St Leonards Gazette 2019-20

CONTENTS

HEADMASTER’S INTRODUCTION

PARENTS ASSOCIATION

PRIZEGIVING&CELEBRATIONS

ALUMNI& DEVELOPMENT

What an extraordinary year!

It has been a year of two distinct halves: BC (before Covid), and AC (after Covid); however, the positivity and vibrancy of the St Leonards community remained constant throughout. Our global school community flourished in the face of adversity, staying connected - together whilst apart. Over the past year, our pupils have shown themselves to be true International Baccalaureate learners, both in school and whilst learning from home. They displayed resilience, open-mindedness, responsible risktaking, clear communication, and a caring attitude towards their peers and classmates. I am immensely proud of each and every one of them. Our community of Seniors will likely

HEADMASTER’S INTRODUCTION

recognise these qualities in themselves, because a St Leonards education has always set its pupils up ‘Ad Vitam’ (for life).

The colourful and varied pages that are contained within this edition of the St Leonards Gazette are testament to the vibrancy of our special school community. I hope that our pupils and parents will treasure this snapshot of life at St Leonards in 2019-20, and that other members of our wider community enjoy this condensed summary of our jam-packed academic year - since it has certainly been a year to remember. My thanks go to the External Relations team, in particular Sophie Sanders and Sarah Proudfoot, who have compiled, edited, and produced this publication.

The St Leonards Gazette is not intended to be a weighty tome that should be read cover-to-cover in one sitting, but rather as a celebration of the achievements and activities from the year past that can be perused with a cup of tea, and perhaps a piece of cake. As we move forward into a new chapter of our school’s rich and exciting history and adjust to the ‘new normal’ imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, I am certain that St Leonards will continue to go from strength to strength as we continue to prepare our boys and girls to face the challenges, and embrace the opportunities, that life will throw at them.

Dr Michael Carslaw, Headmaster of St Leonards

ST LEONARDS

The past few months spent in lockdown will certainly be imprinted on our individual and collective memories for the rest of our lives. As we started the new academic year, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, the notion that a global pandemic would abruptly halt faceto-face teaching and that Room O would be empty for the duration of the Summer Term due to cancelled written examinations would have seemed laughable, if not impossible. Yet, as we all know, this is exactly what transpired. The first half of the year was very much ‘business as usual’ at St Leonards, with the usual jam-packed calendar of lessons, lectures, sports fixtures, concerts, drama productions, after-school activities, and other one-off events. However, at the end of March and with the enforcement of lockdown, all lessons and activities moved online and we launched ‘St Leonards Connected’. In this exciting new chapter of our school’s educational history, pupils and staff joined this virtual learning platform from their own homes across the globestaying connected, together while apart.

The positivity and pragmatism of pupils, parents, and staff enabled us to diversify, adapt, thrive and flourish as a school community throughout the Summer Term. There was a wide range of exciting and innovative initiatives, many of which are detailed in this edition of the St Leonards Gazette. For example, the PE Department organised our inaugural virtual Sports Day and kept us active and healthy with regular fitness challenges (see page 91), the Music Department hosted several online concerts and created some fantastic musical montages (see page 107), and the pupils produced some exceptional project work sparked by the themes and issues surrounding the coronavirus pandemic (which are detailed in the Class Reports and Department Reviews, pages 31-52 and 53-84 respectively).

St Leonards Connected facilitated significant upskilling in so many areas of school life. Our experiences of functioning as an online school will therefore shape the way in which we live and learn as a school community going forward. Over the course of the Summer Term, there were a staggering

9347 Google Meets which facilitated lessons, activities, parent-teacher meetings, coffee meets, individual instrumental lessons, and plethora of other meetings. These virtual gatherings enabled effective and frequent communication between parents, pupils, and staff, which was necessary to build and sustain an online learning community. The strength of this threeway partnership certainly underpinned the success of St Leonards Connected. We therefore hope to integrate these virtual meetings into our daily function as a school in the months and years to come.

The preparation and utilisation of online resources was another positive outcome of our time functioning as an online school. One fantastic initiative was the Skill Sharing Network, a collection of resources produced by 27 Sixth Form volunteers which sought to help younger pupils tackle difficult concepts and questions when completing their school work at home. The support offered ranged from pre-recorded tutorial videos to live video calls. This was a pupil-led initiative from conception to execution,

Rebecca Sneddon

Cameron Duncan

Lucy Tabberer

spearheaded by Johanna Woitke (Year 13), Alex Call (Year 13), and Ishwari Ade (Year 12). The initiative encapsulated the spirit of St Leonards: older and younger pupils working together to support one another. The resources produced as part of this initiative will be an invaluable resource going forward, which we hope to be able to build upon over the coming months.

In normal circumstances, days at St Leonards are punctuated by the chimes of school bells, familiar routines, and incidental conversations with fellow pupils and staff. The increased flexibility which derives from working

from home was therefore an adjustment for our whole school community. We were very proud to not only see our pupils work with a greater level of independence, but also use their talents and time to serve their local communities, both here in St Andrews and further afield.

As a school, in partnership with our catering provider, Thomas Franks, our kitchens became a hub for food production. Our wonderful team of chefs volunteered to prepare delicious meals for families in need, which were then delivered across Tayside. Another example of communitymindedness was the efforts of Sixth Form pupils Lucy Tabberer (Year 12), Ella Vincent (Year 12), and Jemima Lindsay (Year 13) who supported the local

‘Scrubs Hub’, set up by Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) to help produce 5,000 sets of scrubs and then masks for NHS staff in Tayside. Meanwhile, Teacher of English Kate Gilbertson baked and delivered scrumptious sourdough loaves for her colleagues to raise money for Fife Women’s Aid, supporting women and children experiencing domestic abuse. A final example of kindness was displayed by brothers Aidan and Conor MacKay (Years 5 & 6) who collected donations from their neighbours for the local food bank, Storehouse St Andrews.

In addition to providing practical support to those in need, our school community joined the nationwide ‘Clap for Our Carers’ campaign, which applauded, saluted, and thanked

Lois Wood

Conor & Aidan MacKay

key workers and NHS staff for their heroic efforts fighting the coronavirus pandemic on the frontline. Pupils and staff took part in the weekly doorstep applause on Thursday nights, and Alfie Love (Year 12) also recorded his fantastic rendition of ‘Scotland the Brave’ on the bagpipes, which later featured on the BBC Scotland news roundup for the day! As the weeks progressed, the pupils also produced a number of creative and heartfelt tributes featuring the hopeful symbol of the rainbow. For example, Maddy Wallard (Year 9) recorded a beautiful sung rendition of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, Rebecca Sneddon (Year 5) baked an impressive rainbow cake, and lots of pupils in the Junior years drew, painted, and created colourful rainbow pictures to display in their windows alongside others in their local communities. It really was fantastic to see our school community be, what the American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou termed, “a rainbow in someone else’s cloud” and display the outward-looking, caring, and generous spirit that we seek to nurture and cultivate in our pupils.

May we take this opportunity to say congratulations to pupils, parents, and staff for all their efforts in making St Leonards Connected such a success. The past few months have been challenging, but, in the face of adversity, we have certainly grown as individuals and as a community in our resilience, open-mindedness, and responsible risk-taking. These skills will

continue to benefit our pupils and staff as we return to school for the Autumn Term, and beyondSt Leonards Connected, just like its physical counterpart, really did continue to provide an education ‘Ad Vitam’ (for life).

May we take this opportunity to say congratulations to pupils, parents, and staff for all their efforts in making St Leonards Connected such a success.

Verity Swift

Scott Park

Darren Tonge

Kate Gilbertson

AUGUST

Back to School BBQ

Our Back to School BBQ was the perfect start to the academic yearproviding an informal and relaxed environment for new and existing families to mingle and enjoy some fantastic food and drink provided by Senior Guy Wade’s (2009-2014)

‘Screaming Peacock’ burger van and Fallone’s Gelato. Our families were also treated to face painting, balloon modelling, and games. A big thank you to everyone who came along and to all the volunteers who helped out on the day, especially Lauren Hastie (Year 12) who provided the musical entertainment throughout!

Step up to Sixth Form

For students taking the step up into the Sixth Form, the academic year started with a trip to the beach. Having donned their wetsuits, the students enjoyed an afternoon sailing and kayaking led by a brilliant team of Blown Away instructors in St Andrews Bay, with the beautiful town backdrop to look onto, plus rounders

News & Events

As ever, it has been a busy year at St Leonards with competitions, lectures, festival celebrations and more! We hope that you enjoy perusing our selected highlights from the year, arranged in chronological order.

and volleyball on the sand. The late August weather was perfect for outdoor activities, and it was a fantastic opportunity for new and existing students to get to know each other.

Busy Bees

Ahead of the new academic year, St Leonards welcomed two new colonies of bees to the school grounds. In order for them to be ready to come out of hibernation in the Spring, the generous staff at Caulders Garden Centre in Cupar kindly donated their end of season plants for us to plant now in readiness for next year. Thank you to Colin, Mark and Robert at Caulders Garden Centre for this wonderful donation, and for their time in helping us to select the right plants for our bees. For more information about our foray into apiculture, please turn to page 140.

SEPTEMBER

St Leonards Day Celebrations

Pupils in Years 8-13 took to the pool, pitches and playing fields for our annual St Leonards Day celebrations

in September. This was the first Inter-House competition of the new academic year, and everyone was decked out in house colours for Bishopshall, Ollerenshaw and St Rule Day Houses. The pupils took part in a series of sports and games, including hockey on the Astroturf, touch rugby and football on Fives Court, swimming in the school pool and, last but not least, the interhouse tug o’ war! Congratulations to Ollerenshaw Day House, the winners of St Leonards Day for the second year running!

A Royal Audience

A handful of musical St Leonards students rubbed shoulders with royalty when they were given the opportunity to perform for Her Majesty the Queen at Crathie Kirk, Balmoral on Sunday, 29 September. For further details, please turn to page 106.

The Great St Leonards Beach Clean

Pupils in Years 1-6 spent an afternoon litter picking on the East Sands and the West Sands, and also conducted a survey of the plastics and other detritus

Sixth Form InductionBusy Bees

that they found. They learnt about the local beach ecosystem and the negative effects of pollution. Their survey data was then passed onto the Marine Conservation Society to assist further tracking of the health of our beaches.

Sorting Hat Assembly

The pupils in Years 1-6 were enthralled at the Sorting Hat, which once again took centre stage to decide which of the four houses would best suit the newest and youngest members of our school community. The pupils are divided into four competition houses which are named after four Scottish islands: Harris, Lewis, Mull, and Skye. There are a plethora of Inter-House events and competitions throughout the year at which the pupils wear their house colours with pride - yellow for Harris, red for Lewis, green for Mull, and blue for Skye.

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Schools Golf Challenge

St Leonards pupils once again dominated the leaderboard at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Schools

Golf Challenge this year, winning four of the five categories. For a full review of the event, please turn to page 98.

Fake News: Issues of Truth, Questions of Trust

Our Sixth Form students attended a special assembly with guest speaker Karen Fowler-Watt, a former BBC news and current affairs journalist, who now heads up the Department of Communication and Journalism at Bournemouth University. Karen spoke to pupils in Years 12 and 13 about ‘Fake News: Issues of Truth, Questions of Trust’, after which members of the Headmaster’s Society were invited to stay behind for a workshop to look at questions such as ‘what is truth?’ and ‘how do we know that what we are reading and watching is actually true?”. It was a thoughtprovoking and interesting morning, and excellent preparation for the students as they started to think about submitting applications for degree courses at

top universities within the UK and internationally. Many thanks to Karen for taking the time to speak to our students.

European Day of Languages

The European Day of Languages, which is jointly organised each year by the Council of Europe and the European Union, celebrates linguistic diversity and promotes language learning. The Junior pupils wore themed attire to mark this special occasion, and the Year 3 pupils also produced some fantastic research posters which they shared with their peers on countries including France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Greece. It really was a fantastic day!

The Great St Leonards Beach Clean Sorting Hat Assembly

European Day of Languages

Hockey

OCTOBER Inter-House Hockey

There was a brilliant turnout on the all-weather pitches for our InterHouse Hockey tournament this year! After a series of good games between Bishopshall, St Rule and Ollerenshaw, it was Bishopshall who claimed the top spot. Special mention must go to the three goalkeepers - Tess Neilson (Year 10), Eleanor Finch (Year 9) and Ruby Richardson (Year 8), all of whom made some fantastic saves.

Harvest Assembly

Each year, the Junior Harvest Assembly is led by the Year 5 pupils. In this year’s assembly, the pupils launched a weeklong campaign to gather as many items as they could for our local food bank, Storehouse St Andrews. This tied nicely into their Unit of Inquiry entitled ‘Rights and Responsibilities’. They explained to the rest of the school what food banks are, who might use them, and what items are good to donate. The children were shocked to hear that one

in four children in St Andrews has used, or is using, a food bank. In response to this appeal, St Leonards families generously donated over 760 items. When broken down into houses, Lewis came out on top, collecting a total of 324 items. The Year 5 pupils then walked to Storehouse, following their donations which had to be taken in two van runs and, upon arrival, split into two groups, with one group sorting onto the shelves and the other packing bags to give to people in need. A huge well done to the Year 5 pupils who exemplified the generous, caring, and community-minded attitude that we seek to cultivate in our pupils at St Leonards.

Outdoor Film Night

As the clocks went back, we welcomed in the winter season by hosting an Outdoor Film Night for pupils in Years 4-7. The children selected Aladdin from a list of films, and it was screened using a projector in the Junior playground. Speakers were moved, chairs arranged,

sleeping bags set up and woolly hats brought in to keep out the cold, and everyone settled down to enjoy the film in the fresh air under the stars (and clouds!). Many thanks to Miss Fisher who organised the delicious food which set a suitably cosy atmospherehotdogs, popcorn, and hot chocolate with whipped cream.

James Gregory Lecture Series

The James Gregory Lecture Series is a series of public lectures delivered by eminent national and international speakers on a wide range of topics in the field of science and religion. The lectures derive their name from James Gregory, one of the most famous scientists to work in St Andrewshe helped found a major branch of mathematics known as calculus, and also invented the gregorian telescope. Thanks to Professor Eric Priest, we are fortunate enough to welcome these guest speakers to St Leonards ahead of their public addresses. This year, our Year 12 students attended two

The Big Soup Share

Harvest Festival House

Word Weavers Win

Charity Fun Run

fascinating talks. The first, in October, was entitled ‘Does Evolution Lead to Love?’, and was given by Professor Jeff Schloss from Vestment College, Santa Barbara. The second lecture, in December, was given by Professor Norman Wirzba, of Duke Divinity School in the United States. His talk was entitled ‘The Spirituality of Eating’, and covered the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies.

The Big Soup Share

In October, Year 2 participated in a nationwide initiative organised by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening entitled ‘The Big Soup Share’. It was a fantastic chance to celebrate the work done in our school garden by harvesting our crops, whizzing them up into a delicious soup and sharing it out with others. The pupils harvested leeks and

potatoes, weighed and compared the yield of different varieties and then, with the help of Catering Manager Darren Tonge, shared the delicious soup with the school community at lunchtime.

Charity Fun Run

Dressed as their chosen risk-takers, from climate change activist Greta Thunberg to the very brave Disney fish Nemo, who took the plunge and swam over the edge of the reef, the Junior pupils had a fantastic time taking part in our annual Charity Fun Run! A fantastic total of £1425.60 was raised for the MS Trust.

Word Weavers Win

Keyuri Ade’s poem ‘In My Hands’ was chosen from over 10,000 entries for publication in the Young Writers’ Competition national book Through Their Eyes - Word Weavers.

To read more about Creative Writing at St Leonards, why not turn to page 108?

Keyuri Ade

Acts

of Remembrance

NOVEMBER

Acts of Remembrance

On 11 November, the School Hall fell silent for the Remembrance Day Assembly. Led by Head Girl, Emma Rubidge, and Head Boy, Ruaridh Angus, the pupils reflected and gave thanks for those who have given their lives in conflict so that we might live in peace. Emma and Ruaridh also represented St Leonards at the town-wide Act of Remembrance, laying wreaths by the St Andrews war memorial.

There was also a poignant Junior assembly to mark Remembrance Day, with guest speakers Lt Col Taffs, a current parent, and Revd Beebee, Minister of St Leonard’s Parish Church. The service featured a flawless performance of The Last Post and Reveille by Year 7 pupil Eliza König, and also the laying of three wreaths made by the pupils. Every child in Years 1, 2 and 3 made at least one of the poppies used in the service.

At A Standstill

The St Leonards Players put on a fantastic performance of At A Standstill, written and directed by Director of Drama Ms McQuade-Powell. For a full review, please turn to page 112.

Social Entrepreneurship & International Aid

Prior to his talk at the University of St Andrews, our Sixth Form students enjoyed an inspirational lecture from social entrepreneur and founder of international aid agency GOAL, John O’Shea.

Torch Parade & Winter Lights

St Leonards pupils were invited to represent the school on stage at the BID St Andrews Winter Lights Switch On, with Head Boy Ruaridh Angus and Head Girl Emma Rubidge joining with their counterparts from Madras College and MP Stephen Gethins to push the button to turn on the town’s spectacular festive displays.

The celebrations in Church Square started with musical entertainment

to showcase local talent, and Lauren Hastie (Year 12) was selected to perform as a solo act on behalf of St Leonards, wowing the crowds with her guitar and vocal talent. The organisers were so impressed that Lauren was invited back to perform again at the ‘Big Hoolie’ in St Andrews, marking St Andrew’s Day on Saturday, 30 November with a ceilidh in the street, music and a torchlit parade. Amongst the torch bearers were some of our Year 13 prefects, who volunteered to take part in the magical after-dark procession around the historic streets. It was a super opportunity to join together with the St Andrews community to ring in the start of the festive season!

Sixth Form Ball

At A Standstill

opportunity to get dressed up, dance, relax and socialise as they approached the end of term.

Red for Amaquhawe

A group of Year 12 students organised a bake sale and non-uniform day, encouraging their peers to wear red to raise awareness of and funds for the Amaqhawe (Heroes) Project, which helps children to access medication in South Africa. The money raised will help to buy a bus to transport those who use the service to the centre, as well as fund a day trip to the seaside for all the children involved. A total of £566.57 was raised, many thanks to all those involved.

Hearts RFC Training

Big Field had some special guests in November, with Hearts RFC using St Leonards’ facilities for the day ahead of their weekend game. The Scottish football squad soon prompted

spectators on the sidelines; it was super to see a professional side making use of our grass pitches. A big thank you to our Grounds Team for all their hard work throughout the year to keep St Leonards looking on top form.

Lunchtime Guitar Concert

Pupils and staff were treated to a lunchtime recital in the Musicl School Auditorium featuring brilliant solo and group guitar performances, organised to celebrate St Cecilia’s Day, the patroness of music. There was a broad repertoire ranging from Giulliani’s ‘Étude in E Minor’ to ‘Californication’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

St Andrew’s Day

To mark St Andrew’s Day, Year 3 delivered a fantastic assembly which focused on the patron saint of Scotland. The pupils then enjoyed demonstrating some ceilidh dancing, namely the ‘Dashing White Sergeant’, which they had been busy practising in St Katharines Hall with the help of Mr Baxter.

Shoebox Appeal

The Junior pupils put together 114 Christmas Shoeboxes filled with essentials and small gifts to send to children less fortunate than themselves in Albania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, and Serbia. Mull contributed the most boxes to the grand total, with an impressive 33 shoeboxes.

We Are The Words

In November, we were delighted to launch our very own St Leonards Junior poetry book We Are the Words. Inspired by the line ‘we are the words with which we write our story’, it was a truly collaborative project - the anthology featured work from the Year 5 and 6 pupils, the cover was designed by Year 9 pupil Eva Smeddle, and it was edited by former Junior teacher Mr Simon Lamb. The compilation of poetry was inspired by music, art, dreams, and simply things from everyday life and was simply stunning!

Lunchtime Guitar Concert

We Are The Words

DECEMBER Deck the Halls

At the start of December, the Bishopshall girls enjoyed dressing their House Christmas tree with beautiful decorations. The girls then placed their Secret Santa presents underneath the tree, ready to exchange in the Drawing Room after their House Christmas Dinner at Mitchell’s. It was a fabulous way to end the term, and certainly got the girls into the festive spirit!

Festive Hockey Festival

The annual Festive Hockey Festival drew a great crowd, with the players turning out in Christmas jumpers, Santa costumes, hats, headbands and tinsel-covered sticks for a fun Saturday morning of matches.

Christmas Fair

As ever, the Christmas Fair was a great success, bringing together pupils of all ages as stall holders, helpers, and even elves! St Katharines Hall was packed with stalls run by the Junior children, selling everything from candy floss and

waffles to magical reindeer food, whilst ‘The Avenue’ was populated by external vendors and our four Year 12 Young Enterprise companies, all of which were selling their wares and promoting their brands. It was the perfect morning for Christmas shopping, coffee and cake at the Retreat Café. The younger attendees even enjoyed a visit to Santa in his cosy winter grotto. Thank you to the St Leonards Parents Association and parent volunteers for all their organisation, promotion and hard work in hosting another fabulous event.

St Nicholas Service

Each year, we are delighted to hold a bilingual St Nicholas Day Service in St Leonard’s Chapel with lessons, carols, and readings performed in German and English. This year, the service was conducted by the Revd Donald MacEwan, Chaplain at the University of St Andrews, with music from Mr Robin Bell on the Organ. There was also a beautiful rendition of ‘Lasst uns froh und munter sein’ performed by a choir of Year 7 pupils. After the service, attendees enjoyed traditional German

refreshments, including some superb stollen. Many thanks to Mrs Bavaj and Year 12 students Grace Franckenstein, Julian Shenoy, Eve Zausig, and Maya Zillikens for organising the event.

Restaurant 1877 Celebrations

As pupils and staff arrived in Restaurant 1877 for their Christmas Lunch, they were greeted by an incredible festive scene constructed from chocolate sponge, icing, and marshmallows, and topped with a beautiful miniature gingerbread house. It truly was a masterpiece! Before they tucked into this delicious dessert, pupils and staff enjoyed turkey with all the trimmings, in addition to crackers, jokes, and party hats. Many thanks to Catering Manager Darren Tonge and the Restaurant 1877 team for all their hard work in preparing such a super Christmas meal!

R&A Carols

Singers from the St Leonards Choir performed a series of traditional Christmas carols for members at the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A). David de Wolff

The Inn Crowd

Christmas Mix Festive Hockey Festival

Deck the Halls

and Attila Newey (Year 11), Lucy Tabberer, Ella Vincent and Lauren Hastie (Year 12), and Peter Matthews and Johanna Woitke (Year 13) gave beautiful renditions of ‘Once in Royal David’s City’, ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’, ‘Ding Dong’ and ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’. Well done to all involved.

Christmas Mix

Christmas Mix is one of the most popular events in the school calendar - the Auditorium was packed, and we also streamed the event live on our Facebook page for families to enjoy from the comfort of their own homes. For a full review of the event, please turn to page 106.

The Inn Crowd

The pupils in Years 1-3 put on a heartwarming nativity play this year entitled ‘The Inn Crowd’ - the pupils dressed up as asses and angels, camels and kings, and, of course, Mary and Joseph. The children certainly rose to the occasion, and pulled together to deliver three exceptional performances of the production. Many thanks to

co-directors Mrs Stewart and Mrs Shiells, ably assisted by the class teachers, for their hard work in helping this play go from script to stage.

Christmas Card

This year, the St Leonards Christmas card featured a wonderful winter scene in the Quad. Congratulations to Year 13 student Nerea Gomez-Martin who designed the card.

Carol Services

With Christmas fast approaching, the Junior and Senior pupils enjoyed traditional services of lessons and carols in Holy Trinity Church, which was beautifully adorned with candles, lights, and greenery. These Carol Services were a wonderful way for the whole St Leonards community to come together to celebrate Christmas. The services included some beautiful individual and group choral performances. Particular mention must go to Jennifer Niven (Year 7) and Lauren Hastie (Year 12) who were

chosen following auditions to sing the iconic ‘Once In Royal’ solo at the Junior and Senior services respectively, a tradition of the school service that has spanned many years.

Christmas Jumper Day

There was a fantastic array of colourful and creative Christmas jumpers worn for our Christmas Jumper Days, in aid of Save the Children, at the end of the Autumn Term.

For our Senior pupils, the day happily coincided with the House Song competition. Congratulations to St Rule, chosen as the winning House by our independent panel of judges!

Before Dr Jackson-Hutt announced the start of the holidays, pupils were treated to a festive sing-along from teachers and support staff, who gathered to take their turn at performing ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’.

Christmas Jumper Day

Christmas Card Carol Services

The Roaring Twenties St Leonards, 1920-29 St 1920-29

When St Andrews School for Girls, later St Leonards School, began to move across town to their new campus in 1883, the quadrangle we know and love looked very different. At that time, there were three buildings - to the south, there was St Leonards House, a two-story building overlooking a garden, which is now the Admin Block; to the north, there was a three-storey building, now the Main School building; and to the east, there was the ruined chapel, which has since been restored. The iconic and infamous Pink Passage, a covered wooden bridge, was built to connect the upper storey of St Leonards House to the school building and was even mentioned in the school song.

When you and I were new: We were in one house together; The ‘passage pink’ we crossed. We braved its transit, whether It sunshine held or frost. On levels safe we rested.

Nov 1889

1920 ...............................................

St Leonards was recognised as a teaching school for the first M.B. (medical) examination of the University of London.

1920 ...............................................

Time and Tide, a weekly literary and political magazine, was founded by Viscountess Rhondda (Margaret Haig Thomas SRE 1899-1902); and edited by Helen Archdale (DG 1886-1892)both Seniors.

1920 ...............................................

Tennis player Kitty Godfree (née

Kathleen McKane SRW 1909-1914) won three Olympic medals in Antwerp: Women’s Doubles (Gold), Mixed Doubles (Silver), Women’s Singles (Bronze). She also won two further medals at the 1924 Olympic Games. This longstanding achievement was not equalled until 2016, by Serena Williams.

1921.................................................

Mary Bentinck Smith served as Headmistress from 1907 until her death, aged 57, on 20 December 1921. To date, she is the only Head to die in office. She was buried in the Cathedral grounds where her headstone can

1921

still be seen. At the time of her death, she was one of the most influential women in British education. She was forceful and dynamic, and under her stewardship the School developed: the Science buildings were planned and built, pre-registration medical courses in Physics, Chemistry and Biology were introduced, the Domestic Economy department was started and typing and shorthand were introduced.

1921................................................. Castlecliffe (C) opened as a boarding house in 1921. The school had planned to purchase Castlecliffe earlier, but it had been requisitioned for use as a

Kitty McKane won the Tennis Cup at St Leonards in 1914, alongside Winifred Ellis.

1920

Mary Bentinck Smith, Headmistress of St Leonards 1907-1921.

Convalescent Hospital during the First World War and so was not available until 1921. The girls had previously been housed in the Priory, situated in the grounds of the Cathedral, under Miss Higginbotham. Their house colours were purple and black.

1922................................................

Miss Story, Housemistress of St Rule East, served as Acting Headmistress until the appointment of Katharine Howard McCutcheon in 1922.

1922................................................

Kitty Godfree and her sister Margaret (SRW 1909-1913) reached the

Wimbledon Ladies Doubles finals. Until the Williams sisters reached the final in 2000, they were the only sisters to achieve this. Kitty had other Wimbledon success too - she won the Ladies Singles titles in 1924 and 1926, and also won the Mixed Doubles competition with her husband, Leslie, in 1926.

1924 ................................................

St Leonards and St Katharines (the Junior School) were joined under one headmistress, Katharine McCutcheon because Council felt that ties between the two schools should be tightened to enable greater continuity in curriculum

and educational provision. At this time, St Katharines had three main buildings: St Katharines East (now the University’s History Department) and St Katharines West (now the University’s Reprographics building) on the Scores, as well as St Katharines South on Abbotsford Crescent (now McIntosh Hall, again part of the University).

1926 ...............................................

In 1926, Abbey Park North (APN) produced J.M. Barrie’s play Mary Rose During rehearsals, the housemistress Miss Tunicliffe realised that the play was not yet released for public use.

1921

St Katharines West, (originally ‘The Lodge’, built in 1898) now the University’s Reprographics building.

1924

Miss McCutcheon was appointed Headmistress of St Leonards in 1922.

1922

As St Leonards entered the twentieth century, and following a period of fundraising, there were further changes to the quadrangle: The Clock Tower, Room O, and the cloakrooms were opened. From its inception as a pioneering school for girls, St Leonards demonstrated a progressive spirit. There is a plethora of fascinating stories, both great and small, from these opening four decades of education at St Leonards, but for now we must turn our attention to the decade in question: the Roaring Twenties. The 1920s was a decade of expansion, celebration, and achievement at St Leonards, but as should be expected it was certainly not without its challenges. As we begin to look forward to our sesquicentenary in 2027, I hope that you enjoy pursuing the timeline below which includes some fascinating snapshots into life at St Leonards one hundred years ago.

Ms A Tawse, Librarian

She therefore wrote to JM Barrie to ask for permission to put on the play, and he replied to say that “when the girls of St Leonards ask, this writer must say yes.”

1926 ...............................................

In May 1926, new buildings south of the Clock Tower were completed, providing additional form rooms and a new common room for Day Girls. Before this, rented rooms at 5 South Street had been used.

1926 ...............................................

Rosabelle Sinclair (SRW left 1910)

1926

1927

introduced lacrosse as a game for high school girls in the USA. She was the first woman to be inducted into the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame and she is known as the grande dame of US Lacrosse.

1927 ................................................

In 1927, the school built a brand new boarding house named St Leonards Fields (SLF) situated on the other side of Abbey Street along with Abbey Park North (APN) and Abbey Park South (APS). Its colours were brown and gold, and its first housemistress was Miss H V Stuart. The girls from St Leonards House (SL), now the Headmaster’s

Study and the Admin Block, moved across into the new house.

1927 ................................................

1927 started inauspiciously for St Leonards with an influenza epidemic which filled both the Hospice (now Ollerenshaw) and the Sanatorium (now named Hepburn House, where the pupils in Years 4-6 have their classrooms), and which required St Rule West to be used as an annexe for additional patients.

1927 ................................................

1927 was the Jubilee year of the school,

Girls enjoy a game of tennis outside St Leonards Fields House.

Letter from J.M. Barrie to Miss Tunicliffe, Housemistress of Abbey Park North.

and a time of great celebration. With the purchase of Queen Mary’s House, a royal visit was deemed appropriate.

On Saturday, 1 October 1927, HRH Duchess of York (later known as the Queen Mother) visited the School to mark the milestone birthday and officially open Queen Mary’s Library. Film footage of this visit can be viewed via the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive. There was also a large Council Garden Party with 1,400 guests, three formal dinners, a school service in Holy Trinity Church, a school photograph, and an evening of dancing and ‘conversazione’ culminating in a

splendid fireworks display featuring the magnificent school shield with 1877 and 1927 blazing on either side. The first volume of school history was also published to commemorate the first five decades: St Leonards School, 18771927.

1928 ...............................................

On 16 May 1928, a fire broke out in what we now know as Geography, outside Room O. It was then known as ‘the Studio’. Apart from the fire damage, the weight of water had rendered the main staircase unsafe and the building was more or less flooded.

1928

As a result, no one was allowed to go into school for two days, and the Quad was out of bounds for ten days.

HRH Duchess of York visited St Leonards in 1927 as part of the centenary celebrations.

Photographs of the fire damage in 1928 (exterior and interior).

1928

JANUARY

Inter-House Lacrosse

St Leonards has a long history of interhouse lacrosse matches. The very first lacrosse matches played at St Leonards, on 27 March 1890, were inter-house matches: Bishopshall East beat Queen’s Terrace by 3 goals to 1, and Bishopshall East beat Day Girls by 2 goals to 0. Fast forward to 2020, this year, the winners were St Rule. Well done to all the girls who played!

Burns Day

Pupils of all ages wore a ‘touch of tartan’ to mark the event - there were some excellent kilts, sashes, scrunchies, headbands and skirts on show!

The Junior pupils celebrated the life and works of Robert Burns with a Celebration Assembly led by 7C, complete with an Address to the Haggis and sung performances and spoken recitations of the poet’s work. The children were then treated to a vivid

and engaging recitation and retelling of Burns’ poem ‘Tam O’Shanter’ by Mr Simon Lamb, poet and former teacher at St Leonards. Years 4 to 7 enjoyed poetry workshops with Mr Lamb for the remainder of the day.

The Senior pupils also had a special assembly to celebrate the poet. It started with a beautiful harp performance of Calum’s Road by Faith McKenzie-Page (Year 10). This was followed by a brief overview of the life and work of Robert Burns, poetry recitations, and a vocal duet of Burns’ poem ‘A Red, Red Rose’ set to music, which was performed by Year 12 students Lucy Tabberer and Ella Vincent, and accompanied by Year 13 student Kit McCarthy. Finally, there was a Burns Ceilidh in the School Hall. There was a good turnout, and the pupils who attended had a great time and enjoyed the traditional dances, including the Dashing White Sergeant, The Gay Gordons, and Strip the Willow.

Russian New Year

Russian students travelled to Fingask Castle to celebrate Russian New Year, but with a Scottish twist! They enjoyed a delicious meal of haggis, neeps, and tatties before touring the beautiful grounds of the seventeenthcentury castle. Thanks to Ms Beck for coordinating such a brilliant event.

Chinese New Year

Pupils and staff celebrated the Year of the Rat in style with dancing, singing, games, a raffle, and delicious food in Restaurant 1877. Many thanks to Ms Wang and the Year 12 Chinese pupils - Charlotte Ruan, Matt Zhang, Linda Lau, Harry Yu, and Rania Lyu for organising the event.

Chinese New Year

Inter-House Lacrosse

Burns Day

FEBRUARY

Battle of the Bands

Bands from each of the three housesSt Rule, Bishopshall, and Ollerenshaw - battled it out in the annual Day House BandSlam Competition. The event took place in the Music School Auditorium, which was transformed by spectacular disco lights. There were some excellent performances. Many congratulations to the winning band, St Rule #2 which included Beth Purvis (Year 10), Nicholas Müller (Year 9), Cole Tooman (Year 10), Jamie Pennycook (Year 10), Josie LalandBrown (Year 10), and Ben Clark (Year 10), for their fantastic performance of ‘Another Place to Fall’ by KT Tunstall.

Black Tie

The Sixth Form students enjoyed the inaugural black tie Leavers’ Dinner, organised by Year 13 students Jemima Lindsay, Ruaridh Angus and Georgie

Robertson. The evening celebrated Scottish culture and the poet Robbie Burns, and the guests were dressed in elegant floor length dresses, kilts, and tartan trews. Restaurant 1877 was transformed into a beautiful setting for the dinner with white tablecloths, candles, and ivy centrepieces, and attendees enjoyed a delicious menu of steak with asparagus, baby carrots, and barrelled potatoes followed by cranachan. Guests were then piped from Restaurant 1877 to the School Hall, where a ceilidh was held. There were performances from Lauren Hastie (Year 12) who sang a traditional Scottish song, and Andrew Ford (Year 13) who performed a reading of a poem midway through the dinner. Many thanks to Darren Tonge and the catering staff for cooking such a delicious meal.

Dr Faustus

This year’s Senior Drama production was Christopher Marlowe’s Elizabethan tragedy Dr Faustus, which was performed in The Byre Theatre. For a full review of the production, please turn to page 110.

Pizza Pals

Year 7 enjoyed a sleepover social in St Rule with Domino’s Pizza, team games organised by Mr McLeish, a competitive quiz, and a movie with popcorn and other treats. Many thanks to Mrs Pennycook for hosting the social!

Black Tie

Battle of the Bands

Dr Faustus

MARCH

Book Week

Book Week 2020 was a blast!

The Junior pupils were delighted to welcome back Mr Robert Harris to speak about The Scarlet Phantom, his latest book in the Artie Conan Doyle Mysteries series and also to visit Waterstones to browse the shelves and exchange their tokens for one of the special World Book Day books. Furthermore, the children and staff dressed up as their favourite character for the annual parade. There were some fabulous costumes ranging from the Gruffalo to Harry Potter, Where’s Wally to Billionaire Boy, and everything else in-between! The money raised from the parade went to Book Aid International, a charity which supplies carefully selected, brand new books to community libraries, schools, refugee camps, hospitals, prisons and universities.

The pupils also enjoyed an Inter-House Read-A-Thon, which was organised by Miss Brannen. They counted the number of minutes that they read for over the course of a week, and these totals were then combined and plotted on a massive wall chart to see which House would be victorious. Many congratulations to Harris who amassed an amazing 10,720 minutes. In total, the Junior pupils read for 38,095 minutes, which is equivalent to 634 hours or 26 whole days!

Theory of Knowledge (ToK) Talk

Year 12 enjoyed a series of fantastic talks from Mr Anuj Puri, an interdisciplinary PhD student at the University of St Andrews as part of their ToK course. He provided insights on algorithmic bias, privacy concerns in the age of big data, ethical algorithms and attentional privacy. Throughout the sessions, he encouraged the students to articulate their opinions and thoughts on the topic at hand. While addressing issues pertaining to interdisciplinary research, Anuj also shared his views on research methodology, theoretical framework, the construction of arguments, research bias, and the role of knowledge in identity formation as well as specifically emphasising the importance of mental health in research. Many thanks to Mr Puri for taking the time to come and speak to our Year 12 students.

Pupil-led Conferences

The pupils in Years 7-9 delivered some wonderful pupil-led conferences in March. The pupils truly demonstrated the traits of the IB learner profile, most clearly being risk-takers, communicators, and reflective individuals. The conferences allowed the pupils to showcase their schoolwork to their parents, in a departure from the traditional format of parent-teacher meetings. The pupils led the discussions and their learning goals using their portfolios, thus enabling them to take

more responsibility for their learning through evaluating and reflecting on their successes and challenges in a more formal setting.

Mrs Kate McGregor, MYP Coordinator, remarked that it was “really encouraging to hear the pupils speak so eloquently about their learning, reflecting on their strengths and challenges, and coming up with solutions to progress in the future. A highlight of the week was facilitating the Skype conferences for our overseas pupils for the first time, and listening to them discussing their work in a mixture of English and their mother tongue.”

Rotary Schools Forum

St Leonards was delighted to host the Rotary Schools Forum discussion workshop on Friday, 6 March 2020. Each of the distinguished speakers articulated a different and thoughtprovoking slant on the focus topic of Democracy.

The speakers included Mr Peter Peacock, who held elected offices for 29 years first as Councillor and subsequently as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP). He focused on the topic of ‘Democracy in Crisis’, covering ideas such as the declining faith in democratic institutions, proportional representation, the use of referenda within a representative democratic system, and how ideas on participative democracy fit within a representative democratic system. The second speaker was Mr Willie Rennie, the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and MSP for North East Fife. He focused on the differences between nationalism and patriotism, as well as the pertinent topics of Brexit and Scottish Independence. Finally, the students were fortunate to hear from Dr King-Ho Leung, a Research Fellow in Philosophical Theology at the University of St Andrews. His focus was ‘Democracy and Hong Kong’. His discussion was centred on the idea that Hong Kong can be used as an illustration of the contemporary

international encounter between Eastern and liberal Western values.

All three speakers were fascinating, and provided much food for thought and discussion amongst our Sixth Form pupils. Many thanks to the Rotary Club for organising the event.

Perform in Perth

Over 50 Junior pupils took part in the Perform in Perth Festival, reciting poetry and prepared reading. We were so impressed by their polished performances.

Leavers’ Sport

Each year, the girls take on the boys in leavers’ hockey and lacrosse matches. This year, the hockey match was played first, and the boys finished victorious with a final score of 3-1. However, in the leavers’ lacrosse match the girls were dominant throughout and emerged victorious with a final score of 5-2. The girls therefore pipped the boys to the post, gaining six points overall compared to the boys’ five. Well done to all who played for making this an excellent sporting contest played in great spirit.

Spring Concert

As the coronavirus pandemic became more prominent, there were increasing restrictions on gatherings. However, Ms Love was adamant that the show would go on and she arranged for the Spring Concert performances to be recorded and distributed to the school community. The performances were fantastic and certainly brought a smile to lots of faces!

Muck Up Day

Although Muck Up Day arrived somewhat sooner than originally planned, the leavers nevertheless managed to have a day filled with laughter and hilarity. The Year 13 students arrived at school dressed in their old school uniforms bright eyed and bushy tailed… and left exhausted and covered in soap. A particular highlight of the day was an impromptu

slip-and-slide, although sadly the students failed to convince any of the teachers to join in!

GCSE Art Exam

The GCSE Art examination was scheduled to finish on Monday, 23 March - the day that lockdown was enforced. It was therefore brought forward at the very last minute to enable the pupils to realise their ideas under exam conditions. The pupils rose to the challenge and the adrenaline rush helped the GCSE artists to produce some amazing work!

APRIL

Lockdown Life at School

Boarding remained open throughout the Easter holidays for those pupils who were unable to travel home. The boarders all moved into Bishopshall where they were looked after by a team of residential house tutors. They enjoyed an ‘active hour’ twice per day in which they could go for a walk or join house staff in a variety of sports

including badminton and football, or play relaxed board games such as Scrabble and Yahtzee. In the evenings, the boarders enjoyed watching movies, eating pizza, making smoothies, and cooking in the beautiful Bishopshall kitchen. The boarders also used the Music School to practise their instruments, and the Ollerenshaw gym to keep up their fitness levels. Despite it being much quieter than usual, the boarders remained positive and settled into the new normal in their ‘home from home’.

NHS Appreciation

For ten weeks, the St Leonards community joined with the nation in thanking the wonderful team of key workers each week as part of the ‘Clap For Our Carers’ initiative. The pupils also produced some fantastic pieces of rainbow-themed artwork and other tributes to the dedicated NHS staff - we particularly loved Rebecca Sneddon’s (Year 5) magnificent cake, adorned with a rainbow.

MAY IB, Complete!

Friday, 22 May would have marked the end of the IB/BTEC examination diet. Our Year 13 students have achieved so much over the past two years, and we did not want this important date to pass them by. We therefore decided to host an online celebration, and encouraged the pupils to enjoy some delicious canapés, grab a glass of bubbly, and spend time online to connect with their teachers and friends to mark the important date. This was the first in a series of virtual events for the Class of 2020.

Great Golfing News

In May, we were delighted to hear that Ellen Caton (Year 13), our Golf Captain and a Golf Scholar here at St Leonards, had accepted a Golf Scholarship for 2021 to the University of Indianapolis. She will join fellow

Senior and former member of the St Leonards High Performance Golf Programme, Cathi Graf (2016-2017). The University of Indianapolis has an established and prestigious golf programme - they were the Ladies NCAA champions in 2015 and 2018. We are so proud of Ellen’s golfing achievements to date, and are excited to see her game flourish and develop during her time in Indiana.

St Leonards Masterchef Challenge

The whole school community enjoyed the inaugural St Leonards Masterchef Challenge. Each year group had a different brief, ranging from a store cupboard special to a minibeast meal, and an international festival dish to campout food. The judges (Mrs McGregor, Mr McLeish, Mr Lang, and Mrs White) were very impressed with the quality of the entries and could easily have awarded more prizes; however, they decided to whittle it

down to Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal positions. Congratulations to Sophia Young (Year 4) who topped the leaderboard with her traditional Spanish cupcakes, Adam Gardner (Year 3) who came in at second place with his gluten free spider cake, and Éabha Lang (Year 7) who was awarded the bronze medal.

VE Celebrations

Friday, 8 May was the 75th Anniversary of VE Day and, as a school community, we shared in this moment of national celebration and paid tribute to the sacrifice that a whole generation made to ensure that we could live in peace. We gave thanks for our school community spread across the globe but unified in spirit. As part of our commemorations, we were delighted to speak with several Seniors and hear about their experiences of VE Day and the Second World War at St Leonards. You can read some of these reflections on page 25-28.

WARTIME REFLECTIONS

Earlier this year, our school community joined with the nation to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, and paid tribute to the sacrifice that a whole generation made to ensure that we could live in peace.

We gave thanks for the St Leonards

community of past and present pupils and staff, spread across the globe but unified in spirit. It would be impossible to summarise the war service of the Seniors - the Gazettes from the period list the names of nearly 300 serving in the Women’s Royal Navy Service, Auxiliary Territorial Service and

Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps, and there will certainly have been others whose names were not recorded. However, to reflect upon this poignant moment, we were delighted to speak with a number of Seniors and to hear their reflections on the wartime years and their memories of VE Day.

“On VE Day, several of the Houses joined the fancy dress competition which was part of the Children’s Gala organised by the Committee of St Andrews Town Councillors and held that afternoon in the University Park. In the evening, there was an informal dance in school.

THIA BEGG NÉE CUNNINGHAM BW 194853

celebrated VE Day at St Katharines Lodge.

On 8 May 1945, at St Leonards Junior School (then known as St Katharines) at St Katharines Lodge, The Scores the kitchen staff dyed the boiled eggs and served them as part of supper, so that

when the girls walked into the dining room, every table had a red, white, and blue border. Now that I am no longer a ten year old, I marvel that in those days they found fifty or so eggs and also food

dye and made the effort to do this for us. I wish I could tell them all that it is my abiding memory of that special day.

ANNE MARQUIS NÉE LEETE BE 193539

was on a ship back from an overseas posting on VE Day.

My school career at St Leonards came to an end in the summer of 1939, just as the Second World War was about to start. I decided to join the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS), and was finally accepted around Christmas 1941. My first posting was to Dunfermline to work in the WRNS Recruiting Office. You can imagine my surprise when I found that the officer in charge was Elizabeth Pyper (née Breese) (BE 1929-37) who had been a year ahead of me at St Leonards, and the Petty Officer was Rosemary Swallow

(née Peploe) (SLF 1935-39) who was the year below me at school, so I felt very much amongst friends!

After some months there, I volunteered to go abroad. In December 1942, I joined a troopship to Mombasa, Kenya. We travelled round South Africa as the Suez Canal was controlled by the enemy. The troopship ahead of us was torpedoed and many of the troops lost their lives. We were fortunate to arrive safely. I had six months in Mombasa working in the coding office, and much enjoyed it. In September 1943, the British Pacific Fleet moved its

headquarters to Trincomalee in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. Along with about twenty others, a short course was laid on to commission us as Third Officers, and I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to go to Trincomalee. Life was better being an officer - we had more freedom and living conditions were more comfortable, especially overseas. By the spring of 1945, the war in Europe was coming to an end, and those of us who had been abroad since the end of 1942 were due to be sent home. We set off on a troopship in May and VE day was announced when we were on the way.

St NicksSt Katharines Lodge

MARY WALKER NÉE LEETE BE 193741

was posted abroad to Australia three days after victory was announced.

Upon leaving school, I decided to join the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS). I had just enough qualifications to become a Radio Mechanic, and was called up in May 1943. We serviced the radios on the gun boats and torpedo boats which patrolled the east coast. I was there for about eighteen months, during which time the German Coastal forces surrendered to the British - a historic occasion. Three days after the war ended, in August 1945, I was

lucky enough to be posted to Sydney, Australia. It took six weeks on the ship, HMS Otranto, and we were not allowed ashore anywhere until we got to Fremantle. However, we had a lovely time on the ship - we played deck games, sunbathed, and had pretty good food. There was no blackout as the war was over.

We had a large number of Australian servicemen on board, some of whom had been prisoners of war in France or Germany. As a result, the ship got a

wonderful welcome when we arrived, first in Melbourne and then Sydney with bands playing and flags flying. The Wrens were amazed when we were taken to our quarters, two hotels overlooking Bondi Beach, the most wonderful situation and view! I had a very enjoyable time in Sydney. Our off duty time was spent on the beach, in the sea or sightseeing around Sydney. We were sent home in 1946 - I was very pleased to be home, but had had a fascinating time.

CAROLINE GIMINGHAM NÉE BAIRD SN 193842

spent most of the wartime years at St Leonards.

I can still remember the sinister sound of the bombers flying over St Andrews on the night of the blitz on Clydebank, and some time later returning. Of course, we had no idea where they were going. During air raid warnings, we sat on the floor of the corridor in St Nicks, which ran from the Common Room to the Dining Room. If we had to be up for more than an hour during the night, we didn’t start school until 10.00am. I

can remember sometimes hoping that there would be a warning because I hadn’t done my homework for the first lesson, which would be cancelled!

Our main contribution to the war was the knitting of navy blue fishermen’s scarves - six feet long, and I think sixty stitches wide. If you were a proficient knitter, you advanced to mittens instead of scarves. We also helped to weed the school playing fields, since

there was only one gardener who was rather elderly. It wasn’t much fun on a cold, damp day in winter. Much more pleasant was preparing sphagnum moss to be used as dressings for wounds, because of its antiseptic qualities. We sat in the science labs on Sunday afternoons working our way through sackfuls of the moss, and removing any bits of twigs or grit that was mixed up in them.

HMS IMPLACABLE

In 1944, St Leonards adopted the chapel of St Andrew on the new aircraft carrier, HMS Implacable, and presented it with altar linen, a reproduction of the Wilton Diptych and an illuminated copy of St Leonard’s prayer. A carving of the school crest was affixed to the chapel wall. Four girls represented the school at the dedication of the chapel, and also enjoyed lunch in the Wardroom and a tour of the ship.

In 1944, the St Leonards community co-sponsored the Chapel aboard HMS Implacable.

The pupils created a tapestry of the school crest, and this hung in the Chapel along with a framed prayer of St Leonard until the end of the war.

The ship saw operational service with the Home Fleet, and in addition discovered the German battleship Tirpitz hiding in the Trondjem Fjord. She was also grouped with the American Third Fleet, engaged in the final assault on Japan. After the end of the hostilities, she repatriated prisoners of war from Japanese and Korean camps.

On 18 July 1946, Commander Jolliffe presented the badge of HMS Implacable to thank St Leonards for it’s support. It was given to the Head of School, Elizabeth Montgomery, and hung in the School Hall. The badge features the ship’s motto, saeva parens saeviorum (‘fierce mother of fiercer sons’).

“To see the school crest on the Chapel wall, and the prayer of St Leonard framed and hanging near the door made the girls feel that a strong link had been forged between school and the ship, and they felt very sensible of the honour done to school in being invited to sponsor the dedication of the chapel.”

“I do remember eating pure, white bread for the only time in years and seeing, in the galley, great concrete mixers full of Birds custard.”

Virtual Sports Day

In June, the pupils participated in the inaugural St Leonards Virtual Sports Day. The PE Department adapted classic sports day events for the boys and girls to do at home - from a rolling pin relay to a standing long jump challenge. There were over 350 videos uploaded, which showcased the creativity, dedication and pragmatism of our pupils.

UCAS & University Preparations

As normal, the Year 12 students started to research universities and consider their next steps for life after school. They enjoyed presentations and Q&A sessions with representatives from the Universities of Glasgow, Exeter, and Stirling. The dedicated Higher Education Day was a fantastic opportunity for them to ask their questions and get acquainted with the resources on offer to them here at St Leonards, including the newlylaunched St Leonards University Hub. We are excited to see their applications and plans progress over the next 12 months.

Junior Challenges

The Junior pupils enjoyed a series of Outdoor Learning Challenges in the Summer Term, which encouraged them to step away from their screens and get involved in an open-ended, creative, and tactile challenge. The challenges included kite building, den building, castle building, and a construction challenge.

The castle building challenge was inspired by the St Leonards Sandcastle Competition, which takes place each year on the East Sands. The children are divided into mixed age teams, and enjoy an afternoon of summer sunshine and teamwork. We are always so impressed with the sculptures built, and this year was no exception. The majority of entries were built from sand, although some of our pupils

had to think outside the box and use other materials such as cardboard. This year we had a ‘castle of magic’, a scared swimmer being chased by a shark, and some fabulous fortresses. Congratulations to all involved. You can read more about this series of challenges on pages 138-139.

Virtual Art Exhibitions

In normal circumstances, June would have seen the opening of the annual St Leonards Art Exhibition Previews hosted by Miss Donna Rae (Senior) and Miss Adele Neave (Junior). It is always very much like a gallery experience, accompanied by live music, drinks and canapés. Art at St Leonards is always of an exceptional standard and though we were disappointed not to be able to welcome our pupils, parents and staff in person, we were delighted to bring the show to our school community through a series of video and virtual art exhibitions.

Virtual Concerts

The Music Department organised a number of virtual concerts to conclude the academic year, which were live streamed via Google Meets. It was fantastic to see the pupils perform with such poise and confidence, seemingly unphased by the rather unusual format of the events!

MYP Community Projects

The Community Project is the culminating assessment for the threeyear Middle Years Programme (MYP). It is a service-based, long-term project which ties together all the strands of the IB programme: learning skills, the learner profile, classroom-based subject knowledge, global context, service, and action. This year, the Year 9 pupils were not able to present their projects to their peers and parents because of the coronavirus pandemic, and so the exhibition was instead held online. There were some fascinating projects

Sholto McWilliam and his ‘Castle of Magic’

examining topics as broad as how to make A&E less scary for children in Fife to using music to boost mental health within the care homes, and a beach clean in Elie to raising awareness surrounding the issue of decreasing lion populations. Congratulations to the MYP class of 2020 - the projects really were fantastic, especially given the challenging circumstances in which they were produced.

Takeover Assembly

The Year 13 students hosted a virtual ‘Takeover Assembly’ to share their final farewells with their peers, the Year 12 students, and their teachers. They put together a wonderful presentation entitled ‘Class of Covid-19’ which included memories, reflections, pictures, plans, and inspirational quotations. Afterwards, Ishwari Ade, Deputy Head Girl 2020-21, thanked the leavers on behalf of the Year 12 students for their friendship and advice over the past year, and then shared a video filled with memories and throwbacks from the past year. It really was a fantastic assembly - there was not a dry eye to be seen!

Seniors Assembly

On Monday, 15 June, we were

delighted to host a Seniors Assemblyan annual event which marks the Year 13 leavers’ transition from pupils at St Leonards to St Leonards Seniors. The virtual assembly featured guest speakers Jane Claydon (former Deputy Head, Housemistress, and Head of Games here at St Leonards), Eve Wedderburn (Head Girl 2018-19) and Harry Mercer (Head Boy 2018-19) who each shared insights into just what it means to be a ‘Senior’.

Miss Claydon emphasised that alumni of all ages are united by their experiences of learning in the same classrooms and on the same beautiful campus, and that Seniors use their skills, knowledge, and personality to make a difference around the globe. Harry and Eve spoke about ‘life since school’ and some of the careers advice, networking and mentoring possibilities that the Seniors community provides. We look forward to watching how the Class of 2020 use their skills, talents, and personalities for the greater good over the coming decades - do keep in touch!

Eat Your Own Vegetables Day

The Junior pupils harvested their

homegrown produce, wrote recipes, and cooked some delicious dishes using their vegetables and fruits to celebrate National Eat Your Own Vegetables Day. The key worker children at school also got involved. Led by our gardening guru Miss Fisher, the children harvested all of the produce that was ready to pick in the school vegetable patch. They then wheelbarrowed their haul of potatoes, beetroot, kale, spring onions, lettuce and herbs up to the kitchens, where Mr Tonge and the catering team turned it into a delicious potato and kale soup and a salad with halloumi cheese.

PYP Exhibitions

When lockdown began, there was much discussion as to whether the PYP Exhibition would go ahead but, in true St Leonards style, it was decided that the show must move online! The difficult circumstances by no means hindered the quality of work produced. The Year 6 pupils researched an amazing array of topics ranging from refugees to rugby, and pangolins to a village named Poundbury. They produced exhibits that were interesting, imaginative, and informative. Congratulations to all involved.

MYP Community Projects

Junior Challenges

Kathryn Walmsley

Molly Hanton

Working in a school is like owning a very old house - once you have finished redecorating one room and modernising a bathroom, there is always another project to start! This year, the Junior teachers focused on the development of the Mathematics curriculum to further align it with the Primary Years Programme. In August, we commenced our training in Singapore Maths (Maths – No Problem!), which emphasises the use of concrete materials and visual understanding. To support this new method of teaching Mathematics, we introduced Mathletics, which was a real hit with the pupils! Outside the curriculum, we committed to increasing the number of House activities and competitions this year. The children enjoyed donning their House colours to compete at a wide range of different events, including a European Quiz,

sports tournaments, and a Read-a-Thon to name just three. It was fantastic to see pupils across the year groups pull together and work as a team in these different competitions, and to see the sense of House Spirit flourish and thrive.

Without doubt, the biggest project of this year was the sudden shift to online learning via St Leonards Connected. The Summer Term was amazingly vibrant, with live lessons, recorded lessons, school-wide challenges, dropin meetings, social meets, concerts, and impromptu birthday gatherings, all held over Google Meets. I was immensely proud of the way in which our pupils and staff adjusted to the ‘new normal’ with enthusiasm, positivity, and pragmatism.

I hope that you enjoy reading the Junior Class Reports in the pages that follow. This really has been a year to remember, filled with laughter and

“It was fantastic to see pupils across the year groups pull together and work as a team in these different competitions, and to see the sense of House Spirit flourish and thrive.

”learning, challenges and changes, achievements and adventures. The children should be so proud of all that they have achieved during these surreal and challenging times, and we look forward to welcoming them back to school in the new academic year.

Mrs J Pennycook Acting Junior School Headmistress

Inside the Classroom

“When I was a professional artist, my best paintings were often done during difficult and challenging times. The creative process and expressing my feelings through my art were a kind of therapy, and new ideas used to spring forth during these moments. During lockdown, the Junior pupils went through a similar process. It was wonderful to see the artistic skills of so many pupils flourish and mature in such a short time. The artwork produced made my day and lightened my spirit, gave me hope and brought a smile to my face. I hope that you enjoy looking at a snapshot of this fantastic artwork on the pages that follow.”

Miss A Neave, Junior Art Teacher

Year 3 Art

Christina Hilton

Aryaman Reddy

Rodrigo Inesta Hernandez

Matilda Gilbertson

Olivia Rafferty

Year 4 Art

Florence Cheape

Emily Kerr

Patrick FlemingPaula TimminsSophia Zhou

Ishbel ReidMia Gong

Cara Lang

Year 5 Art

Simon Schwoebel

Sophie Adrain

Emily Anderson

Hari Dhasmana

Anna Brown

Mungo Berry

Eva Sampson

Oscar FlynnRowan Seymour

Katherine Rafferty

Year 6 Art

Lewis Hanton

Lucy Black

Lucy Gardner

Evie Gardner

Madison Clark

Cecilia Daniel-Pederson

Harry Mason

Year 7 Art

Skye Taffs

Harry Purvis

Ben Brown

Ting DuncanXiurong Gong

Archie Barton

Charlie Vincent

Shreyas Dhasmana

Henry Shulver-Brown

Year 1

As a Year 1 teacher, the start of a new year always feels like the beginning of a marathon. Having waved goodbye to your young charges from the previous year, wiped away tears of joy, and dwelt with amazement at your class’s achievements over the course of an academic year, you suddenly consider how on earth you are going to do it again. Will this class be as good? Will they be interested? Will I have the energy? Can I think of new ideas?

I am pleased to say that the answers to all the questions above have been a resounding ‘yes’, evident in the brilliant, smiling, confident, and inquisitive faces of the 2019-20 Year 1 class. They have not been just good - they have been amazing, incredible, and

fantastic. Interested? They have fallen over themselves to engage in each Unit of Inquiry with enthusiasm and diligence, and they certainly did not let the little matter of a global pandemic get in their way. Each class is a brand new dynamic, an energetic and creative force that I, as a teacher, am lucky enough to enjoy. The children decide the direction of travel and lead the way, whilst I facilitate, encourage, expand and observe. I help them to explore, and they help me to help them realise their potential. As a result, no two years are the same - which certainly keeps me on my toes!

This year, we began with a Unit of Inquiry entitled ‘Who We Are’. This helped us to get to know the other

members of the class, and we were immediately blessed with outside speakers. From neuroscience to optical and auditory illusions, to testing our taste buds, Year 1 was thrilled to welcome specialist parent visitors and St Leonards’ Catering Manager, Darren Tonge, to the classroom to share their expert knowledge. We learnt about reflex actions, made our own optical illusions, and organised sweet and salty foods. Inspired by our senses, one of our favourite books in this Unit was Peace at Last, written by Jill Murphy, which helped us to focus on what we can and cannot hear. We played auditory games like ‘Simon Says’, and also enjoyed shutting our eyes, relaxing, and listening for the cuckoo in Camille

Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals Mindful moments like these became a regular part of our week in Year 1, and in this vein we also enjoyed weekly yoga sessions on a Monday afternoon. When it came to our Unit of Inquiry on Materials, the experimental side of Year 1 came out. The children wanted a science lab in which to explore different materials. We became fascinated with clothing and, with the generous loan of a digital microscope, the children were lucky enough to be able to really see the materials. They were concerned by the lack of properly natural materials in the world, and this led to excellent discussions on recycling. Our desire to discover more about clothing led us to the book Simon Sock, by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet, which in turn which in turn lent itself beautifully to a personal investigation into odd and even numbers. Even now, I am

proud to say that this class excels in explaining what defines an odd from an even number, and identifying whether a number is odd or even. These Units of Inquiry really do take us all over the place!

After the hatching of chicks last year, I had every reason to be nervous about where our Unit of Inquiry focusing on animals would go this year… I need not have worried as this inspired bunch of authors instead turned their hand to producing non-fiction books, complete with publisher, varying prices, photos, illustrations, facts, and labels. It was at this point, just after we had become engrossed in jungle animals, welcomed Sophie Clarke (Year 9) to speak to us about lions, and explored the environmental impacts that these animals were facing, that we went into lockdown. The Year 1 pupils were not deterred by the pandemic, embraced

the virtual learning environment, and finished their non-fiction books at home.

Our final Unit of Inquiry examined play. In the strange circumstances of lockdown, play has been critical for children and adults alike. With parks, play centres, and recreational facilities closed, the children have had to tap into their glorious imaginations. We have loved exploring games of old, inventing games, and immersing ourselves in the realm of make-believe. As I look back on the year past, I take a breath and ask myself: ‘Did we really do all that?’. Oh yes we did, and so much more. What a year! How will the next class top this…?!

Miss C Boissiere

Year 1 Class Teacher & Lower School Coordinator

“In Year 1 I have loved playing outside with my friends, sport, lessons on the beach, rocky roads at biscuit break, the pool party, judo, yoga, Lego club, and my kind and funny teacher, Miss Boissiere.” Sholto

Year 2

As we approach the end of the Summer Term, it is hard to remember the very young Year 1 class who joined us for a ‘Moving Up Morning’ almost a year ago. Our Year 2 cohort, now preparing to move up to Year 3, are unrecognisable from those younger children whom we started to get to know all those months ago. It really has been quite a year, and in many ways we for which we could never have been prepared!

In September, we embarked upon our first Unit of Inquiry, getting to know the important people in our community. We interviewed not only the staff in our school community, but also made trips down to the harbour to interview the fishermen and the

café owner. We found out what jobs people did in order to keep our lives going and, all these months later here in lockdown, we have never been more appreciative of all the unnoticed jobs that people do to keep us safe and to keep things ticking over in our local communities.

Next, we delved into a Unit of Inquiry about our pasts. We found out what our grandparents did when they were very young. A fascinating revelation of intriguing family histories emerged from far and wide. Year 2 launched their own family history museums, showing off artefacts from their own very different stories - stories that told us about their families, where they came from, and who they are.

The class did themselves proud showcasing their own family heirlooms - from opera glasses and weighing scales to national costumes and old Brownie cameras.

Painting various stable animals and perfecting Nativity Play lines filled a large part of December, but the endless rehearsing paid off and the audience were treated to a tremendous spectacle. Lasting memories were certainly made for all the children involved. In Year 2, we celebrated Christmas alongside Hanukkah and Chinese New Year, which were brought to us by families within our class.

In February, the classroom workshop was set up and the tools were in action as Year 2 familiarised themselves with

simple machines. The children made everything from catapults to fire marshmallows at one another, and polo cars to see the wheel and axle play out. We also made ice cream, using the inclined plane of the slide, and experimented with the Archimedes’ screw and a great deal of water. Stories from around the world followed as we discovered morals in Aesop’s fables, happy endings in fairy tales, and instructive meanings in traditional stories. It was fantastic to celebrate the plethora of cultures in our class and our school. As part of this Unit of Inquiry, we were royally entertained with an imaginative storytelling of the sea by the Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre, stepping back in time to savour an enchanting tale of a lighthouse keeper and a seal. The year culminated with a final Unit of Inquiry exploring the relationship between plants and minibeasts. We enjoyed the sunny weather, planting seeds in our gardens and hunting for minibeasts under wooden logs

loved our Units of Inquiry, especially the one on the olden days when my Great Granny came into school and we made lucky potatoes. She is 103!”

and stones. The children made bug hotels and wormeries, and experimented with plant life, dissecting or germinating seeds. In normal circumstances, we would have also planted vegetables in the edible gardens of St Andrews, steamed our way through the Butterfly House of the Botanics, and disappeared down to the beach to seek out minibeasts. However, instead, we found ourselves divided as a class in our own homes, but united through our connected online learning as we lived through the strange days of lockdown.

This unusual year has taught us how much we rely on each other, and our daily Google Meets were not only a lifeline to our learning, but a fantastic way to keep in contact with our classmates. Year 2 truly embodied the IB Learner Profile - they practised resilience in keeping going through difficult times, were balanced and looked after their physical and mental

wellbeing through Mr Baxter’s daily challenges, and learned to be good communicators through a screen, speaking to one after another in our virtual classroom. We salute our young Year 2 class and their uplifting positivity and amazing adaptability - they have coped with the unprecedented circumstances forced upon them with great pragmatism and courage. We are so proud of every single child and how far they have come in Year 2 - they are all certainly ready to embrace the exciting challenges that await them in Year 3!

Year 2 Class Teachers

Mrs A Lindsay & Miss A Fisher

“I

Claudia

Year 3

This has certainly been a school year to remember. As I sit down to reflect upon the year past, the country is in lockdown. I am therefore not in my classroom, but instead in my study at home where I have been teaching Year 3 remotely for the past few weeks. That said, so much has been achieved. Year 3 returned to school from the summer holidays keen and eager to learn, and excited to be in a new classroom and back with their friends. Our first Unit of Inquiry was entitled ‘Where we are in Time and Place’, focusing on St Andrews and all that our town has to offer: its history, its tourist attractions, how it has changed over the years, and why people come to visit. This first half of term was filled with

visits and visitors. Our first visitor was Dr Bess Rhodes, from the University of St Andrews, who came into school to talk about the town’s history. Next, we welcomed a representative from MUSA (since renamed the Wardlaw Museum) to speak to us about what life would have been like at the university in previous centuries. We found out that there was not just lots of studying, but also prayer, eating, and sleeping! As a class, we visited the cathedral, perfectly situated on our doorstep, and enjoyed a tour from one of the guides. Our final visitor was Hannah Fleming, curator at the British Golf Museum, who spoke to us about Tom Morris and his links with the town and the golf courses. We subsequently visited the museum

to learn about the history of golf in St Andrews and Scotland, as well as how golf clubs were made and have changed over the years and perhaps, most interestingly, that when golf balls were first made that they could hold a top hat’s worth of feathers! Last, but by no means least, we visited the beach as part of Beach School to recreate different tourist attractions from around the town in the sand.

The second half of term was equally busy. We celebrated St Leonards Day with an assembly led by Revd Beebee, and Remembrance Day. After a slight delay, Year 3 also shared their assembly on St Andrew - his life, travels, connections to the town, and how he came to become Scotland’s patron saint

- with the rest of the Junior pupils. The assembly finished with Year 3 dancing the Dashing White Sergeant - what fun we had! Mrs Young, the School Nurse, also visited us to remind us all how to wash our hands, using the glitter bug ball. Little did we know how valuable a lesson this would be…

The second half of the Autumn Term is always very busy for Years 1-3 as the Nativity play looms. There are lines to remember and songs to learn, and so every spare moment is filled with runthroughs and singing. The Nativity play really was wonderful, thanks to Mrs Stewart and Mr and Mrs Shiells, and after a great Christmas Fair, fun and laughter at the pantomime, Christmas Lunch in Restaurant 1877, and the Christmas Carol Service, we arrived at the holidays!

2020 got off to a good start. Mrs Beebee received a new sledge for Christmas and was hopeful that there would be a repeat of the Beast from the East so that she could put it to good use, but sadly the beast that came was not the one that she had hoped for… the sledge remains in the attic. The new year also saw the arrival of new interactive boards which, to the great

excitement of the teachers and children, enable information to be shared straight from the internet, various educational games, and lots more! Year 3 embarked on a new Unit of Inquiry entitled ‘Who We Are’. Again, we were delighted to welcome lots of visitors: Mr Knight, our Domestic Bursar here at St Leonards; Mark Leavey from the Fire Service; and Dr Muqit along with medical students from the University of St Andrews. These last two visitors taught the children how to call 999 and perform CPR. We also focused upon story writing and were delighted to welcome Mrs Souter’s daughter, Kirsty, to help us. Kirsty has had some of her work published, and she encouraged the children to plan out their stories, to never give up on a good idea, and to redraft their stories to make them better and better. The children really were spurred on by her to write and used any spare moment to create stories! The second half of the Spring Term started with a visit from the Museum of Communication as part of our next Unit of Inquiry, ‘How the World Works’. The volunteers from the museum gave the most wonderful talk, before allowing the children

to try out telephones, Morse code equipment, and the huge lights that send codes on ships. It really was a brilliant and interactive afternoon, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. Then there was Book Week, which, as usual, featured a variety of activities and events including a performance from Clydebuilt Puppets, who told a wonderful tale ‘The Lighthouse Keeper and the Seal’. This would be the last ‘normal’ week of school, as children started to remain at home because of the coronavirus pandemic with school eventually closing a week before the Easter Holidays.

In true St Leonards spirit, we quickly adapted as a school, began remote teaching, set various tasks for the children to complete at home, and kept in touch with our classes via Google Meets. Certainly an odd way to end the academic year, but it will certainly be a year that we will never forget!

Well done, Year 3, for all that you have achieved both inside and outside the classroom.

Mrs A Beebee Year 3 Class Teacher

“In Year 3, I really liked the visits, going outside to learn, writing stories, and learning about famous people.” Eleanor

Year 4

As the Autumn Term began, we could never have foreseen the path that this year would take, and the challenges and changes that our classes would face as the result of lockdown and the transition to online schooling via St Leonards Connected. However, throughout this academic year, we have seen the Year 4 pupils flourish and

thrive both individually and collectively. They truly are a bunch of reflective, knowledgeable, and inquisitive learners who are risk-taking, open-minded, balanced and caring individuals. In short, they encapsulate the ten attributes of the IB Learner Profile. We are proud of the Year 4 classes who have risen to the challenges of this year,

and feel incredibly fortunate to have been involved in their learning journey. We hope that you enjoy reading this whistle-stop tour of the academic year past - there really are too many highlights to mention in this short review!

The Year 4 children started the academic year as they meant to go on,

“Throughout this academic year, we have seen the Year 4 pupils flourish and thrive individually and collectively. They truly are a bunch of reflective, knowledgeable, and inquisitive learners who are risk-taking, open-minded, balanced and caring individuals. In short, they encapsulate the ten attributes of the IB Learner Profile.”

proving themselves to be true risktakers and also caring individuals by planning and delivering a fantastic class assembly only a few weeks into the term. The assembly focused on the chosen school charity for the year, a charity that is close to all of our hearts: the Multiple Sclerosis Trust. The assembly raised awareness amongst our school community about what it is like to experience the symptoms of MS and other hidden illnesses. Throughout the year there were a number of events to raise money for the MS Trust, including the annual ‘St Leonards Junior Fun Run’ and a bake sale.

As part of our first Unit of Inquiry, which focused on Transport, we enjoyed two fantastic school trips to Dundee Airport and Leuchars Army Base respectively. We were able to watch aeroplanes land close up, explore airport security, witness air traffic control in action, ask questions about how the control tower operates, and see an allterrain vehicle dismantled and rebuilt. It really was an exciting first half of term!

As the year progressed, we continued to enjoy learning outside the classroom

visiting Queen Mary’s Library at school as part of our study of Mary Queen of Scots, and we also made regular trips to East Sands for our Beach School sessions. A particularly memorable session was the workshop led by Mr Barrable, in which the children learned to build a fire pit and enjoyed toasting marshmallows over the fire.

In the Spring Term, our attention turned to a new Unit of Inquiry focusing upon light. As part of this Unit of Inquiry, we measured shadows on the beach using metre sticks, enjoyed a performance and workshop delivered by the Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre, welcomed students from the University of St Andrews who brought with them a mobile Planetarium, and also took a trip up to the Senior Physics labs to experiment with the colour spectrum. The Year 4 pupils certainly proved themselves to be inquisitive and reflective learners, harnessing their natural curiosity and then critically considering their findings.

In the Summer Term, all teaching and learning was conducted online via Google Meets and other tasks uploaded to our virtual learning environment.

The children had to adapt to a new way of communicating, and we were amazed by their resilience and enthusiasm in the face of adversity. Our final Unit of Inquiry focused upon healthy living, and the pupils thoroughly enjoyed learning about healthy eating and practising their functional writing skills through the various different challenges including making kebabs, toasties, and smoothies! The Year 4 pupils also created incredible lego models, choreographed dance routines between households via video calls, produced PowerPoints on the body systems, recorded and shared experiments… the list goes on, and it really is extensive and impressive!

The year really has flown by, and we will very much miss the wonderful Year 4 pupils as they move up to Year 5 in August. However, we are certain that this group of risk-taking, reflective, inquisitive and caring individuals will be ready to face the challenges that will inevitably come their way over the years to come.

Mrs N Arkwright & Mrs K McKimmon Year 4 Class Teachers

Year 5

As class teachers, we have the wonderful privilege of watching children develop as individuals, flourish as inquirers, and progress in their learning over the course of a year. It has been fantastic to see each and every one of the children in Year 5 become more resilient, communicative, and open-minded as they have taken risks, immersed

themselves into each Unit of Inquiry, and reflected upon their findings. In the face of what can only be described as extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances, this cohort of Year 5 pupils really has achieved so much. The academic year 2019-20 is therefore one that we will remember with wonder and pride.

At the start of the academic year, we worked hard to establish a respectful and collaborative learning community grounded by our core values, which align with the IB Learner Profile. Our core values were to: respect and listen to one another; take turns and share; be kind, polite and caring; be honest; be happy; and do the right thing, the

right way, at the right time. We later revisited these essential agreements with our classes as we delved into our virtual learning environment, St Leonards Connected, albeit with an online etiquette twist!

Our first Unit of Inquiry focused on ‘Who We Are’. We looked at inspiring figures who campaigned for and spearheaded change, and also the people and organisations involved in the current climate challenges in Africa. The study of rights and responsibilities also led the Year 5 classes to take action - they led a fantastic Harvest Assembly which raised awareness of hunger and poverty in our local community, and then went onto collect donations from St Leonards families for the local food bank, Storehouse St Andrews. The children used their mathematical skills to track and graph the donations, and also wrote about their experiences in their Language & Literature lessons. We concluded this exciting Unit of Inquiry by looking at explorers, harnessing the expertise of St Leonards parent Matt Ylitalo and his doctoral research on the history of Dundonian whalers and explorers, before enjoying a fabulous trip to RSS Discovery to learn about Ernest Shackleton.

In our next Unit of Inquiry, ‘How the World Works’, we took advantage of having the beach on our doorstep. The Unit of Inquiry had a strong science component, and we used our Beach School sessions to investigate friction, air resistance, and centripetal force. To investigate air resistance the children made up two parachutes with old

tent fly sheets and some rope, and this enabled them to feel the friction between the air and another material. While conducting these experiments on the beach, the Year 5 classes lined up for a tug of war. At the start neither class budged, which meant that the forces were balanced. However, with greater traction, friction, and mass, Year 5P managed to unbalance the forces and prevail!

Our Beach School sessions really were a highlight of the year. They provided a fantastic opportunity for the Year 5 classes to work together, and develop friendships across their peer group. This was exemplified by the kite project that we embarked upon at the start of the Spring Term. Over a number of weeks, the Year 5 pupils worked in groups to plan and create their kites. The groups sourced materials from home and had to decide how they would make the various components stay together. They then headed down to the beach to trial their kites, though on the first attempt sadly very few took off. However, the pupils were open-minded and decided that they would amend their kites. They then retested their complex kite creations, and wrote written reports, detailing the development process. In addition, we enjoyed a Unit of Inquiry entitled ‘How We Organise Ourselves’ which focused upon income, service, economy and supply. We used the classic board game Monopoly as a basis from which to gain an understanding of money, and to explore concepts such as mortgage, tax, and rent. This was the perfect springboard

for the exploration of banks and other services, and was also great fun!

We concluded this academic year with a Unit of Inquiry focusing upon ‘Sharing the Planet’. The children explored the rich history and geography of Scotland. By this stage of the year, due to lockdown, we were learning remotely via St Leonards Connected. However, this did not stop the pupils from working collaboratively. The pupils worked in groups to research a small part of Scotland’s history. They then presented their findings to their peers, and produced a fantastic virtual timeline which covered a vast period of history ranging from Neolithic Scotland to the Battle of Culloden, and the Industrial Revolution to the recent Scottish Independence Referendum!

At the end of every day, the children wrote down what they had learned, the things that they had enjoyed and any questions that they had in their reflective journals. Reflection really is a core part of the learning process. Looking back through these journals is a fantastic reminder of the amazing learning journey that the Year 5 pupils have been on this year. We are enormously proud of what the pupils have achieved individually and collectively over this past year, and we look forward to watching them continue to thrive and flourish as they continue their learning journey in Year 6.

Mr D Barrable and Miss C Brannen Year 5 Class Teachers

“I have absolutely loved every single part of Year 5, especially going to the beach!” Isobel

Year 6

In Year 6, our investigations this year have been wide-ranging - from appliances to advertising and inventions to irrigation. We started off the year with a Unit of Inquiry focusing on water. We explored how it is used and the problems of access to clean water in some parts of the world. The highlight was making model irrigation systems,

which helped us put into practice the methods of irrigation that we had been learning about. After some creative problem-solving, these irrigation systems enabled us to successfully grow cress seeds! In the second half of the Autumn Term, our attention turned to a Unit of Inquiry with an historical focus. The pupils enjoyed exploring

the important events, developments, and people in their chosen period of history and presented their findings in the form of a ‘Horrible Histories’ booklet. The booklets covered a wide range of periods including the Romans, Victorians, Georgians, Stuarts, Tudors, and also the Twentieth Century.

In January, Storm Brendan heralded

our Outward Bound trip to Loch Eil, and the Year 6 classes headed north through wind and rain to just outside Fort William. The weather barely relented during our stay, but our hardy Year 6 pupils nevertheless continued with a full programme of activities. The trip started off with a plunge into the depths of Loch Eil - everyone, including Mr Barrable and Miss Cormack, faced this challenge bravely and felt a great sense of achievement as they emerged from the chilly waters! The following days were filled with climbing, walking, completing challenges, and an overnight camp. One group even had to make a crossing over a raging river on the famous Steall Hut wire bridge to reach their camp! You can read more about this fantastic trip on page 136.

Upon our return to school, and for the remainder of the Spring Term, our learning was structured around two Units of Inquiry. The first focused upon inventions and their impact on everyday lives. We looked at the raw materials, manufacturing and transport required to bring electrical goods into our homes and considered the environmental impact of these processes. It was particularly interesting to learn about the WEEE man, a sevenmetre-tall robotic figure made of 3.3 tonnes of scrap electrical and electronic equipment designed by Paul Bonomini to represent the average quantity of electronic goods that each one of us throws away over a lifetime. This allowed us to have some stimulating and interesting discussions about the problems of electrical and electronic waste. Our study of inventions culminated in the eagerly-anticipated Year 6 Appliance Museum, which

featured exhibits on the television, camera, vacuum cleaner, boom box, washing machine, and various other forms of electrical equipment.

Our second Unit of Inquiry in the Spring Term started off with some thought-provoking pictures of natural rock features. These pictures raised many questions and led us to look at the structure of the Earth, different types of rock, and the natural forces that shape them. There were opportunities to carry out science investigations into the hardness of different rocks, and also consider how the rocks are formed. We then applied this knowledge to consider how weathering and erosion can cause problems in buildings, and how these might be overcome. The bad weather made outdoor trips challenging, but we still managed a town walk for each class between the showers and a short coastal walk, which was somewhat curtailed due to the treacherous conditions underfoot! This Unit of Inquiry concluded with the pupils designing a new structure for the St Leonards school grounds. There were some fantastic ideas including teepees, forts, towers, and dens!

When lockdown began, there was much discussion about whether the PYP Exhibition would go ahead but, in true St Leonards style, it was decided that the show must go on! The exhibition Unit of Inquiry was entitled ‘Who We Are’ and allowed the pupils to devise their own lines of inquiry. Given the circumstances, groups and individuals had to collaborate using online communication and work to overcome the various challenges that ensued from not being physically present at school. The pupils chose to explore a wide

range of topics including coronavirus, mental health, endangered animals, global warming, wolf and pangolin conservation, sport and organic farming to name but a few. The difficult circumstances by no means hindered the quality of work produced; as ever, we were very impressed with the pupils’ projects. The virtual exhibition really was a fantastic opportunity for the Year 6 pupils to demonstrate their learning to parents and the rest of the school community, and for us to celebrate the many different skills that the pupils have acquired and developed over the course of the PYP.

To conclude the academic year, we enjoyed investigating advertising. In previous years, the main task has been to devise an advertising campaign to promote countries such as Singapore, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan as tourist destinations. However, in light of the circumstances, we changed the focus to staycations. Other curricular highlights from the past year have included: researching and writing factually about inspiring figures from today or the past; becoming familiar with our new MNP Maths scheme; reading and sharing adventure stories; and team-building activities as part of Beach School.

In spite of the unusual circumstances, this has certainly been a brilliant and busy year and one that we will all remember! We wish the Year 6 pupils all the best as they move onto the next chapter in their St Leonards journey and begin the Middle Years Programme (MYP) in August.

Miss D Cormack, Mrs T Fynn and Mrs G Majcher Year 6 Class Teachers

Year 7

There were a lot of new starts in Year 7 this year, including Mr McLeish as a new teacher to the school and tutor to 7P, myself as a Year 7 tutor, and seven new pupils. With fantastic buddies in place, these seven pupils never looked back and they threw themselves wholeheartedly into life at St Leonards and all that it has to offer. The same

can be said for Mr McLeish, who has brought unparalleled enthusiasm and energy to the classroom, and also life outside of the classroom.

As usual, the start of the year signalled the voting in of House Captains. There were some exceptional speeches this year. Particular mention must go to Simon Ivan and Henry Shulver-Brown

who gave inspiring speeches and were voted in as House Captains of Lewis and Mull respectively, after just three weeks at St Leonards. The House system is central to life at St Leonards, and the Junior House Captains have a number of different responsibilities including collecting House Points each Friday breaktime, leading the House

meetings, and giving speeches on behalf of their peers at Prizegiving. You can read their fantastic Prizegiving speeches on pages 158-161.

In curricular news, the Year 7 pupils embarked upon the three-year Middle Years Programme and threw themselves into multiple different lines of inquiry, presentations, and other individual and collaborative projects. On behalf of Year 7, a huge thank you to everyone involved in delivering the inspiring and comprehensive IB curriculum. Furthermore, the Year 7 pupils led and were involved in a number of fantastic assemblies this year including Celebration, Remembrance Day, and Robert Burns Day assemblies. The Celebration Assemblies on Monday morning have frequently been led by Year 7 pupils. As tutors, we have been so impressed with the way in which the pupils have read out the names for the Commendation and Spirit of St Leonards certificates, and given their peers a firm celebratory handshake, with such confidence and maturity.

The Remembrance Day assembly was a contemplative, poignant and sombre occasion which allowed the pupils to reflect upon the selfless actions of our war heroes. Once again, Year 7 rose to the challenge of leading the service, and Eliza König performed a moving rendition of the Last Post and Reveille

on her cornet - the youngest performer on Remembrance Day to date. Well done, Eliza!

In January, Year 7 led the Robert Burns assembly with a biography of Burns and an understanding of how Burns’ poetry and songs can still capture the world today. Particular mention must go to Jennifer Niven who gave an angelic sung performance of ‘My Love is Like a Red Red Rose’.

In February, we held a ‘Pizza Pals’ evening for the Year 7 pupils in St Rule. We enjoyed some delicious slices of Domino’s Pizza, and Mr McLeish organised fantastic team games on Birdcage. Some of the pupils then enjoyed a sleepover in the boarding house. Fun was had by all, and it was a great memory to have of us all being together… as we had no idea what was just around the corner!

The pandemic prevented a number of exciting events from happening this year, perhaps most disappointingly for the Year 7 pupils was the fact that they could not perform their play Rebels of Gas Street or go on their Outward Bound Ridgway Adventure. However, we were so impressed with the way in which they handled these disappointments and the transition to online learning. Our collective spirit certainly soared across the ether. We laughed and moaned together about

life in lockdown and online schooling, and embraced Google Meets and Kahoot Quizzes aplenty. Furthermore, Mr McLeish ran homework clubs and my puppy, Mable, along with Archie’s chickens, Rachel’s rabbits, and Nihal’s labrador, became a regular part of tutor time. Despite the physical distance, we achieved a closeness and warmth. Other lockdown highlights included the musical performances in online concerts (Shreyas, what a voice - you and Jennifer should make an album!), sporting videos uploaded for Virtual Sports Day, and the commitment of Izzy Jamieson, who regularly arose from her slumber at 4am to attend classes from Washington DC.

It has been a pleasure to be a Year 7 tutor this year and to be a part of the Year 7 team. I am so proud of all that this cohort of pupils have achieved in what has been an unusual and unforgettable year!

Mrs L Stewart Year 7C Tutor

MYP Review

The Middle Years Programme (MYP) strives to equip pupils with the skills that they need for life. The pupils are encouraged to develop collaboration, communication, and self-management skills both inside and outside the classroom. Over the past year, it has been fantastic to see the pupils in Years 7-9 take every opportunity to showcase their acquisition of these skills. Below are a few highlights selected by Mrs Kate McGregor, MYP Coordinator.

At the beginning of the academic year, the Year 8 pupils participated in the Glenalmond Challenge Days, at which they demonstrated brilliant collaboration skills and the Learner Profile attributes of risk-taking and open-mindedness. Inside the classroom, thanks to the inquiry-led nature of the curriculum, the pupils also engaged in a range of exciting activities including riding hoverboards in Physics, marketing bugs as a nutritious breaktime snack in Design, and investigating the food miles of citrus fruits served in Restaurant 1877.

In the Spring Term, St Leonards was delighted to welcome researchers from the 20 Questions to the World project, a cultural video exchange between European schoolchildren that is being coordinated by the UN. The project seeks to open the minds of young people, to develop their curiosity for the world around them, and to foster international mindedness by demonstrating the common opinions and interests of people across Europe. As part of this project, the children were asked questions centred on the themes of Europe, school, the environment, society, and their personal ambitions. This was an exciting

opportunity for our pupils to be involved in an international project, and helped them appreciate their position as global citizens.

The pupil-led conferences were another highlight of the academic year. The pupils truly demonstrated the traits of the IB learner profile, most clearly being risk-takers, communicators, and reflective individuals. The conferences allowed the pupils to showcase their schoolwork to their parents, in a departure from the traditional format of parent-teacher meetings. The pupils led the discussions and their learning goals using their portfolios, thus enabling them to take more responsibility for their learning through evaluating and reflecting on their successes and challenges in a more formal setting. For the first time, we also facilitated Skype conferences for our overseas pupils. It was amazing to see them switch between English and their mother tongue to explain their learning to their parents, and was a wonderful reminder of our vibrant international learning community here at St Leonards.

The Community Project is the culminating assessment for the three-year MYP. It is a service-based, long-term project which ties together all the strands of the IB programme: learning skills, the learner profile, classroombased subject knowledge, global context, service, and action. Due to the unusual circumstances, the pupils shared their presentations and boards online via Flipgrid and Google Slides. There were some fascinating projects, examining topics as broad as how to make A&E less scary for children in Fife to using music to boost mental health within care homes, and a beach clean in Elie to raising awareness surrounding the issue of decreasing lion populations.

A huge well done to all the MYP pupils - as I look back on the academic year past, it is clear that you are acquiring the skills and Learner Profile attributes that will equip you for success in the years ahead.

The pupils truly demonstrated the traits of the IB learner profile, most clearly being risk-takers, communicators, and reflective individuals.

Academic Departments

Academic Departments

As I reflect on the past academic year, it has, as usual, been filled with incredible individual and collective achievements, as well as a colossal calendar of lectures, trips, academic Olympiads and competitions. These are detailed in the department reviews contained within this section of the Gazette. On behalf of the teaching staff, I would like to say a huge congratulations to all the pupils – each and every student here at St Leonards has achieved so much over the course of this academic year. I would encourage you all to take a moment to reflect, and to remember the hurdles, both great and small, in your learning that you have overcome as well as the major milestones that you have reached. In that sense, it has been a typical year at St Leonards… but that is only to tell half of the story!

The familiar rhythm of the academic year was brought to a dramatic halt at the end of the Spring Term with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in public examinations being cancelled, lessons moving online, and the radical restructuring of teaching and learning. This academic year has, therefore, been one of, if not the most, memorable in my teaching career! It really is amazing to think that our pupils and staff adapted from lessons here at school to lessons via St Leonards Connected, our online learning platform, within a matter of days. I am immensely proud to say that, in the face of adversity and amidst great upheaval, our whole school community demonstrated real pragmatism, resilience, and positivity. All teaching and learning in the Summer Term was online, with pupils joining lessons from

across the globe via Google Meets and producing some incredible work, be that essays, presentations, or posters. The unusual shape of the Summer Term certainly helped our pupils to become more open-minded, take more risks, be more reflective, and communicate more clearly - skills which are all cultivated, nurtured, and encouraged by our IB curriculum. As Benjamin Disraeli said, there really is “no education like adversity”!

I hope that you enjoy perusing this section of the Gazette - it really has been an amazing year. As we look forward to the 2020-21 academic year, we know that it will bring its own challenges, but I am confident that, in true St Leonards style, we will rise to meet them!

Mrs D Pemberton-Hislop, Senior Deputy Head (teaching and learning)

“There is no education like adversity.”

Benjamin Disraeli

Year 8 Visual Arts Mother Nature Magnified: Collage

The first unit tackled by our Year 8 artists this year was a drawing unit with a twist. The pupils improved their observational drawing and technical drawing skills using a variety of different graphic materials including pencils, felt-tip pens, charcoal, china marker, and water-soluble colour pencils. The focus was on Mother Nature, and the pupils observed beautiful natural forms including plants, fossils, shells, butterflies and insects - kindly loaned by the Science Department - as the focus for their work. They looked at artists such as Sydney Parkinson, photographer Karl Blossfeldt, and contemporary laser artist Daksha Patel for inspiration. Once the pupils had produced this amazing collection of drawings, they used them in a round collage to pay homage to magnifying glasses and microscopes, learning a multitude of new collage techniques along the way.

FREYA SEYMOUR

JAMIE BARKER

ANNA BLACK

BRENDAN HAWLEY

Year 8 Design Seat of Power: Chair Design

This year, I asked the Year 8 pupils to become furniture designers with a mission. Their challenge was to design a chair in order to raise awareness for Endangered Species. Initial research included looking at endangered animals around the globe and furniture designers to gather information and formulate thie rown ideas. Once they had chosen their animal, their job was to deconstruct it and attempt to isolate elements of the animal into shapes that could be rearranged. Their goal was not to recreate the animal, but to capture the essence fo their animal in a modern chair design. Overall, a roaring success!

THOMAS ROWLANDS, The Giant Sloth

POLLY MORRIS, The Snow LeopardLUKE FARQUHAR, The African Rhino

RUBY RICHARDSON, The Blue Cobra

LUCCA HARTMANN, The Elephant

CLAUDIA DENHOLM, The Peacock

ZAHARA VANWYNSBERGHE, The Black Robin

Year 8 and Year 9 Visual Arts

In this digital photography unit, the pupils were looking primarily at the exchange of ideas from sender to receiver, from photographer to viewer. Given the circumstances, Miss Rae was particularly interested in the pupils attempting to convey meaning and understanding through their work. By taking pictures and recording this extraordinary time in their lives, students learned to communicate their ideas and develop their work conceptually. By looking at the use of natural light, artificial light, different points of view, composition, extreme angles, reflection and portraiture, they learned new skills and improved their photography technically. The need to manage themselves and to be independent and creative at this time has resulted in some very interesting outcomes and was excellent preparation for submitting entries to the HOLD STILL: A Portrait of the Nation 2020 competition organised by the Duchess of Cambridge and the National Portrait Gallery.

Year 8 INGRID MORENO FAULDS, Reflections

Year 8 ELLIE COLE-HAMILTON, Reflections

Year 8 LUCCA HARTMANN, Bouncing Back

Year 8 ALEC GRAHAM, Bouncing Back

Year 8 INGRID MORENO FAULDS, Reflections

Year 9 Visual Arts Facets of a Face: Drawing

When our Head of Art, Miss Rae, looks back at her own art education, she is always disappointed that her experience lacked good, old-fashioned, formal drawing techniques and colour theory. This year, she decided to put Year 9 through their paces and ‘Facets of a Face’ was born. Initially, Year 9 worked with easier, faster techniques such as ‘penting’, in which a quick continuous line drawing is softened with water to distort it, and then worked back into it with charcoal once dry. This is a fun, fast, satisfying technique full of happy accidents and good outcomes, and it created confidence in our Year 9 pupils. As time went on, the pupils were asked to approach their work very differently and avoid the use of hard lines. Instead, they covered the sheets of A2 paper in a layer of charcoal and removed the light parts of their face with putty rubber before working back into it with areas of light, medium and dark tones with charcoal. The results were amazing, and the Year 9 pupils should be very proud of what they accomplished!

NADJA CAMPBELL WILL BOYLE SOPHIE CLARKE

KATHRYN WALMSLEY

Year 9 Visual Arts Facets of a Face: Painting

After completing their amazing charcoal portraits, Year 9 were given a very large piece of tracing paper and a felt-tip pen and asked to create a linear image that outlined the areas of tone that they had so carefully done in charcoal. This resulted in a harder, slightly cubist image that would be used to break down the colours and determine what goes where; not quite colour-bynumber, but not far off!

The next step was colour theory. In order to get the colours that they needed, the Year 9 pupils were only given the three primary colours and some white; this way, they had to learn how to mix colours and how to adjust them to get what they needed. A “recipe” of colours and how to make them were recorded for future use, as well as countless hours working with small brushes to learn blending and application.

EVA SMEDDLE

ADAM DUNCAN

FELIPA VON FINKENSTEIN

CORINNE DUMBRECK

Art GCSE Year 10

Year 10 is the first of a two-year GCSE Course. These two pages showcase a small selection of work taken from a range of skills workshops, created both at school and latterly, during lockdown using materials readily available and referencing the Arte Povera movement.

ANDREW SWALES, Etching and Chine-collé

EVIE RHODES, Coffee and Charcoal Drawing

ANDREW SWALES, EMMA LOWRIE, NIEVE GREENER, ISOBEL WILLIAMS AND FIONA BRANCH A selection of Year 10 mixed media pieces inspired by skulls

IONA TURNER, 3D Clay Tile

ISOBEL WILLIAMS, Digital Manipulation

ISOBEL WILLIAMS, Collage / Painting

NIAMH HEADEN, Collage / Painting

IONA TURNER, Digital Manipulation

LILY DRISCOLL, Painting / Digital Manipulation

IONA TURNER, Collage / Painting

Art GCSE Year 11

GCSE Art & Design is a two-year, skills-based course that enables the pupils to develop the skills to explore, create, and communicate their own ideas. Throughout the course, the pupils demonstrate these skills through the development, refinement, recording, realisation, and presentation of their ideas through a portfolio of work and by responding to an externally-set assignment. The work that you see on these pages is a combination of their sustained project for the portfolio, and the outcome of the externally-set assignment, completed just before lockdown. Well done to the GCSE cohort!

CECELIA CHEN, Etching

REBECCA CURNYN, Mixed Media

ZOE MEACHAM, Pen Drawing

DAVID DE WOLFF, Mixed Media

ZOE LAY, Mixed Media

COLETTE JOHNSTON, Collage

Art GCSE Year 11

EVIE RHODES, Charcoal

SAM GOSMORE, Charcoal

ZOE LAY, Painting

COLETTE JOHNSTON, Mixed Media

DAVID DE WOLFF, Collage

KEIRA HEFFRON, Mixed Media

Art - IB

St Leonards is a truly global community, and our Year 13 Visual Arts cohort reflected this vibrant diversity in microcosm. This year, we had students from Scotland, Spain, Germany and China working alongside each other in the Art Department. The students worked in a wide variety of mediums including figurative sculpture, set design, photography, printmaking, expressive painting, collage, and wire dresses. We were particularly proud of our students this year, since they managed to complete their challenging course, including the installation of their work, just before lockdown was enforced. We wish them every success for the future.

JEMIMA LINDSAY

Lulu Stage, Set Design

Landscape Print 2, Collagraph

Coloured Lights, Expressive Painting

Still Movement I Mixed-Media

Caged Beauty Metal Dress

Political Frustration Mixed-Media

CARLOTTA SIMON

Sealed Memories, Etching

Living Gem, Acrylic on Canvas

Living Snowflake, Digital Photography

Emerging Silhouettes, Mixed-Media

Door To My World Of Fungi, Mixed-Media

Immutable Bearer, Cast Sculpture

IB DIPLOMA

At the heart of the IB Diploma are three elements that complement, enrich, and enhance all the other aspects of the curriculum: the Theory of Knowledge (ToK) course; the Extended Essay (EE) project; and Community, Action and Service (CAS). In many ways, these three elements are what make studying the IB Diploma (or Diploma subjects with BTEC Business) so unique - they help pupils to develop critical thinking and scholarly research skills, and to explore their interests and express their passions and perspectives.

THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

Comedy & Categorisation

To complete the ToK section of their IBDP core, students submit an essay and give an individual or group presentation on topics of their choice. These presentations cover a wide range of topics, but are united in their focus on the problems and philosophy of knowledge.

This year, Year 12 student Iona White gave a fascinating ToK presentation on ‘What Stereotypes Tell Others’. The ideas and debates within her presentation were sparked by The Breakfast Club, the 1985 American comedy-drama film about five teenagers who are forced to spend a Saturday detention together. The teenagers are each from a different stereotyped group found in a typical school: the nerd, the jock, the princess, the outcast, and the bully. Throughout the film, the characters tell their story and challenge the stereotype in which they have been placed.

Having established the example that her presentation would focus on, Iona moved on to her Central Knowledge

Question: ‘To what extent do past events influence our perception towards other groups of people?’. She deduced that the five categories must have derived from past experiences from personal or shared knowledge, and observed that how the characters treat and judge each other shows their understanding of who they think they are based on their stereotype. Her presentation also included an insightful analysis of Carl Jung’s twelve

personality archetypes (the innocent, the sage, the explorer, the outlaw, the magician, the hero, the lover, the jester, the everyman, the caregiver, the ruler, and the artist), in addition to an exploration of biological traits which predetermine stereotyping and the survival value that is associated with stereotyping.

Iona concluded that past events influence our judgement of others, but that we should not allow these judgements to dictate the way that we treat others. She observed that, in The Breakfast Club, the teenagers all treat each other based on their preconceived perceptions of their

stereotype, but as the film goes on they realise that there is more to them and the initial judgements change to a more understanding view. She astutely noted that this examination of stereotypes amongst teenagers can be extended further to, say, race or gender and that perception is selective, but that we must combat prejudgement communication.

Iona’s presentation topic is certainly thought-provoking, and should challenge each one of us to consider the ways in which we wrongly stereotype others and how that will have affected our actions and communication.

EXTENDED ESSAY

To complete their Diploma, all students undertake a self-directed piece of research that culminates in a 4000 word research paper. This is a fabulous opportunity for our students to immerse themselves in a topic that is of personal interest to them, and is great preparation for extended writing at university.

CAS

Molly Innes-Mulhall - Molly is exploring how fashion sustainability affects economic development for women in Gujarat, India. Her essay will include an analysis of fast fashion and its negative impact on the environment, and also consider the new idea of sustainable ethical fashion.

Spotlight on Climate Change & Environmental Action

Below are a few highlights, focused on the theme of climate change and environmental action.

'Fridays for Future' Climate March

Earlier this year, a number of our Year 13 Biology, Geography, and ESS students joined the global movement of school students demanding action on climate change by participating in a climate march in St Andrews. Below, Emma Rubidge reflects upon her involvement in the march:

I strongly believe in taking responsibility for our environment and that, globally, we should face this issue and work together to work towards a more sustainable environment, not only for ourselves and future generations, but out of respect for the habitat that we live in and to look after what we take for granted on so many occasions. This event was empowering for those involved, and made our generation feel as if we had a voice and that it was being heard. This march really broadened my view on what I should be doing to look after our environment and how every action, big or small, will make a difference. I hope to be part of a generation that makes a difference!

Third Generation Project

Ishwari Ade - Ishwari is investigating how the different environmental sustainability initiatives at St Leonards affect the school’s economy.

Thomas Poylo - Thomas’ central research question is ‘What are the different impacts and outcomes of urban heat islands in Central European cities?’.

Last year, the Gazette shone the light on a pupil-led ticketed event entitled ‘Climate Change: The Burning Question’, which was held at The Byre Theatre. This innovative CAS project opened the door to other exciting opportunities, and this year a number of our students were involved in a new think-tank launched by the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews: the ‘Third Generation Project’. Spearheaded by Professor Ali Watson OBE and PhD student Bennett Collins, the project aims to bring collaborative story production into Scottish classrooms in order to help humanise the human costs of climate change.

In the Autumn Term, the students welcomed a number of guest speakers including Ethiopian career human rights advocate Nyikaw Ochalla, documentarians Alice Rowsome and Sam Wolson, and journalist Yahye Xanas, from Somaliland to deliver a series of six workshops. They then began production of their own digital stories to show how climate change affects everything from migration to food prices and disaster protection.

Reflecting on this exciting project, Mr Ben Seymour (DP Coordinator) remarked that “this project has encouraged our students to develop international-mindedness, to recognise their common humanity and their shared guardianship of the planet. I hope it will give them the motivation to help create a better and more peaceful world.”

Biology

Biology is not just the theory of how plants reproduce or the study of the cells that make up our bodies, but rather it is all around us in the things that we see, feel, and experience. Over the past few months, as individuals and as a nation, we have been reminded that Biology pervades all aspects of our lives - the coronavirus pandemic has impacted our health, our livelihoods, our social interactions, feelings, and emotions. It really has been a fascinating time to be a biologist, and our pupils have gained a heightened appreciation for the importance of the subject, for understanding diseases and the ways which they spread, adversely impact our bodies, and are ultimately treated and cured.

The first half of the year was very much ‘business as usual’ in the Biology Department - the pupils enjoyed delving into the interesting and varied topics covered in their various different curricula in the labs at school, ranging from the structure of cells through to species, communities, and ecosystems. With the transition to online learning and St Leonards Connected, the Summer Term inevitably looked a little bit different: lessons were delivered online, examinations cancelled, and project work abounded.

As a department, we were very impressed with the Year 7 projects which, whilst not strictly Biologybased, were part of their holistic Science course that is taught as part of the MYP. The pupils were tasked with designing their own solar systems with planet names, explanations of their surfaces, their moons, and their gravity. The pupils then produced posters to present their ideas which were fantastic!

Meanwhile, the Year 8 biologists enjoyed creating documentary-style reports about the digestive systems of different animals to present to the class. The animals under the spotlight included jellyfish, hippos, flamingos, beetles, snakes and bears! The presentations were incredibly creative,

and involved animations, interviews with ‘famous scientists’, and lots of interesting facts. Very well done to all involved - the standard of work was very high.

Finally, the Year 11 and Pre-IB classes spent time developing their fundamental understanding of biochemistry in preparation for the next level of their studies. They explored the structure of DNA and proteins and how structure is inextricably linked to function. They learned about the latest work on the coronavirus genome to allow them to explore how DNA is used to track the evolution, spread, and eventual treatment for a virus.

All in all, another fantastic year of learning, inquiring, and investigating in the Biology Department!

Mrs R Deegan, Head of Biology

Henry Shulver-Brown with his solar system.

“It really has been a fascinating time to be a biologist, and our pupils have gained a heightened appreciation for the importance of the subject, for understanding diseases and the ways which they spread, adversely impact our bodies, and are ultimately treated and cured.”

Business Management

It has been another busy year in the Business Management Department filled with talks, trips, workshops and fantastic class discussions! This year, we offered two related but distinct courses in the Sixth Form: the IB Business Management course, and the Pearson National Business BTEC – below is a review for each course.

IB Business Management

The IB Business Management course, which covers finance, marketing, operations and human resources, is now well-established here at St Leonards. This year, we were delighted to welcome guest speakers from various sectors to share their insights, experiences, and reflections with the students. This year’s programme of speakers included: Mr Joe Headon, from the local real estate development company Headon Developments; Sir James Lindsay, who focused on crisis management; Miss Daniela Prudencio-Aponte from Mamoot, an advertising agency; and finally Restaurant 1877’s Catering Manager, Mr Darren Tonge, who spoke about the operations of the kitchens

here at St Leonards. The students also enjoyed a business simulation session delivered by Ms Mara Taylor, from Hult International Business School. The students used spaghetti and marshmallows to learn about the process of planning, budgeting, buying and finally building towers. In the end, it was the second tallest tower that won because the success criteria were focused on the optimisation of resources. This stimulating programme of talks gave the students a fantastic opportunity to pose questions and apply the theory covered in class to real-life businesses. This year will certainly be one to remember. The coronavirus pandemic radically impacted our school, our country, and our world. It was fantastic

to see the resilience of the Year 13 Business Management students who, instead of mourning the abrupt end to their time at school, poured their energy into preparing presentations on the topical question of ‘How are companies adapting to the challenges created by COVID-19’?. The presentations covered a diverse range of businesses including a pharmaceutical company in South Africa, a supermarket in Germany, the property development sector in Scotland, and a psychological consultant company in the UK. The students showed a superb application of the concepts, content, and skills that they had learned over their two-year course. They really have been a fantastic class, and will be very much missed!

Young Enterprise

Young Enterprise encourages young people to set up and run a student company – and St Leonards is proud to have a longstanding and successful involvement with this fantastic scheme. The basic premise of the scheme is that the students set up a business and are responsible for making all the decisions, including designing the brand, handling the finances, liaising with the suppliers, and selling their product to the public.

Young Enterprise is a very popular after-school activity at St Leonards. This academic year, 23 pupils took part and four ‘companies’ were formed. The companies each prepared extremely well for the Young Enterprise Scotland

(YES) competition, although it was sadly cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the face of significant adversity, each company still managed to make a profit but more importantly the students developed as individuals and gained a plethora of transferable skills including entrepreneurial

thinking, teamwork, self-awareness, and leadership. These skills, which will help our students to be more employable in the future, are also developed by the BTEC programme, and will be further aided by the launch of the IB Careerrelated Programme (CP) in August 2020.

Embrace – homemade organic soaps

Business BTEC

This year saw the first cohort of BTEC Business students complete the twoyear course. This is a more vocational course, which covers the foundations of business and also requires the students to organise an event, devise a marketing campaign, and create an international business. A real highlight of the year was watching the students execute their event (a disco for the Year 7 pupils) with such professionalism and enthusiasm. It was a huge success and they made a profit!

In addition, the students complete and extensively reflect upon a work placement. This enables them to glean an insight into a real-life business. The students have also benefited from a programme of trips (to Edinburgh Napier University, Abertay University, and Skills Scotland) and talks from a wide range of speakers including Mr Randal McLister from STG Group, Mr Stefano Peraccini from the Seafood Ristorante, St Andrews, and finally Miss Sarah Proudfoot, Head of

External Relations at St Leonards, who shared her insights on how to create a successful marketing campaign.

Mrs P Prudencio-Aponte, Teacher of Business Management and BTEC Business

“A real highlight of the year was watching the students execute their event (a disco for the Year 7 pupils) with such professionalism and enthusiasm. It was a huge success and they made a profit!

Chemistry

It has been another exciting, albeit unusual year, for the Chemistry Department at St Leonards. Practical work is very much our bread and butter, and therefore, as usual, bangs and whizzes have abounded in the Chemistry Department! For the first two terms, these exciting experiments took place in our laboratories here at school, but with the advent of St Leonards Connected our pupils had to think outside the box, get creative, and be resourceful as they completed their practical work at home!

Our Year 8 and Year 9 pupils were particularly masterful in the art of home practicals, producing homemade indicators and investigating different acid reactions including the ‘rubber egg’, growing ‘crystal gardens’, as well as using balls at home to simulate reaction rates. The Year 8 and Year 9 pupils follow the inquiry-based MYP curriculum. This academic year, their inquiries were diverse and varied: they designed practicals to investigate the rate of reactions and imagined how they could apply this to medical uses, produced news bulletins on global warming and climate change, and created information booklets of the

development of atomic theory. They have also researched famous scientists, and then considered which attributes of the IB learner profile they felt these individuals demonstrated.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 hit just as the Year 12 students were planning their individual investigations. They were therefore not able to complete their practical experiments, which were too specialised to be completed with makeshift equipment in home kitchens! However, we are looking forward to getting back into the labs in the new academic year and returning to these fantastic projects.

In other news, in December, a group of students took part in the Tayside regional heats of The Royal Society of Chemistry’s annual ‘Top of the Bench’ competition held at the University of St Andrews. Whilst Nicholas Müller (Year 9), Malakai MacKenzie (Year 10), Alex Barclay (Year 10) and James Mackenzie-Page (Year 11) did not qualify for the next stage of the competition, they very much enjoyed the experience and challenge of the event which involved practical, problemsolving, and paper-based exercises.

Well done to all our budding young Chemists for persevering through this difficult and unprecedented year. We look forward to seeing you again in the flesh next academic year.

Miss S Pollard, Head of Chemistry

Red cabbage experiments

Classics

As I write, we are in lockdown as a country and confined to our houses, and teaching and learning are happening online. The twoday excursion for Year 10 pupils to Hadrian’s Wall that took place last September seems so long ago! It was a fabulous trip, and we enjoyed visiting superb museums and outdoor sites, and walking along the Wall in the beautiful countryside bathed in golden autumn sunshine and kept cool by a fresh breeze. The group very much enjoyed the Roman Army Museum with its rich display of exhibits including a legionary soldier, an auxiliary and a cavalryman on display, and a video of a reconstruction of the wall and the lives that soldiers and their commands could expect there, but the highlight of the trip was a talk from one of the archaeologists working at Vindolanda. Due to the anaerobic state of the ground in which

the earlier levels of occupation remain, ongoing archaeological excavations under the direction of the Birley family have uncovered objects which do not normally survive.

Latin and Ancient Greek are languages associated with boffins and scholars, saints and toffs who wrote agendasetting, difficult literature reserved for the privileged. Many learning Latin are left with the feeling that the Romans must have been jolly clever to understand such an academic language. A visit to Hadrian’s Wall, one of the furthest outposts of the empire, reveals that individuals of many ethnic origins used Latin in a variety of ways – not least to inform someone that they have sent them socks, two pairs of sandals, and underpants. Latin as spoken by many in the Empire may have made Ovid long for home, but it was Latin spoken with all the variety with which

people speak English today. In the end, Latin never really penetrated Britain to the extent that it did in Gaul or Spain, but today, for better or for worse, large parts of the world (including Britain) share foundations built on classical languages and civilisation.

This year, since the introduction of our new course, more Latin than before is being read, heard, and even spoken by our learners. Our lessons have become virtual, and the corresponding need for additional resources has led to a drive in production that will remain of enormous value when we are back in the classroom. Romans might shudder at some of our barbarisms, but they would be well pleased if a result of lockdown was that more of our learners are enabled to read their thoughts with greater fluency and understanding, and recognise their enduring value.

Mr A Lang, Head of Classics

Hadrian’s Wall

“Romans might shudder at some of our barbarisms, but they would be well pleased if a result of lockdown was that more of our learners are enabled to read their thoughts with greater fluency and understanding, and recognise their enduring value.”

Computer Science

The transition to virtual learning at the end of the Spring Term certainly provided a very real demonstration of the importance and impact of technological developments and digital media on the workplace and society at large! It demonstrated to the pupils, in a very tangible way, the relevance and usefulness of the skills that they have been honing over the past year in Computer Science.

The GCSE and Diploma courses continue to challenge pupils to develop computational thinking, in addition to problem-solving and algorithm development skills. For the Year 12 students, the year typically culminates in a diet of mock examinations. However, in light of the unprecedented circumstances, the students instead used the period of online learning in the Summer Term to focus on their Internal Assessments. These projects require the students to work with a complex reallife problem, and go through the client consultation, design, and coding steps necessary to produce a working solution

in the form of a computer programme. They then have to write up the process and record a video of their programme’s functionality. The students certainly produced a wide range of interesting solutions for a variety of clients. A number of these students are also undertaking Extended Essay projects in Computer Science and Information Technology in a Global Society (ITGS). We very much look forward to reading the interesting findings that come from these projects.

In other news, over the past year the Year 9 pupils designed and built a website to showcase artists and personalities that they admire for the ICT & Digital Technology section of their Design course. It is intended that these individuals are relevant and relatable, and that they will inspire pupils to pursue professions and interests that they are truly enthusiastic about. In addition to learning how the Design Cycle applies to digital technology developments, the pupils also learned basic coding skills. The Year

9 pupils worked very hard to produce some imaginative and interesting designs for their website, showing considerable HTML, CSS and other coding skills in implementing them.

In addition to curricular Computer Science, we run an after-school Computer Club on Tuesday evenings. This offers pupils the opportunity to learn to program, or to work on a project in an informal atmosphere. The participants range from totally novice programmers to very experienced coders. An atmosphere of collegiality is fostered with students asking each other questions and discussing and researching topics together. Languages currently being used range from HTML and CSS, through to Python and Java. Other students are working on Minecraft and other visual and gamerelated programming. It really is a highlight of the week!

Dr G Ferguson, Teacher of Computer Science & IT

Economics

Economics is a thought-provoking subject that blends old theories with current events, and as a result it is constantly evolving and changing based upon local, national, and global agendas and issues. This interplay between old theories and current events certainly leads to stimulating class discussions. The Diploma specification covers a broad range of topics including Macroeconomics and the Global Economy which address questions such as “Who are the winners and losers in the integration of the world economies?” and “How effective are governmental policies in managing the economy?”.

As a subject, Economics challenges students to be critical thinkers.

To succeed, the students must scrutinise the varying opinions that they read in the media for commentaries, which form part of their Internal Assessment. The students must also learn to untangle economic and noneconomic factors when reading the media sources, exemplified by the plethora of strands which contributed to the recent Brexit debate in the UK: peaceful relations with Europe, national sovereignty, and trade to name three. An economist’s perspective is not only useful for analysing global events, but also issues closer to home on a smaller scale such as supply and demand and consumer choices. The Diploma Economics course helps students to develop fundamental skills that have

wide-reaching use and, as a result, the students often comment that it is the most useful subject that they have ever studied!

It has certainly been a year of thoughtprovoking and interesting discussions for our economists at St Leonards. I look forward to teaching the new specification from September, which places a greater emphasis on global issues related to the environment, inequality, and poverty, and the fresh and varied discussions that will no doubt be sparked by this new material.

Mr J Lambert, Head of Economics & Business Management

English

The end of the Spring Term was truly one that no one could have predicted. Yet, in the English Department, and indeed the school as a whole, it was a story of triumph in the face of adversity. As the Absurdist author Albert Camus once wrote: “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” We might have tackled our adversity in the summer, but the sentiment is the same!

Following the successful introduction of the 9-1 Edexcel IGCSE and Middle Years Programme (MYP) courses, which are now fully embedded into our department practice, our focus for the past year was the launch of the newly-reviewed Diploma Programme (DP) Literature and Language & Literature courses which will be first assessed in the Summer 2021 Diet. These new courses are more flexible and facilitate more pupil-led control over their structure – it is certainly an exciting time to be studying Literature and Language & Literature at Diploma level!

Other highlights of the year included the Year 8 Debating Competition, which was held in December in partnership with the Debating Society from the University of St Andrews. This was the culmination of an interdisciplinary unit with the PE Department in which pupils looked at a wide range of topics exploring how sport could reflect and influence a free and fair society.

In addition, it was fantastic to welcome back Mr Ken Cockburn, a poet and translator based in Edinburgh, whose recent publications include the poetry collections Floating the Woods and Heroines from Abroad. Ken delivered fantastic poetry workshops to our Year 9 classes on the topic of the environment and sustainability, during the StAnza poetry festival. As a result, a number of the pupils had their work showcased in the local community. Ken

also judged the Miss Leveson Plate and Bowl Creative Writing Competitions - the winners of this competition, and other Creative Writing successes from this year past, are detailed on page 108.

Outside the classroom, the English Department continues to contribute significantly to the extracurricular life of the school.

In February, our Senior thespians staged Christopher Marlowe’s Dr Faustus, which the school heretofore had not performed. Co-directed by the Director of Drama, Ms Nichola McQuade-Powell, and myself, each performance of Marlowe’s tragic tale of predestination and the perils of hubris was a roaring success! For a full review of this fantastic production, please turn to page 110.

This year, debating veteran and English teacher Mrs Samuel decided to take up the mantle of leading MUN Club, and handed over the reigns of the Debating Club to Miss Abdul-Karim, who joined the English Department at the beginning of the year. These clubs transitioned to a virtual environment with impressive speed thanks to the dedication of staff and students, and you can read a full review of these clubs on pages 114 and 115.

With the advent of a global pandemic, the English Department rose to the challenge of delivering virtual learning via St Leonards Connected, and I am very thankful to my colleagues for their tireless efforts to collate evidence for the examination boards to get the results that the pupils deserved after two years’ hard work. The engagement and effort of the pupils was equally impressive! Looking forward, we are excited as a department to be leading on the Year 7 Language & Literature course, which will bring all three years of the MYP under one roof, so to speak, from August 2020.

I continue to be immensely impressed

by my colleagues and students alike, especially as we have been buffeted by some fairly stormy waters this year. As the captain of this department vessel, I hope for smoother sailing in the future, even though we find ourselves in somewhat unchartered territory. However, I am buoyed by the commitment and professionalism of my crew, and I am confident we will continue to rise to any challenges we face.

Mr A Iannone, Head of English

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

St Leonards is a vibrant and international community, with around 30 nationalities represented in the student body each year. As a result, there are a number of pupils for whom English is not their mother tongue. The EAL Department provides language support for these pupils to help them become academically proficient in English. The department works closely with classroom teachers and other Heads of Department to ensure that pupils for whom English is a second or additional language are equipped to fully access the curriculum and excel in their chosen subjects.

In Years 1-6, the EAL pupils use the online learning environment The Learning Village to help them develop phonics, grammar, and vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. It really is a fabulous resource.

In Years 10 and 11/Pre-IB, the pupils are supported through weekly lessons which are designed to develop specific subject vocabulary in addition to the reading and writing skills required for academic success in their IGCSE courses. The pupils also focus on pronunciation, developing fluency, accuracy, and confidence in speaking. The department also supports pupils who wish to pursue external

qualifications, including IGCSE ESL (English as a Second Language) which closely aligns with the English B syllabus for the IB Diploma, and the IELTS exams.

This year, the department has also focused on producing resources to equip parents to assist with bilingual

Geography & ESS

“Geography is a subject which holds the key to our future.”

Michael Palin

As I write, we are coming to the end of another busy year in the Geography Department.

At the start of the academic year, we hit the ground running with a number of different field trips. The Year 12 ESS class spent a glorious weekend on the island of Great Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde. The bright, dry weather enabled the students to gather soil samples, invertebrates, and vegetation samples, and also to measure and record rubbish on the most scientifically analysed beach in Scotland. Our international students were introduced to classic British seaside delights including candyfloss, deep fried sausages, and rock from the sweet shop! The weekend was an excellent introduction to the course.

Our Pre-IB pupils also had a fantastic physical fieldwork trip, gathering data on coastal environments. The class discovered the methods needed to measure features and trends on the beach including pebble size and beach gradient. This practical application of skills will support them with their GCSE exam answers, and will serve them well moving forward as they embark upon Diploma courses in the coming year.

The third field trip of the Autumn Term was for the Year 11 classes, who collected urban data in St Andrews.

development outside the classroom, and also to foster a sense of community amongst our bilingual families. To that end, we were delighted to run a Bilingual Families Workshop to help parents understand more about bilingual development through early childhood to adolescence, and also

Whilst most of the pupils only walked two kilometres away from the school campus, they were able to observe, measure, and discuss the urban changes along the way. Patterns were noted, steps counted, and building heights recorded. The pupils encountered some technical issues, and applied problemsolving skills in order to overcome them - it was an excellent learning experience, and a fantastic chance to look at our local environment in a completely different way.

It has been great to see the pupils engage in geographical issues outside the classroom. In October, the pupils donned casual clothes in shades of green and blue to raise money for Cool Earth, an organisation which works to promote conservation by supporting rainforest communities to halt deforestation. In addition, they had the opportunity to attend three fascinating and thought-provoking guest lectures this year. The first was given by a representative of the Marine Conservation Society and outlined how we can help our oceans and reduce our use of plastics. The second was given by Professor Glen MacDonald, the

Bilingual Families Coffee Mornings to facilitate meetings and share experiences. We look forward to continuing and building upon this programme of events next academic year.

Mrs D Cremonese, Teacher of Language B & EAL Coordinator

John Memorial Chair in Geographer, a distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography at UCLA, and Global Visiting Fellow in the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews. Professor MacDonald’s lecture was centred on the question ‘Will people and the planet succeed in meeting the challenges posed by the twenty-first century, or will environmental and socioeconomic pressures produce catastrophic failure?’. He explored the mounting and often geographically conflated stresses of accelerating climate change, increasing economic disparities, and associated conflicts, both in the sense of physical struggles, and in the sense of competing ideals regarding political and socioeconomic systems, valuation of the environment, and basic morality. The final lecture that our students attended before lockdown was given by Dr Monique Mackenzie, Assistant Vice Principal of the University of St Andrews. She runs a significant wildlife conservation operation, largely from her mobile phone. Her lecture was engaging and demonstrated the real life application of some of the statistical

methods that pupils engage with in our courses.

Whilst our planned adventures to Iceland and Blackpool were cancelled because of Covid-19, we seized the opportunity to speak with former Head Girl and Geography graduate

History

It has been another busy and eventful year in the History Department. In the Autumn Term, Year 8 undertook a summative assessment entitled ‘What is History?’, and the pupils thoroughly enjoyed their induction into the wonders of QML and the Archives. Ms Tawse delved deep into the nooks and crannies of QML to unearth treasures such as a 400-year-old coin for the realm of Mary, Queen of Scots - one of only two known to be in existence. In addition, the pupils were able to pour over old school reports from the nineteenth century, marvel at steering wheels from a First World War ambulance, and investigate sixteenthcentury maps. The History Department is incredibly grateful to Ms Tawse for

Mathematics

We commence our section of this fine publication in the familiar manner: with our academic results. Every Diploma pupil, regardless of prior achievement in Mathematics must complete one of the Group 5 courses. We extend warm congratulations to all our examination candidates, but particular praise must be afforded to the ten Standard Level and Mathematical Studies pupils who achieved a Grade 7 last year. This is a fine accomplishment and illustrates that the threads of progress and success in the Department weave their way throughout the cohort, at all levels. In all three IB Diploma courses (HL, SL, and Studies) the Department’s results were, once again, well above the world average; a joyful

Laura Ferrier during our online Year 11 lessons. Laura shared her knowledge on vertical farming, and highlighted the positive and negative impacts that it might have, as well as the challenges that implementation poses. This was a perfect end to our unit on

sustainability, and was a departmental highlight from our term of online learning!

We look forward to more fieldwork adventures and fascinating lectures next year!

Mrs J White, Acting Head of Geography

the time and effort she put into the preparation of resources for the pupils. The Spring Term saw History pupils return to QML to undertake research for their Diploma Programme IAs - a 2000-word investigation on a topic of their choice. Once again, Ms Tawse and the excellent library resources did not disappoint, and we had a meeting of two worlds: pupils typed on their computers next to 16th-century books to aid their research into Henry VIII.

There were lots of exciting activities planned for the Year 9 and 10 pupils in the Summer Term including a trip to the First World War

battlefields in France and Belgium and the annual Oral History Day with Seniors. Sadly, like many other school events, these were cancelled because of the pandemic. However, historians are a resilient lot and our classes moved relatively seamlessly to learning online and continued to investigate the past in order to understand the present, and to look to the future.

Ms J Fulton, Head of History

Ryal, or ‘Crookston Dollar’, 1566. This was the first large silver piece coined in Scotland, and it was gifted to the school by Anne Hoare in October 1927 when she was Head of School.

reminder that Mathematics in our fine institution punches well above its academic weight!

Hopping down a generation, just under half the Year 11/Pre-IB cohort attained grades 7-9, which broadly equates to at least half securing an A grade. A cursory glance at the national picture is all that is required to highlight the value added that a St Leonards education in Mathematics delivers. A satisfying 13% of the group achieved the coveted Grade 9, with Catherine Fleming claiming the top spot in terms of ticks on the script.

Let us now list and consider the UKMT accomplishments of our pupils. Once again, Duncan Bouchard

(Year 12) attained the central podium position in the Senior Challenge with a Gold Award. Duncan qualified for the Silver Kangaroo follow-on round, and secured a Merit Certificate in this which means that his score was in the top 25%. Special mention must go to Bernat Tortajada (Year 13) who completed his final UKMT Challenge, achieving a Bronze Award.

A headline for you: over 60% of the St Leonards pupils entered for the Intermediate Challenge achieved an Award. This is quite excellent. Flora Wang (Pre-IB) achieved the top spot with a Gold Award, and entry into the follow-on round, the Pink Kangaroo. Two Year 9 pupils, Quitterie Dectot and Nicholas Müller, who would,

in a normal year, have sat the Junior Challenge for the final time in the Summer Term, achieved Bronze Awards. As we all know, this was no normal academic year. The Junior Challenge, like so many events and activities in our packed calendar, succumbed to the coronavirus pandemic. Not wanting to deprive the St Leonards contingent of mathematical problems, the Department ran its own internal monthly mathematics quiz for our Year 8 and Year 9 pupils which mimicked the Junior Challenge. At the time of writing we await the May results, and the publication of the June quiz. There were no April fools! Corinne Dumbreck and Anita Ferrari, both Year 9, achieved

full marks in the April Challenge, with Lucca Hartmann and Zachary Sewell scoring the highest in Year 8. Well done.

As is tradition, I will conclude with a problem from the Intermediate Challenge to titillate the reader; solutions on a postcard to the Head of Mathematics.

The Knave of Hearts stole some tarts. He ate half of them, and half a tart more. The Knave of Diamonds ate half of what was left, and half a tart more. Then the Knave of Clubs ate half of what remained, and half a tart more. This left just one tart for the Knave of Spades. How many tarts did the Knave of Hearts steal?

A 63 B 31 C 19 D 17 E 15

Modern Languages: Language & Literature (A) & Language Acquisition (B)

At St Leonards, we teach a phenomenal range of languages. For Language & Literature (A), students choose Chinese, Russian, Dutch, French, German and Japanese. This year, we also completed our first course of Lithuanian. We hope that the range of Language A options taught will continue to expand, and reflect the truly global nature of our school. For Language Acquisition (B) the list is even longer with students taking Arabic, Chinese, Italian, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. And that is before you even subdivide the students into Ab Initio, SL, and HL options!

The coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly affected the delivery of language courses for the Summer Term, as we shifted to online learning provision via St Leonards Connected. Unfortunately, our students were not able to sit their IGCSE and DP examinations. However, we would still like to commend and congratulate these pupils on their hard work and preparation over the past two years. On a more positive note, instead of revising with our examination classes we were

able to focus on cultural aspects of the curriculum including songs, films, recipes, and literature and also explore and debate the minutiae of grammar. One topic that piqued the interest of our language classes was what the correct gender of Covid-19 should be – is it a masculine, feminine, or neuter word? Le ou La? El o La? Der, Die oder Das?

Looking forward, we are excited to have rekindled our Loches connections and hope that we may be able to take a school trip there in the near future.

In addition to the language curricula taught in the classroom, as a department we have also supported a range of international events over the course of the academic year. It is a real privilege to be able to share festivities from different cultures and countries with the wider school community.

In early December, Mrs Bavaj and a group of Year 12 students (Grace Franckenstein, Julian Shenoy, Eve Zausig, and Maya Zillikens) organised the annual St Nicholas Day Service, held in the intimate venue of St Leonard’s chapel. The bilingual

service is always a favourite, with lessons, carols, and readings performed in German and English. It was heartwarming to listen to the Year 7 pupils’ rendition of ‘Lasst uns froh und munter sein’, that they had learned specially for the occasion. Our thanks go to the University Chaplain Revd Dr Donald MacEwan who conducted the service, and Mr Robin Bell who supported the service musically. After the service, all those who attended enjoyed some traditional festive sweets and treats, including some delicious stollen.

After the holidays, our Russian students travelled to Fingask Castle to celebrate Russian New Year, but with a Scottish twist! The students enjoyed a delicious meal of haggis, neeps, and tatties and also enjoyed touring the beautiful grounds of the seventeenth-century castle. Many thanks to Ms Beck for organising this event.

In January, we also celebrated the Chinese New Year in Restaurant 1877. This is always a highlight of the calendar, and was the culmination of over three months’ preparation.

Flora Wang and Quitterie Dectot

Mr R Hall, Head of Mathematics

There was an amazing display of minority, folk and classical Chinese dances by pupils and members of the Fife Chinese Cultural Society. In addition, there was singing, games, a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, a raffle, and delicious food. Very well done to Ms Wang and Year 12 students Charlotte Ruan, Matt Zhang, Linda Lau, Harry Yu, and Rania Lyu for organising and executing such a fabulous evening of entertainment and cultural celebration.

We would like to conclude our reflections by thanking all our pupils for their commitment to languages over the past year, especially the twenty students who opted to undertake the challenge of obtaining a DELF certificate (awarded by the French Ministry of Education to prove the French language skills of a non-French

candidate) at the end of this academic year. Finally, we would like to thank our team of dedicated Language A & Language B teachers for their hard work and support.

Mrs N Gannon, Head of Language & Literature (A) and Mr I Pompeo, Head of Language Acquisition (B)

Language Perfect

Budding Linguists

Once again, St Leonards pupils excelled in the Language Championships, both individually and collectively. Competing with pupils from across the globe from New Zealand to Canada, the pupils answered 43,678 questions in 13 different languages. St Leonards was ranked the top school in Scotland, and moved up to 419th in the global rankings (out of 2155 schools). Special mention must go to Lily

Driscoll (Year 10) who received an Emerald Award and was placed in the top 1% of 181,000 competitors; Ingrid Moreno-Faulds (Year 8) and Malakai Mackenzie (Year 10) who both received gold awards and were placed in the top 2%; and Shreyas Dhasmana (Year 7) who received a bronze award and was in the top 10% of competitors.

This built upon the success of the pupils’ involvement in the Language

Perfect Awards in the Autumn Term. Four budding linguists - Lauren Hastie (Year 12), Grace Halden, Calum Tobon-Nield, and Daniel Whiston (Year 8) - received awards in this competition. St Leonards was ranked number one in Scotland for languages overall, and claimed first place for French and Chinese, as well as joint first for Arabic. We look forward to more competitions over the coming year!

Chinese New Year

St Nicholas Day

Physics

I was, just about, still at school when the Berlin Wall fell. I remember learning that the Germans were using the phrases ‘vor der Wende’ and ‘nach der Wende’ (literally ‘before and after the turn’) to mark the two distinct periods of time either side of the tumultuous event. So perhaps, in full false grandeur, we should do the same in describing the activities of the Physics Department over the past year. Vor der Wende, the year began with a set of results for IB and GCSE cohorts which either broke or nudged records for the department, and stood as great testament to the pupils’ hard work. Several pupils were put forward for the Olympiad papers, gaining eleven awards between them. Particular mention should go to Duncan Bouchard who was one of only two hundred students in the country to receive a Gold award at the Year 12 level, and to Guoheng Zhang (Year 12), Luise Keil (Pre-IB) and James Mackenzie-Page (Year 11) who each received Silver awards in what are a particularly challenging and stretching set of papers.

Thanks go again to our technician, Mr Strong, who has fixed much old and fashioned delightful new equipment for the department. He will be much missed when he leaves us in January after two and a half years; his energy and inventiveness have served the department and the wider school richly.

In January, we again welcomed the cheery Year 4 faces into the department to help with their project on light. They impressed us with what they already knew, but hopefully we managed to show them a few fresh wonders.

In February, we took our Year 12 students and some other interested parties to the R&A’s Equipment Testing Centre in Kingsbarns. What an intriguing place! Balls and clubs subjected to all manner of extreme squishing, and bashing and bending by precision machines. Many thanks

to Steve Otto, Chief Technology Officer and former rocket scientist, for explaining the physics behind these processes.

And then the Wende. As with the rest of society, for all the difficulties, the constrained circumstances bred innovation: new home experiments, an expansion of the uses of what had been a freshly-launched internal Physics website, and all manner of little microideas (two-room Google Meets, web jotters, etc.) that attempted to make remote learning as effective as possible. And again, as with the rest of society, many of these will still be making what we do better long after this has all passed.

Mr P Smith, Head of Physics

Psychology

In 2019-20, there were two IB Diploma Psychology classes and the Year 12 class had a record 18 pupils!

Throughout the first two terms, the Year 12 class focused on understanding the core principles of Psychology and acquiring the research methods skills needed for their Internal Assessment. We were delighted to welcome Mr David McLelland, a final year Psychology student at the University of Dundee, to help the students prepare for their IAs. He provided fresh insights into how to read and understand academic papers, and how to write good instructions in academic reports. The Year 12 cohort took to Psychology like ducks to water, and I was delighted that nine pupils decided to write their

Extended Essay in this subject area. Meanwhile, the Year 13 class consolidated the theories they had learned in the previous year and focused on practice questions in preparation for their examinations. The class studied the diagnosis, origins, and treatment of depression, as well as the seminal studies which investigated the origins of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. The end of year celebrations that had been planned had to be scaled down, but the class nevertheless enjoyed a takeaway breakfast just before lockdown. Who knew that waffles and iced coffee could taste so good in a classroom setting? Whilst the pupils did not sit their final examinations and did not have the chance to demonstrate their subject knowledge, they all agreed that they understood much more about the brain and human behaviour when they had started the course, and that the Psychology course had been a marathon effort but also lots of fun.

This year has certainly been a challenge, but both classes stepped up and worked hard until the end. Special congratulations to Sreeridhi Yemireddy who was awarded the Year 13 Psychology prize. At the end of this academic year I will leave St Leonards, and so I would like to take this opportunity to say a fond farewell to everyone and sincerely thank all the pupils that I have taught over the past four years - it has been a truly memorable experience.

Dr L Maclean, Teacher of Psychology

R&A testing centre

Queen Mary’s Library

QML REPORT

There is a constant flow of pupils through the doors of Queen Mary’s Library. Those of all ages come by each day to take out novels to satiate their appetite for good fiction, whilst older pupils keen to escape the humdrum of school life retreat to QML to find a quiet working environment. Meanwhile, our Junior pupils venture up to learn about the history of QML or to enjoy a librarybased lesson. It is always hard to select the highlights from the year, but the following snippets should give you an idea of the varied calendar of events that have been organised and enjoyed.

Ms A Tawse, Librarian

Halloween

Haunted House

QML has its own tombstones, and so is the perfect setting for St Leonards’ Halloween festivities. This year, the 16th-century library was transformed into a spooky haunted house by Year 13 students. The vaults were covered in cobwebs, and the Year 13 English B students organised a plethora of activities for pupils in Years 8 and 9 including face painting, scary storytelling, Egyptian mummy dress up and more!

The QML Haunted House’

Delightful Discoveries

In the wake of the success of the latest film adaptation of Little Women, Ms Tawse was delighted to discover that St Leonards has a fascinating connection with Louisa May Alcott. Interestingly, St Leonards’ first headmistress, Dame Louisa Lumsden, had dinner with the author whilst travelling in North America. In her biography, Lumsden wrote that ‘Miss Alcott came to dinner, a tall handsome woman, a capital story-teller, she was very amusing.’

Reformation Research

At the end of February, the Year 12 historians visited QML for their Internal Assessment Sources Day. The students were focusing on a wide range of topics including the women’s suffrage movement in the UK, the Russian Revolution, and the Medellin Cartel. Zina Gharakhani chose to focus on the role of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard. This was a fabulous reason to look out the library’s copies of The History of the Reformation of the Church of England. It was quite a moment to see the equipment of the modern day researcher: a pile of large, leather-bound 17th and 18th-century books printed on a printing press, paper and a pencil alongside modern, digitally printed books and a laptop!

The research skills required the pupils to not only find print and online sources, but also to analyse and use them to answer broader questions. These skills will be very useful for the pupils as they complete other aspects of their Diploma, but also beyond as they progress to university and the workplace.

Lockdown Life

Fortunately, QML has a plethora of online resources and the QML Book Club already posts its recommended reads on Facebook, so was well placed to adjust to lockdown life and to continue to support our pupils. If you haven’t yet checked out our Book Club, do visit our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ groups/StLeonardsQMLBookClub) and be sure to let us know how you find the recommended reads!

An extract from Dame Louisa Lumsden’s autobiography Yellow Leaves (1933).

Zina Gharakhani enjoyed using large, leather-bound books as part of her History assessment.

STEVENSONS AND AITKEN&NIVEN ARE PROUD TO SUPPORT ST. LEONARDS

Sports

Iam delighted to introduce the Sports section in the 2019-20 Gazette

St Leonards has a rich sporting heritage. It was the first place in the world where women’s lacrosse was played - the game was brought to St Leonards, and the UK, by the first two headmistresses of the school after they watched a men’s match during a visit to Canada in 1884. In addition, St Andrews is the ‘home of golf’ and we are immensely proud to partner with the St Andrews Links Trust to deliver our five-tier Golf Programme. The programme caters for beginner, development, and elite players. The 80+ students enrolled benefit from tailored individual and group coaching, eligibility to apply for a highly sought-after Links Ticket allowing access to the seven links courses in St Andrews, top-of-therange tracking equipment, and the opportunity to compete in prestigious competitions across the globe.

Sports

Lacrosse and golf therefore have a very special place in our provision of sports at St Leonards. However, we encourage a ‘sport for all’ attitude, and offer an extensive sports programme to ensure that there is something for everyone, whether that be small bore rifle shooting, basketball, hockey, tennis, cross country, rugby or a range of other sports. As a department, our principle aim is to encourage participation and a lifelong association with physical activity. You can read more about each of these sports in the pages that follow. It has been fantastic to see both our gold-standard Golf Programme and rugby partnership programme, the SLM Blues, develop and grow over the past year. In addition, there have been a number of fantastic individual sporting achievements, with pupils representing the school in the Caledonia rugby teams, at IAPS and Midlands level hockey, and internationally in smallbore rifle shooting.

As a department, we had to adapt and adjust our sporting provision with the onslaught of the pandemic. It was amazing to see the eagerness of our pupils to keep physically active whilst at home, and we were delighted to host a number of different challenges, workout sessions, and even a virtual Sports Day. You can read more about our lockdown sport on page 91.

I could not finish without thanking Mr Neil Ronaldson for all his hard work whilst teaching at St Leonards. We wish him an enjoyable retirement.

I hope that you enjoy reading more about the sporting successes and achievements from the past year in the pages that follow.

Mr M Baxter, Director of Sport

“It was amazing to see the eagerness of our pupils to keep physically active whilst at home.”

SPORTS COLOURS

At the end of the Autumn Term, we held a Sports Colours assembly. This was a brilliant opportunity to celebrate the sporting achievements from the opening months of the academic year, and to recognise the outstanding skill, dedication, and achievement of our top athletes and team players in hockey, rugby, lacrosse, swimming, shooting, and golf.

Sadly, due to the pandemic, we were unable to present physical trophies and certificates at the end of the academic year. However, the fantastic individual and collective sporting successes of this year were celebrated in a virtual Sports Assembly in the final week of term. At the assembly, the Captains of School Sport, Rachel Gibbins and Jack Headon, shared their reflections and thoughts on the past year of sporting endeavours and achievements. Below is an extract from Jack’s heartfelt speech: “There are so many sporting opportunities available to you at St Leonards. Some will make you laugh, help you strengthen your friendships and build new friendships, whilst others will develop qualities of resilience and leadership.

I would strongly encourage you to make the most of all these opportunities. Thank you to Mr Baxter and the PE Department for their brilliant work, and for helping make my time at St Leonards so memorable.”

Lockdown Sport

Throughout lockdown, the PE Department worked hard to ensure that our school community remained active. Pupils, parents, and staff were treated to daily fitness and workout videos recorded by the PE staff, including plyometric sessions, Crossfit HIIT workouts, pilates routines, yoga sequences, and home weights training. These recorded videos certainly helped keep morale up, and motivated our community to step away from their screens and get their bodies moving!

In addition, pupils were encouraged to be creative, develop, and showcase their sporting talent by sharing videos of their trick shot or skills as part of a school-wide virtual challenge. There were some amazing entries, and the winners were Reiss Marshall (Year 9) who kept his cool while completing the crossbar challenge with three different balls and Ben Brown (Year

7) who kicked a rugby ball into a moving bin!

Finally, both Junior and Senior pupils participated in the inaugural St Leonards Virtual Sports Day. The PE Department adapted classic sports day events for the pupils to do at home - from a rolling pin relay to a standing long jump challenge. Ben and Anna Brown (Year 7 & Year 5) even enjoyed the traditional strawberry kebabs that are provided by the PA on Sports Day from the comfort of their own home! There was a fantastic level of engagementthe pupils had great fun competing with their siblings or in solo races at home, and there were a total of 359 entries.

Very well done to all the pupils who participated in the challenges and stayed active and fit throughout lockdown!

This has been an outstanding year of sport for the Junior boys - their enthusiasm, commitment and hard work have been fantastic, and we have been blown away by the number of boys who have been willing and excited to represent St Leonards in fixtures against other schools.

Boys' Junior Sport

Years 4 & 5

In Years 4 and 5, our aim is to engage and enthuse the boys as they begin hockey and rugby training and engage for the first time in competitive fixtures. We were delighted to be able to include the majority of pupils in a fixture over the course of the year.

The St Leonards U9 Rugby Tournament was a huge success this year, with eight teams competing in a round robin tournament. There was a great atmosphere on the sidelines, helped by the refreshments tent for the parents who turned up to support which was run by the Parents Association. Many thanks to all who helped to make this event such a success.

As a cohort, Year 4 showed tremendous bravery. James Wright was the standout sportsman in Year 4 - he demonstrated some excellent try-saving tackles in rugby and, alongside Alex Christie, some fantastic dribbling skills in hockey.

There are also some excellent sportsmen in Year 5, and we are looking forward to seeing them develop and grow as players over the coming years. Harry Pennycook, Ethan Smith, and Rory König scored some great tries in our rugby fixtures, whilst Francis Maughan demonstrated a range of skills on the hockey pitch and George Crook looks

to become a solid defender in years to come.

Year 6

Year 6 produced some impressive displays over the year, and as a cohort showed a real hunger and desire to compete regardless of the activity. Harry Jacks and Xander Sneddon led the way on the rugby pitch, whilst Archie Donaldson displayed some fantastic teamwork skills. Ed Mifsud was fearless with his tackling and breakdown play alongside Hamish Fleming, who showed excellent improvement over

the term. On the hockey pitch, the boys’ physical capabilities and hunger to compete caught many teams by surprise. Alastair MacFadyen was a rock in defence, Angus Parkin was strong in midfield, and this allowed Xander and Harry to roam upfront and finish any opportunities that came their way. Alistair also led the way in cross country fixtures, and ran some fantastic races.

Year 7

The Year 7 boys have been an outstanding group to work withwhether in hockey, rugby, or cross

Year 5 Football

Year 7 Football

country. We were delighted to be able to involve every single boy in a fixture at some point over the year, and for a number of these boys it was their first experience of a school fixture. There were some notable successes on the rugby pitches, with some industrious and expressive rugby showcased that caught the eye of the opposition coaches. Freddie Downie was particularly abrasive, Ben Brown pulled the strings, and Logan Graham showed some fancy footwork to score some excellent tries. Archie Barton showed huge improvement over the term. Hockey fixtures were a tougher affair, but the boys held their own and remained competitive right to the final whistle. Again, Ben showed some neat touches and Lochie Nairn was comfortable on the ball with some mazy dribbles through the opposition defence. Logan and Archie produced some excellent results in cross country meets, at times competing and holding their own against boys two years older than them.

The future looks bright for sport at St Leonards - there is a huge amount of enthusiasm, and we look forward to helping the boys develop as they progress through the school and start to train and play with the Senior teams. Mr

A Turnbull, Teacher of PE & Games

Year 7 Rugby

Year 6 Hockey

Year 7 Hockey

Girls' Junior Sport

As I write, life before lockdown seems a distant memory as we adapt to our ‘new normal’. In spite of the upheaval and uncertainty of the past few months, Junior sport continues from the comfort and safety of back gardens. It has been fantastic to see our pupils make the most of the good weather and share their lockdown sporting endeavours and experiences with the wider St Leonards community - rugby, football, and gymnastics to name three. The pupils’ positivity and focus is to be applauded. You can read more about lockdown sport on page 91.

Hockey

Before lockdown, the girls’ hockey teams were busy playing regular matches, both home and away, against Clifton Hall, Riley House, Fettes Prep, ESMS, Kilgraston, and High School of Dundee. Lots of goals were scored, and morale and team spirit were everpresent on the pitch. Mr McLeish provided great enthusiasm from the sidelines during our home games, and the teams very much appreciated his support and encouragement. In other hockey news, Emily Logan and Thea Wright were selected to play at U13 level for the Caledonian Squad, which is part of the new Scottish IAPS representation. Congratulations to both girls on this significant achievement.

Swimming

Earlier in the year, our swimming team had successes against Lathallan and Kilgraston, allowing some of our young competitors to demonstrate their technique and speed through the water. Cara Lang cruised to victory in all her events, whilst Emmy Wallard, Éabha Lang, Abby Henderson, and Jennifer Niven showed flair in both individual strokes and relays. Special mention must also go to Emmy who claimed gold at the Fife Championships in the U12 Breaststroke race.

Swimming

Year 7 Hockey

Gymnastics

Under the guidance of Liz Rolland, gymnastics continues to flourish at St Leonards. Our team displays have scored well at a number of Fife school events.

Cross Country

Our cross country meet against Lathallan was an exciting addition to the programme this year, and our U9, U10, and U12 teams performed fantastically on a challenging course.

Well done to all the Junior girlswe are already looking forward to next year!

Miss R Dawson, Junior Games Coordinator

Kilgraston Swimming Gala

Lathallan Cross Country Meet

Years 6 & 7 Hockey

Boys' Senior Sport

Football

With a number of experienced Year 13 players leaving school last year, this year saw an influx of younger players to the Senior boys’ football team. The boys had a good season, the highlight being their 2-0 win away against Glenalmond

Rugby

The St Leonards-Madras (SLM) Blues youth rugby partnership was formed in August 2017, and continues to go from strength to strength. In September 2019, the rugby partnership was further boosted by the creation of a new role: the North East Fife Rugby Development Officer. Callum Parsons was appointed to fill this exciting new role, bringing with him a wealth of experience in widening access to expert coaching and opening the doors to sport. Within a short space of time, Callum has already set up successful links with local primary and secondary schools, and delivered taster sessions and lunchtime clubs to engage the local youth. His appointment, which is in collaboration with the Scottish Rugby Union, St Andrews University, and Madras Rugby Club, is the first of its kind in Scotland, and we are excited to see this partnership grow even more over the coming years.

This year, it was fantastic to welcome a number of new St Leonards players, Matyas Truca (Year 11), Leon Eckrich (Year 11), Florian Bierkaemper (Year 11), Leo Distler (Year 10), and Ryan Capra (Year 10) to rugby training sessions, and to see these pupils rise to the challenge of learning a new and

with goals scored by Ole Specht (Year 13) and Mihail Martynov (Year 13). The team also battled well against Gordonstoun, narrowly losing out 2-1, and the boys finished the season with an outstanding performance against a

strong High School of Dundee side. Throughout the season, the players displayed excellent teamwork skills and perseverance. This young team certainly has a bright future ahead of them!

complex sport with such enthusiasm. We look forward to watching these boys develop and grow over the coming years.

For the second year running, our Year 8, Year 9, Year 10 and Under 18 squads competed in the Scottish Rugby Union Grandis Conference in Tier 3 with matches against George Watson’s B team, Linlithgow Academy, Royal High, Lasswade, and Trinity Academy. The Year 8 team had a fantastic season, and all their matches were close encounters that could have gone either way. A solid partnership created opportunities for Lucas Thompson and Ethan Williams to play some outstanding attacking rugby, and the team were able to score from all over the park. In the pack, Ewen Farquhar was a menace at the breakdown, winning some important turnovers and Cameron Parkin put in some outstanding tackles over the season. The future looks bright for this squadthey grew in numbers over the season, with 21 boys representing the Blues at some point over the season. They have great enthusiasm and enjoy each other’s company off the pitch, which is a recipe for success! Furthermore, Magnus

Newton, Ewen Farquhar and Adam Williamson represented St Leonards in the invitational Caledonian squad. Together with players from fellow Scottish independent schools, the boys beat the Thistles and lost narrowly to the Saltires, making for overall a very successful day in Musselburgh. A huge amount of credit must go to the Madrascals coaches, who kept this strong squad together, and helped them transition to the senior ‘Blues’ section of the club.

It was a very tough season for the Year 9 boys, but they must be applauded for their commitment to the sport. The squad grew in confidence over the season, and there were some patches of excellent attacking rugby. Hector Lindsay led by example with some excellent defensive performances that caught the eye of opposition coaches. Will Campbell was elusive and linked up well with Henry Wedderburn in attack. Martim Barbosa was ferocious at the breakdown and Scott Drever found real confidence in his power and size in both attack and defence. There is promise from this squad and if they stick together and work hard in training they may well surprise a few teams next season.

The Year 10 squad had a quality core of players who have now played together for a few seasons, and they have a good mix of pace and power. This season they started to really come together as a team, and by the end of the season they had put in some really strong defensive performances to back up their attacking prowess. Congratulations to Jackson Fraser, Cameron Potter, Isaac Easson and Michael Smith who were nominated for the Caledonia U15 squad, and Archie Clarke and Bartek Brylak who were nominated for the Caledonia U16 squad. We look forward to seeing what this squad achieve next season

The U18 squad never fully got going this year, but there were a few core players who deserve a mention for

their commitment to try and grow this group - Alistair Dow, Duncan Nixon, Finlay Potter, Ryan Cowie, Alex Long, Luke Connor, Nico Swales, Leon Eckrich and Adam Akram were everpresent at training, full of enthusiasm. Thanks must also go to Sam Potter who enthusiastically gave up his time to coach this team.

I couldn’t finish without thanking a few individuals who work tirelessly in the background to support our squads. Firstly, Catriona Steven, who organised the catering for all the home matches. I know that the boys appreciate the feed after a hard-fought confidence, and the fact that the players stick around after the match really adds to the club atmosphere. Secondly, Nick Mifsud and Jonathan O’Riordan, who handled

all the logistics off the pitch with registering new players, liasing with parents and the SRU and driving the club side of our partnership forward. Thirdly, Mark Henderson who gave up many of his evenings to help with coaching. Fourthly, the parents who support the players and drive them to training and matches each week. Finally, a big thank you to all the boys who worked hard all season to improve their rugby - you have all been a pleasure to coach and watch play, and we are looking forward to getting you back out on the pitch enjoying your rugby. We are yet to find out what next season will look like but we are hopeful for a return to action soon but most importantly when it is safe to do so.

Mr A Turnbull, Teacher of PE & Games

Golf

Under the leadership of Director of Golf, Fintan Bonner, the St Leonards Golf Programme continues to flourish in partnership with the St Andrews Links Trust. This year, there were over 80 students enrolled on the programme - the highest number since the programme was launched six years ago. The programme now has five tiers, and caters for pupils of all ages and abilities. The five tiers are: the High Performance Squad, the Development Performance Squad, the Q School, the Introduction to Golf, and the St Leonards Minis programme. At the start of the year, we ran the St Leonards Tom Morris Championship with 140 boys and girls aged 15 to 18 from across Scotland competing on the

Jubilee, Eden, and Strathtyrum courses. It was great to see many of our pupils receive prizes at this event - Charles De Beir (Year 11) was the Strathtyrum Boys Best Nett Score Winner, and Florian Bierkaemper (Year 10) was Runner Up; the Strathtyrum Boys Best Nett Score Winner was Fiona Branch (Year 10), and Isabel Loring (Year 10) was Runner Up; the Eden Best Nett Score Winner was Joost Innig (Year 12); and the Jubilee Girls Best Scratch Score Runner Up was Ellen Caton (Year 13). A huge thank you to all the schools who participated in this event, and also to the parents who supported the event. At the end of September, 35 pupils from all five tiers of the Golf Programme participated in the Alfred

Dunhill Schools Championship. Historically, St Leonards has performed extremely well in this event. This year was no different with Casper Graf (Year 11) (1st Place), Ellen Caton (2nd place), Eric Berge (1st Nett Boys) and Fiona Branch (1st Nett Girls) picking up the main prizes.

The ISGA Final is the biggest golfing event of the independent school year. With the high number of talented pupils that we had enrolled on our top tier this year, we decided to enter two teams. Remarkably, both teams made it to the Regional Final and played the Old Course. The matches were extremely close, and it came down to the final hole where Julian Maintz (Year 11) shot a very impressive birdie

With the high number of talented pupils that we had enrolled on our top tier this year, we decided to enter two teams. Remarkably, both teams made it to the Regional Final and played the Old Course.

ISGA Golf Championships

Ellen Caton

to clinch victory for the St Leonards B team. This result now means that St Leonards will play in the National Finals which will be held at Formby Hall in October. Well done to Caspar Graf, Frederike Lohmann, Ellen Caton, Agata Vahalova (Year 11), Eric Berge (Year 10), Julian Maintz, Fynn Loewe (Year 11) and Erik Kallmeyer (Year 12). Sadly, our Sir Michael Bonallack Championships had to be cancelled this year but we look forward to April 2021 when we can run the tournament again. Despite not being able to finish our golfing schedule this year, we were still able to award Frederike Lohmann (Year 11) as the 2019/20 Order Of Merit winner as she dominated our medal competitions all year. Her most memorable moment was her hole in one on the 5th hole of the Jubilee course!

In Junior news, our youngest top tier member, Julius Gill (Year 5), competed in the World renowned Drive Chip and Putt qualifiers in America. It was great to see all Julius’ hard work and dedication paying off as Julius won both of his sub-qualifying rounds for the event. Julius set a new age bracket scoring record of 134 along the way. Unfortunately, Julius narrowly missed the final stage of qualifying in Connecticut, but did incredibly well competing against some of the best kids in the world. Well done, Julius.

Finally, this was the first year of the St Leonards Minis programme for Junior pupils. The classes ran on Saturdays at the St Andrews Links Golf Academy. Well done to all the pupils who participated, and a massive congratulations to Charlie Lewis (Year 6) on winning the first ever St Leonards Minis Order of Merit.

Despite being a shorter year than we planned, we have achieved a lot in this academic year, and we look forward to building upon these successes in the Autumn.

Mr F Bonner, Director of Golf

Hole in One

ISGA Golf Championships - Regional Semi Final

St Leonards Minis programme participants

Girls' Senior Sport

HOCKEY

Girls’ Hockey at St Leonards continues to go from strength to strength. This year, despite the changeable and often challenging weather conditions, the girls remained committed to the weekly training sessions. The term ‘all-weather pitch’ could not be more apt! The girls’ enthusiasm for the sport really is infectious, and it was fantastic to see their perseverance, hard work, and dedication reflected in the final scores of the various fixtures.

This year, the girls enjoyed a large number of fixtures and tournament matches against Glenalmond, Morrison’s, Dollar, Kilgraston, High School of Dundee, Dunfermline High School, Levenmouth Academy, Strathallan, and Madras College. These fixtures enabled the girls to put the wide variety of stick skills developed in training sessions into practice, and perhaps even more importantly to develop their sportsmanship, teamwork, and self-confidence.

The Year 8 girls had a fantastic season and, in the Spring Term, emerged as joint winners of the Hockey Festival

against two teams from Dunfermline High School and Madras College. Special mention must go to Isha Bhaskar and Polly Morris, who scored six and four goals respectively for the St Leonards side.

The Year 9 girls also enjoyed highscoring wins against other schools this year. Perhaps their most confident victory was against Dunfermline High, in which they secured a 9-0 win thanks to goal-scorers Corinne Dumbreck, Sophie Clarke, Millie Love, Maddy Wallard, Katie Adrain, and Nadja Campbell. This is a strong year group for girls’ hockey and, very excitingly, this year saw three girls trialling for the Midland U14 district team. Whilst the coronavirus pandemic led to the trial, training, and tournament being postponed, there are plans in place for this to get back up and running once it is safe to do so. We wish the girls all the best when their representative journey continues.

For me, the standout performance for the Year 10 girls was their match against Mary Erskine’s in November. This was a

tightly-contested match against a strong side, reflected in the half-time score of 2-2. It was therefore fabulous to see the St Leonards side dig deep, and emerge victorious with a 5-2 win. The girls also enjoyed some high-scoring victories, perhaps most notably with a 9-0 win against Madras. Fiona Branch was the top goal scorer in this match, securing five goals for the St Leonards side.

For all teams, the Fife Schools competitions were the highpoint of the season. Our teams dominated the competitions, with all retaining the trophies and winning their respective tournaments. Particular mention must go to the Senior Girls’ team who won the tournament for the eighth year in a row following an 8-0 win against Levenmouth Academy, a 2-0 win against Dunfermline High School, and a 0-0 draw against Madras College. Many congratulations to goal scorers Jemima Lindsay (Year 13), Millie Costa-Sa (Year 13), Grace Adam (Year 11), Ciara Cherry (Year 11), Rebecca Curnyn (Year 11), Catherine Fleming (Year 12), and Eve Zausig (Year 12).

In addition to this packed schedule of fixtures, the girls enjoyed a variety of internal tournaments. The InterHouse competition, as usual, was fiercely contested with the girls decked out in yellow, green, and blue to play for and support their houses. Many congratulations to Bishopshall Day House who emerged as victors, and also to the three goalkeepers Tess Neilson (Year 10), Eleanor Finch (Year 9), and Ruby Richardson (Year 8) who all made some fantastic saves. Then there was the hockey component of the St Leonards Day competitions, which again saw pupils decked out in house colours and enjoying some fantastic games of hockey on the all-weather pitch. This time, Ollerenshaw Day House emerged as victors of the overall competition. As has become tradition, we finished the Autumn Term with the Festive Hockey tournament with a large number of boys and girls turning out in Christmas

jumpers, Santa hats, and tinsel sticks for a fun and colourful morning of hockey! This really was a great way to finish the term, and these two events were my personal highlights of the season. Over sixty girls, a record number of players, turned up to take part in both of these events. A clear demonstration of the increasing popularity of girls’ hockey here at St Leonards.

The hockey season, and the Spring Term, finished with the leavers’ hockey fixture, in which the boys came out on top, with a final score of 3-1. This meant that everything was to play for on the Lacrosse field the following week! In the leavers’ lacrosse match, the girls had superior skills and were dominant throughout. The final score was 5-2 to the girls, which meant that the girls pipped the boys to the post and emerged with 6 points overall compared to the 5 points accrued by

the boys. Well done to all who played for making this an excellent sporting contest played in great spirit. There really have been so many hockey highlights this year, and it is impossible to mention each girl by name in this short report, but that is not to say that your contribution to girls’ hockey and individual progress has not been noted! As I conclude, I would like to mention one more girl by name: Millie Costa-Sa, this year’s Hockey Captain. Her leadership, enthusiasm, and commitment to helping younger pupils develop in the sport over this past year has been exemplary. It is always sad to see our Year 13 students move on to pastures new, but we wish them all the best and look forward to welcoming a new cohort of girls to join the teams next year.

Miss L Carroll, Senior Girls’ Games Coordinator

The Lacrosse season is focused on the Spring Term, which always has its ups and downs in terms of weather… However, as ever, I was mightily impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the girls who, come rain, hail, or shine, were out on the field ready and raring to go. At the start of the season, we were delighted to, once again, welcome experienced coach Dave Best to St Leonards. Dave has over 20 years’ experience of delivering coaching in schools, and his energy and enthusiasm for the sport really was infectious for pupils and staff alike! Over 50 girls enjoyed honing their skills, focusing on drills, marking and fitness, as well as some shorter attacking and defensive play scenarios. The sessions were timed well, and set the girls up for a fabulous season of external fixtures and internal tournaments.

The changeable weather conditions often impact our fixture list, but, this year, we were delighted to be able to play a fantastic set of fixtures against Fettes. The standout match was the U15 team who were trailing at half time but, thanks to the strong attacking trio of Anneli Hawdon, Fiona Branch, and Izzy Williams, managed to turn the score around and emerge victorious. We also enjoyed a set of fixtures against Loretto at home, with a brilliant stronghold of supporters on the sidelines. Again, these were close matches and special mention must go

LACROSSE

to Laila Cherry, (Year 13) who pulled off numerous impressive saves in goal to keep the Senior Team in the game, and to Jemima Lindsay (Year 13), Libby Fisher (Year 11), Grace Adam (Year 11), and Ella Vincent (Year 12) who were the goal scorers.

The girls also enjoyed Inter-House lacrosse matches, with St Rule emerging victorious, Bishopshall claiming the silver medal, and Ollerenshaw finishing in third place. Well done to all who played.

I would like to thank Georgie Robertson (Year 13), this year’s Lacrosse

Small-bore Rifle Shooting

The St Leonards Rifle Club continues to enjoy great success. Over the course of this academic year, Lauren Hastie (Year 12) and Francesca Calder (Year 10) won a plethora of different medals, shields, and trophies. In the British Championships, Francesca was placed third with a score of 286/300, whilst in the Scottish Championships she was also placed third with a score of 287/300. In addition, Francesca gained the silver medal in the Women’s Junior School Championship, won the McLean Shield (Junior Championship) at the St Andrews Rifle Club, and competed in the British Schools Junior Championships and finished in 2nd place with a score of 198/200.

Captain, and the other senior pupils for their willingness to encourage and support the younger players, and for their commitment to the sport. Lacrosse really is a unique game, and an entirely new experience for many of our new students who may never have heard of the sport, let alone played it. I would encourage all pupils, both old and new, to give it a go. After all, where better than at St Leonards the ‘cradle of lacrosse’?

Girls Games Coordinator

Both Lauren and Francesca finished with excellent scores at the British Schools National Team match and, whilst they couldn’t quite drag Scotland up to the team total set by England, both girls ended up in the top ten individuals in the whole country. Congratulations to both girls - we are immensely proud of their achievements from the past year.

Miss L Carroll, Senior

Arts & Activities

Music

It really has been another extraordinary year in the Music School. I hope that pupils, parents, staff, and other members of our school community have appreciated our music making - it has certainly been a pleasure to produce! On the pages that follow, you will find a full review of music making in the Junior years, written by Mrs Sally Shiells, and also reflections on the Senior musical activities and events from the past academic year, written by Lauren Hastie (Year 12) and Ella Vincent (Year 12), our erstwhile Music Monitor and Head Chorister. I very much hope that you will enjoy reading these reflections - there has certainly been a vibrant calendar of concerts and virtual concerts, and some wonderful individual and collective achievements

in both curricular and extracurricular musical activities.

This year, we say goodbye to three stalwarts of the Music School: Johanna Woitke, top violinist, Orchestra leader, founder of the String Quartet, and committed member of the school choirs; Kit McCarthy, top french horn player, general composing and accompanying factotum, and stretcher of the teachers’ brains; and Peter Matthews, committed solo singer, anchor of the choir’s bass section, and chief Daemon Barber. Kim Whatmore, Andrew Ford, and Andrew Fleming will also leave a void in the Daemon Barbers when they leave us this year, but I hope that they will keep on singing as they enter a new chapter of life.

In September, Kit McCarthy will move to London to study Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. This course combines theory with original projects, and involves collaborating with students from the Jazz and Acting Departments.

“I want to write music about personal experiences - friendships, politics, faith, nature - in surprising ways, in which listeners can find their own meaning.”

On behalf of the Music Department, I would like to wish these pupils all the best for the future, and to thank them for their commitment to all things instrumental and choral at St Leonards. Finally, I would like to thank all the pupils, from Year 1 to Year 13, who have taken part in a musical activity or event this year, and also extend heartfelt thanks to the Music School staff for their, at times, gargantuan hard work and commitment to the pupils and the plethora of different musical activities here at St Leonards.

Ms F Love, Director of Music

Junior

This year, our Junior musicians have been busy rehearsing, performing and even composing - it really has been a fantastic year of music making!

The termly Informal Concerts were a fantastic opportunity for the pupils to showcase their musical talent, hard work and commitment, and also gain valuable performing experience. These concerts included both individual and group performances - this year, there were three choirs, an orchestra, and a String Club for the Junior pupils. Musical ensembles are a way in which pupils can increase their memory and social skills, and most importantly they are great fun - creating music with others is a truly magical experience for musicians of any age.

This academic year, the Year 4 pupils had the opportunity to learn the clarinoe, a smaller, child-friendly

version of the clarinet that is in B , and the Year 2 pupils had the opportunity to try out the violin. The pupils were given an instrument to play during lessons, and also to take home to practice the music that they had learned in class. It was fantastic to see the pupils take responsibility for their practise, maintain their instruments, and also perform in the series of Informal Concerts. They certainly showed themselves to be true risk-takers!

In the Summer Term, it was wonderful to see our Junior pupils embrace the opportunities to keep practising and performing from their own homes. There were a number of excellent virtual concerts, hosted by Ms Love. The pupils did not seem to be phased by the unusual set up of these concerts, and delivered polished performances with poise and confidence! The atmosphere of positivity amongst the

audience and the supportive attitude of the pupils for their peers was fantastic to see - St Leonards really is a special community! In addition, two Junior pupils, Eliza and Rory König, joined the virtual Youth Orchestra and one of their performances was even featured on Good Morning Britain - it was great to see these pupils gain experience of playing in larger ensembles. Finally, the Junior pupils enjoyed taking part in the virtual House Shout Competition. The pupils were encouraged to record solo or group performances with their siblings or other members of their House, and then to upload these recordings to gain House points. Congratulations to Harris who were the winners of the competition.

Here’s to another year of marvellous music making!

Mrs S Shiells, Teacher of Junior Music

At St Leonards, there are a large variety of instrumental and choral ensembles that gather weekly to make music together and rehearse for the jampacked calendar of concerts and events. The ensembles rehearse and perform a wonderfully varied repertoire, ranging from feel-good rock songs like ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by The Beatles to classical pieces such as Beethoven’s ‘Symphony No. 3’, and iconic film soundtrack pieces such as ‘Mission Impossible’ to Liberian folk songs like ‘Banuwa’. The arrangements of these pieces are also designed to ensure that instrumentalists and vocalists of all levels can participate - there really is something for everyone, and we would wholeheartedly recommend that all pupils at St Leonards try out the wide range of musical opportunities!

At the start of the academic year, a small group of singers - Beth Purvis (Year 10), David De Wolff (Year 11), Peter Matthews (Year 13), and Lauren Hastie (Year 12) - travelled to Balmoral to sing for Her Majesty the Queen. They were joined by Seniors Anthony White (2014-17), Ines Hayward-Daventry (2007-17), Olivia Carslaw (2008-17), and Anna Carslaw (2008-14), and performed the anthem ‘Turn Thy Face From My Sins’ by Thomas Attwood and also led

the hymns and the National Anthem. It was an unforgettable experience! In the Autumn Term, there were lots of opportunities for musical performances at the Back to School BBQ, Canongate Primary School, and the Jull Singing Award to name three. At the end of November, Lauren Hastie performed at the St Andrew’s Day ‘Big Hoolie’ and also the Winter Light Switch On - it was fantastic to see St Leonards represented at these town events. It was December before we knew it, and the festive season was upon us - it was therefore time for the muchloved Christmas Mix event which, as usual, was performed in the Music School Auditorium, and also streamed via Facebook to the whole school community. A small group of pupils also enjoyed singing carols at the

R&A Christmas Dinner, a particular highlight being when the members of the club joined the choristers from St Leonards for a rendition of ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’. There was also the school Carol Service, held each year in Holy Trinity Church on South Street, and the choir prepared fourpart harmonies for the carols and also a number of performance pieces. This year’s ‘Once In Royal’ chosen soloist was Ella Vincent (Year 12). These events certainly helped the musicians at St Leonards, and the wider community, to get into the festive spirit!

The Spring Term was filled with a number of different lunchtime and evening concerts, including a Year 8 & 9 Concert, a GCSE concert, a Piano Concert, a Wind & Brass Concert, and a String Concert. At the end of

Balmoral

Senior

the Spring Term, the Music School, like everything else, fell prey to the coronavirus pandemic. However, in true St Leonards style, it was decided that the ‘show must go on’ and we shared our Spring Term Concert performances with the wider school community through a series of prerecorded videos. Over the course of the Summer Term, we continued to practise pieces from our own homes and then stream musical performances for pupils and their families.

A number of our musicians also joined the nationwide ‘Clap For Our Carers’ campaign, recording and performing pieces of music to applaud the dedication and perseverance of our key workers. Maddy Wallard recorded a beautiful rendition of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’, whilst Piping Scholar Alfie Love (Year 12) performed ‘Scotland the Brave’ as a salute to the key workers - his salute was even featured on BBC Scotland News!

Another highlight of the Summer Term was the Show Choir’s recorded video of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Simon & Garfunkel. This was a large collaborative project. First, sheet music and a backing track were shared with the choristers, and then after a few rehearsals the singers recorded their parts at home and uploaded their videos to a shared folder. Mr Shiells then extracted the audio from these files, and current parent Chris Wallard started to do the same with the video files. They then created a beautiful video that incorporated landscape footage of St Leonards and a montage of the different choir members that built towards a climactic final verse - it brought a tear to many eyes!

Finally, we would like to thank all the teachers in the Music Department for their enthusiasm and support over the past year - without their efforts, it would not have been possible to keep making music throughout lockdown.

Lauren Hastie (Music Monitor) & Ella Vincent (Head Chorister)

Jull Singing Award

This year, the Jull Medal was held on Thursday, 21 November in the Music School Auditorium, with 11 vocalists taking part across the Junior and Senior categories. The competition was kindly adjudicated by Dr Glynn Jenkins, former Director of Music at St Leonards. Congratulations to all the pupils who performed, and a special mention to the following pupils who were Highly Commended or Winners in this year’s competition.

Highly Commended (Junior)Maddy Wallard (Year 9), who sang ‘Once Upon a Dream’ by Bricusse & Wildhorn, and Beth Purvis (Year 10), who performed ‘On My Own’ by Boubil and Schönberg from Les Misérables.

Highly Commended (Senior) - Ella Vincent (Year 12), who sang ‘Panis Angelicus’ by César Franck and ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ by Manning Sherwin and Eric Maschwitz, and Peter Matthews, who sang two parts of the song cycle ‘Insect World’ (‘Insect World’ and ‘The Fly’) with music by Richard Rodney Bennett and lyrics by John Clare and Willian Oldys respectively.

Winner (Junior) - Will Jacks (Year 9), who performed ‘The Gambler’ by Don Schlitz with incredible showmanship. Overall Winner of the Jull MedalClova Angus (Year 11), who performed the traditional Spanish Christmas Carol ‘A la Nanita’ and also ‘A Nightingale in Berkeley Square’.

Creative Writing Creative

Over the past year, a small group of budding writers and poets have religiously gathered away from the hustle and bustle of school life to hone their creative writing skills. Whilst each session was just an hour, the pupils managed to produce several inspired pieces of prose and poetry, which on many occasions have received national recognition.

In the Autumn Term, Keyuri Ade (Year 10) entered the Young Writers’ competition and her poem ‘In My Hands’ was selected from over 10,000 entries for publication in their forthcoming book Through Their Eyes - Word Weavers. Later in the year, Keyuri, along with Cameron Rhodes (Year 12) and Louisa Lemor (Year 11) received more exciting news. Their 100word mini-sagas (entitled ‘Followed’, ‘Only Ochre’, and ‘No Escape’ respectively), based upon the theme SOS Sagas: Hunted, had been selected for publication from over 20,000 submissions.

In the Spring Term, there was the annual Miss Leveson Plate and Bowl Competition, an annual, school-

wide creative writing competition that welcomes poetry and prose submissions. The competition was kindly judged by Ken Cockburn, a poet and translator based in Edinburgh whose recent publications include the poetry collections Floating the Woods and Heroines from Abroad. This year’s category winners were Zachary Sewell (Years 8 & 9 - Poetry Winner) for his poem ‘They took my eyes away’; Sophie Clarke (Years 8 & 9 - Prose Winner), for her piece entitled ‘Undercover Fraud’; Cameron Adams (Years 10 & 11 Winner) for his piece entitled ‘Shattered’; and Cameron Rhodes (Years 12 & 13 Winner), for his short story entitled ‘Changes in the Mist’. The Plate and Bowl were awarded to Zachary Sewell and Sophie Clarke respectively. Many congratulations to all the pupils who entered.

I look forward to many more hours spent in E3 with the vibrant group of poets and writers in our school community - the Writing Club really is a highlight of my week.

Mrs D Johnston, Teacher of English

Creative Writing pupils with Mrs Johnston

Sophie Clarke

Zachary Sewell

Whilst this academic year was somewhat shortened, and sadly three performances were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, there has nevertheless been a lot to celebrate in the Drama Department!

In November, the St Leonards Players took to the stage once again and performed a marvellous production of At A Standstill to rave reviews. You can read a full review of this production on pages 112-113. This was swiftly followed by an adaptation of Christopher Marlowe’s Dr Faustus, performed in The Byre Theatre by thespians in Years 11-13. This is a hard play to make audiences enjoy but, once again, the feedback was incredible - it was an amazing show. Dr Faustus was a true team effort with much-welcomed co-direction from Mr Iannone; some superb stage management from pupils in Year 10; and an outstanding musical

score composed by Kit McCarthy. I hope that you enjoy reading some of the cast members’ reflections on this production, which can be found on pages 110-111.

In March, the Trinity Drama examinations took place, and the pupils were put through their pacestwo evening performances to parents, followed by an extremely rigorous examination. The pupils all did themselves proud, and there were some excellent results. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs Arbuthnott for her hard work in preparing the pupils for these examinations. At the end of the Spring Term, our GCSE and IB Diploma cohorts successfully completed their Theatre coursework before lockdown, and should be congratulated for their perseverance, hard work, and fantastic results.

In the Summer Term, the Tilton Road cast continued to rehearse online for their performance next year. This is certainly an event to pencil into your diaries - it is shaping up to be a fantastic production!

Finally, as Director of Drama, I receive many plaudits which I share wholeheartedly with my wonderful team - the success of our amazing department is in large part due to the support of Mrs Stewart, Mrs Arbuthnott, the Drama Monitors, Drama Scholars, and all the pupils who commit so much time and energy to the productions. I look forward to working with you all again over the coming academic year.

Ms N McQuade-Powell, Director of Drama

DR FAUSTUS

Dr Faustus is usually a play that brings pain to students who attempt to study and analyse it. Who could have predicted that performing this play would be so fun…

Ms McQuade’s directorial concept of switching Dr Faustus’s gender in order to convey the script through the eyes of a female working within business corporations gave a relevant and exciting twist on the play. This instantly captured the imaginations of the cast members, since we had never been part of a production that had altered the meaning behind a play to this extent. The challenges of this play became apparent as soon as we were given our scripts. Written in 16th-century English, the play is extremely difficult to understand. If it wasn’t for Mr Iannone’s knowledge of the play and the language, none of the actors would have been able to truly bring these characters to life. Once we had grasped the language and understood what the characters were actually saying, it became our job to explore the characters creatively using the script and our imagination - this is what I love most about theatre.

I was cast as the daemon, Mephistopheles.

It took me a painfully long time to grasp the physicality and mentality I wanted to convey as this character. That being said, once all of the actors had discovered their characters we could truly see this play coming to life, and I could see how special this production would be - especially because we were performing the play in a professional theatre. During rehearsals, I worked alongside Andrew Ford (Year 13), my co-actor playing Mephistopheles. Having someone experiencing the same role as me made everything more enjoyable, as we were both taking on this challenge in different ways, creating a playful and fun atmosphere during rehearsals.

There were many times in which we attempted certain movements or methods of delivering the lines which were completely wrong. However, this added to the joy of performing as we could laugh at our failures, and yet feel extremely positive when we finally grasped our role.

This was an extremely challenging, yet rewarding, production. The idea of performing a classical play is certainly daunting at first, but bringing historical concepts into a contemporary performance led to playful and exciting rehearsals in which actors are able to create and imagine their own characters based upon the script they are given. This was my final performance at St Leonards and one I will never forget. The opportunities that the Drama Department has given me have truly developed me as a performer, and as a person. I would recommend that every student, no matter their ability, should perform in at least one of St Leonards’ theatre productions, as they create amazing memories and performances that will stay with you for life.

Kim Whatmore, Year 13

I was excited to be cast as the female Dr Faustus, and had the challenge of conveying the character’s internal conflict about whether to repent and save her soul using vocal delivery, facial expressions, movement, and gesture. The role was demanding because of the complexity of language and the sheer number of lines, but gave me the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of one of the masterpieces of early English theatre.

Catherine Fleming, Year 12

“I came to the final Sunday rehearsal feeling uninspired for the score. This changed as I saw the cast bring the script to life with suspense, subtlety, and humour. I realised how important it was to reflect emotion, and to not go overboard with noise and effects.

As I watched the rehearsal, the music finally came to me. I wrote two short themes, and chose a selection of piano sounds and vintage synthesisers. With these, I improvised and accompanied the action as it unfolded. Each night, I hid in the wings with my keyboard and played discordant electronic drones, gentle piano lines, and Baroque-inspired synthesiser chords.

Dr Faustus has been a highlight of my time at St Leonards. I am very grateful to have been part of this fantastic production.

Kit McCarthy, Year 13

AT A STANDSTILL

In 2019, Jackson Fraser (Year 10) was invited to join St Leonards Players, a prestigious group of distinguished actors and actresses who stage a production each November.

This year’s production was At A Standstill, an exciting and innovative play written by St Leonards’ Director of Drama, Ms Nichola McQuadePowell, set in a traffic jam on the M25 in five separate cars, each with its own individual story.

Below, Jackson summarises the plot of this original production and reflects on his experiences as a cast member:

The first scene begins in an F-type coupe Jaguar with three old ladies who had stolen the automobile from the inattentive manager of their care home, to bring this neglect to the public’s attention. The second scene is set in the lads’ car, with four seventeen-year-old boys who are making their way back from an all-night party in a neighboring village.

The lads are engaging in casual banter until the driver, Roddy Wilson, spots his mother striding down the row of cars towards them. The third scene focuses on three plumbers in their white van, and when we were reading through the script in the first rehearsal the seventeen-yearold plumber, Darren, yet to make his way in the world, was the character who particularly appealed to me. The fourth scene is set in an Audi Estate car in which there are two middle-aged gay parents and two teenagers. One of the fathers in this car is a brain surgeon, and is later requested to lend a helping hand in the traumatic head-on collision which has occurred. The final car is filled with the Wilson family, who are joined by their son Roddy in the final scene.

The name of the play, At A Standstill, has two interpretations. First, it literally describes the fact that the vehicles stuck in a traffic jam are ‘at a standstill’, and the second is more figurative and refers to the fact that the characters are at a point in life which they cannot change.

Overall, the experience of being in this small cast and performing this innovative production is something that I will not forget. I gained so much confidence from this play, and also learned a lot about the production of theatre. Thank you so much to Ms McQuade-Powell for all the time and effort, from inception to performance, that she put into this production.

”

SLP present At A Standstill

The cast are hoping to take this production to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2021 - watch this space for more updates!

MODEL UNITED NATIONS

Model United Nations (MUN) is a stimulating and exciting extracurricular activity in which pupils assume the role of national ambassadors to research, debate, and seek to solve global issues. It helps pupils develop their public speaking skills, glean a greater understanding of international affairs and global politics, and understand their positions as global citizens in line with the ethos of the International Baccalaureate curricula taught at St Leonards.

Each year, the pupils also have the opportunity to travel to other schools to take part in conferences and engage in debates with other young delegates.

St Leonards’ Model United Nations Society had an incredible day out at North Berwick High School MUN Conference. The pupils were either representing Turkey or Saudi Arabia in the debates, and covered a wide range of topics ranging from advocating the emigration of the human race to Mars to the absolute censorship of all ‘anti-vax’ publications. Some of the pupils even formed game changing diplomatic alliances with the North Korean delegation!

The pupils showed commitment and perseverance throughout the conference to the very end, and were staunch in their opposition to a United Kingdom resolution which was not adopted, thanks in no small part to our delegates’ numerous addresses and efforts towards mobilising support.

The conference was a success for both St Leonards’ most seasoned delegates and the newest participants, paving the way for greater achievements in the future.

In the Summer Term, the group continued their political debates, albeit in a virtual manner. They had a fabulous time engaging in interactive and impassioned debates on topics such as whether there should be a European Army after Brexit, and the place of surveillance and freedom in lockdown.

We look forward to more fruitful debates over the coming months!

Mrs V Samuel, MUN Coordinator

Debating

In Ancient Greece, the agora was a communal square in which citizens would meet to hear announcements and, more importantly, debate.

Since arriving at St Leonards, my classroom, commonly known as E4, has transformed into an agora for a group of spirited Year 8 students. Despite being novices, these budding debaters were keen to tackle a breadth of political issue from the onset.

Many cold, dark Wednesday evenings were spent debating issues such as the funding of the NHS, the viability of the minimum wage, the ethics of Trident and the sustainability of the private education system. The debates were heated. Indeed, some motions edged us all towards the parapet of an existential crisis. Yet, the sessions always ended

on a positive note. We always left the meetings in high spirits, our heated debates often spilling into the corridors, reverberating around the school and disturbing more sedate activities!

Historians document that the Ancient Greek agora provided a valuable insight into the lives of its citizens. I, too, have learned a great deal about my budding debaters from our weekly sessions. I realised how attuned our students are to global political developments, and how their viewpoints are imbued with passion, conviction, and a sense of justice. This gusto was particularly apparent in our annual Year 8 Debating Day, which was themed around sports and facilitated by St Andrews University debaters. Our students debated in three heated rounds, addressing issues such as

gender equality in the world of sports. In addition to this, they attended several workshops which focused on the construction of an argument and the art of rebuttal. Not only did St Leonards’ students exhibit maturity and compassion when dealing with sensitive motions, but their approach was unquestionably imaginative. The day was very much in the spirit of the agora – it was a marketplace of ideas. While physical spaces that function as an agora are a thing of the distant past, my spirited Year 8 pupils have proven that the need for healthy debate very much lives on in all of us.

Ms N Abdul Karim, Debating Coordinator

Duke of Edinburgh Award

The Duke of Edinburgh Award is all about going the extra mile – gaining new skills, pushing yourself physically, helping others and exploring new territories. To complete the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards, pupils commit to a volunteering project, developing a new skill, and then planning, training for, and completing a self-sufficient expedition. The pupils gain friendships, experiences, skills, and memories that will last a lifetime.

St Leonards has the fastest-growing Duke of Edinburgh programme of all Scottish independent schools, and this year we had a record number of participants joining the programme. The pupils enrolled on the programme this year got off to a strong start, but sadly, the lockdown imposed in March prevented the pupils from getting out to complete their long-awaited expeditions. However, the pupils are looking forward to starting the new

academic year with a vengeance. To allow participants to make up for lost time, there have been a number of temporary amendments to the Duke of Edinburgh programme. We look forward to getting back out into the hills and the beautiful Scottish countryside next academic year, and to ensure that the pupils gain the awards they have worked so hard to obtain!

Mr C Martin and Ms J Banks, Duke of Edinburgh Coordinators

Boarding

Bishopshall is a beautiful, recently refurbished boarding house at the heart of the St Leonards campus, which this year has been home to 55 girls from 14 different countries. It is a vibrant, fun-loving family of girls who support each other through thick and thin and, as you can imagine, there is never a dull moment!

At the start of the academic year, Bishopshall welcomed 28 new girls, along with a new Housemistress, Mrs Murray-Turner, and a new Resident House Assistant, Miss Hoodcamp. The Heads of House extended a warm welcome to the new pupils and organised a series of fun evening activities called ‘9 o’clocks’. These helped the girls to establish and strengthen friendships, settle into life in Bishopshall, and created a wonderful sense of community in the House. From this point onwards, the year gathered pace and the girls quickly settled into their busy routine of lessons, sport, and extracurricular activities. The girls were involved in a fantastic range of activities - hockey, golf, Young Enterprise, music, Duke of Edinburgh, ballroom dancing, competitive swimming, and horse riding to name a few! The new inhouse gym also proved popular, and the girls enjoyed channelling their energy and enthusiasm into various different workouts.

In the Autumn Term, the girls enjoyed the varied programme of weekend trips, including excursions to a football match, an ice skating rink, a trampolining park, and a paintballing

Bishopshall

centre, as well as more relaxed trips to enjoy some retail therapy in Dundee and at the Edinburgh Christmas markets. The girls also enjoyed events at school and trips closer to home, including a pizza night in Ollerenshaw, a Halloween party and regular midweek ice cream sundae nights in the Bishopshall kitchen, a talk from the Marine Conservation Society, and a lovely Christmas meal out at Mitchell’s followed by a Secret Santa gift exchange.

The Autumn Term also saw the introduction of room checks, with a prize draw for the top-scoring girls to win gift vouchers for Amazon or local restaurants. The House staff were blown away at how amazingly tidy the rooms were and so, in addition to vouchers, the girls were treated to a pizza night just before the October Half Term. A final highlight of the Autumn Term was the long-awaited arrival of the House hoodies, which were an instant hit - it really was wonderful to see the girls take such pride in their House identity! There was also a jam-packed calendar of events and trips in the Spring Term. The boarders enjoyed The Lion King

at the Edinburgh Playhouse, a skiing trip to Glenshee, and further trips to go ice skating and paintballing. At school, the boarders enjoyed a fantastic evening of entertainment and delicious food to celebrate Chinese New Year, the newly-instituted Sunday afternoon swim in the school pool, and a German cookery class from one of our parents, Mrs Ranocha. The House staff also introduced weekly activities including fitness bootcamp, flower arranging, and an Uno tournament - these were well-received, and it was great to see so many of the girls join in with the fun! Sadly, the Spring Term came to an abrupt end, with many of the girls returning home early to be with their families. Bishopshall was therefore very quiet in the Summer Term, with just a handful of boarders remaining at school. However, the Bishopshall community remained connected via the weekly House meetings and drop-in sessions with the House Staff, Kahoot quizzes, and a few other virtual activities.

On behalf of the Bishopshall staff, I would like to thank our outgoing Heads of House: Francesca Pellini

(Year 13), Sze Yiu Wong (Year 13), Anna Ranocha (Year 13), Lani Nawrot (Year 13), and Selina Handoll (Year 13) who helped make Bishopshall a wonderful ‘home from home’ this year. I would also like to thank all the Bishopshall girls - their energy and enthusiasm made the House a very happy and warm place to live!

Mrs J Murray-Turner, Housemistress of Bishopshall

“The best thing about boarding in Bishopshall is that you can live with your best friends. Every girl in the house becomes like a sister: they celebrate your wins, support you when you are not feeling at your best, and wish you luck for your exams.”

Molly Innes-Mulhall

What does the role ‘Head of House’ involve?

As joint Heads of House, we support the team of House staff with the dayto-day running of Ollerenshaw. We organise evening activities, and help with a few bits of administration. In addition, we act as representatives for the boys and voice the collective queries, opinions, and concerns of the House. Finally, we seek to be role models and older brothers to the younger boys.

How would you summarise Ollerenshaw in three words?

Band of Brothers.

What is the ‘go to’ snack in Ollerenshaw?

We love homemade pizzas cooked in our outdoor pizza oven, but if that isn’t an option then bags of popcorn are amazing too!

Ollerenshaw

What is your favourite evening activity in Ollerenshaw?

Delicious homemade pizzas are a staple of the Ollerenshaw boarding experience, and we love gathering together for a night of good food and good company. We prepare the pizzas in the kitchen, pile them high with toppings, and then finish them off in our very own outdoor pizza oven. Some nights we invite guests from the other boarding houses to join us - we love socialising and connecting with other members of the boarding community!

We also enjoy unwinding and relaxing together as a band of brothers at the end of a busy school day. In the evenings, we like to watch TV, play a casual game of cards or Monopoly, and, of course, get competitive on the Playstation!

What has been your favourite boarding event this year?

Without doubt, the Super Bowl party which was organised by Balthazar Forssman-Trevedy (Year 11). We had a great evening with the boarders from Bishopshall watching the final of the Super Bowl. There were lots of tasty snacks including chicken wings, pretzels, crisps, and American football shaped cookies, and lots of comfy blankets, pillows, and cushions. We were very tired the next day, but it was totally worth it!

What do you like to do at the weekends?

The Ollerenshaw boys love all events that involve food! We often go ‘up town’ at the weekends to visit the local restaurants and cafes, to play golf, or to go to the beach. We also enjoy the weekend programme of trips, such as bowling or paintballing, especially if a trip to McDonalds is involved! Finally, we enjoy baking in the Ollerenshaw kitchen.

Below, joint Heads of House, Ferdinand Loeffler and Laurence Broekhof, reflect on the highlights of the 2019-20 academic year in Ollerenshaw.

What is your favourite place in Ollerenshaw?

The Duty Room is at the heart of the House. It is where we go to chat about anything and everything with the amazing team of House staff in Ollerenshaw. It is also the birthplace of fun new ideas to bring the Ollerenshaw community together, such as mini golf!

“Ollerenshaw is our second home. The camaraderie is amazing - we are one big family, and are always there to support and help one another through the highs and lows of the term. We like to say that we are stronger together than apart!”

Ferdinand Loeffler and Laurence Broekhof

What does it mean to be a Housemistress? This is a question that I am often asked, but is surprisingly difficult to answer because no two days are the same in a boarding house! However, put simply, being a Housemistress is an immense privilege. Parents from around the world entrust their sons and daughters to my care, and it is wonderful to support these boarders and watch them flourish over the course of an academic year.

St Rule is a very special community that is made up of individuals from different cultural backgrounds and with a whole wealth of different personalities. As a result, there is a real buzz in the House, and it is fantastic to see the pupils learn from and support one another. I really do love nothing more than when the boarders in St Rule pile into

St Rule

the kitchen, or pop into the Duty Room for a chat.

The renovations of the ground floor social spaces were completed last summer, and the boarders are loving the new kitchen-dining room, common room, and games room. The games room has a pool table, a ping-pong table, and comfy sofas - it is the perfect place to relax after a busy day at school! The refurbished kitchen is at the heart of the house, and we have made good use of the kitchen with our weekly House Nights, for which the whole St Rule family gathers together for some delicious home-cooked food and good company! We have enjoyed a variety of different themes including chicken wings with a plethora of different sauces - ketchup, mayonnaise, peri peri, teriyaki, barbecue and sweet chilli; a burrito buffet complete with nachos,

guacamole, wraps, salsa, soured cream, rice, cheese, beef, chicken and salad; and stacks of pancakes topped with chocolate spread, syrup, and lemon juice.

We also love to welcome guests to St Rule. In February, it was fantastic to host the Year 7 pupils for delicious Domino’s pizzas, followed by team games organised by Mr McLeish, a quiz, a movie with popcorn and other treats, and finally a sleepover. We look forward to hosting more events, evenings, and activities in the year ahead, and giving our day pupils an insight into the fun that is had in the boarding houses.

I have loved my first year as a Housemistress, and am looking forward to many more!

Mrs J Pennycook, Housemistress of St Rule

“St Rule has its own charm, spark, and magic. There’s always something happening. There’s always someone to talk to, whether that be a friend or a member of staff on duty. St Rule is my happy place, my home away from home.”

Keyuri Ade (Year 10)

At St Leonards, every pupil is allocated to one of the competition houses, and throughout the year the houses compete in a wide range of Inter-House competitions decked out in their House colours - blue for Bishopshall, yellow for Ollerenshaw, and green for St Rule. This year, as ever, the Inter-House events were a great success, and were a wonderful opportunity for pupils from different year groups to get to know each other and compete for the hotly-contested title of Day House Champion.

Ollerenshaw got off to a strong start, and won the Language Perfect challenge at the start of the academic year. Their streak of success continued into November. Ollerenshaw put on a particularly fine display in the Tug ‘o’ War event, and led to them being crowned the victors of St Leonards Day. This is a day filled with InterHouse competitions including football, swimming, hockey, and touch rugby. There were a number of other InterHouse sporting events in the Autumn Term. The pupils displayed fantastic teamwork skills and House spirit at these events, and it was great to see all three houses perform well across the events and be awarded the gold medal position at different times.

Day Houses

St Leonards has a long history of InterHouse lacrosse matches. Indeed, the very first lacrosse matches played at St Leonards, on 27 March 1890, were inter-house matches: Bishopshall East beat Queen’s Terrace by 3 goals to 1, and Bishopshall East beat Day Girls by 2 goals to 0. This term, the victors were St Rule. In the girls’ Inter-House hockey competition, Bishopshall emerged as winners. Special mention

must go to the three goalkeepers - Tess Neilson (Year 10), Eleanor Finch (Year 9), and Ruby Richardson (Year 8) - all of whom made some fantastic saves. The next Inter-House competition was the Christmas Song Competition, and the three houses worked hard to perfect their songs in preparation for the performances at the Dismissal Assembly on the last day of term. The final event of 2019 did not disappoint, and St Rule claimed the top spot and left us all feeling suitably festive as we departed for the Christmas holidays.

In the Spring Term, the pupils channelled their musical talents once again for the Day House Bandslam. The event took place in the Music School Auditorium, which was transformed by Mr Irons’ spectacular disco lights. The audience enjoyed getting up on their feet to sing along to the brilliant performances from Bishopshall, Ollerenshaw, and St Rule. Congratulations to St Rule who were the winners of this competition, with a fantastic rendition of “Another Place to Fall” by KT Tunstall.

Throughout the year, the pupils also worked hard for House points in the Year 8 English Sports Debate, Ad Vitam quizzes, and other curriculumbased events.

This year, we introduced more Day House meetings, which took place in their respective boarding houses on a Thursday morning. These meetings were an excellent opportunity for the pupils to get to know fellow pupils in their House, both within their year groups and across the year groups. These meetings were also used to plan the competitions, and to collect feedback on the programme of Inter-House events. This year, we had planned to reintroduce the InterHouse quiz after our feedback session. Unfortunately, it was cancelled due to the pandemic - but we will make sure that it features in next year’s programme!

The culmination of the Inter-House competitions is usually Sports Day; however, this was not a typical year. By this stage of the academic year, lessons and activities were happening online. Our virtual Sports Day was a great success, but the competitive element was removed and the emphasis was instead on participation. More details on the inaugural virtual Sports Day can be found on page 91. Congratulations to Ollerenshaw who were crowned the overall winners of the Day House competitions.

We would like to congratulate each and every pupil for their efforts and achievements in this year’s Inter-House Competitions. We would also like to thank the tutors, teaching staff, and Heads of Department - without their support and enthusiasm, we would not be able to organise such a jam-packed programme of Inter-House events. We look forward to relaunching the competitions in the new academic year!

Ms L Carroll, Mr M Baxter, and Mr P Shiells Bishopshall, Ollerenshaw, and St Rule Day House Leaders

The St Leonards Parents Association (PA) is run by a committee of volunteers, updated each year at our Annual General Meeting. The committee organises events to raise money for the Headmaster’s Wish List, which is made up of requests that come from parents, pupils, and staff for items that will enhance the pupils’ school experience. These are not necessities, but rather ‘nice to haves’ - things that the children will benefit from and enjoy.

This academic year, we raised money to buy a new follow-on spotlight for the Drama Department, organised a Pumpkin Party, and purchased playground equipment for the Junior children. A longer term aim is to buy a legacy item, something larger from which the whole school will benefit. The staff are currently liaising with groups of children to field their ideas about what they would love to have that would make St Leonards even better than it already is - if that is possible!

The PA is a friendly, approachable group of parents - and we truly welcome any parent to join us for our meetings and events. The opinions and fundraising ideas of every parent are greatly appreciated, and we are always looking for help for our events - everything from putting out chairs and tables, to baking cakes, to running events. Even the littlest thing can really make all the difference! In a usual year, we would host a Junior Pumpkin Party, the Christmas Fair, an Easter Egg Hunt, the Sports Day tea tent, and another event during the school year. Covid-19 has meant that we cannot run our usual activities, but we have lots planned to

keep raising money and having fun in a socially-distanced way. We hope to see you at one of our virtual events in the near future!

The PA is also associated with the Social Reps, a group of parents who run social events for parents with children in the same year group. These events

help bring our school community closer together, and also help new families to settle into life at St Leonards. If you are not already linked up with your Social Reps please do get in touch with us, and we would love to put you in contact with them. To get in touch, please email pastleonards@gmail.com.

“ This academic year, we raised money to buy a new follow-on spotlight for the Drama Department, organised a Pumpkin Party, and purchased playground equipment for the Junior children.”

Wellbeing & Community Action

Wellbeing & Community Action

It is my pleasure to introduce the Wellbeing and Community section of the Gazette.

This year has seen a number of changes to the pastoral and wellbeing team at St Leonards. Perhaps most significantly, this year saw the retirement of my predecessor, Dr Geoffrey JacksonHutt. Having worked closely with Geoffrey throughout my ten years at St Leonards, I cannot stress enough his immense contribution to the school and his genuine passion for supporting the pupils’ wellbeing. He will be sorely missed, and we wish him the very best for the future. In addition, this year saw Mrs Jill White and Mr Paul Shiells take on the roles of Acting Head of Years 7-9 and Acting Head of Years 10-11/ Pre-IB. In this challenging time, they have offered unwavering support to the pupils and I would like to take this

opportunity to thank them for their efforts. We look forward to welcoming a number of new members of staff to the pastoral team next year. Whilst there have been significant staffing changes this year, our approach to wellbeing and pastoral care at St Leonards has not changed. We believe that for pupils to fulfil their full academic and personal potential they must first be happy and healthy. For this reason, we are proud to have a wide range of pastoral support structures in place, and to emphasise healthy eating, mindfulness, an active lifestyle, and engagement in extracurricular activities as important facets of a holistic and balanced education. This year, it really has been fantastic to see so many of our pupils engage in our extensive programme of extracurricular activities - the wide range of activities offered

ensures that pupils are able to both nurture existing passions and develop new interests. The benefits of engaging in extracurricular activities really is huge, and my advice would be for parents to speak with their children and to encourage them to get involved in as many of the different opportunities as possible!

This year, we introduced daily wellbeing support sessions with tutors and Heads of Year to ensure that pupils were set up to succeed at school. It was also great to welcome back Eugene Adams, Nurse Consultant with the NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Fife, to speak at a number of events throughout the year to support our efforts to support the wellbeing of our school community. Eugene is the school’s dedicated liaison for all

“ We believe that for pupils to fulfil their full academic and personal potential they must first be happy and healthy.”

matters regarding emotional health and wellbeing.

This academic year has challenged all of us in new and unforeseen ways, and the launch of St Leonards Connected inevitably meant that we had to launch new initiatives and adapt our wellbeing provision to effectively support the pupils. Tutors and Heads of Year continued to hold tutor time and weekly assemblies to maintain a sense of normality and routine for the pupils, though the sessions placed greater emphasis on social interaction amongst the pupils. In addition, we conducted biweekly wellbeing surveys. These provided us with invaluable information about how the pupils were coping with the new learning environment, both individually and collectively. A big thank you to the pupils for engaging with the self-

reflection surveys and for their honest responses. We were thrilled to hear that the surveys also acted as a springboard for discussions about wellbeing at home. We will continue these surveys next academic year. The importance of effective communication between teachers, pupils, and parents cannot be stressed enough. Over the course of this year, it has been fantastic to engage with parents on this important topic and to hear a number of different ideas about how we can foster a good sense of community and support pupil wellbeing. The virtual Coffee Meets have been a great success, and it has been fantastic to welcome families from all over the world to these events. Thank you to all the parents who have supported these events and been patient as we have adjusted to this new mode of

communication. Whilst we are excited to be able to host events in person once restrictions allow, we look forward to continuing to host virtual events to enable families from across the world to connect with us and other parents on a regular basis.

Looking ahead, we know that next academic year will be filled with challenges and opportunities as we adjust to the rhythms and routines of our ‘new normal’ at St Leonards. However, we are excited to welcome pupils and staff back to the school campus, and to face these challenges together. In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy reading about some of our wellbeing and community initiatives in the pages that follow.

Mr A Durward, Deputy Head (wellbeing)

New Wellbeing Initiatives New Initiatives

Wellbeing Hub

At the start of the Summer Term, we launched the St Leonards Wellbeing Hub which contains a fantastic selection of online resources to help pupils, parents, and staff to focus on their own mental wellbeing and the wellbeing of others. The Hub contains

links to websites for information and support, guides covering topics including sleep, hygiene, and emotional first aid, and the key wellbeing contacts at St Leonards. There are also suggestions for wellbeing activities for our families to try, including a 30-day

self-care challenge, an active coping calendar, a positivity journal, and links to yoga videos designed for children and adolescents. We look forward to adding more content to the Hub over the coming months.

Mindfulness Jars

In March, Year 5C made mindfulness jars. The pupils were asked to bring an old jar into school, which they filled with warm water. The pupils then added clear glue and selected three colours of glitter, which represented different feelings and emotions. When the jar is shaken, all the emotions are mixed together. The children were then encouraged, as the glitter settled, to rest their mind and solely focus on the jars. The children loved this project, and it was a fantastic opportunity for them to focus on their wellbeing in the midst of great uncertainty and change.

Peer Listening Scheme

At the start of the Spring Term, Mrs Arkwright launched the Junior Peer Listening Scheme - and it has been a great success!

Throughout January and February, the volunteer Peer Listeners met each Wednesday for training. The sessions involved some role play and helped the pupils to think through the different types of problems that might be shared and how they could be effective listeners. The pupils were regularly reminded that it was not their responsibility to solve the problems, but rather to be a listening ear. There were a number of different guest speakers at the sessions, including Mr Durward,

who spoke to the children about his new role as Deputy Head (wellbeing) and also shared his top tips on dealing with friendship issues, and Mrs MurrayTurner, who is a trained counsellor and Mental Health First Aider.

By the second half of the Spring Term, the Peer Listening Scheme was well and truly up and running, and there were members of the team on duty in the Years 1-3 playground and Years 4-7 play area each day. The pupils discussed the different ways in which they could encourage their peers to share their concerns and worries, and came up with worry boxes as a solution. The worry boxes enable the children

to write their worries down and then let go of the things that are making them anxious, rather than carrying their burdens around with them. The worry cards are then read by teachers and members of the Peer Listening Team, to enable them to understand and support their pupils and peers. Another initiative launched by the Peer Listening Team was to install a Friendship Bench in the Years 1-3 playground. Miss Fisher soon put

some of the team to work to paint and decorate a bench. The bench is somewhere that pupils can go if they are feeling a bit lonely or sad, and then the Peer Listeners and other children will be able to identify them and ensure that they are included in break time games. We look forward to watching the scheme flourish and grow over the coming months!

Charities & Causes Supported

Community Projects & Fundraising

Last year, our pupils engaged in a number of different initiatives to help others in St Andrews, Scotland, and further afield.

Juniors

147kg collected for food banks

Fun Run

£1425.60

Bake Sale £119.60

Christmas Jumper Day £59.00

Christmas Fair £482.50

Carol Service £246.83

£2,910.16 raised for charity by Junior pupils in 2019-20

Kung Fu and Counting

In January, a group of Chinese students from St Leonards was invited to visit the 8th Fife (St Andrews) Beavers. The Sixth Form students, supported by Deputy Head (teaching and learning) Dawn Pemberton-Hislop, taught the Beavers about some of their favourite Chinese traditions. This session was part of the Beavers’ My World Challenge Award, which encourages the youngest section of the Scout group to learn about the cultures and traditions of another country. The Beavers learned to count to ten in Mandarin, had their names written out in Chinese, and even tried out some Kung Fu movements. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening for all involved, and it is hoped that this partnership between St Leonards and the Beavers will continue and expand over the years to come.

Shoebox Appeal

A sterling effort was made once again by Junior pupils in response to the Christmas Shoebox Appeal. There were 114 beautifully wrapped boxes sent by St Leonards families to the dispatching centre, filled with toiletries, toys, and small clothing items. The boxes will bring joy to many children and adults in Eastern Europe who face difficulties every day because of poverty, illness, or disability. Thank you to all the St Leonards families who supported this project, bringing a glimmer of hope to a family in need at Christmas.

Feeding Communities Project

During lockdown, we were proud to partner with our catering provider, Thomas Franks Ltd, to ensure that those in need were able to have fresh, nutritious meals. The St Leonards kitchens became a hub for food production, and our wonderful team of chefs volunteered to prepare delicious

meals that were then transported to families in need in Tayside. This was part of the wider Feeding Communities project which was set up to help people across eastern Scotland during the pandemic. Over 8000 meals were prepared and distributed.

Outdoor Learning

Outdoor Learning

time spent in the great outdoors is immensely beneficial for the wellbeing, development, and progress of our pupils. Outdoor learning is therefore at the heart of our curriculum. We use time spent on the beach, in our outdoor classroom, or elsewhere in our green and historic grounds to enhance, support, and enrich the classroombased learning experiences of our pupils. This approach dovetails with the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the rich, interdisciplinary curriculum followed by our youngest pupils. So much can be learned from studying rock formations along the Fife Coastal Path up close, creating art using found objects, or simply conducting a lesson outside!

Beach School is now a regular part of the St Leonards experience, with each class in Years 1-6 visiting the beach at least once per fortnight. The frequency and regularity of these visits ensures that the children quickly feel comfortable learning in this outdoor environment. The children undertake a variety of activities on the beach, which build upon and enrich the theories and ideas taught in the classroom. Over the past year, we have seen Year 1 hone their subtraction skills by creating and solving problems in the sand, Year 3 create fantastic superhero sand sculptures, Year 4 build bridges using

into transport networks, and Year 5 develop their teamwork and problemsolving skills by working together to remove a large trunk from the sand... and that is by no means an exhaustive list!

Gardening is another central facet of the Outdoor Learning Programme here at St Leonards. Under the guidance of gardening guru Miss Fisher, the pupils enjoy growing fruits and vegetables in the school polytunnel and our vegetable garden during their lunch breaks. Gardening is also incorporated into various different Units of Inquiry. You can read more about these exciting projects on page 135.

Residential trips are the final component of our Outdoor Learning Programme. This year, a group of pupils from Years 6 and 7 enjoyed our ‘Swallows and Amazons’ trip to Comrie Croft, whilst the Year 6 cohort also had the opportunity to visit Loch Eil in January. You can read reviews of these trips on pages 136 and 137. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, our Year 5 and Year 7 residential adventures were not able to take place. However, we kept the spirit of outdoor adventure alive through a series of lockdown challenges, and as a result there were some fantastic dens, sandcastles, rafts and kites constructed, some of which are pictured on page 138.

It is wonderful to see our pupils grow as individuals and develop as learners as they spend time in the great outdoors and connect with the natural environment. Here’s to more fantastic outdoor experiences in our grounds, on the beach, and further afield!

Mr D Barrable Head of Outdoor Learning

Gardening

At the beginning of the academic year, and as the harvest was gathered across the country, pupils at St Leonards reaped the fruits of their labours and harvested the vegetables and herbs planted the previous year. The produce was then given to the school kitchens. In October, we were delighted to take part in ‘The Big Soup Share’ organised by the Royal Horticultural Society. There was produce aplenty, and enough leek and potato soup to feed the whole school! This is an area that we would like to expand next year. By increasing our growing capacity, we would love to be able to supply the kitchen staff with salads and vegetables throughout the year.

Work in the school garden would usually take off at the end of the Spring Term. Whilst progress was somewhat impeded by the coronavirus pandemic, the children of key workers continued to tend the plants in the school garden in-between their online lessons. They planted vegetable seedlings delivered by St Andrews Botanical Gardens in the beds of the polytunnel, and also enjoyed sowing wildflower seeds. The wildflowers will encourage pollinating insects to come into the school grounds and provide forage for the bees living in St Leonards’ bee colony. Meanwhile, at home, the pupils in Year 2 enjoyed planting peas, carrots, pumpkins, lettuces, radishes, parsley, basil, cress,

beetroot, chilli plants, forget-me-nots, and sunflowers as part of their Unit of Inquiry into minibeasts. They planted their seedlings into pots fashioned from recycled containers including milk bottles, juice cartons, food cartons, and yoghurt pots! We look forward to watching the pupils’ seedlings flourish at home and at school over the coming months.

At St Leonards, the natural world is used as a source of inspiration across the curriculum from Literacy to Mathematics, and from Science to Art. For example, Year 2 started the year with a Unit of Inquiry into ‘Jobs in our Local Community’, and the children were keen to learn about farming. They therefore embarked on an exciting visit to Thea Steven’s farm, where they learned about growing broccoli and wheat. Back at school, the children were inspired to have a go at growing their own crop of wheat, and so they dug over a patch of earth and sowed grain seeds. The plan is to harvest the wheat in the Autumn, grind the grain down to make flour, and then to bake loaves of bread. The members of the Gardening Club made a wonderful, though slightly terrifying, scarecrow that stands proudly beside the wheat field to scare away the birds and rabbits!

The mental and physical benefits of gardening are widely acknowledged, and introducing children to gardening

“Gardening makes me feel amazing and happy for two reasons. One, I like the smell of plants. They all smell different! My favourite plant to smell in my garden is mint. The second reason is I love the taste of them. I am growing tomatoes, peas, lettuce, courgette and potatoes to eat. My favourite taste is tomato. I also love squishing tomatoes up with my hands to make tomato sauce, it feels all squashy. Hang onthat’s three reasons!”

Jamie Sever-Smith (Year 2)

in school certainly enriches their learning experience. Gardening teaches pupils about the environment, the importance of biodiversity and sustainability, and also encourages children to engage with their surroundings and to develop a sense of responsibility for the world around them. Gardening is so rewarding, and perhaps this year more than most, we have been reminded of the importance of looking after our wellbeing, eating well, and spending time outdoors in the fresh air. Here’s to many more hours spent outside!

Miss A Fisher, Year 2 Class Teacher

Loch Eil

Bound Centre at Loch Eil was a first for St Leonards, and was the culmination of a year of planning and preparation. It was designed to complement the annual Year 7 trip to the Ridgeway Centre, and to provide a range of experiences that the children could draw upon and then extend in the following year. The week was planned around a night expedition, in which the children would prepare, pack, hike, and then spend the night in a bothy – all in winter conditions. All of the activities on the trip, both leading up to and after the night expedition, were focused on promoting teamwork and the importance of connecting with nature.

The key themes for the week were fun, effort, respect, and resilience. These were tied into each and every activity, from the lighthearted to the more challenging.

Our week at the Outward Bound Centre was, above all, meant to be fun. It was essential that the children had a positive experience, and were able to realise their capabilities in the outdoors. Effort

It was essential that each individual tried their hardest in all the different activities, worked together as part of the team, listened, and was organised. This was especially important for the night expedition. Effort is what makes ‘type two’ fun so immensely worthwhile.

Respect

This component had two parts: respect for each other, and respect for the environment. Our week involved working with peers, and therefore respect for each other was needed to ensure that all activities had a successful outcome. Respect or the environment meant that we needed to be mindful of where we were, and it was a large part of our John Muir Award.

It was inevitable that elements of our week in Loch Eil would challenge each child in a different way. For some, it was being away from home for four nights and battling with feelings of homesickness. The night expedition was a challenge for all the children, since they had to complete a hike with a rucksack on and then sleep in a bothy (not as comfortable as their normal sleeping conditions!). But, for each step of the journey, they had their friends and teammates with them!

I am incredibly proud of all of the Year 6 pupils. They dealt incredibly well with a challenging night expedition, took the weather in their stride, and the staff and instructors at Outward Bound were mightily impressed by the keenness and enthusiasm of the children.

Mr D Barrable, Head of Outdoor Learning

“I will take away happiness, confidence and courage. I have learned so much about myself, my friends, and my survival skills. It was tough but fun, and that’s what made it special. I am so grateful for this great experience and I would go again in a heartbeat. Thank you!”

Cameron Duncan

“I loved my time at Loch Eil and the views were amazing! The mountains were lovely when we went scrambling and there was also lots of snow! The hardest thing was doing the leap of faith. It was so high and scary, especially because it was wobbling as I moved. I have had the best time and would be happy to go back soon.”

Shelagh Reid

Comrie Croft

The Swallows and Amazons weekend at Comrie Croft, an eco-camping site just outside Crieff, is a highlight of the Outdoor Learning calendar at St Leonards. It is a unique opportunity for the Year 6 and 7 pupils to bond across their year groups, and the success and popularity of the trip is underpinned by its sheer simplicity. Whilst there are activities planned, there is also plenty of time for the children to play, to explore the woods that flank the meadow where the camp is set up, or to just sit in groups around the fire and chat. It is a time when the children are free from digital devices, and they are able to connect with each other, and the natural environment, and enjoy each other’s company.

For three years now, our Comrie Croft visit has been graced with glorious weather; we could not have been more fortunate to have warm nights and sunny days in late September. This year, the children brought their own tents and organised their own tent groups. This added a level of responsibility as they had to arrive knowing how to set up their tents, and had to work with their little tent team. It was wonderful to see the groups pull together to erect their tents - some groups managed relatively quickly, whilst others had to dig deep and be

resilient as they struggled more with this task. After successfully completing their first task, the children and staff all enjoyed delicious fish and chips from the local chippy around large fire pits. For the activities, the children were divided into two groups: Swallows and Amazons. They took turns to explore the different trails and runs around the croft on mountain bikes with experienced instructors, as well as try their hand at bushcrafting. This year, the bushcraft session was held in the woods above the camp in a birch forest. The children scouted for edible berries and other plants, made shelters, and practised making fires.

The nights were crystal clear and, despite a glow over the hills to the east, the sky above was dark and clear with the Milky Way arching above usUrsa Major was the most recognisable constellation! The last night consisted of a magnificent pasta bolognese, ‘s’mores, and hot chocolate!

Many thanks to the teachers and families who made this trip possible, including Mr Barrable, Mr Pennycook, Mr and Mrs Sneddon, Mr and Mrs Young, and Miss Neave.

Mrs J Pennycook Acting Junior School Headmistress

Lockdown Challenges

During lockdown, we continued to encourage the Junior pupils to step away from their screens, turn off their laptops and computers, and enjoy time in the great outdoors through a series of school-wide challenges.

The first challenge had a very simple brief: build a den indoors, in your garden, or in the woods. The pupils were encouraged to be as creative as possible - and their creations were simply amazing. There were dens built in closets, bedrooms, sitting rooms, gardens, woodlands, boats, as well as under trees. Special mention must go to two pupils. First, Ting Duncan (Year 7) who built an unusual and creative ‘Geo Den’ constructed out of 49 individually-cut cardboard pieces

connected together using duct tape. Ting then added finishing touches including a blanket, some pillows, and some mood lighting. The second noteworthy den was built by Lois Wood (Year 6). She built her den outdoors, and it was covered in lots of leaves and kitted out with lanterns, cushions, and blankets. Next up was a photography challenge, in conjunction with Garden Wildlife Week. We encouraged the pupils to get outside and go on a mini-expedition around their garden or local area, and to look closely at the animals, plants, and insects around them. The response was absolutely phenomenal. A few of our favourite photographs are pictured above.

The Junior pupils also marked ‘Growing for Wellbeing Day’ and ‘Eat Your Vegetables Day’ by spending time outside tending to their vegetable patches and flower pots. We then challenged them to harvest their homegrown produce or forage for ingredients from the hedgerows and surrounding area, and cook a delicious dish for their families. The results ranged from a warming nettle soup to a vegetable stir fry using homegrown pak choi. The key worker children at school also got involved with this challenge. Led by Miss Fisher, the children harvested all of the produce that was ready to pick in the school vegetable patch. They then wheelbarrowed their haul of potatoes, beetroot, kale, spring

onions, lettuce and herbs up to the kitchens, where Catering Manager Mr Tonge and his team turned it into a delicious potato and kale soup and a salad with halloumi cheese.

Since our Year 7 pupils were sadly unable to enjoy their residential outdoor adventure at the Ridgway Activity Centre at Ardmore, we decided to run a ‘Remote Ridgway’ programme. We encouraged the pupils to challenge themselves closer to home, to push themselves physically and learn new skills. The week revolved around the same three principles as the Ridgway Adventure: be self-reliant, be positive, and leave people and places better than you found them. There were some fantastic responses. For example,

Skye Taffs climbed the height of Ben Nevis using her staircase. Ben Nevis is 1345m high and Skye’s staircase just 2.77m high, and so she climbed up and down her stairs 486 times! Other Year 7 pupils camped outside for the night, hiked and ran along the coastal path and Pilgrims Way, and built rafts on the beach. It was great to see the spirit of adventure burn so bright and with such innovation!

A particular highlight of the lockdown challenges was the Castle Building Challenge, which was a nod to the annual St Leonards Junior Sandcastle Competition - always a highpoint of the academic year. The event usually takes place on East Sands, and the children are divided into mixed-age

teams. We were very impressed with the creativity of the castles, which were built from cardboard or sand and ranged from traditional fortresses to a swimmer chased by a shark! There were two other construction challengeskite building, and a more open-ended challenge which saw our pupils use marshmallows and spaghetti, Jenga bricks and all sorts of other materials to build ginormous towers and waterproof boats!

Very well done to all the pupils who took part in this series of lockdown challenges - your creativity, positivity, and resourcefulness certainly deserve a round of applause.

Mr D Barrable Head of Outdoor Learning

At the beginning of the academic year, we were delighted to welcome two colonies of honey bees to take up residence at St Leonards. The hives are tended to by qualified members of staff, parent volunteers, and avid apiarists in our pupil body. The hives were aptly named Amelia and Beatrix, after Amelia Earhart, the pioneering aviator, and the much-loved children’s author Beatrix Potter. All of our queens will be named after female figures who have made a difference, inspired others, and displayed kindness to others - all key parts of our ethos at St Leonards.

In the Autumn Term, we discovered that both Amelia and Beatrix had been infected with the varroa mite.

Busy Bees

The varroa mite does not kill the bees straight away, but does shorten the lifespan of the bees. Sadly, over the course of the winter months, the Amelia bees got weaker and, as happens with many colonies, collapsed. To ensure that no trace of the disease remained, a group of the key workers’ children cleaned the hive frames and then burned the old honeycomb from the frames whilst they were in school.

Whilst the demise of the Amelia bees was a setback, and very disappointing news for our community, in true St Leonards spirit we have not given up on beekeeping. We are pleased to report that our other hive, Beatrix, is doing really well and we are looking

to replace Amelia with a new hive in due course. Hopefully we will be producing St Leonards honey before too long!

Mr D Barrable, Head of Outdoor Learning

John Muir Award Muir Award

In February, the Year 6 pupils were all presented with their John Muir Award certificates. This was the second time that a cohort of St Leonards pupils has completed the Award, which encourages individuals to connect with, enjoy, and care for wild places.

The Award consists of four challenges: discover a wild place, explore its wildness, conserve it, and then share your experiences. The idea is that each individual chooses a place that they are interested in, either somewhere new or somewhere they would like to know

better. After learning more about the area and the challenges that it faces, the participant then takes action and seeks to conserve the area through litter picking, surveys, or getting their hands dirty and planting trees or maintaining pathways. The final stage requires the individual to share what they have done and reflect upon their experiences.

Many congratulations to the Year 6 pupils!

Prizegiving and Celebrations

Prizegiving is always a highpoint of the school calendar, and a chance for us as a school to celebrate our fantastic final year students. Since we were unable to physically gather together, we were delighted to host an informal, virtual celebration for our Year 13 students and their families to mark the end of their time at St Leonards. We look forward to hosting a postponed Prizegiving complete with prizes, speeches, and strawberry tarts for the Class of 2020 once Covid restrictions have been lifted, and we are able to socialise in large groups. The addresses given by the Headmaster and the Heads of School at this ‘Prizegiving Preview’ event are printed on the pages that follow. We also held virtual Prizegiving ceremonies to celebrate the individual and collective successes of each year group in the closing weeks of the Summer Term.

Welcome to our Year 13 leavers and their families, members of St Leonards staff, and other guests to this ‘Prizegiving Preview’ event. A particular welcome to our new Chair of Council, Colonel Martin Passmore.

I would like to thank Colonel Passmore’s predecessor, Professor Verity Brown, who stepped down from her role as Chair of Council this term to focus on her other work commitments. I would also like to thank Dr Geoffrey Jackson-Hutt, who retired last term as Deputy Head. Geoffrey joined St Leonards in 2007, and I would like to wish him and his family a very happy retirement.

I would also like to congratulate Jack Headon, Yasmine Millar, Andrew Ford, and Andrew Fleming on being the four pupils in Year 13 with the longest continuous connection to St Leonards. In 2005, Yasmine and Jack started at St Leonards in Nursery, with both Andrews joining not long afterwards. When the time is right, I would like to present all four students with a framed print of the school, commemorating their loyalty to and service with us. Social connection is such an important thing. I know that you will not have been able to be together for some time, and this event is not intended to be a replacement for Prizegiving. That is why we have named it a ‘Prizegiving

Preview’. We sincerely hope that we can come together as a group, rather than virtually, in the not-too-distant future. Nevertheless, I hope that this ‘Prizegiving Preview’ is an experience that you will enjoy and remember. You are a unique cohort, and you have coped amazingly well.

It is highly unusual for St Leonards not to have a Prizegiving at the end of the academic year. Prizegiving ceremonies were not cancelled during the so-called ‘Spanish flu’ pandemic of 1918-20the last pandemic of a similar scale. Interestingly, at the Prizegiving on 20 June 1920, almost exactly 100 years ago, no mention was made of Spanish flu. Perhaps the First World War,

HEADMASTER’S ‘PRIZEGIVING PREVIEW’ ADDRESS, JUNE 2020

which had only ended twenty months previously, cast too big a shadow.

At that Prizegiving, Mary Bentinck Smith, the Headmistress of the time, spoke about the aims of education. For her, the chief objective of education is to acquire wisdom. Mary Bentinck Smith was an interesting person. Her portrait is hung in the School Hall. She was born in Hamburg - her mother was German, and her father Scottish. The family moved from Germany to Yorkshire, and Mary was educated in England, France, and Germany before going on to study at the University of Cambridge. One of the pupils at the time described her as original and stimulating, and being no believer in spoon-feeding. She encouraged pupils to draw their own conclusions, make their own judgements, and, as I have previously mentioned, to acquire wisdom.

Mary Bentinck Smith’s approach to learning was very much in line with the International Baccalaureate and she therefore was, in many ways, ahead of her time.

Another pioneer in education associated with the first Headmistress of St Leonards, Dame Louisa Lumsden. She was one of the first women to attend Cambridge University, and was of a like mind with Mary Bentinck Smith with a strong vision concerning the purpose of education. She also had an international outlook, and was educated for a time in Brussels and travelled extensively. Her travels took her to Canada, where she saw lacrosse being played by men. She brought the game back to Scotland, and St Leonards was the first school to play women’s lacrosse.

For Louisa Lumsden, the main aim of education is to learn how to learn and to teach oneself. She hoped that this lesson, once learnt, would endure even when everything else is forgotten. She hoped that this aim would be attained whilst girls were at school at St Leonards, and not later in life. Again, a very International Baccalaureate approach.

Now it is your turn to leave St Leonards. Uniquely, you will be part of two global networks. First, you will be part of a network of around 5000 Seniors, as former pupils of St Leonards are called, and you will also become a part of a second network of around two million alumni of the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme. These are two powerful and connected networks. My advice is to take full advantage of them, and of

any opportunities that come your way. I am sure that Mary Bentinck Smith and Louisa Lumsden would have said the same.

It is often said that you ‘make your own luck’ and, by taking full advantage of the skills that you have developed at St Leonards, by learning how to learn, you really are ready for life. The founder of St Leonard’s College, Prior John Hepburn, put it slightly

Mary Bentinck Smith, Headmistress of St Leonards 1907-1921

Miss Lumsden with her dog, Rollo, in 1877

“You are prepared for life - with its ups and downs, opportunities and challenges, good days and bad days. You have been educated in a caring environment, with a strong sense of community, where you have supported each other in good times, and not so good times. You are truly prepared ‘Ad Vitam’, for life.

differently. His motto was ‘Ad Vitam’, which we interpret as ‘for life’. As you know, Ad Vitam is now the motto of St Leonards School.

John Hepburn, Mary Bentinck Smith, and Louisa Lumsden each recognised the importance of being prepared for life.

You are prepared for life - with its ups and downs, opportunities and challenges, good days and bad days. You have been educated in a caring environment, with a strong sense of community, where you have supported each other in good times, and not so good times. You are truly prepared ‘Ad Vitam’, for life.

It is also often said that ‘every cloud has a silver lining’. The post-Covid world that we are moving into will be different. Every action and decision that has been taken by governments across the world, by communities, by businesses, by organisations, by families and friends, will have a number of unintended consequences and serendipity will play a strong part in your lives. By serendipity, I mean the occurrence of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way - a chance meeting with someone, or finding a new application for the set of skills you have developed and that may set you up in an expected direction. This was

”certainly the case for Louisa Lumsden, who brought lacrosse from Canada to Scotland and, in doing so, created and codified a new world sport: women’s lacrosse. Chance meetings or events will happen in the post-Covid world as much as in the pre-Covid one. You will ‘make your own luck’ if you take advantage of these opportunities. In such a world, it is so important to be ready for anything; to be ready ‘for life’, to be ready ‘Ad Vitam’. Don’t look back, look forwards. I would encourage you to look on next year as an exciting time, a time of potential and opportunity. I wish you every success - you’ve been a great year. Good luck.

St Leonards Chapel

Office Bearers 2019/2020

Head Girl: Emma Rubidge

Head Boy: Ruaridh Angus

Deputy Head Girls: Francesca LiveseyStephens, Johanna Woitke

Deputy Head Boys: Alex Call, Kim Whatmore

SENIOR PREFECTS

Jeffrey Buerke

Millie Costa-Sa

Lauren Denton

Rachel Gibbins

Tom Glen

Jack Headon

Jakub Lazar

Francesca Pellini

Georgia Robertson

James Robertson

Alex Voitinsky

Sze Yiu Wong

PREFECTS

Ellen Caton

Aman Choudhry

Andrew Fleming

Andrew Ford

Nerea Gomez-Martin

Daniel Greenwood

Jia Ru Guo

Selina Handoll

Jemima Lindsay

Kathryn Matthews

Kit McCarthy

Peter Matthews

Yasmine Millar

Johannes Schaeff

Ole Specht

Bernat Tortajada

Sreeridhi Yemireddy

MONITORS

Art Monitor: Jemima Lindsay

Drama Monitors: Kim Whatmore and Andrew Ford

Stage Manager: Jemima Lindsay

Dance Monitor: Rachel Gibbins

Debating Monitor: Ruaridh Angus

English Monitor: Francesca LiveseyStephens

Music Monitor: Lauren Hastie

Head Chorister: Ella Vincent

Orchestra Leader: Johanna Woitke

CAPTAINS OF SPORT

Captains of School Sport: Rachel

Gibbins and Jack Headon

Football: Alexander Voytinskiy

Golf: Caspar Graf and Friederike

Lohmann

Hockey: Millie Costa-Sa and Finlay

Skinner

Lacrosse: Georgia Robertson

Rugby: Matthew Forrest

Meet our Heads of School

Ruaridh Angus, Head Boy 2019-20

How long have you been at St Leonards?

I joined St Leonards in Year 4, so over nine years ago now!

Favourite subject(s)?

My favourite subject is, and always has been, History. After I have completed the IB Diploma, I hope to read History at university.

How has your time at St Leonards shaped you?

I have been a longstanding member of the Debating Society here at St Leonards, and this has helped me to develop an interest in politics, formulate cohesive and cogent arguments, have an opinion and then also be willing to change my opinion. My involvement with the Debating Society has certainly helped shape me into a confident public speaker.

Favourite school memory?

It is impossible to choose a favourite memory from my time here at St Leonards! However, it is happy

moments with friends rather than the big events that I will cherish most - whether that be the energy and excitement of a sports team on a coach journey back to school after winning a fixture, or a cup of tea and a slice of toast in the boarding house with friends.

What will you miss most about St Leonards?

I will miss my peers and the staff here at St Leonards. Additionally, I will miss the school’s fantastic location - I love the view from Big Field, wandering through the cobbled streets of the town, and taking part in the annual Sandcastle Competition on nearby beach East Sands at the end of the Summer Term.

If you were putting together a ‘St Leonards Bucket List’ for those just beginning their time at school, what would you include?

Performing in a school concert, properly looking around Queen Mary’s Library, and playing as much sport as possible.

Emma Rubidge, Head Girl 2019-20

What is the best thing about the IB Diploma?

For me, the best part of the IBDP is its all-round approach to learning. When I started the Sixth Form, I was uncertain as to what I wanted to study at university, and so being able to take six subjects allowed me to keep so many doors open regarding future study.

What will you miss most about St Leonards?

I will miss so many things about St Leonards, but I think what has made my time here so special has been the impact of being part of a truly international community. The prospect of moving from South Africa

to Scotland in Year 10 was certainly overwhelming, but St Leonards provided me with a welcoming and supportive community. My year group made me feel extremely welcome from day one, and made my transition easier than I could have ever imagined - my time at St Leonards would not have been the same without them. My time here has been filled with unforgettable moments and opportunities, and has shaped me into a student who is confident and ready to explore the world.

What has made my time here so special has been being part of a truly international community.

… the energy and excitement of a sports team on a coach journey back to school after winning a fixture, or a cup of tea and a slice of toast in the boarding house with friends.

What is your most memorable moment from your time as Head Boy?

In September, my family and I hosted Burns Scholar Omri Kepes, an exchange student from St Andrews College, Christchurch, in New Zealand. The Burns Scholar is chosen at St Andrews College following an interview process, after which the recipient travels to Scotland for a cultural and educational experience. It was wonderful to meet Omri, to show him around St Leonards and the town, and discuss our different upbringings and school experiences - it certainly reminded me what a special school experience we enjoy here at St Leonards.

If you were putting together a ‘St Leonards Bucket List’ for those just beginning their time at school, what would you include?

St Leonards has provided me with endless opportunities, and has taught me to embrace as many of these as possible. I therefore think that it is important to participate in as many activities as you can - ceilidhs, concerts, school trips, and athletics meets to name four!

What are your plans for when you complete the IB Diploma?

I plan to study Scots Law at university, and also hope to travel abroad to complete various volunteering programmes.

HEAD BOY  RUARIDH ANGUS

When I think about our time at St Leonards, I feel that Charles Dickens summed it up well. We have had some of the best times: playing rounders on Big Field, drinking tea in a boarding house, or simply being at school with you all. However, there have also been tough times: IAs, EE, ToK, and UCAS. These acronyms haunt us and remind us of hours spent in the library trying to remember where we found a quotation and then starting to think that we had maybe made it up, and of experiments that demonstrated… nothing, and then contemplating whether it is worth changing a 0 to a 1 - would that go against the ethics code? Those times now seem like the happiest days of my life, but maybe the ‘C word’ has sped up the rose-tinted spectacles. Or maybe not?

I have already done better than the news this morning and managed to talk for at least ten seconds before mentioning Covid-19, the dark cloud that has curtailed and warped the past term. I could never have imagined giving this speech from the comfort of my home. In fact, until last year, I could never have imagined giving this speech at all, and so I must thank you all, peers and staff alike, who believed that I could do this and gave me this privilege. Thank you.

Unfortunately for us all, the weather on Wednesday was fantastic and our non-virtual - what I guess you would call ACTUAL Prizegiving and Leavers’ Ball - would have been glorious. Still,

let’s enjoy today and look forward to celebrating in person soon, as hopefully there does seem to be light glimmering at the end of the long corona-tunnel, which has been dark for so long. I would like to start by saying some ‘thank yous’.

As Head Boy and Head Girl, Emma and I have shared many duties - we have gone from the stage in the School Hall to trips representing the school in Aberdeen and Perth, and I have valued her help and advice along the way. Thank you.

Thank you to the Deputies - Alex, Frankie, Johanna and Kim - who have put in so much work to help me and Emma have such a smooth run. Your hard work and, usually, good humour allowed us to always reach a consensus… eventually! Sincerely, thank you.

Thank you too to the Prefects and Senior Prefects who willingly, and sometimes less than willingly, sacrificed their valuable breaks and free time to help keep the locker rooms and corridors as mayhem-free as can be hoped.

Thank you to all the pupils who have made our experience at St Leonards unique and special, most especially to the Class of 2020 - to all of us. All the St Leonards staff need to be thanked. I had considered trying to run through all the names, but with over two hundred staff that seemed slightly unfeasible and might have had you heading off to the virtual bar! So while I will name a few, we know that ALL of them have been vital contributors to our time at St Leonards.

So, a huge thank you to all the staff. To Coral Craik and the School Office team who have always kept us informed of the weekly menus (very important, an army marches on its stomach and St Leonards needs cake) and helped us to locate random missing items. To Mr Tonge and the Restaurant 1877 or, for the more traditional of us, the CDR caterers. A particular thanks to Mr Tonge for his help in arranging the menu for our great Leavers’ Ceilidhwe had no idea back in February that this would be our last big social event. To Mr Knight and the Grounds and Cleaning staff who always ensure that St Leonards looks fantastic.

“They were the best of times, they were the worst of times.”

When we leave this Zoom call and leave this school, we will not leave this group - we are a cohort, we will have a group who have been with us all the way and who will support us and back us up wherever we go and whatever we do. We may be heading into uncertain times, but of one thing I am certain: that we will be there for each other, regardless of how the world may change.

Finally, the biggest thank you to all the teaching staff without whom we would not be sitting here today. Their hard work and support has ensured that we will get our best possible results in these, the craziest of, times. Thank you to the History, English, Maths, Geography, Music, Art, Theatre, Games, Science, Economics, Modern Foreign Languages, English as a Foreign Language, Psychology, IT and Latin Departments… I hope that is them all! Many of us have spent time with most, if not all, of these departments and the variety of subjects and personalities that we have met there have all been part of the St Leonards experience. Sitting within all those subjects are the Learning Support staff who have helped so many of us overcome whatever difficulties we have, and their help and patience has always been appreciated. On a personal note, I think that I really must thank any teacher who has taught me - for putting up with my tangents, which were more than frequent, and for struggling through my handwriting. In particular, I would like to thank Mr Iannone and Ms Fulton who have had to put up with the brunt of these problems, from Eurovision and the Cold War to Dante and the number thirteen. I really do thank you.

I have been told many times that I am

not particularly funny, even with this hair, and unfortunately I am now at the point in the speech that a funny anecdote would work well. In person, in the Younger Hall, you and I would all laugh together at a shared memory, like library séances and unofficial boys vs girls sport fixtures on Birdcage, but in Space no one can hear you scream. So I will spare us reminiscences, for now.

The best times that I have had at St Leonards have always been with my year group - you, the Class of 2020. Moments like Team Time, when the boys of Castlecliff experimented with modern day to the song We Are Number One or The Owen and Douglas Magic Show, three years ago but still remembered. The trip with the English Department to see Sherlock Hopes and the Ripper Murders is maybe one best forgotten. More recently, I think of Teenage Dirt Bag performed at Jamnesty, which was definitely unforgettable to those who attended - shame the lyrics and chords had not been quite so unforgettable for the band (yes, I am really, really sorry). And then there were the trips to Newtonmore, to Iceland, to The Burn and beyond which will all be treasured memories.

Whilst I am sure that we could all pick

out a typical story for Year 11 or Sixth Form that involved bean bags, lockers, or hymn books… I do not actually think we need to, because we will all have special moments from our time at St Leonards. Moments and memories that are shared or unique. Moments we will laugh or cringe about in ten years’ time at our first reunion, and hopefully in 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years’ time too. Who knows where the Class of 2020 will get to over the years. I certainly do not know, but I am sure that we will go far.

When we leave this Zoom call and leave this school, we will not leave this group - we are a cohort, we will have a group who have been with us all the way and who will support us and back us up wherever we go and whatever we do. We may be heading into uncertain times, but of one thing I am certain: that we will be there for each other, regardless of how the world may change.

So thank you for all the days we have had together, and all the days ahead. I wish you all the best of luck, and look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

HEAD GIRL  EMMA RUBIDGE

To the class of 2020, friends, family, and fellow St Leonards community, I hope that you are all doing well and are celebrating today. It is with mixed feelings that I address you. On the one hand we could not wait for this day to come, a day where we would appreciate the end of our time at school and start to look forward to the next chapter of our lives. However, that also means saying goodbye to our friends who have inspired us, teachers who have guided us, and to the school which has inevitably shaped us into who we are today.

The following words were said by Riaan Manser, the first person to circumnavigate the 36,500 km around the continent of Africa on a bicycle: “The joy you experience and the reward you receive once completing a challenge is directly related to the difficulty experienced when reaching for it. So persevere.”

Much like our Diploma, it took him two years to complete and, although we have not covered quite that physical distance, we have definitely faced and overcome challenges of which we should be proud. Whether it was the countless IAs, EEs, ToKs and CAS projects, to facing the ‘sunny’ weather of mid-winter games, we still managed to do it with good humour and the satisfaction of a hard job well done. I think it is Covid-appropriate to mention that although we were unable to tackle our final exams, we should congratulate ourselves for ticking off all

the other boxes. It was difficult, it was a challenge, but we persevered and here we sit at our Prizegiving Preview. Over the past year and a half, when I thought about all the ways in which my Prizegiving speech could go (including somehow managing to fall off the stage), I definitely did not take into account a global pandemic - but, then again, I am not sure that many did! Yet here we are, scattered around the globe finding a way to come together to celebrate the end of our school journey. So well done, guys, we did it.

I can only imagine the countless hours that go into the preparation of Prizegiving and the Leavers’ Ball and, despite the fact that things did not go as planned, it would be remiss of me not to thank everyone involved. So, a huge thank you to the St Leonards team! I would also like to single out three people, who had already finalised the organisation of our Leavers’ Ball: Jacqui Angus, Rachel Foster-Kelly, and, of course, my mum, Karen Rubidge. I know the event at Kinkell Byre would have been absolutely spectacular.

To Dr Carslaw and all the teachers who have helped us through until the

end: thank you for your leadership and patience. I know it was not always easy, but through your mentorship and dedication, we have made it! Personally, I would also like to make a special shoutout to my big sister, who was the first in our family to charter the unknown IB Diploma waters, thereby smoothing the way for me. Throughout this journey, my parents and Georgia have been my strongest support system. Thank you, and I look forward to you continuing this top-class support service as I follow you to university! To be completely honest, the idea of moving countries and schooling systems during the middle of high school felt extremely daunting. I clearly remember my first day at St Leonards, when I arrived back in January 2017. I was unfamiliar with the cold, wearing everything in my suitcase, and uncertain as to what to expect with all the usual fears of finding my classes, fitting in, and understanding my teachers.

However, I quickly realised that I was not alone: St Leonards being St Leonards, I found that not only was I one of many new students, I was also

Like many of my school tasks, I have procrastinated and avoided thinking about what is to come. The future and my life after school have always seemed so far away… but it is here and, against all the odds, I almost feel ready for it, and a great part of that is due to the guidance from the school and the support I have received throughout my academic journey.

one of many international students. I was quickly welcomed into the school community, and my South African beginnings felt like a happy addition to the global atmosphere that helps to make St Leonards so unique. I often think back to my first Games lesson, a classic lacrosse practice session, which to me is one of my fondest and most memorable moments at this school. My complete lack of hand-eye coordination left much to be desired. I was definitely pushed outside of my comfort zone when it came to Games - standing on the side-lines, no games kit, and with no idea about the rules, I watched girls in my year support, encourage, and motivate one another. Seemingly without trying, they made me feel included, and I figured that if I could feel welcomed into a sport I had never seen, let alone played, then I could not justify being scared of finding my place in my year group. That same support that I witnessed then has been the glue that continues to hold us together.

Another defining memory is taking the Cupar bus to school. There is one bus trip that comes to mind and never fails to amuse me… In Year 12, Millie and I had, what we thought was a silent meltdown, at the back of the bus. At the time, we could not imagine a bigger workload, and the chance of reaching the end of Year 13 felt impossibly far. How wonderfully naïve we were! It only got worse for us. I will always look back fondly on those stress-filled bus trips, because somehow sharing lowkey hysteria with a friend made it both manageable and somewhat fun. Like many of my school tasks, I have procrastinated and avoided thinking about what is to come. The future and my life after school have always seemed so far away… but it is here and, against all the odds, I almost feel ready for it, and a great part of that is due to the guidance from the school and the support I have received throughout my academic journey.

To my fellow Year 13s: as we head off on our different paths, I would like to

wish you the best of luck in anything you choose to pursue and share in the comfort that we will always be part of the St Leonards family. As innovative as online Meet has been, I look forward to the day the Class of 2020 will reunite and celebrate in person. By gathering today, we have once again proven that we are a creative and tenacious group, seemingly adapting to the unpredictable circumstances we have faced over the past few months.

I know that Lauren, Valentin, and their prefect team may not be with us today, but I would still like to wish them all the best for the year ahead.

Finally, a big thank you to my partners in crime: Ruaridh, Frankie, Johanna, Kim, and Alex and the amazing team of prefects that I have been privileged to work with over the past year. To every single individual that makes up the fabulous St Leonards Class of 2020: may we always find joy in the challenges we face, until we meet again.

ST LEONARDS SCHOLARS

At St Leonards, scholarships are awarded to recognise pupils’ excellence and outstanding achievements in sport, music, drama, art, and academia. In October, Dr Carslaw presented scholarships to the following pupils in a special school assembly:

Faith Mackenzie Page, Ella Gracie, Corinne Dumbreck, Lily Driscoll, Eva Smeddle, Malakai Mackenzie, Kathryn Walmsley, Emma Ylitalo, Sophie Clarke, Saimonas Rakauskas, Nerea Gomez-Martin, Valentin Trenkwalder, Cole Tooman, James Bruins, Emma Duckworth

Anna Black and Zachary Sewell

Jamie Pennycook, Anna Black, Charles Horner, Isobel Williams, David de Wolff, Zoe Lay, Henry Wedderburn, Corinne Dumbreck

Drama

Music

Ingrid Moreno-Faulds, Esme Macmillan-Doran, Andrew Ford, Jackson Fraser, Jack Gettinby-Anderson, Paddy Pennycook

Emma Duckworth, Eilidh Jarrett, Charlotte MacFadyen, Ben Clark, Eva Smeddle, Hamish Wood and (not pictured) Nicholas Müller and Lucy Tabberer

Libby Clark, Lauren Hastie, Francesca Calder, Tristan Bruce

Prizegivings 2020

Mrs Julianne Pennycook, Acting Headmistress of the Junior School, invited pupils to attend a series of virtual Prizegiving ceremonies to celebrate the achievements of the Junior pupils over the past year.

Welcome to the Years 1-3 Prizegiving. This is a very special event, which gives us the opportunity to celebrate the achievements and progress of you and your classmates. I want to start by congratulating each and every one of you because, in my eyes and in those of your teachers, you are all prizewinners. We could not be prouder of what you have achieved this year, especially since March. You have been resilient, responsible, caring, hardworking and have shown real grit and determination to carry on through a difficult season. All of this would not have been possible without the dedication of your wonderful teachers, and I am very thankful to them for all the hard

work they have put into delivering the curriculum in these challenging times.

on and start the next chapter of your journey at St Leonards in Year 2.

Years 1-3

I would like to thank Miss Boissiere, Miss Fisher, Mrs Lindsay and Mrs Beebee for their commitment and hard work. I would also like to thank Mrs Paterson-Herd, Mrs Barclay, Mrs Soutar, and Miss Maxton - they are all a pivotal part of the Early Years team. Finally, I would like to thank Mrs Alison Dewar - she is always available to children, staff, and parents and really is the glue of the Primary Years Programme.

We are already preparing for your return in August, and I know I speak for everyone when I say that we can’t wait to hear your laughter and see your smiling faces in person once again.

Year 1 - You have been a wonderful and energy-charged class who have tacked everything that has been thrown your way. You are all definitely ready to move

Year 2 - You have not only grown in stature, but also as people. You have grown in independence and ability, and you are going to make super Year 3 pupils.

Year 3 - You are definitely ready for the next step, some of you were born ready to take this on! From Friday, you will no longer be part of the Early Years section. This marks an exciting time for you - in Year 4 you will play your first competitive fixtures and have Games with the new Year 5 classes.

I am going to stop talking now because, believe it or not, I was once in Year 1, 2 and 3, and the thing I remember most is sitting listening to adults making speeches and wishing that they would stop talking! I wish you all a wonderful summer holiday, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of today’s celebration.

Years 4 & 5

Welcome to the Prizegiving celebration for Year 4 and Year 5. I would first like to thank you all for your hard work and commitment over the course of this academic year. It has been a year filled with huge progression and accomplishments - think back to what you can do now that you couldn’t do this time last year, and even further back to what you could not do four or even five years ago. Be proud of what you have accomplished, and remember

that we are proud of each and every one of you. In the eyes of myself and your teachers, you are all prizewinners. The last few months have been hard - hard for you, hard for your parents, and even harder for your teachers. I would like to thank Mrs Arkwright, Miss Brannen, Mr Barrable and all the other teachers who have taught you this year, and for all they have done to create such a varied and exciting online timetable.

I would also like to thank Mrs Kathleen McKimmon who has been a hardworking and dedicated colleague, a confidante, and a risk-taker. She has

been a true teacher in every sense of the word, and a real credit to the school throughout her time at St Leonards. Kathleen is a friend to many at St Leonards, and will be sorely missed by us all. We wish her and Eric a long and happy retirement together and we look forward to a proper celebration assembly in her honour when we can all meet in person again.

I know that your teachers and the rest of the St Leonards community are greatly looking forward to welcoming you back in August. I wish you all the best, and I hope that you have a lovely summer holiday

Prizegivingthere is so much to celebrate!

For some of you here today, I remember your very first days at St Leonards. I have watched your assemblies, nativity plays, fixtures, and most recently the culmination of your time in the Junior Years with your PYP Exhibition. I have enjoyed seeing you progress on your St Leonards journey over the past six years, and seeing you all discover and develop your talents, be that rugby, hockey, horse-riding, fencing, dancing, golf, music, art, or academics. The past few months have been hard for us all, but you have all risen to the challenge, been resilient, and just ‘got on with it’. These skills have been nurtured through the Primary Years Programme, and also through your Outdoor Learning experiences such as the trip to Loch Eil in January. As you set off on this trip, many of your

6 Year

Year

parents were worried that you would be too cold and that it might be a little too adventurous to head off into the wilds of Scotland. However, Mr Barrable and I knew that you were more than up for the challenge! Upon your return, I loved hearing your tales of wild swimming, sleeping in bothies, teamwork, and resilience. I hope that you will look back fondly at your time in the Primary Years Programme, and be proud of your achievements. Next year, you will enter the next stage of your IB journey and embark on the Middle Years Programme (MYP). It is amazing to think that you are nearly halfway through your time at school here! The next few years will have their ups and downs, but take time to be reflective and always remember all that you have achieved. Your Year 6 teachers have, quite simply, been outstanding. Mrs Fynn and Miss Cormack, you are the epitome of teamwork, you have been excellent role models for your classes, you have patience in abundance, you are kind

and caring, and you have done so much behind the scenes. I would now like to invite Year 6 to give you a virtual clap!

I would also like to extend my thanks to all the other teachers who have supported Year 6: Mr Baxter and the PE Department, Miss Neave, Ms Love and the Music Department, Mrs Stewart, Mrs Greenwood, Mr Laing, Mr Fynn, and Madame Germanino. Well done to you all, and I hope that you enjoy a well-deserved break. Final thanks must go to Mrs Alison Dewar. I have already referred to her this week as being the ‘glue’ of the Junior years - she really has been a huge support to pupils, staff, and parents over this past year.

I know that your teachers and all at St Leonards are greatly looking forward to welcoming you back in August. I hope that when all the restrictions are lifted we can have our planned sleepover and pizza night in St Rule and celebrate being back together again. Year 6 you have been wonderful. Have a great summer holiday and a welldeserved rest.

A very warm welcome to this afternoon’s Year 7 Prizegiving. Things are a little different this year, but we hope that this celebration will feel no less special. I want to start by congratulating each and everyone of you. The teachers could not be prouder of what you have achieved this year.

Year 7, we share something: many of us started at St Leonards on the same day, and we will also finish our time here together. It has been a great privilege to watch you progress through the Junior years, and to watch your talents flourish. I have watched individuals take their first plucks on a violin and later stand in the Auditorium playing complicated graded pieces, and other individuals take their first stumbles in PE and later score the winning try or goal in a school fixture. Please never

underestimate the journey you have been on.

You are now a third of the way through the Middle Years Programme, and more than half of the way through your time at school here. Take the opportunities that the Senior section of the school will offer you, keep pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, and dare to be different.

The last few months have been hard for you, your teachers, and your parents. We have all had disappointments about things that we were looking forward to, be that the Ridgway Adventure, the Ski Trip, another sleepover in St Rule, or the staff versus pupils rounders match. The past few months have taught us that life will have its setbacks and disappointments, but that we must learn from them and keep going. My Gran’s favourite saying was “what’s for you won’t go by you” - sometimes things are just not meant to be.

Mrs Stewart and Mr McLeish as Form Tutors go, you two are some of the

best. My thanks for keeping the Year 7 ship steady, happy, and entertained. Year 7, please can you give Mrs Stewart and Mr McLeish a virtual clap. I would also like to thank the extensive team of teachers who have also taught Year 7. I am sure that you will agree with me that, besides your Form Tutor, the most important person in the Junior years is Mrs Dewar. She really is the world’s best fixer and sorter-outer - she has magicked your Games kit from home, iced your heads, sorted your blisters, been the personal assistant for your party invites, and quite simply has always been there for you.

I know that all of us here at St Leonards are greatly looking forward to welcoming you back in August. The best part of my new role as a Housemistress is that I will still see you, and I look forward to welcoming you into St Rule next year.

I am delighted to speak to you all as House Captain of Harris as, today, my peers and I conclude the end of Year 7 and our time in the Junior section of St Leonards.

I joined St Leonards in Year 2 and have really enjoyed my time at school here. I have learnt and grown a lot, and I did not realise how much I would miss it all in lockdown. I have missed my friends, teachers, sports, and just being at school. It is really unfortunate that I am missing my last chapter of the Junior years because of this pandemic, but I am really excited to be moving up to Year 8. It has been a huge honour to be House Captain of Harris. Being a House Captain has taught me a lot - from being principled to getting to know everyone in the Junior years. I said in my proposal speech that I wanted Harris to be successful, happy, active, respectful, risk-taking, and inspirational, and I really do feel that Harris has achieved all these things this year. We have won a lot of House points, and this has been a team effort. I would like to say well done to every single one of you for working hard for our House. Another highlight was our success in the House Football competition!

Harris has been a great House, and Éabha and I have both really enjoyed being here for you all as House Captains. We wish you all happy and fun days ahead. The Junior years really are magical, and I know that I am one of the lucky ones to take so many great memories away with me. Good luck to you all, be kind, and stay safe.

As many of you will know, my sister, Cara, and I joined St Leonards four years ago. In Year 4, I looked up to the House Captains, and I cannot quite believe that I am here now addressing you as a House Captain. I would encourage all of you to put yourself forward to be a House Captainanything is possible!

During my time at St Leonards, I have learned to look up, look forward, and look outward - UFO for short! Lockdown has taught me the importance of this mindset more than ever before. In my time as House Captain, I have tried my best to lead by example and keep this motto at the forefront of my mind.

In my nomination speech, I pointed out that I was quite shy when I joined St Leonards, but that the supportive community here has helped me to grow in confidence over these past four years. I also promised in my time as House Captain to help my teammates, create a sense of adventure, help the environment, help others to stay positive, to encourage others to respect and include one another, and to create a safe space for all those in Harris. We achieved some of these goals in the first two terms, winning the House Football Competition and coming a close second in the Inter-House Swimming Gala. Many Harris pupils also featured in the top places in the Fun Run, displaying true sportsmanship. Our sense of team

spirit was not dampened by lockdown, and this term we went on to win the House Shout!

At St Leonards, I have loved taking part in gymnastics, swimming, hockey, and athletics. The school trips have also been a real highlight, namely Comrie Croft and Glenlivet. The mountain biking at Glenlivet was phenomenal, although the weather was less kind. There was lots of rain, and we lost our way on the four-hour trek. This trip definitely took us out of our comfort zones, but we pulled together as a group and supported one another - and also found a new appreciation for our homes!

The teachers have been so helpful during lockdown, and also created a sense of adventure through new projects and activities like the Masterchef and Den Building Challenges. They have also encouraged us to be reflective and remain positive, to inquire and develop new skills. Above all, they have kept our safety and wellbeing in mind. We have certainly all learnt a lot during lockdown, and grown in so many ways. I have really enjoyed my time in the Junior years and, as I continue my journey into the Senior section of the school, I hope that I can continue to look up, forward, and out. I also hope that I will have opportunities to develop my positive mindset, strengthen friendships, and, above all, be a kind person.

BEN BROWN

ÉABHA LANG

HOUSE CAPTAINS’ REPORTS 2019-20 - HARRIS

I would like to thank everyone in Lewis for making this a great year. I have been at St Leonards for six years, and it has been so much fun. I have had so many amazing opportunities, like being House Captain and helping to interview the applicants for the new Head of Years 7-9. Did you know that the successful candidate used to be my brother’s teacher at his old school? I think that is quite cool!

There have also been some great school trips, but if I had to choose two of my favourites then I would say going to

Overgate Shopping Centre in Dundee with Miss Cormack when we had burgers and fries, and also going to Jannetta’s with Mr McLeish this year. He said that “life is too short for one scoop”, and so both classes got two scoops! It was the best trip ever. I have really enjoyed all the sports on offer here at St Leonards, in particular the Running Club. I love running along the beach by the sea with my friends!

If you have the opportunity to be a House Captain, I would encourage you to take the opportunity - it will help you grow in confidence, and it is such a privilege. Thank you to all the Junior teachers for their help over the past six years. I wish you all a great summer and, remember, be the reason for someone else’s smile.

I had only been at St Leonards for two weeks when, out of the blue, my Form Tutor decided to sign me up to run for House Captain of Lewis. I only found out on the morning of the nomination speeches. I felt very proud of myself for rising to the challenge. I must have nailed the speech, which I made up on the spot, as I was voted in as House Captain!

As House Captain, I have been asked to step up and speak at assemblies, the Remembrance service, and also Open Day. However, not all the duties of being a House Captain are glamorous. For example, we have to stay in during

breaktime to collect House Points once per week and also do lunchtime duties - but that is part of being a leader. Having said that, staying inside to count House points on a wet or cold day is a bonus!

My favourite lesson this year was Games, especially when we played rugby - even though I am not the best player, I still enjoy it. Thank you to all the PE teachers who make Games so fun.

I am looking forward to the Senior section of the school. I like trying new things because they make me even more

curious, and I am also looking forward to seeing my friends and playing rugby again. I used to think that I would like to be schooled at home, but lockdown has made me realise how much I enjoy being at school. I love being with my friends, playing sport, and seeing my teachers in the classroom face-to-face. Whilst the teachers have done an amazing job delivering their lessons online, I cannot wait to get back to real life school!

EMILY LOGAN

SIMON

I joined St Leonards at the start of this year when I moved to Scotland, from Surrey. On my first day, Logan met me at the school gate which was very kind and made me feel less nervous. Being a House Captain has been great, and it has helped me to get to know pupils from other years. For me, a particular highlight was sorting and counting the shoeboxes for the Shoebox Appeal at Christmas - it made me feel proud of our generous school community. Another highlight of this year has been studying Latin, German, and French. I didn’t study many languages at my old school, and it is good to try new things!

The Summer Term has been strange for us all. I have enjoyed swimming in the sea at Kingsbarns and also walks on the beach. The online lessons were also great as I could see my class and my friends almost every day. I am really sad that we missed the Ridgway Adventure, as I was looking forward to camping on the island and climbing the mountains. I know that we all would have had a great week. I am looking forward to the Senior section, to seeing my friends again and meeting new ones. I wish you all a wonderful summer.

I have been at St Leonards since I was in Year 1, and I have really enjoyed my time here. One of the things that I love about St Leonards is that there is a wide range of activities that you can get involved in, and also lots of different lessons, with different teachers, in different places. There are also lots of big events and competitions to look forward to throughout the year, like Sports Day and the Carol Service.

Being a House Captain has been really fun. I have enjoyed lots of the duties, like reading at the Remembrance Day service, leading the House meetings, and competing in the House Competitions. One of my favourite memories was this year’s Fun Run, which we won! Other highlights of my time in the Junior years have included playing my cornet at this year’s Remembrance Service and playing the

narrator in my first Nativity play, when I was in Year 1.

This year has been a bit different from previous years, since we have been in lockdown for the Summer Term. I am sad to have missed the Sandcastle Competition and the Year 7 Leavers’ Assembly, and all the other fun events that usually go on in the Summer Term. However, I am really pleased that we have still been able to do school online, and I would like to say thank you to all the teachers who have made that possible.

I am sad to be leaving the Junior section this year because I have had such a good time at school here, but I am also looking forward to the Senior years.

“For me, a particular highlight was sorting and counting the shoeboxes for the Shoebox Appeal at Christmas - it made me feel proud of our generous school community.”

HENRY SHULVER-BROWN

ELIZA KÖNIG

I have been a pupil at St Leonards since Year 1 - there were fourteen of us then, and there are still ten of us at school here now! I have had a great time being one of the House Captains of Skye. Whilst we did not always have great success in the competition department, we have always had fun.

For me, the best times in the Junior years have been on the rugby pitch, especially when we won or almost won matches! I have also enjoyed playing bulldogs at break, the sandcastle competitions on the beach, and movie nights. School trips have been another great experience.

Comrie Croft was epic - I loved the mountain biking, the bushcraft activities, and building dens with my friends. Another highlight was the Pizza Pals evening, organised by Mrs Pennycook and Mr McLeish. After consuming our body weight in pizza, we played manhunt around the school grounds. Whilst I was caught quickly, the buzz was still amazing.

I feel sad to be leaving the Junior section, but I feel ready for the next stage of my time at St Leonards in the Senior years. I will miss all my teachers and would like to thank them for everything that they have done for us, and also say a particular thank you to Mr McLeish who is probably the best teacher ever!

Skye is definitely the best House! The island it is named after is beautiful and, if anyone has ever visited, it has wonderful beaches and majestic mountains. That is how I would describe our House: majestic. It has been a huge privilege to be House Captain this year, and I am proud of Skye’s achievements.

This has been a difficult year due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, we have not been able to attend school physically for several months and so many of the events that usually happen in the Summer Term were cancelled. This was such a shame, as Skye was building up to a grand finale - we were clearly going to win the House Shield! Sadly, the pandemic also meant that we were not able to go on our Ridgway Adventure. However, during my time in the Junior years, we have enjoyed lots of other school trips including Comrie Croft, when we got to do loads of fun activities and learned useful skills like foraging and how to start a fire with flint and steel.

My time at St Leonards has taught me many things. When I started at St Leonards in Year 3, I didn’t even begin to consider the opportunities that my time at school here would bring. St Leonards has given me so many amazing opportunities and experiences,

and I am really grateful to all my teachers for their efforts in making lessons fun and engaging.

I have also really enjoyed all the cocurricular activities, including music, drama, sports, and outdoor activities. I have loved being in an orchestra. Learning a piece of music in a group is challenging and takes a lot of coordination and teamwork, but the results are always rewarding. I have also enjoyed performing in plays, which are a wonderful way to make friendships and boost confidence. Finally, I have felt so proud to represent St Leonards in hockey matches against other schools. It is great to work as part of a team, and to share the highs and lows of competitive sports with your teammates.

As a former American President said, “we do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” I would encourage you all to work hard and make the most of all the opportunities on offer here at St Leonards. It is not always easy, but you will be rewarded with some fantastic opportunities which will ultimately make you a better person. Look after each other, respect the environment, and work hard.

HARRY PURVIS

MAYA USMANI

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS AS THE HOME OF COUNTRY CLOTHING

The House of Bruar is the leading designer of country clothing in Great Britain, creating a range of contemporary country classics in quality natural fibre materials which reflect the colours of the Highlands. Enjoy a day out with the whole family and experince the best that Scotland has to offer (10 miles north of Pitlochry just off the A9) or visit our website to view our exclusive Clothing, Hand Made Gifts and Food Hall ranges.

WWW.HOUSEOFBRUAR.COM

The House of Bruar, By Blair Atholl, Perthshire, PH18 5TW • Phone 01796 483236

Alumni & Development

SENIORS

At St Leonards, our former pupils are known as ‘Seniors’. Whilst their time as pupils may have come to an end, they nevertheless remain an important part of the extended St Leonards family for the rest of their lives. A St Leonards education truly sets you up ‘Ad Vitam’ (For Life), and so our Seniors go on to pursue a range of different careers across the globe. The Seniors are therefore a vibrant and diverse community who are unified by their shared memories and education here at St Leonards and, to an extent, a shared set of values and standards.

The first Seniors’ reunion week was held in 1890, and the Seniors Office (which is part of the External Relations team) continues this long-held tradition by organising reunions and events throughout the year. You can read reviews of this year’s events on the adjacent page.

At the moment, we are working hard to increase our presence on LinkedIn

The first Seniors’ reunion week was held in 1890, and the Seniors Office (which is part of the External Relations team) continues this long-held tradition by organising reunions and events throughout the year.

and very much hope that this platform will increasingly be a helpful way to network with fellow Seniors, glean sector-specific insights, and even gain work experience or longer-term employment.

We also produce a regular newsletter to update our Seniors with news of the school. This is circulated via email. If you do not currently receive this

newsletter, but would like to do so then please contact the Seniors Office. Whether you are looking to reconnect with old friends, share an exciting piece of news or life update with fellow Seniors, book tickets for a reunion event, gain support for a project, or arrange a time to visit your alma mater, we are always delighted to hear from our Seniors.

There are a number of different ways that you can stay connected with and contact the Seniors Office.

seniors@stleonards-fife.org

+44 1334 472126

@StLeonardsSeniors and @stleonardsschool

@stleonardsseniors

St Leonards School

@StLeonards_Head

Seniors Office, St Leonards School, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9QJ

Adelaide Borthwick and Jane Claydon

EVENTS

There are a number of regular events in the Seniors calendar, which provide a wonderful opportunity for Seniors of all ages to gather together to share their memories of life at St Leonards, and to hear updates about the school. The two main reunion events are the London Lunch, in March, and the Reunion Day here at St Leonards, in June. There are also other one-off events throughout the year, and in different locations. There really is nothing like a face-to-face catch up - we very much hope that you will be able to join us at these events over the coming year.

Autumn Drinks

On Thursday, 14 November, a group of St Leonards Seniors gathered at The Antelope, Belgravia, for an informal drink and catch up. The cosy pub provided the perfect setting for this intimate and informal event. Attendees were greeted with a glass of Prosecco and some delicious nibbles upon arrival, and the crisp evening was characterised by good cheer

From the Archives

This year, Seniors, alongside other local residents and current pupils and staff, enjoyed two fascinating talks on the rich history of St Leonards given by former Deputy Head, Jane Claydon.

In October, Jane presented an interesting talk entitled ‘The Life and Times of Abbey Park’. Jane was Housemistress of Abbey Park North from 1983 to 2003, and her talk therefore included a number of amusing anecdotes as well as lovely interior photographs and architectural plans. Abbey Park was built between 1802 and 1803 as a grand family home, and was acquired by St Leonards in 1890 to provide boarding accommodation for some of its pupils. At various points in its history, the house was divided into two, forming Abbey Park North and Abbey Park South.

and excellent conversation. We were delighted to touch base with a diverse group of Seniors, including those who had graduated as recently as 2013. We look forward to more informal events over the coming months, as lockdown restrictions begin to lift.

London Lunch

The boarding house was demolished in 2014, and is now occupied by a development of flats and townhouses. The event was hosted by the St Andrews Preservation Trust in the St Leonards Music School Auditorium.

The following month, Jane Claydon presented her most recent historical research to a group of Seniors at the New Club, Edinburgh. Her presentation was entitled ‘Seniors: Suffragettes, Surgeons, and Service’, focusing on those Seniors who made significant contributions to the war effort and the suffrage movement. Many thanks to Jane Claydon for her fascinating presentation, and to Thia Begg, Adelaide Borthwick, Vicky Peterkin and Harriet Gash for organising the event.

Just a matter of days before lockdown was enforced across the UK, a group of Seniors convened at Fortnum & Mason, Piccadilly, for a delicious twocourse luncheon. As ever, the delightful Drawing Room was the perfect location for this popular annual event. Attendees enjoyed conversing with fellow Seniors about their experiences of living and learning at St Leonards, and also had the chance to hear an update on the school from the Headmaster, Dr Michael Carslaw, and the Chair of Council, Professor Verity Brown. All in all, it was a fantastic afternoon. We are hopeful for a 2021 London event.

Reunion Day

Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Reunion Day was postponed. In normal circumstances, we would have welcomed back our Seniors for a chance to explore the campus and reconnect with old friends. At the Reunion Day, a drinks reception in the Green Room is followed by a fantastic meal in Restaurant 1877 (previously the CDR), providing ample opportunity for Seniors to reminisce about their school days. We are very much looking forward to the Summer 2021 Reunion - further details to follow.

Merchandise

We have silk ties and a range of solid silver jewellery for St Leonards School, featuring the school crest. The jewellery is handmade in St Andrews. It is stamped with the exclusive St Andrews Makers Mark, Edinburgh Assay Office Scottish Castle, Traditional Lion, and 925 Sterling Silver Hallmarks as a guarantee of the craftsmanship and quality of each piece.

Please contact us at seniors@stleonards-fife.org or 01334 472126 if you would like to purchase any of the following items. All prices include postage.

St Leonards Silk Tie £28.00

St Leonards Seniors Badge £5.00

St Leonards Silver Charm £39.00

St Leonards Necklace £49.00

St Leonards Silver Bracelet £79.00

St Leonards Silver cufflinks £89.00

Development

Development remains central to our vision for St Leonards’ exciting future. We currently have an extensive programme of refurbishment and development within the school and we rely upon the generosity of current and former parents, Seniors, and other ‘friends of St Leonards’ to fund these areas.

We are currently seeking your support in the following areas:

• Music Auditorium refurbishment;

• Sports facilities upgrade;

• Boarding House refurbishment;

• and the Organ Restoration fund.

Your donations will support both the conservation of our historical buildings, and investment into improved facilities for current pupils at St Leonards. Thank you to all our supporters - your generous donations help us to enhance the educational experience of current pupils and those of generations to come.

Please contact the Development Office at stleonardsseniors@stleonards-fife.org or 01334 472126 for more information on giving to St Leonards.

Seniors in the News

Dr Louisa Garrett-Anderson (SL 1888-1891)

Louisa left St Leonards in 1891 and studied at the London School of Medicine. When war broke out in 1914, Louisa, together with her colleague Flora Murray, approached the French Embassy and offered to set up a military hospital in France. After the necessary funds were raised and equipment gathered, twenty members of the Women’s Hospital Corps headed for Claridges Hotel in Paris, which was to be their future hospital. The operating theatre was set up in the ladies lavatory, the hairdressing salon was the X-Ray Department, and a large room was converted into a mortuary! Louisa’s mother and eminent physician, Dr Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, was among the crowds who waved the women off on 15 September 1914. Whilst in France, Louisa worked alongside six other female doctors, including fellow Senior Rosalie Jobson. The following year, the War Office offered the Women’s Hospital Corps the opportunity to set up a general hospital

in London. This was known as Endell Street Military Hospital, a 573-bed hospital like no other which advocated progressive psychological techniques and which was entirely staffed and run by women. The fascinating story of the hospital is detailed in Wendy Moore’s recent publication Endell Street. The book is an excellent read, and includes several references to St Leonards!

Mary Vavra née Raine (SRE 1948-57)

Mary was the first female journalist to report on football for the BBC, in 1969. Mary had been a football fan and avid Sunderland supporter since childhood and, accordingly, her enjoyment and knowledge of the game was extensive. Her passion for the sport never diminished, despite never being allowed to play with the boys and being ordered to take down her football paraphernalia by the Housekeeper in St Rule East.

After she left St Leonards, Mary went on to work briefly as a teacher before becoming a political journalist for the BBC. Although she specialised in politics, her knowledge and passion for football meant that she was asked to cover a first division match between Chelsea and Sunderland on BBC Sports Report. She received positive feedback from football fans who recognised her fantastic knowledge of the game and whilst Mary never professionally moved into sports journalism, she still retains a love of football.

Earlier this year, Mary featured on BBC Sporting Witness, which covers the inside and personal stories of key moments from sporting history.

Dame Louisa Lumsden

Whilst she is not technically a ‘Senior’, Dame Louisa Lumsden is nevertheless an important and influential figure in the history of St Leonards. She was a pioneer of women’s education, a suffragist, and also the first Headmistress of St Leonards. On Wednesday, 18 January 2020, Louisa had a plaque unveiled in her honour in her birthplace, Aberdeen. The plaque is located on 214 Union Street, the former branch of the local Suffrage Association.

Margaret Haig Thomas (Lady Rhondda) (SRE 1899-1902)

After leaving St Leonards, Lady Rhondda founded the political and feminist magazine Time and Tide in 1920. The first editor of this magazine was fellow Senior, Helen Archdale. In addition, she was director of 33 companies, founded the Six Point Group (which pressed for changes to laws regarding child assault, unmarried and widowed mothers, and equal pay) and was secretary of the Newport Branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union.

At present, there are no statues of influential, historical women in Wales. The Monumental Welsh Women Campaign is therefore seeking to raise funds for five statues of prominent women to be erected across the country. Last year, the Welsh people voted on which women should be commemorated as part of this project, and Lady Rhondda was one of the influential figures chosen. The proposed statue will be situated in the city of Newport, Gwent. The Monumental Welsh Women Campaign is seeking to raise £80,000 to gain planning consent, commission an artist, and install Lady Rhondda’s statue. If you would like to contribute, please visit the campaign’s Go Fund Me page: https://gf.me/u/ykjxby.

16)

Whilst Iona and Lucy may have not hit the national press, they did feature in the May edition of The Voice of St Leonards, our school newsletter! These Seniors have kindly helped to care for the key workers’ children here at St Leonards throughout the pandemic and been an invaluable support to our teaching staff and the key workers. They have helped the children to tend to plants in the polytunnel, play games in the newly painted playground, build ambitious lego models, and complete their school work via St Leonards Connected. We are so proud that our Seniors continue to display the Spirit of St Leonards in their kind and compassionate outlook after they leave school!

Iona Purvis (2005 - 18) and Lucy Stewart (2010 -

Lucy with one of the key worker children, Kamilah Muqit (Year 4)