KGS Spring term Newsletter 2022

Spring 2022

Kingston Grammar School

INSIDE THIS ISSUE :

School life Maths Challenge Page 06

Trips Sculpture Showcase Page 05

Made in Dagenham Page 01

Sport KGS Boat Club Page 09

Community Cooking up a storm Page 14

SCHOOL LIFE

Let’s Stand Up for Dagenham As the first musical KGS has staged for 12 years, Made in Dagenham lit up the Michael Frayn Theatre last month with raunchiness, pizzaz and a strong message for our times.

Unfolding before us was the story of the Ford female machinists of Dagenham, whose strike in 1968 paved the way for legislation on equal pay.

What an accomplishment for all those involved in this spectacular KGS production – a marrying of talent from both Drama and Music Departments.

Our heroine, Rita O’Grady, is a reluctant activist who puts her marriage to the gormless Eddie in jeopardy. She puts herself forward to represent her co-workers and ultimately addresses the entire TUC conference calling for all listeners to stand up for the women workers. Lara Pilcher and Fin James played the husband-and-wife Grady team superbly – with wit and great warmth – as they juggled their home and work challenges.

The show was bursting with talent, packed with laughter and yet offered moments of true tenderness, showcasing the light and shade performances of Alicia Bramwell as the well-respected Connie Riley and her likeable, lost love Monty played by Jake Francis. Some of the loudest laughs of the night were for the striking Amelie Scott as Lisa Hopkins or watching her hapless husband (Zain Ahmad) outmanoeuvred by the workers in a management meeting.

The banter and bustle of the factory floor, with standout performances from Penny Bennett as gossip-hungry Beryl, Teva Hogarth as divvy but lovable Clare and Holly Harrison as seductive Sandra was complemented with some superb dance routines executed with much enthusiasm by both boys and “gaaws”.

And who couldn’t love the Second Act’s opening number of America with Douggie Bradley as the Ford CEO ridiculing our English pronunciation and second-rate standing – “we’ve got Superman and you’ve got Prince Charles!”, he sang with the swager of Elvis and the wit of Steve Martin.

Florence Chevallier as Barbara Castle was truly “fiery – like her hair” and belted out her number, An Ideal World, with great gusto and flair. Her tête-à-tête with Harold Wilson (well done to Milo Newson and, on opening night, Mr Gee!) was a memorable treat.

Visually, the show was electrifying.

The attention to detail of costumes and hair immediately evoked the 1960s. Who will forget the wonderful Ford Cortina appearing on stage or the magically appearing sewing machines or the sparkly distraction of the nightclub singer’s Diamonds are Forever?

This was a production against the odds.

Covid loomed throughout the rehearsal period, hijacking both performers and stage crew at pivotal points. But nothing was going to dim the lights for good on this marvellous, musical collaboration. Mr Gee, Mr Crohill and Mr Laflin must be commended for their vision, determination and resilience. With the lengthy, infectious Everybody’s Out closing the first half of the night and Stand Up closing the second to a standing ovation, the audience left the theatre with wide smiles, sore hands and song-filled hearts.

Mrs S Corcoran I Head of Learning Support 01

Spring 2022

Kingston Grammar School

U15 SQUAD: Sophie Tomison, Rachel Barnicoat, Elsie Callen, Madi Good, Millie Good, Ellie Hauck, Teva Hogarth, Evie Hurn, Sophie Jones, Fia Mahdi, Katie Mullally, Kea Murray, Livvy Rosser, Grace Slevin, Amy Smith, Jess Walker

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SCHOOL LIFE

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Spring 2022

Kingston Grammar School

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SCHOOL LIFE

At the beginning of the month, our Art Scholars paid a visit to the wonderful Surrey Sculpture Showcase event at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington.

Artist and sculptor Kate Viner presented her work to the students and spoke about her creative process as well as the public art projects she’s undertaken throughout her career. Our Scholars also had some time to view the excellent 2D and 3D work on offer, to which they then dedicated some time to drawing from observation. These drawings were put to a judging panel, who had the very difficult task of selecting three outstanding pieces. The selected students received some art-filled goody bags, but all the scholars were gifted a surprise item.

Thanks to all the staff at the Landmark Arts Centre for an excellent visit and to Cass Art for their generous gifts.

Mr G Garcia I Art

ARTWORK (from clockwise left): Tess Halliwell., Tess Helbing, Casper Cook 05

Spring 2022

Kingston Grammar School

Senior Maths Challenge This term, KGS students have had a great run of success in the nationwide UK Maths Challenge competitions.

In the Senior Maths Challenge for at A Level students, Fifth Year student Samuel Sturge came top of the school and was in the top 1,000 entrants in the country and was invited to participate in the follow-on British Maths Olympiad 1 round. This is a three-hour test in which Samuel came 18th in the country. He was then invited to take part in the final British Maths Olympiad 2 round, which he sat in February. Despite being one of the youngest competitors, he was placed 14th, a remarkable achievement.

Samuel has now been invited to join 20 other competitors for the UKMT Training Camp at Trinity College, Cambridge during the Easter holidays to begin training for the International Maths Olympiad. At the end of the training week, and two 4.5-hour exams, eight students are selected to represent Britain in the IMO to be held in Oslo in July.

We couldn’t be prouder of Samuel’s achievement and look forward to seeing what he does next!

Mr J Skeates I Head of Maths

We were delighted to welcome back our former language assistant Mrs Sturgis who visited us, with colleague Angela Carreno, in January to share with Sixth Form students the activities that the Colombian charity, Children Change Colombia, deliver in remote villages.

Children Change Colombia is the largest UK NGO working exclusively in Colombia and has implemented 52 projects which have supported more than 67,601 children in the last 30 years. The charity’s mission is to support, empower and protect children and young people who are survivors of, or are at risk from, a range of social issues.

They help strengthen local grassroots organisations to positively impact their communities and defend their rights in the long term. One of our former Upper Sixth students, Gabi, is working with the charity during her gap year, and this was a great opportunity for students to hear about opportunities to spend time abroad, practising their languages and helping to enrich others’ lives.

Miss A Arcos Villanueva I MFL

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SCHOOL LIFE

World Book Day

Library News

Thursday 3rd March saw us celebrating World Book Day. The event has now been running for 25 years and aims to change lives through a love of books and shared reading.

We asked staff and students to name some of their favourite books and showcased them in the Library with a display of book covers.

As in the past, we received £1 book tokens to distribute to students to be exchanged for a special World Book Day £1 title at school or in a local bookshop.

Xin Nian Kuai Le...

For Chinese New Year on 1st February, the Librarians worked with our Mandarin teacher, Ms Chen, to organise student activities.

The students had a fantastic time taking part in paper cutting, brush painting and Chinese chess, as well as learning about the country’s culture and history.

Diversity on the shelves We continued our work on diversifying the school fiction stock and have recently had welcome input from the KGS School Captains. Several new titles based on their recommendations have been bought and we have created a dedicated reading list on the Library Catalogue to help students find these exciting new titles.

The most exciting part of the day was surely that Ms McBride and Ms Rothwell did a bit of dressing up! Ms McBride’s favourite book is Alice in Wonderland so she wore some Cheshire Cat ears and her Alice dress.

Ms Rothwell’s favourite book is Peter Pan. She wore a green hat and even carried a plastic dagger – although everyone seemed to think she was Robin Hood!

We look forward to participating again next year and sharing our love of books and reading with the rest of KGS.

Ms F McBride I Librarian 07

Spring 2022

House Drama

It was wonderful to be back in the Michael Frayn Theatre for House Drama after a two-and-a-half-year absence.

This event is one of the highlights of the school calendar and our students did not disappoint. The theme was ‘Resurrection’, chosen as a way of symbolising that drama and theatre has risen once again from the dark times of the pandemic. Each house was tasked to come up with a fifteenminute play and interpretations ranged from the poignancy of a person’s life being recounted through their memories to the satire of an amateur youth group entering a competition with the theme of resurrection.

There were moments of pure comedy from Walworth’s witty, fast-paced script to moments of haunting imagery such as Queen’s exploration of a character’s inner voice displayed as contrasting emotions by other performers. This is an entirely studentled event with Sixth Form students writing the script and directing. They should be incredibly proud of their achievements.

Kingston Grammar School

LGBT+ Month

We were thrilled to have KGS alumnus, Jamie Bisping, as one of our guest judges.

Jamie was incredibly impressed by the standard and commented on the detail of the acting. Olivier award-winning actress Anne-Marie Duff was also a judge and we were honoured that she gave up her time and was so encouraging to our students.

She discussed the importance of collaboration and creativity. Her favourite award of the evening was Best Ensemble as she said this is what theatre is all about. She thought there was some incredible talent on display and commended the bravery of the performers exploring deep, complex emotions.

The evening was effortlessly hosted by Teva Hogarth (L6) and Toby Anderson (L6) whose rapport was infectious. As this is a house competition, there had to be an overall winner. The judges unanimously agreed that Queen’s sophisticated handling of a teenager suffering from mental health issues was intricately sculptured and superbly performed. Congratulations to them and, indeed, to all the houses involved.

House Drama is officially ‘resurrected’!

All around school we marked and celebrated LGBT+ History Month with a range of activities. From screenings of Pride and Love Simon to special assemblies, the KGS rainbow was out in full force.

Mr R Gee I Head of Drama 08

SPORT

Boat Club

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Anyone expecting a return to normality for the KGS Boat Club this Spring was in for a shock – in a good way. As the term drew to a close, two crews returned from the Oarsport Junior Sculling Head with medals, the first for KGS crews at the national event in at least a decade.

Even before the disruption of the pandemic, the previous two winters had been hit by bad weather and strong streams, forcing the cancellation of many major ‘head races’ – the long-distance time trial events run at this time of year.

Spring 2022

In the last week of term, KGS senior crews raced at the Schools’ Head of the River over the reverse of the Boat Race course on the tidal Thames for the first time since 2018.

Hampton Head in February was the first race of the term, and the first since the summer of 2019 for our coach, Miss Thomas, who has been away on maternity leave twice since then.

The J18 double of Matilda Drewett and Lola Crampin returned through Molesey Lock to the KGS Boat House having secured second place in their event, while two Fourth Year (J15) boys’ crews finished in the top six of the 37-crew quadruple sculls event.

The strength and depth of the J15 squad has been a particularly pleasing aspect of the term, with six quads (30 rowers and coxes) competing at Hampton.

At the Junior Sculling Head, held at the Olympic venue Dorney Lake in the final week of term, the J15 boys’ quads finished ninth and 15 respectively in a 60-boat field of clubs and schools from across the country.

As the rain teemed down, the girls’ octuple of Hattie Byatt, Indy Catford, Charlotte Comard, Emily Jones, Plum Knowles, Anne Thevenon, Charlotte Wellman, Charlotte Wigmore and cox Aria Chaukar took bronze in their event, in which 22 took part.

Our senior squad of Fifth Years and Sixth Formers raced two further events during the Spring, with the Hammersmith Head in March an ideal preparation for the Schools’ Head on a similar course.

At Hammersmith, a girls’ four of Poppy Emerson, Ellinor Comard, Audrey Coursey, Rosie Symons and cox Nina Chamarette finished second while the boys’ quad was eighth.

Those girls moved into a second quad for the Schools’ Head on the final Monday of term, finishing fourth among ‘B’ quads in the Championship event. The top girls’ crew suffered a mechanical problem but were still able to finish seventh overall.

The senior girls finished the term by switching from sculling to sweep rowing to race in an eight at Kingston Head later that week, finishing as the fastest women’s eight in the event.

A fantastic achievement!

Two days later, Matilda Drewett and Lola Crampin were joined by Audrey Coursey and Rosie Symons in a J17 quad to race at Dorney. A query from the timing team saw results for their division delayed by 24 hours while video evidence was checked, so it was the following morning when they found out they had taken third place.

The results across the board will leave confidence high going into the summer regatta season, where highlights include the National Schools’ Regatta at the start of the half-term holiday, then Henley Women’s and Henley Royal Regatta in June and July.

The senior girls finished the term by switching from sculling to sweep rowing to race in an eight at Kingston Head later that week, finishing as the fastest women’s eight in the event. A fantastic achievement!

Mr M Gough I Rowing

Kingston Grammar School

Baseball

Sam Sporleder, a member of the U15s GB Baseball Team, is also part of the London Archers who recently participated in Barcelona Baseball Week, one of the major European competitions.

They came in third place, behind Catalunya and Nettuno.

Next on the agenda is the Pony 14U World Series European Qualifier in April, where they are defending champions.

We wish Sam the best of luck.

londonarchersbaseball.co.uk

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SPORT

Hockey We were delighted to welcome OK Sarah Evans to speak to our Sport Scholars on equality, diversion and inclusion as well as talking about her journey from First Year at KGS to representing GB.

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Spring 2022

Kingston Grammar School

Golf

ISHC bronze The 1st XI boys were drawn against Whitgift in the semi-final of the ISHC at Birmingham University last week. A first half to forget meant they were unable to make a comeback, even with a much-improved second half performance. However, the team of Jacob Eley, Lucas Griffin, Harry Pink, Dan Roberts, Sam Harcourt, James Fairhurst, Luis Knowles, Thomas Fox, Adam Sloan, Ed Wheeler, Oli Rossner, Max Mayhew, Theo Pawsey-Persaud, Ollie Keartland, Toby Thorpe, Timothy Bryce, Mikey Eldridge and Teddy Warner went on to beat their third place play-off opponents, Taunton, 5-2 to win bronze.

The KGS golf season resumed this week with a match against Halliford School for a place in the regional final of the ISGA Schools’ Matchplay Plate competition.

In atrociously wet weather, with greens coming close to flooding, Natalie Ivory, Joe Raven and Oli Dawson put up a valiant fight but ultimately lost 83 Stableford points to 94. One big plus was Oli, who was the top scorer with 40 points.

Mr M Rodgers I Head of Golf; Head of Biology

U13 London Champions Huge congratulations to the U13 boys who were crowned London Champions last week, winning all their matches against Trinity, Haberdasher’s Aske’s, Langley Park and Alleyn’s 4-1, 8-1, 2-0 and 4-2 respectively to meet Whitgift in the final. Some great defending and counter-attacking saw the boys win this game 2-1, and qualify for the National Finals after Easter. Well done to Oscar Darbyshire (GK), Barnaby Harcourt, Jonah Callen, Carl Roberg, Yire Lee, Jamie Scott, Romeo Ebanks, Ryder Ebanks, Alexander Christie and Wilf Fox-Robinson.

Mr T Beaumont I Head of Boys’ Hockey Mr D Bartram I PE

You can read more about the hockey year in review in the 2022 issue of Kingstonian, out in September.

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SPORT

Sporting spotlight

Well done to the U18 Netball Borough Champions 2022!

At the age of just 13, Boadicea Cannon was the youngest member of the Knole Park Hockey Club team who won the U16 Indoor National Competition earlier this term.

Blagdon Cup

Fourth Year Tula Knowles and Fifth Years Ed Wheeler, Teddy Warner and Mikey Eldridge have been selected to join the 2022 England U16 Hockey Squads.

On Sunday 6th March, the boys’ hockey 1st XI travelled to Southgate to take part in the Blagdon Cup, part of the CambridgeOxford Varsity Hockey Match, at the invitation of Old Kingstonian Toby Fairhurst, who captains the Cambridge Men’s 1st XI. Our opposition was Katherine Lady Berkeley’s School. KGS took an early lead thanks to a Dan Roberts drag flick but conceded two goals from a very organised and motivated KLB team. Despite this, KGS managed to tie the game with five minutes left after lots of hard work and determination, and Theo Pawsey-Persaud put a composed finish into the bottom corner. With the game heading towards shuffles, KGS were unlucky to concede in the last minute of the game, ultimately giving KLB a 3-2 win.

We enjoyed some post-game food with Mr Lehec before watching Cambridge v. Oxford women’s game. With Oxford the pre-game favourites, Cambridge did well to control the tense first half but neither team managed to create any major chances.

In the second half, Oxford pulled away from Cambridge to secure a 2-0 win.

In the last game of the day, the Cambridge men equalised just a few minutes before half time to make it 1-1 after an action-packed first half. Oxford piled on the pressure and won 3-1, capping an excellent day of action and entertainment for all involved.

James Fairhurst I Upper Sixth 13

Bronze in Spain Earlier this month I travelled to Bilbao to represent England in the Spanish Para-Badminton Internationals. It was a fantastic week as I achieved my first international singles win, which was against the number 2 seed! I progressed to the semi-final, where I eventually lost out to the world number 3 (who had competed at the Tokyo Paralympics last year).

I had great support and I was so proud to represent Team GB.

Emma Stoner I Lower Sixth

Spring 2022

Community Service Volunteering action has continued apace this term, with students involved in a range of activities: cooking for vulnerable people in Twickenham, helping pupils in local schools with their reading and maths, contributing to important research projects and supporting disabled young people to access sports and social activities.

Zooniverse participants continue to help to gather and log data on research projects investigating black holes, cosmic rays, AI and world architecture. One student remarked, “We’re doing this so that the people doing the work can analyse the findings without having to do the more menial tasks” and it’s clear they appreciate that the costs involved in a large-scale research projects are incredibly high and that their involvement can save both time and money. Another student who is looking at the prison records of convicts in Australia learned that the penalty for profanity might have been seven or 14 days in prison – rising to three months for trespass!

Kingston Grammar School

The students cooking at St Stephen’s have been providing meals for 60 vulnerable people in the community, rustling up dishes such as shepherd’s pie, pasta bake and spaghetti Bolognese. Most recently, they really enjoyed making a huge chicken korma, adjusting the spices to taste and adding a bit of this and a bit more of that! Their culinary flair was definitely on display and they were so proud of their efforts. Although the clearing up afterwards is less enjoyable, they all get really stuck in with everything and work brilliantly as a team.

This term, students started their work at St Joseph’s, acting as reading and maths buddies for pupils across the school. When I asked them how they would describe the experience, the first word mentioned was ‘nostalgic’ and they described the bonds they are beginning to form with the pupils. The students are very aware of the importance of children having positive role models of all ages, and are really glad to be able to help them with these two key subjects.

Another group of A Level Maths students continues to work alongside GCSE students at The Kingston Academy, providing smallgroup tuition and extra support outside the classroom, all online and from the comfort of a classroom in the QE2 at lunchtime.

And finally, I am delighted that another group of students has been able to start volunteering at Elmbridge Community Link. We have a long-standing link with this fantastic local charity, whose aim is to support and enrich the lives of adults and young people who have learning disabilities.

You can read more about their work here: www.eclwalton.org.uk. Our students have elected to help at a weekly sports and social event called Allsports, facilitating the activities and encouraging the members to make the most of the activity, as well as taking part in some well-deserved relaxation at the end.

As always, I will finish with a huge ‘thank you’ to our volunteers and the group of determined KGS staff who help to make these projects happen. As we move into the Summer term, we hope that other organisations will be able to accept volunteers and offer more opportunities to our Lower Sixth Students.

Mrs K Pinnock I Head of Community Service; MFL

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SCHOOL LIFE

Pro Corda Festival This year, KGS was thrilled to be able to enter a string quartet into the Pro Corda chamber music festival, in the U12 class. Clarissa Cheng, Connie le Huray, Lui Kim and Jemima Mack engaged in a rigorous rehearsal schedule of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik with the help of professional violinist and coach, Ursula le Huray.

We arrived to a warm welcome at Dulwich Prep and the quartet had some time to warm up before performing.

They looked extremely professional when they entered the stage to perform, and they played beautifully. The adjudicator was impressed and generous with his praise while also giving them some very helpful feedback on how to make their future performances even better.

We were all extremely proud that the quartet, on their very first performance, made it all the way to the semi-finals of the event; a superb achievement.

The KGS Music Department thanks the girls and Ursula for their dedication and hard work.

And all that jazz...

On Thursday 3rd February we were fortunate to welcome internationally renowned saxophonist, Will Vinson, to KGS where he led an inspiring workshop and performed in concert with his quartet. Will lives and works in New York, and we were delighted that he was able to include a visit to KGS as part of his UK tour.

In the afternoon, students learnt about various techniques and, in particular, how rhythm is such an important feature of jazz and were able to improvise together using their instruments. We can now also imagine the standard Autumn Leaves in a more rhythmically complex and different way!

The evening saw Will’s group performing alongside the KGS jazz ensembles and it was, as ever, a wonderful evening of varied, high quality, music. Special mention should go to our soloists, Emma Stoner, Miri Scott and Sam Kelly who produced wonderful performances on the night and, in Sam’s case, a top-class arrangement for the band as well. As ever, the whole event was coordinated by our Jazz teacher, Andre Canniere, who does a superb job preparing our students. Here’s to the next one!

Mrs A Sankey I Music

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Spring 2022

British Physics Olympiad This year, nine students sat Round 1 of the Physics Olympiad.

Congratulations go to Sam Arwas and Cara Fraser who achieved a Bronze II Award.

Joseph Steel, Nick Long, Finlay Pickrell and Sebastian Rugina attained a Bronze I Award.

Jordan Miao and Marcus Merritt achieved Silver Awards, placing them in the top 30% of students nationally. Sitting at the top of the tree is Alex Middleton, who triumphed with a Gold I Award, placing him in the top 16% of young physicists across the land. Well done to you all – you have done yourselves and the Physics Department proud!

Mr I Deepchand I Head of Physics

Kingston Grammar School

CCF In January, cadets began the year by wrapping up their leadership cadres. Fourth Years delivered lessons on army essentials and Lower Sixths gave presentations on leadership, as well as facing off against the formidable sergeants’ board, with C Sgt. Miland Gajree being the NCO interviewer, along with Lt. Casasanto and Lt. Robinson.

In February, the contingent was joined by the King’s College CCF on Range Camp, with Sgt Adam Nasir (Pt Cmd.) and Hattie Fowkes (Pt Sgt.) leading both the King’s and KGS cadets. It was a good shoot with everyone improving, with a special mention going to Cdt. Alice Street and L Cpl. Michaela Henderson being the best shots.

Towards the end of the month, hard work was rewarded, with Cadets and Corporals being promoted to Lance Corporals and Sergeants respectively. We are looking forward to the Easter Camp to Wales where the cadets will embark on adventurous training, the summer field day where cadets will have a day in fieldcraft, and summer camp in Sussex. The RAF, under Flt Lt. Behnoudnia and Flt Off. Kaur and Burns, hope to soon get up into the sky again.

Thank you so much to Captain Beggs and Sergeant Major Gardner for their amazing leadership and generous giving of time to the contingent, and we hope that next term and year will be even more fun!

Sgt. Adam Nasir & Sgt. Hattie Fowkes I Lower Sixth

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SCHOOL LIFE

As part of our FUTURES initiative, KGS continues to collaborate with The Kingston Academy on a variety of virtual events covering higher education, university entrance and parental guidance that are also open to local schools and the wider community.

“Our Futures collaboration supports not only students, but parents too, through sharing the wisdom of experts who can give practical advice and support.”

Charlie Venter, The Kingston Academy

Spring term Sarah Humphrey from KGS led a Parental Advice: Online Safety session in association with Childnet, the largest online safety charity in the UK. A Higher Education: Apprenticeships event was jointly organised by Anthony Fitzgerald (KGS) and Catherine Young (TKA) to explore apprenticeship opportunities.

Mental health expert Satveer Nijjar’s Parental Advice: Self Harm event aimed to reduce stigma around self-harm and accessing support whilst giving practical and thorough insight into reasonings behind harmful behaviours.

FUTURES Events 2022

Higher Education: Social Entrepreneurs and Enterprise (Summer 2022) This event will raise awareness of green economy careers in conjunction with Helen Sundaram from the Kindness Bank.

Higher Education: Study in Canada with Tom Whittaker (Summer 2022) Tom, a representative from the University of British Columbia, will deliver a presentation with a focus on study in Canada and how the academic system, student life and the application process compares to the UK, USA and wider Europe.

Parental Advice: Parties (Autumn 2022) A talk for parents of teenage children.

Scan the QR code to find out more about past and future events....

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#workwellandbehappy