SCHOOL NOTES 2014

Academic Olave’s Ofsted

Undoubtedly the highlight of the school year was the outcome of the inspection on 6-7 March which concluded:

Achievement of pupils Outstanding

Quality of teaching Outstanding

Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding

Leadership and management Outstanding Overall effectiveness Outstanding

I have read many Ofsted reports over the years but few that are so completely full of superlatives as this. The inspectors also judged the Sixth Form to be outstanding, noting the value of the students clubs, academic journals and mentoring of younger pupils. The outstanding achievement of girls was attributed to the careful support they receive during transition. They had high praise for the way the curriculum promotes students’ scholarship and curiosity. They noted the enormous range of extracurricular activities and distinguished outside speakers. Teachers were praised for having very high expectations and setting challenging targets. I was particularly pleased that they found student behaviour in class and around school to be outstanding; that their spiritual development is promoted exceptionally well so that they mature into considerate, thoughtful young adults. The report is, I believe, a just reward for the endeavours of the whole Olavian community who can take great pride in this resounding endorsement of the excellence which characterises our ancient, and very special, St Olave’s Grammar School.

Examination results 2014

Once again we are all delighted with the achievement of our students.

At Advanced level:

95% of grades at A* to B

Nearly three-quarters of grades at A* or A

28 students with 3 or more A* grades

Telegraph 2nd best state school with mixed 6th Form

88.1% A/B grades at AS level (school record)

At GCSE:

88% of grades at A* or A (school record)

53% at A*

25 students with 9 or more A* grades

Top student Jeevan Ravindran gained 12.5 A*s Telegraph 2nd best Boys’ state school

We were delighted that 53 of our students successfully gained the grades to take up their places at Cambridge, Oxford or Medical College. We take a great pride in their successes, just as we do for all of our students, who are receiving offers from top universities such as Imperial, Bristol, UCL, Durham, etc. It has been a real privilege to work with all of them, to share in their endeavours and to celebrate their triumphs.

Celebrations

In September, Senior Prize-giving, in which we celebrate excellence in academic achievement and other cultural activities saw special guest and Old Olavian, Sir Roger Sims JP, present the prizes. His fascinating address covered a wartime posting in Berlin, careers in The City, a journey across Africa and some extraordinary encounters with Monarchs and Prime Ministers. In June, the Lower School Celebration saw prize winners and proud parents gather in The Great Hall with former Captain of School, Mr Alex Allen, giving an inspiring address on his time at St Olave’s and his work as an engineer with Network Rail. In the buoyant Congratulations Evening successful applicants from a wide range of schools received a warm welcome and were able to mix informally with staff and with their new peers. The 453rd Service of Commemoration took place in the spectacular setting of Southwark Cathedral with the Rt Revd Lindsay Urwin and with the choir on particularly fine form.

Sixth Form Events

The academic year commenced with Year 12 induction at Blackland Farm for team-building, abseiling and forging friendships for the future. The new Scholarship Fortnight then inspired students to aspire to the highest levels of academic excellence with Senior Scholarship Evening celebrating the finest independent research of our Senior students; the launch of the Medics’ Society, the Law Society and the Academic Journals; Harvard Outreach UK focusing on differences between US and UK university admissions; the Symposium Series where Old Olavians studying at prestigious universities presented university-level talks; and a talk by Jenny Medland of Mansfield College, Oxford, who gave an Oxbridge Application Workshop. Senior students presented their EPQs, covering a veritable cavalcade of scholarship in astonishing depth.

A packed crowd of about 2000 students and parents attended the Sixth Form Open Evening. I was particularly pleased to hear positive comments about the maturity of the student ambassadors and the quality of their presentations.

Jennifer Barton of Durham University gave helpful advice on university application and personal statements as part of

On UCAS Day, A panel of recent leavers offered the student perspective, covering the joys of offers and the heart-ache of rejection.

Leavers’ Ball was a rousing farewell to Year 13 students. The Great Hall hosted speeches from the Headmaster, the Director of Sixth Form and Captain of School, Skanda Rajasundaram, before coaches took students to the Grand Ball at Oakley House.

Further enlightenment was provided by the Woodard Leadership Course at Worksop College, attended by our Captains of School, and a talk by Professor Sarah Coakley of Merton College, Oxford, on ‘Evolutionary Altruism’.

Other Events

We welcomed back Old Olavians Mr Chris Harris, Mr Chris Irving, Mr John King and Mr Richard White, as well as veteran Mr Graham Milne who, together with Captain of School, laid the wreaths at our annual Remembrance Day assembly.

5 students were confirmed by the Rt Revd Michael Turnbull, former Bishop of Durham and of Rochester. Year 9s attended the Livery Companies Showcase Event at Apothecaries’ Hall, for an insight into careers from the Worshipful Companies of Salters and Upholsterers. A massive crowd of over 3000 parents and children visited the school for Open Morning in June.

Internationalism

Iwas very excited when the British Council approved our bid for a Connecting Classrooms link with La Martiniere School for Girls, Kolkata, India. Initial staff exchanges saw Vice Principal Mrs Sarkar and teacher Mrs Mukherjee spend a week at St Olave’s with a subsequent visit of two of our staff to Kolkata. We shall be working together on student exchanges and curriculum projects with a focus on Global Citizenship and sustainability. We also welcomed students from Goudse Waarde, a top bilingual school in the Netherlands, to further broaden our students’ international perspectives.

Sixth Form Art students visited Copenhagen, taking in The Louisiana Museum with works by Rothko, Bacon, Moore and Kandinsky, before a visit to the famous ‘Little Mermaid’ sculpture, who was coincidentally celebrating her 100th birthday. Others returned from trips and exchanges in France, Germany and Spain; visited to the sites of ancient Greece; did geography fieldwork on the glaciers of Iceland or enjoyed financial and political experiences in Washington and New York.

Three World Challenge groups survived monthlong expeditions in Honduras, Laos and Thailand. 28 boys completed the Croatia Junior World Challenge expedition in August, trekking up canyons in Paklenica, kayaking down white water, and protecting camp and tents from a vicious ‘Bora’ wind. Others experienced bush-craft in Penshurst, biology in Nettlecombe and Gold expeditions in Snowdon.

In the Cricket tour of Antigua the Juniors managed to win four out of five fixtures and the Seniors two out of five. Other highlights included a catamaran trip, a jeep safari around the island, and meeting one of the greats of the game – Sir Viv Richards. More recently our rugby squad enjoyed a splendid tour of Barcelona.

European Week of Languages provided colourful assemblies with Karaoke singing in French, German, Spanish or Portuguese; Spanish dancing, led by Flamenco guitarist, Juaina Garcia, and themed lunch menus such as Chicken Fricassée with Haricot Vert, Spanish Omelette, Italian Lasagne and German Frankfurter with Sauerkraut tempted the taste-buds. The International Peace Poetry Recital heard pupils recite poems and listen to recordings from pupils in Syrian refugee camps, the Lebanon, and our partner school, La Martiniere for Girls. Sifundo Msebele was inspirational with two of her favourite poems, performed with musical soundtracks. This year’s Cultural Evening was, once again, a highlight of the Michaelmas term, with musical presentations, poems and a colourful fashion show, and representation from all over the globe. It was no surprise that the exotic, international 5* food disappeared in minutes!

Science has been buzzing with successes

Caterina Hall, Isabella Inzani, Aarushi Khanna, Uroosa Chughtai and Alexandros Adamoulas were awarded Gold medals in the 1st round of the Biology Olympiad placing them in the top 6%. Aarusha and Uroosa have been invited to attempt the 2nd round for selection to represent the UK in the International Biology Olympiad in Bali. Elena Rastorgueva won 1st Prize in the Cassini Scientist for a Day competition; she has been invited to carry out work with Professor Carl Murray at the Queen Mary University, as well as having her entry published by the European Space Agency. Rebecca Daramola won the Royal College of Science Union (Imperial College) Science Challenge 2014 with her essay on a question set by Pallab Ghosh. She came away with a trophy, a substantial cash prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to Cern. Eamon Hassan was awarded a Gold certificate in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge; nine students gained Silver and 5 Copper. Year 12 students Akhilesh Amit, Kush Banga and Chandan Dodeja also gained Silver certificates in the Chemistry Olympiad. Leo Bennett, Alec Hong, Eugene Lee, Nicholas Leigh and James Tang won the competition at the Centre for Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology (CoMPLEX) at UCL and Adam Stagg was invited to his investiture into the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers as part of his Arkwright Scholarship award. Well done to all these students and to Rebecca Daramola and Lucy Morrell for establishing the new Experimental Chemistry Society.

Mathematical Olympiads

Congratulations to the 13 Years 7s and 8s who qualified for the prestigious Junior Mathematical Olympiad. Samuel Mellis was awarded a Bronze medal and Alexander Song completed an amazing year with a Gold medal.

13 students qualified for the Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad, with Tom Wang winning a Certificate of Distinction and Alec Hong a medal plus book prize, placing him in the top 50 in the country. 41 students qualified for the Kangaroo round, with 16 finishing in the top 25% of this select cohort.

This year’s Senior Mathematical Challenge produced a record 37 Gold, 116 Silver and 128 Bronze. Congratulations to Alastair Haig and the 6 students who qualified for the 1st round of the British Mathematical Olympiad, and to the 23 who qualified for the Senior Kangaroo Mathematics follow on round. Alexander Song, Year 8, went on to produce 4 perfect solutions in the difficult BMO Round 1, aimed primarily at Sixth Formers. Following the even more challenging BMO Round 2, he was invited as the youngest of 22 students nationally to attend the UK Mathematics Olympiad Initial Training Camp at Queen’s College, Oxford.

Chess

Anantha represented England in the FIDE World Youth Chess Championship in Abu Dhabi, where 1773 players from 121 countries were competing, finishing as the 2nd best England U12 player and the 4th best player overall out of the England squad of 24. He then went on to win the U12 British Championship at Aberystwyth, without losing a single game and, as part of the National Junior Chess Squad, jointly won the Under 12 section of the 4th Junior International at the Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar.

Art

Art students visited: the White Cube gallery in Bermondsey and the Paul Klee exhibition at the Tate Modern, exploring the juxtaposition of architectural styles; the Michael Landy Saints exhibition with its collection by Caravaggio, Rubens, Van Dyck and Turner; the National Illustrators Award exhibition at Somerset House; ‘500 Years of British Art’ exhibit at the Tate Britain and the contemporary Saatchi Gallery, all providing inspiration for future work. Year 7s enjoyed a day at the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate Modern, the Wallace Collection, with its most famous painting, the Laughing Cavalier by Franz Hals. Christopher Page won the youth section of the national Landscape Photographer of the Year. His £1000 winning photo was in the Sunday Times and featured in a 2 month exhibition in the National Theatre foyer. The endeavours of GCSE, AS and A level students were displayed to an appreciative audience at the splendid summer Art Exhibitions.

National Poetry Day Humanities,

Raunak

Rao captained the Kent U18 team to a tremendous 2nd place in the National Youth Chess Association tournament; he also came 2nd in a World Chess Association rated tournament at Coulsdon and is currently ranked among the top 30 U18 FIDE-rated players in England. More recently, despite being one of the youngest teams in the competition, St Olave’s secured 3rd place in the Millfield International Chess tournament, maintaining our unbroken run of top 3 places for the last decade. In the Annual Kent Junior Grand Prix Chess Raunak became the third consecutive Olavian to win the U18 title, having been top of the leader board throughout the year; Anantha Anilkumar, Year7, won the under 14 title. To crown the achievement StOGS, won the secondary school championship for the 7th consecutive year, 160 plus points ahead of the 2nd placed Sevenoaks School.

Literature and Poetry. Literature Society celebrated National Poetry Day with recitals of works by John Donne, Dylan Thomas, T. S. Eliot and original poems by Jack Bradfield and Fintan Calpin. Joelle Taylor, Artistic Director of SLAMbassadors UK, was inspirational in her performances of ‘Last Poet Standing’. She, Alan Brownjohn and Sifundo Msebele were celebrity guests at the Poetry for an enlightened age event that we organised with The RSA in The Bronte Room of The British Library.

The competition to write a 100 word story with a twist produced some entertaining winners with Oliver Bennett’s take on ‘The Three Little Pig’s and Fergus Macdonald’s ‘Tis Pizza She’s a Whore’. In the regional final of the Cambridge Schools’ Debating Competition, our team came 2nd in a tightly fought contest. At Blenheim Palace His Grace, the Duke of Marlborough, offered a warm welcome to students in the National Sir Winston Churchill Speaking Competition where the Rt Hon Michael Fallon spoke eloquently about democracy before Carrie Grant encouraged students to speak form the heart.

Christopher Tower Poetry Prize

Congratulations to Jack Bradfield whose poem

‘Helmets’ has been long-listed for the Christopher Tower Poetry Prize headed by poet and academic Peter McDonald at Christ Church, Oxford; to Richard Decker who reached the final of the national Poetry by Heart competition in a high-life weekend with dinner at Planet Hollywood, mixing in illustrious company with Sir Andrew Motion and presenter of Radio 4’s Poetry Please, Roger McGough; and to Ivan Tregear who gained a Distinction with 92 marks in his LAMDA Grade 6 (Bronze medal) Speaking of Verse and Prose examination.

Understanding WW1

As part of understanding WW1, Year 8s saw a performance of ‘Back to Blighty’ exploring the lives of the working classes and the aristocracy in 1914. They then focussed on the role of women, General Haig’s motivational speech and the plight of the soldiers with shell shock, before a poetry workshop on ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ preceded a sonnet writing competition. History students developed their knowledge with visits to the National Army Museum and to the WW1 battlefields of Ypres, the Somme and Dunkirk which saw the 1940 evacuation of the British Army. Year 9s also had a focus day on conscientious objectors in the WW1 writing poetry from the objectors’ perspective, learning how they were treated to criticism, hard labour camps and even the death penalty.

Cultural Day

AKS3 cultural day took in backstage at the National Theatre, a Pounds and Pence presentation at The Bank of England, the Elgin Marbles and the ‘Mummies’ Exhibition at the British Museum, where Classicists also studied the narrative within the metopes which adorned the external elevations of the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis. Cross-curricular days considered Who was Jack the Ripper? and an attempt to create a Utopian society.

Target 2.0

Well done to the Target 2.0 team - Michelle Vero, Shunta Takino, Lucas Bertholdi-Saad and Musab Shamekh – who narrowly missed the top prize in the Shadow Bank of England Competition at St Paul’s School.

Music

In a unique concert at Windsor Castle our Choristers of the Queen’s Chapel of The Savoy joined forces with those from the other Royal Chapels to mark Her Majesty the Queen’s 60-year reign. A packed Great Hall hosted the splendid Christmas Concert; particularly impressive was the Chamber Orchestra, with a string section that would be the envy of any school. Mid-Term Concerts served as a showcase for our Junior ensembles and many aspiring solo performers like Eric and Ivan Leung, Violinist Lucy Morrell, Junior Jazz, Summer Strings, Guitar Group and the Morrell Piano Duo.

The St Olave’s Jazz Band, resplendent in Hawaiian shirts, brought the house down in the Bromley Schools’ Prom at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon. The annual Jazz Spectacular was a great evening of musical entertainment with impressive solos from Samuel Wootten and Aaron Lewns. Guest saxophonist Derek Nash’s stunning improvisations left us in no doubt about the reasons for his having performed with the likes of Jools Holland and Sir Paul McCartney. At the PA Summer Fun Day the school shook to the beat of Olavian Sambistas as each Year 8 form explored the rhythmic verve of Brazil. Showstoppers showcased a fine display of musical, dance and dramatic talent to round off the light entertainment side of the musical year.

In a fine Easter Concert the full Symphony Orchestra opened with a resounding Beethoven Symphony No. 1; Wind Band surprised us with the revelries of Meji’s Dutch Masters Suite; and the choirs reflected the strength of choral music at St Olave’s.

Stefan Beckett, now on a scholarship at the Royal College of Music, featured in the BBC2 percussion final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year; Lucy Morrell gained Distinction in her Grade 7 ABRSM Organ examination and Richard Decker, our former BBC Chorister of the Year 2012, was presented with the Chancellor’s Medal of The Duchy of Lancaster for his outstanding service to music at The Queen’s Chapel of The Savoy. Students spent an afternoon at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for a matinee performance of Bizet’s classic, ‘Carmen’; others attended the BrightSparks concert at the Royal Festival Hall, given by the LPO with a varied programme including GCSE set works and the highlight - a performance of the ‘Lord of the Rings Suite’!

Drama

The Shakespeare Triology saw three of Shakespeare’s finest plays each reduced to 35 minutes: ‘Richard III’, set in the 1930s to a soundtrack of live jazz, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ accompanied by Motown music, and a modern day ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. Daniel Finucane, Alicia Harris, Peter Debenham and Jack Bradfield gave outstanding performances of ‘The 39 Steps’, a parody of the famous Hitchcock film, much to the enjoyment of the audience and, we hope, the visiting examiner. KS3 students performed ‘Hearts’ at The Marlowe Theatre as part of the National Theatre Connections scheme, giving the students their first taste of performing in a professional theatre and even enjoying their own dressing rooms!

In the well-established Olavian tradition of top quality student directed plays, ‘Elling’ lived up to expectations with a polished production and quirky interpretation by Jack Bradfield and Matthew Roberts. Mithiran and Jeevan Ravindran did a wonderful job directing Arthur Miller’s dark and passionate tale,’ A View from the Bridge’.

An off-the-wall production of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’, performed by just four actors, came to The Great Hall bringing to life next year’s A2 text. Members of Theatre Society visited The Young Vic to see Kander and Ebb’s exciting and provocative musical ‘The Scottsboro Boys’ and The Duke of York Theatre to see ‘P G Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster: A Perfect Nonsense’. Others from the Sixth Form Culture Club went to see the revival of Matthew Bourne’s ‘Swan Lake’ at Sadler’s Wells, emerging inspired by the male ensemble of swans who dispelled any idea that ballet is stuffy and boring!

Congratulations to Jay Routh whose play ‘The Least Fun A Girl Can Have’ made the shortlist in The National Theatre New Views playwriting competition, receiving a reading at The National Theatre; and to Ivan Tregear who has landed the lead role of Zack in a new animation series for Nickelodeon, which is recording this year.

Technology

In our highest achievement yet Team Linear won 2nd place at the final of the Design Ventura competition, narrowly missing out on 1st place and receiving great feedback from designer Sebastian Conran. In the World Skills competition, our team won 2nd place and a Silver WSC award in the Mobile Robotics section from visiting celebrity judges, Nick Clegg and Theo Paphitis. For the second year running Abhay Gupta and Eddie Ho won a place to represent St Olaves at the final of the Jaguar Maths in Motion competition and in the VEX Robotics Final at the NEC, Birmingham, the Year 11 team returned with the ‘build’ trophy for the second year running. Well done to Bradley Sawyer who won 1st prize in the Stoneham Kitchen of the Future design competition, claiming not only his own prize, but also £500 for the school to spend on equipment.

Sport

The 1st XV Rugby season saw some notable victories against Colfe’s, London Oratory, Rochester Maths, Brighton Hove and Wallington. The season climaxed as the squad reached the last 16 of the Natwest Vase competition. The 1st XI Football team also had an excellent season starting with an unbroken run of 5 wins out of 5 matches. The Barcelona tour was a well-deserved highlight for those who have shown real leadership, dedication and commitment to representing the school.

Another successful Fives season saw victories against Westminster School, Harrow, Berkhamsted and Eton College. In the Rossall Schools’ Championships, Tomas

Gallagher won the U15 Singles; Kieran Walton and James Tate won the U15 Doubles. The Adult Midlands Championships saw William Edmonds and William Belsham become the youngest pair to ever win the ‘Festival’. In the Richard Barber Cup at Eton College, the Old Olavians with William Phillips, Josh Ravi and Kieran Walton demolished Shrewsbury school in the final to retain the title for the third year in a row. The U14s won the three-pair Team Cup held at Harrow School. In the Adult Northern Championships held at Shrewsbury School, Chukwunenyem Nwuba and Tomas Gallagher became the youngest pair ever to take the title in the Festival section. In the National Schools’ Championships at Eton College, involving over 1000 pupils from schools all over England and Wales, U16s Chukwunenyem Nwuba and Tomas Gallagher defeated the second seeds from Highgate in the Semi-Finals to earn a place in the Final against Shrewsbury; U14s Kieran Walton and James Tate won their Semi-Final to reach the Final against Highgate.

In Cricket the Year 9 squad won the Bromley Cup and the Year 10s retained their title in the Bromley Cup Festival of Cricket. Sohayl Ujoodia was selected for the Kent Cricket U14 Boys Winter Training Squad 2014 and was invited by the England Cricket Board to attend a Talent Test at the National Centre at Loughborough University. The Antigua tour rounded off a fine season.

Our swimmers dominated the Kent County Schools’ Swimming Championships with Golds for Henry Rennolls, Felix Haslam, Michael Jacobs, Timothy Adelani and Molly Haynes and secured victory at the Sevenoaks School gala. At the LSSA Championships at Crystal Palace, St Olave’s finished 2nd out of 20 schools, with 11 Golds and 3 Silvers. Michael Jacobs and Molly Haynes were selected as part of the Bromley team; Felix Haslam and Jacob Gaskell were selected as part of the Aquathon team. Henry Rennolls won 2 Golds in the ASA regionals, both in National Qualifying Times, and will go on to compete in the National Championships in Sheffield. Henry also won Gold and the title English Schools Champion for the Junior Boys 100m freestyle at the ESSA National Inter-Divisional Championships. Particularly pleasing was the selection of Theodore Haslam for the Sainsbury’s 2014 School Games in Manchester– a huge event with alumni representing England and winning medals in the 2012 Olympics.

Thomas Young was selected to play for England at Korfball in their tour of Flanders; Jake Egelnick was selected for the Great Britain National Taekwondo Poomsae Squad and will be competing at international level in Germany this year; Alexander Jochim won a national U14 singles Tennis tournament at Sutton and is now ranked No. 7 nationally and No. 1 in Kent; Connor Stimson was selected to represent the sport of Archery for the London Youth Games. Charles Davis, Alexander

Leggatt and Joshua Davidson helped Bromley to finish 2nd in the Kent Schools Cross Country Championships with Charles, Alexander and William Ruiz selected to run for Kent in the SE counties division. In the West Kent Athletics Championships our Junior athletes outpaced all of the opposition to finish 1st out of 12 teams. The KS4 Badminton team progressed to the regional round of the National Schools Championships. The season concluded with Sports Day where, under cloudless skies, exciting races, good sportsmanship and broken records were all in plentiful supply.

Outdoor and other pursuits. I was pleased that Timothy Adelani, Alex Tse, Samuel Wells, Max HamiltonJenkins, David Giles, James Watson, Charles Kershaw, James Curling, Alexander O’Halloran, Charles Hallett, Alexander Bailey and James Fargie completed their Silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Well done to Toby Clarke, Kai Smith and Edward Parker Humphreys who have been selected for the World Scout Jamboree in Japan 2015, joining 40,000 Scouts from over 180 different countries; and to Taranpreet Bhoday who visited Australia to compete in the St John Ambulance International Cadet competition.

Charity

Support Staff

The school’s success is in good part generated by a magnificent team of staff who work tirelessly and with very special effectiveness to help those of us who are in front of the students. Their great expertise which lies in several areas be it in reception or in room ten or in the examination office or dealing with the fiscal side of the school is greatly appreciated. There are those too who brave the elements at all times to keep the school looking beautiful on the outside and those who keep the school looking sharp, tidy and well-presented on the inside. To those concerned we are very grateful.

LSEF and outreach

Festival ushered in the end of the Michaelmas term with a frenzy of fun and fund-raising. The Great Hall was transformed into an atmospherically lit venue for Cabaret evening, with an eclectic mix of Olavian talent ranged from the soulful vocals of Matipa Chieza to the witty verbal badinage of MCs Emmanuel Soyombo and Daniel Finucane. Favourites such as University Challenge and the traditional Just a Minute helped students raise £9,500 for our two chosen charities – Water Aid and the Jennifer Trust. I was touched by the generosity of students and parents who, in response to my appeal for a special Own clothes day, raised £4,109.55 for the Disaster Emergency Committee, D.E.C. Philippines Typhoon Appeal. It was pleasing to hear that the Woodard Langalanga Secondary School in Kenya, which our students supported 3 years ago, now has a roof on the school hall and the walls will soon be clad. Well done to Matthew Perry along with Dillan Patel, Oliver D’Costa, Charles Anderton and Dylan Evans who completed the Alphabet Tube Challenge, to raise funds for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

Staff development

36staff have completed the Outstanding Teacher Programme which is now fully embedded within St Olave’s ethos and INSET provision; 5 of them have also finished the Outstanding Facilitator Programme. A number of valued colleagues retired this year; some excellent new appointments have been made to the staff team.

St Olave’s was awarded a special role within Boris Johnson’s London Schools Excellence scheme. The school is running a project called PLASMA-T, Putting London ahead through Mathematics, Science and Technology, to support outreach work with colleagues across London schools in developing subject excellence, with a particular focus on programming, robotics and medicine. As part of this, St Olave’s welcomed staff from Imperial College’s Medical Faculty to run an event for aspiring medics. Year 12 students taught lessons in our Science Week at St Paul’s Cray Primary School, introducing new topics with practical demonstrations. 220 pupils from local Primary schools enjoyed a Maths and Science Day at St Olave’s, learning about Chromatography and Electromagnetism before a carousel of problems and a Mathematical orienteering competition.

Visiting speakers

The Olavian Lecture Series I hosted presentations by some very high-profile figures, including Lord Professor Robert Winston, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Robert Mulvaney. Series II is now underway and will host Dame Mary Archer and The Rt Hon Lord Butler of Brockwell. Other fascinating speakers, organised by student societies, have included Jo Johnson MP, Dr Lawrence Goldman, Mr Roy Cromb, Dr Andrew Lilico, Mr Chris Giles and many more.

Contributions

Parents and Old Olavians continue to support the school through these austere times. We remain grateful for the contributions made each year by the Old Olavian Society and the work of Chairman, Chris Harris. The PA Committee and the EEX group of parents have raised substantial sums through parental contributions, Auction of Promises, ‘own clothes day’, Leavers’ Posterity Bricks and the annual dinner which significantly enrich the experiences of our students and ensure ongoing links with the school through networking with former students. Ray Toomey (1959-1965), who was in the first Olavian team to win the Fives Barber Cup, visited the school from Australia. After graduating as a Civil Engineer he worked on the Thames Barrier, then on a

Dry Dock in Mombasa before settling in Australia with BHP, involved with marine works and tunnels.

Publications

Congratulations to Akhil Sonthi who has written and published his own Mathematics Handbook – a beautifully crafted ibook with clear, colourful diagrams to help GCSE students to grasp mathematical concepts. Old Olavian, Peter Leonard, also published his book The Olavian ‘Fallen’ and the Great War, 1914-1918, to coincide with the WW1 centenary. The ongoing rise of scholarly publications has seen recent editions of the new Classics Journal, the History magazine, the Medics’ Society Journal, Natural Sciences Society magazine and Volume 1 of the new Literature Society Journal, ‘For Words’.

Captain of School and Senior Prefects

We said thank you and farewell to an outstanding team, 2013-14: Captain, Skanda Rajasundaram; Vice Captains, Timothy Adelani, Charlie Bishop, Jordan Fisher, Sinead O’Connor and Zeinab Ruhomaly. We offer our congratulations to the new team for 201415: Captain, Teddy McAleer; Vice Captains, Matthew Allen, Jack Bradfield, Lucy Morrell, Abhishek Patel and Elena Rastorgueva.

Site development

Plans are now well underway for the development of two new Science laboratories with Planning Permission secured and work due to start on site in September 2014 for completion in January 2015. Emergency repairs to the internal structure of the Gym roof have resolved urgent health and safety problems. The telephone system has been replaced with upgrading of voice and data cabling in core areas of the School; emergency lighting provision around the School site has been upgraded. Repairs and/or replacement have taken place to part of Fives Court glass roof following storm damage, the roofs of the Chapel and Sports Hall, and to the Pavilion boilers. Remedial works to a number of trees around the site has allowed the re-opening and reinstatement of the cross-country track. A detailed survey of the school buildings has highlighted wideranging issues associated with lack of investment over a period of years. This indicates the need for minimum annual spending of circa £200,000 required simply to keep things going, within an estimated cost of circa £3.9 million over a five-year period to restore all buildings to optimum condition. This includes replacement of parts of the main School heating boiler and associated pipework and on-going problems with water penetration to the Fives Courts.

Support

We remain grateful for the generous support and guidance received from the Foundation, both in terms of annual funding and special support for the new Science development, without which our students’ education, endeavours and experiences would be substantially less enriched.

Summary

Ibelieve we can take great pride in concluding that 2013-14 has been another highly successful year for St Olave’s Grammar School, supporting our students in fulfilling the very highest aspirations and ambitions.

Aydin Önaç Headmaster