OSS Newsletter October 2020

Old Skinners’ Society

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Fellow Skinners', since our last newsletter in May we’ve found ourselves very much in the ‘New Normal’. I along with the OSS exec committee, hope that you and your families are staying safe and well amongst the challenges we are all facing. Also wishing all recent leavers the very best starting at University in the coming weeks!

In this edition we have: ● ● ● ● ●

The Headmaster’s update Juddment day nearing its Centenary The Red Books My conversation with Paul Bernadi.

And, remembering Chris White

We’re always looking for stories or news to feature in the OSS Newsletter. Please email me at michael@ordiff.com with ideas, feedback and to share OSS Obituaries.

Michael Wadsworth

Thanks again to Michael for pulling together this edition of the Newsletter as we continue through this new normal.

As mentioned in back in May, now is a time where we need take our comforts where we can, especially taking a moment to celebrate & recognise the tremendous efforts by the headmaster & all the staff in a safe reopening of the School to resume in-person lessons, alongside the significant milestone in the opening of the Mitchell Building in the coming weeks.

Whilst we continue in this ‘New Normal’, I hope you enjoy this Newsletter and wish you all safe and well.

With my very best wishes,

Richard Mosley

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As I write, we await the imminent return of all pupils to the school. Buildings are covered in one-way arrows and different year groups will be segregated during break and lunchtimes. We will have staggered breaks and a staggered end to the day. And, horror of horrors, we have temporarily suspended the wearing of the (dry clean only) school blazer.

The past fortnight has provided a bit of a roller coaster in the form of A level and GCSE results. In the absence of any exams at all, Centre Assessed Grades were submitted to the exam boards who then standardised those grades using an algorithm which plainly did not work. 180 of our 500 A level grades were initially downgraded: that was in itself not the problem, which lay in the capricious nature of those downgrades.

The restoration of Centre Assessed Grades restored some sense, although it was interesting to see that now it was the school that got the blame if a student did not get the results he wanted!

Nevertheless, the U6th have now left the school: we hope they will be able to join us at a rearranged Skinners’ Day on 18th December.

142 (out of 156) Year 13 students applied to university. Of the 14 who did not apply, one is going to flying school, one to the army, one applying for finance related scholarships in the City, three to art college & seven to gap years (work and travel). Our 10 students with offers from Oxbridge were successful; otherwise this year Durham and Nottingham are our most popular destination.

In lockdown, we had aimed for 50% of lessons to be taught ‘live’ online and judging by feedback this was successful. Teachers adapted with speed and imagination to the new normal and I do not think that in general Skinners’ boys (who have the fortune of being bright, willing and supported from home) have suffered much academically so far.

Throughout, we continued with weekly assemblies, including a hymn, and a marvellous rendition of the Leopard Song to end the school year, something that can been seen on the school website (scroll down to the bottom of the home page).

Most extra-curricular activity was suspended: no sports programme, no CCF camp, for example. But chess continued online and our club continued to thrive in lockdown. The musicians held a remarkable concert in May, all performances taking place live from students’ homes.

Cricket resumed in July and the 1st XI have played 15 fixtures through the holidays, including a fine victory over Tonbridge last week. Gold Duke of Edinburgh practice hikes have also taken place, as has a week of pre-season rugby training, though fixtures will have to wait at least until October.

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We held a Wellbeing Week in May: an extraordinary success. The whole school community was treated to self-help, meditation, art therapy, pilates and stress release classes, all run by experts.

There were talks on anxiety and mental health, and staff and students ran sessions on fitness, martial arts and disco dancing. There were bake-offs, quizzes and radio plays. The students who drove the week, Billy Marsden and Oli Knudsen received a letter from Greg Clark MP, thanking them for their contribution to the collective wellbeing of the community.

After half term Black Lives Matters became an international movement that impacted on many people’s memories of their school days.

BLM does highlight the issue of staff and student recruitment in a largely white, middle class area and the issue of how we focus on boys’ attitudes to others (BAME, LGBT, women generally). I have asked the Senior Prefect team to take this on as a specific target for their year at the top of the school.

162 new pupils will join Year 7 this week. It has been an extraordinary year for admissions, in which boys have over-performed in the 11+ and have refused to budge once offered a place at Skinners’.

The consequence has been a significant narrowing of our catchment in West Kent, to the point at which Sevenoaks has been excluded from entry. The furthest distance offered in West Kent is 3.5 miles (last year it was 10.4), whilst in the Outer Area the furthest distance is 7.5 miles (last year 8.7).

However, the average score has gone up from 374 to 381 and the numbers achieving exceptional scores (over 400) has gone up from 8 (2019) to 18 (2020). The consequence has been some distress and consternation in the Sevenoaks area – an unexpected consequence in the second year of our new admissions arrangements.

The Mitchell Building is close to completion: it has been delayed by COVID-19 but we look forward to seeing the Sinfield English department, the Sixth Form and the Library move in October. The OSS contribution of £10,000 to furnishing the Conference Room next to the Library is a very generous contribution.

Elsewhere, summer works have been accelerated in the absence of pupils. The Art department has moved to where the English department was, the CCF and DofE have moved to the Sixth Form Art studio, the Maths department is now all in one place in the Leopard Building. The project of replacing all the original windows in New Wing is complete.

This has been a unique period in the school’s history. Teachers and support staff who have worked indefatigably to make remote learning work, and to maintain and drive forward the school’s pastoral care and facilities in the students’ absence.

Parents have overwhelmingly supported what we have done and students have demonstrated great ability and willingness to get on with their educational lives.

Finally, my thanks to the OSS for your support for the school and for standing tall for the values and ethos that we continue to uphold in our statement of values, namely that Skinners’ is a place of learning, a caring school, a community in itself and an establishment that is at the heart of a wider community. Floreat sodalitas.

Edward Wesson | 1st Sept 2020

Photos of the Mitchell Building on the next page

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Note: We’ll look to include official photos in the next edition!

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Thanks to Horatio & Marcos for this edition of life at school for present-day Skinners’ in 2020.

Skinners’ is back, welcoming Mr Adams’ cargo shorts once again. Amid a wave of one-way signs, masks and hand sanitiser; school life has begun. After the longest period without pupils on-site in the school’s history, routine has returned with minor COVID-19 related adjustments.

There have been several changes to how the school operates which have not gone down well. Teachers have been seen sleeping in corridors, obviously struggling to readjust to the 8:45 morning bell and the removal of form time has caused travesty amongst pupil attendance rates.

As one would expect from Skinners’ pupils, the one-way system has gone down stupendously.

In no other institution would pupils be able to acknowledge but yet so easily ignore the entourage of signs that are now seen throughout the school.

Tesco’s has welcomed back Skinners’ boys with gusto but the scenes of boys ramming in as if it was a rugby match against Judd are long gone.

Queues of socially responsible students are now seen outside in utmost decorum abiding diligently with Boris’ clear guidelines; although we are outraged to report that the waiting time for a Tesco’s meal deal has increased by at least a minute.

The 6th Form led by the pied piper of Skinners’, Mr Fleming has welcomed Ms Fenton with open arms, at a distance of no less than 2 meters. Miss Fenton has taken on the role of deputy head of 6 th form, Mr Coltella who she is replacing, has continued his journey on the conveyor belt of life.

Year 13 students have come back to school horrified to find their sanctuary of a 6th form centre replaced with rows of single desks and rigorous work. Free periods are no longer the grounds for a snooze and instead have become a safe haven for teacher’s homework deadlines.

Delayed lunch has allowed year 7s to enjoy the tranquillity and bliss of a schoolyard, free of year 11’s, we are sure they’ll miss the adrenaline rush of being catapulted across the grounds by a stampede of older boys.

We wish all pupils, alumni and teachers of The Skinners’ School all the best in adapting in difficult times to this new way of life.

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February 1929. It was a wretched day at Southfields, as Judd kicked off downhill into driving rain.

The Skinners and Judd packs were evenly matched, but while the Judd back line kicked well and defended aggressively, it was the Skinners’ backs who ruled the day. Despite the greasy ball Skinners played a quick-fire, passing game, and it payed off handsomely. Bonniface, the Skinners fly-half, had a particularly good game, scoring three tries and a drop goal. Roskams, on the wing, scored two. The fittingly named centre back, Leppard, scored a sixth try, and made three conversions. Finally, Warland, outstanding in the forwards, finished off the game with try number seven.

Under the old rugby scoring system with 3 points per try, and 4 for a drop-goal, the final score was 31 points to nil. Under the current scoring system, the score would have been 44 points to nil. Either way it was the biggest win over Judd in the 98 games played between the two school 1st XV’s since the first ever rugby Juddment Day in 1926.

Over the previous 40 years, both Skinners and Judd had favoured the round ball over the oval. The first recorded football game between Skinners and Judd took place in October 1889, with Skinners winning seven goals to one. At this time matches were played within the Skinners’ School grounds, which were somewhat prone to waterlogging as the Courier report from the 1891 match makes clear.

“On Wednesday last the Skinners School defeated Sir Andrew Judd’s by five goals to none. The match was played on the Skinners’ ground in about three inches of water and several more of mud. We hear on very good authority that the committee of the Skinners’ School Football Club are thinking of scratching the remainder of their fixtures and taking to Water Polo instead. At present no boy is allowed in the football ground who cannot swim at least 50 yards, a most necessary precaution.”

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Why Skinners decided to switch to rugby football in 1925 is not entirely clear, but Colin Ransford, who took over the headmastership from Reverend Knott in 1924, was clearly keen to make his mark. He had already shaken up the old House system, introducing Atwell, Hunt, Sebastian and Knott. He next turned his attention to football.

The country was undergoing a wave of rugby mania following the UK tour of the New Zealand 'All Blacks' team dubbed the ‘Invincibles’ after winning all 32 matches. In South Africa the same year the British Isles Rugby Union Team were first named the 'British Lions'. In October 1925 - the following Skinners Day report was published by the Courier: "It has been decided that this would be the last season that the School would play Association Football. The matter had been very carefully considered and it had been decided to play Rugby in future as so many of the surrounding schools were taking up "Rugger" that in two or three years’ time they would have no competitors to meet in the Association game".

The football team's black shirt with red sleeves was translated into our red and black hooped rugby shirt, and a new era of Skinners rugby football began. (photo on next page)

Skinners’ record through the 1930s continued to be very positive with 7 wins, one draw and only 2 losses up until the start of the war in 1939.

However, when the Judd fixture re-commenced in 1942 there was a significant change in fortune, with 8 losses, 2 draws and only 1 win over the rest of the decade. Skinners returned to form in the 1950s, winning 7, drawing 2 and losing 4.

The next 40 years were mostly dominated by Judd. Between 1960 and 2000, Judd won 26 games to Skinners’ 8 with only 3 draws.

This included a twenty two year drought between 1972 and 1993, when Skinners only won one game, and that sole win in 1987 by only one point.

1994 was a big turn-around, when the 1992 National Cup winning U15 team graduated to the 1st XV and beat Judd 28 points to nil.

However, another win in 1995 was followed by another tough period with only 1 further win over the next 10 years. Fortunately, since 2005, it has been a much more even-handed affair.

Fifteen games, 7 wins to Skinners, 6 to Judd and 2 draws.

Our first rugby game against Judd took place in Tonbridge on the 26th March, 1926. Having beaten Judd at football on a regular basis they must have wondered whether they'd made the right decision to make the switch to rugby when they went down 9-6 in their first game with Judd.

But since the next 7 Juddment days, including the 31:0 victory described above, went to Skinners, there was clearly no turning back.

To follow in a future edition: - A picture of the victorious 1994 team - Total Results Board Oxford-Cambridge-esque

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Thanks to our President Richard Mosley for compiling this article and fitting photos!

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Paul lives in Cheshire with his wife, Julie, and daughter, Lydia. His son, James, has flown the nest, following up his Natural Sciences degree at Cambridge University by starting a career in Artificial Intelligence in the same town.

Paul has worked for the same FTSE100 financial institution for the last 30 years, mainly in the realms of IT Service Management.

In his spare time, Paul writes historical fiction novels, building on his love of history together with the knowledge gained during his degree course.

Paul’s third novel (Thurkill’s Battle) was published in 2019 and two more are on the way. Links to all Paul’s books can be found at the end of this story.

Paul attended Skinners’ School from 1979 – 1986, taking A Levels in History, French and Economics. It was always History, however, that was the one subject that held his interest more than any other, thanks – in no small measure – to the guidance and support of Mr. Chris Utting and Mr. John Mackay.

After leaving Skinners’ in 1986, Paul attended the University of Leeds, undertaking a BA degree in History (focusing mainly on the early medieval era). Starting out on a career would have been the next logical step but for the fact that he had met his future wife to be – Julie – who was undertaking a four-year degree course in Ibero-American Studies. One thing led to another and the opportunity of a Master’s degree in Anglo-Saxon history beckoned, enabling the two of them to discover whether living together sealed or severed the relationship.

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After graduating, Paul & Julie headed for London. Paul took a job with a major high street bank (the one with the blue eagle logo), the highlight of which was being one of the first people into the new and iconic Headquarters at 54 Lombard Street when it opened in 1994.

But soon after that, Paul moved north to Cheshire with the lure of a new career in the bank’s IT department. He was just in time to be part of the planning and preparation for the much-feared Y2K bug, culminating in a bleary-eyed 12-hour shift starting at 08.00 on New Year’s Day just to “keep an eye on things”. That it went largely without a hitch is testament to the effort, skill and dedication of hundreds of IT professionals over the years.

For the last ten or so years, Paul has headed up the Process Governance team.

Paul never forgot his love of history. When he wasn’t boring the children with endless visits to medieval castles, he was dreaming of becoming an author and, specifically, an author of historical fiction. That dream started to become a reality early in the new century when he finally embarked on his first project.

The idea for his first novel came from reading a newspaper article describing the publication of new wartime documents that had remained under lock and key for the last fifty years.

Hidden amongst the many War Office files was a plan – instigated by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) – to assassinate Hitler.

Though, in reality, the plan was shelved not long before the end of the war, Paul saw within its pages the germ of an idea for a novel to imagine what might have happened had SOE decided to go ahead with the operation.

The story follows two agents, one of whom was a Czech named Jan Kubcek whose name was an amalgam of the two lead agents who succeeded in assassinating Reinhard Heydrick in Prague in 1942. A small, but significant, tribute to two incredibly brave men who paid for their actions with their lives.

It was fourteen long years before this first novel saw the light of day (being self-published via Amazon).

This taught Paul two key lessons both in respect of becoming an author, but also for achieving a better balance in life. Firstly, to write a book, you must keep going. Just getting it down on (virtual) paper is an achievement in itself.

There will be time later to edit, finesse and generally polish your work. But if you keep stopping or suffering from self-doubt, you’ll never finish.

The second lesson was that you should always make time for yourself, even if it’s only thirty minutes a day. A combination of work and family commitments meant that the project sat on the shelf for months or even years at a time.

It took a re-evaluation of priorities and commitments to make Paul realise that things had to change. This is true as much, if not more so, during this current pandemic. With many people feeling isolated and anxious, the importance of making time for yourself to do something that you want to do (even if it’s as simple as going for a walk or reading a book) should not be underestimated.

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Having finally got his act together, Paul now settled into a pattern of aiming to churn out a book a year. The children were older and in need of less supervision and work was more stable, meaning there was more time to devote to setting targets for achieving realistic weekly word counts.

For his next project, Paul returned to the era of his studies at university – the Anglo-Saxon period. The first book in the Huscarl Chronicles – Thurkill’s Revenge – focuses on the period running up to and just beyond the Norman invasion. It follows the path taken by the eponymous hero who – at the age of seventeen – finds himself thrust into the maelstrom of the cataclysmic events of that year. Having fought for his king and his life at the battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings, he then finds himself fighting for his family and his lands, wrested from him by the evil Count Richard FitzGilbert (boo hiss).

The second book in the trilogy – Thurkill’s Battle - follows on from the first and takes us through late 1066 and into 1067 where Thurkill hopes to put the events of the previous year behind him and settle down on a small estate with his wife and to accept life under the rule of the Normans.

But his hopes are dashed when his past catches up with him pitching him once again against the FitzGilbert family in a battle for survival.

Both the first two books have been published while the third – Thurkill’s Rebellion – is nearing completion and should be published early in 2021. It takes us into 1068 and the realisation for Thurkill that he cannot live under the Norman yolk, leading him to take up arms against King William in a desperate attempt to place a son of King Harold on the throne.

Find Paul’s previous books online: To The Devil His Due Thurkill’s Revenge Thurkill’s Battle

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The Red Books are regularly mentioned and asked after on our Facebook Page, and Tony Holding kindly obliged in sharing a photo of the collection of Red Books dating back over Generations of fellow OSS! Click the link to Join the OSS Facebook Page.

Thanks to Tony Holding for sharing photos of the Red Books

Old Skinners’ Society

Some OS may already be aware that Chris White, a much respected Teacher of English and a key contributor to so much else within the school, eventually lost his fight against prostate cancer in December 2019. A number of his former students joined family, friends and colleagues from his career in teaching for a moving farewell in January. The article which follows is the short address which I was pleased to provide for the occasion.

From his arrival at Skinners’ from Aylesbury GS in 1986, Chris quickly established himself as an integral part of the teaching and wider activities of the school. Appointed to teach English, Chris enthused pupils with his passion for literature and his forensic understanding of the English language. This, coupled with his encyclopaedic knowledge of Milton, encouraged many students to expand their horizons when it came to personal choice of reading material and to take on more challenging authors. He was a voracious reader, with a phenomenal memory for the detail of what he had read; one could always find an interesting book on his teaching desk.

His teaching style was sympathetic, never confrontational, though pupils realised they had incurred his displeasure when they were on the receiving end of a steady stare perhaps, without thinking, they had used the words ‘nice’ or ‘fantastic’ Promoted to Head of English, Chris led the department with sympathy and distinction for a number of years; he later took on the challenge of Exams Officer – no easy job trying to coordinate the separate needs of examinees and different exam boards – this was in addition to being a Sixth Form tutor, running junior rugby and cricket teams, accompanying and organising ski trips and, for a number of years, helping with the annual Y8 trip to the Loire. As if all this wasn’t enough to he took on the editorship of the Leopard school magazine from 2004-2012.

Another side to Chris was seen by his involvement in the CCF, which he joined with no prior experience – soon after his arrival. He ran the Recruit Company for many years, he was my ever-dependable 2i/c when I was running things and he took over as Major, Commanding the contingent for five years from 1998, which included special events to mark the centenary of the contingent in 2001. We spent much time together at Weekend Exercises, Annual Camp and Adventurous Training on Dartmoor, all of which relied, to differing degrees, on his cooperation, his organisational ability, his willingness to drive a minibus and for his masterminding of the Self-Reliance exercise for recruits at Annual Camp which bore his distinctive hallmark and which he greatly enjoyed, as indeed, did the cadets.

His empathetic approach to all that he did was as valuable here as it was in the classroom. Essentially a private man, he was known to unwind when relaxing with others once the day’s work was done by providing a snifter of Single Malt– as befits a one-time member of the Scotch Whisky Society. He was very well read, a font of knowledge and interesting facts, a good quizzer – he would have been my choice of ‘Phone a Friend’ had I ever appeared on Who wants to be a Millionaire! I much appreciated his friendship and enjoyed visiting, together with his wife Jan in more recent years, several places and NT properties I would not have otherwise considered. A true friend, he will be missed by many.

Thank you Tony Holding for sharing this fitting tribute.

Old Skinners’ Society

Attached to this newsletter you will find The Telegraph Obituary of Dick Jolley, featuring photos of Dick and sharing stories of his time in Burma during the Second World War and receiving his OBE for his services representing trade associations in Whitehall & Brussels.

Dick attended Skinners’ in the 1930’s, we will share a more detailed story of Dick in a future edition of the Newsletter.

It is with great sadness that we have heard of John Exall’s passing in 2020. As with Richard Jolley, we are compiling a more detailed piece for the Newsletter to share stories of John’s life and immense contributions to Skinners’ School and the Old Skinners’ Society.

We have recently heard of the recent passing of R G (Dick) Baker - Also known as ‘Doughy’.

He taught modern languages from 1958-1972, coached hockey and was also a Captain in the CCF. A fine teacher with a great sense of humour, his contribution was much appreciated by all who knew him. He left to become Deputy Head at a school in Barnstaple, Devon.

Old Skinners’ Society Thank you for taking the time to read this edition of the OSS Newsletter.

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Stories, feedback or suggestions? email: michael@ordiff.com

© the Old Skinners’ Society 2020