School House
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t the start of the year, School House conducted its first TED Talk Week. The objective of the project was to share knowledge, and encourage enthusiasm for particular fields of study. Over the course of the week, each boy was encouraged to watch one lecture, record the name of the lecture and its presenter on a chart and then rate it out of ten. With the boys either being harsh critics, or else unlucky with the lectures which they had chosen, only five were given the top rating. Nevertheless, there followed plenty of discussion about each one that inspired the boys to watch more. In the classroom, with these theories transformed into action, School House boys have done much to impress. Subject prizes have been awarded to Hector Fiennes (3) for Theology, Malhaar Shah (3) for Biology, French and Physics, Hori Byrne (4) for Music Tech and Religious Studies, Peter Folkes (4) for Mathematics and Archie Macintosh (4) for Chemistry and Latin. Later in the year, Bob Armstrong (5) and Deniz BostanciFujita (5) received Honorary
BY KESTER JACKSON (HOUSEMASTER) Academic Scholarships, and Archie Macintosh (4) received his Academic Scholar’s Tie. In music, Peter Folkes was recognised for achieving a Distinction in his Grade Eight Jazz Saxophone exam – made all the more impressive by the fact that his right arm was in plaster at the time. Finnbar Blakey (5) was named overall winner of both the Halliday Competition and the Patrick Shelley Music competition – in the latter of which, School House won three out of the five sections. The House also rose to victory in the inter-house football cup, with the junior team coming second overall after a penalty shoot-out. In the house rugby, our Mini Colts, partnered by The Digby, won the competition. Meanwhile, the Third Form won the swimming cup, and a gruelling inter-house crosscountry run ended with Harry Clark (5) second overall – closely followed by Jordan Berry (4), who came first in his year group. In Fives, Gregor Tims (U6) and William Pisani (U6) came through as overall winners. January saw the performance of the house play, Crazy Horses. It was praised for being witty and
well cast, with Bently Creswell (3) receiving particular acclaim for his part of Plague. Other excellent performances came from Ollie Shale (L6), Carl Blucher (U6), Fred Downham (4), and Charlie CarrSmith (U6), to name but a few. Bently also went on to win the Junior Modern class in the Sherborne School Solo Acting Competition, while Fred Downham secured the Winner’s Cup for his Mike Bartlett piece 13 at the Bath Festival. Debating captain Seb Key (5) navigated his team – consisting of Joss Creswell (5), Malhaar Shah, Hugo Pralle (4), Bently Creswell and Batyr Serikov (3) – to the final of a fiercely fought inter-house competition. And, last but not least, we were delighted when Finnbar Blakey won the School’s Photographic Competition. This is not an exhaustive list of house highlights – far from it. I have been continually impressed by how well School House boys have faced each and every challenge during the course of this year.