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Brogue Summer edition 2026

Editorial

As we all swelter in the latest June heatwave and contemplate the appointment of the fifth Prime Minister in seven years, it is a relief to know that some things never change – yes, lessons now seem to go on forever and we can’t remember the last time we used a pen, but Bryanston still remains as relaxed, scruffy and friendly as ever and good old Brogue keeps entertaining you with its customary collection of articles, interviews, reviews and fun stuff!! So we hope you enjoy reading the 44th edition of The Brogue and have a wonderful, fun-filled sun-soaked summer holiday!

One final word goes out to the whole Brogue team and their valiant commitment despite the suffocating heat, which is making me perspire heavily as I write this editorial! So grab something cold and enjoy reading the Brogue!

Many thanks to the following contributors: Editor: Oscar Velasco

Penny K-P

Emma Izosimov

Layla Zahid

Swyree Sangakarra

Atessa Selmi

Sai Boschi

Mia Quai

Tatty Coode

Clemmy Rogers

Georgia Miller

Sam Berry

Rosie Ormerod

Tasha Pratt Kitty Floyd Issy Julier Kavith Sangakarra

Finally a huge thanks to Julien our publisher who makes the Brogue look as excellent as always and to DFW who makes it all possible year after year!

Oscar Velasco

Interview with Mrs Dean

First to begin with, what is the reason behind your decision to leave this school? - (Mrs Dean is sobbing) “Because I’ve been here for quarter of a century, and now after 25 year’s I'm finishing teaching to focus on my own art and my new life of art outside the school environment.”

What inspired you to be an art teacher in the first place? - “I always knew I wanted to teach, because I like working with people and inspire them. To watch them realise that they can do ar t even when not feeling confident in it.”

What did you enjoy the most while teaching here? - “Art department.”

Was there any funny or unforgettable classroom moments you still remember?- “All of them are too inappropriate to share.”

How did art influence your own life outside the school?- “It’s like an escape from real world for me. It takes me on another level of mediation. And I feel its like that for other people as well.”

What did you like about Harthan when you were the house mistress?- “Well I did it for twelve years, I can definitely say it was a big family, forever remember how supportive the girls were for one another, without being too competitive as they all get involved. There was a Work hard-Play hard mentality.”

How do you think student’s creativity have changed over these years?- “Students now think out of the box more, and are much more experimental. Its magical how they learn from each other.”

What students project/artwork has stayed in your mind the most?- “ There was this crazy one, when exstudent Mia Kosminksy made a dress out of cress. She planted and grew those cress seeds making a live dress. That was really cool.”

And what advice would you give to those students who think that they “ aren’t good in art” - “Practice-PracticePractice do art as much as you can and never give up. Because you need to fined what your good at, as nobody is brilliant at just drawing, there’re so many more areas to explore and find yourself in.”

If you could teach a final lesson to the school on what would it be?“Observation from life, to transform it into paper.”

How would you want people to remember you? - “I would like to think that I inspired people to work hard- play hard. So that students can continue art for fun but also as a serious career, as I supported them and leave a mark. Maybe they will even remember some stupid things I’ve said at some points.”

Last message to staff and students? - “To enjoy life and make most of it. Do what you wanna do, without letting anything hold you back.”

By Penelope P-K

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By Penelope K-P

Graffiti that made a change

Girl with balloon — Banksy (2002) This is probably one of the most famous examples of graffiti ever. This stencil print of a girl reaching for the balloon became a global symbol of hope, innocence, and loss. It was liked so much that it transformed graffiti from a subculture, to a respected contemporary movement.

Etnias (“Ethnicities”) — Eduardo Kobra (2016)

The mural was created for Rio Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. It was widely regarded as one of the most important artworks of the 21st century. The painting representing the five inhabited continents - America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania. Symbolising the unity of humanity despite cultural differences. I

My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love — Dmitri Vrubel (1990)

This mural stands famously alongside other graffiti that was left by more then 100 artists on the Berlin Wall. This became a symbol of freedom, reunification, and a political change.

The painting itself comes from a real historical event, When Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev shared a “socialist fraternal kiss” with East German leader Erich Honecker during the 1979 celebration of East Germany’s founding at the time of Cold War. And now as a mural it is seen as a symbol of division, and recognition of Cold War.

Crack is whack — Keith Haring (1986)

This piece was created during New York’s crack epidemic. The mural which contained a graffiti aesthetic presented publichealth activism. Even though initially it was painted illegally, the mural quickly became beloved, so beloved that the city preserved it instead of removing it. And till today it remains as one of the most iconic murals in the world.

When you look back on Bry according to Mrs V !

What have you found most challenging and most rewarding about being a HSM?

Supporting pupils through their time here has been so rewarding. Sometimes the most challenging situations eventually turn into the most rewarding ones as you see a pupil turn things around and feel that you may have played a small part in helping them get through a difficult period in their lives.

Do you think that the school has changed at all in the years you have been here? I started here in 2010 as Head of French and so yes in the last 16 years a lot has changed in terms of the day to day running of the school. However, at the heart of it all, the people are what makes the place so unique and I think the school has maintained that focus on positive staff/pupil relationships. The Bry ethos of finding your thing here and making the most of the opportunities on offer is still going very strong.

What are your happiest memories?

I have so many happy memories of my time at Bry. I have loved being in Hunter, it has been such a special place for my family to grow up, and the site is just beautiful. It is a wonderful community, and we’ve made some great friends here too. I’ve probably been happiest here during anything involving the whole house together where the blue Ht team spirit is full force – any house sport, house song, house suppers – I’ve loved it all!

If you could change one thing about Bryanston what would it be?!

I haven’t answered this one – probs for the best!

What is your funniest memory?

Probably anything to do with the staff revue – dancing in theMan’s Not Hot video was very funny!

What will you miss most about being here?

I will miss all the random, funny chats with the pupils. I will also really miss not being a part of their lives. It’s a real privilege in this job to get to know so many young people and walk alongside them through their school days. I will certainly miss not having those everyday connections with both colleagues and pupils. And I will miss the Hunter pupils calling me Vdog!

What are your plans for the future and what are you looking forward to the most in the coming years?

We are moving to South-West France in July and planning to do up the wreck of a farmhouse that we bought during covid. It is a big project and a little bit daunting but also exciting to be starting out on a new adventure.

If you had one last piece of advice to give to Bryanston students, what would it be?

Embrace life, make the most of every opportunity given to you. Try to think of other people more often than you think about yourself. See what you can do to make a positive impact on someone else’s life and then just go for it. You only live once!

‘The Head of the River’

Why has the Head Boy spent so much of his 5 years down at the river? He tries to explain…

I’ve never been a particularly athletic person, growing up I looked up to my dad who was a keen road cyclist and so inevitably I did that growing up, I enjoyed it but it never really clicked; I won a few medals but was never hugely successful. In 2020, the year before I joined Bryanston, I got into longer distance running but never had much understanding of training or loading so I slightly gave up after a year!

In 2021, I joined Bryanston and saw rowing advertised on the expansion sport options, I had never heard of it before I joined, but I must have thought it sounded interesting enough because I signed up. The first few sessions in the autumn were light; paddling around in play boats and getting to know the river, I enjoyed this but was playing rugby on the side as I think I still preferred that! The next two terms started to get a bit more interesting; the number of people rowing had slightly dwindled but there were still enough for a couple of quads. We ‘trained’ as a quad for a few months and at the end of the summer term we won our first race. Looking back at that race, it was fairly minor and we looked pretty ropey but at the time that medal meant the world to me.

At the end of D, we also went to Henley Royal Regatta to watch the 1st VIII race there. I don’t remember much of the Bryanston race or being with the Bryanston guys, but I fell in love with the regatta; the atmosphere, the energy and the whole idea of the event. For the next year, I spent every PE lesson watching the YouTube replays of Henley claiming to Miss Evans that I was doing work!

Down at the boathouse I was starting to fall in love with the sport too. We were coached by Matt Johnson as J15s, he drilled the indoor training side of rowing, I really liked seeing the numDown at the boathouse I was starting to fall in love with the sport too. We were coached by Matt Johnson as J15s, he drilled the indoor training side of rowing, I really liked seeing the numbers get faster – it is a very basic but satisfying way of seeing improvement.

J16 (B) was a funny year for me, I got a little bit obsessed with the indoor training over the winter block and was chasing numbers constantly, I looked for a type of improvement that was impossible. I ended up over training and blowing out with illness then trying to get back up to fitness in a week and repeating the process. In the summer I was dissatisfied with the results too, National Schools Regatta was tough; we didn’t perform anywhere near where we wanted to and I really struggled with fitness because I had been out for the 3 weeks prior with injury. We then had a big block before Henley, my first opportunity to race at the regatta I love. I thought that month of training had gone well but my confidence took a bit of a blow when we ended up as the 3rd slowest non-qualifiers. Looking back at it I am a little surprised I didn’t stop rowing there but I know exactly why I didn’t; the prospect of having a better year as a J17 and racing at Henley.

In A3 I did indeed have a better year. I went in with this mentality that if I had a good winter block and trained hard enough, the summer would be easier. The addition of trialling for U19 GB also gave me a serious drive. The winter was long and we spent a long old time in the gym and on the ergs, but I loved it. It reminded me of C because it was what Matt Johnson had instilled in me as a J15; train hard and you will reap the benefits. I felt the fittest I had ever been in my life and went into the summer with confidence. We put together a coxed four (4+) over a solid camp in Seville and went into National Schools with some serious goals. At Nat Schools we came 3rd in the time trial and progressed into the A final. The A final was a tough one, a mixture of being shafted by the lane draw and my fitness lacking at the sharp end meant that we missed out on a medal by a lot more than we should have. I brushed this off reluctantly but very quickly and focus shifted to Henley.

The block before Henley was good, we were up in the business end of the field and felt confident. We qualified for Henley and the days that followed were the best 5 days of my life; rowing with mates, feeling fit and enjoying Henley. My J17 year showed me that training hard in the winter gets you fit enough to make the summer work feel like just hanging out with your mates.

At the end of A3 Jasper Niquette left to row in the states, this was a bit of a loss for me because he had been my training partner since D. In A2 it was odd not having him at training, but it meant I trained less comparing myself to him but instead the rest of the country. This combined with continuing in the U19 GB trials system meant that I learned a huge amount and my development was better than ever. I tried to take these learnings back to the boatclub to develop our mentalities and styles of training. Winter was the longest I’ve ever experienced, it was tough as it was the years before but continued flooding consistently nerfed all water sessions on the weekly training program. We eventually got on the water at the end of the spring term and had a very tech focussed camp in easter. Just after Easter I was no longer in the GB trials process, I was disappointed, but it meant my focus was streamlined onto National Schools where we were set to rerun the coxed four (4+), not feeling like I had any wrongs to set right but with the aim of winning a medal. This project was my favourite and fastest developing of my rowing career, I went back to National Schools with a fire. At Nat Schools we won a bronze medal, Bryanston’s first championship medal, and we have now moved into the eight (8+) for Henley. As I write this we have just come back from Marlow Regatta where we have turned some results around against crews that we have not beaten for a while - the boat is moving well so now all eyes are on Henley qualifiers.

I think the reason I enjoy rowing is because of the ups and downs, it comes with injury, illness, sweat and tears but it also comes with beautiful evening sessions in the summer and satisfying wins. Henley is obviously a key driver for me but I would say over all of that it is the spending time with mates down at the boathouse that is the most important.

By Sam Berry

‘BRY BIRDS’

An Overview of the Girls First Team Netball season by Issy Julier

Looking back on last term, it is clear that the netball season was about much more than just results. Through training sessions, matches, and tournaments, all teams worked hard, supported one another, and made memories lasting longer than the final whistle. We were glad to welcome our new head of netball Asha to the netball community this year. From the very beginning, she brought energy, enthusiasm, and a fresh approach to the sport. Not only did she help transform netball throughout the school, but she also made every training session enjoyable, always finding a way to make us laugh while pushing us to improve. For the first team aka ‘Bry Birds’ the season provided plenty of memorable moments, including a hard-fought match against the

boys’ ﬁrst football team, where we managed to pull of an impressive win, after some questionable passes and marking.

Of course, not every memorable moment happened on the court. The long bus journeys to away ﬁxtures often left us feeling sleepy before matches even began, but thankfully Wren was always on hand with her speaker bringing the energy to every warmup, always lifting everyone up.

A particular highlight of the season was our ﬁnal match against Clayesmore. Knowing it would be many of the girls’ last opportunity to play made the victory feel even more special after winning a nail-biting match. It was the perfect way to end the season and reﬂected the hard work and resilience that every single person had put in.

GIRLS FOOTBALL

Layla Zahid & Swyree Sangakkara

With a season full of competitive matches and team spirit, the girls’ football team has made this year one to remember. Although the team had a rocky start against King’s College Taunton, the season only progressed from there. From a 4-0 win against Canford, to ending the season with a 6-1 win against Millfield, we showed our resilience, even when we had to wear the boys’ kit, that was waaaaaay too big.

As our captain Poppy Clarke says, “we’re not a team, we’re a family,” which summarises the bond that our team had throughout the season. Of course, not every challenge came on the pitch, such as when the Boyce twins were injured yet again, or the pre match scramble to try and get your lucky number or a smaller size. Despite these friendly disagreements, once the whistle blew, everyone came together as team.

At the end of the day, our efforts didn’t go unnoticed, as we were proud to be nominated for team of the year. Although the boys did take home the award, the nomination itself showed our hard work, leaving the season with the highest win rate out of all the teams that term.

Looking back, not only were the results of the matches important, but the memories we made along the way, whether it was on bus rides to fixtures, or in training (even if Poppy forgot her speaker).

We are incredibly proud of what we achieved this year and look forward to seeing what the next season brings.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST- ASTRO EDITION

On the evening of Saturday 2nd of May, the A3s took part in Bryanston's annual YMCA Sleep Easy. The idea was simple: abandon the comfort of your bed for a night, construct a home out of cardboard, and sleep on the astro. “Sounds easy” some of us said, yet it wasn't long until we were proven wrong, but of course: ANYTHING for charity. Looking back, it was definitely one of the most memorable nights of the yearapart from when Purbeck was robbed in House Singing, but that's another story.

From 7pm, the bright green astroturf was transformed into something resembling a very chaotic, collaborative outdoor space. Provided with cardboard from the YMCA and an astonishing amount of confidence in our architectural skills, Bry students set out to cooperate and build shelters for the night. While some opted for safe option- cardboard cubes with enough space to fit a shoe, yet sturdy enough to survive the rain, others prioritised watching the stars and went for a roofless alternative (which they would soon regret). Regardless of the judges’ opinions, everyone was convinced that their base was the best.

The evening progressed very well, dominos pizza accompanied by a warm, slightly-watery hot chocolate delivered to the students, giving us fuel to keep on going. Members of staff remained present throughout the night, providing voices of wisdom and authority against groups of very insistent teenagers that thought it a good idea to stay up all night—or destroy their cardboard competition by throwing deodorant bombs.

Soon, a prize was offered for the best shelter, judged by the one and only Mr Jones, and the YMCA team. This is where the historical record becomes clouded: rumours circulated that the winning shelter belonged to Shaftesbury's mansion, however, others insisted, with equal conviction and a similar lack of evidence, that the title belonged to “Bry High”. Eyewitnesses have not issued a formal statement. To this day, everyone believes their house deserved to win, and this dispute may well outlast us all. The truth, (much like a good night's sleep, which we didn't get,) remains unknown.

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The night took a sharp turn, when the astro turf turned into a boys’ locker room: the best way to describe it being an organized campaign of aerosol based guerilla warfare, with cans of deodorant being launched from shelter to shelter. It is unclear who fired first, but it was definitely a battle well fought. By 6 AM, we were all woken from our eventful “sleep”, in our very damp and broken down cardboard ruins, but none of us minded because our sleep out managed to raise over £4000 for the YMCA, with funds going directly towards services offering tangible help to those in vulnerable situations, making the one night of not-so -restful sleep well worth it.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated, donated, sponsored, and stayed up on a Friday night for something that truly matters. And an equally huge thank you to the staff who endured alongside us doing an arguably harder job—keeping us all in check.

Sabina Boschi & Atessa Selmi

project pause

By Tatty Coode and Rosie

Last term, me, Rosie and Zola were asked by our teacher to take part in a study on “the effects of drama and creativity on our ability to be in time” – a very intriguing title. In the sessions we spent with her Mrs Blake explained that she was completing her PhD on the idea by Martin Heidegger that our lives find their meaning in impending death (a scary choice of words I know!). Heidegger posed that too often we live for an unreachable tomorrow, we endure pain and hard work and the injustices around us because we believe that someday we’ll be rewarded for it. However if we could embrace impending death, it could motivate us to prioritise what can truly make us happy, both in long and short term, we could also accept feelings as more real and important in the moment.

In our sessions Mrs Blake helped us to meditate with cosy blanket forts, act out fears about growing up with short plays, and to confront our thoughts with the task of “freewriting” (surprisingly revealing). I learned so much about my self and my values and also about the others in the time we spent together, and we realised we all felt strongly about the importance of connection in our lives and how we felt that proper connection can sometimes get missed as people hide behind the facades of acting nonchalant or fun and doing only the things that will benefit us in the future. We decided that if we could bring a little more connection into people’s lives would have impacted the world for the better.

Ormerod

With that intention, we came up with Project Pause: letters people could read to connect with themselves, and with the stranger who wrote them. We wrote loads and loads of specific messages for people to read if they were feeling sad, bored, overwhelmed, or even excited and happy. Those messages were each folded into little heart shapes with the reason to read each one written on the front. Our hope was to let people choose a heart that matched their current state of mind and feel comforted or encouraged by a person they didn’t know.

While we were initially going to leave only our messages around the school, Rosie suggested that other people might like to join in and write a letter to a stranger. With help from Mrs Blake and the kind staff in café, during A3 fest we set up a table in the café with a box of pens and origami paper. We hoped that some of the students might join in on the project we had been so excited about, and were shocked to find the table crowded for most of the week! More than 100 notes were pinned to the board by the end of the week and the ones I got to read delighted with their sweet and heartfelt messages. The whole project has been very rewarding for all of us and we are very excited to put the hearts out soon! Until then you can see some letters @project.p.a.u.s.e on Instagram.

A PEEK INTO THE

By Emma Izosimov

Each time we venture down our main school basement, we pass by a culmination of colour, history, creativity, and art nestled into a single room – it’s tucked-away like a well-kept secret, it doesn’t announce itself. Yet it should. e Bryanston costume collection is a curated archive of cultural moments and it sits quietly beneath our feet; not much else can bring us back to the roaring twenties through the distinct silhouette of a apper dress, or to the Bohemian counterculture of the sixties in a pair of fringe bell-bottoms.

At Bryanston, Cara Killer acts as the supervisor of this art, where she has to embody many roles required along the special, intricate costuming process. In her words: ‘costumes set the mood of the scene with their colours and design. ey can portray the character’s personality, status or occupation, and the way their costume changes through a play can mimic their character development.’ She goes on: ‘only when an actor gets into their costume can they truly transform into their character.’

A few of my favourites above: a 50s-esque polka dot dress, the gorgeous white lace dress featured in Guys and Dolls and the iconic teacup skirt made by Cara and recently featuring in Beauty and The Beast

KILLER CLOSET

In costume production, there is usually a vast workroom team spanning everything from supervisors, workroom managers, wardrobe managers, to cutters, dyers, breakdown artists, wig makers, and stylists. At Bryanston, Cara gets to wear all of these hats at one time or another – ‘it keeps things interesting, and certainly keeps me very busy,’ she notes. She does this incredible work armed with a degree in ‘Costume for the Screen and Stage’, where she learnt the intricacies of fashion history, design, pattern dra ing and draping, and costume creation of all kinds. While it was an intensive degree, she appreciated getting to pinpoint the subject she felt passionate about, treasuring the possibility to ‘live and breathe’ the cra .

Before coming to Bryanston, Cara worked in London for a number of years in various costume-related roles, making costumes for ITV lm , as well as for TV shows like BBC’s Jam and Jerusalem. Stepping away from drama on-screen, she has also made costume for the National eatre and West End shows, notably , , and , plus prop-costume for and .

For Cara, what clicked about costume design over other areas of the industry was her fascination with the changes and innovations of fashion throughout history. ‘I wanted to learn all I could. How to recreate the shapes and styles of history in an authentic way.’ Her interest does not lie in the fast fashion industry, which she describes as ‘highly-polluting and consumer-driven’. Her ethos is one of creativity and resourcefulness, and she uses reclaimed materials, natural bres, and zero-waste production wherever possible. As long as theatre costumes are looked a er, carefully and sympathetically repaired when necessary, they can go on being used, o en for decades. In fact, she shares that Bryanston even has some antique costumes in our collection that appear in school show photographs from the 1930s. is sparks her passion for getting to design and/or style costumes from a variety of historical periods, particularly the changing silhouettes of the Victorian era. ‘Or the late 18th century era – the fashionable ladies who wore these pannier understructures beneath large, amboyant gowns and tall coi ed wigs. It is one of my favourites.’

Seeing the costuming through is an important aspect of her work, and while it’s easy to focus on reaching the end-result, the art of going through each stage with intention, patience and meticulous precision is essential to perfect the nal piece. From designing ideas for each character, discussing with the director and collating moodboards using Pinterest, to styling garments from the wardrobe and adding adapted second-hand nds - sometimes even making her own items. e journey then leads to the tting stage, where sometimes it only involves pinning the nips and tucks to the actor’s body, or it takes her to more of an experimental stage of trying out different accessories or understructures until the desired aesthetic is reached. Ultimately, getting to watch the show from the auditorium and see all the costumes working together on-stage is the real magic for Cara. ‘It gives me the ultimate satisfaction at the culmination of the process.’

HOW POLITICS AFFECTS FASHION

Fashion is a form of self-expression, so how could we not express our political ideologies through that? Fashion acts as something to represent the time we are in, a mirror into who we are, social and economic climates, fashion means more than just clothes on a hanger.

“Politics is everything!”said up and coming designer Marine Serre.

Politics is also a mirror of what is going on in society; this, in turn, translates into fashion. As Andrew Bolton says, “Fashion functions as a mirror to our times, so it os inherently political”. This can be shown within the economic climate, when the economy thrives, fashion becomes bold and experimental. Whereas during economic downturns, fashion shifts to minimalism and timeless ‘investment pieces’, to allow consumers to serve the economy.

Politics through fashion can be shown in many ways. recently, Matières Fècales a Paris-based fashion brand that is cofounded by Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran, did a runway show for Paris Fashion Week called ‘The One Percent’. They used very polarising images and incredible silhouettes of 1950s skirts to illustrate to the audience power and money and how that has looked in the past, present and the future. The extravagance and beauty of the garments compared to the styling of makeup, accessories and hair shows how fashion can be used to cover up and pretend, although no matter what something will slip through and reveal itself. As a fashion brand they don’t typically use stereotypical model to show their clothes, instead they look for the real versions to express their art. Another famous fashion house who has expressed politics on the runway is Vivienne Westwood, a highly regarded fashion house especially in England. She has made political statements 8 times through the use of runways, focusing on the problems to do with the world. Declaring “Fracking is a crime” and “Austerity is a crime” and doing a collection based off of how Climate Change is affecting our words. Fashion is a form of protesting.

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What Type Holiday Suits You the Best?

Well….as we all know the summer holidays are fast approaching and for those eagerly counting the long boring days until the end of term (me included), I’m sure the thought of being on holiday fills you with exhilaration. But amongst all this excitement, some of you may be wondering where to jet off to on your holidays. If you fall into this camp, fear not, I have concocted a set of questions to help you decide what type of Holidaygoer you are!

The Game - Work your way through the questions and at the end see which shape option you have chosen the most and read what type of holiday suits you the best!

1)What type of packer are you ?

Who needs stuff? A passport and a drink at the airport is all I need to see me on my way. My rollmat, camping stove and my lightweight waterproofs… the essentials for advenure! All my clothes are organised into colour coded packing cubes then vacuumed sealed to take up the least amount of space for the Ryanair flight.

My Gucci Wallet with cash, credit card and the Prada sunglasses is all I need… the rest I can buy

2) How far in advance do you plan your holiday?

Well.....when you’re already at the airport

Couple of weeks before ... it doesn’t really matter as money gets us

Anything.

6 months …. Get all the hikes and sites preplanned 12 months …. How are you meant to organise anything in under less time?

3) Which photo sums up the holidays for you

6) What souvenir do you bring back?

An I heart London t-shirt

Pint glass you stole from the club

4) Who would you most likely want to go on holiday with?

Just the parents and siblings

The whole extended family; grand parents, parents, cousins and Dave from down the road

The lifelong friend

Group of mates

5) What activity do you do whilst on holiday?

Eating at the Michelin star in Paris

Visit the leaning tower of Pisa Beach bar until 11 then Clubbing till 5am

Hike up Mount Fuji

A grain of salt from the Salar de Uynani in Bolivia

The Rolex brought in the dutyfree in Dubai on the way back from Madagascar

7) What Food do you go for?

Late night kebab, doesn’t get much better than this Pot noodle will do me… It’s really all about the views

The most succulent Wagu Beef steak

An overpriced piece of New York cheesecake that Instagram told me to try

8) How would you get around?

Hitchhiking - it’s free and fun!

Uber - cheap and designated driver

On foot..... you can excersise AND get to see all the sights

Limousine or Helicopter…speed and efficiency for me!

9) Where do you stay?

A tent will do the job

The hotel I’ve booked 2 years in advance right in front of the Acropolis

Someone’s sofa at an afterparty

Anything less than a 5* Hotel and I’ll freak out!

SEE Upsidedown paragraphs for your Ideal type of holidays!

One word to describe your holidays would be “Festive”

If you like a lively holiday your top picks are: Ibiza, Prague or Zante

IF you have a maximum number of : The perfect holiday for you is sunshine and partying. You would rather create your holiday memories with your mates on the beach and all the drinks or in a club than engage with culture, Your aim is to let loose, and rightly so!

One word to describe your holidays would be “Iconic”

IF you have a maximum number of : Your optimal Holiday is being a classic tourist. Although a little cliched, you want to discover the world as efficiently as possible. You are more preoccupied with making sure you see the great monuments and sharing it with the people closest to you than going to the more abstract destinations, citiscapes are more your type of thing. If so these -Holi days fit the breif perfectly: Venice, Paris, Berlin and Athens

One word to summarise your holidays is “daring”

You prefer going see the beauty of earth’s nature and be deeply immersed in a country’s culture than wasting your time on a sun bed. So if you fall into this camp these locations are perfect for you: The Rockies, The Skeleton Coast, Namibia and Patagonia

Nothing gets you closer to this than your own two feet and your worldy possesions on your back.

For you, holidays represent the chance to get back to the essence of travel and “feel” nature.

IF you have a maximum number of : Your genre of holiday is advanture and the great outdoors.

one word to summariseyour holiday is “Opulence”

finer things in life, and this means you like to enjoy your holiday through luxury accommodation and experiences. In your eyes Holidays are all about laying back and investing in destinations and experiences that you will remember forever. So, the best places for your luxury vactions are: Maldives, Madagascar, Megeve or Lake Como

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By Oscar Velasco.

“Are

identities built on lies?”

You are a Bryanston student, educated, liberal, and multicultural. You belong. This is a lie. It is all lies.

But if it is all lies, who told it, and why do we keep believing it?

Our identities are not grounded in any reality, but rather in stories that we tell ourselves to make us feel like a part of something, connected and valued. Kwame Anthony Appiah, an O.B addresses the ambiguity of identities as realist facts. Born in 1954, he spent his early childhood in Ghana. His bicultural upbringing shaped his academic interests in philosophy, which he explored for the first time at Bryanston. Once he graduated from Bryanston, he attended Cambridge University reading and achieving a PhD in Philosophy. Later, he established himself as a professor, globally recognised at universities, notably Yale, Princeton and Columbia.

One major challenge Dr Appiah faced growing up was that of his mixed heritage. Being of both Ghanaian and British ethnicity, he experienced social prejudice and he began to question whether the identities assigned to him had any grounding in truth at all. He challenges the ethics upon which society draws on to define individual identities. He explicitly addresses this in his book, The Lies That Bind. Across nuanced ethical arguments, he supports the Aristotelian view on ethics - living through Eudaimonia, a sense of community and belonging. His own argument critiques the measures by which society defines an identity. He questions the nuance of such ethical mechanisms and establishes his own argument establishing that identity is value is not in whether it is true, but instead whether it serves human flourishing.

Throughout his book, he questions the importance of identity. Similarly to Aristotle, Appiah deems identities to be socially beneficial only when they are successful at fostering nurturing relationships, moral reasoning, and still recognise individual defining characteristic - avoiding exclusivity through social grouping.

1. The role of labels:

A focus on labels and their application: what about labels allows for society to decide who they should apply to (because often people do not agree on their assignment).

2. Behaviour associations:

Having a sense of the behaviours that are associated with different identities.

3. Guidelines for interactions and solidarity:

Knowing that identities do not just give you a reason to act in a certain manner, but that they equally provide people with an indication (often presented as “guidelines”) as a basis of solidarity on how to treat you. For example, radical and gender specific choices.

Through examining labels, behavioural expectations and social solidarity, Dr Appiah challenges socially accepted means of categorising cultural-identity. Instead, he questions the means by which identities are grounded in truth, or whether they are simply just normalised social fictions that are accepted passively over time.

At the end of the session, we were able to ask him a few questions, here is one of the back and forth: I asked

“How should national identity be defined? Do you think it should be through legal citizenship, or through heritage, culture, and a sense of belonging? In cases where these diverge, which should hold greater legitimacy?”

Appiah initially answered with objectivity. It depends on the system - whether it is a territorial or inherent national identity. This means that whatever those laws are they need to be structured in a way that allows for everyone to have a fair declaration of national identity. Then there is the questioning of how they are equally and legitimately distributed across society. Then he stated his own personal belief: States are entitled to make conditions on migrants: what sorts they want to admit, provided that those laws are fair (not in a racist manner, and they must allow people to settle in the country of their spouse, and they should not disrupt nor separate families) don't need to give citizenship but they do need to let them in (allowing for them to seek refuge).

As we thanked him for his time, he left us a question to reflect on in our own time, I invite you to do the same.

“What do we as individuals do that defines the basis of national solidarity?”

Dr Appiah is a prominent example of how Bryanston fosters critical thinkers, in this case, Dr Appiah became a successful philosopher who gives his insights into how society should orient itself to bridge gaps between communities by re-evaluating social and ethical tools to honour identity. His personal experiences propelled him to challenge social prejudices and question how identities are defined and the mechanisms used to justify how society responds to them. Across his journey we see how thoughtful engagement with identity can promote empathy, solidarity, and ethical interaction in society. His philosophy encourages us to critically examine our own assumptions and prejudices about society and pushes us to challenge our societies to create more inclusive and ethically grounded communities. Perhaps identities are not lies, but aren’t whole truths either.

Clemmy and Georgia’s Most

What an unforgettable 5 years we have had at Bryanston. A very bittersweet few weeks as our time here comes to an end. As we were reflecting on what to write about for our last article, we realised that when A2s leave the school, they frequently get asked ‘What was your most memorable moment?’. Everyone always assumes this is a standout good memory, like the musicals or sports matches. But we are always curious about the things that weren’t so good, because we know we’ve had our fair share of them. So, for our closure, we are going to reveal our 7 most embarrassing moments of Bryanston, as these are some of the most memorable moments for us.

When Clemmy scared an A2 instead of scaring Georgia

Starting off strong, Clemmy’s most embarrassing moment at Bryanston. Picture this, a random Monday lunchtime in D, Georgia was doing far too much as per usual and had stayed after her chemistry lesson to try and bunsen burner her way to get a 1 on her EChart. Clemmy had thought she’d wait behind the Sanger door by the printer and scare her on her way out. Unfortunately, karma wasn’t going Clemmy’s way that day (probably because she had cheated on her sparx again) and an A2 girl was walking out just before Georgia. The oblivious A2 opened the door, Clemmy shouted “BOO” and the poor girl thought she was going to be mugged outside the Sanger loos. Georgia watched the whole thing play out from behind our anonymous victim, and then had to talk Clemmy out of leaving the school because she was so embarrassed. Luckily, the A2 was in her final year, so she took this story with her soon after – safe to say whenever Clemmy saw her again you could see the trauma flash over her face.

When Georgia forgot to wear a skirt to school

This story is the epitome of the chronicles of winter timetable. Back in the whatever BC it was when Georgia did a team sport, we had to get changed back into our school dress after games and go back to lessons in the evening. Georgia got distracted as per usual by the Norris Nuts, and when she got dressed she managed to forget her skirt. Our jumpers were so long and skirts so short, that this went unnoticed until she was in her evening class, and realised she was wearing nothing but tights. Thankfully this was a lesson to all of us to get rid of our floor length jumpers.

When Clemmy got up in the exam hall before she was told to and was shouted at to sit down

It was the trenches of GCSE January mocks, where our aspire grades were looking as depressing as the weather. As per usual, Mr Tarafter was running a tight ship in the exam hall, making sure no one accidentally brought in an X-box or a fish tank. Anyways, he was pretty scary, and when it was time for us to leave after Biology, he dismissed us in rows. What happened next, well we can only imagine she is under the influence of photosynthesis, as for some reason Clemmy got up when the row next to her was dismissed not her. Mr Tarafter shouted “you in the blue jumper where do you think you’re going”, and Clemmy had to do the walk of shame back to her squeaky chair. Luckily the horrors of the grades we got made people forget all about it, and best believe when anyone asks we tell them it was someone else…

Embarrassing Moments at Bry

When Georgia fell over in basement

Pretty self explanatory this one – Georgia had a stack of folders because it was the good old days before Ipads. She tripped on one of those sneaky paving stones in basement that catch us all out once in a while, and dropped all her books in front of a group of A2s (we were in C).

When Georgia fell up Coade steps

This is the proof that glow ups sometimes are too good to be true. It was September, the start of Sixth form, and Georgia had a whole new wardrobe of school dress and she was looking like a 10. That day she had photography, and she had decided to wear her new long skirt. Unfortunately, there’s no ladylike way to say it, but she trod on her skirt and went splat when walking up Coade stairs. Several teachers saw, and when they all came over to ask if she was ok, she ‘whimpered’ and then ran (or shuffled) off. Let’s take a moment for her bravery. She hasn’t worn the skirt since and reverted back to her B school dress the next day.

When Georgia fell over in music

You may be noticing a bit of a theme, I think at this point Georgia can be seen to be attention seeking. Unfortunately, this incident gave her a quite substantial injury, though conveniently she then missed the last month of A3. Georgia was walking through the ground floor of music during band practice, when somehow she rolled her ankle and fell to the floor. She snapped a load of tendons and ligaments and couldn’t move, so called out “Help”. Luckily, newly appointed head boy Sam Berry was doing a parent tour. Like a knight in shining armour, he raced down the stairs and came to help her. Georgia then couldn’t walk for several months, but perhaps if Sam hadn’t of been there, she may have lost her leg.

When Clemmy told Mr Jones that she had really clammy hands

One of Clemmy’s only regret of Bryanston, was the moment after she had been told she was head girl. Mr Jones went to shake her hand, and because of the stress and nerves, Clemmy (very unusually) had slightly damp palms. So, as Mr Jones was shaking her had, she said “I’m really sorry my hands are very clammy”. Safe to say Mr Jones should have reconsidered his choices there and then.

Final interview with Mr and Mrs Morris

What have been your favourite moments?

Mrs Morris:

Working in a boarding environment like Bryanston has been an absolute privilege. All the moments I have spent in Purbeck, Hunter, and, of course, Harthan will always be among my favourites. The Harthan girls have become an extension of our family, and we have loved sharing so many special moments with them. Becoming the inaugural House Singing champions and celebrating gender reveal parties are Harthan memories we will never forget.

Mr Morris:

Stacy's Mom �� . Amelia B's triple-wicket maiden away at KES Southampton in 2022 �� . Boys' hockey �� . The BryPL �� . Harry Potter trivia nights ⚡ .

Any ﬁnal words before departing Bryanston?

Mrs Morris:

I feel very happy to be leaving Harthan in the safe hands of Mr and Mrs Francis, alongside Tasha, Ella and Violet. I know everyone will continue to look out for one another and celebrate each other's successes.

I arrived at Bryanston for my ﬁrst teaching job and leave thirteen years later with a family of four, ready for a new challenge.

Mr Morris:

Bryanston is a special place and should be all about the people, I feel fortunate to have spent so much time with the people here, both pupils and staﬀ. Working alongside family and friends has been a privilege, and we leave with many memories.

What will you miss the most?

Mrs Morris:

This won't come as a surprise, there is deﬁnitely a bit of a theme developing, but Harthan is the main thing I will miss.

Bryanston is obviously a beautiful place, and the facilities are incredible, but it is the Harthan community; the girls, HDAs, matrons, house team and families, that has made my time at Bryanston so special.

Mr Morris:

Harthan House

2. Throwback Saturday lunches: onion rings, quiche, and chicken wings ��

3. The grass! Such nice grass

4. A Level PE classes ��

Funniest moment at Bryanston?

Mrs Morris:

Lots of entertaining things happened during my resident years, although perhaps not the sort of stories you're looking for!

One moment that still makes me laugh was when I was teaching inheritance to Miss Mortimer's A2 Biology class. One of her peers referred to "dominant and submissive genes", which I found particularly hilarious.

Mr Morris: Yamaha.

What are you going on to do next?

Mrs Morris:

We are joining Monkton Combe School together as Houseparents of a senior girls' house. I will also be taking on the role of Head of A Level Biology and Mr Morris will be Head of Cricket.