Highlights Spring 2017

Issue 58 Spring 2017

ST

ALBANS

HIGHLIGHTS

SCHOOL

WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY As Christmas approaches, most people think of boxes and brightly wrapped gifts; that was certainly true of St Albans School pupils, who collected gifts to support the Salvation Army’s Shoebox Appeal. The aim of the scheme is to give Christmas presents to children and young people in need, making a crucial difference at this time of year.

In their Form groups, pupils brought gifts into School, wrapped them and packed them into shoeboxes. By the end of the campaign there were nearly one hundred such boxes piled in Mr ‘I would like to express my deep Burger’s office, ready for handing over gratitude to all those pupils and to the Salvation Army. Lieutenant Paul staff that supported our Christmas Williams of the Salvation Army wrote Toy Appeal.’ to the Headmaster to thank the efforts Lieutenant Paul Williams of the pupils, who had ‘submerged’ them with well-chosen gifts for families and children. He was very impressed with the Charity prefects who had showed such professionalism and organisational skills in arranging the campaign in School.

Ed Holtom, Eleanor Wright and Phoebe Wilkinson present a cheque to Andrew Copley from Centre 33 One of the School’s close neighbours is Centre 33 on Spicer Street, which is a drop-in centre for homeless and socially and materially disadvantaged people in St Albans. As the Centre is so close to the Drama Department, money was raised to help its work at performances of the School’s Christmas production, Wendy and Peter Pan. Actors from the play presented a cheque, as well as gloves and scarves, to the Centre’s secretary, Andrew Copley. The donations will assist with Centre 33’s provision of opportunities for people in need to relax, have social opportunities and enjoy a free meal and a drink in a friendly, welcoming environment.

Top Level Coaching Kyran Bracken has been enjoying his new post as Elite Sports Development Manager at the School, joining a strong coaching team. His primary focus is the 1st XV rugby team, collaborating with Mr Jeremy Walmsley to improve the players’ understanding of the game and to empower them to make the right decisions in match situations.

He also ensures that techniques and tactics employed at the senior level filter down to all players in the School. While he believes that sport coaching and development needs the personal touch, Kyran is also enthusiastic about exploiting new technology. He has introduced the School to Hudl, which allows the coaches to use video taken from fixed cameras at Woollams, as well as smartphones, portable cameras and tablets, to share and review performance and techniques. The players are sent ‘team plays’ and themes of the week, highlighted by the technology, which then allows training to focus on specific areas for improvement. ‘It’s also about what the players do well,’ said Kyran. ‘While we are clear about standards, we look for positive reinforcement.’

Swimming Selection Fourth Former Jude Liddiard has been selected for the East Division of the English Schools’ Swimming Association and will be competing in the Interdivisional Championships which take place in Liverpool in March.

CHARITIES PREFECT and write an email to go round the School. Then we visited the forms to make sure everyone understood what they needed to do. It was great finally to take all the gifts to the Salvation Army at Christmas time.

• What qualities do you think a successful Charity Prefect should possess?

Sophie Gay is one of the three Charity Prefects in the Sixth Form. Here she chats about the role, its opportunities and responsibilities.

• What is the role of the Charity Prefects?

Our first role of each term is collating all the charity event ideas and suggestions from each form. We then refine these to come up with one main charity event that will be our main goal for the term.

For example, our most recent event was the ‘Christmas Present Appeal’ for the Salvation Army. Initially we had to get in touch with the St Albans Salvation Army base, create posters

Organisation is the main quality that being a charity prefect requires, as you never know how much planning is ‘We’d like to encourage pupils needed to ensure to be proactive and involved in the successful the charitable environment.’ running of an event until you go through it yourself. My organisational skills have definitely improved markedly. With schoolwork piling up, this has been an extremely useful development. As well as this, other very important values include empathy and accountability.

• What project in particular have you particularly enjoyed since taking on the role?

The Salvation Army ‘Christmas Present Appeal’ was my favourite event, as when we took the presents to the

St Albans base, we could see how grateful the Salvation Army volunteers were with the mountain of gifts we off loaded from the car into their hall.

Receiving a very thankful letter from the Salvation Army at the start of this year was also very rewarding.

• How do you think the responsibilities of taking part in these events benefits pupils at the School?

It allows pupils to engage in something other than schoolwork and take responsibility for something that is going to have effects outside of the School community. We are trying to come up with charity initiatives that don’t just involve handing small amounts of money over, but which encourage pupils to be proactive and involved in the charitable environment we are aiming to create.

• What area or group of people within the local community would you like to see given extra support over the coming year?

I think we could look into helping schools or charities within our area that do work with helping people with disabilities or learning difficulties.

BUILDING FUTURES CAMPAIGN The Headmaster launched the School’s Building Futures fundraising appeal at the beginning of last term, and invited all members of the School’s community (current and former parents as well as Old Albanians and friends of the School) to support this new initiative.

We are conscious that some families have to make significant sacrifices to afford the fees and are therefore determined to keep fees as affordable as possible without increasing them to provide additional funds for new facilities. However, other families are in a position to support our development plans and could have readily afforded

any development premium included in the fees. We are delighted with the support that the Campaign has received to date and are confident that more parents will choose to join us.

The quiet phase of fundraising has been underway for more than two years now; the total of donations received and pledges made has already exceeded £6 million. That leaves £1.85 million for us to raise to meet our fundraising target for the projects, which include a new faculty building for Mathematics, two new Science laboratories in classrooms to

WENDY TO THE FORE The traditional tale of Peter Pan was turned around in the Christmas production of Wendy and Peter Pan, which was extravagantly staged in the School Hall. Putting Wendy at the forefront of the action as she seeks her deceased brother Tom, this version, first performed by the RSC, focused on the girls – Wendy herself, played by Lucy Redwood, a truculent Tinkerbell (Phoebe Wilkinson) and feisty Tiger

Lily (Eleanor Wright). Wendy’s brothers were delightfully played, thoroughly enjoying their adventures in Neverland until their skirmishes with the most splendid set of gurning pirates that have ever flown the Jolly Roger. Ed Holtom’s Peter Pan flew over proceedings, innocent charm sometimes clouded by troubled realisations. While the colourful comedy of the piece was played to its full, Oliver Hurst’s light,

GATHERS STRENGTH There are several opportunities for naming rights on offer - further information and a donation form are available on the School’s website at http://www.st-albans.herts.sch.uk/Building-Futures. You can also find out more information by contacting the School’s Development Director at kgray@st-albans.herts.sch.uk. be vacated by Mathematics, and the refurbishment and redevelopment of the New Hall into a Centre for Performing Arts. This will include the remodelling of the Middle Yard and the establishment of a new Music School on the lower ground floor in the area previously occupied by the kitchens.

The Building Futures Campaign is

a planned, measured programme, and a key element of the School’s five year strategic plan. It will effect a transformation of our facilities, blending architecture ancient and modern and creating an environment in which current and future pupils can continue to thrive and excel.

effeminate Captain Hook set the tone – for all his humour he could turn genuinely vicious in a moment. This balance was a feature of the whole hugely enjoyable production: it was deft, funny and contained some fine witty one-liners, but also explored the nature of grief, loss and family love with real sensitivity. It was a most appropriate, tender production for this time of year.

Chocolates and Gifts in Germany First Formers enjoyed traditional food, opportunities to buy gifts and a range of cultural experiences when they visited Cologne and its famous Christmas markets before the seasonal break from School.

Seven staff accompanied over sixty pupils on the trip to Germany and all enjoyed the atmosphere in the beautiful city with its fine cathedral and churches. As well as spending time in the markets and buying Christmas gifts for family members, the boys explored the city on a walking tour during which they learnt about the history of the largest

gothic cathedral in northern Europe and the Roman origins of Cologne.

They visited the Sports and Olympic Museum and were able to try a range of traditional and modern sports, including a football match on the roof, overlooking the river Rhine. The tour of the Lindt Chocolate Museum was particularly fascinating, as the pupils learned about the process of refining chocolate from cocoa beans.

They displayed an enthusiastic interest in all aspects of the trip and returned with memories as well as loaded shopping bags.

Exploring Historical Mud and Stone Students had widely different opportunities to extend their learning by foreign travel in October, with a party of Classicists flying to Greece to explore the remains of the ancient Classical civilisation, while historians journeyed to Belgium to witness the remnants of what seemed at the time to be the end of civilisation – the Great War. In Greece, Athens was the first port of call with visits to the Acropolis and the Parthenon, where students were stunned by the scale and magnificence of the buildings. A trip to Delphi showed them the site of the famous Oracle in the Temple of Apollo, as well as beautiful scenery. At Olympia, the site of the first Olympic Games, they even participated in a 182m race, though

fell short of Olympic times. Sparta, Corinth, Acrocorinth, Mycenae and Tiryns were also on the students’ exhausting but fascinating itinerary.

were among the 72,000 inscriptions.

They were remembered as wreaths were laid on behalf of the School and the Coldstream Guards.

Fourth Formers visited the WW1 battlefields on the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, which gave added poignancy to the trip.

They explored the war cemeteries at Lijssenthoek, Notre Dame de Lorette, Beaumont Hamel, Tyne Cott and Langemarck and were moved by the sheer number of headstones.

At Beaumont Hamel, a cross of remembrance was left on the grave of Captain Harry Hulks OA. The group also saw the salient at Ypres, trenches at Sanctuary Wood and the Thiepval Memorial, where the names of many OAs and of relatives of some of the students

Greg’s European Golf Greg Hurley of the Fifth Form is making strides in the international golf arena, competing in the European Junior Open Championships in Spain.

After the initial rounds, he made the cut and was placed 15th out of 105 U16 golfers. From that position

he continued to improve on the course at Finca Cortesin, shooting a one over par 73 in his final round, which placed him 7th overall in the competition against the best golfers in his age group in Europe.

Students at Olympia, the site of the first Olympic Games