School News

THE PERSE SCHOOL SINGAPORE OPENS The Perse School Singapore opened in January 2020 for pupils aged six to 11.

Pupils and staff have settled in well and are enjoying school life. Claire Bell, Founding Principal, has been keeping the wider Perse family in Cambridge well informed of all the latest activities in Singapore. Claire said, “ The pupils are really happy and have thoroughly enjoyed the breadth of the curriculum and all the wonderful activities on offer at the school”. The broad and innovative curriculum closely follows the Cambridge Primary programme, incorporating Singapore maths as well as Mandarin as a second language.

Claire Bell was formerly Head of Tenby School, Malaysia, and the British International School in northern Iraq. The majority of staff are in now place, with Claire revealing that she is immensely proud of her dynamic team who have worked tirelessly to ensure the school, curriculum and extra-curricular activities are built upon the Perse School strengths and values.

The four core values of The Perse – intellectual curiosity and scholarship, endeavour, breadth and balance, and respect for one another and our environment form the heart of the new school’s ethos. The school strives to nurture the children’s potential, build their confidence and prepare them for the future.

The campus is at Upper Bukit Timah, a residential area in Singapore, and across from Bukit Timah nature reserve which is the highest point in Singapore and the oldest area of rainforest, approximately 8 miles from the downtown area and the famous Marina Bay Sands. PERSE PRIDE 2020 For the third year in a row, The Perse celebrated Perse Pride, this year on 4 March. Pupils and staff were invited to wear brightly coloured clothes to School, and there were a number of activities throughout the day, including a lunchtime discussion on LGBT life at The Perse, led by PrideSoc leaders Gleb and Arianne (U6), and a film screening of Love, Simon. The Perse Pelican even had a makeover, with rainbow Pelican badges on sale.

ECOSCHOOLS AWARD for The Perse The Perse School has been awarded a Silver Eco-Schools Award, thanks to the hard work of the student-led Green Team. Achieving the Silver Award means environmental issues are being covered in the school curriculum, and the whole school is involved in Eco-Schools work.

FFI’S NICHE IS CLEAR The consultants were able to clearly articulate FFI’s role within the wider conservation movement, and celebrated the value of our relatively modest size, stating that we appeared to combine some of the best characteristics of being a big organisation with those of being small. The report also reiterated our own internal perspectives of FFI’s unique role, which focuses on “(i) collaboration through lasting partnerships, (ii) leadership through innovative models, and (iii) a lean entrepreneurial style allowing fast and flexible engagement on critical issues.” FFI’S NICHE IS CLEAR The consultants were able to clearly articulate FFI’s role within the wider conservation movement, and celebrated the value of our relatively modest size, stating that we appeared to combine some of the best characteristics of being a big organisation with those of being small. The report also reiterated our own internal perspectives of FFI’s unique role, which focuses on “(i) collaboration through lasting partnerships, (ii) leadership through innovative models, and (iii) a lean FFI’S NICHE IS CLEAR entrepreneurial style allowing fast and flexible engagement on critical issues.” The consultants were able to clearly articulate FFI’s role within the wider conservation movement, and celebrated the value of our relatively modest size, stating that we appeared to combine some of the best characteristics of being a big organisation with those of being small. The report also reiterated our own internal perspectives of FFI’s unique role, which focuses on “(i) collaboration through lasting partnerships, (ii) leadership through innovative models, and (iii) a lean FFI’S NICHE IS CLEAR entrepreneurial style allowing fast and flexible engagement on critical issues.” The consultants were able to clearly articulate FFI’s role within the wider conservation movement, and celebrated the value of our relatively modest size, stating that we appeared to combine some of the best characteristics of being a big organisation with those of being small. The report also reiterated our own internal perspectives of FFI’s unique role, which focuses on “(i) collaboration through lasting partnerships, (ii) leadership through innovative models, and (iii) a lean FFI’S NICHE IS CLEAR entrepreneurial style allowing fast and flexible engagement on critical issues.” The consultants were able to clearly articulate FFI’s role within the wider conservation movement, and celebrated the value of our relatively modest size, stating that we appeared to combine some of the best characteristics of being a big organisation with those of being small. The report also reiterated our own internal perspectives of FFI’s unique role, which focuses on “(i) collaboration through lasting partnerships, (ii) leadership through innovative models, and (iii) a lean entrepreneurial style allowing fast and flexible engagement on critical issues.” PERSE PLAYERS prove frighteningly funny as The Addams Family The Addams Family was the 2019–20 Perse Players production, which the company performed to rave reviews in December. Based around the fictional family of Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley and Uncle Fester, talented Perse actors, technical crew and musicians from all year groups staged four shows of the musical comedy in the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre. The show was the last for Perse Theatre Director in Residence, Matthew Hawksworth, who left the School in February to take up a role leading the Youth programme of Pavilion Dance South West. We wish him all the best for the future.

PERSE STUDENT WINS prestigious Tata Materials Prize Oliver Phillips (Upper Sixth) has won the illustrious Armourers & Brasiers Tata MateriaIs Prize with his in-depth research into spider silk. He was one of just four entrants chosen to take part in the final in London, having worked on a number of projects for the competition, including an investigation into the material properties of chocolate, with the support of Perse Head of Physics David Tricker.

In his presentation to the judging panel, Oliver explained how the production of spider silk is a hugely time-intensive process, highlighting the manufacture of a cape exhibited at London’s V&A Museum in 2012 that took eight years to make, using silk harvested from 1.2 million golden orb weaver spiders. He noted that the weightto-strength ratio of spider silk is many times that of steel, hence the scientific interest in finding ways to artificially produce the material, which could eventually be used in making items such as bulletproof clothing, bandages and artificial tendons and ligaments.

GB HOCKEY STAR returns to The Perse after sealing Olympic qualification Tess Howard (2017) returned to The Perse to give the U14 girls’ hockey team a coaching session just after helping GB Hockey earn Olympic qualification. Tess, who made her full GB debut last year, ran through a range of shooting drills with the U14 team and was struck by the eagerness of the players to develop their skills.

She said: “Because I’m Perse-bred, I’ve been there in the same kit as them, so it was really nice to work with them. I was in the U14 team coached by Mr Kirkham (Perse Director of Sport), as they are, and I remember our team ended up getting to the national finals. They’re so coachable and that’s the mark of a good player, to have the attitude to learn. You can be as talented as you like but if you don’t believe in yourself, nothing will come from it. It was so great to see them believing in themselves and being so enthusiastic.”

The coaching session paid off for the U14 girls, as they took part in the national finals in February, narrowly missing out on the third place play-offs. PERSE STUDENT REPRESENTS Combined Cadet Force in Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall Robert Almqvist (Upper Sixth) had the honour of representing the Combined Cadet Force in the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall. He was one of three cadets chosen to escort the CCF standard into the arena at both the matinee and evening performance, the latter being in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and other members of the Royal Family and televised live on BBC One.

Robert, who is lead cadet of the Perse CCF (RAF) section, was elated to be part of such a poignant occasion of remembrance, which included tributes to mark the 75th anniversary of the pivotal World War II battles of Monte Cassino, Kohima, Imphal and D Day. He said: “It was amazing to be part of such a globally significant event and to be around so many inspirational people and hear their stories.”