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Read all about the breathtakingperformance from J2

All the news from The King’s School, Chester

Full story on page 2

Spring2009

“Supercalifragilistic”

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The J2 play is an establishedtradition, and like theirpredecessors, the pupils worked

very hard to prepare their productionof Mary Poppins. As always, it was amost rewarding and confidence-boosting experience for all concerned.

The play was adapted especially for thepupils by Miss Jan Anderson from theoriginal book written by PL Travers. MissAnderson somehow managed to create aspeaking part for all 59 children!

The wonderful production, set in 1910, tellsof two children, who are not receiving

enough attention from their parents, untilnanny, Mary Poppins arrives, bringing withher, her own unique brand of magic!

The production included twelve fabuloussongs, directed by Mrs Barbara Roberts,including, ‘Let’s go fly a kite’,‘Spoonful of Sugar’ and‘Supercalifragilistic’.

All the children sang the songs with theverses sung as solos with help frompercussionists from J4.

A breathtaking performance from thechildren, aged 8 and 9 was enjoyed by afull house of parents and friends.

The Magic of Mary Poppins St Hilda’s visit

The King’s School welcomed StHilda’s College from Argentinain February. St Hilda’s choir,concert band and dancers werehosted by King’s families duringtheir visit, which culminated in ajoint concert.Despite, the heaviest snowfall seen thiswinter, the concert went ahead, as planned,with St Hilda’s repertoire of their ConcertBand playing two tangos, two classicalpieces, two jazz pieces and their choirsinging one Argentine folk piece, one tangoand one classical piece. The audience alsoenjoyed a performance of the tango! Inmusical contrast, the Concert Band andthe Gospel Choir from King’s performed.

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Spring2009

King’s Chess Club havethe winning moves

King’s entered the NorthWales and Cheshire ChessChampionships for the first

time for at least a decade and cameout on top.King’s entered a large number of students –14 competitors from a total of 106 and theKing’s team was crowned the top teamand are now the 2008 Schools Champions.

King’s had success on an individual basis too,gaining eight individual trophies. All 14 playerswere vital to the team’s success.

• Animesh Anand (RmSR)won the U12 group

• Susan Gorman (ShAI)came 2nd in the U13 group

• Jack Webber (ShTK)came 2nd in U13 group

• Davin Menon (3VL)won the U14 group

• Marvin Hayes (4MP)won the U15 group

• Tim Pemberton (5FV)came 2nd in the U16 group

• Alistair Tonge (5SR)came 3rd in U16 group

• James Carr (L6SW)won U17 group

• Emily Moss (3CM) who on the strength of her performance was selected on the day for the County.

King’s also reached the Zonal Final of theYately Manor National Chess Championships,making King’s one of the top schools in thecountry for chess.

Several students have been chosen to play forthe Cheshire/North Wales County andNational squads:-

• Davin Menon represents Wales at Junior International level and Cheshire U16 squad

• Marvin Hayes has been invited to join the England U16 squad and plays for the Cheshire U16 team

• Emily Moss and Susan Gorman play for Cheshire U16 squad.

Impressive figures

The results of the NationalIntermediate Maths Challengefor students in Removes to

Fifths have been described as“stunning” by Head of Maths, MrsKathy Crewe-Read and Deputy Headof Maths, Mrs Catherine Hill.

26 pupils have gained gold certificates and intotal, almost 60% of the students are certificatewinners. Gold certificates are only awarded tothe top 6% of participants.

Even more impressive is that seven of the goldcertificate winners are currently only in 3rdYear, but were competing against students whowere up to two years older than them.

An unprecedented total of 17 pupils qualifiedfor the invitation-only, follow-on rounds.

Sixty-four Maths A-level studentsparticipated in the NationalSenior Maths Challenge

competition, with almost 50% ofthem gaining either a gold, silver orbronze certificate.

This impressive performance highlights thehigh-achieving ability and skills of TheKing’s School’s maths students in an age

when all the publicity is about falling standardsin Maths nationally!

In particular, special praise is given toEmma Walker (L6SN), George Kiff(U6NH), Tsubasa Sato (U6RP) andCharlie Bury (U6PF) for reaching thecoveted gold level. This is a worthyachievement: it indicates a score in the top 6%of the group of talented mathematicians whosit the Challenge.

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Two delegations, made up often students from both Lowerand Upper Sixth, represented

the School in fine style at a three-dayModel United Nations conferenceheld at Kingswood School in Bath.

This conference is one of thebiggest in the UK with over 140delegations from schools acrossthe UK and abroad with over 800 delegates intotal taking part.

A handful of students from each committee arerecognised at the award ceremony to reflectthe quality of their contribution towards debateand the effectiveness of their speech-making,and it is remarkable then that five of theKing’s delegates were recognised asHighly Commended Delegates: CharlesBarry (U6PF) in the Human Rights Committee,Edward Longinotti (U6ML) in the EconomicCommittee and Tom Bradley (U6PF) in theDisarmament Committee, all representingVenezuela.

Mayur Lakshmi (L6CH) was also recognised forhis work on the Environment Committee,representing Egypt.

Also in the Egypt delegation, Matt Kilcoyne(L6AM) was given a Commended DelegateAward for his work on the Middle EastCommittee.

With so much individual success for theVenezuela delegation, very ably supported by

Tom Cooper(U6BH), it wasnot surprisingthat they were alsosingled out for a‘CommendedDelegation’ Award,given to around 20 of the140 delegations taking partfrom across the UK.

Other delegates taking part,were Max Ankers (U6PF), Owain Morris(L6ER), Oscar Hayward (L6SB), and TomMarquis (L6DY), all of whom acquitted

themselves well in their ownCommittees.

The success in Bath builds on theprevious MUN event at CheadleHulme School, earlier this year,

when three delegations of Sixth Form studentsrepresented the School. Despite somedisappointment over the level of debating,everyone got involved and their participationwas recognised for its quality.

Five of the King’s delegates wereawarded ‘Commended Delegate’certificates: Charles Barry in the PoliticalCommittee, Edward Longinotti in the Economicand Social Committee, Matthew Kilcoyne forhis work on the Disarmament Committee,

Tom Bradley in the Middle East Committee, allrepresenting Afghanistan, and Dan Titmuss onthe Human Rights Council representingBangladesh. It was notable that for two of these,Dan Titmuss (L6DY) and Matthew Kilcoyne, thiswas their first time at an MUN conference andto be recognised in this way was quite anachievement.

The Afghanistan delegation was also awarded a‘Commended Delegation’ award, given to

around 10 of the 100 delegations taking partfrom across the UK. This was the first timein King’s short history of taking part inModel United Nations that a delegationhas achieved this accolade.

Other delegates participating were OwainMorris, Mayur Lakshmi, Srinath Ranjit (L6SN),Ben Lloyd (L6CH), Emily Parker (L6DY),Jay Thomas (L6CH), Oscar Hayward,Rex Harrison (L6LB), Jonny Rodger (L6ER) andMax Ankers (U6PF).

Model United Nations

Friday March 13th was alovely day: it showedthe staff and students of

this school at their very best,the generosity of giving andinventiveness in makingcostumes was outstanding.

Students responded to therequests for thoughtful, selfless funand the day was successful as a result.Mr S Parry would like to thank allstaff and students who worked so hard,4VA who ran the cake sale and raised almost

£200, the PE staff who played netball,everyone who attended and helpedwith the parade at lunchtime,especially staff and the Sixth Formjudges, Mrs Ignata who taught inRussian and raised £26, Alex Watkin(5SR) who braved the wrath of MrRamsey when he dressed as the HeadMaster and raised over £60, and many,many others who took great care tomake the day worthwhile.

Thank you all. The overall total of over £2000 istestimony to your efforts. Well done.

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Comic Relief 2009

King’s students in this year’s SixthForm have added to the ranks offormer King’s students gettingoffers to Cambridge and Oxford.

In the last five years King’s has seen almost

50 students enter these two top universities.

This year, congratulations go to:

• George Roberts (U6SD)History at Sidney Sussex, Cambridge

• Andrew Hales (U6JS)Architecture at Robinson, Cambridge

• David Salt (U6RP)Medicine at Gonville and Caius, Cambridge

• Michael Thorp (U6RP)

History at Homerton, Cambridge

• Toby Gurran (U6JS)

Biology at Magdalen, Oxford

• Disha Gulati

Law at St Peter’s, Oxford

King’s Class of 2009take the Oxbridge total to 50

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A-Level history study trip to Berlin

Twenty A-Level historians and allfour History teachers have spentfive very full days in Berlin.

German specialist Mr Patrick Gale whohelped arrange the trip and ColonelPiers Storie-Pugh MBE fromRemembrance Travel also accompaniedthe trip.

Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Germanhistory was explored through the delights ofFrederick the Great’s sumptuous palace atSans Souci and the wonderful works ofRomantic painter Caspar David Friedrichat the Old National Gallery. Stark remindersof Berlin’s pivotal role in Twentieth Centuryevents were brought home to everyone onthe trip. Visits were undertaken toSachsenhausen concentrationcamp, the Olympic stadium andthe Reichstag and a Third ReichWalking tour included the site ofHitler’s bunker and the veryimpressive Holocaust memorial.

Cold War divisions between theCapitalist West and communist East werespelt out to the group, who went on to visitNormannenstrasse, the formerHeadquarters of Erich Mielke and the Stasi,(the hated East German secret police,) andsaw the detention centre they used until 1989.

Modern day Berlin is itself a magnificent city.Thanks to former King’s student and 2004Berlin Tripper William Hull, the group enjoyeda short tour and meal at the famousHumboldt University, where he iscurrently studying. All the group were

grateful for the hospitality shown by PeterNattrass, who arranged a superb restaurantmeal and invited the whole group back fordrinks at his flat.

Five students at The King’s Schoolhave been awarded glidingscholarships with the RAF.

Elliot Carty (U6BH), James Hopkinson (L6DY),

William Moreland (L6DY), Ben Moss (5JH) and

Richard Wynne (5MH), all flew solo during the

prestigious scholarship courses.

Four of the five cadets were only 16 years old,so not even eligible to drive a car, yet not onlydid they all fly solo, but all five cadets wererecommended for advanced flying training,

which will make this one of ourmost successful years of recenttimes.

Ben Moss will go on to complete hisadvanced flying training after beingoffered a place on the prestigious CCF(RAF) Air Cadet Pilot Scheme.

Only the top RAF cadets are invited to apply,and must first be recommended by theGliding School, at which they undertake theirgliding scholarship. Ben was one of only ninecadets selected in the Western region, whichcomprises some 33 schools.

Gliding and Flying scholarships

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Spring 2009

Eight rowers from The King’sSchool went to the EarlyIdentification Trials for the

GB Junior Rowing Squad, whichtook place in Boston, Lincs.,against 155 of the country’s topyoung scullers.Three Upper Sixth Senior Rowers wereranked in the top 50 – Sam Arnot (U6PF)came 6th, Stephen Jones (U6NH) came 15thand Mike Thorp (U6RP) came 48th.

The three of them, along with their cox,Franz Imfeld (U6NH), now have theirsights firmly set on the Junior WorldChampionships next summer. Sam,Stephen and Franz have been invited toattend a GB Training Camp in Nantes, France.

Just as commendable were the performancesof our Lower 6th rowers – Sam Lewis (3ML)came 65th and Oliver Holt (L6LB) came 69th.Three other Lower Sixth students came in

the top 118 – James Kinsey (L6SW), SamWilson (L6CH) and Inigo Atkin (L6CH).

Six of the rowers above, then went on tocompete, again in Boston, in the pairscompetition in February, and took part in theGB Spring Assessment at the National WaterSports Centre in Nottingham. After thissuccess, Franz Imfeld, Stephen Jonesand Sam Arnot have now been chosento compete in the Munch International

Regatta in May, and are almostguaranteed places in the GB squadJunior World Championships.

Oliver Holt, Inigo Atkin and Sam Wilson havesucceeded in going forward to the HomeCounties Regatta and hopefully, the EuropeanChampionships, the Coupe de la Jeunesse,depending on their performance at the Finaltrials in June.

Early Identification – Rowing

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As a ‘credit crunch’ Christmasloomed last December, wetapped into the mood by going

back in time to an altogether simplerage, when Christmas presents meant apaper bag of boiled sweets, a tangerinein a shiny foil wrapper and a hand-knitted jersey you would ‘grow into’ –if you were an orang-utan!

Under the creative direction of Mrs EmmaHands a group of fifteen pupils from Shells tothe Fourth Form took full advantage of therecent refurbishments in the Sixth FormLecture Theatre to give three utterlydelightful performances of DylanThomas’s classic A Child’s Christmas inWales. Using a simple fixed set and with thebenefit of imaginative Sixth Form assistancewith sound and lighting, the mixed-age cast

made us smell the smoke of the Protheros’ fire,feel the rawness of snowballers’ fingers andhear the parsnip wine in Auntie Hannah’s voice,as she ‘gave a turn’ round the parlour piano.

From Swansea we journeyed across thousandsof miles of ocean to follow the fortunes of agroup of transported convicts and their guardsin those eighteenth-century days when‘Britannia ruled the waves’.

Bring out the tall tales…From the Welsh valleys to the Australian outback via Churchill’sunderground bunker and thence to Westminster Abbey, drama atKing’s has been nothing if not eclectic this year!

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Spring 2009

Former King’s pupil David Whitleygenerously took time out from working onhis forthcoming novel (Midnight’s Charter, ateenage fantasy novel to be published by Puffinin August this year) to direct a group of(largely) middle-school pupils in TimberlakeWertenberger’s multi award-winning play OurCountry’s Good. Experienced and noviceactors alike came together under David’sexperienced, sensitive guidance to producea powerful, nuanced testimony to theredemptive capability of art.

Another week, another play! No soonerhad Our Country’s Good struck its setthan the Sixth Form Lecture Theatre was

again commandeered to betransformed this time into arecreation of Churchill’sunderground wartime bunker.Vikings and Darwin is a newpiece specially written by Americanplaywright David Mamet for performanceby young actors as part of the NationalTheatre’s ‘Connections’ Festival. Onceagain King’s was indebted to Emma Hands,not only for making the initial suggestion thatwe submit an entry in this nationwide dramafestival and directing our work, but also forwriting a thought-provoking and exceptionallymoving companion piece about the instigationof the tomb of the unknown warrior. Followinga performance attended by directors from theNational Theatre and the Lowry Theatre,

our

the intrepid cast of five Sixth Formers will goon to perform these pieces at the Lowry inMay, when Sixth Form pupils will also workwith the Lowry’s in-house team to providetechnical support for the production. Again ithas been a great pleasure to note the willingassistance on this project of formerKing’s pupil Helen Tonge, who also helpedproduce A Child’s Christmas in Wales.

And that brings us full circle. ‘Circle oflife,’ you might say! Could be the cue foranother piece of theatre!

The Wolfson Foundation hasgiven The King’s School£50,000 towards the

refurbishments of three of thescience laboratories.

This grant has enabled the three laboratories

to be fully refurbished to offer the students

upgraded facilities. This refurbishment gives the

students improved working areas, where they

can conduct their own experiments, unlike, the

traditional laboratory designs, which were

focussed on teacher demonstrations.

This is a valued addition to the three Science

departments and will be especially useful with

the increase in practical examinations at GCSE

and A-level, and further enhances King’s

strong scientific tradition.

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Discovering the wonders of CERN

The star of the show is themuch publicised LargeHadron Collider which when

it eventually starts operating will, inconjunction with huge experimentssurrounding it, attempt to discoverthe elusive Higgs Boson.The brief but intensive two dayprogramme of visits not only allowsstudents to see the hardware at closequarters but to appreciate how itworks, putting into practice theprinciples of electric and magneticfields learned back in the laboratories here atKing’s before the visit.

It also gives them a flavour of what life is like fora Physics graduate in this unique multi-nationalcollaboration; over the last couple of years wehave established a link with students working atLiverpool University, who share their up-to-the-minute knowledge of the experiments with ourpupils in seminar sessions, and chat to themover pizza or fondue about the otherattractions of life in sucha cosmopolitan city!

A visit to CERNwhets the appetite interms of what can beachieved on thetechnological frontier

and also stretchesthe imagination as scientists

probe deeper into thestructure of our universeand seek to explore theconditions a split secondafter the dawn of time. Ahighlight for many is the

tour of the laboratory’scomputing centre, where in 1989, the WorldWide Web, upon which we depend in so manyways, was born.

It is hoped that in the years to come, studentsfrom King’s may continue to be fortunateenough to have their Physics brought tolife by visiting CERN, and that perhaps oneor two of them might even be tempted toembark upon a career in Physics because of it!

Every year for the past seven years, Sixth Form Physicists from King’s have travelled tothe European Laboratory for Particle Physics, CERN, near Geneva, home of the world’slargest, most complicated and most expensive scientific machines.

New science labs

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Spring2009

Twenty-six young peoplefrom Avignon, France,have visited The King’s

School for 10 days.During the exchange visit the Frenchstudents lived with their King’s hostfamilies from 4th – L6. The Avignonvisitors spent a day at King’s and the restof the time they visited places of interestin Cheshire and North Wales.

The visit is a reciprocal arrangement andKing’s students will visit Avignon.

MFL debateSix Sixth Form linguists have taken part in the annual NorthernSchools’ MFL debating competition at Cheadle Hulme School.This was a regional event organised by the Independent SchoolsModern Languages Association.

The King’s School teams were

German – Daniel Ness (U6BH) and

Kieran Witter (U6KS); Spanish – Natalie

Ohiorenoya (L6DY), Charles Barry

(U6PF) and French – Patrick Fletcher

(U6JS) and Max Ankers (U6PF).

The subjects debated were ‘Life was better40 years ago’, ‘Being green should be thepriority of all western governments’, ‘Red isbetter than blue’ and ‘Computers are theproblem not the solution’.

Although the King’s School teams did notreach the final this year, they debatedenergetically and skilfully against somestiff opposition, and they were commendedfor their spontaneity and eloquence ofdelivery. The debate, ‘Red is better thanblue’ proved to be particularlystimulating, with arguments overpolitics, aesthetics and symbolism!

Avignonexchange

One Friday evening inMarch, saw theMain Hall turned

into a Jazz Club for theevening, with parents andfriends bringing picnics andthe KSPA providing a bar service.

The wonderful music was showcased by theever popular Big Band and Gospel Choir,together with Sixth Form Jazz group –Razzamajazz, and the newly formed 4thyear group called Jazz Cats.

To enhance the evening further,a professional jazz quartet,starring music teachers ChrisWharton and Andy Parker,completed the line-up.

All that Jazz

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Annual CAOKS dinnerThe 143rd annual dinner of The Chester Association of Old King’s Scholars (CAOKS)was held this year at the Grosvenor Hotel in Chester.

It was a wonderful occasionattracting 165 guests includingformer and current teachers and

Headmasters, friends and the Headof School prefect team, all enjoyinggood food and good company.

Old King’s Scholars old and new attended, theyoungest being leavers in 2008 and the oldest,who left the school in 1935.

Senior Librarian, Helen Holyoak, provided afabulous slideshow of old photographs. Youngfaces from many years ago were shownthroughout the dinner and generated muchinterest and amusement.

The guest of honour was Tom James,OKS, Olympic Gold medallist and recentrecipient of an MBE in the New Years’ honourslist. The toast to the School was made byRowan Pritchard-Jones MD, MRCS, whospoke eloquently about his life after King’s as aplastic surgeon and in the process made clearhis grateful thanks for the opportunitiesafforded him by an education at King’s.

Mark Cornelius, who now lives and works inLondon as an advertising account manager,offered the toast to the Association and spokeamusingly about his time at school.

The President, Mr Steve Downey respondedand thanked everyone for their contribution in

making the evening a success. The food wassuperb, the speeches good and thesetting sumptuous, but once formalitieswere over, it was the chance to catch up withold friends that really made the evening special.

Five hundred and fiftyJunior and SeniorSchool pupils have

participated in World’s MathsDay. The 48-hourcompetition involved 20,000schools throughout the world.

The students played mental arithmeticgames in real-time for 60 seconds per gameand played as many games as they liked.

The fun lunchtime activity was organisedfor the Junior and younger Senior Schoolstudents and captivated their interest byplaying on-line with other students fromaround the world!

World Maths Day

A 1920’s engraved silver cup hascome back to school after beingbought by a member of thepublic in a Wirral antique shop.

The bailiff at The King’s School was handedthe cup from a member of the cast duringthe Chester Scouts’ Gang Show held atthe school! The cup was originally awardedto D.E. Evans (form Remove B) for winningthe half mile handicap race at the schoolsports day held on 4th April 1922.

Duncan Ritchie (ShRA) who is a pupillibrarian, has done the research into itshistory. He is pictured with Nicola Temple(RmLB) who is a fellow pupil Librarian.

King’s silver cupfinds its way home

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Cipher Club successStudents from The Cipher

Club have achieved joint1st place in the National

Cipher Challenge, acode-breaking competitionorganised by University ofSouthampton and sponsored byGCHQ and CambridgeUniversity, amongst others.

Over 1000 schools are involved in a weekly

code-breaking challenge which culminates in

the National competition. The King’s team

have gained joint 1st place in one challenge

and 18th place in the second, more difficult

challenge.

The team“Cryptokings” consists of:Tsubasa Sato (U6RP), Jun Kawakami (U6NH),

Matt Ireland (L6ER), Tom Marquis (L6DY),

James Carr (L6SW), Will Moreland (L6DY),

Sean and Jeremy Telford (3JK).

The challenge is issued weekly and has to becomplete within a set timescale. Thestudents have worked extremely wellas a team in order to achieve thisgreat result!

Mace debating success

Charles Barry and ThomasBradley, both from the UpperSixth represented the school in

the English Speaking Union Macedebating competition this year.

They breezed through the localround and attended the NorthWest final on a very snowyJanuary evening. They debated onthe topic of whether the studyof a modern foreign languageshould be compulsory to studyat GCSE. Their considerable skillat debating was recognised andthey went through to the Northern Areafinal. They then debated on the tricky topic of

whether UN peacekeeping troops should beplaced on the Palestine border.

Both students were really impressive in termsof their skills in both debating and rebuttal.They were placed as runners up in the

Northern Final, losing by only threemarks to St. Francis Xavier College,Liverpool. The students werepraised by the judges for theirexcellent delivery, structure andtheir conduct throughout thecompetition.This is a fantasticachievement and both Charles andTom should be extremely proud to

have achieved so much and managed toprogress so far in the competition.

Mr John Margarson and Mr HarryDodd, former pupils of The King’sSchool were recent visitors.

Mr Margarson, who left King’s in 1941 andMr Dodd, who left in 1935, are amongst theoldest surviving Old King’s Scholars.

Both enjoyed a tour of the school andwelcomed the opportunity to reminiscewith the help of an archive display relevantto school in their days. Poignantly, bothgentlemen could recall former friendswho lost their lives in the 2nd WorldWar as they looked at the remembranceplaques on display at King’s.

The King’s School wasdelighted to welcomeDr Allan Chapman, an historian bytraining and with research interests inscientific biography and astronomy.

Dr Chapman was born in Manchester in1946, completed his first degree atLancaster University, before moving toOxford University for his postgraduatedegree. He lectures extensively in thiscountry and abroad in the History ofScience. In 1994 he gave the Royal Societytriennial Wilkins Lecture in the History ofScience on the subject of Edmond Halley.

Historyrevisited

Oldest King’s Scholars returnBush V ObamaDr Coyne visited King’s togive a lecture titled “The legacy ofBush and the future with Obama.”

Dr Coyne lectures in American History and

Politics at Kent University, and is a Visiting

Professor at the University of Mississippi; he gave

a fascinating talk on Obama andthe new era of Americanpolitics, and spent time in SixthForm politics lessons, where he was

very impressed by the students’

independent thought, questioning

and enthusiasm for learning.

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Connie McClelland, J3Whas won five gold andsilver medals at the

Chester City SwimmingAssociation Championships.Simon Ellershaw, J4T, swept the board inthe boys’ section of the Chester CitySwimming Association Championships andmissed out on a club record for 50mBackstroke by 0.2 of a second.

The Junior School girls’ swim teamperformed with great credit at the AJISevent, winning three gold medals.Congratulations go to Isobel Wild, J2E,winner of the U10 Backstroke, ConnieMcClelland, winner of the U10 Front Crawl

and the U10 Freestyle relay team of PollyChappell, Jennifer McDonald, J3E, ConnieMcClelland and Isobel Wild who wereplaced first. The U10 Medley relay teamfinished fourth in the final. In the U11 finals,Penny Downes, J4T, came fourth in theBackstroke and Emily Boothroyd, J4G, camefourth in the Butterfly.

Juniors

Junior School swimming success

Emily Boothroyd (J4) hasbeen chosen to competein the British Open Show

Jumping Championships onher pony.Emily is one of four riders representingWales in the Junior Pony Club Classagainst teams from Scotland, England andIreland to celebrate the 80th anniversaryof the British Pony Club.

The four riders per team were selectedfrom the 340 pony clubs nationally.Emily has represented The King’sJunior School show jumping teamfor the last 3 years.

Emily chosenfor British OpenShow JumpingWelsh team!Arran Fearn (J1) has been

selected as the regionalwinner for Wales in the

Sightsavers International JuniorPainting Competition.Arran’s painting was selected from

almost 9000 entries in UK.Arran’s painting of “Castle Afar” –a landscape showing a castle in the

distance on the hills, is now being displayedin the prestigious Royal Academy of Artsin London.

King’s painting to be exhibitedin the Royal Academy

Every pupil from the JuniorSchool contributed to thetruly magnificent banners

which were displayed in the nave ofthe Cathedral during the Adventand Christmas period.

For a few months, under the guidance ofspecialist art teacher Jane Hartley, all thechildren spent some time creating the banners,as part of their art classes, in their break andlunchtimes, or by participating in the Art Club.The colourful banners depicted seasonalthemes of Advent and Christmas.

Juniors deck the Cathedralwith wonderful banners

Basketball is one of thefastest growing sports, andrequires an enormous

amount of skill and expertise.Over the past two monthsthe J3 pupils haveparticipated in the Hoops forHealth scheme organised bythe Cheshire Jets team. The Roadshow was very informative andfocused upon the importance ofdeveloping a healthy lifestyle. Thisincluded discussions about nutrition,smoking and exercise. The pupils wereintroduced to basic basketball skills andthe movement around the court.

When training in the Senior SchoolSports Hall the training programmeconcentrated upon shooting and dribbling. Thelevel of enthusiasm was magnificent andaround 85% of the J3s attended the afterschool club.

In early March 10 pupils, selected to representthe School participated in the Cheshire JetsRound 1 tournament. The whole squadperformed well in the first two games and

displayed excellent control ofthe basketball. Niamh Jones andPolly Chappell rarely missed ashot and the King’s squad chalkedup two early victories 26-4 and28-0. In the third match the‘starting five’ battled hard, withFraser Smellie and James Hughesleading by example. HarryArmatage should be praisedfor his defensive efforts as theteam won 14-6. With onegame remaining the pupilsappeared tired and the gapswere starting to appear. JoePolding fortunately made animportant ‘foul throw’ to

secure a valuable 8-4 win. The pupils returnedwith medals, bright yellow T-shirts and of coursethe winner’s trophy.

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Spring 2009

J3O – Hoops for health

The King’s Junior SchoolChristmas concert starredevery pupil from 7-11

years of age! The concert hasproven so popular over theyears, that it has to be performedtwice and even then all theseats are taken!

From the school choir of 74 children, theorchestra of strings, wind, brass andpercussion involving 43 pupils, to thestring and woodwind ensembles it reallywas music all the way!

There were dramatic readings andpoems, and no Christmas concertwould be complete without theNativity play performed by J2.

The concert encompassed all that is greatabout the JuniorSchool – everyonehad a part to play,they all workedhard to learntheir lines andsongs and thefinal result

was a showcase of all their incredibletalents. There are surely few JuniorSchools in Cheshire which could boast

such a large choir and orchestra!

Christmas Concert

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Festival of Performing Arts

Forty-one Junior School pupilstook part in a speech and dramafestival on Saturday, 14th March

at Queen’s Park High School Chester.The stewards described it as a ‘bumperyear’ – schools from all over thecounty were represented.

The pupils took part in a number of activities.Years 2, 3 and 4 performed prepared scenesfrom such classics as, ‘Alice in Wonderland’,‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘James and the GiantPeach’, ‘Carrie’s War’ and ‘Skellig’. ‘To Kill aMockingbird’ was awarded third placeout of a class of 28. The judge praised thecast for their character portrayal andAmerican accents! All of the King’s Juniorpupils’ scenes gained a merit or were

highly commended, which is anexcellent result.

Prepared readings from works by HelenCresswell, Ali Sparkes and Michelle Magorianwere presented to full houses! MatthewOliver came third in his class with avery dramatic reading from Cresswell’s,‘A Bag of Bones’.

As well as prose reading, many of our pupilsrecited poems from such poets as RogerStevens, Valerie Bloom, Vernon Scannelland Brian Moses. Eloise Bland wasawarded second place in her class withher amusing interpretation of ‘My Dog’ byVernon Scannell.

Three of our pupils entered the‘Spiritual Reading’ class and MeganGareh gained first place in her yeargroup.

All the pupils performed with confidence andfocus – they all enjoyed the very hecticschedule; they came away from the festivalhaving experienced the rush of adrenalin thatonly live performance can bring. As well asthis, they received some excellent advicefrom the adjudicators to help further theirprogress in performance.

Greg Taylor, J4, has won a bronze medalin the National Primary Maths Challengecompetition. Greg successfully wentthrough to the national final aftercompeting with over 19,000 childrenrepresenting some 2700 primary schoolsall over UK, only 370 children wereawarded medals. This is the secondconsecutive year pupils from the JuniorSchool have reached the national finals.

Jack Owen, J4, took part in theCheshire and NE Wales ChessChampionship and was ranked this in theU11 age group. He has since beenselected for the U12 National ChessTraining Squad.

Abilgail Wiseman, J4, was a runner-upin the U11 girls’ singles section of theNorth Wales Badminton Competitionand with her partner also won the U11girls’ doubles.

Isobel Wild, J2, was overall champion inthe 8 year old category of the SwimWales North Swim Fest.

Harry Armatage, J3, WilliamDodd-Moore, J4, Ben Maudslay, J4,Ben Stratton, J4 and Daniel Verity, J3,took part in the U11 County HockeyFestival Championship representingDeeside Ramblers. They were runners upin the competition and move forward torepresent Cheshire in the Northern finals.

Juniors

Children from theJunior School went offto Cambridge recently

to play soccer. The annualCambridge tour is now in its22nd Year.

The King’s football team stay with hostfamilies of The Perse School inCambridge and play matches againstKimbolton, Bedford Modern and ThePerse schools to compete for the“Tour Trophy”.

The team returned to Chester exhaustedbut happy, having playedthree games in asmany days.

King’s Juniors off toCambridge!

IndividualSuccesses

17

Spring 2009

Ski trip to SwitzerlandThe biennial ski trip for Removes to Thirds was a great success!The school stayed at the Haut-Lac International Centre, not farfrom Chateau D’oex, Gruyere and Lausanne.

The centre used to be asanatorium for tuberculosispatients but is now run as a

centre for ski trips and languagecourses. 50 pupils and accompanyingstaff (Mrs Gareh, Dr Bradley, MrMorris and Miss Hodgson) set offfor this fabulously equipped place.The size of the party meant that theyhad to go on two flights fromBirmingham to Zurich.

The first day began with an announcementover the tannoy that breakfast would be readysoon. It was accompanied by the theme tuneto ‘Ski Sunday’. What a great start to theskiing week!

All groups from beginners to the advancedlevel skiers had some of the best snowconditions the school has ever experiencedthere. There were six days of blue skies andone day of snow (New Year’s Eve).Everyone had a great time and it was good tosee the beginners progressing so quickly in theexcellent conditions. On the last day of skiing, allthe groups took part in a slalom competition.The winners for each group were; RhysDowinton, Stephen Lear, Kate Coppack, WilliamKirk, Jenny Corlett, Cameron Thompson and,fastest King’s pupil on the slopes that day,

Tom Okell in a time of 27.62 seconds. Toput this into perspective, the fastest instructormanaged the course in 23.52 seconds.

The final evening consisted of the presentationof ski awards. Each pupil received a Snowsportbadge to reflect their level of ability (level 9 isthe highest). The beginners achievedcreditable level 4 (Emma Cooneyachieved level 5), intermediate groups wereawarded level 5 or 6, and the two advanced

groups managed level 6 or 7 with the exceptionof Tom Okell who was awarded level 8.

The final presentations were the house awards.Each pupil was assigned to one of four houseteams for the week and competed to be housechampions by taking part in evening activitiesand competitions. The winning house receivedan enormous bar of Toblerone – this year theglory (and the chocolate) went toWarriors, with Eagles and Sharks in jointsecond place and Raiders not far behind.

All in all it was a really great trip!

King’s Karting ChampionSeb Morris (ShMS) has achieved anunprecedented clean sweep of CadetKart Championships in the NorthWest of England and North Wales.Racing throughout the season (10 races perchampionship), Seb has won the DragonKart Club Championship (NorthWales), the Cheshire Kart ClubChampionship and theManchester and Buxton Kart

Club Championship (North West England).

Travelling at speeds of up to 60 mph, Seb oftencompetes in grids of up to 30 karts, whichwhen approaching the first corner, is often ahair-raising experience!

As a highlight of the season, Seb also won theUK “Ace of Clubs” Trophy, beating racers

from all over the countryto secure this

prestigious award.

Seb races for The Liberty Racing Team, whosesenior driver, James Theodore, has also won theNorth Wales Championship and has nowprogressed to Formula Renault, winning theBARC UK Formula Renault Winter Series.

HERALD Sports

HERALD Sports

U12 Girls’Hockey

The annual King’s SchoolGolf Tournament washeld in March at Vicar’s

Cross Golf Club. Organised byparents, Mr and Mrs Way-Rider,this event is open to all pupils,staff and retired staff.

The trophies were presented by MichaelOakes, former England Under - 21 goalkeeper,who has played for Aston Villa, Wolves andCardiff City. Michael was in the Cardiff squadwho played at the 2008 FA Cup Final againstPortsmouth.

The tournament cup was won byMatt Jones (5JH) for best gross scoreand the best net score was won byAlex Way-Rider (4EH).

Longest drive and nearest the pincompetitions were won by Tom Fearnall(U6BH) and Josh Rudge (U6RP).

Golf Tournament

The King’s School Removes’,Shells’ and Third Yearswimming teams have been

incredibly successful at theChester and District Schools’Swimming Galas during March.

The Removes boys’ team won the Year 7gala and the girls’ team came second.

The team captain was Alex Slater (RmSC).The Shells’ team captained by Niall Barrow(ShTK) repeated this success in the Year 8gala, again winning the boys’ competitionand coming second in the girls’ competition.

The Third Year boys’ team also won theYear 9 competition with the girls comingin fifth place. The team captain was WillSlater (3AC).

This term has seen thelaunch of The King’sSchool Water Polo

Team. The team played itsfirst match against U18sCity of Chester Water PoloTeam.The team included Steven Jones (U6BH),Sam Arnot (U6PF), Chris Wall (U6KS),Michael Thorp (U6RP), Inigo Atkins (L6CH),James Kinsey (L6SW), Rob Leech (U6ML),Max Ankers (U6PF) and Adam Jones (5SR).

The match consists of four, fifteen minutequarters, King’s led 3-2 after the firstquarter, James Kinsey scoring the first everKing’s School water polo goal and SamArnot scoring the other two goals. Scoreslevelled at the end of the second quarter at

6-6. Fitness began to tell, andKing’s were losing at

12-11 at the end ofthe 3rd quarterand the final

score was 17-14.

It was a hard fought game, one whichdemanded much fitness and team workand was a great debut performance by thenew team. Sam was the King’s top scorer –6 goals, Steven was impressive in goal andChris and Sam managed to organise andmotivate the rest of the team. Theorganisation, enthusiasm andcommitment of the team wereimpressive.

This was a first for King’s, and hopefullythe start of another successful sport atthe school.

The annual King’s U12s7-a-side InvitationalHockey Tournament was

held in March.

King’s A Squad were the overallwinners with the B squad comingrunners-up. 12 teams from Cheshire,Wirral and the local area wereparticipating in the tournament.

Swimmingchampions

Launch of the King’sWater Polo Team

19

Spring 2009

The U19 Boys’ Hockey Teamhave been victorious in theChester District, Cheshire

and North West championships.

The run started with the Cheshire Schools’Boys’ U19 Cup. King’s beat Birkenhead Schoolafter a nail-biting final, finishing 5-4 afterpenalties with Harry Peel (5FV) scoring thedeciding penalty.

The King’s team then went on to beatCalday Grange Grammar School in theNorth West Semi-Final and progressed to

the North West final in February againstMerchant Taylors’, Crosby. It proved to be achallenging fixture due to illness and injury. Thehalf-time score was King’s – 3 Merchant Taylors’-2. King’s dominated the 2nd half with the finalscore being 6-3. Tom Fearnall (U6BH) scored ahat-trick, Captain, Ben Lamont (U6NH), scored2 goals and Jonathan Rodger (L6ER), scored 1goal. The King’s Team progressed to theNorth Final at Belle Vue, Manchester, on

4th March where they were narrowlydefeated.

These resounding wins build on thestrong King’s successes in boys’ hockeyover the last 3 years. King’s has greatfacilities for hockey with the Astroturf and ateam of dedicated coaching staff. Every year itbecomes more popular with the pupils and isnow our second biggest boys sport.

The U19 Girls’ Hockey squadhave had an incrediblysuccessful year and are ranked

the most successful girls’ hockeyteam that King’s have ever had.

This year they have won all four majorhockey trophies: The U19 girls’ hockeyteam have won the U19 Cheshire OutdoorTournament, The Cheshire IndoorTournament, The Chester and DistrictIndoor Championship and Chester andDistrict Outdoor Championship. The teamalso represented Cheshire in the NationalSchools Tournament.

The U16 girls’ hockey team also achievedhonour, winning The Cheshire IndoorTournament. Both U16 and the U19 teamsare Cheshire Indoor Champions. The U16squad continue their winning formula in theNational Schools’ Plate Competition and arethrough to the last 16.

To add to this success, the U13 girls’ hockeyteam won the Chester and District IndoorHockey Tournament and the U14 girls’squad won the Chester and DistrictOutdoor Competition and came runners-upin the Cheshire Indoor competition, only losingto Wilmslow, the eventual winners.

The success of King’s Girls’ hockey duringboth this season and last season, has beenphenomenal and looks like continuing withsome promising younger girls coming throughthe ranks.

U19 Girls’ Hockey secure fourthmajor trophy for this season

U19 Boys’ Hockey Team areNorth West Champions!

The first session of the newFencing Club started thisterm at lunchtime, andwithin 10 minutes thestudents were ready for action!

Jessie Lee (3GC) and JamesEllis (5DL) were chosen torepresent Cheshire in the UKNational Schools Cross Countryfinal at the end of March.

Only eight children from Cheshire werechosen for the National final after the NorthInter-Counties Championship.

Jessie has been running competitivelyfor one year and James has beencompeting for four years.

Cross Country Fencing

HERALD

The King’s School, Wrexham Road, Chester CH4 7QLTel: Junior School: 01244 689520 Senior School: 01244 689500

Web: www.kingschester.co.uk Email: news@kingschester.co.uk

STOP PRESS... the news in briefCHESSMarvin Hayes(4MP) was invitedto join the EnglandU16 Chess Squad ina tournament whichtook place at Yateley

Manor, Hampshire, in February. Current U15County Champion, Marvin, competed with thevery best young chess champions from aroundthe country.

RUGBYSix boys have beenselected to join theU13 West CheshireRugby Union Squad:Ralph Elsegood(ShAR), Matthew

Antony (ShRA), Jack Barber (ShRA),George Nott, (ShAI), Tom Okell (ShTK)and Adam Young (ShRA).

The boys were selected from a total of 70boys, during a series of trials involving all theschools and clubs within the region and theyhave been chosen to join the regionaldevelopment training squad.

SQUASHSam Wallace(RmLB) has beenchosen for theWelsh National U13squash squad. Samtravels to Cardiff

once a month to train with the squad andcompeted in a European Tournament at theend of February.

GYMNASTICSNatasha Howarth(RmGA) has wonthe gold medal inthe WelshAcrobatics andTumbling NPD

competition, and has now been selected tocompete at the British equivalent finals in May.Natasha’s success has been rapid – she onlystarted gymnastics two years ago. She wouldhave competed in the Welsh competition lastyear, but unfortunately had to drop out due toa serious arm injury and was only dischargedfrom Alder Hey Hospital in October 2008.

CROSS-COUNTRYJames Ellis (5DL)has won theCheshire Schools’County Cross-country Inter-boys’

Championship for Year 10s and 11s.

James was delighted with his goldmedal-win after coming in bronze and silvermedal positions in the last two years.

James is also hoping to make the EnglandJunior Fell-Running Team to compete inGermany later this year.

NEW CLUBSThere have been a lot of new clubs and teamsestablished this term, mostly operating atlunchtime:

Geog. Soc – From using the weather stationto Fair Trade tuck shop on the first Friday ofthe month.

Chemistry Club – For fun experiments!

Ancient Greek – For Sixth Formers runningboth Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes andThursday after school.

Fencing –Within 10 minutes everyone was“en guard”!

Master Chef – 6-week cookery course for3rd and 4th Year covering all food groups.

Water Polo Team – February saw the launchof the King’s Water polo team with their firstmatch against City of Chester U18s.

Warhammer –This club is for followers ofthis strategic game of battles and armies.

MUN Soc –The Model United Nationssociety, run by the Sixth Form is growing fromstrength to strength with debaters joining, inparticular from 4th Year upwards.

NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEKDuring National Science Week, ProfessorDominic Dickson from the Physics dept ofLiverpool University gave a talk titled“Physics is Cool”, featuring an interestingexperiment of self-inflating balloons with theuse of dry ice!

There was also a Biology talk from Tim Keeley,Head of Biology called “Darwin and why Ihate rice pudding!” ably assisted by twoSixth Formers – David Salt and Toby Gurran.

PONY SOCIETY SUCCESSWilliam Johnson (RmSC) won 1st place inthe Novices’ 143 cms show hunter pony class,and 2nd place in the open class at the BritishShow Pony Society (Area 2a Cheshire) awards’night. His pony is called Noble Dolly,Blue-Dolly to her friends.