School news

LAmbS debUT for perse rugby captain Matt Burson (Upper Sixth) made his debut for the Lambs – the England Independent Schools team – after being called up for their first game of the season in January. The Perse 1st XV rugby captain had been nominated for Lambs selection by the School’s Head of Rugby Liam St John and was named in the squad after impressing selectors during two development and trial days. He said: “It was a great surprise to be selected. You always have that moment of shock when you see your name on the team sheet, but after that it’s just really exciting because you know you’ve got the opportunity to go and represent the Lambs and play a really exciting brand of rugby.” Since his debut, Matt has played regularly for the Lambs and was named Man of the Match in their game against the Boys Club of Wales. Matt thanked The Perse for its part in helping him reach such a high standard in the sport, saying “It’s completely down to The Perse. You have to be nominated by your school’s Head of Rugby and there’s no way they’re going to put you forward for the Lambs unless they think you’re ready because there are over 300 boys trialling for it. Given I’ve not played any club rugby, all my rugby experience has come from playing for The Perse.”

Sir dAvid WrigHT steps down as Chair of Governors at the end of 2018/19

Sir David’s career has seen him as UK Ambassador to both Japan and South Korea, Secretary to the Prince of Wales, first Chief Executive of British Trade International, and Vice-chairman of Barclays Capital.

Famed for his swiftness of response by email or telephone no matter what time of day or night in whatever time zone he found himself in, he has generously given of his vast experience and many skills to The Perse.

His decade long leadership has been marked by both growth and consolidation as pupil numbers have risen, new buildings been completed and further land been acquired.

He leaves the School in a strong position and, with the Upper Music School extension underway and overseas development discussions well advanced, better placed to face the challenges that lie ahead.

Gratias tibi agimus, Sir David. PerSe Pride reTUrNS for second year From 25 February – 1 March The Perse celebrated its second Pride week. The week, which aims to celebrate diversity and inclusive attitudes, featured a number of lunchtime activities including a classics seminar on “Achilles and Patroclus: Friends and Lovers?”, music talk on “Same DNA but born this way: gender fluidity in pop music” and a Biology Society session on “Nature vs. Nurture: is there a ‘gay gene’?”. The keynote speaker for the week was Tim Ramsay, CEO of Just Like Us Foundation, who spoke to pupils and staff about his own experiences before holding a workshop with the Student Council, Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and Keep Smiling members to discuss ways that we can promote a more inclusive community.

Chariots of fire at The perse In March the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre became the Stade Olympique as the Perse Players put on Chariots of Fire. Based on the classic film about real-life British athletes Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, the Perse Players took on the stage adaptation by Mike Bartlett, which was mounted to mark the 2012 Olympics in London.

PerSe PLUS mATHS Ai = bLUTiCk – maths with confidence The Perse has partnered with a Cambridge-based technology entrepreneur to create a new artificial intelligence platform for maths learning – Blutick. Perse maths teachers have made videos to explain the syllabus and then Blutick uses AI to give line-by-line feedback on digital learning tasks. If you would like to find out more about Blutick please visit blutick.com.

PerSe PUPiL iN vogue at London Fashion week Callum Baylis (Upper Sixth) appeared on the catwalk at London Fashion Week and subsequently in Vogue.

A career in couture is Callum’s dream and he was thrilled to be given the chance to take to the runway at one of the fashion world’s biggest events. He made his modelling debut in the London Fashion Week (LFW) spring/summer show of designer John Lawrence Sullivan last year and recently returned to LFW to model Liam Hodges’ latest pieces in the autumn/winter event.

Both the John Lawrence Sullivan and Liam Hodges shows appeared in Vogue and Callum was elated to see his image appear in the iconic fashion magazine. He said: “Being one of the websites I often look at in terms of runway collections and stories, it was a shock to see myself in Vogue.” dOUbLe SUCCeSS for Vikram with digital currency project Vikram Singh (Year 11) has received a double helping of success with his research into the digital currency bitcoin.

He carried out an investigation into whether bitcoin or other crypto (digital) forms of currency could replace traditional money in the future as part of his Higher Project Qualification in Year 10. Vikram went on to give a poster presentation of his findings at the Young Scientists’ Journal Conference at Queens’ College last October. He has now earned a Gold CREST Award from the British Science Association’s flagship scheme for young scientists for his project.

On top of that, Vikram also entered his study into the Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers competition. Vikram’s work impressed judges enough for them to invite him to present his investigation at the Big Bang national finals, which took place at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre in March.

PerSe CHAmber CHOir iN FiNe vOiCe for westminster Abbey Evensong On 4 January, The Perse Chamber Choir savoured the experience of performing Evensong at Westminster Abbey. The School’s singers had the honour of leading the service in the choir of the iconic abbey, which is the traditional setting for coronations of the British monarchy and has hosted many Royal weddings.

In front of a congregation of around 400 people, including parents, donors to the School and Old Perseans, the choir sang Herbert Howells’ Westminster Service, featuring the canticles Magnificat (Song of Mary) and Nunc dimittis (Song of Simeon), and ended the service with a rendition of Charles Stanford’s work Beati quorum via.

Perse Director of Music, Michael Holiday, felt the choir’s efforts in rehearsals had paid off in making sure they were fine-tuned for the occasion. He said: “Westminster Abbey has been the setting for a lot of major national events, so to go there and lead the service was really special. The pupils understood the significance and responded really well to it. It was lovely for them to have the opportunity to sing there. The choir had worked hard and prepared their music really well and they were on excellent form.”