The Olavian 2019

Vol. 122 2019 Olavian Editor: David Craig Old Olavian Editor: John Brown Assistant Editor: Zarya Mekathotti

Toucan taken by James Kempton, an Old Olavian and PhD student at Wadham College, Oxford

Contents Contents Headteacher’s Introduction Editorial

3 4 5

Headteacher’s Report 2019

6

Staff 2019 Students’ Work Prize Day Sixth Form News 2019 Leavers’ Destinations

10 19 43 53 59

International Trips & Duke of Edinburgh

65

Mathematics & Computing Science English & Drama Chapel Music Modern Foreign Languages Humanities Sports Art, Design & Technology

77 85 93 99 103 109 121 139 145

Old Olavian

153

From the Headteacher

W

e started the academic year on a high note after an outstanding set of public examination results.

At Advanced Level, 93% of grades were at A* to B and it was particularly impressive that nearly a third of the grades were at A*. At GCSE, under the new grading system, 89% of grades were at 9 to 7, with 45% of the grades at 9.

Ofsted also paid us a visit on 6 and 7 February 2019.

It was immensely pleasing for everyone connected with St. Olave’s Grammar School that the current overall effectiveness of the school remained outstanding.

Inspectors looked in detail at how successful leaders are in proactively establishing an environment that supports pupils emotional, physical and mental well-being. The school’s work in this area has been transformed. It is best summed up by pupils and students: without fail, they feel very well supported and listened to. Parents are also highly positive. Their views echoed with one another, sharing comments such as ‘bigger focus on wellbeing’, ‘emphasis on pastoral care’ and ‘change has been so positive’. I know our community will take great pride in this resounding endorsement of the excellence which characterises our very special school.

Students still find time to engage in an impressive range of activities outside the classroom. Activities Weeks have seen students visit France, Germany, Greece and Belgium as well as various sites and places of interest around London and the South East. Students have also found time to pursue World Challenge expeditions in Croatia, a research trip to Malawi and a senior rugby tour to South Africa. Alongside these trips, we have celebrated Diwali, Black History Month and World Mental Health Day. The school has also welcomed visitors from La Martiniere in Calcutta and exchange students from Lille.

All these events, activities and achievements reflect the hard work, talent and determination of our students alongside the support of parents, governors and a committed and dedicated staff. It is a pleasure to read about all the student endeavours, and ensure they are documented as part of the ‘Olavian’ magazine.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this chapter of the life of the school. Together we make St. Olave’s a truly wonderful school.

Andrew Rees Headteacher

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Editorial M

y role as editor of the school magazine closes with this issue. In the task of editing and lay-out I have been assisted by Zarya Mekathotti, one of the very many brilliant students in this school to perform this task. In this respect she has been utterly brilliant.

One knows that the end of the road is nigh when one is invited to an exit interview: e tenebris lux. Was I to turn to Aeneid Book VI for inspiration? Was I to depart through the Gate of Horn or through the Gate of Ivory?

Though my terminus has been reached, the careers of my colleagues and the wonderful students have a long way yet to go. This magazine embraces the diversity of the school, its emphasis on pastoral care allied with academic success, and the width and depth of learning in its many facets.

I hope present students will enjoy reading this and realise how much they have participated to the general well-being of the school. No one has been omitted in any sense deliberately. The hope too is that alumnae and alumni will also enjoy reading about the achievements and activities of their former school.

David Craig Editor; Head of Classics

Reflecting on my own school days, when trains were still steam driven and the thought of going any further than Devon or Cornwall for a family holiday would have been unthinkable, to see the range of destinations reached and enjoyed by our pupils here is staggering. European travel seems almost commonplace and now we have pupils jetting to Florida, going on World Challenge tours to Central America, rugby tours to South Africa and individual students competing on the world stage, and an exchange with a girls’ school in India.

Editor - The Olavian

Editor - The Old Olavian

David Craig, Esq. St. Olave’s & St. Saviour’s Grammar School, Goddington Lane, Orpington, Kent BR6 9SH

John M Brown, Esq. 60 The Lawns, Rolleston-on-Dove, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire DE13 9DB

dcraig@saintolaves.net

johnmbrown60@gmail.com Olavian 2019 2014 – 5

HEADTEACHER’S REPORT 2019 External Examinations A Level results are once again outstanding,and consistent with performances in previous years. 93% of the grades secured by Olavians were A* to B with almost a third of all qualifications being at A*. In addition to some exceptional individual results, 40 students secured 3 or more A* grades.

At GCSE, our Year 11 students achieved another excellent set of results. These superb results are testament to our talented students, dedicated teachers and supportive parents. With 89% at grades 9 – 7 and 71% at grades 9/8, students have risen magnificently to the challenge of GCSEs, and this hardworking group have improved on the outstanding results of last year. 33 students obtained ten or more GCSEs at grades 9 or 8.

Five students gained grade 9 in every subject, as well as top grades in the Higher Project Qualification and Free Standing Maths Unit. These performances placed us in The Times as 2 nd best Mixed school for A Level and 4 th best Boys’ State school for GCSE.

Ofsted This inspection in February was conducted under Section 8 of the Education Act 2005 and in accordance with Ofsted’s published procedures for inspecting schools with no formal designation. The inspection was carried out as a result of Ofsted’s risk assessment procedures. Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of information relating to safeguarding and child protection arrangements, including school policies and the single central record of pre-employment checks.

Inspectors gathered a range of first-hand evidence by meeting pupils from each year group, students in the Sixth Form, staff working at the school, including both teaching and support staff, representatives from the Parents’ Association, subject leaders and pastoral leaders.

Inspectors held meetings with the governing body, senior leaders, the local authority school improvement partner and a representative from the Diocese of Rochester.

Inspectors also considered the 169 replies to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents and carers.

Having considered the evidence, the inspectors were of the opinion that at this time safeguarding is effective and the current overall effectiveness of the school remains outstanding.

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Environment Money from the Foundation, Voluntary Fund, School Reserves, LCVAP and Parents’ Association has allowed the following improvements to take place over the last academic year: •

Refurbishment of the Small Hall, including new dining tables

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New quad and outside learning space by ADT and Science

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Refurbishment of stairwell and areas leading to the chapel

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Visitor’s toilet by the Richardson Room

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Improved lighting in corridors around school

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Roof repairs

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Repainting of the external areas of the school

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New skylight and ceiling lights in foyer

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Painting of the Art Rooms

School Badge We have been working on the redesign of the school badge, which is found on our letterheads, website, notices, signs and school blazers. We very much want to honour the cherished past history of St. Olave’s

Grammar School, which comes through the school blazer badge, but have reflected on whether the current crest is too complex, and the detail has been lost over time. The proposed new badge incorporates the crown and axe, which previously featured on the school blazers up until the Second World War, and a similar version is currently used on our sports kit and by the Old Olavians.

We believe the badge, shown below, maintains our links to the past, but shows the school is looking forward to the future.

•

Badge accurately represents the purple, black and white; the school colours.

•

The gold crown and axe retain our links with our heritage as well as St Saviour’s.

•

1571 is the date we were given our Royal Charter.

•

The insertion of the school name strengthens the identity of the school badge.

•

The retention of the cross symbols supports that we are a Church of England school.

•

The use of the wording ‘Grammar School’ to reinforce our academic strengths.

•

The inclusion of two white rings representing O for Olave’s as well as O for Orpington.

•

The inner and outer circular white borders represent the two O’s of Old Olavians.

International Summer Trips The Senior Rugby Team toured South Africa in the summer, winning one out of their four games. The group also spent time visiting Nelson Mandela’s house in Soweto, Knysna Elephant Park, Cango Caves, Bakabung Game Lodge, Wilderness Lagoon in Cape Town and climbed Table Mountain, taking in some breath-taking views. The group also visited Lesedi Cultural Village to learn more about the tribes of South Africa, dined at the world-famous Carnivore Restaurant where they were served the likes of crocodile and ostrich, before ending the tour with an excellent performance against Harlequins Rugby Club under floodlights.

Year 9 students travelled to Croatia to take part in a ‘World Challenge’ expedition. The students climbed up into the mountains of the Paklenica National Park, staying in a traditional mountain hut where the only way to replenish supplies was by using mules. The highlight of the trip was swimming in and kayaking along the Zrmanja River surrounded by forests covered in electric

blue dragon flies before reaching the final campsite for a well-deserved meal.

Sixth Form students also took part in a two-week expedition within Malawi organised by Operation Wallacea. Students visited Lilongwe Research Centre, outside Lilongwe city,Liwonde National Park and Nkhata Bay, on the shores of Lake Malawi. Students studied human-wildlife conflict and its effects on biodiversity, took part in a cultural exchange with the local people in the Lilongwe area through an environmental education workshop and learnt to dive in Lake Malawi, which has a greater diversity of fish than any other lake on Earth.

Wellbeing Week The aim of Wellbeing Week was to enable students across the school to consider mental health and the importance of looking after one’s wellbeing. The week has been designed to highlight the many issues concerning mental health that relate to students within school. Our first event was a cross-curricular Wellbeing Day for Year 9.The Upfront Theatre Company presented their ‘In Harm’s Way’ production and students spent the day developing an understanding of wellbeing from the perspective of different departments. We were also delighted to welcome back both Jennifer Langley and Alicia Drummond. Jennifer, a chartered accountant and author who works closely with the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, presented to Year 10. She focused her attention on raising awareness of mental health and the emotional resilience of young people. Her focus was: ‘Self-Esteem and When it all goes Wrong’. Alicia Drummond talked to Year 11 during the day and then to both students and parents in the evening on ‘Anxiety.’

Her presentation was proceeded by Head of Year, Mr Haines, who started the evening off discussing ‘What makes us happy”. PSHE, Assemblies and tutor time were used as a forum for discussions on the theme of mental health and the second edition of the Wellbeing Journal was also available. Students involved have done a superb job in putting this journal together and our thanks go to Amaar, Hannah and Jake (Year 13) in particular for all of the hard work that went into this project.

Black History Month Show Congratulations to everyone involved in October’s Black History Month Show! It was an eclectic mix of acts from poetry readings to rapping, tap dancing to gospel singing and a great deal in between. We had a wonderful audience and a lively, supportive atmosphere.

The focus of the show was to celebrate the contribution of black artists to British culture, but it also celebrated the warmth, creativity and diversity of our students, with Olavian 2019 – 7

many of the acts created and performed by the students themselves.

Diwali@Olave’’s Over two hundred people attended the Diwali celebration in November and were treated to a sparkling and memorable evening. As well as the fundraising aspect of the evening, celebrating this important Hindu and Sikh festival helps to build the community at St. Olave’s by enabling everyone to socialise together. It was pleasing to see people from all different cultures attend the evening and join in the dancing. Everything from red carpet to registration, welcome drinks and bar, hall decoration, cultural program and catering, was excellent.

The success of this event would not have been possible without the support of the organising team, performers and other volunteers.

Cultural Evening Cultural Evening 2018 was held in November where our cultural diversity was celebrated through music, dance and food from around the world. The stunning acts included the Indian Dance group, ‘Desi Girls’; Antonio’s mesmerising piano, ‘Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon’; and Ben playing guitar and singing the traditional Welsh hymn, ‘Gwahoddiad’. Also featuring was Eugene, a former student, who played a beautiful duet with Jennifer in their own medley between piano and violin.

The food is always a highlight of Cultural Evening and this year did not fail to deliver. Guests were spoiled for choice with delectable food from several cuisines available. Thank you to every parent who graciously donated food and made the event possible. Gratitude is extended to all the sponsors including Boy George, who kindly donated the first copy of his new album ‘Life’, signed by himself, for auction. A warm congratulations to the Cultural Evening Committee, led by Harshdeep, for organising this successful event where all profits went to their chosen charity, CAFOD.

8 – Olavian 2019

Charity This year students decided to raise money to support the chosen charities: ‘JAGS Foundation’ and ‘ECHO’.

Festival was full of entertainment, enjoyment and, of course, teachers participating in popular game- shows.

Overall, along with Cabaret, it looks as though we shall have raised £9,868 - a fantastic achievement, an even greater sum than the last two years! Individual form groups all ran stalls including ‘An Escape Room’, ‘Santa’s Grotto’ and ‘A Christmas Confectionary Emporium’; congratulations to 10K for raising £362 by continuing the great BBQ tradition, alongside ‘Splat the Rat’.

Parents’ Association Many thanks to the Parents’ Asociation for their generosity in funding two iPads for our Computing Department. These have been put to good use by Year 13 Computer Science students to help them understand superposition phenomena used in Quantum Computers, enabling them to visualise how qubit can be both 1,0 and all the states in between at the same time. Likewise, the new ripple tank for our Physics Department has proved extremely popular with students, providing them with concrete evidence of some complex wave phenomena.

Using water waves to demonstrate will provide the basis for the students to extend their understanding to examples using wave types such as electromagnetic waves or sound.

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award This Easter our Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award teams tackled the wilderness in Wales. 29 students took on the very wet and wild Black Mountains, dealing with rain, snow and sleet as well as some very sunny conditions.

Our Duke of Edinburgh’s consultants, WCC, stated that these were the best teams the school had produced in the eight years they had been associated with the school.

Olavian 2019 – 9

Staffing 2018 - 2019 Chairman of the Governors

Appointed by the Dulwich Estate:

The Ven. Dr Paul Wright, FRSA

A. Fabian, M.A. (Oxon) \

Foundation Governors Appointed by the Lord Bishop of Rochester: The Revd H.P.C. Broadbent, M.A., Dip.Theol.

S. Ganatra, B.Sc., M.Sc. Appointed by the Rochester Diocesan Board of Education: The Ven. Dr Paul Wright, FRSA The Revd R.T. Parker-McGee, M.A., B.A. Appointed by the Chapter of Southwark Cathedral: N. Grenside Appointed by the St Olave’s and St Saviour’s Schools Foundation: Dr D. Ryall. Ph.D., B.A. H. McAleer, M.A., M.Eng.

Appointed by the London Borough of Bromley: S.L. Carr Elected Parent Governors: S. Bandi, B.Sc., M.A. B. Nunn, MCIPD Elected Staff Governor: C.A. Benham, B.A., P.G.C.E. Co-opted Governor: M.F. Sullivan, B.A. A. Boyd, M.A., M.Eng., A.C.A. S. Chaudhary, M.A., B.Ed. Clerk to the Governors R. Walters, M.A.(Cantab), A.C.A. Senior Leadership Team Headteacher A. Rees, B.Sc.

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Assistant Staff D.M.G. Craig, B.A., M.Phil., Bristol University & King’s College, London University N. Maltman, M.A., Pembroke College, Cambridge S.L. Beston, M.A., St Catherine’s College, Oxford P.E. Holland, B.Ed.(Hons), Brunel University A.M. Kenward, B.A.(Ed.) (Hons), University of Exeter D. Bowden, B.A., University of Lancaster C.E. Marwood, B.Sc., The Open University; L.R.A.M., Dip. R.A.M. M.F. Sullivan, B.A., Westfield College, London University S.K. Wilcox, B.A., Goldsmiths’ College, London University Dr. J. Bradley, B.Sc., Ph.D. King’s College & Royal Free School of Medicine, London University C. Johnson, B.Sc., University of Nottingham G.C. Gardiner, M.A., Newnham College, Cambridge J.S. Penny, B.Sc., Royal Holloway College, London University J.A. Greenwood, B.Sc., University of Bradford K.A. Hodges, M.Eng., St. Catherine’s College, Oxford M.G. Price, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge P. Vasileva, B.Sc., University of Sussex V.E. Watson, B.A., University of Sussex L.D. Espejo, Esq., M.A., University of St. Andrews E.A. Goodman, B.A., University of York R.E. Hawley, B.A., Middlesex University A. Wilkie, M.A., B.A., University of Warwick & Goldsmiths’ College, London University T.A. McCurrach, M.Math, Magdalen College, Oxford J.M. Munday, M.A., Cambridge H. McPartland, B.Sc., Bristol University A. Lake, B.A., University of Nottingham J.B. Davis, Esq., B.Sc. (Cardiff ) W. Haines, B.A. (Hons), M.Sc., Manchester M. Lawrence, B.A. (Hons) (Cantab), M.Eng (Cantab) M.A. (Cantab) Dr J.N. Stewart, B.Sc. (Hons), University of Glasgow, Ph.D., Heriot-Watt A.K.J. Carroll, M.A. (Cantab), M.A. (London)

P.J. Doorbar, B.A., Warwick, M.A., School of Oriental and African Studies D. Farr, B.A., UCL S. Lands, B.A. (Hons), Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication J. Morrell, B.Sc., Reading R. Beach, B.Sc., Leeds J. Clift, B.A., Durham S. Difford, B.Sc., London S. Holleran, M.Eng., London M.C.M. Twose, M.Eng., Nottingham C.A. Benham, B.A., London School of Economics P. Bassett, B.Sc., Exeter S. Esswood, B.Sc., York S. Kemal, B.A. (Hons), University of Kent A. Mowll, M.Sc., Oxford M. Perks, B.Sc., Exeter Dr M. Fox, M.Phys. (Hons), Oxford, D.Phil., Oxford K. Bishop, B.Sc., M.Sc., University of Bologna Dr M. Ashford, M.Math, D.Phil., Oxford R. Boyden, B.A., University of Surrey Dr J. Carpenter, B.A., Cambridge, D.Phil., Oxford, M.Sci., Imperial College, London N. Clegg, B.A., M.Sci., Cambridge Dr S. Corlett, B.Sc., Ph.D., University of Liverpool S. Dodd, B.A., M.A., Oxford, M.Sc., King’s College, London L. Gibbons, B.Sc., Loughborough A. Jewson, B.Eng., Bristol E. Pourjam, B.Sc., Sharif University of Technology, M.Sc., Tehran H. Reardon, B.Mus. (Hons), Birmingham Conservatoire, M.Mus., Guildhall School of Music and Drama S. Senaratne, B.Sc., Royal Holloway College, London University R. Zeshan, B.Sc., National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences-FAST, Lahore N. Chambers, B.Sc., Sussex A. Clark, B.A., Plymouth B. Hall, HND, London College of Communication M. Wearn, B.A., Leicester S. Mahadevan, B.A. Hons, MSt, Oxford, L. Probodziak, B.A., M.A., Somerville College, Oxford C. Thomas, B.Sc., Goldsmiths’ College, London University, M.Ed., King’s College

Olavian 2019 – 11

12 – Olavian 2019

Valete - July 2019 James Davis

The abiding memory of James is that of a man astride a range of bicycles whose passion for velopedic activities left most of us astounded. He thought nothing of riding ridiculous numbers of miles, sleeping in the wild and then pronouncing this euphoric.

He also enjoyed walking and camping.

He seemed also to wear the same black suit to school daily which was somewhat perplexing. James will also be remembered for being a first-rate mathematics teacher.

He has several incarnations at this school, maths teacher, Head of Maths and member of SLT. He was particularly successful in the task of preparing the timetable. He left briefly to teach in a school in Snodland but returned to the very great benefit of the school.

the team who has set entrance tests and stood firm when he saw injustice and disparity. He is without doubt one of the most superlative colleagues we could wish to have.

There has always been something immensely reassuring about Neil’s presence on the many school trips that he has both organised and attended. Should there ever have been a moment’s crisis it was always splendid that Neil was at hand.

Neil is Christian and for many years gave excellent school assemblies and organised the Christian Fellowship weekend at Carroty Wood in Tonbridge. So many of our pupils have benefitted from the guidance of this brilliant man. He is seriously clever but wears his brilliance lightly. Never one to boast or brag about his talents, he has always used them for the benefit of others. There will be very many pupils from this school who will owe their success in mathematics entirely to this wholly wonderful man.

Stephen Dodd

A man of enormous dedication and commitment to the school’s extra-curricular activities, a man too who participated fully in the Christian Fellowship weekends and supporting children in their progress. We all wish him well for the future.

Neil Maltman

Neil Maltman and his wife Liz joined the staff at a time when there were still very few computers in the school and two only in the staff room.

The department is deservedly regarded as brilliant not only by the school staff but also the boys. It is in no small measure that Stephen contributed to its on-going success. We wish him the very best in his new post at his Alma Mater, Colfe’s.

Jane Wells

Dedicated staff who arrived early on Saturday mornings to take sports teams would invariably find the Maltmans working ferociously at writing schemes of work, lesson preparation and devising the very best ways to convey their subject.

Generations of pupils at this school will recall Neil as the best of maths teachers. They will also remember him as a Head of Department of outstanding ability and a man of incredible integrity. For many years he has been part of

Stephen Dodd is a very brilliant man and an outstanding teacher. After a long career in industry and retraining as a chemistry teacher at Bennett Memorial in Tunbridge Wells, he joined the school’s chemistry department, a department blessed with large numbers of students at A level.

What a wholly wonderful woman! This is my perception of Jane and it is one shared by all colleagues. Jane is that ‘rara avis’ who could do many jobs all at the same time and many of the types of jobs that mere mortals would dislike doing. She could organise reunions for the OOs of whom she was extremely Olavian 2019 – 13

fond whilst at the same time booking tickets for trips to London, Greece, and France among other places. She always impressed by her strong views, her immaculate appearance and charm. She was not shy in expressing a judgement and could be refreshingly frank. This school and its pupils will be very grateful to Jane for putting together behind the scenes so many trips, some of which she herself attended, and will miss her greatly.

Louise Gibbons

Barney Hall

Jamie Barnett

Loiuse Gibbons joined the Geography Department for brief time before herself going on maternity leave.

Loiuse was very effective in all aspects of teaching in the department and will be much missed.

As old-fashioned as it may sound but Jamie should be described as ‘very good bloke’. This excellent young man joined the school for a year where he helped out in a variety of departments and did the job with utter brilliance.

Nicola Chambers joined the mathematics department after a career in hedge fund management. She made an impact on the school immediately through her excellent command of mathematics, her superlative classroom management and the extra help she was always prepared to give the pupils to support their learning.

Her stay at the school was somewhat brief but we naturally wish this very good teacher a glorious time in her year travelling.

Samantha Esswood

Mr Hall came briefly to the art department where he was inconspicuous but highly effective. He now leaves the school to train to be a church leader.

He devoted himself to helping with the rugby but as with many of the staff at the school could turn his hand to most things and taught a great deal of KS3 mathematics.

Without any exaggeration his companionship, humour, acumen and intelligence will be much missed. He now moves on to take up a post in London as a lawyer.

14 – Olavian 2019

Nicola Chambers

Sam has been a brilliant part of the team at St. Olave’s, not only being an excellent classroom teacher but a woman who has participated in many school trips associated with science and history.

She made sure that in keeping with the ethos of the school she made a wholehearted commitment to overseas trips. Often to be found on the history trip to WW1 battle sites she became thoroughly engaged once she was on the move, going over the top at Ypres or visiting the underground mines, but she had a remarkable quality much admired by her colleagues for profound sleep on the coaches. Her humour, joyous laughter and brilliant sense of sartorial elegance will be much missed. She leaves to take up a post at King ‘s College, Wimbledon.

Michael Fox

The school will very miss the extraordinarily talented Dr Fox who has departed for work in the USA. He taught at the school with utter brilliance and was noted for being able to make the most complex understandable.

He was something of a Renaissance man with interests in all matters Italian, local politics and history.

This tall,elegant and suave gentleman accompanied many

history trips, notably to the WW1 battle sites where he was the most engaging colleague and wit. His knowledge of nearly everything seemed to have incredible depth and am sure that he will bring this acumen to bear in his work overseas.

Andrew Mowll

Andrew Mowell has sadly moved on to Dulwich College. Andrew is a brilliant mathematician and possessed of a charming sense of humour.

Tim McCurroch

Tim was a remarkably brilliant mathematics teacher here at the school before leaving to establish his own software company. He was like many fine teachers wholly dedicated to his task and supported many of the pupils especially those doing the Oxbridge mathematics entrance papers.

In addition to which he spent a great deal of time with the chess teams and the Christian fellowship. He will also be much missed for his intriguing dress sense.

At all times in common with many members of the staff at the school he gave enormous amounts of his time to help students with extra-curricular activities such as chess, mathematics challenges, football and even Formula One racing. In the commonroom he was greatly appreciated for his charm, mathematical acumen and sagacity.

Olavian 2019 – 15

16 – Olavian 2019

Salvete - September 2019 Assistant Headteacher (Director of Sixth Form) Mr Matthew Birtchnell was educated at Chatham Grammar School for Boys and went on to the University of Exeter where he gained a BA in French/German.

He completed his PGCE and MA in Education at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Matthew’s current experience includes Careers Fair leadership, organisation of seminars and visiting speakers, Mock European Council, European Commission Translation Competition, Sixth Form pastoral care, university choices and UCAS applications.

Matthew is fluent in French and German, with an intermediate knowledge of Spanish. He is a qualified Duke of Edinburgh Expedition and Camp Leader and has wide ranging experience in the organisation and leadership of trips and exchange visits.

Teacher of Classics

Dr Alessandra Abbattista was educated at the Liceo Classico De Sanctis, Italy, before moving on to the University of Bologna where she gained a BA in Classics – Philology and an MA in Philology, Tradition and Classical Literature.

Alessandra completed her PhD in Classics and Associate Fellowship of Higher Education at the University of Roehampton and her PGCE at the University of Buckingham. She has delivered presentations at national and international conferences, has organised grants for Classics and interdisciplinary workshops and has published her own works. She is fluent in Italian and is able to read both French and Spanish.

Part-time Teacher of Chemistry Mrs Elizabeth Maltman was educated at Southend High School for Girls and went on to the University of Hull where she gained a BSc in Chemistry with Physics.

Elizabeth has vast experience as a pastoral leader for residential camps and within a church environment. She is also a skilled costume maker for Drama productions.

Teacher of Biology

Mr Francis Affram was educated at the University of Ghana where he gained a BA in Science. He completed his PGCE at the University of London. In his current roles as Lead Teacher of Science and Form Tutor, Francis has experience in running STEM Club activities, managing teaching, learning and assessment, coaching and mentoring and providing pastoral support.

Teacher of Computing Mr Sebastian King was educated at King’s School Rochester and went on to Queen Mary University of London where he gained a BSc in Computer Science.

He completed his PGCE at King’s College London.

Sebastian holds a Grade 7 Public Speaking LAMDA qualification, has experience of Teaching English as a Foreign Language and an interest in music.

Olavian 2019 – 17

Teacher of English

Teacher of Mathematics Mr Jacob Savage was educated at St Olave’s Grammar School and went on to the University of Warwick where he gained a BSc in Physics. Jacob has a keen interest in Computer Science, has experience as a Teacher of Computing and has been involved with Robotics Competitions.

Teacher of Mathematics Mrs Joseline Eugene was educated in India and gained a First Class Mathematics Degree at the Bharathiyar University Providence College for Women in India.

Joseline’s experience includes running a KS3 Mathematics Club, conducting fundraising activities and Debates and Public Speaking for KS3 students in India. Joseline is a fluent French speaker and has verbal and written knowledge of both Hindi and Kanada.

KS3 Mathematics Co-ordinator Mr Eric Roye was educated at Christ the King Sixth Form College and went on to gain a BSc in Mathematical Sciences from Kingston University. Eric completed his PGCE under the School Direct Training Scheme. He is an examiner for Edexcel and a very keen rugby player.

Teacher of Mathematics Mr Ajibola Fasoranti was educated in Nigeria and went on to gain a BSc in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Ife Nigeria.

He also holds a Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Newcastle and a Degree in Secondary Mathematics from the University of Greenwich.

Ajibola is a volunteer Sunday School Teacher and also organises extra tuition up to A Level for the younger church attendees. He is fluent in Yoruba.

Part-time Teacher of Mathematics Mr Robert Masters was educated at Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone and went on to the University of Reading where he gained a BSc in Mathematics. Robert was Headmaster at The Judd School from 2004 – 2017 and is currently a part-time Teacher of Mathematics at Ardingly College.

Miss Holly Smith joins us as an NQT. Holly was educated at Bullers Wood School and went on to the University of Bristol where she gained a BA in English. Holly is passionate about dance and has qualified at the highest ISTD levels in Ballet, Tap, Modern Dance and Jazz.

She also holds a Level 3 Certificate in Vocational Graded Examination in Dance and Intermediate Tap. Holly has experience of Duke of Edinburgh and World Challenge expeditions and is a keen advocate of adventure and travel.

18 – Olavian 2019

Students’ Work

Students’ Work Extract from Notebook of a Return to My Native Land Aimé Césaire Leaving… I’d arrive plain and young in this country of mine and I’d say to this country whose silt embeds itself in my flesh: ‘I’ve wandered a long while and I’m returning to the deserted ugliness of your wounds.’

I’d come to this country of mine and I’d say to it: ‘Kiss me without fear… And if I only know how to speak, it’s for you that I speak.’

And again I’d say to it:

And look, I’m here!

Again this hobbling life before me- not this life, this death, this death without sense or pity, this death in which greatness is a sorry failure- the dazzling littleness of this death, this death limping from littleness to littleness - these shovelfuls of rapacity over the conquistador; these shovelfuls of flunkies over the great savage; these shovelfuls of little souls over the triple-souled Carib.

And all these futile deaths, absurdities under the splutter of my open conscience, tragic futilities lit by this lone sea-sparkle and me

my voice, the liberties of those shut up

alone, an abrupt early-morning scene where the apocalypse of monsters parades, then, keeled over, is quiet.

in despair.’

Warm election of ashes, of ruins and collapses.

‘My mouth will be the mouth of mouthless suffering,

And on the way, I’d say to myself:

‘One more thing! One, for the love of God just one: I don’t have the right to calculate life by my sooty handspan; to reduce myself to this ellipsoidal

‘And my body, especially, as well as my soul - careful not to cross

little nothing trembling four fingers above the line, I, a man, to thus capsize

your arms in the sterile attitude of a spectator, for life is not

creation, including myself between latitude and longitude!’

a show, a sea of sorrows is not a proscenium, a shrieking man is not a dancing bear…’

20 – Olavian 2019

At the close of the early morning, male thirst and obstinate desire.

Look at me, cut off from cool oases of fraternity.

(Extract) Cahier d’un retour au pays natal

This modest nothing of hard splinters

d’Aimé Césaire

This too-certain horizon quivers like a jailor. Your last triumph, tenacious

Partir... j’arriverais lisse et jeune dans ce pays

crow of Treason.

What is mine, these few thousand death-stricken who go round in circles in the calabash

mien et je dirais à ce pays dont le limon entre dans la composition de ma chair : «J’ai longtemps erré et je reviens vers la hideur désertées de vos plaies ».

of an island and what is mine too, the archipelago arched like the uneasy desire to deny

Je viendrais à ce pays mien et je lui dirais : « Embrassezmoi sans crainte... Et si je ne sais que parler,

oneself, like a maternal anxiety to protect the more delicate subtlety which separates one America

c’est pour vous que je parlerais ».

from the other. And its flanks which secrete the good liqueur of a Gulf Stream for Europe, and one of two slopes of incandescence between which the Equator walks the tightrope towards Africa. And my non-fence isle, its clear daring, standing at the back of this Polynesia, in front of it, Guadeloupe cracked into two by its dorsal line and as impoverished as us, Haiti where blackness is standing up for the first time and saying that it believes in its humanity and the funny little tail of Florida where they’re rounding off the strangling of a black man, and Africa caterpillaring titanically towards the Hispanic foot of Europe, its nudity where Death reaps in large windrows.

Et je lui dirai encore:

« Ma bouche sera la bouche des malheurs qui n’ont point de bouche, ma voix, la liberté de celles qui s’affaissent au cachot du désespoir. » Et venant je me dirais à moi même: «Et surtout mon corps aussi bien que mon âme, gardezvous de vous croiser les bras en l’attitude sterile du spectateur, car la vie n’est pas un spectacle, car une mer de douleurs n’est pas un proscenium, car un homme qui crie n’est pas un ours qui danse... »

Et voici que je suis venu !

De nouveau cette vie clopinante devant moi, non pas cette vie, cette mort, cette mort sans sens ni piété,

And I say to myself Bordeaux and Nantes and Liverpool and New York and San Francisco

cette mort où la grandeur piteusement échoue, l’éclatant petitesse de cette mort, cette mort qui clopine de

Not a nook of this world without my fingerprint

petitesses en petitesses ; ces pelletées de petites avidités sur le conquistador; ces pelletées de petits

And my heelbone on the skyscrapers’ shoulders and my muck in the sparkle of gems! Who can brag of having more than I?

larbins sur le grand sauvage, ces pelletées de petites âmes sur le Caraïbe aux trois âmes, et toutes ces morts futiles Olavian 2019 – 21

absurdités sous l’éclaboussement de ma conscience ouverte tragiques futilités éclairée de cette seule noctiluque et moi seul, brusque scène de ce petit matin où fait le beau l’apocalypse des monstres puis, chavirée, se tait chaude élection de cendres, de ruines et d’affaissements

-Encore une objection ! une seule, mais de grâce une seule : je n’ai pas le droit de calculer la vie à mon empan fuligineux ; de me réduire à ce petit rien ellipsoïdal qui tremble à quatre doigts au-dessus de la ligne, moi homme, d’ainsi bouleverser la création, que je me comprenne entre latitude et longitude !

Haïti où la négritude se mit debout pour la première fois et dit qu’elle croyait à son humanité et la comique petite queue de la Floride où d’un nègre s’achève la strangulation, et l’Afrique gigantesquement chenillant jusqu’au pied hispanique de l’Europe, sa nudité où la Mort fauche à larges andains.

Et je me dis Bordeaux et Nantes et Liverpool et New York et San Francisco pas un bout de ce monde qui ne porte mon empreinte digitale et mon calcanéum sur le dos des gratte-ciel et ma crasse dans le scintillement des gemmes !

Qui peut se vanter d’avoir mieux que moi?

Au bout du petit matin,

Translator’s Note

la mâle soif et l’entêté désir,

Cahier d’un retours au pay natal is a great literary experiment - a raw, lyrical mosaic drawing on a staggering range of tone to convey the disorientating nature of colonialism. I chose this rather long extract to best show off its protean nature, which, however, is held together by an underlying anger. Its complexity is difficult to translate, but deeply rewarding because its own freedom implicitly allows the translator their own.

I have played freely with the structure of the stanzas for a variety of poetic effects. Sometimes structure enhances meaning; death limps from littleness to littleness over three lines, and one America is visually separated from another. It is also a form of further commentary; Florida rounds off the ‘strangling of a black/man’; his humanity is an afterthought to his race. I have also left out, out of personal preference and for the isolated coherence of the extract respectively, the first line of the first stanza and the last line of the last. As for the language itself, I have created a pun where there is none in the French; where Césaire literally says: ‘my voice, the liberty of those sunk in the dungeon of despair,’ I translated ‘my voice, the liberty of those shut up/ in despair,’ emphasising the double meaning with the line break. Of course, I was also alert to double meanings Césaire probably did intend; for example, I translate ‘flanc’ as ‘flank’ rather than the geographical ‘slope,’ as he humanises the landscape with the verb‘secretes.’The most challenging word was probably mortiféré, which fuses the adjectives for ‘murderous’ with ‘plague-stricken’; I translated it as ‘death-stricken.’ It is a darkly striking creation, reminding us that death is not an absolute but a wasting malady. Like the rest of the poem, it flaunts Césaire’s philosophical genius.

me voici divisé des oasis fraîches de la fraternité

ce rien pudique frise d’échardes dures cet horizon trop sûr tressaille comme un geôlier.

Ton dernier triomphe, corbeau tenace de la Trahison.

Ce qui est à moi, ces quelques milliers de mortiférés qui tournent en rond dans la calebasse d’une île et ce qui est à moi aussi, l’archipel arqué comme le désir inquiet de se nier, on dirait une anxiété maternelle pour protéger la ténuité plus délicate qui sépare l’une de l’autre Amérique ; et ses flancs qui sécrètent pour l’Europe la bonne liqueur d’un Gulf Stream, et l’un des deux versants d’incandescence entre quoi l’Equateur funambule vers l’Afrique. Et mon île non-clôture, sa claire audace debout à l’arrière de cette polynésie, devant elle, la Guadeloupe fendue en deux de sa raie dorsale et de même misère que nous,

22 – Olavian 2019

tr. Shrinidhi Prakash Stephen Spender Prize Entry 18 And Under Category

“An exploration of the themes of Xenia and Kleos in Odyssey I” When examining xenia in Odyssey I, it is apt to consider the more specific mythological theme of theoxeny (or theoxenia): where mortal piety and virtue is revealed through human extension of hospitality to an apparent modest stranger (xenos), who is in fact a disguised deity (theos), as this is the case with Athene-Mentes.

Not only does the concept of theoxeny hold gravitas in the divine scope – as the gods have capacity to reward or punish based upon their reception (seen in the art work ‘Jupiter and Mercurius in the House of Philemon and Baucis’ by the workshop of Rubens, where the two villagers willing to entertain are rewarded, as the rest of the deme is punished)- but on the anthropomorphic level, as one who exhibits ‘guest-friendship’ is not only seen to adhere to divine law, but that of civil custom and social generosity. Due to this, xenia becomes the vessel of audience insight into the respective moral compasses of the parties involved.

Rather than make a poor or half-hearted attempt at welcoming the guest, ‘the insolent Suitors’ (where Homer’s elected adjective is indicative of both exaggerated ego and reckless ethical abandon) simply desert their social obligation and allow Athene-Mentes to ‘be kept standing at the gates’, as they engage in

further disfavourable and quasi- debaucherous acts, such as ‘carving meat in lavish portions’ – an herald to the caution of the ‘Hyperion’ proleptic marker from the proem, to set alarm bells ringing in the ears of the avid listener. One could go as far as to assert that this abnegation of xenia, in terms of theoxeny, borders upon the most debasing Greek sin of all: hubris.The possibility that the visitor could be a masquerading god either does not occur to or does not concern the ‘dissolute mob’ – thus implying the group’s narcissistic belief of itself has become so falsely inflated that it has broken free of even deific reigns. Homer progresses to juxtapose this display with that of Telemachus, to a chiaroscuro-esque effect (as Aristotle said, drama comes out of reversal).

This character is described to go ‘straight up to his visitor’, where the striking adjective provides a sense of urgency and purpose, along with dedication to the cause.

Additionally, the subtle change in linguistics – from, earlier, ‘a stranger’ to, here, ‘his visitor’ – introduces a less othering synonym, coupled with a possessive pronoun, to evidence the truth in Telemachus’ ‘cordial greetings’: ‘Welcome, friend!’ (once more, notice the compounding shift of the object noun selected to use yet more convivial terminology). Telemachus’ statement ‘You can tell us what has brought you here when you have had some food’ is again key, as it is simultaneously indicative of inherent moral goodness, due to it establishing the proper order of xenia (the structure of the scene: greet, feed, wash then question), and provides a deeper contrast to the Suitors, in its respectable mention of food. Further, the episode detailing Telemachus’ reception is highly elaboratedwhere that of the Suitors, reflecting their attention paid to hospitality, is remarkably brief. Detail is assertibly a direct marker of both value and quantity, implying the content is extensive, and should not be rushed or skipped over, consequently highlighting the magnitude of xenia, thus the moral upstanding of the son as opposed to the Suitors.

However, it would be a wild oversight to claim that book I’s characterisation of Telemachus is of a solely exemplary nature; rather, Homer utilises xenia to illustrate Telemachus’ potentiality, which remains yet to be wholly actualised (to adopt the terminology employed

by Aristotle in ‘The Metaphysics’) . Throughout the inherently didactic work of a bard, moral lessons are ubiquitous (as summarized by Aristophanes, in ‘Frogs’, through the line “Small children have their teachers – but we, the poets, are the teachers of men!”) and one could assert that the greatest lessons in ‘Odyssey I’ are exercised upon the audience through their surrogate figure of Telemachus, in his kleos-centric bildungsroman. Across the book, the great kleos of Odysseus precedes the man as potently as the stock epithets that describe him as ‘heroic’, ‘admirable’ and ‘resourceful’ from the outset of the proem (where structural primacy equates to a certain primacy in conceptual value). This notion is confirmed Olavian 2019 – 23

by Zeus in his declaration “He is not only the wisest man alive but generous in his offerings”, made powerful due to its superlative format and indicative – thus certain – mood use. This reputation is so influential in fact, that Telemachus, despite never having met his father, is sure of Odysseus’ prowess within and command over the local social hierarchy. One can see this pellucidly through the claim “One glimpse of him in Ithaca, and they’d pray for a faster pair of legs rather than gold” - which emphasises Odysseus’ redoubtable repute, in its implication that a chance to escape this formidable opponent out-values any material object (where visual-wealth was of extraordinary regard in the Homeric world, being an index of timē - as is deduced from Alcinous’ palace when the bard brings his audience to Phaeacia [book VII]). From this standpoint, it seems shocking that Telemachus begins to doubt in his own lineage – both in fact and desire; in his depressive state, the youth even claims, “if only I were the son of some lucky man overtaken by old age among his own belongings!”, thus shirking the grandeur of the paternal kleos he has lived upon thus far, for want of fiscal comfort. Further, one could assert that Telemachus exhibits cowardice in his fanciful lust for a contrary life and ironic, conditional reliance upon the incorporeal and intangible kleos of a saviour figure ‘whose white bones’he believes to ‘lie strewn in the rain somewhere’(a physically undignified – and borderline bathetic - state to contrast the immaterial upstanding of Odysseus’ reputation).

Through this overarching contradiction, Homer creates a substantial tension between the immaturity and possibility of Telemachus, who not only has his “great” father’s blood within him, but potential to attain his own kleos, currently lying latent. As such, Athene seeks to realise this through her re-introduction of ‘the paradigm of Aegisthus’ in the imperative command “You… must be as brave as Orestes”, that follows her rhetorical question “Have you not heard what a name Orestes made for himself in the world [arguably both the mortal and divine, as both collections understand and revere such ‘Orestes references.’] …?”. This anecdote is of extreme value in any analysis of the theme of kleos – an idea evident from the repeated incidence of the leitmotif, seen at the start and at the end of the book, in a ring-structure that not only serves as a double emphasis, but allows the paradigm to both preface and conclude, looming over and lingering after. Though broadly the inverted motif of Odysseus’ return, the kleos of Orestes is not only an epitome of influential reputation, but a profound examplum to Telemachus. This is clear in the physical realm: as Orestes returned to kill his father’s usurper and thus become the dominant male – ‘alpha’ of the house so too should Telemachus kill the Suitors.

(A masculine character development marker seen in many Classical works, such as Oedipus Rex, though far more macabre in this example incidence, as Oedipus assumes his father’s household supremacy through this man’s slaughter and the participation in sexual relations 24 – Olavian 2019

with the widow). The message also pervades into the psychological realm as the kleos of Orestes galvanizes Telemachus into fulfilling the council of Athene: “You are no longer a child: you must put childish thoughts away” (adopting elements Aristotelian syllogistic logic in its rhetorical form, in utilising a major factual premise to lead to a thus more forceful conclusion, both of which are strengthened by the use of direct address). By the close of the book, Telemachus has evolved from ‘sitting disconsolate among the Suitors’ to declaring “I am master in this house”: a statement to which Penelope’s subsequent obliging obedience demonstrates a response of both faith and pride (nota benne: a vast majority of feminine figures in ‘Odyssey’, Penelope included, possess levels of autonomy that appear to subvert the patriarchal hierarchy, thus here her willing submission is particularly potent). From this triumphant closure, one can be confident that Athene’s claim “future generations

will sing [Telemachus’] praises” is truly prophetic, as he embarks on not only a geographical journey, but one of character – and kleos – maturation.

As such, it can be asserted that the themes of xenia and kleos are woven in a complexity akin to that of Penelope’s interminably incomplete shroud; both concepts reciprocally depend one another to form the frustrating depiction of a youth reverberating with internalised heroic potential, yet to be exhumed. Telemachus’ glowing display of xenia illuminates him as a character of remarkable innate morality- in contrast to the squalid Suitors- but his unrealised kleos is outshone by that of his father, which serves as a further subtle prolepsis to the timē that he may attain, enthused by that of his counterpart, Orestes.

Rose Hind 12V Symmetry in Physics Abstract Symmetry in our universe goes beyond the aesthetic.

It is a fundamental property that can be applied to all areas of the subject. Indeed, the early 20th century mathematician Noether has shown that the presence of a continuous symmetry in a system necessarily leads to a conserved quantity. Furthermore, her theorem provides a mathematical method which allows us to determine exactly which conservation law arises from an observed symmetry, and vice versa. Symmetry also is a key assumption of the Standard Model of particle physics and the theories it underpins, and is hypothesised to offer solutions to some of its main unsolved problems.

We will first discuss what is meant by symmetry in a physical context, and we will then examine how Noether linked the presence of these symmetries to conservation laws.

1 - The Origins of Symmetry First we must explicitly make an important distinction.

That is between the discrete and continuous symmetry.

A discrete symmetry is granular, like the rotational symmetry of a square or a reflection in a mirror. A continuously symmetry is ‘smooth’ like the rotational symmetry of a circle.To say that a system is continuously symmetric under a certain translation is to say that the for any magnitude of the translation, the system will behave in the same way. For example an electrical circuit assembled on one side of the room will give the same readings and when it is moved to the other side of the room. There has been a translation in space and yet the behaviour of the system is unchanged. There are other translations we can check for symmetry in too.

When we repeated the experiment on the other side of the room, it was at a different time of day, and yet the

experiment behaved in the same way. Thus the system is also symmetric under time translation. We can combine the scenarios into one by imagining a ball rolling along a smooth surface. Its direction and speed do not change, and all the while it is being translated in both space and time. So we can see that these two expressions of symmetry serve as a fundamental formulation of Newton’s first law of motion. Combined together, this is known as ‘spacetime invariance’.

This is what makes these types of symmetry so important for physics. It would be futile to write equations that describe the world which we cannot say with confidence will work next week, or indeed at all in Australia. The emergence of symmetry is also a statement about a wider pattern in the universe; that of predictable and repeating patterns out of apparent randomness at a microscopic level. The emergence of conservation laws from symmetry (which we will examine closely in part 2) is also extremely useful for solving physics problems that would otherwise involve long calculation of forces and actions. For example, the maximum velocity of a pendulum bob can be calculated simply from its vertical starting elevation from the equilibrium position. The approach of dealing with problems in terms of energy rather than forces is one that will be useful to us when we examine Lagrangain Mechanics.

2 - Noether’s Theorem and Lagrangian Mechanics.

Noether was the first to explicitly connect a continuous symmetries to a specific conserved quantity in a physical system. Her theorem shows that a system with translational symmetry in space will have conserved momentum, and likewise a system with symmetry in time will have conserved energy.

Noether’s theorem states that if the Lagrangian describing a system acting on the principle of least action is unchanged under a co-ordinate transformation, there will be a corresponding conservation law.

Lagrangian mechanics is a way of doing physics that deals in terms of energy rather than forces. So to consider the symmetry of a system, we should consider its energy. If the energy of a system does not change under a transformation, it is symmetric. The Lagrangian is given by; Olavian 2019 – 25

Where T is the total kinetic energy and V is the potential energy. To keep things simple, we will limit ourselves to

a very straightforward and one dimensional system; that of a ball falling under gravity. So the Lagrangian can be expressed as

symmetry argument – if there were no gravitational field (perhaps we are in space), then moving the translating the ball in space would not change its potential energy, and since there is no force acting upon it its speed and hence kinetic energy would be constant. So we can see from our energy definition of symmetry that this scenario describes a valid symmetry and hence conservation law.

This is a specific case of Noether’s theorem.

The action S is given by the integral of the Lagrangian over a time period P

For the general case, let us define momentum p as

In order to minimise the size of the action we must minimise this expression. This is equivalent to saying we

the Lagrangian has units of joules.We will also generalise co-ordinate h(t) with a co-ordinate q on the continuous function s – this is important if we want to show that the symmetry holds for any magnitude of translation.

So the conserved quantity C will be a product of the momentum and the rate of change of the co-ordinate on the continuous function s

must limit the transfer of potential energy into kinetic energy (recalling 2.1) so as to keep L small; in other words nature takes the easiest path. As a consequence of minimising the action S, the Euler- Lagrange equation, must be satisfied Reminding ourselves of equation (2.2), we can then write

If this seems odd, you can check the units, recalling that

To say that C is conserved we must show its time derivative is 0. Using the product rule;

The term on the right hand side is clearly the rate of Simplifying, change of the falling object’s momentum. So we can see that if the term on the left were 0; i.e. if there were no gravitational field, the momentum would be constant – it would be conserved. We can use this to justify our

Referring to the Euler-Lagrange Equation (2.4) and the definition of momentum (2.6) we can then further write

This is equivalent to the sum of the rate of change of each of the variables in the Lagrangian (co-ordinates q and v) with respect to the continuous parameter s.

So by our definition of symmetry -that the Lagrangian does not change based on a translation in s - we can say that the right hand side must be equal to 0. Therefore dC/dt = 0; hence quantity C is conserved and the momentum does not change.

26 – Olavian 2019

It is important to note the co-ordinate q does not have to be of a special dimension; it could be a time or an angle.

The mechanics of the theorem are the same.

PerhapsanevenmoreinterestingconsequenceofNoether’s theorem is its ability to predict when conservation laws will not hold. When general relativity was first described in 1915, it was clear that energy conservation was not a fundamental property of the universe. The energy of a photon is given by E=hf , so red-shifted photons appear to violate energy conservation. Red shift is caused by the expansion of the space through which the radiation from distant objects travels, meaning that the system does not have time translation symmetry. Noether’s theorem provides the link between time translation symmetry to energy conservation. Indeed in Einstein’s universe, energy conservation and the classical mechanics it underpins is only valid as a special and approximate case of non-expanding and uniform spacetime. If one assumes that the symmetry must exist, Noether’s theorem can be used in reverse to derive a conserved quantity of energy known as known as the Landau-Lifshitz Pseudotensor which corrects for the losses to redshift by including the increasing potential energy of the universe as it expands.

million asylum seekers who have arrived in Germany since 2014. The government have gone to great lengths to train immigrants, as often they cannot join the workforce due to limited skillsets or limited knowledge of German. In April 2018, 55% of the recipients of unemployment benefits had a “migrant background” and in 2017 the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees announced that 340,000 people had been enrolled in German language courses. There are many governmental agencies and charities which promote integration, often embracing modern technology and doing this via an app or website, such as the official government app “Ankommen” meaning “Arrival” which is available in German, English, French, Persian and Arabic.

The enlightened migrant policy has turned out to be beneficial. Many apprenticeships used to go unfilled but newly arrived migrants are filling these places in their thousands, giving German businesses a huge boost. In fact, 400,000 asylum seekers are now working or in job training and of those, 44,000 are apprentices.

Nicolas Munro 13P The Shifting Sands of Europe’s Population Bulgaria gives a cold welcome to newcomers. Germany embraces them. Should Bulgarians take the German approach?

Rusty machinery, boarded up schools and rickety houses all but engulfed by forest. These are the scenes that silently greet any visitor to rural Bulgaria. Since the end of communism in 1990 Bulgaria has lost over two million inhabitants -- unsustainable for a country of just nine million people. The youth has left villages in their thousands to seek opportunity in urban areas. Villages are left with an older population, with few schools or services, which pushes more young people out, creating a downwards spiral.

The native German population is also ageing and last year over 21% of the German population were over 65 and this share is only rising, along with the associated costs of healthcare and pensions. However, these migrants are much younger and go some way to filling the void in the workforce, even if they are less skilled than the average German.

However, it isn’t only rural decline that is an issue, the whole country is shrinking. In 2007 Bulgaria joined the EU and many could leave instantly to work elsewhere, thanks to the freedom of movement provided by its accession. Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU so it is often attractive for migrant workers to send money home where their families will have far higher spending power, or simply for the whole family to leave.

It looks as if the Germans have dealt with the migrant crisis humanely and effectively. But the Bulgarian can’t afford to follow the German model as they are still crippled after decades of Communist rule. Bulgaria is facing corruption, poverty and high unemployment so an influx of refugees could have dire consequences for the economy in the short run. Even if it could be beneficial in the long run as in Germany, it takes millions of Euros to get to that point.

Many move to countries such as Germany, where the population growth would be negative without migrants moving in. There are now over 330,000 Bulgarians living in Germany, up from 54,000 in 2008. The main addition to the German population though are the 1.6

To make things worse, Bulgarians react very badly to migrants, with outright xenophobia and protest, often based on islamaphobic sentiment. The deputy prime minister Valeri Simeonov recently proclaimed the nation as “one of the most well defended countries from Olavian 2019 – 27

Europe’s immigrant influx”. He was referring to a newly constructed 160-mile fence along the Turkish border.

The UNHCR report on the treatment of asylum seekers suggests that there has been improvement but border guards are still often incompetent and detention centres squalid, despite the majority of the budget for asylum seekers coming from the EU. So Bulgarians in general, especially compared to Germans, sadly don’t want to welcome refugees. What’s more, refugees don’t want to stay. Even Bulgarians find life difficult in their own country and of course it is even harder for asylum seekers, so they leave as soon as possible, usually with the aim of reaching Germany or another Western European country, putting even more burden on already overcrowded areas.

However, at least the system is now well figured out in Germany and people are flocking there in their millions, even from within the EU, as Bulgaria’s government know all too well, but this initially expensive decision is beginning to pay off. If only there was the money and public support to follow the German model in Bulgaria.

Jasper Maughan The Linguistic Labyrinth Why is English so hard to learn?

The English language: it is the most commonly used language in the world, with more than 450 million people

considering themselves natives across the world and an additional 600-650 million citizens use English as an additional language for communication. Nowadays, this linguistic code forms the basis of all global affairs, and there are very few countries where signs aren’t written in English. In fact, there are countries such as those based in Scandinavia that can speak our language better than us. English is deemed so important, that it becomes part of a compulsory curriculum in foreign countries, to ensure children can build more financially stable futures.

Unfortunately, the British often take for granted the structure and requirements of the English language and are in a fortunate position to possess the natural ability to discern the various quirks of English. Even though English is so popular, with so many people being able to speak it, do we just assume that English is easy? Or can we pin it down to the relatively greater number of hours other countries invest into their national curriculums to incorporate this language? The fact of the matter remains that English is not so easy at all,it is more difficult to learn than many others and the following reasons will prove how much effort learning any language is, especially the English Language.

The most common complaint language learners make about English is that the spelling of words often have little or nothing to do with the pronunciation. It’s easy enough to teach someone how to write the letter “a” and say it, but when letters become applied in words, the scene completely changes. For example,“a”is pronounced in three different ways in words like “hat”, “hate” and “father” and in the word “oak”, it isn’t pronounced at all.

The way English is pronounced almost resembles the various tones in Mandarin that is one of the hardest skills for foreign speakers to grasp. The similarity to Mandarin is impressive in this sense, because for English speakers, Mandarin is in Category V of difficulty, requiring 2200 hours to learn. Whilst in English “Laugh” is pronounced “larf ”, the similar sounding “half ” is not written “haugh”.

The “l” in “half ”, are silent letters sprinkled throughout English words. A favourite of English language teachers who want to amuse their students, contains tongue twisters such as: I take it you already know of tough and bough and cough and dough?

Others may stumble, but not you on hiccough, thorough, slough and through.

What a mind boggle. Evidently, there are so many different ways of pronouncing these words that for foreign speakers they wouldn’t know which one to choose whereas other European languages make it evident as to how to pronounce a word with the various

28 – Olavian 2019

accents, guiding a speaker towards the rough direction of pronunciation. English just doesn’t do this.

English is also a highly illogical language that is littered with contradictions. If “overlook” and “oversee” have opposite meanings, why does “look” and “see” have the same meaning? If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers “praught”? As native speakers, we rarely stop to think about just how confusing English is and it takes us years to learn these quirks, whereas with other European languages, at least there seems to be a general rule applied to most verbs, and even if not, the irregularities can be identified and learnt, whereas these contradictions pop-up all over the place in English.

The order of words is often quite misleading too. Native English-speakers intuitively know what order to put words in, and unfortunately, “it just sounds right” is not good enough for foreign speakers to understand.

For example, we often use more than one adjective to describe a noun, but which order do they go in? When describing a book in English, we could say “an interesting little book”, not a “little interesting book”. Even though both phrases follow adjective-adjective-noun structures, one makes sense and the other sounds wrong. It’s tough as it is for foreign speakers to change the structure code every time they are translating, and unfortunately, the way English works just doesn’t facilitate their needs.

One exception is German, with English belonging to the same Proto-Germanic family, they have a shared structure and word order that can be shifted about in response to the needs of the sentence, just like the one listed above. In German, it is “ein interessantes kleines Buch”, which is the same arrangement as in English, whereas French clearly deviates on its own path with “un petit livre intéressant”, placing the adjective after the noun.

Unlike many other languages, the English syntax enjoys a multitude of homophones, words that sounds the same but have different meanings or spellings. “A bandage is wound around a wound” and “I decided to desert my dessert in the desert” are two examples of just how difficult it could be for foreign speakers to untangle the meanings in a sentence. Of course, over time as the knowledge of vocabulary expands,learners can distinguish and recognize the differences in meaning. However, pronunciation is still an issue, such that the use of different words with the same or different pronunciation can become rather discombobulating. Languages that comprise homophones include Mandarin and Russian, both of whom feature in the high-level difficulty category of language learning.

In conclusion, the evidence really suggests that English can be a devilishly convoluted language, featuring similar characteristics to some of the world’s hardest linguistic

codes. From pronunciation to grammatical order, any English learner will encounter strange uses of words, even fluent speakers. Of course, whilst some languages share roots, and thus have linguistic connections, English shouldn’t be taken for granted by anyone, and natives should respect just how challenging it is to foreign speakers, who do not possess the intrinsic ability to discriminate the oddities of our language.

Raymond Guo Is the production of biomass accelerating climate change?

Environmental organisations condemn the EU for its actions A case was filed on Monday 4 th March 2019 with the European Union General Court in Luxembourg suggesting that the European Union is increasing the rate of climate change and damaging forests all over the world. The case, which aims to end subsidies for biomass energy and stop wood burning counting towards meeting renewable energy targets, has been brought forward by a large number of environmental organisations that believe the RED II will ultimately contribute to further forest devastation and undoubtedly impact the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by not counting carbon dioxide emissions from burning wood fuels. Two continents and six countries are a part of the lawsuit including: Estonia, Ireland Romania, France,The USA and Slovakia. All of these places suggesting that they and many other countries are being impacted by the production of biomass.

What is biomass energy? Biomass is biological material obtained from living or recently living plant and animal matter which can eventually be burned to produce energy. The organic matter contains stored energy from the sun which during photosynthesis allows the plants to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugars. It is considered to be a very versatile material and can be used to produce heat for hot water and space, electricity, a combination of heat and electricity in a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant or a liquid fuel, such as biodiesel, which can be used to power vehicles or produce heat. Not only can it be used for a wide variety of sources but it is also considered as a renewable fuel as long as they are sustainable.

There are four different types of biomass: •

Biodiesel- a fuel made by chemically reacting alcohol with animal fats or vegetable oils (most commonly made from soybean oil) that can be blended with petroleum diesel

•

Agricultural products and wood- Wood accounts for Olavian 2019 – 29

approximately 44 percent of biomass energy and can be used in a variety of forms such as logs, chips and sawdust. Similarly, agricultural waste products such as fruit pits can be used •

•

Biogas and landfill gas- methane gas is produced as waste decays which can then be collected by landfills and used as a fuel. It is often also produced using energy from agricultural and human wastes. Biogas digesters are containers lined with either steel or bricks which waste is put into to produce methane gas. This can then be used for cooking or to produce electricity.

Solid waste-power plants burn waste for energy which can then be used to generate electricity

The idea behind biomass being a renewable energy resource is because it gains energy needed from the sun through photosynthesis and as a result is considered to be carbon neutral. As trees are harvested for biomass and replanted,at the same time wood is being burned,the new trees will absorb the carbon (which is produced by the burning trees through combustion) ultimately meaning that no more carbon is added into the atmosphere.

Biomass was also considered to be a renewable energy resource in the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). This initiative, set up by the European Union, suggests that by 2030 the target for overall renewable energy consumption has been raised to 32 percent and that member states, by 2030, must have fuel suppliers use a minimum of 14 percent of energy consumed on road and rail transport as renewable.

The Lawsuit However, ultimately, this is where the disagreement lies.

Due to biomass being considered ‘carbon neutral’ as part of RED II, many environmental organisations view this as contributing largely to increased carbon emissions 30 – Olavian 2019

and further harming our environment. This is because according to these non-governmental organisations the EU have ignored basic scientific evidence suggesting that burning wood (whilst seeming to be more appealing than using fossil fuels) is adding more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in comparison to burning coal per unit of energy produced. Similarly, although the process of biomass suggests new trees will be grown, to absorb excess carbon dioxide, it is obvious that trees cannot grow and appear as quickly as old trees being cut down, creating a global carbon impact.

The lawsuit is suggesting that by the EU using biomass as a renewable energy resource they are undoubtedly ignoring the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (an environmental objective) which claims to ensure “protecting and improving the quality of the environment, protecting human health” and “combatting climate change”. Many believe this is being ignored especially researchers and scientists including Duncan Brack who suggests“this is not sensible”and consequently, if not reviewed, burning trees for biomass could lead to accelerated harm to communities, livelihoods and health and devastatingly, the environment.

The future of climate change Not only is it important that this case is taken further but it is crucial that science is continually being acknowledged when making political decisions which will impact both people and the environment. Recently climate change has made headlines in the news with the BBC airing an hour long film with David Attenborough labelled “Climate Change- the facts”which involved highlighting the basic scientific evidence and how we might reduce further global warming. Similarly, many protests have taken place, including the extinction rebellion, involving many young people which has led to increased media coverage on the topic. Along with Greta Thunberg who has been spreading the importance of urgent action that needs to take place globally. It is clear that through the increase of scientific research and knowledge the time has come where unions, governments and organisations can no longer hide from evidence that economic activities and processes are having a detrimental impact on our environment. They can no longer use treaties or

agreements to slightly lower emissions and gradually make a change without compromising the economy.

Ultimately, climate change is accelerating on a larger scale than expected and it is not just acknowledgment which is going to stop it. Action needs to take place and unless the EU are willing to respond with positive changes our environment may be destroyed for good.

Sophie Anslow Spain’s forgotten dictator The initial success but eventual downfall of Miguel Primo de Rivera The Spaniards say that their country has a revolution of some sort every forty years or so. It has now been four decades since the current constitution was passed in 1978. This brought an end to the rule of the Falangists under Franco, who had imposed a four-decade Fascist dictatorship since victory in the civil war in 1939.

This itself was the culmination of a tumultuous forty years for Spain, a tragic decline of a glorious empire, the catalyst being defeat in the Spanish-American War in 1898. Since that loss, frustrations pent up by political instability and lack of leadership, namely the “Tragic Week” of 1909, where Catalonia was awash with Anarcho- Syndicalist uprising, and the pseudodemocratic turno system of government, had caused many to lose faith with the Spanish political class. With the loss of its territory in Morocco during the Second Rif War, Spain desperately needed change, and a new

leader after the assassination of Prime minister Eduardo Dato by Catalan trade unionists. The man they chose had a distinguished military career; the man who could make Spain great again: Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spain’s forgotten dictator.

In his battles against the Berbers, Primo de Rivera displayed courage and initiative; he also recognised that war in Morocco was unsustainable if Spain's unemployment and strikes were not dealt with. With the support of the military and King Alfonso XIII, Primo de Rivera staged a coup, on 13th September 1923.

He addressed the public, with typically florid rhetoric, to explain and gather support for his dictatorship: “Gentlemen, the current situation is easy and opportune, which will suffice for me to take and gather the thoughts and feelings of the past days, in which the Spanish people will endorse with great applause, to establish the idea of what we want the future of Spain to be, a people respected for their love of peace and progress, of humanitarian spirit, and always proudly thinking of a future that will make Spain worthy of her glorious past.”

He suspended the constitution, to the ire of many politicians who had urged the King to stand by his democratically-elected representatives. He claimed he would only be dictator for ninety days, but led the country for more than seven years, and provided the framework for a political legacy in the form of his party, Unión Patriótica. Primo de Rivera immediately sought to end the Rif War by agreeing a joint plan of military action with France. The new military administration was popular among those on the right - Primo de Rivera daren’t ruffle the feathers of the landowning class through agrarian reform - but was divisive among the left. He tackled the crippling unemployment in his country through an enormous undertaking of public investment. Spain had relatively few cars at the beginning of his tenure - by its end it had one of the most developed road networks in Europe. The Barcelona metro opened in 1924, and a campaign for the irrigation and electrification of rural Spain began.

He drew support from Jose Ortega y Gasset and other socialist thinkers, owing to the government role in collective bargaining for workers.

However, others on the left, such as essayist Miguel de Unamuno, denounced the regime. Primo de Rivera imposed iron-hard press censorship and closed intellectual associations. He also banned Basque and Catalan expressions of culture, even traditional dances.

Beyond the dictatorship, this was a period marked by a splendid flourishing of culture in Spain. The first radio broadcasts were made, Luis Buñuel broke new ground Olavian 2019 – 31

in cinematography, the Generation of ‘27 literary movement blossomed with Federico Garcia Lorca and playwright Juan Ramón Jiménez, Salvador Dali began to exhibit his work and Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris founded Cubism.The long standing telecommunications monopoly Telefonica, petroleum company Campsa, and tobacco firm Tabacalera, were all established in this decade and each made a lasting cultural impact.

Eventually, however, Primo de Rivera lost the support of first the public, then the army, then finally the King. He resigned on 26th January 1930. Inflation due to his bombastic public works projects, as well as the international Great Depression, culminated in his demise. Republicans had had enough and declared a socialist Spanish Second Republic in 1931. Primo de Rivera’s son, José Antonio, founded the Falangist movement, which fought against the Republic in the Spanish Civil War. The comparatively terrifying regime of Franco made the Spanish look fondly upon the days of Miguel Primo de Rivera.

Forty years have passed since the new constitution and with the far-right on the rise again in Spain, the country must choose its destiny. The question is: will they remember the lessons of history?

Edwin Roberts How and why did the Supermarine Spitfire evolve from Specification F.7/30 to the Mk. 24?

Specification F.7/30: Fighter capable of at least 250 mph and armed with four machine guns. - Air Ministry, October 1931 [12] Specification F.7/30 was released by the British Air Ministry at the end of 1931 as a directive to industry to submit proposals for a modern fighter with a high top speed and considerable armament. From this relatively vague sentence, eight designs were put forward to the Air Ministry from the leading companies of the day, including Hawker, Gloster, and a small subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong called Supermarine. Under the guiding hand of its chief designer, R. J. Mitchell, Supermarine submitted the Type 224, with a gull-wing design and a Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine for power.

The Type 224 prototype was predicted to have a top speed of 245 mph and to be able to climb to 15,000 ft in 6.6 minutes, but the maiden flight on the 19 th February 1934 yielded disappointing results. A top speed of only 228 mph and a 9.5 min climb did not impress, and it was the Gloster Gladiator Biplane that won the contract [1]. Despite this, Mitchell had been in talks with the Air Ministry about a modification of the 224, designated the Type 300, with eight guns and a new wing shape. The Air Ministry accepted this proposal and reserved a name 32 – Olavian 2019

for this new design - Spitfire.

Under this new working title, Mitchell and his team got to work building the Type 300. Supermarine had enjoyed great success in the post-war seaplane races of the late 20s and early 30s and had won the prestigious Schneider Seaplane Trophy several times. Its final entry, the S.6B, was Mitchell’s attempt to ‘perfect the design of the racing seaplane’. It was a refinement of the S.6 and featured minor aerodynamic changes to the floats and innovative cooling solutions which increased performance significantly against its predecessor. The S.6B was designed with the help of the National Physics Laboratory, one of the first aircraft to be tested at full scale in a wind tunnel. The focus on drag reduction, cooling, and squeezing more performance out of the Rolls- Royce R engine all laid the foundations for the Spitfire project. Mitchell described the S.6B as a ‘flying radiator’ [1] , such was the importance of cooling. After winning the Schneider Trophy in September 1931, the S.6B broke the world air speed record just weeks later, reaching a speed of 407.5 mph [2] . The Type 300 had a lot to live up to.

The most distinctive feature of the Type 300 was the elliptical wing, first used in the S.4 Racing Seaplane but now updated and refined. The shape allowed for the armament (8 × 0.303 in M1919 Browning machine guns, 4 per wing) and the retractable undercarriage (necessary for high-speed fighters) to be fully incorporated within the wings, massively reducing drag and allowing for a higher top speed. Furthermore, the all-new Rolls-Royce PV-XII V-12 engine was selected for the Type 300 [2] and although the PV-XII suffered from cooling issues to begin with, these subsided when the evaporative system was eventually replaced with a ducted ethylene-glycolbased design. The addition of such a system to the PV-XII allowed for many of the planes it powered 1 to make use of the newly discovered Meredith effect 2 . In February 1936, the first prototype of the Type 300 flew, having been allocated serial number K5054 and renamed

the Spitfire. After the first few test flights, the refining process began, and this would not end until the last Mk. 24 rolled off the production line in 1946. The Spitfire really did evolve, changing to respond to its operating environments, counterparts, rivals, and the needs of the Allied war effort. What began with K5054 was a journey few planes have ever taken, and the lessons learnt from this iterative design are equally applicable today as they were over 70 years ago.

Following airworthiness trials, K5054, no longer the Type 300 but not quite the Mk. I, was found to have an oversensitive rudder and a disappointing top speed of 330 mph. Ground resonance testing at the Royal Aircraft Establishment identified excessive wing flutter, and a 380 mph speed limit was imposed accordingly.

Small modifications yielded a top speed of 335 mph, and with a new propeller added on 15 th May 1936, K5054 reached 348 mph, outclassing all competitors and briefly making it the fastest military aircraft in the world [9].

K5054 was delivered to RAF Martlesham Heath on the 26 th May, and Specification F.16/36 was issued on the 3rd June, formally ordering production of the Supermarine Spitfire Mk. I, now almost unrecognisable from the humble beginnings of Type 224, to begin.

The evolution of K5054 now began in earnest. Mitchell had designed the Spitfire to produce very little drag force, using cutting-edge technology such as countersunk rivets (which sat flush to the airframe) designed by Supermarine’s Chief Aerodynamicist, Beverly Shenstone 3 . However, the Air Ministry was concerned that this technique was too time-consuming and costly as the subcontractors building the wings had little experience building metal high-speed airframes. It would have been cheaper and quicker to use dome-headed rivets, but Mitchell was insistent that countersunk was the way to go if minimal drag was to be achieved. To test this, K5054 was covered in split-peas, and the results were used to determine where dome-headed rivets could be used without affecting performance [4] . K5054’s final major contribution to the development process came in 1937 after an engine failure resulted in a wheels-up landing. K5054’s PV-XII, now known as the RollsRoyce Merlin engine, was refitted with a prototype triple ejector exhaust to fully make use of the Meredith effect. Tests on the 19th September revealed that the new system produced an additional 70 pounds of thrust (311.5N), pushing the top speed up to 360 mph [9] .

From here on, K5054 continued as a testbed, primarily for the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and for the gun cooling system until, on the 4 th September 1939, the day after Britain declared war on Germany, K5054 was lost at the hands of Flight Lieutenant G. S. White, who suffered fatal neck injuries from his safety harness upon a failed landing [3] . The war had begun, and it was time

for K5054 to pass on the mantle.

“The ellipse was simply the shape that allowed us the thinnest possible wing with room inside to carry the necessary structure and the things we wanted to cram in. And it looked nice.” - Beverly Shenstone [9] The feature that makes the Spitfire so iconic is the elliptical wing, an unusual design born out of necessity.

An elliptical wing is the most efficient design for an untwisted wing as it creates the lowest amount of induced drag 4 [5] .The Spitfire’s wing is actually a semielliptical design with the wing twisted so that the centre of pressure aligns with the main spar, which prevents the wings from rotating during flight. In order to reduce wave drag at high speeds, the wings have a changing thickness-to-chord ratio 5 . The thickness of a wing is the maximum vertical separation between the top and bottom, and the chord is an imaginary straight line joining the leading and trailing edges of a wing. At the root of the Spitfire’s wing, the thickness-to-chord ratio was 13%, and at the tip, 9.4%. The changing thicknessto-chord ratio combined with the twisted wing creates a washout, a type of wing design that deliberately reduces the lift distribution across a wing in order to ensure that at stall speeds, the root of the wing stalls 6 before the tip, allowing for aileron control to remain during the stall 7 . The wing had a dihedral of 6º, with an angle of incidence at the root of +2°, decreasing to -½° at the tip. The wing design continued to evolve throughout the war with later mark spitfires having pointed wing tips, or some low-level fighters using clipped wings. Originally, the leading edge of the wing was meant to house the condensers for the PX-VII’s evaporative cooling system, but as this had been replaced, Supermarine used this space for fuel tanks, a feature patented in 1938 [2].

The semi-elliptical shape provided an incredibly stable platform from which to fire guns, but there were numerous problems with the early Spitfires and their armaments. The M1919 Browning machine gun had been selected as the RAF’s new standard in 1934 [6] , and although it functioned perfectly on the ground and at low altitude, at high altitudes the gun was prone to freeze and jam. By redirecting some of the excess heat from the radiators into the wings, this problem was mitigated. The guns were also covered with red fabric patches to prevent dirt and moisture getting into the barrel until they were fired.The M1919 also suffered from a performance issue.

Pilots of the Mk. I complained that the M1919 was not effective at taking out enemy aircraft,with combat reports showing that, on average, 4,500 rounds were needed to shoot down one aircraft. The Browning (if it worked) had a 1,000 round per minute rate of fire, and with eight guns, it would take a minimum of 34 seconds 8 to down an aircraft. Despite inherent weaknesses in some German designs 9 , this was simply too long to maintain Olavian 2019 – 33

combat lethality. In June 1939 Supermarine installed one Hispano cannon into each wing, and despite awful reliability, the Hispano armed Mk. Ib 10 Spitfire came into service in June 1940 with No. 19 Squadron 11 . By August Supermarine had perfected the design with two Hispanos and four M1919s. The Mk Ib was the first of many variations upon the original design [11] . These variations will be detailed below.

“If anybody ever tells you anything about an aeroplane which is so bloody complicated you can’t understand it, take it from me: it’s all balls” - R. J. Mitchell to J. Quill, March 1936 [10] The following is a brief rundown of all of the major designs and variations of the Supermarine Spitfire from 1938 to 1946 [11] : Mk I - The first production Spitfire, the Mk. I was powered by a Merlin III with 1,030 hp and a potential maximum speed of 367 mph 12 . There were two variants, the Ia and Ib, with differing armaments, and it was the mark that mainly fought alongside the Hawker Hurricane in the Battle of Britain. In total 1,566 models were built.

The Spitfire Photo-Reconnaissance (PR) Mk. III was a modified Ia model with an added camera. They had all the armament removed and extra fuel tanks added, extending the range greatly. The PR Mk. IV used the Merlin 45 engine in the Mk. Ia airframe. 229 were built.

The PR Mk. VII used a Ia airframe but did not have extra fuel tanks, allowing for three cameras and all the weapons to be retained.

Before the war broke out, two Mk. Ias were set aside to try and break the world air speed record, but even with extensive modifications to the airframe and wings, the attempt fell short of the Messerschmitt 209. One of these ‘Speed’ Spitfires was retrofitted as a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft.

Mk. II - The Mk. II was the first production Spitfire to use the PV-XII engine and the new ethylene-glycol system. Built at the Castle Bromwich factory, and with the same armament variants as the Mk. I, 750 Mk. IIa and 170 Mk. IIb models were built.

Mk. V - This was the most numerous mark of Spitfire.

The V had a strengthened fuselage and used several marks of Merlin Engine, specifically the 45, 46, 50, 55, or 56 models. There were three armaments configurations.

The Va came with 8 M1919 machine guns, the Vb with 4 machine guns and two cannons, and the Vc with four 20mm cannons. The Mk. V was the first to be able to accommodate a drop tank or to be used as a bomber.

Introduced in 1941, it was also the first model to be used outside of Britain. Other variations included a clipped 34 – Olavian 2019

wing 13 model and a model with a dust filter attached.

94 Mk Vas were built, compared with 3,923 of the Vb and 2,447 of the Vc. The Mk. XIII was a PR variant of the Mk. V, using a Merlin 32 and being unique in its armament - four M1919 machine guns in the ‘d’ armament. Only 18 XIIIs were built, and they were the only mark to use the ‘d’ configuration.

In 1945, after the fall of France, three Mk Vs were converted to a floatplane model, in preparation for war with Japan in the Pacific. This never came to be, and only three models were ever converted.

Supermarine Seafire - The Supermarine Seafire program ran alongside the Spitfire, and it primarily involved naval conversions of Mk. V Spitfires into carrier-borne versions, adding tail hooks and slinging points for catapult launches from the decks of the Royal Navy’s carriers, such as HMS Victorious. Various marks of Spitfire were converted to Seafire standard, and the type impressed, particularly in the Pacific theatre against Imperial Japanese Kamikaze pilots. Versions of the Seafire continued to serve with the Fleet Air Arm well into the Korean War, before being slowly phased out by jet-propelled naval fighters, such as the de Havilland Vampire.

Mk. VI - The Spitfire Mk. VI was designed for combat at extreme altitudes and featured longer wings and pointed wing tips 14 and a pressurised cockpit. The Mk. VI was produced in the ‘b’ armament, and used a Merlin 47 engine, producing 1,415 hp. These adaptations meant that the Mk. VI had a slightly staggering service ceiling of 40,000 feet! 15 A total of 100 Mk. VIs were built.

Mk. VII - The Mark VII was an extension of the VI, taking the principles that worked and adding the revolutionary two-stage supercharged Merlin 61 engine, producing 1,660 hp. The RAF expected the Luftwaffe to use high-altitude bombers to attack Britain, so a better high-altitude interceptor was necessary. The Merlin 61 surprised pilots with its performance at altitude. Earlier Merlins had begun to lose power above 20,000 feet, yet the 61 would continue to perform well above this altitude. It was around this time that Rolls-Royce added pressure carburettors to the Merlin engine, allowing steep nose dives. 16 The VII kept the pointed wings but added a pointed tail fin and a retractable tailwheel. A new radiator design also helped push the service ceiling to 44,000 feet. 140 Mk. VIIs were built.

Mk. VIII - The Mark VIII took the best aspects of all the previous marks and married them into three variants.

The F model was the standard fighter, the LF was a low altitude Merlin 66 powered variant, and the HF used a Merlin 70. There were a very large number of differing types of Mk.VIII built, with various wing configurations,

engines, and armaments used in many combinations. In very general terms, it was an unpressurised Mk. VII, and due to its introduction in 1943 17 , it saw service all around the world, including in North Africa and Sicily. It took a long time to develop and actually entered service after the Mk. IX, but despite this 1,658 were built by 1945. After the war, Supermarine developed a laminar flow wing, and the single prototype Spitfire with this wing was a modified Mk. VIII. It yielded no benefit, and the Mk. 23 was never produced.

Mk. IX - The German Focke-Wulf 190 terrified the RAF. It completely outclassed any Spitfire with a singlestage Merlin engine, so the Mk. IX was created as a stopgap solution to hold off the assault until the Mk. VII and VIII were ready. It involved integrating the Merlin 61 into the Mk. V airframe, and to Supermarine’s surprise, it was incredibly effective. It remained in production far longer than expected, and the Mk IX was the workhorse of Fighter Command’s arsenal during the middle war years. All the standard variants were built, including the clipped wing LF and extended wing HF versions.

A new armament, the ‘e’ type, was introduced with the IX, featuring two cannons and two heavy .50 calibre machine guns, providing a huge performance upgrade.

The IX absolutely ruled the skies at medium and high altitudes, but the 190 still had the edge at low altitudes, and a later ‘long-nose’ model matched the IX, but it was met by the superior VIIs and VIIIs which by now had entered service. Allied air superiority began with the Spitfire Mk. IX and aided by the American P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang, would continue until the end of the war. 5,665 Mk IXs were produced, and later in the war, some were modified into two-seater training variants, called the T9 Spitfire. I have been lucky enough to work on one T9 Spitfire, MJ627, which now flies passengers from Biggin Hill Airport. Mk. X and Mk. XI - These were high-altitude photo-reconnaissance versions based on the Mk. VII, the principle difference being the X featured a pressurised cabin and the XI did not. 16 Mk. X Spitfires were built and 471 Mk. XIs were built and included tropical equipment as standard. 18 Mk. XII - The Mk. XII was a dedicated low-level interceptor designed to counter the FW 190, and it was the first Spitfire to use the upgraded Rolls-Royce Griffon engine, with 1,735 hp. The XII was the first major change to the clean lines of the Spitfire, with the airframe needing to be 3 feet longer to accommodate the Griffon, as well as having two unsightly bulges above the exhaust blocks. All XIIs had clipped wings, pointed tail fins, and the ‘b’ armament. The RAF now had complete air superiority over the FW 190, with 100 Mk. XIIs produced.

Mk. XIV - The Mk. XIV did to the Griffon what the VII did to the Merlin. It added a two-stage supercharger

to the Griffon, increasing the performance to a frankly bonkers 2,050 hp. This new power necessitated changes to the airframe, which was strengthened accordingly, and a large tail fin was added to increase yaw stability. It came in the standard and clipped wing configurations, with ‘c’ or ‘e’ type armament. It was also the first mark of Spitfire to feature the teardrop canopy, which increased visibility by allowing pilots to look behind them. Not all Mk. XIVs featured this canopy, but the clipped wing teardrop canopy Mk. XII is one of the most stunning Spitfires visually. 957 Mk. XIVs were produced. 19 The Mk. XIX was a PR version of the XIV, with a teardrop canopy and extra fuel tanks in the wings. 20 Supermarine Spiteful - By 1942, Supermarine’s engineers had realised that at high speeds 21 the elliptical wing of the Spitfire suffered from harmful vibrations.

The Spiteful featured a brand new wing design and a powerful Griffon Engine, but it was not ready until the war was ending. Only 19 were ever made, and the project was eventually shut down in 1945.

Mk. XVI - Very similar to the Mk. IX, the XVI used the American-built version of the Merlin engine, built under license by Packard and known as the Merlin 266. Many had teardrop canopies, and most used the ‘e’ armament.

1,054 were produced.

Mk. XVIII - The XVIII featured an airframe purposebuilt for the two-stage Griffon, but by this stage of the war air superiority had been won. Almost all Mk. XVIIIs

were used as photo-reconnaissance models. 300 units were built.

Mk. 21 and Mk. 22 - With the end of the War, the Air Ministry swapped from Roman numerals to Arabic ones, and with the war over Supermarine’s engineers had the time and money to make a new design. A completely new wing design with blunt tips heralded the end of the elliptical wing, and although most Mk. 21s used a Griffon 61/64, a few were fitted with the 85 model.These Spitfires featured two contra-rotating propellers to try to Olavian 2019 – 35

fully convert the 2,375 hp of the 85 into thrust. 122 Mk. 21s were produced in total. The Mk. 22 was identical to the 21 save for a teardrop canopy and a shorter rear fuselage. 272 were produced.

Mk. 24 - The last production Spitfire. It featured a large tail fin and a variation of the ‘c’ armament with cannons that did not protrude from the wing. Only 54 were ever built.

The Spitfire experiment almost seems to have come to a disappointing end, with the Mk. 24 practically unrecognisable from the humble beginnings of the fighter imagined by Specification F.7/30, but it is worth having a think about just how impressive this change is. From a plane that struggled to make 228 mph and took nigh on ten minutes to climb 15,000 feet to the mighty Mk. 24, a machine with a top recorded speed of 454 mph and that could climb to 30,000 feet in eight minutes. Compared to the Mk. Ia it was twice as heavy, more than twice as powerful, and it was testament to the amazing iterative design process started by Mitchell in 1931, and although he passed away in 1937, the Spitfire always remained his project, and I am sure that he would have smiled at how his invention had grown.The Spitfire managed to capture the imagination of the British Public with its smooth lines and amazing performance, and for many, it still remains an icon of the war, a symbol of hope when hope seemed lost. Although many Spitfires are lost to time, those that still fly today are a testament to the amazing ingenuity of the designers and engineers, and to the bravery of all those who fought in the skies above Europe and beyond.

References: 1. Anderson, J. (2018). The Grand Designers. Cambridge University Press, p.132 2. Andrews, C. and Morgan, E. (1989). Supermarine aircraft since 1914. 2nd ed. London: Putnam, p.207.

3. Aviation-safety.net. (1939). Accident Supermarine Spitfire Type 300 prototype K5054,04 Sep 1939.[online] Available at: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/75481 [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].

4. Biggin Hill Heritage Hanger. (n.d.). Why was the Spitfire so Successful? | Fly a Spitfire. [online] Available at: https://flyaspitfire.com/why-was-the-spitfire-so successful [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].

5. Clancy, J. (2006). Aerodynamics. Sterling Book House.

6. Imperial War Museum. (n.d.). .303 Browning Machine Gun Mk II*. [online] Available at: https:// www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30034660 36 – Olavian 2019

[Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].

7. Meredith, F. (1936). Cooling of Aircraft Engines.

With Special Reference To Ethylene Glycol Radiators Enclosed In Ducts. H.M. Stationery Office.

8. Pilot’s Notes for Spitfire IX, XI & XVI. (n.d.).

3rd ed. H. M. Stationary Office.

9. Price, A. (2002). The Spitfire Story. 2nd ed.

10. Quill, J. (1983). Spitfire. London: Arrow, p.102.

11. Spitfire Association. (n.d.). Spitfire Marks. [online] Available at: https://spitfireassociation.com.au/spitfiremarks/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].

12. The National Archives, Kew. (1931). AIRCRAFT: Fighter (Code B, 5/6): Single-seater day and night fighter: specification F7/30 | The National Archives. [online] Available at: https://discovery.nationalarchives. gov.uk/details/r/C2630339 [Accessed 25 Aug. 2019].

Image References 1. Spitfire Association. (n.d.). Spitfire Marks. [online] Available at: https://spitfireassociation.com.au/spitfiremarks/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].

Footnotes: 1. The success of the PV-XII, or Merlin, Engine, was remarkable. It was used in the majority of Spitfires, the Hawker Hurricane and, built under license, the North American P-51 Mustang. It was also used in multiengine bombers, with four Merlin engines in the iconic Avro Lancaster. It truly was a versatile design.

2. Large piston engines had a tendency to get very hot when operating at high speeds for long periods of time.

This could easily lead to mechanical issues, so finding innovative cooling solutions was a must. Large air intakes for cooling were effective yet created large amount of drag, reducing the aircraft’s top speed. In 1936 the engineer F.W. Meredith realised that through careful design the drag caused by a radiator could be offset if the waste fluid were forced backwards, thus creating thrust. Air flows into the duct where it is heated by a radiator containing a hot fluid, in the PV-XII’s case, ethylene-glycol. The air is acting as a coolant, so heats up, increasing its volume.The air meets drag resistance from the radiator surface and is compressed by the forwards motion of the aircraft, in a process called the ram-air effect. This hot, pressurised air is accelerated out of an exhaust duct, and the reaction force provides a small forward thrust. Ethylene glycol

was particularly effective as it had a much higher specific heat capacity than water, allowing the air to reach a higher temperature, thus increasing the forward thrust.

Meredith realised that if the generated thrust exceeded the aerodynamic drag of the duct, it would contribute a net forward thrust to the airplane [7]. Rolls-Royce and Mitchell were keen to use this in the design, and it allowed the Spitfire to have exceptional cooling ability with no net loss in thrust. The Meredith effect inspired early research into ramjets, with the Spitfire’s cooling system almost resembling a ramjet. In this sense, the Spitfire was actually a jet powered aircraft!

3. A key principle of this drag reduction was for the wings to have an incredibly thin cross-section. Countersunk rivets in the wing allowed for a significantly thinner wing than many of the spitfire’s counterparts, giving it a greater top speed.

4. Drag on a wing arising from the development of lift 5. This was necessary due to the effect detailed by Bernoulli’s principle over curves. As the wing approaches the speed of sound, the local air flow can be accelerated to supersonic speeds, creating a shock wave and large amounts of drag. The idea of the ‘sound barrier’ stems from this principle. In order to reduce wave drag, a wing should have the minimum possible curvature while still generating the required amount of lift. This leads to a wing design that is thin and wide, with a low thicknessto-chord ratio, such as the elliptical wing of the Spitfire [5].

6. Stall is the reduction in lift generated by a wing as the angle of attack increases. In light, subsonic aircraft such as the Spitfire, a stall will cause the aircraft to descend and pitch down, as the wing is no longer producing enough lift to support the aircraft’s weight [5].

7.This design actually has an incredible side effect. As the roots of the wing stall they begin to vibrate, something that the pilot can feel. These vibrations act as a warning to the pilot that they are at the edge of their operational capability, and that they should return to safer flight.

Today stall warning systems involve complex gyroscopes and computers, but none are quite as practical as the Spitfire’s. This was one of the many reasons that new pilots quickly felt comfortable in the Spitfire [8].

8. (4500 ÷ 60=33.75) 9. The Heinkel He 70 Blitz had elements made out of a flammable magnesium alloy called Elektron, which burns easily and is difficult to extinguish. The non-selfsealing wing fuel tanks would also go up in flames with ease. A single light machine gun round was said to be enough to set a He 70 on fire.

10. As opposed to the Browning Mk. Ia. 11. The Hispano was so unreliable that 19 Squadron requested the Mk. Ib be replaced with Mk. Ias from an operational training squadron.

12. With all the armour plating attached the actual top speed was more like 345 mph.

13. The clipped wing was designed out of necessity.

Planes using a clipped wing had a higher rate of roll and as such better low-level manoeuvrability, vital for interceptors and bombers.

14. These gave improved lift in the thin air.

15. The same height that commercial aircraft cruise at today.

16. Before this, fuel was forced out of the carburettor by the negative g caused by a steep dive. The Messerschmitt Bf. 109E used a fuel injection system meaning it could simply dive to escape pursuit by a Spitfire.The addition of the Bendix pressure carburettor in 1942 finally addressed this performance gap.

17. By 1943 World War II was truly a ‘World’ war.

18. After coming into service, several Mk. XIs were selected for high-speed diving trials at Farnborough to investigate the handling of aircraft close to the speed of sound. In April 1944, Mk. XI EN409, flown by Sqdrn Ldr Anthony F. Martindale, suffered engine failure during a high speed dive when the propeller came off.

This put EN409 into an uncontrolled Mach 0.92 dive (706 mph)! As various components fell off of the front of the plane, it became tail heavy and climbed back to altitude. Martindale blacked out under the 11 g loading, but when he came to he found himself at around 40,000 ft with the originally straight wings now slightly swept back. He successfully glided the aircraft 20 miles back to the airfield and was awarded the Air Force Cross for his efforts. This is the fastest recorded speed in a pistonengined aircraft.

19. The Spitfire Mk. XIV was one of only a handful of Allied aircraft that could keep up with the V1 Flying Bomb. Mk. XIV pilots were known to ‘tip-up’ the V1 by flying alongside and putting their wing under the wing of the bomb, thus causing it to tumble out of control and miss its target.

20. A Mk. XIX reached the highest recorded altitude for a spitfire in February 1952. A Hong Kong-based Spitfire of 81 Sqdrn, flown by Flt Lt Edward Cyril Powles reached a recorded altitude of 51,550 ft before losing control and entering an uncontrolled dive. Flt Lt Powles Olavian 2019 – 37

regained control around 3,000 ft and landed the aircraft safely.

21. > 480 mph James Hayes 13W To what extent are microplastics the most dangerous pollutant to marine life?

Pollution is a major problem facing society today, and marine pollution is a significant part of that, one reason being that oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface and hold 97% of the water on Earth.Microplastics (fragments of plastic 0.05-0.5cm in diameter) in particular, pose a large threat, due to their dispersed and damaging impacts on marine life across the globe. There is however debate as to which pollutant poses the greatest threat, because the impacts can be lessened if mitigation is successful, pollutants can be removed from the ocean, and their flow into the ocean can be lessened. This means that the greatest threats to marine life are those pollutants that are harmful to life, cannot be removed from the ocean and have large scale impacts. While there are increasing concerns about the future impact of rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and oceans, this study will conclude that the most dangerous pollutant to marine life is microplastics.

The first pollutant that will be covered is plastics. This encompasses both plastics in a more general way and specifically microplastics. Of the plastic in the oceans, around 20% is from ocean industry, but 80% comes from land (from landfill, being washed down the drain directly (microbeads and other cosmetic products) or through industrial leakage). There are many kinds of plastic for example PVC, silicone, nylon and PET (in water bottles). The colouring of these plastics often means that animals will ingest them and the carcinogens they carry. Microplastics are fragments of plastics formed under UV breakdown or directly from cosmetics and clothes. The main issue associated with microplastics is bioaccumulation, especially in the higher trophic levels.

There is also direct toxicity of microplastics as chemicals adhere to their surface due to their high surface area to volume ratio for example flame retardants which inhibit respiration. The third major pollutant is carbon dioxide which dissolves in oceans to form weak carbonic acid.

Oceans absorb 30% of anthropogenic carbon emissions, with the current pH change at 0.11 pH units. This pollutant affects calcifying organisms like molluscs and coral whose shell and skeleton is dissolved respectively.

Industrial pollution and dumping is also a major issue with agricultural runoff from intense farming, the tourism industry, untreated sewage and oil. All pollute oceans in varying but localised ways from algal blooms forming oxygen depleted dead zones to oil covered seabirds. Overall, it is clear that all the pollutants are very 38 – Olavian 2019

Figure 1 (The Ocean Cleanup (The Great Pacific Garbage Patch), 2018) shows the abundance of microplastics throughout the great pacific garbage patch.

dangerous, but plastics, microplastics and carbon dioxide are the most widespread in their impacts.

To evaluate the impacts of the pollutants across the whole ocean, the case study of the Pacific Ocean which covers a third of the Earth’s surface will be used. Many species in the Pacific Ocean have declined since the industrial revolution, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (an accumulation of plastic in the ocean) has also formed since then due to ocean currents. There are estimated to be 1 trillion pieces of plastic within the garbage patch, with microplastics very abundant in the middle linked to increased exposure to UV of the plastic in the middle of the patch. 30% of species have been entangled in plastic and 44% have ingested it. When surveyed, 35% of planktivorous mesopelagic fish caught in the North Pacific gyre had microplastic in their gut.

The next major pollutant, carbon dioxide, has a large impact on the Pacific Ocean due to the presence of coral reefs in the North West and the South. In 2016, 30% of coral died during a 9 month excessive warm period, however it is hard to say whether this is due to the direct impact of carbon dioxide or whether this is due to ocean warming. This death of coral will have a knock on effect and does have the power to destabilise the entire ocean ecosystem. Industrial waste and dumping has a large impact on the Pacific Ocean too, as there is a 22,000km2 oxygen depleted dead zone present.The tourism industry is also highly damaging, especially around Hawaii, where there are levels of oxybenzone (a chemical in sunscreen) 70x higher than the safe level and very high levels of oestrone (in untreated sewage) which affects the gene expression in vertebrates. The DAPL pipeline has had 5 major leaks recently, although this has low impacts as most marine life can swim away to avoid the danger the oil poses. Overall, it is clear that while all the pollutants are dangerous, industrial pollution is localised and not abundant, however plastics, microplastics and carbon

dioxide are widespread and abundant.

The story so far is bleak, however there are ways to reduce the impacts of these pollutants. If people reduce consumption, then companies will reduce the production of all the pollutants; but this is not enough on its own.

Political acts on a national and global level are also needed.To mitigate against the future impacts of plastics plastic alternatives can be found – the company biome bioplastics have produced a completely compostable and biodegradable hot drinks cup made of potato and corn starch as well as cellulose.To reduce the impacts of carbon dioxide,renewable energy must be provided by companies and caps must be enacted. On an individual level, home insulation can be effective. Like carbon dioxide, the future impacts of industrial waste can be managed in this way too. Removing pollutants already in the ocean is difficult but can be done in 2 ways currently for plastic.

The company The Ocean Cleanup is testing a 600m long floater on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and if rolled out to all ocean gyre systems could remove 90% of plastic from our oceans by 2040. However, the downside is that this system cannot remove microplastics. There is also a fungus that secretes enzymes which break the intermolecular bonds using mycelia, which is especially useful for PET. There are however temperature and pH limits to their effectiveness which could limit their use in oceans. Overall, it is clear that the widespread abundant impacts of plastics can be limited, along with carbon dioxide and industrial pollutants, while microplastic pollution cannot be.

Overall, it is clear to a certain extent that all the pollutants that humans are putting into our oceans have grave impacts on the marine life inhabiting them. However, some pollutants like oil, agricultural runoff, sunscreen and sewage have localised impacts and therefore do not pose such a widespread danger to marine life. Microplastics, plastics and carbon dioxide have widespread impacts across the whole ocean, so their impacts are not localised and are therefore likely more severe. Other forms of pollutant have solutions, like carbon dioxide that causes ocean acidification and large plastics. This means that despite the fact that their effects are very damaging and widespread, there are ways in which the effects can be prevented. This means that overall these pollutants pose less danger to marine life in oceans. Microplastics are too small to be extracted from the ocean in the same way that larger pieces of plastic can, so they pose a greater threat.This means that overall, microplastics are the most dangerous known pollutant to marine life. They are harmful to marine life, cannot yet be removed or remediated and are widespread and abundant in the oceans. However, threshold effects may raise the impact of pollutants studied here, for example a tipping point for ocean pH changes that causes a mass extinction event. The ocean is in a state of rapid

change, so it is unclear which pollutant is going to act the fastest and do the most damage. What is clear is that, as a society, we must act to prevent pollution worsening before it is too late.

‘Separating human from physical geography makes less sense now than ever, since no “human” geography concerns humans alone’. Discuss.

Whilst the Oxford Dictionary defines geography as, “The study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these” (Oxford Dictionaries | English, 2018) This approach to separate the two strands has become somewhat outdated because the modern way of thinking is to integrate solutions to the processes. For example, in the broadest terms, any processes that happen at the coast affect humans because humans choose to interact with these beautiful landscapes. Additionally, any policies humans implement against population growth for example will have an effect on the ecosystem they live in harmony with which cannot be ignored. This in the simplest terms shows that there should not be a line drawn.

Traditionally human geography involves the study of the relationships between people, place and their environment whereas physical geography instead focuses on spatial processes.

Geography is a spatial science and if we ignore the space we live in, we will be pretending we are ignorant, which is not true in the modern world. Government policies that we implement can no longer be solely focussed on the impacts they will have on people, instead they must also consider the impact on the environment we live in. Some policies have been implemented on a large population where the impacts of it on the environment were not considered. China’s 1979 one child policy has had a large impact on the people of China, but this does not tell the full story of the impacts of the policy. At that time, a quarter of the world’s population were on a tiny 7% of the world’s land, and there was a youthful population with two thirds under the age of 30.The policy resulted in the ratio of men to women and old to young being dramatically distorted. Families wanted males to be able to care for them in old age, and females born would hold this obligation to their new husbands’ family.

In some circumstances females who were born were left to die. The government of China project that the policy has prevented 250 million to 300 million births, however the policy itself was not the only reason for this. This policy has had an impact on Chinese culture, but it has also had an impact on how people live. The vast numbers of the elderly has meant that the care for this population has had to be rethought for new solutions. These solutions must take into account physical geography Olavian 2019 – 39

of space issues, because expansion of urban facilities must go somewhere, and those places must not further damage China’s already fragile ecosystems which has been damaged by projects like the Three Gorges Dam. This was a project which put many species including the Chinese River Dolphin on the brink of extinction.

Additionally, the dam flooded 632 square kilometres of land, displacing thousands of towns and villages and affecting around 1.3 million people.

Before the recent increase in the rate of globalisation, decisions about what was going to happen were made on a small local scale, and solely about how decisions would affect the people who live there. This also meant that there was not as much of a link between physical and human geography as there was not a focus on the wider landscape, rather one on the local impacts on people, and maybe some of the local wildlife. For example, on the Holderness Coast, before an integrated approach was taken for the whole coastal system, there was coastal management in place like a groyne at Mappleton which actually harmed the biodiversity downdrift. When globalisation bought technological improvement and there was a communication network between everyone very rapidly, this was not allowed to happen and instead an integrated approach which took into account all physical and human processes that have an impact on the landscape and the places we live in.

Today the more common approach takes into account both people and the place and made a plan based upon all this information. However, before this can be done, a full understanding of processes and systems must be gained. Negative feedback systems come into the context of globalisation because the global system can act by lessening the effects of changes within the system.

Without this understanding of systems, there can be no way for people to progress further with globalisation.

Overall, globalisation has allowed decisions to be made involving people and the landscape, and decisions should continue to be made in this way.

Globalisation has also massively impacted disaster mitigation. Communication technology has advanced; from letters to telephone cables under the Atlantic Ocean to the internet today. Before the internet, there was no way for people across the globe to rapidly communicate and therefore rapidly warn one another if a disaster was imminent. With globalisation, the monitoring stations all over the world that collect seismological data can now be connected. Prior to the Boxing day tsunami in 2004 which killed 250,000 due to the 15m wave reaching the countries around the Indian Ocean, they were not connected. However, now they are which allows for the monitoring that is done to save lives by warning them of when they can expect a tsunami and when they should move to higher ground. This only came with the invention of the internet allowing rapid communications.

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However, in the case of a hazard, the resilience of the system is a very important issue, because the way that the system can recover from the effects a disaster will dictate the economic and social status of the country for many years to come. If a country cannot recover, it will always be in debt with the possibility of many people still living in temporary housing whereas if the system springs back recovers, the place will do better in terms of the economy. This shows that to understand how people and hazards can interact and understanding of system resilience must be taught and the only way that it could be done is by separating geography out into strands, perhaps even further separate it than the two names physical and human. However, there is a strong link between physical and human processes because people are affected by them so we must use human engineering to help to mitigate.

Climate change is a global issue, and thus affects people as well as all the organisms that live on Earth. This means that climate change must be seen as an issue affecting the whole of earth and a solution must be found with compromises appropriate to everyone inhabiting our planet. This has come into play recently, because all the countries in the world agreed to sign the Paris Agreement in 2015, which aims to keep global temperature rise below 2oC by the end of this century, with the even better aim to keep it below 1.5oC. Previously, people had exploited the environment for their own aims. This was especially prevalent in the UK during the Industrial Revolution because there has been a 30% increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since that time. Waste was disposed of in an unsustainable way, and coal use in industry resulted in smog and soot covering the city.

This was as bad for the environment as it was bad for people, but only the people were thought about. In this case, people damaged the environment on a large scale and very rapidly. Since then, LIDCs and EDCs have undergone industrialisation to similar effects. China for example have been doing this recently and have very seriously damaged the environment. China today is the world’s leading manufacturing country, producing 50% of industrial goods. This has meant that they have become one of the world’s leaders in emissions. In terms of air pollution in Beijing as of 2013, there had been many days where safe levels of air pollution had been surpassed into unsafe levels above 300ppm. However, with climate change a positive feedback system has been shown to be an issue because a change for example in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have created a snowball effect, pulling the system further from its equilibrium, especially in the case of carbon dioxide which is in the atmosphere for 100 years before it can be stored in oceans or ice. This shows that a very extensive knowledge of systems is needed, and the only way to achieve this is by a separation of strands of study, which can be bought together once the point of understanding

has been reached. Overall, a solution must be found, and that human geography and the want of growth cannot be separated from the landscape we live in.

As well as a solution to climate change, a solution to the impacts that climate change has already had must be found and must take into account both people and their landscape, on a more local level. If a solution was to replant many trees that will absorb a lot of carbon dioxide for growth, the impacts on the environment must be considered, and an appropriate place must be chosen, on a global scale because climate change is a global issue.

Another solution involves the switch to biofuel to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, because biofuel is seen as carbon neutral. However, land must be found to grow this sugar cane for combustion and this land would most likely be found from agricultural land. This would mean an increased strain on the agricultural land, or more land would be destroyed in favour of monoculture to cope with the increased demand. This once again emphasises that solutions must be fully considered for their impact across the whole of geography, and not just how they would affect humans.

In conclusion, the world today is a world that has become more integrated, more aware and more interconnected in ways that have never before been possible, meaning that the spatial processes and the interactions with people and their landscape have become interlinked.

This means that global solutions, taking into account all organisms on Earth must be found to ensure that the world continues in its current state. Globalisation has facilitated this path, and it is globalisation with all the new infrastructure and technological advancements that will make it possible to solve issues like climate change and come with sustainable policies for the future, for both humans and animals with whom we share our planet.

increase was due to foreign-born immigration which was a significant increase from previous years; mainly due to the UK giving off the idea of having multifold of opportunities. From many perspectives, this would largely be seen as a disadvantage to the UK due to fears of overpopulation and the impacts this would then have on the economy. Nonetheless, the decline of the booming UK economy highly welcomes more immigration into the country. As migrants normally are prepared to take on lower paid and low skilled jobs, this would make sure that the primary and secondary sector of the economy would still function. This is important, as if there is no primary sector then we would be dependent on other countries to feed ourselves.This could thus lead to weaker power over trade and control of the prices of necessary goods and services. The primary sector enables us to be independent and thus provides stability, as well as fueling the secondary sector. On top of this, immigrants bring in new skills which can be adopted by the current workforce that increases the productivity of labour. Therefore, leading to higher GDP in the UK as the multiplier effect is then taken on. This is where firms upon receiving higher revenue, are able to pay workers more money which means more disposable income for households; used to consume more products which amounts to more GDP for the UK. Consequently, benefitting the country economically as well as socially as trade links can also be improved with more immigration.

How immigration has benefited the UK From the media to other forms of representation of the United Kingdom, the UK has constantly been judged as a country who was always unfavourable of immigration despite 15% of the population being foreign-born.

Recently, this view of the UK has been emphasised due to the vote to leave the EU meaning stricter border controls. Although this image of Britain seemed to last for the past few decades, more and more evidence supports the idea that the UK has been impacted more positively since mass immigrations after world war 2.

This was when the country was sought after by many nationalities for several different reasons including push and pull factors like refuge and job prospects.

The phenomenon of globalisation has meant the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of increased trade and cultural exchange.

Considerable amounts of cultural interaction between ethnically British people and foreign-born citizens has meant a richer and more diverse British culture. This has meant that since the early 20th century, people who were brought up in the UK were given a wider perspective of life and were surrounded by new skills and ideas that they may not have experienced if not for immigration. When children are brought up in primary schools they will be interacting with other children from a variety of different backgrounds and ethnicities. With this disparate range of cultures, children become more open and accepting of other cultures and ideas that may benefit them in the future. New languages and styles of etiquette can be picked up- broadening horizons.

Furthermore, the welcoming of new cultures also brings about competitiveness in students which can greatly aid the number of people in a population who attends university, which later contributes to a more diligent work force. During 2018 the proportion of pupils who attended university was already at a record high of 37.4% across the UK- an almost 6.5% increase from the previous decade- after a 5.8% rise in immigration throughout the same decade. Reinforcing the idea that immigration brings numerous assets to the UK as there are likely to be more expertise in the country now, as well as improved concepts of other nations.

Between 2001 and 2011, 70% of the population

Other aspects of immigration that benefits the UK Olavian 2019 – 41

includes the livelihoods of the residents. The culture that is brought into the country ranges from the types of food and fashion to media such as TV shows and music.

For example, the thriving Italian, Chinese and Indian restaurants to name just a few have now been taken by storm across the UK allowing British people to enjoy a variety of different cuisines. By embracing the different cultural dishes, practices and individual needs of all families, a sense of belonging is created for everyone.This enables children to celebrate their own uniqueness and impart the importance of acceptance and equality at an early age. The steady rise of popular music genres around the world has also made major changes to the music scene of the UK; especially the breakthrough of K-pop in recent times. Many of these songs have helped people, particularly teenagers, in becoming more confident and satisfied with themselves, with some even stating that “k-pop has made them realise what they wanted to aspire to in the future”. This brings on many beneficial characteristics to the British population as young adults find more interests in life, boosting livelihoods and the ranking of the UK in the World Happiness Report, where migration is said to be an increasing factor in the happiness of a population. Therefore, resulting in residents leading a more satisfied lifestyle as people are generally have better mental health, thereby suggesting the benefits immigration brings to the UK. Overall, the concept of immigration and globalisation allows for countries to be more open towards each other which improves both living standards and how happy people become. The increase in living standards due to economic growth, means households are then able to enjoy a wider variety of food, entertainment and culture in the UK all due to immigration and how it has influenced this society.

Yifan Shen 13T

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Prize Day

Prize Day Prize Day Speech by the Headmaster hairman, Mrs Langley, governors, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a pleasure to welcome you to this celebration of the achievements of our senior students as we reflect on another excellent year.

C

As you know Ofsted paid us a visit in February. It was immensely pleasing for everyone connected with the schoolthattheoveralleffectivenessremainedoutstanding.

The school’s work in establishing an environment that supports pupils’ wellbeing has been transformed. It was best summed up by students who without fail feel very well supported and listened to. What is also obvious is that students’ differences are celebrated, not just through events, such as Diwali, Cultural Evening and Black History Month but for the first time in the school’s history when our LGBTQ+ society flew the Pride flag at the front of the school. The second Wellbeing Week highlighted once again the need for our community to look after their mental health. It has been pleasing to be able to welcome our wellbeing dog, Shelby. His impact already has been noticeable, and I have started looking at adding dog biscuits on my weekly shop.

With this outstanding outcome behind us we can now look onto new priorities such as encouraging and supporting gifted children from disadvantaged backgrounds and hard to reach places to visit the school and take our entrance test. I have been pleased to visit primary heads encouraging them to speak to clever disadvantaged students about applying for a place at our school. Another initiative is to work with the scouts and bring the scout hut back to life to be used by them, the school and the local community. This is something which I know will show we are reaching out to people close to the school and slowly rebuilding trust.

Working with the community is something which continues to be important and it was a pleasure to welcome 240 primary school students last summer from six local schools to take part in a series of maths and science challenges, which included students propelling rockets over 50 metres on the Top Field.

pursue that aspiration and build on the great legacy of this wonderful school, as they embark on life with optimism and excitement for the future in a new and changing world.

Our Year 13 leavers again produced remarkable A level results confirming St Olave’s position as the 2nd best state school with mixed Sixth Form. 93% of grades were at A*/B and 40 students gained 3A*s and 9 gained 4 A*s.

GCSE results were no less impressive and with 89% of grades at 9 to 7. With 33 students gaining grades 9 and 8 in every subject and 5 gaining top grades in every subject, we have great confidence in a strong Sixth Form intake this autumn. Such results have clearly not gone unnoticed by prospective parents where applications for Year 7 places have reached 1311 this year.

Thanks to contributions from the Voluntary Fund and the Foundation, the variety of sports and co-curricular activities continues to flourish, enabling our students to realise the best versions of themselves, beyond academic performance. Alongside these contributions, the PA has astonishingly raised over £220,000 since 2015 to support the school, which has recently included tablet technology for departments, a new garden and outside learning space and refurbishment of the Small Hall.

The much-anticipated South Africa Tour lived up to all expectations for our senior rugby squad. Some tough matches and some amazing locations, such as Nelson Mandela’s home, sunrises whilst on safari and the beautiful Table Mountain, helped to make this an unforgettable experience.

Our students regularly go above and beyond the examination specification, and this again was highlighted through the academic journals, such as the MFL European Journal, Medics’ Journal, ‘dTail’ produced by the DT department and The Humdinger produced by the Humanities Faculty.

Our students are also aware of the need to reach out further than the school communityand in this respect, I was delighted when our students chose to donate their £10K charitymoney from Festival to ‘Echo UK’ and the ‘The JAGS Foundation’.

From the impressive number of students gaining top awards in the Lingusitics,Maths and Science Olympiads, we also had in Computing, Linus Luu achieving 1st place in the Bebras Senior Challenge. Congratulations to the school team who were crowned National Champions in the VEX Robotics Competition for the second time running.

I hope that tonight’s prize-winners will continue to

For those wishing to develop or showcase their musical

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talents, there were ample opportunities, with a sparkling Christmas concert, a professional production of Guys and Dolls that would rival many West End shows, a foottapping Jazz Night and a fine Spring Concert. Sachin Balaji, a regular performer, took first prize in the Norman Trotman competition. And for royal performances, our Wakeham Choristers of the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy were honoured to sing for the Queen and the Royal Victorian Order at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor very soon after singing beautifully at Commemoration.

Our choristers were exemplary in their contribution to this memorable occasion. Talented artists were much on display with Year 11 and Sixth Form students putting on two inspiring exhibitions showcasing the fantastic work they have put together.Teams competed in the Chartwell Debating Competition as well a vast number of students completing a LAMDA qualification in Public Speaking and Acting. None of our activities would flourish so effectively without the valued support and commitment from the staff, for which I thank them greatly. Indeed, the time they generously give has enabled a range of local and international trips to take place and enrich the students’ broad and balanced curriculum.

Despite thick fog, thigh deep snow and enough rain to drown in on the Gold DoE Expedition in the Brecon Beacons, the group overcame the challenge and passed with flying colours.This year saw exchanges with Kolkata, Lille and Starnberg, an Economics trip to Berlin, a Year 9 Science trip to the Kennedy Space Centre and a German Trip, also to Berlin. The Sixth Form Greece trip took in the sites of Nikaeopolis and the seat of Zeus at Dodona; others flew to Malawi for a conservation project with Operation Wallacea and those keener on sport jetted off to Innsbruck for the annual ski trip.

All the experiences mentioned, which allows our students to be challenged, inspired and enthralled, would not be possible without the generous support of parents, governors and Old Olavians.

I will now finish by going slightly off on a tangent. We are a fast-paced school and we are celebrating a lot born out of that today.

However, sometimes we go too fast to appreciate things around us – occasionally we need to pause – whether we are at the top of a hill or in the middle of a mad term– perhaps we all need to stop and look around. And perhaps we all need to think a little more about how much goes on at St Olave’s and if we are not careful, we may miss it.

thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip; a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. Clearly, she was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a three year old boy. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time.

This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on. In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He had played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth $3.5 million. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theatre in Boston with the seats averaging over $100 dollars.

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be; if we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing? Likewise, being part of this wonderful school with so much going on as I have touched upon tonight, can sometimes mean we miss many of things our wonderful young people do, supported by our amazing staff. We must not stop telling each of the young men and women in this school how very special they are.

Dr Wright, I truly believe these young people have earned their prizes in another highly successful year. I also want us to recognise that there are many of their friends who are not here as prize winners tonight but who also work hard, give of their best and achieve in many different ways; they too deserve our praise in their absence. Congratulations to you all.

A man sat at a Subway Station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning.

He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that Olavian 2019 – 45

Prize Day Speech by Director Of Sixth Form, David Budds hairman, Mrs Langley, governors, colleagues, proud parents, Olavian Prizewinners. As you have heard it has been an excellent year academically for the Sixth Form with a remarkably impressive set of results at A-Level. Whilst the aggregates are clearly superb, they are only ever the sum of the incredible efforts, aspirations and academic excellence of individual students. And those results themselves tell only a fraction of the story of the brilliance and commitment our pupils bring, and the incredibly diverse range of ways in which they excel.

To each of our prize winners, your school is proud of you and we can only imagine the pride which your families will feel this evening.

roles, and involving many of our other leavers in a variety of ways, both performing and behind the scenes.

In addition to their strong A-Level results, 46 Year 13 students completed their Extended Project Qualification in 2019, 9 of whom scored full marks, and 28 of whom – well over half – achieved an A*. Topics were diverse and challenging, ranging from “Why don’t we have a theory of Quantum gravity yet?” to “how did Victorian censorship reflect the spirit of the age?” via “To what extent can game theory be used to model society?” and many other remarkable and fascinating topics besides, and students shone in their fascinating and erudite presentations.

The Sixth Form provides students with many leadership opportunities. 161 students took up prefect positions and the Senior Prefect Team of Manav Babel, Srishti Suresh, James Blackwood, Skai Campbell, Hai Duong, Oliver Farrell, Seren Ford, Priyanka Patel and Jessye Tu have achieved a stunning amount this year, whilst remaining committed to their studies. They, together with the Sixth Form Association, have driven forward several initiatives which will be of great benefit to future Olavians, from streamlining our sign out system, to improving the catering provision available to all pupils to working on policy amendments which shape and develop the positive and inclusive culture of the school. Senior Prefects, and Prefects of all types, your school is very greatly indebted to you; you are exemplary Olavians and leave a powerful and inspiring legacy to your successors.

C

Other academic achievements beyond the mainstream A-Level curriculum were abundant, with one highlight including the school’s performance in the British Physics Olympiad, for which one of our Captains of School, Manav Babel, was invited to the Royal Society to receive an award for a top ten place nationally in this prestigious competition. Meanwhile, back in the realms of A-Level, Mr Rees was delighted to receive a letter this summer confirming that Sofia Cotterell had achieved the highest mark nationally in A-Level RS. These achievements offer just two small glimpses into the huge amount of remarkable student achievements which occur within and beyond the mainstream curriculum, and there are yet many more academic accolades which I could enumerate here had we but world enough and time.

In sport, The Year 13 leavers are characterised by their leadership – they have been tremendous sporting role models for the younger years. There have been some incredible personal achievements in a wide range of disciplines, and staff have been happy and privileged to give freely of their time outside of school to work with these students and give them opportunities outside of the curriculum.

Drama and Music have continued to flourish at the school with one notable highlight for our senior students being this year’s fantastic production of Guys and Dolls, with Matthew Page and Lizzie Caisley in prominent 46 – Olavian 2019

Our students remain compassionate, diligent and dedicated in their approach to charitable fundraising.You have already heard about Festival and Cabaret from Mr Rees, and our annual Cultural Evening in November, as well as being a wonderful celebration of the diversity of our student body, also raised several thousand pounds for the “Catholic Agency for Overseas Development”; my thanks go to the Committee members who organised each of these highly successful and worthwhile events, and in particular to Harshdeep Gulati for his outstanding dedication and leadership in chairing the Cultural Evening committee this year.

This year group could scarcely have made me prouder as their Director of Sixth Form, and I am sure that opinion would be firmly endorsed by the rest of the teaching staff here at St Olave’s who have been privileged to work with you. As a year group, you define and personify the ethos of the school and make it what it is and what it ought to be – a place where brilliant young men and women can flourish, and learn with confidence to shine and illuminate the wider world with their brilliance for a greater good. I could not have hoped for a finer year group to be my last as Director of Sixth Form. In all respects for me, you are the ultimate.

Thank you. You have set a fantastic example for the new Year 13 to follow; you have been an absolute credit to the school and to your parents. You will go on to bright and brilliant things in your lives beyond the school, and we look forward to sharing news of your future triumphs in the place where you are cherished and in which you will live long in the memory as an outstanding year group.

On behalf of all of your teachers, I thank you all for your commitment and your brilliance and wish you every possible success and happiness for the future.

Prize Day Speech by Head Of Year 9, Michael Perks ood evening all; chairman, the venerable Dr Wright, Worshipful Mayor, parents, students, guests and colleagues.

•

10 National events.

G

•

And 5 Internationally - all of who competed at the World VEX robotics championship, through winning the UK Nationals.

What a roller coaster of 2 years. Highs and lows, with many challenges that the boys have had to over come in preparation to achieving such wonderful GCSE results.

And, extraordinarily, there are countless more I could have mentioned and I haven’t even mentioned the science and maths departments.

I shall start this evening by taking everyone back approximately 2 years ago, when I took over as Head of Year 10. My first ever year group, in my first ever year group assembly. I opened the assembly with a video clip, as all good assemblies should always include, before finishing the assembly with one of my favourite phrases and quotes of all time:

All these wonderful achievements that shouldn’t be taken likely nor underestimated in how hard these boys have worked over the past couple of years.

‘Hard work beats talent when talent its willing to work hard.’

So to all those Year 11’s here tonight, celebrating this wonderful evening, firstly remember how special you are as an individual and as an Olavian. Continue to not shy away from adversity or hard work. Keep true to yourself and remember in 10, 20, 30 years time, when you are all, hopefully, helping to make change in our world. Remember back all the wonderful memories and friendships you developed along the way, and please keep in touch, because you will always be my first ever year group and the Year 11 class of 2018-19.

Now I was aware, having taught at St Olave’s for a year by this stage and through the schools glowing reputation, that our boys and girls are naturally incredibly talented, wonderfully gifted with academic curiosity and questioning; but I wasn’t overly convinced on how hard the boys were willing to work.

Would they simply rely on their natural abilities? And simply see how far this would take them?

Well the answer quickly became very clear.

So in total, of a year group 128 pupils, they collectively achieved, alongside balancing time for their academic studies: •

39 Music Grades or equivalent awards

•

42sportingachievements,eitherthroughrepresenting the school or at local clubs or competitions

•

23 Drama or public speaking awards

•

65 extra curricular academic achievements and recognitions

•

26 Duke of Edinburgh awards

What makes me immensely proud, as their Head Of Year is that the vast majority of Year 11 pupils contributed, in some capacity, towards these achievements and statistics.

So my parting message: 1. You are all extremely talented and intelligent in your own way.

2. Don’t under estimate the value of hard work and determination over the next couple of months 3. You are not and will never be alone whilst you are apart of this school or an Olavian. There will always be someone there to help you.

and a further 36 other awards, whether it being achieving the HPQ, contributions to environmental society or winning awards for VEX robotics.

So, in Year 11 we had: •

20 pupils who have competed in regional events.

Olavian 2019 – 47

Special Prizes Giles Pilcher Prize for Public Service Manav Babel, (Awarded by The Old Olavians’Lodge) Srishti Rentala

The Headteacher’s Fund Prizes

James Blackwood, Skai Campbell, Hai Duong, Oliver Farrell, Seren Ford, Priyanka Patel, Jessye Tu

Graphics Prize

Abhay Gupta

Design Prize

Joseph Folkes

Susan Owen Medal for Drama

Matthew Page

L.W. White Prize for Sporting Activities Arnav Barry I.W. Kirk Prize for Sportsmanship

Hai Duong

Senior Victor Ludorum

Joseph Folkes

Ben Read Trophy

Louis McLean

Douglas Keeble Prize for Fives

Jiayang Li

Gordon James Christie Prize for Cricket

Luxan Sureshan, Bravin Vijayaakanthan

Chambers Prize for Leadership

James Harms

The Anthony Jarvis Shield

Harshdeep Gulati

The Woodard Board Prize

Molayoninuoluwa Ogunde

Prizes for Achievement in Public Examination

Michael Pugh Prize for Public Speaking

Tony Chen

H.G. Abel Prizes for A-Level

The Renshaw Shield for Debating

Jacinta Chiang

Headteacher’s Prize for Poetry

Victoria Akinleye

The Kemal Cup for Poetry

Jake Egelnick

O.O. Lodge Prize for Contribution to School Life

Shaun Sanu

The Medical Fund

Chizute Ogbedeh

CathedralParishPrizeforVoluntaryService

Ifeoluwakiisi Adejuyigbe

Leslie Sanders Prize for English Literature Isabelle Giles

Joshua Abu

Manav Babel

Mehar Bijral

Eszter Britz

Elizabeth Caisley

Shouvik Chakraborty

Antonio Cheong

Matthew Cole

Sofia Cotterill

Aaron D’Mello

Lauren Duncan

Samuel Eldridge

Oliver Farrell

Dejan Fernandes

Seren Ford

Swastik Gupta

Felix Haslam

Akshay Karthikeyan

French Prize

Kendra-Jean Nwamadi

Raji Lalli

Jennifer Lu

Sophie Lumsdon

Maximilien Mackie

A.W. Walker Prize for German

Emma Jones

Tabassum Malik

Elisabeth Mateola

Matthew Holmes Prize for Classics

Kayleigh Hoang

Anijan Nirmalan

Chizute Ogbedeh

The Ashley Prize for History

James Blackwood

Molayoninuoluwa Ogunde

Eromosele Ojeabulu

Antiquarian Society Prize for a History Project

Sofia Cotterill

Priyanka Patel

Emily Plumpton

Serena Qiao

Srishti Rentala

Owen Somhorst

Kapenajah Sribaskaran

Sarah Stephen

Calvin Su

Punitha Sundaram

Britney Sung

Abramsachin Thayaparan

Ivan Tregear

The Alan H. Sainsbury Memorial Prize Rayvanth Zama for History Geography Prize

Emily Plumpton

Economics Prize

Jessye Tu

Harry Little Prize for Mathematics

Thomas Halton

Paul Slade Prize for Physics

Manav Babel

Brian Ruth Memorial Prize for Physics Jessye Tu

Jessye Tu For G.C.S.E. Alan Anil

Arunabh Bagchi

Arvin Boraghi

Rashid Bossong

Solomon Finn

Edward Foxhall

Samuel Gee

Ishan Kalia

Ekaksh Lal

Alessandro Lauri Menta

Jonah McDonald

Srikar Namireddy

Sachin Balaji

Aditya Palaniappan

Ameya Parchure

An Old Olavian Prize for Music

James Harms

Vishaal Prashar

Dominic Qu

The Headteacher’s Prize for Mathematics and Music

Maximilien Mackie

Timur Rakhimov

Joshua Selfridge

Daniel Shergold

Ravindu Siriwardana Rohan Tse

Gnaanachelvan Prize for Biology

Seren Ford

Biology Project Prize

Chizute Ogbedeh

George Dyson Prize for Chemistry

Conor Donohoe

Chemistry Experimental Skills Prize

Lucile Oster

Computing Prize

Zachary Gassem

Phyllis Packer Prize for Practical Musicianship

Religious Studies Prize

Sofia Cotterill

William Song

Art Prize

Jake Egelnick

Odysseas Tsirkas

48 – Olavian 2019

Lower VI Form Prizes

Grants and Awards

Awarded by the Parents’ Association for “enthusiasm, commi ment and imagination in the use of the Lower Sixth year”

Governors Awards

Joshua Aderanti

Manas Chawla

Jeffrey Akintolu

Basketball

Abigail Clark

George Guest

Raymond Guo

Finn Horden

Biology Olympiad

Andrea Ize-Iyamu

Zarya Mekathotti

Seren Ford, Charlotte Jones, Chizute Ogbedeh, Britney Sung

Anujah Mohananthan

Laschar Williams

Jamie Cooper

Bowls

Yani Djelil, Irfan Zaman

Cycling

Teodor Wator

Korfball

Form Prizes 11H 11J 11K 11L 11M 11N 10J 10K 10L 10M 10N 9J 9K 9K 9M 9N

Edward Cameron

Sachin Balaji, Joseph Folkes, Maximilien Mackie, Music Kenji Seanor, Rohan Selva-Radov

Benjamin Moseley

George Guest

Physics AS Challenge

Henry Davies

Korede Sanusi

Rugby

Arun Kaushik

Luke Douglas, Christopher Lee, Jiayang Li, Nam Nguyen

Swimming

Reece Osemwegie Kajan Subakannan Samuel Gee Joshua Selfridge

Rufus Finn Amaan Peerbhai Arunshan Paramasamy Ishkaar Ujoodia Harvey Belchamber Alex Vatajelu Ayomiposi Awoyemi Derin Burke Yash Karlekar Oluwapelumi Oloyede Nikhil Doosa Matthew Todorov Steven Coker Kathir Saravanan Thomas Higgins George O’Connor Adam Channon Nathan Daniel Morgan Cartwright Kenan Kagan Sebastian Garnham-Jong Donovan O’Dea Vedant Kothiwale Rakesh Velmurugan

Sophie Bata-Madden, Gregoire Dastros-Pitei, Amro Fadel, James Hayes, Kayleigh Hoang, UK Space Design Competition Nadiya Ivahnenko, William Laver, Chrysoula Prachalia, Shaun Sanu, Frederick Skerrett, Oliver Wright-Jones, Eleanor Yuen Richard Cottrell, Amro Fadel, Mahmoud Farrag, William Guest, Tarak Gupta Drebes, VEX Robotics Joseph Madden, Elijah-Joseph OsarumenObayagbonna, Joel Ulens

Olavian 2019 – 49

St. Olave’s School Award

The Witton/Newmarch Award

Kenan Kagan, Genesis Nsenga, Eric Sui, Michael TweneboaKoduah Jr, Bravin Vijayaakanthan

Jude Collins

Silver

Travelling to Western Europe from Paris through Munich, Amsterdam and Berlin to broaden understanding of the history politics of the areas prior to commencing studies at University.

Kayleigh Hoang

Manav Babel

Gold

Travelling to Italy to broaden knowledge of Classical Civilisation, Religion and the Ancient World, visiting places of historical interest including churches and museums before commencing studies in Classical Civilisation at University.

Michael Jian

Travelling to Europe visiting places of historical, architectural and cultural interest in Paris, Munich, Amsterdam and Berlin, as well as observing differences in environmental awareness, prior to reading Dentistry at University.

Anis Stainsbury

Travelling across France, visiting places of historical interest to broaden knowledge of French culture and advance conversational skills before reading Medicine at University.

Selina Yan

Travelling to Europe to broaden architectural and artistic knowledge and to experience different cultures visiting Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Lake Bled and Lake Como prior to reading Architecture at University.

Grants for Outward Bound, Travel and Gap Year projects The James Burdett Prize for Gap Year Travel: Emma Jones

Lulu Kwan

To participate in volunteer conservation work including research into the environment. To work with children in the local community prior to reading Veterinary Science at University.

Travel across four continents to broaden historical, cultural and architectural knowledge. To volunteer with the International Citizen Service, with Bo Charity Foundation in Hong Kong and teach English at JCC English Camp in South Korea.

The Potto Hicks Award Joseph Folkes Abhay Gupta Tarun Krishna

Travelling to Helsinki to attend the Design Festival to help prepare for future product design shows and experience the minimalist Nordic culture prior to commencing studies at University.

The Rushbrooke Memorial

The War Memorial Scholarship

Fizaa Halani

Travel to Europe exploring places of historical interest to broaden understanding of Classics, architectural knowledge and different cultures, as well as taking part in marine conservation and global health volunteering programmes.

Antonio Cheong Seren Ford Jiawen Guo Matti Mitropoulos

Travelling to Spain to experience drama in different locations, broaden cultural knowledge and further enhance linguistic skills before reading Medicine at University.

Davis Award

Secretan Award Elizabeth Caisley

Jake Egelnick

Gridley Award Skai Campbell

50 – Olavian 2019

Travelling to Malaga utilising linguistic skills, to explore different culture through film, photography and to develop technical artistic skills and broaden knowledge of Malaga’s art scene before reading Biology at University.

Travelling to China to expand knowledge of engineering, architecture, other cultures and the lifestyle of people in foreign countries, utilising linguistic skills and visiting specific places of architectural interest such as the Three Gorges Dam. Travelling across Europe to enrich understanding of the journeys undertaken by some of the great authors and characters in literature to broaden cultural and historical knowledge, prior to reading English Literature at University.

Lennie Award Hannah Affany

To participate in volunteer wildlife conservation and rescue work abroad prior to reading Medicine at University.

Amaar Chowdhury

Travelling to Italy visiting Milan, Venice, Rome, Naples to visit places of historical interest and experience new cultures prior to reading English Literature at University.

Rugby

Hai Duong, Joshua Gayle, Sam Jolly, Mario Lambrette, Louis McLean

Swimming

Luke Douglas, Felix Haslam, Ya-Bo Jian, Christopher Lee

Contribution to School Life

Rishita-Mahmuda Ahmed, Skai Campbell, Jacinta Chiang, Jude Collins, Samuel Eldridge, Seren Ford, Harshdeep Gulati, Abhay Gupta, James Harms, Tarun Krishna, William Laver, Jennifer Lu, Sophie Lumsdon, Orisela Malaj, Jonathan McCabe, Nathan Nowbuth, Molayoninuoluwa Ogunde, Riya Parikh, Jessica Santhiapillai, Shaun Sanu, Abigail Sheba, Oliver Wright-Jones, Halley Zhu

Art

Jude Collins, Jake Egelnick, Abhay Gupta

Badminton

Mehar Bijral

Basketball

Joshua Abu, Nicholas Czepliewicz

Other Clubs & Societies Muhammed Abdur Rafey, Dylan Abeelack, Oluwatomisin Adesanya, Dione Adofo, Hannah Affany, Rishita Mahmuda Ahmed, Hyunki Ahn, Emmanuel Bakare, Julia Begley, James Blackwood, Jesutofunmi Buraimoh, Shouvik Chakraborty, Karanjot Chhatwal, Amaar Chowdhury, Brooke Clements, Jude Collins, Fergus Costard, Sofia Cotterill, Abbie Davidson, Abigail DufeuJake Egelnick, Danielle Fatunla, Dejan Fernandes, Joseph Folkes, Phoebe Foster, Harshdeep Gulati, Abhay Gupta, Swastik Gupta, Kayleigh Hoang, Tarun Krishna, William Laver, Kirandeep Nagra, Chizute Ogbedeh, Osarumwense Ogbeide, Molayoninuoluwa Ogunde, Eromosele Ojeabulu, Lucile Oster, Priyanka Patel, Sophie Ryall, Shaun Sanu, Robert Sidey, Owen Somhorst, Kapenajah Sribaskaran, Yuan Kai Sun, Maciej Szczyrba, Ivan Tregar, Jessye Tu, Laura Watson, Oliver Wright-Jones, Kevin Wu, Selina Yan, Melisa Yurdakal, Rayvanth Zama

Cross Country

Joseph Folkes, Irfan Zaman

Intermediate Colours

Drama

Elizabeth Caisley, Danielle Fatunla, Osarumwense Ogbeide, Matthew Page

Athletics

Luke Abrams

Fives

Sachin Balaji, Swastik Gupta, Michael Li, Louis McLean

Cricket

Football

Kieran Bayne-Douglas, Matthew Page

Saket Agrawal, Alan Anil, Milan Chibber, Harry Jones, Arun Kaushik, Ishkaar Ujoodia

Cross Country

Luke Abrams

Music

Sachin Balaji, Antonio Cheong, Archibald Grant, James Harms, Maximilien Mackie, Matthew Page

Drama

Netball

Elspeth Forsdick, Abby Ward

Ben Davies, Jonah McDonald, Joshua Williams-Ward

Full Colours 2019 Senior Colours

Senior Prefects

Manav Babel, James Blackwood, Skai Campbell, Hai Duong, Oliver Farrell, Seren Ford, Priyanka Patel, Srishti Rentala, Jessye Tu

Olavian 2019 – 51

Fives

Isaac Adebekun, Cameron Bailey, Yoann Bleunven, Timothy Byrne, Edward Cameron, Mila Chibber, Isaac Jochim, Vishaal Prashar, Ishkaar Ujoodia

Music

Arunabh Bagchi, Edward Cameron, Henry Fox, Ashley Solano Hernandez, William Song

Rugby

Ciaran Corcoran, Samuel Leung, Daniel Shergold

Swimming

Jamaal Francis Srikar Namireddy

Tennis

Isaac Jochim, Kofi Winney

Other Clubs

Joseph Barradell, Noah Cassidy, Aditya Chaurasia, Rishi Desai, Samuel Gee, Ishan Kalia, Linus Luu, Amaan Peerbhai, Daniel Shergold, Joel Ulens

Junior Colours Athletics

Ananjan Ganguli

Cricket

Ameya Athawale, Daniel Kenward, Ayush Singh

52 – Olavian 2019

Cross Country

Ananjan Ganguli

Drama

Pearse Barry, Adam Channon, Joseph Davies, Shaun Pasari, Prithish Rajarethinam

Fives

Franklin Baron, Caleb Boy, Genesis Nsenga, Ethan NancekivellSmith, Abhishek Sundararaman

Music

Nathan Choy, Joseph Davies, Hans Loges, Genesis Nsenga, Ademofeoluwa Olaiya, Kenji Seanor, Rohan Selva-Radov, Joshua Señoron, Eric Sui

Rugby

Niccolo Albarosa, Emmanuel Phillips, Elliot Wright

Swimming

Noah Saunders

Table Tennis

Aydin Saju

Other Clubs

Virujan Arudchchelvan, Nathan Daniel, Joseph Fisher, Kaylan Ruparellia, Moosa Saghir, Kavin Sivarajah

VI Form News

VI Form News

T

his will be the final such introduction which I can provide for The Olavian as Director of Sixth Form. Each year the chance to offer an encomium to the collective endeavour of our magnificent senior students has proven a very great challenge indeed, and more so with each passing year as our Sixth Formers build on the initiatives, systems and innovations of those who have gone before. If the broad arc of history is progressive, never has this been truer than in the microcosm of the Olavian Sixth Form, leaving this parting panegyric the most problematic. That said, the challenge remains proportionate to the privilege, and what a privilege it has been to lead this incarnation of the Sixth Form for my final year in post; what a privilege it remains to write about them.

It is tempting, in offering a summary of their many and varied achievements in 2018-2019, to represent these most purple of pupils via the most purple of prose. To do so though risks masking unhelpfully and unnecessarily the many ways in which they excel, and it therefore seems more fitting to follow the Orwellian edict of simplicity in writing. At any rate, I shall try.

Our Sixth Formers continue to personify the Olavian ethos and set the best possible standards for all those in younger year groups – and each year of the last six in which I have been fortunate enough to work with them, they have upped the ante. Yes, they are academically brilliant, innovative, hard-working, mentally supple and all of the other things which enabled them to come to Saint Olave’s in the first place - but their high ability and the deservedly high ambition which goes with it is ever tempered by good grace, generosity, kindness and a deeply felt sense of social conscience.

Bluntly speaking, they are good and fine young people who give the lie to the oft-advertised assumptions about the youth of today being thoughtless, feckless or weak.

Ever industrious, ever thoughtful, ever hopeful, our Sixth Form have been an inspiration to staff and to younger peers alike. This year, the prefect teams have surpassed themselves in dedication to their diverse tasks, nurturing and mentoring younger pupils as Form Prefects, offering support and buddying as Academic Prefects and giving the best and friendliest possible welcome to new Sixth Formers and members of the public as Ambassador Prefects. All of this exemplary behaviour has been modelled at the highest possible level by a Senior Prefect Team whose brilliance was wholly proportionate to their unassuming humility, courtesy and personal charm and 54 – Olavian 2019

wit. Manav Babel, Srishti Rentala, James Blackwood, Skai Campbell, Hai Duong, Oliver Farrell, Seren Ford, Priyanka Patel and Jessye Tu have been inspiring student leaders, and deserving of the profound gratitude of the school community.

Sixth Formers have led the way in supporting and enabling great acts of charity, with Harshdeep Gulati in particular laying down a splendid benchmark in his dedicated leadership of the Cultural Evening team, who raised several thousand pounds in support of CAFOD. Clubs, Societies and all manner of extension and enrichment opportunities proliferate under selfsustaining student-leadership structures implemented and refined by the Sixth Form.The Sixth Form Association has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life and facilities on offer for senior students. One of the greatest areas of development for this year though has been the involvement of senior students in capturing, sharing, publicising and acting on student voice initiatives. They have been in the vanguard of student councils and the emerging student parliament. They have been proactive partisans for positive change in a variety of areas, from enhancing equality and inclusivity, to driving forward the school’s ecological agenda through to developing the offering and pricing options for the school’s catering.

Did I mention they did all this whilst still achieving outstanding A-Level results and moving on to some of the most prestigious courses and higher education institutes in the UK? Or that it seems each year more and more recent Old Olavians volunteer their services to return and support current Olavians via guest speaker slots at clubs and societies or via the UCAS buddies initiative?

Each passing cohort of Sixth Formers I have welcomed for the last six years has begun with a warning in the form of Shelley’s Ozymandias in their inaugural assembly, and I have enjoined them all not to leave fruitless monuments to blind ambition in their wake. Each year group has risen to the challenge of this and left the school a better, happier and richer place as they pass through, refining old practices and institutions as necessary, creating new ones where warranted, and creating succession strategies to leave things shipshape and ripe for being sustained and developed by their successors. There is no sand-sunk broken statue or fading pedestal on which to carve a motto to the Sixth Form, but each year, they have both been and bequeathed the living legacy whose motto may

rightly be summarised as: Look on our works, ye many, and aspire!

Valete, o discipuli; semper superior sperans. You have been, are, and will ever continue to be magnificent.

David Budds

Director of Sixth Form

Senior Prefect Team 2019 – 2020 Eighteen outstanding young men and women were put through a daunting process involving student votes, staff votes, an interview with the current team and then with myself and the Director of Sixth Form. The head teacher was extremely impressed by the high quality of all of those on this final shortlist. Warmest congratulations to joint Captains of School: Sarah El-Toukhy and Amro Fadel, with Vice Captains: Victoria Akinleye, Lily Kemp, Joel Kovoor, Matthew Perry, Chrysoula Prachalia, Kudakwashe Rusenza and Mutian Xu. Prize Giving We celebrated our senior students’ successes with the annual Prize Giving where it is always a great pleasure to congratulate our prize winners and their parents. Prizes were awarded by The Worshipful Mayor of Bromley, Councillor Kim Botting and the address was given by Chair of Governors, The Venerable Dr Paul Wright. It was fascinating to hear Dr Wright share his reflections on the Henry Ford quotation: ‘If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.’

Thank you to Maximilian Mackie for the superlative musical interlude.

Young Olavians Day The annual Young Olavians Day fixtures this year ended in a tie with results as follows: current Olavians won the Netball 25:9 and Fives 15:9. The Young Olavians won Rugby 20:22 and Football 6:3. Outcomes aside, this was a day of fine sportsmanship and camaraderie. It was also good to catch up with many of our recent leavers as they prepared to go off to university.

Diwali Over 200 people were treated to a sparkling and memorable evening. As well as the fund-raising aspect, celebrating this important Hindu and Sikh festival helps to build the community at St. Olave’s by enabling everyone to socialise together. It was fantastic to see people from all different cultures attend the evening and join in the dancing. Everything from red carpet to registration, welcome drinks and bar, hall decoration, cultural programme and catering, was excellent.

Cabaret A glittering cavalcade of talent showcased polished acts from soloists, ensembles, instrumentalists and vocalists.

With the hard work of the Cabaret Committee, the atmospheric Great Hall looked almost as well presented as the black tie audience.

Remembrance Many of our Old Olavians fought in both world wars and other conflicts. This year we remembered our comrades in a whole school service. Wreaths were laid by Old Olavian Graham Milne and School Captain Srishti Rentala. As this year marked one hundred years since the end of World War One, we remembered those whose lives were cut short, those who lived on with physical and mental injuries and gave thanks to God for their willingness to fight for our freedom. ‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.’

Blackland Farm Year 12 students, accompanied by their Form Tutors and Ambassador Pastoral Prefects, travelled to Blackland Farm, set in the rolling hills of the Sussex countryside.

The team-building day was filled with interesting group activities such as high ropes, abseiling, climbing and puzzles where communication and teamwork were essential for success. The day culminated with the annual egg tower drop, where eggs, carried and protected all day by each group, were launched from a high tower in a parachute made of paper. Few eggs survived the fall!

Congratulations go to Mr Clegg and his Form 12S for accumulating the most points throughout the day.

Sixth Form Opening Evening Around 1,200 prospective students and their parents attended the Sixth Form Open Evening for external applicants. Thank you to the Sixth Form student volunteers who engaged our visitors with charm and courtesy, sharing information with them and helping them to find their way around the site.

Independent Learning Conference Year 12s were given an intensive course on Independent Learning by The Life Skills Company. This involved an active morning considering reading for the gist, notetaking, time management and self-presentation skills.

The company will return in the summer term to provide them with a morning on Interview Skills.

Interview Preparation Day 114 Year 13 pupils from St Olave’s and three partner schools met with a coalition of 20 specialist interviewers, including Olavian staff (past and present), staff from partner schools, alumni and parents. All participants benefited from an informative keynote presentation from Mr Budds, our Director of Sixth Form, and from access Olavian 2019 – 55

to the school’s detailed and broad-ranging interview resource bank. They were then put through a rigorous programme of one-to-one university-style interviews.

Senior Research Evening Our annual Senior Research Evening took place once again to help inspire pupils in the Upper and Middle School at the start of the academic year. A podium of eight student speakers (current Year 12s and 2018 Leavers) presented on their research findings for their Higher and Extended Project Qualifications from the summer exam series.The topics on offer were diverse and fascinating, including: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the armies of Ancient Greece and Rome; Cosmic Horror in the Works of H.P. Lovecraft; Is it technologically and ethically feasible to colonise Mars? What are the Effects of Anti-Russian Language Policy on Ethnic Russians in Estonia?

Meet and Greet Evening ‘New’ and ‘Old’ parents and students across Year 12 received a warm welcome at a Meet and Greet evening where over 100 parents and students mingled with the Senior Leadership Team at an informal event hosted by the Parents’ Association and the school. Parents and students had the opportunity to chat, meet and say hello as a band of Sixth Formers entertained us with an eclectic mix of music, beginning with Carlos Santana and ending with several improvisatory numbers; all subtly delivered in the background, including a Chopin Nocturne played by a new student. Parents and students enjoyed a round of speed dating or ‘human bingo’, with great prizes being won by some of the lucky participants. Drinks, canapés and cakes were served by the PA and other Sixth Form parent volunteers.

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Travel Awards Over the summer, three of our leavers, Poppy Kemp, Natasha Hollins and Shavon D’Souza were able to use the War Memorial Scholarship Grant given to them by the school to visit various museums across Europe, including the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam, the Old-New Synagogue in Prague, the Jewish Museum in Berlin and Mozart’s House in Vienna. In their application, they indicated they hoped the grant would greatly enrich their understanding of European culture, provide useful segues into future scholarship, but, crucially, strengthen the value of their friendship by discovering and exploring each other’s interests together. They feel these aims were achieved largely due to the school’s generous award.

Generating Genius University Programme Congratulations to Emily Emiru who applied to be a part of the 2019 Generating Genius University Programme. Emily was one of 28 successful candidates from 160 applicants across 15 Boroughs of London.

The Generating Genius Programme is for young people who are under-represented in higher education, particularly in STEM subjects. The programme works closely with universities and businesses to help deliver hands-on workshops; work experience placements; trips to universities; career advice from professionals in the STEM world.

Sixth Form Congratulations Evening There was a real buzz of excitement at the Congratulations Evening for potential Sixth Formers, from other schools, to whom we have offered conditional places for September 2019. Around 140 prospective students were invited to the event, which included a university Freshers’ Fair, as they looked at the various stalls and signed up for membership of our Clubs and Societies.

The new students were also given tips on how to settle in from our incoming and outgoing School Captains.

Leavers’ Ball 2019

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Leavers’ Destinations Name Abdur-Rafey, Muhammed Abeelack, Dylan

Destination Nottingham Nottingham

Course Economics Medicine

Abraham, Nidhi Abu, Joshua Adesanya, Oluwatomisin Adigun, Ridthwan Adofo, Dione Affany, Hannah Agyepong, Sena Ahmed, Rishita-Mahmuda Ahn, Hyunki Akinleye, David Akinleye, Samuel Ananth, Krishny Appleton, Emily Ayinbode, Shakirah Babel, Manav Bailey, Alexandra Bakare, Emmanuel

Nottingham Cambridge, Corpus Christi Warwick University College London Aston Applying 2020 Nottingham Applying 2020 Warwick Queen Mary's University, London Warwick Applying 2020 Leeds East Anglia Oxford, Lady Margaret Hall Applying 2020 Southampton

Economics Engineering Mechanical Engineering Medicine Optometry

Balaji, Sachin Barrie, Faatimah Barry, Arnav Baxter, Anna Bayne-Douglas, Kieran Begley, Julia Bekoe, Joel Bhide, Sonali Bijral, Mehar Blackwood, James Braithwaite, William Britz, Eszter Buraimoh, Jesutofunmi Bury, Samuel Caisley, Elizabeth Cam, Emily Campbell, Skai Chakraborty, Shouvik Chandler, Edward

London School of Economics Warwick London School of Economics Sheffield Loughborough Manchester Coventry Warwick University College London Cambridge, Girton University College London Imperial Warwick York Cardiff King's College, London Oxford, St. Anne's Hull York Medical School Imperial

Mathematics Law Economics Civil Engineering Civil and Structural Engineering Business Finance and Management Physics Aeronautics and Astronautics Economics Psychology Economics Biomedical Science Economics Geography with International Study Economics Discrete Mathematics Medicine History and Politics Medicine Medicine Computer Science Chemistry Medicine Mathematics Biology Medicine Medicine Olavian 2019 – 59

Chandrakanthan, Vithunya Chen, Tony Cheong, Antonio Chew, Antony Chhatwal, Karanjot Chiang, Jacinta Chok Wing, William Chowdhury, Amaar Clements, Brooke Cole, Matthew Collins, Jude Costard, Fergus Cotterill, Sofia Czepliewicz, Nicholas Daniel, Nebiy Davidson, Abbie D'Costa, Elena Defraine, Jacques D'Mello, Aaron Donohoe, Conor Douglas, Luke Dufeu, Abigail Duncan, Lauren Duong, Hai Dwimoh, Benjamin Egelnick, Jake Eldridge, Samuel Endeley, Nene Ewen, Charlotte Farrell, Oliver Fatunla, Danielle Fedorova, Maria Fennelly, Oliver Ferguson, Remo Fernandes, Dejan Fihosy, Joseph Finn, Marcus Fisher, Elizabeth Fleet, Benjamin Folkes, Joseph Ford, Seren Forsdick, Elspeth Forster, Benedict Foster, Phoebe 60 – Olavian 2019

Bristol Applying 2020 Warwick Cambridge, Trinity Hall Imperial London School of Economics Lancaster Manchester Warwick Cambridge, Emmanuel Manchester Kent Oxford, Brasenose King's College, London Applying 2020 Durham Warwick Swansea Bath Bath Loughborough Durham Bristol Warwick Oxford Manchester Warwick East Anglia Queen Mary's University, London Bristol Manchester Manchester Apprenticeship Durham Imperial Warwick Nottingham Applying 2020 Lancaster Imperial Oxford, Queen's Bristol Cardiff Applying 2020

Chemistry Law History and Politics Medicine Geography Mechanical Engineering English Literature Law Medicine Politics and Modern History Law Philosophy, Politics and Economics Economics Physics Economics Mechanical Engineering Economics Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Biological Sciences Economics Physics Foundation Built Environment English Literature Mathematics Medicine Dentistry Biochemistry Medicine Dentistry Classics Mechanical Engineering Physics Mathematical Physics Medicine and Surgery Design Engineering Biochemistry Chemistry Medical Pharmacology

Ganguli, Dominic Gassem, Zachary Gayle, Joshua Gebbett, Mark Giles, Isabelle Grant, Archibald Griffiths, Alexander Gulati, Harshdeep

Nottingham Warwick Leeds Nottingham Warwick Applying 2020 Durham London School of Economics

Guo, Jiawen Gupta, Abhay Gupta, Sejal

University College London Loughborough Kent

Gupta, Swastik Halani, Fizaa Hall, Joshua Halton, Thomas Harms, James Haslam, Felix Healy, Tara Heba, Fahamida Hefferon, Mia Ho, Eddie Hoang, Kayleigh Jackson, Daniel Jian, Ya-Bo Jolly, Sam Jones, Charlotte Jones, Emma Jordan, Jonathan Kannan, Sanjana Karimi, Viyana Karthikeyan, Akshay KC, Aakash Khan, Muhammed Kilmister, Chloe Kothari, Shalin Krishna, Tarun Kumar, Anika Kwan, Lulu Lalli,Raji Lam, Jason Lamberti, Ben Lambrette, Mario

London School of Economics Applying 2020 Applying 2020 Oxford, St. Anne's Manchester Warwick Nottingham Imperial Leeds Warwick St. Andrew's Southampton King's College, London Exeter Warwick Applying 2020 Nottingham Southampton Imperial Edinburgh Warwick Imperial Manchester University College London Applying 2020 Applying 2020 Applying 2020 Queen Mary's University, London Bath Warwick Exeter

Economics and Philosophy Computer Science Classical Civilisation Product Design and Manufacture English Literature Biosciences Psychological and Behavioural Science History Product Design Engineering Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Economics

Mathematics Music Economics Veterinary Medicine Medicine Banking and Finance Economics Classical Studies Medicine Dentistry Politics, Philosophy and Economics Biological Sciences Politics and Economics Biomedical Sciences Medicine Medicine Computer Science Medicine Science Economics

Medicine Civil Engineering Physics Biological Sciences Olavian 2019 – 61

Laver, William Lee, Christopher Leung, Kirstie Lewington, Emma-Jane Li, Jiayang Li, John Li, Sophia Liddemore, Thomas Liew, Jia Wen

Southampton Bath City, University of London Durham Applying 2020 Bath Durham Leeds Southampton

Linton, Lauren Lu, Jennifer Lumsdon, Sophie Mackie, Maximilien Mahoro, Beatrice Malaj, Orisela Malik, Tabassum Marshall, Dominic Martine, Cameron Mateola, Elisabeth McCabe, Jonathan McFeat, Michael McKeone, Jack McLean, Louis Mellis, Samuel

Birmingham Cambridge, King's Cambridge, Pembroke Warwick Manchester Loughborough Imperial Applying 2020 Applying 2020 East Anglia Southampton Warwick Manchester Applying 2020 Edinburgh

Mitropoulos, Matti Mohan, Priyaangha Moldrich, Ellis Muk, Oliver Munwar, Fizah Mushtaq, Humza Nagra, Kirandeep Nawaz, Danyal Nawaz, Saarah

Imperial Applying 2020 Sheffield Imperial King's College, London Bristol London School of Economics Loughborough Southampton

Nguyen, Vinh Nichols, Max Nirmalan, Anijan Nowbuth, Nathan Nwamadi, Kendra-Jean Nze, Christian Obwoya, Rhianna O'Driscoll, Daniel

Applying 2020 Nottingham Imperial Bath Cardiff Loughborough Applying 2020 Warwick

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Aeronautics and Astronautics Chemical Engineering Optometry Classical Civilisation Natural Sciences Finance Physics Electronic Engineering with Artificial Intelligence Medicine Natural Sciences Economics Mathematics Politics, Philosophy and Economics Mechanical Engineering Chemistry

Medicine Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering History International Relations and International Law Mechanical Engineering Aerospace Engineering Biochemistry Pharmacy Dentistry Politics and Philosophy Economics Computer Science with Industrial Studies Politics and International Relations Mathematics/Mathematical Physics Economics Medicine Aeronautical Engineering Biomedical Science

Ofori, Solomon Ogbedeh, Chizute Ogbeide, Osarumwense Ogbemudia, Alexandra Ogunde, Molayoninuoluwa Ojeabulu, Eromosele Oliver, Natasha Oster, Lucile Page, Matthew Parchure, Rohini Parikh, Riya Patel, Priyanka Plumpton, Emily Polevoi, Zechariah Pratheepan, Shachin Qiao, Serena Rajan, Keerthanan Reece, Jessica Rentala, Srishti Richmand, Randlyn Ruhomauly, Adam Ryall, Sophie Santhiapillai, Jessica Sanu, Shaun Sheba, Abigail Shrestha, Ujan Sidey, Robert Simmers, Adam Smith, Lily Somhorst, Owen Soni, Manas Soomal, Tejinder Sribaskaran, Kapenajah Stainsbury, Anis Stephen, Sarah Sturtridge Hughes, Billy Su, Calvin Su, Danielle Sun, Yuan Kai Sundaram, Punitha Sung, Britney Szczyrba, Maciej Talukder, Aurita Thayaparan, Aaronsanchith

Birmingham Cambridge, Jesus University College London Birmingham Applying 2020 Oxford, St. Anne's Durham Imperial Birmingham University College London St. George's, University of London Cambridge, Pembroke Exeter Applying 2020 Warwick Cambridge, Pembroke Imperial Manchester Oxford, Keble Leicester Nottingham Birmingham Durham Bath Leicester Bath Applying 2020 Manchester Bristol Oxford, Wadham University College London London School of Economics Imperial Newcastle Imperial Applying 2020 Durham King's College, London Manchester Applying 2020 Cambridge, Trinity Warwick Essex Imperial

Biomedical Science Medicine Medicine Medicine Mathematics Psychology Chemistry Ancient History Medicine Biomedical Science Engineering Biological Sciences Mathematics and Physics Natural Sciences Chemical Engineering Economics Medicine Accounting and Finance Economics Liberal Arts and Sciences Liberal Arts Integrated Design Engineering Law Economics Geography Archaeology and Anthropology Biochemistry Medicine Economics Medicine Biomedical Sciences Medicine Physics Biochemistry Management Medicine Biological Sciences Genetics Chemical Engineering Olavian 2019 – 63

Thayaparan, Abramsachin Theaker, Samuel Tofan, Miruna Tregear, Ivan Tripathi, Aadya Tse, Aaron Tu, Jessye Vimaleswaran, Thilagshan Waldron, Jane Wang, Harry Ward, Abby Watson, Laura Wen, Zeyan Wilkinson, Gus Wong, Phillip Wright-Jones, Oliver Wu, Kevin Yan, Selina Yurdakul, Melisa Zama, Rayvanth Zaman, Irfan Zhu, Halley Zomah, Tarick

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Imperial Cardiff Nottingham Imperial London School of Economics Applying 2020 Cambridge, Magdalene Nottingham Trent Bristol Applying 2020 Edinburgh Oxford University College London Leeds Applying 2020 Warwick University of the Arts, London Applying 2020 Applying 2020 Oxford, Jesus Nottingham Sheffield University College London

Chemical Engineering Chemistry Medicine Mechanical Engineering Economics Engineering Forensic Science Veterinary Science Biological Sciences Geography Philosophy, Politics and Economics Banking and Finance Computer Systems Engineering Fashion Photography

History Chemical Engineering Materials Science and Engineering Engineering (Mechanical)

International Trips & Duke Of Edinburgh

International Trips & Duke Of Edinburgh

W

ith the DofE year coming to an end, we have seen a huge number of students both enrolling and completing whole awards and also the various sections to their awards. In all cases this has taken a great deal of time and effort and one we should applaud.

All students have to complete a number of sections: Bronze and Silver need to complete Skills, Physical, Volunteering and the Expedition sections, with Gold students adding the Residential section to the list. They all have various time scales in which to complete the sections which are designed to be used to both help in the community as well as adding to their own personal skills base. It is therefore no surprise why the Award is so highly recognised by employers and universities alike.

This year we have seen the students out on a total of 8 expeditions from West Sussex to North Wales, covering anything from 30km a day to a more modest 15km in everything from blistering heat to wet and miserable Wales and Sevenoaks! The academic year started with the Year 11 Bronze Assessed Expedition marching through Kent towards school over two days. This was followed by the first Bronze Practice Expedition with Year 10 walking out to West Kingsdown in the dark, more akin to a night hike, before returning to school the following day trooping through Otford and Kockholt in there teams. October half-term saw Year 12 Silver Assessed group striding out across Kent, Surrey and Sussex before heading to Wadhurst for a relaxing train ride back to Orpington. With a well-deserved break for students and staff alike we started the second half of the DofE Expedition season at Easter with the Year 13 students undertaking their Practise Expedition on the Black Mountains, South Wales. Here the weather always brings us a combination of sun, heavy rain and

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blustery chilly winds to test both the equipment and the mettle of our DofE teams. There then followed in quick succession the Year 10 Bronze Assessed (1st batch) and Year 10 Bronze Practice (2nd batch) in Kent, and Year 11 Silver Practice Expedition. Finally, the academic year was rounded off with the Year 13 Gold Assessed Expedition in Snowdonia, North Wales. Again the weather never ceases to amaze with usually glorious weather until we march up to the top of Snowdon on the last day to arrive with grey skies, heavy rain and near zero visibility at the top. The added bonus to this expedition is the wild camping in the remote parts of the Welsh mountains, close to nature and the history of this wonderful principality.

DofE is always very popular at St Olave’s:this year saw 104 Year 10 students signing up for the Bronze Award, 32 for Silver and 28 for Gold. Our success rate for completion of the Award is around 75%, with 10 achieving the Gold Award this year which is a tremendous achievement considering how time consuming it is in addition to the students’ school workload.

As always, without the help of a dedicated group of staff The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award would not be possible.

I would like to thank Mrs Andrews, Mrs Attwood, Dr Carpenter, Mr Carroll, Ms Difford, Mr Jewson, Mrs Wells and Ms Wilkie for their help on the expeditions, and especially Mrs Rogers in Finance for her work behind the scenes in dealing with the mountain of paperwork involved.

Paul Holland

DofE Co-ordinator

Gold, Silver and Bronze DofE Expeditions

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World Challenge Croatia Trip Continuing with the write-up of the summer trips, Year 10 student, Noah Saunders, reflects on his trip to Croatia this summer with World Challenge: “After extensive preparation and a long journey, we arrived at Split airport in Croatia. Following a brief drive and a quick stop to pick up some essentials for our next few meals, we reached our campsite where we would stay for the next couple of nights. Whilst setting up our tents and preparing to cook, rain started to descend upon us. Thankfully, through the downpour, we were able to provide ourselves with some delicious spaghetti and managed to get some rest for the busy day ahead.The next day, we were all a little tired, still rather unaccustomed to our new beds, yet eager to venture out to sea and start kayaking. We did not have to wait long; following a brief safety discussion we paired up and set out to explore the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic coastline. After kayaking for a while, we were allowed to enjoy the cool water and have a quick swim before setting off again to a nearby beach for lunch. The following day, we gathered some kit and small rucksacks for the day’s activity: a hike in Paklenica National Park. Although our feet ached, distracting ourselves with conversation, we walked for over two hours to a mountain hut where we ate a filling lunch before heading back down at a much faster pace,

assisted by the now mostly descending landscape. After acquiring some more food and packing up our kit once back at the campsite, we headed off to the next location about thirty minutes away by car where we set up and rested for the night preparing for the river journey which would take us down the sparkling Zrmanja river for the next two days. It was extremely enjoyable for everyone involved. Eventually, we arrived at our final campsite where we enjoyed a cooling swim and lots of food from the nearby restaurant.The next day, we said our goodbyes to our World Challenge leader and guide before heading home after a very tiring, yet enjoyable trip.”

How Food Connects Us A meal is one of the most powerful, connective forces on the Earth. Whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner - people around the world are seated together as they relax, share thoughts and cherish memories whilst savouring both the food and the unity at the table. From the Last Supper to the millions of instagram food posts online, food is as important to humans expressively as it is nutritionally. As different each recipe, tradition and palette can be, food connects us more than we may think.

What’s your idea of the most iconic ‘British’ meal? Fish and chips? Tea and crumpets? The full English breakfast?

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Actually, none of the ingredients used in these foods originated here! The fish, whilst being farmed now in Britain, came from foreign waters. The potatoes from the chips were first cultivated in Peru. The milk used in the tea came from cows (and other cattle) whose roots are in the Middle East - also where wheat for the crumpet’s flour came from. The tea leaves themselves, as well as the chickens which laid the eggs made it here from deep in the jungles of Asia. Even the sugar was harvested from either Polish sugar beets or sugar cane in Papua New Guinea.

It’s clear that we are connected around the globe by the origins of our food - each country uses an average of 2⁄3 of food, originating elsewhere. The figure to the right shows food connections between areas of the world based on food origins - demonstrating our complicated dependence on global forces such as trade and colonization. However, this isn’t to say that fish and chips aren’t British, curry isn’t Indian or that noodles aren’t Chinese. For humans themselves originated within a small section of southeastern Africa, but we still identify with thousands of ethnic groups and nationalities.

Just like us, the world of food is diverse and complex. But no matter how different we may be - food shows us that we are more connected than we are divided. So next time you sit to enjoy a meal, remember the vast journey that it took through lands and times of change to get to the table. And realise that the delicious food on your plate is the result of several corners of the globe coming together in harmony.

Bharathsri Sivasritharan 10M South African Culture through the Ages i. Brief history of cultures present in South Africa Africa’s southern-most country, South Africa, is one of the most diverse countries in the world. In addition to the

indigenous black peoples of South Africa, colonialism and immigration have brought in white Europeans and people from South Asia and the Far East. South Africa has 11 official languages, and recognises 8 more.

These languages include Afrikaans, English, Xhosa and Zulu. South African culture is not homogenous and cannot be easily defined; rather, it is a melting pot of different cultures which take predominance in different geographical regions around the country. ii. Zulu Culture With a population of around 11 million, the Zulus are largest of all South African tribes. Residing predominantly in the KwaZulu-Natal area in eastern South Africa, Zulu culture is arguably the most wellknown tribal culture, thanks to the numerous Hollywood films such as Zulu and Zulu Dawn which document and dramatise the various Anglo-Zulu wars that took place throughout the period spanning 1899-1902. Although known infamously for the ferocity of their spear and shield-bearing warriors, the Zulu people are also skilled craftsmen and women, who are known for their elaborate beadwork and basketry.

Zulu beliefs are based on the presence of ancestral spirits, and as such they revere dreams as they believe this to be the medium by which their ancestors contact them.

Zulus also believe in the presence of a divine being, although the extent to which this deity is involved in human affairs is very narrow.

Due to the arid sub-Saharan climate, the Zulu diet is limited to a certain range of meats and vegetables. The conditions and climate mean that farming and grazing cattle, sheep, and goats is problematic; instead, grains such as maize and whey form the main component of their nourishment. Zulu women also use maize and sorghum to produce their own beer which is the staple drink in the community (alongside water).

The front apron worn by Zulu men is made of various animals’ skin, and is tightly woven together. The back apron is formed of calf skin, and its length symbolises marital status. Headbands are worn by married men.

Unmarried women will only wear a grass-sewn skirt laced with beads, while married women will cover their entire body and wear beads formed in a pattern that only her husband understands. Zulu women wear intricately woven hats that are sewn into their hair. These last for months without falling out, and span a metre wide. iii. Xhosa Culture The Xhosa tribe mainly reside in the Eastern Cape.

Actually consisting of five different tribes as one, there are around 8 million Xhosas in South Africa, with Nelson Mandela being a notable member of the tribe.

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Due to the Zulu expansion under Shaka in the early to mid-1800s, the Xhosas have very similar beliefs and foods to the Zulus.

The Xhosa culture is most well-known for its complex dress code, which indicates peoples’ social status. Xhosa hats indicate the seniority of the wearer, and dresses of women indicate their marriage status.

Religiously, the Xhosas are very similar to the Zulu tribe.

Their beliefs are ancestral-based, with ancestral-worship rituals common year-round. The Xhosas have a strong tradition of oral stories, with tales of great heroes being passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation.

Similar to Zulu cuisine, Xhosa cuisine is formed mainly of vegetables such as pumpkin and maize; however, the Xhosa tribe is situated in an area with lush fields of grass, so the males in the tribe are cattle farmers. Thus, beef plays a larger role in the Xhosa diet than it does in the Zulu one. iv. Boer culture The Boer people of South Africa are descendants of the Dutch settlers who began entering South Africa through modern day Cape Town from the mid-1600s. The Boers were initially farmers, however, after “the Great Trek” in 1835, they became known for their desire to wander.

Resourcefulness, independent spirit and hardiness are other traits that Boers are traditionally associated with.

The Boers brought with them cities and roads, moving away from tribal civilisation and toward a metropolitan country. Many traditional buildings in South Africa nowadays, such as City Halls and government buildings, have facades that are directly inspired from Boer architecture.

The Boers also introduced Christianity to South Africa, and this has grown into the most widely practiced religion in the country, with almost 80% of the South African population consisting of Christians.

Boer cuisine consists primarily of game meat and vegetables. The Boers grew wheat farms and farmed cattle on large scales, exporting both to countries around the world. In contrast to the cloudy, low alcohol beer that the indigenous people drank, the Boers brewed their own beer. Nowadays, some of these breweries have evolved into larger corporations that produce beers such as Castle Lager. v. British Culture When the British colonised South Africa in 1902, they brought with them slaves mainly from India and Malaysia. The British also brought their own soldiers to fight in wars such as the Anglo-Boer and Anglo-Zulu Wars. These people changed South African culture drastically, introducing traditional British activities like cricket, and British dress and food.

British cuisine consisted of food taken from around the world, introduced by its various other colonies. When the Brits settled in South Africa, tea, coffee and hot chocolate were already staples in their diet, and spices from Asia were widely used in their cooking. These British diets changed local cuisine, and the food that slaves made from Asia were infused into the local cuisine.

After the colonisation of South Africa, British redcoats were not an uncommon sight in cities. These redcoats were part of the army and were used to enforce the British rule and stop uprisings. Western clothes such as trousers were also introduced to South Africa by the British, whereas before the Dutch settlers had mainly worn dungarees. vi. Post-Apartheid culture The impact of Apartheid can still be seen in South Africa today, and although it was abolished in 1994, there is still underlying sentiment that can be seen most prevalently by the stark inequalities in wealth and income. Over half of South Africa’s population live below the poverty line, and 50% of those people are black. Less than one percent of the people in poverty are white.

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However, South Africans are proud to show their heritage, and the annual Heritage Day celebrates the mix of cultures present in the country. South Africa’s acceptance of all cultures is evidenced by its national anthem, which consists of 5 different languages.

Diverse, accepting, and proud are words commonly used to accurately describe South African sentiment towards culture, and this is eloquently summarised in the country’s nickname: the Rainbow Nation.

Ishkaar Ujoodia 11N International Ambassador Task Countries and Cultures There are many different countries in this wide world.

Each and every country has its own, unique culture.

What do I mean by culture? Search it up on Google, and it’ll tell you this – ‘The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.’

However, I don’t think that culture can be understood by an over-complicated, black and white definition which has clear limitations. Culture is colourful. Culture has no bounds at all. Culture is what binds countries together.

which unifies us and helps us to know our fellow human beings better. It should never be used as a basis for creating differences between countries. Unfortunately, however, that has happened. Many, many times.

Division More often than not, wars have broken out between countries, since they have had differing opinions on who they should worship, a difference in attitude and different customs. A famous example is that of the war between the terrorist organization Islamic State and the rest of the world. They are ripping countries apart and decimating hundreds of innocent people. This is already horrific. What makes the issue even more astounding is the fact that they blame their religion for their actions.

I know plenty of Muslims and none of them have told me that you must fight a ‘holy war’, or a jihad, and kill humans in order to receive salvation.

However, this is only a modern example. Religious wars date back to as early as 1095, in a set of 3 wars which lasted for nearly 2000 years, until 1295. These wars were known as the Crusades. Islam vs Christianity. Yet again, 2 religions which could be living in harmony fighting against each other.

Furthermore, famous epic poems have been written thousands of years before the Crusades. Poems like the Iliad by Homer (about a man called Aeneas who encounters a war between cultures) and the Indian epic Mahabharata (about 2 conflicting royal families waging war against each other) – which is the longest epic in literature – all explore ideologies of war; as a result of different attitudes and beliefs. It serves to show how prevalent war was in people’s minds such a long time ago.

What is Culture?

I think that this diagram sums up beautifully what is meant by culture. Things such as food, art and music serve to tie people from different countries together.

For example, you’ll always see British people in Indian restaurants. Why? Because they love the food from a different culture. You see people from all around the world in art galleries. Why? Because they enjoy admiring art which is different and more diverse than their own.

You hear about people in places as far away from England as Japan listening to English music. Why? Because they enjoy music from different cultures. Culture is a force 72 – Olavian 2019

Conclusion As I have said over and over again, culture should be something that unites us, and strengthens us. As you have seen, with culture comes so many benefits – good food, languages, music and what not? That is the reason why so many more schools should engage in culture-sharing activities, such as school exchanges, events to celebrate culture and education about different cultures; so that more people know how important it is in our lives.

Rupankar Majumdar, St Olaves Grammar School

Clubs and Societies LGBTQ+ Society This has been the first year of the LGBTQ+ Society at St. Olave’s and it has been a very successful one as we have grown from nothing to a position where we are fundraising, campaigning and, most importantly, holding varied weekly meetings. With the occasional aid of cake, we have discussed, among other things, RuPaul’s Drag Race (featuring some impromptu performances), queerbaiting and LGBTQ+ history, including watching some of the critically acclaimed 1990 film Paris is Burning. As well as this, we were also very grateful to Old Olavian Alex Martin who returned to share his experiences of life as an LGBTQ+ person at university.

We began outward-facing campaigning from the outset and have delivered assemblies on tackling homophobia to Years 10 and 11 and the Sixth Form. In February, for LGBT History Month, we delivered a whole school assembly, covering a broad range of queer history, from bisexuality in Ancient China to marriage equality in this decade. For Pride Month and the surrounding period, we led some varied celebrations, including raising the Pride Flag to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots on June 28th. We also produced a video detailing the background to Pride which was shown to the lower years.

We were also able to fundraise for the charity Just Like Us through selling their Rainbow Ribbons and we raised a substantial sum of money and we saw ribbons being worn with pride across the school from Year 7 to Year 12.

Just Like Us had also supported us earlier in the year by providing two ambassadors to run sessions and resources that we used in our sessions and our campaigning. We would also like to thank Mrs Maxwell and Ms Hawley and all of our supporters for their help through the year and we look forward to a happy and successful 2020.

Mental Well Being The school recognises the vital importance of caring for the mental well being of the students. In addition to the pastoral care given by Form Tutors, Heads Of Year, the whole school Pastoral Team and the Chaplaincy, the school now has the services of Shelby the dog. It has been recognised that canine friends can relive anxiety and act as an inter-locutor for some. Shelby actually belongs to Mrs Maxwell. This very friendly and sympathetic, non-judgmental dog has already done a great deal of service and has already contributed indirectly to the fitness of some of the students who exercise him around the school’s cross-country circuit.

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students to carry out an investigation into Newton’s Second Law of Motion. The data logger calculates the acceleration between the light gates, by comparing the velocities at light gates 1 and 2, and the time between these measurements. This is communicated by a control tablet via Bluetooth, and the tablet instantly displays the results.As can be seen on the tablet display,the acceleration increases linearly as the applied force increases. As the mass of the trolley remains constant, this demonstrates Newton’s Second Law.

Parents’ Association Thank you to the PA who have helped purchase a new table tennis table, which students have been enjoying.

Since 2015, the PA have raised over £220,000 which they have generously donated to the School to support an astonishing variety of Departments and initiatives, all of which have improved the quality of life for pupils substantially. One recent example is the tablets and the data collection equipment donated to the Physics Department which have provided students with fantastic opportunities to experience data collection as it would happen at University or in Industry. These have enabled

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Environmental Society Thanks to Environmental Society and a generous donation from The Solar Centre, we have installed some environmentally-friendly solar-powered lighting on our new ADT sheds. They will enable stored materials to be accessed safely and easily at any time, thanks to the powerful LEDs and battery to store electricity for when it is needed Languages Society Sixth Form students have presented a variety of interesting, well-researched and engaging talks, a project led by Year 12 student and Language Prefect, Jacob Gaskell. Sidney Woolf-Hoyle spoke on ‘The evolution of the English Language and its relation to colonisation’, Anantha Anilkumar on ‘Creole and the Francophonie’, Shrinidhi Prakash on ‘Language, gender and sexism’ and Jacob Gaskell on ‘The differences between French spoken in Quebec and France’. The talks were well attended and generated lively discussion about language.

Classics Society The Classics Department returned to Greece with a small and highly enthusiastic group of Classicists visiting several new sites this year on the Classics Trip to Greece: Nikaeopolis, the Necromantion at Efrya, Thermon, Kassopi and the seat of Zeus' divination at Dodona.

Within school, the Society has looked at the god Mars and Roman naval warfare. What was most impressive was the high attendance at the weekly meetings.

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Mathematics & Computing

Faculty of Mathematics & Computing

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his was another busy year for the Faculty of Mathematics and Computing. We benefitted from a large investment by the school to remodel IT3, resulting in a state of the art facility, suitable for the advanced computer science being done by our senior students. In addition, we were extremely grateful for the gift of iPads and Apple TV infrastructure, allowing us to greatly modernise our practice in the classroom. This has also been possible because of the willingness of faculty members to upskill and innovate their practice.

Extra-curricular activities during the year included the usual Senior, Intermediate and Junior Maths Challenges, Senior Team Challenge, all driven forward by the unrelenting efforts of Mr Maltman, as well as the Year 10 Maths Feast competition held at Saint Olave’s in February. Mr Mowll and Ms Vasileva established the Maths in Motion club, where students design and race their own virtual F1 cars around various tracks across the world. Mr Bassett continued his outreach work with local primary schools. The fact that several new partnerships have been set up recently is a testament to the dedication of Mr Bassett.

In November, all of year 11 travelled to the Savoy Theatre to watch presentations by Matt Parker, Hugh Hunt and Ben Sparks on topics such as the biggest mathematical mistakes in history, including those by McDonalds and Pepsi, the science of spinning objects, including how to turn objects in outer space and how to throw a boomerang, and the importance of probability in contexts such as poker and finding someone at a party with the same birthday as you.

Year 13 preformed phenomenally in their A Level examinations,with 80% gaining A or A* for Mathematics, 100% of candidates gaining a B or above for Computer Science. Year 11 achieved equally well, with 88% of students gaining levels 8 or 9 and 98% gaining 7 or above.

At various points throughout the year, we congratulated Dr Ashford for the completion of his NQT year, we said farewell to Mr Davis, Mr McCurrach, Mr Mowll, Ms Chambers and Mr Maltman. After almost 30 years of service, Mr Maltman retired to pursue other passions.

As word spread of his departure, we heard from a huge number of former students who had benefitted from his guidance and expertise. I think we can all agree that this is the end of an era. We will miss our colleague and friend

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and wish him the very best for a happy and productive retirement.

Meera Lawrence

Head of Mathematics

Senior Mathematical Challenge Five Year 13 pupils took part in the UKMT Mathematics Olympiad for Girls in October. This a challenging threehour paper and the participants had to answer brain teasers about number theory and geometry, as well as counting problems. Congratulations go to Sonali Bhide, Priyanka Patel and Jessye Tu who gained Distinctions.

This year’s Senior Mathematical Challenge saw a record number of 511 Olavians from Years 11 to 13 undertake a challenging set of 25 problems. This huge cohort achieved another impressive set of results with 58 Gold, 142 Silver and 173 Bronze certificates being attained.

Four students, George Guest (Year 12), Linus Luu, Jamie Davies and Ishan Kalia (all in Year 11) all qualified for the prestigious British Mathematical Olympiad Round 1.The first two, plus Jessye Tu and Shachin Pratheepan of Year 13, are to be congratulated upon achieving best-inyear results. Congratulations also to Linus Luu, George Guest, Ivan Leung and Thomas Halton who qualified for the Senior Maths Team Challenge, which takes place in February. The team recovered from an early mistake to win the Regional Final at Ravens Wood School with an impressive score of 167/182.

Maths Inspiration Day Year 11 travelled to the Savoy Theatre to watch presentations by Matt Parker, Hugh Hunt and Ben Sparks on topics such as the biggest mathematical mistakes in history, the science of spinning objects, including how to turn objects in outer space and how to throw a boomerang, and the importance of probability in contexts such as poker and finding someone at a party with the same birthday as you.

Mathematics Competition Year 7 mathematicians participated in a problem solving competition at Orpington’s Explore Learning Tuition Centre. Shaun, David, Yashmanth and Aarav performed admirably against some more experienced pupils at other schools. They tackled a series of four fiendish problems involving dice, posed by NRICH and Cambridge

University. After scoring full marks for teamwork skills, they qualified for the second round.

Computer Science in Action Day KS5 Computer Science students attended the Computer Science in Action Day at Emmanuel Centre.

Five renowned speakers, Tushar Sharma - expert in augmented reality and machine learning, Paul Curzon - Professor of Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London, Nigel Shadbolt - Chairman and Co-Founder of the Open Data Institute, Mandy Chessell - IBM Distinguished Engineer and Jamie Anderson - Cybersecurity Engineer and expert in digital forensics, revealed computer science at its very best and took our students to the cutting edge in fields such as computer vision, software development, algorithms, pure programming and computer systems. It was an eye opening experience for our students to see how the future is revolutionised by the advancement in computer science and technology.

British Mathematical Olympiad For the first time in many years two Olavians, Linus Luu and George Guest, qualified for the prestigious second round of the British Mathematical Olympiad.Faced with four fearsome problems with which to grapple in three and a half hours, both students persevered impressively.

Special congratulations go to Linus who managed to solve two of the problems perfectly, placing him in the top 30 nationally, a truly remarkable achievement for such a young mathematician.

Intermediate Maths Challenge Over 370 students from Years 9 to 11 participated in this year’s Intermediate Mathematical Challenge with impressive results attained by all years. Record numbers of 135 Gold and 114 Silver, as well as 70 Bronze certificates, were achieved, with an amazing 129 students qualifying for the follow-on round of the Intermediate Kangaroo competition. In addition, a creditable 14 students qualified for the prestigious Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad. Congratulations go to the students achieving best-in-year scores, Joseph Fisher and Kenji Seanor (Year 9), Velian Velikov and Hieronim

Lecybyl (Year 10) plus Linus Luu (Year 11).

Senior Mathematical Challenge Almost 60 Olavians from Years 11 to 13 qualified for the follow-on rounds to the Senior Mathematical Challenge.

Four students undertook the British Mathematical Olympiad Round 1 paper, with all managing to solve at least two of the six fiendish problems. Congratulations go to George Guest (Year 12) plus Linus Luu and Ishan Kalia (Year 11) who achieved Certificates of Distinction.

In addition, George and Linus have qualified for the British Mathematics Olympiad Round 2 paper. A remarkable 49 students also participated in the Senior Kangaroo with a record 13 achieving a Certificate of Merit, placing them in the upper echelons of achievers in this select cohort. Special mention should be made of Matthew Perry for his best-in-school score.

Maths Feast 14 teams of four Year 10 students from eight different schools, including two teams from St. Olave’s, took part in Maths Feast, a multi-round competition organised by the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP). Our boys were just pipped into 2nd and 3rd place by an outstanding team from Trinity School.

Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo Competitions A record number of Olavians from Years 9 to 11 qualified for this year’s follow-on rounds to the Intermediate Mathematical Challenge. The Olympiad papers consist of six challenging problems. The vast majority of the twelve qualifiers solved at least two of the problems, but this year’s outstanding performers were Linus Luu in Year 11 and Velian Velikov in Year 10 who both achieved national top 50 scores and hence received a medal plus a book prize.

In the Kangaroo competition, for which St Olave’s had an incredible one hundred and twenty-six qualifiers, a new record of forty-five achieved certificates of merit placing them in the top quarter of scores nationally.

Congratulations go to Joel Ulens (Year 11), Griffin Keemer (Year 10) and Harry Chen (Year 9) who

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achieved best-in year results, the last of these achieving an amazing maximum score. As ever, these results reflect the strength of Olavians’ problem-solving capabilities plus their enjoyment of a mathematical challenge.

Year 5 Maths and Science Day – 26th June 2019 On Wednesday 26th June, St Olave’s welcomed 240 Year 5 pupils representing seven local primary schools for a day of mathematical and scientific games and challenges.

The students were treated to a masterclass in making (and firing!) rockets by the science department, as well as learning about chromatography and genetics. The pupils also enjoyed a bustling carousel of mathematics activitiesand a competitive ‘snakes and ladders’ problem solving competition.

After an action packed day, Holy Innocents School were declared worthy winners ahead of Perry Hall who finished in a very commendable second place. Visiting staff were very complementary of the activities and of the enthusiasm of the Sixth Form helpers. We look forward to welcoming the next cohort of budding mathematicians and scientists next year.

problem solving plus a cross number. Unfortunately a minor confusion led to a more significant loss of points in the third shuttle problem-solving round, and although the team achieved the highest score in the final Relay round, they were just beaten into 2nd place.

Congratulations to the reserve team of Srij Bera, Joseph Fisher, Ben Joshua Yip and Debangshu Saha who also put in a commendable performance, finishing joint 2nd overall with their Olavian peers.

Junior Mathematical Challenge Olavians from Years 7 and 8 produced another strong set of results in this year’s Junior Mathematical Challenge, a national competition comprising a set of 25 multiple choice problems of increasing complexity. Well over 90% of entrants achieved a Certificate, including 105 Gold, 88 Silver and 42 Bronze Certificates. Congratulations go to Ray Keemer of Year 8 and Aryaa Saravanakumar of Year 7 who achieved best-in-year results. They, along with eight others, qualified for the prestigious Junior Mathematical Olympiad follow-on round. In addition, an amazing 63 qualified for the Junior Kangaroo Challenge. The high proportion of very capable problem-solvers continues to be an impressive feature of Olavian students.

UKMT Olympiad Initial Training Camp Year 11 student, Ishan Kalia, was invited to a UKMT Olympiad Initial Training Camp at The Queen’s College, Oxford.

UKMT St. Olave’s hosted the Regional Final of the UKMT Team Maths Challenge for 33 local schools. The St. Olave’s team of Samuel Iranloye, Daniel Shahrabi Atari, Ojas Tiwari and Yash Joshi from Years 9 and 8, performed creditably in the first two rounds of group

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Junior Mathematical Olympiad The ten Olavians who qualified for this prestigious follow-on round all managed to solve at least two of the six demanding and unusual problems. The outstanding results were achieved by Benjamin Joshua Yip, Kanishq Manocha and Joshua Mead of Year 8 who achieved certificates of Distinction plus a bronze medal placing them in the top 200 in the country.

Department of Computing

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t has been another successful year in the Computing Department with another set of outstanding results.The numbers of students choosing to study Computer science subject at both key stage 4 and key stage 5 has continued to increase. We have also seen a rise in the number of girls choosing to study Computer science at A level. Our first set of results in the new OCR A level Computer science specification have been immensely outstanding.

For A level Computer Science, the percentage of students achieving A*-B has risen to 100%. Our GCSE Computer science results have been equally impressive with 91% of students studying GCSE Computer science achieved grade 9 to 7 with 78% achieved grade 9 to 8.

This makes the increase in the percentage of students achieving grade 9 in Computer science to 61% higher compared to last year. With such spectacular results St Olave’s Grammar school stands top -1st for the A level Computer science results and 2nd for GCSE Computer science results amongst all Bass schools. The department has continued to go from strength to strength with full dedication, extensive knowledge, talent and hard work of both staff and students.

The Computing department continued to provide opportunities for students to extend their learning beyond the classroom. The participation of students in extracurricular clubs and competitions has been a phenomenal part of their learning. For instance, the Computer science in action day trip provided opportunities for Ks5 students to develop their project ideas for A level Computing coursework. Olavian Students have had numerous opportunities to develop their capability, creativity, design, problem solving, teamwork and computational thinking skills by participating in external competitions. Students in Yr 7 -11 have improved their coding and programming skills by attending the weekly computing lunchtime clinics.

More enthusiastic computer scientists have further advanced their knowledge by participation in the Cyber Discovery challenge, a nationwide programme backed

by HM government to introduce students to ethical hacking and cybersecurity. Yr8 have demonstrated their considerable ability and enthusiasm for the subject through impressive participation in the activities arranged for them during the Computing Activity week. The department has continued its involvement in the Perse Coding Team Challenge -organised by the Perse School Cambridge. St Olave’s Grammar school ranks high and amongst the top 10 performing schools nationally in the Perse Coding Challenge 2019.

We continued to enter all students studying Computer

science in the UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge- organised by the Oxford University. We have had huge successes in all these competitions and some details of these extraordinary successes are included in the following pages.

The Computing department has seen the departure of two experienced staff members, Mr Timothy McCurrach and Mr James Davis. In September department welcomes a new staff member, Mr Sebastian King, who after successfully completing his PGCE placement with Kings now joins us as a full-time member teaching both Maths and Computing.

Rabia Zeshan

Head of Computing

UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge Our students’ results in the UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge 2018 have placed us among the best in the country, and our top scorers got invitation for the second stage, held in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford in February 2019.

Our outstanding results include 127 Distinctions and 120 Merits which is phenomenal.Special congratulations went to Sam Campbell, Harry Chen, Joseph Fisher, Adam Steer, Aaditya Deshmukh, Hieronim Lecybyl, Linus Luu and William Guest who got an invitation from the university of Oxford for the second stage of Uk Bebras challenge. The event also included academic lectures and the chance to explore an Oxford College, and an awards ceremony.

National Success in the UK Bebras Second stage Students from St Olave’s Grammar School were finalists in computational thinking challenge at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford.

Talented students Linus Luu, Aaditya Deshmukh, Hieronym Lecybyl, and William Guest from St Olave’s Grammar School were invited to the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford on the weekend of 2–3 February as finalists in a UK-wide competition – The UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge.

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Reaching the finals of the Senior and Elite age groups is an impressive achievement, as a total of 25,957 students entered the first round for these two age groups (14–16 and 16–18). Linus, Aaditya Hieronym and William were among the top 60 highest achieving students invited to the final round in each of their respective age groups and were presented with their finalist’s certificates at a prizegiving ceremony at Hertford College. Linus received special congratulations for achieving the highest score among all finalists and being awarded a medal for first place in the Senior Challenge.

Computer Science in Action Trip On 27th of Nov 2018 KS5 Computer science students attended the Computer Science in Action day trip in Emmanuel Centre London. Five renowned speakers (namely Tushar Sharma-expert in augmented reality and machine learning, Paul Curzon-Professor of computer science at Queen Mary University of London, Nigel Shadbolt-Chairman and Co-Founder of the open Data institute, Mandy Chessell- IBM Distinguished Engineer and Jamie Anderson- Cybersecurity Engineer and expert in digital forensics) revealed computer science at its very best and took our students to the cutting edge in fields such as Computer vision, software development, algorithms, pure programming and computer systems.

It was an eye opener trip for our students to see how the 82 – Olavian 2019

future is revolutionised by the advancement in Computer science and technology.

National Success in Cyber Discovery Francois Poh in year 11 triumphed in the Cyber Discovery Challenge by completing four stages: Assess, Game, Essentials and Elite. The first stage, Assess, has 13 problems (and a hidden 14th). These start easy, but the difficulty quickly ramps up. It covers Cryptography and web applications. Francois not only succeeded in the Game phase by completing 150+ problems on cryptography, using Linux, Python, forensics, web applications and more but moved onto Essentials phase by completing advanced cybersecurity topics, that go well beyond the GCSE content. He completed the exam and got invited to the Elite stage, a residential camp with further courses on ethical hacking by professionals.

A Talk on Data Science and Machine Learning by professionals from Delta Capita St Olave’s Grammar school Computer science and Maths societies held a talk on Machine Learning and Data Science for sixth form students on 24th of September 2019. We invited professionals from Delta Capita, a challenger business and technology consulting firm, to talk to our students about careers available

in the field of data science and machine learning.

Students were enthused to learn about machine learning frameworks such as Tensor flow, PyTorch, Keras and Caffe. There were discussions on supervised machine learning algorithms such as linear regression and how neural networks use gradient descent to take iterative steps to find minimum of a function. Yr13 student, Zarya Mekathotti also talked about her enriching internship experience with Delta Capita. Below are some pictures taken during the session.

Computing Clinic – Marty the Robot In Computing clinic, KS3 students enjoyed coding time with Marty the robot. Marty travelled a long way to come and visit us. He started his tour with St Olave’s Grammar school Orpington and will be moving on to visit a school is Norwich before moving to Cambridge.

Marty is a proper walking Robot with legs and feet, with 9 servo motors and built in sensors. In Computing clinic students were enthused to learning coding using robotics and engineering with Marty.

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Science

The Faculty of Science

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n Science we would like to see ourselves as a true learning community and we all strive to communicate this love of learning to our students. We actively promote opportunities for out of school learning and make a point of mentioning interesting developments and new ideas to students. 2018-19 was yet another very busy year for the Science Faculty, and once again our students rose to all the challenges thrown at them throughout the year.

The public examination results achieved by Years 11 and 13 were outstanding, with students producing record breaking performances areas. Across all 3 Sciences Year 11 achieved a cumulative 98% 9-7 grades, and over 90% of all GCSE Science grades were either 8 or 9.

At A Level, 94% of all Biology, Chemistry and Physics grades were A*, A or B. Wonderful results all round.

Congratulations to all our students on those outstanding achievements. We are very fortunate to be able to teach such a motivated and inquisitive cohort of students. We look forward to welcoming our new 6th Form students and wish all those students embarking on University courses or careers all the best for the future.

Students also excelled in National Competitions and Olympiads, proving themselves capable of competing with the rest of the country. I am amazed that so many of our students actually volunteer to sit such rigorous tests of their scientific knowledge, resilience and ability to adapt their understanding to complex situations.Their motivation and desire to overcome ridiculously difficult problems is inspirational.

However, academic success is only one part of the work of the Faculty, with many clubs and societies thriving in the department. The quality of presentations given at clubs such as Natural Sciences Society, Physics and Engineering Society, Medics Society and Chemistry Society is astonishing, as is the breadth of topics covered.

Lower School students have their own clubs (Crest Club, Junior Natural Sciences Society, Junior Chemistry Society) which encourage them to try out experiments that go above and beyond the curriculum. Examples of the enthusiasm of the students were illustrated by two of our Year 8 students presenting an assembly to commemorate the 150 th anniversary of the periodic table, and our Year 7 students rising to the challenge of producing a commemorative poster. Year 12 Science prefects (with some others) delivered lessons to Year 5 students as part of the annual Year 5 Maths and Science Day and also visited St Paul’s Cray Primary school to help with the Science week activities.

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Many trips have been run by the department, including the Biology Field trip to Suffolk, the Year 13 Physics trip to CERN in Geneva, the Year 9 trip to Florida (including NASA), Operation Wallacea to Malawi, outings to subject specific talks in London, and the usual Activity week trips to the Natural History Museum and Royal Observatory. Year 10 participated in a one-day Outbreak activity looking at control of an epidemic, run

by PhD students from UCL. All of these additional competitions, societies and trips are only possible because of the dedication of the staff in organising and running the activities. All of this in an academic year that featured an Ofsted Inspection and an extensive Internal Review of the Science Faculty (which was very complimentary). The students are very lucky to be taught by such a talented and committed team (and it is very much a team effort). I would like to take this opportunity to thank to all the teachers and technicians in the Science Faculty for their good humour, dedication and consistently going above and beyond expectations.

After having no staff turnover in 2018, we have to had say farewell to 4 staff in 2019 as they pursue a variety of exciting opportunities. Our thanks go to Mr Dodd, Miss Esswood, Dr Fox and Mr Holleran for the huge contributions that they have made to the Chemistry, Biology, and Physics Departments and to the Science Faculty. We look forward to hearing about their achievements in their now roles. We look forward to working with our new staff, and I am sure that they will make equally impressive contributions.

Another huge thank you is due to the Parents Association for their continued support of the Faculty. As you will see in some of the following articles, their generosity has allowed the purchase of equipment that we would otherwise have been unable to afford. All of these gifts from the PA will enhance the teaching and learning within the Science Faculty, giving our students many invaluable experiences.

This is a very exciting time for Science, with fascinating projects leading to new developments in many different areas. Maybe one (or more) of our current students will go on to win a Nobel Prize, develop a revolutionary cure, or even be the first person to set foot on Mars.

I look forward to another successful year.

Neil Stewart

Head of Physics and Head of Science Faculty

CERN 44 Year 13 students and four staff travelled to Geneva to visit the home of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. They took part in a guided tour of the accelerator control rooms, the AMS control room, and the magnet manufacturing facility. This really brought the Physics of magnetic fields, electric fields and elementary particles to life, showing the students real world application of the concepts they study in class. In the evening they enjoyed a traditional Swiss fondue dinner with an accompanying Oompah Band. Before returning on Sunday, they ascended Mont Salève in a cable car to take in the views of Lake Geneva.

PA Funded Ripple Tank The new ripple tank that was donated to the Physics Department by the PA has proved extremely popular with students, and provided them with concrete evidence of some complex wave phenomena. The device consists

of a vibration generator, which generates waves on the surface of water. This is illuminated by a light source, and projected via a mirror onto a diffuse screen. If required the pattern can be frozen by strobing the light source.

The photographs demonstrate double slit interference and diffraction around an edge. Using water waves to demonstrate will provide the basis for the students to extend their understanding to examples using wave types such as electromagnetic waves or sound. The Physics department would once like to thank the PA for their generosity.

PA Funded Data Loggers These images show Year 12 students carrying out an investigation into Newton’s Second Law of Motion. The students have attached the dynamics trolley to a hanging mass. The weight of this mass provides the resultant force required to accelerate the mass. Light gates register when the black card on the dynamics trolley passes through, and can calculate the average velocity if the length of the black card is known (in this case 10cm).

The data logger calculates the acceleration between the light gates, by comparing the velocities at light gates 1

and 2, and the time between these measurement. This is communicated by a control tablet via Bluetooth, and the tablet instantly displays the reults. As can be seen on the tablet display, the acceleration increases linearly as the applied force increases. As the mass of the trolley remains constant, this demonstrates Newton’s Second Law. Both the tablets and the data collection equipment were kindly donated by the PA, and have provided the students with fantastic opportunities to experience data collection as it would happen at University or Industry.

Outbreak Day All Year 10 forms attended a workshop delivered by 10 PhD students from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which is part of the University of London. Students participated in an “epidemic game”, which aimed to demonstrate the different roles in fighting an epidemic, in this case a hypothetical malaria Olavian 2019 – 87

outbreak in London. This included the epidemiologist, microbiologist, public health professional, statistician, mathematical modeller and clinician. A carousel of activities allowed the students to develop their understanding of these roles, including one activity with live mosquitoes (although the mosquitoes were in an enclosed box). Our visitors were very impressed with the willingness of the students to participate, and their background knowledge.

Society. The afternoon was rounded off by a fascinating lecture by Professor Zarnecki, who worked on several high profile space missions (Giotto, Rosetta, CassiniHuygens, Hubble Space Telescope).

AS Physics Challenge Year 12 students achieved record results in the AS Physics Challenge. The paper was extremely challenging but, once again, our Olavian Physicists applied themselves superbly. George Guest achieved a Gold Award, making him one of the top Physics students in the country.

Silver Awards were gained by Charlie Anderton, Joseph Madden, Josiah Begley, James Hayes, Zarya Mekathotti, Deborah Bakare, Michael Sun, Nicholas Munro and Vishal Dhayalan. Many more students gained Bronze Awards. Well done to all the students who were brave enough to attempt this fiendishly difficult exam.

Senior Physics Challenge Congratulations to Nicholas Munro on achieving a Diamond Award, placing him in the top 60 students entering this year’s competition.

British Physics Olympiad Congratulations to our Year 13 Physicists,who once again excelled in the British Physics Olympiad. The question papers are incredibly tough, testing the problem solving abilities of the participants, and going well beyond the bounds of the A-Level curriculum.Almost 2000 students took part across England and Wales, with a further 1000 in China entering for the first time. Any award in this gruelling examination is a huge achievement, in fact, only 10% of the 3000 participants scored over 50% of the total marks available. 10 St Olave’s students (a record total) showed the determination, knowledge and resilience required to gain a classification. Bronze awards were gained by Sam Eldridge, Joshua Abu, Abbie Davidson, Hai Duong, Alex Lamberti and Calvin Su. Silver awards went to Priyanka Patel, Irfan Zaman and Jessye Tu. However, special mention has to go to Manav Babel who became only the 3rd St Olave’s student in the last 6 years to gain a Gold Award, a truly phenomenal result, and also became the first student for several years to progress to the next stage. Well done to all the students who participated, for all of them this is a valuable step in developing skills that enable an understanding of the broad landscape of a fantastic subject.

AS Physics Olympiad Manav Babel attended a presentation ceremony at The Royal Society in London for his exceptional performance in the AS Physics Olympiad. Manav was one of the finalists in the selection process for the British Team for the International Astrophysics and Astronomy Olympiad, placing him in the top 10 students in the country. Manav was presented with his prize by Professor John Zarnecki, President of The Royal Astronomical 88 – Olavian 2019

British Physics Olympiad GCSE Challenge Year 11 Physicists achieved a very impressive haul of awards in the extremely difficult British Physics Olympiad GCSE Challenge. Last year our students scored 3 Gold and 5 Silver Awards. The current Year 11 easily outperformed this with a phenomenal 5 Gold and 16 Silver Awards. Golds went to Joshua Selfridge, Linus Luu, Charles Callow, James Davies and Rishi Tandon.

Silver Awards were achieved by Rashid Bossong, Anton Amosso, Ameya Parchure, Arvin Boraghi, Ansh Batura, Alessandro Lauri Mehta, Daniel Pereira, Nikita Lewis, Joseph Barradell, Joel Ulens, Shreyas Bharadwaj, Ishan Kalia, Jonah McDonald, Benjamin Moseley, Arunabh Bagchi and Aditya Palaniappan. Many more should also be congratulated on their Bronze Awards and Commendations.

British Physics Olympiad Year 10 Challenge Year 10 Olavian students competed in the British Physics Olympiad Year 10 Challenge against over 10,000 of the most able Physics students in England and Wales. St Olave’s students excelled with a phenomenal 69 Gold Awards, 24 Silver and 18 Bronze. For comparison, the previous St Olave’s record for Gold Awards was 46! Special mention should be given to Kiran Pearce, Velian Velikov, Shrey Choudhary, Thanmay Mangala Sachidananda, Bharathsri Sivasritharan and Neil Tripathi as they achieved 90% or better in a very tough examination, putting them in the top 2% of Physics students in the country. We hope that this will encourage the students to undertake the more challenging Year 11 Physics Olympiad paper next year. Congratulations to all the students who took part in the Year 10 Challenge.

Natural History Museum Year 7 enjoyed their annual trip to the Natural History Museum, as part of the Science department contribution to Activity Week 1. Journeying there on train and tube is always hectic, and our students showed good sense and courtesy (being complemented by a couple of members of the public for their behaviour en route!). In addition to the old favourites (Dinosaur gallery, Earthquake simulator etc), there were several new attractions for the students to observe and participate in. The star attraction was the Blue Whale which has replaced Dippy the Diplodocus in the Hintze Hall. The ‘Museum of the Moon’ featured a visiting artwork which involved a 6 metre diameter spherical reconstruction of the Moon, formed using NASA imagery by the artist Luke Jerram.

This was a rare opportunity to view the ‘Dark Side’ of the Moon in detail.This exhibition opened on the 17 th May, so our visit was timely. Our students also participated as a pilot group for an activity based around the Wildlife Garden, an amazing area of greenery among the roads and buildings of South Kensington. Our students were a credit to the school and impressed the Natural History Museum staff with their knowledge, curiosity and enthusiasm.

Year 9 Activity Days Year 9 had their usual variety of activities on their Science day in Activity Week 2. During the day they fired rockets using compressed air as a launcher. One group broke the school record by achieving over 60 metres, although it is suspected that they had the pressure slightly higher than they should have. The students studied chemical reactions involving rhubarb in the Chemistry labs, and the final activity was the ever popular talk on reptiles, where the boys were given the opportunity to handle some beautiful (and maybe not so beautiful) animals.

Year 9 Royal Observatory Trip Year 9 had a fantastic day at the Royal Observatory this year. They were able to show off their Mathematics skills in a session entitled Maths in the Milky Way in which they had to work out distances between planets and the

speed they would be able to travel between planets using a variety of transport options. Students also took part in an Observational Astronomy workshop in which they discussed what they could learn from the night sky.

Students watched a planetarium show in which they explored the galaxy. They were extremely lucky to be the only group watching the planetarium show, and once the show had ended had the opportunity to talk to the astronomer running the show. Students asked excellent questions, showing their enthusiasm and understanding, and had some high level discussions with the astronomer.

It was great to see how intellectually curious our students were and to see them engaging with new information with such animation.

Year 5 Maths and Science Day It was a busy day in the Science labs at Saint Olave’s on Wednesday 26th of June. Over 200 students from local primary schools spent the day taking part in Maths and Science activities. In the Science Department pupils made and launched rockets, solved a forensic puzzle using chemical tests and investigated the development of chicken embryos. They were ably led and assisted by our fantastic Year 12 students who were patient and inspiring throughout the day. Many primary teachers commented on the value of day to their students who continue to talk about the experience in the following weeks. Teachers also commented that the experience of being in the lab and using equipment enabled them to enrich their Science teaching by drawing parallels and challenging students to name previously unseen equipment. A rewarding and enjoyable day for all!

Biology in Action Conference Year 12 Biology students enjoyed a day of stimulating talks at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster. Particularly notable were presentations on recent developments in Astrobiology, and on experiments at Everest Base Camp which have changed the ways doctors treat patients in intensive care units.

Medics Journal Congratulations to Year 13 student, Phoebe Foster, for editing the new Medics Journal. The outstanding essays written by students included ‘Stem Cells and their potential’ and ‘Dentistry in Ancient Europe’, as well as some superb artwork and photographs. The past year has also seen the growth of the Society’s media account, where wider reading, polls, Society news and medical opportunities have been uploaded weekly for all members to enjoy.

Chemistry Olympiad Sixth Form Chemists have outdone themselves this year and gained 5 Gold, 12 Silver and 29 Bronze medals in the 2019 Chemistry Olympiad, run by the Royal Society of Chemistry. A total of 108 chemists took Olavian 2019 – 89

part. The Olympiad paper is very demanding and each mark gained is a cause for celebration, so well done to all participants. Particular congratulations go to the Gold medallists: Britney Sung, Anijan Nirmalan, Jennifer Lu, Seren Ford and Conor Donohoe.

Kennedy Space Centre Year 9 students travelled to Orlando, accompanied by Miss Esswood, Miss Hawley, Mrs Senaratne and Miss Chambers. The group spent time at Kennedy Space Centre where they waited patiently for the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to launch the Arabsat 6A communications satellite. Unfortunately, on the day they visited, the rocket did not launch due to technical problems. Time was also spent visiting the various attractions and theme parks, including a day snorkelling with Manatees in the Mexican Gulf.

are witches and bats vampires, and how the researchers attempt to combat this through education.

The second week was spent in a dive centre in Nkhata Bay, on the shore of Lake Malawi, which is an African Great Lake and the most biodiverse on the planet. Those who were not qualified at diving participated in a PADI training course which, once completed, allowed us to dive anywhere in the world. Those who were qualified took part in research on the fish species in the lake, the majority of which are different species of cichlids. We had lectures on what makes Lake Malawi so diverse, the geography of the area and anthropology linked to the Great Rift Valley. We visited the local village market to see how fish caught in the lake were being sold, and monitored how many of each species were there, so to prevent overfishing.

For the final two nights in the trip, we travelled to Liwonde National Park where we stayed in bamboo huts inside the park and could hear animals roaming around us as we slept. We were taken on a boat safari where we saw many hippos, varying species of birds, crocodiles and elephants by the water. We also went on a land safari where we saw a cheetah, waterbucks, buffalo, baboons and warthogs.

Not only did we gain important scientific knowledge, but the trip taught us about the unique culture of a beautiful country. Overall, it was an incredible experience and enjoyed by all of us immensely.

Operationg Wallacea On the 22 July, a group comprised of six Year 12 and four Year 13 students travelled to Malawi, southeast Africa, on an Operation Wallacea expedition in order to carry out biological research in the country.

The trip was split into three parts; we spent the first week in the capital city, Lilongwe, staying in a research centre with expert volunteers. We were given lectures by the researches and then taken on practical work, studying bats, small rodents, birds, insects and carnivores. We travelled into the city at night to set up bat traps and to track jackals using radio technology. We visited hyena dens, woke up at 5.00 am to carry out bird surveys and participated in scat labs where we identified what hyenas had eaten by analysing hairs found in their scat.

The researchers had established a community outreach programme to teach local villagers about the importance of these animals to the environment and to encourage them to react appropriately when faced with animals that pose a threat, such as hyenas, and we attended one of these meetings. It was particularly interesting to learn about the superstitions surrounding these animals which lead to people killing them, such as the belief that hyenas 90 – Olavian 2019

Maisie Sheath Environmental Society Recent years have seen outstanding success for environmental progress within St. Olave’s, a testament to the widespread change that we can bring about when we unite behind a common cause. In 2016, the founding of Environmental Society saw the rekindling of the desire to take action within the school community. The society became the steering group for the Eco-Schools programme at St. Olave’s, the largest international network of students and teachers in the world, spanning 67 countries and involving over 19 million students.

St. Olave’s had achieved the Eco-Schools Bronze Award in 2009 but it was only last year, in 2018, that Environmental Society’s commitment to ameliorating the school’s impact on the local environment and the wider world led to the achievement of the Silver Award.

Keen to continue our work on a variety of projects and to capitalise on our momentum rather than let another 9 years pass, Environmental Society has spent the last 18 months tirelessly driving towards the pinnacle of the Eco-Schools programme: the Green Flag Award.

Our focus on the topics of Litter, Waste, and School Grounds has brought some major accomplishments, notable among them the planting of 600 trees on the school site and the reinstatement of our recycling system earlier this year. A dedicated team of Year 7 and 8 Eco-Warriors now volunteer on a weekly basis to empty recycling bins, helping to keep the school run smoothly.

In March, the school installed solar panels on the new ADT sheds, a small step towards removing our reliance on fossil fuels. In April, we organised a Great British Spring Clean of the school grounds, collecting 18kg of litter in a single lunchtime! We also worked alongside senior leadership to create a Litter Policy for the school.

In July, we launched our first (Re)Love Our Stuff event, an Eco-Schools-inspired occasion that saw the sale of dozens of second-hand textbooks and revision guides, generously donated by GCSE and A- level students after their exams.

And so it was that in November 2019, a decade on from the initial achievement of the Bronze Award, St. Olave’s gained the prestigious Green Flag.

On top of our Eco-Schools work, we have continued our cooperation with Year 10 and 11 Duke of Edinburgh volunteers in the Biology Garden, growing vegetables, composting food waste, and improving the garden’s

biodiversity. Working closely with the caterers in the canteen, we are helping the school to become ‘Plastic Clever’, following the initiative set up by the UK charity Kids Against Plastic, with the introduction of wooden cutlery and biodegradable food containers among other improvements to the layout of the canteen and the promotion of more environmentally conscious ways to eat at school.

This all comes as a result of the tremendous amount of hard work, dedication, and time contributed by many people from across the school community, including students of all years, teaching and support staff, governors, and parents, to whom we all owe an immense debt of gratitude.

Looking to the future, Environmental Society is, as always, searching for ways to improve school life through the advancement of environmentalism with our 2-year Green Flag renewal on the horizon, alongside launching new and exciting projects on a larger scale. Working with our counterparts in other schools across the borough, we hope to run a climate conference on Earth Day this academic year, as well as taking our activism to the council to call for more ambitious climate targets. There has never been a better time to get involved, and play a part in driving significant change.

Josh Selfridge and Rohan Selva-Radov, co-presidents

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English & Drama

The Faculty of English & Drama

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e’ve had another exciting year in the English and Drama faculty with students embracing the opportunity to be involved in plays, a musical, poetry and cultural trips in London. Yet again we have been impressed by the talents of our students in their writing, creativity and public speaking.

We started the year with our second Black History Month show to celebrate the contribution of black artists to British culture. It featured fantastic performances from our gospel choir and newly formed year 12 choir as well as solo singers and rappers, a solo tap dance and the afrobeats dance troupe and a whole host of readings of poetry and novel extracts. We also launched our Black History Month magazine which showcased the intelligence and curiosity of our students. Articles ranged from Afro hair care to ‘being a black muslim’ to the ‘representation of black bodies on screen’. It was an impressive publication and a credit to the contributors.

In November we enjoyed a Shakespeare festival in the Chapel, with fantastic performances of ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Twelfth Night’. Later in the year Dylan Evans directed a superb sixth form production of Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town’ . Our whole school musical this year was ‘Guys and Dolls’ and it was wonderful to see so many talented students singing and dancing, many for the first time! Lamda is still going strong, giving the students opportunities to perform and work towards their Lamda exams.This is becoming ever more popular and we thank Kate Crane for her hard work.

In addition to creating it, we have also been to see a range of theatre. Year 7 watched ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at The Globe, Year 9 saw ‘Come From Away’, a musical based on the warmth and hospitality of people in Newfoundland when planes were grounded in the wake of 9/11. Year 11 watched a production of ‘Macbeth’ and ‘An Inspector Calls’. Our sixth form Theatre Society went to see ‘Caroline or Change’, ‘The Jungle’, ‘Nine Night’ and ‘Admissions’. Ms Sullivan also took students to the Royal Opera House. We believe that this access to world class theatre enriches the learning of the students and extends it beyond the confines of the curriculum.

All students in Year 7, 8 and 9 competed in the English inter-house competitions. Year 7 had the balloon debate – each student chose one important historical figure and persuaded his peers that his chosen person should be the last one left in the balloon. Year 8 created twists on well-known stories and fictional characters, and Year 9 performed monologues. Year 9 and 10 students 94 – Olavian 2019

took part in public speaking workshops with ‘Speak Out, Speak Up’ . We are committed to developing the public speaking and presentational skills of our students, believing them to be essential skills for our the future lives of our students.

The whole of Year 11 took part in a day focussing on improving writing skills for both fiction and non-fiction.

Many students have entered writing competitions including a poetry competition on the theme of ‘Marbles’, and another to compete for the role of Poet Laureate. As a consequence we finished 2018 with our first Olavian Poet Laureate Edwin Roberts before welcoming our new Poet Laureates for 2019, Ben Davies and Victoria Akinleye who were both appointed following their fantastic entries which showcased their skill and imagination.

The Sixth Form English students enjoyed seeing ‘Twelfth Night’ at The Young Vic, and a visit to Horace Walpole’s faux gothic castle in Strawberry Hill for a tour and lecture on ‘The Castle of Otranto’ and the Gothic. A highlight of the year is our residential trip to Cambridge University. This year we enjoyed lectures on topics ranging from Richard II to literature in the postwar years, with our students impressing the Cambridge professors with their questions and ideas. In addition students still found time to enjoy some punting in the sunshine, and getting to know the area. I certainly had a wonderful time.

Finally we wish Mrs Metcalfe all the best on her maternity leave and welcome Miss Smith to the department for what we hope will be another exciting year next year.

Alexandra Wilkie S___Head of Faculty

LAMDA Congratulations to all our students for their fantastic results in the LAMDA exams, achieving 18 Merits and 26 Distinctions in Acting, Verse and Prose Speaking and Public Speaking. Special mention should go to those who achieved Distinction in their Level Three Medal Exams. These were Navaneeth Madhavan, Rupankar Majumdar, Bharathsri Sivasritharan and Michael Liu,

who obtained Distinctions for Bronze Medal Public Speaking, Nikhil Chidipothu, Distinction for Silver Medal Public Speaking, and Ruiqi Zhang, Distinction for Bronze Medal Acting.

Cambridge Conference Seventeen English and History students enjoyed a brief residence at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge for a taste of university life. There were inspiring lectures from university Fellows that included ‘An introduction to Practical Criticism’ from Dr Daniel Tyler, Trinity Hall, a powerful exploration entitled ’Staging Blood and Violence’ by Hester Lees-Jeffries, St Catharine’s, and a fascinating insight into the ‘Social and Economic Changes in 1980s Britain’ from Dr Lucy Delap, Murray Edwards. Some of the lecturers had been recommended

by Young Olavians who have studied or are studying at Cambridge and it is wonderful to hear how impressed they are by our alumni. The students also visited the Fitzwilliam Museum to inspire them and develop their cultural experience.

Chartwell Public Speaking Competition Two Olavian teams competed at the Chartwell Public Speaking Competition. Victoria Akinleye was awarded a special prize for her ‘impassioned use of imagery and rhetorical devices’ in an excellent, well researched speech about change and social cohesion. The Year 12 team were confident and poised using pause dramatically to hold the audience’s attention in a palpable moment of reflection. The Year 10 team spoke with ‘clarity, calmly making a connection with their audience’ in an erudite, detailed and amusing speech that impressed the judges.

Some memorable lines included a warning against a dull, safe ‘steady street’ and being ‘puppets of fortune and change’. Both teams did well and learned a great deal by moving outside of their comfort zones and taking on a challenge.

The Poetry Society Congratulations to English Teacher, Mrs Metcalfe, who was nominated by one of our students as a Foyle

Young Poet Teacher Trailblazer due to her enthusiasm and excellent teaching of poetry. Teacher Trailblazers receive Poetry Society membership, opportunities to receive free poetry workshops at their school and paid commissions to write poetry resources for The Poetry Society website. The student wrote in their statement about Mrs Metcalfe: ‘Why I find her inspiring: She always encourages students to write, and is constantly supportive of any endeavours in literature. With any piece of English, she’s encouraging, insightful and often provides information on how we can improve our writing. I could never ask for a better teacher, and every lesson is the highlight of my day’.

Year 7 Inter-house Balloon Debate Teams of three students from each Form spoke in role to persuade the panel that their place in the balloon was safe. Choices of role included Newton, Faraday, Einstein, Martin Luther King and Donald Trump and the students demonstrated their formal speaking skills including impressive well developed detail, rhetorical devices and imaginative engagement with their audience. The individual winner was Shaun Abraham who delivered an impassioned, captivating speech as Michael Faraday. He spoke with confidence and clarity. The team prize went to 7L who presented on Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and Dwight Eisenhower. All three created believable characters, spoke articulately and structured their pieces logically. They demonstrated a sense of humour and a strong connection with their peers.

English Enrichment Day A musical about 9/11 sounds unlikely, but ‘From Far Away’ is a poignant production about what happened to the planes that were grounded following the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001. Year 9 students enjoyed this fantastic show which tackles all the problems and prejudices that faced the passengers and people of Gander, the small town in Newfoundland, that fateful day. This emotional drama was both uplifting Olavian 2019 – 95

Poet Laureate This year we had many fantastic entries for the Poet Laureate competition. After whittling it down to a shortlist of nine poets, we heard the students deliver their poems in front of their peers, including our 2018 Poet Laureate Edwin Roberts, to ensure they would be able to cope with the public nature of the role. We are delighted to announce that this year we have decided to have two Poet Laureates and have offered the post to Victoria Akinleye (Year 12) and Ben Davies (Year 11).

Junior Debating Society There have been a number of lively debates in Junior Debating Society since the beginning of term.The Lower School students meet every Thursday lunchtime for some enthusiastic and thought provoking discussions. Such as: ‘This house believes the death penalty is immoral’.

and cathartic, teaching us about empathy and how to break down barriers and build bridges. They also visited the Tate Modern and National Gallery where art was used as a stimulus for creative writing, and offered an opportunity for all to appreciate the cultural experiences on offer in London.

Refugee Week We were delighted to welcome back ‘Kazzum’who ran an assembly and workshops for our English Ambassadors in Years 8 - 10. These were thought-provoking, designed to encourage students to explore the plight, and also the contribution of refugees to our society. Students were educated about the difference between having refugee status or being an asylum seeker, and about common misconceptions perpetuated by the media. Through creative writing students then explored ideas about the journey taken by an asylum seeker, and what it is like when they arrive in their new country. Students were thoughtful and engaged throughout by this important topic, and created some excellent pieces which are displayed in the English classrooms.

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Guys and Dolls Last week we returned to the 1950s to enjoy the romantic musical comedy ‘Guys and Dolls’.We watched as Nathan Detroit tried to find a venue for his illegal crap game without letting his disapproving fiancee Adelaide, or Lieutenant Brannigan find out. We saw Joey Biltmore agree to let him use his garage - if Nathan gave him a thousand bucks. When high roller Sky Masterson came into town, Nathan bet him a thousand bucks that he couldn’t take the Salvation Army missionary Sarah to Havana, and so the fun continued, ending in a mostly happy ever after. Mr Price and his orchestra filled the hall with fantastic music as the cast danced and sang their way from Broadway, to the sewers, to Havana before finally giving testimony in the save-a-soul mission house. The show was great fun and proved yet again that Olavian students are so much more than their exam results! Congratulations to all the performers, and the tech team, for a superb production, and thank you to everyone who helped make it happen.

Guys and Dolls 2019

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Chapel

Chaplaincy

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here once a school chaplain was just a visible Christian presence who gave spiritual guidance, these days they are also to be found providing valuable support aimed at pupil wellbeing. A chaplain and their chapel can be a personification of the vision and values of a school and yet chaplaincy is often called “the hidden ministry”.

What is a school chaplain?

A chaplain is a member of the clergy attached to a private chapel or institution like a school, university, hospital or the military.They provide a listening ear and give spiritual support to everyone throughout the school, including pupils, parents, staff and alumni. They welcome those of all faiths and none. In my case I combine chaplaincy here at St. Olave’s with a parish ministry in Bromley.

The Bloxham Project; the last detailed school chaplaincy research, found that “its potential impact on the lives of young people is considerable. The chaplain’s role now has to embrace a social culture that is a mixture of multi-faith or no-faith among pupils, their parents and members of staff. This has produced a shift in emphasis.”

The chaplain’s role is now crucial to helping to alleviate pressure on young people. Our young people are under an eye-watering amount of pressure to succeed, and there must be someone in a community who can remind them that they are valuable just because they are, that they are special,unique and each has something wonderful to offer our world. This means that Chaplains are increasingly involved in pupil wellbeing. It’s a role that changes as the world changes and anyone can approach the Chaplain at any stage, but nobody is compelled to speak to the Chaplain if they do not want to for any reason.

Our yearly Commemoration service allowed us to celebrate, once again, the incredible history of the school

and to thank God for those who had the vision to educate when it was not a common practice and involved great personal cost. Bishop Simon of Tonbridge reminded us of the need for truth and how standing up against lies can sometimes be dangerous but always right. Our senior prefects did us proud with beautiful and informed reading and the music was quite excellent. The more I look into our saint, Olaf, the more we learn about his conversion to Christianity and his role as Patron Saint of Norway. A big thank you to all.

A tree has appeared in the chapel, not from a literal seed but from a seed of desire to have a place where prayers can be offered and asked for. Our prayer tree is on the wall with leaf shaped post it notes for students and staff to write a prayer or a request, totally anonymous but a place of expression so necessary for our young people and staff.

Our ongoing return to Church of England values and ethos has allowed our head teacher to work more closely with the Diocesan Board of Education. For the first time our Headteacher was commissioned by the Bishop of Rochester at a special service at the beginning of the school year. It has set the tone of what St. Olave’s now strives to be, placing students at the centre, remembering we are God’s crown of creation and that all need to be respected and loved for who they are and not what they achieve.

We marked the centenary of the end of WW1 with a poignant and moving service of remembrance in our Great Hall. We remembered those from this school who had given their lives for our freedom.

Chapel services have seen a strong increase in numbers with the Chaplain needing to buy in considerably more communion supplies this school year. We have readers and servers as well as our choir which varies in number week to week but always blesses us with appropriate anthems. Extended services each term continue to allow the school community to come together and celebrate with parents and friends. We have had whole school celebrations of Christmas and Easter as well as a rousing send off for the summer.

In our endeavours to link everything to our Church of England status we have, along with the pupils, created the “What is an Olavian” characteristics basing each one in scripture.

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These characteristics along with our School Prayer and the old traditional school hymn, Olaf To Right The Wrong, have been added to our school Hymnbook in a timely 2019 revision.

The Chaplaincy has once more organised and supervised the Le Chavetois Community programme with forty year 12 students undertaking voluntary work. We have had a good proportion helping in primary and secondary schools as well as a few in hospitals, vets, care homes, charity shops, food bank and community projects. Some have enjoyed their placements so much that they are continuing. The added benefit to them as they move on in life, as well as to the community they have served, cannot really be measured but is valuable, appreciated and life enhancing to all involved.

The chaplaincy continues to offer a place of sanctuary and safety to those who need it. There is always a listening ear available and the nature of the role means students can just drop by or make an appointment. It works well alongside the counselling offered in school and the promotion of wellbeing, mental health issues and mindfulness. The provision, by the Gideon’s, of New Testaments with excellent helps at the front to all new Year 7 pupils helps with this, giving clear biblical advice in everyday circumstances.

It has been a privilege this year to work with some students who have desired Confirmation. I have been able to offer preparation and then place them into a suitable Deanery Confirmation Service. The schoolwide survey which provided the Olavian Characteristics has dovetailed into this allowing a clear link between our school values and those Christian values forthright in Confirmation of one’s faith. The faithfulness of staff and parents/carers in prayer on a weekly and half termly basis continues to bless and encourage. We have involved the school in “Thy Kingdom Come” where each student has been offered a small prayer journal to use during the 11 days between Ascension and Pentecost to pray for a better world for all using the line from the Lord’s Prayer “Thy kingdom Come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”.

Education and sit within the four main topics of Hope, Community, Dignity and Wisdom. Parents/carers are able to access these weekly themes through our website.

Our school values and ethos are clearly centred in the Christian faith but are,by their very nature,encompassing of all faiths and none. The core beliefs promote respect, tolerance, trust and dignity for all along with a desire for all to flourish in every aspect of their lives. From whatever culture, tradition or background students and staff come, there is a welcome here, a desire to find common ground and to encourage everyone to find their place in our world.

Every blessing,

Reverend Dr Julie Bowen School Chaplain

Chapel Weekend Over 30 students and staff headed to Carroty Wood, a Christian Activity Centre near Hildenborough, for the 2018 Chapel Weekend; the theme for the weekend was ‘Life in all its Fullness’. Students took part in outdoor activities, including low ropes, jousting and a wide game but had to curtail the BBQ and bonfire due to the rain. Plenty of indoor space allowed table tennis, board games, card games, a mini indoor challenge Olympics and various brain expanding challenges, provided by Mr Maltman, to take place.The students were encouraged to think about Hope, Wisdom, Dignity and Community as part of a full life.

Assemblies and Thought for the Day have covered a vast amount of topics from the Olavian Characteristics to forgiveness, image, joy and singing. Each is based in a biblical context giving daily themes within the weekly topic. There is always a prayer linked to the theme which is published weekly on the website. During the year we have been blessed by students picking up themes which link into student bodies and provide an invaluable peer perspective to the whole school. All our themes and topics tie into the Church of England Vision for Olavian 2019 – 101

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Music

A Year of Music

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e had another full calendar of concerts, events and one-off performances, where once again Olavian musicians had opportunities to impress audiences with their technical skill and musicality. It was a pleasure to include the school’s first bands showcase in the annual programme and I hope that this was the start of what will become a regular feature.

Our 2019 Guys and Dolls revival brought stage and orchestra together for two performances in March. The show was a great success; the dramatic skills, vocal talents and ensemble collaboration of all involved demonstrated that Olavians achieve much more than just excellent academic standards.

The Savoy choristers’trip to St George’s Chapel Windsor in May was also a splendid occasion. The special service at which they sang happens once every four years, where the boys are privileged enough to sing for HM The Queen, among other members of the Royal Family and honoured guests. The boys’ maturity, as seen in both their musical contributions and their conduct, was impressive and made me proud that we were part of this experience.

As always, the Mid-Term and end-of-season concerts were enjoyable,high-quality events.The instrumental and singing capabilities of our students continue to be strong and the enthusiasm for sharing such a diverse range of skills with a wider audience remains undiminished. The Chamber Choir’s performance of movements of Fauré’s Requiem at the Christmas Concert was stunning and abides in my memory as another personal highlight.

I hope that you will enjoy reviewing the accounts and photographs from all of the musical activities over the last year.

Matthew Price

Director of Music

Mid-Term Concert Performing as a chamber ensemble, with its director Mr Blew amid the orchestra, the Intermediate Strings started proceedings with a Handel favourite. Highlights included Arunabh’s heart-felt rendition of Fauré’s beautiful chanson ‘Après un rêve’ and two accomplished performances of piano sonatas, Ben taking on the technical challenge of Scarlatti’s music and Antonio tackling Beethoven’s similarly virtuosic work. Three keyboard players, three saxophonists, 104 – Olavian 2019

a pianist and a drummer took ‘The Preacher’ by Silver and each instrumentalist added their own inventive improvised take on this classic. Srikar, performing from memory, held the atmosphere beautifully in his Einaudi piano solo.

James brought out the quirky character of Stravinsky’s music through the medium of the clarinet. Lulu’s excellent diction and vocal projection helped her convey Eliza’s sense of joy in ‘I could have danced all night’from ‘My Fair Lady’.

Lesser-known composer Merikanto’s ‘Valse Lente’ was brought to life by Jamie’s wide range of dynamic contrast and well-judged use of rubato. Year 7 student Alfie stunned the audience with his dexterity and mature improvisation in Berlin’s ‘Cheek to Cheek’. Both Genesis and Kenji then gave skilful piano solos of demanding repertoire and Charlotte closed the evening’s entertainment with her expressive and lyrical flute playing.

Cabaret A glittering cavalcade of talent showcased polished acts from soloists, ensembles, instrumentalists and vocalists.

With the hard work of the Cabaret Committee, the atmospheric Great Hall looked almost as well presented as the black tie audience. As ever, the event raised hundreds of pounds for our chosen ‘Festival’ charities.

The Minting Cup Many congratulations to Rohan (Clarinet), Ben (Piano) and Alfie (Saxophone) who were finalists in The Minting Cup, Bromley Youth Music Trust’s annual solo competition for musicians in Year 9 and below.

Seven instrumentalists performed in the Final from over 100 eligible musicians – four girls and the three St Olave’s boys. Adjudicator, Andrew Barclay, the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Percussionist, commented in his summing up that he wished he had seven trophies so that each of the performers could

receive one following their excellent solo performances.

Well done to Alfie who was awarded the Minting Cup for 2018.

BYMT Rotary Trotman Final Congratulations to Year 13 student, Sachin, on winning the BYMT Rotary Trotman Final 2019. To reach the Final was itself an incredible achievement,against intense competition from the very many talented musicians from across the Borough. Gaining 1st place in such an event is an exceptionally high accolade, well-deserved in Sachin’s case for an outstanding percussion performance.

Jazz Band The St Olave’s Jazz Band were special guests at a recent Charity Gala Big Band Evening in aid of Cancer Research UK. The band played pieces from their repertoire in a variety of styles from big band funk to Benny Goodman.

The discerning audience loved their performance and demanded an encore of ‘Sing Sing Sing’. The evening raised over £1,700 for Cancer Research.

Bromley Festival Ben Joshua Yip won the Gwen Massey Cup and a Gold medal for the Junior Beethoven Class and a Silver medal for the Junior Chopin Class in the Bromley Festival.

As ever, the concert welcomed a special guest, on this occasion legendary trumpet player, Mike Lovatt, currently Principal in the John Wilson Orchestra and with a vast array of recording credits. He dazzled with incredible tone in the gentle “Embraceable you”

by Gershwin and joined the big band for the concert’s denouement - “Gonna Fly Now”, better known as the theme from “Rocky”, whose trumpet part is nothing short of astronomical!

Many thanks go to Mr Beston, the omnipresent mastermind of all things jazzy, as well as Mike Lovatt and pianist Jim Treweek.

Summer Mid-Term Concert This was a lovely,relaxed event,showcasing a selection of solo and small-ensemble items from Olavians of all ages. Once again, pianists in abundance took to the stage and impressed the audience with a diverse range of pieces, executed with impressive technical skill. Among them, Kenji and Ademofe gave particularly enjoyable renditions of virtuosic music by Chopin. Gautam’s sensitive interpretation on the classical guitar of Bach’s music was full of expression and very moving.

Eric’s performance of the first movement of Kabalevsky’s Violin Concerto was equally remarkable,handling some very demanding music with notable technical skill.

Olavian musicians Joseph and Max are members of the BYMT Serioso Quartet who won the Strudwick Cup at the Bromley Festival.

O Factor The annual House singing competition, The O Factor, saw members of the Lower School performing hymns and pop songs, including classics from Bingham and Leeke: Rick Astley’s ‘Never gonna give you up’ and John Denver’s ‘Country Roads’, as well as more contemporary offerings from Harvard and Cure. Firm favourite hymns such as ‘I Vow to Thee My Country’ and ‘Shine Jesus, Shine’ rounded off a splendid competition.

Jazz Night – Tuesday 7th May On Tuesday evening, the annual Jazz Night celebrated the capabilities of student performers from Years 7 to 13. Among the high-quality entertainment throughout the evening were included a dexterous alto sax solo from Alfie Beston and a delicate performance on the vibraphone from Sachin Balaji, both winners of recent competitions at Bromley Youth Music Trust.The school’s big band made an appearance as well of course, with Year 13 leavers James, Matt, Sam and Nebiy delivering their final solos with the band in classic standards “Sing Sing Sing” and “Spain”. We also enjoyed performances from various student led ensembles, including “Celtic Suite”, an Irish-influenced work composed for sax quartet by Gavin Whitlock.

Choristers at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle Directly after an enjoyable Commemoration Service at Southwark Cathedral, the Choristers of the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy were escorted by Royal Household Transport, through south and west London traffic,out into the Berkshire countryside, through the armed-police guarded King Henry VIII gate, into the grounds of Windsor Castle. There we Olavian 2019 – 105

were installed in converted medieval accommodation for our overnight stay. We were soon greeted by various members of staff from the college and given an interesting tour by the Verger of the famous Chapel, the burial site of a number of former Kings, Queens and royal family members. Pizza then arrived and we shared a meal together with Old Olavian Lucy Morrell who,after her Music degree at Cambridge,has taken up the Organ Scholar post at St George’s Chapel and kindly fed us and chaperoned us around for the two days.

The following morning, we had an early start, with breakfast at St George’s School to meet the resident choristers there.

The boys from both schools made their way to the Chapel to rehearse for the very important service due to take place in just a few hours. By 9am, the last notes of the rehearsal rang out from the Chapel and the gates were opened to the honoured, invited guests, all members of the Royal Victorian Order, whose loyal service to the Royal Family has been formally recognised. All the choristers and lay clerks assembled in the cloisters at 10:30am to process in to the choir stalls, while the splendid organ sounded grand voluntaries before formal proceedings started. Most of the thousand-strong guests had taken their seats by this time, certain to be in place for The Queen’s Procession. Trumpeters of the Band of the Household Cavalry sounded fanfares for Her Majesty and Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, Grand Master of the Royal Victorian Order, as they took their seats.

This Service of Praise, Remembrance and Dedication reflected upon and celebrated the dutiful work of the members of the Order and included beautiful music from the combined choir and rousing hymn-singing from all present.

The event takes place every four years at St George’s,the only Chapel large enough to house the number of invitees and participants, though it is the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy which is the official chapel of the Royal Victorian Order, hence the inclusion of the Savoy choristers in the service.

It was a true spectacle to behold and our choristers were exemplary in their contribution to this memorable occasion.

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Bromley Music Festival Kenji has been really busy with his piano performance recently and we would like to share the wonderful news with you and school.

He entered the Bromley Music Festival in March, the Rochester and North Kent Music Festival in April and the Blackheath Music Festival in May, and managed to receive 4 trophies and cups as well as 6 medallions in total from those festivals.

On 11th May, he performed at the Rochester Championship Concert once again and won 2 more Winner’s Cups for being the best pianist and the best junior entrant across the categories.

Band-only Concert Organised entirely by members of the Sixth Form, this event featured an impressive selection of student groups.

Weeks of rehearsals behind the scenes in remote practice rooms went into preparing the acts for this showcase, supported by an able team behind the lighting and sound desk. Aizenosa, Emily, Aisosa and Moses compered the evening and welcomed an enthusiastic audience.

The varied programme celebrated music from A-list groups such as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Maroon 5, Oasis and Santana and we hope that the night’s feast of popular covers will be the first of many similar events in the future.

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Modern Foreign Languages

The Department of French

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he French department has had another successful, enriching and exciting year. Students of various year groups visited numerous parts of France. Year 10 students went to Normandy, where they visited this beautiful part of the country and took part in cultural activities such as bread-making. Year 9 French students took part in the French exchange with our partner institution La Croix Blanche, Lille, and spent a week in the summer with their penfriends, visiting the European parliament in Brussels, attending a waffle making demonstrations and a day at the French school among other activities. All year 7 students went to Boulogne for a day trip to visit the cathedral and the historic city. Sixth form French students spent in a day at the British Film Institute on the history of French film, and Oxbridge aspirants also attended a day at Brasenose College, Oxford, where they attended lectures and tutorials on the art of translating Baudelaire’s poetry.

We have been delighted with the success our students have had in two significant national competitions. Vikita Vaghela won Highly Commended in the Oxford Flash Fiction Competition 2019, where Oxford academics commended her creative and accurate writing skills.

Shrinidhi Prakash won first prize in the under-18 category of the Stephen Spender Translation Competition, where entrants were asked to translate a poem of any language into English. Shrinidhi translated the post-colonial Francophone poem ‘Cahier d’un retour au pays natal’

by Aimé Césaire into a powerful and emotive English poem.

Finally, Languages Society has been successfully run this year by Language Prefect Jacob Gaskell. Insightful, wellresearched and fascinating topics on a variety of areas have been presented, including The Linguistics of Food, Politics and Language, Creole, Linguistic differences between French spoken in parts of Canada and France, the history of French Hip-Hop, and the oddity and evolution of the French negation.

Finally, language prefects Jasper Maughan and Raymond Guo are to be commended for editing the Modern Languages European journal, a collection of beautifully written articles on various aspects of Europe, including Macron, the French revolution, European music culture among others, and some articles were even in the target language.

Sheela Mahadevan

S___Head of French 110 – Olavian 2019

Year 7 Boulogne Trip 22 May 2019 The day started with many groans and grunts about coming to school at 5 a.m., which meant some of us getting up at 3:00! However, after 30 minutes of anticipation, we were finally on the coach, either dead asleep or singing at the top of our lungs. Two hours later, we were driving off the train and looking around at the French side of the Eurostar. We were all looking forward to what was in front of us …not the Audi. So, here’s how it all went.

After arriving in Boulogne and unloading ourselves like piles of rocks, we stretched our feet and grouped up with our leaders, only to find out that one coach was half an hour behind. Anyway, this didn’t matter as we were all too ecstatic about finally being in France. First of all, we hiked up a steep hill in the town, which ultimately lead us to the Basilica, a huge monumental Church, overlooking the coast and market. Once we reached the end of this arduous walk, we were truly taken aback by the sheer size and grandeur of the building. It was fantastic! Columns of craftsmanship, ornaments of gold and other precious stones. Even the woodwork had us all thinking: “Wow! How did they manage that!”

Following on from the Basilica, we took a short break to try and sketch the monument, which nobody did exceedingly well, as we were all looking forward to our next stop: the market! We scurried down the hill, like 4-year-olds running out to break-time. After a brief discussion about the do’s and don’ts, we were off, spreading out, some going for the sweetshop, some instructed by their parents to buy cheese and bread, some even buying sunglasses. It was a great hour spent asking people where to find certain products, and those who bought a huge Twix bar for €4 were walking around

showing their purchase to everyone they saw.

Next, we wandered slowly down the main road, walking alongside the seashore, until we finally reached the Sea-life Centre, just as our legs started to ache. We made one last effort to swing around to the back of the aquarium, before dropping our bags for a long awaited lunch break. This took what felt like another 3 hours, but it really only took 45 minutes. In this time, however, we managed to decide which ball games we were playing on the beach. Anyway, we were soon in the Sea-life centre, waiting to see the variety of marine life and read fascinating facts about species we didn’t even know existed. We were even lucky to witness a talk about the fish there, come up close to sharks and manta rays, while we had a view of the whole aquarium of amazingly coloured tropical fish just a few feet away. Lastly, we saw a great sea-lion show, where we experienced some tricks like jumping high out of the water and doing a lap of the enclosure.

Finally, to finish our fun-filled day – beach games. We set up a massive interhouse tournament rematch, for some chocolate prizes. We also set up cricket along the wooden path, so everyone had some options as to what to do for 90 minutes. In the end, we left, got back into our coaches and relaxed as we headed back to school after such a fun-packed day.

Freddie Noel Storr 7H

Oxford French Study Day 2019 Year 12 French students attended the Oxford University French Study Day held at Brasenose College in June.

Students discussed the art of translating Baudelaire’s Invitation au Voyage with French tutor Dr Carole Bourne-Taylor, attended a lecture on ‘Multilingual identities’ and a mock interview. They also had a tour around the college and had the opportunity to gain an insight into the application process for MFL at Oxford.

All students who attended were highly praised by the Oxford tutors for their insightful and intellectual contributions to discussions.

French Literature Project Thanks to the generosity of the PA, we were able to purchase some French literary works so as to build up a mini French library in school. These consisted of a recent bestseller and Holocaust memoir, Et tu n’es pas revenu (Marceline Loridan-Ivens), a graphic novel set in the Ivory Coast: Aya de Yopougon (Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie), and the famous short story Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Several students have already benefitted from these works: Shrinidhi Prakash (Year 12) has produced a powerful piece of prose entitled L’Exhumation, written in the style of Camus, inspired by Loridan-Ivens’ work, and Joshua Selfridge (Year 11) has written an insightful and fascinating article analysing the differences between oral and written forms of French, based on the graphic novel.

We hope to publish these works in the near future in a language journal, and we also intend to create resources based on the works purchased for younger students in the school.

French Exchange Year 9 students participated in a French Exchange with our partner school in Lille, La Croix Blanche, Bondues.

Students had been writing to their partners in French, thus improving their language skills and their knowledge of French culture. French students were hosted for a week in December by St. Olave’s students and attended a day of school with their partners, where they gained an Olavian 2019 – 111

insight into the British school system. All who took part profited from the cultural exchange, and we look forward to spending a week in France in May 2019, when our students will have the chance to visit Lille and Brussels, and exercise their linguistic skills in a real life context.

Lille French Exchange Year 9 French students travelled to Lille for the French exchange in activity week 1 with Mademoiselle Mahadevan and Madame Komuves. The students stayed for a week with their French exchange partners from our partner school Institution La Croix Blanche, and they enjoyed speaking French on a daily basis. They took part in numerous activities, including visiting Brussels, where they were taken on a guided tour by a senior civil servant around the European Parliament and attended an interactive session on the role of the EU, European Politics, and the importance of learning languages. They also travelled to the centre of Brussels where they were able to visit the beautiful central square and historical buildings, and they additionally enjoyed sampling local delicacies in various chocolatiers. Students additionally attended a waffle making demonstration in Houplines, went cycling for several kilometres with their exchange partners across the French countryside along an ancient railway line, and also ordered their meal in French at a traditional crêperie in Lille. They also attended lessons entirely in French at the partner school, where they were treated to a traditional French breakfast. They discovered a lot about French culture, and completed diary entries in French documenting their visit. All boys had improved their French tremendously by the end of the week and had an enjoyable time in France.

Year 9 French Exchange Au mois de mai, quinze élèves sont allés à Lille, pour un échange avec La Croix Blanche, un grand collège près de Lille. On est partis de St Olave’s le vendredi, à 11h50, et on a pris le train à St Pancras. On y est resté pour une heure, et on a fait les magasins, ou on a mangé le déjeuner. Le voyage à Lille a duré deux heures, et on a été accueilli par nos correspondants.

In the month of May, fifteen students went to Lille for a n exchange with the institution ‘La Croix Blanche’, a large secondary school near Lille. We left St Olave’s on Friday at 11.50 and we took the train to St Pancras.

We stayed there for an hour, and we visited shops or ate lunch. The journey to Lille lasted 2 hours and we were welcomed by our partners.

On a passé le weekend avec nos correspondants et leurs familles. Quelques élèves ont regardé un match de foot, et autres ont fait du bowling. Moi, je suis allé à Paris, et j’ai vu tous les monuments: l’Arc de Triomphe, le Louvre, le Palais de l’Elysée et, bien sûr, la Tour Eiffel.

We spent the weekend with our penfriends and their f amilies. Some students watched a football match and others went bowling. I went ot Paris and I saw all the m onuments : The Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, the Elysée Palace and of course the Eiffel Tower.

Le lundi, les élèves anglais sont allés à Bruxelles en car, et on a d’abord vu la grande place. Après avoir fait les magasins, on a visité le Parlement Européen, et on a découvert l’importance des langues dans le monde politique. C’était vraiment inspirant!

On Monday, the English students went to Brussels by coach, and we firstly saw the main square. After doing some shopping, we visited the European Parliament, and we discovered the imporance of languages in the political world. It was truly inspiring !

Le mercredi, nous sommes allés à l’école avec nos correspondants. On a assisté aux cours, par example, la

On Wednesday, we went to school with our penfriends.

We attended lessons, for example Science, and Sports. It

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Physique-Chimie, et l’EPS. C’était très intéressant, passer un jour dans un collège français. Pour le déjeuner, on est rentré chez nos correspondants, parce qu’il n’y a pas les cours le mercredi après-midi. Bien que l’école ait été un p etit peu ennuyeuse, car c’était difficile de comprendre les profs, l’après-midi, c’était génial!

was very interesting to spend a day in a French school.

For lunch, we went back to our penfriends, because there are no lessons on Wednesday afternoons. Although the school was a bit boring, since it was hard to understand the teachers, the afternoon was great!

L’échange était incroyable - j‘ai beaucoup appris à propos d e la culture, la langue et les traditions françaises. Je r ecommanderais absolument cet échange – c’était très utile et amusant aussi.

The exchange was incredible- I learnt a lot about culture, language and French traditions. I would absolutely recommend this exchange : it was very useful and fun too.

Rohan Selva-Radov Au mois de mai, nous sommes partis avec enthousiasme d e St Olaves pour notre voyage tant attendu. Dans l ’eurostar, la plupart des gens discutaient ou vérifiaient p eut-être leur vocabulaire. Cependant, quand nous s ommes arrivés en Lille, un acceuil chaleureux nous attendait. J’ai reconnu immédiatement mon ami français et je me suis souvenu des moments que nous avions passé en angleterre.

In the month of May, we left St Olave’s with enthusiasm for our much anticipated trip. In the eurostar, most students discussed or checked their vocabulary. However, when we arrived in Lille, a warm welcome awaited us. I immediately recognized my French friend and I remembered the time we spent in England.

D’abord, j’étais un peu timide, mais après quelques jours, j’ai beaucoup aimé parler aux Français. Ils ont parlé plus rapide que j’aurais cru mais ‘était utile!

Firstly, I was a bit shy, but after a few days, I enjoyed speaking to the French students. They spoke much faster than I had ever expected but it was useful !

Nous avions une semaine chargée qui comprenait la visite du Parlement Européen, une visite à Rando-rail où nous avons fait du vélo sur une ligne de chemin de fer ancienne et j’ai visité L’institution Croix blanche. Ici, j’ai trouvé le manque d’uniforme assez étrange mais c’était intéressant d’apprendre à propos de la culture française.

We had a packed week which consisted of the visit to the European Parliament, a visit to Rando Rail where we went cycling along a former railway and I visited the institution ‘La Croix Blanche.’ Here, I found the lack of uniform quite strange but it was interesting to learn about the French culture.

Maintenant, je crois que je me souviendrai de l’échange français pour le reste de ma vie.

Now I believe that I will remember the French exchange for the rest of my life.

Danny Newman French Study Day 23 AS and A-Level French students visited the BFI to attend the A-Level French Study Day, entitled ‘Le Cinéma Français: Contemporary Dramas and the Nouvelle Vague’. The day was conducted in French

by Dr Emily Salines, Senior Lecturer in Teaching and Learning, University of Greenwich. Students were introduced to some famous, but also less known, French films and enjoyed broadening their knowledge of French culture, film, and language.

French Play Year 9 and 10 students were treated to a live performance of the play ‘La Salle Des Énigmes’ by the Onatti Theatre Company.They had already learned something about the play in lessons leading up to the show, and found that it was much easier to understand than they expected. There was a lot of humour and slapstick comedy. Students

watched as the actors tried to solve the puzzles to get out of their escape room, and enjoyed the discussions which ensued. As always, there was a lot of audience participation during the show.

University French Flash Fiction competition Congratulations to Vikita Vaghela in Year 12 who won ‘Highly Commended’ in the sixth form category of the Oxford University French Flash Fiction Competition 2019. Students were asked to write a fictional piece in French of less than 100 words, and Vikita wrote a very creative and imaginative piece in beautiful French about a powerful emotional and physical experience. Her work will be published shortly on the Oxford University MFL blog.

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MFL European Journal 2019 Year 12 student and Language Prefect, Jasper Maughan has successfully edited and compiled a collection of fascinating articles about various European related issues.

The topics include politics, history, music, linguistics, international relations and environment, among others.

Some articles are even written in the target language, with a translation written by the authors themselves alongside the original version. The quality of writing is outstanding and credit goes to all the Sixth Form students who contributed such excellent, well researched and engaging pieces.

Normandy Report A- Bonjour. Pendant la deuxième semaine d’activités l’année dernière, des étudiants de l’année dix sont allés en Normandie pour un voyage français. Nous sommes arrivés au Château de la Baudonnière lundi le huit juillet, et quelle belle vue c’était ! Pas vrai, Victor?

V- Bien sûr. C’était un bâtiment majestueux avec de la verdure partout pour des kilomètres. Toute de suite, nous avons découvert qu’il y aurait beaucoup d’activités et que ça serait très amusant. Qu’est-ce que tu pensais des activités au château, Griffin?

G- Personnellement, je les trouvais géniales. En fait il y avait tant à faire, où est-ce que je devrais commencer ? Il y avait une course d’orientation, du tir à l’arc, des exercices d’initiative et une activité spéciale chaque soir.

A- Ils étaient toutes géniales. Mais laquelle était ta préférée…

G- Pour moi, c’était certainement la fabrication du pain.

C’était une expérience géniale pour tout le monde, une activité amusante qui a montré notre créativité pour tout le monde V- Je ne suis pas d’accord. Personnellement, l’aéroballe était certainement la meilleure. C’était un jeu nouveau et unique pour tout le monde, presque comme une hybride de trampoline et basket.

A- Je suis avec Victor cette fois. L’aéroballe était une des activités que nous avons tous aimé et que nous voudrions faire plus tard. Tous les étudiants de français ont aimé les activités, et les étudiants qui faisaient le latin ont aimé aussi G- Bien sûr. Tout le monde a vraiment amélioré en français et si tu étudies le français ou le latin, c’était vraiment un voyage génial pour tout le monde V- Tu oublies la meilleure section du voyage. Les sorties au marché de Villedieu-les-Poêles, le cinéma trois cent soixante degrés à Arromanches, la Tapisserie de Bayeux.

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C’était des moments importants dans le voyage.

A- Oui… mais tu oublies la meilleure partie du voyage ! La sortie quand nous avons passé tout le mercredi à visiter le Mont Saint Michel. Après une traversée difficile mais belle, sûrs que nous croisions l’océan Atlantique, nous sommes arrivés à l’Abbaye.

G- Et quelle belle vue c’était !

V- Et bien oui. Après une tour de l’abbaye, nous avons mangé le déjeuner sur une falaise et on a passé le reste de la journée au soleil.

A- Vraiment, ce voyage a laissé beaucoup de souvenirs pour vie pour tout le monde. Je suis sûr que nous allons les chérir pours les années à venir.

Aaditya Deshmukh 11K European Day of Languages (EDOL) To celebrate EDOL, students worked together on a number of different quizzes provided by the organisers.

These included questions about Etymology, Language Families, Language Statistics in the EU and worldwide, and Alphabets, among others. Students were also served European-themed food: German mustard-glazed ham with Sauer Kraut, Beef Bourguignon and Crêpes.

Linguistics Olympiad (UKLO) In February, 12 students in Y12 participated in the UK Advanced Linguistics Olympiad. Students enjoying solving linguistic problems and cracking codes based around numerous languages, including Braille, Mongolian, Ndebele (spoken in parts of South Africa), Gumatj (a language spoken in Northern Australia by around 240 people). Participants also answered questions based on the Cippus Abellanus, a document carved into stone from the 2 nd Century BCE, dealing with a legal dispute between the cities of Abella and Nola in Southern Italy. The participants found the Olympiad challenging, but very exciting, and the standard expected was extremely high. All students performed very well; Jacob Gaskell won a Silver Award, and Raymond Guo and Jasper Maughan won Bronze Awards.

Languages Society Sixth Form students have presented a variety of interesting, well-researched and engaging talks, a project led by Year 12 student and Language Prefect, Jacob Gaskell. Sidney Woolf-Hoyle spoke on ‘The evolution of the English Language and its relation to colonisation’, Anantha Anilkumar on ‘Creole and the Francophonie’, Shrinidhi Prakash on ‘Language, gender and sexism’ and Jacob Gaskell on ‘The differences between French spoken in Quebec and France’. The talks were well attended and generated lively discussion about language.

Translation Competition The MFL Faculty was lucky enough to be selected by the European Commission this year to take part in their prestigious Juvenes Translatores competition. Five of our Year 12 and Year 13 French and German students sat the two-hour translation paper, along with hundreds of other students across the European Union. Papers will be submitted to the Commission for grading, and the winners of the competition will be invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to Brussels in February for the Award Ceremony.

Olavian 2019 – 115

The Department of German

T

he German department had a typically busy year, packed with trips and competitions. The sixth form Germanists attended a conference at the British Film Institute in German cinema in November, with a special focus on the film studied on the A Level course, ‘Das Leben der Anderen’ (The Lives of Others). Many of the Year 12 Germanists - along with two enthusiastic Year 11s - also attended the German Open Day at the University of Oxford, where they attended a variety of seminar taster sessions on the modules offered, ranging from medieval German poetry to German film studies.

Furthermore, both Year 12 and Year 13 Germanists went to Berlin in the February half term with Frau Probodziak and special guests Frau Cooley and Herr Henley! The group visited all the main sites, but also dabbled in some bowling, chocolate shopping, and visited a flea market, alongside meeting a survivor of the East German prison, Hohenschoenhausen.

Lower down the school, Year 8 students went on their annual trip to the historical town of Aachen in December to visit the Christmas Market and have a tour of the beautiful cathedral and treasury. Students showed off their knowledge of classics with their German tour guides, identifying figures from Greek mythology that were portrayed on some of the items in the treasury.They also stocked up on traditional German ‘Lebkuchen’ and handcrafted Christmas decorations.

Students in Years 8 and 9 submitted entries to the Oxford German Olympiad, writing a fictional dialogue discussing the existence of monsters, or producing a poster on a fantasy zoo, or chosen monster figure from German folklore. Three students in Year 9 actually came runners up in the competition and were invited to the official prize giving ceremony in Oxford.

The Year 10 students participated in the exchange with the Starnberg Gymnasium in Bavaria, Germany. We travelled out to Germany in Activities Week 2, after the German partners visited in March and both German and English students had gone to see ‘School of Rock’ the musical, in London. Out in Starnberg, we went on various tours, such as in the science museum in Munich, spent time in the German school, visited the beautiful Castle Neuschwanstein (inspiration for the Disney castle) and relaxed by the picturesque Starnberg lake.

Students across Years 7 to 9 were involved in launching a new pen pal programme with a school in a Wilhelmshaven, North Germany, with all students 116 – Olavian 2019

studying German writing to a student at the German school.Their pen pal may become their exchange partner as we launch a new exchange with this school.

Laura Probodziak Head Of German

British Film Institute Year 12 and 13 students visited the BFI for a day of learning about German cinema. Conducted mainly in German, students were introduced to the most prevalent social and political themes of German cinema in recent times, with reference to various film clips. Our students were later able to focus in an in-depth way on the film they are studying as part of their AS and A-Level course – ‘Das Leben der Anderen’ (‘The Lives of Others’). This included a screening of the film with an introduction by a professional from the BFI, and a discussion of the film afterwards.

Aachen Christmas Market The vast majority of our Year 8 students travelled overnight in Aachen, arriving full of anticipation for a well-earned indulgent breakfast buffet. They were then given guided tours of the stunning medieval Cathedral and awe-inspiring Treasury, together with a muchanticipated visit to the beautiful Christmas market. With their pockets and backpacks stuffed with Christmas goodies and souvenirs, they then embarked on the long journey back to the UK. Oxford German Olympiad Three students in Year 9 were runners up in the Oxford German Olympiad, a competition organised and judged

by Oxford University, open to all schools in the country.

Joseph Davies, Tanush Upadhye, and Rohan Chavali submitted a short dialogue between two imagined figures discussing the existence of monsters, in German.

The boys and their parents attended the Prize Giving ceremony to receive their certificates at the Blackwell Hall in Oxford. We are extremely proud of their achievement, and their short story about Monsters will be on display in the German department.

Oxford University German Open Day Year 12 and Year 11 students travelled to Oxford to attend the German Open Day at the University. The day consisted of introductory sessions into what it entails to study German at Oxford University, why you might choose this degree, and what are the requirements to submit an application. After this, students went along to taster seminars that they had chosen in advance such as the study of German Film, Medieval German Poetry, Translation, Learning German with Native Speakers at University, and various periods of German Literature (including Drama).

MFL Play Years 9 and 10 Germanists were treated to a live performance of the new play ‘So Eine Nervensäge’. Some had already learned something about the play in German lessons leading up to the show, and found that it was much easier to understand than they expected. There was a lot of humour and slapstick comedy. Students watched as the two sisters tricked each other into wearing strange clothes or getting into trouble with their parents, and enjoyed heckling the cast and answering questions in German.

Berlin Trip Year 12 and Year 13 Germanists travelled to Berlin with Frau Probodziak who had planned a volles Programm, including a large dose of German 20 th Century History, through visits to the Stasi Prison, Hohenschoenhausen, the Jewish Museum, the DDR (GDR) Museum, the German Reichstag, and the Topographie des Terrors (Topography of Terror). The tours were in a mixture of German and English to maximise understanding, but also to expand vocabulary and present more exposure to the German language. To break up the museum visits and tours, students shopped on the famous street, Kudamm, home to the KaDeWe shopping mall. To round off the shopping experience, students also visited the very popular Mauerpark market, where they enjoyed an authentic Berlin flea market experience.

German Exchange from Stanberg On the 22nd March, 38 excited year 10 students collected their German exchange partners, who had travelled to Orpington from Starnberg, just outside Munich, in Germany. The boys undertook various activities over the

weekend together, with lots of people going sightseeing in London, and many meeting up for meals and bowling.

During the week of the 25th, the German students were very busy doing yet more sightseeing with their teachers in London. On the Thursday, the Olave’s boys went into London to join their partners and watch ‘School of Rock’, the musical. A great time was had by all, and the week was rounded off with half a day in school for the partners, when they could participate in a variety of lessons. We are very excited to make the second leg of the exchange and go out to Bavaria in Activities Week Two. German Olympiad Tanush Upadhye, Joseph Davies, and Rohan Chavali in year 9 travelled up to Oxford to collect their runnersup prize in the Oxford German Olympiad on Tuesday 25th of June. The boys received their certificates during the ceremony at the Blackwell Hall in Oxford. We are extremely proud of their achievement.

Starnberg German Exchange Last week during the Activities Week, the year 10 Germanists (plus some Latinists for good measure) travelled to Starnberg in southern Germany, just outside Munich, for the return leg of the German exchange. The week was spent doing a variety of excursions, including to the Allianz Arena, home of the FC Bayern Munich team, the Olympia park and stadium,Munich city centre, the ‘Deutsches Museum’, the Olympic Ski Jump training grounds, and the Castle Neuschwanstein. The boys spent the weekend and evenings with their exchange partners and host families, and also spent a day in the German school with their partners. Everyone had an excellent time, taking in the breath taking views of the Starnberg lake and Alpine lake, and sampling some classic German and Bavarian dishes.

Saturday and Sunday Am Samstag haben wir um neun Uhr in Heathrow Flughafen uns getroffen. Dann sind wir nach München geflogen. Der Flug war nur ein und halb Stunden.

Danach sind wir mit dem Zug nach Starnberg gefahren.

Nachdem haben wir die erste Abend mit der Gastfamilie verbracht. Jemand hat herausgefunden wie groß die Deutscher Häuser sind und viele Leute haben bayerische Spezialitäten gegessen.

Am Sonntag haben wir den ganzen Tag mit unserer Austauschpartners verbracht. Viele Leute haben die schönes München Stadt besucht, oder zu das Tollwood Festival gegangen. Dort kann man alles kaufen – Souveniren, Essen (besonders Bratwürste), und es gab ein Konzert.

Peter Bellerby Olavian 2019 – 117

Monday Am Montag, zum die ersten Mal haben wir uns in der Schule getroffen. Danach fuhren wir mit dem Zug mit unsere Partnern zu der Allianz Arena, obwohl Edward vergessen hat, aus dem zug auszusteigen!

On Monday, we met in school for the first time. We then travelled by train with our partners to the Allianz Arena, although Edward forgot to get off the train!

In der Allianz Arena haben wir eine Führung gemacht, wo wir die Umkleideräume und Schulungsräume gesehen haben. Durch ein Blick hinter die Kulissen, haben wir viel Neues und Interessantes gelernt.

At the Allianz Arena, we had a guided tour, where we saw the changing rooms and training rooms. Through a look behind the scenes, we learnt a lot of new and interesting things.

Die Reiseleiter war sehr freundlich und extrem hilfreich, und verbesserte die Reise! Am Ende des Tages, sind wir zu dem See gefahren, und in dem See geschwommen.

The tour guides were very friendly and extremely helpful, which improved the trip! At the end of the day, we went to and swam in the lake.

Velian Velikov Wednesday Der Tag begann um halb acht in der Schule. Wir sind mit dem Reisebus nach Schwangau gefahren, einem schönen Dorf in der Alpen. Danach, besuchten wir “Museum der Bayarische Könige” und wir hatten ein Audiotour über die Geschichte der Familie von Louis II. Nach dem Mittagessen vor dem See gingen wir zu Schloss Neuschwanstein. Es gab eine tolle Aussicht auf das Schloss von der Brücke aus und wir haben viele Fotos gemacht. Dann gingen wir in das Schloss hinein.

Der Reiseleiter zeigte uns das Schlafzimmer des Königs und die schöne Bilder. Wir erfuhren viele Sache über den König und sein Leben. Ich denke die Wohnzimmer war am schönsten.

Näschter Halt war die Skischanze in Garmisch 118 – Olavian 2019

The day began at half 7 in the school. We took a coach to Schwangau, a nice town in the Alps. Then we visited the “Museum of the Bavarian Kings”and we had an audio tour about the history of the family of Louis II. After lunch in front of the lake, we went to Castle Neuschwanstein.

There was a great view of the castle from the bridge and we took lots of photos. Then we went inside the castle.

The tour guide showed us the bedroom of the king and the beautiful paintings. We learnt many things about the king and his life. I think the living room was the nicest.

Next stop was the ski jump in Garmisch Partenkirchen.

Partenkirchen. Wir hatten ein sehr informativen Reiseleter der uns alles über die Winterolympiade erzählte. Die Sprungschanze ist neunundachtzig Jahre alt und ist 125 m hoch. Die Winterolympiade 1936 fand in der Garmisch Patenkirchen statt. Der Spitze war sehr hoch und gruselig, aber die Aussicht war atemberaubend.

We had a very informative tour guide who told us all about the winter Olympics. The ski jump is 98 years old and is 125m tall. The 1936 Winter Olympics were held in Garmisch Patenkirchen. The top was very high and scary but the view was breath-taking.

Der Reisebus brachte uns züruck zum Stanberg und wir gehen mit unsere Austauchpartner. Es war ein langer Tag und wir waren alle müde.

The coach took us back to the Stanberg and we went with our exchange partner. It was a long day and all of us were tired.

Wir hatte ein tolles Tage in die Alpen. Danke!

We had a great day in the Alps. Thanks!

Daksh Mehta Thursday Der Tag im Deutschen Museum und im München –

The day in the German Museum and in Munich

Zuerst hat unseren Donnerstag im München angefangen und dort sind wir ins Deutsches Museum gegangen.

Während unserer Zeit im Museum haben wir ein Kaffeeausstellung besucht. In dieser Kaffeeausstallung haben wir viele Infos über Kaffee gelernt und auch die teuerste Kaffeemaschine gesehen.

Our day started in Munich and we went to the German Museum. During our time in the museum, we visited a coffee-installation/exhibition. In the exhibition we learnt a lot about coffee and also saw the worlds most expensive coffee machine.

Danach haben wir auch einer Blitzvorstellung gesehen und es war sehr spannend (aber auch laut)! Der Moderator hat viele Experimente ausgestellt, wie eine Fangstange arbeitet.

Afterwards we saw a lightning presentation and it was very exciting (but also loud)! The presenter preformed many experiments, such as how a lightning rod works.

Dann haben jeder von uns ein Eis gegessen (vielen Dank Frau Probodziak!) und im Park gechillt. Wenn das Wetter besser gewesen wäre, hätten wir mehr Zeit im Park verbracht, aber es hat geregnet und sind wir abgegangen nach dem Münchener Stadtzentrum, um unserer verbleibenden Freizeit dort zu verbringen.

Then each of us ate an ice cream (thanks Frau Probodziak) and chilled in the park. If the weather was better, we would have spent more time in the park, but it rained and we left to go to the Munich city centre, in order to spend our remaining free time there.

(Wir haben auch den schöne Münchener Rathaus Glockenspiel im Marienplatz gesehen.)

(We also saw the beautiful Munich City hall Chime in Marienplatz)

Im Marienplatz haben viele Leute Geschenke gekauft und einige Menschen haben Geschenke für die Lehrer/ Lehrerinnen, sich erstreckend von eine lebensgroße Flamingo Kuscheltier bis Käse.

Many people also bought presents in Marienplatz and a few people bought presents for the teachers, ranging from a life sized flamingo cuddly toy to cheese.

Matthew Todorov Friday Am Freitag verbrachten die Schüler den Tag in der Schule ihrer Austauschpartner – Gymnasium Starnberg.

Die Schule beginnt um sieben Uhr vierzig, und endet auch früh. Die Meinungen von den Englischen Schülern darüber waren gemischt. Manche kamen mit dem frühen Aufwachen gar nicht zurecht, andere fanden es schön, dass sie früher nach Hause kamen, weil sie sich später mit ihren Freunden treffen könnten. Die

On Friday the students spent the day in Starnberg grammar school with their exchange partners.The school began at twenty to eight in the morning and ended early as well. Opinions of this were varied, as some people could not stand getting up any earlier, while others preferred it due to the prompt departure, as it enables you to do more with friends. The Germans also did not need to wear school uniform, which the English found strange. There were five lessons with two quarter-hour Olavian 2019 – 119

Deutschen mussten auch kein Schuluniform tragen, und das haben die Engländer seltsam gefunden. Es gab fünf Unterrichtstunden mit zwei Pausen inzwischen, die je fünfzehn Minuten dauerten. Es war gar nicht einfach, alles zu verstehen, aber weil die englischen Schüler die Sprache während der Woche besser kennengelernt haben, könnten sie die Mehrheit des Unterrichts verstehen.

breaks in-between. It was by no means easy to understand everything, but owing to the better knowledge of the language the students had gained during the week, they managed to understand the majority of the lessons’ content.

Nach der Schule hatten sie den Abend frei.Manche Leute sind nach München gefahren, um Sehenswürdigkeiten zu besichtigen – zum Beispiel, das Residenz Museum, wo die Könige Bayerns gewohnt haben. Andere haben den Abend in Starnberg verbracht, wo man den Palast der berühmten bayerischen Königin ‘Sisi’ sehen kann, oder vielleicht den Sonnenuntergang über dem atemberäubenden See zum letzten Mal genießen.

After school there was an evening of free time. Some students travelled to Munich to see attractions such as the Residence museum, where Bavarian kings used to live. Others spent the evening in Starnberg, where you can see the palace of the famous Bavarian queen ‘Sisi’, or perhaps enjoy the sunset over the breath-taking lake for the last time.

Frank Shrimpton Dutch Exchange We welcomed students and teachers from Helinium Bilingual College in the Netherlands. Dutch students were accompanied by their buddy students from St. Olave’s and this provided an opportunity for them to explore each other’s culture, language, education system and food.

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Humanities

The Faculty of Humanities

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018-19 was a successful, largely stable year for the Humanities Faculty. Under the leadership of John Greenwood, the faculty continued to organise an ever expanding plethora of extra-curricular ventures and trips with a particular focus on the introduction and utilisation of new technology in the form of iPads and the use of apps from the Office 365 suite. They have both helped to develop pedagogy within the faculty and alongside the faculty magazine, the Humdinger, they highlighted the imagination which underpins the faculties success.

2019-20 will mark the first since Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister that the faculty will enter a new academic year without David Craig at the helm of the Classics department! While he will be sorely missed

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by students and staff alike, Alexander Carroll is already filling his considerable shoes and 2019-20 will see the faculty continue to flourish including a review of the Humanities Faculty which it will tackle with customary imagination and diligence.

Daniel Espejo

S___Head of History

The Department of History

“T May

he Government cannot just be consumed by Brexit. There is so much more to do.” - Theresa

The History section in the Olavian often begins with a quote and in the year 2018-19 nothing could be more appropriate than something Brexit r/`elated! At the time of writing a conclusion to Brexit still has not been found and it looks even less likely that one satisfactory to a majority of the population will be conjured! Only time will tell how historians will reflect on one of the most tumultuous and confounding periods in British history. While the country at large is in a state of flux, the arrival of Michael Wearn to the History department has provided further experience and stability to its teaching ranks. Under the leadership of Jenny Clift the department diversified in 2018-19 broadening horizons for KS3 students by beginning a revamp of the Year 7 and 8 curriculums and introducing new technology in the form of iPads to help develop new teaching ideas.

The department enjoyed its customary success in public examinations with both GCSE and A Level students achieving outstanding results and the traditional Year 8 Battlefields trip was hugely rewarding. While politicians continue to try to plot a course through a variety of Brexit related dilemmas the History department will focus on developing its provision in a range of different ways!

Daniel Espejo

S___Head of History

more cross-curricular. We would go to Herstmonceaux Observatory, sketch the old harbour in Hastings, collect algae on the beach, and relive Dickens in Rochester. The Medway town provided us with much historical material not least climbing up the Norman keep, brass rubbing in the Cathedral or dressing as a pilgrims, spotting Dickensian businesses in the High Street such as the ‘The Tale of Two Curries’ and being aghast at the prison hulk experience. All the while we stayed in Pike House in Battle which now has been turned into the boarding house of a private school. Those with even deeper memories will remember a centre we used in Hastings itself which now has been demolished and turned into a housing estate.

One constant has been the visit to the World War One Battle sites. On all these trips the students have always been impeccable in their behaviour.They have visited the many and terrible war- graves sites and have been moved genuinely by the enormity of the number of men on both sides of the conflict who have died. They have visited the Somme, Ypres and the Canadian War memorial and they have had the merest sample of the foul conditions of the trenches; the mud, the duckboards, the uniforms and even their Lee Enfield rifles. Boys have worn the equipment of the 1914-18 Tommy and all of this has been brought to life by the brilliant guides many of whom have served in recent times in the armed forces. Some pupils have been in a position to find the headstones of distant relatives and all have heard the last post.

Battlefields Year 8 students remembered FC McKenzie, great great uncle of current Olavians, Year 8 student, William, and Year 13 student, James, who died on 22 August 1918 and who is buried at Dernancourt Cemetery. Students visited the Battlefields of Belgium and Northern France and had the opportunity to pay their respects, not just to relatives, but to the Olavian ‘Fallen’.

Going back some thirty years the school would go annually to Sheffield and Cromford, to study the development of the steel industry, and the cotton mills, then move to Manchester to see the use of canals to transport both raw and finished materials. Alongside this trip there were trips To Battle which gradually morphed from being specifically history with visits to Deal, Dover and Hastings Castles to something much Olavian 2019 – 123

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The Department of Geography

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t has been another successful year in Geography where students have been able to explore and experience a range of trips and topics. Students’ knowledge and understanding of the world has continued to be pushed and expanded, exploring the conflicts over water in Sudan, the sinking islands of the Maldives and the sustainable cities of China, to name but a few case studies. To support their learning as usual Geography has offered a plethora of field trips to students; visiting the Ashdown Forest, Eynsford, Seaford, Croydon and sites around Orpington. As well as being a fantastic day out, these trips have enabled students to see what Geography looks like in the real world, further develop their own personal Geography and work with their classmates in a different setting. The innate curiosity of Olavian Geographers has been displayed in the fantastic pieces they have written for the new humanities faculty magazine, the Humdinger, such as on the Mercator Projection, and they have examined a range of topics as part of their Independent Investigations in year 13 including the impacts of Park Run, the link between green spaces and mental health and the influence of tourism on the sustainability of UK beaches. As a result of the students’ hard work, dedication and scholarship Geography once again experienced examine success, with GCSE results being a highlight with 93.9% of students achieved grade 9-7 and 50.5% achieving a grade 9. With such an enthusiastic and engaged cohort of students we are can only wonder what the future holds for our Geographers!

Rhiannon Smith

Head of Geography

Seaford In October 2018 year 12 students travelled to Seaford to put their coasts knowledge into practise to answer their own selected question ‘To what extent is coastal management at Seaford effective’. Students started by completing a cliff top sketch of the headlands and bays before walking the length of the beach groyne and completing a series of beach profiles. After a hard day collecting data students were bought a very well-deserved ice cream to enjoy in the sunshine before returning to school.The next day students worked as a team to present and analyse the information they collected and draw logical conclusions. Overall, it was a fantastic day where students were able to get to know one another outside 126 – Olavian 2019

the classroom and further enrich their understanding of coastal geography.

Orpington Before half term year 10 geographers embarked on their human geography fieldwork exploring how ways of life vary around Orpington. The students visited a number of sites recording the number of pedestrians, the environmental quality and observations on housing types and services on each area before asking members of the public to complete a questionnaire to aid their investigations. Students then worked hard in the afternoon to process their data and were able to clearly see how ways of life amongst the local population vary so much in such a small area. The boys behaviour on the trip was exemplary and they were able to learn the vital skills they needed for their GCSE exam.

Ashdown Forest In April 2019 year 9 students embarked on their annual trip to the Ashdown Forest to explore their Distinctive Landscapes GCSE topic in the year world. Thankfully this year they were blessed with fantastic weather which enabled students to appreciate the landscape in all its glory when drawing a field sketch of the area. Students then worked diligently in groups working the collect data on river variables, such as gradient, width, depth and velocity, so that they could examine how they changed downstream upon returning to the classroom. Students quickly released the flaws in the Bradshaw model when comparing it to their findings and were able to present and interpret their data in detail as part of their extensive write up. The students were a credit to the school, and we look forward to taking them on their next trip in year 10!

Activity Week One - Visit to Farningham and Lullingstone On Monday and Tuesday of Activity Week Year 7 pupils travelled to the Kent countryside to observe and gather data for their Religious Studies and Geography end of year assessment. Pupils walked between the picturesque settlements of Farningham, Lullingstone and Eynsford examining the history and symbolism of different churches as well as the historic and modern day siting factors for each area. Overall, it was a fantastic day which allowed students to apply their theoretical knowledge in the real world and explore some amazing new locations in glorious sunshine.

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The Department of Classics

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n 428 BC Euripides composed the tragedy ‘The Hippolytos’. The protagonist is the offspring of Theseus and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. He is also an outsider, enclosed in his world of the hunt and his love of horses, and a worshipper of Artemis. Falsely accused by his step-mother Phaedra of an unspeakable crime, he is cursed. The wretched Hippolytos, driven into exile suffers a terrible and humiliating sparagmos on the coast road out of Troezen. Rendered apart by his own horses he is delivered just alive to his remorse-filled father. The tales of Phaedra have their consequences.

Such a tragedy as this has been the essence of my teaching and my colleagues for many years at this school: thirty years and three months in fact. When I arrived the remarkable and brilliant Rosemary Lukas was Head of Classics and one of the very few women on the staff along with Jean Abdalalhi, the Head of French. Now for the better the staffroom has, I suspect, more women on the staff than men, though I am prepared to be corrected on this matter. We also have girls in the Sixth Form who have transformed the school and make it without doubt outstanding.

I myself have mentored and seen a good number of classics teachers at the school.There have been inter alios David Hopkins, Greg Cook, Sarah Latcham, and not least Alexander Carroll. My nauarchy has now ended, and Alexander has his hand on the rudder. He will be joined by Dr Alessandra Abbattista. Both are brilliant classicists and outstanding teachers. I am delighted to see that Alexander has already started to make changes and place his mark on the department. He has been the most wonderful colleague and asset to the school. Alessandra Abbattista has taught at university and secondary level and brings real Italian flair to the department. I think she will be hugely successful here.

I have been very fortunate in having taught so many superlative students over the years and with some prejudice I remember some especially. Andrew Corstorphine has been unique in that his wedding was the first of my students I have attended and having attained a First at King’s College, Cambridge he is now on the SLT of Trinity School in Croydon. William Dudley and Chris Tudor both achieved Firsts at Brasenose College Oxford and have remained in contact and on hand for advice. Chris Tudor is the co-founder of the brilliant Massolit on-line resources platform. So successful is it that it is widely used nationally. It is no surprise that someone who is so astonishingly clever would produce 128 – Olavian 2019

something so helpful. Peter Leigh the very essence of the Renaissance man has been incredibly supportive and is now studying for his PhD at Columbia in New York after distinguished time as a choral scholar and organist at New College, Oxford. Many have been delightful in so many ways. Ben Cole for making me laugh and being so brilliant at rugby; Max Lewthwaithe for being a complete genius at Bristol and carrying off a prize for being the best student in the whole university and if for one moment you thought that I have only taught brilliant boys you would be wholly wrong. I number among the very best classicists Louise McCadam, Rachael Apps and Kitty Pring. Nearly all my classicists have been utterly delightful.

Among my past Classicists many did not read Classics at university but have been immensely successful. Fintan Calpin achieved a First in English at Oxford and is now a well-known poet; his work is utterly wonderful. Read it! Asher Leeks, who shares my passion for ornithology, teaches in the Department of Zoology at Oxford and is fondly remembered always for his impression of Zeus while on the Greek Trip. James Kempton is also doing his PhD at Oxford with the help of avian raptors. We also still discuss our bird sightings and favourite reserves.

The point is that good Latinists can do a whole range of things and proceed to the highest level.

Over the many years the annual Classics trips have played a huge part in my life bringing great joy and memories both to myself and my wife. We have visited Sicily, Turkey, Tunisia, Italy and Greece many times. We have instituted the alternative cabarets with nights of sketches songs and dance. The range and depth of our students’ abilities is astonishing. For these trips I have to thank my very good friend Craig Giles who suggested we went off for a week in Greece on the cheap. We stayed in very humble hotels and went everywhere by public transport but the seed of a good idea was sown. The newer trips are a little more upmarket but we owe a great debt to Craig.

I have seen sites of unequalled beauty and interest. I have prided myself in taking the pupils to some different places each year in Greece such as Rhamnous, Oropos, Brauron and Efyras. Going further back I still rejoice in Thuburbo Maius in Tunisia, the astonishing Villa Armerina in Sicily and Smyrna in Turkey.

I want to draw attention to the incomparable work done

by John Greenwood whose impeccable leadership of the Humanities Faculty has been a joy to behold. His sagacity, foresight and wisdom have been a model to us all

especially in times when the trireme was catching crabs.

It is colleagues such as John who have made working at the school so worthwhile.

My best wishes to my friend and colleague Alexander Carroll whose brilliance will make the department thrive.

He is possessed of incredible abilities and charm. He will do a very good job indeed. But my greatest thanks goes to the pupils of St. Olave’s who have studied this subject so assiduously and have realised how jolly good it is.

David Craig

S___Head of Classics

The Classics Trip to Greece 2019 This year’s trip was the last taken by myself and my wife.

We think we have done something like twenty trips with the school and Greece has always been a favourite destination not least because good hotels can be found for really decent prices and there are a huge number of sites which can be visited. Every year we have seen places which are new to us and this year was no different.

The trip from the outset was not without its difficulties essentially because we had a coach driver who seemed to be bent on becoming lost. He was a brilliant driver in that he negotiated mountain paths and very scary bridges but essentially he did not know where he was going. Had it not been for us having ‘Google Maps’ on our phones, the destinations may never have been reached and on one occasion the destination of Messene, my favourite site, had to be missed because he had driven in the wrong direction.

We have an expression in our house and that is the ‘Rhamnous moment’which essentially implies coming to a new site which proves to be so exceptional it becomes a metaphor for a delightful surprise. This year we have a double Rhamnous in the archaeological museum of Nikaiopolis and the brilliant city of Kassiopi.

Kassiopi

Let me start first with Nikaiopolis. This was a victory city as its name denotes built by Augustus to commemorate his defeat of the fleet and armies of Antony and Cleopatra. It is just ten minutes north of the city of Preveza. At Nikaiopolis there is a massive theatre and I was reminded of the passage in Aeneid One when Aeneas and the faithful but eminently dull Achates stand at the top of the hill overlooking the construction of Carthage. They see roads being marked out with ploughs, a law court, an odeion and lastly but by no means least a theatre. There were other overlaps here with the Aeneid, predominantly in Book Five in the ‘Lusus Troiae’ where Aeneas institutes a boat race to commemorate the passing of his father Anchises and elevate the mood of his men after the horrors of Book Four. These games were directly drawing on boat races that Augustus held at his victory city.

The adjacent museum has much memorabilia from the battle not least the ‘rostrum’ or battering ram from Cleopatra’s ship. Augustus built a massive rostrum at Nikaiopolis with the captured rams from the sea battle of Actium protruding from the front of the structure.

There were also a huge number of deities not least one of ‘Athene the orator’, an epithet which I had not seen Olavian 2019 – 129

appended to Athene before.

The second ‘Rhamnous moment’was the 4th century city of Kassope.It was immensely difficult to find and perched very high up in the mountains with a Hippodamean town planning system. It had the most superbly maintained ‘katagogion’ or hostel and two theatres. The view over the Ambracian gulf was stunning. The whole site was awash with the smells of wild oregano and garlic. The lady at the entrance gate announced that we were the first English school party she had ever encountered.

Less attractive was the wild rush we made for Thermon which has an unusual temple in that it is aligned along the North-South axis rather than South-East. The only time I have seen this before was at the temple of Apollo at Bassae. The museum here was full of the most highly decorated antefixes and the tiny town itself was most attractive being built round a small square.

After the visits to the more northerly sites we returned to the more well-known, namely Delphi, Olympia, Mycenae, Epidauros, Corinth and Athens. The students took something away from all these places not least memories of searing heat, or seeing Mr Craig being allowed to handle a black figure pot freshly excavated from a trench in front of the tholos or Thymele at Epidauros, visiting Olympia and its Museum when hardly anyone else was present and visiting my friend in the souvenir shop who every year launches into a debate about politics. This year it was about Brexit and the election of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the new President of Greece.

I want to end with some caveats for my successor and anyone wishing to visit Athens. Entry now to the Acropolis is becoming very tedious and very expensive.

Once you are at the top you are permanently bustled by hundreds of other groups and being in no position whatsoever to say what you would like before being asked to move on and stop blocking the route. The place is awash with selfie-takers, whistle-blowing guards and accumulated dust. If you wish to see the Parthenon take yourself up to the roof restaurant of a good hotel such as the Herodian, eat a meal, have a glass of something refreshing and look at the site in peace. If you are in Athens go to the Agora, then the New Acropolis Museum where you have the best collection of material such as Kritios boy and afterwards have a good slab of chocolate cake and coffee in a restaurant overlooking the Acropolis.

Thus for me the trips to Greece with St. Olave’s have come to an end and I think I will probably not go back for some time because Greece without the pupils would never quite be the same. I know that I would be

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Nikaipolis

Dodoni

also rather nervous of negotiating some of the hairpin bends in some hire car and the thought of driving in Athens would have me reduced to a jelly. Ultimately the Classics Trip is made wonderful by the pupils who are without exception extraordinary. How many teachers can say that they have listened to Chopin being played by one of their students in a hotel to the rapt attention of American guests? How many teachers can proudly

and discretely say that their pupils know more than most of the tour guides they overhear? For my part I know that St. Olave’s pupils are without question the best of individuals.

Classics Society We returned to Greece with a small and highly enthusiastic group of Classicists visiting several new sites this year on the Classics Trip to Greece: Nikaeopolis, the Necromantion at Efrya, Thermon, Kassopi and the seat of Zeus’ divination at Dodona. Within school, the Society has looked at the god Mars and Roman naval warfare.

Classics Journal Congratulations to Editor, Mr Craig, and Year 13 Student Editor, Oliver Wright-Jones, on the production of the first St. Olave’s Humanities Department Journal, ‘The Humdinger’. It reveals the most exceptional essay writing of the students of the school including past Classicists such as Max Lewthwaite and, in some cases, the staff within the Faculty. Their writing is very much a product of the Olavian outlook and mentality.

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The Department of Religious Studies

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he future is not open; we have no ability to change it; and it is with dismay that we should greet this news.

So says contemporary philosopher Ted Honderich, in his Theory of Determinism. What he means is that, since our minds are ultimately physical, they are subject to the laws of cause and effect just like every other physical thing. And since every other physical thing is entirely predictable, so our minds would be entirely predictable if only we could know everything about them. What will be will be and we can’t do anything to alter the fact.

I suppose I ought really therefore to tell you that what happened in 2018-2019 was entirely as predetermined by the laws of nature. One thing led inexorably to another as it was always destined to do. Human free will played no real part in the process other than as an illusory concept to hoodwink us into thinking we have some credit for what took place.

So for any reader who has a God’s-eye-view of things and was able to predict with utmost certainty the exact outcome of every decision in 2018-2019, you can skip the next bit: it will only tell you what you already knew.

For everyone else, the selected highlights are as follows.

Firstly (and I put this first because if you have a short attention span and only make it halfway through the article, I wouldn’t want you to miss the thing of which I’m most proud), exam board OCR sent the school an email in the summer to say that A Level student Sofia Cotterill was the top-performing A Level Religious Studies student in the country. I’m going to labour the point a little further. In A Level RS, students are required to write a series of nine 40-minute essays, each of which is marked out of 40 and the standard is fiendishly high. The St Olave’s Year 13 RS class were a wonderful bunch, a joy to be with, and a number of them scored the very rare 40/40 for one or more of their essays.

Sofia, though, scored 40/40 for her first essay, then 40/40 for her second essay, then 40/40 for her third essay, then repeated the feat for every one of her nine essays. More than 8,000 students sat the RS exam, some of them from very expensive and prestigious schools with very small classes and buildings like Hogwarts and teachers with lots of letters after their names, but a very hard-working, polite and unassuming Olavian was the best.

Secondly, the Religious Studies Department passed something of a milestone in its history, being forced to expand for the first time ever from one to two Year 132 – Olavian 2019

12 classes, teaching a total of 40 students. We are very grateful to the efforts of Mrs Rachael Boyden, who in joining the department has enabled this challenge to be met. For a Religious Studies Department to be teaching multiple classes at A Level is all very disorientating. I haven’t got used to it yet.

Finally, a new development (although if you are blessed with the aforementioned God-level of foresight you will have seen this coming) was that we took Year 9 to a Hindu temple in Activity Week 2. If ever you’re in Neasden, I recommend a stop at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir. It is very much like a piece of India, dropped somewhat incongruously into London in sight of the Wembley Arch. In fact, it would be more accurate to say not that it is very like a piece of India but rather that it is a piece of India. It is adorned with 26,000 stone hand-carvings made by craftspeople in India and shipped 6,000 miles to the UK, whereupon it was put together rather like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Year 9 were lucky enough to visit in time for the morning worship service and then spent a fascinating few hours encountering an ancient and rich religious tradition. It has been a gap in the RS curriculum for a few years that we haven’t covered Hinduism (a crowded curriculum is partially responsible), so I was happy to be able to go some way to redressing the balance. We are also introducing some lessons on Hinduism into the Year 7 curriculum, which I am very pleased about.

So at the end of a wonderful year and as we look to the next, should we, as Honderich would have it, consider with dismay that our stories are fixed and that we are nought but cogs in a ceaseless celestial machine? The 17th Century philosopher John Locke pondered this matter of whether or not, as he put it, “the will be free.”

Is my will free, or is it driven by the inevitability of desire? If so, is it possible, he wondered, to trace back the sequence of desires to some truly free desire that originates the rest?

In the end, I think it is probably accurate to say that he did what we all do in the face of this question. He gave up and decided it really wasn’t all that important after all.

“The question is not proper, whether the will be free, but whether a man be free.” He argued. In other words, we can never know whether our minds are free, but we can consider whether a person is free.

For Locke, then, “in this consists freedom: in our being able to act or not to act, according as we shall choose

or will.” Our freedom, he suggests, is in being able to follow our will, whatever the source of that will may be.

To the extent to which we are able to do the things we choose to do, we are free; to the extent to which our wills are frustrated, we are not free. Even a prisoner has the freedom to cross the cell; his freedom ends when he tries to open the door.

In the sense suggested by Locke, the RS Department is free and optimistic! We are pleased to say that 20182019 proceeded more or less in accordance with what we might describe as our unconflicted will. If I could have laid out my hopes for the year before it began, it would almost certainly have looked pretty much as it turned out.

Andrew Lake

S___Head of Religious Studies

“Does Liberation Theology borrow too much from Marx?”

Liberation Theology is a movement which attempts to synergise Marxism and Christianity into a solution to endemic societal problems related to poverty and social justice, which it blames largely on the Capitalist system.

Many, such as Pope Benedict XVI (writing as Cardinal Ratzinger) have criticised it from assimilating so much Marxist doctrine that it cannot be described as truly Christian, arguing that it logically leads into violent class struggle, hierarchy dissolution and materialistic focus on an earthy eschaton when the real aim should be spiritual perfection. However, this view doesn’t hold since Liberation Theology borrows so little from Marxism that it is difficult to describe the two as in any way truly related – rather, it occupies a third position between Communism and Capitalism which prioritises spiritual rebirth and social equality over materialist focus on capital.

Regardless, one might argue that Liberation Theologians borrow too much from Marx simply in acknowledging his analysis – the logical extrapolation of that being his praxis of class warfare. Karl Marx described the world as one divided between a tiny minority of capital-owning bourgeoisie (capitalists), and the overwhelming majority of the international proletariat, who are exploited by means of wage slavery to serve the needs of the capitalists.

The 1968 Medellin Conference of Catholic bishops in Latin America endorsed this perspective, insofar as it demarcated the world between those poor, exploited producer countries in the Global South, and the rich, exploitative consumer countries in the Global North, the latter camp led by the United States which was at the time leading the Cold War charge against Soviet

communism. Gustavo Guttierez supported Marxist analysis in his aboriginal volume of Liberation Theology in 1971, in arguing that “the poor person does not exist as an inescapable fact of destiny” – in fact, they are the product of a dispassionate system that only benefits a few at the top, just as Marx believed. José Miranda and Leonardo Boff both agreed on this, accepting Marxist analysis as valid – indeed, Boff went so far as to say that Christian worldview directs one towards seeing it so.

The problem with this is the intractable interconnection between Marx’s analysis and his praxis, which cannot be simply digested piecemeal. For once one accepts that the bourgeoisie are ruthless dominators drawing the life out of their lessers, and using perverse mechanisms of false consciousness to dispel resistance, one is logically drawn to the need for action; indeed, violent action. For Marx asserts that the capitalists will never give up power without a fight, and thus class war is inevitable as soon as the proletariat see their plight for what it really is. This battle he envisions is greater than the Russian or Chinese revolutions – it is a world war between martialled armies of the different classes, in a nigh-on Darwinian struggle for superiority. Marx counts on the sheer numbers of the proletariat to ultimately win out so they can establish an egalitarian utopia in the ashes of the old world. Once one accepts his analysis, this corollary praxis cannot be neatly parcelled away, which of course leads Liberation Theology down a dark, bloody path utterly anathema to Christian values. Cardinal Ratzinger argued that violent class war would run counter to the dignity of humanity, as much as dignity for the proletariat may be its aim – this is exemplified in the countless dystopian regimes that have emerged from the embers of violent revolution, such as Stalinist Russia and Maoist China that bore regimes which killed an estimated 100 million people altogether, cast countless more into prison camps and reduced yet more to mindless drudgery in the service of an all-encompassing totalitarian state. These ends, of course, take no heed from Exodus 20: “do not kill”. But nor, of course, does the class war itself – for these brutal ends are only met by equally brutal means.

To make an enemy of a whole social group is rightly criticised by Ratzinger as incompatible with Genesis 1, in which no reservations are made in expressing that humanity is “made in the image of God”, and indeed Leviticus 19: 18 in which man is commanded to “love your neighbour as yourself ” – ironically, Guttierez would cite this principle (via the medium of its recurrence in the parable of the Good Samaritan) to justify Liberation Theology, when it in fact serves as an arguable debunk.

Even if one goes so far as to label the capitalists as an enemy, in Matthew 5: 44 Jesus orders man to “love your enemies”, showing that to accept an analysis from which ruthless retribution against class enemies are inevitable is distinctly un-Christian. Rather, man ought to “turn the other cheek” as per Matthew 5: 38, because “who lives by the sword, dies by the sword”, according to Olavian 2019 – 133

Matthew 26. Since violation of all these key principles is intrinsic to Marxist praxis, which in turn is a logical follow-through on its analysis which the Liberation Theologians so enthusiastically scooped up, it seems apt to describe Liberation Theology has borrowed too much from Marxism.

Furthermore, it might also be argued that Liberation Theology is un-Christian in its assault on hierarchies, as expressed in the development of ‘base communities’ through revolutionary Latin America. These were, in effect, peasant collectives oriented around the local clergy, who form grassroots power centres that organised education and social development independent of any central government. The clergy involved are often of a law unto themselves, as men of their foremost rank such as Leonardo Boff criticised the hierarchies involved in the Catholic Church as “fundamentalist”. From what it takes of Marxist analysis, which criticises all hierarchies as artificial products of the capitalist system, Liberation Theology is clear in its rejection of hierarchies; its ideal society evidently some form of worldwide application of the base community principle, by which it considers the international plight of the proletariat will be ultimately relieved. Of course, this comes into extensive conflict with the established order of the Catholic church, in which the Pope is supreme and there is a network of delegations and jurisdictions that, if followed, leave little room for self-governing base communities. That, as aforementioned, many Liberation Theologians have spoken out against this arrangement further accentuates this – Leonardo Boff was ultimately exiled from the Catholic Church for it. From this there is little doubt that Liberation Theology borrows too much Marxism to be Catholic specifically, and there is some evidence to suggest that the abolition of hierarchies runs against Christianity too. For example, in Luke 14 Jesus warns “[not to] take the place of honour, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited”,indicating that codes of deference ought to be heeded, rather than subverted as the Liberation Theologians would have them. Crucially, Romans 13 calls on mankind to “let everyone be subject to the established authorities”, and Peter 2 to “fear God, honour the emperor”, which rather undermines the revolutionary pretensions of the base communities, since their entire point is to offer an alternative to the established authorities, and indeed any authority figures one might identify with an ‘emperor’.

From this, there is a strong case that the resistance to hierarchies intrinsic to Liberation Theology is at odds with actual Christian teaching, and that consequently it borrows too much from the Marxist analysis in which such ideas originate.

In spite of all this, Liberation Theology ultimately does not borrow too much from Marxism – for the reason that it does not really borrow anything from Marxism.

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For as much as the Liberation Theologians may claim to accept Marxist analysis, they incorporate such a library of caveats that the end result is a completely distinct ideology which bears no resemblance to orthodox, or even derivative Marxism. In turn, this avoids the praxis trap which would draw its followers into violent class struggle. For instance, Gustavo Guttierez described “structural sin”as the primary issue facing society – rather than the structural poverty highlighted by Marx. This is a critical distinction, since it completely changes the issue from one of the property-based corruption of the capitalist class to an Augustinean critique of the industrial capitalist system, epitomised by José Miranda’s account of the fallen nature of mankind as the problem – not property ownership per se. This is vital for transforming the bourgeoisie, who Marx identifies as villains, into victims of sin, just as anyone else is, and is an expression of Christian universalism over Marxist intersectionality.

It is a sure sign that the root of Liberation Theology is the Bible, rather than Das Kapital, only strengthened

by Leonardo Boff ’s argument that one can only reach the Marxist analysis via a Christian judgement on what is and isn’t a moral state of being. Of course, such a Christian judgement would be taken by Marx as emblematic of false consciousness, since he denounced religion as but a tool of the capitalists to distract the proletariat with existential wanderings – the “opiate of the masses” – and made its inherent evils key to his analysis. Yet the Liberation Theologians claim to have reached his analysis through the Bible, and seek to tackle poverty and class divides by the same avenue.

Here an interlude is necessary to buttress the case for the actual substance of Liberation Theology, found in the Bible. It argues for a “Good Samaritan Church” that would provide preferential treatment to the poor in aid of making the world a better place, by means of base communities. This is, obviously, propped up by the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, in which a priest and Levite – two symbols of the establishment in ancient Israel – ignore a languishing traveller dying by the side of the road, before a Samaritan puts aside his historic grievances with the Jews to save the man.

Guttierez envisioned a Christian community which would act in the manner of that Samaritan to help the poor and left-behind in a Latin America controlled by despotic and corrupt elites, which would level the playing field but avoid actual violent revolution. This is supported in Luke 18, with the Parable of the Rich Man, who cannot go to heaven unless he forfeits his possessions, showing that society must transcend wants of material ownership in order to get closer to Jesus.

Matthew 19: 24 meanwhile puts it that it is easier to fit a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven, and Matthew 24’s Parable of the Banquet shows the value in respect for the needy and poor by sharing one’s riches with them – voluntarily.This

certainly agglomerates into a pressure for dramatic social change, including redistributive measures and devolution of power that many would describe as libertarian socialist, but to describe it as Marxist certainly misrepresents the fundamental forces at play. That the poor are envisioned as a strata to be helped, rather than a monolithic army of the subjugated that bestraddles the extra-capitalist world is one, critical distinction. That help of one group, rather than destruction of another is the extrapolated end-goal betrays the wholly different process of analysis, derived from God’s paternalism as the Father of humanity, and the intrinsic hierarchies within even the most simplified Christian base communities – for even in those there are priests who remain to run the show. However, perhaps the most fundamental difference between this, Christian analysis and that of Marx is that Liberation Theology ultimately ascribes no inherent value to material wealth.

The rich man must forgo his possessions to get into heaven because their ownership stands in his way of salvation.

The aid of the Samaritan finds worth only in the spirit of which it is given. This is a spiritualist view of society, and Marxism is anything but spiritualist. Marxism is entirely preoccupied with material wealth, and it is for that reason it determines that the bourgeoisie must break the capitalist oligopoly on its ownership. The end-state of a communist society is utopian purely for the capacity of men to own everything communally, although in practice this would amount to owning nothing. For Christianity, in which “love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”, and the Liberation Theologians such as Miranda who feared a consumerist mankind bent on the accumulation of wealth as an idolatrous alternative to religion, such an empty eschaton is anathema to the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, Guttierez described the Kingdom as one accomplished by acts, rather than acquisition either on an individual or collective scale.

Thus, Liberation Theology reaches the conclusion that the capitalists are not inherently evil for their ownership of capital, because ownership is meaningless, and that they are but victims of structural sin like everyone else – thus forming an alternative analysis which bears only passing resemblance to Marx’s.

On these aggregate premises it is remarkably unsurprising that the Liberation Theologians nigh-on universally eschewed violence, rejecting the Marxist praxis as aforementioned. This is because the Marxist praxis is uniquely tailored to its analysis, and that analysis simply does not exist in Liberation Theology, no matter what its architects may claim. They have instead reached, by their own devices, a worldview which Marx would most likely label the most advanced end-state of false consciousness – an approximation to his critiques of social injustice within society, which refrains from his praxis owing to the moral qualms inherent to its religious roots, and so lacking the teeth to actually do anything. This would be, of course, an extremely harsh assessment of Liberation

Theology, and is the answer of every orthodox ideologue to a divergent train of thought. But the fact remains that Marxism and Liberation Theology are like a pair of cars of similar bodywork to the extent that from a distance they are almost identical, but that on closer inspection bear different chassis and engine. Unlike Marxism, Liberation Theology raises no qualm with the state of owning property as a rule,promotes the pursuit of religion (obviously) and as a result does not call for a crusade to liberate wealth from concentrated ownership for wider redistribution. This logic is incompatible with Marxism, but entirely compatible with Christianity. As aforementioned, Liberation Theology is what might be described as ‘libertarian socialist’, in that it promotes decentralised, proactive government working primarily towards social justice and redistribution of wealth as a means to articulate said social justice. However, unlike most manifestations of libertarian socialism, it is sufficiently firewalled from actual Marxism to earn distinction as a third position in its own right, outside both Communism and Capitalism, since most of its underlying conclusions are drawn from the Bible and just so happen to have been shadowed by Marx several centuries later.The merits and disadvantages of this third position are superfluous to the question at hand: it is one separate from Marxism, and for this reason will not collapse into the destructive praxis of class struggle that runs so roughly ajar with the core of Christianity.

To conclude, Liberation Theology does not borrow too much from Marx to be considered a truly Christian ideology, since it essentially extrapolates Christian teachings alone into a practical framework with only rudimentary comparisons of value with Marx. Its choice to forgo materialism and instead focus on structural sin is key to this, so forging a third position in which a just social order is promoted around Christian base communities, while class warfare is left on the shelf, for the good reason that it is a monstrous concept which requires the cannibalism of Christian thinking in order to accommodate it. The libertarian socialist model that results is one outside the Marxist canon, and for all the practical objections one might raise against it, its ideological underpinnings are not in direct conflict with Christianity for want of too much Marx.

Unless you’re Catholic.

Sidney Woolf-Hoyle 13P

Olavian 2019 – 135

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The Department of Economics

T

he Economics department has continued to thrive in last academic year. An excellent set of results saw students achieving 98.3% A* - B. Many students also continued to study related degrees at university.

During the academic year the department integrated the use of iPads into its teaching which opened new ways of learning and exploring the subject. A new trip to Frankfurt was successfully launched. Ofsted also paid a visit as part of their visit to the school. The lead inspector and his colleague with both Economists and they both seemed very positive about the work in the department.

John Greenwood

S___Head of Economics

iPads The department invested the £4000 that it won in the Financial Times Competition in 2018 in purchasing iPads to use in lessons. These are now helping to support the learning of students. These have been particularly effective in delivering presentations and mirroring students work to the board. This adds a new live dimension to lessons.

Frankfurt The department ran a successful trip to Frankfurt am Main. Twenty-two students travelled in activity week two to the this financial hub. Whilst in Frankfurt the students attended talks at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, The European Central Bank and The Bundesbank. The trip also involved an industrial day where visits were made to BASF in Ludwigshafen and Mercedes Benz in Stuttgart.

from this term include external speakers such as Professor Paul Tambyah from the National University of Singapore who talked about international healthcare and author Richard Simmons who gave a talk on Brexit. Polecon is also under new leadership this term as the outgoing Year 13 Presidents handed over to the new Year 12 Presidents, the new team consists of Vikram Rajendran as President and Tom Xu and Sanjana Chanda as Vice Presidents.

We are excited to carry on the work of the Year 13s in the coming year and allow Political Economy Society to continue to thrive.

Political Economy Society The Society welcomed Mark Williams, Chief Asia Economist at Capital Economics, for a talk on ‘Will this be the Chinese century?’ The talk considered the impact of emerging economies on the world economy and questioned the determinants and sustainability of their fast paced growth. At the end of the talk students asked interesting questions, discussing the role of soft-power and fair play in China’s rise to the top of the global economy.

Political Economy Society has been incredibly active this term and has continued to encourage student engagement with politics and economics. Highlights Olavian 2019 – 137

Careers Talk This term students have had the opportunity to receive some brilliant career guidance and advice from external speakers, including Tim O’Cock on Engineering, Catherine Camp on Higher and Degree Apprenticeships, Tom Strachan on Economics and we have also had a representative from Morgan and Stanley. Each speaker has engaged students with their wide range of skills and knowledge, increasing our students’ awareness of the opportunities and advancements available to them within these careers.To add to the success,students have impressed our speakers with their enthusiasm and thought provoking questioning.

The Financial Times The ongoing partnership with the Financial Times has been of real benefit to the department and the students. Students get free access to the newspaper nationally and the department here has worked with the newspaper effectively on a number of areas. One of our Sanjana Chandra was an FT advocate working to promote the newspaper amongst young readers.

Furthermore,the FT has delivered a talk at Political Economy Society as well as working with our students as part of a focus group.ThestudentsinYear12andYear13enteredandachieved high scores in a news quiz hosted by The Financial Times, winning £4,000 for educational purposes for the second year

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in a row.This money has been invested into an online learning platform to support the teaching of A level Economics.

Olavian Economist The third edition of the Olavian Economist was published in the autumn term.There were many interest interesting articles with the publication from both current and Old Olavians. This edition featured an exclusive article with Sadiq Khan Mayor of London.

Sports

The Sports Faculty

S

port at St. Olave’s continues its tradition of being a fundamental part of school life. This year we have witnessed an incredible amount of extra-curricular activity undertaken by the students both within school and further afield on trips and tours. As ever we are indebted to the staff who freely give of their time to support the students in their endeavours, and to the students who make it such a rewarding experience for all.

Andrew Kenward Director of Sport

Report of St Olaves First XV Season 2018/19 Rugby has always been at the pinnacle of Olavian pride, and this season was certainly one to be proud of. A strong preseason programme led by Mr Perks and Mr Macnamara prepared the team to come flying out of the blocks, and fly out the blocks they did. The team, led by co-captains Mario Lambrette and Louis McClean, opened the campaign with a convincing 28-7 victory against Wallington Grammar School. The hefty front row consisting of Hai Duong, Alex Griffiths and Tom

Xu maintained a powerful scrum, which gave Olave’s clean ball for their elusive backs to work their magic.

Indeed, the set piece would prove to be a dominant area for Olave’s during the game, which would be a common theme throughout the season.

The Firsts carried this momentum into their next game against Ravens Wood School in the first round of the Natwest Vase, where they ground out a hard-fought 11-3 victory away from home – one of the highlights of the season. A notable performance from number 8 Louis McClean, and the combined height and expertise of Tom Liddemore and Arnav Barry in the second row, gave the team both front-foot ball and security in the lineout, giving Olave’s the edge over their opponents.

Other notable victories in the season include a 30-5 triumph over Gravesend Grammar School and an emphatic 42-12 win against St Dunstan’s College.

Unfortunately, the boys fell just short against Langley Park in the Friday night lights fixture, losing 8-17, but they put in a performance they can all be proud of against a very strong side - including a memorable solo try from winger Kit Whitaker.

A few losses at the end of the year tainted an otherwise positive 15’s season, which the whole squad can be proud of. The sevens season, while unfruitful regarding silverware, saw some great running rugby and some unbelievable team tries – which can no doubt be credited to the hours of ‘Fijian touch’ played in training. Many thanks to Mr Perks and Mr Macnamara for creating such an uplifting and tight rugby culture, which puts the older boys in good stead to continue playing into university, and thanks to Mr Kenward for all of the behind-thescenes work ensuring the season flowed smoothly. We thank all of our departing year 13 rugby players and wish them all the best in their further studies.

Rugby The Year 7 players have impressed with their diligence and capacity to learn, beating Wilmington and Gravesend along the way. The U13 have trained hard and gained some deserving victories, including over Gravesend and St. Dunstan’s. The Year 9 teams have also improved and enjoyed a tour to Oxford over half term. The U15s are adjusting to senior rugby and lifting in the line-out and continue to develop a more rounded, inclusive game which has resulted in some excellent tries. The senior teams have demonstrated great tenacity throughout; one of the highlights was the closely-fought contest against Langley Park under floodlights, while early victories over

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Wallington and Ravens Wood were impressive.

Year 8 Rugby Tour 21 boys travelled to Oxford over half term for their first experience of touring with St. Olave’s. They played their opening fixture against Newbury RFC losing 43-27, with tries coming from Emmanuel Phillips, Franklin Baron and James Atsu. The players were eager to start well against Chinnor RFC and in a high scoring fixture, Year 8 were finally beaten 34-29 in the last play of the game. The squad distinguished themselves on and off the pitch, with both clubs commending the ‘tourists’ for their excellent play and the manner in which they conducted themselves.

Rugby 7s Year 7 acquitted themselves well, beating Colfe’s and Cooper’s Coburn and coming 2nd in the Judd tournament, including a win over Skinner’s. Year 9 claimed a win over Ravens Wood and came 4th in our tournament.

Year 10 reached the Semi-final of the Kent Cup, beating Skinner’s in the Quarter Final. The senior team also impressed reaching the Semi-finals of the Kent Plate.

Under 15 Rugby Congratulations to Year 10 student, Korede Sanusi, who has been selected for the Saracens Development Squad for the forthcoming season.

Sports’ Day Competition within the year groups, as well as for an overall winner, was fierce and it was great to see sporting rivalry between the boys upheld in good spirit. Special mention goes to Niccolo Albarosa in 9C for winning the Junior Victor Ludorum as the most successful Year 9 athlete on the day. Also, congratulations to Ruben Smith Chinchon who broke the Year 7 100m record in a time of 12.6 seconds. Bingham won in Years 8 and 10, with Cure winning Year 7 and Harvard Year 9. Well done to Bingham who were overall winners of the Sports’ Day trophy.

Sports’ Celebration Dinner This was the ideal way to celebrate the many achievements of our students over the last year. Speeches by Elliot Wright, Ishkaar Ujoodia, Abby Ward and Thomas Liddemore all gave a picture of the breadth and depth of sporting talent here at St Olave’s. Guest of Honour , Old Olavian, James Goodman, presented the prizes and gave an inspiring speech from his experiences of playing cricket for Kent and England.

Bath Cricket Tour Over half term the Year 8 cricket squad travelled to the beautiful city of Bath for a series of fixtures and an opportunity to visit this historic city. After some practice nets on the first afternoon we played Thornbury CC on the Saturday. We batted first and 51 (retired) from Saahil Bansal and 22 from Benjamin Dakshy helped us to a total of 143. An excellent game ensued and a tight finish – with St. Olave’s winning by 4 runs! Afterwards we visited Bath and took in the architecture, gardens and bowling alley (Mr. McNamara winning)! Sunday saw dreadful weather but we are grateful to Cleeve CC for keeping the fixture on. St. Olave’s scored 144 with contributions from Rutwik Meda, Sanay Pandey (24) and Sam Sai Pynadath (28) and a quick-fire 16 from 5 balls by Aditya Anoop. Aditya’s 3 for 5 then helped secure a 13 run win before we travelled back to Bath to enjoy ‘Aladdin’. On the last day we played Trowbridge CC. Again we batted first and this time scored an impressive 250 with Smayan Yambal hitting 53 (retired), Arjun Javagal (21) batting extremely well. Trowbridge looked into control until Aditya Anoop’s 2 in 2 balls, and Daksh Gupta’s tight bowling and wicket broke their innings and St. Olave’s finished the tour unbeaten after three fixtures. This tour was a lot of fun and again proved what a rewarding and beneficial experience it is tour, with the boys being a real credit to themselves, their families and the school with several opposition parents commenting on what a delightful group of players we had brought with us.

U15 Cricket The U15 Cricket squad has gone from strength to strength this year and the boys have had a very successful season. The A team won all bar one of their games before reaching the Semi-Finals of the Kent Plate. Their season has included notable wins over Chislehurst & Sidcup and a last ball victory over Dartford. The B team have performed exceptionally well, producing a Cup run that saw them reach the Quarter Finals, beating a number of A teams. The boys have been very dedicated and stepped up to play for the A team on multiple occasions. There have been lots of individual performances of note, but this has been a season full of teamwork, with a different player stepping up each week to ensure the team played well.

Olavian 2019 – 141

On Thursday 4th July some Year 9 students delivered sports sessions to Green Street Green Primary School pupils in Year 3 and 4 as part of their Sports Week. A variety of activities were undertaken including cricket, tag rugby, football and basketball. This was a great experience for our students who all learned much from this opportunity, and we are grateful to GSG for inviting us in.

Reigate U12 Cricket 6s Tournament Huge congratulations to our Year 7 cricket squad who won the main cup competition at Reigate on Monday. This is a high profile event with many of the top schools in the south east of England competing. Our squad consisted of Amogh Bhat, Aadi Agarwal, Srithan Chanda, Luke Pulford, Arjum Jadhav, Kishon Sathananthan and Pranav Devaguptapu. Our success was built on the depth of ability within the squad with every player making an impact at various points of the tournament – either with vital runs, key wickets or important fielding. The final, against hosts Reigate Grammar School, was a tense affair but in true limited overs fashion it was finished with a six which meant we lifted the trophy. Well done to all of the squad on this outstanding achievement.

Athletics Congratulations to our Junior Athletics teams for their endeavours at the Bromley Schools Indoor Athletics event. The Year 7 team came 2nd overall, with Langley Park just beating them by 6 points. The Year 8 team won their age group, beating Langley Park by the same margin. Year 8 Athletes travelled to Crystal Palace National Sports Centre to compete in the South East London Finals for the London Youth Games. They were representing Bromley as a result of winning the local round and the whole squad did themselves proud, finishing 6th in the South East London round.

Athletics Report Last Wednesday our Year 7 and 8 athletes travelled to Norman Park for the Bromley Minors Athletics Championships. Some excellent performances were evident on a wet and windy day. For the Year 7 some fine individual efforts in track and field culminated in the 4 x 100m relay team winning their event. In Year 8 David Ogbedeh won the hurdles, while we were 2nd place in Long Jump, Hurdles, Shot Put and the relay which saw St. Olave’s win the Year Group with a total of 80 points, beating their nearest rivals by 20 points.

Overall the combined junior athletics team came in 2nd place and should be very proud of their efforts.

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Cross Country Senior Cross Country runners competed in the Knole Run in Sevenoaks. In a highly competitive field our team came 22nd overall with some excellent individual performances, including Joseph Folkes our first past the tape coming 50th . Some of our Cross Country runners also competed in the KSAA cross country with Ananjan Ganguli coming 9th for the Juniors, Luke Abrams 20th and Joshua Selfridge 33rd for the Intermediates, and Irfan Zaman 14 th in the Senior competition. Ananjan, Luke and Irfan have been asked to compete for Kent in Inter-County competitions.

Cyclo-cross Championship Year 9 student, Yani, won Bronze in the Under 14 National Cyclo-cross Championship, helping the team win Gold in the Team Championship. Yani also had a podium finish at the National Trophy Series in Shrewsbury.

Fives The 2019 Men’s Fives under 21 Tournament was won in thrilling style by St Olave’s school pair Prajeeth and Sachin. The last time that a school pair won the competition was in 2012. The pair won four consecutive games that were set at 10-10 or 11-11 to overcome more experienced opponents and take the title.Congratulations to both students on this excellent achievement.

The Year 7s have made a flying start! A very talented, large squad have already played and won fixtures against Emanuel and Berkhamsted Schools, and the whole squad put in a superb performance in the U12’s Individual Tournament at Eton College. The Ladies Fives Team have been busy too, with strong performances in the U18’s Individual Tournament and a good school match win from Sophie and Jacinta against St. Bartholomew’s School. Matches have been played and won against Charterhouse School, Westminster, Harrow, Berkhamsted, QE Barnet, Highgate and Eton College. Caleb and Genesis from Year 9 won the U14’s Individual event held at Harrow School, whilst Milan and Ishkaar from Year 10 and Prajeeth (Year 12), played especially well in the adult Midlands Championships held at Repton. The rapidly-improving Year 10 squad have played an important role in the adult Third Division team and there is every sign that St. Olave’s will shape up well for high seedings in the National Championships

next Term.

Netball The A team started the season putting in impressive performances to beat Farrington’s 51-9 in preparation for the Kent County Schools U19 Tournament at the end of September. Despite wins against St Dunstan’s and St Edmund’s College, and following closely contested matches with Benenden and Maidstone Grammar, the A team just missed out on qualification for the Regionals.

One of the highlights of the season was the annual First XV Rugby vs Netball charity Festival match. Despite a sterling and good-humoured performance from the boys, it was the girls who came away with the victory. To round off the successful season, the A team reached the Semi-finals amongst a competitive field at the Eltham College tournament.

Squash Our junior squash teams competed in the Kent Schools Cup performing admirably in the pool stages,progressing through to the Semi-finals by finishing 2nd in their groups. They made their opponents work extremely hard but unfortunately could not secure a place in the Finals.

It was a tremendous experience for all and they can be very proud of their efforts during the day.

Swimming The school continues to impress in swimming and a recent trip to Sevenoaks showcased this. With some excellent performances across the age groups, the senior team won their competition. The departing quartet of Michael Jian, Felix Haslam, Luke Douglas and Christopher Lee can be very proud of their contribution.

Year 7 swimmers travelled to Farrington’s and the senior team competed in the ESSA Finals at the London Aquatic Centre. Year 7 performed extremely well, winning several of their races. Our senior team were ranked 17th nationally in both the Medley and the Freestyle Relays.

Slalom Oliver Tovarlaza competed in the Under 14 Giant Slalom and Slalom Championship races at the English Alpine Championship 2019 in Bormio, Italy. In the company of the best English (and international) skiers he was 41st in Giant Slalom and 31st in Slalom. This is a great result for Oliver as he managed to have only a week of training on snow before the championship.

Badminton Congratulations to Year 13, Mehar, who won the Kent Senior Badminton Championships, making him the best Singles player in Kent.This is a tremendous achievement, considering he was playing against the best adults in the county.

Fencing Congratulations to Aneesh on achieving 1st place and a Gold medal at The Royal Stennick U14 Fencing competition.

Squash Report Our junior squash teams travelled to Rodmersham Squash Club to play in the Kent Schools tournament.

The B team played really well against the strongest players from the opposition and did themselves proud, just missing out on a semi-final spot. The A team won some tough games in their pool before beating Wilmington in their semi-final. The final against Valley School was really close with both teams winning two matches but Valley claiming the title by winning one more game.

Everyone won at least one match and this was great experience for both our veteran performers and several newcomers to the squad.

Tennis Congratulations to Year 7 student, Pranav, who is now ranked 3rd in Great Britain for his age group as a result of his impressive tennis results. Pranav has been invited by the Lawn Tennis Association to attend further regional development training sessions at the National Tennis Centre situated at Roehampton. His successes include being a Semi-Finalist in the Winter National Tour Finals and Sutton Tennis Academy National Tour Competition and Runner-up in the Sutton Tennis Academy National Tour Doubles and Notts Junior Open National Tour Competitions. Pranav also competed in the 12 and Under Halton Summer Grade 2 (National Level) Tennis Tour Tournament, held at Halton, Buckinghamshire, winning the Tournament without dropping a set in any of his matches.

Table Tennis The U13 and U16 teams both progressed through to the recent South London Finals.The U16 team were runners up in the Plate Competition, while the U13 players lost Olavian 2019 – 143

to a strong Tiffin School. There is plenty of promise within the squads and with continued training we can be positive for the future of this sport at St. Olave’s.

Ashford Summer Biathlon Congratulations to Raphael Huille and Nam Lam who both competed in the Ashford Summer School Biathlon on Monday. In difficult conditions both competed extremely well in both the swim and the run - in fact, Raphael placed 1st in the Year 7 and 8 and Nam came 4th which was a credit to him as he is only in year 7. A tremendous achievement from both performers.

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Activity Week Year 9 Games Day comprised a familiar activity in football and some less familiar (for most) in terms of Street Dance, Golf Extreme and the Martial Art, Guba Doce Pares. Year 7 were involved in a series of House matches with sports such as Cricket, Tennis, Table Tennis, Racquetball, Softball and Badminton being played.

Ski Championships The 2019 Kent School Ski Championships took place on a dry slope in Chatham. There were 187 racers taking part as individual competitors or school teams across four categories. Well done to Year 7 student, Oliver, who had some great races, finishing 10th overall (7th in the first run and 8th in the second) in the Secondary School competition. To finish off the day, Oliver won a Silver medal in the Mixed Team Event.

Art, Design & Technology

The Department of Art

T

he Art & Design Department at St. Olave’s has undergone further developments this year as we say farewell to Mr. Hall and welcome back Ms. Farr from maternity leave. We would like to thank the Parents Association and all of the parents and friends who have supported our department and the students so well last year culminating in two outstanding exhibitions of their work in the summer. The improving facilities in the department are also continuing to make a big impact on the way the students can explore the subject, widening the specialisms on offer to include printmaking as well as offering a darkroom photography facility. Alongside these developments, the deployment of a new, high spec, ICT suite I the ADT quad is allowing our students to really explore analogue and digital working practices and how they can be meshed together, preparing them better for Art & Design work in the 21st Century. A strong focus this year has been focusing on our KS3 delivery and how that feeds through and informs KS4 and 5 and as such we have begun to focus on raising the profile of the Creative sector and the increasing jobs and opportunities it offers by running a number of more vocationally orientated projects. In the 6th form to help support aspirations within the subject we recently attended an evening event at the RA celebrating the vibrant creative industries in this country and promoting Art & Design education, this evening including a talk and Q&A with Antony Gormley as well as a range of workshops. Alongside this we are seeing a larger uptake in Art Club this year and the introduction of a the new Print Club and we intend to put on some exhibitions later in the year to show off the amazing work they have been creating. We had a successful year at GCSE with 3 students achieving the new level 9 and an outstanding range of work across such a variety of disciplines from our students, this diversity of delivery and the independent nature of the projects was particularly praised by the moderator. It has been pleasing to welcome a much larger proportion of our year 11s back to Art & Design for year 12 this autumn than we had in the previous year. Our A Level cohort produced some outstanding work, using the flexibility of the Personal Investigation to create truly unique and outstanding explorations of personal themes, once more embracing a multidisciplinary approach and pushing the experimental edge of the subject across printmaking, animation, digital and darkroom photography, painting, collage and sculpture. When we have Graphic Communication students creating sculptural installations in response to live design briefs from D&AD we know that we are creating young people brave and confident enough to 146 – Olavian 2019

take risks to explore their subject. A number of students from last years 13 cohort have continued to study Art & Design related subjects with Kevin Wu taking Fashion Photography at the London College of Fashion, Rishita Ahmed taking a Foundation in Art & Design at UCA Canterbury prior to taking Architecture in 2020, Kojo Dwimoh going to Oxford to take Foundation Built Environment and Abhay Gupta taking Product Design Engineering at Loughborough. It is especially pleasing to see us building on that trend this year with all of our year 13s bar one applying for places on Art & Design based courses at such prestigious establishments as The Bartlett, The Royal Drawing School, Glasgow School of Art and Ruskin College Oxford. It is notable also that Nikol Boyadzhieva in year 13 has had work selected to be exhibited at The Royal Drawing Schools annual exhibition and has also won a National Prize for her work and alongside her talented peers bodes very well for the year to come.

Alex Clark

S___Head of Art

International Photography Competition Our student International Ambassadors judged all entries of our International Photography competition, selecting four overall winners for the theme of ‘Culture’: Sam Mellis, St Olave’s Grammar School, UK (Sunset on Southbank); Leonie Gareman and Tirza Karman, De Goudse Waarden, The Netherlands (Cheese Market);Member of the Kaleidoscope Photography Club, La Martiniere School for Girls, India (Portrait of a Girl with Lights); Adedokun Adefolahan, Badmus Muqadir; Ismail Abdulhaqq, Anwar Ul-Islam College, Nigeria (Students in Hausa Attire).

Art Exhibitions The Art Department was a hive of activity with GCSE and Sixth Form Art students preparing for, and putting on, two inspiring exhibitions, showcasing the fantastic work they have created over the past year. Artists hosted friends, family and staff in a show of great variety and accomplishment, ranging from immersive installations, skilful paintings and innovative photography. Thank you to everyone who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to prepare both shows, especially Mr Clark, Head of Art, and his colleagues, Mr Hall and Ms Farr.

NCH Art History Essay Competition Congratulations to Year 12 student, Shrinidhi Prakash, who submitted an essay as part of NCH’s Art History Essay Competition. Following her submission, Shrinidhi was invited to attend the Prize Giving ceremony last Wednesday at NCH’s London campus, where her essay received a ‘Highly Commended’ prize. Shrinidhi also met other people whose entries had qualified across the various categories, as well as AC Grayling, philosopher and founder of the institute.

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Student Artwork

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The Department of Design & Technology

T

his has been another fantastic year for the Design and Technology department. Uptake has continued to grow with more and more students opting to take the subject for GCSE. We have seen through the first year of the new specification at both GCSE and A Level with students taking on the increased challenge with determination and enthusiasm. We were excited by the second publication of the department journal, dtail with a student interview with Alice Black, the Co-Director of the Design Museum. In Extra-Curricular projects students have continued to take on more challenges, with our Formula 1 teams competing for the first time in both Beginner and Development Class. We welcomed Y6 students to our VEX IQ afterschool sessions, giving them the opportunity to compete in regional competitions alongside our Y7 teams and experienced continued success in VEX Robotics with team Download Complete winning the UK National Final.

Rosie Hawley

S___Head of Design & Technology

VEX Students from Years 9-12 travelled to Hertfordshire to compete in the first VEX EDR Regional of the year. Well done to Year 9 students Yani, Dennis and William who came 2nd in a very close Tournament Final. Congratulations to Team Download Complete who won 1st place both in their Tournament and the Skills Competition, securing the first spot in this season’s National Final.

VEX Tournament in the Great Hall The DT Department hosted a VEX Robotics Regional Tournament in The Great Hall involving 19 teams from ten schools in the South East. The five judges, including two Old Olavians, quizzed the teams and assessed their log books throughout the day. Congratulations go to all who took part and to Team 7975F from St Olave’s who won the Design and Skills Awards.

VEX Robotics Team 7975F competed in the National Final in Telford in March and after 2 days of tough competition were pleased to finish Alliance Selection as the 1st Seed Alliance. They continued to compete well throughout the rest of the competition, using their design, build, Olavian 2019 – 149

skill and tactics to win their division and be awarded the Create Award. They won the final game and became National Champions. Alongside competing in the main tournament, the team also competed in the Skills Competition in both pre-programmed and driver control,winning 2nd place nationally.The team have been awarded a place at the World Championships in America this year but have chosen not to attend. Throughout the season the team have won 5 tournaments, have been Tournament Skills Champions twice, been awarded the Design Award at two tournaments and awarded the Think Award. Team 7975H competed at the STOWE Regional at STOWE school, winning the Tournament Champion Trophy and a place at the National Final.

International Space Settlement Design Competition Following success at the UK Space Design National Final this March, five members of our Space Design Team were selected to represent the UK at the 25th Annual International Space Settlement Design Competition at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre. With a team consisting of schools from the UK, USA, India and Pakistan, the group was tasked with the design of the first urban space settlement on the Earth’s Moon; contained within a crater, the ‘Alaskol’ settlement was designed to provide a working and living environment for 18,000 residents in the year 2043. With three days and a team consisting of 60 student engineers, scientists and designers, students presented a 50 slide presentation to be judged and questioned by a panel of space industry professionals. Ultimately, our team achieved 2nd place in the competition, as well as the Best Male Speaker Award being given to team member, Shayne Beegadhur.

UK Space Design Competition Congratulations to the team who competed in their greatest and toughest regional UK Space Design Competition to date. They took on leadership of their 40 strong company with the roles of President going to Nadiya, Vice President of Sales and Marketing to James, Vice President of Engineering to Frederick, Head of Human Factors to Gregoire and Head of Automotion to Amro, who were joined by Sophie, Chrisa, William, Oliver and Eleanor in their departments. They were also joined by Old Olavian and UKSDC veteran, Shayne Beeghadur, as the Company CEO. The team’s thorough research and preparation this term served them well as they immersed themselves in their RFP, researching, writing and then giving an excellent presentation. The whole team were able to show off their skills and should be incredibly proud of their win and place in the National Final in March.

classifications. In the Entry Class, St Olave’s entered two Year 8 teams, ‘Blitz’ and ‘Golden Motorsports’. In the racing element, the teams achieved the fastest and second fastest times for the 25m track. The teams were rewarded for their endeavours with ‘Blitz’ picking up the Sponsorship and Marketing Award, placing them 2nd overall and ‘Golden Motorsports’ winning the Entry Class and gaining a VIP place at the National Competition. In the Development Class, our Year 9 team ‘Electron’ had consistently the fastest car in the field and also won the Best Engineered Car Award. The team came 2nd overall in their Class, winning them a place at the National Finals.

F1 In Schools Competition St. Olave’s hosted the South East Regional F1 in Schools Competition with 27 teams taking part across the three

IET First Lego League Regional Tournament Neil Tripathi, Hardiv Harshakumar, Debangshu Saha,

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Aneesh Rao and Bomi Adenugba teamed up with students from Skinners, Dartford Grammar, Bickley Park, Townley Grammar and Newstead Wood School to take part in the IET First Lego League Regional Tournament. They won the Best Research Project Award at the tournament, held at Stanborough School in Hertfordshire. ‘Team Peake’ designed a robot and also built a website using Lego Mindstorms ev3, demonstrating and performing 17 different missions typically required in space travel. In addition, the team interviewed scientists working on space research projects.

IET Faraday Challenge 36 Year 8 students took part in the IET Faraday Challenge, working in teams to design and prototype a product to solve a problem set by the IET (The Institution of Engineering and Technology). The teams developed some excellent ideas, presenting these at the end of the day with great knowledge and confidence.

Congratulations to Oliver,Tommy, Yash, Aklil,Tony and Alex who were awarded 1st place.

prestigious scholarship of its type in the UK to inspire and nurture school-age students to be the country’s future leaders of the Engineering Profession.

Dtail The second edition of the Design and Technology Journal produced exclusively by current students is now on sale. It is highly recommended to students interested in Engineering, Architecture and Product Design, and contains a fascinating interview with the co-director of the Design Museum London, Alice Black. It also includes articles such as; ‘New Designers’ and ‘Apple – King of Design’.

Arkwright Scholarships Congratulations to Shruti, Adesh, Amro, Frederick, James and Shane who were awarded Arkwright Scholarships by Air Marshal Julian Young at Savoy Place during half term. Ms Lands very proudly attended the event, alongside very supportive and delighted parents celebrating their child’s fantastic achievement.

An Arkwright Engineering Scholarship is the most

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Old Olavian

CONTENTS 155

Editor’s Notes Chairman’s Report

Chris Harris

Annual General Meeting

Chris Harris

One Hundred Not Out

Bill Hawkes

Reunion Lunch Memories

Various OOs

How would Dr Carrington have fared in the modern world of education?

Roger Brown

StOGS in Wartime Torquay

Walter Wilkinson

One Boy’s Blitz

George Grant

156 157 159 159 161 162 163

Clubs and Societies Old Olavians’ Lodge No 5758

Peter Hudson

Former Choristers

Graham Milne

Cricket Club Tour – 2019

Lance Giles

168 168 168

Old Boys’ Notes 1969 - 1976

Colin Woodward

1986 - 1993

Brian Tookey

In Memoriam

154 – Old Olavian – Olavian 2019

173 173 174

Editor’s Notes So another year has passed us by, a year which I hope will have brought all Olavians, whatever their age, more happiness and fulfilment than disappointment or frustration.

The highlight of my year came through my oft-mentioned cricket scoring. I was able to score two World Cup matches, one at Trent Bridge, the second at Old Trafford, and it was wonderful to have been part of the tournament which saw England victorious after so many years of trying. In addition my county, Derbyshire, managed to reach the t20 Finals Day for the first time. To score for my county at a Final was an honour for which I had been longing for a full twenty years, and the long wait made it seem even more special.

Even though the day was a disappointment from the result point-of-view, it was still good to have been associated with the young men who had worked so hard and played so well that they had earned themselves their own special day in front of a full house at Edgbaston on a hot sun-filled day in September.

Last year I asked my readers – I wonder how many Olavians actually take the trouble to read what I write – to send contributions, especially if they were able to write about their experience of moving with the School from Tooley Street to Orpington just fifty years ago. Sadly I received nothing on that memorable (?) event. But happily I have received contributions from several members, and I would recommend them all. George Grant’s memories of his years living near London Bridge Station during the wartime blitz should be compulsory reading. It would be a real eye-opener for the younger ones among us, and a reminder how lucky the majority of us are to have been born after there was any chance of our lives being affected by the bombing and the fear that this must have brought to residents in London and other major cities.

It was with very mixed feelings that I heard that Jane Wells was moving on to the proverbial pastures new. I was, of course, delighted that she was able to move to a new role, one which will bring her new and welcome experiences, but, from a selfish point of view, I am very sorry that she has left.

She could not have been more helpful and efficient in all that she did on our behalf, both as my editorial guide and as general respondent to all sorts of queries from members.

I am sure that we all wish her well. We are very pleased to know that she is now an Old Olavian herself.

Chris Harris Editor, Old Olavian

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Old Olavians Chairman’s Report 2019 Last year, as I wrote my report, I was looking forward to the launch of the new website. Well, it is up and running (www. oldolavians.net) and I know many of you have enjoyed exploring its delights, like the Photo Board, the News and the Reunions/Events. There is so much more and I hope you will continue to provide feedback to improve your and others’ experience.

The Service of Remembrance and laying of wreaths, in the year marking 100 years since the end of World War One gave those present the opportunity to remember not just Old Olavians, but all who gave their lives or lived on with physical and mental injuries, in all conflicts. The wreaths were laid at the School War Memorial by Old Olavian, Graham Milne (1963) and School Captain, Shrishti Rentala. This annual service is one of the school assemblies when Old Olavians are very welcome to attend.

In the busy run-up to Christmas, I was lucky to be able to take my seat at the School Christmas Concert, where the musical talent of St Olave’s students is showcased.

Of course, there were carols to sing, and the particular highlights for me were the Sixth Form Band’s wonderful rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, and the brilliant St Olave’s Jazz Band.

At the Society’s AGM in March we donated another £9,000 to the School. Those in attendance were also apprised of the planned development of the new Fives courts at the school (see the minutes). Howard Wiseman (1987) has since passed on the fantastic news that work is due to start on the Southway Fives project, which the Society has already donated over £43,000 towards. I understand from Howard that virtually all of the £250,000+ raised so far has come from Old Olavians and the Society. These new courts will allow the School and Old Olavians Fives to host competitions and will provide a facility for Eton Fives for the communities in South London, with the full support of the Eton Fives Association.

The Commemoration Service in May at Southwark Cathedral was well attended and I was introduced to the School Prayer. I do not recall having a School Prayer in my days at the School although I may have simply forgotten. I took note of it and here it is: Eternal God, help us through our duty to you to love our neighbour, to care for others, to do our best for and in school, to work for the common good of our community, and to care for ourselves as we serve you Amen.

The Prayer and ‘What is an Olavian’ (just Google it) are

156 – Old Olavian – Olavian 2019

evidence to me that the School is back on the right track, and it is great to see.

The Garden Party at the ‘Headmaster’s House’ this year, at the end of the summer term, was blessed with good weather again. Everyone there was in great spirits and looking forward to a well-earned summer break.

The year was rounded off with not one but two Reunion lunches. The first at midday in South Melbourne. I think this was also the first Reunion lunch overseas. My thanks to Tom Parkinson (1959), who offered to organise this event.

On the day three Old Olavians had lunch in a hotel and swapped memories. At least seven had expressed an interest and next year I fully expect there to be more attendees.

The Reunions were about three weeks later than usual (meaning I am fortunate even to be able to include it in my report as the editorial deadline is usually about the end of September).

The Reunion at the School proved to be one of the best yet during my term as Chairman, with 120 diners.

Our honorary President and Headteacher, Andy Rees, brought us up to date with the School’s academic achievements, the OFSTED inspection’s confirmation of the School’s status as ‘Outstanding’ and the many extracurricular activities that you will have read about earlier in this magazine. He then proposed the toast to the Society.

In response, our guest, Old Olavian Squadron Leader Mike Ling MBE RAeS RAF (Ret’d), who left the school in 1997, entertained us with some memories of school, and film and pictures to accompany the relating of his career highlights. Not least of which during his wonderful career with the RAF he became the longest-serving Red Arrows team member. Mike was supported by a large number of his Peer Year, which had to be spread across two tables.

1997 were not the only year group not to fit on one table.

Peer Year 1989 had twelve members present. ‘Father of the House’ was Sir Roger Sims who left the School in 1948, seventy-two years before the Senior Prefects who joined us that afternoon will leave!

If you haven’t been to a Reunion and are thinking of getting a table together, do let me know as I may be able to put you in contact with others from your year group.

And finally, please remember that all the school events are usually publicised in the Headmaster’s newsletters, which can be accessed via the ‘News’ on our own website. Please let me know if you wish to attend any of them and I will

arrange tickets.

•

I hope to see as many of you as possible at the AGM, Commemoration, or our next Reunion. The dates for these will be given in future Facebook posts and Newsletters.

Chris Harris (1970-77) chairoldolavians@gmail.com

Update on Southway Fives Project from Howard Wiseman. Howard reported that about £270k has been raised and the school has more than this available in total (about £330k). The costs of the work in tenders received were unfortunately much higher, but Howard has found a local builder who could build the fives courts within the budget available. The work could begin at Easter and take four months. This however needs further approval from a new Board of Governors. A discussion took place about the VAT and procurement position, checks by structural engineers which Howard advised were included in the costs and insurance cover for any faulty workmanship.

Howard would be having further discussions with the new Governors. Howard left the meeting.

Minutes of Last Meeting: These were agreed.

Matters Arising: The new website is up and running.

Potentiality are the hosts, and it is relatively simple to administer, however the Chairman has yet to find a volunteer to help and would welcome any feedback that will improve its attraction to younger members.

Reunion in Melbourne - L-R Tom Parkinson, Gillen Kirkwood & Rory Manchee

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE OLD OLAVIANS SOCIETY 20 March 2019

Attending: Committee Members: Chris Harris (1977), Chairman, Paul Ouseley (1977), Bill Prouse (1977), Rajiv Purwar (1977), Graham Milne (1963) Others: George Snelgrove (1964), Ian Giles (1966), Jane Wells (Staff ), Howard Wiseman (1987) Apologies: John Brown (1955), Chris Tarry (1971), Tim Franklin (1980), Alvan Sherman (1948), Ian Richards (1975), Tim Leonard (1965), Richard Norman (1962), Ray Franklin (1965), George Grant (1951), Mike Roberts (1965), Alasdair Clyne (1974), Teddy McAleer (2015) •

Current position of OOs Funds with School presented

by Jane Wells

•

The School has £3371 left from donations from the OO. This is in addition to funds provided by the benevolent fund in the last four years and the school has substantial funds available for hardship support (see also below under Benevolent Fund finance report).

Jane left the meeting.

Chairman’s Report: Membership: 2711 names on database. We removed those where we had neither email nor postal address. However, we will keep the complete record of names outside of the website for checking future requests to join only. 2369 with an email address. Whilst this is another small reduction on the number given last year, more email addresses have been removed as they were no longer valid and were bouncing back undelivered. 350 (365) paid £20 or more entitling them to the magazine, and a further 237 (253) paid something, giving a total of 587 (628) – £10,537 (£10,960) The above includes 13 (14) paying sponsorship members, paying £1,415, a fall in subscriptions of £423.

Recent leavers have not been asked to sign up to a subscription. We have in the last 3 weeks sent out emails (97) to 2014 leavers that were not already Subscription members. 15 from that year were already. One reply has been received so far. It was suggested the School could do more to encourage recent leavers to sign up and it would have a financial benefit to the school.

Also consider more events attractive to, or particularly for, young OOs, possibly (recent) year reunions. The Chairman will talk to the Headmaster about this.

Society Admin: This continues to be managed entirely by the school’s OO Administrator ( Jane Wells). Our sincerest thanks go to Jane. Audit is managed by the committee pro

Olavian 2019 – Old Olavian – 157

tem, with thanks to Paul (Frank) Askham our honorary auditor.

Magazine: Thanks again to John Brown, our editor, who continues to give order to our memories of school life, staff, events etc. Contributions can be emailed to him or emailed/posted to Jane Wells. The number of contributions last year was again mainly the result of direct requests to attendees following events and John’s notes and, of course, the Cricket Tour report.

Facebook: Managed by the Chairman who would also welcome any feedback, so that we can make this more useful, and attractive to our members. Followers 783.

Website: The Committee think it looks good; however we have no feedback so this is welcomed. People are registering, and we believe it is simple. It would be useful to flag to young OOs. LinkedIn Group: This now has 402 members and remains a LinkedIn private group which is impossible to see unless you are a member. The Chairman will try to arrange a link on the website which is only visible to members who log in, so that we can invite people to join.

Finance Report:

The Committee discussed better use of cash funds and the Chairman will look into this.

Income Expenditure Excess of Income/(Expenditure) Balance Sheet

2017 £1,986 £0 £1,986 £54,393

2018 £1,942 £0 £1,942 £56,335

The trustees have donated £10,000 over the last four years (nil last two years) for the headmaster to be used in cases of hardship.to be used in cases of hardship. The previous Headmaster had previously confirmed that the funds have made it possible for students to take part in activities and trips that would otherwise be out of their grasp financially.

However, Jane Wells advised last year that significant amounts are still unused. Jane has now broken this down, and when added to funds remaining from the now defunct Marshalls Fund, the school still has over £55,000 at its disposal. Accordingly, the Chairman proposed to the other trustees that no further funds are made available at this time.

Obviously, we will consider any direct applications. This was agreed.

Society Accounts Income Expenditure Excess of Income/(Expenditure) Balance Sheet

The Chairman proposed transferring the funds, and any requests for money to be made available are dealt with by the committee. This was also agreed.

2017 £16,259 £18,128 £(1,869) £35,663

2018 £16,791 £18,366 £(1,575) £34,088

Total Subscriptions are down £423 and investment income is up £84. Actual values of the investments continue to rise, up almost another £2,000 on last year.

The lunch was subsidised from subs to the tune of about £1,000. As the objectives of the Society are the bringing together of Old Olavians for the furtherance of personal friendships this seems justified. That amount is roughly the cost of the six senior prefects, the headmaster, guest speaker and two members of staff, who we do not charge, and the subsidy to younger OOs. Although not shown in the accounts, we still have at 12 pairs of cufflinks and 48 OO ties in stock.

The Chairman recommended making £9,000 available to the school including the sponsorship money, in accordance with the current policy to maintain a minimum Accumulated Fund of £25,000. This was agreed.

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We have had a direct request this year and paid £250 to an Old Olavian who is in hospital most of the time.Thank you to Graham for dealing with the assessment and visiting the OO. The accounts were approved.

Functions Report: Dinner at the RAF was enjoyed by all. Chris Sims (1977) was an entertaining speaker. See the Olavian for the memories of that evening. We will be lunching at the School on Saturday 5th October, and the guest speaker will be Red 10 - Squadron Leader Mike Ling MBE (199097) – ex-member of Red Arrows, who was unable to fulfil the engagement last year following his recall to the Red Arrows.

There was no Forties Reunion this year.

There is an annual Savoy Choir reunion on the second Sunday in July. This has been added to Facebook and the website. Maybe an attendee will share their experience via the Olavian next year.

Affiliated Club Reports: Cricket – Ian Giles. There is a full report in the Olavian but

a successful summer tour to Devon as usual and six recent school leavers played with the team in daily games.

Rugby – still dormant Fives – Howard Wiseman has already updated us on the four new courts at the school (known as the “Southway Fives Project”).The Fives club have had a very good season, and they recently won the Barber Cup for the sixteenth year in a row.

Paul DIMOND, CMG (1955-62) wrote: After thirty years in foreign service overseas, returning to the opportunity of attending an Old Olavian event has felt like a homecoming, as at the excellent reunion with contemporaries in Orpington on 5th October. While the bricks and mortar at Orpington differ from Tooley Street, parts of the old school’s fabric and, most importantly, much of its long tradition of excellence and style remain and

Lodge and Chapter No. 5758 – Graham Milne. The lodge is growing and promoting itself but joiners are mainly from outside the school. The Chapter could benefit from new members and particularly from the school. The Chairman agreed to put a link on the website.

Election of Officers: No-one wished to stand down and the entire committee was re-elected unanimously.

Other Business: £500 for the Cricket Club was agreed.

In contacting younger members, the Chairman was in contact with Teddy McAleer, ex-head boy and now a governor of the school. When discussing making the shopfront (website, Facebook and LinkedIn) more attractive, he suggested we needed to decide what we are selling. As a site for contact, we are outdone by Facebook, Instagram etc. So what are we actually offering youngsters?

Commemoration service this year is Thursday 2nd May. Remembrance service is on Weds 6th November, 8.15 at the School.

One Hundred Not Out

At the Reunion lunch in October our chairman announced to a warm round of applause that Bill Hawkes, who left the school in 1937, would be 100 on 19th November. By the time this edition of our magazine comes out he will already have passed that milestone. His headmaster was Henry Abel, Dr Carrington’s predecessor. He went straight into the employment of Southern Railway and was always in the Property Department which for years was called the Estate & Rating Dept. He worked in various office locations including Victoria, Waterloo and Kings Cross.

John King (1963) persuaded Bill to come to a couple of Old Olavians’ dinners in the 1970s/80s, but he has not

been since.

Reunion Lunch Memories

Our chairman, Chris Harris, persuaded several Olavians, young and old, who had attended the reunion lunch to write their impressions of this special annual occasion.

indeed have been well developed for the benefit of the new generation. Andy Rees gave a justifiably upbeat review of the academic results and sporting successes and our guest Mike Ling gave us a rare glimpse of one of the challenging professions mastered by an Old Olavian.

A particular privilege was to meet an outstanding group of current senior students, whose diversity, talent, optimism, focus and hospitality were strongly in evidence during the school tours and at the lunch. Who could not walk away from the event without quiet pride in the continuing spirit of Olaf ’s Song?

This time we had to say for us a sad bon voyage to Jane Wells at her farewell event with us, after so much care and attention she has given the Old Olavians over the years.

We wish her well in her new activity and are confident that we can keep in touch with her.

John R HASSALL (1954-60) wrote: It was great to see old school friends and to hear Mike Ling telling of his life with and after the Red Arrows. He was so passionate about flying and is very lucky to have done what he obviously loves doing as a career. My father used to say he had never been so busy in retirement which is probably the same for most Olavians, but it is in retirement for many of us that we can do what we enjoy doing. I envy Mike to have had a profession he loves while many of us don’t.

Ian NAYLOR (1982-89) wrote: Thanks for a great Olavian event last Saturday. Much had changed and much was still the same thirty years on since I last entered our School.

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The speeches were certainly a highlight of this year’s reunion.The Headmaster’s was notable for being frequently interrupted by warm applause as he announced not just the usual roll-call of academic achievement,but also paid tribute to (among others) the fives players, the community service givers, and the magnificent and probably irreplaceable Jane Wells, who has so ably and for so long acted as the face of the school to OOs, and vice versa. The applause confirmed that the school has moved on from the recent, well-

The Great Hall and the Quad were just as I remembered them as were many of the classrooms in the main block.

Much had been done to improve the school – a new Sixth form block and a sports hall to replace the swimming pool – unfortunately too late for us.

Obviously the School has been through some difficult challenges in recent years, but it was great to hear from the relatively new head as to the massive progress that has been achieved in the last two years.The speaker was inspirational – shame we didn’t have a Flying squadron-leader from our year!

I’m glad I came back – it was great to meet with contemporaries after so long and I will attend again soon.

Stephen R SPENCER (1976-80) wrote: This muchanticipated event was on this occasion in its alternate location, at the school, where those attending were spoilt for choice for pre-prandial entertainment: having the options to watch England’s Rugby World Cup match versus Argentina (potentially at the Buff Orpington public house - other public houses were available); to cheer on various school rugby teams in action live; or to support England from the comfort of one’s hotel room, followed by a swift sharpener in the company of Orpington’s Brexiteer community in the “Harvest Moon” on the High Street.

Naturally choosing the last option, Simon West and I stalwarts at, and cheerleaders for, the reunion, and the very concept of the reunion - were able to inspect the current condition of the former (and, the Almighty willing,) future Third Orpington Scout hut, on our way to the Great Hall.

We were pleased to hear the Headmaster, Mr Rees, later confirm in his speech that efforts are ongoing to restore “Thirdsden” to its former glory.

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documented, blip in its otherwise distinguished history as a school of the heart as well as the head.

The Guest of Honour, Squadron Leader Mike Ling MBE FRAeS RAF (Ret’d), who left the school in 1997 to join the Royal Air Force to become a fighter pilot, flying instructor and the longest-serving Red Arrows pilot to date, delivered a colourful presentation of the many angles from which one can view Planet Earth, in an inspiring review of his distinguished career.

The usual singing of “Olaf to Right the Wrong” was this year transformed by the organ accompaniment of Dr Noël Tredinnick FRSCM, whose economy with the school song contrasted with his exuberant renditions of “Gather Us In” and “Jerusalem.”

Looking back on this year’s event, which Simon and I have

attended with almost no exceptions for over thirty years, so many other memories spring to mind: the estimable personages of “our” Headmaster, Des Coulson, and his successor Tony Jarvis; discussing what makes St Olave’s unique,with the great history teacher,Alan Evans; exploring the perils of adapting Jane Austen, with the unforgettable James Loader; the quiet, continued presence of one of the funniest and most ribald former Guests of Honour I have heard, Sir Roger Sims; as well meeting, for the first time since leaving the school, John “Macbeth” Pead (with me, one of only three Olavian oboe players of our generation), and Ian Meek, whose enviable, off-grid lifestyle appears to mean that the only way you will ever meet him is by attending a future reunion!

All in all this year’s event was a shining example of just how enjoyable it can be to spend a few hours wallowing in nostalgia, eating excellent food, drinking a few toasts, and reflecting on how young or old you look compared to your peer group, but it doesn’t matter because we are all Olavians under the skin, and that is on the whole a very good thing.

See you next year!

Lily KEMP, current Vice-Captain of School, wrote: The Old Olavian lunch gave me a fascinating insight into the rich history of our school. Sitting on a table with Old Olavians who had left between 1948 and 1992 was truly awe-inspiring. St Olave’s clearly has such an impact on people’s lives and people’s mindsets. The dinner made me realise how proud I am to be a part of the Olavian community. The highlight for me was sitting next to Sir Roger Sims, MP for Chislehurst from the 1970s to the 1990s. His contribution to greater society, as well as his engaging anecdotes, opened my eyes to how St Olave’s has helped shape greater British society, as well as the lives of individuals.

The Old Olavian Society Chair and organisers presented a truly fantastic afternoon.

Joel KOVOOR, current Vice-Captain of School, wrote: Personally, I found the Old Olavian lunch experience truly enjoyable. From giving tours of the school to alumni, to listening to Mr Mike Ling’s insightful speech, as well as sharing entertaining conversations with Old Olavians at the table, I truly understood how strong and rich the Olavian culture is. One example was when the guest speaker showed us a picture of the wing of a Spitfire, which he was flying, over the school. The speaker remarked that it was one the proudest moments of his life, and I realised at that point how deeply he cherished his time at St Olave’s.

Over lunch I shared fascinating conversations with the fellow members of my table covering themes such as music and sport. It was also entertaining and insightful to hear some of their experiences as Olavians, such as various trips

they had been on.

How would Dr Carrington have fared in the modern world of education??

Knowing of my long involvement with education, one or two OOs have asked me how Dr Carrington would have fared in today’s world of league tables, academies and fierce competition between schools.

It is a good question. This short piece attempts to answer it.

Before doing so, it may be as well to briefly describe my experience. On coming down from university I worked for six-and-a-half years for the (long since abolished) Inner London Education Authority, then the largest local education authority in the country and successor to the London County Council’s Education Department. I had many opportunities to see state education at closehand, but perhaps the most relevant here was the time I spent in 1975-76 as Secretary of the William Tyndale Schools Inquiry.

The Inquiry was set up by ILEA to resolve a bitter dispute between teachers, governors and parents over the running of the junior school in Islington (the adjacent infants school was also included). The inquiry’s report by Robin Auld QC (now Lord Justice Auld) was very critical of the lack of clear lines of accountability displayed in the evidence to the inquiry.The report was a major influence on Prime Minister Callaghan’s 1976 speech at Ruskin College which led indirectly to the mid-80s educational reforms of the Thatcher Government – a National Curriculum and national tests and standards, leading inexorably to league tables – that we have had ever since.

Finally, to bring the story up to date, the last few years of my time as a DTI civil servant were spent promoting business-higher education links before, between 1990 and 2013, having various jobs in higher education, including nearly ten years as Principal/Vice Chancellor of what is now Solent University. During this period I became reacquainted with the compulsory sector through being Chair of the Southampton Education Trust, Chair of Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, Eastleigh and a regular contributor to the Times Educational Supplement.

Now to come to the question.

It is notoriously difficult to make proper comparisons between different eras: there are just too many variables and too much else will have changed. This came home to me when I visited the School some years ago at the invitation of the then Head. I spent the lunch period with some of the sixth form in a room containing a number of Alan Sorrell’s watercolours of the old building. One showed a number

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of pupils lined up outside the Head’s study. Asked what they were doing there, I replied without thinking that they were probably waiting to be caned! I realised that it was like explaining Dotheboys Hall. The educational world has indeed changed, whether for better or worse is hard to say.

So if he were to return now, and with these caveats, what would Dr Carrington find that was different?

First, there is much greater external control (external to the school, that is) over what is taught in schools.

Unfortunately, this has led to a much narrower curriculum than we enjoyed at STOGS. No after-Assembly concerts by the London Singers, no tying up the school for a term while everyone is involved in some way with the school play, no elocution lessons with Miss Gilbert Robinson. This has of course led – together with spending cuts that have been particularly harsh on sixth forms – to the downgrading of ‘non-core’ subjects like not only music, drama and art but even history and geography.

There has also been a decline in state school sport, so that our national sports teams are increasingly drawn from the private schools (as are our Oscar winners). Fortunately, STOGS appears to have escaped the worst of this.

Second, as a consequence of these curriculum changes and the associated adoption of national standards, there is much greater pressure on the teaching force. This has taken a number of forms, well ventilated in the educational press.

One aspect of this is that much greater effort now goes into teacher preparation and training so that teachers in state schools now require a qualification in teaching.

In principle, this is desirable – it is even being attempted in higher education – but it would have ruled out some of the most inspiring and effective teachers in our time at STOGS, individuals we all remember and cherish well into our seventies in my case. There has been an associated decline in extramural activities: no Saturday mornings on Hampstead Heath tracing the origins of one of London’s ‘lost’ rivers or visiting the Horniman Museum. Third, there is now much greater accountability. Increasingly schools and teachers are judged on their performance as measured in the league tables. Again this is in principle not undesirable. But there are a number of problems.

Education is not only about identifiable attainments: as a wise American colleague said, education is a process masquerading as an outcome. The measures used in the league tables are fundamentally flawed in various ways, not least in making little or no allowance for the quality of the ‘inputs’: schools with disproportionate numbers of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds almost invariably fare worse than others. Nonetheless there is too much ‘teaching to the test’. (As the School well knows) the measures are

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subject to all sorts of gaming and manipulation, many of them hard to detect and certainly hard for non-experts like parents and governors to appreciate. Last but not least, heads and other senior staff are having to spend time on activities like marketing and fund-raising for which they are not qualified and which divert them from their central educational role (this is again seen in higher education).

Overall, there can be little doubt that these reforms have been beneficial. There was too little accountability or attention to performance in the ‘old’ state education system. But – like many other of the reforms begun by the Thatcher Government and carried on by their successors – they have simply been taken too far, to the point where the unfairnesses, distortions and inefficiencies are more noticeable than the benefits. There is in fact a great opportunity for an incoming administration to row back on these policies whilst consolidating on the achievements.

So to return to the question of how Dr Carrington would have coped in today’s educational world: he wouldn’t!

Roger J BROWN (1966-72)

StOGS in Wartime Torquay

Walter G WILKINSON (1940-45) was inspired to write after he had read the article by Ted Godley in the last edition of the magazine: At the weekend I was drinking cocktails in the Headmaster’s room and toasting him who had given me a fair old caning there, namely Dr Carrington.

This latest visit occurred because I had decided just prior to my ninetieth birthday to go to the Tooley Street building to spend a couple of days in what is now the splendid Lalit Hotel.

It was a great experience. Not only was I wearing my Old Olavian tie but in my luggage was concealed my school cap, pre-1945, with its metal badge only slightly damaged by schoolboy horseplay. This cap I shyly fished out, to the delight of the hotel staff who gigglingly hopped forward to be photographed in it! The adapted building, while almost unaltered externally, is beautifully transformed within, yet retaining school features such as the hall with its choir gallery and the above-mentioned fearful study.

I was taken back in time to walking every school day down Tooley Street from London Bridge station. Actually it was more often running, because I was not a good timekeeper, and so I had to grin when reading the Head’s comment on one of my reports, “I much appreciate his help with the bell” as the first ring of the day was often done by one of my loyal classmates. This was mostly in Torquay, since only my last couple of terms were served in London.

Reading in The Olavian 2018 the fascinating article about

wartime Torquay was a reminder of times spent crouched in the corridors of our host,Torquay Grammar School, during air-raid alerts, a more squalid version of the aerial dogfights described by my old schoolmate Ted Godley, but then I remember he was a fan of the fictional air ace Biggles, and would try in vain to convert me to this WE Johns creation as we humped our full satchels from Chelston to school.

The Torquay-London contrast was vivid: slipping back home to Woolwich towards the end of the war confronted one with a grey scene of broken or plastered-over windows and great gaps in familiar streets. At the Pavilion Theatre on the Torquay seafront we sang during a speech day performance the words: “Now London town’s a fine town and London sights are rare And London girls are fine girls, and brisk’s the London air.

But busily goes the world there, and crafty grows the mind And London town of all towns, I’d gladly leave behind.”

Even given the miserable state of the capital at that stage you may think this was an insensitive choice for a choir of young lads separated from their homes and parents, but no-one was going to argue with Miss Hordern, a magnificent opera-trained lady ‘borrowed’ from Maida Vale High School for Girls evacuated to the girls’Grammar just up the road. With her powerful personality she had us singing this and, equally for her Devon audience, ‘Drake’s Drum’ without a whimper of protest from us. She never had any discipline problems with us, and for my later love of singing I am forever grateful to Miss Hordern.

Having subsequently spent most of my working life in the teaching profession I have often thought back to the performances of various teachers during my pupil years at St Olave’s, and Reg Shackel, our physics teacher, rates pretty highly with his avuncular style, given our circumstances then. He it was who took it upon himself to post on to us our final exam results, with a good deal of supportive comment added. But at the Reunion I attended last year I had the honour to be seated among current staff and senior pupils and was so thrilled to be able to converse across a seventy-year gap with ease. Plus ça change……..

I left that evening with the feeling that StOGS, having turned a corner, was the place for a student of today, male or female, to be.

One Boy’s Blitz

The tide of human events often sweeps us along uncomprehendingly before it, and that was certainly true of my experience of the Blitz in the Second World War.

One day in September 1939 countless thousands of British parents did something that would be unthinkable today: they agreed to send their children off at short notice, to an unknown destination, to unknown people, for an undetermined period of time. Fearing that the Nazis would launch a bombing campaign on British cities, the government put into action Pied Piper, a plan for the mass evacuation of civilians, mostly children from the cities, into the relative safety of the countryside. In three days over 1.5 million children were removed from their homes and sent to foster-homes throughout the country. I was four years old and, along with my older sister, an unwitting participant in that exodus. That parents were willing to do so at the time speaks of a certain level of confidence in the government and the level of fear stalking the land.

However, as time wore on and nothing much seemed to happen by January 1940 some 60% of evacuees, myself among them, had returned home. This was to prove to be spectacularly bad timing, as in September 1940 the Nazis launched the massive bombing campaign known as the Blitz, against London and other British cities. Far from being snug and safe in Wales, I was in London to witness and experience this phenomenon. It was to prove to be an experience like no other, and remains to this day my most vivid memory of the six years of the Second World War. One of the first casualties of the Blitz was my attendance at Snowfields school, especially during the early days, when interruptions due to daylight raids were frequent, and teachers were often absent or late arriving due to transport system disruptions. One went to school never knowing quite what would happen; sometimes the school opened late, sometimes it ended early; interruptions of varying duration were frequent and sometimes the school was just closed for a day or two. When the siren sounded, we were herded together into a large room that rapidly became extremely hot, stuffy and claustrophobic. The only relief being provided was by the largest boy present who valiantly attempted to create a feeble draught in the stifling room by swinging the classroom door to and fro as fast as possible.

If the resulting large classes and the loss of school time was a worry to the authorities and parents, it was of no concern to me and most of my classmates. We took the unscheduled interruptions more as a not unwelcome respite from our academic labours and a shortened or missed day simply meant additional hours of freedom spent salvaging shrapnel, scrambling over bomb sites, or playing about in the street.

Somehow, however, despite all the exigencies of wartime, the teachers, unsung heroes, many hauled out of retirement to fill the gaps left by younger staff members serving in the armed forces, still managed to teach us the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. Soon, however, the Blitz took on a more threatening and destructive aspect.

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At the time we lived in a flat on top of the old London Bridge Railway Approach, then the highest point around but now dwarfed by its soaring neighbour the Shard. I doubt whether there was a more tempting target in the kingdom than that which the Approach presented at that time. Directly across from us sat London Bridge station, the busiest commuter railway station in London, a major bus terminus, the Pool of London and its rows of towering cranes and, stretching down river from Tower Bridge, the London docks into which flowed daily the lifeblood of the country on countless ships. On the northern end of London Bridge stretched the City, the financial heart of the country, into which flooded daily the hundreds of thousands of city workers who kept this financial and commercial engine turning. Also, within two hundred metres, lay Billingsgate fish market, the distribution point for fish to the greater London area, and the Borough fruit and vegetable market which supplied most of these commodities to the capital.

This was clearly not a target that the Luftwaffe planners would overlook.

Like most kids, I soon learned that the sirens’ ascending and descending wailing alarm meant ‘Take cover’, and my younger brother, almost before he could walk, upon hearing the siren would crawl under the kitchen table where he would sit contentedly until the All Clear sounded.

The sight of the Junkers, Dorniers and Focker Wulf bombers that menaced the city, and the distinctive drone of their twin engines soon became part of the familiar sights and sounds of daily life. At the beginning the raids occurred mostly during the day but, as the Luftwaffe's losses began to mount, seeking the cover of darkness they changed to night-time raids. Once the raids commenced they continued day after day, night after night for months and rapidly became routine as did our response to them.

Initially we, like most people, largely acted as instructed and took shelter. A trip to a shelter meant a run through the total blackout then in force in London. No street lights, vehicle headlights reduced to mere slits and lights in residences blacked out by heavy curtains. At night-time a darkness descended on London not seen since medieval times, an inky blackness reigned, broken only during raids by the flash of the ack-ack guns and the dull red glow of fires.

We had two possible shelters close by, London Bridge underground station at the end of the Approach, or a deep shelter under a field hidden from view behind the Approach, both about one hundred yards from our front door.Space in the deep shelter was limited,and often queues for entrance formed early in the evening, necessitating an early commitment for the complete night before the raids began. Arrive late and you risked being turned away. In the early days of the Blitz we initially spent several nights in

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the deep shelter, which I remember only as a dimly-lit, cold and clammy refuge, deep enough underground that the sound of the onslaught above was muffled, but where the earth still shuddered if a large bomb struck close by.

However we soon abandoned the deep shelter for the underground station to spend nights sleeping on its hard, stuffy and crowded platforms. No more comfortable than the deep shelter, it had the advantage that it remained open throughout the night, so it was possible to come and go throughout the night depending on a raid's development. To avoid the disruption and discomfort of unnecessary nights spent in either shelter we often waited until the siren sounded throughout the night sky, and the drone of the advancing squadrons could be heard, or even until a raid was under way before a decision was made whether to seek shelter or not. Sometimes we would flee to the underground, and the raid would pass us by or peter out; on other occasions we would stay at home and the night would erupt into the volcanic fury of a major raid. However, as the raids wore on, we, like many others intolerant of the disturbance of the daily routine and increasingly indifferent to our safety, frequently chose to wait out the raids at home, sometimes climbing onto the roof, or standing in the shelter of the front door’s portico to watch a raid’s progress as it played out overhead.

On the occasions that we took shelter I would often be woken up from a deep sleep, get dressed and stumble downstairs to the front door where I would wait with mum and dad as the waves of bombers approached. Between successive waves of bombers there was always a brief gap, when a suitable gap appeared someone would say, “Run” and, with a small metal torch in my hand, I would run down the Approach as fast as I could to the underground’s entrance. The dash took perhaps thirty seconds, through a blackness rent by a relentless explosion of light and sound. Searchlight beams sweeping the sky, hunting between the clouds and smoke for the bombers, rolling like the tide across the night sky. The ack-ack guns barking, accompanied by the dull crump of exploding bombs, and the bomb blasts shuddering the earth. As I ran, around me the pinging of hot shrapnel against the pavement like the playing of a celestial xylophone and, above it all, the dull drone of a thousand advancing engines throbbing in unison in the darkness.

Once in the tube, I ran down the spiral staircase to the platform level, the ringing of my Blakey-shod shoes on the steel stair-treads echoing in my ears. Once at the bottom, I waited until the other family members arrived. Of the nights spent on the platform I remember little; I suspect that I curled up where I could, and was soon asleep again.

When the long All Clear sounded, often in the very early hours of the morning, we would climb the spiral staircase

and emerge from the tube, to make our way home, up an Approach often strewn with broken glass and debris.

Although the Approach was fortunate in that it avoided any direct hits, London Bridge station facing us was hit by incendiaries destroying the upper level. However the rest of the station was saved and continued to transport daily its tens of thousands of workers in and out of the city throughout the war.

The air-raids were numerous and monotonously similar, but one daylight and one night-time raid remain vivid in my memory. The first was a massive September daylight raid aimed at the Surrey docks, the other perhaps the heaviest of the Blitz, a night-time raid that set a good deal of Bermondsey ablaze. The sirens sounded on a clear day, and soon the throb of the first wave of advancing bombers could be heard swelling in the distance.The attack appeared to be close by, but not directly over us. We climbed the attic ladder up onto the roof, from where looking east we had a good view over the East End and much of Bermondsey.

I wonder now, why we would decide to do such a thing rather than take shelter? Perhaps the sheer excitement was overwhelming, and we were mesmerized; rather like deer trapped in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle, we could only stand and watch. From the roof you could see in the distance the advancing waves of bombers sprinkling a toxic dust of incendiaries and high explosives upon the city. The target appeared to be the London docks and the East End .on the other side of the river.

It was a strange scene: one or two barrage balloons hung forlornly in the clear sky as the bombers loosed destruction upon the helpless East End below. Soon there followed the rumbling impact and the slow eruption of dark clouds of smoke rising over dockland and the East End. In the sunshine above the burning docks and rising smoke, the fighters of the German escort and the RAF pursued one another, flitting between the wispy clouds in aerial combat, their struggles choreographed by an ever- changing web of white vapour trails in the autumn sky. Which was friend and which was foe was impossible to know, with only a silver glint, reflected by the sun occasionally, revealing their presence as they hunted one another between the covering clouds.

Across the river that Caesar’s troops had once forded, the onslaught continued. It was so close yet seemed so remote; in the distance a speck slowly descended earthwards bringing a fortunate German or RAF pilot back to earth.

It was as unreal to me as the violence of toda’s video games must seem to today’s children. I was too young to know that the writhing trails masked the desperate struggles of young airmen, many of whom would not live to see the sun set over London on that day. I was too fresh to life to have any awe or comprehension of death on that September

afternoon.

We stood on the roof and watched the spectacle, for how long I ca’t remember, perhaps ten, twenty or thirty minutes or simply long enough to decide that the bombers would not cross the river, and that the Approach was safe that day.

Soon, borne on the breeze, the nose captured the scent of the distant destruction. ‘The smells of London’s Imperial trade’ as a fireman recalled them. “Pepper fires loading the air with stinging particles, rum fires, torrents of blazing liquid pouring from warehouse doors and barrels exploding like bombs themselves, cascading white hot flame of paint fires, and rubber fires raising thick black clouds of toxic smoke.” At the time I had no understanding of the tragedy unfolding before me, it was to me like a pier kaleidoscope show. Somehow the fact that it was occurring in daylight made it less threatening than the night-raids clothed in darkness that soon became our nightly companions.

The second raid that remains distinct in my memory was one when we came close to being bombed out ourselves, and almost changed from observers to victims: soon after the siren sounded and the first bombs began to fall, it was clear that it was going to be an exceptionally heavy raid, but for some inexplicable reason we remained at home. After the raid had been under way for a while, dad who was a fire-watcher decided to climb up onto the roof to view its progress, and I followed him. As he didn’t send me back I stayed, standing with him on the flat area behind the parapet surrounding the roof. The attack was concentrated on the other side of the river on the usual targets, the docks, bridges, railway and the East End, but at the time didn’t seem to directly threaten us on the Approach.

The attack was hitting the East End and the surrounding areas hard. The night sky glowed a dull red as, fanned by a stiff breeze, the East End and the docks burned. The centuries-old leather tanneries of Bermondsey were now also aflame. The stench was indescribable as the various chemicals employed in the treatment of the hides were released into the night, intermingling with the others of the conflagration. It was a pungent stench like none other, and one which will never quite fade from memory. So I stood with dad watching the scene unfolding before us across the river.

As the night raged on, we could see from the roof-top the fires slowly advancing through Bermondsey, along Crucifix Lane, across Maze Pond, up St Thomas Street towards the Approach, driven on relentlessly by the wind. What a night it was! The fire brigade was doing its best, .but water was in short supply, and as the wind showed no sign of slackening, a fire-warden advised that we should pack what we could and get ready to leave. Across the forecourt of the

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station hoses snaked in all directions as the firemen tried to prevent the advancing fires from jumping across London Bridge Street onto the Approach. It is hard to imagine, now that street lights have almost banished night, the total darkness of the blackout. Such illumination as there was came from the flickering fires as they devoured building after building,while here and there in the darkness a moving point of light revealed a human presence. What a boiling cauldron of sight, sound and stench it was. The dancing flames, the white light of hovering flares, explosions, gun flashes, the sudden glimpse of a silver plane caught in the cone of yellow searchlight beams as they swept the night sky. The tinkle of hot shrapnel falling on the darkened city mingled with the steady drumbeat of the guns, and the dull rumble of the falling bombs swelling and fading as succeeding waves of bombers released their cargo upon Bermondsey In the night sky clouds of black smoke rose, partially obscuring the dull glow of the burning city.

The flames continued their advance, finally leaping across the street, and the last flat on the Approach began to burn.

Then, just as we were on the verge of evacuating, the wind miraculously dropped. The fire at the end of the Approach was doused and we were reprieved. There are no words that I can put on paper that can recapture the totality of the smells, sounds and sights of that night, but to watch it unfold as a young boy was totally mesmerizing. For some days after the raid, as I made my way along Maze Pond to Snowfields school, all that remained of that part of Bermondsey were the skeletal outlines of the still smouldering buildings Our second brush with home evacuation was the result of a raid of no particular severity. The All Clear had sounded a short time before and we were about to get on with the day’s business, when an air-raid warden came and told us to pack and leave immediately. There seemed to be no immediate threat, no wailing sirens, no drone of approaching planes.

In response to our perplexed looks, he said simply, “It’s a land-mine, look out of your top window.” There, on an outstretched signal arm on the train-track to Charing Cross, a large land-mine was hanging by its parachute. The shipping in the Pool of London was probably its intended target but it had drifted off-course and there it now hung like a malevolent plum pudding above the train-tracks.

The warden said, “If it blows, this part of the Approach will go.” So we packed and left, and spent the time until it was declared safe to return some hours later in the Lyon’s tea house in the Borough High Street. So once again we were spared.

Those sheltering in nearby Stainer’s Street arch on February 17th 1941 were not so lucky. The archway, where shortly before I had attended a kids’ Christmas party, received a direct hit, blowing the protective steel doors fitted at the

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entrances through the archway killing sixty-eight and injuring 175. .A few days later, when I passed on my way from school, rescuers were still searching doggedly through the rubble under a gaping hole in the archway roof.

As the nightly onslaught of the Blitz petered out, the frequency and the severity of the raids in the later part of the war diminished to more of a sporadic nuisance, rather than the dire threat they had once posed. Days might pass without the wail of the sirens disturbing the peace, and often when the alarm sounded the intruders proved to be few in number, or a lone reconnaissance plane scurrying across the sky. The Nazis were in retreat on all fronts, and the threat from the air seemed to have ebbed away, and I suppose we had become complacent. Until one day in June 1944, the first doodlebug made its appearance over London. When I saw the first doodlebug or buzz-bomb as they were also called, I can’t remember, but it was an astonishing sight. I was walking home up the Borough High Street when suddenly a distant hum was in the air, and people began to stop and peer at what appeared to be a lone aircraft approaching in the distance. As it drew closer, it became apparent that this was something different: instead of the now familiar engine drone of a Junkers or Heinkel it emitted a strange ‘putt-putt’ sound, quite unlike any enemy aircraft that I was familiar with. Then, as it neared, you could see clearly that this was no ordinary plane, but what appeared to be a large metal cylinder above which was attached a smaller diameter cylinder, from which squirted a trail of flame. Shortly after it had passed overhead the odd ‘putt-putt’ sound suddenly stopped, and everyone watched as the strange object flew silently on northwards over the Thames falling slowly earthwards. A minute or two later, the rumble of a heavy explosion followed and smoke began to climb into the summer sky.

Later, I would find out, that what I witnessed that day was the arrival of a V1, the first of Hitler’s Vergeltungswaffen (Vengeance weapons).

The V1, doodlebug or flying bomb as they were variously called was in essence the first operational cruise missile. Over the coming months I would see many more over London, and they were soon absorbed into wartime daily life. It was a tense time when one approached with its flaming tail and steady puttputting engine, but we soon learned that, only when the engine died and the doodlebug began its silent glide, did it become an immediate threat. Once it was overhead with the flame from its rocket engine still burning, you could relax, and watch it fade into the distance awaiting its inevitable decent and explosion.

The doodlebug carrying almost a ton of high explosive and travelling at almost 400mph proved challenging to counter. Barrage balloons and anti-aircraft guns proved to be ineffective, and most of the available fighter aircraft were too slow to intercept them, which in itself was quite hazardous as they

often exploded immediately upon being hit. The preferred technique became for pilots to fly alongside, and use their wing-tips to flip the doodlebugs off-course. In the four months following June some 9.000 doodlebugs were launched killing 4,000 and injuring 18,000.people, and continued to strike London until the Allies overran their launching sites in France in October 1944.

Later, the records say it was January 22 1945, I was to cross paths with Hitler’s other Vergeltungswaffe, the V2. Once again, on a drab London winter’s day I was walking up the Borough High Street on my way home from school. I stopped for a few minutes at Hielkin’s, the baker’s, to study the cream cones and bread-pudding slices in their window before continuing on my way home. I had just passed the hardware store close to Union St, when there was a violent explosion. Even at a distance of some three hundred yards or more I felt the blast. Looking back down the Borough High Street I could see, at the junction of the Borough and Marshalsea Road, a column of black smoke beginning to rise in the air. Puzzled passers-by stared at the ascending column of smoke; no alarm had sounded, and the sky was clear with not a plane in sight. Someone said it seemed to be Moser’s factory on the corner across from St George’s church. Moser’s was an engineering company, so perhaps it was an explosion in the factory, which seemed to be a logical explanation. Moser’s had not, however, suffered an internal explosion, but it had been hit by a V2. It struck at 5.15pm, just as the workers were leaving work. Thirty-five people lost their lives that day, many of them young girls who worked at the factory. The rocket destroyed most of the factory, leaving behind a bombsite that I later passed daily on my way to school.

The V2 was the world’s first long-range ballistic missile and the first man-made object to enter space. Forty-six feet tall, fired from a mobile launcher, and propelled by a liquid fuel rocket it carried a warhead of almost a ton of high explosives at 3500km/hr. Its speed and short flight-time made any effective defence impossible. More than 1300 of these missiles were launched against London killing 2700 people and injuring 7000 more. I am left to wonder what I was doing in the vicinity of Moser’s at 5.15pm when school finished at 4pm. Was I kept behind at school for some reason, or just dawdling and playing about on my way home? A few minutes later, and I perhaps would not be writing this account, but such are the fortunes of war, a few millimetres or seconds one way or another may be the difference between life and extinction.

However, like most things in life, for some even the Blitz had its silver linings. It was a golden time for kids playing in the streets which meant not playing at the end of a driveway, but wandering the neighbourhood unsupervised for hours, returning often only at mealtimes. A couple

of coats turned any street into a football stadium for an hour or two; cars were few in number, and lorry drivers seemed not to mind stopping while we cleared the goalposts, replacing them once the lorry had passed, so that the game could resume. There was also the pleasure of chasing slow-moving horse and carts that you could hang onto the back of and get a free ride until the driver drove you off with violent curses, and the granite curb made a convenient seat for a game of marbles in the gutter or just a place to sit and watch the world pass by. Early on in the war much of Bermondsey and Southwark had been turned into a moonscape, pitted with bombsites, many of which remained untouched for years, even after the war. Some were larger than football fields, with exposed basements, broken walls, and mountains of rubble that could be run around, climbed over, and endlessly investigated. Where camps could be built, stones could be thrown, fires lit, and where we played for hours without an adult in sight. In retrospect we enjoyed a wonderful adventure playground in a city with probably more open space than had existed since the great fire of 1666, and with a degree of freedom unimaginable to today’s five year old.

Another beneficiary was Mother Nature, who was quick to seize the opportunity to take back the land. According to the naturalist RSP Fitter, among the first colonists to settle were the common weeds, fireweed and yellow ragwort, which in turn attracted the elephant hawk moth and other insects. Soon birds, some not previously seen in London, black redstarts and wheatears were nesting among the rubble. In a few years, Mother Nature had turned bombsites into wild gardens where weeds, reeds, fruit bushes and wild flowers flourished, and cabbage whites and red admirals flitted among the plantain and dandelions.

The house sparrow was everywhere, flocks of starling roosted on buildings nearby, black-headed gulls wheeled squawking overhead, and legions of portly pigeons strutted across the station forecourt. The sparrows and starlings are mostly gone, and even the once ubiquitous pigeon is much reduced in numbers as their post-war habitat has disappeared over the years.

All these years later, I am left to ponder why did I never feel personally threatened, nor was I fearful that my brief life might be abruptly snuffed out? Largely I suspect, because the adults around showed no signs of panic or fear. If they were frightened, and they would have been insane not to have been, they never let me see it. They always appeared to know what was to be done, and I simply did what I was told, sublimely confident that all would be well. Ignorance is truly sometimes bliss.

Why did I, living next to prime targets in Bermondsey, the most heavily bombed location in Britain, survive the Blitz unscathed while others, apparently safe in the

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depths of the countryside, fell victims to bombs randomly jettisoned by a Nazi bomber scurrying home? Who can answer such imponderables? At five years old, with so little experience of life, the Blitz was to me simply a new experience, a natural occurring phenomenon in life, akin to the daily rising and setting of the sun, the like of which I had never experienced before and never have since. It was a totally engulfing experience, arching across the night sky, bombarding simultaneously all five senses, an immense, exciting cosmic game to which I was but a diminutive and astonished onlooker.

George Grant (1945-51)

Clubs and Societies Old Olavians’ Masonic Lodge No.5758

Our old school masonic lodge continues to flourish. Brian Nicholas, who attended our school whilst it was based in Tooley Street, has just completed another year as our Master. In 2020, Bob Nott, another of Tooley Street’s former pupils, will celebrate sixty years as a member (and a very distinguished member) since he joined the Lodge in March 1960.

Former Choristers

Graham Milne has sent this photograph of a group of old Olavian choristers: he reports that Sunday 14th July 2019 was Former Choristers’ Sunday and the penultimate service for the Chaplain, who retired at the end of July. His last service had a ‘Packed House’ with him just sitting, listening to others doing the work and giving a good resumé of his life in the Church. This was followed by champagne on the lawn (where it was a very hot day!).

Sunday 6th October was the first service for the new Chaplain, Rev. Canon Thomas Woodhouse. It was a very good service with a few small changes to what we are used to, but only to be expected. After the service we were able to greet his wife and three of his daughters.

It would be good to see more of you former choristers at next year’s service on Sunday, 12th July 2020.

Nowadays, of course, we are an ‘open’ Lodge. ‘Open’ is a term that really reflects something very important to Freemasonry. We are open to men of all faiths, from all parts of the world and from all walks of life. Even so, there is always a feeling of special pleasure in OO Lodge when someone associated in some way with our old school joins us. (A note for our senior girls - Yes, there are ladies’ masonic lodges too!)

Our main vital purpose continues to be fund-raising for others. Our organisation actively supports a huge range of charities and good causes. Examples include funds for hospices, medical research, youth organisations and, of course, every appeal that is set up following disasters world-wide. In the past we have purchased or helped to fund lifeboats, the second London Air Ambulance helicopter and special equipment needed by hospitals. We have just completed raising the funds to buy those urgently needed vehicles with long-reach ladders for London’s Fire Service – to be used in rescuing people should fires break out in high-rise flats.

If any readers of this article feel they would like to learn more about Freemasonry or, indeed, they want to join us then my contact details are: Peter G Hudson OBE, Hon. Sec Old Olavians’ Lodge, 9 Downs View Close, Pratts Bottom, Orpington, Kent, BR6 7SU or E-mail me at hudsons91@btinternet.com

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Back row - SqLdr Thomas Leyland (Steward), Calab Lee, Christian DeCrue, Tom Dixon , The Rev. Canon Prof Peter Galloway Middle row - Graham Milne and former Headmaster, Desmond Coulson.

Front row - Robert Walker, David Everett (over from Canada) and Ian Clifford.

Old Olavians’ South Devon Cricket Tour 2019

Well, we did end up picking just about the wettest week of the summer to tour in, but we only lost two games out of six to rain and it could have been worse. We welcomed

four new tourists who got a stack of runs and everybody had a good time, so on the whole 2019 was another great tour for the OOs. After a typically rainy drive down to Devon on the Sunday morning we got to Paignton with the sun breaking through the clouds. A decent meal and hello to our fellow-tourists in the large oak-beamed Spinning Wheel pub preceded the game, for which we were one player short. G Woodcock from Paignton had very kindly volunteered to play on our side (mostly because he wanted to get his brother out, apparently), and he turned out to be a very useful addition.

We were in the field and he took the first over and whipped it down briskly on a good length and got a wicket with his second ball. Skipper Lance Giles was pressed into opening at the other end, since the OO tour fast bowling cupboard was as bare as a nun’s drinks cabinet as per usual at the start of the week, and generated a bit of new-ball swing and got a wicket too. After eight overs the score was 38 for two and it was time to start shuffling our fairly scarce bowling resources. Andy Bradley from Kenn, who had guested for us on a couple of games the year before, was back for more, and came on with the batsmen looking to play all the shots in the book. He struck with his first ball, a beautifullypitched leg-spinner that beat the forward defensive prod of the batsman to take off-stump, and he struck again with his fourth ball, when our Woodcock fulfilled his wish and caught out his brother Woodcock at deep square leg.

Andy bowled another batsman in his second over to leave Paignton reeling at 49 for five off twelve overs.

That was the zenith of our bowling fortunes, however.

After two gloriously-flighted and tricksy overs, Andy seemed to panic a little at how well it was coming out and lost his length and got hit out of the attack. Ian Giles and Dave Colloff revved up their engines and had a pop, but the ball wasn’t swinging much and we didn’t get another wicket until the twenty-fifth over, by which time the score had reached 153. New tourist and normally wicketkeeper, James Gillin, had a burst from the bottom end, but was still straightening himself out from the ride down in Colloff ’s teensy car and felt a bit stiff. He bowled some excellent balls and a few looser ones and got a deserved wicket before summarily taking himself off. L Giles and Bradley returned to moderate success and our Woodcock came back in time to take the wicket of another relation of his (S Woodcock) before the home team were all out for 233 in 36.4 of the possible forty overs.

The tea was brilliant, just like last year. We’d just about managed a respectable bowling performance, but 233 was on the fringes of what was within our batting grasp and we’d need everyone to be at the top of their form to come close to it. Sadly, things didn’t go our way. James Hubbard had not played since he was last on tour a few years ago

and seemed on the verge of settling down just before he got out; Andy Underhill, another guest from Kenn, got a bit of a shooter to be bowled early, and local OO-friend Simon Burrell got his pad in the way of a straight one.

Our cheerful Liverpudlian, Gilly, hit a few nice shots to show what he could do and then missed one that rattled his timbers for nineteen. Pete White hit a couple of fine shots before departing too, which precipitated a bit of a slide.

Lance and Dave Colloff found themselves at the crease with the score on 69 for eight from 24 overs. To the everphilosophical Colloff, however, this was water off a duck’s back, and he happened to find himself in good touch. He proceeded to smash three lovely fours and, if he’d had Jack Leach at the other end, would no doubt have won us the game. Unfortunately Leach was busy elsewhere, and Lance missed with a swing and got bowled by the last ball that was bowled before the rain started to pour down.

All the players took shelter from the cloudburst in the pavilion and most thought that that was it for the game.

However, the home skipper was fairly keen to go out there and complete the job, and the OOs thought it would be a bit churlish not to let them do so, considering how soundly they had been winning. After forty-five minutes or so the sun had come back and we agreed to hurry out for one last thrash. Colloff crashed a couple more boundaries and was then out for 27 which pushed the OOs’ score up to 119.

At least we had made triple figures and shown we were men of magnanimous character, and hopefully we will be able to make a better showing next year.

It was lovely and sunny at Sidmouth the next day, and we found the ground sporting some new twenty-foot netting on posts along the bottom wall guarding the road and beach beyond. Apparently the netting had already stopped several balls from exiting the ground, but we were rather dubious that it would have been high enough to stop Sage’s six and ensuing holiday-maker-bonce-collision from the previous year which had precipitated its purchase.

Home skipper Chapman claimed they were an unusually young team and we may as well bat first in a forty-over game, and they would try to chase down anything we posted. His opposite number L Giles tried to convince him that a timed game would offer more flexibility via a declaration in case one side was proving a mite superior, but Chapman was having none of it. So be it. The Olavian ranks had been bolstered overnight by the arrival of five warriors from ODCUACO – Jamie Batten and Chris Webster had brought along three buddies – and we fancied our chances against any team Sidmouth could conjure up. Young buck Henry Hamilton opened with Gillin and looked immaculate while facing the tight and cagey lines of Graham Munday in his last season at Sidmouth before retiring, and it was a shock when he was suddenly out stumped for 23. Hubbard (18) hit some nice

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runs while not quite settling into his stride, and after 18.2 overs the tourists were a respectable 96 for three. Chris Webster was joined by newbie Mike Parr and they quickly set about changing the complexion of the game. Over the next nine overs they blazed merry hell to put on 125 runs before Webster retired on 110. Nick Kirby, another new tourist from Petts Wood, who had been on the verge of touring for about ten years, was the next man in and an excellent bat, and we still had plenty of batting in reserve and things were not looking too rosy for Sidmouth’s young team. As Parr continued to smite sixes with gusto, Lance ran about the place trying to get word to Chapman that we needed to declare even though it was a forty-over game, but Chapman had had to leave the field to take a business call.

By the time he had finished talking shop the OOs were on 248 off 29 overs. “Ah”, he said slowly, “That’s gone south rather quickly, hasn’t it? Let’s just carry on while they get the tea laid out and then we’ll think about it.” Word was passed to Parr to slow it down a bit, but Mike was gripped with bloodlust and in the zone. He couldn’t help hitting another six and a four and, as the tea ladies flustered around with baskets of sandwiches, Giles took an executive decision and waved the batsmen in. The score was 271 for five from 31.2 overs and Parr had made a boisterous 83* and seemed a little miffed he had not been allowed to continue the carnage until he had reached three figures.

He is a cheerful chap, though, and a couple of strawberry scones soon put it out of his mind.

Since our spearhead Jamie B needs the scent of napalm in his nostrils to get geared up for an opening salvo, OO warhead number two, Dave Colloff, took the first over of the second innings. He was partnered at the other end

by Nick K, and both of them put in tidy stints and got a wicket apiece, both from fine catches in the slips by Webster. Kirby in particular with one wicket for twelve runs from seven overs quickly doused any hope there may have been of a challenging run-chase. Ed Nott came on once the shine was off the ball and bowled some furiously energetic leg-spin that bounced and spat from the rough.

He got a wicket in his first over (a good catch by Batten) and looked a real handful throughout his spell. Lance put in a fairly uneventful twirl at the other end until with his last ball he bowled Chapman for 39 to leave Sidmouth on 84 for five from twenty-five overs. Oh, it was uneventful apart from a humorous incident when Parr demanded he go in at second slip and then proceeded to drop one that hit him in the chest, whereupon he was promptly removed to midwicket. His place in the cordon was taken by Nott who almost immediately took a catch off Batten, who had come on to try his hand at some off-spin. Webster followed that with two more cracking catches in the slips off Batten and Hamilton. HH had also begun to ply his spinning trade. He joined the party with an LBW (the victim was Munday for nought, who felt obliged rather indignantly

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to remind the air nearby of the appeal he had had turned down against Henry himself earlier in the day), and James Hubbard came on to take the last wicket (caught Kirby) with his left-arm spin and Sidmouth were all out for 119 in 38.5 overs.

It was a great shame it had not been more of a contest because practically everyone in the touring side could lay legitimate claims to being an all-rounder, so we had basically fielded twenty-two players. The bright side was that the early finish left more time for socialising afterwards, and we had a good chat with the Sidmouth boys and eventually left them with everybody looking forward to a closer game next year. Dave Colloff was the last to leave and, after making sure his passengers were all safely aboard, he got behind the wheel of his chariot and tried to put his safety belt on. Tug. Tug tug! No use, it was not budging. “Why are you trying to put on my safety belt?” came a politely drawled inquiry from behind him. Our stalwart umpire Steve Parsons had been reviving himself from his long duties and the tension of the day with several convivial beers and had managed to buckle himself in using the driver’s seatbelt.

The forecast had been pretty gloomy for the middle of the week, and there was a fine drizzle in the air as we had breakfast on Tuesday morning. Devon seems to be a patchwork of microclimates, however, and it’s quite possible that one place can be flooded out while somewhere just up the road doesn’t feel a drop all day. Sadly Sandford was one of the wet places that day, and we got the call early on that the game was off due to too much rain overnight.

Cricket was not to be entirely deterred, however, and the OD lads instigated a cut-throat game of beach cricket, followed by golf at Starcross. We decided to bring the tour quiz forward and have it that night so that there could be a focal event in the day for everyone to take part in.

Terry Smith ran it with a grip of iron and quizzed us on all sorts of amazing facts from life’s varied tapestry. Sadly no huffs, walkouts or fisticuffs occurred, but the rest of the quiz was perfect.

Wednesday morning was not much better than Tuesday, but the sun was meant to muscle its way through later on in the day, so after a spot of lawn bowls (where J Gillin demonstrated his bowls style was very similar to his “whack it” batting style) we headed down to Torquay’s ground in reasonable hopes of getting a game in, even if we had to reduce the overs a little. Their friendly skipper, D Whittington, was in full agreement, and we settled on twenty-five overs-a-side and a slightly delayed start.

Even though Nott had had a chance to bat at Sidmouth (he had faced one ball before the declaration) we allowed him to open the innings. Sadly he found himself facing a few

thunderbolts thrown down by local club pro, Tolley, and got caught in the slips without troubling the scorer. White (13) and Hamilton (27) took the score on steadily. Gillin got a rush of blood a little early and was stumped to leave the OOs on 46 for four from ten overs. Mike Parr carried on his fine form from Sidmouth and was playing very well, but he kept losing partners at the other end. L Giles hit one in the air, and Webster and skipper Sanjay (who’d just arrived from London) found ways to get themselves out without scoring at all. D Colloff proved to be of more use and stuck around while Parr struck some more runs.

D Whittington brought himself on and Mike took an immediate liking to his medium-pace. He crashed the first four balls for six and should probably have stopped there, but couldn’t resist going for a full set and got caught on the boundary for a rollicking 59 from thirty-one balls. Evans and Giles I were both bowled and the OOs finished on 138 from 24.3 overs, which we thought was probably about 20 short of Parr. I mean “par”!

Webster and I Giles opened the bowling tightly, Ian bowling D Western with his first ball on his way to excellent figures of one wicket for ten runs from his five overs. As the batsmen seemed to be getting the hang of Chris the skipper brought Notty on for a whirl. He did well initially too, sending the ball fizzing down and taking a wicket in his second over. Number five batsman M Crompton settled down quickly though, and began to look quite comfortable. Chris Evans began with a top-quality wicket maiden before being hit for a few, and L Giles had similar results. In such a short game if any batsman really gets in it makes all the difference, and although the tourists had had some early success they could not find a way to sustain pressure on the batsmen. Crompton retired for a quality 51 but the next batsman in knew how to hold a bat too. After twenty overs the OOs had been 123 and Torquay were 106, but, whereas during the final five overs the tourists had scored fifteen, the home side were only five wickets down (plus one retiree) and were able to accelerate to reach their target with almost two overs remaining.

Still, it had been a fun game played in the right spirit.

Whittington had staggered his first team stars sensibly with his weaker batsmen, and everyone got a chance to do something. Torquay’s President (and long-time OO tour supporter), Ken Jeffery, had kindly invited us all to be part of a celebration evening they were having that night at the club to mark his presidential year, and after listening to the speeches while sipping a couple of refreshing drinks in the sunset we headed off out for dinner under the bright lights of the town.

The last two years had seen the OOs win at South Devon with scores of 136 and 139, so we were expecting another tight affair this year. The tourists were struggling a little with availability for the last two games of the week and it

was nice of home club member Jonty Tupman to play for us again, after helping us out last year at Kenn. He was joined by fellow South Devonian, Henry Burningham, who apparently hadn’t played for a few years, and James Tyler, who was a young cricketer from Exeter who had answered the call. The tourists batted first in a forty-over game.

Tupman, opening the batting, couldn’t repeat the fifty he made for us last year as he was bowled for two. Hubbard and I Giles found the going tough on a typically difficult wicket. L Giles (20) stuck around for a bit. Pete White hit a lovely four before being bowled, and Colloff crept to six before he was out lbw. The OOs were now 69 for six off twenty-two overs, and even by South Devon standards things were looking a bit bleak. Luckily the remaining batsmen stepped up to the plate. James T played fluently for twenty-one very useful runs; Sanjay smote nineteen, Henry B struck sixteen not out and James Gillin biffed fifteen (Chris Evans was sadly run out for nought to at least earn himself a little rubber duck during the awards that evening) to raise the tourists’ total to 145 from 37.3 overs. Would that be enough this year? One unusual point to note was that the home skipper had enforced a maximum of four overs per bowler on his unit, so that all ten players apart from the keeper had got a bowl. It had worked out pretty well for them!

James Tyler took the first over and the way he sent the ball down at a decent pace on a good length was a welcome sight. Chris Evans took his annual slot as second bowler and put in another top stint of accurate spin. Along with a run out, they got us off to a wonderful start – Tyler one for eight from six overs and Evans one for twenty-two from eight. Could the rest of the bowlers keep it up? Sticking with spin (there weren’t many other options anyway) the skipper brought on Sanjay and new team-mate Henry B. Sanjay’s first over went for six, and Henry’s went for nine, and with such a low total to defend there were a few nervous looks around. Both bowlers settled down quickly though. Leg-spin is a fiendish thing to attempt if you have not played for a while, and Henry did a great job of landing it while still retaining enough action on the ball to beat the bat on occasion. They both got a wicket, but number five bat, Salinda, had got his eye in by now and the score kept creeping up. Sanjay got a second wicket with the last ball of his spell to leave South Devon on 93 for six off twenty-seven overs. Only four runs an over required, but six wickets down. It looked likely that things may be decided on whether Salinda got out or not. Gileses I and L were entrusted with the last batch of overs. A few more overs and runs ticked by – only thirty-three runs needed from eight overs now – before Lance managed a quicker shooter-ish delivery that hit Salinda on the pads in front of the stumps. Up went umpire Parsons’ finger and Salinda was gone for 45. Ian followed that up with a wicket, lbw, in the next over, and two more wickets in consecutive overs

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finished off the innings. South Devon were all out for 120 from thirty-six overs and the tourists had won another nail-biter. If it had not been for our three guests we would have never come close, and it was really good of them to turn out for us and to put in such an effort, despite Jonty and James both injuring their legs for the cause while they fielded.

With Brian Cantle sadly unable to make tour this year, Ray Michael took on Dinner Supremo duties that night and took us through the cricketing feats of the week, dispensing awards for cricketers and tour supporters alike in the style of the Oscars. Dave Colloff then gave out a couple of prizes for non-cricketing activities in an enchanting bedtime-story fashion.

The forecast for Friday was diabolical, and the actual weather matched it perfectly. The game against Kenn was called off early on, bringing the week’s fun to a mildly disappointing end, but we still had a chance to drop in on Teignmouth on the way back home and have a nice stroll around in raincoats and take lunch in the Ship Inn. It had been another thoroughly entertaining tour, in no small part due to the cricketing prowess and unfailing good humour of all four of our new tourists (well, five including Nick Kirby, and it would be great if he could come for more than one game!). They had settled in so quickly it was as though they had been coming for years, and we hope to see them back next year.

Many thanks to our ever-dependable umpire, Stephen Parsons, for his hours on the field, and to everyone who scored during the week, especially Ray Michael who did most of it. More thanks are due to Dave Colloff for handling the unpopular task of asking people for money whenever it was required for subs. A final thank you to everyone else who came down on tour with us and who helped to make it such a jolly week – Linda Michael, the whole Hubbard clan (Malcolm, Carole, Clare, Rebecca and William), Ed and Rosemary Davey, Derek Birmingham (hope the leg’s better next year), Becky Sarjeant, Kathy Staff, Pennie Giles and the Bayliss-Giles quartet (Andy,

Craig, with Mason and Freddie on their first tours too).

If anyone is reading this and thinks they may like to be there when it all happens again in 2020, just drop me a line or see the Old Olavian CC facebook page: https://www. facebook.com/oldolavianscricketclub/ Lance Giles (1988-95)

Results

Sunday v Paignton (40 overs): Paignton won by 114 runs.

Paignton 233 all out in 36.4 overs (A Bradley 3-47, L Giles 2-32, G Woodcock 2-47) Old Olavians 119 all out in 35.1 overs (D Colloff 27, J Gillin 19) Monday v Sidmouth: Old Olavians won by 152 runs.

Old Olavians 271 for 5 dec (C Webster 110 *retired out, M Parr 83) Sidmouth 119 all out (H Hamilton 2-9, J Batten 2-12)

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Tuesday v Sandford: Rained off Wednesday v Torquay (25 overs): Torquay won by 4 wickets.

Old Olavians 138 all out (M Parr 59, H Hamilton 27) Torquay 142 for 6 (I Giles 1-10) Thu v South Devon (40 overs): Old Olavians won by 25 runs.

Old Olavians 145 all out ( J Tyler 21, L Giles 20, S Ranasinghe 19) South Devon 120 all out (I Giles 2-8, L Giles 2-11, S Ranasinghe 2-33) Friday v Kenn: Rained off

Old Boys’ Notes Colin C WOODWARD (1969-76) has written to tell of an extraordinary coincidence when he met a fellow Old Olavian in the Pitcairn Islands: Of the 10 passengers on a boat trip from French Polynesia to the Pitcairn Islands to see the solar eclipse on Oeno early in July 2019 and stay on Pitcairn I, now retired, hardly expected to come across another OO - but there was one, now a dual New Zealand national, Ian Griffin (OO 1977-84 and currently Director of the Otago Museum in Dunedin).

The eclipse was in full cloud cover but staying with the descendants of the Bounty mutineers was fascinating and made up in part for the disappointment.

would have included a photo of the two of them, but that, as it was obscured, that would have been a bit contrived!

Here follow three of the photographs which Ian distributed: BrianTOOKEY (1986-93) has sent the following thoughts on his later days at StOGS: “I was School Captain for my year. It was the first time the position was elected by the student body rather than appointed by the Head (I don’t actually know if this is still the case; it was an innovation pioneered by Dr Moxon and agreed by Headmaster Mr Coulson). A slightly unusual voting system with a single transferable vote, denied Matt O’Donohue the position, and I was installed instead. At the end of the final term, I was asked to give an address to our year and their parents at a dinner in the Great Hall. I made a poor job of the speech and remember thinking that Matt would have done it better. Looking back, I wish I had said something like this: “Ninety of us sit here, on the verge of leaving the school after seven years and none of us know what will happen when we enter the real world. On our credit side, we’ve achieved the best-ever A-level results, national semis for the rugby team, produced an inspired production of West Side Story, launched a couple of bands and raised a record amount for Rag week. On the debit side, we’re institutionalized and consumed by petty rivalries, we’re pretty clueless around women and history is unlikely to treat our fashion of long greasy hair kindly.

“In the years to come, as the science, Latin and grammar fades, I bet we’ll still be able to recite Baldwin, Boswell, Boundy, Craddock, Cryer, Draper... or Bachelor, Booker, Bradburn, Burrows, Chatrath, Chowdhury, Dixey… or Berlin, Besford, Bradshaw, Butcher, Coole, Cunningham…. And we’ll remember the everyday events that went on as we grew from boys to men. And so my hope for us is this: we keep up our friendships and, on the occasions when we bump into another member of our year, we take the chance to go for a drink and retell the stories of how we survived and mostly thrived at St Olave’s.”

As a consolation for missing the eclipse Ian then went on a trip on NASA’s SOFIA - here’s his informal feedback. Ian wrote the following to friends: Hi, Everyone, Just got back from an overnight flight on NASA’s SOFIA Observatory.

I hope the attached files make you all suitably jealous!

There was an astonishing display of the aurora during our flight this evening! Hope you are all well. I will dump images from the eclipse trip to a shared drive when I get some sleep!

Mā te wā Had the eclipse not been clouded out Colin tells us that he

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In Memoriam Charles COLE (1940-47) died on 30 December 2018 at the age of 89. Fellow-Olavian, Leslie Watmore (194047), has sent the following tribute: This year began for me with the very sad news that my life-long friend Charles Cole had died in December. I received this news from his wife Annette with whom he had lived for some years in the South of France. He joined the school in Torquay in 1940, as I did, and very quickly established a reputation as a natural linguist and a gifted artist. In fact the only school subject at which he never excelled was maths which eluded him all his life.

We stayed evacuated in Torquay throughout the War, by which time we had reached the classical Sixth under Mr. Rodgers who was our guide and mentor. Our other close friend was Ian Walker, the athlete who became an international long jumper. He also was a classicist and

the most of his years in France and Italy where he became fluent in the local languages. My wife and I always greatly enjoyed staying with him in the various parts of France and Italy where he happened to be living. My regret is that, living so far away, I did not see more of him in later years although he never forgot his beginnings as he showed when he celebrated his eightieth birthday at a lunch with his extended family plus my wife and me in a restaurant close to Tower Bridge near the old school building.

John HOLLAND (1941- ) died in hospital on 28th June 2019 – his wife, Pamela, wrote to tell us the sad news.

Ronald ROBINSON (1941-47) died in July 2018. His wife phoned with this sad news six months later in January 2019.

Charles STUART (1939-41 Trains, planes and marathons

and

44-46)

We only heard details of Charles’s death twenty-six years ago recently, but thought that his extraordinary life should be recorded for Olavian posterity. His daughter, Shay Knowles, has written the following tribute:

during our sixth-form years we had the privilege, through Ian’s sister’s business connection, to have frequent use of a box in the Albert Hall to listen to great orchestral music.

All three of us gained entry to Oxbridge which was something of a rarity for three Bermondsey boys, so much so that the Borough council recorded this achievement at one of its meetings and notified the local press. Charles obtained a special mention for two reasons, namely he was born in Barham buildings which had a very poor reputation at the time (they are in a turning off Tooley Street); and, in spite of that humble beginning, he won a major scholarship in classics to Clare College, Cambridge.

All three of us left school in 1947 and were conscripted into the army. Charles was posted to what was Italian Somaliland and by the time of his demob he had reached the rank of captain. Afterwards at Cambridge he obtained a First in the first tripos and then changed to psychology where the maths part of the syllabus did not suit him.

Thereafter, Charles largely lived abroad. He married three times and produced five children. He never seemed to generate much enthusiasm for his career, but instead made

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Charles Stuart was born in London to Scottish parents in 1928. After his death in 1993 he was described in an obituary notice published in The Times as “a skilled and ardent upholder of British air transport throughout the past 25 years” who “made important contributions to the management and efficiency of a wide range of British air services” and in the Daily Telegraph as “a driving force in the competitive world of Britain’s regional airlines” with “charismatic leadership”.

He was evacuated to Torquay with St Olave’s and remained fond of Torquay all his life. The family spent a couple of years in Harrogate, but he was delighted to return to St Olave’s Sixth Form near Tower Bridge at the end of the war. He was a Chelsea fan and loved playing football.

After military service he attended the London School of Economics, then a stimulating left-wing establishment, gaining a BSc in Economics. He represented the LSE at football, and edited the LSE newspaper. He substituted for a female delegate on an NUS trip to Exeter University, and when he arrived at the women’s hall, the warden called to a nearby student, “What are we to do with this young man?” The student in question was Anne; they married in 1951 and had three children.

He was with British Rail from 1951 to 1969, starting as a traffic apprentice, ending in the central planning unit for the British Rail Board. As research assistant at the British Transport Staff College at Woking he met airline staff and

this led to his next career.

Charles began at a subsidiary of British European Airways.

BEA and BOAC merged in 1972 forming British Airways, where he eventually became Head of Planning and Pricing with a seat on the Board. He contributed to setting up the Shuttle service (turn up and take off ), reorganising BA, planning for setbacks (oil crises, wing cracks in Tridents) and reshaping IATA (International Air Transport Association). Life was unpredictable. He was on the board of Cyprus Airways and was on the last plane out of Cyprus when the Turkish army invaded in 1974.

In 1975 a BA flight from Manchester to Heathrow was hijacked. The passengers were allowed off at Heathrow as the hijacker believed the plane would fly to Paris. It landed at Stansted, where Charles and several others waited with a ransom. Unable to use it, they searched in their pockets for change to buy snacks. He and other directors attended the funerals of people who died in the Zagreb air crash in 1976. On impulse he bought a ticket for the first Laker Skytrain in 1977 just before it took off, so he was closeted with the press for the entire flight.

At the time of his death – aged 64 - he was full of plans to introduce a new airline, Air Bristol. He enjoyed reading, and occasionally wrote book reviews for the Western Morning News. He died in bed with a Morse book (finished, we think) at his bedside.

At British Airways, he got the chance to attend a John Ridgway outward bound course. The first morning he had to choose a walk or run before breakfast. He chose the run. At first he couldn’t run a hundred yards, but eventually ran one marathon a month for a year around the world, completing all but one of them (he got blisters in Bermuda). When the London Marathon was initiated

by Chris Brasher in 1981, Charles competed, and he was instrumental in providing flight tickets for elite athletes, thus raising the profile of the race.

In 1983, he bought a farm in Devon, and retired. However he was soon in demand, becoming chairman and chief executive of Brymon Airways in Plymouth. He reorganised and refinanced the company and rebuilt the airport. He was involved in setting up London City Airport (Brymon had the short take-off and landing - STOL - planes the location demanded). He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 1988 in recognition of this. In 1989 he delivered the Brancker Memorial lecture at the Chartered Institute of Transport. In 1990, Brymon won the award for the world’s best regional airline from the Americanbased magazine ‘International Air Transport World’.

In 1990 he left Brymon and was appointed Head of South West Regional Health Authority for two years. He was prepared to tackle difficult issues; he felt that, if airline bookings could be flexible and suited to customers, so could hospital appointments. He was involved in other local services; he was Chairman of Plymouth City Airport, Director of South-West Water, Governor of Plymouth University and Governor of East Devon College.

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THE OLD OLAVIANS HONORARY OFFICERS 2019 PRESIDENT

Andrew Rees, Headmaster The Headmaster’s House, St Olave’s Grammar School, Goddington Lane, Orpington, Kent BR6 9SH Tel: 01689 820101 CHAIRMAN Chris Harris, chairoldolavians@gmail.com COMMITTEE MEMBERS Graham Milne Paul Ouseley Bill Prouse Rajiv Purwar EDITOR OF THE OLD OLAVIAN John M Brown, 60 The Lawns, Rolleston-on-Dove, Staffordshire, DE13 9DB Tel: 01283 813976 e-mail: johnmbrown60@gmail.com SECRETARIES OF AFFILIATED CLUBS AND SOCIETIES CRICKET CLUB Lance Giles, c/o 44 Harwood Avenue, Bromley, Kent, BR1 3DU Tel: 07891 725488 e-mail: lancegiles@hotmail.com FIVES CLUB Howard Wiseman, 7 Genoa Road, Anerley, SE20 8ES Tel: 020 8778 0752 OLD OLAVIANS’ LODGE (No. 5758) Peter G Hudson OBE 9 Downs View Close, Pratts Bottom Orpington, Kent, BR6 7SU Tel: 01689 858583 e-mail: hudsons91@btinternet.com RUGBY CLUB Phil Grayson, 57, Byrne Road, Balham, London SW12 7JB Tel: 07971 878750 HOLYOAK ROOM St Olave’s School, Goddington Lane, Orpington, Kent, BR6 9SH OLD OLAVIANS ADMINISTRATOR Jane Wells jwells@saintolaves.net

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