BAROMETER THE
WETHERBY SENIOR SCHOOL WEEKLY JULY 1st 2019 | WEEK 10
FROM THE HEADMASTER
Dear Parents, The year has ended strongly with a fantastic Lower School Play, ‘We Are United’, a Sports Day that was, thankfully, a few degrees cooler than last year’s and, of course, our Prize Giving ceremony at St Mary’s Bryanston Square. The play was another piece written by the member of staff directing and Mr Giles’ play really hit the mark for the boys. It was great to see so many involved, performing with energy and skill, and clearly enjoying themselves. The review and photographs included in these pages convey the atmosphere well and I would like to thank not only the boys who performed but those who were helping out backstage and also Miss Twomey, Mrs Atkinson and Miss Webb for supporting the cast.
Sports Day also saw a considerable amount of skill and energy on display and I am grateful for the emails about how much you enjoyed the day. We have really focussed on developing the Tribs this year and it was great to see the links that have strengthened between the different year groups. I am sure thiswill continue to grow next year and I look forward to seeing new competitions and events to foster this healthy culture of inter-Trib rivalry for the boys!. One of the highlights of the final week was finally welcoming Sasha S from Year 7 who acted as Headmaster for the day on Tuesday. This was a lot which his parents bid for at Havana Nights before Christmas and Sasha had some important roles on the day. He helped with interviewing for Head Boy,
advised on the selection of the School’s charities following recommendations from the School Council and gave me some useful feedback on what it is like to be a Year 7. His perspective was very beneficial and I greatly enjoyed spending the day with him. I will be sending out my usual end of term letter early next week and until then, I wish you all a relaxing and enjoyable summer.
Best wishes,
IMPORTANT NOTICES Key Dates for Autumn Term 2019 New pupil morning: Monday 2nd September All pupils: Tuesday 3rd September Half Term: Monday 21st October to Friday 1st November End of Term: Friday 13th December
THE BIG BOOK BATTLE!
Mr Munday writes…
THE BIG TRIB
BOOK BATTLE THE RESULTS
1stnd SERPENTINE 2rd WHITESTONE 3 WALBROOK/FLEET
The inaugural Big Trib Book Battle finished with Serpentine coming out victorious. They managed to read 13 books during the challenge with both Miles H, Year 7 and Ben R, Year 8 completing three each. Alexei M, Year 7 also read 3 books helping Whitestone into a respectable second place. Well done to all the boys who took part!
WE ARE UNITED
Henry B, Year 10 writes... Last week, boys in Years 7, 8 and 9 brought “We Are United” to the stage. The play was written entirely by Mr Giles and it reflects his interminable passion for football. It would seem that Drama has become an important part of the
School’s wide range of extracurricular activities; it was fantastic to see so many boys eager to get involved. As usual, the set was stunning. It was adorned with football memorabilia and painted as per the team’s colours – the same colours on the matching kits that were
worn by all cast members in the team. The acting was simply fabulous. The team spirit of the game was highlighted throughout, as was the power of friendship and the importance of sport itself. The cast strove to marvellously weave in
many laughs during the performance, although they equally managed to eloquently create much tension in scenes of conflict. An example of this was the use of volume of the actors’ voices in the scene where the protagonist was in a car with his father.
I cannot stress enough the extent to which I was especially impressed by Jack K and Maani N, whose sublime performances encapsulated every aspect of their characters'personalities, particularly with regards to their rivalry.
I feel that the audience particularly enjoyed the group football training scenes, which were expertly choreographed by Miss Rachel Waters, whom I
happen to know from my time at Wetherby Prep. I had the privilege of acting under the direction of Miss Waters in a production where choreography was paramount, much like in this play. Despite the lack of an actual football, the scenes were rendered equally effective by Miss Waters’ expertise, with everyone in perfect sync. One mustn’t forget to thank Mrs Atkinson and Miss Webb, who diligently
coordinated the lights and sound effects. Also, many thanks to Chef Darren who provided the thirstquenching refreshments during the interval. The performance was, no doubt, a fantastic effort. I hope to see these actors develop as they continue to pursue their passion for the stage and I look forward to seeing them in more productions as they move further up through the school.
YEAR 7 PLASTICS PROJECTS Miss Hoskins writes... Last week Year 7 boys presented their solutions for how to minimise plastic waste in front of their parents and a panel of esteemed judges including Mr Bolderow, Mr KylesBrown and Mr Lawrence. The boys did a fantastic job pitching ideas, which included beautiful recycled jewellery, an umbrella drainer, a gardening set and a jet pack robot. The prize for the best presentation of the evening went to Alexander F, Aylan T, Oscar F and Coby L who created The Dandy Candy Machine. The overall winners were Abe F, Julius V, Sasha S and Enlai R who came up with the incredible ‘Puggy Bank’.
YEAR 10 VISIT THE BRITISH MUSEUM Henry B, Year 10 writes... In light of the much anticipated end to Year 10 exam week, Miss Nash’s and Miss Woods’ Classical Civilisation classes were treated to an exciting trip to The British Museum, where boys got a chance to have a closer look at some of the objects they had studied in class, as part of the GCSE course. These included the Bassae frieze depicting the Heraclean Amazonomachy, the Theseus Kylix, and friezes from the Parthenon. They also had a look at the many other artefacts in the museum’s vast collection, such as Panathenaic amphorae, coins and more. Of course, detailed and fascinating explanations were provided by the teachers throughout. The trip culminated in a visit to the extensive gift shop, before a quick stop by the ice-cream van on the way out!
THE LEHMAN TRILOGY Miss Twomey writes… On Tuesday 25th June the GCSE Drama boys attended an astounding performance of The Lehman Trilogy at The Piccadilly Theatre. The show was a directorial and acting masterclass in which 3 actors take on over 50 roles to tell the tale of how the Lehman Brothers company rose ever bigger to financial fame and, ultimately, it’s fall. The three actors, pictured, demonstrated with total ease the immigrant Jewish family's arrival in America and the good fortune, business ingenuity and humour in their lives. With Mayer ‘the potato’ Lehman, the ever-revolving set and Simon Russell Beale’s portrayal of a delicate southern belle to amuse us, the play was a truly fantastic way to spend an evening! If you’d like to follow in the GCSE boys’ footsteps and watch this play, please note that the run has almost entirely sold out at the theatre, but that it can be watched in the cinema through NT Live, streamed directly from Piccadilly on 25th July. Miss Twomey definitely recommends that you do not miss this great play!
HOLOCAUST EDUCATIONAL TRUST On 26th June, Wetherby was visited by a Holocaust survivor named Renee Salt. As part of their History studies on World War Two, all the Year 9 pupils had the opportunity to hear her testimony and ask her any questions they liked. The boys heard her moving account; from growing up in Poland and living a fairly normal middle class existence, to being plunged into the ghetto, where events rapidly deteriorated for her family and countless others. Edward P, Year 9 has summarised her story here: Renee was born Ruchla Berkowitz in Zdunska Wola, Poland, in 1929. She lived with her parents and younger sister and had many aunts and uncles. She described to us her fairly typical Polish upbringing, recalling how the outbreak of war in 1939 brought about the end of their family holiday. It was sad when she explained that pretty soon the Nazis had occupied Poland, and her town was declared judenfrei or ‘free of Jews.’ At this point, her story was like so many Jewish people living in Poland, a litany of horrors – the move to the Lodz ghetto, backbreaking work in a factory, the death of her little sister. I was really struck when Renee said that the Nazis decided to close the Lodz ghetto, and told all the Jews that they were going
somewhere better, so Renee and her parents volunteered to take the next train. They did not know it but that train would take them to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
children like us the real emotions which had been going on through the events instead of just the raw facts which are most commonly taught in History.
Renee spoke movingly about her time in Auschwitz, the move to Bergen-Belsen, and her eventual liberation by Allied troops. I think we were all incredibly saddened to hear that having survived all the atrocities, Renee’s mother died in hospital just twelve days after the Liberation. Renee regularly speaks in schools about her experiences during the Holocaust and teaches
Miss Mendes would like to thank all the Year 9 boys who paid our visitor the utmost respect, listened carefully, and asked pertinent questions. Clearly, the pupils gained enormously from the first-hand experience she s, which really brought home the Holocaust to some who may have seen it as only happening in a different place, in a different era.
TRANSLATION BEE SUCCESS! Miss Page writes... On Wednesday Matteo H in Year 9 travelled to the University of Cambridge to take part in the National Final of the Translation Bee, representing the School in French. The MFL department would like to say a huge congratulations to him for achieving 4th place, translating 16 sentences into 4 different tenses in one minute! Here he is receiving his trophy from the mayor of Cambridge. Well done, Matteo!’
SPORTS DAY Mr Underwood writes... On Monday 1st July, the Wetherby staff and boys descended on the athletics track for Sports Day. For the first time in Wetherby history, two Tribs shared the win: Serpentine and Walbrook. The results for each event are as follows: * = new school record in that year group
RIVER CLEAN UP Mrs Skinner writes… Last Friday, Jack C in Year 12 organised his first River clean-up event in the Thames near Putney. Jack is a keen rower and he spends a lot of time on this stretch of water between Putney and Hammersmith. He has become increasingly aware of the problem of plastic pollution and after seeing volunteers removing plastic from the banks of the river, he was inspired to help by organising his own cleanup event. When we arrived at the
“beach” in Putney, we were shocked with the amount of plastic that had been washed up onto the high tide mark. There were hundreds of plastic bottles, caps, straws, toys, food wrappers and pieces of styrofoam - none of which was biodegradable. Some of the plastic was in still perfect condition, despite being nearly 10 years old according to the best before labels in the packaging. The rest of the plastic had simply broken down into lots of small pieces; these micro-plastics are known to be very harmful to aquatic organisms.
After spending almost two hours picking up plastic, we had removed the vast majority of the plastic, filling five large plastic bin bags in the process. A huge well done to Jack for organising this event and for trying to make a difference. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to help, especially our youngest volunteer Vangelis F in Year 7. Hopefully this is the first of many events to come! “
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