JUNIORviewsSPRING PRODUCTION

The Wizard of Oz

THE QUEEN

Pupils sing for Her Majesty

CHESSNational Champions

2017

Our boys spend about four and a half hours each week doing games and PE but otherwise they are in the classroom from 9.00am until just after 3.30pm each day, with a break in the morning and lunchtime, of course! We strive to ensure that their lessons are stimulating and engaging so that learning is overwhelmingly good fun. It is, nevertheless, a busy schedule for them.

I remain, therefore, genuinely impressed with how much they and their teachers manage to achieve during the extra-curricular time available to them. As you read through this newsletter you will see that they have been involved in a range of competitive sports and games, enjoyed drama, music, debating and the creative arts and still found the time and energy to build links with those in other countries and raise money for people less fortunate than us.

We have a great group of boys – bright, friendly, interested in so much and seemingly always keen to take on new challenges. They are fortunate in the support they receive from their parents and the excellence of their teachers.

I hope you will enjoy reading this newsletter and, if you have not yet visited us, feel encouraged to make contact and arrange a tour. I will be more than happy to take you around the school and give you the chance to meet some of the boys and teachers.

Dr Gerard Silverlock

Headmaster

SPECIAL GUESTS

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WELCOME

CLARE BALDING

This year King’s hosted the South London heat of the Kids’ Lit Quiz competition for students aged10-13. Four teams took part from King’s, taken from both the junior and senior schools, with the top King’s team ranking third out of the 33 schools taking part. We were very proud to welcome Clare Balding to the event – Clare was signing copies of her new book, The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t Gallop.

We were delighted to welcome Dame Katherine Grainger to our final Monday assembly of the year. Katherine has five Olympic rowing medals, including a gold from the 2012 Games in London - more than any other female British athlete. She is also a barrister with a PhD in law from King’s College London. She spoke about her career as a rower and her joy at winning a gold medal in 2012. We were all struck by her skills as a public speaker, too: she was relaxed, confident and highly articulate and gave really informative answers to the many questions from the boys. While she was speaking she gave out all her medals so that all the boys had a chance to hold one (she did get them all back). It was a great privilege to have Katherine with us for an hour, especially as this was her first day as Chair of UK Sport.

KATHERINE GRAINGER

Above: Mrs Sethi joined us from Sanskriti School in Delhi this year as part of the teacher exchange for two weeks. The boys in first form particularly enjoyed hearing about the many geographical, historical and cultural differences between the two countries.

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SPECIAL GUESTS

Earlier this year, boys in the removes (years 7 and 8) spent an hour in the company of Mrs Anita Lasker-Wallfisch. Our guest was born into a German Jewish family in 1925 and survived both Auschwitz-Birkenau and Belsen, due to the fact that she was a fine cellist who played in the camp orchestra. Since the war, Mrs Lasker-Wallfisch has lived in Engand, where she married, had a family of her own and became a professional musician. Her warmth and sanity represents the triumph of humanity over the bestial horrors of the Final Solution.

Inherit the TRUTH

EVENTSRemembrance Day 2016

World BOOK DAYThe boys thoroughly enjoyed dressing up for World Book Day – as did the staff…

Mr Kisaka of Rarage Primary School in Kenya once again visited the boys of Rushmere. Over the last 11 years Mr Kisaka has managed the Obera Schools Project which has rebuilt two primary schools in rural Kenya thanks to the fundraising the boys have achieved. Over £80,000 raised in sponsorship has created 14 classrooms alongside projects such as a porridge kitchen, furnishing classrooms and providing sports equipment. More than 900 children now study in classrooms which the boys’ sponsorship has provided.

MR KISAKA

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w

EVENTS

MOCK ELECTIONIn June the junior school held its own mock election. Many boys dressed up in political fancy dress, but the real focus was on the debating. After Mr Watkins and Jack discussed the fascinating and sometimes hilarious comments and statistics from the previous week’s survey, Rajeiv spoke first with gusto for the ‘Beige Party’ (the boys had renamed parties but kept the same policies). Next, speaking with maturity, confidence and a New Zealand rugby shirt, Finn made his case for the ‘Black party’. Following this, Tomek spoke with sense, building up his argument point by point for the ‘Orange Party’. Charlie spoke strongly and clearly to ensure maximum votes for his ‘Grey Party’. Kalyan delivered a speech with flair and fluency for the ‘Pink Party’. And, before the vote was cast, Rhys stood for a party created by himself called ‘the Posh Party’, which wants to bring back words such as ‘spiffing’ and rid England of ‘common’ sports like rugby and football. Overall, it’s clear that all the boys enjoyed themselves and delved deeper into the political world.

FINAL RESULTS

Black Party (Liberal Democrats) – 106

Orange Party (The Green Party) – 66

Pink Party (The Conservatives) – 54

Beige Party (UKIP) – 30

Grey Party (Labour) – 29

Le

Petit Déjeuner

Le mardi vingt-huit février, nous avons invité nos parents à prendre le ‘Petit Déjeuner Français’ à l’école. Grâce à toute l’équipe de cuisine, Collyer Hall était transformé en petit café de Paris, très authentique et charmant. Pas surprenant, le menu a pris la forme de croissants au beurre, de pains au chocolat, de brioches natures, avec du jus d’orange et une boisson chaude: café ou thé. J’avais le plaisir d’être un garçon de café, très charmant avec mon noeud papillon. Pendant le petit déjeuner, nous avons régalé les parents d’une variété de chansons françaises comme: ‘Aux Champs Elysées’, ‘Les Cornichons’ et ‘Les Tâches Ménagères’. C’était une belle réussite. Tous les parents ont été bien impressionés avec notre joie d’apprendre le français. Bravo aux Lower Remove et aussi un très grand merci à tous les profs français!

Mathieu (LRW)

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This year’s final of La Soirée Française consisted of 17 acts. There were some great performances including poems, speeches, comedy sketches and songs. There were two runners-up, George and Alex, who performed a very amusing sketch called ‘Two French Men in an English Pub’, which they had written themselves, and Tomek gave a very moving performance of ‘Déjeuner du Matin.’ The winners were Hugo and Roemer with a superb rap, ‘Papa Outai’. It was a fantastic evening with many good performances and it must be said that Michele was a great Master of Ceremonies, and whilst the judging was taking place, we all loved his performance of ‘Where is Bryan?’

Well done to everyone, and as the judge Victoria Robinson said, “Everybody is a winner!”

Le Soirée Française

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RUGBY under the lights

On a bitterly cold evening, the junior school fixtures were rounded off with the annual matches against RGS Guildford under the lights at the Old Boys’ ground. Whilst the score lines read four fairly comfortable wins, this was far from true with the opposition fiercely competing in every aspect of the games. The contest of the night had to be the U12As, and the victory for KCJS capped off an unbeaten season and the perfect goodbye for Mr Lang.

RESULTSU12A – 35-5

U12B – 30-15

U13A – 20-5

U13B – 40-5

In the autumn term, the U10A football team took part in a five-a-side tournament at Cranmore School. Despite the atrocious weather, their spirits were not dampened. The boys faced Hoe Bridge in the Plate semi-final where King’s dominated the first half, but they just couldn’t find the back of the net. They kept on attacking in the second half and luckily, with two minutes to spare, Ollie took the team to victory with a great shot from the edge of the box. In the final against Shrewsbury House, Ollie was the hero again - sliding Noah’s fantastic cross past the keeper to win the Plate! It was a fantastic morning for a dripping wet U10 A team, one soaked Mr Culverhouse and all the drenched parents!

U10 Football

SPORT

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Nine boys competed in this year’s Rushmere Chess Championship. Wilfred was crowned Rushmere Chess Champion on tie-break, with Shivam taking the silver medal. Luca, Tobin, Arvind and Sen finished on four points, with Sen taking the bronze medal on a tie-break. The top transition (year 3) player was San, who scored three points. Congratulations to all the players.

Chess ChampionshipRUSHMERE

The U13 7s team won the City of London Freemen’s Invitational Sevens in February. They played against Langley Park School, Reigate Grammar School, St Joseph’s, Portsmouth Grammar School, Downsend, Danes Hill, and then Sevenoaks in the final.

GOLF

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SPORT

In January, I was lucky enough to score my 100th goal for the school. Whilst I am delighted to reach this milestone, I realise that it would not have happened without the great coaches and team mates that I have had the pleasure of playing with over the last six years. The core of the U13As has been the same since transition (with a few fantastic additions) and some may recall this team was unbeaten for the best part of three years. Thank you to the people who have acknowledged this achievement and congratulated me - it’s very kind of all of you. I hope there are many more goals to come for King’s and the next ‘goal’ is to reach 150 before the end of sixth form!

Seb (URJS)

100 goals!

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Wimbledon Park Golf Club hosted our annual parent-boy golf competition. For once, the weather was almost clement and there was some great golf on display. Nearest the pin (adult) was Will’s dad; nearest the pin (boy) was Kalyan, and the overall winners were Kalyan and his father.

U13 RUGBY 7S

The U13 team successfully defended the English Chess Federation National title at the final held at Hertford College, Oxford. The day began with a talk by Professor Peter Millican, a correspondence chess Grandmaster, about artificial intelligence and the use of computers in chess. After lunch, battle commenced in the college dining room. The King’s team of Ranesh, Rajeiv, Anish and Seb soon took up residence on “high table” by claiming a share of the lead after round 1, before a convincing 4-0 victory in round 2 saw the team surge into a lead they never relinquished. Despite being pushed all the way by St Paul’s, King’s claimed the title by a single point, losing only one game throughout the competition and finishing with a tremendous score of 13.5/16.

National CHESS CHAMPIONS

A magical moment at the Kingsway ground

South Africa

Our upper remove (year 8) cricketers had a wonderful tour to South Africa. There were matches against Eversdale and Grove Schools and Clifton College and Somerset College Prep School, barbecues and the opportunity to make new friends amongst their host families. The boys were also able to visit Robben Island and spend two days at Hluhluwe Game Reserve where they saw lions, giraffes, zebras and rhinos.

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SPORT

CRICKET TOUR

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THE ARTS

Two KCJS boys, James and John, who sing in the Chapel Royal choir at Hampton Court Palace, had the experience of a lifetime in June when they sang for an Evensong attended by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to commemorate the centenary of the Order of the Companions of Honour. Among the guests were famous and inspirational figures, including Sir David Attenborough, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Roger Bannister.

Singing for

THE QUEEN

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The WIZARD

of OzThe production of The Wizard of Oz was performed by a cast of 50 boys from Priory (years 5-8). After five months of rehearsing the stage came alive for their five performances. Brightly coloured munchkins appeared behind umbrellas, jitterbugs danced with energy and Dorothy and her trio of companions followed the yellow brick road to the Emerald City. This was a fantastic production with the boys showing enormous talent, commitment and energy.

THE ARTS

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A record number of boys have received medals for their choir singing exams. Seven boys from the chamber choir have passed, with flying colours, a searching exam which tests their musicianship, choral and church knowledge, vocal quality and commitment. There were three bronze and four silver medals earned and these were presented in a service in Southwark Cathedral, in which the boys were able to join with the cathedral choir in singing various parts of the service. Congratulations to them all on their superb results!

Singing Awards

Warm congratulations to Jonathon who won the Priory Young Musician of the Year Competition. There were 12 finalists selected from the 80 boys who had auditioned. The distinguished musician, Professor Roderick Swanston, was the judge this year and, in making his decisions, he gave a lively, entertaining and very informative talk.

Priory Young Musician

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St Paul’s

CATHEDRAL

THE ARTS

Few settings in the world can compete with the architectural splendour of St Paul’s Cathedral and our chamber choir was delighted to receive an invitation to sing Choral Evensong there once again. There is a wonderful acoustic in the building and the boys sang beautifully under the direction of Mr Phillips.

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Windsor CastleOur chamber choir had the privilege of singing in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. The chapel houses the tombs of no fewer than ten English monarchs. Countless other royal family members have been buried there and the chapel also boasts the widest stained glass window in the country. The boys sang superbly in this glorious building, including a particularly demanding eight-part setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. They certainly deserved their tea and cake!

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All 122 boys in Rushmere (years 3 and 4) took part in an energetic, action-packed performance of ‘Shakespeare Rocks’. The boys had worked incredibly hard but what really stood out was their willingness to learn about a key literary figure and share their knowledge and enthusiasm with each other. Well done, boys, on another fantastic production!

SHAKESPEARE

Rocks

THE ARTS

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Teachers from the Sparrow Schools Foundation – the educational charity supported by the modern foreign languages department – recently joined our upper remove (year 8) boys to receive a cheque for £2,215. This money had been raised by means of a sponsored French Culture Quiz. The money will be spent on new musical and scientific equipment that will be treasured by the Sparrow Schools’ pupils in Johannesburg. Special congratulations go to Kevin, Rayyan, Oliver and Freddie for getting full marks in the quiz and also to Mani, Daniel and James, who each raised more than £100 in sponsorship for this fantastic cause.

Cayley Maths ChallengeThe Cayley Maths Challenge is a competition organised by our senior school for U10 teams from local primary and prep schools. It is a really tough challenge with teams of four working together to answer the questions as quickly as they can. The King’s College Junior School team – Ethan, Joseph, Noah and James – were this year’s winners. Very well done!

Sparrow Schools Foundation

COMPETITIONS

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House

This year’s house debating competition began with a motion on whether or not artificial intelligence is harmful to equality and employment, argued by Stuart and opposed by Windsor. After fluent and controlled speeches from Ben (LR), Rajeiv, Tomek, Amir and Malachy, Rhys took to the floor with an incredibly entertaining (and crowd-pleasing) speech to end this part of the debate. There were numerous intelligent questions and opinions from the audience about AI and then Tudor started the second debate opposing Norman in a motion regarding whether or not life is a better teacher than school. After fiery, controlled and amusing speeches from Finn, Max and Adam for Tudor, and Kalyan, Theo and Jack for Norman, it was time for the judging. Barrister and novelist, Mrs Victoria Dowd, delivered wonderful and useful feedback for everyone, and especially commended Theo for his speech, until announcing Windsor as this year’s winners. It was undoubtedly a hugely entertaining event for everyone involved, the speakers and the audience.

DEBATING

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SATIPS

Four upper remove boys (year 8) and three lower remove boys (year 7) took part in this year’s Geography Worldwise Quiz. 10 schools answered many geography-based questions, ranging from British counties to map skills and famous landmarks. Our lower remove team came second with a fantastic score of 95 whilst the upper remove team won with a top score of 109. Very well done to both teams!

Geography Worldwise Quiz

Up against some 2,500 pupils from across the country, every boy in Priory took part in the 2017 SATIPS General Knowledge Challenge. Our top five performances in the senior challenge (years 7 & 8) were from Kalyan (9th), Cian (10th), Finn (20th), Oliver (25th) and Sne (33rd), enabling us to come third out of 40 schools. We went one better in the junior challenge (years 5 & 6), coming second out of 58 schools. Our top five boys were Joshua (7th), Tait (11th), Guillaume and Ryder (both 27th), and Nathan (30th). Congratulations to those 10 boys and a special mention to Theodore, Thomas, Max, Liam, Rory, Henry and Henry for coming in the top 50.

2B (a year 5 form) hit the stage with episode 2017 of Maths Wars: The Last Scholar. Darth Moore (Mrs Moore is Head of Maths) and her Storm Teachers want to take over Priory. They have captured all but one of the powerful figures on The Good Side. His name is Luke Skyhortin (Mr Hortin is Head of Classics), the most renowned of them all. To stop the evil Mathlactic Empire taking over the intellect of Priory, Luke must pass a scholarship exam. His forte is Maths but he seeks help from R2DJ (DJ is Mr Jones, Deputy Head) on Latin and is educated about the ways of the ‘Fors’ by Rosa. The exam starts well but when the Maths question comes up, Darth Moore bursts in! She reveals to Luke that SHE IS HIS TEACHER! Left devastated by the news, Luke heroically uses the Fors to overcome this catastrophe and save all of Priory. We have to give a lot of credit and our thanks to Mr Nash who wrote the wonderful script and made all of our dazzling costumes himself! This was his final assembly at KCJS and certainly an unforgettable one. May the Fors be with you always!

Oliver (2B)

COMPETITIONS

LINDON SPEAKING CUPThis June, the Lindon Speaking Cup finalists were required to perform two tasks: to prepare a speech about who they would choose to spend a day with, or to choose a time or place they would like to visit, followed by the recital of a poem. The eight boys spoke beautifully and prepared sophisticated and intelligent speeches. Nick and Roemer received a special mention for their performance and the Cup was awarded to Ben. Well done to all the boys for such an entertaining and enjoyable event.

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Challenge

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TRIPS

YpresIn June the upper removes departed for a history field trip to Ypres in Belgium to experience a glimpse of life in World War 1. We left King’s at 6.00am and, after a long coach journey and beautiful views on the ferry, we arrived at Ypres. We went first to Tyne Cot cemetery, a crucial area in which many British soldiers perished. We also visited the In Flanders Fields Museum. From gas masks to hand grenades, the sheer cruelty of both forces during the war was a truly eye-opening experience. At 8.00pm, we attended the Menin Gate ceremony which takes place every night to honour those who lost their lives ‘For King and Country.’ Thousands of soldiers who have no known resting place are remembered at this memorial. We also paid our respects to Major John Ouchterlony, an OK and military strategist, who

constructed many trenches on the battlefields. We then went to Sanctuary Wood to visit the trenches, followed by a visit to the German cemetery of Langemark. Here again, those who lost their lives are honoured. On the trip back to the Euro Tunnel we visited Talbot House, a social area for soldiers of the War. Tubby Clayton, who set up this remarkable place, permitted all soldiers of any rank to attend.

We would like to say a big thank you to Mr Streatfield, Mr Watkins and Mr Morris, who made the trip so enjoyable and interesting, and all the other staff who joined them.

Amir, Toby and Anish

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In French

Quel échange formidable! Je peux dire qu’il a plu à tout le monde, car nous avons fait beaucoup de choses intéressantes, à Paris ainsi qu’avec nos familles.

En arrivant à la Gare du Nord, nous avons pris un bus de visite guidée, puis notre voyage à Paris a commencé. Premier arrêt, la Tour Eiffel! Quelle vue impressionante sur tout Paris. Et après, nous avons visité Notre Dame et plusieurs autres monuments de la belle ville de Paris.

Le soir, assez tard quand-même, nous sommes arrivés à Montreuil-sur-Mer, où nous avons été acceuillis par l’école de nos correspondants. Mon correspondant s’appelait Paul, et sa famille m’a reçu très cordialement. Le lendemain matin, on m’a fait faire une visite de Lille. Nous avons vu une quantité de choses intéressantes: un centre commercial, un marché de Noël, et une église. Dimanche matin, Paul et moi avons passé quelques heures devant le jeu d’échecs de Paul. Puis, nous sommes allés au bowling car il faisait un temps de chien. Mais on a quand même pu visiter une autre belle ville de bord de mer, Le Touquet.

Lundi matin nous nous sommes dits au revoir puis on est retourné à Paris, où on a (entre autres) visité le quartier de Montmartre et les Champs Elysées. Et avec ça notre magnifique voyage en France était fini.

Maxime (URM)

In English

What a wonderful exchange! Everyone had a great time, as we did lots of interesting things in Paris, as well as with our host families.

When we arrived at Gare du Nord, we met our coach and guide and our tour of Paris began. First stop, the Eiffel Tower! What an impressive view we had of the whole city. Afterwards, we visited Notre Dame and several other famous landmarks of this beautiful city.

In the evening, quite late on, we arrived in Montreuil-sur-Mer, where we were greeted at our exchange partners’ school. My exchange partner was called Paul, and his family made me very welcome. On Saturday morning they took me to visit Lille. We saw lots of interesting things: a shopping centre, a Christmas market and a church. On Sunday morning, Paul and I spent hours at the chessboard, then we went bowling as the weather was really awful. Nevertheless, we were able to visit Le Touquet, another pretty town on the seafront.

On Monday morning, we said goodbye and returned to Paris, where, among other places, we visited Montmartre and the Champs Elysées. And with that, our magnificent trip to France was at an end.

French EXCHANGE

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History trip to

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TRIPS

In June, 24 boys set out on a five hour journey to Gèdre, our base camp for the rest of our stay in the Pyrenees. After some spaghetti carbonara, a long sleep, and many games of ‘21 dare’ we were ready to set off on our journey into nature. Having met our two guides, Sasha and Anabelle, we left civilisation and headed for the mountains. At points we handed the map over to groups of budding guides (i.e. six completely inexperienced uppers!) and, after gaining much ’wisdom’ from taking the wrong path, we arrived at our first gite providing a warm bed and delicious food. Throughout the next few days we dragged ourselves through knee-deep snow, thick fog at the summit and played several games of Mafia. We woke up to beautiful views every morning and picked up many souvenirs. Our highlight of the trip was going to the highest waterfall in Europe, Cirque de Gavarnie. We all enjoyed the trip and the staff (Mr Brady, Mr McAuslan and Mr Cuming) were brilliant throughout. What a great end to our time in the junior school!

Rhys and Tom (URM)

The

PYRENEESHastingsWe had a great day at Battle Abbey where, in 1066, the Battle of Hastings took place. When we got to Hastings our teacher directed us on a walk on the outskirts of the battlefield, stopping every now and then to tell us a little bit about the story of the battle itself. After that we went to the shop to buy souvenirs and then had our lunch. Everyone was tense during lunch as afterwards we were going to re-enact the Battle of Hastings. Finally, the time came and we lined up in our ranks, 2M and 2C being Normans and 2B and 2R being the Saxons. When Mr Watkins shouted “Charge!” we attacked. It was the most fun I had ever experienced. The battle was by far the best bit of the trip. At the end we all agreed this had been a BRILLIANT trip!

Rohan (2M)

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66 boys from the upper remove (year 8) spent a week in Shropshire at PGL camp earlier this year. They climbed ladders, descended zip wires, crawled through tunnels, shot at targets, fired arrows from a bow and spent some quality time with their friends.

PGL

King’s College Junior School

Southside

Wimbledon Common

London

SW19 4TT

+44 (0)20 8255 5335

kcs.org.uk

More information is available from the admissions registrar :

+44 (0)20 8255 5336

jsadmissions@kcs.org.uk