NONNOBIS

NATI

HIGHLIGHTSIssue 35 Summer 2009

ST ALBANS SCHOOL

CHALLENGING MATHS

Second form scientists Ben and Chris helped wildlife presenter Chris Packham launch the OPAL Soil and Earthworm Survey. The project will help scientists with research into soil and organisms that live in it. By testing the soil for certain characteristics and identifying their local earthworms, people can help scientists in their research and contribute to the first community-led study of the natural world. Chris Packham, said, ‘Earthworms are really undervalued and few people realise the impor tant job they do keeping the soil under our feet nice and healthy. Surprisingly little is known about the different species or their habitats, so this research will be vital to help scientists understand how earthworms are affected by pollutants in the soil and by human activity.’

WATCHING THE WORMS

Having already scored highly in the Intermediate Mathematical Challenge, a number of pupils were invited to participate in the Intermediate Olympiad. This is a demanding paper requiring full written solutions and precise argument to gain good marks. Matthew Fletcher and Joshua Huntingford did very well to gain merits, but the par ticular ly notable achievement was that of Daniel Heydecker. He has a certificate of distinction, a medal from the UK Mathematical Trust and a book prize. His score put him amongst the best 50 in his year group in the country.

The 17th Annual Sports Tour Committee Dinner was graced by

the presence of several sporting stars. Not least among them was

Sebastian, now Lord Coe, Chairman of the London Olympics

Organising Committee, himself a holder of two Olympic gold

medals. Lord Coe came to Woollams as guest of honour in order

to promote the School’s highly active sports tours programme.

Lord Coe reminisced about

his own time as a runner

and, joining him, was David

Bedford, Director of this

year’s London marathon and

whose son was a successful

runner for the School. He

and Lord Coe entertained

the assembled audience

of some 400 guests, who

greatly enjoyed their wit and

insight into the fast-paced

world of athletics. Lord Coe also spoke of his dealings concerning the

delivery of the London Olympics, and the politics behind it. Former

England Rugby Union International Martin Bayfield also addressed

the guests. His anecdotes about his experiences of international

rugby were extremely entertaining.

Around 400 guests enjoyed the evening, giving the speakers

standing ovations and bidding for lots in the raffle. The top item was

an England running vest signed by Steve Ovett, Steve Cram and

Sebastian Coe, which attracted a final bid of £1700. Other items

also raised well above their reserve price.

Since its establishment in 1993, the Sports Tours Committee has raised

£447,000 to send 1300 St Albans School sportsmen and sportswomen

to South America, New Zealand, Canada, the Caribbean, the United

States and many parts of Britain and Europe.

STARS LIGHT UP DINNER

Lord Coe shares a joke with the new Chairman of HMC

MUSICAL DIVERSITY

The Spring Term is, as always, one of the most active for our musicians. After months of preparation, the 21st March was the date for the yearly Joint Schools Concert, performed by pupils, parents and staff from St Albans School and St Albans High School for Girls with guest soloists. The programme included Gerald Finzi’s Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice, John Taverner’s Funeral Ikos and, most

importantly, The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. Accompanying pieces included Fanfare for the Common Man and An Albanian Interlude, the latter composed by our own Oliver Till. The audience enjoyed this varied programme tremendously; Michael Stout’s first oppor tunity to conduct this annual concert was a resounding success. The Easter holidays saw the choir, barbershop group, orchestra, wind band and flute group embark for Tuscany on their seventh annual tour. Three concerts were performed at the converted theatre Olivio Camaiore, in the ancient Pistoia Cathedral and in San Agostino Church in the fortified hill town of San Gimignano. Beyond the concerts and rehearsals, students and teachers were able to enjoy the Italian atmosphere, culture and cuisine in Lucca, Pisa, Pistoia and Florence. The tour was

120 young journalists hunted down stories, edited them ruthlessly and published them on the School’s website on BBC School Repor t Newsday.

The day is a national event run by the BBC in which over five hundred schools participated. The entire Third form took part, honing journalistic skills and reporting on the day’s latest events, locally, nationally and even internationally.

The pupils had been preparing for the day in English lessons during the previous half term and one small group had even had the chance to visit the BBC studios to watch television programme making in action.

Text and video reports were created by students with their broadcasting skills being tested throughout the day. The reports were put up on the

BBC NEWSHOUNDS

a great success and all who took part look forward to further travels next year.

There was also a personal success for Chris Springthorpe, who played in a concert with the Herts Schools Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. This was coupled with the place which he gained in the Barbican Youth Orchestra, run jointly by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Barbican Centre.

BBC School Report section of the School website.

Activities included pupils creating their own video bulletins, discussing the morning newspapers and writing ar ticles on the very latest issues, ranging from cross country running to the latest Formula One scoop. The repor ters were helped by teachers and mentors from the Sixth Form and learnt how to edit videos and write under pressure. A representative from the BBC also helped pupils to perfect the news stories.

Third former s found the day fascinating and exciting, as did parents, who were so keen to view the pupils’ work, that extra bandwidth had to be obtained for the School website.

Developing a story for the

website

Mick Stout leads an energetic rehearsal for

the Joint Schools Concert (above) and musicians in

Italy (right)

INSIGHTS FOR ALLThe extremes of Everest to the extremes of recession, the influence of Emperor Constantine and the development of the Eurofighter – all were amongst the diverse range of subjects covered by visiting lecturers during the term. The effects of extreme weather on the human body were appropriately the subject matter for the Stephen Hawking Society during a week of snow. Kay Mitchell of Caudwell Extreme Everest had clearly faced worse conditions, however. The marketability of scientific discoveries was the focus of the talk by Dr Arnab Basu, CEO of Kromek.

While the latter talk also appealed to Economists, the Economics Society itself hosted Larry Elliot OA, The Guardian’s Economics Editor. He outlined the five stages

of an economic recession – bubble, denial, grudging acceptance, panic and recovery – as well as the path taken by world governments to right the financial climate. Dr Chris Kelly addressed the Hylocomian Society about Emperor Constantine and his conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity.

The Engineering Society heard about the complex logistical challenges associated with the development of East London for the 2012 Olympic Games. Mark Reynolds, who gave the talk, is Board director of Mace, the main contractor for the Olympic site in London, with key insight into the preparations. David Lye and Fiona Clark of Selex, Galileo gave students a privileged view of the designing and testing of the Eurofighter project.

CCF NEWS The annual Geoffrey Pryke Memorial Lecture was given by Lieutenant-Colonel HWR Eagan, Commandant of the Cadet Training Centre. He recounted his experiences during his 34 years in the army, which included service in Afghanistan, Iraq, Canada, Belize, Northern Ireland and Oman: he also completed the very tough Parachute Regiment course. His talk was very motivational, showing that the army’s core values were appropriate in all walks of life and these values are precisely those that are taught in the Sandhurst and Cadet Leadership Courses. Indeed some of our Sixth Form cadets had a most informative day at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in March. In April two of our air cadets went to RAF Leuchars for a week of flying, shooting, tours around various aircraft and a night exercise in tough Scottish weather conditions. Two of our cadets, Jamie DaCosta and James Crossley successfully completed a 10 day gliding course and were awarded their silver wings.

This year has seen a plethora of visits to foreign parts. The annual exchange trips to France and Santander in Spain provided pupils with linguistic practice and cultural experiences, while the annual fourth form trip to the battlefields of the First World War: Ypres, Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge and the Somme gave budding historians a real insight into the tactical problems facing British troops at the time. Football in Florida and skiing in France were preceded by a trip for Upper Sixth Politics students to Paris to attend the Your Future in Europe conference. Hosted by John Sergeant, speakers included MPs Charles Kennedy, David Davis, Denis MacShane and Guardian columnist David Aaronovitch, who provided students with an overview of the development of the EU and an explanation of European Foreign Policy.

OVERSEAS TRIPS

Larry Elliot outlines the rise and fall of a recession

Lt Col HWR Eagan of the Royal Welsh, who delivered the Geoffrey Pryke Memorial Lecture

Politics students enjoy the sites of

Paris

St Albans School is a company limited by guarantee.Registered in England No. 4400125 Charity No. 1092932 Registered Office: Abbey Gateway, St Albans, Herts. AL3 4HB

SPORT: WEATHER TRIUMPHS

Hockey: The season suffered some disruption because of the weather conditions: nevertheless there were some very pleasing results. The 1st XI enjoyed a fine 3-2 win against

Merchant Taylor’s, while the 2nd XI scored well against Dulwich 4-1 and The Leys 5-2. The very successful U16s emerged victorious against Dulwich 11-0, Hitchin 10-3 and The Leys 5-4. The U14s, whilst not unbeaten, enjoyed wins over Merchant Taylor’s 6-1, Hitchin 2-1, Oundle 2-0 and The Leys 2-1. The U13s took part in the National Minis County Cup, competing against 10 other schools. They got through to the final of the tournament to play Bishops Stortford. This was a tough contest, but resolute defending, especially from goalkeeper Euan McGonagle, resulted in a score of 0-0. However Bishops Stortford managed to score in extra time and snatched the trophy, leaving the St Albans side with silver medals. Earlier in the term nineteen U13 players enjoyed a three day tour of the West Country, playing in 11-a-side matches and a 7-a-side tournament which gave them some excellent match practice.

Cross Country: At the Herts Clubs event eight of our pupils ran very well with 6 boys gaining automatic qualification for the SEAA inter county championships and 2 boys were placed as reserves. At the Knole run, a gruelling six miles over a very muddy and challenging course, our team did well to finish fourth overall, with Euan Mackenzie coming 6th and Billy Collins 8th. At the Herts County Schools

event, Hannah Johnson was an excellent 3rd in the Senior Girls race, while Vasudev Zaver, Tom Brooks and Mark Pearce ran very well in their intermediate section. Our runners triumphed for the 12th year in succession to take the Goater Cup in an outstanding team effort. The two seniors ran the 2nd and 3rd fastest laps and the team won the race by over 60 seconds. At the Oxford Tortoise Relays there was further success with U15s winning their race and the Seniors just pipped at the post to come 2nd. At the South East Schools Championship, all 3 teams finished in second place: this was a good end to a challenging season.

Swimming: The Seniors finished the season with great success, beating both Haberdashers’ and Berkhamsted to win the County league. Excellent performances from captain Dayne Lunn and James and Richard Leather ensured this outstanding achievement. The Juniors, strongly

led by James Duke-Smith, came 2nd to Haberdashers’, while the Intermediates came 3rd overall. Both Junior and Intermediate teams won ‘most improved’ shields.

Rugby: The U12s stunned the opposition in the Herts 10s Rugby Tournament by defeating 20 other

schools f rom around Her ts to take the trophy, beating Berkhamsted in the final. Travis Hudson really

distinguished himself in this event.

Netball : The gir ls enjoyed

a very good season, with fine wins against Beaumont 23-17, Loreto 12-6, Richard Hale 9-7 and St Albans High School.

Football: Our footballers enjoyed a good season with some excellent wins against Rickmansworth, Beaumont and Haberdashers’. Two squads, the Seniors and the U15s, jetted off to Florida in February for the School’s first ever football tour. After a day’s acclimatisation in Orlando, which included a trip to Disney World, they went into action against Tarpon FC, The Palm Harbour Night Hawks and Everton FC in Tampa, scoring some fine victories. Chris Knights was the U15 player of the tour.

Badminton: At the HSBA tournament three of our seniors got through to the main event and Mark Sadler got to the final, with a magnificent win 22-20. In the U15 competition our players, under the captaincy of Oliver Ng, won with a total of 199 points. The U13s came 2nd overall; both of these fine achievements. First former William Pickworth plays for Herts U13 team and has enjoyed a fine season.

Skiing: 50 intrepid skiers set off for Les Deux Alpes in France at Easter. There was snow at the start of the week, making for challenging visibility conditions on the lower slopes, but the more experienced skiers could go above the clouds and enjoyed superb slopes and spectacular views. Midweek brought better visibility and many progressed quickly through to the red runs by the end of the week. An active après ski programme including ice gliding, skating and pool tournaments contributed to an excellent trip.

Tennis and Golf: The annual Tennis and Golf camp at Millfield School saw 34 pupils benefit from high quality tennis and golf coaching in excellent facilities. Awards for most improved tennis players went to Darius Faiz-Mahdavi, James Scott and Bethan Griffith and for most improved golf players to Dev Patel and Max Houghton.

The U13 hockey team gained silver in the National Minis County Cup

Skiers in the French Alps