2017

Water Polo

U15 National Plate Finals

Fencing

Brij Gautam

In March the CLS water polo team travelled to Northampton for the Under 15 English Secondary School National Plate competition. CLS played four tense games and managed to win every single one.

Congratulations to all the players!

Brij Gautam is a remarkably talented young fencer, who has recently fought his way to becoming the U15 England nation­al champion, and, at the same, the U17 cadet national champion. Brij trains two or three evenings a week at Salle Paul in north London, the most prestigious foil training estab­lishment in the country. The head coach for many years was a Polish Olympic fencer, and he has pro­duced many of this country’s finest foilists, who regularly compete at international level – including two recent Olympians. Brij is himself no stranger to high-level competition. He has represented Great Britain at international events abroad, and not so long ago he broke a record by being, at the age of

fourteen, the youngest member of the national team competing in an U17 event in Austria. He has also represented England in a prestigious tourna­ment in Paris, in which he reached the final 32, which is a remarkable result given the number of top fencers representing the strong­est fencing nations at this event.

In domestic competition Brij was silver medallist in last year’s U13 England and British champion­ships, as well as winning another silver in the Public Schools Fencing Championships. Brij has now qualified for this year’s European Championships, a fantastic achieve­ment, and a clear reflection of his talent and hard work.

Basketball

Swimming

Archie Price Third Year pupil Archie Price has become the fastest fourteen year-old swimmer in Great Britain for the 100m Freestyle.

He went top of the British rankings after he swam a time of 57.62 seconds last weekend in an event held at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield. Archie works incredibly hard, both inside and outside of school, for his success. He swims for Barnet Copthall Swimming Club, training for up to sixteen hours a week while maintain­ing a full commit­ment to his aca­demic work and the School’s U14A football team. He has a busy start to 2017 with Middlesex County Championships and London Regional Championships this Spring ahead of the British National Championships in July at Ponds Forge in Sheffield. We look forward to reporting on his progress.

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This term has seen the culmination of the London Independent Schools Basketball Association (LISBA) Championships after seven busy months. CLS was the only school to qualify for the play-offs at all four age groups and had every intention of growing their flourishing reputation in basketball.

The Under 14 team had a promising regular season in their first year of competitive basketball, but had to settle for fourth place after narrow losses in both their games.

The Under 15 team came into the play-offs on a high with a 10:2 record for the regular season. After overcoming Dulwich College in the semi-final, the team beat Whitgift, in a rematch of last year’s U14 final, to retain their LISBA crown. The Under 16 team ended the season on a high with an impressive win over Royal Russell which

saw them finish third after a difficult start to the year.

Finally, the U18 team had to deal with the pressure of qualifying in first seed after winning nine from nine in the regular season. The team had also reached the London semi-finals of the National Schools Competition and were in fine form. After a hard-fought win over Dulwich College, the team were 14 down to Whitgift in the final and needed to dig deep to find the win. A simply stunning second half saw City find their form and eventually ran out winners by 13 points.

It has been a great season for the City of London School Basketball Club and both the U15 and U18 teams have LISBA Cup finals to look forward to at the end of the month.

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Other News 1

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2 CLS pupils performing at the 2017 annual City Schools Concert [1] Sixth-former Clemens Von Stengel was chosen to give a talk at this year’s TEDx Square Mile event, hosted at CLS [2] The girls beat our boys (again) at tug-ofwar during February’s Joint Social with CLSG [3] Over 100 people gathered in the Great Hall to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. Candles were lit to represent the six million who perished during the murderous crusade of the National Socialists. The service was addressed by Imogen Dalziel who spoke on the grave importance of remembering the Holocaust and other geno­cides. Imogen also spent the day in school running excellent workshops with younger pupils in order to teach valuable lessons from history. [4] Second Form pupil Cedric Amamoo has recently completed an engagement in Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande. He performed with Scottish Opera in Glasgow and Edinburgh for eight weeks in a production directed by Sir David McVicar and conducted by Stuart Stratford. Cedric sang the role of Yniold in French and the production was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at the end of March. Cedric received excellent reviews for his performance. The Stage described him as “note-perfect and desperately moving”, with others calling him “excellent” and “heart-rending”.

Congratulations to Cedric for his success.

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[4]

Backstage with former pupil Daniel Radcliffe after his performance in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, at the Old Vic. [6]

Next Term Dates Summer Term 2017: Tuesday 25 April – Friday 7 July Summer Half Term: Monday 29 May – Friday 2 June

Contact information Web www.cityoflondonschool.org.uk Tel 020 3680 6300 Twitter @CityLondonBoys Email admissions@cityoflondonschool.org.uk

CITY LIGHTS Spring 2017

City of London School finance@cityoflondonschool.org.uk Queen Victoria Street head@cityoflondonschool.org.uk London, EC4V 3AL

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