Bursary Fund Gala On May 12th Arnold House officially launched the Bursary Fund by hosting a Gala at the American School in London. The Board of Friends organised an exciting evening including a three course meal, a live auction conducted by Lord Dalmeny, Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s, a silent auction and a raffle. 240 members of the Arnold House community attended the event including current, past and future parents, old boys, governors, staff and special guest Patrick Derham, Head Master of Rugby School. The evening raised a fantastic total of £120,000 for the scheme which, when added to the £13,000 from the Parents’ Association’s successful Christmas Bazaar and other gifts, brings the first year total to an impressive £165,000. The money will be used as part of a long-term fundraising initiative to provide bursary places, and the great opportunity of an Arnold House education, to deserving boys irrespective of their family’s financial means. We would like to thank everyone for their support of this event and the many generous donations on the evening and throughout the school year.
Charity
THE BLITZ themed day
We have had another very successful year raising money for the various charities that Arnold House supports. What has been especially pleasing is that the boys have given so much of their time and effort to the charities, in addition to taking part in the termly Charity Days.
ANNUALREVIEW 2011
The boys nominated ‘Hope and Homes for Children’ as the School’s international charity this year and two themed Charity Days took place to raise money for this worthy cause.
Academic Success W
The first was a Wild West day in October. Dressed as cowboys and indians, Nikita Joukovski, Adam Gold, Freddie Poser and Mani Monibi delivered their winning Compass course presentation about the charity to the parents and staff attending the Pre-Prep Autumn Concert. Mani Monibi also decided to have some ‘Hope and Homes’ wristbands specially made to sell at the School Office; a rather thoughtful and inspiring idea from a Year 6 boy.
WILD WEST themed day
e can feel justly proud of our Year 8 boys who have successfully negotiated their way through the rigour of their final exams to secure places at their chosen senior schools.
In May, the cowboys and indians transformed into pilots and evacuees in time for our WWII Day, an event to round off History week to commemorate the end of the Blitz in 1941. The Parents’ Association also supported ‘Hope and Homes for Children’ with a generous donation of £3,000 raised from the boys’ stalls at the Christmas Bazaar.
ROYALTY themed day
Choir held a wonderful concert in the chapel at St John’s and St Elizabeth’s hospital and Kate Rawlinson (Head of Art & Design) completed a tiling project with Year 8 who designed and produced ceramic tiles for display in the Hospice garden for all to enjoy. As in previous years, the boys participated in the annual Christmas Box Appeal for Father Rob Wickham’s parish in Hackney (with a few last minute boxes being hand delivered in the December snow!) and continued to support the Poppy Appeal and Lifeboat Institution. It has been a fantastic year, with a huge amount of imagination and generosity shown by the boys, parents and staff. We look forward to building on this energetic approach to all our charitable work next year and in the years to come.
Of the 231 Common Entrance and Scholarship papers taken in English, Maths, Science, French, Latin, Greek, History, Geography and Religious Studies, 74% were graded A or B and 48% graded A – a record that stands comparison with the outstanding achievements of leavers in recent years. The competition for places in the leading independent schools grows fiercer by the year; these results confirm that Arnold House boys not only win their places but do so in some style and gain inclusion in higher sets when they arrive. The key to this success is threefold: the commitment of the boys, the support from parents and the expertise and guidance of the teaching staff as the boys progress through the School.
Particular congratulations must go to the six boys who had the honour of being entered for scholarships: Jamie and Freddie Villiers (Sport) both performed strongly and will have benefitted greatly from their experiences despite missing out on an award. To the delight of us all, George Beckman won a Scholarship to Mill Hill and Toby Lowenstein won a Music Scholarship to St. Paul’s. It was fitting that our two head boys, Seth Dunford and Sam Sether, were awarded All-rounder Scholarships to Bradfield and Mill Hill respectively. Agnel Agbo was also rewarded by Rugby with the Classics Prize for his outstanding results in Latin and Greek.
Senior Summer Concert
Year 4’s Viking Ships
Year 5 Teamwork Week in Devon
Clegg’s v Allain’s annual cricket match at Lords’
Senior school destinations
Number of boys transferring
Bradfield
3
City of London
3
Eton
3
Highgate
4
Mill Hill
2
Portland Place
1
Rugby
2
St Paul’s
3
The Harrodian
1
UCS
1
Winchester
1
Year 6 visit to the Churchill War Rooms
Money raised through School events In addition to ‘Hope and Homes for Children’, the School continued to support the St John’s Hospice with a Royalty themed Charity Day, the sale of SJH Christmas toys and a number of church collections. Paul Swinden (Director of Music) and the Chapel
Arnold House School 1 Loudoun Road St.John’s Wood, London NW8 0LH Telephone: 020 7266 4840 Facsimile: 020 7266 6994 Email: office@arnoldhouse.co.uk Website: www.arnoldhouse.co.uk
Hope & Homes for Children
£7,804.65
St John’s Hospice
£3,555.63
National Charities
£742.30
TOTAL £12,102.58
Arnold House School Ltd (Limited by Guarantee). Registered in London Number 889424. Educational Charitable Trust Number 312725
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
Year 2 visit to the London Transport Museum
Educational Development
Drama
E
very year we review the breadth and quality of the education we offer the boys at Arnold House. There is always room for improvement and the following examples give a flavour of how a bright idea can, with the commitment and energy of the staff, evolve into a valuable and rewarding experience for the boys.
History Week This was a tremendously successful event that drew due attention to the events of the London Blitz 70 years ago. Mr. Hermann Hirschberger spoke to the boys in Years 7 and 8 telling in gripping detail of his own experiences as one of the children rescued from Nazi Germany by the Kindertransport scheme. His calm delivery belied the awful reality of what happened to him and his family (sadly he never saw his parents again once he left Germany as they were murdered in Auschwitz). It was a harrowing privilege to hear such an excellent speaker and the boys were clearly moved by what they learnt. Equally spell binding was Mr. Peter Gosnell’s talk to Years 5 and 6. His first hand experiences of the London Blitz formed the central theme of the week. The boys learnt much from listening to him and also to the sound recordings of sirens and air raids, which
brought the past eerily back to life. A church service commemorated those who died during the Blitz. The reading from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah contained the hope filled line, “The city shall be rebuilt upon her ruins”. The boys responded well
to the meditative and sombre tone of the service. On a more light hearted note the audience at the Senior Summer Concert were able to take part in a sing song with the Vera Lynn classic, “We’ll meet again” and there were tremendous efforts from boys and staff dressing up in war time costumes on the last day of the week. This spirit was carried into the excellent tuck shop organised by the AHPA, complete with ration cards for the boys to buy their sweets and £1,345 was raised in support of Hope and Homes for Children.
In the last two years a key component of the School Development Plan has been to expand opportunities for Drama and performance within the timetable whilst also enriching the extra-curricular programme. The Pre-Prep has presented Harvest Festival and Christmas Nativity plays and a Summer Concert to their parents and grandparents.
Over the past twelve months, the boys in the Chapel Choir have worked very diligently to improve their singing technique. The sound quality, clarity of diction and discipline of the boys had evidently improved during services of worship; here was an opportunity to consolidate their efforts and achievements in a dedicated concert. After several weeks of rehearsals, many of which took place in the boys’ own time, the Chapel Choir sang outstandingly in some very challenging repertoire. With the programme embracing primarily liturgical anthems ranging from 16th century Renaissance polyphony to the modern, lyrical warmth of John Dankworth,
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
The Year 3 & 4 Arts Festival was a successful evening with the boys’ skills in both performing and visual arts on display. Drama was added to the mix this year and the boys performed with focus and confidence the story of Dr Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’; a warning tale of mass consumerism and greed!
the boys tackled all works with a brio and technical finish worthy of a cathedral choir. With an assembled audience of roughly one hundred Arnold House parents, staff and members of the public, the event proved to be a defining and memorable musical
moment this year. The School was also delighted to pledge over £600 to the funds raised for St John’s Hospice.
Drama continues to be taught as a timetabled subject in Years 3-5 and the development of the curriculum for these year groups has been a key focus for the Drama department this year. Year 3 explored storytelling and experimented with performance skills. They complemented their studies with a trip to see an action packed performance of Roald Dahl’s ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’. In Year 4, boys have tackled movement and mime, use of voice and sound, and a hands-on exploratory unit on Puppetry. Year 5 have studied important periods in Theatre History ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
Media birds inspired by Abigail Brown (Year 2)
Boys in Year 2 and Year 5 have worked hard to produce work for the Royal College of Art’s Young Art exhibition. Year 2 produced stunning mixed media birds inspired by the work of artist Abigail Brown and Year 5 submitted paint and oil pastel rooftop studies inspired by Egon Schiele’s rich and textured paintings. We achieved success in both age categories with 9 boys having their work selected, of which 6 were awarded commended and 1 highly commended. The exhibition was attended by many proud boys and parents!.
The work of William Shakespeare is now an established thread amongst the work of our boys in the Senior School. Year 5 boys witnessed a spectacular
Julius Caesar at the Unicorn Theatre in Southwark.
Chapel Choir November last year marked an exciting first in the Arnold House musical calendar - an inaugural Chapel Choir concert, performed in the magnificent Italianate Baroque chapel of St John and St Elizabeth Hospital. The concert was arranged with the grateful assistance of Anthony Delarue, an old boy of the school and a Knight of Malta, with two purposes in mind – to raise the profile of the choir in its music making and to help raise funds for St John’s Hospice.
Art and Design
with work on Commedia Dell’Arte, Slapstick and Silent Comedy, Improvisation, and Morality Plays.
performance of ‘The Tempest’ by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the summer term whilst Year 6 visited Shakespeare’s Globe for an enlightening and challenging performance workshop in November. Throughout the year, Year 7 boys directed and produced their own scenes from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in a series of Canons Park Days. This work with Shakespearean texts provides a crosscurriculum link with the boys’ English studies and prepares them for the opportunity, in Year 8, to be part of the Annual Shakespeare Schools Festival.
Drama is now a firm fixture amongst the extracurricular opportunities available at Arnold House with twice weekly Drama clubs for boys in Years 5-8 and the addition of the very exciting and amusing House Drama Competition in the Senior School. This year, the competition’s debut saw four Year 7 representatives from each of the School’s Houses play off against each other in assembly in a fast-paced, comedic improvisation performance competition. The boys’ performances were unrehearsed and based on ideas given to them directly from the floor – a challenge many would wish to avoid! The performances were heralded a success and the coming school year will see the competition further expanded and open to boys from other year groups.
This festival is a celebration of the work of the bard and continues to be an exciting and unparalleled performance opportunity for our boys, who this year performed a rich, dark and passionate performance of
Kate Rawlinson (Head of Art and Design) discovered the inspirational work of Thomas Hillier at the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition in 2010. His house inside a lampshade was one of the stand-out pieces in the architecture room, so we were thrilled when he agreed to host a Design Day for boys in Year 6. The Canons Park Day left both boys and teachers fired up with ideas for their fantasy architecture project. Tom has followed the boys’ progress with interest and hopefully this will be the start of many more Design Days in the future.
(Year 8)
Alex Koubaa
Jake Arndt
Fantasy houses inspired by Thomas Hillier (Year 6)
Adam Gold
Umer Hasan
Ben Wilkins
House Assemblies Twice a term House assemblies are led by the House Captain and Vice House Captain. Often they recruit fellow Year 8 boys from the same House to help. It is quite a daunting task for twelve year olds to stand in front of 70 to 80 people, yet we have been impressed by the eloquent and clear
Shakespeare Schools Festival poster by William Evans
Monty Brown
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
way that the boys deliver their message. Musicians are recruited from the House to perform, House teams are organised and examples of good work or acts of good citizenship are highlighted. We were very impressed by the way the senior boys presented assemblies during Anti-Bullying week. The boys hear a lot about this issue from the teachers but when
it comes from the older boys the message is very powerful. House assemblies enable us to organise breaks differently, with Junior School boys sharing the playground with older boys. You can see the admiration in some of the younger boys’ faces and almost hear them thinking, ‘I want to be like him when I’m in Year 8’.
Educational Development
Drama
E
very year we review the breadth and quality of the education we offer the boys at Arnold House. There is always room for improvement and the following examples give a flavour of how a bright idea can, with the commitment and energy of the staff, evolve into a valuable and rewarding experience for the boys.
History Week This was a tremendously successful event that drew due attention to the events of the London Blitz 70 years ago. Mr. Hermann Hirschberger spoke to the boys in Years 7 and 8 telling in gripping detail of his own experiences as one of the children rescued from Nazi Germany by the Kindertransport scheme. His calm delivery belied the awful reality of what happened to him and his family (sadly he never saw his parents again once he left Germany as they were murdered in Auschwitz). It was a harrowing privilege to hear such an excellent speaker and the boys were clearly moved by what they learnt. Equally spell binding was Mr. Peter Gosnell’s talk to Years 5 and 6. His first hand experiences of the London Blitz formed the central theme of the week. The boys learnt much from listening to him and also to the sound recordings of sirens and air raids, which
brought the past eerily back to life. A church service commemorated those who died during the Blitz. The reading from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah contained the hope filled line, “The city shall be rebuilt upon her ruins”. The boys responded well
to the meditative and sombre tone of the service. On a more light hearted note the audience at the Senior Summer Concert were able to take part in a sing song with the Vera Lynn classic, “We’ll meet again” and there were tremendous efforts from boys and staff dressing up in war time costumes on the last day of the week. This spirit was carried into the excellent tuck shop organised by the AHPA, complete with ration cards for the boys to buy their sweets and £1,345 was raised in support of Hope and Homes for Children.
In the last two years a key component of the School Development Plan has been to expand opportunities for Drama and performance within the timetable whilst also enriching the extra-curricular programme. The Pre-Prep has presented Harvest Festival and Christmas Nativity plays and a Summer Concert to their parents and grandparents.
Over the past twelve months, the boys in the Chapel Choir have worked very diligently to improve their singing technique. The sound quality, clarity of diction and discipline of the boys had evidently improved during services of worship; here was an opportunity to consolidate their efforts and achievements in a dedicated concert. After several weeks of rehearsals, many of which took place in the boys’ own time, the Chapel Choir sang outstandingly in some very challenging repertoire. With the programme embracing primarily liturgical anthems ranging from 16th century Renaissance polyphony to the modern, lyrical warmth of John Dankworth,
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
The Year 3 & 4 Arts Festival was a successful evening with the boys’ skills in both performing and visual arts on display. Drama was added to the mix this year and the boys performed with focus and confidence the story of Dr Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’; a warning tale of mass consumerism and greed!
the boys tackled all works with a brio and technical finish worthy of a cathedral choir. With an assembled audience of roughly one hundred Arnold House parents, staff and members of the public, the event proved to be a defining and memorable musical
moment this year. The School was also delighted to pledge over £600 to the funds raised for St John’s Hospice.
Drama continues to be taught as a timetabled subject in Years 3-5 and the development of the curriculum for these year groups has been a key focus for the Drama department this year. Year 3 explored storytelling and experimented with performance skills. They complemented their studies with a trip to see an action packed performance of Roald Dahl’s ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’. In Year 4, boys have tackled movement and mime, use of voice and sound, and a hands-on exploratory unit on Puppetry. Year 5 have studied important periods in Theatre History ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
Media birds inspired by Abigail Brown (Year 2)
Boys in Year 2 and Year 5 have worked hard to produce work for the Royal College of Art’s Young Art exhibition. Year 2 produced stunning mixed media birds inspired by the work of artist Abigail Brown and Year 5 submitted paint and oil pastel rooftop studies inspired by Egon Schiele’s rich and textured paintings. We achieved success in both age categories with 9 boys having their work selected, of which 6 were awarded commended and 1 highly commended. The exhibition was attended by many proud boys and parents!.
The work of William Shakespeare is now an established thread amongst the work of our boys in the Senior School. Year 5 boys witnessed a spectacular
Julius Caesar at the Unicorn Theatre in Southwark.
Chapel Choir November last year marked an exciting first in the Arnold House musical calendar - an inaugural Chapel Choir concert, performed in the magnificent Italianate Baroque chapel of St John and St Elizabeth Hospital. The concert was arranged with the grateful assistance of Anthony Delarue, an old boy of the school and a Knight of Malta, with two purposes in mind – to raise the profile of the choir in its music making and to help raise funds for St John’s Hospice.
Art and Design
with work on Commedia Dell’Arte, Slapstick and Silent Comedy, Improvisation, and Morality Plays.
performance of ‘The Tempest’ by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the summer term whilst Year 6 visited Shakespeare’s Globe for an enlightening and challenging performance workshop in November. Throughout the year, Year 7 boys directed and produced their own scenes from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in a series of Canons Park Days. This work with Shakespearean texts provides a crosscurriculum link with the boys’ English studies and prepares them for the opportunity, in Year 8, to be part of the Annual Shakespeare Schools Festival.
Drama is now a firm fixture amongst the extracurricular opportunities available at Arnold House with twice weekly Drama clubs for boys in Years 5-8 and the addition of the very exciting and amusing House Drama Competition in the Senior School. This year, the competition’s debut saw four Year 7 representatives from each of the School’s Houses play off against each other in assembly in a fast-paced, comedic improvisation performance competition. The boys’ performances were unrehearsed and based on ideas given to them directly from the floor – a challenge many would wish to avoid! The performances were heralded a success and the coming school year will see the competition further expanded and open to boys from other year groups.
This festival is a celebration of the work of the bard and continues to be an exciting and unparalleled performance opportunity for our boys, who this year performed a rich, dark and passionate performance of
Kate Rawlinson (Head of Art and Design) discovered the inspirational work of Thomas Hillier at the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition in 2010. His house inside a lampshade was one of the stand-out pieces in the architecture room, so we were thrilled when he agreed to host a Design Day for boys in Year 6. The Canons Park Day left both boys and teachers fired up with ideas for their fantasy architecture project. Tom has followed the boys’ progress with interest and hopefully this will be the start of many more Design Days in the future.
(Year 8)
Alex Koubaa
Jake Arndt
Fantasy houses inspired by Thomas Hillier (Year 6)
Adam Gold
Umer Hasan
Ben Wilkins
House Assemblies Twice a term House assemblies are led by the House Captain and Vice House Captain. Often they recruit fellow Year 8 boys from the same House to help. It is quite a daunting task for twelve year olds to stand in front of 70 to 80 people, yet we have been impressed by the eloquent and clear
Shakespeare Schools Festival poster by William Evans
Monty Brown
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
way that the boys deliver their message. Musicians are recruited from the House to perform, House teams are organised and examples of good work or acts of good citizenship are highlighted. We were very impressed by the way the senior boys presented assemblies during Anti-Bullying week. The boys hear a lot about this issue from the teachers but when
it comes from the older boys the message is very powerful. House assemblies enable us to organise breaks differently, with Junior School boys sharing the playground with older boys. You can see the admiration in some of the younger boys’ faces and almost hear them thinking, ‘I want to be like him when I’m in Year 8’.
Educational Development
Drama
E
very year we review the breadth and quality of the education we offer the boys at Arnold House. There is always room for improvement and the following examples give a flavour of how a bright idea can, with the commitment and energy of the staff, evolve into a valuable and rewarding experience for the boys.
History Week This was a tremendously successful event that drew due attention to the events of the London Blitz 70 years ago. Mr. Hermann Hirschberger spoke to the boys in Years 7 and 8 telling in gripping detail of his own experiences as one of the children rescued from Nazi Germany by the Kindertransport scheme. His calm delivery belied the awful reality of what happened to him and his family (sadly he never saw his parents again once he left Germany as they were murdered in Auschwitz). It was a harrowing privilege to hear such an excellent speaker and the boys were clearly moved by what they learnt. Equally spell binding was Mr. Peter Gosnell’s talk to Years 5 and 6. His first hand experiences of the London Blitz formed the central theme of the week. The boys learnt much from listening to him and also to the sound recordings of sirens and air raids, which
brought the past eerily back to life. A church service commemorated those who died during the Blitz. The reading from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah contained the hope filled line, “The city shall be rebuilt upon her ruins”. The boys responded well
to the meditative and sombre tone of the service. On a more light hearted note the audience at the Senior Summer Concert were able to take part in a sing song with the Vera Lynn classic, “We’ll meet again” and there were tremendous efforts from boys and staff dressing up in war time costumes on the last day of the week. This spirit was carried into the excellent tuck shop organised by the AHPA, complete with ration cards for the boys to buy their sweets and £1,345 was raised in support of Hope and Homes for Children.
In the last two years a key component of the School Development Plan has been to expand opportunities for Drama and performance within the timetable whilst also enriching the extra-curricular programme. The Pre-Prep has presented Harvest Festival and Christmas Nativity plays and a Summer Concert to their parents and grandparents.
Over the past twelve months, the boys in the Chapel Choir have worked very diligently to improve their singing technique. The sound quality, clarity of diction and discipline of the boys had evidently improved during services of worship; here was an opportunity to consolidate their efforts and achievements in a dedicated concert. After several weeks of rehearsals, many of which took place in the boys’ own time, the Chapel Choir sang outstandingly in some very challenging repertoire. With the programme embracing primarily liturgical anthems ranging from 16th century Renaissance polyphony to the modern, lyrical warmth of John Dankworth,
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
The Year 3 & 4 Arts Festival was a successful evening with the boys’ skills in both performing and visual arts on display. Drama was added to the mix this year and the boys performed with focus and confidence the story of Dr Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’; a warning tale of mass consumerism and greed!
the boys tackled all works with a brio and technical finish worthy of a cathedral choir. With an assembled audience of roughly one hundred Arnold House parents, staff and members of the public, the event proved to be a defining and memorable musical
moment this year. The School was also delighted to pledge over £600 to the funds raised for St John’s Hospice.
Drama continues to be taught as a timetabled subject in Years 3-5 and the development of the curriculum for these year groups has been a key focus for the Drama department this year. Year 3 explored storytelling and experimented with performance skills. They complemented their studies with a trip to see an action packed performance of Roald Dahl’s ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’. In Year 4, boys have tackled movement and mime, use of voice and sound, and a hands-on exploratory unit on Puppetry. Year 5 have studied important periods in Theatre History ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
Media birds inspired by Abigail Brown (Year 2)
Boys in Year 2 and Year 5 have worked hard to produce work for the Royal College of Art’s Young Art exhibition. Year 2 produced stunning mixed media birds inspired by the work of artist Abigail Brown and Year 5 submitted paint and oil pastel rooftop studies inspired by Egon Schiele’s rich and textured paintings. We achieved success in both age categories with 9 boys having their work selected, of which 6 were awarded commended and 1 highly commended. The exhibition was attended by many proud boys and parents!.
The work of William Shakespeare is now an established thread amongst the work of our boys in the Senior School. Year 5 boys witnessed a spectacular
Julius Caesar at the Unicorn Theatre in Southwark.
Chapel Choir November last year marked an exciting first in the Arnold House musical calendar - an inaugural Chapel Choir concert, performed in the magnificent Italianate Baroque chapel of St John and St Elizabeth Hospital. The concert was arranged with the grateful assistance of Anthony Delarue, an old boy of the school and a Knight of Malta, with two purposes in mind – to raise the profile of the choir in its music making and to help raise funds for St John’s Hospice.
Art and Design
with work on Commedia Dell’Arte, Slapstick and Silent Comedy, Improvisation, and Morality Plays.
performance of ‘The Tempest’ by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the summer term whilst Year 6 visited Shakespeare’s Globe for an enlightening and challenging performance workshop in November. Throughout the year, Year 7 boys directed and produced their own scenes from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in a series of Canons Park Days. This work with Shakespearean texts provides a crosscurriculum link with the boys’ English studies and prepares them for the opportunity, in Year 8, to be part of the Annual Shakespeare Schools Festival.
Drama is now a firm fixture amongst the extracurricular opportunities available at Arnold House with twice weekly Drama clubs for boys in Years 5-8 and the addition of the very exciting and amusing House Drama Competition in the Senior School. This year, the competition’s debut saw four Year 7 representatives from each of the School’s Houses play off against each other in assembly in a fast-paced, comedic improvisation performance competition. The boys’ performances were unrehearsed and based on ideas given to them directly from the floor – a challenge many would wish to avoid! The performances were heralded a success and the coming school year will see the competition further expanded and open to boys from other year groups.
This festival is a celebration of the work of the bard and continues to be an exciting and unparalleled performance opportunity for our boys, who this year performed a rich, dark and passionate performance of
Kate Rawlinson (Head of Art and Design) discovered the inspirational work of Thomas Hillier at the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition in 2010. His house inside a lampshade was one of the stand-out pieces in the architecture room, so we were thrilled when he agreed to host a Design Day for boys in Year 6. The Canons Park Day left both boys and teachers fired up with ideas for their fantasy architecture project. Tom has followed the boys’ progress with interest and hopefully this will be the start of many more Design Days in the future.
(Year 8)
Alex Koubaa
Jake Arndt
Fantasy houses inspired by Thomas Hillier (Year 6)
Adam Gold
Umer Hasan
Ben Wilkins
House Assemblies Twice a term House assemblies are led by the House Captain and Vice House Captain. Often they recruit fellow Year 8 boys from the same House to help. It is quite a daunting task for twelve year olds to stand in front of 70 to 80 people, yet we have been impressed by the eloquent and clear
Shakespeare Schools Festival poster by William Evans
Monty Brown
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
way that the boys deliver their message. Musicians are recruited from the House to perform, House teams are organised and examples of good work or acts of good citizenship are highlighted. We were very impressed by the way the senior boys presented assemblies during Anti-Bullying week. The boys hear a lot about this issue from the teachers but when
it comes from the older boys the message is very powerful. House assemblies enable us to organise breaks differently, with Junior School boys sharing the playground with older boys. You can see the admiration in some of the younger boys’ faces and almost hear them thinking, ‘I want to be like him when I’m in Year 8’.
Bursary Fund Gala On May 12th Arnold House officially launched the Bursary Fund by hosting a Gala at the American School in London. The Board of Friends organised an exciting evening including a three course meal, a live auction conducted by Lord Dalmeny, Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s, a silent auction and a raffle. 240 members of the Arnold House community attended the event including current, past and future parents, old boys, governors, staff and special guest Patrick Derham, Head Master of Rugby School. The evening raised a fantastic total of £120,000 for the scheme which, when added to the £13,000 from the Parents’ Association’s successful Christmas Bazaar and other gifts, brings the first year total to an impressive £165,000. The money will be used as part of a long-term fundraising initiative to provide bursary places, and the great opportunity of an Arnold House education, to deserving boys irrespective of their family’s financial means. We would like to thank everyone for their support of this event and the many generous donations on the evening and throughout the school year.
Charity
THE BLITZ themed day
We have had another very successful year raising money for the various charities that Arnold House supports. What has been especially pleasing is that the boys have given so much of their time and effort to the charities, in addition to taking part in the termly Charity Days.
ANNUALREVIEW 2011
The boys nominated ‘Hope and Homes for Children’ as the School’s international charity this year and two themed Charity Days took place to raise money for this worthy cause.
Academic Success W
The first was a Wild West day in October. Dressed as cowboys and indians, Nikita Joukovski, Adam Gold, Freddie Poser and Mani Monibi delivered their winning Compass course presentation about the charity to the parents and staff attending the Pre-Prep Autumn Concert. Mani Monibi also decided to have some ‘Hope and Homes’ wristbands specially made to sell at the School Office; a rather thoughtful and inspiring idea from a Year 6 boy.
WILD WEST themed day
e can feel justly proud of our Year 8 boys who have successfully negotiated their way through the rigour of their final exams to secure places at their chosen senior schools.
In May, the cowboys and indians transformed into pilots and evacuees in time for our WWII Day, an event to round off History week to commemorate the end of the Blitz in 1941. The Parents’ Association also supported ‘Hope and Homes for Children’ with a generous donation of £3,000 raised from the boys’ stalls at the Christmas Bazaar.
ROYALTY themed day
Choir held a wonderful concert in the chapel at St John’s and St Elizabeth’s hospital and Kate Rawlinson (Head of Art & Design) completed a tiling project with Year 8 who designed and produced ceramic tiles for display in the Hospice garden for all to enjoy. As in previous years, the boys participated in the annual Christmas Box Appeal for Father Rob Wickham’s parish in Hackney (with a few last minute boxes being hand delivered in the December snow!) and continued to support the Poppy Appeal and Lifeboat Institution. It has been a fantastic year, with a huge amount of imagination and generosity shown by the boys, parents and staff. We look forward to building on this energetic approach to all our charitable work next year and in the years to come.
Of the 231 Common Entrance and Scholarship papers taken in English, Maths, Science, French, Latin, Greek, History, Geography and Religious Studies, 74% were graded A or B and 48% graded A – a record that stands comparison with the outstanding achievements of leavers in recent years. The competition for places in the leading independent schools grows fiercer by the year; these results confirm that Arnold House boys not only win their places but do so in some style and gain inclusion in higher sets when they arrive. The key to this success is threefold: the commitment of the boys, the support from parents and the expertise and guidance of the teaching staff as the boys progress through the School.
Particular congratulations must go to the six boys who had the honour of being entered for scholarships: Jamie and Freddie Villiers (Sport) both performed strongly and will have benefitted greatly from their experiences despite missing out on an award. To the delight of us all, George Beckman won a Scholarship to Mill Hill and Toby Lowenstein won a Music Scholarship to St. Paul’s. It was fitting that our two head boys, Seth Dunford and Sam Sether, were awarded All-rounder Scholarships to Bradfield and Mill Hill respectively. Agnel Agbo was also rewarded by Rugby with the Classics Prize for his outstanding results in Latin and Greek.
Senior Summer Concert
Year 4’s Viking Ships
Year 5 Teamwork Week in Devon
Clegg’s v Allain’s annual cricket match at Lords’
Senior school destinations
Number of boys transferring
Bradfield
3
City of London
3
Eton
3
Highgate
4
Mill Hill
2
Portland Place
1
Rugby
2
St Paul’s
3
The Harrodian
1
UCS
1
Winchester
1
Year 6 visit to the Churchill War Rooms
Money raised through School events In addition to ‘Hope and Homes for Children’, the School continued to support the St John’s Hospice with a Royalty themed Charity Day, the sale of SJH Christmas toys and a number of church collections. Paul Swinden (Director of Music) and the Chapel
Arnold House School 1 Loudoun Road St.John’s Wood, London NW8 0LH Telephone: 020 7266 4840 Facsimile: 020 7266 6994 Email: office@arnoldhouse.co.uk Website: www.arnoldhouse.co.uk
Hope & Homes for Children
£7,804.65
St John’s Hospice
£3,555.63
National Charities
£742.30
TOTAL £12,102.58
Arnold House School Ltd (Limited by Guarantee). Registered in London Number 889424. Educational Charitable Trust Number 312725
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
Year 2 visit to the London Transport Museum
Bursary Fund Gala On May 12th Arnold House officially launched the Bursary Fund by hosting a Gala at the American School in London. The Board of Friends organised an exciting evening including a three course meal, a live auction conducted by Lord Dalmeny, Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s, a silent auction and a raffle. 240 members of the Arnold House community attended the event including current, past and future parents, old boys, governors, staff and special guest Patrick Derham, Head Master of Rugby School. The evening raised a fantastic total of £120,000 for the scheme which, when added to the £13,000 from the Parents’ Association’s successful Christmas Bazaar and other gifts, brings the first year total to an impressive £165,000. The money will be used as part of a long-term fundraising initiative to provide bursary places, and the great opportunity of an Arnold House education, to deserving boys irrespective of their family’s financial means. We would like to thank everyone for their support of this event and the many generous donations on the evening and throughout the school year.
Charity
THE BLITZ themed day
We have had another very successful year raising money for the various charities that Arnold House supports. What has been especially pleasing is that the boys have given so much of their time and effort to the charities, in addition to taking part in the termly Charity Days.
ANNUALREVIEW 2011
The boys nominated ‘Hope and Homes for Children’ as the School’s international charity this year and two themed Charity Days took place to raise money for this worthy cause.
Academic Success W
The first was a Wild West day in October. Dressed as cowboys and indians, Nikita Joukovski, Adam Gold, Freddie Poser and Mani Monibi delivered their winning Compass course presentation about the charity to the parents and staff attending the Pre-Prep Autumn Concert. Mani Monibi also decided to have some ‘Hope and Homes’ wristbands specially made to sell at the School Office; a rather thoughtful and inspiring idea from a Year 6 boy.
WILD WEST themed day
e can feel justly proud of our Year 8 boys who have successfully negotiated their way through the rigour of their final exams to secure places at their chosen senior schools.
In May, the cowboys and indians transformed into pilots and evacuees in time for our WWII Day, an event to round off History week to commemorate the end of the Blitz in 1941. The Parents’ Association also supported ‘Hope and Homes for Children’ with a generous donation of £3,000 raised from the boys’ stalls at the Christmas Bazaar.
ROYALTY themed day
Choir held a wonderful concert in the chapel at St John’s and St Elizabeth’s hospital and Kate Rawlinson (Head of Art & Design) completed a tiling project with Year 8 who designed and produced ceramic tiles for display in the Hospice garden for all to enjoy. As in previous years, the boys participated in the annual Christmas Box Appeal for Father Rob Wickham’s parish in Hackney (with a few last minute boxes being hand delivered in the December snow!) and continued to support the Poppy Appeal and Lifeboat Institution. It has been a fantastic year, with a huge amount of imagination and generosity shown by the boys, parents and staff. We look forward to building on this energetic approach to all our charitable work next year and in the years to come.
Of the 231 Common Entrance and Scholarship papers taken in English, Maths, Science, French, Latin, Greek, History, Geography and Religious Studies, 74% were graded A or B and 48% graded A – a record that stands comparison with the outstanding achievements of leavers in recent years. The competition for places in the leading independent schools grows fiercer by the year; these results confirm that Arnold House boys not only win their places but do so in some style and gain inclusion in higher sets when they arrive. The key to this success is threefold: the commitment of the boys, the support from parents and the expertise and guidance of the teaching staff as the boys progress through the School.
Particular congratulations must go to the six boys who had the honour of being entered for scholarships: Jamie and Freddie Villiers (Sport) both performed strongly and will have benefitted greatly from their experiences despite missing out on an award. To the delight of us all, George Beckman won a Scholarship to Mill Hill and Toby Lowenstein won a Music Scholarship to St. Paul’s. It was fitting that our two head boys, Seth Dunford and Sam Sether, were awarded All-rounder Scholarships to Bradfield and Mill Hill respectively. Agnel Agbo was also rewarded by Rugby with the Classics Prize for his outstanding results in Latin and Greek.
Senior Summer Concert
Year 4’s Viking Ships
Year 5 Teamwork Week in Devon
Clegg’s v Allain’s annual cricket match at Lords’
Senior school destinations
Number of boys transferring
Bradfield
3
City of London
3
Eton
3
Highgate
4
Mill Hill
2
Portland Place
1
Rugby
2
St Paul’s
3
The Harrodian
1
UCS
1
Winchester
1
Year 6 visit to the Churchill War Rooms
Money raised through School events In addition to ‘Hope and Homes for Children’, the School continued to support the St John’s Hospice with a Royalty themed Charity Day, the sale of SJH Christmas toys and a number of church collections. Paul Swinden (Director of Music) and the Chapel
Arnold House School 1 Loudoun Road St.John’s Wood, London NW8 0LH Telephone: 020 7266 4840 Facsimile: 020 7266 6994 Email: office@arnoldhouse.co.uk Website: www.arnoldhouse.co.uk
Hope & Homes for Children
£7,804.65
St John’s Hospice
£3,555.63
National Charities
£742.30
TOTAL £12,102.58
Arnold House School Ltd (Limited by Guarantee). Registered in London Number 889424. Educational Charitable Trust Number 312725
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
ANNUAL REVIEW | JULY 2011
Year 2 visit to the London Transport Museum