The Shirburnian 2022/23 by Sherborne School

Sherborne School was delighted to host a week of high-level cricket matches to raise funds and awareness for the Ruth Strauss Foundation. The event has already raised over £2,000 for the charity.

“I am incredibly proud to help raise the proﬁle of the Ruth Strauss Foundation and the support from all involved has been fantastic, the weather has been kind and the standard of cricket, simply sparkling.” Hugh Tatham Master in Charge of Cricket and organiser of event

Welcome to

THE SHIRBURNIAN ‘We are living in most interesting times. I never remember myself a time in which our history was so full, in which day by day brought us new objects of interest and, let me say, also new objects for anxiety’. Those words were spoken by the British politician Joseph Chamberlain over a century ago but they apply equally well to today. We are indeed living in interesting times and the world certainly presents us with manifold sources of uncertainty and anxiety. Global heating and the urgent challenge of creating a more sustainable economy and society; the long and bitter war in Ukraine; domestic economic and political uncertainty; and the revolution in Artificial Intelligence; all this should make pause for thought, not least to consider what we might each do to make a difference, if only a small one, to a world sorely in need of thoughtful, positive actions in pursuit of the common good. Sadly, it is hard to have complete confidence in the ability of our political masters to demonstrate the levels of leadership, selfsacrifice and vision that the situation demands, something perhaps evidenced by the fact that no fewer than three Prime Ministers occupied 10 Downing Street in the Michaelmas term of 2022. In stark contrast was the example of constancy, service and duty bequeathed to us by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II whose passing we mourned in that same term. It is these qualities that we most want our boys to emulate as they prepare to make their way in the world.

That world will, of course, be very different from the one in which my generation grew up. The profound social, economic and political changes of recent years have been fuelled and amplified by technology, most recently the quantum leap in Artificial Intelligence heralded by the appearance of AI chatbots and writing tools such as ChatGPT. The power of this technology will grow exponentially and will profoundly influence all our lives. It will require us fundamentally to reassess how we teach, learn, work and interact. It will offer great benefits and present significant practical and ethical

challenges. Our job is to educate our boys to understand the technology so they can capitalise upon its benefits whilst being always aware of its limitations and the errors to which it is prone. Since the launch of ChatGPT, we have given much thought to how we will use and manage AI. The good news for Sherborne is that, as more and more routine work is left to machines, there will be greater demand for those who have the skills to undertake more complex, creative and interpersonal tasks. The attributes most in demand will be empathy, creativity, flexibility, imagination,

likeability, leadership and the ability to work as part of a team. These are, of course, the characteristics most often ascribed to Shirburnians. AI will, therefore, only render a Sherborne education more valuable and more relevant as we move further into this new industrial revolution. Engagement with AI is at the centre of our new Development Plan 2023-28. The plan restates our traditional values whilst identifying eleven areas of focus including the further development of individualised care; the extension of leadership opportunities throughout the School; a review of our academic curriculum, timetable and tutoring arrangements; sustainability; and further collaboration with our neighbours Sherborne Girls and the wider community. The main objective of the plan is to ensure that we equip our boys for the opportunities and challenges of the mid-twenty-first century whilst remaining true to the core values that make Sherborne the extraordinary place that we all know it to be. In the pages that follow, you will be able to read about the full span of our boys’ endeavours and achievements. I am sure you will agree with me that they are mightily impressive. They range from genuinely outstanding academic results to exceptional levels of participation and accomplishment in music, drama, sport and myriad of other physical, cerebral and creative pursuits. These were among the things that so impressed the team from the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate who visited us in March and led to us being awarded the highest grades possible, with a judgement of ‘excellent’ in all areas.

The inspectors were keen to draw attention to the vast and impressive range of our boys’ achievements, high levels of intellectual ability, ambition and erudition. They were also struck by the calm and purposeful atmosphere of the School. But what for me mattered more than anything else was that the inspectors found the boys to be kind, thoughtful and attuned to the needs of others, reporting on the ‘ethos of respect, support, kindness and openness’ that prevails across the School. That, of course, sums up our core educational mission: to produce decent, kind, empathetic boys with a moral compass and an understanding of the importance of looking after other people and the world that we are privileged to share. That Sherborne continues to thrive is thanks to the many people who serve and support the School. The Governors who lead and guide us; the academic and support staff who work tirelessly to provide the boys with care, challenge and opportunity; our donors who so generously support projects such as the redevelopment of our Sports Complex; and our parents, who make many sacrifices to enable our boys to be here. Ultimately, however, it is the boys who make Sherborne what it is, each playing a distinctive role in sustaining this wonderfully rich, warm and stimulating community. I hope you enjoy reading about many of the things that they have been doing this year.

Dr Dominic Luckett Headmaster and Chief Executive

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HeaD boyS MuSIC CReaTIve wRITIng CoMMeMoRaTIon Day aCaDeMIC Co-CuRRICuLaR boaRDIng HouSeS SpoRT FaReweLLS weLCoMIng new STaFF

Head boys As always, I am grateful to those boys who have served in senior leadership positions over the course of the year. Our excellent Heads of School, William Waters (U6b) and Freddy Molesworth-St Aubyn (U6b), have been outstanding role models, embodying the qualities of kindness, integrity and service that are so highly prized at Sherborne. They have led the Prefect team with distinction and I am grateful to all the year’s School and House Prefects and the many others who have devoted time and thought to leading and serving others. Dr Dominic Luckett Headmaster and Chief Executive

Our new Heads of School will be Hector Kennerley (L6g) and Alex Upton (L6e).

Sherborne School is excellent!

Sherborne School has been given the highest possible grade of ‘excellent’ by the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate. A team of inspectors visited Sherborne School in March with a focus upon two key areas: the quality of pupils’ academic and other achievements and the quality of pupils’ personal development. After spending three days immersed in the life of the School, the inspectors judged the School to be ‘Excellent’ in both areas. In arriving at their judgements, the inspectors relied upon a wide range of evidence including the boys’ examination results and other academic and co-curricular

achievements; observations of lessons and co-curricular activities; work scrutiny; visits to Boarding Houses; interviews with boys, staff and governors; and the information contained within the questionnaires completed by boys, parents and staff. The report notes pupils to have ‘intellectual curiosity and an enthusiasm for learning’, ‘enabled by high quality teaching’ in the classroom. Pupils are described as ‘confident and resilient and wellprepared for the next stage in their lives’. Inspectors remark that Sherborne boys have a ‘well-developed sense of community and a strong affinity to the School’ whilst also noting that ‘pupils have a deep

understanding of personal responsibility and of their role in supporting others with kindness and respect’. Headmaster and CEO, Dr Dominic Luckett said, ‘I am delighted with the inspection report, not least because I genuinely feel that the inspectors gained a remarkably impressive grasp of our School and those things that make it so special. I am grateful to all those – boys, parents, staff and governors – who contributed to this superb outcome and hope that the whole Sherborne community feels a great sense of pride in being recognised as a thoroughly excellent School and a close-knit community of kindness.’

It has been a year of almost continuous musical growth amongst the School’s strongest ensembles, with nothing summing up the year better than the outstanding Leavers’ Concert given by Upper Sixth musicians two days before the end of the School year. The superb progress made in chamber music, in orchestral playing in both Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia, in the enormous Wind Band, in the world of jazz both with the Swing Band and the Junior Jazz Band, and in sacred and secular choral music with the gigantic School Choir twice a week in the Abbey, the Chamber Choir in both the Chapel and the Abbey, and the Close Harmony group, are all testament to the impressive way in which Shirburnian musicians continue to flourish in an ever busier life.

JaMeS HenDeRSon exeCuTIve DIReCToR oF MuSIC SHeRboRne SCHooL anD DIReCToR oF MuSIC SHeRboRne abbey

s None of these musical achievements would be possible without Shirburnians making difficult choices about the use of their crowded time through being exceptionally organised, highly disciplined, and thoroughly committed. Practising a musical instrument is not always fun, but the end result is most definitely extremely rewarding. Grade 8 exam results and diplomas, and high-quality concerts (mostly available to watch on the School’s

YouTube channel) are all the more remarkable for the fact that for eighteen months the Music School has been next to what must surely be one of the noisiest building sites in the South-West. The refurbishment and extension of the sports centre has provided an ‘interesting’ collage of sounds for which Stockhausen might have been proud, but which certainly made practising—and at times rehearsing—even more arduous.

s Musicians new to the School in September 2022, with some obvious exceptions, took a little longer to navigate the myriad of co-curricular clubs and, with so many opportunities on offer these days, did not always stay with the musical route—but sticking with an instrument (particularly a stringed one where progress can be slower) is not always the most attractive option to a thirteen-year old pupil faced with massive choice. Interestingly, the Trinity Term— post successful Inspection—saw many young musicians return to regular practising with the result that the four Commem concerts represented a feast of very high quality music-making. The Leavers’ Concert on Thursday 29 June was a highlight of the year and surely saw one of the strongest musical year groups we have enjoyed for some time giving their final performances. They, and the many in this year group that have been involved with Music but did not perform in the Leavers’ Concert, will be missed a great deal; all of the Music staff at Sherborne are grateful for their outstanding contributions, especially as some of that crucial participation was made from home during Lockdowns. I have

probably written this before, no doubt after one of the seventeen others that I have proudly hosted, but it did seem to me that this was an exceptional concert of considerable musical breadth and continuously highquality. Max Lewis ATCL Sch.Mus (U6a) opened the concert with a mesmerising and meticulously prepared performance of the second movement of James Rae’s Tyne Sonata; Watersmeet which showed his innate sense of jazz style blended with great technique and strong musicianship. As a final performance from the Swing Band ‘captain’, this was simply outstanding. Kit Hobbs Sch.Mus (U6c) sang two contrasting pieces in his inimitable tenor range, Renaldo Hahn’s À Chloris

being a wonderful pastiche of the French mélodie repertoire and very ‘Hobbs’ in interpretation, while Say you won’t let go, by James Arthur of the singer-songwriter/Unplugged genre, self-accompanied by Kit on the guitar, was probably where he is now happiest as a performer and which style he will no doubt develop at university. Angus Williams ATCL Sch.Mus (U6c) was involved with four performances during the evening—the organ being the only instrument of his four not to feature—in accompanying Hendrik Ashbrooke Exh.Mus (U6g) with Hendrik’s lyrical baritone giving a moving and very musical performance of John Ireland’s Sea Fever; playing Kempff’s colourful arrangement

of J S Bach’s Siciliano (from Flute Sonata No. 2, BWV 1031) on the piano with sensitivity and a strong sense of pianistic touch; performing Mozart’s beautiful Quintet KV 581 (2nd movement) on the clarinet and getting the very best out of the instrument; and singing in an ensemble performing Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus that Angus himself put together and rehearsed. Performances of Schumann’s Träumerei (Reverie) and Rachmaninov’s Prelude in B minor, Op. 32, No. 10 by Freddie Folkes Sch.Mus (U6a) were very well-prepared and fine examples of Freddie’s playing over recent years (and on the trumpet, too, in the Swing Band)—the Rachmaninov, in particular, being powerfully and pianistically delivered.

Michael Long (U6m) has given some very polished performances of Chopin in his time at Sherborne and his Leavers’ Concert performance of the Nocturne in F major Op 15 No 1 was no exception in its lyrical and colourful interpretation. Khalid Miah (U6f) has been a stalwart of the tenor saxophone section of the Swing Band for the last few years, and of the vocal tenor section of the Choir, and in this concert sang Go, lovely rose, by Quilter, in a rendition that was very much from the heart. Nico Beeny ATCL Sch.Mus (U6c), the First Horn of Symphony Orchestra for three of his five years at Sherborne and the Swing Band vocalist for two, played Gilbert Vintner’s Hunter’s Moon on the French Horn with aplomb and sang Fly me to the

moon to a piano accompaniment —his performance lively and Frank Sinatra-like enough for the usual Swing Band accompaniment not to be missed on this occasion. Will Frost (U6b) sang two of Fauré’s best known and movingly beautiful songs— Automne and Après un rêve— with great style and vocal control, having been an unfailing and very committed attendee of the Choir throughout his five years (including on-screen with a mobile phone during the Pandemic). Debussy’s Beau Soir provided Sam Withers (U6f) with the perfect opportunity to play with great sensitivity and in a style which portrayed the poem effortlessly. He has been an ensemble player of great distinction.

It is invidious to describe one particular performance as being a highlight, but undoubtedly the performance of Chopin’s Scherzo no. 2, op 31 by william Miao Sch.Mus (u6f) was electric and dynamic in its presentation, not to mention the feat of technical brilliance. Such playing tends to elicit a gasp of amazement!

s abbey services on wednesday and Sunday evenings continue to feature choral music from the sixteenth century to the present day, with two separate Choirs of 100 singers and 36 singers.

H a LLI Day Cup M uS IC CoM p e T I T Ion Su nDay 26 F eb R uaRy

paT R I C k S He L L e y MuSIC C oM p e T IT Ion S u n D ay 25 June

This annual competition is open to pianists, singers and organists who all compete for this coveted award dedicated to the memory of Charles graham Rivers Halliday (g 1914) who was tragically killed in action at ypres in 1917, and who had loved music at Sherborne. The cup was ﬁrst presented as a ‘piano Cup’ in 1925, and became the Halliday Cup in 2008.

This year the patrick Shelley Music Competition for advanced Instrumentalists was adjudicated by Dominic wheeler (h 88), old Shirburnian and variously conductor of english national opera and glyndebourne, and currently Head of opera Studies at the guildhall School of Music and Drama. This was Dominic’s second visit to Sherborne for an adjudication, and he was particularly impressed by the music-making that was taking place throughout the day.

This year the competition was adjudicated by Frederick Brown, our gap year Organ Scholar back in 2010, now Conductor and Chorus Master of Welsh National Opera. The winning performances were Benjamin Hunt with Mier’s Opening Night Jazz (Junior Piano); Angus Williams with Howells’ Psalm Prelude No. 1, Set 1 (Organ); Ian Liu with Chopin’s Ballade No. 1, Op. 23 (Open Class Piano), Benji Rimington Sch.Mus (3c) with Bach’s Von den Stricken and Oscar Boswall Sch.Mus (5f) with Barber’s Sure on this shining night (joint winners, Junior Vocal); and Hector Kennerley with Gurney’s Sleep (Senior Vocal). The overall winner of the Halliday Cup was Ian Liu with a stunning rendition of Chopin’s Ballade No. 1, Op. 23 that left the adjudicator and the audience spell-bound.

Undoubtedly this competition was one of the best of its type to which we have listened and, given that it is in its sixteenth year, that is a significant statement about the Shirburnians’ – largely but not entirely in the Sixth Form – ability to practise, rehearse and make music in this busy era. The winner of the Patrick Shelley Cup was Angus Williams. The winners of the Piano Class were William Miao (first place), Angus Williams (second place), Gareth Kwong

Exh.Mus (L6e) (third place), with Ian Liu Sch.Mus (3d), Freddie Folkes and Samuel Rippon Sch.Mus (4e) being awarded Highly Commended status; Archie Beardsell Sch.Mus (L6f) (first place), Karl Ng (L6b) (second place), Alex Upton (U6e) and Bamber Mauleverer Exh.Mus (L6b) (joint third place) with Jasper Beardsell Sch.Mus (4f) being awarded Highly Commended in the Brass Class; Max Lewis (first place), Angus Williams (second place) and Benjamin Hunt Sch.Mus (3b) (third place) in the Woodwind Class; Angus Williams (first place), Hendrik Ashbrooke (second place) and Hector Kennerley Sch.Mus (L6g) and Thomas Arbon Valderrama Sch.Mus (L6e) (joint third place) in the Singing Class; and Gareth Kwong (first place), James Herbert Sch.Mus (L6a) (second place) and Marc Fung (4a) (third place) in the Strings Class.

Con Ce RT S As ever, Cheap Street Church lunchtime recitals took place weekly on Fridays, to audiences that regularly exceed 100 in number. The quality of the performances was undoubtedly the best since the Pandemic, with most available to be watched on YouTube for some time yet. In the Sherborne Abbey Festival there were performances of Poulenc’s Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano (Hector Kennerley, oboe; Thomas Arbon Valderrama, bassoon; and Byron Yang Sch.Mus (L6d), piano); Beethoven’s Trio for Clarinet ‘Cello and Piano, Opus 11 (Angus Williams, clarinet; Gareth Kwong, ‘cello; and William Miao, piano); Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Opus 23 by Third Former Ian Liu Sch.Mus (3d), Howells’ Psalm Prelude, No. 1, Set 1 by Angus Williams on the Abbey’s mighty organ; and the Brass Quintet (Archie Beardsell, flugelhorn; Charlie Burtt Sch.Mus (L6c), trumpet; Henry Cannon Exh.Mus (L6c), trumpet; Bamber Mauleverer; and Karl Ng, trombone) performed Percy Grainger’s Danny Boy (Londonderry Air) and Gordon Langford’s Polonaise. Tippett’s Five Spirituals and Sarah Flower Adams’ Nearer My God To Thee were perhaps the highlights of the choral music. In a first for the Joint Schools, a concert in January entitled

Separate, yet together – A Musical Showcase celebrated joint music (joint with Sherborne Girls, Sherborne Prep and The Gryphon) in the Merritt Centre and saw Mark Cracknell’s debut as the new Director of Music at Sherborne Girls with Symphony Orchestra in an easy-listening evening of music including Zimmer’s Gladiator and Williams’ Star Wars that was later repeated in the annual Symphony Orchestra Concert in the same venue. Our Chamber Choir sang Rodgers’ and Hart’s Blue Moon; a chamber ensemble performed Haydn’s Piano Trio No. 39 ‘Gypsy Rondo’; Sherborne Madrigals sang Gershwin’s Love walked in and Lauridsen’s Sure on this shining night; Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine, Rodney Bennett’s Finale: Three Piece Suite (the four hands of Angus Williams and Ali Smith on two grand pianos), and Miller’s Pennsylvania 6-5000 from the ubiquitous Swing Band. The Wind Band’s performances in the Commem Gala Concert, and in their own BSR concert in March, were this year a triumph of largescale music-making under the baton of Clare Jackson, Head of Instrumental Studies, in performances of Sparke’s

Jubiloso; Saucedo’s Flight of the Thunderbird; Giacchino’s The Incredibles; Holst’s Suite in F Op. 28, No. 2 ‘Fantasia on the Dargason’, and Earth, Wind & Fire’s September. Jazz on the Wednesday of Commem week has recently become something of a tradition, as has the rain that prevents it from taking place outdoors. This year the Swing Band (Charlie Armsby Sch.Mus (4f), Jack Arnold Sch.Mus (5e), Benjamin Hunt (3b), James Murray (L6m), Patrick Reynolds (4e), Byron Yang (alto saxophone); Max Lewis, Khalid Miah (tenor saxophone); Thomas Arbon Valderrama (baritone saxophone); Jasper Beardsell, Archie Spenlove-Brown Sch.Mus (4f), Karl Ng (trombone); Archie Beardsell, Charlie Burtt, Henry Cannon, Freddie Folkes, Archie Gibbons Sch.Mus (4f) (trumpet); Freddie Senior Sch.Mus (5g) (piano); Kit Slim Exh.Mus (U6m), Alex Swann Sch.Mus (L6m) (guitar); Aleksandr Grabski (U6e) (bass guitar); and Alex O’Sullivan Exh.Mus (5d) (drum kit), with Nico Beeny (vocalist) delighted with Have you met Miss Jones?; Now ain’t that a kick in the head; Gigolo and others from the Barbados set list last summer;

s Programme

Wind Band Suite in F Op. 28, No. 2, 4th movement: ‘Fantasia on the Dargason’

Gustav Holst (1874–1934)

September

together with and an All Stars and a Dinner and Jazz in Lent and Trinity Terms. Meanwhile a new Junior Jazz Band (Archie Osborne (4f), saxophone; Samuel Rippon, clarinet; William Lewis Sch.Mus (4d), clarinet; Benji Rimington, clarinet; Charlie Scammell Sch.Mus (3f), trumpet; James Hambly Sch.Mus (3a), trumpet; Bamber Mauleverer, trombone; William Ashworth Sch.Mus (5b), bass guitar; and James Whiteley Sch.Mus (4b), drum kit) brought Take Five, Stompin’ at the Savoy; Tastes like Chicken; and Jumpin’ at the Woodside to life for an audience of parents and public packed into the Music School Atrium. Both bands performed on the bridge.

Gala Concert

Chamber Choir Five Spirituals (from A Child of our Time)

Michael Tippett (1905–1998)

Brass Band Sonata pian’e forte

Friday 30th June 2023

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554–1612) arr. Robert Costin Barry Grey (1908–1984) arr. Robert Costin

Thunderbirds Theme

7.30pm Big School Room, Sherborne School

Wind Band Conductor: Clare Jackson Leader: Angus Williams ATCL Sch.Mus Flute: Sam Baring, Ian Liu Sch.Mus., Sammy O’Brien Sch.Mus.,

Close Harmony

Forest Purvis Sch.Mus., Freddie Senior Sch.Mus. Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) arr. Adam Scott

Hallelujah

Symphonic Strings Prelude from Holberg Suite

Edvard Grieg (1843–1907)

Oboe: Hendrik Ashbrooke Exh.Mus., Hector Kennerley Sch.Mus., Inigo Russell Exh. Mus. Clarinet: Benjamin Hunt Sch.Mus., William Lewis Sch.Mus., Michael Long, Benji Rimington Sch.Mus., Samuel Rippon Sch.Mus., Angus Williams ATCL Sch.Mus. Bass Clarinet: James Coleman Sch.Mus. Bassoon: Thomas Arbon Valderrama Sch.Mus.

Thriller

Rod Temperton (1949–2016) arr. Larry Moore

Concert Orchestra

Alto Saxophone: Charlie Armsby Sch.Mus., Jack Arnold Sch.Mus., Hugo Bishop, Harrison Fox, Lachlan Geddes, James Murray, Archie Osborne, Patrick Reynolds, Alexander Whale, Byron Yang Sch.Mus.

Tenor Saxophone: Maxim Lewis ATCL Exh.Mus., Khalid Miah

Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, Op. 65, No. 6

Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) arr. Benjamin Davey

The Comedians Op. 26: Prologue and Gallop

The annual Commem Gala Concert, as ever, was a tour de force of largescale ensemble music-making. Such breadth and variety is evident in the programme – but what was new was the perfect length of the concert: one hour and fifteen minutes. Several members of the audience commented that they would like to have heard more – but that is exactly how it should be, and they’re not going to!

Maurice White (1962–2016) Al McKay (b. 1948) Allee Willis (1947–2019) arr. Murtha

Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904–1987)

Trumpet: Archie Beardsell Sch.Mus., Henry Cannon Exh.Mus., Freddie Folkes Sch.Mus., Archie Gibbons Sch.Mus., James Hambly Sch.Mus., Jasper MacWatt Sch.Mus., Charlie Scammell Sch.Mus., Hugo Tyrrell, Alex Upton, Caio Waters French Horn: Nico Beeny ATCL Sch. Mus., Oliver Chappell Exh.Mus., Sebastian Quinlan, Louis Rippon Sch.Mus.

Euphonium: Alex Biddulph, Elliot Hampton Sch.Cho. Trombone: Jasper Beardsell Sch.Mus., Charlie Burtt Sch.Mus., Karl Ng, Archie Spenlove-Brown Sch.Mus, Tom Whyte

Bass Trombone: Alfie Reynolds Tuba: Oscar Boswall Sch.Mus., Joseph Harris, Bamber Mauleverer Exh.Mus. Drum Kit: James Whiteley Sch.Mus. Percussion: Sotaro Matsui Exh.Mus. Percussion and Timpani: Guy Hepher Sch.Org.

Chamber Choir Director: James Henderson Tenor: Jack Arnold Sch.Mus, Sam Bourke, James Coleman Sch.Mus, James da Costa Brookes, Freddie Facer Exh.Mus, Kit Hobbs Sch.Mus, Reuben Hobbs Exh.Mus, Benjamin Hunt Sch.Mus, Hector Kennerley Sch.Mus, William Lewis Sch.Mus, Charlie Miller, Inigo Russell Exh.Mus,

Bass: Thomas Arbon Valderrama Sch.Mus, Hendrik Ashbrooke Exh.Mus, Archie Beardsell Sch.Mus, Jasper Beardsell Sch.Mus, Nico Beeny ATCL Sch.Mus, Oscar Boswall Sch.Mus, Charlie Burtt Sch.Mus, Oliver Chappell Exh.Mus, Freddie Folkes Sch.Mus, James Hambly Sch.Mus, Jasper MacWatt Sch.Mus, Johnny Moesel, Sammy O’Brien Sch.Mus, Forest Purvis Sch.Mus, Sam Rippon Sch.Mus, Archie Spenlove-Brown Sch.Mus, Angus Williams ATCL Sch.Mus

Brass Band

Symphonic Strings Directors: Lucy-Anne Allen and Dan Marks Leader: James Herbert Sch.Mus Violin: Cameron Campbell-Steele, Freddie Facer Exh.Mus, Marc Fung, Dorian Gottardello Bodnar, James Herbert Sch.Mus, Austin Lai, Orlando Tavener Sch.Mus Cello: Jayden Graham-Douglas, Gareth Kwong Exh.Mus, Zeeshan Mahmud Sch.Mus, Inigo Russell Exh.Mus

Double Bass: Barney Crawford Drum Kit: James Whiteley Sch.Mus.

Director: Robert Costin

Concert Orchestra

Trumpet: Archie Beardsell Sch.Mus., Henry Cannon Exh.Mus., Alex Upton

Conductors: Benjamin Davey, Clare Jackson Leader: Sam Withers

Euphonium: Alex Biddulph, Elliot Hampton Sch.Cho. French Horn: Louis Rippon Sch.Mus.

First Violin: James Herbert Sch.Mus, Sam Withers

Trombone: Jasper Beardsell Sch.Mus., Karl Ng

Second Violin: Freddie Facer Exh.Mus., Marc Fung, Austin Lai, Orlando Tavener Sch.Mus.

Bass Trombone: Alfie Reynolds

Cello: Gareth Kwong Exh.Mus., Zeeshan Mahmud Sch.Mus.

Tuba: Oscar Boswall Sch.Mus., Joseph Harris, Bamber Mauleverer Exh.Mus. Percussion: James Whiteley Sch.Mus

William Miao Sch.Mus., Inigo Russell Exh.Mus.

Double Bass: Barney Crawford Flute: Ian Liu Sch.Mus., Sammy O’Brien Sch.Mus., Forest Purvis Sch.Mus.,

Close Harmony Director: Dan Marks Tenor: William Ashworth Sch.Mus., Kit Hobbs Sch.Mus., Hector Kennerley Sch.Mus. Bass: Nico Beeny ATCL Sch.Mus., James Coleman Sch.Mus., Freddie Folkes Sch.Mus., Angus Williams ATCL Sch.Mus.

Clarinet: James Coleman Sch.Mus., Benji Rimington Sch.Mus., Angus Williams ATCL Sch.Mus., Oboe: Hendrik Ashbrooke Exh.Mus., Hector Kennerley Sch.Mus. Bassoon: Thomas Arbon Valderrama Sch.Mus. French Horn: Nico Beeny ATCL Sch.Mus., Oliver Chappell Exh.Mus., Louis Rippon Sch.Mus Trumpet: Archie Beardsell Sch.Mus., Henry Cannon Exh.Mus., Archie Gibbons Sch.Mus., James Hambly Sch.Mus., Charlie Scammell Sch.Mus., Jasper MacWatt Sch.Mus.,

Trombone: Jasper Beardsell Sch.Mus., Charlie Burtt Sch.Mus., Archie Spenlove-Brown Sch.Mus., Karl Ng

Tuba: Oscar Boswall Sch.Mus., Bamber Mauleverer Exh.Mus. Percussion: James Whiteley Sch.Mus.

S aCR e D CH o Ra L M uS IC It is not clear how many communities or schools have a choral tradition on the scale of ours – this year 111 tenor and bass singers sang twice a week in the Abbey – but certainly singing at Sherborne remains “cool” and for the second year running there was a waiting list following auditions at the beginning of the School year, the only restriction to membership being the Health & Safety regulations in the Abbey choir stalls. The occasions of particular note were, as ever, the Carol Services in the Abbey, the wonderful Commem service – resplendent with the ubiquitous I was glad by Parry, but also this time including an extract from Haydn’s Creation with The heavens are telling – Evensongs by the Chamber Choir in Bath Abbey and Winchester Cathedral, and the Festive Evensong for St Joseph’s Day (Monday 20 March) in the School Chapel. The outstanding organ playing of Angus Williams, in accompanying the choir from time to time in both the Abbey and the Chapel, bears special mention for his adept management of the organ accompaniments in between singing in the choirs whenever the music was a cappella. Angus also conducted the Chamber Choir in music by Tallis and Byrd (if ye love me and Ave verum) in “Battle of the Organs” featuring the Chamber Choir. The 2023 Choral Society performance, joint with Sherborne Girls and with 60 or so singers from the local community, was Mendelssohn’s Elijah on Wednesday 8 February, conducted by Dan Marks (Assistant Director of Music). The massed forces of the Choral Society, numbering some 170 singers in total, continues to impress on an annual basis.

Co uRT S F e S T b eH In D T H e S C e n e S

Following the successful debut of the event last year, CourtsFest 2023 was a huge hit once again. More than 300 Sixth Formers from Sherborne School and Sherborne girls attended the event, enjoying live music, street food, drinks and entertainment in the Courts.

When planning began for CourtsFest 2023, more than six months prior to the event date, the template of last year’s event proved to be a good starting point. Combining this with constructive feedback from boys, girls, and staff meant that this year’s event saw a few minor changes and improvements. Everyone was very pleased to see the return of the wood-fired pizzas. The burgers and churros, which were new to the food offering this year, proved to be equally popular. Boys and girls also enjoyed classic funfair games including Tin Can Alley, Cork Shooting, Cross Bow Challenge, Splat the Rat and High Striker, and were rewarded for their wins with big inflatable prizes. When CourtsFest was launched in 2022, it was designed with the aim of moving away from the format of the longstanding Concert in the Courts. However, certain elements of tradition have been preserved, such as the opportunity for bands and DJs from Sherborne School and Sherborne Girls to perform on a big stage in front of their peers. As always, musicians from both Schools lived up to expectations and delivered a range of fantastic performances, which were live streamed into the Courts on a big LED screen, keeping music at the heart of the event. Sherborne bands included performers Bruno ArdernNorris (L6e), Alex Swann (L6m), Alex O’Sullivan (5d), Cassius Hammick (L6m), Jim Harrison (L6d), Charlie Money (L6d), Will Norton (5b), Byron Yang (L6d), Hamish Hartley (U6f), Aleksandr Grabski (U6e), William Frost (U6b), Jack Showering (U6e), Kit Slim (U6m), Nico Beeny (U6c), Jaego Cable (U6m), and Charlie Wallis (U6m). After months of hard work and planning, the day of the event finally arrived, as did the one element that seems to threaten every event and evade our control - the quintessentially British rain. Boys and girls refused to let the wet weather dampen their spirits and persisted with unwavering enthusiasm, with several commenting that the rain only added to the festival experience! Huge thanks are due to the many individuals and departments across the School and Sherborne Girls, as well as the external suppliers, who contributed to make CourtsFest 2023 such a memorable and enjoyable evening. We look forward to CourtsFest 2024! abi guiton School Events Lead

where the green hill folded to face the west, and the wooded path met the ridge, where the cattle had cleared the thicket, a golden seat was sculpted into the earth, on that bench he sat, The Empty Library His glossy eyes a vague blue, I Can Smell The Meaning netted with red roots and yellow marks, What Strange Company Studying where the distant mounts converged with the clouds, and the yellow fields of hay moulded the horizon, The Stars In The Sky where the city perched; among those viridescent waves, I Wonder What They Have Seen but as the light falls, Do They Think Of Me The foreign shadows of pastures wide, Consume each vell and dye, Toby Kilmartin (5e) The teary sky with streaks of pink, That shroud the skies in dusk, The last remains of the orange sun, That fall to earth as dust, His hand grips the cane, eyes towards the darkening sky, Tugs and tics that flail and fly, and flare his nose with whitening hairs, Grandad’s garden was always cold. and grit his teeth with painful snares, Damp grass pressed hard against my skin, Turn his tongue to a tickling mess, Whispers of the morning air trapped in the leaves. and torture each thought towards the west. His flower, a lily, about to bloom The petals hardened by the frost. oscar boswall (5f) It smelt like last year, but only just, Last year’s lilies were dead, Petals soft as white linen scraps, Fallen to the ground. This year’s lily came up without him, A cold reminder of his absence, But still it bloomed.

Two Haiku

edward brooke (L6b)

new year Sonnet The last night fades into the first morning, While he lies awake in an unmade bed, And reflecting on the bruised sky, aching, He scrawls a hasty poem with words unsaid. His ears still ring with the year’s blinding knell, And with hopeful songs, like the weary odes Of those Ithacans after ten years’ hell, Who tasted the blue smoke from their abodes, And sang of the joy, just beyond their ships, Thinking that unspent bliss was theirs by right As they forced apart Aeolus’ lips Then watched their fading island slip from sight. But they saw, just before his vengeful cry, Beauty: now etched across the silent sky

Cyrano Revisited Did the song of sin e’er sound so sweetly? As when, in neither deeds nor words he said: I am the poet Cyrano. Meet me. For my withering soul will soon be dead, But you shine brighter than the winter rays Of sunlight that tempt those drowsy flowers To life, if only to feel your warm gaze For those few glorious yet fleeting hours In which they swell and grow in hope and pride Towards the chilling nightfall and the shade And that moment in which they must decide That they, forsaken, surely then will fade.

Lines written on Coming across a Lamb Trapped beneath a Cattlegrid by night Let me help you, let me help you, let me Whisper, I whispered these words through the night: Whispering, hoping, praying ceaselessly That you (powerless) would cease your endless fight Against the desperate fallen shadows, Stretched out by the faint light of a thousand Stars across a thousand lonesome meadows: The hard metal - the soft touch of my hand Felt all the same to you - entrapped - alone, Let me help you, whispers, you felt my breath, Felt my tender refrain: a gentle moan Echoing through our souls, refusing death, And let me try and fail to lift you through, Till I left, whispering - let me help you.

This year’s winner of The Holiday Prize for Writing: Robbie Foster (U6a)

Tom Foster (5a)

BORN IN THE GEORGIAN VALLEY THe SunLIgHT pRoTeCTS uS FRoM THe DISCIpLeS’ LaMenT wHICH DICTaTe THeIR bLInD SavIouR’S woRDS. beaMS DaSH THe SILHoueTTeS oF DuST THaT ReaD DeSponDIng bRaILLe anD FLooD THe bawLIng wInDS THaT CRy. THIS bRoken CRoCHeT Tune IS STRewn In THe aIR aT DuSk In THe Sky. THeIR SHeeT MuSIC IS SpaRe anD TeLLS oF HIS TaCTFuL, DeLuDeD paSTS. THe noTeS wILL Soon ReST upon THe SHouLDeRS oF FaMILIaR peopLe. TwILIgHT bLueS anD ReDS, zeaLouS anD paLpabLe, FaLL FRoM aLL HoRIzonS InTo one anoTHeR. InTo TaRTaRuS’ CHanDeLIeR. ouR vISIon IS beCoMIng DeSoLaTe now. ReTICenT TeaRS Leak FRoM ouR SoILeD pupILS onTo THe CanvaS above, DeFoRMIng, In InDISTInCT CoaLeSCenCe, THe HueS CRave CoMpany. we CannoT See anyMoRe So LeT uS ReaCH ouT. THe DISTanT DyIng Day ReSTS upon THe FIngeRTIpS oF FaMILIaR peopLe. SIgHTLeSS, we LIe, expoSeD anD aFRaID anD TogeTHeR anD aCHIng In THe pLaCID, nakeD nIgHT wHICH baReS buRnIng FaTeS (STaRS we CaLLeD ‘DeSpaIR’) CaLLeD MaRkS oF beauTy by THoSe SeTTLIng noTeS, wHICH, unReSTRaIneD, waIL To uS wITH puTRID SCRuTIny: ‘aLL Men aRe My SeRvanTS anD pLayTHIngS, aLL STuMbLIng IDLy oR FeRvenT anD waITIng; now RIgHT To be RIpe on THIS SeRRaTeD nIgHT. I MuST CenSoR THeIR SeRpenTIne MaTIng’. THe goSpeL ReSTS wITHIn THe SILenCeD MouTHS anD beaRS upon THe SHouLDeRS oF FaMILIaR peopLe.

east of the besleti bridge My soiled pupils are planted with an image of you, Earnest like some jester whose surface sounds serve. Your urn-detained words are dust, lost in crisp stained glass, Heavily tinted and raw. These are the promotion screens; Flavouring the white side black speech. Valuing life by scent, The burning elapse of wood makes its origins trivial. Our creased tongues are ironed level. Our placid casts made more frivolous and wrought By the underbelly of fire, Spilling fumes of the privilege plague, Sparks in the thrill of a droll prison spire. The air is suave, Loose ends from across the water In crimson streaks mimic The sliced zephyr which is The prospector’s clue. He left cures and keys for us That our apposing appendages might Find with nutrient churned sight. The surly plunge into Tuesday’s water is coated In fire blankets worth of paper. These are the Diplomas for limerence returning you to The east side garden patch, crouching low in file. Hiding from the jovial sunshine anecdote. Hiding from the instant you hid with me. Lead me back to the Besleti, Georgia’s first saviour from the midweek depth. Back arched against the fickle herbs, She detracts the hideous cankers and knots and Sodden sap, south facing cushion moss. Take custody of me for I trust how her power suited, You stand now against reason, so I must negotiate The barefoot beat over your sullen stone, Posing like some guest with surface wounds, saved.

It is like a kingdom. Their bustling roads which they travel industriously. Their sentries in the leafy green stalks, Their fortresses that stretch underground, a mighty empire in the peak of its power, a kingdom of ants, a hidden world of insects. The grasshopper almost ﬂies as it jumps across the plain, Soaring through the air above the green forest of grass below it, It lands upon a towering stalk of grass with incredible precision, and soars into the skies once again. The spider scuttles and spins its silk, as a shimmering, translucent web surrounds it, a beautiful trap, a deadly work of art, and at the centre is the spider honing its craft. The termites live down so far from the sun, Feasting on rotten wood in their buried citadels, In the darkness they live contently digging, In the shadows that mark their peaceful home. Thousands lie dead on the tiny battleﬁeld, as the ants send out their armies en masse. a war that will determine the fate of these great domains, a war the size of a human footprint. The insects are small, the insects are many, They build great walls, kingdoms, outposts, citadels. below our feet their empires are mighty, In a hidden world utterly unknown. konark balain (3a)

Commemoration Day 2023

t was wonderful to see so many parents and grandparents at Commem. A beautiful service was held in the Abbey, followed by prize giving and lists in the Courts. Well done to all the boys whose hard work, talent and commitment were recognised. We were blessed with fine weather and fortunate to have us such an eminent and entertaining Guest of Honour as Old Shirburnian Professor Justin Cobb (a 75).

Particular congratulations go to Richard xu (U6b), who received this year’s Bow Award which is presented annually to the pupil considered to have shown the most care, concern and kindness to others. The day concluded with a stunning ball held at Sherborne Girls.

Academic Review

Three thousand days. Six hundred lots of ﬁve. Doesn’t sound like much when you put it like that but it’s eight years, over eight years in fact. Back in ‘them times’ Bowie was still rocking, Britain was comfortably in the EU, and COVID wasn’t even a thing. Wow. Even for an adult eight years is quite a long time - four fifths of a decade - but for a school community it’s an epoch, particularly when some of our youngest members would have been in pushchairs when it started. Eight years is correct, though, for it was back in 2015 that ISI last graced us with their presence. And now they’ve returned. Just as well we got in bunting for the Coronation...

s OK, eight years is a bit of a stretch. Technically, it’s only two as the ISI schedule works in three-year instalments, bouncing between compliance and EQI regimes with the feverish regularity of a Wimbledon rally. But still, it’s a long time. For those who aren’t aware, inspections are a flash-in-the-pan, an ephemeral burst of adrenaline-and-cortisol that lasts not even a week. They’re in literally for a couple of days – arriving on Tuesday and departing on Friday have that Solomon Grundy! Given the microscopic duration (and taking out the hours inspectors require for sleeping and eating - yes, they do that - and writing the draft report), the challenge for us is not only coping with the frenetic pace but finding a way to show off the vast array of ‘good stuff’ happening around the School. Lessons are a case in point: during the inspection around 350 lessons took place, each supplemented with a suite of OneNote resources, handouts, extension activities, online quizzes, and, of course, a differentiated lesson plan. Observing all that is an impossible task, more daunting than the north face of the Eiger. So they don’t try. Instead, it’s about sampling, taking a look, feeling for the tone of what’s happening in the classroom. And that’s hard. Worse, it’s just one face of the boarding machine - a byzantine mesh of cogs and springs and educational gizmos that make up our complex institution. Then add in clubs and activities, visits to Boarding Houses, the Medical Centre, tutoring, pupil surveys, staff interviews, parental questionnaires and SEN support. An inspector’s job is Herculean. Still, I can’t fault their collective vim because they certainly gave it a good go. All in, about sixty classes were visited (including one lucky colleague who was nabbed twice in the same lesson), as were all the Boarding Houses; and, totting up the various different groups, about a hundred pupils were interviewed in one capacity or another along with an equally significant proportion of staff. Impressive stuff. Nevertheless, it’s still just a sliver from the cake and, when seen in that light, you can’t help wishing that, with so many tasty layers and toppings

DR TIM FILTneSS DEPUTY HEAD (ACADEMIC)

available, perhaps it would be better if they stayed for longer. But alas no. It’s not well-known, and the exact timeframe is strictly hush-hush, but inspections actually begin many weeks before the visit, when the lead inspector rolls up their sleeves, sets out their utensils, and begins to dissect our mountain of paperwork. This, then, is the unseen behemoth: a gelid mass of papers, forms and policies all fastidiously completed months before the phone call. It’s where we set out our stall – the things we’re most proud of and the areas we’re working to develop. To emphasise how important this is, consider that just our self-evaluation ran to over 90 pages, each one carefully crafted and brimming with statistics and anecdotes of the

small but important things we knew the inspectors would not have time to see. Each exemplar just goes to show how richly runs the Sherborne experience, and how individualised this experience is. It’s difficult to capture on paper but whoever you, whatever you love, and however you learn, this is a school where there’s not just a place for you, but the opportunities to excel. It’s just one of the things the inspectors emphasised in their report and, for me, it’s what I think we do best. I’m glad they agreed.

English How should we explain the benefits of the English Language A level? English Teachers James Winter and Tom Payne wondered about it: the result may be what their students learn to call “metalanguage”

From: Tom Payne Sent: 24 May 2023 12:21 To: James Winter <James.Winter@sherborne.org> Subject: Eng Lang A-level piece

From: James Winter <James.Winter@sherborne.org> Sent: 06 June 2023 17:54 To: Tom Payne <tom.payne@sherborne.org> Subject: RE: Eng Lang A-level piece

Dear Tom, James hello – We’ve been asked to write something for The Shirburnian about what we get up to in English Language A level. Shall I do the usual about how it really isn’t like GCSE – that we explore issues of gender and power in language and analyse the living daylights out of what Robert Harris calls “Wackaging”? Or should we talk about how amazing it all is, and life? All the best, Tom

Fine, but I have no idea what ‘wackaging’ is. Sounds like one of those click-baity neologisms that promises insight and delivers nonsense (‘hackaging’?). Maybe, however, it’s just a matter of having to be there: members resources - IYKYK. But if I were, and finally managed to understand it, would its sense (or nonsense) reside in the explicans or the explicandum? I only ask because, as you know, one of the main differences between GCSE and AS English Language is that we tend to adopt a more theoretical approach to language, which involves being a bit more aware of the relationship between meta and object languages, an awareness that gives students an acute awareness of the difference between “language” and “smells like language”. Which is amazing. Amazing to be able to sit listening in Abbey and realise that what you are hearing ‘surpasseth all understanding’ because of tortured grammar rather than your fallen state. (Sorry, I am synthetically personalising again. But firstly, are you O.K.?) But anyway, The Shirburnian. Would the best way of marketing the subject be to make marketing the subject? A more congenial relationship between the two discourses than is implied by the above? A ‘philoughby’? Anyway, please let me know if you think I am jumping the shark here. All the best, James

s From: Tom Payne <tom.payne@sherborne.org> Sent: 06 June 2023 19:39 To: James Winter <James.Winter@sherborne.org> Subject: RE: Eng Lang A-level piece

James hello – Certainly let’s lead on Wackaging, because I can’t wait to tell you what it is (though I’ll try). After all, we want to market English Language as an A level, and people use Wackaging to market – whatever it is they’re marketing. Btw, whenever I type Wackaging, auto-correct gives it a capital W, which reassures me that Robert Harris didn’t just make it up, and it’s joined the language. Probably it’ll be on the Today programme next. Anyway, fyi, Wackaging is that amiably eccentric stuff they put on Tetrapak cartons to make the manufacturers seem endearingly human. I bring it up because it sits at the absolute crossroads of what we do in English Language A level – we try to see through those attempts to be individual cottage industries when really they’re just industries. This should give you a sense of what I mean. It’s a carton of oat milk, which is less niche than it sounds: I wonder what people take from this. I don’t know if people leave these lessons disgusted at corporate narcissism, or else longing to become advertisers. What does our target audience want, do you think? I think I know IYKYK… I feel good about that. All the best, Tom

From: James Winter <James.Winter@sherborne.org> Sent: 07 June 2023 18:52 To: Tom Payne <tom.payne@sherborne.org> Subject: RE: Eng Lang A-level piece

From: Tom Payne Sent: 07 June 2023 20:44 To: James Winter <James.Winter@sherborne.org> Subject: RE: Eng Lang A-level piece

James hello – Tom, Not sure I am buying auto-correct as a viable means of policing the lexicon: it adds an adjectival ‘ducking’ to nearly all of my text messages, which makes no sense even as a zero-conversion. And the Today programme is perfectly happy with presenters beginning sentences with ‘so’ – a conjunction for Grice’s sake. Apart from it being bad grammar, it tags the clause that follows as a logical conclusion that follows from nothing – another species of nonsense like ‘wackaging’, just portentous instead of quirky. Oh well, I suppose “the medium is the message”. Speaking of which, I spend more time trying to explain that gnomic titbit than just about anything else in the syllabus. I mean, if he is right, surely its truth should be self-evident, and he wouldn’t have needed to say it in the first place, much less write a whole book explaining it. Truly a ‘mise-en-abyme’, and one that relies for its sense on the very distinction that it denies. Lastly, I notice that you frame what people take from these lessons as an exclusive disjunction: either the lessons elicit disgust at ‘corporate narcissism’ OR a ‘longing to become advertisers’. It really doesn’t take a Viennese medical degree to figure out that the desire to work in advertising is, rather, rooted in the kind of self-loathing you present as its alternative. Anyhow, I suppose we should stop wasting time and just write a clear summary of the English Language A level: boys won’t thank us for forcing them to sift through all of this mess to figure out what it is and whether they are interested.

To summarise, then: In English Language we learn: Text messages don’t really express our feelings, unless they do it slantwise; Strange conjunctions get to be called pre-starts, and “So” is maddening for all the reasons you describe. (Shall I tell you what’s even more annoying than starting a sentence with the word “So”? It’s ending a sentence with the word “So…” It does two maddening things at once – suggests that a speaker with not a lot to say has more to say; and that you’re an idiot if you can’t work out what that speaker’s going to say next: “Becky didn’t invite you, so…”. (Cf. “You do the Math.”) And we analyse the living daylights out of packaging. Seriously, one time I thought I was pretty much Robin Williams for wanting the class to talk through the wording of a shampoo bottle. And what came up in the exam? The instructions for a nit comb. While we’re at it, is the medium the message anyway? If a box says, “Shake well before use”, I suppose you shake the message as well as the contents. Finally, yes, it’s hard to know if our former students could become advertisers because of their ability to write persuasively or they want to change the system from within. One student wrote about ways to counter misogyny in hiphop for his dissertation, and is now looking at a career in the music biz., so... Tom

James

Maths Mathematics continues to be a subject which is popular amongst the boys of Sherborne School. This is perhaps unsurprising for a School which has alan Turing (h 31) amongst its Mathematical alumni, but to me it is always a pleasure to see more and more boys opting to study the subject. I have no doubt that the results obtained by the boys in their IGCSE (9-1) Mathematics exams (59.5% grades 9-8 (47.0% nationally), 91.7% grades 9-6 (75.4% nationally) and 100% grades 9-4 (93.2% nationally) prompted many to re-consider Mathematics as an A level option, which has led to an increase in the number of both Single and Further Mathematicians. The A level results were similarly impressive, with 40.9% achieving an A* (22.2% nationally), 70.5% achieving grades A*-A (46.6% nationally) and 86.4% achieving A*-B (62.5% nationally). The addition of Decision Mathematics as an option for boys studying Further Mathematics has certainly had a positive impact on the overall grades obtained (45.5% A* (38.4% nationally), 90.9% A*-A (66.0% nationally) and 100% A*-B (82.3% nationally) and the links of this type of Mathematics with computing certainly offers potential benefits for boys entering a world where artificial

intelligence is becoming more and more prevalent. Aside from the usual academic endeavours the Maths Department continues to seek out additional opportunities for the boys to stretch and challenge themselves. This year we saw 112 boys (ranging from the Fourth Form to the Upper Sixth) enter the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge and 114 boys enter the Intermediate Maths Challenge. Participants in these competitions are posed 25 multiple choice questions which are specifically designed to test precision of thought, mathematical reasoning and logic. As has been the case in the past the boys performed exceptionally well. The results of the Senior Challenge saw 81 (16 – Gold, 23 – Silver and 42 - Bronze) boys receive certificates of merit, with 15 qualifying for the follow-on round (Senior Kangaroo) and one – Kohki Hatori (U6e), qualifying for the first round of the British Mathematical Olympiad (BMO) which acknowledges him as one of the top 1,000 scoring students nationally. The results of the Intermediate Challenge were equally encouraging with 78 (19 – Gold, 28 - Silver and 31 - Bronze) boys receiving certificates of merit and 12 qualifying for follow-on rounds (Grey Kangaroo - 8 and Pink Kangaroo – 4) and one – Joonsang Hyun (5f) qualifying for the first round of the Maclaurin Mathematical Olympiad, which acknowledges him as one of the top 600 scoring students nationally. Many congratulations of course go to all the boys who achieved certificates in the

challenges, but it would be remiss not to specifically mention those who not only qualified for the follow-on rounds, but who also went on to achieve merits; this singles them out as being in the top 25% of students participating in the Kangaroo challenges: Chun Lok Choy (3f), Guillaume Sagnes (4e), Henry Holme (5b), Joonsang Hyun and Michael Long (U6m). As well as these individual national competitions, two teams from Sherborne travelled to Millfield to participate in their Maths challenge – achieving an admirable third and joint fifth place. Four teams from the Sixth Form submitted answers to the final stage of the Ritangle Challenge, which required them to persevere through a range of complex problems over the course of several weeks. More recently two of our Third Form classes were fortunate to attend a virtual Maths show, hosted by Zoe Griffiths, in which they explored how Maths links to flight paths, observed fascinating patterns in population data and investigated how Maths is hidden in the very fabric of islands and land masses themselves. It has, as a result of all of the above, been an exciting and busy year in the Mathematics Department and we are looking forward to the return of the Junior Team Maths Challenge and an even more eventful year next year.

paul Spencer Head of Maths

Chemistry our Chemistry and physics laboratories at Sherborne are appropriately called ‘The pilkington Laboratories’, named after Sir alastair pilkington, who was in Lyon House from 19331938, where he eventually became Head of House. After leaving Sherborne in 1938 and surviving four years at Oflag VII-B, Eichstätt in Bavaria, a prisoner of war camp in Nazi Germany, he received a degree in Mechanical Science from Trinity College, Cambridge. Following this, he had a very successful career pioneering new ways of manufacturing glass, inventing and perfecting the float glass method for creating smooth, flat sheets of glass efficiently and on an industrial scale. The method is still used to this day and has been hugely influential given that we use glass in every walk of life, from the mobile phone screen to the windows out of which we look. One of its most important and fundamental properties is that of allowing light to pass through it without being altered, reflected or refracted. To understand why glass is transparent it is necessary to first look at what glass is made from and what gives it its distinctive structure. Glass is made by heating and cooling quartz, which is made up of molecules of silicon and oxygen arranged in a crystalline lattice (regular and ordered) structure. When quartz is heated to temperatures of over 2,300°C

without the presence of a catalyst, the high temperature causes the silicon dioxide bonds in the molecules to break and form a molten liquid. When this liquid cools, so losing energy, the molecules are unable to rearrange themselves into an ordered structure. Instead they form an amorphous solid structure with a random arrangement of particles, similar to that of a liquid. This is important as it means that there are no gaps between atoms that can disperse or reflect the light. Moreover, on a smaller scale, there is another factor why glass is transparent: a photon of visible light can pass through the silicon dioxide molecules without being absorbed by electrons. This is because an atom is mostly free space, with shells of orbiting electrons which are very small, about 100 million times smaller than the radius of an atom. Electrons do not have a specific point location on an orbit, but exists in any possible volume with the highest probability. This means we can think of electrons as having a probability of being at every position in an electron shell and therefore having a chance of being everywhere simultaneously. It is likely therefore that every photon entering an atom will interact with an electron. The electrons can only exist in very specific discrete places, called energy levels. The empty space between these energy levels are called band gaps. In order for an electron to cross the band gap it needs to be given a

very specific amount of energy from the photon, otherwise the photon will pass straight through. Glass is transparent because the energy of a photon of visible light is less than the band gap energy in the silicon dioxide. The band gap in glass is approximately 8.9 electron Volts (eV). However, the visible range of light can only provide energy between 1.65eV (red light) and 2.76eV (blue light). Therefore, visible light photons can pass straight through glass without being altered or absorbed by the electrons in the shells of the atoms. UV light, on the other hand, has sufficient energy to excite an electron to a higher energy level, thus UV photons can be absorbed. This explains why you are unable to get a tan (or get sunburnt) through glass. Quartz, which is made up of exactly the same components of glass, is not transparent because the band gaps between the energy levels are smaller due to the crystalline structure. Also, grain boundaries and defects inside the material reflect and scatter the light. Some impurities in the lattice structure can also absorb visible light. There are many exceptional applications of glass, from television screens to microscopes, but none more beautiful than the stained glass windows of Sherborne Abbey, just a stone’s throw from the Pilkington Laboratories – although perhaps don’t throw any actual stones; glass may be transparent but it isn’t unbreakable!

Ted Hunt (L6m) and Max Sutherland (L6m)

Biology JuST In CaSe you MISSeD IT, THIS CaugHT My eye… At the end of 2022, researchers at the University of Cambridge announced the successful development of an artificial leaf that can convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into fuel using only sunlight. This breakthrough could help to address the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change.

The artificial leaf is made of two thin sheets of semiconducting materials, each coated with a different catalyst. When sunlight hits the leaf, it triggers a chemical reaction that converts CO2 and water into oxygen and hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas can then be further processed into a variety of fuels, including methane and methanol. The technology is inspired by the natural process of photosynthesis, which is used by plants to convert sunlight, water, and CO2 into energy.

However, the artificial leaf is much more efficient than natural photosynthesis, with a solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency of around 10%, compared to less than 1% for plants. This technology has the potential to revolutionise the way we think about energy production and carbon emissions. By using artificial leaves to convert CO2 into fuel, we could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and create a sustainable energy source that is carbon-neutral.

While the technology is still in the early stages of development, it represents an important step forward in the fight against climate change and the development of sustainable energy sources. It also highlights the power of Biology and biologically inspired systems to solve some of the most pressing challenges facing our planet today.

Jon-paul Manning Head of biology

Physics

Visually Understanding our Solar System

he Computational physics Challenge for the bpho (british physics olympiad) this year instructed applicants to take some elementary laws of physics, with some planetary data, and model our solar system. The motion of heavenly bodies has fascinated humanity since the dawn of time, but it was nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) who rightly observed that the planets revolve around the Sun. It was then Johannes kepler (1571- 1630) who correctly described their orbits, by proposing these three laws: 1. The orbit of every planet in the solar system is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci. 2. A line joining the planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time. 3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the average radius of its orbit. Isaac Newton’s (1642-1727) Law of Gravitation explained why these laws are true. It states that: Every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is proportional to the

Figure 1 The orbits of Uranus and Neptune about the Sun. An AU is an Astronomical Unit and is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. 1AU = 1.5 x 108km

product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centres. Using these laws and modelling our solar system, I noticed that it contains more stunning patterns than one would imagine. Animating two planets orbiting the Sun, and drawing a line between them, results in an intricate spirograph due to their elliptical orbits and different velocities (please see figure 1). Furthermore, by incorrectly believing the earth is at the centre of the Universe, like Claudius Ptolemy (100-170 AD), you will find an extraordinarily complex graph displaying the seemingly mathematically chaotic orbits (please see figure 2).

Figure 2 The seeming chaotic motion of Earth Venus Mars and the Sun

One must ask the question, what if you take these simulations and apply them to more complicated planetary systems? i.e. a binary star system or when two galaxies orbit each other. Unfortunately, Kepler’s three laws can no longer be used for the simulation, since they only describe the motion of a planet around a single central object, not multiple gravitational interactions between multiple objects in a system. This leads us to a complex and challenging mathematical problem called the n-body problem, which cannot be solved analytically in most cases. Whilst we have the equations that can completely predict the motions of two masses, our analytical tools fall short when faced with more populated systems. It’s impossible to write down all the terms which accurately describe the motion of three masses or more. This is because we are left with more unknowns than equations describing them, and so the system of equations cannot be untangled into a

Figure 3 An estimation of the orbital path of a planet in a binary star system

general formula. Instead, we can use the Verlet method to estimate their positions at a future time. This is a numerical method that allows you to simulate the movement of objects by estimating their positions based on current and previous positions, taking into account the velocity of the objects and the forces acting on them, without needing complex equations. This process is then repeated for every particle in the system, resulting in chaotic convoluted orbital graphs (please see figure 3).

In conclusion, whilst our solar system is fascinating, it is predictable compared with more complex planetary systems. Such systems present us with an intricate challenge known as the n-body problem, which cannot be solved due to our current mathematical limitations but does leave us with incredibly convoluted patterns.

Hector kennerley (L6g)

Geography It has been another exciting year in the Geography Department with many trips, lectures and extension opportunities. The Fourth Form enjoyed the summer sunshine at Christchurch Bay completing their GCSE coastal fieldwork, learning about the conflicts and challenges of coastal management. Meanwhile, during the Lent Term, the Geography Society ran an interesting discussion group exploring the Geographies of What If….. “What if the world spun the other way?” and “What if sea levels dropped?” were just two topics that the group discussed, drawing upon a physical and human geography ranging from maritime trading routes to the distribution of global biomes.

World Book Day was a particular highlight in the calendar and provided an opportune moment to explore the geography in extracts from a range of contemporary literature. Third Form pupils studying ocean currents and global wind patterns were treated to an extract from Endurance, which recounts the story of Shackleton’s fateful Trans-Antarctica Expedition (1914- 1917). The boys heard how Shackleton and five comrades navigated 800 miles in an opentop boat, from Elephant Island to South Georgia, a remote island in the Southern Ocean. Meanwhile, Lower Sixth pupils studying intra-urban migration heard extracts from Darren McGarvey’s Poverty Safari. McGarvey (stage name Loki) is a social commentator, activist and Glaswegian rapper who has made several appearances on national television. His book offers a no-holds-barred account of the impacts of gentrification

on low-income, inner-city communities of Glasgow in the 1980s-90s. Finally, Upper Sixth Geographers learning about economic transition listened to a characteristically deadpan account from Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island, in which he describes the evolution of Liverpool’s shipping industry, from Britain’s busiest port in the 1960s to its decline in the face of technological advances and increased globalisation. If you look closely, there really is Geography all around us!

Chris Foyle Head of geography

History

This year started with a set of stellar examination results (67% Grade 8/9 and 47% A*), the departure of the hugely talented Ms Alex Pearson and a temporary new arrival in the form of Mr Michael McGinty to cover Mr Crouch’s absence in Michaelmas Term. Mr McGinty brought his own special brand of humour and light-hearted raconteur to his lessons, which the boys very much enjoyed, and for some of the Upper Sixth (and teachers) this was the return of a much-loved teacher and friend. Mr McGinty showed his dedication by volunteering for the Berlin trip in October half term, where he walked around 40,000 steps a day whilst enthusiastically engaging the boys and acting as the trip official photographer. For the whole department (plus Mrs Thurman and Miss Cant) the Berlin trip was the highlight of the year. We took almost 60 boys from Fourth Form to Lower Sixth for four packed days. We visited the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, Sachsenhausen, the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie (and museum), the Topography of Terror, Gendarmenmarkt, Babelplatz, a night visit to

Alexanderplatz, the 1936 Berlin Olympic Stadium, and Cecilienhof Palace (site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference) as well as lots of time walking around enjoying the city, including the boys’ favourite: evening jaunts to Hauptbanhof. We very much look forward to taking another set of boys to Berlin in October 2024! As Lent Term focused all minds towards examinations, we welcomed both the return of Mr Crouch and the excellent A level and iGCSE (internal) coursework marks. This year the OneNote notebooks really came into their own for providing a wealth of revision materials and the department also embraced the advent of ChatGPT, using it to model writing, create revision tests and find facts. The History Extension Group also really took off this term with a large proportion of the Lower Sixth intending to apply to Oxbridge and an impressive number of the brightest Fifth Form nipping at their heels in a series of debates, challenges and presentations as well as preparing for various essay competitions. We were delighted for Casper Bridge (L6f) receiving a

‘highly commended’ award in the Northeastern University London (NU London) Essay Competition. This term wasn’t all about exams, though, and the Lower Sixth had a history day trip to London with Mr Reynolds and Mr Crouch. During the day, the boys visited three sites related to the three components of their A level studies. The highlight of the day was the trip to the London Docklands Museum. Mr Crouch writes, “The purpose of the visit was twofold: to give the boys an insight into a time when Britain was one of the great global trading hubs – ‘The Warehouse of the World’ – and to increase their awareness of working-class living and working conditions in the East End. Of particular interest were the three galleries for the period 1880 to the present. These covered the time when the London Docks went from the busiest in the world in the 1920’s, through the Blitz, and into the post Second World War decline and the more recent regeneration as a global financial hub. The boys gained a better understanding of the sheer scale of British trade in the early twentieth century; the poor working and living conditions

“

The year ended on a high with a successful exam season – nothing beats watching the boys come out of the Exam Hall with big smiles on their faces

that led to increasingly militant and violent dock strikes and how Britain’s decline as a world and Imperial power impacted on its trading status. All in all a successful and valuable trip that will certainly be repeated.”

(3e), who actually created a YouTube documentary, leading Mr Reynolds to dub him the new Michael Wood. Hugo Shiu (3b), Harry Nicholson (3f) and Oscar Thornton (3b) also had outstanding projects and suitable

rewards will be coming their way. The exhibition this year has yielded more HM Commendations and merits than in any previous year and we are delighted with the efforts made by all the boys.

The year ended on a high with a successful exam season – nothing beats watching the boys come out of the Exam Hall with big smiles on their faces – and another set of trips, this time to Chalke Valley History Festival, where boys in the Third, Fourth and Lower Sixth were able to enjoy the huge variety of lectures, performances, living history and interactive activities; the Royal Signals training, the birds of prey and the Edwardian Adventurer emerging as firm favourites with all year groups – alongside the outstanding food court and ice cream vans! The Third Form finished the end of term History fun with their Renaissance Exhibition, filling the library with colour on every topic from Renaissance weaponry, sport, medicine, art and architecture, to music and politics. The boys showed huge skill in research and historical writing about significance, as well as more practical talents, most notably in the large number of reproduction domes! Taking his project to another level was Oliver Bibbey

Charlotte allen Head of History

Modern Foreign Languages IMMeRSIon Language TRIpS Restarting trips after the Covid hiatus gave the MFL department a chance to refocus on what is important for a language trip. although visiting historical sites and having language lessons are valuable in their own right, it is the linguistic and cultural gains you get from a homestay that offer the richest experience. Sherborne is lucky in having a well-established German exchange with Gymnasium Steglitz, Berlin. Every year the Fourth Form spend a week at the homes of their exchange partners. The partner school is in a multiculturally diverse area in Berlin, which gives the pupils an outlook on the differences between city and rural life. Pupils are interested by the pace of the German’s day: the school day starts earlier, often with a journey on public transport; students organise their own leisure activities as their school day finishes early and does not include extracurricular activities. Pupils enjoy sampling both German and international cuisine at their families and join in family activities with younger children. The host families are exceptionally welcoming and take the pupils to see the sights of the city, often finding things off the beaten track. The pupils have enjoyed watching handball matches; going to local rowing clubs; seeing the diversity of areas such as Kreuzberg and going on boat trips on Berlin’s lakes and the river Spree. The pupils come back with interesting snippets of language learned round the meal table. Even when they feel that they are not speaking much German, they return to school with an astonishingly developed vocabulary and sense of German life. The Spanish department ran successful homestay trips in Córdoba but in October a new relationship was developed with the Kelington Language School in Granada who organised a fantastic immersion

homestay trip for our Fourth and Fifth Formers. On the first day the pupils were somewhat apprehensive about going off in pairs to their new families but the next morning it was smiles all round as they told us about their first meal with their families and how not a word of English had been spoken. Highlights from later in the week included a trip that one family organised for their guests to the local leisure centre. Another family took their two pupils out for a tapas evening and another managed to fit in a trip to Spain’s biggest shopping centre. However, it was the informal conversations in Spanish after dinner that the pupils most appreciated. Suddenly

all that work we did in lessons back in Sherborne on the topic of the environment came into play as they were able to argue about the quality of the recycling and public transport in Dorset compared to Andalusia. New in October 2023 will be a French homestay trip to Toulouse during which pupils will stay with families in the city and fit in trips to the Airbus factory and the city of Carcassonne. We will also run a second Spanish trip to Granada and repeat the Berlin exchange.

Judy Thurman Head of Modern Foreign Languages philip Morrow Deputy Head of Modern Foreign Languages

Classics RooM 8, THe CLaSSICS DepaRTMenT

Chewbacca and the sorceress’ skull Anyone who has sat in my classroom will realise my love of sentimental artefacts, items sometimes shunned as distracting ‘clutter’, that live on my shelves not only because of their beauty and decoration, but more importantly because of their meaning. I explain little, but ask questions of those that sit expectantly: Was the volcanic pumice really plucked from the mouths of a fiery Vesuvius? What has a blow-up shark got to do with Christianity? Is the kylix signed by the enigmatic TIM really a wanted museum artefact? Whose is the 1964 Series IIa Land Rover? What is inside the Celtic funeral urn?

The temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, overshadowed by Mount vesuvius Why is there a cardboard cut-out of Chewbacca? And perhaps more importantly, where is the book that is worth six figures? All important questions for the nascent Classicist, but ones which inadvertently open eyes to the possible meanings of evidence, an important skill in current syllabi. Pompeii is one of the topics we study as part of the Third Form Classical Civilisation course. An ancient Roman town buried under layers of volcanic ash after the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD, Pompeii is a remarkable archaeological site that offers unique insights into the

daily lives of its inhabitants, and it is studying those daily lives that brightens and colours the archaeological remains of the town. While grand architectural structures and elaborate artworks showcase the splendour of ancient Pompeii and evidence the cultural, social, and economic aspects of the Roman world, it is the discussions of smaller everyday objects that fascinate and interest my classes, because these are what allow us to connect with people from a different age on a more personal level and offer invaluable understanding of the lives of ordinary individuals and the society they lived in.

47 a doctor writes of a job well done on a toilet wall.

Among the remarkable artifacts recently discovered in Pompeii is a ring bearing the intriguing inscription ‘CASSIA’, which raises numerous questions about its origin and purpose. Found in one of the two wealthy houses in Pompeii we study, the House of the Faun, it is likely that the ring belonged to a member of the prominent Cassii or Cassia family either by birth or by marriage – either way the ring was a symbol of status. Similarly, a gold snake bracelet found on the arm of a woman was inscribed on the inside dominus suae ancillae (‘from a master to his slave girl’), which tells its own story, one that was picked up by the BBC in Pompeii, The Last Day. One of my favourite items is a miniature human skull found recently in a decayed wooden box (in itself an astonishing find!), among other artefacts decorated with symbols of fertility, fortune, and protection against bad luck, such as Egyptian scarab beetles, phallus-shaped pendants, and

bird bones used to ward off the ‘evil eye’. The box was found alongside ten bodies and since none of the items was made of gold, which would have indicated wealth, it is likely that the owner was a slave, and possibly even a sorceress. While the preserved frescoes and mosaics of Pompeii’s wealthy residents attract much attention, it is the graffiti scrawled across its walls that provides students a more intriguing glimpse into the everyday lives and concerns of its inhabitants: electoral slogans, such as ‘the chicken vendors request that you elect Epidius and Suettius as duovirs’ demonstrate the inhabitants’ vivid engagement with political discourse; commercial advertisements highlight the city’s vibrant economy and its various goods and services, Gaius Iucundus painted this, with his own money, for example, indicating entrepreneurial spirit; but perhaps the most stimulating to my classes are those that serve as a canvas for social commentary, reflecting the

concerns and frustrations of its ancient residents, graffiti such as “Epaphra, you are bald!”, “Traveller, eat bread in Pompeii, but go to Nuceria to drink” and “O walls, you have held up so much tedious graffiti that I am amazed you have not already collapsed in ruin” to quote but a few of the cleaner lines, all shedding light on the jokes and teasing prevalent among Pompeii’s populace that are not so different from our own. All these objects of everyday life are extraordinary because they tell micro-stories about the inhabitants and bring ancient ruins to life. As the clutter in my classroom, each artefact adds a layer of complexity to our understanding of history and the people who called it home. Some may have held sentimental value, representing a cherished relationship or a personal milestone in the owner’s life, but all open a window. It just depends on whether you are looking.

Stephen Heath Head of Classics

Economics & Business eConoMICS FoR geneRaTIon z

Ah, the 1980s, a golden era of economic opportunity and gauche suits built upon the financial deregulation of Thatcher’s Conservative government, encapsulated in a single phrase: the “big bang”. It was a world of opportunity, a world in which many of the current Upper Sixth’s parents grew up. Unfortunately, 2023 is a different place, and while the suits may remain in the Sixth Form, the economic outlook has never been as positive for Generation Z, who are born into a world structurally changed by the events of the 2008 financial crisis.

The world, and more specifically, the invisible industries of the City, began a dramatic shrink in scale, bringing with it a decrease in opportunities for our generation. As we look beyond Sherborne to our lives, available jobs decrease, and the gap between wages and house prices expands. This contributes to a world shaped by intergenerational wealth inequality, in which we are expected to compete. The gap between house prices and average incomes becomes increasingly drastic, and average retirement ages grow further away as we age. This is driven by the global history of our lifetimes, marked by economic upheaval from 2008 to Brexit and Covid, and the current cost of living crisis, demonstrating that our generation has been exposed to and affected by a world that sees economic instability as the new normal. Yet, as the opportunities for the previously well-trodden path to the City diminish, so does the world around us, through the increased growth of globalisation and technology. This offers us an economic opportunity, the likes of which perhaps even the “big bang” could not have hoped for, if only we are willing to take advantage of it and educate ourselves on the world we are about to enter. Our Upper Sixth, together with the Joint School Economics Society, invited external speakers to expand our perspectives beyond the microcosm of Sherborne. As a result of this initiative, we were able to welcome speakers including Daniel Pryor of the Adam Smith Institute, Duncan Allan of Chatham House, and Andrea Bonaceto of Aorist Art. They spoke on ideas as broad as the economic fallout of the Ukraine crisis and the future of AI and NFTs. The throughline of all these lectures is that we are a generation entering a world that will see more structural change than any other. Generational wealth gaps expand to our detriment, while future job opportunities increasingly swing in our favour. If only we, as students, are willing to take the necessary steps to educate ourselves on them by looking out to a world that is both more complex and diverse than the comfortable microcosm we have the privilege to enjoy in Sherborne.

Harry Trudgeon (u6f) winner of the Hedison prize for economics

must admit that I had had visions of gospel choirs and hallelujahs, but it turned out to be a very ordinary looking building in a suburb of Williamsburg. It had been set up by a German immigrant in the 1930s and enjoyed its heyday in the 1980s, but now its congregation was much smaller and older.

Theology There is an afghan proverb that says ‘a day’s travelling will bring a basketful of learning’. The Theology Department has been trying to live by this axiom this year and is looking forward to doing more of the same next year. The subject of Religious Studies by its nature attempts to open up pupils to new perspectives and to challenge their assumptions and there is no better way to do this than by going to new places, meeting new people and hearing about new ideas. Coming out of lockdown I felt a deep desire to go and see the world and so organised a trip to New York, one of the most exciting and religiously diverse cities in the world. A group of Fourth, Fifth and Lower Sixth Formers accompanied Mr Jackson and me to the iconic West Side YMCA, just opposite

Sesame Street, for a three-day trip. We managed to tick off many of the classic New York sites – the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, a Knicks game in Madison Square Gardens – but for me the highlights were the more religious parts of our itinerary. On our first day we visited a Buddhist temple and after a talk and a tour we were invited to participate in a puja ceremony. The boys sat alongside New York Buddhists and chanted mantras and teachings for twenty minutes. It was a side of New York that few tourists see and an experience that would be impossible to totally recreate in a classroom. That was our first basketful of learning. Then on the second day we went to a Pentecostalist church that the tour company had found. I

Our 15 students and teachers doubled the congregation and halved its average age, but against all odds we had an overwhelmingly positive time. Alex Biddulph (5d) stepped up and played the piano, demonstrating Sherborne’s continuing musical prowess (thank you Mr Henderson). And we all read an extract from the Book of Revelation and talked about what it said to us (well done Cassius Hammick (L6m)). We went for a pizza afterwards and left in high spirits. Both of those experiences brought home to me why Religious Studies is a great subject to study. When you talk to people about their faith (or lack of it) you make a connection that goes well beyond the normal academic meeting of minds. Experiencing someone’s religious practice gives you an insight into the emotions and in some cases the transcendent feelings that come with practising a religion. It’s a privilege to see these experiences close up, and something I am hoping to share with pupils in more locations, such as Turkey or Greece or Italy over the next few years.

James Crawford Head of Theology

Computer Science This year has been another busy one in the Computer Science Department, in and out of the classroom. our gCSe and a level boys, by the time you read this, will have completed their external examinations and we wish the boys all the very best. Many of the a level boys are going on to study Computer Science at university, bidding to become the next great computational thinker in an ever-changing world. with alan Turing as an oS (h 31), they have big boots to ﬁll and I’m sure they will all do us very proud. The junior boys in the Department sat the Bebras Challenge with the best of the boys going on to sit the Perse Coding Challenge. The top 20 percent of those got to take part in Round II of the Challenge and we were delighted with the results Ryan Lee (5a) and Thomas O’Sullivan (5b) achieving a Distinction and Best in School. The best of the boys, in the same competition and two years younger than the fifths, scored a marvellous Merit. Those boys were Ian Liu (3d), Pablo Martinez Dovale (3m) and Guillaume Sagnes (4e). The Upper Sixth have submitted their A level projects for moderation and there was a great array of different projects submitted after a long twelve months almost in production. We had projects on Symbolic Differentiation, a database of

Figure 1 - Jack Wills (L6f) with Dr Wild at the competition in Southampton University Figure 2 - Sherborne winning this round of the virtual competition

statistics for the National Basketball Association, a social media app for discussing homework, a maze-solving game and a tower-defence game and a 3D-Terrain mapping program. All of these were gargantuan pieces of work but two stood out – Kohki Hatori (U6e) and Ogi Soldatovic (U6a) on an edge-detection algorithm using Fourier Series and Bezier Curves and a phone-based Mapping program, respectively. The two theses are to be hardbound and a copy will be kept in the School Library. Congratulations to them. Our Co-curricular activities in the Department were full-on this year. We ran Coding Clubs for the junior boys and The Robotics Club for all year-groups. The former of those threw up some marvellous programs that celebrated Christmas and Easter and the Robotics Club entered a robot into the National Student Robotics competition. The Robotics Club, project managed by Jack Wills (L6f) and Hector Kennerley (L6g) also included Harry Nicholson (3f),

Kohki Hatori, Felix Frei (L6d), Alexsandr Grabski (U6e), Henry Perrin (5m), Yan Taborov (L6f) and Sam Baring (L6d). The general task was to create a robot chassis that could house electronics such as Motor Boards, a Brain Board, Servos, Motor Controllers, a sucking device and a Web cam that could, autonomously through code written by the boys, locate and navigate to boxes in an arena, grab them and carry them back to base. There were software and hardware-based competitions throughout. After the virtual coded challenges and the intermediate ones to prove motorisation and navigation, the Sherborne team were ranked sixth out of 37 schools. The dedication shown by the small team of boys was outstanding and they were rewarded by a robot that truly didn’t suck after all, winning the Rookie Award in the national competition.

David wild Head of Computer Science

Extended Project Qualification after a number of years supporting the epQ as a supervisor, this year I have taken on the role of epQ Co-ordinator. Seeing the full range of routes taken by the boys to complete this qualiﬁcation has given me a new appreciation of its value not just in showcasing the very best of Shirburnians’ academic and creative capabilities, but in guiding boys explicitly to recognise and develop their own strengths. In comparison to the other courses undertaken by Shirburnians in the Sixth Form, the Extended Project Qualification is a different beast: an extended piece of coursework completed in parallel with their other qualifications, for which boys choose not just their own titles, but also the form to be taken by their answer. In crafting and executing their individual projects, boys play a key role in directing their own learning; for a recent project, one boy taught himself a new programming language from scratch to create and manipulate 3D digital objects. Each project is assessed on its own merits, and there is no ‘correct’ way to complete it. Lessons are focused primarily on equipping boys with the necessary skills to identify and meet personalised objectives in their independent work. Forensic reflection on and evaluation of their own progress is an integral part of the qualification, forming part of their overall assessment. And, in addition to producing written work, boys must present their findings in front of a live audience. Each boy completing a project therefore encounters varied and unique challenges of his own making; although no two EPQ journeys are exactly alike, success in overcoming these challenges universally requires dedication and perseverance. Fortunately for the boys, Sherborne does much to support them in making the most of the EPQ. Rather than starting it when they are fresh into the Lower Sixth, they are given time to acclimatise to the environment of the Sixth Form and its concomitant expectations: an introductory Enrichment course in the Michaelmas Term allows them the chance to evaluate for themselves whether they can manage the demands of the EPQ alongside their other

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academic commitments. In my first year as EPQ Co-ordinator, it has also been heartening to be able to draw on such generous support and goodwill from the colleagues who give of their time to supervise individual boys outside of lesson time – a process of guidance and mentoring which is always very involved. With the aid of this individualised support, boys are given the opportunity to recognise and overcome challenges at their own pace. Further support has been made available through the kind offers of OS, parents, and friends of the School to be interviewees for boys conducting research related to their personal areas of expertise: in years past, interviews have opened up directions which boys might never otherwise have taken, and enabled connections they might never otherwise have made. Such personalised learning opportunities can steer boys in ways very different from their public examinations. Along the way, boys gain much in the way of selfknowledge from both their successes and their failures, and it is in this that a great deal of the EPQ’s value lies. Setting intelligent goals, estimating the time which might be needed to achieve them, motivating oneself to work towards those goals, and judging when or whether a particular goal has been reached, are all transferable skills best acquired through experience. By its very nature as a long-term undertaking, an EPQ is unlikely to go to plan, and a significant proportion of the marks available are awarded for recognising and adapting to this reality. By trying things out for themselves, drafting and redrafting their plans, experimenting with different project management tools, making minor course corrections or charting new courses entirely, and tracking their own progress all the while, boys have used the EPQ to build essential skills for their postSherborne pathways. Julius Caesar’s observation of the Roman legionaries’ adaptability that ‘experience is the teacher of all things’ certainly remains relevant: within the supportive environment of Sherborne, the EPQ enables boys to gain invaluable experience for an increasingly complex world of further study and work.

nicholas Hall Classics Teacher & epQ Co-ordinator

Design & Technology

Harry Alford (U6g) Log transporter

With the number of students studying the subject now reaching an all-time high, this has been an incredibly busy year for the Department. Our clubs and activities program continues to complement lessons. Dr Wild’s student robotics team took up residence in the Department at the start of the year as they prepared to enter the national Student Robotics competition. Comprising of Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics and Design & Technology pupils, this cross-curricular STEM team was comprised of boys from the Third Form right through to the Sixth Form. They displayed excellent teamwork as they worked to build a prototype robot in the Department to meet the set challenges. Leveraging the power of CAD and the precision of the laser cutter, they achieved the detailed construction required for their robot. The competition took place in Southampton in early April, where they competed against 37 schools. Their strong performance stood out and earned them sixth place overall, a commendable achievement for a new team. Their success was further recognised as they received the Rookie Team trophy, acknowledging their position as

the highest-ranked new team. This impressive feat speaks volumes about their dedication, skill and ability to perform under pressure, and it also indicates that the School’s robotics team will be one to watch in the future. The Department’s Jewellery Club capitalised on Ms Bacon’s skills as a jeweller. In collaboration with Sherborne Girls, she provided the pupils with an opportunity to enhance their metal forming and joining skills. This joint initiative proved valuable for both schools’ departments, providing students with a platform to develop their confidence and ability in this field. The course not only fostered creativity but also paved the way for future vocational BA applications in fields such as Horology, Jewellery, and 3D Design. By participating in this club, both boys and girls had the opportunity to acquire the necessary expertise, enabling them to pursue their interests as they consider their postSherborne pathways. Another of the Department’s clubs sought to help Fifth Form

candidates prepare for the Arkwright Scholarship. The Scholarship is a prestigious program that seeks to encourage and support pupils who intend to pursue careers in Engineering. A small group of our pupils worked in the evenings to help prepare for the demanding and fastpaced exam. As part of this, we considered designs for mechanical rigs to fit mountain bikes which would use the wheels’ rotation to automatically lay a dashed paper trail for a paper chase or devices that could reliably lob balls to develop tennis strokes. This year’s A level projects showcased ambition and a range of design skills. Harry Alford (U6g) chose his father as a client, and together they explored ways to enhance their quad bike’s versatility. Their innovative design involved a rigid wheeled A-frame that acted as a long lever, enabling the quad bike driver to lift logs from inaccessible areas. With the log safely lifted, an A-frame winch connected to the quad bike hoisted, secured, and transported the log using its

Ryan Lee (5a) Adjustable laptop support

Jack Fletcher (5d) Battery charging station

off-road capabilities and manoeuvrability. Harry’s project demonstrated an ingenious solution for log transportation over challenging terrain.

James Livingston Booth (U6g) Fly tying kit

Mingo Burrow (5a) Standing desk unit

James Livingston Booth (U6g) was awarded the Patrick Shelley Senior Prize for Design & Technology for his detailed proposal that addressed the needs of a client involved in flytying. His winning design not only provided storage for flytying equipment but also included a sorting mechanism for the flies made. James’ design stood out due to the skill required to manufacture it, particularly in mastering the silver soldering of sheet brass to construct two identical halves of a clamshell case. This case fitted perfectly into a hardwood storage unit, skilfully built with dovetail joints to ensure durability and strength. James’ meticulous attention to detail and craftsmanship earned him well-deserved recognition. With the 3D printers working around the clock during the latter half of the Michaelmas Term and

long into the Trinity Term, many of the boys’ design solutions now benefit from the detail and complexity that the printer can deliver, particularly now that our largest printer has two extruders which work together. With one nozzle laying down the hard, tough polymer, the other builds a dissolvable support mechanism that helps to precisely hold the cooling polymer in place as it fuses, adding strength and accuracy to printed components the boys can now produce. With some superb marks achieved for the assessed projects this year, we now look forward to seeing how the boys perform in the exam in the hope that the final GCSE and A level grades reflect the dedication, ambition, and hard work we have seen in lessons, activities and clubs across this past year.

peter Chillingworth Head of Design and Technology

Under construction: the road to success

FOR MANY BOYS, THE TWO YEARS SPENT IN SHERBORNE’S SIXTH FORM FEEL LIKE THE CULMINATION OF A LIFETIME’S SCHOOLING. BUT THE REAL FOCUS IS ON WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, AS DEPUTY HEAD (SIXTH FORM) ALEX BOYD-WILLIAMS EXPLAINS... One of the features of life in education is that each stage feels like an end point, right up until the moment you start the next phase. GCSEs feel more like a stepping-stone the deeper you get into A levels or a BTEC. And A levels can take on that same hue once you move to university or the world of work.

The trick, says Sherborne’s Deputy Head (Sixth Form) Alex Boyd-Williams, is to recognise the significance of the task you’re engaged in now, and understand it as a means to building the bigger story of your life’s ambitions. “This is an attitude we try to instil across all five year groups at Sherborne,” he explains. “While the Sixth Form is an undoubted moment of focus for most of our boys, we build their sense of self from the Third Form. The idea is that we help them work out what their interests, enthusiasms and ambitions are, then formulate a plan for the future on that basis.”

one-to-one attention at the heart of Sherborne’s approach is a commitment to working out what makes every boy tick. This is achieved through one-to-one attention from Tutors, as well as the support of mentors, visiting speakers, and Sherborne’s impressive network. “People change over time, especially when they’re growing up,” says Alex. “By ensuring the boys have plenty of opportunity to talk about the things that inspire them, and work out their skills and natural aptitudes, we give them a chance to keep evolving throughout their time at School.” In fact, alex says there are some notable examples of old Shirburnians whose sense of what they wanted to do continued forming throughout the time at School – and beyond. He gives the example of the actor Hugh bonneville (d 81), who told two current pupils in a recent podcast interview that he became less certain about his direction of travel when he entered the Lower Sixth. “We know that we all continue to morph throughout life,” alex reﬂects. “Our support is intended to help pupils understand this. Then they can work out the next step on their journey.”

an enterprising mindset

working for a living

Mention of the podcast, called Talking to the Top, reminds Alex of another feature of Sherborne’s approach to careers education. It is hosted by two pupils, Edward Brooke (L6b) and Freddie Fineman (5e), who interview high-achieving people from different sectors for wisdom about how they achieved success. “Setting up something like a podcast shows real gumption,” he says. “That’s the sort of enterprising mindset and can-do attitude we want to instil in everyone.”

Another thing he favours is pupils getting work experience, and plenty of it, as soon as they are able. “There is value to both types of work experience,” he explains. “Doing a job just to earn some ready cash has a great deal to recommend it and I see boys grow tremendously by taking on holiday jobs. But it’s also well worth them finding internships and similar opportunities. These provide a chance to try out jobs that appeal, which can help them either rule them in or out of their longerterm plans.”

Alex gives other examples of this attitude. Mack Rutherford (U6b) is an obvious one: he became the youngest person to fly solo around the world last year and his trailblazing journey captured the imagination of the whole Sherborne community. There are other examples, including the pupils who set up a surf equipment rental company while in the Sixth Form and the many who have undertaken challenges such as ocean rows, round-the-world sailing adventures, and extreme travel. “These sorts of challenges speak of a mindset that is common among Shirburnians,” Alex reports. “Thanks to engagement with activities like CCF, Ten Tors, and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, there is a taste for adventure among many of our pupils. If we can channel that into their career aspirations, we’ll be doing them a great service.” With this in mind, Alex is a big fan of gap years. “Taking a year out provides a great opportunity to broaden your experience, perhaps see something of the world, and take stock of your priorities,” he says. “I’m keen to encourage a truly global mindset among our pupils, and a year out is a perfect way to develop this.”

One of the advantages of being plugged into a network such as Sherborne’s is that there’s likely to be a contact for pretty much any job a boy can think of – and a lot more besides. As it happens, Alex says the boys’ conception of the jobs market is often surprisingly narrow. “As a team, we’re always trying to expand their horizons and get them to think beyond the jobs they know. The OS network and the brilliant Sherborne Connect website provide a great way of identifying people whose professional lives seem interesting and inspiring.” This also shows the importance of Sherborne’s Careers and Higher Education (HE) Department in supporting boys in their discernment. Alex says the team is well-staffed, with a Head of Specialist HE, a Head of Global Universities, a Head of Careers and a Head of UK applications all working under his oversight. Every person is a trained coach, which reflects the team’s ethos: it is about helping boys find the answers within themselves and empowering them to pursue the ambitions that emerge.

s Inspiring futures One such ambition is studying abroad, which Alex regards as having great utility. “I was lucky to spend time studying in Denmark, as well as Switzerland and France,” he says. “I learned from being exposed to ideas and methods I’d never have encountered in the UK. As the world becomes ever more connected, there’s real value in having a truly global education.” That said, Alex is quick to acknowledge the world-class universities in the UK – for which a Sherborne education provides great preparation. He also understands the aspiration of some boys to pursue a specialist higher education in areas like music, art or drama. “There are loads of options available to pupils when they leave School,” he says. “With the advent of alternatives like degree apprenticeships, and a growing interest in entrepreneurship, it really is the case that young people have the world at their feet.”

It is with this in mind that Alex and his team work hard to inspire boys across all year groups with thoughts about their next steps. “Even before Third Formers arrive at School,” he says, “we get to know what interests and excites them, so we can begin supporting them right from the off.” This engagement continues in the Fourth Form, when entrepreneurship days and the PSHE programme help pupils start thinking about their aspirations. The support ramps up as they move through School, with targeted workshops and one-to-one mentoring sessions from the Careers and HE team helping refine their focus as they approach their Sixth Form years. Alongside this process of ongoing discernment, Alex says the hope is to instil a lifelong love of learning: “Our idea is that, by forming selfconfidence, self-understanding and a love of learning in pupils at Sherborne, they will go on growing as their lives progress – perhaps completing postgraduate study or developing a new high-level complex skill in middle age or even retirement. “The road to success is long and, for this generation, most likely highly varied,” he concludes. “At each stage of their time at Sherborne, our job is to encourage open conversations with boys that help them discern what they want from their lives. Then we help them take the right steps to make it happen and have a positive impact on the world.”

tt Ma

e, D bon irec of tor art

his academic year has seen the art Department return to normal, or perhaps as ‘normal’ as an art Department can ever be, which, in turn, led me to reﬂect upon what or perhaps how an art Department should be.

At the end of last year, I had the privilege of hosting Trevor Boyd (Director of Art, Sherborne School, 1980-2000) during our End of Year Private View. I would imagine a few people reading will remember Trevor from his time teaching Art at Sherborne. I don’t really recall Trevor ever ‘teaching’ me, but I do strongly recollect the energised atmosphere, the thrill of making work and the hubbub which surrounded Trevor and his Art School. Exciting times. Over the course of the evening, Trevor and I wandered around the exhibition, discussed artwork, pupils and the Department (having moved from the ‘Old Art School’ in 2001 back to the original home of Sherborne Art in the Westcott Art School (erroneously thought to be part of the Carrington Building) and generally catching up. I began to realise how inadvertently influential Trevor had been on me, personally and professionally shaping my approach to making

the Art Department what it has become today. In the same way, I hope that some of Trevor’s enthusiasm for art and exuberance for life has rubbed off on me and that I in turn am able to pass some of this on to my pupils. At the core of this is a love of making art which has manifested itself over the course of the year with a huge amount of quality work being made. Extending beyond our own walls, the Department has established an art awareness outreach programme for feeder Prep School children which we trialed with the kind assistance of Sherborne Prep

School, then ambitiously extended to a further eight Prep Schools and their teachers to experience ‘Art at Sherborne’. With around 100 Year 5 and 6 pupils through the door over the course of the year we aimed to both help sell Sherborne as a strong consideration for Senior School, but furthermore to encourage the enjoyment of art to some future budding artists. In addition to this, we also invited Prep School art teachers to a professional development day, enabling them to meet their counterparts in other Prep Schools, experience Sherborne and enjoy a fun and full day of making art.

s In addition to the countless hours taught both in class and outside of lessons, pupils have been offered the opportunity to attend a series of exciting visiting artist lectures and workshops where they have had first-hand opportunity to learn from professional artists, to explore new ways of thinking, working, and applying techniques. It has been great to see the broad reach of these workshops reaching out to many non-art students as well as pupils from Sherborne Girls choosing to join us for not only the History of Art lecture element, but also the draw of the artists themselves. My thanks once again go out to Richard Hoare, Fernando Velázquez, Ginny Mason and Georgina Clapham, as they generously gave their time and shared their passion for art with our pupils.

on a similar, most generous note, a special thanks must be given to Mr Hugh Hildesley (b 60) Mbe, Executive Vice President of Sotheby’s for kindly donating his extensive art library to the School. The Hildesley collection is now rehomed in the Art Department in the very same space where Hugh produced oil paintings during his time at Sherborne (1954-1960) as a pupil, Head of Abbey House and Head of School. Hugh’s collection is already being used as a source of inspiration for our artists, and it is most refreshing to see a boy thumbing through a book rather than the constant swipe of a phone. Hugh’s donation is a physical embodiment of knowledge and an appreciation of art being passed from one generation to the next. Thank you once again Hugh for your generous donation to the Art Department.

To finish this year, and indeed this review, my thoughts turn to our recent Paris Art Tour. The last time I went to Paris was many moons ago as a Fifth Form pupil. Trevor bravely took a motley crew of Art pupils to Paris where we discovered and savoured the delights of the capital; home to some of the best art in the world through visiting: the Louvre, Musée de l’Orangerie, Musée d’Orsay to name but a few. Having grown up in a sleepy village on the edge of Sherborne, I found this experience both eye-opening and massively instrumental to my appreciation of art, which ultimately set me off on my creative career to this point today when I found myself re-treading familiar ground but this time leading the Paris Art Tour. Whilst the experience was perhaps a little more business than pleasure, we had a fabulous time taking in all that Paris had to offer. My genuine hope is that the boys took from this trip some of the wonders of the world of art, as I did when I was their age.

• Charlie P - 5b

• Edward Scougall - 5d

• Jerry Bo - 5f

s • Freddie Bennett - 5g

• Jamie Guy - 5g

• Freddie Fineman - 5e

• Ollie Cope - 5a

s • Marco Cheung - 5b

• Jerry Bo - 5f

• Marco Cheung - 5b

Drama unleashing Creativity: The Transformative Force of Drama in education As the Head of Drama at Sherborne, I have had the privilege of witnessing the transformative power of drama firsthand. Drama is not just an extracurricular activity or a form of entertainment; it is a valuable educational tool that fosters creativity, empathy, and critical thinking skills in pupils. In today’s rapidly changing world, where innovation and adaptability are highly sought-after qualities, it is imperative that we recognise and harness the potential of drama as a core component of a wellrounded education. One of the key benefits of drama is its ability to ignite the spark of creativity in pupils. Through the exploration of characters, stories, and emotions, pupils are encouraged to think outside the box, to challenge conventions, and to express themselves in unique and imaginative ways. Drama provides a safe and supportive environment for pupils to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from them. By engaging in improvisation, scriptwriting, and performance, pupils develop their creative thinking skills, enabling them to approach problems with fresh perspectives and innovative solutions. Furthermore, drama cultivates empathy and emotional intelligence. When pupils step into the shoes of different characters, they gain a deeper understanding of the human experience. They learn to appreciate diverse perspectives, develop a sense of empathy, and embrace the complexities of the world around them. Drama promotes active listening, effective communication, and collaboration, essential skills for

fostering positive relationships and building strong communities. Through group work, pupils learn to appreciate the contributions of others, negotiate conflicts, and work towards shared goals. These interpersonal skills are not only crucial for success in the academic setting but also for thriving in the professional realm and making a positive impact on society. Drama also nurtures critical thinking skills. In a world inundated with information, it is vital that pupils develop the ability to analyse, evaluate, and question. Drama encourages pupils to think critically about the motivations, actions, and consequences of characters and situations. They learn to make connections, identify themes, and interpret subtext. Drama challenges pupils to think on their feet, to problem-solve in real-time, and to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. These skills are transferable to other academic subjects, as well as future careers, where the ability to think critically and adapt is highly valued.

vicky Clayton Head of Drama

Drama is not just about producing future actors or performers; it is about empowering pupils to become confident, adaptable, and compassionate individuals who are equipped to navigate the complexities of the world. As educators, we have a responsibility to foster an environment that values and supports the arts, including drama. By recognising the power of drama in education, we open doors for pupils to unlock their full potential, to discover their unique voices, and to develop the skills needed to thrive in an ever-evolving world.

Animal Farm Joint Schools’ production

upon discovering that this year’s joint school production would be george orwell’s Animal Farm I was, like many people, slightly sceptical about the decision. So when I entered the straw ridden powell Theatre for the opening night, I did not know exactly what to expect. However, from the moment I laid my eyes on the phenomenal farm set carefully crafted by Mr Donnelly and beth yates, I knew that this show would not disappoint.

“

The whole cast were sensational performers (and particularly well cast by Mrs Scott), but I cannot ignore the very notable performance from Charlie wilson (L6d), who never fails to impress.

It was evident from the wellpolished movement sequences and tuneful renditions of Beasts of England that the cast were completely invested in the production and had worked their human socks off to perfect every detail, despite some initial struggles in rehearsals. It was brilliant to watch pupils from across all year groups coming together, getting stuck in and producing a play to be proud of, whilst also growing in confidence and helping the younger years to find their feet within our school community. The whole cast were sensational performers (and particularly well cast by Mrs Scott), but I cannot ignore the very notable performance from Charlie Wilson (L6d), who never fails to impress. His passionate delivery of every line and the layers of emotional depth applied to both of his characters lifted Orwell’s creations straight off the pages and brought them fully to life in their brutally harsh form. As Narrator, Imogen Coote from

Sherborne Girls successfully communicated Orwell’s unbiased narration and thus ensured the play remained true to Orwell’s intentions. Maintaining the physicality of a cat is a demanding feat and the control of movement required is a challenge for anyone, but Poppy Jonas, also from Sherborne Girls, pulled off the role of the Cat effortlessly. It also appears we have another fine young actor in our midst: Olly Macdonald (3a), whose marvellously cheeky performance as a Hen showed that he is a very competent actor and so I look forward to seeing him continue to flourish in the Drama Department at Sherborne. For me, this production is solid proof that no challenge is too big for our Drama Departments! I hope it has inspired those who came to see the show to get involved when the next joint School production rolls around.

Freddie Fineman (5e)

“

Treasure Island Junior play

From the onset, Treasure Island was as magniﬁcent and mysterious as its name. The combination of the earnest, intellegent and veracious Jim, coupled with the scheming, devious and humorous LongJohn, was brilliant. To add to their wonderful performance, the support given by the pompous ‘landlubbers’ and the raucous pirates all combined to make a thrilling performance. Starting in the Admiral Benbow Inn, I was immediately struck by the quality of both the set and the cast. One of the most memorable performances of the play, Blind Pew, immediately cast a spell over the audience; the disappointment in the audience after his death was testament to his brilliant acting! This pattern continued throughout the play, from the commanding air of Captain Smollet and the convincing Cornish accent of Redruth to the pompous actions of Squire Trelawney.

“

one of the most memorable performances of the play, blind pew, immediately cast a spell over the audience; the disappointment in the audience after his death was testament to his brilliant acting!

When the divided crew reached the island, the set was superb! The squawking of birds, the vivid foliage and the gloopy tunnels were all lifelike and created a stunning addition to the play. This, and the sinister ‘pieces of eight’ ringing through the stage, created an island full of mystery – a perfect accompaniment to the secretive adventures of Jim Silver and his crew. But the sound effects died when a voice said, ‘I want cheese’ as, needless to say, the whole audience burst into laughter.

A special mention must go to Jim and Long-John Silver who both acted stunningly. Ben’s fantastic narration and earnest nature were a pleasure to watch. Johnny’s menace and dual nature were also spectacular. But the final say must go to the backstage team, lighting and sound effects made it all possible. They added the magic touch and air to the play, so huge congratulations to them!

Tom Moesel (4c)

“

Co-

. curricular

The CCF has been a huge part of my life at Sherborne, and one that I will look back on fondly in future years. From the moment I arrived at Sherborne I wanted to join the CCF, but I could never have imagined when I joined the Navy Section in 2019 what events would occur in the future.

During my time with the Navy section, we have seen the advent of a joint schools CCF, bringing in new talent, fresh ideas and a great level of experience to the already diverse contingent. The following year, when the opportunity to apply to be one of the First Sea Lord’s Cadet came up, I jumped at the chance to put myself forward and, with the support and encouragement from the staff, I was successful in my application. It was a privilege to be able to represent Sherborne’s Navy Cadets to the Senior Naval staff and the wider Navy and I hope that in years to come more Shirburnians will put themselves

forward for this amazing opportunity. The CCF has taught me many things about myself, other people and leadership. On courses I managed to attend, I learned more about myself than I ever had before. These courses and the helpful advice and encouragement of the staff at School allowed me to really evaluate what I was good at and what I was not so good at, giving me the opportunity to always strive to be better. This year has been a particularly eventful and successful one for

the CCF as we expanded our collaboration with Sherborne Girls, seeing numbers continuing to rise across all sections. At the start of the year we reacted quickly to the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the ascension of King Charles III, being on parade for the proclamation. Later in the Michaelmas Term all sections faced the challenge of competitions against other CCF units. The Army took part in the Rifles Cadet Cup, the Royal Marines entered the Pringle Trophy (one the most demanding cadet competitions) and the Royal

Navy put together its first ever team for the CCF National Dingy Regatta. The School also ran its annual drill competition between the sections. This year saw the Royal Marines emerge victorious in a hotly contested event.

Salisbury Plain to learn fieldcraft and survival skills before going to Chepstow Barracks and Scraesdon Fort. The Royal Navy have also enjoyed trips to RNAS Yeovilton, where they were hosted by 846 NAS and HMS Raleigh.

During the Lent Term the Sixth Form marked the Coronation of King Charles III with a parade, which was followed by the annual CCF Dinner, with the guest of honour being the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, Angus Campbell.

I would like to finish by thanking all of the staff and indeed all the pupils involved in CCF for the past few years. It has truly been an honour to grow up alongside them and I look forward to hearing of the CCF’s future success.

As always, field trips have been a major highlight of the year. The Army and Royal Marines visited

william waters (u6b)

S YN O P SI S O F T HE CY PHE R The passing of Queen elizabeth II was a unique occurrence with a devastating impact, not only in the united kingdom but across the Commonwealth and throughout the world. Her Majesty had been an icon for so many and few remember a world without her; the news of her peaceful death was hard to digest. I was lining up for my choir gown from the gown cupboard when my friend received the bbC news notiﬁcation on his phone. as the news ricocheted around the globe, waves of melancholy crashed over millions of souls. The realisation was tough. but then a bittersweet realisation took hold – that the legacy of this remarkable monarch will endure. amidst the range of emotions, a way to express mine and the School’s condolences was buzzing through my head – in the form of a speech, a eulogy or even a poem. I then considered how the entire School collectively could contribute; until ﬁnally settling upon using Sherborne’s very own Combined Cadet Force to exhibit the king’s and Queen’s Cypher, to both convey our collective sympathy for her Majesty’s death, but to also display our welcoming of a new king, and a new era.

benjamin brady (4d)

T HE DU K E O F EDI N BU R GH ’ S AWA RD as the academic year comes to a close, it is with great enthusiasm that we reﬂect upon the outstanding accomplishments of Sherborne School's Duke of edinburgh's award programme. This year has been nothing short of exceptional, with our pupils showcasing their resilience, determination, and adventurous spirit throughout their participation in the scheme. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award continues to be an important part of the co-curricular programme at the School, allowing boys to broaden their ventures, not only in an outdoor setting with the expeditions but also in all aspects of their lives as they pick up new hobbies and skills, keep active and fit in their sporting codes, and give back to their communities with various volunteering activities. Between clubs and musical activities, Sherborne Abbey and all the sport available at Sherborne, the boys are spoilt for choice when deciding what to do for the four sections of the award: Skills, Volunteering, Physical and Expedition (Gold participants do a fifth section consisting of a residential activity). Designed to encourage and facilitate a well-rounded lifestyle, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is only awarded on completion of all sections and pupils have until their 25th birthday to complete the award. Each section requires a

commitment to an activity for between 3-18 months depending on the award level and are assessed by an appointed assessor of the participant’s choosing who oversees their activity. Being pupil-led, most planning of sections is done by the boys, who make use of the eDofE app to keep a log of their activities. Expedition routes and meal plans are also organised by the boys in their expedition groups teaching them many vital skills.

In the last year we’ve seen a rise in the number of sign-ups for the three award levels with over 80 Third Form boys signing up for Bronze this year. As they continue through their Duke of Edinburgh journey at the School, with the hope that they achieve their Gold award by their Upper Sixth year, they will embark on many expeditions in some of the United Kingdom’s most beautiful locations, learning new skills, and making new friends and lifelong memories along the way.

s first week of July. However, they were blessed with fantastic conditions as they paddled from Fort William to Inverness via the Caledonian Canal, Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness. The three groups travelled 100km over four days, wild camping each night in the Scottish wilderness, and doing up to 35km of paddling a day. The expeditions are the highlights of the award and this year we have been able to travel far and wide across the UK’s wild country, taking our participants to Wales, Scotland, Dartmoor and places in between. However, the DofE programme is not just about conquering physical challenges; it is about personal growth and the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of life. Beyond the expeditions, our pupils have undertaken a diverse range of activities, from volunteering in their communities, whether that be supporting Sherborne Abbey, Sherborne’s CCF, local Prep Schools and even as of this year, helping to set up a local Junior Town Council in Sherborne. To fulfil their Skills and Physical sections, participants have made the most of everything the School has to offer with the abundance of Games options, the Music School and the many clubs and activities on offer to the boys. Their achievements in these activities have not only enriched their lives but also instilled a sense of responsibility and personal independence. We continue to partner with Sherborne Girls for our Gold Expeditions, running joint Walking and Canoeing expeditions for our Lower Sixth Form participants. With 170 new sign-ups for the year, our expeditions are bigger than ever, allowing us to run fantastic trips in the UK countryside. In the Summer of 2022, 12 of our Gold participants, joined by the participants from Sherborne Girls, endeavoured on their Qualifying Canoeing Expedition, paddling along The Great Glen Way, in Scotland, from Fort William to Inverness. This proved to be a wonderful experience and we look forward to this year’s summer Canoeing Expedition once again in Scotland in the first week of the holiday. In preparation for this year’s Scotland Expedition, this year’s Canoeing participants had their Practice Expedition over the second Lent Term Exeat where they were trained up in what proved to be very tumultuous weather, with the boys and girls experiencing snow, wind and torrential rain. Despite the conditions and a change of location mid-expedition, the training provided them with sufficient experience to be able to manage with whatever came their way in Scotland, in the

Our Gold Walking participants started the year off with a wonderful opportunity to attend a Remembrance Service on Remembrance Sunday up in the mountains of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales. The service, held by a local farmer, is held annually at an aeroplane crash site which has been turned into a War Memorial. Joined by Sherborne Girls, our boys attended the touching service, along with many other people from all walks of life. They learnt navigation and expedition skills along the way as they traversed the mountains up to the site. They then enjoyed a day out in the mild autumn weather being trained in preparation for their expeditions. Their first main expedition was the Practice Expedition, held at the start of the Easter holiday, which saw six groups of boys and pupils from Sherborne Girls head up to The Rhinogs in Snowdonia for a four-day practice expedition. Despite the fantastic spring weather, the expedition was met with numerous challenges which the participants took on with

exceptional resilience that proved their fitness, endurance, navigation skills, teamwork and camaraderie. All six groups completed their Qualifying Expedition, also in Snowdonia, during the penultimate week of the Trinity Term. They were rewarded with wonderful weather, beautiful Welsh mountain scenery and memories to last a lifetime. The Silver participants, consisting of almost 50 Fourth Form pupils, survived a tough seven-day expedition in the first week of the Easter holiday. This year we decided to combine the compulsory Practice Expedition and Qualifying Expedition, into one long seven-day Training, Practice and Qualifying Expedition based at Great Potheridge House in Devon.

Challenging conditions accompanied the boys as they took on Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and Exmoor. However, their resilience and teamwork prevailed resulting in a successful outcome and many lessons learnt, but even more memories made. The Bronze participants, consisting of 80 Third Form boys, enjoyed two weekends back-toback of expedition activity starting with an overnight camping activity on Carey’s Sports Pitches before a practice walk the next day. They were taught camping skills, navigation and map reading. The next weekend they all set out across the Dorset countryside to stay overnight at The Trooper Inn Campsite in Stourton Caundle. Spoilt with

s perfect weather, the boys had a blast traversing their local domain and spending the night away from School, cooking their own meals, planning their own routes and building friendships. This year we celebrate the 88 boys who completed their DofE Award, with 50 Bronze awards and 22 Silver awards. Special congratulations to the following boys who completed their Gold Award this year and had the privilege of attending an Award ceremony at Buckingham Palace: Frederick Cole (g 22),

Mark Stuart Dofe and outdoor education assistant

James Burton (a 22), James Miles (e 22), Benjamin SmithBingham (U6d), William Sowerbutts (U6g), Harry Pleydell-Bouverie (U6a), Maximus Fowle (U6c), Oliver Culver (U6c), Carl Furthmann (U6e), Henry Kingsbury (U6f), Theo Jarratt (b 22), Dorian Gottardello Bodnar (U6f), Sam Guo (U6b), Marcus Hinde (U6f), Tommy Guy (U6e) and James Livingston Booth (U6g). We thank all the staff who give up their time to support our expeditions allowing them to be

as successful and enjoyable as they continue to be. Thank you as well to all the parents for supporting their boys through their DofE journeys. As we head into another year of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award here at Sherborne we look forward to many more great achievements for our participants across the award as they continue to strive to reach greater heights, seek adventure, explore their worlds, and continue to put into the world as much as they get out!

L EA DE RS HI P & T EA MBU I L D IN G C O U RSE The Fifth Form Leadership and Teambuilding Course in midDevon seeks to help boys decompress after a stressful period of exams, as well as get them to reflect on their leadership and communication styles, and consider how they conduct themselves within a team environment. These reflections

and lessons obviously have utility for the boys in the Sixth Form and beyond. The boys undertook a series of activities including raft building (and raft-sinking!), conservation work with Devon Wildlife Trust, various leadership tasks, high ropes, and mountain biking all with the aid of a staff mentor who helped facilitate

peer-to-peer feedback among the boys. It was great to witness the boys getting stuck in with a positive attitude, supporting each other, and enjoying each other’s company.

Rob Le poidevin CCF Contingent Commander

T EN T O RS

Ivo Finney (4d) - Sherborne CCF Team, completing the 35-mile challenge.

Ten Tors was a huge success again this year. Pupils, Ivo Finney (4d) and Rocco Taylor (L6b) share their experiences... At 06:55 on a misty, wet morning in late April, I stood in a marshy field in Dartmoor - a field that contained over 2,000 fellow youths who, like me, had woken at 05:00 and had spent three months training for the privilege to spend 36 hours navigating across the barren terrain of ‘The Moor’. Unlike The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, training for Ten Tors takes place in winter taking a compass bearing turns out to be quite important when navigating through a frosty mist. Separate, yet together is a phrase often used by Sherborne School but working in a mixed team with

Sherborne Girls took it to another level. I barely knew Hattie, Tilda, Elena and Liberty when we started training. Across three training weekends, we learnt many important lessons: how to read a map, how to extract a partially submerged teammate from a swamp and, of course, how to pose for the School’s joint Instagram posts. Now we were all facing the actual event. As the cannon fired, we set off with hundreds of other walkers up the first hill - which was steep - and it suddenly occurred to us - ‘Why are we doing this?’ The rest of the day was filled with laughter, moans, groans, sunburn, a dead

horse and tricky river crossings. By the time we set up camp on our seventh Tor, we had walked over twenty miles, and the rucksacks were not getting any lighter. Exhaustion did not dampen the spirits - and at 05:30 on a Sunday morning (a Sunday!) we were off again. The fog on the second day was far worse than the first, leaving us to team up with other groups to find a way out. As we approached the finish line, I thought never again - but after 30 minutes and a hot pasty, Tilda asked, ‘Do you think we should do the 45?’

Rocco Taylor (L6b) - Mixed Lower Sixth Sherborne CCF team, completing the 45-mile challenge.

Ten Tors, a glorified DofE, a walk in the park - these were the thoughts going through my mind on sign-up. But much like in Jaws the movie, ‘I was going to need a bigger boat’ to manage my expectations. From altitude sickness to heat stroke, I have never done anything more physically demanding or mentally straining. The first step in the process was a quick one-day stroll on the North Moor. Fuelled by a large bag of Haribo, I was determined to illustrate a desire to prove I was not the weak link. There were six places on the team and seven applicants - a selection process as demanding as Oxbridge (... so I’ve heard). Much like a Royal Marine, we endured many weekends of rigorous training: map reading, fieldcraft and building the stamina to walk fifty miles across open moorland, carrying a very heavy rucksack. The training weekends were fun and became progressively more demanding - as the mileage increased, so did the bond between the team - and so did the Haribo consumption. Our Ten Tors mentor, Mr Kimber, warned us about ‘hitting the wall’ reaching the point when your body’s glycogen stores become depleted - but I had a plan to deal with this - a king-sized bag of Haribo.

The final training weekend required us to walk twenty-five miles in one day. Everything was going well - Ten Tors was no match for our spirit - until we reached Yes Tor at mile twenty. Yes Tor is the second highest peak in Dartmoor - at 619 meters high, it qualifies as a mountain, and after walking for seven hours, carrying a 40 kg rucksack, it looked remarkably like Mount Doom from the Lord of the Rings. Perhaps it was a Haribo-induced hallucination, but suddenly, I was transported into the film - the rucksack my ring. The skies darkened, and heavy rain started to fall. My twenty-year-old Barbour jacket had lost some of its water-repellent qualities. I was struck by a wave of sickness much like Frodo, I felt I could go no further, and collapsed. My friends were there to support me, but with no Samwise Gamgee, the mountain defeated me. Luckily, our very own Gandalf was waiting nearby - Mr Kimber answered our call for help, and we agreed to cut the day short. Two weekends later, we prepared ourselves for the event: thirty miles on the first day, and our first checkpoint - Yes Tor. I won’t say it was easy, Ten Tors was the most physically demanding event I have completed - but it’s great to push yourself to the limit. I enjoyed every step, though I think I may avoid the Haribo for a while.

CLubS & aCTIvITIeS we offer boys the chance to participate in all sorts of clubs and activities, from debating, archive club, campanology, radio broadcasting, charity work and volunteering. bell-ringing club has proven popular this year. For over a year a small group of enthusiastic boys and girls from Sherborne and Sherborne Girls have been learning to bell-ring. It looks easy, but it’s actually quite hard, particularly as the Abbey bells are fairly hefty (the tenor weighs 2.3 tonnes, making the bells the heaviest ring of eight in the world!). Nevertheless, the pupils have worked hard to learn bell control and are now able to ring in rounds (all eight bells ringing in order without getting out of time). By itself this is quite an achievement as it can take months to master this skill; however, we were particularly pleased to be able to field an allboy/girl band to celebrate the Coronation earlier in the year. Although this campanology society is relatively new, the School has a long tradition of supporting ringing (John Hesse (g 1924) arranged for the recasting of the tenor bell in 1933 and it was paraded through the streets of Sherborne by a team of pupils). Nevertheless, the Coronation School Band was the first time in over a century the Abbey bells have been rung by a group of pupils - quite a feat! In fact, a local news crew got wind of

our plans and filmed us as part of their programme on Dorset’s Coronation celebrations. The footage appeared on Channel 4 this summer. Aside from the physical and mental challenges of ringing, it’s fun, engaging, and offers a fantastic opportunity to meet local people and to support our community. The Abbey band have really enjoyed our company too and have told me many times how wonderful it is to welcome such polite and eager pupils into the Abbey tower.

Tim bennett Deputy Head (Co-curricular)

CHaRITy & CoMMunITy ouTReaCH

This has been a fabulous year of development for the Charity and Community outreach opportunities afforded to the School. back in the depths of winter we held a Christmas Jumper Day, raising money for Save the Children. The new year went off with a bang and plans started for a Sleep out which the boys were keen to support, raising funds for the DeC Turkey earthquake appeal – well done particularly to abbey House for driving this forward. A non-school uniform day was set up by the boys, raising funds for men’s mental health charity, Papyrus. Again, this was very well supported by all the boys and staff, and subsequently one of the Houses – School House have decided to have Papyrus as their House charity. The spring brought about an excitement for the London

Marathon, and our very own Nurse Manager Marie Hutchings and MFL Teacher Julia Slade both completed it, again raising fantastic funds for ‘Help and Care’. MFL Teacher Naomi Rittey also completed the London Half Marathon, raising money for Team Movember. Supporting the same charity, The Green decided to hold a Sleep Out raising over £3,000 for Movember. We are also looking forward to supporting an incredible charity which aims to rebuild a school in Ukraine. The new academic year will be a fantastic opportunity to allow boys to be creative with fundraising ideas. Regarding Community Outreach the School has been very bold this year, and with the excellent help of Tom Hunter (U6d) we have managed to set up a link between Harper House and Yeovil Pen Mill Football Club. The boys turned up to Westfield academy 3G pitch on a very cold November evening and had a fabulous kick about with the senior team at Pen Mill. They had a fantastic hour, successfully holding off the cold, and hearing how the Yeovil boys can be supported more over the year by Harper.

Gryphon pupils – they would like to set up a clothes swap shop. This is likely to begin in the autumn – a special mention to Alfie Reynolds (L6c), and Kerim Smajilagic (L6f) who have particularly stepped up to liaise with the other pupils. Looking forward, we are excited to take the House charities further: setting up new links with a local bike charity who send old bikes out to Africa is in the pipeline for Lyon House. The Digby are also looking to set up a link with a local animal charity. It will be wonderful to see boys helping out at local kennels in the new academic year. We continue to be a generous school, with fantastic individuals, doing amazing work, raising funds doing crazy things. What will the next year see staff and boys getting up to for charity – I can’t wait to see!

The Schools Community Hub is another big achievement this year. Every school in Sherborne is represented, and we have Ruth Chapman enjoyed seeing the boys sharing Community engagement Lead/ ideas with primary school Co-curricular Co-ordinator children, Sherborne Girls and the

SCHOO L HO USE (a )

ask Robert Harris what he most relishes about being Housemaster of School House and you’ll get a straightforward answer. “I like the warm community in which everyone’s achievements are celebrated,” he says.

The House photographs have been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame

Part of that is down to the atmosphere created by the staff team of tutors and matrons, to whom Robert pays tribute. “They work really hard to make School House welcoming, caring and friendly,” he says. “The boys appreciate their efforts, and reciprocate by playing their own part in building our positive culture.” Indeed, Robert says the thing he most likes seeing among the boys is their small acts of day-to-day kindness. “It may be offering to help the domestic team or providing a listening ear to a friend going through a tough time,” he reflects. “In these apparently small ways, the boys show they’ve understood the values underscoring Sherborne as a whole, and want to live them in the community of School House.” More than half the House has represented Sherborne in a sports team, and many have achieved half or full colours in their chosen field. “It is always exciting to hear the impact

a b c

cricket and participation in activities boys make on their team,” says such as the Ten Tors, Pringle Trophy Robert. “Whether they are in the 1st and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, XV or the Mini Colts E, we encourage there has been much to keep them to do their best and take pride everyone busy throughout the year. in representing the School. We have been especially proud this year of That hasn’t prevented the community two of our runners, Robbie (U6a) and finding moments of reflection. Mental The Gre Tom Foster School (5a), who have achieved House Abbey House Health Awareness Week provided some fantastic results. It has been a opportunity, joy to Toby Bemand Thewelcome House photographs have been (L6a) reproduced byone kind such permission of Gillman & with Soamethe boys taking time to share insights about who has played rugby for Bath and their emotional wellbeing. They also run for Dorset. One of the more raised money for the Papyrus UK unusual accolades has been Suicide Prevention Charity, in Cameron Blackman (5a) being memory of Old Shirburnian and selected for Wales at Karate.” former School House resident Harry Such pride is seen in other areas, too. Jackson (a 20). School House contributed several “The boys have real compassion and cast members to the School and an increasing understanding of the Junior Plays, and the House contribution they can make to the production of The Accidental Death world,” concludes Robert. “It’s always of an Anarchist proved a huge inspiring to spend time in their success. School House boys company.” frequently perform at the weekly recitals in Cheap Street Church, and were also active participants in the CourtsFest music festival. At the end of the Lent Term, two of the Upper Sixth were successful in gaining their ATCL music Diplomas, with Max Lewis (U6a) receiving a rare Distinction. With victory for the Fourth Form in Inter-House Rugby (School House came second overall), the runners-up spot in Junior water-polo and indoor

ABBE Y HOUS E (b)

a b c d

If there is a theme to Hugh Tatham’s reﬂections as the academic year passes, it is that time seems to bustle along at a dizzying rate. The abbey House Housemaster professes himself frequently surprised that another half term has passed, such is the School House pace at which things move.

offer,” he says. So it was that House Assemblies rang with the applause of accomplishments in sport, music, outdoor pursuits and academic study. “It is always great to hear these celebrations,” Hugh says. “The boys have huge respect for each other and appreciate the Abbey House diversity of talents in their number.”

The House photographs have been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame

There was a notable exception to this fast-paced activity in the last academic year. It came with the ceremonies to mark the death of Her Late Majesty The Queen in September. As one news report that Hugh read expressed it: “It is the moment history stops.” Of course, Sherborne boys are wellaccustomed to ritual and ceremony. It was on display again a couple of months later for the annual Remembrance Day parade. Hugh says this is always an important time for the boys: “It is when we really gain a sense of Sherborne’s history, and our place as its current custodians.” House pride plays a part in this mindset, too. It is why Hugh is so pleased with the representation of Abbey House across the School’s sports teams, and in areas like music and drama. “Our boys get stuck in with everything Sherborne has to

Such talent was clearly on display in the House Play, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which was a bravura performance involving boys from every year group. “The play was brilliant,” Hugh says. “Superbly executed in every regard. I was delighted to receive several plaudits on behalf of the boys, who worked so well together to pull it off.” Talking of togetherness, this was one of the themes for Mental Health Awareness Week, where Abbey House laid on a variety of events to help boys have open conversations about their wellbeing. The other theme of the week was the importance of sleep. “Mind you,” Hugh reflects, “they are busy enough that sleep usually comes quite naturally at the end of a long day! “We’ve had some memorable supper parties and barbecues where the community has really gelled,” he

continues. “Christmas is always a highlight, with decorations strewn throughout the House and the boys really embracing the seasonal spirit.”

Amid the community activities and fast-paced environment, there have The Green Harper Ho been some standout achievements. “Both of this year’s Heads of School come from Abbey House,” Hugh reports. “That is a significant achievement and we’re so proud of Will Waters (U6b) and Freddy Molesworth-St Aubyn (U6b) for their efforts. We’ve also continued to celebrate Mack Rutherford’s (U6b) accolades – not least his award of The Master’s Medal from the Honourable Company of Air Pilots.” At a collective level, the House team also made the final of the InterHouse Literary Quiz. And, perhaps most significant of all, the Abbey House sleepout raised more than £9,000 for the Disasters Emergency Committee. “We have a busy and privileged existence in Sherborne,” Hugh concludes. “I’m always impressed by the boys’ understanding of the challenges facing other people, and their willingness to try to make a difference.”

THE GREE N (c)

a b c d e “This is genuinely the best job I’ve ever done!”

So exclaims William MackenzieGreen, Housemaster of The Green since September 2022. As his first year in post draws to a close, it is clear he has relished facet of chool House Abbeyevery House the role.

otographs have been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame

The House photographs have been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame

“The boys have been more than brilliant in welcoming me,” he continues. “I’ve been so impressed by how open they have been, and their parents too. We’ve built a strong rapport and it feels as if the House is in really good shape.” That statement obtains as much for the fabric of The Green as it does for the atmosphere inside. Its honeyed bricks continue to radiate warmth and light, and it’s much the same for the community that inhabits them. “At the heart of my philosophy is a desire to help these boys become ‘good blokes’,” Will says. “We have a brilliant culture of kindness in the House, with boys looking out for each other across year groups. It’s great to see the bonds that exist within the community.” These bonds are partly the result of formal structures, such as the

“uncle-nephew” system that links senior and new boys together in a mentoring relationship, as well as informal connections across year groups. Such peer-to-peer support is backed up by what Will terms “well beyond industry-standard” staffing inThe the field of pastoral Green care. “Between Housemasters, Matrons, Resident Tutors and Personal Tutors, our boarding system offers a brilliant safety net for every pupil.”

That said, Will observes that the most profound encounters often happen apparently by chance. “Formal tutoring and mentoring sessions are important, of course,” he says. “But I often find it’s the conversations with boys in the evenings, perhaps at the end of a chat about something apparently trivial like the cricket scores, that yield the most insight. Boys often begin by saying, ‘Actually, Sir…’ – that’s when I know they have something on their mind to discuss.” Such is the level of mutual trust in The Green. It’s seen in other ways, too. For example, the boys are given every encouragement to take risks, try new things, and – just occasionally – make fools of themselves. This willingness to show vulnerability was brilliantly

evinced in the impromptu talent show they put on at the end of the Lent Term.

“It was completely of their own devising,” reports Will, “and done purely for their own entertainment. I found it heart-warming Harper House to see a Wallace Ho bunch of teenage boys, laughing at themselves just for sheer hell of it. Great stuff!”

That’s a succinct summary of Will’s experience of The Green in his first year as Housemaster. “Great stuff” certainly captures the spirit of the House in that time. He’s seen the boys raise £3,000 for Movember with a sponsored sleepout and rekindle their connection with official House charity, The Yeatman Hospital. With continued achievements in academic study, sport, music, drama and other co-curricular pursuits, it is clear that life remains rich and varied for The Green’s residents. Small wonder, then, that its new Housemaster has had such an enjoyable time. As he reasserts: it’s the best job he’s ever done. And the good news is there’s plenty of time for it to get even better in the years ahead.

HARPER HO US E (d)

b c d e f anyone involved in the life of a boarding school will tell you that small details reveal the true character of a community. For nick Scorer, Housemaster of Harper House, these include the everyday acts of kindness he sees boys perform without a second thought.

bbey House

The Green

“To give just a handful of apparently trivial examples,” he says, “I am always struck by how willing the boys are to involve my daughters in their impromptu games of football during House barbecues. They readily offer to help staff with everyday tasks. And, on one occasion this year, I accidentally dropped a £10 note during my evening wander of the corridors. Of course, it was back on my desk in no time at all.”

rmission of Gillman & Soame

A further expression of such other regard is seen in a piece of community engagement from earlier in the year. “The boys went along to a training session at Pen Mill Football Club in Yeovil,” he reports. “This club does a lot of outreach work among local people from disadvantaged or challenging backgrounds. Our boys got stuck in and had a lovely time. They also learned a huge amount about the power of sport to bring people from

a variety of backgrounds together. It was inspiring stuff.

“We relish the variety of interests among our number,” Nick continues. “Two thirds of our boys have represented the School in a sports team this year, and we have had a big presence in other pursuits, Harper House including music, drama, debating, computing, Sherborne Radio, and even the GCHQ National Language Competition.”

This year has yielded success in the Senior Inter-House Football, which Harper won after a nail-biting penalty shootout in the final. “Sadly we fell just short in the final of the Croquet competition,” Nick reports, “but the boys put in a great showing and battled to the end.” Other examples of the doggedness of a Harper boy include the individual and team successes in activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, CFF (over a third of the House were involved in CCF trips this year) and Ten Tors. In addition, the House Play – Our Man: what really goes on in your head – proved a great success.

“They also step up and take leadership responsibility – embodying the depth of character and values that are at the core of Sherborne’s ethos.” This character was on display in the School assemblies at which Harper House boys spoke – on difficult topics such as Black Lives Matter Wallace House“They have and mental wellbeing. the confidence and wisdom to address the big issues,” Nick says, “plus the humility and compassion to make a valuable contribution to debate and facilitate others’ growth.”

Abbeylan

This is what Nick believes to be the beating heart of Boarding House life. “We are forming community,” he concludes. “We are learning from each other every day, growing together, and helping each other to be the best possible version of ourselves. “That is why we all do this job in a place like Sherborne. It is a privilege to work with these young people and help them get ready for the rest of their lives.”

“Not only do the boys get stuck into these varied activities,” Nick reports.

WALLACE HOUSE (e)

g c d e f The House photographs have been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame

The Green

at the end of his ﬁrst year in charge of wallace House, James Hull conﬁdently concludes his initial understanding of the role has proved correct.

speaking and academic pursuits. It’s a place where everyone is encouraged to be themselves, and given the plaudits when they achieve their goals.”

“Being a Housemaster is a lifestyle, not a job,” he says. “Although the hours can be long Harper House and decisions not always easy, the chats, games and friendly debates with the boys make it all worthwhile.”

Such goals have included full and half colours in several of the activities described above, as well Wallace House as success for some in events like the Chemistry Olympiad. But what really stands out for James are the group achievements – for example, where members of Wallace have pulled together to compete in Inter-House competitions.

This speaks of the great spirit James and his family have experienced in Wallace since taking over the reins in September. The House wasn’t entirely new to them, as James had been a Resident Tutor there since 2020. But he’s been able to put more of his personal stamp on things since taking on the role of Housemaster. At the heart of the House is a commitment to celebrating everyone’s achievements – right down to the birth of Resident Tutor Richard Keen’s baby in October, which prompted an outpouring of joy. “We celebrate each other in all spheres,” says James. “We have great actors and musicians, highachieving sportsmen, and those who excel in things such as public

“Both the senior and junior teams did very well in the futsal,” he says. “They were defeated in their respective finals, but took great heart from the performances that led them there. We also had great showings in several other InterHouse pursuits, including rugby, fives, clay pigeon shooting, squash, golf, hockey, tennis and swimming. “Wallace House has great representation in the School teams, too,” James adds. “No matter what team they play for, the boys take great pride in pulling on the Sherborne blue.” They also take pride in each other. James says he is struck by the easy

camaraderie across year groups, who mingle in Wallace’s refurbished social areas and extensive outdoor space. “There’s often an impromptu kickabout or game of frisbee,” he observes.

The House spirit is further embedded through a busy social Abbeylands programme, which has ramped back up to pre-Covid levels this year. “There’s been a clear sense that we’re back to ‘full-fat Sherborne’,” James laughs. “The boys are relishing that, with the usual trips to go-karting or paintballing proving hugely popular and generating great memories.” It is not all fun and frolics, mind you. Every Wallace resident sits on a House committee, helping them take responsibility for their life together. There has also been a deepening relationship with the Sherborne Voluntary Ambulance, which is Wallace’s House charity. Overall, James is happy with the influence he’s exerted over Wallace House since September. “The boys share my enthusiasm for outdoor education, with great participation in DofE and the Ten Tors,” he concludes. “It is nice to see my interests shaping the culture. But it’s the boys who are the essence of Wallace House.”

Lyon Hou

ABBEYLANDS (f)

g d e f m Friday, 12 May 2023 was a big moment in the life of abbeylands. It was when the House community gathered on The upper to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

celebration,” reflects Rhidian. “We know we’re at a place where past, present and future collide here in Sherborne. But it’s rare to experience it with such force as we did on this occasion.”

As Housemaster Rhidian McGuire event came a year per House observes, theWallace House late, because Abbeylands was in fact formed in 1872. But, as with many such occasions in the postCovid world, the opportunity to mark it was delayed by factors beyond anyone’s control.

For all that the anniversary party was a highlight of the year, Rhidian Abbeylands is quick to point out that the real cause for celebration was the “business as usual” elements of life in Abbeylands. “In addition to study, our weekend programme was back to being packed, and the boys were busy as ever with their co-curricular activities,” he says

When the party finally did get started, it was one to remember. All the previous surviving Housemasters came to share their memories of time spent in a House that has a deep and resonant history. Among the many guests was Hugh Watkins, whose grandfather Geoffrey was Housemaster from 1955 to 1966. Geoffrey’s wife, Mary Warne Watkins (née Elderton), spent nearly 32 years living in Abbeylands. In addition to her 11 years with Geoffrey, she lived there between 1919 and 1939, during her father Merrick’s time in charge. “This was one example of the tangible sense of history that we all felt on the day of the 150th

Such activities include music and sporting successes, which Rhidian says are always celebrated by the whole House community. “This year, we’ve seen our boys gain full colours in rugby, and we can boast to having the First XI captain for cricket. We also have some outstanding musicians, who are part of the School’s prestigious swing band.” This all speaks of the culture of excellence, integrity and kindness that characterises the common life of Abbeylands. “These are the values we keep returning to,” explains Rhidian. “We seek to reinforce them in every facet of House life.”

One way in which the boys are encouraged to display their values is through shared activities. They’re already planning the House Play, which is scheduled for November 2023 and likely to be a performance of The Three Musketeers. They’ve also been working hard to resurrect the Lyon House House Magazine, Landmark, which takes the form of a tongue-incheek celebration of life in Abbeylands.

The Digby

Pupil leadership will be a key theme of the year ahead, as Abbeylands welcomes two new Resident Tutors who come from outside Sherborne. “We’re bidding farewell to Katrina Evans and Matthew Pardoe, who have served us so well,” says Rhidian. “The boys see this change in staffing as a moment to take greater responsibility for the way the House operates.” Such moments make up the history of a House that has been at the very heart of Sherborne for a century and a half. As the spring gathering on The Upper demonstrated, they keep the past alive, while celebrating the present and shaping the future.

LYON HOUS E (g)

g e f m The House photographs have been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame

“It has been a strange year, where I’ve known that everything I do is happening for the last time,” Ben reflects. “The boys have been fantastic throughout. They’ve given their all in every sphere and added to my log of happy House memories.” Key among these has been the outstanding success in several Inter-House activities. Off the top of his head, Ben lists victory in the Senior Futsal Competition, a win in Inter-House Croquet, and triumph in the Literary Quiz. The one that really sticks out for him, though, is Inter-House Cross Country, where Team Lyon came top of the pack. “Every boy realised that, if he did his best to finish as high up the order as

possible, he’d be contributing to the overall House performance,” Ben reflects. “It’s this spirit of togetherness that has always defined Lyon House.

“The degree of inter-year support and friendship is striking,” he continues. “The House boys foster a Lyon deep sense of community across age groups. Younger boys naturally look to their older peers for advice and guidance, while the older boys relish the company of their young contemporaries. It creates a very special atmosphere that is often remarked upon by visitors to Lyon.” Such is the legacy that David Murray will inherit when he takes the Lyon reins in September. He’s already been involved as Housemaster-elect, including leading the induction of the new Third Formers who arrive in the autumn. “David’s set to make a big impression on Lyon when he moves in with his partner Jess and their son,” enthuses Ben. “He’s a highly experienced Resident Tutor in The Digby and knows his way around a Boarding House environment. The boys of Lyon are lucky to have him here.”

As for Ben, he will embrace his new role as the School’s Director of Boarding (see page 88) and feed off his many happy memories of Lyon life. “I’m so pleased that next year’s Head of School is a Lyon boy, Hector Kennerley (L6g),” he says.

The Digby

“But, really,” he concludes, “the main highlights of the last year have been the same as ever: fantastic trips out with the boys at weekends, the Leavers’ supper and Christmas party, and generally being around the House and spending time with the boys, through the ups and downs of teenage life.”

after his requisite decade at the helm, plus two years of Covidrelated tenure extension, it is time for ben Sunderland to hand over the reins of Lyon House. He does so with mixed emotions, knowing the House is in good hands with David Murray as the but also allace House new Housemaster, Abbeylands mourning the loss of a community that has been his family home since 2011.

Those ups and downs will take place against a refreshed backdrop when the boys return to Lyon in September 2023. The House is being given a cosmetic makeover, ensuring it is spick and span for the start of its new era. “Lyon has always had great facilities,” Ben states, “but it’s time for the décor to be updated. I can’t wait to return as a visitor to see the result.”

TH E DIGBY (m)

g f m The termly missives sent out by Rob Le poidevin are famed for their humour and sense of irony. but among his wry commentary is a profound appreciation of his role as The Digby’s Housemaster and the boys in his care. “Even before the academic year

Abbeylands Lyon House started, we’d seen some fantastic

Such celebrations evince the boys’ willingness to revel in each other’s successes. “They are quick to applaud everyone’s talents,” Rob says, “which makes for a wonderfully supportive atmosphere in the House.” It makes for a noisy one, too. The House piano is often heard ringing through The Digby’s generously proportioned halls, and the guitar is a popular instrument among residents. “I love hearing the music reverberating throughout the House,” Rob says. “We have some real talent in our number, and a great willingness to perform for everyone’s enjoyment.”

“The venue for these events is our lovely ballroom, which has been enhanced by the addition of new curtains, made by Mrs Dobson,” The Digby reports Rob. “It’s a great place for us to gather as a House community, helping create some wonderful memories.”

It is a similar story away from the House, where weekend trips go down a storm. Rob says these reveal the sense of togetherness among the House community, which seems to transcend year groups. “For example,” he remembers, “when one of the Upper Sixth had to pull out of a go-karting trip at the last minute, a member of the Third Form felt sufficiently comfortable with his older peers to attend instead.” This atmosphere probably goes some way to explaining why the House is a popular meeting point for pupils from other Houses and from Sherborne Girls. “The boys would like to think it’s their sparkling personalities that pull in the visitors,” Rob laughs. “But it could just be that we have a lot of space and some great facilities!”

Whatever the reason, The Digby is a place of laughter, fun and formation. “The atmosphere has been enhanced this year by the arrival of a baby son for Resident Tutor David Murray and his partner Jess,” says Rob. “They’re not with us next year, as David is moving to be Housemaster of Lyon. He’s been a great asset to our team. We will miss him and wish him and his young family well.”

accomplishments from Digby boys,” he says. “Some of them summitted Kilimanjaro over the summer holiday, while others did fantastically in their public examinations. There was much to celebrate when we returned in September.”

That willingness was much in evidence at the House Christmas Party, where the boys put on a bravura performance in their revue.

In fact, Rob says his whole team help make The Digby what it is. A place of busyness and high attainment in a rich variety of areas encompassing academics, sport, CCF, DofE and music and drama. A place of mutual becoming. A place boys are proud to call home. Most of all, though, Rob is proud of the boys’ willingness to step up and help others, through fundraising and community or charity work. As he concludes: “Long may that desire to serve and help others in need run through the veins of every boy here.”

Head of the board

fter 12 years as a Housemaster and four as Senior Housemaster, ben Sunderland moves to a new role in September. He explains what he’ll do as Sherborne’s Director of boarding.

There is a widespread view in teaching circles that, in order to take on a management position, you have to serve your time in a classroom. you need to understand the challenges of life at the chalkface in order to lead others through the same existence. If that is true of those who focus on teaching, the same can be said of those who specialise in running boarding Houses. and that is what makes ben Sunderland such a neat ﬁt for the new role of Director of boarding at Sherborne School. ben has been Housemaster of Lyon House since 2011. normally speaking, his term of ofﬁce would have lasted a decade. but the small matter of Covid intervened, extending his stay in Lyon by two years and further deepening his experience of life in charge of nearly 80 teenage boys. added to that, ben has served as the School’s Senior Housemaster since 2019, so already has ample experience of leading his peers and helping them deliver the very best boarding experience for the boys in their care.

a new focus Much of Ben’s new role will build on work he’s already been doing as Senior Housemaster. “I’ve had a largely coordinating function since 2019,” he reports, “ensuring we have consistent policies in place across all eight Boarding Houses and that everyone is aware of our priorities. That will be a key area of continued focus when I’m in post as Director of Boarding.” One key priority is to work in an even more integrated way with Sherborne Prep School and Sherborne Girls. “It makes sense to collaborate as much as we can,” Ben says. “We already align our term dates to make life easier for parents. Given the considerable crossovers between the three schools, we’re keen to build an even more joined-up social programme, so that we really can pursue our Separate, yet together mindset.”

Ben sees the opportunities of working closely with Sherborne’s neighbours as a great appeal of his new job. As it happens, he’ll be moving to accommodation on the Sherborne International site – so he really will have a unique position from which to view the town’s four independent schools. Mentoring and support One of the things that excites Ben about his role is that he’ll have more space to think strategically, by virtue of being free of the responsibilities of running a Boarding House. “I’ll always view being a Housemaster the best job in our sector,” he says. “You have a unique opportunity to build relationships with young people that form them for life. That means you work with them through good times and bad, giving them the space to make mistakes and learn from them, and celebrating their achievements.

“But it’s all consuming,” he continues. “Even when you’re officially off duty, you never really switch off. That makes it difficult to step back and take a wider perspective on the role. As Director of Boarding, I hope to have the space to do this, making life better for all my colleagues in the Boarding Houses, and for the boys themselves.” An area where Ben expects to be able to support is through mentoring Housemasters and their colleagues, especially if they face challenges in their Houses. “After 12 years in the role, I’ve experienced its dizzying variety, including plenty of highs and lows. I’m hoping I can draw on that experience to help others, while bringing the perspective that comes from having a degree of detachment from the House itself.” Doing the right thing Alongside his hands-on support for Housemasters, Ben will have an increased responsibility for ensuring compliance with all policy and regulations. “It’s important that every House is run as well as it should be,” he says. “The Director of Boarding is

ultimately responsible for ensuring Housemasters and their teams adhere to the latest regulations. And, of course, I’ll work with them to adapt and evolve our operations so they are always as effective as they possibly can be.” Key to this is recognition of the importance of Boarding Houses to Sherborne’s industry-leading pastoral care. “I will work closely with Allister Sheffield, Deputy Head (Pastoral), the Rev, and the wider pastoral team including the Medical Centre to make sure we offer the very best care to every pupil,” he says. “It’s crucial that boys have what they need to flourish during their time at Sherborne, and boarding plays such an important role in that.” So, too, does a willingness to evolve and grow as an institution,

and Ben sees this as an important part of Sherborne’s DNA. “We are proud of our traditions but never afraid to embrace change,” he remarks. “One of our challenges is to ensure a boarding-school education remains relevant to the world for which our pupils are preparing: to embody traditional values in a fast-changing society, so that boys are ready to embrace the future and excited by all it offers.” That’s certainly a mindset Ben himself has adopted. He admits that leaving Lyon after all these years will be a massive change, for him and his family. But he’s ready for the next chapter – and ready, too, to mine his experience in a fresh way that benefits the whole School community.

Sharing their riches ANYONE INVOLVED IN SHERBORNE’S BUSY BOARDING LIFE WILL TELL YOU THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TEAM OF MATRONS AND ASSISTANT MATRONS WHO KEEP BOYS ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW. WE TALK TO OUR TWO SENIOR MATRONS ABOUT THEIR UNIQUE ROLE IN THE SCHOOL – AND THE CONFERENCE THEY ORGANISED TO SHARE EXPERIENCE WITH OTHERS.

If you’ve never before wondered what the collective noun for school matrons is, Friday 3 March 2023 may have piqued your lexiconic curiosity. On that day, Sherborne played host to some 30 or more matrons from across the South West – all gathered in the OSR to share wisdom about the transition from prep school to senior school. The event was organised by Sherborne’s Senior Matrons, Nicky Tayler and Rachel Hiscock, and masterminded by Lenka Edge, Engagement Officer. They had the idea after noticing a dearth of conferences for matrons – in contrast to the large number of events inviting teaching staff to gather and share best practice. “We decided to plug the gap,” explains Rachel, who is Matron of Abbeylands. “So we developed the idea of a conference involving matrons from across our feeder schools. We’d gather in Sherborne and share expertise about preparing children to move up to senior school.” “It was a brilliant occasion,” continues The Green’s Matron, Nicky. “We had brilliant involvement from across our local network and were able to give our visitors a tour of Sherborne and an insight into our way of doing things. It helped us all build stronger connections across the wider community of matrons in our local prep schools and will help those with boys coming our way in September give them the very best preparation for the move.”

a special calling By “us all”, Nicky means the other matrons at Sherborne, who work across the Houses to provide pastoral support, care and a listening ear to the boys in their charge. “The Matron’s role is different from any other role in School,” says Nicky. “We’re not responsible for disciplining or assessing the boys. Nor do we teach them – not formally, at least. Our job is to make sure they have what they need to thrive in the context of their Boarding House. That can mean anything from helping them remember their cricket whites to overseeing their medication. For much of the time, though, it’s about providing opportunities for them to let off steam and share what’s on their mind.” This speaks of the special calling shared by Matrons across the School. “Our role is very much about providing space in which boys can be themselves,” says Rachel. “We’re adept at creating opportunities for them to chat, and we’re very much in favour of absolute honesty. We’re nonjudgmental and encourage the boys to be themselves in our company, as we are ourselves in theirs. It makes for a unique relationship.” So unique, in fact, that many Old Shirburnians keep in touch with their Matrons long after they leave School. Nicky and Rachel agree that it’s a privilege to hear about their lives beyond Sherborne. And it’s clear from the look in their eyes as they remember boys who used to be in their charge how much pride they take in everyone’s achievements.

Food, glorious food Key to the success of any matron, says Rachel, is having a decent supply of food on hand for hungry visitors. “Boys will always feel more comfortable chatting if they have a biscuit or a hot chocolate in their hands – and preferably both! They soon get to know that they can come to us when they need somewhere safe to land. We all have a very open-door approach to the role, whether we live in House or travel in from our own homes each day.” On this subject, Sherborne’s Matrons adopt a mix of practices. But you’d be hard pushed to tell the difference between those who live on-site and those who commute. The reality is that those who experience a vocation to be a matron commit themselves fully to inhabiting the role. “One of our jobs as Senior Matrons is to pass messages to the rest of our colleagues, and to share information with the School’s leadership about our shared experience on the ground,” explains Rachel. “We have a coordinating role, which has also helped build a strong sense of community among the Matrons and Assistant Matrons in all eight Houses.” That sense of community extends to the other House staff, with whom the Matrons work in close concert. Nicky and Rachel agree that a good relationship between Housemaster and Matron makes all the difference to a well-run House. “Boys know when the people who are responsible for their wellbeing work well together,” says Nicky. “At Sherborne, we’re lucky that these relationships are really strong, so the Houses function very effectively indeed.”

Sharing best practice It is this effectiveness that empowered Nicky and Rachel to call their gathering of matrons from across the region and share best practice. The conference proved such a success that plans are already being formed for the next one. It will take place in spring 2024 and will involve attendees from a wider mix of schools. “The conference was a great way of raising the profile of matrons across the independent schools sector,” says Rachel. “We hope it will continue to grow and inform our work, as well as encouraging people to consider a role they may not have thought of before.” As far as Rachel and Nicky are concerned, the rewards of doing so are great. “We have the best job in the world,” they agree, before Rachel adds: “The boys are the best bit of our work and, at times, the most frustrating. It’s like an extension of your own family. You want nothing more than for them to flourish, but have to be prepared to give of yourselves fully to make that happen.” All of which explains the collective noun used for matrons, in case you remain intrigued. According to an article by the journalist Paula Lester in Country Life, it’s “a riches of matrons”. If Rachel and Nicky are anything to go by, never has a choice of phrase been more apt. They and their like offer riches aplenty. Sherborne’s boys – indeed, the whole community – are lucky to have them.

Sport

David Guy DIReCToR oF SpoRT SHeRboRne SpoRT anD THe HuMan ConneCTIon The term “Artificial Intelligence” was coined by John McCarthy, an American scientist and cognitive thinker, in 1956. However, it is widely recognised that Alan Turing (h 31) had a visionary understanding of computers and their potential to revolutionise our lives even before McCarthy’s term came into existence. Turing’s pioneering ideas, including the renowned “Turing Test” to determine a computer’s ability to think and adapt, still hold credibility today, although technological advancements have far exceeded his initial dreams. Today at Sherborne, we acknowledge that AI will undoubtedly transform education, and we are actively working to embrace this new technology responsibly and cautiously. But what about AI in the realm of sport? Back in 1997, Deep Blue, the purpose-built IBM supercomputer, defeated world chess champion Gary Kasparov, marking a milestone in the integration of technology and sport. Since then, we have witnessed a growing utilisation of AI and technology in sports across the globe. Fittingly, ChatGPT provided me with numerous ideas about how AI can contribute to the world of sport, including analysis, data predictions, and recording and reporting. However, the question remains: does any of this apply to sport at Sherborne? In the long term, the answer will undoubtedly be yes. We already

teach academic lessons through various electronic platforms and employ an analyst to help us gather data and evidence from hours of footage, including through the use of Veo, the market leader in AIbased sports analysis tools. However, at the moment, while we acknowledge the potential that technology offers, we are also focusing on a slightly different emphasis: people. Many years ago, schools became fixated on facilities, engaging in an arms race to possess the most advanced infrastructure, such as artificial pitches, state-of-the-art swimming pools, or expansive sports halls. Recently, we were fortunate to develop our new Sports Centre, with exceptional facilities that will greatly benefit our students in the years to come. Nonetheless, it is not the buildings or facilities that truly inspire our pupils. While these resources are essential for sports involvement and can contribute to raising standards, it is people who form the foundation of any successful sports programme. Sherborne has a rich and proud history of teachers and coaches who have inspired the next generation of sportsmen. Whether it be a History teacher who played cricket for Oxford or a Mathematician who coached the England Rugby squad, stories abound of young men developing their passion for sport due to the time and dedication given by passionate educators. The presence of the right individuals can be immensely influential in instilling

a lifelong love of sports and exercise, whether it’s for the badminton player in the new Sports Hall or the 1st XI Hockey goalkeeper. A fully engaged teacher or, more recently, a specialist coach, can provide the inspiration and ignite the spark that enables our students to seize the opportunities available to them. Keeping this in mind, we are continuously evaluating and enhancing our “people provision”. It’s always been of the utmost important to us to recruit exceptional staff, provide them with training opportunities, and ensure their retention by treating them well. We adhere to a set of coaching fundamentals that prioritise enjoyment and challenge the students through game-related scenarios. We have now established a dedicated team of “professional” coaches who play a pivotal role in raising standards and fostering participation. The impact of these individuals, whether they are academic staff, coaches, or managers, is vital in the lives of the young men entrusted to their care. They play an integral part in the physical, mental, and social development of our students. Alan Turing may have been correct in foreseeing a future when computers and AI dominate. But in the realm of sports at Sherborne, we will continue to place immense value on our people and the unique contribution they make to a young man’s formation.

Rugby

First xv

Second xv

Third xv

It proved a frustrating season for Sherborne’s First xv, with the opening match typifying their strengths and weaknesses. They beat bishop wordsworth’s School 12-7 in the first round of the Daily Mail Trophy – a game in which eight boys made their first-team debut. but they struggled to keep the ball and build momentum, and this would haunt them in subsequent matches as the season progressed. That said, there were some memorable victories: 31-22 to Collegiate School and 38-12 to abingdon. The losses came against some old rivals, including Millfield, Radley College, Marlborough College and Canford School. but the boys grew in stature as the season drew on, showing resilience and strength to keep battling throughout.

When these boys won, they tended to win big. 40-7 against Bishop Wordsworth’s School, 36-17 against Abingdon School, and 34-13 against Canford School in the last match of the season. These strong performances were interspersed with losses in which fine margins often made the difference. The season opener was typical: a 14-15 defeat at home to Cranleigh. The score lines may have been greater in the other defeats, against Radley College, Clifton College, and Marlborough College, but the games often felt close. So perhaps the 10-10 draw away to Cheltenham College is the season’s most representative result: it rested on great defence and an unwillingness to surrender. The team can build on that spirit next season.

Hopes were high when the Thirds trotted in from a convincing 31-0 victory over Bishop Wordsworth’s School in their first match of the season. Alas, it was to be their only win, as the team struggled to find form against stiff opposition. A hard dose of reality was served away at Radley College, where the team fell to a tough 0-57 defeat. Subsequent losses came against Abingdon, Clifton College and Marlborough College. But even in the face of adversity, the boys kept fighting: they were always keen to improve their rugby and show pride in wearing the Sherborne blues.

Fourth xv Three games played, three games lost. But what appears a stark statistic for the Fourths masks a period of growth and increased resilience that stands this group of boys in good stead for the future. Their heads could have dropped after a 0-12 loss to Radley College in the first game of the season. But they didn’t choke, and came out determined to put on a show against a spirited Millfield side just a fortnight later. They couldn’t pull off what would have been a historic win but continued learning, and managed a closer result against Marlborough College in November. These boys have learned a lot from their matches this season, showing the truth of the adage that sport is about more than the result achieved on the day.

Colts a xv Fifth xv The Fifths managed just one game this season: a 5-24 friendly defeat away at Radley College. The boys thoroughly enjoyed their run out and showed immense pride in representing their School. They may not have carved out the result they craved, but they were great ambassadors for Sherborne.

There’s always a lot of pressure on the Colts A squad, as they’re often seen as the First XV in waiting. That may go some way to explaining their uncertain start to the year, with back-to-back losses against Cranleigh (0-24) and Radley College (5-19). They turned things around with their third match, however, edging a dogged two-point victory against Millfield. A narrow 7-10 defeat to Abingdon School followed, with Clifton College the beneficiaries of a subsequent drop in confidence and form. But the boys bounced back emphatically with a 25-12 victory over Marlborough College, eventually seeing the season out with straight wins against Cheltenham College (23-13) and Canford School (an impressive 29-0).

s Colts b xv A closely contested 17-14 victory at home to Radley College served as an entrée to a topsy turvy season for the Colts B team. They lost the next four, against Millfield (an agonising 26-29 score line reflecting the robustness of the encounter), Abingdon (7-38), Marlborough College (5-20) and Cheltenham College (5-12). But they didn’t buckle in their search for a victory, and fought to a fivepoint win over Canford School on the last day of the season. There’s a great deal of promise in this group. With more consistency, they could trouble any opponent.

Colts C xv Lost two, won two. That’s the story of the Colts C team’s season, which got underway with a confidence-sapping 0-48 defeat at the hands of Radley College. That may explain why the boys struggled to make an impression on Abingdon a few weeks later, falling to a 12-43 defeat away from home. But they didn’t give up, and ground out an impressive 0-0 draw with Clifton College before notching up back-to-back wins to see the season out. 25-5 against Marlborough College and 41-22 against Cheltenham didn’t feel in any way shabby. With the right mindset, this team can be hard to beat.

Junior Colts a xv

Junior Colts b xv

When a team builds up a string of losses, it can be hard to break the habit. That’s what happened to the Junior Colts A team as the season got underway. They went down to a frustrating 19-24 defeat at Radley College, then fell 7-40 to a lively Millfield team in the National Cup. 19-26 to Abingdon proved another heartbreaker, while Millfield turned the screw in another cup encounter, winning by 11 points. Just as things looked to be at their worst, they carved out a 27-20 victory over Marlborough College, then followed up with a well-deserved 17-14 win over Cheltenham College that came off the back of a last-gasp try. The final game brought a loss – 5-15 to Canford School – but the boys had showed their mettle and finished the season feeling deservedly proud of their effort.

The 1:1 win-to-loss ratio for the Junior Colts B team speaks of a mixed season. An early 12-7 win against Radley College was encouraging, but followed by a brace of losses: 14-21 to a powerful Millfield that show real pace, and 14-26 to Abingdon. A close match against Clifton College also led to defeat, with just four points between the sides by the final whistle. That gave the boys extra grit to grind out a 12-12 draw with Marlborough College, followed up by two impressive victories: 14-5 against Cheltenham College and 24-7 away to Canford School. The season ended on a high, therefore – with plenty more to come in autumn 2023.

Junior Colts C xv

Mini Colts a xv

A dispiriting 10-39 loss to Radley College at the start of the season would have knocked some teams off track. But not this group of boys, who jumped straight back into action a fortnight later with an impressive 49-7 victory over Bryanston School. The next two games ended in frustrating losses (0-33 to Abingdon and 0-19 to Clifton College). But, again, the boys didn’t let their heads drop. They returned with a commanding 36-7 win over Marlborough College to end their season on a high.

The Mini Colts A side struggled to build cohesion at the start of the season. They fell to a dispiriting 0-48 defeat away at Radley College, followed by a 0-35 loss away to Millfield. But they bounced back with a 12-5 win over Abingdon, before dropping to a 0-30 loss against Clifton College. They then hit a run of form: 26-14 against Canford School, 12-6 against Marlborough College and 24-14 against Bishop Wordsworth’s School. A 0-17 loss to Cheltenham College proved their only remaining defeat of the season. Thereafter, they won 17-12 against King Edward VI, 36-19 against Canford School, and ended the season with a 5-5 draw against Taunton School.

Junior Colts D xv The Junior Colts D team squeezed in two matches this season, racking up a victory and a loss for the results sheet. The win came at the start of the season, with a well-deserved 15-10 victory against Radley College. The loss involved a higher margin: 14-40 against Marlborough College, who showed great strength in closing the game down. The boys enjoyed representing Sherborne in both matches, learning a huge amount about teamwork by stepping out together.

Mini Colts b xv There wasn’t much in the way of half-measures for this team in autumn 2022. When they won, they tended to do so in style: 33-7 to Clifton College and 31-28 against Canford School (a result that showed huge determination from both teams). But when they lost, they were often well-beaten, as the 0-48 defeat by Radley College and 0-35 loss to Millfield evince. Subsequent nil-points defeats to Abingdon and Marlborough College showed that the boys were struggling to get a score in, either with hands or feet. But they took heart from a converted try against Cheltenham, even though they eventually lost the match, and came out strong and full of confidence for that close-fought victory against Canford School.

Mini Colts C xv After their season got underway with a string of defeats in which they failed to score, the boys in the Mini Colts C XV may have been forgiven for letting their heads go down. But, far from it: they stood up to be counted, and delivered some memorable victories as a result including 40-5 against Clifton College, and 22-10 against Cheltenham. These performances were encouraging for the team and their coaches, posing a challenge to build consistency for the 2023 season and deliver a larger number of wins.

Mini Colts D xv The Mini Colts D team notched up one win from five matches, in the form of a 30-25 victory over Cheltenham College. This speaks of their determination to keep fighting, which came out even when they struggled to control their matches. They were especially disappointed with the 0-35 loss at the hands of a strong Millfield side. But they ended the season encouraged by their potential, with a commitment to fight even harder next year.

s Rugby SevenS

Mini Colts e xv

First vII

Two losses from the two games they played may make for uncomfortable reading for the Mini Colts E side. But they were praised by their opponents and coaches alike for their positive attitude and commitment to keep digging in, even when matches seemed to be slipping away. These boys are great ambassadors for Sherborne – proud to fly the flag and run out for their School even against the toughest opponents.

a disappointing showing in the portsmouth Sevens competition saw the boys fail to record a single victory against opposition that included gordon’s School, The Royal grammar School, guildford, bryanston School and wimbledon College. but stepping out of their comfort zone to play unfamiliar competition paid off when the boys attended another round-robin event in March. They fared much better in the n7 vase, winning against west buckland, prior park, The Samuel Ryder academy and bristol grammar School on their ﬁrst day. The second day was more of a mixed bag: victories against peter Symonds College and The grammar School at Leeds were tempered by losses to bromsgrove School, bryanston School and blundell’s.

Colts a vII Mini Colts F xv This side played just the one match, which ended as a 25-25 draw against Radley College. It was a thrilling game to watch, bearing out the truth that sport of every level has a unique capacity to entertain, so long as you’re invested in one of the sides playing.

A tournament in February got underway with a positive 19-12 win against Shiplake College. But things went downhill thereafter, with the team struggling against the likes of Framlingham College, Trinity School, Croydon, and Hurstpierpoint College. They did better in the N7 Colts competition a month or so later, winning against St John’s Leatherhead and Ysgol Gyfun Bryn Tawe to end their season on a high note.

Junior Colts a vII

February saw the Junior Colts VII record two wins and three losses in a round-robin event at Dean Close. One of the wins was a 39-0 victory against Prior Park College to claim the Vase, giving the team a taste of some silverware to reward their effort. They had a similar win-rate in a West of England tournament in March, recording victories against Taunton School and Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital, but struggling against the likes of Cheltenham College, Ysgol Gyfun Glantaf and Prior Park College. At the National Schools Sevens at Rosslyn Park the squad recorded two victories but unfortunately lost the group decider.

’s

Football First xI Sherborne’s footballing ﬁrstteamers’ reputation for success received further burnish during an impressive season. Strong performances in the Michaelmas Term included 6-2 against Taunton School, 8-1 against wells Cathedral School, and 5-0 to Canford School. This resulted in Sherborne once again being crowned Champions in the wessex Independent Schools League (wISL).

In the Lent Term, other harder-fought victories that really show this team’s spirit: a 5-3 victory over bryanston School shows their character, as does the 3-4 loss against Clifton College, in which the boys fought to the end for an equaliser that ultimately proved elusive. even so, it’s an impressive set of results. Indeed, by the end of the Lent Term, Sherborne School Football brought home more silverware, by winning the South west Independent Schools (SwIS) League too.

s Second xI

Fourth xI

Colts b xI

The second team lost just one match out of eight in their season – a tightly fought 1-2 defeat to Milton Abbey. Apart from a draw against Marlborough College, they were victorious in all other matches. Their most impressive wins included 4-0 against Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools, 7-1 against Bryanston School, 6-4 against Clifton College, and 5-0 against Canford School. A great season for a group of lads that thoroughly enjoy their time on the pitch.

The Fourth XI struggled to find form for much of their season, falling to early defeats at the hands of Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital, Bristol Grammar School and Millfield School. Signs of progress could be seen in the 4-0 win against Clifton College, and a subsequent 4-2 victory over Wellington School. But the losing habit returned for the last game of the season: a 2-7 defeat to Downside giving the boys a tough ride for their final match. Still, they stayed smiling, and will return for next season stronger and wiser.

Played four, won two, lost two. Not a bad average for the Colts B team, who romped to a 4-0 win against Clifton College and showed real class in a 4-3 win over Marlborough College to close out the season. The losses were both at the hands of Millfield, and there’s little shame in that, since they proved formidable opponents against whom Sherborne showed real grit.

Fifth xI Third xI A 50-50 win-loss rate tells an eloquent story of the Thirds’ season. Every game they played felt like it could have gone either way, with the margin of victory against the likes of Bryanston School and Clifton College being just a single goal. Their season-opening defeat was more emphatic – 0-3 against Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital – but they put in a good showing to keep every other game competitive, with some great football being played in every match.

The Fifths notched up an impressive 4-0 win over Clifton College in their best match of the season. They struggled to follow it up, however, eventually falling to back-to-back defeats at the hands of King’s College, Taunton, and Downside.

Colts a xI A dispiriting season saw the Colts As show patchy form. They were strong in a 4-1 win over Haberdashers Monmouth Schools, but fell 0-5 to a strong Millfield side, having opened the season with a 1-6 loss to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital. They narrowed the margin of defeat against Clayesmore (0-2) and drew with Sidcot. But March ended with a 0-4 loss to Millfield and a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Marlborough College, giving the boys plenty to think about before the next season gets underway.

Colts C xI Just a single match played this season, in which the boys fell to a difficult 0-4 defeat at the hands of a powerful Canford School side. They enjoyed the run out, however, and were characteristically magnanimous in their loss. It’s a fair cop: they were beaten by a better side.

Junior Colts a xI Out of eight matches, the team lost five, won two and drew one. The victories came against Milton Abbey (3-1) and Crosfields School (6-2) in the Boodles IFSA Cup. The defeats were against strong sides from the likes of Millfield, Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools and Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital, with the team showing huge spirit in every match. Their attitude and sportsmanship make these boys fine ambassadors for Sherborne.

101

Junior Colts b xI

Junior Colts D xI

Mini Colts C xI

A good run of form carried the team from the season’s halfway point to its end. It included impressive victories against Bryanston School (4-0), Clifton College (6-0) and Milton Abbey (6-2), as well as a season-ending 5-0 win over Marlborough College. These served to dampen any lingering disappointment from earlier in the season, when the boys fell to a 1-6 loss against Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital and a 1-6 defeat to Millfield.

A disappointing 0-6 loss in a friendly against Milton Abbey was the team’s only match this season. The boys enjoyed the experience, and put on a good showing for Sherborne away from home.

The team’s only two matches were played against neighbouring teams from across the county border: Millfield Prep in the first instance, who emerged 6-3 winners in a pulsating contest, and their Senior School counterparts in the second. This match also resulted in defeat for Sherborne – 3-4 thanks to a lastgasp winner, despite the blues leading at the break.

Junior Colts C xI 5-4 against Bryanston School was a fitting reward for the team’s hard graft in a tight match that offered end-toend action and a genuine sense of excitement. The boys’ only other match of the season was a 1-3 loss in a friendly against King’s College.

Mini Colts a xI Victory bookended defeat for the Mini Colts A team, with the season starting in impressive fashion as the boys ran in a 3-1 victory at home to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital. There followed three defeats: 3-7 to Millfield, 1-3 to Bryanston School and 1-4 to Clifton College. But after that, it was victories all the way: 4-2 against Canford School and a pleasing 5-2 win over the mighty Millfield.

Mini Colts b xI A brace of early losses didn’t knock the boys’ confidence. So it was that, despite going down 2-7 to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital and 1-7 to Millfield near the start of the season, the boys bounced back with a 5-0 win against Bryanston School at home. Their last match was a closely contested 1-1 draw with Clifton College. A fitting end to a season in which the Mini Colts Bs showed considerable grit.

Mini Colts D xI Whilst this team could be afforded only a handful of competitive fixtures, one notable match was that against Millfield Prep, where they managed to seal a 1-0 victory. It was a keenly contested match, with the winner coming in the final two minutes of the game. In addition, as football at Sherborne Girls grows, these boys managed to play our first competitive game against their team. This was a great spectacle and a hugely enjoyable experience for all concerned.

Hockey First XI A difficult season for the Firsts was by no means augured with the curtainraising 7-0 win over Bryanston School. The team then fell to successive defeats at the hands of opponents including Marlborough College, Bristol Grammar School and Wells Cathedral School. A brief ray of sunlight came with a 2-0 win over Clayesmore in the National Plate, but the only other favourable result for the season was a hardfought 2-2 draw with King’s College, Taunton.

Second xI

Colts a xI

An emphatic 9-0 win over Bryanston School got the season started in style. The team followed up with another strong showing against Bristol Grammar School, resulting in a 3-1 victory. A trio of losses followed, including a tricky 0-6 beating from Clayesmore, before the team returned to winning ways with a 3-1 win against King’s College, Taunton. The season ended with a brace of defeats: 2-3 to King’s Bruton, and the same again away to Canford School.

The season got underway with a 7-0 thrashing of Bryanston School in the National Cup. Alas, the form didn’t continue. The team fell to a 3-4 defeat at the hands of Canford School in their next round.

Third xI The Thirds didn’t manage a victory in their season, with the highlight proving to be a 0-0 draw in a friendly against Millfield. That said, the other matches evinced plenty of individual spark and a great team spirit. Some of the defeats, such as the 1-2 loss to King’s College, Taunton, and the 1-2 defeat by Leweston, felt as if they could have gone either way. Room to improve, therefore, but much to commend in terms of the team dynamic and School pride.

Junior Colts a xI The Junior Colts flagship squad won more than they lost in an exciting season of hockey. Things bullied off with a pleasing 9-0 romp against Bryanston School, but the team got a dose of reality when losing 3-4 to Bristol Grammar School in their very next match. This set a pattern for the season, with decent victories (such as the 3-1 against King’s Bruton) interspersing with losses (1-3 away to Blundell’s). Greater consistency came as the season neared its end: the team enjoyed an unbeaten run in the last three games they played.

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Mini Colts a xI It was a mixed season for the Mini Colts A on the hockey pitch. They lost their opener against a spirited Bristol Grammar School side, but bounced back with a 1-1 draw (Clayesmore) followed by a 2-0 win (Canford School) in their next two. Variations on the win-lossdraw pattern continued for the rest of the season, with standout victories coming against Gillingham School (4-1), King’s School Bruton (3-2) and Canford School (4-2). All in all, a good showing by these young players. InDooR HoCkey Mini Colts b xI

First vI

Colts a vI

The only match played by this young team was a 1-1 draw with King’s School Bruton, in which the boys showed real determination to achieve a fair result.

Indoor hockey is a fast-paced game that requires fitness, stamina and great team communication. Sherborne’s 1st squad did a great job of adjusting to the surface and conditions, but, ultimately, were unable to win against a strong Canford School side where they lost 1-5 in the County Cup.

One win and one loss tells the story of the Colts As indoor hockey season. They were beaten 3-1 by Millfield in the regional finals, then notched up the same score line in their favour against a strong West Buckland team.

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Cricket

The 2023 season saw 100 matches played, from Mini Colts C up to 1st xI, of which some two thirds resulted in Sherborne victories. pride of place must go to the unbeaten Mini Colts b team, whilst their counterparts in the a xI will contest the Dorset County Cup Final in September. Individually, there were centuries for Hugo osborne (L6f) and patrick Reynolds (4e), and the following bowlers picked up ﬁve-wicket hauls: Casper bridge (L6f), oliver Livingston booth (5g), and arthur Dunning (3m), whilst James Hambly (3a) achieved a hat-trick against Milton abbey. Two players made their way onto the 1st xI Honours board: the Captain of Cricket, Cameron golding (u6f), did it twice in consecutive days with his century against St. peter’s, adelaide and his ﬁve wickets against MCC, whilst barney Talbot-williams (L6a) scored a century in the same match.

both Cameron and barney will therefore be the guests of MCC at Lord’s next year. another highlight of the year was our inaugural Ruth Strauss Foundation Cricket week (of which more elsewhere in these pages). at the end of the season, we were sorry to say farewell to three coaching stalwarts of Sherborne Cricket – alex Hayes, Matt pardoe and andy nurton, whose career encompasses a massive 75 terms, as pupil, pilgrim, coach and former Master-in-Charge.

Thanks – as ever – go to all the staff who give up so much time to coach Cricket, and to the ground staff for their neverending work on the pitches and practice facilities. All those who enjoy their Cricket at Sherborne are fortunate to benefit from the efforts of so many dedicated people on their behalf.

“

First xI

Second xI

Third, Fourth and Fifth xI

a young side, including Third Former Fergus o’Connell (3c) and three Fifth Formers, won just under half of its matches. victories were achieved over Free Foresters, Millfield, Sherborne pilgrims, bryanston School (twice) and St. peter’s adelaide. Millfield were bowled out for just 67, whilst the 50over victory over bryanston School was by the huge margin of 194 runs! The final match of the season saw the boys play out a hard-fought draw against MCC, for whom Messrs. pardoe and Reynolds were key figures.

Wins were hard to come by for the 2nd XI in 2023, but a tie against King’s Bruton 1st XI, and a last-ball victory over Blundell’s in the final match of the term were two particular highlights. Earlier in the term, an emphatic 10-wicket hammering of Bryanston School in the DISC 100 provided ample evidence of the strength – if not always the luck – of this group of players.

The 3rd XI ended in credit with twice as many wins as losses and were – on occasions – simply far too strong for their opponents. Meanwhile, the 4th and 5th XIs always played with good humour and character, with the results playing second fiddle to the boys’ enjoyment of their matches. It was great, too, to see several of these players turning out for local club sides.

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Junior Colts a xI

Mini Colts a xI

It was tough going for the JCA team in the first part of the season, but they recovered to win half their matches, including a run to the Dorset County Cup Final. Unfortunately, they had to face a strong Canford School side but performed admirably, ultimately losing by just 19 runs in a good contest.

The Mini Colts A XI can look back on a busy and successful season, encompassing two wins in the Ruth Strauss Foundation week, qualification for the Dorset County Cup Final (played in September) and a host of other victories besides – including resounding wins over Winchester and Marlborough College. This is a strong and enthusiastic squad of players, of whom much might be hoped in the next few years.

Junior Colts b xI With just one defeat, the Junior Colts B XI was often too good for its various opponents, and the team recorded some handsome victories, with margins of 130 runs over King’s Bruton, 10 wickets over Clayesmore and 90 runs against Canford School. Several of these players will certainly be pressing for inclusion in higher teams in the coming seasons.

Junior Colts C and D xIs It’s a mark of how many boys opted for Cricket that we were able to field four teams from the Fourth Form this year. As in the upper years, the boys enjoyed their playing opportunities – whether in victory or defeat – and it is great to see so much enthusiasm for the game amongst the younger year groups.

Mini Colts b xI With wins in all eight of their matches, Mr Crawford’s mighty army achieved the rare distinction of an unbeaten season. There were highlights aplenty, but the demolitions of Bryanston School (by 189 runs), Canford School (by 7 wickets), and Blundell’s (by 97 runs) all clearly indicate the strength of this group and, again, much will be expected of them next year.

Mini Colts C xI The most junior side in the School enjoyed some of the most exciting matches this year, including a 2-run loss against Gillingham and an 8-run victory over Marlborough College in their very first outing for Sherborne.

The Ruth Strauss Foundation Cricket Festival

The ﬁnal week of the Trinity Term saw Sherborne host its inaugural Ruth Strauss Foundation Cricket Festival, in which nine matches were played over four days, against six different opponents, in order to raise money for this very deserving cause. The Ruth Strauss Foundation came into being at the behest of former England cricket captain Sir Andrew Strauss, after his wife Ruth died from a rare form of cancer in December 2018, leaving Sir Andrew to bring up their two sons (then aged just 10 and 13) alone. The charity seeks to support families facing the death

of a parent to, in Ruth’s own words, “do death well”, whilst also funding research into nonsmoking cancers. Cricket has embraced this cause with the annual ‘Red for Ruth’ Day at Lord’s and a host of other fundraising activities, so it seemed a great opportunity for Sherborne to expand our already scheduled Under 14 Cricket Festival into a bigger charitable event. Over four days, the Mini Colts A XI played matches with Cheltenham College, Haileybury and Stowe, winning the latter two, whilst the 1st XI beat St. Peter’s, Adelaide – thanks to a century

from Cameron Golding (U6f) – and drew with MCC in two thrilling matches. The staff team, Bow House Cricket Club, got in on the act with victory over Cerne Valley, all with red stumps and bails, and there was also a whole school Mufti Day. Of course, the matches themselves were a focal point for the players, but every bit as significant was the opportunity to raise money for – and awareness of – this really important cause. Spectators at both The Upper and Carey’s were able to buy souvenir programmes and a wonderful original print of The Upper by our own Mr Senneck, whilst a steady

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Hugh Tatham MiC Cricket stream of donations also swelled the coffers. On Red for Ruth Day itself (Thursday 29 June 2023), the 1st XI’s match against MCC uniquely saw both teams wearing specially commissioned red caps, rather than their traditional colours, and a large crowd enjoyed a really hard-fought and good-humoured match, which ended with Sherborne nine wickets down and just twenty runs shy of victory. Barney Talbot-Williams (L6a) with a century, and Cameron Golding with a five-wicket haul, both put themselves on the Honours Board, and will also be invited to a day at Lord’s next season. Mr Pardoe said farewell to Sherborne Cricket with a half-century and five wickets, whilst the presence of The Cricketer magazine also helped to bring the festival to a wider audience and added to a brilliant atmosphere throughout the week. At the time of going to press, the amount of money raised stood at over two thousand pounds, and it is wonderful that we have been able to make this contribution to the Foundation. The whole event was a tremendous reminder of the true ‘spirit of cricket’ and also of our ability to make a real difference to the lives of others. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen, and to everyone who gave money so that other young people – just like them – might suffer just a little bit less.

Tennis

Firsts

Few sports better exhibit the interplay between individual performance and team dynamics than tennis. For Sherborne’s Firsts, the season involved mixed fortunes: memorable competitive wins against the likes of Marlborough College, Wycliffe College and Clayesmore, and losses to opponents including Canford School, Millfield and Prior Park. But while the feeling of victory is sweet, the feeling of competing in a quintessential British summer sport is sweeter still.

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Seconds The Seconds won three and lost four, though it’s worth noting that one of the defeats came against a Bryanston School 1st VI. So, in competitive terms, that’s three wins out of six for Sherborne, against King’s Bruton, Millfield, and Dauntsey’s. The defeats were at the hands of a toughened Milllfield side, Blundell’s and Bryanston School.

Thirds

Junior Colts a

Mini Colts a

The Thirds managed five matches this season winning three and drawing one meaning only the one loss against Marlborough College, where they fell to a narrow 4-5 defeat. Victories were against Bryanston School, Blundell’s, Canford School and Clayesmore.

A frustrating year for the Junior Colts As, who unfortunately after a very impressive 5-4 win against Millfield then went on to unfortunately lose 5-4 in four consecutive matches. A name worth mentioning is Pierre Maurer (4f) who managed to win all his sets the entire year bar three. Hopefully, next year will be a successful one where the narrow losses will be turned to sweet victory.

The boys were chuffed to record a 9-0 win over Bryanston School towards the end of the season. This lifted the spirits after a 3-6 loss to Marlborough College. This has certainly been a successful year for a well-rounded Mini Colts side winning the majority of their matches. This team knows it has potential. It’ll be fascinating to see the boys develop over the years ahead.

Mixed Teams A return of the fixtures with Sherborne Girls was enjoyed by all teams, with boys playing against the girls for the first set followed by playing a mixed match for the second set. The younger years had this opportunity twice whilst the seniors played once before exam season kicked in.

Colts a The next generation of Sherborne’s tennis players showed their potential with a thrilling 6-3 win over Marlborough College at the start of the season. The victory was made all the sweeter by the knowledge that the team had never before beaten Marlborough’s players. The season continued well only losing matches to a tough Millfield team 3-6 and 4-5 to the same team just a few weeks later showing some improvement and hope for beating them in the future.

Colts b An undefeated season for the Colts B side with fixtures against Bryanston School, Millfield, Canford School and Marlborough College. Not losing a match is no easy feat and certainly shows the strength of the year group and that they are a group of players to keep an eye on for next year.

Junior Colts b Definitely a season of two halves for the Colts B team. A 4-5 loss to Marlborough College felt unfortunate, and went very much to the wire. The subsequent 3-6 loss to Millfield was clearer cut. Clearer still were the team’s three victories: 7-2 against Bryanston School, 6-3 against Millfield and 9-0 against Dauntsey’s – the first two of which made all the more impressive by virtue of being played away from home.

Mini Colts b Sherborne’s other unbeaten tennis team in 2023: 5-4 against Marlborough College and a brilliant 8-1 against Millfield to name a few. Some scintillating tennis en route, and a very happy group of boys who have loved every minute of their tennis this season.

golf Having beaten the top seeds king’s Taunton in the opening round, the path was open for Sherborne’s ﬁrst success in this national competition for many years. victories in subsequent rounds meant that a tense ﬁnal against Truro School was played at exeter Country Club. with the scores all square after 18 holes, the deciding pair went down the 19th in a tense extra hole. Sherborne kept calmer and more focused from tee to green, with a par being enough to secure victory and title of Regional winners. with many of the players back next year, success should hopefully be achieved again.

badminton

basketball

The key thing about Sherborne’s badminton players is that they learn a great deal from their matches, whether they end in victory or defeat. So it was that the boys emerged from wins against King’s School, Bruton in October and December with as much to reflect on as after the heavy defeat to King’s College, Taunton, in November. They use every match as an opportunity to develop their game, grow as a team, and perfect technique. The result is a great team spirit, and a real sense of players who make the most of their time on court.

Basketball is a relatively new sport to Sherborne, and the team’s inexperience is often the difference between victory and defeat. Take the 27-63 loss in a friendly away to Winchester as a case in point. The boys started well, but the Wykehamists dug in to carve out a convincing victory. The difference? Boys who have been playing basketball for longer, and have the finishing skills to close a game out. The other matches followed a similar pattern: 22-44 against Wells Cathedral School, 25-46 to Canford School, and 29-79 against Marlborough College. But these boys love playing, and are growing all the time. The final match saw a return to Canford School with a valiant effort seeing Sherborne ahead until the closing moments of the game with Canford School eventual winners 50-53, reassuringly closing the gap and showing green shoots of development for next year.

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athletics what has become the traditional season opener, Sherborne’s Lutra Shield, was only four days into term, which although the boys proved that the quick turnaround was not an issue with a team third place ﬁnish and excellent wins for Toby bemand (L6a), Henry kingsbury (u6f) and Robbie Foster (u6a) to name a few. Captain of athletics ollie nash (u6g) was soon into his stride and led from the front on his return to yeovil’s track. The Yeovil track became a familiar venue as both senior and junior squads trained here on a weekly basis throughout the term, benefitting hugely from the excellent facilities. Events followed in quick succession, with competitions at Dauntsey’s, Canford School and Millfield, where Tom Foster (5a), Thomas Langley (5e) and Dylan Carr (3e) all put in excellent performances. The Third and Fourth Form squad were on top form in the Dorset round of the Track and Field Cup, at Bournemouth, with excellent scores from Charlie Wilson (4m), Jack Hunter-Inglis (4a) and Theo Knott (4m). The team were thrilled to qualify through to the Regional B Final in Exeter where they pulled together to win! It was an excellent team performance and testament to the strength on depth of the Fourth Form athletes in particular. Special mention here goes to Joseph Hult (4e) who had to step in to run the 1500m due to an injury, gaining crucial points to take us past second placed

Braunton College. Eighteen boys qualified for the Dorset Schools’ Championships through the North Dorset round, and four were crowned county champions: Theo Knott (hurdles and high jump), Henry Kingsbury (shot put and discus), Gabe Muir (3a) high jump and Toby Bemand (200m and 400m). These four were selected to represent Dorset at the South West Championships where Toby and Gabe did brilliantly to finish second and Henry third. While Toby Bemand was the standout performer of the first half of term, balancing his Bath Rugby commitments with an unbeaten run on the track, it was Theo Knott who dominated the second half. Theo first equalled RT Williams’ thirty-one-year-old U17 high jump school record with a jump of

1.85m at the County Championships, then went well beyond this with an incredible performance at Exeter for the South West Championships where he won the high jump and set a new record of 1.91m, qualifying for the English Schools’ Championships in the process. Meanwhile the squad split its resources and many travelled to Marlborough College for the season ending event, finishing third behind Eton and Marlborough College. A smaller group went back to Dauntsey’s for a quadrathlon, and here Charlie Wilson was outstanding, winning three of his four events to take overall win, while Jack HunterInglis (4a) was close behind with a third-place finish, a super way to close the school season.

School Sports Day was a rather damp affair, with only the Seniors managing to complete their field events. Nevertheless competition on the track was fierce with The Digby winning the Junior and Intermediate trophies and The Green the Senior event. It was School House, though, whose consistency across all three age groups saw them win overall to end the term.

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Clay pigeon Shooting Sherborne has a strong tradition of clay pigeon shooting, and many of our boys enjoy the chance to compete locally. The team’s best showing was in the individual High Gun for Harry Thomson (U6e) who came 7th out of 120 participants. Our Firsts came 5th out of 29 in the Team Sporting Competition at the same event. An invitational at Millfield yielded a good set of results, including 5th out of 28 in the individual High Gun for Percy Tylor (U6g) shooting a course of some rather tricky clays, and 6th for the Firsts in the Sporting Team Trophy (the Seconds came 10th). Also, in this year’s Easter Schools Competition on the Ling Shooting ground, our team came 3rd out of 8 in the Team Sporting Competition which demonstrated some promising teamwork skills.

Fives Seniors

Cross Country The Cross Country team enjoyed success at both inter and senior boys level in the Lent Term this year with Charlie p (5b), Sam baring (L6d), aeneas Sexton (4a), aneurin Denham (u6e), oscar Revell (L6c) and ottokar Denham (u6m) achieving strong results. Dylan Carr (3e) in the Third Form proved himself to be one to watch for the future with impressive times across a variety of fixtures. We were delighted to be able to host the Sherborne Trophy in the spectacular grounds of Sherborne Castle once again and even more pleased that the Senior Boys managed to win the Trophy against challenging opposition. In the Inter-House competition on the same course the Inter-Boys team competition was won by The Green. In the Senior Boys competition The Digby prevailed. Combining scores for all year groups, the overall competition was won by Lyon House. In the individual races at Inter-Boys level, Dylan Carr came third, Archie Nash (5g) came second and the winner was Charlie P. At senior boys level, Toby Bemand (L6a) came third, Ollie Nash (L6g) came second and the winner was Robbie Foster (U6a). Robbie Foster and Dylan Carr had further success at county and regional competitions, qualifying to represent Dorset at the Cross Country Nationals in Nottingham, a fantastic achievement.

Sherborne’s top Fives players made positive progress in the sport this year. This was seen not least in their strong showing in the Charlie Colquhoun Fives Tournament in March, where individuals won the Plate Competition and came fourth in the main event. They also performed well against a travelling Old Whigiftians side, keeping some tricky rallies alive to provide a competitive fixture. Ultimately, though, the experience of their opponents won out and they fell to defeat. The fixture against Winchester 2nd IV had a promising start, as Sherborne’s players gave their opponents a good run around the court. Perhaps they expended too much energy too soon. Either way, Winchester’s players ended up on top, but only by a margin of 12 points. The team did come out on top against The Rugby Fives Association: a score line of 102-80 showed the strength across the fixture.

Juniors The juniors played a number of matches during the season and a spirited Marlborough College team gave the juniors a particularly good game. Despite losing 96-182, everyone had a great day on Sherborne’s courts at home, with the boys showing skill and determination in every game. Some were representing the School for the first time, and displayed great progress in their playing as the fixture wore on.

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Squash Sherborne’s squash players won a quarter of their matches this season, scoring three wins out of thirteen fixtures. Their victories were against Clayesmore, Millfield and Canford School with losses against King’s Taunton, Bryanston School, and Canford School. The team result often occluded outstanding individual performances, including a grinding victory for Simon Aggett (5c) against King’s and some outstanding performances from Zac Banks (U6b), both on the court as Number 1 and off the court as an exceptional Captain of Squash.

polo Sherborne polo has really strengthened its reputation this year with two teams training and competing during the year and with more promising players joining the School in September this looks set to continue. At the Arena tournament in March the novice team came fourth and our intermediate team won their division without conceding a chukka. On the following Thursday we hosted Eton and beat them 14-12 in torrential rain in a very exciting game. The much-anticipated grass season in the summer term held great disappointment with the cancellation of matches due to a combination of waterlogged pitches and equine illness

meaning that there weren’t enough ponies available to play. This afforded more time to focus on training and by the end of May the A team travelled to Berkshire to take on Eton again. They were playing a closely fought game where the score was 3-2 to Eton at the end of the third Chukka. Unfortunately, in the final Chukka two players had problems with their ponies and this allowed Eton to widen the gap to win 6-2. The Eton match proved to be an excellent warm up for the SUPA Senior Schools tournament at the end of term where the A team were victorious in the Upper Intermediate division, beating Radley College, Marlborough College and drawing nil all against Cheltenham.

Swimming Sherborne’s swimmers took part in a number of galas through the year traveling to bryanston School and Marlborough College on a number of occasions to compete against, Leweston, eton, Radley College, Cheltenham College and bromsgrove. The swimmers constantly push themselves in competition to achieve new personal bests and take part in as many events as possible. The ﬁnal gala of the season against Taunton and blundell’s saw our under 16’s achieving 1st place showing that determination and commitment to the team can really pay off.

Sailing

after a shaky start in the Autumn at the RYA Youth and Junior Team Racing Event the skills and the results improved markedly. The annual home / away fixture in the Lent Term against Clifton College once again went down to the wire with Sherborne clinching a crucial win in the junior Feva match with Ivo Finney (4d) and William Esdaile (4c) at the helm. In what are always needle fixtures, there were losses and wins during the year against Winchester College by the senior first team. Similar results were achieved against Bryanston School, indeed on the day our first team lost to Bryanston School our second team then took on the Bryanston School first team and regained the upper hand with much understandable “whooping” from the second team captain George Gillespie (L6c). The much enjoyed trips to Portland to sail against Milton Abbey and get a taste of salt in the mouth continued. In blustery conditions in May, a junior team captained by Josh John-Ringe (5f) convincingly took the match. The notable peak in performance was the second place achieved at the Western Regional Championships in the Under 18 division. The School was represented by Freddy Molesworth-St Aubyn (U6b), Oliver Thompson (L6f) and Sam Nokes (L6g) and their respective crews.

The annual parents versus pupils match was held in March in torrential rain and little wind with the pupils once again victorious. A week later, with similar amounts of rain but this time a near gale blowing, the House match with six Houses and Sherborne Girls represented saw lots of upturned hulls and smiling faces. The Green proved the most consistent across the afternoon, beating Abbey House into second place. To cap the year off a senior and junior team travelled all the way to the Norfolk Broads to compete in the highly competitive Schools National Team Racing Championships and a week later the School’s two representative boats came 8th and 11th out of 40 in the Schools Fleet Racing Championships in Chichester Harbour. Approximately 40 pupils sailed during at least one term in the year and were supplemented by nine girls from Sherborne Girls. The fleet of 420s, Fireflies, Lasers and Picos and indeed the number of coaching staff expanded during the year to match demand. The sport is in good health at the School.

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Ski Racing The Sherborne Ski Racing squad returned to wengen, after a two-year absence due to Covid, for the DHo british Schoolboys Championships. after a successful training camp in austria over october half term, the boys were up for the challenge of ‘real’ racing. After two days of training in Switzerland, the racing began with the Parallel Slalom where some rustiness was evident despite our U16A team defeating the hot favourites, Reeds U18A, who had three GB skiers in their number. The main racing began on Tuesday with Giant Slalom on the famous Lauberhorn World Cup run. There were some falls, a few wobbles and lots of courage! Top performers were Sam Nokes (L6g), Henry Persse (5m), Zander LacySmith (5d), Henry Carvosso (4f) and Oliver Beckly (3g), although just getting down and completing the course was a success for many of our inexperienced racers. Wednesday was Slalom day on the ‘Bumps’ piste on the lower section of the Lauberhorn. In the more technical discipline, there are always disqualifications for straddling or missing gates, but the Sherborne boys concentrated hard in course inspection and many boys were pleased to record a time. Sam Nokes and Henry Persse were impressive, again, and Henry Hardick (3b), Will Norton (5b) and Jago Lacy-Smith (3d) also came near the podium with clean runs. Individually we were very, very close in several age groups and categories. Pleasingly, the U16 unregistered team of Jamie Guy (5g), Eddie Henderson (4m), Henry Persse and Henry Carvosso were able to secure a medal, with bronze place in the overall competition.

Water polo

ur water polo players were delighted to be back in the water in the newly renovated School pool. However, due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, we were down to just three players for our first match against King’s Taunton. Thankfully King’s lent us some of their swimmers for a friendly and spirited game. Although the King’s team dominated overall, all three Sherborne pupils made it onto the scoreboard, with three goals from Thomas Lamb (U6e) and two apiece from Douglas Groves (L6c) and Akila Bakrie (4b).

A very closely fought match saw Sherborne narrowly defeated by Clifton College. Alfie Reynolds (L6c) scored in the first quarter to equalise with Clifton. Match Captain, Will Frost (U6b), scored in the second quarter, although Clifton’s stronger swimmers meant they were 5-2 up by the end of the third. Akila Bakrie scored two superb goals in the final quarter, leaving Sherborne with a respectable 5-4 defeat.

Sherborne enjoyed their first win of the season in a nail-bitingly close match against Marlborough College. Both teams were tiring as this was the third game in a triangular match. Nevertheless, there was some superb play from Zac Banks (U6b) and Tom Stephens (U6d), and Zander LacySmith (5d) defended the goal impeccably. Will Frost scored in the second quarter, and

s Marlborough College never quite managed to equalise. The water polo squad faced three teams in an afternoon tournament at Marlborough College. Our first match was against the Marlborough College team who played strongly and won the match 9-3. Highlights included some excellent play from Akila on the wing, great passes from Sebastian Tett (4a), and a nifty backhand goal from Thomas, assisted by Douglas. Thomas scored again thanks to a penalty shot. Douglas scored the final goal of a tiring match. The game against Clifton College was much more evenly matched with tighter marking throughout and some superb saves by Eddie Henderson (4m). Douglas scored the first goal of the match, assisted by Thomas. Clifton went on to equalize, ending the game 1-1. The final match against Abingdon was also closely fought. The opposition took an early lead but Josh Blackwell (5e) scored Sherborne’s first goal, assisted by Cameron Groves (4c). Two further goals took Abingdon into the lead, but Douglas scored another two for Sherborne, bringing the score to 3-3. In a nail-biting finish, Abingdon took advantage of the final 10 seconds to score the winning goal. Although Sherborne did not manage to come away with a win, this was invaluable experience for our team. With so many Fourth Form players in the squad, we have a lot of water polo to look forward to. The water polo squad were fortunate to have a full complement of players for a superb tournament against Clifton High and Clifton College. Goalies Zander Lacy-Smith and Eddie Henderson were kept busy throughout with numerous challenges and some outstanding saves. Josh Blackwell scored the first goal of the match against Clifton High, but the opposition quickly equalised and went into the lead. Two

goals from Zac Banks brought the score up to 3-6 at half time. Akila Bakrie scored in the third quarter, but Clifton High clearly had the upper hand in terms of both swim speed and marking. Thomas Lamb scored Sherborne’s 5th goal, but a flurry of goals from Clifton High in the final quarter resulted in a 12-5 defeat for Sherborne. In the second match against Clifton College, Sherborne demonstrated greater teamwork and perseverance. Douglas Groves scored Sherborne’s first goal, but Clifton College enjoyed a 2-1 lead in the first half. An exciting third quarter saw two further goals from each team, with Will Frost scoring twice for Sherborne. Akila Bakrie equalised for Sherborne in the final quarter, and Thomas Lamb sealed the victory with two further goals, culminating in a 6-4 win for Sherborne. A match against the local Yeovil Spartans team was the perfect opportunity for some of our junior players to play in their first full match, and benefit from the mentoring of senior and more experienced players. Two early goals from Alex Grover (4f) took Sherborne into the lead from the outset. A goal from the Spartans was met with a long shot from Akila. Cameron, Akila and Marc Fung (4a) scored in quick succession, ending the first quarter 6-1 up. This being a friendly game, we allowed our Captain, Thomas Lamb to play in goal for the opposition (he is a member of the club after all). Josh Blackwell also took a turn in goal for the oppositions. This led to a far more evenly balanced game, with the Spartans scoring once more, and a nifty backhand goal from Jago Lacy-Smith (3d) leading to a 7-2 final score. Overall, a hugely enjoyable match for both sides, and hopefully the beginning of more frequent water polo opportunities with our local club.

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Farewells

Erika Bailon

Adrian Ballard

Erika has been an outstanding member of the Sherborne community for the past ten years. Her attention to detail and desire to do the best has simply shone through in all that she does. She has been a lynchpin of the Spanish department, where boys and teachers have valued her consistency and support. She has pushed the boys to have higher standards and believe in their linguistic talents, which has meant year after year of excellent results and a good continuation of boys to A level and university study. Erika’s view of the role of a teacher is holistic and because of this she has always gone above and beyond to support the pupils. She has organised enriching study trips to Spain for Sixth Formers and run a successful outreach Spanish club at a local primary school, where both the Lower Sixth who taught the sessions and the Year Five pupils benefitted.

Adrian arrived at Sherborne in early 1998 to take up the role of Deputy Director at the newly created Sherborne Foundation, which had been formed in recognition that specialised professional input would be needed to support the continuing development of the School as a leader in the independent sector.

Erika’s pastoral care as a long-serving resident tutor in School House was exemplary. She was a warm and loyal presence, active in supporting all boys, whether they needed a firm hand or a bit of emotional support. A consummate professional, she took her duty of care to the boys, the House and the School seriously. Erika leaves Sherborne to work in an international school in Madrid, where she will act as pastoral lead. It is an exciting next step for her and we wish her all the best. She will be sadly missed in so many areas of school and we are profoundly grateful for her professionalism, loyalty and love for the School.

Judy Thurman

What a success it has proved. Taking over as Head of Foundation in 2004 and backed by a supportive Board of Trustees, by the time Adrian left in 2022, in excess of £20 million had been raised or pledged. No department in the School has failed to profit and every boy coming to Sherborne in the last twenty years has benefitted in some way from the work of the Foundation.

On the Academic side, projects have included the superbly refurbished Macnaghten Library launched to mark the 20th anniversary of the Foundation, the Maths Exploratory, the Foundation Fellows, the Library Computer System and various academic festivals to name just a few. Bursary support was always high on Adrian’s list of priorities and many boys experienced the opportunity of an education at Sherborne via Foundation sponsorship.

Sherborne’s profile as a top music choice has been greatly enhanced by the opening of the new Music School in 2010, alongside the state-of-the-art recording studio and the provision of instruments.

Adrian’s last major venture as Head of Foundation was the superb new Sports Centre but Sherborne sport has benefitted in so many other ways from the Foundation’s input. Amongst a long list are the Hughie Holmes Astroturf, the all-weather cricket nets, the relaying of the cricket square, the fitness suite and the refurbishment of the Upper Pavilion.

None of this could have been achieved with stones being left unturned as Adrian’s appetite for research and the subsequent follow-up meetings was prodigious. I can list 27 countries that I know he

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Lloyd Dell Lloyd Dell joined the Economics and Business Department in the Trinity Term, 2022. Having previously worked in Brunei for Jerudong International School, he may have found the transition to Sherborne a bit of a shock. The daily afternoon tee-off on the golf course was no more - instead, Lloyd threw himself into the full-fat boarding experience of Sherborne. Despite his short tenure, he made a substantial contribution to the School - and took sole responsibility for teaching Macroeconomics, was appointed Resident Tutor in School House and helped Mr Hatch expand the Golf provision at the School.

visited on his travels and my list may not be complete. There was always far more than fundraising involved in any of Adrian’s trips – he was such a great promoter of Sherborne to OS, parents, potential parents and the world in general.

‘Value Added’ seems to be a much-used term at present. The expression could have been tailor made for Adrian. He helped the School in so many ways. He created the Sports Working Group, the Bow Society and the Inspirational Speaker Programme. Always in the office early, he was on hand to give tours at any time or help out at OSS events. Sherborne will miss Adrian, but his footprint remains in so many places and aspects of our life here. We wish him every success for the future.

John Harden

While Mr Dell’s stay at Sherborne was comparatively short, his passion for Macroeconomics, enviable work ethic and near-permanent smile will make him difficult to replace. He leaves us to pursue a career as an entrepreneur and is moving to Glastonbury, where he plans to launch a consultancy for investors in cryptocurrencies. We wish him all the best.

Chris o’Donnell

Rebecca de Pelet When Rebecca stood down as Head of English, a post she’d held for twelve years, colleagues, friends and former pupils contributed to a Festschrift – a celebratory collection of writing – in her honour. If the writing was any good, and much of it was exquisite, it was because she inspired it, or rather, she gave writers the confidence to express themselves: as Edgar says at the end of King Lear, to “speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.” One, now published, poet wrote of Rebecca’s “inspiration and faith; a gift to give / A nervous student on the path towards / Identity.”

The poet was describing the scene at Salon. Salon was an invention of Rebecca’s: she provided an off-site space where boys were surprised to find their outpourings taken seriously. Some were startlingly strong the first time, while others gained strength along the way. And many kept at it beyond their time here. As a teacher in the School that gave the world Alec Waugh (a1915), Timothy Garton-Ash (m73), Cecil Day-Lewis (d1923) and Anthony Lane (c80), she will surely have influenced a new batch of names: Harry Clough (f15) (quoted above), Biu Huntington-Rainey (m09), Alex Warren (g17), James Lello (a11)…

It may seem odd to pay tribute to someone by dropping a list of other names, but Rebecca would probably approve: it’s hard to think of anyone so delighted by the achievements of others as she is, and if teachers are supposed to be selfless, she is the benchmark. After all, it wasn’t all wine and Woolf: there were schemes of work, Edexcel spreadsheets, the delicate diplomacy of teaching allocations, the soothing of egos, coursework moderation and moderating the moderators.

So far, that’s a Head of Department’s job description. But with Head of English, there are twists that Rebecca identified and confronted: one is the part of the job description that reasonably requires that you keep on top of developments in the subject, made all the harder in English because, however much you’d like them to, people never stop writing. Nobody, apart from maybe Sarah Drury, was as up-to-speed on the latest novels, plays, poems or Big Reads in the Observer, and then, Rebecca is the go-to for the trickiest writers of the past. It’s a role Rebecca took on using her deep resources as a scholar, an administrator and a human being. Every boy in the School was under her aegis, with two GCSEs at stake, and

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all dealing, in some cases struggling, with a subject that rewards articulacy and emotional intelligence. She would regularly give herself the sets that looked on paper to be the most resistant, and rapidly win them round. This came with a vigilance over everyone’s sets, and a readiness to cajole the disaffected (the boys, I mean). She would seek out the pupils with potential, who, by her lights, were pretty much all of them.

In the midst of all this came not only Salon, but also the Sessions, as if it wasn’t enough to find that potential eloquence in her own pupils, but to find more of them, from the Sixth Formers who got away, to the members of other schools who, she knew instinctively, would flourish in a workshop. The plan was to stage events – talks, gigs, concerts, recitations – over a long weekend, and invite schools from the area to fill the Powell Theatre, brimming with their own questions and perspectives. Then they would attend workshops with journalists, poets, satirists, copy-writers, dramatists – among them pupils from earlier in the de Pelet career, such as Evie Wyld, whose novels have won massive prizes, and whose encomium to her former teacher appeared in Granta. So, if you’ve been taught by Rebecca de Pelet, and write, that’s the standard – you owe her a tribute in The New Yorker, the London Review of Books or equivalent.

Still, The Shirburnian, and Sherborne, are fine places to start, and Rebecca made sure that both were full of the promise that would go further in space and time. As ever, she’s showing us the way by example: she will work with more literary festivals, especially the prominent and farreaching ones at Bridport, and will help many more people as they find their voices and being to articulate the complexities and challenges of their lives. It’s a huge loss for us – boys and staff alike – that she leaves us, and all of us who worked with Rebecca will be missing not only regular contact, not only with a friend, but also an advocate, who is never afraid to speak up for fairness, tolerance and progress: nobody ever spends long wondering, “I wonder what Rebecca thinks?” As a result, we’ll continue to think of spurious pretexts to stay in touch (could you recommend some books for coursework? could you settle a disagreement about the poetry prize?); but it’s a great solace that the work she did so consummately and compassionately here is something she’ll take into an ever-growing world.

Lifetime Achievement Award We were delighted to receive the news that English Teacher, Rebecca de Pelet has been nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Tatler Schools Awards. The award is given to a member of staff who has dedicated their life to a school. Rebecca stood down as Head of English at Sherborne School this year, after 12 years in this role and 16 years in total at Sherborne School. An inspirational teacher, a passionate believer in pupils’ potential, Rebecca has helped generations of boys to find enjoyment and success in a subject that rewards articulacy and emotional intelligence. Headmaster and CEO, Dr Luckett said ‘we are delighted for Rebecca to be recognised for the notable impact that she has made as a teacher. We can probably all remember teachers from our school days and it is a testament to Rebecca’s teaching that she has been recognised by this award nomination.’

Tom payne

Katrina Evans Katrina Evans, affectionately known as Kev, has been, quite simply, an incredible teacher and tutor during her five years at Sherborne. The Northern ‘pocket rocket’ has a work ethic that is one of the most impressive I’ve ever witnessed, and consequently, her commitment to her pupils and tutees has been truly remarkable.

In the Boarding House, she’s a regular presence, unconfined by duty evenings and cover rotas, and has used her position as a resident to benefit the boys under her charge. If I have found a boy to be academically disillusioned and trying to give us the runaround (which sometimes happens) then I enrol them in ‘The Katrina Evans tutoring programme for the disorganised, underachieving or unmotivated.’ It has been an overwhelming success.

In this role, she has acted as a Secret Service operative – identifying holes in stories and inconsistencies in tall tales to the degree that boys just give up the charade, realising they are in a battle that they will never win. It’s a programme of rehabilitation, re-building, and ultimately, self-realisation and actualisation.

Her tutor reports are to be read in volumes and chapters – and they reflect the most in-depth knowledge and engagement with the lives of her tutees – and that is one of the reasons why she is so wildly popular with our parental body: she is always two or three steps ahead. If there is an issue, she already has a plan.

Her colleagues in the Maths Department comment that she is an amazing and inspirational teacher, who often surprises the rest of the Department as they just don’t

know how she has enough time in the day to plan, teach, mark, train, study, give up hours supporting the boys both in the Department and out, and yet still have time to read Maths articles, involve the boys in competitions, investigate new resources/websites and support her colleagues, and all while also recently becoming a new mum.

Despite all of these fantastic qualities and strengths, she is only human, and does have one area of significant weakness, which it’s only fair to mention. If ever a witty remark is made (either in House or apparently Department) referencing a hilarious link to a 90’s or naughtees sitcom, advert or song, you see a slightly perplexed look taking shape on her face as she disappears into a popular culture vortex, and you see her asking herself, “Who is Joey Tribiani? What on earth is The Krypton Factor or The Crystal Maze?

Last year was a busy one as Peter and Katrina tied the knot shortly after welcoming their beautiful daughter, Lelia to the world in Feb 2022. Then, in typical style, they decided rather than a slow paced summer, they’d travel around France with a new baby.

Good luck Katrina and Peter, thank you for everything that you’ve done and achieved at Sherborne, you leave behind a wonderful legacy, and we very much look forward to hearing about how the next few years unfold.

Rhidian Mcguire

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Caroline Garland Caroline joined us in September 2019, immediately impressing all with her calm, assured teaching style and quickly developed into a reliable and successful teacher of Latin, Greek and Classical Civilisation at all levels. Not even a Double First from Cambridge, however, could prepare her for the joys of COVID, but Caroline adapted with ease to remote teaching and has since become an expert at OneNote, conjuring pages of beauty and interest. A whirlwind of determination, Caroline has juggled many roles in her short time at Sherborne: she has completed a PGCE, she took maternity leave midway, and she has made the position of Overseas Higher Applications Coordinator her own, all of which she does with a serene and relaxed approach, but it is her teaching of Classics that has been most impressive, leaving a hole in the Department that cannot be filled. One of Caroline’s key strengths is the care and support she gives all the boys that she teaches, as well as those that she mentors via the Careers Department. She is also adept at eliciting answers and understanding out of all. The Lower Sixth in particular will not forget the numerous different activities she conjured up to help them understand the depths of Aristophanic humour, such as hammering buzzers whenever they met irony and scatological humour – it was a noisy few moments! The boys thoroughly enjoy their lessons with Caroline and appreciate not only her efforts to make their learning fun and engaging, but also her excellent subject knowledge. One of Caroline’s key aims has been to enable boys to imagine the ancient world, and activities such as having her Fifth Form write a letter to a new scribe to outline how to make Linear B tablets do just that. But above all, Caroline demands the best of them and supports all in their ability to achieve this, thinking carefully about resources and methodology – rarely are two lessons the same. It has been very easy to forget that Caroline is a PGCE student, so reliable, professional and confident is her teaching, and she has required very little input from me.

Stephen Heath

Alex Hayes Three things about alex Hayes all beginning with H... 1. Hockey

Alex arrived at Sherborne in 2018 and brought with him an extremely high level of hockey coaching. In the past five years he has, amongst other things, stretched our boys with modern thinking on strategy, tactics and coaching philosophy. He has developed the indoor programme (with the U16s reaching the National Finals) and grown links with Yeovil and Sherborne Hockey Club. He has supported many other activities and sports, including the Mini Colts Cricket and the High Performance Programme. He’s been a major influence in the drive to develop coaching and coaching philosophies of sports practitioners around the School.

2. Humour

Many of you will know that a new boy’s tutor gives them a tour of the School on that first day in September. A few years ago Alex was keen to explain to his charges on the tour that they would have plenty of opportunities to have important conversations, but also a bit of a laugh – it was at that very moment Alex tripped over a deceptively flat piece of pavement, much to their hilarity. I have also discovered that at the end of that year after a disappointing cricket match for Alex and his tutees, he decided an impromptu game of cricket in the dayroom was in order, clearly ignoring the instruction that no ball games should be played inside. The boys told me that the game of cricket went outside. Outside the House, yes, but inside the marquee set up for Commem. And I’m only relieved that our Housekeeper never found out. Alex is also opinionated about important things like what constitutes an acceptable biscuit to place in the Harper tutor biscuit tin. At least both agree that Wagon Wheels have a place in any selection, even if we don’t agree on the colour. He has a great sense of fun and his lockdown Third Form social on Zoom, a Mexican night, was a complete hit with both parents and boys. Alex gives so much thought and care to everything he does. He’s organised trips to watch live sport and even a visit to an ice cream shop. In-House socials during the Covid restrictions included a gingerbread fortress making competition, indoor garden games and alcohol free ‘beerpong’ competitions.

3. My ﬁnal H is ‘big Hearted’

Alex has helped numerous boys overcome their reluctance for academic work, helping them take ownership and responsibility. Others have had his calm wisdom if they are over committed, and still others, sometimes the most hardened, have felt able to talk of their difficulties at home or School. The rapport he builds has resulted in a variety of presents, including a fetching pair of Greggs black fluffy crocs, which he wore to answer the door to the postman.

His thoughtfulness towards others was evident when the rest of my family were in isolation as a result of getting Covid. When Alex heard of their quarantine he designed a game for them to play, wrote down the rules and provided the extraordinary selection of flavoured jellybeans that were required. It was one of the most thoughtful acts we experienced during that time and my daughters thought it was hilarious and loved guessing the jelly bean flavours.

I have been hugely grateful for all the support and care he has given both me and Harper House and we shall miss him hugely. nick Scorer

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Lauren Kwok Lauren has been a huge asset both to the School and to Abbey House in her short time with us. She has had an extremely positive impact on the Psychology students and her Upper Sixth are extremely complimentary and grateful for how well she helped them progress and prepare for their exams, with one even saying they thought they had probably improved by two grades since she had taken over the class! Her Lower Sixth will be sorry to see her go, describing her lessons as ‘really enjoyable’, ‘clear’, and saying ‘she knows how to explain complicated things really well so that they make sense’ and that ‘she is very friendly and always really calm’.

This air of calm competence is something that Lauren has also brought into Abbey House, and Wednesday night has been a peaceful midweek oasis. Despite never having entered a boarding school before, Lauren learned the ropes fast and the boys knew that she was a supportive, smiling presence around the House, who nonetheless kept everyone efficiently on track: lights were out on time without fail! Her tutees have gained a lot from her gently nudging them in the right direction and helping them get through the everyday trials and tribulations of teenage life and without exception they are sad to say goodbye. Despite her undoubted success at Sherborne, Lauren has found sleepy Dorset to be a little too far away from life in busy Belfast and is looking forward to being back with family. She is thrilled to have found a second Head of Psychology post where she can use her experiences this year to build a new department. We wish her well with her next steps and she goes with our thanks for the positive impact she leaves behind.

Ben Lucas Ben Lucas has been a committed practitioner in the MFL Department for the last five years, teaching German and French. He has a deep-seated interest in pedagogy and has brought many ideas to the Department, encouraging us to think about how we teach and why. He has been involved in sports coaching for many sports and levels, including football, rugby and athletics, always keen to learn on the job. The boys have particularly enjoyed his after-school Warhammer Club. As a Resident Tutor, he has shown his mentoring skills and desire to improve the lives of others. He is a deep thinker who always strives to make things better. Ben goes on to work in a private boarding school in Switzerland, where his ideas on bespoke education and mentoring will no doubt be of great value. We wish him and his family all the best. Judy Thurman

Charlotte allen

Andrew Nurton Andrew Nurton first joined Bow House in September 2003, taking the position of Teacher of Spanish and Resident Tutor under Peter Watts in School House. However, he had – of course – already spent five years here as a pupil, having joined The Digby in September 1990, when his first Form Tutor was no less than Lindsey Millar. As a member of the Fourth Form, Andy was in the first lesson that John Willetts ever taught at Sherborne, but it was on the sports field that he really made his mark. He played Soccer in the 1st XIs of 1994 and 1995, Rugby in the 1995 1st XV, and Cricket in the 1st XIs of 1994 and 1995, captaining the side in his final year. In all, Andy took a total of 50 wickets for the 1st XI – a very fine tally – and he will also proudly tell anyone who is foolish enough to ask that he appears four times on the Honours Board in The Upper Pavilion for his five-wicket hauls for the top team. Readers might also be aware of his close friendship from school with none other than Chris Martin, global megastar and lead singer of Coldplay…

So much for the boy: Andy’s return to Sherborne was the start of a twenty-year teaching career in which he would go on to be – variously – Master in Charge of Soccer, Senior Tutor in Abbey House, Head of Spanish, Master in Charge of Cricket, and Housemaster of Wallace House. He has also been an excellent Rugby and Soccer referee, in which capacity his encyclopedic knowledge of sport and his empathy for the players has shone through. I feel bound to say that I have always been absolutely delighted to see the initials ADN listed to referee my team and I know many others feel the same. He has also been hugely committed to the life of the town – particularly through his stalwart support of Sherborne Cricket Club (and The Digby Tap!).

Andy, then, really has done an enormous number of things here and throughout them all, Cricket in particular has been a constant. It is his proud boast that, including for the School, the Pilgrims, and Bow House, he has played more Cricket matches and taken more wickets on The Upper than anyone else in history. It will be a Cricket career of extraordinary longevity that sees that particular mark topple! And now Andy is leaving after 60 terms as a teacher and 75 in total at Sherborne School; after goodness only knows how many lessons, fixtures, Abbey Services, assemblies, duties, and late nights. He is someone who has been a part of the furniture for so long, who has been so much admired by his pupils and who will be missed in so many ways. We will miss his company, but also his eye for detail and his high expectations. Andy has high standards, and he has always wanted the boys to do as well as they possibly can and for them to have the best experience they possibly can – whether in the classroom, on the sports pitch or in the Boarding House. We will miss his reliability and his loyalty, and the School will miss his longevity, his institutional memory, and the link he has provided to its recent history. We will all – I am sure – miss him as a dedicated schoolmaster, and we will miss his commitment to Sherborne and its pupils.

Good luck, Andy.

Hugh Tatham

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Matthew Pardoe When Matt joined Sherborne in 2016, after a successful professional playing career with Worcestershire CCC, his passion for coaching cricket and dedication to the holistic development of pupils at Sherborne made a notable mark on the School.

From the outset, it was evident that Matt sought to revolutionise the approach to cricket coaching at Sherborne. Beyond the confines of the regular season, he initiated off-season training programmes, offering a range of group and one-to-one sessions for boys across all year groups. He made himself available for extra sessions, ensuring that no aspiring cricketer was left behind. Furthermore, he spearheaded the highly successful House indoor cricket competition, not only fostering a sense of camaraderie but also preparing boys for the challenges of the summer season, and he managed the hugely successful cricket and hockey tour to India.

Matt’s impact extends far beyond the cricket field. With his boundless enthusiasm and energy, he embraced the role of rugby coach, primarily working with the Mini Colts. During the Lent Term, he extended his expertise to the Mini Colts and Junior Colts football teams, imparting valuable skills and nurturing a love for the game. His involvement in a myriad of other sporting events, from Scholarship days to hosting prep school cricket tournaments, highlights his versatility and commitment to the overall sporting development of boys at Sherborne.

Yet it is not only in the realm of sports where Matt has left an indelible imprint. As an outstanding Resident Tutor in Abbeylands, he has devoted countless hours to the well-being and growth of the Boarding House community. Beyond his assigned evening and weekend duties, it is his genuine empathy and unwavering support that will be missed. Matt’s willingness to go the extra mile in helping pupils overcome challenges, offering encouragement and guidance, has had a significant impact on the lives of those under his care. More recently Matt has made significant contributions to the Geography Department, and it is this avenue that he will pursue in the immediate future as he embarks upon a PGCE in the subject.

In addition, Matt’s dedication to outreach coaching and refereeing has played a crucial role in enhancing the School’s profile and awareness beyond Sherborne. By actively engaging with prep schools, he has not only identified talent but also acted as an ambassador, fostering connections and inspiring pupils to join our community.

As Matt leaves Sherborne, his passion, enthusiasm, and commitment to the development of the boys and the School as a whole will be remembered fondly. From a personal point of view, I will miss him as a good friend who has always offered a listening ear and gentle advice. We wish him all the very best and look forward to seeing him back on The Upper in the years ahead. andy nurton

Naomi Rittey

Bryony Watts

Naomi Rittey is one of those lucky few in the world of education who combine both a vocation and love for teaching with absolutely razor sharp skills as a practitioner in the classroom. She arrived in Sherborne from up north having honed some of those skills at Manchester for her PGCE after studying Psychology and Spanish at Lancaster. She had spent her year abroad from her degree living in Jaen in the south of Spain teaching English. She soon proved to be a significant asset to the Languages Department, bringing fresh ideas, good sense and great joy to her colleagues and her pupils.

Bryony joined the English Department three years ago, fresh out of teacher training, and right from the start it was obvious what an amazing addition she was. She has an innate talent for teaching, bringing warmth, enthusiasm and innovation to every lesson and igniting a love of literature in her pupils that will stay with them their whole life. Indeed, she goes above and beyond for her boys and I know that they are very thankful for her unwavering commitment to them. Where a pupil has lacked confidence, Bryony has been their biggest champion, encouraging them to believe in themselves. Where pupils have wanted to challenge themselves, she has pushed them further than they ever thought possible.

Miguel de Cervantes allegedly said, ‘estar preparado es la mitad de la victoria’ or to be prepared is half the battle. This is certainly my experience of her teaching over the last five years. Every lesson was meticulously prepared and resourced. Yet she always had the good sense and awareness to know how to adapt to how the group were working on any day. Naomi was instrumental in how the Department has been keeping up to date with the latest trends in language pedagogy and I have no doubt that she will soon be an ambassador for the exciting and engaging style of learning languages that she has helped develop here. Her attention to detail and professionalism were also key to her success as a Resident Tutor in The Green and a highly respected coach of hockey. Another key Spanish speaking philosopher, Pep Guardiola, allegedly said that ‘if you train badly, you play badly,’ and Naomi made sure that her teams both on the hockey pitch and in the classroom were trained up for match day. Her pupils knew that they could get support from her right up to the day of the exam. Indeed, Naomi is so willing to give so much of herself to everything she does both in School and outside. Over the last couple of years she has been running increasingly long distances raising money for the Movember charity in particular. She most recently completed the London Landmarks half marathon.

Naomi is clearly going to go far in education. We have been so lucky to have shared the stage with her. philip Morrow

For the past year she has also served as second in department, a role that she has made her own. But she has contributed so much more, including running debating and creative writing, working with the Careers team, supporting the Oxbridge programme, arranging trips and author visits and, perhaps most notably, serving as an outstanding Tutor in Lyon House.

Bryony may be leaving us for pastures new but this is most definitely not goodbye. She will be starting at Sherborne Girls in the Autumn and I am sure it will not be long before we see her again. She will certainly be missed. Harriet Cant

Welcoming New Staff Liam Atherton Choral Scholar

Ryan Buckley Director of Cricket Coaching Magnus Bushby Choral Scholar

William Chadwick Head of French

Philippe Cosentino Teacher of French and Spanish

Robert Cousin Teacher of Economics and Business Andrew Cranfield Visiting Music Teacher of Bagpipes Andrew Debney Teacher of Mathematics Conor Doherty Sports Intern Louis Fletcher Choral Scholar

Rebecca Fraser Head of Mathematics Gervase Gordon Teacher of English

Xaviere Harvey Examinations Officer Fraser Henderson Director of Hockey

Arthur Hope Barton Organ Scholar Richard Hunt Head of Foundation

Seth Nordin Teacher Trombone and Heavy Brass Darryl O’Connor Teacher of French and Spanish Angharad Price-Hughes Teacher of English

Abigail Taylor Teacher of French and Spanish

eDIToRIaL boaRD HARRIET MCKAY ZOE SHEFFIELD

wITH THankS

THE SHIRBURNIAN WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE OUTSTANDING CREATIVITY AND HARD WORK OF MANY PEOPLE IN THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY. WE ARE GRATEFUL TO ALL BOYS AND STAFF WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS EDITION.

pHoTogRapHy by

JOSIE STURGESS-MILLS, DAVID RIDGWAY, MARK STUART, GILLMAN & SOAME AND OTHERS.

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