Churchers College Focus Summer

Summer 2023

Coronation Celebration

Coronation Afternoon

The Coronation was marked with a very special celebration, the children wore red, white and blue outfits and joined together for a street party lunch that was not dampened by the weather! The children spent the morning preparing House songs and crowns for a competition to be judged at the afternoon celebration. The Coronation Celebration Afternoon was an opportunity to come together as a community, eat cake, BBQ and take part in a ceilidh. The children were thrilled with the arrival of not one, but two ice cream vans! Each class prepared a stall to help raise funds for our school charity,

to support the development of a sensory room at the Rachel Madocks School, and it was with great excitement that the children went around their stalls spending their 20ps!

Churcher's Welcomes Alan Titchmarsh

In May, the Junior School and Nursery were thrilled to welcome much-loved gardener, Alan Titchmarsh. Some Year 6 pupils had written to invite him into the school to inspire them with his passion for gardens and plants and the important role they play for native wildlife conservation and combating climate change... and inspire them he certainly did! From Nursery to Year 6, every pupil had the opportunity to go out and help plant hedges to create a 'Coronation Maze' in our Sensory Garden. Alan Titchmarsh kindly got his wellies on and his hands dirty as he gave pupils tips on how to plant the small privet bushes so that they would grow successfully. The Eco-Council also had an exciting opportunity to talk to Alan and seek advice about suitable plants to add to the Sensory Garden. He also shared some hints and tips on encouraging bees and wildlife into the children's own gardens and how to avoid using pesticides.

Q&A With Year 6

The morning was rounded off with a Q&A session with our Year 6 pupils. It was so inspiring to hear about how a humble, Yorkshire gardener ended up becoming friends with the King and the Vice-President of the RHS as well as a national treasure!

Book Week & Art

Book Week

During March, the Junior School focused on celebrating everything to do with books, with a visiting author, story teller, dressing up as book characters, swapping books with a friend, sharing reading between different year groups, competitions and an online book fair. Maz Evans, author of well-known books such as ‘Who Let the Gods Out?’, visited the school and was a highlight of the week. The children learnt so much about the book writing process and how to find a good idea to base a book on. We also welcomed Kim Normanton, an international, multi award-winning radio producer, to enchant

the Infants with some wonderful story telling, transporting them to another world through the use of masks, drums and cloaks, as they visited Kenya, Austria and Russia through stories from their cultures. The children participated in various competitions including guessing the teacher from their favourite book, working out the famous book character from a description, creating a new front cover for a well-loved story, dressing up in an ‘eco-friendly’ costume as a book character, and even having a go at writing their own fantastic stories with a word limit. Such an inspirational week!

Art

Global Art Finalist

Congratulations to CCJS on becoming a finalist in the David Shepherd Wildlife Global Canvas Art Competition! There were some fantastic entries this year from children representing 57 countries, on the theme ‘Biodiversity – The Complex Web of Life’ and the competition was really tough!  Last October’s Art Week theme was focused around Henri Rousseau's famous painting in the National Gallery and the ensuing rainforest themed canvas represented work from each year group and was artistically and lovingly put together by Mrs Foley. We were thrilled to hear that we were a finalist in this international competition!

Nursery

Dino swamp

Meeting the expert

We love to get creative

Which chick will hatch first

Helping to plant the Coronation maze

Our little gardeners

Sensory play

Hungry caterpillars

At the hairdressers

What a construction!

Playing with amazing cornflour!

Reception

Learning

ICT  Skills

Reception children have loved their visits to the ICT suite this term, learning mouse and keyboard skills and exploring different fun programs with Mr. HardyLenik.

Maths

As part of our Maths lessons, the children work practically to gain a deeper understanding of different number concepts. Here the children are exploring teen numbers using tenframes.

Teeth!

We loved these stories as we explored everything TEETH-related, and how to look after them!

The Wonder of Nature

Being a Good Friend

Our P.S.E.D focus was exploring how to be a good friend. Here the children are designing the perfect friend and then listing the qualities that they think are important.

Healthy Eating

During our work about being healthy, the children enjoyed a trip to Sainsbury’s to buy ingredients for healthy sandwiches. They came back to school and created these healthy snacks!

The children in Reception love getting involved in nature, from tending our seedlings in the greenhouse, watching the tadpoles grow and playing Chick Bingo! Which egg will hatch first?

Year 1

We love gardening

Really cool hair from the Crown of Promises

Enjoying the visiting chicks

Sharing their story scenes with Reception

Learning about capacity

Locating plants to draw and label in Science

Making their initials out of cubes

Year 2

A Link to Tanzania

As part of our topic on Kenya, we had the unique opportunity to video link with an international school in Tanzania. The children asked some excellent questions and were thrilled to tell the Tanzanian children about life here at the Junior School.

Meet the Author

Year 2 thoroughly enjoyed a visit from the author, Maz Evans. They were intrigued to learn all about how she writes and were excited to have their own copies signed by the author herself!

Coronation Bunting

As part of our Coronation celebrations and to help decorate the Year 2 stall, we made bunting with portraits of King Charles III.

Grandparents' Afternoon

The grandparents of children in Year 2 came to visit on a lovely spring afternoon. Together, they created their own family tree, toured the school and enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea.

Scientific Measurements

Year 2 have been busy learning how to measure capacity and mass. They carefully and accurately worked with balancing skills to find out the mass of different objects.

Exploring Electricity

Year 2 had a fantastic time making their own simple circuits using a battery, conductors, a bulb and a switch.

Music

Composing a Lullaby

Year 5 have enjoyed composing songs through the term and they were extremely excited when they were given the task to compose a lullaby for Miss Stones’ baby. They also had great fun creating a football rap!

Performance Practice

The children have been building on their performance skills and have been playing to their class at the beginning of their music lessons.

The Senior School Inspire Us!

Years 3 and 4 had a fantastic time watching the students from the Senior School perform a selection of pieces to them. The children loved seeing all the different instruments and learning about how the instruments made their sound. It definitely inspired the children to start learning an instrument and to join some of the wonderful choirs that take place during the school day at CCJS.

Music Exam Success

We had amazing exam results during the Spring Term with a record-breaking number of distinctions. Well done to all the children that took their exams and for working so hard to achieve these amazing results and a big thank you to all of their music teachers.

Teatime Concerts

Through the term many children have performed their favourite piece of music in the Teatime Concerts. These are an amazing opportunity for the children to play in front of an audience and to gain confidence in performance. During the Summer Term, Years 1 and 2 were really brave and performed to their parents.

Hitting the Right Note!

Theodore enjoyed performing on the drums during Open Morning.

Year 4 Compositions

Year 4 have enjoyed composing music and songs based on the Japanese Cherry Tree. The children have used notes from the pentatonic scale of C to help build their compositions.

Year 3

Looking at the Mclaren sports car as part of STEAM week

Sharing our love of books

Testing rock samples to find out what type each one was

Colourful flags to represent the special people in our lives

Racing to make a flower in a fast-paced dice game

Sharing stories with reception class dressed up for World Book Day

Measuring the length of a whale

Making equal parts and sharing

Meeting a hedgehog and finding out how to support them in our local area

Year

4

Early Civilisations

Year 4 love their History lessons and have studied learning about early civilisations this year. This built on their excellent work in Year 3 on the Stone Age. We started the project with a windy and very wet visit to Old Winchester Hill to see the Bronze Age hill forts there and kickstarted the topic with a visit from a genuine Bronze Age Man!

Showing our creative side!

D&T Shoe Project

Our budding Jimmy Choos have enjoyed creating some wonderful footwear in their D&T lessons!

A Passion for Printing

Pneumatic Monsters

Drama

The Power of Masks

Year 6 have been creating short scenes with the Trestle Theatre Masks for their Drama Showcase. The children have different locations and different emotions to devise their scene. With no dialogue spoken and no facial expressions, the challenge is to enable the audience understand the storyline using only physical movements and gestures. They also recited a group performance of The Visitor by Ian Serraillier. Great work, Year 6!

LAMDA

Well done to everyone in Years 3 and 4 who took part in the LAMDA Teatime Concert. Year 3 pupils recited two poems for their Entry Level Speaking Verse and Prose and Year 4 performed short duologues for their Entry Level Acting exam. Both groups have worked hard at perfecting their skills using their VOICE, BODY, FACE and SPACE. Mrs Roberts was very proud of all the performers and is thrilled with how confident each performer has become, ready for the exams in June.

Rock Pool

The Lucky Owl

Heroes and Villains

Year 5 Drama Showcase

Tuesday 14 March 2023

Heroes and Villains

Year 5 welcomed their parents to watch their Drama Showcase - Heroes and Villains. They performed extracts from their villainous speeches and told the Norse legend of the hero Beowulf.

Year 4 took their family and friends on an underwater adventure in their dramatic performance of Rock Pool. The audience entered through a watery curtain and were met by two red lobsters! They then were taken by the Barnacles on an adventure all about a Crab who wanted to join the Starfish Band. The stage was filled with colour as the children spoke clearly, sang energetically and danced collaboratively. It was a huge success, and everyone performed with confidence! Very well done, Year 4.

Past Prehistoric People

Year 3 transported their family and friends back millions of years for their show Past Prehistoric People. The children took us through time and explored life in Britain during the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Every member of the cast spoke confidently and sang with big smiles on their faces! It was a delight to watch.

Year 5

King Charles III

In 5R’s assembly, they reflected on the many 'firsts' that King Charles has experienced throughout his life and how he would be feeling before yet another first at his coronation.

To gain an understanding of the coronation ceremony, the children performed their own version. They explored the meaning of the rituals and the significance of the range of items that make up the regalia. Sadly lacking in crown jewels, the children made do with hockey sticks and balls for sceptres and orbs - not quite as aweinspiring, but they did the job!

Pablo Picasso's Guernica

As part of their English topic, Year 5 have been looking closely at Pablo Picasso’s 1937 painting of Guernica. Jean-Michel Basquiat saw the painting for the first time in the Museum of Modern Art in New York (it now hangs in the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain). It is one of the most famous anti-war paintings ever created, a form of activism through art, and a piece that shows the power of an artist’s voice, which may have inspired young Jean-Michel. The children wrote about what they could see in the paintings and explained some of the meaning behind the images.

A Supercar at School!

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Year 5 were transported to Athens one Monday lunchtime, thanks to the Young Shakespeare Company, who performed a Midsummer Night’s Dream with the help of the children. The children took on the parts of some of the characters and, by using sound, created the atmosphere for the different scenes, including the woods. YSC were able to make the play accessible to their audience and explained clearly some of the complexities such as the characters and their relationship to one another and the roles of Oberon and Titania.  As is customary, much hilarity ensued in the form of Bottom and his transformation into an ass by the irrepressible Puck.

McLaren Artura were the words on everyone’s lips when two engineers from McLaren Automotive brought one of their supercars into school!  The children were introduced to the company and the various cars they produce, before enjoying a workshop with the engineers. The children's challenge was to build a weight-supporting arm from newspaper, paper straws, tape (lots and lots!) and some science stands. The results were impressive in performance albeit a little less aesthetically pleasing than one of McLaren's cars!

A Visit to the Mary Rose

Year 5 visited The Mary Rose Museum at Portsmouth’s historic dockyard to further their History studies. As well as viewing The Mary Rose and the myriad of artefacts recovered from The Solent, the children took part in a workshop. They analysed the properties of some of the original artefacts, thinking about what the artefacts were used for, what they were made from and why.  The children thoroughly enjoyed their visit as it bought home what Tudor life was like aboard King Henry VIII’s flagship.

Science

Year 5 were straight into their science investigations during their first week back from Easter. For their new topic of ‘materials’ the children were testing the teacher’s new mugs - would they keep the hot chocolate as warm as one of the old china cups or even one of the children’s plastic drinking cups? The children were provided with the cups, copious amounts of hot chocolate and a data logger to record the changing temperature of the liquid. They then planned and carried out their own investigations.  Thankfully, the new mugs did prove to be the best insulators with the children’s plastic cups coming second - a surprising result for some. Why is plastic such a good insulator? And where did all the hot chocolate go?

Petersfield Music Festival

As part of the Petersfield Festival Choir, the children sang at the The Festival Hall on Monday and Wednesday evening.  I’m sure the parents would agree that the evening performances were a delight to experience, and that the children’s hard work and application definitely paid off.  Singing with the other schools from the local area in the Festival Hall was a truly memorable experience for the children.

Year 6

Land and Wave Trip

The highlight of the year had to be the Year 6 trip to Land and Wave in Bournemouth this May. There were so many great highlights but favourite activities included being on the jumbo paddle board - who wouldn’t enjoy pushing their teachers in?! - and coasteering, jumping off the cliffs into the sea. The whole week was blessed with some fantastic weather which only made being outside on the beach and in the woods even better.

Bringing History to Life

While learning about the Second World War, pupils produced some wonderful projects all about life on the Home Front. Many pupils also enjoyed finding out about some of their own family history and members of their own families who made a contribution to the war effort. It was also interesting to find out about some of the children who had been sent to Petersfield during evacuation, what happened to them and the houses they were billeted in. This included some links to the Senior School, who took in the children from Emanuel School in Battersea during this time. It was also interesting to find about the history of Petersfield and how it has changed over the last five hundred years during the Year 6 visit to the Petersfield Museum.

Sport

Spectacular Swim Squad

The Elite Swim Squad have been working hard this year and have most recently put in some fantastic performances at the IAPS Regional Swimming Qualifiers and the Hampshire Primary Swimming Relays. Not only are we immensely proud of the entire squad, with a total of seven first place finishes, but we are also delighted that both A Teams from the Hampshire Primary Relays qualified for the South East Primary Schools Championships. We also had an individual entry for George Steer and U10 Boys Freestyle Relay Team entry into the IAPS National Final!

A Fabulous Season of Rugby

A particularly strong rugby season for the U11s saw back-to-back tournament wins for the U11A Team. Sweeping the competition aside to be crowned Tournament Champions at both the Boundary Oak and PGS events, the team were hoping to make it three out of three, but were unfortunately beaten by the snow when it came to the CCJS event!

Hockey Tournament

An excellent afternoon was had at the PGS U11 Hockey tournament. The U11 A Team topped their group and narrowly lost 1-0 in the final, finishing runners up in the A Team tournament. The B Team came third in their group and went on to beat the third-placed team in the other B pool, coming fifth out of a total of ten teams.

IAPS National Finals

In early June, four Year 5 boys, Hunter Goldsworthy, Wilf Glasspool, Ted North and George Steer, competed in the IAPS National Final at the London Aquatics Centre. They competed in the 25m Freestyle relay and George came in seventh place in the final of the Under 10 individual 25m Freestyle. It was a fun day and an amazing experience to swim in the Olympic pool.

Girls' Football

Following the creation of the Upper School Girls’ Football club at the start of the year, the girls have been training hard each week and taking every opportunity to play some matches. Fixtures against Prince’s Mead and Barrow Hills got the girls off to a great start before they finished off the season at Ardingly College playing in the ISFA Regional Qualifiers. The competition was fierce and despite some tough matches, the girls came away buzzing!

Sailing Success

Huge congratulations to Oliver Woodruff and Toby Stratton-Brown who took part in the IAPs U11 Sailing Regatta. Despite light winds, the boys put in a fantastic performance and came fifth in their category out of 30 boats!

Netball Success

Finishing off their half term of netball, Year 2 headed to Brookham School to take part in their U7 Netball Festival. The children played amazingly well despite the cold, wet weather. The 5Rs were consistently shown during the afternoon and we were especially proud of the children's positive attitude and sportsmanship. Their chest and bounce passes showed skill and accuracy and we were really impressed with their footwork and pivoting.

Year 6 Swimming Gala

The Year 6 House Swimming Gala proved to be a fantastic way to finish off the Spring Term. Putting all their hard work into practise the children put on a fantastic event, with a number of very close finishes and some excellent Butterfly Exhibition Races.  The ever anticipated Fastest Sprint Races were hotly contested and congratulations go to the medallists! With every swimmer giving their best, the overall winning House changed places many times throughout the Gala, but the final finishing positions saw Hamble fourth, Meon third, Rother second and Arun the winners in first place!

Out of the Classroom

Iceland

How can Iceland be summed up with mere words?

A truly awe-inspiring country where the power of our planet can be seen in every part of the landscape. Over four days in the Easter holidays, 30 students experienced a wonderful adventure to the motherland of Geography. Witnessing first-hand the raw energy of tectonics from bubbling mud pools to exploding geysers, and the pulling apart of plates to the geothermal heating of pools. Sitting on top of basalt columns, meeting the mouth of a glacier and walking behind waterfalls (and into elf homes) the students got to experience all that Iceland has to offer. The sun shone, and whilst we didn’t see the Northern Lights (this time) we will be back!

Normandy

Just before Easter, 37 intrepid First and Second Years crossed La Manche to return to the Château de la Baudonnière in Normandy. We had sea sickness, snail starters, bonding with mini kids in a goat farm, free-roaming rabbit filming, market extravaganza, mud

assault course, delicious baguettes… and all of this immersed in French. Our group was fantastic, got on with everyone, had a go at all the activities with a smile and came back more confident and ready to speak French!

Oxford

In March, Third Year Academy pupils enjoyed their time in Oxford earlier this term visiting the Oxford Castle Prison and the University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum. At Oxford Castle Prison, pupils took a guided tour and learnt about the history of the prison and the lives of the prisoners who were held there. The tour provided an in-depth look into the harsh conditions prisoners would have faced and how they lived their daily lives. The Botanic Garden, the oldest of its kind in the UK and home to more than 5,000 different plant species was also a fascinating change of pace. It was a great trip out together to explore and enrich their academic knowledge.

Malaga

In the last week of the Easter holidays, 22 Fourth and Fifth Year students went to Malaga on a cultural study tour. They were incredibly lucky with the weather, meeting their host families in glorious sunshine followed by a tour of the main Malaga sites, the Moorish fortress (alcazabar), the Roman theatre, the cathedral and finishing with Churros con chocolate in a city centre bar. Students spent the mornings taking Spanish lessons in small groups, followed by sightseeing and some beach time and dined with their host families in the evening. They visited the world-famous caves in Nerja, followed by paella on the Burriana beach. Perhaps the cultural highlight was the trip to Granada to visit the Alhambra palace, but for many, the real highlight was the visit to a secondary school on the last day, where they chatted to Spanish pupils of a similar age and on leaving there were many contact details swapped and new international friendships made!

Krakow

50 Fourth Year pupils headed out to Krakow on our GCSE History trip. We started with a knowledgeable guided tour of the city and walk around the famous square packed with churches and the iconic cloth hall. We then headed up to the majestic castle that overlooks the city and, on the way, passed the commemoration of the Katyn massacre. The next day we headed to Auschwitz, the notorious death camps in which 1.1 million Jews were murdered alongside around 200,000 Poles, gypsies, Soviet POWs and priests. We saw the torture cells, the main crematoria and then the huge camp complex of Auschwitz Birkenau. This was, needless to say, a profoundly moving experience. On the last day we stopped at the incredible Wieliczka salt mine complex and saw a gigantic cathedral carved entirely out of salt. It was a real pleasure to take them to see all of these places; they were reflective, mature and thoughtful, as well as being fast learners of Polish dancing!

London

All of our Lower Sixth Historians and Politicians travelled to London and had a fascinating time visiting the Houses of Parliament. They stood inside both the House of Commons and the House of Lords and informative guides told us about the functioning of law-making and the quirky eccentricities of our political system. The historians then went off to visit the

Cabinet War Rooms, which blended in very well with their A Level studies; they saw a vast array of artefacts and felt the wartime claustrophobia of being underground at the heart of operations. Meanwhile, the politics students had a tour of the area and saw Downing Street, ending up at the Supreme Court. It was a great day out and much was learnt.

CCF

South Downs Way

In the first week of the Easter break, ten cadets and six staff rode the South Downs Way from Winchester to Eastbourne over four days, camping each night and dining on ORP (Operational Ration Packs). Day 1 took them from Cheesefoot Head to Harting Down, Day 2 on to Washington Camp, Day 3 to Housedean Farm and Day 4 to the finish at Eastbourne and saw the cadets cycle 145km and climb 3,500m.

Evensong

On Sunday, 7 May, six Churcher’s College CCF cadets attended a congregation at St Peter’s Church in Petersfield to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. With WO1 Charlie Murphy bearing the school’s banner, the cadets took part in the event to commemorate the historic occasion in uniform.

The weather was kind, staying dry during the days with some rain overnight, just enough to keep the chalk greasy and mud sticky! A few tumbles thankfully resulted in nothing more serious than bruises and hurt pride. Very well done to Eleanor, Thomas, Ben, Finn, Ted, Teddy, Zac, Felix, Charlie and Torquil for completing this significant challenge.

Orienteering Competition

On the final training evening of March, 67 Third Year cadets contested the annual tri-service orienteering competition at Queen Elizabeth Country Park. In teams of four or five, cadets used a park map and compass to plan and navigate a route through the woods between the various control points to collect as many points as possible in one hour (more distant control points having higher tariffs). The overall winner, with a very impressive 100 points was the RAF team comprising Charlie Stevenson, Elliot Chisholm, Hugh Farrell, Noah Hadley and Austen Cooke. They were closely followed by teams from the Army and Navy on 90 points each.

RAF

The Bear Grylls Adventure

Paintballing

RAF cadets put their leadership skills into practice during a day of paintballing and forest laser quest. The Red team were victorious thanks to the bravery of cadet Greggs who captured the Blue’s flag twice!

Shelter Building

RAF cadets took on the challenge of shelter building in the school orchard – to varying degrees of success!

Gliding

At the end of the Spring Term, the RAF section visited The Bear Grylls Adventure at the NEC in Birmingham, where they took part in escape rooms, archery and 65-foot hight ropes. Cadets took the opportunity to race each other on the Royal Marines assault course. Overall, it was a fantastic day out!

Third Year cadets got off to a flying start at RAF Upavon, spending a sunny Sunday flying in the RAF Viking gliders. They can’t wait to go back!

Military Skills Competition

On a chilly Saturday evening in late March, a section of ten CCF Army cadets (seven from Churcher’s and three from TPS) arrived at Oxney Farm training area near Longmoor Camp, to compete in the 11th Brigade Military Skills event. Led by Sgt Thomas Dannatt and 2i/c Cpl Oliver Hewett, they organised the bleary-eyed team into frantic action, donning full waterproofs, packing up the soggy camp and a hard routine breakfast (i.e. cold), before being on parade by 0650. With kit checked and assault vest packed with two rifle magazines and ear defenders, the section advanced to the first of seven stands where one-hour scored activities would be conducted throughout the day. The long day ended with an hour of oily weapon cleaning under the close scrutiny of the staff and once rifles were inspected and returned, there was just the short drive back to school to unload all the sopping wet bashas from the night before. Without exception, the cadets showed endless energy and enthusiasm throughout the competition, full commitment to each of the activities, as well as resilience and good-humour in the face of inclement weather and challenging tasks.

Careers

Careers Convention

On the evening of 16 March, the College hosted our fabulous annual Careers Convention. The Exhibition (Sports!) Hall was packed with pupils and parents and there were almost 50 companies in attendance. Alongside the stands in the Hall, guests could attend two sets of talks running concurrently forming our ‘mini-lecture programme’ in the Goodfield Building. Talks covered the hospitality sector, gap years, corporate finance, degree apprenticeships, the space industry, marketing and communications, the beauty industry, forestry, the people professions, universities abroad, careers in the arts and careers in fashion. A fast, furious and incredibly insightful evening was had by all!

An Introduction to Accountancy

On Friday 9 June, Lower Sixth Business students travelled to RSM, Guildford to learn about key accountancy functions such as audit, tax and consulting. Students received a presentation from a senior partner and then given small group tours of the offices. Finally, a group exercise was undertaken by the students, providing advice to someone about to set up a new business. Each student also received an RSM goodie bag! The students were able to grasp the breadth of an accountancy career and entry routes into accountancy, both from school and university.

Women of the Future

We were absolutely delighted to secure places for a group of Lower Sixth girls at the Women of the Future’s Ambassadors Reception at Lord’s Cricket Ground in May. Led by Pinky Lilani CBE DL, they have built a remarkable community of influential women determined to build professional and personal relationships with one another and to be advocates for a new generation of business leadership talent. Our students were thoroughly inspired by the talks and took full advantage of the networking session which was a wonderful opportunity to make contacts and develop networking skills. As Beth Thorpe summed up perfectly, “I now feel so much more confident and optimistic about my future”.

D&T Exhibition

After ten months of hard work, both in written form and as a result of many hours in the workshops, our examination groups produced a broad array of excellent practical outcomes. It is worth noting that this particular A Level cohort missed out on the practical experience due to the impacts of lockdown, but in spite of this, the quality of work was outstanding. The GCSE themes were souvenirs from a place of interest, studying and working from and caring for animals. We celebrated their achievements with a Product Design Showcase evening in the Donald Brooks Auditorium in May, giving students the opportunity to show off the fruits of their labour.

Josh Done A Level

Tom Steer A Level

Isabella Liedtke GCSE

Will Matthieson A Level

Robert Lewis A Level

Sixth Form

Brain Day

On Wednesday 17 May we invited Dr Guy Sutton to talk to our Lower Sixth Psychologists. He masterfully led them through what he called ‘Adventures in Neuroscience’, looking at issues around crime, neuroscience and addiction. This all crescendoed towards a dissection of a sheep’s brain and the students were very keen to find (and touch!) all the different subcortical structure they could find – the hippocampus was particularly well thumbed!

Planetarium Trip

Mr Calverd took 40 Sixth Form Physics students to Chichester Planetarium on Thursday for his ‘pizza under the stars’ event. With Dr John Mason delivering the most interesting talk on life cycles of stars and how the universe came into existence, our students were able to link this to their topic on cosmology and astrophysics just before their exams after Easter! And the pizza was duly swallowed up like mass in a black hole…

Prefect Training

The newly elected Prefect Body started the Summer Term by putting their filmmaking skills to the test with the One Day Film School. In the morning, they learned the essentials of film creation, and in the afternoon, took the 10 Shot Challenge: create a short film (2 minutes maximum) based on a classic narrative for premiering at the end of the day. Pupils self-allocated a role within their film crew and rose to the challenge of making a short film in just 90 minutes. All the groups showed great leadership and teamwork, and no-one missed the deadline. Their final task was to introduce their film, just like at the Cannes film festival, and await the VIP’s verdict of who would win the ultimate prize: the Best Picture Oscar!

Sports Science

Our Lower Sixth Sports Scientists travelled over the bridge to Cardiff Metropolitan University, known for its sporting excellence. The students spent the day in the state-of-the-art laboratories, having the opportunity to use up-to-date technology and bringing their Biomechanics and Physiology studies to life. In the Biomechanics lab, they used motion analysis technology VICON and force plates, learning how the technology can be used for screening, rehab and performance. The Physiology lab saw the completion of some maximal tests. Jasper, Lotta and Tommy stepped up for the infamous V02 max test, with most of the class participating in the Wingate test on a bike ergometer; this is a very intense anaerobic test which certainly took its toll on the students afterwards, which just goes to show how hard they tried! The day ended with George volunteering his heart for an ultrasound so we could observe his heart anatomy functions – an interesting end to a fantastic day.

Sports Dinner

The inaugural Upper Sixth Sports Dinner took place at the end of the Spring Term as a celebration of Senior Sport at Churcher's College. The evening was a chance to thank our departing students for their service to school sport and to present awards that recognised not only astounding levels of achievement, but also other critical aspects of sporting performance such as commitment and teamwork skills. We were honoured to have a special guest of Paralympic Gold Medallist Aaron Phipps who inspired us all with his achievements within elite sport and adventure. Pupils enjoyed reminiscing on sporting memories, from jumping for joy successes, holding back the tears in tough losses, singing at the top of their voices in the back of the minibus and getting their weekly fix of sausage, chips and beans match teas!

Coronation Copse

Sylvia Theatre Trip

Sixth Form History and Politics students thoroughly enjoyed the empowering and vibrant production of ‘Sylvia’. It told the story of the suffragette movement from 1900-1928, their struggle to be heard and the challenge of overcoming the misogyny of men such as Winston Churchill and Lord Curzon. There was also a fascinating focus on how the movement was split between the aspirations of Sylvia versus her mother Emmeline and her sister Christabel. The hip hop, soul, and rap music made it a highly energising performance.

Our new and outgoing Captains of College led the planting of a new 'Coronation Copse' at the Senior School to commemorate the Coronation of King Charles III. Located at the end of Nicholson’s Field, near the top netball courts, the new copse complements the original 'Coronation Copse', planted some 86 years ago to celebrate the Coronation of the current King's grandfather, King George VI, in November 1937. The 1937 issue of the Churcherian reports, "In honour of the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, a clump of trees was planted on November 20th in the field. Some of them were the gift of Form VI. The plantation consists of three oaks (Quercus coccinea splendens), four poplars (populus trichocarpa), four poplars (populus alba nivea), three maples (acer platonoides), one Ailanthus glandulosa, and two birches. Long may they thrive". They are now joined by three Acer campestre 'Elsrijk', two Carpinus betulus, two Quercus ilex and three Quercus robur. Long may they thrive, indeed!

Performing Arts

Musicians' Dinner

Although it is always sad to say farewell to our fabulous Upper Sixth musicians, it is always a delight to celebrate their achievements and thank both the musicians and their parents for many years of hard work and commitment to the Department. A delicious three course meal was enjoyed with one final performance by some of them between each course, together with some speeches from the leaders of the main ensembles, Georgia Cole (Orchestra), Nellie Lofthouse (Senior Choir), Darcey Scott and Peter Elsom (Senior Wind Band) and Ollie Millington (Jazz Band).

LAMDA

28 LAMDA pupils took part in the recent Godalming Festival of Speech and Drama. They performed wonderfully and racked up an impressive tally of awards: nine first places, five second places and seven thirds across solo and duologue acting and poetry recital. Very well done all!

Evensong

On Mothering Sunday, the Senior Chamber Choir ventured into the beautiful Meon Valley to sing Choral Evensong at Hambledon Parish Church. The church wardens and parishioners made the choir extremely welcome (more cake than even this choir could eat!) and there was an excellent turn out for the service. As ever, the choir rose superbly to the challenges of this liturgical event in which a surprising amount of music is sung in quick succession.

The Preces and Responses were sung to a music by Philip Radcliffe, and the Canticles to Thomas Walmisley’s rousing setting in D minor, ably accompanied by Nicholas Gleed on the organ. Appropriately for this day, the anthem was an unaccompanied setting of the ‘Ave Maria’ by Javier Busto.

Lower School Cabaret

To round off the Spring Term, our talented pupils in the First, Second and Third Years took to the stage to give us two evenings of spectacular performances. Pupils had auditioned earlier in the term with items of their choice, so this gave us a very varied programme of a lovely mix of styles from various musical theatre songs to the Arctic Monkeys. We also enjoyed performances from the newly formed Junior Barbershop Group and a First Year ensemble that called themselves ‘The Highway Band’. Miss Elson weaved some fabulous dance into the programme which included ‘We know the Way’ from Moana and ‘Another Day of Sun’ from La La Land. The Junior Chamber Choir started the evening off with ‘Rolling in the Deep’ by Adele and the Junior Choir ended the evening with a lively performance of ‘Naughty’ from Matilda. It is so exciting to see so much talent in the Lower School – we have a very exciting future ahead!

Spring Concert

The Spring Concert in St. Peter’s Church was a fun evening featuring a wide variety of musical styles from ‘The Heavens are Telling’ from The Creation to ‘Joyful Joyful’ from Sister Act 2. The concert showcased all of the main choirs in the school from the Junior Choir, Junior Chamber Choir, Barbershop, SSA Choir, Senior Chamber Choir and the Senior Choir. The Senior Strings performed the Bach Concerto for two violins previously played at the String and Piano concert and the Orchestra opened the concert with a lively Strauss ‘Gallop’ followed by ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and a selection from ‘Les Misérables’. A fantastic evening, enjoyed by performers and audience!

BSO Concert

The 90 or so players of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra were on fine form as they performed to a packed Portsmouth Guildhall in March. The programme was a magnificent celebration of John Williams’ music for ‘Star Wars’, with excerpts from the entire film saga since the original ‘Episode IV: A New Hope’ in 1977 as well as music from ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ by Michael Giacchino. This was enthusiastically received by the audience, particularly the 43 students and staff from Churcher’s. For Williams fans, this concert was a real treat, and the BSO’s willingness to play encore after encore made for a much later than scheduled return to school!

Petersfield Music Festival

Always one of the highlights of the Spring Term is our involvement in the Petersfield Music Festival’s Youth Concerts in March. Combining with TPS and Ditcham Park, the Jazz Band and Wind Band were in even finer form than usual, entertaining the sell-out crowd with some classic hits, one even featuring a hugely successful, high profile vocal solo by Second Year student Sofia James. Also featured in the concert was an original song written and arranged by our very own Caitlin Stevens. She enlisted some willing musical volunteers to play the song and wowed everyone with her gripping performance! Two very successful evenings, celebrating the strong musical culture evident across local schools.

Strings and Piano Concert

The Strings and Piano Concert in early March provided a great performance opportunity for the many pianists and string players in the school. We were treated to an exceptional evening of quality solo performances. In addition, there were no less than five string quartets, a guitar group and two string ensembles. The Junior Strings opened the concert with ‘Game of Thrones’ and the Senior Strings gave us a lively performance of Bach’s Concerto for two violins in C minor with Josie Scott Plummer and Beatrice Lingham as soloists.

Portsmouth Cathedral Concert

A selection of our music scholars set off down to Portsmouth for the opportunity to perform in a large Cathedral. They all, without exception, produced stunning performances in front of a very appreciative audience. The music scholars included Mary Jane Phelps, Jayden Siu, Jac Browning, Elisa Zaman, Tahlia Horwood, Cecily Morrogh, Clement Siu, Ben Taylor, Josie Scott Plummer, Georgia Cole, Darcey Scott, Nellie Lofthouse, Peter Elsom and a first ever special performance on the Cathedral organ from Laurie Horwood.

Adventurous Activities

New Forest

18 teams of Third Year students descended upon the New Forest National Park in May to discover that the recent rain had made the terrain water-logged and boggy. Perfect conditions for midges and ticks to thrive! Nevertheless, the teams were charmed by the beauty of the New Forest and with the gentle encounters with free-roaming ponies with their foals. There were also fleeting glances of deer and adders! Carrying everything you need for two days and one night in the wild is no easy task and tricky navigation added to the challenge. Congratulations to all those who successfully completed the expedition.

Bronze Gold

Buckingham Palace

On 19 May, 36 Churcher’s College students and OCs attended Buckingham Palace Garden as guests of honour at a special event to mark their achievement of successfully gaining their Gold DofE Awards. One of a series of events, this celebration honoured a total of 9,000 young people who have shown extraordinary perseverance, creativity and resilience to complete their Gold Award. Attendees had the chance to hear from famous Award holders, sporting legends and international adventurers, and pick up career advice from actors, presenters, authors and entrepreneurs, at stages throughout the Garden. The Duke of Edinburgh congratulated attendees in a speech from the Palace’s West Terrace, before meeting Award holders and hearing about the positive impact their DofE has had on them.

234 Days of Volunteering This Year!

For the volunteering element of the Award, pupils have achieved a total of 5,616 hours, or 234 days, of service this year, equating to £27,012 social value. Examples of volunteering undertaken by our wonderful cohort include tutoring younger pupils, helping at an animal rescue centre and community shops and various sports coaching roles. Well done, all!

Canoeing Expedition

A first at Churcher’s! This year we have been able to offer an option of Canoeing for the Gold DofE. The final expedition took place over the Summer half-term on the River Wye. Teams started at Whitney-on-Wye and, over four days, descended the river, passing through Hereford and Ross-onWye before finishing in Monmouth having paddled just over 110km. Students battled strong headwinds and hot weather, even overcoming the white-water rapids at Symonds Yat. Well done to all those involved on a great inaugural trip!

Final Expedition

31 Lower Sixth students spent half term completing their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Expedition in the Lake District. They were treated to some glorious weather, which enhanced the views but added heat and exposure to the sun to the challenges to be overcome. For many students, the highlight was camping high in the mountains and for all there was the satisfaction of reaching the end of their route, in Keswick, on the fourth day of the expedition and a chance to finally rest those tired feet. Whether the expedition has ignited a lifelong passion for the mountains or proves to be a “once, but never again” experience, all would agree it was a memorable challenge.

Devizes to Westminster Canoe Marathon

The Churcher’s Devizes to Westminster (DW) squad made up of 16 paddlers had great success in the 2023 canoe marathon, which took place over Easter weekend. The race was unfortunately cut short due to dangerous conditions on the River Thames, however, there is no doubt that the teams would have made it to Westminster had the race not been stopped. The Churcher’s team came a very respectable third place in the Junior Teams and School’s Team category, against stiff competition from other schools and canoe clubs.

OSCA at Rother Valley

Second Year OSCAneers undertook a two-day, one-night expedition where they employed the skills and knowledge gained from the previous term of OSCA training. Students walked in small teams, covering approximately 15km and converged at the end of the day at our campsite, just north of Stedham. Students cooked their own pizzas, baked potatoes, popcorn, chocolate bananas and s'mores. A wonderful experience for all involved!

Ten Peaks

A winter of training in all weathers, day and night, culminated in the Ten Peaks Challenge, Brecon Beacons in May. All teams managed to climb the Ten Peaks including Pen-y-fan, Corn Du, Cribyn, Fan-y-big, Fan Fawr, amongst others. The two Lower Sixth teams climbed a total of 2,291m over a distance of 47km, while two teams of Fourth Years ascended 2,000m over a distance of 37km. The teams were fortunate to experience fine weather and to see the magnificent Brecon Beacon mountain range at its best.

STEAM

Computer Science

A Level Projects

Ever heard of #AntiChess? Sixth Former Ed Jackson created an amazing version of the game for his A Level Computer Science project. You can play against the AI bot he created with a level of difficulty you choose or you can even make the computer play against itself! These projects are worth 20% of the A Level grade and all of our students worked very hard on their projects, which included a Fantasy Football League helper bot, a Wordle game with hints system, an evolution simulator that demonstrated the effects of genetic mutations, an automated scheduler, a teacher aid to demonstrate different computing algorithms and financial analyst software that endeavours to predict changes in stock prices.

App Design

Our Second Years have been working in teams and using online tools to design app ideas to solve problems in their local community. They then present their ideas to the whole class. One of the many amazing ideas was Farming For Everyone by Henry Martin, William Grosvenor and Hugo Thompson, to help raise awareness of everything that farmers do for us, complete with a farmer’s blog, virtual farm tour and a way of tracing a food item’s farm of origin.

STEAM Day

The Third Years enjoyed a day of hands-on activities on the theme of bridges at the end of their second exam week. This was part of our STEAM initiative (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics), which helps link pupils’ academic studies their wider applications. They completed a series of challenges set by the Science, Art, Design and Technology and Maths Departments, designed to stretch their intellectual, creative and team working abilities and, on the same day, were given valuable instruction in self-defence. Pupils tested their imagination while creating some beautiful architectural models and their engineering and construction skills when building and testing their own bridges. They also enjoyed exploring the maths behind networks of bridges and investigating resonance as a cause of bridge failure. A final competitive element was provided by the challenge of creating a bridge that would hold itself together using only its own weight and the friction between the planks provided. The solution, often referred to as a DaVinci bridge, requires creativity and effective teamwork to implement it. The winning team from Rodney successfully built a bridge spanning an impressive 5.47m!

Slapton Biology Field Trip

The Lower Sixth Biology students were developing their fieldwork skills in South Devon over May half term at Slapton Ley Field centre. They were able to study a variety of pristine sites including a rocky shore, ancient woodland and freshwater stream. They honed their sampling and statistics skills studying ecological energetics, biodiversity and zonation. They also found time for mammal trapping and identification of native moths from the overnight light trap. On an evening bat walk, they witnessed the emergence of a large number of horseshoe bats from a roost in the village and went out for a second evening where they were able to find Daubenton and Noctule bats. The final evening was spent toasting marshmallows on the beach.

mbots

Our Second Year students have been extending their programming knowledge and skills by programming the mbot robots to drive around, sing songs, show text and emotions on their screens and even perform wheelies!

Bat Walk on the Heath

Through the generosity of the Parents’ Association, the Biology Department are the proud guardians of three bat detectors. This term, in a new outing for the Department, a small group of Lower Sixth students took to Petersfield Heath as the sun went down, a prime location for bat activity owing to its diverse habitat of native fauna with many roosting and feeding sites. The distinctive echolocatory sounds made by bats and interpreted by the bat detector allow species to be identified with a good degree of certainty. From the humorous ‘wet slap’ of the pipistrelle bats to the ‘chip-chop’ of noctule bats, it doesn’t take long to get the hang of it. The sightings were recorded and sent back to the Bat Conservation Trust as part of the ongoing National Bat Monitoring Programme.

Competition Success!

Pi Competition Success

A team of Second Year girls made it to the finals of the annual PA Consulting Raspberry Pi Competition held in London in early May. Using engineering and coding skills and a Raspberry Pi microcomputer, students put their ingenuity to the test to come up with inspiring solutions to global challenges. Our budding Engineers Megan Arnold, Jess Brandt and Amber Large, designed and built an underwater submarine that searched the ocean looking for high temperatures indicating locations of thermal energy that could be used to generate electricity sustainably. Having successfully tested it in the school swimming pool, they were in confident mood for the finals! On the day, a further competition was organised to find the team that could design and build the fastest race car to make it down a track by modifying a car template provided. The girls really impressed everyone with their innovation and reversed the template, putting the majority of the

weight at the front and they won every race - including against the Sixth Form and the engineers who built the track! For that they were awarded both medals and a cup. The finals involved hours of judging of both the team members and their Raspberry Pi projects. They were absolutely brilliant at networking and impressed everyone with their energy, communication skills and most of all their personality and friendliness. As a result of all their hard work, Team Slayalicious won the inspiration award for their age group. For this, as well as a lovely trophy, they won £1,000 to be shared between the three of them!

Special mention should also go to another team who also worked very hard, but just missed out on a place in the finals. Eliza Carrick, Kate Harfield, Maisie Bowman and Saphia Pocock created a working model wind-turbine to teach people about renewable energy sources.

Daisy to Represent the UK in Florida

Sixth Former Daisy Taylor has been invited to be part of the 12-person UK team for the International Space Settlement Competition. Following on from her participation in the UK Space Design final at Imperial College in March, Daisy impressed the team of judges so convincingly that they did not hesitate to invite her to be part of the UK team. Selected from 250 other finalists, this huge honour is richly deserved, as she performed excellently over the two-day competition. Daisy is now invited to travel with the team to Florida in late July for a week's competition, designing a settlement base and orbiting station on another planet/moon. Needless to say, she is feeling out of this world!

Young Writer Competition

This academic year, a group of pupils, ranging from First Year to Sixth Form, have entered the Rotary ‘Young Writer’ competition. The pupils had to write on the theme of ‘Peace’. The work they produced was wide and varied, and included both poetry and prose entries. We are all very proud of not only all the pupils who entered the competition, but also of Julia Nicholls (Lower Sixth) and Iris Dunnell (First Year) who each achieved an amazing First Place in their respective age categories. Their superb pieces were then put through to the District round of the competition – a real achievement – and Julia achieved a ‘highly commended’ award in this round. Congratulations to all!

Sport

U14 Netball Champions

Having lost by one in the dying seconds of the Independent Schools Cup semi-final the previous season and missing out on the England Netball Tournament National Finals by three goals just the month before, the U14 girls were determined to make amends when it mattered most. Qualifying for the Sisters In Sport Shield National Finals was an amazing achievement in itself. The squad of nine travelled to Worcester on a Wednesday evening after school to prevent having a long, early morning journey on game day. The next 24 hours seemed to be a complete rollercoaster of emotions; excitement, nerves, worry, there were even tears when the girls watched a montage of good luck messages from parents, peers, staff and Churcher’s 1st Team captains. This worked in the girls’ favour and on the day, they

were exceptional, from the first whistle right to the final whistle, roared on by a wonderful, supportive team of parents. When they scored the opening centre pass, and subsequently went on to steal the next, this signalled the tone for the rest of the match. This group of girls truly embodied the Team Churcher’s spirit: their team work, their commitment and their respect for the opposition (taking the time to shake hands and console others before even celebrating together) and of course, how resilient they were managing their nerves before the match. Mrs Higgins’ offered some an inspirational pre-match pep talk: “you are fantastic individual athletes, but an even better team; play like the Churcher’s Champions you are!” – and this, they certainly did!

Bath Cup Swimming

The College’s swimmers were on top form at the end of the Spring Term, with great performances on display from the relay teams at the Bath Cup swimming competition held at the London Aquatics Centre on 11 March. A brilliant experience for the girls who made the finals in the 4x50m freestyle, finishing ninth, whilst the boys put in a super effort with personal best times across both races. Very well done to the competitors.

1st XV Girls Cricket

For the first time in Churcher's history, the school has put out a 1st XV girls cricket team. Katie Baird captained an outstanding performance for their first outing against KES Southampton, with Lexie Oliver hitting 50 runs and Zhara Ireland taking five wickets, including a hattrick! With one more game to come this season against Reigate Grammar School the girls so far have lost only one match, an excellent inaugural season!

Athletics

The athletics season has started with some outstanding successes. The U12 and U13/14 boys’ and girls’ teams all won the first round of the Hampshire Track Knock Out and followed this up with further successes in the semi-finals. For the first time, all four teams find themselves together at the County Final at the end of June, and will be one of the only schools in the county with representation in all

events. In the individual events, 34 Churcherians from the Third and Fourth Years represented the school at the South East Hampshire Track and Field Championships, and 12 progressed to the County Championships against some very tough opposition. The First and Second years took to the track on the first day after half term in the same event and more than impressed; 17 qualifiers, 11 outright winners and three new district records!

Marbella Tour

Our tennis players arrived at 01:00 surprisingly wide awake and ready to make the most of our trip to Spain! They enjoyed four hours a day training on clay and hard courts and there were some very happy faces, playing in the glorious sunshine and hitting plenty of balls. Over the course of the week there was a vast improvement, not only in their hitting but their positional play also. During the evening we played team volley ball, football against some of the other guests at the hotel along with a very difficult picture quiz! The pupils really enjoyed their down time in and around the pool and just being together and having fun.

Cricket

The cricket season is in full swing and has been sublime, with so many exciting games taking place, complete with close finishes and outstanding individual and collective performances. Two highlights are the crushing 1st XI victory over King Edward Southampton and our annual Senior fixture against the MCC. Our teams (boys and girls) have acquitted themselves very well in the county cups with all sides getting through to the quarter final stages as a minimum. We also celebrated a Churcher’s first… Fifth Year Jorja Wright became the first girl to represent the 1st XI, playing alongside her Upper Sixth brother Jude against the MCC.

Rugby Success

The U15s and U16s Teams attended the Hampshire 7s Tournament in March, held at Petersfield RFC. The 12 boys in each squad had fantastic days winning all five of their games convincingly and playing some outstanding flowing rugby. It was especially pleasing for the U16s to beat Lord Wandsworth College in the final after losing to them in the previous year's final. Congratulations to both squads!

In Other News

Charity

Foodbank

In what is becoming an important event in the Churcher’s charitable calendar, an impressive number of donations were made by the Churcher’s community for Liphook and Petersfield food banks. Both food banks provide weekly food parcels and signposting advice to a broader range of agencies and services to support those families and individuals who are struggling financially in the local area. Well done to the Sixth Form Charities Committee for organising and thank you to all those who donated!

Clubs

Pubic Speaking Competition

100 Rucksacks to Mongolian Children

Churcher’s College has successfully raised money for the charity ‘School in a Bag’

to fund 100 school rucksacks for primary school children in Mongolia, each containing useful learning and hygiene supplies. Pupils across the Senior School made a donation to the charity, in return for which they were allowed to wear their own clothes for the day. All monies raised went to ‘School in a Bag’ who worked with a partner charity called ‘Children’s Hope Mongolia’ to buy and fill the rucksacks.

Churcher’s played host to the South Regional Finals of the English Speaking Union’s Public Speaking Competition in March. Six teams from schools across the south competed for a place in the national final in Cambridge later this month. Topics tackled included: oppression, lowering the voting age and whether or not the patriarchy is dead. The winning team was a formidable trio from Seaford College, with Churcher’s narrowly missing out. The home team, comprising of Ruby Chiduza (Questioner), Zhara Ireland (Speaker) and Kian Noorani (Chairperson) were worthy runners up, with Ruby taking the prize for Best Questioner on the day. The judges called it, “One of the closest fought rounds they have ever seen”.

Dance

Dance Club has continued its busy programme of rehearsal and performance. At the Junior Cabaret, they performed a Classical Greek dance to Moana’s ‘We know the Way’; the use of props really pushed the dancers to their limits. They also performed ‘Another Day of Sun’ from La La Land, giving those students who both dance and sing an opportunity to showcase their talents. We have introduced Tap Club and an Intermediate Dance, due to demand from students who wanted to improve their technique rather than focusing simply on performing. Dance Club also went on its first outing to watch the ballet Swan Lake, performed by the English Youth Ballet. It has spurred on many of our dancers to audition for the next performance in two years. There was a delightful pizza stop on the way too!

A National Champion!

The end of May saw an amazing weekend at the NSEA National Finals at Hickstead, putting the Churcher’s College Equestrian team firmly on the map! Nine girls from the team, who had previously qualified for the Championships, ensured that rosettes were abundant for Team Churcher’s. Notable podium finishes included two third places for the 90cm Eventer’s Challenge ridden by Issie Rendall, Aneka Wisniewska and Clemmie Foster, along with the 1m County Championships Show Jumping, ridden by Phoebe Dallyn, Issie Rendall, JoJo Porter Wright and Clemmie Foster. Sixth individual place was achieved by Clemmie Foster for 1.10m Show Jumping and finally Issie Rendall won the Individual 1m Show Jumping Championship, making her National Champion!

Greenpower

April marked the start of the 23-24 Greenpower race season, kicking off at Goodwood Motor Circuit. The new recruits joined the existing ranks of the Churcher’s Team and the favourable weather matched the buoyant mood. ‘Limitless’ benefited from a complete re-wire, which eliminated the technical faults that hampered our previous season. It was another learning curve for the team and thanks to the ongoing and tireless support of Mr Jamouneau, we were able to adapt and test out our gearing system. Hopefully with a little more ‘fine tuning’ we will be in a solid position to take on our next event in September.

Academic Lecture Series

Professor Chris Read, one of the top experts in Russian history, delivered a fascinating lecture on one of the most tragic periods of Russian history, to our Sixth Formers and Godalming College students. He focused on the rise of the Bolsheviks and their idealism of creating a postrevolutionary state that initially was naive and utopian, “All shall govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing” (Lenin). His aim was to implement the ideology of Marx and Engels, that the state needed to be abolished and replaced by a classless society. But by 1921 at the 10th party congress, the opposite became the reality. Prof. Read talked about how the state became overwhelming, crushing civil society. He investigated the rise of the Cheka, how censorship was ubiquitous, and that internal party discipline was controlled by so called ‘democratic centralism’. He concluded that this was a premature revolution that “was not ripe” and as Engels stated, “whoever puts himself in this awkward position is irrevocably lost”.

Staff News

Hannah Dart

Pi Day

On 14 March, pupils spent their lunch hour celebrating the annual International Pi Day in the Maths Department. To celebrate the occasion, pupils held a 'Pi cake' competition and took part in a challenge to see how much of Pi they could remember.

Huge congratulations to Sixth Former Joel Ireland who successfully recited Pi to an impressive 188 digits! The cake competition was won jointly by Oliver Thomas and Johnny Dean. All the worthy winners received special golden calculators. Additionally, sales from the cake competition raised more than £100 for the charity National Numeracy, which aims to empower everyone in the UK to have the numeracy skills that allow them to fulfil their potential at work, home and school.

Thank You to the PA

A huge thank you to our wonderful Parents' Association for helping the Faculty of Adventure buy a trailer! It had its first outing transporting kit to the River Wye for the Gold DofE canoeing expedition. We hope you agree it looks fabulous! To get involved with the PA to help raise funds to benefit the students, make friends and have fun in the process, please email seniorpa@churcherscollege.com

In April, PE teacher Hannah Dart became the latest member of the Churcher’s community to take on the London Marathon. Since running the ‘Mini Marathon’ back in 2003, she has dreamt of running the ‘Big One’ and finally got her chance! She used this opportunity to raise money for a cause close to her heart - Ovarian Cancer Action - in memory of her Mum who she sadly lost to the disease in 2021 and who was an avid supporter of the event. As a part of her wonderful fundraising efforts, she sold Churcher’s branded sport socks and organised a charity netball match between staff and Sixth Formers, with the latter just edging the game to win 13-10. All her hard work paid off, with a wonderful finish time of 4h35 and £5,500 raised for her charity in the process. Well done Hannah!

Jenny Yeates

In November 2018, School Counsellor Jenny Yeates began a very busy year, during which she trekked to Everest’s Base Camp, sailed across the Atlantic and undertook a Firewalk with other Churcher’s staff members to raise money for local charity, Fitzroy. She undertook this “triangle of courage” in memory of her daughter Lucy-Anne, who had passed away with Cystic Fibrosis. The ensuing pandemic years have kept her closer to home, but her adventurous spirit has recently seen her return to the water on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Antarctica. During three weeks at sea, she covered more than 9,000 kilometres, starting in Valparaiso, Chile and ending up in Buenos Aries. The journey took her down through the Chilean fjords to Ushuaia, Argentina before crossing the Drake Passage to the Antarctic peninsula. After spending nearly a week in the Antarctic, she crossed to the Falkand Islands where she met up with the family of some Old Churcherians, now stationed there on an assignment with the Navy, proving that the Churcher’s family truly does reach across the globe!

Modern Languages

Gymnasium Neustadt

In the Summer Term, our Virtual Exchange culminated in a letter exchange with Gymnasium Neustadt in Bavaria and in a Zoom meeting with our German counterparts. With the help of our fabulous Language Assistant Paul, who designed a padlet board for students from both countries to post information about their school, their hobbies, their area and their favourite sweets, students from the Second Year took part in the virtual exchange ran by the UK-German Connection. On his return from the Easter break, Paul treated our students to lots of authentic German sweets, which they happily judged and compared to English sweets!

Kochkunst - Backlust - Esskultur

Students from the Second and Third entered the Oxford German Olympiad 2023, with Kate Harfield receiving a special mention when her You Tube video was judged highly commended. This year’s topic was Kochkunst-BacklustEsskultur, the art of cooking, joy of baking and culture of eating. Students explored German recipes and cooked and baked these creating fantastic videos, documenting them in German. Well done, Kate, we are very proud of you!

La Maison Hantée

The Onatti Theatre Company made us jump, giggle, laugh, call out… two great actors entertained our Third Year French students for an hour with their performance of La Maison Hantée. There was blood, creaky noises, spiders… everything you would expect from a haunted house when it is surrounded by a dangerous criminal on the run! Or is he inside the house? We are already looking forward to next year’s performance.

Carcassonne

In May, Mrs Shaw visited the Collège Jeanne d'Arc in Castelnaudary, near Carcassonne to meet the French class with whom our Second Year pupils have been exchanging letters throughout the year. The French pupils enjoyed a presentation on all things Churcher’s, receiving their hand delivered letters and trying Percy Pig sweets for the first time! This project has been a great success and we look forward to continuing this ‘entente cordiale’ next year.

Success Outside School

Surrey Cup

Six of Churcher’s most talented senior rugby players got to experience the intensity of professional rugby at the end of Easter break. Sixth Formers Finn Barrowcliffe, Locky Ellis-Jones, Ben Bushell, Sandy Frizzell, Jack Thomas, Sergei Bjelica and Jack Lowndes were all picked to represent Guildford at the home of the Harlequins for the end of season Surrey Quins Cup final at The Stoop. Guildford were given a hospitality box in the main stand for a changing room, an experience that all added to the memorable nature of the day. In the end, Ben Bushell captained the team to a memorable 36-12 victory over Farnham and they, deservedly, lifted the cup!

George Little

Fourth Year George Little has been selected to represent Great Britain in the Cadet Sailing World Championships in Belgium this July. He recently competed in a serious of three individual selection events, comprising a total of 16 races and some very challenging sea conditions. He was praised by other competitors for showing the ultimate sportsmanship after assisting a fellow sailor on the race course, despite losing a place himself in doing so. George has risen up through the sailing ranks, having represented team GBR in Germany in 2018 as crew for OC Ellie Watling and now he has succeeded as a helm in his own right. He has shown enormous determination to achieve this personal goal and an excellent ability to refocus himself and his young crew to keep going when racing conditions sometimes haven’t gone their way. We wish him every success in the Summer and look forward to reporting on his future achievements!

Thomas BanesWalker

Fifth Former Thomas BanesWalker discovered his entrepreneurial streak when he had to come up with a creative way of completing the Skills section for his Duke of Edinburgh’s Award when Covid hit in 2020. Stuck at home, he wanted to do something creative and that encompassed his love of cooking, but all of the courses he found targeted at his age group were uninspiring. Thomas worked with a local family friend, Jirapan, to create a 12-week online Thai Cookery Course for students, enabling them to learn more about Thai food and expand their cooking repertoire! Now in its fourth year, more than 70 Churcher’s students have completed the course. Thomas is now a seasoned Thai chef, but he continues to help Jirapan promote the course, which is still available, for Churcher’s students and to other local schools.

Hampshire Rugby

Congratulations to Lower Sixth students Max Faulkner, Will Hewett and Rory Hodges for being selected to play for Hampshire U17 Rugby Union. They faced stiff competition to make the squad, with more than 140 boys being nominated across the county by either school or club. A great achievement for the three of them!

Joel Ireland

As part of work towards his application to read law at university, Sixth Former Joel Ireland entered an essay competition at Northeastern University London (formerly New College of the Humanities). The competition received more than 5,000 submissions and Joel was selected as a finalist and came in the top 12% of entries. He attended a celebration evening in London in April, where, in addition to the award ceremony and drinks reception, they offered subject sessions to help build skills and advice to help get a step ahead with university admissions. You can read his essay on ‘Must we always obey the law?’ in this year’s issue of INK magazine.

County Swimming Finalists

Well done to First Year pupil Theo and brother Reuben (Second Year) who have both achieved regional qualifying times at the Hampshire County Swimming Championships. They both gave it their all and swam amazing races, coming away with personal bests and finalist positions. The brothers work very hard, training 13 hours a week and dedicating many early morning 5am swims as well as evening sessions to the sport. Looking forward, their next goal is the ASA Regional Summer Championships. Good luck, both!

ACADEMIC

Appeasing Hitler

Tim Bouverie

Monday 16 October 2023

Refreshments 4pm

Lecture 4:30pm - 5:30pm

Lecture Theatre