Barometer week 26

From the Headmaster Dear Parents, I trust everyone had an enjoyable break over the Easter holidays. The Bakers didn’t go away but we amused ourselves with rather boring things like putting the house up for sale, which has ended up as being a massive chore, to far more exciting things like riding the slide at the Olympic Park. With news items often focusing on Olympic venues around the world that have turned into white elephants, it is great to see the area still being put to good use, still popular with the public and still in immaculate condition. Whatever your political views, I don’t think anyone could argue that the planning for the Olympic Games, the Games themselves and the post-Olympic action plan, have been anything but successes. Well done, London!

Another exciting event befell our village this holiday. Long-time readers of this column may recall my successful search for the ‘Cholesbury Dinosaurs’ (Week 26 Wetherbuzz/Barometer 22.4.16). Well, this Easter, our Raptor and Triceratops were joined by a T-Rex! Cue much excitement in our village and bemusement as I saw a truck pass our front garden with a wrapped up but clearly visible prehistoric reptile strapped onto the back.

These examples of British eccentricity always make me smile…

Summer Term is often a favourite one, with not just the sunshine and warmer weather but so many events and activities to put a smile on boys’ and parents’ faces, none more so than two, very special evenings – the Headmaster’s Ball for the Prep School on May 19th and the Headmaster’s Gala Dinner for the Senior School on 16 th June. Both are black tie events and I am sure Wetherby’s reputation for having the most glamorous parents will not be misplaced. We have pretty much finalised the auction lot list at the Prep School but the Senior School event would love to hear from any parent who could offer up a ‘lot’ This also goes for the teaching staff. The immensely talented Miss Hoskins has started the ball rolling with offering to bake and design a cake of your choice and is offering two spaces on the ‘Wethergirls’ netball team for a fixture of your choosing. What great lots and this is just the start. If you have anything you can offer, please email me at nick.baker@wetherbysenior.co.uk as I would be delighted to hear from you.

Have a great weekend…

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DIARY Monday 24th

Tuesday 25th

Wednesday 26th Cricket U13 WSS A vs St. Anthony’s (A)

14:30

Thursday 27th UKMT Junior Maths Challenge (Pds 2&3) Cricket U15 WSS A/B vs Westminster (H) Cricket U14 WSS A vs Westminster (A)

09:25-1055 14:30 14:30

Friday 28th Tutor Period NO ASSEMBLY

14:55-15:25

Saturday 29th

Sunday 30th

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NOTICEBOARD THE HEADMASTER'S CHARITY DINNER Please join us for this inaugural event on Friday 16th June at the Italian Embassy. Tickets will go on sale soon and please note that they will be sold on a first come first served basis.

There is also a gift tree and a silent auction for which we need donations - all proceeds from these sales go towards The Marcos, Will and Maria Bursary and The Italian Red Cross.

If you can donate anything or would perhaps like to sponsor any part of the event/table on the night or other items, please contact Pia DeCarlucci (pia_lene@me.com) or Jackie Bektas (j_bektas@hotmail.com).

Barcelona Tour The final deposit for the Barcelona football tour should have been paid before the Easter Holidays. There are still some outstanding payments, please can these be made via Parent Pay as soon as possible.

Wetherby Pool Competition The Wetherby Pool Competition starts next week. Find out who you are playing by looking at the fixture list on the notice board outside Room 8. Challenge your opponent and then give the result to Mr Atkinson. Rules can also be found on the notice board. An official referee will need to officiate your game. If you are interested in being a referee then come and see Mr Atkinson.

Official Referees: Mr Atkinson Armand S Shwan A Ishaan B Leonid K Sacha R Evangelos M

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Clubs & Food Clubs & Activities this week: Monday

Tuesday

Film Review Club Art and Design Music Tech

Bridge Club

Philosophy

Climbing Club

YAD Fitness

Fencing

Basketball

Football Parkour

Barre Fitness

Quiz Club

Book Club

YAD Fitness

Wednesday Actor Training & Physical Theatre Choir MFL Cinema Club

Thursday Fun Run Classics Club Junior Geographical Society

Biology in the News Rock School Duke of Edinburgh Award

Table Tennis

Community Service

Cricket Food Chemistry Football GCSE Art & Design GCSE Drama GCSE Graphic Design Quiz Club

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Mrs Deedat writes…

The Headmaster’s Gala Dinner organised by the PTA will take place on Friday June 16th hosted by the Italian Ambassador and Signora Terraciano at their Residence in aid of the Marcos, Will and Maria Bursary Appeal and the Italian Red Cross. This is a cause very close to our hearts following the Italian Earthquake last summer. Tickets include a three course dinner, Prosecco, wine and limoncello (or non-alcoholic alternatives) and beautiful music, all in the glamorous Embassy rooms. As a huge Masterchef fan I am looking forward to dinner which will be provided by Embassy Head Chef Danilo Cortellini, who I watched in the final in 2015. This will be a brilliant event and I hope to see lots of you there!

Tickets: Cost £135 and are sold on a first come first served basis with limited availability. If you would like to purchase a ticket or a whole table (£1350) please email: nick.baker@wetherbysenior.co.uk OR Daniela.simpson@wetherbysenior.co.uk If you have any questions do not hesitate to email me: dena.deedat@wetherbysenior.co.uk or a PTA member from your son’s class.

How else can you help?

Mr Baker will be leading a silent auction during the evening. If you have a donation to pledge please email him: nick.baker@wetherbysenior.co.uk OR j_bektas@hotmail.com If you are unable to attend the event but would like to take part in the auction, please email one of the names above.

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Curiosities

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Curiosities Mr Chidell writes...

Despite the fact that Shakespeare famously once claimed that ‘all the world’s a stage’, I suspect it had never occurred to most of us that the corridors and classrooms of WSS could be so convincingly transformed into a mysterious and magical junkyard, full of brilliant and bizarre creatures of the night. And yet, over two afternoons and evenings towards the end of the Spring Term, themselves the culmination of months of hard work and preparation in collaboration with theatre company Les Enfants Terribles, this is exactly what happened…

For those of you who were unable to attend, hopefully this review might capture some of what made this such an unusual and fascinating performance – and for those of you who were there, it might be a chance to relive what was undoubtedly a memorable and genuinely unique experience.

Because this was a piece of promenade theatre, with the action taking place at various locations around the school, the performance began outside the front entrance, where the audience was divided into small groups of around five or six.

Anticipation levels rose steadily as we waited to be led through the play’s various different scenes by an ‘Urban Explorer’ – an expert tour guide with unparalleled knowledge of the junkyard’s nooks and crannies.

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Curiosities These Urban Explorers – played by AJ, Tobias T, Anthony A, Jonathan G, Harrison P and Ahmed A – engaged their respective groups with energy and enthusiasm, skipping and shimmying urgently around the place, building tension, cracking jokes and explaining what we were witnessing at each stop along the way.

And what extraordinary things we saw! There was Raphael M munching on weeds and daisies as he contorted face and body into eerie, surreal and somewhat menacing postures. His voice, too, was completely altered; a creepy whining sound that evoked the strangeness of this particular fringe of the junkyard.

Almost equally as strange was Jude B, playing a ‘prepper’ – someone obsessed with the idea that the world will end any moment – living in a dustbin. Then there was Alex G, a hyperactive, twirling creature with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the major events of the 20th century gleaned from the pages of old newspapers that had been flung carelessly into landfill, only to be lovingly reclaimed, read and then fashioned into an outfit. Sebastiano B popped up at various points during the promenade, grinning manically while stalking the corridors and chattering away about his prized collection of keys. Meanwhile, Danny S gave an excellent oneman performance as the much misunderstood ‘Magnetic Boy’, delivering a heartfelt monologue about the perils of attracting every piece of metal in the vicinity. Meanwhile Max H gave an eerie turn as the expertly camouflaged ‘Man in Disguise’. Later on, in the basement, we encountered Jacques O, a cockney wheeler-dealer trying to charm the audience into purchasing his knockoff ‘Goochey bags in the latest, transparent design’ (which looked suspiciously like Tesco carrier bags!) as well as a range of dubious ‘antiques’. And, as we wandered the school, Alex P-T’s haunting keyboard music echoed down the corridors, underscoring the eeriness of the junkyard. Each individual performance was superb – and it’s worth remembering that the boys had to repeat them for every group of audience members, maintaining their focus and energy over extended periods of time.

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Curiosities As well as these one-man performances dotted around the place, the classrooms became showcases for some excellent group work. Ben D and Harry G played the aspirational parents of longsuffering children Atticus C and Danny B to create a comically dysfunctional family slowly reaching the end of their tether as they searched for their new house amid the bleak junkyard landscape.

Meanwhile, Tommaso S and Sherif K (playing completely against type it should be noted!) went feral, acting as wild and speechless children of the dump, communicating only in angry grunts and erratic hand gestures. Twins Fabian and Rocco C played an ancient couple, engaging in almost Beckettian dialogue about grey and black dogs. In a separate room, Jock S and Monty C acted the parts of two ancient portraits of noblemen who had witnessed everything from life at Henry VIII’s court to a state visit to London by JFK, but were now (much to their disappointment) stranded in a rubbish tip. Finally, the electricity scene was lit; Frejvid G, Devan S and Himat V created a buzz with their highly-charged performance as electrified beings that roamed the debris-scattered junkyard.

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Curiosities After the promenade section of the play was over, the audience convened in the drama studio for the final act. Tobi A played the junkyard’s caretaker and expertly paved the way for a range of scenes that included magnificent puppetry, terrifying monsters and strange mechanical beings. All this was set against the backdrop of a beautifully designed set that really emphasised the shabby strangeness of the junkyard and was rounded off by some striking lighting and sound design. Finally, a special mention for Evangelos M who stepped in at the last minute after another boy had to pull out due to injury, learned all his lines, mastered the puppetry skills required for the final scene and played guitar.

All in all, this was unlike any performance I had seen before and really showed the depth and breadth not just of dramatic talent in the school, but also creativity more generally – many of the scenes were conceptualised by the boys themselves before being refined in collaboration with Joe Hufton from Les Enfants Terribles, the set was made entirely in house and everything down to the programmes looked highly professional. All boys involved, and the staff who dedicated so much time to rehearsals, especially Miss Twomey who coordinated it all, should be very proud of their work – the bar has been set high for future shows at Wetherby!

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Geography and Classics in Italy Day 1 – Herculaneum and Solfatara Miss Maroudi writes...

On the first day, following our journey from Wetherby to Naples we visited our first volcano a shallow crater at Pozzuoli. It is a dormant volcano, but it still emits jets of steam and sulphur fumes. It is appropriately named ‘Solfatara’ which means “land of sulphur” as the realisation that this volcano is still ‘alive’ came with the pungent smell of sulphur being emitted from the ground (which if you don’t know smells of rotten eggs.) Enduring this smell was well worth it though to stand so close to the jets of steam and feel so close to an actual volcano!

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Geography and Classics in Italy Following this, we visited Herculaneum, the lesser known town that was destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 AD. This was an incredible site to visit and the boys had the opportunity to go off and discover the many beautiful excavated sites, including: baths, villas, preserved statues and decorative wall paintings. Most memorable of all were the hundreds of excavated skeletons in the boat houses where the inhabitants of Herculaneum had hidden , protecting themselves from what they thought was an earthquake.

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Geography and Classics in Italy Day 2 – Pompeii

Vesuvius

&

In the morning, after breakfast, we set off on our coach journey to Mount Vesuvius. At Vesuvius, we enjoyed a steep hike to the top. The painful hike was well worth it, as the top of Vesuvius provided a breath-taking view of the historic city of Naples.

Furthermore, we were able to enjoy the sight of the mountain’s crater at the beautiful geographic site.

In the afternoon, we arrived at our next destination in the Ancient city of Pompeii, where there was so much to explore!

We visited the Amphitheatre, which seated 20,000 people and was used as the centre of Roman entertainment.

Moreover, we saw many mosaics (such as the Cave Canem Mosaic) and explored many past residents’ houses in the beautiful archaeological site.

Finally, we visited the Roman theatre, noted for its excellent acoustics, before we headed back to our hotel, for dinner.

After dinner, we drove to Sorrento by coach for a friendly game of bowling. The captains were Miss Nash, Mrs Deedat, Miss Maroudi and Mr Hasthorpe.

I was on Miss Maroudi’s team, the winning team (followed closely by Miss Nash’s team).

By Evangelos M 14

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Geography and Classics in Italy

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Geography and Classics in Italy Third day - Capri On the third day, we woke up early to the grey sky of Massa Lubrense. We went down to a delicious breakfast and we were all raring to get to the island of Capri.

We got on the bus with our great driver, Vincenzo, and headed to Sorrento.

When we got to Sorrento we boarded a huge boat to head over to Capri. We then jumped straight on to a smaller boat to tour the island. Whilst on the boat tour we saw a lot of the different grottos and other famous landmarks.

While we were walking up to the town someone had managed to drop their bag down onto a roof, but thanks to the wonderful brain of Mr Hasthorpe, Rocco Cairaschi and I managed to combine forces and retrieve it.

At the top of the never-ending stairs we got to the lovely town of Capri. We had time to have lunch and walk around. We then went back to the marina and got the boat back to Sorrento.

At dinner everyone swapped seats, so we sat with boys from different year groups. We got to know each other better while practising the ‘art of conversation’.

After dinner, we went back into Sorrento to make ice cream. We made lemon and hazelnut ice creams which were delicious.

By Jack H-G

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Geography and Classics in Italy

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Curriculum News Arthur C

From the Art Department Mr Meyer writes...

Daniel S

Jude B

Daniel B The Barometer | week 26 | 21/04/2017

Raphael M

Vasco de N

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Giacometti examples

The 3D area of Art & Design has continued to take shape this year. Year 7 have recently created a Giacometti inspired maquette using a range of materials and a number of different resources during the course of this ten week project

Curriculum News

From the Chemistry Department Miss Hoskins writes...

The Year 10 boys began their work on the topic of Acids this week.

They investigated different indicators including phenolphthalein, methyl orange and universal indicator and what colours they turned in different strength acid/alkali solutions.

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Mr Sullivan writes…

Welcome back after the Easter Holidays! We hope you are looking forward to the summer and let’s hope we get some sunshine!

The Summer term has arrived, and so has Cricket! Bring it on!

What is so great about cricket?

It's a Mental Game - The mental game is as challenging as the physical one.

It's a Physical Game - It's an elite sport where elite athletes of all body shapes and sizes are pushed to the limit.

It's a Skilful Game - A batsman in international cricket has 600 milliseconds to hit a ball. They have around 200 milliseconds of that to actually make up their mind about the shot they want to play.

It's a Testing Game - You can play cricket in so many different conditions formats.

It’s an Individual Game - Although you play as a team, you are very much alone when you're in the action. Batsmen and bowlers act alone. Your team mates can't help you; it's all up to you.

It's a Partnership Game - When batting, you have to be ready to hand your life over to the guy at the other end. You have to trust each other so that you follow each other's instructions.

It's a Team Game - Ultimately, it all comes down to being a team game. Your team provides the emotional energy to keep you going.

Cricket attire Wetherby Senior Twenty20 Cricket attire for Summer 2017: Cricket white polo:

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Black shorts/tracksuit bottoms:

won’t be selected to play.

You can purchase all the above apart from the trainers via Perry Uniform website. Please clink on the link: http://www.perryuniform.co.uk/ index.php/find-your-school/schools-v-z/wetherbyschool/senior-school-marylebone-lane/sports-kit

White socks, white cricket trousers and trainers:

Water bottle & sun cream

Attire: In school – Hoodie, White Cricket shirt, Black tracksuit bottoms with White socks and White trainers

This term, we have a storage option for the heavy cricket bags that will soon occupy the corridors at Wetherby. The Games Department ask that boys store their cricket bags in the storage cupboard, off of the courtyard (below the basketball net to be precise). This storage area will be open from 8am - 9am in the mornings for boys to deposit their cricket equipment. This ensures that the corridors remain clear and bags are securely stored.

Upon arrival at school, it is important that boys continue to use the main school entrance (Bulstrode Street) and walk through the building to deposit their cricket equipment. This is in line with our Health and Safety Policy. These bags can then be collected as we depart the premises for Games lessons.

Cricket equipment will not be permitted to remain on site overnight - unless previously authorised by the Games Department - as this will cause a storage nightmare for the Games lessons on the following day.

If equipment is left behind, it will be sent to lost property and will be given to charity if no one claims it by the end of the term. Most importantly, please name all your equipment and sports kit.

Lessons/Training – White Cricket shirt, black shorts or tracksuit bottoms with White socks and White trainers.

Matches: White cricket shirt, White cricket trousers with White socks and White trainers (if selected for A team, boys must also bring their school blazer).

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Most of our lessons and matches will take place in Regents Park using The Hub. It is home to the largest outdoor sports facility in London and we cannot wait to hold our first home fixtures of the season. We will be using most of the adult cricket pitches and nets (pictured) to develop the boys’ understanding and skills in such a wonderful game.

All the RED circled numbers are Regents Park Cricket pitches we will be using. If you intend to watch, please be aware that there is no parking onsite and please use the pre-paid parking bays oustide the park. If you would like your son to depart/be picked up after Tuesday/Wedneday/Thursday afternoon lessons or fixtures, please inform me by email: james.sullivan@wetherbysenior.co.uk and ryan.underwood@wetherbysenior.co.uk.

The best time to collect your son: At 3:55pm.

Please arrive 20 mins early as we cannot wait around for the safety of the other boys. Best place to pick up: Outer circle near Prince Albert Rd, London NW8.

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Boys’ Sporting News Virgin Mini London Marathon A few weeks ago I entered a trial run to represent Westminster Borough for the Virgin Mini London Marathon.

I ran 5k in 23minutes and I came 6th for my age category.

City of Westminster team manger then had to select 8 fastest runners from each age category, and both myself and my sister got selected to represent Westminster borough for the 5k Virgin Mini London Marathon which takes place on Sunday 23rd April 2017.

My goal is to run 5k between 1920 minutes!

Good luck Anthony!

If you are a fitness fantanic like Anthony, I have attached the running routes through Regents Park to add to the boys fitness routine

and

increase

their

cardiovascular levels for cricket and this terms fitness testing.

Sports Quote of the Week:

“Those at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there” Follow us for results and updates on Twitter via @WetherbySSports #teamwetherby

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From the Editor On this week’s front cover: A snap shot from the School show, Curiosities On the back: Staff netball team, the Wethergirls, celebrate another win For all comments and feedback please email: henry.warner@wetherbysenior.co.uk

http://www.wetherbysenior.co.uk/