Barometer week 35

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From the Headmaster Dear Parents, As one academic year finishes, another one begins, with New Boys’ Evening on Tuesday night at the Prep School and New Boys’ Induction at the Senior School on Wednesday. As much as we are sad to say goodbye to those boys and their families who are leaving, it is one of the great things about working in schools that they are ‘regenerated’ every year - different boys, different staff; change is so energising, if managed correctly, yet the fundamental culture and ethos of our Schools remains a constant, the roots of our shared endeavours.

In a week when I read online of a School in Essex that has taken Music off their school timetable due to budget cuts, I was very proud to witness the first Wetherby Prep Inter-House Music Competition this morning. Got to admit, even though I am always a massive supporter of school initiatives, I did take some convincing from Nathaniel Brawn who promised me all along that, “It’ll be great…well, it’ll be fun at the very least!” And so it was, as the boys, particularly in the choruses, rose to the spirit of the occasion in that special Wetherby way. Every bit as memorable was the Staff Choir, with their rendition of Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’. It didn’t have quite the same triumphant, anthemic roar as the version sang by Katy Perry at Glastonbury last weekend but a terrific effort all the same and great to see the hand-waving, smiles and appreciation of the boys. Well done to Nat Brawn, the Music Department, our ‘sporting’ staff and for the adjudication of our friend from the Senior School, Director of Music, Mr Jon Martin, for what was a very memorable occasion this morning.

At the Senior School, not a Friday Assembly goes by without musical accompaniment by the boys duos, trios, quartets or quintets and individual pieces, together with always excellent and rousing singing of whatever piece of contemporary music is chosen for the week. The boys have shown great coverage and have no inhibitions about singing or performing in these schools – it is truly superb to see. In many all-boys schools, sport can dominate the profile and identity of a community just a little too far but I would like to think that we care about and give as much attention to Music and the Arts, whilst still advancing our sporting prowess.

I will leave this column here, as I am being beckoned by Prep School staff to come down to the Dining Room to start our annual ‘Prize Giving Decisions Evening Debate’. This has always been one of my favourite nights of the year. So much consideration, debate and passion from so many staff who care so much about the boys in this School. And the outcomes? Well, you’ll just have to turn up to Prize Giving on Tuesday to find out…

Have a good weekend,

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DIARY Monday 3rd NO ACTIVITIES Parents’ Evening—Year 10 (A-K)

17:30-19:30

Tuesday 4th NO ACTIVITIES Parents’ Evening—Year 10 (L-Z)

17:30-19:30

Wednesday 5th SPORTS DAY at Parliament Hill Athletics Track

12:30-16:30

Thursday 6th BREAK UP FOR SUMMER HOLIDAYS

13:00

Friday 7th Year 9 & 10 football tour to Barcelona departs (return on 12th July)

Saturday 8th

Sunday 9th

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NOTICEBOARD Sports Day: leaving from the Athletics Ground Should you wish for your son to depart directly from Sports Day (either independently or with parents), please notify Mr Sullivan via email on james.sullivan@wetherbysenior.co.uk before th Wednesday 5 July. Your son will need to sign out with Mr Sullivan before departing the track to head home.

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Curriculum News From the Art and Graphic Design Department Miss Bradley writes: On Wednesday, the Year 10 Graphic Communication

to gain inspiration for the chocolate box packaging they are currently designing.

boys went on a trip to the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising

The museum houses over 12,000 examples of original packaging and advertising

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which are displayed decade by decade in their ‘time tunnel’, allowing visitors to experience the evolution of brands from Victorian times up until today. The museum holds examples of supermarket brands, from Victorian Cadbury’s cocoa to contemporary energy drinks and crisp packets, toys and games, including original Doctor Who figurines, through Spice Girl dolls up to One Direction merchandise, as well as examples of technology and fashion, all displayed alongside items to give historical context. The boys were able to look for packaging that related to the ideas they have been generating in class, and analyse the successful elements of what they saw in order to inform the development of their designs.

Curriculum News Mr Meyer writes...

Manuel Costa: Copper Plate Etching

Last week, Year 10 drew a line under their second unit of the year entitled, 'Cityscapes'. The boys explored a range of media and techniques throughout this process. As they headed towards the end of this process, they specialised in one or a range of media.

Lachlan Walker: Woodcut block print

Adin DeCarlucci: Two Layer screen print onto plaster

JP Cairaschi: Woodcut mounted on a wooden board

Nelson Tobin: Two layer screen print onto aluminium

Nelson Tobin: A distorted two layer screen print The Barometer | week 35 | 30/06/2017

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Year 7 & 8 Residential Day 1 Mr Dawson writes...

After a soggy bus journey down to Kent, we arrived dry, at Bushcraft. The boys knew they were in for a good week when they saw the campsite emerge out of the trees. There were five large tents for them to sleep in, a central yurt with fire pit and a proper field kitchen that was already wafting smells of beef fajitas over the site. This was all set in the gorgeous mixed woodland of the Penshurst Place estate.

Despite some fairly torrential rain on the first day, the boys remained in good spirits and got stuck into their bushcraft adventure!

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Year 7 & 8 Residential

Day 2 Miss Hoskins writes...

Day two dawned with the rain finally ceasing and the boys woke up to a full English breakfast cooked on the camp fire. During the morning, the boys learnt about cutting tools and then fire making. Having collected match, finger and thumb sticks, the boys made a fire per tribe and then made and grilled their own lamb kebabs over the flames for their lunch. In the afternoon, the majority of boys braved the cold and went swimming in the lake and then warmed up with a first aid talk in the main yurt. Camp leader, Geoff, and Miss Hoskins then did a demonstration of how to panasse a salmon (remove head, scales, fins, guts and bones) and placed these on spits for the evening meal with noodles and Asian veg.

Following a game of predator, hot chocolate, marshmallows and brownies, the boys settled in for a much needed sleep.

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Year 7 & 8 Residential Day 3 Miss Maroudi writes...

With a warm bowl of porridge,m we kick started Day three. The boys enjoyed lots of games including singing, dancing and one of the highlights of the trip, the "show me how you get down" song. A pizza making session followed where the boys fully participated by collecting wood for the ovens. Following a demo by one of the tribe leaders, the boys all had the opportunity to butcher a rabbit from scratch. A lot of the boys got fully immersed into this activity, particularly Max H, Misha D and Ben W. Dinner was a delicious meal of goat curry which had been slow cooked for 8 hours and most boys came back up to get seconds. Finally, for one of the final activities of the day, the teachers were taken away to be covered in fake blood and propped onto a fake plane crash. The boys then came running up to show off their first aid training. Miss Hoskins, Miss Webb and Miss Maroudi were pulled onto stretchers and carried safely down to the camp, all the while exhibiting excellent bed side manner, particularly Tomasso S, Leo M, Jude J and Matteus S.

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Year 7 & 8 Residential Day 4 Miss Webb writes...

At the crack of dawn on Friday, the boys awoke to their final rendition of 'Oh What a Beautiful Morning,' quickly packing up their bags before a well -deserved pancake breakfast.

The final activity was a camouflage and concealment challenge. Using camo cream, sticks and foliage, the boys effortlessly blended into their surroundings.

If it wasn't for the occasional squeal of surprise when a boy stumbled into a bramble, you would never have known 40 boys were in those woods.

Afterwards, the boys convened under the yurt for the last time, and thanked the Bushcraft team for a fantastic week. With that, there was time for one last game of Predator, before the boys hopped on the bus and returned to the land of beds, showers and wifi.

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Year 9 Residential Mr Chidell writes...

On Tuesday morning, 35 year 9 boys met at Paddington and boarded a train heading west.

Before long, we reached our Somerset campsite and began a range of fun team-building activities. After a hearty dinner, the boys played an epic football game on what seemed the be the only (fairly!) flat piece of land in a 10-mile radius - which had somewhat optimistically been christened 'Wembley'. The next two days were given over to a range of outdoor activities. Four boys give their take on the week's events:

Rock climbing I cherished the opportunity to climb on Somerset's jagged cliffs as this was my first time climbing cliffs.

I was determined to climb the peak of the cliff as I knew it would be a challenging and joyful experience. The rocks were damp ,wet and clotted with moss. When I went down it was a petrifying experience; I did not know if I could make it but I actually really enjoyed it.

Edouardo U.

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Year 9 Residential Cave exploration We started the activity expecting the average tour around a cave like Wookiee hole.

Although, what we found was much more unnerving. We were taken down a small hole in the ground and told to slide down the rocks which, if you are like me, is not very pleasant. We had to wear boiler suits since otherwise we would have been covered in slime.

The most memorable hole was the superman, where you had to slide down headfirst into a small hole hardly big enough to hold one person. Yet, after harsh sliding we had a desensitising break with no lightsomething you don't get much in London, and as we got used to it the silence and darkness which had first scared us. It made us feel quite serene.

Alex Le Marchant

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Year 9 Residential Coasteering Coasteering was a very enjoyable activity. The aim was to climb and then jump off increasingly high cliff edges and rock formations into the sea!

We swam out into the chilly water on the stunning coastline of Torquay, led by our experienced instructors who amusingly referred to themselves as "pretty Pete" and "Ugly Pete"!

The experience was well worth it even though plenty of boys found it rather daunting at first, due to the harsh weather conditions and ice-cold water, causing many shivers... though some of them may also have come from looking at the chilly, gunmetal water a bit too long before taking the plunge!

But ultimately, the prospect of jumping off cliffs provided an initial sense of trepidation followed by a huge adrenaline rush and then a massive sense of achievement.

Overall, coasteering was a thoroughly exhilarating activity!

Evangelos M

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Year 9 Residential Tour of Kents Cavern: As we carefully strolled into the aged cave, we were welcomed with a spectacular light show which thoroughly explained the interesting and enthralling history of this amazing cave. Soon after, we walked through the historic walls of the cave and were educated about those walls, as well as the many stalactites and stalagmites, by our experienced tour guide. We slowly continued our journey through the cave, seeing many different things which a lot of people could never even imagine, including a bear skull many hundreds of thousands of years old. We also had many chances to touch the formations and the various types of rocks.

We did not only get to just touch these things, but we also got to touch skulls and bones from the people that inhabited the caves millions of years ago.

Despite the occasional small spaces and the occasional scare by our quickly-notorious tour guide, our experience in Kent's Cavern was not just fantastic, but highly educational. It was such a great experience for all of us, and I'm completely certain the next group of Wetherby Senior will have the same, if not more fun then we did in Kent's Cavern.

By Tobias T.

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Year 9 Residential

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Year 9 Residential

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Sporting News Mr Sullivan writes...

Here are the latest updates from the Sports Department at Wetherby Senior...

Sports Day: Wednesday 5th July: 12:30 – 16:00 Come down and support your TRIB! Come on Effra, Fleet, Walbrook & Tyburn!

All boys (Years 7-10) should arrive at school for normal time in the correct Games clothing, i.e. white polo shirts, black shorts, white socks and trainers. If boys wish to wear running spikes at the track, please bring these in a separate bag.

Boys should also have both a full waterbottle and sun cream with them on the day.

Venue:

Parliament

Hill

Fields

Athletics Track, Hampstead Heath, Parliament Hill, London, NW3 2JP.

Please come down to support the boys. There is parking available in the surrounding areas.

All boys will be transported back to school after the event at 16:00, able to depart the school as normal.

Should you wish to take your son directly from the venue/wish your son to travel home by themselves, you must contact Mr Sullivan in advance of Sports Day.

Please see the attached document for further details of Sports Day.

Sports Quote of the Week:

‘Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement’ Follow us for results and updates on Twitter via @WetherbySSports and Instagram @wsssports #teamwetherby 18

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Sporting News Eddie Jones coaches at Wetherby Senior School Eddie Jones treated 14 and 15 year old pupils at Wetherby Senior School to a coaching session earlier this month.

The young rugby players took part in a warm up which included handling skills, tackle techniques

and attack decision making before going into a game of touch refereed by the school’s Director of Sport, James Sullivan.

“The

kids

were

overwhelmed

and

full

of

excitement ahead of the big day and so were the parents. They couldn’t wait,” said Sullivan.

“The Year 10s had their exams that day and were already planning their exit route from the exam hall to take part in the session while the remainder of the kids were wishing away the week in the countdown to his arrival. The benefits of rugby have translated into the classroom, with many kids coming out of their shell as a result."

“It was great to come here to Wetherby. The students seem to really enjoy the sport. You could see the enthusiasm on all of their faces during the session and this is what it’s all about," said Jones.

Three of the pupils, Nour H., Antonio M. and Matthew M., have been selected for the London Irish Bronze Academy.

“Rugby is the ultimate team sport and I’ve developed a whole host of important social skills such as; sportsmanship and fair play, cooperation and team spirit," said Antonio M. "These are essential for developing healthy relationships and succeeding in and out of school.”

To view the full article please click HERE and share

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On the Hot Seat Hello and welcome to Week 25 of “On the Hot Seat. Readers, we are crawling towards the end of term and despite the current distinct lack of sunshine, there is an almost tangible frisson of excitement in the air as the end of term approaches.

Accademia d’Arte, just around the corner from where Michelangelo Buonarroti used to live? We tried to practise our very basic Italian on him but readers his Italian is, and we quote, “pretty ropey” #prego #prosecco. He is an artist member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors and has exhibited in galleries, sculpture parks and public spaces. His talents have also seen him work as a professional sculpture fabricator for a number of artists, including Conrad Shawcross for three years. It was during this time he was brushing shoulders with celebrities and even had lunch with the actress Lucy Liu. Readers, his talents don’t end here. Like EVERYONE ELSE ON OUR STAFF TEAM, Mr Murphy is a talented sportsman, (Señor McFaul rolls his eyes…). In his youth, he played for Cardiff City FC and is currently a goalkeeper for a six-a-side team in the Brixton Premier league.

He also helps our Games Department to train our budding Wetherby athletes.

He also has an identical twin brother who works as a product and furniture designer in Chelsea.

After a rather emotional weekend watching Ghost, Señor McFaul decided it was about time we went back to the Art Department to find our resident art technician, (and behind the scene sculptor), Mr Murphy. Readers, I have my suspicions… I rather feel he was hoping to reenact the potter’s wheel scene #patrickswayze #unchainedmelody but thankfully he managed to retain a sense of decorum.

Did you know that Mr Murphy lived in Florence for 8 months, studying wood and stone carving at

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On the Hot Seat So, on that bombshell let us begin…

5) Chips or mash?

1) Dogs or cats?

Chips

Cats

6) Truth or dare?

2) Wales or Northern Ireland?

(Intake of breath) Dare

Wales

7) Cardio or weights?

3) Henry Moore or Anthony Caro?

Cardio

Caro

8) Saver or spender?

4) Lager or ale?

(Even bigger intake of breath) Saver

Ale

9) Pepsi or coke?

Coke 10) Tate modern or Tate Britain?

Tate Britain 11) What is your spirit animal and why?

What? What kind of question is that…? (Frau Eaves points at Señor…) Probably a lion, roaming its domain. King of the jungle.

12) As you are a trained chef, what is your dinner party menu to impress?

Well, it varies… It depends on the cuisine, the number of people, the mood, the invitees, the… (it was at this point dear readers, that we began to feel that Mr Murphy was perhaps evading the question. So we re-worded it…)

12b) Ok, if Frau Eaves and Señor McFaul were coming for dinner, what would you cook?

Oh well, then clearly tapas. Maybe some padron peppers, some croquetas de jamón…

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From the Editor On this week’s front cover: Year 9 learn about teamwork in Somerset On the back: Year 7 & 8 enjoy an outdoor kebab For all comments and feedback please email: henry.warner@wetherbysenior.co.uk

http://www.wetherbysenior.co.uk