SCHOOL NOTES 2013

Academic Olave’s

Following the 2012 examination results, I hope that some of you saw the Sunday Times article last year on Britain’s Top 400 Secondary Schools, featuring St Olave’s as the 3rd best state school; this was followed by the official government performance tables which confirmed St Olave’s as the joint Top Boys’ school Nationally for the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) with 96% of our boys gaining the qualification.

Student performance in the 2013 public examinations confirmed St Olave’s continued excellence as the No. 2 state school with mixed 6th Form. At A level 93% of grades were at A*/B; 26 students secured Oxbridge places with a further 26 for Medicine. GCSE results were no less impressive and with 87 % of grades at A*/A we were, once again, the No. 1 school for the EBacc at 96%. For both of the last 2 years we were awarded ‘outstanding’ scores in all areas of the Alps report, with 3 year T-scores described as ‘better than any performance in the benchmark data set.’

Oxbridge

Cambridge and Oxford continue to lead our impressive field of Russell Group universities for leavers’ destinations - a record of which we should be rightly proud. I was delighted to receive letters from a number of Oxbridge Colleges with news of recent former students. Rishi Dutta and James Munro (Fitzwilliam and Trinity, Cambridge) both graduated with 1sts in Economics and Mathematics respectively. Kweku Abraham was made a Scholar of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and was awarded both the Leatham and the Johnston College Prizes for his Part 1A Mathematics; Kit Harris was formally declared a Scholar in recognition of his achievement in Mathematics at St Hugh’s College, Oxford; Eleanor Sands graduated with a 1st in History from Merton College, Oxford; former School Captain Harry McAleer, who is currently studying Engineering at Clare College, Cambridge represented the university in the Varsity match.

Kit Harris and Luke Abraham both returned recently to speak to the 6th Form, as well as Old Olavians, Dr Peter Harland who is currently at the Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge, and Laura Reardon who read Engineering at Oxford, and now works for Atkins Global in the design of signalling and junction systems.

Royalty Olave’s

Autumn 2012 was an amazing time for our Wakeham Choristers of the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, who were honoured to sing in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh for a special Service of Dedication to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The Queen was very generous with her time, spending a few moments in conversation with each of the Choristers. Later, they had the honour of singing in a service to celebrate the life and work of His Majesty King Michael of Romania, in the presence of The King and Their Royal Highnesses Crown Princess Margarita and Prince Radu. Finally, the boys were called on for a third occasion to sing, in the presence of HRH Princess Anne, at a Service of Dedication for new members of the Royal Victorian Order.

Commemoration

The spectacular setting of Southwark Cathedral played host to the annual Service of Commemoration, with an address given by The Right Reverend Graeme Knowles, CVO. Later in the year at Lower School Celebration, former Captain of School, David Akinluyi, presented the prizes and gave an inspirational talk about his experiences at Cambridge and his leadership of the Nigerian National Rugby Team.

6th Form

As our Year 13 students reached the end of their formal education the final assembly in The Great Hall was an emotional end of era. However, they had let their hair down prior to this with a Scottish dancing session, to the accompaniment of bagpipes, with skipping, twirling and Dosey Doe’ing – ‘a surreal memory to say the least’ as one student commented. We also had an opportunity to thank the Year 13 Prefects with a special luncheon in The Pavilion; they have been exemplary ambassadors for the school, admirably led by the outstanding School Captains Mohammed Fallaha and Grace Boyle, and the Senior Prefect team of James Atkinson, Eleanor Goodman, William Pyle and James Watson. A final farewell Leavers’ Event started with a Reception in the New Quad before students moved on to the Westerham Golf Club. We wish all of them happiness and fulfilment at university and in their lives beyond.

Congratulations to the new Senior Prefect team: the Captain of School, Skanda Rajasundaram; and Vice

Admissions Olave’s

The reputation and popularity of the school are continuing at record levels with Year 7 applications now exceeding 900. Around 450 prospective external students recently sat entrance papers for the 6th Form. For the successful 100, expected to join us with 8 or more A*/A grades, there was a real buzz of excitement at the Congratulations Evening, with tours of the school hosted by our Year 12 Prefects, and a very popular buffet!

Science and Medicine

Consistency of progression into Medicine is becoming a hallmark of St Olave’s and 2013 produced a record 25 successes. The students are highly organised, running their own Medics’ Society with visiting speakers such as consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr WillisOwen or in-house speakers like Vice-Captain of School, Zeinab Ruhomauly, who gave a presentation on Antibiotic Resistance. They also produce their own quarterly Medical Journal with scholarly articles such as ‘Can gene therapy be used to treat breast cancer?’ or ‘Critical limb ischemia.’ Congratulations to Mohammed Fallaha and Asher Leeks who gained Gold medals in the National Biology Olympiad; to Finn Duggan, Ian Chiang and Tom Wang, who were awarded Gold medals in the National Biology Challenge competition, and to Alexander Robbins and Christopher Speller who won awards for gaining the 3rd highest mark nationally in the Salters-Nuffield A level Biology examination. Lower School Biology Club has taken on a new lease of life this year under the leadership of a fantastic group of Year 12 students, who have arranged investigations and dissections, informative talks and, more recently, a focus on invertebrates to be found in the Biology garden. At Nettlecombe Court Field Studies Centre in Somerset 74 A level Biologists carried out investigations on the relationship between lichen species and the age of gravestones.

Thanks to the leadership of Jenni Visuri, Harry Jenkins and Fraser Boistelle, The Natural Sciences Society produced some superb examples of scholarship in their latest magazine, with titles including ‘Chaos’, ‘Discovery of the Higgs Boson’ and ‘Stellar limits on White Dwarfs.’ Well done to Uroosa Chugtai who gained a Gold Award amongst the 6200 students entered for the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, with questions ddesigned to stretch the most able, including the discovery of the oldest sample of water on Earth and the controversy surrounding horse meat in processed foods.

Physics and Engineering Society continues to thrive with lectures and debates on, for example, the possible shape of the universe, how this is dictated by the amount of mass it contains, and how this may determine the way in which it ends. Members of Astronomy Club have enjoyed some spectacular sights, including asteroid 2012 DA14 which made a pass within 14,000 miles of Earth’s surface and a meteor that burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, lighting up the sky over the town of Chelyabinsk and sending a powerful shockwave that injured about 1,000 people.

Mathematics Olave’s

Ina testament to the problem-solving skills of our students, they achieved a record 43 Gold, 122 Silver and 116 Bronze certificates in the Senior Mathematical Challenge. 7 students qualified for the Olympiad, Round 1, with Alastair O’Neill gaining a Bronze medal, for the top 100 students, and Pascal Bose a distinction. Both went on to the even more daunting Olympiad Round 2, where Pascal managed to solve completely 2 of the 4 extremely demanding problems to gain a place in the top 20 nationally. This year’s Intermediate Mathematical Challenge also produced a record 70 Gold, 92 Silver and 73 Bronze certificates, with 15 students qualifying for the Olympiads and 27 for the Kangaroo follow-ons. In the Junior Mathematical Challenge, a record 10 qualified for the Junior Olympiad where Alex Song achieved a Gold Medal for providing faultless solutions to 5 of the 6 demanding problems, with Alec Hong gaining Silver and Daniel Maghsoudi and Oliver Bennett gaining Bronze.

The school hosted the regional final of the UK Maths Team Challenge where the Olavian A-team of Owen Messère, Richard Moulange, Henry Miller and Christopher Rajendram emerged as winners and went on to win a top 10 position in the National Final. In the spirit of one of our founders, Ben Adlam left the UK to take up a place at Harvard, majoring in Mathematics. He returned recently to talk to Year 12 about American universities and the scholarships available, which can sometimes make US degrees cheaper than those in the UK.

Political Economy Society

We were fortunate to welcome Mr Paul Mason, Economics Editor of the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight, for an engaging session on UK austerity and the banking crisis, and Dr Madsen Pirie, Founder and President of the renowned Adam Smith Institute, for a talk on “Ten Major Errors of Modern Political Economy.” His experience as an advisor to the Thatcher and Major Conservative Governments led to a very informative and thought-provoking lecture. Lincoln and Vietnam War Memorials, The White House and the World Bank were all part of the agenda in the annual Economics and History trip to Washington and New York. A packed New York itinerary took in The Empire State Building, Rockefeller Centre, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, American Museum of Finance, and the razzmatazz of a Broadway Show. The emotional climax to this amazing trip was paying respects to those who lost their lives at the new Freedom Tower being built on the site of Ground Zero. Congratulations to Benjamin Fryza, who has recently won a scholarship with Ernst & Young.

Europe and Languages Opportunities

for our students to broaden their European cultural experience abound. In October, 6th Formers made their way to St Pancras and Eurostar to begin a 5-day trip to Paris whilst younger students enjoyed a day trip to the markets in Boulogne. A day trip to France, for Years 8/9 took in a waffle shop and factory, complete with tasting and purchasing these Flemish delicacies, before heading to Lille, for the Christmas market. A visit to Aachen started with breakfast in the 17th Century ‘Alt Aachener Kaffe Estuben’ before tours of the Cathedral, Treasury and Christmas markets. An amazing itinerary on the February Berlin trip took in the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, the infamous Stasi Prison and a special 18th birthday celebration in an exclusive café with flowers, bows and enormous pieces of exquisite gateaux! 34 German students arrived from Starnberg to stay with Year 10s from Newstead and St Olave’s, with an itinerary including the London Eye, the Changing of the Guards, the Globe and the Tower; the group left their partners feeling rather sad, but looking forward to the return visit in July. In Murcia students visited the mud baths of the Salinas de San Pedro nature reserve and were specially commended for the quality of their Spanish by the organisers.

Competition. Led by Alexander Leggatt, their presentation covered the eradication of extreme poverty, empowering women and infant mortality.

History continues to be a popular subject at St Olave’s, as evidenced by articles on the theme of ‘Scandal’ in the latest edition of the History magazine, including: The Abdication Crisis by Luke Watkins, The Profumo Affair by Cameron Garrett, The Watergate Scandal by Kieran Bayne-Douglas and The Hillsborough Disaster by Alex Tarrant-Anderson. The Year 9 Battlefields trip to Normandy allowed students to visit the Pegasus Bridge, Point du Hoc, Omaha beach, the St Laurent US Cemetery and the Longues-sur-Mer gun battery. At the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Ranville each student was allowed to place a poppy at a grave of their choice to remember one of the men who died. Students also travelled to Dover Castle with its secret wartime tunnel complex and learned how the Dunkirk evacuation was coordinated by Vice-Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay. Thanks to the restoration efforts of former student Mr Michael Walter, the old Le Chavetois clock, which once controlled all the school clocks at Tooley Street, now hangs in pride of place in the School Reception.

Technology

Eddie Ho and Abhay Gupta competed against 11 other teams in their age group in the National Final of the Jaguar Maths in Motion Challenge at the Heritage Motor Centre in Banbury. This is the first time we have reached this stage of the competition - a testament to the outstanding support and encouragement provided by Peter Leigh, Iain McGowan and Matthew BurnsWatkins of Year 13.

‘Team Attyre’ of Billy Belsham, Kai Smith, Benjamin Stanbury, Edward Tolmie, Seraphin Gnehm and Adrian Santhaipillai whose belt made from recycled bicycle tyres saw them shortlisted and gain a well-deserved commendation in the final of the Design Ventura competition.

Humanities Olave’s

Year 10 Geographers visited Maidstone to collect data on the sustainability of transport through traffic counts, questionnaires, noise and pollution surveys; Year 12 Geographers travelled to the Malham, in the Yorkshire Dales, for the annual field-trip – a refreshing if often rather damp experience!

Meanwhile, Year 9 Geographers gained a Certificate of Commendation signed by the Secretary of State for International Development, the Rt Hon Justine Greening, for their entry in the Shape the Future

Music Olave’s

Those who braved a freezing cold December evening were treated to a sparkling Christmas Concert with extracts from Grieg’s Peer Gynt and Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’, a-cappella carols by Taverner, Stopford and Lauridsen, up-tempo Rudolph, Bare Necessities and Hollywood Milestones from the Jazz and Brass and Symphonic Wind bands, and a powerful performance of Pergolesi’s Magnificat. The Final of the Norman Trotman Instrumental Competition at the BYMT was a stunning display talent with 2 Olavians amongst the 7 finalists.

Stefan Beckett, who also has a prestigious scholarship to the Royal College of Music, was awarded the 1st Prize and the Norman Trotman Trophy for a performance that was technically flawless. Stefan also had the honour of performing at the Commonwealth and Foreign Office in the presence of the Rt Hon William Hague MP. Well done to Oscar Ridout whose setting of Te lucis ante terminum was sung for the first time at the Festival of Contemporary Church Music at St Pancras Church.

A fabulous production of Cabaret displayed talented performances from 2 different casts and some vocal control that would rival that heard in many West End productions. The annual Jazz Night included special guest Simon Bates whose sax/clarinet playing was breath-taking, and the inspirational Nick Beston who celebrated his 25th year since starting the Senior Jazz Band. The Spring Concert was also full of high quality music from many of our Year 13 leavers, as well as being the final concert for John Castle after 23 years of conducting the Symphonic Wind Band.

English and Drama

Notonly acting but also talented directorship was on display this year with Fintan Calpin directing Brecht’s ‘The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui’ and Jack Bradfield and Samuel Luker Brown directing Oscar Wilde’s classic ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. Congratulations to all 3 directors whose new plays received performances as part of the National Theatre ‘New Views’ competition. With so much time devoted to the production of Cabaret, Year 11 students were nevertheless congratulated by the examiner for their performances of ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’, ‘The Pillowman’, ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Favour’ and ‘Waiting For Godot’, and Years 9 and 10 gave a powerful performance of William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’.

Theatre trips have given our students exposure to some of the best professional performances in London such as the Apollo Theatre’s ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’; a modern, updated production of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at The Globe, Michael Morpurgo’s ‘Private Peaceful’ at The Haymarket and ‘Mies Julie’ at The Riverside Studios. ‘Dress Up as a Book Character Day’ meant that the school was full of colourful literary characters whilst celebrations for World Book Day included a free £1 book token for every pupil.

were part of the victorious 8 player Kent Chess team that won the National Youth U18 Chess Association title, with teams from 8 English counties and from South Wales. Also, despite having predominantly young players, our team did themselves proud in the annual Millfield International Competition, finishing in 3rd place to continue our unbroken run of finishing in the top 3 places for each of the last 9 years. In an exciting climax to the season Conrad Allison won the U18 Kent Junior Chess Association Grand Prix, also finishing 1st at the Grand Prix Final in Sevenoaks. Congratulations to all of our boys who took part so that St Olave’s finished as the top Secondary School for the 12th time since 2000.

Sport Olave’s

TheRugby teams were active all year and despite bad weather leading to a number of fixtures being cancelled, the 1st XV won their match against Salesians to progress to the 5th round of The Daily Mail Vase competition. The U15 Dublin Rugby Tour proved to be a memorable trip with some tough encounters and, 2 years in preparation, the South America Rugby Tour lived up to all expectations with fabulous cultural, social and sporting experiences. Some tough but close Rugby and some exotic locations such as Santiago, Buenoes Aires and the beautiful Iguazu Falls helped to make this an unforgettable experience.

Another highly successful Fives season resulted in St Olave’s’ students winning many trophies and defeating top schools such as Alleyns, Eton, Berkhamsted, Merchant Taylors, Oundel, Blundells, Shrewsbury House School, Pilgrims, St Andrews Eastbourne, and St Pauls on the way.

In the Open, Christopher Self & Sanjay Kundu won the Doubles, and both players also met in the Singles Final where Sanjay won the Title by 2 points!

The St Olave’s 1st Team of Christopher Self, Sanjay Kundu, Sudhir Balaji, with Howard Wiseman, Seb Cooley and Peter White beat Shrewsbury 2-1 in a thrilling final to defend their prestigious “Richard Barber Cup” title.

Kameron Swanson and Sohayl Ujoodia became Midlands championships winners.

Tomas Gallagher, Vishwakrith Shetty, Kieran Walton, Sohayl Ujoodia, William Carew and Kameron Swanson won the REFCA CUP National 3 pair U14 team competition.

Chess continues to be one of our most popular and successful interests. Conrad Allison and Raunak Rao

James Tate and Kieran Walton are the Eton Fives Schools Nationals U13 champions.

James Tate and Kieran Walton are the Rugby Fives U13 National Doubles champions.

Kameron Swanson took the trophy as Rugby Fives U13 Singles champion.

Chukwunenyem Nwuba beat St Pauls’ top player to take the National U14 Rugby Fives Singles title.

Christopher Self and old boy Sebastian Cooley won the “Graham Turnbull Trophy” deep snow in many places, the group overcame the challenge and passed the assessment with flying colours. It is a testament to their character that they were one of only a handful of teams to complete this 5-day challenge when so many other schools had pulled out. Year 9s commencing the scheme braved the terrain from Limpsfield to Sevenoaks on a DofE Bronze Award training expedition in a variety of weather conditions ranging from balmy sunshine to slightly more inclement downpours. Congratulations to recent leavers: Caroline Apsey, Michael Battle, Felicity Bown, Benedict Cook, Deeya D’Souza, Stephen Ellington, Jonathan Essam, Kit Harris, Daniel Morland, Verity Pitts, Aaron Neill, Emily Thorne and Jon Tong who have been invited to a presentation at St James’ Palace to receive their certificates from HRH The Earl of Wessex.

Our Cricket teams have been very successful this term with all four teams reaching the Bromley Cup Finals and Year 7 also reaching the Kent 20/20 Cup Final. Stars of the season were Year 8 who recorded 13 wins out of 15 matches this season following a successful tour to Devon. They then proceeded to win both the Bromley and Kent Cups with impressive performances from Sohayl Ujoodia, Martin Senior and Laiq Nagi. Congratulations also to Angus Dalgleish who was selected for the Dartford and District Schools XI match against Lashings XI. Well done to Sohyal Ujoodia, Prabu Sathananthan and Angus Dalgleish who have been chosen to represent Kent this summer.

Well done to Felix Haslam, Theodore Haslam, Henry Rennolls and Michael Jacobs who all won top places London Schools Swimming Association Championship held at Crystal Palace. Michael went on to represent London in the English Schools Swimming Championships, winning the 400M Individual Medley in a fantastic race to become the English Schools Inter Divisional Champion 2013.

Well done also to Shunta Takino who, despite only being an U16 player, has recently won 3 titles as Kent Tennis Champion, U16 boys, U18 boys and U18 doubles; to Adam Whitelaw who has been selected again for the England U15 Epee squad; to Tomas Gallagher who was selected for Kent U15 hockey; and to Chukwunenyem Nwuba who won the Junior Victor Ludorum and to Bingham who were overall winners of the Sports’ Day trophy.

It was good to celebrate the vast array of sports undertaken by students at Sports’ Celebration Evening where awards recognised skill and dedication, and guest speaker/Old Olavian, David Akinluyi, was inspirational.

Art Olave’s

The 6th Form Art group enjoyed the cultural delights of Amsterdam, with Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Modern Art Gallery. Light relief was provided by the Cheese Museum, the David Bowie exhibitions and a canal tour of this fascinating city. Year 10s visited a variety of London galleries and museums, focusing on the way the river Thames has been used, through historical evidence in the old cranes, docks, buildings and pictures of the 3000 ships afloat at the height of the British Empire.

Cultural Enrichment

The 6th Form trip to Greece took in the traditional sites of Olympia, Mycenae, Epidauros, Delphi and Athens as well as the fascinating site of Rhamnous, an Athenian military fort overlooking the straits of Euboea, and a visit to Orchomenos with its colossal bee-hive tomb.

DofE

After the practice expedition on Dartmoor where drowning seemed more than possible, students again endured unseasonal weather in the Gold DofE Assessed Expedition in the Brecon Beacons during the Easter holiday. Despite gale force winds and thigh

Others flew to Johannesburg to take part in a biological conservation project with Operation Wallacea. Under the guidance of local rangers at Struwigs Eco-reserve in western Kruger, the students were trained in bush survival techniques and conservation issues facing Africa as a whole. As part of habitat surveys they collected data on birds, invertebrates and mammals as well as having many thrilling encounters with elephants, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, wild dogs and lions. The 2nd week was spent on the East coast at Sodwana Bay where students completed their diving training and the reef ecology course, before some close encounters with dolphins, turtles and humpback whales!

Those keener on sport jetted off to Salt Lake City, Utah, for the annual ski trip. With 6 hours of tuition every day, a chance to see the Grizzleys play Ice Hockey and plentiful American cuisine, the experience was packed full of all types of activities. has been taking place with guest speakers talking about their careers, qualifications and training opportunities.

Congratulations Olave’s Anumber of students have gained other individual or team honours. Congratulations to:

Thomas Halton, Jonathan McCabe, Daniel O’Driscoll, Jordan Adesina, Alexander Martin and Rory Yeates Riddoch who came through victoriously to take joint 1st Place in the Bromley ‘Fully Booked’ Literature Quiz.

Charles Jones, Skanda Rajasundaram, Keir Bowater, Chiha Choi and Samuel Rowe who won prestigious Arkwright Scholarship Foundation awards, bringing the school’s total to 11, a record for any UK school.

Jack Bradfield, who was short-listed from 5,000 entrants in the WICKED Young Writers’ Award and, in the presence of Michael Morpurgo, had his work read by members of the cast at the Apollo Victoria Theatre

Oliver Plumstead, whose photographs on Flickr led to an invitation to be a contributor to Getty Images

Deniz Ali, who did conservation work with Exeter University at the Alagadi Turtle Beach in Northern Cyprus

Theo Clifford, who was a finalist in the Baillie Gifford & Financial Mail Young Writers’ Competition

Cultural Evening

Aftermuch preparation, a massive audience was entertained at the fabulous Cultural Evening, with Tamil singing, American piano playing, Indian dance medleys, Carnatic music, a Chinese poem and Indian singing. Ireland stole the show with a sensitive reading by Fintan Calpin of W. B. Yeats’ Easter 1916 - a Terrible Beauty was Born and spirited Irish dancing by Roisin Hegarty O’Dowd. Many parents generously brought in food for the Food Market to create a mouth-watering display of tables piled high with exotic dishes from just about every corner of the earth, before the entertainment was rounded off with a colourful Fashion Show.

We have welcomed a number of Old Olavians, including Edward Barker, who talked about his Gap year with accounting firm Deloitte; Dr Riyaz Shah who spoke about careers in medicine and Neil Sears, who is currently a writer with the Daily Mail newspaper, and who, not surprisingly, spoke about the qualities required to be a journalist.

Scholarship is at the top of the agenda at St Olave’s and I am constantly impressed by the research undertaken, and presentations delivered by students in academic societies, including: Nuclear Fusion, Dystopian Fiction, Pharmaceutical Research, Reality, Animation, The History of the Soviet Union, How Magnets work, The universe before the Big Bang and the Devastating Effects of Hurricane Sandy. A large number of Senior students gave presentations on their EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) research. The scheme was extended to younger students this year through the Higher Project, with some erudite presentations on: The Olympic Legacy, Currency Forgery and the UK Economy, Duality in Oscar Wilde, Journalism and the Internet, Republicans and democrats, Cancer – Causes, and Treatment Options; British Interventionism, Chaos Theory, Funding the NHS – a Critique of Coalition Policy.

Values Olave’s

Provision Olave’s

The new year saw the start of our new catering company and I am pleased to say that feedback from students about the quality and range of food on offer is very positive. A new series of Careers Information Talks

The annual Festival, complete with zany activities, pushed the overall charity total to £7,000, which students chose to donate to ‘Over the Wall’ and ‘The Princess Royal University Hospital Special Care Baby Unit’. 2 years ago, students supported the construction of the new Langalanga School in Kenya and I was pleased to receive a photograph of the door of one of the new classrooms, named ‘St Olave’s’. I also received a letter thanking the staff and students for raising £350 during this year’s Poppy Appeal. It is good that our students continue to support the Royal British Legion who, without donations such as this, would be unable to continue their vital benevolent work. Students involved in Le Chavetois scheme have also continued support local organisations where, for example, Iain McGowan’s volunteering work at Raglan Primary School was described as a ‘wonderful inspiration’ by the staff. We were pleased to host Bishop Lindsay Urwin for the Communion Service in February; he particularly enjoyed meeting a number of our students, whom he described as mature, thoughtful and engaging.

Parents’ Association

The Parents’ Association continues to raise substantial amounts of money for the school through Second Hand Uniform Sales, Parents’ Quiz Nights, Auction sales and so on. On a glorious sunny day a variety of stalls, assault course, bouncy castle, food, drinks and Samba Bands created a welcoming and highly enjoyable afternoon at the PA Family Fun Day before a glamorous evening of good food, wine and dancing at The Warren allowed members to let their hair down at their annual Summer Ball. The much-need financial support provided by the PA has enabled the opening of the new PE Fitness Suite, the purchase of 2 defibrillators, 3 new Cricket sight screens, a brand new set of giant Chess pieces for the 1st Quad and on-going coaching for this important Club.

Old Olavians

My colleagues and I recently met with 6 recent former Captains of School to explore ways to cement stronger links with the Old Olavian community, develop useful networks of peer groups, build on their skills and experience to help current students and, of course, to support fund-raising initiatives. One such activity is The Old Olavians’ Day and Luncheon which was well attended this year, with boys from the Rugby squad acting as waiters and a fascinating speech from Sir Roger Sims. It was a pleasure to welcome back Old Olavian Jeremy Wisdom who gave a thought-provoking assembly on the challenges he has faced recently as the Principal of The King’s School in Burundi. It was also good to see so many friends and Old Olavians at the Former Choristers’ Service in The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy. As always, the cheques received from Chris Harris, Chairman of the Old Olavian Society, will be immensely helpful in supporting the general school budget and the hardship fund. It was particularly encouraging to note the inclusion of a substantial bequest from Dr Ray Cooper, who attended the Tooley Street site from 19481956 and was a member of the Forties group of Old Olavians. Sadly, Mark Jones who attended St Olave’s from 1986 to 1993, died at the very young age of 36. A student at Trinity College, Cambridge and a great lover of the music of Bach, he was a fine musician, organist and lovely person; A CD, entitled Bach at Trinity has been recorded as a tribute to him.

Staffing and Funding cuts

We have now faced almost 3 years of the worst Public Sector funding cuts for the last half century - and there are still worse to come. Grammar Schools, like St Olave’s, continue to be particularly badly hit because the funding formulas at both pre and post 16 have had ALL success factors removed. We do not benefit from any of the much-publicised Pupil Premium, nor the extra £1000 per pupil who fails GCSE English and Mathematics, nor any post-16 weighting for Vocational subjects.

I am deeply grateful to a group of parents, the Ensuring Excellence team (EEX), for their generous time and commitment to the new fundraising campaign. They are working tirelessly to increase parental contributions and generate additional income so that we can survive the overall reduction of £600,000 in our annual income and sustain the levels of scholarship, excellence and cultural activity in which we all take such pride at St Olave’s.

Colours

As always, I have been very pleased to award a large number of School Colours to students who have made outstanding contributions or demonstrated exceptional talent, distinguished leadership, full commitment and conduct that brings credit to themselves and the school.

Robin Dadson, Old Olavian (1954-59), has written about his days at the school, then still situated in Tooley Street, in the 1950s. He presents an incredible picture of a school very different to today in many ways, but, equally, with smiliarities that Younger Olavians will, we hope, recognise. In fact, we so liked the article - especially the wonderful descriptions of past teachers - that we have chosen to print it here, near the front of the magazine, rather than in the Old Olavian section.

Whether you have just joined in Year 7, are soon to leave in the Upper VI, or are now an Old Olavian, this is an article which we highly recommend.

Tooley Street - the name? According to what I have read it is actually derived from the name of the original church of St Olave.

The present thoroughfare would be unrecognisable to anyone who had attended St Olave’s School during the 1950s, assuming they had not visited the area since, and no more than just a couple of words to anyone under their mid-fifties who had never been to the school there at all. The short stretch of the River Thames that lies between London Bridge to the west and Tower Bridge to the east, known as the Pool of London, was still a bustling hive of activity in the middle of the twentieth century with many wharves and warehouses situated on the southern side. A quick reference to a map will illustrate that there is but a comparatively narrow strip of land between Tooley Street and the actual river but the amount of cargo that moved through there was quite amazing. Many of the commodities that were imported across the wharves lining the river were foodstuffs, and I have heard the area in general referred to as ‘The Larder of London’ for this reason. Although it may be hard to believe in the year 2012, ocean-going vessels still made their way up the Thames to the Pool of London in the 1950s and would berth at wharves along the southern bank to discharge and load cargoes. Generally speaking these were comparatively small ships, even by mid-twentieth century standards, and served in ‘short sea’ trading. This means that their voyages took them to the nearer ports of Western Europe, but there were vessels which sailed to and from the Baltic that regularly tied up at the wharf which was sited between St Olave’s and the river where the Mayor of London’s official office now stands. The northern bank of the Pool of London had far fewer wharves, mainly due to the Tower of London occupying much of its length. To the western end, however, there stood the former Billingsgate Fish Market, which was still actively trading in those days, and a rather grand white building immediately adjacent to the northern end of London Bridge called New Fresh Wharf. The principal cargoes landed here were fruits, and the wharf was used by much larger vessels voyaging to and from the Canary Islands on a regular basis with the very occasional visit by a ship from places much further afield such as the Pacific Coast of North America. Before any of the ships visiting the Pool of London could proceed on their outbound voyage they had to be turned which could be quite exciting, especially in high winds. On more than one occasion a large ship ended up lying right alongside London Bridge which caused a few headaches to the port authorities as well as the master and officers of the vessel. When arriving or leaving each vessel would require Tower Bridge to be raised leading to total traffic chaos both north and south of the river several times a week. It was not only ocean-going ships that brought goods to be landed at the warehouses along Tooley Street as there was also a huge amount of traffic that had been off-loaded from ships berthed in dock areas further down river into lighters or barges which where then towed upstream by tugs to enable final delivery through warehouses in the Pool of London.

You may be wondering, quite rightly, what all this has to do with life at St Olave’s in those days and the answer is plenty. The narrow strip of land between the northern side of Tooley Street and the river has since been dramatically opened up with the demolition of many of the old warehouses and the preservation and conversion of others into shopping centres and/or riverside restaurants. There is even a private hospital situated in a former warehouse. It is strange to reflect on the fact that the area now has something of a trendy atmosphere which appeals both to tourists and other visitors alike. In the 1950s the aspect was far less attractive with a number of very narrow, dark, dingy lanes leading northwards from Tooley Street towards the river between the tall, dismal warehouses. I believe the present students of St Olave’s are inclined to sing of ‘Dark Satanic Mills’. Well, gentlemen, and I guess I should now also be saying ‘ladies’, you might sing of these mills but we saw them, or their equivalent, every day on our way to and from school rather than the leafy lanes of Orpington. As you progressed along Tooley Street you were treated to a variety of smells that came from these buildings and these ranged from being quite pleasant to most unpalatable. For me the worst was the sickly, cloying smell of concentrated rum which was to be experienced when passing a vault located under the railway viaduct on the south side of the road, not far from where the ‘London Dungeon’ later opened. The buildings to the southern side of Tooley Street had not changed to anywhere near the same degree as those on the northern side when I last visited the area a few years back mainly due to the Southern Railway and the viaduct that carries the lines through London Bridge Station. The vaults under the railway viaduct, many of which now house tourist attractions, provided a convenient storage area for many of the imported goods. East of the junction with Bermondsey Street the buildings seemed much the same as they were sixty years ago. The only difference was that these buildings formerly contained offices which accommodated businesses that had some connection to the shipping or import and export industries but many now house bars, restaurants and other such attractions.

If I recall correctly the only place you could see anything of the river and beyond was across a bomb-site opposite the hostelry called the ‘Shipwright’s Arms’ - known locally as ‘The Pink T-t’ due to the carved figurehead of a lady which still adorns the frontage. HMS Belfast, now moored in the Pool of London, was possibly still in service at that time and was certainly not there to obstruct the view. Building work actually started on this site whilst I was at school and became ‘Battlebridge House’ which I later visited quite often in the course of my career but even this has now been demolished to make way for more modern developments. How time flies, but it is quite ironic that much earlier buildings have survived whilst one built during the 1950s has gone! Naturally there was a lot of road traffic generated by all this commercial activity in addition to the normal, everyday flow of buses, taxis and cars and all this had to be avoided when crossing the street. There was no bridge leading over the road by London Bridge Station as there is today, nor was there a pedestrian crossing. It was rumoured that, following a letter by Dr Carrington which brought this situation to the attention of the local authority, a zebra-style crossing was installed near to the school and it was still in place when I last visited the area.

True to character Carrington immediately made it clear that all boys travelling via London Bridge Station should remain on the southern side of Tooley Street until the crossing was reached. I cannot recall whether this was made a school rule or only issued as a ‘guidance’, but it was yet another area where Carrington imposed his influence.

It may come as a surprise for some to learn that, in those days, the authority of a school carried far beyond the actual premises. Woe betide any pupil should Carrington received a complaint about any misbehaviour whilst that boy was travelling to or from school or indeed anywhere else whilst wearing the school uniform. The complaint would be investigated and, if justified, punishment would be imposed for bringing the name of the school into disrepute. I cannot help but reflect on my former place of residence where there were regular complaints from the local community regarding the behaviour of some of the pupils attending the local comprehensive school, a small element of whom just seemed to run wild. Sadly the official response was that, once students were beyond the school gates, it was nothing to do with the school!! How times have changed, and not for the better.

Although the dockers and stevedores who worked in the wharves and warehouses along Tooley Street were usually far too busy to take notice of the large number of boys that passed them on a daily basis, there were occasional industrial disputes which resulted in crowds of dock workers gathering along the route between London

Bridge Station and the school. The older men still took little notice of the boys walking past but the younger element might poke fun at ‘The Toffs’ dressed up in their regulation uniforms and wearing their school caps. This was all a bit silly as it was quite feasible that a son of a dock worker might actually be attending St Olave’s if he were bright enough, but nobody seemed to acknowledge this point. Indeed one of my contemporaries lived in a block of flats right opposite the school building, literally but a few yards distant, and, for all I know, his relations may well have been employed locally in Tooley Street. If I remember rightly during my first couple of years all boys were obliged to wear caps right up until their very last day but this was later relaxed and, by the time I reached the sixth form, all older boys were allowed to dispense with this headgear. I can only assume that Carrington became aware of the embarrassment his older students were facing from these younger dock workers. Some ‘boys’ were eighteen or nineteen before they left and, obviously, looked quite ridiculous wearing a cap at that age.

Whilst boys attending St Olave’s were regarded as ‘Toffs’ by some younger people, first year students were obliged to attend elocution lessons under the supervision of the only female member of the teaching staff, namely Miss Robinson. Apart from the dinner ladies who visited for a couple of hours or so each day the only other female employed at the school was Dr. Carrington’s secretary but she was seldom seen by the boys. On reflection I think we junior boys were somewhat unjust to Miss Robinson as she was regarded as a quite elderly, plain spinster and was given the nick name ‘Fanny’ in a somewhat derogatory fashion. I must admit I have no vivid memories of her but I now think she was possibly anywhere between thirtyfive and forty-five years of age and not that unattractive to her contemporary males. This injustice possibly came as a result of the general attitude of the time when ladies past forty fell into the category of being ‘middle-aged’ and were thought of as sitting at home in their woolly cardigans, knitting by the fireside. Only recently, when I was shuffling through a large number of old photographs in the hope of unearthing some taken during my days at Tooley Street, I came across one of a dear old couplemy maternal grandparents. I then suddenly realised that, at the time it was taken, they were younger than I am now myself. Times really have changed, but I digress.

Elocution lessons! Dr Carrington was clearly of the opinion that a South London accent would be highly detrimental in later life and had to be smoothed out in order for a boy to get anywhere in the world. I wonder how he would have felt if he had been able to see Lord Sugar on the television stating ‘Yer fired’ in his East End accent. Strange to tell but my career was spent almost entirely in the shipping industry during which time I had a great deal of contact with East End freight forwarders who were the salt of the earth and knew shipping backwards but seemed to regard anybody with an upper-class accent as being a bit of a twit. Anything that Miss Robinson had tried to instil into me was quickly dropped in favour of my South London, though by no means cockney, way of speaking and I was more than accepted. It also seems somewhat ironic that the curriculum at St Olave’s in the 1950s included teaching English boys how to speak English when in 2012 we read many schools face the situation where a large percentage of pupils do not understand the language at all.

The annual school play, which was overseen by Mr Hill, who was nicknamed ‘Benny’ for obvious reasons, was quite an event and the acting was of a very high standard. At least one of the boys that appeared regularly in these productions entered the profession and has frequently been seen on television. There were a number of consecutive nightly performances to which parents were invited, I believe, for a small charge which went towards production costs. The main hall became the venue for these performances, which were drawn from playwrights such as Shakespeare, and the dais was converted into a very realistic stage.

There was also a school orchestra and choir, and some choristers from the latter were recruited into the choirs of Southwark Cathedral and The Savoy Chapel. The orchestra gave ample support to the annual school play if required.

On occasions Dr Carrington would treat the school to musical recitals and all pupils would gather in the main hall in order to appreciate the performances. I recall one group of musicians were known as ‘The Marylebone String Quartet’ and, despite their undoubted talents, most boys were totally bored by their presentations. Having said that, it was better than suffering double maths or, worse still, Latin which was still taught at St Olave’s when I joined in 1954. I believe I am correct in saying Carrington gained his doctorate following his research and work on Pompeii so, no doubt, he had a great desire for Latin to be taught. Some students were quite linguistic and took to learning this language but I have to confess I was not one of them. Fortunately, after the first year, any boy that was clearly never going to master the subject was excused further torture and was able to drop Latin from his curriculum. I am certain Latin was of use, possibly even essential, for some students who were aiming for a certain career but it was totally useless to the greater majority.

I had been five years at the school before I came to gain another somewhat strange insight into Carrington’s views on education. Once a boy had reached the lower sixth he faced at least one period a week which was overseen by Carrington rather than one of the lesser teaching staff. My fate, and that of my contemporaries, was to be taught of the days of the early English settlers in North America and their lifestyle with reference to a book written around that time. At the end of the lesson we would be set homework on what we had learned and would be tested at the start of the next week’s lesson by being required to answer around twenty supposedly relevant questions. Any boy failing to answer a set percentage correctly was automatically awarded a Saturday detention, upon which I shall elaborate later. Most of us memorised dates, locations, names of settlers, voyage details and the like, but on one occasion we were asked to name the staple diet that prevailed during the winter of sixteen hundred and whatever. I don’t think any of us had a clue but the answer was ‘hog and hominy’ whatever that is. Funny to think I have remembered this right into the year 2012 and still do not really know exactly what it consists of apart from pork and certainly have never found the subject to arise in any subsequent conversation I have had. In the words of Sir Michael Caine, ‘Not a lot of people know that’, and by a strange coincidence this respected actor was born in St Olave’s Hospital, Rotherhithe!

In earlier reminiscences I mentioned the fact that the greater majority of students were not allowed to enter the school by the main entrance but were obliged to walk along the front of the building and use a side door. This rule was relaxed, however, on one occasion when the guttering and drain-pipes from the roof became loose. It was deemed too dangerous to walk immediately under these so everyone had to use the main door or covered playground to gain access. This took place at the same time as a particular song called ‘The Day That the Rains Came Down’ became very popular and entered the hit parade. Of course this was adopted by the school and the words adjusted to ‘The Day That the Drains Came Down’ before being sung at every opportunity. Whether this had the desired effect of annoying Carrington following the enforced relaxation of his rules we never really knew as he never made any comment on the subject. Obviously the repairs to the guttering and drains were absolutely essential, but I think the majority of boys would have preferred that some attention be paid to the main toilet block which was situated on the western side of the main playground and was built alongside the high wall of the warehouse which lay immediately to the north of the main school building. To say the least these positively stank and, apart from moments of dire necessity, were avoided by most pupils. In the heat of the summer months the stench could become quite unbearable whilst, in the winter without the provision of heating, they could become frozen up and were an extremely chilly area to have to visit. I am sure they were cleaned on a regular basis in accordance with the regulations of the day, but I am equally positive that in 2012 they would have been condemned outright.

The main school building itself dated from the 1890s and was quite unlike any modern educational establishment. Anyone entering through the main door would have found themselves in a fairly large entrance hall from which access could be gained to the main hall, cloakrooms, headmaster’s secretary’s office and a rather wide stairway. This led to a large first-floor landing from which you could reach the balcony around the hall, the library, the monitors’ common room, the music room and that most mysterious of places, the masters’ common room. I do not remember a single boy that could boast of having entered this hallowed sanctuary although I suppose there were some. You could gain access to the masters’ common room by either of two doors, one leading off the first floor landing as mentioned or a second which led onto the balcony. I have vivid memories of passing both of these doors at times when they had been opened and seeing clouds of smoke roll forth with a dense hazy atmosphere beyond. Clearly there were no restrictions or deterrents towards adults enjoying a smoke in those days although any boy caught so doing could expect an early interview with Dr Carrington. As I have already indicated the library also led off this first floor landing beyond which was the door to Carrington’s study. There was an excellent stock of books in the library and boys could always be seen browsing there at those times when this was permitted. Many of these were, of course, genuine browsers but some were there in order to catch the sounds emanating from Carrington’s study as he dealt with some poor miscreant in his time-honoured fashion. There was a second door leading into Carrington’s study from the balcony and, not infrequently, a boy could be seen waiting outside this door often for quite a considerable time. Everyone knew why he was there and what he could expect once he was invited to enter which, I have no doubt, was Carrington’s way of providing a deterrent to any other pupil contemplating mischief.

A further deterrent available to staff to help maintain discipline over and above writing ‘lines’ was Saturday morning detention. If a boy was sufficiently disobedient or disruptive his name was entered in the detention book and, after Friday morning assembly, Carrington would read out the names of those boys that were required to attend school the following morning. Everyone waited to see if Carrington would then indicate that he required to see a certain boy after the assembly had been dismissed. If this occurred everyone knew what it meant, a boy’s name had been entered in the detention book on more than one occasion during the week and, in addition to the two detentions, a further swifter penalty was about to be added. This did not cancel out either of the detentions, the first of which would be served the following day and the second at the end of the next week. The economic situation during the 1950s was such that many boys could not rely on their parents to provide generous amounts of pocket money so they found themselves Saturday jobs in order to earn a little cash. I say ‘Saturday jobs’ as, in those days, few if any businesses were open on a Sunday, so Saturday was the only day when there was an opportunity to find part-time work. Obviously, if a boy found himself in detention, any job he might have was put in jeopardy and he might request that he be sent up to see Carrington rather than risk his job by non-attendance. This was a bit of a gamble as it was not unknown for Carrington to administer immediate punishment and then add detention as well if he considered the offence warranted additional measures.

Although Dr Carrington was lord and master of all he surveyed and was a strict disciplinarian, I have also heard reports that he had another side to his character and was not unknown to offer financial support to some pupil and his parents who had fallen on hard times. His methods of maintaining discipline and order would, undoubtedly, have led to an investigation in 2012, but these were quite acceptable in the mid-twentieth century. In fact in later years I had a business colleague who had attended a famous residential public school during the1950s and we were inclined to compare notes. Whereas at St Olave’s only Carrington was allowed to administer the ultimate deterrent my acquaintance revealed that, at his school, this privilege was extended to all teaching staff and even down to those senior boys appointed as monitors. He further claimed that some monitors had a sort of contest which started at the beginning of each term to see which of them would be the first to draw blood from a boy’s backside! Rarely were teachers assaulted in those days which, in these more ‘enlightened’ times, appears to happen on a daily basis. So much for ‘progress’.

I have already reflected in an earlier submission how I learned, many years down the line from one of my former masters, that most of the teaching staff were as equally fearful of Carrington as were the boys but immediately opposite the school stood ‘The King of Belgium’. This place had a magnetic attraction for two or three of the masters, whom I shall not name, who used to nip across for a lunchtime pint on occasions, presumably pay day. It was an open secret, but they always entered the place by a side door rather than the main entrance which could be seen quite clearly from the school. Whether this was an attempt to avoid the gaze of the pupils, Carrington or both was never clear but grown men who were perfectly entitled to enter a pub for a beer did so in a rather surreptitious fashion in the manner of naughty schoolboys. The place is still there but has since been converted into a sort of wine bar/bistro and can no longer be regarded as a pub.

Although the school was always referred to as being in Tooley Street half of the building actually fronted onto Queen Elizabeth Street which led up to a junction with Tower Bridge Road. On the north-west corner of this junction, and backing onto the school playground, stood a small hut housing a snack bar which, during school hours, was strictly out of bounds to all students. This regulation became like a red rag to a bull to some more rebellious boys although, as nobody was allowed to leave the school premises during the day without express permission, it was extremely difficult to break the ruling. A rather hazardous solution was found by some who, during a morning, lunchtime or afternoon break, would deliberately kick a ball out of the school playground in the general direction of the snack bar. Permission would then be sought from a master or monitor to leave the school area to retrieve the ‘lost’ ball. If a lad was sufficiently quick he might just be able to purchase a meat pie or some other such trophy from the snack bar and smuggle it back into the school but, should this be detected, an appointment with Carrington was guaranteed with the usual results.

The science labs were at the top of the main building on the second floor. There were a number of science masters including ‘Taffy’ Stevens who obviously hailed from Wales. Another master, who had a rather dusky eastern complexion and was awarded the unkind nickname of ‘Soapy’ as a result as he looked as if he needed a wash, travelled to and from Tooley Street on a motor cycle. He was very likeable and seemed to do his bit for road safety by continually stressing to any classes he took that his machine was of 500cc but he never rode it at over 30 mph. Maybe this was his way of instilling road sense into boys who might well purchase a similar machine within a few years. Please bear in mind it was quite unusual to see anybody from the sub-continent or West Indies in those days and racism had yet to really rear its ugly head. The chap had a dark complexion and that was that with no racism intended.

The laboratory technician was a chap called Wren and it became a sort of tradition for boys to listen out for ‘Taffy’ Stevens summoning assistance by hollering out ‘WREN’ at the top of his voice in his Welsh accent which would echo around the several laboratories. I suspect that these science labs were quite primitive compared with modern standards but were apparently well able to support ‘experiments’ whether these were being legitimately supervised or not. I was not actually at the school when the following took place and I can only assume that I was either at the Dulwich sports grounds or off sick but I know there was a great hue and cry after it occurred. It seems that the majority of pupils were in class or going about other approved activities when an almighty explosion rocked the building blowing out some of the science lab windows in the process. The official story was that there had been an unfortunate ‘accident’ in a storage area but rumours were rife that a small number of students had found a recipe for making a crude sort of explosive. There were no such things as a World Wide Web or Google in those days so goodness knows where it came from. An ‘unspillable’ inkwell, a familiar object in schools during the 1950s, had been emptied, dried out and packed with whatever had been concocted and a crude fuse inserted through the top. I think a sort of indoor firework had been anticipated but the recipé was most effective with the aforementioned results. I have a feeling that those responsible did not remain at the school for long after the incident.

At the western end of the main building was an annexe which stood on arches above the covered playground. Above this on the first floor were the woodwork and metalwork rooms and on the second floor was the gym. All these were accessed by a spiral stairway in what was known as the tower and this stairway actually went a little further up past the door to the gym and opened out onto a balcony which overlooked the gym at one end rather like a minstrel’s gallery. This was where the boys actually changed into their gym gear before descending the spiral staircase once again to enter the gym itself.

Although I never had any first-hand experiences myself I have been told that one gym tutor would occasionally force a boy to jump from the balcony down onto the gym floor rather than go via the winding stairway. I would guess that this was from a height of around ten feet or more and I have heard it alleged that this resulted in broken limbs on more than one occasion. Just how this was allowed I really don’t know but it seems to have been if the stories are true.

The art room was situated at the top of the New Building which was to the east of the main building of the 1890s. The close proximity to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London could provide something of a bonus during art lessons if the weather was fine. When I joined the school the art master was a Mr Middleton but he soon retired and was replaced by a much younger, rather Bohemianlike, gentleman who I think was called Mr Sleeman or something similar. He was quite a pleasant, talented, young man but had some trouble in maintaining order. In order to assist in this somewhat difficult task he would occasionally take an entire class on an outing across the river to the Tower where we would sketch and paint our interpretations of life in the Pool of London. Yet again I have vivid recollections of the smell of the River Thames under a hot summer sun which was quite unique and cannot be explained. It has now been confined to history with the clean-up efforts of more recent years. These treats were only granted to the best behaved forms and worked quite well in maintaining order but he could still face insubordination from junior classes. I actually left St Olave’s at the end of 1959 so, during my last term at the school, I had many ‘free’ periods along with one or two boys who were in the same situation. We were, of course, all in the lower sixth by that time and aged around seventeen. I have to confess that I and the others were encouraged to sit in on many of the classes Mr Sleeman conducted when the younger, more rowdy, pupils were present and act as sort of ‘deputies’. We would actually sit in the storeroom out of sight but, if things got out of hand, we would be called upon to show our faces and that was enough to quieten things down and we never had to do any more. I often wonder what Mr Sleeman did in the spring term of 1960 when his ‘deputies’ had left to earn their living in the great outside world, but I guess I will never know.

It is a fact that he was not the only member of staff that had the misfortune of finding it difficult to keep order whilst others, without ever seemingly trying, had mastered the art. Please excuse the pun. The rather diminutive Mr Buck was very adept at maintaining a quiet class with his characteristic question, ‘Whatever do these boys think they are doing?’ That was quite enough to calm things down despite his height of around five feet whilst other, far taller men, struggled.

Not all subjects had dedicated rooms, and many lessons were conducted in ordinary form-rooms of which there were quite a number. The master specialising in a particular subject would make his way to the appropriate form-room and take a lesson. Many had their own unique way of instilling learning, for instance ‘Old King’ Cole who taught history, would act out historic events before the class prancing to and fro like some amateur thespian. Mr Creed, the German tutor, gave all his students German names and would conduct the lesson entirely in German. I was ‘Sebastian’ and it was known for a fact by the boys that Herr Creed had commanded a U-Boat in World War II although I seem to remember discovering much later that he was as English as the rest of us. Geoff Chapman taught geography and was extremely patriotic, frequently pointing out what advantages certain countries had gained through being part of the British Empire which later, of course, was to become known as the Commonwealth. Most masters wore the traditional gown and Mr ‘Jack’ Hawkins, Deputy Head, who taught English had one that appeared to have got mixed up with a shredding machine. There was also a Mr Jones, who, although Welsh was a fanatical cricket fan, one assumes Glamorgan, and boys could often cut a lesson short by asking about the latest cricket scores the moment he appeared. Mr PG Ramm, Maths, once caused a whole form to collapse in laughter during one geometry lesson when he calmly announced that he was aware that many boys found basic geometry quite boring but, as we got older and progressed, we would start to notice some very interesting curves. I honestly do not think he ever realised why there was such uproarious hilarity from the entire class.

Eventually, just before Christmas in 1959, my days as an ‘Olavian’ came to a close and I walked out of the school gates as a pupil for the very last time to find myself within the ranks of the ‘Old Olavians’ two months before my seventeenth birthday which was a bit awe-inspiring. I sometimes reflect on just how many other boys had done exactly the same during the 75 years or so the Tooley Street building housed St Olave’s School. The intake of new boys when I joined in 1954 was around 100 and, if this serves as a guide, it would be somewhere in the region of 7,500 students.

Equally I wonder how many remember their days at STOGS, Tooley Street and have similar memories to mine? I know for a fact there are others as, during the spring of 2011, I made a sort of pilgrimage by taking a cruise to Norway and visited Trondheim Cathedral, the possible final resting place of St Olaf. Imagine my surprise when I mentioned to our guide that I had attended St. Olave’s School in London and a voice from within our party off the same ship said, ‘And so did I’.

May I close by quoting a couple of lines from The School Song:

Though far away they seem to us, those mighty days of youth,

And things may look a dream to us that once were naked truth.

Upon reflection those days do not actually seem so far away and look just a dream but appear to have been no more than a year or two back. Sadly, however, those mighty days of youth have gone and in 2012 my unbroken record of attending every single Old Olavian annual reunion since I left the school came to an end due to a severe attack of sciatica. I now wait with anticipation in the hope that Olaf will right my wrong and I will be back on parade on future occasions.

Chairman of the Governors

S. Hibberdine, Esq., B.Sc., F.R.I.C.S.

Vice-Chairman of the Governors

The Revd Professor P. Galloway, OBE, JP, PhD, DLitt, FSA

Foundation Governors

Appointed by the Lord Bishop of Rochester:

R.P. Highmore, Esq., M.A

M.H. Lovett, Esq., F.C.I.B.

Appointed by the Rochester Diocesan Board of Education:

The Revd H.A. Atherton, M.A., M.Th., B.Sc., F.G.S., Dip.Ed.

I. Ketchin, Esq.

The Revd B. McHenry, CBE, M.A., B.A.

Appointed by the Chapter of Southwark Cathedral:

N. Grenside, Esq.

Appointed by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge acting jointly:

M.A. Edwards, Esq., M.A., M.Sc., A.C.A.

Appointed by the Senate of the University of London:

The Revd Professor P. Galloway, OBE, JP, PhD, DLitt, FSA.

Appointed by the Dulwich Estate:

S. Hibberdine, Esq., B.Sc., F.R.I.C.S.

Appointed by the Special Trustees of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals acting jointly: Councillor N.R. Reddin, F.C.C.A.

Elected Parent Governors

Miss J. Cattell, LLB, TEP

Mrs S. Chaudhary, M.A., B.Ed.

R. Senior, Esq., M.A., ACMA

A. Wright-Jones, Esq., B.A.

Elected Staff Governors

Mrs K.S. Brooker

Mrs C. Johnson, B.Sc.

A. Kenward, Esq., B.A. (Ed)

Local Authority Governor

Councillor J. Grainger.

Associate Governor St. Olave’s Grammar School

A. Stoneham, Esq.

Ex Officio

A. Önaç, Esq., B.Mus., BSc., ARCM, FRSA

Clerk to the Governors

R. Walters, Esq., M.A., ACA

Assistant Staff

R.N. Archer, Esq., B.Ed. (Hons), Loughborough University

A.T. Henley, Esq., B.Sc., M.Sc., C.Math, M.I.M.A., Univ. Coll. Cork & South Bank University

C.E. Davies, Esq., B.A., A.T.D., M.A., Universities of Wales, Bristol & London

D.M.G. Craig, Esq., B.A., M.Phil., Bristol University & King’s College, London

L.J. Ward, Esq., B.Sc., M.Sc., University of Sussex & City University

N. Maltman, Esq., M.A., Pembroke College, Cambridge

Mrs. S.L. Beston, M.A., St Catherine’s College, Oxford

P.E. Holland, Esq., B.Ed. (Hons), Brunel University

A.M. Kenward, Esq., B.A.(Ed.) (Hons), University of Exeter

Mrs. H.C. Cooley, B.Ed. (Hons), University of Sussex

D. Bowden, Esq., B.A., University of Lancaster

Mrs. R. Maxwell, B.A., University of Manchester

Mrs. M.T. Morinan, B.A., B.Sc., M.Sc., M.R.S.C., National University of Ireland & Open University.

Ms C.E. Marwood, B.Sc., The Open University; L.R.A.M., Dip. R.A.M.

Mrs. D.A. Ott, B.Sc., University of Sheffield

Miss M.F. Sullivan, B.A., Westfield College, London University

Ms S.K. Wilcox, B.A., Goldsmiths’ College, London University

Mrs. J.M. Cooke, B.Sc., University of Wales

Mrs. P. Garton, B.Sc.,University of Kent

Mrs. J. Upsdell, B.A., University of Surrey

Ms J. Bradley, B.Sc., PhD, King’s College & Royal Free School of Medicine, London

Mrs. C. Johnson, B.Sc., University of Nottingham

Mrs. D.E. Lewis, B.Sc., University of Portsmouth

Mrs. D.A. Storrs-Fox, B.A., University of Southampton

Ms G.C. Gardiner, M.A., Newnham College, Cambridge

Mrs. E.J. Kite, B.Sc., B.A., University of Birmingham & The Open University

Mrs. S.J. Wallace, B.A., MPhil., PhD, University of Lancaster & Christ’s College, Cambridge

Ms B. Onifade, B.Sc., PhD, University of Central England

Mrs. J.S. Penny, B.Sc., Royal Holloway College, London University

T.M.W. Conway, Esq., B.A., University of Kent

J.A. Greenwood, Esq., B.Sc., University of Bradford

Mrs. K.A. Hodges, M.Eng., St. Catherine’s College, Oxford

M.G. Price, Esq., M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge

Mrs. P. Padmore, B.Sc., University of Sussex

Miss M. Delage, Master 1, Universite de Limoges

Mrs. V.E. Watson, B.A., University of Sussex

L.D. Espejo, Esq., M.A., University of St. Andrews

Mrs E.A. Goodman, B.A., University of York

Miss R.E. Hawley, B.A., Middlesex University

Miss A. Wilkie, M.A., B.A., University of Warwick & Goldsmiths’ College, London

Miss E. Amonoo-Kuofi, B.Eng., Aston University

G. Buckley, Esq., B.Sc., University of Sheffield

D.J. Budds, Esq., M.A., St. Peter’s College, Oxford

A.R. Gyford, Esq., MSci., University College, London University

Miss S.L. Heraghty, B.A., Loughborough University

P.S. Holton, Esq., M.A., B.A., University of Sheffield Hallam & University of Loughborough

Ms. C.M. Knight, M.A., Selwyn College, Cambridge

Mrs S.G. Latcham, B.A., University College, London University

T.A McCurrach, Esq., MMath., Magdalen College, Oxford

J.R. White, Esq., B.Sc., University of Bath

Mrs J. M. Munday, M.A., Christ’s College, Cambridge

Mrs K. I. Steel, B.A., PhD, Oxford & University of Southampton

Miss H. Baguley, B.Sc., Bristol University

Miss F. T. Marche, M.Phys., St. Edmund Hall, Oxford

S. V. Ng, Esq., M.Phys., University of Sussex

Miss D. N. Ellis, B.Sc., Pembroke College, Cambridge

D. R. Shilling, M.Cam., Bournemouth and Poole College

J. Geoghegan, Esq., B.A. University of Durham

Mrs. S. L. Beard, B.A., University of East Anglia

T. A. Martin, Esq., B.A., University of Reading

A. Lake, Esq., B.A., University of Nottingham

Miss L. G. Dunlop, B.A., University of Sussex

Valete

Richard Booth