The Peterite 2017-2018

Registered Charity Number 1141329

The Peterite 2017-2018

St Peter’s School • York • YO30 6AB Tel: 01904 527300 • Fax: 01904 527302 Email: enquiries@stpetersyork.org.uk www.stpetersyork.org.uk

The Peterite 2017-2018

SPORT

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The Peterite 2017-2018

CONTENTS

The Peterite 2017-2018 Issue No. 435 Contents Commemoration

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Valete

10

Salvete

16

House Reports

18

Visits & Exchanges

38

News, Events & Activities

54

Creative & Cultural

88

Sport

119

Leavers’ Destinations

162

The Peterite 2017-2018

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Editorial

Heads of House 2017-18

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The Peterite 2017-2018

EDITORIAL

From the Head Master It is a real pleasure to have been asked to write a foreword for the 2017-18 edition of The Peterite. Once again, the magazine contains a wealth of words and pictures which capture a year in the life of our busy and successful school. The Peterite is an important publication as it is the official ‘document of record’.

All that is contained with these covers ensures that the various events of any given year are noted, celebrated and held as each year in the long history of the school goes by.

Whether you read this year’s edition from cover to cover or dive straight to those articles of particular interest, you will see that there has been much to celebrate over the past year. It is also a record of Leo Winkley’s last year as Head Master and a fitting tribute to his time as custodian of St Peter’s. I could not have asked for a more courteous and supportive transition and am glad of this opportunity to publicly thank Leo for all he did for the school during his time walking ‘over ancient ways’. I am also indebted to all those who have written contributions for this year’s magazine and the team who have worked so assiduously on its publication. In particular our Marketing Manager, Katherine Pomfret, whose skills and diligent approach are evident in every page of this year’s copy. It is an excellent edition and I am sure that it will be much enjoyed.

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Commemoration 2018

Commemoration 2018: the Head Master’s address A few weeks ago, I met an elderly Old Peterite, who had returned to the school for a reunion event - an anniversary drinks do. After a while in general conversation, he detached himself from the gathering and shuffled down the corridor.

Following him down, I found the old chap in a reverie of nostalgic recollection in the Chapel. We fell into conversation.

He had left St Peter’s in 1948 aged 18, he told me, and he then began reminiscing, in hushed tones, about various antics he was involved in at school. He remembered the other boys in his class; the games coaches and teachers; the matches won and lost. It was when he came to describe his housemaster that his eyes welled up. This was a saintly figure in his memory.

Someone who had shaped and guided him.

After an appreciative silence, I ventured a question. “So, who was the Head Master when you were here?”. He stopped to think. A long pause followed. Finally, the response came: “Head Master…?” he said. “Yes…. I suppose we must have had one”.

[Canon Chancellor, the Right Honourable, the Lord Mayor of York; The Lady Mayoress; Deputy Lieutenant; Superintendent; Sheriff Consort; the Sheriff of York; governors and honoured guests, pupils, staff, parents, and friends: thank you all for gathering on this special day of Commemoration and PrizeGiving.]

It is a matter of historical record that the first three Head Masters of St Peter’s were Saints. Literally. St Paulinus; St James the Deacon; St Wilfrid. Now, that’s a pretty tough benchmark to set. And, let’s be honest, it’s been downhill all the way since then! Head Masters are always going to fall short. Or be forgotten. This invaluable certainty has helped me to keep my feet firmly on the ground.

“In spite of the fact that schools are not very easy to work in these days of stress, I think I may confidently affirm that in every way this is the most successful year which I have had the good fortune to review”.

Not my words, but those of my predecessor, Head Master Sam Toyne, in the Commemoration Address that he gave 100 years ago on St Peter’s Day, the 29th June 1918. As I begin my final commemoration address as Head Master of St Peter’s, one hundred years on, I believe that I can truthfully say exactly the same. In Sam Toyne’s day, the School comprised just under 250 boys, almost all of them boarders. Today, we look after 1,100 girls and boys from the age of 2 to 18. The success that we enjoy and celebrate today is as diverse as the school community itself.

As a school, the vision we created is to be a happy, thriving 3-18 co-educational day and boarding school community that combines a classical, high quality, all-round education with a forward-looking and exciting approach to learning.

We try to live by our seven values: seven qualities that are truly universal, but that spring from the deep source of the Christian faith. The inclusive pastoral tone of the school is of critical importance in ensuring that each child feels valued for the individual that they are, so that they can grow and develop in confidence.

This is surely the most complex time in the history of human civilization in which to grow up. We continue to work hard to achieve a balance between challenge and care. Making sensible decisions at a time when the mind and body are in a state of rampant civil unrest is far from easy. Children will make mistakes. There will be disasters as well as triumphs. As educators, we must aim to blend sympathetic understanding with firm and certain guidance.

A wise person observed that success has many parents, but failure is an orphan. This no longer holds true. Nowadays, we promote the notion that we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our triumphs. Failure is thus best understood as a teacher, and not an undertaker; disappointment the architect of happiness.

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COMMEMORATION

As you would expect in a Commemoration address, however, my comments today will focus on various accomplishments and successes of our community. In doing so, we celebrate aspiration, striving, endurance, resourcefulness, participation, teamwork – as well as achievement. Each and every pupil in the school has done remarkable things this year. The foundation of these many accomplishments is a community of friendship; a learning community that tries its best and wants to learn from its mistakes.

This has indeed been a wonderful year for the School. We started on the crest of the wave caused by the summer’s uplifting ISI inspection report which found us to be excellent in all areas. We were short-listed for three TES Independent Schools Awards.

Our 3-8 pre-Prep, Clifton School and Nursery won the prep school category, to our great delight. St Peter’s was shortlisted for independent-state partnership of the year and the Boarding Schools’ Association Award for work with vulnerable children.

Our mutually beneficial partnership work with state schools, and within the local community, has been commended by in a personal letter from the Parliamentary Undersecretary for Schools, Lord Agnew.

On Wednesday, I attended a roundtable meeting with the Secretary of State for Education at Number 10 Downing Street discussing the multi-lateral benefits of cross-sector partnership and how the York model can be replicated and shared elsewhere.

The Education Secretary was emphatic in his depiction of a single education system, one teaching profession, of which the independent sector is an important contributing part. We live in an age of educational pluralism and - for the moment at least - the mood is one of mutually beneficial cross-sector working for the benefit of all children and all teachers. Something that I know Geoff has championed personally.

Our wide-ranging debating and public speaking programme, which entails a strong element of outreach, was recognised nationally as we accepted the English Speaking Union Debating Culture School of the Year Award for 2018. We were thrilled to receive this national recognition for an outstanding and outward-looking debating programme.

Turning to the athletic, we have enjoyed extraordinary success on the sports field. After a successful sports tour to South Africa, our 1st XI girls’ hockey squad won the county and regional finals to qualify for the nationals, putting them in the top eight teams in the country: a landmark achievement for girls’ sport at St Peter’s.

Yesterday, I was delighted to present the St Peter’s Award for excellence in any aspect of school life - to Emilia Proctor: a phenomenal sportswoman who has achieved national representation in both hockey and equestrianism. Several rowing crews made C finals at the National Schools Regatta and we have had regional representative success in rugby, hockey, tennis, athletics and cross-country, to name a few.

Following an excellent summer rugby tour of Argentina, the 1st XV went on to complete an unbeaten season in regular fixtures and ended the year ranked sixth in the country. Ten teams across the age groups played a full season of rugby: as a school, we lost only three times.

Rightly, our Director of Sport’s response was to change the fixture list for next season so that we can be challenged by, and learn from, tougher opponents. At the Rosslyn Park Sevens rugby sevens, our boys won nine matches in a row to reach the final. This meant that we finished the blue riband national event in the runners-up spot out of over 150 teams.

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COMMEMORATION EDITORIAL

The Memorial Hall has hosted a phenomenal range of cultural events this year. As our main theatre space, it has been transformed into a forest for Shakespeare’s As You like It and into a hotel for a wonderfully inventive A2 theatre studies production. Choral Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral and varied concert programmes here at the Minster, and back at school, have kept music at the heart of our community, and a tour to Venice sets forth in July.

The Art School has put on no fewer than six stunning exhibitions of pupils staff and visiting artists work. Next year we will add a visiting ceramicist to our creative team, quite appropriately as York now holds the national collection of ceramics. For me, the artistic highlight of the year was the extraordinary partnership with Martin House Children’s Hospice. This culminated in a group of young adults with life-limiting illnesses, who are wheel-chairbound, displaying their work in the Whitestone Gallery. Generously facilitated by our wonderful team in the Art Department, this occasion was both humbling and life affirming.

This year we have been overseeing the construction of a fantastic new home for all Maths and Modern Languages teaching. We chose to call it the Pascal Building after the French philosopher, mathematician and polymath, Blaise Pascal. Pascal has given his name to a unit of pressure, an island in Antarctic, a crater on the moon and a computer programming language. Now he has a little bit of Yorkshire to his name too. Pascal’s rare amalgam of omnivorous scientific learning and deeply felt religious belief fits well with our values.

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The Pascal Building, with 16 classrooms, various group breakout rooms, and a pupil-designed independent learning space, will open its doors in September. A game-changing teaching and learning hub, it is a great credit to all involved in the design and delivery of this exciting new facility.

Looking at the intellectual and cultural life of the school there are so many examples of the richness of opportunity. The free of charge, open to all St Peter’s School public lecture series continues to bring in a host of headline speakers, such as Terry Waite, Gavin Esler, Baroness Warsi, and AC Grayling. Our partnership with the York Literature Festival and the Festival of Ideas brings us together with the University of York, the Ogden Trust and numerous other partners in contributing to the cultural life of the city.

Meanwhile our pupils have been extending themselves across a host of additional intellectual challenges. Our Schools Challenge team had a tremendous run, winning the regional finals against Manchester Grammar School and travelling to London for the national finals, where they reached the last four, but lost to the eventual winners, Westminster School.

Once again, a St Peter’s team showed engineering, as well as marketing, acumen in reaching the national finals of the ‘Formula 1 in Schools’ competition, racing their car at Silverstone and managing a podium finish. Elsewhere, a team of Fourth Form mathematicians won a national Further Maths competition that tested their teamwork and communication skills, as well as their mathematical

COMMEMORATION

ability. These are just a few heartening examples of the wider intellectual engagement at the school.

Academically, all schools in England are going through a major transition in the external examination system. GCSE course content is changing and we are moving toward numerical grading on a scale of 1-9. This year’s examination results will show a mix of letters and numbers.

Meanwhile, in the Sixth Form, the return to a linear, one-take system of terminal A Levels is triggering a major recalibration. Our teaching and learning culture needs to adapt to this. We no longer have the fall-back of re-sits. We have worked hard this year to apply the learning from the first cycle of new style A Levels. Our outcomes and destinations remain excellent and we look forward to August with confidence.

This year, we have developed our pastoral care systems which were rightly commended so heartily by the ISI inspection team, with a continuing focus on mental health and well-being, as well as work on tolerance, respect and inclusion.

Experts have delivered hard-hitting and pragmatic sessions on the perils of substance misuse, healthy eating and nutrition, and on how to navigate the digital universe. We have also tackled challenging areas to do with consent, sexual health and gender equality.

We are preparing our children for a fluid and rapidly changing world that will require them to think globally and be adaptive. Our specialist careers team has delivered over 40 different events this academic year and hosted more than 70 visiting expert speakers.

They have conducted more than 240 individual progress interviews with Fifth and Lower Sixth Form pupils.

A quick read of the monthly careers newsletter conveys the diversity of the programme which promotes a wide range of possible futures from degree apprenticeships, to gap year projects and higher education destinations in the UK and across the world.

University remains the most popular choice but the palette of options is more colourful than ever.

With 114 upper sixth pupils holding Russell Group offers, of which ten are for Oxford or Cambridge, our upper sixth leavers have put themselves in a very strong position. Six pupils have secured vet or medicine offers, two for conservatoires and one pupil will begin pilot

flight training. We wish them the results they have worked for, and bright futures to follow.

As well as looking forward to the future, our service today is one of commemoration. This occasion offers us an opportunity to pause and reflect on the long history of our school in this, our thirteen hundred and ninety-first year.

Looking back 100 years, the 1918 Education Reform Act raised the school leaving age from thirteen to fourteen. Hard to imagine leaving school at such a young age now. In the same year, the 1918 Representation of the People Act gave women over the age of 30 the right to vote for the first time. The number of women eligible to vote leapt from zero to 8.4 million overnight. In York, the electoral list swelled to 37,603 of which 41 per cent were women. A further decade elapsed before full electoral equality was achieved.

High profile media coverage of the gender pay gap, and sexual harassment, reminds us that we still have a way to go on gender parity and respect.

On a gloriously sunny day in May, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of The Rise boarding house. OPs from the days when The Rise was a boys’ boarding house mingled with the current girl boarders and those first female pupils to join the school in the 1970s and 80s. Amongst other things, it was a celebration of the advent of co-education at St Peter’s. As an established co-educational school, it is important to mark such a milestone, and to ensure that we are educating our boys and girls to be men and women who cherish and enact values of respect, tolerance and inclusivity.

This day 100 years ago, the Great War, Wolrd War 1, was moving towards its grim conclusion. 18 Old Peterites were killed in action during 1918. The youngest, Eustace William Harland, was 18 years

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COMMEMORATION EDITORIAL

old. The eldest, Lt Colonel Edward Cadman, was 43. The spread of ages, ranks and fighting units, locations – the Somme, Ypres, East Africa, Greece, Egypt, Berlin – these details amplify the profound reach and desperate wastefulness of war. We commemorate today all Old Peterites who gave their lives in conflicts. We remember all those who have lived lives of self-sacrifice in the service of others.

This year the school community suffered the loss of one of our longest-serving and best-loved characters: Marlene. Marlene Sandor was in her 40th year in the Catering Department at St Peter’s. News of her sudden death, whilst on holiday, came as a deep shock to the whole school community. Over the course of her extraordinary service to the School, Marlene became an institution.

Loyal, cheerful, cheeky and warm-hearted, we commemorate Marlene today. Marlene was very much the spirit of the School. We have created a bursary fund in her name and, with a lovely picture of her in the servery, Marlene continues to smile on us as we pass through the dining hall day by day. We warmly welcome and thank Marlene’s husband, Karl, and daughter, Ann, who are here with us today.

We say thank you and farewell to a number of colleagues today. Mr Andrew Christian leaves us for an exciting SENCo role in North Wales. Mrs Alison Hutchinson retires after twelve years dedicated teaching in the Maths Department. Miss Cath Hempsall, an excellent history teacher, outdoorswoman and former Housemistress of Queen’s, and Miss Libby Ullstein, Head of Geography and former Housemistress of Hope, both leave for new adventures after energetic and diverse contributions during their time at the School.

Mark Christian, our Head of Digital Strategy, leaves for a leadership post at Sheffield Hallam University. Hannah Hamilton, Director of External Relations, moves on in August after seven years of outstanding senior leadership to head up a large team at Stamford Endowed Schools. Finally, we say goodbye and farewell to Mr Mike Johnston – ‘Jonners’. An Old Peterite himself, Mike has taught PE and Games for over 20 years. An outstanding sports coach with a shrewd pastoral eye, we thank Mike for his long service.

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I suspect you’ll have gathered that I’m off too! After eight happy years as Head Master, I hand on the torch to Mr Jeremy Walker, a fellow theologian, who is currently Principal of The King’s School in Rochester, an institution which roguishly claims to be even older than St Peter’s School!

I am certain that Jeremy will do a wonderful job. I wish him every happiness in the role – and good luck in pursuing that saintly benchmark set by our predecessors. Jeremy will take over in January 2019. In the intervening term, our Senior Deputy Head Dr Alastair Dunn will ably hold the fort.

As I say a fond farewell, I would like to thank all my colleagues, particularly the senior leadership team, for their loyal support, wise counsel and unerring commitment to giving our pupils the best possible experience.

Above all, I would like to thank my family, and in particular my wife. During her time in York, Jules has held demanding roles, caring for children and young adults at Martin House and working as an oncology doctor at York Hospital. She has also been deeply honoured to serve as a lay canon at the Minster for almost seven years. Somehow, she has also managed to look after me, and our children too.

Some of you may know that my father was Head Master of Uppingham School, in the tiny Midlands county of Rutland. He told me once that he had received a post card from a former pupil. It was a photo of Parkhurst Prison – a notorious penitentiary on the Isle of Wight. The cheeky wag, his erstwhile tutee, had written a simple message on the back of the post card. It read: “Dear Dr Winkley. Wish you were here”. It was a playful joke, inspired by the fact that my father never took himself too seriously, and was most happy and at home when making idle banter with the pupils in his care. What we might call, ‘serious fun’.

In these earnest days of compliance, regulation, accountability and performance tables it is easy to lose sight of the real joy of education. Our vision dims and blurs as we deal with immediate pressures and tasks. We need clear vision to see things as they really

EDITORIAL COMMEMORATION

are; to prepare our minds for action. Of course, results matter. This is a competitive world, after all.

But, in my educational heart, you will find a passion for values education: an education of character and personal development.

School is about nurturing and guiding young people in how to live a good life. Our school is a ‘both-and’ school, wherein the best results arise as a by-product of something deeper. Results come from communities of energy, participation, enjoyment.

When asked for his highlight of the academic year, one of my colleagues wrote: “For me the best part of the job remains the everyday interaction with our sparky, questioning, intelligent, curious young people in the classroom and around the school – which is as it should be. Sometimes the highlights aren’t always the highlights but the bread and butter.” Brown bread of course.

The reason that we work in schools is because we love being with children. Schools are about trying new things and striving for excellence in our chosen fields. They are about discovering meaning and finding our own ways of being happy. But most of all, they are about love.

In a school as ancient as this, in a city as long in history as York, we are all passing through. We stand on the shoulders of giants and see what we can see for the time that we are around. Head Masters are nothing more than custodians; caretakers. Or, rather, we are nothing less than caretakers. For taking care of children is surely the highest honour and joy that life can give.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to take care of St Peter’s School. To see 1,000 children grow up in front of my eyes, and leave the school. I would like to thanks all the parents in this place for trusting St Peter’s School with your children.

Thank you for letting me be your Head Master.

In closing, I would like to say thank you to the pupils for animating our school with such energy and spirit. Warm thanks to the teaching and support staff for the willing hard work this year. Thank you all for the support and kindness that you have shown me and my family during our happy time in York. Our three children have enjoyed and thrived on eight years of a St Peter’s education: a precious gift which they will always carry with them.

So, finally, to today’s leavers: our upper sixth, who will set forth through those mighty West Doors into the next phase of their lives. I hope that each of you goes cheerfully over the ancient ways. Travel with hope in your heart. Take with you the values, the friendships and the learning of your time at St Peter’s School.

And, remember - wherever you are in the world – whatever day of the week it is - brown is good.

Mr Leo Winkley Head Master

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Valete

EDITORIAL

Leo Winkley Leo, shortly after I was interviewed for my job here, which I reckon was about a month into your time as Head Master, I got chatting with a colleague of mine as together we managed the lunch queue. I always really rated her opinion and wanted to pick her brain. I told her about our phone call and how you’d offered me the job and I then listed to her all of the reasons why I was nervous about accepting it. She had once worked with you and with a reassuring little smile she said to me that I needed to remember that I wouldn’t just be going to work at St Peter’s, I’d be going to work with you, and then she added, “he’s the only person I’d move half way across the country to work with”. I’m glad that I trusted that colleague and today I thought I’d tell you why over the last seven years here I’ve found that, in York ... town is good.

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First of all, Leo made truly inspired choices about who to offer jobs to! Yes, I would say that wouldn’t I, but actually I think that the point is an important one. In your final briefing to the common room you told us that you have never worked with a better group of colleagues.

That may well be true, I certainly hope so, but please don’t underestimate what you have done in shaping the atmosphere here into a place in which we can thrive, where we can feel able to give of our best and to feel proud of the place that we are a part of and what we achieve here.

The best leadership isn’t about telling people what to do, it’s simply about being secure enough to allow others to do what they are good at and to shine. It is because of you that we are surrounded by so many shiny happy people.

You are welcoming of new ideas, encourage us to take risks, and offer an enormous depth of support to those who wanting to explore just what we can do. And so we have a public lecture programme, a concert programme that takes in venues all across the country and indeed the world, an independent state schools partnership, sports teams that compete credibly on both the local and national stage, drama productions that wouldn’t look out of place in professional theatres, bursary support for a growing number of pupils, five boarding houses and massive a range of trips

EDITORIAL VALETE

and tours ... the list goes on and on. And it all happens because you are someone that turns up saying “yes, together we can do this!”

The team that you have crafted here is a very special one. That’s what you look like as a leader, with you ... blue gown is good.

One way of showing just how proud you are of what we achieve here has been in your care for the grounds and buildings. When I arrived here, the walls of the main corridor were tired and pale blue. And then, rather wonderfully, you let Jules’s creative eye have a look over the place. And yes, at first you only trusted her to do the colour scheme in the toilets outside your office but thankfully we’ve moved on from there. You’ve refitted the labs and classrooms, built a grounds team that now have national awards under their belts, created welcoming reception areas both for Clifton and St Peter’s, upgraded the Memorial Hall and, of course had the vision to not to bother extending maths and MFL, but to knock them down and start again. The campus master plan that you have overseen is simply an outworking of something much deeper that you have built here, though: the sense that the seven school values that you worked to helped us to articulate should unite everyone in the three schools of the St Peter’s family. Your attitude has been that we need a beautiful place in which we can nurture beautiful lives. Here ... grounds are good!

And everything that you have done here has been with an utter commitment to the belief that learning should be serious fun. Over the last seven years, I have felt really privileged to stand three times a week with you as we have waited for chapel and chew the fat in our weekly meetings. Please don’t underestimate just how much I have appreciated your gentle wisdom. It’s always impressive that you can verbally improvise and that, in front of a group of parents you can be every inch a statesman, and yet I wonder how many of the pupils realise just how silly the jokes can be just before you walk into chapel? And yet I think that both of us have long since abandoned any thought that we might be able to get the pupils to laugh. Except, of course, once every couple of years. I won’t forget in a hurry the arrival of the Peteroo delivery boy on Red Nose Day or, indeed, you morris dancing and flamencoing your way up the centre of chapel. So many people, Leo, have appreciated your ability to balance serious and fun. With you ... to clown is good!

While it seems like too short a time, we are glad that you have been at the helm here (couldn’t resist a nautical metaphor). It’s true, of course, that you will leave here feeling that there are still stones that you have left unturned, but you have worked hard to be a good custodian of the Peterite tradition and there are, I am sure, many ways in which we won’t see the fruits of your often quite exquisite judgement for months or perhaps even years after you are gone.

Under your leadership, St Peter’s has indeed become a place that it was worth crossing half the country to be part of. In conclusion, thank you for teaching us that ... brown is good!

The Rev Daniel Jones

Alison Hutchinson Alison Hutchinson joined the Mathematics Department at St Peter’s in 2006, and at this time she taught J4 at St Olave’s in addition to our own Third and Fourth Form.

She also began to provide invaluable individual support lessons, which many pupils have benefitted from immensely throughout the 12 years that she has been with us. One of Alison’s many qualities has been her absolute commitment to the pupils, and her desire to do her very best for each and every one of them.

Although officially only part-time, she frequently stayed well beyond her contracted hours, coming in to school during times that she was not teaching in order to see students who had requested or indeed been encouraged by Alison to seek extra help. House staff often commented about the care that Alison gave, her thoroughness in making sure pupils caught up on any work missed, and the fact that she has always been so giving of her time when any child has had difficulties. Alison has the ability to build a student’s confidence in mathematics, helping them believe “I can do it”.

Alison’s teaching is excellent, something I have seen not only from a Head of Department’s view, but also from that of a parent. The consistently high IGCSE results that her sets have achieved year on year has been amazing.

Alison has been such a valued and highly respected member of not just the department, but of the school as a whole; I am indebted to her for the outstanding care and attention that she has given to each and every one of her pupils.

Mr David Spencer

Andrew Christian The first time I met Andrew, we chatted about his role and how we would work together. I went home that night and said to my wife words to the effect of ‘this new learning support guy is good; he’s going to be a massive help’. How right I was.

Andrew has made a massive impact on all things Learning Support in his year and a half with us. It was in January last year that he joined us from Bury Grammar School for Boys; his passion for, and knowledge of, his subject area were immediately obvious. Andrew

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EDITORIAL

VALETE EDITORIAL

displayed genuine warmth and care for the pupils he worked with, which quickly allowed him to build a positive working relationship, and importantly, gain the pupils’ trust. He has educated and informed the teaching staff, raising our awareness of the range of learning issues that many of our pupils experience.

Andrew is meticulous in his organisation. His filing and paperwork are a wonder to behold; everything is perfectly categorised. During his very last week in school and indeed into the summer holidays he was updating records and tidying up learning programmes for pupils on his register. Nothing was ever left to chance, everything was just so.

It is this attention to detail that helped to earn him the respect of the pupils he worked with, most notably a group of Fifth Form boys undertaking their GCSEs. Between them this particular group possessed a diverse range of access arrangement requirements, but through refining things after the trial exams, Andrew put everything in place to allow the boys every chance to perform in the summer.

His willingness to take full responsibility for this group was a huge help to me personally, but most importantly, he put the pupils at ease, them knowing that nothing would be left to chance.

Andrew is an absolute expert in his subject, and I think it is fair to say that he transformed learning support provision at St Peter’s. It is a fact that our pupil body have a significantly greater number, and range of learning needs than in years gone by, and through his expertise, patience and empathy, Andrew brought us up to date, to where we need to be. He leaves behind a legacy that should continue to provide the pupils with all the support to which they are entitled. He has been a pleasure to work with, and as he leaves to lead a department of 25 at Prestayn High School, we wish him every happiness and success, and thank him wholeheartedly for all he has done.

Mr Neil Matkin

Cath Hempsall I first met Cath a little over nine years ago, when she came to St Peter’s to be interviewed for a job in the history department. I asked her to deliver a lesson on the impact of First World War on Britain to a difficult Fourth Form class. A number of things were clear from the outset: Cath had great control of the class; she was

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well prepared, with clearly thought out activities and carefully constructed resources; she was energetic and enthusiastic in manner; dare I say it, she was a little formidable. It was clear to the then Head Master, Richard Smyth, and to David Watkinson, the Director of Studies, that Cath was the only possible person who could be appointed. It was only myself who had serious concerns about employing her as I realised the amount of hard work it would take to get the energetic, enthusiastic, cheerful, committed, and ambitious Cath to blend with the general ethos of the history department here at St Peter’s.

To be honest, I was not wrong. Project Cath has been a long, slow and at times a difficult and a deeply disappointing process. In her first year, one of her targets was to eat more cake. This is something she has, at face value, taken to with aplomb. But probe beneath the surface and it is clear she was only half-hearted in her efforts. There is no point eating cake if you go for a swim, run, cycle, or hot yoga class (or all of the above) afterwards! I realised I needed the help of the rest of the department. Steve Gwilliam and John Armstrong did the St Peter’s history department version of extraordinary rendition and took her to Belgium to try and break her on chocolate and strong Belgian lager. There was some success here I understand, but not as great, or as long lasting, as I would have hoped. Frankly, I was thinking Cath was an entirely hopeless case, and that my best mentoring efforts had failed. You can imagine my shock, therefore, to find that she has decided to give up work and become a student.

Maybe the department’s efforts have paid off in the long term; Cath is certainly better equipped to cope with student life now than she was when she arrived!

Richard Smyth recognised instantly that Cath was someone who liked to be busy, indeed needed to be busy. I think it is fair to say that, as a school, we have kept her very busy. As well as a full time teaching role in the department, Cath has contributed so much to the wider life of the school. It would be too much here to list everything she has done, however, a few highlights are: Housemistress of Queen’s House; the CCF; the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme; rowing; netball; rounders; Exploration Week; the physics/history trip to NASA; the Beverley 10K; and the erstwhile social secretary of the staff room.

Cath has been the heartbeat of the St Peter’s community.

I don’t think the school will realise what she does what she really does - until she has gone next year.

In many ways, Cath is the very embodiment of the seven core values of St Peter’s in

EDITORIAL VALETE

particular, endurance (not least for having had the three Stephen boys through the house). However, I should like to suggest two other core values that, for me, sum up Cath perfectly: integrity and loyalty. On a personal level, those lucky enough to be her friends know that Cath is honest and honourable in all that she does. We can trust her entirely to offer sound advice – and not always the advice we want to hear. She will do anything to help and support us – no matter what the cost. However, these values have also been central to the roles she has undertaken here here at St Peter’s. For example, Cath ran Queen’s House on moral grounds – what was right and what was wrong. Personal and professional integrity ran through everything she did: she treated everyone the same and was scrupulously fair; when necessary she would punish, regardless of who the perpetrator was, but once punished, that individual knew they could start afresh; crucially, she didn’t just impose these values onto the pupils, she helped the pupils themselves to develop and value integrity and loyalty. Cath did not try to be popular: she did not follow the easiest path – the route of least resistance. She was educating her pupils into making right decisions for themselves and taking responsibility for their own actions. Surely, this is the purpose of education in its most fundamental sense. Moreover, the pupils knew that Cath would back them fearlessly – again, whatever the cost. It was for these reasons that Cath was one of the most respected housemaster/ housemistresses at St Peter’s School amongst us as staff, but most importantly, amongst the pupil and parent bodies.

Cath has been wonderful to get to know over the last nine years.

She will be missed greatly by all her friends – although now she is a student she has time on her hands to keep in touch! St Peter’s – as an institution and as a community will miss her. And, from me personally, thank you Cath for being a rock professionally, damn good fun socially, and a good friend always. I shall miss you greatly.

Mr Richard Trevett

Irene Bevan When I was asked, not long ago, whether I would be willing to speak at Irene’s retirement party, I immediately accepted; as it is a real honour to have this, all too brief chance, to thank Irene on behalf of all of us at St Peters for her extraordinary commitment to our community.

I have had the privilege of knowing Irene and her family for over 30 years – first as a parent to Piers and James, then as a colleague and very soon after as a most supportive and valued friend.

As a parent Irene was hugely supportive of her boys and as you can imagine did not suffer fools lightly. She had their backs and they knew it. This fierce loyalty to those she counted as her family and friends was absolute and unquestioning. If she felt you had stepped out of line she would tell you in uncompromising fashion possibly a reason we got on so well was our consistent use of “unacceptable” adjectives!

Watching Irene rise to her full height of about “seven foot tall”, when in full flow was a sight to behold and I remember the words delivered to a previous Head Master, over an issue about a pupil she cared deeply about - and was in her opinion about to be cast out – I DON’T THINK SO? –Sister Bevan had won the day!

Fundamentally this was her greatest asset, for Irene was here for the pupils- she would always go the extra mile for them- as her rather wonderful Orio Cheescakes For Tayo showed, she had their backs and looked after those in distress. The sanatorium was a safe port, in an often storm wracked sea, for many vulnerable pupils. They knew she cared and that was what was important to them. Well before adolescent metal health became a buzz word she recognised those in need and offered the sort on non-judgemental support that was needed.

As a very experienced theatre and casualty nurse with now only three months short of 50 years in nursing; Irene gave the sort of reassuring calmness we as staff needed on arrival at the sanatorium with an injured pupil.

I clearly remember a member of Sedburgh First XV arriving in tea with a very interesting swelling at the top of his left ear. His mother was in some distress as she realised that he was going to develop ears like his father! Without any fuss Irene syringed his ear, with his father present bemoaning the fact that it had not been done for him!

In all my years in the house Irene provided the sort of support you would want a sanatorium sister to provide - she was always there when you needed her - she gave very sound advice and had contacts all over York if you needed a bit of extra advice. In addition and probably most importantly she would tell you if you were getting something wrong.

The pupils at St Peter’s over the years trusted Irene completely and this respect turned into genuine affection over the past 20 years.

To finish I would like to say that is has been a 30 year journey which I am happy to record is not at an end as Irene will be doing some work with us in the future. In this time I first respected Irene as a devoted and loving mother, then grew to trust her as an incomparable sanatorium sister and then to have the honour of regarding this outstanding lady as a true friend.

Mr Paddy Stephen

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VALETE EDITORIAL

Libby Ullstein Although Libby Ullstein joined the school in 2009 as Head of the Geography department, she has made a huge impact on many aspects of the school.

She was a truly inspirational teacher who meticulously ensured pupils had covered every detail of the specification, and will be especially remembered for the calmness and patience shown to those pupils struggling or less able and could often be found giving pupils extra lessons beyond the curriculum. Being a perfectionist, Libby set very high standards in the department, leading the department through two board changes at GCSE and three at A-Level; always wanting to give the pupils the best chance of reaching their potential. The department as a result soon became one of the most popular optional subjects at GCSE and at A-Level.

After just three years at St Peter’s, Libby took on the position of Assistant Housemistress of Hope House deputising for Sue Watkinson, and on Sue’s retirement became Housemistress, a position she held for four years. She had enormous time for all her pupils, spending many evenings supporting a huge number of activities that they were involved in outside the classroom. Her thoughtful pastoral support covered all aspects of teenage life, having a long lasting positive outcome on many pupils. The trust that they had in her was exceptional and she found herself giving advice on all sorts of issues such as managing work, relationships amongst peers and with parents and on one notable occasion being asked by a male member of the house whether he looked suitably attractive in preparation for a potential date. Libby was a fantastic role model for the pupils in her care and it was with much regret and sadness that she relinquished this position to concentrate her energies solely on the department.

Her love of geography and the great outdoors extended to her involvement on helping lead DofE trips. Libby is never more comfortable than trekking through the countryside in outdoor pursuit gear, a huge rucksack of provisions on her back. During her nine years at St Peter’s she went through two pairs of walking boots, three pairs of waterproof trousers, two waterproof jackets and two down jackets which is testament to her dedication. As a holder of a pilot’s licence, Libby was also the obvious choice to help run the RAF section of the CCF which she did for four years

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alongside running a day house. She never said “no” to anybody, and in addition to being Head of Geography and Housemistress of Hope House, she also helped run the Community Action, contributed to Third Form rowing and was a committed member of the school choir.

Above all, Libby was very generous with her time, and made a major contribution to the all-round development of pupils at the school.

This was extended through her involvement in many school trips and field days including seven trips to Arran, four to Morocco, three music tours, a trip to Iceland, three expedition days, and 36 Geography field trips. Not many members of staff can top that impressive tally.

As a result of the numerous contributions Libby has made to the school, you might think she is a ‘Human Doing’ rather than a ‘Human Being’. However, Libby is very much a ‘Human Being’ who made many strong friendships at St Peter’s; we will truly miss her. We wish her well for the future – a future that involves Libby heading south to start a new life nearer her family, and given her ambition, drive and sense of purpose, she has many career plans and we look forward to hearing of her future success.

Mrs Angela Tooby-Smith

Hannah Hamilton Whether in her CCF uniform or one of her famous smart skirt suits (Hannah remained horrified by the idea of a dress as suitable work wear) Hannah’s initially somewhat severe appearance belied a huge sense of energy, fun and the kindest of hearts.

Similarly, whilst she did not ‘do’ hugs, the smallest of achievements or pieces of good news would be celebrated by an enthusiastic ‘High Five’.

Hannah joined the School from the High School of Dundee, bowling over the Head Master and governors at interview with her candour and energy. One governor asked what her favourite drink was and Hannah replied immediately, red wine. Something that many, including Bursar Michael Schofield, can vouch for.

Initially responsible for marketing, over the coming years Hannah was handed responsibility for development and alumni.

Hannah’s key achievements all leave a legacy. She developed the school’s branding guidelines, ensuring the school shone more brightly than its competitors (one of Hannah’s favourite past times was flicking through school magazines and gasping in shock at horror at the marketing efforts of some other schools). She brought the School into the modern era with the launch of social media channels and not one but two new websites were delivered under her guidance. Hannah launched the School’s Brick Appeal for the Boathouse and left the school with a thriving development, alumni and marketing team.

Hannah was, over the years, both Co-Chair and committee member

EDITORIAL VALETE

of the Association of Marketing and Communications in Independent Schools as well as Regional Vice President for the Institute of Development Professionals in Education.

Her knowledge of fundraising, alumni relations, marketing and communications in the sector was such that barely a week would go by without a counterpart at another school calling or emailing for advice, which she was always willing to give freely and frankly.

Hannah also threw herself into School life with gusto. In addition to CCF, she regularly joined on DofE expeditions, ran cooking lessons for Sixth Form pupils and even slept overnight in the school in her sleeping bag to deter would-be jesters on the eve of Prank Day. To her team, she was generous and unflaggingly supportive. Her response of being told of a mistake was always, “that’s OK. We can fix it.”

Hannah was bitterly disappointed that I shed tears neither when she told me she was leaving (in The Grange over lunch on a school day – I should have known something was up!), nor at her leaving do.

That was only because of my happiness for her, and I have missed her tremendously since she left in August 2018 to join Stamford Endowed Schools as Director of Development and External Relations, where she leads a team of 12.

Miss Katherine Pomfret

Mike Johnston “Why do we play –for fun” I have had the privilege of knowing ‘Jonners’ for almost 40 years.

He was born at St Peter’s in Wentworth House in 1962 where his parents were Housemaster and Housemistress for 15 years.

The Cross Keys of St Peter’s runs through Jonners like a rod of iron. He was Head Boy at St Olave’s and was a very good games player at St Peter’s. He was Captain of Rugby, Cricket and Water polo and also represented the first team in Hockey and Swimming.

He scored the winning try versus Ampleforth in the 1978 unbeaten first XV, the first time we had beaten them away for over 20 years, which contained John Ellison and Martin Gargan, both of whom went on to secure “Blues” at Oxford and Cambridge. He was a

superbly agile and combative midfield hockey player who managed to transition from grass and shale to Astroturf, not only as a player but as an outstanding coach. In cricket he was a very fine slow left arm bowler with great variation in flight and pace and the ability to turn the ball square on the right track. I only mention these things because Jonners return to St Peter’s as Director of Sport was universally welcomed in 1997.

He brought with him an energy and organisational skill that moved our games programme on quickly. One of the key reasons for his appointment was to take St Peter’s Hockey forward from grass to Astroturf and from senior hockey only, to hockey throughout the school. That he succeeded in this is unequivocally true. From St Olave’s to St Peter’s we have seen boys’ hockey flourish, despite him having to fight tooth and nail for it in recent years. The fact that we have had County Champions at under-18, under-16, under-15 and under-14 and have been North of England Champions at under-18, under-16 and under-14 qualifying for the national finals at under-16 and under-14, is testimony to his tireless efforts to give every pupil the chance to shine.

Jonners has selflessly worked at under-14 level in both Cricket and Rugby. It is not until the boys mature that they come to realise just what a depth of knowledge and skill he possesses in these sports, much of our success at senior level is derived from the work he has done both at St Olave’s and in these formative years at St Peter’s.

He could in effect have coached all three main sports at first team level. The under-15 DMC winning team would never have won that Cup but for one of the most masterful defensive coaching sessions I have ever witnessed in which he simply and with such ease gave each player his role and the confidence to follow a pattern of play that exposed no one. His organisation extended to tremendous Senior Rugby Tours to Canada, South America, and memorably to Australia.

The lads on these tours will tell you what a wonderful experience Jonners gave them and will be forever indebted to him. He was also instrumental in the success of our first XI Cricket tour to South Africa in 1992 - the first such tour by an English school after the Apartheid had ended.

However his main job was to teach PE and this he was able to do with great skill. From the swimming pool to the athletics field, from invasion games to circuits he was a skilled technician. He was able to get even the weakest boy to achieve something. I witnessed this in person whilst “tick boxing” for our SMT, as it was then called, who had decided we should watch other subjects and submit written accounts of the positive things we had witnessed in these lessons. I was asked to go to a double PE lesson in the Third Form to watch Mike teach Gymnastics. To say the group were of mixed ability would be an understatement. However by the end of the first lesson all the boys had done a hand spring off the vaulting horse except one rather large boy who was very nervous and lacking confidence. Mike patiently took him though what he had to do, spotted for him and as he managed the hand spring-there was a spontaneous round of applause from all the other boys. In the second lesson he was following this up with related lifting and support skills.

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EDITORIAL

Outside school Jonners was hugely valued for his support and organisation of the Panda’s OP hockey team. That this team is still going owes much to the enthusiasm, skill and team spirit he engenders in all the lads who play hockey for the school at whatever level. Many of these also play the game at a very good standard, both for clubs and universities, on leaving us, which says much for his attitude when coaching, his mantra of; “All we ask is our best effort”, sums this up.

In all the time I have known Mike the overriding and driving force behind his teaching and coaching was to put the pupils at the centre of his actions.

This was equally true in all the houses where he was a tutor. He had standards, he expected them to be met and as the pupils grew up in the school they realised how right he was about dress on the games field, smartness around school, respect for each other and respect for the school as a whole.

He is probably the best house parent we never had! Mike is a hugely talented PE teacher, games coach, tutor and organiser whose abilities will be sorely missed next year; however it is the intensely loyal, supportive, honest, generous, kind, steadfast and decent colleague and friend that I will miss- his personal integrity will be irreplaceable.

Mr Paddy Stephen

Salvete

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Caron Downes

Caron Downes, Classics graduate of Royal Holloway, comes from a village in the midlands but has been living in York for five years and now can’t imagine leaving. As well as teaching Latin for the ISSP, Miss Downes’ eagerness to engage in various aspects of school life is apparent in her role as a rowing coach and her cheerful presence in Dronfield, where she enjoys getting to know boarders. Her redoubtable zest for all things classical - Mary Beard is her idol and Homer would be her guest of choice at a historical dinner party!

- still leaves room for a variety of other interests including a dedication to Harry Potter that inspired her to take up an extreme sport back in her wild uni days. She nostalgically recalls ‘playing muggle quidditch dressed in capes with our homemade brooms’.

Philippa Dunford-Jeffs Philippa arrived in November 2017 to take up the post of Development and Alumni Manager. She grew up in York, only a few streets away from St Peter’s and attended Queen Anne’s School for two years before moving to Bootham School in 1998. Having played in matches against St Peter’s and knowing ‘St Olave’s’ inside and out has stood Philippa in good stead for settling into life at St Peter’s. Having attended Bootham is always a good starting point for conversation with Old Peterites!

Philippa took a gap year, before heading to the very North to study for her MA in English Literature and Gender Studies at the University of Aberdeen. She remained in Aberdeen,

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EDITORIAL SALVETE

working for the Development Trust at the University, developing alumni engagement and fundraising for capital projects and scholarships.

After a total of eight years in Scotland, Philippa made the move into independent education taking the role of Development and Alumni Manager at Cheadle Hulme School, in Cheshire, with fundraising focused on building a new Sports Pavilion and building the bursary provision at the School. This was the stepping stone to returning to York, and her role at St Peter’s School.

valuable background in this area that will stand her in good stead in our Music School here at St Peter’s.

Sarah Tucker Another Homer and Harry Potter enthusiast, Sarah Tucker embarked on a four year Classics degree to pursue her lifelong fascination for myths and history, a fascination fuelled and informed by epic travels to Italy and Greece. Originating in Saltburn by the Sea, Mrs Tucker has lived in London and Newcastle since graduating from Cambridge. She loves York’s bustling metropolis and our vast array of restaurants cater to her taste for the exotic, cultivated during her experience living in Cambodia. If the luxury of time travel were at her disposal, she would ‘like to go to 5th century Athens and speak to Socrates and have a day at the theatre’ in the hope of meeting the Athenian general, Pericles. Her genuine curiosity concerning the ancient world is contagious, and much appreciated by her pupils.

As well working alongside such friendly and supportive colleagues Philippa is delighted to be working with our almost 4,800 strong network of Old Peterites (Alumni) aged from 18-97, with so many who are engaged with the School and take great pride in everything St Peter’s! ‘The School has such a rich and wonderful history and it is great to have such beautiful surroundings to come to work in every day. It is a privilege to be able to work with Old Peterites who have all been so welcoming and I am looking forward to developing more creative ways for our Old Peterites to stay connected and support St Peter’s.’

Lucy Tomlinson We are delighted to welcome Lucy as our new Music Administrator.

She is a recent graduate of the University of York, where she studied Linguistics.

Following her graduation, Lucy worked in the Music School at the university, marketing and promoting their concerts and events. She also worked with York Music Service as their Concerts and Events organiser and both roles have given her a

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House Reports

EDITORIAL

Clifton It’s been a fantastic year for Clifton house, triumphing in nearly every aspect of school life. We started the year by strengthening our tutor group with the superb additions of Mrs Hall and Mrs Hempsall.

The Clifton girls have had a particularly successful year with the senior girls claiming the hat-trick, winning the three major house sporting events: hockey, netball and rounders. Quite an achievement! This is thanks to the eager help of the many members of the house who are part of the first XI teams. The junior girls followed in the older girls’ footsteps, competing well with great house spirit in all events. Finally all Clifton girls came together and dived into the swimming gala, making it into the competitive finals and taking the bronze medal.

Sports day was sadly cancelled due to adverse weather however the junior boys took the crown in house athletics.

Throughout the house the boys took part in every interhouse event and despite missing out on victory they had inspirational team spirit and made the house proud.

There was a large turnout for the inter-house cross country.

Clifton came together and showed its true colours (yellow for gold of course!) as the senior and junior boys and the senior girls truly champed the cross country.

One of our favourite events is the interhouse singing. This year Clifton blasted the judges with an enthusiastic performance of Dynamite by Taio Cruz. Outrageously Clifton kept its streak of not placing despite the passionate display. However it still brought great fun and truly demonstrated the house spirit; many like to say we were definitely the loudest!

Once again, as a strong academic house, Clifton actively participated in house debating and the school challenge.

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HOUSE REPORTS

Much to our amusement in both senior house debating and the school challenge finals, Clifton hungrily snatched the win from our downstairs rivals, The Grove. Furthermore, as the cherry on top, the Fifth, Fourth and Third Forms came together to win the junior version of the school challenge too.

Another highlight of the Clifton year is the annual house dinner.

As is our tradition we celebrated at Pizza Express. House dinner is a brilliant occasion for everyone to enjoy fantastic company and food. It really shows off the house as a whole and is a thoroughly enjoyable evening to bond as a house.

At the end of July 2018 we said goodbye to our Upper Sixth Form Cliftonities. Yet as we say ‘goodbye’ there are plenty of new ‘hellos’ as we welcome the new Third Form to the house. We also welcome a new addition of Dr Boddy to the tutor groups who will guide the Fifth Form through their important year of GCSEs. This year Clifton was aptly let by our heads of house Edward Turvill and Emilia Proctor who supported the house, helped organise house teams and events and lead the Clifton pupil body exceptionally, we couldn’t have achieved what we have in this year without their help and enthusiasm.

And so we come to the end of another year of activities and we look forward to the new year to come. We’d like to mention that Clifton house wouldn’t be the same without its group of loyal staff supporters: Mr Spencer, Mr Fuller, Mrs Lunadi, Mrs Hall, Mrs Hempsall, Mr Smith and of course, last but certainly not least, our ever devoted House Master Mr Snelling. All of us in Clifton can’t thank you enough.

To another wonderful year, here comes Clifton 2018-19!

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HOUSE REPORTS

Dronfield We welcomed 10 new girls to Dronfield at the start of the year, and Mses Ullstein, Pearson, Downes and Mallard joined our team of tutors. The year also began with the exciting news of the safe arrival of Emilia Brough, a daughter to Mr and Mrs Brough.

Interhouse competition always provides a healthy focus for the house. Second place in House Singing, Junior Challenge, Sports Day and Rounders has made for a good year.

If the Dronfield girls will allow me a brief reference to football, to affirm their achievements this year: As a young fan myself throughout the 1970s, Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town had the best record in the First Division of any club except Liverpool.

Few remember that second place achievement except the tens of thousands of Ipswich Town supporters for whom it was the best time of their lives.

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Three of the Dronfield results were achieved by our Third and Fourth Form girls in the house. They have shown great spirit and togetherness, and had some fun in the process. Well done to Serena, Hannah, Jasmine, Catherine, Hope and Emily. Second really is a great place to be, and should be celebrated. I know the girls are extremely pleased with their second place achievements, and rightly so.

the views of the house to various school committees, and Katy cochaired the School Council.

Laura, Farah, Lottie and Alex lead the way in Senior House Challenge, and pulled off some impressive results. Ella, Holly, Harriet, Sophie, Serena and Emily represented the house at Tennis, and Holly, Katy and Teri debated for Dronfield. Ester and Alex took

Katy was recognised at the end of year final assembly for her role on the school council in promoting the student voice. Sophie received the Lister Trophy for her contribution to Dronfield house sport over the years.

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HOUSE REPORTS

Other notable individual achievements this year include Sirui’s and Emily’s performances in the senior and junior music finals. Flossy, Holly, Farah & Laura took to the stage in As Your Like It. Amalia and Harriet played for the successful senior Hockey squad, and Oenone and Charlotte for the U16s.

There have been a number of occasions throughout the year when every girl has made a positive contribution in some way to the house. These are not always publicly acknowledged, but the

impact on the house is no less important. We thank Holly for all her good work as our head of house, and to the Upper Sixth Form in particular for their kindness and their good humour.

Ms Ullstein leaves St Peter’s School this year, and after an all too short a time with us in Dronfield. We thank her for always putting the girls first, and wish her well as she heads south. We are grateful to Mrs Mallard for helping with the boarding duties in Dronfield this year, and to our team of tutors and domestic staff for their support throughout the year.

We say a very fond farewell to our Upper Sixth Form leavers (Katy, Holly, Amelia, Flossy, Sophie, Ella, Harriet, Mikayla, Amalia and Cecilia), and wish them well on their onward journeys through further education and beyond.

Amelia may one day be your dentist, with Holly and Amalia making your fashion choices.

Our Upper Sixth Form leavers have made Dronfield a very happy place in the time they have been with us. We also send our good wishes to Carly, Lottie, Karine and Kai Qin. Mr Jon Whitehouse

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HOUSE REPORTS

Hope Taking over a house is an apprehensive business. Hope, however, was not unfamiliar territory for me, and with the backing of my excellent tutor team and some outstanding senior pupils it soon became apparent that I need not have been worried. Phoebe and Charlie, with sterling support from other members of the Upper Sixth Form, ensured that every event was organised efficiently and ahead of time, and a huge range of pupils from across the house were willingly enlisted due to the encouragement they received from the top. This was indeed a senior group whose commitment and good-humour has been exemplary: they have lead from the front and will be sorely missed.

House Singing is always a major highlight of the Christmas Term, and as recent winners, I knew that Hope had both the pedigree and the potential to land a podium finish. It was a great team effort, with Harriet Edwards leading the band and a cabal of energetic Upper Sixth Form pupils leading the rehearsals. Much fun was had, and there was some frustration, but in the end we just had to Keep on Moving and trust that it would all come good on the day. The final rehearsal on the day took the whole performance to another level, with even Angus managing to clap hands in time with the music, and our subsequent victory was very much a stand-out moment of the entire year. With two wins in three years, the bar has been set high for the future!

Hope Houses contribution to the performance arts across the school has undoubtedly been an outstanding feature of the year.

Whether it be on the stage or in any one of the vast array of musical ensembles, Hope House pupils have leading roles to play. Debating too has seen conspicuous success: our junior team – Henry Butters, Jenny Durham and Kitty Black – won their event in style; senior debaters performed with equal gusto; in school debating Hope pupils have played leading roles in a number of events. A wide

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collection of pupils also represented the house in the annual House Challenge events, but sadly, in the face of some genuinely tough questions, neither squad was able to secure a top-three finish.

HOUSE REPORTS

In sport, Hope has continued to succeed across a range of disciplines. Significant victories were won in Senior Girls Squash and in the inaugural Lower Sixth Form 5-a-side football tournament, and the girls swimming squad achieved a second-place finish, but truth be told our performances in every event were marked out for their endeavour and enthusiastic commitment. Cross-country always provides a good benchmark of house spirit, and once again this was evident in spades. Senior boys, senior girls and junior boys all finished in fifth place, with junior girls managing a third place finish.

The stand-out performance on the day was Katarina Bonner’s winning run in the senior girls’ event, with Oli Barry and Tabs Winkley also achieving notable success. My thanks to everyone who competed for the house this year, and also to the huge number of Hope pupils representing the school across a vast array of sports.

As ever, there has been much academic success this year, with several pupils achieving consistently excellent reports and many contributing to our impressive collection of merits: a second place finish in the Merit Cup provided an excellent testimony to their endeavours. Upper Sixth Form pupils have secured a range of encouraging offers, and I wish them every success in their continuing academic journeys, and to those whose GCSE results will significantly determine their future pathways.

Much of this academic progress is supported and encouraged through the outstanding work of the tutor team, and my sincerest thanks to all the staff who have given so generously of their time: to Mr Edwards, who has guided and steered the Third Form pupils through their first year, as well as keeping me more or less on a correct path through his wise counsel as Assistant Housemaster; to Mrs Middleton, who has managed to keep the Forth Form powering forward, but who now sadly leaves us to assume a more part-time role; to Mrs Mallard, who has

kept the Fifth Form pupils cheerful and purposeful through their challenging GCSE year; to Mr Bowden, who has worked hard to help the Lower Sixth make a successful transition to A levels; and to Mr Wright and Mr Shread, who have helped maintain sanity and composure within the Upper Sixth. Many thanks too to Phoebe and Charlie, who as heads of house have supported and advised me constantly; my best wishes to Will and Rebecca as they assume this daunting responsibility for the coming year.

This has been a busy and hugely enjoyable year. It is immensely satisfying to see the willingness that permeates the house, the support that pupils are prepared to show each other and the delights they show in each other’s successes, not to mention the fun that is had along the way. I have name-checked only a handful, but my sincere congratulations to you all on a wonderful year and my very best wishes to those of you who leave us: you will be missed, but I am sure you will move forward with Hope in your hearts.

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HOUSE REPORTS

Linton

Yet again I find myself in the position of reflecting on another year in Linton House. With slightly fewer boys in the House we have had to rely on everyone being ready and prepared to help with House events, hosting visitors and representing the House on numerous committees – there has been little opportunity for people to shirk responsibility! At the time of writing this report the Fifth Form are on study leave and the Upper Sixth Form are studying hard for their A levels. Yet again the house has taken on a somewhat eerie silence and importantly the younger boys are respecting the calm needed by those undertaking external examinations.

We started the year in welcoming four new Third Form pupils, Kai, Novid, Frazer and Bradley. Lawrence and Kevin joined Fourth form, with Ope and Ivan joining the Lower Sixth Form.

All boys settled in well and were soon required to represent the House in the first competition – the annual cross country event. As is now customary – and expected, the seniors had a fantastic competition, each boy ran with commitment and effort. Out of 140 runners Ben Hobbs must be congratulated on coming second (his first time in the senior race), Henry Campbell sixth and James Black 11th. With Rory Winterburn and Spence Ingall also finishing in the top 35 the team managed a creditable second place. The juniors did not fair quite as well however, James Brent had an excellent race and came 10th out of 125, and his effort was outstanding.

The House Chapel was expertly delivered by the Lower Sixth Form under the guardianship of Paddy. The theme covered discrimination and began with a staging of the St Brice’s Day massacre through to the horrific discrimination experienced by civil rights activist Rosa

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Parks. Kevin Xu started the proceedings by playing a traditional Chinese instrument called the Erhu, which is a two-stringed fiddle.

As is customary for the House the boys enjoyed demonstrating their acting skills to the expectant congregation and, they did not disappoint. Carrying on with the creative theme the House song chosen was Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. Anthony Lam expertly organised both the music and the boys! The final performance was excellent but unfortunately, yet again, we were not placed. Congratulations also to the musicians in the House who also managed to progress to the finals of both the junior and senior music festival. Matthew Ng played the clarinet beautifully and Nick New delighted the audience with his bagpipe performance. Pleasingly many boys are playing musical instruments in the House, these ranges from brass through to the electric guitar and I urge them to continue with this. Joe Raper continued the drama tradition and performed brilliantly as Oliver in the school play As You Like It. Academically the boys in Linton continue to take their studies seriously. During the external exams I was, yet again, impressed with the commitment they showed to their studies, in fact on many occasions I had to tell the boys to stop studying; I am proud of the way in which the House takes on a real sense of purpose during this time. Special mention must also go to Francis Zhang and Kevin Xu who both achieved a gold award in the year 10 and 11 Physics Olympiad Challenge.

Linton as ever has taken an active role in the house debating competitions throughout the year showing the characteristic patriotism towards the challenge. In the junior section, the debaters

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were confronted with the motion “This house would allow UK students to vote on the curriculum they are taught in school” the team took it in their stride and produced a win and Ed Jackson was awarded best speaker; although the team didn’t win they served the house proud. Senior debating saw the senior team facing a fellow boarding house, The Rise. Linton saw their first victory followed by a second against Temple, this took us into the semi-finals, however two valiant loses against strong opposition saw the end of house debating for Linton (at least for that year). Other boys take part in debating outside the house competitions, Freddy Dorling helped to judge the MACE competitions hosted at St Peters this year, he was also awarded a speaking prize in one of the many inter-school competitions he competed in. Even today debating stirs up a healthy rivalry between the houses and is sure to do so in years to come.

will reflect with fond memories of being able to have lived in such a splendid house. I will most certainly miss Matron, Tracey, Dawn and Linda, not only do they look after all the boys in their care they also look after me and I thank them for their hard work, kindness and upmost professionalism. We are so lucky to have a group of ladies who go way beyond their remit in looking after the boys. Thank you to a superb team of tutors Paddy, Mrs Tooby-Smith, Mrs Chisolm and Mr Battersby: your help has been invaluable. I wish Mr and Mrs Battersby all the best as they take over Linton House and hope that they will be as happy in Linton as we have been.

Finally, many thanks to Rory for his contribution as Head of House, and best wishes to Ben Poskitt as he takes over the reins.

Many boys continue to participate in a full range of sports. Tom Charge led the water polo team and congratulations to Joe Raper who will be carrying on the Linton tradition as he takes over the reins from Tom. Rory Winterburn, Spencer Ingall, James Black, Henry Campbell, Josh Harrison, Ope Okunoren, Ilya Rzheznikov and Ben Poskitt represented the school at senior Rugby. Anthony Lam and James Ellis were regulars in the football team. The junior boys became cricket mad in one of the warmest summers we have had for a while and special mention must go to James Brent who achieved a hat trick wicket against GSAL. Elliot Millman has continued to row for the school and I am delighted that he has been awarded Captain of the Boat Club, a tremendous achievement. Ben Hobbs is training hard for the triathlon as well as trying his hand at rowing!

It seems very odd to be writing the last house report and after seven previous reports, this one has most definitely been the hardest. In reflecting on the time in the House you remember, thankfully, the enjoyable times and Matron and I often, on a quiet afternoon wonder what ‘such and such’ are now up to! Not only has Linton been a home from home for many of the boys it must be remembered that it has been our family home for a long time and we

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Queen’s

It has been a real pleasure to take over as housemistress of Queen’s House this year and I have very much enjoyed getting to know the 73 people that make it such a busy and positive place. This year the Heads of House, Jack Williams and Clare Hornby, did a fantastic job at guiding pupils and modelling both impeccable behaviour and Queen’s House spirit at all times.

It is fair to say that we have had mixed successes in the various house events that have been taking place since September. One thing that can always be relied on however is the enthusiasm with which the Queen’s pupils commit themselves. This was seen readily in house sing where they gave a rousing performance of The Killers’ Mr Brightside. Unfortunately our view that we should place first, second or third was not shared by the judges but of course there is always next year…

With keen runners in house we had good success in the interhouse cross country competition with Queen’s winning the senior and junior boys competitions coupled some excellent placings in the junior girls category as well.

Although in the team sport events there were no key wins, the lower sixth football league did reach fifth place with some very passionate performances and much entertainment for those watching! The girls made a valiant effort in the netball, badminton and hockey. The latter in particular was a pleasure to watch as the team consisted of pupils from the new Third Form all the way up to Upper Sixth Form and demonstrated great teamwork and camaraderie.

Sadly, due to the weather, whole school sports day was postponed, but the juniors participated in their own event during the summer

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term and it was an excellent afternoon of sporting endeavour. With various individual successes some impressive placings in the track events; Beth Wheelhouse in the 300m, some superb discus throwing by Issy Greenwood and first place in the shot putt for Will Coggrave.

Although the exam season did interrupt activity somewhat there was still enthusiastic participation in the house tennis, rounders and cricket competitions. One thing I can say is that I am incredibly proud of every single member of the Queen’s House and how they have conducted themselves in representing us this year from sports, to drama, to music to debating and so much more. A particular highlight for the house came in securing the Merit Cup and celebrating success in all things academic — now the challenge is to hold on to it next year!

So here we are at the end of this year’s journey and I am excited to see what next year will bring. I am also confident that new Heads of House, Sophie Barry and Oli Coulthard will be very much guiding from the front and injecting positive energy into all that we embark on.

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School As another year passes, it is quite amazing to reflect on the depth and breadth of experiences, progress and successes during another year in School House. As ever, the house has provided plenty of opportunity for pupils to thrive beyond the classroom, such as the range of pupils who represented the senior and junior ‘House Challenge’ teams, all putting their fastest fingers on the buzzers in some amazing displays of general knowledge and quick thinking.

The senior debating teams of Cosmo Forbes, Tom Hatfield and Jamie Dunsmore reached the semi-finals whilst the junior team of Jamie Hatfield, Joe Baker and Ed Fricker faced a couple of narrow decisions (we lost by a solitary point two weeks in a row) that meant we didn’t reach the final stages. Nevertheless these competitions provided a great opportunity for a variety of pupils to engage in some fulfilling activities away from their academic studies and the Christmas term ended with a much enjoyed (partly due to mulled wine and festive mince pies) Christmas Lit Quiz with Millie Redshaw, Freddie Cowman-Sharpe, Alfie Martin and Lucy Lawrence participating so well.

One of the highlights of the musical calendar is certainly the interhouse singing competition and this year’s song choice (chosen by our Upper Sixth Form pupils) was Tik Tok by Kesha. With Lucy Lovisetto conducting, rehearsals went well and we managed to blend a perfect concoction of rhythm, melody and actions. Indeed we felt confident going into the event itself but alas, once again, the judges did not place us in the top three (we were clearly fourth) but this wonderful event ensured the whole house united together towards a common goal.

On the sporting front this has been an incredibly successful year and in the first house event in the calendar, congratulations went to all who wore the School House shirt with pride across the cross-country course and particular praise went to Phoebe Holmes who finished 1st in the Junior Girls event. On the badminton courts, the quartet of Ellie Spencer, Anabel Chan, Lydia Palmer and Amelia Blackburn gathered momentum throughout the inter-house competition and successfully defeated The Rise in the final to become House Badminton champions, whilst Lucy Lovisetto joined this quartet as we finished runners-up in House Squash. After three successive wins on the hockey pitches, an Ellie Spencer goal meant we beat The Rise in the semi-final yet despite having the better of the chances and much of the play in the final against Clifton, the

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girls couldn’t find the winning goal and a breakaway goal meant that we finished runners-up.

In the inaugural Lower Sixth Football League, some fine squad management and rotation (always great to see) ensured that every Lower Sixth boy got to play through victories in the group stages but although we dominated the semi-final against Temple, we couldn’t find a way past their inspired goalkeeper and were left ruing a number of good efforts in a 1-0 defeat. The boys were back on form in the 3rd/4th playoff where a comprehensive victory over Linton meant we finished in third place overall and congratulations

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went to Sam B, Sam G, Sam W, Jamie, Finlay, Tom H, Tom U, Zak, Mathis and Alfie for some superb performances and excellent house spirit throughout the competition.

Over on the netball courts, the Junior Girls of Hannah, Emily, Phoebe, Khushi and Lucy-May joined forces with Third Formers Katy, Alice, Ruby and Lizzie to breeze through the group stages winning their games comfortably. Some outstanding netball culminated in wins all the way to the final where a very exciting game 7-7 draw against The Grove meant extra time and with the score at 10-10 it was The Grove who successfully clinched the win with the ‘golden net’; nevertheless the girls played their part in a superb final and can be very proud of their performances. As the Senior Girls got their tournament underway, we put out a young ‘development team’ due to a lack of netball expertise in the very top year! Lower Sixth Formers Hannah, Sam, Maddy, Millie, Ellie and Issy were joined by Fifth Former Amelia and although they did not make the final stages, great fun was had and we shall have another crack at the title next year!

In Junior House Hockey, Fourth Formers Joe, Max, Ben, Joshy, Harvey , Ed and Charlie were joined by Third Formers Max and Ben and made a blistering start to their campaign before we saved the best performance until last and defeated the Manor 4-0 in the final to become House Hockey champions. Most of this same squad took to the cricket pitches as we moved into the summer term and the tables were unfortunately turned as it was the Manor who were the only team to beat although we were crowned winners of the plate competition.

Over in the pool the girls put in some superb performances in House Swimming but particular mention should go to Millie Marwood in Third Form who won, and broke the school record, in the 25m backstroke and also won the 50m breastroke. Other winners included Ellie Spencer (Senior 25m backstroke), Maddy Bennison (Senior 25m freestyle) and the Junior 4x25m freestyle.

These individual winners were supported by numerous second and third places including Hannah Aubrey, Phoebe Holmes and Anabel Chan whilst excellent performances from the other squad members meant we picked up a fantastic 107 points total and become House Swimming Champions 2018.

Nearly all the Junior girls played their part in sweeping all before them in House Rounders group stages before facing the other group winners, Queen’s House and after a close draw we managed to power our way through the extra balls to become Junior House Rounders champions as well!

With all of the successes over the year, the real value has been to see pupils of all abilities pulling on their maroon shirts with pride and working together for a common cause - well done to everyone for their efforts and achievements across 2017-2018. At our final house assembly, we took the opportunity to thank our outstanding team of tutors and to pay compliment to Mrs Battersby’s outstanding work in School House before she heads across to the boarding side of school life in Linton. To Mandy and Fay who keep the common rooms so clean and tidy the pupils owe great thanks as well and we passed on our very best wishes to our Upper Sixth leavers who we will miss dearly. Anabel and Matt have led the House superbly and we wish Hannah Coleman and Mathis Piquiot well in their new roles as Heads of House next year. As we say goodbye to such a strong year group, it is reassuring to know the future of School House is in such good hands - roll on September!

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Temple This year has been a significant milestone for me in that it has been my 10th year in charge of Temple. Although the job has changed significantly since I took over, with young people under even greater pressure, particularly from social media, it remains an incredibly enjoyable and rewarding job. In September we were joined by Hugh Whitworth, Jemima Telfer and Aleyna Haxby in the Lower Sixth and by Antonia Ryan-Briscoe in the Fourth Form, all of whom now look as if they have never been anywhere else. We also welcomed a new group of Third Form pupils and with them came a good mix of academic, musical and sporting talent as well as a lot of noise! They certainly believe in the “better out than in” mantra when it comes to sorting out issues in the common room.

A much more pleasant sound, however, came in June when we were well represented by the Third and Fourth Form at the junior music festival with Rachael Green winning the woodwind section on the saxophone and Charlotte Gee winning the piano section.

Rachael went on to be the deserved overall winner of the festival and treated the whole school to her performance of Sax in the City later in the term in chapel. At the weather delayed senior music festival we were well represented in the singing sections by Amber Rose, Ben Parkes and Alex Leahy who all went on to have starring roles in the cabaret concert. They have given a lot to the musical life of the school in general, but particularly singing, and I would like to thank them for the pleasure they have brought me and everyone over the last five years. Having heard Annabel Squire, Eva Parkyn and Toby Mayfield sing in the junior music festival, there is plenty of talent waiting in the wings. “Plenty of talent” is not a phrase which is usually attached to the House Singing competition and yet we finished in an admirable third place this year with our rendition of Hit Me Baby One More Time.

On the theme of hitting, Temple scored another victory in boys’ sport this year. As former Temple pupil Jonny Bairstow was hitting the Aussies for six repeatedly in the one day internationals, Temple junior boys were winning the junior house cricket competition having come close in the last couple of years. We narrowly missed out on retaining the house football trophy, losing to Hope House

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in the final, but this is a good time to congratulate Jack Mayfield on being made Captain of Football for next year. Once again, sports day had to be cancelled due to the weather which led to a waterlogged track. However, the junior events managed to go ahead following exam week and on a lovely sunny afternoon, Temple enjoyed a number of successes. One of the highlights was Angel Norza’s stunning victory in the 100m, although there were many others with Corby Doeg winning the javelin, Joe Lawrence winning the long jump and Sam McKeown winning the 1,500m. It is not all about winning though and the one thing that has stuck

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in my mind from the sporting calendar this year is the house spirit demonstrated by Pebbles Myers at the girls’ house swimming gala when she not only rushed from a music exam to get there but also swam an individual race and three relays, including swimming for the seniors. This in my opinion is what house sport is all about.

Temple continued to be well represented in other areas of the creative arts with a number of pupils involved in Shakespeare’s As You Like It in November and in GCSE drama performances. We have a group of highly talented artists in the house and this talent was on full display at the annual Art Exhibition, including the A level work of Rebecca Battles, Martha Horner and Amber Rose.

At St Peter’s we always like the pupils to challenge themselves and take themselves out of their comfort zones and two such opportunities for this are the house challenge and the house debating competitions. We made it to the semi-final in the senior house challenge, losing to the eventual winners, The Grove, by just one question. We will certainly miss Alex Leahy’s phenomenal general knowledge in years to come. It was also good to see more girls getting involved in the junior event this year with Eva Parkyn and Antonia Ryan-Briscoe recording a resounding victory in one of the rounds as a team of two over a team of four. Hugh Whitworth was a welcome addition to the senior house debating team and also won the senior public speaking competition later in the year.

After a busy year, it is now time to say goodbye to the Upper Sixth

who leave us to carry on their education at academic institutions around the country. I will be really sad to see them go. I would particularly like to thank Felicity and Will for their support as Heads of House and congratulate Lily Kirkby and Jack Mayfield on being appointed to continue their good work from September. They should make a good team having started school together at Clifton pre-prep and there is an element of déja vu as they were Heads of House together at St Olave’s many years ago. Once again I urge those leaving this year to keep up their friendships and their interests outside the classroom and to value the power of talking and listening. One final goodbye has to go to Mr Johnston who is leaving the school this term.

He has been a tutor in Temple during my 10 years in charge and well before that. The insight he has been able to provide me with from working closely with the boys on the sports programme has been invaluable and shows how much he cares about the pupils. I will have to find someone else to make sure the boys have had a haircut or a shave.

Finally, it remains for me to thank my remaining fantastic, supportive set of tutors who are a dedicated and (generally) cheery presence in the house. Mr Parr, Temple Assistant Housemaster, should have a halo, not just because of the work he does, but also because he has the best chapel attendance in house. It won’t be long before we find ourselves back in chapel , welcoming a new bunch of Peterites to this wonderful community, but now it is time for everyone to have a well-deserved rest.

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The Grove

The Grove sits at one extreme end of the St Peter’s campus in a secluded garden and revels in wonderful separation. This year our usual peace and quiet has been disrupted as the old Mathematics and Languages blocks have been demolished and been replaced with the new Pascal Building. Over the course of the year therefore, we have endured a mixture of noise and mess but, through all this, we have witnessed the emergence of a new, state-of-the-art teaching facility. It is easy to think that the project has lasted for the one year when we have lived alongside the numerous contractors but, of course, its beginnings go back far further. There are interesting parallels to be drawn between this construction project and the lives of pupils at school. School lives follow neat annual patterns which come to fruition in the summer. This often means examination outcomes but, in a place like this, there is so much

more to be celebrated. For those pupils who have been here for longer, the end of their time in The Grove follows a huge amount planning, hard work and, of course, investment, not unlike a major construction project.

Our Upper Sixth Form pupils this year leaves us to move on to the next stages of their educational journeys at different institutions and following different courses. Each of them has offered a great deal to our community in their own way and each will be missed and fondly remembered. This year we pay tribute to captains of sport, ace tennis players, a ‘drama king’, academic prize winners (we scooped 12 of the Sixth Form Prizes at Commemoration), creative artists and a host of great team players. Of all the people I see walking up the path to The Grove, it is old faces returning to catch up that are among the most welcome; a message I am keen for all of our leavers to register.

A key challenge in all houses is to get different year groups to mix and this year in The Grove we have joined together at various events including a house barbecue (with bungee run) and a very civilised and genial House Dinner. Though our entry for the House Sing competition, (I’ve had) the Time of My Life, suffered the same injustice in the hands of the judges as many of its predecessors, the rehearsals were greatly enjoyed and saw a polished performance emerge from the initial chaos. The final rendition was capped by “the lift” which, although expected by the audience, was greeted with a roar of approval. The intellectual life of the house is alive and well, if our performances in the inter-house quizzes can be used

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to judge. Our senior team lost out narrowly in their final (as did our senior debating team) while our junior competitors were edged out by the narrowest possible margins in their semi-final. While these are competitive events, both are great fun to compete in and our teams enjoyed generous and encouraging support along the way.

The sporting stars of our house are our junior girls who seemed to repeatedly sweep aside their competition and have brought home a range of silverware including the coveted overall Sports Day trophy.

The Grove remains a musical place too with more than our share of choristers and instrumental performers and it has been a great pleasure to share their various successes through house and school assemblies.

The pastoral health of the house is a testament to the hard work of our year group tutors and I am indebted to them for their caring investment of time. With over 70 pupils to look out for, I am entirely dependent on them for their detailed knowledge and stewardship

of their charges. The leadership of the house this year has been exceptional and, in Lucy Dabbs and Max Courtis, we have seen gentle but clear role-modelling of the way to combine a busy schedule with a willingness to help improve the lives of other pupils.

Aside from delivering a witty and well-judged speech at our dinner, we should recognise that the success of house events, house kit and management of teams is entirely down to them. It was a pleasure to thank them with small tokens which ultimately feel inadequate given the generosity of their investment.

And so another year of hectic activity has unfolded in The Grove beneath the shelter and shade of our beautiful Himalayan Silver Birch which stands as the centerpiece of our garden. Fenced off for a year while the construction work has gone on around it, our much-admired tree forms part of the house crest and stands as a symbol of constancy and resilience and style...not unlike the best of the Grovites!

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The Manor The Manor, in its current location, turned 75 this year. The honours board at the entrance to the house notes all those who have led the house in this time, both students and housemasters. It is an honour and a privilege to be part of this history, while striving to take The Manor further forward into the future. Living alongside 41 boys in their teenage years is any combination of hilarious, bizarre, rewarding, exhausting, inspiring and great fun. As I write this report at the end of the academic year it can feel like all of these at once!

The Christmas Term It was a pleasure to welcome many new boys to the house back in September. In the Third Form six pupils (Oaken, Arthur, Frahal, Justin, Walter, Ben) joined us at the start of year, with Wil joining too after Christmas. Alex, Harry and Jason joined the Fourth Form, with Will, Josh, Kaleb and Joe all adding to the Sixth Form. There were plenty of new faces and it was good to see all settle quickly into the life of the house.

The first couple of weeks are always very busy. The informal boarders’ dinner on the Saturday night and the “Getting to Know York” Sunday were a great way for all the boarders to get to know each other and the place where they now live. The following Sunday was the optional paintballing activity and this proved great fun for all those that took part. Great effort and preparation went into the house sing as usual, but after last year’s win it was always unlikely we would feature this time round. It is always great to see the boys perform and a huge well done to all those who brought this together.

Sadly, due to new RFU rules, house rugby played across year groups is no more. This meant that the House Cross-Country was the major event. Kieran Whyte finished third for the Manor in the Senior Boys event, with Dom Winn also in the top ten in the Junior Boys.

A particular highlight of this term was the fact our Junior debaters reached the final of the competition. They prepared well and argued strongly throughout the competition – a huge well done to Olly Tomalin, and also to Flynn Southgate who won the outstanding speaker award. The Senior challenge (House Quiz) did their best but we were outgunned by some strong teams elsewhere.

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The Easter Term Football continued to be a strong and popular sport in house this term with a large number of boys representing the school 1st and 2nd XI. Due to the popularity of Senior Football, House Football was restricted to a Lower Sixth lunchtime tournament which was greatly enjoyed by all who took part. While perhaps we didn’t have the skill to win the competition, our commitment and spirit were surely the best!

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Our Junior House Hockey team gave things a very strong go as well, finishing second, and it was great to see so many of the juniors taking part.

The Summer term

The People As ever the end of the school year sees goodbyes and thanks. The Upper Sixth will now be well on with the next stage of their lives and it was sad to see them leave at the end of term gathering. We also wished Andrew well too.

Our junior Challenge team competed really well this year as too did our strong junior cricket who put in some excellent performances to reach the tournament final.

The whole school sports day had to be cancelled due to waterlogged pitches, but the junior version of this for the Third and Fourth Forms was a terrific afternoon. It was good to see the team spirit on show and there were some impressive performances in different events too.

Exams permeated house life this term and the dedicated focus of the boys impressed me greatly. Working hard, while continuing to enjoy boarding life, was a key feature of the term. That was along with the barbecues we were able to have more of this year due to the excellent weather!

Perhaps the best aspect of this term is our very own Manor Handball – our own game, devised by the boys around the lines on the driveway. If you want to see all that is best about boarding in action this is it – it really makes for great watching and embodies the school values well (humility apart perhaps…)!

Dori and I are ably supported by a strong team of tutors and in-house support staff.

David Robinson has provided excellent support in his first year living in, making a great contribution to the smooth running of the house. Matt Cannon joined the Manor team and has made a huge contribution too as do all the tutors that are part of the Manor.

Colette, our Matron, and the team of cleaners continue to keep the rooms looking remarkably clean and tidy; something that parents always pick up on positively and remark upon.

My final thanks always go to my family. Without their patience, support and understanding I wouldn’t still be enjoying this as much as I do.

Mr Steve Gwilliam

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The Rise 2018 has indeed been a very special year for the Rise. On Sunday 13 May in gloriously sunny late Spring weather, 140 Risites attended a birthday party on the Rise Lawn to celebrate 100 years of boarding in The Rise.

Many memories of school days were exchanged, prosecco was sipped, scrumptious canapés were eaten and tours were given by the current Rise girls. No birthday party would be complete without a birthday cake and what a birthday cake it was-a ginger bread model of the Rise cut by the Head of House, Charlotte Hollinrake who was celebrating her 18th Birthday that very day. For me one of the most special moments was the planting of the Rise rose by the oldest Risite, 94 year old Ian Richardson and the youngest Risite, 14 year old Monica Wu. Everyone had a really lovely day and will remember it for a long time to come.

One of the wonderful aspects about any school year is that each one is different and is special for those girls, parents and teachers who are involved in its events at that time. Here are some more of our favourite events from this year.

The house singing competition on the last day before the October half-term proved to be a particularly memorable and joyous occasion. Under Charlotte Hollinrake’s brilliant leadership, the girls committed themselves to countless practices of Classic by MKTO. The girls were accompanied by Emily Mcdonald on the guitar and showed off their slick moves, enjoying themselves immensely and beaming throughout the performance. In the end however, the girls were narrowly pipped at the post by Hope who were declared the winners.

One of the many highlights at the end of the Christmas term is Mrs Figgin’s Christmas Jumper party and the house dinner. Everyone is dressed to the nines and each girl looks as if she were attending a red carpet event. After a four-course festive meal, we have speeches and head back to the Rise flat where the party continues

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and Christmas songs sung around the piano.

The Rise had a fantastic sporting year with both juniors and seniors kicking it off to a great start in house cross country: Lily Naylor came second in the senior competition which combined with Sonya Aleksandrova, Alex Johnson, Grace Moody and Ksenia Trebucheva all coming in the top 20 lead to a win over all the other houses. Both new sporting stars Emily Rastrick and Natasha Johnston had a strong run and finished seventh and 14th. Next on the agenda was house hockey; Charlotte Hollinrake captained the side outstandingly and Emily McDonald’s keeping was up to its usual precise quality, but unfortunately with the finals being the day after house dinner we came a respectable fourth. House swimming proved a usual struggle for participants but with seven willing swimmers we managed a creditable fourth; special mention goes to Sophie Adeley for her great performance and organisation. Yulia Trebucheva lead the squash team in a very honourable pursuit and the netball teams both had a distinguished performance. Finally the rounders was a very well fought competition from the senior team.

An unlucky pip-at-the-most to Clifton in the final didn’t take away the notable performances of Kitty Clapham, Charlotte Hollinrake and Yulia Trebucheva. The house tennis final between The Rise and School house was worthy of Wimbledon with some nail biting rallies and brilliant points scored by Sonya Aleksandrova, Lily Naylor, Sophie Adeley, Kitty Clapham, Natasha Johnston and Emily McDonald. In our girls were narrowly defeated by School House 24 games to 21.

We would all like to thank the tutors – Mrs Figgins, Mrs Barnard, Miss Wilson and Mrs Robinson for their help, good advise and encouragement in everything the girls do. Special mention and thanks must go to Jane, our Matron and her team of ladies — Jenny, Miggy and Lisa for keep the Rise sparkling clean day in, day out.

Finally a big thank you must go the Rise girls who make the Rise a wonderfully happy place to live and work.

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Visits and Exchanges

Geography Field Trip to Arran On 16th June, all the Lower Sixth geographers set off on a sixhour coach journey to the Isle of Arran. We would be staying the week at the Lochranza Field Study Centre where we would collect our data for our individual coursework.

Before even leaving school we encountered a critter in need.

A squirrel was trapped in a drain between CPS and The Avenue, luckily the helpless creature was saved when the maintenance team and a couple of our students came to the rescue. Thankfully the journey itself ran smoothly and to the excitement of everybody, we were greeted with surprisingly pleasant weather when arriving on the island. And the blessing of sun continued for the duration of our visit to Arran.

On the first evening at the field center we were introduced to the campus manager Stuart as well as some ‘unique’ food and rainwater which was soon substituted for (better flavoured) juice! The main common room of the center soon became an STP hub, filled with constant cries of “TURN IT UP” and “BAZZAA” throughout all the episodes of Love Island which brought all 35 of us together at 9pm every night. Watching the world cup group stage matches was also another good

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opportunity for the fellas to take their minds off all the geography, especially as we witnessed England grabbing a late winner against Tunisia.

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Throughout the week we enjoyed a mixture of days dedicated to both human and physical geography. These were sometimes led by our favourite member of the field center staff: Douglas, who managed to hook us up with some high quality gear needed to carry out our investigations. The island’s midges were also a recurring nuisance, forcing us to wear midge nets at points where the irritation became unbearable.

On the human geography days, we “metamorphosed” (Stuart buzzword) into the irritants as it was our turn to ask the public a series of questions as part of our questionnaires.

As imagined, these were not always well received, especially when 10 students try and fight their way to an elderly couple who have already refused the questionnaire five times before. On the physical geography days it was slightly more ‘hands on’, as we participated in measuring beach pebbles, infiltration rates, soil moisture… etc. These days were usually followed up by a couple of hours of classwork at night which didn’t go down too well, however it was good to look forward to some well deserved free time after a long day out.

We would all like to thank our teachers, Mr Bowden, Miss Ullstein and Mrs Tooby-Smith for making this trip possible as it was a brilliant opportunity. This was also Miss Ullstein’s last trip to Arran with St Peter’s as she leaves the school this year to pursue her career elsewhere, so we all wish her the best of luck!

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VISITS AND EXCHANGES

Art Trip To Paris FRIDAY 9 FEBRUARY – SUNDAY 11 FEBRUARY (First weekend of February half-term) Over the course of the year we ran a number of art trips which took us the length and breadth of the country, including the Lower Sixth Form drawing weekend to Boggle Hole near Whitby, a day trip to London Galleries with the Fourth Form and a Lower Sixth Form visit to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. The highlight of the year, however, was the Upper Sixth Form Art trip to Paris during the February half term.

Travelling by train to London and Eurostar to Paris, our small group of Upper Sixth Form artists, accompanied by Mr Hall and Mrs Chisholm arrived in Paris on the evening of Friday 9 February and as the sun was sinking over a frozen city we left our bags at our hotel (in the shadow of the Bastille), and walked through le Marais (or hopped in the case of Lucy Dabbs!) to the Pompidou Centre for our first dose of culture. Designed

by Richard Rogers and built in the early 1970s, it is a strange building which seems a little incongruous in this elegant city.

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VISITS AND EXCHANGES

However the students were bowled over by its modernist interior, and stunning collection of modern art, some of which we knew well from the history books, but most of which was new to the students.

A vast collection there was something for everyone to gain inspiration from. After an evening meal in an authentic local bistro the students walked back to the hotel and fell, exhausted, into bed.

The next two days were a whirlwind of artistic and gastronomic treats, which gave students and staff alike a blast of what this amazing city can offer. An early morning visit to Sainte Chapelle to see (or rather witness) the extraordinary sight of the 13th century

windows soaring above this elegant space, followed by a (rather treacherous!) walk along frozen pavements on the left bank of the Seine to the Musée d’Orsay. This converted railway station overlooks the river and houses the most comprehensive collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art in the world. Lunch in the local arrondisement was followed by a visit to the Musée Rodin just round the corner, where the students encountered a feast of Rodin sculptures including famous pieces like The Kiss and The Thinker and numerous drawings and maquettes, all housed in the elegant Hotel Biron which was Rodin’s studio at the beginning of the 20th century.

On the other side of the river from Musee d’Orsay one comes across l’Orangerie which contains the extraordinary ‘panoramic’ water-lily paintings by Monet. Most of the students knew Monet’s work second-hand from books and cards (and placemats!), but nothing can really prepare you for the experience of these paintings in the flesh. The term ‘installation’ is used commonly now to describe work by artists where they interact and alter a space with a piece of work, a modern concept perhaps but applied many years ago by revolutionary artists like Monet.

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After another slap-up meal in a lovely restaurant behind Notre Dame Cathedral, the students were quite relieved to get back to the hotel and everyone was in bed by 10pm!

The next morning after a leisurely breakfast we walked to the Musée Picasso, a mere 10 minutes from the hotel for another taste of genius. Paris does museums and galleries like no other city, and this was no exception. This extraordinary 17th century villa has been beautifully renovated over the past five years to tastefully combine old and new architecture, and as such is the perfect venue to house the revolution that was Picasso’s art.

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After the whirlwind that was the Saturday, the Picasso museum was the last of our visits and we reluctantly picked up our bags and returned to the Gare de Nord to start our journey home. Both students and teachers alike were exhausted but exhilarated, and freshly inspired for the last few months of the Art A Level Course.

This trip is to be repeated together with the History of Art students in February 2019.

VISITS AND EXCHANGES

Italy Music Tour 2018 On Monday 23 July, a group of sleepy students and staff arrived at 7am ready for departure. After a long coach journey and a delay on our flight, we arrived into an extremely hot Venice Treviso airport.

There we were introduced to our brilliant tour guide Susanna and our coach driver Luca. We travelled to our hotel in Cittadella and had a dinner of pizza (lots of it!). On the Tuesday we visited Verona, seeing sights such as the Casa di Guilietta and the Roman Arena. That evening we performed at the beautiful Duomo di San Lorenzo in Abano Terme, with highlights being Schubert’s Kyrie and Gloria, featuring solos from Harriet and Ben, and pieces such as Exultate Justi by Viadana. The next day we went to Venice, travelling on a rather bumpy vaporetto and had time to explore the city. That evening we had the honour of participating in a Mass in St Mark’s Basilica, singing four motets with a highlight being Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus.

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Thursday was more relaxed, with free time to explore Cittadella, before a long journey to Caorle to sing in the Chiesa San Giovanni XIII in Porto Santa Margharita. Highlights of this concert included the Wind Band playing their Overture from Rosamunde by Schubert, Rosie singing a beautiful solo by Mozart, and the Chapel Choir singing The Three Kings by Cornelius with a solo from Jack. At the end, we had a surprise standing ovation from the very enthusiastic audience. Friday was a day to look forward to, with a visit to a local waterpark and our final concert in Marostica. This was a wonderful concert, with some excellent solo singing from Izzy and Dan, and lighter repertoire mixed in, such as folksongs from the Chamber Choir and Tour Choir. The Brass Ensemble, who featured in all the concerts, finished their tour with a sparkling rendition of the Trumpet Voluntary by Clarke. To finish our tour, the whole choir came together for an impromptu encore of Stanford’s Jubilate in C, which we sung with great energy, and this provided an exciting and emotional farewell for all the U6th.

We would like to thank all the staff — Mr Spencer, Mr Grant (especially for his help with the Brass Ensemble), Miss Ullstein, Mrs Lawrence, Mrs M-K (who looked after us as usual), Mr Hall, Dr Harrison, Mr Wright, Mr and Mrs Edwards and of course Mr M-K for a wonderful tour.

Felicity Edwards (U6th)

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World Challenge expedition to Swaziland

World Challenge provides school expeditions and amazing experiences to students across the world. On 26 March our team from St Peter’s started out on their expedition to the kingdom of Swaziland, the last absolute monarchy of Africa. Arriving into Johannesburg we were picked up from the airport by our guides from ‘All Out Africa’, for our drive east to Swaziland.

The first part of our trip took us to Ndinda, a neighbourhood care point which supports the local community, caring for their own orphans and vulnerable children. Ndinda has 35 OVCs (orphaned and vulnerable children) who are supported by the care point, aged between three and seven years old.

Our team were asked to help complete the building of a classroom with the help of a local builder. We spent three days getting our hands dirty, preparing the inside of the building for a concrete floor and plastering the walls outside.

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Ndinda NCP is a place where children can come together and access various services; receive care and support, a meal for the day and some form of education. In addition to helping with the building work, our students also spent time with the children, drawing and playing games.

It is significant that the group all agreed that the time spent helping this community was the highlight of their trip, given the incredible experiences that would follow.

The language, daily routine, activities, facilities and cultural sensitivities were all completely new and different to what we were used to, and Ndinda certainly gave us plenty to think about.

Cultural exchange works both ways and, although we were guests for only a short time at Ndinda, we were able to share a little of ourselves with the children and our hosts.

VISITS AND EXCHANGES

After our stay in Ndinda we travelled to the Malolotja Nature Reserve in the north-western corner of Swaziland. It’s one of the most impressive areas of protected wildlife in Southern Africa and is managed by the Swaziland National Trust Commission on behalf of the Swazi King. On arrival we set up camp, and spent the first night near the park HQ. The following morning we set off on our trek into the Reserve, down the valley to a wild camp on the banks of the Malolotja River. The camps were basic and had no facilities, but provided us with some stunning scenery, and an experience a world away from our normal everyday lives.

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Our last campsite was located in a beautiful setting at the bottom of the gorge, close to some small waterfalls known as the “Lower Potholes”. We set up camp, and then had a swim in the potholes, before gathering around the camp fire for our supper, and some local songs from our guides.

After our trek we made our way to Hlane Royal National Park, Swaziland’s largest protected area, and home to some of Africa’s big game, including: rhinos, lions, elephants and antelope. We camped at Ndlovu Camp and enjoyed a few days relaxing and taking part in a couple of safari drives.

Our two weeks in Swaziland was an amazing and empowering trip for our students. They stepped outside their comfort zones, embraced the whole experience, and in some small way will have come back forever changed. Some of the team were interviewed after the trip, and I would encourage you to read their story on the St Peter’s School website.

Over 83 per cent of students nationally raise the expedition fee themselves, and those who went to Swaziland from St Peter’s worked extremely hard in the time leading up to the expedition, raising their own money. Earning your expedition fee will force you to create networks, articulate your case, be bold and ask for help, and demand a commitment from you. When our team were sat watching the sunset at Hlane, somewhere deep down, they will have been very proud that they got themselves there.

The Swaziland Team – Issy Brown, Owen Pudsey, Rosie McLeish, Alex Johnston, Maddy Bennison, Freddie Cowman-Sharpe, Will Morrison, Ewan Henworth, Josefien Heijbroek, Vanessa Johnson (World Challenge Leader) and Jon Whitehouse (St Peter’s staff).

Mr Jon Whitehouse

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VISITS AND EXCHANGES

Ski Trip 2018, Bormio, Italy Bella Italia! There could be few more beautiful places to ski, and to stay, than the Alta Valtellina and Bormio. While it was certainly a long way there and back by coach, blue skies, excellent snow and cold temperatures ensured this was an excellent ski trip. This year 43 students joined the fun and appreciated all that this part of Italy had to offer.

Our instructors from the local ski school were certainly good fun and knew how to make the time on the slopes enjoyable for all. The beginners group made excellent progress and it was a real delight to see just how competent they had all become by the end of the week. All other groups managed to combine fun and learning too with the top groups in particular having a real blast on the slopes Bormio had to offer.

One of the advantages of having the coach was the ability to travel to nearby resorts included on the ski pass which we did on two afternoons. Isolaccia was a place nobody would otherwise have seen. While notable in one respect for its draglifts and slow chairs, I’m not sure whether all appreciated the fact that they had fresh powder to play in and the slopes all to themselves in the busiest

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ski week of the season. I thought it was awesome!

Santa Caterina was great fun too, not least in the ski routes through the trees which only the instructors knew about.

Bormio was our main base and at the 3,300m top lift it was bitterly cold (-15 to -17 most mornings) right up to the last day. This kept the snow fresh, the skiing safe and ensured it was a doctor free trip! The group, a large number of whom were in the Upper Sixth Form, behaved impeccably throughout and it was a pleasure to spend time in their company on and off the slopes. Next year we head to Austria!

European

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Classics Trip to Italy

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News, Events & Activities

St Peter’s Challenge Senior Competition

Junior Competition

The Christmas term saw the welcome return of the ever popular St Peter’s Challenge competition. Each week, pairs of Houses competed against each other, answering an array of general knowledge questions. The entire competition saw great House spirit and many impressive displays of knowledge and quick buzzer skills.

The final of the Inter-house Senior Challenge was contested by Clifton and The Grove where Clifton were victorious as Senior Challenge Champions 2017.

The Summer Term welcomed the return of the ever popular Junior Challenge competition where every Thursday lunchtime Houses battled it out in this general knowledge quiz. This year’s final, in the last week of term, saw Clifton Vs Dronfield battle it out in the sweltering heat in a very tense and tightly fought competition. Ultimate champions were Clifton who held aloft the trophy for both the Senior and Junior competition. The team played superbly throughout the competition showing confidence alongside a superb range of knowledge from Manolo Blahnik to Colossus.

Enormous thanks must go to the staff who give up a great deal of their time to help with the Challenge competition.

Just for fun – let’s see how you do: Who is the most commonly recognized patron saint of: (a) travellers? (b) children? (c) animals?

Whose motto is Ich Dien (‘I serve’)?

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NEWS, EVENTS EDITORIAL & ACTIVITIES

Volunteering Week Following the successful work last year, our Fifth Form pupils returned to The Glen Respite Care Home to add a touch of colour to the premises and to weed and clear all of the detritus from a year’s weather.

The work is part of an annual volunteering initiative where our pupils spend a week working in the local community. The week is designed to provide the pupils with valuable working experience, as well as building an understanding of wider issues and contributing to the local community.

The pupils spent their time tidying and renovating, building a seaside garden, replanting herbs in the sensory garden, painting murals and so much more. For some it was the first time they’d used undiscovered woodwork skills under the guidance of our skilled estates staff who also gave their time and considerable talents.

Mr Christien Bembridge said “I was so impressed with the work ethic of all the volunteers. There wasn’t an idle moment and pupils used their initiative to make the biggest impact we could over the five days. It’s been one of my highlights of the year!”

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City of York Independent/State School Partnership (ISSP) at St Peter’s, 2017-2018

York’s Independent/State School Partnership has had its busiest year yet from 2017-2018 and continues to be an example of a true partnership as it successfully offers exciting and wide ranging opportunities for secondary aged pupils in York. Staff and students from St Peter’s were heavily involved yet again this year in the plethora of events.

Miss Caron Downes taught the ever-popular ISSP Latin course to 30 pupils from schools across York. This superb venture sees ISSP offer Latin GCSE to pupils whose schools do not deliver the subject themselves. Third Form pupils are selected from the eight state schools in the ISSP to take part in the two year course, during which they learn five years of Latin in just two years and achieve a full GCSE qualification at the end of the fourth year.

The annual ISSP Masterclass programme created its most challenging and exciting programme yet. St Peter’s School continues

to host the Year 9 - 10 event where classes are held over three consecutive Saturday afternoons. The event seeks to challenge interested and able pupils aged from schools across York. The question addressed through this year’s Masterclasses was ‘What is Truth?’ We had our busiest year yet with approximately 120 pupils - with the addition of a packed social get-together and tea at St Peter’s to allow pupils to debrief, socialise and simply sit back and reflect on a superb three weeks. Thank you to all staff involved at St Peter’s in making this such a successful event.

We ended the year with an ISSP Summer School where a number of staff and pupils from St Peter’s and other schools from across York meet for four days of intense academic study – and a whole load of fun!

ISSP York goes from strength to strength each year and is invaluable in offering these great opportunities for our students, to not only develop their knowledge outside of the classroom but also in inspiring and enthusing them with the love of learning. We look forward to whatever next year may bring!

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NEWS, EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

National Schools’ Challenge Competition This general knowledge quiz competition has been running since 1978 and attracts entrants from across the UK. St Peter’s have now participated for five years and each year have progressed further and further in the competition; this was certainly our most exciting and successful year yet.

We once again played in the regional ‘round robin’ competition where we play all other schools in the region in short 20 minute rounds. St Peter’s had the pleasure of hosting this year and the competition saw a very strong St Peter’s team relatively easily beat competition from Ripon Grammar, Yarm, Queen Margaret’s and Hymers. St Peter’s were therefore crowned Regional Champions, winning the regional trophy for the third time.

We then faced Manchester Grammar School in the interregional final. Manchester Grammar had beaten us at this point the previous year and so we approached this match with some trepidation. Thankfully we were on home soil this time and after a nail-biting start the boys soared to victory winning with an outstandingly high score of 890-580, becoming the first St Peter’s team to make the final.

We therefore travelled to London, battling with the London marathon, inconveniently scheduled at the same time - to play in the finals at Westminster School. The opening quarter-final match pitted St Peter’s against a team with an illustrious history in the competition (previous champions and finalists) Hereford Cathedral

School. This tense encounter finally saw the team emerge victorious 510-420. Unfortunately, even tougher competition awaited us in the semi-final in the shape of six-time champions and hosts, Westminster School. We were off to a flying start and yet, unfortunately, the Westminster team overpowered us in the second half, winning 840-550. We took some consolation from the fact that they went on to take the championship.

The team of Dan Hicks (c), Alex Phillips, David Ford and Percy Hill should feel very proud of their achievement this year and I very much look forward to what next year may bring.

Alcuin Society

A Trip to Cambridge

2018 saw the birth of the Alcuin Society. This new society was set up for interested and intellectually curious Sixth Form pupils, with the aims to provide an opportunity to listen to talks, engage with presentations and partake in discussion with each other and our guest speakers. The society aims to broaden our understanding of the myriad ways there are to study aspects of human society and culture.

A crisp day in November saw 26 pupils and three staff travel to Cambridge as part of an ‘Academic Extension’ trip. The aim of the trip was to give pupils in the Lower Sixth Form a taste of university life and a first-hand account of studying and applying to Cambridge.

The inaugural meeting in March welcomed Dr Ailsa Mainman, Research Associate of the department of Archaeology at the University of York who came to speak to us about our namesake, ‘Alcuin of York’.

Another highlight of the trip was meeting up with Old Peterites currently studying at Cambridge; pupils were then whisked around on tours with these pupils and offered a candid perspective of life in Cambridge and what it is really like as an undergraduate.

We very much look forward to further talks and opportunities in 2019.

My thanks, as always, go to the Old Peterites and to the staff who accompanied the trip.

Mr Christien Bembridge, Mrs Ella Mallard and Mr Richard Trevett

Mrs Ella Mallard

Our first stop was at Murray Edwards College to chat with Admissions Tutor and History Fellow, Dr Andrew Spencer (who also visited the school later in the year to talk to pupils). This was an opportunity for pupils to ask questions and to get a better understanding of the university application process.

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Duke of Edinburgh’s Award A Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is so much more than a ‘pat on the back’ for completing a programme of activities. It is recognition of a young person’s successful journey of self-discovery and development, and is renowned by employers and universities alike for the qualities it helps young people to develop.

For many the expedition section of the award is the highlight of the DofE. Going on an expedition gives you the chance to have an adventure, work as a team, and act on your own initiative. Our expeditions this last year have taken St Peter’s Silver and Gold DofE teams to the dramatic landscape of the North Pennines, the North York Moors National Park, and the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.

At Bronze level we stayed a little closer to home for the two-day/ overnight expedition. For the practice the 13 groups walked out of St Peter’s School on the morning of April 22, along the banks of the Ouse and out towards Escrick and Wheldrake. This was

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an opportunity to learn the key skills required for the qualifying expedition a month later in the Howardian Hills. Navigating efficiently in urban, agricultural and low level wooded or open terrain can often be just as testing as being in more hilly areas. The Howardian Hills proved to be such a test, with 81 Third Form pupils successfully completing the challenge.

After their practice expeditions in the North York Moors the Gold and Silver groups ventured to the North Pennines in early July. The

NEWS, EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

area has tumbling waterfalls, sweeping moorland views, snaking stone walls, and the perfect landscape to test the navigational and camp craft skills of our more experienced DofE pupils. The Fifth Form Silver groups planned a three-day/two-night expedition, and the Lower Sixth Gold groups a four-day/three-night expedition.

In addition to the expedition the pupils have also focused on developing a new or existing skill, a physical activity, and have volunteered in some capacity in school or in the wider community.

At Gold level pupils are also been required to actively participate in a residential course of five days or more. This year our pupils have attended Gold Revision Camps and Cookery courses.

A good deal of initiative and engagement has been evident across the various aspects of the award this year, and those pupils involved in DofE will have gained a great deal from the process, as well as the achievement of completing the award.

In total 169 pupils started an award this year; 86 taking on the challenge at Bronze level, with 51 at Silver and 32 at Gold. In 2016/17 over 100 pupils completed their awards, and we hope for a similar number of successes from those in this year’s cohort.

Mr Jon Whitehouse

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English Lower Sixth Theatre Trip Extravaganza: Three plays in Three days!

Lower Sixth Form English Literature pupils finished the year with a trip to experience a weekend of theatre in London.

A quick train ride down to the capital saw us arrive in time for lunch in Covent Garden and then a matinee performance of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband starring the ‘fantastic foxes’ (Freddie and Edward Fox) This was a highly enjoyable, gold-plated, delight showcasing Wilde at his humorous and astute best. This was followed by dinner in Covent Garden, with just enough time to wind each other up about the horror that would be the famously scary Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre, based on Susan Hill’s novel.

After a well-earned sleep (hopefully devoid of nightmares), the pupils ventured to the National Gallery to examine a range of art, consider its links with their A Level texts and compete in a treasure hunt / selfie competition (English department as highbrow as ever…). The trip concluded with Hamlet at the Globe Theatre, an adaptation that has received many contrasting reviews of its gender-blind casting, thus providing pupils with much food for thought.

This was an exhausting and thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Pupils were characteristically enthusiastic, well-behaved and great fun.

Here’s to another one next year: four plays this time…?

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Trips The English department also managed to squeeze in a visit to the Grand Opera House to see the National Theatre’s stunning production of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler; an Upper Sixth visit to London to see Wilde’s An Ideal Husband; the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth and an EMC conference in London to hear a plethora of speakers, including Professor John Mullen and Blake Morrison.

NEWS, EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

Man Booker Prize Debate The Man Booker Prize was hotly contested this year with a stunning shortlist of exciting prose spanning a blend of genres from a gargantuan multiple-mirrored bildungsroman to a Yorkshire gothic-noir (if there wasn’t such a genre, there is now!) Sixth Form pupils, never daunted by such interesting prose, tackled one of the six texts and then presented to an audience in the Alcuin Library to justify why their book should be voted as the St Peter’s Man Booker winner. We were once again treated to a wonderful evening that not only showcased the talent of these writers but also that of St Peter’s pupils: all spoke with such confidence, insight and clarity. Our overall winner of the evening was Paul Auster’s 4321 presented by Jack Lawrence and Ethan Stone (who won the entire Booker shortlist.) My thanks to all the staff and pupils involved in the evening and I once again look forward to next year.

(The actual winner, announced the following evening, was George Saunders’ extraordinary novel Lincoln in the Bardo)

Carnegie Medal Debate On the 18 June, a strong contingent of Fourth Formers gathered for an hour of food, fun and focussed literary debate. The topic at hand was the Carnegie Shortlist, seven books contending for a major, prestigious literary prize for young adult novels. The seven contenders were vigorously and persuasively debated by Harrison Gration, Antonia RyanBriscoe, Eva Parkyn, Dan Phillips, Tom Hudson, Iris Greaney, Issy Greenwood, Olivia Adeleke, Hannah Costin, Olivia Bone, Ella White, James Bray and James Hamilton. The eventual winners, Ben Dunsmore and James Hatfield, made a fluent and impassioned case for Geraldine McCaughrean’s Where the World Ends, and were rewarded with a complete collection of the shortlist. Shrewdly, the voting of our enthusiastic audience reflected the decision of the actual committee, and a good time was had by all.

National Poetry Day The theme for National Poetry Day 2017 was ‘Freedom’ This year saw Mrs Wong adorn trees around school with poetry (thus, poet-trees were formed!) And an assembly video depicting St Peter’s pupils reading Invictus by William Ernest Henley.

Pupils also entered their own poems on the topic of ‘Freedom’ into a poetry competition which saw some superb entries. The overall winner was Percy Hill Third Form).

Please see poetry in the creative writing section to read these.

World Book Day World Book Day was hit heavily by the snow and yet we battled on with a belated celebration which saw Mrs Wong hiding giftwrapped books around the campus for lucky pupils to find.

We also celebrated with our annual author visit. This year we welcomed Olivia Wood, Bafta winning videogames writer, narrative designer and editor. Olivia attended a literary lunch and talked to pupils at St Olave’s and the Third Form about her career trajectory, the nature of narrative, experience in the publishing industry, her current game – ‘Where the water tastes like wine’ – and the process of building it. This was a wonderful insight into the gaming industry and a chance to see how the stories are planned, changed and marketed. Pupils were treated to an honest insight into gaming as a career (a dream for many!) and how English – and story-telling in particular - plays an important role in so many aspects of our lives and careers.

Fiona Mozley On the 2 October the Library and English Department welcomed Man Booker shortlisted author Fiona Mozley into school to talk to pupils from St Peter’s and other York ISSP schools about her novel Elmet, her writing process and her reaction to her whirlwind year and meteoric rise to literary stardom.

Fiona Mozley was wonderfully honest with pupils about the publishing process and about her own difficulty in maintaining focus when writing. She also talked to them about career paths and the possibility of not following an initial dream and the fact that surprising doors open, if you allow them to. It was lovely to hear advice to pupils to simply write for the love of writing and not to meet publisher’s expectations or to follow current trends.

She read us some short passages from her novel and then we were set loose and encouraged to write something of our own, using the first sentence of James Joyce’s The Sisters.

Despite being pipped to the post at Booker by Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo (see Booker report for more on this.) Mozley’s year has seen her notoriety and career flourish – as Elmet has been nominated for many, many more literary prizes – we therefore feel very fortunate to have been able to hear from her at the very start of this amazing year.

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Modern Foreign Languages French Department Alongside trips to language learning courses, the French department got involved in something new this year.

The Lower and Upper Sixth Form French students were treated to an afternoon of French culture when, as part of the Festival of French, students from the University of Sheffield came to study and perform the play Les Précieuses Ridicules, by Molière.

We were able to read and perform parts of the text ourselves as well as discuss in small focus groups the meaning behind the language both literally and figuratively, enjoying the farcical plot as well as seeing a glimpse into the pretensions of 17th century Parisian society.

The play is a satire in which Molière pokes fun at a style of speech, and a certain ‘affected’ taste in art and literature, prevalent among a certain class at that time. Les précieuses are Magdelon and Cathos, two young women from the provinces who arrive Paris in search of amour and jeux d’esprit.

The fun continued into the evening when we were treated to a performance by the University students themselves, in French but modernised from the 17th century setting and dialogue to a beatnik 1960s Paris.

It was an immersive language experience studying the play; reading and speaking in French and then watching the play performed in the original language. The St Peter’s French students made the department proud with their enthusiasm, ‘have-a-go’ approach and great accents! The University students were very impressed!

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My thanks go to the staff and students of the University of Sheffield for their fun workshops and excellent performance, Miss Crawley for organising the whole event and, of course, to our students who made the most of this great experience.

Mrs Jo Lunardi

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An Evening of Spanish Culture Fourth Form pupils immersed themselves in the Spanish way of life with an evening of talks, salsa dancing and continental cuisine.

The Catering Department prepared some authentic churros, which pupils tucked into while hearing a talk from students studying Modern Languages at York University. Georgie and Lauren spoke about the many reasons for studying languages and shared their experience of living abroad for a year. They also talked about the growing popularity of combining university degrees such as science or humanities with a language.

It was then time for a taster lesson in salsa dancing from Laucinda from Encuentro Latino. It was a relaxed environment and it was lovely to see all the pupils joining in and ‘giving it a go’.

The evening finished with yet more of the Catering Department’s delights, this time a range of tapas such as tortilla, gazpacho, chorizo, aceitunas, jamón serrano and queso Manchego.

This was a fun and educational evening, which allowed our pupils to savour a little of the Hispanic culture. Thank you to everybody (including the Fourth Form) who contributed to making the evening such a success.

Mrs Anna Robinson

German Theatre Visit On Tuesday 20 February 61 third and fourth form pupils attended a production of Hausarrest (Grounded) by the theatre company Onatti Productions at Queen Margaret’s School, York. As ever it was a highly entertaining afternoon and St Peter’s pupils were involved in the action on stage with Angel Norza impressing us with her ironing skills whilst dressed in a red leather jacket. It was a wonderful opportunity for pupils to be absorbed in the language for the afternoon and it was great to see how much of the unfamiliar language pupils were able to understand through the use of props, gesture and emphasis. It has become an annual tradition now and one which we are keen to continue with.

Mrs Jenny Houghton

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United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Challenges 2017-2018

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Senior Team Challenge

Senior British Mathematical Kangaroo

Demi Xin, Cecilia Zhang, Nicole Chen and Zi Han Zhou competed in the Regional Final of the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Senior Team Challenge, at Fulford School. The competition tests mathematical, communication and teamwork skills, and students compete against teams from other schools and colleges from their region. The St. Peter’s Team were placed seventh.

Due to their high marks in the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge 14 students were invited to take part in a higher round of the competition. Francis Zhang, Cecilia Zhang, Zi Han Zhou, Jack Hargrave, Marcus Brown, Demi Xin, Zaki Ward, Schephay Dong, Aleyna Haxby, Jamie Dunsmore, Ksenia Trubacheva, David Lyon, Harry Contreras and Nicole Chen sat the one-hour Senior Kangaroo Challenge.

Senior Mathematics Challenge

Year 10 Mathematics Feast

This challenge encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using mathematical techniques. In November 37 St. Peter’s Sixth Form pupils took part, 11 received Bronze Awards, 13 gained Silver, and Gold Certificates were awarded to Demi Xin, Cecilia Zhang, Schephay Dong, Jack Hargrave, Marcus Brown, Zaki Ward and Harry Contreras.

In March Ben Dunsmore, Kevin Xu, Olly Tomalin and Iris Greaney competed in the Further Maths Support Programme Year 10 Maths Feast at Bootham School. This is a national competition which combines mathematical, communication and teamwork skills. Out of 16 teams taking part from the region, the St Peter’s Team were the overall winners of the competition and were also rewarded for excellent teamwork shown during the afternoon.

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Junior Team Challenge In the summer term, Toby Mayfield and Harry Tsang, together with Martha Dunsmore and Thomas Johnson from St. Olave’s, competed in the Regional Final of the UKMT Team Challenge, at the Mount School. Twenty-two teams competed. There was a group competition, a crossnumber, a head-to-head and a relay race. They worked very hard during the day on these activities and finished third overall.

Intermediate Mathematics Challenge This challenge is targeted at the top third of pupils in English Schools. The question papers are designed to make students think by using mathematical techniques to solve non-standard problems.

In February, 61 St Peter’s middle school students took part, with 21 pupils achieving Gold certificates, 13, Silver and 13, Bronze.

Intermediate British Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo Ben Dunsmore, Harry Tsang and Francis Zhang were invited to sit the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust Intermediate Maths Olympiad following their outstanding performance on the Intermediate Maths Challenge in February. This is a national competition and only the best mathematicians are able to cope with the very challenging questions.

Due to their excellent performance in the Maths Challenge, Matthew Shawcross, Amelia Lam, Ben Hobbs, Harry Jones, Rueben Carter, Morgan Enoch, James Hanson, Laurie Carlyle, Andrew Liang, Nick New, William Taylor, Kevin Xu, Olly Tomalin, Kingsley Luo, Iris Greaney, Monica Wu and Toby Mayfield were invited to sit the European Kangaroo paper. The questions involved thought-provoking situations requiring the use of logic as well as mathematical understanding and pupils from over 40 countries in Europe and beyond took part.

Mr David Spencer

Maths Inspiration Lectures, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall Maths Inspiration is one of the largest maths enrichment programmes for teenagers in the UK. It’s a chance for pupils to experience the UK’s most inspiring maths speakers live, in big venues, presenting mathematics in the context of exciting, realworld situations. In March a group of Lower Sixth Further Maths students attended the Maths Inspiration Lectures at the Leeds City Varieties Music Hall. There were three talks: 1. Paul Shepherd: Simply the Best Mathematician and Engineer Paul Shepherd helped design sports stadiums around the world, and now researches ways in which the power of computers can be harnessed to make better buildings. In his talk, he showed how he used everything from the geometry of chains to the maths of swarms to design structures that combine strength and beauty whilst minimising their carbon footprint.

2. Sammie Buzzard: A Slippery Situation In this talk Sammie Buzzard, a researcher from University College London explained how you can use maths to learn more about our planet and demonstrated how modelling can unlock secrets hidden in the ice in Antarctica.

3. Rob Eastaway: Hey, That’s Not Fair!

Although everyone has a sense of whether something is fair or not, making things fair is another matter. In his presentation, Rob explained how mathematicians can help to decide how to make things fair, from sharing cakes to penalty shoot-outs in football.

Mr David Spencer

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Exploration Week With their last exam complete, the Lower Sixth returned to school for Exploration Week 2018. Now a permanent fixture in the St Peter’s calendar, Exploration Week is an opportunity for pupils to try something different, with university-style lectures and seminars, practical sessions and team-building activities, all designed to expand horizons and complement the year’s learning.

As pupils look ahead to their final year at St Peter’s, UCAS and careers advice made up a significant part of the week. Along with two UCAS sessions and a workshop on personal statements, pupils took part in activities with Moj Taylor from Push Talks based around ‘Employability and Selling Yourself.’

This was accompanied by ‘Discover Your Voice’ workshops with the English Speaking Union, which helped pupils advance their presentation and debating skills. A great variety of other skills were developed throughout the week, owing to the expertise of staff on an array of subjects. Staff-led sessions throughout the week covered code-breaking, independent travel, sports nutrition, psychology, restorative justice, stargazing and cryptic crosswords, to name but a few, while practical sessions engaged pupils in flower arranging, bike maintenance, dissection (for the biologists), t-shirt printing and that most essential of university skills, cooking for yourself.

As ever, a real highlight of the week was the team-building day, led by WiseUp, which tests pupils’ communication, leadership resourcefulness and teamwork in a series of active outdoor tasks.

Mr Ben White

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Debating Senior Debating Society What does this House believe?

This has been another busy and enjoyable year for the senior debaters.

The Senior House Debating Competition in the second half of the Christmas Term is one of the busiest times of the school’s debating year. All 10 houses debate several times, as 15 debates are held over five weeks to whittle down entries to our leading speakers and best house team.

We’ve argued to and fro about the merits of compulsory voting in UK general elections, whether social media does more harm than good and how to tackle tobacco – should it become a Class A drug?

As with anything at St Peter’s, house loyalties are strong and it’s good to see new faces raising their voices for their house alongside more experienced members of the Debating Society.

Linton (last year’s winners) and School House made it through to the semi-finals before losing out, leaving Clifton to propose ‘This House would separate church and state’ in the final, against Grove’s opposition. Our two judges, Miss Pearson and Dr Dunn adjudicated, and declared Clifton House the winner.

Our weekly, Thursday lunchtime debates have ranged widely from ‘This House would add e-sports to the Olympic Games’ to ‘This

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House would ban relationships in schools’ (for Valentine’s Day) and ‘This House would prosecute the Grinch for crimes against Christmas’. Old favourites (‘THB that God created the universe’) were balanced with student concerns (‘THB that university is cheap at the price’).

Our annual Debating Dinner is firmly established as the highlight of the year. We welcomed teachers and students to participate in the ‘dinner debate’, which this year was ‘THB that Yorkshire is God’s own county’. The proposition of Miss Crawley, Iris Greaney and the Reverend Daniel Jones were wittily rebutted by Aleyna Haxby, Mr Parr and Henry Brown.

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The consistent support of a core group of students, this year mainly from the Lower Sixth, and their enthusiasm for speaking and chairing debates acts as the heart and soul of the society, and I applaud their contribution. A number of debaters were awarded Debating Colours at the end of the year: Cosmo Forbes, Henry Brown, Alex Busuioc, Jamie Dunsmore, Georgina Edwards, David Lyon, Alex Philips and Hugh Whitworth. I also acknowledge the stalwart contribution of Fatima Abdulsalam, Pierre Herrenschmidt, Daniel Hicks, Aleyna Haxby, Ewan Henworth, Paddy Renwick, James Smith, Lydia Theos, Anna Wililams and Ellie-Mae Winstanley.

I would like to thank Miss Pearson for her support, expertise and new initiatives throughout the last few years. After six years in charge of debating I’m delighted to hand that position on to her and with a stellar group of debaters I’m sure the society will continue to thrive.

discussions as well as structured debates, the former being the most popular. Stocks of Jaffa Cakes and Pom Bears kept the 12-strong group in good form. Topics ranging from euthanasia to affirmative action were sensitively examined, revealing some excellent insights and good research from the debaters. Beyond the round table we had some good wins at our outreach events and it was nice to see so many junior debaters from other schools coming to St Peter’s. The jewel in the crown of the Fourth Form came in the shape of their victory over Ampleforth in the inaugural ‘Alcuin Debate’ this year held at Ampleforth. Iris Greaney and Henry Butters were captained to their win by Fifth Former Patrick Renwick proposing the reintroduction of national service.

Junior House Debating Junior House Debating was the first event in the 2017-2018 calendar and we began swiftly in September. All 10 houses debated well with at least 30 students trying their hand at the art of competitive speaking. The final in November saw Hope House face The Manor debating that ‘This House would give parents full access to their children’s social media accounts.’ In a packed Lecture Theatre, both teams debated extremely well with last year’s runners-up, Hope, pipping The Manor to the post and emerging as this year’s champions. Flynn Southgate of The Manor was awarded best speaker for the competition.

Junior Debating Societies The Third Form society boasted a small but tenacious crew this year and we hope to see more emerging talent from this beginner’s group next year. The Fourth Form opted to have round table

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Competitive Debating and Outreach This year saw St Peter’s debating take a new direction and aim for more opportunities to debate and train with neighbouring York schools. We started the competitive programme by running a wellattended evening of seminar and debate presented by ESU mentors and designed to prepare local schools for the ESU (English-Speaking Union) Mace debating competition. We were pleased to host two heats in Round One of the Mace and put forward two teams: Hugh Whitworth and Cosmo Forbes debating under the St Peter’s banner, and Georgina Edwards and Alex Busuioc debating as a swing team.

Both teams received excellent feedback and Hugh and Cosmo progressed into Round Two, which we were also delighted to host.

Paddy Renwick, Freddie Dorling and James Connolly were excellent ambassadors in chair and timekeeping positions. Following our work with the Mace, we ran more outreach events drawing schools from nearby and as far as Wensleydale and Barnard Castle. We would not have been able to run such useful evenings without the help of York University who provided judges and presenters to support our outreach goals. We look forward to more events next year and further strengthening of our ties with the York Uni DebSoc. The highlight at the end of the debating season came in the form of the ESU Mace Debating Culture Award, which we were proud to accept in Dartmouth House, the ESU’s London HQ. Mr Ben Fuller and Ms Laura Pearson

Public Speaking This year’s Senior Public Speaking was timed to co-ordinate with World Speech Day and we were pleased to be a part of this international event for the first time. Finalists Anna Williams, Freddie Dorling, Georgina Edwards and Hugh Whitworth spoke eloquently in front of judges The Chaplain, Mrs Lawrence and the Head Master. Hugh was the eventual winner speaking passionately about lowering the voting age, a popular topic amongst the debating community. Hugh received his award on World Speech Day, which was also marked with classroom oracy activities and plenty of tweets! Junior Public Speaking was a more modest affair with interest being mainly captured in the Dramatic Reading Competition. Deserving winner, Louis Recchia, spoke about the positive ways in which technology makes the world a smaller place.

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Politics trip to London Lower Sixth politics students and debaters enjoyed a busy day in June exploring the centre of the UK’s parliament, government and judiciary in Westminster on one of the capital’s hottest days.

Our tour of Parliament took us on to the floor and into the division lobbies of the House of Lords as well as into Westminster Hall where Henry VIII used to play tennis and Kings and Queens have lain in state. Around the building our top political spots were Ed Miliband and Andrea Leadsom.

The students enjoyed the spectacular sights (and air conditioning) at the London Eye, before a quick visit to the Supreme Court to see the most senior branch of the judiciary in action, as Lady Hale of Richmond and her colleagues heard a case.

Democrat leader came over and chatted to us, appropriately so as a number of the students use Northern Rail every day to get to school – and like him and his Lakeland constituents are far from impressed. As we left Downing Street the Aga Khan swept in with his motorcade and police outriders.

Then we moved on to Downing Street and were privileged to gain access inside the secure area to observe the inter play between parliament and the executive in action as Tim Farron MP submitted a petition on Northern Rail and its failings. The former Liberal

The busy day ended with shopping, food and relaxation in Covent Garden before the journey home.

Mr Ben Fuller

Sixth Form Conference There was another opportunity for those in the Sixth Form to improve their Pre-U evaluation skills at this year’s VI Form Philosophy conference.

success in this subject. The interactive lectures allowed pupils to engage with the topics, combining their own understanding with the demands of the exam.

The Candle Conference, fronted by leading authorities Peter and Charlotte Vardy, brought together pupils from 12 schools across the region to get a head start on preparing for their upcoming Religious Studies and Philosophy exams.

Christien Bembridge, Head of Religious Studies, said “By this point in their academic journey, our pupils have developed firm understandings and a great enthusiasm for their subject – this conference has given them the guidance they need to really focus that into an effective exam response. It was great to welcome other schools to this really valuable event, and I would like to thank Peter and Charlotte for sharing their expertise with us all.”

Covering topics such as the problem of evil and suffering and arguments for the existence of God, the speakers focused on developing the argument and reasoning skills that are essential for

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Third Form Science and Religion Day On Friday 18 May, all Third Form pupils were off-timetable for a day to explore the connections, similarities and differences between these two subject areas.

Activities included: A lecture by Dr Matt Pritchard, science magician and Curator of Wonder. As an independent science communicator he performs to over 50,000 people a year and works with organisations like The Royal Institution, The Big Bang Fairs, and the Science Museum Group.

Previously Matt conducted atomic physics research at Durham University, where he won the Institute of Physics’ Postgraduate lecturer award.

A trip to the Yorkshire Museum to take an epic journey back through 150 million years of Yorkshire to discover lost giants and the changing worlds they inhabited in a major new exhibition.

Finally, a performance by Andrew Harrison of ‘Mr Darwin’s Tree’, a one-man play about Charles Darwin. The play explores the life and work of Charles Darwin within the contexts of science, faith and family.

The day began with a superb address in chapel by the ‘God and the Big Bang Team’s Hannah Malcolm, and ended with a brilliant Q and A where the quality of questions (and answers!) showed that the day had been very thought provoking and well received.

Mr Christien Bembridge and Mr Edd Mallard

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Keith Ward Seminar We were all thrilled when Keith Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford, presented what he called the culmination of his 50-year career in teaching and research, in a public lecture based around his latest book, ‘The Christian Idea of God’.

Professor Ward began with a broad consideration of the question ‘What do we know?, leading into the construction of an argument for belief in a ‘Cosmic Mind’, a theory that crosses the barriers of empiricism and rationalism, to offer what he called a ‘Personal Idealism’.

His thought-provoking exposition interrogated our understanding of the basic nature of truth and fact, and showed that science, philosophy and religion can all work together to underpin a wider view of reality.

The following day, St Peter’s Sixth Form pupils who are studying the Pre-U in Theology and Philosophy also benefitted from small group seminars with Professor Ward, as he discussed with them their set texts for their upcoming exams in Theology and Philosophy.

Professor Ward is cited within one of their set texts Science and

Religion by John Polkinghorne. He was also taught at Oxford by the author of one of the other set texts Evil and the God of Love, John Hick. We knew we were in for a treat when he began some of his explanations with the words “Do you want to know what John Hick really thought?”

Christien Bembridge, Head of Religious Studies and Philosophy at St Peter’s, said “It was a real pleasure to welcome Professor Ward back to the school after he first visited us three years ago. His expertise, passion and unrivalled experience in his field really shone through in a tremendously enlightening lecture, which will have opened many minds amongst both the public and our pupils.”

AC Grayling When Mr Winkley told me that during a conversation with Professor A C Grayling he’d agreed to come and give a Public Lecture at St Peter’s, the RS and Philosophy department were filled with excitement.

He’d visited the school previously but it was before my time at St Peter’s. Professor Grayling was to speak on the following: In an age of apparent chaos and misinformation, philosophical thinking is essential Before an audience of hundreds at St Peter’s School, Professor Grayling provided an illuminating and extensive overview of philosophy’s history, from Socrates’ dramas to Descartes’ application of method.

Professor Grayling’s ability to speak about such weighty and complex issues with such warmth and lucidity is unsurpassed, and it was a real pleasure to hear him share his latest thinking on the challenges and opportunities of our time. Everyone in attendance will have received plenty of food for thought – but what caught my Sixth Form pupils’ attention was this: “Knowledge should be defeasible” said Professor Grayling. This openness to changing one’s mind depending on the evidence available is very much what we’d all be working towards when analysing philosophical arguments for the Pre-U in Theology and Philosophy. Several of us thought this was refreshing to hear.

We were all grateful when Professor Grayling joined us for drinks and questions after the Lecture where he was able to address questions from the public and our Sixth Form pupils.

It is the latter which Professor Grayling believes is of paramount importance in the modern age. Describing the basis of rationality, the speaker demonstrated how the news inherently presents an irrational view of the world, before explaining how the vast amount of information and opinion on the internet requires clear, critical thinking in order to separate fact from fiction.

Taking questions from the audience, the philosopher spoke on the importance of spirituality, be that in a religious or secular sense, and how it is that which cannot necessarily be explained that gives colour and meaning to our lives.

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Art Exhibitions

2017-18 was a bumper year in the Whitestone Gallery, as we hosted seven exhibitions over the course of the year.

We began the year with ‘Proper Champion’, an exhibition of art produced by all the schools in the York ISSP Partnership. Predictably this was an eclectic and dynamic exhibition, reflecting the wonderful variety of creative skills, from both pupil and teachers alike, within our local community.

In November we held our annual themed exhibition and postcard competition. Kind of Blue showcased work from both local and national artists, all on the theme of ‘Blue’. Stunning large-scale paintings by Sunderland-based painter Virginia Bodman dominated

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the walls, complemented by cyanotype photographs by Londonbased artist, Jo de Pear, and Paddy Sutton’s incredible photographs taken from battle points in the Atlantic. Local artist Jean Drysdale also showed her sensitive and delicate felt collages. The postcard competition was, as usual, a melting pot of student creativity from across all three schools within St Peters, and submissions for the ‘Blue’-themed Haiku competition were also represented on the walls.

Perhaps one of the highlights of our exhibitions this year was ‘Legless’ which showcased work created by young adults who are supported by Martin House and St Leonard’s Hospice. The young

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people have been working with photographer Tony O’Connell and others to create a very poignant and at times light-hearted exhibition of photographs, film, collage and sculptures, all of which reflected very clearly the rather unusual experience of these young people. The name of the exhibition was taken from the name of the beer that the organisation brews under the slightly ironic label ‘Legless’!

The New Year saw an exhibition of third form Art entitled threes into 9. All groups had made work on the theme of letters and numbers and this was reflected in a wide variety of drawings, prints, paintings and mixed media work. Every member of the Third Form was represented in the exhibition and it coincided with the Third Form parents evening at the end of January.

Towards the end of the Easter term we hosted an exhibition of art from students on the Fine Art Programmes at Sunderland College of Art. ‘Fresh’ showcased work which was ambitious and exciting and gave our students an idea of the breadth of work produced by students on the next stage of their creative journey.

We began the Summer Term with York Open Studios. All three art teachers were represented in the exhibition, and the event attracted more than 500 visitors into the gallery.

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Of course the highlight of every year is the end of year show, traditionally held on the last Wednesday of the summer term.

This year entitled Imagine 18, as ever the whole Art School was transformed into a white-walled gallery, with Upper Sixth work dominating the ground floor and work from all the other years spilling out throughout the corridors and studios. Visitors were stunned by the huge variety of work exhibited, reflecting the very personal engagement from each and every student. For the first time this year we had created a postcard set of 45 cards, with a

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postcard for each of the GCSE and A Level students. This was a huge success and will be repeated in the future.

The eclectic mix of exhibitions and events held within the Art School in 2017 and 2018 reflects what we hope is not only the quality of the students’ work but also the outward-looking nature of the department. Art is all about communication and through using the excellent facilities available to us in particular the gallery space we hope that we can open doors not only to our students but to those from outside our community who are interested in ‘looking in’.

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Public Lecture Series Literature, Ideas and more in our Public Lecture Programme Groups of students enjoyed four lunchtime talks. MPs Rachael Maskell and Kevin Hollinrake paid us return visits, fresh from their re-election in 2017, and answered questions honestly and directly. Richard Drysdale, former House Master of Temple and Head of History spoke about his book ‘State of Emergency’, a counterfactual which asks how a British government would react if the Scottish people voted for independence in a future referendum and whether they would try to force Scotland to stay in the Union. One of our governors, Sue Palmer, gave us a personal insight into life and attitudes in Iran following a recent visit, rebutting many of the stereotypes and simplifications in the western media. Finally, Lower Sixth Form pupil James Smith explained the challenges and achievements of his recent trek to Everest Base Camp – both Sue and James bringing their wonderful photos to illustrate their talks.

In the autumn we welcomed Randall Munroe, the web comic creator and ‘Thing Explainer’, all the way from Massachusetts with his brilliantly simple but perceptive cartoons and diagrams, which he spoke about to the Sixth Form during the day and to a public audience in the evening. Professor Keith Ward visited for the second time to talk about ‘The Christian Idea of God’ and the links between religion, science and philosophy.

In December, Terry Waite was very warmly received by

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our audience as he spoke with calm, measured eloquence about forgiveness, his experiences and international relationship building.

The spring term is always the busiest for the programme, with the Literature Festival in March. There was a strong historical strand this year: Dr Janina Ramirez explored the power of medieval mysticism and the life of Julian of Norwich, Sir Simon Jenkins gave us a wonderful illustrated talk on the architecture and social importance of Britain’s 100 Best Railway Stations and Dr Lindsey Fitzharris gave a

gruesome but captivating account of the brutality of early surgery and the transformative work of Joseph Lister in The Butchering Art. TV legend Johnny Ball brought the history of mathematics alive with numerous tricks and props whilst Dr Phil Manning updated us on the latest research which he’s led in the USA into the death of the dinosaurs – taking us through their last days. Guy Bass brought his character Stitch Head alive in the Alcuin Library, completely capturing the imagination of the young children (and adults) in the audience with his spooky, energetic presentation. We were honoured to welcome Britain’s first female, Muslim Cabinet Minister (and Yorkshire woman) Baroness Sayeeda Warsi who spoke directly and honestly about community relationships and her book: The Enemy Within – A Tale of Muslim Britain.

During the summer term we welcomed back Prof A C Grayling who fired us up with the importance of clear thinking and a philosophical approach in an uncertain world. During the Festival of Ideas we hosted Gavin Esler and the How To Do Good book tour team with inspiring stories about tackling poverty from a diverse panel including a Médecins Sans Frontières surgeon and a Sudanese poet and refugee, Emi Mahmoud, who has gone on to study at Yale and become a UN Goodwill Ambassador.

We had three excellent Sixth Form Lectures during the year. Carolyn Hodgson brought her experiences as a TV presenter to the needs of Sixth Form pupils trying to make a good first impression in the world of work or at

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interview - and went on to work with small groups through the term in the Upper Sixth Global Perspectives programme. In ‘Where next Barney’ OP Ed Gill talked us through his recent adventures on his motorbike, Barney, as he rode from London to Sydney. Martin S Taylor returned and although he debunked the myth of hypnotism, he demonstrated that peer pressure, suggestibility and our desire to obey and conform could lead us to do amazing and unexpected things. The Sixth Form loved his visit.

Groups of students enjoyed four lunchtime talks. Rachael Maskell paid us her second visit as our MP and answered questions honestly and directly, fresh from her re-election in 2017 where she almost tripled her majority. Richard Drysdale, former House Master of Temple and Head of History spoke about his book State of Emergency, a counterfactual which asks how a British government would react if the Scottish people voted for independence in a future referendum and whether they would try to force Scotland to stay in the Union. One of our governors, Sue Palmer, gave us a personal insight into life and attitudes in Iran following a recent visit, rebutting many of the stereotypes and simplifications in the western media. Finally, Lower Sixth Form pupils James Smith explained the challenges and achievements of his recent trek to Everest Base Camp – both Sue and James bringing their wonderful photos to illustrate their talks.

As ever all this would not have been possible without the support and professionalism of all those in Estates, Catering, House Keeping, IT, Marketing and the School Office who have helped me enormously. This year’s monitors and Heads of School have been great ambassadors as they welcomed our audience guests. In particular I would like to thank Sara Burns for continually raising the level of professionalism on the technical side so that the Memorial Hall and speakers always sound and look amazing, Josh Booth for the hours of support with box office, marketing and his many writeups and excellent photos and Leo Winkley for supporting the series enthusiastically from its inception eight years ago.

Mr Ben Fuller

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Science Lectures 2017-2018 Dr Peter Wothers: Gods Devils and Alcohol Dr Wothers came up from Cambridge in September, to deliver a lecture on the topic of Chemistry. He employed some explosive demonstrations to illustrate why historical scientists got the names of oxygen and hydrogen the wrong way round, traced some shampoo ingredients back to their classical origins, and explored the unusual connection between alcohol and Egyptian eyeliner. He tackled questions from the audience on the use of chemistry in ancient warfare, how gold can be destroyed in water, and the effects of certain chemicals on the human voice. This was a real whizz-bang of an inspiring lecture and a great way to kick off the science lecture series of 2017-2018.

Dr Geraint F. Lewis and Dr Luke A. Barnes: A Fortunate Universe In October 2017, two Physicists from Sydney came to talk about the idea of so called fine-tuning of certain quantities and constants in the universe. They took the audience on a tour of the universe,

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investigating its very fundamentals, and establishing that life as we know it is very finely tuned, to the point where a slight alteration could make life as we know it impossible. Concluding that, rather than worrying about how delicate our universe is, people should perhaps consider themselves ourselves lucky to inhabit such a fascinating and beautiful part of it, was a great way to finish a really entertaining and interesting talk.

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Professor Anil Seth: What in the World is Consciousness?

In November 2017, Professor Anil Seth, from the University of Sussex, brought together the disciplines of neuroscience, philosophy, psychology and maths to explain that consciousness is a deeply personal and subjective experience for each of us, which poses all manner of questions about the nature of our reality. Professor Seth employed audio and visual illusions to demonstrate that it is a mixture of external signals and our internal preconceptions and expectations that inform our brain’s “best guess” as to what reality is. This was a really thought provoking talk to an audience of over 400 enthralled members of the public.

research that he has been doing in the northern states of the US has led him to conclude that his team has uncovered the fossil remains of dinosaurs that perished on the last day of the dinosaurs, when the Chicxulub meteor impact ended the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago. This was a truly enthralling lecture and was hugely appreciated by the audience at St Peter’s.

Professor Phil Manning: The Last Day of the Dinosaurs In April, Pil Manning from the University of Manchester came to give a talk on the area of palaeontology that he is involved in, namely mass-extinctions. This lecture was run in partnership with the York Literature Festival as Professor Manning is the author of some excellent palaeontology books. Phil told the story of how some new

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Professor Nessa Carey: DNA Isn’t Your Destiny In May, Nessa Carey came to talk on the subject of epigenetics.

She tackled some questions that have puzzled biologists since the discovery of DNA: cells can have identical DNA, but express the genes very differently. Her book Why a Tooth doesn’t Grow in your Eye explains the questions well but was rejected by the publishers.

She explained how these questions are now beginning to be answered, thanks to studies in the field of epigenetics, a field lead by the likes of Professor Nessa Carey.

Professor Carey shared her learnings from her long and varied career on the cutting edge of biological advances in a lecture at St Peter’s.

Using confectionary as illustration, Professor Carey explained the structure of a cell, and how modifications are made to each of the 37 trillion genetically identical cells in the human body. This allows cells to develop different functions, to form different organs, for example, despite sharing the exact same DNA. After the lecture, much of the audience queued to speak with Professor Carey and get signed copies of her books on Junk DNA and the Epigenetics Revolution.

Dr Marina Petri: Exotic nuclei: On the edge of existence At the end of May, Marina Petri visited from the University of York to talk on the field of Nuclear Physics. She explained how her

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research focuses on examining isotope decay rates with greater or fewer neutrons. Dr Petri explained that these microscopic nuclei, 0.000000000000001m in size, existing in some cases for less than imperceptible fractions of a second, have an incredibly fleeting but important role in the cosmos. She explained how studying exotic nuclei, provides scientists with explanations as to why the Big Bang created a scarcity of some elements and an abundance of others, and the possibility of stabilising these exotic nuclei could well revolutionise our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Professor Martin Hendry MBE: Flashes of Light, Ripples of Gravity: The dawn of multi-messenger astronomy.

In June, as part of the York Festival of Ideas, Professor Martin Hendry from Glasgow University came to give a talk on the latest findings of the LIGO and VIRGO collaborations’ work on gravitational wave detectors and how they are combining their efforts with electromagnetic astronomy to reveal some really surprising things about our universe. Professor Hendry described how the work he had been involved in helped to ‘keep the noise down’ in the detectors allowing scientists to detect some amazing events in space. He explained the story of the detection of colliding Black-Holes and Neutron-Stars, which has been unravelling since the middle of 2015. He really filled in a lot of the gaps in the information as reported by mainstream media, to a very astute audience on the night.

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Science Christmas Lecture 2017 There was a distinctly festive feel promoted by the Science department for their annual Christmas lecture this year. The title was “The 12 elements of Christmas” and we delivered this lecture using the backdrop of a Christmas meal provided by our fantastic catering department. We must take the blame for ruining the perfectly laid out Christmas table by including an inflatable turkey, radioactive salt and dishes and other random artefacts vaguely connected with Christmas, such as liquid nitrogen (?)

Mrs Greenhalgh started us off by suggesting some practical but pretty dangerous tips to help with the Christmas meal. Please don’t try these at home! If your turkey has cooled down too much and it is still in its aluminium foil then all you need to do is to brush the foil with mercury (II) chloride. There were similar tips about how to make salt and crackers from scratch if you had the suitable chemicals and a fume cupboard nearby.

Iron and nitrogen were next. Iron is in the cutlery, which wins the prize for the most tenuous link to the theme – but Mr Cannon did show how magnetism can cut sausages. Mr Cannon then went on to make some ice cream using liquid nitrogen and demonstrated some of the wondrous effects of superconductivity using specialised apparatus on loan from York University.

Having eaten our meal enhanced by all of the science tips, we settled down to story time. This was the story of the three kings and their journey to the manger. In particular had they ended up with magnesium on their shoes and then walked on the very hot sand and then trodden in some hydrochloric acid, not only would

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they have extracted silicon but they would have had quite a surprise with the bottom of their sandals producing lots of little miniature explosions. Mr Edwards went on to introduce the recent discovery of neutron stars colliding, and how this led to the formation of most the gold that the wise men were carrying.

The Biology department gave us an overview of Christmas past, present and future but, instead of ghosts, talked about the evolution and selective breeding of turkeys and also what future Christmas meals might look like where turkey meat might be synthesized (yum). Leading on from this there was also a quiz

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where some members of the audience truly believed that Christmas Crackers contained Semtex.

As a finale, Chemistry continued their top tips by showing us how to warm up a can of Pringles and distribute them evenly to the guests as efficiently as possible. The lecture was completed with a song ably composed and led by Mr Ledger. My thanks go to the many people involved with this lecture – particularly Mr Gant, Mr Gill and Mr Robinson our fantastic technicians.

Mr Mark Edwards

NEWS, EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

Science Department Trips and Outreach Science Ambassador Training Eight Third Form pupils earned the title of Science Ambassador in January following a fun-packed training day with the Institute of Physics. They travelled down to Sheffield Hallam University for the day, which involved a range of science demonstrations and skills sessions. Working with pupils from the other schools, attendees learned how to fuel rockets with vitamin tablets, compare the sizes of planets to everyday objects and even figure out the water absorption capabilities of different nappies. Having developed their skills in presentation throughout the day, the pupils finished with their own demonstrations to IOP staff, teachers and other pupils.

Josh Lightwing said: “We learned about some really fun new science ideas today and it was great to be able to confidently demonstrate them to other people. It was a really good experience to work with pupils from other schools, and I’m looking forward to more events like this in the future.”

Stargazing January 2018 Cloudy skies didn’t discourage the York community from turning out in their hundreds at St Peter’s School’s annual Stargazing Live event in January, which was attended by members of the public and schools from across the region. Though there was little chance of observing the skies above York, the York Astronomical Society’s impressive array of telescopes were welcomed inside by plenty of interest from young stargazers, who also took the opportunity to explore the night sky from inside the ever-popular Cosmodome.

The University of York Cosmodome was joined this year by the Sundome, which illustrates the nuclear reactions at the core of the sun, as well as a variety of other scientific exhibitions and experiments from the Institute of Physics and pupils from St Peter’s and St Olave’s, and many others besides.

The evening concluded with a tour of the cosmos, courtesy of Dr Pete Edwards from the University of Durham. In his lecture, Dr Edwards used images from the Hubble Space Telescope to demonstrate that even the most seemingly empty patch of the night sky is a gateway to an incredible number of distant and fascinating galaxies. Employing simulations developed by supercomputers at the University of Durham, Dr Edwards showed the audience how close scientists are to answering the question “How did the universe evolve into the beautiful place we see today?”

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NEWS, EVENTS EDITORIAL & ACTIVITIES

IET Faraday Challenge: In January, St Peters hosted teams from visiting local schools for the esteemed IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) Faraday Challenge. This was an all-day event, where year 8 pupils are presented with a real-life engineering problem, which they had to race against the clock to solve. Teams from Archbishop Holgate School, Manor Academy, The Minster School, The Mount School and two from St Olave’s took part and teams where presented with an open-ended task to design a new feature for Thorpe Park. Teams came up with some really clever concepts and gained a real boost in confidence with technical challenges.

York Schools’ Science Quiz: In March, 18 teams from York and the surrounding areas have come together to test their skills and knowledge at St Peter’s annual York Schools Science Quiz.

Over nine varied rounds, teams were faced with challenges based on the three core subjects, science in the news and the Ig Nobel Awards, while also having their powers of observation and estimation put to the test. The competition was particularly tight this year, with the top three Sixth Form teams all achieving notably high scores, separated by only five points. Ultimately, it

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was Bootham’s team who took home the trophy, with The Mount and St Peter’s finishing second and third respectively. This was a really fun and yet challenging event for all, and special thanks go to Schephay and Charles in the Upper Sixth who were our first ever pupil-markers, well done!

The Physics Olympics 2018 There are of the order of 1023 atoms in Meghan Merkel’s wedding ring, was one of the answers in this year’s Fermi quiz, which forms part of the annual St Peter’s Physics Olympics, now in its 12th year.

In June 2018, over 100 budding Year 8 physicists from across the north of England put their skills to the test in this very popular event.

Challenges included building and racing miniature boats, constructing a tower capable of holding a light at the top, and engineering a sloping maze through which a ball could pass as slowly as possible.

The winners of the five individual challenges were Archbishop Holgate’s School, Bootham School, Pocklington School, Scarborough College, and St Aidan’s CofE High School, respectively. Beverley Grammar School took home the David Morris plate after coming out on top in the Fermi Quiz, which

NEWS, EVENTS EDITORIAL & ACTIVITIES

poses hypothetical questions, such as how long it would take to walk around the moon, or how many footballs could fit inside the Memorial Hall. The final trophy, though, went to St Aidan’s, as they performed the best across all the tasks set.

Everybody who has taken part in this year’s Physics Olympics was a real credit to their school. Not only did we see some brilliant

scientific minds at work, we’ve seen tremendous enthusiasm and teamwork and everyone can be justly proud of how they have performed in their tasks. My thanks go to all the staff and pupils who have helped out today, especially those who have come from farther afield, and particular congratulations must go to St Aidan’s for showing great consistency and initiative throughout the day.

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EDITORIAL

Drama AS YOU LIKE IT Boy falls for girl. Girl falls for boy.

The characters are forced into exile in the forest of Arden and they find change.

It’s about usurpation, the freedom of the green world, and love.

The love is not simple, it’s unrequited, it’s mistaken, it’s messy, it’s a moment of madness - but it does prevail.

“All the world’s a stage And all the men and women merely players” Jaques, Act 2 “Whoever loved that loved not at first sight.”

Phebe, Act 3 “We that are true lovers run into strange capers.”

Touchstone, Act 2 “Love is merely a madness” Rosalind, Act 3

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CREATIVE & CULTURAL EDITORIAL

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ROMEO AND JULIET ‘Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love’ Romeo and Juliet was performed by 25 cast and crew from fourth and fifth form as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival. It was performed firstly in the studio theatre and then at The Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds, in November, alongside three other schools.

This was the appraisal from Festival Director Paul Jenkins: I would like to offer sincere thanks and congratulations to St Peter’s School for your wonderful production of Romeo & Juliet as part of the 2017 Shakespeare Schools Festival. Students and teachers alike have put hard work, imagination, determination and passion into this production, and were a credit to the school.

The show was filled with passion, energy and at times, sheer rage. The rivalry and deep-seated hate between the Montagues and the Capulets was clear to see from all involved, showing an exceptional use of facial expression, posture and movement in their acting. There were moments where the audience were genuinely fearful for the characters as they descended slowly into the tragedy which was unfolding.

I was particularly impressed by the way that the actors managed to show the complex emotions of the story - which is a challenge for even the most experienced of performers. Showing an audience characters that are convincingly in love or later in the play, suffering intense grief is a great skill but each and every one of the actors from St Peter’s demonstrated that skill in fine style.

A special mention here should be given to the pupils involved with

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the technical side of this production, whether it be in the lighting box or to those actors responsible for moving set on stage.

An ambitious and engaging performance which was performed with great energy by the pupils at St Peter’s. Great work!

CREATIVE & CULTURAL

A LEVEL – Scripted A2 pupils performed two hard hitting plays and six monologues for a visiting examiner and full audience in March.

FIVE KINDS OF SILENCE – Shelagh Stephenson Cast - Maddie Day, Holly Drake, Charlotte Hollinrake This play tells the story of a family living under the power of the vicious Billy, who abuses his wife and two children.

Marcus Thomson performing a monologue as Buffo the Clown from Emma Rice’s adaptation of ‘Nights at the Circus’.

Flossie Grafton performing a monologue as Rosie Price from ‘Things I Know To Be True’ by Andrew Bovell.

A2 DEVISED - Hotel HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY AND NEVER BE FOUND – Fin Kennedy Cast – Amber Enoch, Flossy Grafton, Marcus Thomson This is a play about identity and the traces we leave on the world around us.

Our A2 Drama pupils transformed the Memorial Hall into a hotel, complete with bar, office, bedroom and bathroom, for a piece of devised immersive theatre inspired by the work of renowned theatre company Guild of Misrule. The audience were involved in a participatory, multi-sensory experience in this piece of theatre, which dealt with themes of adultery, betrayal and loss.

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GCSE In February GCSE pupils devised their own original productions as part of their assessment. The umbrella topic was the concept of ‘Home’ and all pupils were initially provided with the same two stimuli: a graphic novel called The Arrival by Shaun Tan which is a migrant story told as a series of images over six chapters. The world in the novel is an imaginary one but it has many similarities to the real stories of millions of real people in the real world. The second stimulus was a song called ‘To Build a Home’ by ‘The Cinematic Orchestra’ including the lyrics ‘Cause I built a home/for you/ for me/ until it disappeared.’

Each group then explored their own final piece of stimuli which resulted in five completely different political pieces of theatre which were emotionally charged and relevant.

A WAR NEXT DOOR Cast - Joe Bates, Milly Gray and Tom Harpin In 2014 Save the Children made a video to mark three years since the conflict began in Syria, It intends to raise awareness of the lives that millions of Syrian children are living. The short film shows a young healthy, happy British girl and the way her life changes when civil war comes to the UK. The group used this as their third stimulus and presented conflict in a secure England, leaving the residents of a street without a home.

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MY HOME Cast - Sonya Aleksandrova, Max Allard, Rachel Hartley The group used children’s pictures of ‘home’ and ‘family’ as their third stimulus to create the story of a young family forced to live in separate countries due to the economic climate.

CREATIVE & CULTURAL

GLITCH Cast - Ava Horner, Piyush Koorapaty, Flora McDonaldWilson, Benjie Wilson. Lighting Design - Matthew Shawcross This group used computer games as their third stimulus; where lives are replaceable, war is for fun and characters get more opportunities depending on how much currency they have. A game master guided the audience on the three entirely different journeys made by three computer game characters.

FORGOTTEN Cast - Jake Akyol, AJ Coates, Lilly Conroy A photographer called Marco Pavan photographed objects left behind by the thousands of migrants on the shores of Lampedusa, stating that he hoped each one might tell a small piece of an individual migrants story. Three of these photographed objects became this group’s third stimulus juxtaposed against Western media which seemingly ignored the plight of the migrants.

FACELESS Cast - James Connolly, Luke Race, Paddy Renwick The Daily Mail and The Daily Express are both known as right wing

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newspapers. For their third stimulus this group collected biased headlines relating to immigration. They particularly focused on the idea of ‘Migrant Invasion’ on the front of the Daily Express and told the individual, heartfelt stories behind the perceived mass of people.

GCSE pupils demonstrated their talent for a visiting examiner and full audience in March when they performed extracts from a range of contemporary plays written post 2000.

TINY DYNAMITE - Abi Morgan (2001) Two childhood friends try to come to terms with an unhappy past.

THE PILLOWMAN - Martin McDonagh (2003) A brutal dark comedy in which two brothers are interrogated.

ORPHANS - Dennis Kelly (2009) The outside world of urban violence comes crashing into the living room.

PUNK ROCK - Simon Stephens (2009) The story of violence in school.

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CREATIVE & CULTURAL

GIRLS LIKE THAT - Evan Placey (2013)

SWALLOW - Stef Smith (2015)

Rumours spread across smartphones, reputations are ruined and girls do not stand up for each other.

Three strangers fight their demons head on, trying to overcome their urge to self-destruct.

THE WARDROBE - Sam Holcroft (2014) Across five centuries of British history children seek refuge in a wardrobe.

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CREATIVE & EDITORIAL CULTURAL

Art The Art Department continues to thrive at St. Peter’s, with pupils enjoying a wide variety of creative experiences and opportunities.

We are teaching across multiple disciplines, with students able to access expertise in a number of media and materials. We strive to develop the traditional Fine Art skills of drawing and painting, but also include photography (both digital and analogue), printmaking, sculpture, and a whole wealth of different ‘mixed-media’ processes in between. Where possible we try to open the students’ eyes to the creative and expressive possibilities available to them, and to consider Art not as an opportunity for replication and parody, but one of personal expression and invention. Our programme of trips and excursions to Art in galleries and museums both locally and

further afield helps justify this outward-facing approach and helps the students understand where their work fits within the creative world.

The Whitestone Gallery is at the heart of the department, providing a public face for the department, and allowing us to exhibit our own students work alongside the work of established artists. We feel that this serves to validate the students’ work and somehow makes sense of the whole process of making Art. As the artist Edgar Degas said, ‘Art is not what you see, but what you make others see…’

Upper Sixth - A Level

Amalia Watkins

Lucy Dabbs

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Rebecca Battles

EDITORIAL& CULTURAL CREATIVE

Cookie Yang

Izzy Crook

Ellie Gath

Holly Drake

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Upper Sixth - A Level (continued)

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Katherine Robinson

Phoebe Hall

Grace Moody

Amber Rose

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EDITORIAL& CULTURAL CREATIVE

Lucy Lovisetto

Chloe Wong

India Reilly

Martha Horner

Cecilia Zhang

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GCSE Coursework and Exam

Sophie Adeley

Beatrice Barker

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Charlotte Calvert

EDITORIAL& CULTURAL CREATIVE

Oenone Hedley

Claudia Freeman

Yee Lok Chan

Valentina Cross

Jess Davis

Georgia Chamberlain

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GCSE Coursework and Exam (Continued)

Maisy O’Neil

Leah-Grace Gath

Will Guyer

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Joe Johnson

EDITORIAL& CULTURAL CREATIVE

Megan Ford

Carly Jackson

Curran Maguire

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GCSE Coursework and Exam (Continued)

Will Middleton

Luke Race

Flora McDonald-Wilson

James Connolly

Sophia Johnson

Amelie Lam

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Rachel Padgett

Ellie Spencer

Lily Williams

EDITORIAL& CULTURAL CREATIVE

Abi Shaw

Rebecca Dowson

Francis Zhang

Milly Sharpe

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Music Autumn Concert There were some encouraging performances in this concert so early in the academic year. As is our custom the programme featured chamber music, solos from our senior musicians and performances by the Chapel and Chamber Choirs in the first half.

Highlights included the Clarinet Choir playing Serenade by Dzon, with its complicated rhythmical elements, accomplished solo singing from Izzy Crook, Ben Parkes and Alex Leahy and lyrical solo piano playing from Carl Leighton and Felicity Edwards. In the second half we moved through to the Memorial Hall to hear the String Orchestra and Swing Band playing enjoyable repertoire ranging from Mozart’s evergreen Eine kleine Nachtmusik to the twelve-bar blues of Paul Clark’s Let’s keep a good thing goin’.

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CREATIVE & CULTURAL

Evensong in York Minster The Chapel Choir had a successful visit to York Minster on Monday 13 November to sing Evensong. The choir sang the well-known Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B minor by Noble, who was organist at the Minster from 1898 to 1913. This was followed by the anthem, Brahms’ How lovely are thy dwellings, which fitted well into the season of Remembrance and gave the choir a significant piece of repertoire to enjoy in the big acoustic of the building. The singing was, as always, well supported by Mr Wright’s expert organ playing.

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The second half featured our Swing Band, which has been largely rebuilt following the departure of nine players last summer, and they did really well with many younger players involved, playing three Christmas swing charts.

The Barbershop and Barbieshop are always a favourite with the audience and they did not disappoint with arrangements ranging from modern pop ballads through to traditional carols, sometimes performed with a twist to keep everyone guessing.

Christmas Concerts There was a great variety of music and groups involved in the Christmas Concerts this year and it was a lot of fun. The Wind Band started us off with two seasonal pieces by Derek Bourgeois and finished with a rousing performance of Christmas at the Movies arranged by John Moss. The Flute Group were on sparkling form with some lovely seasonal arrangements including Carol of the Bells.

The Chamber Choir performed two enjoyable and challenging Christmas arrangements, including Mr Wright’s arrangement of Jingle Bells, which they sang with real confidence and a polished sound complete with jingle bells at appropriate points! The Little Big Band provided us with a nice change of gear with their version of Apache towards the end of the first half.

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It was though a great joy to hear our School Choir of over 150 pupils performing at the end of each half, with their rendition of a medley from My Fair Lady being a real highlight to finish the show.

My thanks to all the pupils and staff involved.

Whole Foundation Concert This was a highly enjoyable event bringing together pupils from Clifton School and Nursery, St Olave’s and St Peter’s Schools in a celebration of our music. With a wide range of repertoire from Palestrina to Coldplay, the ensembles included four choirs, close harmony groups for boys and girls, String Orchestra and String Quartet, Clarinet Choir, Flute Group and Swing Band. At the end of the concert the pupils joined to sing a massed choir item, America from West Side Story, marking the centenary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein this year.

CREATIVE & CULTURAL

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Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral

Orchestral and Choral Concert

After three years, the Chapel Choir made their long- awaited return to sing Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral on Monday 26 February.

Following the success of their service in chapel the previous week, everyone felt ready to perform in one of the country’s great cathedrals. Despite the snow that greeted us on our arrival in the capital, our voices were quickly warmed up and rehearsals were followed by an invigorating climb up 257 steps to take in the breathtaking views from the Whispering Gallery. The service was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone with particular highlights being the solos in Dyson’s Canticles in F, sung by our head choristers Isabella Crook and Jack Hargrave. Overall it was a great team effort and it was wonderful to see so many family, friends and Old Peterites in the congregation. After Evensong, the now-customary trip to Pizza Express was greatly revelled in before returning home. Our thanks go to Mr Hall, Mr Edwards, Mrs Miles-Kingston, Miss Tomlinson, the Chaplain – and of course to Mr Wright and Mr Miles-Kingston.

This concert took place once again in the inspiring surroundings of York Minster and started with a fine performance from our Wind Band of Schubert’s Rosamunde Overture conducted by Dr Harrison. The band numbers over 60 players this year, right through the 13-18 age range, and this piece allowed for prominent parts for our senior players, as well as providing strong chorus moments for the whole band. This was followed by a dramatic performance by the Symphony Orchestra of the famous Hebrides Overture by Mendelssohn, conducted by Mr Wright. The descriptive orchestral writing was brought out well, with a wide dynamic range and wellshaped melodic playing. The choral items began with Mendelssohn’s Hear my prayer in the full orchestral version with soprano soloist Isabella Crook (Upper Sixth, Clifton house) supported by the Chapel Choir and Choral Society. Isabella’s solo singing was truly outstanding and it was a memorable performance conducted by Mr Wright. To finish the concert, our School Choir and Choral Society sang Schubert’s Mass in G. This well-known setting was performed with a warm, attractive choral sound and was a joy to conduct. All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening of music-making.

Felicity Edwards UVI, Harriet Edwards LVI and Daniel Hicks LVI

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CREATIVE & CULTURAL

Junior Music Festival This was an encouraging evening, with very promising performances.

Our adjudicator Andrew Penny provided positive and constructive feedback, and it was a very valuable experience for the pupils who took part.

The winners of the categories were as follows: Percussion – Tom Storey

stylish performance of Colin Crabb’s Sax in the City on the tenor saxophone.

Senior Music Festival This was another enjoyable evening of music-making and my thanks to all the pupils who took part. Our adjudicator Andrew Penny provided interesting and knowledgeable feedback, suggesting areas to build on moving forward.

Girls’ Singing – Abigail Brown

The winners of the categories were as follows:

Boys’ Singing – Oscar Hawes

Girls’ Singing and Strings – Rosie McLeish

Piano – Charlotte Gee

Brass and Boys’ Singing – Jack Hargrave

Harp – Iris Greaney

Woodwind – Siri Chen

Strings – Wilf La Valette

Bagpipe – Nick New

Woodwind – Rachael Green

Piano – Carl Leighton

Guitar – Ben Dunsmore Brass – John-Joseph Sykes The winner of the Junior Music Festival prize for the outstanding performance of the evening went to Rachael Green for her

The winner of the Senior Music Festival prize for the outstanding performance of the evening went to Carl Leighton for his dramatic playing in the piano round of Grieg’s Wedding Day at Troldhaugen.

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Cabaret Concerts It was such an enjoyable show this year, well supported by parents, staff, OPs and friends. There was a wide range of pop and jazz on offer, involving our Swing Band, Chamber Choir, Flute Group, Little Big Band and both Boys’ and Girls’ Barbershop groups, as well as solos from our leavers. The pupils sang atmospheric ballads with piano and played instrumental solos, as well as enjoying the fun and energy of standards such as New York, New York and Beyond the Sea with the full band. There were also smooth swing classics such as Blue Moon and Dream a little dream, and two powerful arrangements of Bond themes. We finished with a fine choral medley from Les Misérables, sung by our School Choir of over 150 pupils. My sincere thanks to all the pupils who were involved on another memorable Cabaret show, especially the Swing Band who as always provided the foundation for a number of items.

Mr Paul Miles-Kingston

Alexander Leahy Singing Merit

Instrumental and Singing Examinations 2017-2018

Kate Newmarch

Flute

The pupils have produced another excellent set of results in their instrumental and singing examinations over the course of this year.

We congratulate the following on achieving the highest grade:

Ben Parkes

Singing

Ben Parkes

Viola

Grade 8 Elfreda Cowman-Sharpe

Singing

Distinction

Harriet Edwards Singing Distinction Daniel Hicks Cello Distinction Daniel Hicks Singing Distinction Lily Kirkby Harp Distinction Lucy Lovisetto Singing Distinction Eleanor Miles-Kingston

Singing

Distinction

Amber Rose Singing Distinction Sirui Chen Flute Merit Madeleine Day Singing Merit Grace Freshwater Flute Merit

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Diplomas In addition to these Grade 8 results, Isabella Crook (U6, Clifton) achieved an ARSM diploma in singing with distinction, which is an outstanding achievement for a secondary school pupil. Two recent Old Peterites also achieved their diplomas. Sam Lightwing (Grove 2017) obtained his ARSM in saxophone performance with distinction and Fleur Booth (Temple 2017) her DipABRSM in singing performance.

EDITORIAL& CULTURAL CREATIVE

Creative Writing Meeting at Sunset The inky, starless sky rained incessantly, the splattering of droplets on the window reminding you of angel’s tears. You turned away, shivering, desperately trying to stay warm, while the sterile fumes still danced around your nose. You never did like the smell of hospitals. I sit down watching you, the plastic chair not making a sound under my weight. Then again why should it?

You move, pulling the ribbed blankets closer to you, in vain, and give up all futile efforts to thaw out, resolving in the blood red help cord being tugged down and down and down.

A nurse enters. You have forgotten their name, and have forgotten why; maybe due to the amount of nurses you have seen in these last few months, or maybe because of your mind. I once heard you whisper to yourself, a few months ago, “I’m like an old clock. One day I’ll just stop ticking”.

After she closed the window and her footsteps faded into nothingness, you thought about what lay beyond the glass barrier, and of home. At first it was nothing, just like the night that drenched the sky, but soon fragments of memory came back to you and the clock started ticking again.

The sun was hot and the bugs sung along to the sticky air as we sat in our garden drinking tea even in the sweltering heat. You looked in admiration to the range of flowers and the cobbled stone wall, encasing us in our own little world, a blue picket gate the only connection to the outside world, and although you could no longer picture what lay beyond that, it didn’t matter. All you saw was us, the flowers and tea, and the sun shimmering on the milky water.

I jump when you suddenly wake back up, and move over you, as you grumble at the beeping monitors. They remind you of our dreaded alarm clock, they remind you of the absence of time. The same nurse is back, opening the curtains, showing a dim projection of your dream, of our memories, on a slate grey backdrop, the perpetual pipping of the rain still ringing in your ears. Rustling sheets cling to your decaying figure, a shadow of what you used to be. I hear your name. So do you. We both lean hesitantly toward the swinging door, the monotonous chiming of voices mingling with the antiseptic twang of cleaning products.

“Dr Hudson, her condition is deteriorating, the tumour has grown.

It’s almost twice the size it was last week! I’m not sure how much longer her brain can handle....”

Suddenly, you are back, mug of tea in hand, drops of sun drenching your hair and clothes as you laugh to the soundtrack of summer; the crash of waves and distant calling of men on the harbour. The picture becomes clearer now, as your sight finally makes sense of the looming fuzz at the end of the garden, as our garden wall becomes a border for a glinting boatyard, the sun low in the sky, soaking the flowers in gold and orange - turning the grass yellow as you turn and look to where I am sitting. I smile at you, but your face looks on in confusion. My grin falters, before realising that who I am is still a mystery to you, and the sound of sadness leaves my mouth as I sink further down into my deckchair, the fabric tensing underneath my weight while I sigh in disappointment.

The night has filled the sky again, the next time you wake up, black clouds crawling silently through the gloom, now the rain is over. The beep, beep, beep of the monitors pierce the deafening quiet as your eyes shine in the light of the moon, unmasked now that the clouds have skulked away. You sit up suddenly, your heart crashing around your head, your mind frantic with frenzy as you desperately try and clamber out of bed, tearing at smooth wires and tubes, swinging weathered legs over the side of the bed, filling the room to the brim with shouts of fear and confusion. You see strangers flood the room, cooing you back to bed as you struggle, as you give in, as you lie back down. I stay standing next to the window, watching you so brave as you sink away, looking on in a despondent silence, turning back to the night sky, now flooded with millions of stars, too many to count.

The waves are still crashing and your tea is still steaming, as you lap up the evening heat, wiggling your toes in the golden grass, the cup of tea reflecting the bands of sunset that slice through the sky, as the sun almost kisses the water, it’s so close to the surface.

You take a sip of your drink, breathing in the malty taste before stroking the chipped mug. Smiling you remember the story behind the cracked surface. Dropped on its first use, when we moved into our first house, we laughed about how we should get it fixed before whoever bought it for us should see it. Your eyes surge with emotion as you remember the present; the wedding gift, and when you spin to me recognition fills your features and you stand up and rush into my warm embrace. After holding each other, we both reach for each other’s hand and walk out of our oasis, and through the powder blue gate, just as the sun reaches the sea, coating our world in an orange light, turning the ocean golden.

Alannah Thorne, IV

I grow bored of listening to the two doctors talk and turn back to you, now lightly tracing the bulbous blood veins along the back of your tired hands. I watch over you as you gently lull yourself to sleep, under your own soothing touch.

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Fear Long ago, in a period of history that never occurred, England was overrun with wolves but these wolves are not like the wolves we know today, these wolves lived on fear, they would draw it in, it was a necessity, a drug.

Snow slowly drifted down like feathers, lightly twirling thought the air, to settle on the ground, adding to the already thick blanket. Dr Maystrone was adjusting her tweed skirt; she hadn’t had time to sew the button that had fallen off two weeks ago. In this process her hair had collected snow, drawing it in like a magnet. She cursed under her breath; she had three patients to see in the morning and the snow was not going to make things easy. She, along with several other passengers, boarded the train and headed north following the snow. It seemed to be a part of the thickening darkness, the winter night itself, plunging onto the train layer by layer.

Why did her mother not let her share the silence? She too was fading. With every passing hour she seemed heavy as if she were carrying a huge weight in her chest. Lisa watched closely - for a sign.

But there was nothing. As the weeks turned into months, still the two of them waited. Still the silence wrapped around the house, dampening and smothering it all. *** Lisa couldn’t sleep. Outside, the wind moaned and vast clouds tumbled over the horizon. Her bed was the only warmth she could get and the night was as still as a tomb in a desolated graveyard. It had been for a long time. Until, unexpectedly, the ghostly silence that had enclosed Lisa’s house for so long was broken...

The wolves could smell it. It seeped through the cracks of the train, its essence curling through the darkness to find their nostrils and fill them with its luxurious taste. Fear. The wolves started to run.

Music. Music was playing. She was sure of it. But why? Why now, in the dead of night? There was only one way of finding out. She would have to go downstairs.

One of the worst human emotions is fear. It can cause you to lose your senses, you forget how to breathe, how to see, how to think clearly. It’s like wearing a mask which covers your whole body from head to toe. You are wrapped in sticky sweat; no matter how much you tear at your skin, it will not come off. Everyone can be afraid.

Everyone has fear. It is a switch that cannot be removed from our system. Fear.

Lisa slipped out of bed, being careful to avoid the creaking floorboards. A single lamp glowed eerily in the hall but she shuffled on through the darkness.

Jennie Durham (IV)

A Wrong Note He wasn’t there at breakfast. But, then again, that wasn’t unusual.

So why did she have this uneasy feeling every time she saw the empty chair; the chair her father should have been sitting in? She couldn’t help but wonder if he was ever coming back. Days had passed since he had left and with every one she felt more confused as to why her father was slipping further and further away from her.

Until it seemed as if he had planned to slip away forever.

Lisa’s father was a busy man, always working. His job had taken him away for many weeks - even months – in the past. But she was only a small child back then. As long as her mother was there, everything was fine. And he was back before she knew it. Or so it had seemed.

She remembered now. The little concerts they put on for her; the lullabies every night. Now, the dusty grand piano stood unplayed, fading like an old friend, its keys worn from years of playing. The music room was silent now, the familiar tinkling of the keys no more.

All that was left was a noisy silence.

A salty tear ran slowly down Lisa’s soft cheeks as she wished more

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than anything that they could break the rules, play the dusty piano that lay untouched and the music would start again.

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Nervously, Lisa reached the bottom of the twisting stairs, her eyes drifting towards a thin strip of light coming from the room directly opposite. She took a final glance over her shoulder at the darkened staircase behind her before hesitantly pushing open the door.

Inside, the room was damp and dusty, the curtains torn and frayed.

Lisa could smell the age in the peeling walls and taste the dampness in the air. There was a silhouette at the piano...

Lisa swallowed, ‘mother?’ she croaked. The music stopped as Lisa’s mother turned around. Her face was creased and wore a look of exhaustion all over. ‘Yes’ she whispered. ‘Come here my love’. Lisa walked steadily over. ‘There’s something wrong with this piano’ she said, sounding confused. Lifting the lid, she began rummaging around inside, leaving dusty finger prints. ‘This note is not quite right’ she mumbled, pointing to one of the keys in at the end of the piano. ‘I wonder what...’. Lisa’s mother gasped. From behind the piano she took out a crumpled letter and the two of them felt a small pang of hope. Lisa watched as her mother’s face fell. “It’s from your father”, she whispered.

Her heart stopped. Swallowing, she asked anxiously: “What does it say?”

Her mother took a shaky breath and read the words on the note.

I’m sorry. We’re out of tune.

Tabitha Winkley, III

EDITORIAL& CULTURAL CREATIVE

Dandelions and Daisy Chains

National Poetry Day

When was a dandelion by you last blown?

Longing for that place

Or for a crown you plucked a daisy chain?

consumes my inner sanity.

I think I must try it now I’m grown.

Cool enough for sleep

Mum told me not to spread - “Once sown

views of ineffable

This weed becomes the gardener’s pain.”

nature swamp my eyes,

When was a dandelion by you last blown?

filling my spirit with

It’s not so daunting to be left alone

awe and peace.

When quests were sought in Forget-me-not Lane

In this place, I feel as

I think I must try it now I’m grown.

free as a bird

On enlightened thrones one can moan

Floating with the ideas of

Sand slips through in an hourglass reign.

truth and justice.

When was a dandelion by you last blown?

Ignoring the norms of Pour me white wine through the screen of my phone

religion and sexuality.

Wear my black suit to catch that early train

Forgetting that insatiable desire

I think I must try it now I’m grown.

to speak of my Eden,

I’m already so tired and I’ve hardly flown

my safe haven.

Perhaps it doesn’t matter what I will gain When was a dandelion by you last blown?

Sharing the inspiring qualities

I think I must try it now I’m grown.

that my place provides.

Rosie McLeish, LVI

Percy Hill, III

Haiku Competition

Truth

Depth

I am Alethia, fairy of truth.

Deeper than the world,

I live with the wind and fly with the swallows.

Craters in the universe

I am free. Without earthly tethers.

Consumes all of us

But all the liberty in the world couldn’t grant my only wish.

Alex Try-Banton, IV

A fairy needs a mate, a partner, a companion.

Someone to soar with them.

Christmas card winner

But I am alone, cursed by my folly.

Wintry Wanders

This is my truth, so listen closely still.

Wintry, wanders

Although I sail on the arms of the wind,

The Christmas spirit warns me

And fly so freely with the birds.

Crisp, fresh, dragon’s breath Hope Simpson, IV

True liberty is love, The one freedom I can never possess.

Charlotte Holliday, III

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Blue art exhibition winner Blue Laboratory The copper sulphate Crystallising in the dish How mazarine blue The blue eyes of you Like the crystal in the dish Dark, deep, like oceans Kevin Xu, IV

Gothic He remembered all of their moments together, all of the words she said to him and all of the words he said to her, their arguments and the ways they always found their way back to each other. He knew he couldn’t possibly remember all of their lives together, but it felt like it. He imagined how it would feel if she were with him right there in that exact moment, what would she be doing? Would she be smiling, talking about another one of her insanely weird dreams, gesticulating wildly with her arms, as to help herself explain the unexplainable? Would her hair be in that adorably messy lopsided bun at the top of her head, the dark curls threatening to spill over and around her face? Would she be wearing one of his jumpers, apologising for borrowing it without asking, but not being sorry at all, knowing fully well that he didn’t mind in the slightest? Would she…? He let out a shaky breath as he asked himself all of those questions and, not having the answer to any of them, closed his eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from falling down his cheeks. He let the remains of the cigarette fall into the snow below him, gripped the railing with a strong grip, knuckles turning white, and forced his breathing to return to its normal rhythm. After what felt like forever, he opened his eyes and took the mug in both his hands, sighing at the warmth it provided to his shaky fingers. He took a sip, feeling the warm liquid make its way down his throat, spreading the heat through his body.

His eyes made their way around the space in front of him, taking in all of the white, almost shiny and too pure, covering everything with a veil of an unnatural cleanness. It seemed sterile and foreign.

Standing there, on the porch of the cottage, and looking out into the emptiness, he felt too big and too small at the same time.

He didn’t dare walk down the few steps, didn’t dare disturb the nature’s creation, it was like he was trapped in the cabin. His own little prison in the middle of the woods, nature keeping him prisoner, he thought, letting out a laugh. Though it sounded weak and pathetic, more like a plea for help than a sound of happiness.

His real prison was his mind, the bars made out of memories and words. He was trapped in his mind with her, or, more realistically,

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with the memory of her. Not a day went by when he didn’t think about her. She became a part of him, and he hoped that he became a part of her too, whether she knew it or not. Her constant presence made him feel simultaneously alive and dying, happy and sad, heaven and hell.

Her slightly raspy voice followed him everywhere he went, whispering in his ear, laughing, sometimes singing. He could almost feel the touch of her fingers on his skin, remembering how she traced patterns onto his forearms when she was nervous, and when he closed his eyes, he could see her standing right there in front of him, reaching out her hand, for him to join her. He reached out, but caught nothing, his fingers slipping against the cold air, desperately trying to catch something that wasn’t there.

A shiver ran down his spine, from fear or the cold, he didn’t know and didn’t want to think about it. He left the half empty mug - he was the kind of person to think that a glass is half empty, she was the kind of person to think that it was half full - on the railing and stepped inside the cottage, closing the door behind him so the cold air wouldn’t get in.

Ester Cajthamlova, LVI

Perfection “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the prettiest of them all?”

Again the computer mirror automatically responds, “Zara, female 201 is ranked 1st in the top ten list from institute Z. Would you like me to tell you the ranking of the 25 other institutions across the world?”

The mirror automatically responds, changing my reflection into the faultless hologram of Zara. This then transitions into the leader board for institute Z, and there’s my name, right after the number 3: WILLOW no. 205. I’ve been 3rd for 2 years now, my name seems to be glued to the number three, painfully still.

I clap and the leader board shifts back to the mirrored image of me standing in my cube, my bed to the left and the dresser behind me; the mirrored walls and ceilings make it look like my cube goes on forever, expanding this small room into something bigger and greater. Momentarily blinding me of the realisation that we are trapped here, no one realises but we are trapped in this institution like caged animals only leaving when we are 18 and are married off.

Or else…no one ever wants to think about what would happen if you don’t get chosen. Many possibilities have buzzed around my mind ever since I was little. But no one knows… The girls here don’t care about the ‘what ifs’ and ‘buts’ they are blinded by the perfect reflection of themselves: all they care about is being beautiful. There are mirrors everywhere for a reason.

A notification flashes in the corner of the mirror, it’s breakfast. Time to get ready. I step into the dresser and am immediately greeted by the same droning female voice that I have grown up listening to: “Good morning Willow, today’s trend is a skirt, a blouse and heels.”

EDITORIAL& CULTURAL CREATIVE

That must be what Zara chose this morning… The cabinet to my left slides open and out slides two pieces of clothing and one pair of shoes. The dazzling white walls are harsh against my tired eyes and I unwillingly get dressed. The blouse is a muted sunshine yellow and has frills around the upper part of the buttons and flared frilly sleeves; the skirt is a pleated mini skirt with a floral design. There are three kinds of flowers covering the skirt: a baby blue, a pastel green and a similar colour to my blouse. I’m not surprised to see heels, always heels… “They make your legs look longer” the matrons always say. The heels are high and have three thick straps across, they are baby pink. In front of me another smaller cabinet slides open and lying there is a gold pair of earrings in the shape of a daisy and a gold necklace with a daisy pendant on it. Matching, always matching… Now for makeup. I look at myself in the mirror. My green eyes stare back at me, I hate my eyes. Why can’t they be blue?

Zara’s eyes are blue. I look up at my chestnut hair, mid length and wavy, I hate my hair. Why can’t my hair be long blond and straight?

Zara’s hair is long, blonde and straight. My hair gets pulled back into a high ponytail with a baby pink ribbon keeping it in place. The robotic arms reach forward with many products grasped between their robotic fingers. It takes five minutes but I’m finally ready. I stare at the reflection of the girl in the mirror. I can’t do this every day for two more years. I want to run.

We file out of our cubes like robots, the buzz of excited morning chatter fills the halls, secrets are shared and gossip stirred: these halls have heard so many stories.

No wonder there are cameras everywhere.

Beth Wheelhouse, IV

Openings An open door says, ‘Come in.’ the rusted hinges creaked gently as the ancient oak door was nudged open by a gust of wind. The door had a story to tell I thought; there were faint scars on the wood and the timeworn brass doorknob was shabby with over use. In front of me was a seemingly endless hallway with the end shrouded in shadows. The cracked stone walls had odd green moss that concealed the fissures. It spread like a spider web from me to surely the end of the passage. Inside my head I wanted to know what was on the other side of the deadly darkness. So me being me I stepped recklessly across the threshold and into the infinite void that is the black.

As soon as I entered a forceful rush of wind shoved me forward and the door closed promptly behind me. I stood there for a minute helplessly in complete and utter darkness. All I could hear was the sound of my rapid breathing.

Ed Jackson, IV

Openings The early morning sun hugs the earth with warming arms, creating a glowering light. It reveals where wildlife thrives in nature’s vulnerability and what was stillness in the night, becomes a restless energy prompted by daylight. The undetectable moon controls the tide. The gentle breaths of wind roll the waves towards the shore and the seawater gently laps at my feet. My feet sink into the sand and I am anchored into the earth; I feel a part of it. Refreshing and wonderful fruits sprout from the earth’s soil and water from the deepest oceans are swept into our hands to drink. Creatures of all sizes can roam the earth freely and undisturbed. Every drop of heavenly rain that falls from the sky is welcomed back into the earth’s body with open arms, whilst light of billions of stars are engraved into a blanket of deep blue which conforms the sky. The wonders of the earth are unfathomable.

Emily Barker, IV

GCSE One of the set texts for English Literature IGCSE is John Knowles’ A Separate Peace. This is set in an American school during the Second World War and the novel opens with the protagonist re-visiting the school after years have elapsed. The Fourth Form imagined what it might be like going back to St. Peter’s and with the help of Miss Hamilton, were able to see what Old Peterites who came back to school felt about their time here. Their memories go first; the creative responses follow.

‘One of the consequences of starting in the fourth form was that I had finished my O levels shortly after I became 15 years old. I was not sporty, something which obviously provides a cachet for a pupil as much these days as it did then. Curiously, I have no memories of being unhappy at St. Peter’s because of that. I soon found a niche in boats on the river. Looking back, I think I just fitted in. A contemporary, who came into School House from Temple at around the time I arrived, remarked to me recently that I was very good at helping others with their maths prep. Everyone has some use! So does returning after a period of over 50 years provide any more insights? What I have picked up is that St Peter’s in the 1950s must have been a remarkably humane sort of place when compared with more renowned public schools in the south at the time.’ *** ‘I was a day boarder at St Olave`s in Alcuin House 1953 – 1958 entering St Peter`s in Temple House 1958 – 1962. I enjoyed St Olave`s except the one time the whole class of J1 got one stroke of the cane for `rioting` before the start of Miss Mason`s lesson! I did not distinguish myself in St Olave`s although I played on the wing at rugby, very rarely getting the ball and managing to side step any oncoming opposition.

I was quite good at running short distances but was excused cross

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country with a sick note for asthma. I managed to pass my width swimming test with one foot on the bottom because the water was so green you could not see the bottom of the pool! In St Peter`s I did not fare much better, I joined the CCF band as a drummer to get out of square bashing and riffle drill. I enjoyed rowing and have since been a member of York City Rowing Club. In hindsight, I think that St Peter`s was and is a very good school if you are good academically or at sport or preferably both, but if you are not then they will try to encourage you up to a point and be grateful for your fees. I used to dread my end of term school reports coming through the letter box in the holidays and having to show my grandparents who were paying the school fees, for the money. I think it is important to decide as soon as possible what you enjoy and what career you want to aim for, in my case I had no idea and was floundering when I left school with so few qualifications and I have not had a career I can boast about and so I felt too ashamed to return to school. When you do return the main topics of conversation are: how are you? what years were you there? what House were you in? what career did you take, implying how successful you were, where do you live? what car do you drive? have you worked abroad and where do you go on holiday and do you play golf?’ *** ‘I left St Peter’s in the summer of 1976, and I must have been back maybe four times since then. Since leaving I suppose I’ve come to realise that there’s probably a pattern to Old Pupils returning (I’ve also just had to correct myself here, as I originally typed ‘Old Boys’, which, of course, in 1976, was correct, but, thankfully, is no longer so): it strikes me that Old Peterites’ visits to the school fall, unlike Jacques’s man, into two ages rather than seven. They’ll drop in during their first few years away, partly because they miss the old place, and there’s a sense of needing to be in touch – at least briefly – with the familiar, amidst all the challenges of a university education (and, possibly, life away from home for the first time); but also because they can have the pleasure of demonstrating to themselves and others, some sort of new autonomy – life as a ‘grown-up’. They can wander around the school, showing off their new-found freedom to people they know, and, with a touch of a guilty swagger, refer to staff by their first names. There’s probably a long break, then, of several decades – the new life and friends at university take over, followed by a career and the usual life-choices – until the ‘second age’, when, well past the halfway stage, nostalgia takes a grip, and it’s time for a dose of autumnal (or, possibly, latesummer) wistfulness. I always vowed to myself I’d never conform to this stereotype, but, looking back, I see that I’ve broken my vow, as I recently spent a couple of hours touring the school and wallowing in memories at the start of the year in which I turn 60.’ *** ‘For me, returning to St Peter’s is like returning to my home. For better or worse St Peter’s made me into what I am today. I have many good memories of the school and the staff, however, I do feel that there were many opportunities at St Peter’s and life in general that I missed, either through laziness or lack of effort. I still come back when able. I love it.’

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I stand. My feet are firm against the steps now and I feel safe and secure. As my eyes observe the paint to the left of the door frame, I think how bizarre it is. I can’t really tell whether it’s the black or cream of the original brick colouring. The brick is rough and feels like lots of sand stuck together. It smells like an injured whale washed up on the shore.

Megan Lloyd, IV

I make my way through the doorway, admiring the craftsmanship of a door that has stood for a hundred years. The marble floor pushes back against my heel with every step I take, showing no signs of submission. As I turn my head to the right, I notice a glass cabinet filled with artefacts. I’m instantly drawn to a golden object, now tainted by dust and age. The dust hangs loosely and could so easily blow away if it weren’t for the glass case trapping it in time. There are more modern touches here and there. A paper white radiator clings to the wall; the pipework is camouflaged, tucked cleanly into the ground like a snake entering a burrow.

Tom Jacques, IV

As I was putting the code on the lock, I noticed the walls were lined with wooden plaques with dates and names: ‘1939: H.C.Belchamber’. Lists of boys who went to St. Peter’s, who had died in wars: they were covered with scratched plastic. A grey carpet covered the other half of the floor where people had wiped their feet, leaving it soggy and stained from the rain. A bright red fire extinguisher sat in the corner of the porch. It looked out of place as everything else was dull and wooden. The wood covering the rest of the wall had beautiful flowers and interesting shapes carved into it. As I twisted the lock and opened the new door, I felt like St. Peter’s had moved on, but then I realised: I was home.

Mary McNair, IV

Sport

SPORT

Rugby

First XV This was another outstanding season for the first XV, finishing unbeaten in all fixtures throughout the season.

In The Daily Mail Trophy League we finished an excellent sixth place in the country and narrowly missed out in the National Cup by drawing with QEGS Wakefield. Success with this group continued after Christmas by reaching the final of the National Rosslyn Park Sevens Competition, which is the furthest the school has ever reached. This was then followed at the Sedbergh Tens when the team won the Plate Competition by beating Millfield School in the final.

The season started in the summer with the tour to Argentina. This was an excellent experience and one which set the team up for the season. The Argentinians proved to be strong and physical, with some memorable matches.

The first regular match was against Woodhouse Grove, where superior fitness levels resulted in a good win. This was followed by a straightforward win against Ampleforth, where unfortunately the game was too one sided showing how far this team has progressed. The team was settling in terms of selection, with Angus Wilson, Ben Lodge and captain Adam Brown dominating front row exchanges.

The next games away at Durham proved to be a big challenge, the last play of the game saw an interception try for them only to have their kicker miss the conversion for St Peter’s to win 16-14. This was significant as our Upper Sixth had never beaten Durham throughout their time at school. James Black and Rory Winterburn proved to be hard workers in the engine room of the second row and Harry Booth, Will Kinnersley, Henry Barker and Charlie Tannahill all played their part in a dynamic back row.

The first round of the cup saw us back at Woodhouse Grove, we again came out on top to earn a home draw against QEGS. Our normal fixture against QEGS resulted in an excellent 27-15 win, however, in the cup after half

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term with the lead changing hands several times a late drop goal saw the match drawn and QEGS progressing due to the away team rule.

This was desperately unlucky, as they went on to reach the final.

Half backs Jack Williams and Alex Liley were now controlling the games well and centres Harry Contreras and Max Courtis were solid in defence and threatening in attack. The next two matches were comfortable wins against RGS Newcastle and Barnard Castle which took us to the last game of the season against Bradford Grammar. The back three of Ben Raubitshek, Spencer Ingal and Charlie Hudson were always a threat with pace and footwork. The win signalled a full unbeaten season, an excellent achievement.

The first XV squad was: B.Lodge*, A.Brown (Cpt)**, A.Wilson**, J.Black**, R.Winterburn*, W.Kinnersley*, C.Tannahill**, H.Booth*, H.Barker*, J.Williams*, A.Liley*, B.Raubitshek*, M.Courtis**, H.Contreras*, S.Ingal*, C.Hudson**, F.Adcock* *Full Colours **Cap Representative honours: Adam Brown: Yorkshire Carnegie, professional contract Charlie Hudson: Scotland Under 18 James Black, Angus Wilson: North of England Under 18 Max Courtis, Ben Raubitschek, James Black and Angus Wilson: Yorkshire Under 18 Alex Liley: Independent Schools National Lambs Under 18

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Sevens Unfortunately it was a terrible season for sevens, with the majority of tournaments cancelled due to wet weather. The under 14s had two tournaments, reaching the final of our own St Peter’s tournament and playing at Rosslyn Park but not able to progress out of the group. The under 15s did not manage one tournament. The under 16s played at RGS Newcastle reaching the quarter finals of the Plate tournament, finishing runners up at the Sedbergh Sevens and then onto Rosslyn Park where a poor early match put them out of the group.

The first VII only played at Rosslyn Park, having one small practice afternoon before then. They managed to top the group with some excellent wins, then winning the play-off game to move into the main competition the following day. In the quarter final group there were some tight matches but fantastic performances saw us edge out St Edward’s, Oxford and Oakham School to reach the semi-final group. Following a good win against Felsted put the team through to the final. An excellent final against a very strong Blundell’s side saw the school narrowly miss out 24-20, an excellent performance and the best result the school has ever had.

The senior rugby players then had a quick turn around and moved on to Sedbergh for the Sedbergh Tens tournament. Fourteen of the top teams in the country entered in what was a superb competition.

The group stages saw the school win two and lose two and progress to the Plate competition the next day. Wins against Barnard Castle and Abingdon put us into the final against Millfield School. Millfield have a massive reputation for sport and we knew this would be

SPORT

a tough encounter. With the score tied at 24-24, the last play of the game saw Millfield on the attack, but an excellent tackle and interception, followed by a speculative kick through and chase, saw us touch down in the corner to win the game 29-24.

Mr Steve Williams

Under-16 Rugby The team started the season in good shape as the first half’s outstanding performance against Woodhouse Grove School showed. The communication and willingness to use new patterns of play made them very difficult to play against. It was not just in attack that they communicated with precision, it was also in defence where the lads understood what was expected of them as individuals and as part of a connected line. It was fair reward to end the season undefeated.

Will Taylor, Ed Westmoreland and Harry Jones were not bettered in the front row all season and will provide real competition at the senior level next year. They were excellent in the lineout and carried well in midfield, this coupled with excellent fringe defence gave us a tremendous platform. Oli Pettigrew and Benji Wilson built on this and were tremendous in the lineout, none more so than against both St Ambrose and Sedbergh. Benji was our defence coordinator and fully understood the need to avoid silly penalties as well as to sustain pressure in tight defensive positions. Our backrow of Joe Bates, Ethan Leigh-Howarth and Curran Maguire proved to be tremendous in defence and excellent in transitioning this into attack scoring some super tries. With Matty Lodge long term injured, Ed

Ramsden really stepped up at 9, worked on his decision making, defence and service and was excellent all term. His work around the fringes against Sedbergh was tremendous. He worked very well with Chris Wood at 10 who produced some sublime kicking to go alongside his excellent reading of the game. Once in attack, the pace and precision of George and Tom Robbins in midfield, shepherded by Chris made us a potent attacking force. So much so, that in several games, substitutions were necessary to maintain the

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spirit of the game. Our back three had to change on occasions due to injury but at its best it had the ferocious tackling of Cai Farrington and Lawrie Carlyle who managed width in defence to great effect.

This was exemplified by the superb match winning tackle made by Lawrie on his opposite wing right in the corner against Ambrose. Both lads worked well with Ben Quinn whose ability to beat a man was second to none. With defence secure, they attacked with flair and gave us real options out wide.

Rugby at this level is now very physical and knocks are inevitable, so it is essential that all the lads in the squad are equipped to play the same patterns in both A and B teams. Those that stepped up during the season to play in the A team side or to take on other schools

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third XVs acquitted themselves very well indeed. Matty Roberts , Will Guyer, Tom Matthews, Callum Prince , Archie Wilson, Charlie Fell and Anderson Chen all played significant periods in the A team and it must be noted that Matty and Will appeared to cover all main positions in the side when they were on the bench from front row to the back three. For many the B team is right, purely on the grounds of physique and not because of ability. This was particularly true of this year’s side who played with no difficulty when moved up to play in the A’s. Corrie Leden`s three outstanding tackles in the dying minutes of the Barnard Castle match showed this to be true.

One stand out performance for the B team was to take on the full Ampleforth third XV away and win a close and very good game. We were physically outgunned but won with tremendous team work in defence. This game also highlighted their real skill in attack scoring two tremendous tries.

Under-15 A Team This was a tremendous season to be with the under-15 A team. From the first training session in September it was clear that the squad was mature and fully committed to the sport.

The captain, Joe Baker, epitomised everything that we try to do and led the boys maturely in training and on the field. Joe is a fantastic open field runner and can be a threat all over the field and across the back line.

The midfield of Joe Lawrence and Hugo Hughes was very dynamic.

They had the ability to take the ball to the line and physically

SPORT

dominate their opposition, but also the sleight of hand and awareness to play behind, when the opportunities presented themselves. Defensively as a pair they were immense. Much of our play was dictated by the platform they laid on for us in attack and the security they provided in defence. We were also blessed with great pace and games awareness on the wings by Jack Davies, Ollie McBeath and Banky Claudius Cole. Jack and Ollie defended very well and learnt to come off their wings and search for the ball in attack too as the season developed. With Joe they worked very effectively as a back three. Flynn Southgate also offered us the ability to alter things across our backs division, he was able to come in at fly half or full back and offer a very controlled game and the flexibility to shuffle our players around. His ability and game understanding developed greatly across the season. Elliot Watson

played most of the season at fly half, showing excellent game awareness and good vison of what is going on around him. Charlie Bramley and Dominic Winn offered the link between backs and forwards at scrum half throughout the season.

The front row was made up of Joe Padgett, Max Darbandi and Will Charge for the majority of the season. Henry Coulter-Pepper and Archie Pope again gave options and very reliable backup for the matches. Joe Padgett and Will Charge started to carry the ball very effectively in open play, and through the season Max developed his handling ability to tip on the ball in attack and even link to the backs when needed. Bobby Schofield was also very useful as part of the squad, he was able to cover positions right across the front five and again gave everything physically when called upon.

Charlie Black and Tudor Maude played at lock most of the time.

Tudor had developed his work rate and attitude excellently over the season and carried the ball very effectively in attack.

His development as part of the defensive set up was very important too. Charlie worked tirelessly every game. His line out jumping was excellent as was most of his technical work. Tackling, rucking and jackling were all very important parts of his game. The back row was also a very potent part of our attack and defence, very balanced, fit and physical.

Will Coggrave, Paul Townend and Olly Tomalin almost had the perfect attributes

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Under-15 B Team For a group who have tasted very little other than one-sided matches and resounding victories, this year’s under-15 B boys managed to play their rugby with real determination and teamwork.

Knowing that the next fixture was likely to be straightforward each week, maintaining concentration in training and working hard at fitness alongside developing technical proficiency was a challenge but, on the whole, practice was purposeful and disciplined. There were eight fixtures played and all but one resulted in deserved victories; a near perfect unbeaten season!

to play 6, 7 and 8 respectively. Will was an important part of our lineout attack and his organisation and communication in attack and defence was the best in the team. Paul’s work rate and hunger to hunt the ball at openside was relentless. He tackled very effectively and turned over the ball countless times in every game. Olly offered the perfect foil at number 8. He was able to carry the ball destructively, but also had the gentleness of hands to constantly keep the opposition thinking. His calmness and clear thinking was also very important in dictating how the team played. One of the most complete players in the team was Josh Bennison. He reads the game very effectively, tackles like an openside and controls the game like a fly half when he needs to. Unfortunately, he sustained a serious injury that cut short his season, but great things are expected of him in the future.

All in all our season started and finished with games against Woodhouse Grove. We narrowly lost the first game of the season and then narrowly lost in the NatWest Cup. On both occasions the team performed well, showing the variety and maturity of play that will set the boys in good stead in the future to get the wins they deserve.

The team was selected from: J.Baker, J.Bennison, C.Black, C.Bramley, W.Charge, B.C.Cole, W.Cogggrave, H.Coulter Pepper, M.Darbandi, J.Davies, H.Hughes, J.Lawrence, T.Maude, O.McBeath, J.Padgett, A.Pope, B.Schofield, F.Southgate, O.Tomalin, P.Townend, E.Watson and D.Winn.

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The season began quickly with the sternest test appearing in the first four weeks. The victory over Woodhouse Grove in the first week was well deserved but arose more from individual pieces of play than coherent team patterns. Much better performances would arise later in the season but, with 23 boys taking the field, it became pretty clear where the dependable talents lay. In the subsequent games, a further three wore the shirt and of these 13 scored for the team. When QEGS were met in the fourth match the resilience of the team was put to the test. In a match which the lead changed four times, Sam McKeown showed his class with three length of the pitch tries to snatch a victory. The final score finishing 29-20. Sam went on to be the team’s leading point scorer racking up 45 points even though he missed the final two games due to injury.

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A number of individuals, having made fast starts to the season were quickly boosted up to play in the A team, confirming our squad approach which needs to kept alive when there is a such a large and talented group. Five boys played in all nine games and each was as dependable as such a statistic suggests. In Henry Pepper, Harvey Gration, Harry Lister and Tom Storey there was the key elements of a mobile and focused pack and in Toby Search we had a number 10 with a good sense of match play decision making.

As these boys move up to Colts rugby next year they will find, I hope, a greater challenge both in terms of physicality and technical skill so that they will need to continue with a positive approach to learning their approach to their game. In the meantime, I thank them for their energy and enthusiasm and will watch their results and their games whenever I have chance.

The team was selected from: M.Brown, I.Burley, M.Coates, J.Dawson, C.Doeg, D.Ford, E.Fricker, J.Gath, H.Gration, A.Hanson, J.Hatfield, M.Hollingrake, T.Hollingrake, E.Jackson, T.Jacques, H.Lister, T.Matthews, S.McKeown, M.Ng, G.Pears, H.Pepper, E.Roebuck, T.Search, F.Southgate, T.Storey, A.Try-Banton and B.Webster.

Under-14 B Team The under-14s had a mixed season this year with several highlights and a host of outstanding individual performances seeing several players move up to the under-14 A team. Training was consistently well attended and it was great to have student input into the focus of the sessions, this group were a highly motivated and self-aware team. Great camaraderie was shown by all from a very inclusive team. Our forwards were mobile and committed and were able to provide support for the backs with our running rugby style of play.

However, we were a few stone short against some of the bigger teams, something which I’m sure the boys will put right over the coming years.

Owing to multiple call-ups, the back line never truly found a settled formation and the players were asked to perform in different positions week on week. Although this caused some disruption, and had an impact upon results, in the long term it will have benefited the skill sets of each of the players and a given them better understanding of the challenges of each position. Particular mention must go to the boys for their victory over QEGS Wakefield, where they played a fantastic mix of rugby. The forwards dominated, the backs exploited, then players and parents and coaches alike celebrated the victory. This was the game where some of our quieter players showed us what they were really capable of.

We would like to thank the boys for their commitment and the parents for their support were fantastic under-14 B team season and we would like to wish the boys all the very best for the rugby in the future.

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Boys’ Hockey Senior Hockey The 1st XI enjoyed a convincing 9-0 victory over Hall Cross School, beginning the season with some attractive attacking hockey and a superb hat-trick from Seth Williams.

Strong QEGS teams overcame both our 1st XI and U16A teams, but the 2nd team earned a creditable draw against Barnard Castle’s 1st The 1st and 2nd teams both put three goals past Ashville to record solid victories, and the U16A team impressed with a terrific 5-0 victory over Hymers. Despite a positive second half performance, the 1st XI were narrowly beaten by Ampleforth, though the 2nd, U15 and U14 teams all came away with convincing wins.

The 1st XI team are through to the semi-finals of the county hockey tournament, where the U16 team have already claimed victory to become U16 County Champions. This was a terrific season for the 1st XI, with great captaincy from Max Courtis and committed performances from the other senior players. Thanks to Mr Johnston for his commitment to the team and excellent coaching.

Squad: M.Lodge, E.Westmoreland, C.Ledden, J.Amsden, N.DansoAppiah, C.Wood, M.Courtis (cpt), O.Hughes, A.Liley, J.Mayfield, W.Morrison, M.Taylor, M.Thompson, J.Williams, S.Williams, M.Boswell In a season which has been dogged by bad weather, our boys hockey teams have played with great spirit and determination, producing some excellent hockey. The U14, U15 and 1st XI all reached the county semi-finals, while the U16s went on to compete in the North Finals.

Mr Stephen Williams

Second XI It was a great pleasure to see the first and second XI grow in confidence and stature this year. They got to grips with the need to be a team and the second XI showed a great willingness to listen to advice and to respond to it on the field.

We were lucky to have a fine goalkeeper in Spencer Ingall who gave great encouragement from the back. In front of him we had Rory Winterburn, James Black when he wasn’t involved with N of England rugby, Henry Barker, Isaac Watson and Michael Hopkins.

All these players grasped the need for quick switches of play and swift transition from attack into defence. Down the spine of the team we had Max Boswell before he became a first team regular and Jack Amsden. Both gave the same huge commitment as last season and were rewarded with some very good performances, none more so than at Ampleforth where we started very slowly only

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to play with tremendous control in the second half to win a super game.

Up front we used Freddie Adcock, Ben Poskitt and also Ed Turvill and Zac Buttle who also slipped happily into the wide midfield roles as well. Their attack was always penetrating and as the season progressed their ability to transition back to defence as either a full or half court press improved hugely.

We were also lucky to have some under-16 players who came up to us on occasions and played well in the side, notably James Bramley who showed just how effective you can be by just doing the simple things well and listening to your teammates. The fact that the team could at compete with the first XI in competitive practice did them all a real credit. In a year that was particularly taxing for senior hockey at St Peter’s the lads committed superbly to increasing their skills and game awareness.

Under-15 A Hockey The under-15s had a prolific season, moving their hockey forward in every aspect of their development both in their skills on the ball and in their understanding of the game. The side is a well-balanced hockey team; some outstanding thoughtful games players, with a wealth of creative skill, combined with pace and vast engines, all of whom developed their capacity and maturity to take on board anything technical and tactical. Their attitude to training was exemplary and as a result, for making the time to work hard on their basic skills, they saw the rewards in abundance in the results.

Comprehensive wins against a strong Worksop College and a well-manufactured win at home to Ampleforth were pleasing. Solid victories over Thirsk, Ashville, and The RGS, with the only defeat being to a very strong Yarm side on a very cold day in January. An excellent day at the County Tournament, showing our class in the group games and semi-final, ended in penalty flick defeat in the final to Harrogate GS, having played them off the park for 90% of the game in normal and extra time.

As the season moved on and the team played together more, the superb team effort was clear for all to see and was commented on throughout the term. The side played some eye-catching hockey and did it all with a smile.

It has been a pleasure to coach the boys; they have been great value and superb ambassadors for the School. I wish to thank them for all their efforts and hard work – they deserve great credit for the way the performed all season. I wish them well as they move through into their senior hockey, may they continue to add even more strength and endeavour to the ever evolving and dynamic St Peter’s hockey.

Mr Gareth Sharp

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Girls’ Hockey 1st XI National Finalists The St Peter’s U18 hockey team made history, qualifying as National Finalists in the Schools Competition, placing them amongst the country’s top five teams.

For the first time ever, the St Peter’s team claimed the title of North Champions, after a tense penalty flick shoot-out with Sedbergh, following a 0-0 draw in the final game. In February, they travelled down to Nottingham, where they competed against the other four regional winners.

To reach that stage, the girls showed great attacking flair in a 5-1 victory over Cheadle Hulme, before they had to dig in to see out a 2-0 triumph over The Grammar School at Leeds.

The final went to penalty flicks after both St Peter’s and Sedbergh defences held their own, and in a sudden-death tiebreak, our girls held their nerve to secure the title.

This achievement is all the more remarkable, given that the 1st XI are also unbeaten in their school fixture list this season.

Helen Barnard, said: “The teamwork, determination and endurance the girls have shown throughout the season has been incredible.

Each year, our girls do the school proud in their performances, but to go one step further and claim this title is testament to the commitment of our players and coaches, who fully deserve this achievement. The U16 team also reached the North Finals of the competition.”

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I joined forces with Manon to coach the first and second teams during the 2017 season.

their teammates, creating memories that no one can ever take away from them.

Unbeaten in regular matches, including the excellent victory against RGS with Harriet’s last minute winning goal. Despite ankle injuries, severe knee injuries (anything to get out of playing on a freezing day in Doncaster, Lucy) and head injuries, my thanks to Charlotte who successfully carried out the instructions that no one gets past her, we continued enjoying playing hockey impressing every school we played against.

Most importantly, I was thrilled by the amount of joy they had when they are playing sport representing the school. Huge congratulations to Charlotte, Meile, Ameilia, Grace, Amalia, Lucy Lov, Lucy Lawrence, Lily, Maddie Hunter, Maddie Whiley, Ellie, Josie, Harriet, Emily, Kitty, Katherine, Alex, Izzy E - all of these girls created a legacy for girls sport at St Peter’s that so many younger girls will want to aspire to and follow in their footsteps.

Our run in the national competition was exhilarating. Several qualification rounds saw us arriving at the Northern Finals fresh from a 4-4 draw away at Sedbergh (one of the most exciting games of hockey I have ever been involved in). The girls played some breathtaking hockey throughout the day and deserved to be Northern champions for the first time in St Peter’s School history. These girls very much wanted to achieve. They put everything on the line for

Mr Phil Hardy

Second XI The second XI have played an outstanding hockey season. They only had one loss, 1-2 versus Worksop, in the Independent Schools’ Hockey League’ competition and drew one match. Their supportive role towards the first XI has been fantastic. Their work ethic and spirit on and off the pitch was always positive and full on TEAMplay. Alex Craig has been a very worthy captain, always present and encouraging the group to enjoy and play at the best of their ability.

It was a joy to see them so enthusiastically engaged at training sessions and matches and a pleasure to coach.

The following girls represented the second XI this year: Maddie Bennison, Hannah Bilton, Katie Bonner, Emily Booth, Immy Bulinski, Charlotte Calvert, Alex Craig (Cap), Issy Eaden, Jess Fraser, Becky Green, Sophie Green, Flora McDonald, Lucy Moss, Rachel Padgett (GK), Millie Redshaw, Katherine Robinson and Lily Williams.

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It was yet again another successful hockey season for the third XI, losing just one match against Sedbergh XI. A real credit to the strength and depth being demonstrated across the senior programme.

The talent and commitment on show by the third XI the whole season was outstanding, with the team measuring up victorious over some quality second teams. Particular highlights were beating Barnard Castle 7-0 and Ashville 6-2, a real testament to the team’s efforts and determination in training.

The team played some fast paced and skilful hockey, helping to move the ball quickly in midfield and dominate play. The team always worked tirelessly to commit to the game plan establishing areas of fluid hockey. The teamwork and resilience to improve in all aspects of play, was rewarded with many of the girls getting the opportunity to play in the U16 National Schools team this year.

It was fantastic to see such a young team develop together as the season progressed. The team should be congratulated on their achievements this season.

A special mention should go to Phoebe Hall, Lydia Palmer, Anabel Chan and Annie Ellis, who all leave us. Their contribution over the years, and ability to play with composure and vision will be truly missed. It has been a pleasure to coach such a motivated group of girls.

The following girls represented the third XI this year: S. Adeley, S. Bone, P. Brown, G.Chamberlain, A. Chan, H. Coleman, J.Davis, L. Gath, O.Hedley, E.Race, A.Ellis, I.Harrison, L.Palmer, P.Hall.

The fourth XI had a great season this year, and it is just fantastic to see so many girls playing hockey and taking part in matches. Our first game against Scarborough started out with a great 3-1 win, with a hat trick made by our forward Holly Drake. Whilst our winning streak did not last as long as we had hoped, the girls kept their heads up and played some fantastic hockey. Our defence was supported by some superb hitting from Lottie Clinkard and with the steady hand of Alice Whittaker keeping the ball away from our defensive goal. Focussing on moving the ball across the pitch, our game technique really came into play in our match against Bootham, where Grace Moody, who captained the team throughout the term, led us into victory. All the girls should be credited with their consistently enthusiastic and polite behaviour, turning up to training and matches not only on time, but also with the right attitude to play and learn. They have been a super team to coach and they should be proud of what they have achieved. A huge well done goes to all of the girls who were involved this year.

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The following girls represented the fourth XI team this year: Georgia Legg; Alice Whittaker; Lottie Clinkard; Ella Huckvale; Hebe Turvill; Ava Horner; Molly Smith; Bea Barker; Grace Moody; Holly Drake; Georgina Edwards; Milly Gray; Eliza Withall; Wllie Miles-Kingston; Rachael Hartley; Lily Conroy; Lauren Buch; Farah Mackenzie and Carly Jackson.

Under-16s The under-16s promise to have a great future ahead. They have competed in the North-East round and played very well in horrendous weather conditions at the North Finals, also. They played with great intent through to the semi-finals to finish third place in the tournament. It was very pleasing to see them grow stronger, more skilful and eager to learn and follow-up tactical and

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technical coaching points. They are ready to move up to the next level and represent the school within the senior playing structures.

The following girls represented the under-16 team this year: Hannah Aubrey, Sophie Bone, Katie Bonner, Charlotte Calvert, Poly Brown, Georgie Chamberlain, Jess Davies, Leah Grace Gath, Oenone Hedley (reserve), Flora McDonald, Jazz Nixon, Rachel Padgett (GK), Elicia Race, Lucy May Robinson and Lily Williams.

Under-15s What a tremendous team performance from this group of individuals, who gained momentum as the season progressed. On the school fixture circuit, the team lost just one game and finished the season second in the North Independent Schools League.

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Independent School Hockey League 2017 Sedbergh Sedbergh

RGS

Hymers

St Peters

D 2-2

W 3-0

L 3-1

L 2-1

CNC

L 3-1 D 1-1

RGS

D 2-2

Hymers

L 3-0

CNC

St Peters

W 3-1

W 3-1

D 1-1

Ampleforth

W 2-1

L 3-1

CNC

W 6-0

Hill House

W 2-1

CNC

CNC

D 2-2

Team effort was key throughout the season and the squad showed a great capacity to adapt to different systems of play on the occasions they needed to cover one another. This flexibility enabled a number of leaders on the pitch and this paid off with a tremendously successful and enjoyable season.

The following girls represented the under-15 first team this year: Jodie Leon, Poppy Steenberg, Jenny Durham, P Stephenson, Hanna Aubrey, Iris Greeney, Saebin Park, Jasmine Nixon, Phoebe Holmes, Lucy-May Robinson, Serena Chow, Ella White.

This was an exciting season for second team to develop their individual and tactical development of the game. Their

Ampleforth Hill House

GF

GA

GD

Pts

Ptsn

L 2-1

8

9

-1

4

4th

W 3-1

CNC

6

6

0

4

3rd

CNC

CNC

1

4

-3

1

6th

L 6-0

D 2-2

9

11

-2

8

2nd

W 10-0

19

2

+17

9

1st

4

13

-9

4

5th

L 10-0

determination and positivity shone throughout the season which helped develop their team bonds and overall understanding of the game.

The girls trained exceptionally well and transformed these skills into their gameplay week after week. Training specifically focussed on positionings, passing/receiving and working the ball around the pitch, particularly using the full width. Working with a strong defensive back line, the girls were able to confidently move the ball around the pitch and transfer it accordingly using the full width, depth and height to attack and defend promptly.

The second team played a number of first teams during the season which gave them a great sense of competition and challenge. Big teams such as Fettes, Hymers and Scarborough College required

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additional preparation, teamwork, commitment and energy, which the girls brought to the pitch game after game. These games allowed the girls to recognise their weaknesses, learn from mistakes and strengthen their teamwork to put up a good match and be the best they could be.

A particular highlight from the season was when sheer determination, hard work and resilience from the girls paid off to deliver a 1-0 win against Pocklington in the final match of the season. With a strong drive, passion and excitement, the girls put everything they learnt during the season together to come out fighting and put up their best game yet.

Under-14s All the girls who represented the under-14 hockey teams this year have trained exceptionally hard and have always represented the school to the best of their ability. It is a huge learning curve for all the girls as they adopt the necessary tactics required to successfully compete on the eleven a-side stage. The first match of the season takes place after one training session and I am always impressed by the way in which the teams manage to perform and they most certainly demonstrate high levels of adaptability and tenaciousness.

Most impressively a number of girls had only played a little bit of hockey prior to joining St Peter’s but by the second week of term were regularly playing in highly competitive matches.

As the results indicate it was a very good season for both the first and second teams. The second team in particular were challenged as they often had to step up against other schools first teams. Their

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most impressive game was against a very talented Worksop first team, it was at this point that St Peter’s second team squad started to develop their defensive formation. The first game of the season for the first team was against Hill House School, before their match started they were lucky enough to watch the senior first XI play and this gave them the opportunity to look at the formation played at St Peter’s. It was a very impressive first game for the team – the sound defence, coupled with the sustained hard work of the mid field players enabled the attackers to covert some very good shots (8) into the goal! As the girls progress through the school they are going to become a very able group of players – they are adaptable and, importantly, committed and extremely hard working. It has been a real pleasure to have worked with them this last season and best of luck as they enter the under-15 age group.

Congratulations to Sabyn Maude and Poppy Courtis who were selected to join the regional performance centres.

The following girls represented the under-14 first team this year: R Johnson, M Bell, S Maude (capt.), S Alston, P Courtis, A Amsden, M Lindley, M Coleman, E Gillies, P Dodsworth, M. Naish, L Coombs, N Johnston, E Rastricks.

The following girls represented the under-14 second team this year: N Sangeeth, K Pearson, K Padgett, L. Nelson, J Jones, M Gilbert, E Rastricks, T Winkley, P Myers, L Falconer, E Urwin, F Wilson (capt.), C Munns, A Wilson, E Mathews, R Liley.

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Girls’ Tennis

Senior Girls’ Tennis Our winter programme went well with a long run in the Senior Students Girls and Mixed National Competitions. This was supplemented with our weekly indoor visit to David Lloyd for our coaching with Marius Barnard.

The first team has had an outstanding Captain in Alex Wood.

Training hard throughout the off-season, the team’s commitment has paid dividends. At the Independent National Schools, Eton, our pairs of Alex, alongside Sofiya Aleksandrova, Tara Jones and Josefien Heijbroek, both won their round robin groups to proceed to the quarter finals of the Plate – the furthest the under-19s have ever reached in this competition. The mixed first team, again featuring Alex and Sofiya, reached the last four in the North of England & Scotland in the second pair event and, overall, the girls finished runners up in the under-18 York League.

This summer also saw us beating a strong York University side 4-2, followed by some tight wins and losses against our rivals. We managed to field three senior teams until the exam season kicked in, so plenty of girls were always playing tennis. Unfortunately, the St Peter’s Senior Tennis Festival got rained off for the second year: a great pity.

Congratulations to Sofiya on retaining the Shepherd Cup for the second year running, beating Tara in the 2018 final.

Under-19 Eton 30 June – 3 July Sofiya Aleksandrova, Alex Wood, Tara Jones and Josefien Heijbroek were selected to represent the under-19 team.

Sofiya and Alex had extremely tough first round matches in the round robin stage, losing to Queenswood 0.8 and to Reigate 5.8.

They had a good win against Magdalen College School 8.3.

Similarly, Tara and Josie faced Millfield, Cranleigh, Kings College School and locals Pocklington, winning one of their matches.

In the Loveband Plate, both pairs won their respective groups

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to progress to the quarter finals of the knockout stage - a fine achievement for the St Peter’s Senior Girls. Sofiya and Alex lost to a strong Sevenoaks pair, but it was well contested, and vital points came and went. Tara and Josie lost to eventual winners St Edward’s who beat Sevenoaks in the final. As always, a great effort by our seniors playing against some of the top tennis schools in the country.

Squad (*1st Team) S Aleksandrova*, B Barker, A Blackburn, M Bletcher*, K Bonner, P Brown, G Chamberlain, A Chan*, J Davis, G Edwards*, A Ellis*, L-G Gath, G Freshwater*, P Hall, J Heijbroek*, T Jones*, G Lawrence, E McDonald*, L Naylor*, E Spencer*, L Williams, A Wood*

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Under-15s The best two victories undoubtedly were 4-2 against Ampleforth and 5-1 against Queen Margaret’s in the National Schools Aegon Competition. St Peter’s will now represent this area in the knockout stages of the competition in September 2018.

Overall 12 matches were played where the girls won eight and lost four against very strong hard hitters and a high standard of play.

The under-15 second team competed well to win the majority of their matches.

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Senior 1st

Senior 2nd

U15A

Queen Margaret’s

4-5

6-3

3-6

University of York

W

Pocklington

5-4

9-0

7-2

2-2

Ampleforth

5-4

8-1

9-0 then 8-1

3-6 then 6-3

6-3 then 8-1

7-2 then 9-0

Queen Margaret’s

1-5

4-5

6-3

5-4

9-0

Sedbergh (1st)

U14A

U14B

4-5 then 2-4

0-6

9-0

1-8

Sedbergh Worksop

U15B

7-2

6-3

Bradford Grammar

15-1

Hymers

6-3

Giggleswick

5-4

5-4 4-5 7-2

8-1

4-0

6-3

Under-14s With a large and enthusiastic squad to choose from, the under-14 first team got off to a flying start, finishing as runners-up in the Chapman Cup Tournament in April. We improved further as the season went on, and the under-14 first VI won our annual Junior under-14 Tennis festival on 20 June. This was a fine achievement across the three pairs. There is no doubt that our preseason Junior Tennis Camp in the Easter holidays held at Vale de Lobo provides the motivation and improvement in plan required for a busy tennis term ahead.

Under-15 Eton 30 June – 3 July Hannah Aubrey, Iris Greaney, Izzy Greenwood and Jasmine Nixon were selected for the National Independent School Tennis Championships held at Eton School.

The first team were well supported by a strong second team.

Overall both teams had a full fixture calendar and won some, and lost some.

Squad (*1st team) A Amsden*, S Aston, M Coleman, P Courtis*, P Dodsworth*, E Gillies*, R Johnson, J Jones, M Lindley*, E Matthews, S Maude, E Rastrick, N Sangeeth, E Urwin, T Winkley, E Yeung*

In blistering temperatures of 30 degrees plus and hot opposition, our two under-15 pairs put up a great fight in the opening round of the Asbury-Bailey Cup. Both pairs were able to win one match in their round robin groups and competed well. In the Plate competition Hannah and Iris narrowly missed out on a place in the knockout stage finishing a creditable second in their group, winning two out of three matches. Izzy and Jazz won one of their Plate matches, finishing third in their group.

Our under-15s thoroughly enjoyed participating in the Independent School National Championships, and despite only winning a few sets, our determination and desire to improve was evident.

Squad (*1st team) H Aubrey*, K Black, O Bone, S Chow, J Dowson, I Greaney*, I Greenwood*, M Lloyd, M McNair, J Nixon*, S Park, L-M Robinson*, P Stephenson*, B Wheelhouse*

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Boys’ Tennis Boys Tennis First VI The first team won six out of nine fixtures played. They won all their matches against other schools and only lost to the men from University of York, York Tennis Club and Wigginton Tennis Club.

The most notable victories were against Poppleton Tennis Club and the Old Peterites.

At the National Independent Schools Tennis Championships at Eton College, the team’s first round match was against Radley College.

Our first team of Robbie Greenall and Marcus Taylor and Barney Baker and Max Courtis lost two matches to love.

In the Clark Trophy (under-19) Plate we defeated Yarm School in the round of 32, Robbie and Marcus won 6-1, 6-1 and Barney and Max won 6-0, 6-1. In the last 16, St Peter’s team defeated Haberdashers Aske, the first pair of Robbie and Marcus won 2 sets to 1 and the second pair of Barney and Max lost by two sets to one.

In the deciding doubles match Robbie partnered Barney and they won 6-0. The quarter final match against RGS Newcastle turned out to be a comfortable affair with Robbie and Marcus wining 6-1, 6-1 and Barney and Max wining 6-1, 6-0.

St Peter’s Boys finally bowed out at the semi-final stages of the under-19 Plate to Rugby School. The 30 degree heat on court and their third match of the day proving just too much. This equals the record for the furthest the first team have ever gone in the Plate. Robbie had a magnificent match partnering Marcus who was struggling with a back injury. They were at one set all and in the tie breaker decider to ten points we were 9-8 up before losing 10-12.

Barney Baker and Max Courtis lost in straight sets at second pair 6-3, 6-4.

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The under-15 Boys had a pleasing run in the Eton Competition.

In the Thomas Bowl the Boys first pair of William Coggrave and Max Marshall had the following pool results: lost 1-6 to Whitgift 1; won 6-1 against UCS, lost 1-6 to Reeds 2 and won 6-3 against Ampleforth College 2. In the plate competition there was another round robin, Will and Max lost to Bradfield and Ampleforth 1 before defeating Hymers.

The St Peter’s second pair of Henry Coulter Pepper and Sam McKeown in the Thomas Bowl lost to New Hall, Tonbridge, Hymers and Yarm. However, in the plate competition they defeated Rugby 2, Hymers 2 before losing to UCS. This sequence of results qualified

them for the knock out stages of the Phillips Plate; unfortunately Henry and Sam were defeated by Ewell Castle by 1-8.

The Alcuin Cup again attracted a big entry this year of 32 students.

There were some great matches along the way, particularly in the semi-finals where Max Marshall of the Third Form reached his first ever semi-final, only to lose to Marcus Taylor.

The final was contested between two-time winner Robbie Greenall and another member of the first VI Marcus Taylor. The match itself was the best of three sets and lasted an hour. Marcus played well in his first appearance in the final, but the superior all round game

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went to Robbie, who went into the final to score 6 – 0 and 6 – 1.

Robbie now joins an elite band of three tennis players who have won the Alcuin Cup three times in their careers, namely Michael Hunter and Dominic Shread. Robbie is also awarded a cap for his magnificent contribution to Boys tennis in representing the first VI over the last five years.

Boys’ Tennis Second VI The second VI tennis season got off to a flying start with impressive victories in our first three matches against Pocklington (9-0), Hymers (9-0) and Silcoates (9-0). The opposition teams found life very difficult against our strong pairings with few weaknesses. We suffered only one narrow defeat at the hands of Ampleforth when we had to turn out a weakened team due to illness. We then got back to business and ended the season with an impressive run of victories over Woodhouse Grove, Worksop and Barnard Castle.

Perhaps our most enjoyable match came in the mixed pairings against Ampleforth. We played very well against their first and second teams, which made a very pleasant end to an excellent season.

All of our players have made excellent progress this year thanks to the excellent coaching of John Moore who has helped them develop strong attacking games and reinforced their defensive tactics. The improvements in their games have been evident over the course of the last year and we wish them all the success in the future as they move through the school.

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Cricket

1st XI Cricket 2018 Played 22 Won 14 Lost 4 Drew 3 Abandoned 1 Win Ratio 70.1%

Bowling Averages:

Batting Averages:

Harry Contreras 13 @ 18.1

Harry Contreras 640 @ 45.7

Chris Wood 21 @19.1

Matty Lodge 550 @ 45.6

Harvey Gration 22 @ 24.5

Alex Liley 576 @ 32

Isaac Giannini 21 @ 27.6

Chris Wood 540 @ 28.1

James Bramley 10 @ 14.1

Ben Lodge 450 @ 26.4

Jack Amsden 10 @ 14.1

Matthew Roberts @ 21.6

Isaac Watson 10 @25.1

Jack Amsden 251 @ 20.9

Flynn Southgate 11 @ 39.0

Harvey Gration 192 @ 17.4 Isaac Giannini 155 @ 12.9 Elliot Watson 84 @28 Flynn Southgate 55 @ 27.5 Ed Westmoreland 60 @ 20 Isaac Watson 31 @ 10.3

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Matthew Roberts 30 @14.7

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1st XI 2018 – (+ cap * colours # half colours): Alex Liley *+ (Captain), Harry Contreras*+, Jack Amsden*, Chris Wood*+ (& Yorkshire 2nd XI), James Black #, Matty Roberts, Matty Lodge, Ben Lodge, Harvey Gration, Flynn Southgate, Will Morrison, Isaac Watson, Elliot Watson, Isaac Giannini, James Bramley, Joe Bates, Ed Westmoreland, Oliver Coulthard, Olly Tomalin and Will Middleton This has been an outstanding season for what is still a very young and rather inexperienced XI. Only losing one regular Saturday fixture, which was the first outing of the summer away to Sedbergh.

The season got off to a rather damp and soggy start; pre-season fixtures with the retiring Captains’ XI and our annual pre-season with Cheltenham College were a total wash-out.

A one-run defeat to The Yorkshire Gents on a waterlogged Wednesday in April saw the last of seasons’ rain and that last defeat for six weeks for the boys.

Eight and nine wicket victories over Ampleforth, Pocklington and Bradford GS; high scoring wins against GSAL, Woodhouse Grove, Yorkshire Cricket College and St Laurence College; resounding wins in the second PREW Festival against the hosts Epsom and Warwick; a winning draw away at Durham, and further draws, that should have been wins against MCC and the OPs. The defeats to Sedbergh by nine runs, Xavier College by one run, Repton by three runs, could all have easily gone our way.

In the National T20 the boys reached the North of England Final (last eight) for the second time in two years - with uncompromising wins seen against Pocklington and Bradford in Round One. A thoroughly professional performance against QEGS in Round Two which saw the XI amass a total of 204-4, in which Ben Lodge made history by being the first Peterite to hit six sixes in an over; truly something to behold and one that will live long in the memory.

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The boys secured their place in the North Final with a superb and well-deserved victory over Worksop. Sadly, for the second time Sedbergh were to be, again, resounding and deserved victors in the Final.

All but three of the squad return for next year and for the following two years; this talented group of players, including the ones coming up from lower down the school, have the potential to achieve something special in the time they have left in the XI and will be skilfully led by Chris Wood for the next two summers – exciting times indeed.

My thanks to our ground staff; Mark, George and Ryan for their tireless work and endless hours of preparation; to our umpires for their dedicated service to the Cricket Club and to all of the St Peter’s and St OIave’s cricket masters’ for their continued support, enthusiasm and eagerness to keep the cricket here on the front foot and in a very healthy and buoyant place.

To Alex Liley who has led the side with maturity and drive; and to all the boys for their commitment and endeavour in the hardest

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term of all, with everything they have to contend with; and for their fantastic humour and good company during a long campaign.

A special thanks to Harry Contreras, who has scored just over 2,000 runs for the XI in his four years and to Alex Liley and Jack Amsden for their three years’ dedication to the 1st XI. As ever, onwards and upwards…

Mr Gareth Sharp

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Second XI Cricket Endeavour, excitement and enjoyment are words which best describe the season. Matches were won and lost but without exception lessons were learnt, memories made and friendships created. The last ball finish against Sedbergh in the opening match will never be forgotten. The match was lost, despite a determined 30 from Josh Wood and 35 from Ollie Hughes.

The win against Worksop was dominated by some fine spin bowling from James Bramley and aggressive play from Ed Westmoreland.

Ampleforth were defeated in the last over, with Ed Ramsden and Oli Coulthard batting with confidence and assurance. Then followed RGS Newcastle’s first XI, who proved to be too strong in all areas and completely outplayed us. Batting looked fragile against a penetrative opening bowling attack and we came away learning some valuable lessons.

We won matches against Durham, Hymers and Pocklington with Josh Bennison and Jack Mayfield scoring excellent runs against

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off Flynn Southgate. Durham followed where we did well to post a score of 158-8. We bowled well and three wickets from Jack Davis and Tom Matthews alongside excellent bowling from Charlie Bramley and Tom Hollinrake alongside two runs outs saw us home by 32 runs. More T20 came next giving us a chance of redemption over Lady Lumley’s who beat us last year!

Excellent batting from Elliot Watson 67 and Flynn Southgate 49 allowed us to post a score of 157.

Durham, Will Morrison 58 and Sam Wordsworth an excellent 115 against Hymers and Patrick Livings took 5-0 against Pocklington.

Over 20 pupils played with the second XI cricket during the season, all playing with desire and determination, not losing sight of the real reason to play – enjoyment.

Under-15 Cricket The cricket season started as the sevens season finished with very wet ground and cancelled matches.

The under-15s started the season with a development game versus North Yorkshire. The opposition batted first on our newly re-laid square on the Wightman scoring 153-9 in their 35. The team batted and started well. With the ninth wicket going down at 128 and still needing 26, Toby Search and Tom Hollinrake got their heads down and saw us home to a fine win by one wicket.

The national T20 came next with a super win over King James’s Knaresborough, all started with a superb first ball dismissal of their talented captain, with Joshy Bennison taking a fantastic slip catch

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It was off to GSAL just before half term and on a not so easy pitch we did well to post 109. We bowled and fielded well to dismiss GSAL with James Brent fishing the innings with a hat trick. This was followed by a very good win over Harrogate Grammar School in the T20 competition where we posted 128 and then bowled particularly well to keep them to 104 with the spin of Elliot Watson, Charlie Bramley and Harvey Gration being the difference.

Straight after half term came the next T20 match against Driffield College where we batted very well scoring 171. Playing against Woodhouse Grove and on a superb wicket with pace and bounce they posted 158 for 4 in 35 overs. We started slowly in order to see off their fine opening bowlers then accelerated well finishing off the game in spectacular style. Next came Hymers with David Ford, Jimmy Dawson and Max Hollinrake posting 147 for 9. We bowled seven bowlers in the Hymers innings showing the tremendous strength in depth of this side bowling Hymers out for 79.

We then took on Pocklington and posted 121 in 25 overs with Pocklington reaching 82 in their 25. The next game was Pocklington again three days later - not ideal and we played our worst game of the season, knocking us out of the National T20. Bradford followed, where we batted first and scored 110 in their 20 overs.

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We now reached the festival which was held at St Peter’s. In our first match versus Norwich School we posted a fine 232 off our 40 overs. We started well, but unfortunately Norwich came out on top, winning the game by 5 wickets with an over to spare. In the Tuesday game we played Cheltenham College scoring 286-8 in our 45 overs.

The final game of a superb season saw us take on Trent College in a T20 where they batted first scoring 112. We lost 4 quick wickets before an elegant Elliot Watson and a brutal Joe Baker saw us home.

Under-14 Cricket This was a very good season for the under-14s. The opening match was against Sedbergh where two fine innings from Frazer Fennel and Ben Irvine secured the win. Isaac Allinson bowled well to take some important wickets.

Our next match was against Ampleforth where a straightforward win was achieved, good performances from Jimmy Gilman and George Sturdy helped achieve this.

Unfortunately the next two matches were cancelled due to the rain, however we came back after half term with renewed energy and

wins came against Woodhouse Grove, Hymers and Pocklington.

Alex Try-Banton batted consistently well, Will Contreras bowled accurately to create pressure and Ben Tomalin with his spin bowling was always taking wickets.

Well done to the rest of the team – Harvey Ake, Ted Wordsworth, James Harvey and Nico Masucci who all contributed well.

Under 14 B Cricket The under-14 B team only managed one win from their five fixtures.

However, they played with a wonderfully positive team under the enthusiastic captaincy of Oliver Barry.

In all the matches we played, everyone either batted or bowled: in most matches everyone did both. Our bowling was the strength of the side. Sam Carter was the leading wicket taker, closely followed

by Arthur Headly. However, Novid Nuri, Ted Wordsworth, Oliver Barry, Harry Johnson, Harry Tsang, our most consistent bowler, all took wickets. Silas Maughan was the team’s most improved bowler.

With the bat, we struggled for runs. Only Leo Scrimshaw and Harry Johnson made significant contributions with the bat.

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Netball Senior Netball Once again the level of netball being shown across the senior programme has been outstanding.

In the National School tournaments the under-19, under-16 and under-14 teams were all unbeaten in their respective area rounds and went on to represent York and Selby in the County rounds. A great achievement, considering all tournaments are played out of season and many are representing the school in hockey at the same time.

The under-19 team reached the regional rounds of Nationals Schools for the third year in a row and the girls displayed high quality performances throughout.

First VII The First VII played with heart, grit and passion this season to contest at the highest level with real intent. The team thrived on competition, confidently demonstrating their consistency in building momentum with each game. They have shown a mature approach towards building a platform for success and performance, which has now engrained within the system.

The idea of sticking to the game plan wholeheartedly saw the team victorious over solid opposition this year. The team produced moments of brilliance, and were formidable in both attack and defence essentially linked through the strong centre court. Intensity and purpose were key areas of focus across all aspects of training and game play, embedding a ‘never give up’ attitude within the team.

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Particular highlights were defeating Ashville (45-16), RGS (33-23) and Woodhouse Grove (29-22), a real testament to the team’s effort and determination this season.

We saw the girls narrowly lose against a very strong Sedbergh side (32-36), after a thrilling exhibition of netball right until the final whistle. The drive and commitment on display that day by St Peter’s was a true indication of the quality of netball which has become characteristic of the style of play.

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The fluid combination of Harriet Kirkwood and Maddy Bletcher saw the duo convert goal after goal, in what was a tough end to end battle. The vision of Emilia Proctor and Becky Green to accurately feed the circle against two resilient defenders was outstanding. Katherine Robinson and Amelia Blackburn dominated play throughout the centre court, working tirelessly to capitalise on interceptions and transition to goal. Maddy Wylie’s infectious passion brought an injection of pace, assisting Amy Webster to turn over ball at key moments throughout the game.

This has been one of the most rewarding and enjoyable coaching seasons to date. The girls leave behind a playing framework that will inspire the teams coming through.

A special mention should go to Grace Freshwater, Frankie Chapman and Millie Redshaw for their positive involvement in the National School’s squad. They all have the ability to adapt their game to fit any occasion.

It has been a very rewarding season for all involved, we look forward to the season ahead.

Second VII Squad: L. Moss (Capt), M. Redshaw, G. Freshwater, F. Chapman, K. Bonner, E. Spencer, C. Calvert, L. Williams, E. Booth, G. Chamberlain, J. Davis.

First VII Squad: M Bletcher (Capt.), M Wylie, R Green, E Proctor, A Blackburn, K Robinson, H Kirkwood, A Webster.

Second VII The level of tactical understanding of the Second VII has been most impressive this year. After regularly training with the first team and ‘buying’ into the same 100% commitment and attitude towards all aspects of their game, the team concluded the season winning nine out of their ten matches. An outstanding achievement from such a young senior side.

There were many impressive score lines this season where the team controlled and executed some challenging set plays. Particular highlights were beating Sedbergh (28-26), Newcastle High (41-16) and Harrogate Grammar (27-21).

Error rate and consistency were key factors in preparation for matches, the team worked diligently in training to focus on possession and transitioned this successfully across the season.

Their solidarity and passion to trust the game plan, while fully committing to it, was outstanding. A true reflection of the strength and quality we have at St Peter’s from all the senior players that are striving towards first team selection.

The Ashville game was confirmed to be an exciting encounter of high class netball. After a solid through court defence, and a very high conversion rate from the team they came out on top winning 27-16. Their fast paced transition to goal was significant in the team’s victory.

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Third and Fourth VII The standard of netball across the third and fourth teams has been brilliant this year and each player worked hard throughout the season to improve their game. We had some challenging matches, with our girls playing against first or second teams on several occasions, which were ultimately great experiences to improve our game and test ourselves.

The final matches of the season saw us travelling to Sedbergh and both teams were looking to finish the season on a high. The thirds had a fantastic game and match play was fluid leading them to win the match seamlessly. Although the fourth team fought hard, they had a trying final match against a tough team. However, their performance was admirable and they ended the season with a smile.

Under-15s The squad enthusiasm for the game was evident from the first training session when adverse weather conditions played havoc with our planned practices and it was straight into fixtures.

With over 20 girls we were able to fulfil a packed fixture list for A, B and C teams. Early successes in matches saw the girls gain in confidence and also gave the coaches the opportunity to change playing positions to which they adapted well.

A very successful season overall which saw improvement throughout and even when we came up against strong opposition our heads never went down. This attitude and desire to improve should see several pushing for places in the senior squads next year.

The A squad had the opportunity to compete in the Junior Netball

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Under-15 C Squad: E. Barker (Capt), I. Granville-Fall, M.Lloyd, M. McNair, H. Costin, A. Ryan-Briscoe, E. O’Shaungessay, K.Black.

Under-14s The netball season for the under-14s started amid a very busy hockey term. Luckily, the fitness levels of the girls were very high and as the term progressed, their netball skills started to become polished. The York and District competition marks the start of the National Schools knockout championships where the St Peter’s team secured a victory and progressed to the County round.

The A team improved greatly as the term progressed and achieved some very good wins. Notable wins were against Worksop College and Ripon Grammar. The B and C teams impressively won most of their games and as the results show, they significantly beat the opposition.

The girls showed huge amounts of resilience, particularly in their ability to deal with the freezing conditions which we experienced throughout the term.

Under-14 A Squad: E. Rastrick (Capt), M. Coleman, M. Bonner, N. Johnson, E. Gillies, P. Courtis, P. Dodsworth, S. Aston, A. Amsden.

Festival and finished a very credible third place and ended the season by winning the York and District tournament without dropping a game.

Under-15 A Squad: J. Nixon (Capt), L.M. Robinson, B. Wheelhouse, H. Aubray, I. Greenwood, O. Bone, J. Durham, E. White, P. Stephenson.

Under-15 B Squad: P. Holmes (Capt), I. Greeney, S. Chow, S. Park, A. Brown, F. Urwin, K. Jain, A. Norza, C. Edie, P. Steenberg.

Under-14 B Squad: M. Lindley (Capt), J. Jones, S. Maude, K. Pearson, A. Wilson, E. Matthews, E. Yeung.

Under-14 C Squad: K. Padgett, E. Horsfield, L. Coombs, M. Wakerley, M. Bell, P. Myers, L. Falkner, M. Naish, E. Urwin, F. Wilson, R. Johnston, N. Sangeeth, R. Liley.

1st V11

2nd V11

3rd V11

4th V11

U15A

U15B

U15C

U14A

U14B

U14C

41-33

41-16

10-35

-

36-3

-

-

14-33

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

9-20

-

-

35-4

-

Ripon Grammar

37-13

25-3

-

-

34-12

16-2

5-20

34-19

34-3

11-10

GSAL

2-32

29-8

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

8-26

10-20

-

15-18

15-2

Woodhouse Grove

29-22

35-38

18-18

18-15

29-14

21-8

-

22-10

25-8

-

St Aidan’s

46-5

-

-

-

19-21

23-14

-

28-19

33-9

-

Barnard Castle

21-9

42-7

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Ashville

45-16

27-16

32-10

21-5

21-51

15-22

-

26-14

31-6

18-4

Worksop

-

-

12-34

20-24

55-4

46-1

-

37-11

31-9

-

RGS

33-23

38-18

23-3

6-6

-

-

-

-

-

-

Sedbergh

32-36

28-26

16-7

8-23

25-21

18-19

16-12

18-24

11-18

20-7

-

27-21

-

-

-

-

-

20-26

18-8

-

40-15

24-14

-

-

28-8

-

-

-

-

-

Newcastle High Bootham

Ampleforth

Harrogate Grammar Queen Margaret’s

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Football

The footballers completed a successful season with the 1st XI finishing with a record of played ten, won six, drawn two, lost two.

Early season fixtures came thick and fast and two Adam Brown goals helped us to a 3-3 draw against a talented Old Peterite team, but a last minute conceded goal against Woodhouse Grove meant a 4-3 loss on the first weekend. However this, and a well-fought 1-1 draw against Bootham, gave the boys experience of playing against some tough opposition.

Wins against Scarborough College, Sedbergh and Ampleforth took the 1st XI on a good run as few teams could cope with the pace and goal threats of Matt Ubhi, James Mahon, Theo Hedley and Peter Konstantynov, who all found the back of the net with alarming consistency throughout the season. Meanwhile the 2nd XI boys also put together a good winning streak of their own with hard-earned victories over Ampleforth, Ackworth and Fulneck.

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Despite the snow getting the better of us at times in the second half of term, the 1st XI continued their winning ways with successive 3-2 victories over Hull Collegiate and Ampleforth, before a 4-3 victory over Ripon Grammar completed a good run of high scoring but tight, competitive, matches. In front of goalkeeper Ben Raubitschek,

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the ever-present back four of Ben Chamberlain, Harry Contreras, Alex Jefferson and James Ellis provided the bedrock for these victories.

The regular season was topped and tailed with small-sided tournaments and in the St Peter’s Sixes in January, the 1st VI finished in third place in the cup competition whilst the 2nd VI finished in fourth place in the plate. At the Hull Eights, despite a 1-0 loss to GSAL in the group stages, the 1st VIII finished their season in fine style as Tom Harris and Robbie Greenall pulled the strings in midfield to lead us to draws against Bootham and Hull Collegiate and wins against St James School, Scarborough and Fulneck.

2018 also saw the launch of the inaugural Lower Sixth House Football League, a 5-aside tournament that was battled out over numerous lunchtimes in the Easter term. Temple, School, Hope and The Manor successfully qualified from the group stages and it was Hope House who overcame Temple in the final to become House Champions.

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Athletics Athletics Our athletes have performed very well this season: Lily Naylor finished fourth in the senior North Yorkshire Cross-country Championships, which qualified her to represent North Yorkshire at the English Schools Cross-country championships. At the North Yorkshire Schools Athletics Championships Angel Norza finished fifth in the inter girls 100m and Tabitha Winkley finished 10th in the 1,500m and ninth in the high jump. At the same event, Fran Wilson finished second in the junior girls shot and second in the discus.

Congratulations to all those athletes who represented ‘York Schools’ in the North Yorkshire Schools Athletics Championships on Saturday 9 June.

Some notable achievements were attained by the following athletes: Sam McKeown – 6th Inter boys 1,500m Angel Norza – 5th Inter girls 100m Tabitha Winkley – 10th Junior girls 1,500m (PB) & 9th High Jump Fran Wilson – 2nd Junior girls shot & 2nd discus.

York Schools Cross-country Championship York Knavesmire Nov 2017 Junior boys 4

Percy Hill

19

Tom Stevens

4 St.Peters Inter boys 3

Ben Hobbs

6

Steven Johnson

7

Sam McKeown

8

Ethan McKinney

17

Ben Dunsmore

1 St.Peters Junior girls 9

Tabitha Winkley

4 St.Peters

Cross Country

Inter girls

The North Yorkshire Cross-country Championships were held at Knaresborough with the following St Peter’s athletes representing the ‘York Schools’ in this tough event:

7

Elicia Race

9

Abigail Brown

10

Hebe Turvill

Percy Hill – 39th Junior boys

12

Phoebe Holmes

Tabitha Winkley – 34th Junior girls

18

Jasmine Nixon

Sam McKeown – 32 Senior boys

19

Olivia Bone

Lily Naylor – 4 Senior girls

1 St.Peters

nd

th

Girls’ Squash Given the players who left us last year, the girls’ squash team did a brilliant job of finishing fourth in the 17-18 Ladies York and District League.

Commitment and interest was shown by all players, which provided ease when fulfilling fixtures.

One of the best matches that was played was a win against York 2 where the girls won 19-4. It was a dominant performance in which all but one game was won. Ella Meere showed real class when playing evidently a young junior player. She played a fair game allowing the young junior to enjoy her experience.

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Other highlights include a brilliant game in the last match of the season, seeing Rebecca Dowson winning a 3-2 in one hour and 10 mins. Megan Loney played a brilliant game against an experienced player when against Wigginton, in which she won 3-1. Yulia Trubacheva showed determination and hard work when playing against a very good player away at Thornton le Dale in which she only just lost 10-8 in the 5th.

The girls who played in the league are as follows: Lucy Lawrence, Yulia Trubacheva, Megan Loney, Shania Wong, Ksenia Trubacheva, Ella Meere, Rebecca Dowson, Jess Dowson, Saebin Park

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Rounders

Under-16s It is wonderful that so many senior girls decided to play rounders this summer term. From the first session it was clear that the girls wanted to train hard but also wanted some relaxation after, for the majority of them, two very busy terms representing the school at senior level in both hockey and netball. Unfortunately the external examination season has crept earlier and earlier into the summer term which has had an effect on the girls who are able to play regular fixtures. Pleasingly we managed to fulfil all our fixtures with the help of the Lower Sixth girls. The highlight of the term was two fantastic wins again Sedbergh and Ampleforth, where we yet again we proved too strong for the opposition.

We will most definitely miss the under-16 girls as they move away from St Peter’s. The majority of them have represented the School for five years – their good humour and tremendous skill will most definitely be missed.

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Under-15s The under-15s have had a very successful season and have thoroughly enjoyed competing in matches, putting in some exceptional performances against many strong teams.

Highlights from the season include wins against Bootham (1714.5), Giggleswick (23-3), Queen Mary’s (17-14) and Ampleforth (28-11). This is a strong reflection of the hard work, commitment and enthusiasm shown week in, week out during training sessions.

The girls played some clever rounders to outwit their opponents, working hard on their fielding skills and fluid play from back stop to first base. Batting skills also increased as the season progressed. Continued focus and determination in training sessions helped improve accuracy and consistency of big hits.

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Under-14s Good things come to those who work for it and this squad of girls has worked incredibly hard, reaping the benefits with some excellent performances against strong opposition.

A small squad, with some tennis players drafted in when needed, have pulled together to work as a team, respecting all but fearing none.

From our first session the girls have worked hard on basic skills of throwing, catching and batting, improving speed and decision making, and have moved on to work as a unit with improvements seen throughout.

The team’s best performance by far came in a triangular match against Ashville and Giggleswick, on paper a difficult fixture, but a day when everything we had worked on fell into place. They say “the more difficult a victory seems, the greater the happiness in winning” and smiles and celebrations continued all the way back to York.

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St Peter’s School Boat Club

York Autumn Sculls

York Small Boats Head

The Boat Club returned to the water after the summer break for the first race of the season at the York Autumn Sculls. The river conditions were good and a slight tail wind ensured good times all round. St Peter’s crews from the Fourth Form upwards competed over the 4.5km course and after such along break were pushed all the way. Most crews laid down a good marker for the rest of the season with the surprise package of Sam Gowland and Alex Phillips registering an early win in the J18 Boys Double Sculls.

Racing on home water the Boat Club enjoyed the near perfect conditions at this year’s York Small Boats Head. There were strong performances across the squads in each year group. The Fourth and Fifth Form squads continued to make good progress by beating several other crews in their categories. The senior girls double scull put all their recent training to great use and earnt a second place in the WJ17 event. The senior boys quad also took advantage of a good period of training not only winning the J17 Coxless Quad event but also securing a fourth place overall out of 303 crews that competed.

Ancholme Rowing Club Head Race On a beautiful autumn day The Boat Club took a large group of rowers to the river Ancholme for the annual Ancholme Rowing Club Head Race. Rowers competed twice over the 2,750m course racing in singles, doubles and quads. The rowers were rewarded for all their hard work in training recently with good performances. A combined boys and girls Fourth Form quad worked well together and duly won the J15 coxed quad event. The senior girls double of Sophie Haslam and Valentina Cross also proved too good for their opposition as they took the victory in the WJ18 2x.

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Newark Head The second race of the half term saw the Boat Club travel to Newark. Crews from the Fourth Form upwards competed over the challenging 3,900m course of twists and bends. All the crews showed great determination and fought hard against their opposition. The senior boys and Fifth Form boys enjoyed a race within a race as they fought each other down the course finishing an excellent second and third fastest crews overall on the day. After such close racing it was great to see the Fifth Form boys quad win the J16 category.

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The seniors girls double of Eve Gilbert and Alex Johnston also put in a dominating performance against strong opposition from local clubs and deservedly took the win in the open category.

White Rose Head Whilst the seniors were away at Newark the Third Form boys made an excellent start to their racing careers in the White Rose Head.

The event is usually reserved for University student crews however close relations with York University saw St Peter’s granted a wild card entry. Even though the boys were racing bigger and stronger crews they were not over awed. They rowed well together over the 3,000m course and were rewarded by beating several of the student crews.

National Schools Head The top Fifth Form boys crew travelled to London to take part in the National Schools Head of the River Race on the Thames in central London. Competing over the full Oxford versus Cambridge course, this 7,300m race is one of the top rowing events in the calendar. The Fifth Form quadruple scull was against intense completion from clubs and schools from across the UK and finished an outstanding eighth in the country. The crew of Guy Jenkins, Adam Dalton, Stephen Dalton and Joe Johnson beat a number of top-ranking schools, only narrowly losing out to local London crews from St Paul’s and Westminster.

Junior Sculling Head The Junior Sculling Head at Dorney Lake, Eton is rapidly becoming a must do date on the rowing calendar. St Peter’s crews competed in the WJ14, J14, WJ15 and J15 events over the combined 3,600m course.

The girls raced a WJ14 Coxed Quad and a combined WJ14 and WJ15 Octuple. This was the Quad’s first ever race and they thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. The octuple put in a good performance with the older girls really leading the younger ones and acting as excellent role models.

The boys raced a J14 Octuple and J15 Coxed Quad. Again the Octuple proved to be a great experience for the young inexperienced boys but smiles all around told the story of a great day. The J15 quad used their greater experience and put in a strong performance to show that they have really developed this year.

Annual Training Camp This year’s annual training camp was held at the newly opened Cambridge University BC Boathouse at Ely. The dedicated group of rowers and coaches that travelled to the Fens were rewarded with a warm welcome, fabulous facilities and great water to paddle on.

As usual on a training camp the days were long with multiple outings in various boat configurations. Distance work was supported with technical sessions in order to maximise improvements throughout our stay. The technical work continued with a visit to the newly opened Cambridge Rowing Tank housed at Downing College Cambridge before a social break to explore the delights of Cambridge. The following day we were delighted to be joined at Ely

by Dan Janes head coach to the Men’s and Women’s Lightweight Squads. Dan led a session that our eight will not forget in a hurry.

York Spring Regatta The York Spring Regatta sees the start of our side by side racing season. Close competitive racing ended with five wins, the J18 coxed four, J18 double, Open Double, Open Women’s Double and the J16 quad. Several crews made their competitive debut and performed to a high standard.

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Tees Regatta Multi-lane racing at Tees Regatta is a great opportunity for St Peter’s crews to race on a multi-lane course before the National Schools’ Regatta later. All our crews took full advantage to get in race practice. The J14 girls and boys put in good performances in the Octuples and the J15s worked hard in the quads. The seniors however turned on the style and produced some excellent performances in both sculling and sweep boats winning several events comfortably.

National Schools Regatta Dorney Lake at Eton once again proved to be a fantastic back drop for the National Schools Regatta. Three days of top quality intense racing was guaranteed and this year the weather also played its part with near perfect conditions on the Friday and Sunday. Crews from the Fourth Form competed on the Friday with the girls quad putting in their best performance of the year. This inspired the boys for their time trial run who were agonisingly only 2.5 seconds from qualifying for the semi finals.

Saturday saw the arrival of the senior boys and girls as well as a cross wind that made the organisers redraw the lane seeding. The senior boys Coxed Four racing in the School Coxed Fours brought their recent good form with them which enabled them to win

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the C final. The senior girls double once again saved their best performance for the Regatta but against a very strong field in the Championship Doubles they did not make the semi-final stage.

The final day of the Regatta saw the wind leave and the sun return along with the Fifth Form boys quad competing for the Kingston Cup and the senior boys double competing for the Fox Tankard.

Both crews relished the conditions and competition and secured places in the C finals. The Fifth Form boys were up first and after a close first 1,000m tucked in close behind a Leander quad to secure an excellent second place. The senior boys double were nip and tuck all the way down the course but were just overhauled by a strong finish form a Walton crew that saw them finish third. It was a classic race to end an excellent Regatta for St Peter’s.

Home Waters The Boat Club returned to home waters and was back to full strength with all available year groups competing. Competition was stiff but as ever each crew in rose to the occasion and showed how much progression has been made this year. Many crews reached the Semi Finals and Finals putting then in a strong position for a medal.

Racing finished at the end of a long and sunny day with St Peter’s claiming seven wins in Doubles, Quads and Coxed Fours.

Bradford Sprint Regatta The final Regatta of the season saw the Boat Club return to the Bradford Sprint Regatta for the first time in a number of years. The 600m sprint format allowed many of the junior crews to enter the smaller boat categories for the first time. Once again the sun shone and allowed all the crews to show off the skills they have acquired over the three terms. Tough racing was rewarded with six wins at both junior and senior level.

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Boys’ Swimming This year has seen the boys put out a regular swim team for the first time in many years. The boys remained unbeaten in the regular fixtures with many impressive performances. The John Parry Relays saw the boys make all the senior finals, with close fourth place finishes in the medley and freestyle relays. The highlight of the year was the trip to the Olympic Pool for the Bath and Otter relay

competition. Again, having not been there for some 20 years the boys put in a fine performance, qualifying for both Medley and Free style finals. In the end a fourth and sixth place finish culminated in the best result the school has achieved at this prestigious event.

With all the boys in Lower Sixth, things look promising for next year.

Water Polo This year saw the boys’ water polo team have regular fixtures in the summer term, winning all of them. In a bid to take the sport forward, St Peters have become co-founders of what is hopefully going to be an annual event, named ‘the Yorkshire water polo

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championship’ . In the events inaugural year, St Peters finished runners up in a very tight competition. A bright future awaits this enthusiastic young team.

Girls’ Swimming This year the girls have had four swimming matches, with two wins and two losses, and two relay competitions. The highlights have definitely been the match against Ampleforth, where all races were 50m and we managed a very comprehensive victory with only four swimmers; and the trip to the Bath and Otter Cup, in London at the Olympic Pool. The Bath and Otter competition, which took place in March, was an event consisting of team relays, 4 x 50m Freestyle and 4x 50m Medley. The girls had not swum together as a four before and were up against some very tough competition from top class club swimmers. Our girls did so well, and their commitment to the race and to each other was second to none. They might not have won but their confidence was sky high. There were some outstanding personal achievements and the experience of swimming in the Olympic pool was something they will never forget.

The year culminated in the Inter-House Competition on 16 March.

After some tremendous swimming and effort from all involved, the results for the top three houses were unbelievably close: Clifton and Hope made it into joint second with 102 points, with the winners being School with 107 points.

The girls have had a fantastic attitude and commitment to swimming, and this has been demonstrated by the senior girls who have led by example; it has been a pleasure to spend time with them!

Charlotte Jones

Equestrianism St Peter’s pupils took to the saddle in March, representing the School at the first York Boarding Schools Group Show Jumping competition.

Our team of Alice Wilson and Mellow Gold, Katie Padgett and Maizey, and Elicia Race and Mojo all went clear to come second to Queen Mary’s in the 80cm, with Elicia also achieving sixth individually at the same height.

The 90cm class saw our young team face more established competition, but Alice and Elicia, this time riding with Lottie Combe on Equitoya, still managed a fifth place, with Lottie also taking fifth individual with a clear round in 42.9s.

Lottie and Megan Ford, competing individually in the 100cm, didn’t quite manage to break the dominance of Ampleforth and Scarborough College at this height, but Megan and her horse Gabbana returned to form in the 110cm, securing first place with a lovely clear.

This is the first time that St Peter’s has formed an equestrian team in many years, and we are looking forward to following their progress in future competitions.

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Beverley 10k 2018

Congratulations to all of the pupils and staff who took part in the Beverley 10K on Sunday 13 May alongside 1,500 other runners. As ever, the race was really well supported with hundreds of people lining the route and cheering the runners home in Beverley, which looked glorious in the May sunshine.

Many personal milestones were achieved on the day with a special mention to Ellie Spencer, who achieved 2nd place in the junior

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category with a time of 46:51. Charles Barry, Kieran Whyte and Sam Gowland were really quick - all got round in under 40 minutes.

A terrific effort from them and all who took part at the weekend.

Charles, in the Upper Sixth year, was the first St Peter’s runner home and was awarded the Tooby Cup for Long Distance Running this year. This crowns a terrific career in running at St Peter’s for him.

Many thanks go to all who supported the event this year.

SPORT

Junior Sports Day

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Leavers’ Destinations 2018

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Jack Amsden

University of Edinburgh

International Business

George Avery

Newcastle University

Architecture and Urban Planning

Henry Barker

University of Edinburgh

Economics with Management Science

Angus Barrick

Newcastle University

Economics

Charles Barry

University of Nottingham

Medicine

Rebecca Battles

University of Nottingham

Classical Civilisation

James Black

Northumbria University (2019 entry)

Sport Development and Management Foundation Year

Madeleine Bletcher

University of Birmingham

Economics

Katarina Bonner

Newcastle University

Chemistry (with Industrial Training)

Emily Booth

University of Edinburgh

Business with Marketing

Max Boswell

University of Bristol

Economics and Finance

Alice Brookes

Gap Year

Adam Brown

University of Leeds

Management

Marcus Brown

Imperial College London

Pure Mathematics

Marton Busa University of York

Business and Management (with a Year in Industry)

Eva Carlyle

University of Sheffield

Business Management

Benjamin Chamberlain

London School of Economics and Management Political Science, University of London

Anabel Chan

Gap Year

Thomas Charge

Newcastle University

Politics

Kitty Clapham

University of Edinburgh

Philosophy and Theology

Thomas Clarke

Newcastle University

Civil Engineering with Year in Industry

Rhys Collins

University of Oxford

French and Beginners’ Russian

Katy Colthup

University of Nottingham

Politics and American Studies

Harry Contreras

University of Birmingham

MEng Engineering

Max Courtis

University of Exeter (2019 entry)

Economics

Izzy Cotter

University of Sydney

Alexandra Craig

Gap Year

Isabella Crook

Leeds College of Music

Classical Performance

Lucy Dabbs

Leeds Arts University

Art Foundation Course

George Davis

University of Edinburgh

Economics

Madeleine Day

University of Oxford

English Language and Literature

Marcus Dobson Newcastle University

Business Accounting and Finance (includes business placement) (4 years)

Zicheng (Schephay) Dong

University of Cambridge

Natural Sciences

Holly Drake

Birmingham City University

Fashion Business and Promotion

Felicity Edwards

University of St Andrews

History

Samuel Elliot

Durham University

Languages and Cultures (with Year Abroad)

The Peterite 2017-2018

LEAVERS’ DESTINATIONS

Annabel Ellis

Newcastle University

Medicine and Surgery

James Ellis

King’s College London, University of London

Medicine (5 years)

Amber Enoch

Gap Year

Harry Exley-Moore

Newcastle University

Politics and Economics

William Farr

Newcastle University

Civil Engineering

Amelia Fennell

University of Liverpool

Dental Surgery

Cosmo Forbes

Durham University

Philosophy, Politics and Economics

Rose Gabbertas

UCL (University College London)

Latin and English

Ellie Gath

University of Edinburgh

Landscape Architecture

Nathan Goyea

Gap Year

Louise Gould

Durham University

Sociology

Flora Grafton

University of Liverpool

Criminology

Rebecca Green

Cardiff University

History with a Year of Study Abroad

Sophie Green Royal Agricultural University

International Equine and Agricultural Management

Robert Greenall

University of Sheffield

Mechatronic and Robotic engineering

Daisy Greenwood

Newcastle University

Maths and Economics

Oscar Hales

Newcastle University

Mechanical Engineering

Phoebe Hall

University of Edinburgh

Philosophy and Theology

Stephen Hargrave

University of Cambridge

Natural Sciences

Thomas Harris

University of Bristol (2019 entry)

Zoology

Sophie-Rose Haslam

University of Nottingham

Agricultural and Livestock Science

Maximilian Hateley

Cardiff University

Biomedical Sciences

Felicity Head

University of Leeds

English Literature

Theodore Hedley

Gap Year

Charlton Higginbottom

Les Roches, Switzerland

Charlotte Hollinrake

Gap Year

Michael Hopkins

Teesside University

Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Joanna (Clare) Hornby

University of Oxford

Medicine

Martha Horner

Sussex University

Anthropology

Ella Huckvale

University of Leeds

International Relations and Spanish

Charles Hudson

Loughborough University

Sport Management

Oliver Hughes

University of Edinburgh

Finance and Business

Madeleine Hunter

Manchester Metropolitan University

Marketing Management

Spencer Ingall

Gap Year

George Ingall

University of Leeds

Chinese and Economics

Alex Jefferson

Newcastle University

Accounting and Finance

Steven Jones

University of Oxford

Engineering

Global Hospitality

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LEAVERS’ DESTINATIONS

166

Georgia Kemp

University of Leeds

Management

Harriet Kirkwood

Newcastle University

Rural Studies

Petro Konstantynov

University of Leeds

Spanish

Emel Kucuk

Gap Year

Anthony Lam

University of Nottingham

Pharmacy (4 years)

Jack Lawrence

Durham University

English Literature

Lucy Lawrence

University of Cambridge

Linguistics

Alexander Leahy

University of Bristol

Philosophy

Ching Lee

University of East Anglia

Pharmacy

Carl Leighton

Royal Northern Music College

Music

Ka Lam (Mikayla) Leung

University of Nottingham

Medicinal and Biological Chemistry

Alexander Liley

Apprenticeship

Thomas Lister

Nottingham Trent University

Business Management and Accounting & Finance

Megan Loney

University of Manchester

Mathematics and Statistics

Lucy Lovisetto

University of Exeter

Theology and Religion

Grayson Maguire

Durham University

Physics

James Mahon

University of Cambridge

Natural Sciences

Alexander Martin

Newcastle University

Marine Technology with Small Craft Technology

Imogen Matthews

University of Bristol

Dentistry - BDS entry (5 years)

Emily McDonald

Loughborough University

Aeronautical Engineering

Lauren Moir

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

Stage Management and Technical Theatre

Grace Moody

Newcastle University

Architecture

Lucy Moss

University of Birmingham

Sport and Exercise Sciences

Christopher Nelson

UCL (University College London)

Engineering (Biomedical)

Kate Newmarch

Flight School

Lydia Palmer

Goldsmiths University

History of Art

Ben Parkes

Newcastle University

Food Management and Marketing

Oliver Pettit

University of Brighton

Economics

Phoebe Phillips

King’s College London, University of London

Global Health and Social Medicine

Emilia Proctor

Newcastle University

Animal Science

Charles Rae Queen Mary University of London

Environmental Science with Business Management with a Year Abroad

Benjamin Raubitschek Newcastle University

Joint Honours Psychology and Sports and Exercise Science

Feifei Rawnsley

University of Leicester

Applied Psychology

India Reilly

Sheffield Hallam University

Photography

Eleanor Richardson

University of Liverpool

Mathematics and Economics

Katherine Robinson

University of Liverpool

Marketing with a Year in Industry

Amber Rose

University of Bristol

History of Art

The Peterite 2017-2018

LEAVERS’ DESTINATIONS

Harrison Savage

Nottingham Trent University

Politics

Harry Sharp

University of Exeter

Business

Iva Sharp

University of Southampton

Computer Science

Ralph Sinclair

UCL (University College London)

Management Science

Archie Stephenson

Newcastle University

Economics and Business Management

Ethan Stone

University of Manchester

Classical Studies

Charles Tannahill

University of Liverpool

Business Economics

Lydia Theos

University of St Andrews

International Relations

Edward Thompson

Nottingham Trent University

Building Surveying

Marcus Thomson

University of Manchester

International Management

Yulia Trubacheva

King’s College London, University of London

Spanish and Management with a year abroad

Edward Turvill

University of York

Philosophy

Matthew Ubhi

University of Sheffield

Mechanical Engineering (4 years)

Thomas Veysey

Northumbria University

Social Sciences Foundation Year

Andrew Wang

University of Warwick

Global Sustainable Development

Zaki Ward

University of Edinburgh

Mathematics and Statistics

Amalia Watkins

Birmingham City University

Fashion Branding and Communication

Jack Williams

Gap Year

Seth Williams

University of Bath

Economics (with placement)

Angus Wilson

Newcastle University

Accounting and Finance

Ellie Mae Winstanley

Goldsmiths, University of London

Politics

Rory Winterburn

University of Cambridge

Law

Eliza Withall

Newcastle University

Food Business Management and Marketing

Chloe Wong

University of Bristol

Medicine

Alexandra Wood

Gap Year

Xuechun (Demi) Xin

Durham University

Mathematics (4 years)

Ziqi (Cookkie) Yang

University of Bath

Architecture (with placement)

Tianyu (Cecilia) Zhang

UCL (University College London)

History of Art with Material Studies

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Registered Charity Number 1141329

The Peterite 2017-2018

St Peter’s School • York • YO30 6AB Tel: 01904 527300 • Fax: 01904 527302 Email: enquiries@stpetersyork.org.uk www.stpetersyork.org.uk

The Peterite 2017-2018