Arnold House Magazine 2019

From the Headmaster

Before you begin to peruse this edition of the annual school magazine, I would like you to take a moment to consider what you would hope (or even expect) to nd in the pages that follow. Are the educational opportunities, for example, provided for the few or the many? Are the challenges and experiences put before the boys varied and exciting in their scope? Is there plenty to satisfy the curious mind? Do you get the impression that the sta go the extra mile for the boys? And if you were a young boy, do you think you would enjoy being part of

Arnold House; a place where you could get o to a great start in life?

I throw in this last question because I am often told by parents (current and prospective) that they wish they could come to Arnold House and take advantage of all that is on o er. And I have to say I very much agree with them, as I hope you will too in reading about the boys’ exploits as they successfully navigated their way through the 2018-19 school year!

Common Entrance and Scholarship Success

Of the 227 Common Entrance and Scholarship exam papers sent to senior schools to be marked for English, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, French, Latin, Ancient Greek, History, Geography and Religious Studies, 90% were graded A* to B and 60% A* or A. This is a phenomenal achievement from the boys and sta . They have certainly done themselves proud whilst upholding the School’s strong academic traditions along the way.

Particular congratulations must go to the six boys who had the honour of

Viv Thomas being entered for academic scholarships: (St Paul’s) and (Westminster) acquitted themselves extremely well and secured their places through the scholarship route rather than Common Entrance. (St Paul’s), (City of London) and (City of London) were all deemed worthy recipients of scholarship awards. (Westminster) was awarded a Music scholarship to go with his Queen’s scholarship for academic excellence; a phenomenal ‘double’ likely to be as rare as hen’s teeth. In addition, (Whitgift) was awarded an

All-rounder scholarship and (The King’s School, Canterbury) a Music scholarship.

Whilst it is lovely to see that all the Year 8 boys’ hard work has paid-o , it should not be forgotten that they have contributed enormously to the wider life of the School throughout the year and taken these nal exams largely in their stride. They end their prep school days in good heart and can look forward with con dence to ve very rewarding and happy years ahead of them at their chosen senior schools. Many congratulations to all of Year 8 and we wish them the very best of luck for the future!

Staff List

Headmaster

Mr Vivian Thomas

Teaching Sta

Miss Lydia Alukwe: Teaching Assistant

Miss Kate Badenoch: 3B Form Teacher, Head of Years 3&4, General Subjects, Games

Mrs Pauline Baker-Jackson: Laboratory Assistant

Mrs Annabel Batty: 4AB Form Teacher, General Subjects

Mr Tom Bozman: 4TB Form Teacher, General Subjects, Games, Head of Years 3&4 Games

Mr David Cox: Head of Years 5&6, History, Maths, Games

Mrs Susie Dart: Head of Pre-Prep, 2D Form Teacher, General Subjects

Mrs Lydia Dupont: Director of Music

Miss Camilla Duxbury: Teaching Assistant

Mr Chris Edis: Latin, General Subjects

Miss Trudy Fedak: Teaching Assistant

Ms Leonie Flynn: Librarian, English, Head of Reading Development

Mrs Grazyna Fulford: Learning Support

Mr Sean Gleeson: 5G Form Teacher, Head of Maths, Games

Mrs Elena Gregoriou-Ostojic: Head of Learning Support, English

Miss Natalie Hall: 8H Form Teacher, English, Games, Head of Activities

Mrs Kate Housden: Head of Art and Design, Professional Development Coordinator

Mr Jon Harahap: 7H Form Teacher, Head of Years 7&8, Head of IT, Maths, PE, Games, Canons Park Coordinator

Mr John Hill: Deputy Headmaster (Academic), Head of History, Head of RS

Miss Lizzie Jones: English, General Subjects

Mrs Katarzyna Kanczugowska-Tutak: Teaching Assistant

Mr Christopher Kerr: Senior Master, Director of Sport, Games

Mrs Pearl Lee-Besisira: Head of Science

Ms Patricia Legan: 1L Form Teacher, General Subjects, Years 1-4 Academic Coordinator

Mrs Sarah Mackay: 1M Form Teacher, General Subjects

Mr Dayne Matthews: 6M Form Teacher, Assistant Director of Studies, Maths, Games

Mrs Lucy Matthews: 1M Form Teachers, General Subjects

Mr David Moss-Marks: Head of English, Drama

Miss Sophia Panaretou: 6P Form Teacher, Head of Classics, Risk Assessment Coordinator (trips)

Mrs Abigail Oliphant: Acting Director of Music

Mrs Anna Pegler: Head of French

Mrs Jo Rendell: General Subjects, Head of Drama

Miss Sally Roden: 2R Form Teacher, General Subjects, History, Pre-prep Learning Support Coordinator

Miss Emily Rogers: Art Assistant

Mrs Rekha Ruda: Director of Studies, Data Manager

Mr Marcus Russell: Teaching Assistant, Music, Games, Pre-Prep Sports Coordinator

Miss Keeley Smith: 5S Form Teacher, Science, Games

Mr Sebastian Stones: Deputy Headmaster (Pastoral), Head of Geography

Mrs Aneta Struzik Mazur: Maths

Mr Jacob Swain: English, Games

Miss Molly Traeger: Teaching Assistant

Mr Frankie Tudball: Gapper

Mrs Daisy Watts: 7M Form Teacher, French

Mr Andy Wilkins: Head of Computing, Maths

Mr David Wilson: 8W Form Teacher, PE, Maths, Games, Head of PSHE

Miss Hollie Wilson: Teaching Assistant

Mr Josh Wint: 3W Form Teacher, General Subjects, Games

Visiting Sta

Mr Stephen Aitken: Brass

Mr Jon Alagoa: Taekwondo

Ms Susanna Heard: Singing

Mr Anthony Lawton: Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone & Recorder

Mrs Alisa Legroux: Piano

Mr Jason Little: Guitar

Mr Alex Nelson: Drums

Mrs Katharine O’Kane: Cello

Mr Paul Riley: Flute

Mr Anthony Rowden: Guitar

Mrs Felicity Sadler: Violin, Peripatetic Music Coordinator

Mrs Rebecca Simpson: Piano, Theory, Singing, Recorder

Mr Pavel Timofeyevsky: Piano

Mr Jean-Paul Wallace: Chess

Administrative Sta

Ms Paula Vanninen: Bursar

Miss Holly Bird: School Secretary, Medical Coordinator

Miss Caroline Clarke: Housekeeper

Mr Philip Chester: Premises O cer

Ms Michelle Da Silva: Chef Manager, Accent Catering

Mr John Dawson: Assistant Groundsman, Canons Park

Miss Hayley Dolan: Headmaster’s PA

Miss Sameera Khan: O ce Assistant

Mrs Stephanie Miller: Head of External Relations

Mr Lee Morgan: Groundsman, Canons Park

Mrs Frances Peel Yates: Compliance & HR Administrator

Mrs Penny Williams: Registrar

Kate Housden

Kate joined Arnold House in September 2007, almost 12 years ago, which means that she has been here for the entire lifetime of our outgoing Year 6 boys! During that time she has been responsible for developing a prep school Art Department, that is surely second to none. Driven, innovative and hugely committed, Kate has never rested on her laurels, continuously enriching the artistic experiences of the boys –even (or perhaps especially) those who would not categorise themselves as particularly creative. In the 2008 School Magazine, the rst of her tenure, she started her annual review by writing, “a good art education encourages free and independent thinking and teaches pupils to be imaginative, inventive and resourceful”. Not only has this rung true in terms of her dealings with the pupils, but it also sums up Kate herself: a free and independent thinker, imaginative, inventive and enormously resourceful.

During her time at Arnold House, Kate continually evaluated and developed the Art curriculum, ensuring that it contains variety and interest for the boys. She has also been responsible for numerous innovations in the department – so many, in fact, that it is impossible to list them all here, but which include art days, exhibitions, open art rooms, the artist enrichment programme, where boys have had wonderful opportunities to meet and work with visiting artists, cross-curricular projects, clubs, trips and contributions to magazines. Perhaps most signi cantly though, in terms of her legacy, she introduced the role of Art Assistant; the School has bene ted from the expertise of some truly talented individuals in this role, including, of course, Sophie Cobb, whose progression from Ceramicist in Residence to Art Assistant and now to

our incoming Head of Art just shows how successful this innovation has been and surely epitomises the legacy that Kate will leave.

As well as a talented and inspiring colleague, Kate has become a friend and mentor to many during her time here; she is a warm, patient, kind individual who has managed the demands of life as a full-time working parent with true dedication and always with a smile on her face. She will be hugely missed by parents, sta and boys as she moves with her husband, Seb, and children, Jake and Posy, to San Francisco. We send her on her way with our warmest wishes and grateful thanks for all that she has given to Arnold House.

Lizzie Jones

Tom has been a great role model to all the boys, in both the junior and senior school. This is evident from the conversations you hear between the boys and you can tell how highly they regard him. His relaxed demeanour reassures the boys and helps them to keep calm in tricky situations and I have seen this be the case on a number of occasions. This is a great skill to possess, which 4TB have certainly bene ted from.

As we all know, Tom takes great pride in his appearance and his hair must be nothing other than immaculate at all times. Any Christmas church service is not complete without seeing him in his trusty blue waistcoat, which he will not go through the church doors without.

I think if I could sum up Tom in three words they would be: caring, considerate and consistent. Everyone connected with Arnold House wishes him well with his new career as

a trader and we look forward to continuing to see him at Canons Park.

Josh Wint

Chris Edis

Chris Edis’s short stint at Arnold House is lled with many fond memories. A devout classicist and talented linguist and musician, a man of a wide range of interests and pursuits, Chris has been a most interesting person to have in the team and to talk to, for sta and boys alike. Also a keen runner, he was the rst member of sta to cross the nish line in the Bursary Fun Run! His engaging personality and enthusiasm have made him a hit with the boys, who loved being taught, tutored and mentored by him, in and out of the classroom. He has shared with the boys his love for classics, drama, Scrabble, crosswords, chess and much more. Above all he has been very kind and generous and will be greatly missed by the boys and the Classics Department. We will be following his future adventures with great interest. Goodbye, Chris, and thank you very much for everything!

Sophia Panaretou

Frankie Tudball

Frankie will be remembered for his numerous roles as a gapper at Arnold House: PE teacher, cloakroom monitor, Games coach and generally making himself useful around the School. He was most at home, however, in the playground where he would partake of the play time activities (cricket, football, tag or whatever), with the youthful enthusiasm of a true Arnold House boy. That’s why the boys loved him, though they also understood the boundaries Frankie set and showed him genuine respect.

He's also the only member of sta , other than the Headmaster, to be granted a sabbatical. Intelligently, Frankie had organised this to occur during those dark, cold and wet months that make up the spring term. With no replacement gapper to be found the School was struggling to stay above water. Mr Kerr broke the laminator in a futile attempt to make certi cates, the cloakroom deteriorated into – well, the cloakroom, I was having to run around doing my own bidding, and there wasn’t a tube ticket in sight for our journeys to Canons Park! Frequently during that time, I was reminded of our sorry state when a smiling Frankie would be seen skate boarding down Loudoun Road! The long anticipated travelling around South America had been delayed again! Funny, that!

Frankie was one of the best of a very long list of excellent gappers. He was always cheerful, could socialise with sta and boys alike and will be very much missed. We wish Frankie all the best as he goes on to study Business Management at Cardi University.

Seb Stones

Andy Wilkins

Andy Wilkins began working at Arnold House in September 2015, coming to the School primarily as a Maths teacher but, as well as that, he arrived with a reputation as an expert in computing.

Keen to establish himself, he then became Head of Computing. For most of us on the sta , Andy will be remembered as a great teacher of maths, who made his lessons memorable with little details like references to Chuck Norris and the Bart Simpson blackboard. Boys grew to love his lessons and appreciated the extra help he gave at break times to those who needed it. He was also known for his witty emails, often ending them with a sly reference to his domestic situation. Indeed, this became something of a long-running joke as he went from wife no 2 to wife no 3 during his time at Arnold House: the emails then became known for their references to ‘my current wife’. As amusing as his knockabout sense of humour undoubtedly was, he made his reputation as a self-deprecating, hard-working colleague who spent his time xing everybody’s computers and making the school tick. The ‘squire’ is already much missed.

We all wish Andy luck and success in his new role as Director of Studies at Heathside. Their gain is de nitely our loss.

David Moss-Marks

Emily Rogers

My rst memory of Emily was her beautifully hand-written application, quickly followed by her warmth and lovely smile. She couldn’t attend the interview day as it clashed with her degree show, but I am so pleased that I waited patiently to meet her as it was clear from the moment we met that she was the very best person for the job!

Emily secured a rst class honours degree in printed textiles from Leeds Art University and brought her eye for colour, pattern and clean crisp design to the role from day one. She has contributed so many creative ideas to the department, along with her great photography skills, meticulous attention to detail and incredible kindness to the boys. The boys adored working with Emily and she quickly became a rm favourite to many.

Although only at Arnold House for a year, Emily de nitely made a lasting impression, leaving behind her some of the most beautiful displays I have ever seen, a stunning photographic record of the Art and PE collaboration and a detailed 'Art Assistant' handbook that she has created for her successor.

Emily leaves us to work as a designer in a publishing company and I wish her every success for the future.

Kate Housden

Wehave had a great new set of sta this year and they have quickly settled into life at Arnold House and brought their own skills and interests to the fore.

Keeley Smith joined the Science Department, having previously worked at Cardinal Hume School, in Gateshead. She is very aware of the need for environmental awareness and has become our rst ever Environmental O cer. Her degree at Durham focussed on environmental issues, so we know we have an expert in charge of this important and urgent aspect of school life.

Jacob Swain left a job in the world of nance (he had worked as a headhunter and also has legal training) to join the English Department. A move from 'the real world' of work into teaching is now the preferred route for many young teachers and Jacob has shown very quickly his potential. He ts naturally into a prep school environment, as he sees his role as one helping boys both in and out of the classroom.

Hollie Wilson joined us as a Y4 TA in the summer – her degree at Trent University in Politics and Sociology also included a

programme in which students helped out in local primary schools; this is what made her interested in teaching assistant work and we are very glad to have her as a helpful and positive addition to the Y4 team.

Josh Wint has had a long association with Arnold House as a games coach. He had

previously worked at Lyon Park Primary School and joined us last September. As many of us have known him for years, he didn’t seem like a new member of sta –however he deserves recognition for the excellent start he has made at Arnold House. All four of our new sta have been positive additions to the team and we hope they will continue to thrive in the years ahead.

Congratulations to Lydia Dupont and her husband Jean-Paul on the birth of their second child, a boy called Raphaël. Congratulations are also due for two members of sta who married this year.

Miss Abigail Spear became Mrs Abigail Oliphant after her wedding to Laurence (known to all as Loz) in January at Christ Church Mayfair in London.

Miss Daisy Martin became Mrs Daisy Watts in her two-part wedding to Rory –a small ceremony in Durham for close friends and family was followed by a much larger celebration in France over the Easter holidays.

The School sends its best wishes to Lydia, Abigail and Daisy and their extended families on these happy events.

John Hill

Deputy Head Academic

Development

The Bursary Fund

We have provided ve 100% bursary places this year funded through a combination of the School’s fee income and donations from the Arnold House community. A fantastic £82,566 for the fund was raised during the year following the success of the inaugural Bursary Fun Run in March and a number of generous donations from current parents, old boys and friends of the School.

Annual Fund

The total amount raised for the Annual Fund this year was £6,901. This has enabled the school to fund a number of items for the boys to enjoy as part of their co-curricular programme. Six bikes were purchased for

Canons Park along with helmets and suitable storage units. These will be used to help the boys to learn and gain con dence in cycling, especially prior to their trip to Devon in Year 5. The ’42 Club made a donation enabling the school purchase a variety of catering equipment to use at events. Other items purchased have included eight Kindles for the Library, twenty pairs of headphones, a keyboard and a speaker for the music department, a vegetable trug for gardening club and a school camera

Bursary Fun Run

OnFriday 22nd March two hundred and seventy one Arnold House boys rose to the challenge of the rst Arnold House Bursary Fun Run! After taking part in a six week health and tness programme in the lead up to the event, the boys made their way to Canons Park to nd it had been transformed into a running track t for a professional athlete. We were very fortunate to be joined by two Team GB Athletes; Theo Blundell (800m, multiple time national champion) and Ellis Cross (10,000m, European Cross Country medallist, European U23 10,000m - 5th and multiple time national champion) who took each year group through a warm up and stretch before they made their way to the starting line. On this special occasion the boys also bene ted from Chip Timing Technology with a tag attached to their shoes allowing them to record their exact time and adding

drone used to make video clips of various events and activities.

Hanson's Heroes Bricks

The Hanson Hero bricks project continues to be popular with twenty ve new commemorative bricks being installed in the forecourt over the summer. The bricks are inscribed with the names of present and past boys and the years in which they joined the School. The bricks cost £100 each and the money raised from their sale is used to the bene t of all boys and helps to add to the existing resources at Arnold House. Funds raised from their sale have so far been used to improve facilities and equipment for IT, music, sport and the library.

The School is most grateful to the parents and old boys who have supported the various fundraising e orts this year and the full list of donors can be found on page 10.

Stephanie Miller Head of External Relations

Bursary Fun Run

to the excitement of the event. The junior end of the school ran distances of 1k, 1.5k and 2.5k and put on a very impressive and enthusiastic performance, whilst Years 5-8 had to prove they had real stamina by completing a tough 5K Run around the park.

Throughout the afternoon there was a fantastic atmosphere and it was great to see the support of the sta and parents whether they chose to run with the boys, support them at the nish line or marshal various points along the course. All the boys enjoyed taking part and there was a huge sense of achievement at the end of the day.

As has always been the case, the Arnold House community came together and to support this very worthy educational cause. The boys raised a very impressive amount through sponsorship of their run and including the ra e and unique o ering experience from the sta in the auction a total of £35,000 was raised.

Only a matter of days later, boys and dads returned for more exercise in the annual Bursary Football Match at Hendon FC. After a children’s game, including boys and girls from Years 2 to 8, the dads and sta took to the eld for a well fought out match. It was much closer than in previous years with the sta only just holding onto the (missing!) trophy at 4-3.

Thank you to all for your support.

Stephanie Miller Head of External Relations

From the Governors

It gives me great pleasure to report to you after a very busy and interesting rst year as Chair of Governors.

Succeeding

Barry O’Brien in this role was always going to be daunting with very big (Arsenal football) boots to ll! The load has been much lightened by the support of an exceptionally talented and committed Governing Body who generously give both time and skill in managing the increasing burden of legislation and compliance in addition to their more traditional strategic and nancial governorship roles.

In has been a highly successful year for our hard working, very busy boys. The Senior boys, in particular, have excelled themselves

not only gaining places at prestigious senior schools, but also bagging a glittering array of prizes and scholarships. We congratulate them all and wish them well in the next very exciting phase of their academic journey.

Widening access to education is an essential part of the Arnold House DNA. Under the Headmaster’s vision and leadership we have been trailblazers with our Bursary Programme. It is the shared duty of everyone in the education sector to give children the best start in life and the independent sector has a vital role to play. Thanks to the commitment of the school and the enormous generosity of our parent body, Arnold House has embraced this challenge with great success. We are enormously proud of all our boys and it is a joy to watch them develop during their time at school and ful l their true potential.

Much has been said about the pernicious impact of social media and the stresses of growing up in an increasingly complex,

From the Catering Team

The kitchen has been cooking some of the boys’ favourites this year with freshlyprepared main meals including a complete vegetarian choice and seasonal vegetables on the side. To complement the boys’ main meal choice, a wide variety of salads with toppings from the ‘Flavourzone’ are available daily, as well as homemade bread served warm straight out of the oven. The boys can choose from desserts that range from hot traditional puddings to fresh fruit and yogurts with granola or fruit coulis. The catering team have delivered some fun themed days this year, too, with National Biscuit Day on Wednesday 22nd May and National Cream Tea Day on Friday 28th June both going down a treat.

When they return in September they can look forward to an authenticallyMediterranean menu with Italian Day on Monday 16th September; on Tuesday 1st October we will be cooking some marvellous meat-free meals for National Vegetarian day; Friday 8th November gives the children

a chance to enjoy vegan food alongside the daily menu for National Vegan Day and to round out the year on Wednesday 4th December a fun day for National Cookie Day with some real treats for the boys!

At Arnold House we like the boys to broaden their palates and try new and exciting dishes – and our special days are a great way for them to do just that. Canons Park has been busy this year with many fun events, including sports day. The camping trip was a great hit, with ame-grilled burgers and the opportunity for the boys to toast their own marshmallows. Each year we have some exciting canapé functions so we can really get to know the pupils and parents - these events are great fun and a lovely way to interact with the pupils’ nearest and dearest. On Wednesday 19th June we all enjoyed the Grandparents' Afternoon Tea, where it was so lovely to see so many devoted grandparents supporting these ne young men. The Year 8 Leavers' Party was another highlight of the year.

competitive and digitally driven world on children’s mental health and well-being. The protective and bene cial e ects of sport, music, drama and the company of friends are also widely acknowledged. Arnold House is not an academic hot-house. The balance of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities and the pastoral support from all the teachers and sta in the school is essential for the boys’ well-being and gives them a foundation of self-con dence, skills and interests that will nourish and support them through the challenges in their lives long after they have left the schoolroom.

Arnold House is in ne form. My thanks go to our Headmaster and our dedicated teachers and sta for all their hard work and also to our very supportive and engaged parents and fantastic boys for making Arnold House such a very special community in which to learn and thrive.

Dr Michèle Badenoch Chair of Governors

It is great to know that, at Arnold House, food continues to be such an important part of the School day. It helps the boys to develop their taste buds whilst enjoying a healthy and nutritious lunch, and in turn helps them learn and grow into ne young men - pillars of society. We look forward to another fun year of great food - from January 2020 we will be educating the boys about di erent spices, with some great recipes, tasters and some imaginative special themed days, too. Accent Catering

From the Parents’ Association

The 2018/19 academic year was our rst year on the Parents' Association committee. We have enjoyed the year and focussed on continuing the mission of the AHPA to add an extra dimension to school life and to support the parent community. It was a very busy year organising lots of fun events for the boys and their families to enjoy.

We kicked o the year as always with teddy bears and chocolate bars at the New Boys' Tea Party, the day before school started in September, which includes not just new Year 1 boys but also all the boys starting further up the School. The brand new Arnold House boys arrived looking nervous but left an hour later looking a lot more relaxed. While they had fun in their classrooms and met their teachers, their parents chatted over a cup of tea and a cucumber sandwich. Next on the agenda was the School’s 113th birthday and St Michael’s Day. We organised a cake big enough for the whole school. Well, actually it was 3 cakes! The traditional tug-of-war took place between teachers and Year 8 boys, and the Sta won again!

Our rst Charity Day took place in October just before half term. The fancy dress theme was " Nautical" in aid of SwimSafe and the AHPA provided the tuck shop where we served shortbread bars and hot chocolate. In the week leading up to the Charity Day, the PA held a ra e with two hampers for the boys to win at assembly.

The highlight of the Michaelmas Term was Christmas in the Courtyard on 7th December. Father Christmas, his reindeer, team of elves and angels, and igloo returned to Arnold House for a fun afternoon with

all the traditional favourite stalls and a few festive games. The chocolate tombola was a huge hit as always, and there were lots of delicious treats to eat and drink, which made for a very Christmassy afternoon. It was touch and go for the entire morning while we waited out the rain in the Library. In the early afternoon, our team sprung into action and set up in record time of about 1 hour!

The Lent term is always our quietest one, but we still held another successful Charity Day in aid of St. John’s Hospice with the theme being orange and yellow. As is tradition, the AHPA provided the tuck shop, and we gave the boys hot chocolate and Mars Bar Krispie Cakes. In March, the PA reps

helped to sell ra e tickets during the week leading up to the Bursary Fun Run, with all contributions going to the Bursary Fund.

The summer term was action packed. Our biggest event of the year, the AHPA Summer Fair, once again took on the theme of a traditional village fete and we had all the traditional fete stalls and wonderful array of in atables and games. The ponies Fly and Polly returned again this year and provided non-stop rides for the little ones courtesy of Mr Berkery. The DJ in residence, John Hill, once again provided brilliant ongoing entertainment all afternoon. In keeping with the commitment to reducing single-use plastic at Arnold House, the Summer Fair followed suit, and we used reusable plastic glasses and biodegradable cups. Family contributions to the running of the fair enabled all activities to be free to the boys and siblings, with only food and drink being charged.

Throughout the year, the PA organised cards and gifts for new sta babies, marriages, and leavers on behalf of all the parents. In addition, John Hill was recognised for his twenty years at Arnold House with a special commemorative gift at Senior Prize Giving.

This year, our very own Simon Pennington, has turned the regular half-term Dads and Lads Saturday football match at Paddington Rec into an opportunity for additional donations to the Bursary Fund. The regular dads' contribution towards the pitch hire now includes an additional donation to the Bursary Scheme.

From the Parents’ Association

The Second Hand Uniform collection and sales were again very successfully run by Rachel Bortherton and Rachna Prasad. We are very grateful for their hard work. They handed over the baton in May to Victoria Kiely and Jodie Leigh, who managed the transition seamlessly. Behind the scenes, Arielle Jelli has been responsible for maintaining Parents Corner and Roberta Elliott has again volunteered her time and talent with providing the graphics and designing yers and invitations for our events.

Any pro t we make goes back to the School in the form of gifts where there is a particular need or to the Bursary Fund. For example, this year the AHPA will make a contribution toward funding a Poet-inResidence in the 2019-2020 Academic Year. None of this would be possible without the unwavering support of the sta at Arnold House. Penny Williams, Holly Bird, Sameera Khan and Stephanie Miller have provided continuous guidance and encouragement. Michelle Da Silva and her catering team have put in an extraordinary e ort to help with all of our events, from monthly meetings in the Dining Room to Christmas in the Courtyard. The facilities managers at Loudoun Road and Canons Park do all the heavy lifting behind the scenes and help make our events run so smoothly. Finally, the AHPA is especially grateful to Paula Vanninen, Bursar, for providing the PA with its very own shed at Canons Park for storage. This will ensure that as the scale of the PA activities grow, we will have the capacity to function e ciently.

Finally, we are very grateful to Mr Thomas and the leadership team for continuing to recognise that the AHPA is a vital aspect of extracurricular life at Arnold House. It has been a privilege to make such a signi cant impact on the Arnold House community and to help bring everyone from sta to boys, and their families, closer together and we look forward to developing new ideas together next year.

Anneke Mendelsohn Chair of the Parents’ Association

Canons Park Activity Centre

Canons Park was as busy as ever this year with the activity centre being used for much more than just Games afternoons. However, with sport in mind, it must be pointed out how incredibly fortunate the boys and sta are to have their own fantastic ground. This has seen matches and training continue come rain or shine thanks to Lee Morgan, the groundsman.

The Junior School hosted drama productions and rehearsals for Year 3's 'Alice in Wonderland' and Year 4's 'The Rocky Monster Show' this year. The centre was also used for day trips including a Year 1 tractor day, Year 2 Victorian day and a Year 3 Egyptian workshop.

The nal drama performances of both Year 5 and Year 6 were held at Canons Park this year during the afternoon. This proved to be a nice change and their rehearsals, which were also held at Canons Park, prevented too much congestion in the school gym at Loudoun Road during a busy summer term. This included both the junior and summer concerts which were magni cent events, and other annual events such as the Leavers’ Party, the AHPA summer fair as well as Sports Day and the House Athletics Championships. The Year 4 Camping Trip was held for the second time and again it proved to be an amazing experience and very popular with the boys about to enter the Senior School.

Other users of the facility continue to include Aikido, Acorn Tennis Club, Lupton Bowling Club, the Friends of Canons Park, Primrose Hill Cricket Club and Tai Chi.

Many thanks to the groundsman, Lee Morgan, as well as his assistant John Dawson, Tricia Legan and the Accent catering team for their e orts in making Canons Park such a wonderful and friendly venue again this year.

Jon Harahap Canons Park Coordinator

From the Library

There have been so many wonderful things happening in the library - and with reading - this year that it is tricky to know where to start. So perhaps the best place is with the new Reading Records for Years 1-4, which, after a year of use, have proved a big success. The new format - and the addition of merit stars for Years 3 & 4 –have helped encourage the boys to keep reading between lessons. The merit stars for Years 3 & 4 are awarded when a boy reads well, when they push themselves, or when a book is nished they write a detailed or informative comment. The merit stars build up to special certi cates which are given in assembly and then amazing rewards such as an AH Reading Star pencil, eraser, book mark and, for 50 stars a star badge to pin on their

With teachers, TAs, volunteer readers and the librarian all reading with the boys, books are kept at the forefront of the boys’ learning. Now they have an additional helper as the school dog, Arnold, is spending time reading with boys who might need a little extra help, and who are

given a special sticker for their Reading Records after a session – I even managed earn one myself and I shall treasure it! Reading sessions in Year 1 are usually simply me reading the boys a story and then us all discussing what happened. My favourite of these sessions happened recently when some old-boys came in, just back from Harrow, and they read with the Year 1s as well!

From the Library

We have had an author visit from the award-winning Hip Hop poet Karl Nova, which gave senior boys a chance to learn the techniques of rapping and gave the opportunity to work with a professional poet.

The library continues to build its collection of books that will enthuse, engage and inspire the boys, including picture books (for all ages) and graphic novels. Keeping every boy eager to read means we need lots of variety and luckily the school allows me to meet those needs through keeping the shelves well stocked.

Pupil librarians have once again been a wonderful group of boys and the library functions well under their care. The Head Librarian, has been particularly e ective.

The library is also where I teach English to Year 8 and where, once their exams are over, the boys take on a project – this year’s was to write a story for Year 1 – the results were remarkably impressive and I suspect there are future authors in this Scholarship group!

to take part in Oxford University Press research

into vocabulary de ciency in primary age children. I thought this a fascinating project and started to engage with it…then realised that my experience at Arnold House – and the results that I would submit – would not be helpful. One question was this: Roughly what percentage of pupils in the following year groups would you classify as having a limited vocabulary to the extent that it impacts on their learning? The answer of course would be none, for though some boys have a more expanded word-bank than others, no pupil here is so far behind that their learning is a ected by their lack of words. The simple answer to why this is so? Because the boys read. From Year 1 all boys are encouraged to read – and to read with understanding.

Andy McNab, best-selling author and famously ex-SAS, in a recent article credits the army for teaching him how to read –and fostering a love of learning. At 17 he read his rst book from cover to cover. A Janet and John reader. He was lucky. There are plenty of other teenagers out in the world who no one cares if they can read or not. Our boys will not be among them. How lucky they are.

If you think of a boy as a magic potion in the making, then each book a boy reads is adding an ingredient that will make that potion more powerful. The words themselves – the vocabulary – help build the boy’s ability to express his own meaning and to understand the meaning of others. Books about real life help him to empathise with others – to step into other lives and see realities other than his own. Through wide-ranging reading he can nd out what

makes him laugh, or what makes him cry. In our ever-changing world these skills, of understanding, of empathy, or simply of recognising that ‘di erent’ does not mean ‘bad’ are invaluable. The magic potion when it is nished is a boy who is con dent in his own place in the world, who can see others from more than one perspective and who can use words with skill and subtlety.

We, as a library and as a school, are lucky to be able to o er this as a possibility – and lucky enough to have boys who are willing to seize the opportunity. What better combination could a librarian ask for?

Leonie Flynn

From the Library

Head Librarian’s Column

My love of the library and the multitudinous praises I would like to sing about it and its librarian, Ms Leonie, could easily ll a novel, and, although I would happily write one on such a splendid subject, I fear that, for this purpose, I must be as succinct as possible.

Ever since I rst stepped into the library in Year 1 I knew that it was the only place for me, and soon it had become my home from home. The process of stamping, bar-coding, covering, cataloguing and placing on the shelves quickly became second-nature - as did numerous conversations and debates with our incredible librarian, Ms Leonie, about everything under the sun (and sometimes things above it as well!)

Any stereotypical views of libraries as silent, austere and foreboding must now be set aside, for our library is a place of exuberance and jollity - always bustling with energy. It is a sanctuary which radiates happiness (and noise), where I have taken refuge countless

Kids’ Lit Quiz

On the 28th November we went up to Queenswood School for the Kids Lit, (short for literature), Quiz or KLQ for short. The quiz teams consisted of boys from Years 6, 7 and 8. We drove up to Queenswood and on the coach journey we tried to squeeze in a bit of quick revision of fables, myths and more.

When we arrived there we ate our packed lunch and headed straight for the library were the quiz was going to be held and were instantly greeted by the di erent

times over the years. The thousands of di erent worlds, adventures, mysteries, heroes and villains waiting on the shelves gives the library an air of magic, which has entranced me throughout my time at Arnold House.

In Year 6 I became even more involved with life in the library when I was made a librarian. Using the scanner was soon my (as well as everybody else’s) favourite job. The subtle art of matching book to boy was a new responsibility (taught by the master, Ms Leonie) that I took in my stride - indeed, in my opinion, there is nothing quite like suggesting the perfect book, nor passing on one’s love of reading.

Since Year 5 I have been desperate to be Head Librarian (second only to Ms Leonie in the complex hierarchy that governs life, law and order in the library). When my dream was realised, it was with incomparable joy that I took up my post, not a sigh of

resignation (as another responsibility might have elicited).

We librarians are merry, encouraging and wildly enthusiastic, and I hope that my successor enjoys this marvellous job as much as I have. I will sorely miss the library and Ms Leonie in particular, and I wish to thank her profusely for opening my eyes to the wonders of reading.

Head Librarian

round on the board. With title like “Mythical Beasts”, “Clothing”, “Shoes”, “Vegetables” and “Final”. We, like many teams decided to put our joker on the mythical beasts round, which was the picture round.

At the halfway point both our teams were doing well and by the end of it both teams came joint seventh but there were 28 teams and a lot of teams before us tied in places so in reality we were sort of both fth in number of points with UCS winning the rst round of the competition.

The teams included me, and The subs were and

Hopefully next near we can do better and thank to Ms Leonie for preparing us well and making everything enjoyable for us. Y7

Visiting Author

Karl Nova

Back in the Autumn Term Arnold House was lucky enough to be visited by a Hip Hop artist, the poet Karl Nova, a man who stitches and weaves words together like no other and is an all-round star.

Because Ms Leonie knew that I like beatboxing (with beatbox you create a vocal percussion, a rhythm with your mouth, tongue, lips etc, often mimicking a drum machine), and that Mr Nova also uses beatbox, she asked me if I would act as his guide for the day.

I met Karl Nova at the school door and after introducing myself, and Ms Leonie, I took

him around the school. He was so friendly and funny and I really thought that we were going to get along. Soon enough I had to leave him for a while but I didn’t get disheartened as I knew that I was going to be reunited with him for his talk and, and of course, the workshop.

In the talk (and the workshop) we listened to Karl perform some of his poems and, which was amazing, listen to him tell us some stories about what it was like when as a child he was sent to a boarding school in Nigeria, his teenage introduction to Hip Hop and MCing and even some stories about when he was a grown up. Then, he asked me to join him on stage…

It was quite a surprise! Especially as Ms Leonie had kept it a secret that he wanted ME to come and make a beat up just so that he could freestyle to the audience and show us all that he was amazing with words and prove how absolutely alive rhythm and poetry can be. Everybody started clapping and cheering and after quite a long freestyle we stopped. He high- ved me and I high ved him back. I was grinning!

I have to say I loved every bit of that and from that moment on I started making little raps and beatboxes of my own. He really inspired me and I was really happy to help such a nice person.

Mr Nova in fact inspired a lot of us especially in the workshop where learned the ‘rules’ of rap and then wrote our own. We then got copies of his book (Ed: which won the CLPE, CLiPPA 2018 Poetry award) Rhythm and Poetry signed and I think we all went home really happy.

Verse Speaking

On25th March we paid homage to poetry on a sunny Monday morning at the American School.

The event began with the Lower School Individual competition, planned so early to save the Y3s and Y4s from mounting pressure and increasing butter ies. First up was a Charles Causley poem, a mouthful made easy by (3B) who was lauded for his “beautiful” rendition of this complicated poem. Most people would not argue with the judges’ decision to award the prize to (4AB) for his stylish version of Roald Dahl’s ‘The Porcupine’ – a con dent and worthy winner. However, both (4TB) and (3W) were noted in judges’ despatches and on another day may well have succeeded in catching the eye; both boys gave strenuous performances of subtle, clever poems, Charles’s ‘tantrum on the oor’ especially funny.

As for the rest of the individual poems? We were treated to an astonishingly varied selection. There was an appeal for the ‘perfect’ game of cricket by (5G) to be appreciated, and a political manifesto voiced by (6M) for a re-think and a request to send School back to school! This was a hot favourite as ‘tubthumped’ his way across stage, making us

all consider anew our views on the current education system.

Later, we were made to think about ecological disaster as sh swim in increasingly polluted, plastic-infested, waters, to the horror of sweet-voiced (5S). But in this section, the spoils went to the passionate, clear-voiced (6P) and his rendition of ‘I’m Much Better Than You’ by Colin McNaughton.

In the Upper School, there was a welljudged tie between (7M) and (8W). Their subject matter was wildly di erent but their cases equally deserving. depicted a bullying victim whereas gave us a northern-vowelled narrative poem made famous in the 1930s by Stanley Holloway, ‘The Lion and Albert’. Both of these entries deserved prizes but then also impressive was (7H) who evoked another age in the poem about a child’s game gone hauntingly awry in ‘Hide and Seek’ by Vernon Scannell. Finally, in what was the greatest poem of the morning’s selection, (8H) gave a kudos and gravitas to the proceedings with his rendition of Yeats’s ‘Sailing to Byzantium’.

Between sections we were treated to Inua

Ellams (guest judge) and his sensitive summations of the poems recited, he also recited one of his poems, ‘Directions’. Inua faltered at rst, as if to show the boys what it can be like even for the most experienced hand.

In the Form Poem competition, the highlight was probably 4AB’s performance of Michael Rosen’s ‘The Babysitter’ – this was a stunning group e ort, beautifully choreographed and performed by the choral speaking talents of the whole form. They did Mrs Batty proud. Other brilliant e orts came from 5S with their clever and interesting version of ‘Three Seconds’ by Spencer Sharp and Prince Ea, a warning to everyone to take better care of our planet. Finally, the winners of the Middle/Upper School section were 6M and their version of ‘Invictus’, followed by their own Haka, dedicated to Logan Gemming (a former AH teacher from New Zealand, who recently passed away) and to the victims of the Christchurch atrocity. This tugged at our collective heartstrings.

Overall, it was a thrilling morning of poetry –a real testament to the talents of the boys and their ability not just to remember lines but also to deliver them so dashingly.

David Moss-Marks Head of English

Verse Speaking

Year 8 Positions of Responsibility

By the time the boys arrive in Year 8, their thoughts and those of their parents are naturally starting to turn towards Common Entrance and getting into the senior school of their choice. However, there is so much more than that to being a Year 8 Arnold House boy. We want them to continue to be involved in sport, perhaps captaining one of the teams. Musicians should make themselves available to the Orchestra, Choir or to one of the many groups that so busily ll the corridors with sweet melodies or rocky guitar ri s.

Every boy in Year 8 is given an important role and responsibility. This includes, Head Boys, House Captains, Head Librarians, IT Monitors etc. as seen in the table on the right.

At Arnold House we are concerned with the long term success of the boys. We believe that by making full and active commitment to the community – being a good citizenthat the boys will be armed with the skills they need in later life to be happy and successful. The boys understand this, and continue to amaze us with their ability to

turn their hand to so many areas of school life.

Sebastian Stones

Deputy Headmaster, Pastoral

Leadership

Tennis Captain

Head Boy

Pitt House Captain

Wellington House

Captain

Head Librarian

Brunel House

Captain

IT Monitor

Pitt House Captain

Wellington House Captain

Vote for schools coordinator

Cricket Captain

Pitt House Captain

Hockey Captain

Wellington House Captain

Football

Sports

Nelson

Cross

Captain

Rugby

Captain Head Chorister

Nelson House

Captain

School Council

TheSchool Council consists of representatives who are elected from each form from Year 3 upwards each term. The Council convenes at least once a term and the boys discuss a range of issues with Mr Kerr. Sensible and feasible recommendations and suggestions are passed on to appropriate bodies of the school, for example the catering or sports department or are discussed with the Headmaster. Council minutes are also discussed by the sta ’s Pastoral Team and this provokes some interesting and useful discussion in this forum. Feedback is given to the representatives in the following meeting and the Head Boys (who were also

invited to join the group this year) then relay what was discussed and what has been achieved in the next available full school assembly.

This year, there has been no shortage of good ideas from the boys many of which were taken under consideration and implemented and some which continue to be discussed. The younger boys were keen to introduce an Eco badge for being environmentally friendly, learn Mandarin in an after school club, install a clock in the locker room and have a boy sit on the Catering Committee. In Years 5&6, there were a large number of food related suggestions which were passed onto the

catering department, ideas for the School to become more environmentally friendly and ways in which the boys can earn more house points. At the top of the School, boys were keen to have more input on the Post CE Activity Programme which was welcomed, more music performances, uniform suggestions and a change to the use of the quiet area.

We hope the boys enjoy seeing some of their ideas being implemented and we look forward to hearing what our new set of School Councillors suggest in the forthcoming year.

Christ Kerr Senior Master

Visiting Speakers

Autumn Term

DateYear

Sept1&2Sarah Mackenzie (Dance 4 All)

Sept6 Katrina Russell-Adams (Printmaker & visual artist)

Sept8Becky Allen (Artist)

Oct 4-8Karl Nova (Author)

Oct 2Freshwater Productions

Nov 7Paul Mitchell & Alan Sendrek (QPR)

Nov 4Pui Lee (Artist)

Nov 3Freshwater Productions

Nov 3Amanda Banham (Ceramicist)

Dec5Celia Dowson (Ceramicist)

Dec1-8 Father Al Gordon, St John's Hackney Church (parent)

Dec8 Father Al Gordon, St John's Hackney Church (parent)

Spring Term

DateYear

Jan1CREW

Jan2CREW

Jan7Bianca Palazzi (Illustrator)

Jan1Sandra Putsman (parent)

Jan5Boston Tea Party Museum, USA (via Skype)

Feb 1 Julia Sche el, Diana Jarrett, Joyce Qian & Qi Song (parents)

Mar3-8Inua Ellams (Poet)

Mar 1-8 & parents Suzanne Briggs, Sally Taylor, Michaela Best & Seema Oberoi (NSPCC)

April1Lisa Stickley (Artist)

Summer Term

DateYear

May 2-6Curtis Allen (Wonder Dome)

May 2Freshwater Productions

June1&2 Quantum Theatre Company

June8Tom Cahn (AH old boy)

June1-4 Peter Roberts, Headmaster of The King's School, Canterbury

July1 David Wahi (parent)

July8Jen Cravel (First Aider)

July5-8Edward Fox & Joanna David

Dance & Drama Workshop

Art & PE project creating mobiles & screen printing

Meditative potentials of drawing

Techniques of writing and creating a rap

Victorian Day Workshop

WW1 workshop

Creating birds using Adobe Illustrator

Ancient Egyptians workshop

Screen printing onto ceramics

The Human Form

Christmas gift bag appeal

Homelessness in London

Science Workshop - Materials

Science Workshop - Forces

Abstract art

Jungle bugs

An interactive history lesson about the events that led to the American revolution.

Chinese New Year

Judge at Verse Speaking & Year 6 workshop

Staying safe online

Author and illustrator, fruit collage

Planatarium Experience

Science Workshop - Electricity

Maths Workshop

Tech industry talk

Junior Prize Giving

Finance

First Aid Course

Senior Prize Giving

Atthe St Michael’s Day service in September, the Chapel Choir, sang the beautiful “Ubi Caritas” by Maurice Duru é. The words in English are, “where love and kindness are, God is to be found there” –an appropriate and simple thought that tears down any doctrinal or confessional di erences between people and places an emphasis on our behaviour towards each other. The music itself is quite hard, but the choir sang it faultlessly, making an excellent debut to the year – a standard they maintained to the end. We held our Armistice Day on Friday 9th November, as the actual date was on the Sunday. 2018 was the centenary of the end of World War One and this was always going to be a special service. Our guest speaker was the former Headmaster of Arnold House, Mr Nicholas Allen. He is always an excellent speaker, with a message worth listening to, however on this occasion, he deferred to his predecessor, Miss Hanson, and read a letter she herself wrote to the boys of Arnold House in 1918 at the war’s end. After

the service, a copy of the letter was among items buried in a time capsule to be opened in 50 years’ time.

A sad commemoration was made at the end of the Lent Term service in March, when the choir sang “How Great Thou Art”. The reason for choosing this item was in memory of a former member of sta , Logan Gemming, who had died in an accident in his native New Zealand a few weeks earlier. The hymn is one that is often sung at funerals in New Zealand. On a happier note, we also welcomed a new priest to the team at St John’s Wood – Rev Kristina Andréasson. She took one of our summer term services, and in doing so, became the rst woman priest ever to lead an Arnold House service. Kristina is originally from Sweden and had previously worked at the Swedish Church in London. Most people perhaps do not know that because of an inter-church agreement called the Poovoo Communion, the Church of England is in a union with the Churches of Norway, Iceland, Finland and Sweden. You could say it’s a bit like an ecclesiastical EU!

Priests and people of all the churches can work and worship in any of those within the group. Kristina has made a great start at St John’s Wood, as the Associate Vicar, assisting Fr Anders in his work.

Fr Anders himself gave some sound advice to the boys at the end of year Leavers’ Service in July. The reading at the service had been the story of Daniel in the lions’ den and Fr Anders took as his theme standing up for what makes you an independent person (the end of term was 4th July – Independence Day). A good point was made that being independent is not the same as being rudderless – as boys leave Arnold House and go onto their new schools, they must be independent, but have a strong grounding in what makes them good and brave. It is our hope that church services over the years have given them some ideas which they can make their own, as use for guidance in later life – “Hold fast to that which is good”.

John Hill

Deputy Headmaster Academic

Time Capsule

The 1976 Century Safe…The Crypt of Civilisation…The Westinghouse Time Capsule…The Detroit Century Box and The Blue Peter Millennium Capsule are all but a few examples of famous Time Capsules that have inspired generations to bury objects representative of current culture for preservation and discovery in the future. Whilst remembering those who lost their lives 100 years ago, and how life at Arnold House has changed over the years, the boys also turned their thoughts to the future and how the School might look in 50 or 100 years’ time. It seemed a tting tribute therefore, to put together a time capsule including items representing the School today for a future generation of Arnold House boys to discover and enjoy.

As with all projects that inspire imagination, the boys thoroughly enjoyed the task of thinking about what items should be

buried and they were not short of ideas. An impressive inventory of forty seven items were chosen including the most popular book in the School library (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone), a mini chess set representing the most popular activity club, Brexit through the eyes of a Year 4 boy, a letter predicting the future from a Year 6 boy, a plastic bag, a written record of Year 8’s ambitions, photos, a Common Entrance paper and a set of coins to name but a few.

hole overseen by the Headmaster, Deputies, ex-Headmaster Nicholas Allen, ex-Bursar Richard Fletcher and a number of Arnold House old boys. Once the capsule had been successfully lowered, Penny’s husband, Canon John Williams, o ered a prayer for the future boys of Arnold House School. The Head Boys gave three cheers for the boys of 2068 and the hole was lled.

A plaque has been planted to mark the spot of the burial of the capsule with instruction to dig it up in 50 years’ time. It is hoped that many of our current boys will return in November 2068 as the capsule is uncovered and that they will be able to explain the use and purpose of a DVD, CD and USB!

Stephanie Miller Head of External Relations

Phil and Peter, our premises o cer and handyman, were set with the task of digging a 4' 6" hole in the quiet garden –deep enough to protect the capsule from uctuating temperatures in the hope that all the items inside will be preserved. Following the Armistice Church service on 9th November, a group of boys representing Years 4 to 8 set about the task of lling, closing and lowering the capsule into the

Public Benefit

As a charity, Arnold House continues to o er bene ts to the local community as follows:

Outside use of School facilities and grounds:

Clubs continue to bene t from the use of our Activity Centre at Canons Park including Acorn Tennis Club and Lupton Bowls Club. Friends of Canons Park and the Canons Park Estate Association are welcome users of our facility for meetings, local concerts and events. Local primary schools are encouraged to use the sports facilities and indoor hall for drama and music. In the evenings local groups take part in Aikido, Drama, Yoga, Tai Chi, Zumba and indoor bowls.

The Loudoun Road site is also used by groups in the local community including the Grove End Road Residents Association.

Local Community Involvement:

This year, the School has continued to build on its good relationships with the St John’s Hospice, St John’s Wood Church, St Cyprian’s and St John’s Hackney. Over the year the School has continued its support with involvement in a number of initiatives and activities which have included:

-Shoe Drive for Yew Tree Primary School and Jupiter School (Hemel Hempsted)

-Loan of mini buses to Christ Church Primary School

-Christmas box collection for the Hackney community

-Year 8 homeless project

Raising Money for Charity:

Over the year, the boys, sta and parents have raised signi cant amounts of money for a variety of local, national and

international worthy causes, including SwimSafe, St John’s Hospice and the Royal British Legion. There were three charity days this year with a Nautical theme in the autumn, an orange and yellow theme in the spring and a ‘Flippers & Floats’ theme in the summer.

The total raised for charity this academic year was:

Royal British Legion

*Linked with the Royal Life Saving Society

Stephanie Miller Head of External Relations

During the spring term, boys in Years 6&7 took on the annual Young Entrepreneurs' Project culminating in the opportunity to run a stall in the forecourt one afternoon. All pro ts were donated to the School’s international charity –SwimSafe.

In the lead up to the event, each team

Young Entrepreneurs' Afternoon

completed a comprehensive business plan including a description of their stalls, roles and responsibilities amongst the team, outgoing cost breakdown, projected income and pro t.

As always, the boys were very enthusiastic about becoming AH Young Entrepreneurs and a record 17 teams entered their

business plans and started planning their stalls. During the afternoon, the rest of the school were treated to a variety of activities, including bowling, spin the wheel, milkshakes, wa es, treasure hunts, target practice, card games and many more.

Overall, the boys did a truly fantastic job of creating and running their businesses

Young Entrepreneurs' Afternoon

raising an impressive total of £1,058 for charity and they were therefore all rewarded with a commendation. We have a detailed scoring system for this event which looks at many aspects of how the boys ran their businesses including the coherence of their initial business plans, originality of idea, preparation, execution, presentation, teamwork, takings and overheads.

The following three teams were awarded with the top three prizes and Gold Commendations:

Silver Commendations went to (in no particular order):

All other participants received a Bronze Commendation.

All three teams scored high by being very organised and planning well in advance for the afternoon. They worked seamlessly within their teams, demonstrated good execution of their businesses which re ected very closely their original business plans. The presentation of their stalls really stood out with clear signage, use of technology and lots of thought and work had gone into the prizes that they had on o er.

We look forward to seeing what ideas the boys come up with next year!

Stephanie Miller Head of External Relations

Grandparents' Open House

On19th June, over 200 grandparents, aunts, uncles and family friends of the boys in Years 1 to 6 came to see Arnold House in action. After a comprehensive tour of the School by our Year 6 boys, visitors joined their grandsons in their classrooms and then made their way to the back playground where a traditional afternoon tea was served. We were delighted to welcome so many of the extended Arnold House family and look forward to seeing you all again in the future. Stephanie Miller Head of External Relations

Activities

To all budding enthusiasts: Are you keen to develop the latest app or improve your own sporting skills? Are you an aspiring musician, a budding gardener or a mad scientist? Perhaps you’re a fan of chess or cards, design, art or a conservationist ready to save the environment and wild life. In short, whatever your interests are, Arnold House has a wide choice of activities to choose from so that you can widen your interests and knowledge.

Activities play a big part in the Arnold House experience as we want to encourage a love of arts, music and creativity which continue right through a pupil’s life.

We believe in encouraging our boys to discover and develop their own individual talents and passions. The activities programme o ers a welcome respite from the academic rigours of the school week, whilst also presenting pupils with new experiences and challenges. It is the taking part that matters most, so our activities programme caters for all interests and levels; and there are over fty to choose from.

Natalie Hall

Activities Coordinator

Kids’ Lit Quiz

The Kids’ Lit Quiz takes place in the Library every Tuesday afternoon. We make teams of four and sharpen our pencils in eager anticipation for the quiz Ms Leonie prepares for us every week. Ms Leonie asks us the questions and we write down the answers if we know them.

This all sounds simple, but it isn’t - unless you know the books! The questions in the weekly quiz can vary from classic books by, for instance, Jules Verne or Roald Dahl to modern books by authors such as David Walliams, Philip Reeve or Michael Morpurgo, and with the occasional bit of mythology for fun. Teams battle against each other and competition is erce.

Every year, the real, worldwide Kids’ Lit Quiz takes place. Ms Leonie’s club helps us prepare for the London heats and (if we’re lucky) the national stage of the quiz. Arnold House has reached the nal three times and won the world title once - though we aim to make that twice!

Despite the more competitive side of the club (it sometimes gets pretty loud), I enjoy every session and would recommend the club to anyone who likes books.

Y7

Roman Model Building

The rst time we started building a model of the Trojan horse, the packaging said 'easy to assemble' but instructions were not clear and it proved impossible to do! We then started on a new model which we successfully completed by the end of the term. It was fun to get together every Wednesday at long break to work on it. It was also interesting to build as in Year 6 we have been studying the war on Troy in our Classical civilisation lessons.

Y6

Carpentry and Crafts

One of the most exciting opportunities that I had in Y7 was being able to join Mrs Ostojic's Carpentry and Crafts Club. It's a club that runs during the day at lunch break on a Thursday in the science lab. Mrs Ostojic is also my English teacher so I was really surprised that she was interested in something like this. We began with getting used to all the di erent tools and equipment like a saw, a vice, a glue gun and sanding blocks. I enjoyed many of the various projects but my favourite by far was when we made our swords which I think is what gets everyone hooked! It's amazing how you turn some dull-looking bulsa wood into a pretty authentic looking piece of weaponry.

Y7

Dance and Drama

This year we have learnt dance routines, like  'Footloose' and my favourite routine of 'Dynamite'. In Drama, we have learnt techniques of showing our emotions through facial expressions and body language and tried these skills out in 'Little Red Riding Hood' and 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. We also got to focus on scriptwriting and made and

performed our own short plays in groups. My group's was about aliens! We also had bundles of fun by playing dance and drama inspired games like my two favourites of Wink Murder and Splat!

Y2

Board Games Club

Board Games Club happens every Monday last break and it’s a really fun club where you can choose from a variety of di erent games including Connect 4 (my favourite) and Monopoly. I love it, especially when you play with your friends.

Y4

Junior Cricket Nets

Cricket Nets is very fun because you get to do lots of cool games including hit and run and doubles. Normally there’s a Year Three pitch and a Year Four pitch, but sometimes we mix up. There are a lot of people which means you can play a proper game of cricket. It is a really fun club and I recommend it to any Year 3 or 4 boy who enjoys the fantastic game of cricket. & Y4

Year 3 Quiz Club

Quiz Club is fun because you have to work as a team to get the answers. I like it because some of the questions are from the Week Junior. It is really fun marking the other team's answers because you can see what they got wrong and what they got right. It is really fun seeing the scores of your team because then you can see if your team did well or not.

Y3

Year 2 Gym Club

Every Thursday afternoon we do Gym Club with Mrs Matthews. We have learnt lots of vaults like straddle and straight over. They are the hardest ones! We have also done routines with forward rolls, front and back supports and a neat landing. Gym is really fun but sometimes quite hard!

& Y2

Year 4 Quiz Club

I really like Quiz Club. It happens every Monday and I love it. I learn a lot about the news from others and it’s a really good test. At the end of the year the overall team winners get a prize! Even better!

Y4

Philosophy Club

What do we do in Philosophy Club? We discuss abstract ideas and concepts, such as what makes people good. From that question, we make a philosophical argument. We look at all sides of the matter and learn how to listen and respect other peoples’ views, particularly as, in philosophy, there is no right or wrong answer. Recently, we discussed morals, ethics and freewill. Throughout our time in philosophy club, we talk about ideas. We see both sides of the argument. Sometimes, there is a photo on the board and we list words which describe what we each see in the photo. Using these words, we nd a philosophical question, such as ‘how do we know if we exist?’ At the same time as learning philosophy, we have lots of fun discussing questions about life, the world around us and our purpose in it.

Y7

Swimming Club

Every Wednesday we go on the tube to Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre for Swimming Club. When we arrive we get changed and then start swimming lengths of the pool. We do back stroke, front crawl and breast stroke and try to improve our technique. We have also been learning to dive from the dive boards at the end of the pool. I have really enjoyed taking part in Swimming Club and will miss it in Year 5 – I really recommend it. Thank you Ms Legan for taking us every week.

Y4

Year 2 Basketball Club

At Basketball Club we played lots of matches and had a shooting competition. It was really fun, especially doing 20 star jumps when we lost! Thank you Miss Duxbury for doing such a fun club.

Y2

Years 5&6 enjoyed another school year of Scrabble Club run by Mrs Ruda.

The competition was intense each week as we all pitted our extensive vocabulary knowledge against each other. Some boys pushed ahead with points due to their tactical ability to use the bonus point squares just in the “nick of time”, to their opponents' frustration!

It was a great opportunity to get to know boys in the year above and build friendships with them in this fun setting.

I was delighted to nish the club as top scorer for Year 5 and can’t wait to build on this success in Year 6.

Y5

Knitting Club

Knitting Club is really fun because we meet and socialise while we knit. This term we have knitted many frogs and one panda in knitting club as well as some of our own creations. In the spring term we made bunny egg cosies for Easter which we put on eggcups and put some chocolate eggs inside and around them. At Christmas we made Christmas stockings, again stu ed with chocolates. We really enjoy our Knitting Club because we get to knit and natter and maybe we might call the club that name next year!

& Y6

Cricket Nets

Cricket Nets is run on a Monday morning at 8 o’clock by Mr Cox, Mr Matthews and Mr Wilson. Cricket Nets is great fun for Y5, Y6 and Y7. Cricket Nets is an extra session of cricket and it will really improve your game in all three aspects of batting, bowling and elding. It is a great way to start the week. We practise our di erent type of bowling deliveries as well as our batting. I can’t wait to do it next year when I will be in the Colts playing more hard ball cricket. I recommend this club to all Y4 boys coming into Y5 who are interested in cricket. Thank you to the teachers for running this great club!

Y5

Taekwondo

Taekwondo is a great club and fun for learning about self-defence. Taekwondo is also good for learning attacking moves. I like Taekwondo because of being able to spar against other people. It also gives you good exercise.

Y4

Mad Science

Mad Science is an excellent club for many reasons. For example, one week we looked through microscopes (we looked at various butter y parts.). It was very interesting. Thank you for a lovely club, Miss Smith!

Y4

Activities

Gardening Club

Gardening Club is a really fun club on Tuesday breaktimes. You get to water, plant seeds, dig up worms and trim plants. Its really fun and relaxing and I really enjoy doing it with my friends. We even grew potatoes in our new Vegetable Trug this year which the kitchen used for our lunch!

Y4

Bridge Club

I think I speak for all of us, when I say that Bridge Club is something we really enjoy. It is like the only bit of calm in the hectic storm of school life. It is just so relaxing and after coming out of it I am completely at peace with myself and can just get on with life completely carefree. It is run on a Thursday afternoon from 1600 - 1630 and is supervised by Mr Edis, Mr Moss-Marks and The Bursar.

The name Bridge Club might sound slightly overwhelming, governing even, implying that all we do is Bridge, and that you have to know how to play to join. But you don’t have to know how to play Bridge to join and we also play other games such as Hearts. Over all, Bridge Club is one of the best clubs in the school and you should de nitely consider joining.

Y7

Maths is Fun

Maths is Fun is a great club. Sometimes in the morning we play this great game called Splat. It is played on a hundred square board where someone thinks of numbers and the others try to guess what they are. When someone gets some numbers wrong, they splat them. Once there are only a few numbers left they do a vote. If a few people vote the right one Ms Legan chooses the next person to think of a number but if only one person gets it correct it’s them. We also made some games up ourselves and played them. It was great fun. I really recommend going to this amazing club. & Y3

Multi Sports

Multi Sports is a club run by Mr. Wint on a Wednesday afternoon. It is really fun, you can play any sports you want no matter what term it is. My favourite sports to play in multi sports are Football and Cricket. When you play football, you use a big section of the bottom playground as this is quite popular and when you play cricket, you play on the top playground.

Y5

Photography Club

In Photography Club we have lots of fun. Every week, we are given a topic to take a photo of. For example, recently we had to try and take a good photo of lights. Each Thursday, after taking the photo, we meet in the IT Room where we go through the photos taken by everyone. Mrs Ruda then decides whose photo is best. The prize for best photo winner is a choice of sweets or chocolates.

Next we use a website called Pixel Editor to edit our photos. For example we can change the colours or sharpen the photo. We save our edits of the photos and throughout the term we work on a book which presents all our photos. At the end of the term, Mrs Ruda ordered our books and when they arrived they looked really cool. For me personally, when I looked through the book I could see how I had progressed with my photography skills.

Y7

Formula 1 Club

F1 Club is where you learn interesting facts about F1 and watch a set of videos called ‘Mini Driver’ which I certainly would recommend. I love this club because I didn’t know much about F1 before but now I am an expert. runs this club and he really inspired us to do two things; become interested in F1 and join a group of other boys who also like the sport.

Y5

Le Club de Français

We have participated in a wide variety of activities and challenges this year in French Club with Madame Pegler on a Thursday morning from 8:00 - 8:20am. Sometimes we sampled French breakfast treats such as brioches and madeleines as we completed our activities which were delicious. We covered lots of interesting activities during the year including French lm, games, current a airs and sport. We even learnt how to play Boules! I have really enjoyed being part of this club this year and recommend it to all boys coming into Year 6.

Y6

Cooking Club

I nd cooking a very fun and interesting club you get given the recipe for next week when you have made the dish at school you can take it home and make the recipe again. You never do the same recipe twice and there are always more things to make every week. This year we have alternated between the sweet and savoury recipes. They are all very nice and the whole family will love them. My favourites were the cookies and the Mississippi mud pie I would de nitely recommend this club to the coming Year 5s.

Y5

Chess

Onceagain the AH chess boys have done themselves proud. The chess culture at AH continues to deepen, with boys keeping in practice at lunch times during the week and racing up to me at Chess Club to let me know the head-tohead scores from those battles!

It is that sort of enthusiasm which explains the boys' continued success in tournaments and inter-school matches. To my mind this is the perfect way to get good at something –to practise it as much as possible, but in such a way that it is just fun, so that in that sense you don’t even see it as practice, or a chore.

our Chess Captain and ViceCaptain were very positive and helpful during the year, helping the younger ones and assisting with scorekeeping for the House Tournament. Both and have been a part of the club for as long as I can remember and will be missed as they now move into the next phase of their school lives. We wish them lots of success and I am glad to hear that they will be keeping it up with their chess!

Heathside Chess Match

In February we challenged our chess nemesis – Heathside Prep – to an 18 board chess match! Heathside is recognised as one of the best chess schools in the UK, and we

have fell victim to them many times in the past.

Each school brought their best 4 players from Years 3-6, then on top of that our Chess Captain, and Vice Chess Captain took on two Year 8 Heathside boys. It was to be the best of two rounds, with twenty minutes each per player on the clock.

After the rst round our victory was virtually assured as we won very convincingly with a score of 12-6. Considering the strength of our opponents this was a mighty feat!

In the second round we tried an experimental version: in each year group our Board 1 played their Board 3, our Board 2 played their board 4, and vice versa. We won this round 9.5-8.5.

Thank you to catering sta for the delicious tea and cake which was appreciated by all!

Special mention to for his quick checkmate in 4 moves (his eyes lit up!), for a brilliant 'discovered check' that allowed him to turn the tables on his unsuspecting opponent, and of course our captains for courageously leading the pack.

Mulberry House Chess Tournament

In March we had ten boys from Arnold House make their way over to West Hampstead for the 3rd Annual Mulberry House Chess Tournament.

What makes this event so special is that it is for Year 1 and Year 2 children only, giving talented youngsters an opportunity to compete.

Arnold House had two teams in the Year 2 section, where they were competing against teams from Hendon Prep, Hawkesdown House and of course Mulberry House, whilst Kensington Wade and Mulberry House battled it out in the Year 1 division.

It was a long day of chess for the AH boys but they were full of energy and exuberance throughout the ve rounds. In the end the A team came rst and the B team came second!

For me what was so enjoyable to see was the high level of concentration and discipline amongst all the participantswhich is very impressive considering their young age. De nitely we have a few superstars in the making to add to the already long list of talented chess players coming out of the school.

House Tournament

Once again in the spring term we had a gigantic House Tournament with over one hundred boys participating! After literally hundreds of games the winning house was Pitt.

As there was an uneven spread of house colours across the year groups the results were calculated using percentages.

Nelson in fact won the Seniors, with Pitt in second place. But as Pitt also won the Juniors, their overall average was higher with a convincing 60.5% win rate.

Chess

Special mention to artist who very kindly created a fantastic poster to showcase the House Tournament and the nal scores.

Eaton Square Chess Match

In the summer term, hungry for more chess, ten boys from Years 3 and 4 were selected to take on Eaton Square School. Half of the boys were representing AH in chess for the rst time.

Chess clocks were used on all boards so it had a real tournament feel to it, and the players now had to think not just about the quality of their moves but also about using their time wisely, as a loss on time is equivalent to being checkmated!

After two rounds Arnold House emerged victorious with the very strong score of 10.5 vs 5.5.

Well done in particular to  and who made their chess debut for AH. Many thanks to Mr Chris Edis for his own passion for chess and for helping accompany the boys.

On behalf of the coaches and the boys I would like to thank the o ce and admin sta for all their support in making these great events a reality.

Concluding, I would like to express my excitement for the future of AH chess – a real chess community has developed and continues to grow and there is a staggering number of talented boys!

John-Paul Wallace Chess Master

Gymnastics

Novice Gymnastics Competition

Looking to our next generation of Arnold House gymnasts takes us to the London Schools Novice Gymnastics Championships. It was the rst ever Gymnastics Competition for most of the team, but I thought that they were up for a challenge, so fast-tracked them straight into the Level 2 category. They were to perform on two events, the Floor and the Vault. They rose to the occasion and gave stunning performances. Their execution on the Floor was particularly impressive, with every member of the team scoring over 8 points out of 10 for their routines. The Vault was somewhat more di cult. The competition spring-board was of professional quality and had strong, bouncy springs. Although this was fun to y o , it made it much harder for the boys to control their elevation and to perform with perfect precision. Again, the team took the challenge in their stride. They tensed their muscles and focussed their minds. All completed fantastic vaults and all scored over 7 points out of 10. Their excellent e orts rewarded them with a team gold medal in their category!

Congratulations to:

Gymnastics Nationals

For 7-11 year olds, competing in Nationals is quite an achievement! and arrived in Stoke-on-Trent with enthusiasm, eagerness and motivation to do their best. It was a great pleasure for Ms Legan and

Mrs Struzik Mazur to see huge grins on the faces of the boys who, despite the transport di culties during the bank holiday weekend, managed to make it all the way up to Stoke on time, and ready to face the challenge.

The Arnold House Team did not only impress with the way they managed the warm-up in the very busy gym, but also the boys really stood out because of their behaviour. They demonstrated responsibility, impeccable manners towards their rivals and showed the real spirit of sportsmanship. In awe and support Arnold House Gym Squad boys watched each other’s routines that included some very advanced balances and moves such as straddle levers, round o s, and the splits. Vaulting has always been the favourite discipline for our boys so they eagerly put a lot of e ort into practising their jumps, which really paid o on the day as their squat-throughs looked fantastic.

Competing at the National level was a wonderful opportunity for all involved. The boys gained invaluable experience of performing in front of a large audience at a high level of sport.

Gymnastics Regionals

This was the second year running that Arnold House had gymnasts at a high enough standard to enter two teams into the London Regional Competition.  and made up our U11 team. and had competed at this level before,

but and were brand new to regional competition. They absolutely smashed it and led Arnold House to our third consecutive Regional Gymnastics Title, which won them a place at National Finals. Our veterans, and

made up our U14 team. These boys have a National Title under their belt in the U11 category and are now up against the big time players of the U14s. Arnold House competed beautiful oor routines and powerful vaults. They watched the competition of strong Year 9 teams, who somersaulted and tumbled their way through their incredibly advanced oor skills. It was fantastic for our Year 7 and 8 team to see other boys at such a high level. They are so used to seeing girls at a high standard, so to watch these older boys perform was a real inspiration to them. Arnold House did incredibly well against such tough competitors and came away with a Team-Silver medal in the London Region! This was the last competition for our long standing gymnastics Captain of three years, He has achieved so many gymnastics achievements in his time at Arnold House and has led the team through to much success.  The other squad boys will miss the strength and precision of his gymnastics, his encouragement of other team members and the energy and laughter he brings to every training session. Thank you

Aneta Struzik Mazur, Trish Legan & Abigail Oliphant Teachers-in-charge of Gymnastics

AtArnold House there is one member of the school with whom everyone wants to be friends, and that is Arnold. It is no surprise that everybody wants to spend time with him. He is easy to get along with, full of energy, always has a positive attitude and as if that was not enough he looks like a teddy bear!

While Arnold might not be able to analyse a poem or recite his seven times tables, he has played a very important role this year both inside and outside the classroom: improving the boys’ wellbeing. Numerous studies have shown that animals, and dogs in particular, have a positive e ect in schools. Given current concerns about the rise in mental health issues in children, the

wellbeing e ect that Arnold can provide is not something to be ignored.

As you can see, Arnold has had a very busy time at Arnold House in his rst year in the classroom, at Canons Park, taking part in trips and activities and becoming a familiar face in the playground.

Natalie Hall

Prize Giving

This year we had two fantastic speakers for our Prize Giving events, both of which were held in the Auditorium at The American School in London.

The boys in Years 1-4 had Mr Peter Roberts, the Headmaster of The King’s School, Canterbury, as their guest of honour. After some initial problems with the microphone, he gave his speech without the aid of electronic ampli cation – and what an interesting speech it was. Mr Roberts is headmaster of the oldest school in the country, as King’s was founded as part of the complex of Canterbury Cathedral by St Augustine in 596 AD. Mr Roberts noted with admiration the variety of prizes at Arnold House, not just for academic achievement, but also for the arts, sports and music. The former England cricketer, David Gower, is an old boy of King’s and he has recently visited the school and opened a dormitory named in his honour. He said to the boys he met that his greatest debt to King’s was not just his development as a cricketer, but the fact that he learned to sing and to play the clarinet. These skills would later help him to develop as a broadcaster. We can learn many skills at school, which may only come to the fore later in life. Mr Roberts said he had done some background research on Arnold House and was delighted to discover that our school motto, “Conquer we shall”, is a line from a poem by one of his favourite poets, Robert Herrick. Herrick was a priest

and poet during the troubled years of the English Civil War in the 17th Century. He was present for part of the wedding ceremonies for King Charles I and his French bride, which took place on 27 June 1625 in Canterbury (27 June was also the date of the Years 1-4 Prize Giving). The reign of Charles I was very di cult and Herrick’s loyalty to the King would cause him many hardships during the time of Cromwell’s Commonwealth, when the monarchy and Church of England were abolished (the two institutions Herrick devoted his life to). Yet, despite the problems he (and the country) faced, Herrick kept being imaginative and kept being positive. Herrick did end his life well, with the restoration of Charles II, he became a country priest in Devon and lived to a ripe old age. Mr Roberts felt this was a message for all of us, living in modern Britain, with current political issues dominating the headlines.

At the senior Prize Giving, for Years 5-8, we had a duet of guests of honour, a wonderful theatrical couple, with a long association with Arnold House: Joanna David and Edward Fox. Their son, Freddie, who is now 30, is an old boy of Arnold House. Joanna David gave the prizes to the boys, engaging in kind conversation with each of them, as she presented the cup or book. Edward Fox gave the speech, which began with a heartfelt observation that Arnold House seemed to have exactly the same positive atmosphere he knew from when he was

a parent here. The main theme of his well delivered address, which had the audience in laughter for much of it, was how school prepares one for the future. He read an extract from a letter written by his own great grandfather to one of his sons, which outlined the need for studying Science and Mathematics, since they provide the skills to think logically and clearly. Mr Fox also told the boys about the experiences of Harold Macmillan, a former British Prime Minister, who, when he was a young man in the trenches, would read Aeschylus in Greek, nding comfort (amidst all the slaughter around him) through knowledge. Macmillan often cited this story when he was addressing school boys or university students, since it showed the importance of studying the Classics. However, Mr Fox saved as his nal observation, remarks made at his own leavers’ service at Harrow, just after World War Two, when the Headmaster told the boys about to leave school, “The best is yet to come”.

The two interesting speeches we had were part of two wider evenings that celebrated achievement and success. The boys should be very proud of all that they and their classmates have done this year – the list of prizes always reads like a checklist of excellence.

John Hill

Deputy Headmaster Academic

Prize Winners

Junior School Prize Giving

Years 1&2

Individual certi cates

Form Prizes:

For E ort, Attitude and Contribution to the Group

3B

3W

4AB Howard Strong Cup and Book Prize

Graves Cup and Book Prize

4TB Gilchrest Cup and Book Prize

Kerner Cup and Book Prize

Year 4 Individual Prizes

Academic Progress 4AB Coronation Cup

Academic Progress 4TB Castello Cup

Art and DesignOakley Cup

Cricket Ackner Cup

Drama Lynn Cup

English Parents’ Cup

English ProgressAked Davies Cup

Excellence in

Scienti c and

Historical Knowledge Longsta e Cup

Excellence in ReadingG D Cup

Football Gibbs Cup

French Whittaker Cup

Geography Foster Cooper Cup

History Viney Cup

Humanities Laughton Scott Cup

Industry Albert Cup

InstrumentalBrodrick Cup

IT Balcombe Cup

MathematicsProsser Cup

Mathematics Progress Tregarneth Cup

Music Cuthbertson Cup

Overall Academic Achievement Baker Duly Cup

Performing ArtsCrichlow Cup

PE Games Bowl

ProgrammingMeyer Cup

Religious StudiesEl-Khazen Cup

Rugby Pritchard Cup

Science Southward Cup

Tennis Fisher Cup

All-round SportsmanKingsley Cup

All-Rounder

Year 3

Year 4 Young Cup &

’42 Club Prize winners

Years 1&2

Years 3&4

Cup & Book Voucher

Senior School Prize Giving

Year 5 Form Prizes

5S

5G

Year 6 Individual Prizes

6M

Rugby

Drama

Cricket

Geography

Library

Latin

Excellent Progress in French

All-Round Excellence in Sport

English

Excellent Progress in Music

Religious Studies

Young Entrepreneur

Academic Excellence

Information Technology

Tennis

Contribution to Sport History

Latin

Chivalry 6P

All-round Academic Excellence

Science

Classical Civilisation

Mathematics

Hockey

‘42 Club

All-round Academic Excellence

French

Practical Science

Contribution to Technical Support

Information Technology

Humanities

All-round Academic Progress

Comitas et Industria

Creative Writing

Excellent Progress in Mathematics

Art & Design

Excellence in Music

Year 7 Form Prizes

7H

7M

Head Boys' Cup Cargill Bowl &

Prize Winners

Year 8 Individual Prizes

Guitar Prize

Tennis

Academic Achievement in CE

Contribution to Music

Head Boy

Academic Excellence in Scholarship

Contribution to Music

Academic Excellence in Scholarship

Library

All-round Excellence in Music

Academic Achievement in Scholarship

All-round contribution to the school

Art

Academic Excellence in Scholarship

Religious Studies

Classics

Academic Achievement in CE

Comitas et Industria

Greek

Chivalry

Contribution to Art

Academic Excellence in CE

Cricket

Physics

Humanities

Latin

Academic Excellence in Scholarship

Hockey

Violin

Academic Achievement in CE

All-round Excellence in Sport

‘42 Club Prize

Maths

French

Languages

Contribution to Sport

Geography

Contribution to Music

Academic Excellence in CE

Jazz

Religious Studies

Drama

Combined Sciences

All-round contribution to the school

Brass

Cemlyn Jones Cup

Naggar Cup

Book Token

Forbes Trophy

Cargill Bowl and Book

Token

Book Token

Beswick Cup

Book Token

Library Cup

Kate Davis Cup

Book Token

Gestetner Cup

The Ralphs Cup

Book Token

Mohajerani Cup

Reid Cup

Book Token

Sanders Cup

Tooth Cup

Cyril Fenton Cup

Robert Lorenz Cup

Book Token

Gri ths Cup

Simon Cup

Temple Smith Cup

Rose Cup

Book Token

Philips and Lester Cup

Howard Cup

Book Token

Crown Cup

Book Token

Edge Cup

Raingold Cup

Davis Cup

Medawar Challenge

Cup

Gluckstein Cup

Forbes Trophy

Book Token

Jazz Cup

Nerdrum Cup

O'Toole Cup

Fenton Cup

Matsudaira Cup

Sellar Cup

Academic Achievement in CE

All-round contribution to sport

Academic Achievement in Scholarship

English

Chemistry

All-round Excellence in Music

Humanities

Head Boy

All-round contribution to the school

Academic Achievement in CE

Book Token

Bagnall Cup

Book Token

Woolf Cup

Beckman Cup

Sugarman Cup

Davis Cup

Cargill Bowl and Book Token

The McWatters Cup

Contribution to Music Book Token Boyton Cup

Biology

Art and Design Cross Cup

Elton Cup

House Competition

The House Competition continues to be an exciting part of the school year. The boys’ industry and citizenship grades are added together and at the end of each term the Houses are issued with points according

House Positions

to their position. The four Houses are also awarded points for the House sports events held each term. Congratulations to the winners for the fourth year running, Wellington, who are the proud custodians

of the House Cup which is displayed in House Corner.

Sebastian Stones

Deputy Headmaster, Pastoral

House Cricket/Tennis

points 3rd Brunel18 points 4thPitt 18 points

Outstanding Achievement

The following boys in Years 4 to 7 are duly recognised for their outstanding achievement across the full range of subjects in the curriculum: Art and Design, Computing, Drama, English, French, Geography, Greek (Y7 & 8), History, Latin (Y5 upwards), Library, Maths, Music, PE & Games,

Religious Studies and Science. Achievement grades in end-of-term Progress Reports, together with performance in year group assessments and internal exams (Y5 to Y7) provide the picture of a boy’s level of achievement and progress from term to term.

In order to qualify for outstanding achievement recognition a boy’s e ort and attitude to learning must also be of a high standard. Many congratulations go to:

Junior School

The Red Carpet

I pulled on my mother’s coat, the rough black material alien against my soft hands. As we approached the new cottage I looked into the sky to see if French clouds were different from English clouds. This was my first ti e abroad

My mother opened the old door and walked in with a ourish which soon turned to a look of disa oint ent he oor was coated in dust and the furniture covered in sheets of plastic. I ran up to a window and laced y fin ers on the cold lass ane standing on my tiptoes to try and get a better glimpse of what lay behind the stone walls. I took my hand away from the window and examined with intent the shape which I had left on the glass. Then I pulled a chair over to the window and looked out onto the fields of this strange land.

I gasped. Bright red poppies carpeted the lush green grass. I pushed my forehead against the glass, eager to become part of the crimson scenery.

Stepping down from the chair I took off my sandals. I reached up for the handle and ran exuberantly down the garden. I felt the soft grass beneath my feet as I gathered speed on my descent down the slope, continuin throu h lon rasses before finally arrivin in the field of o ies urrounded by the saw how the black in the centre fitted in with the scarlet etals I pulled and tugged on the stems as I wandered, the little hairs tickling the palms of my hand. I loved the way the clear dew ran off the smooth petals, twisting and turning until coming to stop in the black. I bit into some petals and chewed, just to see what it tasted like and s at it out al ost instantaneously

Soon, it started to get dark and so I trod back up the hill, through the tall grasses which watched me as I walked back to the cottage.

Year 8 - - -- -

Year 1 Trips & Activities

• YEAR 1 •

11th October

Canons Park Orientation Day

15th January

Science Workshop: Materials

19th March

Visit to St Lawrence Church

15th May

Canons Park

7th June

Tower of London

25th June

Maths Workshop

“I went on a tractor and I found out how to drive it. We saw how the watering system works and we tried not to get ourselves wet. I also went on the climbing wall, it was fun.”

“I liked the church we saw, there are stones on the 700 year old tower the other part is made of bricks. I liked that there are lots of trees around it.”

“I really liked going to Canons Park we got to look for bugs and insects with a big magnifying glass. I found a worm and a centipede.”

“It was fun combining straws to make di erent animals, I made a snail. We also started to make our grass heads – we will grow them at school.”

“We did some sports day practice, we played some catching games and also did some running. I loved the space at Canons Park.”

“Canons Park was very fun. It was the best because we did the evolution game with Mrs Matthews and I liked being an animal.”

“It was tricky making the grass heads because we had to put the sawdust in tights but we helped each other.”

Canons Park Visits

The boys spent a number of days at Canons Park this year exploring the grounds and enjoying the space as well as visiting the local church – St Lawrence Little Stanmore. Here are a few of their highlights:

“At Canons Park we went on the tractors and had our pictures taken. My favourite bit was when we all took turns on the tractors.”

“I love the spider’s web in the playground because I like climbing to the top of things. I felt like I was the tallest thing in the world.”

“We did P.E. I liked the stuck in the mud game and playing duck duck goose. It was great!”

“I liked going in the dangerous shed. We got to see a really interesting machine which was cool at spraying all the seeds over the ground.”

“We went on a shape hunt and we found shapes everywhere. We had to draw them on a clipboard. We found circles and rectangles on the tennis court.”

Year 1 Trips & Activities

Materials Workshop

In January, the boys took part in a materials workshop. They got to handle lots of di erent materials and answer questions to win points for the team. Below are a few of the highlights.

“I touched a piece of coral which has been a home for lots of animals. It was very light.”

“I really liked holding lots of di erent rocks. We got to hold crystals and quartz. They were heavy, hard and exciting.”

“I really liked the band because it was very noisy. It was a rock band because everything was made from metal and metal comes from rocks.”

“Boys got to be Rock Man, Plant Boy, Animal Man and Royal King. We had to put all the objects which were made out of those materials next to those boys.”

“Silk comes from a worm who makes a very thin thread and we can make very soft cloth from it. It takes a lot of worms to make clothes”.

“I wore a green plastic wig which was curly and very funny. It is made out of oil because plastic is made from oil.”

Year 1 Trips & Activities

Tower of London

On 7th June the boys visited the Tower of London as part of their work about William the Conqueror and castles. This is what they thought:

“My favourite part was seeing the king’s bedroom, it looked like an Arnold House room as it was all red and green. He had a special bed because he could move it.”

“I liked seeing the Crown Jewels, I liked George V’s crown because it was very sparkly. The doors were made of metal and very hard and thick.”

“It was cool to go inside the White Tower Keep made by William the Conqueror. I really liked the Dragon inside, it was made out of metal guns and swords and had money in its belly.”

“A long time ago the Tower of London was a zoo. We saw lots of animals on our way around the Tower. There was an elephant, some monkeys and a tiger.”

“We saw the ravens, let me tell you if all of the ravens y away the Tower will fall and the Queen will lose her throne.”

“The rst prisoner to escape from the White Tower hid a rope in a barrel but it was not long enough so he fell in the pile of poo below the Tower.”

“We had lunch in the Salt Tower which was fun, the tower was shaped like a hexagon inside.”

Years 1&2 Maths Workshop

Maths Workshop

On Wednesday 26th June, Quantum Theatre Group visited Years 1&2 and gave a memorable performance of “The Half Pint Kid”. Throughout the play, they explored number, place value, the four functions, fractions and decimals. The boys really enjoyed joining in and helping to solve all the maths problems along the way.

“I enjoyed the play but there was a scary bit when there was a man with no manners. I liked the maths songs at the beginning and at the end. We all did the sums very well.”

“The Half Pint Kid had to nd out how much Pepsi they needed for their journey. We counted in 2s to help him work out how much they needed.”

“The Sheri was struggling to nd the stolen bank money. We used our times tables and dividing to help him solve the clues on the treasure map.”

“I loved the whole show. We had to work out halves and quarters to nd out how much meaty pie they had to eat. We had to work out the di erence between the amount of salty crisps and cow pie crisps”.

“I liked it when they made it funny by counting the crisps and they used funny American voices. It was also good when they had a shoot out ght and had to add up di erent things.”

“It was so funny! My favourite bit was when the sheri guy was trying to catch the baddie and also when one of the guys died because he ate a weird avour of the crisps. We learnt stu about the 10 x table.”

“It was good to be outside and the show was so funny. We did our 2s, 5s and 10 x table to help the sheri .”

“It was really fun answering the maths questions like division and times tables questions. I got to go up and be part of the show and it was fun.”

Year 2 Trips & Activities

• YEAR 2 •

25th September

Dance & Drama Workshop

4th October

Victorian Day

22nd January

Science Workshop: Forces

12th February

Science Museum

9th May Science Workshop: Electricity

25th June

Maths Workshop

Victorian Day

On 4th October, Year 2 went to Canons Park to spend the day learning about what it was like to live in Victorian times. A visitor from the period showed the boys what it was like at school, how the Victorians did their chores and the sort of toys that boys their age would have played with.

“We learnt about the di erences between the lives of the rich and the poor and it was very interesting. Going to the park afterwards was really fun too!”

“I learnt that the rich people usually had 2 or 3 servants and 4 or 5 children. I had so much fun playing with a wooden yoyo and I was very good at the spinning rope. I loved the toys!”

“I learnt that the Victorians had to put their clothes on a washing line to dry o . All their toys were made out of wood so sometimes they could get splinters stuck in their ngertips.”

“Playing with the toys was so much fun but their toys were way more boring than ours and they didn’t have mobile phones!”

“I liked when we got to look at the wooden toys. I was really good at catching the ball into the pot, even though it was quite hard.”

“We saw a Victorian telephone and it looked like a big sort of lamp. Poor people had to wake up early in the morning to go and work for the rich people and they also slept in one bed to keep warm. It was a fun day!”

Year 2 Trips & Activities

Science Workshop: Forces

On 22nd January, Year 2 took part in a Science workshop about forces. The visiting speaker from CREW presented an interactive session about forces pulling and pushing – exploring which forces tted into each group by undertaking a series of fun investigations:

“I liked watching when the marbles went into a tube. The force that we need to get them out is twist. You need to push yourself on a skateboard to move.”

“We tried throwing a ball into the air as hard as we could push it. It was a fun workshop because the lady was so funny!”

“We watched the lady swing a toy in a bucket and because she was swinging it really, really fast the toy didn’t fall out because of the unbalanced forces acting on it!”

“I learnt that momentum is a type of force and that if you push something harder it will go further and faster. It was the best workshop ever!”

“We had lots of fun and we were in teams and my team won. We got to put people in a bucket and see how far we could push and pull them with di erent forces.”

Science Workshop: Electricity

On 9th May CREW returned to give the boys in Year 2 an interactive presentation about electricity. From lightning to friction, batteries to conductors, the boys enjoyed exploring the true understanding of the essence of electricity and what life may have been like before it was discovered:

“We learnt that wires are made of metal and electricity goes through them. Morris the Monster came out and we got to ask him lots of questions. He got all the answers wrong and the machine was destroyed!”

“Electricity can go through your body because of the water in it. Being at Canons Park was really nice because we got to be outside in the sunshine and also do some free drawing.”

“The monster taught us that lightning is a kind of electricity and that it travels really, really fast! You need to have rubber around wires so that you don’t get an electric shock because they are really painful.”

“We learnt that electricity powers things and is very useful. Mains electricity is more dangerous than battery. Wind can make electricity!”

“The lady told us that pylons carry electricity that can be used in things like cable cars! Also that mains is more powerful than battery power and so you have to be very careful.”

Year 2 Trips & Activities

Science Museum

On 12th February, Year 2 visited the Science Museum for a fun and educational day focussing on their Science topic of Forces and Magnets. They began in their groups with a forces trail around the entire museum and worked as a team, to hunt for objects and displays where the forces that we have learnt about so far were most evident. All of the groups worked fantastically together and found some great examples of forces in everyday life and in the exhibits. Following this, the boys saw a high-energy show that included some amazing demonstrations of di erent forces such as push, pull, gravity, air resistance, friction, upthrust and magnetism. With a little help from Phil, the Stunt Frog, all of the forces were seen acting on everyday objects and we will certainly be looking to replicate the practicals during our lessons. After a much-needed rest and lunch, the boys went into the Wonderlab to experience rst-hand forces in action; they were able to test friction on di erently surfaced slides, air resistance on di erently shaped paper aeroplanes, centrifugal forces as they quickly spun around a pole, gravity by pulling themselves up to the ceiling on a pull-up rope and so much more. A fabulously fun and informative day was had by all.

Sally Roden Y2 Form Teacher

“It was amazing when we got to see the dry ice oating and not sinking. I also went on the slides and the plastic one was the fastest because it was the smoothest.”

“We got to watch a really funny show with a frog stunt man. He showed us how much force you need to blast o a rocket and he went all the way up to the ceiling on a rocket!”

“When trains are on the tracks when it’s wet, they go faster because there is less friction on their wheels. We saw lots of good trains and cars at the museum.”

“We went on the slides and the bumpy slide was the slowest because it was not a smooth surface. The slides were so much fun!”

“We learnt that there is no gravity in space and that if you were in a car without a seatbelt then if you crashed you would y out of a car.”

“I loved it when we got to pull ourselves up in a chair pulley. The higher we went up the harder it was to do!”

“The plastic slide was the fastest because it was the smoothest and so had the least friction and the grass slide was the slowest because it was the roughest and had the most friction. The slides were my favourite bit of the day!”

Years 1&2 Drama Review

It has been a fabulous year of Drama in Years 1 and 2. The Harvest Festival kicked o the festivities in the rst term with each class individually learning di erent poems during Drama lessons and autumn songs during Music lessons with Mrs Sadler. We performed these to an excited audience full of parents, grandparents and friends who were amazed by the con dent voices during the poems and beautiful singing throughout. During the rst term, we also had a dance workshop focussing on jungle animals and music. It was an energetic afternoon that ended with each class delightedly performing their dances to each other.

The end of the Christmas term showcased our Nativity Play, “Hey Ewe”, a story about a

Harvest Festival

“I was a bit nervous in the Harvest Festival. We said a poem about Grandpa Marrow which went pop and sung lots of songs.”

“We said a tractor poem and I liked it because when the wheels go round we did song actions. I really loved the conkers song, it is one of my favourites.”

curious sheep who wanted to nd out more about the Christmas story and shared with us the message that curiosity and a love of learning are wonderful traits to have. The Curious Sheep, played by (Year 1) and (Year 2) were two of the sweetest, most curious and knowledge-seeking sheep that the Pre Prep has ever seen and it was fabulous to watch as they, along with their sheep friends, learnt all about the birth of Jesus. What a funny and enjoyable way to end a busy rst term!

The Summer Play, “James and the Giant Peach,” progressed both Year groups’ acting and singing ability to new levels with a story lled with evil aunts and uncles and friendly giant bugs, alongside our lovable hero,

“Our poem was about getting pocket money and it was funny. I got to do a line on my own and I liked singing in front of our parents, on a stage.”

“I enjoyed how many fruits our poem mentioned. It was really, really fun to learn all of the songs and to perform them.”

James Trotter ( Year 1 and Year 2). We cheered on our hero and giant bugs, as they landed their giant peach on the needle of the Empire State Building, much to the delight of the waiting crowd of townspeople.

Alongside these impressively theatrical and heart-warming productions, the boys have also experienced a variety of lessons honing their skills, as evident in their nal performances. We have witnessed such a lot of talent this year; watch this space for when, we have no doubt, some of these boys’ faces may be on lm posters around the world!

Sarah Mackay & Sally Roden Years 1&2 Form Teachers

“The best part was when we were singing and learning the songs. Our poem was about a dangly scarecrow and doing the actions was funny.”

Years 1&2 Drama Review

Nativity Plays

“I was a sheep and I got to go to sleep in the play. There was a song about us all running round the eld and it was fun being chased by the shepherds.”

“I was the emperor and I demanded people to go on a journey, I am not really a bossy person. The songs were really interesting.”

“I had the important job of being Joseph in the school play, was Mary and we acted very well together.”

“I was an angel and I really liked singing ‘Away in a Manger’. There were other lovely songs, especially ‘A baby’s born today’.”

“I was a Shepherd in Hey Ewe. The songs were really good and my favourite one was ‘Hustle Bustle’ because the tune was good and it was fun to sing.”

“The sheep in Hey Ewe were funny and cheeky and that’s why I liked the play so much. I was an angel with a halo and I liked the songs too.”

“My favourite was the Nativity play and I liked the play because the jokes in it were really funny and everybody laughed.”

Years 1&2 Drama Review

Summer Plays

“I loved saying my lines they were very funny and the audience giggled. I was an uncle who got squished by the peach.”

“It was fun to play James but I had lots of lines to learn. I liked meeting the bugs in the play. The parents really enjoyed it as we sang lots of good songs.”

“I liked being a ladybird because they can y. The best song was ‘We Are Family’ because I like the acting and we all get on.”

“It was a nice play I have seen the video and love it. I had an eye glass and I looked very smart in my top hat. It was fun acting and singing all the songs.”

“I liked being Aunt Spiker because I got to act angry and I’m not normally angry so it’s very funny. I love Drama!”

“My favourite line is where I try to persuade the Earthworm to be the worm as bait for the seagulls and Zakary shouts no! I love Drama and singing and so it’s good that I got to be the main part in this play.”

“I really enjoyed my character of the GlowWorm because I actually got to glow when I said my lines.”

“I liked shouting and getting mad because I was an evil aunt. We got to point at Marcus and say “you miserable little beast!”. The magic man was funny!”

“I liked saying my lines. They were easy to learn and funny. My favourite part was where the creatures pop up and say “look who’s here!”

Year 3 Trips & Activities

• YEAR 3 •

12th October

Unicorn Theatre

23rd November

Ancient Egyptian’s Workshop

3rd May Science Museum

Ancient Egyptian Workshop

On 23rd November we went to Canons Park for an Ancient Egypt workshop. It was with Daphne Witherspoon and the Countess. First we did a timeline from 3000 BC to 30 BC and it had other dates like the Romans, Vikings and Victorians. After that we went to unlock the challenges of Mento Hotep. First we had to meet the gods and place the things that the Countess had given. We laid all the things correctly so we got to uncover all the secrets of Mento Hotep’s tomb. After, we had lunch we went with Daphne Witherspoon and played a game of Ancient Egyptian Happy Families. Then we did Ancient Egypt style dancing. After that we went to the Countess and we picked some objects and the Countess would read a story about them. We had such a fun day.

Year 3 Trips & Activities

The Unicorn Theatre

On Friday 12th October we went on a coach to the Unicorn Theatre and met someone called Polar Bear. Polar Bear told us a long story that started like this: rst he told us about Gus his dog. He was all scu ed up and looked like mashed potato. Then he told us about the toothbrush he threw down the loo and the chain reaction it started. The story was really interesting and I loved watching the play. Afterwards we had our packed lunches and got the coach back to school. It was quite quiet on the way back because we were all so tired.

Science Museum

Earlier in the year, all of Year 3 went on a Science trip to the Science Museum. This trip was so much fun because we watched Apollo II and we did lots of di erent activities, like learning about the Red Arrows. The Red Arrows was a programme about an air force and what they do. I think we all loved the Wonderlab the most as there were so many things to do there. My favourite part was when we went to the photo area and took lots of funny pictures. We all left with smiles on our faces and some of us got some great presents from the gift shop on the way out. It was amazing!.

Year 4 Trips & Activities

• YEAR 4 •

17th October

Verulamium

6th June

Camping at Canons Park

12th June

London Wetland Centre

Verulamium

On 17th October we went to the Verulamium. The Verulamium centre is built on the remains of the third biggest Roman town in Britain. At rst we watched a video about the history of the site with Romans and Celts and what it would have looked like. Next we had a look at the farming tools, how the Romans were buried and their armour. We also learned about the last Celtic tribe. Then we all had a go at making our own mosaics. In the gift shop there was a donation box that was generously used. Then we went to a room containing four tables. Each had artefacts

on them from di erent rooms at a Roman villa. My favourite part about it was learning what they were used for. Then it was time for lunch. After lunch we went to the playground where everyone had fun. Then we walked up a hill to the ruins of a Roman feasting area. There were mosaics which were very detailed. The archaeologist had left a hole in the ground to see the heating and the passages to carry the heat up the walls. Finally after a long day we could all go home apart from the boys in swimming club. - - -

Year 4 Trips & Activities

London Wetland Centre

On Wednesday 12th June, Year 4 visited the London Wetland Centre. We knew it was going to be a great trip and were not disappointed. As soon as we arrived we were ushered over to the pond-dipping area and put into groups. Pond-dipping, in case you didn’t know, is where you sh for bugs. My group caught loads of creatures which included may y nymphs and lesser boatmen. After lunch we went to the playground which was incredible! There were tunnels, climbing frame and even a zip wire!

Next we saw some otters. They were extremely playful, swimming in the mucky water together. They were adorable soaking themselves in the pond. It made us feel very cheerful and happy. After the otters we had a peaceful walk, encountering some stunning nature and lovely owers along the way. We also came across a bird watching tower called a ‘hide’. We saw lots of interesting and di erent types of birds.

Altogether it was an exhilarating and very interesting trip. We learnt a lot and we would love to go back another day. & - - - -- - -

Year 4 Trips & Activities

Camping Trip

On 6th June, Year 4 travelled to Canons Park for their rst school residential trip experience – camping. The boys had a great time and really enjoyed the many challenges that were set for them from pitching their tents without instructions to navigating the spider web game, toasting marshmallows and trying to get to sleep in the outdoors. Here are a few of their highlights:

“The rst thing we did on the trip was to put up our tents in our groups. We had a few issues with our poles because they wouldn’t stick up but in the end it worked. After that, we had to put the rain cover over the tent and other group tents kept blowing over in the wind. Our tent didn’t and I was really proud of that.”

“Mr Bozman taught us the best way to set up a camp, to have all our tents in a circle with the entrances facing inwards. Setting up the tents was a challenge as we didn’t have instructions and had to work it out. They are the types that the poles make a cross in the middle of the tent it took a long time for us all to realise that.”

“I really enjoyed making chocolate bananas with Penny. First we cut a slit in half of a banana, then we stu ed chocolate buttons into it. The smell was tantalising and I just wanted to eat it! Later that evening we put them on the re and the chocolate melted and tasted divine.”

Year 4 Trips & Activities

“My favourite activity was the Spider Web. You had to get all of your team through the string web but you couldn’t touch the web and you couldn’t go through the same hole twice. It was very enjoyable working out what you had to do to succeed.”

“I really enjoyed the climbing wall activity because we had to climb along the whole wall without touching the oor and it was a race against the other team. If you touched the oor you had to go back to the beginning. It was a real challenge!”

“My favourite activity was riding the new school bikes! I had a great time doing sharp turns and changing gears – I wish we could have done it for longer.”

“In the evening we gathered by the camp re, sang some songs and roasted lots of marshmallows. They tasted like sweet, creamy goo!”

“The next morning we had to race against time to take all the tents down before it rained. It was really di cult squeezing them back into the small bags and making sure we hadn’t lost any pegs!”

Year 3 Drama Review

Alice in wonderland

The show opened with our three Alices (Yes, you read this correctly three Alices!) waking up in the serial world of Wonderland. The show had everything from a fearsome Queen to a tardy rabbit.

The boys worked incredibly hard to learn the tricky and often nonsensical lines. The boys rehearsed with energy and enthusiasm, focusing on the characterisation of their role. The boys not only acted but sang and danced their

“I enjoyed playing the hare in the play because you got to eat jam tarts and it was fun learning all the actions.”

“I loved singing all those amazing songs and practising them. The songs really made me smile. It was so fun playing the cook and I loved my solo part.”

way through the play - a real achievement considering it was their very rst Canons Park Drama performance.

The boys performed brilliantly, showcasing considerable talent. As the play came to a close the boys were left with a real sense of achievement as the audience exploded with applause.

The performance was enhanced with a stunning set, which Camilla Duxbury supported us in creating and professional

“Everyone said lines very clearly with lots of enthusiasm. My favourite part was the court scene because everyone was in it.”

“I loved playing the mouse because he had funny lines!”

style lighting, which was designed and run by Senior boys and our outstanding technical team. The show could not have gone ahead without the Year 3 team who were a support throughout, the o ce team, and the catering team, all the parents who helped organise costumes and practise lines and of course the support of all of the Arnold House sta !

Jo Rendell Head of Drama and Year 3 performance director

“I loved the play because it was my rst play at Canons Park and it was fun to perform on the stage.”

“I absolutely loved the play. My favourite parts were when I used my props and the song ‘It’s Late’.”

Year 4 Drama Review

Rocky Monster Show

“In the beginning… there was miasma… and a soupy sort of plasma… and from this fantagasma…” the incredibly Year 4 play came to life! This Sci-Fi Monster Musical was an enormous hit with the whole School. Audiences were struck speechless by the expressive singing, energetic dancing, and the mature, engaging acting. It was such a privilege to direct a show with such talented, dedicated pupils, and this production will undoubtedly be a“hard act to follow!” Every single cast member gave their absolute all: from comedic villagers to a resurrected Elvis, enthused scientists to eccentric rock stars and Zombies to butlers. Our young actors portrayed this vast array of characters with poise and charisma. As well as our actors, we also had our tech team, who became interns with a Year 8, They assisted him with lighting, sound, videography, and smoke machines - as well as leaping onto the stage for the

song and dance numbers. This “super group” of young performers has oodles of talent, and I cannot wait to see what they have ahead of them in the world of Drama and theatre!

Mrs Abigail Oliphant

Acting Director of Music

“I really liked the play because it was exciting and I really enjoyed all the songs. I got to know my lines really well and I felt really proud at the end. My favourite song was ‘Castle in the Sky’.”

“The Rocky Monster Show was great. It helped me in all di erent skills such as teamwork. I really enjoyed it and it was a really fun show.”

“When I performed and prepared for the play, I really enjoyed being up on the stage singing and telling the story. Once you get your favourite song in your head you can’t stop singing it!.”

“As soon as I set two feet on the stage almost all my nerves disappeared and I was so excited to start the play. I knew I only had a few lines but I was put in the front line for the songs. My favourite part was when we all put make-up on and everyone went crazy!”

“It was probably one of my favourite plays that we have done because it worked so well and everyone knew exactly where to be at the right time. It had lots of singing - and I love singing. I really enjoyed playing the part of crazy Mrs Danvers.”

“I was excited when we got our scripts because it looked like a really fun play. After months of practising my narrator lines the day nally came. I was most looking forward to seeing Tom’s part as the Stationmaster because he was really funny. I think the dances were very hard work and amazing. At the end of the play we had a huge applause!”

The Junior King’s School, Canterbury

Trevor Roberts

Fairley House

San Francisco

The Junior King’s School, Canterbury Italy

ASL

Senior School 4

Digging

Clank. Clank. The same monotonous beat of once-glinting small tools hitting hard stone. We had been digging for years and still we had found no coal. Even the leaders knew this was a lost cause. Every day we would trudge into the darkening mine and dig. And dig. And dig. I thought that was it and I would die down here.

One day we repeated our morning routine of eating gruel and marching into the mine to dig. Ten of us trooped down to the new tunnel to try our luck there, even if it wasn’t safe. Once again, I thrust my dull pick-axe to hack away at the rock. Again. And again. And again. Just as I thought it was hopeless, my luck changed.

heard noises which at first thou ht were iners but weren t ressed y soot covered ear ush to the stone t sounded a bit like water but couldn t be sure dug further with my companions. However, instead of telling them to stop, I listened again and realised what it was. I screamed for the others to stop, but it was too late. Pressurized water shot out of the holes and engulfed us. Before we were swept away, I saw the shocked, silent scream of my friend before he was smashed into the rocks. The water sent me careering backwards, knocking me half-unconscious.

“What happened?” I asked.

n under round river ooded the mines,” replied the paramedic.

he rest of it was a blur drifted in and out of consciousness ools and bodies oated past me as I carried on going through. Despite being half awake, I could make out screams as tunnels collapsed behind me.

I realised then that my hand had something clenched in it, but I couldn’t o en y hand ense started owin back into me like a river and I could feel the sharp object. I didn’t know what it was so told the ara edic to et it he opened my hand and I couldn’t believe it.

I really thought I was dead, but I woke up lying in the entrance to the mine. I was on a stretcher. My immediate reaction was to get up but my arms and legs disobeyed me. I saw ashes of reen and yellow as ore ara edics arrived uddenly y saviours hoisted me up and onto the bed of an ambulance.

ou h lack har t couldn t be ut it was I had found coal.

Year 8

Year 5 Trips & Activities

• YEAR 5 •

1st October

British Museum

21st January

Maths Workshop

25th January

Boston Tea Party Museum (Skype)

26th February

Europa Centre

7th -10th May

Teamwork Week, Devon

25th June

RS Trip to St John’s Wood Synagogue

Boston Tea Party Museum

In January we had a special History lesson where we Skyped the Boston Tea Party Museum. This was part of what we had been learning about in History lessons which was the Independence of America. We got to learn about why the Americans threw British tea overboard in Boston Harbour.

We got to be characters, mine was Thomas Hutchinson III and he was a Patriot. He was the son of a royal Governor and one of the merchants chosen to send the East India Company tea recently sent to Boston, but later that day the Americans caused the ‘Boston Tea Party’. A small group of Americans threw all the tea o the ship as the British were making them pay a huge amount for it. The British were now furious and wanted revenge.

British Museum

On Monday, 1st October, we went by tube to the British Museum to learn about Roman Britain.

When we got into the museum, we were shown around by Miss Panaretou and we looked at the di erent artefacts that had been discovered. Then we split into groups. The group I was in was with and Our clipboard showed us what our questions were. On question 9 we had to name the items of armour and weaponry, which was a bit tricky, but we managed to complete nearly every question possible!

The column near the entrance of the room was a milestone and I could just see the writing. It was a bit confusing, but I realised it couldn't have been in English. On the way, we saw messages which were written down on wax tablets. They were discovered in a place which (for me) was impossible to say! They were found near a fort. I found out that U's were turned into V's. We looked at some more interesting facts, and then we left.

Altogether, I had a great time!

We did other things like we learnt the gestures like ‘ e’. This was to show de ance to the British. When you put your thumb on your nose and wiggle your ngers.

Europa Centre

On Tuesday 26th February, our class went to the Europa Centre on the Eurostar (a.k.a the District Line). The Europa Centre is an educational place for language learners in Hornchurch. When we got there, we had a talk and explanation from four people from francophone countries before we went into a fake village with fake shops with fake food. The village did, however, feel quite realistic.

Our task in groups was to visit a few shops with our guide and record information about the shopkeeper and what we ‘bought’ from that shop. There was also for each group a jigsaw piece in each shop the group visited. The jigsaw pieces made an animal which when we found out what it was, we would need to answer some questions about it, after that, we had to ask our guide some questions about the ‘village’ that she would answer and we would record.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip and it was probably my favourite trip in the whole of Year 5! I’d give it 5 stars! My favourite part of the trip was the lovely French food we ordered and ate! C’était délicieux!

Europa Centre Trip - Q & A From 5S

What did you learn at the Europa Centre? "At the Europa Centre our guided tour really improved my French vocabulary. I learnt new words such as maïs, concombre, goufre, jus d’orange and le magasin de vêtements. It was also interesting how similar a French town is to an English town with lots of small specialist boutiques."

Year 5 Trips & Activities

What were the challenges you faced?

"Today the challenge was to search through di erent shops in the Europa Centre to nd di erent pieces of a puzzle and information. In each room, we also had to choose something to buy, write down the special o ers and information about the owner of the shop. I loved the Europa trip because I got to learn a wide range of French vocabulary."

Why is the Europa Centre good for schoolchildren learning a language?

"The Europa Centre is good because you get to go into lots of shops, in which you speak in French to buy things. All the sta only speak in French and you have to communicate in French back to them, which makes it an immersive experience."

What was the best thing about the trip?

"The best thing about the Europa Centre is that it is a model authentic French village where we had to speak in French to communicate with the members of sta there. We were also allowed to pretend to be the shopkeeper and we had to ask our customers in French what they wanted to buy. We were able to spend our own money in the real café to buy a snack if we ordered in French."

Year 5 Trips & Activities

Maths Workshop

“On 21st January, Year 5 went to Canons Park to take part in a Maths Workshop. We were put in groups of 4-5 and introduced to the Happy Puzzles Company. We were set a variety of puzzles to do in an order. I was in a group with and We worked through it quite quickly but got stuck on the second last puzzle which allowed the other teams to catch up!”

“In one of the puzzles we had to try and balance penguins on an iceberg. We did it in the last few seconds but it was very hard. There was also a puzzle where the town was split up and you had to put it back together”.

“The next activity was with Mr Gleeson and Mr Russell and we measured the speed of sound. Mr Russell stood at the back of the grounds and hit the fence with a hockey stick. We found out that when Mr Russell hit the fence that the speed of light is quicker than the speed of sound and you see before you hear”.

“The puzzles were not just fun but they were challenging as well. Even though most of the activities were there to help your brain, some were about teamwork and skill. My favourite was the one where you had to balance the penguins on a plastic iceberg which was very wobbly. It took a while but in the end it felt good to have nished it. I really enjoyed the Maths morning and I hope that we can do it again”!

Devon

On the rst day, we all started as usual then took the coach to Paddington and got a Great Western Railway train down to Devon. When we got there we took a forty minute coach to the Manor House Hotel. As soon as we got there, we went straight to the dining hall and ate a delicious meal then set o to collect our bags and head to our rooms.

St John’s Wood Synagogue

During the synagogue trip (part of our RS studies on Judaism), we learned that when Jews pray, they face Jerusalem. In the St John’s Wood Synagogue, the Ark is made to look like Mount Sinai, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The curtains on the Ark have a picture of the Temple in Jerusalem, which was built by King Solomon. There is a Menorah, which reminds the people in the synagogue of the great candlestick that used to be in the Temple in Jerusalem and is central to the story of Hanukkah. We also learned that men and women sit separately in this synagogue, so they do not distract each other and that the men wear a Kippah on their heads, to remind them that there is someone who is above them – God. It was a very interesting trip to a very beautiful building.

The rst activity was horse riding or mini golf. 5S did horse riding then mini golf and 5G did mini golf then horse riding. For horse riding we would set o to Chowel Stables and went on a track around the countryside learning how to trot and walk. Then mini golf on the premises of the Manor House Hotel.

After that 5S were allowed to have a little bit of time in the Fun House. Then we headed back to our rooms, most rooms were sets of 2 but some sets of 3. In the rooms we had a TV which we were allowed to watch during relaxation time. After dinner we had the option of going to do swimming or football. At swimming we had water slides (proper ones that were indoors), a hot tub, some baby water slides and a large swimming pool. Then we had to go back to our rooms and get ready for bed.

On Day 2, we began with some early morning activities at eight o'clock before breakfast such as football, tennis, table tennis. Then breakfast and 5S on to the rotation system of rock climbing, gorge scrambling and the cycle tour. For gorge scrambling we went into a river and played around, so we got our wetsuits on and got in. At rst it's cold but then you begin to settle in. There are three levels, the rst is getting in, the second  you get into a bit more water and then you literally get soaked under a waterfall. On the cycle tour you receive a bike and basically just cycle around the countryside, which was fun. On rock climbing you have an option, of an easy climb or a hard climb. On the easy climb you have to get to the top and then go down the other side on the hard climb you climb up then get lowered down. So after our rst session of the rotation we had lunch. After lunch we had a second session of the rotation and then ice skating or

Year 5 Trips & Activities

rollerblading. After that we had dinner.

On Day 3 after breakfast the Year 5s continued the rotation on a very sunny day. Then we took a coach to the beach and got our wetsuits on, received bodyboards, learned how to bodyboard then got in the quite ferocious, but brilliant for bodyboarding, ocean. On Friday we ate a quick breakfast then we had a new three way rotation of t-shirt making, archery (real arrows) and pistol shooting (with pellets that could kill you)! Then we had lunch and headed o to the coach back to the train station and then the train back to London Paddington where our parents picked us up. It was an excellent trip full of exciting and new activities. I can’t wait to go again next year!

Ski Trip to Mürren, Switzerland Years 5-8

On Friday 29th March, an excited group of AH boys and teachers met at school ready to embark on the annual AH ski trip. We were destined for our ‘home in the Swiss Alps’ the Hotel Jungfrau in the beautiful town of Mürren. After using every conceivable mode of transport, we arrived. Our fabulous resort looked amazing and it was also full of snow!

We had breakfast and departed for Eddy’s ski rental shop where we were all kitted out in the latest ski equipment. Everyone then boarded the funicular railway, apart from a few beginners that still had to learn the ropes on the nursery slopes, and we went up to the main mountain. Next everyone was hit with amazement as we saw the pristine slopes for the rst time. The Mürren ski school welcomed us and put us into groups. These would be the groups that we were in for the rest of the week. We were mainly in ability groups but everyone was with a few friends too. Due to high demand for the Ski Trip this year we had 6 groups. One beginner, one novice, two intermediates and two expert groups. We skied with the instructors in the morning and they de nitely helped us improve our technique and overall skiing. Due to Hotel Jungfrau’s amazing position on the mountain it meant we could ski down from the main mountain all the way back down to the hotel and have lunch.

After an energy boost everyone was up and ready to go for the afternoon with the teachers. The teachers were great fun too as they guided us around the mountain expertly and even took us over some excellent little jumps and we also skied on the prestigious Schilthorn, the run James Bond did in 1969 movie - 'On her Majesty’s Secret Service'. It was a di cult run but great fun at the same time. You did feel a bit like James Bond as all the tourists could see you doing the run from the museum.

The days ew by as we followed this winning routine. A highlight for me was the optional snowboarding for Years 7&8. Although rather di cult, everyone enjoyed the experience. Even though everyone had a very wet bum by the end we could all get down a blue run (sort of!) Mr Wilson was a great instructor and taught us all the tips and tricks to get better at snowboarding. He de nitely used all of his snowboarding prowess he had gained when he did a season of boarding in Canada.

It wasn’t all ski, ski, ski though with some time to relax and play in the snow. As always the Co-op boosted their pro ts thanks to the Arnold House boys' appearance! Oreos and Swiss Chocolate were top sellers!

Another plus for me about Mürren is that they have wonderful sports centre or ‘sportzentrum’ in German. It has an indoor

hall where boys were always playing some form of sport whether it was football, indoor hockey and many more. There was the added bonus of a swimming pool where boys could spend an hour or so diving, swimming, cannon-balling or even jumping on a massive in atable sausage.

Also we were never bored as there was a movie night where Johnny English was de nitely the winner, race night, quiz night where the Year 8 team won (to be fair they did write a few of the questions though) and nally the talent show where ran out victorious with a great magic trick.

On the nal day it snowed all night which left us with snow knee deep. We skied all through the morning in di cult conditions but everyone stuck at it. We left Mürren for Basel and the onto London. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I believe that everyone nished the week as far better skiers than they started.

I think that everyone enjoyed the trip greatly and it was very well organised by Mr Kerr.

Year 6 Trips & Activities

• YEAR 6 •

29th November

St Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral

10th January

London Transport Museum

14th March

Science Museum

21st March

London Central Mosque

7th - 10th May

Leadership Week, Devon

16th May

Bentley Priory Museum

20th May

RS Neasden Hindu Temple

6th June

Body Worlds Museum

20th June

The Globe Theatre

Citizenship Trip

to the London Transport Museum

On Thursday 10th January, Year 6 embarked on a Citizenship trip to the London Transport Museum as part of our PSHE programme at school. We didn’t go there to see types of vehicles…oh no! The London Transport Museum was the venue where our safety lesson was held with two other schools from the borough of Westminster. The lesson was all about safety around London and what to do if we were to encounter a threatening situation. When we arrived, we were given cards with di erent animals on them, which told you which group you would be in. I got a Panda.

After we were sorted into seven groups, we were given a score sheet for our group. Each group were given a score out of 10, which would be awarded on our questions and behaviour. We were then led into a room where they talked to us a little bit about how the trip was going to work. We learned about the di erent types of crime that the police deal with in London. Then

we headed up some stairs, to go and see a member of the re brigade, who informed us what to do if we were to encounter a re in our house. One of the subjects I found particularly interesting was the next one: online safety and cyberbullying. We watched a short clip about a girl who posted lots of videos online and left the door open in her house.

We then had a conversation about all the di erent online apps that we might access when we are older, like Instagram, Facebook and Snap Chat. Then we headed over to train and tube safety, which involved how to use a zip card and where to stand on the platform when a train is approaching. If you didn’t know a zip card is like an Oyster for kids. Even though you buy one for £15, police have gured out that you save around ve-thousand pounds when using

the tube! That’s good for the parents!

Next, we were informed about bus safety, as it had been such a big problem last year. We went inside a model bus and they told us where and where not to stand on a bus, like not to stand in the buggy parking chair if someone needs to put one there.

The last and maybe one of the most important ones is what to do if a dog in a park were to run up to you in a park. If one did, you turn around and cross your arms over your chest. After that, we went back in to the main room and they added up the scores and team “Crocodile” won. The trip was very useful because all of us are growing up in London. --

Year 6 Trips & Activities

Science Museum

On Thursday 14th February, we got to go to the Science Museum which was one of the best trips I have been on at Arnold House. The trip to the Science Museum was extremely fascinating. First we started o by having our snacks and then we went to a science show called PRIME TIME. In this show we learnt about many things such as keeping data safe and making impossible codes to protect them. Miss Smith was tied to a chair and and a girl from the other school had to answer various Maths questions. There were many options and they had to nd the right one. All of them had keys on. They could use these keys to let Miss Smith escape. Then we did some experiments where we watched the man doing the show use ash cotton, then a girl from the other school got to go up, wear a glove and got some ash cotton and set

Bentley Priory Museum

In May, Year 6 went on a trip to the Bentley Priory Museum in Stanmore with Mr Cox, Miss Roden and Mr Russell. In World War Two Bentley Priory was the home of Fighter Command. It played a crucial role in ensuring Britain kept control of the skies from German ghter planes. We were put into groups. We then went o to work in di erent sessions. We have been studying World War Two in History lessons which has helped us to understand why we went to visit Bentley Priory. One of the sessions saw us try to work out what di erent pieces of

it on re (on her hand). Everyone thought that it was amazing. After that we watched as got to use “heavy machinery” (as the man doing the show put it). He used a leaf blower and another boy got a beach ball and we watched the ball y ( oat) on the air stream.

We then went into the actual Wonderlab which had many di erent things to do. We could watch lightning strike, we could test friction by going down three di erent slides: one made of astroturf, another made of metal and another made of glazed wood. There was a machine that if you held your hands on it you could give others an electric shock. Another amazing thing was a camera that would take a photo of you and as you walked o you could see your shadow stuck to the wall in the same position. There was also a pole which you could hold onto whilst spinning round seeing how long

equipment were used during the war. We were able to see Sir Hugh Dowding’s study, he was the head of Fighter Command. We then saw a number of di erent rooms including the communication room. This is where the British plotted the routes our planes would take to try and shoot down the German ones. The lter room was another interesting room as this allowed meetings to take place at the time. We were able to go in the cockpit of a Spit re which was great fun. It could have been us as a pilot in World War Two.

it was until you fell o where you could have challenges with your friends. There's still many more things and my personal favourite is the thermal picture where you can see your body heat. The list goes on and on and on and on.

Finally, we went to the gift shop. It was awesome and everyone loved it. I really hope that we can go back to the Science Museum since it was super interesting and fun. The whole trip made learning super fun because even though we might not have realised it we learnt lots at di erent stations. Like we learnt gravity in one where we had to re water at the correct angle to hit the target. We got to see a magnetic liquid which meant by using di erent magnets in di erent areas we could make the liquid rise up in spikes.

This trip was inspirational and fun. &

London Central Mosque

As part of our RS course this year, we visited the London Central Mosque in Regents Park. When we rst arrived at the mosque we went straight into the prayer hall. The tour guide was interesting as he discussed his experiences of converting from Christianity to Islam. He guided us through one's experiences during a prayer session. After that, we heard the Imam say the prayers. Following this, we proceeded into a room below the main mosque and were told about the Great Mosque of Mecca and the relationship between Jewish people and Muslims. Finally, we were taken inside the ablutions room where men and women washed before praying.

Year 6 Trips & Activities

St Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Church

“On Thursday 29th November Year 6 went to a Cathedral called St Sophia to nd out how an orthodox church di ers from the types of church we are more used to. When we stepped in the cathedral it was so beautiful with all the mosaics making wonderful pictures of all the saints and Jesus. The priests led us towards the cross and showed us all the Greek letters and their meanings. We were allowed to walk around the cathedral to complete our work sheet that we were given at school. After that we got to light a candle, it was a really fun trip and we thank all the people who set it up for us.”

"We were given a sheet to ll in. The priest told us a little bit about the church and then gave a blessing in Greek. The cathedral was very di erent to other churches we have been to. It  was lled with Greek words. St Sophia’s was so beautiful and was lled with gold. The trip was very informative and wellorganised. Thank you to Mrs Rendell, Mr Hill and Mrs Ostojic for coming with us”.

"We were given the opportunity to look around the extremely well-decorated, ornate and beautiful cathedral and search for Greek words which we could put on our worksheets. The priest said a prayer in Greek before we went to go light a candle. After this, we went out of the cathedral and looked at the wonderful mosaics of the saints before we left. It was an extremely fun trip and everyone learnt quite a lot from it. Thank you to everyone who came with us and made this trip possible”.

Neasden Hindu Temple

As part our RS curriculum this year, Year 6 went to visit the Neasden Hindu temple. When we arrived we went into the Haveli which is the cultural centre of the temple. There we took o our shoes. The Haveli is a big building made out of beautifully carved wood. There we met up with our guide. We started o in the exhibition about the origins of Hinduism where we were given a worksheet to ll out. Then we went to the actual temple, the Mandir. The Mandir is a building made out of intricately carved marble. There we were given some time to look around and draw some statues or carvings in our worksheets. We then went into one of the meeting rooms of the Haveli and were given a talk about the culture. It was a very interesting trip, thank you to Mr Hill for organising it.

Body Worlds

In the summer term, Year 6 ventured onto the steaming hot tube to the Body Worlds museum in Piccadilly Circus. Shortly after we arrived, we were given a pair of headphones and a device that told you all about the di erent parts of the museum. The actual museum had lots to look at and do. The bodies that were there were donated by people after they had died. Throughout the museum we came across some rather gory factors of the body, like what your lungs turn out to look like if you’re a smoker. They were mainly black in places and were shrivelled. One of my favourite parts of the museum was seeing this sculpture of two men riding a horse. It showed the di erent muscles in the horse when it was rearing.

Year 6 Trips & Activities

Shakespeare’s Globe

Shakespeare’s Globe was an amazing trip where Y6 were able to experience what it was like to live in Shakespeare's time. On the day we visited, the play they were going to put on in the evening was called 'The Merry Wives of Windsor.' We saw the set for it when we entered the spectacular Globe itself.

Our guide rst explained the history of the Globe and how it got burnt down during James I's reign in 1613 and how there weren’t many theatres at the time. We were then told about how the Globe would be completely packed and they would always do plays during the day for natural light; there were the Penny Stinkers who would pay 1 penny to stand in front of the stage

on mud and droppings!

After the tour, we went and did an acting workshop mostly based on the very famous 'Romeo and Juliet.' Our Guide taught us how to make our voices low and powerful by “reaching within.” We did a couple of freeze-frames from the play. The main conversation in the workshop was the gritty relationship between the Capulets and the Montagues.

After the workshop we got taken to a demonstration of sword ghting and the di erent kinds of swords they had and used. The original swords came from Italy and then the tradition carried on through Europe. There were di erent ghting styles

and they were all demonstrated by the three professionals who accompanied us.

We then got taken onto a workspace where they showed us how you would dress up if you were rich in Shakespeare’s day. They showed this by dressing Finn up in a classic ladies, out t with multiple layers of dresses and tops.

It was a very interesting and enjoyable trip –thank you Mr Moss-Marks for making it possible. & -- -- - -- -- - -

Year 6 Trips & Activities

Leadership Week, Devon Tuesday the 7th of May was the beginning of one of the best weeks of our lives! We were heading to Devon for the second time and were excited to participate in the more advanced ‘leadership’ activities.

Day 1: Our rst activity was mountain biking in the Haldon Forest. This was really great because it was like a ski eld with di erent runs depending on your ability. The bikes were a little larger than some were used to but everyone enjoyed riding through the forest and helping those who stacked it! The terrain changed all the time and so we had to be careful of where we were going as well as where others were. One group got to have a go at the red run and some got to have a run in the skills zone.

Returning to our rooms to settle in, the evenings were great because not only was the food great and plentiful but the evening activities included swimming, tennis, table tennis, games room and the ever popular soft play room.

Day 2: We have to admit that the rst night was quite exciting being in a room with our friends and so sleep was not the rst thing on the agenda come bedtime. We did eventually get to sleep and in no time were woken for the morning activities before a hearty breakfast. 6M then were taken to the Ultimate Adventure Centre to have a go at the ‘Awesome 4some’. For those who were a little trepidatious about heights, this activity was going to be challenging. Climbing walls and di erent obstacles at height ensured we were all pushed to our boundaries but overcame our fears. The Jacob's Ladder and the leap of faith were scary but the feeling of completing them was amazing!

We then went to Widemouth Bay in Cornwall and had a go at sur ng and bodyboarding. Although the weather was on the chilly side, our wetsuits ensured we could go into the surf with little worry of freezing. Whilst this activity was really fun the highlight had to be getting a hot chocolate afterwards!

Day 3: We were lucky enough to go to the Cholwell Stables to go horse riding on the

Moor. We really liked chilling out on the horses and some were lucky enough to get the same horse as last year. Everyone had a go at trotting and we had no casualties! Time was tight as we had to then make a dash for the North Devon Wakeboarding Park where we put on our wetsuits once again. Wakeboarding was done from a zip wire and although di cult to get up to a standing position, once we were able to do so we were able to go up and down the lake. The ‘Total Wipe-out’ course was really fun and we even got the chance to push Mr Cox into the water!

Day 4: The nal day was action-packed with pistol shooting, archery and football at the Ashbury Hotel. The facilities are great and the site is huge! Once we were done we had time to ll our boots one last time before embarking on our train journey back to London. Although very tiring and busy all boys thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would like to thank all the teachers who gave their time to make sure we had an enjoyable week!

Year 5 Drama Review

The

Year 5 play was di erent this year, instead of having one scripted storyline we performed lots of short scenes from di erent children's stories. The series of performances were not only acted by the boys, but also directed, written, edited and devised too. We used the di erent skills and performance styles that we had covered throughout the year, including; monologues, dialogues, physical theatre, devised pieces and group performances to develop the scenes that were used in the nal performance. Some of our nal pieces developed from an exercise that we tried in class and developed into a much larger idea through improvisation and experimentation.

The whole show was held together by two characters, Mrs Trunchbull and Dumbledore. They introduced the monologues, dialogues and joined in group scenes. Mrs Rendell took responsibility for the nal direction and putting the show together. The show went without a hitch.

It was brilliant and so much fun to do!

Year 6 Drama Review

This year in Drama, Year 6’s task was to create our own play. We had been looking at the topic of evacuation during WWII in History. We started from the beginning of the spring term, by looking at pictures of evacuees and discussing how they might be feeling or what they were doing at that time. Then, we moved onto creating tableaus, freeze frames, monologues and our own characters for the play.

After the Easter break we started composing our own short play script, which included train scenes, last day of evacuation, harshly treated evacuees, Dunkirk and a war plane scene. Our collection of short plays were combined into one whole play of 45 minutes incorporating a part from the famous Goodnight Mr Tom. Music was later added to the play to make it more interesting - we included two songs with the help of the music director: 'It’s a Long

Way To Tipperary' and 'Chattanooga Choo Choo'.

In my opinion, the whole play was original and innovative, as we made it with nothing more than our own ideas and it came together wonderfully. We learnt a lot from the whole process and are proud of the nal product. Very special thanks to Mr MossMarks, Mrs Rendell and Mrs Oliphant for directing our performance and contributing their time for rehearsals.

-- -- --

Years 6&7 Trip to Iceland

Tired but excited, we met at school very early in the morning in July and travelled to Luton airport. After going through security we boarded our plane and in less than three hours, we landed in Iceland. From the airport we travelled to Reykjavik Harbour where we embarked a large boat, hoping to see some whales and other marine life. Quickly we spotted a ock of pu ns, which greatly excited us. We carried on and went far out to sea. It took a while to get to the feeding grounds but when we got there we were rewarded with the sight of a pod of white bottled nose dolphins. Soon after a few boys spotted a black n in the water and swiftly concluded that it was a Minke whale, unfortunately it dived under the water and we assumed we would not see it again. However, after a while we were surprised to see it reappear again. It was a very worthwhile trip, and it encouraged us to look for wildlife in the future.

That evening we stayed at a Viking themed hotel called Hotel Viking. It was really cool because each cabin had a top oor which you had to use a ladder to get to and a lower oor which had a bunk bed. The rooms were all wood and the shower had volcanic sulphur which made your skin feel so smooth ( the only down side was that the sulphur was so stinky).

Early next morning we headed to the Secret Lagoon. During the coach ride we saw the beautiful landscape of Iceland. Including volcanoes, mountains, animals and farms. Once we arrived at the Secret Lagoon, we walked around the outside of the lagoon and saw some hot springs which were 100 degrees Celsius. Soon after, we showered and headed into the 38 degree lagoon. In the lagoon there were some spots that were hotter than others. Soaking in the warm water was really nice. Beneath our feet were black volcanic rocks and some algae. After soaking in the lagoon for about 15 minutes, I felt as if I was su ocating (because it was so hot). On the plus side, my hands felt "creamy" and had wrinkles on them much faster.

On our second stop of our hot springs trip, we went to explore a "park" that was lled with geothermal hot springs and a massive

Years 6&7 Trip to Iceland

Geyser. Standing in front of the Geyser, we waited patiently to witness the powerful force of the Geyser eruption. When it erupted, it did not disappoint. It let o huge amounts of water vapour and water droplets right in front of our eyes! There was one particular hot spring that was pretty cool. It looked like a pair of glasses. In one of the pools, it was a beautiful blue but rather murky due to the minerals inside. But in the other pool, it was crystal clear water where you could see right into it!

We then went to see the enormous Gull Foss waterfall. It was nothing like I have ever seen. It was spectacular for many reasons. The waterfall was so powerful that when it hit the ground with such force, billions of water particles rose up and sometimes hit us making it seem as if it was raining.

To end the day, Mrs Mrs Lee-Besisira took us to this dairy farm where we ate some delicious ice cream. There were many di erent avours to choose from. I had one scoop of vanilla and one scoop of vanilla caramel in a cone. It didn't matter if you sat inside or outside to enjoy your ice cream. If you sat inside, you were able to see the cows eating and resting. If you sat outside, you could say hello to the wandering pig and dog, Dima.

Our rst stop on Tuesday was to see the huge Skogafoss waterfall that was 60

metres high. We ascended the stairs to reach the top of the waterfall where we had an amazing view of the waterfall as well as the beautiful landscape of Iceland. We swiftly descended the 400+ stairs and walked right down to the bottom of the falls, we all got very wet but it was very fun. We then headed to a town called Vik where we witnessed a stunning black sand beach, Reynisdranger, made from volcanic basalt rocks. We all had fun exploring the caves and walking along the beach even though it was very cold and windy.

When we were told we were still to visit two more waterfalls, we were all thinking.. really? However, to our surprise, each of the waterfalls we visited was unique in its own way. Sejalandsfoss is a 65 metre waterfall that had a rocky treacherous path behind it. We were able to walk behind the waterfall and some of us got really wet because they walked as far as possible and the wind blew the water coming down onto them. The next waterfall we went to was in a relatively small cave/gorge that was covered in slime and algae. It was sheltered from outside yet the water was pummelling down creating a ne spray that blanketed the area.

Our last stop was Lava Tubing at Raufarhólshellir. We put on our hard hats and walked into the caves. This cave was formed by a lava tube during the Leitahraun

eruption, which occurred about 5200 years ago. Inside it was cold but stunning. We saw all sorts of ancient rock formations and colouring that had a strange white bacteria that didn't need light to live and was not dangerous to humans. After examining the rocks and bacteria, we walked through the cave to a platform. Our guide then said 1, 2, 3. All the lights were then turned o and it was nothing but pure darkness. It is so dark, that if you stayed in that darkness for 3 months, you would go blind forever as our eyes could never adjust to the light again. The excursion was very fun and interesting but we wish that it lasted longer.

To end our trip we spent the evening in the hotel swimming pool that had a really fun water slide as well as two heated bathing pools. Overall, this trip has been a great experience and I would highly recommend it for boys to go on. During these few days we have seen some of the most famous geological phenomena in the world and for most of us the most breath-taking mountains and volcanoes. Mrs Mrs LeeBesisira had put together for us some of the best activities on o er in the country and experiences that will stay with us forever. Many thanks to Mrs Mrs Lee-Besisira for organising and Miss Smith, Mr Matthews, Mr Harahap, Mr Gleeson and Mr Bozman for giving up their time to accompany us.

Years 6&7 Boys

Year 7 Trips & Activities

• YEAR 7 •

17th October

QPR WWI Workshop

13th - 16th March

Rome

8th- 10th May

Dorset

QPR WWI Workshop

In November, Year 7 were invited to be part of a workshop with QPR and local schools. It was to get pupils like myself to research the old players of QPR who had served in World War One. Given it was the 100th anniversary of the end of The Great War, which we had studied in Year 6, it was a subject matter that we knew well from our lessons at school. Football clubs up and down the country had hundreds of players that went o to ght in the war. Many of them served with the Footballers’ Battalion who were based at The Great Machinery Hall by the White City stadium which had been built for the 1908

London Olympics by QPR’s ground. The battalion included players from teams up and down the land. QPR is the closest team to Arnold House so it was rather nice to do this project with them.

The rst part of the workshop was at Arnold House. We all worked in pairs on our chosen player. We then produced a poster which included information such as where they fought? Did they die? What was their playing career like? The second part of the workshop was at the home of QPR at Loftus Road. When we got to the ground we were given a tour of the stadium which included the home and away changing rooms. We learnt that the away dressing room was a lot worse than the home to put the players o before a game!

We were then taken to the media suite where players and managers do their post-match press conferences! In our pairs we presented our posters to a panel of six judges, one of which was the rst team goalkeeper Joe Lumley, as well as Charlie Fox. Charlie it turns out went to prep school like us and then went to senior school at

Latymer Upper. Everyone did a great job in presenting their posters. At the end the panel decided on six pairs who would win the prize of going to the next QPR match which was against Brentford. This was the game which the club would use to remember all the war dead that we had researched in our workshop.

I was lucky enough to be one of the pairs. Before the match started we were all on the pitch during the 2 minutes silence and when The Last Post was played. Whilst this was happening we held aloft all the posters that we had done in the workshop. There were photos of us in the match day programme from our workshop as well as all the work we had researched on our players. It was an incredible experience and then QPR won the game 3-2! A very big thank you to Mr Cox and QPR for organising this memorable time for us.

- - -- --

Year 7 Trips & Activities

Dorset

We went to Dorset on Wednesday 8th May for a Geography trip . In my opinion, Dorset is an amazing place and there are many geographical sights to see and learn about. We left for Dorset at 9:00 by bus and it was a 3 hour journey. When we arrived at Studland Bay we had a bit of free time before we started our work. We measured the groynes and the percolation rate and it was very interesting.

We nally went back to our hostel. Overall it was a great place, but what I found fantastic were the facilities. Every evening, we could either play football, swim, play snooker and many others. There was also a classroom for us to write up the results we had collected during the day.

The next day, after having our breakfast we set o on a short journey to Durdle Door. Durdle Door was the most interesting place throughout Dorset in my opinion. We then walked across to Lulworth Cove and we stopped to see the World Heritage Centre which was very interesting because it showed the Geology of Dorset. After that we went back to the hostel to have dinner and after doing some writing up, we enjoyed one evening activity.

The next day, after we nished our breakfast, we went on a three hour walk. It was very tiring but it was great because we got to see Old Harry Rocks and Studland Bay. We also had ice cream as we walked across the beach at Swanage Bay. Overall, I thought it was a fantastic trip. --

Year 7 Trips & Activities

Rome

Our time in Rome ew by. We all thought that this is the best trip that the school has taken us on. We had mouth-watering meals, saw so many amazing sites and packed in so much knowledge. We all feel we would like to do this trip again!

Day 1: We arrived at Fiumicino airport and after nding out about the Latin origin of the airport’s name, we took a coach to Via Appia Antica, the queen of roads (regina viarum) according to the Romans, which to this day connects Rome to the port of Brindisi. It used to be the oldest and most strategic Roman road. We walked on the ancient cobblestones and admired the engineering of the road, which was completely straight and had a drainage system. On the side of the Via Appia we saw the remains of many ancient tombs, as the Romans were not allowed to bury their dead in the city. There was a serene and placid ambience here, outside the lively

and busy city centre. Next, we went to the Gladiator School, everyone’s favourite part of the trip. Our trainer, Titus, took us on a museum tour and showed us weapons of di erent types of soldiers and gladiators and we learnt about their strengths and weaknesses. Titus taught us some basic moves and we sparred against each other in a small area of a wooden amphitheatre using batons and wooden swords. We used words like ‘iugula’ (kill) which is where we get the modern word ‘jugular’ and ‘mitte’ (release), which gives words like ‘mission’. After a scrumptious dinner we walked to the Fontana di Trevi, Rome’s most iconic fountain, which is decorated with impressive statues. We learnt that the water that feeds it comes from Aqua Virgo, a Roman aqueduct which is still in use! To Aarush’s puzzlement, everyone threw several coins in the fountain, as this, according to the tradition, means that you will come back to Rome.

Day 2: On the second day we visited the Pantheon, a Roman temple designed by Emperor Hadrian, which is used today as a church. It has the largest free-standing dome in the world and is made light by the use of di erent materials and pumice stone at the top. In the centre of the dome there is a large hole, the eye (oculus), to reduce the weight and let the light come in. When it rained, the water would ow in the drains connected to the Cloaca Maxima, Rome’s large sewer system. In the Pantheon, spotted the tombs of many notable Italians, one of which was Raphael, the artist of The School of Athens. Next we walked to the Ara Pacis, the altar of peace, which was housed in a most elegant museum. We learnt about how this structure was designed in such a way to convince the Romans that the Emperor Augustus was destined to bring peace and prosperity to the empire. We also learnt of the fascinating history of its - -

Year 7 Trips & Activities

discovery and reconstruction. After eating gelato and strolling around the Piazza Navona with the numerous vendors and beautiful fountains, we visited the Domus Romanae, the ruins of two Roman houses discovered under a government building in the heart of Rome. This interactive museum was truly impressive. Light installations and projections brought to life the ruins of two opulent houses. As we walked on glass oors we could see beneath us the di erent rooms, mosaics, pipes and stairwells, pools, even the road that stood between the two houses. That evening we walked to St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, which is the smallest country in the world! It was thrilling to walk into a di erent country, some of us stood on either side of the border and shook hands. St Peter’s Basilica was built on the very spot where St Peter died. The square is very beautiful and in the middle was an Egyptian obelisk which stood in Nero’s Circus, the very spot where St Peter’s church is. We bought stamps from the Vatican Post O ce and many souvenirs from the shops. The evening ended with a walk to Piazza di Spagna where we raced up the Spanish steps, which was great fun, but really tiring!

Day 3: The penultimate day did not fail to disappoint. After an early breakfast we went to the Colosseum to beat the long queues. Its real name was the Flavian amphitheatre, named after the Flavian emperors who had it built. It was nicknamed ‘Colosseum’ after the colossal statue of Nero that stood next to it. The sheer size and capacity of this structure was impressive. There we learnt about how it was built, the di erent events that took place there and why the Romans enjoyed these gory spectacles.

Next we were o to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. It was a steep climb up the Palatine, where the palaces of emperors would have been. From a vantage point on the Palatine we had a bird’s eye view of the Forum, the hub of the ancient city. It was breath-taking to see the size of it from above and to see all the di erent locations we had talked about in lessons.

On the Ides of March (that is the 15th of March), the Italians re-enact Caesar’s murder and funeral procession. We were lucky to be there on the day to watch it. Men dressed as Roman soldiers and o cials carried the dead body of Julius Caesar from Pompey's Theatre, where he was murdered to the Roman Forum. It was interesting to watch and we all found it funny when the professional mourners screaming ‘Cesare’ every once in a while. It was extremely lucky that we had tickets for the Forum on that day so that we could see the funeral and hear the funeral orations, which actually were taken from Shakespeare’s play, 'Julius Caesar'. We saw our friend Titus from the Gladiator school there, who kindly arranged for us to be photographed with the senators and the soldiers. Straight after we were o to the Forum Boarium, the Bocca della Verita and the Circus Maximus, where we ran around the racing track and heard about Roman chariot racing. The circus could seat 250,000 people, that’s twice the size of the Nou Camp! In the evening we went on the Capitoline Hill, the most important hill for the Romans and learnt how when Rome became Christian, they changed the orientation of the buildings, so that they faced St Peter’s and not the Forum. In the Capitoline Museum we also saw the original

statue of the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus, which was a special moment, since it is such a familiar image for us.

Day 4: For our last day, we had to say ‘goodbye’ to Rome and take the coach to Ostia, the ancient port of Rome and the second best-preserved Roman town after Pompeii. It turned out to be a very interesting visit because we got to see a whole Roman town! We saw roads, city walls, shops, warehouses, taverns, blocks of ats, theatres, public toilets but most impressive for us all were the forum bath complex. We got to walk around the di erent rooms and go underground to see the furnaces and the under oor heating system, where the slaves would work to keep the res burning. There, in the bath’s palaestra, we played a 40-40 homie amongst the ruins, hiding behind the ancient buildings, which was terri c! After a magni cent lunch, we took the coach back to Fiumicino airport and played a UniversityChallenge type quiz on the way to the airport and even came up with chants for each team.

Despite looking forward to getting home and seeing our families, we were sorry to be leaving this amazing place. It was a wonderful few days spent with good friends and seeing amazing things. It was only when we got to bed on Saturday night that we realised how much we had crammed in to such a short space of time. Arriverderci, Roma!

Year 7 Shakespeare Schools Drama Festival

Every Thursday after school (and sometimes in lessons), about fteen boys from Year 7 took part in a play called 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream'. The rst session was purely for casting and also being told what was going to happen. After many days of hard work, the play was nally taking shape and the realisation that we were going to put on a really good play was starting to sink in.

On the actual day of the play, there were two other schools, one performing 'The Tempest' and the other, 'Macbeth'. We were all told when we would be performing and we were all praying to go rst as it would mean that we could relax and celebrate after we had performed. Our wish was granted and we hurried back to school to get ready for Games.

After Games we headed o to the RADA Studio Theatre and got changed for the play that we were about to perform. As I walked on stage all of my lines were rushing around my head in a jumbled up order but when my cues came the line that I had to say suddenly ew into my head and I am sure that this happened for everyone else. The play was awless and all in all I had a great time and, judging by the way we performed, everyone else did too.

Year 7 Shakespeare Schools Drama Festival

Cast

Egeus

Hermia

Lysander

Demetrius

Theseus

Hippolyta

Helena

Philostrate

Peter Quince

Nick Bottom

Francis Flute

Tom Snout

Robin Starveling

Snug

Oberon

Titania

Puck

A Fairy

Attendant Fairy

Technical Crew

Year 8 Trips & Activities

• YEAR 8 •

3rd – 7th September

Maison Claire Fontaine, Burgundy

11th - 13th June

Post CE Activity Programme

17th – 20th June

Battle elds Tour, Flanders

Ma semaine à Bourgogne

Lundi matin nous sommes partis de Londres à Bourgogne. On a voyagé par le train à Paris, et puis on est allé à Maison

Claire Fontaine en car. Pendant le trajet j’ai mangé mon déjeuner magni que. Juste après, qu’on est arrivé, nous avons fait une randonnée dans la forêt. Nous avons appris beaucoup de vocabulaire, et puis nous avons fait une compétition, que mon groupe a gagné. Personnellement, pour la plupart, je n’ai pas trouvé les questions trop

di ciles. Ensuite, on est retourné et on a mangé le dîner. C'était délicieux! Plus tard, on a fait un puzzle de géographie. À mon avis, c'était vraiment amusant. Après ça, nous sommes allés aux dortoirs ensemble, on s’est douché, on s’est brossé les dents et on s’est couché à environ vingt-deux heures. J’ai lu depuis un moment avant que je me suis couché, car je n'étais pas tellement fatigué, malgré le jour chargé.

Pendant les trois jours prochains nous avons eu une routine. Les matins nous nous sommes réveillés, levés, etc. et aussi, nous avons mangés un petit déjeuner fantastique. Tous les soirs étaient le même. Nous avons fait beaucoup d'activités: fait du kayak, fait un tartouillat, joué à la pétanque, étudié le français, assisté à un spectacle de cirque, visité Vézelay (une ville médiévale), fait une compétition de théâtre et grimpé

dans les arbres. Aussi nous avons achetés le déjeuner au marché une jour et eu une soirée formidable au restaurant. Tous les activités étaient tellement amusants (sauf, peut-être, faire de la cuisine), mais mon activité préférée était la cirque, surtout le trapèze. J’ai pensé que ce serait très di cile, mais, en fait, c'était assez facile. Vendredi nous sommes montés dans la car et partis de Bourgogne. On est arrivé à Londres dans l'après-midi. -- -- -- -

Year 8 Trips & Activities

Normandy

Day 1: We got o to a very early start on the Monday of our trip, leaving Arnold House at 0515. Our rst stop was Folkestone where we would pick up our trip tour guide, Ben Mayne. We then arrived at the terminal for the Eurotunnel crossing to France where we took our rst comfort break and cleared French customs and immigration. After our 35-minute journey to Calais, we drove to the Somme Services for lunch. We left the service stop promptly and came to our rst site. We visited the Pegasus Bridge and the Pegasus Museum where we looked at a scale model of the bridge and typical British war vehicles such as gliders. We also watched a lm of the Allied armies, especially the paratroopers campaign of defending the bridge. We left the site for our hotel where we had dinner and spent our rst night. It was the Ibis Hotel in Falaise. This was where William the Conqueror was born.

Day 2: After a very lling breakfast we headed out to the Normandy beaches. We rst visited Sword Beach. This is the code name given to one of the ve main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the initial assault phase, Operation Neptune, of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of German-occupied France that commenced on 6 June 1944. Then we went to Gold Beach, which was another beach where the British landed and were extremely successful. Then we left for a town called Arromanches where we went shopping for souvenirs and ate lunch. After our stop at Arromanches we went to the Juno Beach Centre. This is an interactive museum dedicated to the Canadians that landed on Juno Beach. We entered the bunkers and then went to the museum and to Juno Beach. We then departed Juno Beach and headed toward Bayeux where we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral. After visiting the Cathedral, we went to the Bayeux Museum

where we saw the Bayeux Tapestry, about which we have been learning for the past two years for Common Entrance. We then left to go to the Bayeux War Cemetery where we had a service for an Arnold House old boy, Major James Tanner who sadly died in the war.

Day 3: We had a full breakfast and left for the Normandy American Cemetery where we learnt about the many stories of the American army that inspired TV and cinema. We then had a short 15-minute drive to the Overlord Museum which gave us insight as to how the Germans defended the beach as we were taken into the bunkers to observe the design and defence mechanisms but also how the soldiers occupying the bunkers would live. We then walked down to Omaha beach were we saw the beach from a predominantly American attacking point of view and understood the di culty of the task at Omaha. We could see why it

Year 8 Trips & Activities

was known as Bloody Omaha. We then left for a change of scene at Caen where we visited the Abbaye aux Hommes, where William the Conqueror exploded in his own co n as his body became too fat to t in it, and the Château de Caen and explored the castle.

Day 4: We had packed our bags and loaded them onto the coach. Before we headed back home we had enough time to explore the town of Falaise and to visit the castle of Falaise. Once we nished in Falaise we departed for the Eurotunnel and arrived at Calais. We then headed back to school.

We would like to thank Mr Cox, Mr Hill and Mr Harahap for all of their e ort on this trip.

Year 8 Post CE Activity Programme

Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park was our rst activity after the end of Common Entrance. The best thing about the trip was that it was a Tuesday morning so the queues were less than 5 minutes long. We arrived early in the morning and split into groups. We then had until 12:40 to t in as many rides as possible. Our group did all the big rides such as 'Colossus' and 'Stealth' and many more. My personal favourite ride was 'Tidal wave'. In the afternoon boys continued to pursue the rides and our group did 'Saw' and 'Swarm'. They were amazing rides but the physics makes no sense! &

Skiing

Skiing was our second activity after Common Entrance. We arrived before our session with great excitement and laughter as we waited for it to start. The actual skiing piste was in Hemel Hempstead and is obviously not to be mistaken for the Alps! We were given the choice between skiing and snowboarding, the majority choosing skiing however a few (including myself) decided to venture into the fairly new sport to us, snowboarding.

Our session was an hour and a half of pure fun and enjoyment with various di erent races and tricks being performed all morning. Those for whom it was their rst time on the slopes were given a great opportunity to learn how to ski and they certainly embraced it.

Finally, to end our skiing adventure, we did the ringo slide. This was a small course where someone would sit inside a rubber ring and go through a small slope at high speed. It was almost like tobogganing. We were given our own rubber ring and thrown straight o the side, despite this dramatic entrance there were no broken bones. Everyone had a great time learning and doing the snow sports and this venue would de nitely be recommended for future use in or out of school.

National Computer Museum

On the Thursday of our activity week, we set o by train to Bletchley Park. We were able to use the oldest working computer and look at early technology. We learned about Alan Turing, a very famous codebreaker. We saw a working replica of the enigma machine, and we also got to see Colossus, the world’s rst electronic computer. There were many IBM computers, all from di erent time stages, so we were able to see what changed as computers evolved. In the afternoon we coded a snake game on original BBC computers in BASIC. Overall, it was a great trip.

Cooking Experience

After we came back from Normandy we went to Canons Park to do some cooking. We were accompanied by the Kids Cookery School. They taught us how to cook veggie pasties, and also summer fruit mu ns. The pasties were surprisingly good, and the mu ns turned out quite well, as well, even though they were only made with two spoonfuls of sugar, while usually mu ns are made with eleven spoonfuls of sugar. All in all, it was a productive afternoon and I certainly learnt to not add paprika ever again.

UCL 3D Medical Imaging Centre

On the fourth day of our Post CE Programme, we went to the biophysics labs at UCL in London, to learn about biomedical engineering and the application of 3d printing to medical technology from Dr Daniil Nikitichev, an Arnold House parent. We got to go see the working 3D printers and feel the things that had been printed. We got to look around the labs, including a lab where they were practising removing a brain tumour. Dr Daniil Nikitichev even showed us one of his own inventions, a device that could play music by transferring the code through a ashlight's uctuations. Everyone found the trip to be very interesting and thank you to Dr Nikitichev for giving us this insight into medical imaging.

Liquid Leisure

On our penultimate Monday of Arnold House we set o to go to Liquid Leisure Aqua Park. Once we arrived the fun started; jumping into the water and sliding o the obstacles. After our session most of us did a banana boat ride which ended up in people falling into the freezing water and becoming drenched. We then got changed and had our lunch and prepared for the long journey back to school.

Paintballing

During our post CE activity week the Y8 boys went to the eagerly anticipated Delta Force paintballing. When we arrived we were kitted our in with chest guards, protective gloves and a full suit so as not to get our clothes full of paint.

After being fully briefed about the safety aspect we were all raring to go. We were set to play 6 di erent types of game in our day. Firstly we played a game where there

Year 8 Post CE Activity Programme

was one attacking team and one defending team. The defending team was stationed in the castle and their objectives were to mow down any attack from the opposition. The attacking side’s objective was to get the ag from a nearby location and to raise it to the top of the agpole which was next to the castle. It was a great contest with everyone getting a few bruises for the rst round.

In the second game there were four huts in the surrounding area and after 15 minutes of ring the team that could secure the most bases would win. As we were old enough we used proper paintballs which did hurt a bit if you were shot. This meant everyone was keen to hit their friend!

Our third game of the day again consisted of two teams but with a twist. There was one attacking team and one defending with the attacking one having a president. The idea for the attacking side was to get the president into the bus where the defending team were stationed unscathed. This proved di cult, but in the end the president made it to the bus on both occasions. Afterwards we had a packed lunch and had a rest from shooting people. However we were all raring to go and do it all again after lunch!

On the Wednesday of our activities week, the year eight boys went to Father Al’s church in Hackney. We were greeted by platters of biscuits and orange squash which pleased everyone. Then Father Al energetically walked in and started to tell us about what they do in the church for the community. They keep bees, have a fantastic garden and they even have a brewery, where the pro ts go to the community.

We then went to a tower where we walked up a twisty staircase, learning the history of it along the way, and then rang an extremely loud bell before looking at the amazing views of London from the top.

When we arrived back at the church, there was a hive of activity. We were quickly put to work: setting out chairs, laying down the cutlery and napkins and decorating the tables with owers.

Once we nished setting out for lunch, we returned to Arnold House, knowing loads more about the homeless and how to help them.

Lawn Bowls

On Thursday, the 27th of June, we went to CP to play Lawn Bowls. It is a game in which each person has one try to get their ball closest to the white ball, thrown out at the start of the game.

We were split into three groups based on height. We had four rounds each, it was a team vs team match within our group. In the rst round, and his team won. In the other three rounds, the same team won again but then the second team won twice through

After this we played a game with Ms Legan. The objective was to get your ball closest to the dot, if you got it on the board, located in the middle of the strip, you got a certain number of points. Nobody scored any more points than 2, getting this with more people coming close.

It was very enjoyable to play this game and I hope I can play more in the future, thank you to Mr Wilson for organizing it and Ms Legan for helping us play.

Tech Talk by AH Old Boy Tom Cahn

On Friday the 28th of June, we had an old boy, Tom Cahn, come in to talk to the Year 8s about technology.

He talked about his individual past, how he had left Arnold House in 2000. He went to City of London until 2005. He then went to London Business University and went on to help found the company Eigen Tech in 2014, he still works there to this day.

After this he asked us what we think of when we hear the phrase ‘Arti cial Intelligence,’ AI for short. We then replied with di erent ideas which included ‘robots, machines taking over the world’ and more. He then talked about what Eigen Tech aims to do, to build a program which sorts out property licence, which are usually done by junior lawyers and take many hours but with Eigen Tech, it takes a few minutes and it costs less.

He also showed us what technology could become. He showed us that technology had developed rapidly and that it can only speed up. He told us that in the space of a few years, a oppy disk had gone from being in use, to becoming extinct and this can happen to so many di erent things, including the iPhone X, in the next ten years.

It was a very interesting talk and we all learnt a lot from it.

Head Boys' Review

WhenMr Thomas announced that we were the new head boys, we were both honoured and humbled. It’s the highest achievement an Arnold House boy can receive but a position that requires responsibility and cooperation. It was a nervous rst day in Year 8 and that same feeling of responsibility occurs every time we carry the Holy Books at the church services. However the excitement of becoming Head Boys was put behind us as we began our laborious journey to the Common Entrance exams in June.

We both had the chance to settle in with our new classmates as Head Boys on our trip to Burgundy which is where we experienced life in France and interacted with locals who we practised our French with. It was a really interesting and enjoyable trip and our titles seemed to slip by and we’re both glad that we were able to carry on school life as normal when we returned to Arnold House.

The reason Year 8 is so di erent from the seven younger years is that it demands a huge amount more focus and discipline. Our time at Arnold House has been leading

up to Common Entrance and the hardships explained by the previous Year 8s about the week of the exams was not an exaggeration. The hard work paid o , however, as all of our year made it through convincingly to our senior schools.

We would like to thank our teachers for organising and rewarding us with some amazing activities like indoor skiing and paintballing. We were also excited about tapping into our creative sides to design our leavers’ tiles which will be on the famous wall of all the previous leavers’ tiles.

We want to round o by thanking all the members of sta and all the pupils who’ve made a huge impact on our lives during the last 8 years. Arnold House is an amazing school and we both know that all leavers are going to miss the comfort and fun at Arnold House that makes it more than just a prep school, but a school that’s prepared us so well for Common Entrance and our senior schools and we couldn’t be happier that we get leave here and be remembered as the Head Boys. &

Head Boys 2018-2019

Senior School Leavers

Ludgrove School

Newman Catholic College

Ludgrove School ASL

Art & Design

Night and Day 5

I was just minding my own business when Hermione felt the urge to be a typical sister. I was surreptitiously reading my book at my desk (yes, I was technically meant to be doing my Geography) when my sister spied my novel and shouted as loud as she could, “Mummy! Sebastian’s not doing his homework!”

In that moment I knew I was in the dog-house.

My mother stormed in like an avenging angel. The next half-hour’s prospects seemed black, as black as a moonless, starless night. Impenetrable, overwhelming and utterly unforgiving. Then the tirade began.

Accusations and admonitions buzzed furiously in my ears, just like a swarm of bees. Her tongue lashed out at me like a whip, remorselessly berating me.

It was then that I noticed my sister standing just outside the door, her ear to the crack and with a smirk on her face. She was visibly relishing my miserable fate. Of course, her true nature concealed by her disguise as the epitome of goodness, she knew herself to be infallible.

Then, things changed. My perplexed brain took quite five seconds until I worked it out. I was no longer being shouted at!

My mother had spied my perfidious sister and started on her for being a snitch! For a while I simply could not comprehend it, then I slipped away, happy that suddenly for me the sun was shining.

Year 8

Atthe beginning of term I welcomed Emily Rogers, a recent graduate from Leeds Arts University, to the department and within days she settled into the role, bringing lots of exciting ideas to the table. Year 8 kicked o our enrichment programme in a ne fashion, enjoying a calm and re ective Art day with contemporary artist Becky Allen. They learnt about the meditative potential of drawing, creating stunning mandalas as well as Hokusai-inspired paintings on rice paper. Over the course of the year the entire year group collaborated to create a stunning large-scale piece to present to Mr Thomas at their leavers' assembly.

Boys in Year 6 approached the rst of their two Art days with print maker Katrina Russell-Adams with great excitement. They were taking part in the rst Art and PE collaboration and were using positive and negative shapes inspired by movements made in PE lessons. They learnt how to create multi-layer screen prints using neon bright inks.

November proved to be a busy month with Year 3 enjoying their rst Art day, introduced following a suggestion from a school council member. They worked with ceramicist Amanda Banham to screen print their hand-drawn illustrations onto clay, which they then formed into pots. The boys were ne ambassadors for the school, impressing Amanda with their meticulous approach and thoughtful questions.

Review

This was shortly followed by a return visit by an Arnold House favourite Pui Lee from Scout Editions. Year 4 were introduced to digital design and learnt the basics of Adobe Illustrator under Pui’s expert guidance. They created a series of quirky bird illustrations which were sent to a specialist printer in Germany. It was a pure joy to see the boys’ faces when they received the nished set of professionally printed stamps.

Katrina Russell-Adams came back to see the progress of the Art and PE collaboration and was impressed with how the boys had developed their ideas since her rst visit. We had prepared three-dimensional foam shapes inspired by their early PE lessons and she taught them how to create mobiles. It was quite a mathematical lesson as the boys needed to carefully consider balance in order to achieve a successful result. The Art room looked particularly spectacular by the end of the day with 37 mobiles hanging from the ceiling.

December saw another old favourite visiting, this time the exceptionally talented Celia Dowson who came to work with our lucky Year 5 boys. They had been exploring the gurative work of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth in preparation for her visit and she showed them how to skilfully manipulate coils of stoneware into stylised human forms. It was a very special day with the boys really enjoying the process and gaining so much wonderful experience from a practising artist.

Celia kindly returned to school later in the year to see the sculptures once they were red, bringing some special metallic glazes and wooden plinths on which to display the nished pieces.

In January we welcomed Bianca Palazzi to the department and she enlightened us all with a vibrant and interactive presentation about Abstract Art. She talked to the Year 7 boys about colour, shape and form and invited them to share thoughts and feelings with their peers. The day was huge fun as boys icked and splattered paint in the style of Jackson Pollock, created paper cut-outs inspired by Henri Matisse and energetic colourful patterns inspired by Joan Miro. They listened to jazz, classical and amenco music as they created, trying to capture thoughts, stories and emotions in their abstract pieces. It was one of the highlights of my year as I listened to the boys con dently presenting their work and explaining the thought processes behind the explosions of marks and colours.

Our visiting Art programme nished on a high note with a visit from the talented author and illustrator Lisa Stickley. Lisa has long been a favourite of mine and I couldn’t have been happier that she agreed to come in and work with our youngest artists to create a wonderful collection of fruits and vegetables using her trade-mark collage techniques. She also treated the boys to story time as she read them two of her most popular books.

Interspersed with our Art days we hosted Open studios for Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 boys. Showcasing everything from birds to butter ies, etchings, paper cuts, ceramics and screen prints. We took over the school gym to present ‘Move. Measure. Make’ the Art and PE collaborative Year 6 project and produced a beautiful photo book to accompany the exhibition.

Review

Art club continues to be great fun, welcoming new members alongside established regulars. We explored needle punching techniques, created hama bead self-portraits, painted plates and made wind chimes, to mention just a few of our projects. We ended the summer term with our regular Art club party, tucking into delicious homemade treats, listening to jazz and chatting as the boys put the nishing touches to their pieces.

It has been a wonderful year to top o a very happy twelve years at Arnold House. I leave the school with a tear in my eye and a heavy heart but in the extremely capable hands of Miss Sophie Cobb who returns to take up the reins and begin an exciting new chapter. Miss Emily Rogers also moves on to pastures new as she takes up a design position at a publishing company. Sophie will be ably assisted by new Art Assistant Miss Hattie Farmer, who joins us from Repton School. I wish them both the best of luck in their new positions.

Kate Housden Head of Art & Design

Year 1

Abstract Geometrics inspired by Hanna Konola

by 1L and 1M

Year 2

Year 2

Year 3

Abstract shell paintings inspired by Hella

Year 3

Paper cut-outs inspired by Matisse

Year 4

Year 4

Mixed-media jelly sh studies inspired by Dale Chihuly

Mixed-media human form studies

Year 5

Tree ring drawings

Year 6

Move Measure Make - Art and PE Collaboration

Acetate collages

Paper mobiles

Collage postcards

Year 6

Architectural Geometry inspired by Richard

Abstract Expressionist self-portraits

Watercolour crystals inspired by Becky

Year 8

Music 66

a single story

It was on an ordinary day when my eyes were opened. As usual got up, got ready, headed to the tube station through a bustling crowd full of cold strangers on their way to work and some beggars stationary at the side of the pavement. caught the train, fought for a seat and played a game until got off. Pushing past some people ran to school and started preparing for another day.

Global Location clashed with a special assembly. missed the talk because wanted to keep my place as the best at GloLo. Missing the talk wasn’t a problem for me. wasn’t the best at much, but this one thing could really do well. It made me feel good, so went. After my victory found that there was another talk, just for us Year 8s. When got to the History Room all the best seats were taken so sat on a desk.

Suddenly a man came in, Father Al. He talked to us. He told us about the problems facing society. Of course we’d heard a lot of it before, but this was different. Somehow Father Al made it real. The homeless. The beggars. So many worse off than ourselves.

Before he came was only educated in one side of the story, from the stereotypes shown in the media, where all the poor are lazy and beggars are criminals. But he told the ip side. And now knew both sides of the story. In fact that there is no single story, or even just two every story has many sides.

On my way home gave up my seat. looked not at the crowd but at other people, people with personalities, worries, and problems. People with friends and families if they were lucky like me.

Year 8

Review

Michaelmas Term Concert

The Michaelmas Concert took place on Thursday 22nd November at the American School London. This date was of particular signi cance as it was also St Cecilia’s Day. St Cecilia is known as the Patron Saint of Music and many concerts and musical events are held on this day.

There were 115 boys taking part this year (from Years 2-8) and each and every one of them behaved and performed fantastically throughout the whole of the rehearsal and performance period. After a swift but thorough rehearsal, boys were then escorted back to School where they enjoyed a quick packed supper and relaxed with their friends before they headed back to ASL for the concert.

The logistics of organising a concert involving so many boys are never easy, but I have to say that my job was made signi cantly easier thanks to the hard working and professional attitudes of the boys involved on the evening.

All boys sat on and around the stage so that they could watch every performance and

support their friends playing in di erent ensembles. Having the stage set up to accommodate the various musical items meant that transitions between the music were smooth and the audience were able to concentrate on enjoying the fabulous music.

The concert featured a wonderful variety of repertoire from Rossini through to The Clash and demonstrated the talents of our classical musicians and also our Rock and Pop musicians. The Junior and Senior Choirs combined forces this year and formed a choir of 87 voices. This was a fun and rewarding experiencing for the boys (and myself!) and they particularly impressed the audience with their rendition of ‘This is me’ from The Greatest Showman.

Everyone had a wonderful evening and I know that the boys are already looking forward to their Summer Concert performances!

Lydia Dupont Director of Music

Review

Senior Summer Concert

What a Show! Sta , parents and pupils were all blown away by the talent showcased at the Senior Summer Concert this year. The whole evening was a true celebration of the year of hard work that our Senior Boys have put into their musicianship.

Pop, rock, classical, musical theatre, jazz and lm music.  We had a taste of everything from our ensembles and our soloists! We believe that music is for all at Arnold House, so our choir is inclusive, and from them we heard a jazzy, harmonised version of 'Is This The Way To Amarillo?'. Our Senior Orchestra is inclusive of beginner instrumentalists as well as advanced musicians, and from them, we heard a beautiful symphony by Le Chevalier de Saint Georges. The wide variety of smaller ensembles included string groups, brass groups and woodwind groups as well as several rock and jazz bands. Piece after piece, the standard was consistently outstanding.

As always, the most prominent performers at the Senior Summer Concert are our Year 8 leavers. This year was no exception, and we were treated to incredible solos from the following boys: and a selfmade band made up of and All of them shone for their talent, hard work, and the sheer joy of performing music.

Thank you to our Peripatetic teachers who always go the extra mile to prepare soloists and ensembles for this concert.

Abigail Oliphant Acting Director of Music

Review

Junior Summer Concert

Music plays a huge part in the life of the Junior School, and we can see this with the 70 boys who performed in this year's Junior Summer Concert! This event is one of the highlights of the school year, and it is an absolute joy to see the incredible standard of musicianship that the boys have developed at such a young age. The professionalism from the ensembles and the solos was amazing, and all of the boys found a brilliant balance between fun and focus on stage.

Let us start with our incredible Year 4 soloists. We heard brilliant solos from on the Clarinet; on the guitar; singing; singing; on the cornet and on the violin. These boys have worked incredibly hard on their music over the last few years and will be an asset to the musical life of the Senior School next year.

Moving onto the Junior music ensembles. Ensemble work is vital for any musician, and we encourage even our youngest musicians to take part in music groups. We saw musicians come together in the Violin and Recorder Ensemble, Cello Group, Saxophone Duet, String Quartet, String Orchestra, Brass Group, and our largest ensemble in the school, the Junior Choir. As well as a healthy sprinkling of musical theatre and classical repertoire, the concert was lled with lots of folk music and traditional melodies. It was beautiful to see the boys coming together to play these beautiful melodies which have brought people together for generations. What a joy it is to see these boys brought together with music from such a young age!

A wonderful evening, all round!

Abigail Oliphant

Acting Director of Music

Music Groups

Clarinet Group

If you play the clarinet make sure that you join Clarinet Group. Or if you are undecided over which instrument to pick, choose the clarinet as the teacher is fab and Clarinet Group is brilliant. The group are actively involved in selecting the music that is played. Mr Lawton takes the music that we would like to play and annotates it to become parts which is appropriate to our playing ability. I love this club because you contribute in every concert - either playing the base line or the melody - and it is really enjoyable. One word of advice though, do not be late!

Y7

String Orchestra

String Orchestra is a place where violinists and cellists are asked by Mrs Sadler to perform together. First we open up our instrument cases and set up. Then we sit down on our chairs and we start. This term we played the 'Drunken Sailor' in the Junior Summer Concert, which was exciting as we had to shout out animal words in certain parts! Each week, Mrs Sadler awards one member of the group ‘Man of the Orchestra’ and they get two sweets, everyone else gets one. Overall String Orchestra is a really great way to spend a break time.

Y4

Cello Group

Every Friday at break time the Junior cello players get together with our teacher, Mrs O’Kane, to play in a group. This year we have performed 'William Tell' at the Michaelmas Concert and 'French Folk Song' at the Junior Summer Concert. I really enjoy getting together with the other cellists from di erent years and learning as a group. I hope we can continue next year!

Y4

Jazz Combo

This year, Jazz Combo has consisted of a small group of boys playing the saxophone, guitar, trumpet, drums and, for the rst time, even the double bass. We have played a wide variety of music throughout the year, from classic pop tunes to Latin melodies. Highlights for me included 'The Greatest Showman Medley' and 'So Smooth' by Santana, where and I got to swap instruments half way through the piece. Every rehearsal has taught me something new about the saxophone and how to play it. For example, this year the pieces were particularly challenging in the

higher register, which meant I really had to get the positioning of my mouthpiece right in order not to squeak.

I have enjoyed everything about Jazz Combo, including the fun, relaxed atmosphere. Mr Lawton always asks for our opinion when it comes to choosing pieces for the following term and makes sure that everyone is happy with the selection, so that we form a happy, harmonious group. He then does an incredible job of arranging the music so it all works perfectly for the concerts. Every piece this year has been a pleasure to play and it has been a real privilege working alongside Mr Lawton and the other boys.

Y8

Chapel Choir

Chapel Choir (rehearsals are on Tuesday and Thursday during assemblies) has performed at every church service this year. It has been great fun and I really enjoy Chapel Choir. My highlight of Chapel Choir though was when we were applauded by the congregation after we sang 'How Great Thou Art'.

This year, Chapel Choir has done a variety of pieces from 'I the Lord of Sea and Sky' to 'The Lord Bless You and Keep You'. This year is my second year in Chapel Choir and my singing has come on massively this year as a result. I really enjoy Chapel Choir and I would encourage anyone who likes singing to audition for it.

Y6 --

Music Groups

Junior Choir

This year in Junior Choir we have been learning ‘Joseph’s Coat’ from the musical Joseph and the Technicolour Dream Coat. It’s a really upbeat and uplifting song and a great way to start a Wednesday morning. I nd Junior Choir an amazing club and what better teacher to run it than Mrs Oliphant! I really recommend Junior Choir to anyone who enjoys singing.

Y4

Senior Choir

In Senior Choir we have learnt the song 'Is This The Way To Amarillo?'. This song was written by Tony Christie and was composed by Niel Sedaka and Howard Green eld. Learning this song with all of its harmonies was very di cult but we eventually pulled it o . We also learnt 'This Is Me' written by Keala Settle and composed by Justin Paul and Benj Pasek for 'The Greatest Showman'.

This was a very popular song in the Choir and was a very e ective in the Michaelmas Concert, we also performed 'Golden Slumbers' written by The Beatles and remastered by Elbow. In my opinion this was a very touching song and almost felt like singing a lullaby.

Senior Choir has been great fun this year so, come and join!

Y6---

Music Groups

Jazz Band

The Jazz Band played 'Freddie', a medley of Queen songs, and was the last act of the Summer Concert. This year, we had eight players covering a range of instruments –saxophone, trumpet, drums and double bass. We played really exciting and wellknown pieces that were brilliantly arranged by Mr Lawton. In my opinion, this was big band music at its nest – bringing the Summer Concert to a tting climax. No wonder Mr Thomas was emotional as he stepped up to address all the players, teachers, parents and siblings! I enjoyed rehearsing and playing in the group – we all worked hard throughout the term and the result did not disappoint. Overall, this was great fun and I loved having the chance to play in the Jazz Band. A big thank you to Mr Lawton for the huge amount of e ort he has put in and the support he has given us. I will miss the Music department at Arnold House and hope I get the chance to play as much music at my senior school.

Y8

Jazz Band is something that everyone always looks forward to. Mr Lawton is always there with a smile on his face and always pushes us to the best of our ability. The vibe in the room is always so nice as we continue to learn our pieces! This year we did, 'Freddie' - a medley of Queen songs all expertly put together by Mr Lawton. It was a lively, swing song which everyone had fun learning how to play. Thank you, Mr Lawton, for an incredible and enjoyable year.

Y7

Year 4 String Quartet

The Y4 quartet is taken by Mrs Sadler who always encourages us and we receive helpful advice from her. We meet every Friday morning buzzing with excitement. The room is always lled with beaming faces and laughter. Imad, and I enjoy it deeply and will be extremely sad to leave the quartet. I hope whoever replaces us will have as much enjoyment as we had.

Y4

Senior String Group

Senior String Group has been a fantastic adventure, from the beginning of Year 5, to the end of Year 8, performing at our nal Summer Concert. We performed 'Joshua fought the battle of Jericho', pretty well - I think! And all my years of Senior Strings have been super enjoyable, to perform with your friends as a group. So a big thank you to Mrs Sadler.

Y8

Senior Orchestra

Every Tuesday after school twenty boys gathered enthusiastically in the gym for orchestra with their instruments. In the orchestra there is a wide range of instruments including woodwind, brass, strings and percussion. Eight of us have been in the orchestra since Year 4 and this was our nal year together. Between us we had (leader of the orchestra), and on violins; and playing their cornets; on his saxophone; and his ute and I played the oboe. The concerts were good and playing both at the American School and Canons Park were great experiences. Going to Canons Park in the summer term was really enjoyable because you had an afternoon of playing in the elds before performing to the parents and teachers.

This year we played a song by the classical composer Le Chevalier de Saint Georges. We should say thank you to Mrs Sadler, Mrs Dupont and Mrs Oliphant for all their hard work in getting us to sound like proper musicians. Good luck to next year’s orchestra - especially the new Year 4s - and we hope they have as much fun playing together as we did.

Y8

Selmer Sax Group

Selmer Sax Group is run for saxophonists in Years 7&8 depending on your ability. This group is really fun with us performing a variety of pieces from many genres; for example in the recent Summer Concert, we played 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. Also, whenever we play a piece our teacher, Mr Lawton, will adapt it depending on your ability so you will always be challenged but at the same time, your part will be manageable for you. Selmer Sax Group is currently on Thursdays at 1:30pm every week. See you there!

Y7

Yamaha Sax Group

Saxophone group has many advantages such as: we get to go into lunch early (only on Fridays though unfortunately) this rule was put in place because we were often late because we were sent into lunch without enough time to get to sax group. At the beginning of each group you have to wait for everyone to arrive and you get to chat a bit while you’re waiting. If you are doing well on the piece you are learning then you get to leave early and have extra break. Oh yes, I almost forgot we also play the saxophone. One of the best parts in that Mr Lawton always picks cool songs which he arranges, like at the Summer Concert we played

Music Groups

'Eye of the Tiger' and at the Michaelmas Term Concert we played 'Silent Night' (an interesting piece for silent saxophones).

Y6

Y7 Rock Group

This year and I were in Y7 Rock Group. We played 'London Calling' by The Clash, and in the summer term 'Champagne Supernova' by Oasis. In rehearsals we randomly played songs that we felt like playing. It was fun and I recommend it for all the Y6’s who play an instrument that could be part of a Rock Group.

Y7

Guitar Group

Every Wednesday we gather for Y7 Guitar Group to have a ton of fun playing a broad variety of songs. Our singer, has the nal say as to which song we play in the concert. In the past, we’ve played many di erent songs including songs by The Beatles, Johnny Cash and Coldplay amongst others. This year we played 'Charlie Darwin' by The Low Anthem.

Y7

Hendrix Group

Hendrix was one of the most enjoyable groups I have participated in at Arnold House. Our group started o with

and me (all Year 8s), but broke his arm before the concert and unfortunately couldn't play. For that concert, Mr Little, and I had the job of playing 'Layla' by Eric Clapton as a trio. Despite the ri being quite di cult initially, and I managed to just about learn it before the deadline, and, (I think!), we pulled it o ! For our nal Summer Concert, we played 'Don't Stop Believing' by Journey. We were de nitely better prepared this time. Our group also increased in number as we took on board and arm had recovered by then. The ri was relatively easy this time, especially compared to 'Layla'. All in all, Hendrix Group has been a really fun experience, made even better by missing the Thursday assemblies! Mr Littleyour music choices are always brilliant and thanks for persisting with us all.

Y8

Flute Group

This was my rst year in Flute Group and I played alongside In Year 8 and our ute teacher Mr Riley. At the beginning of the term we played a couple of classical pieces like 'English Country Garden', all the pieces sounded brilliant

when played in a round. For our Jazzed up piece in the concert, we played a piece with drums and bass called 'Cantaloupe Island'. I think we did really well. As has just left, I will not be able to carry on playing in Flute Group because you need at least two students. I will be the only ute player in the School. We need more autists!

Y6

Junior Brass Group

Junior Brass Group is run by Mr Aitken and we play pieces in the concerts. When I broke my arm this term and couldn’t play I still took part and learnt some theory. Mr Aitken always has something fun planned and it is great fun learning the cornet. I like playing the cornet, clapping to beats and raising my hand when the music changes.

Y3

Music Groups

Electric Guitar Groups

At Arnold House we have a great musical life. A huge aspect is the electric guitar which varies through all years. Lessons take place on Thursdays and groups on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. After much rehearsal the boys play in the informal concerts, the Michaelmas Term Concert and the Summer Concert.

Electric guitar isn't just a solo piece you can do, it is also very good to play in a rock band like I do. We have great teachers in the school and our main one for the electric guitar is Mr Little who taught me and many others how to play.

The Summer Concert is the big show to portray your skills. This year we were lucky enough to have the Year 7 group who

played 'Champagne Supernova', the Year 8 rock group played 'Voodoo Chile' and lastly the Year 8 Guitar Group played 'Don't stop Believing'. All of these pieces were played very well and just showed the advancement and rapid growth of electric guitar in Arnold House.

Y8 -- - - -

Associated Board Exam Results

Autumn Term

Alto Saxophone

Grade One (M)

B Flat Cornet

Grade One (M)

Grade Three (M)

Guitar Grade One (M)

Grade Two (P) (P)

Grade Three (P)

Piano

Grade One (D)

Grade Four (M)

Singing

Prep Test

Grade Four (M)

Violin

Grade One (P) (P)

Grade Two (M)

Music Theory

Grade One (M)

Grade Five (M)

Spring Term

Alto Saxophone

Grade One (M) (P)

Grade Two (M) (M) (D)

B Flat Cornet

Grade Three (M)

Descant Recorder

Grade Two (P)

Grade Four (P)

Key

= Distinction

= Merit

= Pass

Guitar

Grade Two (P)

Horn

Grade Six (M)

Piano Prep Test

Grade Three (P) (M) (P)

Singing

Grade Two (P) (P) (P) (M)

Grade Three (D) (P) (M)

Grade Four (P)

Grade Five (M)

Violin

Grade One (M) (D) (M)

Grade Two (M)

Music Theory

Grade Two (D) (D)

Grade Four (M)

Summer Term

Alto Saxophone

Grade Two (M) (M) (M)

Grade Three (M)

Grade Four (M) (M) (M)

Cello

Grade Four (D)

Clarinet

Grade One (M)

Grade Two (D)

B Flat Cornet

Grade One (D)

Grade Four (M)

Descant Recorder

Grade Two (M) (D)

Grade Four (D)

Guitar

Grade Two (M) (P)

Grade Three (P)

Grade Four (P) (P)

Piano

Grade One (M) (M) (D)

Grade Two (D) (D) (D)

Grade Three (P)

Grade Four (M)

Grade Seven (P)

Singing

Grade One (D) (M)

Grade Three (D) (M)

Trumpet

Grade Six (P)

Violin

Grade One (M)

Grade Two (D)

Grade Three (D) (P) (D) (P)

Grade Four (P) (P) (P)

Music Theory

Grade Three (P) (M)

Grade Five (D)

Form Pages 7

The Shop That Sells Unusual Things

will always remember the visit had to the beach shop in an obscure beach in Dorset, the famous Jurassic Coast. The shop, in fact, was so near to the sea that you could hear the loud crashing of the waves toppling onto the multitude of sand and pebbles. The shop sold a lot of marvellously odd things.

As soon as I walked into the shop I was greeted by a large row of fish preserved in jars full of what looked like bright green nuclear waste; the shop wasn’t large but contained many wonders. The only food they sold was different coloured tins of biscuit: the tins would be covered in dust and never had to be restocked.

As moved onto the next aisle could see model train sets, next to friendship bracelets lined not with beads, but fish bones and fake shark teeth I even saw a single Adidas trainer sitting on top of a shelf, lonely and on the hunt for its partner.

The shop contained pens with the most fascinatingly odd-shaped rubbers, some shaped like Durdle Door and some with the Old Harry Rocks on them. Some had rubber pigs and some had stickers saying ‘Sniff me’ but the scent was lost under the hundreds of layers of dust and cobwebs.

Finally, made it to the till. The shopkeeper was the oddest-looking person think have ever seen! He or she (I was simply unable to tell) was sitting down in a furry chair almost engulfed in its length. The top of it had a plastic shark head on it. The shopkeeper was wearing rainbow-coloured sunglasses and had the most extraordinary hair: greasy dreadlocks that looked like gummy snakes growing out of a paper-white scalp. His/her teeth were gold, silver and some with encrusted diamonds on them. ‘It’ wore a fur coat and a blue and pink tie-dye shirt.

Walking out of the door was like stepping out of another dimension. left the shop a changed man.

Year 8 - - -

1L’s Flying Bookshop Landed…

2D We got the blame!

2R When I wish upon a Star

3B HAPPINESS IS...

...playing on my iPad.

...having snowball fights.

...getting hot chocolate in the morning.

...cooking with my mum.

...playing minecraft.

...having someone loving with you all the time.

...doing Maths with Miss Badenoch.

...having Sunday roast.

...playing board games with people I love.

...playing sports.

...playing a Nerf gun war.

...meeting my cousins all the time.

...stuffing my face with tons of chocolate.

...playing with my friends.

...playing computer games.

...having friends.

...waking up whenever I want.

...watching a movie with popcorn.

3W RECORD BREAKERS

My Mage is from Funia and has come to help me learn. He is a Level 5 Mage and has the powers of invisibility, teleportation and mana transfer.

My character is a Healer and he is called Pineapple. He is here to help me with my academic work. He’s evolved from the Mountain

he has healed 3,000 people. Olu is the best healer ever.

My character is from back in time. He is the greatest warrior of all time and can beat every boss.

5G MY PERSONAL ROBOT