Issue 44 Summer 2012
Highlights
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NOBIS
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ST ALBANS SCHOOL
World Challengers
The School’s Intermediate Cross Country team achieved a stunning fourth place in the World Schools Cross Country Championship in March. No school representing England has ever topped that performance. The team clinched its place in Malta by winning the English Schools Championship in the grounds of Alnwick Castle at end of March last year.The invitation to represent their country and take part in such a prestigious international event was well earned, following a number of outstanding performances nationally as well as their success at Alnwick. Formidable opposition came from teams from Australia and Africa as well as Europe and the race presented a ver y challenging prospect to our young but experienced athletes. Robbie Lightowler finished in tenth Joseph Brennan and Adam Thorpe racing in Malta position, an outstanding achievement in such a highly competitive field, and four of the School’s other runners finished in the top 25. The team brought great credit to the School, and indeed their country, by finishing fourth behind Algeria, Turkey and Australia, earning the team and their coach, George Harrison, well deserved plaudits.
Charity Cake Sale Parents generously gave of their time and cooking ingredients by making hundreds of cakes and manning stalls to sell them on the last day of term after the House Music competition. They raised a phenomenal £1,000 within 25 minutes for the Paediatric Oncology Ward at Addenbrookes Hospital.
Olympiads 23 Sixth form students took part in the 44th International Chemistry Olympiad, run by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Silver medals were won by Luke Morton, the School’s highest scoring individual, Alex Shavick and Phil Ruis. Bronze medals were won by Jonathan Phillips, the highest scoring Lower Sixth student, Chloe Hall, Philippa Stevens and Phil Madgwick. 21 Sixth form students took part in the demanding UK Linguistics Olympiad. Emma Russell won a gold certificate, while Niall Kearney, Lucinda Toole and Arran Bhatiani gained bronze certificates.
Performances
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Maria was sung exquisitely by the aptly named Daniel Angel, while a contrast in mood, but not in quality, was provided by William Maynard’s rendition of Fly Me to the Moon. Other outstanding performances included Peter Gosling’s rendition of Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights, David McConnell’s performance of Rachmaninov’s Prelude in D Major, Liza Lehmann’s Evensong from Eleanor Rosser-Smyth and a stunning performance of Granados’ Madrigal in A minor by Chris Springthorpe. Some of these performances were reprised, with additional items, for a wider, appreciative public at a successful lunchtime concert at St Peter’s Church.
Abroad A fine jazz concert delighted the audience in March. Mainstream, the School’s own jazz band, opened and closed the proceedings with some familiar classics: Broadway, Caravan and Night Train. The Barbershop Quintet enter tained with witty renditions of some popular numbers. The Chamber Choir gave a beautiful rendering of Chilcott’s A Little Jazz Mass and soloist Max Thomas delighted the audience with two contrasting pieces.
A highlight of the Spring Term is always the Joint Schools’ Concert at the Abbey. This year, musicians and singers performed Mozart’s Requiem to a packed and most appreciative audience. At Easter the Choir travelled to Paris and performed Living Room in London, a professional at Versailles and Trilport to sell-out, group of musicians, played eight highly appreciative audiences. Pupils pieces in a concert which featured also enjoyed a trip to Disneyland. a little known percussion instrument, the hang.This concert was an unusual and stimulating experience for those less familiar with modern developments in music.
This was, as usual, a term rich in musical activities. At the Music Award Holders’ Concer t the standard of performance was ver y high. Performances included a diverse range of solos across genres and instruments and involved pupils from all year groups. Schubert’s Ave
Edgy Drama Although dictated by the curriculum, A2 and AS drama performances attr acted ver y good audiences. Upper S i x t h students
produced one very topical piece, Hacked Off, which explored the recent phone hacking scandal, whilst other s adapted a Roald Dahl short story, Georgy Porgy. Both plays were devised by the students themselves. Lower Sixth students also impressed their audiences with a ver y effective performance of Sarah Kane’s challenging play, 4.48 Psychosis. The play is characterised by shifting moods, a clear sense of alienation and some light humour. Ben Harrison and Charlie Rounds certainly delivered to the full the requirements of their respective roles in this very demanding play.
AS Drama students experiment with style in their assessed production
Lower School pupils were provided with a workshop on mime, physical theatre, improvisation and puppetry, presented by Mar k Bell, Head of Physical Theatre at LAMDA. Pupils have been preparing the Lower School Dr ama Club’s summer production, for which they have devised their own creative adaptations of Roald Dahl’s short stories and found the advice and practical experience offered by the workshop very motivating and helpful.
Debating Lower Sixth debaters Jam es Sinclair and Tom Foxto n qualified for the national finals of the Camb ridge Union Debating Co mpetition. They were given only 15 minutes to prepare often controversia l motions, either in Proposition or Opposition .Tom and James delivered convincing arguments and impressed the judges in the qualifying rounds. At Cambridge for the final, they represented the School as one of the top 40 teams from a field of 550 who had initially en tered the competition. Th ey par ticipated in four debates, coming first at one stage. Although not victorious overall, James and Tom enjoyed the day and learned much from the experience. Michael Hollins and Phil Ruis comp eted with assurance in the Regional Final of the English Speaking Union Sch ools’ Mace and were only narrowly beaten by Eton College. Meanwhile , eight Sixth form German students took par t in a debating competition at Hig hgate, conducted in Germ an.There was a wide range of topics and our students spoke with confi dence and conviction; they were beaten by just one point by Highgate.
Roving Reporters A team of ambitious Third formers displayed their journalistic talents in this year’s BBC School Report. After researching a number of news stories, they had the opportunity to publish many of their own reports on the School’s special School Report website, providing a constant stream of news coverage throughout the day. Students reported on a range of school, local, national and global news stories. These included racism in football, David Cameron’s State Visit to the US, the Kony 2012 campaign and the new Sports Hall. Some par ticular ly enterprising students organised video interviews which were edited for posting on the day.These included a discussion with footballer Matt Connolly about the short shelf-life of football managers, and an interview with David Howell, the manager of St Albans FC, about the status of black managers in football. One pupil made a short but skilful film about the cross country team’s training for the World Championships in Malta. Repor ts also came in from students at the Big Bang Science Fair in Birmingham. The day also involved discussing the morning’s news, and interviewing members of staff for their perspective on some of the key stories, a process that lasted a number of days as students prepared and shot their videos. All students involved gained a real insight into what being a journalist is really like, supported by the School’s Publications Depar tment Sixth formers and staff.
A young reporter at work in the library (above) and St Albans FC Manager David Howell (below), interviewed for BBC School Report
Rotary Award
ard Technology Annual Rotary Aw e th d re te en s am ol te r in a limited Three Middle Scho creating a coin sorte of sk ta e th t se re han, Patrick Challenge. Teams we team, Ganesh Chau rm fo th ur Fo e Th ls. ateria Challenge and time with limited m n the Intermediate wo p, ris Ch n Be d r an emor y of local Semark, Miles Frye olio, presented in m rtf Po st Be r fo ize pr is one of the a newly inaugurated ’s new Spor ts Hall ol ho Sc e th A; O n ga architect David Mor ned. sig de he s ing last build
Trips
Ar t stud ents visit ed Barc elon a to exp erie nce Gau di’s arch itec tura l achievements first hand, including the remarkable church of the Sagrada Familia.The trip was enhanced by visit s to three museums, in particular the Picasso Museum, where pupils could assess Picasso’s early wor k. Fourth form historians visited the First World War battlefields, gaining a better understanding of the conditions und er which the troops fought. They visited the trenches near Ypres and the section of the Somme battle front at Beaumont Hamel. A poignant visit was made to the cemeter y of Notre Dame de Lorette, where over 45,000 bodies lie. A shor t but moving film about the trip was produced by Max Palmer, Keagan Witts and Shivam Raja. 27 French students extended thei r language skills on the exchange trip to Chambery, and the return leg of the German exchange was completed when pupils from the Christian Wir th Schule, near Frankfur t, came over to experience family and school life in St Albans.
Duke’s Survival
part in expeditions Over 115 Fifth and Sixth formers took k its prac tice too er und p ove r East er. A Gol d grou fall and rain, snow ite desp re, whe expedition in Snowdonia, vigation skills and pupils were able to hone their micro-na the Peak District to t wen s boy expedition techniques. 43 with relentless ns ditio con ing and experienced challeng Nevertheless, the rain, poor visibility and strong winds. anding routes. dem r thei ed plet groups successfully com rain on their y heav and hail A further 42 boys endured th Downs. Upper successful Silver expedition in the Sou achieved his Gold Sixth former Simon Chelley has already rd while still at Awa r thei e plet very few pupils com that in ent evem achi nt ifica sign a rd, Awa pleted their Gold Awards this year. school. Fourteen OAs have also com
Sport: An Excellent Hockey Season Hockey: This was a very good season with some first class results. The 1st XI savoured numerous victories over Merchant Taylors’, Haberdashers’, Windsor (7-2), Dulwich and the Leys School. They suffered only one defeat over the entire season and took second place in the national performance league on the Schools Hockey website. The 2nd XI and the U14As also enjoyed an excellent season. In February, U15 players had a tough, but ver y enjoyable four day tour in the West Country. Although they suffered some defeats at the hands of very strong sides, the improvement and progress which they made as hockey players was very marked. Cross Countr y: Before setting off to Malta to compete in the prestigious international event, the School’s runners took part very successfully in various scheduled competitions. U15 runners Robbie Lightowler, Joel Rabinowitz, Daniel Myers and Harrison Pyrke won their race against fierce opposition at the County Clubs Cross Country Championship.All four of them were selected to run for the County, as were U13 runner Tom Fulton, U17 runners J o e Redwood, Mark Pearce and Will Floyd, with girls Lizzie Bird and Isobel Thompson. All teams acquitted themselves well at the gruelling Knole Run, finishing in a very respectable second place. Robbie Lightowler finished in seventh place out of 323 finishers. As a Fourth former competing in a senior race, this was an outstanding achievement. At the South East Championship in Harrow, all teams aspired to finish the season on a high note. Both juniors and seniors ran well, despite absences resulting from sickness and injury.The intermediate team was also affected by this, but never theless ran an outstanding race to win comfortably, trouncing Judd School by 87 points. Football: The 1st XV maintained their unbeaten record, winning against St Edmund’s 3-1 and
St Columba’s 8-1, when they qualified for the knock out stages of the LB Cup. This was achieved with a convincing victory over Berkhamsted 2-0, Chris Schon and James Anthoney scoring the goals. Against Haberdashers’ the side then drew 3-3. A further score line of 5-0 against Sir John Lawes School emphasised the side’s strength and power. The U13s also had an exciting season. Although they drew 7-7 against St Edmund’s, Tolaji Bola covered himself with glory by scoring all seven of the goals. This excellent team went on to win the District Cup, which they had won as an U12 team last year. This success in the final against a strong Verulam side was in no small measure due to the heroic efforts of goalkeeper Sam Alexander. The winning goal was scored by Joe Riant, who managed capitalise on a fine cross from Callum Townsend.The Senior and U15 sides enjoyed a fine tour to Cyprus, where they played some strong sides. The U15s, in particular, achieved some impressive wins. Shooting: Fine performances from the members of the A team ensured that the School won the Keith Emsall Trophy for Young Hertfordshire Rifle Teams, pushing Haberdashers’ into third place. The B team also won their competition. Top individual scorer in the target rifle category was Chris Oates, who scored a perfect 100. In the National Leagues the Seniors put in a fine effort, finishing only one point shor t of the top spot in their league.The Juniors won their section with Aidan Collins as top shot and Tom Chapman, Harry Lampert and Alessandro Rossi putting in very accurate performances. Lacrosse: Lacrosse has been very successful, with forty girls participating in the squad.The girls worked hard to improve their skills and understanding of the game, which paid off in their matches. Although they did not
win a match, the team’s focus and determination was excellent, resulting in some close scores. Lucie Toole was named most improved player of the season, while Charlotte Fraser was named best player of the season. However, the team as a whole improved dramatically, with Molly Maguire and Lillie Richardson being impressive in both attack and defensive positions. Kamalia Mohamad was excellent in goal, having never played goalkeeper before. Skiing: At the ERSA Schools Ski Championship, the U16 team, Max Cadman, Patrick Gaeton, Patrick Semark and Nick Stride, posted some very impressive times. They were placed third overall, winning the bronze medal. Earlier in the term, First former Max Cadman had been selected to train in Geilo, Norway with the English Schools Ski Association. He ended the week ranked 9th, an impressive achievement. This year’s ski trip went to Jay Peak in Vermont. Good snow, allied with excellent instructors, ensured that all enjoyed some fine skiing. This successful trip was topped off with an enjoyable day’s sightseeing in New York. Tennis: Charles Broom, currently ranked 79 in Europe and a consistent GB top 4 tennis player, competed in Stockholm, Sweden, before being invited by the LTA to participate in their National Training Days in March. Sailing: Tim le Couillard and Adam Craig Thompson have been selected for the Herts Youth Dinghy Racing Squad and will be competing at the National Schools Sailing Association Golden Jubilee Regatta in July.
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