St Olave's Autumn Summatim v.81

Saint Olave’s Grammar School

New Website

Favelas

No.8 1 Au t um n Te r m 2020

Headteacher

for

full

London 1571

Community Project

SUMMATIM

reports

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www.saintolaves.net

Return to School

It was with great excitement, anticipation, planning and care that we welcomed Year 7, Year 9 and Year 12 in school for their Induction Days at the start of the Autumn Term. All other year groups had individual appointments with their tutors to discuss any challenges, anxieties and worries about returning to school. The whole school subsequently returned on Monday 7 September with staggered starts, which was a big change for everyone within the school community. We are very mindful of the different lockdown experiences everyone will have had, and remain committed to providing support wherever needed.

We started the academic year with talk of bubbles, social distancing and zones so it will be no surprise that this term’s Summatim has a very different appearance. COVID-19 has brought numerous challenges and has required the school to adapt accordingly.

There will be no reports on international trips, or tales of derring-do against a local school on the sports field. However, there will be a great deal more evidence of the work that pupils have done over the course of the term and as ever this has revealed a vast range of talent. The School has risen superbly to the difficulties, which includes moving learning online for pupils when needed, a virtual Open Evening, Prize Giving and Black History Month, Duke of Edinburgh expeditions with no overnight camp and virtual field trips.

I hope you enjoy reading this publication, which reflects the hard work, talent and determination of our students alongside the constant support of parents, governors and by no means least an outstanding staff. I want to thank the school community for all you did and continue to do through these extraordinary times.

Results

School Website

The school launched a brand-new website after half-term offering a multi-platform design that reflects our uniqueness, ethos and strengths as well as much improved navigation and functionality. Thank you to Mrs Slyfield for overseeing the transition, supporting the design and her tireless work uploading the information. Thank you also to Mrs Rogers for taking many of the splendid photographs.

Congratulations to all of the students on their achievements at A Level, AS Level and GCSE this summer, which are a great testament to the talented students, devoted staff, and supportive parents. These results have been achieved by students who had not only been focussing on their academic studies, but had also been active on the sports field, performing in musical concerts and drama productions, mentoring younger students, leading clubs and societies and engaging in Duke of Edinburgh. We wish our students the very best as they move onto the next stage of their education.

Andrew Rees, Headteacher

Autumn Term 2020 – in this issue:

Page 2: Sport, Olympiads & Page 3: Scholarship, Science, Page 4:English and Drama, Trips &

Challenges and International Music and Celebration Outdoors and Community

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SPORTS Rugby

Year 13 Arun has taken on the First XV Rugby captaincy for the current season. We would all like to take this opportunity to wish Arun and the team the very best for the season, whatever this might look like.

Sports summary

The focus for the PE department this term has been on developing the students’ knowledge and ability to improve their fitness as well as to re-engage them with sport. Physical activity has such an important role to play in developing physical and mental health and so, despite the lack of fixtures, there has still been plenty of activity. We look forward to next term where we hope to have some improved facilities back in operation such as the Squash and Fives courts which will further enhance our provision for the students.

OLYMPIADS AND CHALLENGES Balkan Mathematical Olympiad

Congratulations to Year 13 student, Linus Luu, who earned a Silver medal in the Balkan Mathematical Olympiad. The UK was invited as a guest nation to this prestigious international competition in early November, and Linus was one of only six students selected to represent his country. He answered two exceptionally difficult questions completely correctly, demonstrating once again his formidable mathematical knowledge, skill and intuition.

Olavian Mathematical Newsletter

This latest edition (3rd) brings readers more articles looking at a range of exciting topics. Features include: Fawaz Shah (Old Olavian) – ‘Maths in the real world’; Mrs Munday (Head of KS5 Mathematics) – ‘False Proofs’; Adrian Manickarajah – ‘The Importance of Statistics’; Tyrone Ziwa – ‘The Josephus Problem'.

Bebras

Despite COVID restrictions, all students studying Computer Science have successfully completed the annual UK Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge, organised by the University of Oxford’s Department of Computer Science, and Hertford College. We are pleased to announce a total of 141 students received Distinctions and another 136 obtained Merits. Our results are once again higher compared to last year. Congratulations to all students who have participated and special congratulations to Henry Etherington, Year 7; Patrick Williams, Year 9; Samuel Iranloye, Year 11, and Pradhay Amarnath, Year 12, for receiving the best results in school for their age group.

CLUBS AND SOCIETIES Textiles Club

This term the boys made face masks for themselves and for sale, with proceeds being invested back into the club to allow more students to take part.

Maths Society

In their first Integration Bee, Year 13 student, Josh Parchure, won in a 3-2 final against Advait Menon.

Space Society

Year 13 student, Angelika Kochajkiewicz, delivered a talk on ‘The merits of asteroid mining’.

Greek Club

Year 8 students learnt how to write and pronounce the letters of the Greek alphabet, to identify derivations from Greek words into a plethora of languages and understand their use in various cross-curricular fields including Mathematics, Art and Music. Classics Society has run for specific year groups on separate days with talks on 'Athenian Theatre' and 'Sophocles' Antigone'. Shreyas Bharadwaj and Jonah McDonald as Joint Caesars of the Society have run online quizzes and given talks, one covering Gilgamesh and chairing another prepared by Anupam Bandi about the differences in Roman government.

INTERNATIONAL European Day of Languages

Students had the opportunity to engage with unusual facts, quizzes, and games about languages in their form time, to learn about how speaking more than one language shapes your brain, and to re-watch the immensely popular video from last year's assembly of staff and students talking about why languages are important to them, in a foreign language. The day also featured staff wearing foreign or cultural dress into school - such as a traditional Dirndl, hat from Kazakhstan, French outfit complete with beret, and others sporting various colours of national flags on clothing. MFL Prefects ran a baking competition, where entrants sent pictures of the baking process and the finished product, with a link to the languages and cultures they are studying. Nursultan Balkibekov in Year 9 won the school-wide Geography short-essay writing competition, organised by the Academic Prefects to celebrate European Day of Languages, with his thought-provoking essay on ‘How can geography help to solve problems during this pandemic?’

Oxford German Olympiad

Students from all year groups studying German had the opportunity to submit an entry to this year’s competition. We have enjoyed success in previous years and are excited to see how the entries from our students are received in this round. This year’s competition was themed around ‘The Alps’ and students produced such submissions as: a visual representation of mythical alpine creatures with descriptions in German; research on the ice-man ‘Otzi’; an imagined conference programme about

stopping the melting of glaciers; an illustration of a scene from the story, ‘Heidi’ and research on alpine equipment used by the mountain communities, among other things. We will receive the outcome of the Olympiad in March 2021 and will share this with all of you as soon as we can.

Russian Translation Completion

Congratulations to Peter Bellerby in Year 12 for being selected as one of ten winners across the country for the Russian Translation Competition of the University of Sheffield. Peter will receive a certificate, £25 Amazon voucher, and be able to attend an exclusive Translation Workshop run by the university featuring professors and professional translators.

Goethe Institut

The German Department is thrilled to announce that Frank Shrimpton, James Perry, Peter Bellerby, and Matthew Todorov in Year 12 have been selected as just one of ten teams across Europe to win the Goethe Institut's 'Oekoropa' competition. The four Year 12 students entered the competition by submitting a climate-neutral plan for a tour across Europe, planned for the summer of 2021, to stop at Berlin, Lisbon, and Ljubljana.

They submitted all of this plan entirely in German to the Goethe Insitut.

Now that their team has been chosen as one of the winning ten across Europe, the four students are set to receive 5,000 Euros to either put towards funding their planned trip, or if they would rather not go ahead with travel due to the implications of COVID-19, they may invest this money in an environmentally friendly project relating to school or the local area.

Further congratulations to Matthew Todorov on his successful application to participate in a highly sought-after German work experience week, for which Sixth Formers studying German from all over the country were invited to apply. The week should have taken place in Germany over half-term, but moved online in light of COVID-19 restrictions. Matthew worked with a team of other students and members of the Goethe Institut in London as well as those from Schwäbisch-Hall (Germany) to produce podcasts and interviews - all in German designed to support others learning German.

German Translation Competition

Ritvick Sharma, Peter Bellerby, Matthew Todorov and Frank Shrimpton entered the German Translation Competition run by the University of Sheffield. This competition is open to students in Year 12 and Year 13 studying German and requires those entering to translate an extract from a brand new novel in German written by Julie Zeh. The text is about conflicts between residents of an apparently idyllic village in Brandenburg and explores perspectives from various characters. The winners of the competition have the chance to take part in an exclusive translation workshop, organised by the university.

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Institute of Modern Languages Research

Frau Probodziak and a number of Year 12 Germanists attended a live talk online held by the Institute of Modern Languages Research (of the University of London).

The talk was titled ‘Capturing the Zeitgeist’ and featured comments and presentations from Kathrin Kunkel-Razum of the highlyregarded German dictionary and publisher, 'Duden', and from Wendalyn Nichols, publishing manager of Cambridge University Press. The topic of the 'Zeitgeist' was in relation to the invention of new words, and when these are officially adopted into dictionaries in England, the USA, and in Germany. Students thoroughly enjoyed the talk and engaged with both speakers at the end of the presentation by asking questions.

MFL competition

Students of German in Years 7 to 13 have been learning more about the skill of translation in preparation for a competition later this academic year, organised by Queen‘s College, Oxford.

Year 7 students looked at ‘concrete poems‘ in the shape of pugs, whilst Year 9 translated a poem about saying farewell by May Ayim, a prominent black female poet from Germany - this also formed the basis of further discussions around celebrating Black History Month. Year 10 tackled a poem by the renowned Goethe, in the original language of the 1700s.

British Film Institute

Year 12 Germanists watched a film screening from the BFI London Film Festival of 'Undine', a brand new Germanlanguage feature film. The film was released in Germany earlier in the Autumn, but its appearance at the BFI Film Festival marks its British Premiere. It is a modernday reimagining of the mermaid fairy-tale of 'Ondine', originally from the French medieval period. This was an excellent chance for students to expand their linguistic horizons and share in this cultural experience.

SCIENCE

MUSIC AND CELEBRATION

Physics

The Ivors Composer Awards 2020

The Physics Department created innovative ways to socially distance and allow students to remain within their zone and bubble by using the fine weather and the PA Quad to carry out Physics practicals. Year 12 students completed an oscilloscope practical using a mobile telephone app as a frequency generator and another app as an oscilloscope.

CREST Awards

Year 13 students, Tennyson Cerase and Daniel Pereira, achieved Silver Awards for their investigation entitled, ‘Why is Coca Cola such a successful company?’, in which they performed chemical (and taste!) tests on a number of competing cola brands.

Chemistry

A ‘Chemistry at Home’ video competition has been set up by the Chemistry Prefects - an exciting way for students to engage in the practical aspect of the subject even though school laboratories are unavailable for use. This is open to all years and there are plenty of prizes to be won!

Astronomy

As part of a series of talks/events about Mars to celebrate National Astronomy Week, Professor Sanjeev Gupta, who has previously spoken at the Olavian Lecture Series, delivered an online talk about the new NASA rover landing next February.

Medics Society

The Society is up and running again within the Year 12 and Year 13 bubbles. The Year 13 presidential team pre-recorded an introductory PowerPoint presentation and James Jupp, one of the current Year 13 leadership team, prepared an excellent presentation on Orthopaedics entitled 'Fractures and Bone Healing'. Year 12 student, Bharathsri Sivasritharan, has been made an honorary member of the leadership team, to act as liaison between the year groups.

Computer Science in Action Day

SCHOLARSHIP Black History Month

We have been making changes over the last few years to our curriculum to make it more reflective of the students we teach. As we were unable to hold our annual Black History Month show, a series of podcasts on a wide array of topics were organised instead. Alongside this, departments introduced a variety of topics into lessons (eg black Tudors in history). The podcasts provided an opportunity to introduce students to a huge range of historical and cultural topics which they found to be engaging, entertaining and a rich source for discussion.

Old Olavian Robert Laidlow (2005-2012) was nominated for this prestigious award which celebrates the best new musical works for classical, jazz and sound art. Robert’s music is honoured alongside that of other such outstanding composers and pioneers of British music as Sir Harrison Birtwistle CH, Rachel Portman OBE and Judith Weir CBE as a nominee for one of these prestigious awards.

His piece ‘Aroha’ for string quartet is one of only five shortlisted submissions from across the UK in the small chamber music category.

Music Tuition

A full programme of one-to-one instrumental and vocal tuition has returned safely and successfully. Although ensemble activities are currently suspended, there are still many opportunities available for students to pursue individual goals by developing their skills as musicians. This could be the perfect moment for students to take up a new challenge or resume where they left off before. For additional information, please see the Music section of the school website or contact Mr Price, Mrs Attwood or Mr Blew with any questions.

ABRSM Music Examinations

Over the half-term break, the Music Department hosted ABRSM graded music examinations for 52 candidates, ranging from Grades 1 to 8 for saxophone, violin, jazz piano and voice among other instruments. We are pleased to announce a pass rate of 100%.

Special congratulations go to the 27 musicians who gained Merit and Distinction results in this session. Well done to all who entered for an exam this time and who now embark upon the next stage of their musical development. It is hoped that there will be another exam session at St Olave's in early 2021.

Prize Giving Year 12 Computer Science students attended this event virtually from home. In five sessions experts from academia and industry revealed computer science at its very best and took our students to the cutting edge in the fields of AI and machine learning. Students were able to explore new algorithms for co-ordination that solve some of the most pressing problems in transport and logistics.

Students listened to a remarkable session on the curious case of a 13th Century Election Algorithm

by Miranda Mowbray. Miranda discussed how an algorithm that was used for over 500 years to determine the ruler of Venice and its underlying design principle turns out to have an application to modern computer science. It was an eye-opening opportunity for our students to see how the future is revolutionised by the advancement in computer science and technology.

In a year where we have had to adapt to new challenges, celebrating our students’ successes has been more important than ever. Although this year’s virtual Prize Giving was different, all prize winners should know that the pride felt in them by their family, teachers and friends is the same as any other year. This event celebrated the achievement of students in Years 9 to 13, with prizes awarded not only for academic success but also for recognition of enthusiasm, commitment, imagination, and contribution to school life. There were a range of speeches, including one from our guest of honour, Old Olavian, Squadron Leader Mike Ling, which we hope emphasised the rich diversity of student interests and achievements. We are hugely proud of all our students, including those who work equally hard, give of their all, but were not awarded prizes this year.

TRIPS AND OUTDOORS

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Remembrance

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

Old Olavian, Mr Graham Milne, laid the wreath together with Captains of School, Rose Hind and Joshua Selfridge, at this socially distanced event. Thank you to the Chaplain, Reverend Dr Julie Bowen, for leading the Service and to Mr Price for putting together a video marking Remembrance Day with words and music.

The video included a performance of ‘The Last Post’ by Year 13 student, Edward Cameron, and this was shared during form time with the whole school.

ENGLISH AND DRAMA Newsquest

Young Olavian reporters are busy writing articles for Newsquest, meeting their monthly deadline with articles covering a huge range of topics. Through this they will be honing their writing skills, learning the value of writing concisely and with a clear engaging style. Well done to them and good luck for the December deadline!

Playwriting Group

Our students have enjoyed two workshops with the playwright Jennifer Farmer. They have looked at ways of building characters from the items they carry in their pockets, to their childhood memories to create someone who is convincing to the audience. Jennifer also helped them to explore the world of their play and consider how their character fits into it. This was a great opportunity for our students, and we thank the National Theatre for this.

Poet Laureate

2020 has been a very different year for DofE expeditions, more so than we could have possibly imagined.

The changes have been considerable, for example, restricting student teams to a maximum of six, new catering arrangements to stop the sharing of food and a mountain of paperwork to ensure that we have taken all steps possible to minimise the risks from COVID-19. The final blow is the rule of no camping overnight, which is a huge shame as this is always the best part, in the students’ eyes, of the expedition. However, the silver lining is that we can now extend the expedition season to cover the whole academic year, whereas previously we were restricted to March-October each year, ie British Summer Time.

After a great deal of organisation, the first expedition to run this academic year was the Silver practice, which normally takes place at the end of June, straight after GCSE’s with Year 11. Instead, the students, now in Year 12, set off at the start of the October half-term break. The numbers taking part this year were huge, with nearly 50 students enjoying all that the Kent countryside could offer. To make it as challenging as possible, students had to carry a full pack and were expected to pitch up at ‘camp’ on both evenings and cook a meal before packing everything away and returning home for the night.

COMMUNITY Lockdown Journal Chronicles

Year 13 students Sheena Akende, Rishi Desai and Thomas Dietrich collated a selection of articles, poetry, photography and artwork, in order to showcase the range of responses to the question ‘What has lockdown been like at St Olave’s?’ Submissions cover the full breadth of reactions to lifestyle changes and allow the reader to understand the similarities and differences between many people’s experiences. With a range of responses, from Year 7 to Year 11, including teachers and parents – this chronicle provided a snapshot of what life was like during lockdown.

National Poetry Day

Thank you to Old Olavian, and former Olavian Poet Laureate, Edwin Roberts, who contributed to our poetry feed as part of National Poetry Day. O Clouds Unfold There were days when mauve clouds would bring the wild light of wonder; it would whirl around me and elucidate young performers on a stage. My favourite tale: launching a rocket like an arrow from a bow, space explorers bound from star to star. Bullet points of a research paper, underlined by a smile sent kindling with the burning embers of the stories we shared; memories on a film of immutable gold.

There were days when mauve clouds would bring the hurling rain upon drenched fields, and you'd throw me a stunning, yearning pass. I'd leap and land in an infinite library, my lost poems erased, pages among a wreck of splintered arrows, but, in time, I have always depended on the kindness of friends (a new story, after A Streetcar Named Desire) ...

Page 5: Art and Technology

Teaching staff took part in training from UK Feminista which opened with an interesting and engaging question on how damaging the phrase 'man up' is for students, and why sexism in schools is an important issue to tackle.

Feminista's recent study found that 64% of teachers in mixed-sex secondary schools in the UK hear sexist language in schools on at least a weekly basis. This is something we are working on as a staff body to tackle at St Olave's and we want to assure you that gender stereotyping, sexist language and/or sexual harassment has no place in the Olavian community and any instances will be addressed seriously.

Travel Award

Old Olavian, Lulu, used the James Burdett Memorial Prize last year to support her visit to Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. Among many highlights, in Sydney, Lulu watched Carmen at the Sydney Opera House, which was a long-awaited dream. She also visited the Botanic Gardens and Mrs Macquarie's Chair, a hand-carved sandstone rock, which has a sweeping view of Sydney's magnificent harbour. Lulu highlighted that the biggest takeaway from her gap year is that not everything goes according to plan and being impulsive can lead to great memories.

Mental Health - raising the profile

It is time to thank James Perry, our Poet Laureate for 2020, and announce his successor for 2021.

We had a superb range of entries responding to the BLM movement, the Trump administration and of course the Coronavirus pandemic and dealing with lockdown. We had such a fantastic response that we have decided to have one Poet Laureate and two Poetry Ambassadors, with each Ambassador receiving £50. Congratulations to our new Ambassadors, Arjun Thakar and Joseph Davies, and to our Poet Laureate 2021, Martha Hodgson. We look forward to enjoying their work over the coming year.

in this issue:

Tackling Sexism in Schools

The pandemic has highlighted even more the importance of wellbeing and support services championing mental health. World Mental Health Day was recognised in school with form time and RSHE lessons focusing on wellbeing and educating our cohort about the importance of good mental health. YoungMinds, the charity which was supported, had a theme ‘Hello Yellow’ and consequently students wore yellow socks or shirts in recognition of this, raising £315 in the process. The talk by Trailblazers through Bromley Wellbeing to parents on ‘Helping Children with Fears and Worries’ was focused, timely and appreciated.

Anti-Bullying Week

As a school we want our community to feel safe, cherished and looked after.

We regularly remind students about the need to be kind, thoughtful and respectful.

Healthy relationships feature strongly in the new RSHE curriculum and with this in mind, we celebrated Anti-Bullying Week and used this as an opportunity to further promote the core values which are central to St Olave’s during form time and in PSHE lessons.

Parents’ Prayer Meeting

Our Chaplain, Reverend Dr Julie Bowen, led a virtual Parents’ Prayer Meeting in October via Zoom.

Page 6: Student Achievements

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Duke of Edinburgh's Award

Wellbeing Room

The school’s commitment to wellbeing is further highlighted with the investment made into the setting up of the new Wellbeing Room, permanently staffed by the Pastoral Support Worker, Ms Ward. Students can drop in, some have scheduled meetings with Ms Ward, and for others it is a quiet space for reflection. The aim of this service is to enable students to further consider where they are at emotionally and for us to signpost them in the direction of further support. Shelby, our wellbeing dog, certainly seems to help lift spirits and provides a different dynamic to the school environment.

Trailblazer Project

We work closely with the Bromley Wellbeing Service and their Trailblazer Project which includes a webinar delivered online via Microsoft Teams, facilitated by practitioners from Bromley Y. The webinar is designed to help parents understand more about anxiety in children, to consider strategies that can help to manage fears and worries, to build confidence during these challenging and uncertain times and to learn more about local services for further support.

‘The Olavian’

Thanks go to Mr Craig, Editor, and student, Arunabh Bagchi, for the enormous work involved in putting this splendid publication together.

The magazine remains a celebration of the vast range of talent within the school, and how the school has risen superbly to the challenge of creating material during the lockdown.

Community Project

Since January Mr and Mrs Maltman have been helping to run a Community Fridge programme in Orpington. Food that is good to eat but just taken off the shelves is donated by a number of food retailers and supermarkets and is offered to anyone in the community. This is a great way of reducing food waste, helping reduce food bills for vulnerable families and getting fresh and nutritious food to many. They were delighted when Year 9 student, Bishal, asked if he could come along to help and they were even happier to welcome his dad, Birendra, as well.

Induction Evenings

It was good to speak to parents of our new Year 7 and Year 12 at the virtual Parents’ Induction Evenings. Parents were able to find out more details about how the school operates, what to expect during the next 12 months and what has taken place since the school went into lockdown. This was also a good opportunity to hear from members of the pastoral teams and a representative of the Parents’ Association.

Wellbeing Room

Year 9 Information Evening

Whilst this event could not take place within school and the opportunity for parents of students in new forms to meet each other was not possible, the Year 9 community came together to hear talks from the Senior Leadership Team, the Head of Year, Mr Twose, and the Life Skills Company. It was well received online and enabled parents to be informed about the remote session delivered to the year group concerning optimising academic success. It is hoped by staff working collaboratively with students and parents, that study skills can be further embedded.

Sixth Form Open Evening

Our Sixth Form Open Evening for external students took place virtually this year for those wanting to come to St Olave’s from other schools. This is an important evening on which to find out all about our outstanding Sixth Form, details of courses available, expectations, co-curricular opportunities, and the application process. Information was available for those who missed the main talks, wanted to know more about the courses available, or to have a virtual tour of the school led by the Senior Prefect Team.

Interview Preparation Day

90 students and 23 interviewers took part in this year’s event. The ongoing challenges created

by COVID-19 meant that the annual event went online this year, with everyone working remotely on Teams. Students started with a group session to discuss interview planning and technique.

They were then put through their paces in a mock interview. Feedback from the interviewers was very impressive and reflected the wide range of skills and interests of our students.

Entrance Test

We completed our first stage Selective Eligibility Test in November, which this year was extended over two days. We look forward to processing the results before inviting a smaller cohort back for the Stage 2 tests in January. Thank you to Dr Sidhu, Mrs Brooker, Mrs Farrell and all the staff who helped to organise and ensure that the day ran smoothly.

Voluntary Fund

Your support and generosity are hugely appreciated and enable us to provide all our students with a great deal more than we would otherwise be able to offer. This includes numerous sporting and other co-curricular opportunities which help develop skills and character beyond the classroom, as well as supporting academic achievement. It allows us to invest in up-to-date resources, and the ongoing refurbishment of the learning environment.

Trailblazer Project

The Life Skills Company

Year 9 participated in a Revision Skills Workshop on ‘Maximising Success’ delivered online and live, with pupils exploring the principles of effective learning, different revision techniques and a system of proactive revision. Useful tips helped motivate pupils to revise in an individual way that suits their learning style. With plenty of opportunity for interaction with the experienced presenters, these skills should prove an asset for the boys as they move ahead in their GCSE learning and beyond.

Diversity and Inclusivity

Year 12 took part in a special event, led by Miss Benham and Miss Clift, which covered issues surrounding gender, race, sexuality, and disability. Students engaged well and discussed a number of important issues related to these topics. All students received resource packs containing key information and reading suggestions.

A resource pack was also emailed out to parents via the Parent App.

Refurbishments update

Over the summer holidays, the school was once again a building site due to the copious amount of work taking place. The toilets in the Foyer, Sixth Form block and Lower Humanities were fully refurbished. The roofs over the Great Hall and Library were replaced. The Green Room has been decorated as part of the development of a new Wellbeing Centre around the area by the Chapel. The computers in IT2 and IT3 have been fully replaced. Thank you to the site team for organising this work. Money from the Voluntary Fund and the Foundation has enabled these refurbishments to take place so thank you, once again, for your contributions.

ART AND TECHNOLOGY Arkwright Scholarships

Congratulations to Aaditya, Daksh, Hardiv, Jamie, Nathan and Saakshi who have won Arkwright Engineering Scholarships. This is the most 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. Scholarships are awarded to highcalibre 16 year old students through a rigorous selection process and these support students through the two years of their A-Levels.

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Autumn Term Voluntary Fund

F1 in Schools STEM Challenge

At the end of September, the wait was finally over for team ‘Electron’. The team of six Year 11 students had waited since April to finish the season and compete in the National Finals of the F1 in Schools competition. The event was run virtually this year which posed its own new challenges for the team. The event was streamed live on the competitions YouTube channel and the boys had to watch on a computer screen whilst their car raced hundreds of miles away and then to be interviewed via Zoom call. Team Electron were delighted to be awarded 2nd place nationally, earning them the chance to represent England at the World Finals in the New Year. Their car, which had hurtled down the 25m racetrack at over 50mph, came just 0.003s behind the winners. F1 in schools is continuing to grow in popularity and quality at St Olave's. The club currently has ten Year 8 teams, and another nine teams from Years 9 to 12.

Galactic Challenge

Congratulations to Year 11 students Daniel Shahrabi Atari, Rohan Selva-Radov, Srij Bera and Abhishek Sundararaman who undertook the ‘Galactic Challenge - Journey to Mars’ as a group of four and received a Gold award.

International Space Settlement Design Competition

The St Olave’s team worked hard to overcome technological and cultural barriers with a degree of professionalism and composure beyond their years, receiving praise from their company supervisors, who included an Engineer at Boeing and Old Olavian, Shayne Beegadhur. The International Space Settlement Design Competition is the highest level of space design competition in the world, and qualifying is an impressive feat in itself. After winning the London Regionals and the National Finals at Imperial College, 12 students from St Olave's were invited to represent the UK at the ISSDC. Usually held over three days at the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, students from St Olave's and Eltham College formed the UK contingent for this year's four-day virtual competition and went on to become the first UK team to win the competition in over five years.

Purple Nebula

After winning last year’s London Regionals, Nationals and Internationals, the St Olave's Space Design Competition Team have successfully finished their recruitment process for this year. Open to Year 11 and 12, there were over sixty applications. After providing a written statement, applicants were invited to take part in a ‘Challenge Heat’ in which they had only an hour to design a settlement on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, according to the brief given to them. Following this, several were then invited to interview after which the final team were then confirmed.

Favelas

Over the Summer Term, the Art Department ran a competition for Year 7 students to create their own cardboard constructions inspired by their research into Favelas and the work of Ana Serrano. Using recycled materials, they made their own personal responses with a focus on sustainability. Congratulations to Som Shah, Agastya Singh, Vinay Rajesh, Wessel Haartsen, Daniel Saldhana, Rayan Deputy, Shaurya Kadian and Ishan Ponnampalan (now all in Year 8) who created some fantastic pieces of work which are now on display in the Foyers.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS Cambridge Summer School Essay Competition

Congratulations to the following students on their successes in the Immerse Education Essay Competition, winning places at the Cambridge University summer schools. Upanshu Tyagi (Year 11) – Architecture; Wafi Ali (Year 10) – Economics; Sophie Lee (Year 12) - Medicine (scholarship); Arjun Javagal (Year 10) – Economics; Vaibhav Mehra (Year 11) – Physics. We know that a number of our students applied for places and would like to congratulate everybody who has written a successful essay.

TCS Digital Explorers Program

Congratulations to Year 12 student, Pradhay Amarnath, on receiving an EDT Silver Level Industrial Cadets Certificate and Gold Standard in recognition for his work on homelessness. He participated in the TCS Digital Explorers Program where he received a technology briefing by industrial experts. Along with the virtual work experience, the programme entailed designing a digital product and creating a business pitch for this product. He was tasked to create a website to address a contemporary social issue and he choose to tackle homelessness. He designed and built a website along with a ChatBot using web programming languages (HTML5/CSS 3/NodeJS/ Python) and ChatBot building platforms (ManyChat/ Facebook); hosted on a Heroku web server.

Obituary

It is with great sadness that we must report the death of The Rev Hugh Broadbent, a former Chaplain and Governor to St Olave's; he died on Sunday 29 November after a long illness. Hugh was a great supporter of the school having been the Chaplain here from 1995 to 2009 and a Governor from 2015 until 2019. Hugh brought a caring ministry for all in the school community working with staff, students, and parents, often giving great comfort at the most difficult of times. His ability to find the right words and to take the right path was incredibly impressive. There is no doubt that this role was enhanced by his own personal qualities of complete sincerity and trustworthiness, and his evident enjoyment of life. His memory and inspiration will live on in the lives of all those who were so very blessed to have known him.

F1 In Schools STEM Challenge

Student congratulations:

• Shreyas Shubham achieved a Distinction in his NEA Level 3 Grade 7 Gold medal Public Speaking Examination.

• Sebastian Garnham-Jong passed his Grade 8 Speech and Drama examination with Distinction during lockdown via Zoom.

• Oliver Tovarlaza and Sandy Collins passed their Grade 4 Acting Duologue New Era examination with Distinction.

• Navin Mathew passed his LAMDA Speech and Drama Grade 4 Solo Acting examination with a Distinction.

• Aaran Sudhir achieved a Distinction in his Grade 5 Music Theory examination.

• Sean Lee achieved a Distinction in his Grade 7 piano.

• Siddharth Mishra won 3rd place in the solo category at the online Maidstone Music Festival.

• David Wade delivered an online musical performance of ‘Delightful’ by Mark Nightingale.

• Pradhay Amarnath achieved Distinction in his Grade 7 Electronic Keyboard exam.

• Navaneeth Madhavan achieved a Silver award in the Galactic Challenge.

• Ishan Kalia received an honourable mention and a certificate for the Gonville and Caius College History Essay Competition for his object biography on the ‘Delhi Iron Pillar’.

• Sanah Suresh was awarded 3rd place in the 2020 LSE SU Economics Essay Competition.

• Ameya Athawale worked independently and gained his Silver CREST award over the Summer, looking for the ideal growing conditions for garden peas.

• Tavishi Prasad gained the Industrial Cadets Silver Award, which involved over 30 hours of work on ‘The study of nanoscale interactions between light and metals’.

• Jessica Fraser won the Royal Economic Society Best Essay on the ‘Greenhouse Gases’ topic.

• Isaac Olaleye has been selected for the Kent Under 15 Football Squad for 2020-21.

• Aneesh Sagar won the online U1700 Four Nations Chess League.

Old Olavians

• Rebecca Fryza gained a first class degree and commenced her PGCE at Cambridge in September.

• Patrick Whitelaw has been awarded his PhD and published a paper on ‘Shale gas reserve evaluation by laboratory pyrolysis and gas holding capacity consistent with field data’.

• Keiron Walton is playing Premier League Hockey for Exeter University Hockey Club.

• Moses Abraham featured in the December 2020 edition of GQ magazine, modelling the latest fashion in coats.

• James Burtonshaw has been offered a role as a Research Associate in the Petroleum Engineering and Rock Mechanics Group (PERM) at Imperial College London. He recently submitted his first paper entitled ‘Effect of Viscosity and Injection Rate on the Tensile and Shear Deformation Experienced

by Interacting Hydraulic and Natural Fractures’ for publication.

Saint Olave’s Grammar School Goddington Lane Orpington Kent BR6 9SH 01689 820101 office@saintolaves.net www.saintolaves.net