House Diaries
York It is hard for me to believe that I have reached the end of my third year as York Housemaster, my daughter Phoebe now a year old, I am feeling old! No on a serious note, I can genuinely say that I have enjoyed every moment and feel as enthusiastic as ever at leading York House. There have been many successes this year, but for me I feel that this has been largely down to the way that Dale Keogh has organised the House and the way that the Monitors have led the House. Martin Ryvola has been a superb Deputy Head of House and his wisdom has helped younger members of the House and I know that they will miss him next year. Guy van den Dries has been a very good Head of School and has shown passion for both the School and House throughout the year. Luke Shield has organised several events for the House in the Arts categories and his knowledge and skills will be missed next year. William Prior has been a superb ‘Head of Sport,’ organising, coaching and managing all of the House sporting events. He has a clear talent in this area. Finally Oleg Zubenko and Barry Wong have run very effective prep times for the Juniors and have been able to contribute to a number of issues and events in the boarding community. This year we welcomed the following pupils into York House: Year 7
Jack Barker, Terry Cheung, Tom Harris and Aaron Slade Year 8 Edward Butler, John Chui, Tom Atherton Year 10 Lexter Li, Leon Hactmann Year 11 Mattia Di Rienzo Year 12 Jimmy Cai, Reggie Fasa, Jan-Marc Purpur, Johannes Vollmer, Trutz von der Trenk, Jack Wong and Daniel Yiu It was also a pleasure to welcome back Nathaniel Davis in the Spring Term As soon as the Autumn Term began, Luke Shield was keen to rehearse the songs that he had chosen for the House Singing Competition. He ran a strict regime and both the Juniors and Seniors were feeling very confident that we stood a chance in the competition. We felt that the songs were good and
House pride was carrying us forward to a new high. This was clearly evident on the night, the Juniors managed to retain the trophy for the second year running with their version of ‘Rock around the clock’ and the Seniors came second after singing ‘Take me home country road,’ to a very high standard. Due to having small numbers in each Year Group it makes it hard for the boarders to compete to the same level as the Day Houses in some of the sporting competitions. However I was delighted by the effort and performances in all of the Rugby, Hockey and Cricket competitions. I was particularly impressed by the effort that Connor Lewis, Tom Harris, Edward Butler, Tom Atherton, Jack Barker, Aaron Slade, Alfred Tsoi, made in the Junior Competitions. I was also impressed by John Clouston, who broke his leg playing rugby, but made a speedy recovery and played well in the Hockey and Cricket Competitions. For the Intermediates, Jack Blackburn, Daniel Brown, Harry McGuire, Josh Picken, Arran Keogh, Edward Young and Jake McGrath were outstanding members of the team. Finally the key members for the Seniors were, Adam Boukraa, Trutz von der Trenk, Guy van den Dries, Luke Shield, William Prior, Guy Coser, Alex Finkill, John Brogden, Reggie Fasa, Jake Van’t Hoff, Richard Harland, Dale Keogh, Joshua Brooks, Sam Goyette and Ben Jeffrey. I am very proud that two members of our House have represented England Youth Rugby. Guy Coser has played for the North of England in his age group and is an up and coming star for the future and Guy van den Dries has represented England under 18s. We hope to see both of them with full England caps in the near future. We have performed well in both of the Running Competitions this year in each age category. I was very impressed that the Seniors managed to win the Barney Bash. The particular stars in the House were, Connor Lewis, John Clouston, John Brogden, Stanley Wong, Ben Jeffrey and William Prior who finished second overall in the Barnard Run. Although the weather was not kind to us on Sports Day, it was great to see so many pupils from the House taking part in a range of events. The tug of war was the highlight and we were grateful that Matron even baked a cake to celebrate the achievement. It was a shame that our efforts did not lead us to victory overall, but we are hopeful that next year we will stand a chance of victory. I was delighted to see many of the members of the House taking part in the plays and musicals this year and I was particularly impressed by Dale Keogh and Daniel Gilligan’s performance in ‘The Little Shop of Horrors.’ It was also fantastic to see Nathaniel Davis take on the part superbly of Astrov in the Inters play called ‘Uncle Vanya’ and Tom Atherton as Finn in the ‘Sparkleshark’ Oliver Morrill and Ben Jeffrey have
been assets to the technical crew and I know that Ben will be missed next year by Mr Edwards and his team. He has worked very hard in the teach crew for 5 years. The term ended with our annual awards ceremony and the following awards were given: Prestigious House Awards (voted by all House Staff): Junior York House Cup Year 9 York House Cup Year 10 York House Cup Year 11 York House Cup Lower 6 York House Cup Senior York House Cup
J Clouston E Young D Baker S Wong Trutz von der Trenk M Ryvola
Sports / Academic / Pastoral Awards: The Gedye Sports Award The Inters Sports Award Junior Sports Award Junior Resident Award Inters Resident Award Senior Resident Award Junior Merit Award Inters Merit Award Senior Merit Award Junior Academic Cup Inters Academic Cup Senior Academic Cup Junior Arts Cup Inters Arts Cup Senior Arts Cup
W Prior D Brown C Lewis J Clouston E Young J Brogden Jack Barker Joshua Picken Dale Keogh J Chui G Poon D Keogh O Morrill H McGuire L Shield
I am very grateful to Mr Butler for all of his hard work this year. He has worked endlessly hard to assist the running of the House and I have enjoyed working with him again. I was delighted that he was appointed the Head of Sixth Form midway through the year and he is doing an outstanding job in this role. I look forward to working with him again next year. I am extremely grateful to Matron Broadwell for all of her efforts. She has worked extremely hard all year to ensure that the pupils are growing up with the correct manners and maintain tidy appearances in and around school. Matron Broadwell has also continued to bake numerous cakes and buns with Miss Ingram and the pupils have been very lucky to enjoy such treats. Although Matron Brown is associated with North House, I am grateful for all of her efforts in the Boarding Community also. As always my team of tutors have been outstanding. Mr Jacobs has continued to run efficient and proactive duties, as well as organising football activities during the evenings and has also hosted ‘International Nights,’ with his wife, which has been appreciated by the overseas pupils. Mr Tomlinson has continued to run two duties effectively and has run successful Tutor trips to various places. Miss Cover and Mr West have continued to be assets to the Tutor Team and have worked endlessly hard with their Tutor Groups and have also assisted with Sporting events. Mr Dunn has continued to run an effective boarding duty each week and has taken various trips to the Cinema. We have also been very fortunate to welcome Mr Wade to our team. He has been a superb Tutor for Year 8 and has added a great deal of humour into the House. Next year I am delighted that Nathan Brown will be the Head of House and Jake Van’t Hoff will be his deputy. I look forward to my fourth year at the helm. Housemaster – Mr A J Allman Head of House – Dale Keogh AJA
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2012
The Barnardian Magazine