THE NEWS
SENIOR SCHOOL NEWSLETTER SPRING 2022
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SCHOOL LIFE
This term has focused on the new, and on renewals. Into the first category fell the Great Inter-house Pancake Race which, forced into the sports hall by bad weather, was a frantic, high-volume dash as competitors worked out how to flip their pancakes at top speed and the crowd’s encouragement reverberated off the walls. Closest race of the day was between staff and students with the latter winning by the thickness of a cookery apron in spite of the final staff member literally throwing herself across the line. Another innovation was the school dance. I do not mean a social event, but a whole-school dance routine choreographed by the sixth form and featuring stylised St Swithun’s moves such as picking up a ground ball in lacrosse, pivoting in netball and playing the guitar in one of our rock bands. I hope that this will become an iconic and fun aspect of school life as we spontaneously break into dance whenever we hear the first notes of Blame It On The Boogie. Fun has been in my mind recently for two reasons. Firstly, during much of the Covid-19 pandemic it has proved challenging to have real fun. Zoom calls and videos simply aren’t the same. Secondly, I have recently read The Power of Fun by Catherine Price. She points out that fun is hugely beneficial and that we need more of it in our lives. Fun is about connections, playfulness and flow – being so absorbed in something that we don’t notice time passing. It certainly does not involve scrolling through a phone. That is what Catherine Price defines as ‘fake fun’ – something that we might think is fun, but that is ultimately unsatisfying.
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We try to be a school where we create the right conditions for fun. This means encouraging interpersonal connections without the use of technology and adopting a playful and engaging approach whenever possible. So, at the revival of our fund-raising afternoon, this year styled as Money-raising Monday or Money, Money, Monday, we prioritised traditional stalls and activities. I definitely experienced flow when trying my hardest to knock over a butternut squash. Yes, it was an unusual take on the coconut shy. L4, who were organising that stall, hadn’t been able to source coconuts so improvised with butternut squash. I also had enormous fun exchanging banter with the stall holders while trying to hit the lacrosse goal crossbar with a lacrosse ball, knock down some make-shift skittles and hook a duck with a winning number on it. In the end, the old games, played with real people, are often the best. Another revival was our inter-house singing competition. We reintroduced the dance element and were thrilled by the mesmerising choreography of each day or boarding house as 50 students moved more or less as one. The endorphins kicked in and I suspect that real unselfconscious fun was had by all. Our final renewal was a netball match between staff and sixth form. The sun shone, the wind blew and the crowds showed surprise that the staff players had any idea at all as to how to play netball. The result? A victory for fun. Oh, and the staff scored some goals whilst the students scored quite a few more.
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Jane Gandee MA (Cantab) Headmistress 1 The Head Girl Team leading the St Swithun’s dance in assembly 2 Inter-house pancake day racing 3 L6 creative essay planning 4 M5 wellbeing day 5 A - level drama performance 6 Sustainable fashion society 7 Paper marbling in the library for World Book Day 8 Valentine’s Day roses raised £250 for our school charities 9 Staff v students netball match
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SCHOOL LIFE
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SCHOOL LIFE
LINGUISTS STAR AT THE EDUCATION PERFECT GLOBAL LANGUAGES CHAMPIONSHIPS Our students performed incredibly well at the recent Education Perfect Global Languages Championships. An amazing 51 St Swithun’s students received awards for their language learning skill, including eight emerald awards and three prestigious elite awards. As a school we ranked first in the UK overall as well as first individually for French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese and Greek. Worldwide we ranked 36th out of 2,824 competing schools which is our best ever result. U5 placed 14th in the world with an incredible score of over 22,000 points. One of our students, Sophia W U5,
FORMER ST SWITHUN’S STUDENT ZARA RUTHERFORD BREAKS TWO AVIATION WORLD RECORDS Zara Rutherford, who finished her A levels at St Swithun’s last summer, successfully completed her circumnavigation of the globe in January. The 19-year-old became the youngest woman to fly solo around the world and the youngest person to do so in a microlight aircraft. After a challenging and dangerous journey of 22 weeks, Zara returned to Kortrijk airport close to her base in Belgium from where she embarked on her world-record breaking attempt on 18th August last year. Travelling in a small Shark ultralight aircraft Zara faced lengthy delays to avoid bad weather conditions. She spent a month in Alaska waiting for a safe weather window and experienced temperatures as low as -34c. She finally touched down two months later than originally planned having accumulated 200 hours in the air and travelled 52,080km across five continents and 31 countries. Zara qualified as a pilot whilst studying for her A levels in mathematics, further mathematics, economics and physics at St Swithun’s. She first began flying when she was 14. In breaking two world records she hopes to inspire other girls and young women to pursue their dreams and in particular to take up flying or enter STEM-related careers. Her daring exploits and positive attitude have encouraged over 50 girls at St Swithun’s to try flying lessons as part of our co-curricular programme.
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Irina G L6 took part in the Regional Final of the annual ARTiculation contest at the Roche Court Art Centre in March. She gave a fluent and confident presentation on Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s mechanical robot Can’t Help Myself, discussing the materials and processes that went into the making and programming of the robot and then considered why we find it so compelling. Displayed in the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the piece attracted 7,000 visitors daily for over a year. Irina put forward various theories as to why we are compelled to watch the endlessly repeating robot and how we are drawn to anthropomorphise the machine and give it our empathy. She was delighted to earn the Second Prize for her fantastic work.
OBLITERATION ROOM Inspired by Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese contemporary artist, our art department created our very own St Swithun’s obliteration room. Students and staff from the senior and prep school selected a coloured dot and stuck it wherever they wanted to within a defined space. Over the course of the term the room transformed from a blank canvas into an explosion of colour, with thousands of spots covering every available surface. We have been capturing the ‘obliteration’ on time-lapse video.
SCHOOL LIFE
ARTICULATION
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SCHOOL LIFE
JILL ISAAC STUDY CENTRE OPENS In January we were delighted to welcome project contractors, members of the school council, staff, students and parents to celebrate the opening of our stunning new Jill Isaac Study Centre. Malcolm Isaac, who so generously funded the building as a tribute to his wife Jill who died in 2017, sadly could not join us for the occasion because of a case of COVID in the family. However, he viewed the centre privately before Christmas and is ‘delighted.’ Ms Jane Gandee welcomed guests and explained that the building will be for members of the upper sixth who are studying as they prepare for their A levels and apply to competitive universities. She said: “It will truly be a privilege to study there. Malcolm’s vision, shared wholeheartedly by the school, is of a soaring space to encourage thinking and dreams of academic success. This is not a room for a quick Google search or a thoughtless copy and paste from the internet. It is a room to encourage slow, thoughtful study, original thought, grappling with complex concepts, genuine academic endeavour and time away from our devices.” Reverend Paul Wallington then gave thanks for Jill’s life and for Malcolm’s generosity and blessed the building and all those who use it. Images Copyright of BURLISON Photography.
MODEL UNITED NATIONS Eight delegates from St Swithun’s took part in a Model United Nations conference representing Sudan and the UAE at Magdalen College School, Oxford this term. The conference began with a talk by women’s rights activist and Afghanistan’s first Schwartzman scholar, Sveto Muhammad Ishoq. Inspired by her story of innovation and determination in the face of truly horrific challenges the delegates went on to discuss a variety of topics including equitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution, genetic engineering in mosquitos to eliminate malaria and antibiotic resistance. Just before lunch on the final day, delegates received an unexpected ‘confidential intelligence report’ describing an ‘emergency’ in which Iranian forces were mobilising for war, following an Israeli attempt to occupy Lebanon. Israeli missiles were targeting various suspected nuclear sites belonging to Iran and Iranian aircraft were attacking Israeli troops stationed in Lebanon. Resolution clauses were debated in a general assembly of over 300 student delegates. At the end of the general assembly, special recognition was given to five delegates from each committee for outstanding performance. From St Swithun’s, Tobi A L6 won the Commended Delegate Award for her work with the Economic & Social Committee and Eleanor C L6 won the award of Highly Commended Delegate in her Environment & Health Committee. By Eleanor C L6
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To celebrate National Science Week in March all academic departments across the school delivered a crosscurricular programme linked to STEM. In the STEM subjects themselves there were a range of exciting workshops and events for students to explore. The biology department carried out an incredibly popular rat dissection, where students were able to discover for themselves the internal anatomy of a mammal under the expert guidance of teachers and technicians. Dr Savillewood, aided by her L4 classes, gave an insightful and educational whole-school assembly on the fascinating lives of 10 Women in STEM, with the aim to inspire those who might consider a career in this field. To enhance their memory, every pupil was given their own pack of STEM Trumps cards to play with afterwards. Pupils from both the senior and prep schools enjoyed meeting the birds of prey brought in by the organisation Hawks on the Wild Side. Bryn, the common buzzard was reluctant to come down from his vantage point in the rafters of the sports hall, whilst Electra the harris hawk amused herself flying over the heads of the prep school children and the African spotted eagle owl Babou utilised her 270 degree head rotation and 14 neck vertebrae (we only have seven) to keep a watchful eye on proceedings. In technology John Mott, the inventor of flashing trainers, dynamo torches and the mottik toy brick gave talks to L4, U4 and L5. He also spoke at an academic lunch to the sixth form. Students enjoyed listening to his stories about how to invent, but also how to patent and sell inventions, giving them a feel for the real world of business. The chemistry department ran a spectacular show during one lunchtime, demonstrating a wide range of exciting reactions producing whooshes, whizzes, colour changes, singing test tubes and bangs to the delight of those watching it. The world-famous Bletchley Park, top-secret home of the World War II Codebreakers, brought one of their Enigma machines to the mathematics department and ran a series of workshops demonstrating how they helped to win World War II by deciphering the Enigma code used by the military forces of Germany and its allies.
SCHOOL LIFE
STEM WEEK
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BOARDING LIFE Le Roy birthday celebrations
High House spa day
Hillcroft celebrating ‘Galentine’s day’
A trip to the skateboard park Laser clay pigeon shooting
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BOARDING LIFE Hillcroft dressing up for their murder mystery night
Hyde Abbey warming up for house song
Earlsdown making milkshakes High House enjoying a takeaway
Le Roy celebrating Chinese New Year Easter basket and flower vase weaving
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THE ARTS
MUSIC SCHOLARS AND EXHIBITIONERS’ CONCERT We were treated to a wonderful set of performances at this term’s music scholars and exhibitioners’ concert. Our musicians performed in various small chamber groups, ranging from duets and trios to larger chamber groups such as the baroque ensemble and flute ensemble.
SPRING CONCERT Our annual spring concert once again filled Harvey Hall with the sound of orchestras, wind bands and singers. Symphony Orchestra opened the evening with the Overture to Egmont by Beethoven, filling the stage with nearly 50 musicians. There were also impressive performances from our younger students in Phoenix Choir and Wind Band. The concert came to a toe-tapping end with Concert Band’s energetic performance of You Can’t Stop The Beat from Hairspray, cheered on by the large supportive audience.
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THE ARTS
CABARET Our popular Cabaret evening featured a number of excellent acts made up of both students and staff. The entertainment included dances, solo-singing and full band performances. Mr Gates and The Morrows brought the night to a rousing close with a lively rendition of Banks Of The Roses.
SWITHUN’S LIVE 2! We were greatly entertained by our second rock concert of the year – Swithun’s Live 2! – with bands from St Swithun’s and Winchester College taking to the stage. There was a great atmosphere with hits such as Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive and Queen’s I Want To Break Free which were thoroughly enjoyed by our large audience. During the concert there was a collection for the Bramston Bursary Foundation and we are delighted to have raised £650.
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THE ARTS
HOUSE SONG The long-anticipated house song competition finally returned in the last week of term. Each of our houses competed against each other with renditions of From Now On, Love Story, Put Your Records On, I’m Still Standing, Get Back Up Again, Wannabe and Abba’s Dancing Queen, Lay All Your Love On Me and Super Trouper. The competition was adjudicated by guest Emily Dickens who deemed Mowbray the worthy winners.
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On Money-Raising Monday the whole school took part in an afternoon of fun and raised £2,800 for our three school charities: Bloody Good Period, Clouds of Hope and Stop Domestic Abuse.
COMMUNITY
MONEY-RAISING MONDAY
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SPORT
CRICKET Following success in qualifying rounds earlier this term our U13 cricketers competed in the County Indoor Final at the Ageas Bowl. They beat Priestlands, KES and West Hill Park in the group stage on the back of some aggressive batting from Willow BH U4, Poppy R U4, Jess W U4 and Flora L U4 and a magical U4 West Hill Park came back strongly in the final and bowled exceptionally well hat-trick from Amelie B U4. and, in spite of their best efforts, our team fell 25 runs short. Nonetheless it was a great day of cricket for St Swithun’s.
LACROSSE The National Schools Lacrosse Tournament was a resounding success for all of our lacrosse teams and a very fitting end to a great lacrosse season. Six of our seven teams qualified through to the championship divisions in their respective tournaments through strong pool play. The 1st X had an exciting first knockout game, beating tournament favourites Moreton Hall 3-2 on a buzzer-beating final goal from Emma P U6. U6 They advanced to the quarter-finals and pushed St Catherine’s to double overtime. The 2nd X advanced to the semi-finals, losing to eventual winners St Catherine’s behind a strong performance from Izzy B U6 in goal. Both the U15A and U15 B teams had strong showings, with the B team making it through to the quarter-finals including a close 3-2 win over St Helen and St Katherine. The U15As advanced to the championship semi-finals behind strong play from Abi F M5 and Immy W M5, M5 narrowly losing 3-2 to Putney High. During Tuesday’s tournament the U14As fought hard in every match and qualified for the Division 1 knockouts, advancing to the semi-final. The U13As had a spectacular first national schools tournament. Undefeated in pool play and advancing to the semi-finals, they almost sent the game into overtime with a last second shot from Olivia L U4. U4 The highlight of the tournament was the 3rd X who were crowned national champions after a spectacular day of finesse and hard work. They won the final in overtime against St Catherine’s with Lucie N U5 scoring the winning golden goal.
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Very impressively, the U15A netball team were crowned National Champions of the Magazine Cup this term after beating the Grange School, Cheshire 69-38. Imogen W M5 was named Most Valued Player.
HOUSE SPORT The winners of our spirited inter-house sport competition were Mowbray for junior netball and Caer Gwent for senior lacrosse.
SPORT
NETBALL
St Swithun’s School, Alresford Road, Winchester, SO21 1HA 01962 835700 office@stswithuns.com www.stswithuns.com Registered Charity Number 307335