KGS Newsletter May 2015

MAY 2015

www.kgs.org.uk

NEWSLETTER

kgs sees red in poll sensation!

The School Election bucked a number of national trends, and not just in terms of the result. It was closely contested, with only a handful of votes separating the top three parties, the debate was

FROM THE HEAD

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MASTERCLASSES

intense, with real passion on the hustings, and the campaign was invigorated by controversy and contention.

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J U N I O R P L AY

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HEAD MASTER’S WELCOME These last few weeks leading into our final half term break of the academic year have been as hectic, successful and enjoyable as any I have experienced to date at Kingston Grammar School.

Whilst the Communist Party secured a narrow victory in our mock elections, the national election saw a more decisive outcome, one that has at the very least provided stability in the world of educational reform. In the last few days it has been confirmed that universities at home and abroad will be looking at GCSE results and secure predicted A level grades as the clearest and most objective indicators of performance. They have also confirmed that offers will continue to be based on three good A levels, but that they are additionally looking for independent learning and research skills, such as those provided by the Extended Project Qualification, to discern between candidates and provide material for personal statements and interview discussions. This gives us every confidence that the route we at KGS have taken through this period of academic reform and uncertainty is the right one for our student body.

It is with this in mind that all the KGS staff would like to reiterate our very best wishes for every success for our GCSE, AS and A2 students. We are looking forward to celebrating this year’s successes 2

at our annual Prizegiving ceremony and giving our Upper Sixth a proper send off at their Graduation and Ball as they go on to become our latest generation of KGS alumni.

The summer does not just bring examinations, both internal and external, but also a rich variety of co-curricular activities, with athletics, rounders, tennis and sailing coming to the fore. Our senior rowers seem to be peaking at the right time going into the National Schools’ Regatta this weekend, with strong girls’ crews at all age groups and the boys’ crews being led to victory most recently at our very own Thames Ditton Regatta, where our boys’ J15 coxed fours swept all before them and our 1st VIII beat Canford to win the Challenge Cup. The sport that has dominated the sporting headlines this term, however, as well as providing some welcome relief from exam pressures, is cricket. In stark contrast to the fortunes of our national side, our teams of coaches and students at all ages, ably led

by Mr Scott, have brought about something of a revolution in cricket at KGS. There have been significant victories at all age groups and some very creditable batting and bowling performances. The 1st XI have led the charge. Despite suffering early defeat in the T20 cup, they have won all of their day and limited-over matches against

other schools so far this season.

Their only day-game defeat was in a thrilling contest against the MCC, where captain Matt Maginnis led by example with ball, bat and superb slip fielding, England ladies junior Eva Gray made her senior debut, and Ralph Harvey-Kelly delivered an historic bowling performance taking a six-wicket haul and with it the match ball.

Finally, I would like to congratulate those KGS staff who have recently gained internal promotions. Mr. Cooper, currently Assistant Head with responsibility for Curriculum and Learning, will be the School’s Academic Deputy Head from September; Mr. Beard, currently Head of Fifth Year, has been appointed to the School’s Executive as an Assistant Head; and Mrs. Maclean, an Old Kingstonian and currently Assistant Director of Sport, will be the KGS Director of Sport from next academic year.

I’m now off to enjoy the delights of the Lower School Play, Oliver Twist, and I hope you are too! It promises to be terrific!

Follow Mr Lehec @kgsheadmaster

U6 Musical Soirée

This year’s U6 Leavers’ Soirée on Thursday 14 May was a very special event showcasing the wonderful array of diverse and excellent musical talent which is abundant in this year group. The many performances were enjoyed by a large and appreciative audience in the Lovekyn Chapel.

The evening began with two movements from Corelli’s trio sonata in E major with Tim Shipley and Paeony de la Garde Tingay fully engaging in some high-class string playing. “The Best of Chopin”, master-minded and expertly performed

by Max Salisbury, followed, and this was a clever arrangement of some of Chopin’s best-loved melodies, including the main theme of the slow movement from Chopin’s second piano concerto and the Nocturne in Eb major. It finished with a vision of what might have been had Chopin met Miles Davis, which rounded off this hugely enjoyable performance.

A charming rendition of Schubert’s Impromptu in B flat major, arranged for a quintet ensemble by Peter Le Tissier, and performed by Timothy Shipley, Mark Berrow, Sam Underwood, Peter Le Tissier and James Shriver, was heard next, and this was followed by a mesmerising and completely unaccompanied vocal performance of “I wish I was a punk-rocker”, sung with beautiful tone and phrasing by Ben Cave.

Gemma Helm and Beth Yarde-Leavett delighted the audience with a soulful performance for voice and guitar which was another highlight of the evening.

by Peter Le Tissier, followed by Mozart’s second movement from his violin concerto in D major, played with impeccable intonation and tonal control by Timothy Shipley. Paeony de la Garde Tingay’s cello performance of Faure’s Après un Rève, professionally accompanied by Mrs Tingay on the harp, was a real and very special musical treat. The vast and versatile musical talent of our students was again heard in the energetic interpretation of the first movement of Shostakovich’s String Quartet opus 108, played with brilliance and musicality by our Senior String Quartet, Timothy Shipley, Mark Berrow, Vivek Haria and Paeony de la Garde Tingay.

The musical proceedings were followed by much appreciated cake and drinks, which were very kindly provided by the Music Society. A huge thank you to all participating U6 students and the Music Society for a successful and highly enjoyable evening. We wish all U6 Leavers the very best for their future.

MVF

This was followed by three classical pieces, which were all performed with technical excellence and highly musical playing. The first was Franz Strauss’s Nocturne played beautifully on the horn

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Cake Sale For Nepal

A huge thank you and many congratulations go to the first year girls Annabel Theron, Louisa Marshall, Anaya Raberu, Clara Boucher, Penny CairneyLeeming, Isla Flett, Olivia Casci, and Sophie Fairweather. These marvellous bakers organised a cake sale at the last minute to raise money for the Nepal Earthquake appeal. After hearing about the devastating effects of the earthquake the girls thought it important we do our bit to help and raised a record breaking £206! Fantastic work!

KR

UK Cyber Centurion Challenge Competition In September 2014, King’s College, London, on behalf of the security firm Cyber Centurion, sent an invitation to UK schools to join their Cyber Centurion Schools Competition, a national competition designed to identify, inspire and enable more pupils in the UK to consider careers as cyber security professionals.

The criteria for entry were that students should be aged 12 – 18, interested in computer security (aka hacking!), able to work in teams of up to six students independently from a teacher. Two Second Year pupils, Anand Aggarwal and Charlie Stuart (‘KGS Breakers’), took up the challenge, volunteering to take part in the competition in their own time.

The task was to receive coded material and within a limited time window having just six hours on the set days to download and decipher the information and identify weaknesses in a network

Research project

Cambridge MA student Anna Harrison enlisted the help of the KGS Art Department for her research project into children’s literature.

Four First Year pupils read ‘Press Here’

by Hervé Tullet and were then asked to create a drawing in response to having read the book – it was a very open-ended task. A selection of materials was provided and the pupils were asked a range of questions to find out how they felt about the book.

Thomas Skeates said, ‘I did not expect it to be so interactive with the reader,’ while Gabriella Linney described the book as ‘inspirational.’

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design that could give rise to a computer network being hacked.

The competition was spread over a nine month period, from registration in September, through picking a team name, reading through the research material provided, a test trial and two actual heats in October and January, to the final, with a £1,000 prize, at Bletchley Park in April.

The odds were stacked against the KGS team, through team size, age and experience. Even so, Charlie and Anand made it through to the second round. The competition was tough with potential A Level computing students also competing from other schools who may have been formally studying computing from Year 7.

Following their entry, both pupils were awarded participant certificates and invited to take part in the next Cyber Centurion Competition.

Both found the competition stimulating and informative. This has encouraged them to continue developing their computing skills and knowledge through entering in other computing competitions, many of which are published in the ICT Department FireFly page.

Well done to them.

YG

Masterclasses ‘It was even more fun than I expected.’ Mia ‘I thoroughly enjoyed everything and learned a lot.’

Daniel ‘It was amazing!’ Jack

Our annual series of Saturday morning masterclasses for children from local primary schools came to an end on 16th May, and as ever it was rather sad to say goodbye to some wonderful children we had got to know well over the weeks. It’s always a pleasure to meet younger siblings of current pupils or previous Masterclass attendees, and it’s a real treat when children we have enjoyed teaching on Saturday mornings turn up in our classes in September. There were classes in twelve subjects this year: drama and music technology, forensic science, computer-aided design and manufacture, pottery, debating, psychology, world languages, classical civilisations, creative writing, philosophy and ethics, cartography and mathematics, taken by 36 teaching and support staff and attended by over 130 children. One particularly exciting innovation this year was as the introduction of the DT Department’s new ew 3D printer, a spectacular addition which was as a great success with the children.

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Leadership and DofE Awards After a great deal of training and preparation, a group of Fourth Form students recently completed their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition assessment.

The students spent the weekend sailing and camping around Chichester harbour. Saturday was a bright but very breezy day which made for some particularly challenging sailing conditions as they sailed in their Laser Pico dinghies downwind to Chichester Harbour.

After a night camping, the group enjoyed calmer conditions on Sunday and had a very nice sail up to Bosham. All the sailors passed their assessment with flying colours so very well done to Jess Swan, Kate Scott-Taylor, Milla Raymond and Will Lloyd.

Many congratulations to the following L6 students who have recently completed the Senior Leadership Award:

Aaron Farr Dominika Rybova Fergus Ainsworth Evie Benincasa Cameron Leckie Chloe Waller Lydia Bisping Lara Horin Alicia Francis Charlotte Sanford Hugo Delattre Elspeth Birchall Matthew Cooper Emily Gibson Jamie Bisping Jemima Aldous Loulou Backhouse Spriggs Charles Tait Bethany Hill Owen Mancell Smith Katinka Ronberg Lucie Cowan Jess Murray

Andrew Merriman Ellie Huxter William Hurd Georgie Cossey Sharif Fawzi Zoe Lowrey Carmel Galvin Selin Humphreys Hari Clarke Gajan Prabhaharan Alex Graham Arjun Rao, Fergus Ainsworth

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Also, the following students have completed their Bronze DofE Award (a record haul in one year) Suzanne Stenning Darcy Lewis Bethany Williams Jake Cutts Katie Headley Oliver Cole Stella Van Buren Maddie Perkins Justin Foreman Nathan Foulsham Joseph Gibson Miranda Worth Nicole George Remi Duneau James Smith Martha Mae Prior Henry Nettleton Catie McMahon

NSF

Charlotte Le Feurve Conor Holt Maxim Dutton Charlotte Bassett James Dyson Hazel Scurr Zoe Muirhead Nick Semple Jacob Phillips Natasha Markham Lucy Skinner Sebastian Svarovsky Katie Annesley Alice Thiroff Finn Stammers Ella Robinson Ben Park Alice Metcalf Owen Mahnke Will Lingard Ellen Falconer Peter Betts

PEOPLE Rory at the Young Vic

Eva’s Historic Debut Fourth Year cricketer and member of the England Women’s U15 Cricket Development Programme Eva Gray made KGS cricketing history when she made her First XI debut in the most prestigious fixture of the season, the match against MCC. Completely unruffled by the occasion, Eva took two wickets and got into double figures with the bat, earning the respect of her exalted opponents, who commented very positively on her technical proficiency.

Regular readers of these pages will know already that Eva is one to watch for the future, and we congratulate her on a very successful and historic debut.

I’ve just finished playing the role of Tommy in the Young Vic production of Ah Wilderness!, a play by Eugene O’Neill, which ran from 14th April to 23rd May. Getting the part involved quite a bit of auditioning, and the first one was back in February. I didn’t get much notice, and the part needed an American accent so I spent the evening before on YouTube watching a voice coach and practising!

When I turned up there were fifteen boys leaving and I joined another fifteen boys to do a workshop on American accents and other acting exercises. It was informal and enjoyable and, better still, I got a call-back for a second audition, where there was more focus on lines from the play.

I was delighted to hear that I had been offered the part, sharing it with another boy, Lucas Pinto, and rehearsals started soon afterwards. We rehearsed for about six weeks, during which time we had to travel up to Islington after school and during the Easter holidays.

Lucas was very friendly and it was reassuring not to be the only child in the production, which meant that we each did three evening performances and one matinee per week.

As the first night approached, I was getting increasingly nervous as I hadn’t done a stage play before, but once

we started with the previews I started to really enjoy myself. Press night was the most exciting night and, having been congratulated by the famous actress Juliet Stevenson, Lucas and I were asked to give a quick speech to the company (definitely more scary that the show itself!). The play received good reviews, and I was pleased to actually get mentioned in one of them - my Granny bought five copies of the Daily Mail that day!

As the shows went on, I got increasingly relaxed to the point where once evening I forgot to go back on for the bow as I was in a heated discussion about superheroes!

Luckily the audience thought my late appearance was planned as it seemed like the sort of thing my character would do.

I have been very lucky to have had such a positive experience - the other actors were all very friendly and it has really encouraged me to continue with my ambition to become an actor.

I’ve got some more shooting coming up in the summer holidays, adding a few more scenes for a film called Love Type D that was shot last summer and should be coming out in 2016. The director is planning a social media campaign for that shortly and I’m excited to see what comes after that.

Rory Stroud, 2HN KGS Newsletter

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School Election 2015 wAfter a long, gruelling campaign starting with the manifesto launches in March and ending with the official announcements of the KGS constituency result,, we had a winner! The victorious communists, led by Comrades Ainsworth and Style had fought a textbook h campaign based on canvassing the voters. An approach which was deemed to be too demeaning by the other party leaders had, with the exception of Ben Moore, resulted in mediocre polling figures right up until May 7th.

It had all begun in mid-March with the manifesto launch held in the QE2 Quad, which showed off the oratorical skills of the party leaders to an appreciative audience.

The lunchtime Question-Time events attracted some 70-80 pupils eager to hear the policy options and ideologies of the parties expounded in what can only be described as something resembling a boxing match. Our esteemed Election Analyst, Max Salisbury, wrote lucidly and wittily exposing the foibles of each candidate, perfectly capturing the KGS political landscape. One should mention the capable chairs, who included Mrs Jackson and Mr Davies.

Both had distinctive styles, one preferring a strong element of control, the other rather the opposite.

However, this simply required the panel to show more flexibility, something those on the left of the political spectrum found easier than those on the right. And the discomfort of some was noticed by the voting audience, who drew their own conclusions with their polling decisions. The online poll using firefly was an excellent innovation and set the election alight from the third week in April onwards.

Polling day on May 7th was a more subdued affair than in 2010, with few reports of outright bribery or poll rigging. Nevertheless, a story circulated that three liberal democrat voters had arrived to cast their votes only to find the ballot boxes had been removed for counting. This cast a slight pall over what had been very much a good-natured election day.

All in all, the School Election was a superb opportunity for pupils of all ages to learn about party ideologies and gain some insight into the adversarial nature of UK Westminster-style politics as practised by our wellinformed Sixth Form students.

DARS The result in full: Communist 131 Conservative 129 Green 59 Labour 83 Lib Dem 124 UKIP 37 Total Turnout: 64.4%.

National Turnout: 63.1% 8

KGS Newsletter

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THE ARTS Jazz Night

On Friday 8 May we had the KGS Jazz and Popular Music Evening in the Theatre, showcasing KGS talent to a packed audience of parents, friends, students and staff.

It was an excellent event, displaying the breadth and wealth of talent at KGS, including students from the First Year to the Lower Sixth. We are blessed with several established bands, such as the Third Year band ‘Bare Feet’, the more diverse ‘Musical Sandwich’, the small jazz band ‘Riff’, and ‘The Banned’, with their Hendrix selection. The Junior Boys’ Choir enthusiastically sang their two songs, and Philip Pisarro-Jensen delighted with his accomplished and confident Bruno Mars song. The evening was rounded off by an enthusiastic and polished set by the Jazz Band, led by the marvellous Matt Gough on trumpet.

Everyone performed superbly but some individuals were outstanding: George Casci, whose mellifluous saxophone led both jazz groups; Lucy Roberts, who supported nearly all the bands on her bass guitar and was the driving force behind many of the performances; Min-Woong Seo, 10

m with his infectious enthusiasm d and love for performing; and Robert Bern with his love of distorted guitar – but there h were many, many more, both performing and running the sound desk.

Huge thanks must also go to the Music Society for their help with the refreshments and table décor, Matt Gough and Martin Hoj for organising the music so professionally, to Simon Gray, Theatre Technical Manager for his advice and nd technical assistance, the o School catering staff who provided a splendid and copious buffet and most of all to Joshua Selimi forr e masterminding the whole ng event in his own charming and inimitable way as well as the impressive spontaneous piano/voice interlude just before e supper. There was a true buzz throughout the evening and many have commented on what a brilliant evening they had.

PH

Oliver Twist

This year’s Junior Play was a spectacular adaptation of ‘Oliver Twist’, with a huge cast of First and Second Year pupils, lavish costumes and an elaborate set.

Used as we are to Lionel Bart’s saccharine musical version, it was refreshing to see that the darker side of Dickens’s savage indictment of social conditions, especially those endured by the children of the workhouse, or forced into the city’s criminal rookeries, was acknowledged from the start, when the Artful Dodger (the brilliant Clara John), acting as narrator and laconic observer, introduced us to a world of ‘injury, injustice, cruelty and wrong’, a world full of ‘sorrow and trouble’, where suffering was rife and happy endings mercilessly rare.

While Bart’s Fagin is a twinklyeyed, roguish uncle, Omid Alavi’s interpretation of the character was much closer to Dickens’s satanic bogey-man, and the other characters – Bill Sykes and Nancy, Charley Bates and his cronies, the Bumbles, the Sowerberrys and a whole host of others - made sure there was little room for sentiment.

The exception, of course, is the Brownlow household, but even here Daniel Selimi, as Mr Brownlow, Issy James as his daughter Rose, and Anna Gray as the housekeeper Mrs Bedwin showed restraint in exploring the author’s sentimental streak.

As the object of their affection, Zac Sampson-Regal in the title role managed to be both robust and pathetic, spirited and helpless - a lost soul in a corrupt world.

While repairing much of the damage wrought by Bart, this production still found room for a tune or two, with snatches of song cleverly interspersed by director Mr Crohill and musical director Mr Tierney, who set chunks of the text to music. The effect was to give the show the feel of the Victorian music hall, enhanced by the great sweeping red velvet curtains and the whole look and feel of the piece, even lapsing occasionally into pantomime (‘Oh no it didn’t!’).

The ensemble work was excellent, with a diversity of narrative voices and scenes flowing into each other on the shared set, while other characters looked on – especially the feral faces of Fagin’s gang, reminding us that the poor (and the criminal) classes were (and are) always with us, and, like rats, never far away even (especially?) from those who shelter behind a carapace of bourgeois respectability. There were carefully posed tableaux, skilfully choreographed group scenes and ebbing and flowing streetscapes keeping the pace cracking along and the movement constant and fluid.

Much more could be said in praise of this young, talented and very large cast, but sadly there is not room enough, or time. Congratulations to you all. Special thanks must go to Mr Crohill and Mr Tierney, whose creative imagination brought the play to life, to Miss Boulton and Mrs Borrows for helping realise the production, and to Mr Gray and Mr Edwards, technical managers, for designing such a feast for the eyes, and for letting the pupils get on with the job of running the show. It was a marvellous effort by absolutely everyone involved in whatever capacity. Thank you all.

NDB

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TRIPS CCF at R AF Benson On Wednesday 6th of May we travelled to RAF Benson to go flying. Having arrived there we were sadly unable to go up due to high winds. However, Flight Lieutenant Pete Smiley, 33 Squadron kindly gave us a tour of the Puma helicopters on the base. It was very exciting and fascinating to learn about out the e Puma Pum uma a and and its it missions. i It can carry two tonnes of cargo and d can fly as low l as 50 feet at speeds of 150 mph! We all had a fantastic morning, only sad that we didn’t get to go up in a Puma!

Freya King, 3PS

Latin Trip On Wednesday 13th May, all the Third Year Latin sets went to London on a classics trip. We first went to the British Museum, where we looked at Roman Vases and Mummies.

After lunch, we moved on to the Museum of London, where we looked at an exhibit of Ancient London. It was a busy and very interesting and informative day.

Hugo Dreux, 3SC

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London Zoo On Tuesday 5th May the entire Second Year set out to London Zoo for an exciting day of learning about animal adaptations.

In group sizes of roughly ten, pupils and staff explored all corners of the zoo with the focus on collecting information, photographs and videos to create short documentaries for class presentations.

Highlights of the day included attending an educational session on animal adaptations and visiting the most popular enclosures: Tiger Territory, Gorilla Kingdom and Penguin Beach, to name but a few. The whole day was thoroughly enjoyed by all and we still have the class ns presentations and photograph n competition to look forward to after half term!

AMA

Cricket Tour To Sri Lank a

Over the Easter break KGS took boys and girls from the Second, Third and Fourth Years on the first ever cricket tour to Sri Lanka.

We got to play at some amazing grounds, especially the Palekelle Pale international inte ground that has gro been home to be the Sri Lankan th national team na for some time fo now. The no results were re mixed, with m five wins out of twelve o matches in total against very ve well drilled Sri Lankan sides. Some highlight performances came from Ed Darwin, who hit over fifty on three occasions, while Max Dawson, Joe Woodcock and Ellie Lord all came close to half-centuries. As for the bowling, Nick Browning, Sunny Patel and Guy Morley all impressed, but the stand-out performance must go to James Adam with his impressive five wicket hall at Palekelle.

SPORT

The trip started in Colombo, where we got to tour the capital and see all the historical sites. After four nights we were off to Kandy to stay at the Victoria Country Club and resort, where we stayed for three nights, playing two games of cricket. On the long trip down to Galle we stopped at the Temple of the Tooth to observe the local heritage and culture. In Galle we were able to tour the fort and see the way the city had been re-built after the devastating tsunami of 2004.

A visit to the Pinawalla Elephant Orphanage was a highlight for many as was swimming with and feeding a 198 year old giant turtle on the beach near Galle.

The whole tour party enjoyed the cricket played and the different culture experienced, and the memories gained will last a life time for all of us.

Ross McGeachie, 4RP

1st XI vs MCC Taking advantage of beautiful conditions, MCC batted first and got away to a good start before lunch. After the break, KGS came back strongly to dismiss the visitors for 198. 199 looked gettable, and Maginnis and his side felt confident about their chances. Unfortunately, the batsmen were unable to seize the day and were bowled out for 78.

Captain Matt Maginnis led by example with bat, ball and in the field, and fourth-former Eva Gray made an historic debut and took two wickets, but it was Ralph HarveyKelly who stole the cricketing headlines, taking 6 for 37, and winning not only the match ball but an invitation to the First Day of the Lord’s Test in the process.

KGS Newsletter

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Thames Ditton Regatta Saturday 16 May saw over 80 students from KGS race at Thames Ditton Regatta.

All J14s and J15s who were fit and healthy had the opportunity to race at this local event and the weather helped to make the day enjoyable for all.

The headline was a win in the Challenge Eights event for the Boys’ 1st VIII (Sam Helm, James Dyson, Miles Seabrook, Luke Hillier, Lawrence Milward, Lachie Ives, Will Vine, Tristan Taylor and cox Will Burden) who were quicker than Molesey en route to the final as well as comfortably beating the Oratory School 1st VIII. The boys then beat a strong Canford crew in the final.

It is always good to win against leading opposition like Canford and Molesey, especially with just seven days to go before the National Schools’ Regatta.

The Boys’ 2nd VIII raced in the same event and also raced Molesey Boat Club, a race in which the 2nd VIII performed well but ultimately lost by two lengths.

The Boys’ J15 A IV (Hakeem Shittu, Cameron Spurling, Nathan Barnett, Will Holman and cox Sam Shapley) also won their event. With entries from St Edward’s School, Canford and St George’s this was no small achievement and made it two trophies in two weeks for this crew. Cameron Spurling also reached the final of J16 single sculls, a great effort for Cameron racing a year up from his own age group.

The Girls’ J16 double of Millie Gibson and Bea Stokman sadly had to withdraw from the final due to injury, but we hope they will back in action at the National Schools’ Regatta at the weekend. The J15 girls had some hard racing in the eight, losing narrowly to St George’s and then pushing the LEH J18 2nd VIII hard in

round two of the Women’s Challenge Eights. The J15 girls then split into a four and quad, which lost close races to crews from Surbiton High School and Molesey Boat Club. Rebecca Holt and Rebecca Penrice also lost a close race in round one of GJ15 2x against the Lea Rowing Club from East London, who went to win the overall event with some ease.

The J14 squad had a mixed day. The girls’ double of Ellie Wall and Katie Orrell capsized metres from the finish whilst leading Surbiton High School, the phrase “To finish first, first you have to finish” was on their lips, once they were safely back on dry land! The boys’ octuplet were knocked out in round two of the “plate” event by Shiplake College, having beaten local rivals Hampton in round one. The girls’ octuple beat a strong crew from Sir William Perkins only to lose in round two to the eventual winners of the event, Latymer Upper School.

KEY RESULTS Boys 1st VIII – WINNERS of the Nelson Challenge Bowl for Challenge Eights Boys J15 4+ WINNERS of J15 Coxed Fours Boys J14 B Quads – Finalists (Matti Musk, Hamza Ahmed, Freddie Karr, Thom Jennings, cox Joe Schonberg Girls J16 2x – Withdrew from final – (Injury) PJS

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Bedford Regatta

Thirty-seven members of the Boat Club went to Bedford for the 151st Bedford Amateur Regatta on the weekend of 9th/10th May. The athletes were spread amongst seven crews and there were some promising results just two weeks before the National Schools’ Regatta in Nottingham.

The highlight was the J15 A coxed four of Hakeem Shittu, Cameron Spurling, Nathan Barnett and Will Holman, coxed by Sam Shapley, who won their event with wins over Radley, Hampton and Norwich School en route to victory. The fours proved successful with the J18 boys’ four beating crews from Winchester and Bedford Modern School to reach the final, where they were beaten by a very strong

four from Radley.

The J16 four lost to eventual winners Winchester in the semi-final after having defeated a strong St Edward’s crew in the quarter-finals. There was also a place in the final for the J15 boys’ 2nd four, who lost a thrilling race with Norwich School by just one length.

The eights had a tough day; the girls’ J15 eight came up against a very fast LEH crew while the boys’ 2nd VIII in IM 3 VIIIs beat a crew from Windsor Boys’ School in round one and then went on to lose to Bedford Modern School, who went on to win the event. Because of illness, the boys’ 1st VIII had three substitutes on board and raced the Hampton School 1st VIII in the final of IM 2 VIIIs. Hampton are

currently one of the fastest school VIIIs in the UK and this showed with the final result going their way.

However, the KGS crew did a great job and, even without two of our strongest oarsman, still managed to race side-by-side with Hampton for the first half of the course.

Overall, then, a very satisfactory weekend, and a confidence boost going into the National Schools’ Regatta on May 22nd - 24th.

PS

Festival of Golf The weather was just horrid for the KGS Golf Society’s second Festival of Golf at Hampton Court on 5th May. But somehow despite the gale and freezing rain everyone got round and some first rate golf was played.

The stars were the pupils, whose eight players came home triumphant by 20-12 against the KGS GS ‘A’ team, having played golf well beyond their years.

Their one girl and seven young men were dazzling, winning the greensomes 9-7 and the 4BBB, and taking the singles 11-5. And in addition to playing excellent golf they were all charming and delightful company.

The “B” match, largely with KGS GS on one side and staff on the other, led by Messrs Daly and Scott, was a much closer affair, with three of the four groups ending up all square. In the deciding group the staff

won the greensomes and halved the 4BBB to edge the tie 17-15. There was some great golf by both sides in spite of the wind and rain.

Especially welcome was a crop of parents who haven’t played with us previously: Gary Dawson, Richard Wickerson, Darryl Evans, Stephen Wilson and John Kim. Augmented by two of our “regular” parents – Nigel Lloyd and Charlotta Lyckeus – parents made up almost half of the KGS GS squad, a trend we hope to see continued in the future.

If you would like to get involved in the KGS Golf Society, please contact John Makin: makin@ johnmakin.demon.co.uk John Makin, KGS GS

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Kgs Road To Wimbledon Once again we held the annual KGS Road to Wimbledon U14 Tennis tournament at Ditton Field, this year’s event taking place on Saturday 9th May. Just under thirty KGS First to Third Year pupils turned up on a bright and breezy day to do battle.

As ever, there were several close fought matches both in the boys’ and girls’ competitions, with the Freddie Wilson/Max Vokins marathon on No.1 court being particularly noteworthy. In both events our champions came from the Second Year, but there were also several promising performances from the First Year pupils, which bodes well for next year.

In the boys’ event Lucas Askeland emerged victorious, after defeating Jack Housego-Woolgar (6-3) in the semi-finals and Tom Bridger (6-2) in the final, while in the girls’ event Elizabeth Stevenson beat Sara Gotham Pardo before going on to defeat Issy James (7-6) in a very tightly contested final. In addition, Thomas Cutts and Eren Humphreys won the boys’ and girls’ consolation events.

Congratulations to our champions and we wish the best of luck to Lucas and Elizabeth, who now go through to the County Finals in July.

Feast at the Field Sunday 21st June Sunday 21st June, Ditton Field, BBQ and cricket from 1pm Bring your friends and family down to the beautiful Ditton Field to cheer on pupils, parents and staff as they take on former pupils. The School’s pride is at stake and they need your support!

The tennis courts will be open for those who wish to play and there will be a free BBQ, Pimms, wine and beer tent laid on by KGS Friends.

Email Mr Bond friends@kgs.org.uk if you are coming so we can make sure there are plenty of refreshments to go around! Email Mr Scott at pscott@kgs.org.uk if you would like to play.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Free BBQ! Pimms! Tennis! Cricket!

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