Nottingham High School Senior Yearbook 2019-20

NOTTINGHAM HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK 2020 NO. 209

Telephone: 0115 978 6056 Email: info@nottinghamhigh.co.uk www.nottinghamhigh.co.uk

J A N U A RY 2 0 2 1

Nottingham High School, Waverley Mount, Nottingham, NG7 4ED

YEARBOOK 2020

01 CONTENTS

Lessons from the Pandemic Mr K D Fear

Contents 01-06

Introduction

07- 21

Trips & Activities

22-27

Options

28-32

Clubs & Activities

33-49

Creative Arts

50-51

Archives

52-55

House News

56-93

Winter Sport

94-97

Farewell

Lessons for the future:

It has been a great privilege to lead the School through the global pandemic and in writing an article for the School Magazine just as the vaccine is starting to be rolled out, there is still a sense that we are still very much in the middle of it all.

It is, though, perhaps time to reflect on some of what we have learnt during the past nine months and to start to consider how we might use this experience to inform the future.

This has been a time when all in the School have pulled together. When we first heard that the School would have to close to all bar the children of key workers we had to move away from the building and start to run the School inside hundreds of children’s homes.

This needed a superb effort from all of the staff but also lots of helpful support from parents and above all a fantastic attitude from all of our students. We were really quickly up and running in this virtual way and the helpful feedback from so many ensured that we were able to make this such an effective way of delivering our education through this lockdown period. None of this would have been possible without everyone involved playing their part. At the same time staff were willingly coming in to school to support the children of the key workers and ensure that all this ran safely.

On the return to School there were a new set of challenges to ensure that we could return safely and again this needed a community effort. Our support staff did such a brilliant job of making the site safe and then we needed the co-operation of all to make it all work.

It is easy to see the School as a set of buildings but even without the buildings there was a fantastic spirit at the heart of all that we have done throughout the pandemic. There has been a ‘can-do’ attitude at the centre and a willingness to make sure that we give the pupils the best experience we can and ensure that learning can continue.

Before we had even heard of Corona virus we had been planning towards the roll-out of Google Classroom and so when the School closed we were able to accelerate these plans to make sure that every child could access lessons online. It quickly became clear that the best way to deliver these lessons was to incorporate some live teaching as often as we could and this required teachers delivering lessons from their own homes. Everyone involved in the home learning knows how demanding this is to do – our own staff were both having to deliver lessons but also support their own children in many instances as they too were learning from home. Parents supporting our younger children were also juggling home working with supporting the learning throughout the day.

So many lessons were learnt as we worked out the most effective ways of doing this but it was a period of huge innovation, a period of creativity and one which helped our students to understand just how much they are helped by a great teaching force determined to make it all work.

Technology also played an important part in our communications. It was clear to me as Headmaster that this would be important to get right and so throughout the pandemic I have regularly emailed both staff and parents to ensure that everyone always has up-to-date and accurate information and that rumours and misinformation do not spread. We were delighted throughout to receive so many supportive messages from parents and each week I sent these through to the staff so that they knew how much their work was appreciated.

With the abandonment of Summer Exams this year there was the opportunity for us to put on a programme for both Year 11 and Year 13 once their normal lessons had ended. In Year 13 this concentrated on some elective courses – some of these were designed to prepare them for university and others simply to stretch their minds. These proved to be both very popular and well attended and aspects of this programme will certainly be repeated in the future.

Similarly, each subject in Year 11 put on a ‘Preparing for A Level’ set of sessions and this too will be retained.

It proved to be an excellent way to integrate our new students but also meant that come September students knew much more about the course that they were studying and as a result there were far fewer changes of options at that stage than normal.

All parents’ evenings have moved online and these too have been very well-received. We feel that many parents will want to retain the option to conduct their appointments in this way without the need to travel to School and we will look to see if we can accommodate this in future.

We have learnt a great deal about communication during this period.

Our communications have been really well-received for being timely and wellinformed and we hope to maintain this going forward. We have made extensive use of video material for all sorts of purposes and this ‘evergreen’ content now sits on our website. This has been particularly effective for the recruitment of new pupils and we are now able to do much of this work in-house.

Staff training has also been transformed for the better during this period. Regular, shorter updates have been provided via Google Classroom allowing staff to access content at a time to suit them and this has also allowed part-time staff to access the training. The success of the training both before and during the pandemic on Google Classroom enabled us to deliver a hugely successful programme of live lessons from a very early stage and this same technology

is now allowing us to teach both in the classroom and also live to those having to self-isolate in the same class. This potentially also has benefits for us as we start to run schools overseas where we can link with them and potentially provide some lessons from here in the UK. Staff morale has been strengthened during this pandemic. There has been a great sense of everyone pulling together. The return to School, Open Day and the provision of so many activities has relied on the staff being willing to adapt and to embrace the situation and the spirit in the School has been strong and clearly it will be important to retain this post-pandemic.

We have missed the opportunity to see a whole tutor set in one go but the adaptations we have made both during the lockdown period but also since the return to School have provided the chance for more flexibility to speak to students on a one to one basis.

Many of our students took the opportunity of the lockdown period to raise large sums of money for charity and I very much hope that this is something we can continue to do in the future. Key to this is the ability to give pupils ownership of it and their contributions have been remarkable.

Year 11 alone raised over £14,000 during the time they would have been doing their GCSE exams.

During the pandemic we proved that we can do without printing lots of paper teaching materials and we will need to work hard to ensure that paper use does not increase now that we are back in School.

Our exams went online and there were some benefits to this albeit drawbacks too but we foresee more use of online testing in the future. There are opportunities for us to look at whether other year groups would benefit from a different programme after their exams.

The impact on the management of the School has been important. We developed effective ways of making major decisions quickly and the ability to call some of the team together quickly showed that our crisis management procedures work effectively.

Meetings have been crisper and the team has pulled together to ensure that we stay on top of all the everchanging requirements and this has enabled our communications to remain strong.

Of course, we are still very much in the midst of things at present and we will continue to reflect on all that we have learnt and ensure that the best of what we are discovering is retained into the future.

The overriding feeling that we have taken from these strange times is a sense of the strength of the School community. The spirit of everyone pulling together to make the most of the situation, showing tremendous resilience and a great deal of adaptability has been evident throughout.

In closing, I want to thank every single member of our staff for the part they have played – whether teacher or support staff member, whether furloughed or working on site every day – all helped the School to come through this period stronger. The furloughed staff enabled us to offer the fee discount which I know helped many in our school community in challenging financial times.

I was thrilled in November to see that we had been chosen by the Sunday Times as the East Midlands Independent School of the Decade as it was external recognition not just of this unprecedented period but of all that goes on here in more normal times. It is a huge privilege to lead this team and I see day in and day out the passion of our staff to make this the strongest school in the region. We have a student body who have shown their resilience, their adaptability and their willingness to embrace change and we have so appreciated the support of all of the parents who have understood the challenges we have faced and shown so much appreciation. We must retain all this as we look forward and let us hope that 2021 sees the return of a more normal way of life yet at the same time sees the School continuing to thrive.

Kevin Fear (Headmaster)

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03

Matt Bruce, Rachel Alvey, James Forward, Hannah Mackenzie

Welcome to Year 7

YEAR SEVEN

SCHOOL OFFICERS

Student Leadership Team 2019-20

04

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Staff Arriving Welcome Rebecca Auterson It’s a pleasure to introduce myself as your new Head of Careers. I am really looking forward to meeting you over the coming weeks and supporting you as you make decisions that will influence your future careers. I chose to study Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Music for A Level and went on to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge. I enjoyed the chance to also study the biological sciences I hadn’t taken at A Level. In my final year I studied the History and Philosophy of Science, enjoying the chance to expand my knowledge further in areas I hadn’t chosen at school.

Following university I wanted to run my own business, but knew I needed experience first. I worked in a consumer marketing agency (devising campaigns for brands such as Coca-Cola and Reed Books) and then in business-tobusiness marketing (developing relationships between firms in the electronics and smart home industries). I enjoyed the challenge of technical project management and the chance to collaborate with people working in different industries across the UK and Europe and, also, occasionally fly further round the world on behalf of my employers.

I ran my own photography business for 10 years while my children were small and, once my youngest was 2 years old, began teacher training with the Open University. I have taught Maths, Computer Science and Physics for the past 7 years, I am a Chartered Teacher, earned a Masters in Maths Education and developed the Careers programme at my previous school, Repton.

I truly believe that learning does not stop when you leave school. There are plenty of careers out there and if you want to try them out, you can. I want to help you develop skills to ensure you can take advantage of the challenges working life will inevitably throw your way. Finally, I want to let you glimpse the amazing possible futures that await you after school. Do come and talk to me!

Joining Nottingham High School was a bit of a surprise for me as I only had a month to even think about moving jobs. I’m really looking forward to getting to know everyone and hopefully to develop a full and busy outdoor education package across the school, including the DofE Award.

Nick Baker A recent convert to the profession, I am thrilled to be joining the Nottingham High School as a Physics teacher and lower school tutor. I studied Aeronautical Engineering at Cambridge and enjoyed my first career in the aerospace industry working with world-class universities and researchers to develop quieter and more efficient aircraft engines. I helped develop technologies built into the engines for the Airbus A380 ‘super-jumbo’. I then made the leap into teaching and, after gaining my PGCE from the University of Nottingham, have taught locally.

Outside the classroom I like to ride mountain bikes, listen to Latin music and get into the hills with my family. I also play club hockey and am keen to get involved with sport at the school.

Claire Brudenell I recently joined Nottingham High School in June after 8 years as Marketing Manager at a Nottingham based Arts and Crafts company Trimcraft. I managed a team of 6 where we ran social media, events, content creation and I was also responsible for product development and branding. Working at the High School will be a big change but I am looking forward to getting to know the students, staff and the stories that make the school a fantastic place to work and learn. One of my main aims is to produce more video content to raise the profile of the school but also help support and celebrate students. If you see me around, do say hi as I would like to get to know as many people as possible. My main passions are crafts, dogs, plants and food. I have a Rottweiler cross Akita rescue dog called Zeus, he’s huge at 55kgs but also a big teddy bear and his favourite food is raw broccoli. This year I also started volunteering with Independent Age, a charity that befriends elderly people who are lonely and pairs them with a volunteer who regularly visits or calls. It has been a great experience, especially during lockdown and I have made a great friend in 77 year old Carol.

My career started as an apprentice engineer a very long time ago in the 1980s and I even spent some time in Nottingham at the Royal Ordnance factory producing the SA80 machine gun. I then moved into a mobile mechanic role during the 90s and then into youth work in the 00s.

It was in my youth work role that I gained my mountain leader qualification and started to work with participants completing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme. My previous role was closed down by cutbacks within the council so I applied for a job in the outdoor industry and started at Standon Bowers Outdoor Education Centre as an instructor in 2015. Within this role I became the DofE coordinator and grew the DofE expedition business from 6 candidates in the first year to 28 schools with over 1200 participants around the country before I left in June.

I have missed the DofE expedition season this year due to the pandemic, but I’m planning a full programme for 2021 for Nottingham High School participants, going to new places such as Snowdonia for the Gold walking and the Lakes for the Silver walking groups. I hope you will all join me in having a new adventure in the new year.

During lockdown I have developed a love for gardening and my greenhouse has never had so many plants in it. I am now reaping the rewards of my labours and the fruit and vegetables are the best I’ve tasted. I’m hoping to start up a gardening club at school soon, as well as running the outdoor activities programme for all who are interested.

Kimberley Fallon I studied for a BA in English and Hispanic Studies at the University of Sheffield during which time I had the opportunity to teach English in Valencia for a short period and in Lorca, Murcia, for a year and I loved every minute of both. I then completed my PGCE teacher training in Modern Languages at the University of Nottingham, specifically in Spanish and French.

Outside of school I like running, baking and going for long walks with my two dogs. During lockdown I have also taken up sewing. I am really excited to begin teaching at Nottingham High School and I look forward to the year ahead.

David Lilley I’m very happy to be joining Nottingham High School as IT Manager. I am originally from sunny Grimsby but managed to escape when I went to university. I moved to Nottingham around 1999 when I graduated from University.

I have been in IT for around 15 years working for a number of companies including Ikano Financial Services, Nelsons Solicitors and the Gala Group in a variety of roles. Most recently I worked for Nottingham College for around 8 years where I made my way through the ranks to eventually become ICT Service Manager.

Outside of IT, I’m a big film buff and I especially love a good horror movie. I’m also heavily involved in the local filmmaking scene where I host a short film night at Broadway Cinema.

The night is call Short Stack and it gives local filmmakers a place to show their short films and music videos in front of an audience. I’m a music fan and regularly enjoy going to gigs in venues big and small, I’m particularly keen on guitar based indie music. I’m also an enthusiastic but not necessarily talented indoor boulderer and enjoy climbing up walls as a way to relax after a hard day fixing the IT issues in school.

S TA F F A R R I V I N G

S TA F F A R R I V I N G

John Butcher

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07

Lesley Forrest-Smith I am thrilled to be joining the Design & Technology Department this year in a part-time role. A Lancastrian by birth, I came to study in Nottingham to fulfil my ambition to become a teacher and fell in love with the city. Gaining a BEd Hons in Design & Technology from Nottingham Trent University I started my teaching career in Derbyshire. I have led a D&T, Food and Textiles Faculty and have 30 years’ experience working with young people both in the classroom and in extra-curricular activities.

Outside of the classroom I enjoy exploring – whether that’s holidaying with my husband and two children or walking and cycling in the countryside or urban environment. This Summer we stayed in the UK for our summer holiday visiting the North York Moors; cycling up the hills was a huge challenge but the reward free-wheeling back down the other side well worth the effort! This year has seen the culmination of a garden re-design and planting project and I have harvested my own apples and soft fruits from the garden. All aspects of design fascinate me and I never tire of a visit to the V&A Museum where the wonders of all forms of current and historical design inspire future generations of designers and engineers.

I am really looking forward to working with the students at the Nottingham High School, teaching the exciting curriculum in D&T and being involved in D&T clubs and activities.

Lisa Spedding I am delighted to be joining the staff of Nottingham High School as a member of the English Department.

Since moving to the area 23 years ago, I have worked in Nottingham and Leicester schools, most recently at The Becket School in West Bridgford. I am looking forward to contributing to the whole of school life and I whole-heartedly support the High School’s ethos of academic achievement balanced with personal wellbeing and development.

Family life takes over outside of work. When I get the chance, I do enjoy a good crime thriller, going to the gym and even the occasional tennis session. Though I’m not very skilled, I still love to go skiing in the Alps with my family every year and spending quality British beach time in all weathers. Volunteering in the community is important to me too and I have served on the governing body of a local school for the past 9 years. I also enjoy many aspects of music and particularly enjoy singing and playing the piano.

Christine Walker I am delighted to be joining Nottingham High School as Head of Spanish (maternity cover) and have been so impressed by my new students and colleagues. I started my teaching career in 1997 after graduating from Manchester University and obtaining a PGCE/ Maitrise FLE from Nottingham University/Paris V. My first teaching experience was at Adams’ Grammar School in Shropshire, an all boys’ school with a mixed Sixth form and, during that time, I also did a teacher exchange with a colleague in the South of France. Following on from this, I lived abroad for seven years in order to experience life and culture in Spain and Italy. Languages have played an important role in my life and I have enjoyed the challenges and joys of learning and teaching them. Upon my return to England, I taught at Trent College for 10 years where I was Head of French and Head of Academic progress. Last year, I was Head of MFL at Repton School. I am hoping that all of my teaching experiences will serve me well in my new role here.

Outside of work, I am an avid reader and love watching foreign series and films. I have been a keen runner but my Achilles is starting to cause issues and so I am concentrating on gym classes for the moment.

It is wonderful to be back in the real classroom after the lockdown period and to see students here so eager to learn.

Jessica Wilson Having grown up in Derby, it is lovely to be home again in the East Midlands. I have been away from the East Midlands for many years, teaching at different schools around England and, at one point, in Greece.

I have worked mainly in boarding schools, except for a brief spell in the primary sector. It is lovely to have time to be able to pursue my hobbies of walking, reading, skiing and clay pigeon shooting with my family who live close by.

I hope that, during my year at Nottingham High School, I will be able to use some of my free Saturdays to share my hobby of clay pigeon shooting with some of you.

What I like to do most in my spare time is travel and I have camped my way around most of the US, Malaysia and Europe. Although I do stay in hotels, camping has enabled me to meet a lot of fascinating people whose lives are very different from mine. I am still in touch with many of the people that I have met and it has been really interesting talking to them through the Covid epidemic to see how different areas are coping.

My first impressions of Nottingham High have been lovely and I am looking forward to the rest of my year here.

Trips, Visits & Activities

TRIPS & ACTIVITIES

S TA F F A R R I V I N G

Staff Arriving continued

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Mrs G Hainsworth

The Art Department visited students at Wynndale Primary School in Mansfield.

Mrs Hainsworth and Art technician, Cat Lachetta spent the morning creating clay postage stamps with Year 1 children. The class had been learning about the Queen and Buckingham Palace. The children learned how to roll clay, cut around a template and add details. The workshop was great fun and the children proudly took home their finished clay postage stamps.

Year 10 Willow Workshop with Caroline Gregson Mrs G Hainsworth

Art:

Year 9 Recycled Insects with Michelle Reader Mrs G Hainsworth

Nottinghamshire based artist Michelle Reader visited the Art Department in January to work with our Year 9 students.

Michelle reuses waste materials to create unique, figurative, recycled sculptures. She has been working with recycled materials since 1997. Her bespoke sculptures are made for organisations and special events. Michelle once made a sculpture using parts of old satellite dishes for the communications company Sky. Michelle brought a whole host of interesting scrap for the students to use. Plastic tubes, lids, trays, bottle tops, nuts, circuit boards and wires. The students were half way through an insect inspired art project, so they were all tasked with the challenge of making an insect sculpture.

The Year 9 students soon realised repurposing ‘rubbish’ can be very challenging.

With quite a bit of head scratching, students began to sift through the piles of scrap to find their inspiration.

At the end of their 2 hour session, students had created a variety of interesting bugs and imaginary creatures.

A challenging, interesting experience was enjoyed by all participants.

Willow artist, Caroline Gregson visited the Art Department in January to work with Year 10 GCSE Art students. Caroline began her career as an Electronics Engineer, but after the birth of her son she decided to change career after being inspired by a weekend willow workshop. Her passion for willow grew from there.

‘I have loved and been inspired by the natural world since I was a child and the ability to work as a Willow Artist and make willow sculptures representing the essence of animals, birds and other living forms brings me great pleasure.’

The students loved working with willow and were very surprised with the quality of the work they produced.

“I found it challenging, but it was really fun” Ariella Smith

“It was good to use new materials that we had never used before. I liked that we created sculptures from natural materials. I achieved so much!”

Zoe Sharlotte

TRIPS & ACTIVITIES

TRIPS & ACTIVITIES

Art Outreach

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11 TRIPS & ACTIVITIES

TRIPS & ACTIVITIES

Biology:

Biology Olympiad Chirag Goyal, 6C1, Michael Song, 6C1 and Euan Lim, 6B1

Every week, the Biology Olympiad Group was offered a new, distinctive presentation on a topic of the presenters’ choice.

Art:

Painting with Artist Robin Perko Mrs G Hainsworth

In January, the Art Department invited painter Robin Perko to work with our Year 12 and 13 A Level students.

Robin has been a professional artist since 2006. He works in oil, producing landscapes, still lifes and portraits. Robin is a modern painter with traditional roots. After two years in the French mountains honing his artistic intentions, he travelled to Italy and attended an Art school in Florence.

On the day, Robin was accompanied by two life models who sat for the students’ portrait paintings. Robin taught the students how to use Nitram charcoal to produce subtle variations of light and shade. His workshop focused on the shapes and shadows of the human face. Students were taught how to break the face into simple shapes. They learnt how to work with oil paint, using a limited colour palette to slowly build a portrait painting.

Students thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. Using life models to create portraits provided an extra challenge which everyone enjoyed. Robin is a passionate artist and his enthusiasm for work is contagious. Several of the Year 13 students used the techniques they had learnt to create art for their coursework.

The diversity and unpredictability of the chosen topics made learning as part of the audience both a pleasant and undoubtedly beneficial experience. One presentation which was enjoyed throughout the group was on methemoglobinemia, a disease which comes from the recessive met-H gene. The interest and curiosity were clear, this being furthered by the visual aids of the presentation which displayed the bizarre appearance of the “Blue people of Kentucky”. Furthermore, another highlight was a presentation on fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP). This is a rare disease where fibrous tissue is ossified - turned into bone. The severity and extremities of this disease became apparent when a human skeleton with the disease was displayed to the audience, leaving many intrigued, startled or, even, shocked.

The opportunity to give our own presentations gave us freedom to academically challenge ourselves beyond the A-level syllabus and delve further into the wider world of science. Deciding on a suitable topic was a difficult task because of the endless intriguing options available. In the end, our group decided to explore Henrietta Lacks. This was an incredible story about a woman who contributed to one of the most important research discoveries in the history of science, unlocking many cures and treatments to be developed. She was an African American woman living outside of Baltimore, Maryland, whose cells did not undergo programmed cell death and thus were ‘immortal’.

Her cells are of great use in the modern world, not only being used globally with 11,000 patients but aiding in the Human Genome Project as well which was a significant milestone for scientists around the world. The case was related to medical ethics as Henrietta’s consent was never obtained for her cells to be used in research and this really gave us a chance to explore thought-provoking aspects of science that we wouldn’t have been able to cover within the classroom.

This Biology Olympiad Group not only helped to enhance our learning but has given us the invaluable opportunity to develop our public speaking skills which will be essential for university. It has improved our wider understanding of the subject and has encouraged all of us to engage in further reading and research.

Henrietta Lacks

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Mr L Mantell

Along with everyone else, this year has been a challenging one for Beast Club, but the good news is the animals have thrived and we have welcomed some new additions.

Mr Mantell donated one of his musk turtles, named “MiniEgg”, to the Club and we sourced a fantastic custommade tank from a local enthusiast. We also added a very greedy White’s Tree Frog to our menagerie. The animals were well cared for during the lockdown by Mr Mantell, his partner and son as well as the Biology technicians and the caretakers. Some species really benefited from the peace and quiet; the Black Beauty Stick Insects took to breeding in huge numbers! Special thanks go to Isaac Bromley in Year 10 for all his hard work and to Sam Darling of Year 12, who helped out the technicians every week and has even used his Beast Club volunteering for his DofE Award.

Biology Virtual Field Trip Mr L Mantell Mrs Manders (pink blossom)

Trips & Activities:

Biology Photography Competition 2019-2020 Mr A M Duckett It was fantastic to be able to hold a second annual Nottingham High School Biology Photography Competition this year, running from Biology Week in October until just before the end of the autumn term in December. The students (and staff) were challenged to capture an image that celebrated the beauty of the natural world and they certainly didn’t disappoint. In fact, this year it became clear that two categories were needed in the student competition: one for Lower School (Years 7-10) and another for Senior School (Years 11-13). Below are the names of the winners and runners up from each category. Well done to all who entered, there was a fantastic field to choose from yet again:

LOWER SCHOOL (7-10)

Winner: Rosa Ellis-Ryan (cow parsley perspective) Runner-Up: Tanvi Parida (watchful waiting)

SENIOR SCHOOL (11-13)

Winner: Edward Roberts (light through cobweb) Runner-Up: Dhruv Ghupta (pair of puffins)

STAFF

Winner: Mrs Manders (pink blossom) Runner-Up: Mr Hurrell (contemplative monkey)

Rosa Ellis-Ryan (cow parsley perspective)

Normally at end of the summer term the Year 12 Biologists would be attending their annual field trip to enhance their understanding of ecology. Unfortunately, field centres were closed and so we had to get creative. With the use of video narration, virtual tours and data collected over the last 20 years, the students were able to take part in a virtual field trip to the beautiful area surrounding Aberystwyth on the west coast of Wales. The visit took in the hugely biodiverse Cors Fochno peat bog,

the rugged rocky shore at Borth and the stunning saltmarsh and sand dunes at Ynyslas. There is nothing quite like getting out in the fresh air and studying organisms up close, but students have had great opportunities to understand more about sampling techniques, the adaptations of organisms to some of these harsh environments and to practise their data-handling skills. Hopefully, they will be keen to visit these wonderful places in person in years to come!

Biology Week 2019-20 Mr A M Duckett National Biology Week was again held in October (well-timed with our school inspection as it turned out!) and we had a wide range of activities going on in school to celebrate. First up was a science club special where we dissected a fish, frog, rat and pigeon for some comparative anatomy. Monday was also the launch of our Biology Photography Competition. The tutor groups found out about the important work of female biologists on Tuesday and students were treated to an insect feast at break. Our Ecoschools group discussed ways of reducing plastic use. Wednesday brought a favourite UK mammal

vote and an online Citizen Science Project helping researchers to identify animals in photographs from Molopo (Southern Africa). A fascinating talk was held on Thursday with the Biology Olympiad group on using Hachimoji DNA to develop DNA as a data storage molecule.

A quiz tested the animal knowledge of the tutor groups on the final day and the result of the school’s favourite UK mammal vote was announced – the Bottlenose Dolphin, that most iconic (!) of UK species, was the runaway winner with 34% of the vote. Finally, Beast Club brought this year’s Biology Week to a satisfying end.

TRIPS & ACTIVITIES

TRIPS & ACTIVITIES

Beast Club

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Sehyr Baig, 6D1, Aimee Chapman, 6C1 and Antonia Crawford, 6E1

Upon our arrival in Devon, Slapton Sands blessed us with hail storms, torrential rain and bitter wind.

On our first full day at Slapton Sands we focused on exploring the River Harbourne where we intended to visit 5 sites at different points along the river. This became very difficult due to the torrential rain we experienced which only allowed us to visit 2 of the 5 sites due to much of the river becoming flooded, making it difficult to access these areas. However, at the sites we did visit we were able to collect the data we needed and also have a laugh at the same time as we became very soggy with our wellies overflowing with water! Here we were able to get knee deep in the river conducting tests. A highlight was definitely Izzy getting her wellies stuck on her feet and it taking all 3 of us to get them off after a massive heave!

One of the sites was through the village of Harbertonford where we could see how the river flowed through an urban area as well as a more rural area. All in all, a fun and interactive day. Despite getting very soggy at points, it was well worth it.

Trips & Activities:

European Ski Trip 2020 Anushka Das, 6B1

On the 16th February 2020, 60 students and 8 staff defied Storm Dennis and braved the long journey to Marilleva 1400 in the Dolomites, Italy.

From the moment we entered the Trentino valleys the views were outstanding – little did we know how incredible they would be higher up the pass and then on the slopes.

On the first day, after a very early start, we booted up, gathered our skis and took two gondolas up to Panciana at 1886m, where we were met by our ski instructors for the week. Our abilities ranged from two groups having never skied before, to one set of intermediates and two expert groups. All groups, especially the beginners, made so much progress during the week; by day five, we were all skiing down red runs at least!

Throughout the week we were treated to some stunning weather, skiing below blue skies and in brilliant sunshine on most days: the temperature reached 17*C one afternoon! We followed the same routine of skiing each day, with two hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon, separated by a hearty lunch. We certainly felt some excitement on this trip and shared some highs and lows on the slopes. As a beginner writing this, I can certainly confirm that I endured lots of falling and many decks throughout the week.

However, there was no pressure from the instructors, who were all fantastic, and they allowed us to push ourselves at our own pace, with a gentle nudge from our friends here and there. Despite some injuries, we certainly grew in confidence over our time on the slopes and all learned something, even the advanced skiers.

Off the slopes, we all remained in high spirits, enjoying time in the pool and the gym or playing cards together in the hotel: music, wavy shirts & jokes over dinner were a regular occurrence. Our hotel was brilliant, it even had its own supermarket where we all managed to get some Irn-Bru and copious amounts of tiramisu. The food was delicious, especially the chicken and pork escalopes on the last night.

Thankfully, we managed to leave Italy just before the Coronavirus lockdown in the northern regions of Italy, although I am sure, if given the chance, we would all have wanted to stay. This was a brilliant trip and we are all so grateful to the staff and students for making it so memorable. Thank you especially to Mr Neale and Miss Gritti for all their hard work in planning and leading the trip and for their support both on and off the slopes.

On the next day we began at ‘Start Point’, at the Southern end of the bay, from where we were able to see all the coastal settlements we would be visiting that day. When travelling along the bay, we saw and learnt about the defences in place to prevent the destruction and erosion of the houses in the area, such as sea walls with rock armour, rip rap and gabions. We were able to see the differences between the areas. We were also able to spend time considering the evidence for and against sea level change. After returning to the centre we had a short lesson, then began to relax for the evening with a game of ping pong and even witnessed some of the boys flaunting their cricket skills using Jenga bricks!

On the third day, we walked around Dartmoor, which would have been much more pleasant if the sun were shining. Unfortunately, it was raining and miserable.

Despite this, Dartmoor boasts stark and beautiful moors, huge stone tors, ancient clapper bridges and the famous Dartmoor ponies, all of which allowed us to appreciate the scenic surroundings. Its moorland landscape is characterised by rough grazing land, wooded valleys and distinctive granite tors. Granite is a strong unifying feature across Dartmoor, found forming the distinctive tors of the high moorland and as a key element in many of the features of the enclosed landscape, including stonewalls and buildings. We learnt about the evolution of Dartmoor’s granite landscape and we visited lots of granite tors, which were at the top of very large hills. We enjoyed measuring the tilt of the granite tors using a clinometer, whilst climbing down the edge and trying not to slip into the gaps in between the granite. We also studied the types of weathering that occurred on Dartmoor and also the types of slope processes. The field trip allowed us to build up a picture of the evolution of the Ley over the past few thousand years and also to experience different experimental techniques in order to prepare us for our summer exam.

Final day fatigue set in on our last morning and we were amazed at the quietness in the classroom as the final bits of wisdom were passed on from our leaders, Jon and Rosie. We were told the weather in that area normally consisted of only wind and rain, so we were very fortunate that the sun shone with clear skies, and only a very gentle sea breeze, allowing us a stunning view of the deep blue sea beyond. This was an eventful weekend which ended with our 6 hour journey and many stories to tell once we returned home.

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Year 12 Geography Residential, Slapton Sands

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Geography:

Year 9 London Docklands Trip Maha Alam, 9A

For our Development topic, Year 9 went on a trip to the London Docklands to see how docks have changed since World War Two economically, socially, and environmentally.

There were 7 sites to be visited throughout the day, where we took surveys evaluating the development of the area.

Arriving in London, we all expected a day without complications and any hassle, despite the slight shower of rain we were greeted with after stepping off the train. Our first stop was St Katherine’s Dock, the oldest and smallest basins in London. Once filled with warehouses and boats coming in and out, it had been now transformed into apartments, restaurants, bars and leisure boats.

Not far from the first site, was Butler’s Wharf, directly opposite the Tower Bridge. Places which had previously been warehouses were now turned into expensive apartments due to the grand and spectacular sights of London Bridge. After conducting the second survey, we stopped for lunch and admired the view of the famous landmark. Many students tried to catch the attention of the birds by throwing pieces of bread towards them, whilst others just quietly captured photos of the view.

Next was Hermitage Wall, consisting of modern terraced houses, after which was Wapping, one of the oldest areas of London, having a reputation of being a poor part of the inner city of London. Site 4 was Shadwell, where the Tobacco Dock was situated. There were over 100 empty shop units that were originally earmarked as designer outlet units, however, these shops had been empty for decades.

Compared to the first site these sites were significantly poorer and scored lower in the environmental surveys.

After walking to these sites, we took a train to the 6th site, the Royal Docks, home to London City Airport, University, and IT Centre. This part of a trip was quite memorable as we all saw a plane take off right before our eyes from the famously short take off strip. We next headed towards Canary Wharf, the economic and commercial focus of the entire Docklands.

Students were absolutely captivated by the tall buildings and the atmosphere of this hub of the business and financial world, including the sheer number of people rushing past them. Near Canary Wharf, we viewed the Crossrail under development which would be crossing London from East to West.

Finally, we took a tube at rush hour (not the best experience) to Greenwich pier for a boat trip back up the Thames to London Bridge. On the top deck, we were able to see the buildings of Canary Wharf and the London skyline.

Students were busy taking pictures and videos of the boat ride and others proudly recreated the iconic Titanic pose.

Sadly, making our way to St Pancras Station, we all thought our lovely day in London would be coming to an end: we were wrong. Waiting patiently, many of us were very confused about why the train hadn’t moved for over 30 minutes and then heard that we would be delayed for another hour. Everyone was frantically calling their parents about what had happened. The train finally started to move an hour and a half later towards Nottingham. However, the tragedy did not stop there. An announcement was made that we couldn’t stop at Nottingham which meant that most of the students and the teachers got off at Leicester. We hopped on the next train, with the rail company giving the School first class as compensation. At last we reached Nottingham at 10:30pm.

The London Docklands trip was a trip to be remembered with the crazy weather, falling a lot on the boat and being delayed. It was not only fun but there was a lot to learn as we could physically see the changes and developments made throughout the Docklands. I would like to thank all the Geography teachers for taking Year 9 on a hectic trip to London and putting up with us for extra hours.

History:

Battlefields Trip to The Western Front Mrs I Gillett

The History Department was delighted to be able to offer Year 10 and Year 11 students the opportunity to take part in the World War 1 Battlefields Trip in October 2019.

Based in Ypres, we explored the sites of the Battle of Somme, Essex Farm Cemetery and Dressing Station, Langemark German Cemetery, Tyne Cot British Cemetery, Sanctuary Wood and Tyne Hill. As we embarked on a journey of remembrance and discovery, we were able to put the content learned within History lessons at school into the wider context of the geographical and socioeconomic realities of the time.

This reality of the muddied and waterlogged battlefields and trenches could not have been any more distant whilst we were visiting Essex Farm Cemetery on the 22nd October 2019. We were greeted by radiant sunshine and a mild October breeze and we had the opportunity to explore the place where the famous war poem “In Flanders Fields” was written by the Canadian John McCrae. We stood in the exact position that McCrae was standing in when he was overlooking the cemetery and observed the large number of poppies growing inbetween the wooden crosses of graves for fallen soldiers.

The poem highlights the human cost of the war and, at the same time, it manages to express the tragedy of every single lost life, as it quotes “Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders’ fields”. Our students, for whom this was their first visit to the battlefields, were very touched by their experience and, as we walked through the rows of graves, they encountered a grave which was covered in teddy bears. After a little while they realised that this was a grave for a 15-year old fallen soldier. The shocked “But I am 15 years old” of one of the students was met with silence by us all.

One of the most startling realisations for our students was the fact that so many of the soldiers who had been deployed into action in Europe, and died on the battlefields, remain up to this date missing in action. We visited numerous war cemeteries and memorials and, wherever we went, we found names engraved of soldiers who had fought and died, yet were never found and, therefore, could not receive a soldier’s burial.

At the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, there are 54000 soldiers’ names engraved. This means that there are 54000 families across the world who did not know for certain what had happened to their loved ones and 54000 young men who cannot be remembered at their own grave. We were fortunate enough to be part of the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate whilst in Belgium and this was a truly remarkable and humbling experience. As a school community it has allowed us to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the First World War in a much more immediate and meaningful way.

On the third day of our trip, we had the chance to visit the site of Vimy Ridge. It was here that German forces occupied valuable and strategic coal fields and high ground in a flat area of France. The offensive on Vimy Ridge started on April 9th 1917. The Germans were cleared from their trenches but between April and May a series of violent attacks took place. It was at this battle that Canadian troops won much praise for their bravery and success in winning Vimy Ridge for the Allies. In places, the Canadian and German soldiers were less than 25 metres from one another on the front-line trenches. As a group, we visited these trenches and we were able to explore the underground tunnel system which had been dug by the Allies. As we exited the tunnelling system, we stepped into the trench line that had seen the major Canadian attacks in 1917. What was particularly striking for us was the realisation of the global impact of the war.

Most of our students were aware that countries such as Canada, Australia or India were involved in the fighting of World War 1. However, the difference between knowing and experiencing could not have been any clearer than it was on this day. Immediately, the war was seen on a much larger scale by all of us and it allowed us to reflect on the great impact that this world event had on the lives of millions of people. Being able to see and walk the trenches allowed the students to truly appreciate the vast scale of the fighting and it is clear that the trip had a lasting impact on their understanding of World War 1.

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Opening of the New Food and Nutrition Room and Visit of Chef Laurence Henry Mrs J Stafford

On Tuesday 10th September, Old Nottinghamian and “MasterChef: The Professionals 2018” Winner Laurence Henry (ON 2004-2010) took a trip down memory lane with a visit back to school to officially open our new Food & Nutrition Room.

Laurence spent the day inspiring the students with his culinary skills and showing them how to make some of his own recipes.

Trips & Activities:

Year 8 Activities Day Bake Off Emily-Rose Abbott, 8A For Year 8’s first Activities’ Day, I decided to sign up for the Year 8 Bake Off Challenge. I’d wanted to take part in it since I’d seen the pictures of the previous year’s Bake Off. I was delighted when both I and one of my best friends, Katie Gardner, were selected. The challenge consisted of three parts: The Show-Stopper Challenge – cupcakes in a theme of our choice - The Technical Challenge – a whisked swiss roll and The Signature Bake – a creative bake of our own choice.

A very stressful morning later, we had produced a platter of deadly plant chocolate cupcakes (complete with plant pot cupcake cases (thank you for the loan, Food Department!), an amazing swiss roll and a four-layered strawberry (and other berries left over from the swiss roll) cake. We had developed many skills during the Bake Off, including teamwork, organisation and time-management, as well as improving our baking skills.

After many abandoned ideas, we chose an unusual theme for cupcakes: ‘Deadly Plants’. At Katie’s house, we both prepared cacti, Venus flytraps and thorn-covered black roses, using buttercream and modelling icing. We decided that Katie (an awesome home baker) should bake the swiss roll and she had a great trial run at home. For the signature bake, I decided to bake a sponge cake with mascarpone cream and strawberries. Unfortunately, my trial run did not go nearly as well as Katie’s did. A cake with cream and strawberries falling out of it was the result of over two hours work, an almost broken oven and a kitchen splattered with mascarpone. I never imagined we would ever win the Bake-Off after my trial run flop!

The time for judging had come. Fortunately, everybody managed to cross the uneven car park in the sweltering heat without any cake casualties. We waited anxiously as the other fantastic bakes were judged, until finally our turn came. Nervously, we watched as our bakes were tasted and reviewed. Amazingly, we both received what Mrs Stafford called a ‘Hollywood Handshake’ from Mr Fear, the only ones to get this prestigious honour in the competition!

Finally, Activities Day arrived. We prepared our workspaces and chatted with our opponents (surprisingly, another pair had also chosen a cacti theme!).

Finally, it was time to announce the winners. We watched as the 3rd and 2nd place pairs received their prizes and we never thought our names would be next. Mr Fear read out the “Star Bakers” and we were ecstatic as he read our names out and we received our cookbook prizes. It was a great end to a great day and thank you to everyone involved for making it a moment which I will remember forever!

Following a tour of the School, lunch with Mr Fear and some of his old teachers, Laurence was eager to get on his chef’s whites and quickly get into action. Laurence firstly treated some lucky Year 7s to a food styling lesson with a demonstration and testing session on making some amazing crepes which were beautifully made and decorated. In the afternoon, Laurence then challenged our Year 11 Food students to take part in an exciting 2 hour MasterChef Challenge. Their dishes included a delicious, pan roast white cod and crushed potatoes with an Asian spiced bisque, as well as strawberry and chocolate jaconde torte. Laurence ended his return to school day with an after school cookery master class featuring his signature dish of strawberry parfait dessert. Thanks must go to Chef Laurence, a fantastic opening day for our lovely new Food Room and certainly one to be remembered.

‘I am proud that the school is now teaching such important life skills and the students are given the opportunity to learn to cook so many great meals using healthy and fresh ingredients. I regard food and cooking as an important life skill, one that is really important in the world of junk food and ready meals.

Cooking encompasses Maths, Physics, Biology, Chemistry as well as Art, Design and Business- a true all round subject.’

Laurence Henry (ON 2004-2010)

Year 11 students Sophie, Ritika and Joe wrote the following report of their day: ‘On Tuesday 10th September, the Year 11 food students took part in a MasterChef Challenge, directed by ON Laurence Henry. Split up into random partners, not only did we have to tackle the difficult dishes set by Laurence, but we quickly had to learn how to communicate as a partnership and work together effectively as we were under a lot of time pressure. We watched Laurence make different sections of the dishes and then went back to our benches and attempted to recreate what he did. The first dish was pan roast white cod and crushed potatoes, surrounded by an Asian spiced bisque. Firstly, we had to make the crab and lobster bisque, as it needed to simmer for an hour. This was very different from what we have ever done before as none of us had ever used seafood in our dishes, let alone the seafood bones. Another interesting part was to flambé the bisque, with Laurence’s assistance of course!

As the bisque was simmering, we made a start on the dessert, which was strawberry and chocolate torte. To begin this, we had to make a chocolate Jaconde sponge. As soon as this was in the oven, we had to make a start on the chocolate mousse. At this point, we all became very time pressured and stressed as we had to do about three jobs at once to ensure our dish was completed. We had to make the crushed potatoes, assemble the tortes and put them in the blast chiller, with enough time to set, and pan roast the cod to perfection. Stressful was an understatement. Then, it came down to the important decorating and assembling.

Each pair was doing their utmost to present their dishes the best they could to impress the judges, Headmaster, Mr Fear, Assistant Head, Mrs Simpson, Chef Laurence Henry and the school’s catering manager, Moz. Despite it being one of the most stressful and time pressured things we have ever done, everyone had an amazing experience. Having a “MasterChef: The Professionals” winner taste your food was certainly a privilege. The winners were Sophie and Olly, with runners up Jacob and Dilip and third place went to Joe and Matthew. The winners received a “MasterChef” book and some chocolates so we can continue to create amazing dishes at home. It was certainly a day we will never forget.’

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Trips & Activities:

Academic Success in Chemistry Mr K Heath

The C3L6 Cambridge Chemistry Challenge aims to stretch and challenge students interested in Chemistry and provides an excellent experience for anyone considering taking their studies further.

It is designed to be accessible to Year 12 students, but it takes them significantly beyond the syllabus and encourages them to think about science in the way they would at university.

The paper is a genuine stretch and challenge exercise, aimed at the brightest Lower Sixth Chemists in the UK. This year the papers were sat remotely and it is a huge credit to the students within the Chemistry Department that they were able to attain such impressive results, with 2 Gold (Michael Song, 6C1, Chirag Goyal, 6C1), 4 Silver (Archie Brown, 6B1, Arpan Bhattacharya, 6B1, Hollie Tyler, 6D1, Christine Ho, 6B1) and 10 Copper certificates achieved.

Many of the Year 12 students who took the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge also took part in the Royal Society of Chemistry Olympiad, along with a good number of our top Year 13 Chemists.

The Chemistry Olympiad paper was sat in January, a twohour paper of really challenging Chemistry which is written to stretch the best A Level Chemists across the country.

The preparation and performance of High School chemists was impressive, with 6 students attaining the prestigious Gold Awards (Sean Morrissey-Ralevic, 6F2, Jeffrey Lu, 6C2, Max Loveridge, 6B2, Ahmad Khan, 6A2, Nihit Batra, 6A2 and Peter Langmack, 6C2), whilst 10 attained Silver Awards and a further 10 attained Bronze.

Physics Trip to CERN Dhruv Gupta, 6D2

Particular congratulations to Sean Morrissey-Ralevic who attained one of the highest marks in the country and was invited to the University of Cambridge to take part in the final selection for the UK Chemistry Olympiad team. Unfortunately ‘lockdown’ took this opportunity from Sean, who took part in remote assessments instead, but his performance in this year’s Chemistry Olympiad was absolutely outstanding.

On Tuesday 17th December a group of Year 13 Physicists embarked upon a journey to CERN, one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research.

Situated in the outskirts of Geneva, CERN is the home of the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator 27km in circumference and the culmination of five billion dollars of investment by over a dozen countries.

My particular favourite exhibit was a life-size cross section of ATLAS, one of the experiments along the LHC. Due to the clever use of mirrors, this reflected the true enormity of the 46m long and 25m wide detector.

Following a rather raucous night, we awoke early in the morning to take a tram to the Swiss-French border, the site of CERN. Here, we were welcomed by a senior physicist who initiated our tour of the facilities. Our first stop was the data centre, tasked with the filtering and storage of over a petabyte (a thousand terabytes) of data per second generated by the collision of particles; due to this high volume, the capacity of the average hard-drive in your PC would be filled in a mere millisecond! The true scale of the operation was soon revealed as we gleaned a look at one of the cavernous server rooms in operation in the building.

In the evening we visited the truly enchanting Christmas market at Parc des Bastions in Geneva. Here we were treated to an array of local street food under a golden canopy of light and gentle music, making it easy to lose oneself – in particular, I do remember Jeffrey taking every opportunity to gorge himself!

Following a drive down the aptly named ‘Route Feynman,’ we arrived at the Antimatter Factory – no explanation needed here, the name says it all. Inside we saw ELENA and The Antiproton Decelerator, which are used to produce low energy antiprotons for the investigation of antimatter.

Despite reading about the construction of these machines beforehand, it is still difficult to comprehend the enormity of the 35-tonne superconducting magnets used to bend the beam of particles as they circulate at 99.9% of the speed of light. Tearing our eyes from the intricate lattice of wiring and tubing, we next enjoyed a reenergising lunch at the CERN refectory. The remainder of our time here was spent exploring the numerous museums dotted around the site.

On our final day we spent the morning wandering the foggy streets of Geneva to do some last-minute Christmas shopping. After treating myself to a roasted marshmallow hot chocolate, we visited the History of Science Museum, which featured several articles of scientific equipment such as the infamous Wimshurst Machine, used to store and release electrical charge. As the day progressed, the dense veil of fog lifted, revealing a truly spectacular vista across azure Lake Geneva to the icy crags of Mont Blanc.

Sadly, this was to be our final site in Switzerland and we soon began our journey home. Despite the mysterious vanishing of our coach from the airport, we arrived back at the High School safely. Undeniably, our visit proved a great inspiration to us all, demonstrating what is capable through peaceful collaboration by the best minds in the world.

My heartfelt thanks to Mr Morgan, Miss Gritti and Mr Pinkett for organising this unforgettable experience.

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CCF Contingent Commander’s Report Lieutenant-Commander P A Allison The Combined Cadet Force continues to provide outstanding co-curricular opportunities for the students of the School through military sponsored training which, at its core, holds high personal standards, cadet leadership and active participation as paramount.

Section Activities’ Days have also given the cadets experience of MOD establishments and training areas. In February, the Navy section spent two days in Portsmouth and had the pleasure of seeing the new addition to the Navy fleet, the very impressive Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.

The Cadet-led Contingent, which has become the hallmark of the CCF in recent years, continued to provide excellent opportunities for our Year 12 and 13s to influence the training of the younger cadets. An excellent NCO team, led by Cadet Warrant Officer Sam Davis, provided engaging activities and showed themselves to be excellent role models for all 210 cadets in the Contingent. A large number of cadets this year have attended CCF courses to enhance their skills, many signing up for Junior and Senior Leadership courses but some also pursuing courses to enhance their portfolios such as sailing, shooting and life saving, to name but a few. Unfortunately, a large number of courses, including the annual Army Camp were cancelled due to COVID 19. The cadets, however, will not miss out on these courses, with many being re-scheduled for later in the year.

Beyond the Monday sessions, the Cadets participated in a wide range of public duties, including the Nottingham Club’s Armistice Dinner, the Nottingham City Remembrance Parade and the Albert Ball Parade at Nottingham Castle. All of these events put our cadets on public view and they, in the best traditions of Nottingham High School, conducted themselves superbly.

Section staff and their NCO teams have continued to lead a wide variety of training for the junior members. Cadets participated in leadership, first aid, drill, field craft, fitness, music and water based activities and a whole host of other practical training during their Monday evening sessions.

Cadets have also completed various elements of the CCF national syllabus which covers many other aspects of military training across all three sections.

The Cadets and staff of the CCF continue to impress me with their dedication and high standards and it is down to the efforts of the staff and cadet leadership of the Contingent that the CCF has grown over recent years.

My sincere thanks go to the departing cadet leadership team, Sam Davis (CWO) and the Heads of Section: Sean Morrisey - Ralevic (Navy) William Trease (Army) and Jacob Handley (RAF). I have thoroughly enjoyed my third year as Contingent Commander and I look forward to seeing the CCF grow from strength to strength in future years.

It was also very sad for the contingent to say goodbye to C Sgt Poole, who retired from school service in August. We thank him for his fantastic contribution to Nottingham High School CCF and wish him a happy and healthy retirement with his wife, Jackie.

CCF Army Section Report William Trease, 6C2 I am pleased with the progress that has been made within the Army Section this year, following a curriculum focused heavily on fieldcraft, weapons handling and team building.

Some of the cadets attended further courses outside of the School CCF and I would encourage other cadets to find out more about these unique opportunities.

The year began with many of the older cadets adjusting to our new roles and preparing to give lessons on patrols, battle drills and ambushes. Watching an ambush on the Adventure Training Club was a highlight of the term, although this required a swift apology afterwards! We followed swiftly onto a programme of weapons handling, ensuring that all the cadets were proficient at cleaning rifles and understood marksmanship principles ready for Field Days and shooting sessions on Monday evenings, mixed in with First Aid. We finished off the year with Command Tasks that encouraged team building within the Section and provided a welcome break from lessons. This was the first time the Army Section had focused on Command Tasks in the past few years and I was happy with the enthusiasm of the cadets and the organisation of the NCOs.

It was a pleasure to welcome the new cadets in January.

They grasped new skills and concepts quickly. Although only having a brief introduction to the CCF this year, I am sure that the strong leadership that is to follow will ensure that they will not miss out on the many of the great experiences that are on offer.

On behalf of the Year 13 NCOs I would like thank Lt Cdr Allison, C/Sgt Poole, 2nd Lts Manders and Christie and the other members of staff for their support over the year. It was a shame not to have a final parade this year to say goodbye properly.

I wish the cadets moving into new positions of leadership the best of luck. I trust that they will maintain the strong standards held within the CCF and that the younger cadets will enjoy the rest of their career within the Army Section.

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Combined Cadet Force:

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Combined Cadet Force:

RAF Report Jacob Handley, 6E2

Despite the abrupt end to my role as Flight Sergeant for the RAF section, I believe the section has come on leaps and bounds within the Combined Cadet Force at Nottingham High School this year. We have seen a new batch of Year 9 cadets who have had their first taste of what the section is like and I hope they continue to strive to become excellent communicators, followers and, perhaps most crucially, leaders. A handful of cadets have taken up their first leadership courses this year as well, with some gaining their Bronze Level Leadership badges and beginning their path towards passing the Air Cadet Leadership Course, a challenging yet very rewarding award. We have also had success in music, with some RAF cadets joining the Drum Corps and the CCF Band – the practice paid off and they sounded great.

sergeants, Rahil Lakhman and JJ Steele, who have been a great asset to the section and who have been able to plan and run things very smoothly. Flight Lieutenant Duckett, Miss McCullough and Sergeant Allen gave up so much of their time to help our section become the best it possibly can be and I wish Miss McCullough the best of luck in her officer training. Colour Sergeant Poole was a great help as well by not only keeping the CCF as a whole running like a well-oiled machine, but also helping me to become the person I am today which I am very much grateful for. Lastly, I would like to say thank you and good luck to the entire section. What you have and will achieve are worth every moment spent on Monday evenings and I hope I was able to encourage and empower you in the same way I was influenced when I was in your shoes.

I would like to thank a few people who have made this an enjoyable year in the RAF Section. Firstly, my two

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Community Action

Royal Navy Report Sean Morrissey-Ralevic, 6F2

Mr G Beattie

The 2019-2020 year got off to a rough start for the Royal Navy Section, with the untimely departure of Lt Keys, who had been the life and soul of the RN for many years. His passion was certainly missed, but it gave myself and the other NCOs an opportunity to step up and take on even more responsibility than the years before. This allowed us to start changing the way the RN operated in order to integrate the younger and older years together for an enhanced learning experience.

At a time when the value of social engagement and mutual aid has never been clearer, it is inspiring to reflect on the array of activities that our Community Action group has been involved in this year.

A great deal of our time this year was spent on developing the vital skills for a RN cadet and, also, preparing the older cadets for positions of leadership and responsibility. This included teaching general RN knowledge such as ranks and rates, History of the Royal Navy, methods of communication, identification of RN ships and many other areas. A key, more practical skill, that we were able to practise, was the art of ropework. This is extremely important, not only in the RN, but also in general life, and that is why I put a lot of emphasis on it this year. We finished the year with an orienteering competition involving the whole Section, split into teams that had members from all year groups. The competition was meant to be a light-hearted affair, but in the RN we always strive to be the best we can be and that resulted in a very close-run, yet still enjoyable, activity.

The range of activities available to the cadets outside of Monday evenings has always been a great way to develop skills we are unable to teach at School, and to experience the lives of those serving in the Royal Navy. A particular favourite this year has to be the sailing we did at Rutland Water. For many cadets this was their first-time sailing, yet the determination and willingness to learn served them well as they gradually picked up an invaluable new skill.

Also, and equally as important, everyone had a very good time, including myself (apart from when I was smacked in the head by a boom!). This trip was enlightening for me in as much as it showed me that the best way to teach the cadets

was to make sure that they were having a good time while doing the activity. We strove to continue this ethos throughout all the sessions that we planned for the cadets.

Another memorable trip was the visit to Portsmouth, where the cadets were lucky enough to see HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Seeing such an iconic aircraft carrier was an amazing experience and will certainly be a fond memory for the cadets.

Of course, the CCF is not all about fun and games and certainly, for me, one of the highlights this year was the Remembrance Day parade. At such a humbling and emotional memorial of those who lost their lives in war, it gave me great pride to lead the section as we marched through Nottingham. Having crowds surrounding you, cheering you on is, and I’m sure the cadets will agree, a feeling like nothing else. I will cherish that memory for many years to come.

Overall, the cadets have progressed in leaps and bounds and I, as Head of Section, am very proud of the hard work they have put in and hope they will continue to push themselves. Also, there are several people without whom I would certainly have not made it past a few days as Head of Section. I would like to give my thanks to Col/Sgt Poole, Lt Cdr Allison and Lt Adshead for their much-appreciated assistance during this year. I would also like to thank RSM Davis, and the Heads of the RAF and Army. I believe that our meetings and close communication throughout this year have not only benefited each Section, but also the contingent as a whole. Finally, I would like to thank the NCOs of the RN whose commitment, punctuality and help were second-to-none. The RN has given me many great memories and I am confident that the section will continue to thrive in the coming years and firmly assert its position as the best section in the contingent.

Pupils in Year 9, 10 and 11 have embraced the opportunity to develop many skills – from event-planning and promotion to supporting the learning of younger pupils – and a diverse range of citizens have benefited from the scope of the programme. In addition, the contribution of our Year 12-13 students should not be overlooked. What follows are only some of the highlights.

Back in October, six of our Sixth-formers attended a trip to Castleton, Derbyshire with 30 pupils from two local primary schools: Huntingdon Academy and St Ann’s Wells. This adventure required abundant energy, enthusiasm and organisational prowess, with our students supervising outdoor activities, such as climbing and rafting, and overseeing games and a disco in the evening.

Community Action had direct involvement in both Activities’ Days this year. In September, you could find our pupils in the Sports Hall helping to stage a mini-olympics for pupils from Edna G. Olds Primary School, while in February our pupils undertook various activities: some donned their gardening gear for a day of digging and planting at the iconic St Ann’s Allotments; some adopted the role of teaching assistant at Edna G. Olds and Huntingdon Academy; some helped to orchestrate our Music Extravaganza, in which Year 5 pupils from Edna G. Olds worked with assorted percussion instruments to create a carnival atmosphere in the recital hall (Mr Beattie was thrilled to overhear one of the younger pupils proclaim, “this is the best day ever”).

Another significant development at the start of 2020 was a newly-established partnership with the Guru Nanak Temple in Sherwood, which enabled us to expand our Sixth Form Community Action provision. Four Year 12 pupils visited the temple to help cook over 50 portions of pakoras, burritos and rice pudding, before serving them to the homeless community on a very cold evening in Nottingham city centre. On a separate occasion, Year 10 and 11 pupils cooked up over 60 portions of vegetarian chilli, flatbread and flapjack that were served to those most in need.

Further initiatives this year included two highly successful whole-school collections for the Bestwood and Bulwell Foodbank – one at Christmas and one at the beginning of lockdown; an NSPCC Toys Collection, which led to pupils delivering a number of gifts that the charity could then distribute to disadvantaged children and pupils carrying out various voluntary roles for at least an hour a week, from assisting in Oxfam shops to volunteering for St John Ambulance. Finally, who could forget the £3015 raised for Children in Need, especially in light of the lunchtime spectacle of Mr Spedding and Mr Heath throwing their weight around in a Teacher Sumo Wrestling competition.

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27 OPTIONS

OPTIONS

34th Nottingham High School Scout Group Dr K E Linton

It is fair to say that the scout troop’s first year without Mr Thomas did not go entirely to plan - who knew that one of his many duties was keeping a global pandemic from interrupting our programme! Despite these challenges, both the Scouts and Explorers made the most of the time available to them before March happened.

The autumn term began with the Autumn Activities’ Day for the ESU where we embarked upon a two day canoeing expedition on the River Trent. We were delighted with the wall-to-wall sunshine and the first day was appreciated by all, apart perhaps, from Mr Williams who was subject to a merciless capsizing in the final minutes of the day as Dan Wattis and Koby Ryan inconveniently ‘lost control’ of their canoe and accidently tipped Mr Williams into the Trent! Spirits remained high that evening as we enjoyed a hearty Fish and Chip supper while camping at Shardlow and we awoke fully fuelled for the final day’s paddling back to Nottingham.

The next big event of the term was our traditional firework party, which was again a great success, despite the mud!

The teamwork of leaders and parents in preparing the usual feast was particularly impressive in the circumstances, and the fireworks were spectacular and set the tone for an exciting programme for the remainder of the term.

This year we wanted to move the emphasis in the ESU programme away from D of E expeditions and over to more adventurous activities. With the intention of equipping the Explorers with the skills they would need for future ‘wild camping’ expeditions, the year started by teaching knife skills. The ESU excelled at whittling all manner of ‘amusingly shaped’ tent pegs, fire-starting sticks (of various efficiencies) and one particularly terrifying wooden gnome. The programme then moved on to look at various techniques for building fires as well as ways to cook food without using utensils. Some of these (putting chocolate in a banana, and then placing the banana in some hot coals) were successful. Others (hollowing out a melon, filling the shell with water, and trying to boil an egg…) were less so.

As well as preparing risk assessments that accommodated knives, fire and food poisoning, we also included falls from height as we went to the Nottingham Climbing Centre! The ESU demonstrated considerable bravery (possibly more than the leaders….) in tackling some of the tougher routes under the expert tutelage of the Climbing Centre staff and the troop’s own qualified climbing instructor.

Over the course of the ‘in school’ year the scouts took part in a range of Friday afternoon activities. The Scouts got wet in the school pool, competing in team woggle races,

battled to score goals in water polo and contesting to be the team able to recover the most submerged rings. Swimming skills weren’t the only skills that the scouts developed over the year though. The skills in the kitchen were improved - or at least trialled - though the year, including activities where the troop had to research recipes to cook from around the world, organise the ingredients needed and then go on to make their Haute Cuisine. Some delicious food came out of this - most of the time - to the delight of many of the scout leaders who naturally had to judge to assess proficiency. Problem solving skills were honed when the scouts had to solve a series of riddles and challenges in a fantasy style quest, which had them racing for clues around the School. Orienteering skills were developed in lessons where the scouts learnt map reading and bearings. The scouts even improved their putting skills at The Lost City Adventure Golf, improving their par whilst also searching for Inca gold on the Temple Trail.

One of the first big challenges for the Scouts was their first Day Hike in the Peak District at the start of December. We walked along beautiful Monsal Dale and enjoyed the views from Monsal Head, once again in sunshine. The Scouts performed admirably, coping with a challenging route well.

The autumn term rounded off with our Christmas Party, AGM and the investiture of our Scouts and Explorers, celebrating the successes of our group and welcoming new members.

In the spring term the Explorer Scouts began to prepare for their D of E expeditions, deciding to embark upon a hybrid expedition involving both canoeing and walking. The practice expedition was to be in Snowdonia and an exciting route was planned taking in some of the highest peaks in the park, including Carnedd Dafydd standing over one thousand metres. Unfortunately, lockdown was just a couple of weeks before our expedition was to happen, but some excellent planning means the Explorers are ready to contend with the mountains of Wales in the future. The spring term also brought the gauntlet of the annual Night Hike where the Scouts and Explorers contended with the muddy and disorienting fields of the Vale of Belvoir. Night navigation brings unique challenges and many groups were observed walking back and forth through the fields trying to relocate themselves. Ultimately, the groups all worked well together, honed their skills and completed their routes successfully.

Finally, muddy boots were removed and the final checkpoint of the evening with pizza and chips was enjoyed by all.

I would like to thank the whole leadership team for providing a diverse and exciting programme this year for all of the Scouts.

We look forward to offering a full programme for the whole year and for the Scouts to build on the skills they have developed.

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CLUBS & ACTIVITIES

Clubs & Activities:

The Journalism Club Mr R Kelsey The Journalism Club has had another really interesting year and we have learnt quite a few skills along the way. Our absolute highlight of the year came when we were given the opportunity to visit Sky Studios in London. It was a brilliant day and the students very much enjoyed the experience. We were able to have a look around the campus and were able to film our own news report on a natural disaster. Students were given a range of roles from camera operation to editing.

The whole day was a great success and we hope to return there again in the future. It is really important for the students to see where journalism could take them in their careers.

The other big change this year came with the format of our journalism output. The blog format is much easier to update more often and to put a wide range of different material on.

This year students have really jumped at the opportunity to do more video based pieces. Some of the best material produced in this way came when the school took part in mock elections. Each candidate was given a grilling on their policies and their responses were filmed and put on the blog before students were able to vote. As ever, students are very much aware of the big stories from around the world and have been following them and creating either short videos commenting on the news or writing pieces that summarise them for the school community.

The wider engagement from the school community on the journalism blog has been good, we have had good responses when we have run Christmas card competitions and when interviewing the student leadership team about their interests and ambitions. This is something we hope to build on in the future.

Something that we started to do just before school lockdown happened was to create a series of videos and conduct interviews with students who had a particular skill or interest. This is something that we hope to continue doing when we return back in September. We are also very keen to find out how students are coping with the return to school life and the highs and lows they faced when working from home. We hope to continue to grow as a group and continue to raise awareness of issues students face.

Teaching and Learning Focus 2019-20: Metalearning Mrs A Simpson Following the success of our focus on Stretch and Challenge last year, this academic year has seen the Senior School turn its attention to Metalearning, or “learning how to learn”. It has been our goal to empower students to become active in the process of their own learning and to model to them what good “learning” actually looks like.

Through targeted assemblies, student training sessions and short bursts in everyday lessons, students of all age groups have developed considerable metacognitive skills, which we believe will equip them well for examinations and beyond. Retrieval Practice tasks have become commonplace across the School, with teachers using starter activities and mid-lesson tasks to ask students to recall information from last term or last year’s course of study. The metacognitive benefits of this are clear; digging deep in one’s brain to recall information may feel uncomfortable, but over time, it helps the brain to forge connections and retain the material more effectively.

Teachers have deployed careful “modelling” strategies to demonstrate their thought processes in tackling problems and exam questions, thus enabling students to follow their processes and emulate them in their own work.

We have not shied away from teaching students the core theory behind the Metalearning focus area. Students are now familiar with “Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve” and know how to deploy spaced practice to improve their retention of concepts over time. Year 10 students have been given clear guidance on how to translate this theory in a practical way to best support them in their GCSE studies, and should have made a summary sheet for revision purposes at the end of each taught module this year for every subject they study. Such materials will stand them in excellent stead for Year 11, during which the mock examinations come around rapidly after a hectic autumn term.

It is certainly the case that the academic year of 2019-20 has had its challenges, and students have worked hard to manage their learning in the very different environment of digital home learning. The academic independence they have gained from this, coupled with their newfound knowledge on how best to learn, is sure to be of practical use for their next phase of education. We hope, at least, to have tackled that perennial problem known to parents and teachers alike when our charges exclaim; “I just don’t know how to revise.” Certainly, at Nottingham High School, our students not only know how to revise, but crucially, why certain methods are more effective.

Young Enterprise Mrs V J Wicks and Mrs R E Wheeler

Thankfully this year, the teams managed to submit their Young Enterprise presentations and business plans just before the lockdown was enforced which has ensured another successful year for our Year 12 students.

Back in September, over 60 students successfully applied for the competition and the teams appointed the following students as Managing Directors, Euan Lim, Sriya Chinta, Chirag Goyal, James Gandee and Razeen Surtee.

Entrepreneurial activities got underway very quickly in order to raise funds for further projects down the line. Team Colourholic were very successful in producing and selling school logo bobble hats using a local embroidery company located in the Lace Market. As a result of effective and efficient sales and marketing, they sold over £1000 worth of stock.

Teams Fortia and Cultivate attended a number of external Christmas Markets selling scarves and bags of sweets to raise further capital for their main projects.

The spring term was focused on preparing for the Market Day, held here at Nottingham High School.

Supported by their Business Advisors, the teams created a main product:

TEAM FORTIA

Ready Steady University – a cookbook aimed at students leaving for University

TEAM GANDEE

Eco friendly products including bamboo coffee cups, re-useable straws and even bamboo toilet roll

TEAM CULTIVATE

Grow your own herb pots with recipe ideas included

TEAM COLOURHOLIC

A wellbeing colouring book for adults

TEAM DYNASTY

Seed pencils – pencils that when finished with can be planted to grow into plants such as Basil, Lavender and Forget Me Nots

The business plans and presentations were, this year, judged remotely by a panel of judges made up of local business people. In the Nottingham Finals, we had major successes picking up the following awards; Team Cultivate won best Marketing, Team Fortia won best Financial Management and Team Dynasty won best Teamwork. Team Colourholic and Team Dynasty have also won through to the Regional Finals, again to be judged remotely.

Once again, a huge thank you to all the students who competed this year and also to the Business Advisors who turned up every Tuesday afternoon to support them.

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CLUBS & ACTIVITIES

Clubs & Activities:

Food Glorious Food Mrs J Stafford

Our food clubs continue to be proving very popular with students and it was great to see them continue them over lockdown with our highly successful Virtual Bake Offs and Fakeaway Challenges.

Year 7 & 8 Food Club The Year 7 & 8 food clubs are designed to inspire students with a wider interest in the subject to further develop practical skills and learn more about where our food comes from.

This year, our activities ranged from Sushi Masterclasses, baking cakes to raise funds for The Rainbow Children’s Hospice, to preparing hot meals for the homeless and supporting the amazing work of The Guru Nanak Charity in Nottingham. We promote the use of local and seasonal ingredients and like to cover a range of topics and celebrations including Pancake Day, making homemade elderflower cordial with foraged elderflowers and celebration Christmas and Easter cookery.

Supporting Guru Nanak Mission in Nottingham Mrs J Stafford

The Food and Nutrition Department and Community Action have been working very hard developing a new outreach partnership with the Guru Nanak Mission.

Ready Steady University In the autumn term, we were delighted to launch our Y13 Food Club based upon the idea of Ready Steady University. Students were given the opportunity to develop practical skills and impress new friends at University with their amazing new cooking abilities. They learnt how to cook up some great student staples and treats that were tasty, nutritional, affordable and very impressive!

The project continued to develop into a virtual elective course during lock down and involved them creating their very own classic Fakeaway menus in an attempt to recreate their favourite takeaways at home. We wish all our outgoing Year 13 students all the best and hope they are able to use the new skills they have developed in future life, whatever their chosen path.

The Mission is a local based charity where volunteers prepare, cook and serve nutritious hot meals 3 times a week to up to 70 homeless and vulnerable people in Nottingham City Centre. The Food is cooked at 3 different Gurdwara locations across Nottingham and is served up in Albert Street outside Marks and Spencer’s at 7.30pm every Monday Wednesday and Thursday.

The Year 8 Food Club were then given the challenging task to slice, dice, prepare and cook all the tagines over lunch club and get them ready to casserole later on in the day.

The students were amazing and I would have loved to have kept them with me all afternoon! The tagines were delicious, wholesome, hot and hearty and cooked to perfection.

Thank you to all the students in the Year 8 Food Club.

On a very cold December night we took some of our sixth form volunteers to cook alongside regular volunteers from The Guru Nanak Mission at The Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara.

The menu for the evening was a healthy, wholesome vegetable soup, chapattis and an amazing cardamom rice pudding, which we can all vouch was absolutely delicious. This was an incredibly rewarding, but humbling, experience which gave us an idea of the scale of the project we had just put ourselves and the School forward for.

At 7pm the tagines were carefully transported in large insulated food containers to Albert Street and served up by teachers and staff from both Nottingham High School and the regular volunteers from Guru Nanak Mission. It was an exceptionally cold night and it certainly made us all think how lucky we were to be going home to a warm house and evening meal. Special thanks also to Katie for offering to drive the School Estates van and to all the students who also donated a gift wrapped selection box to distribute with our food on the night.

The Guru Nanak Mission asked us to provide the hot meal for approximately 75 people and we chose to make a Vegetable Tagine from a popular recipe currently served in our Sixth Form Brasserie. We wanted to get as many students and staff involved in the project and we aimed to take responsibility for the full cook on the following Wednesday’s session in Nottingham City Centre.

Moz Lynch, our catering manager, very kindly donated us the recipe, ingredients and cooking utensils and Jodie Emerton and Sam Pollard, our catering suppliers, donated all the fresh vegetables and biodegradable packaging free of charge.

This has been one of the most worthwhile and rewarding projects that we have had the privilege to have been involved with. Both the Food and Nutrition Department and Community Action are really looking forward to continuing our work and support with The Guru Nanak Project sometime soon in the future.

A special thank you to all those staff and students who kindly volunteered their time and energy to get this fantastic and worthwhile project up and running.

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Matilda Cordy

KEY WORKER CAKES

NOTTINGHAM HIGH SCHOOL VIRTUAL

During the Easter holiday I enjoyed playing with my friends at school and having the chance to meet some new teachers. On one of the days we met Mrs Stafford who took us along to the Food and Nutrition room to take part in our very own Easter Bake Off in School. Mrs Stafford showed us some cake decorating skills, starting with how to ice a cupcake. When we had done this we were allowed to decorate our cupcakes using Mini-Eggs and Skittles - this was really fun! Some of the other boys and girls used the Skittles to make rainbow decorations while others used the Mini-Eggs to make their cakes look like nests; I decorated mine using a mixture of both. At the end Mr Abdy and Mr Cordy had to judge which cakes looked the best which they found very difficult. At the end of the day we were allowed to take our decorated cupcakes home to share with our family and they were delicious! Thank you, Mrs Stafford for a really fun morning. I’m excited to learn more Food and Nutrition skills when I am a bit older.

Winner of Senior School Virtual Bake Off Jessica Doherty, 6B2 During the first week of lockdown, it was announced there would be a virtual Nottingham High School Bake Off. When I saw this, I thought it was perfect- I was very bored, needed a new challenge and love baking!

While Remote Learning, our Food and Nutrition Department challenged staff and students of all ages to a Bake Off competition from their own homes. Each week there was a different challenge to try out and the competition very quickly became a very enjoyable highlight of our virtual school week during lockdown. Mr Fear, Mrs Simpson and Mrs Stafford had the very difficult decisions of selecting the weekly winners and awarding the prizes.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who took part in the competition and contributed to its huge success over the summer term. There were so many stories and genuine acts of kindness behind many of the entries and it was a real pleasure to be part of the competition.

The first challenge was pizza week. I was having this for dinner anyway so just made a standard pizza with a few swirls on to make it look more like a competition entry.

After seeing the results, it was very clear the standard was extremely high and a normal dinner wouldn’t be enough!

As a competitive person, I knew I needed to up my game.

The following challenge was Easter cupcakes; I enjoyed using icing to make Easter themed toppings which is something I hadn’t done before. I also donated the cakes to the NHS, which were greatly appreciated, and allowed me to feel as though I was doing something to help people at this tough time.

Over the next few weeks there was a variety of different tasks which required me to learn new skills and challenge my deeply buried creative flair! My favourite challenge was the final week: afternoon tea. I created a Mad Hatter’s tea party making as many items out of meringue and pastry as I could and making decorations to go with it.

Baking on this industrial scale was definitely a first for me and it was a real challenge not to eat it all as I went along!

Although this competition was born out of difficult and chaotic circumstances, it was great fun and has encouraged me to take up baking again. The worry surrounding whether my cake would turn out how I had imagined, and managing to get my hands on the ingredients for next week’s challenge, such as flour and yeast, was also a pleasant replacement for the stress of A levels! I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it was definitely a delicious highlight of lockdown for me.

Creative Arts

C R E AT I V E A R T S

CLUBS & ACTIVITIES

Easter Holiday Club Food and Nutrition School

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Drama 2019-20

Mrs C V Govinden

Drama is a much-loved cornerstone of life at Nottingham High School. It is a popular subject in the academic curriculum and forms the backbone of extra-curricular activity within the School.

The Addams Family Mrs T Worsley

All Pugsley wanted was to be hurt by his big sister, but she was too busy making plans with her fiancé, Lucas Beineke, a role that Thomas Bedforth characterised with flair and charisma. The ensemble number ‘One Normal Night’ was where this talented cast excelled, and it also saw the audience be first introduced to Lucas and his ‘normal’ parents, Malcolm and Alice. Thomas Catton skilfully illustrated Malcolm, demonstrating a stuffy father figure who was also an exasperated husband to his rhyming wife, Alice. In support, Ellie Molloson excelled in her superb portrayal of Alice, leading to the character’s very honest and frank ‘Full Disclosure’ at the end of the first act.

After the Ancestors are locked out of their home, the family crypt, they must help Uncle Fester to ensure that the course of true love runs smoothly. This challenge was no mean feat with a brother trying to sabotage dinner, a father trying to keep his daughter’s secret, a mother losing her daughter, a Grandma (a role delivered with relish by Lois Tolley) who does not appear to be anyone’s mother, and two ‘normal’ adults realising that they have changed into people they no longer recognise. Link all that with Uncle Fester falling in love with the moon, a crossbow and an arrow, Morticia’s song of hope, ‘Just Around the Corner’, and you have the entertainment for the evening!

The mysterious home in which The Addams Family live was carefully and creatively brought to life (or death) by the highly talented Nottingham High School Drama Department.

From the first notes played by the pit band in the graveyard, under the mind control of Chris Toon, to the last notes sung by the ensemble in the closing number ‘Move Towards The Darkness’, the entire performance was firstclass. Barney McNamara as Gomez held the audience’s attention from his opening line in ‘When You’re An Addams’, with every quip and joke paced perfectly, and sung every song with such a depth of understanding of the father wishing to do his best for his wife and his daughter, yet generally failing at both. Emily Brown played the role of Morticia with the fervour of a forgotten wife and a mother out of touch with her daughter’s ‘Secrets’.

They both excelled at holding the family together through the trials and tribulations of love and loss, evidenced in ‘Where Did We Go Wrong’, with extended family falling in love and growing up. This brings me to congratulate Matt Robyns-Landricombe for his remarkable representation of Uncle Fester, managing to get the whole audience rooting for his love for the moon. He certainly stole the audience’s hearts in his pitchperfect solo ‘The Moon and Me’!

Pugsley was brilliantly brought to life by Mitchell Ryan as a teenage boy confused by the changes in his big sister, Wednesday, whose gruesome antics and frolics were proficiently depicted by Kay Solomonides.

Workshops

All four workshops were incredibly inspirational, fostering our students to grow in stature and aptitude throughout the day.

Meanwhile the Year 11 students were frantically preparing their final practical performances, where they were required to present their interpretation of an extract from a published play. The challenging plays that our Year 11 students selected were Find Me by Olwen Wymark and Blackout by James Anderson, offering an additional evening of creativity for our Nottingham High School audience. A cast of Year 10, 11, 12 and 13 students performed an open-book reading of The Merry Wives of Windsor for The Nottingham Shakespeare Society, while a further evening of theatre was provided by the A-level Drama and Theatre examination performance, where the students performed an extract from Martin Mcdonagh’s profoundly disturbing and intense The Pillowman.

The A-level cohort were extraordinary in their execution of Mcdonagh’s work, utilising Berkoff’s ‘Total Theatre’ performance style to bring to life the gruesome text for the audience.

In conjunction with the Music Department, the studio production of 13: The Musical offered a further performance opportunity for our aspiring actors and the Year 9 and Year 10 cast tackled the sassy narrative with panache. Directed by Mrs Robertson, alongside Year 12 students Matthew RobynsLandricombe, Ellie Molloson and Emily Brown, as well as Dr Yates, this kinetic, high-powered musical saw the audience in the Les Wilkinson Drama Studio erupt with laughter.

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London Co-Curricular Theatre Trip Ella Whittingham (6C1), Lois Tolley (6E1) and Matthew Robyns-Landricombe (6D1)

After a somewhat hectic rush to London after school, we arrived at the Phoenix Theatre where we would be seeing the new musical ‘Come From Away’. Despite the many awards that the show has been nominated for and won, a lot of us knew little about the show so we didn’t know what to expect.

The one-act musical begins its real-life story in a small town in Newfoundland, Canada, called Gander where, during the wake of 9/11, 7000 diverted air passengers were grounded. Although being small, the Newfoundland community welcomed these ‘come from aways’ into their lives and displayed great generosity and kindness to these thousands of strangers. We were blown away not only by the outstanding vocals and the actors’ ability to pull off the unusual Newfoundland accent, but also the convincing portrayal of the multiple roles that each actor took on and the simple yet evocative and versatile set design.

The vibrant soundtrack (accompanied by the onstage seven-piece band) and script had us laughing, crying and clapping along all in the space of 1 hour and 40 minutes as we got invested into the emotional story that we previously knew little about, despite the worldwide coverage of the devastating event that preceded it. We left the theatre feeling uplifted by this feel-good yet moving show, and wondering if the rest of the trip would live up to it.

The next morning, we hopped on the tube to Covent Garden where we had a guided tour of the London Coliseum, which houses the English National Opera. It was pointed out to us that the facade of the Coliseum was very much inspired by Roman architecture and design, while still maintaining some aspects of Victorian architecture.

The atrium of the building was covered in Roman-style illustrations and mosaic, but had recently been renovated to incorporate modern aspects of design. The gift shop, for example, was an image of sleek glass and bright lighting, which elegantly juxtaposed the more vintage atrium. This theme was repeated throughout the building, with grand old-style staircases and halls leading to thoughtfully upgraded bars and dining rooms.

We learnt about the history of the building, such as the variety shows put on before the building was taken over by a new owner and converted into an opera house.

We were shown how the building had been renovated to maintain the charming old atmosphere while upgrading the more outdated decor to appeal to a younger and more modern audience. We were brought into the main theatre, and were stunned to find that only one of the 2359 seats had an obstructed view of the stage. When it was built in 1904, every seat had a clear view, but due to a structural renovation in the theatre in the 2000s, one seat now has a slightly obstructed view of the stage.

We were shown the inner workings of the theatre, including the dressing rooms, the cafeteria, and the musician’s pit. It was thrilling to see the costumes backstage and the set being built for the show that night – It was a wonderful look at the inner workings of the theatre world.

To see the time and effort that is put into every show was amazing – it truly made us all look at theatre performances in a different light. For the audience, it is merely a few hours of entertainment; for the numerous stagehands, actors, management staff, maintenance staff and musicians, it is an endless job to put on a show (and sometimes different shows) night after night.

The final part of our trip was a trip to see a double bill of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Rough For Theatre II’ and ‘Endgame’ at the Old Vic Theatre. This was a treat for all involved, with many being highly excited to see Daniel Radcliffe embody the roles of “A” and “Clov” respectively. The first of the double bill was originally written in French and was called ‘Fragment de Théâtre II’. Beckett discarded this work after writing it in the late 1950s/early 1960s. However, thankfully it was revived and we were able to see it performed. Very short, the piece is a succinct take on the worthiness of a person’s life and how one can measure the morality of people. “C” is stood on a ledge about to end his life and “A” and “B” are the two characters who decide his fate.

In classic Beckett style, the succinct work was darkly humorous. This piece was much enjoyed, mostly due to its ability to use comedy to highlight the darkness of what one is actually being shown, although we laughed after jokes occurred, when our minds reminded us of what had been said, we were shocked by the darkness of it – a testament to the skill of Beckett’s writing.

The next play was also originally written in French. Originally called ‘Fin de Partie’, this 1957 work has divided audiences since its first premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in London in the late 1950s.

Beckett’s sceptics would say that the play is about nothing, but it is in this nothingness, that Beckett’s dramatic intentions are achieved.

Historically reflective of its post war conception, the play draws on the human brutalism that had emerged in the wake of nuclear annihilation.

The curtains open to a virtually bare stage, graced solely by a central armchair and a window on a bare wall, and this stems from Beckett’s fascination with minimalism and his intentions to display a true universal nothingness. The play follows a blind man (Hamm), who was played by Alan Cummings, and his servant (Clov), who was played by Daniel Radcliffe, swapping evidence of personal and universal collapse amid interruptions from Hamm’s aged parents who live in dustbins. The stagecraft of both Cummings and Radcliffe was both striking and brave, utilising vivid physicality and highly demanding vocal skill. We were all incredibly impressed by their ability to maintain their intensity in such a long and static show and their performances were very well received.

Unfortunately, this was the last event that we managed to facilitate before lockdown, but regardless of these circumstances, our students were still able to partake in another busy, remarkable and incredibly successful year.

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13

A series of other fantastic numbers featured both masterful choreography and extremely comedic moments, all of which culminated in a thoroughly enjoyable viewing experience.

Credit must be given also to the work of Tregi Worsley whose lighting, sound and set design was on-point as always, and thanks must also be given to Mrs Soulsby and Dr Yates for their musical contributions to the performance – the production was far better for their work. Ellie Molloson, Matt Robyns-Landricombe and Emily Brown also took several hours aside from their already hectic schedules as sixth form students in order to aid the development of this production.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this year’s production of 13, and I have no doubt that every cast member will go on to contribute even more to the Drama and Music Departments over the coming years.

The Musical

Mitchell Ryan, 6C2

Having worked with a number of the 13 cast members before, I was expecting an entertaining performance if nothing else. Despite this, I was still taken aback by the quality of this year’s studio production.

The cast and creative crew pulled together extremely effectively to create a comedic and uplifting performance full of enjoyable moments from start to finish. Mrs Robertson expertly directed the actors and each member of the cast put in a stunning performance. Typically, brilliant performances came from regulars such as Taona Makunganya and Eleanor Hopkinson and there were similarly outstanding performances from those with fewer Nottingham High School productions in their resume; Will Merritt’s debut performance as Evan was charming and inspiring in equal measure and Ariella Smith raised her level even more from her performances in Snoopy! The Musical and Around the World in 80 Days. The duo of Oliver Harcourt and William Wastell had the audience in stitches most of the time they were on stage. Oscar Marshall, in combination with the aforementioned duo, was extremely comedic and Lottie Wang’s performance as Kendra was extremely enticing and held the audience for the duration of the production.

Grace Simpson, Lucy Bateman, Sophie Gee, Emmet Finn and Freddie Peverill also deserve enormous credit for their performances, with most of them following up strong performances in The Addams Family over the Christmas period with another brilliant showing here. The use of a live band in a Studio production, whilst unexpected, was very well-executed and contributed a great deal to the performance. Every song had the audience engage in great applause, with a particular standout for me being Ariella Smith’s solo, ‘The Lamest Place in the World’, which helped engage the audience early on in the production.

‘Hey Kendra’, was Oliver Harcourt’s and William Wastell’s best moment of the production and the choreography for this number, in combination with the comedy inherent in its lyrics, brought some audience members to tears of laughter. ‘Terminal Illness’, which starred the ever-brilliant Taona in his role as Archie alongside Merritt, once again thrilled the audience.

To continue the broad range of theatrical styles and genres that the Department exposed the students to, the Year 10, 12 and 13 Drama cohorts went to see The National Theatre’s Landmark Production of An Inspector Calls directed by Stephen Daldry. In addition, as part of the Department’s residential co-curricular theatre trip to London, students were fortunate to see Come From Away and Endgame on the West End, as well as enjoying a backstage tour of the London Coliseum.

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41 C R E AT I V E A R T S

C R E AT I V E A R T S Sarah Lai Priya Mann

Emily-Rose Abbott

Holly Palmer

Matthew Wilding

Adam Carreyette

Lockdown Art Mrs G Hainsworth

The national lockdown posed many challenges for all aspects of our students’ day to day lives. The Art Department challenged our students to create masterpieces at home. We were so impressed by the dedication and creativity from our students that we would like to share some of their fantastic work with you.

Saahat Satyam

Lockdown Art

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Nine Lessons and Carols Christmas Service Ben Staniforth, 11B

Each year students from Nottingham High School perform a traditional Nine Lessons and Carols Service at the impressive Church of St. Mary’s in the Lace Market.

This year, with our new music staff, audience expectations were as high as ever. The atmosphere in the church was electric, as every seat was filled with staff, parents and alumni alike. As the Organ Voluntary Prelude on ‘Adeste Fideles’ by Eric Thiman began, played by Tim Lole, the congregation settled down, waiting for the Chamber Choir to begin the service with their yearly rendition of the ancient hymn ‘O come, O come Emmanuel’. The Baritone solo was ably sung

by Will Prentice.

Throughout the service various Carols were enthusiastically sung by audience and performers alike and the prestigious treble solo in Once in Royal David’s City was beautifully sung by Maxwell Cooper.

The Chamber Choir had multiple pieces to perform, including the Harold Darke version of ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ with the soprano and tenor solos performed by Isabella Wylie & Barney McNamara, ‘Glow’ by Eric Whitacre and an interesting setting by John Tavener of ‘The Lamb’, by William Blake.

To round off the Chamber Choir’s fantastic performances we heard the yearly rendition of ‘Carol of the Bells’, by Peter Wilhousky and Mykola Leontovich.

Cutting Harmony performed the well-known carol ‘Angels from the Realms of Glory’, by Henry Smart and the Senior Girls A Cappella performed a jazz arrangement by Jay Rouse of the famous 16th century carol ‘Ding!

Dong! Merrily on High!’.

The Lower School Choirs were strongly represented as always, with the Boys’ Choir giving a lively performance of ‘Gaudete!’ and the Girls’ Choir singing a lyrical carol called ‘By Candlelight’. Dan Kittmer and I also enjoyed performing an arrangement by Tim Lole of Franz Gruber’s ‘Stille Nacht’.

A collection was taken at the end of the service for St. Mary’s Church and MacMillan Cancer Support and the mince pies and mulled wine after the service were well received, rounding off an extremely festive and enjoyable evening.

The Autumn Concert Grace Forward, 11C

The Autumn Concert of 2019 was a lively event, highlighting the vast talent of the musicians at Nottingham High School, with contributions from students in every year of the Senior School.

The evening began with the Concert Band’s full performance of ‘Illyrian Dances’ by Guy Woolfenden, demonstrating the huge improvements this band have made through their hard work and determination.

The Lower School Boys’ Choir performed the ‘Sound of Silence’ alongside Y13 Barbershop, Cutting Harmony and Senior Girls’ A Capella who equally all performed with great animation.

Throughout the night, the vocal contributions were incredible. The sheer size of the Lower School Girls’ Choir filling the balcony was so impressive and a testament to the enthusiasm the girls have brought into the School.

It was amazing to see so many lower school musicians in Sinfonia and Wind Band, the latter’s exciting performance of ‘Havana’ getting feet tapping in the audience. The Swing Band also blew the audience away with their laidback style.

The senior ensembles also demonstrated their skill with the Senior Orchestra’s polished rendition of the ET Theme and the night finished tremendously with Big Band’s performances of Stevie Wonder classics, where many great solos were played with flair and panache.

The Autumn Concert was so fun to be involved in and certainly a spectacle to watch. We are all looking forward to the next one!

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Music:

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Music:

The Chamber Music Festival Ivy Zhang, 8C

The Chamber Music Festival had a great audience turnout and took place in the Lady Carol Djanogly Recital Hall on Wednesday 12th February.

A total of 10 chamber ensembles took part, many of those also participating in this year’s Pro Corda Music Festival.

The concert started off with the fabulous Senior Saxophone Quartet performing ‘Diffusion’ by Gordon Goodwin. This group set the bar high, demonstrating unparalleled levels of musicality coupled with excellent ensemble skill. It was not hard to understand why they had successfully reached this year’s final of the Pro Corda competition.

Afterwards, some of our Lower School talent was on show, with the Year 8 Piano Trio playing an energetic arrangement of ‘Game of Thrones’ by Ramin Djawadi and the newly formed Year 8 Waverley Quartet displaying huge potential with their rendition of ‘March’ from Flavius, by GF Handel and ‘Early One Morning’, a traditional arrangement by Sheila Nelson.

Despite the amazing performances of these groups, they did not overshadow the Year 6 Sax Quartet at all who treated us to a humorously choregraphed version of ‘The Pink Panther’

by Henry Mancini and ‘Hakuna Matata’ by Elton John. This was closely followed by the Guitar Quartet, also featuring

many of our younger students, with a great performance of the James Bond Theme by Monty Norman.

The excellent Intermediate Sax Quartet played ‘The Lone Arranger’ by Rossini with a strong sense of style and purpose, revealing high levels of skill. They successfully reached the semi-finals of Pro Corda this year. The audience was bowled over by the Horn Trio, who performed spectacularly with No 10 ‘Allegro’ from op 82 and No 24 ‘Allegro Scherzando’ (Finale) by A Reicha. Next, came the wonderful Cello Ensemble, who gave strong performances of ‘Lord of the Dance’ by Sydney Carter and ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’, a spiritual. The Y13 Oboe Trio gave a stunning performance of Divertimento, Movements 1,2,3 & 4 by Wenth and, finally, the concert ended with the Senior Brass Quintet playing Quintet 1 by Malcolm Arnold. This group also reached the semi-finals of this year’s Pro Corda and it was certainly an exciting flourish to the end of the concert.

This year’s Chamber Music Festival definitely displayed high standards of performance and everyone had a great time!

The Spring Concert Dan Wattis, 11C

Dalcroze Eurythmics Workshop

This year’s Spring Concert was like no other the school has ever had. Because of the global situation the Concert was cancelled and we were, therefore, unable to perform in The Albert Hall so, instead, we had an online concert featuring ensembles and some solos, which took place at the end of June to mark our Year 13 Leavers.

David Eatch, 6D1

The concert started with a performance from Chamber Choir, who gave us a rendition of ‘Africa’ by Toto. In a break from tradition, this was then followed by solos from some of the outgoing sixth formers. The first of these was Dom Chivers, who performed ‘Fantasie-Impromptu’ by Chopin.

Following the beautiful piano playing, we were treated to a fabulous Oboe duet from Dan Kittmer and Esmae Badcock, who performed Albinoni’s Concerto for 2 Oboes.

In March a group of Year 12 and 13 students were invited to take part in a Dalcroze Eurythmics workshop with Bethan Harbon-James, a Dalcroze instructor based primarily at the Northern College of Music. Before participating in this workshop I was unaware of the existence of Dalcroze and was not sure what the workshop would be about.

Dalcroze is a technique to develop musical appreciation, eartraining, and improvisation while improving musical abilities.

In this method, the body is the main instrument and students are taught how to bridge the gap between their bodies and the music. Bethan taught us a variety of exercises to help music feel more physical and to externalise elements, such as phrasing, which as musicians we often tend not to think about.

We completed a range of group activities, such as passing balls in time with the music and demonstrating musical phrases using scarves and our body movements.

Although the main focus of the day was rhythm, some of the exercises focused on improving our aural ability by recognising movement of pitch within harmonic contexts.

For example, in an exercise for 3 groups of 3 people we had to represent a note in a triad and when the notes changed, we had to physically correspond to that. Overall, I feel that the workshop succeeded in helping me physically develop my aural skills in a fun and collaborative way.

Most of the music featured in the concert was recorded individually by students during lockdown, and then mixed and edited into a single track. This being said, Matthew Shipway gave us a performance that had been recorded prior to lockdown, an extremely musical interpretation of the first two movements of York Bowen’s Sonata in Eb for Horn.

The Senior Orchestra was the next of the larger ensembles featured, performing Shostakovich’s Jazz Waltz, followed by Rachael Alvey and Divya Mohanti, who sang ‘Speechless’ from Aladdin. After that, we had another pre-lockdown performance, with Ryan Latham’s stunning rendition of Phil Wood’s Sonata for Saxophone. Big Band was the penultimate item on the programme with their interpretation of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’. Despite the limitations of an online only concert, they still managed to captivate listeners with their commanding presence. The concert was rounded off with the talented Year 13 leavers, who sang Dom Chivers’ arrangement of ‘I Want It That Way’, by The Backstreet Boys.

It was a very different style of concert for everyone involved, but still an incredibly high standard and a thoroughly enjoyable time.

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Masterclasses, Workshops and Recitals Frazer Lim, 6C1

Towards the beginning of the Spring Term, Tim Horton, a leading chamber pianist, visited the School to give a recital and masterclass.

Music:

The Magnard Ensemble Thomas Gordon, 6E1

On February 7th, the High School was excited to welcome the Magnard Ensemble, possibly one of our country’s most enthusiastic and gifted Wind Quintets, to lead a day of masterclasses and give a recital.

They have performed at nationally acclaimed venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Bridgewater Hall and St Martin-inthe-Fields and have held the prestigious Chamber Music Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

The Magnard Ensemble began the day by delivering a fun and inspiring session to the entire Junior School, followed by a workshop with the budding Year 6 Sax Quartet. To finish off an eventful morning, they gave a masterclass to our Senior Oboe Duo. After a short break, the ensemble gave an entrancing lunchtime recital to an appreciative audience of students and staff from all over the School. They gave a polished but varied performance of Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles – an impressive feat for a suite of movements based on just a few pitches!

In the afternoon, three more Senior School groups were lucky enough to benefit from professional coaching from the ensemble. The Wind Band, consisting of over 20 members from Years 7-11, directly followed the lunchtime recital.

Finally came the Intermediate and Senior Sax Ensembles, both of whom had just

He began his visit with an inspiring performance in front of an appreciative audience in the Recital Hall, playing a number of pieces by Chopin from his vast repertoire. He amazed us with his skill in faster pieces, as well as the emotion and feeling he conveyed throughout the performances.

Tim’s performance was followed by a masterclass, in which 7 students, from Year 5 through to 13, were given the opportunity to play a piece they had prepared and receive one to one guidance.

During the course of this, he particularly addressed the technical issues that come with playing the piano.

I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and I know that the Magnard Ensemble’s visit and tuition will have a lasting effect on many pupils across the High School.

Tim also talked about important aspects of performance, such as conveying the meaning and emotion of a piece and he helped all of us to think about how we might do this. Overall, the recital and masterclass were both fascinating and very informative, helping many of us to overcome some of the technical issues we often experience and increase our overall confidence.

Young Composer of the Year 2020 Mrs E Soulsby

gained places in the semi-final round of the Pro Corda Competition, which was to come a month later. The Magnard Ensemble pushed us outside of our comfort zone and got us to move to the music, which was invaluable in helping us gain a feel for what we were playing. They also encouraged us to interact with each other more, which is vital for a chamber ensemble and something we saw first-hand in their recital!

For example, to overcome the fear of starting a section or phrase he introduced an interesting exercise of hitting the piano in order to feel the weighting and tension of the keys.

At one point this also involved one of the students having to lie down on the floor!

This year saw the Music Department launch a composing competition at the High School for the first time. Students were asked to compose a Fanfare to be performed at the opening of the Speech Day Ceremony. There were three categories: - Year 7/8, Year 9/10 and Year 11-13.

The entries were judged by the world-renowned conductor and ON, Nicholas McGegan, as well as some of the Music Staff. We enjoyed listening to all the entries and the winning pieces displayed memorable melodic themes with a clear sense of structure, complex rhythms and excellent textural variation.

WINNERS: KS3 Runner-up.............................. Harry Simmonds KS3 Winner. . ............................................ Seth Dineen KS4 Runner-up................................... Anthony Cook KS4 Winner. . ............................................... Dan Wattis KS5 Runner-up............................ Matthew Shipway KS5 Winner & Overall Winner... Dominic Chivers

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Music:

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Dr I Rowley

‘The Lesser Man’ Gauri Khanna, 9D John stared vacantly from his cottage window, slightly ajar, at the delicate meadow before him. Moss clung to the bark of elm trees and he could faintly hear the squeaking swallows that danced amongst their branches in the evening zephyr. In the distance loomed the Cinderhill colliery, almost decrepit, with years of grime climbing its blackened walls. To this day the doomed place still trampled the plains, coughing out clouds of smoke and spewing sediment into the innocent river nearby.

The cottage sat upon a low hillock, a mere eight miles from John’s childhood home in Brinsley. This proximity to his past, along with the landscape - its beauty stained by the colliery - was a lingering reminder of the horrors that haunted him restlessly. As a lad, he despised his father for the hostility with which he treated his mother. When Mr Bates suffered a fatal misfortune in the pit, John watched his mother with a heavy heart as she struggled to provide for the family. However, an unpropitious twist of fate resulted in John himself being incapacitated in a similar incident; whilst his life was spared, he awoke each morning to the feeling of chagrin and indignity. He woke to the chugging of the locomotive engine that once transported him to work so he could feed his children. He woke to the absence of his wife in their bed, with no knowledge of her whereabouts the previous night, with disgust at the sight of his impotent, emasculated body.

Angered and sickly, John heaved himself to his feet with an agonising groan in an attempt to salvage the last shreds of his strength and masculinity. The immense strain on his hips felt like the weight of the world was upon them, urging him to give up. He staggered towards the front door, desperately clutching the furniture as he went, and dragged himself to its frame. Taking a deep breath of the spring air, he flinched, his lungs still burning like blackened coal from the smoke that polluted them.

“Yer comin’ for a drink? It wor sweatin’ cobs when we was down pit…Well ‘urry up then!”

John listened to the jocund shouts of his former co-workers - putters and cranemen from the pit - as they made their way to the local pub. Their laughter stung him with resentment. Lost in bitterness, he caught a glimpse of his wife returning home and his rage further deepened. As she arrived, he questioned her, irritated: “Where wor you las’ night missus? ‘nd why so late comin’ ‘ome? Th’ children isna going ter cook for thissen” His wife professed that she had been searching for an occupation and had found one, as a teacher in the local school. Envy coursed through John’s veins and he reacted to the news with fury, associating it with his own incompetence, convinced she was withholding the full truth of where she had been. The tension in the atmosphere escalated rapidly and, in a heated argument, accusations were thrown like daggers across the room. In a final move to unleash the frustration inside him, John seized a vase on the table within reach and in an explosive gesture, hurled it at the mirror opposite him. Hundreds of miniscule shards of glass scattered across the floor with a noise that seemed to resonate throughout the whole town. What followed was a deafening silence, soon broken by the frightened sobs of his children watching, crouching behind the staircase. His wife stood quivering with shock. As John stared blankly at what remained of the broken mirror, the vestiges of his visage glared back at him. His reflection terrified him for within it, he saw a familiar stranger: his father. Suddenly, his intense anger turned to repulsion and despair as he realised the monster he had become.

That dreary night, fog suffocated the town of Cinderhill. A weak figure dragged himself to his front door and limped outside, gripping the slumbering buildings as he made his way towards the rusted train tracks. The tar-like odour of creosote swam up his nostrils. He crawled over and lay upon the tracks with a resigned breath. The locomotive came chugging through the darkness.

This year’s D.H. Lawrence Literacy (Junior) Prize was awarded to Gauri Khanna for her haunting short story about an incapacitated miner, set beside the first large-scale colliery in Nottinghamshire. Behind Gauri’s taut and unforgettable prose, we can register the echo of Lawrence’s long cry of protest against the ravages of industrialisation and alienating aspects of modern life. Gauri’s piece is further distinguished by a highly sensitive treatment of a major Lawrentian theme: the historical construction of masculinity, and preoccupation with the changing relationship between men and women. Not only does Gauri engage with the content of Lawrence’s ideas and biographical parallels, she draws convincingly on his stylistic tendencies, from the narration that probes the conflicting emotions of the protagonist to the adept incorporation of local dialect and phonetic spelling to infuse the dialogue with realism.

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D H Lawrence Literary (Junior) Prize

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51 ARCHIVES

ARCHIVES

Library and Archives Mrs Y Gunther, School Librarian and Archivist

The oldest unique artefact that we hold in the archives of Nottingham High School is the Corporation of Nottingham Register of Boys Admitted into The Free Grammar School In Stoney Street, No.1.

This first book was started in 1807 when the responsibility for keeping a proper count and record of pupils attending the school fell to the masters of the free school. The Town Clerk continued to administer the applications and kept the accounts (and the payments) but as no previous admission books have been found, perhaps the record keeping of masters was more reliable than that of the town council. The system of keeping a handwritten admission book survives to this day and every pupil is named within one. The constantly changing social history of the school and of the city can be read between the columns and the lines of these 8 large, well-thumbed, bespoke books.

Admissions dates vary but two hundred years ago in 1820, the year George IV ascended to the throne, sixteen boys were admitted and were all aged between 8 years 1 month and 12 years and 2 months. The total school roll averaged 25 pupils at that time and most stayed no more than two years, mainly sons of the small tradesmen and artisans of the town. Joseph Dennis’ father was a Maltster, an important component of beer and ale, and his contemporaries had fathers who were Hatters, Druggists, Lace Manufacturers, Hosiers and Frameworkers. George Watson’s father had been a Writing Master but was deceased and none at this time seemed to be from very wealthy families. Indeed the note beside George’s record written by Mr Lund says “could never be induced to give up some of the books belonging to the school.” We have no record of fees at that time.

The population of Nottingham was around 40,000 and about to explode with the rapid growth of the lace industry but, at this time, there was great poverty in Nottingham and serious social unrest. Tuberculosis was rife in the town and smallpox, typhoid fever, typhus and cholera were intermittently present.

The school itself was not in a healthy position. The school occupied 2 large rooms, one above the other, with the master’s house attached, in a squalid building on Stoney Street at the corner of Barker Gate.

There were two teachers, Dr Wood, the Master, and his Usher, Mr Lund, and they did not get on. The pupils were split between them but Dr Wood, who had a Cambridge degree, had the brighter boys.

He also held the posts of Vicar of Cropwell Bishop and Chaplain of the County Gaol. Mr Lund had been the Vicar of Colsterworth and was also the Chaplain to the Town Gaol with a reputation for his rough treatment of pupils. Both were often absent from the school on other duties and it is noted in the School History that this led to a complete absence of discipline with “Great Noise and Tumult” resulting. Most pupils left to work between 12 and 14 years old.

Fast forward 100 years and, in the wake of the First World War, the Spanish flu pandemic has killed 250,000 in Britain, making it the deadliest natural catastrophe of modern times. The school has moved to its present site and the new intake was of 164 boys aged from 7 to 17. There were about 540 pupils on roll and the school was going from strength to strength. While there were still many families involved with lace manufacturing, fathers’ occupations now included mining and electrical engineers, vicars and church ministers, commercial travellers, civil servants and bank employees.

Alongside drapers, we now see motor factors and railway guards, doctors and solicitors.

John Burrie, William Reeks and Roland Vickers had lost their fathers in the Great War and four who started in 1920, Henderson, Drewry, Hughes and Pockson , were to lose their lives in World War Two. At this point fees of just under £16 per annum were paid for tuition and books. Although most pupils left school at 15 years to work, that year twenty boys stayed through to the Upper 6th form. It is fascinating how much the High School has evolved in its history.

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53 HOUSE NEWS

HOUSE NEWS

House News:

Maples’ House Mrs A R G Lemon, Head of House

This certainly is an unusual year for the House with the Wheeler Cup having to be curtailed part way through the year.

It is, however, in these strange circumstances that Maples’ House celebrate being the proud retainers of the Wheeler Cup – 5 years in a row! We finished 18.5 points in the lead, a magnificent result; congratulations to all those who played their part in this.

Cross Country and Rowing were the events of the year for Maples’. We were clear winners in our Wollaton Park competition by a large number of points and the indoor rowing competition was as frenetic and noisy as ever with a win for the “green team” for the first time!

Despite lockdown curtailing our plans for a busy spring and summer term (Swimming Gala, Sports Day and all the smaller competitions that keep us busy for the remaining time) there was plenty of busy inter-House activity in the lead up to this and there is much to celebrate and report on.

In the autumn sports, the girls dominated the House hockey tournament with some hugely impressive and keenly fought matches nailing their green colour to the mast. Rugby was equally successful; the boys in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 all won their respective tournaments. A brilliant end to the Christmas term.

The Bridge Cup dominated the first half of the Autumn Term as usual and our Singing Choir (led by Dan Kittmer) and Verse Speaking Choir (led by Jeffrey Lu) got off to a flying start with their rehearsal schedules. Unfortunately this year, both choirs placed 3rd in their final performances but huge thanks to Dan and Jeffrey for their incredible hard work and charisma with their choir members.

Continuing the trend in recent years, participation was huge in the Singing Choir and strong loyalty evident in the Verse Speaking Choir, with some students taking part for the 7th year running.

There was something of a shock this year when the House came 3rd also in the Individual Verse Speaking by just a single point, but we enjoyed some fantastic performances, notably Matthew and Chino in Year 7.

Individual Music was comfortably ours for the taking once again and congratulations are due to the many Maples’ students who took part and thanks go to Peter for organising it. Congratulations also to Maddie, Phoebe, Will, Freddie, Muskan, Anthony, Coy and Angus, who were our talented winners.

Chess did not go our way as we placed 3rd , with White’s dominating proceedings as they did, also, in the Senior General Knowledge Quiz, although this time Maples’ were deserved runners up with our strong, knowledgeable “green team”.

Charity fundraising was tremendous once again. Four of our Year 13 boys, James, Will, Jeffrey and Vincent ran the Equinox 24, giving up a night of sleep to raise over £600 between them; a brilliant effort. Our annual “Bake for Berega” in January was well provided for and raised over £300.

Continuing into lockdown, individual students responded to the challenge including Maddie in Year 7 who cycled 100km to raise £100, well done! Special mention must go to Adi in Year 11 who learned and recited Pi to 2000 digits – an impressive feat in itself, without a doubt. The money kept coming in to the sum of (at the time of writing) £7000; a truly phenomenal effort! These all display the incredibly strong spirit that is present within the House – I could not be more proud of all the Maples’ students who took part.

It is a pity that we did not have the chance to say farewell in person to our leavers, particularly those in Year 13.

They have been a fantastic year group in terms of House loyalty, involvement and talent. It was a very difficult job to choose the House Captains for 2019-20 because of this, but Henry and Jess have been brilliant in their appointed roles and have been a tremendous support to me in every way. I would like to thank both of them.

Finally I would like to say farewell to Mrs Northedge, Miss Peat and Miss Stapleton. They will be missed in the “green team”; I am so grateful for all the work they did within Maples’ and for the support they gave me.

House News:

Mellers’ House Mr Neale & Mr Poole, (Acting) Heads of House

Despite finding ourselves in strange and unprecedented times this year, it has been a busy year for Mellers’ House.

Hugo, Ed and Evie have performed their roles as House Captains with remarkable confidence and efficiency, leading by example and organising teams for the events that could happen. They have been supported by many of their peers, in particular with Ryan doing a great job with the House Singing Choir, and Sean and Pranav similarly with the House Verse Speaking Choir. Our senior (and junior) students have really embodied true dedication and commitment to Mellers’ and have certainly done Mr Smith proud in his extended absence. We would like to thank all members of the House for their support and efforts this year; almost every member of the House has taken part in at least one Wheeler Cup event and, had Coronavirus not stopped us in our tracks, we may have even been on course to take the title…

Mellers’ House has continued to support and develop relationships with Operation Orphan as our local House charity, raising money and collecting warm clothing for disadvantaged children all over the world.

Several of our senior students began the year helping Operation Orphan to load trucks with warm clothes bound for Eastern Europe and later in the year one of our junior students, Yomna, led and coordinated an exceptional fundraising programme in which she collected over 100 Easter eggs to be delivered to orphaned children around the world, a hugely commendable effort. We are certainly looking forward to assisting the charity with this again next year and, along with Mr Smith, seeing this relationship continue to grow, even more now in light of the events of 2020.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming all the new members of Mellers’ in September, Mr Smith especially, as he resumes his role as Head of House.

Naturally, too, we are sad to say goodbye to all the leavers, including Mr Poole as he enters retirement in sunny Spain, but wish them wholeheartedly all the very best of luck for their future endeavours and thank them again for their help and support over the years.

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HOUSE NEWS

House News:

White’s House Mr S Barr-Smith, Head of House

It has been an inspiration to see how the resilience of our House members has shone through this year, a year that will not be forgotten in a hurry for all the wrong reasons.

The “red team” had a fantastic year up to March and I can only wonder what we could have gone on to achieve had certain other events not intervened.

I am extremely indebted to our Year 13 leavers, especially our departing House Captains, John and Izzy, who have all shown tremendous loyalty and leadership in all that we have undertaken as a House. Their enthusiasm has been an inspiration to all the other members of the House.

The Wheeler Cup competition unfortunately could not run its full course this year and so it was agreed to finish the competition at that point with White’s in a very creditable second place. There were some fantastic successes in the competition, such as Chess, where a few of the old guard came out of retirement to lead us to victory and, also, in the General Knowledge competition where, remarkably, both our teams were unbeaten in all the rounds; we are blessed with a number of students who possess a head full of useless facts! Further sporting success was achieved in the Boys’ Year 7 Hockey, Girls’ Year 9 Cross Country, Boys’ Year 10 and also Senior Rugby and Girls’ Year 8 Netball.

This year’s Bridge Cup was most enjoyable and a large number of House members engaged with the competition. In the Individual Verse Speaking, we won both the Junior and Intermediate Sections and, in the Individual Music, we won the Intermediate Section. I really must applaud all those who took part as it is never easy performing on an individual basis and everyone showed great character.

Our choirs this year were simply fantastic and this was very much down to the enthusiasm and drive of our conductors, Barney in Singing and Mitchell in Verse Speaking. The Singing Choir performed “Shine” by Take That, a popular choice and one that was delivered brilliantly on the day for a second place. Pride of place went to our Verse Speaking Choir who performed the wonderful “Blackbird of Glanmore” by Seamus Heaney. They beautifully captured the darkness of the poem with their performance and were worthy winners of the competition.

This year we have been supporting the Children’s Diabetic Team at Nottingham Hospitals and a group of our Year 13s spoke very eloquently at a House Assembly about the work of the Team. A number of our pupils are supported by them and the first-hand experience of their work made for an interesting presentation. Although our fundraising opportunities were limited by lockdown, we did organise a very successful and popular cake sale just before Christmas, raising over £400 on the day. The Easter Egg raffle was cancelled, unfortunately, but thank you to all those who donated the money anyway to such a great cause.

In addition to our Year 13 cohort moving on, we also say goodbye to Ms Harris. I would like to thank her for her enthusiastic support over the years. It is probably no surprise that some of our best verse speakers have come from her tutor set.

Finally, it is great to welcome our new House Captains, Luisa and Kain into their roles. I am sure that both of them, supported by their peers, can continue the good work of this year.

House News:

Cooper’s House Mr P J Hurrell, Head of House

Sadly, my final year in post as Head of Cooper’s did not go to plan!

With the Wheeler Cup programme decimated by the Coronavirus pandemic, we once again find ourselves bringing up the rear, albeit in a very much abridged competition. Congratulations, for what feels the umpteenth time, to Maples’ for their deserved victory.

We began the year full of optimism and determination.

This spirit was epitomised by our House Choir leaders who worked tirelessly to pull the Bridge Cup performances together in the first half of the Autumn Term. We almost claimed a double victory, but had to settle for second place in the Verse Speaking to White’s. Dom Chiver’s Singing Choir went one better, with a deserved win for his version of Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger. In all, 76 students took part in the choirs from all year groups, getting us off to a strong start. A much improved showing this year in Individual Verse Speaking soon followed, but we again struggled on the Individual Music front.

Elsewhere in the Autumn we battled to another second place in House Chess, but failed to put points on the board in the General Knowledge Quiz; more practice is clearly required for next year! Cross Country proved a mixed bag, with the girls far outperforming the boys. In fact, the girls followed this with an equally strong showing in House Hockey, whereas we suffered in House Rugby.

Rowing was another much improved showing this year and drew impressive numbers of volunteers, but we went into the Christmas break locked in a battle for third place overall with Mellers’.

The new year failed to bring a change in fortunes, with only Netball managing to take place before the School was forced to close. The remote Photography competition saw us claim another second place, but ultimately we were

to finish fourth in the truncated competition, without the likes of Sports’ Day and the Swimming Gala (for which we had high hopes!) able to take place.

On the charity front, I am immensely grateful to a band of students, led by Ellie Molloson, Matt Robyns-Landricombe and Uma Bagalkote who led our charity efforts with impressive passion and flair. The charity committee have formed strong links with local charity, The Rosie May Foundation, and had exciting plans for fundraising, including a charity concert, halted by the pandemic. We look forward to getting this partnership off the ground when school resumes and building a lasting relationship with the Foundation, including opportunities for our students to volunteer with them both at home and abroad.

All that remains is for me to extend my sincere thanks to my two House Captains, Divya Mohanti and Toby Ashby, who led by example and supported me in many ways.

We wish them all the best as they leave the school for university. We also congratulate Munashe Karenga and Uma Bagalkote on their appointment to these roles for the new academic year. My final year as Head of House has proved disappointing – this is certainly not how I planned to end my time in the role – but, taking my tenure as a whole, I can reflect on plenty of positives. Most of all, I am proud of the ever-increasing number of students stepping forward and representing the House, working with students they otherwise would not encounter and trying new things. This is what the Wheeler Cup is all about and, though we didn’t win it on my watch, it’s very much the taking part that counts! I am delighted to be handing over the House to Richard Kelsey and look forward to working under him as a Tutor in Cooper’s once I return from parental leave in the Autumn.

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WINTER SPORT SENIOR 1ST XV RUGBY 2019-2020 Shaw J, Turnbull-Irving A, Hucknall W, Croasdale J, Das A, Garside J, Abdel-Fatah Y, Mr J M Hamilton, Symes A, Kumra G, Webb R, Milligan F, Le Jeune 0, Trocki D, Spencer W, Collin J, Watts K, King S, Loveridge M, Ashby T, Karenga M, Raw M.

Rugby:

1st XV

P W D L 10 3 0 7

Max Loveridge, 6B2

After a successful season last year, the 1st XV were always going to face a tough challenge this season, losing many key players and suffering a long string of injuries.

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This was made very apparent as we got off to a slow start, facing high class opposition at the St Albans’ School Festival and Stamford in our pre-season. As the season continued, and despite a growing list of injuries, we began to put in strong performances and were unlucky not to see results go our way. Our injury problems, though, allowed many players to gain first XV experience for the first time and they have seized these opportunities, with U16s Josh Shaw and Finn Milligan impressing alongside debutant Sammy King. We continued to play high quality rugby in patches, although results didn’t always go our way, with our season highlight being a 20-13 victory in our charity ‘Clash’ against Loughborough and a well-deserved victory in our final game at HQ against last year’s Old Boys.

In spite of the disappointing results, the boys continued to give their all, with key players Adi Das, Will Spencer, Munashe Karenga, Kain Watts and Player of the Season Toby Ashby delivering strong performances week in week out, providing the core of our team efforts.

We would like to thank Mr. Whitehead and, especially, Mr. Hamilton for the support they have given us throughout our time at the school and their enthusiasm, continuing to drive standards at training every week and always reminding us of the importance of development. Thanks also goes to Mr. Jones and all the groundsmen at Valley Road for their work to prepare a great pitch every Saturday, despite some horrible conditions, as well as our loyal supporters who have turned up every week to support the XV. On behalf of the Upper Sixth boys, we have thoroughly enjoyed our rugby experience over the last 7 years and, despite being denied a last chance to run out in the Black and White at Rosslyn this year, we look forward to returning next year to put on a masterclass in the ONs game.

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Rugby:

U16

P W D L 10 3 0 7

Joe Banbury, 11B

Heading into our first year of senior rugby, the boys seemed full of confidence and eager to make a positive start to the season and to try and improve as many aspects as possible from last year and, inevitably, win games. We entered our first fixture with an experimental team, playing away against a very strong Stamford side.

This match gave us a great insight as to how we would need to perform if we were to have a successful season.

Unfortunately, some early tries from Stamford managed to put them in a decent lead, however the lads could take great pride from this first game as we held our own in the second half, getting some points on the board and keeping a tough Stamford side in their 22.

SENIOR 2ND XV RUGBY 2019-2020 Cullen Draper J, Gibbins B, Turnbull-Irving A, Mercer F, Mr J M Hamilton, Scott B, Moonsammy J, Biondi F, Brenchley 0, Bedforth T, Cameron R, Latham R, Surtee R, Handley J, Pontefract A, Harte A, Millar J.

Rugby:

2nd XV P W D L 9 0 0 9 Jacob Handley, 6E2

This year in the 2nd XV, despite not achieving the results we wanted or deserved, our enthusiasm and willingness to play the game has really come through.

With many players making their debut, there was inexperience in a few areas, especially in defence with many break away tries on the wing being our downfall. A key highlight for all of the boys was our attacking nature in our games against Northampton School and Leicester Grammar School where we retained a lot of the possession and were able to fend off two large packs.

Overall, each individual player demonstrated great passion and drive to fight for the team in each game. I am proud of all of the boys and the significant progress we have made as a squad. I am privileged to have captained such a great set of lads.

Brief Portraits Gillett D. (coach) – With his coaching debut at the helm of the 2nd XV, he showed us his passion for the game and his desire to see us improve. The boys took this on board and displayed a winning mentality on the pitch each week - even if the results didn’t always represent this! Thank you, Sir. Surtee R. – This second row turned centre clearly showed his power and strength, making dominant hits and breakthrough runs which resulted in him becoming the top try scorer for our team this season.

Leivers J. L. – A beastly number eight whose raw strength in the rucks was a force to be reckoned with, being able to turn over a lot of ball and enjoying some beefy runs.

Turnbull-Irving A. W. C.– Cheeky runs and a loud mouth defines this lad perfectly. He controlled our back line well and was able to score a couple of tries. Unfortunately, he was lost to the 1st XV. Cullen-Draper J. R. – What he lacked in size he made up for in skill and precision with clinical

throw-ins at the lineout and the ability to steal the ball from the opposition at any given chance.

Our 3rd fixture and our first win! We travelled away to an impressive Stratford side whom we had lost to last year.

Despite injuries throughout the squad, we managed to put together a strong side who were determined to win.

The game seemed quite stagnant leading up to half-time, however, with quick thinking, J Mack managed to free some space for H Hammond on the wing as he went on to score a magnificent solo try from the half way line, spurring the whole team on to clutch a 21-20 win.

Following this result, we went on to triumph against Welbeck College, with excellent tries from A Cochrane and A Sala, to get a 29-12 win over this physical team.

Our 6th game of the season was by far the most notable victory for the boys as we toppled rivals Trent College 34-5 in a display of true grit and determination. Once again, this game demonstrated how far we have come as a team as last year we fell to a 50-0 loss against Trent, so to come out with a convincing victory was great and a good morale boost for the team. As always sound support on the touchline was welcomed.

We then hosted Loughborough at Valley Road, a very tough team to whom we conceded a lot of points last time round. However, similar to the Trent match, we put on a much-improved performance, unfortunately falling short by 1 point, but a great deal was taken from this game and we were very pleased with the way we played.

Finally, as Captain I have learned a great deal from this season, most notably that if we play together and as a team we can achieve a lot more than we think and, I believe, we demonstrated this in various parts of the season. A final thank you goes to Mr Whitehead, our coach, who put in a lot of time and effort into developing our game and I am sure everyone in the team appreciates his efforts and certainly rates him highly as a coach. A varied season but, overall, an improved one, in my opinion.

Brown A. E. – Once we got over his unorthodox tackling technique, Brown was shown to be able to drop every ball carrier in sight, taking zero prisoners and putting fear into every man opposing him.

Bedforth T. H. – Our trusty scrum half with the ability of precise kicks into touch or at kick off that really helped us to claim territory, making sure everyone could hear his voice throughout the entirety of the match.

Harte A. A. - A dark horse this season, he displayed his aggression and his ability to gather the ball and make ground after an opposing box kick. He proved to be a handy full back to have.

Pontefract A. M. B. – After showing his tackling ability after dump tackling his skip, he became a key man in the lineout, being a big impact in the second pod during the Leicester game, while also hitting hard and turning over the ball.

U16 RUGBY 2019-2020 Shaw J, Smith 0, Afsar H, Hammond H, Szypryt 0, Agboola T, Milligan F, Presente Do Nascimento E, Duffy I, Cook P, Mr SD Whitehead, Muhammad E, Lodge J, Tyler-Smith H, Charlton N, Sala A, Thompson W, McKeever C, Podesta J, Renton G, Cochrane A, Banbury J, Davis C, Glover S, Mack J.

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Rugby:

U15A

P W D L 13 6 0 7

Sam Threfall, 10D This season we played 13 games with a win percentage of 46%. We were statistically one of the best A teams in the School and, over the whole season, we came far, learning to adapt due to several unlucky injury problems, including that of our coach. We introduced two new players into the A team this season: Andrew, a strong utility player, and Adshayan in the front row. Both players excelled in their positions, making a strong impact in the team and allowing for a re-shuffle in the team if needed.

This was definitely a season of highs and lows. In some games we managed great comebacks: against King’s Macclesfield, for example, we were trailing 12-0 at half time and we seemed out of it, however we dominated the second half and won the game 36-17. This was a particularly strong performance from Josh, who easily won try of the season by slicing open the whole defence.

Although we did not always get over the line, like our agonisingly close losses against Trent and Denstone College, our determination and resilience against such strong teams continued to grow and develop week on week. This, in itself, was a huge success.

A notable success this year for us as a team was our National Cup run, reaching the fifth round. It was a big occasion on the 1st XV pitch and, with the rest of the year watching the game from the side that cold Thursday afternoon, we narrowly missed out, losing 14-10 to a strong King’s Grantham side. The experience was fantastic and has made us very much look forward to senior rugby next year!

This season we have taken away the knowledge that sometimes things don’t always go to plan – an injury or early lead for the opposition, for example – but we have to adapt our playing style to suit the game presented to us.

Finally, on behalf of the players, I would like to thank Mr Neale for coaching us in Games lessons and matches and to thank Mr Hamilton for doing the same in Games lessons. Also, we would like to thank all the parents for supporting us wherever we went.

U15B P W D L 6 1 0 5 Emmett Finn, 10A

U15 RUGBY 2019-2020 McKenna J, Lloyd J, Fakadar-Bany M, Crawford R, McKenzie-Small M, Winter A, Lei H-Y, Jeyakanthan VJ, Collin F, Mr M J Neale, Phoenix H, McMahon 0, Brown T, Anthony C, Mayo B, Zeb M, Astill L, Moonsammy L, Finn E, Shonde M , Barish A, Wilmot J, Smith M, Djafer B, Ilyas Z, Bin Ateeq F, Douglas J, Paul M, Marks J, Varcoe C, Mellors J-W, Staniforth W, Threlfall S, Satumino T, Yang A, Cooling Valencia T, Koneswaran A.

Looking back on the season, I think as a squad we can be proud of our performances despite only winning one game. We played against some very good sides along the way, but I can proudly say, as the captain, that every single player gave it 100% in every game and that is something we pride ourselves on.

He has shown his talent and speed in every position he has played and scored 10 tries. I would also like to mention Adshayan Koneswaran, Andrew Barish, Hector Marchant and Josh McKenna who have started out in the B team and then moved up and played consistently for the A team.

Our only win of the season came against a strong King Edward VI School. We scored early on and that really set the tone for the rest of the game. We comfortably won that game with the help of a Ben Djafer hat trick. This was a great team performance with everyone playing to the best of their ability.

With the success of many players moving up to the A team we were obviously short of players so we had to bring in a few new faces, such as Lewis Moonsammy, Jake Douglas, Louis Astill, Mohammed Zeb and V-J Jeyakanthan.

All these players had a very positive impact and have progressed a lot and I hope they can progress as players when we move into the seniors.

We had many strong individual performances this season, such as Reuben Crawford who puts a shift in every game and is the rock in our forward pack. Another honourable mention is Faisal Bin Ateeq who gave his all every game and who has developed massively since the first game.

Another stand out player is Ben Djafer who has had a very versatile season playing in many positions such as flanker, fullback and in the centres.

I would like to thank Mr Bachelor for being a great coach this year and always supporting us, Mr Hamilton and Mr Whitehead for taking games and coaching us further and all the parents who have supported us week in week out.

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WINTER SPORT U14 RUGBY 2019-2020 Mestrige S, Garland T, Bailey M, Dennison J, Edwards G, Gill D, Bancroft M, Hussain Z, Holmes A, Mr SR Poole, Leivers J, Bullough 0, Merritt W, Warren-Smith A, Stockley J, Deepak L, Ilimezekhe J, Singh J, Basra M, Mr J M Hamilton, Stringer A, Sakariya U, Downey J, Slater J, Cullen Draper F, Greenhalgh J, Herbert T, Mackley J, Satyam S, Holmes E, Stapleton D, Mukange V, Bajwa Greenwood 0, Gregory M, Threlfall T, Chiziwa J, Bhatia N, Vergari L, Cheung A.

P W D L 6 3 0 3

Rugby:

U14A

U14B Joe Mackley, 9B

P W D L 9 5 0 4

Tom Threfall, 9B As you can see from the results above the U14As have had a good season. This is reflected in the fact that we had a 55% win percentage, the highest in the School, and that we beat local rivals such as Trent College and Loughborough.

First of all, we came up against a well-drilled Stamford side who just managed to get the upper hand on us in the last fifteen minutes of a very competitive game. Despite true perseverance and incredible desire, we just fell short. This was a disappointing result against a big local rival, however, we had a big season ahead of us to look forward to. Over the next fortnight, we then backed up this promising display against Stamford with two well-earned wins against both Bishop Vesey’s (28-12) and King Edward VI School (47-7).

Soon after these two impressive wins, came three tough games (Trent, Loughborough and Solihull). Showing great commitment by attending an extra session mid-week, we couldn’t have been better prepared for this block of fixtures. With complete forward dominance we produced a strong performance against a good Trent side (22-15) and were in good stead for Loughborough.

After a messy first half, with the score being 5-5, the game was still in the balance with 20 minutes to go. But after a Loughborough try the boys responded well with a converted try in the corner leaving the game truly in the balance. After a tight finish we had won a good game of rugby (10-12). Next up were Solihull (another tough challenge) but with great tactical structure imbedded into our game, it was another tight first half. However, the boys unfortunately came out the wrong side of this one after a strong second-half performance from the opposition.

After these three games there were many positives to take looking forward to the last three games of the season.

After another big win against Leicester Grammar School (50-14), we finished off the season with two disappointing defeats against sides that we could have beaten if we ‘got off the bus!’

Overall, we had had a brilliant season full of development and success. Thanks go to the whole team for giving up their time to attend extra sessions and putting in the hard work and to Mr Poole and Mr Hamilton for giving up their time to coach us as well.

Year 9 was a great year for our U14 rugby B team, with notable individual performances and wins. We also bonded and played for each other a whole lot more than our Year 8 selves. We started off our year with a pre-season fixture and a 41-7 loss against Stamford; whilst the game was a big loss, it was actually a great wake up call for us after not playing for a year.

This defeat helped us to get prepared for our game against Bishop Vesey’s at home which we comfortably won 34-10. Whilst the team played well it was noticeable that many players had developed significantly. Lohit Deepak, Saahat Satyam and Manraaj Basra, to name a few, took long hard runs with the ball, occasionally breaking the opponents back line whilst offering a strong challenge in the ruck. After 2 games had been cancelled, we found ourselves up against a traditional opponent in Trent College and, after the loss last year, we were up for the match and came away with a smashing 55-0 score. In the first kick of the game the ball fell straight to Saahat and he proceeded to run straight through 3 lines of defence and score, which left the game wide open for us to score again and again. It was a great boost from the team to not let our guard down and let them score. Zaki Hussain was also a new addition to the team that week and he scored in many games to come, leading to him being called up to the A team.

Even though Mr Hamilton argues that it is mainly about the team performance and not the result, I am sure he was especially happy with this one. Special mention also to Matthew Gregory for being pack leader throughout the season, especially in such an aggressive game like this.

For the last two games of the season we had Denstone College and Macclesfield. Whilst we won against Denstone it was not a very memorable match, whereas Macclesfield was a very physically and mentally challenging game. While it may not have been the cleanest game for both sides, we fought to the bitter end with an amazing burst of pace from Zaki in the 2nd half of the game bringing it back to 12-7. It was a very rowdy game and it did not sit well with us to lose like that against that kind of opponent in our second to last game of the season. We bounced back, however, and won 12-0 against Denstone College, with us being on our try line defending hard for the last 5 minutes of the game. It was a great display of courage and desire to round off a great season.

A special thanks to Mr Charlwood for coaching us through the season and an incredibly special mention to Saahat and his family for their great enthusiasm at the Trent College game.

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Rugby:

U13B

P W D L 7 2 2 3

George Emerson, 8A In my opinion, I thought that this team of players was not going to get far in this season but, with grit determination and a mindset that they would easily defeat any team they came up against, I drastically changed my mind. Not only did we win more games than the A team, but we were strong in losses and trained hard to fix those things that caused the losses. When we won we trained just as hard to perfect whatever could be perfected.

U13 RUGBY 2019-2020 Barkes C, Farrell-Daly J, Wilkins M, Barish A, Maida J, Mr PA Allison, Sood K, Tadious T, Sehat A, Ahmed A, Morris E, Harwood W, Mason W, Mr SJ Andrews, McKeaney H, Brackenbury T, Morley R, Smith A, Tao R, Cray E, Mao W, Scott J, Goonan H, Bashforth M, Elwick H, Emerson G, Mack S, Pears N, Whitt M, Agwunobi C.

Rugby:

U13A

P W D L 10 1 0 9

Sam Mack, 8E Our Year 8 season was a tough one again. We came up against some tough opponents, however there were some close matches and good performances.

One of the highlights of the season was on our tour where we managed win against Yarm School 40-5. This was our first win this season and changed the way we played for the next couple of games.

Two games later there was another notable performance from the boys and we just lost out in a tight match against Loughborough. We went into half time both with ten points, however in the second half we could not hold them out and the game finished 10-20. The standout performance in that game was William Harwood who just kept breaking holes in the Loughborough line.

After a few cancelled games, it was time to play Leicester Grammar. After losing to them 20-10 last year we all wanted to get the win this time. It was a hard-fought game, however we managed to score a few early tries.

Unfortunately, though, this was one match again where we just could not manage to hold off their attacks and they clinched the win 15-10. A standout performance in this match was from Shivam Babbar. This was his first match for us and he got us out of trouble multiple times.

At the end of the season we gave out two awards to the Most Improved Player and the Coach’s Player of the Season.

Most Improved Player went to William Harwood, who came into the team late in the season and made a massive impact, and Coach’s Player went to William Mason, who consistently performed and got involved in all the harder work and wasn’t scared to put his body on the line.

I want to thank Mr Andrew for coaching us and going to all the matches, all the teachers who gave up their time to come to the after school sessions and, also, all the parents who came to support us.

From this season we have learned that we need to defend as a unit and keep hold of the ball more.

In one of our biggest games of the season against our biggest rivals Trent College, at their home ground, we as a team fought hard and competed vigorously in the scrum.

I would like to particularly mention Rocco Chraniuk, Krish Sood and Chima Agwunobi, who all played very well in the scrum and excelled in tackling hard. However, the main reason we won this game was because we never gave up and defended well when the opposing team was on top.

In the first half we dominated the game and put five tries past Trent and, in the second half, we got a bit complacent and let our guard down and let Trent put four tries past us. With two minutes to go, and everyone tired, it came to a point where we had to just kick it out to win. When Alec Sehat (who also played a good game) got the ball he decided to make everyone nervous and hold onto it for about three seconds longer than he needed to before eventually kicking it out. We had won the game and we did not forget to congratulate our opposition’s fightback in a chaotic fixture.

In conclusion, I thought that the season as a whole went really well. I know we didn’t win every game, but we improved drastically from the season before. I would like to thank Mr Allison for an amazing season of rugby.

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U12A

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Rugby:

Rugby:

U12B

P W D L 8 2 0 6

George Thompson, 7C

P W D L 8 1 2 5

Max Brown, 7E

What a great start to the upcoming years of the tough sport of rugby. It was a fantastic season, with some challenging games, but we battled through. There were a couple of extremely close games where we were level at half-time and then pulled together as a team to put on a great performance and secure victory.

We then moved on to secure a great win against our biggest rivals, Trent College. Unfortunately, we lost our following games to Loughborough and Solihull, but the games were quite close and competitive. For the rest of the season the results were unfortunately very much the same story, but every single player put their body on the line in every match.

Our first game against Bishop Vesey’s was extremely close, with our opponents appearing confident and thinking a win was coming their way. Even though a couple of our players were injured and we weren’t playing at our best, we had a motivational speech at half time which must have worked because we played out of our skins in the second half. The final score was 4–2 to Nottingham High School. What a great start to our rugby journey at Valley Road.

In total every player developed lots. For example, Robin Kachhia had never played rugby before and, by the end of the season, he was in the A team. Zach Prince had also never played before and he was one of the strongest players in the A team. Fletcher Phoenix had played lots of rugby before and so had Josh Parsons, Henry Strudwick, Ollie Johns and Rafe Renton. All of these players had a massive impact on our season. They all battled through no matter what the score line was.

After our successful first game of the season we were feeling confident going into the next game against Northampton. They were a very strong team and the result didn’t go our way, but we kept encouraging each other and battling through with players giving 100%, especially James Black who was our Man of the Match.

Overall, we had a fantastic season and we are all really proud of how we performed in the matches. Some of our stronger players, unfortunately, were injured halfway through the season which did affect some of the results.

But we are still very happy although we know there is room for improvement.

Overall, this was a good season. We got off to a decent start because we won our first game 4-3. We played well together as a team and we all tried our hardest. However, after this our games started to change and we were losing most of our matches due to not passing and losing possession, as well as not knowing each other that well.

However, I still think we are a strong team.

We had a great win against Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School. Then we had a loss against Northampton (15-0).

We had a draw against Trent College and that was a real confidence boost. We had some strong key players and the team worked well together.

One of the best additions was Chino, who helped us a lot in the later matches but, like a few others, he moved up into the A team, so the team kept on changing. Overall, we needed to keep possession more and we needed to be stronger in the rucks.

I would like to thank Mr. Wills for being our main coach for 2/3s of the season. He helped us against the strong teams and he helped us play our best. I think we are a good team with a lot of potential.

Rugby:

U12C

P W D L 4 2 0 2

Langdon Sale, 7A I think this has been an amazing season, for everyone with prior rugby experience and for those who are new to rugby. We had some triumphs and those times we did lose, we learned from our mistakes. We improved over the year and came out better than when we came in. Our biggest victory came against rivals Trent College. We worked really well as a team and managed to win the day. All players stood out and each should be proud of how they performed. I could not write this report without mentioning the formidable force who is Chino. He stormed down the pitch and, most of the time, could not be stopped and he thoroughly deserved being in the A team at the end of the season. I would also have to mention my brother Benjamin as he was great when he played with us, even if he was pushed up to B team in 2 games.

U12 RUGBY 2019-2020 Chinta S, Timmermans-Delves M, Robinson J, Adewoye A, Sale L, Johns 0, Strudwick H, Mioduszewski M, Mr M Baker, Lindsay F, Phoenix F, Parsons J, Goyal A, Syme-Grant M, Kachhia R, Sale B, Mr J M Hamilton, Turton G, Parejo M, Dodd E, Puri A, Samuel N, Renton R, Satyam S, Mackley W, Pivcevic-Lamb F, Prince Z, Black J, Thompson G, Nwaiwu C, Sandhu A, Karwal A

He would also have to be my mention for the best addition to the team because the impact he made was remarkable.

I would also like to give a mention to Will Mackley as he was a force to be reckoned with this season. I don’t think I have seen anyone with more desire for the sport than Will. He would sprint around and the opposition just could not catch him. He was also very strong in the tackles and would never give up.

We have learned many things (the first of which would be learning the rules and playing contact rugby). You learn a lot of discipline and team spirit playing rugby and that is one of the many reasons why I love the sport. I am really looking forward to future rugby years and I am sure that they, in turn, will bring different challenges and adventures. I would have to give a huge mention to Mr Heath and Mr Allison as they mentored us for most of the season. They were really encouraging and I hope we made them proud. I would also like to give a mention to Mr Baker who coached us at our training sessions and, also, was a great teacher, who has really boosted us this year.

Finally, I would like to thank the parents who have been really supportive. Lastly, I would like to give a mention to the rest of PE and Games Department as they have really helped everyone this year and have been really awesome.

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Hockey Overview

Hockey continues to go from strength to strength, with improving performances from both the boys’ and girls’ teams collectively as well as by the individuals within these sides.

Despite the loss of half of the boys’ hockey season, many positives can yet again be highlighted.

SENIOR GIRLS’ 1ST XI HOCKEY 2019-2020 Brown E, Forward G, Baig S, Watson D, Ilione C, Wilkins K, Mitchell D, Mr S Barr-Smith, Menon R, Davidson I, Renton E, Chapman A, Hopkin S, Weston-Dodson S, Mr M Parker, Brown J, Qureshi A, McMahon L, Badcock E, Christensen L, Lu QL, Marshall L.

Hockey:

1st XI Girls

P W D L 8 3 3 2

Esmae Badcock, 6E2

Mr I Cowley, Director of Hockey Girls’ hockey has continued to develop, with the senior girls now reaping the benefits from the experience of playing hockey for a couple of seasons, as well as benefitting from the girls joining the school sixth form who have previous hockey experience. This has allowed the fixture list to be tweaked and for better opposition to be played, which in turn has made their results even more pleasing. Elsewhere all sides have continued to show improvement and development with the U13s again reaching the Midlands Finals, which this year were played at Wolverhampton. In October a joint Year 8 and 9 trip to Scarborough College (and Hull) proved to be a huge success with some excellent hockey played and great fun had off of the pitch. Hopefully, this can be repeated in future years.

On the boys’ side the highlight had to be the U14s becoming the first hockey side from the School to qualify for the National Finals, a remarkable feat by all involved.

After claiming the County Cup and then becoming Midlands’ Champions, albeit with a nervy win on Penalty Strokes in the final, the boys were looking forward to a trip to Reading HC for the National Finals. Unfortunately, like much of the boys’ season, this was curtailed by the world pandemic which meant the event was cancelled. Similarly, this year’s annual trips to Gresham’s and KES Bath were also cancelled, along with the Nottinghamshire CVL and a high percentage of school fixtures.

Congratulations, finally, to Amun Sahota and Henry Bullough for winning the Daniel Williams Award and the Don McKnight Award respectively. Congratulations must also go to the many girls and boys who are now involved in the England Hockey Player Pathway, well done to all of you.

1st Team Girls’ Hockey has had a transformative season this year with the addition of many skilled and experienced players and a positive, friendly atmosphere throughout. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing alongside and captaining these talented and hard-working players and my initial aim, to play tactical and smooth hockey in order to produce a more positive playing record, was achieved.

Our first match was a hard fought one in which we faced similarly skilled opponents, however our conversion of play into goals just could not be achieved and, sadly, we had our first loss. This was reflected throughout the term in 3 draws where, if based upon time in the attacking 25, we would have won by a considerable amount.

Throughout the season we progressively became more dominant with ball possession and managed sleek ‘onetwo’ passing that successfully got the ball into striking zones. Against Welbeck DSFC, our play significantly improved with every single player on the pitch putting in 100% effort and displaying a competitive spirit.

Unfortunately, due to cancellations, we did not get a rematch which was a shame as we showed such promise in our first match that I am confident we could have won.

In our 8 fixtures, we only incurred 2 losses and won 3 games. This is a significant improvement upon last season and I think this is due to the friendly atmosphere and team spirit that pervaded every training session.

This is evidenced in the more experienced players providing guidance to the less experienced which has allowed our play as a team to be cohesive and very strong at times.

Highlights include a 2-0 win against Ratcliffe College which saw the whole team perform well and communicate effectively, with promising passing to ensure the ball could pass up the right wing straight into the attacking D. Every single player has improved this season and been key to our successes. Noticeable performances include Sophia’s determined defensive tackling, Emily’s strong hits, Evie and Dalilah’s impressive runs down the right wing, Sophie and Izzy’s skilful attacking play and, of course, Jess’s undoubted goalkeeping which has let us focus on our attacking front this season.

It has been a pleasure to captain this team and I have enjoyed participating and observing play that is not only very promising but also effective. In every fixture, we have had fun as a team and have grown closer as a cohort, with mutual respect for every player evident both on and off the pitch. I finally would also like to thank Mr Cowley for providing us with extra training every week in order to focus on weaknesses observed in our matches and for coaching our games. His continued support, knowledge and management were exceptional and ensured the side maintained its focus, motivation and enjoyment throughout.

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Hockey:

U14 Girls

P W D L 13 8 1 4

Jane Abercrombie, 9B

The 2019-2020 Under 14 hockey team had a strong start to the season with a 6-1 win against Ackworth School in a seven-a-side game. After our win we went onto our first eleven-a-side game which we won 4-0. At the beginning of the season, right off the bat, we found our footing which came easily through good communication throughout the team.

Our team had many overwhelming wins and made it through the IN2 Hockey County Tournament but, unfortunately, were knocked out just before the regional finals.

Amidst these diverse results we were always able to take something away from our games, whether it was just to keep our heads up and keep playing or to try to recycle the ball and pass back more.

Overall, I’m grateful for having been a member of this hockey team as I feel, as a group, we have all progressed so much together. Everyone has flourished individually over the last season.

U15 GIRLS’ HOCKEY 2019-2020 Krishanand K, Fatima A, Wang S, Miss R Wood, Don R, Smith L, llione N, Barr-Smith E, Gee S, Abdel-Fatah Y, Hind J, Shearman I, French I, Woodiwiss A.

Hockey:

U15 Girls

P W D L 10 5 1 4

Isobel Shearman, 10D

During the hockey season, we noticed more than ever the importance of working together as a team. We worked hard to develop a better understanding behind the tactics that Miss Wood was teaching us and how we could best apply them to the games. It was a slow start to the season with several losses. With each match, however, we were able to learn something and take this into the next one, which led us into a winning streak where we finished the season with one of our best performances.

One of our main focuses throughout the year was to use the full width of the pitch and in our game against Stafford Grammar we applied this and it allowed us to win despite them scoring the first goal and having 2 county players in their squad.

During this game we all worked hard for each other and gave 100% effort. Despite going 1-0 down, we didn’t let this deter us from what we wanted to achieve as a team. We were able to win many short corners from which we felt confident as we had developed several successful penalty corner plays throughout the season. This enabled Nnenna Ilione to score a hat trick to give us a 3-1 lead. We maintained a high intensity and, in the last dying seconds, after a turnover in midfield, Annie Woodiwiss scored the final goal resulting in a 4-1 victory. What a way to finish the season!

Overall it was a great season, all the girls enjoyed learning from Miss Wood and Mr Cowley and are grateful for their help and support.

U14 GIRLS’ HOCKEY 2019-2020 Gandhi R, Gandhi Y, Jo)mson R, Humberstone P, Simpson G, Bateman L, Goyal M, Viglo A, Zainab Z, Khanna G, Mr M Parker, Whittamore S, Quraishi M, Abercrombie J, Poyser H, Jessa Z.

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WINTER SPORT U12 GIRLS’ HOCKEY HOCKEY 2019-2020 Banerjea E, Ratan A, Bateman S, Baker A, Robson M, Bartholomeuz A, Miss HG Bray, Quraishi H, Winter E, Chita E, Bains N, Arshad M, Mokashi L, Veale E, Mrs B Vincent, Goonan-Dunne S, Jones C, Mungai G, Mann P, Williams R, Khanna A, Palmer H, Wraighte L.

Hockey: U13 GIRLS’ HOCKEY 2019-2020 Brooks-Lee S, Moran A, Wilson S,., Gardner K, Kearsley A, Brown G, Anjbeen A, Ms C Marquez-Godoy, Forward P, Nassr N, Yadlapalli I, Jahan F, Mansoor M, Hall C, Miss A Peat, Hucknall B, Spedding I, Abbott E-R, Gill K, French A, Karthik N, Senthil Kumar K.

Hockey:

U13 Girls

P W D L 21 11 3 7

Charlotte Hall, 8D

The U13A team was full of enthusiasm throughout the hockey season. We started off with a few training lessons in Games and a further session on the first Saturday enabling us to recap our skills and build on our general knowledge and understanding of the game that we had first experienced in Year 7. Despite our first match being cancelled, we kept our heads high and won our first game against King Henry’s 1-0. This gave us confidence and we used this opportunity to explore different tactics and positions on the pitch. Although the next match was a loss of 2-0 to King Edward’s School we all felt the team worked well together and persevered through the tough parts of the game.

The next 3 games were wins and great confidence boosters against Mount St Mary’s College, Hymers College and Newcastle Under-Lyme School.

However, the next 2 games were losses to Ratcliffe College and Stafford Grammar. Looking back on those games, I think we have learnt not to be intimidated by county players with big hits and fast technical skills. Finally, we finished the season with a draw with Denstone College.

I think everyone improved a lot across the season and I am so grateful to the staff and incredible teachers who coached us and took us to our fixtures. We can all now look back on how far many of the team have come as individuals and as team players. Thank you so much for this incredible opportunity.

U12 Girls

P W D L 10 4 2 4

Scarlett Bateman, 7B 2020, what a year! Luckily, we had a hockey season to look back upon. Overall, last season for Girls’ Year 7 Hockey was great. We had our fair share of triumphs and losses, but as a whole it was truly unforgettable. By the first match we had not known each other long, but already the team had been connected by invisible strings. We played well and it was a massive boost for the matches to come. The goals were all well-deserved and the team played like one person, setting high standards.

We started the season on a good note. Leicester Grammar were a good team and put up a fight, but we still got there in the end, with a goal by Scarlett and a phenomenal save

by Sadie, who was under immense pressure. We were happy to come out victorious in the match, winning 1-0.

The next two matches were tough, Mount St Mary’s and Loughborough Grammar were good teams who we did well to match. The games were intense and neck and neck. One second it was our end, the next theirs. We were determined to keep our no loss streak going and we did, drawing both the matches.

The first loss is always tough (especially against our neighbours) but we gave them a fair game and they just sneaked an extra ball past our keeper. We came out losing 2-1, with a goal by Priya that the team deserved for their hard work. Next, we had our first tournament, which was immensely fun.

With singing, chants and dancing as well, the day was a highlight for all of us. The team played some good games and got to the semi-finals, almost making it to the finals with a great chance between Elyssa and Gracey. The team played impressively, with everyone having an important role.

Following on from this, we had one of the best games of the season, against Newcastle-Under-Lyme School where we won with an impressive score of 4-3 with the help of Henna and Anagi forming a strong defence and with an unbeatable trio at the front of the team scoring some impressive goals.

Both teams created a highly competitive atmosphere.

The next two games were hard and against two very good teams. The scores against us may seem large, but we kept going throughout the whole match and worked as a team in difficult circumstances. We proved our resilience by scoring a goal in each game, the goal against Ratcliffe being scored

by Henna from a run into the D. Henna also scored from a post deflection against Loughborough High too.

The season was a really enjoyable experience and we earned a well-deserved end tally (not including the tournament) of 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses. Overall, the team got to know each other, and learnt each other’s hockey game well. Hard work and perseverance paid off, but some laughs on the way made it even more memorable.

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Hockey:

1st XI Boys

P W D L 6 3 0 3

Ed Pinfield, 6A2 Beginning the season with a challenging first game against Ratcliffe College is never easy, especially after exams curtailed the opportunity for a full pre-season which for many is needed after making the transition from Rugby to Hockey.

This said, the first team put in a highly spirited display against strong opposition and produced a performance to be proud of which would set up a positive mindset going on into the season. A tough fixture list saw us fight for results, achieving memorable wins against the likes of Warwick School and Worksop College. With excellent progress being made it was a massive disappointment that the remainder of the season was lost to the world pandemic.

The team has come a long way throughout the season through excellent training sessions led by Mr Cowley, ably assisted by Elliot. These sessions stretched us in terms of ability and mentality, forcing us to make decisions at all times whilst under pressure. It was particularly pleasing to see players like James Millar using his pace and continuing to show his defensive skills and John Croasdale using his strength to greater success in game scenarios, whilst showing an improved discipline and control.

We were all massively disappointed that the curtailed season saw the cancellation of the annual KES Bath tour, a highlight to any season and, in the past, one that has proved to be a fitting end to a hockey career at the school.

Our season was reflected in our final game, where the strong mentality of Nottingham High School allowed us to fight for a result against a team of a very high standard.

Congratulations to all the leavers who have played in the first team for however many games. Personally speaking, it was not easy only starting Hockey in Year 9 and, with hindsight, the opportunity to have started in Year 7 would have been amazing. The opportunity to learn, develop and improve would have seen a far greater level of ability in the senior boys, who gave everything in the games, though at times they were playing against players with greater skills and more experience. It is great to see Hockey now being played to a high level across all year groups in the School and for the sport to be viewed as highly as Rugby and other major sports.

Lastly, congratulations to all the younger years who represented the school at first team level this season and good luck for next season.

Finally thank you on behalf of the whole team to Mr Cowley and Mr Barr-Smith for their time, efforts, support and, indeed, coaching, all of which has helped enhance and develop us all, improving our ability and understanding of the sport.

SENIOR BOYS’ 2ND XI HOCKEY 2019-2020 Rana A, Ke D, Khan A, Mr S Barr-Smith, Mok C, Phoenix J, Cook P, Baig A, Bhatia H, Ambalkar R, Watts K, Kothari R, Badcock E, Krishanand D.

Hockey:

2nd XI Boys

P W D L 6 2 2 2

Dominic Chivers, 6A2 The 2nd XI boys’ hockey team have had a progressive season, showing pleasing development, with an abundance of effort on clear display throughout. After a pleasing, if somewhat unexpected, win against a strong Abbotsholme School side and a draw against Ratcliffe College to begin the season, things were looking up for us.

With a new influx of Year 11s adding fresh talent, tenacity and enthusiasm to our ‘borderline’ world class side, we felt sorry for any opponent that was to face us.

SENIOR BOYS’ 1ST XI HOCKEY 2019-2020 Ghandi C, Croasdale J, Podesta J, Mr M Parker, Millar J, Bullough H, Dilley H, Harvey W, Mr E Barton, Davis C, Zaman I, Pinfield E, Ghadiali T, Sahota A.

We were quickly put back in our place with a devastating 0-3 loss to Warwick School which was only accentuated by the fact that we stood outside their school waiting for our missing bus afterwards, shrouded in shame and embarrassment at our defeat. This wasn’t our finest moment! Unfortunately, this put us on a downhill trajectory, experiencing a further defeat before what proved to be our last game of the season due to the Covid 19 outbreak.

This finished on a positive note with a 1-0 victory in a fiercely competitive match with KES Stratford. Despite the disappointment of not being able to fulfil the remainder of the fixtures for the year, this was an enjoyable season and, indeed, way to end my school hockey career. It has been a pleasure to be a part of a team whose main objective is to enjoy the game, have fun and develop, irrespective of the outcome.

Finally, a massive thanks to Mr Barr-Smith for his endless enthusiasm and support during fixtures and to Mr Cowley for coaching the side, ensuring that we did get better over the year and for giving us the confidence to compete.

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WINTER SPORT 20 CKEY 2019-20 ig Z, U14 BOYS’ HO es A, Baker 0, Ba lm Ho N, a ati T, Mr J Tan, Bh M, Edwards G, Bullough 0, Bavin sra D, Ba ton S, ple m Sta tya J, Sa ron T, Lees F, ley wd ck Ca Sto T, A, rt ni rbe va He l T, So , Greenhalgh J, AJ iziwa J, Threlfal rd Ch L. lla n, Mi iss rto F, Ell Ba er J, E Mr ison a R, Cullen Drap Holmes E, Denn ckley J, Banerje rne J, Merritt W, Sakariya U, Ma t M, Smart M, Co rof nc Ba I, ley Brom U15 BOYS’ HOCKEY 2018-2019 Harcourt 0, Lloyd J, McKenzie-Small M, Mellors J-W, Saturnino T, Whitt 0, Mayo B, Anthony C, Green J, Phoenix H, Threlfall S, Ratan J, Scott W, Mann A, Douglas J, Gill R, Finn E, Douglas-Medley R, Ahluwalia R, Fadakar-Bany M, Morledge I, Varcoe C, Cook A, McMahon 0.

U14 Boys

Hockey:

U15 Boys

Hockey:

P W D L 9 2 1 6

My personal highlight of the season was when we beat Worksop College 1-0 in the first game of the season. This was amazing as Worksop are a strong side as well as our local rivals and, on that day, everyone played amazingly and showed that we were capable of anything.

U14 BOYS’ HO

Will Merritt, 9C

Isaac Morledge, 10D This season has been a steep learning curve for the U15s’ side, with tough fixtures and our weaknesses truly highlighted. Sadly, we have been fairly unlucky throughout most of the season with results not going our way, despite some strong and often pleasing performances. Indeed, but for the lack of consistency from our forwards the results could, and should perhaps, have been considerably more favourable. Everyone in our team has put in an incredible amount of effort to develop new skills, enhance their knowledge and abilities and to contribute to the team and this was evident in what proved to be our last game of the season, a highly pleasing 1-1 draw against a very strong Princethorpe College side. It was disappointing that we lost further games due to the Coronavirus as we felt that results were now coming to match the performances we were producing and, perhaps, deserved.

P W D L 16 14 1 1

There hasn’t been one player this season that hasn’t put in 100 percent effort and played to the best of their ability.

This set us up for the biggest test of the season and, for most of us, our biggest challenge ever in hockey, in the form of a fixture against Repton School in the National Cup. Being drawn against one of, if not the best, hockey playing school in the country proved to be both an exciting and difficult encounter. Despite our inevitable loss, this was a key game for the side, highlighting the levels required to be successful, and enabling us to experience the pace and precision that top hockey is played at. This proved to be a learning curve for the side and an experience that we all learnt a lot from and will help with our hockey development in the future. Although we lost 6-0, we knew that we had done all that we could to get the best result possible, particularly as we were unlucky to not get a goal or two ourselves, with poor finishing proving to be an issue, an issue that was present throughout the year.

The team would also like to say thank you to the MT13 coach, Michael, for his help and efforts in developing us as a team and as individuals. I would like to thank all the side genuinely for their efforts and hope that we can play together again competitively soon.

This has proved to be another excellent season for the team with a huge amount of progression and development made by all. This year was our first time playing on a fullsize pitch and everyone rose to the challenge. The move to a larger pitch necessitated a bigger squad and we were fortunate to welcome four outfield players, plus a new keeper. Guided by our coach, Elliot, from ‘down under’ via Beeston HC, we played 16 closely fought fixtures with remarkably only 1 defeat.

The first half of the season saw us maintain an unbeaten record, scoring 29 goals with only 7 conceded. Our performance included a hat trick of wins over our ‘friendly rivals’ at Worksop College and culminated in us winning the County Cup, an achievement that, whilst we were pleased to achieve it, also indicated that we had set our sights much higher.

After half-term we were straight into the Midlands Regional Finals, which were held at Rugby School. The initial stage was extremely intense, but we battled through our matches – and the torrential rain - to qualify top of our group. The semi-final saw us defeat Worksop in a close match and then next came the final and a fixture against Loughborough GS! This match was undoubtedly an experience that none of us will forget.

CKEY NATION

AL FINALISTS

2019 - 2020

An equalising goal in the last 30 seconds of the match carried us through to penalty flicks – not something we had practised – and not something our keeper was ready for. The 5 unsuspecting penalty takers were chosen by our coach Elliot and we finished all square after the first set of five. Hearts pounding, and with the spectators hardly able to watch, we had to step up for a second flick.

Sudden death. On their 9th attempt, Leon made a save which secured us the win and propelled us to the England Hockey National Schools’ Finals. This was a first for a team from Nottingham High School. Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, our season was cut short and the last matches – including the National Finals – were cancelled. This was disappointing, but we have brilliant memories of the season and look forward to playing again next year and striving to repeat the development made.

I would like to finish by saying, on behalf of the whole team, a big thank you to Elliot for stepping in to coach the side at the last minute and to Mr Cowley for organising and supporting the side. Thanks, also, go to Mr Tan for coaching the B team, who also had an impressive season, going unbeaten all year long. A great year, despite the disappointment of not playing the Nationals.

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U12 Boys

P W D L 5 0 0 5

Mr S D Whitehead It was a challenging season of fixtures for the U12 A team this year. Most of the team were new to hockey and found themselves learning the game, fixture by fixture, against teams which were vastly more experienced at this stage. The team developed significantly over the course of the season, and improved their performances, both as individual players and as a collective. There were times when individual heads would go down, but others learned to step up and impose themselves on the game, (and the opposition) which would lift spirits once more. The most encouraging thing about the season was it was clear to see how much improvement was made.

U13 BOYS HOCKEY 2019-2020 Krishanand K, Morley R, Tadious T, Gill Z, Scott J, Sanghera N, Mr J Humphries, Smith A, Wilkins M, Bollina A, Pears N, Bashforth M, Morris E, Elwick H, Mr M Baker, Mack S, Roome F, Wylie 0, Mason W, McKeaney H, Pickering E, Whitt M, Harwood W.

Players were keen to attend training sessions at Highfields on a Tuesday evening, we had 32 down most weeks, which meant there was always competition for places in the various teams.

This enthusiasm and dedication to improvement meant that players, who had never picked up a stick before this year, pushed their way through the teams and were competing at A team level before the end of the season.

I fully expect this group of players to continue to develop their individual skills and their team cohesion over the coming seasons and with this will come improvements in results. The Player of the Season was James Freeston, whose stick skills were unparalleled at the outset, and who developed his team play as the season progressed.

The Most Improved Player was Fletcher Phoenix, whose stick skills still needed work, but he provided an unerring drive and competitiveness the team required every time he took to the pitch. Congratulations to all the players who took part.

Hockey:

U13 Boys

P W D L 9 2 2 5

William Mason, 8A

After pre-season training at Highfields Hockey Centre, the U13A team felt prepared for our second hockey season together. Throughout the duration of the season, every single player made significant improvements in technical skill. This resulted in a much better season than our previous, tough Year 7.

Saturday’s fixtures were a good challenge for the squad and a particular highlight of the season was our opening game against Loughborough. Last year, we lost 6-1 to this well-drilled side but we dismissed that experience and fought hard to walk away with a smile on our faces with a well-deserved 1-1 draw. What a turnaround! Another game to remember was our game in Hull against Hymers College. For the first half, our tiredness from the coach journey reflected our game play, but we woke up and fought back and with a stunning performance from our goalkeeper, we left the pitch with a 2-2 draw. It was a thoroughly deserved result.

We had a pretty successful series of matches whilst competing in the County Cup which was held at Worksop College. Our first two matches were tough, but we used them as our warm up and we dominated our last two games beating West Bridgford School 4-1 and The Minster School 2-0. Unfortunately, we just missed a place in the regional finals.

8th February saw the House Hockey competition with all four houses involved in close matches. After having to go to goal difference to decide the winner, it was Maples that emerged victorious with two more goals scored.

Our final game of the season was a great game at Princethorpe College. Even though we suffered a 4-1 defeat, the result definitely didn’t reflect our game play as we conceded a couple of unlucky goals. However, the highlight of the game was the goal that we scored where the ball was played out from the Goalie at the back, with every member of the team touching the ball, before it was smashed in at the back post.

Considering the level at which we started, we have made dramatic improvements to our team play and individual ball skills. It was a shame that the season was cut short just as we were finding our rhythm. In my opinion, I don’t think the results reflect our gameplay and I am really looking forward to the future in hockey.

U12 BOYS’ HOCKEY HOCKEY 2019-2020 Phoenix F, Black J, Sandhu A, Goyal A, Mioduszewski M, Mr SD Whitehead, Timmermans-Delves M, Parsons J, Syme-Grant M, Khan A, Kachhia R, Bhattal A, Mr PA Allison, Khan A, Freeston J, Satyam S, Thompson G, Lindsay F, Turton G, Sabarinathan T.

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Cross Country William Trease, 6C2 The season started off on a strong footing with the team winning our first fixture of the season on home turf. This was followed swiftly with a win in the Sutton Park Pairs Relay for the girls’ team and a second place for the boys.

This was the first time the team had run in this event in the past few years and was a new format to everyone: in pairs, each runner would run the same route in the opposite direction from their partner, making it a good event to build our camaraderie as we could encourage each other as we passed (which rarely happens at other events).

Unfortunately, we lost our race against Welbeck College in a competitive fixture, giving us room to improve for the remaining races.

Improve we did, as we won the ONs Race for the first time since I have been running for the senior team. This was the highlight of my season and I would like to thank the team and the ONs for turning up on the bitterly cold December morning for an enjoyable fixture. We also won the County Schools’ race and improved on our previous year in the Coventry Relays with Jake Greenhalgh (Year 9) running the fastest time from our school.

To complete a successful season for the senior team we placed 2nd in the King Edward School race in Birmingham in true cross country spirit; braving terrible weather and running through ankle deep puddles!

I would like to thank the members of the younger years who have stepped up to assist the senior team and have always run strongly and consistently. On behalf of the team, I would like to extend my appreciation to Mr Allison who has supported us throughout the season with training and by arranging enjoyable and varied events. I wish James Gandee the best of luck for next year and hope that his season will be as great as this one – and I look forward to catching up again at the ONs race!

SENIOR CROS

S COUNTRY 20 19-2020 Rana A, Lu J, Mr PA Allison, Bedforth T, Ha rvey W, Sandhu Morrissey-Rale vic S, Glass G, D, Forward G, Doherty J, Treas e W, Gandee J, Bullough H.

TRY 2019-2020 JUNIOR CROSS COUN den J, Herbert T, Bow A, ttal Bha T, Armour a R, sain Z, Nassr N, Banerje Hus W, rritt Me ta E, Mr PA Allison, Shi K, Chi son L, Targoni A, ddi Ma F, er Bak H, Whitehead dner K. Banerjea E, Lockyer J, Dineen S, Black J, Gar J, Bavin T, Prestwich C, Mungai G, Greenhalgh

William Trease captained the Boys’ Cross Country season this year and Jeffrey Lu acted as Vice Captain. The girls’ captain was Jessica Doherty for a second year. The school entered Junior Girls’ teams in the County League races, the English Schools’ Cup and the City Championships. Jessica Doherty rounded off a superb season for the girls with selection to the English Schools’ National Championships in Liverpool. This was her third National XC Championships.

Seventy students have competed for the Cross Country teams this year in over twenty fixtures; it was also nice to see more girls take up the sport. The Year 7 Girls’ team and the Year 8/9 Girls’ team won the City Championships in January at Wollaton Park, which was a huge success. Six girls qualified to represent the City in the County Schools’ XC. The Junior Girls teams had further success in the English Schools’ Cup competition. They won the East Midlands round and finished a very creditable eighth in the Midlands round in Hull.

The senior team competed in the Birmingham League and various home fixtures at Wollaton Park. This has been a very competitive year for the senior team with some good individual and team performances. We won our home fixture with Loughborough GS and KES Birmingham at Wollaton Park, in September. In the Pairs Relay at Sutton Park, we finished second in the boys’ event and went one better in the girls’ race, Jess Doherty and Grace Forward winning this race for the first time.

In the spring term, the senior team won the County Schools’ race at Wollaton Park and performed well in the prestigious KHV111 Coventry Relays, improving their overall position to 31st, a one-place improvement on our 2019 performance. The senior team finished the season with a very creditable

2nd place in the King Edward School race at Cannon Park, Birmingham. The senior team also performed well in the ONs’ Cross Country in December at Wollaton Park.

Thomas Bedforth won the race and the school won the trophy for the first time in three years.

The Intermediate and Junior teams have competed in the County Schools’ League, the Nottinghamshire County Schools’ Championships and fixtures against other independent schools, both home and away.

Both age groups also competed in the English Schools’ Cross Country Cup competition and made the regional finals in Hull.

The highlight of the season was the Year 8/9 boys’ team winning the County Schools’ League at Berry Hill; Jake Greenhalgh won all three races and finished first overall, Thomas Bavin finished a very creditable third overall. All age groups, boys and girls, won the City Championships at Wollaton Park in early January and 16 pupils represented the City in the County Schools Championships in February at Berry Hill Park.

This year, we had four students who represented Nottinghamshire. All four competed in the English Schools’ Cross Country Championships in Liverpool and Thomas Bavin also represented Nottinghamshire in the AAA Championships in Northampton. Congratulations go to Jake Greenhalgh and Thomas Bavin, both Year 9, Ben Maddison, Year 10, and Jessica Doherty, Year 13. Congratulations, also, to Jake Greenhalgh who was awarded the ‘Baker Trophy’ for his superb season. The award is presented to the most consistent athlete over the year.

House Cross Country The House Cross-Country in October at Wollaton Park was a superb spectacle of running with most year groups fielding a full complement of pupils. Congratulations to the individual winners and house teams (see below)

Individual Team Year 7 Boys. . ....................... James Black.................... Cooper’s Year 7 Girls........................... Eloise Chita...................... Maples’ Year 8 Boys. . ............... Charles Prestwich...................... Maples’ Year 8 Girls................... Phoebe Forward...................... Maples’ Year 9 Boys. . ................. Jake Greenhalgh...................... Maples’ Year 9 Girls...................... Krystal Mungai....................... White’s Year 10 Boys....................... Sam Threlfall...................... Maples’ Year 10 Girls.................... Holly Harwood...................... Maples’ Year 11 Boys................... Henry Bullough...................... Maples’ Senior Boys.................... James Forward...................... Maples’ Senior Girls...................... Grace Forward...................... Maples’

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Mr P A Allison

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Miss Bray

This season was all about the development of the building blocks we created in the 2018 - 2019 season. The girls went straight into their first pre-season day of Netball, where they worked hard and we set out the aims of the season - to develop as teams as well as our style of play.

All 10 of our sides continued to compete nearly every weekend across the term. Our win ratio has increased to 40%, this is testament to the amount of dedication and time the girls put into training and commitment to matches. The most successful team was the U13A, winning over half of their matches, coming out with a win ration of 71.4%. The U13A team really played very successfully throughout the season as they demanded

high standards from each other, positively impacting on their performances. From Year 7 the team has really gelled, as the players have started to play less as individuals and more for each other.

In the County Cup the U13, U14 and U15 all made it into the Semi Finals, with the U13A being very unlucky with the places for 2nd and 3rd being determined by goal average.

Only half of the School’s year groups went to County this year, due to unforeseen circumstances, though for those teams that did compete they managed to push the performance bar higher. This is the first year we have made it to any semis with senior teams. Hopefully, we will make even more progress next year.

It is a shame that the Netball season was cut short this year, with some poor weather impacting at the start and, later, Coronavirus bringing an abrupt end to the season at the start of March. The teams generally really come into their own in the second half of the season, with such a positive start the girls and I were excited to see the season play out.

We had our annual weekend tour to Condover Hall planned for our U12 which is always an excellent end to tie the season together.

For the first time, we had our first U14/U15 mini tour scheduled to Bristol in the South West. This three day tour was packed full of matches, as well as some activities in between. This year was also the year of the first girls’ international tour - Netball to South Africa. Due to the ongoing pandemic with COVID-19, it was an understandable shame that these tours had to be cancelled. I am sure the girls would have been disappointed, but the tour plan is still developing and there will be plenty more tour opportunities on the horizon!

Over the season, though short, there was a real buzz around Netball and I feel that the girls started to believe in their own abilities far more.

Teams became more united and the girls started to play not just as individuals but for each other. It was great to see some girls start to play at local clubs, which in turn as they develop will contribute to the progress of teams. Of these girls a handful have been successful in trialling into County, Satellite and Loughborough Lightening Academy squads, which is an outstanding achievement.

1st VII Team

P W D L 12 6 0 6

Emma Chalmers, 6E2 I am honoured to have been captain of the 1st team this year and I want to say thank you to the girls who have been committed and dedicated to this team. Not only have we developed in skill ability but we have also grown in confidence as a team to strive to achieve many victories. I have left all our fixtures feeling proud of the effort we put it and often with a win too! I have thoroughly enjoyed playing netball this season with this amazingly supportive 1st team.

I also want to say thank you to Evie and Rachel. Evie and Rachel have been dedicated and key players for the 1st team. I believe they have developed as players this season and have had consistently strong performances in our games. A special mention goes to the Year 10 girls, Nnenna and Holly, who have joined the team and been very committed this season, playing games with confidence and enthusiasm.

We had a great start to the season with the fantastic win against the old girls. This made me feel really proud and confident for the season ahead. It definitely gave us the confidence we needed for our future matches. We continued to work hard throughout, with regular training sessions and with individuals from the team using the gym for strength and power development. My favourite match of the season was against Trent College. We beat them 2622. This was a very close game and it proved to ourselves that we were capable of winning. As a team I believe our strengths were motivating each other, communicating in our units and adapting our play to different oppositions.

As captain this year, I have seen many individuals improve their netball skills and ability. Many also have grown in confidence and it’s amazing to see this. I am sure that many of these girls will continue to do well next season too.

It’s a massive shame that our season was cut short and I feel very disappointed that we could not go on to win our last few matches that we had trained for. However, I feel I can leave on a positive note with this team, coming away from this short season with many wins and great memories. The Year 13 and I look forward to coming back to play in the ONs’ game.

I want to say a thank you to Miss Bray for always being positive and giving us the confidence to push ourselves to achieve the wins we deserved.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON - EVANIA RENTON Sticking on the ‘C’ bib for every match Evie’s energy and determination this season had a huge influence on the team’s success.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - GRACE FORWARD Grace moved to the 1st team this year and her reflective nature allowed her to channel her skills to support the team effectively on court.

We wish our Year 13 Netball leavers all the best going to university- hopefully they have fun playing at Uni. These girls have really helped the first team get to the point they are now; their determination and dedication is admirable.

The Trent match was certainly when I noticed this and I think we all believed we were in for a good season. They brought a great energy and were excellent role models.

There have been many other highlights over the season but, overall, I am very pleased and proud of every player who took part in Netball. Their success and progress is a reflection of their hard work and commitments to both training and match play, as can be seen in each team’s report.

SENIOR 1ST VII NETBALL 2019-2020 Miss HG Bray, Harwood H, Ilione N, Watson D, Alvey R, Ilione C, Forward G, Wood M, Chalmers E, Renton E, Davidson I.

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U15A VII Team

P W D L 10 4 2 4

Isabel Martin Fernandez, 10A The U15A team had a rough start, with a couple of early losses, but that didn’t stop us from going into the DRET tournament and coming out with a 3rd place. Although our season was cut short, we kept a high morale and finished with a win against Stamford, with a final score of 18-15.

At the end of the term, we were planning on taking our skills on the Bristol tour which, unfortunately, got cancelled. We were looking forward to demonstrating our skills and development through the tour. By the end of the season, the team and the individual players had improved, despite the match scores, as we played many difficult and competitive matches.

Overall, the highlight of the season was one of the matches in the DRET tournament against St Georges where we came out with a strong win of 18-10.

The toughest match we had was against Ratcliffe College where we lost by a significant amount, but that didn’t hold us back from winning the next match we had. I look forward to next year and how much more improved we will all be as individuals and as a whole. We had a great, enjoyable season!

PLAYER OF THE SEASON - ZOE SHARLOLTTE Zoe was a key player all season, reading play well, creating formations to aid play.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - SIMRAN UBHI Simran worked hard this season, correcting her skill and striving to improve. Her development was impressive and made a great impact on the team.

SENIOR 2ND VII NETBALL 2019-2020 Molloson E, Qureshi A, Marshall L, Miss H G Bray, McKeever I, Brown S, Solomonides K, McMahon L, Christensen L, Hopkin S, Tolley L, Chapman A, Ash M, Whittingham E.

Netball:

2nd VII Team

P W D L 7 2 1 4

Aimee Chapman, 6C1 The 2nd Netball team have had a tough, yet developmental season, one filled with both highlights and also learning experiences. Our highlight would be our 13-13 draw against Trent College, close rivals who we knew would be tough competition but we persevered through great teamwork. We faced a really tough triangular tournament on Saturday 18th January against Worksop College and Eltham School, both of whom we lost to, however, we had a positive team talk between matches and managed to improve our own game. Therefore, it was a big learning curve for us. All the girls have worked hard all season to improve their own game, as well as our performance as a team, through improved communication as a whole. We tried to be as vocal as possible on the court in order to connect with each other to improve our overall gameplay.

As the season progressed we began to learn more about who plays best in what positions, so we found a dynamic that worked well.

Also, a big part of our development was down to Miss Bray for helping us develop our skills through a series of effective practices in training sessions and to Miss Sanderson for her enthusiastic team talks and support at our fixtures - a big thanks goes to them. The second team should be proud of their efforts this season as many positives came out of it and let’s hope next season the efforts can be built on to have a season of more successes.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON - MAISIE ASH Maisie made a great impact on the 2nd team, her impressive shooting skills and nature has had a positive impact.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - ELLIE MOLLOSON Ellie has developed quietly over the season- a pocket rocket! By the end of the season Ellie was making effective turnovers and intercepts around the court.

SENIOR U15 VII NETBALL 2019-2020 Shahid H, Warren-Smith A, Gee S, Miss HG Bray, Barr-Smith E, Clifford-Albrighton F, Smith L, Hind J, Fatima A, Woodiwiss A, Shearman I, Ubhi S, Bryce H, Krishanand K, Martin Fernandez I, Irons H, Sharlotte Z, French I.

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U14A VII Team

P W D L 7 2 1 4

Gauri Khanna, 9D For the U14 team, this netball season was quite a challenging one, yet it proved to be an enjoyable and ultimately successful experience. The beginning of term saw some unfortunate match losses against some strong oppositions. However, despite the initial disappointment, we were determined to work hard as a team and secure wins in our future games. We developed strategies to improve our match play and took advantage of opportunities to improve our netball skills, including weekly lessons and practice after school.

The effort and resilience of the girls really paid-off; we won our first match against Trent College, 10-5 and achieved a consecutive win against Worksop College, 15-9! There were even aspects of success at the County tournaments we took part in. Although we didn’t win every game, we played quite well against some more experienced competitors. These victories were a highlight of the season because they demonstrated our progress as a team, boosted our morale and helped us regain our confidence in the face of other losses.

Since the start of the year, the team improved in all areas of netball, such as passing, movement and awareness on court; this was demonstrated in our match against the strong Sheffield Girls’ High School side, which we lost, but by a much smaller margin than that of the previous year.

Being a member of the U14 netball team has been exciting, enriching and I, along with my teammates, have learned many new skills. I would like to thank our teachers who supported, encouraged and taught us throughout this journey- we look forward in anticipation to another great season of netball.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON - KRYSTAL MUNGAI Joining the year group this year, Krystal’s knowledge and experience helped to shape the team across the season.

Her energy and support of others was admirable!

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - JANE ABERCROMBIE Also joining the year group this year, having not played Netball before, Jane was an asset to the team and her commitment and determination to improve were faultless.

Netball:

U15B VII Team

P W D L 15 3 1 11

Annie Woodiwiss, 10A The U15B Netball team started the season with a challenging match against Trent College. Despite losing 9-13, the close score inspired us to enhance our techniques and we can confidently say this was an encouraging performance against a skilled opposition.

We persevered through our defeats with positive attitudes and focused on coordinating our gameplay, for example, making centre and side-line passes more effective which enabled for smoother movement to the goal circle.

A highlight was our early match against Stamford in which we were able to incorporate the skills that we had refined in training. The score was mostly tied throughout, reflecting our growth in confidence.

Our team have enjoyed seeing our steady improvement as the season progressed. The strong bonds between our players allowed for a positive atmosphere on court and in training whilst also making the experience more memorable.

I would like to thank, on behalf of the rest of the team, Miss McCabe, for her constant support and encouragement that fuelled our energetic behaviour during our matches. Likewise, I would like to thank Miss Wood and Miss Bray for helping enhance our netball skills during games lessons.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON - ANNIE WOODIWISS Annie’s control and skill was admired within the team.

Her athletic ability and game awareness really shone through this season.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - JESS HIND Jess’ confidence grew over the season as did her skill and understanding around the shooting circle

SENIOR U14A VII NETBALL 2019-2020 Humberstone P, Gandhi Y, Gandhi R, Simpson G, Miss HG Bray, Bateman L, Zainab Z, Poyser H, Viglo A, Jessa Z, Miss J Luxford, Quraishi M, Whittamore S, Mungai K, Khanna G, Abercrombie J, Jones I.

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U15B VII Team

Netball:

P W D L 6 2 0 4

Zurain Zainab, 9A

U13A VII Team

P W D L 7 5 0 2

Zoe Flanagan, 8E

The U14B Netball team had an enjoyable and successful season developing our skills and teamwork along the way.

There were games where we felt we would lose, but this didn’t stop us. Our resilience as a team encouraged us throughout. At the start of this season we began with the aim of cleaning up the structure of our play and working on accurate passes into the goal circle.

The best match was against Trent College 12-0, it was our first win and it gave us great confidence for the next matches. Every girl in the team improved and played well as we learned from our mistakes and developed not only as individuals but as a team. I really enjoyed playing with this team and hopefully we will have the same enthusiasm next year as we develop our netball play further.

The improvement of these aspects led us to progress with our netball and enabled us to win two of our hardest matches. We started with a great win against Trent 12-0, followed by a sad loss to Worksop College. Throughout the season Zara Jessa and Phoebe Humberstone played with great speed and confidence, with Ria Gandhi and Isabel Jones consistently shooting well throughout all our matches. The B’s season finished with a match at Stamford School which was played with great enthusiasm. Throughout the season we have progressed well. We have grown as a team and improved significantly from the first match we played.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON - ZURAIN ZAINAB Zurain’s commitment and control were key to the team’s development. Her work ethic was contagious within the team.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - PHOEBE HUMBERSTONE Phoebe worked incredibly hard this season and her improvement and the reliability of her skills were particularly effective throughout match play.

Our first match was a pre-season tournament. Although we finished in last place, it was a great way to get us back into netball and get used to how our team mates play, plus it gave us lots to work on in training and the determination to do better next time. We faced extremely experienced teams at the pre-season tournament, though this was great at forcing us to adapt our play to try and overcome the opposition. We didn’t have to wait long for our next tournament and, despite the many injuries we had, the team still put up a good fight, finishing in second place.

After this we had a winning streak in our next two matches against Ratcliffe and Denstone College with the scores being 10-6 and 14-9 to us. We then faced our toughest match of the season against Sheffield Girls’ High School.

Coming out of the first half we were losing and the pressure had definitely got to us. But, after a motivational team talk, we went back onto the courts feeling determined to play our best netball no matter what the score.

The team came together, overcoming injury, and had our best moment of season where, even though the other team were stronger than us, we still managed to pull through and draw the third quarter and won the fourth!

This season we really bonded as a team which has improved our playing and ability to work together hugely.

Although we had a shorter season than usual we still have all learnt so much and were a much stronger team than in the previous year and we hope to continue to improve over the coming years.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON - ZOE FLANAGAN A key player in the team, Zoe really got behind the team this year. Her communication and consistent performance were an asset to the team.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - NOHA NASSR Throughout the season Noha’s natural games’ understanding and her Netball skills came together. Noha became a force in defence, taking many interceptions.

U13A VII NETBALL 2019-2020 Madhusudan S, Gardner K, Brown G, Hucknall B, Kearsley A, Hagues B, Mrs A Lemon, Nassr N, Brooks-Lee S, Moran A, Yadlapalli I, Forward P, Anjbeen A, Miss A Peat, Spedding I, French A, Flanagan Z, Karthik N, Gill K, Hall C, Prakash N.

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U13B VII Team

Netball: P W D L 5 3 0 2

Phoebe Forward, 8D The U13B Netball team had a great season, winning 3 of 5 matches played. Unfortunately, 4 of our fixtures were cancelled, but that didn’t stop us from having a great time at the other matches. A tough match for us was against Sheffield High, who beat us 6-20. This match showed us areas to improve on, yet made us work hard to try and turn over ball. However, the team bounced back for the next match, which ended up being our final match, and we won 23-0. The highlight of the season for me was the match against Denstone College, which we won 11-2, because I felt the team pulled together and supported each other well. Although this was not our best win of the season, I thought the team began to work really well as one unit and not 9 individual players - hopefully next season will be even more successful and we will build on our new found team dynamic throughout.

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Netball:

U12A VII Team

P W D L 5 2 0 3

Eloise Chita, 7E PLAYER OF THE SEASON - BEATRICE HUCKNALL Bea has certainly been motivated this season; her work, determination to win and to improve herself were admirable and beneficial for the team as a whole.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - NITHA KARTHIK Nitha and Netball have certainly begun to click!

Her great shooting and movement developed hugely throughout the season.

U12B VII Team

What a great start to Senior School Netball! There were some tough matches to begin with and we improved our ball skills, teamwork defensively and in attacking play during the season to win some of our later matches convincingly. Our toughest netball match was against Denstone College. Despite losing to them, we played our best netball with great teamwork and resilience and that is all you could want from a team.

Overall, the team came on leaps and bounds. We got to know how our peers played and we all embraced every second of playing as an amazing opportunity. The season seemed short, with only five matched played due to a number of matches being cancelled due to the inclement weather and Covid. During the season, the A team played 5 matches. We won 2 of them and lost 3.

We won against Mount St Mary’s College 18-9 and Worksop College 24-4 and lost against Nottingham Girls’ High 6-11, Denstone College 5-27 and Ratcliffe College 10-15. Hopefully next year we will have a longer season.

These results show we are in reaching distance for a successful season in Year 8.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON - PRIYA MANN Priya brought excellent skill quality to every training session and game. Her attitude was commendable as was the positivity she brought to the team.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - ESME WINTER Esme really worked on her skills throughout the season.

Esme began to channel her excellent speed and reaction times into effective defence.

P W D L 5 2 0 3

Elyssa Banerjea, 7B This season was a great one for the U12B Netball team.

We had the good fortune to play in five fixtures this year, winning a highly respectable two of them and losing the remaining three. We experienced some tough opponents and had some great match highlights throughout the spring term. In total, we scored 24 goals; a truly wonderful achievement, and something we were all proud of.

With our first match cancelled, we went with a positive attitude to our first game of the season against Worksop College, which we proudly won with a great score of six to none. After a promising start, we continued to smile through our two consecutive defeats against some of our toughest opponents yet, Ratcliffe and Denstone Colleges, where we gave our all and developed our netball skills. The eagerly anticipated fixture of the season against Nottingham Girls’ High School was unfortunately cancelled, preceding an unfortunate loss against Sheffield Girls’ High School, our penultimate opposition. The last match of the season was by far the best any of us had played throughout the spring term; an amazing 11-1 victory against Mount St Mary’s College was definitely something to be proud of.

Over the course of the term, it was a pleasure to see our team develop and each member become a stronger individual in all aspects of the game. Whether defending or shooting, our teamwork was impeccable. Though we had some tough matches and minor setbacks, we played some amazing matches and shared an extremely proud moment at our final fixture. This season was a truly incredible one and we can’t wait to see how we’ll continue to develop and enjoy playing in the years of netball still to come.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON - ELYSSA BANERJEA Elyssa was a pocket rocket for the team! Her work rate was excellent, always supporting her team and always keen to improve.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER - LAURA MADDISON From the start of the season you would think Laura was a different player. Her hard work in training certainly paid off, as she transferred her skills effectively with control into game play.

SENIOR U12A & B VII NETBALL 2019-2020 Shi K, Palmer H, Mokashi L; Bains N, Jones C, Mann P, Miss R Wood, Banerjea E, Bateman S, Ratan A, Quraishi H, Veale E, John M, Maddison L, Robson M, Vafa M, Chita E, Goonan-Dunne S, Purewal R, Mungai G, Khanna A, Arshad M, Winter E, Bartholomeuz A.

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Swimming Jess Doherty, 6B2 The swimming team has seen impressive performances and achieved some very commendable results over the last year. Unfortunately, the season was cut short, but the enthusiasm shown by the team remained high and the standard of swimming has undoubtedly improved as shown by this year’s results.

We started the season strongly at the ESSA East Midlands Qualifiers with all teams finishing in the top 7 for both the freestyle and medley relays. This success was continued into the John Parry SWIMMING SQUAD 2019-2020 Relays and the Bromsgrove G, Lei H-Y, Sahu Bhansali S, French I, Forward G, Merritt W, Glass Invitational Relays where all n S, Quraishi M, Brooks Z, Wilso E, r Butle Mr B J Harrison, Bryce H, McKeaney H, Banerjea E, senior teams qualified for R, Tao Cooper A, Baker A, Farrell-Daly J, K, Doherty J, Chita E, Winter E. ley Mood E, e the A finals. The John Parry Byrn I, Wylie M, Mioduszewski Relays and the Warwick 50m Individual Championships also highlighted the vast array of Although I have only been part of the team for two years, I talent in the U13 boys’ and girls’ teams, which is have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The competitions, promising for the swimming team in future seasons. training and opportunity to make new friends within the team have allowed me to grow and develop as a person The Bath Cup at the London Aquatics Centre was yet outside academic work. I would like to thank Mr Harrison again the highlight of the season and it was an honour for giving up his time, making it possible for training to swim in such a prestigious location. Both the senior sessions to go ahead and for the team to compete in as girls’ and boys’ teams competed to a high standard in the many competitions as possible. It has been an honour to freestyle and medley relays, achieving very respectable captain the team and to take away so many fond memories times in a high level and competitive environment. in a sport I love. Good luck to the team next year!

Although neither team made it to the final, there were no disqualifications, which is a significant improvement on the results from last year.

Mr B J Harrison Sadly, this year we did not get to compete in the House Swimming Gala which concludes the swimming season.

I would like to add my thanks to Jess both for her report This is a fun opportunity to compete against your and for everything that she has done to promote and friends in other houses (although Maples would have develop school swimming during her two years in the unquestionably won!) rather than other schools. Hopefully, School, particularly among the girls. Thank you also to this will be an event that can take place next year and be other leavers, Isabella Wylie and George Glass, who have something to look forward to. been key members of the team throughout their school careers. Finally, as I move on from the High School, I would I am thankful to all the swimmers that have competed this like to thank all students who have represented the School year. Many swimmers formed the basis of the team and in Swimming and all colleagues who have supported me we could not have entered the competitions without them. with the running of the team in training sessions and at Many swimmers also stepped in at the last minute so that events. I have been involved with the team since I joined we could have a full team; both are equally important and the School in 2008 and running it since 2011 and, over the I am very grateful. I must also thank the girls who have years, there have been many significant successes and stepped out of their comfort zones and swam many year memorable experiences. I would like to wish all members of groups above their own age, due to there being fewer girls the squad every success for the future and, especially, wish than boys. If they had not done this, there would not have Mr Parker all the best as he takes over the swimming team been a girls’ team. I am really appreciative of this and the – I am sure that he will do a great job and lead the team results also show that having much younger swimmers did from strength to strength. not limit our success!

1ST XI FOOTBALL 2019-2020 Bartlett M, Etches J, Roberts B, Turnbull-Irving A, Sharlotte L, Mr P Cramp, Brenchley 0, Fakey A, Gandee J, Khan H, Roberts E, Spencer W, Lynch J, Peirce B, Bruce M, McKenzie-Small 0.

Football:

1st XI

P W D L 3 1 1 1

Mr P J Cramp The team played only three matches before fixtures were curtailed due to the outbreak of Coronavirus. For the second successive year, the season opened with a 3-3 draw at Valley Road. This was a hugely positive result against a strong Arnold Hill team, with a comeback from three goals down inspired by ‘Captain Marvel’ and Player of the Year, Blaine Grewcock, who scored twice. The third was added by Luke Sharlotte, who went on to score a hat trick in a 5-0 win against Central College.

The final match of the season was a narrow 1-0 defeat to Loughborough Grammar School.

Honourable mentions go to Vice-Captain Ben Peirce (a truly outstanding and reassuring presence in goal) and other senior players including Aryan Fakey, Joe Lynch, Matt Bruce, Oliver McKenzie-Small, Ben and Ed Roberts and Will Spencer. They will not be easy to replace.

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Staff Leaving Best Wishes Mr Allen

Mr Davies

Mr Allen joined us in September 2019 on a one year contract as a Teacher of Physics. Having graduated with a degree in Maritime Defence and Technology, a degree in Science and Physics and a Masters in Astrophysics, he previously taught at the British School of Kuwait, Bedford College and Valentine’s High School.

Mr Davies joined the School in September 2017 as a Teacher of Music Technology. He was previously a student here at the School before graduating from the University of Surrey with a degree in Music and Sound Recording. Upon graduation, he took up work as a freelance recording and mixing engineer, including the recording of an album for Cantamus Girls’ Choir, who were accompanied by Mr Reid, the School’s previous Director of Music.

During his time at the High School Mr Allen was an Assistant Tutor to Mr Pratten, where his skill and knowledge at the weekly Tutor Set crosswords and quizzes impressed all. We would like to thank him for all he contributed during his time at School and wish him every success in the future.

During his time at the High School, Mr Davies supervised the Music Tech Society and was part of the team that helped guide the design of the new Player Hall PA system.

Mr Davies left us to focus his attention solely towards audio engineering again and, in particular, the launch of his recording studio (Diggs Studio) in Wollaton towards the end of this year.

Mr Poole

Miss Peat

Ms Harris Ms Harris trained at the Moray House School of Education at the University of Edinburgh. Her career spans 26 years, 4 of which were spent travelling and living in other countries and included attending a Game Ranger course in South Africa, learning Spanish in Guatemala and Costa Rica, living with local families and going to language schools, working in a jungle lodge in Costa Rica as an assistant manager and teaching at an International school in Mexico. In Mexico she bought 2 acres of Mexican jungle and had an off-grid house built on it where she lived whilst running a Bed and Breakfast from it. This life-changing experience made her hyper aware of our relationship with the earth and she became vegetarian and far more respectful of the planet. She followed this up with working on an organic farm in New Zealand.

Ms Harris joined the High School as a Teacher of English in September 2016. During her time here she was an

Assistant Tutor to Mr Adshead in White’s House, a part of her job that she loved and she will miss her tutor set enormously. She took over the running of the Bridge Cup, inspired by truly amazing and humbling performances she saw when judging the Junior School poetry plate every year. She was involved in trips to recycling centres, community gardens, food banks, and children’s homes with Easter eggs and other gifts. She introduced the School to the refugee forum (where she volunteered last year).

One of Ms Harris’ favourite ‘things’ in teaching is when a student makes her see something in a text that she has never before seen or considered - despite having taught it 10 times.

Ms Harris has left teaching and is open to whatever comes her way. She will be volunteering at the Arkwright Mills Unesco World Heritage Site in Cromford. She is planning to join an Amateur Dramatics Club, will be hiking in the Peaks and doing an MA in Literature in York. We would like to offer her best wishes for the future.

Miss Peat joined the School in September 2019 for one year to cover Mrs Daly’s maternity leave as a Teacher of History. Outside the classroom, Miss Peat coached the U13 Girls’ Hockey and Netball teams, was an Assistant Tutor in Maples’ House, ran the Key Stage 3 History Film Club and helped establish the Nottingham High School Gardening Club.

Her most memorable moment was the First World War Battlefields trip with Year 10 and Year 11 in October.

Miss Peat commented how much she will miss the students here at the School as each and every single one of them has made an impression on her during her short time here. She has left to continue her teaching career in History with plans to move more into the pastoral side of teaching by helping troubled young people. We wish her all the very best for the future.

Mr Poole joined the Royal Marines at the age of 16 and spent the next 28 years on operational duties around the world.

In 2005, he left the Royal Marines and was recruited by the Valley Forge Military Academy and College in the USA where he was employed as a Tactical Officer with pastoral care for over 120 students, 24 hours a day. In 2010 he returned to the UK where he was trained up to work as a behaviour mentor/counsellor and instructor for students in the Nottingham area.

Mr Poole joined the High School in January 2014 and took on the role of Senior Staff Instructor for the Combined Cadet Force. He has assisted with the running of the D of E Silver Programme and the Year 9 Rugby team, becoming the Head of Year 9 Rugby in 2018. He also helped run the Bala trip for three years and was lucky enough to attend an outward bound week with students in the Lakes which was to be the Bala replacement. He went on the School Ski Trip to the USA and, in September 2019, he became the Temporary Head of Mellers’ House, standing in for Mr Smith.

Within the CCF Mr Poole introduced a Corps of Drums, watching them develop and grow into a truly impressive cadet led group of students, which in turn helped develop the School CCF Band Section which continues to grow in strength and confidence.

As for the future, Mr Poole is planning on starting a new life in sunny Spain, travelling Europe in his camper van, and hitting the inland waterways of England in the summer. We wish him all the very best for the future.

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Mr Harrison Mr Harrison attended St Alban’s School in Hertfordshire. In his gap year between school and university he taught Latin at Lochinver House School, a prep school in Potters Bar. He then went to Durham University and graduated with a degree in Classics. After graduating, he taught in Kenya for two years at Pembroke House School, a British curriculum school in the Rift Valley between Nairobi and Nakuru. Here, he was Head of Latin, and taught a range of other subjects, including RS, Music, Years 5 and 6 Maths and took swimming and cricket teams.

He returned to the UK in 2008 and joined the High School in September that year as a Teacher of Classics.

Mr Harrison’s father actually attended Nottingham High School and, like him, Mr Harrison has been attached to Mellers’ House throughout his time here, firstly as Assistant Tutor to Mr Sedgewick and then as a Tutor, taking over Mr Cleverley’s Tutor Set when he retired in 2013. His first group of Year 7 tutees are also leaving School this year.

He was also a form teacher in Year 8 and then Year 11 before getting more involved in the Sixth Form.

Mr Harrison was appointed to run the AQA Baccalaureate in 2009 and held this role until the qualification was discontinued in 2018. In 2012, he took up the role of Head of Year 12/13 and stayed in that role until September 2017 when he took over as Head of Classics and Deputy Head of Sixth Form, a position which had been developed to include the management of UCAS and Oxbridge processes. He also served as Chair of Common Room for a couple of years and taught A-Level Politics from 2015-2017, during which time he helped to organise a mock election and mock EU referendum (NHS overwhelmingly voted Remain!).

Mr Harrison was also heavily involved in the co-curricular programme, being in charge of the swimming team since September 2011. In this capacity, he enjoyed organising and hosting large events, such as the House Gala, John Parry Relays and ESSA East Midlands qualifiers. He took the team to the annual Bath Cup in the London Olympic Pool and to National Finals on three separate occasions.

He was involved in a large number of DofE expeditions, in particular the Silver Qualifiers to the Yorkshire Dales and Bronze Qualifiers to Shropshire. He also, on occasions, supervised Under 13 and 14 cricket teams and joined the viola section in the school orchestra.

In the Classics Department, Mr Harrison organised and led trips to Italy, with the final one of these in 2019 which was particularly enjoyable and memorable – not least for the torrential rain and broken down bus on Mount Vesuvius!

He also helped and led trips to Greece and to Hadrian’s Wall. He accompanied trips abroad with a range of other departments, including Year 8 German trips to the Rhineland and Vienna, a History trip to Berlin and, in 2011, a World Challenge expedition to Ethiopia with Mr Thorpe, which included trekking in the Bale Mountains and contributing to the building of a primary school in a village community.

In the Sixth Form, Mr Harrison was particularly proud of being Head of Year for the School’s first co-educational cohort in 2015-2017 and enjoyed being involved in the planning and implementation of co-education in this context. Since taking over UCAS, he streamlined our processes for checking personal statements and producing references, and developed the provision and support for students applying to Oxbridge, and for universities abroad and degree apprenticeships. He also set up and ran the 1513 Society, the School’s programme for students identified as academically gifted and talented.

Mr Harrison will miss many things at the High School, including taking part in staff five a side football on Fridays, where he suggests that his attendance has been far more impressive than his ability, but he felt that his improved fitness during lockdown might have enabled him to become a box to box midfield general (but we will now never be known!). He will also miss the coffee machine in the Sixth Form brasserie and Chinedu’s mega-bap breakfast special every Friday morning! On a more serious note, he believed that he was fortunate to have been able to work with so many fantastic colleagues and students during his time at the High School, and he wanted to particularly thank all those he has worked with in the Sixth Form Team and the Classics Department for their friendship and support.

Mr Harrison left us to take on the role of Assistant Head, Head of Sixth Form, at Ratcliffe College. He was sad to leave the High School after 12 years, but was excited about the challenge of taking the step up to Senior Management and leading a Sixth Form in his own right. We wish him all the best in his new role and thank him for his significant contribution to High School life.

Farerwell and Good Luck

S TA F F L E A V E R S

Staff Leaving Best Wishes