St Benedict's News - Lent Term 2019

ST BENEDICT’S

NEWS

BENEDICT’S SCHOOL a

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LEN T TER M 2019

Les Misérables – page 14

aling •

London •

W5 2ES

• V 020 8862 2010

M headmaster@stbenedicts.org.uk

F St Benedicts School, Ealing •

L stbenedicts

Dear Parents,

Model United Nations winners

At the end of another extremely busy term at St Benedict’s, I hope you will enjoy reading about the many activities and achievements of our pupils. Events have included a fascinating Science Fair and a wide range of talks taking place each week. There has been extensive involvement in the arts, with 260 entrants taking part in the Music Festival, an exceptionally good production of Les Misérables, entertaining Jazz Concert, vibrant Dance Shows and an outstanding concert at St John’s Smith Square. In sport, the 1st VII won the Middlesex U18 Rugby 7s plate, the U12 hockey team won the Middlesex Tournament and our fencing team won the London Quadrangular. As ever, St Benedict’s Day saw a great deal of whole-hearted fundraising, which was powerfully contextualised by speakers from Mary’s Meals, Aid to the Church in Need, Papyrus and The Passage; Mass this year was celebrated by Bishop Peter Doyle, Bishop of Northampton.

The St Benedict’s Model United Nations team returned victorious from their latest conference, held on March 9th at the City of London School. Irene Llinares-Perales and Amy Vaughan received ‘Best Delegate’ awards for their well researched and clearly delivered arguments. Both representing Australia, Amy debated human rights abuses in Equatorial Guinea in 1976, and Irene debated the question of child marriage.

The keynote speaker was Rosemary Thomas OBE, a British diplomat who has worked at the Foreign Office for 25 years, with postings to Ukraine, Afghanistan, Belarus and Mexico.

I wish you and your families a very Happy Easter.

With best wishes,

Andrew Johnson Headmaster

Dear Parents, It has been a really enjoyable Lent term, and I hope that you and your children will be able to look back with fondness upon the academic and co-curricular activities that have taken place during the past three months. This edition of St Benedict’s News will celebrate the rich curriculum that the children enjoy: a vibrant Maths Week; skiing in Sestriere, Italy; the Dance Shows; the assorted Soloists’ concerts and the Spring Concert, and St Benedict’s Day, to highlight a few events.

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

I wish each and every one of you a most enjoyable and relaxing Easter with your family and friends, and I look forward to greeting you at the start of the Trinity term.

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With best wishes,

Rob Simmons Junior School Headmaster

The St Benedict’s team: Evan Hobson, Imogen Barrett-Mogilany, Sam Symes, Irene Llinares-Perales, Audrey Reber and Amy Vaughan

Egyptians Workshops (Lower and Upper Prep)

Max, Paulina, the Headmaster, James and Phoebe

Oxford University has offered places to Phoebe Daly-Jones and Paulina Sienniak, to read Mathematics at Somerville College and Classical Archaeology & Ancient History at Corpus Christi College respectively. James Ball and Max Lubowiecki both have offers from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, to read Natural Sciences and Mathematics respectively. Two students who left St Benedict’s last year have received unconditional offers: Matthew Barrett will read German at St Peter’s College, Oxford, and Aine McColgan will study Natural Sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

The Headmaster, Andrew Johnson, said: “This is absolutely tremendous news and I offer my warmest congratulations to our six successful Oxbridge candidates. Not only have they demonstrated huge commitment to their chosen subjects, they have also made an outstanding contribution to the life of the school, and I have no doubt they will all excel at university and beyond.”

Matthew and Aine

“This is absolutely tremendous news and I offer my warmest congratulations to our six successful Oxbridge candidates.”

Andrew Johnson, Headmaster

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

OXBRIDGE NEWS

Six St Benedict’s students have received Oxbridge offers this year.

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SKI TRIP Over 60 pupils from throughout the school went on the annual St Benedict’s Ski Trip, which was in Sestriere, Italy this year. Everyone enjoyed the fantastic skiing and magnificent scenery.

MATHS CHALLENGE Intermediate Maths Challenge 2019 This year’s results were the best ever achieved at this level with Gold Certificates awarded to 13 students.

Niall Wynne was awarded the Best in School certificate, and all were invited to take part in the next round of the competition.

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

UK Maths Trust Team Challenge Congratulations to the Maths Challenge Team, who came second out of a field of 26 in the Regional Final of the UKMT Team Challenge, beating local schools such as Notting Hill and Ealing and Cardinal Wiseman.

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UKMT Challenges are tests of mathematical reasoning and mental agility, aimed at the top third of pupils in the country. It attracts over 600,000 participants from more than 4500 schools with only a very small percentage being invited through to subsequent Olympiad events.

Back/middle row: Robert Jeffries (U4); Dylan Baxter (U5); John Adenigbagbe (U5); Aran Husni (U5); Felix Mac-Fall (L5); Aaron Yuan (L5); Finlay King (U5); Ned Gatacre (U5); Front row: Jin Tao Wang (L5); Niall Wynne (L5); Saho Matsushita – Captain (U4); Not pictured: Benedict Rimmer (U4); Duncan Ashby (U5)

Helena Ramsden (F3); Nicholas O’Sullivan (F3); Robert Jeffries (U4); Benedict Rimmer (U4)

Theatre trip Sixth form classicists attended a performance of Oedipus Rex at University College London. It was preceded by a lecture given by Professor Patrick Finglass of Bristol University, who encouraged the students to consider Oedipus as a pawn of Fate, as well as a compassionate leader of Thebes. The performance itself was everything a Greek tragedy should be: compelling, entertaining and thought-provoking.

CLASSICS WEEK

Chocolate temples Form 3 pupils were asked to produce a structurally sound temple complete with pediment and cult statue, and there were some impressive creations. The winning team said: “It was good to learn about something different in a fun and messy way! It was great to work as a team, and our final product was delicious and looked really cool!”

Ben Kane The Upper 4th were treated to an excellent talk on Life in the Roman Army by bestselling author Ben Kane. Wearing full military gear, he spoke about the harsh conditions, vicious training and camaraderie Roman soldiers would have known.

The winning team: Rafa, Grace, Connie, Tadhg, Mia and Chihiro (F3H)

ST BENEDICT’S

MUSIC FESTIVAL 2019 The week-long, annual Music Festival concluded with excellent performances from the winners of each heat at the Finalists’ Concert.

RESULTS

Senior Section Cup Valentina Elner-Kupcha (Clarinet) – Concerto in A, 2nd Movement (Mozart) Intermediate Section Cup Duncan Ashby (Marimba) – La muerte de Angel – (Piazzolla) Valentina, Henry, Charles MacDougall (adjudicator), Katie and Duncan

Junior Section Cup Henry Rust (Clarinet) – In Rhythm (Templeton)

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

Flohouse Cup Katie Gibson (Voice) – Art is calling for me (Herbert)

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Lower 4th pupils presented their science projects at the annual St Benedict’s Science Fair, held in British Science Week. Over 150 children from local junior schools attended the fair, viewing more than 40 experiments set up throughout the science labs.

Biology teacher Mrs Marais, who organised the event, said: “The Science Fair was an opportunity for our Lower 4th pupils to investigate a topic which interested them. The task was to design a test, conduct their investigations and present their results to visitors. The projects ranged from constructed wind turbines to the chemistry of setting gelatine. The pupils had prepared a hypothesis, identified variables and tested them in the most quantifiable way possible and their presentations were fascinating!”

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

SCIENCE FAIR 2019

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ST BENEDICT’S

JAZZ CONCERT

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

The annual St Benedict’s Jazz Concert took place on Friday 1st March, with special guest Linley Weir, whose distinctive voice is described by the Jazz Times as “authentic, smoky, soulful and original”. With Caroline Cooper on piano, Matt Fletcher on drums and Paul Michael on double bass, their talent and musical rapport shone through as they performed classics such as Gershwin’s They can’t take that away from me, That old black magic, and No more blues.

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The Senior and Junior Jazz ensembles and Big Band performed popular jazz standards such as Chuck Berry’s Johnny Be Good, Somewhere over the rainbow and Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay. The evening concluded with a dazzling jazz set from Linley Weir, with the Senior Jazz Group joining them for You’ve got a friend.

Over 80 St Benedict’s musicians gave a stunning concert at St John’s Smith Square, one of London’s most prestigious concert venues, on Sunday March 31st. The choir and orchestra performed an all-Mozart programme: the ‘Haffner’ Symphony No. 35 K385; Clarinet Concerto in A major KV 622 – Soloist: Valentina Elner-Kupcha (Lower 6th) – and the Requiem in D minor K626. (Soloists: Alison Rayner, Rebecca Stockland, Mark Chaundy and Leandros Taliotis)

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

MOZART CELEBRATION AT ST JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE

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The 70s

THE JUNIOR SCHOOL SPRING CONCERT St Benedict’s pupils aged 7 to 11 gave a range of wonderful choral and instrumental performances at the Spring Concert. Inspired by the theme of ‘The 70s’, the programme included 7 different instrumental ensembles and 3 choirs, demonstrating the enthusiasm and musical talent of children in Lower Prep to Form 2.

The evening began with two songs from Bugsy Malone – Fat Sam’s Grand Slam and Bad Guys. The Schola Choir then sang a beautiful arrangement of John Lennon’s

Fire, fire!

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

Where did the Great Fire of London start, and what caused it to spread so far and so quickly? Pre-Prep 3 have been finding out, by setting up a micro-fire in the playground.

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Imagine, which was followed by the School Choir singing Any dream will do from Lloyd Webber’s Joseph.

There were many references to the 70s in the concert’s instrumental section, such as Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t she lovely from the Guitar Group, Pring’s Red Alert from the Brass Group, and ABBA’s Waterloo played by the Orchestra.

The final choral section opened with Wonder’s Superstition and ended with ABBA’s Thank you for the music.

The Key Stage 1 concert gave musicians aged 5 to 7 the opportunity to perform to an audience.

Zoe Rutherford, Mr Eastwood, Grace Rodericks, Isabella Ciavola-Mooney, Kaitlyn Moran, Gabriella Di Laccio, Stephanie Maalouf, Harry Lubkowski, Carla Boulter, Katie Gibson and the Headmaster.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY MARCH 8TH A celebration of Women Composers Eight singers gave a recital of music by women composers, inspired by their singing teacher, award-winning international soprano Gabriella Di Laccio.

Students heard from a distinguished panel of professionals.

Questions included: What does IWD mean to you?

How would you address the cultural issues that form the background of the gender pay gap? How can we counteract the negative stereotypes of feminism?

Gabriella launched DONNE Women in Music last year, an online database of more than 5,000 women composers.

She is included on the BBC 100 Women list of inspirational and influential women.

“DONNE is my way, as a musician, to share with as many people as possible the fascinating stories of so many neglected women composers”, said Gabriella. “By raising awareness about the huge inequality that we currently experience when it comes to knowing these women and hearing their music, we hope to help to create a more equal world for future generations.”

Question Time To mark International Women’s Day the Lower 6th attended a Question Time discussion, which focused on gender balance and equality.

The panel: Jean O’Brien (former Marketing Director, Conde Nast); Matt Pye (Founder of international advertising agency Procreate London); Lysbeth Fox (CEO Fox PR); David Howe (human rights lawyer and founder of Howe & Co); Julie Pierce (formerly of Goldman Sachs) Chair: Paulina Sienniak

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

The recital’s programme included: L’anneau d’argent

by Cécile Chaminade (1857–1944); The Apple Orchard

by Lori Laitman (b. 1955); Down by the Salley Gardens

by Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979); and The Rose by Amanda McBrown (b. 1947).

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CCF

EXERCISE SILVER LION & EXERCISE BRONZE TIGER Sgt Emilia McFadzean (L6) reports:

In the last week of February, the St Benedict’s School CCF went on a field weekend to Longmoor training camp in Hampshire.

The purpose of the weekend was to develop and refine fieldcraft skills, including overnight stay in the field, military exercises, night-time exercises, sentry duties and the joy of rations!

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

The camp took place in two phases. The first phase, Ex Silver Lion, was for the senior cadets who left on Friday morning for a two-night-stay. The second phase was for the new recruits who arrived on Saturday morning for a one-night-stay. For the new recruits, this was their first time away in the field with the cadet force – and the weekend promised to offer some fun challenges.

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The Friday field day was for the senior cadets. We were issued a challenge by the CCF staff: under the command of our peers, we needed to set up a camp base in an ‘enemy’occupied area. This involved a number of tasks including locating and securing our base (platoon harbour), patrolling the area to suppress enemy action and withdrawing safely from enemy contact. It was an opportunity to practise radio communication and issue effective orders in the field. The exercise was also ideal for practising both our individual leadership skills and our collective ability to function as a unit.

On the Saturday morning, after a night of sentry duty (and therefore little sleep!), the senior cadets prepared for the

arrival of the new recruits. By this time, we had heard the weather forecast warning of Storm Freya hitting the UK, and everyone was keeping their fingers crossed that she would bypass Hampshire!

The new recruits arrived late-morning with eager faces, fully laden with their heavy bergens (backpacks) for the first time.

The day was filled with many field activities. The recruits participated in patrolling practice, pairs fire and manoeuvre drills, camouflage and concealment lessons, setting up camp, and a night-time navigation exercise.

The exercises were challenging and they were certainly not made easier by the battering delivered by Storm Freya, who insisted on maintaining her course over the UK. However, as SSI Sadiq rightly said later, “It’s not training if it’s not raining!”

Sunday morning saw quite a cold and wet platoon - but there was no time for that! Recruits quickly threw themselves into a series of exciting section attacks. Here they were able to use the skills learned in the lessons from the previous day to successfully fight their way through an enemy location.

This was a great learning exercise.

Field camps are meant to be a tough challenge, but they always provide the opportunity to develop stamina and personal resilience, as well as an opportunity to practise the skills necessary to be a successful cadet.

Here is what some of the cadets had to say about the weekend:

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“It was a challenge but I’ve come out a stronger person.”

“One of my favourite bits was the night patrol because it was exciting not knowing what was about to happen and it was cool trying to find our way back in the dark.”

“Good weather for moulding berets!”

“The camp was not easy but it was challenging and that is what made it good because it pushed us to persist through the rain, cold and wind and helped the new recruits to put the tactics learnt on Monday sessions into action.”

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

“Morale was always high thanks to team-building, despite the bad weather.”

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With a cast of almost 50 pupils on stage, professional and student musicians in the orchestra and numerous crew backstage, Les Misérables was a true tour de force at St Benedict’s.

Performed to sell-out audiences over three nights, and with a matinée for local junior school children, it was an astounding show which will live on in the memories of everyone lucky enough to have seen it.

The St Benedict’s cast captivated the audience with the brilliance of their singing and acting from start to finish, from the chain gang of the opening scene to the triumphant finale. The lead roles were played with considerable professionalism and talent, demonstrating total command of the show’s emotional range and challenges. Jean Valjean’s Bring him home (Harry Lubkowski); Javert’s Stars (Jack Leonard), Fantine’s I dreamed a dream (Cora Doherty), Eponine’s On my own (Alice Gedye), and Marius’ Empty chairs at empty tables (Finley Carty-Howe) were outstanding. Katie Gibson gave a strong performance as Enjolras, leading the revolution with Red and Black. The chorus singing was equally impressive, with wonderful, whole-hearted performances of One more day, Do you hear the people sing, and Master of the house – the bawdy comedy of the Thénardiers brilliantly played by Louis Clow and Greta Azzopardi.

All in all, Les Misérables was a triumph, and a credit to the talents of everyone involved.

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

Les Misérables

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A lesson on the Berlin Wall

The Meschede German exchange, now in its 13th year

German A Level Literature and Film Study Day

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

Evan Hobson (L6) writes...

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The A Level German Study Day was an extremely useful and enjoyable experience. Lots of German A level students from around London gathered at the Mahatma Gandhi Hall in Fitzrovia, to hear some expert speakers discussing the literature and film that we study. Tim Guilford began by guiding us through the meaning of film, and how to analyse it, and also shared some tips for the exam. This was followed by Dr Geoff Brammall, the author of one of our great textbooks, who spoke in German about the films Good Bye, Lenin! and Das Leben der Anderen. This gave us a great opportunity to test our translation skills.

Finally, we heard from Franziska Florack, who, as a native speaker, told us about the books Der Besuch der Alten Dame and Der Vorleser. With a couple of Brexit jokes thrown in, Ms Florack gave us an entertaining and insightful analysis of the books we are studying. Overall, the day was not only useful for our course, but also a fantastic chance to hear detailed and lengthy German being spoken.

Translation masterclass in the Helikon Centre

MATHS WEEK Maths Week at St Benedict’s Junior School was a fun-filled celebration of numbers, with problem-solving, games, puzzles and competitions for pupils aged 3 to 11.

Pupils built and explored the properties of 2D and 3D shapes and collaborated to create cubes, patterns and tangrams with brightly coloured foam pieces. They also practised their measuring and investigated fractions. Upper Prep explored the Egyptian number system and built pyramids out of sugar cubes, while Form 1 learned about the ancient Mayan number scheme. Form 2 investigated statistics about climate change, linking maths to their Ice Worlds topic.

Finally, children were delighted to have parents and grandparents join them in maths lessons for a morning, giving them an opportunity to hear a presentation about how maths is taught at St Benedict’s.

Last year, St Benedict’s piloted the Level 2 Extended Project Qualification for Upper 4th pupils.

This qualification, which is equivalent to half a GCSE, entails a 2,000-word evaluative report, a log book of the research process and presentation.

Thirty pupils completed the qualification and the results were very impressive: 7 pupils achieved an A* grade, 70% were awarded either an A* or A grade and 93% achieved an A*–B grade.

A* pupils: Blanca Azpilicueta: To what extent has human behaviour contributed to Global Warming? Barnaby Watts: To what extent is fascism on the rise again in Germany? James Hunter: What are the moral, religious and ethical arguments for and against xenotransplantation?

Lucas Holmes: To what extent does the international recruitment policy offer a cost advantage to the NHS? Grace Walker: To what extent does nature over nurture create the psychological effect which creates female serial killers? Thomas Baotic: To what extent is the cold spot theory a more convincing multiverse theory than the bubble universe theory? Angelica Lawson: To what extent was the Battle of the Somme worth the loss of lives, from the British perspective?

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

Top marks for EPQ research

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CAREERS

As school days are packed with break and after school activities, career breakfasts have proved a popular way for pupils to gain careers insight.

The term began with Cambridge Occupational Analysis joining us for 3 days of intensive one-to-one higher education interviews with the Lower 6th, followed by a whole year group visit to the UCAS Higher Education fair held at the University of Surrey campus, and an information evening on the process for parents and pupils.

Careers Week included a mentoring and networking event with Old Priorians and pupils, and an Apprenticeship Fair at Sandown Park, which was followed later in the term by an information evening on apprenticeship degrees with both universities and employers.

CAREERS TALKS

Representatives from the National Apprenticeship Service, Cap Gemini, KPMG, Aston and Nottingham Universities

Katushka Giltsoff

Averil Macdonald OBE, Professor Emerita of Reading University, gave three talks: Careers where people like me are happy and successful (for girls and their mothers) “The talk broadened the possibilities of careers that many girls would never have thought about looking into, allowing each of us to leave the hall with a greater sense of confidence in the futures that lie ahead of us.”

(Cleo Byrne L6) Fantastic Plastic: Is plastic the destroyer or saviour of the planet?

Are we ready for electric cars?

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

“Professor Macdonald’s lecture was extremely enlightening, as I had previously supported the rising popularity of electric cars. Anyone interested in the topic should do some research into the benefits of replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen gas instead of electricity.”

(Kate Tracey L6)

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Katushka Giltsoff, Founder of KGI Associates Ltd and senior advisor to the Miles Partnership: Preparation for the professional world “A question and answer session covered a number of areas regarding gender expectations and challenging the stereotypes of gender behaviour in the workplace. We thoroughly enjoyed this inspiring, thoughtprovoking talk, as we begin our journey into the professional world.”

(Milly McCosker U5)

Professor Barbara Shollock

Thomas Fudge, CEO of WASE, and Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Worldwide wastewater treatment to eradicate poor living conditions

Dave Wardell, Vice President Global Sales, Intent IQ: Artificial intelligence and the future of work

Dave Wardell

Julie Pierce: Pathways into the City ‘ “She mentioned the importance of values, teamwork, and thinking not as individuals but as a unit, to achieve results that go beyond expectations.”

Giovanni Vecchi (F3)

Professor Averil Macdonold OBE

Professor Barbara Shollock, Professor of Engineering at King’s College London: Engineers – people who create the future

Thomas Fudge

Julie Pierce

ST BENEDICT’S DAY 2019 St Benedict’s Day is an opportunity for the whole school to focus on our Catholic and Benedictine mission.

Firstly, pupils learned about the aims of this year’s charities: The Passage, Mary’s Meals, Aid to the Church in Need and Papyrus, which address homelessness, global poverty, religious persecution and mental illness. Talks and presentations from representatives of each charity put everyone’s fund-raising efforts into context.

Form 3 visited local residential homes for the elderly, where they provided musical entertainment, played Scrabble and ping-pong, and chatted to the residents. The Lower 5th, meanwhile, visited The Passage in Westminster, to find out more about their work in helping London’s homeless people.

In the middle of the day, everyone from Reception to the Sixth Form came together for Mass, celebrated by Bishop Peter Doyle, Bishop of Northampton. In his sermon, Bishop Peter articulated the school’s Benedictine mission: essentially, to live in reverence for God, for each other and for our world, and to serve others, within the school and in the wider community.

After lunch the fundraising began. Face painting, sumo wrestling, a chocolate fountain, bowling, Haunted House, Penalty shoot-out, popcorn, raffles, waffles, and lots more, filled the school. More than £8,570 was raised.

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SPORT ST BENEDICT’S SENIOR SCHOOL

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RUGBY St Benedict’s wins the Middlesex U18 Sevens Plate St Benedict’s hosted the Middlesex U18 Sevens at Perivale in March and won the Plate Final – the first time in 12 years that St Benedict’s has won a trophy at this competition.

FENCING St Benedict’s won the London Quadrangular, an annual tournament for the four best fencing schools in London.

Four teams qualified to the British School Team Championships, with the U18 Boys achieving a bronze medal.

the Middle School Championships; Samuel Balogh and Elena LlinaresPerales (L4) came second and Paul Benson (F3) finished third. Ethan Barter won the Senior Foil Plate, beating Philippe Seidenberg (both U4); Elena came joint 3rd with

Rami Ahmad (U4). Duncan Ashby and Elias Kassouf (U6) came joint third in the Senior Foil main event, while Joseph McDonald (L6) lost to Alberto Mascioli (U5) in the final.

Alberto beat Joseph in the Epee competition.

Elena Llinares-Perales, Rami Ahmad, Ethan Barter and Philippe Seidenberg

The Sabre Squad is now fully established, with Dexter Shelmerdine (U4) and Angelica Lawson (L5) qualifying for the national championships. Joseph McDonald (U6), Duncan Ashby and Alberto Mascioli (L6) also qualified to the nationals in foil.

Duncan Ashby and Fernanda Da Silva (U6) both earned Bronze medals at the Public School Fencing Championships.

Ninety fencers from across the school took part in the Battle of St Benedict’s. Tom Dobbin (F3) won

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

Overall, fencers have taken part in 90 matches, winning 64. The U18A, U15C, U13C and all four U11 teams have remained unbeaten all season.

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HOCKEY St Benedict’s hosted and won the Middlesex U12s Hockey Tournament. The team showed determination, resilience and skill, and did not concede a goal in their six games. They beat Latymer Upper 1-0 in the semi-final and Godolphin and Latimer 1-0 in the final. Riya Kantamaneni was Player of the Tournament. They will now play at the South Regional Tournament.

The U13 girls’ squad made the semi-finals at the U13 Middlesex Hockey Tournament. They played some exciting and controlled hockey to beat West London Free School 3-0 in their opening game, followed by a 0-0 draw with Notting Hill & Ealing. They then beat Godolphin and Latymer’s B side 3-0 in a comfortable win. The girls lost their final group game 2-0 to Highgate and the semi-final to Godolphin and Latymer.

The U12s

NETBALL The 14/15s began the netball season at the Middlesex Netball Tournament, where they narrowly missed out on qualification to the finals.

The 1st VII won their opening fixture vs Pangbourne, and won a fast, intense game vs Godolphin and Latymer 22-15.

The 16As continue to play with cohesion and determination, spurred on by a win versus Mill Hill.

Isabella Pye (L6) is training at Herfordshire Mavericks and Francesca Newbold (L4) is currently playing for Middlesex county.

The 1st XI

BOYS’ HOCKEY In an excellent season, the 1st XI won 3 matches (UCS, Windsor Boys’ School and John Lyon School), drew 2 and lost just 1, with Daniel Clifford and Dom Taylor (U5) finishing as joint top goal scorers. Thank you and farewell to senior players William Coutts, Sam Symes, Benedict King, Jules Dehon, and special thanks to vice-captain James Ball and captain Conor Moon.

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

ATHLETICS

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Jak Mensah (L6) won two U20 events in the Middlesex Indoor Athletics Championships at Lee Valley: the 200 m – in 22.55s (a personal best) – and the 60 m events. This was his first year of competing as an U20.

Last year, Jak was ranked 3rd nationally at U17 level in the 200 m and currently holds the Middlesex U17 200 m outdoors record. He has been selected for the British Athletics Academy of Sporting Excellence, which helps top athletes in Britain to transfer from youth to senior elite athletics.

Jak Mensah

SPORT ST BENEDICT’S JUNIOR SCHOOL

RUGBY

The U11s have focused on the 7-a-side game this term and played well at the Reading Oratory Sevens Festival.

The U10s continue to progress well with their core skills, while the U9s have enjoyed their first year of contact rugby. The Lower Prep and Pre-Prep rugby players have made good headway in their introduction to rugby.

SWIM SQUAD The Swim Squad (Upper Preps to Form 2) has been training well, demonstrated by some very close galas this term, with Notting Hill and Ealing for the girls, UCS for the boys (104 v 103 points) and a mixed gala against St Paul’s Junior School.

At the end of April pupils from

Forms 1 and 2 will represent St Benedict’s in the English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) Divisional Championships for Primary Schools.

HOCKEY

finals while being the youngest team in the competition. At the Battle of St Benedict’s, Zachary Bowden (Form 2) was crowned Junior School Fencing Champion, narrowly beating Charley Kopoi (F1) in a close final.

Ines Tournaire and Ayush Gupta (F1) both earnt bronze medals.

In the Middlesex U11 Hockey tournament the girls lost the first game to Highgate, the eventual winners. They then beat Notting Hill and Ealing 1-0, and defeated St Augustine’s Priory 2-1 in their final game. They finished runners-up with a ticket to the Regional U11 Hockey Tournament.

FENCING The juniors have won every fixture and competed for the first time in the British School Team Championships, reaching the semi-

Zachary Bowden, Junior School Champion, with Head of Fencing, Mr Sadiq

NETBALL

In the U10As, Mika Stojsavljevic and Imogen Reade were declared players of the match in the Kew Green fixture – a 13-all draw. In the Belmont Prep Netball Tournament they won their first four matches, qualified into the next round in the top group and finished 5th overall.

U11s at the Orley Farm Netball Tournament

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

The U11s had an exciting day at the IAPS Netball Tournament at Queen Anne’s College, with superb circle work from captain Iris Whitley and goal shooter Lily Hussain.

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DANCE SHOW 2019 Over 200 Junior and Senior School dancers aged 5 to 18 performed in Fantasy and Fairy Tales. The Junior School show included scenes from the Railway Children, Arabian Nights and Harry Potter; Senior School dancers presented Charlie and the chocolate factory, Cinderella and Peter Pan.

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

DANCE Fantasy and

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ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

Fairy Tales

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DELICIOUS FOOD at St Benedict’s

St Benedict’s recently commissioned the Independent Schools Catering Consultancy to review our catering.

The ISCC began by conducting surveys throughout the school and there were many positive comments from pupils of all ages. In particular, there was glowing praise for breakfast, the salad bar, soups, range of choice and the delicious fruit pots. Pupils also liked the friendly, helpful staff, the new servery, and being able to have seconds.

In response to the survey, full English breakfast is served Monday to Thursday, as well as cereals, fresh fruit, yoghurt, hot chocolate, porridge and toast. Lunch menus now include new, adventurous choices such as ramen chicken noodles and Bombay chicken, alongside the more traditional options. Vegetarian options have been given a boost, with dishes such as portobello mushroom and grilled halloumi. In the Sixth Form café students can choose from a range of sushi, as well as panini, salads, Fairtrade muffins and smoothies. At morning break hot savoury snacks, flapjacks, sandwiches, fresh fruit and a selection of drinks are available.

Harry Potter Book Night Excited wizards and muggles gathered in the library for a sorting hat ceremony, quiz, wand-making and spell competition….

Limmerbackosis – Makes the person say everything backwards (Effie Webb/F3) Incikapitus Truthus – Freezes the victim apart from their mouth. They are then obliged to tell the truth (Ingio Bigland/L4) Skitzofrenus Trumpus – Makes someone hear Donald Trump’s voice over and over.

Weakens target with annoyance (Ezra Goff/L4) Galacticos – Sends you to space (Ben Dovey/U4) Kohoblehdeleteosa – Turns people into ants (Anwar Shurih/F3)

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

Murder in the Library – World Book Day

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Pupils had the opportunity to be detectives on World Book Day, solving the case of the Murder in the Library. Clues and suspects were scattered around ‘Benedict Towers’ on the day, to help them crack the case. The winning agents were F3H, with specially commended detectives Inigo Bigland, Peter Gordon and Sam Balogh (L4).

Luka questions Miss Scarlet in the Library

DEVELOPMENT OFFICE NEWS 2018/19 Annual Fund – Bench Sponsorship In response to the results of our student survey in 2018, which highlighted a widely-held desire amongst our student body for more outdoor seating areas, green social space and recreational equipment, we have been working with our Estates Department to put together a design for both the Junior and Senior playgrounds.

Currently, three areas have been earmarked for re-development this summer. For the Senior School this will encompass the green area opposite the Sports Hall and beside the Matchwood Crescent gates. For the Junior School we will remove the old sheds at the side of the after school club and re-develop the land to include a seating area alongside a play structure that will double as an outdoor theatre space for both play and class time.

A new table tennis area will be situated next to the CCF Hut, accessible for both Junior and Senior students.

If you have not already done so, please consider supporting the 2018/19 Annual Fund. On this page you will see we have included an artist’s impression of how one of the re-developed areas could look with your support. The drawing highlights what a difference this re-development could make.

As part of the re-development programme, we are offering our families the opportunity to sponsor a bench.

Sponsorship will cost £300 and will include a plaque with the family’s name. There are 30 benches available which will be sold on a ‘first come, first served basis’.

Sponsorship of a bench can be made via the School’sQuid system.

Finally, I would like to take the opportunity to wish all our families a very Happy Easter and to thank you very much for your ongoing support and consideration of the Annual Fund.

Best wishes,

Tara George, Development Director

ST BENEDICT’S NEWS

Dear Parents,

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