Highlights Autumn 11

Issue 42 Autumn 2011

Highlights Cricket

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ST ALBANS SCHOOL

Sri Lanka

After a highly successful home season, a 45-man squad of cricketers and staff embarked on a 16 day tour of Sri Lanka at the beginning of the summer holidays.To cope with a seven match programme for each of the three teams, the players had to become acclimatised to heat, high humidity and some very uneven outfields, a far cry from the true surfaces of Woollams. Fixtures in the monsoon season are clearly at risk from the weather, and each team lost one match to torrential rain, but the First team enjoyed a very impressive tour. Out of six matches completed, they won four by substantial margins, had one nail-biting tie and only lost once. Among the notable individual performances were a fine 50 from Dan Watt, which set up the run chase in the first victory, and a calm 91 from George Scott in the tied match. All-rounder George was in fine form with the ball later in the tour, claiming a rare tour hat trick with a devastating spell of hostile fast bowling. The other teams were less successful, but gained important experience in a country where schoolboy cricket is among the strongest in the world.

Visits to the Temple of the Tooth, a tea plantation, a turtle sanctuary, spice gardens and bathing with elephants completed a spectacular and memorable tour.

Star Opens the Score Who better to open the Woollams Pavilion’s new electronic cr icket scoreboard than double Ashes winning batsman and record run-maker Alistair Cook? In advance of the 19th Sports Tours Dinner, the England opened the shutters to reveal 766-6, his aggregate from the 2010-11 Ashes campaign downunder.

Olympiad Successes 500 students from all over the country took part in the annual Intermediate Maths Olympiad. Qualifying to do so is an achievement in itself. A certificate was presented to Jonathan Phillips, Merit Awards to Jem Bosatta, Matthew Davey, Chris Wharton and Joe Zacaroli, and a Distinction for Daniel Heydecker.

Meanwhile in the British Biology Olympiad, Jack Pryse-Davies, Michael Mubiru, Josh Hampton and Alex Shavick achieved Highly Commended Cer tificates and Kate Christley achieved a Commended Certificate.

Top Shots Geraint Northwood-Smith, James Crossley, Phil Ruis and Jamie Dacosta competed in the Her tfordshire Rifle Association Target Shooting Competition and won the Emsall Trophy. Olivia Goldsmith received an NRA shooting badge for the highest average in the summer shooting leagues.

Songs

for the

Summer Staged by the Music and Drama Departments, Songs from Shows, a fine evening of entertainment, provided a light hearted and delightful end to the summer term. Sixth Form students dazzled the audience with some very professionally performed pieces, exploring the full range from pathos to comedy. Rhythmically there were show stopping numbers like All That Jazz from Chicago, sassily and ably performed by Juliette ‘Jazz’ Mann and ladies from the company, a bit of doo wop as performed by the company in Skid Row from Little Shop of Horrors and Pete Martin’s moving performance of Maria from West Side Story. Witty and amusing

performances were supplied by Annabel Thomson, Charlye Simpson and Tash Undrell in You Could Drive a Person Crazy from Company, Rob Phillips in Mr Cellophane from Chicago and Elliot Krieger in Master of the House from Les Misérables. Other songs that stood out were Summer Nights from Grease, I’m Nothing Without You from City of Angels and the finale, One Day More from Les Misérables. Proceeds from the show will support the Upper Sixth’s production of Blackwood, which was staged with great success at the Edinburgh Fringe during the summer.

New Place Tempest The Lower School drama club members took on a real challenge in tackling Shakespeare’s The Tempest and adapting it to provide a modern day interpretation.The story was set in modern times on a Butlins-like island with the pupils incorporating their own facial expressions, movement and ideas to ease the transition of the Shakespearean world to modern times. The comedy of the play prompted laughter from the audience, whether it was the comic duo of Sebastian and Antonio in the first act, or Stefano, Trinculo and Caliban’s humorous scenes in the second. The lighting provided another edge to the play, emphasising the importance of Prospero’s two speeches and the drama of the actual tempest scene.

Performing The Tempest was a tricky feat, but the lower school managed to make one of the world’s most famous James Hannaway plays into an enjoyable treat for all. was generous in his praise of the design project: “The model is just brilliant.

Every detail has been thoroughly thought through.”

Cinema Design Design ideas developed by U6 student Dan Watt captured the imagination of cinema enthusiasts in St Albans in June. Dan’s A-level Design & Technology project explored how the facade of the derelict Odeon cinema on London Road could be restored to its former Art Deco glory. His coursework design model was a star attraction at an open day held in the cinema attended by over six hundred people. Dan was invited to display the model by the entrepreneur James Hannaway who is embarking on an ambitious scheme to bring the cinema back to life. Hannaway and his team provided support to the A-level project, and were pleased to display the finished model at their event.

Business Training Both Third and Four th Formers were encouraged to think positively about their futures on special days devoted to exploring business skills and opportunities. For Third formers a board game was used first to illustrate the impor tant decision making needed to maximise profit before moving on to making choices in funding and dealing with PR and the press. Fourth formers engaged in a series of activities, under the super vision of businessmen and entrepreneurs, starting with looking at thirteen difficult situations and how a positive or negative person might react to each one. In groups the boys then examined lives of successful and motivated people – a marine, Richard Branson, Usain Bolt and Jason Statham – and what attitudes and skills they needed to get where they are today. Through the boys’ suggestions about these successful people, they discovered the importance of image and attitudes and how people can ultimately

Inspecting The Combined Cadet Force put on a fine show for Inspecting Officer Colonel NT Campbell at the AGI at Woollams. Although preparation time had been shorter than normal because of the late Easter and Bank Holidays, the parade and drill were impeccably executed before Colonel Campbell, late of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, inspected the Honour Guard and the cadets.

At the end of this ceremony, the Sword of Honour was passed from the retiring Cadet Under Officer Laurence Hulse, to his successor, Joe Chalkley. During the rest of the day, cadets were put through their paces at a number of stands, where they had to demonstrate their skills in sur vival cooker y, obser vation, target shooting and a section attack.

In a far corner of the Woollams site, they had to administer first aid and rescue crew from a downed aircraft while under enemy fire, while the most gruelling was an

control them. The afternoon led on from the morning, concentrating on the students’ own aims in life and how they are all achievable with the right attitude.

All L6 students attended the Business Conference over two days at Woollams, with the intention of improving communication and presentation skills. With talks and practical activities led by OAs and successful people in commerce, the days gave students an idea of what Pitching coffee: working life is like.

Dragons’ Den One of the activities was a version of presentation BBC’s Dragons’ Den, with each group at the Business designing a food related business Conference and then pitching it to the Dragons for investment. This required, and helped to develop, good team working and presentation skills, with teams needing to communicate well amongst themselves and then to the Dragons to succeed.

the

Troops

exhausting gun run, where tractor tyres, barrels, ammunition boxes and poles were raced from one end of a field to the other, passing under a camouflage net en route.This section was organised and supervised by the Coldstream Guards, to whom the CCF is affiliated, and the Guards also mounted an information stand. The boys and girls in the cadets found it an exhausting but exhilarating day, and Colonel Campbell was enormously impressed by the energy, commitment and skills shown by all the pupils. Over the summer 32 cadets set off to Norway for a two week training exercise, which included survival training among the fjords. A week of military training at Longmoor involved canoeing, orienteering and command tasks.

Our cadets won the competition and were awarded the Longmoor Stick for the best contingent out of a total of 36, sent by different schools.

Earlier in the term, STEM students visited the impressive SELEX facility in Luton, which provides the electronic warfare capabilities for the Eurofighter Typhoon and Apache Longbow helicopter.The students visited the labs to see how systems are tested with virtual threats, electronically simulating real combat. They commented that ‘The whole place was more like a Bond villain lair than an engineering facility’, but they learned an enormous amount about the applications of science and maths.

Summer Sports Cricket: This was a very good season with some excellent results for all our teams. The U15s won the District and County Cups with the U14s and U13s adding to this achievement by taking District Cups as well. For the 1st X1 the overall win rate was 64%.

The team enjoyed a fine victory against Royal Grammar School High Wycombe by 7 wickets, with Asif Rajah 64 not out. Against Aylesbury Grammar they won by 167 runs with James Scott making 94 and Nick Foster 61. Playing Twenty/20

friendly matches against a touring Batting in the side from Caulfield Grammar School, U13 District Final Melbourne, Australia, the 1st XI won by two wickets and beat an OA Invitational XI by 8 wickets. They were also triumphant in the School’s inaugural Twenty/20 Tournament at Woollams, where facilities have been enhanced by the installation of a new electronic scoreboard. Convincing wins against St Benedict’s and the Paarl Boys High School Cricket Academy from South Africa. Playing

the OAs in the final, the team scored a total of 201 runs, with innings of substance from James Scott and Dan Watt, whereas the OAs were only able to muster 146 in their 20 overs.This was a victory to be savoured.The 2nd XI enjoyed a good win by 7 runs against Habs with Alex Goldstone scoring 91 off 90 balls and also by 9 wickets against Aylesbury, with Robin Pendock taking 4 wickets for 12 runs. In the District Cup the U15s won against St George’s, by 8 wickets with Daniel Burnley taking 3 for 18. They went on to take the County Cup against St George’s: a fine match with Robbie Goldstone scoring 102 not out. The St Albans total of 183-2 was made to look even larger, when the bowlers made their contribution: Zaheer Jamil took 3 wickets for 12 runs and Jack Killen 4 wickets for 8 runs. At Woollams the team later played Brentwood, the Essex champions, whose innings, thanks to accurate bowling from George Scott and Joe Zacaroli, concluded with an unlucky Nelson score of 111. Good run scores from Robbie Goldstone, James Barber and Joe Zacaroli ultimately ensured a fine victory by seven wickets, with 13 overs to spare. The U14s also enjoyed a strong season with only one loss in 13 matches.They won the District Cup against Verulam with a score of 86 runs. In a match against Aylesbury Grammar, Patrick Scott set a new school record with 167 of the 196 runs scored. Luke Wilde took 4 for 4 and Jonathan Midgen took 4 for 20 in the same match.The U14s also enjoyed a very successful tour of Dorset.

Athletics: The season started well with some promising performances against some top notch schools at Harrow, when the team contested the Cholmeley Shield. Drew DanielsSmith and Omeiza Haruna won the 100m and Triple Jump A and B strings. Sam Okine won both the Shot Putt and the Discus B. The

Second and Fourth Form teams got off to a strong start in the County Leagues.Winning Second Formers were Omeiza Haruna, Tom Savage, Luke Bannerman, George Grant and Harrison Pyrke. Fourth Form stars were George Rose, Mark Pearce, Luke Bevis and Will Barnes. At the Senior District Championships the team fought hard to get to the finals and finished as runners up. At the Achilles Relays held in Oxford, Robbie Lightowler, Josh Southworth, Adam Thorpe and Robin O’Connor stormed to victory in the 4 x 800m.

At the final County League meeting, the U16s had some fine wins, most notably Drew Daniels-Smith, George Rose and the relay team. In the English Schools Championships at Winchester, Adam Thorpe, George Rose and Jordan Bayer Goldman competed for Hertfordshire, helping the county to third place overall. Four of our athletes represented Hertfordshire at the 81st English Schools Track and Field Championships and put in most impressive performances.

Robin O’Connor came 4th in the 1500m, Oyinade Omidora 6th in the 400m, Victoria Walker 6th in the steeplechase and Drew DanielsSmith 6th with the relay team.

Tennis: Our Senior team started the season with real dash by crushing St Columba’s 6-0 in the Aegon Team Tennis Schools National Championships. Berkhamsted met a similar fate at the hands of this very strong team: Gordon TveitoDuncan, Alex Terry, Phil Ruis and Joe Richards.They reached the semifinal stage of this very prestigious championship. The Second Form team of Charlie Broom, Tom Boon, George Davies and Alex Wick crushed the opposition, Richard Hale School, to win the Aegon final and thus qualify for the County knock-out stages of the national competition.

The County Schools Championships saw an all St Albans final where Alex Terry and Phil Ruis just edged to victory in a closely contested final.

The U14s also won their age group in an all St Albans final.

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