The tauntonian2013 compressed

IP • •

•

111•11■

1 1= 1011111111

TAUNTON SCHOOL Offering more

SPORTS

PASTORAL 4 6 7

Headmaster Heads of school/charities Chapel

8 9 10 12 14

TS Foundation Boarding Fairwater Weirfield Wills East

17 18 20 22 24

Wills West Woodyer Bevan Besley Evans

26 28 30 32

Goodland Marshall Jenkin Sixth Form

34

TSI

ACADEMIC 42 43 44 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 56 57 58 60 60 62

Staff leaving Business and Economics DT Classics English Geography Geology History Leisure Studies Maths ICT

84 86 88 90 92 93 94 96 98 99 100 101 102 103

Rugby Hockey boys Hockey girls Netball Badminton/Basketball Golf Cricket Girls' Tennis Boys' Tennis Athletics Swimming Riding Football/lacrosse Dance

OUTDOOR PURSUITS AND TRIPS 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114

CCF Army CCF Navy RAF Trek Force Ten Tors Duke of Edinburgh Australian Exchange China Trip Skiing San Francisco Spanish Exchange

MFL PHSE Psychology Science JAS Religion and Philosophy Art/Photography

ARTS AND SOCIETIES 68 70 73 74 75 76 78 79 80 81 82 83

Drama Music Cultural Studies Creative Writing History of Art Debating Greenpower John Rae/HAPL Global Society The Lisk TADs Young Enterprise

FRONT COVER: Mark Jumbo (Fairwater) performng in last year's House Singing competition

3

rn

It has been an interesting summer of statistics. Nearly all (and I stress the nearly) economic indicators are showing signs of recovery. Optimism is growing and perhaps we have reached a turning point in the current economic crisis. It will be fascinating to watch, in my name sake Isaac Newton's terms, the equal and opposite reaction to the years of austerity. Independent schools that have thrived during the recession will have enormous possibilities in the coming era, for example.

Within the school we are no less drowning in facts and figures. Whilst not spectacular, our 89% of A*-C at GCSE was a very pleasing result when we consider the progress that our pupils have made. Many of them will not star on the front page of national newspapers but their personal triumphs are heart warming and inspiring. And we are confident that we shall once more be in the top 5% nationally for adding academic value to exam grades at GCSE — something we have achieved in all but one of the last 12 years.

At A-Level it is hard to gauge how we compare to other independent schools due to our mix of IB and

A-levels. However at 67% A*-B, it looks very much like a business-like and commendable performance. Only the government league tables in January which look at average UCAS points will give the true measure of how we did with our Upper 6th.

But this Tauntonian surely is about more than that. Indeed life at Taunton School is about far more than that. Parents who attended Commemoration this summer will have heard me speak about the enormous numbers of ways in which Taunton School is competing in the modern world.

As an institution we are moving away from "clubs" and "societies". It is no longer enough to simply occupy pupils beyond the curriculum.

Our sport, drama and music must be focused on key objectives, our debating must take us to new levels regionally, nationally and internationally. Each subject must have a research and enrichment element. The Combined Cadet Force and Duke of Edinburgh must make serious contributions to pupils' leadership and management. It is no longer sufficient to have a curriculum vitae which talks about simple involvement with school activity.

There must be tangible achievement and a real sense of going beyond the norm if our pupils are to succeed in the 21st century.

That century holds some remarkable challenges for our young people. Futurologists love to look at trends in the big wide world. Consider some of these.

In 2035 90,000 people will reach the age of 100. Half of all the people who have ever lived, and who have reached 65, are alive today. Urbanisation across the world is becoming a massive influence on the way we think and operate.

There is going to be a huge income polarisation as the middle classes do well and the under classes do worse.

Think of the fact that 47 of the last 50 centuries have been dominated world wide by the Chinese.

Consider global connectivity and the fact that we are drowning in information. More information is generated in two days than was produced in its entirety up to 2003 in the history of mankind. The erosion to deep thinking, focus and reflection is clear.

I could go on but if we are to prepare young people for these very different challenges that are personal, professional, political, economic and social, we must continue the rich life that this school has advocated for many generations.

We will not let league table positions throw out the baby with the bath water. I am so proud of all pupils whenever I read their reports and all their magnificent achievements throughout the year. We give opportunities for self-fulfilment to every one of our 600 pupils in the Senior School and I thank every contributor not just for this wonderful historic record of the Year 2012-13 at Taunton School, but also for their gargantuan efforts in making this way of life and this education so apt for the coming challenges for these precious young people.

Dr. John Newton Headmaster

Money has also been raised during the year for the Children's Heaven orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, thanks to Mrs Gaskell and Miss Preece, who organised a Zumbathon and to RAG Week's One Night Only'; a cake sale run by Lower Sixth IB pupils at the American Universities Fair raised 281.00 for The One Fund, supporting the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and a small amount was also sent to Cancer UK.

In the busy life of school, it would be easy to be cocooned from the outside world, but Taunton School pupils are very aware of their privileges and work throughout the year to raise money for those beyond the school who don't have the same advantages.

Each year, we adopt two charities, one supporting a local need and one working further afield. This year, the school chose Go Commando, which helps ease the pressures on families of marines from 40 Commando deployed overseas, and Bisee Books, set up by the Pincock family and the parents of four other girls who died along with Lizzie Pincock in a bus crash in Ecuador at the start of their 2008 Gap Year charitable project. Bisee Books sets up book corners in remote primary schools in Ecuador, where children have minimal or no access to story books, and also finances a book bus, which travels from school to school.

Our Harvest services in the Autumn Term gave not money, but food to the Taunton Food Bank. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped with all this excellent work.

The pupils have set themselves a high standard and the challenge now is to top the splendid amount raised this year in the 2013-14 academic year.

Rev ehrlstabel Ager

Mufti days, cakes sales, a sponsored silence in Jenkin, Wills East `keycard money' and the magnificent RAG week last term enabled us to present a cheque for £5,000 to Kevin de Val, a trustee of Go Commando and former colonel in the Marines, and another, also for £5,000 to Jill Pincock, Lizzie's mother in an upbeat assembly.

Heads of School

This year kicked off to a great start with the 6th form lucky enough to be able to enjoy the new renovations to the Guvvy, a new layout that we all soon adapted well to and have certainly made the most of.

There has been a great mix between the lower sixth and upper sixth students, the Guvvy and socials together creating a great buzz in the school. The term started with the first of many exciting socials; the "escape from the zoo" theme went down very well and as always some very interesting and imaginative costumes took to the dance floor. Some of the main highlights of the year were the lower sixth team building day, a chance to meet new pupils and develop ways of working together, as well as the Christmas Ball at Oake Manor Golf Club, at which the live

6

band and fireworks made for a really fun night. We have had some interesting and motivating Horizons talks, as well as debates and lectures which sixth form students have thrown themselves into getting really involved at the same time as maintaining a strong work ethic under the pressure of exams.

The prefects have had a very busy year as always but the success of this year's RaG week is definitely worth noting.

We smashed the target we initially set ourselves, raising over £4500 which was donated to the school charities. The jampacked week involved very popular events every day such as a girls' rugby match, Blind Date, the prefect auction, a sixth form social, boys' leg waxing (and chest hair for the right price) and another visit from the hypnotist. The bar was set so high this year and the whole school really rose to the challenge of donating such a great sum for charity; the prefects wish to set a challenge to next year to try and top that!

The year has flown past with so many events and things to keep us busy it's hard to believe that it's time for the U6th to leave and give way to the L6th to run the school. We have seen so much success this year in all areas of school life and so many things happen, we still have a leavers' barbeque and Commemoration Day to look forward to, but many leavers will find undoubtedly that they miss 6th form life and the unique Taunton School atmosphere.

Lyle Bown and Ban Jameson

Through the year in Chapel Why does Chapel have an important place in school?

In sport, academic work, music, drama, CCF and cocurricular activities, we emphasise doing and achieving.

In Chapel, we reflect on being and becoming. St Paul writes that our greatest achievements are valueless unless they are motivated by love and love in its many expressions is the theme of most services. Pupils, staff and guest speakers have all guided our reflections.

Highlights of the year were Harvest, when we donated food to Taunton Food Bank, Captain Mike Barritt's vist at Remembrance, thoughtful Advent services led by Mr Brown and Christmas Carol services, with Chapel Choir's beautiful singing under Mr Bridges' expert leadership.

A special service in October combined the world premiere of Howard Goodall's specially commissioned anthem on Psalm 145 with thanksgiving for one hundred years of the Wills. We marked Lent by Tenebrae services, the Christian Union challenged us to alleviate poverty and the symbolism of bread and wine helped us understand Good Friday. Mr Hugh Todd was warmly welcomed back to speak at the Old Tauntonians' Reunion service in June. Mr Bruce Izzett's visits with his band are popular with their contemporary worship songs and testimonies to their faith.

Throughout the year, Rev Christabel and Mr Izzett led the Youth Alpha Christian basics course, which many pupils enjoyed and were reluctant to finish. In May, three Sixth Formers were confirmed and another baptised.

During the year new speakers for the organ have been positioned in the north transept, enabling Mr Bridges to hear what he is playing as he plays it and a versatile sound system has been installed, so that it is possible to hear clearly even at the west end of the Chapel or if the service leader goes walkabout. We are very grateful to Mr Bridges and Mr Tim Waller for the time they gave to overseeing these projects and to those who generously funded them.

tt Unplug the noise: make space for God's quiet voice.

9i

It is tempting in a very busy life to feel that attending Chapel takes up time that could be better spent elsewhere. Life at university and in employment will not offer the same opportunities to take stock of who one is and where one wants to be. We are very fortunate to be part of a school which still rates the importance of a space where we can remember that we are more than a collection of cells - that, in fact, we are made in the image of God and find our greatest fulfilment in relationship with Him.

Bev Christabel Amer

1

The Taunton School Foundation s• 201212013 WNW 10100111 01101011101 0110011.

111011111111111 111111111101111111010111 11011101100611111101

*Mr 11011.11111

3"°•°1•••••••• 'p-is '""r ommommosom veerdo...messages Ai--leet iriipoilOarP"aegt II

I i■ ,, , winummimmemo.

Following on from the last two years' record results has been a challenge but I am delighted to report that in terms of funds raised and pledged, the Foundation should again generate over 21m, an extremely strong performance which puts us firmly alongside the top fundraising independent schools in the country.

which will endow the prestigious Gerrard Memorial Sports Scholarship, originally established in memory of his father, RA Gerrard, an England rugby player who was killed in action in WW2. This generous and significant funding will benefit generations of talented sporting pupils at Taunton School.

As many may well have seen, the new Astro has been completed ahead of schedule, replacing the old shale pitch. Bearing the Olympic pitch colours of blue and red, this is a top quality facility in the heart of the campus which is a demonstration of the School's sporting ambition and also shows the importance of the Foundation which provided £450k towards the costs.

We were also pleased to welcome Andrea Cockrum, former founder CEO of the Fulfilment Fund in Los Angeles, to the School in May. Andrea is the major sponsor of a new LA Bursary providing an opportunity for a pupil from that city to study 'A' levels at Taunton School.

The bursary is the first of its kind for the School and the first overseas placement facilitated by the Fulfilment Fund and we hope that we might be able to build upon this innovative and successful scheme.

Named after Col Peter Durrant OBE, who left a substantial bequest, the new pitch will be known as the 'Durrant' and will be officially opened in October 2013. However, my grateful thanks also go to parents and Old Tauntonians alike for their generous support of the Foundation's appeal and successful Telethon last summer.

This year's Parental Fund has again been generously supported by the vast majority of our Parents and we are extremely grateful for this valuable contribution towards immediately deliverable projects, benefitting current pupils in areas which are simply not covered by school fees alone. Thank you. This year, amongst other things, the fund provided a new kitchen area for Fairwater, a superb and much needed sound system for the chapel, new monitor speakers for the chapel organ, boats for the School's new boat club, sports kit, funding for repairs to our Cub huts, an electronic piano and further support to reinvigorate the senior school's library.

The Foundation was also delighted to receive funds from the estate of Duncan Gerrard

As the School plans ambitiously for the future, so the Foundation must respond by securing appropriate funding and in April, Chris Gibson-Smith, an Old Tauntonian and Chairman of the London Stock Exchange, hosted and sponsored an evening in aid of the Foundation. Aimed at a small group of our major donors, Chris provided a champagne reception in the exclusive Chairman's suite in the Stock Exchange overlooking St Pauls, followed by a private dinner after which the Headmaster and the Foundation Director presented their vision of the future for Taunton School in the Boardroom. With Old Tauntonians flying in from the USA, Saudi and Monte Carlo, this was a demonstration of the incredible support, interest and goodwill that exists for our School.

I would like to conclude this report by expressing my appreciation to all those parents, former parents, Old Tauntonians, and others who have supported the Foundation over the past year. Your generosity is greatly valued and makes a real difference to what we can achieve at Taunton School. Thank you so much.

Nell lengstreet 8

at times but this is not a reason to reduce what we offer.

I would only encourage our boarders to keep planning ahead and factor in at least one trip or activity next year - something new, something challenging, something to stretch personal horizons. I am grateful to the many colleagues that give of their time and energy to make these events a possibility.

MNIIIIIPMF

We welcomed two new members to the team of boarding House Staff in September. Simon Smith took the baton from Declan Rogers (England Hockey, Iron Man) in Fairwater, while David Tarr completed the 'exchange deal' moving over to take the reins from Hugh Todd in Wills East. Such a significant change in the boarding leadership team took place seamlessly and both colleagues have quickly added their particular brand of experience and philosophy to the community.

The recent passage of Sir Alex Ferguson to a boardroom ambassadorial role at Manchester United adds special poignancy and perspective to such accessions and the success of Messrs Tarr and Smith must offer simple hope to David Moyes as he seizes his own chalice.

A boarding community thrives on two ingredients continuity and, paradoxically, change. It has been pleasure to see our programme of weekend activities continue to develop and it has become a firm fixture in the annual calendar. While there is a pressure and expectation to offer more at the weekends, it is clear that in our '24/7' boarding week we need to factor in a healthy amount of down time; time to catch up, reflect and plan ahead. Uptake of some trips has been small

Our boarders are a remarkable group of people. They contribute to the tenor of the school community making the campus a very happy, secure and welcoming place to live, work and visit. They work incredibly well with an experienced group of tutors and are effectively led by the senior pupils who drive the pulse in their Houses.

The School continues to invest in its boarding facilities and the re-vamped Guvvy and work room has been a boon for all the sixth form students, boarders included.

Considerable refurbishment has started in Weirfield and the work done last year in Wills East has been well received. Fairwater's American diner has turned heads and I applaud the Headmaster's appeal for other such imaginative projects to catch the eye in our Houses watch this space!

Alistair Hallows

Fairwater Undoubtedly, Fairwater has undertaken great changes in the last year, both in terms of physical structure and personnel.

Throughout the holidays Fairwater's infamous "Kitchen" was finally torn out and replaced with an actual kitchen with a hob (which lasted all of a month) and drawers of cutlery (excluding spoons, forks and bowls). Whilst it was hoped this would result in an improvement in the boy's culinary skills the average diet remained unchanged: noodles, Nutella and toast. Although some may say the kitchen is tidier than its predecessor, many would agree that in fact the mess of crumbs, half-eaten pieces of toast and empty pot noodles is merely spread out over a greater area. Our rec room also received a refurbishment, including a fresh lick of paint, complimentary seats even less comfortable than the old ones and a 54" TV with hundreds of Sky channels, of which three or so have been used.

Soon after, we triumphed in the boy's intermediate crosscountry largely due to the efforts of Jack Malden (2nd).

Unfortunately our senior rugby could not share this trend of success, and despite the infinite skill and pace (largely provided by Jack Crichton) and our height advantage (provided by Alec Young) we were thwarted.

Despite this, with various successes in basketball, debating and tennis and numerous personal achievements it has been yet another successful year in Fairwater. Credit is deserved by all.

I feel a paragraph must be reserved for members of the leaving upper 6th. Whilst it's tempting to list the numerous humiliating stories I could tell about most of you, I will leave it at this: it has been a pleasure. While some of you may not know where the next step is, I bid you all the best of luck in whatever you desire and hope to see you all at some time or another in our coming years as Fairwater old boys.

Of even greater importance was the arrival of our new housemaster — Mr Smith, and his deputy, Mr Baker. Whilst the boys often need reminding that this is Mr Smith's first year as housemaster of Fairwater and told to have patience, we really do appreciate his constant efforts in controlling a house of over 70 rowdy teenage boys, a task not for the faint hearted!

Finally, my job would be impossible without the great efforts of my prefect team, most especially Phil Roberts whose continuous efforts in and out of the house have made the running of Fairwater far smoother. Similarly, many thanks must go to the tutors, who have sought to help each of us in anyway possible and tried their best to keep us on the straight and narrow.

Despite our trophy cabinet remaining largely unchanged, it is hard to list the great numbers of feats the boys in Fairwater have achieved in this last year. Most notable is Sam Dunn, Bart Lebizay, Vincent Hoffman and Julius Krebs' victory in senior house cooking with a selection of delicious meals including chorizo stuffed chicken breast wrapped in bacon and our own invention of Devon cream tea meringue.

I firmly believe a combination of the boys' sense of pride, enthusiasm, and willingness to give things a go coupled with the new leadership of Mr Smith and Mr Baker will only lead Fairwater from strength to strength in the years to come.

James spencer Head of Fairwater

10

11

Iftleirfield It is hard to believe that Weirfield began again in September with fifty percent of the girls being new to the school. Despite so many new faces, the guiding hands of the Hallows and our wonderful tutor team helped to instil the strong sense of house allegiance and pride of typical Weirfield values into both 'new' girls and 'old'.

We began the year with a change in tradition. For the first time, the House Prefect team welcomed new boarders to the house a day early and enjoyed a day of bowling, walking on the Quantocks and chatting over a picnic. This was soon followed by the annual first house outing to Brean Leisure Park, which included the 'Brean Scramble', a treasure hunt challenge around the theme park.

This year has also seen the continuation of themed Fridays that began in the summer term of 2012. Weirfield girls look forward every week to an evening of enjoying each other's company, an impressive spread of treats and usually an activity or a movie. Memorable themes this year have included 'Friendship Friday', `French Friday', 'Festive Friday', and 'Fruit Friday'. 'Friendship Friday', one of the favourites, involved decorating cupcakes to give to a friend, and making some colourful bunting that still hangs proudly in the Rec Room.

Towards the end of October we showcased our talents singing Heather Small's 'Proud' for House Singing.

House Singing is always a special occasion that brings all of the year groups closer together and this year was no different. As well as House Singing, the girls have displayed commitment to the house in activities such as House Football, Cross Country, Debating, Skittles, and Hockey, particularly when Amina and Dana stepped in at the last minute to put on goalie pads! Audrey did us proud winning the annual Balloon Debate, showing her impressive debating skills by managing to persuade the audience that Tulisa should be the worthy survivor.

This year's Christmas entertainments were hilarious as always - the fifth form lived up to expectations, performing a brilliant sketch of auditions for their version of 'Nativity', the movie that we went to watch as a house at the cinema. School Christmas Lunch was well earned by the girls who won House Futsal on the last day of term. Our sixth form celebrated Christmas with a fun night at Oake Manor Golf Club, enjoying a delicious three course meal, fireworks, and a surprisingly fun rock band performance.

The New Year brought a heavy fall of snow in Taunton in January, leading Ellie to sledge down the main

The upper sixth leaver's dinner came far too quickly we celebrated the oncoming exams and subsequent relief at their conclusion with a lovely meal at the World's End pub. We were lucky enough to enjoy a few sunny phases where the girls joined Miss Harris outside on her sunbathing spot (as well as working hard for our exams of course!) driveway and Leen to declare it wasn't as good as the snow in Jerusalem! Meanwhile, the third form progressed through the new 'Boarding Skills' program, the product of which Anna showcased with a delicious home-made roasted garlic chicken and vegetables.

On returning from Easter holidays we were amazed at the newly refurbished rooms and significant changes to the house. Over the next couple of terms the girls will be excited to see more of the rooms refurbished.

There were also return trips to Stover Country Park where Mr Hallows led groups of boarders in volunteering to do ecological projects.

Unfortunately we were not as lucky with the weather on our house outing to Woolacombe beach, but many enjoyed playing beach cricket and our barbecue in the garden when we returned.

We will be experiencing significant changes in the tutor team: Lisa Manley will be a tutor in a different house, Lin Gao will be moving into a new home with her husband, Gez Harris will be moving out to have her baby and Fiona Holford will be leaving Weirfield and Taunton School after many years of dedication to retire. We wish all of you the best of luck and will miss you! The tutor team tend to regenerate every couple of years and the team always develops from strength to strength. The house looks forward to welcoming new tutors and new girls to the house next year!

Kate Brown Head of Weirfield

A \

13

We have witnessed another Exceptional year in Wills East, with the adoption of Mr Tarr as our new Housemaster; it has been a year in which countless memories have been made.

A year which has brought the House of 50 boys even closer and made every individual's character stronger, as a good boarding house should. We have demonstrated our high levels of commitment and skill in house competitions with victories in basketball, football, rugby, chess, bridge, athletics and, even to our own astonishment, the house swimming relays!

What I particularly loved about East was the sense of spirit; the pride of being in Wills East when we entered house events was unparalleled. The way we chanted, sang, and put effort into every competition we took part in: I feel that East sets the bar for the other houses of TS to aspire to.

I strongly believe that I would not have accomplished as much I have today if I was not in Wills East, and I know there are many others who feel the same; the characters that make up this house make people the best they can be. .44

~`=~째'

es Above all, Wills West is a very friendly house. It has a warm, welcoming atmosphere that, although it can hamper our success on the sports pitch, it means the House is a very pleasant place to be.

That said, combined with Fairwater in House Hockey, we did manage to defeat our sweet enemy: Wills East. On the field, we have had several members of the House representing the school's first teams: Rob David represented the first team for rugby, hockey, and athletics; Ryota Arai played first XV rugby a year young; Tamilore Adedoyin-Dada, Vlad Buryak, Woody Wonglertfa, and Ola Osheunlaja were part of the successful football team; Kenta Oshima was captain of swimming; and I was captain of cricket and played football, too.

Our sporting exploits, however, are not what define Wills West as a unit. With fourteen nationalities and roughly twenty languages shared between forty boys, we are exceptionally culturally diverse.

This is reflected in our use of brain over brawn. We performed two chapels this year. The first explored the theme of love and featured phrases of affection expressed in ten languages. We have talented musicians and actors, too. Between them, Will Hodder, Tom Dunn, and Sam Tapp have performed in every single dramatic performance this year, and a special mention must go to Tom whose technical abilities have helped steer a select school cast to the British All-Winner's Final.

Along similar lines, Wills West boys have played key roles in all of the school concerts. Mickey Li, Jack Hespe, and Nory Jiang are among the most gifted musicians in the school. Mickey has received national recognition for his piano recitals, and his assiduous attitude to practice really pays dividends. In fact, the Wills West band became something of a school phenomenon. Lead singer Gabriel Chan (quite the hidden talent) stunned the school during House Singing with his rendition of `Holiday' by Green Day backed by a band of Nory, Mickey, and Jack. Actually, we won the warm-up act. To this day I do not really believe it because Wills West is not allowed to succeed at House Singing.

Yet Wills West's chief pride is in its debating team.

This year we won again, retaining the title, and wiping the floor with first in the main debate, first in interpretive reading, best debating speaker, and third in persuasive speaking. We choose our weapons well: sharp wit and budding intellect.

Overall, my job would be impossible without the help of the prefect team and the expert guidance of our excellent tutors, who keep us on track. Mr Pugh is an incredibly proficient Housemaster, and his measured approach to dealing with difficult situations has given me a greater confidence in my own decision-making. I have found this year to be a pleasure, and I think that Wills West has gone from strength to strength. All that is left is to pass the baton onto next year's upper sixth as my thirteen years at the school come to an end.

George Kailas Head of Wills West

15

Woodyer After sliding back into school life and assisting the new "Woodyerlings" in settling in to our homely environment, the most exciting, most competitive and most rewarding house competition was only around the corner. The annual tough decision for the house prefects was haunting us, "What song shall we do for house singing?" I think everyone will agree that our performance of "Brighter than the Sun" was outstanding and our new house vest tops looked brilliant on stage. A handful of girls battled a few nerves when faced with the task of the warm up act, which they managed with great success.

the rec room with their faces covered in flour (including Mr and Mrs Coomber). We celebrated a very successful first term of the year with a lovely Christmas dinner in town and the exchanging of our secret Santa gifts.

The spring term bought about a few changes to the house. When discussing future plans for the house in a prefects meeting one evening, we decided that in three of four years time it would be nice to extend the kitchen.

The house spirit demonstrated by the girls and staff is exceptional. This is demonstrated at all house events but a particular success for us this year was house hockey. Despite our small numbers, both the juniors and the seniors won the B team competition and the improvement and pure determination from all was admirable, especially from those who had never played hockey before.

However, due to Mrs Coomber's excitement about this, she was immediately on the phone to site services and this four year plan soon turned into a four day one and we are now home to our very own breakfast bar!

This is a prime example of our housemistress' love and enthusiasm towards Woodyer which never stops amazing me and I must thank her for all the time and effort she puts in to making the house such a special place. Of course she is backed up by an incredible team of tutors who are always there to ensure that every girl is supported in every way so they are happy and are becoming the best they can be. The house prefects have also done a brilliant job in doing this. I can't thank them enough!

A highlight for me this year has been the introduction of "Fabulous Fridays" into our weekly events. The activities put on every Friday have been a huge success and have really brought the house closer. These evenings have included themes from pizza and milkshake making to a pancake evening for the whole of the boarding community. But the one Fabulous Friday that stood out during the year was the Halloween evening. We played lots of fun games which resulted in most people leaving

18

I couldn't have asked for a better way to finish my time at Taunton School than to spend my sixth form in this house and I know every member of the upper sixth shall miss Woodyer greatly!

ladle nibble Head Of Woodyer

I

!Warm hearts, great minds...55

rat

19

Bevan 2012/13 has been yet another fantastic year for Bevan. It has been filled with memorable moments and achievements. Bevan has excelled in every aspect of school life. The first house event of the year was house singing, which everybody threw themselves into (a great tribute to all the house). However our first success of the term came with a win for our Senior House Hockey team, a brilliant result against tough opposition. The girls continued their sporting successes in the Cross-Country as we won the Junior and Intermediate events and narrowly missed out on the Senior trophy. Special mention must go to Tessa Warby, Kate Drew and Hattie Rogers for winning their individual races. Yet it is not simply in house events that the girls triumphed, Bethany Husband started the term by winning The Big Draw and Tegan OsbourneBrown won the reading section of the Senior House Debating, helping the Bevan team to come second overall. Perhaps the most memorable event of the term was the Girls' Football which was highly enjoyable for both the participants and spectators.

The Spring term began with a chapel reading from Abi Askew. The Junior Netball team performed excellently and the Senior Netball team showed the usual house spirit, fielding two teams. This term it was the turn of the Junior House debating team with Heidi Parsons doing really well coming third in the Impromptu. A number of girls took part in both the Exeter Cathedral, Gershwin and recital concerts. There were also some superb performances from Clem, Courtney, Tegan a n d

Philippa in AS Drama and Phoebe, Heidi, lmogen and Juliet in the GCSE performance. The whole house must be credited with raising an outstanding ninetytwo pounds for the school charities during this term.

The Summer term is always a busy time for everyone in school with important exams and yet the Bevan girls were undeterred from making the most of the activities the school offers. House spirit was not lacking in both Senior and Junior House Swimming leading us to win the Senior trophy and the relay cup. Special mention must go to Charlotte and Hattie Rogers who both won the Vitrix Ludorum Cup. We then moved to Tennis and while their performances may not have been enough to rival Wimbledon, the whole house made the most of the competitions. However we hoped our chance would come in Sports Day and we were not proved wrong with some outstanding performances from the likes of Charlotte and Hattie Rogers and Tessa Warby in track and later a great win for the junior girls' relay team. It really is a tribute to all the girls' efforts that we have a total of sixteen prizes at Commemoration.

I think it is to our credit that we consistently manage to perform well in every event and competition.

Congratulations to you all.

Nevertheless the girls would not be able to achieve all of this without the support and help of the house staff so I would like thank them all for their efforts and commitment to Bevan. The Upper Sixth girls are truly an amazing group and I cannot imagine my time at Taunton without them. I feel privileged to have been a part of such a vibrant and happy house and the memories I take from my time here will truly stick with me for life.

"I to been a p and happy ho 20

Olivia Vioadhead Head of Bevan

'brain

21

This year Besley has gained not only 14 new 3rd form, but also two 4th form and two L6th. As the second biggest house in the school this year with 60 girls, Besley has been a prime example of community spirit. As expected, the girls have leapt with great enthusiasm into all aspects of school life.

House Singing quickly loomed and was greatly anticipated by the all the girls. After a day and a half of tough rehearsal, and training in the form of sweets and fizzy drinks, the time came to make our mark on one of the most anticipated events of the school year. We couldn't top Besley's winning performance last year of `Disturbia', but our rendition of 'Rehab' by Amy Winehouse won us second place and another trophy! A special mention to the U6th who fearlessly performed the dance mash-up warm up act.

The Christmas social proved a fun-filled end to a hard-working term. The evening began with energetic

games of 'musical bumps', where dance battles between Luciann Blake and Emily Powell-Jones arose. The girls took some time to rest with more fizzy drinks and party food and the exchange of Secret Santas, while Mrs Bolland particularly enjoyed a very expensive bill from Domino's as the pizzas rolled in by the dozen.

As always, public speaking was a popular option this year. The juniors, Tamta Gagoshidze, Amrita Patel, Wendy Zhu and the seniors, Georgie Blackwell, Dea Gagoshidze, Carly Brown, Luciann Blake and Grace Whittingham all did well in their categories.

Besley has also had sports successes this year.

The Senior girls netball team came second in the A competition and first in the B competition, and the Junior girls narrowly missed out on 3rd place. In hockey the successes weren't the same story, but the girls had fun all the same!

Despite valiant attempts in football team, the skills didn't pay off, though it was clear that the girls enjoyed the competition. The same result came with house basketball, with the majority of the U6th volunteering. But possibly one of the biggest shocks was the number of girls volunteering for house cross-country this year. Almost all of the L6th were keen, and there was an impressive group of volunteers from the 3rd form.

In memory of the sad loss of Jemima Layzell last year, the 4th form arranged a fitting tribute to raise money for the arches proposed to remember Jemima — the Besley spring fair. Stalls ranged from cakes (including the Price's famous Rocky Road), face painting and a cosmetics raffle, and various crafts stalls of people from outside school; with this the girls managed to make a major contribution to the arches, which are now on The Wills green.

tta prime amp of community

We returned to the Easter term focussed on exams, but also looking forward to events that awaited: house tennis, sports day, the swimming gala, the 5th form prom, the U6th leavers' ball, and the summer house outing to Brean leisure park.

To the departing U6th, it's been a pleasure to have been with you all since 3rd form, I wish you the best of luck next year; make sure to keep in touch! To the House staff, thank you for helping Besley to run so smoothly and keeping the girls organised.

And finally, to housemistress Mrs Bolland, thank you for not only organising the running of Besley, but for being a smiling face and a constant source of consolation. Your commitment to Besley is inspiring, and Besley wouldn't be the same without you.

Georgie Walker Head of Besley

Evans Evans has had a fantastic year and there is always a buzz of energy that radiates from the house, particularly at house events. The house is very inclusive and, as a result, we succeed in many varied areas of school life, such as sport, culture, music and academic events. In Evans we draw upon the wide range of strengths and abilities of all individuals enabling us to compete to the best of our abilities and be winners at times, whilst losing gracefully at other times.

One of the best examples of our house spirit was shown in the cross country event when everyone who could run, did run! We won all three classes, the seniors, inters and juniors, with Jamie Price winning his race by a huge margin. We even surprised ourselves in the pool at the end of the summer term by winning three of the four trophies on offer helped by the fact that we always had boys willing to compete at short notice - a case of 'you have to be in it to win it!'

I quote junior boys who claim 'Evans is EPIC when it comes to sport' and we have some outstanding sportsmen who helped us win the inter rugby and senior hockey competitions. We are always ready to have a go at the less traditional events as well, such as futsal, basketball and tennis to name just a few.

However, one of the great things about Evans is we are not just a house that competes for the sports' cups, we put just as many teams out for the extremely valuable and fun quizzes that take place throughout the year. We have been highly placed in global society and language quizzes and, just as the Charity Rag week event was about to be scrapped, Evans pulled the numbers up with three teams at short notice!

There is also an enthusiasm from boys of all age

24

groups to take part in the chess, debating and bridge competitions although we need to try to find some budding masterchefs in the near future!

The hugely popular Singing competition, in which all the boys are involved, resulted in us being robbed again! Our version of 'America' went down a storm but not even the quality of Max Kelly's voice was enough to take the trophy from his father's grasp! There is always next year.

Each year Evans seems to reach a higher standard and it is important to remember that although these are the achievements of the boys, they would not be attainable without Mr Hogg and his dedicated team of tutors. They encourage the boys to be involved and try their best and the amount of time given by the staff is second to none. It is the enviable mix of tutors and boys that make Evans such a pleasure to be part of.

Will Jolley Head of Evans House

I

Goodland HOUSE SINGING CHAMPIONS... well, well, well!

Tke, Goo-diLa4rtzt Lark S iA/tig s..!

Another new era begins in Goodland House.

As ever there is a changing of the guard at the senior end of the House with Charles Solanki as Head of House leading his U6 band of merry men into duty: Jordan, Connor, Callum, Sam, Henry, Billy and Matt.

It is not just the senior boys that is different as a new Tutor Team is assembled. Hoggy, Mary Mason and Tracy Coleman have all moved on and in their place new faces to Goodland, and some to the school.

David Parvin comes in from Marshall to become Assistant Housemaster (wipe you feet on the way in Dave!); David MacLean has arrived from industry - to initiate some industry from his L6 tutor group; and Megan Langley begins her teaching career, and what better way is there than coming to Goodland every morning to look at Henry Raikes and Charlie Bonner every day. You lucky thing! Someone stirs Ian Piper for another Goodland school year, along with the flowering Richard Gower...and off we go again!

An early House outing paintballing in Exeter unites the Goodland boys with bruises, stories of heroic bravery under fire, and the wettest day in September!

Good fuh and stories to keep the boys going until the o BIG ONE...!

Now I promised I would not go overboard about this... but guess what...? With a song called "Hear You Me" that nobody had heard of, the House Singing Winners 2012 (for the first time in 30 years) were....GOODLAND!!! What a night was had by all, and it was celebrated by Goodland boys past and present.

See...that wasn't too bad was it?!

26

With a real glow having taken the Big One, Goodland House sails calmly on through the year. More success in Hockey and Rugby, as well as the usual Debating victory with Harry Acton and Louis Gush.

Connor Banks runs superbly in cross country, and rather disappointingly George Whitburn fails for another year in House Cooking!

In the House reputations are growing and sinking at an alarming rate: Notaro and Staniland smile through adversity; Reasons leaves (no reason); Nebbett's Pinoccio nose grows at an alarming rate; Cooky . gets bigger; and yet Jack M-Raby and Max Elswood arrive and are a breath of fresh air in the House!

In fact there are a lot like that and we are lucky to have them. All in all it is a nice mix and together we drive through another happy (generally) and successful year.

The tutor team are magnificent...many thanks! But just one more time....

HOUSE SINGING CHAMPIONS ..well, well, well!

Cyril Kelly Head of Goodland

Marshall Tom White, head of house, gives his end of year summary: "It has been yet another fantastic year both personally and for the house and truly I feel fortunate to have been involved with such a charismatic group of boys.

Many a head of house has stood here before you like I am now and said the following but this year perhaps more than any other the following statement rings true: "we were robbed in house singing!".

Now I'm far from bitter, but the boys here will no doubt agree with me that Goodland winning was an utter farce. I'd encourage you all to find a copy of Marshall's rendition of Noah and the Whale's "5 Years Time" because it was simply superb, and of course I'm not biased in the slightest. Apparently we missed out on the top prize due to our lack of a band; this can only be described as a monumental oversight by the judges as our musical ensemble were a credit to us all. Perhaps they simply couldn't see the diminutive Robin Stallard behind his double bass?

I should mention that our performance was largely down to the musical genius that is 011ie Lucas. He deserves enormous credit for all the hard work he put into making it happen.

Sport obviously makes for a huge part of day to day life in Taunton school and

I cannot fault Marshall house for its effort and endeavour; what we may lack in success at times, we more than make up for in spirit and enjoyment.

There were a few standout performances however I'd like to congratulate our junior house cricket team on winning their inter house competition whilst our senior boys would have brought home the house cross country trophy with ease, were it not for being disqualified for having one runner too few. On the subject of running and athletic ability the two Charlies, Beake and Smith, both in fifth form, certainly deserve a mention for placing first and second individually in the recent sports day. Further success was to be found at the chess board, our undefeated team of myself, Sam Blood and Duncan Dibb-Holland will surely go down in the Marshall record books for our, played 1, won 1 performance over the course of the chess season. There is also significant footballing talent to be found amongst the Marshall ranks, our House futsal team comprising mainly of Lower sixth managed a very respectable 4th place finish in the league which surely bodes well for next year.

In other competitive arenas it must be said we have been found wanting on occasion, an example being the house languages quiz, whilst the less said about house bridge and house basketball the better. But again I'd just like to pick up on how the attitude of the house to any and every competition surely can't be beaten.

I'd honestly say that as seriously as perhaps we are meant to take inter house competitions, never have I seen a Marshall team not be able to crack a smile and fail to enjoy themselves, whether that be on the rugby pitch, hockey astro, in the swimming pool or on the running track.

Marshall Leavers 2013

zs

All that remains for me to say is a huge thank you to the character that is my able deputy head of house, 011ie Lucas: you've always been so willing and supportive and I can tell you that it has made the world of difference.

And also to thank the whole house prefect team, though perhaps some of you more than others, mentioning no names (Henry Brigden).

I can honestly say that being in Marshall has shaped my time at Taunton, the group of upper 6th boys stood alongside me are far from perfect I'll admit, but genuinely they have been the very best friends I could have wished for. I know I speak for them too when I say that being in Marshall has simply been the happiest time imaginable.

It will leave a lasting impression on us all as we move on to pastures new and I'd like thank them all for their company and for so many brilliant memories.

This is far from a goodbye for us as we've got to know each other so well. Five years is a long time to spend in such close proximity and perhaps too well in some cases, but there will surely be many a reunion. It is friendship like this that I'd say is evident throughout Marshall as I can honestly say that no other house has the integration and contact between different year groups that is so obvious here.

Perhaps it's something to do with the Marshall house air: that damp, tainted by smelly teenage boys and their sports kit air...

Finally, I wish my successor Charlie Gamble all the best. First and foremost, good luck! Trying to persuade someone to swim the 50m butterfly or enter the impromptu speaking in house debating is possibly the most difficult and arduous task imaginable.

I'm speaking from personal experience when I say its like getting blood from a stone at times, but persevere because I can assure you, so long as you use the words "think of that Marshall house spirit" in every third sentence there isn't a guy in this house who won't give something a try. Secondly, enjoy it to the full, you don't know how lucky you are to be involved with such a brilliant group of boys until you realise its all about to end. I know you'll simply have the best time."

TO White Head of Marshall

It falls to me to say the biggest thank you possible on behalf of the boys especially but also perhaps for the parents too, to the staff who keep this house on track and ensure controlled rather than complete mayhem ensues. Mrs Coleman deserves some sort of medal for surviving what can only be described as an "eye opener" of a first year. It has been far from easy but I can assure you, Mrs Coleman, that the transition has been smooth. For those boys who knew her predecessor, Mr Cook, they'll certainly echo me in saying that you have continued the Marshall tradition in ensuring that this house remains the envy of the school for its spirit, even if there are fewer odd socks hanging around under chairs and sofas. To the tutors, I know that Mrs Coleman would surely have an impossible task without you, whilst on a personal level you do so much for every individual boy to ensure they make the very best of their time at Taunton so thank you to you all.

29

Jenkin WOW!! Jenkin started the new academic year with a brand new look!! A re-design and a completely new colour change. It's fantastic!! We love it!!

We quickly welcomed in our new bubbly and enthusiastic year 9 and set to work on deciding our song for house singing. However, this was to cause lots of fierce debate within the sixth form and the final decision was "Walking on Sunshine". After lots of intense practice we performed well in the actual performance but didn't quite win the title.

The Autumn term saw us compete in a variety of house competitions and win many of them. On the sports front we won junior girls house hockey and the senior girls cross-country. The cross-country win was due to a great team performance from the lower sixth and strong performances from Campbell Bradly and Millie Moore.

Our sporting success was combined with a great win in the junior house debating with Hera Bradly winning the persuasive reading and an excellent debate from Rosie Lewes and Rosemary Moss. Who says Jenkin is just a sporty house!! The Autumn term finished with a meal out to Pizza Express in December and a Christmas party on the last day of term.

In the Spring Term, the examinations started for the sixth form and this put a bit of a damper on the mood of the house. However, this was soon brightened by utterly dominating House Netball, where we won with both Junior and Senior competitions. We also won the girls house Basketball and raised a significant amount of money for MacMillan with a big cake sale - Jenkin can still be said to be the HOUSE OF CAKE!! To finish the term, the sixth form girls participated in the RAG week quiz and won after a close tie breaker!

The summer term brings the stress of exams, but Year 9 and 10 managed to raise the most money of all the houses for the School charities of Go Commando and Bisee Books. On the sports front, we once again dominated winning junior house tennis and junior house swimming (and relay). The term culminated with both junior and senior teams winning the House Athletics Competitions which we have not done for many years.

Again, much of this win goes down to people just taking part to score points for the house. Well done everyone!!

Term concluded with bowling and pizza and a large number of Jenkin taking part in the Music department's Firework Concert. On the whole, it has been a very successful year for Jenkin. Our grateful thanks go to our tutors - Mrs Leader, Mrs Falkingham, Miss Southcott, Miss Miller, Mr Brodie, and our Housemistress Ms Harvie.

We are sure the success will continue next year too!!

Emma Perry Head of Jenkin

The year began with some 'home improvements' for the Sixth Form as Guvvy reorganisation resulted in the accommodation moving on to one floor. The change has been well received and the atmosphere has buzzed with purpose throughout the year. The Sixth Form play a big part in creating the atmosphere within a school and the two years have bonded well and formed a very cohesive group.

An early social with an 'escape from the zoo' theme was well received and the annual 'teambuilding day' run by Outposts at Bishops Lydeard challenged the new lower sixth in novel ways while allowing them to meet and work closely with the new members of their year group. One of the major highlights of the year, without a doubt, was the gala Christmas ball at Oake Manor - excellent meal, fireworks, followed by the opportunity to dance the night away to live music. The fact that nearly 270 attended this event highlights it popularity. It was a huge success.

The other major event in the calendar was RaG week which followed the January exam session. It is an ideal

32

sixth Form

way to let off some steam but with good purpose following the stresses of the exam room. School Prefects drove the events with great efficiency with major events such as the visiting hypnotist, blind date, a quiz evening, girls' rugby, 3-legged football and a 6th form disco drawing big crowds. These were supplemented with daily cake sales, leg waxing and the ever popular Prefects auction.

A total in excess of ÂŁ4500 was raised for school charities and a great time was had by all.

It is hard to believe that another year has slipped away.

The upper Sixth are on their way to universities all over the world or on gap years to equally distant parts. The lower sixth have begun the process of taking over the reigns and a new lower 6th is waiting, expectantly, in the wings. There are always tears shed at the Leavers' service and barbecue when year books are handed out and the reminiscing begins. The Sixth Form generates fantastic memories that will last a lifetime but also lays the foundations for huge success beyond school.

Mike cook

TS'

e

nd

Students attending Taunton School International and Taunton School International Middle School are prepared for the potential to enter the IB Diploma course in their Sixth Form. Part of the requirement of this course is that students take part in the CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) programme.

Service encompasses a host of community and social service activities. Some examples include helping children in primary schools, raising money for charity and entertaining people with less advantages than themselves.

This year there have been a number of very successful events:

Macmillan Coffee Morning On Friday 28th September, the students at Taunton School International Middle School found out just how rewarding it can be to find the time to help others.

Following an assembly and lessons on the work of MacMillan Cancer Support, the children set to work making bunting, sending out invitations to their neighbours and making cakes.

Over fifty people attended the event and the school welcomed many local residents through its doors.

They were treated to a variety of homemade cakes and biscuits and were entertained by Weidi Zhou, who played a medley of tunes from around the World on the piano.

Lois and Kiff Miles, residents of Kingston St Mary, wrote "It was a great pleasure to be invited to Taunton School International at The Grange for the Macmillan World's Greatest Coffee Morning on Friday 28 September. It was delightful to meet the Head Teacher, some of the staff and several of the charming pupils. Clara, from Germany, and Ivan, from Russia, looked after us very well and all the pupils we met were, without exception, friendly and courteous.'

The event raised just over 2250 - well done!

34

Comic Relief A huge thank you to all the staff and students of Taunton School International whose wonderful efforts helped raise a fantastic U70 for this year's Comic Relief. A cake sale was organised in the morning which was followed by 'Gunge the Teacher' in the afternoon. Raffle tickets were sold to raise money and the lucky winners who were drawn out of the hat had the privilege of gunging the 'willing' teachers - Mrs Griffiths, Mrs Stock, Mr Martin, Mr Jones and Mr Deery!

The day was a great success, everyone entered into the spirit of the occasion and as a result, a great total was reached .

TSIMS Easter Fete Saturday 20th April saw Taunton School International Middle School's first school fete at The Grange in aid of Taunton Samaritans. After months of preparation and organisation we were thrilled to see that the sun was shining.

Our students were given the responsibility of running their own stalls, and they did a fantastic job. Some of the most popular stalls included a woodlice race, a paper aeroplane competition as well as the classic sponge the staff in the docks!

The raffle prizes drew in the most money with a number of fantastic prizes: a trip to London; family admission to @Bristol; gym membership at Tone Leisure. Visitors from the Prep School and TSI, as well as the local community helped the day to be a huge success raising over ÂŁ600 for The Samaritans .

Other events this year have been cake and bake sales for 'Go Commando' and 'World Aids Day' and teaching the Taunton School Pre-Preparatory students about Chinese New Year.

e MA R/71INS 'pip us

TS' leha TAUNTON SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL JOINS THE DEBATE. TAUNTON SCHOOL is proud of its debating tradition and is actually a founding school of 'The Independent Public Speaking Association' which organises the 'World Individual Debating & Public Speaking Championships'. The 2012 competition took place in Australia and Taunton School carried away many honours.

Taunton School International students have participated fully in the internal school debating competitions this year with some notable success.

SENIOR INTER-HOUSE DEBATING COMPETITION On the evening of Friday 12th October the Annual Senior Inter-House Debating competition took place in the Old Library at Taunton School. It was a hotly contested competition with all houses putting forward their most astute and well versed students. It made for a fantastic evening of debating. Many of the most controversial subjects of today were debated and a deserved congratulations to all those who took part in the competition. Taunton School International's debate was against the motion that, 'This house would allow parents to choose the sex of their children'.

Viktoria and Charles debated fantastically against the motion. Viktoria was the first to reply to the opposition's opening statement; she argued and persuasively swung the audience. Charles was the last to react to many of the statements that had arisen from the opposition and with eloquence he emphatically persuaded the audience that it was morally wrong to allow parents to choose the sex of their children.

36

MP LEADS PRESIDENT'S DEBATE TAUNTON DEANE MP and Government Minister Jeremy Browne fielded a wide range of questions at Taunton School as a part of 'The President's Debate', hosted by Headmaster, Dr John Newton.

A large gathering in the Old Library heard Dr Newton welcome Mr Brown and congratulate him on recently becoming a father for the first time, before opening up the floor to questions from members of the public and the school community.

Taunton School International students benefitted form attending the event and lustin and Alex, both had the opportunity to ask questions about the UK government's foreign policy with regard to immigration and troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

BALLOON DEBATE The Taunton School International Balloon Debate is a much anticipated event, popular with many as a stage on which to display their speaking talents. A balloon debate is a debate in which a number of speakers attempt to win the approval of an audience. The audience is invited to imagine that the speakers are flying in a hot-air balloon which is sinking and that someone must be thrown out if everyone is not to die. Typically each participant speaks on behalf of a famous person, profession, fictional character, etc.

Zoe, Momoko, Amy, lustin, Ali, Charles, Giovanni, Larry, Gleb and Nik D all took to the stage to defend themselves and their right to stay in the hot air balloon - representing personalities from Mickey Mouse to Harry Potter to J.F Kennedy. However, after much deliberation, Giovanni was pronounced the winner having acted as Benjamin Franklin!

A couple of weeks ago, two students, Larry and Afolabi, were sent to see me. Now of course, I understand, as I'm sure you do, that when you have to speak to someone who has the power to change your life for the worse, you feel very nervous. You worry that you will make a mistake or say the wrong thing. It was certainly the case on that occasion. I was very nervous. Yes, Larry and Afolabi were interviewing me for the 2013 student yearbook.

But somehow, I did manage to control my nerves and answer their many searching questions, among which were - 'what do I like most about my job, what will I remember about the students of 2013 and what will I remember about this school year?'

What I like most about my job is watching all of you fulfil your potential - not just your academic potential but your potential to create the future world in which you will live.

It really is exciting every year to see all of you arrive in September, and so quickly grow and develop. First of all academically - gaining the skills and knowledge that enable you to pass 6 or 7 GCSEs just a few months later and go on into schools and colleges across the country. You have taken GCSEs in 24 different subjects, this year including for the first time Design Technology and Classical Civilisation, and now you are going on to many different schools and colleges for your 6th Form studies, including of course Taunton School, but also Sherborne, Bromsgrove, Oakham, Greshams, St Leonards, d'Overbroecks, Leighton Park, Hurtwood House, Stonyhurst and Ellesmere, to name but a few.

For you, and for us who teach you, that is the main aim of your year here: to pass your GCSEs; to improve your English; to get into a good school. But along with that, all of us who work here are privileged to see you grow and change in other ways too.

Firstly, of course, this was the year that we opened Taunton School International Middle School. We are now able to extend our provision right down to eight year olds and to those arriving in the UK with little or no English. We have 45 students at our Middle School, aged between 8 and 14, and although they live just off campus they are very much a part of our community.

The second change for the school this year has been the return of Foxcombe House. When Taunton School International opened in September 1996 it started off in what had been Foxcombe House, firstly a boys' and later a girls' boarding house in Taunton School. Since then we have changed from a study centre with 17students to an international school of 40 and then 80; and to the old Foxcombe campus we added new classrooms, new boarding houses, a new ICT room and the hall which has a fox on top of a clock tower as a nod to Foxcombe as well as Taunton School. We changed out of all recognition. But this year, as well as moving forward by starting the Middle School and thereby expanding again from 80 to 125 students, we have at the same time come full circle and returned to our roots by calling ourselves Foxcombe House when competing internally in the house system of Taunton School. And so, after 17 years, Foxcombe House lives again.

For now we have come to the end of your year here.

But remember that this is just the start for you, the class of 2013. Just like TSI, though you will move forward from here, please don't forget to return to your roots sometimes - visit us, keep in touch with us and with each other. I look forward to hearing about your future achievements and the success that you find in your future lives. Well done; I am proud of you all.

Caroline Nixon Principal, Taunton School International

What I will remember about this year's students in particular is that you were especially internationally minded. This is something we try to achieve every year and we know that it isn't always easy. But you, the students of 2013, have truly been an exceptional year in this regard, and for that I would like to thank and congratulate you.

81 students from 26 different countries have worked, lived and played together and it has been a pleasure to see. You made close friends; and even when others were not your close friends you found ways to accommodate and tolerate them so that you could all get on with the job in hand. Tomorrow's world will be a global community made up of different people from different cultures all working together. And you have a head start in the social skills that will enable you to succeed in it.

But what of the third question I was asked - what will I remember about this year for the school?

31

TS! Crossaturricular experience

in France A few days before the Easter holidays started, a group of 30 students and 6 members of staff departed for a busy four day trip to France. All students were from Taunton School International Middle School and Taunton School International, studying history, French or Travel & Tourism as a part of their course.

Leaving on Wednesday night, we took the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen. On arrival, our first stop was to a cafe in the town centre where we had a typical French 'petit dejeuner' of croissants, pain au chocolat with coffee and hot chocolate.

Next stop, 'Omaha Beach': one of the D-Day landing beaches that the Allied forces used to invade Germanoccupied France on 6 June 1944, during World War II. The impressive and thought-provoking American Cemetery was next on the itinerary. The cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach and contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and ensuing military operations in World War II. We then headed back to Caen to visit The Memorial de Caen - a museum and war memorial commemorating the Second World War and the Battle for Caen. For many, the experience of visiting the sites and seeing the memorial for themselves gave them a good insight of life during the World War. Next - off to Paris by coach, stopping at Val d'Europe shopping centre and finally checking into our hotel at 10pm. Everyone was exhausted after a busy day, most of the group unpacked and headed straight for bed!

The following day, we headed into the centre of Paris for some free time to explore the sights and do some shopping. We started off at the Arc de Triomphe and wandered up the Champs Elysees towards the Jardin des Tuileries, stopping off for a bit of shopping and lunch along the way! Seeing the magnificent architecture and street design in pictures is one thing but close up is something else!

38

The following day was spent at Disneyland Paris where everyone enjoyed the thrill of the rollercoasters particularly the 'Tower of Terror' that managed to frighten the life out of most of us! Screams could be heard for miles.

The final day was spent in the centre of Paris - first was a trip up the Eiffel Tower to experience the views from the very top, followed by a nice relaxing boat trip down the river Seine, soaking up the many wonderful sights the city has to offer. The final stop was a trip to the Louvre to see one of the worlds' most famous paintings - the Mona Lisa, amongst many other wonderful masterpieces on show.

Not only did the trip give the students a great taste of life in France but also the opportunity to learn more about the D-Day landings and the events leading up to it as well as evaluate Disneyworld Europe as a tourist destination!.

The weather was kind during our stay and everyone returned home for the Easter holidays tired but in high spirits.

What a great experience!

sporting Honours for TS! students According to Wikipedia, 'Sporting Colours, more often known merely as colours or house-colours, are awarded to members of a school who have excelled in a sport.'

Sporting colours originate from before the days of international sporting honours and predate the gaining of a 'cap' for representing your country. As such they are an important indication of excellence and commitment and are the foundation of sporting tradition in British Boarding schools.

Taunton School International is extremely proud of the fact that the students this year have integrated particularly well into the Taunton School sporting tradition with 'School Colours' and 'Junior Colours' being awarded in hockey, basketball, badminton, football, tennis and chess with awards being presented at a special assembly led by Dr John Newton, Headmaster.

The seemingly incomprehensible rules associated with some traditional sports make it difficult for international students who have no previous experience of them to compete successfully, but this year for the first time Taunton School International, competing in the Taunton School House sports competitions as the newly named 'Foxcombe House', fielded teams in a record number of sports: hockey (boys and girls), football, futsal, cross country running, basketball, tennis, netball, chess and even cricket!

I

Well done to all who took part.

+.41S■ 4C. 3"

■ 1

/

, ,

6

Al•

_

••■ 16,

a

a.

!MK

40

40,

Fiona Holford It was with a huge amount of shock and sadness that the school community heard of the untimely death of Fiona Holford on the 1st August.

A loss of a colleague is always a time of sadness and reflection but to lose one who had battled so long and so hard through illness to begin a very well earned retirement just one month earlier seemed to add even further cruelty to the situation.

Fiona first arrived at Taunton School in 1997 to assist the then Head of EAL. A year later, he took a sabbatical for a year to do some writing and Fiona was asked to take over the department. He never came back and Fiona began her tenure in charge in one of the most crucial departments at Taunton School.

Fiona's teaching career had taken many and varied turns, including being Head of English at a large inner-city comprehensive, to teaching all sorts of subjects to adults returning to education, as well as teaching degree level English at SCAT. It is no wonder then that she has been so adaptable to the tremendous changes that have happened at Taunton School over the last 16 years.

Back in 1997, there were about 50 students who did not have English as their first language and TSI was just being talked about. Now there are significantly more. But rather than be swamped by this growth, she was from the outset prepared to think outside the box and take a fresh approach to helping the students who came her way. In particular, Fiona did not stay hidden away in EAL, but came into lessons and sat alongside the students and absorbed and understood what everyone was trying to achieve. Quite simply, she made the EAL department into a model that those in other schools now look upon enviously.

Not content with that, she also took over responsibility of the Theory of Knowledge course in 2010, and has played a significant role in helping the IB Diploma programme develop so successfully at the school.

But for Fiona, it was never about being a head of a department or in charge of a subject. For her, the students, each one as an individual, were always her first priority. From the moment that a nervous student in culture shock has felt personally welcomed into the EAL department by 'Auntie Fi', through to the cards and messages she still received from students that have long since left, it is clear that she had a real heart '_. for the students and their needs above all else.

Fiona was also a great colleague, and many will miss the venison pasties at Christmas, the smell of real coffee on the brew at break, and if you have been really lucky, one of her amazing dinner parties, with a bottle of Cote du Rhone sourced personally on her annual trip to France. We will also miss her wit, her intelligence and her intolerance of all that gets in the way of teaching.

Many staff attended her funeral where we heard so many funny stories and genuinely warm words about her from her husband Graeme, as well as her sister and nieces. We extend our sympathies to all of her family and friends and pay our respects to a sorely missed colleague.

Neil MAIM

sUlf 110101â– Susan Falkingham Appointed in 1996, initially to teach EFL, it was swiftly recognised that Susan had much more to offer and by 1999 she was not only leading the Spanish department but was also introducing A level Psychology.

A highly skilled teacher, Susan's enthusiasm was infectious and the fun she injected into her lessons, which extended beyond the classroom, inspired students in both subjects.

For those studying Psychology, Susan established an enriching programme that included eminent guest speakers, visits to conferences and the publication of "Psych Talk" which allowed students to research and write their own articles of interest in this field. For Hispanists Susan organised visits to Spain, gave Spanish cooking classes, arranged Salsa lessons, film evenings and theatre productions, thus enabling them to embrace diverse aspects of Spanish culture. Her patience, generosity and devotion to the work of both students and fledgling colleagues were exceptional and it is to her credit that, under her tutelage and encouragement, many have gone on to flourish at university and in their careers.

Susan's impact upon other areas of School life, including caring for the academic and pastoral welfare of her tutees in Jenkin, her assistance with the School detention system and with costumes prior to School productions, together with her creative writing workshops, has been equally significant. Her professionalism and readiness to turn her hand to whatever was required earned her the respect and gratitude of all. We shall miss her friendly presence and plain talking (I) but we wish her a well deserved and very happy retirement.

Judy F lredale

Jonathan Brooker Jonathan Brooker joined TS in September 2010 to take up his first teaching post, where he had the delight of taking over from the infamous Kevin Moore.

Thank you, Jon, for all of your contributions to Taunton School and in particular your efforts and commitment towards the department. You have always been keen to lend a hand, give up your own time without question to aid pupil's development, or accompany them on trips. Jon has been involved in coaching hockey at TS including the SCA's, U16A's and the 2nd VI. He has also helped out in CCF and has run a number of very successful surfing trips. However, with his departure perhaps we will have to wait a little longer for the introduction of the house surfing competition.

Richard Lander School has a well-established, and reputable department and I have no doubt that they will benefit massively from the energy and determination that Jon possesses.

This year Jon leaves behind 'The Brooker Prize'. In future years this will be given to a pupil that has demonstrated the most inappropriate use of materials or processes in their

42

coursework project. However, this year the first person to be awarded this trophy is Mr. Jonathan Brooker himself, for demonstrating the greatest use of high temperature thermal and structural adhesives I have bared witness to with his students over his time here at TS. Jon we wish you, Jodie and Lily the dog all the very best for the future.

Jon Baker

Jane Bluemel When Jane arrived in the Physics department 4 years ago she generated an instant transformation in working practice. Practical requests and equipment orders to the technician quickly began to test his ability to source materials, as glitter and balloons replaced the more traditional kilogram masses and newton meters. Although initially part time for only a few periods per week, Jane rapidly picked up extra work and 12 became 15 and then over 2Oppw. Suddenly the spectre of duty, tutorials and all the other behind the scenes staff activities raised its head. Jane worked out that hiding on the Quantocks might be a good strategy and so began her association with trek force. Our trek force geology and fossil trip to Lyme Regis came close to tempting her away from physics but luckily for her pupils she resisted and has given them the most tremendous and supportive experience. In fact 20 period turns out to be the tip of the iceberg, as Jane has spent countless hours helping would be physicists to master her subject.

Jane is well qualified to teach Physics too, with a degree from Oxford. Nevertheless David Mclean unwittingly stepped in as Luke Waller's undercover agent when he mistakenly collected in Jane's lesson plan with his class prep. Jane had tried out some questions which David duly marked and graded. This came to light when he attempted to identify the owner to hand back the corrected work. This year Jane was the organiser of the first Physics photography competition, a huge success. Unfortunately she was less successful getting pupils to sign up to take her on a trip to CERN so she resorted to accompanying the Junior Academics on a tour of Welsh castles.

The department will just not be the same without her; the little patch of grass outside where she so often to be found sitting wondering when Martin is going to remember to come and take her home will be bare, we will lose a valued colleague who is super organised, the department displays will falter and Laura Brayley will lose her sewing instructor. But far worse will be the loss for her pupils. Jane is the most patient and inventive teacher, constantly trying new ideas (especially if they involve her tablet pc or unusual stationery) and she has been rightly appreciated by the pupils whose lives she has enormously enriched. Their words neatly encapsulate her contribution here; they said "she is fantastic, we love her".

Luke Waller

Barcelona After Madrid in 2012, this year we took a group of 16 L6 students to Barcelona on a 'study trip' in February.

The 'financial crisis' in Spain was not wholly evident in this bustling city but we did notice that the 'bustling' was mainly being done by tourists like us! This year we were fortunate, I felt, to enjoy a decent selection of visits — including the Torres Winery, the Nou Camp Stadium and the Estrella Damm brewery near the airport. We stayed within walking distance of the city, at the Urbany Hostal, which had a swimming pool that we couldn't use and breakfast cereal that we couldn't eat (!). A few students found time for a quick swim in the sea (brrr!) and we all enjoyed plenty of sunshine and an opportunity to pay football against the ...Egyptians. For some, this was a highlight of the trip whilst others were amazed by the state of the art production process at Estrella Damm and a few enjoyed the evening entertainment with the 'locals'. Megan Thresher had a 'fine' tour, Isabella Games-Thomas became Mrs. Rixon's best friend and Cheryl Notaro-Livingstone managed to teach me a few new words. In the end though, the boys won all the tour prizes. Yves Remmler and Theo Rhill shared the award for best tour diary and Alex Keeling was 'top tourist'.

Target Two Point zero The Bank of England and The Times Interest Rate Challenge gives teams of students aged 16-18 the chance to take on the role of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, assess economic conditions and the outlook for inflation and tell panels of judges what monetary policy they would set to achieve the Government's inflation target of 2.0%.

A team of four of our best economics students travelled to Exeter in November to represent the school in a regional heat of the competition. Their 15 minute presentation was followed up by some gruelling questions from the three judges, agents from the Bank of England. The team consisted of Pia Pyrtek, Nora Puhala, Jenny Chan, and led by Anton Kraminkin, performed very well on our inaugural appearance in this competition.

They were commended on the innovative approach of their presentation and the quality and breadth of their research. Overall they were placed third and all felt that the experience, whilst challenging, had certainly enriched their economics studies.

In addition to the presenters, there was also a team of analysts helping collate the vast amount of data needed for the challenge: these were Mariya Ternovaya, Joko Odutola , Mavis Yang, Tracy Yuan, Vlad Buryak and Costas Kulak.

Jaguar, Land Dover and CadburyWorld This 'pilgrimage' did not start so well. Mrs. Rixon thought she had booked a coach but it turned out to be a more of a 'stagecoach' — about 4 horsepower and ventilation dependent on opening windows. Thankfully the driver 'cracked the whip' and we arrived at JLR not too far behind schedule. (If we had had a proper coach and the oil light had alarmed every 20 minutes, I am sure someone would have wanted to turn back...)

Actually the journey wasn't too bad for the staff. Tea (from a flask) and biscuits (all butter shortbread) were quite a treat after the horribly early departure time which had

limited breakfast options. Mr Springer's 2 weetabix had been a disappointment...

Anyway, the JLR factory proved to be a 'top' visit. The Solihull site is expanding all the time. The (Indian) Tata company that owns JLR is spending hundreds of millions of pounds (and rupees!) investing in new production facilities. Some of us were lucky enough to see the stateof-the-art (largest factory of its type the world?) plant that builds the new Range Rover out of aluminium rather than steel. The robots (each worth about £300,000) were pretty similar but there were fewer sparks...Whereas in the other (steel) section the sparks were quite exciting — especially for the girls with long hair and the boys with too much gel.

While 1 (of 4) student groups toured the factory, another group was entertained (by Bill and Les) with a productionbased exercise to emphasise the importance of communication, organisation and teamwork. In general, the boys were better than the girls — perhaps because they never had to take time off for maternity reasons! (Of course, it was only a game.)

Obviously there was also the CadburyWorld visit.

Thankfully it was not just about buying and eating chocolate. The marketing talk helped to emphasise how much Cadbury has changed in recent years. Even Miss Southcott was surprised to learn that the fairly recent Kraft takeover had taken another step forward. (Mr. Pugh missed this information as he was still in the shop buying supper for Wills West.) All in all an excellent day, we thought...until being faced by the return journey. The weather had warmed up, the sun was out, the engine was hot...and we had nearly 3 hours to endure without fresh air. Although there were plenty of naughty boys and girls (Tom K-W, Casper, Cheryl, Megan, Rory, Jack Downey etc) on the coach, they put up with the situation without complaint. Well Done.

The staff at the (airy) front enjoyed the remnants of my picnic (prawn salad, coronation chicken sandwiches, strawberries etc) so once again the world seemed like quite a good place. Mrs Rixon had organised (and paid for!) suppers to be cooked to order when we returned at 7pm. Nevertheless, the Domino '2-4-1 on Tuesdays' proved a real temptation. Next year, I think we will end the visit by just parking the coach on Station Road.

Departmental Awards David Balfour Brighton Prize (Business Studies) Bailey Petts J H Newton (Economics) Anton Kraminkin Milsted Langdon Prize (Department Contribution) Pia Pyrtek / Rob Abell

Rob Abell

A2 - Sam Bolland (Commuter Cyclist Secure Cycle Storage) Oz,

I

4

AS - Rory Evans (Street Luge Board)

GCSE - Jonty Stephenson (Athlete's Training Aid)

AS - Micheal Smith (`Smash Rugby' Training Aid)

GCSE - Ben Smith (Mid-Moto)

GCSE - Tom Clarke (Mobile Clay Pigeon Shooting Trap)

GCSE - Jessie Wilson (Carbon Fibre Acoustic Guitar)

44

\ A4*

GCSE - Jess Clarke (Shoe Storage System)

A2 - Robbie David (Dining Chair)

GCSE - Larisa Azriskova (Pop Art Coffee Table)

GCSE - Steven Lowe (Flat Pack Easy Chair)

GCSE - Freddie Cooney (Moroccan Themed Outdoor Table)

GCSE - Hannah Jolley (Cardboard Furniture)

GCSE - Henri Cooney (Outdoor Seating)

45

Classics

TRIP TO ROME &THE BAY OF NAPLES

Few departments in the school cover so wide a range of activity as Classics, and our trip to Rome and the Bay of Naples during the February half term was as varied as one might expect. There were artistic highlights in the Capitoline Museum's extraordinary collection of sculpture; the sporting highlight was an easy win for the Year 11 boys' chariot racing team in the 250,000 seater Circus Maximus, albeit without quite a capacity crowd; and we very nearly managed to see the crater of Vesuvius, only defeated by sheet ice on the summit.

In Rome on the day of Benedict XVI's resignation, we were close to the Vatican when a thunderstorm of epic proportions saw us and many equally soaked Romans scurrying for cover.

Inevitable suspicions of divine wrath followed! The whole trip was memorable, though, and all for good reasons: it was a privilege as ever to go away with such cooperative young people who take such an intelligent interest in the ancient world. The department continues to be busy. In September I took over as Head of Department and we also welcomed Mr Christopher Lillington-Martin who has introduced Classical Civilisation at TSI. Staff across the schools continue to work closely together and a very entertaining lecture in April which challenged many orthodox views on Sparta, given by Dr Stephen Hodkinson of the University of Nottingham, was the result of a TSI/TS collaboration. We are very pleased to be awarding a new Classics prize at Commemoration this year in memory of Mr John Dewdney, formerly Head of Classics: a fitting encouragement to Taunton's classicists of the future.

During February half term, the Classics department took 33 pupils from all years to Italy for a week, to see for themselves the archaeological and architectural remains at the heart of the Roman empire.

We visited a huge number of sites and museums in a short time; thanks must go both to the teachers and to the students themselves, who were excellent company and who seemed both to enjoy the trip and to gain a great deal from it .

Aida!' Cruttentien

46

ttSapere aude Dare to know! JJ - Horace (65 BC-8 BC)

A YEAR IN ENGLISH It has been another busy and exciting year for the English department.

From creative writing competitions, to author visits, trips and kite flying, there has been much for our pupils to enjoy.

In September, we were a host venue for the second Taunton Literary Festival. This proved to be a fantastic experience as students listened to nationally renowned authors sharing their creative insights. In the Lent term, we were delighted to welcome two teen fiction writers as well as an ITV screen writer to the school; Steve Voake, Beth Webb and Julian Spilsbury delivered a series of creative writing workshops to Year 9, which inspired and informed in equal measure. With the introduction of the Literary Lecture series, members of the Sixth Form have relished the opportunity to hear expert speakers lecture on a wide variety of texts. Many thanks to Dr. Newton, Miss Gaskell, Mrs. Walters, Mr Moule, Mrs Ager and Miss Commings for their brilliant contributions this year.

There have also been a number of opportunities to engage with literature outside the confines of the school grounds this year.

In the Autumn term, three lucky AS Level classes ventured to Stratford to see a particularly hilarious production of 'Twelfth Night'. Later in the year, IB classes returned to Stratford to see 'Hamlet' and a production of the notorious 'Titus Andronicus'.

In many ways, this year has been the start of a new chapter for English at Taunton School and we are all looking forward to developing further the creative and literary tastes of our pupils in the future.

Rebecca Miller

Geography This has been a full and exciting year for the Geography Department with a variety of events and field trips taking place.

The year got off to a great start with Dr Warren Pratt talking to a packed Arts Centre at our Joint Geographical Association and Royal Geographical Society talk. He spoke engagingly on prospecting for Silver and Gold in South America, and fired the enthusiasm of adults and students alike. This talk was followed in November by Prof Simon Haslett who took us through the evidence for a tsunami that occurred in the Bristol Channel 400 years ago. A rather sobering thought!

In February Simon Reeve (of BBC fame) cheerfully answered questions based on his travels from a panel of 6th Form students. A wide range of topics were covered and the evening was thoroughly enjoyed by the packed audience of staff, parents and students.

The lecture season was concluded with a conference hosted by Exeter School. Bob Digby, Chair of the GA, talked on the Olympic Legacy, Prof Bill McGuire - a reknowned expert - talked on Hazards, and Chris Martin, OCR Chief Examiner talked to both A level and IB students on examination technique. Again, a very enjoyable and invaluable evening was had.

The pupils have also been busy in the Field: the Y11 investigated Taunton's CBD, Y10 investigated Dawlish Warren, the L6 investigated the R. Homer, Chesil Beach and coastal protection issues at Lyme Regis. and the U6 and L6IB students visited a very busy Bristol Port.

Jeanne Leader

rte ,

-_ • --

•

•-•

Geo og --44veI4P24-

This has been our 5th year since we introduced this exciting subject and Geology has now become so well established that it will become a department in its own right as of September 2013.

We currently have seven students studying at AS level and six students at A2. Three of our original cohort are now in their 3rd year at university and five of our current U6 have also applied to take the subject at degree level.

The geologists were particularly inspired by the talk on Prospecting in South America, given by Dr Warren Pratt - not only by the interesting work but also the very lucrative salaries that are on offer!! This talk was quickly followed by a sandwich lunch where Henry Pearson and Marcus Freeman gave them an insight into Geology at University.

The Lower 6th had a superb trip to Kimmeridge Bay where they were able to practise their new skills in observation and recording on the faults and folds in the area. These skills are vital for aiding geological understanding - it is the discovery of oil here that led onto the location of the huge oil fields in the North Sea. The Upper 6th picked the coldest day of the year for their trip to Lulworth Cove. Here they were able to further develop their skills in interpreting the structures and the palaeo-environment of the area. The hilight of the day was the discovery of a large section of the Titanites ammonite!

I look forward to concentrating my efforts in the Geology Dept as of September, and hope to forge links with university departments, the BGS and the Geological Society.

Jeanne Leader

HiStefy Janine Webber - an incredible survivor You could not make up the story of Janine Webber, a Holocaust survivor who came to speak to Year 9 History students this week. Janine recounted her wartime experiences between the ages of 7-12 as a Polish Jew in Lvov. Her resourcefulness, courage and resilience in avoiding capture and certain death at the hands of the occupying Nazis inspired an audience whose breathless hush testified to the gripping nature of what they were hearing: terrible but compelling details of events which both laid bare the awfulness of man's inhumanity to man yet also bore witness to the strength of the human spirit.

In dispassionate yet emotive manner, Janine told of the tragic, heart rending fates of her closest family and of her own transient and desperate existence — hiding in holes under wardrobes and stables, being sheltered by sympathisers and all the while being sustained by her remarkable aunt. The many questions from pupils at the end of Janine's talk were proof of the impression which she had made. The evils of discrimination, persecution and war had been made abundantly apparent by the story of an ordinary person, driven by force of circumstance, to lead an extraordinary life. Those present will never forget Janine's visit which was worth a hundred lessons in the classroom.

Mart Chatterton

Trigs abroad WWI battlefields - Ypres and the Somme: the desolation of the Great War

Trips at home S.S Great Britain - the genius of Brunel Wells and Glastonbury - the richness of Britain's religious heritage Anna Karenina - love and tragedy in Stoppard's imaginative reprisal of Tolstoy's classic

Notable Visitors Janine Webber, Holocaust survivor / Dr. John Darwin, renowned Oxford historian of empire /Justin Huggler, war correspondent and author of 'Burden of the Desert'

Miscellaneous History Matters magazine - edited by George Hallas

History Prizes U6th - George Hallas and Audrey Sebatindira Parsons Trophy - Ellie Jackson L6th - Sophie Waller Year 11 - Georgie Blackwell, Evie Blue, Lizzie Merson, Emma Stacey Year 10 (The Cortbus) - Rosemary Moss Year 9 (The Colin) - Nick Brown

Public examination results 2012 A level - 77.3% A"-B IB HL - 62.5% 7/6 GCSE - 48.2% A*/A

Oxbridge successes George Hallas - St. John's, Cambridge (History) Oliver Kelham - St Anne's, Oxford (History) Audrey Sebatindira - Trinity Hall, Cambridge (Law)

A Level Leisure Studies This year has seen the A-Level Leisure Studies numbers grow once more and the subject remains a popular choice for all those practically minded students who enjoy coursework with a "real life" aspect.

The Upper Sixth have planned, marketed and run a hugely successful Autumn Fete (and the rain even stayed away!) raising money in the process for Barnados childrens. charity. They booked an adult sized bouncy castle and gladiator joust, painted faces and sold burgers and hotdogs.

Ashley Hansen's guess the name of the bunny proved popular but Bella Hodgkinson and Anna Mansfield's candy floss machine was the real hit! This was part of their Event management coursework - what other

A-Level provides an experience like that of budgeting, booking, health and safety, marketing and sales?!

They followed this up with an exciting and rewarding day at Dartmoor Zoo, working as volunteers for the day for the Outdoor Leisure component. They built a path, painted some educational boards and cleaned out a building for the new reptlie house. Liam Davies particularly liked this as it is going to house a Cayman crocodile once completed.

LUCy Turner

leisure stu it should be life studies - George Towers 2011

The Maths department enjoyed a busy year with the usual range of activities (eg Maths Challenges, Maths Clinics and revision lectures) but also introduced some new ones.

The Intermediate Maths Challenge saw a good catch of 10 Gold, 20 Silver and 30 Bronze awards as well as five going on to later rounds. Nickolay Daminov and Chaypat Prathanrasniko achieved Distinction and Merit respectively, and Sam Rixon, Mollie Stallard and Todd Freemen posting high scores in the IMC. Ivan Kotegov was awarded a Merit in his additional round whilst Ed White qualified for Gold and a gold in the Grey Kangaroo! The Senior Challenge was similarly successful with 54 awards, 29 at Silver or better. Amy Wu and Jeremy Soper qualified for the Olympiad and Kanstantin Kulak and Vlad Buryak qualified for the Senior Kangaroo.

We also took teams to the Year 10 Team Challenge Regional Final in Exeter (well done Mark Simpson Parker, Amrita Patel, Ivan Kotegov and Wenbo Wang) and to the National Final of the Senior Team Challenge in London (Amy Wu, Kanstantin Kulak, Jeremy Soper and Tracy Yuan) who finished a few points away from the winners.

The Challenges are an area of Maths that we are looking to expand; competition maths can be fun as the TPS Enrichment morning showed with teams of Year 6 pupils rushing backwards and forwards with their answers!!!

Puzzles Club and Problem of the Week were further new initiatives and ones that we will build on next year. Chocolate does work as a maths incentive! The Lower Sixth that went to Maths Inspiration in Bristol were just that inspired by Chaos, Juggling and more.

I think we laughed and learnt our way through two hours of Maths....

Another trip to the Mathematics/Computing Day in Oxford (many thanks for driving Miss McKay and Mr Workman) was a success, inspiring the pupils attending to think about the wider applications of Mathematics in the 'real' world.

In short we have tried to widen Tauntonian understanding of how important and exciting Mathematics can be. Watch this space!

Ian Payne

e "1\0101 II 111,31 I I Ilij01"110/1/ 70 60 710

\\

\A\ SIP ---4 130

No째

50

lo

X6-0 56

0

o cP a

This has been an exciting year for ICT and many developments have made the department a vital place to be.

In the curriculum, we have had our first ever year group to take ICT as an !GCSE option. They all acquitted themselves very successfully and we are all very excited at the new shape of the department.

This has led to an increase in our A level numbers where we have the largest ICT As level group to date.

Additionally, we have offered Computing courses for the first time. This 'off timetable' option last year was successful enough to warrant a place on the official timetable this academic year. We now have AS level computing in place and are expecting numbers to grow.

In terms of clubs and societies, we have had a good year. In November, we came a creditable seventh first time out in the regional heat of 'First Lego League'.

This is a robotics competition in which students have to design, build and programme a Lego based robot to complete a whole raft of obstacles, tasks, and other missions. We are excited about this year's competition and are expecting to do much better. This year we are entering teams from the Senior School, Taunton School International and Taunton Preparatory School. The students are thrilled to be involved and are hungry for success.

For those of you who have not heard, Raspberry Pi is a small credit card sized computer that can be fully programmed from scratch. We have been involved in Raspberry Pi in a much more discrete way. We have a small group of students working with the DT Department on using a Raspberry Pi to log, record and analyse all the data from their Greenpower electric racing car (currently ranked 4th in the country). This is putting the department firmly on the Computing map.

So what about the future? We are looking ahead to try to increase computing in all its forms. We are currently looking at clubs based around programming, animation and even gaming and its design. We are looking to expand the curriculum offer into more Computing courses and have a wide and varied enrichment plan, which may even include another Enigma Machine visit.

ICT is an exciting place to be and is most definitely the way of the future. After all as Nicholas Negroponte said: "Computing is not about computers any more. It is about living."

David Parvin

53

The MFL department is always a step ahead!!!

We got off to a great start this year with the European Day of Languages, involving all of the Houses entering teams for a raucous quiz night.

There were questions on food, geography and literature to name but a few, and there was chocolate at the end for the winners. Later in the year, Mr Brown gave us an insightful talk on wines from all over the European Union. The tasting was the best bit according to many students and they said they had learned a great deal about wine too!

On the trips front there has been a Spanish trip to Barcelona with Mrs Stent and a Spanish exchange, with Miss Preece, where the students visited Avila in December and then the students from the school in Avila returned, staying with students from TS and visited some really interesting places such as Bath, spending time in the Pump Rooms and Weston Super Mare, trying out all the rides on the pier.

There has also been a German exchange in the Summer term which was a huge success where the

students visited Amberg in Bavaria with Miss Iredale.

Extra activities such as the Foreign Film Club have also been running, and visits to the Strode Cinema at Street, as well as films shown on site regularly. At Christmas we celebrated with the Gingerbread House competition where we drank glOhwein and tried to build the best gingerbread house. Besides all of this, there was a brilliant lecture given by Mrs Gaskell on "Fashion and Impressionism", a Spanish play "El Campamento" and a French play " Les Garcons" with a travelling company, just to keep our linguistic skills at their best.

All in all, a truly great year for the Modern Languages Department.

KuItur pub' ii Bayern!

This June six Year 9 and 10 students embarked upon a new exchange link with the Gregor-Mendel Gymnasium in Amberg, Bavaria.

Living with their individual partners, our students were not only able to experience German family life but also acquire some insight into German schools as they accompanied their partners to a selection of classes. In addition, the comprehensive programme, organised by Michael Schlereth (host exchange coordinator) allowed them to explore the local area and embrace aspects of Bavarian culture whilst, all the while, extending their linguistic skills.

Highlights included a full tour of old Amberg, beer tasting in a local brewery and a reception at the beautiful town hall where we were invited to sign the Golden Book! In Nuremberg we sampled the famous Lebkuchen whilst admiring the sights and spent the afternoon being guided around the house of the Renaissance painter Albrecht DOrer by his entertaining, costumed "wife"!

54

aarcelona 2O1 We were a group of ten Year 10 students accompanied by Mrs Stent and Mr Gush. At the very beginning of the summer holidays we headed off for five days in Barcelona.

This trip offered maximum exposure to Barcelona because we travelled by metro, bus and train, visited so much of the city and had two excellent evenings in the home of a local couple, Ascanio and Marta. These two evenings were probably the highlight for most of us because Ascanio's food was delicious, our hosts were delightful, we enjoyed the wonderful views across Barcelona from the roof terrace and we all loved the impromptu jamming session - with Mr Gush playing guitar. Marta also filled us in on Cataluna, independence and its history.

But what else did we get up to? Briefly, we visited Camp Nou, the amazing old food market (where we found lots of intriguing offal stalls), Parc GUel, la Sagrada Familia, Ila Fantasia water park, Las Ramblas and we made numerous visits to the beach. We spoke a lot of Spanish, became proficient with public transport, packed in lots of shopping, ate plenty of great food including churros and tortilla espanola, we enjoyed the sun and sea... plus Reuben and Archie fitted in lots of skateboarding. In fact all twelve of us would like to do a repeat trip as soon as possible please.

)

\

•

1%1►11.411 1 I

.

► ..L i \ \ \ \

The World Heritage city of Regensburg was breathtaking and our visit there concluded with boat trip on the Danube to the imposing Walhalla.

Of course the true measure of success of an exchange link rests with the cooperation and enthusiasm of the participants and our German hosts could not have done more to welcome us and ensure that we had a wonderful week. At the evening festival of the Sonnwendfeuer parents and students joined others on Monte Kaolina to celebrate Midsummer. Over sausages, pretzels and beer, around a gigantic fire, firm friendships were forged and we now look forward to receiving our guests in Taunton in October and, indeed, to future exchange visits.

Judy F. Uedale

55

PSHE

Newton's Ben This year due to the high standard of year 11 entries into the Newton's Den project, not one but two winners were selected by the 'Dragons' Dr. Newton and Governor Elaine Waymouth.

The competition started with plans for school mascots, ponds, digital scoreboards and a whole range of ideas and initiatives that pupils felt would be an asset to the school.

After many presentations and scrutiny of financial spreadsheets, a decision was made. This year's winners were announced. A plan to play classical music in the dining room to entertain diners and aid learning using the 'Specialist sound system' and new furnishings for the area under the stairs to make a junior social area were the popular winners.

In addition, following a presentation to some of the P.T.A., the P.T.A. have decided to finance two further projects, an electronic scoreboard for the new 'Durrant' astro and some sports pitch signeage to help parents locate where their children are playing on the Uppers and Lowers pitches. We hope to have all our projects in operation by September.

Thanks must go the Headmaster for his continued support of this work-based learning PSHE project.

• • • Ow'

.

•• • • •

Psychology is the best subject evermIIII This was the comment of one of the students who attended the Psychology Society lectures this term.

This was the second lecture and had been taking a long, innovative look at serious offending and how it happens. The first lecture before Christmas had been looking at hormones and dance behaviour and had been a lively interaction together with a serious look at the research being carried out at the Dance Lab at the University of Hertfordshire. The chair for this subject is taken by Dr Peter Lovatt, better known as "Dr Dance" on the television, and he was talking to us shortly after his appearance on the Graham Norton show. Yes, we all danced, even the hip-swivelling Mr Glaser!

Another highpoint of the year, apart from watching Mr Glaser swivel bits of his anatomy, was the three editions of PsychTalk, the Psychology department magazine, which is now receiving acclaim fromthe national magazine "Psychology Review", together with journalists in national media. The editions had an innovative and eclectic mix of subjects which has inspired a lot of students to call in to Ll to ask questions about the articles in the magazine.

If you are interested just call in and chat to any of the L6 or U6 about anything in the magazines.

See you next year.

Susan Faikingnam

sychology is t best subject ever!.

science Students from the science department have again distinguished themselves in the Olympiad competitions.

In biology, John Pincock and Anna East were highly commended and medals were awarded to Josh Williamson (Bronze), Joko Odutola (Silver) and Kevin Wickman (Gold).

This placed Kevin in the top cohort Nationally and he was subsequently invited to participate in the highly demanding selection rounds for the United Kingdom International Olympiad team.

Nine students also took the challenging Chemistry Olympiad paper, in which Silver certificates went to Joko Odutola, John Pincock and Jeremy Soper whilst Jeremy Wong, Fandi Xu and Ying Guo each achieved a bronze.

These competitions are demanding tests spanning knowledge from more than just one A level syllabus, so achieving such success is a great reflection on the quality of these young scientists.

Physics had a very successful photography competition this year, organised by Mrs Bluemel, an event which attracted a significant entry of high quality work which was exhibited in the science department. We also saw the opening of the new biology garden, generously funded by the PTA. This year several students carried out extended research work at universities during the summer holidays. John Pincock (Southampton University), Georgina Huntridge (Imperial College) and Henry Brigden (Bristol University) all gained awards from the Nuffield Foundation to support the work they did and went on to gain Gold CREST awards in recognition of the fine work done.

Kevin Wickman (Plymouth University) and Maria Sukhareva (Oxford) carried out independent research. This is an area in which it is hoped more students will take part in the future.

Biology field Trip Report The destination for the annual biology field trip was south Devon and as usual the trip was eagerly anticipated. On Sunday morning at 8.30 am the whole biology department assembled on the front and, having frisked Dr. Penny for minibus keys and made sure he could not influence navigation in any way, the convoy departed for Haytor.

For once the rain held off and we visited a number of sites to learn about succession before transferring to Stover country park for lunch. We were then treated to a very informative tour, taking in conservation, woodland management and a session pond dipping.

Budding bioloists were treated to their first sight of newt tadpoles and damselfly nymphs and carried out a water biotic index analysis. The evening saw us joined by the IB students and the whole party was teated to a special talk by Mrs Goldsmith while the rest of the staff sorted the

barbecue before we enjoyed a long summer evening in the gardens of the field centre.

Monday saw us off to the rocky shore after a warm up lecture on marine life by Miss Wedgwood. Doc P, now being entrusted with driving one of the buses, inevitably left us off the normal route (not helped by a road closure) but arrival at the shore was nevertheless just on low tide and the perfect conditions allowed a huge quatity of data to be collected (even if lunch was slightly shortened!).

Thanks to the biology staff for making the largest ever biology field trip run so smoothly.

James Penny

59

This year has, as ever, been vigorously productive for the JAS! There are about fifty members in years 9 and 10, who come and give talks, once a week, and hear staff talk about their favourite things too. We have had some excellent and imaginative talks on a wide range of , subjects from dance tb Michelangelo to the natural history of sloths. The year 10 group is generally studious and focused, the year 9 one thoroughly lively, sometimes scatty, and full of good ideas. We had an excellent trip in the Autumn to Goodrich and Raglan castles, and another- to Tintern Abbey - is planned for the near future. We also had our annual fancy dress quiz against King's (we won on the costume stakes, but lost the actual quiz!), and in May played 'Capture the Flag' on the Quantocks while discussing Coleridge nearly simultaneously.

Several JAS members also came on the trip to Florence and Siena in December.

Christopher Maple

60

Philosophy, Religion and Ethics `It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...'

Our students are certainly growing up in interesting times and so it is no wonder that there is a growing interest in politics and international relations amongst Taunton School students. This year has seen the start of a new weekly Political Philosophy Society which seeks to help students to engage critically with world events. There has also been a growing attendance at Model United Nations events as we added a second day conference to our calendar as well as planning to attend a weekend conference next year.

To reinforce the school's commitment of helping Taunton students prepare for their lives as global citizens we plan to offer a new A level in Government and Politics from September 2013. Thus students will now have the opportunity to gain an in-depth knowledge of political philosophy whether they take the A level or IB route through the sixth form.

IB extended essays continued to stretch students and prepare them for university life. This year's titles have included: To what extent is John Locke's Seventeenth century definition of Personhood still sufficient in our technologically advanced Twenty-first century?'

'Is John Stuart Mill's Nineteenth Century defence of capital punishment sufficient to justify the death penalty in the Twenty-first Century?'

The EPQ research opportunity for A level students starting this year will give them the same opportunities to engage critically with the philosophical and religious issues modern life throws up.

tt ...the opposite o life is not death, it's indifference... II

61

aLI

The Art department once again has had another very exciting and successful year. The influences of last year's sculpture events have had their effects felt as more and more students have chosen to work in 3 dimensions adding to the diverse range of work produced.

The big event of this year saw Local Artist Stefan Jennings best known for creating the Willow Cathedral at Long Run Meadows produce a living architectural sculpture outside the chapel. Staff, students and visitors were able to view the process which took just under three weeks to produce, being graced with insightful knowledge, fascinating anecdotes and interactive demonstrations throughout the whole process.

Again we had a wide range of trips to Tate Modern, the V&A and Broomhill Sculpture Park and additionally this year we took year 11 down to Cornwall to St Ives to see the Tate St Ives and Barbara Hepworth gallery and gardens. This was very interesting to see how work can be so heavily influenced by their surroundings. The Royal Academy life drawing workshop and the BIG Draw again make up just a selection of extra events that have helped inspire and enthuse both art students and the rest of the school community.

The Art department continues to strive for world domination enjoying the skills and enthusiasm of the students and pushing them to achieve their creative potential. This year we have continued to see our students accepted onto many of the top foundation courses and this really is a testament to how talented and hard working they are, as these places are becoming increasingly harder to achieve. All this hard work once again culminated in another exceptional and humbling Summer Exhibition. Well done to you all.

This year the following prizes have been awarded to: T.S. Penny Prize - Polly Thomas Old Tauntonian Western Club Prize - Georgia Blackwell Wilton Prize - Kate Brown The Dauncey Photography & Film Award - Chloe Coleman The Ian Ball Photography Cup - Phoebe Webber The Visual Arts Prize - Angela Kim

Thomas Grant

62

Alex GarIP

art photography ...., .

0 ■

..

0C ,

....„.2,,A.,..:..,,s..........„ A \frCr A fliIN1114Val V 'f,-i".$ tttrASa.WA11 1 VO2 ri .c4, V 41,Av " 'F,41-7;4■ haNaavAl stviI'!4 S.

lit

■ 111P , -1*1 tli.W.-0.,Iti+, WAT'Ar**-,74,N 10 ei', .144* - ' &r,o-1-4■

kr-As, AVAit'',

ta-rgp:T N \Tx , 041110v ,,,

..,.1,47.1;%101111 P;TiANT.4 iirvA Kate Brown

AA #.----,

;i1;;-..,N * tit* .,:_.,....t Emily Carr

Polly Vincent

63

64

Amy Wu

Caitlin Williams

Maisie

Powell Jones

Jacob Walker

Sam Popham

6i

Esther Wong

Folusho Adelagun

66

Isabel Cooper

Polly Thomas

Ashley Hansen

Phoebe Wes eer

Isabel Cooper

Dorothea Oram

Annie Woodhead

Angela Kim

61

Floods followed by ice and snow came but GCSE and A level drama students dressed for the arctic conditions and enjoyed a meal out in Bristol, followed by an evening of stimulating theatre performed by young actors in conjunction with the Bristol Old Vic. Inspired by the highly creative and innovative work at the Old Vic, thirty seven GCSE and A level drama students set about the preparation for their practical examinations. Further bad weather, a lot of hard work and a few tears ensued before 37 exhausted, but triumphant students achieved 100% A"-B marks, 85% of which were A and A* for their practical performance work.

It has been a very busy and uplifting year for the drama department. Pupils from year 10 began treading the boards in sunny September with the Shakespeare Schools' festival performance of Macbeth.

We adopted a highly experimental approach with a chorus of witches, complemented by a chilling soundtrack, to enhance the inspired performances from a cast of over 20. We took this to the Brewhouse Theatre where pupils thoroughly enjoyed and benefitted from performing on "the professional stage", receiving terrific feedback from the Shakespeare Schools' adjudicator.

We then performed this in school as part of a double bill with Mr Kirby's innovative year 9's interpretation of The Tempest. By this time, we were well and truly "Shakespeared out", so changed direction for the Christmas production where year 11 upwards performed an original piece based on the perilous and somewhat dubious journey of Hogarth's infamous Rake. This was a lively, cheeky and thought-provoking comedy much enjoyed by a large and highly appreciative audience on both nights.

Mr Kirby took a large group of enthusiastic year 9 and 10 drama pupils to see "The 39 Steps" which motivated a range of exciting practical work back in the classroom.

Daffodils were springing out of the ground, snow was falling and temperatures dropped below zero; however the drama department were "hot off the press" from their practical work took "Burn Up" by Derek Bowskill to the Somerset County Drama Festival where they won three awards and qualified to represent Somerset in the County Drama Final in April.

June brought about a highly challenging production of "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, directed by Alastair Kirby. An extract from Dr Cruttenden's stunning review included the following comments: "The staging was stark and even industrial, silver and black scaffolding prefiguring Proctor's end, while a steel halo of a lighting rig hovered threateningly over what would predominantly become a place of judgment. Miller has never been easy to stage, and the slow thumbscrew of 'The Crucible' demands subtle development of tension from its cast. The cast were as monochrome in costume as their backdrop and the society they inhabited, the men

68

in unrelieved black, the women grading from victim-white for Clem Odgers as Elizabeth Proctor, through the grey 'goodwives' to black for the young women, whose littlegirl white collars and cuffs became an increasingly ironic comment on their behaviour. Individual performances, however, were anything but colourless.

On leaving the theatre I met a friend who has no connection to the School, but had seen 'The Crucible' advertised. 'I had to come. It is a great play,' was her explanation. Which it is, and this was. Congratulations to Alastair Kirby, Luke Waller, and all involved.

The weather improved, the sun shone and so, I am very pleased to say, did the cast of Burn Up who won the title of "South West Drama champions", qualifying us to apply for selection for the British All Winners' Final in Teignmouth in July where we reached the thrilling dramatic climax by winning the competition outright and also being awarded the Nan Nuttall trophy for the "play most enjoyed by the audience."

Last, but not least, Mr Kirby and his team must take all the credit for taking "Journey to X" to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where a wonderful week was hugely enjoyed by cast, crew and many appreciative audience members.

I would like to say a huge thank you and congratulations to all the students who have worked so hard this year to achieve so much invigorating and enlivening performance work and for achieving such fantastic exam results at GCSE and A level.

lane Harris Head of Drama

09

The Director's Review...

Musicians across the school have once again excelled nd demonstrated the power of music to connect with so many on such varying levels and thus making the year 2012-13 one of our most exciting to date.

We of course knew it was going to be a good one when, on September 2nd, the score was received of the newly composed Taunton School Anthem by world famous composer Howard Goodall; from that moment everyone stood that little bit taller, knowing we were going to have to rise to the occasion and show the school and wider community that Taunton School Music Department mean business!

6th form in London - 26th Jan 2013

What followed was AVE wowing once again at the Wales Millennium Centre, a hugely successful premiere, a concert celebrating the life and creations of the inimitable George Gershwin, music to celebrate the turning on of the Christmas lights, composer Will Todd and his Trio leading our Choral Society Concert in a performance of his very own Mass in Blue to a standing ovation, Christmas Carol services, Choral Evensong in Exeter, the 6th form taking on the bells of St. Paul's in London, 6th form recitals, music to accompany CCF inspection, an outstanding Concerto Concert, Fireworks Concert, Commemoration Music, local and national competition success, countless Chapel Choir choral services, tea time concerts...and that is all without mentioning the small fact that one of us managed to shatter his pelvis about half way through the year!

Music continues to go from strength to strength and we are thrilled to be able to announce a now confirmed partnership with Yamaha which will include a fleet of 19 new pianos across the school. These will be in place before pupils return for academic year 2013-14 and will be sure to set the wheels in motion for another exceptional year of music making.

Fiona Baker

Mickey Li - EPTA Comptetition 24th March 2013 winner

2013 r Mc in Concerto Concert 9th May Chamber

70

IV

6th form in St. Paul's bell tower london 27th January 2013

Chapel Choir record CD 4th February 2013

Fireworks Concert June 2013

Concerto Concert 9th May 2013 Ce0. 9th May;2013 â– nceno GOI

013 F'Ire\Notl<s Conoen. June 2 Chapel Choir with Howard Goodall 14th October 2012

tt Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight -Plato to the imagination and life to everything.55 11

Taunton Music Festival - Hannah Deasy November 2012

Howard Goodall 14th October 2013 Taunton Music Festival November 2 012 Charlotte Penny Wil/ Todd

2 8th

November

2012

/On et

\10 Todd 2 8th November

Blue Concert Mass in 9th December 201

Tel: CH6103703

JHN - Tea time concert

Taunton Music Stage Dec 2012

Tea Time Concert

Christmas in Music School

tt To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself; totally inconceivable. j, -Aaron Copland 12

This society, which meets once a week, has had a very busy year. We are devoted to the study of the Arts, and focus on things which are not generally likely to be covered in the classroom.

This year the major event was a trip to Tuscany, in December - a thrilling trip with eighteen pupils, who were incredibly receptive and vigorous and who had a whale of a time exploring Florence, Siena, Pisa and San Gimignano, in fine weather but in a season without other tourists. They are now all experts on medieval and Renaissance Italy.

Some of the Autumn meetings were geared up towards this trip; since then we have discussed the cultural connotations of the Middle Eastern crisis, the power of romanticism in music, Dante's poetry, the architecture of South East Asia, Bible places, and a great deal more besides.

Some pupils led discussions, notably Kate Brown (on Skyscrapers), and Will Hodder on the implications of nuclear physics. We also attended three splendid symphonic concerts - the highlight was probably the recent one with Brahms' Second Piano Concerto.

•

•

creative Writing „,:seS

z

CICateri°>IYP°etS

,44,7,:ed1704//ea i7z,:fizo .eco,c;:„„. Y ellgh SCh0ISO 4 1:::eteete d e

41,„12 I

slab

"F te

et11'),e'?eeij„(6'54%'4';'

Jew/ea/it/22 t°11312 „4:,:`'`. *ifeCt he exfrt°,6::::;;;:g„°:PfitZi' ha

4%'''''r:k&%66' k

6'ef

HP/1led :0°j//112e

By George

allos

Year 13

QS

• 6ec44''

4

de,

%:N.)0?"'-%

6 Zies::'

rsde

%

4,4, :1:1;;A:

\\/1:Q/°::/;6 6:4(44i Cti''e'''' 63

4 .::Z

H14

4

i?°')1°')64'%45ej'444-

06:4°Z:13' °/°:'

ebhel i ilie :libieffeePlo° tZi effa fers e 01 4

gPSfilf

t

n6/:

,

1.

nds

°I./ft d Sr

war efled 6'I d

th%4Z(::('

4'964 / %et

wdL

ii"?•P

l'he 44,

„ t

Z34

P°::Z465P::::::

c..0'4% C'";ie4eP°'''4

%se.

j‘P`Ve4

thee4,Thyt

lenges Mangos the /7

/(:);ZN:°<'44;6/2\ /1P'?j:;(.446 s

I P

nan4

coh

ir ^

When 'vas h

t00.04%4°P '46.4

6ehn

%„°

sin

Immirmw•op.........swomom”Rw mgromowormoilotts.,,

frtki,l'Arr

peretry

Unbroken by Hanna Yang Taws world ttitr MAGA', Thr

No-rid t ttro-

For -(-6eiyit)-t like 014.

Bbt-t-- jaw- Nat /turf- armk

Mj Jowl ,cti4 kvy spber,-(frybie t-o- stop krke.

NAgtever we dff (s miler c(rntrat Akul, egolt, titokyht(s ccrkttro•aa Bit` ovilt never areork

A/1,y spi.rix-,spit, No- matterhavv ttoy I wits . ( kJ/UM/ tltu world

74

/4°'

SZ"

corn am-t- me tv deott-k Bfrtt- I gm prepared for fita Nitortever I Ar, ve,yot-jfrtst (me clutkir-e, And krwsue jbtst Meow you- wt t lose.

vvdt,yet- fry citgkwe vvdt sItow tita yvcreti, Nitg-t5 fetter For we gild BiAt- jaiA:a never 6-regk spit; tite sov•, o-f tv/y,p,rt like we.

„`

Art History has continued to thrive at Taunton. In addition to the upper 6th 'exam' class, there have been year 11 and year 10 classes too for those interested, and we have explored a huge amount of European art from classical times to the present.

In particular, we should perhaps take esoteric pride in the fact that Taunton is likely to be one of the only schools in the world in which pupils cheerfully discuss the development of East Anglian window tracery in the early 14th century, or the careers of Savoyards working in the service of King Edward I!

All the classes have been enthusiastic and productive. We made a trip, one murky Tuesday in February, to examine Gloucester Cathedral and Tewkesbury Abbey; one pupil was also delighted to discover than one of the paintings we studied in fact is on loan to Taunton Museum from the Tate Gallery.

Several interested pupils came on the Italy trip in December. Pupils also attended and indeed staffed external lectures, and several sought out and visited London exhibitions, including those devoted to Manet and Turner.

Christopher Mule

The Burke Debating and Public Speaking As ever, the Burke has had a busy and productive year. Our lunchtime debates have provided students with an opportunity to consider many topical issues in an informal setting, whilst our evening debates have further refined the public speaking skills of our students as they have considered motions such as `This house would limit the right to bear arms' and 'This house believes that London 2012 will deliver its promised legacy'.

Our Inter-House competitions encouraged speakers of all abilities to get involved, whilst we also experienced success at national level.

The Senior Inter-House Debating and Public Speaking Competition Impromptu Speaking Winner - Evie Blue JK Interpretive Reading Winner - Tegan Osborne- Brown BV Persuasive Speaking Winner - Sophie Gamble WD Debating Winners - George Hallas & Kevin Wickman VVVV Overall Winners - Wills West Best Speaker - George Hallas with Hind Turki, Charles Desbaux and Juan Luquin all highly commended by the judges.

Balloon Debate 2012 The Balloon Debate is always hotly anticipated and never fails to live up to expectations. A large audience turned out to see Father Christmas (Max Popham), Simon Cowell (Sam Dunn), Kate and Wills (Sam Blood and Courtney Blarney), Tulisa (Audrey Sebatindira), Homer (Charles Desbaux) and Doctor Who (Jeremy Wong) fight for their place in the Balloon. All performed their roles convincingly presenting some original arguments for why they deserved to be saved by the audience.

Sadly, we lost Simon and Homer in the first round as they were thrown out of the Balloon (much to the delight of Tulisa!) The second round saw the remaining candidates argue once again why they should remain in the Balloon and the speeches became more plaintive and with some even resorting to personal attacks (Father Christmas was rather rude to some of the others, though Tulisa gave as good as she got!). Soon it was time to vote again, leaving Tulisa to battle against Will and Kate for her survival. Will and Kate gave us an insight into the real them as we saw them descend into something of a domestic, while Tulisa decided to capitalise on the class divide, arguing that she was the only one who deserved to be saved.

Ultimately, Tulisa convinced the audience that she was the worthy victor, aided by her sharp and witty speech, not to mention the humorous street name for our chairman, Mr Brown, who henceforth shall be known as 'Brown-dog'.

16

.....

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

The Junior Inter-Nouse Debating and Public Speaking Competition Impromptu Speaking Winner - Yasmin Dankaro Interpretive Reading Winner - Ed White Persuasive Speaking Winner - Hera Bradly Debating Winners - Louis Gush and Harry Acton Overall Winners - Jenkin Best Speaker - Harry Acton, with Pip Jackson highly commended.

The English Speaking Union Public Speaking Competition After last year's strong performance in the ESU Public Speaking competition where we narrowly missed out on a chance to progress further, the Taunton School Public Speaking team remained unchanged and returned to compete in the ESU Public Speaking Competition for the second time. We are grateful that they did as they performed brilliantly with all students (Dea Gagoshidze, Evie Blue and Abigail McHardy) being highly commended for their efforts and being awarded the trophy for Best Team in the Taunton and District Round. Abigail was also awarded the prize for Best Chairperson and each of the girls received a much appreciated book token.

Their success meant that they progressed through to the Regional Final of the ESU where they once again demonstrated their skills in public speaking but also in teamwork. Unfortunately we were pipped to the post and did not make it through to the National Final, but once again, Abigail's performance was recognised as she was awarded the prize for Best Chairperson.

The English Speaking Union Debating Competition Two of our strongest debaters represented Taunton in the ESU Mace Competition. Abidah Ferej and Audrey Sebatindira have debated prolifically during their time at TS but their time had come to show off those skills in a more formal setting. The first round took place at Uffculme School and the girls were tasked with proposing the difficult motion 'This house would ban all public sector employees from wearing religious symbols' in light of high profile cases involving the NHS among others. The girls gave a strong performance and were justly rewarded with a place in the regional final.

Second time around they were opposing the motion 'This house would give all prisoners the right to vote'.

Their speeches were delivered brilliantly and they gave confident responses in the floor debate, earning themselves second place. Unfortunately this meant that they did not make it through to the national final, but both felt that they gained much from the experience which they plan to build on as they take up their places at Edinburgh and Cambridge University next year.

Laura aravlev 11

WWI 2â&#x20AC;˘12 Sessei June 2012 saw the start of the school's fourth season in the national Greenpower electric racing car series. This year, with our new car 'Viper' ready to race, the team was eager to build upon the success of Slipstream Mace. Taunton Greenpower was out with something to prove.

Viper's first outing was at the BBC's Top Gear test track in Surrey. The team treated this F24+ event as a test run as the car had only been finished hours before the race. The car held out well considering the atrocious weather and we were all pleased to see Vipe's reach the chequered flag in her inaugural race.

1st October saw the Western Regional heat at the famous Castle Combe racing circuit outside Chippenham; it was here that the team really needs to prove itself in order to qualify for the National finals later that month. After Viper's excellent start to the race amongst the top ten cars, the team was hopeful, especially after the last minute decision to switch to belt drive over chain by Mr. Baker! However, during lap 11 disaster struck and Viper was brought back to the pits on a recovery trailer with an electrical fault.

This resulted in Viper being out for 90mins having a partial rewire / isolator replacement.

We finished the race in 30th out of 53 competitors covering 68.5 miles. Our qualification hopes looked bleak. Thankfully the Greenpower Trust saw the potential in the car and kindly awarded us one of three 'Wildcards' to the finals. Happy Days!

18

On the 14th October at 1 pm, Charlie Beake was lined up last on the grid at the historic Goodwood motor circuit with all to play for. In the first lap alone Viper overtook 24 cars, on the second a further 13. We were now lapping the track in the same times as those running in 6th to 8th place... go , go, go Viper..... then we overtook another 5, another 10 After 3 hours with Jamie Price and Ed Clarke driving out of their skins the team was up in 20th position. This was incredible, the atmosphere was electric, literally. After overtaking another 5 or more cars in the last 30 minutes Viper could give no more. The places above us were just out of reach, the four hour mark was drawing close and our batteries were tiring. The team finished astonishingly in 15th place. That's 61 places higher than our starting position clocking 93.6 miles, our best ever finish at a National final. Roll on 2013.

â&#x20AC;˘

The Greenpower Team

History and Arts

Public Lectures

This year we had three splendid History and Arts Public Lectures: though the subject matter was varied, all were concerned with the 'twisting' of history in some capacity. Our speakers reflected the versatility of the school's approach to such occasions. First up was the Headmaster, who spoke about the Triumph and Tragedy of Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812, and in particular about artistic responses to it, by Tolstoy and Tckaikovsky.

He gave us a glimpse of the formation of Russia's cultural character. George Hallas, in the Upper 6th, explored the architectural projection of super-powers: this was an immensely wide-ranging talk, given with aplomb by someone who is exceptionally widely-read and learned for his age! He dealt with the idealism of super-powers, their historical reference points and their practical needs, and talked of Rome, Spain, Britain, America and Russia.

Finally, we were visited by Justin Huggler, a London-based journalist and novelist, who spoke of his experiences reporting from Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan, and launched a profound inquiry into what we should consider 'truth' to be.

Christopher Moule

John Rae Society Long is the list of eminent world figures who have been invited to the John Rae Society: former US President Jimmy Carter, former US President Bill Clinton, former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Bill Gates CEO of Microsoft, Lord Lamont, Oliver Letwin MR Jack Straw MP, Jeremy Clarkson and many more. Sadly they have all refused! The sweetest refusal I received came from Jilly Cooper, novelist, who said she was "totally awful, darling, at speaking in public".

Thankfully two significant men attended Taunton School to speak about their various experiences in the academic year 2012/13. In the autumn term Dr Chris Waller, still a school master at 70 years of age and, as an aside, Chairman of the Michelle Pfeiffer Appreciation Society Great Britain Branch, came to speak about 'The Beatles 50 years on'. A winsome and skilful set of pupils from Clifton College, where Chris still teaches, reproduced some of the wonderful sounds by the Fab Four. We were also treated to a colourful description of the socioeconomic times that The Beatles inhabited. Memories of great songs came flooding back.

It was a relief to know that Britain still ranks very highly in terms of the quality of its health care and the value for money that it derives from its services. Long may this be the case. However there are some very complex Gordian knots yet to be untied if the nation is to stay fit and healthy over the next generation.

All parents should feel welcome to attend the John Rae Society. It is a time to reflect and a time to hear a world expert. Speakers on the cards for the coming period are Professor lain Stewart who is a national expert on fracking and Baroness Butler-Sloss. As we write this article, Sir Christopher Hum is about to arrive to tell us all about China, its rise to pre-eminence and its relevance.

Long may John Rae keep the juices running and the mind ticking about world affairs.

In the spring term we were fortunate to welcome Professor Christopher Ham. Professor Ham is Chief Executive of the King's Fund and advises the Secretary of State for Health. We posed Professor Ham a very simple question: What are the health needs for the UK in the next thirty years? Clearly those of us who are still blushing youths, were keen to know what long term planning is in place to take care of all our tender needs and therefore his words were of great fascination.

19

G The Global Society has had a consolidatory year. Some favourites have remained, such as the international food evening. This year thirty students attended bringing such global food delights as sushi, pancakes, chocolate brioche, stir fry and pasta.

New events have also been introduced, such as the annual middle school 'Global Society Quiz'. This inaugural event was a fierce contest between eleven houses. Snacking away, students from Year 9 and 10 answered questions ranging from famous peacemakers and places to global music and global modern culture. In a close run affair Fairwater walked away with the trophy.

As well as these two events, five students also visited a local primary school called Enmore. They were having a multicultural week with the aim of enabling their students to

80

become more internationally minded and culturally aware.

Taunton School were invited to take part and so five students visited. The Taunton students spent 30 minutes with each of Enmore's five classes throughout the day.

They talked about their respective homelands, their lives and their cultures and how they compared to a life living and studying in the UK. In conjunction with the Geography Department the Global Society was also fortunate enough to be able to invite Simon Reeve (star of BBC travelogues) to a question and answer session about his manifold experiences of travelling around the world and being able to find out more about the challenges that face a diverse group of landscapes and societies.

THE CUBAN LISK To mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the nerve-wracking peak of Cold War tensions when the world held its breath, a Lisk evening focused on the terrifying 13 days of the crisis which threatened nuclear destruction. Lisk Committee member George Hallas grew a beard especially for the occasion and played Fidel in an impassioned interview, though stopped short of smoking a Cohiba cigar.

It wasn't all doom and gloom, however, as Miss Preece lightened the evening with a feature on Cuban dance.

Surprisingly, Mr Hawkins was able to resist the temptation to demonstrate his sense of rhythm! Mr Moule focused on architecture, noting the influence of the Spanish (who dominated Cuba until 1898) as well as the Americans, whose dominance of the island ended with the Castro's revolution of 1959. Mr Chatterton gave us a fascinating insight into the misappropriation of the now iconic image of Che Guevara whilst another Lisk Committee member, Audrey Sebatindira explored Santeria, the Afro-Caribbean religion which is a curious fusion of Yoruba faiths and traditions with Catholicism. Finally, Miss Brayley took a look at Cuba today, sharing some of her holiday photos while exploring the impact of the US embargo on the Caribbean island which has occupied such an important position on the world stage.

Laura Brayley

and Livi) playing Turkic bagpipes; mad Caliph Hakim (Audrey Sebatindira) who wrote and recited a cracking comic poem about his persecution of dogs; the languid court of Toulouse with Raymond lost in romantic reverie as the troubadours sang and girls walked before him, ignoring him; a crusader cannibal menu including kebaby, alcopopes, fundamentalist fruitcake, roast Turk-ey, and choice of milk-sheikhs; the army on the march, with all the sound effects; a vision and a ghost at Antioch; an army of angels (girls with fairy wings) rescuing the army at Antioch; a chat show called 'Which is best? - east or west...'; TS Palestinians and a Libyan giving lessons in spoken and written Arabic; and (not least) several splendid cakes - in heraldic or architectural form baked by the likes of Livi Woodhead and Alex Smith. Jack Muers-Raby created a model of the city of Antioch which stood in for the real thing.

This was the biggest and best attended Lisk event for some time, and it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm and effort so many of the pupils made in preparing for it.

Christopher Movie

THE PRESIDENT'S P

-mimmumplunimmujii

CRUSADERS TRIUMPHANT1 About 140 people came to this much trumpeted history society event - about sixty of whom took part in some capacity. The First Crusade was re-enacted with Mr Moule explaining the unfolding of events. Many pupils produced their own costumes, painting red crosses onto pillow-cases and sheets; others came in full medieval uniform. As the Pope (Chatts) proclaimed the Crusade, the cry of 'Deus Vult' rose to the rafters. Meanwhile, there were interviews with the crusade leaders, plainchant sung beautifully by Oliver Kelham, who - as a monk was always at the front of the army; banners, swords and lances; the Byzantine emperor (George Hallas) and his patriarch, womenfolk, and his army of two year nine boys; the peasant leader Peter the Hermit singing hymns as he led his army to their deaths; the Turkish sultan (Ricky Parsons) on a bicycle followed by his harem (Amy

The 2013 Lisk Parade, this year coinciding with May Day (which Nick Brown celebrated by dressing as a communist daffodil) was blessed with fine weather.

The elements were matched only by the resplendent appearance of the President herself, shimmering majestically in full academic dress. A bizarre posse of adherents followed Mrs Lisk's progress as she waved to the crowds from the presidential red and white 2CV on the traditional route to the pavilion.

Expertly chauffeured by Mrs McKay, Mrs Lisk was able to bask in the glow of adulation and cast her keen presidential eye over the pursuing posse. The History Department staff led by example, dressing variously in outfits reflecting their individual teaching styles: a pirate, a knight, a Bolivian peasant and Lord Flame. There were jesters, chickens and Balinese life savers. The magnificent Oom Samie, splendidly attired in best Hawaiian shirt for his parade debut, was successfully protected by attentive bodyguards valiantly fending off a heavily bearded and deeply concerning old sea salt. Many of the assembled throng did not really know who or what they were and perhaps that's the point: history is, after all, a matter of interpretation.

Mark Chatterton

, That on earth is that all about? Short for TAD Taunton Activity Day, TADs offers pupils the chance to try out a new hobby, skill or activity. Tuesday afternoons in the gloom of the winter months are brightened by the challenges of trying something different.

All groups are run by staff, sometimes making use of their obvious talents but sometimes bringing to light a second or even third string to their bow! It would not be unexpected that Dr. Franklyn wants to spend time making fireworks from crisp packets or that Miss Harris might want to introduce pupils to the delights of photography.

One might even be unsurprised that Mrs Falkingham wanted to inspire a love of Spanish cookery and Mr Jessep a love of volleyball.

However, who knew that Mrs White was a closet Cath Kidston fan and a whizz with needle and thread or that Miss McKay likes to abandon the algebra and twirl those skirts with a bit of Scottish Dancing?

Other delights on offer this year included the ever popular chess club with Mr Piper, girls' rugby and rugby sevens, Mandarin from Miss Gao and drama with Mr Kirby. Mr Moule strove, as ever, to raise the cultural levels of our adolescents with his Cultural Studies encompassing just about anything while Mr Payne persuaded people to puzzle and ponder over ever more challenging maths conundrums.

Miss Miller and Mrs Marsden wanted to philosophise through the media and Mrs Gaskell had to fight off the crowds of zumba fanatics heading her way.

Who knows if we are inspiring the next Ferran Adria or Annie Leibovitz, but even if not, many pupils have had the chance to try something new and had fun along the way.

Carol Manley

This year's Young Enterprise programme was so over-subscribed, with over 35 students registering in September, that a quick decision was made to run two companies. Two weeks later, after much discussion and debate, Mojo and Reminisce were born.

Mojo, making full use of their multi-lingual workforce, created a children's language book aimed at Key Stage 1 children, with Mojo, the parrott, as the central character.

Meanwhile, Reminisce sought to capitalise on their photography skills by offering an 'action photography' service to students and parents on match days.

Indeed, Reminisce won the round and was selected to go forward to the Regional finals at Bristol in May. Here they had the added bonus of Young Enterprise celebrating their 50th anniversary and so the presentations at the Regional finals were made at a black tie gala dinner, held at Bristol University. Although unsuccessful, they all had an amazing evening and the confidence they gained as the programme progressed was testament yet again to the value of 'learning by doing'!

Lynda Nixon

Although profits were meagre, both teams performed well at the County round of the competition.

83

Rugby The Senior Rugby Squad were bouyant having returned from the successful tour to South Africa and Namibia.

The 1st XV, under the captaincy of Jamie Fear, set about the first part of the season in earnest winning their first four games.

They met tougher opposition in the mid part of the season losing a couple of tight games to Kings and Canford, but finished up in fine style beating Queens and Blundells decisively. Ran Jameson and James Spencer led by example and with a young squad things look promising for next year. The 2nd's and 3rd's had mixed seasons winning early on but some inexperience and a few injuries played their part in the latter part of the term.

Special mention for Toby Butters, Henry Coates and Tom White in the 2nd's and Henry Payne, Josh Williamson and Jeremy Wong in the 3rd's. The SCA's were again the most successful team winning 10 out of 12 matches and could have won them all, losing them narrowly. With Matt Pearce leading the side, a number of the team improved enormously over the year. Further success was to come when the side won the West of England Sevens Plate tournament. An excellent year for Chaffs and Mason.

The SCB's won 7 out of 10 matches with Mr Abell's team "piggy-backing" on the fitness and skills of the SCA's with due reward.

The junior teams all had hard seasons but are showing promising signs for the future. We are now beginning to see one or two players coming through from TSI and

the Grange which bolsters the B teams in particular. The JCA's drew 2 matches with Colstons and Truro which had they won would have put a much healthier slant on their season. Captained by Ross Haines and supported

by Angus West they are a squad that should grow and get better next year. With players such as Mark SimpsonParker, Anton Zaytsev and Chris Harris beginning to force their way into the A team from the JCB's things are on the up.

A special mention for the JCB's most impressive win of the season away against King's 50-5. The Foals showed huge improvements under the guidance of Mr Springer. They are a small year group (physically) but they have good skills and much heart. They made great improvements as an A and B team squad but did not quite reap the rewards, and again lost a few really tight games that would have given them so much confidence.

I feel sure that as they develop better days are ahead for them with Dan Woolstencroft, All Robinson, Jake Barker and Max Fiske leading the way Rugby at Taunton is as exciting and challenging as ever with 9 senior school teams going out most weeks.

Huge thanks should go as always to the staff who coach and supervise the boys, and to the boys themselves, for playing the game in "the right spirit" which is very important for TS rugby.

Cyril Kelly

BOO Hockey The season has seen floods forming a raging torrent that ran down the side of the shale, thick snow which put all the pitches out of action for a while and a storm so strong that the players in the 1st X1 game against West Buckland had to run for cover to avoid injury from hail stones the size of golf balls!

With a brand new Olympic astroturf pitch due to be completed this summer and some great performances from our junior teams, the future of Taunton School hockey appears to be very healthy. With the highest 'win/ draw percentage' in the school, Mr Grant's Foals B X1 take the bragging rights, closely followed by the JC BX1.

Despite all that nature could throw at us, Taunton's eleven different hockey teams managed nearly a century of matches between them once again. Following the recent successes at 1st X1 level, this was always likely to be something of a transitional year at the top of the school. Of the senior teams, the 3rd X1 took pride of place winning the majority of their games. The SCA XI and 2nd XI both emerged from a tough fixture list with a 'winning balance' as did the 1st X1 ably led by captain Sam Bolland. With only Sam and the irrepressible Robbie David remaining from last year's all conquering squad, this year's much younger group were forced to learn fast and adapt quickly.

Investment in the future is vital if Taunton School is to continue to compete in the Wessex League and remain at the top of the tree in the South West. As well as a strong pool of talent, a committed team of coaches and a second synthetic pitch just around the corner, Taunton School have recently appointed a new hockey development coach. Starting in September 2013, Greg Durston will be coordinating hockey coaching throughout the whole school and at all levels.

By the end of the season they looked like a formidable outfit and some superb performances against some strong schools, in our own Biennial tournament bode well for success next year.

Dave Tarr

With a major tour to Sri Lanka planned for July 2014, next year promises to be one of the most exciting in the history of Taunton School hockey.

-4

senior Hockey This season the boys' hockey at the top of the school has seen many strong performances from all teams. The 1st team were notable for their youth and inexperience but despite a highly competitive fixture list they showed great resilience and potential throughout the season. Highlights include the convincing win over Wellington 9-1 and a truly outstanding performance from the whole team to draw with King's Taunton 4-4. All credit should go to our coaches Mr Tarr, Mr Rogers and Mr Durston for all their on and off the pitch coaching. I'm sure they will have huge success with next year's more seasoned 1st team.

Further strong performances were shown by the 2nd X1 battling hard to secure some convincing wins over many sides. Again, thanks should go to Mr Hallows for all his efforts with the team. The SCA's this year played some outstanding hockey with some very strong wins, including a 10 -1 victory over Queens. The crusade had another strong season, producing some convincing wins over King's Taunton and BGS. J

Sam Bolland 1st team Captain

86

Junior Hockey The JCA's won 4 matches, a 300% - according to Miss Mackay (Scottish mathematician) - improvement on the year before, when only one game yielded a positive result.

There were a few highlights for these boys but the 2-1 win at Queens was a brilliant example of 'grand larceny'. We had about 10% possession and 2 chances - they had 32 chances and only scored one goal. Most spectators agreed that there was probably a difference in the quality of the coaching. Throughout the season, James Lamb (captain) was often the most skilful player on the pitch as well as one of the slowest. The JCB's had a decent season (albeit weather affected) with the 7-1 win at West Buckland an indication of the progress that had been made.

The U14A's had something of a mixed season. Sam Whitefield, the captain, was influential in many matches

but the key player was often the goalkeeper 011ie Taylor who might hope to be in contention for a 1st team place next year.

The best season stats of the junior hockey section were achieved by the Foals B who recorded a 75 point win/ draw percentage - including 2 matches (Sherborne, Millfield) where they scored 6 goals. For the U15C and U14C, the season stats tend to make pretty unpleasant reading. Still, I think they had some fun and enjoyed the experience of playing matches against other schools.

My thanks to Mr House, Mr Jessep, Mr Wood and Mr Pugh for their contributions to a surprisingly decent season but I would also like to record my disappointment at having lost Mrs. Turner from my coaching team as I now have to pick up and collect all my own hockey balls.

Rob Abell

Ilifte40111 R 째RIMS SCA

JCA

JCB JCC 14A 14B

W10-1

W6-1

L5-1

PP

L1 -0

W7-1

W10-1

W2-1

PP

W4-0

PP

pp

PP

PP

BRYANSTON

W4-1

W4-0

L1-0

L4-1

W4-1

D1-1 W2-1 L10-1 W3-0

KING'S

D4-4

W2-1

W10-1 L3-0

L2-1

L6-0

D1-1

W4-3

W5-2 W3-0

MILLFIELD

L6-2

L4-0

W2-1

L6-2

L2-1

L4-1

W6-0

SHERBORNE

L5-0

L3-1

D3-3

W3-2

L2-0

L1-0 D2-2

L3-2

L6-2

DO-0

L6-1

W3-1

W4-2

W3-0 L5-0

W5-2

W7-1

W5-0

OPPOSITION

1ST XI

2ND XI

3RD XI

BRISTOL GRAMMAR

L2-0

W4-0

QUEEN'S

L3-2

BLUNDELLS

TSI CANFORD

L5-2

L1-0

WELLINGTON

W9-1

W7-1

WEST BUCKLAND

W5-3

01-1

KRUGERSDORP, LSA

14th XI

L4-0

D3-3

W1-0

L4-2

D4-4

L3-2

W3-1

pp

L5-2

PP

L5-1

W5-0

PP

PP

14C

D0-0 L1-0

W6-3 W3-1 L8-0 L9-0 W5-3 W1-0 (v 13A) (v 14B)

W6-5

Hockey Awards 'Mkt COACHES' AWARD

TEAM

PLAYER OF THE SEASON

1st XI

Robbie David

Sam Bolland/James Spencer

2nd XI

Tom White

Ran Jameson

Crusade A XI

Rhys Walker

Kenta Oshima Alec Young

Crusade B XI SCA

Adam Miller

Charlie Smith

U15A

Henry Glidden

Joe Notaro-Livingstone

U15B

Nick Crossing

Archie Burton Sam Harrison

U15C 14A

Sam Whitefield

Jake Barker

14B

Jack Irish

Lucas Szentendrei-Tapson

14C

Charlie Smith

Javier Gonzalez

81

Girls' Hockey Junior Cup (U14A, U14B, U15A, U15B)

This season was more of a developmental year for the girls' hockey teams at Taunton School. It also saw the start of the Wessex Girls Hockey League comprising of Millfield, Clifton College, Dean Close Cheltenham Ladies and ourselves. These fixtures ran alongside all our other matches and county competitions. It was very pleasing to find that we came second in the junior competition and third overall.

The results are given below.

1 Millfield

35pts

2 Taunton School

31pts

3 Clifton College

27pts

4 Dean Close

12pts

5 Cheltenham Ladies College

7pts

Senior Cup (1st, 2nd, 3rd/U16, 4th)

The 1st XI was coached this year by Greg Durston and he brought his own blend of dynamism to the players.

We were particularly unlucky to have major injuries to our two strongest Upper sixth girls (Jodie Dibble and Leah Peatroy), but Angie Kim took the helm and led by example. Angie writes: "We started our season with great enthusiasm. However it took us a while to get used to playing together, resulting in some unfortunate defeats and being knocked out in the County round of the outdoor hockey tournament. However, as the season progressed, our team cohesion improved leading to hard fought draws against local rivals and resulting in some great match play."

Our strength this year was to be found lower down the School in the U14 and U15 age groups. Of particular note were the U15Bs, coached by Miss Langley, who managed to win all of their games except one! The only game they lost was to Cheltenham College - well done, girls!! The strength of our junior sides certainly bodes well for the future.

Unfortunately, we were not as successful as usual with our indoor season and we failed to qualify for either U16 or U18 indoor hockey national competitions. However, both teams that played in the county and west rounds were playing a year young and will be able to play again next year.

Everyone is looking forward to the new blue and red astro currently being built and this can only raise the standard of hockey higher within the School.

1 Clifton College

40

2 Millfield

25

3 Dean Close

20

4 Taunton School

15

5 Cheltenham Ladies College

10

Overall Cup (All teams) 1 Clifton College

67

2 Millfield School

60

3 Taunton School

46

4 Dean Close

32

5 Cheltenham Ladies College

17

Ware Harvie

GIRLS HOCKEY RESULTS 2012

88

TEAM

PLAYED

WON

1st XI

11

0

3

8

2nd XI

10

4

2

4

3rd XI

8

3

0

5

4th XI

5

2

1

2

U15A

11

7

0

4

U15B

10

8

1

1

U14A

11

6

3

2

U14B

11

7

2

2

89

The unbeaten 1st VII season of 2011 was on the mind of the senior squad right from the start of the season. Taunton School had gained itself a reputation of playing fast, tough and intense netball. With four of last year's squad remaining at school, the girls were confident of another strong session. Not only that, the U14A team from 2011 had only lost two games and the year 8 team coming up from the prep school had only lost one game to Mil!field by one goal. This was going to be an exciting season!

The season started with a convincing and comprehensive win against Bristol Grammar at the start of the season. Bang! The girls were ready.

A few unlucky breaks saw our toughest games against Wells Cathedral, incur missing players due to the National Indoor Hockey Finals and small defeats by King's College and Wellington, through injury to GD Leah Peatroy. The squad can be proud of a successful season, with Jess Clarke (yr 10) stepping up to support the 1st VII squad.

They have continued to develop a style of play of high quality, with a determination to win. Thanks and congratulations should go to Charlotte Pickard, who completed her fourth season in the 1st VII as captain.

The other senior squads also enjoyed a strong season, with the 2nd VII only losing one close game to Blundell's and the 3rd VII, who after a slow start also got onto a winning run of games.

The 4th VII had a mixed season, but pleasingly had 17 players represent then at different points in the season. With training seeing on average 60 players aiming for selection, netball is in a strong place at senior level.

The U14 team started their Taunton Senior School career with an explosive performance and success in the County Championships, beating everyone in a league formation, even reminding me that we had beaten Mil!field 10-7, when I was not pleased with their performance! These girls were exciting and keen to win! The squad trained hard through the winter to prepare themselves for the Regional Championships at Bournemouth in January.

The netball squad, coached by Samantha Newton, played well at the tournament, beating schools from across the South West and most noticeably a tough game against Canford. Unfortunately a narrow defeat to St. Mary's Shaftsbury meant that we were placed third in the section and just missed qualification to the semi-final stage.

The juniors started the season with emphatic style, with all the sides winning against Bristol Grammar School, Wells Cathedral, Queen's College and Blundells in the first half of the season, playing a quality of netball beyond their years and convincingly sweeping the opposition from their path. Netball is definitely moving forward in this school with this talent coming through. We have seven players within the satellite academy and have eight more coming up from the prep school next year.

Netball is continuing to go from strength to strength in the Senior School. With the addition of Galmington Head Coach and Talent Performance Coach Miss Lisa Manley to the school coaching staff, the school is looking forward to continued success across all levels.

Haviey Mortimer

a

-

Badminton The Badminton Club has gone from strength to strength this year, with some excellent results and games as well as the continuing evening sessions on Tuesdays.

We have been lucky to have some talented students playing Badminton this year, in particular our first team - Jason Tang, Ilya Rachkov, Mickey Li and Ryota Arai (pictured, left to right). In their league, they came joint first, and we are waiting to see if they have earnt promotion to the top division, where the standard is very high indeed.

Our second team has involved a number of players, and overall they did well and came second in the league. It was not enough to earn promotion but they were close!

Our sessions on Tuesday always provided high quality badminton, eager and enthusiastic novices and a few comedy moments. The standard of dives have sadly not improved.

A second consecutive unbeaten season to follow a season in which only one match was lost highlights what a tremendously successful period this has been for Taunton School basketball.

An Autumn term of hard work in practice meant that they hit the ground running - despite frustration from early cancellations of matches due to the snow - and played high quality basketball throughout the Spring term matches.

This season, victories were gained against Richard Huish, Wellington (home and away), West Buckland (home and away), King's, Queen's, Millfield and Sherborne.

Well done again to all involved - I hope that next year will spark the interest of even more talented badminton players, as well as those who want to give the sport a try!

Richard Gower

With key players Dusan Savicevic (captain) and Max Hufslag leaving for university, a big hole will be left, but the younger players have also made their mark this season and there is every reason to be optimistic about another successful season next year.

Having waited 30 years (at least) for an unbeaten season and then to get two in a row, it is hoped that we won't have to wait another 30 years to match the feat. Enthusiasm for the game in school continues to grow and the hope is that it will expand in the coming years, possibly to include a first overseas tour in the near future,

Nile Mil

Our golf team enjoyed another successful year and, thanks to the generosity of many Old Tauntonians and the expertise of our groundsmen, we now have an excellent practice facility where all members of the school community can look to improve their skills. I also hope that the putting green will encourage some of our pupils who may never have had the opportunity to think about taking up playing golf.

Our three top players, captain Philip Stickler, Max Rode and Nick Evry lost a close, tense fixture with Blundell's at a windy Burnham in the ISGA completion, with the deciding match being decided at the 18th hole. However, this meant that we played in the plate competition off handicaps and other golfers had an opportunity. Nick, George Hallas and Atlanta Allen-Skinner all played well to defeat King's Taunton at Pickeridge and with Sherborne and Truro being stumped by the exam season, we were eventually given a bye to the National Plate final at the Shire Club in North London. We did not win - some of the stableford scores were extremely ( unbelievably!) highbut Phil, Max and Nick all enjoyed the experience of playing on a course designed by Seve Ballesteros and Phil recorded the best gross score on the day. The pictures with this article were all taken on this day at the end of the summer term.

We also had a great run in the HMC Foursomes and almost made it to the National Finals for the first time in the school's history. We started with an impressive win against Canford at Long Sutton. Alex Maggs and Alex Speak fought well before losing their match to two players with much lower handicaps, Phil and Atlanta teamed up to win their game comfortably whilst Nick and Max came from behind (helped by Max's keen observational skills!) to win the deciding match on the 18th. Phil, Max, George and Atlanta coped with dreadful conditions to beat Truro at Launceston - with both matches going to the 18th again - which resulted in us playing Monmouth at Bristol and Clifton in the West final. On a beautiful day, the match followed a similar pattern to our fixture with Canford. Phil, partnering young James Gamble, performed superbly again to win the second match whilst James Spackman and

Alex Maggs competed impressively before losing on the 16th. Meanwhile Nick and Max had fought back again to tie their match on the 18th having been '3 down' after nine holes. Unfortunately for us, one of the Monmouth pair chipped in from 40 yards to win the

match at the first extra hole. A lot of close finishes - you win some, you lose some!

Phil set a fine example and won all his matches despite playing with three different partners but unfortunately, he, and the school, were let down by some younger, less talented golfers who dropped out at short notice at different times during the year.

We managed to retain the trophy in our annual fixture with the Old Tauntonians at Pickeridge and I was delighted that James Gamble was our highest stableford points scorer as he has been one of our most regular visitors to the new practice facility.

Our three best golfers will all be leaving school next summer, so I hope that some of our younger players will make the most of the opportunities to practice and play with them during the course of next year.

Simon Hogg

Cricket The 2013 season saw a changing of the guard with Simon Hogg and Hugh Todd passing on the senior cricket baton after 13 successful years.

As a number Upper Sixth players left from 2012, including the recently Somerset signed Tom Abell, it created exciting opportunities for the new players from year 11 and 12 coming in.

Playing 1st XI cricket is the pinnacle of school cricket and is a hard and competitive environment. Games are tough and never easy for the players, especially if they are now facing boys, in some cases, 3 years older. It became tougher still, when the appointed captain, Jodie Dibble, suffered another devastating season-ending injury early on. Thankfully George Hallas took over the important role and did so with distinction.

However, over 150 years of cricket at Taunton School, with its majestic setting in front of the clock tower and main building, has seen many great feats and achievements and this year will also reflect some remarkable stories.

Not least because of the promise of what is to come.

Credit must go to George Hallas, who stood up and took the captaincy at short notice and for senior members of the team like Max Kelly, Will Abell and Henry Gater who played important roles throughout the season.

Based in Somerset, we have the privilege to test ourselves against strong schools from Devon, Dorset, Avon and of course Somerset. This gives us the best chance of improving, learning and becoming better players. The results reflected this, and an ability to compete individually and as a team: • Saw us win 3 of 4 matches that were within a wicket or within 5 runs.

• Debut 1st XI hundreds for Max Kelly, Matt Pearce and George Hallas.

• A debut 1st XI 5 wicket haul for Charlie Smith.

• Remain undefeated at home on Saturday fixtures.

It was a challenge that the players constantly strove to achieve and the results reflected the ability for all to compete at this level. The next step is consistency.

The success at the 1st XI can only come through depth and coaching throughout the other senior teams and this year it was great to see some excellent cricket played by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th XI teams. Especially pleasing was that a number of players performed well in the games to warrant promotion, and some worthy highlights include: Nick Evry's 112, Jack Malden's distinct honour of 5 wickets in an over and the 3rd XI completing an amazing comeback, to win a highly contested game, chasing down over 250 in 20 overs.

"listen, learn and adapt" 94

Girls' Cricket The 2013 saw the continued development of the cricket programme with the introduction of the girls' cricket teams again, this time getting 5 matches in. Girls' cricket was first played in 1976 at Taunton School and it is great to see the game played again. Emily Vickery took on the responsibility of captaincy and girls from all 5 school years participated in some very closely contested games.

Colts Cricket The A team made good progress with their cricket, improving their skills and working on playing a more developed style of cricket. Though results were not necessarily forthcoming on a strong circuit, individual players made pleasing improvement leading to some stronger performances towards the end of the season, pushing Sherborne close on the last Saturday.

Nick Crossing, Louis Gush and Mark Simpson-Parker were the three leading players. The B team had a more successful season, beating some teams easily through some powerful hitting, most notably against Chilton Cantelo with Liam Watson smashing an undefeated century to win the match.

Foals Cricket The Foals cricketers trained well and worked hard throughout the summer term to improve their skills and match play. The Foals A team has produced many team highlights as well as individual performances throughout the year: Jake Harnett 97* v King's Bruton; Sam Whitefield 82 v Blundell's; Ali Robinson 58 v Clifton; Max Fiske 4-20 v Blundell's. There were many other invaluable contributions on top of those mentioned above that won some tight games and allowed us to win other games by a big margin. It has been great to coach this group of cricketers and I look forward to seeing them flourish as they move up the school.

The Foals B team had an enjoyable and largely successful season. Jack Irish captained the team with great skill and was the team's most consistent performer. Cameron Willetts and Coby Pipe batted effectively throughout and Patrick Daniel showed great promise with the new ball. It was particularly pleasing to get some Foals C team fixtures into the calendar and the boys that played produced some really good cricket in those matches.

1

Former England cricketer John Jameson MBE visited his old stomping ground at Taunton School to launch a new initiative recognising sporting achievement.

Mr Jameson, a prolific batsman who played in four Test Matches and three One-Day Internationals in the 1970s, was a student at Taunton School from 1955-59 and then returned as cricket coach from 1977-84. He came back to present the first "baggy blue caps" to members of the 1st XI cricket team before their opening game of the new season. The caps, which are being awarded to all 1st XI members, are the idea of Taunton School's new master-in-charge of cricket, David Jessep, who hails from Australia where the country's cricketers are renowned for their "baggy green caps."

Welcoming Mr Jameson, Old Tauntonians, parents and players to the ceremony, headmaster Dr John Newton said Taunton School was very proud of its cricketing tradition.

Mr Jameson said he was proud to be asked to present the first caps and encouraged the players to "listen, learn and adapt."

Taunton then "capped" an excellent day by amassing 286 against Bristol Grammar - Max Kelly just missing out on a century with 95 - before bowling out the visitors for 101.

David lessen

95

The 2013 season saw a total of 70 girls represent the School on the tennis court at U14, U15 and Senior level.

The squads played a total of 48 matches, whilst a further seven were lost to the weather. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, U15A and U14B teams all recorded winning seasons, as did the School as a whole.

Amrita, Dafi, Rosemary, Hera and Nirva also represented the School in the AEGON Team Tennis Year 10 competition, a format which involves teams of four playing both singles and doubles rubbers. They recorded victories against Heathfield and Queen's before losing out narrowly to Millfield in the County final.

Of particular note was the superb tennis played by the 1st VI, who remained unbeaten for a third consecutive year.

The squad of Nora Puhala, Neda Vysniauskaite, Campbell Bradly, Amrita Patel, Dafi Valcheva, Rosemary Moss, Hera Bradly and Nirva Patel not only completed a clean sweep, but only allowed their opponents to secure two sets or fewer in each match, with an overall average of less than 3 games conceded per set. Neda and Campbell formed a dominant partnership at first pair, beating all comers and recording an average score of 6-1. With five members in year 10 or below in 2013 and only Neda and Nora completing their time at school last June, the squad are already looking forward to 2014.

Nearly 100 girls took part in the House Tennis competitions on two very contrasting days â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the supporters nursed hot drinks whilst the Seniors braved cold, wet and blustery conditions, but ice creams were the order of the day for those watching the Juniors. Both competitions were keenly contested, with Woodyer coming out ahead of Besley to win their first House sporting trophy in the Seniors, whilst Jenkin edged out Bevan for the Junior title.

Other notable performances were the 3rd VI, whose only loss came in their very first fixture when they took on a strong West Buckland 2nd VI, and the U15A team, who secured some excellent results, despite losing their four strongest players to the senior ranks.

It has been a pleasure to see so many girls keen to improve their tennis this year, ably assisted by a coaching team of Richard Stock, Clare Harvie, Tom Grant, Gill Foster and Richard Judd. They have represented the School admirably in fixtures and the support of a goodly crowd of parents court-side has been much appreciated.

Alison Franklin

aesults Summar.. *Remaining fixtures cancelled due to weather.

OPPOSITION BLUNDELL'S HEATHFIELD KING'S COLLEGE SCHOOL

MILLFIELD QUEEN'S COLLEGE

WELLINGTON WEST SHERBORNE WELLS CATHEDRAL BUCKLAND

TEAMS

1st, 2nd, 3rd U15A & U14A 1st, 2nd, 3rd 1st, 2nd, U15A,B&C, U15A&B, U15A&B, U1 4A&B U1 4A&B U1 4A&B

1st, 2nd, 3rd *

U15A,B&C, U14A&B*

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th U15A&B, U14A&B U14A&B

RESULT

W 4-3

W 3-0

L 1-4

W 5-3

W 2-0

W 5-3

D 3-3

W 3-2

2nd, 3rd (v. 1st & 2nd) U15A, U14A

L 0-4

captain's Report This season for the first Girls' Tennis team was once again incredibly successful. With Taunton School's best players together we won all of our fixtures and stayed unbeaten for the third time in a row. But behind this great achievement there was a lot of training involved as well! Three times a week our tennis girls came together to practice fitness, techniques and match theory - all this taught by Mr Grant, Dr Franklin and Mr Stock, who came once a week to give us real professional advice.

The thing I liked most in the past two years about being a member in the first team is how welcoming and friendly the team was and how it accepted new members. We were all from very different year groups, reaching from U6th to even the Prep school, but we always succeeded in creating a great team spirit, with a lot of cheering and encouraging during our matches. It has been a real honour to be captain of tennis this year and I really enjoyed the time spent together as a team. I would like to congratulate all the players on this fantastic season and wish the tennis teams a lot of luck for 2014.

I am more than sure that once again there is a very successful season in sight!

Nora Pubala 96

School Tennis Tours.

Despite the weather's best efforts to the contrary, the boys' tennis contingent enjoyed an unprecedented season of victory and participation, recording an intimidating 83% win rate and fielding the first ever 3rd team match. We even brought the unpredictable meteorology with us to Portugal on the inaugural TS tennis tour, but this did little to dampen our spirits as we rubbed shoulders with ATP ranked players on court and each other in the jacuzzis at the 5* Dunas Douradas beach resort.

(*

Said pre-season technique revival and partnership fomentation gave us the edge against every opponent except Sherbourne, a fiercely contested rivalry which deprived the 1st team of an unbeaten season by just one point. Mercilessly, the 2nd team achieved three clean sweeps, simultaneously keeping the 1st team on their toes whilst providing a proving ground for ambitious colts to cut their teeth.

Performances of note include the undefeated partnership of Nowak (Djokovic) and Jeremy (Soper), Ole's formidable power play penetrating the stoutest of enemy defences, including those of world no. 742! Neda Vysniauskaite starred as our only long-haired comrade, while Ed Shattock made a youthful 1st team debut, bringing elements of consistency into an otherwise testosteronefuelled sport. We also maintained the most ethnically diverse teams in school, boasting talent from France, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania and Cheddar, to name but a few.

Such an illustrious season concluded with the customary staff invitational BBC), this year the scene of uncustomary triumph by the student side. Needless to say, it has been a pleasure and privilege to captain this band of brothers, whose statistical success is testament to their unwavering camaraderie and veritable sportsmanship.

Jeremy Soper Tennis Captain

Tennis Mr to Portugal 22 students from across the school ranging from year 7 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 13 enjoyed the first of what will hopefully be many Tennis tours abroad.

We travelled to the 5* resort of Vale do Lobo where the students received first class instruction by an excellent team of coaches and also got the opportunity to play some matches against other schools while we were out there. The students worked very hard in what was quite an intense program of coaching and matches, all making improvements to their game which gave them an excellent platform on which to start the season.

We won all of our matches playing some excellent tennis, including two exhibition matches where Jeremy Soper and Ole Nowak got to pair up with some professional players. All the students were a credit to the School and thoroughly deserved the 6* accommodation that they received. The hot tubs in the apartments I thought was a nice touch. Tennis at Taunton School is going from strength to strength and this was proven by another excellent season.

Thomas Grant

Most successful season ever... and a National championi Another busy and successful athletics season is complete, with sunshine throughout and some excellent team and individual results.

Some excellent team results occurred in the following competitions, which show both the girls' and boys' teams are thriving.

• The Lutra Shield - Senior Boys Team - 2nd Place • ESSA Regional A Final - Intermediate Girls Team Individually we have some noticeable results: • 53 athletes - District Athletics Championships • 32 athletes - County Athletics Championships • 4 athletes - South West Championships

• 2 athletes - National Championships • Laurie Dawkins - National, South West and County Champion - U15 Javelin • Hattie Rogers - National Championships and County Champion U19 1500m Steeplechase • Cheryl Notaro- Livingstone - South West Championships - County U19 Javelin Champion • Charlotte Rogers - South West Championships - U17 800m Laurie Dawkin's success this year has seen her crowned National Junior Schools Champion with a throw of 38.37m, beating her nearest rival by 4m.

111101ly Mortimer

Sports Nay There were many good races and competitions, with very close results. The Senior boys Triple Jump top three were separated by 3 cm and the result of the competition was Laurie Dawkins who smashed Izzy Jeffs record of 34.12m in the junior javelin to record a distance of 36.76m.

Congratulations must go to all the winners of the individual trophies and the house winners of each year group.

1111USE Senior Boys

Daniel Zastavnyuk

Wills East

016 Girls

Leah Peatroy

Jenkin

Inter Boys

Charlie Beake

Goodland

U16 Girls

Laurie Dawkins

Jenkin

Junior Boys 4ial

Tom James

Goodland

99

Swimming

With some strong new swimmers joining the team, we were all eager to get started. Our first test was the Sherborne 6 school gala, which is always a tough competition. Taunton were up against teams from Sherborne, Kingswood, Leweston/Milton Abbey, Canford and Clayesmore and managed to impressively win the under 16's boys and girls competitions and came second in both senior categories by only one point! Next up was the Blundell's fixture where the boys won convincingly with 96 points to Blundell's 76, while the girls won in even more impressive fashion with 11557.

The King's Taunton meet was eagerly awaited as it was our first chance to examine one of our Meade king cup rivals. A series of strong performances, contributed to a great win for Taunton (166-94).

As expected with a very talented swimming squad, Queen's proved to be our toughest gala to date. However, the boys managed to earn a commendable draw while the girls narrowly lost. Overall, there were some very strong swims from the whole team particularly in the relays.

Next up were King's Bruton and being a new fixture in the calendar we had no idea of the strength of their team; however with all of our swimmers competing at their best we came away with a very notable win .

Finally we arrived at the season's key fixture, the Meade king cup. With teams from Kings, Queens, Wellington and Taunton all competing in the prestigious event, coupled with an unusual, yet historic programme of events, anything was possible. Everyone swam to their potential, with particularly impressive swims coming from Chris Wilson and Lydia Lavallin who both broke the meet records in the senior boys 50m backstroke and under 14 girls 50 m breaststroke respectively. Overall, with 6 trophies up for grabs Taunton came away with the 'Walsh cup' for senior boys and girls combined medley relays and the 'four schools cup' for the open boy's freestyle relay.

The swimming team has without a doubt performed extremely well throughout the whole term and should be very proud of what they have achieved. On behalf of the whole team I would like to thank Graham Davidson, our coach, and Miss Harris for all of their help and guidance throughout the year.

Hu Harris

Riding NSEA Show Jumping qualifier On Saturday 9th March 2013, Taunton School hosted its first ever NSEA (National Schools Equestrian Association) show jumping qualifier at Pontispool Equine Sports Centre. Entries from South West schools were overwhelming, resulting in some heavy balloting to make numbers manageable. Whilst disappointing for some of our riders, this was testament to the strength of school riding teams across the South West and just how popular the sport remains.

Three classes were run throughout the day; a 70cm 'mini' round, an 80cm 'novice' round and the 90cm County Challenge round. All of the competitors rode well, especially given the course was full of difficult turns and most certainly up to height! The Taunton riders were fantastic; every one gave each round their all, despite the terrible weather.

The riders representing Taunton were Daisy Moore, Asha Smith, Izzy Mackin, Jess Pocock, Anna Shestopalova, Rose Vere-Nicoll, Impy Martin-Pope and Alex Willes. In

All pictures by Jay Photos

Class 2, Impy Martin-Pope came sixth as an individual and the team of George Pennington, Jasmine Walker, Asha Smith and Izzy Mackin was placed 4th. In Class 3 Asha Smith was placed 5th as an individual and the team of George Pennington (TPS), Asha Smith, Daisy Moore and Izzy Mackin was placed 2nd.

We could not have held this event without our stoic band of stewards and helpers, not forgetting our energetic arena party from TPS! Many thanks to you all for your hard work throughout the day.

There are many more equestrian events throughout the year and we are so pleased to have such enthusiastic riders. The ever-growing team continues to go from strength to strength and we are really making ourselves known on the circuit. We look forward to developing the team and bringing home many more rosettes and trophies over the coming year.

Mate Walters

Football is said to be the 'universal language.' The first full season here at Taunton School was filled with 'jaw dropping' and 'nail biting' moments. The senior team played a total of 14 games (an increase of 9 from last season) and won 10, drew 2 whilst only losing 2. A total of 51 goals were scored whilst 28 were conceded.

Our toughest fixture was against Milifield when we were 2-0 down at half time. With words of deep motivation from Mr Roberts we finished the game 6-3 winners. Other fixtures included a 5-1 win against Exeter School in the ISCA Cup. In the words of the coach it was the best performance that I've seen you lads play."

In that same competition we won all of our games beating Exeter, Wellington, Blundell's and King's. We emerged as champions at the first time of asking and will now defend our title next season. Top individual performances came from the likes of Tamilore Dada, Nicklas Dehn, Juan Luquin, Mosope Afolabi and Vlad Buryak; the self proclaimed `continental mix.'

Special thanks to Mr Roberts for making it such a successful season with his encouragement and motivation.

Often he said that scores didn't matter but playing with passion and commitment did. As the 2013/14 season draws nearer, and as the players continue to get used to working with Mr Roberts, I have no doubt that it will be another fantastic season.

All Joseph Daiwa

Lacrosse

we hope Lacrosse will go from strength to strength at Taunton School

(a lacrosse school). The teams were mixed together

to help us learn how the ball should flow down the pitch and how to space players out. We then played Bryanston, also a new school to lacrosse, and with a very evenly matched game, a fast pace and fiercely fight ended with a win for Taunton School (2-0) with Kate Hebditch and Emily Payne scoring. This placed us a well deserved second in the tournament.

The man of the match was awarded to Ellie Newton for her sterling efforts as Centre, determined tackling and easily covering the pitch in both attack and defence. The whole team is looking forward to further developing their skills next season.

Having trialled Lacrosse as a TAD last year the enthusiasm the girls showed for it meant it was introduced over the autumn and spring terms. Having spent a few weeks mastering the basics we began looking at the rules and set plays for game situations, as our first match against King's College in November drew closer. It was a very close game, as both teams are just learning the sport, but Taunton School were the victors with Sophie Waller and Molly Stallard scoring (final score 2-1).

In March we entered a tournament as the team had come on leaps and bounds. Having worked on the roles that each player has we beat King's 2-0 in the first game, looking clearly like the stronger team. Our next match was a training game against Sherborne

102

Caro Wedgwood

Dance has been continuing in strength throughout the year and we have continued to run the termly Senior Dance Show Evening. With performances from the Junior Group of year 10 and 11 and the Senior Performance Group as well as many individual performances from: • Heidi Parsons - Lyrical Contemporary - People Help the People • Tesni Collins - Tap Dance - Own Choreography • Year 10 and 11 Dance group - Modern - New York • Issy Evans - Lyrical Modern - Go Your Own Way • Hope Turner - Contemporary - Soul Mate • Natalie Brown - Modern - Mad World • Caroline Peacock and Sira Alam - Own Choreography • Inter Dance group - Jazz - Soul to Soul • Emily Gamble and Martha Beale - Modern Dance Duet • Pia Pyrtek - Lyrical Modern • Rosie Lewes - Grade 6 Classical Study • Lizzie Chance - Intermediate Foundation Dance • Sophie Hupfer - Ja77 Lyrical We continue to offer private dance tuition in preparation for examinations or festival work and offer dance as a senior games option.

With Mrs Natasha Ballardie running Dance across all parts of the school, we are looking forward to the dance aspect and her contributions to the musical 'Cats' at the end of the year.

Noyley Monlmer

103

CCF Army Over the past 12 months the Army Section of Taunton Schools Combined Cadet Force has been up to a great deal, last summer the Year 1 Os were taught basic infantry skills by the newly appointed NCOs of the Lower 6th on Exmoor, with the sun shining it was a much more pleasant field day than the new Year 1 Os experienced later that year.

The autumn made itself to be a ring of fire for the new Year 10 recruits, with an overnight expedition to Dartmoor, none of them knew exactly what to expect and after reassuring some of the new Russian students that they weren't going to Afghanistan, we set off for a wet and rainy couple of days. All came back wet and tired but everyone enjoyed the different experience, which most had not had the opportunity to do an activity of this sort in the past.

At the same time the Advanced Infantry headed up to Yoxter Range, where they developed their basic infantry and field skills being taught by the NCOs. At the start of the spring term we said goodbye to half of the Year 10 recruits who joined the Navy, RAF and Trek Force sections. The remainder began Preparation for field day on Yoxter Ranges where the Lower 6th taught lessons on infantry skills as part of their Method of Instruction course.

104

On the same field day, the Advance Infantry headed to Commando Training Centre Royal Marines at Lympstone where they completed part of the Endurance course, many came back saying it was mentally the hardest thing they'd ever done. But surprisingly all enjoyed the sense of achievement.

Currently the Year 10 recruits are completing their weapons training with one NCO commenting, "Teaching these guys is like trying to light a match on jelly." Apparently it is possible to light a match on jelly as the first few passing last week with the remainder polishing up the last few drills.

Over the course of the remainder of the year, the Year lOs will be completing their training and become a part of the Advanced Infantry. We will sadly be saying goodbye to most of the current Advanced Infantry, but some will undoubtedly continue on a voluntary basis to become future NCOs. The Lower Sixth, who have all finished there MOI course, will be shortly taking over from us to become the new leaders of the Army section and Taunton Schools Combined Cadet Force, in a busy schedule with a lot of activities going on we wish them well for the future and the best of luck!

CSM !I Jameson

CO Royal Navy This year, the Royal Navy section has seen a significant increase numbers, bringing our section to a total strength of 72.

In the first half of the Autumn term and during the Summer term, the cadets learned to sail. This took place on Wimbleball Lake where the cadets were instructed in the basic skills of sailing in Laser Picos. The other principal element of the CCF (RN) syllabus comprises lessons on various aspects of the RN delivered by our senior cadets, thus enhancing their own leadership skills. Our cadets also have the opportunity to work as a team in PLT challenges and weekly drill practice contributes to personal discipline which we believe is fundamental.

Our annual trip to HMS Raleigh presented the challenge of producing the strongest assault course team, best rowing team, smartest uniforms and the best dance moves at the Saturday night disco. We did not manage to repeat last year's winning of the shield, but managed a very close second place.

Other exciting activities undertaken by many of our cadets are the extensive courses run by CCF (RN): leadership, powerboat, band and first aid courses to name but a few.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our section leaders: Lt P A McKay; ASLt N Preece and Mr A Kirby for their support and encouragement this year.

We have enjoyed varied field days: orienteering exercises, a demonstration of survival skills and surfing and camping at Mawgan Forth (quite definitely the most popular!).

105

RAF Another year in the RAF section, and what a year it has been! Despite the grounding of the entire fleet of Tutor training aircraft not once but TWICE, a group of cadets went gliding on what was thankfully the driest day in December.

In January, we welcomed 18 year 10 cadets, who have already shown they are an enthusiastic and motivated team. Two year 11 cadets, Egor Mayorov and Hind Turki achieved 1st Class Marksmanship badges. The end of the Easter term meant farewell to many year 11 cadets, and our Upper 6th NCOs, whose dedication over the past four years will be sorely missed. We wish them the best for the future, hoping they take away fond memories of the RAF. Field Days in Autumn and Spring were very successful; cadets worked well, acquiring new First Aid, Navigation and teamwork skills which should serve them exceptionally well in the future. Similarly, Inspection Day went without a hitch — despite t — and whilst we did not win the inter-secti competitio e cadets flawlessly demonstrated the kills they • acquired during CCF time.

Looking ahead, three cadets are hoping to attend a week-long Gliding course during the Summer, culminating in a solo flight, which should be an incredible experience.

It is also my great pleasure (and relief!) to welcome Mr David MacLean and Miss Rebecca Miller to the RAF section this year; with their experience and leadership, assisted ably by the Sixth Form NCOs, the RAF section has never been stronger.

James Wood

.■ .

tiPer Ardua ad Astra:- ,i , ,, Through adversity, I 0 ir to the starsi0 ik go,.

106

CO Trek Force Trek Force aims to teach us how to survive in the great outdoors. Tasks are designed to challenge us, making us feel like we have achieved something, or developed a skill. This year we have had the addition of sixth form leaders who are also doing Gold D of E, to allow us to work in smaller groups so that everyone can cultivate new skills.

Over the last 12 months, when the weather has allowed, we have been for a variety of walks; always learning something new about nature, the environment or animal's habitats. We have also practiced important survival skills in the woods and on the hills, experiencing the outdoor life for ourselves. We have learnt how to distinguish the edible plants from the poisonous ones and spent a very enjoyable afternoon making shelters up on the Quantocks from branches and leaves. Trek force is also helping us develop our map skills. There have been theory lessons on how to read an OS map and all the symbols. As our skills have improved we have been learnt how to plot a route on a route card, making sure we pick a suitable route using our knowledge of contours and other landform symbols.

This also employed our new knowledge of using a compass and taking bearings.

The autumn field day was held in Vivary Park in Taunton doing high ropes. Lots of pupils surprised themselves, as they thought it would be very difficult and could not imagine doing something like ft, but everyone managed complete the course, and even progressed to doing the low ropes course blindfolded.

All of the pupils enjoyed it and this day particularly helped improve our teamwork skills and built our confidence in our abilities. We spent the most recent field day on site, learning survival skills. We were taught how to make a fire, learnt knife skills and made our own trekking sticks. It was a unique experience and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Last summer's field day was really exciting as we went down to Croyde and had a surfing lesson. For most of us it was the first experience of surfing, and as some of the group are not very sporty, it was a great to have such fun doing physical activity.

One of the best things in Trek Force is that all of what we are doing is new, very lively and different, and that is what makes Trek Force enjoyable. The group would like to say thank you to the head of Trek Force Miss Wedgwood and to all the teachers who do such a great job in developing our skills.

Caro Wedgwood

fter a week of good weather, our summer, the Ten Tors event was held in some of the most testing conditions it has had over the past few years.

AA

The start on Saturday morning was in zero visibility and rain and it was a worrying couple of hours waiting for our teams to hit their first Tor. But all was well and tater the cloud lifted and a cold wind picked up.

After the 45-mile team went through their second Tor they seemed to go missing and we found out later they had stopped to help a team in difficulties crossing a swollen stream.

One of the team had fallen in when trying to retrieve a rucksack. It took a while to sort the team out and get them all over the stream before they could go on.

This did affect their overall time but they pushed on the next day and finished at 15:55.

Coming in just before them at 15:48, the 55-milers looked very dapper in their black tie attire. Then at 16:11 our exhausted-looking 35 milers appeared out of the cloud to complete the set.

Congratulations to all who to part. It was probably the hardest thing you have yet done.

David Kinnear L1204 TAUNTON SCHOOL (35) 16:11 Complete team Finished U2109 TAUNTON SCHOOL (45) Complete team Finished

15:55

X2409 TAUNTON SCHOOL (55) 15:48 Complete team Finished

â&#x20AC;˘J?,,3.ft

DofE 2013 finished with two of the Upper sixth getting their Gold badge presented to them in Head's assembly and another half dozen are in the last throws of finishing their gold.

This year's groups of DofE students has seen 49 Bronze pass their expedition section, at the same time as 7 Silver over summer half term. This years lower sixth have eight teams of Gold travel up to the Lake District to be assessed for their expedition. Fifty students went out on expedition at times in very bad weather. Routes were changed and even bad weather routes were changed! All fifty returned safely and all fifty passed.

Let's hope they all put the effort in to complete the other sections of Bronze, Silver and Gold.

I would like to thank the staff for their time and effort. It would not be possible to take this amount of students without their help.

David Diann

Australian Exchange 2013 The Australian Exchange is a long standing arrangement that Taunton School has with two schools in Melbourne - Carey Grammar School and Eltham College. This year 6 Taunton pupils travelled to Melbourne at the end of January.

They left the Parade Ground which was covered in snow and ice to arrive the next day in 30c. They were: Hetty Burton, Martha Beale, Stella Pyne, Alastair Robinson, Daisy Jones and Harriet Morris Following the first leg of the Exchange the six exchange students arrived from Melbourne to spend 6 weeks here at Taunton School. They had a week to settle in during half term and will spend the second half of the term in school. They seemed to have brought some good weather with them - which did not last - but hopefully Vanessa, Gabby, Naomi, Claire, Cara and Loughlin enjoyed all that Taunton and the South West has to offer.

Cyril Kelly

by ,soo.iâ&#x20AC;˘A

110

After several weeks of fundraising the big day, 25th of March, finally arrived. Fifteen students, and three teachers arrived at Heathrow and boarded an evening flight to Hong Kong. When we touched down 12 hours later everyone was exhausted but excited about the prospect of the week ahead. The aim of the trip was to experience Chinese culture and to get an insight of what has become one of the most dynamic countries in the world.

While at our host's school we had various unusual (for us) lessons. These subjects included Mandarin, tea ceremony, dance, aerobics, tai-chi, traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. Having learnt some new skills we then all had a chance to show them off.

A very enjoyable weekend was spent with our host families. We all visited the 'Splendid China Culture Folk' village on the Saturday with our exchanges. We saw examples of older traditional Chinese housing. The more daring went on the zip wire. There were boat rides and we watched a parade with a theme of the Chinese at war. On the Sunday we travelled to OCT theme park. Unfortunately, because of the weather only one ride was open - the water ride. As we were fairly wet already the majority went on!

During our last night in China we played basketball against the China UK College students. Everyone who wanted to play got some time on the court. The final result - we lost (narrowly) 57-50. A good result considering our opponents play basketball every day.

Most of us found the food quite challenging.

Some seized the opportunity of trying something new. Yet I did not recall anyone asking for second helpings of chicken's feet!

Some ate more of a well-known fast food restaurant's cuisine than they have ever done back home.

M MOM ,11/RWM â&#x20AC;&#x17E;M MOM FOI,R,MII,

Our last day was spent touring Hong Kong.

Kitty, our tour guide, managed to talk nonstop! Two hours in Stanley market ensured that all remaining Hong Kong dollars were spent. After several more stops in different parts of the city we were back at the airport, where our odyssey first began.

A once in a lifetime trip that we will all remember for many years to come. Our gratitude goes to the school for giving us the wonderful opportunity and our thanks to Miss Manley, Mr Brooker and Miss Gao for putting up with us for ten long days!

Campbell f1radlv

CJ-I-LC A really big thank you to all those who went on the Junior Ski Trip 2013. It was a great success and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

After our coach journey we were delighted with the quality of our accommodation when we arrived in St. Michael. The facilities were top quality and the owner was very friendly and welcoming. We had an annex to i ourselves and we soon settled in. The evening meal ' was also very welcome and set the standard for the excellent food there after.

The skiing through the week was first class with some suburb conditions and a great choice of pistes over 1o three resorts. We joined forces with the school from a Barnsley who we met last year which added balance to the groups and allowed for some good socialising. " Everybody was pushed to edge of their ability and we saw plenty of improvement in the quality of skiing by the end of the week.

1

It was a shame that a few of the boys went down with the flu whilst they were there although, the Hotel was so cosy I am sure they felt well looked after.

Again I would like to thank all the pupils who went as their behaviour was exemplary and they were, as always, great company and a credit to the school. I would also like to thank Lucy Turner for organising the trip and making it such a relaxing and successful tour.

6th Form Ski Trip to La Thuile - Easter 2013 Snow, snow and then more snow greeted the 27 6th form pupils and 5 staff in La Thuile this Easter.

The whole party quickly gelled and it was great to see so many new friendships been made between pupils who had perhaps not mixed previously.

Skier of the week was undoubtedly Max Kelly who has been put forward for the lnterski scholarship. Fancy Dress Friday was a real success with the prize going to Max in his Dalek outfit although special mention must be made of Georgie Walker who skied the whole day in her banana suit. There were lots of beginners on this trip and they all made fantastic progress, particularly Charlie Quick. Whatever the standard of skier everyone improved hugely It has to be said that the quality of singing at the karaoke evenings was not in the same league as the skiing but enjoyable nonetheless. Mr Mason and Mr Smith were again note perfect in their air guitar playing Many thanks to Mr Mason all the staff for organising the week. If you are in the 6th form - you really should not miss this trip!

112

Masan and Nell

Day 1 - After awakening at 4 am local time, due to our

Day 4 - At 9:15 we departed the hostel for Alembic

bodies believing it to be midday in England, we awoke at 8 am to a hearty breakfast of waffles and Bagels. At this point our mighty 17-seat monster arrived for us to begin a day of sightseeing. We began by driving to the world famous Fisherman's Wharf and spotting many attractive shops for later use, After this little drive, we decided to cross the Golden Gate bridge to take some photos from the other side. Due to the extremely hot temperatures at a mighty 20 C, we decided to hit the beach, via what can only be described as the most vomit-inducing, yet beautiful, roads in the world. Later that day we visited Alcatraz prison, where we took a night-time tour which included a look at the cells of some infamous inmates, including the great 'Birdman'. After taking a few sunset photos of the Golden Gate and the cityscape, we went out for an evening meal and retired early.

guitars. Upon arrival Bob, showed us around the very dusty workshop, which included many different amazing types of wood, especially one called Purple Heartwood which stood out. During our tour we were shown the various stages of manufacturing such prestigious guitars used by the likes of Led Zeppelin, U2, The Rolling Stones and many more. We were shown the contrasts between CNC manufacture and handmade components, plus painting and assembly. We were also shown some of the best guitars we had ever seen, ranging from between $6,000 to over $40,000. On the conclusion of the tour we continued onto the Jelly Belly factory, stopping off at Wendy's for lunch. Upon arrival at Jelly Belly, we were all handed the obligatory silly paper hat before heading on to the tour above the factory floor. The smells, colours and art that welcomed us were pretty amazing. Seeing a picture of Elvis made of jelly beans looked so amazing, I almost wanted to lick it!

Day 2 - After breakfast we took a one hour drive to SKS, a die casting company. On our tour to our surprise we were allowed to touch parts and components and stand very close to the working machinery, something H&S in England would cry about. As a grand farewell, we had the opportunity to look over a recently restored 1950's Chevrolet in sunburst orange, which was supremely sexy.

We all agree; we want one! Crown's injection moulding facilities tour was indeed very informative, and slightly entertaining. In fact, it was a kind of heaven for Mr. Baker, who collected even more free stuff, while Mr. Brooker seemed to be content with taking a lorry load of photos of Mr. Baker with his GoPro-on-a-stick. Our third destination today was Stanford University; where upon following an astonishing boulevard I found myself in what appeared to be a Roman city; Stanford University's campus. We took a tour of the engineering quad prior to our Stanford lecture, an Any Questions' style lecture on Stanford women in space: Eileen Collins, Barbara Morgan and Eileen Ochoa, the three panellists, who had careers with NASA as former astronauts.

Day 3 - After breakfast we departed the hostel (Fort Mason) for our new hood in downtown San Francisco. We arrived there at approximately 9am and dropped our bags before leaving for Silicon Valley, the home of electronics.

We first visited Apple at the infinite loop. It was nice to see the home of such a great technology firm, We then moved onto Intel where their museum was very informative, especially the history of the Intel processor. After the tour showing how a microchip is made we undertook the puzzle ball challenge. However, this task was upstaged by the lady behind the reception desk. Our evening's entertainment was a basketball game between the Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets at the oracle arena, a few laughs at the gate paved the way for more drama as Sam Tapp was sent away for a bag check and then had to return to the van to retrieve his ticket. This was a fantastic experience featuring the likes of James Harden on the court. The Rockets won 116-107, a close match.

Day 5 - Hollister custom bike centre was on the days agenda, everyone not knowing what we were about to witness. The drive down took about 2 hours including more irrelevant banter from people. Driving through the farm land of California was a sight to see, with an amazing back drop of mountains, and open land for miles upon miles. We arrived at Hollister to a world of hot rods and custom bikes all are fitted with new custom seats. Upon the tour we witnessed, the entire forming process of such a seat including: the starting base of the seat is with foam, the stitching process, rotational moulding, CNC engraving/milling and composite layup. After the Hollister tour and an incredible one to one lecture with the former 'Worlds Fastest Man Powered by electricity' who talked through the development of the Sparrow 2, a lightweight commuter electric vehicle his company was engineering.

On a beautiful valentines evening we arrived at the beach to play American Football and soccer before tucking into a wholesome BBQ cooked by Mr. Baker, we watched the sunset over the horizon of the Pacific Ocean. After that thinking nothing could be better we headed over to twin peaks, two hills just outside the city where at the summit we got to look down on the incredible cityscape at night.

We then returned to the hostel, to play some board games with some Ecuadorian girls few rooms down. Happy Days!

Day 6 - After a brief shop we regrouped back at the hostel with are bags packed by eleven. Once back on the bus the fines sack was counted, a total of $29! 1/3 of which was Dornom's and 1/3 Teddy's. Security went well with all but one requiring a pat down. With few shops in the airport, many rested before the flight. An excellent trip, we cannot wait to return to the USA for another trip next year hopefully!

ton Baker

113

Spanish Exchange-10M Madrid During the Christmas holidays, a group of five students took part in a Spanish exchange to Avila. From both a linguistic and cultural point of view, the exchange was incredibly successful and the students benefitted from immersion into a Spanish speaking environment.

Students were exposed to the wealth of Spanish history and cuisine on offer through their visits to El Prado art museum and the famous San Gines Churreria, where they gorged on the Spanish delicacy; churros and chocolate. They also thoroughly enjoyed the boat trip in Retiro Park and the live football match between Real Madrid and Espanyol, which ended in a 2-2 draw.

The stunning city of Salamanca was next on the agenda and provided an interesting insight into Spanish and Moorish architecture, with visits to the cathedral, university and Plaza Mayor. In Avila, students stayed with Spanish families and made long lasting friendships with their new found pen pals. In the daytime, they attended Spanish lessons given entirely in the target language.

To round off what had been a fantastic trip to Madrid in December, the second stint of the Spanish Exchange got off to a flying start with the arrival of 17 excited Spanish students in March.

Comparing the school's facade to that of Hogwarts, our Spanish visitors were thoroughly impressed! They were treated to a variety of lessons, which differed greatly from the chalkboard teaching they are used to back home.

Staying in boarding houses or with families, the Spaniards indulged in British culture; sampling a typical cream tea and savouring fish and chips at the seaside. Visits included a trip to Bath and Weston Super Mare. iHasta la proximal

Kate stent

114

a fresh approach to fitness The Breakfast Club... For parents who are always on the GO! Are you a busy parent who would love to go to fitness classes but find it hard to fit into your day? Then you need The Breakfast Club! Our earlybird classes are designed especially for you, simply drop off your child at school at 8am, come to your chosen class at 8.30am, get your work out completed and then get on with your day!

Pilates

KetHercise

Spinning

Spirals

Pilates is a brilliant way to improve balance and posture whilst building up your body strength. Feel strong, Tone up, elongate muscles and strengthen your back. The perfect fitness workout!

Pilates underpins every other discipline we teach at the studio due to its amazing benefits.

Lose weight, burn calories, tone up and change your body shape with Kettle Bell Classes. Kettlercise® is taking the country by storm as it allows anyone of any ability to achive real results in personal fitness.

KettleBell exercises work the whole body as one unit and whilst also working the cardiovascular system.

Fun, motivational and inspiring but ultimatley designed to burn calories fast. If you want to lose weight and get your heart rate up then Spinning is for you! Spinning is yourworkout.

You control everything from your speed to your intensity level, so it can be as easy or as challenging as you want or need it to be.

Spirals offers a new dimension in mind and body movement. The class is set to inspiring and motivating music chosen specifically for each individual section.Spirals incorporates choreography that is designed to focus on specific styles of both dynamic stretching and stability challenge.

Free Taster Session Exclusively for Tauntonians Not sure which class is right for you? Then book a free 1 hour taster session with us to give it a go. Simply call to book and quote "Tauntonian" to receive this exclusive offer. Limited to one person for one class only. Further taster sessions are £9 each.

pilates . spirals . personal training . beam fit . spinning . conditioning step . kettlercise . nutrition

07854 456 793 • info@donnanoll.co.uk

rtA-Ttiikn7ti

www.donnanoll.co.uk

THE STUDIO

98 Staplegrove Road . Taunton . Somerset TA1 1 DN

AT 98 STAPLEGROVE ROAD

Offering more Taunton School, Taunton, Somerset TA2 6AD Telephone: 01823 703703 www.tauntonschool.co.uk

Taunton School Educational Charity is a company limited by guarantee. Registration number 4005803.

Registered Office: Clerk to the Governors. Taunton School, Taunton TA2 6AD. A registered charity, number 1081420