Focus - Spring 2020

COLLEG E

SPRING 2020

CHU R CHER’S alsO inside: From Alice to Zombies, it’s all covered in a term at Churcher’s!

INFOS... Noticias...

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photo compETITION

On our last Spanish trip to Barcelona, we were astounded by the quality of the photos that the students were taking around this architecturally diverse city.

We were so impressed that we decided to run a three category photo competition.

The students seemed further inspired to produce original, thought-provoking images of commonly snapped areas of Barcelona and we hope you agree that a small selection were worth sharing. For obvious reasons, it was impossible to only choose one image per category so ENHORABUENA to our budding David Baileys Will Philpott, Caitlin Dadswell, Libby Child and Tristan Lewis, for their winning entries in the categories of: • Best people image • Best monument/landscape image • Best freestyle image Prizes will be awarded in due course!

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translation prize

Congratulations to Lower Sixth Spanish student Zoe Blackburn for her special mention certificate for her outstanding performance in the Europe wide translation competition Juvenes Translatores. Only a few select students – 271 out of 3,116 – qualify for this based on the quality of their translations.

What an achievement!

FOCUS Senior SPANISH theatre

This year we have been lucky enough to see two productions put on by the Cervantes Theatre in London. The first was La Casa de los Espíritus by Isabel Allende and the second La Casa de Bernarda Alba by Lorca. Both were powerful performances and enjoyed by our Sixth Formers studying these as their set A Level texts. Pictured are our French assistant, Hermione, Lucy Thompson and Sophie Zoltowski.

French News

Some of our First Years are discovering the joys of receiving a letter from abroad, responding to it in French, and sending it to our link school in Treillières, in the North of France, a collège with whom we have had a pen pal exchange for the last three years. It has to be said, a lot of excitement is in the air when these letters arrive, and we look forward to more coming our way in the next few months.

Thursday lunchtime has become a busy make-and-do time for our French assistant Hermione, who always thinks of something original and fun to do! There are chocolats, crêpes, glue sticks, ribbons, cards, cheerful music, and plenty to make and do in a relaxed atmosphere, à la française. Who knows what will happen next? Qui sait?!

GERMAN CULTURAL EXCHANGE

Our German language assistant, Lennart, has been chosen by UK-German Connection as a Cultural Exchange Ambassador project leader. Cultural Exchange Ambassadors are English and German Language Assistants working in the other country who run joint projects in clubs and lessons in order to inspire and motivate young people for their home language and culture. This year’s project was on the theme of sustainability. In December all Second Year German students created Christmas boxes on this theme, which were sent to the Robert-Schuman-Berufskolleg in Dortmund, our partner school for this project. These included a beautiful handmade Christmas bauble and a sustainable Advent calendar, amazing posters, i-crafts, traditional English Christmas treats and lots of information about sustainability in the UK. In the Spring Term, Lower School students have talked about waste, in particular plastic waste, measuring how much plastic is used in a week, a month and ultimately in a year. Following on from this, they created a sign made out of cardboard and used plastic to visualise their concerns.

MEET THE ASSISTANTS

Bonjour! Je m’appelle Hermione, j’ai 23 ans et je suis l’assistante de français de Churcher’s College cette année. Je viens de Besançon, une grande ville située dans l’est de la France. Je suis heureuse et reconnaissante de pouvoir travailler ici, partager ma culture et me former. J’adore travailler avec les élèves de Churcher’s College qui sont si passionnés par le français et les langues étrangères en général.

Pour moi, qui souhaite devenir professeur de français langue étrangère, travailler à Churcher’s College est une expérience formidable et inoubliable.

Hallo, mein Name ist Lennart, ich bin 21 Jahre alt und ich bin dieses Jahr der deutsche Sprachassistent am Churcher’s College. Wenn ich nicht in Petersfield bin, wohne und studiere ich in Leipzig, einer wundervollen Stadt im Bundesland Sachsen.

Churcher’s College ist eine unglaubliche Schule, an der das Lernen einer Fremdsprache Hand in Hand mit der Kultur des Landes geht. Die Zusammenarbeit mit den Schülern und meinen Kollegen macht mir sehr viel Spaß und ich genieße es, meine Kultur mit ihnen zu teilen. Doch auch ich lerne viel über das Vereinigte Königreich, wenn ich mit den Leuten hier rede oder das Land erkunde.

FOCUS • 3

MUSIC CAROL SERVICE

The Carol Service is always a beautiful end to the school term. The service started with candles lit and the Barbershop singing ‘Let There Be Peace on Earth’ from the back of the church, followed by ‘Once in Royal’ as the choir processed down the aisle. As usual, there was a great variety of Christmas music together with the superb Brass group that joined in for some of the congregational carols.

Cabaret

The Senior Cabaret evenings are always full of colourful performances, thanks to the fantastic staging, lighting and sound that bring the Sports Hall to life. Pupils audition for a slot in the Cabaret and these performances, combined with various ensembles (SSA, Jazz Band, Blues group, Jazz Quartet, Senior Chamber Choir, Barbershop and Senior Choir) make for a very entertaining evening.

Many of the vocal items were choreographed, including the 90 members of the Senior Choir who danced and moved to ‘This Will Be An Everlasting Love’ to finish off the evening.

JUNIOR RECITAL

The Junior Recital showcased some exceptional talent with an array of impressive solos from the musicians in the Lower School, together with various ensemble performances from the Junior Strings, Junior Chamber Choir, Junior Wind Band, Junior Choir, Guitar Group, Junior Brass Group, String Quartet and Flute Choir.

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MUSIC SUCCESS

Congratulations to two extremely talented Churcher’s musicians: in January 2019, Sixth Former Rachel Newberry started working towards her ARSM Performance Diploma in Flute - which she successfully achieved in January 2020. Meanwhile, Fifth Year student Jonas Flohr has achieved an impressive 2 ABRSM level 4 Diplomas in musical performance, one on flute, one on recorder, passing the recorder with distinction, and just one mark off a distinction on the flute.

FOCUS Senior

rock school

The 2019 Rock School Showcase introduced the school to a large number of talented new students from the First Year, amongst others, all the way to the Upper Sixth.

The groups performed music

by Queen, Muse, The Eagles, Toto, and many more. The main event – the rock bands – were supported in the first half by some very impressive singersongwriters such as Harry Marden and Florence Ransom in their fantastic duet. All of the time the students have spent practicing in private has certainly paid off. Congratulations to all performers!

ANNA LEZDKAN

Sixth Former Anna Lezdkan’s mesmerising solo violin performance at November’s Remembrance Concert in St Peter’s Church was a memorable example of the range of musical talent on offer at Churcher’s.

New to Churcher’s Sixth Form this year, music has always played a big part in her life; as well as playing in the College Orchestra and singing in the SSA and Senior Choirs she spends every Saturday at Junior Academy at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Closer to home, she was a member of the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra before joining the Academy and has this year won a much coveted place in the National Youth Orchestra which brings the most talented musicians from across the country together three times a year for rehearsals and concerts, culminating in a highlight of NYO’s year at the BBC Proms. We look forward to hearing more from Anna and wish her the very best of luck.

BRASS AND WOODWIND CONCERT

This Spring Term, in a change to the usual alternate Junior and Senior evenings, concerts have consisted of various groups of instruments together, so our Junior musicians have been able to hear the Senior musicians and vice versa.

The first of these was the Brass and Woodwind Concert where no fewer than 11 brass and woodwind ensembles took part, interspersed with some lovely solos, ending with a fantastic performance on the French Horn from Ben Steggall.

FOCUS • 5

HISTORY

Churcher’s on the Somme

The Third Year History trip to Ypres and the Somme was, once more, a great success. Our guide Rob gave us a particularly memorable talk at the Hawthorn Ridge redoubt when he sent the pupils ‘over the top’. This helped the pupils to visualise this terrifying experience and made them particularly aware of the topography of the land.

As well as visiting the Somme salient and the Thiepval Memorial, we went to the moving British cemeteries of Lijssenthoek, Tyne Cot, and the German cemetery of Langemark. On the final day pupils enjoyed finding chocolate shops in the beautiful town of Ypres, going to the excellent ‘In Flanders Fields’ museum and finishing the trip at the striking Canadian war memorial of Vimy Ridge and walking through the trenches there. We will be back next year!

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Six, the Musical

Our Upper Sixth Historians enjoyed seeing the musical “Six”, which was (loosely!) linked to their A Level Tudor course. Each wife of Henry VIII was reimagined as a modern pop queen. The wives are in deep contention over who had the saddest story.

One by one they take their turn to sing their sorrows through a range of musical genres: raps, ballads, and pop. There were lots of references to Tudor life and many historical puns. The ending brings the women together, not as ‘wives’ but as queens in their own right who deserve to be remembered as more than just a word in a rhyme. Students and staff thoroughly enjoyed it!

FOCUS Senior competition

We had many creative entries for our World War One Competition. They ranged from moving and thoughtful poems, to creative oil paintings and mixed media. Our winners were: Natalia Ivanov, Jasmine Sutton, Archie Horne, Danny Hastings, Lucy Mackay, Lauren Mutch and Caitlin Stevens. Much of the work is on display in N2 and N5.

Thank you to all those who contributed, it was a tough choice!

How crucial was direct action to the

FRENCH REVOLUTION 1789 -1792?

BY WILLIAM DOYLE Professor Emeritus of History, Bristol University

MONDAY 2

DECEMBER 2019 Refreshments in the Gallery from 4 pm. Lecture 4:30pm

CHURCHER’S COLLEGE | LECTURE THEATRE

Vive la Revolution… or not!

First Year Urine Investigation!

The First Year historians travelled back in time this term and found out what it was like to be a medieval doctor.

They had to apply the Theory of the Four Humours and the Theory of Opposites to diagnose a patient, using a sample of ‘medieval urine’ to work out which humour was out of balance. There was much horror and disgust at having to do the same methods used at the time, and lots of squirmy faces after smelling the patients’ samples! Pupils then used this to work out which cure would be most appropriate for their patients; they found that in some samples, there was an excess of blood and recommended that the patient is cured through bloodletting. Jessie said, “It gave me a real insight into the gruesome world of medieval doctors!”. There was certainly much appreciation of modern medicine after this task!

Professor William Doyle gave a highly informative and fascinating lecture on the role of direct action in the French Revolution. He focused particularly on the role of the sans-culottes in Paris who largely drove the terror in 1793.

However, he asserted that this terror was not at all popular and that the provinces, Paris and the convention were all at its mercy. Doyle’s knowledge of the period was profound and he covered a highly complex set of events with great clarity and rigour. In addition to all our Upper and Lower Sixth historians, we hosted students from Godalming College and Reading Bluecoats. It will certainly have helped them to prepare for their A Levels.

Needless to say they all enjoyed the cake!

FOCUS • 7

TRIPS

mosque visit

The R&P Department and the Fifth Year had a profound day out visiting a busy inner city church in Winchester, and a Sunni mosque in Southampton.

marwell zoo

At the end of October, the Second Year geographers went to Marwell Zoo to see what they could see.

The weather was against them and the rain fell unabated but morale was high and they learnt a great deal about ecosystems and the threats to habitats.

They used their time to participate in our Marwell Photography Competition and the standard of entry was incredibly high! First place went to Eddy Lewis, with Noah Allin and Josh Pearce coming in just behind.

Congratulations all!

8 • FOCUS

FOCUS Senior

Churcher’s on Top of the World!

During February half term, 42 girls and boys from Years One to Four enjoyed a week skiing in Austria. Based in the beautiful mountain resort of Wagrain the pupils also skied in Flachau, Zauchensee, Flachauwinkl, Kleinarl and Alpendorf.

Plenty of sunshine and snow enabled all pupils, whatever their experience, to progress their skiing skills with five full days of professional ski instruction. Evenings were jam-packed with more fun and adventure including the amazing Wagrain adventure water pools, the home of Red Bull adrenaline action ‘Hanger 7’ in Salzburg, and not forgetting pizza, quiz nights, football challenges and awards aplenty!

FOCUS • 9

DRAMA

ALICE

Contemporary playwright Laura Wade’s ‘Alice’, a modern reimagining of the well-known Alice in Wonderland tale, was the Senior Production for 2019, a hugely entertaining and inventive piece of theatre performed over several nights in December to appreciative audiences. Staged within the Sports Hall, the whole space was transformed with a ‘Wonderland’ style entrance - fairy lights and large playing cards hung from the ceiling, all leading toward a small doorway to one side through which the audience would need to walk through in order to find their seats - truly magical! It was certainly a challenging play, with a huge amount of dialogue and a technical production featuring song, dance, live and recorded all contributing to the action, but everyone agreed that the end result was an inventive and highly entertaining spectacle. Well done to all the pupils who took part whether onstage or behind the scenes.

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FOCUS Senior

PANTO week

Our very talented First Year students took centre stage during Churcher’s annual ‘Panto Week’, which has been a very weird and wonderful addition to the Drama performance calendar over the past two years. Produced by the First Years, for the First Years, it is a unique experience for the entire year group. Students spent over five weeks rehearsing their very own miniPantomimes, taking ownership of every aspect, from direction, music, costume and props! Their hard work and dedication certainly paid off as each group took to the stage and performed, resulting in more than 120 students showcasing their work in front of a live audience. We look forward to doing it all again next year and I’m sure our new recruits will be just as enthusiastic…Oh yes they will!

FOCUS • 11

churcher's remembers

anne frank

The more intimate Assembly Hall provided the perfect setting for this year’s Senior Play, The Diary of Anne Frank, performed over three nights before half term. A small cast of students brought the harrowing tale to life with a script as powerful today as when it was first written. Eight individual stories were told through the lucid scrutiny of an adolescent girl, yet the entire weight of the drama rested, as it must, on the very capable shoulders of Megan Cullen, who excelled in the eponymous role. It was a moving tribute to life and hope, but one that left the audience heartbroken at the poignant ending when the silent cast held up photos to remember the people they had portrayed.

12 • FOCUS

FOCUS Senior MALA TRIBICH MBE

In February, Churcher’s was honoured to welcome Mala Tribich MBE, to share the testimony of a survivor, a child at the time, almost 75 years after Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated. Mala is now among the last people able to give a firstperson account of what she and others suffered, and what was done to them.

The 500 pupils, parents and guests listened in silence to the blisteringly powerful talk which painted a haunting and vivid picture of life inside the camp. Mala’s message of the evening was very clear; if you see prejudice or racism, you must speak out. That is how these terrible events started and they can end in a horror such as the Holocaust.

“It felt far more personal and engaging to hear it from someone who had experienced it first hand.”

Maddie and Annabel, Fourth Year

A HOLOCA UST SURVIVOR STORY ’S

All proceeds from the event were donated to the Holocaust Education Trust (HET).

BY Mala TribIch M B

E

MONDAY 3

FEBRUARY 2020 7.00PM CHURCHER

’S COLLEGE

In support Holocaust Edu of the cational Trus

t

| SPORTS HA

LL

AMSTERDAM VISIT

To help with their preparation for the Senior Play, the cast of Anne Frank travelled to Amsterdam to visit the house in which the Frank family hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The day trip consisted of a boat tour along the famous canals, a lunchstop at the Pancake Bakery and a few hours spent walking through the city, soaking up the atmosphere, before going into Anne Frank Huis. The house is now preserved as a museum and gives visitors a fascinating and sobering insight into the life of Jewish people in hiding. The students agreed that walking through the house was incredibly thought-provoking, bringing home exactly what life in hiding would have been like and would make performing the play incredibly real to them.

FOCUS • 13

sport

National schools U14 netball report

On the 23rd November 2019, the U14 girls A Team played in the National Schools Netball tournament in Southampton. There were some very strong teams competing, including St Swithuns, Farnborough Hill and KES, so the tournament was challenging for the team. We played eight matches in total, coming 7th overall out of the nine teams competing. Thea, Ellie and Annie all played very well and scored 42 goals in total. All the defenders worked very hard to limit the number of goals scored against us. We all enjoyed the tournament and it was good to work out different combinations before the netball season started.

Gabby Hibberd

Girls’ Cricket News

Both the U13 and U15 Girls have made a tremendous start by qualifying for the semifinal rounds of the Lady Taverner’s indoor National Tournament. We wish the girls the very best of luck with the rounds that follow.

HOCKEY ROUkNeyDs-eUaPson brouthgeht7-1

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14 • FOCUS

GUERNSEY TOUR

The 34th annual U14 Guernsey Hockey & Netball Tour lived up to previous tours, pushing our skills and endurance to the limit. Not only did we compete against talented teams in both sports, but we also had to battle the elements. Our skills, fitness and nerves were all tested. And we returned home with great memories and an excellent set of results. Great experiences and memories that will last with us all, not least the bumpy flight and landing on the way home!

FOCUS Senior

RUGBY

A final season’s rugby for most of the Churcher’s First XV brought more wins than losses, although the season finale brought a six match streak of no losses to an end. They notched up significant 50-0 wins against Havant Sixth Form College and Halliford School and 55-0 against KES.

U16 National Schools County Round

The U16s had a successful day at the National Schools qualifying tournament finishing 5th overall.

As usual we worked really well as a team with super shooting from GS Sacha Mayson and throughout the tournament, we applied lots of pressure on the opposing teams with Kim Monkman making some awesome interceptions. We played with confidence and determination winning five of our games against schools such as PGS, PHS, Brookfield and Kings.

One of our tougher matches was against Perins School where we were down in the first half, but we fought hard to bring it back to a draw. Overall another successful outing for the U16 netball team, winning five, drawing two and losing four.

Alice Ramseyer

FOCUS • 15

careers

Career Bites – Psychiatry

We were treated to an incredibly interesting ‘Career Bite’ talk in early February by a Consultant Psychiatrist who specialises in working in prisons.

Learning about the training pathway and role of a Psychiatrist was very informative and demonstrated one of the wide range of specialised careers available in Medicine. Taking this specialty into a prison context was fascinating and the relaxed and conversational style of the session, and novel content, led to a great discussion and lots of questions.

Magistrates Visit

A group of senior school and Sixth Form students visited Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court. Hosted by two local Magistrates, they learnt about the structure, remit and processes of the Magistrates’ Court and also sat in on a morning sitting.

Having had a talk to set the scene the day before at school, the students had a good grounding as to what they were expecting to see and what to look out for.

They also took part in a Q&A after observing the court in sitting to discuss what they had seen and have their questions answered.

Everyone agreed it was a fascinating experience with many of those attending interested in pursuing courses in Criminology and Law and also interested in careers in the Police.

LOWER SIXTH ARE KEPT BUSY! Sixth Former Andrew Bell signed up for our ‘Advanced Employability Programme’ in the Autumn Term, a part of the Enrichment programme which covers CV and covering letter writing, interview techniques and networking and Labour Market Information (LMI) awareness. Andrew wrote a great draft CV over the course of a few weeks during the programme and then fine-tuned it with Dr Verney in a one-to-one meeting. A few months later, he secured a fantastic work experience placement with The Engine Group on Great Portland Street for this Summer. Dr Verney was delighted to receive an email from Andrew stating, “Thank you so much for the help you gave me a couple of months ago with my CV, as otherwise I may not have landed this placement!”

16 • FOCUS

The Lower Sixth returned to a busy week following the half term break; a visit to the UCAS Exhibition at the University of Surrey was followed by a networking workshop and a networking event on Thursday evening. The UCAS Exhibition gave students the opportunity to speak to universities, apprenticeship and gap year providers in one central location as they start to plan for life after Churcher’s. The networking workshops introduced them to the concept of, and skills in, face-to-face networking. Initially nervous, they soon found their feet and were quickly making great conversations and contacts and also demonstrating some great skills introducing themselves to and talking with, new people.

“It was a challenging but very rewarding experience. Not only did I have a chance to develop my ability to network a room, but as an aspiring architect I spoke to someone who has recently retired from the industry, so I picked up lots of useful advice and gained an awareness of how the industry has changed.” Tim Emmens

Virgin Galactic GOOGLE HANGOUT

VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH ENGINEERS AND A FUTURE ASTRONAUT FROM THE VIRGIN GALACTIC SPACE PROGRAMME

CHURCHER’S

COLLEGE

CAREERS

BITES

FOCUS Senior

TUESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2019 4.15PM - 5.30PM OPEN TO 4TH YEAR TO U6TH CHURCHER’S COLLEGE | LECTURE THEATRE

VIRGIN GALACTIC

Careers in the Sports, Leisure and Recreation Industry

A group of highly motivated pupils were up early one February morning to attend our breakfast networking event covering roles in sport, leisure and recreation. Careers in yachting, hospitality and heritage were represented in addition to the charity sector, corporate sport and lots in-between. The potential in this area became very apparent as the session progressed; it was brilliant to have networkers with so much knowledge, experience and expertise to share.

The past decade has seen a huge resurgence in interest in space travel, including the development for the first time of programmes to put paying customers into space. Churcher’s students seized the opportunity to quiz staff of Virgin Galactic about the challenges involved in human space flight in an hourlong video conference. Our students asked future astronaut Ron Rosano and spacecraft engineers Chris Huie-Spence, Daniel Miller and Steve Slaughter questions on topics ranging from the g-forces experienced by the crew to the cost of building the space craft. We were intrigued by the prospect of developing Virgin Galactic’s technology further, to dramatically reduce journey times between continents, if concerned about the possible environmental impact. It was clear from the questions that many of our students would be keen to solve these problems and they certainly have the potential to do so!

We asked Alex CoyneCribb, who left Churcher’s last Summer, to share his Apprenticeship story.

Inspired by a Careers lecture given at school by an ex-pupil about their own Apprenticeship, Alex felt the combination of study, immediate work experience and no student debt would suit him more than a traditional degree course. He joined Leidos UK as a technical intern specialising in cybersecurity.

He explains, “As a cybersecurity specialist I advise on security matters (from simple things like password policies to pen testing) and have worked on some pretty interesting projects with NATS air traffic control.” After a busy induction to the company at their Glasgow Head Office, Alex has settled into a good routine at their London office. “I am really enjoying the Uni course, the fast pace really appeals to me as a lot of waffle is cut out in favour of what exactly you need to know.” And Alex is clear on his advice to anyone considering an Apprenticeship, “Go for it! I don’t really see any downsides. A lot of people were worried that I would be missing out on the whole Uni social life but I haven’t. I still feel like a student and I feel as though I have much more free time than when I was doing my A Levels”.

FOCUS • 17

sixth form STUDENT INVESTOR CHALLENGE

Our Upper Sixth artists breathed a collective sigh of relief as they completed their A Level paintings earlier this term! Pictured are Pippa Madden. Vicky Farmer, Maddy Lawrence and Alec Murray.

Out of the 9,215 teams that played this year, only 500 teams have been shortlisted to enter the semi-final of Student Investor Challenge. The Laughing Stocks team of Toby Fitter, Will Bentley, Lucas Ely and Barnaby Lewis finished in a very creditable position 246, placing them in the top 2.7% nationally of all the teams entered. Well done boys and we wish you the best of luck in the semi-finals when the 500 will be whittled down to a mere eight!

ROAD SAFETY

Mancala time

To take their minds off the stress of the impending A Level mocks, Mr Cheshire teaches the boys how to play Mancala; a turnbased strategy board game, versions of which date back to the 7th Century.

Chris Collins, Senior Road Safety Officer at Hampshire County Council returned to the Sixth Form to follow up on the Safe Drive Stay Alive session in the Autumn. In February he brought in virtual reality headsets which brought to life the realities of a serious car crash involving the attendance of the emergency services. A month later he returned with impairment goggles and on 20th March with his car braking reaction tester. These are incredibly valuable experiences to emphasise to the students the importance of alert and considerate driving at all times in order to minimise the risks of being involved in a serious car accident.

NEW BOATS FOR DW

Our Devizes to Westminster Canoe Marathon crews extended their immense gratitude recently to Graham and Jenny Murphy who have kindly donated to brandspanking new K2 boats to the school. Mr and Mrs Murphy spent many hours on the canal and riverside with Ben and Tom who both completed the marathon in previous years and so wished to help future students achieve the same goal as well as enabling the school to give all students who wish to take part, the chance to do so. A big thank you goes to Mr and Mrs Murphy on behalf of the whole school.

18 • FOCUS

FOCUS Senior

ACADEMIC CHALLENGES SATRO

Churcher’s submitted three teams to this year’s SATRO Problem Solving Challenge regional heat in Guildford. The Second Year was represented

by Alfie Greggs, Olly Hambly, Annabelle King, Will McIntyre and Tommy Welsh, Third Year by Flora Arthur, William Cowling, Harry Haynes, Callum Macpherson, William Tomalin and Isobel Zaltzman and Lower Sixth by Guy Drake, Benedict Ellet, Jack Hodges, Seb Kelson, Charlie Morris and Jacob Tutt.

The teams, competing against others from the same age group, had two hours to design and build a device to gently lower a cargo of sweets from a free-standing tower, taking as close to ten seconds as possible for maximum marks. Undaunted by the difficulty of the project, each team devised and built an impressive solution. The time constraint adds drama to the challenge; a last minute malfunction may have cost the Third Years their chance of victory, but the Sixth Formers had just enough time to fix a glitch in their pulley system before judging commenced. Their tower, reminiscent of the ‘Cheese Grater’ building in London, certainly looked the part, and the sweets were lowered smoothly and in close to ten seconds, but they had a tense wait before being announced the winners of their category.

Maths Success!

Congratulations to 51 of our students who achieved a Gold (6), Silver (15) or Bronze (30) award at February’s Intermediate Mathematical Challenge.

The problems are designed to really make students think and the competition encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems.

PUBLIC SPEAKING

Our Fifth Year public speaking team (Amy Gaisford, Ellie Houghton and Oliver Fogelin) will be competing in the regional finals of the ESU competition at Dartmouth House, Mayfair, having seen off contending schools in the two preliminary heats.

Physics Olympiad Success

This academic year saw some of our most successful results ever in the 1st round of the Physics Olympiad.

We managed to secure four Silver awards and four Gold awards. Congratulations to Ollie Mutch, Tim Orchard, Will Hipsey and George Whittle. Out of a total of 2,100 candidates from across the country, these four students were in the top 6%. This year, in a change to previous events, the organisers added a Top Gold award which included the top 4.5% of candidates.

Into this hallowed territory fell Will and George and we are delighted for them. They then bravely took part in the even more challenging Olympiad round 2. We are waiting tentatively to discover how they have done in this additional test.

FOCUS • 19

in other news...

CCF HORSING AROUND

In February Churcher’s Equestrian teams competed at Merrist Wood and qualified for the NSEA championship plate in both the 85 (team 5th) and the 95 (team 6th) which will be held at Keysoe in the Autumn.

On Tuesday 4 February, several pupils from the RAF section of the CCF attended a service in Horndean to dedicate a memorial to two brave Australian pilots who died in a plane crash exactly 75 years earlier, during the last few weeks of WW2. Pilot Officer Mountford and Pilot Officer Wicky both died in the crash and nine members of the young men’s families had travelled from Australia to take part with both families giving emotional speeches during the service. The Churcher’s pupils were honoured to attend as a way of representing today’s young people and found the service both moving and impactful. Pupil Cadet Flt Sgt Jasper Browne, the RAF Section Lead Cadet, took part as the school’s flagbearer, processing the Churcher’s College standard along with representatives from other military organisations.

UWS MUDE UPDATE hAUNTED LIBRARY

Just4Children were the chosen recipient for donations raised at last year’s Haunted Library charity event for First and Second Years. Pupils were charged for entry to the ‘spooktacular’ Library, where they were greeted by zombie teachers and ghoulish students. We were delighted to raise £138 for this very deserving charity, which helps give access to life-enhancing surgeries, treatments and therapies for children.

20 • FOCUS

Thursday 13 February saw Churcher’s rise in one voice to sing to UWS Mude. Over the years, we have sung to protest against climate change, we have sung to make us smile and to raise our moods and we have sung to come together a cohesive College. But on this day we sung to reach out to a community more than 5,000 miles away in the foothills of the Himalayas and it was via Skype that we were able to share our assembly with them and deepen our connection with this remote corner of Nepal. We would like to thank everybody for their continued support of our partnership with UWS Mude that has seen us contribute to the cost of building, running and maintaining the school. Six years ago this assembly would not have been possible as there simply was no school for which to fundraise.

FOCUS Senior

squash

This is the first year Churcher’s have entered a team in the National Schools Squash Competition. In the first round we played extremely well, but lost to both Charterhouse and Lancing College and then in the second round we played Reeds and Sevenoaks, winning against Reeds, however only the top team went through to the Plate final. Unlike all the other schools we have played, we do not have squash courts at Churcher’s (yet!). Our playing base is at Herne Farm in Petersfield, where we meet every other Friday. With enthusiasm and participation building, the pupils have been lucky enough to have two coaching sessions with squash legend Peter Genever. Peter, who is now the coach at The Avenue Squash Club in Havant was until last year the Malaysian National Squash coach and in his playing days reached world rank 23. He was very impressed by the standard of our team and we hope to make squash coaching a permanent fixture in the Churcher’s calendar. Our aim next season is to be able to enter two teams in the National Schools Competition – an Under 14 and Under 17 team.

NUTRITION GURU

A big thank you to Tina Lond-Caulk from The Nutrition Guru for coming in to the Senior School at the start of this term to speak to our Second Years and Lower Sixth. Tina, who regularly references scientific research, held 90-minute interactive workshops across the year groups sharing how nutrition affects every aspect of wellbeing. Pupils learnt about how good nutrition affects skin health, optimises mental health, harnesses energy all day long and lots more. Very inspirational!

AUTHOR VISIT

Senior School pupils had the great pleasure of welcoming author Vicky Holmes twice this term. Born and bred in Petersfield, Vicky is the renowned author of the Warrior Cats series of novels (also the College Library’s most borrowed books!) under the pseudonym Erin Hunter. She has written hundreds of books, including the Rainbow Fairies, Animal Ark and Beast Quest series, so there were very few students in attendance who hadn’t read her books. First Year pupils were given a masterclass in creative writing, in which Vicky shared her passion for stories as well as offering much practical advice on how to craft a story. She then set them a writing challenge which she went on to judge and returned to give a First Year Assembly where she awarded First Prize to Albert Wheeler for his wonderfully descriptive opening to a story about a stray dog.

Congratulations also to Lily Brady and Moritz Flohr.

LITERATURE SOCIETY

The English Department welcomed Sophie Duncan to the Literature Society in the second half of the Autumn Term. Dr Duncan is Fellow in English at Christ Church, Oxford and a renowned authority on the plays of Henrik Ibsen. Our Sixth Form students were joined by A Level students from Bedales school for what turned out to be a fascinating discussion and lecture on Women’s Work in Victorian Britain.

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ir es

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Joe Knowles, Tom Purnell and Ben Kay

The boys had their final rugby game for Hampshire U18 in January against Kent.

Unfortunately, they lost 31-7 but all played well and are pictured here alongside former pupils Finn Sloan and Angus Mackay.

Oli Gardner

Third Year Oli Gardner decided to take matters into his own hands to support the new U14 football team Beacon Hill Titans. Launched in September, the team trains at The Edge in Haslemere and brings together students from Liphook, Haslemere, Petersfield, Bordon and Midhurst. Oli set up a GoFundMe page with the aim of raising £150 for equipment, but has been delighted to see donations reach twice that amount in a month and the team now has training ladders, cones, hurdles, a tactics board, water bottles and carriers and a foldaway substitutes’ bench. It has also funded an endof-season social in April.

lottie virtue

Lottie Virtue in Year 5 at CCJS started at Xcel Gymnastics club at just four years old, and soon joined the acro development squad. She competed for the first time in a mixed pair aged six and won a silver medal. Since then she has competed at various invitational competitions with different partners and won three gold medals. Following a merger with Portsmouth Gymnastics Club, she was invited into FIG acro squad to train at a much higher level. She competed in the regional championships in November and she and her partner won gold, putting them through to the Pat Wade Acro Gymnastics Nationals. They represented the South of England and came 10th in their category, placing them 10th in Britain for youth acro pairs.

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Natalia Ivanov

Third Year Natalia Ivanov continues to excel in competitive athletics. In January, she became the South of England Pole Vault Indoor Champion and broke the all-time record for Pole Vault Under 15 girls in South of England Indoor clearing 3.30m. She is also currently ranked Number 1 in the UK for Pole Vault Under 15 girls.

FOCUS Senior

The Parents' Assocation Thank you

from the Adventurous Activities Department and CCF Thanks to the PA, we have invested in three new simulators, enabling all RAF cadets to develop their understanding and knowledge of the science and principles of flight and more importantly how to fly a plane themselves.

From take-off and landing to flying sorties and missions of varying levels across different terrains, the laptops and simulator systems and control units have been hugely appreciated by the cadets and are giving them all fantastic learning opportunities as well as plenty of fun.

Further recent purchases include one new GoPro for capturing photos and video footage of all activities – whatever the weather or conditions. This has already been used extensively and successfully in Snowdonia with SAC and also on Basingstoke Canal with DW, Hampshire with OSCA and Bronze DofE. Four new trackers have been purchased for our largest ever DW cohort and are up and running. With the fleet currently standing at 30 pupils and 15 boats, the new trackers are really important as they train and enter the build-up races, leading into the main event on Easter weekend.

Churcher’s Golf Day In aid of the Richard Churcher Foundation

Get involved!

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Friday 12 June 2020 11.00am | Petersfield Golf Club

Order of the day

Details

• Coffee and bacon roll on arrival

• £60 per person

• Shotgun start

• Four ball teams, pairs and individual players welcome

• Teams of four • Stableford scoring with best two scores from each hole taken

• Sponsor a hole, for and extra £100 • Competition sponsorship options available

• Putting, nearest the pin, straightest drive competitions

Tickets available at

• Half-way house refreshments

• Contact Vanessa Johnson for more details at

• churcherscollege.com/boxoffice

• Two course dinner with prize-giving

vjohnson@churcherscollege.com or on

• After party

01730 263033

Supported by

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chinese new year

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FOCUS Junior

learning through art

Year 1 made lavendar bags

Year 4 have been studying the Ancient Greeks

Year 3 have

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london calling Houses of Parliament & The Tower of London Our future government?

Year 6 enjoyed a Q&A with Damian Hinds, East Hampshire MP, after an amazing tour of the Houses of Parliament, followed by a trip on the Thames and a visit to the Tower of London. A full on, fun-packed day to continue their citizenship curriculum.

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FOCUS Junior

the votes are in!

The Junior School also took part in their own mock General Election in December. As at the Senior School, the Green Party were victorious with 38% of the vote.

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music

JUNIOR CONCERT

The Junior Concert is always a colourful and exciting evening of music. Yet again the children from Years 5 and 6 took to the stage with an inclusive dynamic concert which all could enjoy. It was a fantastic evening and we saw a wide variety of performances. The show opened with all the children on stage singing under the colourful lights a fabulous rendition of Sam Cooke’s ‘What a Wonderful World’. What a jolly way to open our concert! We then saw our Year 5 children performing as part of their very own percussion orchestra, to the backdrop of some very impressive black and white rock and roll photographs of the children!

Throughout the concert we saw compelling performances from our drama poetry clubs as well as a vibrant and polished performance of the Samba from Year 6. The audience all left in high spirits as we finished with a performance of ‘One Moment One People’ with soloists Isla Woodward and Hannah Johnson.

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FOCUS Junior TEA-TIME CONCERTS

We are very happy to continue with the much loved TeaTime Concerts at the Junior School, providing performance opportunities for our younger musicians. The children continue to be enthusiastic about these events and it was great to see so many parents supporting.

we will rock you

Soon after Christmas, the String Orchestra from the Senior School visited the Junior School to take part in a full school assembly. The assembly began with a really impressive performance from the orchestra. After this, in order to introduce the pupils to the various string instruments, there were some solo performances from James Moses on a double bass, Alec Scott–Plummer on the cello and Anna Lezdkan on the violin, which was followed by a very lively performance of a Queen medley which had the whole of the Junior School clapping for ‘We Will Rock You’!

CAROL SERVICE

Musical Ensembles We pride ourselves here at CCJS of offering a wide variety of musical ensembles for the children to enjoy. Here we can see the Orchestra and Ballistic Brass.

The carol service is a highlight of the school year. The service which was held in the beautiful candle-lit St Peter’s Church was yet again a magical and special evening as we celebrated Christmas.

The service opened with a procession of children as the congregation followed soloist Elisa Zaman in singing 'Once in Royal David’s City'. Our Year 6 children lead the service with readings which were delivered with poise and clarity as the congregation listened. The choirs sang with passion as their young voices filled the church. A special memorable moment was hearing the children sing the First Noel while the violin accompanied with the theme from Pachelbel’s Cannon. When Reverend William gave his final blessing we all felt Christmas had begun and were so blessed to be part of another stunning carol service.

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nursery & reception

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FOCUS Junior

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sport

swimming

Year 3 participated in their first gala this term. There were some very close races with all the pupils working incredibly hard, to the rousing cheers of their parents! Esme Hall broke the Year 3 record in the medal race with a winning time of 22:43 with Isabella Baxter and Rosie Heyworth placing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Joshua Lannoy set a new PB and won the medal race with Jamie Johnson placing 2nd and Tom Salzmann 3rd. One of the biggest smiles of the morning came from a swimmer who was so happy she had placed 2nd!

The results were as follows: 1st Rother 41 | 2nd Hamble 34 | 3rdArun 31 | 3rdMeon 31

cross-country

With 18 schools involved in the annual Highfield cross-country race, competition was fierce with some categories seeing nearly 100 children taking part and after weeks of rain the course was an extremely challenging one full of hills, varied terrain and lots and lots of mud.

The first to race were the U9s who had an enormous field of competitors and so were not only battling the elements but also a space on the start line. With all runners putting in their best effort over the 1km course, CCJS placed in the top 10 with Emilia H coming 4th, William D coming 6th and Sophia M coming 8th.

Overall the team of six runners came a very respectable 5th for the girls and 7th for the boys.

Next up were the U10s who completed a 2.2km course. With a fantastic effort put in by all runners, a special mention goes to Zoe H who came in 2nd to win a silver medal. The teams again did extremely well with the boys coming in 3rd and the girls 5th.

Finally the U11s set off at a tremendous pace to cover a 2.2km course. With a strong performance by all the CCJS girls the team finished in 4th place overall, with special mention going to Chloe W who finished 3rd overall to win a bronze medal. The boys showed fabulous team work by running together as a pack which resulted in five top 20 finishes and securing the trophy for 1st place team.

Special mention goes to Ruari W who battled hard throughout the race and in a very exciting finish overtook the lead runner in the final five metres to take home the gold medal!

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FOCUS Junior tag rugby

85 Year 2 rugby players from CCJS, Brookham and St Hilary’s braved the aftermath of storm Ciara to take part in the annual CCJS U7 Tag Rugby Festival. With strong winds, occasional rain and cold temperatures very much a feature of the afternoon, the conditions were tough, but with energy and enthusiasm the children got stuck in and didn’t seem to notice.

The afternoon was a huge success with endto-end action on the pitch, lots of cheering from the spectators and beaming smiles from the competitors. The highlight of the event, as always for the children, was match tea but especially on this occasion a hot meal in a warm dining hall was very much something to look forward to!

Rugby Champions!

house swimming gala

The children in Year 4 swam brilliantly – all earning points for their Houses. Sophia M and William D won the medal race both setting records of 20:01 and 19:25 respectively; William shaved five seconds off his winning time of the previous year. The results have never been so tight and the final positions were as follows:

4th Place - Meon, 52 points 3rd Place - Rother, 64 points Joint 1st Place - Arun and Hamble, 65 points

These scores will be added to those from the Years 3, 5 and 6 swimming galas to decide the overall winning House for swimming galas.

In February, the U11 rugby A team travelled to Boundary Oak for their annual Rugby 7s Tournament. In the preliminary group stages, Churcher’s came up against PGS, Seaford College, Embley Park and Meoncross. With convincing wins against all four teams, Churcher’s finished top of the group with maximum points, 10 tries scored and none conceded. From there the team went into the cup competition with the winners from the other two pools, Dorset House and Farleigh.

In the first Cup match Farleigh beat Dorset House convincingly, meaning they had scored 26 tries in five games and conceded only one. Churcher’s v Farleigh was up next and with this being a must win game it is an understatement to say that Churcher’s well and truly stepped up to the mark! With Adam leading the team, Noah T, Louie, Charlie W and Charlie J proved to be immovable objects at the breakdown and Churcher’s dominated the game. Just before half time Charlie W crashed over the line, knocking a number of players out of her way, to put them ahead 1-0. In the second half Adam then found his way through the Farleigh defence to secure the win 2-0.

In the final game against Dorset House, Ollie Ck, Ted, Felix B, Henry and Adam all showed their impressive attacking ability and linked up to produce some wonderful tries. The final score was 4-0 and confirmed Churcher’s as the Cup winners and top team in the tournament!

Churcher’s ended the day without conceding a single try which is credit to the determination and effort of all the players. In the words of Adam, as Captain, “We all enjoyed our matches and winning the trophy was a great way to end it”.

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happy days Year 4's Dougie genuine Huli trib‘malodels’ a grass skirt

s year1 play with Vintage toy

terials and forces year 2 investigated ma Centre at the Winchester Science

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FOCUS Junior

Year 6 step back in time

The children in Year 6 went back in time in November, when they visited the fantastic Victorian Milestones Museum. Each class enjoyed, or rather endured, a traditional Victorian style lesson; this included the three ‘R’s and some gentle exercising.

Another activity focused on ingenuity and change. This involved the children learning about an ironworks factory and how things have evolved since the Victorian times. Following lunch there was free time to enjoy the rest of the museum, a visit to the pub (with carol singing!) and of course the chance to spend their old one pennies at the much loved penny arcade – a wonderful end to a great day out.

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learning is fun!

science

Year 5 had a fantastic afternoon of science experiments in the Senior School labs. In protective goggles and white lab coats they looked quite the part, as well as the wonderful hands on approach and opportunity to take part in ‘real life science’! There was much fizzing and bubbling and going up in puffs of smoke.

Year 4 Maths games

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Year 4 love reading!

ary Year 4's nature document

FOCUS Junior Year 1 work

hs! on their mat

Year 4 Use parenthesis to make our sentences better

es

g maths gam

Year 1 playin

Year 1 delve

into History

Shakespeare Workshop

As part of their Tudor history topic, Year 5 had a fabulous afternoon performing a version of a Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The theatre troupe of five actors from ‘The Young Shakespeare Company’, brought the story to life with the children involved every step of the way. Both Year 5 classes left the studio buzzing with excitement, there couldn’t have been a better way to introduce this age group to Shakespeare.

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community matters

local year 2 find landmarks in our g kin ma p area to help with ma

Year 4 on a Chri

stmas Walk

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FOCUS Junior Lifesaving

Year 6 made a great splash as they began their citizenship curriculum, with some invaluable lifesaving skills.

Great team work was to be seen in the pool as the children learnt valuable lessons on how to save themselves should an accident occur near water. The children learnt how to enter the water safely, avoiding submersing their heads, how to tread water and keep warm in the water and how to be resourceful and use anything to hand to help them stay afloat or swim.

Masterchef competition

For this competition the children had to devise a menu, write a recipe, budget and buy the ingredients from Sainsbury’s with a £6 limit and then prepare a balanced meal safely and hygienically. Oh and they also needed to wash up and clean up after themselves! Congratulations to all the teams who all created exceptional, tasty dishes.

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