Upper School
Upper School Academic: Art, Design and Technology Those of you who visited the studios and exhibitions in June will have recognised the enormous creative talent that we draw out of our pupils here at Tettenhall College. I have never advocated, or pursued, a House style passed down from teacher to pupil, but instead, strive to prise open the very special qualities of each student who passes through our doors. This way of teaching is far more challenging; one needs to keep track of all the different expressions inherent in each of the projects being explored. It is through the skills of listening, guiding and coaching the individual to find the most appropriate solution. It is immensely rewarding accessing the hearts and minds of individuals as they strive to record and express their own journey through the projects. The Department achieved 94% A* - C pass at GCSE in Art and 100% pass at A level. Field Trips this year have taken the Year 7s to Wedgwood Pottery where they produced PowerPoint presentations on their investigations in response to set themes. They also attended celebrations on Eid and Islamic culture at The Potteries Museum, Stoke-on-Trent. Year 8 were taken to The Botanical Gardens, Birmingham Museum of Art
Y7 at Wedgwood Museum
Workshop to celebrate festival of Eid. Isabel Profitt having Mehndi patterns put on her hand at The Stoke Pottery Museum
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Alica Lau,year 11 GCSE, ‘work, rest and play’.
and The Watershed Gallery. The exam groups visited Number 9 The Gallery, The Ikon and The Barber Institute. Mrs. K. Stone joined myself to teach KS3 Design Technology. To meet the needs of the curriculum the Department has purchased additional computers, sewing machines and a CNC cutter. The pupils have continued to explore a broader range of materials
Amanda Hughson, year 10 GCSE, self-portrait
Year 9 Visit Wolverhampton University’s School of Art On Tuesday the 8th June we Year 9 went on a school trip to Wolverhampton University’s School of Art. The art college is a 7 floor building full of inspirational art work. Out of all the floors of colourful and imaginative art displays, the one which impressed me the most was the graphic design. On this floor there were many computers in which there were PC game designs installed. Prisca Ho during our visit to Wolverhampton The design which caught my University School of Art & Design attention was called ‘Unreal tournament III’. Liking the design, I played the game to see for myself whether it was enjoyable or not. To my surprise the game was of a very high standard and was far better than many other PC games which I’ve played before. I was surprised again to hear it was made by a degree student at the college. Also the other aspect which got my attention was the variety of art there was on show. There was Fine Arts to Graphic Design, marble sculptures to cinemas, creative furniture design to photography. Overall it showed me that art isn’t just a specific thing. Art can be anything you wish it to be. It’s a way of expression, whichever emotion you have it can be portrayed through ART. Saatvik Malikireddy, Year 9.
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Upper School and experience more design related challenges using computers and CNC machines. The Year 7 pupils explored human rights issues and in response to this produced T-shirt designs; other projects have included theatre masks, fashion labels and charity collection boxes. Year 8 produced drawstring sports bags, tie-dyed quilted wallets, ceramic mugs with logos and presentation boxes. In the Year 9 rotation pupils have designed and made metre square painted silk scarves. Art and Design prizes this year went to Natsumi Suganuma (Year 8) for her consistently high performance and presentation; Alex McCreath (Year 11) for his achievements doing spot welding and Emily So (Year 13) for her high standards. Mr. Leighton
Alex McCreathe spot welding his GCSE artwork.
Emily So, year 13. ‘Discarded’, pencil study.
Aimee Fisher, year 10 GCSE, ‘Grandad’
Alex Kibble, year 11 GCSE ‘ Work, rest and play’
Sketching at The Botanical Gardens, Birmingham
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Arisa Onitake, year 9 painted silk scarf.
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Upper School Academic: Art, Design and Technology
Visiting professional artist Pascalis Michalis
Stephanie Williams, year 10 GCSE - Cubist Still life
Do not have caption for photo!!!!!!!
Harry Westwood year 11 GCSE, collage of himself
George Harvey and Max Porter, year 8. Bricollage sculpture.
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Prisca Ho, year 11 GCSE,’work, rest and play’.
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Upper School Academic: Art, Design and Technology
No caption for this photo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Harry Westwood, year 11 GCSE ‘work, rest and play’.
Stephanie Williams GCSE art based upon theme of ‘Movement’ Eloise Hammond, year 10 GCSE. Self-portrait.
Courtney Hawkins,year 9. Ceramic shield. No caption for this photo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Upper School Business Studies and Economics Department and a few other aspects of life at TC In 1974, there were 3 pupils taking A level Economics in the Upper 6th and 4 in the Lower 6th. Business Studies did not feature at Tettenhall College until 1986. Last academic year we had a total of 54 pupils studying Economics or Business Studies in the 6Sixth Form. I would like to think that this might have meant that we as a department were doing something right and the subjects were worthy of taking! I leave the department in the capable hands of Amanda Nash, who has been at the school for the last seven years. I shall miss much about the school, but particularly, the department. The teaching was and always will be what the job is really all about. Policies for this that and the other, pieces of paper adding to the decline in the number of trees, were no substitute for engaging with the pupils and attempting to instil some sort of enthusiasm for and knowledge of either Economics or Business Studies. I enjoyed the rapport with the pupils, their willingness to go along with my sense of humour and their wonderful comments that would be made, some intentionally, others just gems that will I will savour for years! I felt privileged that several pupils chose me as their personal tutor; a role I have always taken very seriously and always tried to do my best to look after ‘my flock’ All pupils have various hiccups along the way and if I have managed to help in some small way to their survival and indeed in many instances, success, then that is gratifying. I will miss the knocking on my study door, whether it was pupils or staff. I never consciously turned anyone away. The role of a teacher is not just in the classroom. I will miss the playing fields; rugby teams, including for several years, matches against the pupils, until they were stopped on the grounds of H&S (how uncomplicated life was then). The staff team only lost once in my memory and we had a similar track record when playing the pupils at cricket. We only played a couple of staff matches versus the pupils at soccer, sadly without much success, unless it was at 5-a-side when our most recent prowess led us to the final of a knock-out competition organised by the GCSE Business Studies enterprise groups. Sadly I ended up in hospital (again) having a double dislocation of the finger when saving a penalty! I thoroughly enjoyed attempting to raise money for the then new sports hall. I was determined to get a bowling machine, which we did, by myself and the then Head prefect, one William Edwards, undertaking a 24 hour sponsored snooker marathon. We did play for the full period of time on an almost full size table which was in ‘Big School as it was then called (now the library). We managed to raise over £3,000 which in the early 1980s
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was a significant sum. It is a pity I have failed to raise as much for a scholarship for pupils who could not afford the opportunities that TC provides, when as President of the Old Tettenhallians, (which was such an honour). The school musicals were a delight! Managing to persuade several pupils for many a year to give up endless amounts of their time to build this that and the other, move them all about here there and everywhere remains a mystery! But we did have fun! Meeting the wishes and deadlines of the directors was always a challenge, but one I would always look forward to and will undoubtedly miss more than I can put into words. I fear the theatre company in Taunton may be in for a shock! Exam results have always and will remain so, the most important aspect of school life. Without the passport of qualifications, many of the routes to success are sadly closed. Consequently, come August I am there eagerly awaiting the results of pupils’ work and ever hopeful of smiling faces as their envelopes are opened. The results within the department have been, I think impressive. We have always adopted a policy of allowing pupils a ‘bash’ at our subjects, a policy that is not universal! Consequently with no one failing our subjects for the last 10 years is my reward. Seeing a smiling face of a pupil who has now got the right grades for a particular university or simply passed is very special. We try to ensure that each year some pupils gain full marks within a module; this has been managed in recent years. The tours abroad are always a highlight and recent trips have proved to be no exception. It is always of interest that the pupils are keen to see who will be mentioned in my last night review of the tour speech. I hope I have managed to ensure most find some parts of the speeches amusing- I do try! However this year unbeknown to me, Amanda Nash decided to add her very kind words to the occasion, which was very much appreciated. 36years is a long time, but time goes quickly when you are enjoying yourself. And enjoy I have. Finally may I take this opportunity to thank, most sincerely, pupils, staff and parents who have been so kind and generous in their comments and gifts. My last few days at TC were so memorable and occasionally very nearly overwhelming. As I told my colleagues at one particular leaving occasion, I have commuted over 160,000 miles during my time at the College. Each mile has given me time to think and reflect on the day gone and the day to come. Such a journey is no more, but the thinking and reflections will continue for many years. I wish the College and all associated with it a safe passage on the rest of your life’s journey. Dr Andy Mottershead, August 2010
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a m a r D ing Arts
m r o f r e &P
Upper School Drama and Performing Arts This has been an extremely successful and diverse year for the drama department both in and out of the classroom. The 2009 GCSE examination results were very pleasing and Year 12 set an excellent benchmark for the new A Level exam achieving 100% A-C and 80% A-B grades in their AS examinations! Congratulations to all of the candidates on their outstanding achievements. Towers Theatre has once again played host to a wide variety of examination and extra curricular performances, ranging from Shakespeare to musical theatre, circus clowns to historical tragedy. As always, the staff and pupils have been busy both on stage and behind the scenes and pupils from Year 10 through to Year 13 have worked extremely hard to prepare practical work for examination with huge success.
6th Form ‘Freak Show’ We have continued to open up the examination performances to audiences of parents, teachers and pupils in order to create a realistic theatrical experience and showcase the pupils’ excellent work. This was particularly vital for Year 13’s final examination performance entitled ‘Freak Show’. This pupil-devised piece explored Hitler’s rise to power and the atrocities of the Holocaust and aimed to put the audience through an extremely emotional experience. Having decided
that a realistic portrayal of such events could not do justice to the horrors of the factual truth, the pupils decided to explore these historical facts in a more expressionistic manner. They used the ideas of avant-garde practitioner, Antonin Artaud, combining visual and aural elements to present a controlled sense of danger which both unsettled and shocked the audience and as a result made them confront the horror, confusion and ridiculousness of what happened. The piece begins in a circus inhabited by pierrots and, via a series of grotesque ‘circus acts’ including The
Fire Eaters (Reichstag fire and Trial) and The Disappearing Act (The Night of Broken Glass), looks at Hitler’s mercurial rise to power. As the clowns realise their true identity as Jews themselves, they rebel, turn on their maker and the piece culminates in an exploration of the events of holocaust. The performance was highly energetic and extremely emotionally charged; audience members revealed they felt breathless, uneasy and enormously upset – especially by the closing moments which depicted the experience of the Jews in the camps and finally in the gas chambers. A vast amount of research and rehearsal went into this final devised performance and the pupils committed themselves wholeheartedly to what was a physically and emotionally exhausting project. Having worked together since Year 10, the five-strong cast of Joe Hayward, Ben Passmore, Faye Paterson, Kelly Paterson and Megan Schubert opted to work in an ensemble style. This involved highly stylised and choreographed action and also meant that no cast member ever left the stage. Rigorous rehearsal and detailed work on voice and movement created a complex and highly polished final performance.
Freak Show
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Upper School Year 11 The Year 11 Realisation test cleverly combined both comedy and tragedy as the pupils explored the dangers of fame and fortune using a variety of theatrical styles to great effect. Ellie Nash took on the role of a girl caught up in the celebrity trap and the piece charted her life from a young child with dreams and ambitions to the ugly reality of excess. Robin Barrow, Henry Dalby and Harriet Hommers played a variety of ensemble roles including friends, male models, theatrical agents, teachers, reporters and drug dealers to highlight and act as a catalyst to the events as they spiralled out of control. An interesting structure and effective pace kept the audience on a knife edge between laughter and tears. Year 10 Year 10 embarked on the new GCSE Drama course in September with some very pleasing results. Although the final practical examination remains very similar to last year, the coursework has changed greatly and the pupils are required to complete their two coursework units under controlled conditions. As a result, careful planning is needed to ensure that all elements of a production are completed within the timescale allowed. After an introductory term of theatrical concepts and drama skills, the pupils took on the role of a working company – their brief to put on a production of a section from a published play to a live audience.
‘The Roses of Eyam’ Don Taylor’s ‘The Roses of Eyam’ was our selected coursework text. This play, based on true events that took place during the plague years, tells of a Derbyshire village that lost three quarters of its population to the plague. A communal decision to quarantine themselves from the outside world eventually helped stopped the spread of the plague further north and won Eyam a place in the annals of history. Taylor’s script enabled the pupils to select from a variety of both comic and tragic scenes and also experiment with different styles from naturalism to more abstract and stylised action. The pupils were required to rehearse and direct themselves during the assessment period and design their set, sound, lighting and costume from a bank of resources available. The result was three very contrasting performances on a connecting theme. Bella Fisher and Harry Jones took on the roles of Emmot and Rowland, a newly engaged couple based on real people from the village. Their moving performance followed their journey – from joyous engagement party to the moment of tragic recognition as Emmot sacrifices her happiness with Rowland in order to prevent him from falling ill. Max Walker teamed up with Amanda Hughson to explore the unusual and ever changing relationship between Marshall Howe and ‘The Bedlam’. The Bedlam is a challenging role to play - a childlike creature whose nonsensical prattle holds grains of foresight and truth - but Amanda tackled it with real energy creating an excellent foil for Max’s down to earth Lancashire man, Howe. The underlying religious conflict of old and new was effectively brought out by Matthew Wickens as Puritan Thomas Stanley and his ‘enemy’, Church of England vicar William Mompesson, played by Oliver Rudge. This highly charged performance combined the conflict of the two men with the domestic tragedy which unfurled around them – starting with Mrs Cooper’s (Rachel Lawton) fatal collection of the plague ridden garments from London and Catherine Mompesson’s (Aimee Fisher)struggle to reconcile the role of mother with that of Mompesson’s wife. The themes of self-sacrifice, reconciliation and faith were clear in this very moving performance.
Live Theatre This year’s busy and varied calendar of theatre visits inspired pupils, giving them further insight into different styles and genres whilst providing the necessary performance analysis material for written examinations. In early September we enjoyed a thrilling performance of Bernstein’s West Side Story starring ex-TC drama student, Stacey Powell. This highly energetic and superbly choreographed production by Wolverhampton Youth Music Theatre inspired even more of our pupils to get involved. In order to complete their synoptic examination, A level pupils are required to analyse a live theatre performance from the Elizabethan and Jacobean period. Luckily there was a wealth of possible productions to choose from, including an avant-garde performance of The Revenger’s Tragedy, and a hat trick of Shakespearian comedy and tragedy.
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Upper School ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ In December, Towers played host to a visually stunning production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A myriad of twinkling fairy lights, armfuls of festive foliage and metres of shimmering fabric transformed the auditorium into Titania and Oberon’s topsy-turvy fairy kingdom. As Midwinter and Midsummer magically combined, the audience were treated to stellar performances from both staff and pupils. Kelly Paterson and Megan Schubert skilfully tackled the role of the argumentative best friends Hermia and Helena while James Isbister and Robin Barrow provided the roles of their male counterparts, Lysander and Demetruis. Mr Raine and Mrs Ridyard dominated the stage with their commanding performances as the sumptuously-attired Athenians, Hippolyta and Theseus, an excellent foil for the melodramatic magic of the Fairy King and Queen, Oberon (Joe Hayward) and Titania (Ellie Nash). Jacob Elcock superbly portrayed the highly energetic and somewhat mischievous Puck and who can forget Mr Dyer’s Bottom – a real comic tour de force? A whole host of fairies, mechanicals and Athenians provided an amazing supporting cast adding colour, energy and fun to the production and we rounded off the term in fantastic spirits.
A modern staging of Romeo and Juliet set in an inner-city park translated the young lovers into petulant teenagers while a visually stunning version of Othello by the Icarus Theatre Collective enabled the pupils to really analyse how staging conventions have changed and developed since Elizabethan England. A highly entertaining adaptation of The Two Gentlemen of Verona told the story from a Zimbabwean perspective with two actors playing fifteen characters – including a dog! Using minimal props, a few items of clothing and a set consisting of a single trunk, the actors really pulled the audience into the world of the play, at times literally, as audience members were invited to join them onstage and play a part in the performance. Perhaps the most unusual theatrical experience enjoyed by both A level and GCSE pupils was provided by Hoof Spontaneous Theatre. Two 30 minute ‘performances’, 100% improvised, took us on a strange journey into the world of fish, suicide, computer games and madness. This
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was an exhilarating, exciting and exhausting experience – much enjoyed and bewildered at by all! House Performing Arts In addition to viewing live theatre as audience members, the House Performing Arts Competition again gave pupils the opportunity to showcase their own individual and group talents before a highly appreciative and enthusiastic live audience. Every year existing talent goes from strength to strength and new talent suddenly emerges ensuring that this competition is as fresh and exciting as it is accomplished and entertaining. The Musical (see feature page 00) ‘Music, mayhem and a gay wedding’ provided the backdrop for this year’s annual musical production ‘The Drowsy Chaperone.’ Fun with a capital ‘F’ pretty much summed up this show as a combination of pantomime, farce, melodrama and music hall combined to create four nights of hilarity. The story is pretty simple: a musical springs to life in
a man’s apartment...at the start of this musical within a musical there is going to be a wedding... then there isn’t...then there is again...but a different couple... then a bi-plane crashes on stage...then there is a power cut...then one couple turns into four and the finale sees a quadruple wedding – yeehah – beat that! Confused? So you should be! It was madness and mayhem – just what we have come to love at TC! After an exhausting but satisfying academic year it is clear that Drama continues to be a vital and lively part of the school curriculum. Thanks to the hard work and immense talents of the pupils and the support and involvement of a whole host of staff and parents we are able to produce live performances of exceptional quality but perhaps, more importantly, encourage leadership, teamwork and creativity on a schoolwide scale. All of these ventures create lasting memories for those involved. What more could a teacher ask for? M.D. Uttley
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Upper School House Performing Arts and Talent Show ‘Three things are needed for a good life; good friends, good food and good song.’ Jason Zebehazy This year’s House Performing Arts and Talent Show provided two of the above in bucket loads. The food side of the equation was most definitely taken care of by the kitchen staff since it was Friday and therefore fish and chip day! Due to the extremely busy and lively extracurricular calendar at school, this year we decided on a slight change in tactics. 2010’s competition became a more informal affair and took place in the Ager Room - one ‘unassuming’ Friday lunchtime. The audience were invited from amongst the performers’ friends, teachers and peers. Having said that, what started as quite a humble affair soon snowballed into another huge display of Tettenhall talent. Possibly the greatest of all spectacles being the sight of some 70 audience members squeezed miraculously into the Ager Room in order to support the acts and the Houses; some feat! Bantock’s Harriet Hommers began the proceedings with an extremely chilling rendition of – ‘Your Daddy’s Son’ – from the musical ‘Ragtime’. Fellow ‘Bantockonian’ Rachel Lawton wowed the audience with her first performance to date in this competition in the shape of a very melodious version of Pixie Lott’s ‘Use Somebody.’ A tantalising display of further musical talent was on offer from across all four Houses. For Haydon the double whammy of Faye and Kelly Paterson crooned their way into the top 5 with two very contrasting pieces from musical theatre. Faye’s performance of ‘See I’m Smiling’ – from ‘The Last 5 Years’ took us on a real emotional rollercoaster of love, hate and despair while Kelly’s portrayal of Audrey in ’Somewhere That’s Green’ from ‘The Little Shop of Horrors’ perfectly portrayed the American housewife’s dream of an idyllic future – complete with ‘washer, dryer and ironing machine’... what more could a girl want? Not to be outdone, Haydon’s super siblings, Chloe and Aimee Fisher, won valuable points for their two solo performances. Congratulations to Chloe on her first performance at a T.C. Talent show with a charming
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performance of ‘There You’ll Be’ by Faith Hill. Aimee Fisher’s interpretation of the ‘Ragtime’ classic ‘Your Daddy’s Son’ – gained a chart topping 10 out of 10, winning the accolade of ‘Most haunting performance’ of the competition – without any help from the Colonel himself! Nicholson’s musical giants did not disappoint with two fantastic performances from Olivia Nash and Amanda Hughson. The smash hit musical ‘Wicked’ provided the inspiration for Olivia’s spellbinding performance of ‘I’m Not That Girl’ followed hot on its heels by Amanda’s beautiful version of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ which won the title of ‘Most magical performance’. The second set of full marks in the competition went to another Nicholson hero, Oliver Rudge, whose original composition for voice and guitar, ‘The World We Live In’, proved an excellent example of the phenomenal talents that stalk the corridors of the Jack’s Block, often unbeknown to the rest of the world! Perhaps the most unexpected musical offering this year came from Haydon’s very own Maisy-Kay Kendrick. Proving whole-heartedly that good things can most definitely come in small
packages, Maisy-Kay’s voice was anything but tiny as she belted out the joyful notes of ‘Hairspray’s’ ‘Baltimore’ to a gobsmacked audience. Her fabulous performance crowned her as ‘Best newcomer’ and helped put Haydon firmly on the map. ‘Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he makes himself vulnerable.’ Jeanne Moreau
There is no doubt that performing in front of one’s peers in such an intimate venue is an extremely challenging task. This year’s acting contributions sensitively tackled a wide range of complex emotions and were extremely well received by an appreciative audience who clearly respected the nerve, talent and focus of the performers. The acting kicked off with the comic paring of Scott Place and Zach Oakley who earned marks for both Nicholson and Pearson with their duologue from ‘Blood Brothers’ which superbly captured the contrast between two boys from opposite sides of the tracks. On a more serious note, Olivia Nash provided us with a real tear jerker in the role of ‘Eva’ from a play entitled ‘Treehouses’. This emotional monologue looked at Eva’s feelings surrounding the funeral of her father and Olivia’s highly moving performance truly captured the character’s sense of loss and grief. Haydon’s Isabella Fisher skilfully brought to life the role of Emmott Sydall in her monologue from ‘The Roses of Eyam’ a play based on the true events of the Derbyshire village of Eyam. The villagers’ self-imposed quarantine famously halted the spread of the Black Death but at great cost to themselves. Amanda Hughson’s second performance of the day for Nicholson was the poetically moving monologue, ‘Adult Child/ Dead Child’, which looked at the father/son relationship, starting with happy memories of childhood ‘Cowboys and Indians’ to fear of a more violent and destructive father in later years. Bantock brightened the mood with two hilarious offerings. First from Matthew Wickens and his edited version of a ludicrous speech from Tom Stoppard’s ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
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Upper School Dead’ where the speaker contemplates what it would feel like to wake up ‘dead, in a box.’ Good comic timing and a well-cultivated actor-audience relationship made this piece of true black comedy highly entertaining and won Michael the esteemed competition title of ‘Oddest character.’ The hopes and dreams of a young cocktail waitress formed the basis of Harriet Hommers’ second contribution to Bantock’s coffers with an endearing performance of a monologue from ‘Shakers Restirred.’ Faye Paterson tackled the bard with true aplomb and a cracking West Country accent as she played ‘extremely hard to get’ with her portrayal of shepherdess Phebe from ‘As You Like It’. So, with the acts acted, the performances performed and the songs sung, it was time to turn to the serious business of the day and the winner of the House Cup. Eighteen acts had run the gauntlet but only one House could walk away with the prize. With only 4½ marks between all the placings, I don’t mind risking a cliché when I say wholeheartedly that it really is the taking part that counts. I think the fact that most of us forgot that this was a competition with marks to be awarded highlight the point that this event is a Talent Show – and show our talent we certainly did! However, there were engravings to be done – so… with all marks tallied and verified, it was my duty to announce that this year’s cup would sport the proud name of Nicholson – who narrowly scooped the prize with an impressive 36.5 out of a maximum of 40, just one mark ahead of Haydon who came in second with Bantock and Pearson coming in third and fourth respectively. As always, heartfelt congratulations to everyone who braved the boards and who this year had to contend with the rather intimidating proximity of a very appreciative audience in this year’s new venue. As the audience steadily grew, so the stage space steadily shrank! So for one less-than-ordinary Friday lunchtime, TC again went on to prove that ‘All the world’s (or at least one highly populated corner of Towers was) a stage’ and that the super talented pupils of this incredibly talented school took their place as players ‘with their exits and their entrances’ and with many of them paying many parts to an exceptionally high standard! Bravo! MD Uttley
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Geography Field trips play an integral part of the Geography Department. We had Year 7 pupils visiting the Wrekin. Year 8s visited Ironbridge power station and Epson as part of an industrial unit of work. GCSE students visited Carding Mill valley in order to collect data for their coursework.
The Geography department has also gone online now and our Year 7 pupils entered a competition to design their own on line pages. Michael Broome and Luke Habgood won £25 of itune vouchers.
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Upper School English as a Foreign Language Our international pupils are a most positive and enriching aspect of life at Tettenhall College. Pupils come from a wide variety of countries and cultures including Russia, Germany, Portugal, France, India, Vietnam, Hong Kong, mainland China, South Korea and Japan.
It is the aim of the department to support these pupils in small groups and on an individual basis, in order to help them achieve their academic goals towards good GCSE and A level results. Some of our pupils win prizes for excellence in their academic work, such as Dat Duc Nguyen in Year 12, who won the Ely House Trophy this year. In addition, external English language exams are regularly taken by most year groups. These include the Cambridge suite of exams (KET and PET for schools), the International GCSE in ESOL and the IELTS exam for sixth formers. Success in the latter exams enables pupils to enter a British university. Excellent results are obtained through hard work and high motivation. Cultural trips enhance the learning experience, such as a visit to Coventry Transport Museum and a theatre trip to the Pantomime ‘Cinderella’, giving authentic practice in listening skills. Cross curricular projects, such as those on Chocolate, London, Endangered Animals and Teenage Problems, reinforce learning. A Year 9 project on Tettenhall village, for example, helped pupils to understand the location in which they live and work. It included research on local facilities and businesses, as well as interviewing members of the retail community and local families. John Rice, one of our governors, kindly came in
to be interviewed. To use all four language skills in such an authentic environment was very valuable. One group was invited to a Japanese home for a typical Japanese lunch and subsequently researched recipes from different nations. Our librarian is most supportive and gives of her time to read interactive stories, such as on Valentine’s Day and Hallowe’en, holding the pupils’ attention as she brings stories to life. Oral presentations by Year 12 pupils on a variety of topics broaden outlook and develop understanding. Learning about the Loch Ness Monster, the Nobel Prize Winners and Vietnamese food were informative and lively. In addition, lunchtime discussions for Year 12 and 13 pupils were held weekly in the staff dining room. A different member of staff kindly joined Ms Stone each week to facilitate the engaging chat and discussions! Life is not all unremitting toil. Regular Year 11, 12 and 13 outings to the cinema were popular, as was the visit to Oxford. This latter visit included an Open Top Bus Tour of the city, punting on the river and visiting places of interest. At a Chinese buffet meal, we said farewell to one of our Japanese pupils, who has been at the school since Year 7. Pupils learn as much through these events of interest and activities. My thanks to my colleague Mr Higgs for his help and support. D. Stone
Dat Duc Nguyen - top academic scholar Lower Sixth
Farewell meal for Shoya Abe
Japanese meal, Grace Gao, Arisa Onitake, Y9
John Rice (Governor) with Year 9 pupils
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Tony Wong, Head of Boys’ Boarding House on EFL trip to Oxford
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Upper School History Lessons from Auschwitz
Auschwitz I Camp Fence (Photo GJ Raine 2010)
I was in Lower School setting up work for my Year 6 history class as I was going to be away the next day. ‘Where are you going sir?’ (The usual question from the children.) ‘Poland,’ I replied. ‘What are you going there for sir?’ ‘To visit a place called Auschwitz,’ I duly responded. ‘What’s Auschwitz sir?’ And there in that one inquiry was the reason for my journey the next day and also the problem that teachers of the Holocaust have. When should the topic be introduced and how do you teach young children about such events in history? Six million individuals were brutally murdered in the death camps between 1939 and 1945, 1.2 million at Auschwitz alone. The murders were committed by people living in a developed Western European country less than 75 years ago. The perpetrators were often the victim’s fellow citizens, neighbours, friends and colleagues of 10 years before. Did I have an answer that would be appropriate for an enquiring Year 6 mind? In order to help answer these questions the Holocaust Education Trust exists to educate teachers about the best ways to teach the Holocaust and to show the contemporary relevance. In an age that has seen a marked increase in antiSemitism, racism, prejudice and in the number of people who would deny that such events ever happened, their work seems even more important. The trust provides educational programmes for teachers and students to foster debate among its contributors on the lessons to be learned, and then delivered to students following its 3 day course, that includes a one day
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visit to the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz Birkenau sites in Poland, testimony from a holocaust survivor and discussions on devising practical ideas for delivering meaningful lessons in school. This year myself and Mrs Taylor represented Tettenhall College in attending the course. (Mrs Taylor’s valuable personal recollections and feelings as a lay historian are given elsewhere in the magazine.) At Tettenhall College students of history cover the period in Year 9 as part of their Modern History modules on Dictators and World War II. The History Department has always seen the inclusion of the Holocaust topic as an essential part of a curriculum that should educate and inform students through the interpretation and evaluation of contemporary evidence. The 27th January each year is designated as World Holocaust Memorial Day which is noted in college assemblies and there is a permanent display of some of the issues in my classroom to provoke pupil reaction and comment. It is a common belief that younger children think that teachers inhabit the rooms that they occupy and at
4.15 they get into their cupboard and are then wheeled out at 9.20 the next day, word perfect, to perform again! Thankfully we do have lives outside the cupboards and we still do want to learn and improve our teaching methods. I have taught History for almost 30 years and my knowledge of the Holocaust has been built up from books and the numerous excellent documentaries to be found on the TV. However, to be able to convey this event to the 13 year olds in Year 9, to be able to give an answer to the Year 6 question given at the beginning of this article or to give a whole school assembly on January 27th raises real difficulties. The complexity of the subject matter and the importance of the lessons to be learned, coupled with the abstract nature of the events, when compared to most of our lives today, means that we as teachers have to consider the method used carefully if we are not just to bombard our charges with cold facts and military photos that reduce the victims to the way in which the perpetrators wanted us to view them; as dehumanized units to be exterminated for the ‘benefit’ of mankind rather than real people with families, history, hopes and aspirations.
Wall of some of the millions photos taken from suitcases of Auschwitz victims left behind as they went to their deaths in the gas chambers disguised as showers. (Photo G J Raine 2010)
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Upper School ‘Hearing is not like seeing’ Rabbi Barry Marcus - United Synagogue
(Rabbi Marcus is a practising rabbi and teacher who accompanied Mrs Taylor and I to Poland and led the memorial service outside the remains of Gas Chamber & Crematoria II). It is possible today to visit numerous web sites that deny that The Holocaust ever happened. In fact there is one Middle Eastern country whose leader publicly subscribes to the view that such events are a western conspiracy. Our young pupils are open to the same theories and mass media hype but lack the knowledge to adequately filter the truth from the propaganda. It is the teacher’s role to act as their guide and present the evidence to prevent the stereotyping of people and the airbrushing of historical events from the collective memory. How to do this?
The British Holocaust Memorial is located at Newark in Nottinghamshire. In April all of Year 9 attended a presentation given by Rudi Oppenheimer. Rudi, a German Jew, was 14 in 1945 when the British troops liberated Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp and the world saw for the first time the results of the Nazi’s ‘Final Solution’ For 90 minutes Rudi talked and answered questions about his life before the war and the experiences of his family during the period of the Holocaust. His grandparents were gassed at Sobivor and his parents died of typhus in Belsen. The power of such testimony was clear. I watched every one of Year 9 as they listened and saw a man who had lived through what others would deny. All were affected by what they saw and heard and I was impressed with the way that the children seemed
to know that this was important and worthwhile. It was this visit that inspired me to attend the’ Lessons from Auschwitz’ training scheme which would include a visit to Auschwitz itself. Time then to ask the question; ‘Where are you going sir?’ ‘To visit a death camp.’ Taken at face value, to undertake such a journey would appear odd and questionable. As Rabbi Barry Marcus goes on to say there are many more reasons not to go -. Over 60 years have elapsed – is it time to move on ? Time to forgive and forget? Life is complicated enough without having to face the past. It is too difficult a subject to face in the place where it happened.
Contemporary German SS photos of a Jewish transport arrival and then subsequent selection process for gas chambers set in front of my modern image of the same place at Birkenau. G Raine
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Upper School ‘Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it’
Mirga Amela - One face among 1,200,000 but a real person. She reminded me of my Year 9 girls.
The railway ramp at Auschwitz Birkenau. Built to handle the influx of some 400,000 Hungarian Jews arriving in the summer of 1944. Over 75% of those leaving the trains here were ‘selected ‘ then walked to the ‘showers’ and were dead within 2 hours of their arrival. (Photo G Raine 2010)
The visit to Auschwitz caused me no problems beforehand. I had always wanted to go and in some ways it seemed like a duty. If I could not take each of my students personally I owed it to them to record my feelings and report back to them in the hope that my testimony could be more tangible than the text book and DVD versions back in ‘safe’ 21st century Wolverhampton. There have been 85 recorded incidents of genocide in the world since 1945. It would appear that we have not learned our lessons. Some 200 teachers would make the journey on 23rd June 2010. They were from many different disciplines but all expressed in the pre-visit seminar that they had a need to visit the place to enhance understanding in the hope that their teaching of the subject would improve. We were all warned that the effect of the visit on us would be different and some may suffer a delayed action or even feel guilty that they did not feel shocked or moved by the experience. One of the key discussions was whether it was appropriate to take photos, and if so, what photos should we take when there were so many contemporary photos of the persecution in existence? One point was made: most photos from the 1940s were taken by the German perpetrators and therefore portrayed their victims as just that, victims. Should we ever show such images to students at all because we would be perpetuating the Nazi ideological view that these people were ‘untermenschen’?‘ (sub humans).
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Memorial tablet at gas chamber II
The dates below her name state she died after 5 months in the forced labour camp in 1942. It is possible to reduce the teaching of the Holocaust to lists of numbers taken, processed and exterminated just to tick the curriculum boxes and to state job done! To do so is to condemn the victims to the same dehumanizing and statistical exercise practised under the extreme rational thinking of the Nazi regime. The event is more relevant and important today when racism, religious bigotry,
political intolerance and terror have not been banished from human society. This makes the need to learn about the Nazi ‘Final Solution’ and how it was made possible essential mail. There is one area of Auschwitz where the numbers can be transformed into real lives and people. ‘Kanada’ section dealt with the personal possessions of the thousands of people ‘processed’ by the camp between 1942 and 45. Here are the thousands of neatly named and labeled suitcases left by their owners as they undressed to take their ‘showers’ Here too are the pairs of shoes also dutifully left at the same time and the personal artefacts packed hurriedly into suitcases, their owners having been given 5 minutes warning to leave home. No photographs are allowed of these and none are needed. To stand close to these objects is to place names to the numbers and to see the real people again, as portrayed in the displays of family photos found in every suitcase. Pre war Polish photo found in ‘Kanada’ Few if any of the these people survived On my return to TC the next day many colleagues came to me and began to ask ‘Did you have a good day yesterday?’ They then stopped themselves and said that ‘good’ was perhaps not the most appropriate word to use. There are few words to adequately describe such a place, but I was glad to have made the trip and for the next 2 days gave presentations to all my Upper School classes at their request. I still did not feel able to do this for Year 6 but was pleased that many had seen or read ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ - perhaps the best starting point for those so young. G J Raine Tettenhall College History Department July 2010
Pre war Polish photo found in ‘Kanada’ Few if any of the these people survived
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Upper School Mathematics The year commenced with excellent 2009 results. At GCSE 33% gained A or A* in Mathematics and there was 100% pass rate in statistics. In ‘A’ level Mathematics 71% achieved grades A or B and all pupils passed the ‘A’ level. In Further Mathematics 100% achieved grade ‘C’ or better with 60% achieving grade A. In November a team of senior pupils really enjoyed taking part in the Senior Maths Team Challenge and are very keen to participate in the event next year. At the end of the Autumn Term Mrs. Cooper started her maternity leave, and I am pleased to report that baby Adam was born during the Spring Term. Mother and baby are both very well. Dr. Lawley was appointed to the Mathematics Department and has made a very positive start to his career at Tettenhall College. Mr. Dyer has been appointed to a school nearer to his home. He has made an excellent contribution during his 4 years at Tettenhall and he will be missed. I would like to thank him for his help, support and friendship and wish him well for the future. In September 2010 the Maths GCSE changes and this will prove to be an interesting time for the development and future of the Mathematics Department. S Lawrence
Modern Foreign Languages French Year 11 students enjoyed some extra conversation classes after school in the Spring Term. Indeed, they had the opportunity to meet Mlle Marion Norek, a French native speaker, who kindly offered to work with our students, helping them to develop their conversation skills in her afterschool KS4 club. The club was wellattended and our students were very positive about this experience and were grateful for the extra help Mlle Norek gave them. In February, our Year 10 and 11 French students had the opportunity to attend a French play, titled La chambre de Jean-Paul, performed by Onatti Productions. This visit proved to be an invaluable boost to those students who saw the play, only a few months before their exams, as it allowed them to revise key GCSE vocabulary and topics. We all enjoyed the experience and we were lucky enough to have been able to meet and talk with the two French actors after the performance. The whole afternoon was a success and we are looking forward to repeating a similar experience next year and also finding a performance for our Spanish and German students to attend with equally positive outcomes.
German connection. We were fortunate to host two teachers from Germany in the autumn term. They did add a flair of authenticity as they both came from Thueringen in the former Eastern part of Germany and contributed to our preparations and celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Pupils enjoyed too their support in the classroom as they were able to practice the speaking skill in pairs. Frau Elsner, pictured below came back on a private visit after coming via the British-German connection scheme last year. Knowing the school enabled her to settle down quickly. Both visitors took back a lot of material and photographs of Tettenhall, somewhere in Thueringen Tettenhall College has become a familiar reference for many German pupils! We shall host another colleague next year again. Helene Compain-Holt. (German) Laure Teulé – Head of MFL
La chambre de Jean-Paul by Onatti Production
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Upper School Music This has been one of the busiest musical years we have had, with some fantastic opportunities for the children. As well as the normal annual programme of events, (the Carol Service, termly concerts, House music competitions, the Lower and Upper School musicals), there have been several notable extra experiences – the visit of the Eschersheim Youth Choir from Germany, singing in the Royal Albert Hall, a Frankfurt Choir Tour, and the professional productions of ‘Whistle Down the Wind’ and Agatha Christe’s ‘Witness to the Prosecution’. Four of these events (Albert Hall, Frankfurt, Whistle and the Upper School show) all happened in the Summer Term. Two were planned well in advance (Frankfurt and the show), the other two opportunities arrived last minute but were too good opportunities to be missed, but it did mean that we had to rehearse for four big events at the same time which pushed us to the limit. However, the rewards were so worth it.
Autumn Term During the Autumn Term, quite a few new pupils started to have individual instrumental tuition, and along with those already having lessons, our team of nine visiting teachers taught 145 lessons each week. This is an encouraging number, and I thank the visiting music staff for their enthusiasm and dedication. The exam results this year have been outstanding again, with 100% pass rate; 52 pupils took exams, 23 gaining merits and 16 getting distinctions. German Visitors In October, after many months of planning, we hosted a choir from Frankfurt. The Eschersheim Youth Choir are used to travelling abroad, they do so most years. This year it was their 45th anniversary and they stayed with us for four days, before going to Canterbury. Some stayed with our families and some stayed in the York Hotel. We organised two concerts for them, the first in Codsall church and a joint concert with our choirs at the College, and then we enjoyed a day with them at Alton Towers. The concert at school had to be held in the chapel due to renovation of the Theatre. With 55 in the visiting choir and over 70 in our combined choirs, I knew that, with the audience expected, it was going to be rather full in chapel. I had organised our choirs to rotate sitting down, and to wait on the stairs before they sang! I have never seen chapel so full – there wasn’t a single spare seat, and there were even three
people sitting on the organ stool. The visiting choir, a community based choir with a wide age range, sang first and their conductor, who formed the choir 45 years ago, has not lost any of his youthful energy. Singing Spiritual songs, he soon had our (English reserved) audience joining in and it wasn’t long before the whole chapel was on its feet, waving and singing along. I have never experienced anything quite like it. Our choirs followed and they were already warmed up and totally relaxed. We sang in a totally different style to their choir, and we performed with a beautiful quality of sound and gave a disciplined performance. Charity Concert In November, we took part in a charity concert in Brewood church, arranged through our violin teacher, of many years, Mrs Lewis. The Brewood organist, Mrs Jean Martin, who is a well known theatre organist and Colette Todd, an opera singer, joined us for a most enjoyable evening of music making. Over £1000 was raised for Cancer Research. Carol Service The annual Carol Service followed the format used for many years, a traditional service of lessons and carols in which all the school choirs took part, the Drive School, the two Lower School choirs and the Senior Choir, supplemented by staff, parents and friends. There was a mixture of traditional and modern carols and the standard again was very high.
Spring Term German Choir at Tettenhall
In the Spring Term, the highlight was the Lower School Musical. Since 1992 the Lower School has put on a full scale musical with all the children involved. This year, the musical was ‘home grown’ with the libretto written by a Year 6 parent, Mrs Helen Woodman and the music written by our own Assistant Director of Music, Mrs Carina Whiting. A full report is in the Lower School section. The children and staff worked so hard and ‘The Book’ was a great success. My congratulations to all the performers, but in particular to the three lead roles who had so much to learn, and they performed with a maturity beyond their age. ‘Witness to the Prosecution’ For many years we have provided the children for Bill Kenwright’s professional shows, and last year we also had to provide some adult extras for the show ‘Evita’ at the Grand Theatre. Several staff and parents enjoyed this experience. In March we were asked to provide some extras for the Agatha Christie play, ‘Witness to the Prosecution’. Again, staff and parents took part as jurors, barristers and members of the public.
Tettenhall Choirs
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Upper School Summer Term The Summer Term programme was congested, to say the least. The first event on May 15th was a concert in the Royal Albert Hall. The event was to celebrate the 90th birthday of Sir David Willcocks, the celebrated English composer. I had seen the concert advertised and applied for our choir to take part. The music for the concert was standard large choir repertoire (Viavldi ‘Gloria’, Handel ‘Zadok the Priest’ amongst others) which we would not normally attempt, but I felt that the opportunity to sing in such a fantastic concert hall was not to be missed. Having learnt the music (the Vivaldi in Latin!) we headed for the Royal Albert Hall, taking two coaches and cars, 60 singers and 118 parents in total. We were part of a choir of nearly 2000, and very few of these were from schools, most were adults. The rehearsal in the afternoon, taken by Sir David, was long and we were very high up in the Dress Circle, so it was very difficult to hear and very difficult to sing in time with the orchestra and conductor. However, we managed. The evening concert was exciting. It was a great experience singing in one of the most famous concert halls in the world, one which most children will not get again. Flag waving before the Celebration Concert
Choirs visit Frankfurt Two weeks after this concert, we headed off to Frankfurt; 28 singers and 21 parents left TC for a six-day tour. The Eschersheim Youth Choir were celebrating their 45th anniversary and their present conductor and founder of the choir invited us over to join in their celebrations. The basic itinerary was two joint concerts and 2 days sight-seeing. The journey by coach and Eurotunnel was long. Having set off at 5.30 am from TC, we arrived in Frankfurt at 9.20 pm. Half of the choir and parents were staying at a motel, the rest with German families. They were all there to meet us and gave us a fantastic welcome with flag waving, cheering etc. On our first day, we had a big concert with the Eschersheim Youth Choir. This choir is supported by Frankfurt City council and many local businesses and it does a lot in the local community. There were many politicians, local dignitaries and business leaders in attendance. After a lot of speeches, the concert started with the two national anthems, and the European Anthem with much flag waving. The Eschersheim Choir sang first and we followed. We were well rehearsed, but I have not seen the choir so well focused and we sang the best I have heard them and we received a rapturous applause. After the concert, we enjoyed a buffet and disco and there was a great party atmosphere. On day two, we enjoyed a tram ride around Frankfurt before everyone went to a German family for Sunday lunch and the afternoon. In the evening, we performed in our second concert in Saint Catherine’s Church in the centre of Frankfurt. I was worried that after
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Awaiting Celebration Concert
the fantastic party atmosphere of the Saturday concert and having sung so well, we would not be able to reproduce the same standard. We sang with such focus, the acoustics of the church were good and we sounded angelic-like. At the end of our last piece, the applause was loud and as I turned around to acknowledge this, the whole audience were on their feet giving us a standing ovation. It was very moving and for the choir, well deserved. On the third day, we had an early reception (10.30 am) with the Mayor and important members of the City council. This was held in the Emperors Hall in the centre of Frankfurt, a place
where public are not allowed. A huge Union Jack had been hung outside to welcome us. We were greeted by the Mayor’s representative and invited to sing, before a long speech (thankfully translated for us) and then I was invited to ‘reply’, which again was translated (giving me time to think what I was going to say next!). After this, they provided drinks and pretzels whilst we talked to our hosts. We then enjoyed a boat trip and a traditional frankfurter lunch and then visited the Cathedral for a short time, and whilst we had not arranged to give a concert there, we did sing one item. The acoustics of the Cathedral were amazing, about a six second echo. We sang a slow piece called ‘The Prayer’ and the sound was incredible, after each line of music we paused and you could hear what we had just sung, going around the building. After we finished, I joined my host who had been listening and he was in tears, very moved by what he had just heard. After this, we all had time to explore shopping and seeing the sights in Frankfurt.
Emporers Hall Reception
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Upper School The Musical
Ski Lift in Rhinegau
On the final day of the tour, we had a day out in the Rhinegau area, about an hours drive from Frankfurt. We were lucky with the weather, glorious sunshine. We visited a mechanical music museum which houses the largest private collection of instruments ranging from very small musical boxes to big fairground organs. Following this, we went on a cable car ride up to a very impressive monument built for the unification of Germany with a fantastic view down to the river Rhine. After a photo shoot and a quick impromptu sing (we had quite an audience), we then walked through some delightful woods and made our way down via a very steep ski lift to the Rhine, where we got on a boat and headed back to where we had started. The tour was a wonderful experience. Several parents who came with us wrote to me afterwards: ‘Our stay with our hosts was a big part of our stay in Frankfurt. The family were so kind to us, they had moved out of their bedroom to allow us to stay and couldn’t have done more to make us feel welcome. The food was lovely and we enjoyed being part of a family and finding out more about the culture of living in Germany’ ‘When the choir sang in front of the enormous monument – an unrehearsed moment, all the tourists from all around the world just stopped, listened and applauded – it was great’. ‘The most fantastic moment for me was when they sang in the cathedral. The acoustics made the choir sound seem so pure – I will remember that for a long time’ ‘The reception from the audience in the church was extremely moving. I did feel very emotional but kept it together. To have everyone stand up and applaud you was a highlight of the tour for me. To be part of this group made me very proud’ ‘The opportunities for the choir to sing in so many different and beautiful locations was so wonderful’.
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‘Whistle Down the Wind’ Bill Kenwright’s national tour of ‘Whistle Down the Wind’ came to the Grand Theatre in June for a week. We have done the show twice before (2004 and 2006) and I was delighted to be asked to do this show again, one of my favourites. The children not only get to sing on stage but have to act and are very much part of the show. Our two teams of 20 children rehearsed the music in advance and then the dance captain from the show arrived on the Friday before we started and spent the day teaching the children the choreography. He was excellent and made sure that all of the children had a solo part in the show. We also had to provide 16 adults for each show and this gave another opportunity for staff and parents to appear on stage. The first day of a new show is always long, with a lot of hanging around. We had our costumes fitted in the morning and then the children’s first rehearsal on stage with the company was in the afternoon, with the first show being that evening!. All that they had rehearsed on the Friday had to be done with precision timing and remembering where they should be on stage so as to mix in and not get in the way of the professional actors. It was a new experience for some pupils and they coped well with their nerves. Over the week of the show, confidence grew and they performed really well. The press reports we got were outstanding: ‘When children rule the world, the youngsters sang to the packed audience and they certainly ruled the show. Jonathan Ansell (X-factor runner up G4) may have been billed as the star, but he took second best to the team of young ones who thrilled and enchanted the audience’ Jonathan Ansell gives a stunning performance but he is given a real run for his money by the children from Tettenhall College whose singing and acting is top-notch’. ‘This is musical theatre at its very best’
Whistle Choir
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Upper School The Musical ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ Our final event of the term was our school production of ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’. A full report on this can be found elsewhere, but every year, we keep getting told that this is the best show yet and it will be difficult to match. It was a very different show, and we chose it to match the characters we have at school. It was a most memorable week, particularly the emotional last night when several of our pupils who are leaving gave their last performance. The standing ovation when the lead character came on for his bow and the atmosphere which continued afterwards I shall remember for a long time. Over the years the music department has been involved in more and more musical theatre and I have seen the children grow in confidence because of this. Acting and singing go hand in hand and the ability to express yourself becomes so much easier through this medium. This confidence has been seen many times this year. Those who have singing lessons showed off their skills in the concert at the end of term with performances from Year 2 pupils right through to Year 13. In ‘Whistle’ we heard many comments from the audience over the week about how the children looked so much part of the professional group. In Frankfurt, the pupils and staff ‘raised their game’ and performed at the top of their level every time they sang. In ‘Drowsy’, the real ‘Tettenhall teamwork’ shone through with the youngest taking great confidence from those more senior. This has been a successful and memorable musical year. Ian Wass
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Upper School Science
Under NASA logo Fernando Alves,Rebecca Martin,Jamie Martin,Stuart Jones
“A Giant Leap for Mankind!!” On Friday 26th March 2010 a team of 24 students took the chance of a lifetime to undertake an astronaut training experience at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The opportunity, brought about by Mrs Vanessa O’Neill, having previously trained with the International Space School, was given to students in Years 9-13. Largely based at Cape Canaveral NASA headquarters students were given a wide range of activities, lectures and classroom studies that helped give a wider understanding of how much space investigation has affected modern day science and indeed our everyday lives and believe me it affects everything you can think of!! We were given the opportunity to learn about the Space Race and previous Space missions, up to and including being the only UK students to have stood on the loaded launch pad 39B of the Shuttle Discovery. Sadly Discovery was launched three days after our return to England. As the US President has now frozen funding for any further space missions you could say that this was perhaps the last chance for any civilians to experience the immense power needed to successfully launch an orbiter into Space. Not only were our students educated in Space travel by NASA teaching Staff and real life astronauts, they were given the chance to train for a day themselves. This unique experience included a zero gravity wall, Cross axis trainers, orbital training and finally,
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in teams, had to prepare their own space mission to repair damaged solar panels on the moon. Whilst five of the team ran mission control the rest of the team dealt with the launch of the shuttle, space flight and the actual repair on the moon. The nail biting landing, carried out like a professional by Alexander McCreath, was met with a sigh of relief from us all, that this was only a simulator, as Nicola Smith hit the ground like a dart. Not something you do every day! Other activities on the expedition involved a day behind the scenes at Sea World guided by the Park’s Marine Biologists. We were given talks on ecology and Marine life preservation as well as seeing the day to day running of one of the largest marine life conservation programmes that there is. Of course we also went on Kraken and Manta; you have to have some time off. There is also always one messy bit to any school trip and Mrs O’Neill is a Biologist after all, so an ecological survey was carried out in the swamps of the Indian River. Here we saw first hand what lived in and around us, as we all plunged into the lagoon with our nets. We discovered all sorts as Fernando demonstrates in the photograph.
Fernando Alves with a Horse Shoe Crab on his head
NASA Education Suite
Faye Bradley,Jamie Martin, Ross Pickstock, Jade Sahni Mission Control
With other once in a lifetime opportunities like Ross Pickstock and Sam Muellar tidying their room, the mass exodus to Abercrombie and Fitch lead by Jamie Robinson (we should have been on commission) and myself cooking a barbeque for 30 you really can say it was an action packed week. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 24 students who came with us to Florida for their exceptional conduct. Travelling through two international airports, twice, was a daunting prospect, which was carried out to perfection. Well done guys, I am very proud of you all; you are a credit to our school. Your teacher for a week, Chaperone and friend. Desmond O’Neill
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Upper School Sport ATHLETICS West Midlands Biathlon Competition In October 2009, Laura Burke (Under 14) took part in the regional Biathlon Competition which was held in Solihull, Birmingham. This competition involved Laura taking part in a long distance swim and an endurance run. Laura performed well and hopes to continue with this event next year, hopefully with some more pupils from the college. My thanks to Mrs Burke who acted as school representative at the competition and helped organise the administration details. Sports Day This year our Sports Day took place at RAF Cosford. We are always grateful that the competitors were again able to use the superb facilities provided at the base. It was a lovely day and the weather was kind to us. The standard on the track and in the field events was excellent. Several records were broken which was testament to the talent of the children and their determination to win. Oliver Pemberton (I suspect a name that is going to be read about for years to come) equalled the Under 14 Shot 10.35m, set by Ashley Paterson in 2002. Jake McGoldrick, set a new boys U14 Javelin record, 17m 07. George Southall broke the Intermediate boys 1500m in a new time of 4m.51 Ben Houghton, Senior Boys equalled the time of Daniel Pearce set in 2008 coming home in 5m 02 in the 1500m.
Tom Schubert set a new record in the Senior Boys shot of 13m 86 Chloe McIntosh broke her own record in the Intermediate girls 200m 27.60 and equalled the High Jump record 1m 15 set last year by Claire Kirkhope. Dr Bodkin presented the trophies to all the winners. Many thanks go to all colleagues who helped on the day (I think they enjoyed their chocolate bars!!) and to all the competitors who performed so well. Team-work by staff and pupils equals enormous success! The overall scores at the end of the day just show how close the competition was and how hard the Houses fought for the trophy. Mrs J.L.Taylor
Prep School Athletics For this competition the country is split into sections. As the Midlands group folded a few years ago, the school is allowed to compete in the nearest area which is Oxford. Oliver Pemberton took part in the 100m and 200m at ‘Radley College’ for the ‘Mercian’ area. Oliver qualified easily for both finals. He went as the current the U13 National Prep Champion and so was determined to win the title for the second year running. I’m glad to say he did! We are very proud of Oliver. He is a talented sportsman with a great future ahead of him. So well done Oliver! U14 National Prep School Champion in both the 100m and 200m! An amazing achievement!
City Schools Athletic Championships Our athletes produced yet another fine display at the City Championships. Daniel Hyde finished 5th in the Year 9 boys 800m. Daniel Kennedy finished 3rd in the Year 9 boys 1500m. Chloe McIntosh won the Year 10 girls 200m and remains the girl to catch within the City. Oliver Pemberton, Year 8 not only won the City Championship at 100m and 200m, but went on to become the 100m and 200m Champion at the National Preparatory Schools Althletics Championships. Andrew Dyer
Individual Sports Day Champions Junior Boys Oliver Pemberton (N) Junior Girls Savreena Kaur (H) Intermediate Boys Alex Grant (P)/ George Southall (B) Intermediate Girls Chloe McIntosh (P) Senior Boys Chris Perry (N) Senior Girls Lauren Hall (B) Overall House Champions 1st PEARSON 566 pts 2nd Nicholson 543 pts 3rd Haydon 532 pts 4th Bantock 525 pts Oliver Pemberton
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Upper School CRICKET 1ST X1 Without a doubt, our most successful 1st team of the 2009-2010 season. The boys and girls who have played 1st XI cricket have done so with skill and patience, showing a real depth of maturity in their attitude to the game. There have been some excellent displays of batting and bowling during the games, with our Year 10 and Lower 6th players leading the way and showing great promise for next year. In particular, Alex Grant’s fantastic ‘139’ against the Forty Club and ‘100’ against the MCC, the latter earning a prestigious trip to down to Lords for his endeavours. Two other people also deserve a ‘thank you’ and they are our 2 scorers, Calum Green and Georgina Spooner. The three all day matches have seen all of our players tested to the limit; for example, dealing with how and where to bowl the next ball to a very experienced batsman who has just hit three consecutive boundaries; or how to keep their wicket as the last batsman, with nine fielders around the bat! This made for a very exciting close of play to the MCC game. I feel very positive for the team next year as all of these experiences will prove to be invaluable to them. I too have learnt a great deal from my first year at the helm of cricket at Tettenhall. Going forward, I’m looking to introduce post match meals for the all day matches against the Forty Club and MCC. I feel this would give our players the opportunity to chat and socialise with their experienced opponents and discuss ways in which they can develop their own game. Or better still, they will have the chance to receive congratulations on their abilities and be inspired to become better cricketers! Mr Bullock
1st Cricket Team
Under 13s Cricket Team
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Under 13s It has been a difficult season for our U13 cricketers as we had the first three games cancelled due to the weather in the early part of the Summer Term. That unfortunately meant that we had limited game practice as well, so that when the boys did take the field we did not have the patience to wait for the bad ball to score our runs, so we tried to force the shot a little too much which meant that some of our recognised cricketers got themselves out quite cheaply! However to the boys’ credit they were willing to work on this area and the others that I had identified where we could make some improvements, which were our fielding and the consistency and accuracy of our bowling so as not to allow the opposition easy scoring opportunities. Even though out of our 5 matches we lost 3 and won 2, I know that all of our boys have learnt some valuable lessons from this year and that when they move up to next year they will approach the game in a more considered way. The players who deserve a mention for their contribution to the team are: George Harvey, Charlie Mackelworth, Jacob McGoldrick, Khaishav Rattan, Sam Squire, and Harvinder Tutt. Many thanks for all your hard work. Mr Bullock. Under 15s The under 15 cricket team have wiped out all opposition this year with some quality cricket. Alex Grant has been outstanding hitting two centuries during the season. He has been abley backed up by a number of quality players: Harsimran Gill, Harry Jones, Thomas Kimberlin and Max Walker. All these players are so capable that they have been playing for the first XI already this season. Their enthusiasm and talent for the game shows a depth of quality players to step up to the first XI next year. Notable wins have been against Wolverhampton Grammar School twice and Stafford Grammar School. A very successful season for a group of talented crickers. Mr M Jackson
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Upper School FOOTBALL 1st and 2nd XI Having lost a number of key players from the 1st team at the end of last year, we have had a season of ups and downs. We were a very young side with six of the starting line-up from Years 10 and 11, so it was always going to be an uphill struggle to replicate the form of last year. However, there were some very notable individual and team performances – Max Cooper’s defending, Joe Schubert and Alex Grant linking well in midfield, Jamie Robinson and Bhadar Sandhur posing constant threats up front and not forgetting the tremendous saves executed by Jordan Hill. In my opinion, the best team performance was our home game against Denstone College. We created some excellent scoring opportunities, passed well and played with determination and heart against a very physical side. With regard to the 2nd team, we have built upon the interest of last year to run a very competitive side where they have had some really enjoyable fixtures. Most notably, the team displayed fantastic camaraderie in the game against Shrewsbury Sixth Form’s 5th Team. So much so, one or two of the 1st Team players had to be almost forced to re-join their team mates because they didn’t want to leave the 2nd team! A few of the 2nd team boys who deserve a mention, not just for their footballing ability but for how they have made games and practices unmissable are: Ben Hammond, Josh Thornton, Calum Green, Ben Passmore and Harpinder Singh. Thank you to both our 1st and 2nd team players for a rewarding season. Mr Bullock
1st and 2nd’s Football Team
1st Under and 2nd13s XI Football Team
The inclement weather of January and February restricted the team to just 3 matches this year. We began with an impressive 5 goal thrashing of The Royal School where I was pleased to be able to play every member of the available squad and see all of them play a useful part in the victory. The linking play between the midfield of Charlie Mackelworth, Rodrigo Alves, Khaishav Rattan and Karanvir Aujlay and the forward line of Callum McConnell and Sam Squire was excellent, allowing Callum to score a hat trick. Oliver Pemberton as usual brought the pace and power from the rugby fields to the back four and although he lacks the finesse there is no better anchor man. Special mention should be made of Harvinder Tutt who volunteered to go in goal due to the
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Under 15s The under 15 football team have an abundance of talent and a really good balance. Players are able to defend and attack with quality and confidence. The lethal attacking partnership of Max Walker and Harry Jones was too much for all our opposition. The player of the season, Gregg Spooner, was one of the quality defenders who stuck to their job rigidly and helped to play the passing game that the team are so good at. Oliver Rudge and Alex Grant worked tirelessly in the midfield to gain posession and Elliott Moxey and Sim Gill both dominated in defence. The season saw the team go unbeaten with some convincing wins against Denstone and The Royal. Well done lads a great season. Mr M Jackson
Under 15s Football Team
illness of our usual keeper George Harvey. Harvinder kept a clean sheet and was in no small part instrumental in the early stages of the game, saving chances that could have given the opposition hope. Special mention too must also go to Robert Budgen who played an excellent game at left fullback. Jacob Elcock came on as substitute to do the same job just as well for the last 20 minutes. Jake McGoldrick, as usual, was the marshal of the defence and with Daniel Jones formed a great linking partnership between the right side midfield. Overall the game boded well for the future. Unfortunately the initial optimism did not lead to further victories in the subsequent matches against St Edmund’s and a return fixture against The Royal. Although weakened by absence, the core of the team was the
same, but they were unable to operate together and indiscipline gave away vital free kicks and a penalty despite the heroic return of George Harvey in goal and the inclusion of keen Year 7 players like Tom Lawton, Joshua Hill- Harding and Mufaro Katakwa. Nevertheless the potential for this team to succeed as they go through the school was clear to see in the first fixture. I wish them well next year. G J Raine
Under 13s Football Team
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Upper School LADIES HOCKEY 1st XI Some disappointing results marked the season for the first team and the harsh winter devastated the fixture card. We played the usual opponents including Wrekin College, Denstone, Newcastle and, despite some heroic efforts, were unable to record a winning score. Snow forced the cancellation of matches against Abbotsholme and Stafford Grammar. Kelly Paterson was the leading goal scorer and she also proved herself to be an inspirational captain. Both she and Faye Paterson have always given one hundred percent in their performances and I wish them every success for the future.
Under 14 The season started very well for the Under 14s with a convincing win against St Dominic’s. Courtney Hawkins scored 3 goals and the outlook was good. Unfortunately, such consistency was difficult to maintain and we were beaten convincingly against other more able teams including Chase Academy and Stafford. Nevertheless, there were some good individual performances this year from Kiranpreet Rai, Jessica Morris and Grace Birch-Bastock with Olivia Nash captaining the team with enthusiasm. Under 12/13 Some very promising players are emerging within the younger year groups including Natsumi Suganuma, Ella Cox, Catherine Wickens and Charlotte Jones. The girls enjoyed some friendly fixtures against Wolverhampton Grammar and St Dominic’s where they were able to demonstrate their developing skills and enjoy the game at a more competitive level. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable season and, as usual, my thanks go to Mr Trump, Mr Higgs and Mrs Taylor for their continued help and support. Mrs A J Nash
1st XI Hockey Team
Under 15s A particularly successful season for the Under 15s this year was marked by their progress through the U16 Girls’ National Finals. The preliminary County tournament at the end of September was won convincingly by the girls, who were very ably captained by Charlotte Perry, vice-captained by Vicky Kibble and coached by myself and a very enthusiastic Mrs Taylor! There were some excellent individual performances by Chloe McIntosh and Sophie Jones, with Elsa Boessner also dominating the midfield. The girls went on to progress to the Midlands round, where the competition became increasingly tough. Schools including Trent College, Uppingham, King’s Worcester and Arden were formidable opponents and sadly, Tettenhall came third. Nevertheless, it was a pleasure to see our girls enjoy success and to witness individual progress as well as developing a good team spirit. The Under 15s enjoyed other notable
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successes this season against Wolverhampton Grammar (win 7-0), Oswestry (win 7-1), Abbotsholme (win 7-0). We were, however, less successful against other teams including Stafford Grammar who forced the win (2-1). Next season’s first team will benefit from having a wealth of talent from which to pick a squad!
Under 14s Hockey Team
Under 16s Hockey Team
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Upper School NETBALL Tournaments The City tournament took place in October 2009 for the U14 and U15 age-group. Two teams from Tettenhall took part. Both teams looking very smart in their new playing kit. Under 14 In the U14 competition, the squad played six short matches in the first round, winning two, drawing two and losing two. Unfortunately, they did not make the semi-finals. However, all the girls played hard and are to be congratulated for their efforts.
Under 15 team players: Aimee Fisher, Eloise Hammond, Sophie Jones, Vicky Kibble, Lauren Lovell, Chloe McIntosh, Charlotte Perry and Ekta Saini.
Under 13 The Under 13 tournament was played in March 2010. The team found this a tough competition. The girls played four matches. They lost two, drew one and won one. So even though they found it tough the results indicated otherwise. The points were not enough to qualify them for a place in the semi-finals. However, the team enjoyed the competition. Under 13 team players: Hanisha Cheema, Ella Cox, Chloe Fisher, Charlotte Holden, Charlotte Jones, Savreena Kaur (capt), Natsumi Suganuma and Catherine Wickens.
Under 14 team players: Grace Birch-Bastock, Laura Burke, Harriet Dodd, Courtney Hawkins, Monica Kumari, Rebecca Mitchell, Olivia Nash, Kiranpreet Rai, Laura Saul and Rachael Whalen. Under 15 The Under 15 team were also confident as they took to the court in their first round. They looked quite the part in their new ‘dresses’ and they produced excellent netball against their five opponents. They won five of their six games and drew one. This brought them in enough points to take them through to the semi-finals where they met and beat St Chad’s 10-5. In the final, they met old rivals and friends WGS. It was a close and hard fought match with the game going to extra time twice! This put both teams under much pressure and, with the fading light, it made it tough. However, with great speed up the court from the attack, superb defending and two amazing goals from Aimee Fisher and Charlotte Perry in the closing minute, all efforts clinched a well earned victory for the team! The girls are Under 15 Tournament Champions and received individual trophies and a cup.
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Under 13s Hockey Team
NETBALL LEAGUES The school continues to be successful in this sport and, at U15 level hold the title of Wolverhampton Tournament champions. Seven teams took part in competitive matches from Under 13 to Under 18, including two teams at Under15 level and two from the Sixth Form. The girls are very enthusiastic about representing their school and feel very proud if they are selected to play. As their teacher that pleases me! To work alongside enthusiasm is wonderful. The girls continue to support and participate at high levels. Sport plays an important role in school and it is in the extended curriculum where pupils learn other values such as team work, leadership and discipline. The number of girls extending their interest by representing local clubs continues to grow and we have representatives at elite level in South Staffordshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands. These players play regularly mid-week and at the weekends in regional leagues and county squads. Our school teams compete very well alongside large comprehensive schools and local independent establishments, at times, achieving worthy results. This season those teams have represented the school, playing over 50 fixtures, whether in matches in tournaments or leagues. The captains have written their season match reports.
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Upper School Pupils’ Reports Under 12 I really enjoyed playing Netball in Year 6 and now I’m just finished Year 7 I have enjoyed it even more. At first I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it was going to be very difficult as we joined Year 8 for games. They all seemed to have more experience than I. I was wrong. I had nothing to fear. When we played with the Year 8s for the first time I saw that they were skilful and moved the ball quickly around the court. I enjoyed this. It made us all work harder and we all looked forward to our games lessons. I was surprised when Mrs Taylor picked me to be in the U13 squad. When I played my first match I was quite nervous but everyone helped me and encouraged me, particularly Savreena, the captain. I felt honoured that some of us were playing alongside the Year 8s but it was a good way to learn. I have now played in several matches and tournaments either as Goal Attack or as Goal Shooter. I really enjoy this position even though you are under pressure to score goals and when you miss you feel that you are letting the team down. I am trying to perfect my shot so that I score more than I miss! Mrs Taylor is always teaching us new tricks and skills. Every week she comes up with another way of getting the ball in or out of the circle or how we can lose our partners or how we can work the ball up the court. All of this helps us to win matches. We like to catch the opponents out! We have all bonded and next year it will be my turn to help the younger ones. I am looking forward to the challenge! Chloe Fisher (Year 7 player and representative) Under 13 This season we have played a number of fixtures and tournaments as well as playing regularly against the Year 7s in our games lessons. We have definitely become more confident applying more technique and accuracy to our game. We feel we have really got the ‘gist’ of the game now, whereas last year we struggled a little. Mrs Taylor always supports us and tells us to believe in ourselves. By doing this we will achieve and play much better. In March, Mrs Taylor took a group of players to Wolverhampton University to watch a ‘Superleague’ game. This was between Loughborough Lightning and Celtic Dragons. These players are
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elite performers and many of the squad represent England. This was one of our best experiences of the season. They were fast and skilful and we all enjoyed the games, hoping that one day if we worked hard we might play like them. They are role models of the game and it’s always good to have a good role model to look up to in sport. We watched all their drills and shooting practices. We took in all the information and practised hard to shoot, pass and defend in the same way. With this inspiration we came back to school and after a few weeks felt we had improved. It was then that Mrs Taylor entered us in the City Tournament. We were very excited as this was to be our first tournament. We held our heads high and worked very hard and were keen to prove to ourselves that all the practice, time and effort would hopefully pay off. We didn’t win the tournament but we didn’t come last either. We did work hard and won two of the games but lost to Heath Park and St Chad’s. The highlights of our league matches were beating Wolverhampton Grammar ‘B’ 8-5 and Deansfield 10-5. We also drew with St Dominic’s 10-10. That was a very exciting game with the scores going goal for goal. We know we have a lot of work to do and it’s sad when members of the team leave to go to other schools but we will continue to stick it out together and hopefully win more matches next season. I would like to thank all my team-mates for working hard and congratulations to Charlotte Jones for winning Player of the Year. Savreena Kaur (Captain/Year 8)
Under 14 This year all of my year group have been involved by playing Netball in some way or another. Whether it be in lessons, House matches or school fixtures. We have all played our part. This year the team underwent some changes. Some players had left to go to other schools and we welcomed new players into the team. Jessica Morris, our newest member has been extremely valuable. Jessica plays in defence and is a very good player. She has fitted in very well. The rest of our team are very adaptable and I feel that this year we have really come together as a team. Most of our training is done in lessons and we have gone from strength to strength. We have worked hard and learnt new tactics and strategies for winning. We have beaten St Dominic’s ‘B’ team, won various league matches and played in a tournament but most of all we have come together as a team. We would never have been able to win matches if we didn’t pull together and work as a team and tried our hardest. I really enjoy netball and I know the rest of my team-mates do as well. This season has been a challenge but I’m really looking forward to putting on my Netball bib again and getting back to the court. Mrs Taylor was a huge help to us in training by showing us good techniques and moves to do throughout the season. Mrs Stone helped too by umpiring some of our matches. I want to say as Captain, on behalf of my fellow team mates, thankyou. Roll on next season I can’t wait! Courtney Hawkins (Captain Year 9)
Under 14s Netball TEam
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Upper School Under 15 2010! Yet another successful year for the two teams in Year 10. However, this wouldn’t have been so if it wasn’t for the levels of commitment from all the players. They are there for every training session giving one hundred and ten percent. At practices we develop skills and strategies that help us win matches led by our coach Mrs. Taylor. She is enthusiastic and she encourages each and everyone to succeed to their full potential. She is one of the main reasons that we are so successful. The teams have a tremendous bond and nothing can get them down. We are always smiling and enjoy every second of netball which we play. This season in both the league and the tournament my fantastic team has been incredible. We only lost one match! That is an amazing achievement on its own. The first of our matches was very high scoring and the success continued through out the league when we won our final match 17-11 against Wolverhampton Grammar School. This result took us through to the final where we played them again. Unfortunately for us they were the better team on the day and to our disappointment we came second in the City League. I have to say though we always have great matches with the Grammar. We are old rivals and both teams play hard against each other. Our tournament was a different story. All our parents watched and their heart beats couldn’t have gone faster, it was that tense an afternoon. In some matches we managed to Under 15 B This team worked very hard during the season playing a series of friendly matches. They had highs and lows but through hard work, practice and determination they all improved their ability. Throughout the season the players used effective court linkage to send the ball into the attacking third and into the shooters. Rachel Lawton(GA), and Jade Sahni(GS) both scored some tremendous and memorable goals. In centre court there was good linkage between attack and defence by Isabella Fisher(C), Ai Kato(WA), Radhica Ohri (Wd) and Faye Bradley(WD). We had a very strong and stable defence
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score more than a goal a minute (what a statistic to have). Our goal keeper Ekta Saini and our goal defence Chloe McIntosh came up with some goal saving interceptions and some brilliant court linkage through to our wing defences Sophie Jones and Lauren Lovell. They in turn fed the ball brilliantly through to centre Vicky Kibble and wing Ellie Hammond who got the ball into the shooters Charlotte Perry and Aimee Fisher. Support came from Jade Sahni and her shouts of ‘witch’s hat’ ( a little picture of a hat in the mind helps the shooters to lift the ball to gain height for the shot) encouraged the shooters to have the confidence to shoot from any where in the circle and resulted in amazing goals. After beating all of the teams in our group we went into the final which was a very closely fought battle against Wolverhampton Grammar school. It was so close that we were drawing 6 goals all at full time; we had to play extra time. Could you believe it at the end of the first half of the extra time it was 8 all with no clear winner. Neck to neck in the second half as the score crept up. Nine all! Ten all! Would this ever end? Then the final whistle went. That meant we were equal and had to do the dreaded ‘golden goal’. Concentration, a perfect shot, and we were the proud, relieved winners of the City Tournament. After this victory we were told that we qualified to represent Wolverhampton in the city tournament in November 2010, and we hope to succeed further in this competition. Victoria Kibble (Under 15 Captain
in Navpreet Aujlay(GK) and Laura Saul(GD). They formed an excellent alliance and prevented many more goals from being scored. We played matches against St Dominic’s, Coppice, Heath Park and Our Lady and St Chad’s, Codsall, and Wolverhampton Girls’ High. Some we won and some we lost! Next year is another year! I’m sure there will be plenty more success and more evidence of strong team work. Every player has their own skills that they contribute and bring to the overall success of this team. Mrs J.L.Taylor
Under 18 ‘A’ team
When I arrived at Tettenhall College in Year 5 I wouldn’t have classed myself as the ‘sporty’ type. However, all the PE and Games lessons that I have had over the years have developed my sporting skills and made me into someone who is enthusiastic about physical activity. Any sport or active recreation is not only good for you for one thing, but it also gives you a break from academic work. It helps you to develop life-skills like leadership and self-discipline and you meet people too. I have met lots of people through my sports and now they remain my friends. Our teacher, Mrs Taylor must have seen the potential in my sister Kelly and I because she pushed us to work hard. As I grew, I started to excel in sports but particularly in Netball. I improved my footwork and ball-skills and eventually I was picked for the squad. Playing Netball at school encouraged me in Year 7 to join a club called Molineux, which was then based at the school. I also went for trials for South Staffordshire and got in and played County fixtures. Playing Netball throughout my school years and becoming captain this year has helped me, not only to improve myself, but to listen to others and teach me how to be a good leader. The thing I enjoy most about Netball at Tettenhall is the mixture of age-groups within the first team. It allows you to build strong friendships with people. There have been many changes to our team over the years. Players have come and gone but the competition has remained the same. Striving to win! I am going to continue to play Netball at university next year and would like to thank Mrs Taylor for giving us players the chance to represent the school during our sixth form years and for me particularly. Under 18 team players: Louise Coxhead, Lauren Hall, Faye Paterson (cpt), Kelly Paterson, Niki Smith, Georgina Spooner, Charlotte Whyle and Kathryn Whyle. Faye Paterson (cpt)
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Upper School U18 ‘B’ team
Due to the fact that Netball is a popular sport amongst the girls at the college it wasn’t surprising that the sixth form this year could field two teams. I was thrilled to be made captain along with Emma Taylor and together we helped with team decisions and selection. Our team played several matches. Of course we wanted to win but we were happy to play for recreation and not play teams in a league table. At the start of the season, despite trying hard, we were unable to win any matches. It took us quite a while to get into our stride. Mrs Taylor was extremely patient with us and never gave up on us. We worked on court linkage quite a lot. This is the way players get the ball down to the shooters. The timing of a player to move away from their opponent is vital. This helps a team to win! If you can time the move and make an accurate pass then you have just as much chance as teams that may be better than you or who are taller than you. We worked on this and also our defence in the circle and our shooting. Emma and Danni and Holly too all shot really well during the season. It’s quite a pressure, particularly when the scores are close. As the season went on, we worked better together and were able to beat friendly Girls’ High and Grammar teams. These were highly competitive and we didn’t want to lose. In both games it was goal for goal! Having played Netball since Year 3 I was very happy to be the captain and able to have the responsibility of making important decisions in the games. I am very grateful to Mrs Taylor for all her support throughout our years of Netball. She encouraged me to persevere when things got hard and when I got unenthusiastic about sport! I am thankful to her for believing in me and I have loved being the captain. Thanks Mrs T! Under 18 ‘B’ team players: Jasmine Nash, Tamara Pickstock, Parminder Rai, Megan Schubert (cpt), Georgina Spooner, Emma Taylor (vice-cpt) Danielle Watts, Holly Winwood and Stephanie Williams. Megan Schubert (cpt)
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Club Netball It’s great to see so many girls from a variety of year groups playing Netball outside of school. Tettenhall College has links with several clubs in Dudley, Wolverhampton and Shropshire. These clubs are used by the girls depending, of course, where they live. It is also good to hear that players are achieving performance awards from within their clubs. Any pupil who wishes to take their game to another level is encouraged to join a club. If any further information is required please contact me through the school. Staffordshire Academy Congratulations go to Victoria Kibble who was successful in being selected for the U16 Staffordshire Academy. Sixty-one players attended the trials with a group of 14 getting chosen. Victoria currently plays for ‘Tibberton Star’ based in Shropshire. 1ST Team Squad v The Old Tettenhallians
This year the annual fixture was held on 13th June. The weather was fantastic! Sunny, warm but not too hot! The game took place on the junior playground and we had lots of spectators which was indeed a treat! The U18 team plus a few players from other teams took on a talented group of Old Tettenhallians. The match took just over an hour to play. It was a fast, high scoring and very entertaining game and in the end a victory to the school squad. I was impressed with the level of fitness and skills of the O.T. team captained by Fiona Taylor. The result was excellent, with all playing a high level of netball. Old Tettenhallians team players: Janine Andrews, Jodie Anson, Stephanie Bagnoli, Kelly Cartwright, Katie Cork, Catherine Gough and Fiona Taylor (cpt). School team players: Louise Coxhead, Lauren Hall, Eloise Hammond, Sophie Jones, Lauren Lovell, Victoria Kibble, Chloe McIntosh, Faye and Kelly Paterson, Charlotte Perry, Niki Smith, Georgina Spooner. The team award ‘The John Dale Memorial Trophy’ this year was won by a triumphant school team 30-16 and the ‘Players Player’ was awarded to Catherine Gough from the O.T.s. Catherine is always supportive of these matches, is a great sport and well deserves this award. Congratulations! Mrs J.L.Taylor House Netball Juniors (Year 7 & 8) 1st HAYDON 2nd Nicholson 3rd Pearson 4th Bantock
Seniors (Year 9 - 6th Form) 1st HAYDON 2nd Pearson 3rd Nicholson 4th Bantock
Overall Winners 2010 HAYDON
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Upper School ROUNDERS This year all girls have shown a great interest in this game. In lessons, the groups worked on developing their skills, learning tactics and strategies and putting a games plan into operation. The girls have become very talented. We played four competitive fixtures against St Dominic’s, Brewood. Year 6s - won 9-6, Year 7/8s - lost 12-5 Year 9s - won 13-7 Year 10s - won 11-10. All were closely fought matches which the girls really enjoyed. Mrs J.L.Taylor
Under 12s
Under 13s
RUGBY 1st XV This year the 1st XV have enjoyed a positive set of results, 12 games have resulted in 7 victories and 5 losses. However, the 5 losses were to very respectable and often rugby dedicated schools. We started the season well, with a close fought battle against Wolverhampton Grammar School, soon realising that they were an improved side from previous years. We also ended the season strongly with great victories over Stafford Grammar and Oldswinford. The addition of new players coming up from the lower years provided the forwards with a strong base; although the players coming through were young, they were packed full of talent and far from inexperienced, with James Taylor and Alex Kibble providing stable bases at the line out and scrums, it meant the likes of Calum Green, Josh Thornton and Tony Wong could excel in their positions and not worry about shepherding the younger players around the field, this resulted in a very efficient pack. With many of the tries this year coming from the forwards. With the pack performing at its best it meant the backs had the clean and fast ball they needed in order to score tries, and they did not disappoint! Thomas Schubert used his upper body strength to his advantage in the centre, breaking through defences to score on many occasions. Richard Kimberlin led by example in defence and often adopted a Lewis Moody style of 100% commitment and dedication to his role. Although Richard was fairly inexperienced this was a not a problem, as he excelled in every position he played in. Great performances from all the backs resulted in some spectacular tries and deservedly too! However without the strong base from the pack, the backs would have been unable to perform at their best. The team this year had some great results and it was all down to the fact we played for each other and not as individuals.
International Honours
Oli Pemberton Year 8 Oli has gained 2 International Caps for England Prep Schools Barbarians; He has also played for Staffordshire U14 and U13 and is a member of Leicester Tigers EPDG U14, Tettenhall College U14, and U13. For England, Oli played against Campbell College and Sullivan School. He scored two tries in both matches, and was subsequently given man of the match in the second game.
Tony Wong Year 13 Tony has also gained 2 International Caps for Hong Kong whilst they were on tour to Taiwan. This is a tremendous achieve to gain a full international cap for his country at just 18 years of age!
Under 14s
Under 15s 1st and 2nds Rugby Team
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Upper School Rugby Tour This year we had the chance to celebrate a successful season with the addition of the tour to Oxford. We went down on the Friday morning and arrived at our hotel, with spare time the squad decided to check out the hotel’s facilities with the majority of the lads going swimming, or enjoying a short gym session. Later that night we went bowling, which was a great success and provided the squad with a chance to chill out and prepare for the game the following day; we played early on the Saturday morning against Mr Jackson’s old school; Cokethorpe. Unfortunately we lost, but not without a fight. After the game we made our way to Welford Road where we watched Leicester Tigers beat London Irish. Awards During the tour Mr Bullock found time to award the players who had really stood out this season: Coaches’ Player: Tony Wong/Chris Perry Players’ Player: Chris Perry Best Newcomer: Jamie Robinson Most Improved: Harpinder Singh I’d like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the squad and myself to thank Mr Dyer for his work in organising the backs and Mr Jackson who helped with the organisation of the Oxford tour; my Dad for his awesome and never ending support; But most of all, Mr Bullock for his complete dedication to the squad, without which, we would have not been anywhere near as successful. For me personally it’s been an absolute pleasure to receive such a high level of coaching. Thank you very much! Chris Perry 1st XV captain Under 13s This season has certainly seen the Under 13s develop as rugby players, which has been due to the fact that we have had a lot of boys come through from Year 6 and 7 who have had a good deal of rugby experience, which has meant that myself and Mr Jackson have been able to work on the more complex dynamics of the game. We have played 12 fixtures at Under 13 and Under 12 level winning 6 and losing 6. In each game we have looked better and better which bodes very well for next year as the boys move up an age group. My two most memorable games, were when we played Old Swinford Hospital School, which is where Mr Petfield, who
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Tettenhall College Rugby Tour 2010 35 boys went on a fantastic over night rugby trip to Oxford, to play against Mr Jackson’s old school - Cokethorpe; unfortunately we lost, but every tourist played in the match, producing a very entertaining game, which turned out to be quite close with a couple of chances at the end of us stealing victory. From there we went to watch a Premiership game at Leicester Tigers as they took on London Irish.
helped coach the Under 13s last year, is now plying his trade with their Under 13 Bs, so as you could imagine our boys were well up for the challenge! Unfortunately we lost both games by one score; against a school of Old Swinford size this was some feat! However, the games did prove to be the best games of the season when we looked like a complete team with the forwards and backs linking with each other and we demonstrated aggression and organisation in the contact area. The players who have really stood out this year for myself and Mr Jackson from Year 7 have been: James Alder, James Hawkins, Josh Hill-Harding and Sam Squire who have attended every training session and put their heart and soul into improving. From the year 8s the boys who have lead the team from the front were: Jacob McGoldrick, George Harvey, Callum McConnell and Oli Pemberton, who deserves special congratulations on gaining his England Cap, well done! A great year from all the boys who have represented the School. I look forward to you all developing and improving next year. Mr Bullock.
U15s The U15s had a very challenging season. Their flare and ability in attack was equalled with their vulnerability in defence. The team narrowly lost games in the last minutes of the match due to individual mistakes. However as the season progressed the team also progressed. The forwards unit began to ruck in numbers, carrying the ball well and supporting the attack. The backs had tremendous pace and agility, but lacked some power, this meant a quick passing game was needed, very difficult at times with the winter weather. Elliott Moxey showed the team how to play with some powerful displays at number 8. He has great potential for the future; he was well supported by Joshua Hill. Thomas Kimberlin was consistent at scrum half, Harry Jones was electric in attack and really progressed well through the season. Alex Grant, when available to play, was tremendous, he was untouchable in attack and unbeatable in defence. The whole squad deserve congratulations for their persistence and determination during a difficult season. Mr M Jackson
Under 13s Rugby Team
Under 15s Rugby Team
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Upper School SWIMMING
TENNIS
House Swimming Championships 2010 1st – PEARSON 2nd – Haydon 3rd – Bantock 4th – Nicholson
City League Competitions (2009-2010) Two teams were entered into the competition this year. The U15s played two matches. The first match was against Wolverhampton Grammar which the team won 4-2 and the second against Wolverhampton Girls’ High which they lost 5-1. The U13s played just the one fixture which they won 5-1. This was in the friendly league, although still competitive! They played against Wolverhampton Girls’ High. Both sets of doubles were won and the team only dropped one set of singles. Both Year 6 girls won their singles matches. Mrs J.L.Taylor
Individual Championship Winners Year 7 Girls - Chloe Fisher (P) Junior Boys - James Hawkins (B) Junior Girls - Natsumi Suganuma (P) Intermediate Boys - Joesph Kinsell (P) Intermediate Girls - Laura Burke (P) Senior Boys - No Competition Senior Girls - Harriet Hommers (B) J.L.Taylor
Under 15 team players: Harriet Dodd, Isabella Fisher, Eloise Hammond, Sophie Jones, Victoria Kibble, Rebecca Mitchell, Charlotte Perry and Jade Sahni.
Under 13 team players: Charlotte Holden, Natsumi Suganuma, Madison Jones and Grace Pugh. Congratulations to Madison and Grace (Year 6) who are both from Lower School and performed excellently!
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Upper School Cross Curricular Days
Students begin to write graffiti on the wall
BERLIN Prior to Friday the 13th November everyone from Tettenhall College, (Reception to 6th Form) were invited to contribute a brick to our Berlin Wall Day. One side of the box was to be dull and lifeless and the other side brightly decorated. Each pupil added a design using names, images and words like ‘peace, no war and one world’. On the morning of the 13th and without anyone knowing, the Year 8 pupils constructed a 12 foot wall. The graffiti and brightly coloured sides to the boxes represented The West, whilst the duller side faced Soviet East Berlin. This was our Checkpoint Charlie! Year 8 then got into appropriate dress from the era, and got ready to man the wall, in order to prevent the rest of the school accessing lunch without the presentation of an official pass. Everyone had a different job; from the Stasi giving out defector stickers, to those seen as deviant; to civilians on the West Side giving out balloons to the Drive and Lower School! Custom officials stamped passes that had been authentically reproduced for every pupil in the school. The money raised from the sale of these passes raised £332 for the charity ‘Children of Peace’, an organisation working with the youth of Palestine and Israel. Max Porter shouted instructions down the megaphone, Zak Pugh menaced people with Alex Poile’s Alsatian. Posters around the site alerted everyone that Mr. Dyer and Dr. Mottershead should be arrested
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on site for attempts to defect. Mr Dyer was caught and cautioned before being allowed to proceed to the dining room where a German menu had been prepared by Sonia Humphries and her team. Year 7 created banners with Mr. Raine in order to protest at the foot of the wall. Different phrases such as ‘Down with the Wall’ were chanted. When lunch break was over Year 8 demolished the Wall. They did an excellent job of flatpacking the boxes, so you couldn’t tell the huge wall had ever been there! There were also numerous extracurricular lessons on the Berlin Wall throughout the day. Catherine Wickens (Year 8), co-ordinated by Mr. Leighton.
Tom Lawton and Year 7s demonstrate in front of the Berlin Wall
George Harvey checking Alex Owen’s pass at The Berlin Wall.
Year 8 Max Porter and Jacob Elcock acting out in front of The Berlin Wall.
Mr Dyer has been arrested for defecting
Year 8 students and catering staff during the celebration of the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
Danile Toney, Year 8, patrols the wall as an East German police office.
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Upper School Thinking and Learning Day Thursday 8th July saw Thinking and Learning Day as a part of the end of term activities. This was a whole Upper School event in which students participated in team building cross curricular activities based upon the idea of a fictional mysterious disappearance.
Constructing a photofit of the suspect.
Students attempt to question Deidre the tea lady
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The day started with chapel during which time the school was briefed that Mr Brian Wilson, the director for a local amateur dramatics group, the Tettenhall Players had mysteriously disappeared during the course of rehearsals for the Tettenhall Players’ latest production, ‘Murder in the Mansion’. The play had of course been cancelled and the students were informed that after making preliminary enquiries the police had asked for the help of Tettenhall College students in further investigating who had made Brian disappear, why they had wanted him to disappear and where they were keeping him. Students had previously been assigned to teams and provided with a member of the lower sixth as their team leader. Twelve teams now proceded to undertake activities across the school aimed at either allowing them to identify possible suspects, isolate the motive or earn clues to solve the mystery of where Brian was being kept. Whilst identifying suspects students scrutinised police notebooks to draw up a list of those Tettenhall Players most likely to be involved. Students were able to narrow their field of suspects through identifying DNA samples and matching them to the DNA profiles of various
Tettenhall Players. The teams were able to ascertain that two of the Tettenhall Players were working together after decoding a secret message and finally to create a photofit from reading police witness statements which they then compared to photographs of the Tettenhall Players on the TPs’ website. Armed with all this information, students had a pretty good idea as to who had made Brian disappear, but not why. When seeking to isolate the motive students discovered an affair between Brian and his leading lady; they also undertook to interview Deidre the tea lady, who, although an absolute gossip, might, with persistent questioning have told them which two people particularly objected to Brian’s part in the love affair. With careful reading of James Porter’s blog the teams were able to discover that as the author of the play he too had a reason to feel a grievance towards Brian. Motives continued to fall thick and fast with students realising that both Hamish Pentley and Digby Trotter objected to Brian’s plans to extend the Tettenhall Civic Centre; whilst Donna Smith’s mobile phone mistake caused the teams to realise that she resented Brian for not giving her the lead role.
Piecing together a blackmail letter
Reading through James Porter’s blog
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Upper School Having isolated several reasons for various members of the Tettenhall Players wishing to make Brian disappear teams were able to choose the right motive by matching their findings to the suspect /s they had identified as most likely to be responsible. But they still didn’t know where Brian was being kept. The final stage of each team’s investigation was to complete four stand alone activities that simply earned the team clues in order to identify the place where Brian was hidden. These activities included a ‘what is in the box?’ questioning game, lateral thinking puzzles, an information finding challenge in the Library and a blindfolded physical and communication challenge in the sports hall. Four clues (where earned) were awarded to the teams in their final debrief session. Thinking and Learning day promoted team work because teams were organised vertically from across the age groups worked with the sixth formers who were able to practise their leadership skills through their guidance and support of their teams during the course of the day. Teams were not only conducting an investigation but were also marked for their teamwork throughout the day by those staff running various activities and therefore students were encouraged to work together. The day also promoted team work because each team was subdivided into two and split between activities throughout the course of the day; only by talking as a whole team during the end of day debrief could the team put all its clues together and solve the investigation. Then followed a quick scramble to fill in their worksheet, solve the clues regarding the location of Brian and to check that their clue solving was correct.
The day ended with a final chapel where the solution to the investigation was announced; it was Digby Trotter and Hamish Pentley working together of course, Digby a councillor with a seat on the planning approval committee, was being blackmailed by Brian into pushing through an agreement for his plans to extend the Tettenhall Civil Centre. Hamish Pentley, the caretake of the Civic Centre, couldn’t bear the thought of it being altered and so they had joined forces. They’d arranged for Brian’s disappearance and had hidden him in the games storage shed opposite the first XI cricket pitch. Various students had earned praise during the day and were recognised during this final session; several sixth formers had proven themselves strong leaders during the course of day and were awarded individual prizes. Ultimately congratulations lay with the Tigers, led by Jordan Hill, who won the day through a combination of solving the investigation and showing excellent teamwork. My thanks goes to all those members of staff who worked hard both during the day and in the run up to the day to make Thinking and Learning Day such a success. Adelysia Jarman Head of History and Law
Blindfolded communication challenge
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Upper School Sixth Form The Sixth Form here at Tettenhall College is an extremely vibrant and multicultural community. We endeavour to provide a variety of challenges and opportunities for all pupils and this is achieved via a combination of academic work and a continuous programme of enrichment, induction and social events. It is thanks to the enthusiasm of the pupils and the hard work and support of the staff here at TC that pupils are encouraged to enjoy new experiences and develop their interests and opinions. Numerous leadership opportunities are available to sixth form pupils. The well-established Peer Mentoring Scheme continues to thrive with several members from both year groups completing their training this year. Much interest is also evident amongst the new Year 12 intake ensuring that the scheme, which encourages sixth form pupils to take on the role of mentor to other pupils in the school, will continue to go from strength to strength.
Year 13 As always Year 13 have taken on the role of school prefects, led very effectively by the Leadership Team. These pupils have provided an excellent support for staff in a variety of guises from daily duties to supervising pupils in activities as well as representing the school during numerous public functions including Prizegiving and Open Days. The wonderful early Summer weather offered an excellent opportunity to thank these pupils for their hard work. In late May, hot on the heels of the annual ‘Leavers’ Lunch’, we shepherded them all down onto the bottom pitches for their final afternoon together. A bouncy castle, a cricket match, some sunbathing and 50 choc ices later, we had well and truly rounded off the year in style and let off some steam before the rigours of study leave began!
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Year 12 Preparation for University With Year 13 in the throes of A2 examinations, Year 12 embarked upon their programme of training and induction into the Upper Sixth; this began with a tailored visit to the University of Birmingham. Presentations on personal statement writing, the UCAS process and student finance equipped the pupils with a bank of knowledge from which to begin their own application under the guidance of their personal tutors. A second visit to Birmingham, this time to the annual UCAS University Higher Education Fair, provided an excellent opportunity for the pupils to gather information from a whole host of universities and to ask questions about specific courses. This vital information ensures that the new Year 13 pupils are able to complete their UCAS applications to a high standard.
Leadership Training As Year 12 prepared to take on their role as school leaders, a variety of exciting activities and challenges encouraged them to develop their teamwork, leadership and communication skills. The Royal Marines put us through our paces as they delivered an action packed day of physical and mental challenges. It was really enlightening to see the group dynamics as the pupils entered into the spirit of things, diffusing ‘bombs’, building highly complex egg-catching devices, untangling ‘impossible’ human knots and racing against each other on giant skis. The strengths of individuals quickly came to the fore and the pupils learnt a great deal about listening, teamwork and communication with clear leaders emerging from a variety of different peer groups. Year 12’s excellent leadership skills were once again put to good use in the Learning and Thinking Day which took place at the end of the Summer term. This excellent full-day event saw Year 12 organising and leading their groups of Panthers, Tigers, Swordfish and other creatures through a series of activities and challenges in order to solve the mystery of the missing ‘Tettenhall Player’. It was a great day and an excellent opportunity for the Sixth Form to take on further roles of responsibility.
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Upper School Year 11 Induction Programme The Year 11 induction programme gives prospective sixth formers the chance to take part in a selection of sixth form lessons and speak informally with their teachers about their AS and A2 level study. This half day session was followed by a visit to the adrenalinpumping ‘Closer to the Edge Aerial Ropes Adventure’ at Baggeridge Country Park for a day of personal and team challenges, all at an altitude of roughly 45 feet! Several zip wires, totem poles and high rise obstacle courses later, the pupils were treated to an impromptu barbecue before heading off home slightly dishevelled, very tired but contentedly full of burgers, sausages and personal success.
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Summer Ball The highlight of this year’s social calendar was the long awaited Sixth Form Summer Ball which took place at the Connaught Hotel. This was an excellent opportunity to say ‘bon voyage’ to the leavers and to wind down after the challenges of AS and A2 examinations. Needless to say the ball was a huge success, it was an extremely happy occasion full of dancing, a plentiful hot and cold buffet and more dancing. A huge thank you to Mr Dyer for his hard work in organising such an enjoyable event and also to Joe Tanton and Holly Winwood for helping to set up beforehand. So with the passing of another academic year it was necessary of course to say farewell to various people – both pupils and teachers. This year several pupils leave us after being at school for most, if not all, of their school careers and the end of term marked both a happy and a very sad milestone. However, as one unknown author once said ‘If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies’, so we therefore wish Year 13 all the very best in the challenges that lie ahead of them next year and beyond. Farewell also to Dr. Bodkin and to Dr. Mottershead, who has been a record holding personal tutor for many years, and a special thank you to the prefects, the Leadership Team, Head Prefect Joshua Thornton, and Deputy Head Prefect - Faye Paterson, for their help and support throughout the year. It is au revoir also to Mr Andrew Dyer who leaves Tettenhall College for a new position in September. As assistant head of year, personal tutor, teacher of maths, compère extraordinaire, chief ball co–coordinator, master of the clipboard and Shakespearian Bottom, Mr Dyer has devoted much time and energy to helping make the Sixth Form and the School as a whole an exciting and challenging place to be and I am extremely grateful for all his support, his sense of humour and his three dimensional approach to tackling problems! So, as we look forward to a year of change with the new cohort of Year Twelve pupils, a new leadership team and head prefects, a new headmaster and several new faces amongst the staff and pupils, we wish ‘Good Luck’ to all of our leavers in whatever the future holds. M. D. Uttley
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Upper School House Reports Bantock House House Staff: S Lawrence, P.E.Evans, J Higgs,V O’Neill, G Raine, J Taylor House Captains: Rebecca Martin, Calum Green I would like to take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to House Captains, Rebecca Martin and Calum Green. As a result of their hard work, dedication and encouragement Bantock has continued to improve and came 2nd in the House Competition which is, it has to be said, our best result for many years. I hope we can all take inspiration and continue to be motivated to work hard to win the House Competition next year. I am pleased that we won the Work element of the House Competition in each of the three terms. We came 2nd in the games, having won swimming and coming equal first in rugby and soccer. There is room for improvement in Athletics, Netball and Hockey so we can look forward to taking 1st place in games next year.
Our Achilles heel has always been in the Culture section of the competition. We came 2nd in Music but only 3rd in Performing Arts and Art. Clearly if we can improve our ‘performances’ (no pun intended) in this area we could be strong contenders in the House Competition next year. Coming 2nd in the House Competition is an excellent result this year, as we struggle with team games; not because we lack talented people but, because in some year groups we still have a shortage of girls, which makes fielding a team difficult or virtually impossible! We have 9 Intermediate and only 5 Senior and Junior girls. I believe the House Competition is mainly about the taking part and I hope in the future we continue to strive
to participate in events. It is being involved, making the effort, taking the time to be a competitor and practising to complete tasks that make us winners. Having said that, we all like the kudos of being a winner, and with continued dedication and enthusiasm we can win the House Competition next year. So to finish, many thanks to all students who represented the House this year and particularly to all who took part in the many events on offer in the many and varied competitions. A special thanks to those students who participated whole-heartedly and with much enthusiasm into events which, in some instances, was not their favoured event. That’s team spirit for you! S Lawrence
Haydon House House Staff: J Gwilt, P Bullough, A Dyer, R Ellmore, G Whitmore House Captains: Josh Thornton, Kelly Paterson Deputy House Captains: Stefan Squire, Faye Paterson Firstly, I would like to thank the House Captains and their Deputies for their sterling efforts throughout this particularly difficult year. Why difficult? Well, mostly because in a small school like Tettenhall, there are never quite enough pupils to go around. In Years 7 and 8, for example, Haydon has only 3 girls. Team events become more impossible than difficult, netball, swimming, hockey to name but a few. On Sports Day a few people end up having to do lots of events, regardless of ability or interest. For those of us watching, however, it was clear to see the Haydon Spirit shining through. In all years there were heroes who competed in extra events and persuaded their tired colleagues to do one more bit for the House. A brilliant effort by all competitors, well done! Sport is not the only category though and there are some areas that we could target next year to try to move back up the pecking order. House Art is one of
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these; very few Haydonites answered the call for a piece of artwork. Many volunteered though, to get up on stage and entertain in the Performing Arts section, never an easy challenge, even if it is rewarding. All of our musicians too, performed for the House, playing or singing a piece at their own level. Our target for next year must be to support our two strong categories with a few more entries in the Art section. Sport, Arts and Work! The three categories over which points are earned. Well, Sport and Art are mentioned above, pupils have to volunteer in both categories, but in the work section, points are awarded by referencing effort grades on grade cards. It is therefore unique in two respects: firstly, it is compulsory, secondly, it is the only area where points can actually be removed! A pupil who performs brilliantly in, say, swimming or singing might actually end up contributing nothing to the
House in terms of points, if their work effort grades are poor. D and E grades all ensure that the House the pupil belongs to loses valuable points. If they haven’t earned any, then they lose someone else’s! If someone consistently performs badly, they lose points, term by term, year by year. How did Haydon do in the Work category? Good in the beginning, but we tailed off dramatically. Interestingly, some year groups did much better than others! (For all Houses, not just Haydon. How do you think your Year did?) Overall this has been a rather frustrating year for Haydon; we have been so close, and yet we finished well behind the leaders. Clearly, it would not take very much to return us to our longstanding winning form. Numbers are against us, it is true, but if we can just focus a little more on those few areas where we could do better, we will soon be back in contention. J Gwilt
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Upper School
Nicholson House House Staff: M Leighton, B Smith, D Spencer, D Stone House Captains: Ben Hammond, Emma Taylor There are so many opportunities here at Tettenhall College to take part in either individual or group/team events. Throughout the year most individuals will participate in one or more House activities, with many giving up valuable time to rehearse and improve their performance before going public. This year the performing art students of Nicholson gained top marks; presenting mature, entertaining and inspiring performances. Oliver Rudge once again demonstrated his singing abilities in a fantastic duet with Amanda Hughson. In other cultural areas Nicholson House was not its usual self, securing joint second in the annual Art competition and third place in Music.
Sports Day was full of suspense and fierce competition with our competitors in the lead, up until the final relays, when Pearson took over the pole position. There were some outstanding performances, including Ben Hammond and Ben Houghton coming first and second in the 1500m and Oliver Pemberton and Kathryn Whyle both receiving the sprint trophies for their age groups. But once again it was the willingness of our competitors to take part in an event that perhaps wasn’t their particular strength, who deserve the most praise and thanks. We won the cross-country running with the boys’ race being dominated by Nicholson runners: Ben Hammond, Ben Houghton, Chris Perry, and our intermediate girls, including Vicki Kibble
and Ellie Hammond, achieving very high positions and beating many of the seniors. In other team events our Rugby team played hard to win jointly with Bantock, and our Netball team also played well with some strong county players, but sadly came third. It is the spirit of contribution and the totality of individuals who step forward that make each event successful and enjoyable. My thanks go to everyone for taking part and contributing in any manner of ways to the House events and in particular to the various individuals who organized their teams. My thanks to the overall House Captains who had to coordinate the numerous House events. M Leighton
Pearson House Members of Staff: A Dyer, A Bland, J Bullock, AA Ridyard, R Samra House Captains: Joe Hayward, Eleanor Robinson
Owing to the maternity leave of Mrs Cooper, I was honoured to fill the prestigious role of Head of Pearson. We won the Cock House Cup, which means I can retire with a 100% record. Team Pearson scored top marks in Art, Music, Athletics and Soccer and the overall consistency and commitment put us on top of the table at close of play. House captains Joe Hayward and Eleanor Robinson made my job much easier than it could have been, so a big thanks to them. Also my thanks to all the staff and student members of the House for their hard work throughout the year. I wish you all the very best for the future and congratulations to Mrs Cooper on becoming a mum. Andrew Dyer
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Upper School House Reports Bantock House House Staff: S Lawrence, P.E.Evans, J Higgs,V O’Neill, G Raine, J Taylor House Captains: Rebecca Martin, Calum Green I would like to take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to House Captains, Rebecca Martin and Calum Green. As a result of their hard work, dedication and encouragement Bantock has continued to improve and came 2nd in the House Competition which is, it has to be said, our best result for many years. I hope we can all take inspiration and continue to be motivated to work hard to win the House Competition next year. I am pleased that we won the Work element of the House Competition in each of the three terms. We came 2nd in the games, having won swimming and coming equal first in rugby and soccer. There is room for improvement in Athletics, Netball and Hockey so we can look forward to taking 1st place in games next year. Our Achilles heel has always been in the Culture section of the competition. We came 2nd in Music but only 3rd in Performing Arts and Art. Clearly if we can improve our ‘performances’ (no pun intended) in this area we could be strong contenders in the House Competition next year. Coming 2nd in the House Competition is an excellent result this year, as we struggle with team games; not because we lack talented people but, because in some year groups we still have a shortage of girls, which makes fielding a team difficult or virtually impossible! We have 9 Intermediate and only 5 Senior and Junior girls. I believe the House Competition is mainly about the taking part and I hope in the future we continue to strive to participate in events. It is being involved, making the effort, taking the time to be a competitor and practising to complete tasks that make us winners. Having said that, we all like the kudos of being a winner, and with continued dedication and enthusiasm we can win the House Competition next year. So to finish, many thanks to all students who represented the House this year and particularly to all who took part in the many events on offer in the many and varied competitions. A special thanks to those students who participated whole-heartedly and with much enthusiasm into events which, in some instances, was not their favoured event. That’s team spirit for you! S Lawrence
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Haydon House House Staff: J Gwilt, P Bullough, A Dyer, R Ellmore, G Whitmore House Captains: Josh Thornton, Kelly Paterson Deputy House Captains: Stefan Squire, Faye Paterson Firstly, I would like to thank the House Captains and their Deputies for their sterling efforts throughout this particularly difficult year. Why difficult? Well, mostly because in a small school like Tettenhall, there are never quite enough pupils to go around. In Years 7 and 8, for example, Haydon has only 3 girls. Team events become more impossible than difficult, netball, swimming, hockey to name but a few. On Sports Day a few people end up having to do lots of events, regardless of ability or interest. For those of us watching, however, it was clear to see the Haydon Spirit shining through. In all years there were heroes who competed in extra events and persuaded their tired colleagues to do one more bit for the House. A brilliant effort by all competitors, well done! Sport is not the only category though and there are some areas that we could target next year to try to move back up the pecking order. House Art is one of these; very few Haydonites answered the call for a piece of artwork. Many volunteered though, to get up on stage and entertain in the Performing Arts section, never an easy challenge, even if it is rewarding. All of our musicians too, performed for the House, playing or singing a piece at their own level. Our target for next year must be to support our two strong categories with a few more entries in the Art section. Sport, Arts and Work! The three categories over which points are earned. Well, Sport and Art are mentioned above, pupils have to volunteer in both categories, but in the work section, points are awarded by referencing effort grades on grade cards. It is therefore unique in two respects: firstly, it is compulsory, secondly, it is the only area where points can actually be removed! A pupil who performs brilliantly in, say, swimming or singing might actually end up contributing nothing to the House in terms of points, if their work effort grades are poor. D and E grades all ensure that the House the pupil belongs to loses valuable points. If they haven’t earned any, then they lose someone else’s! If someone consistently performs badly, they lose points, term by term, year by year. How did Haydon do in the Work category? Good in the beginning, but we tailed off dramatically. Interestingly, some year groups did much better than others! (For all Houses, not just Haydon. How do you think your Year did?) Overall this has been a rather frustrating year for Haydon; we have been so close, and yet we finished well behind the leaders. Clearly, it would not take very much to return us to our longstanding winning form. Numbers are against us, it is true, but if we can just focus a little more on those few areas where we could do better, we will soon be back in contention. J Gwilt
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Upper School
Nicholson House House Staff: M Leighton, B Smith, D Spencer, D Stone House Captains: Ben Hammond, Emma Taylor There are so many opportunities here at Tettenhall College to take part in either individual or group/team events. Throughout the year most individuals will participate in one or more House activities, with many giving up valuable time to rehearse and improve their performance before going public. This year the performing art students of Nicholson gained top marks; presenting mature, entertaining and inspiring performances. Oliver Rudge once again demonstrated his singing abilities in a fantastic duet with Amanda Hughson. In other cultural areas Nicholson House was not its usual self, securing joint second in the annual Art competition and third place in Music. Sports Day was full of suspense and fierce competition with our competitors in the lead, up until the final relays, when Pearson took over the pole position. There were some outstanding performances, including Ben Hammond and Ben Houghton coming first and second in the 1500m and Oliver Pemberton and Kathryn Whyle both receiving the sprint trophies for their age groups. But once again it was the willingness of our competitors to take part in an event that perhaps wasn’t their particular strength, who deserve the most praise and thanks. We won the cross-country running with the boys’ race being dominated by Nicholson runners: Ben Hammond, Ben Houghton, Chris Perry, and our intermediate girls, including Vicki Kibble and Ellie Hammond, achieving very high positions and beating many of the seniors. In other team events our Rugby team played hard to win jointly with Bantock, and our Netball team also played well with some strong county players, but sadly came third. It is the spirit of contribution and the totality of individuals who step forward that make each event successful and enjoyable. My thanks go to everyone for taking part and contributing in any manner of ways to the House events and in particular to the various individuals who organized their teams. My thanks to the overall House Captains who had to co-ordinate the numerous House events. M Leighton
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Pearson House Members of Staff: A Dyer, A Bland, J Bullock, AA Ridyard, R Samra House Captains: Joe Hayward, Eleanor Robinson Owing to the maternity leave of Mrs Cooper, I was honoured to fill the prestigious role of Head of Pearson. We won the Cock House Cup, which means I can retire with a 100% record. Team Pearson scored top marks in Art, Music, Athletics and Soccer and the overall consistency and commitment put us on top of the table at close of play. House captains Joe Hayward and Eleanor Robinson made my job much easier than it could have been, so a big thanks to them. Also my thanks to all the staff and student members of the House for their hard work throughout the year. I wish you all the very best for the future and congratulations to Mrs Cooper on becoming a mum. Andrew Dyer
SCHOOL COUNCIL The School Council had a busy year discussing the hot topics in Upper School. Representatives from the council approached the Headmaster for a MUFTI day in aid of South Staff First Responders, after a talk on the organisation from sixth former Josh Thornton; Josh is a volunteer and he impressed the School Council with his presentation on what equipment is needed and why fundraising is important. Sam Smallwood was a very proactive member of the Council and organised his own Table Tennis competition and a Science competition. So well done Sam! Matthew Wickens and Oliver Jones also deserve a special mention for volunteering to take issues from the Council to the Headmaster. The Council discussed many charity appeals and discussions took place on nominating one specific charity to be sponsored for a whole year through various fundraising events. This is something that will be revisited in the new academic year, when a whole school survey will take place.
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Upper School Extra Curricular Activities STUDENTS GET AHEAD In Engineering
YEAR 11 TRIP To Thorpe Park and The Globe
From 5th to 8th January, George Caddick, Samuel Lloyd, Saatvik Malikireddy and Rachael Whalen, Year 9 students from Tettenhall College, gathered at Harper Adams University College, Newport, Shropshire, to attend a specially designed Engineering Experience residential course. This free course forms part of a major initiative funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, called Get Ahead with STEM in partnership with STEMNET and the WISE Campaign. The Smallpeice Trust ran the course to encourage students from hard to reach backgrounds and particularly girls to consider engineering as a possible career in the future. Over the four days, the students had the opportunity to learn about engineering through a series of presentations and practical exercises. Working in teams, they tackled ‘real-life’ challenges on projects designed and facilitated by young engineers from industry. These organisations included Arup, First Group plc and the Royal Navy. Projects included designing and building a model boat, building a model train and building a bridge to reach a certain height and withstand a miniature train travelling across it. As well as working on the design, build and test elements of the projects, they developed life skills such as teamwork, communication, problem solving, time management, finance and presentation.
The idea of taking all Year 11 students on an overnight trip to London developed gradually from discussions in the staff room towards the end of the 2009 summer term. Mr Evans wanted to visit Thorpe Park, where a physics lesson could be combined with an enjoyable day spent on the various terrifying rides that the theme park has to offer. I was keen for the students to visit the Globe Theatre to learn more about the life and works of Shakespeare. Gradually, the proposals developed and it was decided to visit Thorpe Park on Friday September 11, stay at a hotel near London overnight and visit The Globe on Saturday morning, returning home in the afternoon. Thus it was that I found myself getting up at the rarely seen hour of 5am and heading off for school to board the coach bound for Surrey. Although the trip could not be compulsory, most Year 11 students were keen to take part, and so just as day was breaking, around 40 students accompanied by Mr Evans, Mr Bullock, Miss Uttley and myself set off on our adventure. We arrived at Thorpe Park without incident (most of us were too sleepy or plugged into i-pods), and headed straight for the classroom where the serious part of the day, the physics lesson, was to take place. I must admit that as someone who was hopeless at science, and whose ineptitude was matched only by her lack of interest, I was not particularly looking forward to this. However I was pleasantly surprised; the lecturer managed to make G-forces genuinely interesting, and several of our students asked intelligent questions. I’m not sure if
Kevin O’Neill, Senior Education Officer for the Get Ahead With STEM project commented, ‘Without opportunities like these, many of these students may never have been able to experience university life and get a worthwhile insight into the fascinating world of engineering. The Get Ahead with STEM programme seeks to encourage young people from all backgrounds, and particularly girls, to do great things using engineering skills and help turn creative ideas into reality.”
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understanding the science made the rides more or less scary! In any case, when the lesson was over the students rushed off eagerly to enjoy them, and even the staff joined in, sampling all of the most terrifying rides between us. My abiding memories are of Miss Uttley and Mr Evans, soaked to the skin after a water ride, and of enduring the most terrifying 60 seconds of my life on Stealth! At the end of the day, we returned to our hotel, the Ibis at Gatwick, for an evening meal, following which we all repaired to the bowling alley, conveniently positioned next to the hotel, for the rest of the evening. The following morning it was back onto our coach for the long, slow crawl into London to visit the Globe. Again we had an excellent talk delivered by one of the theatre’s staff, after which everyone visited the Shakespeare exhibition. I think some escaped to the diversions just outside the theatre, where a market was being set up, full of intriguing stalls and delicious- smelling food stands. We boarded the coach to set off home, and yet again experienced the horrors of London traffic. This really was the only downside to the whole visit, which in every respect was a great success; even the weather was excellent. The students were all well behaved throughout the two days (not that we’d expect anything less!), and appeared thoroughly to have enjoyed the experience, which combined work with the opportunity to enjoy themselves and bond as a group at the beginning of the school year. I should particularly like to thank Mr Evans who organized the trip, and Mr Bullock and Miss Uttley, who accompanied myself and the students on this memorable visit. Mrs A Ridyard
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Upper School Boarding Houses SCHOOL HOUSE BOYS’ BOARDING HOUSE From The Housemaster New Starts I write this as my first year of being House Master of School House comes to an end. Beth and I have constantly remarked over the year how friendly and welcoming pupils, parents and staff have been to us and not least to Euan who has made many new friends this year! The Prefect team has been a great support to me and were ably led by Tony Wong and Josh Brown. They have all made my job, and the job of my duty staff, much easier. I wish them all well as they move on to new things. We have welcomed some new boys to the House during the school year. We also were pleased to have Mr Jones join School House in January; he works with Year 4 in Lower School. All of these were shown the same warm welcome and kindness that is considered the norm in the Boarding community at Tettenhall College. I have implemented several new regimes and activities this year which the boys have taken to with positivity and enthusiasm. Only a few of them have been late for breakfast because they had forgotten to set their alarms!
Outings and Activities There have been many exciting activities and outings this year. My most memorable of these being the Rotary Club Dragon Boat Race at Himley Park, in May. We managed to set the fastest time on our first race to secure our place in the final. In the final we were narrowly beaten by an adult men’s team to come a highly respectable second overall. We had the youngest team there and will be back next year...to win!!!! The boys organised and planned a fivea-side football tournament for every boy in School House to take part. All boys paid to enter and the money raised went to the Rotary Club. I would like to thank Mr Bullock for helping the boys with this event and for refereeing the matches. Late May saw the arrival of 2 concept II rowing machines in the Boarding House Common Room. Boys were split into 2 teams and were then going to race ‘across the British Channel’ in a relay. All boys took part and rowed a minimum of 1000 metres each. As a result of all their efforts we were able to give the rotary Club £450 towards their charity work.
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I would like to congratulate Tom Murray and Ibrahima Conte for being Head and Deputy Head of House respectively, next year. Ken Chan, Dat Duc Nguyen & Chris Long Nguyen will make up the rest of the Prefect Team. And finally... I know that this year could not possibly have gone so well without such a supportive team of people working alongside me. I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to the following people: The SMT for allowing me to make the changes I have made to the Boarding House, both Matrons for supporting the Boarders, The maintenance, cleaning, laundry and catering staff, Rev Parry for his assistance with outings and Chapel Services, Mrs Compain-Holt for advising me throughout the year on what happens and when. To my duty staff: Mr Bullock, Mr Dyer (we will miss you!), Mr Leighton, Mr Higgs and Mr Jones, your work with the boys is VERY appreciated. THANK YOU! Finally I need to say a big thank you to Beth and to Euan.
Head of House Joining Tettenhall College five years ago and more specifically, joining the boarding house was a personally defining experience. The departure from the safety of the childhood home to the new unknown, an inevitable transition for children on their journey into the frightening world of responsibility, self control and adult life. I believe myself lucky or rather privileged that, unlike the millions of other School leavers this year, I have not had to make the milestone change instantaneously. Rather, Tettenhall College has granted me the opportunity to learn self-restraint and diligence, financial prudency and a solid education. Furthermore, most importantly, inextricably linked to life as a boarder Tettenhall College has taught me as it has taught others the neccessity of interpersonal skills and self-esteem. In the last year, as joint Head of House with Tony Wong, in conjunction with Mr Jackson and other boarding house staff, we have really been able to give back to the House that has helped to shape us. To conclude, if there was one word with which I had to summarise the changes Tettenhall College instills in those who board, I would choose: Beneficial. Joshua Brown The Boarding House Experience from new boarders My favourite thing in the boarding house is the kitchen. I like the kitchen because it is always clean when I use it and it has a good atmosphere. When I first started as a boarder people took me in, especially Euan (Mr Jackson’s Son). My best outing was Drayton Manor because I made friends with some overseas lads. All in all the boarding house is a brilliant place to learn social skills. Joshua Year 7 My favourite trip was the monkey forest because you get to see monkeys out of their cages. When I first came to the boarding house I was a bit scared, but I got used to it. I have lots of friends as well. The staff are nice and we get activities to do. My favoutite activity was a five a side football tournament that I helped organise to raise money for charity. My other favourite activity is swimming. I have improved my swimming and we get to have fun and freedom. Ryan Year 4
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Upper School THORNEYCROFT GIRLS’ BOARDING HOUSE From The Housemistress This year has again been stimulating, enriching and inspiring for all involved in the organization and the running of the Girls’ Boarding House. The girls contribute more and more to the choice of activities and outings and choice of facilities and have appreciated seeing their long term plea coming to reality: the wireless connection is now in place. Thorneycroft will therefore no longer be an oasis of peace at Tettenhall College; we are connected to the outside world!!! Outings remain frequent and all new girls have to join one trip a term to ensure that they discover another place and appreciate the company of their peer group outside school. We went to Shrewsbury where we enjoyed walking around the castle in the sunshine and doing a bit of shopping at the craft market. Birmingham is always a popular venue not least for keeping the Bull Ring in business. Wolverhampton offers a wide array of multicultural interests and last September I took all the new girls on a tour organized by the National Heritage, showing them the former car factories and the temple. It did feel like a crash course in local history as the guide was marching us through town and I wondered if it made much sense when one has just arrived from China. Raising funds for Compton Hospice figures now on our Summer Term programme and this year we sent £ 230. The tradition is for the Head of House and Prefects to lead the way and that is pretty much what they will be doing in Thorneycroft too! Helene Compain-Holt.
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Literary Life in Thorneycroft Tettenhall College and in particular, the Girls’ Boarding House have become part of Wolverhampton Children’s Book Club. It started as I was browsing in Water stone’s, when my attention was caught by the title of a book in German: ‘Auslander’. I was even more surprised when I read that the author, Paul Dowswell, lives in Wolverhampton. After an email to his publisher, I was pleasantly surprised when he rang me. That led to Paul delivering a very inspiring presentation on his work as a writer and specifically on his latest novel. Feeling rather creative, we have since attended three more presentations and every time learnt how the author transforms an idea into a book. We listened to Justin Semper telling us about Vampirates and Theresa Breslin about her novel: ‘Prisoner of the Inquisition’. Every time we are taken to, not only a different world, but into the fascinating process of building an entire novel from one idea. A creative workshop is planned with Paul Dowsell next term and we are looking forward to hearing about his next novel which is set in Berlin. It is an international world… It was a lovely surprise to see Miss Rampall again, appearing out of the blue in June. She left four years ago to take a job at Morogoro International School in Tanzania. Since leaving Tettenhall she has become Mrs. Rampall - Kusenha and her life is now in Africa. Pupils were delighted to see her and she was pleased to be able to wish Faye and Kelly Paterson all the best before they go to university. Despite a busy schedule we made time to go out and after a few hours chat, plans to travel to Morogoro were beginning to sound like a posibility. Volunteering there is a possibility, especially for people full of energy and enthusiasm and the wish to discover a new way of life. Work Experience in France I didn’t know what to expect, when I was sitting on the plane on the way to Limoges; I didn’t know what the town I was staying in looked like, or the people I was staying with were. It did scare me a little but I was mostly excited to experience something new. Upon meeting the people I was staying with, I was relieved that they were friendly and amiable, but trying to understand and converse was difficult, and as a result for the first day my over used phrase was ‘oui’.
The Culture It was a very cultural visit: my stay in France and my first encounter was Oradour-Sur-Glane which was this old French village that was burnt down by the Nazis in the Second World War. They had transformed the burnt ruins into a memorial centre for tourists, where you can walk through the village and see the damage that was done; a lot of things were still where they were 70 years ago. In the church in this village you can see the bullet holes within the walls and the damage the fire had done. Another visit was to this beautiful village called ‘The city of writing’ where there were many small streets that contained small boutiques of books; a lot of the books were second hand and a lot were antiques. It was a very pleasant village as it was on the other side of the river from Montmorillon , a small town. The village I was staying in: L’isle-Jourdain was very different from Wolverhampton; the streets were very quiet and clean and all you could hear most of the time were the birds singing. The village centre was very quaint and small but it was enjoyable as there are stands outside for fresh fruit and vegetables and of course cheese. A lot of the vegetables and bread and the cheese, were not produced from a big chain; the contents I ate were either grown in Mr. Compain’s garden or the cheese was bought from a local farm. It was very organic, and a nice change. Work experience in L’isle-Jourdain In the morning I would go to La Mairie and help in sorting out books for the library; the village was to open their very first library, and I was very proud I was apart of it. I enjoyed helping with the books and covering them and sorting them out, whilst the secretaries explained the system of government with the Mairies in France. In the afternoon I went to the Foyer, the old people’s home, where I went around with different nurses to help them with basic things such as washing the residents, entertaining them and taking them back to their rooms. This task was a little more difficult as it was really challenging my French speaking skills; it was quite difficult to understand the residents as the nurse told me sometimes they would talk to themselves, so again my abilities were challenged. Overall, although it was difficult and very few people could speak fluent English, I’m glad they didn’t as I learnt a lot more in this hard situation, and by the end of the trip, I answered in full sentences and threw my over-used phrase book out of the window!
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Upper School The Musical
The Drowsy Chaperone Imagine it is a cold November evening and you are sitting cosily on the sofa with a cuppa, watching Corrie in your bed socks when suddenly...wham! Bang! The cast of your favourite musical comes crashing through the fridge door into your lounge. Can you begin to imagine the thrill, the excitement the sheer freaked-out bewilderment? Well, this is exactly what happens to ‘Man in chair’, the unassuming and unsuspecting lead of this year’s musical extravaganza, “The Drowsy Chaperone.” Yes, it sounds somewhat far-fetched, but hang onto your cocoa and suspend you disbelief for a couple of hours and ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ will take you on a magical journey into the decadent world of the 1920s where the champagne flows, the caviar chills and the characters you meet are madder than a bunch of mad things on mad day! Back to the plot – Man in Chair, No 1 musical theatre fan and lover of all things theatrical (Joseph Hayward), plays his favourite record of all time – ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’. As the melodic strains of the overture permeate his inner-city bedsit, lo and behold, the musical materialises before his and our very eyes! This ‘musical within a musical’ transports us to Mrs Tottendales’s fashionable residence where the household is busy preparing for the wedding of the century. Limelight-loving actress and star of Feldzieg’s Follies, Janet Van de Graaf, has decided to quit the stage in order to marry her cute but rather dimwitted fella – Robert Martin. Feldzieg will do anything to stop the wedding and hang onto his star. Add to the mix Kitty, a star-struck chorus girl, a trio
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of gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a drunken chaperone, an idiotic Latin lothario and a gutsy aviatrix and you have all the makings of a jolly good romp through musical farce land! What more do you need for an evening’s entertainment? Despite frequent interruptions from the telephone, the answering machine, a toilet break and the wrong record, The Man leads us through his favourite show, pausing the record to fill in the details as we go. Music, mayhem and a multitude of mad wedding guests abound in Mrs Tottendales’s exclusive residence. Will the gangsters put paid to the celebrity wedding of the year? Will Kitty ever be leading lady? Will Robert stop looking at himself in the mirror long enough to realise that his fiancée is posing as a French girl to make him jealous? Will best man George’s ticker give out before it all comes good? And can Mrs Tottendale ever work out why she is wearing her party frock? Probably not, but then you can’t win them all! Sadly the path of true love certainly runs rather rockily. Thanks to a blindfold and a dodgy French accent, the guests soon learn that the wedding is off! Then the wedding is back on – but with a different couple. Latin Lothario, Aldolpho (ladies’ man extraordinaire) is sent by the frantic Feldzieg to seduce the bride – sadly because he is a first class moron, he seduces and proposes to the somewhat ‘drowsy’ chaperone who is thrilled to see ‘love come crashing quite literally through her door!’ Several ‘iced waters’, rousing dance tunes and fake cherry bakewells later... Oh joy, oh rapture: two more marriages are on the cards – Feldzieg finally gives in and proposes to Kitty and Mrs. Tottendale declares her love for her long-suffering butler - Underling.
Now – as long as best man George hasn’t forgotten the minister – oops. But never fear – what’s this? Help appears in the most unlikely of places as Trix comes crashing through the wall in her biplane! Hurrah! A pilot can perform a wedding and then they can all go on honeymoon to Rio! What on earth could go wrong? Well, dodgy wiring in the Man’s apartment could cause a power cut which, in turn, could cause the record to stop only moments away from the fabulous finale...in turn causing The Man to have a near mental breakdown! Aaaaaaaaargh. Time to send in the ‘Super’ (Andrew Isbister). In no time the power returns, the record player cranks up and the ‘I do’s’ are done and dusted. This musical was an unusual one, structured around The Man’s monologues and interjections as the record is played and the musical is performed. The action is paused as the Man addresses the audience and then springs back to life as he replaces the needle. Although at times ridiculous and hilarious, it becomes evident that The Man leads a lonely life and carries around a great deal of emotional scars from his past. Joseph Hayward did a magnificent job bringing to life this strangely anonymous character mixing superb comic timing with moving bursts of desperation and paranoia as he steadily gets drunker and more open about his troubled life. The Man can see the cast but they cannot see him – and so Joe’s rehearsals were quite a lonely process as he worked on developing The Man and the journey he takes through the play. It was only towards the end of the process that we added the Man to the rest of the cast – and let him loose on the action – enabling him to interact with them. The rest of the cast had to ignore The Man – until the very end where the audience
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Upper School
get the impression that the barriers between reality and musical dissolve and in a goosebump-creating finale, they acknowledge the presence of The Man for the first time and he is whisked away with his new found friends as the curtain falls. Although centring around a naturalistic character, ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ still had its fair share of loveable loons and none more so than Faye Paterson’s astonishingly absentminded Mrs Tottendale. A cross between Marie Antoinette on Red Bull and a pantomime dame, Faye put on a hilarious show, amiably putting up with countless ‘spit-take’ rehearsals... sit, spit, stand, sit, spit stand, spit... sit! – again please! Mrs T also faced one of the speediest costume changes in Towers’ history – Faye got this down to a T (forgive the pun) although backstage did often resemble an explosion in a Barbie wedding dress factory by the time she had finished! Aimee Fisher’s glamorous Janet Van de Graaf had to contend with her own fair share of theatrical challenges including the infamous triple onstage costume change, the nervous breakdown monkey dance and the highly precarious roller skate stage kiss. Thankfully no physical or mental scars were evident and, professional as ever, Aimee even managed to polish up her fake French accent to Parisian perfection. Partner in crimes against roller skating, Robin Barrow, transformed into the delightfully dumb but definitely debonair Robert Martin – aka the ‘All Bright Toothpaste Guy’. Last year we didn’t know he could sing – he could, this year he didn’t know he could tap dance – he could...with a bit of soft shoe shuffle thrown in for good measure. Not wanting to make it too
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easy for our intrepid matinée idol we asked him to dance in roller-skates, blindfolded! Stretch and challenge; that’s what this show is all about! Who knows – next year you might see him performing the high wire – backwards! Watch this space... Robert’s best mate, best man and bridal-bungler extraordinaire bounded around the stage in the shape of newcomer Oliver Rudge. Perfectly capturing the characteristics of the kooky comic side kick, Oliver hurtled round the stage at a rate of knots as well-intentioned George did his level best to make the wedding run smoothly. Handing out a blindfold to man on roller-skates was possibly not quite as ridiculous as forgetting to order a minister for the ceremony – but hey – who cares – when you have seen a dude in a checked jacket tap dancing in a trilby, all is forgiven! The brash businessman with a big heart, Feldzieg, was portrayed by Harry Westwood who has certainly come a long way since his High School Musical debut as ‘earthworm!’ Not only did this performance demand a solo song, it also saw Harry strutting his stuff centre stage in a dance break – ah such style, such grace, such rhythm – such strange names for even stranger dance moves! Happy days. Feldzieg’s pretty but vacant love interest aka Kitty – just Kitty – the chorus girl was brought to life superbly by Kelly Paterson. Perfectly bedecked in platinum-blonde wig and cheeky grin, Kitty entertained us with her sheer guts and a voice that would give nails down a blackboard a run for their money. Quite charming but quite useless – even in the chorus she smiled through adversity and a tonne of cherry bakewells, bless!
Perhaps the only other character with advice worse than George’s materialised in the shape of the Drowsy Chaperone herself. This role needed someone with style, elegance and an ability to look good in leopard print. Mistress of the freaky facial expression and the typsy tango, Megan Schubert epitomised the role of the slightly past-it star of yesteryear. Spending much of the show with a cocktail in one hand and a slightly bemused expression on her face, Megan stumbled, bumbled and plumbled with the energy, elegance and Gibson-soaked grin we would expect from a seasoned theatrical dame. When love eventually, and quite literally, came crashing through her door it was in the shape of Daniel Gill, aka Aldolpho – King of Romance, master of the moustache, hero of the hipswing, despot with an effective sideline in turban-sporting! After intensive rehearsals, Dan managed to harness his Latin temperament and bring to life our Elvis-inspired lothario, complete with cape, comedy cane and comedy quiff. Dan had his own stock of tricky theatrical feats to get to grips with which included flinging his cane, his cape and a drunken chaperone around the stage all whilst keeping an eye on the ladieesss! Trix – (cast lean back) The Aviatrix (cast lean forward) – crash-landed dynamically on stage each night thanks to the co-ordination and courage of Harriet Hommers. Not content with saving the day and the wedding in a sequinned bomber jacket Harriet once again jumped into the cochoreographer’s cockpit, tactfully turning somewhat airy ideas (I can see what I want them to do – it’s kind of this sideways thing, with a leg kicky add on) into actual dance moves (cheers
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Upper School Harriet). In addition to this she also cycled several miles to and from home, juggled her GCSE’s and flew 2 differing sizes of biplane – no small feat eh? Underling – the cool, unflappable, long suffering but ever faithful butler-typebloke was expertly created by Matthew Wickens. Ably supported by Dan Toney as the Underling’s Underling, he found humour in the driest of deliveries and did his best to keep mad Mrs T in order – until the end when I guess he realised if you can’t beat them, join them and he too jumped on the bridal bandwagon. Aw – we love a happy ending! Slapstick silliness was provided by the trio of tactless treacle tart tasting gangsters. To last year’s successful comic pairing of Scott Place and Jacob Elcock we added Zach Oakley into the mix – and the result was a highly delicious concoction of pinstriped gangster-style vaudeville mayhem in frilly pinnies. Classy! No musical would ever be complete without its quota of reporters, maids, footmen, wedding guests, showgirls and cloud carriers. Add to this a short snippet of the wrong musical within a musical – aka The Enchanted Nightingale (ask someone who was in it to explain!) and you also need a beautiful damsel (well done Amanda Hughson) and a sizable crowd of courtesans, slave boys and slave girls. Here Mrs Spencer played a blinder; several yards of gold fabric, gallons of fake tan and subtle lighting later and... alakazam...the harem of a Chinese emperor appears before our very eyes. The prize for coping with chaos, carnage and carry-on confusion goes to our indomitable maids and footmen. Not only did they put up with hours of marching (quicker, smarter, faster) and endless positioning and repositioning but they also carted and carried,
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dragged and delivered all of the items of set on and offstage – again and again and again. How on earth they managed to get the right table cloth on the right table with the right flowers, the correct distance from the chaise longue and at a perpendicular angle from the candelabras is a mystery only Holly Winwood and her magic post- its can answer. Still they did it and, as a result, may indeed be able to launch their new careers: Harvey, Pringle and Winwood - furniture movers to the stars! Dr Mottershead, surveyor of sightlines, master of the masking and biplane builder bar none surpassed himself this year and transformed an elegant Victorian stage into a tatty American bedsit. Sounds simple? You’d think so! The ‘not so brief’ design brief: a couple of walls, an arched entrance here, one here....No problem. Oh and could we have a fridge that looks like a fridge...but then people walk out of it? And also – this is quite important – we need a plane, quite a big plane – it kind of crashes through the apartment walls. What next – the kitchen sink? Well if that’s ok! Still despite the technical challenges, several rolls of flowery pink wallpaper (thanks to the Isbisters for their super pattern matching up skills!) and a gallon of pillar box red later and there we have it – just time to fill the stage with tack before curtain up, hurrah! As always, a huge vote of thanks goes to Dr Mottershead and his crew of set builders and backstage brute force. Heartfelt thanks, coupled with boundless admiration, goes to Holly Winwood who pretty much provided everything from sense, sensibility, law and order to the proverbial kitchen sink. I kid you not! Of course a musical within a musical certainly wouldn’t be much of a musical without the music. Phew! And I wouldn’t be the sane and balanced person I am today without the calm reassurance of Mr Wass. I can’t tell you how many conversations ended with “is it going to be ok?” Yes. “Are you sure?” Definitely! And how many rehearsals included the heated commands: “open your mouths, sing! This is a musical!” Still his good cop/ bad cop routine did the trick and by week 11 I had managed to stay out of therapy and the cast were making a pretty impressive sound. Result! Tettenhall College’s own Busby Berkeley – aka Mrs Taylor - managed to choreograph four monkeys and a nightmare sequence while juggling two school trips, several hours of hoovering and countless homemade lasagnes for her understanding family who don’t really see her much during the summer term! The ‘Bride’s Lament’ – affectionately termed the ‘Monkey Dance’ – transported us into Janet’s nightmare world. Keen to ween her followers off the Charleston, Mrs Taylor added some strange, jerky head moves into the mix - “it’s modern dance Bella – she is losing her mind, it’s art, it’s theatre, just do it – and wear this mask!” Odd as the Monkey song was – each showstopper provided its own little bundle of rhythmical challenges. Unphased by the ‘Fancy Dress’ to bob or not to bob dilemma, Mrs Taylor and co-pilot Harriet Hommers transformed our two left feet into a tap ball change and our shoddy foot work into a hot shoe shuffle. ‘Show Off’ saw us walking like deranged Egyptians followed by waltzing – light as air, while ‘I do I do in the Sky’ developed from a couple of stressed teachers in a dining room to a spectacle of soaring and swaying! We marched, lion kinged, vulture stepped and charlestoned like Glee club at the prelims! Thankfully our
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Upper School ‘Toledo Surprise’ rose to the occasion. After much deliberation over how to ‘chop the nuts and pound the dough’ in time to the music... Surprise – it finally looked ready! Oh ye of little faith. A combination of complex choreography, cast co-ordination and creative cutting and pasting finally got us though ‘Stumble Along’. Boy, were we seasoned stumblers by the end of that one!? By opening night Mrs. Taylor made sure there were no ‘Cold Feet’ on T.C. stage – we were smoking! Still catching her breath from some double time, double time steps (steady on there Mr Wass!) Mrs Taylor just had time to set out her stand as ‘Mrs Taylor and Co – makeup while you wait.’ Thanks to her and all her fantastic artists who transformed schoolboys into slave boys and schoolgirls into showgirls. Mistress of the eyeliner, shimmer shine and beautifully coiffed moustache, the results, as always, induced hilarity and admiration by the bucket load. Having raided every charity shop in the West Midlands for cardigans, Mrs Spencer turned her hand to posy and pants hunting. There isn’t a bargain basement that isn’t reeling from her eagle-eyed searching. When she wasn’t fitting flapper dresses or cutting out a fresh batch of bowties, Mrs Spencer could be found somewhere under a pile of lace, velvet and gold fabric as she whipped up wedding dresses, fancy dresses and several other types of dresses like her life depended on it! Thanks also to Mrs Hammond who, as always got stuck in with minimum fuss and maximum sartorial success! With Mrs Cooper on maternity leave (Really! The lengths some people will go to get out of making a fake snake in a basket!), the trio became a duo in the familiar form of Mrs Nash and Mrs Gwilt. Roller skates, hip flasks, potted plants and walking canes rubbed shoulders with hat boxes, martini glasses and tablecloths under the watchful eye of the props mistresses. Professional to the core, they never flinched when faced with a last minute request for brandy in the decanter, martini in the cocktail glasses or a teeny-weeny cherry bakewell nestled amongst the fake cakes! In fact, such is their skill with table cloths, champagne flutes and silver trays, one wonders why they haven’t set up their own catering business – watch this space! I would like to thank everyone involved
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in making ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ such a success. Thanks to the parents who transported their offspring to and from, from and to rehearsals, who hitched up, hired in and helped out with costumes and leant us pretty much most of their garden furniture! A big thank you to the Parents’ Association who ran the bar, ran up some hems and ran up and down ladders to decorate the set Thanks also to Mrs Isbister and the Lower School parents for co-ordinating the Lower School gala show. Welcome aboard and ta very much to lighting wizards ‘Terry Corbett and son’ for handling the madness and mayhem without so much as a ruffled dimmer switch and also to Dan Bywater and Will Bradley for helping out and standing by when the smoke machine powered up. Thanks also to Alex for loaning us his pot plant collection and locking up after us, to Mr ‘dodgy joke’ Dyer and his front of house crew and to the cleaners who patiently waited until we finally left on Friday. Thanks to Mr Leighton for our sunset, Sonia and crew for our sandwiches and sausage rolls and to Mrs Liddle for making so much record merchandise she could set up her own company – ‘Gimmicky Things to go with Musicals dot com.’ There is no doubt that ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ was a highly emotional experience. We laughed and cried in fairly equal measures. So many of our loyal cast are leaving this year that the final performance was met with a real sense of excitement and trepidation. No one wanted it to end, but we all knew it had to – let’s face it, those wigs do get a bit itchy after 5 nights under stage lights! We wish all our leavers the very best for what the future holds and look forward to welcoming them to their VIP seats in the audience next year! And that was that – ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ – a musical within a comedy. Ah yes, we stumbled, at times we bumbled, it is even true that on
the odd occasion we fumbled around somewhat in our search for musical perfection, but despite the pushing, the shoving, the forgotten rehearsals, the lost bowties, the sleepless nights and the tearful goodbyes, there is no doubt that every single member of our amazing and slightly crazy team plumbled their socks off! So let’s raise a glass to the shimmying showgirls, the manicured maids the furnitureflinging footmen, the willing wedding guests, the suntanned slaves and the weird and wonderful characters who turned up four nights in a row to Mrs Tottendales’s fancy house for the wedding that was, then wasn’t, then thankfully was again. As we stumble along on life’s crazy journey – here’s a toast to music, mayhem, madness and memories. Hear hear! (hiccup) Now, The Man’s armchair is empty, Mrs Tottendale’s fancy dress lies abandoned somewhere backstage, Kitty’s half-eaten cherry bakewell sits lonely on the empty tray, Drowsy’s Gibson glass is drained leaving only the faint whiff of glacé cherry next to Aldolpho’s slightly squashed moustache. In the distance the ghostly shadow of Trix’s elegant bi plane looms, quiet now nestled amidst Dr Mottershead’s discarded stage weights and backcloths. As we take in this vision of faded theatricality one question remains – why the heck can’t you guys tidy up after yourselves? Goodbye everybody. Goodbye! Bon voyage, God bless – ‘til next time! M.D Uttley
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Upper School Set Building with Dr Mottershead The question I ask most frequently is, ‘Have you decided what the musical is to be yet?’ This eventually is imparted to me and the fun starts! What do I, along with my faithful band of fellow conjurers otherwise known as set builders, need to build this year? What else will be required? The answer to the latter is usually drip-fed to me lest I convulse at the prospect of task set before me. (The director-Miss Uttley is no fool, on the contrary what she manages to cajole from myself, Mrs Spencer, Mrs Taylor, the pupils and a myriad of others is impressive. This year it is to be something I have never even heard of. That actually may give me more scope to build whatever I want as no one will have any preconceived ideas as to what ought to be put before them as the curtain is hoisted on the first night. Actually Miss Uttley has a few ideas as to what she would like, requires, insists upon; you may choose your own word from the aforementioned list. The flat of an American eccentric with several entrances please which must be at the back as well as the front. And yes I would like a plane. A plane that moves. One which a person can sit in or at least sing part of a song from within. Very straightforward then this year. Set building takes place every Monday night for about 10 weeks and as the deadline draws ever nearer we work until a later hour. Unfortunately, if life were so simple. There are other people and groups that want to utilise the stage and even some of the material that I will be using. ‘Sorry you can’t have the stage then as it is to be used by’…. Some wood has been ‘lost’, although I managed to find it by moving only a couple of flats and there, behold the ‘lost’ items. Sadly they do not belong to T.C. anyway so will be of no value to me. Only a minor encumbrance. ‘Can Miss X have the stage for only a couple of hours?’ The constant number of, on their own only small inconveniences, but on aggregate, serious distractions to the flow, or lack of flow to production
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start to seriously affect the possibility of meeting the prescribed deadlines, namely when the curtain goes up! I ‘enjoy’ the comments from the cast; is this finished? This is not painted. The penchant for such observations is starting to grate. My team and I do not need reminding of what is and what is not yet completed, but, in reality, such comments are only observations and a desire to see the finished article, one hopes! The outline of the American flat quickly becomes a framework and remains just a framework for some considerable time. I start to think about the plane. The one that will need to move and have someone sat in it. A brainwave! A wheelchair will do it. Build a frame for the plane around the wheelchair. The plane will move, someone can sit in it, easy! ‘You cannot use that wheelchair it belongs to someone. The hunt for a wheelchair now takes on a lease of life, which quickly encapsulates a vast array of people searching for said, article. Mrs Isbister becomes the hero as her network of contacts pays dividends. I am truly most grateful, as I had no idea as to how I would produce that plane without a wheelchair. I know it sounds bizarre, but I think we got away with it on the nights! Doorframes are built, additional help is offered and accepted to put a frame around the fridge which when initially opened will be a fridge and then will become a door as the contents of the fridge and shelving miraculously disappear. I liked that idea. Various helpers, often female, who occasionally, no, frequently, decide to put more on themselves than on the wood, but that’s part of the fun, then apply paint. Wallpaper is purchased. That in itself was an experience. Finding somewhere that sells wallpaper for less than a fiver a roll was a challenge. We ventured out to Cannock. There is nothing wrong, necessarily with Cannock, but negotiating the price of rolls of wallpaper and asking for more discount because this roll has been opened was a test of my business acumen. Armed with 8 rolls of wallpaper, more helpers come forth and apply in the prescribed manner. Decorating sets all of a sudden becomes an issue that all have an opinion on! People appear out of the woodwork, not that of the set, but metaphorically speaking.
Don’t like that colour, red would be better et al, is typical of the comments thrown into the ring for me and others to deliberate upon. It is as if someone is taking over and impinging and yet it is of course for the common good, ensuring it will be all right on the night. It is strange how one becomes possessive of the set you have painstakingly put together. It is often difficult to say to pupils who have given their time so freely that what has been produced has not been approved by whoever and consequently has to be changed. It is part of the learning process in life that people will always have differing views! Occasionally, I choose some hideous colour and paint merrily in some sort of silly rebellious, but entertaining streak. I will never cease to be amazed with how much talent there is; whether it is for building sets, or for those who really have the hard task, namely actually performing on stage. This year was no exception. I really enjoyed the performances, as did the audiences judging from their applause nightly. I cannot end without thanking the backstage-unsung heroes. This year Holly Winwood once again took the arduous task of ensuring everyone was in the right place at the right time and not just the actors! She has this wonderful knack of cajoling people in an affable manner. I could not operate backstage without the likes of Holly and those who have kindly worked with me on previous occasions. I always try and choose pupils who will remain calm, regardless of what happens. I was again fortunate to have chosen the right one. Sets for musicals, plays, in the theatre, outside, have been tackled, I hope with some success. Stages have been reinforced to take the weight of the monster in Shop of Horrors; additional trapdoors have been cut in the stage for Macbeth- (the bursar never knew!) There have been the odd accidents but only three of these required hospital treatment for me! ( including 2 broken ankles, but the show went on!) Do I have my favourites? Yes of course.’ Forbidden Planet’, ‘Little shop of Horrors’ are very high on my list. However, I have enjoyed them all for a variety of reasons. A big ‘thank you’ to all who have worked with me. I hope they had as much fun as I did (most of the time). Andy Mottershead
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Upper School A Year at Tettenhall College Library The Library has seen quite a few changes during the past academic year and staff and pupils have encountered Gruffalos and tigers and bears – oh my! The Reading Room One of the main changes to the library was the creation of a special Reading Room in Lower School. This was created as a special area for reading lessons and also allowed the sixth form to use the library as a study area. It also meant that Lower School could have a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction books on hand. It is a lovely room to read as a class without any disturbances and it has lots of book related posters and displays. It has proved to be a great place for all the visits from Lower School and the Drive.
The Drive School at the Library The nursery children have joined the merry band of regular visitors, with weekly story and craft sessions on a Tuesday morning. A particular favourite is Shark in the Park and some beautifully coloured in sharks swam back to the nursery with the children after one of their story sessions. Years 1 and 2 continued their weekly visits on Tuesday afternoons and when the swimming pool was out of action for a few weeks they had extended library sessions, which meant that as well as stories there were craft sessions too for Year 1. Year 2 had some rather special sessions too with several video messages to the class from the Spy Dog author Andrew Cope. He secretly sent Lara the Spy Dog to check out the pupils and then he sent them a message asking them to write a story for him about their pet gorilla. The pupils created some wonderful tales and Andrew chose Harry Gordon as the winner with his story being about Robert his pet gorilla, who went to the World Cup and ate all the bananas in South Africa and Wayne Rooney slipped on the skins and couldn’t play for England! Harry received the first copy of Andrew’s new book and a special Spy Dog t-shirt. The video messages can be viewed on You Tube.
Kindergarten and Reception started to have their own individual storytimes on a Friday afternoon, after previously all being together. This allowed Reception to have special storytimes to link in with topics they were investigating. This included minibugs and dinosaurs and they particular liked the tale called “When Dinosaurs Came Free With Everything” The library joined in with special themed weeks throughout the year and one these was all about India and all classes visited the Reading Room for stories about Bengal tigers and Indian folk tales. There were lots of tiger crafts too. World Book Day saw lots of activities for The Drive School and a visit from the Scholastic Book Shop. The Drive School’s annual Bring Your Bear to School Day in June helped
raise £150 for the Touching Tiny Lives appeal and there were bears galore in the Reading Room, where all classes visited for bear stories and crafts and a teddy bear’s picnic. The bear themed continued to the Thinking and Learning day in July, as a specially created story about The Missing Teddy Bears of Tettenhall was used as part of a big bear hunt through the Drive School garden. Pupils and staff helped follow the trail through a spooky forest, over a pond and up a mountain to try to discover who had taken the bears and why. They found that it was the Gruffalo and he chased them back to the school before saying sorry and asking if he could come to the Teddy Bear’s Picnic. The children were very brave and all managed to survive to tuck into pizza and sandwiches with the Gruffalo at lunchtime.
Harry Gordon - Winner
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Upper School
Lower School at the Library The pupils have enjoyed having their very own Reading Room and in particular having their weekly lessons in such a lovely environment. Each year group has had its own display board linked to the particular book they are reading as a class. There have been Roald Dahl stories, an Alex Rider adventure, a visit from Mr Majeika and some memorable tales from Michael Morpurgo. There was even a version of the Railway Children, with Dylan and Lewis providing some wonderful voices for Roberta and Phyliss! Halloween saw the Reading Room transformed into a dark and scary place full of cobwebs and bats and after some spine chilling tales the pupils were asked to take part in an audition for Most Haunted, which saw the finalists having to put their hands into some terrifying boxes full of ghoul’s guts, dead man’s hands and ghostly ectoplasm! In November, there was a themed week on reading and the library helped Mrs Lofting to organise a series of events including visits from three authors. Tom Palmer, who writes football fiction was a real hit with his penalty shoot out quiz and Mrs Lofting and Mr Foster made great goalkeepers! Shoo Rayner, who writes and illustrates children books gave a talk on creating illustrations and was really funny when telling his stories. Pete Johnson told pupils all about his new story called the TV Time Travellers and answered questions on what it was like to be an author. There were lots of other activities to celebrate the week including a book related quiz and the transformation of the Reading Room
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into Starbooks Coffee Shop, which was open for pupils to come in and relax with a book. World Book Day saw a visit from the Scholastic book Fair and a programme of activities for all classes, including a time travelling quiz. The “House” Themed week saw the classes visit for a special edition of the Eggheads Quiz, with teams competing against the Eggheads team of teachers. The final took place in the grand setting of the Library and after a closely fought battle the teachers were crowned Egghead champions of 2010. The Library Lunchtime Clubs continued to thrive with The Book Club being enthralled by the London Eye Mystery and the Newspaper Club going from strength to strength. The ISI Inspectors were very impressed with the newspaper and the reporters were very pleased with this recognition! The Craft Club tried out some new crafts this year with Memory Boxes, Snow globes and Glass Painting. There were some lovely flowers and keyrings for Mother’s Day and bookmarks and notebooks too. The Bingo Club continues to be popular and the prizes from the stationery cupboard are much sort after! Upper School at the Library EFL students have been regular visitors to the Library for their London project and for an Endangered Animals project. They have also visited the Reading Room for a special Spooky Stories Session at Halloween, which included fortune telling by throwing a cursed slipper! Valentine’s Day also saw a special library session
for the lovelorn EFL pupils, where they discovered how to predict romance using star signs and the real meaning of Valentine’s Day. The library was also part of the Thinking and Learning Day during the last week of term and a special task was set for the pupils to use their knowledge of books to crack a secret code. There have been regular visits from classes in Years 7-9 and overall there has been an increase in the number of books being borrowed, especially by boys. The most popular books this year have been Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney and the series of books by Michael Grant – Gone and Hunger. The Percy Jackson series and the Spooks series of books have also been popular. There were quizzes and competitions throughout the year, with the World Cup quiz and Wordsearch proving very popular. As ever, there are a small band of helpers who assist in the smooth running of the library and a special mention must go to Scott Place, Zach Oakley, Zak Pugh, Keely Hill-Harding and Joe Proffitt, who regularly recycle the newspapers and restock the stationery cabinets. It was a sad end to the year, as Mrs Gallant trusted and hardworking Library and Resources Assistant and friend to all, left to begin a new career as a Teaching Assistant. She will be missed by all and those Marvellous Monday Bingo sessions just won’t be the same without her! So a new year and a new face in the Library too – and as always a whole new year of adventures to look forward too!
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Upper School Charities Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal for Haiti Following the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti on the 12th January Tettenhall College joined the international effort to raise much needed funds and together we raised over £1000. Much to the delight of Year 11 students an outdoor café was set up by Year 8 pupils; during the two day operation the café became a great social area where laughter and conversation mingled with the steam and smells of hot soup and coffee. The café raised an additional £130. Mr Leighton
Around the Schools Alex Poile’s Chinese Garden Traveling without going too far… It has been a privilege and a pleasure to be able to travel in time and place without leaving the school grounds. Thanks to Alex ‘s imaginative designs we can walk along the Great Wall of China , compare the highest mountains of the world, project ourselves in a Middle Age castle and at the end of it all relax in the Chinese garden. The latter is a tribute to the many Chinese students who have lived at Tettenhall College and over the years enriched the school by their contributions. It provides a restful place, somewhere to rest, chat or simply to admire and get inspired.
Tettenhall College Sculpture Park Did you know that Tettenhall College now has its very own sculpture park, rivalling others in the country?! Over the past months, a variety of interesting ‘sculptures’ have appeared in Tettenhall grounds, to the interest of pupils and visitors alike. Our very own talented artist and historian, Alex Poile, has imaginatively created these to stimulate our interest in historical and geographical features of our world. They range from a replica Viking ship, Norman Castle and Martello Tower, to cut -outs of the Great Wall of China, the highest mountains in the world and natural ice-age rocks deposited in the school grounds! Alex has researched the details carefully and represented them in true historical fashion, using his evident artistic and creative talents. Blending in with the natural surroundings of shrubs and trees, each object has a display card giving the background details and history, creating genuine interest and bringing it to life. To the unwary there are also replica crocodiles and birds, which can give a heart-stopping moment in the dusk! Come and see for yourself on one of the school’s Open Days! D. Stone
Thomas and Octave by the Norman Castle
William Gao by Great Wall of China
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Upper School Parents’ Association The Parents’ Association has had yet again another busy year and the committee supported the school in many varied ways. Tea and home - made cake were served at the Bluebell Walk in our new venue, Cafe 6, with Autumn Leaves and the Ghost Walk yet to take place, but the events are always very well supported come rain or shine! We held our Summer Fayre again this year. This was held in the sports hall as we could not rely on the weather. We had another great turnout with some fantastic stalls. All in all this was a success as everyone got involved from The Drive through to Upper School, including some teachers. There were lots of moms and dads, grandmas and granddads all supporting us, which is fantastic.
Chair: Mrs Vickie Jones Vice Chair: Mrs. Clare Baugh Treasurer: Mrs. Sarah Houghton Upper School Representative: Mrs. Catharine Hammond Lower School Representative: Mrs Sarah Isbister Drive School Representative: Mrs. Clare Baugh
The theme of our 2009 ball was a ‘Glitter’ Ball with the live band being amazing and everybody got dressed up in their finery and had a really lovely evening. Our Committee once again did us proud and decorated the Towers Theatre in fantastic style, including a huge Christmas tree which really put everybody in the mood. This year’s theme has already been decided and we are going for a James Bond evening which will no doubt be just as spectacular! Book your tickets early to avoid disappointment!! Our first flower arranging evening was held just before Christmas and was very well supported, again another good idea from the committee members. We have a yearly Quiz Night for all the family to enjoy which is always a sell-out as it gets very competitive now! We have also had a couple of beauty nights where make-up demonstrations take place, with raffles, cheese and wine which has proved very popular with the ladies. As you can see the Parents’ Association has a lot of fun together raising funds for the school, making it an all round winning combination. This is all thanks to the dedicated mums and dads who help in so many ways from giving of their time, helping make cakes, helping decorating rooms or supplying raffle prizes; the list is endless but all very important in the coming together of the events we hold and I thank you all. All the children reap the benefits of this hard work. I thank Dr. Bodkin for his support and enthusiasm at all our events and wish him well in his new venture. We also have to say goodbye to a couple of our committee members who are moving on and we thank them too for all their hard work over the years, it is always invaluable. Vickie Jones (Chair) Tettenhall College Parents’ Association
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Old Tettenhallian Content The Old Tettenhallians’ Club Dates for 2010-11 Remembrance Sunday Service 14th November at 10.30am Venue: In the Chapel The service supports the ‘Help for Heroes’ and the Royal British Legion charities. The Headmaster extends an invitation to lunch afterwards.
President: Graham Foulkes Vice President: Keith Grant-Pearce Chairman: Peter Pingree Hon. Secretary: Stephen Corns Hon. Treasurer: Robert Russell Hon. Auditor: Julian Gronow Hon. Editor: Simon Whild Magazine content submissions: Email: simonwhild@aol.com) Committee Members: Graham Aston, Julian Bown, Deb Brook, John Chown, Andy Mottershead, Rebecca Rice, Tim Rowe and Paul Whitehead.
London Reunion Dinner Saturday 20th November 2010 Venue: Victory Services Club, Seymour Street, London W2 2HF. For tickets contact Graham Aston on: Tel: 01932 229001 or Email: grahamaston@hotmail.com Dinner & Dance 2011 Saturday 12th March 2011 Venue: Wolverhampton Cricket Club, Danescourt Road, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, WV6 9BJ Please contact Peter Pingree for tickets: Tel: 07966 686932 or Email: petepingree@yahoo.co.uk) The Vernon Cup Golf Competition Thursday 2nd June 2011 Venue: South Staffordshire Golf Club in Tettenhall and will commence at 3 p.m. If you wish to take part please contact Keith Grant-Pearce on: Email: keithgp27@yahoo.co.uk Annual Reunion Weekend Saturday 11th June and Sunday 12th June 2011 All O.T.s will receive an invitation by post before the event. More information about these events can be obtained on our website: www.oldtettenhallians.co.uk
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Old Tettenhallian Content A Letter from the President Dear Tettenhallians – past and present Over the years I have enjoyed many Old Tettenhallian gatherings, and in particular the Annual Reunion Weekends. The most pleasurable of these was the most recent one in June 2010 when I received the chain of office from the outgoing President, Deb Brook. I much appreciated her kind words of encouragement and good wishes, which went someway to reduce the stress of the moment!I was born in Dudley in 1933 and in 1943 attended the local Grammar School for two years, transferring to T.C. in September 1945 and staying until July 1950. I was a boarder throughout my time at the College, and Mr. Field-Hyde was the Headmaster. I thoroughly enjoyed being at the College, especially my involvement in music. I sang in the choir and played the clarinet in the school orchestra. I readily admit that the influence of the school on my life has been considerable. I was unlucky enough to be caned twice by my Housemaster, Mr. Nicholson, but whilst the discipline at that time was stern, nevertheless it ensured a great deal of stability and respect for one’s fellows. President: Graham Foulkes
The immediate post-war years were austere in terms of food rationing and power cuts but these difficult times taught me to appreciate the things in life that are of real account. The central heating at the College was rudimentary and quite inefficient – winters like the harsh one of 1947 were cold and bleak! In spite of this, I have fond and warm memories of my years at T.C. After leaving the College, I entered the family business, The Patent Borax Company Ltd. in Tipton – manufacturers of soaps, detergents and general cleaning materials. I continued my studies at Wednesbury and Dudley Technical Colleges in Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering. I took over the running of the business after my father retired in 1965. During my married life, I have lived in Sedgeley and Wombourne. Since I retired in 1996, my leisure hours have been devoted to gardening, dinghy sailing and jazz music. I am also treasurer of the Wolverhampton group of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, a position I have held for the past 20 years. I feel very privileged to be elected President of the Old Tettenhallians’ Club, which has been in existence since 1889. I would like to thank the O.T. Committee for nominating me for this position and look forward to meeting as many of you as possible during my year of Presidency. With best regards to old and new friends! Graham Foulkes
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Old Tettenhallian Content A Message from the Chairman of Committee, Old Tettenhallians’ Club Dear Old Tettenhallians,
Chairman of the Committee: Peter Pingree
I have now been in office for four years and with the support of an excellent committee, I have done my best to move the club forward and I believe good progress has been achieved. Presently we hold three major events each year, the Reunion Weekend in June, the London Dinner in November and the Dinner Dance in March. Whilst there is a youthful element on these occasions, mostly the older generation are in the majority. I think we need to know why this is so. I would welcome the input of the younger ones to tell me what alternative events would be of greater appeal or what improvements might be made to our existing ones. Please send me your thoughts and ideas. I promise that full consideration will be given to any viable proposals. To secure a stable future for the club, we encourage younger members to be actively engaged in our social events and also to participate on committee. We all lead busy lives but I am sure you could spare at least four evenings a year to work with us on committee – why not put yourself forward. We older members cannot keep going forever and new blood is needed! Contact me by: Email petepingree@yahoo.co.uk or alternatively write to me at: 47, Windermere Road, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton WV6 9DL With best wishes. Peter Pingree / Chairman of Committee
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Old Tettenhallian Content Where are they now?
Emily Bridgewood (1994-2001) Working as a nurse in Wolverhampton, and at the time of writing, is getting married to Truan Cothey (Head Boy 2001), who is currently about to obtain his teaching qualification. Emily writes: “We have two dogs and we are very happy!” OTs’ Wedding OTs’ Wedding: The marriage of Emily Bridgewood (T.C. 1994-2001) and Truan Cothey (T.C. 1993-2001) took place at All Hallows Church, South Cerney, Gloucestershire on Saturday 31st July 2010. The bridesmaids included Emily’s sisters - Jessica (T.C. 1995-2002) and Alice and the Best Man was Andrew Shaw (T.C. 1996-2001) Peter Brentnall (1936-1945) After leaving T.C., Peter was apprenticed in Structural Engineering for 7 years. He writes: “Positions in various engineering firms followed and I became Technical associate in 1958, then chief Engineer in Industrialised Building Projects between 1962 and 1972. I then went to Hong Kong as Resident Partner in a consulting civil/ structural engineering firm and in 1975, became senior partner, responsible for the construction of many high rise buildings in Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and China. I retired to the UK in 1988 due to my wife’s ill health, but she died in 2006, and I now live in retirement in Wantage, Oxfordshire.”
Sara Cork (2000-2007) Graduated from Cardiff University with a 1st class honours degree in Biomedical sciences with Physiology where she was awarded the M.J Wooster Memorial Prize in her second year for the highest achieving second year student. She was also awarded the Physiological Society Prize for achieving the highest marks in both her final year examinations and final year dissertation – as well as achieving the highest marks over all three years at Cardiff. She is currently spending time on her family farm while she considers her next career move.
Brian Cheung (2005-2009) Is currently attending an Occupational Therapy course at Brunel University in London.
Lillie Core (1991-2005) Went to the University of Bath to do Chemical Engineering and at the time of writing was awaiting her final results. During her course, Lillie did a placement year with British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), although she now plans to put her degree to other uses. In September she will be starting a management scheme with Lidl, although she says that this position with Lidl will enable her to use her knowledge of German and become manager within a year of 5 to 6 stores. She says: “It is a bit of a risk and I hope it gives me a new sense of direction, but if all else fails there is always a job in the nuclear industry for me!”
Lillie Core
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Old Tettenhallian Content Tony Corkindale (1969-1979) Is currently working in Birmingham as a senior underwriter with Aviva, specialising in commercial property and liability insurance. After 30 years on the club circuit, Tony has finally retired from playing cricket, even though he was selected for the Shropshire League Team at the “ripe old age of 40!” He is now concentrating his sporting prowess on golf at the Bridgnorth Golf club and also plays table tennis in the Wolverhampton and District League First Division with another O.T., Brian Sage. Stephen Field (1970-1980) qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the ‘80s and has been working in the motor trade for the past 16 years. He is currently Group Operations Director for Westlands Toyota. He has one son, Jonathan, who is at the end of his second year at Cardiff University. Stephen re-married in 2007 and now lives in the village of Hartlebury.
Alex Fu (1995-2002) Gained his BEng. From the University of Bath and his MSc. From Kings College London and now lives and works in London as a Quality Assurance Analyst. He also works for an online fashion company called: www.asos.com. John Gallagher (1981-1988) Currently living and working in New Zealand as a Prospect Manager/ Quantity Surveyor. John has been there 8 years now is married with two children (Jessica 4 and Jacob 9 months). John writes: “I’m enjoying the way of life. Still in contact with Rach Manisti, Jeremy Hill and Louise Evans. Also managed to track down Ed Johnson in Sydney.” Philip Gilman (1960-1965) is married and is an optometrist with Flint and Partners, Wolverhampton.
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Deborah Hardman-Wilson (1980-1983) (1992-1996 staff) Deborah writes: “Well, I decided that 45 would be a great age to retire at, so I did. As a result, my husband and I (and sometimes the cat) spend a good deal of time in our motorhome, looking at other parts of the country. We also spend four weeks each year on the canal in a narrowboat, which we part own. Then just to top it off, we spend the winter out of the UK, somewhere warm. Life’s good.” John Jerome (1940-1947) John writes: “After leaving Tettenhall College, I joined the Royal Air Force as a Nursing Orderly at Cosford Hospital. On demob, I went to Avoncroft Agricultural College. I then worked on farms as a student until I joined the Pig Industry Development Authority (P.I.D.A.). I have now been retired for 20 years”.
Bob and Margaret Johnson travelled to Sydney again in February to spend time with son Ed, his wife Ingrid and their three grandchildren, Tom(5) Emily(3) and Jack (1). Whilst there they had a week in the Great Lakes National Park, 3hours drive north of Sydney, staying in a cabin right on the beach. Ed is now Deputy Bureau Chief for the Bloomberg Corporation in Sydney; his offices on Circular Quay overlook the Opera House and Bridge. Margaret is visiting Sydney again in November this year to spend time with the family.
On their return journey they had a 2 night stop-over in Hong Kong where they had a reunion dinner with OTs: Dominic & Dora Chan, Andy Cheung, Eric Choi and Emily Cheung. It was so good to see them all after 10-12 years and a wonderful evening was spent catching up with news about family and their successful careers. Margaret and Bob have been invited to Eric Choi’s wedding on February 13th 2011. Howard Yip Kaiho (2000-2007) Currently studying for a degree in Science and Technology at Hong Kong University and hopes to graduate in 2011.
Melody Leung (2002-2008) Melody says: “I left T.C. in July 2009, went back Hong Kong for 15 months, and then flew to Switzerland to start my new university life. I am doing a Hospitality degree in SHMS (Swiss Hotel Management School). My university is located up on the mountain and the view is amazing! For achieving the degree we need to do two half a year internship. Last year I worked in a hotel and restaurant in the French speaking part of Switzerland as Food and beverage server and housekeeping trainee. It was not easy, but at the end I learned so much, especially the improvement of my French speaking skills. Currently, I am doing my second internship in the U.S.A. in one of the Walt Disney World Resorts as Front Desk. I love the job and love working for the company: it is definitely what I would like to do in the future.”
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Old Tettenhallian Content my alternative civilian service where I worked as a driver for a car-pool. I have had to do this with handicapped children from Summer 2006 until September 2007. In October 2007, I started to study industrial engineering and management at Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, which is the oldest university of mining and metallurgy in the world. Since April 2009 I have been studying Mechanical Engineering for mining machines.” Anthony Shrive (1945-1951) Spent 48 years in the racing profession, having been lightweight jockey to the Queen during the 50s.
Li Li (2003-2005) Graduated from Cambridge University in 2008, followed by MIT, and currently works for Goldman Sachs in London. Andrew Milligan (staff) Enjoyed a once in a lifetime experience early this year when he went on an expedition to the South Atlantic. On board his ship, M.S. Expedition, was a fellow O.T., Gordon Stirrat (1948) who is a very eminent man in the medical field. Bryan Oliver (1947-1953) Is currently enjoying his retirement in the Cotswolds where he is a member of several choirs and leads walking holidays. Geoffrey Pugh (1940-1945) Geoffrey writes: “After a lifetime’s commitment to the nation-changing work of Moral Re-Armament, now called Initiatives of Change, which took me and my then wife and daughter for long years in Italy, India, Australia and the United States, we ended up in charge of a conference centre in Cheshire. Now our home is in a Sussex village, where we have taken on responsibilities in the community… in the village church and in continuation of our life’s work across Sussex. Visitors always welcome.” Michael Schultz (2003-2004) Attended his former German school in Leipzig, Germany until July 2006 to do his German A-levels (called “Abitur”). He then went to Oxford for 3 weeks in 2005. He says: “Following this I did
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Dudley Shrive (1951-1956) Spent 30 years running his own engineering/fabrication company. Becoming semi-retired, he then spent 10 years as a mentor for the Prince’s Trust, where he assisted people to start their own businesses. James Snelson (1942-1949) Spent a career in farming from 1954 to 1990, although suffered a stroke in 2003 and since then, in his own words, he has done “not a lot… except get better”. He has two sons, Mark and Craig, both of whom attended the College. Dr. James Somauroo (1989-2003) Graduated from Nottingham University in 2008 with a BSc. in Medical Sciences and followed this in 2010 with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery. He currently lives in Sedgley, West Midlands.
Jimmy Tsui (1999-2001) After leaving T.C. Jimmy obtained a BSc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bath in 2004. After this, he attained his MSc. in Electronic Engineering from the University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong in 2010. He is still going out with Mandy Chan (2000-2002) and was planning to propose to her during a trip to Japan in June 2010, so now wishes us to record their marital status as “engaged”. Jimmy currently works for Sanmina-SCI as Assistant Manager of Test Engin. Department. David Walley (1961-1967) Worked on the family farm near Coven until it was sold in 1981. David then entered the animal feed business, specialising in pig farming, as an Account Manager, where he dealt with sales of food to farms in the Midlands and elsewhere. At the Staffs County Show held in May 2010, David received a Staffordshire and Birmingham Agricultural Society Long Service Award in Agriculture. Tim Webb (1973-1980) Is married to Cath with two daughters (Eve 11 and Gina 9). Tim currently lives in West Yorkshire and works in Brussels for 3 days each week as Director of Education for a leading medical devices company. After leaving T.C., Tim obtained a degree in Economics and French and 14 years later obtained an M.B.A.
Jimmy Tsui and Mandy Chan
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Old Tettenhallian Content Charles Weight 1926-1930 At 96 is the oldest living O.T. [Unless someone knows anyone older – Ed.]. He currently lives on the Pattingham Road, near Wolverhampton, and has been round the world 7 times and visited 35 different countries. Charles says he is still enjoying life. Martin Wellsbury (1949-1955) qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1961, then went into practice in Wolverhampton and Birmingham between 1961 and 1979. He then moved into industry between 1979 and 1990, then into private practice from 1991 to his retirement in 2002. He is married with 3 daughters and 7 grandchildren. Peter Westwood (1943-1953) After leaving T.C., Peter joined the National Audit Office and in 1966 became an IT Systems Analyst. In 1967, he joined Southdown Motor Services in Brighton as IT/Systems Department Manager in 1972. He then joined Salford city council as Computer Manager and then City Information Technology Services Manager (he writes: “…had to widen the office door!”) before his retirement in 1992. Peter has two daughters and three grandchildren and has re-married following his divorce in 1988. In his
retirement, he enjoys sailing, rugby, bridge, coastal path walking and much more. Peter asks: “Does anyone know anything about Rodney Andrew – surgeon/doctor Vancouver?” Peter can be contacted at: peterwestwood@tiscali.co.uk Niki Winarto (1999 to 2001) Recently graduated from Northeastern University, Boston, USA; majoring in Finance and Entrepreneurship. He is currently working as a Fixed Income Pricing Analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman and Co. (BBH), the oldest and largest privately held bank in the U.S. Niki says: “T.C. has opened up many paths in my life. The unique teaching culture has sharpened my leadership, teamwork and creative skills.” He can be contacted at: niki.winarto@bbh.com Florian Wolf (2008-2009) Has now returned to his native Germany and currently has one more year at the “Gymnasium”, where he will sit his final examination (the “Arbitur”) in April 2011. He says: “Issues like time management and private study were easier for me than for other students here in Germany. I found it easy to use my “free periods” (study periods) for prep and study. I think this is due to my year at Tettenhall College where I
learned how to plan and organize my time efficiently.” Claude Wong (1979-1984) Graduated in 1979, studied architecture at the Architectural Association in London and received the degree in 1984. Returned to Hong Kong the same year and has been working as an architect since. Ray Wong (1997-2001) Attended Imperial College of London after leaving T.C., then he went to work for Application Networks (London), then Reuters (Hong Kong, Asia), then to AG/Delta (Hong Kong, Singapore). Paul Wooddisse (1954-1961) Is a Chartered Accountant with his own practice in Stourbridge now, but used to be a partner of O.T. Keith Porteous. He is also a R.Y.A. Yachtmaster Instructor with his own sailing school in Oban, Argyll. Jelly Huang Yiyin (2007-2009) Is currently studying International Business with Communications at the University of Birmingham.
Eric Yuan (1978-1982) When studying his Accounting and Finance degree at Warwick University, Eric was the recipient of the University’s music scholarship for three years. In 1984, Eric recorded “Pagan Moon” with Jacques Loussier. A gifted musician as he is, Eric has not chosen a path to become a professional pianist but to enter the world of finance. After graduating from Warwick, Eric joined KPMG London and became a chartered accountant. His working experience in London included the English National Opera as Management Accountant, Lloyds TSB as Planning Manager. In 1999, Eric was headhunted to join HSBC Hong Kong. In 2003, Eric decided to quit his banking career and retired at the age of 39. On the side, he started to run various businesses including his own music school “Il concerto”, a mah-jong club and two bookshops. In 2007, Eric was conferred the “Best Teacher Award Hong Kong” by the Chinese International Piano Federation. The same year, due to escalating rental cost, Eric sold all his businesses and switched from being a tenant to become a landlord by forming his own property investment company. Eric is actively involved with the Canto-pop scene as a song writer as well as a producer. He has collaborated with leading HK artists such as Kelly Chen, Andy Lau and Hacken Lee. Now, besides managing his own property portfolio, Eric dedicates three days a week nurturing young talented pianists. He is enjoying every minute of his role as a piano teacher and is making a real difference in the Hong Kong music scene. Eric can be contacted at: eyh8erc@yahoo.com.hk
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Old Tettenhallian Content Letters from O.T.s
Jim Frew today
Jim Frew (1941-1952) writes: I still have many clear memories of much that happened in those far-off days. I can tell that there have been huge changes in the school. I think I mentioned in a previous message that the major buildings between the old school and the Towers were built after my departure to Australia, and all the building development is very interesting to view on Google Earth where it shows up very clearly. I was brought up to date with a good deal of information I think some seven or eight years ago when Ron Wilkins visited us for just a few hours less than two years before his untimely death. He was I think two or three years ahead of me at school, but for some reason was a bit of a pal to me in my early years at T.C. My parents lived in Codsall Road, first at Claregate, and then we moved up the road and lived in a house adjoining the South Staffs Golf Course. I did two years National Service from late 1952 to 1954 in the RAF, most of which time I spent at RAF Gutersloh, Germany. On demobilisation, my mother had a desire for me to follow some kind of profession, and I was articled to Dick Fuell & Co, Chartered Auctioneers & Estate Agents of Darlington Street, Wolverhampton. After several years, I felt I was being employed as cheap labour and became disillusioned, and my father suggested migration – something he had done at a similar age in the early 1900s. So for the princely sum of £10, I left for Australia and regard that as the best £10 I ever spent! I still remember much about the daily routine and the difficult times during WW2. Regretfully, I never maintain anything more than casual acquaintanceships with former school friends, and I reconnected with Ron Wilkins probably because he was the O.T. secretary at one stage.
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Jim Frew as Prefect in 1951
Myself taken in the study I shared with Roger Furness, who was a year behind me. I would have been in my final year in 6th form and was a full prefect as evidenced by the gown which, in those days was worn by full prefects. Maybe such hierarchical tokens have long disappeared? The studies were rather quaint little rooms just along from the entrance to the head master’s house, and were accessed from a stairway leading off the dining room. The College Chess Team with Mr. Hancock and myself and Rouse at front, and back row: Tewson, West, Guest, Cook, Chesworth, Whitehouse. This photo would date from 1952. How is Geoffrey Hancock? I hope he is still going strong. I can remember his arriving at T.C. with a limp from his war injuries. Please pass on my sincere regards to him. I must have been around ten years old, and think I dropped out of scouts soon after. You will note Mr Pine (centre: second row) with his son John on his left. His other
son (Dick?) is on the extreme left of the next row back. There is a lot of T.C. history represented in this photo. My copy is in remarkably good condition with no fading, as is the photo of the chess group. I have in my possession an illustrated prospectus folder, which very likely was sent to my parents when they were selecting my next school. In a pocket within this were several sheets of printed information about the school, fees, clothing needs, as well as a listing of staff and governors. When I moved to Australia, I fell on my feet, found a job within weeks, married an Australian girl 18 months after my arrival, and we owned a retail health business for 27 years until we retired in 1991. We have two adult children – a daughter who is a nurse, and a son who is an I.T. consultant. Following my retirement, I developed an interest in energy healing, of which I practise several forms and have been a Reiki Master/Teacher for almost 19 years. With my wife, I paid my one and only return visit to the U.K. in 1992 to visit Scottish relatives, but time didn’t allow us to return to Wolverhampton. However, with the aid of Google Earth, I am now able to gaze down on T.C. and am amazed at how the school has expanded with many new buildings. With the street camera, I am also able to gaze in the main gate of the old school and travel down High Street, Tettenhall and follow the route I used to cycle to my parents’ home in Codsall Road. I don’t know of any O.T.s resident in Australia, but we are a pretty big country if there are, and the possibility of
College Chess Team 1952
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Old Tettenhallian Content
John Shaw (1950-1959) writes: We emigrated to New Zealand after I retired in 1986 to join two daughters and now four grandchildren. I have two sons and two granddaughters still in the U.K. New Zealand is a fantastic country where nearly everyone lives close to the sea or large lakes. Low population, beautiful beaches and in Auckland, mild weather in both summer and winter. As one U.K. visitor put it: “not another bloody beautiful view!”
T.C. Scout Troop July 1944
organising a reunion might be difficult in view of distances. We have lived on the Mornington Peninsula since 1984, which extends south from the city of Melbourne and forms the eastern boundary of Port Phillip Bay. I don’t see much mention in the alumni news of many of my contemporaries, though did notice a photo of the Sage family. Derek Sage was a contemporary of mine. One good friend and contemporary – sadly no longer with us – Ron Wilkins, who, together with his wife and daughter, spent a day with us just a couple of years before his death. I have just finished reading The History of Tettenhall College by Simon Whild (Matador £12.99). What an amazing story! I had absolutely no idea what a precarious life the College had in its earlier years. It reads like a thriller! I am of course familiar with the period of my time there from 1941-52, but still managed to learn a lot about even these years. In the listing of those who died in WW2, I note the name of LP Fidgin, who was the head prefect for my first T.C. term. In those days, we assembled in the old ‘Big School’, and the head prefect read out a roll call, and when your name was called, you responded with ‘ad’ (short for ‘adsum’). We used to line up in the long corridor (red corridor?) both for assembly, and later for meals. I started as a day boy, and only became a day boarder when I became a prefect and was required to supervise homework sessions after tea. I wonder if the College would consider including on the website photos of the building interiors as they are now. I would love to see photos of the chapel, dining room, current library, Towers theatre, etc. With Google Earth, I can now view the College buildings from above, and even
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glimpse inside the quadrangle via the street camera view. Viewing Tettenhall High Street via the street camera that Google employs is fascinating – how the landscape has changed in the 50 years since I left for Australia. I would have last attended an O.T. annual reunion in 1959. My very first teacher at T.C. was Mrs Pond, and I can remember that the Ponds had a small flat on the top floor close to the main staircase. I took Latin with Mr Pond for a number of years. I also clearly remember Mr Pearson, who was headmaster for my first two terms. The changes in the last twenty years must be extraordinary with the move to coeducational status. I would very much like to know current student numbers. In 1941, I think there were around 120 students, and when I left, around 330 students. The school must be very cosmopolitan what with all the overseas students. I could probably think of both many other memories and also other questions, but that is enough for now. I am certainly open to any questions about my time at T.C.
I’ve been active in left wing politics until 2004. Being a small country, there is quick promotion from envelope-stuffer if you show any initiative! New Zealand, having a good representative parliament owing to its modern electoral system, felt very superior over the recent shenanigans in Westminster. I’m now treasurer of the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists promoting the cause of the ungodly!
Hope you find all this of interest, and I will continue to check the website. The internet can now provide an amazing source of information about T.C. that was never available until very recent years. I am now 76, and a visit to T.C., other than via Google and the internet, seems most unlikely! 10 Messines Road, Bittern, Vic. 3918 Postal: P.O. Box 17 Bittern, Vic 3918 Phone/fax: [+61] (0)3 5983 9971 Email: james.i.frew@gmail.com
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Old Tettenhallian Content The Headmasters of Tettenhall College As many Old Tettenhallians may be aware, the Club has recently presented the College with a plaque commemorating all past Headmasters, including incoming new Headmaster, Mr. Martyn Long. The Old Tettenhallian magazine thought that this was a good time to look back over the College’s nearly one hundred and fifty years of life at all the Headmasters that have served the school so well.
On 1st August 1863, Tettenhall College, or Tettenhall Proprietary School as it was called then, first opened its gates. The fledgling College (then a single sex school for boys) consisted of the Headmaster, The Rev. Robert Halley M.A., fifteen boys and a cow (to provide milk). In those early days, the boys lived with the teaching staff in the building that later became the Headmaster’s House, which today is known as “The Old House” and is sadly now out of the College’s ownership. Mr. Halley (known to his pupils as “Old Bob”) began as he meant to go on by introducing an almost military discipline. At the end of the school day, the custom was for the Headmaster to stand by his desk, wearing an old faded mortar board and a very short torn gown, while the boys filed out, the Head Boy going first and so on until the last small boy’s turn came, each one shaking hands with Mr. Halley. This sort of regime may seem a little harsh by modern standards, but it was par for the course in these mid-Victorian times. But things weren’t all rigid discipline though. There were regular walks to Albrighton, where it was Old Bob’s custom to take the boys to Tomkins’ sweet shop and buy biscuits, toffee or bulls eyes for everyone.
Alexander Waugh Young M.A.
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After Mr. Halley’s departure in 1870, Alexander Waugh Young M.A. became Headmaster and ushered in what “The Tettenhallian” refers to as the “Golden Age”. This was mainly due to high academic achievements, but also to Mr Young’s strong leadership. Discipline was firm, and yet based on kindness and a genuine affection for the boys. “We youngsters,” wrote one of his pupils, “were of course very much in awe of him. Why, I cannot say, as though he was a splendid disciplinarian, it was his kindliness that made the deepest impression upon me.” Mr. Young was an impressive figure who looked every inch the Headmaster that he was. He established a strong tradition of telling the truth among his boys, and it was very rare for boys not to own up to misdemeanours.” In 1877, The Board of Directors (as they were then) described Mr. Young’s services in their annual report to shareholders as “INVALUABLE” (their capitals). It was also during Mr. Young’s time that the Old Tettenhallians Club was founded (along with “The Tettenhallian” and Old “Tettenhallian” magazines. In 1891, Mr. Young announced his retirement at the age of 55 and was succeeded by 28 year-old John Hampton Haydon M.A. Despite his relative youth, Mr. Haydon allowed no slackening of the school discipline established by Mr. Young. There are various mentions in “The Tettenhallian” of how many, staff and boys alike, regarded Mr. Haydon as something of a slavedriver. Whilst afternoons were set aside for extra-curricular activities, this was more than made up for in the evening, when boys had to endure at least three hours extra classwork. Whilst there was no Lower School in those days, the foundations for this institution were set in place by the introduction of a “junior department” to prepare younger boys for senior work. Mr. Haydon also placed great value on sport and team games in particular, reasoning that the “team spirit” stood as the backbone of Britain’s leadership of the mercantile world prevalent at this time. During Mr. Haydon’s time, there was a definite air of hi-jinks about College life. Whilst Mr. Haydon’s firm discipline remained unwavering, the boys often lightened the load by numerous escapades that often must have
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Old Tettenhallian Content been observed by the Headmaster’s blind eye. One such thing was the practice at the end of term to observe Unbutton One Day. This took place on the fourth Sunday before the end of term, and on this day, each boy went about with the bottom button of his waistcoat undone. The next Sunday was Unbutton Two Day, and the last but one Sunday was Cocked Hat day, at which time every boy had to wear his cap on the side of his head. The last Sunday of all was K.D. day – Kick Door day. The unoffending door was that leading into the gallery at Queen Street Chapel in Wolverhampton. What the congregation seated below thought of this custom as each boy kicked at the door on his way into the gallery where the boys always sat, is not recorded, which is perhaps just as well. Despite the good work of Mr. Haydon, the College’s finances were floundering and in 1905, “Danger Bill”, as he was affectionately known, tendered his resignation. He was replaced in 1906 by Richard Lester Ager M.A., who at 27 is currently the youngest Headmaster to have been appointed at the College. During Mr. Ager’s time, bullying was far less rife than it had been and the College was a happy school with a friendly atmosphere between teachers and taught. Whilst Mr. Ager maintained an adequate level of discipline, he had to achieve a fine balance between this and a relaxed friendly atmosphere to achieve the deep feeling of belonging that has subsisted at the College to the present day. Mr. Ager also succeeded in appointing a succession of strong supporting staff, including Second Master Horace Pearson. However, despite Mr. Ager’s best efforts, the College’s ailing finances nearly brought and end to everything and it was clear that the Board of Directors (as they were then) could not give the Headmaster the support he needed, so in 1912, he tendered his resignation. After a short spell with Horace Pearson as Acting Headmaster, the Board appointed 40 year-old Alfred H. Angus BSc. F.R.C.S. to the top slot in 1913. Mr. Angus was a tall charismatic man of great charm, wit and business acumen. He inherited the headmastership at a time of grave financial crisis and set about reversing this situation immediately by employing the renowned “Angus charm” to persuade College some
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Horace Pearson F.R.G.S.
creditors to “forgive” the school’s debts. Not only this, Mr. Angus was a master at charming prospective parents (especially the mothers), and as a result numbers at the College began to rise dramatically from their all time low of 55 in 1913. A firm believer in good Press Relations, Mr. Angus set about making sure that the College featured in every kind of medium available at that time. As 1913 was the College’s fiftieth anniversary, the Headmaster helped organise lavish celebrations, all of which featured fully in the press. All of this drive and enthusiasm proved to be a shot in the arm for the College finances, and there is little doubt that the Headmaster’s business sense helped the College convert from a Joint Stock company to the Trust that has endured to this day. It follows that a man of Mr. Angus’ charisma would be a strong orator, and there is little doubt that the packedto-capacity houses he generated in church services, both at the College Chapel and elsewhere, helped the College immensely. The Headmaster was also fond of taking the boys off on lavish trips to the bright lights of London, and all of this led to high morale and even higher academic achievements. However, the strains of steering the College through the murky times of the First World War had taken
its toll on Mr. Angus and in 1925, he tendered his resignation claiming it was “time for new blood.” The tremendous achievements made in Mr. Angus’ time as Headmaster were described by some as “miraculous.” In 1925, Percy W. Day M.A. became the new Headmaster of Tettenhall College. Unfortunately, he lacked the charisma of his predecessor, and while his academic achievements were many, he was not the consummate marketer that Mr. Angus had been. At a time when the country’s economic fortunes were forcing College numbers down, it really needed Mr. Angus’ charm. Not only this, but Mr. Day was not the disciplinarian that many of his predecessors had been, and boys were given pretty much a free a hand to do as they pleased. This meant that the standard of discipline declined along with numbers. All this meant that Mr. Day was liked, but not necessarily respected in a way that a Headmaster needed to be. He was also taking office during some very hard economic times, and as has been mentioned earlier, he lacked sufficient commercial acumen to tackle many of the problems he faced. However, he did make some very wise staff appointments and he also set us a Prep. Department, or Junior School
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Old Tettenhallian Content – the predecessor of what are now the Drive and Lower Schools. Despite this, Mr. Day resigned his post in 1927 after only two years, citing personal reasons. Whilst he is often regarded as the College’s only “weak” Headmaster, maybe this judgement is a little harsh, as he never really had enough time to show his full quality.
Alfred H.Angus BSc. F.R.C.S.
By 1927, Horace Pearson F.R.G.S. had spent seven years at Eltham College after leaving Tettenhall in 1920. After Mr. Day’s departure, the Council of Governors lost no time in summoning him back to become Headmaster. Despite the fact that he had no degree, many felt, quite rightly as it turned out, that he was the only man for the job. It was, Mr. Pearson said, “a summons I dare not refuse.” So, Mr. Pearson wasted no time in placing his own stamp on this school. Immediately things began to change. The food improved, but boys were not encouraged to waste it. Prefects’ tannings disappeared but the House timetable worked to the half minute. Recalitrants in geography classes and elsewhere received “love taps” or “wrath taps”… dress regulations were modernised… rugger, interest in civil affairs, the tone of the School, all flourished. His own line was common sense, fine organisation and a remarkable readiness to try out new ideas. Mr. Pearson successfully steered the College through the Great Depression – a time when many other similar
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schools were falling like flies. He was successful in rallying Tettenhallians and Old Tettenhallians alike to help in any way they could. One of his final acts was to be instrumental in saving the College from closure following an attempt by the Ministry of Works to compulsorily commandeer the premises to use as part of the War Effort in 1940. Strangely enough, Horace Pearson was not considered to be a scholar, as he had no university degree, and he was not a brilliant administrator as Mr. Angus had been. However, he did keep firm discipline and managed to achieve a firm common ground between academic achievement and character building extra-curricular activities. The type of boys leaving the College during Mr. Pearson’s time were usually characterised by their good manners, by their sense of responsibility and by their self-confidence. After Mr. Pearson’s retirement, the position of Headmaster went to Frederick Douglas Field-Hyde M.A. in 1942. In contrast to his predecessor, the new Headmaster was autocratic in nature, a man who commanded respect as well as fear. A consummate musician, he also had a talent for “fixing” things that had gone wrong and few who were passengers in his battered old Ford ever forgot the experience in a hurry. Mr. Field-Hyde was also an outstanding scholar in his field of languages, but despite this, devoted a lot of his time to improving the school facilities. Mr. Field-Hyde will also be remembered for championing the cause of acquiring The Towers – an achievement that transformed the College’s fortunes immeasurably. The Headmaster also succeeded in becoming a member of the Headmaster’s Conference – a move that officially recognised Tettenhall College as Public School. After Mr. Field-Hyde’s retirement in 1968, William John Dale M.A. took his place as Headmaster. Very much a man of his time, Mr. Dale set about transforming the College into more the sort of College we know today. Mr. Dale succeeded in making the College co-educational – a change that saved the school from certain closure. Other significant achievements included the opening of the Drive School, the introduction of a canteen system.
Discipline at the College had assumed a slightly more liberal tone under Mr. Dale, but academic achievement continued to improve. As time moved on, Mr. Dale steered the College into the technological revolution, but in 1994, he decided that new blood was needed and it was time to retire. Dr. Peter Charles Bodkin BSc. PhD was that new blood. From the moment he set foot inside the College gates he set about revolutionising the school facilities by masterminding the development of an in-campus Drive School and a new Lower School. The College computer systems were vastly improved, as were library facilities, science facilities, games facilities – including a greatly improved Swimming Pool. After sixteen years at the helm, Dr. Bodkin’s Tettenhall College had certainly changed. However, in 2010 the Headmaster announced his departure to horizons new. Many were saddened to learn of this, but were then relieved to learn that his successor was to be Mr. Martyn Long BSc., who had previously taught Physics at the College from 1997 to 2000. Mr. Long was born in Chesterfield in1969 and attended Netherthorpe School before moving on to Durham University (Grey College) where he completed a degree in Natural Sciences, specialising in Physics. He met his wife Carolyn at Durham in his first week as an undergraduate and the couple married four years later (they now have two children Emma (17) and Adam (14). After leaving Durham, Mr. Long completed his PGCE at Birmingham University and went on to teach at The King’s School, Tynemouth; Mount St. Mary’s College, Sheffield, Tettenhall College; Windsor High School, Halesowen; Ounsdale High School, Wombourne – and finally back to Tettenhall College. The Old Tettenhallian magazine, as well as all Old Tettenhallians, wishes Mr. Long every success in his new position as Headmaster. More information on the Headmasters of Tettenhall College can be found in The History of Tettenhall College by Simon Whild (Matador) available from Amazon.co.uk.
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Old Tettenhallian Content Old Tettenhallian Club Functions Remembrance Sunday 2009 The chapel was well attended for last year’s Remembrance Service and Tettenhallians and Old Tettenhallians were made aware of the update in Roll of Honour. The revised names are as follows: World War I R.H. Colbourne J.A. Cooksey V.J. Cooper A.P. Deverell T.A. Dickinson H.T. Dreschfield A.W. Eld R.W. Fox T.E. Graham D.B.H. Haydon S. Hirst C.H. Lloyd S.D. Page D.J. Pickard I.L. Pinson C.H. Pragneu E. Ridgway G.M. Rimmer H.L. Shaw G.H. Shelton J.P. Thorne W.H. Webb A.D. Whittaker M.J. Williams World War II P.A. Annan P.A.S. Dodd L.P. Fidgin J.M.C. Garrett G.R. Halbeard R.M. Horton M.O. Howell G.H. Livingston E.C. Miles M.K. Parry P.F. Snape A.J. Thomas
London Dinner 2010 Reunion events took place both at the College and in London during 2010. The London event took place at the Trafalgar Room at the Victory Services Club, Seymour Street and was a well-attended evening.
Tim Rowe, Dot Stone, Diana Corns, Graham Aston and Pam Shee.
Graham Aston, Graham Foulkes (Vice President), Peter Bodkin (Headmaster), Paul Whitehead and Peter Pingree.
Diana Corns, Chris Wright, Simon Logan, Peter Pingree and Pam Shee (President), Peter Bodkin (Headmaster), Paul Whitehead and Peter Pingree.
Annual Reunion 2010 As usual, the Reunion Dinner was held in the Towers Theatre and was wellattended. There were speeches by Dr. A.R. Mottershead and Headmaster Dr. P. Bodkin, both of whom were about to depart the College. Outgoing Old Tettenhallian President Deb Brook also gave tribute to Drs. Bodkin and Mottershead in her final speech before handing over the office of President to Graham Foulkes.
Peter Cassidy, Tim Cox, Dave Watson, Mike Davies, Natasha Price, Giuseppe Corbelli, Geoff Hancock. New Vice President Keith Grant-Pearce and John Chown.
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Old Tettenhallian Content
Peter Pingree, John Chown, Simon Whild, Geoff Hancock, Keith Grant-Pearce and Chris Lloyd.
Andy Mottershead, outgoing President Deb Brook, new President Graham Foulkes and Peter Bodkin.
Keith Grant-Pearce, Steve and Charles Gordos and John Bates.
Debbie Hardman-Wilson, Jessica and Emily Bridgewood, Truan Cothey and Linda Horden.
The evening was rounded off in the usual way with members lingering to chat over old times and catching up on one another’s lives after enjoying an excellent dinner. After an excellent Chapel service and lunch in the Pavilion (courtesy of the Headmaster) on the following day, the traditional cricket, netball and hockey matches with the College playing the O.T. teams. These resulted in a 2-2 draw for the hockey match whilst the College beat the O.T.s 30-16 at netball, with the player of the match being Catherine Gough.
Photographs by Stephen Corns
College and O.T.’s Hockey Team Group.
Kelly Paterson (T.C.) holds the John Dale trophy. Players of the match are county players Chloe McIntosh and Sophie Jones, both in Year 10 at the College.
College 1st XI and O.T. team (Graham Foulkes O.T. President in front row).
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Old Tettenhallian Content Old Tettenhallian Golf Society Old Tettenhallians Golf Society Report for 2009 -2010 The Golf Society continues to thrive and enjoy excellent golf on quality courses and in great company. We ended our year in 2009 with a return, by popular request, to Enville Golf Club. The fixture was attended by 24 members who enjoyed 27 holes of competitive and enjoyable golf. The morning 9 hole team Stableford round over the Highgate course was won by Philip Jennings, Simon Parr & Tony Corkindale with 46 points, in second place were John Dove, David Lycett & Geoff Hopkinson on 43 points and, in third place were Roger Ashton, Tim Rowe & Keith Grant-Pearce scoring 42 points. The competition for the Centenary Cup is always keen with this year being no exception with the first five only separated by 2 points and, following significant course modifications, the Lodge course proved to be a stiff challenge. Mike Parr won the Centenary Cup with 36 points, the runner up was Iain Seivewright with 35 points and, in third place on the back 9 was Philip Jennings, our retiring Captain, with 34 points. The AGM was held immediately following play at which John Dove was elected as our next Captain. The final of the Rose Bowl Knock Out competition, which is run throughout the summer was played between Iain Seivewright and Ian Ward with the latter being victorious. We award a trophy for Golfer of the Year. In 2009 this was won by Mike Parr who just edged out Roger Ashton.
Mike Parr receiving Golfer of the Year award 2009 from the new Captain, John Dove at Enville Golf Club.
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Our Captain, John Dove, writes; “My two year stint as Captain began when I was voted in at the Annual General Meeting held at Enville in October 2009, and commenced with the annual match against Oxley Wanderers on 14th April 2010 at South Staffs Golf Club when we play a 4 ball better ball competition. “I have to admit that my captaincy did not get off to an auspicious start. With a prior commitment preventing me from playing I decided that, if time permitted, I would descend on the course, take a buggy, and speed to each match “Ballesteros style”, in order to offer support and encouragement to each pairing. Alas this tactic failed rather spectacularly as, on my arrival, four of the O.T.s’ pairings were in front, but by the time I left only two were! For a brief moment, I thought I had witnessed the first O.T. victory when I arrived at the 13th green to see Paul Whitehead holing the winning putt to close out his opponents 6&5, only to discover in horror that he was in fact playing for the opposition! In the end, a close match finished with the Society going down by three matches to two. The successful O.T. pairings were Roger Ashton/ Dave Lycett and Phil Jennings/Tony Corkindale. Notwithstanding the result, the match was as always played in the best of competitive spirit. “The next event was the ‘Jewel in the Society’s Crown’, i.e. the two day Spring meeting on 19th & 20th April on two cracking courses in Lancashire and
Merseyside, namely Ormskirk and Formby. Both venues were, by popular demand amongst our members, being revisited after hugely enjoyable and successful events there in previous years. “The quality and reputation of both courses encouraged a healthy contingent of 19 members to make the journey and attended to play a team game over 12 holes in the morning at Ormskirk, followed by a full individual Stableford round in the afternoon. In the morning your Captain, ably assisted by Mark Wainwright and Ian Holland, won the Team prize with a score of 57 points. The runners up were Paul Whitehead, Roger Ashton and Nick Parr with 54 points. “In the afternoon the Individual Stableford competition was won by Nick Parr with a score of 41 points, followed by Mark Wainwright on 35 points who edged out Rob Holland into third place, also with 35 points, on the back 9. All agreed that the course, once again, had lived up to expectations.
Roger Ashton and Hippo (Formby Golf Club
(20-4-10)
OTGS at Formby Golf Course (20-4-10)
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Old Tettenhallian Content “After overnighting in Southport where the Scarisbrick Hotel not only provided excellent accommodation, but also generously donated a trophy to the Society and, in addition, gave individual gifts of either golf towels, balls/ markers or shoe bags to each member, the Society moved south to Formby, host of many International tournaments and, despite the beauty of its layout, notorious for its toughness. The sun shone from a clear blue sky but a fierce gale was blowing. It was immediately apparent that scores would rocket if the traditional medal format was adopted and so the competition was changed to a more forgiving Stableford. The member who best matched the difficult conditions and the winner of the Captain’s Prize was Phil Jennings with a worthy 31 points and not surprisingly, he also won the prize for the Best Gross. The runner up, with 28 points, was Ian Ward and in third place beaten on the back 9, also with 28 points, was Stephen Corns. “An innovation this year, in true ‘Test Match Special’ fashion, was the Captain’s award of a bottle of champagne to honour each day’s memorable ‘Champagne Moment’. For forgetting his waterproofs (for which he had to return home to get them) and, not once but twice hitting his approach shot onto two consecutive greens whilst the three-ball ahead were putting out, the Ormskirk award went to Geoff Hopkinson. The award at Formby went to Stephen Corns for being the only member to score at least one point at every hole – a remarkable achievement on a day when many members (including yours truly) were simply blown away. “The next event in the year was the competition for the Frank Vernon Cup, traditionally played for at South Staffs Golf Club on the Thursday before the Annual Re-Union week-end in June. This is open to all golfing Old Tettenhallians but sadly, it is rarely attended by anyone outside the Society. This year’s event was dominated by a masterful display of awesome hitting by 4 handicapper Mike Jones. He got off to a wonderful start, carding 4 birdies in his first 7 holes including one at the 340 yard par four 3rd hole where he almost drove the green. Despite a slight wobble over the back nine he finished with a Gross 73, Net 69, to beat Mike Parr’s Net 73 by 4 strokes. Burni Cambidge was third with a Net 74 beating Ken Whitehouse, also with a 74, on the back 9. As Jack Nicklaus might have said ‘He plays a game to which the rest of us are unaccustomed’.
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“The final fixture before going to press was the annual fixture , again at South Staffs, against our old adversaries the Old Wulfrunians, whose president this year, somewhat unusually, is our own Stephen Corns. Although a strong team on paper had been cunningly assembled, it did not prevent the Society going down to its second successive defeat again by three matches to two. The Society’s only winners were Rod Seivewright and Tony Corkindale (the latter preserving his 100% record). Despite being two up with two to play the Captain and Max Seivewright could only halve their match and the remaining half point was secured by Ian Ward and Dennis Beddows. Once again the Society was unable to wrest the Challenge Shield from the Old Wulfs’ grasp, and suggestions (on a postcard please) are urgently required to find a winning formula for next year and enable the Society to regain its bragging rights once more.” At the Captain’s suggestion an additional ‘Fun Day’ fixture has been inserted into our calendar to see if it is again a viable option and, on 4th August we played at Izaak Walton Golf Club near Stone. Fourteen members made the short trip and had a very enjoyable afternoon on a course that played very long due to the wet conditions. A team Stableford was played with all scores to count on all holes. In third place with 77 points were Philip Jennings, Rob Pountney and Stephen Corns; the runners up were Chris Whitehouse, Derek Sage and John Dove scoring 83 points, with the winners being Roddy Seivewright, Ken Whitehouse and Keith Grant-Pearce with a score of 92 points. Mark Wainwright had the best individual score with 34 points, Mike Parr was nearest the pin on the short 14th and Keith Grant-Pearce hit the longest drive on the 9th. Gross Birdies were scored by Roddy Seivewright on the 3rd and by Chris Whitehouse on the 13th. K.G.P. The Society will end its year in early October with a return to Blackwell Golf Club where we will hold our AGM. We would be delighted to hear from any golfing O.T.s who might be interested in joining the OTGS and they should contact the Hon. Secretary: Keith Grant-Pearce Tel: 01562 884601 Email: keithgp27@yahoo.co.uk or the Captain, John Dove.
Old Tettenhallians Club in Hong Kong Old Tettenhallian Eric Yuan (see Where are they Now) is proposing a branch of the Old Tettenhallians Club in Hong Kong to cater for O.T.s living in the Far East and Australasia. Eric says that the objectives of OTCHK are: “Promoting and maintaining fraternity and fellowship among Old Tettenhallians and current Tettenhallians residing in Hong Kong. “Maintaining relations with Tettenhall College. “Enhancing T.C.s reputation as a high quality all-round education establishment. “Broadening the horizons of O.Ts, networking, renew acquaintances and make new friends. “Just as we still value and treasure our time at Tettenhall College, O.T.s now act as ambassadors for the College to serve our communities such that the core values we were taught to treasure may be passed from generation to generation.” If any O.T.s wish to join this branch of the Club, please contact Eric direct at eyh8erc@yahoo. com.hk Naturally, the Old Tettenhallians Club fully supports this, as there are now a very high percentage of O.T.s from the Far East and everyone is anxious to make sure they don’t feel left out of O.T. life simply because of distance.
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Old Tettenhallian Content
Weekend feature in the Express and Star, Saturday, November 21, 2009.
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Old Tettenhallian Content Lives Remembered Christopher George Baxter (1936-2009)
Brian Henry Dockerty (1933-2010) (T.C. 1947 - 1952 and as a member of staff 1956-1960)
Bas Jones writes: “Chris Baxter died suddenly on his 73rd birthday last year, after spending all of his life in Wolverhampton. He will be remembered as a larger-than-life character who made many friends during his life and had always helped anyone that needed it. “Chris was the elder son of Warren and Ivy Baxter. Warren was an Old Tettenhallian who served on the General Committee for several years and was the first editor of the Club magazine. Chris followed his father as a member of the General Committee with distinction for 47 uninterrupted years in an energetic and devoted manner. Throughout this time, he was a member of several sub-committees, finally serving as Reunion Secretary over the last few years when the event was rejuvenated. He will be sadly missed in this role. He was President of the Club in 1995/6. He wholeheartedly supported all Club events and only missed just a few reunions after leaving school. “He was a keen sportsman and enjoyed his hockey and rugby, as well as his membership of the Scouts, at his alma mater, under the experienced tutelage of Jim Baxter. He continued to be involved with scout camps after leaving the College. “Chris was a governor of what is now called King’s School (the the Regis) while his children attended it and clearly gave much to that role. “After leaving school, Chris joined the family building business, serving an apprenticeship as a carpenter. He spent his National Service in the Army and returned to help manage the company. He later went into exporting and kept working until his death. “Chris was married to Annette for 48 years, had two children, Andrew and Susan, four grandsons and a granddaughter. He was a great family man and spent a great deal of time at Abersoch during his life, entertaining the family there and enjoying water sports. All his life, he joked and enjoyed life to the full. He had a passion for renovating old tractors and had a great interest in steam trains.”
Tony Carroll writes: “I remember Brian in 1950, along with Craig Ward, as my schoolboy heroes. I was a ten-year-old in the T.C. Swimming Team when they were seniors. I remember being there when Brian broke the 10 lengths Freestyle record, came first in the Obstacle Race, Breaststroke, Plunge, Diving and was Senior House Champion with 580 points. In fact, it is recorded in the Tettenhallian April 1953, as Brian was the holder of every T.C. swimming record. “Brian went on to compete in Birmingham and District Grammar Schools Swimming Championships, and the National A.T.C. Swimming Championships. “In 1950 he became a sub-prefect and a Senior Prefect a year later. “He also played in the pack for the 1st XV. The comment in The Tettenhallian about Brian was, ‘..worked hard to gain his place and gave his best at all times’ “In July 1952 ATC Flt. Sgt. Dockerty gained a Proficiency Certificate in gliding. “On leaving T.C. he attended Loughborough P.E. College then completed his National Service being stationed at Stafford. He returned to Loughborough College for his Diploma in Physical Education and majored in swimming and swimming coaching. He swam for Loughborough and Wolverhampton Swimming Club. “Brian then returned to T.C. in 1957 to join Lyn Jobling in the P.E. Department. When Lyn Jobling took a sabbatical year in 1959 I was invited to teach at T.C. before going to St. Paul’s College, Cheltenham. It was than that Brian and I became great friends. It was at T.C. he met and married Louise McKee in 1962; Louise was at that time responsible for the catering at The College. “Unfortunately, Brian suffered a detached retina, which curtailed his career in P.E. However, his bright and enthusiastic personality directed him into another branch of teaching as Deputy Headmaster at Alexandra High School, Tipton 1960, a post he enjoyed until he took early retirement so that he could help care for his mother. It was during this time Brian decided that he wanted to become more involved with the life of the Church. He had had a long involvement with the Catholic Church since his days at Loughborough and took the opportunity to study and became ordained on 8th October 1969 as the first Reverend Deacon in the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Tettenhall in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. He officiated at baptisms, weddings and funerals and was a registrar. He was a great assistant to the Parish Priests over the years. Brian was integral to the life of St. Thomas of Canterbury and is sorely missed. “Peter Holmes, Brian’s Best Man and friend since childhood, summed up Brian as “A very caring person who freely gave himself for the good of the wider community through his calling”. “Brian was a great committee-man with the O.Ts in the 60s and 70s. He was a founder member of the Old Tettenhallians Rugby Union Football Club (OTRUFC) and attended every match we played, regularly reporting our successes in the Express & Star. “My lasting memories of Brian (known to his friends as ‘The Doc’, ‘Henry’ and ‘Weasel’) are his happy banter, kindness and welcoming approach to everyone. An Old Tettenhallian of the highest calibre.” “My thanks go to Louise Dockerty, Geoffrey Hancock and Peter Holmes for their assistance in the preparation of these notes on one of the many great O.Ts. Brian Dockerty died on 13th January 2010 and his funeral took place on Monday 25th January at St. Thomas of Canterbury, Haywood Drive, Tettenhall.
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