NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011
The Michaelmas is always the highlight of the academic year not least of all because there are no public exams (!) so the students can actually ‘learn’ rather than be ‘tested’. This gives them the freedom to discover more about themselves without having the worry that this will compromise their grades. This has certainly been the case this term with the majority of students in the House ‘getting outside’ and making the most of the fantastic opportunities at the school and, in turn, creating significant buzz about the place. The Carol Service was a good case in point with Henry Harrod, Tom Hollister, Jon Hobbs and Harry McCagherty having the chance to showcase their talent and dedication in front of the whole community – I was a very proud Housemaster! Indeed, the U6th across the board have been terrific role models this term and the 4th form have all benefitted from their care and dedication as ‘big brothers’. 23 new students joined the house this term (21 in the 4th form and 2 in the L6). The 4th form have been one of the most closely knit and supportive groups I have come across in North and I am very excited by what they will offer in the terms to come. They are full of energy and have already shown a significant level of commitment in all aspects of school life.
Max Haycock and Mayo Runsewe joined us in the L6th and soon discovered the care and inclusiveness of their year group which helped them to settle quickly into the routines of school life. Max has made a significant start to his time here on the music front and Mayo was soon on the rugby pitch (having never played it before) and on the basketball court. They have made a super year group even better. House competitions are about support, participation and community with the winning being of secondary importance. This said a very special pair of students, George Colgan and Peter Thompson, won the House Challenge for the fourth year in a row – a truly remarkable achievement. This is the most rewarding job a school master can do and North has been a place of happiness and achievement throughout this term. For this I am indebted to all the boys; both of my fantastic Matrons; my ever wise and hard working Deputies and a diverse, fun and committed Tutor Body. This said, perhaps the ‘x-factor’ this term has been the leadership provided by Henry Harrod, Jon Hobbs, Ben Roberts and Peter Thompson – they are remarkable young men……I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to seeing everyone in the new year. The exams loom large so have a (short) rest and keep the momentum going with revision…. Ed Burnett
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 IVth Form Team Building Day Henry Whitaker On the first weekend of term, the whole of the Fourth Form stayed in on Saturday night. On Sunday, we did many activities with people from other houses, whilst being led by 6th formers from other houses, so we got to know people in a range of years. The activities we did ranged from the plank competition- where you have to get across a river with “explosives” without anything touching the water- to unihockey. Among the other activities we did were: an underwater competition; constructing a raft and doing a relay with it; a strategy competition; and working out an algorithm for a puzzle. Everyone enjoyed the day and it gave us a chance to make friends with others in our year.
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 Sixth Form Monday Night Football Will Jeanes In our first game against East, we started decently, matching them in the midfield. However, they sneaked through a couple of goals and we became very complacent, eventually letting them run away with it at 4-0. We approached the Cubitt game confidently, with the introduction of Paddy Wilson in goal boosting our chances exponentially. The Cubes took an early lead, but we kept at it and eventually won 2-1, with Savill scoring the winning goal, and Wilson showing off some quality moves as keeper. We flew into our final game against Loveday. We took the lead, but conceded again quickly off the restart. Then a moment of real controversy on the stroke of half time! Quant was played through and rounded the keeper, but referee and Loveday tutor APF outrageously blew the whistle for half time. The second half was full of quality attacking football. A Camsey flick sent North 2-1 up, before Loveday equalised. Will Jeanes hit the woodwork and Loveday scored on the counter attack. However, Savill scored a 35 yard screamer to level the game at 3-3 and send it into penalties. All 5 of the North Upper Sixth boys converted theirs; one Loveday player hit the crossbar, resulting in a deserved and hard-fought win. The real star of the season, however, was Dr Tyrrell – Arsenal’s loss was definitely North’s gain! North finished a respectable second. Senior House Squash –Marcus Kim Harry Dear, Marcus Kim, Max Haycock, Charlie Ricks and Rory Subba-Row made up the North Senior House Squash team, with lots of support from the
House. In the semi-finals, North fought well against a strong Cubitt. Then in the 3rd and 4th playoff, North played East where we narrowly lost to a strong side, 3-2. Marcus Kim made some good challenges against the 1st team players in East and Cubitt and Charlie Ricks, played extremely well against boys in the year above. Max Haycock also only lost by a few points in both of his games. Everyone was very enthusiastic and put a lot of effort into representing the House. Even though we did not win, the House Squash matches were a memorable experience.
Junior House Squash – Ben Strickland In the semi final of the junior house squash North came up against a strong Cubit side. The team was Will Boddington, Rory Kennedy, Sam Scutt, Ben Strickland and Gerome Greeno. The first match was played by Will who got the team off to a good start by winning his match 2:0. Unfortunately we could not continue this and everyone else fought well but were unable to convert their efforts into a victory. In the 3rd/4th play off against East, we got off to a good start and just couldn’t be defeated, in the final match, our No 1 seed Jerome had a very tight game, coming down to the very last points. But victory was secured and we managed to maintain a clean sweep winning all five of our matches and claiming third place.
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 Part Song – House Performance Evening – Tim Ayling This year’s part song was lead by Tom Hollister and the song chosen by him was ‘Feeling Good’. Tom started off the piece with a brilliant solo which was accompanied by both the North boys and West girls. Thanks should also go to Freddie Dicks and Charlotte Bradbrook who also performed fantastic solos in the piece. Everybody had to work really hard to get this piece to the level that it finally.
Rehearsals were very few, but even though we were under a lot of pressure to put on a good performance, I think everyone enjoyed the show. Unfortunately we didn’t win, but we were very close and it could have gone to any house, because everyone put on a good performance. Once again thanks should go to Tom and all the sixth form who were involved.
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011
4th Form Dance – Ben Yakas This is probably one of the best events that takes place while in 4th form. We arrived at the school on the 2nd weekend of term and were all excited as to what the actual dance would look like. Ben Roberts and Max Rothman were there to teach us the dance and also the house captains of West. We jumped straight into it and at the end of the day we knew roughly what the dance routine was.
We only had two more practises before the real thing and so were becoming nervous. However, on the night everybody performed incredibly well and it looked a great dance. Ben and Max were very pleased with us and we were actually close to winning, however East narrowly won the competition, but we all knew that North should have won it! Overall, it is a great event and I am sure that the next 4th form will have a brilliant time, just as we did.
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 House BasketBall 4th Form – Dan Pienaar Giacomo Gray, Tom O’Flannagan, Alex Gook, Jake Harvey, Jake Andrews, Ollie Pearman, Daniel Pienaar, George Page and Freddie O’Brien all took part in the house basketball competition, with Ben Yakas leading us as captain. Our first game was against East, and we started strongly by scoring the first 2 points.
U5th – Ben Wells Our first match, against East, went to penalty throws. Luckily, good shots from Wells and Harrison took North through into the final against the tough opposition, Cubitt. At half time we were up by 6 points to nil, but Cubitt managed to pull it back to end up winning 12 points to six. A heroic display by the team, but Cubitt’s skill with the ball was too much for the more physical North.
However, the blues managed to comeback, pushing us into the 3rd/4th play off. Next we played Cubitt, which also started promisingly; once again we scored the first 2 points. After a hardfought match, Cubitt managed to come back and win the game. Overall we finished last, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a great experience.
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011
House BasketBall 6th Form – Mayo Runsewe The atmosphere was buzzing up in the TASC, screaming fans from all houses cheering on their teams. Against Loveday House, we made a few attempts at the basket; but sadly all these failed. Substitutes were rolled in and out throughout the match. Eventually, with minutes to spare until the end of the final half, Toby Savill scored the only basket North House made during the match. We then played against East House. North kept the ball fluid and moving throughout the court, showing good passing skills, but sadly it seemed North would face an even more devastating defeat by East.
Tom Subba-Row made many good attempts at a basket, along with Max Haycock, who was very close to making one, but tragically missed. In the end North lost, but had managed to score 2 baskets. Although having lost another house basketball challenge, the North boys still had smiles on their faces, showing true sportsmanship by having good laughs with members of opposing teams. They had lost but had had fun doing it.
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 House Challenge Chris Paton This year North took on the task of retaining their supremacy in the House Challenge. The campaign started well with Peter Thompson and George Colgan on top form, with contributions from Chris Paton and Ben Yakas helping to roundly defeat East House in the second round of the competition. After this the North team went through to face a Cubitt team on great form. The match was close with both teams performing outstandingly - Rory Kennedy performing well in his debut. The match was very close with both sides only being in the lead by no more than fifty points, until the last couple of minutes when North broke away to win by over one hundred points. This was a great way to end Peter Thompson’s and George Colgan’s final year, leaving them undefeated in this competition - an extraordinary accomplishment!
Senior House Public Speaking Sean Osborne As the most anticipated house event of the year, it was understandable that Harry Dear, Will Stocks and I were rather nervous. Despite having never participated in an Academic Competition for North, Harry Dear confidently and humorously introduced our topic: “MEDC’s have a responsibility towards LEDC’s”, as well as providing a detailed background of the other two speakers. The audience was clearly intrigued. I then spoke, arguing that our higher quality of life should be experienced by others throughout the world. By now everyone was on the edge of their seat... some desperately looking towards the exit… And now it was time for the Public Speaking veteran, Will Stocks, to shine. As Will’s vote of thanks drew to a close, we exhaled with a collective sigh of relief. However, we were followed by a strong Loveday side that went on to win the competition. We will assume that we were second...
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 4th Form Cross Country Henry Flower In week 6 of this term, all the Fourth form boys of North took part in the IV form cross country race. The course was one and a half miles long. We started off with some strong running throughout the race, by all the North IV Form. Our main rival was East, as we were most evenly matched with them. Although East did have some strong runners, North did beat East, despite their dubious chanting. Out of all the houses, North came 2nd. Every one enjoyed it and it was a good experience even for those who didn’t like cross country.
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 Junior House Public Speaking Rory Kennedy At the beginning of the Michalmas term Rory Kennedy, Ben Yakas and Chris Paton all took part in the Junior House public speaking. We spoke on: “Should the police have done more to help stop the London riots?” Rory was the main speaker, Chris was chairman and Ben did the vote of thanks. We were the second last house to do our speeches meaning we had watched other houses and could not repeat their faults. Brimming with confidence Chris got our discussion going and it ran very smoothly from there on. Chris ran the whole thing very well, Rory’s speech was described by Mr McConnell-Wood as “an excellent speech which he clearly wrote himself” …. Ben was described as “the most confident 4th former in the whole thing.” We were second overall to West which we were pleased with as they were good.
Junior House Fives Alex Robertson Fives is not North’s strong sport, but the lads gave it a fair try. Up against Cubitt we were destroyed as the first pair, consisting of Mylo Boyd and Alex Robertson were whipped 15-4. Our second pair seemed to perform better, Sam Scutt and Fin Chesterman lost narrowly 15-10. Whereas our third pair stormed to victory with our very own Jake Andrews and Freddie O’Brien winning 15-6. On the cool chill of December 3rd the boys rocked up to face our neighbours, Loveday. In these matches support was dire but the ones there made the loudest noises. This pushed our third pair to a strong victory of 15-9, our second and first pair however, did not fair so greatly losing 15-7 in both matches. The lads came back to house, exhausted.
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 House Football – Final Week North boys competed enthusiastically in the inter House Football competition, displaying some surprisingly skilful play [evidence below!] and having great fun!
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 House Rugby For the second year in succession North House won the overall Rugby Cup! Junior House Rugby - Julian Browning
Overall, a terrific day on the rugby fields for the North Juniors. The Lites As won in the final against Cubitt, 5 tries to one. Lites Bs won in the final against Loveday 7 tries to one. The Heavies As had a tough game against East, losing 3 triess to none, though they persevered in good spirits until the end. The Heavies Bs, however, won after a tight game against Cubitt, one try to nil.
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011
Senior House Rugby – Jonny Paddle The eagerly anticipated house rugby competition was a marvellous showcase of North’s rugby talent, with 6 teams, two from each age category representing the house out on the rugby pitches. In the senior competition, we opened our campaign against two very strong East A and B teams. Both teams showed good potential throughout, which was promising for the rest of the tournament, however both teams struggled against the tournament favourites and ended up just falling short. Our second game was against Cubitt, with both teams putting in impressive performances and running away with the crucial victories. The B’s performance was particularly special with the North boys’ annihilating their opposition, scoring over 50 points. The final group stage game against Loveday was the best the A team had played all day, with help from Ben Roberts’s first half hat trick, the boys took a convincing victory, and secured a place in the final against East. The B’s however weren’t so fortunate, with the North boys narrowly missing out in the enthralling encounter. This loss meant that the B’s would be battling it out against Cubitt in the 3rd/4th place play off. However special mention must go to Will Jeanes for scoring his chip and chase try under the posts - potentially the try of the tournament.
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 House Awards Michaelmas 2011 Academic Awards School commendations Christian Pedder Joe Hardy Kevin Park (x2) Tim Ayling Jonathan Stocks Rory Weyman Daniel Pienaar Ben Strickland Ben Yakas
Academic Prizes • • •
House Commendations Matt Humphrey Robbie Matthews (x2) Sean Osborne (x2) Tom Lucy Max Rahder (x2) Alex Shaw Alexi Yakas Ollie Pearman (x2) Ben Strickland Ben Yakas Ollie Taylor Ben Gasson Chris Paton Tom St Johnston Joe Hardy Christian Pedder Ben Wells Jake Andrews Elliott Rickwood James Beggs Giacomo Gray Will Day Henry Flower
6th form: Peter Thompson 5th form: Jonathan Stocks 4th form: Ben Yakas
House Awards
These are awarded for commitment in compulsory aspects of school life (academic work and prep routines) and for commitment in the co-curricular aspects of school life which are consummate with the pupils abilities and interests. As a result these pupils represent strong role models in the House and wider community and, at the same time, are selfless in their support of others. Ties
•
George Colgan, Peter Thompson, Henry Harrod, Jon Hobbs and Peter Thompson
Cufflinks •
Mike Burgess, Will Greenhalgh, Tom Hollister, Nicky O’Keeffe, Owen Quant, Max Rothman, Tom Subba Row
NORTH HOUSE – Michaelmas 2011 Full Colours • • • •
Luke Boyd Julian Browning Harry McCagherty Tom Taylor
Half colours LVth: • • • UVth: • • • Socks • • • • •
Tim Ayling Chris Paton Alex Robertson Christian Pedder Max Rahder Ben Wells Jake Andrews Will Boddington Henry Flower Dan Pienaar Ben Strickland
Tutor awards
These are awarded by the tutors to reflect pupils’ positive approach to school life and for adopting a mature and focused approach to the PSHEE programme. 4th form • • •
LVth • • •
UVth • • •
Freddie Ricks Giacomo Gray Ollie Pearman
Tom St Johnston Ollie Taylor Alex Robertson Robbie Matthews Ben Wells Alexi Yakas